Open thread

A balmy 20 degrees tomorrow morning in Chicago. Read the rest of this post...

12,000 more National Guard troops being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan

The escalation keeps escalating. MSNBC is reporting that 12,000 more National Guard troops will be sent to the war zones:

Coming on the heels of a controversial “surge” of 21,000 U.S. troops that has stretched the Army thin, the Defense Department is preparing to send an additional 12,000 National Guard combat forces to Iraq and Afghanistan, defense officials told NBC News on Thursday.

The troops will come from four Guard combat brigades in different states, the officials told NBC News’ chief Pentagon correspondent, Jim Miklaszewski. They said papers ordering the deployment, which would run for one year beginning in early 2008, were awaiting Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ signature.

Seems every few weeks since Bush announced the escalation, we get a report of even more soldiers being sent to Iraq. In early February, the Congressional Budget Office estimated there would actually be 35,000 to 48,000 troops involved in Bush's escalation in Iraq. Does anyone even know the real numbers? We'll never get the truth from the White House. Speaking of which, guess what? The Pentagon lied to us, Bush lied to us, about how long the "surge" was going to last. It's not a surge, it's becoming a permanent occupation:

Gates indicated Thursday that defense planners expected the U.S. military commitment to last well beyond the timetable of early next year that was put forth in the Pentagon’s arguments to send more than 20,000 regular Army troops to help quiet sectarian violence.

Oh, and, there's this line from MSNBC, too:

The grinding pace of the war is clearly wearing down the Army.

That's comforting, huh?

Think Progress has video of Olbermann's take. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

What do you know? Read the rest of this post...

FOX News says Brits captured by Iran were spies

Uh oh. Why do FOX News and Rupert Murdoch hate the war on terror? They just said that their "sister network," Sky News (also owned by Rupert Murdoch), reported that one of the captured British soldiers, before he was captured, said they were there to spy on Iran. Here is Rupert's report.

The captain in charge of the 15 marines detained in Iran has said they were gathering intelligence on the Iranians.

Sky News went on patrol with Captain Chris Air and his team in Iraqi waters close to the area where they were arrested - just five days before the crisis began.

We withheld the interview until now so it would not jeopardise their safety.

So Rupert Murdoch just informed the world that the Brits were spies. I'm sure that will be very useful to our enemies. I'm waiting for Dick Cheney and the White House to blast FOX for not supporting the troops. I believe "treason" was the word the Republicans all used when the New York Times reported on Bush's illegal domestic spying. ... Read the rest of this post...

GOP Senator Orrin Hatch maligns fired US Attorney, says she was Clinton's campaign manager - guess what, she wasn't

Republicans can't handle the truth. Read the rest of this post...

Another senior Bush official under investigation

Check this out. She didn't even try to hide it. From ABC News:

The Office of Special Counsel confirmed to ABC News it has launched an investigation into General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan, probing concerns she may have violated a ban against conducting partisan political activity at government expense by participating in a meeting featuring a presentation by a White House political aide on GOP election strategy.

Doan's agency spends over $56 billion a year on paper clips, office space, car fleets and other necessities for federal agencies.

In January, Doan attended a meeting at which senior White House political aide W. Scott Jennings briefed Doan, a White House appointee, and other officials at a GSA facility on Republican plans to win seats in Congress.

After the presentation, according to some witnesses contacted by congressional investigators, Doan encouraged other attendees to find ways GSA could help "our candidates" in the 2008 election. Doan has told Congress she doesn't recall making the statement, and other witnesses interviewed by congressional investigators are said to have backed her up....

But Doan may not have been the only top official to host a White House political official at her agency. The White House political office has been giving presentations similar to the one at GSA since at least 2002, briefing officials throughout the government on Republican campaign information, according to a recent book by two Los Angeles Times reporters.

"[White House political adviser Karl] Rove and [former Bush campaign chief and one-time Republican National Committee head Ken] Mehlman ventured to nearly every cabinet agency to share key polling data" leading up to the 2002 midterm elections, wrote Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten in their book, "One Party Country," "and to deliver a reminder of White House priorities, including the need for the president's allies to win in the next election."

