BIG STORY: US News & WR digs up INDEPENDENT EVIDENCE showing Bush even more AWOL than we thought

According to USNews, Bush's violation of the rules was EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT. This is a BIG honking story. At this point, I'll give the GOP the CBS memos if they want 'em - who cares if they're real now. USNews, known to be a conservative-leaning magazine, has just come up with indepdendent evidence showing Bush shirked EVEN MORE of his National Guard duty than we thought, that the White House lied about it, and that there is no explanation for how Bush could reasonably get an honorable discharge.

Now is the time for some blogosphere coordination, friends. Send this story to your friends. Send it to your favorite blogs, your favorite email lists, your favorite bulletin boards. Hell, put the link to the story as the signature on your email or you bulletin board postings. Do whatever you can to make sure that as many people as possible take and run with this story so we can FORCE the mainstream media to pick up on this. It's what the vast right-wing conspiracy would do, it's time we did the same. Let's make this story BIG.

Some excerpts:

Last February, White House spokesman Scott McClellan held aloft sections of President Bush's military record, declaring to the waiting press that the files "clearly document the president fulfilling his duties in the National Guard." Case closed, he said....

A review of the regulations governing Bush's Guard service during the Vietnam War shows that the White House used an inappropriate--and less stringent--Air Force standard in determining that he had fulfilled his duty. Because Bush signed a six-year "military service obligation," he was required to attend at least 44 inactive-duty training drills each fiscal year beginning July 1. But Bush's own records show that he fell short of that requirement, attending only 36 drills in the 1972-73 period, and only 12 in the 1973-74 period. The White House has said that Bush's service should be calculated using 12-month periods beginning on his induction date in May 1968. Using this time frame, however, Bush still fails the Air Force obligation standard.

Moreover, White House officials say, Bush should be judged on whether he attended enough drills to count toward retirement. They say he accumulated sufficient points under this grading system. Yet, even using their method, which some military experts say is incorrect, U.S. News 's analysis shows that Bush once again fell short. His military records reveal that he failed to attend enough active-duty training and weekend drills to gain the 50 points necessary to count his final year toward retirement.

The U.S. News analysis also showed that during the final two years of his obligation, Bush did not comply with Air Force regulations that impose a time limit on making up missed drills. What's more, he apparently never made up five months of drills he missed in 1972, contrary to assertions by the administration. White House officials did not respond to the analysis last week but emphasized that Bush had "served honorably."

Some experts say they remain mystified as to how Bush obtained an honorable discharge. Lawrence Korb, a former top Defense Department official in the Reagan administration, says the military records clearly show that Bush "had not fulfilled his obligation" and "should have been called to active duty."

Bush signed his commitment to the Texas Air National Guard on May 27, 1968, shortly after becoming eligible for the draft. In his "statement of understanding," he acknowledged that "satisfactory participation" included attending "48 scheduled inactive-duty training periods" each year. He also acknowledged that he could be ordered to active duty if he failed to meet these requirements....

Read the rest of this post...

National Guard says it's "inappropriate" for retired service members to criticize Bush

This man should be fired immediately:

Lt. Col. Jim Driscoll, spokesman for the Georgia Army National Guard, said retired service members may comment on political issues such as the Bush documents, but most current reservists and active-duty service members will hesitate to voice their political opinions.

"It would be inappropriate," he said. "The president is our commander-in-chief and so we have to be very careful from an ethical perspective of how we express our political opinions."

Yes, they "may" comment legally, but it would be inappropriate. In North Korea, maybe. Read the rest of this post...

What do George Bush and Islamic terrorists have in common?

They both want more AK-47s on the streets of America:

"In other countries, e.g. some states of USA, South Africa, it is perfectly legal for members of the public to own certain types of firearms. If you live in such a country, obtain an assault rifle legally, preferably AK-47 or variations, learn how to use it properly and go and practice in the areas allowed for such training." - From 'HOW CAN I TRAIN MYSELF FOR JIHAD?', Azzam.com

Read the rest of this post...

Why does George Bush hate the police?

The White House REFUSED to meet police representatives to discuss the soon-to-end assault weapons ban. Read the rest of this post...

Newsweek: Bush job approval rating FALLS, "honesty" rating falls

The week of the convention, Bush's approval rating hit an 8-month high of 52%. Now, one week later, it's fallen to 48%, according to a Newsweek poll that just came out. Folks, bush LOST points over the last week, which means all this news about memo-gate is hurting him. He's losing his convention bounce, fast.

