Reason # 18,435 to hate Bush

[TrailBate]

I think it's more like a case of apathy, my view of politics is very simplistic; Those with the dough make the rules, always have, always will. You'll never change it, never.
And finally I could care less which "club" you belong to. :'(


it's apathy that is getting thousands of people killed, and ruining this country.

[vinnycactus]

were you guys around during the Vietnam conflict?

[kernel crash]

"Kerry, Kennedy and Frank here from me all the time..... "

Talk about preaching to the choir. There's a sad bunch right there. Hey did you see Kennedy do the backstroke when he was questioned about his membership to a club that doesn't allow women? (And you though he wan't a good swimmer). Andy Hillier asked him "why would you belong to a club like that?" Kennedy said well I uh, I uh, well if that's true, I uh, I, I would have to quit that club. What a two face idiot! Hey Trailbait. Why don't you write Teddy another letter and ask him how he could belong to such a club or does that not fit your agenda.

[stich]

LOL!

[FriedRys]

Jeez, you'd think a smoking gun of that caliber would get more mainstream press. ::)

[TrailBate]

"Kerry, Kennedy and Frank here from me all the time..... "

Talk about preaching to the choir. There's a sad bunch right there. Hey did you see Kennedy do the backstroke when he was questioned about his membership to a club that doesn't allow women? (And you though he wan't a good swimmer). Andy Hillier asked him "why would you belong to a club like that?" Kennedy said well I uh, I uh, well if that's true, I uh, I, I would have to quit that club. What a two face idiot! Hey Trailbait. Why don't you write Teddy another letter and ask him how he could belong to such a club or does that not fit your agenda.


Hey, they are my reps and senators, who else should I write to? So what if he belonged to a men's only club? They exist, you know. I have no problem with that. How about the anti-women, anti-black club Alito belonged to?

[TrailBate]

Jeez, you'd think a smoking gun of that caliber would get more mainstream press. ::)


Maybe once they find George W's spooge on Harriett Miers' dress, something will happen.

[stich]

Nah, that only happens to Democrats :-*

[GeepNutt]

"Kerry, Kennedy and Frank here from me all the time..... "

Talk about preaching to the choir. There's a sad bunch right there. Hey did you see Kennedy do the backstroke when he was questioned about his membership to a club that doesn't allow women? (And you though he wan't a good swimmer). Andy Hillier asked him "why would you belong to a club like that?" Kennedy said well I uh, I uh, well if that's true, I uh, I, I would have to quit that club. What a two face idiot! Hey Trailbait. Why don't you write Teddy another letter and ask him how he could belong to such a club or does that not fit your agenda.


Hey, they are my reps and senators, who else should I write to? So what if he belonged to a men's only club? They exist, you know. I have no problem with that. How about the anti-women, anti-black club Alito belonged to?


No no no..... Kennedy didn't belong to that club, he just sent $100 a year to them. ;D

[TrailBate]

Nah, that only happens to Democrats :-*


Well, there was Newt Gingrich, who was having his own affair while he was going after Clinton's affair....

[Mr_Cheeze]

Jeez, you'd think a smoking gun of that caliber would get more mainstream press. ::)


Maybe once they find George W's spooge on Harriett Miers' dress, something will happen.


Imagery like that I don't need during lunch.

[FriedRys]

Jeez, you'd think a smoking gun of that caliber would get more mainstream press. ::)


Maybe once they find George W's spooge on Harriett Miers' dress, something will happen.
Yeah, maybe, but I bet G.W. has the good taste to go after a better looking broad than Monica.

[TrailBate]

Lebanon and the Palestinians now have democratically elected terrorist groups.

Funny how we don't hear Bush take credit for "spreading democracy" in the Middle east anymore.....

[Rych]

Lebanon and the Palestinians now have democratically elected terrorist groups.

Funny how we don't hear Bush take credit for "spreading democracy" in the Middle east anymore.....


Its not like this has not happened before...ie Sinn Fein

[Mr_Cheeze]

Hitler was democratically elected, also. Only goes to show that hate is a dangerously powerful political tool.

So I guess this means we'll likely be upping our already pornographically large amount of aid to Israel to unprecedented levels. The Jewish lobby just became that much more powerful an entity.

[TrailBate]

CNN on Bush's Budget:

"..But among the losers were 141 government programs that Bush sought to sharply reduce or eliminate entirely. Almost one-third of the targeted programs are in education including ones that provide money to support the arts, vocational education, parent resource centers and drug-free schools.

"My administration has focused the nation's resources on our highest priority -- protecting our citizens and our homeland," Bush said in his budget message."

Yep, we'll all be safe and secure, but we'll be frickin retarded. "duh, what's that there constitution thingy? Bill of rights? I don't need no more bills to pay!"

[Rych]

Can Laura Bush cause a man to burst into flames?

[catbbq]

Can Laura Bush cause a man to burst into flames?


Only makes sense. G.W. can cause hurricanes, so it only makes sense Laura is pyrokinetic.

http://ia.imdb.com/media/imdb/01/I/52/64/81m.jpg

[TrailBate]

Another one of Bush's cronies not actually qualified for his job:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/politics/08nasa.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Big Bang is just a theory. Evolution is just a theory. The constitution is just a theory. Freedom is a myth.

[Slider]

So Libby was only following orders when he outed Plame. You think it will be tracked all the way to the very top, right on up to Rove? ;D

This is fun, and getting more fun all the time. Someday, one of those who complain about all this focus on the Bush administration will say "Gee, you guys were right all along." But I won't hold my breath.

Unfortunately, the Republicans in both corrupt houses are only slowly coming on board. It may take too long for us to see a REAL impeachment trail, centering on issues of national security.

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February 10, 2006
Ex-Cheney Aide Testified Leak Was Ordered, Prosecutor Says
By NEIL A. LEWIS
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — I. Lewis Libby Jr., the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, told a grand jury that he was authorized by his "superiors" to disclose classified information to reporters about Iraq's weapons capability in June and July 2003, according to a document filed by a federal prosecutor.

The document shows that Mr. Libby, known as Scooter, was actively engaged in the Bush administration's public relations effort to rebut complaints that there was little evidence to support the claim that Saddam Hussein possessed or sought weapons of mass destruction, which was used to justify the invasion of Iraq.

The document is part of the prosecutors' case against Mr. Libby, who has been indicted on charges that he lied about his role in exposing the identity of a C.I.A. operative to journalists.

The prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, said in a letter to Mr. Libby's lawyers last month that Mr. Libby had testified before the grand jury that "he had contacts with reporters in which he disclosed the content of the National Intelligence Estimate ('NIE')," that discussed Iraq's nuclear weapons capability. "We also note that it is our understanding that Mr. Libby testified that he was authorized to disclose information about the NIE to the press by his superiors."

Mr. Libby was indicted on five counts of perjury and obstruction of justice last October in what Mr. Fitzgerald has charged was a willful misleading of investigators about his role in exposing Valerie Wilson as an officer of the Central Intelligence Agency. Ms. Wilson is the wife of Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador who had accused the administration of twisting intelligence about Iraq's efforts to buy uranium from the government of Niger.

Ms. Wilson's identity was first disclosed in a column by Robert D. Novak in July 2003, just after Mr. Wilson wrote an Op-Ed column in The New York Times saying he had investigated the Niger claim and found little evidence to support it. Mr. Wilson charged that destroying his wife's undercover status was a way to discredit him and his assertions.

The prosecutor's note of Jan. 23 does not, however, make any reference to Mr. Libby's involvement in the disclosure of Ms. Wilson's identity. It seems, rather, to be part of an effort by the prosecutor to demonstrate that Mr. Libby was engaged in using secret information to press the administration's case at the same time that Ms. Wilson's identity was leaked to reporters.

The letter was first reported Thursday by the National Journal, which said its sources had identified that one of the superiors was Mr. Cheney.

The National Intelligence Estimate, which was done in October 2002, said that Iraq "will probably have a nuclear weapon during this decade," but it included some dissenting views. The report was classified.

But amid doubts about the rationale for the invasion of Iraq some of which were attributable to Mr. Wilson's Op-Ed article, the administration declassified the report on July 18.

Mr. Fitzgerald said in his letter that Mr. Libby discussed the contents of the classified report in a July 8 meeting — 10 days before it was declassified — with Judith Miller, then a reporter at The Times. Ms. Miller, who spent 85 days in jail before agreeing to testify in the leak case, has told the grand jury that Mr. Libby told her about Ms. Wilson at the same meeting.

Mr. Fitzgerald said that Mr. Libby's testimony showed how Ms. Wilson's status was disclosed. "Our anticipated basis for offering such evidence is that such facts are inextricably intertwined with the narrative of the events of spring, 2003, as Libby's testimony itself makes plain," he wrote.

Mr. Libby's lawyers have already suggested they will mount a defense in which they will not challenge the charge that he made misstatements about how he learned of Ms. Wilson's identity and whether he shared that information with reporters. They have said that any statements he made to investigators that might have been untrue were the result of his preoccupation with many serious matters of national security at the time.



Copyright 2006The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top

[TrailBate]

Abramoff is also talking about how often he met with Bush.

[Slider]

No! That can't be!

Bush has said many times that he can't remember meeting with Abramoff. We all know, George W. Bush DOES NOT LIE!!!

Get a grip, Trailbait. I mean, really.

Slider

[TrailBate]

Have you guys seen the latest defense of the Plame leak? Cheney says he has the authority to "unilaterally declassify" information. So, if Cheney leaked Plame's identity, it's perfectly legal, cuz the VP can leak what he wants!

I love this administrations view that they can pretty much do whatever they want, because they were elected.

