The Priss is Back and Full of Sass

Is this the real reason Prissy hasn't been blogging?

Obama admin. to end use of term 'enemy combatant'

So what are they now? POWT's? (Prisoners of War on Terror?)It's a good thing, because otherwise there are a lot of others who might get swept up by definition of that terminology...

Dearest Readers, How have you been? Prissy sure needed a hiatus after the election...fighting to get President Obama into office tough, but a great success and took a lot out of us here in Ohio. Needed to take time off too allow the corporate owned media to catch up with The Prissy Patriot...Recall this? A Chat With the "D.C. Madame" Deborah Jeane Palfrey Update

Now those who scoffed are saying this: (H/T to WhatReallyHappened)

The Palfrey-Cheney Connection Tags:* ASSASSINATION

Well, lookie, lookie, Roll Call, Politico and Wonkette all served up items yesterday that mentioned the possibility that Dick Cheney used the services of Deborah Jeane Palfrey’s escort service in the 1990s.

Will we hold our new president as accountable as we did Bush?

As Ding-a-Ling Sarah Palin would say "You betcha!" We expect more from him mostly because he has a much higher IQ than Dubya ever dreamed of.

Besides, with the new President being half African American, he can't pretend not to know what oppression really is, unlike the drunken Frat boy.

So much has happened, where shall we begin? By now you all know by way of Seymour Hersh that Dead Eye Dick is all that and more. Prissy told you years ago to put nothing past this bunch. Kind of makes you wonder about the long list of "suicides" such as Debra Jean Palfrey, aka the DC Madame, Dr. Kelly of Great Britain, Mike Connell, the GOP IT guru and his "plane accident"...more on this later.

Deadly Dick the assassin. You heard it here first, Dick would stop at nothing to shut people up...Prissy has seen his kind before- of course, she was their guard in a maximum security prison.

Hot Links

Minnesota Post Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes 'executive assassination ring' which reported directly to Cheney But what does Hersh know? Plenty, here's a run down on scoops over the years that he has exposed:

* The My Lai massacre, which Hersh first revealed publicly and which he last night called “the end of innocence about us and war.” * The Pentagon Papers case, which Mondale called the best example of the “government’s potential for vast public deception.” * Henry Kissinger’s secret dealings, mostly relating to the Vietnam War. (Hersh, who has written volumes about Kissinger, said that he will always believe that whereas ordinary people count sheep to fall asleep, Kissinger “has to count burned and maimed Cambodian babies.”)

* The Church Committee investigation of CIA and FBI abuses, in which Mondale played a major role. (He talked about the fact that FBI director J. Edgar Hoover not only spied on Martin Luther King but literally tried to drive him to suicide.) * The Iran Contra scandal. (Hersh said the Reagan administration came to office with a clear goal of finding a way to finance covert actions, such as the funding of the Nicaraguan Contras, without appropriations so that Congress wouldn't know about them. Mondale noted that Reagan had signed a law barring further aid to the Contras, then participated in a scheme to keep the aid flowing. Hersh said that two key veterans of Iran-Contra, Dick Cheney and national security official Elliot Abrams, were reunited in the George W. Bush White House and decided that the key lesson from Iran-Contra was that too many people in the administration knew about it.) * And the Bush-Cheney years. (Said Hersh: “The contempt for Congress in the Bush-Cheney White House was extaordinary.” Said Mondale of his successor, Cheney, and his inner circle: “they ran a government within the government.” Hersh added: “Eight or nine neoconservatives took over our country.” Mondale said that the precedents of abuse of vice presidential power by Cheney would remain "like a loaded pistol that you leave on the dining room table.")

BBC The Bush/Blair years will never end for his victims UK resident freed from Guantanamo Bay

US interrogators told him, "This is the British file and this is the American file," Binyam Mohamed, 30, told the BBC in his first broadcast interview.

He said he wanted to see ex-President George Bush put on trial and, if there were evidence, former UK PM Tony Blair.

The UK says it does not condone torture, but will examine any claims.

The US has dropped all charges against Mr Mohamed.

Yet another "terrorist" case that wouldn't stick...

If you want the best advice and food for thought on the net, read George Washington's Blogspot. Prissy reads him every day. He's one of the best on the net to make sense of the economic disaster. Let's not forget who started the bailout-and the need for one... Why Obama Must Fire Geithner and Summers

As Robert Kuttner writes:

Geithner has ... come up with the idea of subjecting the largest banks to "stress tests" to determine just how badly damaged their balance sheets are. This has been advertised as government examiners crawling all over bank records, but much of this belated effort will rely on the banks' own risk models--the same risk models that got the banks into this mess.

Come to think of it, where have the examiners been all along? Why wasn't there serious investigation of bank balance sheets all along? Why should stress tests be performed only after disaster has struck (shades of Hurricane Katrina)?

The worst culprit among the feeble regulators is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, whose examiners are responsible for assessing the safety and soundness of the holding companies of Wall Street's largest banks. It was high risk speculative activities by holding company affiliates that put the big banks under water.

Who dropped the ball? You may recall that Secretary Geithner, before he assumed his present post, was president of the New York Fed Bank. According to a withering feature piece from Bloomberg, he was asleep at the switch, and far too cozy with the banks. Heckuva job, Timmy.

Prissy concurs with George on this one. Geithner is a horrible pick, unless he's willing to tell us "where the bodies are buried." Is it Rahm Emanuel who is responsible for these awful cabinet picks?

In depth interview with Geithner and Charlie Rose. Hat tip to Justice League Blogspot, another favorite blog... BTW, Prissy heard Geithner say he has worked in public service all of his life. He was president of the Federal Reserve bank, but isn't aware that is not a federal government entity? Oh come now! Charlie Rose show: A conversation with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

A must see if you haven't already. The Daily Show's Jon Stewart blasts self proclaimed money expert Jim Cramer. Cramer is an expert with his own money, not yours or mine...Comedian calls financial "reporter" on his bullshit

Powerful video of today's reality facing America. Posted two years ago...Note at this video's end: The Prissy Patriot does not advocate the legalization of all drugs. Our law enforcement professors used to comment that pot legalization would be OK with them-tax it, regulate it and remove the criminal element. As they had yet to be on a domestic violence call where the perpetrator was just smoking pot-alcohol was nearly always the drug involved...

WSJ. Maxine Waters voted against Israel regarding their latest bloodbath in Gaza. Apparently she didn't think shooting fish in a barrel was fair. Is this her punishment? Waters Defends Ties to Bank

Ms. Waters (D., Calif.) said her efforts were intended to aid minority-owned banks overall, not just OneUnited Bank, an institution that received $12 million in federal bailout money.

