Public wants congress to cut back Bush's war request

Fat chance. After all, Bush might call them names.

There is broader public agreement on how Congress should approach war funding. Only about a quarter of adults want Congress to fund fully the administration's $190 billion request; seven in 10 want the proposed allocation reduced, with 43 percent wanting it reduced sharply or entirely. About seven in 10 independents want Congress to cut back funds allocated for the war effort, as do nearly nine in 10 Democrats; 46 percent of Republicans agree.

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Dems approve $150bn more for Iraq and Afghanistan

And the hemorrhage, I mean surge, continues. Read the rest of this post...

Lee Ioacocca blasts Bush

NY Post's "Page Six":

LEE Iacocca is no fan of President Bush. "I campaigned for him because I knew his mother and dad for 30 years, and I figured he was from pretty good stock," the auto-industry legend tells Details magazine. "But Jeb was being groomed, too. They got the wrong kid. There's something wrong philosophically with how Bush's brain works. I feel sorry for him. I used to think [Al] Gore was nuts in his worrying about global warming, but he was ahead of his time."

Here's the link to the interview in Details. Read the rest of this post...

Bush's miscreant rent-a-cops: Blackwater contractors canned for drugs, violence

This is what happens when BushCo contracts out his military misadventures. Your tax dollars are being burned on this:

Private security contractor Blackwater USA has had to fire 122 people over the past three years for problems ranging from misusing weapons, alcohol and drug violations, inappropriate conduct, and violent behavior, according to a report released Monday by a congressional committee.

That total is roughly one-seventh of the work force that Blackwater has in Iraq, a ratio that raises questions about the quality of the people working for the company.

The North Carolina-based Blackwater has been paid over $800 million dollars by the State Department to perform security work. In the 15-page report detailing Blackwater's record, the firm had more shooting incidents that the other two security firms (Dyncorp, Triple Canopy) combined.

Previously undisclosed information reveals (1) Blackwater has engaged in 195 “escalation of force” incidents since 2005, an average of 1.4 per week, including over 160 incidents in which Blackwater forces fired first; (2) after a drunken Blackwater contractor shot the guard of the Iraqi Vice President, the State Department allowed the contractor to leave Iraq and advised Blackwater on the size of the payment needed “to help them resolve this”; and (3) Blackwater, which has received over $1 billion in federal contracts since 2001, is charging the federal government over $1,200 per day for each “protective security specialist” employed by the company.

Several investigations are already under way because of Blackwater's role in an incident on September 16 when 11 Iraqis were killed in a shoot-out involving Blackwater guards. The company claims the guards acted in self-defense; Iraqi witnesses said Blackwater rent-a-cops opened fire without provocation. Hearings are being planned. Read the rest of this post...

Monday Starbucks blogging

One of the neat things about New York is the day to day things you see around you. It's hard to describe, but it's something I experience in Paris and New York, and few other cities. Your day is filled with nothing special - hell, I'm sitting at a Starbucks - but the little things going on around you can be absolutely fascinating. To wit, Bobby Carlson the artist-coat-check-guy sitting behind the sugar/napkin counter, making figures out of wire. I had to ask him what his story was, and he's basically the coat check guy at a local club and years ago, while working construction, brought some wire home and figured he's make a man out of it. And he did. And never stopped. He's really quite good, has never had any formal art training, and in a month he'll have a Web site up of his work, so he can start selling some of it. It's really quite good, and he's quite the charming, unassuming guy. I'll give you the URL now, and if it interests you, check back in a month or two: BounderArts.com Read the rest of this post...

Susan Collins campaign staffer works for FOX News

Just a bit of a conflict. Then again, we've always known that Susan is a FOX News Republican, so we should be glad she's finally confirmed it. Read the rest of this post...

Election woes grow for the GOP

As much as we feel helpless in the face of Bush's intransigence and the Democrats' lack of will, the public is increasingly taking its frustration out on the GOP. And that spells disaster for the Republicans next election. Read the rest of this post...

Another member of the "Coalition of the Willing" leaves Iraq today. This is its story.

