Dick and Dubya's Excellent Sedition Adventure

Dearest Readers, yesterday's hearings in the Senate with Gone-Zo's former Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson on the hot seat were not to be missed. Try to catch the a clip of it if you can here on C-Span 'Firing of U.S. Attorneys'. Rover should have known not to mess with lawyers, that's what he gets for being too busy scheming for neorepublicans instead of graduating college...

Gone-Zo, as you know, is the finger in the dyke. And when the dam bursts the indictments are going create such a flood, they'll have to call the military home to clean up the mess for sure...Dearest Readers, you all know Prissy would go and fetch them herself, if she could round up enough planes and ships.

Senate republicans know its over, when we hear the 'rest of Gonzo's story'. The part they heard yesterday from Sampson frightened them so much, it was enough to make the cowards call a temporary halt to the hearings. What did they expect? Excuse me ladies and gentlemen; this is how your government works. That's why we hired you. Oh, you didn't wish the work involved? As Chuckie said, then go sell shoes. Thank goodness if they did; because then Prissy could avoid them forever...

Kyle, who looks like a younger version of the dull-eyed Karl Rove, thought he could just say it was all a big mistake. Golly, he just mixed bad ideas with good ideas and he shouldn't have handled it that way-oops my bad, sorry.

There is no question a young ideologue who has mere a handful of cases to his credit-lead counsel on none-and only one criminal case- certainly has no business evaluating any career justice attorney performance.

You'll notice how Kyle's voice gets higher with each tale he tells-it was a giveaway. Especially when he was reminded he was under oath. Prissy bets if his mother watched it on C-Span 3, she could tell us when he was lying.

It was Kyle who said he cooked up the idea to get rid of US Attorneys who didn't meet the Bush administrations standard of blind loyalty to the all mighty Dubya.

Of course Rover's blood drenched hands were involved as email show and Sampson's "Uh, I don't remember, I'm not sure if I was aware of that" type non-statements. RAW Story reports he said "I don't remember 122+ times! Maybe he should call Scooter Libby's "memory expert"...

At 37, he's awfully young to have such memory problems, but maybe its in the GOP koolaid. He seemed to make a remarkable memory recovery when his testimony favored him. He didn't like fronting out Gone-Zo, but why not? He's next on firing line. Kyle knows his days in government are over, thankfully for justice. Did criminal violations occur?

Prissy thinks its certainly probable, considering Ms. Goodling, another 'collaborator', is on an indefinite leave of absence from the DOJ and took the 5th amendment protection to avoid being questioned on the attorney firings. Who ever heard of a Department of Justice employee taking the 5th? After all, no one was asking her, "Do you have a crush on Pat Fitzgerald?"

Speaking of Irish catholics-Prissy's Granny equates Ms Goodling's refusal with a Catholic who won't make the sign of the cross in church-the height of blasphemy!

When Alberto's reign of terror is over, Dubya will be left to twist in the wind- legally speaking. And you know he's got no talent or patience in explaining legal terminology...

When the DOJ is no longer held hostage to Bushite politics, they will be busy prosecuting political corruption leftovers from the Bush era for the next twenty years. Its enough to make Prissy want to sign up for law school.

Hot Links

And here comes the tidal wave...

NYT Ex-Aide,Matthew Dowd Details a Loss of Faith in Bush

In 1999, Matthew Dowd became a symbol of George W. Bush’s early success at positioning himself as a Republican with Democratic appeal.

A top strategist for the Texas Democrats who was disappointed by the Bill Clinton years, Mr. Dowd was impressed by the pledge of Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, to bring a spirit of cooperation to Washington. He switched parties, joined Mr. Bush’s political brain trust and dedicated the next six years to getting him to the Oval Office and keeping him there. In 2004, he was appointed the president’s chief campaign strategist.

Looking back, Mr. Dowd now says his faith in Mr. Bush was misplaced.

In a wide-ranging interview here, Mr. Dowd called for a withdrawal from Iraq and expressed his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s leadership.

Honesty from the republican party, now that's a breath of fresh air...

Yahoo, why Rudy will never make it to the primary Giuliani faces questions about Sept. 11

While the former mayor of the nation's largest city was widely lionized for his post-9/11 leadership — "Churchillian" was one adjective, "America's mayor" was Oprah Winfrey's assessment — city firefighters and their families are renewing their attacks on him for his performance before and after the terrorist attack.

"If Rudolph Giuliani was running on anything but 9/11, I would not speak out," said Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son was among the 343 FDNY members killed in the terrorist attack. "If he ran on cleaning up Times Square, getting rid of squeegee men, lowering crime — that's indisputable.

"But when he runs on 9/11, I want the American people to know he was part of the problem."

They know the truth about 9/11. Most people suspect they were fed a line on the official story-word eventually gets around. So let's all stop pretending-got that corporate media?

Judicial Watch files Violations Force Feinstein Military Committee Resignation

She wielded quite a bit of power and succeeded in steering hundreds of billions of dollars in military contracts to companies partially owned by her wealthy husband, Richard Blum. One company alone earned $792 million from military construction and environmental cleanup projects approved by Feinstein’s committee and another $759 million.

The blatant ethics violation and obvious conflict of interest was first exposed earlier this year by a weekly Northern California publication. The story details how Feinstein voted over the years for appropriations that enriched her husband’s firms and that her top legal advisor also happens to be one of her husband’s longtime business partners; in other words, a financial beneficiary of the senator’s decisions.

Flashback from Sunday Times US generals ‘will quit’ if Bush orders Iran attack February 25, 2007

A British defence source confirmed that there were deep misgivings inside the Pentagon about a military strike. “All the generals are perfectly clear that they don’t have the military capacity to take Iran on in any meaningful fashion. Nobody wants to do it and it would be a matter of conscience for them.

“There are enough people who feel this would be an error of judgment too far for there to be resignations.”

A generals’ revolt on such a scale would be unprecedented. “American generals usually stay and fight until they get fired,” said a Pentagon source. Robert Gates, the defence secretary, has repeatedly warned against striking Iran and is believed to represent the view of his senior commanders.

The threat of a wave of resignations coincided with a warning by Vice-President Dick Cheney that all options, including military action, remained on the table. He was responding to a comment by Tony Blair that it would not “be right to take military action against Iran”.

AP Bush to visit with troops at Walter Reed

He will meet with soldiers once housed in Building 18, who endured moldy walls, rodent infestation and other problems that went unchecked until reported by the media. Bush declared the situation unacceptable and ordered a full-scale review of care for veterans.

Walter Reed is considered one of the Army's premier facilities for treating the wounded. The revelations of shoddy treatment for those wounded in war was an embarrassment to Bush, who routinely speaks of the need to support the troops.

Bush will tour both Abrams Hall, where soldiers transferred after Building 18 was recently vacated, and the main hospital.

He will award Purple Hearts to several soldiers who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and are now recovering from serious wounds.

He said he was sorry and that he would take care of things. The same thing he told the residents of New Orleans.

LA Times, blame Bush for preferring the bully pulpit over debateAbuse, threats quiet bloggers' keyboards

"If you're writing to say that my research is weak, that's fine," he said. "But saying I should be shot is a little over the edge. I mean, we're talking about iTunes here, not politics."

The issue is not an easy one, because it gets to the heart of the free-speech culture that allows bloggers to reveal every aspect of their lives and thoughts. The medium's openness leaves writers vulnerable to cruel invective from angry readers or troublemakers.

"They're idea terrorists," said Scoble, a former Microsoft executive whose postings about software once prompted someone to call him to say they wished they could kill him. His wife, Maryam, was also vilified on the sites that attacked Sierra. "If they don't agree with your ideas, they try to terrorize you or make you feel bad."

Keep it to yourself keyboard terrorists and take careful notice of Prissy's book list.

MSN Money Central How CEOs rob workers, customers (is this the strategy of CEO's running our government?)

In 1914, Henry Ford made a "bet the company" decision. Conventional thinkers thought he was insane. Those without Ford's imagination were certain his decision would send Ford Motor (F, news, msgs) into bankruptcy.

He chopped the workday down to eight hours, and he doubled employees' daily wages. But he did not do this out of compassion. He had no desire to share the wealth. He made a hardheaded business decision.

Absenteeism plummeted. Worker turnover virtually disappeared. So did the number of accidents; ditto the number of manufacturing defects. Meanwhile, productivity soared. And the automotive age was born.

Today, the reverse is happening. The entire structure that promotes worker security, health and devoted service is being systematically dismantled. As investors, we benefit from this. But the largest beneficiaries are corporate executives. Every dime they squeeze out of payroll drops to the bottom line. The same money takes them a step closer to realizing gigantic stock-option gains.

Scientific American(?) Prissy thought Dubya didn't allow that. Confirmed: The U.S. Census Bureau Gave Up Names of Japanese Americans in WWII

Officially, Seltzer notes, the Secret Service made the 1943 request based on concerns of presidential safety stemming from an alleged March 1942 incident during which an American man of Japanese ancestry, while on a train from Los Angeles to the Manzanar internment camp in Owens Valley, Calif., told another passenger that they should have the "guts" to kill President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The incident occurred 17 months before the Secret Service request, during which time the man was hospitalized for schizophrenia and was therefore not an imminent threat, Seltzer says.

And...Census data is routinely used to enforce the National Voting Rights Act and other policies, but not in a form that could be used to identify a particular person's race, sex, age, address or other information, says former director Prewitt. The legal confidentiality of census information dates to 1910, and in 1954 it became part of Title 13 of the U.S. Code, which specifies the scope and frequency of censuses.

"The law is very different today" than it was in 1943, says Christa Jones, chief of the Census Bureau's Office of Analysis and Executive Support. "Anything that we release to any federal agency or any organization … all of those data are reviewed," she says, to prevent disclosures of individual information.

Are we supposed to believe the "Patriot Act" does not allow the Census Bureau to do it again?

Great blog...George Washington's Blog WHO's Giving Aid and Comfort to the Enemy?

First, let's look at the events leading up to the 9/11 attacks.

As reported by the New York Times, the FBI had penetrated the cell which carried out the 1993 world trade center bombing, but had -- at the last minute -- cancelled the plan to have its FBI infiltrator substitute fake power for real explosives, against the infiltrator's strong wishes (summary version is free; full version is pay-per-view). See also this TV news report.

And the CIA is alleged to have met with Bin Laden two months before 9/11.

Indeed, the government appears to have trained a number of the hijackers at military bases.

Shocking, well cited read...

Zuna fish Zuna Fish Prissy doesn't usually promote stuff-however, this looks like a site readers might enjoy;-)

You know the books, CDs, DVDs, and other stuff you’re finished with? Well, somebody wants them.