[FriedRys]

Have you guys seen the latest defense of the Plame leak? Cheney says he has the authority to "unilaterally declassify" information. So, if Cheney leaked Plame's identity, it's perfectly legal, cuz the VP can leak what he wants!

I love this administrations view that they can pretty much do whatever they want, because they were elected.
Just look at it this way, if the Dems get the power back they can pull the same tricks and site Dr Evil as precedent. Now calm down, two more years and you get another shot.

[Rych]

Interesting. I wonder if, BIG IF, this report proves to be true we can put thr Bush lied about WMD to bed?
If the report is true, then I guess it can be said that we are less safe now since we do not know where these WMDs are.



Intelligence Summit to Air 'Saddam's WMD Tapes'
By Monisha Bansal
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
February 15, 2006

See Related Story: Secret Saddam WMD Tapes Subject of ABC Nightline Special

(CNSNews.com) - Reportedly armed with 12 hours of Saddam Hussein's audio recordings, the organizers of an upcoming "Intelligence Summit" are describing the tapes as the "smoking gun evidence" that the Iraqi dictator possessed weapons of mass destruction in the period leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which according to the New York Sun has already authenticated the Saddam tapes, has reopened its investigation into the possible existence and location of the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD). But some long-time liberal skeptics are showing no inclination to change their minds.

In the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003, the Bush administration argued that the war was necessary as a preemptive strike because the Iraqi president had WMD and there was a danger that he would use them against the United States.

On Oct. 6, 2004, Charles Duelfer, advisor to the director of Central Intelligence on Iraqi weapons, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Saddam did not have WMD at the time of the invasion and that the weapons were likely destroyed following the first Persian Gulf War in 1991. On Jan. 12, 2005, the U.S. announced that is was stopping its search for the weapons in Iraq.

But a four-day Intelligence Summit, to be held Feb. 17-20 in Arlington, Va., is re-igniting the debate over the Iraqi WMD. The featured discussion, on Saturday, Feb. 18, is titled: "Saddam's WMD Tapes: 'The Smoking Gun' Evidence." The agenda for the event indicates that the person who will speak about the tapes is at this point "anonymous."

The New York Sun on Feb. 7 reported that Rep. Peter Hoekstra's (R-Mich.) committee had obtained the audio tapes from former federal prosecutor John Loftus. According to the report, Loftus received the tapes "from a former American military intelligence analyst." Loftus is president of the Intelligence Summit, which is a yearly gathering of experts in the fields of counter-terrorism and intelligence gathering.

Jodie Evans of the anti-war group Code Pink, however, told Cybercast News Service that she does not think the Saddam recordings will lead to any new information. The government, according to Evans, has "said a lot of things for a long time."

"There's a difference between what they've been saying and what's real, and when they find something real, I'll comment."

Danny Schechter, author and producer of the film version of "Embedded: Weapons of Mass Deception," said he is "weary of these intercepts."

"Nobody denies that Saddam Hussein did have a WMD program. The United States knows that, we have the receipts, we supplied some of the initial technology," Schechter said.

But the weapons were destroyed in 1991, after the first Gulf War, he asserted.

"The question is not, did he have a program, but did that program represent a threat to the United States, to England, or to anywhere else," Schechter said. "I would be hesitant about raw intelligence that has not been analyzed, but that is being used in a partisan way by members of Congress," he told Cybercast News Service.

"Saddam Hussein is probably one of the most demonized world leaders, with Dick Cheney a close second," Schechter added.

Saddam is currently on trial in Iraq for ordering the killings of more than 140 Shiite Muslims in 1982. One of his former military advisors and top generals, Georges Sada, has written a book titled: "Saddam's Secrets: How an Iraqi General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussein."

Sada, who is a national security adviser in Iraq's new government, alleges that in June 2002 Saddam transported weapons of mass destruction out of Iraq and into Syria aboard several refitted commercial jets, under the pretense of conducting a humanitarian mission for flood victims.

A Feb. 2 Cybercast News Service article quoted Jamal Ware, the communications director for Rep. Hoekstra as saying that "the chairman has read General Sada's book ... He will meet with General Sada to hear first-hand him laying out the case that this transferal may have happened." The New York Sun article from Feb. 7 indicated that Sada has since met with Hoekstra to talk about the issue.

[Slider]

Pure fantasy, that reads like great disinformation PR.

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[Rych]

Pure fantasy, that reads like great disinformation PR.

Slider
S

Could be. ABC's Nightline is such a friend of the Bush Administration.

[Slider]

I just caught the reference to Danny Schechter. He used to be "Danny Schechter the News Dissector" back before the days of Charles Laquidara on WBCN in Boston. Maybe '72 or so. Cool.

Slider

[TrailBate]

Faux news was all over this last night. They had some guest on Handjob and Colmes talking about the new “smoking gun” that Saddam had WMD’s. Alan “I’m not a liberal, I just play one on Faux” Colmes tried to ask him a question, and the guy was just like “no, I’m not going to answer any of your questions. I’m not going to let you invalidate this.”
This guy would not stop talking to let Alan say anything. Finally Alan said the tapes were from 1995, and the other guy says. “so?”
Alan said, “so they were gone by the time Bush wanted to invade.”

Funny stuff.

[Rych]

Alan said, “so they were gone by the time Bush wanted to invade.”

Funny stuff.



What do they mean by gone? Gone to Syria? Gone to a hole in the desert? Chemical weapons cannot just be flushed down the toilet.

[TrailBate]

Alan said, “so they were gone by the time Bush wanted to invade.”

Funny stuff.



What do they mean by gone? Gone to Syria? Gone to a hole in the desert? Chemical weapons cannot just be flushed down the toilet.




Gone. as in Iraq doesn't have any. and Bush knew it.

let's say they went to Syria. Will you support an invasion of Syria?

[Rych]

let's say they went to Syria. Will you support an invasion of Syria?


Its too broad a question. If you asking if we should invade and stay and build a democracy there...no. If you asking if our military rolls through Syria, looks for WMD, and is out before the end of spring training, then maybe. The fact is there are a lot of terrorist states out there and we can't afford to rebuild them all.

[Slider]

Can't find a more revealing story about Bush, his policies, and his complete ease in talking out both sides of his mouth than this one.

State of the Union: We need research into alternative energy

The NEXT day: The National Renewable Energy Laboratory announces large layoffs due to $28million in Bush funding cuts

Last week, with a Bush visit imminent, he gave them back $5 million

Policy by spin control is all we got these days.

Slider

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

February 22, 2006
Bush Admits to 'Mixed Signals' Regarding Laboratory on Renewable Energy
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
GOLDEN, Colo., Feb. 21 — President Bush acknowledged on Tuesday that his administration had sent "mixed signals" to the Department of Energy's primary renewable energy laboratory here, where government budget cuts forced the layoff of 32 employees who were then hastily reinstated just before Mr. Bush's visit.

"I recognize that there has been some interesting, let me say, mixed signals when it comes to funding," Mr. Bush said at the start of a panel discussion at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which researches solar and wind power as well as energy from plants, like ethanol.

Mr. Bush added: "The issue of course is whether or not good intentions are met with actual dollars spent. Part of the issue we face, unfortunately, is that there are sometimes decisions made as a result of the appropriations process, where money may not end up where it is supposed to have gone."

The president was referring to an embarrassing sidelight of his State of the Union address on Jan. 31, when he called for new research into alternative energy to help wean the nation from its century-old oil habit. But the next day the laboratory announced that a $28 million budget cut was forcing it to lay off researchers in ethanol and wind technology, two of the areas that Mr. Bush cited in his address as full of promise.

This past weekend, with Mr. Bush's visit to the laboratory looming, the Energy Department announced that it had transferred $5 million back into the laboratory's budget and that the 32 employees would be reinstated.

"My message to those who work here is, we want you to know how important your work is," Mr. Bush said. "We appreciate what you're doing. And we expect you to keep doing it. And we want to help you keep doing it."

Managers at the laboratory began calling the employees back on Monday, a holiday, and phone calls were continuing on Tuesday. None of the employees were back at work in time for the president's visit, said a laboratory spokesman, George Douglas.

"Human Resources had to figure out how to do this," Mr. Douglas said in an interview as Mr. Bush shook the hands of employees. "There was some paperwork. We've never done this before — let people go and then hire them back in two weeks."

Mr. Douglas said the laboratory still faced a $23 million shortfall for the 2006 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, with its total annual budget now at $179 million. As cost-cutting measures, he said, the laboratory planned to cut back on subcontractors, employee travel and conferences.

Mr. Bush's appearance at the laboratory came at the end of a two-day, three-state tour, to Wisconsin, Michigan and Colorado, to try to focus Americans' attention on the alternative energy proposals he set forth in his State of the Union address. In that speech, Mr. Bush declared that the United States is "addicted to oil" and proposed that the government spend more money on research into ethanol, solar and wind power and battery- and hydrogen-powered cars.

"I think part of this deal today is to help develop national will," Mr. Bush said in the panel discussion, when he was flanked by seven White House-selected energy specialists who backed up his ideas.

Members of both parties generally praise the president's proposals, although Democrats say they are not adequate to address the nation's dependence on oil and Republicans are skeptical about the practicality of alternative fuels like ethanol, which is made from corn or plant fibers.

Mr. Bush was a voice of optimism on the panel, where he tried to cut through the scientific jargon and nudge the experts into nontechnical sound bites for the local news.

When Dan Arvizu, the director of the laboratory, went into a complicated explanation about a new form of ethanol made from wood fiber, Mr. Bush interjected: "I think what he's saying is one of these days, we're going to take wood chips, put them through the factory, and it's going to be fuel you can put in your car. Is that right?"

