A Merry Christmas Stocking Stuffer Special

Merry Christmas, Dearest Readers and a Happy New Year to you from all of us here at The Prissy Patriot. The following video was sent to Prissy from IJA. Santa teams up with the Center for Constitutional Rights. Cute, be sure and watch the very end.

A Few Hot Links

Human greed is a threat to the planet, warns Williams

A stark warning that human greed is threatening to destroy the environment was issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury in his Christmas message, while the leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales appealed to people to be more welcoming to immigrants.

Dr Rowan Williams appealed to Christians to do more to safeguard the planet, saying it should not be used "as a warehouse of resources to serve humanity's selfishness".

He told worshippers at Canterbury Cathedral yesterday that people should treat other people and nature with reverence. "More and more [is] clearly required of us as we grow in awareness of how fragile is the balance of species and environments in the world and just how our greed distorts it," he said.

The leader of the Anglican Church added: "When we threaten the balance of things, we don't just put our material survival at risk, more profoundly we put our spiritual sensitivity at risk – the possibility of being opened up to endless wonder by the world around us."

Lakota Freedom. Being a small part Native American, Prissy will be keeping tabs on this development. Legally speaking, it sounds like they are on some solid ground... Lakota Freedom Delegation

"The whole Lakota declaration of withdrawal from the treaty is vested on the power of the Lakota people and our children.

When we undertook the process of announcing the withdrawal, the capacity was far greater than most people anticipated about an individual. But throughout our history, the people have never excluded anyone within their own lifeway and when it becomes a listener's view that its about one individual, one individual does not represent the nation itself, the nation represents the individual, and that is Lakota.

The withdrawal is for the people, the Elders, mothers, fathers, and the children.

Throughout our history and through the enforcement of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Congress said they would oversee the provisions of 1868 (Fort Laramie Treaty), but they failed to do so. Some minor provisions were kept, but overall the treaty was not honored. Because if the treaty was honored, we would not have this colonial catastrophe of alcoholism, drug abuse and poverty and we wouldn't have the overall high incarceration rate of the male and female in the prison populations. This leads to our children being taking away by Social Services which puts our children out of balance from learning the traditional lifeway.

AP Ft Lewis Soldier Granted Leave Time Extension with Sick Baby

Army Sgt. Chris Williams, 24, of Crown Point, now has until Friday to report for duty in the United States, after which he will be returned to his unit in Iraq. Williams has five months to go in his second tour there.

Williams' son, Gabriel Douglas, was born Dec. 18 and seemed healthy until he developed a lung infection that put him in the intensive care unit at Munster Community Hospital.

The soldier originally was due to return Dec. 22, just after his newborn's illness appeared. Military officials at Fort Lewis initially told Williams his leave had been extended until Jan. 3.

But the extension appeared to be rescinded, and it was unclear whether the Army considered him absent without leave, Williams' family said. The only official word they had was a message on Williams' home answering machine from a platoon leader in Iraq, urging him to return quickly.

Yahoo Israelis and Palestinians responding to a survey believe a recent U.S.-sponsored peace conference was a failure

Israelis and Palestinians responding to a survey believe a recent U.S.-sponsored peace conference was a failure and think their leaders won't manage to sign a peace deal in the next year, according to results released Tuesday.

Israelis were more pessimistic, with 74 percent saying the peace summit last month in Annapolis, Md., was a failure compared with 59 percent of Palestinians, according to the poll.

Only the parties doing the talks are failures or the people would have confidence in them...

Bush "hellbent" on War with Iran

‘Because you can see how dangerous this administration is, Bush continues to threaten Iran, which is prohibited under international law, which is covered in the UN Charter and the Geneva Conventions. The facts don’t matter to the president, but it makes it more difficult for him to continue with his designs against Iran.’ —Former U.S. Attorney General, Ramsey Clark

Quotes of the Day

Santa Claus wears a Red Suit, He must be a communist. And a beard and long hair, Must be a pacifist. What's in that pipe that he's smoking? --Arlo Guthrie

Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas every day. --Helen Steiner Rice

I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.--Shirley Temple

You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.--Unknown

Never forget the troops

Happy Holidays , May the Merry Bells Keep Ringing, May Your Every Wish Come True...

December 21, 2007-Dearest Readers, Prissy has been away Oh so long! Missing you all, with so many things to post-but no time to post them. Prissy is planning a holiday special on Christmas Day, so be sure and check back.

The blog is now open for comments, please keep it clean. Unless of course your talking smack about Dubya, his parents, his buddies OR telling Prissy how beauuuteefull she, Queen V, Iron J Angel and Betty Buckaneer are;)

Post below is from 2005...kind of interesting to look back. And look, Peter Pace was talking the same lines Gates is now attempting to sell us.

DEC 2005-Remember that old song, Happy Holidays? Today Prissy would like to wish her dear readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah. It is rare that holiday of the various religions and secular festivities happen on the exact same days, thus the lovely expression Happy Holidays to you.

So let us have a Happy Holiday today...May the New Year bring more peace, justice and democracy to our world. Prissy hopes the United States will come together and realize what we should treasure-the ideals we Americans were born with. The pursuit of happiness, with justice and liberty for all.

Prissy hopes God will Bless you and yours... (Photo below Malmoe, Sweden)

Hot Links

Two new ones from 2007:

Columbus Dispatch-and the only daily paper in Columbus,Ohio since the 1980's. The paper hasn't endorsed democrat for president in over a hundred years...family owned, don't ya know...War in Iraq no longer the primary concern (unless you are a military family?) Friday, December 21, 2007

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- An invisible line was crossed this week in New Hampshire. The war in Iraq is no longer the No. 1 issue among likely voters in the Jan. 8 presidential primary.

They are saying the war is not the No. 1 issue, but didn't say its tied for 1st Place, along with health care amongst Democrats. How could anyone still call themselves a republican without shame? Besides most voters these days will be voting democrat. The republican party is damaged beyond repair-look no further than the clowns the RNC is attempting to pass off as "presidential material."

Economics Briefing Tax Refunds Will Be Delayed Up To Seven Weeks December 20, 2007

Tax refunds will be delayed at the start of 2008 because of late passage of the Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007, which Congress was apparently too busy to pass until now. President Bush is expected to sign the Act that extends the current AMT thresholds with a temporary one year “patch.”

Because this legislation comes so late in the year, e-filing and paper processing of tax returns for everyone may not start until February.

Some IRS instruction manuals will have to be redone because they are now outdated. IRS computers will have to be reprogrammed.

Twelve IRS forms are affected by the AMT including those for child and dependent care credits.

The resulting delay in refunds could be up to seven weeks. It is estimated that a postponement of tax refunds for 15 million taxpayers, including lower and middle class taxpayers who normally file for early refunds, is very possible.

That's the Bushite governments long answer of "the checks in the mail". The prez who believes the economy is "still strong" obviously isn't going to admit he spent our tax dollars like a drunken sailor on leave...

Barrons Editorial Calls for FISA Investigation RAW Story-12/24/05-Barron's editorial page editor Thomas G. Donlan penned a column for Monday's edition entitled "Unwarranted Executive Power" which calls on members of the House Judiciary Committee to investigate if the Bush Administration violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and to either change the law or consider impeachment, RAW STORY has learned.