Reports this week in The Wall Street Journal and New York Times detailed Ms. Waters's efforts to help OneUnited in recent years, in particular last fall, when she sought help from Treasury officials after the bank's capital dried up and it was in danger of failing.

"I have been an outspoken advocate for minority communities and businesses in California and nationally for decades," she said. "These articles only revealed one thing: I am indeed an advocate for minority banks."

Ms. Waters's statement said she asked former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to meet with the National Bankers Association, a group of African-American bankers whose president is the senior counsel of OneUnited.

BBC Pakistan opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has defied an apparent house arrest order to head for a protest in Lahore.

Mr Sharif was ousted as prime minister in 1999 during a coup by General Pervez Musharraf, who ruled until August 2008.

Tensions between Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif date back to the 1990s, but the two formed a brief partnership in government after parliamentary elections in February 2008.

Mr Sharif's party later left the alliance, complaining of reluctance by Mr Zardari's Pakistan People's Party to reinstate the judges sacked by the last government.

Relations have been further strained in recent weeks by a Supreme Court decision to ban Mr Sharif and his brother Shahbaz from elected office, and President Zardari's decision to put their stronghold in Punjab province under direct rule from Islamabad.

The same Pakistan which retrofitted fighter planes (which we sold them) with nuclear weaponry. Hurray for instability in a country that butts up against Iran,Afghanistan and India- the worlds largest democracy and Pakistan's mortal "enemy."

More on the situation in Pakistan from YahooProtests against Pakistani government turn violent

Sharif denounced the order as illegal and later left the house in a convoy of vehicles packed with chanting, flag-waving supporters, headed for a downtown rally that had already turned violent.

Mobs accompanying the swelling convoy smashed the windows of buses parked along the route. Others torched tires, sending plumes of black smoke into the blue sky over a usually bustling boulevard littered with stones and empty tear gas shells.

And...Washington worries that the crisis will further destabilize the shaky the year-old government and prevent it from being an effective ally in the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan.

Suspected militants attacked a transport terminal in northwestern Pakistan used to supply NATO troops in Afghanistan before dawn on Sunday and torched dozens of containers and military vehicles, police said.

Dubya should have kept Pakistan out of his "War on Terror" as an "ally".

From Pakistan, The News A study conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has cast doubt over Israel’s survival beyond the next 20 years.

The study, which has been made available only to a certain number of individuals, further forecasts the return of all Palestinian refugees to the occupied territories, and the exodus of two million Israeli - who would move to the US in the next fifteen years.

And...

He said CIA, in its report, alludes to the unexpectedly quick fall of the apartheid government in South Africa and recalls the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, suggesting the end to the dream of an ‘Israeli land’ would happen ‘way sooner’ than later.

The study further predicts the return of over one and a half million Israelis to Russia and other parts of Europe, and denotes a decline in Israeli births whereas a rise in the Palestinian population.

Lamb said given the Israeli conduct toward the Palestinians and the Gaza strip in particular, the American public—which has been voicing its protest against Tel Aviv’s measures in the last 25 years—may ‘not take it anymore’.

Professor Juan Cole Did Schumer and Emanuel Sink Freeman?

My interpretation of Chas Freeman's withdrawal from appointment as the chairman of the National Intelligence Council is that it was provoked primarily by Chuck Schumer and Rahm Emanuel. Schumer's call to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was probably the decisive event, though we don't know what Emanuel's reaction was.

That is, the original charge against Freeman was led by the spy for Israel, Steve Rosen, whose hiring by Daniel Pipes' Middle East Forum/ Campus Watch is excellent evidence of what those operations really are. Rosen, when he was a head of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's Middle East bureau, handed over classified Pentagon documents to the Israeli embassy in Washington DC, which were given to him by the agent Larry Franklin, a high-level Pentagon employee who reported to Douglas Feith and Paul Wolfowitz.

And...Schumer angered some of his constituents with his defense of the Israeli total war on Gaza's civilian population this winter, and you wonder if his isn't the last AIPAC generation in US politics. I like Schumer and loved the way he stood up to Bush, but he and other admirable people like Mike Bloomberg just have this moral black hole in their souls when it comes to supporting far rightwing Israeli policies (policies that they would unalterably oppose if pursued by the US government).

Freeman gave his own take on the whole affair to NPR. What happened to Freeman is further evidence for the resilience of the Israel lobbies and their enormous power in US politics. The Neoconservatives were roundly defeated on the budget, and even had to swallow George Mitchell as a special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. But they still have the power to exclude a Washington Arabist such as Freeman even from an appointive position.

Interesting to note that the two AIPAC spies who bought information from former Defense Department analyst, Lawrence A. Franklin, who was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison. Larry gave Rosen and his fellow AIPAC lobbyist friend Weissman info about a number of subjects, including American policy in Iran, terrorism in central Asia, Al Qaeda and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers apartment in Saudi Arabia, which killed 23 Americans, mainly members of the military.(NYT, 01/06)

WaPo Bailout King AIG Still to Pay Millions In Bonuses

The issue came to a head when Geithner called Liddy and told him the payments were unacceptable and had to be renegotiated, said an administration official who was not authorized to comment on the Geithner conversation.

In a letter to Geithner yesterday, Liddy agreed to restructure some of the payments. But Liddy said he had "grave concerns" about the impact on the firm's ability to retain talented staff "if employees believe that their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury."

Lawyers at both the Treasury Department and AIG have concluded that the firm would risk a lawsuit if it scrapped the retention payments at the AIG Financial Products subsidiary, whose troublesome derivative trading nearly sank AIG. The company promised before the government started bailing out the firm in September that employees would be awarded more than $400 million in retention pay this year and next.

"I do not like these arrangements and find it distasteful and difficult to recommend to you that we must proceed with them," Liddy wrote.

Prissy finds it distasteful and wasteful AIG is still in business. Not happy, once again, with President Obama's pick of Geithner. "No guts Geithner" (while kinda cute) couldn't put the hammer down on these guys if the country's life depended upon it...and the CEO's with their hands out should tell him to put those hands back into their own pockets. No bailouts for bonuses. That is about as ethical as jacking up the credit cards for glorious trips abroad and then declaring bankruptcy.

Yahoo News Barbara Bush leaves hospital after heart surgery

"Nobody ever had better medical treatment than I did this past week and a half," she added.

And she does mean nobody... Allow Prissy to point out it was taxpayer funded healthcare who picked up the tab on ole Babs.

