George Bush leaves the Capitol for the last time as President. Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews try to make sense of what it all means, while Peggy Noonan gives unintentionally hilarious commentary as the crowd jeers the departing Bush.
La Voz is THE Spanish newspaper servicing Connecticut. They do not like our Senator.
I was sitting at the Peruvian and Mexican Restaurant (4 Crescent Ave, Bridgeport - ceviche to die for) waiting for takeout, passing the time reading LaVoz's editorial page, and this one caught my eye.
Joe "Conscience" Lieberman, also nicknamed chameleon
Mefistófeles Cheney (via Wikipedia: Mefistófeles o Mefisto - subordinado a Lucifer).
On Thursday's Hardball Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) talked with Chris Matthews about the strong push from Dick Cheney and some members of the Senate - namely Kyl and Lieberman - to move closer to invading Iran. Matthews gets it, by passing amendments condemning Iran, they're tying to get other legislators on the record so they can come back later and use it to make the case for war.
Matthews: "…But these guys, Kyl - Kyl and Lieberman are not diplomats, they're hawks.
Webb: "Well, the Cheney element of the administration is well represented in the United States Senate."
On this day five years ago at 11:30am George Bush signed his Iraq War Resolution that had passed earlier that month by both houses of Congress. This archival clip features a more interesting camera angle than the more often seen one which has Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, and Condoleeza Rice to Bush's left.
The Bush administration tipped Al Qaeda off to a security breach within the terrorist organization and destroyed a years' long intelligence operation that had succeeded in penetrating Osama's inner circle. As a result, more Americans and innocent Iraqis will die at the hands of Al Qaeda suicide bombers. Where is the outrage?
A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release.
Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide.
The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group's communications network.
"Techniques that took years to develop are now ineffective and worthless," said Rita Katz, the firm's 44-year-old founder.
The logical suspect here is the office of the Vice President, which is clearly littered with enemy combatants. I say we do the patriotic thing and torture the information out of the evildoers who lurk there.
The dirty unwashed masses who populate our juries are fit to judge each other, but evidently not the ruling class. David Broder can breathe a sigh of relief that People Like Him are safe from those overly zealous US Attorneys who might want to hold them accountable to the same absurd standards that the little people must live by. How quaint.
The White House has turned off their phone lines. Evidently they don’t want to hear what you think. There will still be phones tomorrow, and I don’t imagine anyone who cared enough to drop Dubya a line is going to forget.
They have literally shut down the phone lines and refuse to listen to American citizens that are mad as fuck. (h/t Crooks and Liars)
This piece represents a joint effort by ANN GALLOWAY and ROBIN WINICK and is the second of two posts about AIPAC; Part II deals primarily with global issues; if you haven’t yet read Part I – which focuses on domestic aspects – you might want to read that as well by clicking here.
Note:
It has become dangerous to suggest that AIPAC may be exerting undue influence on both US and Israeli policies. Critics have been accused of anti-Semitism; and politicians who hope to remain in office (as well as those who seek political office) have been silenced by the enormous influence that AIPAC wields –including its ability to direct the use of mega dollars, either to support or defeat those it targets.
For the record, both authors of this piece are Jewish women, and both have been to Israel; one’s daughter studied at Tel Aviv University; the other has worked for a major American Jewish organization and has taught in two Jewish day schools. Both strongly believe in the importance of the existence of the State of Israel. However, we also believe that just as our country’s founders would turn over in their graves to see what the right wing has done to compromise our democracy, so Israel’s founders would be appalled at the damage its extremists have done to compromise the very existence and safety of Israel’s citizens.
May 30, 2007 -- Bush-Cheney rift. WMR's Washington sources have confirmed that a major rift has opened up between President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney over U.S. Iran policy. Cheney and the remaining neo-con cabal inside the Bush administration favor quick and decisive U.S. military action against Iran while Bush, backed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, favor the current diplomatic negotiations with Iran, particularly the Baghdad Green Zone talks concerning Iraq's security.
Bush has reportedly bristled at Cheney's suggestion that he is a "wimp." The junior Bush has made no secret of his obsession with his father's "wimp" persona and has striven to prove his own machismo. Cheney's "wimp talk" has infuriated Bush, according to our sources.
Daddy comes to the rescue of Little Boots again?
There are also indications that former President George H. W. Bush is quietly supporting a "whispering campaign" against Cheney in an attempt to force him and his remaining neo-con stalwarts from office.
It'll be a boy for Mary Cheney! Her dad revealed the gender of his future grandchild yesterday during an interview with ABC News Radio.
"I'm delighted I'm about to be a grandparent for the sixth time," said Dick Cheney. "I'm looking forward to the arrival of a new grandson." The veep confirmed that the baby is due next month; this will be the first child for Mary and partner Heather Poe, and the third grandson for the Cheneys.
