White Noise Insanity

"Son, you're making the same mistake in Iraq that I made with your mother."

I didn't pull out in time..."

(I found and stole this picture from Coffee Messiah's blog. He he he.)

I love it. The Bush Regime is always going after the New York Times for publishing leaked information from our intelligence agencies or what have you, so when the Regime decided to leak a memo by Steve Hadley to the NYT before Bush's trip to Jordan to meet with the Iraqi Prime Minister, al-Maliki, well, let's just say it backfired big time!

This is how conniving the Bush Cabal is. They thought by leaking this memo to the NY Times for public consumption they would be in essence giving an impression before the meeting, that if it didn't go well, they could just continue to blame al-Maliki for the chaos, devastation, and civil war in Iraq. They thought by putting this out there it would effect the American psyche by diverting the blame elsewhere instead of on them.

Well, this memo consisted of personal attacks against al-Maliki. He didn't like it. Can you blame him? He's the one who has to live within the chaos everyday over there and is treated like a dog by the Bush Regime, so how else was he going to react? Well, he cancelled his meeting with Bush in Jordan. That's how he reacted and now the whole world has seen the Iraqi Prime Minister diss the very leader who demolished Iraq for his own personal reasons and not for the benefit of the Iraqi people.

The Burning Observation: Bush no longer has any power there. Al-Maliki's move was an indication of that. Bush has lost all respect from his country and from the Iraqi leaders. Not only is he a lame duck president but he is now a much hated and despised symbol of America. He's an embarrassment and he needs to think hard and deep about what he has done.

I think the Bush Regime needs to stop being so selfish by leaking one of their memos to the American people to benefit themselves and instead should start focusing on helping the Iraqi people in a mature, meaningful way! That would be wonderful, but Karmageddon happened instead.

I smell a public nervous breakdown coming from Bush himself. It's only a matter of time before it happens. There is no way anyone can hold in as much guilt that he has and not start to leak it out at some point. I can't wait to see how it unfolds. He could have avoided getting to this point if he had put his rational caring side forward instead of acting like a fascist pig hell bent on using others for his own wacked agenda!

Susan Collins is my US Senator here in Maine and the thought of this woman winning her re-election in 2008 makes me cringe. I've had enough of her. She is not a moderate and she needs to find a new job out of government away from all of us because Maine is not being represented well by her. She's no Olympia Snowe, but then again, their records are so darn similiar (and devastating on the important issues of our time) it's difficult to even say that.

Let me start out by being personal against Susan Collins for a moment. Her voice drives me insane! Everytime that woman opens her mouth and starts spewing her pretend 'moderate' stance on the issues, she comes across likes she's a 90 year old Mainer who is chewing her cud while trying to eat an Italian sandwich at the same time! Yes, she's from Maine and has an accent, but does she have to mouthe every freaking syllable of every single word when she talks? Jees. My grandmother, who died a couple months after 9/11 at the age of 93, talked liked that with a lot of 'ayuhs' thrown in, but at least she wasn't annoying!!!

What prompted me to write today about Susan Collins was Joe in DC of AMERICAblog's post about how the Senate GOP is in debt . Here's what he said (I agree with every word of it too):

And one important note about a 2008 Senate race: Maine's Susan Collins is not a moderate. She wants Mitch McConnell and Trent Lott to be her leaders. If those two ran the Senate like Collins wants, it would undermine the entire progressive agenda. Every now and then, Susan does cast a moderate vote. But day in and day out, she votes with Bush and the GOP. Collins is a reliable Republican in DC, but portrays herself as a maverick back in Maine. That will have to be exposed this time.

Not only has Susan Collins decided that Trent Lott (a racist to those who understand the meaning of the word) should be their representative in the Senate, but she also thinks the Military Commissions Act (Torture bill) is a good thing, and feels that poor & middle class Americans should have to go through hell and back to file bankruptcy after a devastating illness/disease or a divorce, while big businesses like Enron and others can file it and not pay back a dime to anyone!

