Open thread

Let er rip. Read the rest of this post...

American Prospect publishes a massive expose on Rick Santorum's ethics, or lack thereof

Oh Ricky. Read the rest of this post...

Osama vows never to be caught alive

Tell us again what a great job George Bush has done capturing Osama? I seem to recall the deaths of 3,000 innocent people are on this man's head, and what does Bush have to say about it?

Just this: Read the rest of this post...

Blogger Belated Cliff's Corner

The Week That Was 02/17/06
Another Week. More preposterousness to report.

Thankfully last week was a pretty quiet one. We had the Olympics, a snowstorm along the Eastern Seaboard, and what’s that other thing again…wait I almost had it…Oh yeah, the Vice President of the United States mowed down a friend with as many as 200 shotgun pellets he sent exploding into his chest cavity and skull. After boozing at lunch and before refusing to talk with local authorities who arrived on the scene. Pretty humdrum stuff if you think about it.

For Gary Busey.

Of course Wittington is not blameless in this affair. Didn’t we all learn when we were 12 that you have to be careful when you take your friend Dick out to play? Shouldn’t he know there is always that chance Dick might get over eager and shoot you in the face?

Luckily for Wittington, he still survived the Harry/Dick Brokeback Mountain Experience. Which is the closest Dick’s come to combat since piercing the skin of his right index finger while signing those 5 deferments during ‘Nam. Now I am no expert on warfare, but I think that if Dick had fought in that war he so believed in, he might know the difference between shooting a WASP and a bird. It might have also kept Dick just occupied enough to prevent him from climbing behind the wheel on mutiple occasions after shotgunning (no pun intended) more Stoli than Boris Yeltsin on two for one night at the Politburo cantina.

Regardless, Dick, being the standup guy that he is, didn’t have enough sympathy in that bloated Uncle-Fester-corpse-masquerading-as-a-body to go visit his friend at the hospital the night he shot him. He did have a nice dinner back at the ranch while Harry was fighting for his life, however. Let’s face it, you never know when a truckload of lost illegals will land on your doorstep to munch on with a nice foie gras. You can’t let a half-dead friend intrude on that experience. And Wittington is actually lucky he was not too close to Dick. As many might remember, Dick got pretty cozy with Saddam Hussein while CEO of Halliburton. Dick’s friendships can end up worse.

But many questions have yet to be answered, even if trained orangutan Scott McClellan keeps repeating ad nauseam how the American people are “ready to move on” until his head goes into a flat spin. Why wouldn’t Dick meet with the authorities until the next day? How does booze interact with the 214 known medications Dick takes to keep his organs from desiccating? Why did Ken Melhman break out in song when he found out Ken split with Barbie? Was Dick on this trip with a certain paramour who doesn’t look like Morely Safer or dream of girl-on-girl action? Why did Ann Coulter’s Adam’s apple register to vote in a different precinct than which it resides this past week?

We would know all of these answers in one of those open systems with a functioning press corps and Justice Department. What are those crazy societies called, with the freedom and good government? But getting answers from the coalition of the willing to be imbeciles running things is as out of style as planning to protect an American city from a Category 5 hurricane. Even if there’s a Woody Woodpecker marathon on The Cartoon Channel. Or it’s Twofer Tuesdays at Dominoes.

In the meantime I have one suggestion for anyone going out on prowl with Dick and a loaded weapon. Pre-order the embalming fluid. Or just tap one of Denny Hastert’s veins. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

News? Read the rest of this post...

Remember, Dick Cheney has two DWIs under his belt

David Sirota reminds us of a rather important point. Vice President Dick Cheney is a guy with two DWIs under his belt. Now, call me crazy, but how many Americans have been convicted not once, but TWICE for drunk driving?

Is it that far a stretch to ask if Cheney's history of committing crimes while drunk may have something to do with why the White House spent 5 days trying to cover up Cheney having shot a man in the face? Read the rest of this post...

