Valerie and Sibel

What do these people have in common?

What do these people have in common with the Valerie Plame case?

What do these people have in common with the Valerie Plame case and Sibel Edmunds?

Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Marc Grossman, Eric Edelman, Stephen Solarz, William Cohen and Joseph Ralston - and Dennis Hastert

Long, interesting and scary

The Cowardly Lyin'

Well over half of the American electorate says theywould favor the impeachment of President Bush if it were found that Bush had lied in order to lead America into war.

President Bush LIED in order to lead America into war...There, that should do it.

As I watch the media coverage of the Congressional hearings that will start today and which will include Valerie Plame's testimony, I keep yelling at the TV to point out the reason the White House was cowardly destroying the career of a covert CIA agent who was running a front corporation for the CIA whose main mission was to determine what WMD's were in the hands of What Middle Eastern Country. So far the little people on the screen appear to be morbidly stupid.

They say things like "Democrats in Congress are attempting to make political fodder out of the Plame hearings," which is a quote from this morning's NPR.

"Poltical fodder" was what President Bush was feeding the American Press when his operatives tried to destroy the reputation of American Hero, Ambassador Joe Wilson. Joe Wilson, at great personal cost, told America the truth and exposed one of Bush's main arguments for creating fear in the minds of Americans. this was Bush's famous, "Mushroom cloud" boogeyman that Saddam was suppose to be ready to drop on America. Saddam had not tried to obtain uranium from Niger, had no nuclear program, and there could not and never could be a "Mushroom cloud."

Bush knew it and lied about it in his attempts to mislead America into the Iraq war.

Wilson exposed Bush's lie and was immediately attacked by Karl Rove with the aid and assistance of the American media, who published every uttering of the administration's operatives without so much as a whimper of reluctance. The sound America heard was the contented "moo" of the media herd being fed political fodder.

What the rest of America got was manure.

I think it is time to ready the knives at the abbottoire.


Peace,

Steve


Ernest Partridge makes a sound argument FOR impeachment of trhe Bush Administration in this Crisis Papers essay.

Court TV...You Ready for This?

This is almost funny. It's the Bush Administration channels the Keystone Kops. The rats are so busy trying to cover their own tails they're cutting off the tails of therir own personal protectors.

The question is not whether Alberto Gonzoles will keep his job as Attorney General, the betting is on what exact date he''ll leave. And the line keeps moving the date closer and closer.

The new line is whether he will join John Mitchell, of Watergate fame, and become the second Attorney General of the United State to go to jail.

Oddly, George Bush can't keep his story straight either. He's behind the curve. At a press conference in Mexico he made the statement that the firings were just a routine personel move. Bush made that statement today...but actually, that claim was shot down yesterday.

Every day we hear more calls for impeachment.


So...Do you think those Mayan Preists will come up here and purify the White House for us after he's gone?

Just Askin'

Liberal Blogs Save America

Hey, traditional media...You failed your country but don't worry. "Liberal" Bloggers will save your sorry ass.

But could you at least just get out of their way?

The term "Liberal" has been used as a derogatory term, hurled about as an insult by Conservatives, who mostly have no idea what it means. If someone opens their mouth and a some inconvenient truth (to coin a phrase) comes out, rather than acknowlege the damage and correcting the problem, Conservatives just fling "Liberal" in the direction of the facts as if that makes them false. A normally intelligent human being could see right through this misdirection play which in the past has been the province of four year old delinquent children. They could see right through it if the folks, who are supposed to point out half truths and whole lies and replace them with the truth...That would be the Traditional Media...Don't do their job.

The Traditional Media pounced on the outrageous statements of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, even though it was a group totally funded by Republicans and the claims ultimately proved to be false. Swift Boaters were nothing but a pr stunt which only proved damaging to a legitimate war hero like John Kerry because the Traditional Media turned coward. What is the truth of John Kerry's war record? Rambo was a chickenshit loser compared to John Kerry, who can still set off the detectors at any old airport with the shrapnel he carries around inside his knee.

