Happy 4th Birthday,"Mission Accomplished!"! You Must Feel So Proud of All You've Accomplished in Four Years, Must You Not?

WaPo here.

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Mission accomplished

General Eaton's Letter to President Bush on Veto
May 1, 2007

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

Today, in your veto message regarding the bipartisan legislation just passed on Operation Iraqi Freedom, you asserted that you so decided because you listen to your commanders on the ground.

Respectfully, as your former commander on the ground, your administration did not listen to our best advice. In fact, a number of my fellow Generals were forced out of their jobs, because they did not tell you what you wanted to hear -- most notably General Eric Shinseki, whose foresight regarding troop levels was advice you rejected, at our troops' peril.

The legislation you vetoed today represented a course of action that is long overdue. This war can no longer be won by the military alone. We must bring to bear the entire array of national power - military, diplomatic and economic. The situation demands a surge in diplomacy, and pressure on the Iraqi government to fix its internal affairs. Further, the Army and Marine Corps are on the verge of breaking - or have been broken already - by the length and intensity of this war. This tempo is not sustainable - and you have failed to grow the ground forces to meet national security needs. We must begin the process of bringing troops home, and repairing and growing our military, if we are ever to have a combat-ready force for the long war on terror ahead of us.

The bill you rejected today sets benchmarks for success that the Iraqis would have to meet, and puts us on a course to redeploy our troops. It stresses the need for sending troops into battle only when they are rested, trained and equipped. In my view, and in the view of many others in the military that I know, that is the best course of action for our security.

As someone who served this nation for decades, I have the utmost respect for the office you hold. However, as a man of conscience, I could not sit idly by as you told the American people today that your veto was based on the recommendations of military men. Your administration ignored the advice of our military's finest minds before, and I see no evidence that you are listening to them now.

I urge you to reconsider your position, and work with Congress to pass a bill that achieves the goals laid out above.

Respectfully,

Major General Paul D. Eaton, USA, Retired

The New Commies: Talibangelicals Infiltrate US Government

Well, well!

What have we here?

We have Abu Ghonzalez, at the behest of Preznit Toad-Exploder, trying to turn our democracy upside-down!

And doing a pretty good job of it -- unlike the hellish job they do at actually governing!

Which they don't even actually want to do!

Under Gonzales . . . almost immediately from the time of his arrival in February 2005, [things] changed quite noticeably. First, there was extraordinary turnover in the political ranks, including the majority of even Justice's highest-level appointees. It was reminiscent of the turnover from the second Reagan administration to the first Bush administration in 1989, only more so.

Second, the atmosphere was palpably different, in ways both large and small. One need not have had to be terribly sophisticated to notice that when Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey left the department in August 2005 his departure was quite abrupt, and that his large farewell party was attended by neither Gonzales nor (as best as could be seen) anyone else on the AG's personal staff.

Third, and most significantly for present purposes, there was an almost immediate influx of young political aides beginning in the first half of 2005 (e.g., counsels to the AG, associate deputy attorneys general, deputy associate attorneys general, and deputy assistant attorneys general) whose inexperience in the processes of government was surpassed only by their evident disdain for it.

Drowning good government in the Katrina-esque bathtub. Then putting the ship of state in the hands of Talibangelical fanatics whose sole desire is to sink the ship. End times, you know. So why not?

What fun. What total fun. The children's crusade of Bushist fascist Talibangelical DOJ Hitler Youth suicide bombers hard at work, blowing our democracy to smithereens.

Just like Bubble Boy in his youth, he who stuffed lit firecrackers down the helpless gullets of sentient beings, and blew all those toads to bits. Yep.

And so it goes.

Alberto Gonzalez
Dirty Bush

Holocaust Denier Ahmadinejad Oppresses Females 'Cause "National Security" Made Him Do It: Prefers His Babes In Black Burqas

It's the medievalism, stupid!

WOMEN BEAR BRUNT OF IRAN CRACKDOWN.

(WaPo here.)

Scared you'll be tempted by goodies? Throw a big blanket over them cupcakes!

Scared you'll be tempted by gurlz? Throw a big black bag over that babe!

Or, like, whatever. Get all paranoid about Western influences. Get more attached to power than you already are. Ah well. What a clown is Ahmadinejad.

