On May 3rd @ 5pm pacific time, 10 GOP candidates will appear at the first Republican debate of the 2008 presidential campaign. Streamed live on politico.com, aired nationally on MSNBC and hosted by The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Politico visitors will have an exclusive opportunity to ask questions to the candidates via the web.

If your interested in posing a question to the Repub candidates, you can do so here on the Politico.com website.

The military man who was running the Iraq War Show for over two years got kicked upstairs to the Army Chief of Staff. Now, I don't know about you, my dear reader, but I think Casey did a very lousy job running the War.

He has stated to the press and his own 'people' that he doesn't want to wait until 2012 for the Army to expand to 547,000 troops. He wants them NOW. General Casey said the following to a group of military wives:


"We live in a difficult period for the Army because the demand for our forces exceeds the supply."

This man really has been working far too long for BushCo..because he thinks the American people are as dumb as a box of frigging rocks.This guy has played us long enough my dear reader. He and his ilk need to shut the hell up and sit down if overstating the obvious is the BEST they can come up with for the love of God. It should also be mentioned that a draft would be required and no where does General Casey use the dreaded "D" word when waxing eloquent on the GWOT and what he wants to fight it.

Everyone in America KNOWS we don't have enough troops to do the Shrub's bidding and actually protect us and our shores. I am so sick and tired of these guys rehashing the ridiculous talking points of our Decider-in-Chief and his stupid minions. I want someone in charge who knows what in the blue hell they are doing. I don't want guys that couldn't get it right when they actually RAN the war, now sitting on the sidelines kibitzing like this is a game of Chess. This is NOT a game General Casey and you can not throw more bodies at this horrible mistake and expect to come out on top. Let me tell you why General Casey...


Because you and your ilk don't know what the hell is going on, you don't know how to deal with the problems of a modern global society which requires more diplomacy and less warmongering and failed military force. Once war is waged, you don't even have a clue how fight a war in this century and insist on fighting it like they did in the last century (see WWII).


Your useless in this modern age General Casey and giving you a million troops won't change the outcome of the mess known as the Iraq War and BushCo's Global War on Terror. You and your kind started a war you have no idea how to fight which is tantamount to bringing a butter knife to a sword fight.


So sit down and shut up. Go fishing, go play with your grandchildren....just do not spew your garbage to the American people. The vast majority of the public is sick and tired of your ineptness and they want it to stop NOW.

If you think I am way off base here..try reading this article in the Armed Forces Journal by Lt. Col. Paul Yingling. He voices many of the same things I have with regard to the way the War in Iraq is being run by supposedly the best military minds in the business. A friend of mine getting ready to redeploy to Iraq turned me on to the article. An excerpt:

The need for intelligent, creative and courageous general officers is self-evident. An understanding of the larger aspects of war is essential to great generalship. However, a survey of Army three- and four-star generals shows that only 25 percent hold advanced degrees from civilian institutions in the social sciences or humanities. Counterinsurgency theory holds that proficiency in foreign languages is essential to success, yet only one in four of the Army's senior generals speaks another language. While the physical courage of America's generals is not in doubt, there is less certainty regarding their moral courage. In almost surreal language, professional military men blame their recent lack of candor on the intimidating management style of their civilian masters. Now that the public is immediately concerned with the crisis in Iraq, some of our generals are finding their voices. They may have waited too long.

 By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The former commander of a major U.S. military detention center in Baghdad has been detained and charged with “aiding the enemy”, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

Lieutenant-Colonel William Steele is also charged with having an improper relationship with a translator and with the daughter of a detainee, providing mobile phones to prisoners, and unauthorized possession of classified information.

“He has been in detention in Kuwait since last month pending an Article 32 hearing, which is a preliminary hearing where evidence will be presented to determine whether this should go to court-martial,” U.S. military spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Josslyn Aberle said.

I hope Lt.Col. Steele has balls of steel. Something tells me he is gonna need a set of those….damn worthless bag of bat guano that he is.

He writes a drive-by hit on Bush and the big Dick Cheney. He whines, he points his pudgy finger at the White House that they have tossed him under the bus. Where is their loyalty he cries?

But, he also took the hit for Bush when it all came down about the yellowcake and those 16 little words in the SOTU speeh didnt’ he? He took one for Team Bush and now cries about how they treat him.

