Saturday, January 17, 2004
Bush has used a recess appointment to install Charles Pickering, Lott's old race baiting buddy. I have been dutifully checking Senator James Inhofe's website to see if he will make any statements but so far he has been tight lipped. SInce Senator Inhofe is a vehement opponent of recess appointments I would assume something is forthcoming. FOr instance, here is what he said when Clinton used one to install Hormel as ambassador to LUxemborg because the senate was not letting it come to a vote because he was gay:
"President Clinton has shown contempt for Congress and the Constitution. He has treated the Senate confirmation process as little more than a nuisance which he can circumvent whenever he wants to impose his will on the country."
So far no word from the good Senator....
Friday, January 16, 2004
He previously rebuffed attempts by the governor's office to get him to resign and has said that he didn't download pornography intentionally. In some cases, he said he was just trying to "unsubscribe" from e-mail lists.
However, the investigation found that the second most frequent web address displayed on his computer - 330 times - contained a slang term for penis. That site had been saved as a "Favorite" on his computer's Internet Explorer program, the labor relations report noted. Another address with a slang word for a woman's breasts was displayed 289 times.
If your going to profess your innocence, you gotta make sure "Big Black Dicks with Pearly White Cum" is not on your favorites.
Added a new link. Josh Marshall's old site used to have a fantastic links page that has now disappeared from his new website, but still exists out there in the ether under his old web address. Its not so much a blog list, which are ubiquitous these days, but a collection of news links from newspapers and other news outlets from around the world, as well as left and right leading commentary magazines. It also includes a dictionary, Google, and news search.
I use it all the time.
I'm all for experimenting with new cuisines. Heck I'd eat dog if I was in North Korea. But this is just disgusting beyond words.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
F'ing liberal medaia. THis is from Chris Mooney and just makes your f*cking jaw drop.
Here is a direct quote from a Washington Post story about a group of scientists that predict up to 37% of all species amy be driven to extinction from Global warming:
One skeptic, William O'Keefe, president of the George C. Marshall Institute, a conservative science policy organization, criticized the Nature study, saying that the research "ignored species' ability to adapt to higher temperatures" and assumed that technologies will not arise to reduce emissions.
A quick check of Mr O'Keefe's Bio reveals that he is not a scientist but in fact a former president of a Petroleum company.
Roger Clemens unretires after promising not to and New Yorkers are upset.
Post and Daily News headlines read: “Roger the rat'' and "WHAT AN ASSTRO!''
New York Yankee fans are the biggest goddamned crybabies.
My favorite quote is this one:
"Why would he leave the Yankees to go to a second-rate team?" asked Tom Kues, 49, of Valley Stream, L.I.
Hey Tom, did you check out your Yankees starting rotation?
Economist Brad Delong has been posting the juicest bits from Suskinds new book about Paul O'neil's tenure at Treasury. Can't wait to buy my copy.
From Altercation.
"No President has ever done more for human rights than I have."
George W. Bush
That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.
Imagine if Clinton said anything so mindnumbingly arrogant and stupid.
The Paul O’Neil saga is fascinating to me. But not in the usual ways. Anyone with a brain knew that Bush was detached and clueless, thought deficits were irrelevant, and wanted tog et Saddam before 9/11 and just wanted a reason. Hearing Paul O’Neil repeat this isn’t news to me.
What I’m fascinated by is how disciplined and vicious the Bush attack machine is. It took 78 day’s and a media uproar for the White house to finally start an investigation into the outing of a CIA operative, which is illegal and traitorous act. Paul O’Neil says something the Administration doesn’t like and they announce an investigation accusing him of leaking classified documents in one day.
And it gets even worse. First of all, O’Neil is accused of leaking notes from meetings of the National Security Council. Bush administration officials did the exact same thing to Bob Woodward for his asskissing Bush is Rambo 9/11 Washington Post piece. Even Woodward admitted that Bush himself was answering questions about classified information, to which Woodward thought:
"Certainly Richard Nixon would not have allowed reporters to question him like that. Bush's father wouldn't allow it. Clinton wouldn't allow it.''
Since the Woodward Piece was a fawning piece of propaganda, no investigations or even complaints from the White House. Now that Paul O’neil does the exact same thing, but since he is critical of the president, an investigation is announced and splashed over the front page of USA Today within 2 days. This is how the Bush attack machine works.
Want to here the kicker? Valerie Plame, which took 78 days to start an investigation is a clear cut illegal act, violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. But Classified information in and of itself, as described here by Steven Aftergood, editor of Secrecy News, a newsletter published by the Federation of American Scientists, is not necessarily illegal, which is why Bush and Bob Woodward aren’t up for investigation.
There are several specific categories of classified information that are protected by statute -- communications intelligence, identities of covert agents, nuclear weapons design information, and some others. Those statutes are binding on the executive branch as well as on everyone else.
But most classified information is not protected by law. Instead, its classified status derives from the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief. He has full authority to declassify and disclose it as he sees fit.
The numerous disclosures of classified information made to Woodward probably did not violate the specific statutory prohibitions. (I didn't examine them carefully with this question in mind.)
The Bush Adminstration will condone serious criminal activity that is treasonous and puts American lives in danger in order to prosecute their political enemies, and they will start bogus “investigations” against anyone critical of the administration, in order to smear them.
Howard Dean take notice.
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Keeping with the Bush theme of 2004, in which Bush will use any tactic and abuse any power he has in order to win, we get this.
Bush is even turning medal’s given to our soldiers into a political prop. Suffice it to say many in the military are upset about this. Even the so called “military hating” Clinton never stooped this low.
