This Is What Happens

When you let a loser throw out the first pitch. Associating with this lying boob will do that to you, just ask Tony Blair.

Bu$hCo Is Such A Failure

First, baseball fans, showing great good sense, hate the bastard.

& it takes an Iranian General, from Iran no less, remember a member of the Axis of Evil, to get Mr. Sadr to pull his militia from the streets of Basra. Does anyone in world think Bu$hco has a brain? What about his girlfriend, Condi Rice? Real good diplomatin' there, chief.

The Evil Never Stops

It's long past time for impeachment. Now we find out about Bu$hCo's active role in allowing the predatory lending practices. I wonder if the gagglers will ask about this? I wonder if anyone this Sunday will ask about it? As usual, I'm not holding my breath.

Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.

The administration accomplished this feat through an obscure federal agency called the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC has been in existence since the Civil War. Its mission is to ensure the fiscal soundness of national banks. For 140 years, the OCC examined the books of national banks to make sure they were balanced, an important but uncontroversial function. But a few years ago, for the first time in its history, the OCC was used as a tool against consumers. In 2003, during the height of the predatory lending crisis, the OCC invoked a clause from the 1863 National Bank Act to issue formal opinions preempting all state predatory lending laws, thereby rendering them inoperative.

My emphasis.

Here's a letter I just received from my Senator, Russ Feingold. He gets it, almost. It's sad that he, too, is buying into this time bullcrap. Oh well, the letter is worth a read anyway. My emphasis.

February 15, 2008


Dear Mr.

Thank you for contacting me regarding presidential impeachment. I appreciate hearing from you.

The Constitution grants the House of Representatives the authority to draft articles of impeachment, and gives the Senate the power to try an impeachment. Each decision as to whether or not to convict on each article must be made separately, and a conviction on any single article is sufficient grounds for removal from office.

On August 3, 2007, I introduced two censure resolutions condemning President Bush, Vice President Cheney and the then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for misconduct relating to the swar in Iraq and for repeated assaults on the rule of law.

One resolution, cosponsored by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), censures the President and the then- Attorney General for undermining the rule of law with respect to the following: (1) the illegal NSA warrantless wiretapping program, (2) extreme policies on torture, the Geneva Conventions, and detainees at Guantanamo Bay, (3) the refusal to recognize legitimate congressional oversight into the improper firings of U.S. Attorneys, (4) misleading the American public about the Patriot Act, and (5) the issuance of signing statements suggesting the President does not believe he has to follow the laws Congress passes.

The other resolution, cosponsored by Senator Harkin and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), censures the President and Vice President for misconduct relating to the war in Iraq. This misconduct includes the following: (1) overstating the case that Saddam
Hussein had WMD, particularly nuclear weapons, and falsely implying he had a relationship with al Qaeda and links to 9/11, (2) failing to plan for the civil conflict and humanitarian problems that the intelligence community predicted, (3) over-stretching the Army, Marine Corps and Guard with prolonged deployments, and (4) seeking to justify our military involvement in Iraq by distorting the situation on the ground there.

I have attached for your review a copy of each of the resolutions. I hope you find this information useful.

Introducing these resolutions of censure is an appropriate and necessary step that allows Congress to rebuke an administration that is responsible for such egregious misconduct. When future generations look back at the actions of this administration, they need to see that a co-equal branch of government stood up and held to account those who violated the principles on which this nation was founded. I am pleased to be working with Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), who has introduced companion legislation in the House with 19 cosponsors.

I appreciate your support for impeachment, and I respect the anger many Americans feel at the outrageous actions of this administration. I believe that the President and Vice President may well have committed impeachable offenses, but with so many important issues facing this country and so much work to be done, I am concerned about the great deal of time impeachment would take. Because censure does not require multiple impeachments in the House and trials in the Senate, or the support of two-thirds of Senators, it is far less cumbersome than impeachment. However, if the House of Representatives does decide to move forward with impeachment, I will take seriously my role as a sworn impartial juror in any impeachment trial.

Thank you again for contacting me regarding holding the President accountable for his actions. I look forward to hearing from you in the future.


Sincerely,

Russell D. Feingold
United States Senator

If you wish to contact me again, please visit
http://feingold.senate.gov/contact.html.

Censoring the assholes will not be the appropriate punishment for what they have done to this country.

Low, Low Numbers

& he deserves even lower numbers, but there is no accounting for those in their double-wides voting against their own interests. Here's the first paragraph of an AP story about the latest (The Associated Press-Ipsos) poll on how worthless the American people think Bu$hCo is. Congress gets lousy numbers as well, the result, I believe, of not impeaching the son-of-a-bitch & making him accountable for all the evil criminality.

