They're looking for a new Attorney General already

Alberto's days really are numbered. McClatchy reports tonight that the Bush team is already looking for a new Attorney General:

The White House began floating the names of possible replacements for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Monday as the Justice Department released more internal documents related to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year.

One prominent Republican, who earlier had predicted that Gonzales would survive the controversy, said he expected both Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty to resign soon. Another well-connected Republican said that White House officials have launched an aggressive search for Gonzales' replacement, though Bush hadn't decided whether to ask for his resignation.

Support for Gonzales appeared to be collapsing under the weight of questions about his truthfulness and his management ability. White House spokesman Tony Snow offered a tepid defense when asked if Gonzales would stay on the job until the end of President Bush's term.

Does he last the week? Gonzales is scheduled to appear at a House hearing on Thursday. My guess: That won't happen. He'll be gone. Read the rest of this post...

Religious right leader says he has video proof that White House lied about him not being their "special envoy" for homophobia

Oh, this is getting really good. Click and scroll down to the last update in this post. Read the rest of this post...

Gonzales' hold on job grows uncertain

Bummer. Read the rest of this post...

UPDATE: White House is lying, religious right preacher says

UPDATE: The religious right leader claimed that he was speaking on behalf of the White House, "I came to you representing the White House." More from the Seattle Times' blog.

The White House is denying that it gave its seal of approval to religious right homophobe Ken Hutcherson to travel around the world with his Holocaust-revisionist buddy Scott Lively and portray himself as a "special envoy" of George Bush's White House and the Faith-Based Initiative. But Hutcherson tells The Stranger's blog, slog, otherwise - and he names names:

I just spoke to Pastor Ken Hutcherson. He tells me that White House spokeswoman Alyssa J. McLenning is wrong, that he does have the title he claimed, and that it comes from a “partnership” he’s established with Jay Hein, Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

“You need to talk to Jay Hein,” Hutcherson told me. “He’s the one that I’ve been talking to and the one that we are partnered with.”

Hutcherson claims to have met with Hein at least twice in person about this partnership, once a few months ago in Seattle, and once last month at the White House. I asked Hutcherson what the title and the partnership mean in terms of his work in Latvia. He replied:

“In my meetings, I can represent as being with them [the White House] and having the power I need to get things done.”

Read the rest of this post...

Did White House officially embrace Holocaust Revisionist?

UPDATE: Religious right preacher says White House is lying when it denies appointing him as a special envoy. He's also now naming names.

The Bush White House reportedly appointed arch-homophobe Ken Hutcherson as a "special envoy" of the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives. You'll remember him as the man who got Microsoft to dump its supports for gay civil rights (Microsoft subsequently dumped Hutcherson and came back to the fold). Hutcherson himself is claiming the White House appointed him. The White House is reportedly denying it (though their denial sounds awfully legalistic to me).

Hutcherson then claims he used his new White House anointed status to meet with Latvian government officials and go bother our US embassy officials in Latvia. And who reportedly tagged along with Mr. Hutcherson on his White House endorsed trip? None of than religious right anti-gay activist Scott Lively, a man accused of publishing Holocaust Revisionism by HateWatch. You see, Lively is the guy behind the theory that gays were the really masterminds behind the Holocaust.

Hutcherson also says he was there pushing Latvia to oppose gay marriage. Good God, do these people ever quit? Hutcherson also lectured the US Embassy officials about their supposed support for the homosexual agenda - I'm sure they had nothing better to do than meet with this goofball now officially representing the Bush the White House.

More on Mr. Lively's sick theories here:

Last week, ex-NFL player Pastor Ken Hutcherson flew in from Washington to give advice on fighting LGBT rights.

He was joined by another American, Scott Lively, co-author of 'The Pink Swastika- Homosexuality in the Nazi Party'. This disturbing book is an insane diatribe claiming that ‘homosexualism’ not only gave birth to Nazi imperialism but also led to the Holocaust itself. It's crackpot theories stem from rumour, conjecture and fantasy and despite the fact that few take it seriously, it's a best-seller in anti-gay circles.

The scary tome, which happens to be on its 4th edition, claims that: “homosexuality is primarily a predatory addiction striving to take the weak and unsuspecting down with it”.

And just to bring the conspiracy full circle, who do you think helped promote Lively's theories in the past? None other than religious right homophobe Peter LaBarbera, who has worked at the Family Research Council and was yet another man at the Concerned Women for America. LaBarbera published Lively's crackpot theories in his anti-gay rag, the Lambda Report.

