Open thread

Have at it. Read the rest of this post...

Cingular Wireless denies releasing my phone records to company selling them online

UPDATE: Would somebody "real" from Cingular please contact me by email, or phone since you have that already, so we can deal with this - I really don't want to have to go through ten different levels of your customer support 800 number tomorrow.
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Then how did the company get my phone records and sell them online? If Cingular didn't release them, then it sounds like somebody broke the law, and if so, what is Cingular planning on doing about it? I think I'm gonna have me a little talk with them tomorrow.

An AMERICAblog reader sends me the response he got to Cingular when he wrote them about my Web site selling Cingular phone records for $110 a pop:

Date: Tue Jan 10 20:42:30 PST 2006

Dear Mr. xxxx,

Thank you for taking the time to e-mail Cingular Wireless regarding your account. I apologize for any confusion you may be experiencing with what you read in the news. I am happy to help you with your inquiry.

Cingular Wireless does not release our customer's information to any paid listing. Please review our privacy procedures at www.cingular.com/privacy/privacy_policy.

I hope this addresses the concerns you have. We encourage you to visit us at www.cingular.com often to view your monthly account statements, make payments and shop for new products and services. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to serve you. Thank you for choosing Cingular Wireless.

Sincerely,

Deborah Sexton
Cingular Wireless
Online Customer Care Professional

Well, Deborah, then how exactly did my records get into the hands of some guys on the Internet, and what is Cingular doing about it? Read the rest of this post...

The GOP conundrum: win the base, lose the rest of America

The inside-the-beltway publication The Hill had this to say about Katherine Harris' bid for the US Senate:

While the congresswoman, now in her second term, outpolls all other possible Republican contenders in a potential primary contest, she also performs the worst among the same Republicans in a match-up against Nelson, according to polls.

Did you get that? Harris has the best chance of winning the Republican primary and the least chance of winning the election. I.e., the GOP base loves her and the rest of Florida, the majority of Florida, loathes her, or at the very least likes her the least of any candidate.

That's because the Republican party base is being increasingly taken over by a fringe minority of wingnuts (who usually subscribe to a fringe religion) who don't represent real Americans, and real America knows it. Read the rest of this post...

Bomb found in SF Starbucks

Damn that Harry Reid. Read the rest of this post...

Two Brits charged by UK government for releasing secret documents White House says are fake

Well, if Scottie says the accusations in the documents are "outlandish and inconceivable" then the documents are fakes and the British government can't claim their protection under the Official Secrets Act.

Or is Mr. Blair now acknowledging the documents are real and therefore Bush did want to bomb Al Jazeera? Read the rest of this post...

Why doesn't Bush just arrest us all and have us shot and be done with?

Seriously. If Bush is going to go on national TV and declare that the Democratic leader in the Senate (Harry Reid), the head of the Democratic Party (Howard Dean), and a lead Democratic Senator (Dick Durbin) are committing treason by "giving comfort to our adversaries" by criticizing Bush's disastrous handling of the Iraq war, then arrest all three of them and have them summarily shot without a trial and let's be done with it.

I'm serious. If our president is going to argue in favor of America embracing the ideals of a Soviet police state, if that's the reason hundreds of thousands of Americans gave their lives during WWII, if that's the reason 160,000 US soldiers are risking their lives in Iraq right now, all for the purpose of America touting the ideals of our worst enemies, some of the most repressive and hated dictatorships in the history of the world, then be enough of a man to admit it, do it, and be done with it.

Otherwise shut up and start acting like the commander in chief of the greatest democracy on earth rather than some sniveling coward who doesn't even known enough about his own country, let alone the world, to understand what it is we're really fighting for. Read the rest of this post...

Even more t-shirts to announce

What is life without a new crop of t-shirts in the newest AMERICAblog shop.



