Censure for Bush

I raced back home today to see the Judiciary Committee Hearing on the Censure of the Bush/Cheney/Halliburton administration.

Where the hell were the other Democrats? They left Russ Feingold out to dry, absenting themselves with the exception of Lehey. What a disappointment.

They are likely to attack Iran before they are out of office.

They are likely to attack Iran before they are out of office.

That is a quote from an article in the progressive. See:

http://progressive.org/mag_wx031106

The Adoration of the Bushi

"Everything President Bush does is for our good."

That is the quote I woke up hearing this morning on CSPAN.

How unutterably ignorant can you be?

This comment would be pitiful if it weren’t such a part of the ideology that is destroying what little democracy we have left in this country. I’m sorry, but I can only have contempt for people like this.

My God, they’re going to run Barbara Bush for President. Just kidding, but she has evidently made a comment that the country is ready for a woman president, preferably a Republican.

On that subject, I can’t understand this talk about Hillary Clinton running for president. As much as I think that she would be a good president, certainly a hell of a lot better than the present criminally crazed lot, I do not think she can be elected. I think she can win the Democratic nomination, but I do not think she can win a national election.

One only has to listen to the woman-hating rhetoric and the caricatures of her already prevalent in the culture. A friend recently forwarded to me a photo montage depicting Hillary Clinton appearing to have a piss in a urinal like a man. Now, the person who forwarded this is a Democrat.

Years ago, I was astounded when I walked through an acquaintance’s house to see an image, held with a magnet to the refrigerator, of Hillary Clinton’s fat legs. Now the woman who owned the refrigerator had cut this image out of some publication and put it on her refrigerator. You tell me what this is all about?

As a third example of the misogyny so prevalent in this culture, consider the ridicule of Elizabeth Edward’s weight in the last election.

Hillary Clinton, in my opinion, is just not going to be elected. I wish she could be elected, but I don’t believe it. The most interesting person considering running to me is Feingold.

Well, I guess my cat and I should get up. It's hard lately to even leave the television. There's some kind of morbid fascination with watching a train wreck happening, especially a train wreck involving an entire nation. It's a little like watching Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to President Kennedy.

The Bastards

Newsweek estimates that there are some 14 U.S. hostages still being held in Iraq. But, according to the Bush/Cheney/Halliburton administration, things are just hunky-dorie in Iraq.

The Telegraph (a U.K. publication) is reporting that a U.S. soldier has left the army over what he calls "illegal" tactics used by U.S. troops and coalition forcer.

See the article:

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/12/nsas12.xml

What the Bastards Are Up To Today

Everything's Grand in Iraq

While the Bush/Cheney/Halliburton administration busily maintains that the situation in Iraq is going well, the body of an American peace activist was discovered dumped on a pile of garbage in Baghdad. Tom Fox, a representative of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, was in Iraq to campaign against the U.S. occupation and to try to get Iraqis held by the U.S. released.

Reuters reports that Fox was taken hostage in November by a group called "Swords of Truth." The Swords evidently can't tell the difference between their opponents and their supporters, or don't care.

In more good news (according to the BCH administration) a senior editor for the Iraq state television was shot dead in his car on Saturday. Reuters reports that he was the second journalist to be killed in one week.

Story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060311/ts_nm/iraq_journalist_dc

More Bush/Cheney/Halliburton Sleaze

Another of the Bush/Cheney/Halliburton administration's buddies got himself into hot water with the police last week. Claude Allen, a former domestic policy person, is reported by Reuters to have been arrested this week for "alledgedly swindling two stores out of more than $5,000..."

Reuter's Story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060311/pl_nm/bush_aide_dc

Rolling right along:

Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior, has announced that she is resigning her post. This is the woman who presided over the opening of Tellowstone National Park to snowmobiles and helped the BCH administration push for energy development on public lands. The really big suprise is that she's going to work for the private sector. That's really novel.

Norton, of course, claims that the investigations of Jack Abramoff's dealings with her department have nothing to do with her resignation. Right, and there are WMDs in Iraq. Why don't we put these people in jail?
cjjohns.com

What the Bastards Are Up To Today

Cadaver Dog Teams Sent Home

On CNN last night, there was a story of teams of investigators with cadaver dogs arriving in New Orleans only to be asked by a representative of FEMA to sign a form stating that they were providing long-term aid to people displaced by the hurricane Katrina.