Kazimierz, Poland - The Jewish Quarter

Federal agents' visit was a hoax-Student admits he lied about Mao book

The story's release came at a perfect storm in the news cycle. Only a day before, The New York Times had reported that President Bush had allowed the National Security Agency to conduct wiretaps on international phone calls from the United States without a warrant. The Patriot Act, created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to allow the government greater authority to monitor for possible terrorism activities, was up for re-authorization in Congress.

There was an increased sense among some Americans that the U.S. government was overstepping its bounds and trampling on civil liberties in order to thwart future attacks of terrorism. The story of a college student being questioned for requesting a 40-year old book on Communism fed right into that atmosphere.

Nice job kid-for the neocons. The real Fourth Amendment violations cannot get into the main stream news and one student makes headline news by making one up...

The Selling of Brand Kurdistan Inter Press Service News

In a parallel strategic track, however, the Kurdish Regional Government appears to be keeping its options open, recently hiring Russo Marsh & Rogers -- a Sacramento, California-based public relations firm with close ties to the Republican Party -- to promote its interests.

Many political observers believe that the future of Iraq may see a full-blown civil war or possible partition. Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh recently wrote in The New Yorker magazine that a United Nations official involved in the elections told him: ”The election was not an election but a referendum on ethnic and religious identity. For the Kurds, voting was about self-determination.”

”Our job” with the Kurds, RM&R's Joe Wierzbicki told IPS, ”is to carry out a public relations campaign that will thank the American people for supporting the war in Iraq, and encourage Americans to visit and invest in the Kurdish region.”

Top US general: Iraqis want us out-Monday 26 December 2005 Al-Jazeera-

The United States' top military commander has admitted that Iraqis want US and other foreign troops to leave the country "as soon as possible".

General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said on Sunday that US troop levels in Iraq were being re-assessed on a monthly basis.

The admission by the top general follows a decision by the Pentagon to reduce its presence in Iraq by two army brigades, which amounts to about 7000 soldiers.

So bring them home!

Before and After the NeoRepublican Makeover

Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) Then:AP Photo

(A dirty looking-pp) Norm Coleman protests the Vietnam War as an undergraduate student at Hofstra University, in this 1970's black-and-white file photo. The Republican senator from Minnesota, who also attended the Woodstock music festival, voted in 2007 against spending $1 million for a museum that commemorates Woodstock. (AP Photo/Hofstra Chronicle,file)

Like many pro-war neorepublicans, Norm loves war-but only if your kind and mine can be ordered to fight it-otherwise its just not his thing...

And Now:Norm feebly attempts to explain in Iraq, to deployed MN National Guard why they and their equipment will be in Iraq should natural disaster strike their state.

Norm is attempting to keep his GOP senate seat away from DINO Al Franken, the comedian and former Air America talking head.

Boy, did Prissy ever tire of hearing that Al whine about why we "couldn't just leave Iraq."

Nor would Al give adequate explanation as to why he wasn't willing to sacrifice his own military age son to "finish the job." Al seems to have used Air America to spring board his senate campaign

Hopefully, Al is the lesser of the two eveels for Minnesota's next Senator in Washington.

Al just got his only Prissy Patriot free ad giveaway...

A Side Note: Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has announced his engagement to a woman much younger than himself- a Head Start teacher. A typical man thing, but certainly a gal with a noble profession.

Now Prissy shall have to get a new invisible boyfriend. Fortunately, they are very easy to come by...

Hot Links

Yahoo Thousands Call for Swift End to War

THOUSANDS? Millions worldwide have protested this war for YEARS...the media acts like this is the first time Americans have protested this war. There were actually larger protests, including military families, BEFORE the war began in Washington.

However, the media was MIA at that time...

Are they afraid Iraqi civilians, military and their families will sue them? Maybe they should be. Did they remember they are Americans? Or was no one buying their fake news.

Remember how Fox news gave these reporters the shaft, as did the courts? The rules are different when plantiffs are hurt because Fox or other media failed to print the truth and people are hurt as a result, as well as having a motivating factor to do $o.

FOX BGH lawsuit NEWS OF LAWSUIT EXPOSING MEDIA COVERUP OF SUSPECTED DANGER IN MILK

FLORIDA MILK SUPPLY RIDDLED WITH ARTIFICIAL HORMONE LINKED TO CANCER; REPORTERS SAY THEY WERE ORDERED TO LIE ABOUT IT ON FOX-TV

TAMPA—Two award-winning investigative reporters at the Fox-owned television station in Tampa are blowing the whistle on a story they say WTVT (Ch 13) and its corporate bosses preferred to coverup rather than broadcast honestly and accurately.

The story, documented in a lawsuit the reporters filed Thursday, reveals the widespread use of a controversial bovine growth hormone Florida dairymen have been secretly injecting into their cows.

NYT Governor Accused of Betraying Principles

Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s retreat from his plan to permit illegal immigrants to obtain the same kind of driver’s licenses as other New Yorkers drew angry reactions yesterday from civil liberties advocates and immigrant groups, some of whom described the shift as a stunning betrayal.

The governor has been under fierce assault from conservative groups and others since proposing last month to allow illegal immigrants to get New York driver’s licenses. But joined by the federal secretary of homeland security, Michael Chertoff, in Washington yesterday, the governor announced a starkly different version of his plan.

It calls for separate tiers of licenses. New Yorkers who could provide stringent proof of legal residency could get the new federally recognized license known as Real ID. The licenses available to illegal residents would not serve as federal identification.

“What a huge political flip,” said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition.

Everyone is entitled to a few huge mistakes...apparently Spitzer just used up one of his.

MSNBC Guantanamo remark offends Dutch officials

Dutch lawmakers who visited the Guantanamo Bay military prison this week said they were offended by a testy exchange in Washington with a senior congressional Democrat.

The lawmakers said that Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told them that “Europe was not as outraged by Auschwitz as by Guantanamo Bay.”

Lantos, a Holocaust survivor, was responding to arguments that the United States should shut down the prison, located on a U.S. naval base in Cuba, the lawmakers said.

...“You have to help us, because if it was not for us you would now be a province of Nazi Germany,” Lantos said, according to the Dutch lawmakers.

Apparently, Lantos learned about diplomacy and dialogue from Massah Boosh and Dick the side-kick. Victims should not think that because they are victims that it gives them a blank check to do/say as they damn well please when diplomacy is the job they signed on for, all victimhood aside...others like no shame McCain come to mind.

Where is Lantos sympathy for the survivors of the USS Liberty or the USS Cole?

Postnote: The USS Cole that was attacked had been warned by the "Able Danger" intel days before.

So why did it still happen? Not sure, but the rumor is certain people were hoping the international incident would start a war-but Bill Clinton didn't bite. He apparently knew something the rest of us didn't back then. Like who was really behind it...and how come are all the attackers out of jail already? (The ones who didn't "escape") Hmmm...

IHT As temperatures rise, a greening of Greenland

When using the words "growing" in connection with Greenland in the same sentence, it is important to remember that although Greenland is about four times the size of France, it has only nine conifer forests like Bjerge's, all of them cultivated. It has only 51 farms. (They are all sheep farms, although one man is trying to raise cattle. He has 22 cows.) Except for potatoes, the only vegetables most Greenlanders ever eat - to the extent that they eat vegetables at all - are imported, mostly from Denmark.

