Sooner Be Blue

 

Conservative Bob Barr's grass root effort to weed out bad law...

 

"Bob Barr, who as a Georgia congressman authored a successful amendment that blocked D.C. from implementing a medical marijuana initiative, has switched sides and become a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project.

 

But that doesn't mean he has become a bong-ripping hippie. He isn't pro-drug, he said, just against government intrusion.

 

"I, over the years, have taken a very strong stand on drug issues, but in light of the tremendous growth of government power since 9/11, it has forced me and other conservatives to go back and take a renewed look at how big and powerful we want the government to be in people's lives," Barr said."

 

 

Stunning ...

 

I totally forgot what I was going to say ....

 

Oh yeah, stunning that in 1998, DC voters overwhelmingly approved a measure that legalized marijuana for medical treatment, Barr's amendment struck it down .. and now he's done a complete flip-flop.

 

Some people say that the federal government has no right to regulate marijuana anyway .. which makes it a states rights issue. Some states have voted yes, marijuana can be used for medicinal purposes, and that a small amount can be grown for personal use. Then the federal government comes in and says NO. A clear violation of state's rights .. big government riding herd over the wishes of the citizens of that state.

 

Maybe at some point this country is going to get into so much trouble with greater budget deficits, and the outcry over higher taxes becomes so deafening, that the government will be forced to consider ending the BS war on marijuana .. and legalize it .. and tax it. Think of the money they could rake in .. not to mention the bonus of doing away with many of the drug smugglers/dealers at the same time.

 

Conservatives like Bob Barr are going to help pave the way.

 

With the baby boomers retiring in droves and clamoring for their social security and prescription drugs, they're all going to remember that they made it just fine through the 60's .. and taxing demon weed would work pretty good to keep the SS checks rolling in. They'd vote for legalization.

 

You know .. come to think of it, I'll bet all those Republicans in the White House smoke weed .. explains how they manage to FUBAR everything they touch.

 

Seriously, everyone forgets this country's rich hemp history .. the Mayflower was outfitted with hemp sails and ropes .. John Adams drafted the Articles of Confederation on hemp paper .. Betsy Ross made the first flag of the United States of America out of the finest, strongest fiber available, hemp fabric.

 

Americans were even legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic .. it was second only to tobacco as the best cash crop. George Washington grew hemp at Mount Vernon, and kept a planting diary .. the same thing for Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.

 

No, it wasn't really used for smoking, it was used for everything from rope, fishnets, the weaving of fabric, making paper .. even saddles and shoes.

 

Everything was fine until 1937 when Congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act .. which started the era of hemp prohibition. American farmers had to give up growing hemp because of the expensive tax and licensing regulations. The chief promoter of the Tax Act, Harry Anslinger, began traveling around the world promoting anti-marijuana legislation.

 

My funny friend says, "I'll never understand why conservatives hate the plant that proves God loves us."

 

 

I can't wait to see what the late-night wags do with this!

 

Last night they had the Radio and Television Correspondents' dinner live on C-SPAN and comics had Karl Rove doing an improvised rap. I can't tell you how much I laughed ... he was so totally without rhythm I almost felt sorry for him.

 

And the Preznit lied when he said no, he didn't have a nickname for Rove. We all know it's Turd Blossom.

 

Anyway, if you want to watch it ..

 

 

I would rather it be a Rove Perjury Rap .. <ba-dum-ching> ..

 

After last year's White House Correspondent's dinner -- which was more fun and cutting edge because of Steven Colbert's witty roast of the Preznit -- they played it safe at this dinner with Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood from the TV show "Who’s Line is it Anyway."

 

The Preznit was funny last night,  made me laugh .. in a good way for a change:

 

~~So tell us, Mr. President, how have things changed since the last broadcasters' dinner?

 

"A year ago my approval rating was in the 30s, my nominee for the Supreme Court had just withdrawn, and my vice president had shot someone."

 

"Ah," he said, "those were the good ol' days."~~

 

 

"According to the L.A. Times, insurgents in Iraq are targeting educated people like professors and librarians. ... If the intelligent are targeted and killed, then the only ones left to lead the country will be the ignorant. So, at least they are getting closer to an American-style democracy." --Jay Leno

 

"I think the pressure is starting to get to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Did you hear about today? He tried to fire the cast of 'Boston Legal.'" --Jay Leno

 

"Of course, President Bush is worried too. He thinks this could hurt his guest attorney general worker program." --Jay Leno

 

"In his new tell-all book, Republican former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said he partied too much, drank too much, and slept with too many women he wasn't married to. You know what the Republicans call a guy like that? A Democrat." --Jay Leno

 

"When DeLay was cheating and having sex with all these women, that's when he earned the nickname 'Five-second DeLay.'" --Jay Leno

 

"According to the latest census survey, the number of people without health insurance has dropped by two million. Duh, they're dead because they didn't have health insurance." --Jay Leno

 

"The liberal assault on our president continues, folks. Yesterday the Democrats pulled out their most underhanded weapon yet -- Republicans. ... Senator Hagel wasted no time in mavericking the president [on screen: Hagel criticizing Bush and saying the U.S. is not a monarchy]. Of course it's not a monarchy. What an outrageous thing to say. The president should confiscate Hagel's land and revoke his privilege." --Stephen Colbert

 

"Rudy Giuliani, the Republican frontrunner, was in the news today. ... We thought Rudy Giuliani was [his third wife's] second husband. It turns out it's her third husband. He'll never forget 9/11. But anniversaries, he's got to write those down. ... In addition to this, Rudy's first wife was his cousin. And they say a New Yorker can't win in the South." --Bill Maher

 

"Did you see this today about Barack Obama? Genealogy research has revealed that Obama's great-great-grandfather was born in Ireland. Oh great, now he won't be Irish enough for people." --Bill Maher

 

"Looks like the Democrats are starting to get a little ... ballsy. The House of Representatives voted to order President Bush to bring the troops home by September of next year. It passed barely. The Republicans, except for two, all voted against that. Republican Sam Johnson of Texas said, 'This bill literally hands the enemy our war plan.' Which would be embarrassing ... since it's written on a cocktail napkin." --Bill Maher

 

"I give credit where credit is due. Finally, someone from the Bush family has enlisted. George Prescott Bush, the president's nephew, has enlisted in the Navy. The Navy is a tradition in the Bush family. The first president Bush was a Navy pilot. The current President Bush spends money like a drunken sailor." --Bill Maher

 

"Dick Cheney again this week was in the hospital. He was experiencing discomfort in his leg. And the doctor asked Cheney if he stretches. Cheney said, 'Are you kidding? I linked 9/11 with Saddam Hussein.'" --Bill Maher

 

"Alberto Gonzales still fighting for his life. Bush said this week that Gonzales has his full support and he has no plans to fire him. Of course, he made that statement in front of a big sign that said 'Adios Amigo.'" --Bill Maher

 

"You can tell it's Spring. Laura Bush's smile is beginning to thaw." --Bill Maher

 

"I love the springtime. It's a time of renewal when the old U.S. attorneys are plowed under ... and the new ones are beginning to sprout. It's a time when Rudy Giuliani picks out his Easter dress." --Bill Maher

 

"At a Washington museum, a new exhibit is about to open that features a first-grade report card of President Bush's where he received straight A's. This sounds impressive, but President Bush was 23 at the time." --Conan O'Brien

 

"The '08 presidential campaign is well underway. ... Country legend Merle Haggard has written a tribute song called 'Hillary' that is supportive of Hillary Clinton. Bill Clinton has also written a tribute song called 'Hillary,' but it's about Hillary Duff." --Conan O'Brien

 

"According to a new report by a genealogy company, Barack Obama's great-great-great-grandfather was born in Ireland. Yeah, that should really solidify Obama's support among Irish African-Americans raised in Hawaii." --Conan O'Brien

 

"Republican presidential candidate John McCain spent the day campaigning in Newark, New Jersey. Afterwards, McCain said, 'Oh my God, and I thought Vietnam was bad.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"NBC and the Fox network announced they are going to join forces to create a new broadcast portal that will compete with YouTube. This amazing new broadcast portal is called television." --Conan O'Brien

 

"In an interview that came out today, Rudy Giuliani's wife admits that Rudy is her third husband, not her second husband. She completely forgot about her first marriage. Oh, Bill Clinton does that all the time." --Jay Leno

 

"President Bush said today that he has legal opinion on his side in the Alberto Gonzales case. President Bush can claim executive privilege according to his lawyer ... Alberto Gonzales" --Jay Leno

 

"This week Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue said he was skeptical about having his state apologize for its role in slavery, saying, 'Repentance comes from the heart. And when I looked deep in my heart, I realized I could really use some slaves'" --Seth Meyers

 

"Commenting on the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq, President Bush said, 'It can be tempting to look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude our best option is to pack up and go home.' He then added, 'But we need to stay crazy and not do that.'" --Amy Poehler

 

"Yesterday Al Gore told members of Congress 'that the planet has a fever and it needs a doctor.' When the congressmen heard this, they asked Gore, 'You won an Oscar for this?'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"Sources at the Pentagon say that several factories in Iraq will soon begin making clothes to be sold in the United States. Yeah, because Americans only want two things from Iraq -- a stable, central government and affordable, quality menswear" --Conan O'Brien

 

"I love when they say this is a constitutional crisis. Oh, please. We haven't used the Constitution in years." --Jay Leno, on the U.S. attorney firing scandal
"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced his new plan. ... The audience will now be able to call up and vote for which U.S. attorneys they think should be eliminated." --Jay Leno

 

"Indicted Republican congressman Tom DeLay, who was forced to resign last year, says in his new book that he used to cheat on his wife all the time and get drunk. He said that 20 years ago he was a self-centered a 'self-centered jerk.' That's all changed now. Now he's just a disgraced politician. Huge improvement." -Jay Leno

 

"Al Gore told Congress that global warming shouldn't be a political issue, it should be a moral issue. And Congress went, 'A moral issue? What's that?'" --Jay Leno

 

"He said that in the future our energy sources will work similar to how the Internet works today. Really? So our cars would run on porn?" --Jay Leno

 

 

From washingtonpost.com:
"Sen. Jim Webb described himself as a "strong supporter of the Second Amendment," in a press conference about an aide's arrest for carrying a loaded gun into a Senate office building. "I have had a permit to carry a weapon in Virginia for a long time, and I believe that it's important for me personally and for a lot of people in the situation that I am in -- to be able to defend myself and my family."

 

Hmm .. wonder how the Righties are gonna attack him on this...

 

Lots of Democrats are gun owners and hunters, and openly support gun rights .. though it gets Rightie knickers in a twist when we point this out.

 

And, there's nothing like the sound of a 12-gauge chambering up to skedaddle an intruder. Speaking as someone who's been robbed in a remote farmhouse.

 

I don't know one Democrat who thinks banning hunting guns and hand-guns is a good idea .. they just aren't too crazy about the rat-a-tat AK47's.

 

Banning never works anyway. Look how well banning liquor worked during Prohibition .. and how well Cocaine, Meth and Marijuana bans are working these days.

 

Guns kill people, cars cause accidents, pencils make mistakes, and spoons make people fat.

 

 

 

 

 

"Aide to Gonzales takes the fifth"

 

Notice who she works for...the Dept of JUSTICE .. and she's taking the 5th...

 

Wait a minute .. this is not a criminal proceeding .. there is no crime yet, just sleaziness at this point. Why can't she talk?

 

Sounds like someone learned from Scooter the Fall Guy .. and at least we know that they think a crime was committed.

 

And isn't is ironic that the Bushies have finally discovered the Bill of Rights. I'll bet more of them will be running for the cover of the Bill of Rights soon.

 

Afraid to put their hands on a Bible?

 

Save my seat while I pop some popcorn .. hope there are cameras present. Love to hear those words -- "Under advice of my counsel...."

 

From the Washington Post, Tuesday, March 27, 2007:
"Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's senior counselor yesterday refused to testify in the Senate about her involvement in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

 

Monica M. Goodling, who has taken an indefinite leave of absence, said in a sworn affidavit to the Senate Judiciary Committee that she will "decline to answer any and all questions" about the firings because she faces "a perilous environment in which to testify."

 

 

Hmmm .. every President has his Monica?

 

Okay .. that wasn't funny.

 

Anyway, this means someone is afraid she may have committed a crime. This issue is no longer about politics, it's now a criminal investigation of the Attorney General.

 

Here's what the Fifth says:
"The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives individuals the right to refuse to answer any questions or make any statements, when to do so would help establish that the person committed a crime or is connected to any criminal activity."

 

...."connected to any criminal activity."

 

Hope Gonzales doesn't consider the 5th amendment quaint.

 

From the dumped emails, it could have something to do with Karl Rove's "protege" Tim Griffin getting one of the fired US Atty's job in Little Rock .. emails show Goodling already had alerted him that the interview would be a formality ...

 

But I don't see the crime there .. unless it was Rove doing it instead of the Preznit.

 

As if Gonzales didn't have enough to worry about, the wires are heating up now linking him to a cover up about Prison Administrators forcing sex on minor boys in Texas Juvenile detention.

 

"Embattled AG now accused in teen sex scandal 'cover-up'
Attorney General Gonzales among officials who allegedly ignored abuse of minor boys"

 

 

Tic tock tic tock...