"That's absolutely true," Mr. Arvizu replied.

"That's the difference between the Ph.D. and a C student," Mr. Bush said, referring to his well-known grade-point average in college.

[MissJean]

...Bush, his policies, and his complete ease in talking out both sides of his mouth than this one.

State of the Union: We need research into alternative energy

The NEXT day: The National Renewable Energy Laboratory announces large layoffs due to $28million in Bush funding cuts

Last week, with a Bush visit imminent, he gave them back $5 million




Hmmm, could it be Bush is flip flopping?

But, I guess he's flopping in the right direction at least.

[Slider]

Today, at least, and not flopping as far as he previously flipped. More flop than flip, definitely.

Slider

[Rych]

I'm surprised you lefties aren't jumping on Bush for the UAE port deal....I guess it's because this is something we'd all agree on.

[Slider]

That one needs no help from the left. Both sides of the aisle see it as a bonehead move.

Slider

[TrailBate]

I think it's a great idea. Who better to protect us from terrorists than a country that has ties with terrorists?

It's like when Muslims riot, they only attack non-muslims, right? So terrorists will leave these ports alone.

Besides, there is not point in complaining. Bush will just veto any attempt to block it. You guys really should not undermine the President during a time of war. Why do you hate America so much? I'm going to report you guys to Homeland Security for sedition. Have fun in Gitmo, you commie bastards!

[TrailBate]

I'm actually more interested in watching Iraq tear itself apart. Nice job Bush! How's that "spreading of freedom and democracy" going? I won't even mention the Palestinians.....

you know, I used to cringe whenever a far left wing wacko would say Iraq was better off under Saddam, but in many ways, it really was.

[catbbq]

I'm actually more interested in watching Iraq tear itself apart. Nice job Bush! How's that "spreading of freedom and democracy" going? I won't even mention the Palestinians.....

you know, I used to cringe whenever a far left wing wacko would say Iraq was better off under Saddam, but in many ways, it really was.


But you've never had a problem being a far left wing wacko, so that makes sense.

[TrailBate]

For Bush bots, a left wing wacko is a blanket label for anyone who opposes Bush, since republicans can't face the truth.

But if my alternative is to be an oppressive traitorous anti-constitution perverted Christian right wing fascist war criminal, I guess i'll be happy with the left wing wacko.

[Mr_Cheeze]

For Bush bots, a left wing wacko is a blanket label for anyone who opposes Bush, since republicans can't face the truth.



This statement might hold some credibility if you had never shown the penchant for blanket labeling anyone with an opposing or non-Bush-hating viewpoint as either a Republican or Bush backer. Slider is even more guilty in this regard.

[TrailBate]

For Bush bots, a left wing wacko is a blanket label for anyone who opposes Bush, since republicans can't face the truth.



This statement might hold some credibility if you had never shown the penchant for blanket labeling anyone with an opposing or non-Bush-hating viewpoint as either a Republican or Bush backer. Slider is even more guilty in this regard.


There's a difference between calling somebody a Republican or Bush backer/bot, and calling someone a "wacko."

I think there's a 99.99% chance that if you support just about any of Bush's controversial moves these past 5 years, you are a Republican or Bush backer, no?

I'm definately a liberal. No doubt about it. Which of my viewpoints earns me the title of "wacko"?

[catbbq]

you know, I used to cringe whenever a far left wing wacko would say Iraq was better off under Saddam, but in many ways, it really was.


This one.

[TrailBate]

you know, I used to cringe whenever a far left wing wacko would say Iraq was better off under Saddam, but in many ways, it really was.


This one.


In what ways is Iraq better off now? Iraq was one of the best educated countries in the region, with the lowest unemployment. They had electricity, clean water. They had no car bombs or terrorist attacks. No Mosque bombings, no religious killings. They are still getting tortured and arrested without charges. They had low fuel prices, now they sometimes have to wait in line for days for gas.

So how is Iraq better off now?

[Slider]

This statement might hold some credibility if you had never shown the penchant for blanket labeling anyone with an opposing or non-Bush-hating viewpoint as either a Republican or Bush backer. Slider is even more guilty in this regard.


Non Bush-haters are inattentive, unintelligent, pro-fascist, or in on the Grand Fleece somehow. Republicanism is optional, but not required. Some of my best friends are Republicans. And lots of them hate Bush too.

Slider

[TrailBate]

don't forget "paranoid."

[Rych]

For Bush bots, a left wing wacko is a blanket label for anyone who opposes Bush, since republicans can't face the truth.

But if my alternative is to be an oppressive traitorous anti-constitution perverted Christian right wing fascist war criminal, I guess i'll be happy with the left wing wacko.

joe lieberman is not a left wing wacko, but you're no joe lieberman.


Don't forget the term moonbat.

[TrailBate]

joe lieberman is not even a democrat.

[Mr_Cheeze]

This statement might hold some credibility if you had never shown the penchant for blanket labeling anyone with an opposing or non-Bush-hating viewpoint as either a Republican or Bush backer. Slider is even more guilty in this regard.


Non Bush-haters are inattentive, unintelligent, pro-fascist, or in on Slider


You see, this is the kind of condescending crap that pisses people off. Hey, everybody should be hateful like me or else they're just stupid and ignorant. Take a pill.

You ever think that the non-haters are just not hateful? Or maybe they just don't look at the world in black and white terms. Here is where we have the middle ground. Maybe you've heard of it. Those of us who can discern the Bush is a poor President.. without having the ever-enlightened liberal elite tell us as much at every term... while maintaining a sense of equanimity about politics in general. The problem with the hard liberal Democrat is his seeming inability to understand, or more likely ignorance of, the fundamental problems with their own party's contribution to the nature of big politics, as if Republicans have a monopoly on bullheadedness, corruption, and bad decision making. Hardly.

One thing you can say about the GOP, they are much better organized and capable of presenting ideas to the American people, as evidenced by the last several election cycles. Perhaps many of those ideas are bad, but at least they have them. Tell me, who is going to carry the torch for the Democrats in 2008? Is it going to be another Gore or Kerry with lots of negative rhetoric but no real ideas on how to run the country? Seems to me like nobody is in any great hurry to put their name out there. Why not? Here we have a very vulnerable George Bush, and by extension, Republican party and nobody is willing to say, hey, start thinking of me now. I'm going to do this about Iraq, and that about fossil fuels. Why? Because they have no ideas on what to do about any of that. All they have is how everyone should have health insurance. Great. Super. Just what this country needs, another entitlement program, because how can that possibly be a bad thing? It's for the children!

Yea, now I'm rambling. Then again, Slider, that's all I ever do, right?

[TrailBate]

Gee, Cheeze, you didn't fly off the handle like this when I was called a "wacko". hmmm, wonder why....?

As for ideas, it's true the Democrats don't seem to have any. (although securing our ports was one of them.)

But I laugh at this argument that "at least Republicans have ideas." yeah, they spy on american, but at least it's an IDEA. They lie to invade countries, but at least it's an IDEA. Republicans have done nothing to improve this country.

[Slider]

You ever think that the non-haters are just not hateful? Or maybe they just don't look at the world in black and white terms.


Your post represents very well exactly why we got stuck with a treasonous, profiteering moron like Bush as president. Like most Americans, you want there to be AN ANSWER. Terrorists burnt us bad, ratchet up the domestic spying. Saddam is a bad guy, make a war. Want to get a war-trashed economy back on track, cut taxes.

Unfortunately, in all three cases, the responses, while easy to describe, comprehend and sell to a desperate people, have nothing to contribute to solving the problem. We had plenty of advance intelligence on al Queda, whatever threat Saddam posed was certainly not worth the lives and dollars we’ve spent in Iraq, and the tax cuts have only increased our frightening deficit and done nothing to boost the economy.

Recent Republican success lies in the central idea embraced by marketers everywhere: There’s a sucker born every minute. Offer those suckers pat solutions to grossly over-simplified problems, and they’ll feel all warm and cozy, and vote their liberty away. The problem is simple: There are no simple problems.

The Democrat’s failure lies in their embrace of issues that are not so simple as stopping homosexual marriage. The world is a complex place, but getting elected means ignoring that fact, finding some inane hot-button issue, then pressing it all day. The Dems may have to sell their souls, as Rove et al did long ago, if they want to get us off this insane merry-go-round that Bush has placed us on. I hope not. More likely, the American people will simply see that simple solutions didn’t work, and it is time to get back to diplomacy, intelligence gathering, and economic support for the third world, and things should get better over time.

Meanwhile, even the Republicans are starting to question the Bush administration, on many levels. I’m hoping that even their policy making will come around to the real world, and we can start cooperating again to make it better for all of us.

So you want to point fingers, start looking at yourself. I see a far greyer world than you do. Unfortunately for your argument, the evil that Bush represents is more stark than most.

Slider

[TrailBate]

The Port plot thickens....



DOBBS: President Bush's family and members of the Bush administration have long-standing business connections with the United Arab Emirates, and those connections are raising new concerns and questions tonight in some quarters about why the president is defying his very own party leadership and his party in defending the Dubai port deal.

CHRISTINE ROMANS: The oil-rich United Arab Emirates is a major investor in The Carlyle Group, the private equity investment firm where President Bush's father once served as senior adviser and is a who's who of former high-level government officials. Just last year, Dubai International Capital, a government-backed buyout firm, invested in an $8 billion Carlyle fund.

Another family connection, the president's brother, Neil Bush, has reportedly received funding for his educational software company from the UAE investors. A call to his company was not returned.

