Because of Congressional Oversight, F.A.A. is finally getting around to making sure airlines are complying with safety.

For some reason, it appears that the U.S. airlines didn't feel compelled to follow safety guidelines for the past few years. The F.A.A. didn't seem too concerned, until recently. It really is hard to grasp just how little concern the Bush administration has for the safety of Americans. Bush was aided and abetted by the GOP-led Congress that never provided oversight:

Air travelers, whose plans have already been disrupted by thousands of canceled flights recently, may face continued chaos in coming weeks as the Federal Aviation Administration and the airlines expand their scrutiny of passenger planes.

The groundings at airlines like American, Alaska, Delta and Southwest resulted from a broader round of inspections, ordered by the F.A.A., to determine whether the airlines have complied with past directives to check airplane structures, wires, electronics and other components.

A second wave of audits began on March 30 and will continue through June 30. Laura J. Brown, a spokeswoman for the F.A.A., said it could not rule out further groundings. “We don’t know,” she said. “We find what we find.”

That will do little to reassure travelers, who face difficulties switching to other flights because planes are generally flying full on popular routes.

The agency turned up new problems Monday, when nine MD-80 jets operated by American failed an F.A.A. check, prompting American to ground 300 planes. American canceled more than 1,000 flights on Wednesday, on top of 430 cancellations on Tuesday, while its fleet of MD-80s was inspected. American expects 900 cancellations Thursday, and the problem could spill over to Friday.

If Bush and Congress had been doing their jobs for the past seven years, we wouldn't be in this situation and travelers wouldn't be facing delays. It's another price paid by the American people. And, isn't it frightening that the only reason the F.A.A. is doing its job now is because of congressional oversight?

It is going to take a very long time for the U.S. to recover from the damage done by the Bush administration. A very long time. We really can't afford four more years of the same thing. Read the rest of this post...

Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell, Tenet and Ashcroft discussed and approved torture methods

I went to the ABC News website tonight to see the creepy Wal-Mart videos.

Instead, I became fixated on something truly disturbing. This latest revelation is something you kind of thought probably happened at the top levels of the Bush administration:

In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.

The so-called Principals who participated in the meetings also approved the use of "combined" interrogation techniques -- using different techniques during interrogations, instead of using one method at a time -- on terrorist suspects who proved difficult to break, sources said.

Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects -- whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding.

The high-level discussions about these "enhanced interrogation techniques" were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed -- down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic.

The advisers were members of the National Security Council's Principals Committee, a select group of senior officials who met frequently to advise President Bush on issues of national security policy.

At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

As the national security adviser, Rice chaired the meetings, which took place in the White House Situation Room and were typically attended by most of the principals or their deputies.

What did Bush know -- and what was his preferred method of torture -- are the next questions we need answered. Read the rest of this post...

Poor get poorer, just in time for recession

Something tells me the poor won't get a sniff of a bailout/assistance despite many never recovering from the first Bush recession. See, if they risked everything with billions and trillions and blew it, then they would have money coming hand over fist. What Congress still isn't saying is that the average American reached their economic peak over thirty years ago. It's been a steady decline yet all we get are new schemes to offer credit and line the pockets of Wall Street.

Since the late 1990's average incomes have declined 2.5 percent for families on the bottom fifth of the country's economic ladder, while incomes have increased 9.1 percent for families on the top fifth, said the report from the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Economic Policy Institute.

Read the rest of this post...

VoteVets want censure of "Young Chickenhawk" Congressman Patrick McHenry for endangering the lives of U.S. soldiers in Iraq

Last week, I wrote a post about Rep. Patrick McHenry's shocking disdain for U.S. troops serving in Iraq.

It gets worse. Read Brandon Friedman's post at DailyKos. Brandon served in Afghanistan and Iraq and is now the Vice Chair of VoteVets.

