Who's not telling the truth?

Someone is lying. You decide who.

Option A: Military officials who are on the ground in Iraq.
From Wednesday's NY Times:

American casualties from bomb attacks in Iraq have reached new heights in the last two months as insurgents have begun to deploy devices that leave armored vehicles increasingly vulnerable, according to military records.

Last month there were about 700 attacks against American forces using so-called improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.'s, the highest number since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to the American military command in Iraq and a senior Pentagon military official. Attacks on Iraqis also reached unprecedented levels, Lt. Gen. John Vines, a senior American ground commander in Iraq, told reporters on Tuesday.

Option B: Scott McClellan, Bush and Cheney.
From today's White House briefing thanks to E&P;:

Q Scott, can we get a clear "yes" or "no" answer on whether the President agrees on the Vice President's assessment that the insurgency is in "its last throes?" Is it a "yes" or "no"?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think I already answered this question the last couple of days.

Q Is it "yes" or is it "no"?

MR. McCLELLAN: And I've talked about it the last couple of days. If you look -- if you look at the terrorists and the regime elements that are seeking to derail the transition to democracy, they are in a desperate mode, and here's why. Let me walk you through this.

First of all, I think, to begin with, you ought to go back and look back at the full context of the Vice President's remarks, where he talked about the progress we're making to go after and capture al Qaeda elements that are inside Iraq -- like Zarqawi lieutenants. Just last week, we captured one of his top lieutenants, a very dangerous man who is responsible for the killing of a lot of innocent civilians inside Iraq....

So I think you have to look at the facts on the ground. And the facts on the ground show that the Iraqi people are making important progress on the political front to build a free and democratic future. The vision of the terrorists is one of chaos and destruction. They really have no vision. Their only alternative is chaos and destruction and the killing of innocent civilians.

And that's what I talked about yesterday. They, every step of the way, have not been able to stop the progress that the Iraqi people are making on the political front. And they are being defeated and they will be defeated.

Q So that's a "yes"?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, I said that. I said that the other day.

Read More......

Credit industry tells Washington everything is OK

Gee, sounds just like Bush, Cheney and Rummy telling us that everything in Iraq is just fine. With a sprinkling of campaign donations for all, this issue could drag on for a while. A few radical, lefty, commie, freedom-hating states such as California, Illinois and Connecticut either have or are promoting credit freeze programs which provide consumers with more control over the "professionals" handing out credit. What a novel idea here where the actual consumer gets a bit of control over their own credit. Crazy!

Naturally the credit industry, our close friends who care only that we are properly served a healthy portion of credit, think that such a freeze is a problem and consumers will not be happy. Yep, we're all to stupid to handle that tricky process and would prefer allowing the credit industry to manage that process for us. Boy am I glad that our friends are there to help out. Read More......

Reporter asks McClellan if any of the Bush clan are serving in the military

What are J&B; doing? Read More......

For a little lighter reading

An ex-"ex"-gay is pissed at the "ex"-gays for using his photo as proof that they can cure gays, when of course, the guy is now totally gay. Confusing, but interesting :-) Read More......

June is apparently the cruelest month

Job cuts galore. Thanks, Mr. Bush! Read More......

Big Brother Is Watching What You Read

John Ashcroft lied when he said the Justice Department really wasn't interested in what you were reading. And Bush lied when he said that the gov't really, really needed the power to go on fishing expeditions in libraries and bookstores without a warrant but they would never actually use it.

Now this gets tricky, because under the Patriot Act, libraries aren't allowed to say if they've been approached by the Justice Dept. under the auspices of the UnPatriotic Act. But the American Library Association did a sideways survey and found libraries have been approached by federal, state and local officials with subpoenas and informal requests for info dozens of times. (Keep in mind, the feds sometimes work through local officials to make these requests.)

There were 137 formal requests or demands for information in [the survey's] time, 49 from federal officials and the remainder from state or local investigators. Federal officials have sometimes used local investigators on joint terrorism task forces to conduct library inquiries.

In addition, the survey found that 66 libraries had received informal law enforcement requests without an official legal order, including 24 federal requests. Association officials said the survey results, if extrapolated from the 500 public libraries that responded, would amount to a total of some 600 formal inquires since 2001....

Ms. Sheketoff at the library association acknowledged that critics of the study may accuse the group of having a stake in the outcome of the Patriot Act debate. "Sure, we have a dog in this fight, but the other side has been mocking us for four years over our 'baseless hysteria,' and saying we have no reason to be concerned," she said. "Well, these findings say that we do have reason to be concerned."