But now that the climate is warming, it is not just old trees that are growing. A Greenlandic supermarket is stocking locally grown cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage this year for the first time. Eight sheep farmers are growing potatoes commercially. Five more are experimenting with vegetables. And Kenneth Hoeg, the region's chief agriculture adviser, says he does not see why southern Greenland cannot eventually be full of vegetable farms and viable forests.

"If it gets warmer, a large part of southern Greenland could be like this," Hoeg said, walking through Qanasiassat, a boat ride from Narsarsuaq, a tiny southern community notable mostly for having an international airport. A hectare, or about two and a half acres, near here of imported pines, spruces, larches and firs are plunked in the midst of the scrubby, rocky hillside next to the fjord, as startling as a mirage.

Farther north, Greenland's great ice sheet, a vast white landscape of 1.8 million square kilometers, or 700,000 square miles, covering 80 percent of the island's land mass, is melting rapidly, alarmingly, with repercussions not only for the traditional way of life on an island of 56,000 people, but also for the rest of the world. The more the ice melts, the higher sea levels will eventually rise.

Dubya tells us global warming is all in our minds. You know, like doctors used to say to women about the pain of menstrual cramps...that is, until there were women gyno's! (Sorry in advance to Prissy's doctor friends, but going to a male gynecologist seems too much like going to a Volks Wagon mechanic when your Cadillac needs repaired)

Remember the limbless young soldier exploited by the fascist loving "Freedom Watch"? They are getting sued...collective awww. The plaintiff is claiming Trademark infringement. Ari, still working for the same guys

Klayman v. Freedom's Watch, Inc. cv-22433-PCH

Here are the founders of Fascist watch Inc., aka Freedom's Watch, Inc., Bradley Blakeman, Ari Fleischer, Mel Sembler, William P. Weidner, Matthew Brooks, Anthony Gioia, Kevin Moley, Howard Leach, Ed Snider, Sheldon Adelson and Richard Fox

Here's the list of shameless money grubbers representing the "loyal Bushie" fascists without honor: (mostly of Patton Boggs)Mitchell R. Berger,George Borababy,John J. Dabney,Heather M. McPhee and Justin Brian Uhlemann

The plaintiff is just one man,Larry Elliot Klayman-representing himself. He must be one scary guy to need all those lawyers-or Freedom for Fascists have one very weak case. Maybe you could email Larry Klayman, ask if he needs any help. Email Mr. Klayman here

What these fascists deserve for selling out their country and exploiting injured soldiers and their families, a lawsuit can never make whole. But even an unrelated lawsuit would be nice...

Journal Gazette Ft. Wayne, IN Georgia's reservoirs are already low and could fall below their conservation pools

So Georgia has called for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the amount of water released from federal reservoirs that include Lakes Allatoona and Lanier. Perdue also asked President Bush to declare Georgia a major disaster area, and to use executive powers to slash water releases from the reservoirs.

(Gov's )Riley and Crist responded last week with letters to the president of strong opposition.

Riley noted that the Farley Nuclear Plant on the Chattahoochee River in east Alabama - which produces 19 percent of Alabama Power Co.'s electricity - cannot operate if water flow falls below the minimum needed for cooling.

That, he wrote, "could require a shutdown of the plant, thereby putting the reliability of the electric power grid in the region at risk."

What could a water shortage lead to? Apparently a shortage of hops...Beer drinkers beware: Shortage to boost costs Undersupply of one key ingredient — hops — could impact flavor too

Now the bright spot in the brewing industry is facing mounting costs on nearly every front. Fuel, aluminum and glass prices have been going up quickly over a period of several years. Barley and wheat prices have skyrocketed as more farmers plant corn to meet increasing demand for ethanol, while others plant feed crops to replace acres lost to corn.

A decade-long oversupply of hops that had forced farmers to abandon the crop is finally gone and harvests were down this year. In the United States, where one-fourth of the world’s hops are grown, acreage fell 30 percent between 1995 and 2006.

Australia endured its worst drought on record. Hail storms across Europe damaged crops. Extreme heat in the western United States hurt both yields and quality.

Big brewers can hedge against rising prices for raw ingredients and can negotiate better, longer-term contracts for ingredients, while smaller brewers generally are left with whatever is left.

Andrew Sullivan, the Atlantic Giuliani Makes Light Of Soviet Torture

The ignorance of Rudy Giuliani with respect to the history of torture is almost on a level with his ignorance about Islam and the Middle East. Yesterday, he made this comment: "They talk about sleep deprivation. I mean, on that theory, I'm getting tortured running for president of the United States. That's plain silly. That's silly."

Really? Has Giuliani ever inquired about the history of sustained sleep deprivation as a torture technique? Stalin perfected it. And one of its victims was Menachem Begin, a man for whom presumably Giuliani has some respect. Begin was subjected to the same techniques that Bush has used by Joseph Stalin in the Gulag. In Begin's view, being forced - not choosing - to stay awake for days and even weeks on end (as Rumsfeld approved in Gitmo) is one of the worst forms of torture there is. He described just such a torture victim who is "wearied to death, his legs are unsteady, and he has one sole desire to sleep, to sleep just a little, not to get up, to lie, to rest, to forget ... Anyone who has experienced the desire knows that not even hunger or thirst are comparable it with it."

Hat tip to fellow blogger SPB Finally! Larry Flynt Gets Ready to Dish the Dirt!

Larry Flynt, editor and publisher of Hustler magazine, just told FOX Business Network’s Neil Cavuto that he’s “hoping to expose a bombshell” that will stand “Washington and the country on its head.” Within the next week or two, he says his magazine will expose a sex scandal of huge proportions involving a prominent United States Senator. Flynt refused to comment on the Senator’s political affiliation, but alluded that he or she is a Republican.

Outstanding work patriot, Prissy salutes you. Yes, Dearest Readers, Prissy knows who he is. Sometimes it takes a dirty old man to know and find what dirty old men do. BTW, dirty old men? They were dirty young men.

Houston Chronicle Lengthy standoff ends in Spring with man's suicide

A 12-hour standoff ended this morning with a north Houston man lobbing Molotov cocktails at Houston Police before taking his own life rather than vacate a home he'd lost to foreclosure.

James Hahn, a chemist, had told police he would not be taken from the home alive, said Capt. Bruce Williams, an HPD spokesman.

" 'You know what I do for a living and you know what I am capable of,' " said Williams, recalling one of the conversations police had with the man on Wednesday.

The standoff began at 1:10 p.m. Wednesday when police said Hahn pulled a gun on Precinct 4 constable deputies who had attempted to serve him with a warrant for eviction at the home in the 21000 block of Covington Bridge in Spring, authorities said.

A terrible ending, reminds Prissy of stories Granny tells about the great depression...

CBC regarding another war we were duped in to, since OBL is dead. But how could neorepublicans justify two wars without their boogie man? Hillier denies contradicting PM over Afghan mission length

Liberal MP Scott Brison praised Hillier as "a real soldier who dares to tell the truth" and accused the prime minister of misleading Canadians.

"Who is telling the truth — Canada's top soldier or Canada's top spinner?" Brison asked.

