Open thread

Oh my God. Just had the Easter dinner out of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. A whole lamb (roasted of course in the yard), loukaniko sausage, pastichio, spanakopita, meatballs, pasta, greek salad, magiritsa soup (google it), feta cheese, garlic bread from Costco (the one with the big hunks of garlic baked in) and I suspect much more that I can't even remember. Then dessert, which included koulourakia Easter cookies, flourless chocolate cake (I made it), shortbread (again, me), chocolate chip cookies, creme caramel, tiramisu (not very Greek, but good), galaktobouriko, and again much more. It was insane. My cousin remarked that it reminded us of growing up and having the big holiday meals at our grandma's house - way too much food EVERYWHERE. Quite an enjoyable day.

And for anyone who is interested, this is a quick one minute shot of church last night at midnight. The Greeks hold Easter services at midnight Saturday night. There's a song particularly for Easter that gets sung in a candlelit service exactly at midnight - the lights were already on, but here's the song.



Afterwards, our tradition is that we go to White Castle at 2am and get sliders :-) And we did. Read More......

Ten U.S. Soldiers dead as Iraqis prepare for massive anti-American rally

This is what we get from George Bush's failed Iraq policy. Iraqis hate us while our soldiers are dying. It was a very deadly weekend:

Thousands of Iraqis streamed to the holy southern city of Najaf on Sunday in response to a call by fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr for a big anti-American protest on Monday.

Sadr, who blames the U.S.-led invasion for Iraq's unrelenting violence, has urged Iraqis to protest on the fourth anniversary of the day American forces swept into central Baghdad.

"In order to end the occupation, you will go out and demonstrate," Sadr, who accuses U.S. forces of deliberately fomenting civil strife in Iraq, said in a statement.

Four American soldiers were killed in attacks south of Baghdad on Sunday while another two died from wounds suffered in operations north of the capital, the U.S. military said.

The toll makes it a deadly weekend for American troops after four soldiers were killed in an explosion near their vehicle in Diyala province north of Baghdad on Saturday.

Our involvement in this debacle has to end. The Democrats in Congress need to keep up the pressure.

Meanwhile, your President was having yet another relaxing vacation at the ranch in Crawford. Read More......

Sunday Night Open Thread

A musical interlude tonight from Ivri Lider, one of Israel's top singers -- and openly gay, btw. The song is called "The Man I Love" and I first heard it on the soundtrack to Israeli Director Eytan Fox's latest movie, "The Bubble." Fox directed "Yossi and Jagger" and "Walk on Water." His movies are great, very intense -- and he is a really wonderful person, too. Very much looking forward to "The Bubble," which will have its American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month. And, it opens at the theaters in September.

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Joe Lieberman thinks the Iraq insurgents and Syria blew up the World Trade Center

That isn't just an outright lie, it's insane. That's a bigger lie than anything Dick Cheney has even said. Syria had nothing to do with September 11. Neither did Saddam Hussein or the folks fighting the civil war in Iraq. It's just delusional to suggest otherwise - George Bush hasn't even had the nerve to say anything that absurdly untrue. I'm increasingly wondering whose side Joe Lieberman is really on, because his insane ramblings about Iraq and the Middle East are clearly not in America's interests. ThinkProgress has the video. Read More......

Pope assails the "continual slaughter" in Iraq

No fan of Benedict the 16th Century, the Prada wearing pope, but he had harsh words for Bush's war in Iraq:

"Nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees," the Pope said.

The Pope also lamented the "growing unrest and instability" in Afghanistan, which is bracing for a bloody spring offensive after a resurgent Taliban staged the most intensive year of fighting since they were ousted in 2001.

He condemned terrorism and the use of religion to justify a "thousand faces of violence."

By criticizing Bush's war, Benedict does risk an attack from William Donohue -- South Park becomes reality. Read More......