Yes, my dear reader he did..remember that..because when you consider that and then look at what he says his current book and all the bs he spews in there….read the transcript of his 40 minute long interview with 60 Minutes from last night. He sounds like he is doing mea culpa’s to get into heaven while he whines about how he was trashed and scapegoated by Cheney.

He is just as complicit as BushCo, Wolfowitz and Perle…but he is peddling as fast as he can to distance himself from them. Just like Wolfie and Perle, he is trying to walk away from the splattering bat guano as quickly as he can at this point in time and at this stage in the war.

Grow up and take your lumps Mr. Tenet. No matter how hard you try, you will not come out of this smelling like a Rose..regardless of the signing bonus you got for your book deal. Read the open letter to Tenet by former CIA agent Larry Johnson here. An excerpt:

By your silence you helped build the case for war. You betrayed the CIA officers who collected the intelligence that made it clear that Saddam did not pose an imminent threat. You betrayed the analysts who tried to withstand the pressure applied by Cheney and Rumsfeld. Most importantly and tragically, you failed to meet your obligations to the people of the United States. Instead of resigning in protest, when it could have made a difference in the public debate, you remained silent and allowed the Bush Administration to cite your participation in these deliberations to justify their decision to go to war. Your silence contributed to the willingness of the public to support the disastrous war in Iraq, which has killed more than 3300 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

Your just as much a loser Mr. Tenet as the rest of BushCo..and no amount of whining and gnashing of teeth now will change that. You just prove once again that there is no honor among thieves Mr. Tenet.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Randall Tobias, head of the Bush administration's foreign aid programs, abruptly resigned Friday after his name surfaced in an investigation into a high-priced call-girl ring, said two people in a position to know the circumstances of his departure.

It was Tobias' own decision to resign, according to one of the people, who said the issue came up only in the past day or so. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still under way.

Tobias submitted his resignation a day after he was interviewed by ABC News for an upcoming program about an alleged prostitution service run by the so-called D.C. Madam.

ABC reported on its Web site late Friday that Tobias confirmed that he had called the Pamela Martin and Associates escort service to have women come to his condo and give him massages. More recently, Tobias told the network, he has been using a service with Central American women.

Tobias, 65, who is married, told ABC there had been "no sex" during the women's visits to his condo.

As Sam wrote about recently, prostitution is a stupid hypocrisy-laden crime. If selling sex was as legal as selling a car, we could remove many of the stigma's associated with the activity of paying someone for sexual services, not to mention there would be more oversight and another tax base.

Palfrey, 50, was indicted in March by a federal grand jury on charges of running the alleged call-girl ring from her home in Vallejo, Calif. She has denied the escort service engaged in prostitution.

Palfrey claimed she has 46 pounds of phone records involving clients. Efforts to reach her late Friday were unsuccessful. Montgomery Blair Sibley, an attorney who represents Palfrey in non-criminal cases, declined to comment.

She recently made good on her threat to identify high-profile clients, listing a military strategist known for his "shock and awe" combat theories as a regular customer in court documents filed this month.

In court records, prosecutors estimate that her business, Pamela Martin and Associates, generated more than $2 million in revenue over 13 years, with more than 130 women employed at various times to serve thousands of clients at $200 to $300 a session.

I feel very bad that this man lost his job and livelihood because he used this woman's escort services, regardless of his party affiliation.

If your watching..feel free to comment..if your stuck at work we will try to keep you updated as to what the 'haps' are.

Get out the popcorn kids! The show is about to start!

From CBSNews:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she has already answered the questions she has been subpoenaed to answer before a U.S. congressional committee and suggested she is not inclined to comply with the order.


Rice said she would respond by mail to questions from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the Bush administration's prewar claims about Saddam Hussein seeking weapons of mass destruction, but signaled she would not appear in person.

"I am more than happy to answer them again in a letter," she told reporters in Oslo, where she is attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

The comments were her first reaction to a subpoena issued on Wednesday by the committee chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California.

Rice said she respected the oversight function of the legislative branch, but maintained she had already testified in person and under oath about claims that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa during her confirmation hearing for the job of secretary of state.

