Cheney: We'll get em one at a time

So, why don't you and the Cowboy suit up and head to Iraq to hunt the insurgents down "one at a time"? Round up the rest of the chickenhawks and form a posse:

Vice President Cheney declared yesterday that the United States "will not relent" in the war in Iraq and will hunt down insurgents there "one at a time if necessary," implicitly rebutting escalating pressure on the Bush administration to bring U.S. troops home.

This macho tough talk from Bush and Cheney only leads to trouble for the soldiers on the ground in Iraq. And, by the way, Dick, there was one uber-insurgent you were going to hunt down "dead or alive" and you ain't got him yet. Read More......

Ex-AOL Employee Who Stole Emails Gets 15 Months; $84,000 Fine

Good. Throw the book at these white collar criminals. Now here's hoping Sean Dunaway of Las Vegas, the spammer who bought those emails, gets ten times the penalty. Nothing brings out my lust for frontier justice like a spammer.) Read More......

Cindy's mother has had a stroke....

She had to leave Crawford today. Seriously, how much suffering should one person endure?:

The grieving woman who started an anti-war demonstration near President Bush's ranch nearly two weeks ago said today she was leaving because her mother had a stroke.

Cindy Sheehan told reporters she had just received the phone call and was leaving immediately to be with her 74-year-old mother at a Los Angeles hospital.

Read More......

Late night (in Paris at least) open thread

Getting ready for Sci-Fi Friday, Friday Cat Blogging, hitting some last museums (went to the Musee d'Orsee today, man what a cool place). Going to visit some photo museums tomorrow. Then need to write another Radar piece. Hate when work interferes with a perfectly good visit to a cool place. Read More......

Bush Official In Scandal? Promote Him!

Yep, yet another Bush appointee fails in his job and is rewarded with a promotion. The latest is Pentagon official Michael Wynne, who was involved in a scandal that has put two people behind bars. (Wynne himself lied to the White House budget office.) Bush wants Wynne to head the Air Force, which needs a new head because the LAST nominee had his own string of scandals and couldn't get confirmed. My favorite detail about the scandal, which involved leasing jets from Boeing for refueling:

The former Air Force official, Darleen Druyun, is serving a nine-month term at a federal prison in Florida. She admitted inflating the lease price as a "parting gift" to Boeing before leaving the Pentagon for a job at the aircraft giant in 2002.

A "parting gift?" What is this, "The Price Is Right?" How about creating a new reality show where someone tries to get fired by Bush? It could run for years, obviously, since even harming national security and outing a covert agent during war is fine by Bush. Read More......

Herding Cats or Cat Fight?

Lott's new book, Herding Cats, gets a little bitchy toward his successor/betrayer, Bill Frist. Love it when they fight amongst themselves, although I can't imagine either Lott or Frist with a hair out of place. Read More......

Monk Who Respected Other Religions Brutally Murdered

Brother Roger, a 90 year old monk who founded a community where Christians of all denominations and indeed any people of faith were respected and welcomed was brutally murdered by an apparently mad woman. A tragic loss -- Brother Roger was famous among Christians the world over, at least those who thought they should admire and honor the religious paths of other people, those who emphasized love and compassion instead of punishment and fear.

But his brutal slaying is somehow appropriate, somehow indicative of the world today, where intolerance and hatred is held as the highest ideal by the fundamentalists in so many religions, from many in my Catholic Church to the Protestants in America to the Episcopalians in Africa and Asia to the Muslims in the Middle East.

Brother Roger had little in common with people who denounced and belittled and put down others. Heck, the New Yorker details how even Billy Graham is seen as an apostate by fundamentalist Christians for reaching out to others with love (his son Franklin is a lot more intolerant and so a lot more to their liking). Yes, Brother Roger was too kind and loving for their taste. So, I believe, was Jesus. Read More......

Open Thread

Okay, let loose on Gaza, etc. Read More......

Republicans Speak Out Against The War

Thanks to DailyKos for rounding up these devastating quotes on the war:

"You can support the troops but not the president."
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Well, I just think it's a bad idea. What's going to happen is they're going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years."
--Joe Scarborough (R-FL)

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"
--Sean Hannity, Fox News,

"[The] President . . . is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy."
--Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)

"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy."
--Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of George W Bush

"I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning . . I didn't think we had done enough in the diplomatic area."
--Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)

"I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarified rules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our over-extended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today"
--Rep Tom Delay (R-TX)

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
--Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)

Oh, wait, did I mention these were Republicans denouncing Clinton for committing troops to Bosnia? Every reporter in the country should quote these very words back to those yahoos and force them to comment. (Thanks to threader sans-culotte for pointing us to this.) Read More......