To my surprise, here's what some of the other bloggers at AMERICAblog had to say about Susan Collins.

This is not a moderate voice and she does not deserve to be Maine's representative any longer. She continually (along with Olympia Snowe, I may add) sides with the criminal and morally corrupt Bush Regime time and time again. Her record is more than this. Here's a good laundry list of what Susan Collins is all about (Joe in DC also linked to it).

So, with all of this in mind, you're going to see me talking a lot more about Susan Collins by pointing out her record from the past and her actions from this day forward. I've had it with her. I don't want Mainers to believe anymore that Collins is a moderate, because she's not. She, along with Snowe, are very sneaky in their voting too which burns my ass. I've seen Olympia on the floor of the Senate watch where the vote is headed and if she sees that the republicans have it in the bag, she'll vote her conscience. Susan also does similiar things and pulled a whammy right before this last election. She knew she was safe to vote in favor of Bush's Military Commissions Act. Hey, torture is fun and okay as long as one isn't running for re-election apparently! If she truly is for this bill, wasn't playing games, and was being the voice of the people of Maine, well, that right there is reason to go after her for the next two years!

I will too. She's going down.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwww. Read the following while holding your nose please. It contains a sentence with corrupt corporate whores in it. Thank you:

IN THE MESS that is Iraq, there's one entity that has done an unquestionably good job: the special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction. Under the leadership of Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the inspector general's office has found that the Coalition Provisional Authority could not account for almost $9 billion distributed to Iraqi ministries. Mr. Bowen's office determined that the U.S. government lost track of thousands of pistols and hundreds of assault rifles given to Iraqi security forces. It found that Halliburton Co. wasted $75 million on a failed pipeline project and that Parsons Corp. bungled construction of a $75 million police academy in Baghdad so badly that human waste dripped from the ceilings. Its audits have saved the government more than $400 million.

Sewer dripping from the ceilings? How much did it cost to botch that one!!!?? What else have these vile companies done in the name of the American people? Let me guess, they've built schools out of asbestos and to do this they had to steal $84 million from us to complete it!!!!

End the war now by cutting off the funding of it! Jees.

Here is a visual aid for the attacks reported in the posts:

Here is the link to make it larger if need be, take a LONG look at thius map and realise it is neighborhoods fighting neighborhoods, and many people being forced out of the mixed neighborhoods to create more territory for eithr the sunni or Shiite majorities that result from such actions.

This is what the Iraqi's are blogging about, not kfed not Stupid Hollywood divorces, or how bad it was that the Play station was not available, but how to fight and try to survive a civil war.

Especially not the stupid head up the ass ideas the reichwingnuts think should be further inflicted on these people. People like Rush who think we should just Nuke them all

A civil war Bush denies, but these people see as the reality on the ground.

Stay the course in any guise Bush puts out, AND HE WILL, is dooming these people to more weeks and months of the hell described below.

One question, what would you do if you had to live as described in these Web Postings from Iraqis


Iraqis Prepare for Further Sectarian Violence (Updated)


As the cycle of sectarian violence in Baghdad rages on, despite a three-day curfew, many people in the war-torn capital are bracing themselves for what they fear is the worst phase of the war to come.

The attack on Sadr City with five car bombs last Thursday will most likely be another turning point, ushering in a rising level of violence in Iraq, just the same as the shrine incident in Samarra last February.

At Baladruz, in the Diyala governorate, northeast of Baghdad, Sunni gunmen massacred 21 Shi’ite men, including a 12-year-old boy, in front of their families. Sunni and Shi’ite militiamen took to the streets and exchanged fire in Ba’quba for hours before U.S. troops intervened. An office of the Sadr movement was blown up, and in response, a Sunni mosque was set to fire.

With the curfew entering its fourth day since the Sadr City bombings last Thursday, Iraqi families were confined to their homes in fear as the exchange of mortar shells between Sunni and Shi’ite districts continued. Sunni insurgents targeted the Shi’ite districts of Sadr City, Abu Dshir, Ma’alif, Hurriya, Shu’la and Kadhimiya with mortars and Katyusha rockets in retaliation for attacks against the Sunni districts of Adhamiya, Sulaikh, Ghazaliya, Jami’a and Dora.