Zunafish® lets you trade your old media items for new titles you’d rather have. And, oh yeah— it’s fun, simple and dirt cheap: just a buck a trade! Easy and fun.

Just list the stuff you want to get rid of, pick the stuff you want to get, and watch the trade offers arrive!

WaPoEx-Partner Of Giuliani May Face Charges Kerik Counts Said To Include Deception During Cabinet Bid

Federal prosecutors have told Bernard B. Kerik, whose nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004 ended in scandal, that he is likely to be charged with several felonies, including tax evasion and conspiracy to commit wiretapping.

Kerik's indictment could set the stage for a courtroom battle that would draw attention to Kerik's extensive business and political dealings with former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who personally recommended him to President Bush for the Cabinet. Giuliani, the front-runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination according to most polls, later called the recommendation a mistake.

That Kerik, such an oaf...

ABC Bush Calls on Iran to Free U.K. Sailors

President Bush on Saturday said Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines was "inexcusable" and called for their immediate, unconditional release.

Bush said Iran plucked the sailors out of Iraqi waters. Iran's president said Saturday they were in Iranian waters and called Britain and its allies "arrogant and selfish" for not apologizing for trespassing.

Dubya, haven't you 'helped things' with Britain and Iran enough already? Hush now...Let us pray the president of Iran believes in Geneva. So far he has not broken it.

Reuters Bush backs Gonzales, says no evidence of wrongdoing

Bush also said Gonzales, the nation's top law enforcement officer, was providing documents to Congress and would "tell the truth" when he testifies about the matter before the Senate Judiciary Committee in April.

"Attorney General Al Gonzales is an honorable and honest man and he has my full confidence," Bush said.

"I will remind you there is no credible evidence that there has been any wrongdoing," he added.

Is there no C-Span on at the White House? Apparently no one has told him about Sampson and Goodling...

Speaking of more fantasy of the right TPM Cafe Toensing Doesn't Know Dick About Val by Larry Johnson

It never occurred to even one of us, working on those laws at that time, that the identity of a covert officer would ever be revealed by the highest officials in American government in leading newspapers and syndicated columns of high level Washington insiders. In those days the revealers of identities ended up taking refuge in Castro's Cuba, not Washington dinner parties or high level corridors of insider power.

It is immaterial whether the CIA Identities Act was technically violated. In my view it probably was; reasonable people can disagree; Patrick Fitzgerald said that lies threw sand in the gears of justice, so perhaps we will ultimately find out, perhaps not.

Understand the protestations of those who argue most aggresively for pardon, are those who argue most aggressively that the identity law was not broken, but support the pardon in large measure because they also fear the ultimate revelation of the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Countless people who I respect and admire have urged me to aggressively attack Victoria Toensing. I don't believe she is very important to this. She has the right to her views, though they are close to universally rejected by those who know the most of this matter, witness how few Republicans came to the Waxman hearing to offer their support.

Victoria Toensing might...talk about a loose cannon.

Seattle Times News Source General sought to warn Bush not to say Tillman died in enemy ambush

Just seven days after Pat Tillman's death, a top general warned there were strong indications that it was friendly fire and President Bush might embarrass himself if he said the NFL star-turned-soldier died in an ambush, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

It was not until a month afterward that the Pentagon told the public and grieving family members the truth -- that Tillman was mistakenly killed in Afghanistan by his comrades.

The memo reinforces suspicions that the Pentagon was more concerned with sparing officials from embarrassment than with leveling with Tillman's family.

In a memo sent to a four-star general a week after Tillman's April 22, 2004, death, then-Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned that it was "highly possible" the Army Ranger was killed by friendly fire. McChrystal made it clear his warning should be conveyed to the president.

The Bushie White House... Always in *CYA mode, no matter who gets hurt-whether it be career spies’ outed or military families and soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice to their country. (For Dearest international readers, CYA stands for 'cover your @ss')

Prissy Patriot endorsed poller John Zogby, news UPI Poll: Iran could set off arms race

Nearly 90 percent of UPI-Zogby International poll participants said Iran's nuclear program could set off a Middle East arms race.

While Iran says its uranium enrichment program is solely for peaceful purposes, some Western countries say Tehran, in fact, is looking to develop nuclear weapons. Zogby interactive poll respondents said this would likely cause other countries in the region to seek a nuclear capability.

Some 49.7 percent of those asked said it was "very likely" countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt would want to join the nuclear club if Iran was proved to be a member and another 38.5 percent said it was "somewhat likely."

Dubya and Diplomacy mix like, say, oil and water...

Quotes of the Day

Any appeasement of tyranny is treason to this republic and to the democratic ideal.--William Allen White, American editor, journalist

Though those that are betrayed Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor Stands in worse case of woe.-- William Shakespeare

The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities states and nation. At the head is a small group of banking houses generally referred to as 'international bankers.' This little coterie... run our government for their own selfish ends. It operates under cover of a self-created screen...[and] seizes...our executive officers... legislative bodies... schools... courts... newspapers and every agency created for the public protection.--John F. Hylan, Mayor of New York City from 1918 to 1925.

Why suspend the habeas corpus in insurrections and rebellions? Examine the history of England. See how few of the cases of the suspension of the habeas corpus law have been worthy of that suspension. They have been either real treasons, wherein the parties might as well have been charged at once, or sham plots, where it was shameful they should ever have been suspected. Yet for the few cases wherein the suspension of the habeas corpus has done real good, that operation is now become habitual and the minds of the nation almost prepared to live under its constant suspension.--Thomas Jefferson

The principle that the majority have a right to rule the minority, practically resolves all government into a mere contest between two bodies of men, as to which of them shall be masters, and which of them slaves; a contest, that -- however bloody -- can, in the nature of things, never be finally closed, so long as man refuses to be a slave.--Lysander Spooner, Nineteenth-Century lawyer, abolitionist, entrepreneur, legal theorist and political radical.

Ten Reasons Bush and Company Do NOT Support Our Troops Updated

Sorry for the re-run post, Dearest Readers-another busy anti-war week.

This post is from November of 2005. Generals then were telling us the military would be broken within a year, if we kept going with this war. Dubya and his cronies do not have any regard for the military, Walter Reed, contracting out their jobs to KBR and Blackwater have proved that.

Now in former "coalition of the willing partner" Spain, a judge has said Bush and his allies (Tony?) committed war crimes. How many other times have they said that about an American president or British Prime Minister? Ah,perhaps Prissy is over-reacting...

Prissy predicts Gonzo will be gone soon, shortly after Sampson comes clean. At this point in the game, its the only thing he can do. An Attorney General who refuses to testify under oath, yet wants to take away the rights of you and me? The neorepublican party is over-even Chuckie Hagel is being truthful, mentioning that "others" may want impeachment. Of course we do Chuck, but an indictment will suffice...

1.Any soldier will due Alternate Press Review

Last week the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative unit of Congress, released a report indicating that the Pentagon has been calling up reserve soldiers who are ill or medically unfit to serve. The reservists are serving primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness is responsible for managing medical and physical fitness policy and procedures, the report determined that this office has no way to determine if reserve soldiers are fit to serve or have pre-existing medical conditions prior to deployment.

2.U.S. 'can't maintain Iraq troop levels' United Press International

"It has become clear that if we still have 140,000 ground troops in Iraq a year from now, we will destroy the all-volunteer army," said the a report written by the center's Lawrence Korb and Brian Katulis. Korb served as assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan.

3. Army reaches low, fills ranks-Baltimore Sun

Former Army Secretary Thomas E. White said the service was making a mistake by lowering its standards. "I think it's disastrous. You are throwing the towel in on recruiting quality," said White, a retired general whom Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld fired in 2003 over other policy differences.

4.Asterisks Dot White House's Iraq Argument- Washington Post (to the Post-intelligent people have known this for YEARS)

President Bush and his national security adviser have answered critics of the Iraq war in recent days with a two-pronged argument: that Congress saw the same intelligence the administration did before the war, and that independent commissions have determined that the administration did not misrepresent the intelligence.

Neither assertion is wholly accurate.

5.Sen Bill Nelson, Gen Wesley Clark blast war, say Bush hasn't been up front with public-Herald Tribune

In some of his harshest criticisms of the war to date, Nelson said the Bush administration has not been up front with the American people about the war and likened it to Vietnam.

"We're in a heck of a mess," Nelson, a Florida Democrat, told a mostly Democratic crowd of 80 at a political fund-raiser held in a Sarasota bayfront home.

Clark, a retired four-star Army general, said going to war was a mistake.

"We need to get our troops out of there," he said.

6. Fury as US opens arms to Chalabi -The Austrialian

"Mr Chalabi should be sitting down with FBI investigators, rather than meeting with cabinet secretaries," wrote senators Ted Kennedy, Patrick Leahy and Richard Durbin in a letter to the Attorney-General, Alberto Gonzales. At a news conference, Mr Chalabi denied having given Iran information that had compromised US security. He said he had offered last year to be questioned by the US, and added: "I am prepared to go to the Senate and respond to questions."

At the same time, Mr Chalabi refused to apologise for advising the Bush administration that Saddam had arsenals of weapons of mass destruction.

"We are sorry for every American life that was lost in Iraq," he said. "As for deliberately misleading, this is an urban myth."

Urban myth? Coming from the man who is wanted for embezzlement in Jordan? Hmm...no wonder King Dubya likes him-they hate the same things.

7. The Other Bomb Drops-the Nation

On the eve of the official invasion, on March 8, 2003, Bush said in his national radio address: "We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq. But if Saddam Hussein does not disarm peacefully, he will be disarmed by force." Bush said this after nearly a year of systematic, aggressive bombings of Iraq, during which Iraq was already being disarmed by force, in preparation for the invasion to come. By the Pentagon's own admission, it carried out seventy-eight individual, offensive airstrikes against Iraq in 2002 alone.

"It reminded me of a boxing match in which one of the boxers is told not to move while the other is allowed to punch and only stop when he is convinced that he has weakened his opponent to the point where he is defeated before the fight begins," says former UN Assistant Secretary General Hans Von Sponeck, a thirty-year career diplomat who was the top UN official in Iraq from 1998 to 2000. During both the Clinton and Bush administrations, Washington has consistently and falsely claimed these attacks were mandated by UN Resolution 688, passed after the Gulf War, which called for an end to the Iraqi government's repression in the Kurdish north and the Shiite south. Von Sponeck dismissed this justification as a "total misnomer." In an interview with The Nation, Von Sponeck said that the new information "belatedly confirms" what he has long argued: "The no-fly zones had little to do with protecting ethnic and religious groups from Saddam Hussein's brutality" but were in fact an "illegal establishment...for bilateral interests of the US and the UK."