MSNBC The Mess George Bush Left Behind (with complicity of the GOP, Congress and Corporate owned media)MSNBC calling it Obama's "new strategy", Prissy calling it "the truth of the matter."

Over the past month, Obama has reminded the public at every turn that he is facing problems "inherited" from the Bush administration, using increasingly bracing language to describe the challenges his administration is up against. The "deepening economic crisis" that the president described six days after taking office became "a big mess" in remarks this month to graduating police cadets in Columbus, Ohio. Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

"By any measure," he said during a March 4 event calling for government-contracting reform, "my administration has inherited a fiscal disaster."

Obama's more frequent and acid reminders that former president George W. Bush left behind a trillion-dollar budget deficit, a 14-month recession and a broken financial system have come at the same time Republicans have ramped up criticism that the current president's policies are compounding the nation's economic problems.

Bush is accustomed to having minorities and/or women cleaning up after him...

CNN = Certainly NOT News Commentary: Why bin Laden is speaking out CNN Editor's note: Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst and a fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington and at New York University's Center on Law and Security. His most recent book is "The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The new 22-minute tape posted Wednesday on a radical Islamist Web site is the first one from Osama bin Laden in nine months. On it, the al Qaeda leader urges Muslims to wage jihad against Israel because of its offensive in Gaza.

U.S. counter-terrorism officials had been expecting that bin Laden would release a tape before the 2008 presidential election just as he had done four years earlier.

On October 29, 2004, he released a videotaped address to the American people in which he said that it was irrelevant whether Americans elected Sen. John Kerry or George W. Bush as president. The key issue, as far as he was concerned, was that the United States needed to change its policies in the Muslim world.

Bin Laden, however, made no comments during the 2008 campaign season, and his recent silence has been puzzling.

However, Peter Bergen using the latest "news" for his Osama book isn't so puzzling...

BBC, you know they are a true ally, just don't ask to whom they are true... 'Bin Laden urges war on Israel' Note key word in bold by PP.

A new audio message purported to be from Osama Bin Laden has urged Muslims to launch a holy war to stop the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The message also said Israel's assault was a desperate attempt to benefit from the last days of President George Bush.

It also accused Arab leaders of colluding with the Jewish state.

The US has dismissed the tape, saying it shows the al-Qaeda leader's isolation, and looks like an attempt to raise money.

And why you should "dismiss" the tape and laugh yourselves silly over his next purported news release...

Flashback from WaPo Feb. 1, 1999 When Seeing and Hearing Isn't Believing

"Gentlemen! We have called you together to inform you that we are going to overthrow the United States government." So begins a statement being delivered by Gen. Carl W. Steiner, former Commander-in-chief, U.S. Special Operations Command.

At least the voice sounds amazingly like him.

But it is not Steiner. It is the result of voice "morphing" technology developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

By taking just a 10-minute digital recording of Steiner's voice, scientist George Papcun is able, in near real time, to clone speech patterns and develop an accurate facsimile. Steiner was so impressed, he asked for a copy of the tape

Online Journal Who’s behind Madoff? by Wayne Madsen

As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had cut a deal with $50 billion Ponzi scammer Bernard Madoff whereby Madoff will neither admit nor deny fraud claims against him in a suit brought by the SEC. In return Madoff has agreed to pay civil fines and penalties levied by the SEC. The agreement has no bearing on Madoff’s criminal trial.

WMR has learned that in addition to 20 million documents stored by Madoff in a warehouse in Queens that were stored without any indexing system and merely placed in boxes and strewn around the floor are millions of additional documents that were stored by Madoff in a Brooklyn warehouse that was partially flooded. A number of the Madoff documents there were destroyed by water damage.

WMR has also learned that a key element in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was Madoff Energy LLC, formed as a Delaware corporation in February 2007. Other Madoff firms in the energy arena were Madoff Energy Holdings LLC, Madoff Energy III LLC, and Madoff Energy IV LLC. There are links between these now-defunct Madoff energy entities and Texas oil and natural gas industry interests, some close to the Bushes and Dick Cheney.

WMR has also learned that the kid glove treatment given by federal authorities to Madoff, including allowing him to remain in his Upper East Side luxury town home, is because Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was part of a much larger operation, one involving top officials of both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, as well as the notorious Russian-Israeli Mafia.

Top official of the Obama administration? Gee, wonder who that could be... Don't let this guy become your KKKarl Rove, Mr. President

From The Public Record, Jason Leopold- a great site DOJ Watchdog Probed Yoo/Bybee Rendition Memo; Report May Criticize Opinion

This memo is one of several that the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) has scrutinized in a four-year-old investigation into the legal work of Yoo and Bybee, according to legal sources at the DOJ who have seen a still classified report on the work of the OLC. It's unknown what conclusions OPR reached as the draft report has gone through changes since it was completed late last year.

The memo, prepared for then Department of Defense General Counsel William Haynes, was the product of several high-level meetings that took place over the course of several weeks that Yoo and Bybee participated in along with senior Bush administration officials.

The legal opinion was not, legal sources said, the result of a question "asked and answered" but rather the result of Bybee and Yoo acting as advocates for administration policy and providing the legal framework so the White House could carry out its plans.

OPR has probed whether Yoo and Bybee deliberately signed off on the March 13, 2002 memo and purposely misinterpreted long-standing case law simply to give the administration legal cover for extraordinary renditions undertaken before a legal memorandum authorizing the policy was drafted.

More on those released memo's from A Time for Change Bush Memos Released By DOJ Are Outrageous Affront to Constitution

The release of 9 memos written by members of the Bush administration have unleashed a firestorm of criticism because as bad as people expected these memos to be, no one expected that the administration would try to sweep away the Constitution in favor of martial law. According to the New York Times, these memos mean that: * the president could use the nation’s military within the United States to combat terrorism suspects and to conduct raids without obtaining search warrants * he president could unilaterally abrogate foreign treaties, ignore any guidance from Congress in dealing with detainees suspected of terrorism, and conduct a program of domestic eavesdropping without warrants * the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally bars the military from domestic law enforcement operations, would pose no obstacle to the use of troops in a domestic fight against terrorism suspects * The memorandum discussed the use of military forces to carry out “raids on terrorist cells” and even seize property of US citizens * any objections based on the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches are swept away * “First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully.” It added that “the current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically.” * judicial precedents approving deadly force in self-defense could be extended to allow for eavesdropping without warrants * Other memorandums said Congress had no right to intervene in the president’s determination of the treatment of detainees, a proposition that has since been invalidated by the Supreme Court.