Thank you, Traditional Media, for making sure America knows that.

The same can be said of George W. Bush's war record. Well, we could say it except for one little problem...

George W. Bush doesn't have a war record...It's gone.

Why? Because his buddies, who just happen to be connected with the Swift Boaters, erased it. What we do know of it leads us to understand that Bush was relieved of his duties in time of war. He refused to take his Air Force physical and had his flight status revoked. George W. Bush didn't show up for duty.

Thank you, Traditional Media, for making sure America knows that.

President Bush made the statement, "I know that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11."

Thank you, Traditional Media, for making sure that over half of the people of the United States of America are so damned ignorant that they believe Saddam had a direct hand in the bombings.

Now we have the Chief of Staff of the Vice President of America's conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice. We have the Knoxville News Sentinel making the absurd statement that "No underlying crime has been committed."

Let's see...The President and the Vice President of the United States made a case for war by telling a lie. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, at great risk to himself and his career, had the courage to speak out and tell America the truth. Got that?

Bush and Cheney LYING, Joe Wilson telling the TRUTH.

Thank you, Traditional media, etc.

Enter hit man Scooter Libby. Scooter did what Republicans do when they are caught the lying. Scooter told another lie, attacking not one Joe Wilson, but his wife, Valerie Plame. With Karl Rove directing the action, Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby USED the Traditional media to destroy the career of Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative in order to attack her husband. this may go down in history as the most cowardly act ever in American politics. I suspect that at some point, Joe Wilson would have personally strangled the Vice President of the United States if he could have goten close enough to his undisclosed location where the coward hides out. Any real man would have considered a similar action has his wife been attacked by these vermin.

Scooter lied to Federal investigators under oath several times. He was trying to hide the fact that his boss had lied to America in order to start a war. Hundreds of thousands of human beings are now dead and there looks to be no good way out of the mess these people have created. Every time these jerks utter the phrase "cut and run" it is repeated in the traditional media all over America.

Now we find out that the Bush Administration has been using the Federal Prosecutors' offices to implement phony voter fraud investigations against Democrats and only Democrats. 80% of Federal Prosecutor investigations have been against Democrats. 20% against Republicans. How many Democrats have been charged as a result?

Zero!

The Bush Administration has apparently been following the book in running the country. Apparently the book is called: "The Gambino Family guide to Success", with an introduction by Frank Gotti.

Heads are going to roll. Resignations have already happened in the Attorney General's office and more are expected. The Attorney General could well go to jail for perjury. We almost had one of these creeps appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States! Maybe I should say, Another one.

But thanks to the TRADITIONAL MEDIA we now know about all this and right will be done. Well, no.

None of this was investigated by the Traditional Media. They ignored it all. "Screw You, America. Look over here," the Traditional Media said, "A dead Playboy model and her, who knows who the father is, baby!"

Thank You, Traditional Media, for showing us exactly why we have fought all these centuries to preserve the Freedom of the Press. But don't worry, folks, Bloggers will save America. Let me correct that actually...

Liberal Bloggers!

Essentially all of this was brought to light by Liberal bloggers. Chief among those is Josh Marshall. While reptilian scum like Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and George Bush hide in dark places, We must be grateful for American Heros like Josh Marshall for shining the light of truth for our Country.

Find your soul, American Press.

The Enemy is inside the gate.

Peace,

Steve

Virgins Only Military

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff just uttered one of the stupidest things and American General has ever said:

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday that he supports the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" ban on gays serving in the military because homosexuality is "immoral" and on par with having an extramarital affair.

I can't figure out if he is raising homosexual acts up or moving them down to the level of an extra marital affair, but he is essentially saying America's Armed forces should only have troops who are virgins or in a heterosexual marriage... And they should be booted out of the Military if they mess around.

maybe my headline ought to be:

"Chairman of the Joint Cheifs of Staff calls for Disbanding American Military"

Yeah...Right.

Peace,

Steve

Miss d'Meaner

Now we find out that at least one of the fired Federal Prosecutors lost his job at the order of President George W. Bush because he wouldn't manipulate a federal investigation for political purposes.


