Dems to announce defense plan: Get Osama; redeploy from Iraq

Yes, and yes.

Overall, the Democratic position paper attempts to make the case that the Bush administration's "inadequate planning and incompetent policies have failed to make Americas as safe as we should be."

Incompetence. Good word.

Republicans have sought to use that division to their own political advantage, claiming that Democrats simply attack the president and his fellow Republicans without presenting proposals of their own.

Funny, but if you go to the doctor for a tonsillectomy and he cuts off your leg, you don't go back to the same doctor. And it doesn't matter if the other doctors tell you that you're screwed, they can't glue your leg back on. You still don't go back to the same quack to fix your tonsils. Read the rest of this post...

Blogwhoring

What she said. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Mmm... thread... Read the rest of this post...

Supreme Court mulls legality of military tribunals for enemy combattants

The thing that's most amazing is that the Bush administration and the Republican congress tried extra hard to get this case out of the courts. The Republicans even passed legislation last year trying to take away the rights of the combattants to go to court:

The Bush administration has tried to scuttle the case on grounds that the new law stripped the justices' authority to consider it. The law passed late last year bars Guantanamo prisoners from filing petitions to fight their detentions, and the administration claims this law retroactively voided hundreds of lawsuits.

Justice David H. Souter said it would be "stupendously significant" for Congress to retroactively close courts to constitutional challenges.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said "it's an extraordinary act, I think, to withdraw jurisdiction from this court in a pending case."

A government that routinely tries to take away our rights based on the theory "what do you have to hide?" needs to be asked the same question. In a democracy, it's not quite clear why the Republicans and their friends on the religious right are always so afraid of the courts finding what they do to be illegal and/or unconstitutional. Unless of course, so much of what they propose is just that, un-American and illegal. Read the rest of this post...

House member asks why Bush twins haven't enlisted

Oh yes he did. Read the rest of this post...

A profanity poll, huh

Screw that. Read the rest of this post...

Religious right equates gay student groups with conservative student groups

Fine with me. The day the religious right is fighting to argue that conservative students have the same stature as gay students, well, that's the day we've won folks. Their victory? They've made a moral equivalence between the two groups - being gay is just like being conservative, it's just another thing that defines American high school students.

Like I said, we won. Read the rest of this post...

One million protest in France

To think what we could do with a million... Read the rest of this post...

George Bush's disease

Funny if it weren't so true.

He's a drunk. Doesn't matter what his particular poison is, it's how he lives his life.

He's always broke. He has to borrow money to finance his nights out on the town. He tells the people he borrows from that he'll get them back sometime in the future.

He spends money he doesn't have on shit he doesn't need. And then tells his kids that he can't afford to send them to a good school or a good doctor because times are tough.

He's been known to get drunk and attack people who haven't done anything to him. Invariably, this gets him in fights that he can't win....

Read the rest of this post...

Dan Savage launches Bush impeachment site

ITMFA Read the rest of this post...

RNC warns in memo, congressional Republicans better not criticize Bush

Hotline has the memo here.

I think the memo is right and wrong. It claims that W "is" the party, he "is" their brand, and that if he gets further diminished they all go down with him.

First off, yes, Bush is your brand, and we're all quite happy about it. Please do wrap yourself in him as often as possible.

The problem is that Bush is already damaged goods and he is ALREADY taking other Republicans down with him. There is nothing GOP congressmen can do to get Bush's numbers up. But there is a lot they can do to bring THEIR numbers down. Sticking their necks out to defend Bush at this time will only suggest to the public, including their own base, that they don't get it. That they think, incredibly, that all is well in Washington, and that Bush, like Brownie, is doing a heck of a job.

You turn voters around by proving to them that you deserve their loyalty, and that's through your own actions. It's a message Democrats need to learn as well. Read the rest of this post...

More judge bashing from Tom DeLay, voice of moral authority

Tom DeLay, Christian spokesman:

"Didn't you see the comments of Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Ginsburg over the last couple of weeks?" DeLay, R-Texas, asked reporters after a speech to a group of Christian conservatives. "There's still a problem, they don't get it. There are three branches of government. All wisdom doesn't reside in ... people in black robes."