It's almost as if people can barely stand the thought of President Bush and Congress anymore. Bush reached his lowest approval rating in The Associated Press-Ipsos poll on Friday as only 30 percent said they like the job he is doing, including an all-time low in his support by Republicans.

Oh Yeah, Down There

The son-of-a-bitch Bu$hCo continues to fuck the people of the Gulf Coast, New Orleans to be specific. This is the ReThug (Republican) response to all things that have to do with the poor: open your trailer windows & ketchup is a vegetable. Depraved indifference indeed. & Pelosi won't impeach, but will stand & applaud.

I've Hated Indiana For A Long Time But...

...there is something good about Indiana besides my friends Tom & Marsha & Jeff & Emily & that something else is Doghouse Riley.

Through all of this no harsh words were heard from the mass-market press--except those still being aimed at the Clintons or Al Gore's Beard--despite the fact that had your favorite daughter pulled just one of those stunts you'd have had her written out of the will. Mike Allen's still eatin' good. So's Chris Matthews, Kit Seelye, and Bill Kristol; Andrea Mitchell's still filing for the Liberal Keith Olbermann show. Judy Miller's still drawin' breath. Bush's tough talk on the recently re-discovered Osama bin-Laden gets a standing ovation from Nancy Pelosi as he squeezes out his final hot links before returning to the Crawford Texas of Eternity. (Good Christ, I forgot about Crawford.)

So long, asshole; we'll always have the French Quarter.

My sentiments exactly. Go read the rest. My emphasis.

Dan Froomkin

Here.

There it was last night, for all the world to see: A presidency running on empty.

In his final State of the Union address, President Bush had almost nothing to say. Certainly nothing new and significant. Nothing remotely memorable.

It's a safe bet that nothing he said last night will amount to much. Nothing he said will help bring the country together, or undo the damage he has done to American interests abroad. Nothing he said will help him win back the trust or support of the American people, both which he lost a long time ago.

On the traditional State of the Union litany of subjects, his repetition of familiar and sometimes delusional talking points conveyed a clear, though unintended message: That those looking for meaningful progress on the key issues facing our nation and our world.

My emphasis.

Two Things

Tonight Bu$hCo is giving his last State of the Union speech & Wednesday is the 75th anniversary of the day Hitler & the Nazis took power in Germany. Coincidence? I think not.

Finally

A major news' source, McClatchy, uses the L word, &, no, it doesn't stand for Lebanese. Now, it would be great if the rest of the mainstream media followed suit. It is way past the time of the benefit of the doubt. Bu$hCo lied. Hat tip to Shutterwi. This is from McClatchy's Baghdad Observer, a blog by Leila Fadel, the Baghdad bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers.

Nine hundred and thirty five _ that's the number of "false statements" made by the U.S. administration about the dangers of Saddam Hussein in the two years following 9/11, according to a report by the Center for Public Integrity.
....
The report has a searchable database and tracks the slow trend of lies dating from 9/11, to the invasion, to Sept. 11, 2003. The lies peaked in February and March, the month before and the month of the invasion of Iraq.

Here's the link to the data base. & Dave Obey, my congresscritter, says impeaching the asshole Bu$hCo would be "absurd." Obey couldn't be more wrong.

Art Carney?

No, just commercial art. RLK sent this along. Go read. It's a sad reminder of what is ruling the country. The sun is shining here in northern Wisco & the temperature is slowly rising. It's about 10 degree Fahrenheit right now.

Pretty Funny

Dickhead is correct.

Finally

The spineless Democrats can't make Bu$hCo back down, but the small country of Papua New Guinea did. Note to Democrats, that's how it's done, now do it for fuck's sake.

''We seek your leadership,'' Kevin Conrad told the Americans. ''But if for some reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please get out of the way.''

The U.N. climate conference exploded with applause, the U.S. delegation backed down,....
....
India sought to amend the document to strengthen requirements for richer nations to help poorer with technology to limit emissions and adapt to climate change's impacts.

Dobriansky objected. ''We are not prepared to accept this formulation,'' she said, setting off loud, long boos in the hall.

Next, delegate after delegate took aim at the United States. Dobriansky's intervention was ''most unwelcome and without any basis,'' the South African said. ''We would like to beg them'' to relent, the Ugandan said. Then Conrad delivered his sharp rebuke of U.S. ''leadership.''

America's isolation was complete. No one spoke in support. And Dobriansky capitulated, withdrawing the U.S. objection, to general applause.

My emphasis. Feeling safer?