Things are getting really weird in Bushworld. And Now, we find out for sure that Harriet Miers is way beyond evil,

You remember Harriet? Supreme Court nominee Harriet who thought Bush is the smartest man she ever met? Ms. Miers is the personal lawyer who buried George Bush's DWI rap and was the White House Special Counsel for George Bush, apparently in charge of the Department of Disruption of Democracy in America.

Albert Gonzoles is going to be relieved of his position as Attorney General of the United States of America, but not because he is the architect of America's torture program and the eliminated the Geneva Conventions, thereby removing any pretense that America is a beacon of civilization. No, Alberto is going to be ditched because he fired seven or eight federal Prosecuters for not attacking Democrats hard enough just before last November's elections. The Bush Administration has moved the job of enforcing America's Federal law from the top of the Justice Department's list to the bottom, and replaced it with the job of attacking Democrats in order to help Republicans stay in power. Democrats have been investigated at a rate of about 4 to 1 over Republicans under Alberto. Republicans have been indicted and sent to prison at about the same rate, which is very very odd. Statistically, that means that Republicans are 16 times more guilty than Democrats.

I wonder how many Republicans would be in jail if the same number of them were investigated as Democrats? The odds say 64 times as Republican jailbirds. But don't worry...Alberto is protecting America from Harriet Miers, who was so pissed off at the Justice Department's failure to put Democrats in jail, whether they were guilty or not, that she wanted every single Federal prosecutor fired! Every single one of them. Harriet wanted all of them replaced with more compliant prosecutors who would indict all the right people, just before election time.

See...Republicans have been seriously working to suppress the vote in Democratic areas and blowing smoke over this by announcing investigations into voter fraud by Democrats. Not one single investigation into Dems has turned up any wrong doing. Not one! But Republicans sit in jail right this very moment for this very thing. Even though the Justice Department will investigate a Dem at the drop of an email and needs a Grand Jury Bill to mess with a Republican.

This is a base corruption of the very fabric of America's justice system for political purposes. Now, Karl Rove's name has turned up as having demanded the firing of prosecutors who wouldn't use their offices for political purposes. Out of 93 Federal Prosecutors, they only had to fire 8. These Prosecutors "chafed against Administration initiatives, etc."

Administration Initiatives?

Such corrupt political operations have no place whatsoever in the Department of Justice. Gonzoles will resign soon, but think about this. President Bush nominated Harriet Miers for Supreme Court Justice. She withdrew her name becasue she wasn't crazy enough for Right Wing Conservatives.

What damage would Harriet Miers have done to the fabric of America had she been appointed to the Supreme Court?

Now we find out that at least one of the fired Federal Prosecutors lost his job at the order of President George W. Bush because he wouldn't manipulate a federal investigation for political purposes.

I don't like what it says about America, but I feel it is now time to begin a top down impeachment of the Bush Administration. I cannot find a single one who is not guilty of "High Crimes" much less Misdemeanors.

Miss d' Meaner?

Is that what they call Harriet Miers behind her back? Or is she proud of it?

Peace,

Steve

More:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/012983.php

Obvious

This is the highest and best use of the Internet tubes. I have enjoyed this for months, but hesitated to share because I figure this one link alone will reduce productivity in America by several percentage points. It's like wandering around in a combination Modern Art musem and interactive mental health ward.

And it's from Knoxville.

Now for the morning rant.

Dick Cheney's Halliburton has become so openly anti-American, flouting so many American laws that it has come out of the closet and is leaving town.

Could we get some our money back before they cut and run? Do we have an extradition treaty with Dubai?

Halliburton to Move Headquarters To Dubai

DUBAI -- U.S. oil services giant Halliburton Co. will shift its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai, Chief Executive Dave Lesar said Sunday.
Shouldn't we immediately cancel all contracts with Halliburton as a result of this? The real reasons for Halliburton's change of patriotism is simple. Having screwed the United States out of everything it can get,

Halliburton is going to follow the money .