McHenry literally endangered the lives of soldiers serving in Iraq by airing video of the Green Zone. VoteVets first called McHenry out on this. The Pentagon had to get involved. It's astonishing what these Republicans will do. McHenry must be held accountable for the breach of security:

If Patrick McHenry wants to tell war stories so badly, he should resign his Congressional seat and go enlist. He's only 32. That way, he could get some training--so that next time he's in a combat zone trying to be a tough guy, he won't be such a bumbling, self-promotional fool about it.

At this point, Patrick McHenry should be censured by his peers in Congress and he should apologize to the troops and their families.

We're waiting. Read the rest of this post...

McCain is a campaign finance criminal. He can't be trusted. Obama should never make any campaign spending agreement with McCain. Ever.

John McCain, the one-time champion of campaign finance reform, is a campaign finance criminal. He scammed the public financing system last year, but the scam backfired because McCain is stuck in it now according to the Federal Elections Commission. And, McCain has busted the public finance system spending cap, which is a criminal offense.

There is absolutely no way Barack Obama should get entangled in any sort of campaign finance agreement with McCain. No way. McCain has shown he can't be trusted. Jake Tapper reported last night that Obama is thinking differently about the way money is raised for the general election:

"We have created a parallel public financing system where the American people decide if they want to support a campaign they can get on the Internet and finance it, and they will have as much access and influence over the course and direction of our campaign that has traditionally been reserved for the wealthy and the powerful," Obama said.

Good. Obama is right. He has changed the way money is raised for campaigns. But, above and beyond that, McCain's law-breaking is an absolute game-changer.

Now, the traditional media being the McCain sycophants that they are, will try to make it seem like Obama owes it to McCain to enter the public campaign finance system. Meanwhile, the traditional media, being the McCain sycophants that they are, will continue to ignore McCain's campaign finance illegalities.

Obama doesn't owe McCain a thing. McCain can't be trusted on this issue. And, that should end the discussion. If McCain wants the campaign to be about campaign finance, so be it. McCain is the scammer and the criminal. Read the rest of this post...

Oil tests new high at $112.21

Great energy policy by Bush and the GOP. Conservation was for liberals and not macho Republicans and now look what we have. Who ever could have seen this coming? Dick Cheney talked about the "resilient" US economy only a few months ago but like all of his bold predictions, it missed by a mile. Read the rest of this post...

McCain isn't happy about "The Real McCain" -- and it's not good when John McCain gets mad

Apparently some of the straight-talk released from The Real McCain this week got Rambo a bit peeved. So I'm glad I'm nowhere in his vicinity, because we know what happens to people when McCain gets a bit peeved at them.

He responded to the factual piece in my book about his calling his wife that four-letter c-word that wives so love to hear from their spouses, with this, according to yesterday's New York Daily News:

McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker brands the book "trash journalism" and tells us, "The story is completely fabricated."

No surprise here. It's far from the first time the "maverick" has made himself into a liar, and today's opening statement to General Petraeus once again showed it won't be the last.

He brought out all the old favorites about those advocating for a "reckless and irresponsible withdrawal," (you know, only 70% of the country). The kind of withdrawal he advocated for in Beirut in 1983, and Somalia and Haiti in the 1990s. Hell he must have had a lot of white flags in storage then, he was waving them so so darn often! I get into his complete foreign-policy flip-flop over his career in much greater detail in my book that he has seen fit to disparage without even reading (c'mon, it's not like he's George W., he can in fact read above a My Pet Goat reading level, I assume).

McCain then trotted out that old saw about Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is only a miniscule part of the fighting force against us there, and is only there because of people like him took us into this war using the time-tested technique of making stuff up.

He said once again he wanted to "succeed" in Iraq. Definition of success: I don't know, and neither does he, as he didn't give it yet again (once again, I discuss this in greater detail). Maybe it's when he can go back to that market and take a stroll their without the Guns of Navarone protecting him, right before he falsely told us that anyone could have taken the same playful jaunt through town (sans protection).