8.Vice President Cheney Should Resign- Common Dreams

When the President put forward his White House Counsel as a Supreme Court nominee America collectively asked, "What was the President thinking?" Now the world has reason to ask,"What is the Vice President thinking?" How can it be that the person who is only a heartbeat away from the Presidency actually advocates the use of torture? Cheney reportedly would authorize any level of mistreatment "short of organ failure." Under that definition, not even rape would be excluded.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney could care less. They both believe that those who oppose the plan to exempt the CIA from strictures against torture are "aiding and abetting" the enemy. In effect, American citizens with a moral conscience are deemed to be traitors.

Prissy says yes, let's do talk traitors... Cheney should be sent to Gitmo and "treated appropriately" under his own rules. After all, we have some questions about his trips to the CIA before the war...Then let's ask him again, "Is torture humane for a country which used to pride itself on human rights?"

9. McCain urges changes in Bush's Iraq strategy- Reuters

Republican Sen. John McCain, a major backer of the Iraq war, said on Thursday the Bush administration must make broad changes in its strategy to confront the insurgency in Iraq, and commit more troops and resources to the effort.

McCain, the Arizona maverick who challenged George W. Bush for the presidential nomination in 2000 and is considered likely to make another run, repudiated calls from many Democrats for a plan to start withdrawing troops from Iraq.

McCain is looking out for McCain 2008-not the soldiers. Prissy didn't hear him complain very loud about the lousy equipment, rotation schedules or other soldier concerns. A "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" coming soon? Keep your eye on McCain-he didn't learn anything from Vietnam. He is from the old cold war school-no understanding of terrorism. Thinks like Bush-application of enough force will solve all problems.

10.Report Warned on CIA's Tactics in Interrogation Original in NYT-TruthOut

The report, by John L. Helgerson, the C.I.A.'s inspector general, did not conclude that the techniques constituted torture, which is also prohibited under American law, the officials said. But Mr. Helgerson did find, the officials said, that the techniques appeared to constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under the convention.

It is a shame it takes a Prissy Patriot to point out these "man things" are wrong...and we are sure they are illegal as well as immoral and unethical. They do not consider (or care) the position that they are putting our own soldiers in. Germany has already said their own material participation in the war may be illegal...a Spanish judge said try Bush and his allies for war crimes. Good going Dubya. Prissy warned him...everyone did- and they were all blackballed/audited/erroneously billed and/or fired for it.

There are probably a thousand or so more reasons these Chickenhawks do not support the troops-and why we shouldn't support Chickenhawks!

In 2007 we find out there is little care for returning troops with health problems or marines going on their 5th tours.

Prissy believes the main reason is this: These undiplomatic warmongers (this means Condi and Karen too) see themselves as "better" than the soldiers under their command.

Therefore, soldiers are expendable by the thousands, if that is what it takes to attain their goals of acquiring middle east oil reserves and occupying forever the country of Iraq. Too lazy and too immoral to think of another way...Like BUYING IT.

Certainly, the costs would have been easier to accept.

Quotes of the Day

Why Dubya, Cheney (the Penguin) and the other cold war Chickenhawks will never solve the problems they have given us...

'Insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting the different results'~ Albert Einstein

'No problem can be solved by the same consciousness that created it. We need to see the world anew.' ~Albert Einstein

'There is nothing as useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.' ~Peter Drucker, Business Philosopher (Did Dubya miss this at Harvard?)

'How can you do new math with an old math mind.'~Charlie Brown

A funny in honor of Prissy's Canadian friends (she may need political refugee status there, if we don't get rid of Dubya)...thanks for reading!

Gonzo, Make a Run For the Border!

Will Mexico take him back as an illegal immigrant?

Dearest Readers, Prissy has been pounding the pavement and calling on representatives to be accountable for the war they support.

Oh my how they don't have anything to say when Prissy trots out the truth...some believe they are still entitled to their own set of facts. Nothing like a 40 something year old repub with alleged face lift* attempt to tell Prissy Patriot that our Ohio National Guard is ready for overseas missions when she knows they are not!

Prissy thinks he really should check with the Major General before making himself appear so uninformed. He bragged about "the good he did" during his own time spent in Iraq. Prissy would put money down that he kept his sweet self tucked away deep inside the Green Zone.

And he is Congresswoman Debra Pryce's boy soldier-so he must spew the rhetoric to keep his job...he didn't seem to understand the National Guard isn't the INTERNational Guard...he tells Prissy not to fret about the Guard gone problem-when we ship all the troops out of the country like that, its all OK-they have done a "threat assessment" first...Prissy said, "Oh, do you mean like the one they did before 911?"

*Is this a perk the military should provide with your tax dollars when soldiers at Walter Reed need REAL care? Artist Stephen Pitt

UPI 88 percent of National Guard 'not ready'

The chairman of the U.S. Commission on the National Guard and Reserves said Friday reserve readiness was worse than realized.

The commission reported three weeks ago that 88 percent of the Army National Guard units in the United States were not ready for their missions, lacking equipment, personnel, training or some combination.

"And I can tell you today the Guard is less ready than the 88 percent. It's gotten worse in the three weeks since we issued our report, not better," said commission chairman retired Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee.

"We don't see the trend going up. We see the trend going down," he said

Whom would you trust? Prissy and the Major Generals- or Dubya and Gates?

P.S. Still working on the show...

The Ultimate Con 911 Documentary Trailer 1

Hot Links

Flashback WaPo Brand Bush Justice Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake

The CIA inspector general is investigating a growing number of what it calls "erroneous renditions," according to several former and current intelligence officials.

One official said about three dozen names fall in that category; others believe it is fewer. The list includes several people whose identities were offered by al Qaeda figures during CIA interrogations, officials said. One turned out to be an innocent college professor who had given the al Qaeda member a bad grade, one official said.

And...Members of the Rendition Group follow a simple but standard procedure: Dressed head to toe in black, including masks, they blindfold and cut the clothes off their new captives, then administer an enema and sleeping drugs. They outfit detainees in a diaper and jumpsuit for what can be a day-long trip. Their destinations: either a detention facility operated by cooperative countries in the Middle East and Central Asia, including Afghanistan, or one of the CIA's own covert prisons -- referred to in classified documents as "black sites," which at various times have been operated in eight countries, including several in Eastern Europe.

Masri can find few words to explain his ordeal. "I have very bad feelings" about the United States, he said. "I think it's just like in the Arab countries: arresting people, treating them inhumanly and less than that, and with no rights and no laws."

Are neocons brain injured? From the NYT Study Finds Brain Injury Changes Moral Judgment

Damage to an area near the center of the brain, several inches behind the eyes, transforms the way people make moral judgments in life-or-death situations, scientists are reporting. In a new study, people with this rare injury expressed increased willingness to kill or harm another person if doing so would save others’ lives.

The findings are the most direct evidence to date that humans’ native revulsion for hurting others relies on a part of neural anatomy, one that likely evolved before the brain regions responsible for analysis and planning.

The researchers emphasize that the study was small and that the moral decisions were hypothetical; the results cannot predict how people with or without brain injuries will act in real life-or-death situations. Yet the findings, appearing Thursday in the journal Nature, confirm the central role of the damaged region — the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is thought to generate social emotions, like compassion.

Maybe brain injuries caused Gonzo-Rove-Meijers to fire DOJ prosecutors Why I Was Fired Op-Ed by DAVID C. IGLESIAS

WITH this week’s release of more than 3,000 Justice Department e-mail messages about the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors, it seems clear that politics played a role in the ousters.

Of course, as one of the eight, I’ve felt this way for some time. But now that the record is out there in black and white for the rest of the country to see, the argument that we were fired for “performance related” reasons (in the words of Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty) is starting to look more than a little wobbly.

United States attorneys have a long history of being insulated from politics. Although we receive our appointments through the political process (I am a Republican who was recommended by Senator Pete Domenici), we are expected to be apolitical once we are in office. I will never forget John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, telling me during the summer of 2001 that politics should play no role during my tenure. I took that message to heart. Little did I know that I could be fired for not being political.

As this story has unfolded these last few weeks, much has been made of my decision to not prosecute alleged voter fraud in New Mexico. Without the benefit of reviewing evidence gleaned from F.B.I. investigative reports, party officials in my state have said that I should have begun a prosecution. What the critics, who don’t have any experience as prosecutors, have asserted is reprehensible — namely that I should have proceeded without having proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The public has a right to believe that prosecution decisions are made on legal, not political, grounds.

Hey look-Ohio now has a Governor with a brain...The Columbus Dispatch (AKA The Columbus Disgrace or Dogpatch )Abstinence programs face cuts Approach to preventing teen pregnancy unproven, too costly, Strickland says

Jeffrey Silleck, executive director of Pregnancy Decision Health Centers in Franklin and Fairfield counties, said scrapping abstinence-only education also would give youths the wrong message."It sends the signal to them that sexual activity before marriage is not only possible and permissible but normal and the expectation," he said.

Silleck's organization is paying for its abstinence-only education program with a federal grant of $389,000 a year for five years and a 14-month state grant of $275,000, he said.

But Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, said her concern is that youths who become sexually active aren't getting accurate information about contraceptives and preventing diseases.

She pointed to studies including a 2005 report from researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland who found that abstinence-only education did not significantly reduce the likelihood of middle-school students having sex.

"Given how high the stakes are, we can't be careless," Copeland said.

Granny said they have been trying to figure out how to stop young people from having sex since Plato was a boy...and yet they still do it.

Obviously prevention of disease and pregnancy prevention should be priority. It's much less expensive than unwanted children, many of which end up in juvenile corrections or foster care. Neocons stop caring as soon as mom gives birth...

The Mirror DIANA DEATH: EX-SPY IS GAGGED

Richard Tomlinson, Britain's MI6 agent in France between 1991 and 1995, has been gagged by the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith.

A permanent injunction stops Mr Tomlinson, who lives in Cannes, from talking about his former role as it would breach the Official Secrets Act.

He said: "I think they have been quite crafty."

During the earlier inquiry led by Lord Stevens, he had told of seeing a top secret file detailing how to make an assassination look like a crash. The inquiry rejected his claims.

If there was deviance involved, it will eventually come out. Those Brits and their Official Secrets Act- Like Bush, the British government will learn there are no secrets as long as the internet survives...

Bush Reaffirms Support for Gonzales

Earlier Friday, a staunch White House ally, Sen. John Cornyn, summoned presidential counsel Fred Fielding to Capitol Hill and told him he wanted "no surprises."

"I told him, 'Everything you can release, please release. We need to know what the facts are,'" Cornyn said.