NDP defence critic Dawn Black, whose party has called for the immediate withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan, said Hillier's and the Tories' "wildly different" assessments have left the prime minister's office "fuming."

"There's nothing the Conservatives hate more than a script they haven't written," Black said.

She added it also raised questions over whether elected civilians are truly in charge of the Afghan mission.

"Conservatives" (who conserve nothing but liberties of others) appear to be same in Canada as they are in the US.

A blog we'll call wishful thinking and interesting reading, until we can verify... Alcuin and Flutterby

Behind the scenes, elements of civil war are becoming evident within the White House. On the eve of the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings at the end of October 2007, Dick Cheney attempted to steal $45 billion from George Bush Jnr. A long-serving banker of Pakistani origin based at the New York office of Credit Suisse diverted $45 billion for a secret personal account held by Halliburton in Dubai for Vice President Richard B Cheney. The $45 billion represented stolen money held in trust for the President of the United States, George Bush Jnr.

This illegal transaction was frustrated by a covert fail-safe mechanism. The Credit Suisse banker was arrested and shortly afterwards, under interrogation, suffered a mysterious heart attack. At about 2.30pm Eastern Daylight Time on Friday 19th October 2007, Credit Suisse domestic banking in the USA collapsed and was taken over by Union Bank of Switzerland. This story has yet to be covered by the mainline media in the USA. More details here, here and here.

On the 25th October 2007, Patrick Bellringer reported that on several occasions recently The Higher Evolution have stopped the Bush-Cheney White House from nuking major USA cities, nuking the major oil depot in Texas City, and creating artificial earthquakes in California. Should such a 911-style homegrown terrorist attack be accomplished again, the USA government would blame the attack on Iranian terrorists, and the long-planned Iran war would be launched. More details here.

The World Court has lodged ten charges of Treason against George Bush Jnr, the 43rd President of the United States of America. These will shortly be served on him by the Adjutant General for the USA accompanied by the Provost Marshall for the USA (Brigadier General Rodney Johnson). More details can be found in a Casper Update of the 21st September 2007 here. It is said that the President is using Patriot Act emergency powers to prevent news of these Treason charges reaching the mainstream media in the USA.

BBC Iraq warns Turkey over incursion

Iraq's foreign minister has warned of serious consequences if Turkey launches a ground assault against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq.

Hoshyar Zebari told the BBC that the current crisis was "dead serious" and accused Turkey of not seeking a peaceful solution. He said Turkey had shown no interest in Iraqi proposals to calm the situation.

Turkey has 100,000 troops near the border and is threatening to attack the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq.

Good job once again Dubya, nothing like a little Armageddon to get the blood flowing...

The Ugly Truth My Weekend with the Survivors of the USS Liberty–Pt 1

The Liberty was attacked–no ifs, ands or buts about it, and attacked–not by militant Islamic fanatics or neo-Nazi, right-wing militia types from the mountains of Montana, but by America’s “only ally in the region”–Israel. Attacked by Israel after 6 hours of low-level, lumbering reconnaissance flights. Attacked by the Jewish state for over an hour with more than 800 rockets, tens of thousands of armor-piercing shells, napalm and 5 torpedoes. As a result of Israel’s actions 34 American men died, 171 were wounded, and what’s worse is the fact that for the last 40 years the survivors have told a version of what happened that does not jibe in anyway with the pathetic excuses offered by the attackers for the event.

Collectively the Liberty fellows are like the guy next door who comes to help you out when a tree blew over in your yard following a night of thunderstorms or the guy who helps an old lady out by changing her flat tire. Unlike the liars who argue that the act of war perpetrated against the United States on 6/8/67 was all a big accident, by contrast the Liberty boys are honest to a fault, like the customer who points out to the cashier that she gave him too much money in change. These simple, unassuming, non-pretentious sailors are not wealthy, ambitious, greedy, blue-blooded bloodhounds following the scent of money and political power. All they want is the truth told. None (to my knowledge) have tried to get rich off of the event. None (to my knowledge) have sought or won any high political offices. None are trying to use the event as a springboard for some high-profile public career. All they want is a fair airing of the facts so that the demons loosed into their unassuming lives 40 years ago can be put to rest and that–once again–they can be proud to call themselves the sons and grandsons of those who 200 years ago caused a foreign, occupying power to scurry off with its tail between its legs as a result of the happy marriage of American arms and resolution.

And these facts (along with the hard, empirical data of what took place on June 8, 1967) are what the pro-Israel groups fear the worst. Instinctively they must know that despite all the propagandizing and bullying they inflict upon the American people that at some point blood will prove to be thicker than water, that the American people will remember who they are and thus will come to the conclusion that siding with the foreign body responsible for the murder of 34 American sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers has no upside to it and that no perks associated with being an FOI–meaning a Friend of Israel–are to be had.

The Part I article was an excellent read, though he'll take some heat for using the term Zionist. Not quite sure why,as it seems to Prissy like referring to someone as Catholic, Lutheran, Mormon or Jehovah Witness...

Quotes of the Day

More than ever before it is now necessary for the whole Party to stand in blind obedience, as one man, behind the leadership...Hilter's man-Voelkischer Beobachter (Sueddeutsche Ausgabe), No. 88, March 29, 1933.

The fox knows many things," he wrote, "but the hedgehog knows one big thing.--Archilochus (and thank you Comrade Tribune)

"I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator."--[Adolph Hitler, _Mein Kampf_, pp. 46]

God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and esI will have to focus on them.-- George W Bush, according to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, from minutes acquired by Haaretz from cease-fire negotiations between Abbas and faction leaders from the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular and Democratic Fronts (circa June, 2003), quoted from Arnon Regular, "'Road map is a life saver for us,' PM Abbas tells Hamas" (Haaretz.com:June 27, 2003)Bush's Grandpa Prescott would be proud

the media -W beats Nixon !!!!

The "Good Old Days", aye, Dubya?

Yesterday afternoon i see on Yahoo that W's approval rating has hit a new low. Only 23% of Americans polled approve of the job George W. Bush is doing as President. (This is down from 31%.) And keep in mind that Prissy and Iron Jawed Angel were not called for this survey or W's numbers would sink even lower!!! I went online a few hours later to email this info to Prissy and guess what? It was gone - i could not find the article. There is nothing about these new low ratings in my newspaper today.

Why? My first complaint with the media-WHY do they continue to tell us W's APPROVAL rating when it is so low? Why do they not report that W's DISAPPROVAL rating of 77% shatters the previous record held by Richard M. Nixon. I'm bad at math but even i know that 77% is over 3/4ths of the people questioned. Wow! Congratulations W!!! History will remember you as the worst president ever.

(Readers! Get your collector item shirts saying just that at http://www.bartcop.com/. )

In July 1974, just before Nixon left office, his disapproval rating was only at 66% and he had the intelligence to resign, quit. Gee, IJA never thought she would see worse than Nixon. To get in trouble over what Nixon lied about seems tame by todays standards don't you think?! Think about this - no president has ever had lower approval ratings and IJA wonders why this is not reported by the mainstream media. Do we really care more about Brittany and her kids or Ellen and her dog?

Harry and Nancy - you two might want to take notice that the approval ratings for Congress are even lower than W's.