Then there is the cabinet connection. Treasury Secretary John Snow was chairman of railroad company CSX/. After he left the company for the White House, CSX sold its international port operations to Dubai Ports World for more than a billion dollars.

In Connecticut today, Snow told reporters he had no knowledge of that CSX sale. "I learned of this transaction probably the same way members of the Senate did, by reading about it in the newspapers."

Another administration connection, President Bush chose a Dubai Ports World executive to head the U.S. Maritime Administration. David Sanborn, the former director of Dubai Ports' European and Latin American operations, he was tapped just last month to lead the agency that oversees U.S. port operations.

[FriedRys]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/25/business/worldbusiness/25terminal.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/24/AR2006022401810.html






And just for the record, I think it's stupid, moronic, idiotic, jackass, halfwit, slackwit, dimwit move to even suggest this.

[TrailBate]

And just for the record, I think it's stupid, moronic, idiotic, jackass, halfwit, slackwit, dimwit move to even suggest this.


So, have you come up with some ways Iraq is better off now than with Saddam?

How about this one: Iraq's only "battle ready" troops are..well.. not so much

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/24/iraq.security/index.html


I guess that's expected when Bush says we're making progress, turning corners, etc etc.

[Rych]

Bush gives $7 Billion Kiss to The oil industry

…The big issue going forward is whether companies should be exempted from paying royalties even when energy prices are at historic highs.
In general, the Interior Department has always insisted that companies would not be entitled to royalty relief if market prices for oil and gas climbed above certain trigger points.
Those trigger points — currently about $35 a barrel for oil and $4 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas — have been exceeded for the last several years and are likely to stay that way for the rest of the decade.
So why is the amount of royalty-free gas and oil expected to double over the next five years?
The biggest reason is that the Bush administration, apparently worried about the continued lack of interest in new drilling, waived the price triggers for all leases awarded in 2000 and 2001.
At the same time, many oil and gas companies contend that Congress never authorized the Interior Department to set price thresholds for any deepwater leases awarded between 1996 and 2000.
The dispute has been simmering for months, with some industry executives warning the Bush administration that they would sue the government if it tried to demand royalties.
Last week, the fight broke out into the open. The Interior Department announced that 41 oil companies had improperly claimed more than $500 million in royalty relief for 2004.

[TrailBate]

"To clinch a nuclear weapons deal, [Bush] had to give in to demands from the Indian nuclear lobby to exempt large portions of the country’s nuclear infrastructure from international inspection.

With details of the deal still under wraps, it appears that at least one-third of current and planned Indian reactors would be exempt from [International Atomic Energy Agency] inspections and that the president gave into Indian demands for “Indian-specific” inspections that would fall far short of the normal, full-scope inspections originally sought.

Worse, Indian officials have made clear that India alone will decide which future reactors will be kept in the military category and exempt from any safeguards.

The deal endorses and assists India’s nuclear weapons program.

US-supplied uranium fuel would free up India’s limited uranium reserves for fuel that would be burned in these reactors to make nuclear weapons. This would allow India to increase its production from the estimated 6 to 10 additional nuclear bombs per year to several dozen per year."


So we HAD to invade Iraq because they did (not) have nukes, but India is our friend because the nonproliferation agreement does not apply to them.

Pakistan is also our friend even though they are a dictatorship with human rights violations that has sold nukes and/or nuke know-how to Iran and North Korea?

[TrailBate]

Teacher put on leave for criticizing Bush.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/03/03/teacher.bush.ap/index.html

[Rych]

Teacher put on leave for criticizing Bush.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/03/03/teacher.bush.ap/index.html


Ya, that's why he was suspended. It had nothing to do with calling the WTC a valid military target...tell that to the window washers. My guess this was not the only anti-government lecture. The funny thing is I bet this clown of a geography teacher will probably become a professor in the Ivy League where diverse opinions are discouraged.

I wonder if his kids could pass a state capital test?

[TrailBate]

Teacher put on leave for criticizing Bush.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/03/03/teacher.bush.ap/index.html


Ya, that's why he was suspended. It had nothing to do with calling the WTC a valid military target...tell that to the window washers. My guess this was not the only anti-government lecture. The funny thing is I bet this clown of a geography teacher will probably become a professor in the Ivy League where diverse opinions are discouraged.

I wonder if his kids could pass a state capital test?


you must be reading a different article. Whatcha reading? (serious question. no sarcasm. seriously)

[Rych]

Teacher put on leave for criticizing Bush.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/03/03/teacher.bush.ap/index.html


Ya, that's why he was suspended. It had nothing to do with calling the WTC a valid military target...tell that to the window washers. My guess this was not the only anti-government lecture. The funny thing is I bet this clown of a geography teacher will probably become a professor in the Ivy League where diverse opinions are discouraged.

I wonder if his kids could pass a state capital test?


you must be reading a different article. Whatcha reading? (serious question. no sarcasm. seriously)


I heard the tape.

[TrailBate]

Long live democracy!

The Patriot Act renewal passes, which allows, among other things, federal investigators to get access to library, business and medical records without a court order.

damn. okay. Long live the King!

[TrailBate]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/07/eavesdropping/index.html

This is brilliant. If Bush was not breaking any laws, why do the Republicans need to pass a NEW law suddenly making what Bush did legal?

Clinton should have done this. Just pass a bill making BJ's and pergury legal. Case closed!!!

[TrailBate]

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld today presented an upbeat report of the conflict in Iraq and said he agrees with the commander of the U.S.-led coalition, Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., that the news media has exaggerated the number of civilian casualties in the conflict....

"We do know, of course, that al-Qaeda has media committees. We do know that they teach people exactly how to try to manipulate the media. They do this regularly. We see the intelligence that reports on their meetings. Now I can't take a string and tie it to a news report and then trace it back to an al-Qaeda media committee meeting. I'm not able to do that at all.

"We do know that their goal is to try to break the will; that they consider the center of gravity of this -- not to be in Iraq, because they know they can't win a battle out there; they consider it to be in Washington, D.C., and in London and in the capitals of the Western world."


Today, in the Real World:

Gunmen in camouflage uniforms storm private security company offices in Baghdad and kidnap dozens of employees, news agencies report.

and

The bodies of 18 men have been found strangled with their hands tied behind their backs in western Baghdad, an official with Baghdad Emergency Police tells CNN. According to the official, police discovered the bodies in a Kia minibus in the Amiriya neighborhood.


Somebody needs to tell Rummy to just shut the hell up.

[kernel crash]

"Somebody needs to tell Rummy to just shut the hell up."

TrailBait, again what's your point! You seem to present these points as if one contradicts the other. When in fact both of these points are correct. Yes al-Qaeda would like to manipulate the media at home. No surprise there. Are you saying Rumsfeld is lying? And yes there is killing and chaos in Iraq. Men found strangled with their hands tied behind their backs. Kind of reminds you of the scum were dealing with if you ask me. By the way, I don't detect any outrage from you in the discovery of men strangled with their hands tied behind their backs. Yet when Americans dump water on the heads of captured fighters, you get all worked in a lather. Go figure.

[TrailBate]

"Somebody needs to tell Rummy to just shut the hell up."

TrailBait, again what's your point! You seem to present these points as if one contradicts the other. When in fact both of these points are correct. Yes al-Qaeda would like to manipulate the media at home. No surprise there. Are you saying Rumsfeld is lying? And yes there is killing and chaos in Iraq. Men found strangled with their hands tied behind their backs. Kind of reminds you of the scum were dealing with if you ask me. By the way, I don't detect any outrage from you in the discovery of men strangled with their hands tied behind their backs. Yet when Americans dump water on the heads of captured fighters, you get all worked in a lather. Go figure.


Not at all. Rummy is saying things really aren't that bad, and that it's Al Qaida that is manipulating the media. Come to find out, they are also manipulating a lot of dead bodies!!

I get mad no matter who gets killed over there. It's a result of Bush's policies.

I get mad over mistreatment of "terrorists" because there is NO system in place to make sure they are terrorists. Not to mention I hate the fact our country is now a country that shoves glow sticks up foreigner's butts. It's illegal in Alabama, so it should be illegal in Cuba, too!

[kernel crash]

"I get mad no matter who gets killed over there. It's a result of Bush's policies"

So people dying in Iraq is the results of Bush's policies? I guess that would explain the thousands that died in Iraq before Bush was elected to his 1st term.

[TrailBate]

Yes, the people who have died there the past 3 years are Bush's fault. yep.

[FriedRys]

Yes, the people who have died there the past 3 years are Bush's fault. yep.
All of 'em? :o

[TrailBate]

Yes, the people who have died there the past 3 years are Bush's fault. yep.
All of 'em? :o


All Americans and all civilians who have died in violence related activity. yes.

[TrailBate]

I love Vermont:


"In the quaint country community of Newfane, Vermont (near the socialist, Volvo-driving summer camp of my youth), residents have voted overwhelmingly to support impeachment proceedings against George Bush.

Interestingly enough, the town was named for Thomas Fane, "supporter of a 16th-century movement to dethrone Queen Mary." So you can see where the inspiration came from...

The town voted 121-29 for a resolution which, according to John Nichols, states:


Whereas George W. Bush has:


Misled the nation about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction;
Misled the nation about ties between Iraq and Al Quaeda;
Used these falsehoods to lead our nation into war unsupported by international law;
Not told the truth about American policy with respect to the use of torture; and
Has directed the government to engage in domestic spying, in direct contravention of U.S. law.


Therefore, the voters of the town of Newfane ask that our representative to the U.S. House of Representatives file articles of impeachment to remove him from office.