Washington, DC -- In an April 25 Politico op-ed, Tom DeLay (R-TX), the disgraced former House majority leader, claimed that philanthropist and progressive financier George Soros funds Media Matters for America -- a claim The Politico corrected in today’s print edition, stating, “A column in Tuesday’s Politico, ‘How Good Is the Media’s Campaign Coverage?’ by Tom DeLay, contained an error. George Soros has not funded the organization Media Matters for America.” (The Politico, April 26, 2007)

It's quite funny..almost hysterically that Hot Tub Tommy would talk about something about which he knows little about..oh wait..DeLay has already been caught with falsehoods and half-truths in his recently released book..anyone know how well that book is selling btw?

From MSNBC:

WASHINGTON - A defiant Democratic-controlled Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1, propelling Congress toward a historic veto showdown with President Bush on the war.

The 51-46 vote was largely along party lines, and like House passage of the same bill a day earlier, fell far short of the two-thirds margin needed to overturn the president’s threatened veto. Nevertheless, the legislation is the first binding challenge on the war that Democrats have managed to send to Bush since they reclaimed control of both houses of Congress in January.

The $124.2 billion bill requires troop withdrawals to begin Oct. 1, or sooner if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks. The House passed the measure Wednesday by a 218-208 vote.

Ok, Bush will veto, the Dem's won't be able to override it..and then..we do it all again next month I bet.

That is a quote by John Edwards' campaign manager David Bonior. Tonight Edwards will be calling for Karl Rove to be fired.

Does anyone actually believe Bush will follow Edwards advice? I think everyone, regardless of party affiliation will say no.

The email continues:

"New evidence shows that Rove has been methodically working to twist even the most impartial branches of the federal government—including the Justice Department—to serve the Republican Party at the expense of the American people."

"Enough is enough. Impartial justice must be protected. Integrity in government must be defended. Karl Rove must be fired."

"Tomorrow, John Edwards is going on national television to take part in the first presidential debate," Bonior writes. "And that night, he's going to call on George Bush to fire Karl Rove."

Since John Edwards currently doesn't hold an elected office, he doesn't have the burden of answering to his constituency. He can pretty much shoot from the hip. He is asking for people of like mind to sign his petition to fire Rove.

Edwards has also called for the head of Alberto Gonzales, and increasingly the Republicans in Congress are as well.

Should be an entertaining..and hopefully enlightening debate tonight. Starts at 4pm on MSNBC.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

PROVO, Utah -- Some students and faculty on one of the nation's most conservative campuses want Brigham Young University to withdraw an invitation for Vice President Dick Cheney to speak at commencement this month.

Critics at the school question whether Cheney sets a good example for graduates, citing his promotion of faulty intelligence before the Iraq war and his role in the CIA leak scandal.

The university, which is owned by the Mormon church, has "a heavy emphasis on personal honesty and integrity in all we do," said Professor Warner Woodworth.

"Cheney just doesn't measure up," he said.

The students are so upset, they have raised enough money to put on their own commencement off the school property:

PROVO — The group of students planning an alternative to Brigham Young University's commencement next week have found a home — at Utah Valley State College in Orem.
      Vice President Dick Cheney will speak Thursday at BYU's commencement in the Marriott Center at 4 p.m. and former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader will speak at UVSC's McKay Events Center at 7:30 p.m. Cheney's invitation to speak sparked protests in several quarters.
      The alternative commencement group plans to attend Cheney's speech, then travel down University Parkway to hear from Nader, former U.S. Senate candidate Pete Ashdown and former Amnesty International director Jack Healey, said BYU student and event organizer Eric Bybee.
      The students have raised $9,000 to pay for speaking fees, transportation and rental of the McKay Events Center. They said Friday in a press release that they need to raise another $11,000.
      Nader lowered his speaking fee to $12,000 from $15,000. He had refused to speak at an outdoor venue, and the alternative commencement group was frustrated in its attempts to find a building in Provo to handle what it hopes will be 2,500 to 5,000 visitors, including busloads of Salt Lakers protesting Cheney's presence on the BYU campus.

From TO:

The unfolding civil war and inter-sectarian violence in Iraq is deepening a humanitarian crisis of refugees, a Congressional Research Service Report has found. The report, entitled "Iraqi Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: A Deepening Humanitarian Crisis?" was released in March 2007.