Justice League Blogspot. Thank you to Bil for explaining the who, what and why on this subject. The Continuation of Obama Administration Addressing the Disposition of Detainees at Gitmo

On March 8, 2006, Karpinski gave an interview to Dateline on the Australian SBS network. When asked who was ultimately responsible for the actions of torture and humiliation depicted in the photographs, Karpinski stated: "you have to go back to the memorandum that was authored by our now-Attorney-General, Alberto Gonzalez, and John Yoo, from out in California, who was with the current administration at the time, and they did a memorandum, authorizing departures from the Geneva Convention."

"The memorandum, which was certainly discussed at length with the Secretary of Defense and the Vice-President, according to sworn statements by people who were there when those conversations took place, that authorized the initial departure [from the Geneva Convention]. And yes, there was a memorandum that was posted at Abu Ghraib prison, that I only became aware of, after I heard of this ongoing investigation out at Abu Ghraib, and it was signed by the Secretary of Defense." "...the signature on the memorandum was over the signature block of the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, and the ink that was used to sign appeared to be the same ink used for this handwritten note in the margin, "make sure this happens", and it was a list of interrogation techniques that were approved, so he obviously had knowledge of those [interrogation] techniques."

Bottom line: Obama Administration and DOJ have lot to piece together every secret memos and legal opinions on authorization of torture to decipher which detainee was a terrorist and who wasn't. As you can see, Bush authorized the detainees to be torture as the President of the United States but there were many more co-conspirators who were given power to torture the detainees. In order to remove the cancer in this issue and on-going investigation, Obama has to hold each individuals given authority to torture detainees accountable.

Quotes of the Day

The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground. ~ Unknown

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal and then leap in the dark to our success. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Headline of New York Herald Tribune, October 27, 1929 Brokers Believe Worst Is Over and Recommend Buying of Real Bargains

Headlines two days later...October 29, 1929 - Stock Market Crashes!

For Tim Geithner: An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.~ Friedrich Engels

(h/t to WMR) Paraphrasing Denis Diderot: Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last banker. (Banker was originally "priest.")

The NeoRepublicans Point of No Return

Gonzo takes his oath before the Senate hearings? (Thanks to Dearest Reader Valerie for the picture)

Dearest Readers, Gonzo will soon be gone. Prissy is hearing he will resign by September...either that, or he will certainly be looking at impeachment. Maybe even disbarment.

One thing is for sure. He has lost all credibility within his own party. Spector isn't fooled or maybe he just doesn't like Gonzo. Either way, he's asking the right questions. Let's see if he has enough of our ancestors in his bloodline to follow with action.

Only ones just as deep in Bushworld muck, can afford to stand up for him at this fork in the road. They know they have little to lose and so the ruse must continue.

If the American people are tired of the deceit, they must use all available lawful means to restore the government back into the hands of the We the People. The creatures of the current regime will not hand it back politely, we must demand its return.

Should one require a cause or mission statement before embarking on the venture, Prissy suggests reading the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence or its conclusion (see below) for further guidance.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Back channel whisper of the day: Did Congressman John Boehner (OH-R) make the DC Madames list? There may be another Ohio congressperson on the list too.

Place your bets, Dearest Readers. Larry Flynt will probably drop the names beginning of next week, watch the roaches in Washington scatter... Will it help to tell these boys they are "well within the national average?"

Hot Links

TruthOut Gonzales Memo: White House Granted Extraordinary Access to DOJ Files

Under intense questioning by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), Gonzales was shown a copy of the May 4, 2006 memo he signed authorizing Cheney, his chief of staff and his attorney to enter into direct discussions with Gonzales "regarding any matter within the Justice Department."

"The Attorney General may communicate directly with the President, Vice President, their Chiefs of Staff, Counsel to the President or Vice President, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Adviser, or the head of any office within the [Executive Office of the President] regarding any matter within the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice," states the memo. Moreover, the memo says Gonzales's staffers were also given authority to communicate directly with the officials in the office of the president and the office of the vice president on DOJ matters.

The issue is of particular concern to lawmakers and the legal community because the DOJ historically operates independently of the administration and without political interference of any kind. A similar memo was signed by former Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2002, but limited discussions between the DOJ and the White House to the office of the counsel of the president.

Gonzales's memo, on the other hand, seems to authorize discussion about pending DOJ cases to virtually hundreds of White House officials, and it seems to lend credibility to the assertion that perhaps some high-profile public corruption cases involving Republican lawmakers were scuttled due to interference by the Bush administration.

Don't we make a cute couple?

Chicago Tribune, hat tip to Prissy's invisible BF...BP dumps mercury in lake

Peter Swenson, chief of the water permits section at the EPA's regional office in Chicago, said some Great Lakes polluters have been granted exemptions to the mercury limits when they renew their permits. But others have been forced to comply immediately, he said, noting that emerging technology can remove the metal from waste water.

A Tribune review of federal records shows that the waste water the BP refinery pumps into Lake Michigan includes more than a dozen toxic byproducts of oil refining, including benzene, toluene and suspended solids containing mercury, lead, nickel and vanadium.

The refinery is the top industrial source of lead, nickel and ammonia pollution directly released into the lake, according to the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory. It also is one of only two industrial polluters on the lake that dump acetonitrile, a chemical that metabolizes in the environment to cyanide.

If BP were to meet the federal mercury standard for the Great Lakes, it would take the refinery 25 years to put the same amount of the toxic metal into Lake Michigan that it does now in one year.

ABC still trying to salvage some credibility after the DC Madame untruths Spy Agency OKs Bloggers as Journalists

Are bloggers part of the news media? The U.S. government -- led by two of its most secretive agencies -- is increasingly saying, "Yes, they are."

Despite the rap that bloggers simply "bloviate" and "don't try to find things out," as conservative newspaper columnist Robert Novak once sniffed, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) have altered policies to indicate they're taking blogs seriously, and a growing number of public offices are actively reaching out to the blogosphere.

What Dick thinks of bloggers

The CIA recently updated its policies on Freedom of Information Act requests to allow bloggers to qualify for special treatment once reserved for old-school reporters. And last August, the NSA issued a directive to its employees to report leaks of classified information to the media -- "including blogs," the order said.

Experts say it's part of a trend. Earlier this year, the criminal trial of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was the first time a federal court had issued press credentials to bloggers. A rotating pool of five to 10 bloggers sat alongside dozens of traditional media reporters to hear the government try and convict one-time aide to Vice President Dick Cheney on perjury and obstruction of justice charges stemming from the leak of an undercover CIA operative's identity.

Republicans blocking Freedom of Information Act bill, Judiciary Chairman says

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) issued a Friday afternoon statement criticizing Republican colleagues for holding up an open government bill that seeks to reform the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and end delays in government compliance with requests for information.

