Above The Law

Rush Limbaugh used to say often that Democrats (namely Bill Clinton) believed in one set of laws for themselves and another for everyone else.

Take a look at this. The current occupant of the White House claims the authority to ignore or disobey more than 750 laws.

Are you kidding me? In the movies, an "actor" might claim to be "Above the Law." But in the reality based community, NO ONE, not even a legally elected President (which Bush is not), has the right to ignore or disobey the law.

Read this about Bill Clinton.

Read this about United States v. Nixon.

Read this about Harry Truman.

These are only a few of the more obvious examples that make my point clear -- no one, even George W. Bush, can ignore or disobey the law.

Responsibility, Maturity, Family Values

Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in 1994 and the presidency in 2000 by promising, among other things, to be more mature and responsible and honest and "family values" oriented than "the Democrat party."

Let's see how that's turning out. Never mind the period between 1994 and now -- just look at what's happening currently:

Republican Congressman Tom DeLay, the House Majority Leader, has resigned, is under indictment and has seen several of his current and former staff members indicted or found guilty of campaign finance wrongdoing in a scandal the full scope of which is not yet known.

Texas Republican Congressman accused of bribery.

New York Republican Congressman gets drunk at college frat party where marijuana was being used.

Republicans convicted for their role in illegally jamming Democratic get out the vote phone lines in New Hampshire in 2002. The company that did this dirty trick was started by Haley Barbour, current Mississippi Governor, former lobbyist and former Republican National Committee Chairman.

The guys who did the dirty work mentioned in the previous paragraph were working in concert with members of the White House staff.

Republican Congressman from California goes to jail for bribery. This story has expanded to include investigation of a call girl ring that involves as many as a half dozen Republican Congressmen.

Ohio Republican Congressman accused of bribery.

Ohio Republican Governor pleads guilty to four misdemeanors to avoid felony trial. He may still lose his law license.

Ohio Republican Secretary of State who oversaw controversial 2004 election owns stock in Diebold. Diebold makes voting machines that have failed quality control tests and don't provide voters a paper trail so they have proof of how they voted and that their vote was counted.

Kentucky Republican Governor faces possible indictment and has had at least 13 staff members face allegations of corruption in state hiring.

Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleads guilty in a bribery and influence peddling scandal that involves dozens of Republican members of Congress and reaches all the way into the White House.

Republican Lieutenant Governor candidate, lobbyist and right wing "Christian" activist Ralph Reed of Georgia implicated in scandal that has ties to Abramoff.

Republican Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, whose father, Congressman Roy Blunt, is Majority Whip, is under investigation for favoritism in administering state office that collect fees, such as those for drivers license renewals.

I could go on and on and on, but the point should be obvious. The Republican party as an institution is corrupt, venal, immoral, greedy, irresponsible and immature. Why would anyone trust this crowd to govern anything?

Feel the Burn

Go to Crooks and Liars and check out this clip of Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. Colbert takes on the Bush administration and the myth of liberal bias in the media. President and Mrs. Bush are clearly unhappy as they exit the stage. The media members who felt the singe of Colbert's remarks were also clearly unhappy. I say good for Colbert for telling the truth, even if it was in the guise of satire.

UPDATE: I'm watching MSNBC Live as I type this. Host Alex Witt and CNBC and Wall Street Journal "reporter" John Harwood just spent several minutes discussing the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner and never once mentioned Colbert's performance. Maybe this omission is evidence that the allegedly liberal media was not happy being criticized for their constant fawning over Bush?

Bush flip flops again

George W. Bush, Candidate for President, September 21, 2000:

"Our own domestic production of crude oil is at lowest level in almost 50 years, since 1954. We have no comprehensive energy policy.

Today my opponent, in response to public outcry, proposed that our nation tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That's bad public policy.

The Strategic Reserve is an insurance policy meant for a sudden disruption of our energy supply or for war. Strategic Reserve should not be used as an attempt to drive down oil prices right before an election. It should not be used for short-term political gain at the cost of long-term national security."

Fast forward to April 25, 2006:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush will direct the U.S. Energy Department on Tuesday to temporarily halt deliveries of oil to a strategic reserve in order to get more fuel on the market and help reduce rising gasoline prices, a senior administration official said.

The official said Bush in a morning energy speech, will tell the Energy Department to suspend deliveries this summer while supplies are tight "and defer the deposits until the fall, and then you have more oil on the market."

Flip, flop. Flip, flop.

What's going on at the CIA?

Mary McCarthy, the CIA employee who was fired last Friday for allegedly leaking information about America's secret overseas prisons denies that she was the source and denies that she confessed.

