Bush can't fight crime in America because we're fighting terrorists over there

According to the Deputy Attorney General in the Bush Justice Department, we can't fight crime in the US, because we're fighting the "war on terror." In Bushspeak, the means Iraq where there really were no terrorists before we invaded. So, while our soldiers are dying over there, our citizens are dying over here:

"I'm well aware that there are many needs and desires on the part of law enforcement that we have not been able to serve well," McNulty said at the national crime summit organized by the Police Executive Research Forum.

He said the Justice Department was seeking more funds for its Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives division to stem gun trafficking. But reclaiming money that was diverted from crime-fighting to anti-terror efforts may be difficult, he said.

"I wish I could stand here and say all that will be restored in the next year or two," McNulty said. "We are facing some big challenges. I see the challenges in fighting the war on terror. I see it is very expensive to fund soldiers overseas. At the same time, we have to find ways to get resources to win here at home."

If you get mugged or robbed or assaulted in America, blame the terrorists. It's their fault. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Have at it...there's never of a lack of material... Read the rest of this post...

Here we go again -- another series of speeches on Iraq, but still no plan

Clearly, it's campaign season because Bush is planning a "series of speeches to counter opposition" instead of trying to solve the crisis in Iraq. To Bush, it's just a political problem, not a quagmire that's killing lots of people. Even the Associated Press seems to have caught on to his game plan:

It is the third time in less than a year that Bush has launched a public relations offensive to try to rally support for the war in Iraq and his effort to spread democracy in the Middle East. He did it in November and December 2005 and again in March on the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Back then, the speeches were aimed at countering news reports of daily bombings in Iraq, where more than 2,300 U.S. troops had died. The death toll has risen to more than 2,630 and in July, about 3,500 Iraqis died violently - the highest monthly civilian toll since the war began.

The new addresses come two months before congressional elections and at a point when Bush's approval rate is at 33 percent in the August AP-Ipsos poll. His approval on handling of Iraq also was at 33 percent in the poll.

With those numbers in mind and the elections looming, Bush is just plain lying about the purpose of his little speech blitz:

"They are not political speeches," Bush said earlier Wednesday outside a restaurant in Little Rock, Ark., where he made his first campaign stop of the day. "They're speeches about the future of this country and they're speeches to make it clear that if we retreat before the job is done, this nation will become even more in jeopardy.

Sure, they are not political speeches. I'm sure there weren't any polls or focus groups conducted to find just the right language. How can the media not just laugh when he says something that ridiculous? Everything the man does is political.

It's all politics with the Bush crowd....they got no plan for Iraq, but they got speeches and campaign rhetoric. As my friend Nina from Austin always said, "Bush is all hat and no cattle." Read the rest of this post...

Dean on Olbermann Tonight - And Olbermann himself!

Just saw Howard Dean on Keith Olbermann - he sounded like the in-their-face Howard Dean that was so attractive when he was running for President. He started swinging with "the whole government has sort of become ridiculous" didn't let up. He sounded "on message" and if that's the Fall message, it sounds good.

-- Rob in Baltimore

P.S. - Olbermann's closing was incredible. Incredible.

UPDATE: Here's the video and transcript of the Olbermann close tonight. Read the rest of this post...

The boys who continue to cry wolf and the 10 August arrests

The article in the Times about details on the so-called UK terror case that is blocking out UK visitors is quite an interesting read and well worth a read. While on holiday this month I made it a point to avoid the news, email, phone, etc so when someone at a dinner party mentioned the 10 August arrests in London, I immediately dismissed it as yet another over-hyped warning that Bush and Blair have come to use all too often. Only hours before hearing about it, I remember seeing a headline at a newsstand about Labour having some sort of problems and thought that would probably mean something scary had to happen to help pick up the ratings.

After reading the Times article, once again I am fuming. I'm sick and tired of the fear campaigns for political purposes. Who could forget Tom Ridge doing his best to terrify the nation in the summer before the 2004 election with his so-called terror alert that wasn't really much of anything? Let's reflect on all of those over-hyped, let's scare-the-shit-out-of-everyone campaigns to keep everyone in line and drinking the Kool Aid, whether we are talking about lies about reasons for invading Iraq or the more recent insanely silly Miami arrests. As information on the 10 August arrests trickle out, it looks like US leaders have chosen, again, to opt for reckless fear and hysteria for political benefit. Read on and you decide.

Hours after the police arrested the 21 suspects, police and government officials in both countries said they had intended to carry out the deadliest terrorist attack since Sept. 11.

Later that day, Paul Stephenson, deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police in London, said the goal of the people suspected of plotting the attack was mass murder on an unimaginable scale. On the day of the arrests, some officials estimated that as many as 10 planes were to be blown up, possibly over American cities. Michael Chertoff, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, described the suspected plot as getting really quite close to the execution stage.

Hmmm, sounds like some pretty scary stuff.

But British officials said the suspects still had a lot of work to do. Two of the suspects did not have passports, but had applied for expedited approval. One official said the people suspected of leading the plot were still recruiting and radicalizing would-be bombers.

Hmm, sounds like it's not quite as scary as Chertoff suggested.

...British investigators have still not determined whether there was a target date for the attacks or how many planes were to be involved. They say the estimate of 10 planes was speculative and exaggerated.

Again

Despite the charges, officials said they were still unsure of one critical question: whether any of the suspects was technically capable of assembling and detonating liquid explosives while airborne.

A chemist involved in that part of the inquiry, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was sworn to confidentiality, said HMTD, which can be prepared by combining hydrogen peroxide with other chemicals, in theory is dangerous, but whether the suspects ?had the brights to pull it off remains to be seen.?

