erm...ahhh... check that...

The administration further demonstrates that it has absolutely no respect for a) the truth, b) the other equal branches of our government, c) the U.N. and d) America.

State Dept admits Bolton gave inaccurate answers:

The State Department reversed itself on Thursday night and acknowledged that President Bush's U.N. ambassador nominee gave Congress inaccurate information about an investigation he was involved in.

The acknowledgment came after the State Department had earlier insisted nominee John Bolton's 'answer was truthful' when he said he had not been questioned or provided information to jury or government investigations in the past five years.

'When Mr. Bolton completed his form during the Senate confirmation process he did not recall being interviewed by the State Department inspector general. Therefore his form as submitted was inaccurate in this regard and he will correct the form,' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

[...]

In a letter to Bush, California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record) said Bolton's admission was "too little, too late" and urged Bush to withdraw the nomination.

"A recess appointment of a man who did not tell the truth to the (Senate Foreign Relations) committee and only admitted the truth when he was caught would send a horrible message," Boxer wrote.

"It seems unusual that Mr. Bolton would not remember his involvement in such a serious matter. In my mind, this raises more questions that need to be answered. I hope President Bush will not make the mistake of recess appointing Mr. Bolton," Biden said in response to the admission that Bolton's information was inaccurate.

It slipped his mind? He forgot about something as important as a joint State Department/CIA investigation into the famous 16 words in Dubya's SOTU speech?! We're supposed to believe that?! Further, we're supposed to believe that not only did he forget, but that the State Department forgot?! Afterall, it was they who first insisted that his responses to the Senate questionaire were truthful and the State Department IG that conducted the investigation.

Yes, John Bolton is exactly the kind of man we need at the U.N.. I'm certain that now that he has been proved to be a liar, that he'll have no trouble in dealing effectively with the other delegations.

Update: This AP article puts the story in a clearer light with regards to PlameGate. There's also a better quote from Biden:

"It seems unusual that Mr. Bolton would not remember his involvement in such a serious matter," said Biden, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "In my mind, this raises more questions that need to be answered. I hope President Bush will not make the mistake of recess appointing Mr. Bolton."

Yet, despite the fact that Bolton has been caught in a lie (and are we absolutely certain that we can believe that Bolton was not interviewed by Fitzgerald?), Bushco remains intent on pushing forward with the recess appointment.

These people have no shame. They are demonstrating that they place more value in rewarding their political hatchetmen than they do in respecting the law, the truth and the American people. John Bolton was a flawed nominee from the start, now he has been proven to be a liar. How can the congress believe a word he says when he is asked to testify in his role as U.N. Ambassador?

Are we not detecting a pattern of mendacity here? Bolton, now that he has been caught in a lie, says he didn't recall being interviewed for such a high profile investigation as the Iraq-Niger connection. Roberts doesn't recall being a member of the Federalist Society, and the administration assures us that he wasn't a member until proof that he was on the Steering Committee (gee... I think I'd remember something like being in a leadership position, don't you?) The administration refuses to release the documents repeatedly requested by the Senate on both Bolton and Roberts... what are they hiding? How can we take the administration at its word for anything they say?

Stop the presses!

This just in from Rupert Murdock's NYPost and FauxNews: Report: Plame Gave Money to Anti-Bush Group:

Outed CIA spy Valerie Plame last fall gave a campaign contribution to go toward an anti-Bush fund-raising concert starring Bruce Springsteen, it was revealed Tuesday night.

It's the first revelation that Plame participated in anti-Bush political activity while working for the CIA.

The $372 donation to the anti-Bush group America Coming Together (search), first reported by Time magazine's Web site, was made in Plame's married name of Valerie E. Wilson and covered two tickets.

Can you believe the temerity! OMG! That's tantamount to treason! You're either with Dubya or against him. Why... she's a Democrat!

She bought two frickin' tickets to a Springsteen concert, and that's apparently newsworthy to the cretins at the NY Post and FauxNews. That's the best that they could dig up to smear her with? What, she's not GAY!?

These people make me sick.

Just a few rogue MPs... yeah, that's the ticket

This post is a must read, as are the referenced memoranda from the Air Force, Navy, Army and Marine JAGs:

The Senate debate nevertheless was extremely valuable, because Senator Lindsey Graham submitted into the Congressional Record six remarkable memos written by Judge Advocate Generals of the Armed Forces during February and March of 2003. [In addition to that pdf file, I’ve republished the memos as a separate post, below.] The Senate Armed Services Committee requested these memos in October of last year, but DoD just recently declassified them. (An aside: As anyone who reads the memos can plainly see, there was no justification for classifying these memos, and from all that appears they were classified merely to prevent public debate about an important Administration policy. The improper classification of numerous Administration documents in this affair—including even the Church Report and its accompanying documents—is a scandal onto itself, but is not the topic of this post.)