The Bush administration is still using the Friday night last second news dump for bad information whether it is merely embarrassing or truly evil. Events that would make national headlines are thus swept under the rug. So while Halliburton has mishandled, overcharged, flat out stolen, whatever, about $9 Billion bucks and counting, Bush wants to give them more. Friday afternoon he had delivered a letter to Congress asking for over $3 Billion to be cut from Domestic spending and sent to Iraq.

What does Bush want to cut?

Rural Business enterprise grants, Technology research, Career and technical education grants, The Environmental management program (can't be saving any energy, we gor wars to fight over oil), the Center for Disease Control, Passenger rail service, and the Land and Water Conservation state grants program.

All of those cuts in support of the the Republican's war disgust me. We trade what is good about our contry for what is evil.

End the war NOW. Impeach these bastards and hunt down every last penny they've stolen.

Time to save America, Patriots!

Captain America! Where are you now that we really need you?

Peace,

Steve

Opera Nights...Frog-ero, first movement

The moment I mark Spring out here in WhitesCreek gorge is that magical moment when I hear toad song for the first time. That would be March 7th, this year. Last Thursday.

I have marveled at the fact that this gnarly little creature has such a beautiful voice. The musical competitions in vernal pools scattered about the hillside is fierce. There will be relative silence as the songsters gather their energy. Then, One little beastie stakes out his pitch in a high trill and the battle is on. The bufo choir rails its warty opera into the night. it does make me think of those huge obese tenors singing a touching love song, their hideous nature hidden inside the radio tuner mush as the forested hillside hides old toad. His lover willl find him in the dark by virtue of his song, longer and louder than his rivals. Astonishingly, they sing in harmony!

Chicks dig it! They come from near and far to get close to the boys in the pond.

I've sat and watched a toad orgy. Kinky? Well not, actually. It's kinda like cage match in a low rent wrestling arena. They all fight each other and frankly I can't tell why someone wins or loses. The females seem to be lured into the puddle by several males all singing their little bladders out and as gather a crowd, someone gives the go signal and the mudwrestling begins. It's like the females present themselves to be raped or something, but it must all work out because by morning there will be curly gelatinaous strings of eggs all over the puddle. From my perch higer up on the bank, I usually watch through binoculars until the scene gets repetitive and I continue on my walk. I know the real fun is probably happening later on in the night.

Last night I woke up several times and listened to the halleluyah chorus.

Turn your sound up and give it a listen. there are only two of them on this recording. Imagine hundreds.

toad Song

That comes from this.

So you see, ugly ducklings got nothing on Bufo Americanus. We're beautiful here.

Peace,

Steve

And how about cutting everything off, sit in the yard just at dusk, and listen a bit this spring.

*****

Saturday reading assignment:

No nation in history has survived the collapse of its Middle Class. In the midst of this disaster in America, we have to ask how do we stop it?

Paul Krugman on "How to Save the MIddle class"

Sham

From the Washington Post:

American conservatism is a house divided against itself. It applauds
the radicalism of the economic changes of the past four decades -- the
dismantling, say, of the American steel industry (and the job and income
security that it once provided) in the cause of greater efficiency. It decries
the decline of social and familial stability over that time -- the traditional,
married working-class families, say, that once filled all those churches in the
hills and hollows in what is now the smaller, post-working-class
Pittsburgh.

Problem is, disperse a vibrant working-class community in America
and you disperse the vibrant working-class family.

Which is how American conservatism became the primary author of the
very social disorder that it routinely rails against, and that Republicans have
the gall to run against.

The party of family values? Please. If that's the banner that Republicans continue to wave, then they should certainly make Rudy Giuliani, who couldn't bestir himself to attend his son's high school graduation or his daughter's high school plays, their presidential nominee.

No candidate could better personify the sham that is Republicans' and conservatives' concern for the American family.

Why is the Washington Post picking on the GOP frontrunner? Isn't he a good Conservative?