"The Republican obstructionism continues in the Senate and the latest casualty is Americans’ access to their government," Senator Leahy said. "I am deeply disappointed that Republicans continue to block attempts to pass the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act” (“OPEN Government Act”)

CREW CREW RELEASES REPORT DETAILING INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE OFFERS IN WAKE OF HURRICANE KATRINA

Another email responding to an offer from Argentina to DOS officials reads “All, The (sic) word here is that doctors of any kind are in the 'forget about it' category. Human assistance of any kind is not on our priorities list....It’s all about goods, not people, at this point.”

Another email describes how the transport of Israeli relief supplies loaded on a C-130 aircraft was delayed for over 48 hours on the tarmac while Israeli officials waited for clearance from the U.S. government. The unidentified author states: “I’ve been on the phone with the [Israeli] attache every couple of hours since noon . . . they’re patient, but not amused by our delay, obviously.” The documents do not reveal if or how the issue was resolved.

Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director said today, “A review of the State Department documents reveals distressing ineptitude. Countries were trying to donate desperately needed goods and services, but as a result of bureaucratic bungling and indifference, those most in need of these generous offers of aid never received it.”

CBS Dick's hardening of the arteries and his head Cheney Having Minor Heart Procedure

Cheney, 66, has a history of heart problems. He has had four heart attacks, quadruple bypass surgery, two artery-clearing angioplasties and an operation to implant the defibrillator.

In March, doctors discovered that he had a deep venous thrombosis in his left lower leg. After an ultrasound in late April, doctors said the clot was slowly getting smaller.

In 2005, Cheney had six hours of surgery on his legs to repair a kind of aneurysm, a ballooning weak spot in an artery that can burst if left untreated.

What a waste of taxpayers money...persons of his vast wealth should have to pay their own health care costs. He has access to the best resources much of his life-its not our fault that he failed to use them.

The problem Prissy has with Republicans is that they always like to hold others responsible for behaviors which cause health problems (smoking, overweight,etc) but never wish to be held accountable themselves. To be held to their own standards would literally kill them...

Why Bush ranks number one for being the most unsophisticated, vulgar president in American history. Imagine being a military family and seeing him joke about the misuse of your loved ones life...watch Joe Lieberman yuk it up at the prez.

Possibly the most callus, unAmerican, unpatriotic moment against our troops in the annual press dinner's history. They cared not, while deceiving Americans into this war. It shows.

Thank you again, Stephen Colbert! He did one of those critical skills jobs, the one that no one else had the gonads to do.

Maybe Dubya should have looked within for WMD

The Iraq War: Legal or Illegal?

Pinky wants some answers: Is the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq legal or illegal? Do any of the charges of illegality we've been hearing about have any legal basis at all? And why should we even care about international law anyway? Pinky and friends do the research and then tell you all the answers!

A well researched cartoon with the facts about the war. Send to anyone left still doubting...

Andrew Sullivan The Republicans and the Young

Young people react with hostility to the Republicans on almost every measure and Republicans and younger voters disagree on almost every major issue of the day. The range of the issue disagreements range from the most prominent issues of the day (Iraq, immigration) to burning social issues (gay marriage, abortion) to fundamental ideological disagreements over the size and scope of government. This leaves both potential Democratic nominees with substantial leads over Rudy Giuliani, but importantly, both Democrats still have room to grow their support among younger voters. The current problems with the Republican brand are not fully reflected in young people’s preferences for President.

No kidding; Prissy is glad the younger generation isn't as easily fooled as their elders. Notice their elders prefer not to answer the young 'uns questions...

Wired Republican Candidates: Afraid to Face the YouTube Generation?

Ratings data show that the CNN/YouTube debate received the highest viewership level for the demographic between 18 and 34 since measurement level began in 1992 for a cable news debate.

Research released earlier this year by Harvard's Institute for Politics found that -- galvanized by the war -- this age group showed up at the polls in 2004 at extremely high levels.

As Carl Cannon, a writer for the inside-the-Beltway publication National Journal noted in a May edition of the magazine, "These young people are so little understood that many of the 2006 congressional campaigns ignored them utterly, although the candidates who did paid a price for their inattention."

WaPo With Gonzales Under Fire, FBI Violation Gains Notice

"Oversight by Congress to minimize abuse of government's power relies on full and honest answers from government officials," particularly with regard to Patriot Act matters, Leahy said in a statement. "Time and again this Attorney General has not met that obligation."

The issue of what Gonzales knew of FBI violations and when arose this month, when The Washington Post reported that the FBI had sent him at least half a dozen reports of legal or procedural violations before he gave his 2005 testimony.

In total, the FBI has told the White House and the Justice Department about a few hundred instances since 2001 in which its agents violated procedures or laws designed to protect the civil liberties and privacy of Americans. Most of the problems involved paperwork mistakes, the inadvertent collection of phone data for the wrong person or the collection of data past a legal deadline, officials have said.

Officials said the 2004 violation stands out because it is the sole occasion on which the FBI itself concluded that an agent intentionally violated safeguards on the use of national security letters, investigative tools that allow agents to gather phone, computer or bank records without court approval or a grand jury subpoena.

Wired more reasons for concern about Gonzo AG Gonzales Wants Police to Get "Extremely Graphic" When Discussing Child Porn

According to this account, Gonzales repeatedly stressed the need to give the public more lurid accounts of what officers have seen. "We have to be very, very graphic in describing what we're discovering over the Internet, for example, the images that we see. Not just young teenage girls in bikinis, but these are images of crimes being committed against our children, of dads having sex with their young daughters, oral sex, defecation," Gonzales said. "I mean, just, we've got to be extremely graphic about what we're seeing because all these images mean that a child has been molested."

Wouldn't such graphic descriptions in police press releases and news stories play to the prurient interests of pedophiles and, in a sense, become its own version of child porn?

Of course it would...remember Ken Starr "and then what did she do with it, Mr. President...republicans can't get enough of the lurid details. Put it in the final report for police and doctors eyes- it doesn't need to be in Gonzo's entertainment news.

Really makes Prissy professionally concerned about those firmly holding on to such an ideology. The successful re-branding of KKKarl's GOP

Mirror Tories are revolting

Civil war broke out in the Conservative Party yesterday as senior Tory MPs publicly blasted David Cameron.

Die-hard Derek Conway said there were "generational difficulties" with the new leader.

He claimed the views of older Tories had been forgotten in plans to rebrand the party.