Though Vermont's rep Bernie Sanders calls impeachment "impractical" due to Republican control of congress, other towns are chiming in:

"The surprise came from neighboring communities where, inspired by Newfane's example, citizens demanded that their town meetings address the issue. At least three other Vermont towns -- Dummerston, Marlboro and Putney – voted for impeachment resolutions Tuesday night. Dummerston and Putney in floor votes, while Marlboro voted by paper ballot 60-10 for impeachment."

[off piste]

I love Vermont:



So do I:

http://www.packing.org/state/vermont/

[Mr_Cheeze]

So do We!!!
http://www.fotosearch.com/comp/BDX/BDX335/bxp63139.jpghttp://nlgba.com/images/gayline/gay-couple-14.jpghttp://www.gay-dating-site.com/pics/lesbian-couple-kissing.jpg

[off piste]

So do We!!!


Which one are you?!? ???

[Mr_Cheeze]

So do We!!!


Which one are you?!? ???


The fish sticking its tongue out

[TrailBate]

What Bush Says:

"The situation in Iraq is still tense, and we're still seeing acts of sectarian violence and reprisal," Bush said in a speech in Washington. "Yet out of this crisis, we've also seen signs of a hopeful future."
The attack on the Al-Askariya Mosque, one of the holiest sites to Shiite Muslims, was meant to ignite a civil war between Iraqi Shiites and minority Sunnis, Bush said, but "the Iraqi people made their choice. They looked into the abyss and did not like what they saw."



Reality:

At least 86 bodies were found in Iraq's capital during a 30-hour period ending at midday Baghdad time today, authorities said, raising fears that sectarian reprisal killings are continuing at a grisly pace. Police say 29 of the bodies were found in a shallow grave on the eastern side of the capital in a Shiite neighborhood. Their hands were tied behind their backs and bullets shot through their heads.

[kernel crash]

"They looked into the abyss and did not like what they saw."

That's a great line. Actually ol George might have a point here. If they hadn't looked into the abyss, we might be counting the sectarian violence and reprisal by the hundreds.

Is it my imagination or has the press turned the corner a bit. In the last 2 weeks I've seen more positive stories coming out of Iraq than I've seen in the last 2 years. I've got a theory but I need to see if the trend continues.

[FriedRys]

I think George Bush likes kites. :o


http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/killer-kites-end-pakistans-game-of-death/2006/03/11/1141701733528.html


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11766288/


_________________

[Slider]

Now try to tell us that this isn't a direct result of Bush policies. If I had kids, and voted for the Treasonator, I would have some serious regrets. Kiss their financial security goodbye, for decades, assuming we can stop the idiot from doing further damage.

Slider

----------------------------------
Red Ink Raises Red Flag For U.S.

$9 Trillion Debt Limit Clouds Federal Outlook

By DAVID LIGHTMAN
Washington Bureau Chief

March 17 2006

WASHINGTON -- The federal debt, which for years has been soaring beyond fathomable levels, got permission to grow even more Thursday.

The new debt limit of nearly $9 trillion, approved by the U.S. Senate on a 52-48 vote, gave economic experts new chills - and should give the public renewed reasons to worry about the economic future:

The country will endure about $30,000 in debt for every man, woman and child when the new limit is reached.

When it hits that limit, the debt will have ballooned by $3 trillion since President Bush took office.

The nation's first 42 presidents took 224 years to roll up $1 trillion in foreign-held debt. In the last five years, that foreign-held amount has more than doubled, and promises to keep soaring.

And so on.

The limit was raised by $781 billion. Three Republicans joined one independent and 44 Democrats, including Connecticut Sens. Christopher J. Dodd and Joseph I. Lieberman, in voting no. The House agreed to raise the limit last year.

In a city where talk is cheap, or at least incessant, there was little talk about the debt limit.

"It's a vote no one wants to take," said Adam Hughes, director of federal fiscal policy for OMB Watch, a Washington research group. Democrats hate the debt talk because they get accused of being big spenders. Republicans hate it because they get charged with giving too many tax breaks to rich people.

And lurking behind the finger-pointing is the kind of brutal warning issued by Comptroller General David Walker, an independent analyst not known for hyperbole.

"Continuing on this imprudent and unsustainable fiscal path will gradually erode, if not suddenly damage, our economy," he said, "and ultimately our national security."

But the price of not raising the limit this month was even more frightening. Had Congress not acted by March 24, Social Security checks could have stopped. The United States would have defaulted on its obligations. Foreign investors could have lost confidence in the United States. Federal agencies would have begun plans to shutter their doors.

So while Apocalypse Now has been avoided, there's still the specter of Apocalypse Later. Here's why.

First, the more the debt blizzard continues, the more interest the government has to pay. And the more interest it pays, the less government money is available to spend on other programs - like health care, education, social services and defense.

Second, someone has to buy the securities that help pay off the debt. More and more, those buyers are from foreign countries. The United States now owes Japan $668 billion, China $260 billion, and the United Kingdom $220 billion, to name a few.

That in turn could influence foreign policy. "How are we going to get tough with somebody we owe $660 billion?" asked Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

Third, the more the debt snowballs, the more likely the prospect foreign investors could stop investing. "They could become afraid we won't pay it back," said Hughes.

Fourth, more debt could mean higher taxes - a fairly simple way to pay off the debt.

Finally, more debt usually means consumers wind up paying higher interest rates. The more the government has to borrow to pay for itself, the more it competes with the private sector for money. That competition drives up rates, which represent the cost of money.

That's why politicians stay away from debt debate as if it were a contagious disease. In a week when the smallest nuances of federal spending are being discussed long into the night in both houses, the debt limit got one hour of the Senate's time Thursday.

About the only moment of drama - and it was literally a moment - came when Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., tried to require the Treasury Department to "report on the economic and security implications of our debt to foreigners."

Republicans resisted, saying that adding such language to the bill would mean the House would have to consider it again. "There's no need for it," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. That was that - 43 Democrats and one independent backed Baucus, while all 55 Republicans said no.

The Senate then quickly voted to raise the limit for the fourth time in five years, and afterward, there were none of the usually self-congratulatory press releases or press conferences.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., could only shake his head and move on. "If my Republican friends believe that increasing our debt by almost $800 billion today and more than $3 trillion over the past five years is the right thing to do," he said, "they should be up front about it."

The only reaction from outside the Capitol was a sigh of relief that the government could return to business as usual. Within hours of the Senate vote, the Treasury announced it would auction $20 billion in three-month bills and $17 billion in six-month bills on Monday. It had delayed that news until it saw what the Senate did.
Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant

http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-debtlimit0317.artmar17,0,6797610.story?coll=hc-headlines-home (http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-debtlimit0317.artmar17,0,6797610.story?coll=hc-headlines-home)

[TrailBate]

Yep, George Bush is an 18 year old unemployed girl with a credit card in our children's name with a 9 trillion dollar limit.


Republicans also just turned down a measure introduced by Democrats to tighten port security.

[kernel crash]

I wish the Republicians in the Senate would of had the stones to say No Way! I'm surprised they would have given the Democrats this issue come November. At least drunkin sailors spend THEIR own money.

"Republicans also just turned down a measure introduced by Democrats to tighten port security."

I'm sure there's more to it than that.

[TrailBate]

I'm sure there's more to it than that.


http://thinkprogress.org/2006/03/16/port-security-funding/

[TrailBate]

let's see. $9 trillion at the Fed Funds interest rate of 4.5% for ONE day is.....$1.125 BILIION.

this thing grows by a billion dollars every day on interest alone.

[Slider]

At least there's one court that sees the threat in letting Bush make his own laws. Maybe there's still hope on the treason and perjury fronts. Just gotta get the courts involved, and the gutless Houses out of the process. At least that would force Alioto and Roberts to show their own hands, once the cases reached them.

Slider

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

March 18, 2006
Judges Overturn Bush Bid to Ease Pollution Rules
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
WASHINGTON, March 17 — A federal appeals court on Friday overturned a clean-air regulation issued by the Bush administration that would have let many power plants, refineries and factories avoid installing costly new pollution controls to help offset any increased emissions caused by repairs and replacements of equipment.

Ruling in favor of a coalition of states and environmental advocacy groups, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the "plain language" of the law required a stricter approach. The court has primary jurisdiction in challenges to federal regulations.

The ruling by a three-judge panel was the court's second decision in less than a year in a pair of closely related cases involving the administration's interpretations of a complex section of the Clean Air Act. Unlike its ruling last summer, when the court largely upheld the E.P.A.'s approach against challenges from industry, state governments and environmental groups, the new ruling was a defeat for the agency and for industry, and a victory for the states and their environmentalist allies.

In the earlier case, a panel including two of the three judges who ruled on Friday decided that the agency had acted reasonably in 2002, when it issued a rule changing how pollution would be measured, effectively loosening the strictures on companies making changes to their equipment and operations.

But on Friday, the court said the agency went too far in 2003 when it issued a separate new rule that opponents said would exempt most equipment changes from environmental reviews — even changes that would result in higher emissions.

With a wry footnote to Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass," the court said that "only in a Humpty-Dumpty world" could the law be read otherwise.

"We decline such a world view," said their unanimous decision, written by Judge Judith W. Rogers, an appointee of President Bill Clinton. Judges David Tatel, another Clinton appointee, and Janice Rogers Brown, a recent Bush appointee, joined her.

The winners this time —more than a dozen states, including New York and California and a large group of environmental organizations — hailed the decision as one of their most important gains in years of litigation, regulation and legal challenges under the Clean Air Act.

The provision of the law at issue, the "new source review" section, governs the permits required at more than 1,300 coal-fueled power plants around the country and 17,000 factories, refineries and chemical plants that spew millions of tons of pollution into the air each year.