But he wasn't touching the question about the same-sex family's legal standing. "I think each state ought to have the capacity to decide how they want to handle those issues," he said. " . . . And I obviously think it's important for us as a society to be tolerant and respectful of whatever arrangements people enter into."
As my mother always taught me "You reap what you sow". Let little Dick view first-hand the difficult life that his daughter, daughter-in-law and his grandson will endure due to the little king and the repukes hate filled agendas. The Cheney family (Mary, Heather, etc) live in Virginia with a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
Respond to this video question from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) via comments, e-mails, letters and most importantly a DIY Impeachment petition of memorial.
What's new and news, from your daily source of leftist extremism:
Does Wal-Mart's reputation in Connecticut need to be damaged further? Apparently so, as commonweal documents Wal-Mart's SLAPP lawsuits to muzzle opponents to the proposed Groton store.
Tom Swan ran a session at the Democracy for America Night School, Holding Elected Leaders Accountable. (PDF link here.) It's a guide to help plan effective constituent meetings with elected officials.
Speaking of DFA, the Norwalk / Silver Star DFA will be having a universal healthcare discussion at their meeting tonight (no linky, website down).
There's also a Planned Parenthood phonebank in New Haven, an Amy Goodman appearance at Connecticut College, and a Bridgeport Young Dems meeting tonight - for more info, see the events calendar in the top left.
It's rare that a statement is so brazen that it's able to shock me, here in 2007, but this one does it:
Harwe, 26 at the time, was rushed to the hospital, where she learned that her left vertebral artery had been crushed. In the days and years that followed, Harwe suffered from paralysis, vision loss, weakness and coordination problems, a paralyzed vocal cord and an inability to swallow. Today, she still uses a feeding tube.
Harwe plans to tell state lawmakers Monday that she had no idea stroke was one of the risks of cervical manipulation by a chiropractor. The legislature's Public Health Committee is considering legislation that would require chiropractors to inform patients, both in writing and verbally, of the risks and possible side effects of their treatments.
State chiropractors say the legislation is unnecessary and unfairly punitive. They argue that a state law requiring a patient to give informed consent before a procedure is excessive given the statistically remote risk of injury and death.
"[A]t best this proposal is a misplaced attempt at patient advocacy and is perhaps prejudicial against the chiropractic profession," said Dr. Matthew N. Pagano, D.C., president of the Connecticut Chiropractic Association.
Video via Crooks&Liars from last night's PBS Newshour. Video is about 10min in length.
Hagel still pounding the completely defenceless Lieberman and now Cheney into the ground. The entire transcript is worth reading but here's a taste:
GWEN IFILL: A final question, and for you both, and once again from Vice President Cheney. His interview, Senator Hagel, today at CNN, he said that part of what's going on here is that people do not have the stomach to complete this mission. Senator Hagel, your response to that?
SEN. CHUCK HAGEL: Oh, I'm so sorry the vice president so underestimates the people of this country. He has so little faith in this country to say something like that. That's an astounding statement from the vice president of the United States.
You're telling me -- or maybe more directly, maybe the vice president should tell the families of those who have lost their lives, over 3,000, and over 23,000 wounded, some very seriously for life, that they don't have the stomach? Come on, let's get real here.
That is the last bastion of no facts, and no realities, and not having a real argument, or being afraid, or being afraid of a real debate.
I want to add one other thing on General Petraeus, to what my good friend Joe Lieberman said. General Petraeus has just written the new field manual on counterinsurgency. You know what he said is the most important ingredient, dynamic of successful counterinsurgency strategy? Political strategy. He said it was even more important than military strategy.
Nowhere in the president's so-called new plan, which we've really not seen, is there any focus on any new political initiatives or diplomatically focused initiatives.
David Sirota caught Joe Lieberman telling another whopper and documents the facts that belie Joe's fiction.
CLAIM: "There were some things Vice President Cheney said about Saddam having nuclear weapons, I never bought that." – Joe Lieberman, Fox Channel 61, 10/8/06 (2:05 in Part 2 of the interview)
FACT: "Every day Saddam remains in power with chemical weapons, biological weapons, and the development of nuclear weapons is a day of danger for the United States of America." – Joe Lieberman, 8/4/02
FACT: "We have reason to believe [Iraq] is developing nuclear weapons." – Lieberman, 2/10/02
FACT: "What's most frightening, said Lieberman, is that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, and is rapidly developing nuclear capability." – Hartford Courant, 1/15/02
So again, Lieberman claiming "I never bought" the Iraq-nuclear argument is not just a lie - it's a pathological lie, because he was out repeatedly citing this myth as the reason we needed to invade Iraq.
For more Lieberman lies, this time caught on video tape, CLICK HERE.
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