Dubya's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

The war, missing emails, the Dubya and the Dick! Want it all to just end right now? Prissy has a cure for your frustrations-register your protest. Yes you can write a post card or make a call, but why not get really creative?

Creativity seems to have been stifled, most likely at an early age, in hard core right wingers. It puts them at a real disadvantage. If Americans during the American revolution had not been creative in their strategies, we may have lost...shudder at the thought.

Of course we did win and with it the right to tell our government when it is wrong-without fear of reprisal, as guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights.Look, no net!

Not that Bushies concerned themselves with those pesky rights-no indeed-they stepped all over them. But we can demand their return with creative protesting.

Prissy will give you some ideas, let her know if you hear of a really creative (and legal!) protest method. Civil disobedience methods and tactics are welcome, as Prissy doesn't know much about those...

In Nancy Pelosi's district, military families have used sidewalk chalk to write her and her staff messages "END THE WAR" "You do not support the troops, only the war" "Impeach Bush for Blowing the Job" -oh there are many other slogans you can use. Freeway blogger has some great ones, if you need ideas.

Progress Ohio is having a campaign "What would you tell Senator Voinovich?" The winner gets a truck billboard with their saying on it, along with encouragement for others to call Voinovich. They will drive past the Senators house and neighborhood as well as his old stomping ground of Cleveland. The former governor really should know Ohioans better than to think he'll get away with his rubber stamp on Dubya's crazy foreign policies. Shame on him!

From Prissy's Inbox: May want to stock up enough for a couple of weeks, Dearest Readers Truckers Protest April 23-25 "Truck Out"

Participate in the TRUCKER'S "TRUCK OUT" RALLY, on April 23rd, 24th, and 25th. Join in on one or all three days to rivet every citizen's attention on the injustice being done to you and to our country by the criminal, reckless, and unprecedented actions of our Government.

Traprock Peace Center Presents Scott Ritter & former Congressman Andy Jacobs in INDIANAPOLIS

As Indiana National Guard members face call up for offshore deployments to Iraq, Veterans for Peace Indiana Chapter #49 invites you to discuss:

U.S. Policy in the Middle East: Wednesday April 18, 2007 7-8:30 pm Target Iran / The Role of Congress

Hear Scott Ritter US Marine, Gulf War Veteran and former UNSCOM Weapons Inspector and Honorable Andy Jacobs, Korean War Veteran and former Indiana Congressperson

Note to Dearest Readers: Scott Ritter thinks stopping a war with Iran may be impossible. As far as the missing emails go, remember that Rover and his laywer "found" 250 emails that the were previously unavailable-not "archived through the usual White House process." That and the emails were being sent through a non-government email account.

Patrick Fitzgerald's investigators made copies of the hard drives of all of Rovers' computers during the CIA Leak investigation.

Dearest Readers, Please let Prissy know if you will be traveling to the Columbus area. Betty and Prissy had the pleasure of meeting some Dearest Readers Saturday night and it was a lot of fun;-)

Coming up in Columbus: EARTH DAY April 22, 2007 Check the schedule of events here.

Hot Links

India Times Euro hits 2-year high versus $

The euro reached a two-year high against the dollar and approached a record versus the yen as signs of faster growth in Europe raised speculation the European Central Bank will increase interest rates.

Gains in the euro accelerated after it rose above $1.34, triggering orders to buy back the currency, traders said. ECB officials said this week that higher borrowing costs are needed to contain inflation as reports showed strength in manufacturing. The Bank of England kept rates unchanged on Thursday.

Mercury News San Mateo pyschiatrist arrested on molestation charges

Dr. William Ayers, 75, a well-known San Mateo County child psychiatrist, sat behind bars on $1.5 million bail Thursday night accused of several counts of child molestation in a case spanning decades.

Ayers - who treated children from the 1960s through last year - first came to the attention of authorities in 2002 when a victim reported that he was sexually assaulted on multiple occasions by the doctor during the 1970s. Authorities, however, were unable to prosecute the doctor because the case fell out of the statute of limitations.

But during a subsequent civil case against Ayers, several victims reported that they also had been molested by Ayers from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. None of those cases, however, fell within the statute of limitations.

Is he another 'Chester the Molester' republican? Just wondering...

India Times Pakistan offers to sell Iranian gas to India

Lending a new twist to negotiations on the tri-nation gas pipeline, Islamabad has offered to sell Iranian gas to India at its border to save New Delhi the bother over risks associated with safe transit of the fuel through Pakistani territory.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at a late night meeting with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora here on April 3 offered to buy 60 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from Iran, use half of it in his country and sell the rest to India at the Indo-Pak border, highly placed sources said.

