It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fitzmas . . .

Oh my.

Somebody's been convicted of a felony.

How did that happen?

I thought those pesky reporters had to keep their mouths shut.

Damn.

love and kisses,

Sealed vs. Sealed



Libby trial
Cheney
CIA leak

Dirty Bush to Hicks Defense Atty: Shut Up and Quit

I so like when we "defend democracy" by killing a huge bunch of random people while undermining the rule of law, do not you?

Imagine if one could imprison without trial for five, count them, five years, random people like -- Big Dick, Bubble Boy, Rummy, Condi . . . and treat them to the notoriously wonderful food at Gitmo along with Caribbean waterboarding for free. Plus the continual luxuriation of solitary confinement.

Imagine.

MAJOR MICHAEL MORI, the defence lawyer for David Hicks, could be removed from the case after threats from the chief US prosecutor, Colonel Morris Davis, to charge him under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The intervention may derail Hicks's trial, and possibly prompt his return to Australia. It would take months for a new lawyer to get to grips with the case and the new military commission process.

The Prime Minister, John Howard, has told the US that any action leading to further delays would be unacceptable and would prompt him to demand the return of Hicks, 31, after five years in Guantanamo Bay.

Colonel Davis has accused Major Mori of breaching Article 88 of the US military code, which relates to using contemptuous language towards the president, vice-president, and secretary of defence. Penalties for breaching the code include jail and the loss of employment and entitlements.

Major Mori denied he had done anything improper but said the accusations left him with an inherent conflict of interest.

"It can't help but raise an issue of whether any further representation of David and his wellbeing could be tainted by a concern for my own legal wellbeing," Major Mori told the Herald. "David Hicks needs counsel who is not tainted by these allegations."

Major Mori, who has been to Australia seven times, will seek legal advice. The issue will also have to be raised with Hicks when his legal team next sees him. . . Colonel Davis said Major Mori was not playing by the rules and criticised his regular trips to Australia.

"Not playing by the rules"? What? You mean there are rules?

Here's why someone wants Hick's lawyer to shut up and quit -- his counsel knows how to call a spade a spade. So, you know, let's ruin Mori's career, just like we ruined Lt. Cmr. Charles Swift, that other uppity counsel.

Courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald.

David Hicks
Gitmo
Dirty Bush

Dirty Bush to Vets: Shut Up and Die

Lookee here.

The happy couple. With their happy little boy. You can't tell from this picture that when the happy little boy becomes a bit older, he'll think it's fun to stuff lit firecrackers down the throats of toads who don't want to die. But he thinks it's fun, so the toads will explode, thanks to Bubble Boy, the toad-exploder, who will grow up to be president.

Other families have happy little boys and girls, too. But some of them grow up to be exploded.

In Bubble Boy's Oedipal Iraq war. Some are exploded like the toads, some are wounded. Physically wounded, psychologically wounded, or both.

Bubble Boy doesn't want to pay for troops with PTSD to be treated for the PTSD his splendid little Oedipal war gave them. Suicide saves dough, does it not?

Bubble Boy doesn't want to pay for brain injury treatment for troops with brain injuries his splendid little Oedipal war gave them. They're not Terry Schiavo, are they?

Bubble Boy wants all the rest of the wounded troops who were wounded fighting his splendid little Oedipal war to just shut the f*ck up. He wants them to shut up and die.

More here. And here. And here.

Way to support the troops, Preznit Toad-Exploder!

Vets
Iraq War Vets
Vets with PTSD

Big Fat Dick Outed as Big Fat Dick

Oo oo. Someone hasn't paid attention to his or her pronouns.

Some very special Senior Administration Official (SAP) is leaking information again -- and this time, he's leaking all over himself.

Eee-ew.

"I would describe my sessions both in Pakistan and Afghanistan as very productive. . . ."

You would, would you, Big Dickie?

"Cheney Outed as Mystery Official", via RawStory, here.

AP coverage here.

Way to keep secrets, Dick.


(For more fun, catch this ace slapdown of the Bushist fascist media whore media, at No Quarter.)