IJA is hoping for single digits where Congress is concerned unless they grow a backbone, i'm not holding my breath. The house cannot even come up with the votes to override Bush's veto for poor kids health care?? Can someone please tell me how W can get away with what he is getting away with? Congress is not following the job description that the Constitution lays out for them! W says he vetoed that bill due to $$? What a crock of **** that is when we think about the $10 billion dollars PER MONTH we are spending on his war. Do the math - $10 billion a month = $2.5 billion a week which = $1.33 million a minute which = $22,200 dollars EVERY SECOND.......can we even fathom that?

What could we do with that kind of money here in the U.S.? As a teacher in a public school system don't even get me started on that thought. Why does he not have a problem with money for war but he does have a problem with money for health care or kids?

Quotes of the Day

Samuel Butler (1612-1680)

The most important service rendered by the press and the magazines is that of educating people to approach printed matter with distrust. George Orwell (1903-1950)

Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b.1918)

Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the twentieth century, and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press.

Sept 15th DC Protest Photos...Finally

(Click any photo to enlarge)

Dearest Readers, Prissy apologizes for being away so long. So long, in fact, a regular Dearest Reader has been blogging to get the message out. Thank you to her.

Prissy is pleased to announce a new blogger Iron Jawed Angel to The Prissy PatriotShe teaches government-AMERICAN government. You can feel free to write to us with any questions you may have.

Finally figured out how to get the protest photos off of the PDA, so here they are. A few important announcements and articles at the bottom of the blog.

The new job has been taking up so much time, but Prissy hopes to be blogging again soon. Always looking for good (and free;) help...Thank You and Welcome Iron Jawed Angel!

Iron Jawed Angel attended the September 15th protest too. A.N.S.W.E.R. was the sponsor and contrary to various news reports, the police IJA spoke with explained how he estimated the march at 100,000 plus. Shame on the media, dropping the ball on democracy-as usual.

Veterans at the front of the line in Washington. Some other orgs spread the ugly rumor that veterans were not allowed to lead the march in 2005. Not true then or now-more like disagreements about speakers...but you should be aware A.N.S.W.E.R. does not support the occupation of Palestine.

A side note: The CIA Leak case is NOT said and done...only Scooter's part. Normally, a prosecutor would use a guy like Libby to flip on the others. Maybe Mr. Fitzgerald was not expecting Libby to take the fall-and then not fall. Who was- besides Bush/Cheney and of course Scooter?

Since Scooter didn't flip, we go to the next stage and on to the other officials unnamed in Libby's indictment. You know, the ones who actually outed Ms Plame for her husbands OpEd piece that started the whole thing. Prissy is here to tell you, its not over...she can smell the fear coming from the White House.

Remember this?

Libby's lawyers argue that since the primary focus is on Libby's state of mind as to whether or not he intentionally lied, "decisions made by certain reporters and their attorneys to challenge grand jury subpoenas and contempt orders are not [relevant] to Mr. Libby's state of mind."

Libby's lawyers also seek to prevent the government from providing evidence that information from the National Intelligence Estimate was illegally disclosed, or that Valerie Plame's status with CIA was classified or covert and that disclosing Plame's status caused damage.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald petitioned the court on Monday to exclude evidence or arguments regarding the government's decision not to file other charges against Libby or not to charge other people connected with the case.

Gee, why do you suppose he was willing to exclude evidence and arguments about the others? Think he's a republican partisan hack? Oh my, Prissy is laughing with mirth at the thought. Bye, bye Dick... Neocon sunrise, by artist Stephen Pitt

Family for Peace

Very creative,that's why protests are so much fun. Even if they aren't very effective-short of getting a million out into the streets.

Ohio is NOT a red state,here's proof!

So much for Rover's campaign to make protesters appear anti-military!

Nancy and Harry best pay attention-their job security isn't looking so good...

Still looking for the hippies those right-wingers keep telling us about...

Ron Paul supporters. Not a bad guy, even if he doesn't like the Dept of Education. Given four years, he would end the war and revive the Constitution -Prissy could live with that. Note: A RP sign on an Ohio road side, was returned to its place after the state workers mowed!

Indeed, Dick with a bullseye on his back. Get him, Fitz!

See this, Nancy? Dearest Readers, Ms. Nancy doesn't understand she is supposed to be a LEADER, not Dubya's ADVOCATE.

End of the line, protesters take a rest outside the Capital building. The arrests you heard about were pre-planned...

Hot Links

The Guardian The man who knew too muchHe was the CIA's expert on Pakistan's nuclear secrets, but Rich Barlow was thrown out and disgraced when he blew the whistle on a US cover-up. Now he's to have his day in court.

Once again, Barlow was able to bounce back. In January 1989, he was recruited by the Office of the Secretary of Defence (OSD) at the Pentagon to become its first intelligence analyst in WMD. For a man uncomfortable with political pragmatism, it was a strange move: he was now in a department that was steeped in realpolitik, balancing the commercial needs of the US military industry against America's international obligations. Within weeks, he had again built a stack of evidence about Pakistan's WMD programme, including intelligence that the Pakistan army was experimenting with a delivery system for its nuclear bomb, using US-provided technology. "Our side was at it again," Barlow says.

Still optimistic, still perhaps naive and still committed to the ideal of thwarting the Pakistan programme, Barlow convinced himself that his experience in the CIA was untypical, the work of a handful of political figures who would now not be able to reach him. When he was commissioned to write an intelligence assessment for Dick Cheney, defence secretary, giving a snapshot of the Pakistan WMD programme, he thought he was making headway. Barlow's report was stark. He concluded that the US had sold 40 F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan in the mid-80s - it had been a precondition of the sale that none of the jets could be adapted to drop a nuclear bomb. He was convinced that all of them had been configured to do just that. He concluded that Pakistan was still shopping for its WMD programme and the chances were extremely high that it would also begin selling this technology to other nations. Unbeknown to Barlow, the Pentagon had just approved the sale of another 60 F-16s to Pakistan in a deal worth $1.4bn, supposedly with the same provison as before.

"Officials at the OSD kept pressurising me to change my conclusions," Barlow says. He refused and soon after noticed files going missing. A secretary tipped him off that a senior official had been intercepting his papers. In July 1989, Barlow was hauled before one of the Pentagon's top military salesmen, who accused him of sabotaging the new F-16 deal. Eight days later, when Congress asked if the jet could be adapted by Pakistan to drop a nuclear bomb, the Defence Department said, "None of the F-16s Pakistan already owns or is about to purchase is configured for nuclear delivery." Barlow was horrified.

On August 4 1989, he was fired. "They told me they had received credible information that I was a security risk." Barlow demanded to know how and why. "They said they could not tell me as the information was classified." All they would say was that "senior Defence Department officials", whose identities were also classified, had supplied "plenty of evidence". The rumour going around the office was that Barlow was a Soviet spy. Barlow went home to Cindy. "We were in marriage counselling following my fall-out at the CIA. We were getting our relationship back on track. And now I had to explain that I was being fired from the Pentagon."

Great Blog, Indict Dick Cheney Blogspot

it seems at least some of the documents unsealed on wednesday, in the 10th circuit court of appeals, in denver, support mr. nacchio's extremely bold-faced assertion that he was pressured -- prior to 9/11 -- to grant arguably unconstitutional law-enforcement warrantless access to wholly innocent americans' private telecom records, and conversations. . .