The Republican party doesn't believe in America

Read closely the article below about Bush and his illegal domestic spying program:

The White House is hoping that talks will lead to legislation to approve the program, much as Congress eventually approved Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War. Mr. Bush expanded on his defense of the program in Tampa, Fla., on Friday, saying he believed that he had to take extraordinary steps in a time of war.

"Unfortunately, we're having this discussion," he said of the debate over wiretapping. "It's too bad, because guess who listens to the discussion: the enemy."

He added: "The enemy is adjusting. But I'm going to tell you something. I'm doing the right thing. Washington is a town that says, you didn't connect the dots, and then when you do connect the dots, they say you're wrong."

Now note a few of the details.

Bush wants this to be like Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus. Well, a few points there. First, read what habeas corpus actually is:

A writ (court order) that commands an individual or a government official who has restrained another to produce the prisoner at a designated time and place so that the court can determine the legality of custody and decide whether to order the prisoner's release.

Bush is comparing his domestic spying to taking away the right of American citizens to appear in court before a judge AFTER the government kidnaps you. Bush is assuming a few things here. First, bush is assuming that what Lincoln did was right at the time, that what Lincoln did would be right for today, and that what Lincoln was going through (the possible dissolution of our entire country, literally civil war) is the exact same thing in gravity as what we're going through trying to fight terrorists today (something that other countries have been fighting for decades, so it's not that novel and it's not something that you win in 4 to 5 years and then go to back to normal). Bush's domestic spying has no end in sight, and as the Republicans always like to tell us, once you create a federal program it never goes away. So, basically, Bush is saying that he'd be fine suspending the Constitution indefinitely.

Think about that, folks.

Bush is imposing no limit whatsoever on the powers he's asking for. A court won't review what he's doing, ever. Is that really the kind of country you want to live in from now on? Is it really the kind of country America is? Is it really the kind of country so many of us immigrated to over the past 200+ years in order to escape countries that, well, did exactly the same thing that the Republicans are now proposing?

Are we to really believe, as Bush and the Republicans are now telling us, that the Framers of the Constitution got it wrong. They had no idea what it was like to be in a country under imminent threat of attack? The men who wrote our Constitution never gave a thought to the possibility that America would ever face an enemy that could literally destroy our country?

That's absurd. And it also blows the "original intent" argument, the one the Republicans love to make, off the map. I thought the Framers of the Constitution were so wise that they prepared for every possibility? That no judge should ever second guess what the framers intended, as it's either in the Constitution or it's not. But now we're to believe that the Framers of the Constitution, the fathers of our country, weren't as smart as George Bush.

Think about that.

The Republicans want us to believe that George Bush knows better than George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Now think again, really hard, about how willing you are to rescind the Constitution in order to fight George Bush's wars?

George Bush and today's Republican party leadership want to rescind key sections of the US Constitution INDEFINITELY. They want to do it in a way that gives George Bush full power to do what he pleases, and there will never EVER be judicial review of anything the federal government does that impinges on any of your constitutional rights.

War on terror or not - today's Republicans have no problem with this?

George Bush, John McCain, and all the other Republicans who are busy defending this administration believe that America was founded on a mistake. Our Constitution is flawed, they're telling us. Our system of government isn't up to the task. Our protections in the Bill of Rights are a weakeness rather than a strength.

George Bush, John McCain and the Republican party leaders are so afraid of facing an enemy that they are willing to throw everything America stands for out the window.

Tell me again how that makes you proud to be an American? Read the rest of this post...

I'm off to Amsterdam tomorrow... let's do coffee

Time flies. I leave for Amsterdam tomorrow on the blogger trip set up by the Dutch tourism folks (I arrive early Wednesday morning). It should be great, though I haven't even begun to get ready - I've been running around all week entertaining my French visitor.

Those of you who said you'd be interesting in grabbing coffee over there, let's definitely do that - but how do we arrange it? I know at least one of you said you'd be interested in trying to put something together, picking the place etc. Other than Thursday afternoon, when I'm giving a talk about blogging, I'm free. So let's schedule something for maybe Wednesday afternoon or evening or Thursday late morning?