Oh, and how about this also from No Quarter, poor Big Dick Cheney, now masquerading as big fat victim. Gag me with a spoon, big fat Dick. I mean, don't even.

Imagine How it Would Have Been -- At Long Last, President Gore

OSTROY; Al Gore Will Not Only Run, but He Can and Will Win in '08
With an Oscar Appearance, and a Hit Documentary Gore Is Suddenly Very Cool
Gore

Feb. 27, 2007 — Make no mistake: Former Vice President Al Gore will be our next president.

I am as confident about that assertion as I am that George W. Bush will go down in history as America's worst president ever. Gore is the right man at the right time, for many reasons. And it's clear that the momentum and buzz is shifting his way big time.

At Sunday's Oscar ceremony, Gore's movie producers took home the coveted prize for best feature documentary for "An Inconvenient Truth," his scorching red-flag raiser on global warming.

Gore joined them on stage and was graceful, poised and presidential. And it didn't hurt his hipness quotient any to be getting a little Leo DiCaprio love either. The politician also joined the Hollywood star on stage during the Oscars. That's right, Al Gore is suddenly cool.

It gets even better. In October, Gore will also likely be the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for being the planet's biggest advocate in the fight against climate change. His prestigious nomination in this exclusive club puts him in the company of such independent thinkers, statesmen and activists as Dr. Martin Luther King, President Jimmy Carter, Elie Wiesel and Mother Theresa.

Now let's talk chops. Gore's an enlisted Vietnam vet who served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, two terms in the Senate, and eight years as vice president in one of the most successful administrations ever. Let's not forget that he won the popular vote in 2000, and as many say, the Electoral College as well.

So wait, he's hip, he's brilliant, he's highly experienced. Is America ready for a real leader after two terms of a guy who makes Jim Carrey's "Dumb and Dumber" character seem downright cerebral? You bet your asinine Bush-isms it is.

I even have the perfect campaign slogan for Gore: "Imagine how it would've been."

Just imagine what the country would be like today had he become president in 2000 and not Bush. Imagine an America without this bloody debacle in Iraq. Imagine an America that commands the respect of its allies and is feared by its enemies. Imagine an America that puts the environment before big corporate interests. Imagine having a president who strives to bridge the gap between rich and poor, where the middle class, not the wealthy, gets the tax breaks, and where the minimum wage is not a shameful $5.15. Pretty powerful stuff on the campaign trail, huh?

--Andy Ostroy

MoDo wrote a column lauding Gore just now, as well. Jurassicpork captures it here.

Link here.

Scooter Scooter Scooter -- What kind of a name is that for a grown man?

Waiting for the jury to come in after the Libby trial?

Don't bother with the MSM (mainstream media, for our stout handful of non-blogtopian gentle readers). Go directly to coverage at firedoglake.

Say, Jimmy, isn't firedoglake doing what the Fourth Estate is supposed to do, that is, before it morphed into the loudmouth useless braindead Bushist fascist media whore media? Wasn't all of the media supposed to be defending truth, not truthiness? Truth, justice and the American way -- as Sidney Blumenthal does, here.

But let's take time to tippy-toe down Memory Lane, just a bit. Reviewing the arguments presented in the Libby trial, one does love the little constellation of, um, like NINE , count them, NINE persons to whom Libby somehow managed to "blurt" a CIA covert agent's identity!

But hey, it didn't happen that way, people. It was all about Rove. It was all about Twinkie Sneezing. It was all about being SO BUSY Defenderering the Universe. But In the end, boo-hoo, just as Bubble Boy had become the Deciderer, somehow Libby is now revealed as the Forgetter-er.

Oopsie.

Three words:

Unique
Importance
Anger

Good mnemonic, UIA. Why, it's almost like CIA, is it not? Alliterative irony? Libby's behavior with regard to "Wilson's wife" was Unique -- testimony suggested he was acting in unusual ways, calling people he never called, going way out of his way. Libby's behavior showed the Importance to him of this information-- making time for special two hour lunches, even though he's so busy being the Defenderer of the Universe. Libby's behavior was driven by Anger -- to which many witnesses testified.