What the hell? Is she being scapegoated?

Oh, and it's supposed to be "news" that this agent donated to the Kerry for President campaign. As though a campaign contribution from a private citizen automatically means that citizen is not capable of behaving professionally at work.

How about this for a story instead? The Bush administration has been asking leaders at the CIA about the political affiliations of their agents. If membership in only one party is a requirement for federal employment, how far can we be from a one party "Sieg Heil" state?

And of course, it's worth pointing out that while McCarthy was fired, allegedly for leaking something that was true, other leakers who spread lies have not been punished. This group includes Bush, Cheney, Rove, and Libby.

Do as I say not as I do

If this CNN story is correct, then a CIA officer has been fired for leaking to the media. This CIA employee is supposed to have told Dana Priest of the Washington Post that the United States was secretly holding "terror suspects" in illegal overseas prisons. Priest received a Pulitzer Prize.

Of course, as we know, plenty of people inside the Bush White House, most notably Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, leaked about the CIA. In fact they revealed the identity of Valerie Wilson, a covert CIA operative, rendering her useless as an undercover agent and compromising the identities and lives of everyone with whom she ever worked or interacted. Libby quit. Rove continues to work at the White House. Neither was fired.

As always with the Bush administration, there's one set of rules for them and another set for everyone else.

If compromising national security won't end this administration, nothing will.

Lying weasel at Time Magazine gets promoted

Today Matt Cooper of Time Magazine was promoted from reporter to political editor.

Matt Cooper is one of the reporters to whom Karl Rove leaked the covert identity of CIA Operative Valerie Plame, an action Rove took in an attempt to discredit Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson. Cooper did not use the Rove leak in any of his reporting, and he later provided his notes to the prosecutor who's investigating the matter. Cooper also testified to the grand jury that's investigating the case.

But Cooper and two of his colleagues did falsely report about Rove and the Plame leak. These three wrote a story that suggested Rove was not the source of the leak when in fact all three knew Rove WAS the source. They knew because Rove gave the information to Cooper and Cooper shared it with his colleagues. So Cooper and his colleagues lied, period. They did it to protect Karl Rove. Republicans count on "reporting" like this from insiders who don't want to lose access. Again I ask, what liberal media?

Pulitzer winner gets facts wrong on her own story

Susan Schmidt, who recently won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on the Jack Abramoff scandal, gets it wrong on a key fact about her own reporting.

Appearing on C-SPAN'S Q&A program on April 19th, staff writer Susan Schmidt, one of three Washington Post reporters who received the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for investigating the influence-peddling schemes of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, repeated the false claim that Abramoff gave "a lot of money to Democrats."

SCHMIDT: Well, that's, you know -- I think that some of the elected officials don't know how far this thing goes in their own parties, both Republican and Democrat. The Democrats have not been -- a few have been sort out there strident about it. But there's a deafening silence on the part of a lot of people, and that's because, actually, Abramoff had -- was giving a lot of money to Democrats, too.

In fact, as many sources have noted on numerous occasions, Democrats received NO contributions directly from Abramoff.

If even reporters who get the facts of their own stories wrong can win Pulitzers, doesn't that render the award meaningless? And since Schmidt gets it wrong about Democrats, what does that say about the myth of liberal bias in the media?

ANOTHER Bush Administration Lie

White House Counselor Dan Barlett was on MSNBC’s Hardball today. In this appearance, he adamantly denied that anyone in the Bush administration claimed war with Iraq would lead to lower gas prices. Here's how the exchange between Bartlett and Bush cheerleader/Hardball host Chris Matthews went:

MATTHEWS: We’ve been struck by higher gas prices. That was another promise made, that this war would help us get cheaper gas —

BARTLETT: I don’t think —

MATTHEWS: None of these promises come through.

BARTLETT: That’s not correct, Chris. The president or no one else ever said that this war was going to result in cheaper gas prices…

MATTHEWS: Ok, so just to make it official, Dan, no one in the administration has ever said that we would have cheaper gas because of war in Iraq, just to make it official?

BARTLETT: I don’t recall anybody ever saying that, Chris.

Bartlett lied. Lawrence Lindsey, President Bush’s senior economic advisor in 2002, argued that the Iraq war would increase oil supplies and lower prices. Thanks to Think Progress here's the story from Bush house organ The Washington Times on September 19, 2002:

As for the impact of a war with Iraq, “It depends how the war goes.” But he quickly adds that that “Under every plausible scenario, the negative effect will be quite small relative to the economic benefits that would come from a successful prosecution of the war.”