Iran's constitution dictates that a woman's life is worth half a man's. Women in Iran are second-class citizens, officially segregated from men in many aspects of public life.

Women are required to use a separate and dramatically inferior hospital system. State security officers forcibly remove female spectators from soccer games.

For a young Iranian woman caught at a co-ed party can mean arrest and possibly worse. Women are regularly hanged in public for "acts incompatible with chastity." Those accused of adultery are buried up to their necks and stoned to death.

In January of this year, a teenager was sentenced to death for killing a man who was trying to rape her. The campaign against women in so many aspects of life has had a profound social impact - in a recent survey 25% of Iranian women admit to being unhappy with their gender.

What a medievalist mentality.

Hmm. "Medievalist mentality." Shari'a Law. Not so far from the vaunted Dominionist "Mosaic Law." Fundamentalist Muslims, fundamentalist Talibangelicals. Much of a muchness, no?

At a Purity Ball, Ahmadinejad would fit right in! In fact, that's what he's running.

Medievalist Muslim Iran -- just one big fat overblown Purity Ball.


Ahmadinejad
worst Iran president ever
misogyny
Medievalist Muslim

Talibangelicals Infiltrate US Government

Current attorneygate scandal features a Bushist fascist Monica (Goodling) who lacks a blue dress, but who sure can spread around a stain. (That would be the stain of corruption and anti-Americanism, FYI).

Extry! Extry! Read all about it!

Great stories about Bubble Boy's Talibangelical court-packing scheme, complete with its Bushist Fascist US Attorney-packing scheme conceived (and delivered) via the Satanic Pat Robertson's evil scheming.

It IS a right-wing conspiracy, and they ARE trying to take over. Like them commies, but -- way worse!

On the up side, they're incompetent. And America appears to be waking from her long numb sleep of post-9/11 PTSD.

AG Gonzalez showing characteristic Bushist fascist contempt for the rule of law, here.

"It's a curious contrast that leaders in the Department of Justice would slip a change into law to allow one U.S. Attorney to spend only a few days a month in his district and keep his job, while at the same time claiming to fire another for spending a few days a month away from his district to serve his country," Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a statement.

Paul Krugman, here.

Globe here.

Slate, here.

Max Blumenthal, here. And this sure ain't what we call "Good News," if'n you catch my drift.

Monica Goodling
Attorneygate
Blog Against Theocracy

Official No Blood for Hubris Mental Health Interlude No. 2983

"Almost everybody in Washington is still calling for Alberto Gonzales to resign. President Bush said Gonzales' testimony last week increased his confidence in him. Bush said he'd had no idea Gonzales could lie like that." --Jay Leno

"Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich introduced articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. Do you know what would happen if Cheney was impeached? George Bush would become acting president." --Jay Leno

"Reviews of Gonzales' performance were mixed. 99.99% of the people who saw it felt he embarrassed himself. The other .01% was this guy [on screen: Pres. Bush]" --Jon Stewart

"In the wake of his disastrous performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales maintains that he still won't resign. ... Really, Alberto Gonzales? You're not going to resign? ...

During the hearings, you said 'I don't remember' or ' I don't recall' over 50 times. Don't lawyers need to have good memories? ... I'd rather have the guy from 'Memento' as a lawyer. My Commodore 64 has more memory than you, and it runs on bong water.

Even the most conservative senators think you should resign. Sam Brownback thinks you should resign, and he's so conservative, he thinks watching 'Will and Grace' gives you AIDS" --Seth Meyers

"Really, President Bush? You think [the Gonzales testimony] went well? Which part? Because the best thing anyone can say about Gonzales' testimony was that he didn't use the word 'nappy,' and he remembered to wear pants." --Amy Poehler

"Over in Washington, Alberto Gonzales testified yesterday before Congress. He is the Sanjaya of the Bush administration. He had a month to rehearse and he still sucked." --Bill Maher

"After weeks of mock testimony, there you have it. Alberto Gonzales doesn't know what happened, but he assures you, what he doesn't remember was handled properly." --Jon Stewart

"The Bush administration extended the tours of Army troops in Iraq by three months, increasing their stay to a total of 15 months. Troops responded to the news, saying, 'I'm gay.'" --Amy Poehler