This way India will neither have to deal with Iran, which faces UN sanctions over its nuclear programme, nor be bothered about cumbersome security of the 1,035-km pipeline stretch in Pakistan and safe delivery of gas at its border.

On the flip side, Pakistan may add some margin to the already high Iranian gas price.

ABC 7Cheney Hasn't Called Libby Since Trial

"Well, there hasn't been occasion to do so," Cheney said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS'"Face the Nation."

Libby is the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since the Iran-Contra affair two decades ago. He was found guilty last month of perjury and obstruction in the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

The episode undercut the Bush administration's credibility, one of a string of a bad-news stories that have hurt the president's standing.

President Bush and Cheney have expressed sadness for Libby and his family, but largely refrained from comment because the matter is an active legal case. Libby plans to appeal.

Dick is just mad because Scooter was caught...

Haaretz Israel Angry, Wants to Sell China Arms, US Says NO

Peretz told his hosts that he had suffered injuries when he was serving as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces (sparing them details of the accident). Ivanov was the most impressive of them all: sharp, fluent and displaying the qualifications that have made him one of the two leading candidates to succeed Russian President Vladimir Putin. Gates, who will arrive in Israel tomorrow for a short visit, was limp and gray, quite the opposite of Ivanov. He did not radiate the power of someone who represents the defense establishment in the strongest country in the world.

In the mid-1980s, Gates was the head of the CIA intelligence administration and deputy to the CIA director, William Casey. In his professional capacity, Gates often met with people from the Mossad and Israeli military intelligence in Washington and Tel Aviv. They did not like him much. On one of his visits here, Yoram Hessel of the Tevel division for foreign relations at the Mossad accompanied him on a flight to the Golan Heights. Gates looked out over Syria and advised Israel not to leave the Golan. Now at the diplomatic level, he will take care not to repeat this.

Gates' visit to Israel reflects a decision not to boycott it: He must not skip Israel on his visit to the region, though he is known to be cooler toward it than his predecessor Donald Rumsfeld. There are no fateful issues that Gates is authorized to conclude with Peretz, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (whom he asked to meet, perhaps because of the rumor that she is getting closer to becoming prime minister) and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Dealing with Iran is the president's jurisdiction. In Iraq, the Pentagon has refrained from accepting overt Israeli help. Gaza, which the administration is making efforts to prevent from bursting into flames, belongs to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, even in the channel of Security Coordinator Keith Dayton. So what's left? Not a lot, mainly just the delicate issue of the sale of arms to other countries - an issue wrapped in hypocrisy on both sides.

It's probably a positive thing Israeli officials don't like Gates. Quite frankly, Prissy doesn't like or trust him much, either...

Salon Will Rush Limbaugh be Next Off Air?

At least, that was the fear at the Free Congress Foundation on April 13, where a panel discussion of an ancient broadcasting regulation quickly turned into a discussion of Don Imus and how his firing might portend a similar fate for some of the right's best-known media personalities. In the absence of any compelling evidence, participants in the latest of the conservative think tank's occasional Next Conservatism Forum series managed to convince themselves that the Fairness Doctrine, a rule that was scrapped by the Federal Communications Commission 20 years ago, was poised for a comeback, and was about to become a weapon in a liberal jihad against the right wing's freedom of speech.

In fact, the prominent conservatives, addressing a crowd of 30 on the ground floor of a Washington row house, described what sounded like a conspiracy. Panelist Ken Blackwell, formerly Ohio's secretary of state and the Republican candidate for governor last fall, said Imus was "not a conservative" and that "the left has sacrificed one of their own to give them a platform to go after true conservative talk show hosts." Cliff Kincaid, of the conservative media watchdog Accuracy in Media, said the Imus firing had been a revelation. "It wasn't exactly clear to me how [liberals] intended to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, but I think now with the Imus affair, we know ... [And it's a] short leap from firing Imus to going after Rush Limbaugh."

Established in 1949, the Fairness Doctrine was an FCC regulation that required broadcasters to give balance to opposing viewpoints in any opinion programming. Its abolition by the FCC during the Reagan administration is widely credited with making the explosion of conservative talk radio possible.

With the return of the Democrats to power in Congress, conservatives have become concerned that the Fairness Doctrine might be on its way back. William S. Lind, director of the Free Congress Foundation's Center for Cultural Conservatism and moderator of the April 13 panel discussion, said the choice of topics had been occasioned by an "emergency" -- the Fairness Doctrine's seemingly imminent return.

We can only hope...