The latest e-mails indicate that some of Gonzales' most trusted advisers were kept out of the loop in the firings. Scolinos apparently learned last Nov. 17 about the plans to dismiss the prosecutors; that was nearly two years after Sampson and the White House first began talking about replacing them.

Democrats question whether the eight were selected because they were not seen as, in Sampson's words, "loyal Bushies."

CNN Iran says British sailors 'confess' to illegal entry

The incident threatened to exacerbate the tension between Iran and much of the West on the eve of a U.N. Security Council vote to impose new sanctions on Iran. The world powers will meet Saturday to consider that next step in the dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. (Full story)

There have been similar incidents in the past. In 2004, Iran stopped three British boats and seized eight sailors and six marines. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said at the time the three boats had crossed into Iran's territorial waters.

The detained servicemen appeared on Iranian television blindfolded.

They were released after Iran said it determined they had mistakenly crossed into Iran's waters.

Der Spiegel The US Prepares its First Guantanamo Trials DISHONORING A NATION'S HISTORY

When legal experts from the respected Seton Hall Law School in New Jersey were given access to files at the Defense Department, they arrived at some surprising conclusions. According to the documents, the Pentagon itself only classifies 8 percent of the Guantanamo detainees as al-Qaida fighters, and it finds that 40 percent have no connection whatsoever to the terrorist organization.

The Seton Hall report contains another interesting figure: 86 percent of those taken into custody in Afghanistan were handed over to the Americans by Pakistanis or members of the Northern Alliance -- at a time when substantial bounties were being paid for terrorists.

The Jurist Spain judge says Bush and Iraq war allies should face war crimes charges

On Sunday, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile; BBC profile] said President Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair may one day face war crimes charges [JURIST report] before the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website; JURIST news archive] at The Hague. Moreno-Ocampo said that the ICC could investigate allegations of war crimes stemming from the conduct of coalition forces in Iraq [JURIST news archive], so long as Iraq agrees to ratify the Rome Statute [text, PDF] and accede to ICC jurisdiction.

CNN University denies Jeb Bush honorary degree

Finally, a degree Poppy Bush couldn't buy for his kids...

WaPo Gonzales And His "I Did Not Have Sex With That Woman" Moment

On March 13, Gonazales looked both you and me in the eye and under a sweaty brow said this about the burgeoning scandal over the dismissal of the eight prosecutors: "What I know is that there began a process of evaluating strong performers, not-as-strong performers, and weak performers. And so far as I knew my chief of staff was involved in the process of determining who were the weak performers. Where were the districts around the country where we could do better for the people in that district, and that's what I knew. But again, with respect to this whole process, like every CEO, I am ultimately accountable and responsible for what happens within the department. But that is in essence what I knew about the process; was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on. That's basically what I knew as the Attorney General." (Emphasis Added).

This directly contradicts the documents released last night. How? Because Gonzales "met with senior aides on Nov. 27 to review a plan to fire a group of U.S. attorneys," the Washington Post and about a thousand other outlets are reporting. Because, reports the Post's Dan Eggen, "the hour-long November meeting in the attorney general's conference room included Gonzales, Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty and four other senior Justice officials, including the Gonzales aide who coordinated the firings, then-Chief of Staff D. Kyle Sampson, records show." It is no wonder that Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) already is turning up the heat on Gonzales to resign-- and that yet another Republican lawmaker urged the Attorney General to quit. The Post reports: "Rep. Paul E. Gillmor (Ohio) said Gonzales has become a 'lightning rod' for criticism. 'It would be better for the president and the department if the attorney general were to step down,' Gillmor said.

And of course if you read the archives, you'll find what else Prissy has been up to...Thank you, Constant. Prissy greatly appreciates the work you do, it has been such a help! Constants Pations Gonzalez Lied Under Oath; Military Officers Forced To Resign Like US Attorneys

There is another problem. The US Attorneys were supposedly fired because they didn't do something. Yet, the GOP cannot explain why they did not put pressure on US Attorneys to prosecute those who attacked the GOP campaign offices.

Evidence suggests the GOP attacked their offices, hoped to blame the DNC, and dissuaded US Attorneys from prosecuting the real culprits behind the 2004 attacks on the GOP offices.

Ref: Someone has the details on the JAGs. Want to know more? Click the link, send her an e-mail, and maybe she'll spill the beans. Then again, maybe she'll reveal the evidence to war crimes prosecutors and help bring down the President with a war crimes indictment showing he attempted to thwart investigators looking into his war crimes. She is unstoppable and has full support of We the People: Over 300 Million against the Godless heathens in the Republican Party.

Judge Advocate GeneralRef: Any explanation for the strange JAG attacks on Guantanamo defense counsel, and why Stimson's recklessness appears to have been repeated?

NY SUN Bush: 'This is not going to happen'

A sharply divided House voted Friday to order President Bush to bring combat troops home from Iraq next year, a victory for Democrats in an epic war-powers struggle and Congress' boldest challenge yet to the administration's policy.

Just over an hour later, an angry Mr. Bush accused Democrats of staging nothing more than political theater and said that if the spending bill is not approved and signed into law by April 15, troops and their families "will face significant disruptions."

Is that some kind of a sick Bushie joke? "Significant disruptions"- is Dubya issuing a threat to us military families? Dubya should really watch how he talks to the military and their families, these days... Click to enlarge

Reuters Toxin found in tainted pet food is used in rat poison

The New York State Food Laboratory found 40 parts per million of aminopterin in cat food samples, but were waiting to hear from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on how safe that level was and if it came from the wheat gluten that was previously suspected of causing illnesses and deaths in pets, Department spokeswoman Jessica Chittenden said.

The FDA said previously that wheat gluten, which is used to thicken the gravy in wet pet food, was the likely cause of contamination.

Menu would not confirm or deny earlier reports that identified wheat gluten from China as the suspect ingredient.

China?? Notice labels on canned goods, Dearest Readers. Prissy noticed at the dollar store all kinds of them made in China (mushrooms, oranges, strawberries) and baby shrimp(caught wild) in Thailand.

Talk about taking your chances...Granted, our FDA is no prize-but do the other countries even HAVE an FDA?

CNN Money-Well, who didn't know this was on the horizon? Fed governor warns against rate hikes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Core U.S. inflation is likely to drop to 2 percent from about 2 1/4 percent, but pushing it below that may require higher interest rates, Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin said on Friday.

"I am less optimistic about the prospects for core PCE inflation to move much below 2 percent in the absence of a determined effort by monetary policy," Mishkin said in remarks prepared for delivery to a conference organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Mishkin was referring to a favorite inflation gauge of the U.S. central bank - the 12-month change in the government's Personal Consumption Expenditures index with volatile food and energy costs set aside.

Always leaving out the "extras"- like food and energy costs!

Wired France Puts Secret UFO Archive on Web

France is the first country to put its entire weird sightings archive online, said Jacques Patenet, who heads the space agency's UFO cell - the Group for Study and Information on Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena.

Their oldest recorded sighting dates from 1937, Patenet told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. The first batch of archives went up on the agency's Web site this week, drawing a server-busting wave of traffic.

"The Web site exploded in two hours. We suspected that there was a certain amount of interest, but not to this extent," Patenet said.

The archive includes police and expert reports, witness sketches (some are childlike doodlings), maps, photos and video and audio recordings. In all, the archive has some 1,650 cases on record and about 6,000 witness accounts.

CNES CNES is the French site for the UFO's-its in English too!

Prissy hasn't seen any UFO's but if they were friendly she'd say "Stop the Earth, I wanna get off!"

Wired Politics Son of TIA Will Mine Asian Data

Poindexter, who was also on the roster of people the Singaporeans were scheduled to meet with in the United States, never quite disappeared from the data-mining scene. In January of this year, he was elected to the board of BrightPlanet, a firm that boasts "the most powerful search, harvest and document federation technology available in the world." The company's press release announcing Poindexter's appointment noted the former national security adviser would "provide guidance in developing further contacts within the intelligence community."

As for Poindexter's association with RAHS and his appearance at this week's conference, Nathan noted that meetings with the former Darpa manager are consultative. "We have no formal relationship with John Poindexter but have met him to exchange ideas and perspectives," he said.

Whether formal or informal, everyone involved in RAHS is aware that Poindexter has proved a lightning rod for critics of data mining. Recalling the events that led to the closing of Poindexter's office, Snowden, who describes himself as "on the left politically," was candid about the man he still calls a friend.

"He's a genius," Snowden said, "but he's a naive genius; he didn't realize how it was going to be picked up."

Naive genius? More like the terrorist of civil rights...Click to enlarge

Quotes of the Day for Bushies

Temper is what gets most of us into trouble, but pride is what keeps us there. Pride leads to destruction, and arrogance to downfall.- Proverbs 16:18

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.--Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969)

Never do today what you can do as well tomorrow because something may occur to make you regret your premature action.--Aaron Burr (1756-1836)

It is the test of a good religion whether you can make a joke about it. --G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

Lenin, Stalin and Gorbachev were riding on a train. When it came to a halt, the engineer said, "Our engine has failed-what shall I do?"

"Let the invincible spirit of the people pull us on!" Lenin declared.

"Shoot the engineer!" offered Stalin.

And Gorbachev suggested, "Close the shades and we can pretend we're moving forward!"

All progress is the result of change, but all change is not necessarily progress--Rich Zera, Author

Who is Sleeping With the Enemy?

Best of Prissy Today...Dearest Readers, Prissy will make this a short post- to be updated later. She is doing lots of hands-on "Bring the Troops Home NOW" kinds of activities. Please join in!

It doesn't matter what part of the world you are in. (Prissy is pleased and amazed so many readers are not American) Write to Congress, call the the White House-tell them end the war or resign, because they defy the wishes of the people.

If you don't want or can't have your name involved, get a post card with no return address that boldly states "END THE WAR" and send it to them. If you are not American and you take the time to complain about the war- that should really make them feel like dumb animals.

And let's face it- this bunch is not the brightest, nor the best of what America has to offer the world. They are on the bottom rung of humanity-greedy, always hungry bullies with little or no conscience. Now is the time-to give the wicked no rest with protests, lawsuits, complaints, phone calls, etc.

They should feel like we are their "bill of rights" collectors. We must remind them everywhere they go, they have an obligation to the citizens and a duty to the Constitution. They should be educated to understand, "Do it or get out of office". We must work on cleaning up the mess they have made-there is no sound reason to let it grow larger.

Perhaps Prissy will be a goodwill ambassador someday -her job would be traveling the world to apologize for the Dubya's mess...

The cabal may or may not escape the judgement of us mere mortals here on Earth, but last Prissy heard St. Peter still isn't taking bribes at the gate.