The cadaver-dog teams refused to sign and pointed out that asking them to sign was an act of fraud.

FEMA promptly informed the teams that contrary to an agreement, they (FEMA) could not pay for their hotel rooms. As a consequence, the teams are leaving.

Bush is requesting billions for New Orleans reconstruction, but they could not find enough money to pay for hotel rooms for these teams for a few days.

It should escape no one's attention that the teams began finding bodies as soon as they arrived in New Orleans and that Bush was visiting NO at the time. It should be remembered that the Bush administration told the media that dead bodies were not to be shown on television after Katrina and the usually subservient media complied. Now, the Bush administration would prefer the embarrassing bodies to disappear in the rubble rather than having them dragged out in public to further demonstrate just how criminally negligent this administration is.

Republicans Block the Investigation of the NSA Wiretapping

Below is the link for the Washington Post's article on the Republican blocking of the investigation of the NSA wiretapping program.


http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030806J.shtml

And an article about FBI violations related to wiretapping. This is only further confirmation that an investigation is warranted.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/09/politics/09terror.html?th&emc=th


Even though the Republicans are trying to act as if the agreement with the White House about the NSA wiretapping is a meaningful one, it allows warrantless wiretapping. Below is a New York Times story about this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/09/politics/09nsa.html


For legal commentary and southern stories, go to www.cjjohns.com

Republicans have blocked Democratic efforts to investigate the NSA wiretapping. They have made a "deal" with the White House that warrantless wiretaps can occur for as much as 45 days and then they have to be approved by the Attorney General. Boy, that's a real check on the Bush White House. What a sleazy lot of sobs they are.

Harper's Impeachment Panel

I awoke to CSPAN again this morning. They were airing a panel put together by Harper's Magazine on the impeachment of Bush.

The effects of this new right-wing dominated Supreme Court will be seen not only in the cases they decide, but the cases they refuse to decide. Consider, for example, this from the Associated Press:

By GINA HOLLANDThe Associated PressMonday, March 6, 2006; 12:57 PM

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider whether a top judge in Illinois improperly voted to throw out a $1 billion judgment against State Farm after accepting campaign donations from company lawyers and executives.

As Holland points out in the article, this case raises the question of whether an individual citizen has a right to a hearing before an impartial judge. As judge who has received campaign contributions from the company at question in the case, can hardly be considered as impartial.

Customers of the Bloomington, Illinois State Farm Insurance Company won a class-action lawsuit "accusing the company of fraud for refusing to pay for top-quality replacement parts on damaged cars." The judge in question, was asked to stay out of the case because of the conflict of interest the campaign contributions represented.

Continuing from the Associated Press:

A dozen public interest groups had pressed the Supreme Court to declare that people have a due process right to an unbiased judge, pointing out that 30 states will hold supreme court elections this year and money may taint those contests.

Lawyers for groups such as Common Cause told justices that high-dollar judicial races "engender an appearance of corruption that critically threatens the very foundation of the courts, and the rights of the litigants who appear in them."

Karmeier, a Republican, and his Democratic opponent spent, combined, more than $9 million in 2004 in what experts called the most expensive judge race in American history.
After taking the bench he sided with State Farm, and separately voted to throw out a $10 billion fraud judgment against Philip Morris over the marketing of its "light" cigarettes.
Justices were told that Karmeier directly received $350,000 in State Farm-related donations.
But lawyers for State Farm flatly denied that and said the company itself gave no money to Karmeier. "This court should reject (their) attempt to salvage some part of their case by improperly impugning the integrity of Justice Karmeier and the Illinois Supreme Court," lead lawyer Sheila Birnbaum said in a filing.

The Illinois Supreme Court has been split on whether to overturn the verdict entirely, and Karmeier cast the deciding vote.

Separately, public interest groups have asked a state board that looks into allegations of judicial misconduct to investigate Karmeier.

The case is Avery v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 05-842.

This case is just the beginning of the judiciary joining the executive branch in managing the society for corporate interests.