This isn't reason to close up shop and say we've won, after all, the Newsweek poll still shows Bush 6 points ahead. But get this. Last week Newsweek had Bush AHEAD by 11 points, remember that depressing poll? That means that in less than a week Bush lost nearly HALF OF HIS LEAD OVER KERRY - or 5 frigging points.

Newsweek goes on to note that Bush's "honesty" took a BIG hit over the past week. Presumably because of memo-gate:

The president’s personal ratings on honesty took a hit this week, with 55 percent saying they view Bush as “honest and ethical” and 40 percent saying they do not. Seven days ago, those numbers were 62 percent and 33 percent.

The moral of this story? We finally fought back we cut Bush's lead in half, and damaged his credibility. We can win this, folks. All we have to do is get mad as hell and strike back. Read the rest of this post...

How does Rummy feel about Charles Manson?

In case anyone out there had self-doubts, concerns about America's position in the world, worries about whether our country remained a beacon of freedom and liberty and a symbol of all that is good and right, secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld put all of that to rest today.

According to Donald Rumsfeld the US has achieved the unthinkable. We have shown the world that we held ourselves to a higher standard and we met that standard. Yes, believe it or not, according to Rummy the Pentagon has actually behaved BETTER than Al Qaeda terrorists because Rummy did NOT sanction beheadings of Abu Ghraib prisoners. Feel better now?

I kind you not. According to the AP:

"American abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib were terrible, but they are not crimes on par with beheadings and other acts carried out by terrorists, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday."

In other news, Charlie Manson said today that while his murder of Sharon Tate was terrible, it was not a crime on par with beheadings and other acts carried out by terrorists, so we should let him go. Read the rest of this post...

White House believes content of CBS memos is true

"But at the time, I had every reason to believe that a major news organization had authentic documents." - White House communications director Dan Bartlett said last night.

The White House now says they had EVERY REASON TO BELIEVE the documents were authentic. EVERY REASON. I.e., they had NO REASON to believe the documents were false. For example, had the president simply told Bartlett that what the memos allege is wrong, Bartlett would have had ONE REASON to believe the documents might be phony. But Bartlett said last night - 3 days into this scandal - that he had NO reason to believe the memos were fake.

This is a very important admission by the White House. They have been silent about the allegations for 3 days now. And last night the White House communications director admits that the content of the memos did not suggest to anyone in the White House that there was a problem with the veracity or authenticity of the memos.

It's high time the "real" media started asking the White House about the CONTENT of the memos rather than just whether a "th" can or can't be superscripted. Read the rest of this post...

NYT: Do Republicans play a rougher game of politics than Democrats?

The NYT asks the very important question, do the Republicans fighter rougher than the Dems? The answer of course is, yes. But not anymore... ;-) Read the rest of this post...

7 minutes of silence, please

It being September 11th today, I was wondering if George Bush is observing it with 7 minutes of silence?

Read the rest of this post...

yes, Yes, YES!

The "experts" are now recanting their earlier dismissal of the memos :-) Again, not only has this controversy kept the story alive and kicking, but it keeps unearthing new evidence to support the story and thus keep it going. The White House, Day 4 now, is STILL silent on the matter. Trust me, Karl Rove ain't lovin' this. From the Boston Globe:

Authenticity backed on Bush documents

...specialists interviewed by the Globe and some other news organizations say the specialized characters used in the documents, and the type format, were common to electric typewriters in wide use in the early 1970s, when Bush was a first lieutenant.

Philip D. Bouffard, a forensic document examiner in Ohio who has analyzed typewritten samples for 30 years, had expressed suspicions about the documents in an interview with the New York Times published Thursday, one in a wave of similar media reports. But Bouffard told the Globe yesterday that after further study, he now believes the documents could have been prepared on an IBM Selectric Composer typewriter available at the time....

Bouffard, the Ohio document specialist, said that he had dismissed the Bush documents in an interview with The New York Times because the letters and formatting of the Bush memos did not match any of the 4,000 samples in his database. But Bouffard yesterday said that he had not considered one of the machines whose type is not logged in his database: the IBM Selectric Composer. Once he compared the Bush memos to Selectric Composer samples obtained from Interpol, the international police agency, Bouffard said his view shifted.

In the Times interview, Bouffard had also questioned whether the military would have used the Composer, a large machine. But Bouffard yesterday provided a document indicating that as early as April 1969 -- three years before the dates of the CBS memos -- the Air Force had completed service testing for the Composer, possibly in preparation for purchasing the typewriters.

As for the raised ''th" that appears in the Bush memos -- to refer, for example, to units such as the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron -- Bouffard said that custom characters on the Composer's metal typehead ball were available in the 1970s, and that the military could have ordered such custom balls from IBM.