Note that this is Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina and former JAG himself, not some pussy-whipped pansy Librul from Massatushits.

The JAGs made it pretty damned clear that what the administration wanted to do amounted to war crimes (as if there was any question as to whether they are war criminals).

This part is really precious:

Unfortunately, however, the notion that this was all simply a problem during an unfortunate 12- to 14-month period two years ago is belied by the fact that the Administration—the Vice President, in particular—is pulling out all the stops in trying to prevent Congress from requiring the military to adhere to the Field Manual and from prohibiting cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees. If the Yoo analysis were truly a repudiated thing of the past, an unfortunate historical anomaly, why would the Administration hold up—and threaten to veto—the vitally important defense authorization bill, for fear of being saddled with extremely modest requirements that, as the JAGs explain, had served us very well for many decades?

Yep, that's our favorite war criminal, Dick Cheney.

What sickens me the most, though, is that they feigned innocence and vociferously denied that there was a policy that endorsed torture when the Abu Ghraib photos hit the Internets. Just a few rogue MPs disobeying orders and the UMCJ. The MPs, who were clearly "just following orders" have been punished, their lives ruined. Yes, "just following orders" is not a valid defense, but the administration hacks *cough*Rumsfeld*cough* *cough*Gonzales*cough* and the sickos like Gen Miller, who spread this cancer from Gitmo to Afghanistan and Iraq, and Gen Sanchez who condoned the abusive treatment have all been promoted (or in Rumsfeld's case, retained their post despite their complete and utter incompetence) while the grunts take all the blame.

This administration is a worse pack of mendacious, amoral, treasonous, war criminal, hypocritical, pond scum to have taken up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. than the Nixon crowd. Even that doesn't do justice for the contempt I have for them.

The only saving grace is that the SCOTUS nomination hasn't pushed RoveLeakGate off the front pages, the WH press corps has finally found its spine (they smell blood now that Dubya's lost his mojo), and the American people are finally catching on that they have been repeatedly lied to and crapped on for 4.5 years. Poor Dubya, approval ratings at 41% and falling like a stone. Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

File this under 'D' for Duh!

The WaPo reports -- Abu Ghraib Dog Tactics Came From Guantanamo:

Military interrogators at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq learned about the use of military working dogs to intimidate detainees from a team of interrogators dispatched from the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to court testimony yesterday.

One interrogation analyst also testified that sleep deprivation and forced nudity -- which were used in Cuba on high-value detainees -- later were approved tactics at Abu Ghraib. Another soldier said that interrogators would regularly pass instructions to have dog handlers and military police "scare up" detainees as part of interrogation plans, part of an approved approach that relied on exploiting the fear of dogs.

No sh*t! Limited to a few low-level miscreant MPs my a**. This goes all the way to the Vice President, Dick Cheney.

Several Republican senators are pushing legislation -- opposed by the White House -- that would regulate the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo and other military prisons. One of them, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), released recently declassified internal memos written in 2003 by the military's top lawyers in which they warned the Pentagon about developing severe tactics, arguing that they would heighten danger for U.S. troops caught by the enemy, among other problems.

Note that it was Darth that went to the Senate to dissuade the maverick Republican Senators McCain and company from attaching the legislation to the military appropriations bill with a threatened veto. How anyone with as little as a kindergarden education not see the connection? Read the whole piece. On the one hand, we have the administration claiming ignorance and innocence... we don't condone torture, yet on the other, we see clearly that the acts uncovered by the release of the Abu Ghraib images (and again, only a select few, since the administration is now fighting against an FOIA claim that they all be released) were deliberate, and directed from high in the administration. It was no accident that the tactics employed were the same in Abu Ghraib and Gitmo (and elsewhere).

This just in...

... from the Ministry of Truth's Newspeak division. The NYT reports U.S. Officials Retools (sic) Slogan for Terror War [note, would someone please wake up the NYT headline editor... (s)he appears to be asleep at the switch] (emphasis mine):

The Bush administration is retooling its slogan for the fight against Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, pushing the idea that the long-term struggle is as much an ideological battle as a military mission, senior administration and military officials said Monday.

In recent speeches and news conferences, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the nation's senior military officer have spoken of "a global struggle against violent extremism" rather than "the global war on terror," which had been the catchphrase of choice. Administration officials say that phrase may have outlived its usefulness, because it focused attention solely, and incorrectly, on the military campaign.

You don't suppose that it is merely a coincidence that the arabic word for "struggle" is jihad? So, now we're in a jihad against the jihadists?

Which is better: GWOT or GSAVE? GSAVE sounds like some new kind of investment vehicle.

Can we expect that all subsequent FoxNews reports from Iraq will be reporting on the "Struggle in Baghdad" or the "Struggle in Iraq"?

Oh, Please!