Besides, they will never make it past all those young marines guarding him...

Hot Links

And look what Constant did- it's beautiful. And you know Prissy laughed!

Thank you Constant, Prissy will put it to good use... Constant's Pations

If you are a JAG, Prissy would like to talk to you Ref: Prissy's Nag the JAG program.

Prissy would like to know:

What is your plan to enforce the law?

What is your plan to work with your JAG-peers to ensure the laws of war are effectively enforced against a President?

Have you looked at the precedents which shows us that the Commander in Chief, because he claims to be a military leader, is subject to the US Code, and UCMJ?

Have you considered the precedents that show us that a sitting President may be lawfully prosecuted without an impeachment?

More updates later...gotta run, she's beeping in the driveway;-)

More proof he's lost his mind...Asia Yahoo Rumsfeld: US military can handle other threats despite Iraq

Rumsfeld warned potential enemies that the United States remained ready to take military action to defend its interests.

"It would be unfortunate if other countries thought because we have 136,000 troops in Iraq today that therefore we are not capable of defending our country or doing anything that we might need to do," Rumsfeld said.

The Pentagon has recently extended tours of US troops in Iraq and called up reserve Marines to quell violence in Iraq unleashed after the US-led invasion in 2003. Apart from Iraq, the US also has more than 20,000 troops in Afghanistan, and defense analysts say the deployments have put an enormous strain on the military.

"We have a large active force, we have a large reserve force, we have that ready reserve that drills the selective reserve and we have a large number of individual ready reservists who have an obligation that runs to depending on the circumstance for the remainder of their six-year period and we have allies.

Salt Lake Tribune Utahns: Dissent aids enemies 45% polled say that anti-Bush rallies more harm than good

When Rocky Anderson and Cindy Sheehan speak out against President Bush and his policies Wednesday, they probably will be cheered by thousands who agree.

But more Utahns will see them as aiding the enemies of the United States, according to a poll conducted for The Salt Lake Tribune.

Forty-five percent of poll respondents said war protesters such as Sheehan and Anderson aid U.S. enemies. Just 27 percent embrace the alternative view - that they "play an important role in the national debate over U.S. policy in Iraq."

The 625 registered Utah voters polled were split along party lines, with more Democrats believing war protesters further discussion and most Republicans believing they harm the United States. But even among Democrats, not a clear majority say protesters advance the public discussion.

That shows a lack of understanding about the importance of debate, said Brian Barnard, a local lawyer and free-speech advocate.

Yet in the same paper...Rolly: Petition to indict Bush - in Utah Veterans have gripes for Bush, too

Penny Bryman, a Salt Lake City attorney, has prepared the three-count indictment that names as defendants President Bush, Congress and the presidential administration.

The first count accuses Bush of abuse of power, citing the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay; kidnapping suspected terrorists and exporting them to other countries; failure to meet the rules of the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice; domestic spying; and thwarting the intent of Congress with the unprecedented use of 750 presidential signing statements. That count names Congress as a defendant for allowing Bush to abuse his power.

Count 2 accuses Bush of committing "other high crimes and misdemeanors" for allegedly misrepresenting that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction despite intelligence to the contrary and conspiring to reveal the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Count 3 accuses Bush of failing in his duty to promote the general welfare, citing the national debt, the growing number of children living in poverty and censoring data from the EPA and the National Academy of Sciences that address global warming.

The Age Bush 'palace' shielded from Iraqi storm

The prime 25-hectare site was a steal — it was a gift from the Iraqi Government. And if the five-metre-thick perimeter walls don't keep the locals at bay, then the built-in surface-to-air missile station should.

Guarded by a dozen gangly cranes, the site in the heart of the Green Zone is floodlit by night and is so removed from Iraqi reality that its entire construction force is foreign.

After almost four years, the Americans still can't turn on the lights for the Iraqis, but that won't be a problem for the embassy staffers. The same with the toilets — they will always flush on command. All services for the biggest embassy in the world will operate independently from the rattletrap utilities of the Iraqi capital.

Scheduled for completion next June, this is the only US reconstruction project in Iraq that is on track. Costing more than $US600 million ($A787 million), the fortress is bigger than the Vatican. It dwarfs the edifices of Saddam's wildest dreams and irritates the hell out of ordinary Iraqis.

Interesting site Water Industry. Some think the fight of the future is water, not oil. Qatar eyes RWE's Thames Water

Qatar's state-owned investment fund has teamed up with Swiss banking giant UBS to bid for Britain's largest water and waste group Thames Water, the Financial Times reported yesterday. RWE, the German power group that owns Thames Water, is looking to either sell or float the utility. The FT did not name its source, but said UBS would use its Global Infrastructure fund, launched in May, to provide part of the financing for the deal, which could value Thames Water at up to £7bn ($13.2bn)

Editor and Publisher Karr Cleared in JonBenet Case -- After Millions of Articles? With msm leading the way...pp

"The decision to drop the charges against Karr completes a 12-day arc that echoed many of the themes that have characterized the case, albeit on a more compressed, but no less bizarre scale. It was made all the more ironic because Karr's arrest earlier this month came as the nation appeared almost to have forgotten the case."

A Google search for "John Mark Karr, who was unknown until this month, came up with 10,800,000 results at the time of the latest twist. "John Mark Karr with "Ramsey" added produced 6.7 million returns.

In an article 11 days ago, E&P was among the first to question the initial assumption on the part of many in the media that Karr was almost certainly guilty, in an article headlined, "Rush to Judgment in JonBenet Case?"

E& P, bragging because they told the truth at least once...

Trailer for new movie, by soldiers in Iraq Ground Truth

Song of the Day by Paul Hipp. MFSO says Thanks Paul! SUB-IRAQIAN HOMESICK BLUES

Reuters Ahmadinejad defiant, challenges Bush to TV debate

TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced defiance on Tuesday as a deadline neared for Iran to halt work the West fears is a step toward building nuclear bombs, and challenged President Bush to televised debate.

In a news conference, Ahmadinejad condemned the U.S. and British role in the world since World War Two but made no direct mention of the international nuclear confrontation.

"I suggest holding a live TV debate with Mr. George W. Bush to talk about world affairs and the ways to solve those issues," he said.

Which has a better command of english, do you suppose?

Reuters Early Iraq pullout "ruinous" to U.S. security: Cheney

Cheney and Rumsfeld said they welcomed vigorous debate over Iraq, but they drew differences between healthy debate and what the vice president called "self-defeating pessimism."

"We have only two options on Iraq -- victory or defeat -- and this nation will not pursue a policy of retreat," Cheney said.

Rumsfeld said America's enemies had launched a public relations campaign to distort the debate over the war and manipulate the U.S. media to focus on the violence rather than progress being made against terrorism.

"This enemy lies constantly -- almost totally without penalty," he said.

Oh yes, but your penalty is coming soon...

Quotes of the Day

I cannot accept, your canon that we are to judge pope and king unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they do no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way against holders of power ... Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.--Lord Acton

The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack… These actions apparently arise from a view that our national tradition of free expression is no longer valid; that censorship and suppression are needed to avoid the subversion of politics and the corruption of morals.--American Library Association

One of the Seven [wise men of Greece] was wont to say: That laws were like cobwebs, where the small flies are caught and the great break through.--Sir Frances Bacon

An unconditional right to say what one pleases about public affairs is what I consider to be the minimum guarantee of the First Amendment.--Justice Hugo L. Black

The government is the potent omnipresent teacher. For good or ill it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that the end justifies the means -- to declare that the government may commit crimes -- would bring terrible retribution.--Justice Louis D. Brandeis

Shock and Awe, There is Justice in America! Libby Guilty

Who is really behind the U.S. vs. Libby... Coming up next?

Friends don't let friends out CIA agents...

Hot Links

Patrick Fitzgerald and his band of merry prosecutors did it! Four of Five counts and Scooter Libby is guilty as charged...so Prissy decided to re-run these hot links from last year in April- its info is still good.

When the verdicts came down today at noon, we made signs which said "Libby GUILTY 4/5 Counts" and "Merry Fitzmas" on the other side. Lot's of support in Columbus today, honks and thumbs up.

Betty and I are still working on the show, but things are coming along nicely. Stay tuned!

Read Fitzgerald's closing argument From the Desk of Patrick J. Fitzgerald: Fitz Closing - Transcript - "Let's Get Busy..."

Oh, to be a Bushie and knowing the worst is yet yet to come.

Jane and John Q. Public are up in arms over the gas prices. They are confused and angry-some had to cancel vacation plans. And how is it they voted for cheap gas and a quick war with Dubya and now we have all these high prices and wars with no end? The generals are telling us it is time to leave Iraq and forget about Iran. Dick Cheney is senile enough to wish the resurrection of the cold war years with Mr. Putin. Retired Judges coming out telling us we are looking at dictatorship, if Dubya isn't put to a halt. Not to mention 750 potential legal violations. Americans are calling and writing their "representatives" in unprecidented numbers.

And now we have Hookergate. There goes Dubya's "base".

OK-So that wasn't the real reason he gave. Porter Goss, Director of CIA resigns and Bush accepted it. Gee, the only time he accepted those things before was right before somebody got indicted...but who knows?

Maybe this time a close White House official got sick of the Bushworld way of shoddily doing the business of the people and violating our civil rights. Anything is possible.

But far more likely he is involved in the upcoming D.C. sex scandel along with Duke Cunningham. Rumor is shemales were involved. "Hookergate" -it all happened in the ole Watergate Hotel. Those guys just cannot get enough of that place. Yuk, that won't be good for business. More later...

From the Smoking Gun Libby Claimed Bush Authorized Leak See the paperwork. Easy read. Libby said Bush specifically authorized this leak for Cheney, so Libby could pass on National Intelligence Estimates to Miller.

RAW Story Gannon comes out: Former escort, conservative reporter grilled on White House visit

Jeff Gannon "came out" following a question from blogger-activist Michael Rogers, who publishes PageOneQ and maintains the blog, blogACTIVE, which reports on anti-gay politicians who are themselves gay.

Gannon emerged on the Washington stage after a liberal blog revealed that he had worked as a gay escort prior to his installment at the White House. AmericaBLOG, run by D.C.-based John Aravosis, discovered revealing photographs of Gannon, who billed himself as an "Ex-US Marine Corps Jock."

In a conversation with RAW STORY Thursday evening, Gannon spoke frankly about numerous questions this site has raised about his work. RAW STORY was the first to publish the Secret Service logs of his visits to the White House, revealing that Gannon checked in on numerous occasions but failed to check out.

BBC

CIA boss in surprise resignation

No reason was given for the move, which was presented at a hastily arranged press call at the White House, where the two men exchanged compliments.