Being a loyal Bushie was more important than possible mob ties when it came to running Homeland Security

Running Homeland Security was just another political hack job to the Bush team. Bernard Kerik was a loyal Bushie -- and that's all that mattered:

When former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani urged President Bush to make Bernard B. Kerik the next secretary of homeland security, White House aides knew Kerik as the take-charge top cop from Sept. 11, 2001. But it did not take them long to compile an extensive dossier of damaging information about the would-be Cabinet officer.

They learned about questionable financial deals, an ethics violation, allegations of mismanagement and a top deputy prosecuted for corruption. Most disturbing, according to people close to the process, was Kerik's friendship with a businessman who was linked to organized crime. The businessman had told federal authorities that Kerik received gifts, including $165,000 in apartment renovations, from a New Jersey family with alleged Mafia ties.

Alarmed about the raft of allegations, several White House aides tried to raise red flags. But the normal investigation process was short-circuited, the sources said. Bush's top lawyer, Alberto R. Gonzales, took charge of the vetting, repeatedly grilling Kerik about the issues that had been raised. In the end, despite the concerns, the White House moved forward with his nomination -- only to have it collapse a week later.

Kerik was supposed to be Brownie's boss. Read More......

Call Bush a liar when he lies

Bush doesn't think anyone in the media will actually call him a liar even when he lies.

Thank you, Frank Rich:

As if to confirm we’re in the last throes, President Bush threw any remaining caution to the winds during his news conference in the Rose Garden that same morning. Almost everything he said was patently misleading or an outright lie, a sure sign of a leader so entombed in his bunker (he couldn’t even emerge for the Washington Nationals’ ceremonial first pitch last week) that he feels he has nothing left to lose.

Incredibly, he chided his adversaries on the Hill for going on vacation just as he was heading off for his own vacation in Crawford. Then he attacked Congress for taking 57 days to “pass emergency funds for our troops” even though the previous, Republican-led Congress took 119 days on the same bill in 2006. He ridiculed the House bill for “pork and other spending that has nothing to do with the war,” though last year’s war-spending bill was also larded with unrelated pork, from Congressional efforts to add agricultural subsidies to the president’s own request for money for bird-flu preparation.

Mr. Bush’s claim that military equipment would be shortchanged if he couldn’t sign a spending bill by mid-April was contradicted by not one but two government agencies. A Government Accountability Office report faulted poor Pentagon planning for endemic existing equipment shortages in the National Guard. The Congressional Research Service found that the Pentagon could pay for the war until well into July. Since by that point we’ll already be on the threshold of our own commanders’ late-summer deadline for judging the surge, what’s the crisis?

The president then ratcheted up his habitual exploitation of the suffering of the troops and their families — a button he had pushed five days earlier when making his six-weeks-tardy visit to pose for photos at scandal-ridden Walter Reed. “Congress’s failure to fund our troops on the front lines will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines,” he said. “And others could see their loved ones headed back to the war sooner than they need to.”

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Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Eclectic line up today. Russert doesn't have a real guest, just a two of NBC's talking heads, Judy Woodruff and hard-core conservative Kate O'Bierne. No balance from Russert. Explains again why the Bush/Cheney team think he's their patsy. Otherwise, a little religion, presidential politics, the Iraq war and the US Attorneys scandal will be among the topics:

...ABC's "This Week" -- Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.; Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry; Walter Isaacson, author of "Einstein: His Life and Universe."...

...CBS' "Face the Nation" -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee....

...NBC's "Meet the Press" -- David Gregory, chief White House correspondent, NBC News; Kate O'Beirne, Washington editor, National Review; Chuck Todd, political director, NBC News; and Judy Woodruff, senior correspondent, PBS' "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."...

CNN's "Late Edition" -- Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Joe Lieberman, independent-Conn.; former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson; former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; Mark Thompson, Time magazine correspondent; retired Army Brig. Gen. David Grange; Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop emeritus....

..."Fox News Sunday" -- Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Christopher Buckley, author of "Boomsday."...

If you're watching, dissect what's being said.

Or just start threading about anything. Read More......