From the Editorial Page of today's NYT -- It Depends on What 'Member' Means (emphasis mine):

Last week, the White House denied that Mr. Roberts had ever been a member of the Federalist Society. Mr. Roberts's handlers were no doubt concerned that the society's reputation as an organization of hard-line conservatives could work against him during the confirmation process. The White House even persuaded several news organizations that had called him a member to print corrections. But The Washington Post reported yesterday that he was listed in a Federalist Society Lawyers' Division Leadership Directory for 1997-1998 as a member of the steering committee of the Washington chapter.

[...]

Mr. Roberts still has no recollection of being a member of the society or on the steering committee, according to the White House. It may be that Mr. Roberts was never formally a member of the society, which keeps its membership secret. But at his confirmation hearings, the Senate should make sure that there was no intent to deceive senators or the public.

I'm sorry, this is complete bullsh*t. The issue isn't whether he was or wasn't a member. He was nominated by Bush, everyone on the planet expected that he would be a conservative. However, the fact that the White House (*cough*Rove*cough*) lied about this is simply unacceptable. I don't suppose that it should jeopardize Robert's nomination to SCOTUS. However, the administration should be taken out to the woodshed for lying once again to the American people. Pitty that the MSM seems incapable of calling a spade a spade.

The Bush administration's first instinct is to lie to the American people. They lied about WMD, about Iraq's attempted purchase of uranium from Niger, about the connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, about the Aug 6, 2001 PDB, about every damn terror alert issued by DHS leading up to the elections, about Rove and Libby's involvement in the leaking of Valerie Plame's affiliation with the CIA, about the real price of the Medicare bill, about the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund, about their non-proposal for Social Security reform, about the abuses at Abu Ghraib, about the treatment of detainees in Gitmo, about the use of "extraordinary rendition", about the readiness of the Iraqi forces and the lack of progress in rebuilding the country after we blew it to bits. They seem to be incapable of telling the truth. (I can hear Dick Cheney now: you can't handle the truth!)

What pisses me off most though is that the NYT and other MSM press outlets give them the benefit of the doubt despite the incredible track record for mendacity that this administration has accumulated in less than 5 years.

Sure, all administrations lie and administrations should be given the benefit of the doubt -- up to a point. However, the BushCheney administration has taken lying to an art form that is unsurpassed by any previous administration and they should have used up all their trust chits long ago.

Shame on the NYT editors for their complicity in the Bamboozlement of America. Of course there was an intent to deceive the public! What morons.

Did I call it or what?

Congress plans to scrutinize Plame-related issues :

The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence could hold hearings on the use of espionage cover soon after the U.S. Congress returns from its August recess, said Roberts spokeswoman Sarah Little.

Little said the Senate committee would also review the probe of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who has been investigating the Plame case for nearly two years.

Let me get this straight. Congress sat on its hands for 2 years. Now, when it seems crystal clear that not only did Rove and Libby leak the fact that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent, but it also appears that they perjured themselves in the process of the investigation, does the Republican controlled Congress engage in its constitutional obligation of oversight.

However, rather than look into whether certain administration officials indeed broke the law, or at the very least, exercised some pretty damn poor judgement, clearly in violation of the non-disclosure agreement that they all signed -- all for the sake of sliming someone who spoke the truth about the lies that the administration used to goad the country into a protracted war for which we have no viable exit strategy -- they are going to look into the probe itself? Roberts had promised us that they would look into how the administration used the flawed intellegence it received after the elections (how conveeenient), but that never happened. Yet, we have time for this probe?

Hacktacular.

Did I not tell you that Fitzgerald would be the target of the Rove smear-machine now that he seems to be getting too close to the truth? Well, here it comes, courtesy of the Senate Rethuglicans.

The man is a machine

Armstrong Ends Career With 7th Tour Win:

One hand on his handlebars, the other holding a flute of champagne, Armstrong toasted his teammates as he pedaled into Paris to collect his crown. He held up seven fingers — one for each win — and a piece of paper with the number 7 on it.

When it was over, Armstrong saluted the race he's made his own.

"Vive le Tour, forever," he said.

. There's simply no other athlete who has dominated a sport the way that Armstrong has the Tour de France. At least, none that I can recall. Even Sampras was not this dominant.

Watching his stage victory yesterday was simply awe inspiring. Watching the other racers give him his due today, allowing him to lead the race until the first sprint and then allowing him to be the first to cross the finish line on the Champs-Elysees (they had eight more laps to go to the actual finish of the stage) demonstrated to me, at least, that they are true sportsmen.

This doesn't pass the laugh test

This simply doesn't pass the laugh test (emphasis mine):

"This 12-hour delay, he has said, was sanctioned by the Justice Department, but since the department was then run by John Ashcroft, a Bush loyalist who refused to recuse himself from the Plame case, inquiring Senate Democrats would examine this 12-hour delay as closely as an 18½-minute tape gap. ‘Every good prosecutor knows that any delay could give a culprit time to destroy the evidence,’ said Senator Charles Schumer, correctly, back when the missing 12 hours was first revealed almost two years ago.”