Rudy's a three times married Catholic, first time to his cousin, lived in sin with his lover in the Mayor's mansion when he was mayor of New York at the same time his wife was living in the back of the same house. When he got tossed out of the mansion he bunked with some gay friends of his.

Rudy Giulliani is a hero for his masterful use of the 9-11 photo-op making people forget all about the fact that the reason the Firemen and Police couldn't talk to each other in a national crisis was because Rudy wouldn't authorize buying them radios that could actually communicate with each other, hundreds of people died as a result, but hey...Didn't Rudy look Presidential on TV? It's all about the picture and has nothing to do with the corruption and incompetence, after all.

I mean these people are Republicans...Of course they're crooked. Of course they're incompetent. And, Of course they have disfunctional families. It's not their fault...I mean most of them were raised by Republicans.

The Bush twins are a prime example. How can we look down on their self destructive behavior when they have a dad who is doing his best to destroy planet earth and has publicly stated he plans to die and leave them with the problem?

That would screw anybody up.

Peace,

Steve

Sanchez? The Sanchez?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Hey...Pictures!

Juan Cole is one of the most knowlegeable people on the planet, as far as the Middle East is concerned. He has posted an illustrated timeline of the Libby affair, with the actions of the major players carefully laid out. It is entirely factual.

Frankly, I do not see how Dick Cheney can remain in office after this. Anyone who would lie to smear a hero of the stature of Ambassador Joseph Wilson is a traitor and a creep.

This is easy to understand:

Juan Cole

May Dick Cheney live a very long time

Here is what has now been established in a court of law:

The Vice President of the United States was pressing the case for the Iraq war and was willing to use discredited evidence to do it, this being in particular forged documents claiming that Saddam was trying to buy nuclear materials from the country of Niger.

Former Ambassador Joe Wilson was sent to Africa by the CIA to validate the documents and found them to be false.

Cheney publicly and repeatedly used the Niger documents to justify war and President Bush's famous "mushroom cloud" statement. Wilson wrote an Op-ed piece listing his reasons for believing that the Vice President was lying to the American people in order to start a war.

Cheney and Karl Rove attacked Ambassador Wilson personally, not his facts or evidence, but by lying about his wife, CIA covert operative Valerie Plame, claiming she had sent him to Africa for her own purposes. Karl Rove publicly stated that "a wife is fair game". The person sent on this cowardly mission by Karl Rove and Dick Cheney was Scooter Libby.

Valerie Plame was a covert CIA operative masquerading as a low level data analyst. She ran a network of agents in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, under the guise of an international corporation known a "Brewster Jennings" which consisted of covert operatives keeping tabs on weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. They continued to report that there was no evidence of WMD's and certainly no evidence of nuclear weapons in Saddam's possession.

A tactic repeatedly used by Karl Rove to reduce the impact of highly damaging information has been to attack the messenger in the most insidious and cowardly ways. By the acts of Scooter Libby, on a mission from Karl Rove and Dick Cheney, Plame was outed as a CIA covert operative, and various claims were made about her and Ambassador Wilson in an attempt to downplay the damage to their efforts to start a war with Iraq. Plame's CIA cover was exposed by Scooter Libby, and collaterally, so were the operatives in Brewster Jennings, putting them in grave danger. This, by definition of the law of the United States of America, is...

TREASON.

Here's what one noted American had to say about this kind of behavior:

"I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors."

The speaker was George Bush Sr, in 1999.

And that's exactly what his son oversaw.

(Michael Tomasky of the Gardian has several other observations unclouded by the constraints of America's corporate media in his Commentary.)


What Scooter Libby was convicted of was not treason. He was convicted of lying his ass off under oath and committing perjury in order to keep himself, Karl rove, and the Vice President of the United States, Richard Cheney, from being charged with ..

TREASON.

Nine people testified under oath that Scooter Libby was lying. The jury convicted him and he could be fined one million dollars and be sent to prison for 20 years if his conviction is upheld...Or...George Bush could issue a Presidential Pardon for a man who has committed...

TREASON.