"The White House said today that they have lost the e-mails requested by congressional investigators -- e-mails that may have dealt with the firing of those eight federal prosecutors. They lost them. Today the administration assured Americans that they are not corrupt, just incompetent." --Jay Leno

"Republican candidate Mitt Romney says that Hillary Clinton is wrong when she says it takes a village to raise a child. But when Hillary's book came out, Romney said Hillary was right and it does take a village to raise a child. For a lifelong hunter, this guy sure shoots himself in the foot a lot." --Jay Leno

"Because of the storms back East, over 250,000 people still without power. In fact, it was so bad in Washington, D.C., Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had to resort to destroying e-mails by hand." --Jay Leno

"President Bush picked [Iraq war architect Paul] Wolfowitz to head the World Bank in 2005. His mission? Use its mighty financial resources to raise the living standards of people around the world. His first beneficiary? Well, his girlfriend.

Last week it was disclosed that Wolfowitz had used his influence to get a promotion and a raise for his long-time paramour, World Bank employee Shaha Ali Riza -- considered to be a foremost expert on the Middle East. Which means -- you know what they say -- opposites attract." --Jon Stewart

Bush jokes
worst president ever

Bubble Boy Builds a Ghetto

"Tear down that wall, Mr. Gorbachev!"

One thought it was the height of arrogance that Ronald Reagan and his ilk attributed the entire fall of Communism to the Soviet leader's apparent inability to resist carrying out that command. (But it seems like there's never a final height to arrogance).

That was then. This is now.

Now, it's Bubble Boy's Robert Frost Memorial Good Fences Make Good Neighbors Wetback Friendship Wall on the Mexican border.

And this week, in Iraq, it's Bubble Boy building a ghetto!

A nice Sunni ghetto.

Using your tax dollars!

See, you hafta understand that we're pissing away trillions of dollars there, so we don't have to build schools, roads, hospitals, VA hospitals, levees, affordable housing, or spend more money on criminal justice and national health to deal with the needs of sick, old, poor, disabled, struggling, criminally preyed-upon American citizens here!


So, "Yo!

Put up that wall, Mr. Maliki!"


WaPo here.
[Sunni reaction to Bubble Boy's Super Sunni Ghetto, here.]
Sunni wall
worst president ever

Slipping Through the Cracks in the System

It's hard to get someone hospitalized against his will.

It's hard to keep him hospitalized. No one wants to foot the bill, even in this "rich" country.

It's not as if people hadn't noticed VT shooter Cho's sexually harassing behaviors -- taking pictures with his cellphone of women's legs from under his desk, stalking one woman, sending harassing messages to another -- they were noticed. They were reported.

The night [Cho spent involuntarily] at the mental-health facility came a few weeks after police had been contacted by a female student upset over e-mails Cho had sent her, said Flinchum, the Tech police chief.

Cho had been sent to the hospital, and got out again. He didn't meet the criteria of "imminent danger." Hospitals these days are hard to get into, and easy to leave.

. . . Cho was referred to the university disciplinary system, which took no action because the offense seemed too minor, the chief said.

The offense seemed "too minor"?

Some bloggers think that way, as well. You know what wussies women are, eh?

Teachers and fellow students at Virginia Tech lived in fear of Cho Seung-Hui in the 18 months before he struck, it was revealed this afternoon.

. . .at one stage students were so scared of his behaviour that only seven out of 70 turned up for class, forcing lecturers to give him one-to-one tuition.

A lecturer was so frightened by Cho's violent fantasies that she made up a secret codeword so that she could alert security without him knowing.

A pattern had emerged around Cho, a pattern that had been noticed in terms of sexual harrassment, total absence of personal boundaries, and violent fantasies, a pattern that was alarming to many.

These people had alerted the system, the system did what it could -- a single involuntary hospitalization.

The same system is in place today.

So what are we going to do about it?

Virginia Tech massacre
violence against women
sexism

Violence and Virginia Tech: It's All About Exerting Power and Control

"No one imagined what he would do."

But someone was scared of him.

Two grown women were scared of him.

In the end, of course, he pointed out that it was all her fault. His first victim's fault. The Virginia Tech massacre shooter thought "his" girl was going out with someone else?

She can't do that. She's "his."