 

 

How about holding this White House accountable for the disgraceful treatment of our soldiers? The wounded in military hospitals .. and badly injured troops being dragged back to the war zone.

 

Last Saturday VP Dick Cheney (5 draft deferments, he had more important priorities) got up in front of the Republican Jewish Coalition at the oceanside Ritz-Carlton hotel and accused the Democrat-led House of not supporting troops in Iraq .. "They're not supporting the troops. They're undermining them."

 

Talk is cheap, and so is a bumper sticker .. everybody knows that the best way to support the troops is with a yellow magnetized ribbon on your car ..

 

My idea of "support the troops" is to NOT send them deliberately into harm’s way .. into the middle of a civil war to die senselessly in search of Bush's idea of "victory" .. which is to hold out long enough to hand the mess to his successor.

 

Hey Dick, what do you have to say about this?

 

From salon.com:
"Army deployed seriously injured troops
Soldiers on crutches and canes were sent to a main desert camp used for Iraq training. Military experts say the Army was pumping up manpower statistics to show a brigade was battle ready."

 

Call back the draft .. that will get us some fresh troops .. and maybe a bit more protest too.

 

It irks me no end that Bush and Cheney continue to paint Democrats (and some Republicans with a conscience) as unwilling to "support the troops" while US military leaders are sending injured soldiers back to Iraq is unconscionable.

 

Putting troops too injured to bear the weight of their body armor into a war zone is like placing them in the numbers column of returning dead.

 

And it looks like we can thank the surge for this gross abuse of our injured soldiers .. the only reason these soldiers are being sent back is to meet the troop surge numbers the White House wanted.

 

Here's the rest of the Salon piece:

 

 

"Last November, Army Spc. Edgar Hernandez, a communications specialist with a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, had surgery on an ankle he had injured during physical training. After the surgery, doctors put his leg in a cast, and he was supposed to start physical therapy when that cast came off six weeks later.

 

But two days after his cast was removed, Army commanders decided it was more important to send him to a training site in a remote desert rather than let him stay at Fort Benning, Ga., to rehabilitate. In January, Hernandez was shipped to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., where his unit, the 3,900-strong 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, was conducting a month of training in anticipation of leaving for Iraq in March.

 

Hernandez says he was in no shape to train for war so soon after his injury. "I could not walk," he told Salon in an interview. He said he was amazed when he learned he was being sent to California. "Did they not realize that I'm hurt and I needed this physical therapy?" he remembered thinking. "I was told by my doctor and my physical therapist that this was crazy."

 

...when he got to California, he was led to a large tent where he would be housed. He was shocked by what he saw inside: There were dozens of other hurt soldiers. Some were on crutches, and others had arms in slings. Some had debilitating back injuries. And nearby was another tent, housing female soldiers with health issues ranging from injuries to pregnancy.

 

Hernandez is one of a dozen soldiers who stayed for weeks in those tents who were interviewed for this report, some of whose medical records were also reviewed by Salon. All of the soldiers said they had no business being sent to Fort Irwin given their physical condition. In some cases, soldiers were sent there even though their injuries were so severe that doctors had previously recommended they should be considered for medical retirement from the Army.

 

...John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an independent organization that studies military and security issues.....says he suspects the injured soldiers were camped out at Fort Irwin so that on paper, at least, "the unit would have a sufficient head count to be mission-capable."

 

...But injured soldiers from the brigade were not just shuttled to California; some were sent on to Iraq. Earlier this month Salon reported that on Feb. 15, shortly after returning from Fort Irwin to Fort Benning, 75 injured soldiers from the 3rd Brigade lined up for screenings at the troop medical clinic. Some of the soldiers there that day described cursory meetings with a division surgeon -- meetings designed to downgrade their health problems, the soldiers said, so that they could be deployed to the war zone. Records for some of those soldiers show doctors had previously concluded that those soldiers could not wear body armor because of serious skeletal and other injuries.

 

...Master Sgt. Ronald Jenkins was one of those soldiers at NTC with a hurt back, even though late last year, doctors recommended he be considered for medical retirement. Jenkins, 42, has a degenerative spine problem and a long scar down the back of his neck where doctors fused three of his vertebrae during surgery. He takes morphine for the pain in his neck and back.

 

...Jenkins said the disregard for soldiers' health motivated him to speak out, despite his fears that as an active-duty soldier he could suffer reprisal from superiors. "I am a guy who has been in the Army for 21 years," he said. "For me to speak about this -- and risk everything -- then there has got to be a problem. There has got to be an issue here." [..]

 

"I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell." Harry S. Truman

 

 

From yahoo.com/dailynews:

House Sets Iraq Timetable
"The House voted Friday for the first time to clamp a cutoff deadline on the Iraq war, agreeing by a thin margin to pull combat troops out by next year and pushing the new Democratic-led Congress ever closer to a showdown with President Bush."

 

It's good that Democrats are getting more aggressive in their opposition to the war .. but when it comes down to it, attaching demands for withdrawal to critical military spending bills is about all they can do. The Preznit can veto it.

 

One third of Americans think Democrats are jeopardizing success in Iraq .. the majority of us think the place is so shot to hell that it is time to get out.

 

Since this has now turned into a civil war where we don't really have a dog in the fight -- we don't want the Shiites to win because they are religious nuts affiliated with Iran, and we don't want the Sunni to win because they are religious nuts affiliated with al Qeida -- we should just pack up and go home and let the Iraqis sort it out. Don't give them warning, don't set a timeline .. just do it.

 

Either way it comes out, the US will NOT have a friend in Iraq.

 

To the people yelling about "cut and run" I say we survived it before in Korea, Vietnam, Somalia.

 

And, come on, this bill sets a timeline of 17 months to fully redeploy the troops. In 17 months we will have been in Iraq for almost 5.5 years. We should have been able to secure at least the Green Zone in that amount of time.

 

But almost every time they tell us that things are going well, we get a reality check on the ground. Like the other day when the UN secretary-general had to duck for cover behind the press conference podium .. an insurgent rocket hit nearby.

 

How clever that the insurgents could time it to happen at that moment. And another jarring reminder that Iraq is still awash in weapons after four years of war.

 

No, they don't all come from Iran -- there are so many mortars, rockets and artillery shells for making IED's and car bombs because of Rummy's poor planning in the very beginning .. for not securing all those ammo dumps. Four years later and we still can't get a handle on it. What does that say?

 

As US troops and Iraqi security forces step up the crackdown on violence, there are fresh signals that insurgents aren't backing down .. they just become more barbaric. A suicide bomber drove up to a checkpoint with two children in the back seat .. we let it through, it parks, the adults run out, detonate it with the children in the back.

 

We can't even point to the Iraqi government as a shining example. On TV the other day Stuart Bowen, the IG for Iraq Reconstruction, said corruption within the Iraqi government is such a serious problem that it inhibits all progress in Iraq. They are calling it the second insurgency.

 

Bush's 'plan' entirely hinges on the Iraqi government .. if corruption is such a problem, how is this security plan ever going to work?

 

It's time to go home folks.

 

No, not cut and run. We just say we have done what we went to Iraq to do -- get rid of Saddam,  make sure there weren't any WMD's, and make it possible for the Iraqis to elect their own government.

 

Then we should go back to Afghanistan and fight terrorists there .. that place is really coming undone.

 

With every day that we stay in Iraq and lose and use up soldiers and equipment, the insurgency just waits us out .. and other countries such as Iran, N. Korean, Venezuela, etc. are strutting around like peacocks.

 

And I'm so tired of the old Rightie mantra -- "fight them there so we don't have to fight them here."

 

What does that mean exactly? That if we weren't in Iraq the terrorists would follow us here and plant IED's at the corner of Main Street, USA?

 

Does it mean they would kidnap Americans from their homes and show beheadings on the Internet from Honeysuckle Lane in Branson, Missouri?

 

Somehow that just doesn't seem plausible. They could do that right now if they wanted to. One 'pregnant' lady loaded with a suicide bomb at the mall ...

 

Believe me, there are terrorist cells operating right here in America right now .. and nothing but good old-fashioned undercover police work is stopping them from doing their dirty work.

 

Bring the troops home so they can protect our airports, ports and borders.

 

 

Gosh, it seems like only yesterday that AG Alberto Gonzales was on TV telling the whole country that he barely even knew what was going on in his department .. had NO idea that his Justice Dept. was planning to fire a bunch of US Attorneys -- and he *certainly* didn't actively participate in any discussions about it.

 

The Associated Press, Saturday, March 24, 2007; 6:08 AM
WASHINGTON -- Last week, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he was not involved in any discussions about the impending dismissals of U.S. attorneys.
On Friday night, however, the Justice Department revealed Gonzales' participation in a Nov. 27 meeting where such plans were discussed.

 

The firings of eight prosecutors has since led to a political firestorm and calls for his ouster.

 

At that meeting, the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials discussed a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Gonzales' aides said late Friday.[..]

 

 

Geez Al, the legal system becomes meaningless if it ceases to be impartial.

 

Isn't it cute how they hold stuff like this for Friday .. bad-news-and-embarrassing-document-dump-day ...

 

And there was the White House .. maintaining all along that Gonzalez was not involved in the decision.

 

Not involved…but according to the documents, on November 27, there was an hour-long meeting, Gonzalez and Sampson were both present, and the Attorney General signed off on it.

 

Here is where you can read the documents:

 

 

Who wants to bet that Gonzalez is gone by next Friday-bad-news-dump-day?

 

If there is anything that the Bushies are good at, it is delegating the authority for incompetence to toady underlings.

 

And you know .. Gonzales probably had so many things on his plate at the time, and he simply forgot. Like Libby did.

 

When you are that heavily involved in effing over the American people and their constitution .. well, things just start to get a little blurry.

 

And now we should probably just let this drop .. otherwise, we'd be making this whole thing political .. and we wouldn't want that now, would we? <snort>

 

Bush nicknamed Alberto "Little Fredo" .. maybe because in the Godfather movies all poor Fredo was trusted with was picking people up at the airport and serving as a bagman.

 

I guess Preznit Machiavelli didn't realize that Little Fredo would be too eager to please and in over his head .. not to mention so dumb that he got caught red handed.

 

All roads lead to Rove.

 

Rove is surely behind this selective document dump .. you know, to position Little Fredo to take the fall .. like he did with Libby.

 

On top of their crimes, they're becoming boring through repetition.

 

Please please please .. may the political pressure to allow access to Rove, and all relevant documentation, become enormous and irresistible.

 

They don't even have to frog-march him ...

 

 

 

"After Congress subpoenaed presidential adviser Karl Rove, President Bush said he will allow Rove to answer questions, but not under oath. The president said, 'I'm all for him talking as long as he doesn't have to tell the truth.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"With the fired lawyers controversy here in the United States showing no signs of abating, President Bush gave an impromptu press conference in the White House's Diplomatic Reception Room. Presumably because the Petulant Tantrum Room was booked." --Jon Stewart

 

"So would the president put forth a proposal to break this legal stand-off? [on screen: Bush saying, 'I put forth what I thought was a rational proposal. And the proposal I put forward is the proposal.'] He makes a strong case. His proposal is, in fact, his proposal" --Jon Stewart

 

"It's a major concession from the president's initial offer to Congress, which was that they go f**k themselves." --Daily Show correspondent John Oliver, on Bush offering Congress private interviews with White House aides

 

"The White House is adamant that its advisers retain the right, if they so choose, to lie ... without consequence. It's executive privilege. ... If Karl Rove knew he'd one day be forced to testify under oath about the advice he gave the president, he'd have to limit that advice to things that weren't shameful, illegal, or spectacularly bone-headed" --John Oliver

 

"The Democrats are trying to turn these firings of U.S. attorneys into a partisan issue, but the president is above bickering. In fact, he made a generous peace offering. Karl Rove and Harriet Miers would submit to private interviews, but 'they would not take oaths nor would a transcript be made available.' See, the president is just trying to save this country from another painful perjury trial." --Stephen Colbert

 

"While on Capitol Hill today, Al Gore testified that if we act now, we can still save the planet. Well, not the whole planet. Except Florida. He said screw them." --Jay Leno

 

"The Ringling Brothers Circus arrived in Washington, DC, this week. That shows you the differences between the administrations. President Bush is very excited to see the circus animals. And, of course, Clinton was all excited to see the fat lady." --Jay Leno

 

"Vice President Dick Cheney went to the hospital because of discomfort in one of his legs. Apparently, he hurt it while jumping for joy when he saw how high gas prices were." --Jay Leno

 

"Yesterday on the 'Today' show, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he doesn't care what Rush Limbaugh says because Rush Limbaugh is irrelevant. Arnold started pronouncing 'irrelevant' during the 'Today' show, and finished pronouncing it during the 'Nightly News.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"According to a new study, one-third of Washington, DC, is illiterate. To give you an idea of how bad it is, Alberto Gonzales can't even read the writing on the wall." --Jay Leno

 

"President Bush held a news conference where he accused the Democrats of playing politics with the firing of U.S. attorneys. You know, the attorneys he fired for not playing politics." --Jay Leno

 

"President Bush even called Alberto Gonzales to offer his support. Given how popular the president is, Gonzales said, 'Uh, no thanks.'" --Jay Leno

 

"Dick Cheney was rushed to the hospital today. Apparently, Cheney was having pains in his leg. On the way to the hospital, he had tightness in his chest, shortness of breath and profuse sweating. But when they told him he wasn't going to Walter Reed, it all went away." --Jay Leno

 

"Yesterday the Supreme Court debated a case in which a high school student in Alaska was suspended for bringing the banner that said 'Bong Hits for Jesus' to school. The school got mad and the argument is about whether or not the student's right to free speech was violated. The case is Roe v. Weed" --Jimmy Kimmel

 

"Some Republicans in Washington are looking for a replacement for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, but apparently, they need to find an experienced legal mind that President Bush is comfortable with. As a result, the number one candidate is Judge Judy." --Stephen Colbert

 

"This weekend was the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraqi war. ... A lot of anti-war protests and the Bush administration said they were surprised by the number of protests. And I was thinking, 'You know what? I'm not surprised they were surprised'" --David Letterman

 

"Today is the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq. When asked about it, President Bush said, 'See, and people said it would never last.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"Hooters announced it's opening up its first restaurant in the Holy Land. After hearing this, Bill Clinton said, 'As far as I'm concerned, Hooters is the Holy Land.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"Hillary Clinton announced that the vast right-wing conspiracy is back. Or, maybe she said, 'The vast right-wing conspiracy is Barack.'" --Jay Leno

 

"According to some new recently declassified documents, Iraq pretended to have weapons of mass destruction to prevent themselves from being attacked. Well, that plan worked well." --Jay Leno

 

"Khalid Shaikh Mohammed ... confessed to being the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks. He also said he planned 29 other attacks. Because of this, they said he could lose his New York City taxi cab driver license." --Jay Leno

 

 

Nobody says it like Jon Stewart ...