"This is an enormous victory over the concerted efforts by the Bush administration to dismantle the Clean Air Act," Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general, whose office led the opposition from the states, said in an interview.

Mr. Spitzer, who is running for governor, said the ruling "shows that the administration's effort to misinterpret and undermine the statute is illegal."

Howard Fox, a lawyer for Earth Justice, which represented six environmental and health groups in the case, called the ruling "a victory for public health," adding, "It makes no sense to allow huge multimillion-dollar projects that drastically increase air pollution without installing up-to-date pollution controls."

The E.P.A. issued only a brief statement, saying: "We are disappointed that the court did not find in favor of the United States. We are reviewing and analyzing the opinion."

The decision is unlikely to be the last word; several circuit courts or appeals courts have considered or decided related cases, and the issue may eventually reach the Supreme Court. Some in Congress say the uncertainty demands an overhaul of the Clean Air Act itself, but there has been no real movement in that direction in recent years.

The new ruling addressed the administration's effort in 2003 to offer relief to energy companies that faced costly settlements of litigation brought by President Clinton's E.P.A. The agency proposed exemptions for companies whenever upgrades to their equipment amounted to less than 20 percent of the replacement cost of the equipment. In effect, that made perennial repairs of old equipment a more attractive alternative in many cases than its outright replacement.

Energy companies said the two rules the administration proposed in 2002 and 2003 would help them expand energy supplies at lower cost to consumers. But environmentalists said the change would result in just the kind of increased pollution that the law was intended to control.

The Clean Air Act calls for companies to build plants with up-to-date control technologies, and the new source provision was a way to ensure that as time goes by, pollution controls must be modernized along with the plants themselves.

Industry groups, which had challenged the first E.P.A. rule last year as not being flexible enough, were aligned with the agency this time. In general, they have been close partners with the Bush administration in environmental matters, pushing for greater economic considerations in the creation of any new policy.

The 20 percent threshold in the overturned rule would have enabled plant operators to make many repairs and upgrades without spending additional tens of millions of dollars for more advanced pollution controls. In settlements under the old rules, some companies faced costs of more than $100 million.

"This is a terrible decision," said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a trade organization, arguing that the "any physical change" definition created financial instability for plant operators who spent as much as $800 million for a new boiler.

He and other industry leaders expressed hope that the court ruling might induce Congress to pass new legislation that would include New Source Review, a step that he said would make it easier for plant operators to plan for their future upgrades and investments.

John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, called the ruling "a significant setback to business efficiency" and environmental quality.

The government has 45 days to decide whether to seek a review of the ruling by the entire appeals court.



Copyright 2006The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Site Map Back to Top

[off piste]

Sometimes it's not so great when courts get involved:

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060317113409990036&ncid=NWS000100 00000001

Court OKs State's Anti-Abortion License Plates
By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II, AP

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (March 17) - A federal appeals court Friday allowed Tennessee to offer anti-abortion license plates bearing the message "Choose Life."

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati overturned a lower-court ruling that said the tag illegally promoted only one side of the abortion debate.

"Although this exercise of government one-sidedness with respect to a very contentious political issue may be ill-advised, we are unable to conclude that the Tennessee statute contravenes the First Amendment," Judge John M. Rogers said in a 2-1 ruling.

An anti-abortion group, Tennessee Right to Life, declared victory.

"It's a validation of our position all along that the Legislature had the authority to authorize a plate that favors normal childbirth over the practice of abortion," said Brian Harris, the group's president.

In a dissenting opinion, Judge Boyce F. Martin Jr. said the plates should be banned because they amount to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

Abortion-rights proponents complained the state does not offer those with other political views a similar way to express them. An attempt to create a "Choose Choice" tag failed in the Legislature in 2002.

"We don't think it's in the state's best interest to be promoting such a one-sided view," said Keri Adams, of Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee, a plaintiff. The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee also was involved in the case.

Federal appeals courts have been divided over whether such license plate programs are constitutional. Last year the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower-court ruling that said similar South Carolina license plates violated the First Amendment.

Drivers will be able to pay an extra fee in Tennessee for the "Choose Life" plate, and some of the proceeds will go to New Life Resources, an anti-abortion group.

Tennessee is the 13th state to offer "Choose Life" plates. The others are Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota. Most states donate proceeds to adoption groups, but Alabama, Hawaii, Maryland and Montana donate at least some of the money to anti-abortion groups.

Tennessee has more than 120 specialty plates, most of them saluting uncontroversial subjects such as the Tennessee Titans football team, the Smoky Mountains and the Tennessee Walking Horse.

Gov. Phil Bredesen let the anti-abortion license plates measure become law but declined to sign it, and he urged lawmakers to develop a new approach to deciding which causes would benefit from the sale of specialty plates

[velo93]

an empty bed is ready and waiting in the hague for you know Who......

[TrailBate]

KABUL, Afghanistan Mar 19, 2006 (AP)— An Afghan man is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death on a charge of converting from Islam to Christianity, a crime under this country's Islamic laws, a judge said Sunday.


Way to go, Bush!

[off piste]

If it were Bush's fault, wouldn't he be rewarded for converting to Christianity and executed for turning away? After all, Bush is doing everything because Jesus is telling him to......

[kernel crash]

"Way to go, Bush! "

Way to go Bush??? Is there anything that happens on this entire planet that isn't George Bush's fault? Cmon trail bait, even for you, this is a bit much. You've been drinking too much of the move on kool aid.

[TrailBate]

"Way to go, Bush! "

Way to go Bush??? Is there anything that happens on this entire planet that isn't George Bush's fault? Cmon trail bait, even for you, this is a bit much. You've been drinking too much of the move on kool aid.



Did we not invade Afghanistan to get RID of this kind of government? DId Bush not say we were setting up a democracy that tolerated ALL religions? (btw, the answers are "yes" and "yes")

Is this why Americans died? Most of whom would call themselves Christian?

Sounds like we've set up a government that might support some kind of terrorists, no?

Bush did NOT finish the job. Let's hope Iraq turns out a little better, mkay?

[FriedRys]

Seems to me the real culprit would be organized religion and the loonies the follow them.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-03-18-voa7.cfm

All he has to do to avoid being killed is tell them okay, I'm a muslim again.

[Slider]

Email is pretty central to any job, right? So this story means FBI can't do their job due to budget constraints.

Go ahead, try to show how this isn't a direct result of the policies of The Moron in Charge.

Slider

FBI, you've got mail -- NOT!
FBI official says budget doesn't cover accounts for all agents

NEW YORK (AP) -- Budget constraints are forcing some FBI agents to operate without e-mail accounts, according to the agency's top official in New York.

"As ridiculous as this might sound, we have real money issues right now, and the government is reluctant to give all agents and analysts dot-gov accounts," Mark Mershon said when asked about the gap at a New York Daily News editorial board meeting.

"We just don't have the money, and that is an endless stream of complaints that come from the field," he said.

FBI officials in Washington denied that cost-cutting was putting agents at a disadvantage.

Spokeswoman Cathy Milhoan said e-mail addresses are still being assigned, adding that the city bureau's 2,000 employees would all have accounts by the end of the year.

Mershon, the assistant director in charge of the agency's New York City office, also said that 100 city agents have been given Internet-ready phones such as BlackBerry devices.

Christine Monaco, a spokeswoman for the FBI in New York, said Monday that all FBI agents can communicate with each other via a secure internal e-mail system, and about 75 percent of the New York office's employees have outside e-mail accounts.

"The outside e-mail accounts have to be separately funded," she said.

Senator Charles Schumer called for better access to technology for agents.

"The FBI should have the tools it needs to fight terrorism and crime in the 21st century, most of all in New York City, and one of the most effective means of communications is e-mail and the Internet," he said.

"FBI agents not having e-mail or Internet access is much too much a pre-9/11 mentality."

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/03/20/fbi.email.ap/index.html

[TrailBate]

to jump into Conspiracy Land:

Perhaps this was intentional? No more emails out there for special prosecutors to use in criminal investigations of, oh, I don't know, faulty pre-war intelligence and treason against CIA agents?

[kernel crash]

"Did we not invade Afghanistan to get RID of this kind of government? DId Bush not say we were setting up a democracy that tolerated ALL religions?"

Well maybe...

"To devout Muslims, Islam is worth dying for, and killing for... For we all have, or have had, causes for which we, too, would kill... The Christian West partook of two of the greatest mass slaughters of human history, World Wars I and II, featuring poison gas and the carpet bombing and atomic bombing of cities to advance the cause of democracy – that same democracy Islamic peoples now use to advance the cause of Islam and Islamism."

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49373

[Slider]

to jump into Conspiracy Land:

Perhaps this was intentional? No more emails out there for special prosecutors to use in criminal investigations of, oh, I don't know, faulty pre-war intelligence and treason against CIA agents?


I dunno. Judging from the Moussaoui case, better tools might make them even more incompetent.

Slider

[BadDNA]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/03/23/a_generous_bush_always_thinking_of_others/

[Slider]

Here it is, the moment we've all been waiting for. Libby says it was Bush who authorized him to sell the country down the river.

I wonder how the gutless Houses will evade this one. We might have to wait until the majority turns in the upcoming elections, but it will be worth every minute.

Slider

Papers: Cheney aide says Bush OK'd leak
By Pete Yost, Associated Press Writer | April 6, 2006

WASHINGTON --Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.

Before his indictment, I. Lewis Libby testified to the grand jury investigating the CIA leak that Cheney told him to pass on information and that it was Bush who authorized the disclosure, the court papers say. According to the documents, the authorization led to the July 8, 2003, conversation between Libby and New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized Libby to disclose Valerie Plame's CIA identity.