Four more soldiers killed in Iraq

Mr. President, while you were biking:

Continued violence claimed the lives of four American soldiers today, the military said.

Read More......

War, Massive Debt, Supreme Court Battles, Gaza Tensions...And Bush Takes It Easy

The Bush vacation -- a five week affair that is astonishing during a time of war -- hits high gear this week, per USA Today. (Sorry, it's a tiny item by Judy Keen and I can't find a link.)

"This week is pure vacation: fishing, biking and his favorite ranch activity: clearing cedar."

Hey, it's not like anything important is going on. Read More......

OH Gov. Taft Pleads No Contest

The Ohio GOP is the poster child for a corrupt and bankrupt party. Taft is just the tip of the iceberg. Read More......

Open Thread

Coffee break. Read More......

Wasn't Afghanistan Supposed To Be A "Success" Story?

The Times of London reports on that forgotten country's sink into despair:

Nearly four years after the defeat of the Taleban, efforts to rebuild Afghanistan face a real and worrying risk of failure?, the British Government has concluded.

Terrorism remains an ever-present threat. Opium production is spreading. Large parts of the country's infrastructure are in tatters and United Nations targets for improving basic services such as education and water will not be met.

Don't annoy Bush by bringing this up. He still thinks Afghanistan -- which slipped his mind about a week after Bin Laden slipped away -- is just dandy. Read More......

Wow. One Woman Can make a difference

With a little help from her friends from TrueMajority, MoveOn.org, and Democracy for America.

The coverage of the vigils to support Cindy Sheehan has been quite extensive. Today Show News did a long piece showing events around the country. A sample of coverage:

Denver Post

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Hartford Courant

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Associated Press

Cincinnati Post

Boston Globe

Newsday Read More......

Bombs, Bombs Everywhere

Iraqi insurgents of course set off bombs killing dozens and injuring dozens more in Baghdad. But there were also terrorist bombings in Afghanistan to disrupt upcoming "elections" and DOZENS of bombs in Bangladesh (but small ones, so it's no biggie, Bush might say) to try and instill fear and help set up an Islamist theocracy in that Muslim but secular country.

Maybe we should just start listing the countries where terrorists DON'T set off bombs each day. Read More......

A little early morning Paris blogging

Figured I'd start another beautiful day with a few of my recent favorite pics from Paris. Enjoy.



Some windows reflecting the neighbors, near the Picasso Museum - I loved the reflection, the oddness of the reflection seemed apropos considering it was just outside the Picasso exhibit.



A plaza in Les Halles near the Pompidou Center.



A man waiting for a bus near our place in the 14th. I just loved the way the wind was blowing his shirt. Read More......

GOP Worried Iraq May Hurt Them In 2006

Gee, you think? My favorite lines from the NYT:

Some said that the perception that the war was faltering was providing a rallying point for dispirited Democrats and could pose problems for Republicans in the Congressional elections next year....

"There is just no enthusiasm for this war," said Representative John J. Duncan Jr., a Tennessee Republican who opposes the war. "Nobody is happy about it. It certainly is not going to help Republican candidates, I can tell you that much."

Really, what is wrong with kids these days when they can't get enthusiastic about war?

And what's with claiming there's a "perception" things aren't going well? Could that "perception" be based on news like this:

Three car bombs exploded Wednesday in quick succession in and around a crowded bus station in Baghdad, killing at least 43 people, injuring 88 and paralyzing one of Iraq's most important transportation networks.

Read More......

Teens: Schools Favor Sports Over Study

I'm not big on polls, but this one shows teens are pretty savvy while educators want to deny reality.

USA Today reports that 45% of teens surveyed feel unsafe in schools, especially in larger towns and cities. The head of the National Association of Secondary School Principals insists kids are wrong and "schools are increasingly safe." That's right, the kids are paranoid for no good reason; maybe we should up their dosage to keep 'em docile.

And when 41% of teens say their school emphasizes athletics as opposed to 27% which say academics is the top priority, the same bozo admits that "in certain parts of the country, athletics rule supreme" but insists the kids are wrong again and most schools are focused on academics.

It sounds like public schools need to start listening to their students instead of their own pr. And here's the proof high schools are failing kids: a new report says

Hundreds of thousands of this year's college-bound high school graduates aren't prepared enough academically to succeed in college.

Read More......