Despite -- or because of -- Bush's mentoring and tough talk, Al-Maliki's government is crumbling.

Just last week, George Bush and the Iraqi Prime Minister had another one of their chats:

Bush and al-Maliki spoke in a secure video conference, part of a regular series of conversations on the war and Iraq's struggling democracy.

"The president emphasized that the Iraqi people and the American people need to see action—not just words—but need to see action on the political front," said White House press secretary Tony Snow. "The prime minister agreed."

Well, there's been some action all right. Not the action Bush wanted. His tough talk backfired and the government is crumbling fast. This is the government that is supposed to lead Iraq away from the violence so our troops can come home. It's not working:

Five ministers suspended their participation in meetings of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s cabinet on Monday, sending a warning signal that they may pull out of his increasingly isolated government if their demands are not met.

The five are members of the secular Iraqiya coalition led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a moderate group whose lawmakers are drawn from across sectarian lines. Their move, coupled with the largest Sunni Arab bloc’s decision to withdraw its six ministers last week, struck yet another blow to Mr. Maliki’s faltering efforts to present his religious Shiite-led coalition as a “national unity” government.

Listen, this sucks for the U.S. But to be fair to al-Maliki, he never had a chance. That chat Bush and al-Maliki had last week was just one of many they've had. George Bush has been mentoring the Iraqi Prime Minister on leadership as we reported two weeks ago:

But, now we know that Bush is actually trying to mentor the Iraqi prime minister. Yes, think about that. As if it's not bad enough for Al-Maliki, he has to get regular coaching sessions from the worst President ever. That's what we learned in today's NY Times:

Once every two weeks, sometimes more often, President Bush gathers with the vice president and the national security adviser in the newly refurbished White House Situation Room and peers, electronically, into the eyes of the man to whom his legacy is so inextricably linked: Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq.

In sessions usually lasting more than an hour, Mr. Bush, a committed Christian of Texas by way of privileged schooling in New England, and Mr. Maliki, an Iraqi Shiite by way of political exile in Iran and Syria, talk about leadership and democracy, troop deployments and their own domestic challenges.

Need we say more? Read More......

Ex-gay ministry Exodus hires lobbyist as 'Director of Governmental Affairs'

Box Turtle Bulletin's Jim Burroway reports that pray-away-the-gay Exodus organization has denied having a political agenda in the past, saying it is only a ministry to save gay people who want to be "free" of homosexuality, but clearly, this move makes it clear that's not the case. It was only a matter of time before it jumped whole hog into political lobbying.

At the Exodus Freedom Conference, Amanda Banks, the new Director of Governmental Affairs gave a talk ("Revolutionizing the Public Square") which outlined this shift.

Playing on the "Revolution" theme of the conference, she talked about the unique role Exodus is playing in "bringing about a revolution, to affect a radical change in" the larger culture - more specifically, in public policy.

Take note of the wingnut welfare connections of these folks.

Unlike most employees at Exodus, Amanda Banks is not a "former homosexual," although she said she has a family member "affected by homosexuality.' She graduated with honors in public policy from Indiana University, and joined Focus on the Family to spend four years as Focus's chief liaison to Congress working as a federal policy analyst.

It just so happened that her cubicle at Focus's Colorado Springs headquarters was located next to Melissa Fryrear's, a prominent Love Won Out speaker. Through Banks's day-to-day association with Fryrear, she got to know Alan Chambers and Randy Thomas and their "growing desire to be relevant to the culture" -- in other words, to make Exodus a more explicitly political organization. She and her husband moved to back to their home state of Indiana and she was hired by Exodus last March. She works from her home in Indiana.

But Amanda Banks still retains extensive ties with Focus on the Family. In addition to her position with Exodus, she is also vice-president of The Wabash Group, a public affairs firm dedicated to conservative political candidates and causes. Her husband Jim Banks is President. He is also a former Focus on the Family organizer for their Family Policy Councils, and the Wabash Group list Focus on the Family at the very top of their list of clients and employers.