On a totally different note, hmm, can anyone say "Sealed vs. Sealed"?

Oh, and here's a little photo of Richard "Big Dick" Cheney. And a big one.

Cheney at Auschwitz. Golly. We're feeling really Jungian today, have you noticed?

The Libby trial summation somehow is just making me feel, so, so -- sentimental! Sentimental about Big Dick!

How about you?




Libby trial
CIA
CIA leak

HAPPY TIBETAN NEW YEAR! LOSAR TASHI DELEK!

I'm betting that most of you may not know that it's Tibetan New Year. Looky here, the big-deal Washington Post doesn't even know that it's Tibetan New Year -- but, it is.

So do wish Bill O'Reilly "Losar Tashi Delek!" and if he doesn't say that phrase right back atcha, tell that loudmouth he'd better stop waging his ugly war on Tibetan New Year!

Happy Year of the Fire Pig, people!


Let's hope that all those naughty Bushist fascist piggies who so richly deserve to be thrust on a spit, and roasted over a blazing fire until they're searing hot and cracklin' good -- achieve all that they so richly deserve! Yee haw!


Link here to Buddhist Jihad, Losar Edition.
(Pilgrims and Monks Throwing Tsampa (Flour) into Air, Celebrating Tibetan New Year, Kathmandu, Nepal by Alison Wright)
Tibetan New Year
Fire Pig

Scooter's Twinkie-Sneeze Defense

So, what's with Scooter "What kind of a name is that for a grown man?" Libby's twinkie-sneeze defense, anyhow?

His lawyer brings out 6 journalists who testify that Scooter didn't sneeze on them -- so therefore Scooter didn't sneeze on anyone else?

Holds up on the classic level of "it wasn't me it was the twinkie" thing.

Secondly, their testimony seems to be more about suggesting that Scooter was not leaking, not about Scooter not lying. Or that Scooter was leaking just a little bit. Hunh? So? And?

Plus, it seems that our own aspens-esque Scooter "What kind of name is that for a grown man?" Libby turns out to be, according to defense testimony, the actual oh-so-busy personal DEFENDERER OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE! Wow!


How stupid do his lawyers think the jurors are?

Purty stupid.




Fabulous live-blogging continues at firedoglake.
Nice piece by Sidney Blumenthal at Salon, here, all about Scootie's hubris problems, and more!
(One must bow down before the recent incisive Super-Libbyguy Personal Defenderer of the Universe Defense, which is that poor Scootie has SO much on his mind (absorbing info that appears each day in the New York Times) that he had NO MENTAL SPACE left to remember things like that he forgot Valerie Plame's identity before he remembered ti! Thus, therefore his failure to remember was just you know one of those things, even though he was SO BUSY SAVING THE UNIVERSE that really you'd think he wouldn't have had ANY TIME IN HIS SO BUSY UNIVERSAL-DEFENDERER SO BUSY SCHEDULE MUCH LESS ANY INTEREST in taking Judith Miller for a two-hour "working" lunch at the St. Regis? Hmm?)
Libby trial
Plame, CIA
CIA leak

BIG DICK CAUGHT WITH PANTS DOWN: TIME TO NUKE IRAN

Some say nuking Iran will be just a wag-the-dog war thing to take pressure off Bush's failures in Iraq and the lies that led up to that war.

Some say waging war on Iran will deflect blame away from Richard "Big Dick" Cheney.

Some say nuking Iran is why Cheney had deep-cover NOC and (hmm) Iran WMD non-proliferation expert Valerie Plame outed in the first place.

Three wars at once.

Losing each and every one of them?


Some say -- it's the Bush trifecta!

What do you say?


I think we're all really really f*cked.


Libby trial
Cheney, CIA
CIA leak
Iran War

Will Scooter "What kind of a name is that for a grown man?" Libby Finger Scooter Libby? So far he's fingering Big Dick.

So, wow, it turns out that serial draft-dodger, sadist-in-chief, "last throes" guy Richard "Big Dick" Cheney was the driving behind the propaganda conspiracy that outed undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame.