[his contention seems to be that he was then targeted by the government, for refusing to "knuckle- under" to these unconstitutional spying demands. . .

And...this will be fascinating -- and i will post portions of the best unsealed documents right here -- for the world to see -- that cheney, and his one-trick-pony-george-dubbya were well on their way to shredding our constitutional rights, long before the mantra of "nine-eleven- changed-everything" even existed. . .

we shall see -- and learn -- much from this particularly throaty, if felonious, canary, joe nacchio. . . he did run a telecom, you know.

Military wives saying End the WAR!

WaPo, telling it like it really is-for a change WALTER REED AND BEYOND A Wife's Battle When Her Soldier Returned From Baghdad, Michelle Turner Picked Up the Burden of War

The government's sweeping list of promises to make wounded Iraq war veterans whole, at least financially, has not reached this small house in the hills of rural West Virginia, where one vehicle has already been repossessed and the answering machine screens for bill collectors. The Turners have not been making it on an $860-a-month disability check from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

After revelations about the poor treatment of outpatient soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center earlier this year, President Bush appointed a commission to study the care of the nation's war-wounded. The panel returned with bold recommendations, including the creation of a national cadre of caseworkers and a complete overhaul of the military's disability system that compensates wounded soldiers.

But so far, little has been done to sort out the mess of bureaucracy or put more money in the hands of newly disabled soldiers who are fending off evictions and foreclosures.

In the Turner house, that leaves an exhausted wife with chipped nail polish to hold up the family's collapsing world. "Stand Together," a banner at a local cafe reminds Michelle. But since Troy came back from Iraq in 2003, the burden of war is now hers.

Military children for peace. Their father is permanently disabled from his reserve tour in Iraq.

Dearest Readers, please bookmark this organization and tell your friends. Veterans and Military Families for Progress looks out for the rights/benefits of veterans AND their families. Dubya and his neocon buddies don't care who pays the price of their war, but others do.

True Story of the Day

I met a Staff Sgt career vet and his lovely wife. He was injured on his 2nd and 3rd tour-now looking at med retirement. They were age mid 30's. He had the opportunity to tell Bush off-TO HIS FACE!

He was still in a wheelchair at Walter Reed (back surgery, much better, walking now) and was told to go downstairs, then to stand up for Bush. He said no, I'm going back to my room before I'll stand up for that man. So he did. He shared a room with a Marine. So Bush comes up to his room.

He said Bush got to the door way and Sgt said (he's an African American man with booming voice) "Get the fuck outta here." Bush looked like "what did he just say?" He goes on "You heard me, get the fuck outta here-we don't like no bitch's around here." Bush looks at the Marine-Marine says "that's right, we don't like no bitch's around here." Bush left.

Needless to say I thanked him for ALL of his service!! What a great moment in history that shouldn't go untold!

The Pear of 'Terrer' Quits!

Karl Rove, the "Pear of Terror"

Dearest Readers, this will be a short post. But you all know Prissy could not ignore this latest development! August 31st will be Rover's last day.

Do you believe, now that his son is grown and going off to college, his Daddy Rover wants to spend more time with him? No? Prissy isn't buying it either...

So why is Rover really calling it quits? He and Dubya have been turds of a feather for over 30 years. Speculation is wild, Rover claims he will be writing a book. He may need the proceeds for legal fees.

Emptywheel has some good fodder to think about why Rove quit now. As she so aptly points out, Karl is involved in lot's of dirty dealings. It was only a matter of time until something stuck...

Prissy is still thinking that Rover got a proffer from very special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and perhaps Rover just got notice the time is up and its time to get his affairs in order before facing the music.

The last time Karl mused about quitting was May of 2006 when msm was hinting his indictment was expected at any moment.

If Karl was the White House mole, he was probably doing double agent against Cheney and Steven Hadley. Most likely there was always the agreement between Rover and Dubya that should they ever be caught, it would never be Dubya who took the fall...

Fed UP with Dubya's brand of democracy? Write a letter about it, email it to Prissy along with your picture or a picture about what you are fed-up about. Prissy will return to Washington, DC for a couple of weeks next month. Your letters and pictures will be personally delivered to your representative. Just let Prissy know who needs to receive your ire and she will see to that they get it!

You can email or snail mail to: The Prissy Patriot, PO BOX 30322, Gahanna, OH 43230

Hot LinksComing soon!

Analysis: Rove bows out despised and deified

Rove said he fully expects accusations that he is leaving under pressure. "I know they'll say that," he told the Journal. "But I'm not going to leave or stay based on whether it pleases the mob."

Either way, Rove is not leaving on a high note. Most Americans do not approve of Bush's performance in office, and especially the his management of the war.

The days of big policy dreaming are over, as White House officials focus mostly on the upcoming budget fight and the never-ending battle over the war.

The domestic policies Rove championed with an eye on changing the GOP and history - most notably overhauling the Social Security system and immigration laws - are dead. Few Republicans want to bring them back to life.

Financial Times Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Walker said he had mentioned some of the issues before but now wanted to “turn up the volume”. Some of them were too sensitive for others in government to “have their name associated with”.

“I’m trying to sound an alarm and issue a wake-up call,” he said. “As comptroller general I’ve got an ability to look longer-range and take on issues that others may be hesitant, and in many cases may not be in a position, to take on.

“One of the concerns is obviously we are a great country but we face major sustainability challenges that we are not taking seriously enough,” said Mr Walker, who was appointed during the Clinton administration to the post, which carries a 15-year term.

The fiscal imbalance meant the US was “on a path toward an explosion of debt”.

Treason? Let us count the ways...

From A.N.S.W.E.R.Stop Government Attacks Against the Anti-War Movement!

In an unprecedented action, the ANSWER Coalition today received citations fining the organization $10,000 for the placement of posters announcing the September 15 March on Washington DC. The fines come after a campaign led by FOX news calling for the DC government to take action against those putting up posters for the September 15 demonstration.

They have told us that we have 72 hours to remove every poster, or the fines will go into effect. Tens of thousands of dollars in additional fines are expected in the coming days. Bush’s Interior Department is threatening similar actions against ANSWER. The September 15 posters are legal and conform to city regulations. We will not allow the government's intimidation tactics to slow our outreach or silence the antiwar movement.

We can stop this effort to repress the antiwar movement with your help.

Reuters Rove leaves more second-term blues for White House

With Democrats in control of Congress and brimming with optimism about the 2008 White House race, Rove's talk of a lasting and historic shift to Republican dominance seems long ago.

"This closes the chapter where George Bush and Karl Rove thought they were building a new Republican majority that would last a generation. That is clearly off the table," said Cal Jillson, a political analyst at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Bush's top domestic priorities -- overhauls of Social Security and immigration -- are dead in Congress, leaving the administration scrambling in its final 17 months to save his first-term tax cuts, blunt Democratic spending priorities and salvage the war in Iraq.

"At this point all they are trying to do is save some of the signature items from their first term and hand off the war in Iraq to the next guy in better shape than it looks today," Jillson said.

My Guesses on Why Rove Resigned by emptywheel

The Abramoff Investigation We know Rove is tied in with everyone tied in with the Abramoff inevstigattion. We know that Susan Ralston, Rove's Assistant was closely involved--and it appears that she has been refused immunity, even though some of her testimony about Abramoff appears to be quite interesting. Novak, at least, thinks Ralston would get to Rove. So it's possible that Rove is one of the ultimate targets of the Abramoff investigation.

