Open thread

Anything in the morning news yet? Read More......

Privacy of 26.5 million US veterans violated

How many times do I have to mention the word

PRIVACY

before a Democrat on the Hill gets a clue and jumps on this issue that just keeps on giving and giving and giving?

Do you people actually WANT to take over Congress, or is it just all talk?

Read about the latest fiasco. Read More......

Markos in a Ned Lamont campaign ad

UPDATE: You can see the actual ad here.



Okay, this apparently made its way around the blogosphere 5 days ago, yet no one told me. I just watched Lamont's ad, surprisingly enough on our most recent Politics TV "Monday Morning Blogger" show, and there is Markos waltzing in saying something like "Hey, you're Ned Lamont!"

Anyway, it's about almost halfway into our latest Monday Morning Blogger video that I host. You can watch it here.

PS I didn't feel like wearing make-up today, so I'm shiny. Read More......

Drudge corrects false story about Howard Dean, kind of

Hey, at least he corrected it, kind of. Read More......

More spin on Iraq

With Blair's fly-by visit to Iraq, we're hearing all of the usual stuff about progress. I thought that I even just heard on the BBC that the new Iraqi PM said something about troop cutbacks by the end of the year or the Iraq army taking over. It's hard to pay much attention to it all because we've been there so many damned times. While insisting at the press conference that sectarian violence doesn't exist in Iraq (uh huh) and that there is no civil war, new PM Maliki is shows that he is new to the position, but he has all of the classic talking points already worked out. Read More......

Pastor claims Jesus has already picked Florida's next Governor

Sounds plausible that Jesus would spend time worrying about who the next governor of Florida will be. But, he has spoken -- or some pastor in Florida claims that Jesus has spoken:

The Rev. O'Neal Dozier said that before the dream he did not know Crist, nor had Crist made known his plans to run for governor.

"The Lord Jesus spoke to me and he said 'There's something I want you to know,'" said Dozier, pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach. "'Charlie Crist will be the next governor of the state of Florida.'"

Since then, Dozier has spent time with Crist and talked with him at length about policy. He told the group that Crist would be uncompromising in his Christian faith.

"I introduce to you, as the Lord Jesus has said, the next governor of the state of Florida, Charlie Crist," Dozier said.

Does this mean they can just cancel the election? It's not like they actually count the votes there anyway. Read More......

ACTION ALERT: George Bush's buddy, Musharaff in Pakistan, about to execute man "convicted" in sham trial

These are the kind of people George Bush has allied our country with in his, well, I don't want to call it "war on terror" because it hasn't been a war on terror. Afghanistan was/is a war on terror. Nothing since Afghanistan has had the slightest thing to do with the war on terror.

In any case, read this Washington Post story from two days ago, it's horrible.

Then take action via Doc Strangelove's blog. He has the background on the story - Amnesty International and Tony Blair agree on this one - and a number of people for you to contact. Please do it. Read More......

Krugman nails Lieberman

Here's another reason why it sucks that the NY Times hides their columnists behind Times Select -- Krugman dissects Lieberman today. After documenting Lieberman's Republican views on Iraq, Social Security and Terri Schiavo, Krugman captures the essence of "Talk Show Joe":

Mr. Lieberman's defenders would have you believe that his increasingly unpopular positions reflect his principles. But his Bushlike inability to face reality on Iraq looks less like a stand on principle than the behavior of a narcissist who can't admit error. And the common theme in Mr. Lieberman's positions seems to be this: In each case he has taken the stand that is most likely to get him on TV.

You see, the talking-head circuit loves centrists. But a centrist, as defined inside the Beltway, doesn't mean someone whose views are actually in the center, as judged by public opinion.

Instead, a Democrat is considered centrist to the extent that he does what Mr. Lieberman does: lends his support to Republican talking points, even if those talking points don't correspond at all to what most of the public wants or believes.

I always thought the whole sanctimonious gig by Lieberman was mostly just an act. It sure gets him on TV. After Lamont beats him, Joe can do TV full time. Read More......

Fitz: Libby knew he was revealing classified info. when he outed Plame

Fitzgerald maintains that Libby knew he was outing an undercover CIA agent:

The classified status of the identity of former CIA officer Valerie Plame will be a key element in any trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, according to special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald has said that at trial he plans to show that Libby knew Plame's employment at the CIA was classified and that he lied to the grand jury when he said he had learned from NBC News's Tim Russert that Plame, the wife of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, worked for the agency.

Bush and Gonzales have been expressing outrage over the leaking of classified information. They're even threatening to prosecute reporters who write articles on national security matters. So, why haven't they cleaned their own house?

Okay, we know the answer. But, still, if what Patrick Fitzgerald alleges is true, using Gonzales' own words, he should be prosecuting Libby (and Rove for that matter) under espionage laws. Gonzales laid out their standard for prosecuting reporters yesterday on This Week:

"We have an obligation to ensure that our national security is protected."

That obligation ends when the matter is political or the offenders work in the White House. Because it's clear now that key White House staffers violated national security when they told reporters about Valerie Plame. And, if Gonzales wants to prosecute reporters who print classified info., let Novak be his first case. Read More......

WIRED publishes internal AT&T; documents showing company sold out customers to the NSA

UPDATE: Here is the link to EVERYTHING, the documents, the story, you name it. Better download it now, because you know the government will be shutting down this story fast.