Another comedy video from our friend Andy Cobb. I think this may be his best yet. Here is Andy's description of the video:

Iceland just had one "troop" on the ground in Iraq, (actually a press aide, not a soldier--Iceland has no standing army), but that didn't stop Bush from counting them as an equal member of his disappearing "coalition."

We aren't hating on you, Icelanders. We're jealous of what you enjoy--a lack of military entanglements, a terrific standard of living, and a genetic predisposition for high cheekbones.

Welcome home.

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Hard core right wingers will quit GOP if Rudy is the nominee

The base of the GOP that Bush and Rove worked so hard to court are saying they may bolt if Rudy is the nominee. Yep, the fundies hate Rudy:

Alarmed at the possibility that the Republican Party might pick Rudolph W. Giuliani as its presidential nominee despite his support for abortion rights, a coalition of influential Christian conservatives is threatening to back a third-party candidate.

The threat emerged from a group that broke away for separate discussions at a meeting Saturday in Salt Lake City of the Council for National Policy, a secretive conservative networking group. Participants said the smaller group included James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, who is perhaps its most influential member; Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council; Richard A. Viguerie, the direct-mail pioneer; and dozens of other politically oriented conservative Christians.

Almost everyone present at the smaller group’s meeting expressed support for a written resolution stating that “if the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate we will consider running a third-party candidate,” participants said.

This "secretive conservative networking group" really is comprised of the most influential religious right leaders. They are sending a message to the GOP powers-that-be. Read the rest of this post...

More pain on Wall Street from the sub-prime fiasco

Sounds like a few issues that will need to be addressed in the banking and financial market. Citibank Q3 earnings to plummet 60% and UBS to report losses of almost $700 million for the quarter. Plenty more problems ahead in the banking and we can remember to thank them and their GOP enablers as the economy tumbles. Let's see raised hands out there for all of the Republicans in Congress who thought easy money was a great idea. And Mr. Bubble...hello...still there for comment? Read the rest of this post...

Monday Morning Open Thread

The Supreme Court starts a new session today. Be prepared to lose even more rights under the Scalia/Roberts/Alito regime.

Get it started. Read the rest of this post...

UN envoy meets with Suu Kyi, ignored by junta

The days of mass protests seem to be an an end, with the dictatorship enforcing its power through violence and mass arrests. The UN is talking though the junta leadership continues to be uninterested in speaking with the UN. Realistically the only countries that can have much impact would be China and India and considering China's own modern history with internal dissent I can't imagine them taking a firm stand against the actions of the junta. India though has been disappointingly quiet, probably afraid to risk business being lost to China - a local competitor - if they speak out. That may very well be true, though it is still disappointing. Read the rest of this post...

"Free trade" protests in Costa Rica

Whether it's Mr. Bubble or Republicans, the pro-free trade crowd always makes it sound so easy and as if it made 100%, perfect sense. What bad could come from free trade? It sounds so, well, free and isn't freedom what America is all about? If only it was so easy. The down to earth reality is that there is always a hitch, something that makes it not quite as "free" in reality as it is on paper and this is yet another example.

People in Costa Rica are worried, just like many in the US, that such a free trade agreement will damage the local system and take away jobs. What makes these "free" trade agreements difficult is that when you combine the size of the US farms (for example) and then add to that the healthy benefits of government subsidies to those farms, it's not really much of a free trade system where everyone receives an equal opportunity. It's also quite different from the whingers at Boeing and Airbus who complain every time the other side receives billions from their respective governments.

Across Africa and the developing world the complaints are similar, with governments often signing up for these great new trade agreements despite rarely found benefits to the local populations. Global trade can deliver a lot of great benefits, many of the benefits that the "free" traders talk about but the system we offer today is anything but fair and needs to be updated. It's time to move away from holding the small and poor nations over a barrel and serving big business interests and start thinking more about how these agreements actually impact humans. The possibilities exist but we need to modernize the first draft and start addressing real world issues instead of theory. Read the rest of this post...