Veteran MP Bob Spink accused Cameron of relying on gimmicks and "wet behind the ears" advisers.

Kids, these are the kind of "grown-ups" Prissy will be more than happy to help you verbally target.

Listen up, DLC democrats. Politico Democrats dis DLC convention

The lack of a single presidential candidate at the convention is nonetheless striking.

Even those long shots like Joe Biden, aching to catch some momentum, will not be attending.

Biden argues for restoring a Democratic coalition. But he's campaigning in New Hampshire over the weekend. His book tour is beginning. He, like his fellow candidates, is simply too busy for the DLC.

The snub would not be so noticeable if it were not for the presidential race beginning so early this cycle. No Democratic candidate for president attended the DLC gathering in 1999 or 2003. But in 2000, Al Gore gave the conference keynote address. In 2004, John Kerry did the same.

The DLC does not represent the grass roots that made them possible. They appear to snub their "base."

Gulf News US plans big arms sale to Saudi Arabia

Officials told the newspaper that the plan is aimed at bolstering GCC militaries to contain Iran’s growing strength in the region.

The State Department and the White House had no comment on the report, and a Pentagon spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.

Officials said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates plan to use their visit to Saudi Arabia next week to press for help over Iraq.

The newspaper quoted a senior State Department official as saying that Washington wants Gulf states to stress to Sunnis that engaging in violence is "killing your future."

That's right, cause this guy wants to "kill your future...

IHT Stock markets rise and fall according to a new world pecking order

The economic strength this year has been largely in Asia, where there is talk of an overheating Chinese economy and annual growth rates in gross domestic product remain in the double digits. While recessions in America and Europe would presumably damage China's exports, its growth has so far resisted government efforts to slow it down through higher interest rates.

As a result, the prices of such economically sensitive commodities as oil and copper are significantly higher now than they were in February.

"You can make the case that we are simply witnessing a reverse of the late 1990's - Asia collapse, long-term interest rates swoon and U.S. housing booms," said Robert Barbera, the chief economist of ITG. This time, he said, interest rates may not fall much, because of the Asian boom, and that will put more pressure on housing prices.

The plunge this week, while made in America, seemed to end in China. While Japan's stock market fell about 2 percent on Friday, the CSI 300 index, in China, managed a small gain. After that, European markets showed only mild moves.

Quotes of the Day

We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately. --Benjamin Franklin

Mourn not the dead that in the cool earth lie, but rather mourn the apathetic, throng the coward and the meek who see the world's great anguish and its wrong, and dare not speak.--Ralph Chaplin

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.--Albert Einstein

The Ass and His Driver: AN ASS, being driven along a high road, suddenly started off and bolted to the brink of a deep precipice. While he was in the act of throwing himself over, his owner seized him by the tail, endeavoring to pull him back. When the Ass persisted in his effort, the man let him go and said, Conquer, but conquer to your cost. A willful beast must go his own way.--Aesop

Deadly Haiku and Dick Cheney

Dearest Readers, our podcast is somewhere on the internet. Betty and Prissy decided no way was that a go except with our friends, who claimed to love it! (Nothing like not being able to see your own small handwriting, while reading it live...)

Oh my, we must get used to the live studio audience scene-although they were very friendly faces;)

We will start out doing a weekly Sunday broadcast live and when its good enough, Prissy will post it here!

Hot Links

Telegraph Poland breaks EU taboo and mentions the war

Germany's role in the Second World War returned to disturb the harmony of the summit yesterday when Poland vowed to seek recognition of its five million dead.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Polish prime minister, complained that Poland would have a far bigger population on which to base its EU voting power if it had not been for the Nazi invasion in September 1939 which started the war.

The Common Market, the forerunner of the EU, was formed in 1957 because European leaders were determined to prevent another conflict. Mr Kaczynski said a proposed new EU voting formula based on population size hurt his country because it had not recovered from its wartime losses. advertisement

"We are only demanding that we get back what was taken from us," he told Polish national radio. "If Poland had not had to live through the years of 1939-45, Poland would be today looking at the demographics of a country of 66 million."

Americans should pay careful attention to that type of recrimination. Our own government may be facing it soon.

Just as Prissy suspected Purdue Simulation: Full of Hot Air

Researchers have stated that the Purdue simulation contradicts the observed facts in other ways, and in the next couple of weeks, they will publish their findings.

Moreover, the Purdue simulation still does not address the flies in the ointment which NIST also ignored:

(1) The simulation either fails to include, or inaccurately represents, the 47 core columns holding up each of the Twin Towers.

(2) Most of the jet fuel burned outside the buildings, especially in the case of the South Tower - which produced a glowing orange fireball as the building was struck at an oblique angle. So the simulation could not hold true for the South Tower.

Prissy loves the name of this blog. Hat tip on some of today's picture posts. Deadly Haiku Of Irrefutable Evidence Easily Refuted And Dick Is In His Last Throes, If You Will, Of His Insurgency

A War With Iran Cheney Cannot Set It Up Rejected Again

Our War Criminal So Hungry To Kill Again Is Grasping For Straws

His Smirk Loses Charm When He Talks Into His Tie Bums Everyone Out

He Is Being Stopped By Those Who Can Intervene About F Ing Time

Boston Geronimo's great-grandson wants bones returned

If the bones at Yale aren't those of Geronimo, Harlyn Geronimo believes they belonged to one of the Apache prisoners who died at Fort Sill. He said they should still be returned.

Harlyn Geronimo wrote last year to President Bush, seeking his help in recovering the bones. He thought that since the president's grandfather, Prescott Bush, was allegedly one of those who helped steal the bones in 1918, the president would want to help return them.

But, Harlyn Geronimo said, "I haven't heard a word."

The White House did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Electronic Frontier Foundation Congress Set to Uncover Truth About NSA Spying Program

"This subpoena authorization is a critical first step toward uncovering the full extent of the NSA's illegal spying and the role that telecommunications companies like AT&T played in it," said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "Considering that it's been almost six years since the NSA started spying on Americans without warrants and over a year since that spying was revealed publicly, these subpoenas are long overdue. It's high time for Congress to get to the bottom of this mess."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is suing AT&T for illegally assisting in the NSA spying. The government has asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss EFF's case, claiming that the lawsuit could expose state secrets.

"Our case against AT&T includes evidence from a former employee that points to a massive spying program impacting millions of people -- a program far broader than the government has admitted to," said Bankston. "Americans deserve to know the truth about the NSA program."