Asked about this by Schieffer today, Gonzales said, “It has always been my practice to work closely with investigators.” After getting notification from the Justice Department about 8 p.m. that night, he asked if he could inform staffers at the White House early in the morning , and that was okayed.

Schieffer then asked if he at least informed anyone at the White House that first night to “get ready” for the order.
Yes, Gonzales said, he told the president’s chief of staff that night, and then the president himself “first thing” the next day.

He then explained that he hadn't launched an internal probe just in case a criminal investigation was in the works.

Any regrets about how he handled all this? Schieffer wondered.

“No,” Gonzales replied, pointing how that the “strong prosecutor” in the case will bring out all the facts.

Are we to seriously believe that there wasn't a furious night of conspiracy and cover-up in the offices at the White House that night?! That Card wouldn't have told Dear Leader? That he wouldn't have told Darth, Rove, or Libby? Pul-eeeeze. Don't insult my intelligence. And this guy is the AG?! He's as bad as the leakers for participating in this conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Anyone who believes for a moment that the Bush Cheney administration has been "cooperating with this investigation" should have their head examined. They have sought to obstruct justice at every step of the way. Had Dipshit really wanted to get to the bottom of this, all he had to do was call his staff into his office and ask them. After all, isn't he eqally famous for being able to look into people's soul? Shouldn't he be able to detect a liar by their body language?

I hope the whole lot of them go down in flames the way that Nixon did. Remember, it's not the crime, its the cover-up. Of course, in this case, the actual crime is treason.

Google Job Opportunities

This is simply too funny for words!

Once the facility is built, the real work begins. Google will be exploring a number of exciting research projects that have the potential to advance search science to a new frontier. Among the questions Googlunars will seek to answer are:

* Exactly how far does the Worldwide web extend? Can it become an interplanetary utility? If so, will it replace Water Works on Monopoly®?
* What are the likely effects of link attenuation over extreme distances? Is there a limit to link strength, or is it infinitely extensible like bubble gum that gets stuck to the bottom of your shoe?
* What happens to PageRank in the proximity of a black hole? Is there distortion that might result in link relevancy reduction or popularity warping? Could this somehow be harnessed to generate more dates for engineers?
* Does spam go on forever?

ROFLMAO!

Contrast that with the problems that Microsoft seems to be having attracting good talent.

Paul's blog

I see via Sanjiva that Paul Fremantle has a blog. Hmmm... I seem to recall that about the time of his first post that I suggested to him that he start one:-)

Welcome to the blogosphere, Paul!

Subscribed.

Fan, meet sh*t

Bloomberg reveals Rove, Libby gave false testimony:

Bloomberg's Richard Keil will reveal tonight: "Two top White House aides have given accounts to the special prosecutor about how reporters told them the identity of a CIA agent that are at odds with what the reporters have said, according to persons familiar with the case." The story reflects one given written by Murray Waas for the American Prospect.

Oops!

Wonder if Dear Leader will further amend his statement regarding the disposition of the leakers (yet again) to: "anyone who has committed a crime, other than perjury, will be fired".

And they thought that the SCOTUS nomination would keep LeakGate off the front pages... NOT!

Guess all that's left now is for the administration's goons to go after Fitzgerald.

News flash from the reality-based community

A.P. reports from the reality-based community (emphasis mine):

WASHINGTON - A majority of U.S. soldiers in
Iraq say morale is low, according to an Army report that finds psychological stress is weighing particularly heavily on National Guard and Reserve troops.

Still, soldiers' mental health has improved from the early months of the insurgency, and suicides have declined sharply, the report said. Also, substantially fewer soldiers had to be evacuated from Iraq for mental health problems last year.

So much for the complete and utter bullsh*t that the Cheney administration has been spewing, that the morale of the troops in Iraq is "gung-ho".

But, here's the kicker for me:

Only 55 percent of National Guard support soldiers said they have "real confidence" in their unit's ability to perform its mission, compared with 63 percent of active-duty Army support soldiers.

I wonder whether they bothered to ask the troops if they even understood their mission. Seriously though, only 63 percent of our troops have confidence that they can carry out their mission? That doesn't sound like a recipie for success. After all, these aren't highschool dropout draftees, these are people who are supposed to be the best qualified, best trained and best equipped troops on the planet. Yet, 37 percent of them don't have confidence in their ability to perform their mission. That is pathetic.

The article continues:

The thing that bothered soldiers the most, the latest assessment said, was the length of their required stay in Iraq. At the start of the war, most were deployed for six months, but now they go for 12 months.

Asked about this, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a
Pentagon news conference that the Army's 12-month requirement is linked in part to its effort to complete a fundamental reorganization of fighting units.