    An estimated four million refugees have been displaced, or 13 percent of the Iraqi population. About 1.2 million resulted from the previous Gulf War and a decade of US sanctions. Two million Iraqis are already believed to have fled mainly into neighboring Syria and Jordan, with an additional two million displaced within Iraq.

    Since the February 2006 bombing of the Shiite Muslim Al-Askariya shrine in Samarra that marked the beginning of intense, widespread sectarian clashes, an estimated 730,000 more Iraqis are now displaced within Iraq. They are referred to as Internally Displaced Persons or IDPs. Sectarian cleansing is being employed to take control of territory from the opposing factions. That tactic once was commonly used by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, whose 30-year regime left an estimated 1.5 million Iraqis displaced.

I am trying to find the CRS report he quotes, to see what context he pulls his numbers from.

 

From MSNBC:

In rapid succession, congressional committees Wednesday ramped up their investigations of the Bush administration by approving a subpoena for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and granting immunity to a key aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

By 21-10, the House oversight committee voted to issue a subpoena to Rice to compel her story on the Bush administration's claim, now discredited, that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa.

Moments earlier in the committee chamber next door, the House Judiciary Committee voted 32-6 to grant immunity to Monica Goodling, Gonzales' White House liaison, for her testimony on why the administration fired eight federal prosecutors. The panel also unanimously approved - but did not issue - a subpoena to compel her to appear.

Put your seatbelts on..its going to be a bumpy ride for the Republicans!

 

From MSNBC:

NEW CASTLE, Ind. - A “full-scale riot” broke out Tuesday at a medium-security men’s prison, according to the mayor, and pictures taken from television helicopters showed at least two fires burning in the courtyard.

It should also be noted that this facility is run by a private company out of Boca Raton, FL. The medium-security facility is managed by the GEO Group Inc.

From the LAT:

WASHINGTON — Most of the time, an obscure federal investigative unit known as the Office of Special Counsel confines itself to monitoring the activities of relatively low-level government employees, stepping in with reprimands and other routine administrative actions for such offenses as discriminating against military personnel or engaging in prohibited political activities.

But the Office of Special Counsel is preparing to jump into one of the most sensitive and potentially explosive issues in Washington, launching a broad investigation into key elements of the White House political operations that for more than six years have been headed by chief strategist Karl Rove.

The new investigation, which will examine the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, missing White House e-mails, and White House efforts to keep presidential appointees attuned to Republican political priorities, could create a substantial new problem for the Bush White House.

I was wondering when some committee or some office was going to investigate Rove as the prime person of interest...

It takes place in S.Carolina @ 3:30pm on MSNBC. Thats a dumb time imho. It is also only the Democrats.

At least We can hear their thoughts and ideas on some of the issues from their own yaps.

Some friends of mine just posted this video on YouTube. Its a good rendition of Lennon's "War is Over-if you want it"

From their website:

It's Springtime, a new birth. Music video presented by JTMP.ORG and performed by Op-Critical featuring the Harmonic Angels. Imagine Peace! Please see BushIsOver.Org, A28.Org, and AfterdowningStreet.Org to be a part of this rebirth movement! Peace!

This study from Pew Research might explain quite a bit why the Repubs lost and the Dem's won last November. Lets jump to some of the highlights shall we?

• In 1987, 51% of the public supported firing teachers who are known to be homosexual; just 28% now support that view.
• In 1987, 43% of the public believed "AIDS might be God's punishment for immoral sexual behavior," but just 23% now agree with that statement.
• Where less that 29% of the public in 1987 completely disagreed with the statement that "Women should return to their traditional roles in society," 51% of the public now completely rejects that statement, and 75% of Americans now reject the idea that women should be confined to traditional roles.

Abortion is still an intense issue for people, but a 56% majority opposes making it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion, while only 35% favor more abortion restrictions.  Back in 1985, 47% of the public favored restricting abortion rights, so this is again a significant change in values over the last two decades.

Seems the only wedge issue that still works for the RNC is gay marriage.

He said he would support the 'deal' if the mining company also bought a tract of land that belonged to his former business partner. This didn't sit well with Renzi's Chief of Staff, who resigned and started snitching out his former boss to the FBI.