So he shot her.

Like shooting your own dog, is it not? It's yours. You can do what you want with it.

You can do what you want.

He was possessive, obsessive.

There have been suggestions he was obsessed with his first victim, Emily Hilscher, an 18-year-old veterinary sciences student.

Vivacious and popular, Ms Hilscher was shot with a 9mm Glock pistol bought by Cho last month.

It is said he had become "infatuated" with her although there is no indication she even knew him and, it appears, never mentioned him to any close friends.

He'd stalked women before, taken cellphone pics aimed at them from under his desk, sexually harassed them.

Like some rappers, making music that exploits and degrades women. Like some purveyers of porn, making flicks that aren't erotic, just sadistic, making a buck off feeding sick fantasies of cruelty and revenge.

Like some Dominionists, seeking to have women become the actual property of their fathers until they are married off, to become the property of their husbands. Like some "full-quiver" crackpot Talibangelicals who promote thoughtless, random parenthood to fill the world with the unwanted. Like taking a public pervy interest in your child's sexuality (for very religious reasons! it's not about commodity/virginity, really!) if she's female.

Like some radio hosts, shooting off their mouths, calling women "nappy-headed ho's" and "feminazis."

Like some writers who minimized the incident as a "lover's tiff," a "love row," like some VT security people who failed to follow through after the first shootings because it was just a "domestic dispute."

Like some bloggers, demeaning women who object to being objectified and insulted. Bloggers who think being scared of someone is cowardice, not intelligence, especially when it's a grown woman who says she's scared. (Rondo back to sentence 3).

(Oh, say, does this at all remind us of VT females who reported that they felt threatened by this guy, reported it to authorities, but the authorities considered it too trivial to follow up?)

Ask Markos how this sits with him these days:

The night at the mental-health facility came a few weeks after police had been contacted by a female student upset over disturbing e-mails Cho had sent her, said Flinchum, the Tech police chief. The student declined to press charges, and Cho was referred to the university disciplinary system, which took no action because the offense seemed too minor, the chief said.

It's a continuum.

On a very slippery-slidey slope.

Virginia Tech massacre
violence against women
sexism

Markos Moulitsas is a Nappy-Headed Ho

The funny thing about sexism is like the funny thing about stupidity.

Stupid people are too stupid to know they're stupid. Sexist people don't even know they're sexist.

And when someone tells them, they think it's stupid.

You know, like Markos Moulitsas, who's gotten into a lot of trouble over the years for his sexism (but he isn't! those girls are just hysterical!) and is now in trouble again (but he shouldn't be! those girls are just on the rag!).

So here's the post where he trivializes a female blogger who (uppity woman!) objected (girlie-man girl!) to being the recipient of death threats (pussy!).

You know, objecting to death threats is just, like, so gay! So whiney! So sissy!

Markos is, one supposes, an educated person. In some sense.

So -- what's his frickin' problem?

If he can't say something non-sexist, why can't he just shut up?


(Here's a post from Big Tent Democrat (with whom I am, generally speaking, in love) astonishingly defending the indefensible kos on this matter. Oy.)


Markos Moulitsas
Dailykos
Kathy Sierra

RIP, Kurt Vonnegut

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.

Kurt Vonnegut

The only difference between [George W.] Bush and [Adolf] Hitler is that Hitler was elected.
Kurt Vonnegut

* George W. Bush has gathered around him upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography.

* Doesn't anything socialistic make you want to throw up? Like great public schools, or health insurance for all?

Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.
Kurt Vonnegut




All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I've said before, bugs in amber.

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse V
US novelist (1922 - 2007)


WaPo.

Eat Your Words, Big Dick

How's this for a Big Dick smackdown?

NO LINK BETWEEN IRAQ AND AL-QAEDA, SAYS PENTAGON
April 7, 2007

Interrogations of Saddam Hussein and seized documents confirmed the former Iraqi regime had no links with al-Qaeda, a Pentagon report said today, contradicting the US case for the 2003 invasion.

A two-page resume of the report was published in February, but today the Pentagon declassified the whole 120-page document.

According to the inspector general of the US Defence Department, information obtained after Saddam's fall confirmed the pre-war position of the Central Intelligence Agency and Pentagon intelligence . . .