"I've tried to get the Army to look at the length of tours and I think at some point down the road they will," he said.

Why does this inept war criminal still have a job? At some "point down the road"!? Is he serious? "Part of [the Army's] effort to complete a fundamental reorganization of fighting units"? We're supposed to believe this bullsh*t? Hey Rummy, how's that recruiting thing going?

"Beam me up!" sez Scotty

'Star Trek' Star James Doohan Dies:

James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original 'Star Trek' TV series and movies who responded to the command 'Beam me up, Scotty,' died Wednesday. He was 85.

Pimpified

(Via Ice Master Orchard Dogg) My pimpified nom de blog:

• Dopetastic Chris Tickle
• Macktastic Ferris Joker
• President Chris Luthor
• Stealth Maestro C. Dogg
• Funk Master Chris Trump
• Reverend Doctor Ferris G.

Get your own here.

America calls "Bullsh*t"

ABC News: Poll: Many Doubt White House Cooperation in CIA Leak Probe:

Just a quarter of Americans think the White House is fully cooperating in the federal investigation of the leak of a CIA operative's identity, a number that's declined sharply since the investigation began. And three-quarters say that if presidential adviser Karl Rove was responsible for leaking classified information, it should cost him his job.

Skepticism about the administration's cooperation has jumped. As the initial investigation began in September 2003, nearly half the public, 47 percent, believed the White House was fully cooperating. That fell to 39 percent a few weeks later, and it's lower still, 25 percent, in this new ABC News poll.

Gee, look... the MSM gets a backbone, and the American public finally wakes up to the fact that the Bush administration has been lying to them.

Bet that today's shifting of the goal posts by Dubya will not go over well with the public.

Bush: Any Criminals in Leak to Be Fired - Yahoo! News

Bush: Any Criminals in Leak to Be Fired (emphasis mine):

President Bush said Monday that if anyone in his administration committed a crime in connection with the public leak of the identity of an undercover
CIA operative, that person will 'no longer work in my administration.' At the same time, Bush again sidestepped a question on the role of his top political adviser, Karl Rove, in the matter.

So, I guess that someone who just violates the terms of his non-disclosure agreement is "fair game" to play in this administration since it doesn't constitute a "crime"? This is such bullsh*t. Whether Karl Rove or I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby actually
committed a crime is irrelevant (besides, anyone who still goes by the nickname of "Scooter" should be automatically disqualified for a role as Cheif of Staff in the WH). Seems to me that they both demonstrated careless indiscretion at the very least in "confirming" classified information. Certainly, this isn't press speculation, but the word of Rove's attorney himself. Rove should be fired for that indiscretion alone.

Furthermore, either Rove and Libby have been lying not only to the American public, but also to the President and Vice President, all this time or else the President and Vice President have known all along and have themselves, through their surrogates, been lying to the American public all this time. No wonder that the President's credibility with the American public has waned significantly in recent months.

Follow the Uranium

Frank Rich nails it:

This case is about Iraq, not Niger. The real victims are the American people, not the Wilsons. The real culprit - the big enchilada, to borrow a 1973 John Ehrlichman phrase from the Nixon tapes - is not Mr. Rove but the gang that sent American sons and daughters to war on trumped-up grounds and in so doing diverted finite resources, human and otherwise, from fighting the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. That's why the stakes are so high: this scandal is about the unmasking of an ill-conceived war, not the unmasking of a C.I.A. operative who posed for Vanity Fair.

Well, duh!

White House's 3rd Stage Guild Navigator

White House Mum on Disclosure in CIA Leak - New York Times:

Recounting a July 11, 2003, conversation with senior Bush political adviser Karl Rove, Cooper recalled that Rove told him, ''I've already said too much'' after revealing that the wife of administration critic Joseph Wilson apparently worked at the CIA.

Reading this reminded me of what the 3rd Stage Guild Navigator said to His Royal Majesty, The Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV in Dune: "We want him killed. I did not say this. I am not here".

Botcher of Baghdad

Hammer Of The Blogs: Last Throe Update:

It's a good thing Bush doesn't care about how history remembers his chronic mismanagement of this country, as well as the rest of the world, because the Middle East has a loooonnng memory, and 1000 years from now, Dubya will probably still be remembered as the Botcher of Baghdad.

Priceless.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I managed to find one of the 6.9 million copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that were sold over the first 24 hours on Saturday afternoon. They seemed to be just about everywhere, although the book stores seemed to have all sold out just after midnight on the 16th. Jenn went down to Barnes and Noble for the midnight release but didn't get there in time for a bracelet. She said the lines were snaked all around inside the store and out onto the sidewalk.

I won't give away any of the book's secrets. But, as with the 5th book, this one was also a bit darker than the first four.

Definitely a good read.