 

"There's another big controversy in Washington over whether or not the Justice Department fired eight United States attorneys for not being malleable enough to this administration.

 

In January, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales addressed the issue [on screen: Gonzales saying, 'I would never, ever make a change in the United States attorney position for political reasons']. Never ever! ... No, wait. Not ever. Wait. What's the word for when you do something periodically? Sometimes. ... A flat out denial from Gonzales.

 

You know, in the good old days, that would have been the end of the story. The Republican Congress would have said, 'Huh? What? You didn't? Okay,' and gone back to building bridges in Alaska to save Terry Schiavo from gay flag-burners.

 

But now, the opposition party controls Congress and they can perform a very complicated legal maneuver known as 'asking for things'"

Jon Stewart

 

 

After I gave thumbs-up to Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" some conservatives demanded I come clean. "Admit it, you hate Bush!"

 

After I wrote a couple of columns about Ronald Reagan in which I failed to advocate placing Reagan's visage on Mount Rushmore, the dime or the $20 dollar bill, I heard from conservatives who maintained this was just another example of my anti-Republican bias.

 

After I marveled at Ann Coulter's bottomless reserve of hatred for liberals, I once again heard from outraged conservatives.

 

"Coulter doesn't hate liberals any more than you hate President Bush!" said one caller.

 

Do I hate the president? Not "Hate Lite" -- but a pure, evil hatred, like the loathing we harbor for the likes of Hitler and serial killers.

 

Answer: not even close.

 

Heck, there have even been times when I've admired the man, e.g., when he stood amid the rubble of Ground Zero, megaphone in hand, and rallied the firefighters, police and rescue workers.

 

More often, I've been angry at Bush's arrogance and incompetence, and I've despised his policies -- but I don't hate the man.

 

I have to admit, though, that it's hilarious to see so many conservatives displaying such sensitivity over this issue. Again and again, I hear from Republicans who are shocked, saddened and sickened by the level of vitriol against their beloved President Bush. Why, they've never seen anything like it. How can people be so irrationally emotional, so personal, so vicious in their hatred of a sitting president?

 

Right. Because the anti-Clinton movement never turned hateful.

 

How soon they forget.

 

Talk about your institutional amnesia. It is absolutely astonishing that some of the same people who spent more than eight years beating up on Bill (and Hillary, and Chelsea, and Buddy the dog), are now so offended by attacks against their guy that sometimes land below the belt.

 

Folks, do you not see the hypocrisy at work here?

 

This makes about as much sense as a bully taking a kid's lunch money for eight years -- only to complain when the kid finally lands a counterpunch during freshman year in high school. "Ow! You're mean!"

 

Understand, I'm not denying the existence of more than a few liberals who truly hate President Bush. Whether it's an idiot singer saying Bush should have died instead of Reagan; photoshopped images of Bush and Cheney as Nazis; Web sites filled with personal insults; or conspiracy theorists accusing the Bush family of participating in a ludicrously diverse litany of crimes up to and including the assassination of JFK, there's some nasty, unfair, off-the-wall stuff out there. Even if you abhor everything about the Bush presidency, this is not the way for decent human beings to act.

 

But in volume and variety of rumor-mongering, the Bush-haters aren't even in the same league with the Clinton-haters. I'd say that for every anti-Bushite who's ticked because we didn't find weapons of mass destruction, there were a dozen anti-Clintonites who spent a good chunk of the 1990s screaming, "IT'S NOT ABOUT SEX, IT'S ABOUT LYING UNDER OATH!"

 

And for every Bush-basher who whispers about the president's "unstable" behavior in the White House, there were a dozen Clinton-haters going around saying it was a "known fact" that the president was a rapist.

 

And a cokehead.

 

And a murderer.

 

Don't hate the prez, hate the policies.

 

The Clinton-haters were consumed by an obsessive hatred that had them believing (and advancing) every insane rumor imaginable. If we were to believe every unfounded story swirling about, Hillary Clinton was a communist lesbian married to a drug-running serial rapist, and when Bill and Hill weren't working to bump off anyone who might expose their criminal doings, they were conspiring to destroy organized religion and/or each other.

 

And that's why Vince Foster was murdered. Or something.

 

Indeed, some of the Bush-bashing is out of hand -- but anyone who claims it's worse than the anti-Clinton garbage is either in denial or is 8 years old.

 

Because if you're old enough and honest enough to remember the 1990s, you have to admit the Clinton-haters far outnumbered and out-hated the Bush-haters.

 

To borrow an old Republican catchphrase: In your heart, you know I'm right.

 

BY RICHARD ROEPER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

 

 

See, Conservatives have questions too -- National Review Online, March 21, 2007:

 

"Of course, the President has the political and constitutional authority to hire and fire these prosecutors. But why were these eight dumped? Why not the other eighty-five? It seems to me if you use a press conference event to go over the heads of the mainstream media, and broadcast to the American public, you have to deliver a clear rationale for your actions."

 

Well, it started with the firing of eight federal prosecutors and now has turned into a tug-of-war over testimony. The White House won't go for putting it in writing, Congress won't go for anything less.

 

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: "It will be regrettable if they choose to head down the partisan road of issuing subpoenas and demanding show trials."

 

Wasn't Bush cute having his little pugnacious hissy-fit?

 

Sorry, but this is a real scandal. If Congress asks you questions and your answers vary, you've created a problem for yourself. The smart thing to do is not answer at all or always answer the same question exactly the same way.

 

I'll tell you one thing -- if the White House is negotiating for testimony NOT under oath, it is clearly so that they can lie lie lie. If Congress accepts these conditions they are stupid stupid stupid. If it isn't under oath, it will be a waste of time and oxygen to watch Rove, Miers, Gonzalez, et al flap their lips.

 

If there's nothing to hide, what's wrong having a transcript, what is the objection to an oath? Are they afraid that we'll be able to go through and find inconsistencies in the testimony in a transcript?

 

A Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Spector, said it would be better to have it done in the open under oath so no doubts could be raised.

 

And them releasing all those e-mails, 3,000 pages .. unprecedented, very responsive. But, wait a minute .. why is there this big gap from mid-November to about December 4th, right before the actual firings? Why is there a gap in the e-mail?

 

Bottom line is that most of the fired US Atty's were investigating corruption cases that might have hurt the RNC and Bush Administration. I think that is commonly known as OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE .. although I'm not a lawyer, I had dinner with one once and I'm pretty sure obstruction is ILLEGAL.

 

And some of those Atty's were called at home by members of Congress asking about ongoing cases. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Reps. Heather Wilson (R-NM) and Doc Hastings (R-WA) have acknowledged that they contacted a US Attorney about an ongoing case, which may VIOLATE CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS rules.

 

In a New York Times op ed piece Atty. Iglesias wrote this. "A few weeks after those phone calls, my name was added to a list of United States attorneys who would be asked to resign, even though I had excellent office evaluations, the biggest political corruption prosecutions in New Mexico history, a record number of overall prosecutions and a 95 percent conviction rate."

 

Can't get more glaringly obvious than that.

 

And why is this Clinton Did It talking point still alive?

 

One last time -- most ALL presidents purge at the BEGINNING of their terms. The Clinton administration, like the H.W. Bush and Reagan administrations before it, asked for ALL US Attorneys to resign at the beginning of their respective presidential terms.

 

They don't however, fire just 8 of their own for partisan political reasons -- not investigating enough Democrats, too many Republicans being investigated -- in midterm.

 

They say this mess could stretch out until after Bush leaves office.

 

Why any Democrat in his or her right mind would want to inherit the mess left by this incompetent and criminal leadership I just don't know.

 

 

Me? Joining the Republicans? Wait a minute .. what's that sound flying over my house? Sounds like oinking ...

 

Seriously, true conservatives realize they've been shanghaied by the Bushies .. and they want Congress "to restore checks and balances."

 

Former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr is not one of my favorite people, especially since he was front and center calling for Bill Clinton's impeachment 10 years ago for lying about his stupid sex life.

 

Anyway, I regained a little respect for Barr the last few years .. especially since he went public about being upset about what the Bush Administration was doing to our liberty and freedoms through the Patriot Act.

 

Well, Barr and three other prominent conservatives made an announcement yesterday at a news conference at the National Press Club. They are urging Congress to enact The American Freedom Agenda. And I'm joining them.

 

 

" [..] The constitutional grievances against the White House are chilling, reminiscent of the kingly abuses that provoked the Declaration of Independence.

 

The 10-point American Freedom Agenda would work to restore the roles of Congress and the federal judiciary to prevent such abuses of power and protect against injustices that are the signature of civilized nations. [..]

 

....In a statement, the four said the president “has encroached on the power of Congress to make laws, and on the power of the courts to interpret the law - a scenario that the Founding Fathers foresaw and warned against.” As a result, they said, “We are issuing this call to Americans of all political and philosophical persuasions to join us in urging Congress to enact The American Freedom Agenda.

 

The AFA would roll back the alarming recent concentration of power in the White House and its end runs around due process… The AFA seeks to restore America’s tradition of respect for the rule of law and the benefits of dispersed as opposed to concentrated power, to redeem the principle that no man is above the law, and to prevent injustices that undermine national security.

 

We are conservative scholars, activists and writers. We do not favor a crippled executive or enfeebled government. In a time of danger, checks and balances make for stronger government because the people will more readily accept a muscular authority if barriers against abuses are strong. If at some future time Congress, in turn, aggrandizes power and invades the executive or judicial domains, we will be equally alert to sound the alarm. But today, the clear and present danger to conservative philosophy is the White House.”

 

Hallejulah! True conservatives are finally realizing (like evangelists) that they've been had. Too bad they were too blinded by partisanship to figure it out years ago.

 

Better late than never, and maybe they owe those of us who had true insight a little apology. But I won't hold my breath.

 

Anyway, this really shouldn't be a conservative or a liberal issue .. this is an American issue. All of us are threatened when one arm of the government tries to grab too much power.

 

The Patriot Act is one of the "abuses" Bob Barr is talking about .. yes, it was requested by the president, but PASSED by Congress. If the Patriot Act abuses our liberty and freedoms, then our first ax to grind must be with those who had the authority to pass the legislation.

 

Yes, I very well remember how shook up as a nation we were right after 9/11 .. we rallied behind the president and went along with anything he wanted in order to fight the evil-doers. Those of us who balked were called UNpatriotic, etc.

 

Congress only recently has called Whoa! But if we expect Congress to stand up to any Administration, we have to ask our elected officials to do so .. hammer it home to them by letters, phone calls and email.

 

Politicians don't take risks .. so it's our responsibility to stop this erosion of our liberties. Without our raised voices, politicians will do very little. Look how many of them came out against the war after we the people started hollering about it .. until the polls showed it.

 

They say they don't .. but politicians live and die by the polls.

 

 

WOLF BLITZER: Let's get back to our top story. Will the firings of those eight federal attorneys bring on a constitutional showdown?

 

I spoke about that with a keen-eyed comic and social critic. That would be Bill Maher, the host of HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher."

 

BILL MAHER: Well, there are so many things about this that amaze me.

 

First of all, I was saying on my show the other night that we have been on the air for this season five weeks. In three of those weeks, there's been a major Bush scandal, Scooter Libby, Walter Reed, and, of course, now this U.S. attorneys thing.

 

What amazed me about it, Wolf, is that this was something that was written into the Patriot Act, that they could replace these attorneys and -- and not have to consult with the Senate.

 

BLITZER: It was sort of slipped in.

 

MAHER: Right. And, you know, I understand that the Patriot Act, and then the "Patriot Act II: The Search for Curly's Gold," were not read. You know, that's the joke in Washington, that nobody read them. I understand, OK, nobody read them right after they were written, because, oh, it was after 9/11, and we didn't have time. We just had to rush through this legislation.

 

How come, at this late date, no one still has read them?