Pam Spaulding has more on Peter LaBarbera:

- Letter from Peter LaBarbera
- Peter LaBarbera's trolling for scat talk
- LaBarbera's fixation on Bush's comments about Mary Cheney
- AmTaliban Peter LaBarbera investigates the International Mr. Leather conference

These are the hateful, bigoted people who make up the religious right. These are the wackjobs the Republican party and the Bush White House continue to embrace. Read the rest of this post...

Tell Congress to amend the hate crime law and add sexual orientation, gender and disability

It's been nearly ten years since Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered for being gay. Ten years since the Republicans - Trent Lott, to be exact - killed an amendment that would have added perceived sexual orientation, gender, and disability to the already-existing federal hate crimes law that has been on the books since 1968. This year, that's going to change. The Human Rights Campaign is launching a big push to get the federal hate crimes law amended this year so that EVERYONE is included.

A few points.

1. Regardless of your position on "hate crimes" laws, there already is a federal law, and it covers race, religion and national origin. If we're going to have a federal law, shouldn't it cover everyone?

2. Hate crimes laws actually do something, they provide actual resources, they're not just about enhanced punishment. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights notes, correctly, that federal authorities cannot investigate or prosecute crimes involving death or serious bodily injury based on sexual orientation, gender, or disability-based bias when local law enforcement is unavailable or unwilling to proceed. They literally can not. The hate crimes law gives the feds that right, but only if your category of crime is listed. That's why there's such a big push to get everyone included.

3. Anti-gay hate is real. Per HRC:

According to 2004 FBI statistics, hate crimes based on sexual orientation constituted the third highest category reported and made up 15.5 percent of all reported hate crimes. Only race-based and religion-based prejudice crimes were more prevalent than hate crimes based on sexual orientation.

This is one of the two big civil rights goals of the year for the gay community, to finally get the hate crime law amended. The second big goal is to get ENDA passed so that it will no longer be legal to fire someone simply because they're gay (and yes, it's legal at the federal level and in the majority of states to do just that). Go to HRC's action center and contact your memeber of congress about the Hate Crimes amendment. We can get this passed this year. Read the rest of this post...

Virginia police deny use of pepper spray against crowds at protest - now there's proof

IraqSlogger has the proof. Read the rest of this post...

40% think Decision to Use Force In Iraq Was Right

From PEW Research Center:

Four years after the launch of the U.S.-led invasion on March 19, 2003, public opinion about the war in Iraq has turned decidedly negative with only 40% of Americans calling the decision to use military force there the right decision, majorities saying the war is not going well, and most saying that the United States should bring its troops home as soon as possible. In contrast, when the war began in March 2003 and for quite some time thereafter, the U.S.-led invasion had strong backing from most Americans, and was seen as succeeding quite well. A Pew survey in mid-February found a growing number of political independents are turning against the war and, overall, a 53% majority of Americans believe the U.S. should bring its troops home as soon as possible -- up five points in the past month and the highest percentage favoring a troop pullout since the war began nearly four years ago.

Read the rest of this post...

IHOP kicks out lesbian couple for friendly kiss

As the article notes, there is no federal law prohibiting discrimination against gay people in public accommodations, employment, or anything else. Discrimination against gay Americans is 100% legal under federal law, and in most states. It's a fact. More from the Kansas City Star. Read the rest of this post...

When asked what their "recipe for success" is in Iraq, White House tells CNN correspondent to "zip it"

Testy much? CNN's Ed Henry has been quite the aggressive journalist of late, increasingly unwilling to let politicians get away with spouting bs. So has Wolf Blitzer. I think CNN may have told their on-the-air folks to take the gloves off. And it's working.

Read the rest of this post...

Four years in, still no honesty

I watched "Meet the Press" yesterday for the first time in years. I hate news on the teevee, and I hate the Sunday shows even more, but somehow an actual anti-war activist snuck on with Russert (seriously!), plus Admiral Sestak (ret.) was on, and as a bonus, the android formerly known as Tom Delay and Richard "Jabba" Perle appeared as comic foils.