“The key issue is oil, and a regime change in Iraq would facilitate an increase in world oil,” which would drive down oil prices, giving the U.S. economy an added boost.

These guys have lied for so long they don't even put in the effort to tell plausible lies anymore. As Tucker Carlson wrote about Bush lacky Karen Hughes, they know that you know that they're lying. And even though you know, they tell the lie anyway. In other words, it doesn't matter what you think.

I Pledge Allegiance to the Elephant

According to this item, Republicans at a San Diego fundraising dinner had just begun a typically ostentatious display of their "wear it on your lapel" patriotism by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance when someone realized THERE WAS NO FLAG in the room.

What to do, what to do? One quick thinking "patriot," County Board of Education Member Bob Watkins, spotted a red, white and blue symbol of the Grand Old Party and yelled "pledge to the elephant."

The obedient "patriots," including Congressman Darrell Issa and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, immediately complied with this ridiculous request.

According to custom, as later codified by Congress, persons are expected, but not legally required, to recite the Pledge as follows:

by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute.

No where do I see an "elephant exemption."

Remember this story the next time a US Flag lapel pin wearing Republican tells you his party is patriotic while the Democrats are not.

What Liberal Media?

Today George Ryan, the former Governor of Illinois and a career Republican politician, was convicted of numerous charges including racketeering. Here's what struck me as I read the stories about Ryan's convictions: they don't note his party affiliation, or they mention it in passing near the end of the story.

Associated Press doesn't mention it.

Bloomberg mentions it once in the third paragraph.

The New York Times mentions it once in the second paragraph.

But the best one is Time Magazine. Time doesn't mention Ryan's party affiliation at all. However, Time does manage to include this:

"...and the current administration of Democrat Rod Blagojevich is also being investigated..."

That's right -- the guy who was convicted is not identified as a Republican, but the guy who hasn't been convicted of anything IS identified as a Democrat.

What liberal media?

More Generals Want Rumsfeld Gone

If you've wondered why the generals who've recently called for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld didn't criticize him while they were still on active duty, read this story about Lieutenant General John Riggs. The Army's thanks to him for 39 years of service and for for leading its transformation to a high-tech force was to reprimand him for allowing contractors to do much, which is a joke since the Bush administration would run the Iraq war entirely with no bid cost plus thieving contractors if it could. In addition, the Army reduced Riggs from Lieutenant General to Major General before forcing him to retire, a punishment usually used only for serious criminal offenses.

About 40 supporters of Riggs are trying to have the reduction in rank revoked so that he'll be retired at the higher rank -- among other things, the rank at which he retired affects his pension. I wouldn't count on him getting his star back though, at least until after the Bush administration leaves office.

A seventh general, retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Paul K. Van Riper, has also called for Rumsfeld's resignation. Van Riper's public comments brings to seven the number of retired senior military officers who've said in public that the Secretary of Defense needs to go.

How many will it take for the President to accept that Rumsfeld does not have the confidence of those whom he's supposed to lead? For that matter, how long will it be before there are calls for Bush's resignation?

Captain Christopher H. Sheppard, USMC, gets it right

Just read this article from the April 12 Seattle Times. Captain Sheppard concludes the recounting of his Iraq experience "The Bush administration has proven successful at only one thing in Iraq — painting us into a corner with no feasible exit. I will never trust any of them again."

Limbaugh -- don't confuse me with facts

Rush Limbaugh's radio program has always been a source of amusement for me, in large part because he's such a hypocrite -- he never lets the truth stand get in the way of the point of view he's advocating. In fact, Limbaugh is so good at this he frequently argues opposite sides of the same question without acknowledging the inconsistency.

Last week "el Rushbo" did it again.

For those who don't read liberal blogs or the Washington Post, let me summarize. A couple of weeks ago the Washington Post decided it needed to hire a conservative blogger for its washingtonpost.com outlet. Of course there was hiring of a liberal blogger. The guy the Post hired was Ben Domenech, AKA Augustine of the National Review. Almost as soon as he was hired bloggers and liberal activists who had researched Domenech's credentials discovered numerous incidents of plagiarism, some of which went back to his college days.

After stonewalling for a few days, Domenech quit his job at the Post and condemned his critics while denying that he plagiarized. To his credit, Domenech later admitted his theft of the work of other writers and apologized for both plagiarizing and for initially lying about it when he got caught:

"I want to apologize to National Review Online, my friends and colleagues here at RedState, and to any others that have been affected over the past few days. I also want to apologize to my previous editors and writers whose work I used inappropriately and without attribution. There is no excuse for this -- nor is there an excuse for any obfuscation in my earlier statement."