 

BLITZER: They're very, very long documents.

 

MAHER: I know, but you would think a lawmaker, Wolf, that's their job, to maybe go through -- you know, just when they are getting on a long plane ride, like a screenplay: Hey, take this and read it on your way to Japan.

 

BLITZER: Have you seen a change on the part of the Democrats? They won back in November. They are the majority in the House and the Senate. They now have subpoena power, oversight power. They can do things now they couldn't do during the first six years of the Bush presidency.

 

MAHER: Well, when are they going to start doing them?

 

BLITZER: Are you suggesting they haven't shown the spine yet, the guts that you would like to see?

 

MAHER: Right. They don't raise the bet, you know?

 

Cut off the funding -- or at least vote for that. That's what the Congress is supposed to do, control the purse strings.

 

When the Republicans cut off funding, like, their famous starve- the-beast theory with government, no one complains about that. Cut off the funding, and put the onus on Bush, so that, if the troops don't get what they need, that's because that money is there to bring them home.

 

BLITZER: Let me switch gears, because we have a limited amount of time. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, what do you make of this duel among the Democrats?

 

MAHER: Well, I think it's good for the viewer. It's interesting. It will put the presidential race perhaps on the cover of "People" magazine, and then people would follow it.

 

I think Hillary Clinton should run in 2008 on a platform of restoring honor and integrity to the White House.

 

BLITZER: It reminds a lot of our viewers of what Bush ran on in 2000; is that what you are suggesting?

 

MAHER: That is exactly what I'm saying, Wolf.

 

BLITZER: Because I remember that phrase.

 

You think Al Gore is going to jump in?

 

MAHER: I think Al Gore will jump in if he smells blood in the water.

 

I don't think he's going to do it any time soon. I think, if he sees a situation sort of similar to what's going on in the Republican Party, where folks are dissatisfied with the choices, I think, then, he will. I think he still wants to be president. I don't think you ever lose that yen. And I think he still could be a good president.

 

But it's a crowded field. And I think, if Hillary or Obama falters, I think you have other candidates, even before Al Gore, who would rise to the top. I think John Edwards is probably the dark horse in this race. I think he could win this thing by being everybody's second favorite choice.

 

BLITZER: Let me pick your brain. You are out in California. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- he won decisively his reelection. He's pretty popular out there. How do you explain this?

 

MAHER: Well, I think he's a pretty good politician, for one.

 

He understands that you can reverse yourself and avoid the term flip-flopper. I think he looks at President Bush and, says: Oh, well, Mr. Resolute, look where that got him. He's really just seen as stubborn and willful and arrogant.

 

So, Schwarzenegger has not been afraid to switch gears. And the other thing he does, I think, is that he's out front of where the federal government is on many issues, like the environment, like stem cell research.

 

He's saying: California is a giant state. It's almost its own country. If it was a country, I think it would have the seventh largest economy in the world. And he puts the federal government to shame by doing things that they should be doing.

 

BLITZER: Is he your favorite Republican?

 

MAHER: He's one of them, yes.

 

BLITZER: Who else do you like?

 

MAHER: Well, I used to like John McCain a lot more. But I think what we have to look for, most importantly, in the next president is smarts.

 

I think, if you polled the people in this country, they would say, well, we had a big experiment here the last eight years, the last six years, with George Bush. We thought, well, maybe we can get away with a president who wasn't that bright. Well, look how that turned experiment turned out.

 

I want a very bright man in the White House next time. John McCain supports the idea that more troops is the answer in Iraq. To me, that's just dumb. It's just not bright. So, he's out -- not my favorite anymore.

 

BLITZER: A final thought on Rudy Giuliani?

 

MAHER: Rudy Giuliani, you know, his reputation rests largely on the fact that he was so great on 9/11. And he was very inspiring on 9/11.

 

But I think what folks forget is that the reason why there were so many great pictures of him running around town that day is because the command-and-control center was put, by him, in the World Trade Center, which was attacked in 1993. He put the command-and-control center in the one place he shouldn't have. So, his big decision on terrorism turned out to be quite a bust. So, him, smart? Sorry. Can't give him that either.

 

BLITZER: "Real Time With Bill Maher" airs on our sister network HBO Friday nights, 11:00 p.m. Eastern. Bill, thanks for coming in.

 

MAHER: Wolf, always a pleasure.

 

 

 

"President Bush is safely back from his tour of Latin America. He said it really opened up his eyes. He said, 'We thought we had a lot of illegal immigrants here, they're all over the place down there.'" --Jay Leno

"The White House keeps changing its story about who fired these U.S. attorneys. First it was the Justice Department, then it was Harriet Miers ... and the new e-mails released yesterday suggest it's Karl Rove's idea. ... Of course the problem with e-mails is you think you've erased them and then they're still there. Which is why President Bush writes all his memos on an Etch-E-Sketch." --Bill Maher

 

"Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense, was admitted to a Washington hospital yesterday for a heart procedure. They said this is the first time in medical history that the patient had more blood on his hands than the surgeon." --Bill Maher

 

"General Peter Pace, who is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff running our war in Iraq, was speaking out about gays in the military. He says he doesn't want any gays in the military. He thinks that homosexuality is immoral. You know what, general? You can say what you want about gays, but at least they know when it's time to pull out of a s**thole." --Bill Maher

 

"At the White House, President Bush celebrated St. Patrick's Day by saluting prominent Irish Americans. President Bush saluted Sandra Day O'Connor, Tip O'Neill and Barack Obama." --Conan O'Brien

 

"We've had unseasonably warm weather here in Los Angeles. I was sweating like Newt Gingrich watching 'Cheaters.'" --Jay Leno

 

"You know what's interesting about this election? Several of the candidates are men who have been divorced more than once. See, we have to expect this from politicians now. It's not like the old days ... when a politician would stay married to the same woman his entire life, you know, like Bill and Hillary. " --Jay Leno

 

"The big rumor is that Newt Gingrich may run for president. Newt Gingrich has the best reason to stay out of the Mid East -- he knows they stone adulterers." --Jay Leno

 

"According to a transcript of a U.S. military tribunal released Wednesday, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed admitted to planning the 9/11 attack, saying, 'I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z.' He then politely asked the interviewer to kindly remove the curling iron from his butt." --Seth Meyers

 

"Military contractor Halliburton announced this week that it is moving its corporate headquarters from Houston, Texas, to Dubai. A Halliburton spokesman said Dubai was chosen because of its convenient location just outside the long arm of the law." --Amy Poehler

 

"Alberto Gonzales has gotten into trouble for firing eight U.S. attorneys for what appears to be political reasons. President Bush said today he still has confidence in Gonzales -- the same confidence he had in Rumsfeld, Scooter Libby, and Michael Brown of FEMA." --Jay Leno

 

"Al Qaeda's number three man mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has confessed to being the mastermind behind September 11th and said he planned 29 other attacks, including plotting to kill Bill Clinton. To which Hillary Clinton said, 'You too?'" --Jay Leno

 

"In a speech in Iowa, Barack Obama described John Edwards as cute and good looking. How does this make Hillary feel? ... Apparently, Edwards spends more time on his hair." --Jay Leno

 

"The California legislature announced that they have moved their state's presidential primary from June to February. When asked why, a California lawmaker said, 'Because it's really fun to hear Governor Schwarzenegger try to say 'February.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"People are really angry about ... a web site that encourages people to vote for the worst singer. I mean, this is not a joke. We're voting for the next 'American Idol' here. This is not some kind of game. ... I know it was funny when we reelected President Bush, but this is serious." --Jimmy Kimmel

 

"This week President Bush concluded his eight-day tour of South and Central America, and he was greeted by throngs of rabid admirers. The guy ignites more passion down there than the Virgin Mary on a piece of toast." --Stephen Colbert

 

"Good news for the Bush administration. Just one week after the outrageous Walter Reed medical scandal, that story is gone ... because there's a new kid in town. His name is 'Outrageous Fired Federal Prosecutors Attorney General Scandal'. Yes, in one week, it's been revealed the administration screwed over wounded vets -- the most revered people in America -- and lawyers -- the most reviled people in America -- proving they've got range." --Jon Stewart

 

"Mr. President, we all take pleasure in different things. I have my guilty pleasures, you have yours. Yours is apparently incompetent subordinates bungling our domestic and foreign affairs. Mine is 'Super Nanny.' --Jon Stewart

 

"The administration is still taking a lot of heat for firing eight U.S. attorneys. That shows you how unpopular this administration is -- when the people are siding with the lawyers." --Jay Leno

 

"People in Washington are now calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign. To give you an idea of how much trouble he is in, the White House is now thinking of replacing him with Scooter Libby." --Jay Leno

 

"The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, told the Chicago Tribune he considers homosexual acts to be immoral. In fact, he feels so strongly about this issue that he won't shake hands with the Navy's Rear Admiral." --Jay Leno

 

An elite military unit made up of American Indians is now being used to track down terrorists in the Middle East, including Osama bin Laden. They're over in Afghanistan right now. They haven't found bin Laden yet, but they did open 13 casinos." --Jay Leno

 

"Hillary Clinton announced that the vast right-wing conspiracy is back. You know what that means? Bill must be dating again." --Jay Leno

 

"Everybody is caught up in St. Patrick's Day. Here's exactly what I'm talking about: Earlier today, down in Washington, DC, Vice President Dick Cheney shot a leprechaun in the face. ... Scooter Libby, by the way, is already wearing a button that reads 'Pardon me, I'm Irish.'" --David Letterman

 

"The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently upset gay activists because he said, 'a homosexual act between two individuals is immoral.' Then the chairman added, 'Unless it's two chicks.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"Halliburton is moving its headquarters to Dubai to avoid paying taxes in the United States. Isn't that crazy -- when did Halliburton start paying taxes?" --Jay Leno

 

"Do you know why they're moving? Because some members of Congress have started investigating Halliburton for over-billing and for taking too much of American taxpayers' money for doing too little work. Or, as Congress calls it, 'competition.'" --Jay Leno

 

"This just in: Alberto Gonzales has announced he's going to move the Justice Department to Dubai." --Jay Leno

 

"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is coming under scrutiny for firing eight U.S. attorneys, apparently for political reasons at the request of the White House. Things are looking so bad for Gonzales that he might have to shave his head and enter rehab." --Jay Leno

 

"If you want to get rid of an attorney, you don't use Gonzales, you bring in Dick Cheney." --Jay Leno

 

"Huge controversy at the Pentagon. General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has publicly stated that homosexual acts are immoral, and so is adultery. Homosexual acts and whoring around are immoral? He just offended every member of Congress right there." --Jay Leno

 

"While in Latin America, President Bush visited the ancient Mayan ruins. He then invited their officials to come visit our ruins -- the Walter Reed Medical Center." --Jay Leno

 

"For many years, the Democratic Party seemed a bit disorganized... unable, one might say, to locate their asses, even when presented with two hands and a special ass map." --Jon Stewart

 

"While in Mexico, President Bush visited the ruins of an ancient Mayan city. There was an awkward moment when Bush said, 'We will get the evil-doers who did this.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"Outrage from many Americans, especially the gay ones, over comments made by General Peter Pace, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He said he believes homosexuality is immoral. The general went on to say that allowing immorality in the armed forces could distract our troops from killing." --Jimmy Kimmel

 

"Over the weekend, Osama bin Laden had a birthday. ... The guy's still out running around and having birthday parties. It was a big weekend. They went to the Tora Bora Hooters. ... In addition to his birthday, he had to turn his clocks forward to the 2nd century." --David Letterman

 

"President Bush went in Mexico. It's nice that we still have a president who goes on Spring Break. ... It's all part of his program 'No Margarita Left Behind'" --David Letterman

 

 

AG Alberto Gonzales is just collateral. If the Republicans think that if they put someone else in, this scandal will go away .. they got another think coming. It decidedly won't go away with Gonzales.

 

As we dig deeper we will find proof that the White House was using the Justice Department as an arm of the Republican Party .. that they were trying to persecute Democrats and protect Republicans .. that the administration attempted -- and in some cases successfully used -- federal prosecutorial power for political ends. That's what's at the heart of all this.

 

Simple as that.

 

"(CBS/AP) One of the eight recently fired U.S. attorneys at the center of a growing political scandal tells CBS News that he lost his job because he "did not play ball" with powerful Republicans.

 

.....The fallout from the firings continues to grow in Washington, and sources tell CBS News that it looks like Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will take the fall.

 

Republicans close to the White House tell CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod that President Bush is in "his usual posture: pugnacious, that no one is going to tell him who to fire." But sources also said Gonzales' firing is just a matter of time. [..]"

 

 

You mean the President can't fire US Attys for going after corrupt Republicans like Duke Cunningham?

 

What IS this country coming to?

 

Bush&Co should be relieved that they're only being hounded for politicizing the judiciary .. which is a big improvement from last month's treasonous exposing of a CIA covert operation and thus assisting the 'terrists.'

 

It amuses me that the best defense the Righties have come up with is that Clinton fired Prosecutors too .. so what they're really saying is that Bush is as bad as they say Clinton was. That's really gotta suck.

 

Ah, but Clinton didn't have that sneaky little provision the Bushies put in the Patriot Act .. allowing them to bypass Senate confirmation hearings for US Attys replacements.

 

Doesn't ANYONE care about the side-stepping of the Senate Confirmation of these US Attys?