Still, even with Rep. Sestak and Win Without War director Tom Andrews absolutely destroying Delay and Jabba, it was profoundly depressing to see the total ignorance and mendacity of the latter two. Delay obviously has no clue whatsoever about the war or the region, and he couldn't stop embarrassing himself. At one point, he claimed redeployment to surrounding nations wouldn't be possible because countries like Bahrain and Qatar wouldnt accept U.S. troops. Sestak looked at him like he had three heads and informed him that we have bases in these nations. Perle trotted out the same tropes he's spewed for years, and Andrews just shredded him, especially bringing home the fundamental point that we still -- after four years of war -- don't know who we're trying to support in Iraq. The people we train by day we fight at night, and the idea that trying to kill anybody with a gun is a *strategy* is unbelievably ridiculous.

Sestak and Andrews did extraordinarily well, speaking reasonably, firmly, and logically, while Perle and Delay fumbled and made wild, unfounded claims and accusations. We have the right information and the right people on our side, and we'll either get the right policies now or we'll get them in 2008 by a landslide. Read the rest of this post...

Iraqis have no confidence in U.S. -- 51% think it's acceptable to attack Americans

The hype from Vice President Dick Cheney on the March 16, 2003 edition of "Meet the Press":

"I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators."

The Reality from 2007. To paraphrase Cheney, things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, in fact, we are being treated as invaders. They hate us and most think it's okay to kill our soldiers:

With American public opinion turning increasingly against the Iraq war, a poll published by the BBC on Monday showed only 18 percent of Iraqis have confidence in U.S.-led forces.

The poll of more than 2,000 people, commissioned by the BBC, ABC News, ARD and USA Today, indicated Iraqis have become less optimistic about the future compared to a similar survey in 2005 when respondents were generally hopeful, the BBC said.

The Iraqi government inspired more confidence than U.S.-led forces, with opinion almost evenly split on whether people had confidence in the U.S.-backed administration headed by Shi'ite Islamist Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

About 86 percent were concerned about someone in their household being a victim of violence. Iraqis were also disappointed by reconstruction efforts since the invasion, with 67 percent saying efforts had not been effective.

As noted, the poll was conducted by ABC News and USA Today among others. ABC provides an extensive analysis that includes this disturbing finding:

The United States gets much of the blame. As noted, in the most troubling result from an American perspective, the number of Iraqis who call it "acceptable" to attack U.S. or coalition forces has soared from 17 percent in early 2004 to 51 percent now.

George Bush did this. Read the rest of this post...

Monday Morning Open Thread

Four years ago today, George Bush launched the war in Iraq. It's a complete disaster. Just watched Condi Rice spinning the war on the TODAY Show. She is a very crisp talker. She seems to think that if she elocutes perfectly, somehow we'll all believe her. We don't. She is a liar, just like her boss. Yes, liar. When people lie -- and lie consistently -- they are liars.

I still think America is better, way better, than the leadership of our country. We have to be.

Four years later and no end in sight.

Start, please. Read the rest of this post...

Canvasback ducks passing by Chesapeake Bay this year

In the 1950s there used to be a few hundred thousand of the canvasback ducks resting along the Chesapeake but as the food supply disappeared, the numbers declined heavily. Even in recent years there were still somewhat respectable numbers passing through but this year the visiting population dropped off of a cliff due to the unusually warm winter.

Department of Natural Resources officials counted 13,700 canvasbacks during their annual midwinter waterfowl survey, which tracks about 20 species of ducks and geese that fly south each winter. That marked a precipitous drop from the four previous years, when canvasback numbers hovered between 30,000 and 40,000 during the annual count.

The survey found declines in other species of ducks as well, and recorded the lowest numbers of waterfowl in Maryland's portion of the Chesapeake Bay in five years.

Read the rest of this post...

Another Zimbabwe opposition leader beaten by government agents

Mugabe and his band of thugs continue to step up pressure on the opposition, resorting to even more violence. Opposition MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa was held and beaten at the airport according to reports.

"He was badly beaten this morning whilst he was on his way to the airport by security agents," said Bango, a spokesman for MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

"Chamisa was due to be attending an EU-ACP meeting in Brussels. The security agents have taken his passport, laptop and his luggage. One of his eyes has been badly injured.

"It's really bad. His head has been severely injured".

Elphus Mukonoweshuro, secretary for foreign affairs within the MDC, confirmed the incident.

"Chamisa has suffered serious head injuries after being attacked by security the agents in the morning," he said.

It sounds like Mugabe has run out of options and can only resort to more violence to maintain his grip. Read the rest of this post...

US Attorney may have been fired to thwart CIA probe

And as Senator Leahy notes, if that's the case, then you're entering criminal territory - it's called obstruction of justice, and if two or more people agree to do it, it's a criminal conspiracy. Read the rest of this post...