Bremer threatens Dutch with economic retaliation if they don't send more troops to Afghanistan

So much for that coalition of the willing. We're now having to extort support for Bush's bumbling foreign policy.

Someone needs to tell the Dutch that Bremer only speaks for the 39% of Americans who currently support President Bush.

A decision not to send more troops in Afghanistan would be damaging for Dutch interests in the US, former American diplomat Paul Bremer III warned on Monday....

Acknowledging Dutch politicians must weigh all the considerations, he said question marks would be raised on the US side about Nato if the mission doesn't go ahead. "What is Nato all about if our allies are not prepared to stand should-to-shoulder with us?"....

Consequences would be unavoidable if the Dutch does not send the troops. "Time and time again decisions must be taken by the US government, by Congress, that influence Dutch economic interests. It is not difficult to imagine decisions could be taken that would not be in the interests of the Netherlands," Bremer said.

Uh, earth to Bremer. NATO is far more useful to the US than to Europe right now. Europe is quickly becoming the next superpower. If the US wants to keep a seat at the table, NATO is all we got. Threatening to take our toys and go home is probably most of Europe's dream come true. Read the rest of this post...

Another open thread

Yes, an admittedly slow day here at Ablog. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Been preparing a football party with Joe (yeah, don't ask why). So been doing that rather than blogging. Our bad. Chat away. Watching the game. Bears behind by 2. then later tonight, the new 24! (oh yeah, I'm on Joe's computer, this is John). Read the rest of this post...

House Democrats appoint ethically-challenged House Democrat to lead ethics reform fight

ACTION ALERT: Contact your House Democratic representative and ask them what the hll is going on. Find your rep here. And feel free to send Ms. Pelosi an email as well.
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I kid you not.

The House Democrats this week chose a Democrat, who is being forced to explain his own involvement in a trip related to Jack Abramoff, to be their chief spokesman and strategist running the House Democratic effort to pass ethics reform.

What? Jim Traficant wasn't available?

This is beyond belief.

First, we have Nancy Pelosi announcing the choice of Cong. Clyburn to run the ethics battle:

Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina, the newly and unanimously elected Chairman of the Democratic Caucus who has lived his life with a commitment to a high ethical standard, will head the Clean House Team.

Then we have NPR confirming that Clyburn has his own ethics accusations to deal with:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay isn't the only politician facing ethics charges. South Carolina's James Clyburn and Mississippi's Bennie Thompson, both Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus, also had to answer tough questions last week. In 1997, both men traveled to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth. The trip -- and an earlier trip to the Marianas by two associates of DeLay -- appears to have been paid for by lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It is a violation of House ethics to accept gifts from a registered lobbyist. Abramoff is now the subject of a federal corruption probe.

And finally, as would be expected, the National Republican Congressional Committee blasts Pelosi for picking someone to lead the ethics reform battle who themselves is under an ethical cloud:

Clyburn, however, had been connected to the very lobbyist around whom Democrats are building their "clean up Congress" campaign - Jack Abramoff. In 1997, Abramoff paid for a trip costing more than $10,000 that Clyburn took to the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean. (Roll Call, 5/5/05)

What is it with these people? Are they so suicidal that they insist on shooting themselves in the foot every single chance they get? What possible reason could there be to appoint Clyburn to this position, let alone keep him there now that we all know he's got his own explaining to do regarding Abramoff?

I'm sorry. Whether Clyburn is, in the end, innocent or guilty of any crimes or ethical violations because of his involvement with the Abramoff trip, only an idiot or a saboteur would choose to keep this man heading the Democratic effort for ethics reform.

The only way Democrats are going to start winning is if we start cutting out the cancer in our own party. If we have to start taking down members of our party in order to save our party, then so be it. The blogs, collectively, have a hell of a lot of firepower. And they're getting mad as hell about the sorry state of our current Democratic leaders.

(More from Jane as well.) Read the rest of this post...

Washington Post ombudsman repeats lie that Abramoff "made substantial campaign contributions to both major parties" - he didn't

Deborah Howell can be reached by phone at 202-334-7582 or by e-mail at ombudsman@washpost.com. And also consider writing a letter to the editor of the Post, include your name, address, and daytime phone.

Abramoff was getting 10 to 20 times as much from Indian tribes as they had paid other lobbyists. And he had made substantial campaign contributions to both major parties. - Washington Post ombudsman, 1/15/06

This is flat out wrong, and the Post knows it. Abramoff gave ZERO to Democrats, all his donations were to Republicans.

Maybe it's time the Washington Post hired an ombudsman to keep an eye on their increasingly sloppy and weak-kneed ombudsman. This is the woman who thinks the answer to Bob Woodward refusing to tell his editor about his involvement in the Valerie Plame affair is - what? - that Woodward get an editor. Pretty hard-hitting steel-trap-of-a-mind you got there, lady.

And for the record, I'm going to list Jack Abramoff's donations - find me a single Democrat, oh Washington Post ombudsman - just one. And by the way, let's not forget the Washington Post's crack editorial team that let this whopper of a mistake slip through. But hey, the Washington Post has become the party newspaper for Bush ever since it helped propel the nation into a war based on a lie, so why quit now.

Read the rest of this post...

Can Bush blame Newsweek for these riots?

The Pakastani people aren't happy with the U.S. They don't appreciate us launching missiles at their country. This could get even uglier:

Some 10,000 people rallied in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, chanting "Death to America" and "Stop bombing against innocent people." Hundreds of police carrying batons and shields were deployed, but the rally ended after an hour with no violence reported.

Hundreds more rallied in the capital, Islamabad, and in Lahore, Multan, Peshawar and elsewhere, burning American flags and demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

In Pakistan's strongest reaction, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Saturday called the attack "highly condemnable" and said the government wanted "to assure the people we will not allow such incidents to reoccur."

Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Morning Open Thread

So many outrages from last week...the cell phone privacy scandal...the Alito hearings...the smearing of John Murtha by the Washington Post...just to name a few...

What's in store for this week? Read the rest of this post...

DeLay losing badly in his own district

Even the voters of Sugar Land who have supported this wingnut for years are jumping ship. The new numbers that are out suggest that the Bugman might not have to worry about fighting for his House Majority Leader spot ever again because he's going to be clobbered in the election for his current seat.

In polling conducted Tuesday through Thursday, 22 percent of respondents said they would vote for DeLay, 30 percent chose Lampson and 11 percent favored Republican-turned-independent former congressman Steve Stockman

Lampson's campaign manager, Mike Malaise, said the poll suggests that "people in the district want a congressman who will make headlines for the right reasons."

In 2004, DeLay defeated relatively unknown Democrat Richard Morrison with 55 percent of the vote, his lowest victory margin.

In the latest poll, only half of those who supported DeLay in 2004 said they would vote for him again.

Payback is a bitch. Read the rest of this post...

Tony Blair now wants to spy on MPs

This would overturn a 40 year ban on MI5 spying on MPs. How is it that two of the major players in the Cold War against the Soviet Union have become more and more like that old regime? The UK already spies on so many of its citizens email, calls, their driving habits and now this. Where did these people ever learn about democracy? From Stalin? Mugabe? No wonder the rest of the world scoffs at the US and UK blather about democracy when our governments are implementing police state laws like this. Read the rest of this post...