A few mortar shells have falled in the vicinity of our home in Baghdad. One shell tore through the roof of our relatives’ house, a few blocks away from us, into their living room, but nobody was hurt. Another hit our neighbours.

There was a two-hour broadcast from Sadr City on the state-run Iraqiya TV, in which three Sadrist MPs and angry residents vowed revenge for the car bombings that killed over 200 people last Thursday. Reports from the area indicate that militiamen are preparing for further attacks against Sunni districts as soon as the curfew is lifted. Several residents claimed on Iraqi message boards that the Mahdi Army is distributing police uniforms to its members in different Shi’ite districts throughout the capital to allow greater freedom of movement.

Nighttime clashes went on in several neighbourhoods of western Baghdad, as militiamen dressed in police uniforms attempted to enter Sunni districts. The remaining Sunni families in several mixed areas have been ordered to leave.

To grasp how dire the situation in Baghdad has become over the last few days, here is a sampling of posts on Iraqi message boards where people ask for instructions on how to defend their neighbourhoods from marauding militiamen:

Ali – Khadhraa district:
Please inform us about the areas that are expected to be targeted, so we can be prepared. Also please inform us on the necessary steps we should take to protect our families and ourselves.

Ibn Al-Iraq – Jihad district:
Salam Aleikum. I live in the Jihad district. A group from the Mahdi Army tagged Sunni residences and collected their weapons today. God is witness to what I say.

Mustafa – Ghazaliya:
We have been under mortar fire for two days. It is 10:50 p.m. now and we can hear heavy gunfire and an attack against mosques in the area. May God save us all from the injustice of aggressors.

A Mujahid for Allah – Baghdad of Al-Rashid:
In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful.
They want it a war, so be it. We are up to it, God willing.
My brothers, heed these recommendations:
1- Prepare weapons and ammunition.
2- To avoid their mortar fire, do not gather in large numbers at one place in your areas.
3- Spread out in small groups, and assign a commander to each.
4- Always take cover behind a barrier (anything that can protect you from enemy fire).
5- If there is an attack against your area, try not to waste your fire (make maximum benefit from the ammunition you have available).
6- Assign duties to your brothers.
7- Maintain communication with other groups in your area so you can respond to any breach of the area by the attackers.
8- Have courage and patience when you face them. They are cowards and will be defeated.
Remember that your brothers, the Mujahideen, will be with you in your fight against the murderous criminals. May God save us and save Iraq.

The son of Anbar – Baghdad:
Dear brothers, the Khadhraa and Jami’a districts are in need of ammunition. Please come to our aid.

Ali – Ghazaliya:
Groups from the evil Mahdi Army are preparing to enter Ghazaliya from the direction of the Centre Street and near the Muhajireen mosque, but residents are in control of most of the streets, despite assistance from the National Guard [for the Mahdi Army] and their cover for the mortar attacks from the Security Street. A woman was injured there from their damn mortars.

Abu Al-Hassan Al-Samarra’I – Baghdad:
To the Mujahideen brothers in all areas, attack them and let the initiative be yours so that you can relieve the pressure from other districts. Have no mercy for them. Be careful of their spies in your areas.

Anonymous - Jihad district:
Urgent. Please intervene to save the Jihad district from another massacre. Interior Ministry commandoes have been transporting fighters and mercenaries from the militias with their buses to their headquarters in the district. They are estimated to be around 500 mercenaries, fully armed with medium and light weapons. And now some of them are taking attack positions in preparation for a new massacre in the district. The buses have not stopped arriving, even though terrified residents have called the police and governmental officials.