Morning Stories: What the Bastards are Up to Today

The Bush/Cheney/Hailliburton Administration is going after journalists for leaks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030400867_pf.html

I would be willing to bet that if the truth is ever known about the NSA wiretaps, we will find out that the BCH administration was wiretapping journalists.

Gary Hart on CSPAN

Gary Hart is on CSPAN this morning. He, at least, is raising the question of why Bush has been so adamant about this Dubai deal. He even mentioned the notion that Bush and his buddies may be making money off the deal. Nice to hear somebody actually talking about the real question.

I teach, or I used to teach, so I spend a lot of time answering questions from students. When the suggestion is made that somebody is making money off a deal like the port deal, students immediately assume that the profit is direct. In their minds, they seem to see men with envelopes making pay offs in shady public bathrooms.

While this may in fact go on, it is seldom in this day and age, that crude. The trade-offs and the benefits are much more indirect and more sophisticatedly arranged. So, the search for the smoking gun is seldom successful.

Hart is not as upset about the port deal as some people are. He pointed out that to have Saudi Arabia control our oil was more important than having Dubai control a part of port operations.

Hart’s new book is "The Shield and the Cloak: The Security of the Commons." Publishers Weekly says: "This is an accessible and stimulating read for those interested in national security, politics and terrorism."

CSPAN says he is working on a book about the future of the Democratic Party. On that subject, CSPAN also had on John Dean yesterday, talking about the future of the Democratic Party.

Other points made by Hart in the 2 March interview:

-corporations are using illegal labor
-we are not producing enough scientists
-we are importing our science from countries like Pakistan
-we are consuming more than we are producing
-we need to produce more mathematicians
-the minimum wage in this country is too low. You can work full time at minimum wage and still be living in poverty. We have to elevate the minimum wage.

If you haven't discovered CSPAN, you should. I can't imagine what we would do without it.

Get Ready for Jeb

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Jeb Bush had a hand in initiating the sweetheart $236 million federal no-bid contract (another one) for Carnival Cruise Lines to house Katrina victims. Kudos to Henry Waxman (D-California) for calling on Bush to explain the deal.

Maybe, finally, people are starting to see the pattern here. The Bush administration has functioned as a management board for corporate interests. They have created opportunities and taken advantage of every opportunity to funnel money to their cronies.

If the Republicans manage to steal the 2008 election, we will have more of the same.

I read something in the past few days where Bush was referred to as the "chief squatter." Love it.

The Supreme Court and Texas Redistricting

At lest according to the mainstream media, the Supreme Court was not very sympathetic to arguments against Tom DeLay’s Republican take over of Texas districts.

Below are some excerpts from an article on Truthout.com about the issue.

DeLay's Texas Voting Map Raises Partisanship Issue Bloomberg
Wednesday 01 March 2006

...the court will decide "whether there's a constitutionally enforceable limit on partisan greed in the redistricting process," said Nathaniel Persily, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Voters who challenged the new districts are asking the Supreme Court to rule that the Constitution's equal-protection guarantee bars states from redrawing the map in mid-decade when the only purpose is partisan gain.

The high court has never ruled a voting map unconstitutional on grounds of excessive partisanship.

Those challenging the new map also say it diluted minority voting strength in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act, which protects black and Hispanic voters.

Attorneys at the Justice Department agreed with that assessment in a memo but were overruled by their superiors, the Washington Post reported in December. The Justice Department said its approval of the plan was vindicated when a federal court rejected a Democratic challenge to the redistricting.

More on the Port Deal with the UAE

Senator Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) is on CSPAN this morning, saying that the 45-day period (for investigation of the Port deal with the UAE) is just a "cooling-off" period, agreed to by the administration, so that the public furor will die down. I agree.

What the Democrats are saying is that what is needed is a real investigative review. As it stands now, the deal is going to go through while the 45-day investigation is being done. Menendez is arguing that the clock needs to stop on the deal while the investigation is taking place. Menendez is also arguing that we need legislation to provide effective checks on decisions like this in the future.

Menendez is making the distinction that the administration refuses to do between "foreign companies" and "government-owned and controlled corporations."

Menendez is making the point that the Bush administration allowed the UAE controlled company to "certify" the background checks individuals who were to work at the port.
Very few people are talking about the connections between the Bush family and the UAE.