Navy Times Hunter: Let Guard in U.S. keep old war gear

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif., former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee), said he has talked to Guard unit leaders who deployed and had to leave their original equipment behind when they returned to the U.S. If there are stateside shortfalls and the gear they took with them overseas wasn’t adequate for war fighting — but would be perfectly adequate for use back home — it should be brought back, he said.

“The implication clearly being,” Hunter said, “that there’s equipment parked in places like Kuwait or in Iraq.” With more than 20,000 up-armored Humvees now with Army and Marine units in Iraq, he said, “those have displaced the non-up-armored Humvees. They should be in the inventory someplace.”

Hunter said he wants someone to determine where those Humvees are now, calculate what the Guard needs, fund the difference, “and spend it. And make the Guard healthy sometime while we’re still young.”

Hunter’s cause is backed by the National Governors Association, which has asked Congress to identify shortfalls and provide the funding to replace equipment used in military operations and left behind in Iraq for other units.

So simple, even a warmonger like Duncan could figure it out.

Yahoo White House near decision to close Gitmo

Cheney's office and the Justice Department have been against the step, arguing that moving "unlawful" enemy combatant suspects to the U.S. would give them undeserved legal rights.

They could block the proposal, but pressure to close Guantanamo has been building since a Supreme Court decision last year that found illegal a previous system for prosecuting enemy combatants. Recent rulings by military judges threw out charges against two terrorism suspects under a new tribunal scheme.

Those decisions have dealt a blow to the administration's efforts to begin prosecuting dozens of Guantanamo detainees regarded as the nation's most dangerous terror suspects.

And...Another bill would grant new rights to those held at Guantanamo Bay, including access to lawyers regardless of whether the prisoners are put on trial. Still another would allow detainees to protest their detentions in federal court, something they are now denied.

Access North GA Ashcroft says prosecutor firings have not harmed Justice Department

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said the scandal surrounding the firings of eight federal prosecutors has not damaged the Justice Department.

Asked on Wednesday by The Associated Press if the firings had hurt the Justice Department's integrity or reputation for independence, he responded simply, "no." Ashcroft then walked away, declining to elaborate, and took no additional questions.

And...Ashcroft bemoaned the loss of public confidence in government, and said law enforcement must help restore that trust through the rule of the law.

"We must assure citizens that there is no one beneath the protection of the law and no one above the reach of the law," he said.

Ashcroft was only looking out for his own behind when he refused to sign off on the illegal wiretapping. That and he wasn't going to break the law right in front of James Comey's face...Comey has too much credibility for Ashcroft to seriously challenge him.

Wired Detailed Report of CIA's Wiretapping of Americans and Dirty Tricks To Be Unclassified -- Updated

Simultaneously, the head of the CIA, General Michael Hayden, made an unexpected announcement Thursday at the annual convention of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations that the agency would declassify the full 693-page report on CIA wrongdoings and release it Monday.

That report was compiled in 1973 at the order of then-CIA director James Schlesinger, following revelations that the Watergate burglars had CIA help. The existence of report, referred to as the "Family Jewels" has long been known, but only a few bits have been revealed through open government requests.

The CIA's collection of dossiers on 9,900 American citizens was first revealed on the front page of the New York Times in 1974 by Seymour Hersh.

The summary of the report (.pdf) shows that the CIA: * wiretapped two journalists in 1963 and listened in as they spoke with a dozen Senators and six Congressmen. * conducted physical surveillance of reporters Mike Getler and Jack Anderson

Dennis Kucinich makes Prissy proud to be an Ohioan. Dennis is Always looking out for the little guy. Kucinich and Waxman to SEC: Blackstone Poses New Risks to Small Investors

Domestic Policy Subcommittee Chairman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) released a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission today, asking that it slow down the public offering of Blackstone LP and promising imminent hearings on new risks for small investors created by the Blackstone offering.

Kucinich’s subcommittee has oversight jurisdiction over the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We believe that small investors could be harmed if the SEC allows the IPO to proceed precipitously. The Blackstone LP offering poses new risks for small investors, from which they have been protected until now. Congress needs the opportunity to hold hearings before the SEC allows such a potentially dangerous investment to be offered to the general investing public,” said Kucinich.

NY Times Agency Is Target in Cheney Fight on Secrecy Data

A spokeswoman for Mr. Cheney, Megan McGinn, said, “We’re confident that we’re conducting the office properly under the law.” She declined to elaborate.

Other officials familiar with Mr. Cheney’s view said that he and his legal adviser, David S. Addington, did not believe that the executive order applied to the vice president’s office because it had a legislative as well as an executive status in the Constitution. Other White House offices, including the National Security Council, routinely comply with the oversight requirements, according to Mr. Waxman’s office and outside experts.

Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said last night, “The White House complies with the executive order, including the National Security Council.”

The dispute is far from the first to pit Mr. Cheney and Mr. Addington against outsiders seeking information, usually members of Congress or advocacy groups. Their position is generally based on strong assertions of presidential power and the importance of confidentiality, which Mr. Cheney has often argued was eroded by post-Watergate laws and the prying press.

Crimes and Corruption of the New World Order Sibel Edmonds, Bandar Bush and BAe - similar but different

Bribery We know that Bandar Bush received $2 billion in bribes to facilitate the deal. So far as we know, so far, that $2 billion was a pure cash transfer, with no strings attached regarding subsequent disbursements etc.

In Sibel's case, we have the bribes flowing into the US, the selling country, presumably because the US taxpayer, literally and otherwise, pays the bills. These bribes flow through to congress people, in envelopes, suitcases and campaign contributions, and the inevitable blackmail.

Lobbying The BAe investigation has uncovered secret payments of $25million to a former Defense advisor. (As far as I know, these payments are separate to the Bandar Bush deals)

In Sibel's case, (at least some of) the 'lobbyists' are publicly known, and (at least some of) the payments are public. We know who is, or has been, on the Turkish payroll. Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, fmr Dem Senator Stephen Solarz, fmr Defense Secretary William Cohen, fmr Dem House Minority Speaker Dick Gephardt, fmr Speaker Bob Livingston.