Any chance you can use the comments to arrange this with the other readers in Amsterdam - then send me some email updates on what's been arranged? Thanks guy, this will be fun. JOHN Read the rest of this post...

Controversy grows over Bush giving control of US ports to United Arab Emirates

There is nothing the Republican party won't do to appease its oil buddies in the Middle East. Read the rest of this post...

Arianna rips Mary Matalin over Cheney

Arianna had her Wheaties. Read the rest of this post...

Lesbian who changed NJ pension laws dies from cancer

Laurel Hester, the lesbian police lieutenant who changed pension rules in her town and the state, passed away over the weekend:

A New Jersey police lieutenant who last month won a long campaign to pass on pension benefits to her domestic partner died on Saturday.

The lieutenant, Laurel Hester, 49, had lung cancer, and her battle with the disease lent her cause a profound urgency as the Ocean County freeholders repeatedly refused to consider a resolution allowing county law enforcement employees to designate someone other than a spouse as a pension beneficiary.

The freeholders reversed their position on Jan. 25 after negotiations led to a statewide change in the rules, allowing police and fire department employees to name anyone, not just a spouse, as a beneficiary.

We can never forget that homophobic policies affect real people. The gay haters work every day to hurt their fellow Americans who work hard and pay their taxes. It's just wrong.

Laurel Hester created a legacy that will benefit gays and lesbians throughout New Jersey. She didn't give up. And she won. Read the rest of this post...

Monday Morning Open Thread

Day off today? It's one of those holidays that not everyone celebrates.

What are you hearing so far? Read the rest of this post...

50 mudslide survivors rescued in Philippines

Earlier today there were reports of sound from the buried school and now CNN is reporting that 50 people have been rescued. Excellent news. Read the rest of this post...

Why did Homeland Security patrol porn at local library?

This is an amazing story but considering everything that we have witnessed from the Bush team over the last few years, it is hardly surprising. Where did these people get the idea that policing porn somehow fit into the Homeland Security agenda of protecting America from terrorism? Sorry, but I'm not buying the story that they were enforcing a local sexual harassment policy. These people were surely trained to do a job so how did this find it's way into their daily routine? Who is giving these people their orders?

Two uniformed men strolled into the main room of the Little Falls library in Bethesda one day last week and demanded the attention of all patrons using the computers. Then they made their announcement: The viewing of Internet pornography was forbidden.

The men looked stern and wore baseball caps emblazoned with the words "Homeland Security." The bizarre scene unfolded Feb. 9, leaving some residents confused and forcing county officials to explain how employees assigned to protect county buildings against terrorists came to see it as their job to police the viewing of pornography.

Read the rest of this post...

Navy General Counsel warned on torture

Two years before Abu Ghraib, Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora had been alarmed with the atmosphere and questioned events that he saw. Needless to say, the administration was not interested in listening to anyone but their own. The administration is more focused on Politburo behavior and always too willing to brush aside democracy, all in the name of democracy.

Legal theories granting the president the right to authorize abuse despite the Geneva Conventions were unlawful, dangerous and erroneous, then-General Counsel Alberto J. Mora advised officials in a secret memo. The 22-page document was obtained by the New Yorker for an article in its Feb. 27 issue.

Mora said Navy intelligence officers reported in 2002 that military-intelligence interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were engaging in escalating levels of physical and psychological abuse rumored to have been authorized at a high level in Washington.

"I was appalled by the whole thing," Mora told the magazine. "It was clearly abusive and it was clearly contrary to everything we were ever taught about American values."

Mora said he thought his concerns were being addressed by a special group set up by the Pentagon. But he discovered in January 2003 that a Justice Department opinion had negated his arguments with what he described as "an extreme and virtually unlimited theory of the extent of the president's commander in chief authority."

Read the rest of this post...