From the WSJ article:

"That investigation has now become a formal public-corruption probe by a federal grand jury in Tucson. On Thursday, the grand jury authorized a search warrant of a Renzi family business. Investigators have uncovered evidence that Mr. Renzi received a cash payment from his former business partner, funneled through a family wine company, after a second investor group pursuing an unrelated land swap agreed to pay $4 million for the alfalfa field, according to people contacted in the course of the two-year investigation."

Another tie-in could be that one of the USA's fired last year was investigating Rep. Renzi's land deal before he was canned.

This 'deal' would also interfere with Pres. Eisenhowers 1954 order protecting national forest in the area, including Oak Flats, a campground located above the proposed mine.Its all about the precious copper, forget the National Forest. Also, the San Carlos Apache tribe opposes the mine, citing concerns that culturally significant areas would be disturbed.

Bruno Hegner, who was Resolution's president when Mr. Renzi proposed that the company buy the alfalfa field, was so troubled by the incident that he wrote a letter detailing what happened and mailed it to himself, people close to the case said. He wanted a postmarked record of what occurred, these people say. That letter is now in the hands of the FBI, they say.

And guess what committee Renzi sits on: the House Natural Resources Committee, which handles land-swap legislation.

Interesting no?

It's a very thrilling ride..you don't need sound but notice how high from the ground the final frame is. You can watch it here. The graph charts housing prices from 1890 to the present. The individual that created this sure has an interesting way of showing us how the price of real estate has climbed and dropped. The prices were also adjusted for inflation the author states.

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that follows the errant ways of our current administration..but just the same..the newest wrinkle in spying on American's without due process or a warrant:

The administration says it wants to make the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — or FISA — more "technology-neutral" — that is, it wants to make sure spy agencies can use new forms of surveillance that aren't specifically foreseen in the law.

Oh, another thing..the bill will also provide immunity to participating telecom companies. Isn't that fabulous? This from a President who refuses to use email and likes to use 'the googles'.

Even Arlen Specter thinks this bill is hogwash..or more precisely: "That provision is a pig in the poke. There has never been a statement from the Administration as to what these companies have done. That's been an intolerable situation."

As The Nation article on this bill notes: "And Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, and Legislative Counsel Timothy Sparapani, wrote in a letter to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: "… the Administration has not publicly provided Congress with a single example of how current standards in FISA have either prevented the intelligence community from using new technologies or proven unworkable for the personnel tasked with following them." Frederickson concluded in a statement, "FISA has been constantly violated since President Bush authorized warrantless wiretapping and data mining of Americans by the National Security Agency in 2001. Congress shouldn't reward a president who continuously disregards the rule of law. FISA has already been amended numerous times. It doesn't need to be 'modernized,' it needs to be followed." Mike German, Policy Counsel, adds, "This proposal doesn't 'modernize' FISA. It guts it."

The tipping point is close at hand..and the Democrats better get their well-paid behinds in gear and end this madness. BushCo, who is very fond of spin and buzz words, is trying to paint this bat guano with a 'modernization of the law' brush. Total and absolute spying is what they really have in mind AND making it easy for the Telecom's to give up our information without fear of lawsuits..all in the same package! Such a deal right?

The Dem's will pass another bill that they didn't read and will give us all a big fat OOPSIE later, just like they did with that teensy change to the Patriot Act which allowed the Attorney General to place Karl Rove's unqualified buddy in the office of the US Attorney for Arkansas.

But as Dwight Eisenhower once said: If all Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They’ll have enough to eat, a bed and a roof over their heads.

Come to think of it..that would be a fine place for Bush and his minions that are systematically destroying the Constitution, one bill at a time. 

Tags: Politics, FISA, Telecoms, Wiretapping,

Already, a play written by the Vermont Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui, is online. Its over at the Smoking Gun. I will not reprint any of it here, if someone is interested in the mind of a sick young man, they can click the link.

What does this show us about this young man? Well, as the writeup states:

APRIL 17--The college student responsible for yesterday's Virginia Tech slaughter was referred last year to counseling after professors became concerned about the violent nature of his writings, as evidenced in a one-act play obtained by The Smoking Gun. The play by Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old English major, was submitted last year as part of a short story writing class. Entitled "Richard McBeef," Cho's bizarre play features a 13-year-old boy who accuses his stepfather of pedophilia and murdering his father. A copy of the killer's play can be found below. The teenager talks of killing the older man and, at one point, the child's mother brandishes a chain saw at the stepfather. The play ends with the man striking the child with "a deadly blow." (10 pages)

What is so wrong is that this young man never got, for whatever reason, the help he needed.