Plame's colleagues blog to her defense

TPMCafe has a post up on larry Johnson's blog that is worth a read:

By Brent Cavan, Jim Marcinkowski, Larry Johnson, and Jane Doe

We trained and worked at the CIA with Valerie Plame. We presented the following statement at a hearing on Capitol Hill in October 2003. In light of the latest White House sanctioned assault on Valerie Plame and her character, our testimony remains relevant and accurate.

[...]

Clearly some in the Bush Administration do not understand the requirement to protect and shield national security assets. Based on published information we can only conclude that partisan politics by people in the Bush Administration overrode the moral and legal obligations to protect clandestine officers and security assets.

Beyond supporting Mrs. Wilson with our moral support and prayers we want to send a clear message to the political operatives responsible for this. You are a traitor and you are our enemy. You should lose your job and probably should go to jail for blowing the cover of a clandestine intelligence officer.

You have set a sickening precedent. You have warned all U.S. intelligence officers that you may be compromised if you are providing information the White House does not like. A precedent, as one colleague pointed out during our brief appearances, allows you to build out a case based on previous legal actions and court decisions. It's a slippery slope if it lowers the bar.

Clearly, these guys are pissed. Interestingly, they aren't "liberal weenies" but all registered Republicans. The right-wingnut spin machine is in full gear trying its best to create enough he said, she said noise in the hopes that the American public will tune it out as "politics as usual". This is anything but politics as usual. I sincerely hope that Fitzgerald will deliver the goods so that the guilty are punished. It would be sweet were it to be Rove, but possibly even sweeter if it were someone closer to Darth Cheney. Note that while the leaks around LeakGate focus on Rove and to an extent "Scooter" Libby, there are increasing ties to the State Dept INR (Intellegence and Research) which produced a June 2003 memo that apparently made reference to Valerie Wilson (not Plame) that Powell was lugging around on the trip to Africa. Ask yourself again why it is that the White House refuses to release the names of U.S. personnel that John Bolton requested. Is he tied up in l'affaire Plame? He is, after all, one of Cheney's henchmen and you will note that Bolton's star seems to be fading. Could it be because the WH is afraid that he might be implicated in Fitzgerald's report? Hmmm...

KARL ROVE’S WAR: IT’S ALL ABOUT HIM

Arthur tells it like it is in his essay that highlights aspects of Sidney Blumenthal's article The Light Of Reason:

This is personal pathology writ large, and neurosis swallowing up the gravest matters of national defense, and war and peace. These people are deeply sick, and they need to be stopped. We can only hope that Fitzgerald will stop them, or at the very least slow them down significantly.

Read the whole post, and the Blumenthal article too.

I'm shocked! (again)

Abu Ghraib Tactics Were First Used at Guantanamo:

Interrogators at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, forced a stubborn detainee to wear women's underwear on his head, confronted him with snarling military working dogs and attached a leash to his chains, according to a newly released military investigation that shows the tactics were employed there months before military police used them on detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

The techniques, approved by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld for use in interrogating Mohamed Qahtani -- the alleged '20th hijacker' in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- were used at Guantanamo Bay in late 2002 as part of a special interrogation plan aimed at breaking down the silent detainee.

Military investigators who briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday on the three-month probe, called the tactics 'creative' and 'aggressive' but said they did not cross the line into torture.

The report's findings are the strongest indication yet that the abusive practices seen in photographs at Abu Ghraib were not the invention of a small group of thrill-seeking military police officers. The report shows that they were used on Qahtani several months before the United States invaded Iraq.

The investigation also supports the idea that soldiers believed that placing hoods on detainees, forcing them to appear nude in front of women and sexually humiliating them were approved interrogation techniques for use on detainees.

A central figure in the investigation, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who commanded the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and later helped set up U.S. operations at Abu Ghraib, was accused of failing to properly supervise Qahtani's interrogation plan and was recommended for reprimand by investigators. Miller would have been the highest-ranking officer to face discipline for detainee abuses so far, but Gen. Bantz Craddock, head of the U.S. Southern Command, declined to follow the recommendation.

Well, duh! Any idiot could have figured out that rubes from West Virginia, including one with a learning disability, couldn't have come up on their own with the interrogation tactics that were the subject of the Abu Ghraib photos. I made this point back in December. Yet further evidence that nothing said by this administration is to be believed. Nothing.

The thing that really pisses me off though is that the article does not bother to call the administration on its previous lies that the abuse at Abu Ghraib was just the actions of a small handfull of rogue MPs. Nothing could be further from the truth. Frankly, until the MSM regrows its spine and starts calling the administration on its lies, the American public (or at least the 41% who still believe that Bush is "honest and straightforward") will continue to be mislead and misinformed about the worst. administration. ever.

Worst. Administration. Ever.