The new shop permits you to pick your own image, change its size, color, the color of your shirt, all sorts of things, but it can be a bit tricky at first. I've written some instructions here as to how to, for example, put YOUR OWN TEXT on a t-shirt, but the rules help you also get to the point where you can pick another graphic to put on the shirt as well. Read the rest of this post...

Alito has "some familiarity" with the Geneva Convention?

He didn't know a few cases that Senator Graham brought up, and now he's saying he's not up on the Geneva Convention. Well, how is that? Alito didn't prepare for possible questions about the treatment of enemy combattants during war time? Seriously? Read the rest of this post...

I'm watching Lindsey Graham...

...and I'm disappointed to see that he has an evil dishonest political side just like most Republicans in town. He's talking about how we never had to release POWs during WWII, so why should we have the court review the status of "enemy combatants"?

Well, how about because this is a war that's never going to end by its very nature? And how about because in this war the American side has already admitted that they've repeatedly picked up the people who weren't actually enemy combatants at all? How about because in past wars the combatants were actual POWs who were entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions so we knew they were being treated well, we know who they were, and there would be political pressure after the war to repatriate them (and to repatriate our own troops held prisoner). But this administration said that the Geneva Conventions don't apply to the enemy combatants we're holding, so how is Lindsey Graham comparing the apples of today's enemy combatants to the oranges of POWs held by the US during WWII. The POWs during WWII had many more legal protections than the POWs we hold today.

And finally, FDR didn't repeatedly lie to the American people. FDR didn't invade Mexico in retaliation for the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor. This is not WWII. We have a president who is a liar. We have an entire administration that is involved in one big massive ongoing lie. They have not earned our trust, and they should not be given it until they do earn it. Read the rest of this post...

Alito appears to be lying about his past membership in racist, sexist organization

Funny, had I joined an organization whose primary reason for coming into being was to demand that women and minorities not be allowed on my college campus, I think I'd remember that.

I wonder what else Judge Alito doesn't remember about his past? Read the rest of this post...

In the middle of Washington's biggest ethics scandal in 100 years we have to worry whether our next Supreme Court justice is ethically challenged

It's more than ironic that in the middle of Washington's biggest ethics scandal in 100 years, a Republican ethics scandal, a White House that's had such major ethical problems it's had to send its staff to ethics camp is now nominating a Supreme Court justice who himself has major ethical baggage. At this point in history shouldn't someone appointed to the Supreme Court be clean as a whistle in terms of his ethics?

Remember Bush's words at the beginning of his adminstration:

Let me say a few words about important values we must demonstrate while all of us serve in government. First, we must always maintain the highest ethical standards. We must always ask ourselves not only what is legal, but what is right. There is no goal of government worth accomplishing if it cannot be accomplished with integrity.

Yet now we have Republican members of Congress, themselves facing intense criticism, and jail time, because of ethics violations (aka felonies) sitting in Washington lecturing us about how great Judge Alito's ethics really are.

Wouldn't it be great if President Bush could finally find one candidate for a job who doesn't have an ethical cloud hanging over their head? But hey, it's just the Supreme Court. Read the rest of this post...

National Review editor says Abramoff is a Republican scandal, period

A rather amazingly honestly editorial from the National Review:

The Abramoff Scandal (R., Beltway)
It’s the Republicans, stupid.

...The GOP now craves such bipartisan cover in the Jack Abramoff scandal. Republicans trumpet every Democratic connection to Abramoff in the hope that something resonates. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), took more than $60,000 from Abramoff clients! North Dakota Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan used Abramoff's skybox! It is true that any Washington influence peddler is going to spread cash and favors as widely as possible, and 210 members of Congress have received Abramoff-connected dollars. But this is, in its essence, a Republican scandal, and any attempt to portray it otherwise is a misdirection.

Abramoff is a Republican who worked closely with two of the country's most prominent conservative activists, Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed. Top aides to the most important Republican in Congress, Tom DeLay (R., Tex.) were party to his sleazy schemes. The only people referred to directly in Abramoff's recent plea agreement are a Republican congressmen and two former Republican congressional aides. The GOP members can make a case that the scandal reflects more the way Washington works than the unique perfidy of their party, but even this is self-defeating, since Republicans run Washington.