Mr Goss has served in the role for less than two years, since being given the job of reforming the agency after a series of intelligence failures.

Mr Bush said Mr Goss had "a tough job and he led ably".

He did not nominate a successor, but said reforms of the CIA would continue.

Indymedia Interview with Jason Leopold Special Prosecutor Seeking to Indict Karl Rove in CIA Leak Case

Just one week before he made his fifth appearance before the grand jury, Rove lost his position as Bush's chief policy coordinator in a White House shakeup. Sources close to the investigation have told reporters that Fitzgerald is now seeking an indictment of Rove for perjury committed in previous grand jury testimony and for lying to FBI investigators. Rove withdrew his original denials that he had no conversations with reporters concerning the identity of Valerie Plame after he learned that Time magazine's Matt Cooper would testify that Rove was a source for his Time story on Plame.

In early April, Fitzgerald filed court documents revealing that indicted former chief of staff to Vice President Lewis Libby testified that Dick Cheney had told him that President Bush personally authorized the release of classified intelligence in July 2003 to refute critics of his administration's justification for war. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with investigative reporter Jason Leopold, who explains why he believes special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is now seeking the indictment of Karl Rove

Fellow blogger Waterflake in Germany All eyes on Rove in the CIA Leak case

The charges are piling up for Rove by Fitzgerald. Bush had to decide whether to save his friend and architect that made him or keep the Bush family for having a human stain forever on the Bush dynasty.

The decision that Bush makes on Rove today may alter all the plans that the Bush family had strategize before his 2000 Presidential election such as the original blueprint to spearhead for oil and profits, and the financial backings of Bush’s corporate buddies, politicians, certain international countries, and the Saudis.

Rove lived the "good life" too long. But, his "good life" is about to come to end thanks to Special Prosecutor Pat Fitzgerald.

From Syracuse News Quit using our name, West Point warns Grad

The U.S. Army registered a trademark on the words "West Point" in 2000 to prevent anyone else from using the mark on educational material or a wide range of commercial goods, including golf balls, commemorative coins, Christmas tree ornaments and paper products.

"Users must have (the Army's) permission to incorporate these words in Web sites or organizational titles," D'Aquino said.

When a trademark violation comes to their attention, Army officials take action, D'Aquino said.

Cross' organization has hired Syracuse attorney Joseph Heath to battle back against the academy, located 50 miles north of New York City. In a letter sent Monday to West Point, Heath questioned the academy's stance given his client's First Amendment rights and the widespread use of the words "West Point."

Cross, a psychology professor at Onondaga Community College and family therapist, co-founded West Point Graduates with his 1962 classmates Jim Ryan, of New York City, and Joe Wojcik, of Claremont, Calif.

Glad to see these veterans not backing down. If you can, please help their cause. West Point Veterans Against the War

China Daily- Has the impending fight for democracy in the U.S.A. brought about a change of heart? Perhaps they see, by way of our Dubya, how ridiculous dictatorship looks and how people naturally resist. Wen urges pursuit of democracy

The Premier said that China should creat a democratic atmosphere that can ensure people's rights to vote, to make decision, to participating in management and to exercise supervision.

"We must enable everybody to fully grow up in an environment of equity, justice and freedom," according to Wen, adding that the country will also provide a platform for people to criticize and supervise the government.

And...Wen told the students and teachers that democracy and science must be pursued by young people, and if the goals are not achieved,there would be no socialism and modernization.

He also asked the students to balance the learning of liberal arts and science, and asked the young teachers to further understand and learn from students, who are very creative and innovative.

Counterpunch Endgame for the Constitution by American hero Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

Bush has declared himself to be the sole judge of the limits of his powers--a claim that violates Bush's oath of office to uphold the US Constitution. Bush has set aside the Bill of Rights by detaining people indefinitely without charges, by kidnapping and torturing people, and by spying on Americans without warrants. These are actions that are illegal under law as well as unconstitutional. All of these violations of law and the Constitution are serious impeachable offenses.

Yet. Congress is supine as the Bush regime exercises dictatorial powers. The exercise of these dictatorial powers by the executive is a far greater danger to American liberty than are Muslim terrorists.

Bush's apologists claim that only terrorists have anything to fear. However, unaccountable executive power is inconsistent with free societies. America is no exception. Unless Bush is impeached and turned over to the war crimes court in the Hague, Americans will never reclaim their liberties from an executive branch that has established itself as the sole judge of the limits of its powers.

As Jacob Hornberger, president of the Future of Freedom Foundation wrote last month, "we now live in a nation in which the president has the omnipotent power to ignore all constitutional restraints on his power." Bruce Fein, a Justice Department official in the Reagan administration said that Bush "is moving us toward an unlimited executive power."

Yahoo Rumsfeld Heckled by Former CIA Analyst

"Why did you lie to get us into a war that caused these kind of casualties and was not necessary?" asked Ray McGovern, the former analyst, during a question-and-answer session.

"I did not lie," shot back Rumsfeld, who waved off security guards ready to remove McGovern from the hall at the Southern Center for International Studies.

And...Three protesters were escorted away by security as each interrupted Rumsfeld's speech by jumping up and shouting anti-war messages. Throughout the speech, a fourth protester stood in the middle of the room with his back to Rumsfeld in silent protest. Officials reported no arrests.

Rumsfeld also faced tough questions from a woman identifying herself as Patricia Roberts of Lithonia, Ga., who said her son, 22-year-old Spc. Jamaal Addison, was killed in Iraq. Roberts said she is now raising her young grandson and asked whether the government could provide any help.

Rumsfeld referred her to a Web site listing aid organizations.

Thanks Rummy, more of that compassionate conservative.

From the Wilderness by Wayne Madsen. Mr. Madsen has extensive experience in the intelligence analysis field GRAND JURY WILL SOON ISSUE EXPLOSIVE INDICTMENTS This was from summer of 2004. We know the investigation has taken so long, because the leak turned out to continue leading to many more crimes. Extensive crimes occurred.

Looking forward to seeing what charges Fitzgerald comes up with. Will Rove be charged with the ultimate offense? Or will Rover roll over?

TREASON - This word imports a betraying, treachery, or breach of allegiance.

The Constitution of the United States, Art. III, defines treason against the United States to consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort. This offence is punished with death. By the same article of the Constitution, no person shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

Two witnesses? See articles below:

The special prosecutor has been focusing on Bush, Cheney, presidential counselor Karl Rove, Cheney's chief of staff Lewis I. ("Scooter") Libby, Cheney assistants David Wurmser and John Hannah, and National Security Council officials Elliott Abrams and Stephen Hadley.

Recently, CIA Director George Tenet and Plame's ultimate boss, Deputy Director of Operations James Pavitt, suddenly resigned within hours of one another. Intelligence sources have said the two have been cooperating with Fitzgerald's investigation of the Plame/Brewster-Jennings leak and the damage to U.S. clandestine operations which globally track the flow of WMDs.

Sensitive CIA operations that were compromised by the leak included companies, government officials, and individuals associated with the nuclear smuggling network of Pakistan's chief nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. In addition, the identities of U.S. national and foreign agents working within the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, North Korea's nuclear laboratory in Yongbyon, Pakistan's Kahuta uranium enrichment plant, banks and export companies in Dubai, Islamabad, Moscow, Cape Town, Tel Aviv, Liechtenstein, Cyprus, and Kiev, and Kuala Lumpur, and government agencies in Libya, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Iran were severely compromised. The CIA has reportedly given Fitzgerald highly classified details on the damage done to the CIA's WMD tracking network.

According to Department of Justice insiders, the length of Fitzgerald's 70 minute interview of Bush was significant. Only one other prosecutor's interview of a sitting president lasted as long, that of Iran-contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh's questioning of the late Ronald Reagan. However, in that case, Walsh concluded after the interview that Reagan actually did not know what had transpired in his administration with respect to the scandal. TodayÂ’s officials may not be so fortunate.

23 Administration Officials Involved In Plame Leak

Take your pick. From Think Progress:

23 Administration Officials Involved In Plame Leak The cast of administration characters with known connections to the outing of an undercover CIA agent. Meet the players. Click on name to find out what there connection to the case. Great work @ Think Progress!

Karl RoveSenior Advisor to President Bush (2001-2005); Deputy White House Chief of Staff (2005-Present)

I. Lewis '“Scooter'” LibbyChief of Staff to Vice President Cheney (2001-2005)

Condoleezza RiceNational Security Advisor (2001-2005); Secretary of State (2005-Present)

Stephen HadleyDeputy National Security Advisor (2001-2005); National Security Advisor (2005-Present)

Andrew CardWhite House Chief of Staff (2001-2006)

Alberto GonzalesChief White House Counsel (2001-2005); Attorney General (2005-Present)

Mary MatalinSenior Advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney (2001-2002)

Ari FleischerWhite House Press Secretary (2001-2003)

Susan RalstonPersonal assistant to Karl Rove (2001-Present?)

Israel HernandezPersonal assistant to President Bush (2001-2005)

John Hannah Aide to Vice President Cheney

Scott McClellan

Dan Bartlett

<Claire BuchanDeputy Press Secretary (2001-2005)

Catherine MartinAssistant to the Vice President for Public Affairs (2001-2004)

Jennifer MillerwiseSpokeswoman for Vice President Cheney (2001-2003)

David WurmserCheney assistant on national security

Colin PowellSecretary of State (2001-2005)

Karen HughesWhite House Aide (2001-2002); Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy (2005

Adam LevineCommunications Aide (2001-2003)

Bob JosephDirector for Nonproliferation at National Security Council (2001-2005); Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs (2005-Present)

Vice President Dick Cheney

President George W. Bush

by Artist Stephen Pitts

From Attywood, always asking the hard questions Why won't the government try the real criminals of 9/11?

But the government has been completely stymied about what do to with these people. Why -- and this is the one where it is really worth connecting the dots. It goes straight into the White House, the Oval Office and the vice president`s office because key decisions were made about aggressive interrogation techniques that were going to be used on these people.

In other words, the real scum who carried out 9/11 can't be tried because we tortured them and the Bush administration is now afraid of what would come out at a trial. So now the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 can't get the real justice that they want and deserve.

Meanwhile, the Moussaoui trial may have been a side show, but it also served its purpose for the Bush administration by keeping 9/11 -- the falling bodies, the horrific fate and heroism of Flight 93 -- fresh in the public's mind, so it can be invoked anew in Iran and wherever else the voice of God steers Bush and his war machine in the coming months.

Mission accomplished? For the White House, yes. For anyone who believes in justice? No.

Indeed, justice is required for the souls of the innocent. We must persevere.