Banks also spewed the oft-repeated lies about hate crimes legislation and ENDA as talking points. She has even adopted the insane Lou Sheldon's (of the Traditional Values Coalition) ludicrous claims  that ENDA would require would require religious organizations to hire pedophiles and multiple "sexual orientations" such as:

apotemnophilia, asphyxophilia, autogeynphilia, bisexual, corprophilia, exhibitionism, fetishism/sexual fetishism, frotteurism, heterosexuality, homosexual, gender identity disorder, gerontosexuality, incest, kleptophilia, klismaphilia, necrophilia, partialism, pedophilia, prostitution, sexual masochism, sexual sadism, telephone scatalogia, toucherism, transgenderism, transsexual, transvestite, transvestic fetishism, urophilia, voyeurism, or zoophilia/bestiality

I'm not kidding.

Go read the rest. Read More......

Open thread

And this is the alleged savior of the GOP presidential field -- the yet-to-announce Fred Thompson, at Sunday's GOP clown car debate:

"I believe that Vice President Cheney is criticized for a lot of things that he doesn't do. And I believe that Dick Cheney is an honorable individual. And I think the president of the United States depends a great deal upon him."

Like the Freepers are begging, run, Fred, run. Read More......

Because what Iraq needs is . . . more weaponry?

WaPo reports today that the Pentagon has "lost track of" nearly 200,000 guns in Iraq. Fully 30% of the weapons distributed to Iraqi forces from 2004 to earlier this year are unaccounted for.

The incompetence of administration leadership continues to infuriate, if not surprise. Some of these arms have certainly fallen into the hands of insurgents, with the rest probably going to sectarian militias such as the Badr Brigades and the Mahdi Militia. Our soldiers, then, are fighting an enemy equipped by U.S. taxpayers.

Recently a person I trust told me that Iraq is currently a net exporter of weapons. That is, despite the war(s) raging within, and the necessity of staying supplied for those conflicts, there are so many weapons that more guns are being sold and exported than are coming in. I don't have any way of independently verifying that, but if true (or even close to true), it is yet another reason why the Iraq war is hurting the security of the U.S., its citizens, and the world.

I'm sure there are dozens of people responsible for this debacle, but one stands out:

[T]he GAO said weapons distribution was haphazard and rushed and failed to follow established procedures, particularly from 2004 to 2005, when security training was led by Gen. David H. Petraeus, who now commands all U.S. forces in Iraq.

But . . . but . . . General Petraeus was supposed to fix everything -- all the serious people in Washington told me so! It makes me glad I'm no longer at DoD; considering what we threaten to do to Iran and Syria without any hard evidence of wrongdoing, Bush will probably bomb the Pentagon when he hears about this.

Incidentally, lest you think this is a general problem with weapons disbursement, or even just a general military problem, you should know that we distributed $100 million worth of defense equipment in Bosnia, and the GAO found no problems in accounting for those weapons. Read More......

Calls grow for investigation of Boehner for leaking classified info

The House Republican leader could have quite literally put the lives of our troops at risk. And after all, if the Republicans are about anything (and that's a big "if"), they're about protecting the troops. So why is Boehner off leaking classified documents to FOX News? And what is FOX doing broadcasting this treason? Read More......

VA GOP Congressman Thelma Drake freaks out over being filmed in public

This is hysterical. "Are you filming me?", the member of Congress asks at a public event. Then we need to film you! Wow, someone's a bit uptight.

Read More......

Bush extends his reach into citizens' privacy yet again

No warrants necessary. And the Dems let him have it. (NYT):

President Bush signed into law on Sunday legislation that broadly expanded the government’s authority to eavesdrop on the international telephone calls and e-mail messages of American citizens without warrants.

Congressional aides and others familiar with the details of the law said that its impact went far beyond the small fixes that administration officials had said were needed to gather information about foreign terrorists. They said seemingly subtle changes in legislative language would sharply alter the legal limits on the government’s ability to monitor millions of phone calls and e-mail messages going in and out of the United States.

They also said that the new law for the first time provided a legal framework for much of the surveillance without warrants that was being conducted in secret by the National Security Agency and outside the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 1978 law that is supposed to regulate the way the government can listen to the private communications of American citizens.

...Previously, the government needed search warrants approved by a special intelligence court to eavesdrop on telephone conversations, e-mail messages and other electronic communications between individuals inside the United States and people overseas, if the government conducted the surveillance inside the United States....