Absolute, Complete Theft

Read Tbogg everyday. He's good. & funny. But today I am going to steal his whole post, YouTube included. At the end of the post, I'll post the links he used, since they won't cut & paste.

IraqRidge
By: TBogg Monday December 10, 2007 10:57 pm

Who would have ever thought that when we invaded Iraq, that our little experiment in democracy building would yield massive fraud and embezzlement, jacked-up sociopaths paid with tax dollars roaming the streets and killing innocent civilians, American soldiers committing rape and murder, bribery in Congress, torture, well-connected American corporations covering up even more rape and assault on their own employees, and even more cover-ups involving fraud and graft by the very investigators who are supposed to guard against these things?

I really don't want to hear the the menu of food metaphors, such as "one bad apple spoiling the whole barrel' or "you have to break a few eggs to make a Freedom omelette" as an excuse for this. And I don't care how many schools the soldiers paint; they will never be able to whitewash the blood from the hands of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, Douglas Feith that stains us all.

Links:

"massive fraud and embezzlement" - here.

"killing innocent civilians," - here.

"in Congress" - here.

"torture" - here.

"more rape and assault" - here.

"more cover-ups" - here.

"committing rape and murder," - here.

Click on all of these links & despair as to the kind of country we have become under Bu$hCo & Cheney. Fuck.

DFHs Correct Again

Via Wolcott, we get this truth-telling post.

Bite me. In a "very overt" kind of way.

First off, withdrawing the troops would be a rejection of Bush's leadership, and the GOP's leadership, and neither has "earned" anything except the disgust and hatred of the vast majority of the American people. Second, "we must not ever hurt the General's feelings!" as a rationale for anything is puerile and idiotic and a load of shit. General Petreaus is not our leader, and this is not his war. Nobody voted for him. And nobody's going to vote for anyone who wants to cower behind his uniform, either.

Americans apparently know basic civics a doucheload better than Senator Graham, and his party is going to learn this in 2008.

My emphasis.

Austria/Australia, It's All The Same To President Moron

I sure hope the Pope knows knows where he's at, because our President, the Dear Leader of America, doesn't.

The German-born Pope Benedict XVI offered a silent prayer at the spare Holocaust memorial at Judenplatz here today, saying earlier that his visit to Austria was aimed partly at showing “repentance” for crimes against Jews during World War II.

Bu$hCo claims Jesus is his favorite political philosopher. (I know, I know, ed.) He also has a big, amorphous shoulder to cry upon. Given Bu$hCo's awful record as a killer while Governor of Texas, you would think that his professed religious beliefs would require him to ask for repentance, not get the Big Girl's celestial garments all wet. I suppose it's like Romney's dog crapping all over his sacred underwear.

For A Commenter

Sloppy?

No, but very, very desperate. & very, very stupid.

Piling On

I'm just sitting here quietly minding my own business, when you know who just has to stick his camera lens into my business again, for crying out loud. I mean, shit, I'm feeling bad enough that Jack Kerouac has been dead for 38 years. Here's what white wine boy has just left on my cyber doorstep, he just couldn't stop after the info for the previous post.

The “new” strategy of surging troops in Baghdad has simply wasted more lives and bought some time for the president. His strategy boils down to keeping as many of our soldiers engaged as possible, in order to stave off definitive defeat in Iraq before January 2009.
....
As we watched the pressure build on President Bush, looked toward the additional challenges we expect him to face over the next 18 months, and pondered his tendency to disregard the law and the Constitution, we felt very much in need of professional help in trying to estimate what kinds of decisions he is likely to make.

Dr. Frank, it turned out, had been thinking along the same lines,....
....
Parental discretion advised. The outlook is not only somber but potentially violent—and includes all manner of threats born of George W. Bush’s mental state (as well as the unusual relationship he has with his vice president).
....
George W. Bush is without conscience....
....
George W. Bush seems also to be without shame.
....
He lies—not just to us, but to himself as well. What makes lying so easy for Bush is his contempt—for language, for law, and for anybody who dares question him.
....
What gets lost in this process is growth—the George W. Bush of 2007 is exactly the same as the one of 2001. Helen Thomas has said that of all the presidents she has covered over the years, Bush is the least changed by his job, by his experience. This is why there is no possibility of dialogue or reasoning with him.
....
He has always had a sadistic streak: from blowing up frogs, to shooting his siblings with a b-b-gun, to branding fraternity pledges with white-hot coat hangers.

Thanks, Camera Boy, the coffee's on you tomorrow. My emphasis.

I Wish

Image by Rendition Mission at Fark. It's their "design an ad for a new drug designed for a 'made-up' disease" contest.