Know something? Then please help us all and blow your whistle...here's one problem which begs for a whistleblower Here's one place to blow a whistle-they even take documentation anonomously: Government Accountibility Project GAP

Mission: The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is a 28-year-old nonprofit public interest group that promotes government and corporate accountability by advancing occupational free speech, defending whistleblowers, and empowering citizen activists. We pursue this mission through our Nuclear Safety, International Reform, Corporate Accountability, Food & Drug Safety, and Federal Employee/National Security programs. GAP is the nation's leading whistleblower protection organization.

From Wired Feds' Watch List Eats Its Own

What do you say about an airline screening system that tends to mistake government employees and U.S. servicemen for foreign terrorists?

Newly released government documents show that even having a high-level security clearance won't keep you off the Transportation Security Administration's Kafkaesque terrorist watch list, where you'll suffer missed flights and bureaucratic nightmares.

These are all more brilliant neorepublican ideas. Major Paul Hackett was hassled coming home from Iraq-they felt his clothing showed he had handled explosive materials. He was still wearing his desert tans from Iraq. Welcome Home, Soldier.

Every idea they "create" always has to do with a better way to hassle people. To not be free from search and seizure or safe in our person. Some would diagnose that as paranoia. Not one of their cases has held up. I am not impressed with the Moussaoui trial.

There were too many glaring inconsistencies in this case-otherwise he would have received the death penalty. Crazy is not yet a crime. Not yet.

A man name Ferris, here in Columbus "confessed" that he was going to cut the cables to the Brooklyn bridge for Al-Queda-with a hacksaw or some such nonsense. Ferris' ex-wife said he was a hardworking sort when he took his meds, but heard voices and other odd behaviors, but not violent. She was surprised to hear about his plans.

Prissy has an older lady friend, on Medicare, who told us that she had to sign a form, giving DHS and law enforcement access to her mental health records to continue her treatment for services. She suffers minor depression, in addition to a heart ailment. This was a new standard form, required of all. Her fear was the misuse of this policy. People who say they have nothing to worry about because they follow the rules, assume they are dealing with people who also follow the rules.

She suggests considering the possibility someone could be "pre-screened" to take the fall for a crime. The fall guy being too vulnerable to defend themselves adequately would "confess". It is 1984.

Seeing how the Bush administration has played so far, this is certainly not beneath them. Does their idea of acceptable torture, include brain damaging drugs until the mind breaks? The thought is beyond any bounds of human decency.

Flashback on Rove/Dubya/Plame connection Did Bush Lie to FitzgeraldBy Robert Parry April 7, 2006

Lewis Libby's testimony identifying George W. Bush as the top official who authorized the leaking of intelligence about Iraq's alleged nuclear weapons program raises two key questions: What did the President tell the special prosecutor about this issue in 2004 and what is Bush's legal status in the federal criminal probe?

Though the new court document does not say Bush ordered his subordinates to leak Plame's identity, the President's alleged initiative to have Libby disclose the secret CIA analysis appears to have set the stage for the Plame disclosure as well. Despite Bush's deceptive public pronouncements, the more important legal question is what Bush told Fitzgerald when the President submitted to a 70-minute interview "not under oath " on June 24, 2004.

If Bush misled the prosecutor about authorizing Libby to brief a reporter, then Bush himself could be open to charges of making false statements or obstructing justice, potential felonies and possibly impeachable offenses.

Also deserving an explanation is the curious trip that Fitzgerald reportedly made to the office of Bush's personal criminal attorney, James Sharp, on the morning of Oct. 28, 2005, just before announcing the indictment of Libby on charges of obstruction, perjury and false statements. [NYT, Oct. 29, 2005]

It's unclear why Fitzgerald would take time out of his very busy schedule that day to visit Bush's personal lawyer unless Fitzgerald had to pass on sensitive information about Bush's status in the investigation. Possibilities range from telling Bush that he would not be named in the Libby indictment to saying he had become an investigative target.

Attorney Sharp accompanied Bush on June 24, 2004, when the President was questioned about the Plame case, CNN reported.

Highly unusual behavior. James Sharp is a high dollar, white collar criminal defense attorney. Why have an attorney present, yet not be sworn in? Hmm...

Remember- Martha Stewart was not under oath when she made false statements to investigators-but she went to jail anyway.

New Zealand Scoop Great read. Prissy recommends reading the entire article, if you have time. Evelyn Pringle: Karl Rove Indictment Long Overdue

On August 1 and 2, 2004, both the Sunday Times and Financial Times in the UK reported that a con-man by the name of Rocco Martino admitted that he was involved in disseminating the false stories and documents but said the US and Italian governments were behind the disinformation operation.

"It's true, I had a hand in the dissemination of those documents," Martino said, "but I was duped."

"Both Americans and Italians were involved behind the scenes," he said. "It was a disinformation operation."

In July 2005, an Italian parliamentary report was issued on the forged documents and listed the 4 men likely involved as: Michael Ledeen, Dewey Clarridge (CIA operative in Iran-Contra Affair), Ahmed Chalabi, and Francis Brookes (member of a "public relations" body formed by the Pentagon to promote Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress).

The report said the forgeries may have been planned at a meeting in Rome in December 2001, attended by Ledeen and Larry Franklin.

Franklin is the Pentagon Iran analyst who earned a lengthy prison sentence last year for passing classified information to former officials with the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC. Franklin worked closely with Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith in the Office of Special Plans whose main purpose was to manufacture bogus intelligence to bolster the case for war.

On April 12, 2005, the Al Jazeera news organization reported that when the former CIA head of counter-terrorism, Vincent Cannistaro, was asked whether Michael Ledeen had been the one who produced the forged documents, he replied, "You'd be very close."

In holding off on charging Rove, it may just be that Fitzgerald is looking at much bigger fish to fry. On October 23, 2005, UPI editor Martin Walker cited "NATO intelligence sources" as saying, "Fitzgerald's team of investigators has sought and obtained documentation on the forgeries from the Italian government.

One more quote from the above article:

When the Libby indictment was handed down and it became known that Rove had definitely participated in blowing Valerie's cover, 16 former CIA and military intelligence officials petitioned Bush to suspend Rove's security clearance and Bush refused to grant their request.

After it became public that Rove was involved in the leak, on July 15, 2005, ninety-one Democrats in Congress signed a letter to Bush calling for Rove to explain his role in the leak or to resign, and 13 Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee called for hearings on the matter.

Some call him a Commie-Lyndon LaRouche. Does that mean we can't talk to him? His site has a high degree of accuracy. From Executive Intelligence Review.Cheney's Ouster Is Key to U.S. Survival

Government sources have told EIR that Rove's testimony could be vital, in shaping whether the Independent Counsel probe remains focussed on the Vice President and his top aides, or whether it broadens to include top Oval Office and National Security Council personnel. These sources indicate that the pace of the Fitzgerald probe was greatly accelerated, as the result of recent court filings by attorneys for indicted former Cheney chief-of-staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Libby's lawyers indicated that they intend to call Rove as a defense witness when the case goes to trial early next year.

And...Bush's own impeachment is also on the political agenda, along with the calls for Cheney's ouster. As of this writing, three state legislatures are deliberating on impeachment resolutions against President Bush "California, Illinois, and Vermont. The California resolution, introduced by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, a Los Angeles area Democrat, names both Bush and Cheney, and mandates the California delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to "cause to be instituted in the Congress proper proceedings for the investigation of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney, to the end that they may be impeached and removed from office."

All three of the impeachment initiatives cite Section 603 of Thomas Jefferson's Manual of the House of Representatives as the basis for a state legislature initiating an impeachment proceeding. Between 1797 and 1801, then-Vice President Thomas Jefferson prepared a Manual of Parliamentary Practice, to guide him in his capacity as President Pro Tem of the U.S. Senate. In 1837, the U.S. House of Representatives formally adopted the Jefferson rules to "govern the House in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with the standing rules and orders of the House and joint rules of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Think Progress U.S. General: Iran Attack Fraught With Risk, Bush Needs to "Make Diplomacy Work"

Lt. Gen. Victor Renuart, the director of planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has spoken out on Iran: Military action against Iran would be fraught with risk and would have repercussions across the region, a leading American general conceded.

"Any action militarily is very complicated," Lt Gen Victor Renuart, the director of planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told The Daily Telegraph.

"And any action by any country will have second-order effects, and that is a strong case to continue the diplomatic process and make it work."

Gen. Renuart is the latest in a long line of national security experts and others warning of the dangers of a military strike on Iran, and emphasizing the importance of making diplomacy work. (Read the full list HERE.)

But would anyone notice?

Cannonfire Deeper into the Wilkes/MZM scandals (Updated)

Apparently, Wilkes felt queasy about housing his PAC at the same address as ADCS proper, so he set up a small office in a San Diego business park. Someone must have put down the wrong address on one of the applications.

So which candidates got chunks of that taxpayer money earmarked for "defense"?

Henry Bonilla, Roy Brown, Rick Clayburgh, Duke Cunningham (of course!), John T. Doolittle, Maria Guadalupe Garcia, George W. Gekas, Lindsay Graham, Duncan Hunter, Darrell Issa, Samuel Johnson, Thaddeus G. McCotter, Constance Morella, Devin Nune, Steve Pearce, Bill Van de Weghe Jr., Jerry Weller.

All Republicans, of course. As the scandal unfolds, the pundits will try to convince us that "both sides do it." That simply is not true.

Go Cliff! From Fraud Buster Bob-didn't hear about this in the corporate owned media... Arnebeck Starts Ohio Ethics Commission Investigation

A historic press conference took place today in Ohio's capital city, Columbus. Cliff Arnebeck, the attorney for the Ohio Honest Elections campaign, revealed that he wrote a letter to the Ohio Ethics Commission asking for a broader ethical investigation" of Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. Specifically, Arnebeck wants an investigation of the allegation by fellow Republican Matt Damschroder, Director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, that Blackwell may have had a Diebold lobbyist contribute $50,000 to a political interest favored by the Secretary of State.

Also, Arnebeck wants the Ethics Commission to probe how Blackwell ended up as a multimillionaire while on the public payroll, and the effect of his minority investment in a radio company that managed to secure $2.5 million in loans from prominent banks at the same time that Blackwell was serving as state treasurer.

In yesterday's blog, I pointed out that Blackwell and his three partners turned their initial $500,000 into a $190 million windfall within 6 years. Arnebeck is asking the obvious questions. Did people like billionaire Carl Lindner, of Chiquita Banana fame, invest and facilitate Blackwell'’s rise to the top? Lindner was one of the owners of the banks that lent the initial funds to Blackwell and his three co-investors.

