Bush snuck Social Security privatization plan into his budget

See, Bush thinks that since he never reads any of the stuff he signs, no one else will read any of it either.

From Newsweek

If you read enough numbers, you never know what you'll find. Take President Bush and private Social Security accounts.

Last year, even though Bush talked endlessly about the supposed joys of private accounts, he never proposed a specific plan to Congress and never put privatization costs in the budget. But this year, with no fanfare whatsoever, Bush stuck a big Social Security privatization plan in the federal budget proposal, which he sent to Congress on Monday.

His plan would let people set up private accounts starting in 2010 and would divert more than $700 billion of Social Security tax revenues to pay for them over the first seven years.

If this comes as a surprise to you, have no fear. You're not alone. Bush didn't pitch private Social Security accounts in his State of the Union Message last week.

Maybe Bush thought the Iraq war authorization gave him the power to privatize Social Security without consulting Congress. Read the rest of this post...

Army is going to reimburse body-armor soldier

Good. And a good article on it from CNN. My only small beef is with the part of the article that says AMERICAblog "claimed" to have raised nearly $6,000, and the fact that his father is quoted saying he hasn't seen the money yet.

We raised $5,400 yesterday and the check was cut and put in the mail today, just as I told Wanda who works in the father's office. Give it a little time, folks :-) Read the rest of this post...

Bush has made a mess of our intelligence-gathering capabilities

And every Republican who continues to ignore Bush's incompetence, sweeping it under the rug because they're so embarrassed they voted for the man they feel they have no choice but to knee-jerk defend him rather than admit the truth, YOU are responsible for the mess our country is in. The Republicans control the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the White House. The mess we're in is their fault, and the power is in their hands to fix it. At some point, Republicans need to put our national security ahead of politics. Or we should thrown the bums out come November.

Newsweek:

After four and a half years, our intelligence and national-security apparatus still hasn'?t learned how to track terrorists, and the Bush administration has put forward little more than cosmetic reforms.

The legal controversy over the NSA surveillance program has obscured an intelligence issue that is at least as important to the nation'?s future: sheer competence. Do we have any idea what we'?re doing? One reason the NSA is listening in on so many domestic conversations fruitlessly - ?few of the thousands of tips panned out, according to The Washington Post- ?is that the agency barely has a clue as to who, or what, it is supposed to be monitoring....

Vice President Dick Cheney asserted recently that the NSA’s domestic surveillance program has "saved thousands of lives." The only domestic success that administration has publicly linked to the surveillance program is the exposure of a rather comical plan by truck driver Iyman Faris to blowtorch the Brooklyn Bridge (even that claim is questionable).

Read the rest of this post...

I hesitate to even publish this...

But news is news, even when we know with a 99% certainty they're going to find absolutely nothing.

A Capitol office building was evacuated Wednesday night on a hazardous substance alert after police discovered a suspicious powder in its attic, authorities said.

The Homeland Security Department was investigating, but a senior counterterror official said it did not immediately appear to be an emergency.

Read the rest of this post...

CNN's Cafferty nails Boehner

From C&L;

CAFFERTY: These guys are either arrogant or stupid and neither of those is a good thing if you're going to be the House majority leader--am I missing something here? Where's the reform part? I wonder how long this guy is going to last.

WOLF: You did hear Ed Henry say that it is a basement apartment which is not necessarily all that desirable---

CAFFERTY: Yea...and pigs fly upside down and the moon is made of green cheese and there's no quid pro quo from a lobbyist who is also your landlord? Do I look like I just fell out of the back of a vegetable truck to you?

Read the rest of this post...

Tom Delay rewarded with key seat on Appropriations Committee

Ethics? We don't need no stinkin' ethics.

From AP:

Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay, forced to step down as the No. 2 Republican in the House, scored a soft landing Wednesday as GOP leaders rewarded him with a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee.

DeLay, R-Texas, also claimed a seat on the subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department, which is currently investigating an influence-peddling scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his dealings with lawmakers. The subcommittee also has responsibility over NASA — a top priority for DeLay, since the Johnson Space Center is located in his Houston-area district.

"Allowing Tom DeLay to sit on a committee in charge of giving out money is like putting Michael Brown back in charge of FEMA — Republicans in Congress just can't seem to resist standing by their man," said Bill Burton, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Read the rest of this post...