Oh man, this is bad. And it's worse than we realized:

In 2003 AT&T; built "secret rooms" hidden deep in the bowels of its central offices in various cities, housing computer gear for a government spy operation which taps into the company's popular WorldNet service and the entire internet. These installations enable the government to look at every individual message on the internet and analyze exactly what people are doing. Documents showing the hardwire installation in San Francisco suggest that there are similar locations being installed in numerous other cities.

They're spying on EVERYTHING that happens on the Internet, EVERYTHING you do, that means emails, chats, IMs, Web sites you visit, pictures you send, and any video chats you have.

Then there's this:

In San Francisco the "secret room" is Room 641A at 611 Folsom Street, the site of a large SBC phone building, three floors of which are occupied by AT&T.;

Well, if I worked in that building, I'd be getting my ass out of there pronto. And I'd sue AT&T; as the reason I'm breaking my lease. I wouldn't feel safe being in the building that Al Qaeda now knows is THE center of America's domestic eavesdropping program. Way to go AT&T;, you'd just made every American telecom employee a suspected agent of the CIA when they travel abroad. Lovely.

WIRED explains why they published the documents.

And remember, AT&T; did something their customers never thought they would do. They listened. Read More......

Two Canadian Mounties to wed in official ceremony

Brokeback Mounties?

They always get their man?

Dudley "I Do" Right?

Big boned gals from southern Alberta? (For the PC police, that's a KD Lang joke AND a gay joke. KD Lang snippet here.)

None of those are mine. They're all funny. Yours?

PS Here's the article. Is Canada a great country, or what? Let's hope they don't send their troops to the border to stop us from getting the hell out of here. (Sadly, that's not a joke.) Read More......

Dear Mary Cheney, now the right-wingers hate you too

Anybody out there who knows Mary and reads this blog, please send her this essay that is on Townhall.com.

In a few breezy sentences, Mary Cheney confidently relegates a few thousand years of religious tradition regarding the nature of marriage to an historic footnote and curiosity. According to her, legal formalization of this traditional arrangement would abrogate freedom and be discriminatory.

Cheney effortlessly transforms traditional marriage and family from the core institution on which our free society is built into an instrument of oppression.

With little thought, she glosses over the truth that this is not about freedom but about the exchange of one source of authority for our laws and values for another. Will it be the bible or Mary Cheney's youthful passions and impulses?....

By her standards, the inner city is utopia. Give vent to every impulse, legitimize every feeling and, by all means, don't be judgmental.

What Mary Cheney calls oppressive and straight, blacks call white.

It's hard to figure out whether Mary Cheney is simpleminded or just disingenuous.

You thought we were trouble, Mary, now you have the right-wing of your own party to deal with. It was easy going on TV and being Miss "Pro Gay Marriage" when you thought John Kerry and John Edwards were the enemy. Well, the family values wing of your own party now says YOU'RE the enemy.

The big question is, what do you plan to do about it? Or do you only stand up for Heather when Democrats are the problem? Read More......

Ted Koppel gets snarky over Iraq

Oh my, this is a new Ted Koppel. And for anyone who can't take a joke, he's pretty clearly being snarky in this column. Read More......

Gonzales reiterates intent to prosecute reporters as spies

The Attorney General yesterday repeated the Bush administration's intention to prosecute reporters as spies:

Though he did not name the statutes that might allow such prosecutions, Mr. Gonzales was apparently referring to espionage laws that in some circumstances forbid the possession and publication of information concerning the national defense, government codes and "communications intelligence activities."

Obviously, they intend to stifle the free press in America. It's really quite amazing because the traditional media has been overly kind and deferential to Bush and his cronies. But in Bush world, there is no room for criticism. Exposing unconstitutional behavior by the Bush team can result in criminal charges--and not just your run of the mill charges--they're talking espionage. It's so Soviet.

By the way, Alberto, your boss gave away a national security secret last week. He told the world (including "the terrorists") that our borders aren't secure. Read More......

Murtha receives Profile in Courage Award

Some recognition for a guy who has been a profile in courage.

John Murtha is receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. Saw him on the Today Show discussing the award. Despite the fierce criticism he's experienced, Murtha hasn't backed down. Challenging Bush's happy talk, Murtha said there is only an "illusion of progress" in Iraq. Read More......

Monday Morning Open Thread

What's on the agenda for this week? Read More......

Condi thinks war and killing at OK with Catholic Church

Now that's interesting, because that's not what the Vatican says. Go head and help me out Condi, because I must have missed it when the Vatican supported the Iraq invasion. Let's hope that she receives a very cool reception from the crowd at the BC commencement ceremony. I hate to see such a ceremony destroyed because it means a lot to the students so I really like the idea of silent protest.

But she defended the Bush administration's actions in Iraq and challenged her critics' assertions that the Iraq war clashes with Catholic morals.

"Christians are of course on both sides of the argument about the use of force -- when it is indeed just to use force and when it is not," she said at a news conference today. "We have overthrown a dictator who brutalized his populationÂ?.Sometimes you have to get rid of really, really bad regimes."

Read More......

In Bushland, even having 70% of the country hate you is a mandate

I love this.

If Republicans retain Congress in November, Bush advisers note, he could assert that for the third straight election, the party defied historical patterns and popular predictions. Bush, they said, could advance a fresh agenda in early 2007.

So, now the Republicans have spun the press that as long as they retain control of US House, that means a mandate for Bush to go wild in 2007. Forget the fact that Bush is the most hated and incompetent president in decades, and he's still in pissing range of all-time most hated.

So if the Republicans lose the House does that mean it's a mandate for Bush to resign? Read More......