One is shocked, shocked.

Is one not?



Links to the official DOJ website with transcripts of Scooter's testimony, here.

Scooter Libby's trial continues, masterful live blogging continues at firedoglake.


Unofficial excerpt from Scooter's Grand Jury testimony:

Fitzgerald: And do you have a nickname?

Libby: Yes, Scooter.

F: Can you give us a description of how you got the name Scooter?

L (joking): Are we classified in here?

Is this man insane? He was making snarky jokes about classified info while being questioned by Fitzgerald, under oath? Isn't this the same lame joke he tried when questioned by FBI agent Bond?

Talk about inappropriate and un-funny. Quick, let's look under the sofa, we might find those pesky WMDs.



But wait, wait.

It's time for another

No Blood for Hubris Official Mini-Mental Health Interlude:

"Some good news. Finally, President Bush is going to do something about global warming. He became alarmed when another chunk of ice fell off his mother."
--David Letterman

Libby trial
CIA
CIA leak
Libby GJ testimony

Shame on Us for Not Having Ended This Bestial War

Via Welcome to Pottersville: Welcome to Pottersville: Supergirl Strikes Again

FBI's Bond Fingers Scooter "What kind of a name is that for a grown man?" Libby

"Always tell the truth. That way, you don't have to remember what you said."

--Mark Twain



WaPo story here.

One of the FBI agents who interviewed I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby during the CIA leak investigation testified yesterday that the vice president's then-chief of staff did not acknowledge disclosing the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame to reporters, asserting that he was surprised when another journalist later told him about her.

FBI agent Deborah S. Bond also testified that Libby said that, while he was preparing to be interviewed by investigators in the fall of 2003, he came across a handwritten note he had made during a phone conversation with Vice President Cheney.

The note made it clear that, shortly before June 12, 2003, Cheney had told Libby that Plame worked at the CIA's counterproliferation division . . .

Libby's conversation with Cheney took place nearly a month before Libby telephoned Tim Russert, NBC's Washington bureau chief.

According to Bond, Libby said that, during that call, Russert mentioned that "all the reporters" knew that former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV's wife worked at the CIA.

Libby told the investigators that "it was as if it was the first time he'd heard it," Bond said.

-------------------------

"Earlier today, President Bush pardoned the White House turkey. It was just a practice run for Scooter Libby." --David Letterman

"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

"What did Scooter Libby say when he bumped into President Bush at the White House? 'Pardon me.'" --Jay Leno

"Outside the courthouse, Libby's lawyer said all he wants to do is clear his client's good name. I don't know. "Scooter"? Is that a good name?" --Jay Leno



Libby trial
CIA
FBI testimony
Cheney testimony

Judy Judy Judy Fingers Scooter "What kind of a name is that for a grown man?" Libby -- PLUS, my favorite parts of trial testimony to date!

Judy Judy Judy.

Your and Scooter's aspen-roots all intertwined, and a-turnin'. "They turn in clusters, for they are all connected."

Ah, yes. Turn, turn, turn.

That makes five people who have turned in Scooter and undermined his feeble spin so far, does it not?

WaPo here.

PLUS -- my favorite trial part. So far.

IN WHICH Scooter "What kind of name is that for a grown man?" Libby asks Addy the age-old burning question: how do you know an undercover agent is undercover when you're introduced to him or her?

Firedoglake liveblog paraphrase excerpt:

Fitzgerald: What else was said?

Addington: He (Libby) asked me how you would know if you met someone from CIA if they were undercover. . . . He asked if they introduced themselves how you'd know.

The answer is, of course, YOU KNOW THEY'RE A CRUCIAL TOP-SECRET DEEP-COVER CIA AGENT WHEN THEY INTRODUCE THEMSELVES BECAUSE OF THE BIG SPARKLY NEON PINK "NOC" BADGE THE CIA MAKES THEM WEAR!!!


God I hate having hopeless retards running the country.


Libby trial
CIA and Valerie Plame
Judith Miller testimony

ARI FLEISCHER FINGERS I. "SCOOTER" (What kind of name is that for a grown man?) LIBBY

Via WaPo.


