Nepotism At It's Finest

Look what Atrios found,

Washington - The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House.

One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose agency heads the federal panel that signed off on the $6.8 billion sale of an English company to government-owned Dubai Ports World - giving it control of Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container port.

Snow was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.15 billion in 2004, the year after Snow left for President Bush's cabinet.

The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The article goes on to say "The ties raised more concerns about the decision to give port control to a company owned by a nation linked to the 9/11 hijackers." [link added by me for emphasis]

So cronyism comes into play. The bush administration is more concerned with lining their pockets than with the security of our nation.

Abu Ghraib Images: II

While you wait to see Whittington's face (if that's ever going to happen) here's the second installment of pictures from Abu Ghraib: "Homicide, Torture and Sexual Humiliation"

Coming to Theaters

Dead, But Stable

Only nurses, doctors and hospitals should be allowed to use the term stable. Politicians and reporters abuse of the word "stable" in describing someone's conditions allows for deceptive reporting. A person can nearly be dead and still be "stable". Sharon has been in a coma for 38 days but at least he is stable. Dick Cheney sent Harry Whittington to the intensive care unit but Whittington was stable. Heck, Terri Shiavo had a liquefied cerebral cortex but she was still stable.

Politicians and reporters should be required to give a mandatory description of the injured condition ranging from excellent (only needed a band-aid) to critical (life hangs in the balance). Maybe the republicans need a color coded system. They seem to understand color.

Our state can't possibly make sense to half the country.

Our state can't possibly make sense to half the country.

Why does a president need extraordinary wartime powers when we are not in wartime? If this is a war why have we not made a declaration? Why have we gotten "Authorized use of force" instead of war? This is not palatable. We are not fighting a threat. If Iraq is such a threat why are we not at full scale war? Why are we not being supported by a league of nations (the coalition is/was/and forever will be a joke)

I don't have the energy. I don't know what common sense is anymore.

If terrorists are such a threat to our country why are we still eating butter? Why are 30,000 people being laid off at Ford instead of being kicked into high gear in order to build more military supplies? Why are people walking around without being taxed feeling like there is nothing going wrong? Can't you just taste something is wrong. Why am I able to type this down without any worries? Where is the draft? I don't even see people riding around with flags any more. Is it possible that 9/11 was a fluke?

Maybe we aren't destined to not be attacked ever. Maybe, just maybe, 1775, 1812, 1865, 1917, 1941...maybe the Cold War and Vietnam, Maybe something is going to happen to us. We are not invincible. We do not live in a bubble. We are part of the world. if we are struck every 40 years it is not because we are not focusing on the "terrorists". It is because as a citizen of the world we must interact with others. Sometimes others will be mad at us. I don't know one person who is friends with everybody. Someone will be mad at you because you're friends with everybody. But in this country's case we're just jerks.

It is completely understandable that 9/11 occurred. I'm not going to belittle any of the people's lives or anything but get over it. You can do everything you can possibly do outside of putting tags on ever citizen and non citizen in the U.S. (and I mean tagging their brain so you can press a button and off us) and there is still the possibility of getting hit. Put that on top of our mentality to put others down in order to stay ahead and you will always have an enemy. Iran is going to hate us for stopping their nuclear energy program. Russia already warned us about messing with Iran and China has got it's hands in Iran's pockets (much like they have their hands in the rest of the worlds pockets). You can't account for all this. it's a complex system that can lead to trouble whether or not you soft step everything. If it wasn't 9/11/2001 it may have been 2/26/2015.

Impeach bush. he broke the law.
This is the "Authorized use of force on Iraq" not the "War on Iraq"
Gonzales is one weak puppet.

Maybe FISA doesn't need changing. Maybe Bush should just not break laws.

FISA never stopped anyone from stopping 9/11. There are many out there that would have you believe 9/11 is the fault of FISA. This is absolutely not the case. The real matter is a bunch of dumbells hired around a dumbell organization ran by a dumbell at the top didn't know how to go about doing their job.

Just like Iraq has nothing to do with....had nothing to do with Al Quaeda, just like Iran isn't building nukes, just like Iraq couldn't have attacked us if their lives depended on it, FISA statutes in no way shape or form interfered with gathering intelligence that could have stopped 9/11.


If anyone says FISA is responsible for 9/11 they are lying. Now, watch this drive

By the Way. Bush broke the law.

President Bush broke the law. Thousands of Americans have been eavesdropped on by the President without warrents and nearly all of them have been dismissed as potential suspects. That means there are thousands of people out there who have been secretly wire-tapped and they will have no idea what was taken by the government. As Senator Leahy asked "what is done" with this information? Are they going to throw it away? Are thousands of Americans now part of this new White House archive?

Come to think of it, what's to stop another Watergate from occurring right now? Speedy Gonzales is allowing the Executive Branch to go on without any checks or balances. We currently have the police policing the police. NSA officials who work under the president will watch their own organization and report to the president. What is it called when the governed are not governed. Are we under a tyranny or an anarchy right now? I think Mr. bush is being tyrannical. Yes, bush is causing a tyrannical problem right now.

