Open thread

I'm hitting the sack early tonight, folks. Gnite. Read More......

Danger Will Robinson, new Bush talking point revealed

Just got an email from an observant reader who noticed that conservative pundit Bill Kristol is starting to use, repeatedly, a new talking point that must have come from the White House. Mark my (or my reader's) words, let's see if anyone repeats this phrase this week:

"The war against radical Islam (ists, ism, etc)"

Kind of sad how Bush thinks his problem in Iraq is that he hasn't found the right word to name the battle. For a White House that says they don't care about the polls, that's ALL they try to do on Iraq, is influence the polls.

Sad. Read More......

Republicans invite porn star back to dinner with Bush

This is better than chicken soup. Read More......

Bill Frist is such a fancy man

He really is. Read More......

Karl Rove pontificates on Bush foreign policy political strategy at GOP fundraiser

This snippet from AP pretty much sums up the whole Bush operation. Karl Rove, who violated national security by leaking the name of an undercover CIA operative, is out on the hustings preaching the so-called foreign policy of George W. Bush. Basically, as Karl knows, the Bush foreign policy is nothing but a political ploy.

Presidential adviser Karl Rove said Saturday that the Bush administration will not pull American troops out of Iraq until victory is achieved, despite the growing number of Democrats urging a withdrawal.

Abandoning Iraq now would signal to U.S. allies that America can't be trusted, Rove said during a Republican fundraiser at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

"Tyrants in the Middle East would laugh at our failed resolve," he said. "To retreat before victory would be a reckless act."

There is so much wrong with that last statement. First, "tyrants" are laughing at your failed war already. They, like most of the world, view the invasion of Iraq as a reckless act. And, Bush doesn't even know how to define victory. We're so screwed, but for Karl and company, it's only politics. 2,300 dead soldiers is a heavy price to pay for a political strategy. Read More......

Feingold: Censure Bush

Imagine that. Holding the President accountable:

A liberal Democrat and potential White House contender is proposing censuring President Bush for authorizing domestic eavesdropping, saying the White House misled Americans about its legality.

"The president has broken the law and, in some way, he must be held accountable," Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., told The Associated Press in an interview.

A censure resolution, which simply would scold the president, has been used just once in U.S. history - against Andrew Jackson in 1834.

Let's see if Feingold's colleagues will back him up. They, like all of us, know Bush broke the law. Read More......

I'm back in DC

Ugh. Bit the bullet and decided to fly back, I just couldn't sleep in the bed at my hotel. Just got a good 11 hours of sleep, but still feel horrible. This is one heck of a cold/flu or whatever it is. I'm making oatmeal and gonna watch Sci-Fi Friday on TiVO. Read More......

As Iraq continues to devolve, Bush to give a speech...again

Iraq is experiencing continued death and destruction with no end is sight...and no political solution on the horizon:

Car bombings and mortar attacks rocked a market in a Shiite slum in Baghdad Sunday, killing at least 37 people and wounding 84, police said.

The violence came as Iraqi political leaders said the new parliament will convene Thursday, three days earlier than initially announced, with the U.S. ambassador stepping up efforts to broker the end of a stalemate over the formation of a unity government.

While moving the first session of parliament forward suggested some progress, none of those present suggested any breakthrough had been made in the deadlock over forming a new government comprising Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, a precondition for U.S. hopes to start withdrawing some forces this summer.

Sounds chaotic. But have no fear, Bush has a strategy. Yes, today we learned that Bush has a new same old plan for dealing with Iraq: More speeches. Yes, your President's response is more happy talk and an admonition for Americans to ignore the media coverage of the death and carnage:

Staff members, many of whom have been with Mr. Bush since he first began running for president in 1999, responded on Friday in a familiar way: To mark the three-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, they announced that Mr. Bush would give a new round of speeches, starting Monday at George Washington University.

As ever, there will be no change in policy. Mr. Bush will talk, they said, about new progress in defeating "improvised explosive devices" and argue that the televised pictures of rising casualties and sectarian fighting obscure progress under way.

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CIA overt and covert identities available for sale

Ever since I picked up "No Place to Hide" I have been more and more alarmed, not to mention sickened, by the amount of personal data that is being bought and sold out there. I knew that it was out there but we have really crossed a line these days and I don't see either party giving a damn about it. (One of the big players out there has ties to top Dem's which is probably why they are so silent in these days of mega-money campaigns.)

Having CIA personnel data available so easily is downright nuts, but that seems to be the order of the day. When the government is not allowed to gather specific data, they just outsource it to private industry who has done a fantastic job of lobbying Congress to avoid any oversite or restrictions. Way to go Congress...selling out the American public again.

The identities of 2,600 CIA employees and the locations of two dozen of the agency's covert workplaces in the United States can be found easily through Internet searches, according to an investigation by the Chicago Tribune.

The newspaper obtained the information from data providers who charge fees for access to public records and reported on its findings in Sunday editions.

Through the data providers, the newspaper said it identified people by telephone listings, real estate transactions, voting records, property tax records and other financial and legal documents. The investigation also uncovered internal office phone numbers of the agency and covert mailing addresses used by undercover operatives.

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Lufthansa is cool - wifi on board

I'm on a flight heading over to the US for a family emergency and received thirty minutes free wifi access on the flight. OK, the speed is not fantastic and the seats are made for ten year olds but bloody nice service and internet access on board. The pay version is brutal at ?26 Euros per flight but hey, it has to start somewhere. I am almost always flying on Air France but I'm impressed with Lufthansa.

Now if only they could straighten out the catastrophe called German Wings, which has some of the worst service in the world. In fact, it's not even possible to get anyone to help out when you have a problem. Read More......

Bush is as stubborn and clueless as ever

NY Times does a profile on Bush and his White House staff in light of the controversies swirling around them over so many issues. Bottom line is that Bush is completely unphased by all of it. Your president is clueless and ever so stubborn in the face of huge disasters he has both precipitated and overseen. The piece is titled "Bush is Business as Usual Despite Party Grumbles"...I would add "and as Nation Crumbles":

Inside the White House, the staff is exhausted and the mood is defiant. Republicans are clamoring for a new chief of staff, the West Wing just cut its losses on a deal that would have given a Dubai company control of some terminal operations at six American ports, and President Bush's approval rating is at a record low.

But senior staff members insist that Mr. Bush is in good spirits, that calls from his party to inject new blood into the White House make him ever more stubborn to keep the old, and that he has become so inured to outside criticism that he increasingly tunes it out. There is no sense of crisis, they say, even over rebellious Republicans in Congress, because the White House has been in almost constant crisis since Sept. 11, 2001, and Mr. Bush has never had much regard for Congress anyway.

There is something pathological in Bush's inability to deal with reality. He's just never wrong in his mind. It's really frightening and another reason why he is THE WORST PRESIDENT EVER. Read More......

Sunday Morning Open Thread

Time to make the coffee. Read More......