How stupid is Scooter Libby?

Stupid enough that his flimsy slimy cover story, of learning a CIA NOC's identity from reporters, just exploded fully in his face.

Ari Fleischer just testified that Libby was telling him all about Valerie Plame's identity days before Libby claims he "heard it" from reporters.

Scooter told him the "Valerie Plame" name (not "Wilson's wife").

Scooter told him she worked for CIA.

Scooter told him Plame worked on weapons nonproliferation -- part of CIA's Operational Directorate. As in -- secret. As is -- "NOC, NOC -- who's there?"

FLEISCHER TELLS JURY THAT LIBBY TOLD HIM ABOUT PLAME

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told a jury today that Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff was the first person to disclose the identity of an undercover CIA officer to him in July 2003. Valerie Plame's identity was revealed in the press days later.

Taking the stand just before noon in the perjury trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Fleischer said that in an unusual lunch in the White House mess, Libby told him that the wife of a prominent war critic worked in the CIA's counterproliferation division. Fleischer, a crucial prosecution witness, said Libby told him at the July 7 lunch that former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV was sent to Niger not by the vice president, but by Wilson's own wife at the CIA.

So much for Scooter's tall tale about learning about Plame from reporters. So satisfying to have it smashed to smithereens.

Ready for the big house, Scooter?
I'm sure the big house denizens are all ready for you.

My favorite interchange:

Prosecution: Did you have any hesitation about sharing this?

Fleischer: I never would have thought this was classified. Never in my wildest dreams believed this involved, as I've read since, this involved a covert officer.



(NB -- Note that the information Scooter is passing on to Fleischer includes inaccuracies that are specific to the spin of the Vice-President, and are not factual. Wilson's wife did not "send" him to Niger. The Vice-President made a sexist attempt to undermine Wilson's credibility by suggesting that he went at the behest of the little woman, because as we all know, females are inferior beings who can't send anyone anywhere, and if they do, it therefore must be bullshit. This is also why Valerie Plame cannot be a NOC, even though she was. Because women are just secretaries, pencil-pushers, hors-d'oeuvres-passers, babymaker housekeepers, yada yada yada. So very fifties mindset, is it not?)


More via RawStory/MSNBC, here.
Liveblogging trial via firedoglake, here.
Libby trial
Plame
Ari Fleischer

What? Cheney Lying In Order to Foster War? We're Shocked, Shocked!

Rockefeller: VP Cheney applied 'constant' pressure to stall investigation on flawed Iraq intelligence

* Cheney increasingly on the defensive
* Durbin calls Cheney 'delusional'

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney exerted "constant" pressure on the Republican former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee to stall an investigation into the Bush administration's use of flawed intelligence on Iraq, the panel's Democratic chairman charged Thursday.

In an interview with McClatchy Newspapers, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia also accused President Bush of running an illegal program by ordering eavesdropping on Americans' international e-mails and telephone communications without court-issued warrants.

In the 45-minute interview, Rockefeller said that it was "not hearsay" that Cheney, a leading proponent of invading Iraq, pushed Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., to drag out the probe of the administration's use of prewar intelligence.

"It was just constant," Rockefeller said of Cheney's alleged interference. He added that he knew that the vice president attended regular policy meetings in which he conveyed White House directions to Republican staffers.

Republicans "just had to go along with the administration," he said.

More here.

SOTU: Bubble Boy Channels Jimmy Carter

Yeah, hey wow, all of a sudden Preznit Toad-Exploder suddenly believes in global warming!

And in global climate change, balancing the budget, saving the environment he raped, defending our system of laws, yup, the ones he himself disembowelled, and he suddenly now believes in helping the poor and the elderly, and yes balancing the budget whilst cutting taxes, hyuk hyuk hyuk. So cute. So verry cute.

Oh, and while Jimmy Carter is still the big-time Bushist fascist poster boy for, um, "bad" prescient presidents, he was apparently right THIRTY FRICKIN' YEARS AGO for advising us to get off the Big Oil Teat, since Bubble Boy is now a-carryin' that particular (petroleum-fuel-based?) torch.