Muckraker Gonzo Drinks GOP Koolaid "Can't Remember"

I tell you, it's hard work remembering what Alberto Gonzales remembers and doesn't remember.

In October of last year, President Bush had a conversation with Gonzales about U.S. attorneys. According to the White House's public statements, the conversation was a broad one, about voter fraud in three districts. Gonzales has said publicly that he doesn't remember such a conversation taking place.

But that's not what Kyle Sampson told congressional investigators this past weekend. According to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sampson said that in early March of this year, Gonzales told him about a conversation he'd had in October with Bush that was specifically about U.S. Attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias. Remember that the White House was getting heavy pressure from Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and other New Mexico Republicans to can Iglesias.

So in early March, Gonzales told Sampson privately about this conversation (this was, by the way, before the White House had publicly disclosed that there had been any conversations between Bush and Gonzales about U.S. attorneys). But on March 26, Gonzales told NBC and the world that he didn't remember having any such conversation.

ABC Killer's Note: 'You Caused Me to Do This'

Cho Seung-Hui, the student who killed 32 people and then himself yesterday, left a long and "disturbing" note in his dorm room at Virginia Tech, say law enforcement sources.

Sources have now described the note, which runs several pages, as beginning in the present tense and then shifting to the past tense. It contains rhetoric explaining Cho's actions and says, "You caused me to do this," the sources told ABC News.

The number of dead is almost twice as high as the previous record for a mass shooting on an American college campus. That took place at the University of Texas at Austin on Aug. 1, 1966, when a gunman named Charles Whitman opened fire from the 28th floor of a campus tower. Whitman killed 16 and injured 31.

Seattle Times French intelligence service knew of al-Qaida hijacking plot in early 2001 (so did as many as 8 other countries intel warnings were also ignored, including Cuba and Germany)

"It wasn't about a specific airline or a specific day, it was not a precise plot," Lorenzi told The Associated Press. "It was a note that said, 'They are preparing a plot to hijack an airplane, and they have cited several companies."'

The Sept. 11 commission's report on the four hijacked flights has detailed repeated warnings about al-Qaida and its desire to attack airlines in the months before Sept. 11, 2001.

In a version declassified last September, the report shows that the Federal Aviation Administration's intelligence unit received "nearly 200 pieces of threat-related information daily from U.S. intelligence agencies, particularly the FBI, CIA, and State Department."

NDTV Patti Smith lashes out at Guantanamo Bay

Rocker Patti Smith said on Friday that her concern for the hundreds of men imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay compelled her to record a song about a former detainee.

"I feel responsible as an American citizen. It's a terrible injustice and I think it will be a stain upon us when history examines this period," said Smith.

Smith's Without Chains focuses on Murat Kurnaz, a German-born Turkish citizen who said he was kept under fluorescent lights for 24 hours at a time and complained of being beaten at the US military detention center in southeast Cuba.

And...In October, German prosecutors said they found no evidence linking Kurnaz to Islamic radicals in Pakistan or Afghanistan and formally dropped their investigation.

Reuters Over 250,000 still without power in U.S. East and Canada

More than 250,000 homes and businesses remained without power Tuesday morning after a rare spring nor'easter hit on Sunday and Monday, knocking out electric service to more than 1.3 million customers from the Carolinas to Maine and Quebec.

Wired U.S. Watch Lists Sow Frustration and Fear

Elizabeth Kushigian spent time in an isolation room at Miami International Airport every time she returned from an international trip -- until a senator got her taken off a DHS watchlist.

For years, Elizabeth Kushigian never had a problem flying back-and-forth to Costa Rica, where she runs a local micro-lending nonprofit. But in 2004, she suddenly found it impossible to re-enter the United States without being ordered into a special isolation room at Miami International Airport. There, she'd wait for extra scrutiny.

"I was in the line where you come in and stamp your passport, and each time they would scan the passport and look at (the) screen and stiffen," Kushigian says. "I was on some sort of list. I don't know why; it could have been because of something I did in the '60s and in the early 1980s, I did some civil disobedience on behalf of El Salvador."

Kushigian is just a member of a growing club of American citizens whose lives have been touched by a slew of government watch lists proliferating with little oversight or redress mechanisms since the 9/11 attacks. Containing, by some estimates, hundreds of thousands of names submitted by dozens of agencies, the lists have not only snagged people like Kushigian -- who wind up on them for mysterious reasons -- they've also stigmatized and inconvenienced thousands of others whose names happen to be similar to an entry on the list.