Judging by the volume and mendacity of the Republican whirlitzer, I'd say that Rove is toast. What amazes me most though is the depths to which these slimeballs will stoop. Rep. King says that Karl should receive a medal and that it is Russert and others who should be shot. Yes, shot!

The Republican talking points parroted ad nauseum by Republican politicians, FoxNews, the WSJ and various right wing pundits are replete with outright lies. That Wilson said that Cheney authorized his trip (he never said that), that his wife was not a covert agent (the CIA sez otherwise and would not have brought the charges to the AG had she not been covert), and that Rove was merely helping poor old Matt Cooper from making a mistake in writing about Wilson's trip.

These people have no regard for the truth and no regard for national security. They are protecting a scumbag political hack that outed a covert agent of the CIA and likely put in jeopardy anyone of her contacts and any other NOC working for the CIA front just so that they could exact retribution against someone who had the temerity to put the truth before the American public; that the Bush administration was taking us to war based on "fixed" intellegence.

Fortunately, Rove's fate does not lie in the court of public opinion but in the hands of a special prosecutor who unlike Ken Starr, has been heads down doing his job quietly for 18 months. I seriously doubt that he will come away with nothing to show for his efforts.

This has to be the worst. administration. ever.

Dubya, Cheney, Condi, Rummy, Rove and the rest of the cretins in this administration just make me want to puke.

They have eviscerated the nations military, the economy is in the toilet, and what were once our allies are now at best luke warm acquaintances.

One can only hope that the MSM is finally fed up with the administration's bullshit and that the american public is finally awakening from its post 9/11 PTSD to the fact that nothing this administration says is credible. Nothing.

Watch Scottie bob and weave

Crooks and Liars has the video of today's press gaggle. Scottie sez that "mums the word". David Gregory tears him a new one for being such a weasel.

It may come to pass that Rove is found not guilty of criminal charges (although no one would be more deserving of a prison sentence... maybe Jeff/Jim Ganon/Guckert will come by for conjugal visits), but this is sure to prove a distraction of the highest order for the criminals in the White House for the next few months unless Dubya cans the turdblossom.

I am also of the belief that the thread of the administration's lies is starting to unravel. First the DSM, and now commision of treason in order to smear and discredit the one person who had the guts to speak the truth about the lies behind the Niger yellow cake myth.

Digby has about the best analysis of this latest kerfuffle.

What amazes me though is that it took so long for the MSM to grow a spine and start asking some tough questions of this administration. It seems as if, with the preznits polling in the low forties and with the scent of scandal now in the waters, that the gloves are finally off. One would hope that they stay off.

I only wish that they had had the temerity to ask tough questions before the elections.

What a tangled web we weave...

Scottie-boy clams up. I love that the reporter had the audacity to tell Scottie that he didn't answer the question. About damn time that the press corps got a spine.

About time!

RFC4122

Shameless Pandering

Sam want's Apple to wake up and get with the program. I couldn't agree more.

The sixth day

Michael Shermer:

And God created the pongidids and hominids with 98 percent genetic similarity, naming two of them Adam and Eve, who were anatomically fully modern humans. In the book in which God explained how He did all this, in chapter one He said he created Adam and Eve together out of the dust at the same time, but in chapter two He said He created Adam first, then later created Eve out of one of Adam’s ribs. This caused further confusion in the valley of the shadow of doubt, so God created Bible scholars and theologians to argue the point.

And in the ground placed He in abundance teeth, jaws, skulls, and pelvises of transitional fossils from pre-Adamite creatures. One he chose as his special creation He named Lucy. And God realized this was confusing, so he created paleoanthropologists to sort it out. And just as He was finishing up the loose ends of the creation God realized that Adam’s immediate descendants who lived as farmers and herders would not understand inflationary cosmology, global general relativity, quantum mechanics, astrophysics, biochemistry, paleontology, population genetics, and evolutionary theory, so He created creation myths. But there were so many creation stories throughout the land that God realized this too was confusing, so he created anthropologists, folklorists, and mythologists to settle the issue.

By now the valley of the shadow of doubt was overrunneth with skepticism, so God became angry, so angry that God lost His temper and cursed the first humans, telling them to go forth and multiply (but not in those words). They took God literally and 6,000 years later there are six billion humans. And the evening and morning were the sixth day.

By now God was tired, so God said, "Thank me its Friday," and He made the weekend. It was a good idea.

ROFL!

Read the whole piece.