Rather against his will, one supposes.

Still, dear Bubble Boy and his merry band of Bushist fascists want to drown everything good and decent in the great Grover Norquist bathtub, however.

Oh well.

Their War on America/War on Democracy is, one must admit, still going rather well for them.

So far.



[EXTRY EXTRY READ ALL ABOUT IT! BubbleBoy's Bubble Bubble Toils & Trouble: red hot simmering steaming screaming facts on LibbyCheneyTraitorGate!

Plus: the actual INR Memo, here.]

Plus, way MORE fun: Ghosts of SOTU Past!!


State of the Union
Bush
worst president ever

China's Up, America's Down: Thanks a Lot, Bubble Boy

So China's winning the space-race, weapons-wise, here.

And thanks to Bubble Boy's Oedipal War in Iraq, his pissing away the big fat Clinton/Gore surplus, and the huge bleeding screaming deficit he created with his evil Oedipal War in Iraq, he pretty much sold this country down the river -- to China, who picks up our debt (Bush's debt, really).

And Bushist fascist Ben Bernanke's blaming Bush's bleeding screaming deficit not on Bush, but on -- the Baby Boomers, here.

Preznit Toad-Exploder's doing pretty darn well in his War on Democracy/War on America. It's the only thing he's good at -- the moral and fiscal destruction of the USA.



America -- dragged by its hair to Bush's bathtub, thrown in, and drowned.

By George Bush -- America's Batterer.


.

More Blood for Bush's Hubris: Who Will Be the Last to Die for Bush's Lies?

Bubble Boy's at it again, sending your kids to Iraq to die, but -- not his kids.

(His twins are total slackers who don't even have jobs, never have had any jobs, just like their daddy hasn't ever had a real job ever.)

I mean, golly, what a speech it was. What cheerleading. Big-time. High-end. Sending other people to be the last to die for his lies, but not his people, it's sort of like when coWard Bush wouldn't put his own ass on the line by going to Vietnam, but wanted others to spill their blood for him, kinda Jesus in reverse, as it were.

Can you say -- chickenshit juvenile toad-exploding moron warmonger?

Can you say -- arrogant SOB?

Can you say -- poster boy for not letting stupid people with character disorders run the country?


Thanks all the same.

More here.

Bush's Duct-Tape Mummystate -- Or, Saving Western "Civilization" Via Medievalist Savagery

Torture, torture, torture.

You'd think someone would tell these people the stuff they do is wrong.

You know, like their Mommies and Daddies.

Did Barbara Bush ever tell Bubble Boy that exploding toads was wrong?

Apparently not.

Anyway, Jesus wept, here's more fun stuff from Gitmo.

Your tax dollars at work.


FBI DETAILS DETAINEE ABUSE

WASHINGTON (AP) - FBI agents documented more than two dozen incidents of possible mistreatment at the Guantanamo Bay military base, including one detainee whose head was wrapped in duct tape for chanting the Quran and another who pulled out his hair after hours in a sweltering room.

Documents released Tuesday by the FBI offered new details about the harsh interrogations practice used by military officials and contractors when questioning so-called enemy combatants. . . Some military officials and contractors told FBI agents that the interrogation techniques had been approved by the Defense Department, including directly by former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. . .

"I did observe treatment that was not only aggressive but personally very upsetting," one [FBI} agent wrote, describing seeing a man left in a 100-degree room with no ventilation overnight. "The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently literally been pulling his own hair out throughout the night."

Another agent said he heard several "thunderclaps" then saw a detainee lying on the floor with a bloody nose. Interrogators told the agent the man was upset and had thrown himself to the floor.

Hmm. That's the kind of excuse wifebeaters and childbeaters use, is it not? "She ran into a door." "She just tripped and fell."

Charming.

The War on Science -- TALIBANGELICALS SUPPRESS AGE OF GRAND CANYON

The continuing Talibangelical fundamentalist war on science, courtesy of the Bushist fascists.

Watch out, kids. It's book-burning time!