Quotes of the Day

Few men of action have been able to make a graceful exit at the appropriate time--British journalist, author, satirist, media personality, soldier-spy

There's a trick to the Graceful Exit. I begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over -- and to let go. It means leaving what's over without denying its value.--Ellen Goodman

Great Quotes from Catch-22

Morale was deteriorating and it was all Yossarian's fault. The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them. Chapter 39, pg. 415

The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on.-- Yossarian, character

Open your eyes, Clevinger. It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead.-- Chapter 12, pg. 133-134

You know, that might be the answer - to act boastfully about something we ought to be ashamed of. That's a trick that never seems to fail. Chapter 13, pg. 149

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.

A Bully Swimming in a Sea of Cowards

Dubya still hides from Cindy, hoping she'll go away if his minions keep arresting her.

Just to set the story straight-since the msm will not regarding why Cindy Sheehan was arrested last week in Washington. From Prissy's Inbox.

The reason we were arrested at the White House, Cindy Sheehan, Nancy Nahvi-(Dallas, Texas), Rebecca Bahr- (Phoenix, Arizona) and myself, Mikal Hutto-(Houston, Texas), was because we asked to see the president, sat down in front of the gate and refused to move until he came and answered our two questions.

It had nothing to do with the petition. (for Redress of Grievances-pp) We had "delivered" the petition to the White House lawn much earlier, and had been taking turns reading the names of all the soldiers who have died in Iraq all day. If you were watching CNN when Bush had his press conference announcing Rumsfeld's resignation, you could hear us. My son called me and told me he could hear me reading, and everyone chanting, "NOT ONE MORE", while the reporters were talking.

We are ALL military mothers, not just "three other women". Nancy's son, Russell Nahvi, a medic died in Iraq, Oct. 19, 2005. Rebecca has a daughter who has been to Iraq and is still active military. I have a son that just got back from Iraq four weeks ago, and is active military.

First question, "What is this war for?"

Second question, "What does winning mean? Define winning this war."

There were actually three women from Texas arrested.

When we refused to move the crowd was growing, people were joining us off the street even though it was cold, raining and getting dark. The police decided the crowd was getting too big, so they used crime tape and taped off about fifty feet square around us and told anyone they would be arrested if they crossed the tape. Some people were tearing down the tape, but finally they got it up. After the area was all cleared out they arrested us, and eventually charged us with "interfering with a government function".

Pretty odd when we all know this government does NOT function.

Hot Links

Times UK Blair admits Iraq is 'pretty much a disaster'

Tony Blair went close last night to admitting that the invasion of Iraq had been disastrous. Challenged in an interview on Al-Jazeera’s new English-language channel that the Western intervention in Iraq had “so far been pretty much of a disaster”, he gave a brief agreement before swiftly moving on.

He said: “It has, but you see what I say to people is why is it difficult in Iraq? It is not difficult because of some accident in planning, it is difficult because there is a deliberate strategy, al-Qaeda with Sunni insurgents on one hand, Iranian-backed elements with Shia militias on the other, to create a situation in which the will of the majority for peace is displaced by the will of the minority for war.”

Mr Blair’s frank remarks came on the day that one of his most loyal ministers was reported to have described the war as “his big mistake in foreign affairs”. Margaret Hodge was said to have accused Mr Blair of espousing “moral imperialism”, remarks that she denied through an aide but which were recalled by people who attended the private meeting at which she was alleged to have made them.

Tony is a little slow, but certainly not as learning disabled as Dubya...

Cryptome The Map: Palestinian Land Loss 1946-2000

Cleveland Indy Media-sent in by a Dearest Reader Malachi burns himself alive to protest Iraq war

The press has almost completely blacked out this news in mainstream press . A long time Chicago activist, artist and contributer to the Chicago jazz scene has burned himself alive in an act of protest against the iraq war. He is only one of 10 Americans in history to have done this . Buddist monks did this during the VietNam war. On Friday, November 3, a man doused his body with gasoline and set himself afire to protest the war in Iraq . He died quietly in flames. His name was Malachi Ritscher.

Haven't seen it in the news? Me neither, which is kind of strange if you ask me, considering that it happened right here in downtown Chicago in front of hundreds of commuters during morning rush hour. The only conventional newspaper coverage to date was a tiny paragraph that appeared in the Saturday edition of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Newsworthy, yes. But Prissy wishes for no one to take this route of protest. Unless they are the authors, burning copies of the Project for the New American Century.Dick and Rummy stragerize in the old days

TruthOut, and a Prissy Patriot hat tip to Patrick Fitzgerald. Fitz, you are A-OK in Prissy's book... Reviewed: Peter Lance's 9/11 Masterpiece by Jason Leopold

Lance presents convincing evidence in the form of court records, transcripts, and interviews with key players that casts Fitzgerald, along with numerous other Justice Department and CIA officials, as terribly negligent in allowing the agencies to be hoodwinked by Mohamed, who succeeded in penetrating the CIA's Europe division and the FBI in California, all while Mohamed was secretly helping bin Laden orchestrate the African Embassy bombings. The story of Mohamed, a man Fitzgerald called the "most dangerous man I have ever met," is groundbreaking and has never been fully fleshed out before.