If Libby is pardoned, he willl lose all 5th Amendment privileges and may then be called to testify against Cheney and Rove, who will not be charged with perjury or obstruction of Justice...They will be charged with...

TREASON.

As my friend Jeff points out...

Scooter Libby now has two choices..He can keep his mouth shut and go to
jail...Or Rat out his buddies and go hunting with Cheney.

On one hand, it will be interesting to see how the pardon is dealt with. I predict Libby will go to jail. If so, it will be difficult to prosecute Rove and Cheney for...

TREASON.

If Libby is pardoned he will immediately be questioned under oath...again. I suspect there will be lots of deal making in back rooms, but the outcome is fairly certain. The Vice President of the United States will, at some point, be charged with...

TREASON.

His only way out is to die.

Peace,

Steve

Where do they go?

Ann Coulter has previously called for the assassination of President Clinton, Half the Supreme Court, and the New York Times editorial staff. Republicans love her. Then she called John Edwards a faggot. at their big meeting. All the Republicans laughed...until it hit the news. Now they are running away from their dear Ann as fast as their little keyboards will carry them. But there's a problem...

Ann Coulter IS the Republican party. Foul mouthed, hateful, bigotted, prejudiced, and willing to say anything and do anything in order to get her way, no matter how cruel.

Now Ann Coulter herself will "feel the love" of the people she has pandered to for all these years. They will now disparage her and wring their hands and toss her away in public. In private they will still lust after her.

via Kos:

"On GOPUSA – no slouches they; you may recall them as Jeff Gannon's/James Guckert's former employers – wingnut extraordinaire Cliff Kincaid:

'Ann Coulter made headlines at this year's Conservative Political Action
Conference (CPAC) by calling Democrat John Edwards a faggot. Wearing a leather
dress and a Christian cross around her neck, Coulter must be a liberal
infiltrator whose purpose is to give conservatism a bad name... '"

But they all laughed when she called John Edwards a faggot! The truth is that for years Ann Coulter has been a spokesman for the nasty side of Conservatism. Well not that there's a nice side of Conservatism, actually. But the Conservatives used Ann Coulter's foul mouth to speak for them at their conventions. They paid her well.

Here is what Mit Romney said just before she came on...(you know Mitt Romney, right? He's the Republican Presidential candidate that didn't marry his cousin):

ROMNEY: I'm happy to learn also that after you hear me, you're going to from Ann
Coulter. That is a good thing. Oh yeah! Now, I think it's always very important
to get the views of moderates.

This is the moderate Ann Coulter who said environmentalists want to "destroy the middle class".

and this:

Coulter responding to Hardball host Chris Matthews' question, "How do you know
that [former President] Bill Clinton's gay?": "I don't know if he's gay. But
[former Vice President] Al Gore -- total fag."

Coulter has been the Conservative dream girl for years now. But they/she got caught and they will now toss her aside like a used condom.

Buh-buh, Ann! It's been real. Now you get to find out something that all little girls should know before they go down your chosen path. It's the answer to the question no Republicans ever think about until it's too late:

"Where do old prostitutes go when they're done?"

Perhaps now America will see Conservatism and it's embodiment in the Republican party as the festering disease it really is now that the oozing sore which is the likes of Ann Coulter, Limbaugh, Dobson, O'Reilly, and countles others...Now that the oozing sore of Conservative punditry has broken through their skin of respectability, revealing conservatism for the lie it really is.

Peace,

Steve

Update: Coulter has a history of being fired from everything except the Republcan Party:

Coulter first came to national prominence as a legal correspondent and pundit
for MSNBC, which fired her for insulting a Vietnam veteran. The conservative National Review dropped her column after she responded to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, by stating that America should "invade their [terrorists'] countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." In an interview with The New York Observer, Coulter stated that "[m]y only regret with [Oklahoma City bomber] Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building." USA Today also removed Coulter as a columnist covering the 2004 Democratic National Convention after she referred to the gathering as the "Spawn of Satan convention."