Republicans must take the scandal seriously and work to clean up in its wake.

Wow. Wow. And wow. Quote this widely any time a Republican or a journalist claims this is a bipartisan story.

(Major hat tip to FiredUpAmerica.) Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

So, what's the sense of the hearings so far? Any other news? Read the rest of this post...

Kennedy is grilling Alito on Vanguard right now.

Watch it.

Live blog it in the comments.

Senator, I simply didn't focus on recusal when it came up.

We know. Why didn't you?

Somebody's a little bitchy with Kennedy. Not a good witness.

Joe says he's petulant. That's right.

I did not focus on the issue of recusal because 12 years had gone by... no lights went off, that's all I can say.

Read the rest of this post...

Americans aren't sold on Alito -- far from it

Alito and the GOP are trying to hide the fact that he is way out of the mainstream. The GOPers read the polls...they know that the American people are not with Bush on this one, not even close:

As congressional hearings begin for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, a CBS News poll reveals that most Americans have yet to form an opinion of Alito and most don't know whether he should be confirmed.

Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed said they are "undecided" or "haven't heard enough" to form an opinion about Alito, and 70 percent said they "can't say" whether Alito should be confirmed by the Senate.

If the Democrats actually read the polling that's coming out on Alito, stopping his nomination by any means possible wouldn't even be a question. The Democrats need to reveal Alito for who he is, then defeat him. Read the rest of this post...

Americans are cranky about the GOP/Abramoff scandal

Americans are paying attention to the GOP/Abramoff scandal and they don't like it according to the latest USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll:

• Most Americans say they're following news of the Abramoff scandal closely, and 53% call it a major scandal. Just 9% see it as "not a serious matter." (Related: Abramoff poll results)

• Corruption will be a voting issue in November, they say. Only the war in Iraq, terrorism and health care are cited more often as "extremely important" issues this year; 43% describe "corruption in government" that way. In comparison, 38% call the economy an extremely important issue.

• Attitudes toward the Republican congressional leadership have soured. By 50%-40%, those surveyed say the policies proposed by Republican leaders in Congress would move the country in the wrong direction. That's by far the worst showing since the GOP took control more than a decade ago.

• Attitudes toward Democrats are better, but not by much. Respondents split 44%-43% when asked whether the policies proposed by Democratic leaders would move the country in the right direction. By 44%-32%, those surveyed say congressional Democrats would do a better job of dealing with the issue of corruption.

The GOP can run from Abramoff, but they can't hide anymore. They own Abramoff like he owned them. Read the rest of this post...

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Alito starts answering questions today...apparently his standard for the truth follows the George Costanza standard: It's not a lie if you believe it. Read the rest of this post...

New study: Iraq war could cost more than $2 trillion

Just ever so slightly more than Bush said it would cost. Details, details. Read the rest of this post...

"2006 will be a time of more testing and sacrifice" in Iraq

What the hell does that mean? The US is blowing how much money on this mess and we are still testing? It's a good thing that they invested in planning before creating this mess in Iraq or else we'd be in a whole lot of trouble. Read the rest of this post...

Hey Congress, your calls aren't really private either

Hotline's Blogometer wrote about John's post on the company that's selling your phone call records to anyone:

Picking up on a 1/5 report in the Chicago Sun-Times, AMERICAblog's John Aravosis called attention to the fact that for $110, "Anyone can buy a list of your incoming and outgoing phone calls, cell or land-line." Highly alarmed, Aravosis obtained his own cell records. He asked, rhetorically: "So, anybody got Bill Frist's or Harry Reid's phone numbers? Or maybe the phone number of the FBI tip line?"

I bet it might cause a few ulcers on the Hill knowing that private calls aren't private anymore. Let's see if it gets them to act. Read the rest of this post...