Earlier, the former House majority leader told activists he agreed with their premise that there is a "war on Christianity.

"Our faith has always been in direct conflict with the values of the world," DeLay said. "We are, after all, a society that provides abortion on demand, has killed millions of innocent children, degrades the institution of marriage, and all but treats Christianity like some second-rate superstition."

Amazingly santicmonious for someone so amazingly unethical. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

I'm eating fruit and yoghurt all day as I have to fit into my tux that I haven't worn in 2 years. I got invited by radio honcho Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News Service to sit at her table at the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner tomorrow, which is a great thrill if you're into the DC political/journalist thing. It's my first time, so it might end up boring, but at this point I think it'll be fun. And I doubt anyone will have a clue who I am. Blogger? How do you spell it?

Of course the tux is a wee bit tight, and that settles it. Need to lose a few by summer, the age creeping waistline thingy is not acceptable.

Oh yeah, and I can comment on my weight but you can't. Kind of like talking about my mom. Read the rest of this post...

Bush says Iraqi prime minister is no longer acceptable, and that he'd better not remain prime minister for long

That's funny since 66% or so of Americans feel the same way about Bush.

As always, it's difficult to know where to begin with such news. George Bush is telling Iraq's "democracy" that HE doesn't like who they've selected as prime minister and that HE will no longer accept or support the current guy staying in the job.

Pardon me, but why should anyone care? And more importantly, is Bush nuts?

How do we, with a straight face, claim that Iraq is a new democracy when we are hand-picking the leader of said democracy? And how does Bush expect any leader of Iraq to have any credibility at all if we're the ones picking him? And finally, we are lucky the shi'ites are so far NOT a party to the resistance taking on American troops. That could change in a snap, and according to, I believe it was ABC News the other night, if the Shi'ites decide to rejoin the resistance, that will DOUBLE the number of resistance fighters taking the US on.

Clearly Iraq is such a mess that Bush is now getting desperate. There is no other way to explain why he would take such a drastic, heavy-handed, and full-of-potential-backfire approach to dealing with the Iraqi prime minister. I think the administration has decided that it's going to be all out civil war - well, it already IS all out civil war, but what Bush now has decided is that Iraq is LOST if the current guy remains in power, and thus they aren't worrying about harming Iraq's democracy, or provoking the shi'ites into joining the anti-American insurgency, simply because Bush already knows we're toast, Iraq is toast, if we stick with the status quo.

Basically, the patient has terminal cancer and Bush is going to Mexico to buy some last-minute Laetrile. Hardly a sign of optimism.

From the NYT:

Senior Shiite politicians said today that the American ambassador has told Shiite officials to inform the Iraqi prime minister that President Bush does not want him to remain the country's leader in the next government.

It is the first time the Americans have directly intervened in the furious debate over the country's top job, the politicians said, and it is inflaming tensions between the Americans and some Shiite leaders.

The ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, told the head of the main Shiite political bloc at a meeting last Saturday to pass a "personal message from President Bush" on to the prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who the Shiites insist should stay in his post for four more years, said Redha Jowad Taki, a Shiite politician and member of Parliament who was at the meeting.

Ambassador Khalilzad said that President Bush "doesn't want, doesn't support, doesn't accept" Mr. Jaafari to be the next prime minister, according to Mr. Taki, a senior aide to Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Shiite bloc. It was the first "clear and direct message" from the Americans on the issue of the candidate for prime minister, Mr. Taki said.

Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Another busy day....what's the latest? Read the rest of this post...

Mr. Iran-Contra dies

Casper Weinberger, Reagan's Defense Secretary, died today. And from the AP story you'd think he was a saint. In fact, Weinberger was one of the principles behind Iran-Contra, and was indicted for it until George Bush's dad pardoned him. The Republicans really have brought new meaning to the word "neo-con" - as in convict.

Let me remind you who Casper Weinberger REALLY was:

Walsh's team had discovered that Weinberger's handwritten notes disproved Bush's claim that he had been "out of the loop" and proved that Weinberger knew full well about $25 million in Saudi contributions to the contras, even as he told Congress in 1986 that the charge was "so outlandish as to be unworthy of comment."