While previous administrations had sent officials to cabinet agencies, the duo wrote, "Such intense regular communication from the political office had never occurred before."

Read the rest of this post...

Bush thinks the war is a joke

From Froomkin at the WashingtonPost.com:

Is Bush taking all this seriously enough? Or is it all just a game? In his tour of the deadly-serious training facility yesterday, Bush repeatedly joked around, with journalists serving as the brunt of his humor.

"The first stop was a card table set up in front of a cinderblock-type hut," New York Times reporter Jim Rutenberg wrote in his pool report. "Sitting on top of it were suitcase devices used to view the images sent back from predator drones. 'Train it on Holland,' POTUS said as a soldier held up the drone, about two feet long and pointed it at Steve Holland of Reuters. Peering into the image received in the suitcase device's monitor, POTUS said to Holland, 'You're as rough looking here as you are regular.'"

Later, Rutenberg writes: "We arrived at another display of robotic rovers built to handle and search for road side bombs. With your pool assembled before him, POTUS grabbed the joy stick on a remote control and started sending a rover with a grab claw into the photographers, telling Jason Reed of Reuters - who was right in its path - 'You're not debris, you're still a human being.' . . . POTUS then turned his attention to your humble pool reporter, 'Rutenberg, come here,' then saying, 'Put your hand there by the claw.' LOL."

Rutenberg left out what happened next, but local reporter Tatiana Prophet of the Victorville (Calif.) Daily Press was fascinated by the conduct of the White House press corps, and wrote a story about them: "While this administration has been characterized by a ban on reporters' questions outside of a formal news conference, the media nevertheless have a familiarity with the commander-in-chief. . . .

"'Rutenberg, come over here,' Bush said to New York Times reporter Jim Rutenberg. 'Put your hand up right by the claw.'

"The 'claw' was a robot arm of the Talon 3, a diminutive robot designed to disarm improvised explosive devices, which have become the biggest threat to troops involved in the Iraq War. . . .

"Rutenberg, kneeling in the desert dust, was a good sport as the president sent the robot toward him, to laughter from the soldiers and the media as well."

Nothing like a little physical abasement to keep the president in good spirits.

Read the rest of this post...

Bush sticks with his talking points on Iraq. He's got no real plan, but he's got a message.

George Bush has been giving the essentially the same speech about the dangers of leaving Iraq for almost two years now. The media dutifully records those same words over and over -- without applying any context.

September 22, 2005:

"Some Americans want us to withdraw our troops so that we can escape the violence," said Bush, who was flanked by Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top officials. "I recognize their good intentions, but their position is wrong. Withdrawing our troops would make the world more dangerous and make America less safe. To leave Iraq now would be to repeat the costly mistakes of the past that led to the attacks of September the 11th, 2001."

April 4, 2007:

"The enemy does not measure the conflict in Iraq in terms of timetables," Bush said to soldiers here, a reference to congressional Democrats' plans to start phasing in troop withdrawals.

"A strategy that encourages this enemy to wait us out is dangerous - dangerous for our troops, dangerous for our security," Bush said. "And it's not going to become law."

Slight change in wording, but essentially the same message.

If the media did any kind of analysis, they'd examine what's really dangerous for our troops and our security. For example, they might note that Bush makes these remarks while troops are dying -- seven in the last two days. For example, it's dangerous for our troops to send them to a war without a plan and without the needed equipment and training. What's dangerous for our troops is leaving them to die in the middle of a civil war. What's been dangerous for our security has been to ignore the real terror threat while simultaneously empowering them. Read the rest of this post...

Actually, Baghdad markets not quite like outdoor Indiana markets, despite that claim by Rep. Mike Pence

Indiana Congressman Mike Pence was on the trip to Baghdad with John McCain. He, too, "strolled" through the market under intense protection. Pence was inspired. Just like a summer day at a market in Indiana. But, as Al Kamen reported, not such an accurate comparison:

Pence, however, said he came away from his "day at the market in Baghdad with a new sense of cautious optimism that freedom might just work for these people." The Shorja market, he said, was "like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime."