The sad thing is that there are actually people who believe the American Taliban's propaganda of "creationism" "intellegent design". I found it fascinating to note that the third definition of the word: "propaganda" derives from the Roman Catholic Church. The Wikipedia reference:

The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Congregatio pro Gentium Evangelizatione) is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsibile for missionary work and related activities. It is perhaps better known by its former title, the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide). Renamed by Pope John Paul II in 1982, its mission continues unbroken. The word "propaganda" found in many modern languages derives from the name of the Congregation and its mission; it did not acquire its negative connotations until the nationalistic propaganda campaigns of World War I.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

The church has always been fearful of science because it tended to inconveniently contradict the Bible (or at least the clerical interpretations of it) and thus had a tendancy to undermine the church's authority (can't have the faithful begin to question the church's authority because of a few inconvenient facts, now can we). This battle being waged in the Boards of Education throughout the red states is all about reasserting authority over the masses. It is no different than the persecution of Galileo by the Roman Catholic Church (emphasis mine):

But by far the most terrible champion who now appeared was Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, one of the greatest theologians the world has known. He was earnest, sincere, and learned, but insisted on making science conform to Scripture. The weapons which men of Bellarmin's stamp used were purely theological. They held up before the world the dreadful consequences which must result to Christian theology were the heavenly bodies proved to revolve about the Sun and not about the Earth. Their most tremendous dogmatic engine was the statement that "his pretended discovery vitiates the whole Christian plan of salvation." Father Lecazre declared "it casts suspicion on the doctrine of the incarnation." Others declared, "It upsets the whole basis of theology. If the Earth is a planet, and only one among several planets, it can not be that any such great things have been done specially for it as the Christian doctrine teaches. If there are other planets, since God makes nothing in vain, they must be inhabited; but how can their inhabitants be descended from Adam? How can they trace back their origin to Noah's ark? How can they have been redeemed by the Saviour?" Nor was this argument confined to the theologians of the Roman Church; Melanchthon, Protestant as he was, had already used it in his attacks on Copernicus and his school.
(White, 1898; online text)

[...]

According to Andrew Dickson White, in A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (III.iii), 1896, Galileo's experiences demonstrate a classic case of a scholar forced to recant a scientific insight because it offended powerful, conservative forces in society: for the church at the time, it was not the scientific method that should be used to find truth—especially in certain areas— but the doctrine as interpreted and defined by church scholars, and White documented how this doctrine was defended by the Church with torture, murder, deprivation of freedom, and censorship.

Floyd at Live8

Crooks and Liars has a QT of "Wish You Were Here" from the Live8 concert in London. The C&L link lead me to the AOL feed which apparently doesn't support Firefox:

Attention Firefox Users:
Currently AOL Radio does not support Firefox. Please come back next month, when Firefox support will be available.

Sigh.

Oh well, it was good to see the reunited Pink Floyd members, if only for that one song.

The Stain of Torture

In today's WaPo, Dr. Burton Lee III writes an op-ed that is a must read. The Stain of Torture:

Having served as a doctor in the Army Medical Corps early in my career and as presidential physician to George H.W. Bush for four years, I might be expected to bring a skeptical and partisan perspective to allegations of torture and abuse by U.S. forces. I might even be expected to join those who, on the one hand, deny that U.S. personnel have engaged in systematic use of torture while, on the other, claiming that such abuse is justified. But I cannot do so.

[...]

I urge my fellow health professionals to join me and many others in reaffirming our ethical commitment to prevent torture; to clearly state that systematic torture, sanctioned by the government and aided and abetted by our own profession, is not acceptable. As health professionals, we should support the growing calls for an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate torture in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, and demand restoration of ethical standards that protect physicians, nurses, medics and psychologists from becoming facilitators of abuse.

America cannot continue down this road. Torture demonstrates weakness, not strength. It does not show understanding, power or magnanimity. It is not leadership. It is a reaction of government officials overwhelmed by fear who succumb to conduct unworthy of them and of the citizens of the United States.

More on Barriers to Interoperability

From my dWorks blog:

Sam Ruby: Undecipherable Specification Error:

Admittedly, this is just three data points, but I really don’t like the trend I’m seeing.

Indeed, the problem is not limited to the syndication space. Frankly, I don't see this as a trend, but (unfortunately) as business as usual. However, that doesn't make it right.

Tom Glover has been posting on the topic of Barriers to Interoperability and I think that much of the substance of Sam's post, and many of the comments that ensue, is a classic exemplar of some of Tom's points.

read more...

25th Amendment

The most recent Zogby International Poll reports Bush's approval rating sinking another point from 44% to 43% despite his pep rally at Fort Bragg. However, what is most striking is that 42% feel that aWol should be impeached if he lied to goad the country into supporting the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq:

A large majority of Democrats (59%) say they agree that the President should be impeached if he lied about Iraq, while just three-in-ten (30%) disagree. Among President Bush’s fellow Republicans, a full one-in-four (25%) indicate they would favor impeaching the President under these circumstances, while seven-in-ten (70%) do not. Independents are more closely divided, with 43% favoring impeachment and 49% opposed.

Of course, the problem with this course of action is that Darth Cheney would then become president. Sure, we could impeach him too, but that would leave us with Denny Hastert, Speaker of the House as president (blech). I can't think of anything more depressing at the moment.