Now, back to Limbaugh. According to Media Matters, on his April 12 show Limbaugh denied that Domenech was a plagiarist and claimed he'd been the victim of a liberal plot. Here are two choice quotes from Limbaugh's fantastic rant:

"...And they concocted some phony excuse that the guy that they had hired was a plagiarist..."

"...they had to put out a bunch of garbage to impugn his character and reputation at the same time..."

As you can see, Limbaugh will not let the facts get in the way -- the classic example of what Stephen Colbert has dubbed "truthiness."

Generals Oppose Rumsfeld

Check this out. Retired Major General (two star) Charles Swannack has called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Swannack commanded the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq during Rumsfeld's tenure, so his criticism carries great weight.

General Swannack joins another retired Major General who commanded in Iraq, John Batiste of the 1st Infantry Division (the Big Red One). I met General Batiste in Iraq as my unit, the 42nd Division (Rainbow), was taking over for the 1st ID in late 2004 and early 2005. I know from first hand observation how good an officer he was -- he was clearly marked for future promotions and incressingly demanding assignments. Instead, Batiste turned down promotion and a prestigious position because he didn't want to work for Rumsfeld.

Swannack and Batiste are part of a growing chorus of uniformed military leaders who have expressed no confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld. This group includes former U.S. Central Command Commander General (four star) Anthony Zinni, former Army Major General Paul Eaton, and retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General (three star) Gregory Newbold.

Will President Bush heed the call of the increasing number of uniformed professionals who've put their careers and reputations on the line to speak their minds, or will these heroes and partiots be branded as traitors simply because they do not agree with the administration's spin and lies about Iraq?

Rove alleges vote fraud, ignores own record

According to this item from Raw Story, Karl Rove spoke to the National Republican Lawyers Association last Friday. In this speech Rove thanked these Republican lawyers for their work to bring about clean elections. Digby says he saw Rove make this speech (carried on C-Span), and that Rove went on to claim Democratic voter fraud that only these honest God fearing Republican lawyers can stop.

Is these guy serious? I think he's just parodying himself. How else can you explain Rove arguing for clean elections in the face of all the cheating and lying he's done, as well as that which has been done by other Republicans and Rove acolytes?

For instance, there's this. This. This. This. This. This. This. This. All of this. This. And This.

Karl Rove has committed criminal acts for virtually his entire life and they're quickly catching up with him. But even if he's not wearing a striped jump suit yet, the fact that he's still working in the White House is a damned disgrace.

Why all Americans should fear Bush spying

Last Thursday a commercial real estate broker from North Carolina, Harry Taylor, actually got to offer President Bush some rare in person criticism. That's Taylor standing in the balcony in this AP photo. I say the criticism was rare, because most Bush audiences are pre-screened and only fawning supporters are allowed in. In fact, anyone who doesn't genuflect for Dear Leader is likely to be removed from the audience, sometimes by Republican volunteers posing as Secret Service agents.

Bush's response to Taylor is telling. First read the exchange, then I'll explain why:

Taylor: "While I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water. I have never felt more ashamed of nor more frightened by my leadership in Washington."

Bush: "I'm not your favorite guy. What's your question?"

Taylor: "I feel like, despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration. And I would hope, from time to time, that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself."

Bush: "I'm not going to apologize for what I did on the terrorist surveillance program. Would I apologize for that? The answer is, absolutely not."

So, to summarize, Taylor complained that Bush thinks he has the right to tap the phone of any American. If Bush really believes his warrantless surveillance program is targeted only at terrorists, he could have told Taylor "as long as you're not a terrorist you have nothing to worry about -- your privacy is assured."

But Bush didn't do that. Instead Bush said he really can do whatever he wants, without apology. In other words, Taylor's right -- Bush really does believe he can spy on any American, and without getting a warrant.

That ought to give pause to anyone who honestly thinks that Bush is targeting only terrorists with his warrantless surveillance.

Ann Coulter is a douche, the sequel

In her April 5 column, among lots of other misinformation, soon to be convicted felon Ann Coulter includes this gem:

"Even proud American corporations find their names being turned into curse words by liberals, such as "Halliburton," which is currently losing money in Iraq in order to supply food to our troops — you know, the same troops liberals pretend to love (but don't lose money feeding)."

Oh, bullshit. I have no problem with the KBR working men and women I met in Iraq, who are taking risks and working their asses off. (KBR is Kellogg, Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary. ) But Halliburton the corporation and its executives suck, and they're making plenty of money in Iraq. When they're not getting paid under no bid cost plus contracts, they're getting paid even when they don't perform, or else they're actually putting American troops at risk:

"The Pentagon's official watchdog will investigate allegations by Halliburton Co. water experts that their company endangered U.S. troops in Iraq by failing to provide safe shower and laundry water.