You get the picture. I have hit McCain with a bit of that old straight-talk. Instead of lying about me because of it, he should try it sometime. How about starting today when we are trying to find a solution to this disaster he helped create in Mesopotamia.

UPDATE: Thank you all so much for buying the book, and I am sorry for the self-promotion. But thanks to you guys, we went from #159,000 Monday to #122 on Amazon. As you can see above, with the New York Daily News coverage, we are beginning to break into the MSM, because of these numbers.

For just $10 at Amazon, you can order this book and help get the truth out there about The Real McCain. Read the rest of this post...

Pelosi bests Bush -- prevents vote Bush was trying to force on Colombia Free Trade Agreement

Bush thought he could outsmart the Speaker on the Colombia Free Trade Deal. But, Bush isn't that smart and Pelosi isn't having it. Pelosi shut Bush down -- hard:

President Bush fired the initial salvo in a trade fight over Colombia by announcing his intent on Monday to send the agreement to Capitol Hill without the blessing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). On Wednesday, Pelosi fired back.

The speaker announced that House Democrats will take the unprecedented step Thursday of voting to strip a critical time requirement from chamber rules governing the "fast track" consideration of trade agreements, suspending the Colombia fight indefinitely and imperiling future trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries.

Pelosi said the House would vote Thursday to suspend the "fast track" requirements that force Congress to address signed trade agreements within 90 days. "We're taking the timeline out of the equation," the speaker told reporters Wednesday after her caucus signed off on the move during a closed-door meeting in the Capitol.

This move marks a bitter turn in the trade fight over Colombia and signals an inauspicious moment for free trade policy in the U.S. by gutting the essential spirit of these longstanding rules.

Both sides have been at loggerheads over the deal for months, prompting Bush to take the rare step of sending the deal to Capitol Hill on Tuesday without the speaker's blessing, becoming the first president in three decades to do so. That move started a clock which requires Democrats to address the legislation under a specific time table. Passage of the rules change on Thursday would essentially stop that clock.

"The president took his action," Pelosi said. "I will take mine tomorrow."

Now this is why we love having Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It's so great when she plays hardball with Bush -- and whips his butt. Read the rest of this post...

Two more polls from PA today

Yes, there were two more Pennsylvania polls released today -- both show a fairly close race in the Democratic primary. Seems we're increasingly seeing Clinton's number drop below 50%. Remember, PA is supposed to be a blowout win for Clinton. It's the ultimate of all ultimate firewalls. Strategic Vision shows Clinton leading 47% - 42%. PPP has Clinton leading 46% - 43%. Last week, the PPP poll has Obama leading by two points. Analysis from PPP's very informative blog:

Hillary Clinton has moved back into the lead in Pennsylvania after trailing by two points in our poll last week. Still, this result is further confirmation that it's likely to be a close race in the Keystone state.

Clinton's rebound in the last week has come almost entirely from improving her standing with her core demographics of women, whites, and senior citizens. Her lead with woman went from 10 points to 16, with white voters it went from 11 to 17, and with voters over 65 from 16 to 21.

It's hard to tell exactly why Clinton has rebounded during a relatively slow news week, but it may be that negative effects of the Bosnia story have started to wear off as the issue gets less attention.

Here's how it looks on Pollster.com:

19 days to go. Read the rest of this post...

Lieberman campaign officially to blame for crashing own website

Remember when Senator Lieberman's website went down the night before the Democratic primary back in August 2006? I do because we covered it on CNN. The Lieberman camp was convinced they'd been attacked and pointed fingers at the Ned Lamont campaign and its supporters. We had to be careful how we reported the story at the time because Lamont's campaign and its supporters insisted they had nothing to do with it and that it was the Lieberman webmaster's lousy webmastering.

Turns out they were right. According to The Stamford Advocate, Lieberman's camp brought down its own web operations:

According to the FBI memo, the site crashed because Lieberman officials continually exceeded a configured limit of 100 e-mails per hour the night before the primary.