 

Anyway .. Bush already gave Gonzales the kiss of death when he said he has "confidence" in him .. same thing he said about Brownie and Rummy right before they got the boot.

 

He'll probably decide Harriet Miers is the most qualified person to replace him.

 

Gonzalez will go down in history as the Attorney General who rationalized and attempted to legalize official torture .. calling sections of the Geneva Convention "quaint" .. setting our country and our culture back .. how many centuries?

 

 

Valerie Plame, the CIA operative at the heart of a political scandal, told Congress yesterday that senior officials at the White House and State Department "carelessly and recklessly" blew her cover to discredit her diplomat-husband.

Who will play her in the movie? Sharon Stone would have been perfect a few years ago ...

Oh, I wish I had the movie rights .. and I hope she rakes in the dough from her book and any movie they make. We owe it to her.

From Valerie Plame Wilson's opening statement to Congress yesterday:

"I served the United States loyally and to the best of my ability as a covert operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency.

I worked on behalf of the national security of our country, on behalf of the people of the United States until my name and true affiliation were exposed in the national media on July 14, 2003, after a leak by administration officials.

Today, I can tell this committee even more. In the run-up to the war with Iraq I worked in the counter proliferation division of the CIA -- still as a covert officer whose affiliation with the CIA was classified.

....While I helped to manage and run secret worldwide operations against this WMD target from CIA headquarters in Washington, I also traveled to foreign countries on secret missions to find vital intelligence."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/16/plame.statement/index.html

I was glad to finally "meet" her .. she's quite a woman, this beautiful intelligent spy who had to come in from the cold .. unwillingly. I'm glad she was out there working for us for those two decades, and very angry that her career was cut short.

That a vital security asset was compromised for political reasons outrages me. I want them in the White House to pay .. but I'm not holding my breath.

When she was asked how she felt about Rove telling Chris Matthews that she was "fair game" .. she didn't get personal. She just said she felt awful hearing of the outing of *any* CIA agent.

She was asked if anyone who was involved in outing her -- risking her life and the lives of her team -- has apologized or expressed any misgivings. No, she said.

She must have been expendable because her husband had the audacity to speak truth to power about what he didn't find in Africa. Cheney was incensed and all that mattered was punishing that bastard Joe Wilson. The welfare of the nation be damned.

The covert-or-not-covert argument should be put to rest now.

There would have been NO investigation if she wasn't covert. Period.

The CIA itself authorized a statement that she was, in fact, covert to be entered into the record. And if she were misrepresenting herself, wouldn't it have been easy enough for the CIA to issue a statement saying she wasn't covert?

Also, Plame was testifying UNDER OATH .. so if she were misrepresenting herself, she could be charged with perjury and lying to the Feds .. just as Libby was.

The Director of the CIA back then -- George Tenet -- thought she was covert. The current DCIA also said she was covert. But what would they know?

I thought the whole reason Fitzgerald was appointed in the first place was because the CIA raised a stink about her outing and requested an investigation?

This "she wasn't covert" controversy was utterly bogus from the get-go. The only reason it got so much play was because the righty-tighties figured out if they could repeat this lie often enough, people would think it was true.

Their BS tickles me -- on the one hand they say she was just a desk jockey counting paper clips .. on the other hand she had enough authority to send her husband on the mission to Niger .... LOL

And it really did my heart good to see Sen. Waxman finally put the odious neo-con mouthpiece Victoria Toensing in her place.

Plame's testimony establishes clearly that she, AND the CIA, thought it important for identity and status as a CIA operative to be kept secret. That secrecy was destroyed by the Bush White House for their own political gain .. not the good of the country. It's that simple, and that reprehensible.

Fitzgerald didn't prosecute them because of the difficulty in showing intent .. because the law in question requires not only that a person leak a name, but that they do so with the intent of harming the National Security of the US. In other words, you're also required to PROVE intent.

Intent. Intent. Intent.

It would also have been absolutely necessary for Fitzgerald to PROVE that the leakers knew that Plame was a covert agent in order for him to be able to prosecute. And, since the leakers were all insiders who fell either into the "clamming up" group or the "outright lying" group, it was not possible for him to get any proof about what the leakers knew.

Too bad there was no Kyle Sampson in this case .. helpfully explaining everyone's motives in a series of e-mails.

To amuse myself, in such cases I always apply the WICDI rule .. the "What If Clinton Did It" rule. Can you imagine if Bill Clinton's Administration had outed a CIA agent .. whether he/she was covert or not .. purely for political reasons? Republicans in Congress would have gone frothy at the mouth demanding a special prosecutor and millions of our tax dollars to investigate it.

Abso-freakin'-lutely .. no doubt.

 

WASHINGTON — Suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl and a central role in 30 other attacks and plots in the U.S. and worldwide that killed thousands of victims, said a revised transcript released Thursday by the U.S. military.[..]

 

 

....between his water boarding sessions and having an electric cattle prod shoved up his arse.....

 

Well, what do you know .. the media was swarming all over Bush White House scandals, and boom! .. all of a sudden we have another 9/11 news story to grab headlines .. and crowd out the Walter Reed scandal, sending wounded vets back into battle, politically motivated firing of prosecutors, the Libby verdict and I don't know what all. How politically timely.

 

Rove is truly a genius .. someone woke him up from his Nov. 6th nap.

 

I think the simple fact that these hearings are not conducted in a fair and open manner says it all. CNN said the part of the transcript where he was asked if he had been coerced into making these confessions had been largely deleted.

 

Look, I'm sure that this is one murdering savage .. who is probably guilty of a lot of unspeakable things he should be punished for .. I'd like to give him a couple of good whacks myself.

 

But -- I just find it odd that he should all of a sudden confess to everything from 9/11 to the OJ murders .. 4 or 5 years of "coercive methods" of interrogation do get confessions, but they don't always get the truth.

 

Whether you believe it all or not, it comes down to America's credibility. What with Abu Ghraib, Gitmo and secret prisons, we've lost much respect in the world. Our shining beacon of liberty has dimmed. So, no matter what this guy confesses to, our policies of interrogation cast a reasonable doubt on his words.

 

But the thing that strikes me the most is the ‘Murder She Wrote’ aspect of this whole thing .. gather up all unsolved crimes and end the show with a quick confession, tying up loose ends in a neat package.

 

And the US can execute this guy and even another fifty more from that novelty deck of cards .. but we may never be able to wash our hands of the mess we created. At least not in our lifetime.

 

# Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
    Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
    Everybody knows that the war is over
    Everybody knows the good guys lost
    Everybody knows the fight was fixed
    The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
    That's how it goes
    Everybody knows

[Leonard Cohen]

 

... sticking to the story that axing the US Attorneys was "the right thing to do."

 

Harriet, oh Harriet Miers, the Senate Judiciary Committee wants to talk to you and to your little friend Mr. Sampson...

 

No wonder she resigned in January.

 

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had a pretty complete rundown of the false statements made by Justice Department officials to Congress and the press.

 

From a March 13th press conference:
"Schumer: Here are some of the falsehoods we've been told that are now unraveling.

 

First, we were told that the seven of the eight U.S. attorneys were fired for performance reasons.

 

It now turns out this was a falsehood, as the glowing performance evaluations attest.

 

Second, we were told by the attorney general that he would, quote, "never, ever make a change for political reasons."

 

It now turns out that this was a falsehood, as all the evidence makes clear that this purge was based purely on politics, to punish prosecutors who were perceived to be too light on Democrats or too tough on Republicans.

 

Third, we were told by the attorney general that this was just an overblown personnel matter.

 

It now turns out that far from being a low-level personnel matter, this was a longstanding plan to exact political vendettas or to make political pay-offs.

 

Fourth, we were told that the White House was not really involved in the plan to fire U.S. attorneys. This, too, turns out to be false.

 

Harriet Miers was one of the masterminds of this plan, as demonstrated by numerous e-mails made public today. She communicated extensively with Kyle Sampson about the firings of the U.S. attorneys. In fact, she originally wanted to fire and replace the top prosecutors in all 93 districts across the country.

 

Fifth, we were told that Karl Rove had no involvement in getting his protege appointed U.S. attorney in Arkansas.

 

In fact, here is a letter from the Department of Justice. Quote: "The department is not aware of Karl Rove playing any role in the decision to appoint Mr. Griffin."

 

It now turns out that this was a falsehood, as demonstrated by Mr. Sampson's own e-mail. Quote: "Getting him, Griffin, appointed was important to Harriet, Karl, et cetera.

 

Sixth, we were told to change the Patriot Act was an innocent attempt to fix a legal loophole, not a cynical strategy to bypass the Senate's role in serving as a check and balance.

 

It was Senator Feinstein who discovered that issue. She'll talk more about it.

 

So there has been misleading statement after misleading statement -- deliberate misleading statements. And we haven't gotten to the bottom of this yet, but believe me, we will pursue it."

 

Hang in there Democrats .. pull the thread to unravel all this .. there was zero oversight during the last six years, who knows what you will find.

 

Now, no one is complaining because Bush fired US attorneys .. this is his right as President. Clinton fired most all of them when he took office, got into a lot of trouble over it.

 

The questions arise about the Bush firings because these attorneys had received glowing work reports while Congress was told they were replaced because of poor performance.

 

Congress was also told that politics didn't play a role in the firings .. but now e-mails, phone conversations, and testimony all show that political considerations were at the root of the dismissals.

 

Quote: "Getting him, Griffin, appointed was important to Harriet, Karl.." et cetera.

 

You can follow the latest results and view the email trail here:

 

 

Yes .. Clinton cleaned house of the previous Admin's appointees .. included everyone, no matter what they were working on, whether it favored R's or D's. Bush Jr. looked to selectively purge prosecutors who were not carrying political water for the GOP.

 

Of course, the one big difference between then and now is there was no Patriot Act with a clause that essentially allowed the president to appoint these attorneys without the Senate's approval.

 

And that is really what concerns a lot of those lawmakers .. Republicans are coming forth .. worried that it really tips the balance here, perhaps even an abuse of power, between the legislative and executive branches.

 

March 24, 1993 - Barely two months into the Clinton administration.

 

2006 - Almost six years into the Bush administration.

 

Some people think that this whole firing dust up might be a smoke screen for the removal of one US Attorney -- Carol Lam. Look at the language in a May 11, 2006 email .. where Kyle Sampson, Gonzales's chief of staff, urged Harriet Miers to call him regarding "the real problem we have right now with Carol Lam."

 

Lam had already sent the corrupt former Republican lawmaker Duke Cunningham to jail for bribery and corruption .. her investigation into Cunningham's co-conspirators was starting to heat up. Getting closer and closer to the CIA  .. executive director Dusty Foggo, a good friend of CIA director Porter Goss and Karl Rove. Closer and closer to defense contractor (ADCS Inc) Brent Wilkes .. about the $2.4 million in cash and other benefits he gave Cunningham to steer government business his way.

 

Porter Goss had resigned as CIA director and Rep. Jerry Lewis had been implicated in the scandal. On May 12, 2006, FBI agents executed search warrants on Foggo's office and home.

 

Note the phrasing "the real problem we have right now with Carol Lam" .. Carol Lam and not Dusty Foggo's corruption is the problem. Yes .. her firing sure would jeopardize those ongoing investigations.

 

I want to know more about the 2005 firing of Guam US Attorney Frederick A. Black .. who had just launched a probe into the activities of Jack Abramoff. Black had been Attorney General for more than a decade but was fired the day after he issued subpoenas related to a series of $9,000 checks issued to Abramoff.

 

You can read about it here:

 

 

I remember when Bush said he was going to "restore honor and integrity to the White House".....

 

...he's running out of time...

 

Is it 2008 yet?