This position was shored up by interrogations of Saddam, the former Iraqi president, and other top officials captured by the US-led coalition forces in Iraq, the report said.

I'm starting to love Robert Gates. Not completely. Not like I love Richard Clarke. But there is that special little thrill again. Snuffed out quickly by Gates' helping Bubble Boy to deploy thousands more National Guard troops. Oh well. Come on, Robert. Do the right thing. Get us OUT of there.
Robert Gates
Cheney
Iraq

Bubble Boy Screws The Troops - Some More

It's a lovely day in the neighborhood. If you're a Bushist fascist.

And blind, deaf and dumb.

You can sleep so soundly.

Here's a perky NY Times story here of a Vet, severely wounded in Iraq, got all bandaged up, then fell through the Bushist fascist cracks. After seventeen suicide attempts, arson finally got him the inpatient treatment he'd needed all along.

His story also involves severe, sustained child abuse (which the NY Times, typically, minimizes, calling his youth "hardscrabble".)

Well, we don't really want to think about all the unwanted, abused, beaten children in the US who grow up to be homicidal and or suicidal, when we can get our rocks off about saving all the innocent widdle petri dish denizens, do we?.

When that kid was little, the way he got beat around, it was awful,” his uncle, Joseph Frank Ross Jr., a prison guard, said.

Lucky there's no such thing as cause and effect in Bushworld, eh?

Sleep well, Bubble Boy. Sleep well, Big Dick.

No Blood for Hubris Mental Health Interlude 5987x

"Bush visited Walter Reed today. When you've got a problem like Walter Reed that needs solving, what better sight than to see George Bush walk through the door? ... He's created so many disasters, I'm not sure he knows which is which anymore. He walked into Walter Reed, and he said he wanted to have it ready for next year's Mardi Gras." --Bill Maher

"Some people still love him. He also spoke this week at the Cattlemen's Beef Association. They love him, but then again, they're used to being knee-deep in bullshit." --Bill Maher

"The president also had a moving ceremony this week for the Tuskegee airmen, the all black aviation squadron from World War II. A lot of these guys in their late 80s now. They were given gold medals, they were thanked, they were honored, and then the were re-activated and sent to Iraq." --Bill Maher

"In an interview, Rudy Giuliani's wife admitted that Rudy Giuliani is not her second husband. Actually, he's her third husband. She forgot about her first. But Rudy understands. When they started dating, he forgot he had a wife, too." --Jay Leno

"Homeland Security announced that there are 600,000 fugitives unaccounted for in America. And those are just the ones in the Bush administration." --Jay Leno

"An aide to the newly elected Democratic Senator Jim Webb of Virginia was arrested for trying to bring the senator's gun into the Senate office building. Webb said he needed the gun for protection. Apparently, he had an afternoon meeting with Vice President Cheney." --Jay Leno

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said today that the toughest part about getting married to his current wife was finding a wedding song that they both haven't used before." --Jay Leno

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

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

Caring for America's Post-Born Children: Anyone Gets to Have a Kid. No Competence Required.

DA SAYS PARENTS INVENTED GIRL'S SYMPTOMS

You all must know that there was an American Society for the Protection of Animals (ASPCA) well before there was any interest in protecting American children from their own parents, do you not?

Proponents of government-forced maternity, due to their personal, specific religious agendas, actively seek to increase the number of unwanted children in America, and don't much give a crap about what happens to these innocent beings once they are born.

Have another kid, they say, it's just like going to the store and getting an extra carton of milk. No biggie.

But, bad parents, you know, parent badly.

Like these parents of the late Rebecca Riley.

BROCKTON -- Saying there was a "much more sinister aspect" to the case, a prosecutor alleged yesterday that a couple charged with poisoning their 4-year-old daughter made up symptoms of mental illness so she would qualify for government benefits.

Michael and Carolyn Riley were twice rejected for Supplemental Security Income after doctors with the federal program examined their daughter Rebecca and found no indication that she suffered symptoms of bipolar disorder or attention deficit disorder, Frank Middleton, an assistant Plymouth district attorney, told a judge in Plymouth Superior Court.

The couple, whose 13th wedding anniversary is this week, sat before Judge Carol Ball with their wrists and ankles in shackles. They pleaded not guilty to murder charges brought by a Plymouth grand jury.