Bush budget kills Voice of America's English-language broadcasts

So Bush is zeroing out Voice of America's English-language broadcasts. I guess the English language is a thing of the past anyway, according to the Bushies at least. Forget about the fact that some people actually learn and practice their English via these broadcasts. Forget about the fact that a number of African countries speak English as their mother tongue:

Botswana
Gambia
Ghana
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Malawi
Mauritius
Namibia
Nigeria
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Swaziland
Uganda
United Republic of Tanzania
Zambia
Zimbabwe

No, you see, the way the Bush administration wants us to reach the hearts and minds of the developing world is to cut the funding for every US international program that doesn't involve killing people.

And we wonder why they hate us.

PS Of course, it's totally possible that Bush is killing this part of the VOA budget because HE KNOWS it's ridiculous to kill it. Sound crazy? Not at all. It's an old trick used by presidents who have no desire to submit a serious budget to Congress. You see, the president makes his budget balance by killing all sorts of programs that he knows Congress will have to put back in - like this VOA program. That way, Bush gets credit for saving the money from the killed program and can then spend it on other budget priorities, while at the same time it becomes CONGRESS'S FAULT that the program is reinstated and it's CONGRESS'S FAULT that the program adds to the deficit. Cute, no? Talk about your fuzzy math. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Another busy news day. Read the rest of this post...

Body Armor Update: Just mailed off a check for $5400

I just mailed a check for $5400 to 1st Lt. William “Eddie” Rebrook IV in West Virginia. That's the total amount of money you guys donated over 2 hours yesterday (see my previous posts on this topic here and here).

According to the latest from Editor & Publisher, Rebrook has said he's going to donate the money to the mother of a soldier who saved his life in Iraq - she lost her home in New Orleans to Katrina - and he may also give some to charity. Which is fine with me. First, it's his money to spend as he likes. But more importantly, the point was and is that the money go to help someone in need - and it's going to do just that - and at the same time it's inadvertently helped raise some awareness about the ongoing issue of body armor and the Bush administration's (and Republican Congress') callous treatment of our service members. All of that is a good thing.

So, again, good job all. Read the rest of this post...

I'm waiting for Ken Mehlman to blast Martin Luther King as an "angry" black man, any moment now...

Eulogy for the Young Victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing, by Martin Luther King, Jr. on Sept 18, 1963 in Birmingham, Ala. This was the eulogy for three of the four children killed in attack, Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, and Cynthia Diane Wesley. From DKos:

This afternoon we gather in the quiet of this sanctuary to pay our last tribute of respect to these beautiful children of God....

They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity. And so this afternoon in a real sense they have something to say to each of us in their death.

They have something to say to every minister of the gospel who has remained silent behind the safe security of stained-glass windows.

They have something to say to every politician [Audience:] (Yeah) who has fed his constituents with the stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism.

They have something to say to a federal government that has compromised with the undemocratic practices of southern Dixiecrats (Yeah) and the blatant hypocrisy of right-wing northern Republicans. (Speak)

They have something to say to every Negro (Yeah) who has passively accepted the evil system of segregation and who has stood on the sidelines in a mighty struggle for justice.

They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution.

They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream [...]

And there you have it. Martin Luther King using the funeral of small children to criticize the existing members of Congress and the federal government overall. And this is exactly what Coretta Scott King's mourners did yesterday at her funeral. Something the Republican party blowhards flipped out over. Something Coretta and MLK would have likely WANTED, as clearly shown by their own actions.

So, come on, Ken. You know you want to blast Martin Luther King for what you view as angrily exploiting the deaths of children, just as you Republicans blasted Democrats for saying the exact same things at Coretta's funeral yesterday. Your fingers are just itching to hit the keys and type out a blistering press release about that "angry" black man MLK and the way he politicizes the funerals of CHILDREN, no less!

Come on, Ken. Tell the black man his real place in America. Tell him how his church is supposed to be run, how his funerals are supposed to look and act and sound and feel like white folk's funerals. Give African-Americans the lecture you so want to give them on how their churches are a bit too noisy and unnerving for nice upstanding white Republicans like yourself.

Come on, Ken. Tell Martin Luther King what he SHOULD have said about those four young children killed in Birmingham in 1963. You're such a paragon of minority leadership. Tell us, Ken. Tell us. Read the rest of this post...

MSNBC is helping conservative activists reach conservative voters, for a price

Isn't that special? For $279, MSNBC will help YOU use THEM to reach out to conservative voters.

Time for another blogger ethics panel!

I've just posted a long post explaining the entire sordid affair in detail. It's pretty sick. Read the rest of this post...

Right-wing blogger racism

If the hood fits... Read the rest of this post...