 

 

"Israel has recalled its ambassador to El Salvador after the ambassador was found drunk and naked in the yard of his residence. And today, Israel announced he is their new ambassador to Ireland." --Conan O'Brien

 

"Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has admitted that he was having an extramarital affair back in 1998, at the same time he was the leading critic of Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. But Newt says you can't compare the two affairs because his woman was really hot." --Jay Leno

 

"Rudy Giuliani has defended Newt Gingrich, saying it's okay Newt had an affair and that no one is perfect. That's when you know the Republicans are in trouble -- when a guy with three marriages and an affair is defending the guy with three marriages and two affairs, so they can team up and beat a Clinton." --Jay Leno

 

"You see all those people protesting while President Bush was in South America? Bush hasn't heard that many people shouting 'Gringo go home' since his last trip to L.A." --Jay Leno

 

"Thirty towns in Vermont have voted to impeach President Bush, but Bush says he doesn't care what a bunch of Canadians think." --Jay Leno

 

"Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel -- he's a Republican -- called a press conference to announce he'll be making a decision about running for president sometime later in the year. So, he called a press conference to say maybe later in the year he's going to say something important. This is the kind of bold, decisive leadership this country needs." --Jay Leno

 

"People are saying Scooter Libby is taking the fall for Cheney. Personally, I think Libby got off easy -- usually when you take one for Cheney, it's a shot in the face" --Jay Leno

 

"President Bush visited a Mayan temple this weekend in Guatemala, and afterwards ... Mayan leaders performed a cleansing ceremony to clear Bush's bad energy. ... When he heard this, Bush got upset and said, 'Oh yeah? He who smelt it, dealt it.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"After visiting Guatemala, Bush flew to Mexico. There was an awkward moment when Bush greeted the Mexicans by saying, 'Hello future Californians.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"Apparently, while Newt [Gingrich] was leading the Clinton impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he himself was having an extramarital affair. ... Now there's a huge cry from the left about Newt's so-called hypocrisy, but the former Speaker explains how that is actually a positive [on screen: Gingrich saying, 'I drew the line in my mind that said even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, I have no choice but to move forward']. You see, it's very easy to condemn another man's dalliances when you're faithful to your own wife. But to be a hypocrite and still do it, that takes courage. ... So Newt, if you are running for president, you have my blessing ... because I still won't vote for a Mormon, and you're the best adulterer we've got." --Stephen Colbert

 

"In Guatemala, Mayan priests are set to perform an ancient cleansing ritual to rid the air of whatever Bush left behind. Mayan priests -- the ones who in the old days used to kill and eat the virgin's heart. So let's recap what the Mayan priest basically is saying: Dressing up like a condor and using a sharpened stone to remove a living man's heart? Si. Protective corn tariffs? Unclean." --Jon Stewart

 

"There's big news involving Vice President Dick Cheney's former company Halliburton -- the one that issued him a $34 million severance package. They're taking their over $10 billion in ... contracts and moving their headquarters from Houston to Dubai -- a Middle Eastern city that's home to the world's largest shopping mall, the world's tallest hotel, an indoor ski resort with real snow, and an artificial archipelago where you can live on a man-made island in the shape of continents. And the guest workers there are civil rights free. How do they do it all while still being a plotting ground for the 9/11 hijackers? Well, let's just say that's what happens when Las Vegas and Saudi Arabia have a baby." --Jon Stewart

 

"Scooter Libby was found guilt of perjury, obstruction, and making false statements -- or, as the White House calls it, a press conference." --Bill Maher

 

"The Republican base is furious. They are saying it is wrong to convict someone of perjury and obstruction of justice unless there is proof of an underlying blow job." --Bill Maher

 

"All the Republican papers are saying Bush must pardon Scooter Libby right way. .. I say that if Bush doesn't pardon him, at least he should give him a new nickname, because if you have 'Scooter' on the back of your prison jumpsuit, you are just asking for it." --Bill Maher

 

"The president is ... on a five-nation tour of Latin America. A lot of people are saying while he's below the border, what a great time to build that wall." --Bill Maher

 

"To give you an idea of how popular he is not ... in South America, after he visits the sacred Mayan ruins, the Mayan priests are going to perform a purification ceremony ... to get rid of the bad spirits. ... And if it works there, they're going to try it in Iraq, New Orleans, Guantanamo Bay, Ground Zero and the atmosphere of the planet Earth." --Bill Maher

 

"While he was there, Bush did an interview with the Brazilian press and he said the most difficult decision a president could ever make is sending troops into harm's way. But enough about Walter Reed." --Bill Maher

 

"The Boston Globe is saying that Barack Obama owes $375 in parking tickets from when he was a student in the '80s at Harvard. And because he's running for president, he's going to pay them. All right, is he black enough for ya now?" --Bill Maher

 

"Yesterday, I. Lewis Libby, a.k.a. 'The Scooter', the vice president's chief of staff found guilty on four of five counts ranging from obstruction of justice to lying to a grand jury. Yes, we got the guy -- the one-man cancer on this White House has been removed." --Jon Stewart

 

"The man who lied to the FBI about whether the president secretly declassified files so the vice president could pass the identity of an undercover CIA agent to reporters so as to discredit the woman's husband, who had presented evidence undermining the president's case for war, has been ... what are we talking about again?" --Jon Stewart

 

"Obviously, this has come at a bad time for the White House. Usually, you want the conviction of a high-ranking official and the veterans-sleeping-in-moldy-rat-holes stories on different days." --Jon Stewart

 

"This whole scandal came to light when Robert Novak became the first person to publish details outing the CIA operative. And it really would be a shame if amidst all the legal wrangling and the heated words about this case we lost sight of the one essential truth that I think all parties can agree on: Bob Novak is a HUGE douche bag." --Jon Stewart

 

"An aide to the prime minister of Canada called President Bush a moron. Well that's not fair. Here's a guy who never worked a day in his life, got rich off his Dad's money, lost the popular vote and ended up president. That's not a moron, that's genius!" --Jay Leno

 

"President Bush made a speech about Homeland Security in front of Mt. Rushmore. There was an awkward moment when Bush looked up at the monument and said 'Which one is President Rushmore?'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"Scooter Libby, who got indicted, has set up a legal defense fund to help pay his legal bills. It's pretty good, for a $1,000 donation you get a hand-written thank you note and the name of a CIA agent." --Jay Leno

 

"Libby was indicted on two counts of obstruction of justice, three counts of perjury, and one count of not being as smart as Karl Rove." --Jon Stewart

 

 

One highlight of the coming week will be watching Valerie Plame testify before Rep. Henry Waxman's committee.

 

Looking forward to it.

 

Plame is an intelligent -- and very beautiful -- woman. I suspect her testimony will rattle many in the WH, who are still peddling the line that she was not covert.

 

We can argue all night about whether she was still covert. What's important is exposing her as even formerly covert exposes Brewster-Jennings as the CIA front, exposes all the people she had contact with .. and puts them and whatever operations they were involved with in jeopardy. We'll never know how many of her contacts were killed.

 

And let us not forget that her area of expertise was WMD's ..

 

So, at least now we have confirmation that Vice President Dick Cheney's chief assistant, "Scooter" Libby, set out to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson by secretly telling reporters his wife worked for the CIA -- and then repeatedly lied about it during a federal criminal investigation.

 

I'm glad that at least that much is confirmed.

 

Bill Maher was on Larry King last night and had some interesting things to say about the Libby verdict:

 

"MAHER: Well, you know, it obscured the real crime for a lot of people, those who were following the trial to begin with, which were not that many. But, yes, I mean Libby was a guy who lied us into a war and he worked on commission. And he got his war.

 

People forget that the reason why we haven't gotten to the bottom of the real crime was because he was lying. Patrick Fitzgerald said that. He said he threw sand in the umpire's face. So we never got to the bottom of the real crime, which was who outed this CIA agent?

 

And I know the right-wing likes to say ah, well, Valerie Plame, you know .. did she work for the CIA?

 

Yes. But was she really covert?

 

You know what? You work for the CIA. You work for the CIA. It's not CAA, OK?

 

If she wasn't undercover, it wouldn't have been a controversy that she was outed.

 

KING: Do you think it was because Bush mentioned in the State of the Union message about getting the nuclear materials? Why did they seem to overreact to this op-ed article by a kind of obscure ambassador?

 

MAHER: Well, it would be the same as if I pulled a little string out of your sweater. They were afraid that it would unravel the whole thing. And it sort of did.

 

It's so interesting. Bush mentioned that in his State of the Union speech in January of 2003. In October of 2002, George Tenet told the president you've got to take that out. We don't think it's true.

 

So something that was not true in October of 2002 became true again in January of 2003.

 

KING: Is "Scooter" Libby a fall guy?

 

MAHER: Yes, of course, because he was not the only one who was spreading this to reporters. They had some meeting -- Karl Rove was there; Ari Fleischer was there and "Scooter" Libby was there. And they said OK, guys, fan out, find some gullible reporters -- you know, Pulitzer Prize winners -- and tell them this about Joe Wilson and his wife, who works for the CIA -- whoops. Oh, I forgot. I guess I let that slip. Anyway, you tell them all what happened.

 

And -- some time after that, they must have had a meeting after the you know what hit the fan and said ooh, this has not gone as well as we hoped.

 

Who should we pin this on?

 

Well, Karl Rove is Bush's guy and he's the president. We can't do that. Ari Fleischer is the press secretary. Oh, "Scooter" Libby. Yes. He's the guy.

 

So this is why "Scooter" Libby, of course, has to have a pardon. He just knows way too much. You can't have him ticked off.

 

KING: So you have to pardon him?

 

MAHER: Yes. I mean you heard what his wife said after the verdict came in. I can't say it here on CNN, but she said, you know, we're going to -- we're going to BLANK them. And I don't think she was talking about the jury. I mean she was angry but I don't think she's John Gotti's wife.

 

But who was she so angry at?

 

I think it's at the people who threw her husband to the wolves."

 

 

 

After all the attention brought to Walter Reed, you'd think that you've heard the last awful story of shoddy treatment of our injured soldiers.

 

Well, think again.

 

The Army is ordering injured troops to go to Iraq. At Fort Benning, soldiers who were classified as medically unfit to fight are now being sent to war.

 

Salon.com's Mark Benjamin, who's been writing about the shameful treatment of wounded soldiers for more than two years, now has this story -- "The Army is Ordering Injured Troops to go to Iraq."

 

March 11, 2007 | COLUMBUS, Ga. -- "This is not right," said Master Sgt. Ronald Jenkins, who has been ordered to Iraq even though he has a spine problem that doctors say would be damaged further by heavy Army protective gear. "This whole thing is about taking care of soldiers," he said angrily. "If you are fit to fight you are fit to fight. If you are not fit to fight, then you are not fit to fight."

 

As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records."[..]

 

 

The cynics are saying that maybe a folded flag and a military funeral is a lot less expensive than a lifetime of medical treatment...

 

This makes the Walter Reed scandal look like a tempest in teapot .. sending physically and mentally wounded soldiers into a combat situation not only puts them at risk, it also puts all their buddies at risk.

 

If a civilian is ordered back to work against a doctor's recommendation they usually have some legal recourse.

 

If military personnel are ordered back to work or to serve against a doctor's recommendation they are physically forced to return .. or go to jail.

 

Aren't you proud, all you 30% of this country who still support Bush and wave the flag and slap yellow ribbon decals on your mini vans? Not a word of dissent on behalf of our troops? Where's your outrage?

 

Here's another story -- "Mentally Unfit, Forced to Fight' -- that didn't get a lot of attention when it was first published:

 

"The U.S. military is sending troops with serious psychological problems into Iraq and is keeping soldiers in combat even after superiors have been alerted to suicide warnings and other signs of mental illness, a Courant investigation has found."[..]

 

 

I guess we shouldn't be surprised that the military, always skeptical of mental illness and now strapped for warm bodies, would want to rubber-stamp a bunch of PTSD patients "cured" and send them back.

 

But, the ones I'm really angry at are the fools in Congress who are fiddling and diddling and piddling around every little angle they can to avoid getting to the real work of getting our troops home as quickly as possible.

 

 

In God we Trust, all others we wiretap .. but, hey .. privacy is such a 'minor' freedom.

 

Who woulda thunk it? Nobody could have foreseen that the FBI would act like a police state when we gave them police state powers.

 

Yep, turns out that The FBI has been using powers it got under the Patriot Act to illegally get financial, business and telephone records of Americans by issuing tens of thousands of "national security letters" -- warrants that are issued without any judicial review or avenue of appeal.

 

And yet another "whiny librul" prediction comes to pass. We don't need a crystal ball to predict the obvious, folks.

 

Don't be surprised if someday, a transcript for every phone call you've made for the past 5 years turns up on the Internet for all to see.

 

From Yahoo news:
"The nation's top two law enforcement officials acknowledged Friday the FBI broke the law to secretly pry out personal information about Americans. They apologized and vowed to prevent further illegal intrusions.

 

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales left open the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against FBI agents or lawyers who improperly used the USA Patriot Act in pursuit of suspected terrorists and spies.

 

.... The audit also concluded that the FBI for three years underreported to Congress how often it used national security letters to ask businesses to turn over customer data. The letters are administrative subpoenas that do not require a judge's approval." [..]

 

 

Hey .. didn't we pass a law against this back in the '70's? .. shouldn't someone be indicted?

 

Wasn't it AG Gonzales who defended Bush’s decision to authorize warrantless eavesdropping on Americans’ international calls and e-mail? Didn't he say that the president can ignore any law he wants to in a time of war?

 

Serious misuses?

Shoddy record keeping?

 

Didn't a bunch of us 'whiny libruls' argue that this was EXACTLY what was going to happen?

 

And weren't we ridiculed and pooh-poohed to death by the reich-wingers?

 

And now we have criminal behavior.

 

No Accountability.
No privacy.
No Habeas Corpus.
No Honor
No Integrity.
No Justice.

 

I'm sooo tired of what they've done to my country.
I want them gone.

 

I especially want Attorney General Gonzales gone. I have been suspicious of him ever since he called certain parts of the Geneva Conventions 'quaint' .. and later it turns out he sanctioned the use of kidnapping, secret prisons, abuse and torture ...

 

More than anyone else in this administration, Gonzales and Cheney thumb their noses at the separation of powers, civil liberties and the rule of law.

 

Another stain on AG Gonzales is the firing of those US attorneys who testified on the Hill last week .. firings based, apparently, on political reasons.

 

Yeah, yeah .. I know that Clinton fired a bunch of them when he took office .. but they weren't in the middle of their terms and hadn't received any 'political pressure' phone calls from senators about cases they were working on.

 

Gonzales is NOT Bush's private lawyer -- he's supposed to represent all Americans as our chief law enforcement officer and a key defender of the Constitution.

 

Note that the AG is also under heavy fire from GOP Senators Ensign and Specter for his shady actions.