Triple Cross would end up being a highly entertaining Tom Clancy-esque thriller, in other words, pure fiction, if Lance didn't have tens of thousands of pages of documents locked up in a safe-house to back up this explosive account. Remarkably, Mohamed was never sentenced for the crimes he pleaded guilty to. He is in the witness protection program, his existence shrouded under a veil of secrecy.

According to Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald, Triple Cross should be placed right next to Harry Potter in the fiction section.

Prissy looks forward to Fitz writing his own account of what actually transpired...considering it was Andrew McCarthy who was actually lead counsel in that case. (Prissy confused this with Chertoff earlier, easy mistake since she doesn't trust him either)

Peter Lance is quite the story teller. Prissy did not see Jason Leopold mention that in his analysis.

Wired News Judge won't halt AT&T wiretapping lawsuit

"I do think these are matters we can proceed on," Walker said toward the end of the status conference here, which began at 11 a.m. PST and was attended by around 50 attorneys from the government, nonprofit groups, class action law firms and major telecommunications companies.

Friday's ruling represents another preliminary victory for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which filed its lawsuit against AT&T in January. In its suit, the EFF charged that AT&T has opened its telecommunications facilities up to the National Security Agency and continues to "to assist the government in its secret surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans."

The ruling is also a win for attorneys in 47 other cases against numerous large telecommunications providers. The cases are in the process of being consolidated into one mammoth lawsuit in the northern district of California.

Geez Dubya, those courts just keep upholding folks rights. Not looking so good for unlawful wiretapping orders these days.

Prissy will be holding a huge party when its all settled- as she hasn't been talkin' to "Al-Queda" but you tapped her phone and had her put in TALON anyway.

Remember this?

It's not just Democrats who want answers. Senator Specter has said Bush's illegal wiretapping "violates FISA — there's no doubt about that."

Until perhaps they reminded Senator Spector he wasn't immune to having his own line tapped...about that friend of yours, aye, Mr. Married senator?

Yes indeed one little reminder from Dubya's boys and Spector shut right up..

.

JTA Alleged AIPAC informant promoted

The State Department last week announced David Satterfield's promotion to senior adviser on Iraq to Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state. Satterfield was promoted from deputy ambassador to Baghdad. Satterfield is cited in the indictment against Steve Rosen, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's former foreign policy director, and Keith Weissman, its former Iran analyst, as one of three government officials who shared information with Rosen.

Satterfield is described as meeting with Rosen in 2002, when Satterfield was second in command at the State Department's Near East desk.

Prosecutors refuse to explain why Satterfield escaped prosecution for leaking information.

How can we be shocked? Look at the commander-in-goof...

TBR The Voice of the White House

Bush has no intention of any kind of cooperation with a Democratic Congress and will go on his weird way, trying to put right wing , incompetents into Federal judgeships. The fact that not even most Republicans want them means nothing to Bush. And those fuzzy headed people who think Bush will promptly work out some kind of a rational plan for ending our involvement in Iraq are smoking hemp. Bush has no intention of changing even one of his goals and will, if allowed, stay in Iraq until the day he leaves office.

Even as I speak, they are planning to activate more National Guard units, regardless what the State Governors want and the goal is to put together a new force of ca 70,000 men and send them over to Iraq for one crushing attack on all the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds that are daring to kill Americans.

We are having identical problems in under-manned Afghanistan and we can’t take troops from Iraq to help them beat off the newly-grown Taliban. Bush simply does not care because he got his money along the way and is not up for reelection.

I said he was a nut and I meant it. I will say again that he isn’t going to change in any way so believe there will be much sadness in National Guard homes come Christmas and, given the huge new U.S. death rates, even more sorrow when their father, sons and brothers have their legs and faces blown off and come home in rubber bags.”

Unless, of course, they simply refuse Dubya's illegal orders. A good possibility, especially in light of all the evidence Guard JAG's now have in their possession. Prissy will laugh with mirth when they tell the angry little men to stuff it. The Guard can decide to "Just say No" and what can Dubya do about it, except have a temper tantrum. That didn't get his mother's attention, either...Dubya simply wishes to punish the Iraqi people "one last time" for not accepting his brand of democracy. And of course our punish our troops at the same time.