More Halliburton Boondoggle

Mike Barnicle from the Boston Herald, is on Imus this morning. I don’t usually listen to Imus since it reminds me of being in an adolescent locker room. But, Barnicle is ranting on about what a disaster Iraq is. This is complete with video of chanting Iraqis.
Imus is complaining about the Pentagon’s decision to reimburse Halliburton for charges that were held up by investigation.

To read a letter from Senator Waxman complaining about the Halliburton contract, go to:
http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/reports/waxman022706.pdf

Two brief quotes from the letter:

The Pentagon has "awarded Halliburton over $250 million in cost reimbursements, profits, and bonuses for billings that Defense Department auditors determined to be unreasonable and unsupported."

Waxman continues:

"The Defense Department provided no adequate explanation for this irresponsible action, and has been withholding relevant documents about its compensation determinations from the Committee for almost a year."

These were payments under a no-bid contract which the Bush administration gave to Halliburton in March of 2003.

A great site for keeping up with Halliburton crime, fraud and deception, go to:

Halliburton Watch:
http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/home.html

A New York Times Article about the reimbursements:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/international/middleeast/27contract.html?hp&ex=1141102800&en=8930bc6384bc57a9&ei=5094&partner=AOL

What the Bastards are Up To Today

Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia) gave a wonderful speech on the House floor yesterday afternoon. She talked about war and about war profiteering. She read, or tried to read, an article about the money made by people like Cheney, Wolfawitz, and Rumsfeld on cold war arms production.

In the middle of her speech, the Speaker of the House started receiving directions by some man. The Speaker then told McKinney to "desist," stop speaking. He then scolded her saying that she was not allowed to use the name of the Vice President on the floor of the House.

McKinney tried to ignore the rude interruption, and continued speaking. The hum, hum, of the voice of the unidentified man kept going while she was speaking, obviously telling the Speaker of the House what to say to her

Then, McKinney was interrupted once again and told that she could not make "personal" remarks about the Vice President.

McKinney responded that she was not making "personal" remarks.

After McKinney finished her excellent speech, the Republicans had one of their little puppy dogs (another congressman from Georgia) get up and lament Ms. McKinney’s speech, the Democrats and their "anger."

This is the new talking point line from the Republicans who are trotted out in front of the media these days to talk about how "angry" the Democrats are (Hillary Clinton has been the most recent target of this). This anger is presented as inexplicable by the Republican talking heads. Oh, isn’t is deplorable that the Democrats are so "angry." How terrible. Aren’t they crazy? We just can’t understand what they are so "angry" about.

Well, I’ll tell you what I think. I think somebody better get angry and I think the Democrats should take the criticism and run with it.

Angry? I’ll say we’re angry.

We have
...been dragged into a murderous and costly war based on fabricated evidence and propaganda
...seen Halliburton and other buddy corporate interests of the Republicans profit off that war in a criminal way
...seen how little this administration is able to meet the basic needs of the people in an emergency (Katrina)
...seen Halliburton, et. Al. Continue to profit off that disaster
...seen the country gutted to the extent that we have deficits that we may never recover from
...seen our economy mortgaged to the Chinese
...seen tax cuts for the very wealthy
...seen attempts to privatize social services in order to make money for a few corporations
...seen the Bush administration take extraordinary executive power, expand executive power to a dangerous limit
etc., etc., etc.,

Angry? You bet? If you aren’t angry you’re either making money off this administration that serves as a management board for corporate interests or you’re a fool. The problem is that these Republicans aren’t angry.

And another thing...

The Senate Abdicates Supervisory Role

The Senate Committee that was to vote today about whether to conduct an investigation of the NSA spying program, just abdicated their supervisory power further by refusing to vote on the issue. Senate Republicans came out of the closed meeting in which a vote was supposed to be taken, saying that they had agreed only to delay the vote. They announced that the administration had appeared to be ready to allow some kind of compromise about the spying program that has been so controversial recently. What a crock.

Pat Roberts, the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said that he had worked out an agreement with the White House to get more information about the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance program.

Roberts said that the agreement provided a "fix" to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and would ensure more briefings to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The committee was to vote today about whether to open an investigation into the NSA program. Roberts maintained that the deal might eliminate the need for such an inquiry. Right.
The Bush administration, however, continues to maintain that they don’t need Congressional approval for the program.