The OSC Investigation This is easy. We know Rove is a target of the OSC investigation into the politicization of anything and everything in the entire government. We know he did, in fact, politicize anything and everything. The ultimate outcome of an OSC investigation would consist of Scott Bloch explaining that Rove did politicize anything and everything and recommending that Bush should fire him, but then to have Bush sit on that recommendation as he has with Lurita Doan. But perhaps Rove is leaving anyway, in an attempt to prevent us all from learning how closely our government resembles that of a one-party state, like maybe the old Soviet Union.

The Iglesias Investigation But I'm most interested in the possibility that Rove is rushing out just two steps ahead of the Iglesias investigation. HJC is collecting a great deal of evidence that DOJ employees covered up the real reasons for the Iglesias firing ... and that the real reason for the firing had everything to do with politicizing the judiciary. It not only has evidence that Will Moschella, Paul McNulty, and Alberto Gonzales lied about the reasons for Iglesias' firing, it appears that Moschella, at least, is getting downright cooperative (and note, McNulty is going to be out of DOJ at almost the same time as Rove will be out of the WH).

If this is the reason Rove is quitting, it's not just that BushCo wants him out before he's officially indicted. After all, it's not just Rove--but Bush, too--who was involved in firing Iglesias. So Rove may be leaving as part of a firewall approach in an attempt to save Bush. If it comes to it, Rove may admit to having Iglesias fired in an attempt to politicize the entire judiciary to hide the fact that--in this specific case, at least--Bush but was involved in that process, too.

NYT China Enacting a High-Tech Plan to Track People

At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets here in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity.

Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.

Data on the chip will include not just the citizen’s name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord’s phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China’s controversial “one child” policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card.

Security experts describe China’s plans as the world’s largest effort to meld cutting-edge computer technology with police work to track the activities of a population and fight crime. But they say the technology can be used to violate civil rights.

Rolling Stone John Edwards is Third in the Polls, But Don't Count Him Out

If he weren't rich, handsome and so well married, you might feel a little sorry for John Edwards. Never before in the 231-year history of our republic have the inalienable traits that Edwards possesses -- his fair skin and a Y chromosome -- been anything but a prerequisite for presidential politics. Today, his race and gender stand a chance of derailing his campaign altogether. "There's a lot of democrats who would like to make history," says Markos Moulitsas, founder of the influential online forum Daily Kos. "The party is anxious to nominate a black or a woman," agrees Dick Morris, the former adviser to Bill Clinton. "You have to sign off on either of those two options before you even get to voting for Edwards." Indeed, Edwards has been all but eclipsed by the celebrity candidacies of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama: He ranks a distant third in national polls, and his $12 million cash on hand is barely a third of Hillary's and Obama's hauls.

But counting Edwards out would be a big mistake. Flying below the radar, the former vice-presidential candidate is pulling off a feat that Democratic consultants have long considered impossible: staking out the most progressive platform among the viable candidates while preserving an aura of electability. In head-to-head polling against the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, Clinton and Obama have managed to post only modest leads. Edwards, by contrast, not only bests every Republican candidate in the race, he trounces them -- by an average of twelve points.

"Edwards' message is more left than it was in '04, and it's attracting the right kind of people for the primaries," says Bill Carrick, a veteran party strategist. "But the general electorate still sees him as mainstream. He's doing a good job of threading that needle."

John Edwards, like Kucinich would make a very good president in 08. Edwards probably has the best chance of making it among people on both sides of the political isle who vote. Here in Ohio, he is well liked. He got a little over 30% in the Ohio 2004 primary and he's no longer an unknown candidate 2007. Look for him to poll well in this state. Unlike Hillary, being dogged from both political parties and the real fun hasn't yet begun. Odd how corporate media keeps claiming she is first in the polls. Prissy is all for a woman president, but we can do better than a Bushette lite. Never forget Hillary was a Goldwater girl...

Democracy Now Bush's Brain Steps Down: Facing Subpoenas, Karl Rove Resigns

AMY GOODMAN: What does this mean for George Bush? You have written in the Dallas Morning News just today the resignation of Rove means the last and most important member of George W. Bush's Texas inner circle is gone.

WAYNE SLATER: You know, the thing about George Bush is -- and one of the things Karl said yesterday -- I’ve seen a man who hasn't changed. That's true. George Bush is very much the same person I remember talking to in the early 1980s here in Texas with the strengths that he has and all the flaws that he has. And one of the flaws is that he surrounded himself then, and more dangerously in the White House, with a few people, a few loyalists. Among the early group of loyalists were these Texans who were super loyal to Bush and whose advice and counsel he trusted. But one by one, they've all left. Karen Hughes has left, Joe Alba has left, and on and on down the line. Karl was the most important and the closest adviser to the President. He wasn't just a political consultant. He's the guy who basically put together in an effective way the politics of division and raised the politics of division, of exploiting polarization, exploiting the wedge issues of gay marriage, of fear of terrorism, in a politically efficient way in order to win 2002, 2004. But those principles, that approach, came back to haunt him and sent the house of cards -- contributed to the house of cards going down, falling down in 2006.

AMY GOODMAN: Wayne Slater, what does this mean for the congressional investigations in which he's invoked executive privilege? He didn't show up at one. Does he still remain at the center of them? Is he less protected stepping out?

WAYNE SLATER: Well, he remains very much the same. There are two things here, Amy. One is that he still very much is the focus of an investigation in Washington on this matter, not simply by members of Congress, but, more importantly for him, the Justice Department. And so, he remains there. But all the associations that he has with the President, the effort and the claim of executive privilege, stays, even if he leaves for private life. So he will try to do and Bush will try to do what they've done in the past, and that is to try to wait this thing out. The only question is now whether an indictment or other charges could come in the future or the near future. Frankly, my experience with Karl is that he always escapes. And so, looking at the history of the guy, from the late 1980s through the current situation, tells me he most likely will escape this latest round of both political inquiry and federal investigation. I could be wrong. Only time will tell.

Big September, Get involved! Big September

THIS SEPTEMBER Send Congress A Message That It Will Ignore At Its Peril!!

Come to Washington, D.C. Join the many thousands of Americans already committed to marching on Washington this September.

Make A Stand NOW.

The information on this website is designed to help you get involved in one or more BIG SEPTEMBER actions. The actions listed on our D.C. Action Calendar have been envisioned and planned by a variety of anti-war organizations. All of them are directed to the same purpose: convincing Congress to GET U.S. OUT OF IRAQ NOW.

WCAX Leahy Reacts to Rove's Resignation

But last month Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy subpoenaed Rove to testify about the firing of 8 U-S attorneys. The White house has refused to honor that subpoena.

Leahy in a statement said he wants to know what Mr. Rove and others at the White House are trying so desperately to hide.

More of the his actual statement: August 13, 2007 -- “Earlier this month, Karl Rove failed to comply with the Judiciary Committee's subpoena to testify about the mass firings of United States Attorneys. Despite evidence that he played a central role in these firings, just as he did in the Libby case involving the outing of an undercover CIA agent and improper political briefings at over 20 government agencies, Mr. Rove acted as if he was above the law. That is wrong.