Keith Olbermann is returning to sports broadcasting for the first time in six years as the co-host of the pre-game show for NBC's Sunday night NFL telecasts, NBC announced today.

Olbermann, who will continue to host his nightly news show “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” on MSNBC TV, will round out the “Football Night in America” team of host Bob Costas, co-host Cris Collinsworth, and analysts Jerome Bettis and Tiki Barber.

At least he isn't leaving Countdown..I would curse them if he did. When KO and Dan Patrick did SportsCenter, it was must see tv for me. Now..feh!

From PRC:

There is a clear generational divide on the issue of evolution: Nearly two-thirds (63%)of Gen Nexters(18-24) believe humans and other living things evolved over time, while only 33% say all living creatures have existed in their present form since the beginning of time. Gen Xers share a similar perspective, though they are slightly more open to the idea of creationism. Here the generational divide is among those under age 40 and those over age 40, with Baby Boomers and Seniors closely divided over how the world came to be. Read more

From ABC News:

China's massive Yangtze river, a lifeline for tens of millions of people, is seriously polluted and the damage is almost irreversible, a state-run newspaper said Monday.

More than 370 miles of the river are in critical condition and almost 30 percent of its major tributaries are seriously polluted, the China Daily said, citing a report by the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The pollution, along with damming and heavy use of boats, has caused a sharp decline in aquatic life along the Yangtze.

The report said the annual harvest of aquatic products from the river has dropped from 427,000 tons in the 1950s to about 100,000 tons in the 1990s.

"The impact of human activities on the Yangtze water ecology is largely irreversible," Yang Guishan, a researcher at the institute, was quoted as saying.

China's communist government faces a challenge in much of the country to deal with worsening pollution caused by rapid economic growth and the failure of factories, sewage systems and other sources to follow environmental regulations.

The Yangtze accounts for 35 percent of China's total fresh water resources, the report said.

It also showed that the huge reservoir created by the Three Gorges Dam, the world's biggest hydropower project, was seriously polluted by pesticides, fertilizers and sewage from passenger boats.

The Yangtze is about 3,860 miles long and runs from the Tibetan plateau to the sea near Shanghai, passing through some of China's major cities, such as Chongqing and Nanjing.

 Looky here! Gonzo's opening statement for his visit to the Judiciary Comm. Tuesday is already available!

Thanks to FDL, we have Uncle Al's opening salvo when he visits the Senate Judiciary hearing Tomorrow morning regarding GonzoGate and the fired USA's. It's 25 pages long. Lets not forget about all those millions of missing emails, or Monica Goodling taking the 5th. Perhaps this morning's NYT article on more emails dumped on the Judicial committee will help him out.

Gonzales's opening statement is again vague. He still doesn't address the reasons for picking these specific US Attorneys. His opening statement still contradicts the testimony of Kyle Sampson in some important respects.

In order to get the word out early, Gonzo did an OpEd Sunday for WaPo. The title of Uncle Al's OpEd: Nothing Improper.

Keep telling yourself that Berto..but bare in mind that no matter how many times you repeat it..it doesn't make it true.

Maybe if you were wearing a pair of Ruby slippers...

tags: Alberto Gonzales, USAs

From WaPo:

As many as 6 million prepared meals stockpiled near potential victims of the 2006 hurricane season spoiled in the Gulf Coast heat last summer when the Federal Emergency Management Agency ran short of warehouse and refrigeration space, according to agency officials.

In all, hundreds of truckloads of food worth more than $40 million are being thrown away or scavenged for unspoiled contents to be offered to domestic hunger-relief groups, FEMA officials said. Most of the meals were commercial versions of the military's Meals Ready to Eat, which were ruined despite being engineered to withstand the demands of desert and jungle climates.

Federal disaster management officials decided to position huge amounts of food, water and ice in the southeastern United States last year after they were condemned for failing to quickly deliver critical supplies to victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But they stockpiled the supplies without regard for FEMA's strained storage network, creating a different kind of problem when no major hurricane made landfall.