Jeez Louise, the above came from the blog Skimble, which was linked to by Avedon Carol, who was guest posting at Atrios. There, I feel better. Although the aforementioned Avedon Carol is feeling pretty low because of this news. Fucking Bu$hCo.

Abu Al Gonzales, An American Embarassment, No, Criminal

Holden over at First Draft, turns us on to the following blog posts in the Washington Post.

From the first entry:

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales is the 80th attorney general of the United States and if recent events in the law and at the Justice Department are any indication, he is rapidly staking a claim to being among the worst.
....
Gonzales has been charged, over and over again and both before and during his current tenure, as being President's Bush's in-house and in-court "yes" man, a lawyer whose main role has been to try to justify legally, at least on its face, what his boss already has decided for political or moral reasons to do anyway. This indeed, sometimes anyway, is one of the roles of attorney general. But it is wholly at odds with the other role, that of hands-off protector of the Constitution against both internal and external threats to its viability.
....
But he believes that Gonzales "falls short of any ideal I can think of" and says that Gonzales has inappropriately balanced his "loyalties to the President" with his "responsibilities as a lawyer." Gonzales, says Katz, "doesn't seem to see past the relationship with his boss" and has been "a willing accessory" to some of what Katz sees as the "worst excesses" of the administration's policies.

& here we go with Part II.

The Attorney General's record at the Justice Department strongly suggests that he has still acted as a docile and dogged "facilitator" for White House initiatives rather than as a wise, high-minded legal counselor willing and able on occasion to exercise independent judgment and power.
....
...Gonzales' appallingly unprofessional work on death penalty cases when he was counsel for Gov. Bush. According to Berlow, Gonzales "repeatedly failed to apprise Bush of some of the most salient issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence" (emphasis in original) in a series of memoranda Gonzales prepared for the governor's review as part of the state's clemency process. Berlow believes that this was not mere negligence on the part of Gonzales -- that would have been bad enough -- but rather part of a concerted effort by both men to ensure for both political and ideological reasons that there would be no clemency petitions granted. The dice were loaded, you might say, by the man who now is the nation's top lawyer.
....
...he cited two examples wherein Gonzales legal advice to Gov. Bush ran afoul both of constitutional law and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In one case, involving a Mexican national name Irineo Tristan Montoya, Berlow writes that Gonzales told Mexican officials that since Texas had not signed the Vienna Convention the state was not bound to determine whether local police had violated it when they arrested Montoya for murder. Problem is, as Berlow noted, Article 6 of the Constitution states that federal treaties are the "supreme law of the land" and cannot be trumped by state laws or policies. That's first-year law school stuff, by the way.
....
"His priority has always been to do his boss's bidding." Berlow also told me that Gonzales' pre-Justice record shows a cavalier pattern of carelessly justifying policy decisions.
....
"Sycophant" is just one of many uncomplimentary but pointed words used by my sources for this series to describe Gonzales' work and attitude toward his role as counselor.

I know this is hard to take, & that we've all known what an awful man Gonzales was & is, but we must proceed to Part III.

Brought into the President's cabinet amid oft-stated concerns that he was a mere crony and "facilitator" for the President, and with a controversial record as White House counsel and counsel to then-Texas Governor Bush, Alberto R. Gonzales' record since he took office as Attorney General is a dismal one. In fact, whether it is the legal war on terrorism or garden-variety issues of crime and punishment, it is hard to identify a single area of unchallenged success. And even where the current team at the Justice Department has enjoyed good news-- say, for example, in the area of increased sexual assault prosecutions or solid white-collar convictions-- the wheels for such victories already were in motion before Gonzales took on the job.
....
...we have on our hands an Attorney General who still shills for the President as if he were working out of the White House or the Governor's mansion in Austin.
....
Now, an Attorney General with this sort of a hapless record no doubt would like to be able to say to the American people: "in spite of all of this, I have helped make you safer where you live." But, here, too, Gonzales has failed. According to the National Association of Police Chiefs and Sheriffs, big-city murder rates have risen 10 percent over the last two years. The Federal Bureau of Investigation itself puts the violent crime increase at 3.7 percent for January-June 2006. Also, drug use apparently in increasing in the nation's heartland. What does the Justice Department intend to do about this disturbing trend? Here is what the press release said last December: "Attorney General Gonzales in October announced the Initiative for Safer Communities. Through this initiative, DOJ teams are visiting 18 cities around the country to meet with state and local law enforcement agencies to find out what is causing this increase and to determine which crime-fighting efforts are most effective." In other words, it intends to study the matter.

Emphasis added. Oh, & feeling any safer? Didn't think so.