 

"One day there will be a new attorney general, maybe sooner rather than later." -- Sen. Arlen Specter, March 8, 2007

 

35 Vermont towns call to impeach Bush

 

Vermont residents braved sub-zero weather to attend town meetings where 35 towns passed non-binding resolutions to investigate and possibly impeach Pres. Bush and VP Cheney. The impeachment resolution was voted down or not taken up in 9 other towns, while 20 voted for immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. In Middlebury, Gov. Jim Douglas tried to block voting but relented. Supporters hope to get the attention of Vermont's 3 Congress members, none of who support impeachment, but are in favor of at least phased troop withdrawal. Main Source: CBS News

 

 

Vermont has a long history of standing up to tyranny.
Good for you, Green Mountain Boys!!

 

But sorry .. you won't get 66 Senators to vote for that ...

 

You could have pictures of Bush and Cheney drowning puppies with one hand and selling Nukes to Iran with the other and you'd never get enough votes in the Senate to put Nancy Pelosi in the White House...

 

And since when does Vermont have 35 towns? ... just kidding just kidding!

 

 

ABC's The Blotter reports that a proposal to keep seriously wounded veterans from falling through the cracks of bureaucracy was shelved in 2005 when Jim Nicholson took over as the secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department.

 

As a result, seriously wounded veterans still continue to face long delays for health care and benefit payments ....

 

"A proposal to keep seriously wounded vets from falling through the cracks of the bureaucracy was shelved in 2005 when Jim Nicholson took over as the secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department, according to the former VA employee who was responsible for tracking war casualties.

 

As a result, seriously wounded veterans continued to face long delays for health care and benefit payments after being discharged from the military, says former VA program manager Paul Sullivan.

 

The program, called the Contingency Tracking System, had been approved by Nicholson's predecessor but died once Nicholson took over the VA, Sullivan told ABC News.

 

Sullivan said he was told the cost of the system -- less than $1 million to build and requiring a handful of staff to maintain -- was prohibitive.

 

When asked about the Contingency Tracking System at the White House Wednesday, Nicholson told ABC News, "I'm not sure I know what program you're referring to." He added that "when the VA gets patients...we instantly create an electronic medical record for them."

 

In testimony before Congress today, a VA official confirmed that its current tracking system still depends on paper files and lacks the ability to download Department of Defense records into its computers, a key flaw originally identified as leading to veterans getting lost between the cracks. [...]

 

Yesterday, President Bush put VA Secretary Nicholson in charge of an interagency task force to determine what can be done to deliver benefits and health care now to thousands of wounded vets who have struggled to receive care."

 

 

Well, isn't that special? More foxes guarding the henhouse. Putting the same guy in charge who screwed things up in the first place.

 

The same guy who cut out a system -- Contingency Tracking System -- that would've made sure wounded soldiers were "seamlessly" transitioned from military service to veteran status with the care and benefits they'd earned.

 

So .. because Nicholson nixed a new VA computer system that would have connected enough different departments to keep better track of its red tape problems .. our wounded vets are having to hand-carry their paperwork back and forth. Brain-injured vets having to make sure paperwork gets through the proper channels....

 

The Contingency Tracking System was only an updated computer program.

 

The current VA computer system is not up to standard. Civilian employees say there are so many errors because systems can't communicate with each other.

 

ABC news said the Pentagon is not even connected to the VA's computers. What? Doesn't this make it more difficult to keep track of casualties soon after they left the battlefield?

 

"....the department relied on a haphazard system of casualty records manually kept on spreadsheets at several locations, which sometimes did not match up with Defense Department casualty records...."

 

So many of these wounded vets are telling Congress that they have trouble proving they were wounded in Iraq. Their benefits are held up until they can prove it ..

 

What a shameful mess.

 

This NY Times editorial on Walter Reed rakes George Bush amd Donald Rumsfeld over the coals for their roles in that scandal, the crap about supporting the troops and the disaster that is the Iraq war. Says it so much better than I can ....

 

"There is plenty of blame to go around. Officials at Walter Reed were egregiously negligent. The Army’s high command, and the Joint Chiefs above them, were too weak-kneed or obtuse to demand adequate resources for medical care — just as they were too fearful for their own careers to demand adequate troops to fight the Iraq war to begin with.

 

But the fundamental responsibility rests with the president and his former defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, who stubbornly insisted on going to war without sufficient resources — and then sought to hide the costs of their disastrous mistakes from the American public.

 

Is it any surprise that the war’s wounded have been hidden away in the shadows of moldy buildings by an administration that refused to let photographers take pictures of returning coffins? Or a White House that keeps claiming that victory in this failed and ever more costly war is always just a few more months away?

 

The Walter Reed revelations once again put the lie to the president’s claim that everything is being done to support America’s troops. Just as the administration has been shockingly slow to provide the necessary body armor for troops in Iraq and notably complacent about rotating exhausted troops back into the war, so, too, has it been reluctant to confront the large casualty toll from Iraq and Afghanistan. Military doctors have been amazingly proficient about saving lives that would have been lost in earlier wars. But as we now know, the injured survivors too often fall through the cracks."

 

 

Too bad they couldn't find some E-2 like Lindy England to pin the blame on.

 

Also -- the 109th Republican Congress should share some blame. Anyone who's been paying attention knows that they not only cut funding for Veterans, they also tacked on all kinds of fees and doubled their deductible on medical and medications .. trying to reduce the number of Veterans taking health care by a few hundred thousands.

 

This is as much about another privatization FUBAR as it is about Walter Reed being incompetent. In January 2006, Walter Reed awarded a five-year $120 million contract to a company called IAP Worldwide Services for base operations support services, including facilities management.

 

The same IAP that couldn't even deliver ice and water to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

 

The same IAP that's led by Al Neffgen, who had to testify before Congress because of Halliburton's exorbitant charges for fuel delivery and troop support in Iraq. I remember they charged 10 times more even to do laundry .. gave our troops tainted water and out-dated food.

 

This Bush admistration should have to eat all those "Support The Troops" bumper stickers.

 

 

"....the Army's top health care commander, Surgeon General Kevin Kiley, sat through another brutal retelling of Walter Reed horror stories on Wednesday, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. Republican congressman Bill Young, who has volunteered at the military hospital with his wife, told of one visit she made to a wounded soldier.

 

"What she found was a soldier lying on a mattress, no cover, no blanket, no sheet, just the black plastic mattress, lying in a pool of urine with a puddle of urine under his bed," said Young.

 

It got worse, Young charged, when Kiley personally commanded Walter Reed.

 

"Why was Josh Dunlop, a traumatic brain injury soldier, allowed to fall out of bed in intensive care three times?" asked Young. "General, you were told about that twice!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and join the small elite club of White House officials convicted of felonies. It's been over 30 years since the last one.

 

Well shoot .. we didn't "get" anything on my personal nemesis Karl Rove  .. although that DC jury sure wanted to.

 

What the Libby trial was really all about -- what it has always been about -- is whether the Bush White House deliberately misled the American people about WMD intelligence before the war.

 

Simple as that. And Fitzgerald could smell that they did. He was right to go after them, to prove that an intelligent, sane man like Libby would risk jail to protect his bosses because he was trying to hide something big. What could it be?

 

Nobody else lied to the FBI and the grand jury. Only Libby. So it looks like he was trying to hide the one thing he knew that no one else did -- the fact that he learned Valerie Plame Wilson's identity from Dick Cheney.

 

It was probably for a very good reason that Cheney went ballistic over what Joe Wilson was saying ..  and the end result was that Cheney ferreted out the identity of Wilson's wife, passed it along to Libby, and told him to sic the press on them.

 

Libby thought it was worth lying about this because it would show just how big a hand Cheney had in spinning the pre-war intelligence on Iraqi WMDs. That was the one thing serious enough to make them wildly overreact.

 

Libby deserves his convictions. The only unfair thing about the whole trial is that his boss, the guy who was behind the whole thing, wasn't in the dock with him.

 

I just hope we will at some point learn everything they were trying to cover-up .. I want to know who forged the Italian yellow-cake documents, and who knew.

 

One sure thing about the Libby case -- the trial itself will be remembered for pulling back the curtain on the Bush White House as it frantically tried to cover up its intentional effort to mislead the nation to war.

 

And we saw those dirty swift-boating tricks in action.

 

Yesterday was a very good day for America. Guilty verdicts in the Libby trial ..

 

Congressional hearings being held on the illegal justice tampering in New Mexico, and the part it played in the greater unethical firing of US Attorneys ..

 

Congressional hearings on the shameful neglect and disregard for the health and safety of our wounded veterans .. the very troops the White House has spent the last five years hiding behind ..

 

Yes, little by little, maybe we can get our country back .. be proud to be Americans again.

 

 

 

Here's some info that a lot of people must have forgotten....

 

*Bush Administration cuts $1.5 billion from military family housing. The Bush Administration cut $1.5 billion for military family housing, despite Department of Defense statistics showing that in 83,000 barracks and 128,860 family housing units across the country are below standard. ("Nothing But Lip Service," Army Times, June 30, 2003; "House Appropriations Committee Approves $59.2 Million for Ft. Hood," U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards Press Release, June 17, 2003)

 

*Bush Republicans support millionaires instead of military veterans. Bush allies in Congress stopped efforts to scale back the tax cut for the nation's millionaires by just five percent - a loss of just $4,780 for the year - in order to restore this funding for military family housing. ("The Tax Debate Nobody Hears About," Washington Post, June 17, 2003)

 

*Bush Administration underfunded veterans' health care by $2 billion. The Bush Administration's 2004 budget underfunded veterans' health care by nearly $2 billion. ("Vets Health Low on Bush's Priority List," The Hill, September 17, 2003; "Support for Troops Questioned," Washington Post, June 17, 2003; U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs, September 2002)

 

*Bush Administration proposal would end health care benefits for 173,000 veterans. More than 173,000 veterans across the country would be cut off from health care because of Bush Administration proposed budget cuts and its plan requiring enrollment fees and higher out-of-pocket costs. ("Support for Troops Questioned," Washington Post, June 17, 2003)

 

*Bush Administration budget cuts force more than 200,000 veterans to wait for health care. Over 200,000 United States veterans have to wait more than six months for a medical visit because of health care shortages. ("VA Health Care Funding Alert," Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Press Release, January 31, 2003)

 

*Bush Administration opposed plan to give National Guard and Reserve Members access to health insurance. Despite the war efforts of America's National Guard and Reserve Members, the Bush Administration announced in October 2003 its formal opposition to give the 1.2 million Guard and Reserve members the right to buy health care coverage through the Pentagon's health plan. One out of every five Guard members lacks health insurance. ("Bush Opposes Health Plan for National Guard," Gannett News Service, October 23, 2003)

 

I don't think the American public has any idea how costly the Iraq war is in terms of brain damaged soldiers. We tend to focus on the dead, but forget the wounded, many of whom are vegetables and not exactly able to fend for themselves.

 

Who wouldathunk that starting a war for profit would cause so many thousands of casualties .. which would cost billions to treat?

 

The VA system performed well in the 1990s .. but they are hardly in the position to treat tens of thousands of new victims.

 

This war has a higher percentage of wounded soldiers than past wars due to advances in field medicine .. many wounded soldiers live, who might have died in earlier wars.

VA hospitals have an increased burden put on them .. they need the funding to keep up with the increased burden.

 

 

Yesterday morning on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume spoke about the Walter Reed scandal in entirely political terms .. saying "the problem" is that it "looks terrible" for the administration.

 

Well, there you have it folks -- Brit Hume admitting that for the Republicans, appearances are everything.

 

That must be why our wounded and dead soldiers are flown into Dover in the dead of night .. so as not to be seen because it looks bad.

 

Hume called the neglect and deplorable conditions at the military hospital a "potential" political firestorm, but said that the "administration did what it did to try to get it over with, and it may well have succeeded." (link to full transcript is below)

 

Hume suggested that if Democrats had not taken control of Congress in November’s election, the Bush administration would not have demanded resignations from the Army Secretary and the chief of Walter Reed. "This is an administration which is known or had been known for sticking by people even when they were embattled."

 

Is Brit honestly saying what I think he’s saying -- that these people should *not* have resigned?! I’ve got news for him -- if this had happened in the private sector, these people would have been fired in a New York minute because incompetence and/or negligence on this scale would have brought lawsuits.

 

NPR’s Mara Liasson responded to Hume’s comment -- "I think, you know, to say it looks bad, it also is bad. Those pictures were horrible. These are people -- nobody who is being treated for any kind of injury should have to live in that condition, let alone people who just fought in a war for our country."

 

Yes, Brit, appearances are everything to you. Forget the inexcusable neglect and shameful dereliction of duty by your Bushie friends -- as long as they can quickly sweep it under a rug, all is well, right?

 

And Brit, tell us again how much Bush respects the troops for their service .. tell us again how the Democrats are the ones who don't support the troops because they want them to be brought home .. tell us again how for 6 years the Bush government  has cut funding for these facilities .. has cut aid for servicemen’s families .. has cut medical services at veterans’ facilities ..

 

What looks bad Brit, is your devotion to being an apologist and propagandist for a totally incompetent White House that never has done right by our troops.

 

I'll bet our troops who have served so honorably and are now hospitalized at Walter Reed, would think there are many problems with the current situation, and NONE of those problems have to do with it making Bush look bad.