While officials and experts familiar with the case say the investigation points to a serious and determined group of plotters, they add that questions about the immediacy and difficulty of the suspected bombing plot cast doubt on the accuracy of some of the public statements made at the time.

?In retrospect, said Michael A. Sheehan, the former deputy commissioner of counterterrorism in the New York Police Department, there may have been too much hyperventilating going on.

Over-hyping terror alerts for political purposes is one of the lowest forms of manipulation and only helps to weaken democracy in our countries. I've had it with the Soviet style, one party rule in the US that is all based on fear.

Read the rest of this post...

CREW says new Armitage allegation has no effect on Valerie Plame lawsuit

From CREW which serves as counsel to Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson in their lawsuit against Cheney, Rove and Libby:

Despite all of the unfounded right-wing rhetoric, the allegation this week that Richard Armitage was the initial source who told both Bob Novak and Bob Woodward that Valerie Plame Wilson worked for the CIA does not affect the lawsuit that Valerie Plame Wilson and Joseph Wilson have brought against the White House officials responsible for leaking Ms. Wilson's identity as a covert CIA operative. That lawsuit is premised on the deliberate and unlawful actions of top White House officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, his former chief of staff I. Lewis Scooter Libby, and Karl Rove, to publicly discredit Mr. Wilson and retaliate against him for his public statements regarding the administration's justification for going to war against Iraq by deliberately disclosing to selected reporters the classified CIA identity of Ms. Wilson.

Mr. Armitage's conduct in no way alters the fact that Vice President Cheney, Mr. Libby, and Mr. Rove were engaged in a concerted effort to violate the rights of Valerie Plame Wilson and Joseph Wilson that they should be held liable for their actions.

Read the rest of this post...

Apparently it's now illegal to fly in the US if you have any Arabic writing on your t-shirt

Who needs Islamofascists when we can buy American? Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Has GOP Senator George Allen offended any other races while I've been away? Read the rest of this post...

Donna Edwards for Congress, definitely

The Washington Post endorsed Donna Edwards in her primary challenge to Al Wynn:

REP. ALBERT R. WYNN has represented Maryland's 4th Congressional District since 1993, and in that time he has never faced a serious challenger. This year, in Donna Edwards , he does. Ms. Edwards, a lawyer and foundation executive with a distinguished record of civic activism, is Mr. Wynn's opponent in the Sept. 12 Democratic primary. Tough, articulate and knowledgeable, she is one of the smartest and most impressive newcomers in Maryland politics.

This gives Donna great momentum heading towards primary day. She is going to make a superb Member of Congress -- and will truly represent her constituents.

A win by Donna will keep the progressive momentum moving towards November.

If you want to give Donna some help, check out her website. Read the rest of this post...

State Department report shows massive corruption of senior Bush official

And he just keeps getting more and more plush jobs. Why? Because George Bush and the Republicans are corrupt. They think the federal government coffers are their own personal bank accounts. And George Bush is so incompetent and arrogant that he refuses to ever hold anyone accountable for anything. Whether it's the largest military disaster in 100 years, or rampant corruption at the head of an agency, George Bush refuses to fix problems because that might suggest he made a mistake.

The Republican culture of corruption is our government. Read the rest of this post...

Cheney tried to use CIA in 2004 to mislead the American public about Iraq

I'm just finishing up Ron Suskind's excellent book, "The One Percent Doctrine." It contains lots of infuriating scoops, including the following on pp. 340-341:

"In mid November 2004, a few weeks after the President's reelection... Cheney wanted a portion of a particular CIA report declassified and made public. [CIA analytical chief Jami] Miscik knew the report - it was about the complex, often catalytic connections between the war in Iraq and the wider war against terrorism. The item the Vice President wanted declassified was a small part that might lead one to believe that the war was helping the broader campaign against violent Jihadists. The report, she knew, concluded nothing of the sort. To release that small segment would be willfully misleading. She told the briefer to tell Cheney that she didn't think that was such a good idea. The Vice President expressed his outrage to Porter Goss."

Porter Goss then had one of his deputies call the analyst and tell her "Saying no to the Vice President is the wrong answer."

So many things at work here. First, Cheney is caught red handed trying to falsely link Iraq to the larger war on terror (something he'd done repeatedly). And second, when he gets caught doing it, Cheney still pushes ahead.

At what point will Dick Cheney be held responsible for intentionally misleading the American public about the war in Iraq and the overall war on terror? Is this nothing more than a propaganda war to the Bush White House? Read the rest of this post...

Embattled GOP Senator George Allen tied to white supremacist hate group

Max Blumenthal at the Nation has the story:

Descended from the White Citizens' Councils that battled integration in the Jim Crow South, the CCC is designated a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In its "Statement of Principles," the CCC declares, "We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races."

Read the rest of this post...

Good morning open thread

Or good "just getting home really late stone drunk" open thread on the west coast. Read the rest of this post...

ATT the latest to reveal personal data theft

It's only "less than 19,000" so it's really not a big deal. When you add it to the previous list of 80,000,000 in the past 18 months, it just looks so small so why don't we all just forget about these stories and pretend like everything is OK? Hell, that still means a few hundred million Americans have not yet been touched by this so everything must be alright. Read the rest of this post...

A new day and yet another stock option probe

So is anyone ready to get serious about building confidence in Wall Street or would everyone just prefer acting like there's nothing wrong?

The company said the results were preliminary because it has begun a voluntary review of its historical stock-option grant practices, which could lead to adjustments in its accounting.

Novell said its audit committee launched the investigation in the light of news about irregularities in the way that dozens of other companies accounted for stock options grants.

Read the rest of this post...