Open thread

I believe Specter said today that Gonzales may still quit this week. George Will mentioned that Gonzales was doing some serious damage to the Dept of Justice by staying. There is just no way he can survive for long. Well, then again, the Bush people are known for hanging on far longer than they should (think: Terri Schiavo and Iraq). And I'm kind of enjoying have the entire Dept of Justice tied up in knots so that it can't do any more damage. Read More......

Global warming and debunking the myths

The Guardian links to a great site that addresses the common myths promoted by the anti-warming crowd. Senator Inhofe is not going to be happy. Read More......

Bush I & II bookend low points of American satisfaction

Only a quarter of the American population thinks the country is going in the right direction, with the war in Iraq leading the list of problems, dissatisfaction with Bush coming in second. Read More......

Assessments Made in 2003 Foretold Situation in Iraq: Intelligence Studies List Internal Violence, Terrorist Activity

From the Washington Post:

Two intelligence assessments from January 2003 predicted that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and subsequent U.S. occupation of Iraq could lead to internal violence and provide a boost to Islamic extremists and terrorists in the region, according to congressional sources and former intelligence officials familiar with the prewar studies.

Yes, no one could have imagined that Iraq would go to hell as a result of our invasion. Oh, no, that's right, someone did imagine it. Bush simply ignored the advice of his experts. And now 3,400 American soldiers and Marine, and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Iraqi civilians are dead as a result. And don't forget, Iraq is 1/10th the size of the US - their population is 27 million, ours is 300 million - so their civilian deaths, per capita, would be equivalent to hundreds of thousands, and potentially millions, of American civilians killed. Read More......

I think this is kind of fun

We'll see if it can handle the load of the large number of visitors to the site, but in principle, it should show the location of recent visitors. I think it only shows the last 200 visitors - we'll find out.

Read More......

Iraq a "big moneymaker" for al-Qaida, says CIA

From the Los Angeles Times:

Little more than a year ago, al-Qaida's core command was thought to be in a financial crunch. But U.S. officials said cash shipped from Iraq has eased those troubles.

"Iraq is a big moneymaker for them," a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said.

This war is helping Al Qaeda. George Bush is helping Al Qaeda. And every member of Congress, Republican and Democrat, who continues to support this war is helping Al Qaeda. We already knew this - the CIA determined a long time ago that Iraq had become the newest and best training ground for Al Qaeda in the world, but now we discover that the Iraq war has also replenished Al Qaeda's faltering finances.

The Republicans have quite literally enabled Al Qaeda so that they are better able to kill our troops, and our civilians, in Iraq, Afghanistan and at home. When is the Republican noise machine going to start defending America instead of defending their failed president? Read More......

Six soldiers killed by Baghdad bomb

Brutal. Just brutal. And wrong. Just wrong:

Six U.S. soldiers and an interpreter were killed by a roadside bomb in western Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said in a statement on Sunday.

How much longer will this madness continue? Read More......

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

The two i-words dominate the shows today: Iraq and Immigration. Newtie is going to defend the Bush war on Russert today. That Newt is a conniving guy, getting a lot of face time on t.v...he's gearing up to run for Pres. Gonzales and that ever-growing will get some attention, too.

Here's the line-up:

This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Topics: Iraq war funding, immigration, and the first five months of Democratic control of the House of Representatives. Guests: Nancy Pelosi, House speaker; Senator Mitch McConnell, Senate minority leader....

Newsmakers. Guests: Stephen Johnson, Environmental Protection Agency administrator. 10 a.m. [EDT] (C-Span)

Fox News Sunday. Topic : immigration. Guests: Senator Charles Schumer, New York Democrat; Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina; Sandra Day O'Connor, former Supreme Court justice; Paul Hays, former House reading clerk....

Meet the Press with Tim Russert. Topics: Iraq; the newly published "The Reagan Diaries." Guests: Senator Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut; Newt Gingrich, former House speaker; Douglas Brinkley, editor; Michael Deaver, Reagan White House deputy chief of staff; and Ed Meese, former attorney general under Reagan....

Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer. Topics: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; the Iraq surge. Guests: Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania; Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California; Fred Kagan, military historian; retired General Paul Eaton. 10:30 a.m....

Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer. Topics: Homeland security; Iraq war funding; Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; immigration debate; 2008 presidential election; turmoil in Gaza; and nuclear Iran. Guest: Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security; Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce; Senator Carl Levin chairman, Armed Services Committee; Senator Mel Martinez, Republican National Committee chairman; Representative Brian Bilbray, chairman, Immigration Reform Caucus; Representative Ron Paul, presidential candidate; Shibley Telhami, senior fellow, Brookings Institution; and Vali Nasr, adjunct senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations. 11 a.m. [EDT] (CNN)

What a crew.

Start the fun. Read More......

Bush puts Americans on front line of food safety

Who needs an FDA when you can have an entire nation act as guinea pigs? OK, so a few people and their pets die while countless others become ill...but think about the enormous financial impact of selling $5 billion worth of agriculture goods to China in return for the $232 billion trade deficit. What's not to love about that deal? The Bush administration loves to talk tough about protecting America this is yet another area where they cowering in the corner, afraid to disrupt the supposed business opportunities in China instead of acting in support of the broad population of Americans. Special interests rule every last decision with Bush.

The Cabinet-level "strategic economic dialogue" with China, which began in September and is scheduled to resume on Wednesday, was described early on as a chance for the United States and China to break a long-standing stalemate on trade issues. When it comes to the safety of imported foods, though, they may highlight the limited leverage that the United States has.

It's true, that the US is absolutely helpless in this battle for demanding a minimum quality for food. We might as well just accept it and live with the deadly consequences and just hope for the best, or at least this looks like the Bush policy.

China and other countries can choose to produce food however they want to produce food but as consumers - very large consumers, at that - US consumers can choose not to do business with those producers. Let's see how quickly things change if the US started to label foods, identifying them as products of suspect quality and origin. Of course, this again comes back to the issue of the need for increased oversight. Read More......

Summer vacation courtesy of America

If they don't care, why should Americans? Is this what Americans are fighting and dying for? Is this what our tax dollars are supporting instead of something important such as health care for the US? Read More......