By changing the legal definition of what is considered “electronic surveillance,” the new law allows the government to eavesdrop on those conversations without warrants — latching on to those giant switches — as long as the target of the government’s surveillance is “reasonably believed” to be overseas.

For example, if a person in Indianapolis calls someone in London, the National Security Agency can eavesdrop on that conversation without a warrant, as long as the N.S.A.’s target is the person in London.

Melissa has a good roundup of reaction over at her pad, including, the ACLU, Larisa Alexandrovna, Glenn Greenwald, Shayana Kadidal, Publius, and Steve Benen. Kevin Drum:

"All [the government have] to do is claim that the real target is the foreigner and that a 'significant purpose' of the eavesdropping is related to intelligence gathering. Not terrorism, mind you, just intelligence generically. What's more, they don't even have to go to the minimal trouble of making that claim to a court. They can just make it and approve it themselves. So that's that. The government is now legally allowed to monitor all your calls overseas with only the most minimal oversight. But don't worry. I'm sure they'll never misuse this power. They never have before, have they?"

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Forget the real issues, MSNBC is talking sex and the candidates

Ick. I decided to watch MSNBC today for a change of pace. Not good. There were two major presidential forums over the weekend: The Democrats were at Yearly Kos and the Repubs. were on ABC. Major issues were discussed. The Republicans pledged fealty to Bush's failed war agenda. So, what's MSNBC been covering all day? Sex. And, they brought in Chris Cilizza from the Washington Post to join the discussion. I wish I was kidding, but I'm not. So while the bloggers are busy discussing the war and the economy and gay rights, the traditional media is obsessing about "Sex & the Candidates":
Read More......

Neocons Never Leave

Pretty much everyone with a brain agrees that the Administration's approach to Iraq was disastrous (this excludes both Cheney and Lieberman). So you would think the architects of Bush's war, neoconservatives, would be banished to the political wilderness. Somehow, these guys are still around, and now they are giving the '08 candidates advice:

Most Americans disapprove of the Iraq war and of exporting democracy by force, yet neoconservative proponents of those policies advise the leading Republican presidential hopefuls.

"There is an overwhelming presence of neoconservatives and absence of traditional conservatives that I don't know what to make of," said Richard V. Allen, former Reagan White House national security adviser.

Advisers to Sen. John McCain of Arizona include Robert Kagan, co-founder of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century (PNAC), while former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's policy team includes Norman Podhoretz, a founder of the neoconservative movement, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gets advice from Dan Senor, who counseled L. Paul Bremer III, the Coalition Provisional Authority administrator in Iraq.

I cannot believe that candidates would listen to an individual with a history of terrible advice. But I guess this explains Bob Shrum, right? Read More......

Monday Morning Open Thread

Congress has gone home. Can't say they left on a high note after that FISA debacle. But, all the members are back in their districts -- where they should be hearing from the people they are supposed to represent. It could be a long August for some of those pro-Iraq war Republicans. They've been listening to Bush, not their voters.

So what's going on out there? Read More......

A great piece of US history in the works

A few years ago I had the good fortune to see this fabulous project and can't wait to see the finished result which carries a lot of interesting history both for the US and for our oldest friend, France.

For a decade now, historians, architects, carpenters, boat builders, craftsmen and blacksmiths have lovingly — if slowly — sought to recreate the Hermione, the 145-foot, 32-gun, three-masted frigate that in 1780 carried a young French nobleman known as the Marquis de Lafayette on a 38-day voyage to Boston.

Lafayette had already made his reputation, fighting for the cause of American liberty alongside Gen. George Washington against the British. The mission this time was to bring word that King Louis XVI would send a half-dozen ships and 5,000 infantry soldiers to help the rebels.

Read on and check out the photos of this really fun project. Read More......

Finding love on YouTube: The "Boyfriending" Story

Okay, I'm usually not one for romance, but here's a fun little late night story. The always cool Bloggernista introduced me to Nick and Chris, who found each other over YouTube. They did a series of videos that really were endearing. Last week, they finally met. Bloggernista said this was "sweetest thing ever." And, he's right. It's adorable. The "boyfriending" series of videos can be found here. This is how it started:


You Tube: It's not just for Presidential debates anymore. Read More......