But the disclosure in documents filed Wednesday means that the president and the vice president put Libby in play as a secret provider of information to reporters about prewar intelligence on Iraq.

The authorization came as the Bush administration faced mounting criticism about its failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the main reason the president and his aides had given for justifying the invasion of Iraq.

Libby's participation in a critical conversation with Miller on July 8, 2003 "occurred only after the vice president advised defendant that the president specifically had authorized defendant to disclose certain information in the National Intelligence Estimate," the papers by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald stated. The filing did not specify the "certain information."

"Defendant testified that the circumstances of his conversation with reporter Miller -- getting approval from the president through the vice president to discuss material that would be classified but for that approval -- were unique in his recollection," the papers added.

[TrailBate]

hmmmm,
who was it that said he'd fire ANYONE involved in the leak......??

Actually, I've already heard Bush's excuse: He's the President. And as President, he's allowed, unilaterally, to declassify information.

[TrailBate]

strange, I can find this story everywhere, EXCEPT on Fox.....hmmmmm....??

[off piste]

strange, I can find this story everywhere, EXCEPT on Fox.....hmmmmm....??


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190843,00.html

Libby: Bush Authorized Leaks About Iraq

Thursday , April 06, 2006

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.

There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to disclose Valerie Plame's CIA identity.

Before his indictment, Libby testified to the grand jury investigating the Plame leak that Cheney told him to pass on the information and that it was Bush who authorized the leak, the court papers say. According to the documents, the authorization led to the July 8, 2003, conversation between Libby and New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

But the disclosure in documents filed Wednesday means that the president and the vice president put Libby in play as a secret provider of information to reporters about prewar intelligence on Iraq.

The authorization came as the Bush administration faced mounting criticism about its failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the main reason the president and his aides had given for justifying the invasion of Iraq.

Libby's participation in a critical conversation with Miller on July 8, 2003 "occurred only after the vice president advised defendant that the president specifically had authorized defendant to disclose certain information in the National Intelligence Estimate," the papers by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald stated. The filing did not specify the "certain information."

"Defendant testified that the circumstances of his conversation with reporter Miller -- getting approval from the president through the vice president to discuss material that would be classified but for that approval -- were unique in his recollection," the papers added.

[off piste]

hmmmm,
who was it that said he'd fire ANYONE involved in the leak......??

Actually, I've already heard Bush's excuse: He's the President. And as President, he's allowed, unilaterally, to declassify information.

What, are you frigged in the head?!? They get their authority right from Jayyyyyyyyyy-zzzzzzzzzz-issssssssss

[TrailBate]

Now I see why Fox took so long to get the story up. It has a few interesting spins from everyone else, including how Wilson "left out" some details about Iraq seeking yellowcake from Sudan in his report to the government, and how Bush and Cheney both have the authority to declassify information, etc.

[Slider]

I don't have the source for this, since it came to me via email, but it sounds plausible. The cover-up is usually worse than the crime itself, from a getting-punished perspective. If true, Bush would officially be a Lying SOS.

Slider

" According to four attorneys who over the past two days have read a transcript of the President Bush's interview with investigators, Bush did not disclose to either investigators or the special counsel that he had authorized Cheney or any other administration official to leak portions of the NIE to Woodward and Miller or any other reporter. Rather, these people said the president said he frowned upon "selective leaks."

Bush also said during the interview two years ago that he had no prior knowledge that anyone on his staff had been involved in a campaign to discredit Wilson or that individuals retaliated against the former ambassador by leaking his wife's undercover identity to reporters. "

BadDNA - can you fix that URL post so the page width is back to normal?

[Mr_Cheeze]

Here it is, the moment we've all been waiting for.


"We" as in you and Trailbait, I am assuming. Cuz I know I haven't been waiting for it. Telemark, CP, anyone else... you guys been waiting for this?

Superman Returns... now, that I've been waiting for!

[Slider]

Here it is, the moment we've all been waiting for.


"We" as in you and Trailbait, I am assuming. Cuz I know I haven't been waiting for it. Telemark, CP, anyone else... you guys been waiting for this?

Superman Returns... now, that I've been waiting for!


Think of "we" are referring to those actually concerned about the rule of law in this country. I'm guessing it roughly equates to those in the 68% disapproval margin.

Slider

[kernel crash]

"Think of "we" are referring to those actually concerned about the rule of law in this country. I'm guessing it roughly equates to those in the 68% disapproval margin."

We'll see. I think this statement is interesting, for now. "There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to disclose Valerie Plame's CIA identity."

My predictions? The Republicans will lose seats in the house but will maintain the majority. (The immagration issue will see to that). Bush and his admin will continue to fail the smell test but like the former teflon Prez, will somehow manage to evade the gas chamber.

[Slider]

"Think of "we" are referring to those actually concerned about the rule of law in this country. I'm guessing it roughly equates to those in the 68% disapproval margin."

We'll see. I think this statement is interesting, for now. "There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to disclose Valerie Plame's CIA identity."


This is where it gets interesting. If Bush told Cheney to authorize release of any part of the NIE report, regardless of the Plame thing, then his statements to the investigators, when he denied any role, were perjury. He most likely did tell Cheney and Libby to out Plame, but it no longer is a necessary step for him to have committed a felony.

Slider

[Mr_Cheeze]

More news we've all been waiting for! (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-040706davinci_lat,0,2412456.story?coll=la-home-entertainment)

News all bad women drivers and teenagers have been waiting for. (http://www.comcast.net/news/health/index.jsp?cat=HEALTHWELLNESS&fn=/2006/04/06/362651.html&cvqh=itn_fda)

News all religious wacko conservatives have been waiting for. (http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/apr/07judas.htm)

[catbbq]

More news we've all been waiting for! (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-040706davinci_lat,0,2412456.story?coll=la-home-entertainment)

News all bad women drivers and teenagers have been waiting for. (http://www.comcast.net/news/health/index.jsp?cat=HEALTHWELLNESS&fn=/2006/04/06/362651.html&cvqh=itn_fda)

News all religious wacko conservatives have been waiting for. (http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/apr/07judas.htm)


As for the cell phone issue, it is just move right wing propoganda. Everyone knows that the cell phone companies has Bush in their pocket. Just like global warming, mass deaths from head and ear tumors are imminent. I just hope I die in a mining accident or globally warmed bathtub accident before my cell phone gets me.

[jakazz]

"Think of "we" are referring to those actually concerned about the rule of law in this country. I'm guessing it roughly equates to those in the 68% disapproval margin."

We'll see. I think this statement is interesting, for now. "There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to disclose Valerie Plame's CIA identity."


This is where it gets interesting. If Bush told Cheney to authorize release of any part of the NIE report, regardless of the Plame thing, then his statements to the investigators, when he denied any role, were perjury. He most likely did tell Cheney and Libby to out Plame, but it no longer is a necessary step for him to have committed a felony.

Slider


ok i'm not pleased with some , most of his decisions, but better than kerrry would have done, lets be real here. and if you want to talk about perjury,... hello anybody remember slick willy, teflon bill as the state troopers in ak. called him while they were bringing hookers to the gov mansion.

come on people, granted its not a perfect system but waht other country would you want to live?

[TrailBate]

ok i'm not pleased with some , most of his decisions, but better than kerrry would have done, lets be real here. and if you want to talk about perjury,... hello anybody remember slick willy, teflon bill as the state troopers in ak. called him while they were bringing hookers to the gov mansion.

come on people, granted its not a perfect system but waht other country would you want to live?


Wait. Aren't these the same State Troopers that were part of Clintons big drug ring?

It's not a perfect system. But If I wanted to live in a country that lied to invade countries, sent it's own citizens off to die so the Dear Leader could make more money, tortured people, detained people indefinately without any legal recourse, sent people to foreign illegal prisons, and tried to ruin the lives and careers of anyone that didn't agree with The Party, I'd move to the Soviet Union.

[FriedRys]

ok i'm not pleased with some , most of his decisions, but better than kerrry would have done, lets be real here. and if you want to talk about perjury,... hello anybody remember slick willy, teflon bill as the state troopers in ak. called him while they were bringing hookers to the gov mansion.

come on people, granted its not a perfect system but waht other country would you want to live?


Wait. Aren't these the same State Troopers that were part of Clintons big drug ring?

It's not a perfect system. But If I wanted to live in a country that lied to invade countries, sent it's own citizens off to die so the Dear Leader could make more money, tortured people, detained people indefinately without any legal recourse, sent people to foreign illegal prisons, and tried to ruin the lives and careers of anyone that didn't agree with The Party, I'd move to the Soviet Union.
Not sure if you caught the news lately, but he Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore. ;D

[TrailBate]

Not sure if you caught the news lately, but he Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore. ;D


Yeah, right! More republican propaganda you got off of Fox news! Let me guess, Reagan had something to do with it, hmmm?

[FriedRys]

Not sure if you caught the news lately, but he Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore. ;D


Yeah, right! More republican propaganda you got off of Fox news! Let me guess, Reagan had something to do with it, hmmm?
Damn it, you got me, I withdraw my comment due to the inabillity to back it up with unbiased reporting. ;)

[catbbq]

ok i'm not pleased with some , most of his decisions, but better than kerrry would have done, lets be real here. and if you want to talk about perjury,... hello anybody remember slick willy, teflon bill as the state troopers in ak. called him while they were bringing hookers to the gov mansion.

come on people, granted its not a perfect system but waht other country would you want to live?


Wait. Aren't these the same State Troopers that were part of Clintons big drug ring?



Sorry to rip on the newbie, but Teflon Bill was governor of Arkansas, not Alaska. (AR vs AK).