Abu Mohammed – Baghdad:
I recommend to my brothers the following:
1- Trust in God, and defend your family, your possessions and your honour. Whoever is killed is a martyr for God.
2- Never surrender, because in that case they will kill us after maiming and torturing us. We should fight to the last breath.
3- Ensure surveillance for every area, especially main streets and entry points, and maintain communication to follow the movement of vehicles used by militias. Attack them wisely without wasting ammunition.
4 – Prepare ambushes for these militias on the streets they are expected to pass. Finish them off and take their weapons.
Remember that those militias are former looters, thieves and shoe shiners. Do not make such a big deal of them because, by God, they are lowly animals.

Salim Hussein – Raghiba Khatoun:
There is a large gathering of Mahdi Army militiamen at the Imam Ali bin Abi Talib husseiniya at Raghiba Khatoun, where they came from the Dilfiya area of the Qahira district. They intend to attack the residents of Adhamiya, Raghiba Khatoun and Sulaikh. Please be alert.

Ahmed Al-Janabi – Baghdad:
Salam Aleikum. I’m a resident of Yarmouk and I can hear gunfire from the Four Streets area as if in warning of an attack of sorts. God knows. Please come to our aid if the situation worsens.

Abdul Rahman Abdul Qadir – Karkh:
Salam Aleikum. Over 40 vehicles with Mahdi Army militiamen have gathered near the Dora police station. They started arriving at 7 p.m., and at 7:45 p.m. we could see about 40 vehicles preparing to attack Dora.

Abdul Rahman – Iraq:
Please keep these steps in mind:
1- Deploy snipers on the rooftops of buildings that lie close to the main entry points for each area.
2- Prepare positions for medium weapons at a distance from the entry point, and make pincers with sniper and PKC fire. When you choose a position, make sure you can retreat to alternate positions from it, in case the enemy overruns the area (do not choose a building that is not adjacent to another, or use ropes to quickly slide down the building).
3- RPG carriers should maintain their positions on side streets and take cover behind barriers. Do not fire just for the sake of it (attack the first and last vehicle).
4- Create heavy fire density to force the enemy to take cover, and then eliminate them by sniper fire.
5- Provide hand grenades and distribute them to the Mujahideen.
6- Fighters with light weapons should always change positions, fire from different angles and not stay at one place.
7- Prepare and plant roadside bombs on the entrance to every area.
8- Bomb the gathering locations for the army of filthy Muqtada.
9- Prepare a special group to deal with any breach, and it should be armed with RPGs, PKC machine guns and KIA vehicles.
10- Plan ambushes and lure the enemy by using bait vehicles that they chase to be dragged into the killing zone.

Iraqiya – Dora:
Urgent. Dora has been breached. There was an attack by the ragtag militias against residences, and we can now hear women screaming. They are raiding the Tu’ma district, which is inhabited by the Jubour tribes. There is also an attack against the Arqam mosque.

Ali – Dora:
Elements of the Interior Ministry commandos are attacking Dora (the Mechanic, Tu’ma, Sahha and Asia districts). But do not fear, for we are engaging them. Our battle cry is “They came for death, no one brought them.”

Ahmed – Jamila district:
Barbaric groups of the Antichrist [Mahdi] Army, and the Iranians that are with them, have killed dozens of Sunni youth at the Jamila district in the exact spot of the car bombing, in a mass execution orgy in front of people. This was broadcast on Sharqiya TV by an anonymous security source. The honourable Shi’ites from east of the [Army] Canal have told us that these groups are moving freely, and that they are preparing for a wide-scale assault on Sunni districts. Be prepared to confront the infidels.

Mohammed – Jami’a district:
Mahdi Army followers have been seen gathering at [MP] Sallama Al-Khafaji’s residence in Jami’a in preparation for an attack against the district.