Now that he is leaving the White House while under subpoena, I continue to ask what Mr. Rove and others at the White House are so desperate to hide. Mr. Rove’s apparent attempts to manipulate elections and push out prosecutors citing bogus claims of voter fraud shows corruption of federal law enforcement for partisan political purposes, and the Senate Judiciary Committee will continue its investigation into this serious issue.

“The list of senior White House and Justice Department officials who have resigned during the course of these congressional investigations continues to grow, and today, Mr. Rove added his name to that list. There is a cloud over this White House, and a gathering storm. A similar cloud envelops Mr. Rove, even as he leaves the White House.”

It's not just the White House under a severe thunderstorm warning

Democrats.org Alberto Gonzales Could "Fast Track" Death Penalty Cases

Alberto Gonzales could soon have the authority to "fast track" death penalty cases. From the Los Angeles Times:

The Justice Department is putting the final touches on regulations that could give Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales important new sway over death penalty cases in California and other states, including the power to shorten the time that death row inmates have to appeal convictions to federal courts.

...Under the rules now being prepared, if a state requested it and Gonzales agreed, prosecutors could use "fast track" procedures that could shave years off the time that a death row inmate has to appeal to the federal courts after conviction in a state court.

Truth Dig Inside the Data Mine

Delving into Joseph Nacchio and Qwest’s story reveals a company with close ties to the White House—ties that appear to have been temporarily severed when, according to Nacchio and his legal team at Qwest, the company refused to participate in the government’s data-mining program—making it the only big telecommunications company that didn’t take part. Nacchio claims that secret government contracts he was expecting were never delivered after his refusal to participate in the National Security Agency program, resulting in skewed profit claims.

While currently under new leadership, wooing back government contracts, and finally turning a profit, Qwest will have to struggle to maintain a competitive edge in an industry of telecommunications giants. These giants have received favorable treatment from the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission. Parallel to this success have come news reports that these ever-merging entities—notably AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon—are participating in domestic data-mining programs.

These mergers are even more conspicuous due to the number that have been approved in just the past three years. 2005 alone saw enough mergers to leave Americans with only two major telecommunications companies: Verizon and AT&T. Colbert cites the most recent and highly contested AT&T/BellSouth merger that combined the country’s two largest telecommunications companies. Despite the massive scope of the merger, when the Department of Justice conducted its regulatory analysis it concluded that there were no major antitrust issues.

In contrast to companies such as AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon, Qwest has encountered significant roadblocks in its expansion efforts, causing telecommunications experts to ask pointed questions about differing treatment from the Department of Justice, the FCC and the SEC. Specifically: Is there government retribution? The question gains clout in light of the recent U.S. attorney scandal and the selective prosecution that the Bush administration has been practicing.

Scientific American The New Psychology of Leadership Recent research in psychology points to secrets of effective leadership that radically challenge conventional wisdom

In the past, leadership scholars considered charisma, intelligence and other personality traits to be the key to effective leadership. Accordingly, these academics thought that good leaders use their inborn talents to dominate followers and tell them what to do, with the goal either of injecting them with enthusiasm and willpower that they would otherwise lack or of enforcing compliance. Such theories suggest that leaders with sufficient character and will can triumph over whatever reality they confront.

In recent years, however, a new picture of leadership has emerged, one that better accounts for leadership performance. In this alternative view, effective leaders must work to understand the values and opinions of their followers—rather than assuming absolute authority—to enable a productive dialogue with followers about what the group embodies and stands for and thus how it should act. By leadership, we mean the ability to shape what followers actually want to do, not the act of enforcing compliance using rewards and punishments.

Given that good leadership depends on constituent cooperation and support, this new psychology of leadership negates the notion that leadership is exclusively a top-down process. In fact, it suggests that to gain credibility among followers, leaders must try to position themselves among the group rather than above it. In his use of everyday language—such as “hunt down” and “those folks”—Bush portrayed himself on 9/11 as a typical American able to speak for America.

According to this new approach, no fixed set of personality traits can assure good leadership because the most desirable traits depend on the nature of the group being led. Leaders can even select the traits they want to project to followers. It is no accident, then, that Bush has often come across to Americans as a regular guy rather than as the scion of an elite East Coast Yale University dynasty.

The New Yorker An Unsolved Killing What does the firing of a U.S. Attorney have to do with a murder case?

Gonzales’s justifications for McKay’s dismissal now seem unlikely to be true, because it has become clear that Justice Department officials were seeking to fire McKay before 2006. On March 2, 2005, Kyle Sampson, Gonzales’s chief of staff, included McKay’s name on a list of thirteen U.S. Attorneys to be fired, in an e-mail to Harriet Miers, the White House counsel. Sampson sent the e-mail four months after the 2004 elections, and after McKay decided not to bring charges against the Democratic Party, or people affiliated with it, in Washington State, in the wake of a narrow victory by Christine Gregoire, the Democratic candidate, in the governor’s race. The contest, which was resolved after two recounts, prompted a lawsuit by the state Republican Party alleging widespread voting irregularities.

Several of the fired U.S. Attorneys had declined to prosecute Democrats in electoral disputes. Many Democrats have suggested that the prosecutors were dismissed by Gonzales and the Bush White House in retaliation for failing to advance Republican political objectives. But, in a deposition before the House Judiciary Committee in April, Sampson offered another explanation for McKay’s dismissal. He said that McKay might have been fired because he had been too aggressive in his advocacy of the investigation of Tom Wales’s murder. Sampson testified that McKay had approached Larry Thompson, then the Deputy Attorney General, and demanded that he “take some action” on the investigation, and that subsequently there had been tension between the two men. (“I don’t remember being mad at John McKay,” Thompson told me. “We always had to do balancing acts about how to allocate resources, but I never thought John acted inappropriately in the Wales case.” McKay said, “Larry Thompson was extremely supportive of the Wales investigation, and of me personally. I’m unaware of there having been any criticism.”)

Sampson’s testimony caused a sensation in Seattle. “The idea that I was pushing too hard to investigate the assassination of a federal prosecutor—it’s mind-numbing,” McKay told reporters at the time. “If it’s true, it’s just immoral, and if it’s false, then the idea that they would use the death of Tom Wales to cover up what they did is just unconscionable.” After news of Sampson’s statements broke, six Democratic congressmen from Washington State wrote to Glenn A. Fine, the inspector general of the Justice Department, who had begun an inquiry into the firings, asking that he investigate whether “Mr. McKay’s removal may have been related to his zealous advocacy for increased Justice Department attention to the murder of Tom Wales.”

The question of why McKay and the other U.S. Attorneys were fired remains unanswered. (Harriet Miers has been subpoenaed to answer questions on the subject before the House Judiciary Committee, but she has refused to appear, citing executive privilege. A court fight about the matter seems likely.) The notion that McKay was fired for failing to prosecute Democrats is plausible. But the passion that McKay brought to the Wales case may have played a part, too.

Quotes of the Day

"Tell me what company thou keepst, and I'll tell thee what thou art."-- Miguel de Cervantes (1547 - 1616) Spanish novelist

"Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company."-- George Washington

"A true friend stabs you in the front."-- Oscar Wilde

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."-- Martin Luther King Jr.