Middleton said Carolyn Riley's aunt testified to the grand jury that her niece told her she wanted to get Rebecca on medication so she could receive benefits.

In August 2004, Carolyn Riley took Rebecca to see Dr. Kayoko Kifuji and told the Tufts-New England Medical Center psychiatrist that Rebecca would kick, spit, hit, and laugh when punished, Middleton said. Eventually, Kifuji diagnosed Rebecca with attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity.

In March 2005, an SSI doctor rejected the family's application for benefits, and Carolyn Riley returned to Kifuji, Middleton said. This time, according to the prosecutor, Riley said Rebecca had mood swings, trouble sleeping, and was "driving her crazy."

In May 2005, Kifuji diagnosed her with bipolar disorder. The Rileys tried again to secure the benefits, but were rejected again and appealed the decision to an administrative law judge.

The couple had scheduled an appointment with SSI around Dec. 13, 2006, the day Rebecca was found dead in her Hull home, said Bridget Norton Middleton, a spokeswoman for the Plymouth district attorney's office. . . Michael Riley's lawyer, John G. Darrell, disputed Middleton's allegations that his client seemed indifferent when emergency officials came to the couple's house after Riley called 911 to report his daughter's death.

"Laughing when punished"? That deserves another good hard smack, does it not? And a little more medicine really works to stop that damn kid's crying.


Full story, here.

child abuse
unwantedness
Dirty Bushworld

Dirty Bush & GonzoGate: US Atty Fired for Being Too Hard on Child Molesters

There's nothing like primary sources.

Link here, to letter from the House Judiciary Committee, and learn that Bush and his henchman Gonzo fired one US Attorney, Mr. Charlton, because he wanted to videotape interviews with child molesters.

Well, we couldn't have that, could we?

First, you videotape pedophiles, next, you might prosecute them!

The GOPedophile Protection Party won't stand for it!


(And for more fun, lookee here, and repeat after me: "consciousness of guilt, consciousness of guilt, consciousness of guilt.")

Via RawStory, the NY Times, briefly giving up its Judy-Miller-Whitehouse-stenographer role, calls Bush's nasty, bumbling comments "nasty and bumbling," here.
Bush
Gonzalez
US Attorney scandal

Bubble Boy's Don't Ask/Can't Tell Policy -- INVESTIGATING CIA LEAK BY DOING NOTHING

ANSWER: ZERO. Squat. Bupkus. Nada. Nothing. Niente. Zip.

QUESTION: What did the White House do to investigate Rove's role in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame?

WaPo here.

WHITE HOUSE SECURITY CHIEF REVEALS -- NO PROBE OF PLAME LEAK THERE
NEW YORK Dr. James Knodell, director of the Office of Security at the White House, told a congressional committee today that he was aware of no internal investigation or report into the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The White House had first opposed Knodell testifying but after a threat of a subpoena from the committee yesterday he was allowed to appear today.

Knodell said that he had started at the White House in August 2004, a year after the leak, but his records show no evidence of a probe or report there: "I have no knowledge of any investigation in my office," he said.

Rep. Waxman recalled that President Bush had promised a full internal probe. Knodell repeated that no probe took place, as far as he knew, and was not happening today.

More via Editor & Publisher, here.

CIA
Plame
Dirty Bush

When's the Last Time YOU Non-Violently Defeated a SuperPower, Freddie-boy?

LOUDMOUTH ACTOR AND REICHWING SHILL DUMPS ON MAHATMA GANDHI

I'm so sick of listening to loudmouth bottom-feeding stupids like Fred Thompson.

And John McCain, who apparently is unaware of how communicable diseases are communicated. (Quick, let's make him the post-Frist Senate tele-doctor!)

And let's not talk about flat-earthers like Bubble Boy, and sexist sadist pigs like Big Dick Cheney. And the whole pack of rabid reichwingers and their enablers -- Rummy, Rove, Bolton; Coulter, Limpbaugh, Dogbeater/Kiddywhipper Dobson; liar Snow, psychotic freepers and their robot horde -- may they all receive their full karmic reward at once.

Yuh, folks, Gandhi's un-American, but torture's as American as apple pie, is it not?