Don't count your eggs before they hatch, Chickenhawks...the public will take a strong stand against any more illegal actions. Perhaps Prissy should call in the V's...

Forbes Down Go Commodities, In Comes Recession

First, many point to a lack of investment in the production of energy, industrial metals and other commodities in the 1990s. For instance, oil company managements were loath to repeat the cycle of enthusiastic expansion of capacity leading to overproduction, which collapsed prices to the disastrous detriment of profits. Industrial metals producers had similar sentiments.

Second, political turmoil and military action in the Middle East, Nigeria, Russia, Venezuela and other major petroleum producers have added a substantial risk premium to oil prices.

Third, global economic growth led by American consumers has sired robust demand for commodities. The housing boom in the U.S. and many other countries has hyped demand for lumber, copper, gypsum, plastics and many other commodities.

Fourth and maybe foremost, the excess liquidity sloshing around the world, the demand for high returns, the speculative atmosphere and the devil-may-care attitude toward risk have driven investors beyond conventional stocks and bonds and into riskier areas, including commodities.

Christian Science Monitor Now, how to put Iraqis in charge

And in a remarkably sharp comment about the political atmosphere in Washington, the top US military commander in the Middle East commented that some aspects of the search for alternative strategies seemed to him unseemly.

When I come to Washington, I feel despair [here]," Abizaid told the Senate panel. "When I'm in Iraq with my commanders, when I talk to our soldiers, when I talk to the Iraqi leadership, they are not despairing," General Abizaid insisted.

That said, comments this week from other US officials suggests that the intelligence community, at least, takes a dark view of the current Iraqi situation.

Iraqi insurgent attacks against US and coalition forces have increased from about 70 per month in January to 180 in October, according to the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Michael Maples. The rate of attacks on Iraqi civilians has increased fourfold over that same period of time.

General Abizaid will tell Dubya whatever he wants to hear...which is exactely why he is in charge of US Central Command. Peter Pace is another "yes Massah George" man.

Prissy isn't sure why they get to wear all those medals, but it certainly cannot be for bravery.

Straight Goods, November 18 2002Media ignores Bush's own Vietnam record - part AWOL, part deserter President prefers other people fight and die

A breath of fresh air for Ohio, Governor Elect Ted Strickland's new site

Reuters Indonesia cannot rule out terrorism for Bush visit

Washington is happy with what Indonesia has done to counter militants and the Bush administration has lifted restrictions on military sales that were a major irritant to Jakarta.

There remain strong disagreements on Middle East policy. Indonesian leaders have sharply criticized the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and say Washington is too pro-Israel, a country Indonesia does not recognize.

On Saturday demonstrations against the Bush visit took place in at least eight cities across Indonesia's sprawling archipelago, most attracting fewer than 500 people.

In front of the heavily fortified U.S. embassy in Jakarta, about 150 supporters of the Islamic-oriented Prosperous Justice Party carried banners that read "Say no to Bush" and "Wanted, the killer man in the world 2006".

International Herald Tribune For Bush, at APEC meeting, Vietnam offers lessons on Iraq

For Bush, who had never set foot in Vietnam before, this visit is something of a tightrope walk. America's defeat here is increasingly being mentioned in comparison with how Iraq may turn out, and Bush was careful to stress that in Iraq, unlike Vietnam, defeat is not an option for the United States.

"The Maliki government is going to make it unless the coalition leaves before they have a chance to make it," he said of Iraq's prime minister. "And that's why I assured the prime minister we'll get the job done."

In private, some White House officials concede that Bush's visit to Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, scheduled months ago, is proving to be spectacularly poorly timed, because of all the uncomfortable parallels between the two wars.

For example, just as President Lyndon Johnson did in 1968, Bush has removed his longtime defense secretary and nominated a realist with "fresh eyes" to replace him. Just like Johnson in 1968, he is conducting a broad rethinking of strategy, and is hearing options he does not like.

Same old tired strategy, just like Vietnam...but Dubya was still on his 20 year vacation then, so he probably doesn't remember much about that war.

Lone Star Vietnam & Iraq: From Quagmire to Quicksand By Paul Abrams, M.D., J.D.

In both wars generals were called to make public political statements endorsing the strategy, and the Administration attacked the opposition as weak, cowardly, defeatist and unpatriotic. During Vietnam General Westmoreland endorsed the Administration’s military policy, claimed we were making great progress with our strategic hamlets policy, and supported civilian claims that “we have turned the corner and there is light at the end of the tunnel.” During Iraq several generals have made the incredible statements that they have enough troops and Vice-President Cheney told us nine months ago that “the insurgency was in its last throes.” Other than deposed General Shinseki, no high-ranking military man, it seems, is willing to forego that last star to save the lives and limbs of their troops.