According to Brosnahan, the trial would have shown that Weinberger knew as early as summer 1985 that President Ronald Reagan had personally authorized missile shipments to Iran in violation of the Arms Control Export Act, and that this potentially impeachable act was concealed by constructing a false record. "The August [1985] meeting [of Reagan's National Security Council] discussed having Israel send the missiles to Iran and replenishing them out of U.S. stocks," says Brosnahan. "Weinberger is responsible for all missiles. The secretary of defense is the guy."

Read the rest of this post...

Rumsfeld again links Iraq to September 11. Surprise.

At this point it's become a cliche.

No, Rummy, Iraq had nothing to do with September 11 and it had nothing to do with the global war on terror. You invaded because the conservatives in your government had a plan for the past ten+ years to take out Saddam. It wasn't because of terrorism, it was because other issues, including US access to oil, threats to Israel and Iraq's neighbors, and more. Al Qaeda - the actual folks behind the 9/11 attacks, the folks you seem to have forgotten, the leader of which, Osama bin Laden, is still at large four years after he attacked us - had no substantial presence whatsoever in Iraq BEFORE we invaded. Saddam had no ties with them at all. But once you invaded and Iraq fell to pieces, Al Qaeda came waltzing in because YOU couldn't stop them, YOU couldn't control Iraq's borders, YOU couldn't keep the country secure or peaceful.

If we're really serious about the war on terror, and really need to act preemptively to stop the people who are enabling the terrorists, then someone need to fire you and this entire incompetent administration for doing more to enable international terrorism than Saddam ever did.

Iraq is the biggest training ground for Al Qaeda in the world - now. Thanks to you. Funny, but I have a hard time believing the September 11 dead are resting comfortably, as you're now claiming, with the fact that you've used their deaths for political purposes and have made a mockery of the very battle that was launched in their name. Read the rest of this post...

IRS rule proposal raises privacy alarms on Hill

Bush is trying to make it easier for tax preparers to sell your tax info. Fortunately, the Hill is freaking out. This is a great issue, especially right before Tax Day. Read the rest of this post...

Right Winger McCain to speak at Falwell's college

Via Talking Points Memo,

John McCain once called Jerry Falwell an "agent of intolerance." Now he's going to be the graduation speaker at Jerry's Liberty University.

How long will it take for the traditional media to figure out that their pal, John McCain, is really just another run-of-the-mill hard core right winger? He's NOT a moderate just because he pals around with the press.

McCain is Liberty's commencement speaker on May 13th. The college announced in the same press release that Gary Bauer is the keynoter at Liberty's baccalaureate on May 12th.

Falwell and Bauer -- that's the company McCain keeps these days. Read the rest of this post...

Scalia asked to recuse himself from case where he already stated his opinion

Scalia's been getting a lot of press for himself lately. When he goes public with his personal opinions on a case that's coming before the Court, he shouldn't sit in judgment:

On the eve of oral argument in a key Supreme Court case on the rights of alleged terrorists, a group of retired U.S. generals and admirals has asked Justice Antonin Scalia to recuse himself, arguing that his recent public comments on the subject make it impossible for him to appear impartial.

Scalia's behavior has been erratic lately. For a justice to speak publicly about a pending case is highly unusual. For a Catholic to make an obscene gesture in church -- right after communion -- during lent -- is almost unheard of. Read the rest of this post...

Bush, White House Press Corps make nice "off-the-record"

Over the years, members of the White House press corps have been lap dogs for the Bush administration. Oh sure, once the poll numbers dropped, some of them managed to get a spine. But, over the years, many of them have just not been not done the job. Basically, the White House lied to them for years and the reporters let it happen.

Now that even the WH press corps has to acknowledge Bush is a failed president, the WH staff have come up with a new strategy for dealing with them. They know that the reporters who cover the White House love the one-on-one contact with the big guy. So, the Bush team is giving them face time. The press are taking that time even though it means keeping it secret from the viewers and readers:

President Bush has been holding informal off-the-record sessions with major news organizations over the last several days.