The Washington Times is "recommending" Democrats stay far away from lefty blogs

Which of course means that the Washington Times REALLY thinks the lefty blogs pose an incredible danger to the Republican party. Here is the last line in a story I won't link to because I don't like linking to party organs run by religious cults:

Republicans can find strength and success by listening to their like-minded bloggers; Democrats can find strength and success by ignoring theirs.

Now think about it. The Washington Times is a Republican party rag, yellow journalism at its best. They make FOX News look fair and balanced.

So when is the last time the Washington Times tried to give the Democrats sincere and honest advice as to how to win?

Enough said. If the Moonie paper is suggesting the Democrats run from the blogs, then it's because the Moonie paper thinks the blogs are an incredible asset to the Democratic party and pose an incredible danger to the Republicans. Read the rest of this post...

So concern about domestic spying is bi-partisan

The Bush domestic spying scandal has raised serious issues for Republicans as well as Democrats. At least that's what the Christian Science Monitor says today. Now, they might get kicked out of the traditional media club for reporting the news -- not the GOP spin:

In open hearings and behind closed doors, the Senate this week opened a broad - and often tense - dialogue with the Bush administration over the president's wartime powers.

It's more than just a probe into who authorized what, when, and why in a recently disclosed domestic eavesdropping program. If the president is not checked, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle argue, then the constitutional balance of power could shift away from the Congress for at least a generation.

"I'm for the president's inherent authority to conduct the war, but not to neuter the other two branches," says Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record) (R) of South Carolina, one of four Republicans on the Senate Judiciary panel to challenge the White House interpretation of presidential war powers.

Maybe one or two of the Democratic consulting brain trust (the ones who've led us to the place where we don't have the White House, the Senate or the House) will read this article. Maybe, they'll understand that this spying scandal is a major issue -- even Republicans have figured that out -- including GOPers in tough races like Heather Wilson as John posted below.

It would be great if those Democratic smarty-pants realized that they can't ignore issues, they have to develop strategies to shape them. Okay...I know. Thinking strategically about how to win might just be too much to ask. Read the rest of this post...

That GOP hack, anti-science punk at NASA -- he doesn't work there anymore

George Deutsch, the Bush "war room" campaign staffer, who was on a quest to end science at NASA, has "resigned." Yep, he doesn't work there anymore. Seems young Mr. Deutsch had some discrepancies in his resume:

George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters' access to a top climate scientist and told a Web designer to add the word "theory" at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said.

NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness (Feb. 4, 2006) Mr. Deutsch's resignation came on the same day that officials at Texas A&M; University confirmed that he did not graduate from there, as his resume on file at the agency asserted.

The best part of this is that he was busted by a blogger, a pro-science blogger at that:

Mr. Deutsch's educational record was first challenged on Monday by Nick Anthis, who graduated from Texas A&M; last year with a biochemistry degree and has been writing a Web log on science policy, scientificactivist.blogspot.com.

After Mr. Anthis read about the problems at NASA, he said in an interview: "It seemed like political figures had really overstepped the line. I was just going to write some commentary on this when somebody tipped me off that George Deutsch might not have graduated."

He posted a blog entry asserting this after he checked with the university's association of former students. He reported that the association said Mr. Deutsch received no degree.

How is anyone who worked for Bush supposed to think that telling little lies will get them in to trouble? Lying about a war helped get his boss re-elected. And how the hell did Deutsch get that job in the first place? That's the question asked by Nick Anthis, the blogger at scientific activist:

...instead of the story being about a 24-year-old lying, it should be about this: how did this guy, who already had dubious qualifications, make it into NASA with such an obvious lie on his resume? To work for a federal agency, including NASA, extensive background checks are usually required. If I was able to uncover the truth about Deutsch in one phone call, then he must have been placed in his current position without any investigation, due to his loyal service on the Bush presidential campaign.

Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Okay, let's get it started. What's going on out there? Read the rest of this post...

More violent protests over cartoon

I'm having an increasingly difficult time feeling sympathy for the protesters. I don't want to dismiss the apparent offense felt by millions of people, but some of this is just starting to look crazy. The Western image isn't the only image being harmed here.

Wash Post

Violent protests spread Tuesday across Afghanistan, where at least three demonstrators died in a clash with NATO soldiers and hundreds rampaged through the capital, trashing U.N. vehicles and throwing stones at buildings used by international agencies, visitors and troops.

Then again, our religious extremists, with the collusion of the government, go nuts over a brain-dead woman who can still be totally cured if we only give her half a chance. That doesn't make me feel any better about the cartoon rioters, but it does start to paint a larger picture I'm not liking. Read the rest of this post...