Scholars and Rogues, for Dearest Reader Marshall of Wisconsin. Prissy is still checking on the other directives. National secrecy Executive Orders vs. the Office of the Vice President

So, because the Vice President nominally serves as the head of the Senate, he’s claiming not to be an “entity within the executive branch”. As required by the Executive Order, the National Archives has requested that Attorney General Gonzales decide whether the Office of the Vice President is a part of the executive branch or not (read the letter yourself). In fact, it’s interesting to note that the letter to the letter to the Attorney General points out that the only time the Office of the Vice President is mentioned is to grant a single, specific exemption - and if the OVP wasn’t in the executive branch, it wouldn’t need an exemption.And, according to the letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to Vice President Cheney himself, the Vice President’s response was to recommend the abolution of the Archive’s Information Security Oversight Office in its entirety or, barring those changes, eliminating the section in the EO that permits the ISOO to appeal to the Attorney General and changing certain definitions specifically to exempt the OVP from the requirements of the Executive Order. These changes have, thankfully, been rejected by the inter-agency panel responsible for recommending revisions to the President.As Vice President, Dick Cheney is second only to the President in his responsibilities to the country. And as the second-highest executive in the United States, his actions serve as powerful examples of how to behave to other federal employees. Having the Vice President, and a Republican at that, responsible for egregious breaches in national security sets a very poor example. After all, if the Vice President’s office can be exempt from secrecy requirements, then other offices could be as well. How long will it be before the entire Justice Department uses the identical argument (its duties are split between the executive and judicial branches, after all) to exempt itself from annual ISOO oversight?And what are the sanctions for breaking this particular EO? (c) Sanctions may include reprimand, suspension without pay, removal, termination of classification authority, loss or denial of access to classified information, or other sanctions in accordance with applicable law and agency regulation. (d) The agency head, senior agency official, or other supervisory official shall, at a minimum, promptly remove the classification authority of any individual who demonstrates reckless disregard or a pattern of error in applying the classification standards of this order.

As per his own Executive Order, President Bush must, at a minimum, remove Vice President Dick Cheney’s classification authority, but the Vice President’s history of willful disregard of national secrets obviously puts him in the “suspension without pay” or “removal” categories.

Failure to do so puts the President himself in violation of his own Executive Order.

BBC Mortgage Loss Threatens US Banks

Bear Stearns, a leading US finance firm, is trying to prevent the collapse of two hedge funds with major exposure to the high-risk mortgage sector.

Should it sell off investments cheaply, it is feared similar funds will follow suit, causing a crisis in confidence.

Regulators are monitoring the situation amid fears of wider financial turmoil.

For some time it has been feared that the sharp downturn in the housing market, which has shown little sign of flattening out, will spill over into the wider economy.

Psychology Today Love is Not All you Need

If you want to feel alone in a relationship, be with someone who hasn't a clue about what you are going through. Or worse, someone who does have a clue but cannot understand why your pain is a big deal. The two of you can be totally different people in a number of ways, but if a partner is sensitive to how you see the world and experience life, then those differences are unimportant.

Ruth, who has been married to Alex for 31 years, puts it this way, "When we got married, nobody thought it would last because we are so different. Alex is from a working-class family; I am Jewish, he is Lutheran—everyone thought it was a non-starter from the wedding day on. But what they didn't know, and what has been the most important thing in our relationship, is that Alex knows how to listen. Really listen. No matter what, he can see how I'm feeling and he can feel for me. Trust me, that solves a lot of problems."

Prissy mentions the above because she is seeing a outbreak of democrat/independent women leaving their republican husbands/boyfriends. Republican men do not seem to be very good listeners, except when they are looking for love.

LA Times Tourists aren't flocking to the U.S.

Troubled by steep declines in international tourism, U.S. mayors are urging the federal government to spend more money on marketing the United States and to make the entry process friendlier and faster.

Responding to a survey by the Travel Business Roundtable, mayors from the country's top travel destinations said tourism — a driving force of the U.S. economy — needed to be a top priority.

The number of overseas visitors to the U.S. has dropped 17% since its peak in 2000 — and 20% in the top 15 cities — costing more than $100 billion in lost visitor spending through 2005, according to the Commerce Department.

"The dollars derived from tourism are vital to running America's cities," said Jonathan Tisch, chairman of the business group, which is a coalition of travel industry executives.

The problem, gentlemen, is that the marketing has been done for you, compliments of the Bush administration. See below:

Gov Exec Budget chief says Bush won't back down on excessive spending

President Bush will not back away from his threat to veto appropriations bills, even if it means the possibility of a government shutdown, Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Portman said Tuesday.

Portman, addressing a small group of reporters just after announcing that he will leave the administration this summer, said Bush will veto bills that contain excessive spending, and Congress will have to decide whether it wants to shut down the government over the matter.

"He's going to stick to the vetoes. He would very much like to avoid a government shutdown," Portman said, but "that will be a decision Congress has to make." He noted Congress could also pass a continuing resolution to maintain government operations.

The last government shutdown occurred in 1995, when the new Republican Congress and President Clinton could not resolve a standoff. Since then, lawmakers have used continuing resolutions to keep the government running while spending differences were resolved.

Porter is back in Ohio, spending more time with the family. Prissy and friends think it is more likely he quit because of some 'problems' with the budget. See below:

Statement on Accounting Standard 99 Statement on Accounting Standard 99 relates to fraud indicators, one of them being personnel changes. Pace's forced resignation qualifies as a SAS99 fraud indicator: Personnel appear to have had a different view of legal matters, policy issues, and substantive issues involving large dollar amounts. Whether there is or is not illegal activity is a secondary issue. SAS99 compels government auditor to increase audit scope, or the number of auditors/audit engagements, to mitigate chances of audit fraud, risk, and other misstatements in financial reporting. SAS99 does not apply only to financial statements, but also management reporting, management performance audits.

Hmm. Budget problems, financial reporting standards, personnel changes. It's all coming together...

Toronto to Life Black Watch: The Conrad Black Trial

“Eric Sussman, chief prosecutor in the criminal trial against Conrad Black, must have learnt a thing or two from his boss, US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, about playing tough with the media.

He hasn’t actually hauled any reporters off to prison, as Fitzgerald did with Judith Miller, the former New York Times reporter who refused to tell him the name of her sources.

But Sussman’s team let it be known to the gaggle of Canadian, British and American journalists following the three-month trial that he would refuse to speak to them if any journalist quoted the prosecution team’s relatives, who sometimes drop by the court to watch.

The warning was communicated after the straitlaced Sussman could be heard berating a Canadian journalist on Wednesday for quoting the father of his colleague Julie Ruder, who had been in the courtroom watching Black’s lawyer deliver a closing argument.

Some reporters are still bitter about the Judith Miller ordeal. Wish they were as bitter about their own pre-war reporting...

Quotes of the Day

I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.-- Augusten Burroughs

Howard Hughes was able to afford the luxury of madness, like a man who not only thinks he is Napoleon but hires an army to prove it.-- Ted Morgan

Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.--George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood.--Fred Thompson, Speech before the Commonwealth Club of California

A man's homeland is wherever he prospers.--Aristophanes (450 BC - 388 BC), Plutus, 388 B.C.