When BYU protests Cheney, you know he's in trouble

Oh Dick. Read More......

Open thread

Another gorgeous day in DC today, hit around 80, and tomorrow the same. It's finally spring. Cherry blossoms are everywhere. Read More......

FCC tightens phone records privacy

Gee, you mean privacy is an issue? Who could have imagined that. More from CNN. (For anyone unaware of the background on the phone records privacy story, we're kind of responsible for blowing it up.) Read More......

Reid may move to cut Iraq war funds

Democrats, and a very few Republicans, are the only ones listening to the will of the American people. They are the only ones willing to challenge George Bush. They are the only ones willing to put their reputations on the line in an effort to stop this never-ending disaster in Iraq. Remember that come 2008. More from AP. Read More......

GOP Senators will openly support withdrawal from Iraq in September, says NBC's Andrea Mitchell

This is quite a little bombshell from the weekend talk shows:

NBC's ANDREA MITCHELL: I think the Republicans are going to crack. What I’ve been told from inside the moderate center of the Republican caucus is that the vote in favor of the president this week — it was against the president but the Republicans holding for the president — was misleading. That they really are not in favor of the surge. They don’t believe it’s going to work. But they basically said the president has until August, until Labor Day. After that, if it doesn’t work, they’re running.

The Democrats simply need to hold firm. Eventually, and far before the 2008 elections, the congress, the president and the American people are all going to be screaming for a withdrawal, and the Democrats will be credited for being the only party to have injected any sanity or truth into this debate. Read More......

White House spokesmen: Barbara Boxer was right to challenge Condi

The White House spokesmen acknowledged today what Senator Barbara Boxer said months ago, and got savaged by the White House for saying - namely, that having kids fighting over in Iraq changes the way a parent thinks about the war.

Here's what the White House said today about Bush's top 2004 election strategist who has now come out against the war and against Bush:

But both Perino and Bartlett acknowledged that part of Dowd's change in views has to be attributed to having a son getting ready to risk his life in a very difficult war. Bartlett said, "That can only impact a parent's mind when they work threw these issues." Perino said, "I can only imagine how this affects a parent's thinking."

And here is what Senator Boxer said a few months ago about Condi Rice:

"Who pays the price [for Bush's incompetence in Iraq]? I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young," Boxer said. "You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families."

And look at what the White House spokesman had to say about all of this just three months ago:

White House spokesman Tony Snow on Friday called Boxer's comments "outrageous."

"I don't know if she was intentionally that tacky, but I do think it's outrageous. Here you got a professional woman, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Barbara Boxer is sort of throwing little jabs because Condi doesn't have children, as if that means that she doesn't understand the concerns of parents. Great leap backward for feminism," Snow told FOX News Talk's Brian and The Judge.

Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia. Read More......

How is Dick Cheney's very pregnant lesbian out-of-wedlock single mom of a daughter doing?

Murphy, I mean Mary, is due in "late spring." That sounds a lot like May to me. We'll be doing regular pregnant-single-mom-lesbian-daughter updates every time Dick Cheney launches, like he did today, another low blow against the majority of Americans who oppose this debacle of a war (you might be surprised to hear that Dick Cheney thinks the majority of Americans hate the troops).

Read More......

McCain's Iraq delusions, Part II

Last week, CNN's Michael Ware challenged John McCain's unsubstantiated assertion that there were multiple neighborhoods in Baghdad where Americans could take a walk without any security at all. Ware, who is in Baghdad, explained that McCain was flat-out wrong. That, of course, set Ware up for a typical Republican smear campaign from all the right-wingers, comfortably safe here in the U.S. Almost on cue, Republican activist Matt Drudge launched the first salvo, claiming that Ware went crazy at McCain's Baghdad press conference, and that the CNN reporter actually heckled the good Senator.

Only problem? The video of the press conference (link below) shows Ware sitting quietly and politely the entire time. Oops. Maybe in John McCain's mind that's what happened.

Ware, unlike many of his colleagues based in the U.S., who cower before the GOP, fought back with facts and video. He kept the heat on McCain again this morning. You see, McCain is now claiming that the fact that his congressional delegation drove from the Baghdad airport to the Green Zone, rather than flew, is somehow evidence of how great things are now in Iraq. Ware explains how, yet again, John McCain is living in Never Neverland.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Michael Ware is following the delegation's movements in Baghdad for us this morning.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN BAGHDAD CORRESPONDENT: That's right. There is the Republican congressional delegation here in Iraq. Essentially, they're here to view the impact of the surge, or the Baghdad security plan, and, essentially, to sell its merits.

To say that, yes, it is having an impact and to take that message home to American people desperate to hear of signs of progress. Unfortunately, they chose a very poor way of displaying those signs of change and the signs of progress.

The fact that Senator McCain and a delegation can drive from the airport and walk around parts of Baghdad wrapped in a heavy security envelope is not new. Generals and American representatives have been doing such things throughout the war. Indeed, it's the old reinvented, as new. And is in no way a sign of the real progress of the surge, which the senators should be talking about.