Really? Just like the weekend farmers market in the Minnetrista Cultural Center parking lot in Muncie?

Maybe not exactly. "There've been no shootings or car bombings" at that market since it opened a few years ago, said Robin Gibson, assistant metro editor of the Star Press in Muncie. So no dangers there at all? "Maybe some overeager dogs jumping at people," she ventured.

Avon Waters, a former features editor and writer for the Herald Bulletin in Anderson, the other relatively big town in Pence's largely rural congressional district, said he never wore a flak jacket and "never felt afraid" when he spent a couple of recent years covering farmers markets in Madison County, including places such as Elwood and Pendleton.

"No snipers or car bombs," Waters reported.

So, is this what Indiana markets look like?:
Read the rest of this post...

The Creepy Veep Video

In case you haven't seen the video courtesy of TPMTV:

Read the rest of this post...

Bill "Hollywood is controlled by anal-sex loving Jews" Donohue met Stan, Kyle and Jesus last night on South Park

South Park has been especially brilliant this year. Last night, they outdid themselves with an Easter special. The "star" of the episode was the head of the Catholic League, the hate-spewing, anti-semitic, homophobe Bill Donohue. And, South Park captured him perfectly. (You'll recall that Donohue was also the guy who led the attack against John Edwards' bloggers.)

After Donohue deposed the pope (for not torturing and killing enough), he didn't last long. Jesus returned to take care of him. Here's how the Orlando Sentinel's "TV Guy" described it:

The folks at "South Park" take no prisoners.

Consider Wednesday's episode, which went after Bill Donohue, president of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. Donohue has been a severe critic of the animated series on Comedy Central.

The episode mixed Easter and "The Da Vinci Code" in typically wacky fashion. The plot involved the current pope and Jesus. The story ended with Jesus cutting Donahue in half with a flying ninja blade.

In other recent controversies, Donohue has called the co-creators of "South Park," Matt Stone and Trey Parker, whores and cowards.

Whores and cowards? Yeah, that's very Catholic.

The episode was brilliant. South Park will probably get sued by Donohue, who, for all his own hate-filled speech, is remarkably thin-skinned. Read the rest of this post...

Dick Cheney's pregnant out of wedlock lesbian daughter is having a boy

Not that there's anything wrong with it. Oh yeah, there is something wrong with it, at least according to Dick Cheney and George Bush. They tried to pass a constitutional amendment forever taking away the rights of Mary Cheney, her lesbian partner Heather Poe, and their soon to be born baby boy.

From the Wash Post:

It'll be a boy for Mary Cheney! Her dad revealed the gender of his future grandchild yesterday during an interview with ABC News Radio.

"I'm delighted I'm about to be a grandparent for the sixth time," said Dick Cheney. "I'm looking forward to the arrival of a new grandson." The veep confirmed that the baby is due next month; this will be the first child for Mary and partner Heather Poe, and the third grandson for the Cheneys.

But he wasn't touching the question about the same-sex family's legal standing. "I think each state ought to have the capacity to decide how they want to handle those issues," he said. " . . . And I obviously think it's important for us as a society to be tolerant and respectful of whatever arrangements people enter into."

But of course each family can't decide, Dick, because you and your president have enabled the very people who hate your daughter and you grandson, people who want to make her a political football, and a very second-class football at that. Heck of a grandpa you turned out to be, Dick.

Andy Towle has more. Read the rest of this post...

Rove and Bush count on the White House Press Corps to be uncritical and take dictation

Froomkin explained it in his column yesterday. See, the White House press corps basically just take dictation. Bush and Rove know that's what they do. Sure, every now and then the reporters act tough, but, in reality, they've become White House stenographers:

Rove's approach was very much on display yesterday at Bush's Rose Garden news conference.

The president's current weakness is profound. His war in Iraq appears to be a colossal failure, and as a result the public has turned against him and wants the troops home and safe.