Now keep in mind, if the Feds have a hot clue, in the past they could and have gotten a warrant to obtain info to catch criminals or terrorists. (That's how they busted the Unabomber and the Zodiac Killer.) So why this need for broad, unlimited totalitarian-like powers without the checks and balance of a judge?

Thanks Bush for turning libraries into symbols of fear where the government watches your every move and high school students doing some research could become the target of a probe. Reading is Dangerous. Knowledge is Weakness. Hello Big Brother. Read More......

Durbin apologizes. Meanwhile, Mayor Daley is an idiot

Well we can add Chicago Mayor Daley to the list of spineless Democrats.

According to AP, Senator Durbin has apologized for criticizing the horrible violation of human rights being committed by the Bush Administration at Guantanamo Bay. Durbin specifically read a horrific report of the conditions at Gitmo, and said it sounded as if he was reading a report about a Soviet Gulag, Pol Pot, or a Stalin prison camp. And Durbin was right. The report did sound like something you'd expect from a despot, rather than a beacon of Democracy.

But in America, Democracy is dead. Freedom is dead. The far-right now controls the Republican party and the White House. America is free to do whatever it wants in the world and at home, and that includes crimes, torture, and any violation of domestic or international law. Why? Because if you complain about it, President Joseph McCarthy Bush and his minions on FOX TV and the US Congress will shut you the hell up so fast, your career will spin.

For any of you real Republicans and conservatives left out there. You ought to be very afraid now that America stands for the idea that our government can do no wrong and knows no bounds. Some day that government will turn its eyes towards you. Read More......

Open thread

What's up? Read More......

Because Bill Frist is a spineless puppet

This morning:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Tuesday he won't schedule another vote on John R. Bolton's nomination as U.N. ambassador and said President Bush must decide the next move. A State Department spokesman chastised Senate Democrats, saying Bolton has been left "hanging in the wind."

Frist, R-Tenn., said there was nothing further he could do to break a Democratic stalemate with the Bush White House over Bolton, an outspoken conservative who, opponents argue, would undermine U.S. interests at the world body.

This afternoon:

Reversing field after a meeting with President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said he will continue pushing for a floor vote on John R. Bolton for U.N. ambassador. Frist switched his position after initially saying Tuesday that negotiations with Democrats to get a vote on Bolton had been exhausted.

Talking to reporters in the White House driveway after he joined other GOP lawmakers for a luncheon with Bush, Frist said: "The president made it very clear that he expects an up or down vote."

There was a time when Congress was an independent branch of government. Frist helped change that.

Whatever....the GOP can keep following the lame duck's lead....and watch their poll numbers drop even more. Read More......

EJ Dionne on Bush and Cheney: They're Not Liars...

They're idiots. Read More......

Polls tanking, lame duck Bush decides to bash gays

What? No one was able to raise the terror color code alert? Read More......

In case folks missed it last night...

I've posted a TON of new t-shirts and items in the AMERICAblog.com gift shop. Check it out - now includes more DSM stuff, orchid stuff, and more. And much more to come about Gitmo, more orchids, etc. Read More......

Arnold's tanking too

Wow. He's falling really fast....From the Mercury News:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's once enviable approval ratings have plunged to new depths after last week's decision to call a November special election that few Californians want.

Just as he needs to rally public support for a trio of ballot measures, Schwarzenegger the salesman is turning off droves of Democrats and political independents, according to a non-partisan Field Poll that started about an hour after the governor went on statewide television last week to announce the Nov. 8 election. Even some fellow Republicans are turning their back on the governor, according to the poll released today, although he's still a popular GOP figure.

Thirty-seven percent of voters -- and 31 percent of California adults -- now say they approve of the governor's job performance, the survey found. That's down about 20 percentage points from his ratings in February.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Read More......

Senators Smith (R-OR) and Hutchison (R-TX) bravely come out against lynching

Brave souls. That leaves 11 Republicans as members of the Lynch Mob. Come on guys, make me update my tshirt again.

202-224-3121 - main Senate switchboard, then ask for your Senator's office

Alexander (R-TN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Enzi (R-WY)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thomas (R-WY) Read More......

President of GoDaddy.com backs down

You may recall that last night I wrote about the president of GoDaddy.com going after Senator Durbing, defending Gitmo, etc. Well, he's since backed down. Curious what your response is to his new statement. Read More......

Did Limbaugh just lie again?