 

Isn't the word "management" part of the acronym of FEMA? Oh, the irony..

The day a suicide bomber struck at the heart of Iraq's democracy

By Patrick Cockburn

Published: 13 April 2007

Nowhere is safe. Insurgents struck in the heart of the Green Zone yesterday, one of the most heavily defended places in Baghdad. The symbolism - and the bloody message - was clear with this attack on the home to the US-imposed democracy.

A suicide bomber cleared at least eight rings of security to blow himself up in the Iraqi parliament, killing eight people including three lawmakers as they were eating lunch. It was the most deadly attack mounted from within the Green Zone.

In a separate attack, the Iraqi capital was cut in two as one of the main bridges over the Tigris was blown up earlier in the day.

The Green Zone bombing was not only an assault on democracy. It was intended to undermine President George Bush's troop "surge", which is denounced as a sham by so many Iraqis.

Read the rest of the article here.

This dance of death gets worse each week, but John McCain and BushCo tell us its working out, that it is succeeding. How can that be? I just don't see it, not with suicide bombers blowing up the elected officials now..and bridges being blown up in Baghdad.

Because we already have one..actually two if you count the Decider-in-Chief and Robert Gates. In 1947, the Truman administration changed over from a Secretary of War to the Secretary of Defense. This law also saw the beginning of the Dept of Defense (DoD) and the creation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who’s job it is to assist in the planning and execute the wishes of the Commander in Chief and the SoD in the combat arena when our country is ‘at war’.

Gates, as the SoD, is either incapable of doing HIS JOB..or the Joint Chiefs are falling down on theirs.

Which is it boys?

Add to this mix that three, count em three 4-star military minds have said thanks but no thanks..so the general assessment should be:

We are in a state of FUBAR..so its time to roll up the tents and get out. Or make Gates and the Joint Chiefs do their damn jobs.

But we don’t need another layer of federal bureaucracy. For a good read on this War Czar idea MSNBC has Jack Jacobs, a retired Army Colonel, who has more medals than Gates has common sense evidently, giving us his take on this ridiculous idea.

If tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee, along with the Joint Chiefs, can’t figure it out..its time to get out.

Tags: Politics, War Czar, FUBAR, Bureaucratic BS

From WaPo:

The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation.

At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.

If this isn't a stand regarding BushCo's warmongering ways..I don't know what is. No one worth their salt will take this position...any position within this administration. Who would want to jump on the sinking ship that is George Bush's administration?

The lastest flap is over Don Imus and his stupid remarks calling members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on his nationally syndicated radio program Imus in the Morning, which is simulcast on MSNBC in the middle of the night here in Bako.

Prominent Blacks are calling for his firing. The top womans organization, NOW, is posting a petition on their website asking for Imus to be fired. Everyone that hates racism and wants to weigh in on this is calling for Imus to be handed his cowboy hat and be fired by both MSNBC and his host radio station.

Imus attempted a half-a**ed apology on his show last friday. There are now over 1700 articles on the subject of Imus's racist remark if you google his name under the news catagory.

I hate racism. I hate racist attitudes and I think Imus made a racist remark..but that said:

Why is it ok for black comedians and rappers to use the words 'nappy' and 'ho' but not a white person? I think all people, regardless of their color shouldn't use the word 'ho'. Its ignorant and degrading to ALL women.

The point does remain that Imus was able to offend two distinct groups of people with his use of the phrase "nappy-headed ho's"

Where do we draw the line?  Because I just don't know anymore. I am not black so I can't speak for blacks on the use of the word 'nappy'...but I can speak as a women and I find the use of the word 'ho' offensive, no matter what color the person is that uses it.

MSNBC has taken hits for allowing Imus to use this type of language in the past. They tried to distance themselves from this recent fray by saying they didn't condone his language and found it offensive as well..BUT..they didn't think it was up to them to deal with him since they are just a syndicator of his show. They have now backpeddaled and suspended his show for 2 weeks from their airwaves, and the suspension doesn't start until April 16th. Perhaps there are legal reasons that they have to wait until that date, I don't know. But since ratings are the game..I would hazard a guess that is part of the reason they don't can his behind...



Is that enough? Or is that too much?