Starting Thursday, he began meeting with groups of about a half-dozen reporters from newspapers, television, news agencies and magazines. They have discussed a variety of issues including the war in Iraq, said a reporter who attended a session.

The meetings, which the journalists have agreed not to describe publicly, have been in the White House residence. They come as several news organizations have assigned new reporters, who had no relationship with Mr. Bush, to cover the White House.

Give them a tour of the White House, tell a few jokes, serve some lemonade. They can't report on it, but they can tell their friends. No wonder Karl Rove thinks the media are a bunch of patsies. Read the rest of this post...

Andrew Card resigned

NBC News just reported that White House Chief of Staff Andy Card has resigned. He's being replaced by Budget Director Josh Bolten. AP now has the story, too.

This just means Karl Rove is still running the place.

UPDATE: Was the President's announcement really worthy of "BREAKING NEWS" and live coverage on all the networks? The media, of course, lapped it up. Someone at CNN should tell Soledad O'Brien that it's not a "press conference" when the press doesn't get to ask any questions. Read the rest of this post...

More cuts from GM this week

These sure are tough times for the US auto industry. It looks like there is plenty of pain to go around with the deep cuts at GM. I don't think that Washington ought to get involved in bailing out these companies but putting more scrutiny on corporate executives who continue to be paid handsomely while cutting below is certainly in order. I just don't see the value-add that these so-called corporate leaders are bringing to the table that can justify the skyrocketing executive salaries or worship that they are receiving. Read the rest of this post...

Nationwide strikes return to France

I had been almost completely removed from news for the past two weeks while in the US for a family issue though I did have questions from just about everyone regarding the strikes in France. The day before my wife joined me in the US she had been riding the Metro home from work and had to cover up as she passed through Odeon station because police tear gas made its way underground. In what appears to be all too common here, the police have not shown much restraint in reacting to student protests. Police over-reaction led the problems in the suburbs just a few months ago and I have limited expectations on their desire to react calmly this time.

This new round of nationwide strikes is complicated and in a land that loves to argue ideas, I suspect this is not going to be solved any time soon. The government rammed through a law just before summer holidays last year that allows small companies to hire and fire without notice, much like the under-26 law, but few noticed because of the timing not to mention the inability of small company workers to organize.

My own feeling is that change is necessary and inevitable but the government has backed down from an equal distribution of the pain by focusing on select groups. The students are not facing reality if they think that the existing system can continue where it's impossible to fire a bad worker but they have a legitimate point that it is not fair to pick on them, especially considering how high unemployment already is for the youth in France. It's all stick and no carrot and shows once again how un-creative the regime is. If the government is going to
stick the youth with such a policy they ought to somehow lessen the blow and give the youth tax advantages of something else. If they get the worst of everything, why not something to benefit them?

Since I live just steps away from one of the major protest march boulevards I should be hearing the protests soon enough. After a tough few weeks in the US I am glad to be back but I'm not exactly thrilled at what is coming here, with both sides itching for such a fight. Read the rest of this post...

Religious right files FCC complaint against FOX's broadcast of NASCAR

I think that's what you call a trifecta. I love it when they eat their own.

From the gay-hating, and not-so-much Jew or Muslim loving, hate group the American Family Association:

March 27, 2006

Fox allows 's' word. Take a stand for our children!

Dear xxxxx,

Tired of all the profanity on TV? Want to do something about it? Here is your opportunity.

File a complaint with the FCC against Fox Network for using the "s" word.

This past Sunday afternoon, Fox network broadcast the NASCAR "Food City 500" race. During the course of the race, driver Martin Truex, Jr. crashed his car after being bumped by another driver.

Fox network aired a conversation between Truex and his crew chief, Kevin Manion. During the course of the conversation, Manion told his driver, "We missed the set-up today. It (the car) was a piece of s**t.

Fox had been warned about allowing the "s" word on the air. The network could have used a delay and bleeped the profanity. But they chose not to. The network chose to air the segment live. Millions of viewers, including children, were offended by the crude profanity.

Read the rest of this post...