Media Matters

Monday's episode in which Laura Earns her beads?

Can you believe what President Bush told a bunch of New Orleans school kids?

Sorry Laura is not here. She and I, by the way, spent some of our youth here in
New Orleans. I really don't want to go into all the details of -- (laughter) --
but we know something about the town.

Laura earned her beads. Imagine that...Or don't..

From our "I can't believe the President of the United States of America said something this stupid" Department:

Here's our president making no sense whatsoever in New Orleans:

Just so you know, of the $110 billion, $86 billion of that has been obligated --
in other words, it's out the door. But only $53 billion has been spent. And so
part of the day today we talked about if the money is out the door in
Washington, where is it and how come it hasn't been out farther? And that's one
of the things that we're going to continue to work on, to make sure that
obligated money ends up in somebody's pocket, so it helps.

Hmm...Maybe it does make sense when I re-read that last part:

"we're going to continue to work ...to make sure that... money ends up in somebody's pocket"

I get it. Kudos, George, for finally telling the truth.

Peace,

Steve

Bush at Mardi Gras

The Truth above All Else

Accurate factual information is the backbone of a free society. Our Knoxville paper has gone the way of Hannity and Colmes in its quest to be fair and balanced, which is to say that the Knoxville News Sentinel has renounced all pretense of any such thing, with its dismissal of Don Williams. Don has joined, for the moment, a group blog I participate in. Since the Knox News won't tell the truth, we'll have to do it ourselves.

In a way I won. I've several new opportunities, and my column here was picked up
by Buzzflash. It likely will draw more readers than anything I've written since
the great compromise of 2004, when I promised I'd write more local stuff. My
next column begins in Knoxville Voice, due on the streets Thursday and I've been
asked to start a blog and to write news for Truthout.com, so I'm going to be OK.

Don Wiilams at KnoxViews

Elizabeth Edwards points out that when Ann Coulter made a joke about the exact time of death of Howard Dean's brother, Charlie, attacked 9-11 widows, and used the vile language of hate, she told us all we needed to know about her. All she wants to do is use nasty and derogatory language to cause pain.

"Now," Elizabeth says, "We need to find out about you."

Honda, Wachovia, Bank of America, and Verizon have removed their ads from Ann Coulter's web site.

Ann Coulter's use of an anti-gay slur yesterday was un-American and
indefensible. In America, we strive for equality and embrace diversity. The kind
of hateful language she used has no place in political debate or our society at
large.

I believe it is our moral responsibility to speak out against that kind
of bigotry and prejudice every time we encounter it....John Edwards

We should condemn not only Ann Coulter, but every single one of the conservatives that laughed at her statement...It certainly was no joke.

Peace,
Steve

A new film claims that Jesus and his family have been found:

"James Cameron, film director, claims he has discovered the tomb of Christ. I just hope this doesn't lead to a court battle in Florida. ... Who would have guessed they found Jesus before Osama Bin Laden" --David Letterman

We're doomed!

Let's see...

Jurors are debating the fate of Scooter Libby in an obstruction of justice trial in which testimony strongly suggested that the Vice President of the United States has committed treason.

The mistreatement of American war wounded, which has been known for several years, finally bubbled to the top of the Washington Post's attention span, getting the Secretary of the Army, who's previous experience in managing something like the most powerful Military in the world, seems to be as a Vice chairman of a company that managed hazardous waste for the Military. His Secretary of the Army website has this little gem:

"Secretary Harvey's number one priority is the well being of Soldiers and their
families.."

The Secretary of Defense has responded immediately by ordering wounded troops incarcerated at Walter Reed not to talk to anyone about the deplorable conditions. This is the same effective method used by Donald Rumsfeld in cleaning up the abuses at Abhu Graib...He banned digital cameras!

At a huge Conservative gathering featuring Dick Cheney and Giuliani, Mitt Romney pointed out what a "Good thing" it was for the gathering to hear from Anne Coulter, who promptly raised the level of conservative discourse by calling John Edwards a "faggot".