Abdul Rahman – Iraq:
For the brothers who have not used weapons before, please take this advice:
1- Check your weapon if you have not used it before. You can ask your neighbour to teach you how to attach the magazine and to load and fire. Do not be ashamed that it would be said you don’t know how to use a weapon, as many people have not had a chance to.
2- Choose the appropriate spot on your roof that can provide you with cover and make it hard for the enemy to target you.
3- It is best if every two families gather in one house when the alarm of an attack is raised to keep spirits high.
4- When you shoot, try to make it intermittent so you do not waste your ammunition. Be patient until more fighters arrive and your neighbours start shooting too.
5- You may feel fear upon using a weapon for the first time or that something bad would happen to you, but think of your family and what awaits them if you are hesitant. Keep your honour and your children in front of your eye, and remember that they have burnt children with kerosene.
6- Make sure that you have an extra magazine because in the midst of action you may take away your weapon and forget your extra magazine. It is preferred that you tape two magazines together. Ask your neighbours how to do that. Practice with it several times.
7- Fear of using weapons will disappear with the first shot. Do not hesitate to pull the trigger and concentrate on hitting the enemy.

Omar Al-Rawi – Baghdad:
Salam Aleikum. Mosques in the Adhamiya and Khadhraa areas have started chanting “Allahu Akbar” and reciting Quran through their loudspeakers to encourage residents to confront the Safavid militias.

Ibn Al-Mansour – Mansour:
Residents of Mansour, large groups of armed militiamen have been seen heading from the Washash and Iskan districts to attack Mansour. Prepare to defend yourselves and your neighbours, Sunni and Shia, from the attack of the treacherous Mahdi Army militias.

Al-Anbari – Baghdad:
Several mortar shells have hit the Jami’a and Khadhraa districts after the evening prayers. And there is news that militias are now gathering to prepare for the attack against these districts. Additionally, there are groups of the Antichrist [Mahdi] Army in the Safarat district preparing to attack the Qudhat district.

***
Some readers have asked me about Omar and Mohammed from Iraq the Model. I've been trying to get in touch with them but without luck. I also heard that a friend of theirs was kidnapped and that they have left the area where they were staying for now.

I've been trying to convince my parents not to send my brother Nabil to school. Young men of his age are the prime target for abductions and reprisal attacks. There hasn't been much progress in getting him out of the country yet, but if you want to help me with it, please go to his blog and hit the Paypal button.

UPDATE: More pleas for assistance on the Iraqi Rabita's message boards. Note that these are all from largely Sunni and mixed districts west of Baghdad, which seem to have taken the brunt of retaliatory attacks by militias.

Ghazaliya – Baghdad:
Urgent. The residents of Ghazaliya are in urgent need for medical supplies. The situation in Ghazaliya is dreadful, and the need for first aid supplies is pressing. The nearest hospital to the district is the Al-Noor Hospital in the Shu’la district, and no Sunni who enters there returns alive. Please contact any organisation that can provide Ghazaliya’s residents with necessary supplies. Residents have opened a makeshift health centre but we are in need for supplies.

Khattab Al-Iraqi - Al-Amil district – Baghdad:
The filthy [Mahdi] army is preparing to attack the Amil district. Young men in the Dhubat area are deployed to the streets, while the antichrist [Mahdi] army is lobbing mortars against us. But the brothers are determined to achieve either victory or martyrdom.

Ghazaliya:
Many mortar shells have been falling on the Ghazaliya and Kafa’at districts non-stop. People are appealing for help. Will anyone come to our rescue? There are three blindfolded, handcuffed bodies lying on the street of the Dar Al-Hikma School, near the Mansour grove. No one can go near them and people say not even the police can come because they are allied with the rats. Only the Americans can enter.

M.H.D:
Dear brothers, Please inform us on how the Shia pray because this will save many from being killed during interrogation after they are abducted.

Norway:
Response to the brother who asked how the Shia pray. With the usual Iqama and Edhan add the phrase “I am witness that Ali is the guardian of Allah,” but not as part of the Edhan used by the Prophet. This is the opinion of the majority of Shia clerics, including the Sadrists. The Shia also regard the Basmalla a part of any Sura … I personally prefer the Fatiha instead of the Tasbihat, but the majority of Shia read Tasbihat.