Here's what he said on yesterday's show

At any rate, the Downing Street memo, the reason it's such an item in the news is because it's what spawned this mock impeachment hearing that took place Thursday night in Washington. This is the thing that was chaired by John Conyers, and this is where all the anti-Semitism came out of the mouths of a bunch of Democrats that participated in this thing, and it's that which Howard Dean has now had to go out and say, "Anti-Semitism, why, that's not part of our party," blah, blah.

In fact, there was some nutjub in the public audience who started handing out anti-Semitic crap, and he was routinely denounced by the entire Democratic party. So what exactly is Limbaugh talking about when he says "all the anti-Semitism came out of the mouths of a bunch of Democrats that participated in this thing"? Which Democratic congressmen in particular were spouting anti-Semitism, Rush? Or are you back on your prescriptions again? Read More......

Bush didn't give Marine units in Iraq enough equipment

Yeah, the Republicans really love our troops. That's why it's Democratic blogs who are the ones so irate about stories like these. Think about that, any of your servicemembers who might be reading this today. You won't hear people pushing to alleviate this problem on the conservative blogs, or from the Bush administration.

From the Boston Globe:

Marine Corps units fighting in some of the most dangerous terrain in Iraq don't have enough weapons, communications gear, or properly outfitted vehicles, according to an investigation by the Marine Corps' inspector general provided to Congress yesterday.

The report, obtained by the Globe, says the estimated 30,000 Marines in Iraq need twice as many heavy machine guns, more fully protected armored vehicles, and more communications equipment to operate in a region the size of Utah.

The Marine Corps leadership has ''understated" the amount and types of ground equipment it needs, according to the investigation, concluding that all of its fighting units in Iraq ''require ground equipment that exceeds" their current supplies, ''particularly in mobility, engineering, communications, and heavy weapons."

Read More......

Bush's Bigotry Endangers National Security

Front page headline of yesterday's USA Today: "Terror war still short on linguists." We are still desperately short of Arab language linguists, which leaves the US in the lurch overseas and incapable of translating literally millions of emails, letters, phone transcripts and other secret intelligence that is simply piling up. It can take 10 YEARS for someone to become proficient, if they apply themselves. In 2002, only SIX students received undergraduate degrees in Arabic.

And yet, Bush continues to put bigotry and prejudice ahead of national security. As you know, a number of qualified, patriotic Americans with invaluable Arabic language skills have been kicked out of the military simply because they were gay.

Every day that Bush refuses to reinstate them, he is putting our troops and our country at risk. Why does Bush hate national security? Read More......

USAToday: Americans "generally in a funk"

So, we are in a funk because of the failed presidency of George Bush -- hence the lame duck status. USAToday/CNN/Gallup poll has more bad numbers for Team Chimpy:

The public has lost confidence in the Bush administration's ability to protect the nation from terrorist attacks, the poll shows, but 61% are still confident it can.

Satisfaction with the way things are going in the war on terrorism is at a new low: 52%, down from 75% in September 2002.

"On one hand, we have been lulled by the fact that there hasn't been an attack here since 2001," says Stephen Wayne, a political scientist at Georgetown University. "But on the other, we're generally in a funk about a lot of things — the economy and the war — and these numbers reflect it."

Thirty-nine percent of Americans, mostly Republicans, now say they favor the war in Iraq, down from a high of 72% in April 2003, the day after the statue of Saddam was pulled down in Baghdad.

The poll has Bush approval at 47%. Not good times for the White House...and they are not changing course apparently. Read More......

AP: Bush fighting "Lame-Duck Label"

The lame duck moniker is becoming pervasive. AP basically says thats the case with the Bolton nomination:

President Bush faces a politically thorny situation - and stark choices - now that Senate Democrats twice have blocked John Bolton's confirmation as U.N. ambassador.

The president could withdraw the nomination, authorize further concessions to Democrats over access to information they seek or bypass lawmakers altogether by appointing the former State Department official to the job temporarily without the Senate's OK.

But any of those options could leave the president appearing weak as he confronts sagging poll numbers and fights to stave off a lame-duck label just six months into his final term.

In one paragraph about Bush: Weak, Sagging poll number, lame-duck....that's our Chimpy. Who knew Bolton would become such a great asset to the Dems. and such a disaster for Bush? Read More......

What do you do when you have an unpopular war?

You make sure to change the subject and throw out the name of the guy you talked about but forgot about years ago. Is there really anything newsworthy in talking about Bin Laden right now? Read More......

Why does Bush hate America and allow illegal immigrants at a nuclear facility?

I mean, who really cares about security at a facility that holds enriched uranium and dismantles weapons? Security must be for wimpy lefties. Read More......