In both wars U.S. complicity with torture severely damaged our international reputation and reduced the chances for ultimate success. During Vietnam it was the tiger cages and the My Lai Massacre, and, for good measure, the notorious statement that “we had to destroy a village to save it.” Although we have not (yet) had the Iraqi My Lai trial, Abu-Ghraib is Iraq’s tiger cages. We have nearly destroyed Fallujah, with perhaps other cities to come.

There are also some interesting, but substantively irrelevant, congruencies. A major architect of each war, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara for Vietnam and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz for Iraq, had their failures rewarded by promotion to President of the World Bank. In each war the junior Senator from New York was the prior President’s closest advisor, a “carpetbagger,” and a major contender for President.

Vietnam had a lot to teach us about what would happen in Iraq, but those lessons were ignored and vehemently denied. Perhaps, just perhaps, we can still learn from the quagmire how to extricate ourselves from the quicksand. The first lesson is to eschew false fears and false hopes. In both wars the exit strategy was to fashion a Constitution, conduct democratic elections, and train the locals to take over their own security. In Vietnam the latter process (dubbed, “vietnamization”) took more than four years, cost tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers’ their lives, with many more seriously wounded, plus an untold numbers of non-combatant Vietnamese lives and limbs, and a generation of birth defects from spraying large areas with dangerous plant toxins. The outcome was no different than if we had left several years earlier.

Cleveland Plain Dealer No more money for Iraq war, Kucinich says

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the former presidential peace candidate whose opposition to the Iraq war is now practically mainstream, wants to cut off future funding for the war.

It's the only way to assure a pullout soon, he says.

The Cleveland Democrat, appearing Wednesday on the Democracy Now independent broadcast network and Thursday on Fox News, says he will push that message in Congress and try to get a majority of his colleagues to agree. He would leave current funding in place but refuse the next Bush administration request for more money for the war, which could come by spring.

That's why Cleveland keeps Dennis, he's got that mid-western common sense that seem to leave many politicians when they get to Washington.

The Age Ghosts of Vietnam War haunt Bush

The comparisons will nonetheless be the subtext of Mr Bush's every move as he travels in Hanoi and then stops in the city that in his youth was known as Saigon, and that became the scene of a US military debacle. And he will have to convince his allies, ordinary Americans and perhaps himself that Iraq will end differently.

Until now, when asked what he had learned from Vietnam, Mr Bush has almost reflexively reached for the same line: That he does not micromanage his generals the way Johnson did. It is a response drawn from conservative orthodoxy about what went wrong in Vietnam, an argument that had the generals been allowed to fight their way, the United States might have won.

In Hanoi, Mr Bush will find himself inside Government halls adorned with paintings of Ho Chi Minh. He will be talking about the future of Asia with Ho's Communist successors who, Washington once warned, could not be allowed to win under any circumstances.

NYT Minister’s Own Rules Sealed His Fate

Now, the question was, what punishment did Mr. Haggard deserve? The board had two options: discipline him or dismiss him as senior pastor of New Life Church. Could he take a leave of absence, repent, receive spiritual counseling and return to ministry?

The answer became clear the next morning, the overseers said, when Mr. Haggard gave an interview to a television news crew as he pulled out of his driveway with his wife and three children in the car. He denied having sex with the male prostitute, and said he had bought methamphetamine but never used it. The overseers said they watched Mr. Haggard, affable as ever, smile grimly into the television camera and lie.

“We saw this other side of Ted that Friday morning,” said the Rev. Michael Ware, one of the overseers. “It helped us to know whether this would be a discipline or a dismissal.”

The Rev. Mark Cowart, another overseer, agreed. “It was a defining moment."

It will be a defining moment when the neocons can no longer deny they don't follow their own rules, just like Rev. Haggard...Dickie's next fundraiser

Quotes of the Day

Bill Maher new rule

NEW RULE: When the Iraq Study Group gets done studying Iraq, it should study America.

Now, I know liberals have been on a high these last 10 days, and it can't be the meth because that's a gay evangelical drug.

When Rep. Charles Rangel, (D-N.Y.) was asked what he thought about Bush, he said: "Well, I really think he shatters the myth of white supremacy once and for all."

It is “hard to resist” spoofing a pope “who seems to have been raised in libraries and not among people,” wrote Francesco Merlo, a columnist for the daily paper (Italian) La Repubblica.

Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.--Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

Ohio Dems St. Valentine's Day Massacre

An angry Prissy on Valentine's Day...

Dearest Readers, Ohio Democrat "Leaders" have pushed and pressured their way to keep Iraq Marine Veteran and lawyer Paul Hackett from running in the Senate race on the Democrat ticket.

The DNC Ohio could care less what We the People want and this is more proof they do not listen. They continue in lock-step with the Republicans.

The people wanted Hackett-his following flowed past state borders-and the DNC knows it. His democrat opponent, Sharrod Brown, is a long time politician.

Prissy is not saying Brown is a bad guy, no-he voted against the war. However, it isn't like he has raised any cane about it or any other issue, since then. He has had plenty of time to do this. Hackett was the people's choice-not the DNCs.

Shame upon the DNC/DLC for once again ignoring the voice of the people. Al Gore, Prissy begs of you- Start a NEW PARTY! This country is ready for it. You are one of the leaders for the job.

The Prissy Patriot EXCLUSIVE! Memo from Ohio DNC to Paul Hackett. (Of course Prissy made it up)

From: Ohio Democratic National Committee

Date: February 14, 2006

RE: Why You Gotta Go

Dear Mr. Hackett,

Welcome to the Ohio Democratic party. We wish to take the time to let you know that we think you will make an excellent representative in the House 2nd District.

This memo serves to inform you that should you continue to abuse your popularity with the people in this great state of Ohio, the consequences will be severe. People are beginning to realize we walk in lock-step with our republican brothers and we feel your mere presence alerts people that you are not "one of us."

We don't think, just because you served a year in Iraq as a Marine and your back ground as a lawyer and small business owner in the southern part of the state this qualifies you to work in the Senate or for the people of Ohio.

We feel your popularity should be reserved to a smaller portion of the state, as you seem unwilling to adhere to unstated, unsaid and possibly the illegal, immoral positions we as the ODNC have always taken in the past.

We fear, given the chance, someone such as yourself could cause the American people to demand an end to the war in Iraq. Unlike you, we have investments in the war that should not be disrupted. We also prefer candidates who will be perceived as weak on national defense issues. Obviously, Mr. Hackett, you are not that person.

Our current DNC is set up to work in tandem with our corrupt republican counterparts and your entrance would once again, interfere with long term goals and possibly with projects which have already materialized.

We will not waste much more of your time, Mr. Hackett (we prefer to remind you of your civilian status) but to put this in the words of our leader, G.W. Bush "Hackett, we just don't like yer kind".

Sincerely,

The Ohio Democratic National Committee (we do not need to sign this memo as individuals)

PS- Don't come looking to us for any ca$h either. Our job, should you insist on doing the will of the people- is to make sure you don't get a dime. You don't play? We don't pay.

Hot Links

As if the Hackett thing isn't enough to make your day...The Pentagon's War on the Internet

The Defense Dept. places a high-value on controlling information. The new program illustrates their determination to establish the parameters of free speech

If we don't have free speech, we don't have anything. If you want to live in a free society, start gearing up now for the Iraq War's 3rd Anniversary. Columbus, Ohio will be having the mother of all protests. Get over your tizzy fit neoRepublicans, we are coordinating the event with the police. Anyone with potential semi-violent actions will be tossed out immediately. This is an event for everyone-and everyone deserves to feel safe and free or this isn't America- and you would be there for the wrong reason.

Bring the children, this event will be bringing thousands from all corners of the state. Saturday, March 18, 2006. At the Ohio Statehouse. Military Families will be leading the parade march from Veteran's Square Plaza. Look for more event updates here, including links to other supporting organizations sponsoring this event. Bring signs, bring musical instruments, if you play. Children with morrocco's encouraged!

The youth organizations who are part of the event planning, do not want this to be their father's Vietnam protest. This will be people coming together for common causes in a peaceful manner. Think music and food-and a few poignant speeches, not chants and confrontations...

More this evening. Prissy has much to do-like write the ODNC. I urge you to do the same! Dick Cheney and his latest victim...

Quotes of the Day

"Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," on CBS:

"He is a lawyer and he got shot in the face. But he's a lawyer, he can use his other face. He'll be all right."

"You can understand why this lawyer fellow let his guard down, because if you're out hunting with a politician, you think, 'If I'm going to get it, it's going to be in the back.' "

"The big scandal apparently is that they didn't release the news for 18 hours. I don't think that's a scandal at all. I'm quite pleased about that. Finally there's a secret the vice president's office can keep."

"Apparently the reason they didn't release the information right away is they said we had to get the facts right. That's never stopped them in the past."