The Pearl Harbor Day Massacre had at least seven federal Prosecutors fired for enacting pollitically motivated legal proceeding in time to help Republican candidates in last November's election. This one is boiling to the point of erruption since it seems to implicate Alberto Gonzalez in providing false testimony to Congress.
subpoenas have been issued.

Serious observers are very concerned that the Bush Administration is hellbent on starting a nuclear war in Iran.

As a result of all of the above....The Number One News item of the week was the funeral of Anna Nicole Smith.

Ok, Now for some Moral outrage..

This is being called the "Pearl Harbor Day Massacre" and may wind up being the Bush Administration Watergate.

Regardless of what happens, it is further proof of the deep deep corruption within the Republican Administration:

David Iglesias said in published reports this week that he believes he was
forced out of office as U.S. attorney after resisting pressure from two members
of Congress to push an ongoing investigation of a kickback scheme that might
have helped Republicans in the 2006 elections.

The House Judiciary
Committee will be issuing subpoenas to four of the fired prosecutors this
afternoon, according to a committee spokesperson.

Dead fish and Long Arms

Well!

I was going to be outraged and write about the Bush Administration's theft of the Land and Water Conservation fund money from this year's federal budget...but it is just too nice a day for me to muster up too much moral outrage.

We need to deal with this slap in the face by Republicans, of course, but maybe later. Right now we have blue sky, sunshine, and chorus frogs making whoopee in Lake Steve. A word to the girl frogs...The boys will tell everyone within a quarter mile if you hop into their puddle. Do what you must but be aware they're gonna brag.

I was reading cool stuff in my Audubon rag this morning.

Saw where Chinese veterinarians were unable to remove some bits of plastic from their two star dolphin performers at the water park in Fushun. Medical instruments were inadequate to the task so they called this guy, Bao Xishun. No, he's not a dolphin medical expert, he's a sheep herder but he has the longest arms in China. he just reached down the dolphins' throats and pulled the offending plastic pieces out of their stomachs.

Apparently he has wiped off the slime, returned to his sheep, and the dolphins are doing quite well.

Now for a who dunnit solved:

2.5 million years ago, a child of a human ancestor was murdered. The body of the three year old Taung child was discovered in 1924 with grusome injuries to it's skull. Similar injuries have been found on skull specimens of modern mangabeys, an African primate. Adult mangabeys weigh about 25 pounds, the same as the Taung child would have weighed when it was killed. The culprit? Crowned eagles. So the story of eagles eating human children is true in at least one case.

Luckily, the Baldies that fly by my house every morning seem like they prefer road kill and dead fish to babies. I think they're just to damned lazy to kill anything.

Peace,

Steve

Always Entertaining

McCain is dropping behind in the race for the Repub presidential nomination, oddly enough, because the FundXtians are switching to Giuliani. Digby finds this mildly amusing on several fronts:


The Freepers are more concerned about the marriage to the second cousin than the adultery, divorce and cross-dressing, which I find surprising. They seem like the types to be quite tolerant of in-breeding.

Digby:

I got Friends in Low Places?

"I got friends in Low places"?

On his way to prison, convicted republican Congressman Bob Ney quotes a Garth Brooks song.

*****

Rural Roane County Tennessee residents take matters into their own hands to get broadband Internet access. After being ignored by the usual suspects they start their own grassroots effort. Sign up if you live here:

http://www.broadband-tn.com/signup/index.php

*****

We're fighting over there so we can fight 'em over here, too!

Dramatic rise in worldwide terror since Bush invaded Iraq.

*****

Ok, look... I got guns and rifles. (There's a difference), My wife has guns and rifles, My kids have guns and rifles. All my neighbors got guns and rifles. We live in the country. Lots of us are actually sane reasonable people. You don't have to be batshit crazy to own guns and rifles. I wish the NRA would stop giving people who own guns and rifles a bad name.

A gun safe should not be an altar of worship.

The Constitution, on the other hand, not only has more than just Amendment Number 2, but it probably should be treated reverently.

Peace,

Steve