Friday Orchid Blogging

Just a regular old phalaenopsis orchid from a recent show I went to in Virginia. But it is lovely. I have zip to add. Have some sourdough bread baking in the oven - just wanted to try it. I bought some starter in Alaska back in 1991 or so, used it once and it didn't work, so gave up on it. Found the packet in my shelf earlier this week, got online and did more research, and figured I'd try again. Well, the starter worked, after like 16 years - kind of creepy actually. Anyway, bread's in the oven, so stay tuned. Read More......

McCain doesn't know if condoms help stop the spread of HIV

There are so many reasons John McCain should not be President. But an interaction with a reporter today on his Not-So-Straight Talk bus pretty much confirmed it.

McCain was stumped by a very simple question -- a question that can be answered with a modicum of research. He was stumped by a question that can mean the difference between life and death. He was stumped by a question that every responsible adult in American should know the answer to. He doesn't know if condoms can help stop the spread of HIV. Seriously:

Q: “What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?”

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.”

Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”

Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”

Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?”

Mr. McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”

Q: “But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: ‘No, we’re not going to distribute them,’ knowing that?”

Mr. McCain: (Twelve-second pause) “Get me Coburn’s thing, ask Weaver to get me Coburn’s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I’ve never gotten into these issues before.”

Could John McCain be this much of an idiot? Could he be so stupid about basic health policy? Could he be so beholden to the theocrats that he wouldn't answer such an obvious question?

Whatever the answer, John McCain shouldn't be President. Read More......

Iraq: focusing on the wrong things

The Pentagon finally admits that Iraq (or, as the report says, "some elements of the situation in Iraq) faces a civil war. The report comes to conclusions similar to those of the Iraq NIE, saying, basically, that things are really bad and "big challenges remain." Well, then.

The most telling information, though, is not the number of attacks but rather the measures of civil society. I think we're basically past the "blame the media" point, wherein the news apparently was hiding the true utopia in Iraq, but at this point I'd argue it's actually the reverse: that by focusing primarily on attack numbers, the media obscures the fact that Iraq as a whole has ceased to be any kind of functional state. I mean, how often do you see this kind of information on your TV:

[J]udges who don't succumb to the myriad threats against them often fear handing down guilty verdicts against defendants with ties to insurgent groups or militias . . . the Iraqi prison system remains overcrowded, and correctional services are "increasingly infiltrated by criminal organizations and militias" . . . The economy, too, is crippling Iraq's ability to recover . . . Inflation in 2006 averaged 50 percent. And while estimates of unemployment range from 13.4 percent to as high as 60 percent, a January 2007 survey by the U.S. military's Multi-National Division-Baghdad found that only 16 percent of the city's residents say that their current income meets their basic needs. And the daily power situation remains dismal . . . the number of daily hours of power in Baghdad was 6.6 in the last quarter of 2006 . . .

Those are stunning numbers. Inflation at 50%. Fully 84% of the population don't have the income to provide for basic needs. Fewer than 7 hours of power every day (which isn't just a matter of refrigeration and air conditioning, remember, that means businesses can't function).

And they blame the U.S. for all of this.

Two thirds of Iraqis say that conditions for peace and stability are worsening. They're right. Read More......

Romney hires SwiftBoater

Nice. Read More......

Open thread

I mean, who hasn't outed a CIA agent out of spite? Read More......

Please ignore the outed CIA agent, and the perjured Attorney General, behind the curtain

Surprise! Terrorism is everywhere! Be afraid! Change the story! From the Associated Press:

Suspected members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police.

Then read the next line:

An FBI spokesman said, "Parents and children have nothing to fear."

Is it The Onion or the FBI? You decide. Either way, yet again, sounds like another total lie in order to change the subject from outed CIA agents, from perjured Attorney Generals, from bigoted real generals, from convicted top aides, from disastrous wars, and more. Read More......

Watch Valerie Plame's testimony, highlights of this morning's hearing

Plame opening statement (all courtesy of PoliticsTV)



Highlights of the hearing



HIGHLIGHTS 2: WHO REVEALED PLAME’S CIA STATUS TO CHENEY & ROVE?

Read More......

Gay Iraq war hero takes on General Pace

US Marine Eric Alva, the first US service member injured in the Iraq war, was interviewed by CNN's Paula Zahn about General Pace's comments about homosexuality being immoral. Bloggernista has more, including the video. Read More......

BOMBSHELL: White House Security Chief Reveals -- No Probe of Plame Leak There

From E&P;

Dr. James Knodell, director of the Office of Security at the White House, told a congressional committee today that he was aware of no internal investigation or report into the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The White House had first opposed Knodell testifying but after a threat of a subpoena from the committee yesterday he was allowed to appear today.

Knodell has testified that those who had participated in the leaking of classified information were required to attest to this and he was aware that no one, including Karl Rove, had done that.

He said that he had started at the White House in August 2004, a year after the leak, but his records show no evidence of a probe or report there: "I have no knowledge of any investigation in my office," he said.

Rep. Waxman recalled that President Bush had promised a full internal probe. Knodell repeated that no probe took place, as far as he knew, and was not happening today.

Read More......

Outed CIA agent Valerie Plame: My cover was 'recklessly' abused

AP

"My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior officials in the White House and State Department," Plame testified. "I could no longer perform the work for which I had been highly trained."

Read More......

Valerie Plame Wilson should speak publicly shortly testifies -- and she is amazing

Bumped and ANOTHER UPDATE: Plame is an amazingly good witness. Wow. Very impressive. She is very firm and clear. She was undercover. She was covert. She was outed for political reasons by the Bush Administration. The first articles are staring to pop up.