 

The Bush-parrots are trying to keep the emphasis on the mold and the mice, saying nobody wanted to invest more money in a building that was on the base closure list. Bob Woodruff's report has it closing in 10 years. So what? .. it's not closing NOW. If they were slowing down on repairs, why are they still sending the wounded there?

 

See .. it's about much more than leaky roofs and cockroaches .. it's about the treatment of our wounded kids lying in urine soaked beds waiting for smelly bandages to be changed.

 

It's about leaving the brain-injured on their own to somehow find their way through the beaureacratic maze of paperwork, and where to go for their next appointment .. so many of them in outpatient care are basically left on their own.

 

Our wounded troops should be treated like royalty .. not forced to share rooms with mold and rats .. they should have at the very least the same quality of health care that's given to every member of Congress.

 

And how about this for an idea? -- every congress member should be responsible for the wounded soldiers from their own district .. they'd have to make sure they are treated right, and that they get better.

 

We still have legions of psychologically damaged homeless Vietnam vets wandering through the ugly back streets of America. How are we going to handle these thousands of Iraq vets with massive brain trauma now returning to our shores?

 

You know, if this Walter Reed story -- that was hidden in plain sight -- had been exposed and blared 24/7 with half the energy cable news uses to investigate missing pretty blond girls, or chase astronauts in diapers, or ponder who's the father of a celebrity's baby, they could have stopped years of misery for so many of our veterans.

 

Walter Reed will become the new Katrina. Even those one-third voters who still support the White House .. who can't admit that the Iraq war has been a mistake .. can surely get behind this Neglected Veterans story. Stories like Reed and Katrina strike a nerve not only in the gut, but also in the heart .. we the people expect our government to perform on a human level.

 

I do like the way Sec-Defense Gates is handling this scandal. They're calling him the Anti-Rumsfeld .. he didn't call for a hearing and take months to find answers. He just started rolling heads. The hospital's commander, Weightman, was fired just after six months on the job. Then Army secretary Harvey 'resigned' .. partly for trying to bring back Walter Reed's former commander, Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley. VA Secretary Jim Nicholson's should be walking on thin ice ..

 

They're holding hearings today .. they're probably going to put some soldiers before the commission, and that's going to be heartbreaking .. the devil is going to be in the details for these people.

 

BTW -- what was Bush’s only veto? Oh, that’s right, stem cell research. What possible cures could come from that? Maybe: repairing spinal injuries, re-growing lost limbs, replacing damaged brain tissue and other organs…

 

Fox News Sunday Transcript:

 

 

 

Nobody says it better than Wonkette ...

 

"Secretary of the Army Brought To Justice

 

The secretary of the Army got tossed out just now, for losing the war in Iraq not keeping the hospital clean enough, because that’s apparently what the secretary of the Army is supposed to do for this administration.

 

He was “Dr. Francis J. Harvey,” and we hadn’t ever heard of him, either. But it’s good to know that when some serious military outrage is uncovered like Abu Ghraib or Camp X-Ray or the whole Iraq War or 9/11 or Afghanistan or Pat Tillman shot by his own troops or that Jessica Lynch fable or a hospital room that is very dirty, people will be held accountable!"

 

 

 

 

'Open Your Underwear, Let Me See What's Inside'

 

The 'quote of the day' award definitely goes to Qin Gang, spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, who bizarrely stated that Cheney's criticism of Chinese military spending is .. well, bordering on the pornographic ..

 

Mar 1, 2007 — BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry likened U.S. doubts about Chinese defense spending on Thursday to a peeping tom poking through Beijing's underwear, describing the Asian giant as a benign neighbor and force for peace.

 

Vice President Dick Cheney raised concerns about China's military build-up last week when touring Asia.

 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang quickly rejected Cheney's criticism, but at Thursday's regular news briefing he added a new twist to the rhetoric.

 

"If someone always tears through your clothes and even wants to lift open your underwear, saying 'Let me see what's inside', how would you feel? Would you want to call the police?" Qin told reporters when asked about Cheney's remarks." [..]

 

 

How the hell do they think WE feel? We have to put up with this kind of crap from him every day.

 

"Vice President Dick Cheney is safely back in Washington after an attempt was made on his life in Afghanistan. The Taliban denied they were trying to kill the vice president. They now claim it was just a hunting accident." --Jay Leno

 

"Big news from the 2008 presidential campaign. Last night, Senator John McCain -- right here on this program -- announced he's running for president. And then today, he shaved his head and checked into rehab." --David Letterman

 

"Kind of an embarrassing situation for Al Gore with his whole global warming thing. Turns out his Tennessee home has been using 20 times the energy as the average household. To be fair, it is still not as much energy as John Edwards' blow-dryer is using." --Jay Leno

 

"Republicans have been attacking Al for having this big electric bill, but Al Gore says his bill is higher than average because his house is bigger than average. It's a 20-room mansion -- you know, the kind of house you usually find a Republican living in." --Jay Leno

 

"The state Senate in Florida wants to outlaw the term 'illegal alien' because it is insensitive. They want to go with a more politically correct term, like 'Wal-Martian." --Jay Leno

 

"According to the Taliban, Osama bin Laden is alive. But they said if he dies, he'd now like to be buried in the Bahamas." --Jay Leno

 

"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 bin Laden?" --David Letterman

 

"A filmmaker is claiming that the remains of Jesus have been discovered in a tomb in Jerusalem. Which is crazy, because Jesus made it perfectly clear he wanted to be buried in the Bahamas next to Anna Nicole." --Conan O'Brien

 

"A new poll finds that President Bush's father, George Bush, is the most popular living ex-president. Apparently, voters were just excited to hear the words 'George Bush' next to the phrase 'ex-president.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"Some politicians in Florida are trying to ban the use of the term 'illegal alien' because they think it is offensive. The Florida officials say, 'We prefer the term good swimmer.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"As you know, it dropped 416 points yesterday. But enough about President Bush's approval rating." --Jay Leno, on the Dow

 

"A state senator in Florida wants to ban the term 'illegal alien' because she finds it offensive. She wants to replace it with something more sensitive, like 'Mexican explorer.'" --Jay Leno

 

"Last night on Fox, huge premiere of its new show 'Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader.' Or, as President Bush calls it, 'Jeopardy'" --Jay Leno

 

"For those of you in Washington, you may have noticed a subtle difference this week in DC: the air -- a little crisper; food -- a little more tasty; homeless people -- weren't being discovered drained of blood. It could only mean one thing: Vice President Dick Cheney was out of town. The vice president was on a week-long world tour." --Jon Stewart

 

"Funny story about Cheney's trip. An electrical glitch grounded his usual plane, Air Force II, forcing him to fly on a C-17 dubbed -- and I'm not kidding -- 'The Spirit of Strom Thurmond.' As you know, 'The Spirit of Strom Thurmond' is a white plane, but guess which hanger it likes to park in when no one's watching? [on screen: a black hanger]." --Jon Stewart

 

"Trips like these are fraught with peril. A suicide bomber attempted to attack Cheney during his stay in Afghanistan. ... To the suicide bombers and the Taliban: stop trying to kill our people. Seriously -- even the ones we don't like." --Jon Stewart

 

"How many of you have money in the stock market? Not anymore. ... At one point  the market was down over 500 points. ... The drop started after the attempted assassination on Vice President Dick Cheney. See that's when the investors realized that if anything happened to him, President Bush would be in charge." --Jay Leno

 

"According to a report by this genealogist, Al Sharpton's ancestors were slaves once owned by Strom Thurmond's relatives. Now Al Sharpton wants a DNA test to see if they are related. And you know, somehow, this is going to end up that Strom Thurmond is the the father of Anna Nicole's baby." --Jay Leno

 

"Mitt Romney says he plans to differentiate himself from President Bush with a single word -- 'intelligence.' ... When he heard this, President Bush said, 'Intelligence? That's two words.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"Congratulations to Al Gore. His movie won an Oscar. Today it got reversed by the Supreme Court. ... Al Gore announced last night that for the first time, the Academy Awards had a green theme. Which is not really true. It's always had a green theme -- money and envy." --Jay Leno

 

"But the big winner of the night was global warming. Everyone jumped on the hybrid bandwagon. But if you ask me, any lowering of emissions they achieved with the limos was canceled out by the amount of smoke they blew up Al Gore's ass. ... Gore wanted this award so much, he pulled a DeNiro. Did you see how much weight he gained for the part?" --Stephen Colbert

 

"If any of you at home are wondering about the former vice president's seeming largess, I will have you know, he has not gained weight. He is so passionate about saving this Earth, he is trying not to exhale. ... Here's an inconvenient truth: cake isn't a food group" --Jon Stewart

 

"A juror in the Scooter Libby trial has been dismissed by the judge after the juror was exposed to information about the case outside of the courtroom. How did this happen? The news channels talk about nothing but Anna Nicole and Britney Spears for the last two weeks. What channel is this guy watching? I'd love to have some information." --Jay Leno

 

"Angelina Jolie is joining the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations. In a related story, Kofi Annan will be playing the role of Lara Croft in 'Tomb Raider 3.'" --Conan O'Brien

 

"The U.S. government has hired several psychics to help find Osama bin Laden. So far the psychics haven't been able to locate bin Laden, but they do predict soon he'll find true love." --Conan O'Brien

 

At the very beginning of the Plame leak investigation, leading prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald said something to the effect that it's difficult to get to the truth when someone is kicking sand in the umpire's face. He was talking about Libby.

 

In his closing arguments the other day Fitzgerald said Libby "stole the truth from the justice system."

 

Ah, but the truth is still out there .. waiting to be found. Let's just hope the trail has not gone cold. We do know that Fitzgerald is a little bulldog and holds on 'til the last dog dies. He goes after the underlings first, convicts them, and then gets them to 'flip' when they face a looong prison sentence.

 

There is no doubt -- in my mind at least -- that that's exactly what he intends to do in this case. After all, he didn't go after one of the most powerful men in Washington just to get a little ol' cut-and-dried perjury and obstruction conviction. No, he's after bigger game.

 

Of course, where the Fitzgerald investigation is taking us is anybody's guess .. but there is nothing to stop me from daydreaming that Cheney gets caught. That may be a stretch .. although, we doesn't know what Fitz knows.

 

Cheney may be nervous about the verdict .. when the jury went to deliberate he did take off and fly all over the world. Or, maybe he's trying to deflect attention from the trial .. the press would pay more attention to who the VP is visiting.

 

And while we're waiting for the verdict in the Libby trial, let's remember how the Righties poopooed the importance of the entire Plame-Wilson affair from day one.

 

When it became clear that all the prosecutor was going to get out of the case was perjury and obstruction of justice -- rather than for the more serious crime (sabotage? treason?) of leaking Plame's name -- some Righties began hooting about it being no big deal.

 

I guess lying to a prosecutor just isn't that big a deal in the conservative world.

 

But, let's remember what some of those same Righties were saying about a different perjury case -- when the target was not Dick Cheney's top aide -- but President Clinton, who was accused of lying about something, shall we say, a little less earth-shaking.

 

Here are some choice examples of how some conservatives flip-flop on perjury:

 

GOP Rep. Lindsey Graham (now Senator) on Clinton, 1998: "I believe it is a crime --it's a high crime that should subject any president for removal." Graham also served as one of the GOP's managers of the impeachment case.

 

...and on Libby, 2006: "When it came to the grand jury, he gave false testimony allegedly about his interaction. But the underlying charge that started this investigation never materialized. So you have to put it in that perspective...It's a bad story but it's a different story than the way it started."

 

Then Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes said about Clinton, 1998: "It's going to be hard not to impeach the president for prejury."

 

...and on Libby, 2006: "Fitzgerald should terminate his probe immediately. A correction--perhaps the longest and most overdue in the history of journalism--is in order."

 

GOP Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, on Clinton, 1998: "Something needs to be said that is a clear message that our rule of law is intact and the standards for perjury and obstruction of justice are not gray."

 

...and on Libby, 2005: "I certainly hope that, if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollar."

 

GOP Sen. Don Nickles on Clinton, 1998: "In my opinion, President Clinton is guilty of perjury. He is guilty of obstruction of justice."

 

Nickles now serves on the Libby Defense Board.

 

BTW, speaking of Clinton's troubles -- let us not forget that even in the wake of the impeachment, his approval rating jumped to 73 percent .. not only an all-time high for Clinton, it also beat the highest approval rating President Ronald Reagan ever had.

 

George W, Bush would kill for an approval rating that high .. maybe then his daddy would stop crying in public.

 

Now back to hypocrite Righties. Let's see .. lying about an extramarital affair -- impeachable. Outing a CIA agent for political reasons -- no big deal.

 

It's kind of silly when you compare lying about a consensual BJ to lying about a national security issue.

 

When Plame was exposed, it ruined the entire overseas operation run out of "Brewster-Jennings" .. a "consulting company" that was really a CIA front. All the people she dealt with, all her overseas contacts, were immediately put in danger. And we lost a big chunk of our ability to detect WMD dangers to the US. And the Vice President of the United States had a hand in it .. I know it in my bones.

 

I get so tired of Righties arguing that there can't be an underlying crime because Plame was not a covert agent. OK .. if she *were* a covert agent, Rightie logic says there *was* an underlying crime. I guess that's why the DCIA at the time -- think his name was George Tenet -- asked for this inquiry.

 

The director of the CIA asked for this investigation because he KNEW Plame was a covert agent.

 

Period.