You know, the bush crew is saying they cannot get everything done that needs to be done to stop another 9/11 from occurring under current FISA statutes. But no one is saying those statutes are static. The senate had a virtual 100 percent agreement on passing the Patriot act. Why would President Bush and his lawyers be afraid to go to Congress and fix the statutes? Is it possible that they have something to hide? When I have something to hide I generally try to step around the people who I'm hiding something from. Does that make sense?

The justice department did reject the bush administration's notion that they should be able to do NSA surveillance under "a reasonable basis" isntead of "probable cause" as standard of the Fourth Amendment. Perhaps bush Co. realizes some of the "Terrorist Surveillance" (oh screw that, it's unwarranted surveillance, the country is breaking the law and tapping your phones without a court order) did not come up to par with the court's idea of what is necessary to have a warrant issued.

Personally I think we should get democrats for '06 so we can uncover what's going on. If we can have the House back for one session let it be when we can find out what illegal procedures Bush and his cronies are doing.

I have finally found out what to call the American-Iraq Conflict

During Speedy Gonzalez's NSA questioning, (that involved a lot of question dodging and boiling it down to either we thought "we were doing it right" or "if we had done it the other way you might have squealed on our program") a Republican senator had implied that we declared war on Iraq. Gonzales was quick to rebut at the end of this senator's question that we had not declared war on Iraq. We had just given an authorization to use force on them.

OK. From now on it's called the "Authorization of force against Iraq" or the "Authorized use of force on Iraq". Let's get away from this whole "WAR" thing because I'm tired of hearing the chickenhawks say "in time of war", in "war of this widespread yada yada fuck you America such and such".

"Authorized use of force against Iraq" - you heard it here first.

Gonzales Aid's President in Illegal Surveillance

If you've been following CSPAN you're aware of Alberto Gonzales' smug interpretation of the law.

And while I was going to analyze everything Gonzales said wrong I saw this bomb at CrooksandLiars. I thought I watched the NSA questioning at least twice but apparently this slipped my mind.

Gonzalez is practically kicking us in the face and secretly laughing at us ( I say secretly because he is sort of holding the grin back).

Yes it is sick that the other side will sit there and pretend like everything is fine and dandy when you have scum puddles like this pushing the limits of their sick game and toying with the people of this country.

But once again I say it was damn funny. I cannot stop watching it. Yes they have us hypnotized I sat there listening when it was live. I heard it yet I did not hear it. Only now so many hours later do I realize I have been made a fool of. Kind of sad but they say so much shit it just flows through your brain.

Did Dorgan get money from Abramoff Apolitically?

Senator Dorgan appeared on the Ed Schultz show today on air America. At around 12:50 PM he said that he hadn't politically received any money from Abramoff. I wonder why did he have to put the qualifier "politically" on it? That makes it sound as if he has personally or shall we say "non-politically" received money from Abramoff. If I were a politician I would say I never got one red cent from Abramoff.

How can Dorgan sit up there and have the nerve to say he was a whistle blower along with McCain? I don't know if I can trust the guy. I want to hear him say he hasn't received money in any way. I want to hear someone else ask him the question again to see if he consciously qualifies his answer.

p.s. I never scientifically published this entry.

Heave Ho, to the left they go

Bush told the crowd at the annual "Let Freedom Ring" performance that Congress must renew provisions of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act that are set to expire next year. The president had previously declined to support the renewal until last month, and the crowd erupted in applause when Bush insisted that it be renewed.
I don't think I understand how people can't see this is a political gimmick. It's timing. I mean could he have said he was going to renew it 5 years ago or so? I wonder why he would support the renewal now? Could it be because there are election in '06 and this would be a nice talking point?

I guess it isn't as bad as Ah-nold's blatent swing toward the left recently. Is anyone going to push the fact that this man who has been riding a motorcycle for two decades does not have an M1 license? Is anyone going to point out this is the same man who says we have to "drive sensible and defensively" in the Calfiornia Drivers Handbook? I wish Ah-nold would pass a law that allowed every person who voted for the Goobernator to be slapped. I'd like every one of those voters to get one hard slap to the face for putting in the one-liner king.

So yeah, go ahead and vote for those left leaning Republicans...left leaning Republicans...left leaning Republicans. Jeez, it's almost as bad as that commercial where they call Democrats "RATS".

Those Republicans are oxymorons...oxyMORONS...oxyMORONS...

Wal-Mart Moves On, Gunman or No Gunman

[Insert Wal-Mart here]

A couple days ago, December 28, 2005 to be exact, there was allegedly a gunman in Wal-Mart at the Long Beach Tone Center at (where else?) Long Beach, California. My family and I went to Wal-Mart to get Alka-Seltzer (if I add a link can you pay me Bayer?) and we were not allowed to enter because a gunman was supposedly inside. Somehow they did not know who the gunman was but one woman who had been turned away earlier said there was supposed to be a black man who had been waving a gun around inside the store...(no description...just a black gunman...I'm sure he was going to be ok...) "Everyone" (black males) was checked when they left the store. I had been there 30 minutes watching officers (I saw at least 6 black and whites) wander around lackadaisically. SWAT was not called in and Wal-Mat ade sure that, while no one was allowed to enter, customers who were already inside at the time would be ushered through the checkout lanes as they finished shopping.