UPDATE: Plame is testifying. CNN is covering as is C-SPAN. Firedoglake is live blogging.

Outed CIA spy Valerie Plame will be testifying publicly before Representative Henry Waxman's Government Oversight Hearing today beginning at 10 am. Or she should be.

CNN is reporting that Republican members of Congress may use a procedural move to "close" the hearing -- meaning the public and the press would be shut out. Republicans don't want Plame to tell her story of being outed by the Bush White House:

People close to Plame say her primary goal in testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is to knock down persistent claims that she did not serve undercover. "She is so tired of hearing that," her mother, Diane Plame, said in an interview earlier this week.

Plame was an undercover agent. The Bush Administration outed Ms. Plame, an undercover agent, for partisan political reasons. No wonder the GOP doesn't want her story told.

Republicans do not support those on the front lines of keeping our nation safe whether they are soldiers in Iraq, wounded soldiers at Walter Reed or undercover CIA agents. Read More......

McCain will talk about "anything" except the major issues of the day

The not-so-Straight Talk Bus is off to a bumpy start:

On Thursday, even as [McCain] promised a stream of the candid comments that distinguished him in 2000 — “Anything, anything you want to talk about,” he said — he steered clear of offering opinions on two of the biggest issues on the political landscape this week. He declined to say whether he agreed with the assertion by Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that homosexuality is immoral, or whether he thought Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales should be ousted for his handling of the firing of federal prosecutors.

Read More......

House takes first steps to rein in Bush's war

Led by Rep. John Murtha, House Democrats on the powerful Appropriations Committee took the first serious steps towards reining in George Bush's failed war in Iraq -- four years after Bush launched the war:

On a mostly partisan 36-28 vote, the House Appropriations Committee approved a $124.1 billion emergency spending bill, including $95.5 billion to continue fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year.

The legislation, which could be debated in the full House as early as next week, would set strict conditions on continuing the Iraq war for the next 18 months and would end U.S. combat there by September 1, 2008.

The White House has threatened a presidential veto of the measure, which first faces tough going in the Senate.

Murtha is real trouble for the Bush Administration. He knows the military. He channels the military. When Murtha speaks, he does so with unparalleled authority.

This attempt to curtail Bush's war happened on a day when word leaked out that the escalation is expanding. In fact, there are thousands and thousands more soldiers committed to the surge than what Bush told the nation in January.

Bush's response is perfunctory of course. He does what he always does. He questions the motives and commitment of his opponents.

"Some in the Congress are using this bill as an opportunity to micromanage our military commanders or to force a precipitous withdrawal in Iraq," President George W. Bush said at the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner.

"I believe the members of Congress are sincere when they say they support the troops, and now is the time for them to show that support," Bush said.

Some in the Congress are just trying to get some management of the war. It's a disaster. A disaster. We're stuck in the middle of a civil war.

And, there Bush goes again, invoking his "support the troops" mantra when all the evidence shows that, in fact, he doesn't. The troops will be well served when this country has a policy in place to get them out of the civil war in Iraq. Read More......

Merrill Lynch begs Fed for rate cuts to solve their problems

So another Wall Street icon is caught up in the subprime lending bubble that is bursting and they want the Federal Reserve to cut rates to save their business. And cutting rates will do what? Encourage more bad loan deals? Merrill Lynch was thrilled to jump into the subprime lending market and take part in the easy credit feeding frenzy but despite their big name and supposed credentials they fell for the one of the worst economic ideas in decades. Merrill Lynch should have enough bright minds to have known better so I don't see why the Feds should disrupt the market to bail out their bad business plans. If Merrill Lynch is this stupid, maybe they are in the wrong business. Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

So it was in the 80s on Wednesday, we're getting cold rain and maybe even snow today. Weird weather. The big storm, however, is at the White House. Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales created it. And, they've all been lying about it. But, lying is just standard operating procedure for the Bush team.

All right. Start threading. Read More......

2007 winter sets new record

The warm temperatures in January bumped up the overall numbers, making this winter the warmest on record. Here in Europe, the snow arrived very late to the Alps and more locally, my camelia flowers started to bloom in February which was unusually early. My forsythia has been in bloom for a week though in the city parks (where there is more direct sun) they have been in bloom for at least two weeks, sometimes more. While talking with someone in central Sweden yesterday, I was told that they usually have snow at this time but instead, warm, spring-like weather.

So what more do some people need to see that something is definitely wrong? Expect a new round of smears, confusion and lies when this report starts circulating today. Read More......

The surging surge in Iraq continues to surge

General Petraeus is now asking for more troops, just after receiving 21,000 more and only about a week after receiving an addition of another few thousand. The newest request will bring the surging surge up to 30,000 more troops in Iraq. This looks like a distinct pattern.

The top US commander in Iraq has requested another Army brigade, on top of five already on the way, as part of the controversial "surge" of American troops designed to clamp down on sectarian violence and insurgent groups, senior Pentagon officials said today.

The appeal -- not yet made public -- by Gen. David Petraeus for a combat aviation unit would involve between 2,500 and 3,000 more soldiers and dozens of transport helicopters and powerful gunships, said the Pentagon sources. That would bring the planned expansion of US forces so far to close to 30,000 troops.

News of the additional deployment comes about a week after President Bush announced that about 4,700 support troops will join the initial 21,500 he ordered in January. They are in addition to the estimated 130,000 troops already in Iraq.

"This is the next shoe to drop," said one senior Pentagon official closely involved in the war planning. "But you cannot put five combat brigades in there and not have more aviation guys, military police, and intelligence units."

Where will the troops come from and why do the Republicans want to destroy the US military? Read More......

Second GOP Senator say Gonzales should go

Buh bye. (Hat tip: TPM) Read More......