Dearest Readers, Blackwell gives speeches and takes campaign money from right wing white supremist groups. Blackwell is African-American. Commonly known as "Uncle Tom" in Ohio's African-American community. Prissy concurs.

Blackwell did everything he could to ensure Dubya took Ohio-apparently that is why a grateful Dubya came to Ohio on election night-to thank him.

Blackwell would sell his own mother down the river if he thought it would make his fellow neorepublicans love him.

An unhappy Ohio voter. Didn't say if he was Democrat or Republican- Only that he tossed the new voting machine to the floor and was arrested.

Online Journal Shocking Diebold conflict of interest revelations from secretary of state further taint Ohio's electoral credibility By Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman

Blackwell is the frontrunner for Ohio's Republican nomination for governor. The first African-American to hold statewide office, the former mayor of Cincinnati made millions in deals involving extreme right-wing "religious" radio stations.

Damschroder is former chair of the Franklin County GOP. He says former Diebold contractor Pasquale "Patsy" Gallina boasted of making the contribution to Blackwell. Damschroder himself has publicly admitted to personally accepting a $10,000 check from Pasquale, made out to the Franklin County GOP. That contribution was made while Damschroder was involved in evaluating Diebold bids for county contracts.

Damschroder was censured but not removed from office. On Election Day 2004, Franklin County voting officials told the Free Press that Blackwell and Damschroder were meeting with George W. Bush in Columbus. AP accounts place both Bush and Karl Rove unexpectedly in Columbus on Election Day. Damschroder has denied that he met personally with Bush, but refuses to clarify whether or not he was at GOP meetings with Bush in attendance on Election Day.

An eyewitness ally of Blackwell told a small gathering of Bush supporters, with a Free Press reporter present, that Blackwell was in a frenzy on Election Day, writing percentages and vote totals on maps of rural Republican counties, attempting to figure out how many votes, real or manufactured, Bush would need to overcome the exit poll results in Cleveland and Columbus.

Yahoo Judge Doubts Moussaoui's Claims About 9/11

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The judge presiding over Zacarias Moussaoui's sentencing told trial lawyers that she doesn't believe Moussaoui's claims on the witness stand that he knew advance details of the Sept. 11 plot.

"I still think that Moussaoui was not accurate in a lot of what he said about how much he knew about what was going to happen with which particular buildings and when," U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said during a closed hearing on April 21 outside the jury's presence. Transcripts of the hearing were released Tuesday.

This one really ticks Prissy off. Let's see-Prissys cell was AT&T-the ones that gave away customers privacy without a warrant...and now this! Ohio University Hacked, Data Of 300,000 Exposed

Ohio University's database has been compromised for over a year, and hackers have had access to the personal data of more than 300,000 alumni and other people.

Included in this data are 137,000 Social Security numbers. This news was just announced by the University yesterday surely making victims furious.

The University is urging anyone that thinks their data was in the compromised database to visit here, or call 1-800-901-2303 for helpful information.

Hackers have also gained access to a separate system that contains research and patent information that the University plans to commercialize. Both cases are under FBI investigation.

Wouldn't have anything to do with Ohio University's "kitchen grease" fuel system, that runs every diesel powered vehicle on campus, would it? Now whoever would benefit from such an idea?

USA Today Across USA, wave of anger building over gas prices

FRONT ROYAL, Va. The sunrise turns the night sky pink Tuesday as four travelers meet at the Park 'N Ride lot off Interstate 66 on the eastern edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

A nightmare has brought them together: the price of gasoline, which lists at $2.84 for regular, $2.94 for medium and $3.04 for supreme at the Shell and Exxon stations down the street. Their blue Kia van is bound for Washington, 60 miles away. Today, the one-way trip will cost $10.

Jennifer Sperry, 32, works at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Her mother, Linda Burnett, 51, is bound for the same agency. Regina Sommers, 39, works at a law firm. And Pete Williams, 53, is building manager at the Reagan federal building.

Two weeks ago they faced the inevitable and formed this carpool, which saves them each more than $300 a month and costs them autonomy, convenience and privacy. Sperry and her mother used to drive in together, just the two of them, free to dish and divulge as they pleased. They don't see each other on weekends; that was their time together.

And the oil companies could care less. Pray their selfish ways cease...

Zaman Iran's Kandil Strike Upsets the US

The operations in Iraq that were reportedly started by Iran against Pejak organization affiliated with the terror network PKK (Kurdish Workers' Party), are disturbing the United States.

Washington, reacting to the alleged operations, pointed out the two countries are neighbors. Upon questioning by reporters, US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said: "Good neighbors do not bombard each other. If this news is true, I think the Iraqis will have something to say."

The Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party announced news of the operation does not reflect reality, and they will respond in case of an attack. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul called on the Iraqi administration to protect its borders. Gul, warning Bagdat (Baghdad) against harboring terrorists, said, "Nobody should allow this in their own country." Mentioning the tension between Iran and the US, Gul said they are against mass destruction weapons in the region, and want to see the problem solved in peaceful ways.

As news reports that Iran bombarded Northern Iraq increase, US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack in his regular daily news conference said Washington is not happy with the attitude of Iran. McCormack maintains he has no detailed information on the strike allegations.

Harpers Magazine- More about "Hookergate" Follow-up 2: Red Lights on Capitol Hill

A few days ago I wondered aloud exactly how Shirlington Limousine of Arlington, Virginia, owned by Christopher Baker'-a man with a lengthy history of illegal activity got millions of dollars in federal contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and if those contracts had anything to do with Shirlington's relationship with defense contractor and accused Duke Cunningham-briber Brent Wilkes. The latter, readers might recall, allegedly used Baker's limo service to transport congressmen, CIA officials, and perhaps prostitutes to his Washington parties.

Most companies owned by a man with a 62-page rap sheet aren't nearly so lucky in winning taxpayer dollars.

ABC Teen Shares Her Horrific Experiences at Congressional Hearing Targeting Online Porn

While Masha is now safe and Mancuso is in prison, she told Congress's Energy and Commerce Committee at its fourth such hearing this year that her horror isn't over. "Because Matthew put my pictures on the Internet, the abuse is still going on," she told legislators in her testimony.

"You have to do something about the Internet," she wrote. "Matthew found the adoption agency on the Internet. They let him look at my pictures from Russia on the Internet even though they didn't really know anything about him.

Prissy feels for this young lamb. But don't let congress decide what goes on the internet. They will use child pornography issue to abuse the rest of our democracy. Odd, since the same ones who wish to clamp down on the internet are often perverts themselves.

Prissy just hopes they weren't enjoying what they heard-don't say "Oh Prissy"

Prissy has seen wife beaters who claim to be against "that sort of thing", too. See list of republican perverts from previous post.

Judicial Watch Judicial Watch Compels Secret Service to Produce White House Logs Detailing Abramoff Visits

While the Secret Service acknowledged receipt of Judicial Watch's FOIA request on February 2, 2006, they failed to produce the records. Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit on February 22. On April 25, 2006, Judge Penn executed a joint stipulation and agreed order directing the Secret Service to produce the requested records by May 10, 2006.

The records requested by Judicial Watch could show the frequency and length of Abramoff's White House visits, thereby shedding some light on the nature of the relationship between Jack Abramoff and Bush administration officials. Once Judicial Watch obtains the White House logs detailing Abramoff's visits, it will make the records available to the American public on the Internet as part of its public education mission.

"The American people deserve the truth concerning admitted felon Jack Abramoff's visits and meetings with Bush administration officials in the White House,"” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "We don't know what these records will show, but it's time we get more of the facts on the table."

All stickers from Northern Sun

The Scotsman UK troops 'doomed to fail' in Afghanistan

"There are widespread allegations that the poppy eradication process is corrupted at many levels and that wealthy individuals are being exempted from eradication," says the report.

"According to farmers, the eradication teams only eradicate fields where the owners or farmers do not pay a 'ransom'. There are strong indications that the farms belonging to powerful people are not being eradicated while the poorer farmers' livelihoods are being destroyed."

Although the British government has stressed that its troops will not carry out eradication but provide security for those involved in it, the report says local people will not see that distinction, and will turn against international military forces.

"The local population has now come to identify international troops with eradication activities rather than with reconstruction efforts."

And now drugs are legal in Mexico, so apparently they feel the coalition is interferring with Afghanistan business transactions...

US Newswire Congress Says No To Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq; Senate Vote Challenges Bush War Plans, Blocks U.S. Control over Iraq Oil

WASHINGTON, May 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Responding to a huge wave of popular opposition to U.S. war plans in Iraq, the full Senate today declared the United States should not establish permanent military bases in Iraq and added a clear statement that the U.S. does not wish to control Iraq's oil resources. The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) congratulated Sen. Joseph Biden (DE) on winning approval for the measure, which specifically prohibits the use of any new funds to establish permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq. The House passed a similar ban in March.

"This is an important milestone in the development of U.S. policy toward Iraq. For the first time since the U.S. launched the invasion of Iraq in 2003, both chambers of Congress have now said the U.S. must change course in Iraq," said Joe Volk, Executive Secretary of FCNL, the 63-year-old Quaker lobby that has the largest team of peace lobbyists working on Capitol Hill.

The president recently said U.S. troops will remain in Iraq at least until 2009, while senior U.S. military commanders have argued in public testimony that the U.S. may decide to permanently station military troops in Iraq. "The Senate vote today sends a clear signal to the people of Iraq, to the international community, and to the people of this country that the United States does not intend to permanently occupy Iraq," said Joe Volk. "This Congressional action also is a strong signal that the Bush administration has to change policy in Iraq now."

Well,well- Congress remembered they were Americans living in a democracy. They ha d better...or Prissy's Granny will be after them next.

US Newswire Pelosi: Sham Lobby Reform Bill Does Nothing to Reform Republican Culture of Corruption

"When the energy companies write the energy bill, we have gasoline that costs $3 a gallon; when pharmaceutical companies write the Medicare prescription drug bill, we have a bill full of giveaways to cronies, but nothing for America's seniors; when lobbyists write the lobbying reform bill, we end up with a ruse that winks at reform and does nothing to curtail the culture of corruption.

"Democrats offered real reform legislation: banning gifts and travel from lobbyists and organizations that retain or employ them; banning official travel on corporate jets; shutting down the K Street project; subjecting earmarks to the full light of day; closing the revolving door between government officials and lobbying firms; and bringing back fair, open, and honest procedures to the House floor. Republicans voted that legislation down.

"Republicans don't want to end the culture of corruption because they continue to benefit from it. It's time for a new direction."

Quotes of the Day

Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.--Thomas Jefferson

The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object.--Thomas Jefferson

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.--Thomas Jefferson, to Archibald Stuart, 1791