Then Ware calls McCain out on the lie that Ware somehow heckled him.

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a question. There was a report that said you were heckling and you were laughing during the senator's press conference. Is that true?

WARE: Well, let's bear in mind that this is a report that was leaked by an unnamed official, of some kind, to a blog, to somewhere on the internet. No one is going to put their name forward. We certainly haven't heard Senator McCain say anything about it, or any of his staff have come forward to say anything about it.

I did not heckle the senator. Indeed, I didn't say a word. I didn't even ask a question. In fact, when I raised my hand to ask a question the press conference abruptly ended. So, what I would suggest is that anyone who has any queries about whether I heckled, watch the videotape of the press conference -- Soledad.

Raw Story has the video of Ware's response -- and the video of the news conference where Ware supposedly did the heckling of John McCain. You'll note that Ware doesn't even speak during the entire press conference, and when he tries to ask a question, the press conference is immediately called to a close.

Of note, Think Progress also has the video of NBC's Tom Aspell challenging McCain's "safe stroll" through Baghdad noting that with all the protection afforded the Senator, including 100 soldiers, 3 Blackhawk helicopters, and 2 Apache attack helicopters, "even Paris Hilton could ride a bicycle in a bikini through Anbar province.” Aspell can probably expect the next right wing attack. But Aspell and Ware have been in a war zone for years now. They're not intimidated by the right wing noise machine. They face death every day. Drudge doesn't really scare them.

Someone in the GOP delegation to Baghdad -- whether it was McCain and his people, or a Bush administration official -- sent the word to attack Ware. If the Republicans put as much time in to running the war as they do to attacking anyone who disagrees with them, we might make some progress. But, it's all one big political game for the Republicans. And when Ware and Aspell and other media based in Iraq tell the facts, they become the enemy to the Republicans.

All of us want the situation in Baghdad to improve. But we want the real story, not spin. That's what the GOP has given us for years. They've lied about the war -- and they'll keep doing it, unless responsible journalists like CNN's Michael Ware keep them honest. Read More......

Anatomy of a gay Republican

Like I've always said, gay Republicans are some seriously messed up people. RADAR online has an interview with conservative hero, and gay porn star hooker, Matt Sanchez. I'm sharing this because I think it's illustrative of the gay conservative closet (and most gay conservatives are still in such a closet regardless of how "out" they claim to be). It's like watching a therapy session, a very messy excruciatingly public therapy session, every time one of them talks (or writes).

Some of the juicy bits:

RADAR: You then became a right-wing cause celeb.

SANCHEZ: This is something you will hear a lot of on your side of the fence, you who have maligned me, when all I did was write an article about my experience and went on television to talk about it. I went on Fox News. It's curious that only Fox News was interested. CNN could have reported it, MSNBC could have reported it. I was on O'Reilly and Hannity & Colmes.

Yes, it is curious that only FOX News was dumb enough to get duped by a hypocritical gay man-whore porn star.

RADAR: So, you've appeared in gay porn films as both Rod Majors and Pierre LaBranche what's the difference between the two characters?

SANCHEZ: Okay, there is a current of homophobia involved here or at least self-loathing from the gay community. This is horrible. They are taking a situation and saying, "You're horrible because you suck c**k," and frankly, I don't ever remember sucking c**k on film, and it is not something that I ever enjoyed. [The left wing] is trying to discredit me because of these sexual acts.

So you didn't "inhale." And certainly didn't enjoy it. Uh huh. And by the way, no one on the left has a problem with Matt Sanchez giving and getting bj's, it's his own buddies at FOX News who have a problem with that.

Next we find out that GOP hero Matt Sanchez did not enjoy having sex with men.

RADAR: Matt, are you gay?

SANCHEZ: What's that?

RADAR: Are you gay?

SANCHEZ: No. I know this keeps coming up. I don't consider myself gay or a member of the gay community.

RADAR: If you watch Matt Sanchez in a movie with another guy and Matt Sanchez's d**k is hard, you'd think he must be having some fun.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, I think for someone who has sexual issues, yeah, maybe you would assume that. People can f**k anything for god's sake. I mean, one of the big problems they had in Quebec was finding a top, quite frankly.

Yeah, you'd have to have some pretty serious sexual issues to think that a guy with an erection is enjoying himself or that a guy having sex with another guy is gay. Oh wait, next Sanchez tells us he DID enjoy having sex with men.

RADAR: Have you ever enjoyed sex with men?

SANCHEZ: Did I enjoy sex with men? [Hesitantly] Sure.

Then the lord of all gay Republican man-whore hypocrites weighs in:

RADAR: I have one more question. It's from Jeff Gannon, actually, whom many in the media have compared you to. How do you handle the angry left?

SANCHEZ: The angry left should be dealt with like a dog on a chained leash, so it can only lunge at you so far before it hurts itself.

Yeah, no sexual issues there. Give that man a blog! (And a leash, apparently.) Read More......

White House may be hiding official communications in response to Hill inquiries

Uh, this is all starting to sound like some serious obstruction of justice. Read More......