''You can't just say that this is definitively the mark of a computer," Bouffard said....

White House spokesman Scott McClellan defended the president's service record, but offered no view on whether the CBS documents are authentic.

Read the rest of this post...

Abandon all hope, my ass :-)

See, this stuff will change every single friggin' day. So everyone, please, stop the woe-is-me we're-all-gonna-die talk and start fighting back. Karl Rove would like nothing less than to dispirit us when, in fact, as of today we're already winning :-)

Read the rest of this post...

The Dallas Morning News makes a remarkable discovery... about nothing

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Col. Staudt, the guy who who was allegedly exerting pressure on Killian re: Bush, per the CBS memos, actually retired a year or so before the memo was allegedly written. The News suggests that this shows the memos are fake. Why? Because once the colonel retired, they say, he no longer had the power to exert any influence on his former employees or coworkers!

I have a one word response to that fallacious argument: Lobbying.

If bosses never have influence on their former employees or coworkers after leaving their jobs then how do so many congressmen and staffers make so much money lobbying in DC and across the country? Are you trying to tell me that Colin Powell was unable to exert any influence on his former employees after he left the Pentagon? Please.

Oh, and one more VERY important point. Funny that it took 3 days for the press to dig this fact up via a FOIA request and that Col. Staudt, who is alive and kicking but REFUSING to speak to the media, didn't just issue a simple statement saying "I was already retired and I didn't exert any pressure." Yes, just like the White House's silence on this entire issue, Staudt has also refused to comment on something that we are now supposed to believe isn't even true. Yes, he would rather have his name dragged through the mud in all the papers in the country than simply issue a one-sentence factual clarification and denial. Sounds like Staudt, like the White House, knows something and realizes a denial would be a lie. Read the rest of this post...

Zell Miller appears with Bush across Ohio & West Virginia

I guess this means that Bush isn't stepping away from the Hate Convention. Bushie is still calling him "a discerning Democrat" and "I'm proud to call Zell Miller friend." Dubya does give a strange reason for voting for him in November though I'll have to admit, at least he recognizes that he has nothing to offer:

Perhaps the most important reason of all in putting me back in office is so that Laura will have four more years as your First Lady.

Read the rest of this post...

Iraqi military forced disbanded, many now turning on US forces

Bush's record on just about everything in Iraq is so soft I don't know why the Dem's are not more aggressive on the issue. How many of us have heard the wingnuts talk about how great the Iraqi forces have been now that we brought them into the fight? It looks as though yet another neocon theory is going down the drain and the people that we recently armed will soon be fighting against US troops. WE HAVE ARMED AND PAID THE OPPOSITION AND THEY WILL BE TRYING TO KILL US TROOPS. Since Dubya likes to say that he lets the military run operations, I would be interested in hear why exactly the military pulled back from Falluja in the past only to go back in now. Surely it wasn't a political move from above, was it? After all we know that Dubya does not like to interfere with military plans.

The Iraqi military force formed by the Marines in a last-ditch effort to pacify the restive city of Fallouja has been disbanded in the face of continuing violence, assaults on government security forces and evidence that some members have been working openly with insurgents.

"The Fallouja Brigade is done, over," said Marine Col. Jerry L. Durrant, who oversees the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit's involvement with Iraqi security forces. "The whole Fallouja Brigade thing was a fiasco. Initially it worked out OK, but it wasn't a good idea for very long."

Marines remain based as close as two miles from Fallouja, but the insurgents — local and foreign fighters backed by firebrand Sunni Muslim clerics — have had several months to dig in and make it more difficult for American troops or Iraqi government forces to launch a ground attack.

Judging by members' comments, it seemed likely that some would openly rejoin the insurgency, in which many had been involved before joining the brigade. In doing so, they would be able to fight with weapons provided to them by the Marines, who also paid them monthly salaries.

The brigade made no effort to restrict insurgent activities, members and the Marines said. Fallouja became even safer for insurgents, who could take refuge, plot attacks and run manufacturing centers for car bombs and other explosives.

Read the rest of this post...

Ted Kenndy blasts Bush

He's right on the money and he's bringing attention to Bush's pathetic record while in office.

"Because of the Bush administration's arrogant ideological incompetence and its bizarre 'mission accomplished' mentality, our troops and our intelligence officers and our diplomats had neither the resources nor the guidance needed to deal with the worsening conditions that steadily began to overwhelm them and continue to do so," Kennedy said.

He accused Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld of misleading Congress and the public "when he said that the leadership had acted swiftly to address the abuses, when in fact they allowed abuses to continue and allowed the situation to fester."

Read the rest of this post...