"The system administrator misinterpreted the root cause," the memo stated

Oops. Read the rest of this post...

In an obvious effort to aid and abet the GOP, top Clinton surrogate, Lanny Davis, attacks Obama in right-wing op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal

Let's review the current situation: This thing is over. Clinton lost. I am so ready to move on to the campaign against McCain.

But then, a top Clinton surrogate writes an op-ed that attacks Obama in Wall Street Journal -- and it's pretty clear that the Clinton surrogate is just aiding and abetting John McCain. And, when you know that surrogate is the despicable Lanny Davis, it makes sense. In 2006, Davis, after all, one of Joe Lieberman's most vociferous supporters in 2006. Note again where Davis ran his op-ed: The Wall Street Journal's editorial pages. I guess if Hillary can cozy up to Richard Mellon Scaife, every other right wing venue is acceptable, too.

Reading the feigned concern of Davis about Rev. Wright, it's clear the guy has become a symbol of so much that is wrong with the Clinton campaign. Davis has been around the Clintons for too long -- and is too close to them -- for this op-ed to be anything but a Clinton campaign plant. Davis already wrote the same thing on Huffington Post. And, despite the best efforts of Hillary herself tried to make Rev. Wright the issue. It must drive the Clinton campaign crazy that, despite their best efforts, most Americans aren't caught up in the controversy about Rev. Wright.

Davis spent years defending Bill Clinton during the impeachment years. His act is so 1998. Davis might have done Hillary some good if he actually put his limited talents to use trying to dig her out of the on-going scandals and controversies that have wracked her campaign. But, that's not what the long-time Clintonistas do. They set out to attack and destroy their opponents. It's too late for Davis to stop Obama from getting the nomination, but he's willing to do whatever it takes to undermine Obama's campaign in the fall.

So Lanny Davis is aiding and abetting the GOP while Clinton's campaign is crumbling. He has the audacity to invoke concerns about "the Republican attack machine" while he's providing fodder. Unbelievable. I'd say it's a new low, but it's just a typical low.

After this campaign is finally over, there is a long list of Clinton surrogates who we should never have to see on t.v. again. Lanny Davis is right on the top of that list. Read the rest of this post...

Bush throws GOP Senators under the bus on the bi-partisan housing bill

You know all that talk about the great bi-partisanship in the Senate about the housing bill. You know, because the housing market is a disaster, Senators decided to rise to the occasion. Guess who undermined it without telling the Republicans? Yep, George Bush. And, Dick Cheney had just finished lunch with the Republican Senators, too. He forget to mention it. McConnell, who has been a lapdog for Bush for years, had to find out from reporters:

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino blasted the Senate legislation before a gaggle of reporters, saying it would “do more harm than good by bailing out lenders and speculators.”

But the move surprised Senate Republicans, who appeared to be in the dark about the Bush administration’s strong misgivings even after Vice President Dick Cheney attended their weekly Tuesday luncheon.

“You’re telling me something I was unaware of. It was unclear that the White House had a stated position yet on this bill,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), the Republican leader, told reporters in response to a question about Perino’s statement.

That's Senate-speak for "I just got screwed hard by Bush." Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

As predicted, at the Iraq hearings yesterday, we did not get an answer to the most important question: How has the continuing war in Iraq made us safer?

There is an answer, but we won't hear it from Bush, McCain or Petraeus. The Iraq war hasn't made us safer. We're worse off because of that war.

Thread, please. Read the rest of this post...

Bush on economy: prosperity is just around the corner

And we should believe him because...why? Recessions don't actually impact blue bloods like the Bush family so of course he has no idea how bad the situation is for everyone else.

President Bush urged Congress on Monday to resist efforts by Democrats to pass a second economic stimulus package, saying that while the economy is “in a rough time right now,” he is confident it will begin to rebound by the end of the year.

Read the rest of this post...