Death, destruction, deceit, dishonor: the core Bushist fascist family values.

I am reminded of this exchange between a reporter and Mahatma Gandhi.

Reporter: Gandhi-ji, what do you think of Western Civilization?

Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea.

Fred Thompson
Gandhi
Dirty Bush

Say, Why DO They Call Him "Preznit Toad-Exploder," Anyhow?

Why do they call George W. Bush, "Preznit Toad-Exploder"?

Well, impressionable American boys and girls, it's like this.

It's sort of like calling James "Dogbeater" Dobson "Kiddie-Whipper Dobson."

Or calling him "Dogbeater Dobson" for that matter.

Well, besides Bubble Boy's actual childhood sadistic sentient-being-intentional-suffering-and-death-causing toad-exploding history, there's, you know, stuff like this: LEGAL EXPERT: BUSH MAY HAVE ORDERED TORTURE.

Via RawStory:

The administration has been almost pathological in trying to find ways to keep these people from ever seeing a real judge or a real lawyer," Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, told the Associated Press, "and the reasons are obvious."

Turley, among many legal analysts, believes that the likelihood that torture tactics were used on the detainees has heightened the administration's state of secrecy for fear of public retribution. The law professor also suggested that President Bush not only knew about the torture program but may have ordered it.

"It seems pretty clear that they've been tortured," Turley told the AP, "and that the president knew they were being tortured, and may have even ordered their torture through techniques like 'water boarding'."

More here, about Bush ordering torture in Iraq at Abu Ghraib -- and it ain't pretty.

Bush
Iraq War Vets
Vets with PTSD

Official No Blood for Hubris Mental Health Interlude No. Eleventy-Twelve

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

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

"The White House feels very strongly this is yet another case of activist jurors destroying the lives of the disabled. These $5-a-day zealots were determined to put a man in jail just because a few details slipped his feeble mind." --Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee

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

"In the Valerie Plame case, Scooter Libby was found not guilty . . . on one of the five charges. . . . But the media is instead focusing, of course, on the four counts of perjury, lying to the FBI and obstruction of justice for which Libby was convicted. It's typical. They always see the glass as 80% guilty." --Stephen Colbert

"We have received word that many hundreds of American troops are being held in deplorable, squalid conditions. What kind of people would treat our soldiers in this horrible manner? Funny story -- turns out, it's us.

In a bombshell story, the Washington Post has reported that several buildings at the military's Walter Reed Medical Center are so poorly maintained that they are pits riddled with water damage, black mold, and in the case of the notorious Building 18, rampant infestation of cockroaches and rodents at Walter Reed. I can understand this kind of thing if you were running, I don't know, some kind of fast-food restaurant. Or, let's say, a hospital for cockroaches that had been injured in some kind of vermin battle.

"Why aren't we hearing the other side of this issue? Yes, there is tons of black mold growing in the walls where we house our wounded soldiers. But nobody mentions, mold can be used to make cheese . . . and penicillin. You might say Walter Reed's walls are dripping with medicine." --Jon Stewart

"The president has said no one supports the troops more than him. So, if you take him at his word -- and I see no reason not to -- anyone leaving the army is necessarily going into a less supportive environment, and that can't be an easy transition. . . . [These shoddy conditions] are a halfway house, so that soldiers can get accustomed to their terrifying, new Bushless world. You just can't throw them back to their family and friends, where God knows what will happen to them. You need to ease them into it with six months to a year of squalid aftercare in some type of bureaucratic limbo" --Daily Show correspondent John Oliver

"Those brave Americans who put themselves in harm's way. . . . I'm talking, of course, about the members of Congress who toured Walter Reed last week. Someone had to have the courage to walk through that hospital and then have the press document their disapproval. These folks have been fighting to improve the conditions for our wounded soldiers ever since the very beginning of two weeks ago." --Stephen Colbert

"It's hard for us civilians to understand the kind of sacrifice it takes for a congressman to respond to a Washington Post article, so let me put this into perspective for you: They can't just look out their window to see what's happening at Walter Reed. No, they have to get into a car. Walter Reed hospital is more than six miles from the Capitol. . . . Getting to Walter Reed from the Capitol is a march through hell, one that evidently takes more than four years to make" --Stephen Colbert

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