On a Lighter Note

Bill Maher will be on again tomorrow night.

After U.N. Report, many call for the closure of Guantanamo. See:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060216/ts_nm/rights_un_guantanamo_dc&printer=1;_ylt=
Ak5AS69I3oOW1K7CpcxNGuhg.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

National Security Whistleblowers Hearing

CSPAN in the middle of the night is a font of information.

Last night, I woke up to a hearing conducted by the House Subcommittee on National Security Whistleblowers. This hearing included testimony by several government whistleblowers. You can watch the tape of the hearing on the CSPAN website.

http://www.c-span.org/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=whistleblower

McClellan's Arrogance, Butch Administration Give Away

Scott McClellan is having what is jokingly called a Press Conference this noon. I hate the way he talks to the reporters. Almost every time I see him, he's saying: Let's move on (from talking about something or other the administration has done). Let's don't keep talking about the past. This means let's don't keep talking about some scam, fraud, disaster brought about by the Butch administration.

If anybody had any doubts about the Butch administration functioning as a management board for corporate America, look at an article in the New York times this morning about a further boondogle for the oil and gas industry.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/business/14oil.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print

"The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years."

"New projections, buried in the Interior Department's just-published budget plan, anticipate thakt the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government."

A vote for the Republicans is like emptying your pockets into their hands (unless, of course, you make over $400,000 a year).

Why do we put up with these people?

Just a thought.

What the Bastards are Up to Today

It's freezing cold here and since we had a $800 heating bill for the month of December (twice the amount we've ever paid for one month) I am trying to keep the heat turned down to under 65. The cats hate it, especially my Burmese, Little Neal, who is cold natured at the best of times and between October and March goes from one heater vent to the other, turning himself into a piece of toast.

When it's this cold, I tend to stay in bed late and this morning, I didn't wake up until 11:oo AM, feeling guilty and behind. What I am behind on, when I sleep this late, is keeping up with what the bastards in the administration are doing. If I don't keep track of them, who will?

Other than the sound of my husband's beeper, the first sound I heard this morning, still half asleep, was that of Sen. Collins, chairing a Senate Committee investigation of the fraud and abuse that occurred in connection with Katrina.

It's not that I have any love for "Brownie" or Chertoff or any of the rest of the idiot political appointees that "ran" FEMA, but I would dearly like for somebody to just connect the bloody dots. For example, there are evidently scores of mobile homes sitting somewhere in Arkansas, rotting, because FEMA bought them and then never used them to house the people who needed housing. Now, why doesn't somebody ask who owned the company that sold FEMA the trailers (since that's what they are, not mobile homes). How much profit did that company make and what connections did that company have with the Republicans? I would like that question answered.

I would like an accounting not just of how much money was wasted, but who benefited from that waste and what political connections those companies and their heads had.

If you go to the website of Know Your Candidates:
http://www.knowthecandidates.org/ktc/RepubContrib.htm

You will see that the Manufactured Homes Institute contributed almost $500,000 to political campaigns and almost 70% of it went to the Republicans. No small payoff.

The Bush administration has functioned exactly like an organized crime syndicate. Well, in actuality, it IS an organized crime syndicate. They took over the government of this country and they have consistently gutted it for six years.

They turned the war against Iraq into one giant boondogle for private interests who had connections with them. Katrina was the same.

So when is somebody going to stand up and say this?

Fortunately, this morning, The New York Times is reporting that Howard Dean (one of the few Democrats with cajones) is calling for Cheney to resign "if" it is demonstrated that he authorized the leaking of government information. How much more evidence do we need?

See the article:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021306L.shtml

The "Designated Scapegoat"

One of the Senate committees has "Brownie" of FEMA fame before them today. Why they are bothering to question this imbecile is beyond me. The only advantage I can see is to create the impression that it was Brownie's fault that the response to Katrina was criminally negligent, not the fault of the Bush Administration. What a dog-and-pony show.

Lautenberg finally pointed out that Brownie was the "designated scapegoat." Thank god for a glimmer of reality every once in a while.

A good article on Brownie, Allbaugh and Bush:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20060210/femas_unholy_trinity.php