[TrailBate]

Wow, and he even had the Alaska State Troopers involved? That's a mighty big drug ring. They grow good **** in Alaska?

[catbbq]

Wow, and he even had the Alaska State Troopers involved? That's a mighty big drug ring. They grow good **** in Alaska?


His influence is bigger than a Cuban cigar.

[Slider]

Bush's war on democracy is even broader than I thought before. Turns out the White House was coordinating the whole NH phone jamming thing. Three convictions in NH already, and it is time to look at the administration's role.

These guys somehow manage to keep the sleaze coming.

Slider


Documents: GOP official in phone jamming case called White House
By Larry Margasak, Associated Press Writer | April 11, 2006

WASHINGTON --Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican Party as the plan was unfolding, phone records introduced in criminal court show.

The records show that Bush campaign operative James Tobin, who recently was convicted in the case, made two dozen calls to the White House within a three-day period around Election Day 2002 -- as the phone jamming operation was finalized, carried out and then abruptly shut down.

The national Republican Party, which paid millions in legal bills to defend Tobin, says the contacts involved routine election business and that it was "preposterous" to suggest the calls involved phone jamming.

The Justice Department has secured three convictions in the case but hasn't accused any White House or national Republican officials of wrongdoing, nor made any allegations suggesting party officials outside of New Hampshire were involved. The phone records of calls to the White House were exhibits in Tobin's trial but prosecutors did not make them part of their case.

Democrats plan to ask a New Hampshire judge Tuesday to order GOP and White House officials to answer questions about the phone jamming in a civil lawsuit alleging voter fraud.

Repeated hang-up calls that jammed telephone lines at a Democratic get-out-the-vote center occurred in a Senate race in which Republican John Sununu defeated Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, 51 percent to 46 percent, on Nov. 5, 2002.

Besides the conviction of Tobin, the Republicans' New England regional director, prosecutors negotiated two plea bargains: one with a New Hampshire Republican Party official and another with the owner of a telemarketing firm involved in the scheme. The owner of the subcontractor firm whose employees made the hang-up calls is under indictment.

The phone records show that most calls to the White House were from Tobin, who became President Bush's presidential campaign chairman for the New England region in 2004. Other calls from New Hampshire senatorial campaign offices to the White House could have been made by a number of people.

A GOP campaign consultant in 2002, Jayne Millerick, made a 17-minute call to the White House on Election Day, but said in an interview she did not recall the subject. Millerick, who later became the New Hampshire GOP chairwoman, said in an interview she did not learn of the jamming until after the election.

A Democratic analysis of phone records introduced at Tobin's criminal trial show he made 115 outgoing calls -- mostly to the same number in the White House political affairs office -- between Sept. 17 and Nov. 22, 2002. Two dozen of the calls were made from 9:28 a.m. the day before the election through 2:17 a.m. the night after the voting.

There also were other calls between Republican officials during the period that the scheme was hatched and canceled.

Prosecutors did not need the White House calls to convict Tobin and negotiate the two guilty pleas.

Whatever the reason for not using the White House records, prosecutors "tried a very narrow case," said Paul Twomey, who represented the Democratic Party in the criminal and civil cases. The Justice Department did not say why the White House records were not used.

The Democrats said in their civil case motion that they were entitled to know the purpose of the calls to government offices "at the time of the planning and implementation of the phone-jamming conspiracy ... and the timing of the phone calls made by Mr. Tobin on Election Day."

While national Republican officials have said they deplore such operations, the Republican National Committee said it paid for Tobin's defense because he is a longtime supporter and told officials he had committed no crime.

By Nov. 4, 2002, the Monday before the election, an Idaho firm was hired to make the hang-up calls. The Republican state chairman at the time, John Dowd, said in an interview he learned of the scheme that day and tried to stop it.

Dowd, who blamed an aide for devising the scheme without his knowledge, contended that the jamming began on Election Day despite his efforts. A police report confirmed the Manchester Professional Fire Fighters Association reported the hang-up calls began about 7:15 a.m. and continued for about two hours. The association was offering rides to the polls.

Virtually all the calls to the White House went to the same number, which currently rings inside the political affairs office. In 2002, White House political affairs was led by now-RNC chairman Ken Mehlman. The White House declined to say which staffer was assigned that phone number in 2002.

"As policy, we don't discuss ongoing legal proceedings within the courts," White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said.

Robert Kelner, a Washington lawyer representing the Republican National Committee in the civil litigation, said there was no connection between the phone jamming operation and the calls to the White House and party officials.

"On Election Day, as anybody involved in politics knows, there's a tremendous volume of calls between political operatives in the field and political operatives in Washington," Kelner said.

"If all you're pointing out is calls between Republican National Committee regional political officials and the White House political office on Election Day, you're pointing out nothing that hasn't been true on every Election Day," he said.

Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera said Monday: "With every development in this case, there are new questions about the extent to which key national Republicans had knowledge of or were involved in a criminal scheme to keep New Hampshire voters from getting to the polls. The American people have a right to know whether the White House political director, who today sits as chairman of the national Republican Party, had any hand in it."

© Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[TrailBate]

Yes, but Where is your EVIDENCE?! ;D

[Slider]

I'm waiting for the NewsMax regurgitation of a Bill O'Reilly propaganda piece based on adminstration misinformation leaked to planted journalists.

Shouldn't take long. ;)

Slider

[TrailBate]

From the Washington Post:

On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."

The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.

A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement.

The three-page field report and a 122-page final report three weeks later were stamped "secret" and shelved. Meanwhile, for nearly a year, administration and intelligence officials continued to publicly assert that the trailers were weapons factories.

[catbbq]

From the Washington Post:

On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."

The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.

A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement.

The three-page field report and a 122-page final report three weeks later were stamped "secret" and shelved. Meanwhile, for nearly a year, administration and intelligence officials continued to publicly assert that the trailers were weapons factories.


So what?

[TrailBate]

So what?


So tens of thousands of people are dead. Glad to see you could care less.

[catbbq]

So what?


So tens of thousands of people are dead. Glad to see you could care less.


If you care so much, what are doing about beside posting articles we could read elsewhere? Making perfect predictions of the past? Planning on voting democrat in the next election? Think it will help?

Only chance you got of changing anything is running for office yourself. If you move to NH, I'll vote for you.

[Slider]

WTF? If you aren't interested, you really don't have to read it.

Case closed.

Slider

[BG]

I read it mostly 'cause i'm addicted.
Nothing like political blather to pass the time.
Where can i go for help?

BG

[Slider]

C'mere, kid. Step into this alley. I got some political **** that'll knock your socks off.

Forget that pansy blowjob stuff, we're talkin' treason. It'll take you right to the top. And this one is on me. Next time, bring some spin, cause this **** don't grow on trees. ;D

Slider

[off piste]

C'mere, kid. Step into this alley. I got some political **** that'll knock your socks off.

Forget that pansy bowjob stuff, we're talkin' treason. It'll take you right to the top. And this one is on me. Next time, bring some spin, cause this **** don't grow on trees. ;D

Slider


You are truly a twisted individual. ;)

[BG]

Wow, see now you know why this is so addictive.
Pansy blowjobs, knocking my socks off, treason, alleys, taking me to the top and it all being on you. Damn, dosen't get any better.

BG

[TrailBate]

If you care so much, what are doing about beside posting articles we could read elsewhere? Making perfect predictions of the past? Planning on voting democrat in the next election? Think it will help?

Only chance you got of changing anything is running for office yourself. If you move to NH, I'll vote for you.


Nobody reads these articles.

Whose making perfect prediction of the past? I was against this war from the beginning, as were most liberals.

This attitude of "you can't make any difference" is pathetic. Too many people have this attitude, and don't do anything. THAT is why it's hard to make a difference. Too many people don't care.

There are riots, coups and civil wars in most countries over LESS that what Bush has done here.

[catbbq]

If you care so much, what are doing about beside posting articles we could read elsewhere? Making perfect predictions of the past? Planning on voting democrat in the next election? Think it will help?

Only chance you got of changing anything is running for office yourself. If you move to NH, I'll vote for you.


Nobody reads these articles.

Whose making perfect prediction of the past? I was against this war from the beginning, as were most liberals.

This attitude of "you can't make any difference" is pathetic. Too many people have this attitude, and don't do anything. THAT is why it's hard to make a difference. Too many people don't care.

There are riots, coups and civil wars in most countries over LESS that what Bush has done here.



I didn't say "you can't make a difference." I said YOU (Trailbait) ARE NOT making a difference. In fact, I said that you can make a difference by running for office. You point out some other options. So start revolution. There is an article worth reading.

[BG]

Yes, let's riot, coup, and procede with civil war. That will do it.
What isn't being done that you are so upset with. The fact that there are some who may not see things quite your way on a lousy forum?
Are there not accusations, investigations, allegations, prosecutions, research, indictments ect going on as there should be. Is my being pissed going to help what is happening. Is my slandering you going to get to the root of what is going on in the world today? All i can do is the best i can for research and understanding and then vote. Maybe that is just not enough in this mixed up country anymore, maybe it is time to rebel and fight for what i think is right for maybe what chief Wiggings says carries a lot of truth
" Can't you people take the law into your own hands? I mean, we can't be policing the entire city!"

BG

[TrailBate]

sorry, it's just when I hear, or think I hear, the "you can't make a difference" attitude, it pisses me off.

I vote, I write my reps, I debate people hoping to change some minds.

There are NOT enough investigations. The Gov't has refused to investigate the wire tapping, the pre-war intelligence, any memos and minutes of meetings that keep popping up, the foreign prisons,