The most serious allegation came from the company's water treatment manager in the war zone whose internal report said troops and civilians in Iraq were left vulnerable to "mass sickness or death."

A former Halliburton water expert who found contamination at the Ar Ramadi base a year ago said he was told by superiors not to advise the military or senior company officials of his discovery."

Still don't believe me? Here, read this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

I could keep going, but you get the point. Halliburton is crooked and corrupt, just like its crony patrons in the Bush administration. Once again, that douche Ann Coulter is defending the indefensible.

A little history...

As you continue to watch the Bush kleptocracy chip away at the rights of all Americans while enriching the administration's friends and supporters, remember that Bush told us all on his first trip to Capitol Hill (December 19, 2000) what he intended to do:

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier... just so long as I'm the dictator."

One more like this and we're finished

Idiots like this make America look like a third rate tin horn dictatorship. How can it be that the most powerful nation on earth, a representative democracy that's supposed to be a beacon of hope for freedom loving people everywhere, can't conduct a fair and honest election? According to the Erie County, Ohio prosecutor, Cuyahoga County election officials violated the law so they could avoid a recount of the ballots cast in 2004's presidential election. Apparently following the law and finding the correct result was just inconvenient for these so-called public servants. Why would the four member county board of elections, two Democrats and two Republicans, support their lying, cheating staff? Maybe this quote from the county web site has something to do with it: "The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections consists of four members each appointed to a four-year term by the Secretary of State. The board has two Democratic Party and two Republican Party members."

That's right -- Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a partisan Bush loving Republican, who's also a stealing, lying, crook, appointed the board that defends the Cuyahoga County election staff that broke the law in the name of convenience.

One more election like 2000 and 2004 and the United States will look more like a banana republic than the land of the free and the home of the brave.

DeLay -- do as I say not as I do

Disgraced, soon to be convicted felon, soon to be former Congressman Tom DeLay is so shameless he threatened to file an ethics complaint against Representative Cynthia McKinney after she had an altercation with a Capitol Police officer. I figured that DeLay, a House member who has been sanctioned by the Ethics Committee, couldn't sink any lower.

I was wrong.

DeLay used dirty tricks to try disrupting a press conference called by Democrat Nick Lampson, who's running for DeLay's House seat. Among other things, DeLay's goons and tricksters hit a 69 or 70 year old woman and lied about why they were at the event. This was part of an organized effort on DeLay's part:

Here's the smoking gun e-mail attributed to Chris Homan, DeLay's campaign manager:

"We would meet tomorrow morning at 9:45 am on the first floor of the parking garage attached to the Marriott. Please get folks to call our campaign office 281.343.1333 and let us know they can do it - or e-mail Leonard Cash (in the cc field above) so that we can get some head count. Let's give Lampson a parting shot that wrecks his press conference."

To say one thing while doing another is the definition of hypocrisy, isn't it?

Tom DeLay is just shameless.

Soledad O'Brien attempts journalism but fails

Soledad O'Brien of CNN's "American Morning" interviewed author Gail Sheehy about Katie Couric's decision to leave NBC's Today Show to become anchor of CBS's Evening News. O'Brien wondered why so much attention is being paid to Couric's sex, as in "the first woman to be sole anchor of a network evening newscast."

Umm, I'll take a shot at this one -- could it be because Couric's not a journalist?

Not a journalist.

Not a journalist.

Not a journalist.

Not a journalist.

Not a journalist.

In other words, Katie's a triumph of style over substance. Just like Soledad.

Government should be run like business? No way...

Here's a terrific example of connections trumping free enterprise. Parsons Inc., a large, well connected international construction company based in California received a $200 million no bid, "cost plus" contract to build 142 primary health centers in Iraq. After having built fewer than 20 of these centers, Parsons announced that it's pulling out of the deal. The US Army Corps of Engineers, overseers of Iraq reconstruction, has agreed to let Parsons out of its contract.

Of course, Parsons gets to keep the $200 million.

Think about that -- they got paid to provide a service and a product, they failed to deliver, yet they still keep the money. Wouldn't your life be great if you could do YOUR job that way?

Remember this incident the next time someone tells you that Bush and Cheney have brought sound business management practices to their administration, or when someone tells you government should be run like a business.

And remember this, and this, and this, and this, and this.

What we're witnessing with these poor businessmen in charge isn't sound management and effective government -- it's crony capitalism.