But to hear Bush talk, it's the Democrats who are the party of failure. It's the Democrats who are defying the will of the people. And in the latest, truly dazzling talking point unveiled by the president yesterday, it's the Democrats who would keep the troops in harm's way.

What Rove can still count on, in spite of everything, is that the president's assertions make it into the headlines no matter how dubious they may be -- and that all too many reporters prefer uncritical transcription to the kind of tough but fair analysis that would be required to put what the president says in context.

This is why CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, a White House reporter, just spews the White House talking points when she's over at the Situation Room. Too many reporters never question what they've been told. If they do question Bush, they'll be accused of being having a liberal bias. Apparently, that's a bigger faux pas than doing a bad job of actually reporting.

That's also why the Bush administration can lie to the media over and over. The White House knows the press will never call them "liars." It's almost too easy.

Rove plays the White House press corps for patsies. And, they are. Read the rest of this post...

$8 billion missing in Iraq - investigators murdered

Amazingly enough, the Iraqi constitution even allows Cabinet ministers to block investigations into corruption, which they have done. What a shining example of democracy.

Iraq's top corruption fighter said Wednesday that $8 billion in government money was wasted or stolen over the past three years and claimed he was threatened with death after opening an investigation into scores of Oil Ministry employees.

In the chaos and lawlessness of Iraq, such threats are not taken lightly. Radi al-Radhi, who runs the Public Integrity Commission, leads one of the more dangerous missions in the country. He said in an interview that 20 members of the organization have been murdered since it began its work.

In perhaps the most publicized recent case, an estimated $2 billion disappeared from funds to rebuild the electricity infrastructure.

Former Electricity Minister Ayham al-Samaraie, who holds both U.S. and Iraqi citizenship, was convicted in that case and sentenced to two years in prison. He escaped from an Iraqi-run jail in the Green Zone on Dec. 17 and turned up in Chicago on Jan. 15. Al-Samaraie has said the Americans helped him escape.

Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

There's a lot of news swirling around. In DC, there's actually been snow swirling around. Just flurries, but still. It's April.

Start threading the news. Read the rest of this post...

Another voice of reason on Zimbabwe

"Enablers" is exactly on the money. To say nothing is to support Mugabe and his policies.

With Mugabe poised to rig five more catastrophic years in office, it is time for regional leaders to recognize that his campaigns of oppression make apartheid Rhodesia and South Africa look like amateurs. As Bishop Desmond Tutu has said, we as Africans must hang our heads in shame at our failure to make a difference to the suffering men, women and children of Zimbabwe.

When will Southern Africa's leaders decide they will no longer align themselves with tyranny? When will they abandon their failed strategy of "quiet diplomacy" and move to help the people of Zimbabwe?

African leaders and the international community must demand that the government of Zimbabwe stop its violence against political opponents; create a democratic environment through the repeal of repressive legislation; enact a democratic constitution; and hold free, fair elections that are supervised by the international community.

Read the rest of this post...

Romney continues his battle with reality

This time, it's about his very extensive history as a hunter. The tiny little fly in the ointment, hiccup if you will, is that he's only been hunting twice in his life. What won't this guy say to suck up to a new voting block and just how stupid does he think voters are?

In a question-and-answer session Tuesday in Keene, N.H., Romney spoke of his experience with hunting in a manner that suggested a close affiliation with the sport.

"I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I've been a hunter pretty much all my life," he told a man sporting a National Rifle Association cap.

Yet the former Massachusetts governor's hunting experience came during two trips at the bookends of his 60 years: as a 15-year-old, when he hunted rabbits with his cousins on a ranch in Idaho, and last year, when he shot quail on a fenced game preserve in Georgia.

Hmmm. So even when he does hunt, he opts for the most cowardly, though extremely high-priced, method of hunting. You know, the kind of hunting ranch that the Bush - regulated Interior Department wants to help create by throwing animals off of the endangered species act so they can be hunted by high rollers. What a macho man, Mitt. What a fraud. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Gnite Read the rest of this post...