AMERICAblog heals French nun with Parkinson's, becomes first blog to apply for sainthood

Hey, we're as responsible for this "miracle" as John Paul II:

The campaign to make Pope John Paul a saint reached a landmark on Monday as promoters offered proof of a purported miracle and a cardinal suggested it should be speeded up because there was no doubt of his sanctity.....

They include documentation on the case of Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a 46-year-old French nun diagnosed with Parkinson's -- the same disease that the late Pope had -- until she said it inexplicably disappeared two months after his death.

In May, 2005, Pope Benedict put John Paul on the fast track by dispensing with Church rules that normally impose a five-year waiting period after a candidate's death before the procedure that leads to sainthood can even start.

Uh, miracle perhaps. But connection to John Paul II? There's as much a connection to the AMERICAblog anniversary - the nun was cured two months after our one year anniversary of launch, which was also in April. This is why the Vatican has rules. This is why anyone has rules. To stop unscrupulous rulers and mob mentalities from rushing you into war - I mean, sainthood. Read More......

Violence in Iraq up 15% in March, location of McCain press conference showered with mortars right after he left

From Newsweek.com:

[E]ven though McCain cited a drop in violence, Agence France Presse on Sunday quoted an Iraqi official who reported a 15 percent increase in violence across Iraq in March. According to their tally, 2,078 civilians, cops and soldiers were killed last month, 272 more fatalities than in February..... it didn't take the insurgents long to send their reply. Less then 30 minutes after McCain wrapped up, a barrage of half a dozen mortars peppered the boundaries of the Green Zone, where the senators held their press conference.

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Because Bush went after Iraq, not the real terrorists, the real terrorists are re-building

Not only did George Bush not get 'em dead or alive, the leaders of al Qaeda have been expanding its operations. Not only did George Bush not get 'em dead or alive, he's helped spawn -- and train -- a new generation of leaders. While Bush led us in to a war that had nothing to do with September 11th, the actual perpetrators of that attack seem to be the prime beneficiary of that war in Iraq. The NY Times reports:

Much is still not known about the backgrounds of the new Qaeda leaders; some have adopted noms de guerre. Officials and outside analysts said they tend to be in their mid-30s and have years of battlefield experience fighting in places like Afghanistan and Chechnya. They are more diverse than the earlier group of leaders, which was made up largely of battle-hardened Egyptian operatives. American officials said the new cadre includes several Pakistani and North African operatives.

Experts say they still see Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia as largely independent of Al Qaeda’s hub in Pakistan but that they believe the fighting in Iraq will produce future Qaeda leaders.

“The jihadis returning from Iraq are far more capable than the mujahedeen who fought the Soviets ever were,” said Robert Richer, who was associate director of operations in 2004 and 2005 for the C.I.A. “They have been fighting the best military in the world, with the best technology and tactics.”

So, the new Al Qaeda is adept at fighting the U.S. military because the U.S. military is pinned down in a civil war that we helped start.

We are going to be suffering the effects of Bush's disastrous war policy for a long, long time. Read More......

Monday Morning Open Thread

Money, money, money. That's the political news today as the Presidential candidates tally up their first quarter haul. Money can buy a lot of things -- but it can't buy love.

Start the thread. Read More......

Bishops in Zimbabwe denounce government as "racist, corrupt and lawless"

Standing on the sidelines as people are beaten and starved is no longer an option. Desmund Tutu has gone public recently as well with his severe criticisms of the Mugabe government though it is a sad statement that so few others find it possible to stand up for the suffering population of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's influential Roman Catholic bishops have abandoned a long-standing reticence to criticise Robert Mugabe, damning his government as "racist, corrupt and lawless" and likening the struggle against it to the country's liberation war against white rule.

The pastoral letter, read out in churches yesterday, denounces "overtly corrupt" leaders for using "ever harsher oppression through arrests, detentions, banning orders, beatings and torture", days after Mr Mugabe said that his opponents deserved to be "bashed".

The Catholic bishops' conference letter warns that Zimbabwe is heading towards a "flashpoint" but appeals for "peace and restraint" in protests ahead of a two-day general strike called from tomorrow. The letter said young Zimbabweans "see their leaders habitually engaging in acts and words which are hateful, disrespectful, racist, corrupt, lawless, unjust, greedy, dishonest and violent in order to cling to the privileges of power and wealth".

The bishops say the seizure and redistribution of white-owned farms over recent years, the centrepiece of what Mr Mugabe portrays as his campaign to liberate Zimbabwe from the vestiges of colonialism, has enriched the elite but done little to help the poor. They conclude that the white settlers who once exploited what was Rhodesia have been supplanted by a black elite that is just as abusive.

At the same time, Mugabe's police have dragged opposition members out of the hospital (after alleged police beatings) to throw them into prison on new trumped up charges. Read More......

Tsunami wipes out village in Solomon Islands

The reports in so far vary, but the earthquake that hit was an 8.0 striking about 200 miles north of the capital. Some news outlets are reporting 10-12 dead but this has not yet been confirmed. Read More......

Open thread

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