HOW OLD IS THE GRAND CANYON? PARK SERVICE WON’T SAY — Orders to Cater to Creationists Makes National Park Agnostic on Geology

Washington, DC — Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising a prompt review of its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces, more than three years later no review has ever been done and the book remains on sale at the park, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

"In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is ‘no comment.’"

In a letter released today, PEER urged the new Director of the National Park Service (NPS), Mary Bomar, to end the stalling tactics, remove the book from sale at the park and allow park interpretive rangers to honestly answer questions from the public about the geologic age of the Grand Canyon. PEER is also asking Director Bomar to approve a pamphlet, suppressed since 2002 by Bush appointees, providing guidance for rangers and other interpretive staff in making distinctions between science and religion when speaking to park visitors about geologic issues.

In August 2003, Park Superintendent Joe Alston attempted to block the sale at park bookstores of Grand Canyon: A Different View by Tom Vail, a book claiming the Canyon developed on a biblical rather than an evolutionary time scale. NPS Headquarters, however, intervened and overruled Alston. . . .

Ironically, in 2005, two years after the Grand Canyon creationist controversy erupted, NPS approved a new directive on “Interpretation and Education (Director’s Order #6) which reinforces the posture that materials on the "history of the Earth must be based on the best scientific evidence available, as found in scholarly sources that have stood the test of scientific peer review and criticism [and] Interpretive and educational programs must refrain from appearing to endorse religious beliefs explaining natural processes."

“As one park geologist said, this is equivalent of Yellowstone National Park selling a book entitled Geysers of Old Faithful: Nostrils of Satan,” Ruch added, pointing to the fact that previous NPS leadership ignored strong protests from both its own scientists and leading geological societies against the agency approval of the creationist book."

Down with Medievalism. Shame.



Full story here.

Saddam Hanged Until Dead: Joins 600K+ Others in Iraq War Death Toll. This'll Sure Stop That Pesky Sunni/Shi'a Civil War, Won't It?

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose, n'est-ce pas?

More, here.

Saddam Hussein
Hussein Execution
bush
Donald Rumsfeld

Gerald Ford Dies

Gerald Ford has passed away.

Gerald Ford is perhaps one's second-favorite Republican president. Not counting Lincoln as a Republican.

(One's first favorite Republican president is Dwight Eisenhower, for having warned us about the "military-industrial complex," a warning which we failed to heed to our detriment, like Carter's warning about the urgent need to get off the oil teat.)

Of course, Gerald Ford did promote Cheney and Rumsfeld, and leave the East Timorese to be crushed. And he allowed Dick Nixon to escape prison.

On September 8, 1974 President Ford issued Proclamation 4311:

It is believed that a trial of Richard Nixon, if it became necessary, could not fairly begin until a year or more has elapsed. In the meantime, the tranquility to which this nation has been restored by the events of recent weeks could be irreparably lost by the prospects of bringing to trial a former President of the United States. The prospects of such trial will cause prolonged and divisive debate over the propriety of exposing to further punishment and degradation a man who has already paid the unprecedented penalty of relinquishing the highest elective office of the United States.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and seventy-four, and of the Indepdendence of the United States the one hundred and ninety-ninth.

But there's another side, according to Rodney Anonymous:

When looking back on the Ford years (both of 'em), be sure to stress what he didn't do:

Gerald Ford never OKed illegal wiretapping

Gerald Ford never had to kill a rabbit with an oar

Gerald Ford never traded arms for hostages

Gerald Ford never said "Read my lips, no new taxes" . .

Gerald Ford never managed to run up the greatest national debt in our history

Plus, Gerald Ford never started a war based on non-existent WMDs that killed 600K people. Nor did he morally and fiscally bankrupt America, but rather inspired it to greater humor. And why not?

Condolences to Betty; one wishes Gerald well.

His Brilliant Career -- Aussie Star Shane Warne to Retire -- Takes 700th Wicket Against England's Strauss

Shane Warne. Best wicket-taker EVER. Spin bowler extraordinaire.

Finishing out his brilliant career by clean-bowling top-order batsman Andrew Strauss, to take his 700th wicket at Melbourne.