[insert shopping cart picture here]

Isn't that a trip though? A gunman is supposed to be inside, no one is allowed to enter, but you can finish shopping. Wal-Mart needs to make a new ad... "Wal-Mart, not even a gunman will stop you from shopping here."

They Recovered Enough Bodies Anyway...

After 4 months of searching for bodies of Katrina victims in New Orleans, I hear searches have stopped. These searches have ended despite still missing people and unsearched rubble. I was recently watching CNN where I heard a New Orleans resident say (and I paraphrase) police, the state, the country is ending their search and the police say it is not their responsibility. Perhaps it was just easier looking through rubble in New York in 2001.

I guess it's that paradoxical situation where you can stop looking for your dead yet you can't pull out of Iraq. Maybe I'm sleepy and that's not the same thing.

The irony. It takes Dick Cheney to make me come out of Hiding...

I also know how to use the term liar. Apparently Cheney has lost his knack for the English language.

At least I know how to spell "liar"

We know Liberals are lyres, their sole purpose is to discredit conservatives what ever it takes.
~Conservative Voice

I'll be back later to rip on his article. I like how he throws thoughts around carelessly. God Bless You Ken Hughes.

Notice How She Always Has to Keep an Eye On Republicans

Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers meets with Sen. Jeff Sessions,
R-Ala., in his office Tuesday in Washington. Confirmation hearings for Miers,
Bush's White House counsel, could begin as early as Nov. 7. (Kevin Wolf / AP)

Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, right, meets with Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, in the Hart Senate Office Building on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2005 in Washington. President Bush nominated White House counsel Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) (Kevin Wolf - AP)

Supreme Court Nominee Harriet Miers meets with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah.) on Tuesday.

Next with a Liberal

Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., ranking Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, meets with White House Counsel Harriet Miers on Capitol Hill
Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2005, to discuss her nomination to the Suprme Court. (AP
Photo/Dennis Cook) (Dennis Cook - AP)

I think she's more comfortable around Democrats to tell you the truth. Who wouldn't be!

"I picked her, didn't I?

President Bush announces his nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers,
left, to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, in
the Oval Office of the White House in Washington Monday, Oct. 3, 2005. (AP
Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Other possible captions:
1. "I just know the b------d wants me to croak so he can put another man on office"
2. President Bush announces his nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers, left, to replace deceased William Rehnquist on the Supreme Court. When you think about it the real caption is a little more morbid isn't it? I mean was Bush planning on putting another woman on the bench or not? Does it take a second judge being removed by death before you'll put a woman on the bench or were you planning on this happening? (AP Photo/Somebody who gives a d---)
3. President Bush realized he was going the opposite way of Compassionate Conservatism.
4. President Bush thinks to himself "I did it- I put a woman on- are you happy now Jesus?" (AP Photo/Somebody who gives a d---)

From Eschaton -

Bush II on Brownie Miers:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, of all the people in the United States you had to choose from, is Harriet Miers the most qualified to serve on the Supreme Court?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Otherwise I wouldn't have put her on

Or would you have....

Polls Rise Despite Incompetence

What is with the last poll done on this guy? Why is he allowed to resurface? Is the American attention span so short that one trip down to the gulf makes him a better person. He was just doing his job if anything.

It's like congratulating someone for dodging the second kick of a mule. If five hurricanes came up in the next 3 months and he showed up to every one of them does he get a 70 percent approval rating? What has to happen in Iraq for people to get mad? Do we have to lose another couple thousand soldiers? I just don't get it.

Bush's Domestic Story Shadows His Broad International War

Harriet Miers's Supporters Cite Her Evangelical Christian Faith...

While a couple dozen worshippers at at Shiite Mosque are blown up in Iraq (you know, that country Bush wanted to have a quick little war in)

Look at the nonsense he spews after the attack.

"We fully understand they intend to disrupt the constitutional process, or will
try to do so, as well as stop the process of democracy," Bush said from the Rose
Garden, standing with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Joint Chiefs Chairman
Gen. Peter Pace and Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, the former commander of the effort
to train and equip Iraqi soldiers.
"We're seeing progress on the ground," Bush said. "And we're also seeing political progress on the ground."

The attack happened at a mosque in the Shiite region. Could religion have anything to do with it? You have allowed them to adopt some religious principles in the constitution have you not? Are you forgetting that factor or what? The political process you see is the constitution you're trying to force down the throats of a very complicated eople. There are going to be years of struggle ahead. We shouldn't use phrases that marginalize the situation or make it seem "all better" for the American public.

Bill O'Reilly - Lies from the Right

O'Reilly "complains he couldn't get any guests for the segment." after turning a guest away. How can a man lie like that and garner so much support, even if it is coming from liars on the same side as him.

Sorry I haven't been updating much. Education and Work have been piling on (two things George Bush should try to do more often)

I got it from Escatchon

edit ~10:24AM Oct 5, 2005: I can't believe I didn't notice this picture.