Warne most recently helped to annihilate England in recent The Ashes test, which Australia won, 3-0, to regain The Ashes for Australia.

GOOD ON YA, WARNIE!

One should perhaps take this opportunity to admit that one's first introduction to cricket came through a wonderful Indian film called "Lagaan" ("Taxes") set in Colonial India, which featured a great cricket match, sudden outbreaks of song and dance, ladies cavorting in monsoon-dampened saris, and snarky portraits of evil, bad-tempered, racist imperialist Brits.

But it was the incomparable Aussie series "Kath & Kim"'s incomparable Sharon Strzelecki who taught me about Warnie and The Flipper.

One has never been the same.




Sydney Morning Heraldhere.
Shane Warne to retire
The Ashes

Merry Tibetan Buddhist Christmas

Peace on earth, good will to men.


May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness,

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering,

May all beings never be apart from the great happiness free from suffering.

May all beings remain in the great evenness of mind
free from passion, aggression and ignorance.



(This means you, too, George).

Special Christmas hat-tip to Buddhist Jihad.

Power & Control Abuser Bush Insults Senator Webb & His Marine Son (Then WH Spreads That Smear All Around Like Bushist Fascist Holiday Cheer)

It was bad enough when Bubble Boy was caught talking with his mouth full.

It was worse when he was caught chewing with his mouth open. Feh.

It was even worse when he was caught sexually harrassing the female Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel. (As if she were his pet cow, he came up on her from behind, touching her, touching her without permission, then flounced off as if nothing had happened, to minimize his invasion of another person's physical boundaries. When was the last time Bush gave Poison Putin an unwanted touch? Or Kofi Annan? Ahmadinejad?)

The worst of all was when was Bush was caught -- without any WMDs.
600K dead, no WMDs, oops, sorry.

Bush is always getting caught with his pants down, one way or another, is he not?

This time, Bush was caught trying to exert power and control over the free speech of a newly-elected Senator, one whose own son is now serving in Iraq.

(Unlike Preznit Toad-Exploder's two adult daughters, neither of whom is serving in Iraq, and both of whom remain unemployed slackers at age 25, never having had a real job in their whole lives, just like their bio dad, Dubya.)

It's not pretty.

"How's your boy?" Bush asks, referring to Senator Webb's adult son, a Marine who is now serving in Iraq.

"I'd like to get 'em out of Iraq, Mr. President," Webb responds.

"That's not what I asked you!" Bush snaps. "I said, how's your boy?"


From The Hill:

At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.

Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.

"I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing," Bush retorted, according to the source.

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but . . . didn’t. . .

A White House spokeswoman declined to give Bush’s version of the conversation.

The horror! The horror!

Sieg heil, we are sorry, we know we must all obey dear fearless leader Preznit Snippy and endure all his divine tyrant temper tantrums and all his unchecked divine megalomania, because he "is" so importantly, our great divine Deciderer, Our Sole Preznit Toad-Exploder. (Depending upon what "is," is.)

Although we are those who must shed our blood to defend free speech, we know we must never ever seek to exercise it, particularly not when we are In The Presence, nor may we ever deviate from the Divine Script.

Next, shall we not be much more careful to be shuffling out of His Presence backwards, whilst bowing? Why, we must ask Helen Mirren what is to be done!

Why, oh why, aren't we treating George Bush properly, as King-Emperor, right now, why, O you librul traitors, why, eh?

Oh, and please spread this story around, media whore media, at closet cupcake Karl Rove's behest, so everyone knows that punishment follows lese majeste.

Well, Karl, you know, sometimes what follows that kind of Bush's War on Democracy Bushist fascist stuff is like, other stuff, like, well, tar & feathers, & offering indictments.

Probably not therapy.


Bush and Webb
Bush rude to Sen. Webb
Iraq War

Update: here's George Will, being stupid and defending the indefensible Bush. One was deeply touched when Will read the riot act to Cheney, after the VP told Senator Jeffords to go fuck himself, was one not?
Update 2: WH deliberately pushed Webb smear, from Editor & Publisher, via RawStory, here.