Ahmed Baghdadi – Baghdad Al-Jedida:
Dear brothers, Please use this forum as our means to post information. Verify the information before you post it, and please do not waste time on other websites. Every district and neighbourhood should cooperate 24 hours. Young computer users, this is your mission. Be an early surveillance centre for your neighbourhoods and circulate the information with others. When using cell phones, keep your information coded and as simple as possible. Now is the time for us to stand together. God be with you in defending our country.

Baghdad:
We heard that there is a bus in Qadisiya, Yarmouk and Jami’a districts with the occupants abducting people according to their I.D., taking them to unknown destinations. Please inform us about the model, number plates, colour, or any other identifiable signs on the bus.

Baghdad – Sulaikh district:
Salam Aleikum. A group of crows from the Interior Ministry Commandoes attempted to enter Sulaikh but the Iraqi army force, stationed in the districts for months, repelled them. They later told us that the Interior Ministry gunmen were not from their sector but that they came from another area. They reassured residents that they would not allow any attacks on the district. The lions of Sulaikh are also ready to stand with those honourable soldiers to defend the district from the evil of the Mahdi Army and Interior Ministry crows.

Khadhraa district:
We, the residents of the Khadhraa district, are prepared to confront the army of black crows. I remind our brothers to inform us of their gathering locations so we can be prepared. The headquarters of Public Order forces is in our district, and that worries us because we cannot carry our arms on the street. But we are stationed on rooftops and prepared.

This is what a civil war looks like thru bloggers eyes, that have to prepare for it, try to live through it, and thank Bush ET AL for creating the conditions for it. Next time you hear some idiotic pundit on Cable tv telling you it is NOT a civil war or is NOT that bad, remember the words of these people who are living inside one, their words makes liars out of all those pundits safe in their high priced homes, condos and apartments safe thousands of miles away from the reality on the ground.

It seems like only yesterday
That our little boy was small
He ran and played so wildly
But he never was that tall

Our little boy was different
From the other kids around
He never really laughed
Or acted like a clown

As our little boy entered school
He never did fit in
His classmates never liked him
Because of that funny grin

As our little boy grew older
High school was oh so tough
He never made good grades
Or understood that history stuff

We sent our boy to private school
Cause those kids were more our type
We thought they'd have more in common
Since being rich isn't just hype

High school kids were mean
They always laughed at our little boy
They used to call him stupid
Our son had little joy

Our boy attended Harvard
He even took a crack at Yale
His grades just didn't cut it
It took dad's money to make the sale

Our boy tried his hand at baseball
He even had a poor oil field
If it wasn't for daddy's money
he would have worn a military shield

He took over the family business
Cause daddy said "you can"
My money will take you places
So in politics he ran

Our little boy ran Texas
He ran it in the ground
He now wants to be President
There is foreign oil to be found

We bought our son the election
He couldn't win it on his own
He task was to declare war
His destiny was forever sown

Our boy attacked a helpless nation
He said they were a threat
Our little boy is President
He flies on a real big jet

Just six short years later
Since our little boy first run
He's now hated by the world
Don't they know that he's our son

His friends lost the election
Because people hate the war
Our boy is so alone
His wife is such a bore

Our son will not be bullied
By voters that can't read
The war will go on
Our sons his father seed

More and more will die
Because of choices of our son
Our boy doesn't care
He is a Bush and he is our son

As the nation falls apart
Because of our sons greed
More lives will still be lost
But our son has his need

How will history remember
Our brave little mite
Who took the nation from peace
To a never ending fight

Will our son be honored
Will the Bush name be smeared
Our son is a Bush
His name should be feared


Maybe we raised a failure
But money brought his fame
We are so proud of our son
George W Bush is his name

From the Muckraker Report:

ABC: Embassy Urges Bush Twins to Leave Argentina
By Justin Rood - November 27, 2006, 2:24 PM
Despite growing pressure to leave the region, Bush's daughters insist upon staying in Argentina. Where did they learn that kind of stubbornness?

Reports ABC's Blotter:

Amid a growing barrage of front-page headlines, U.S. embassy officials "strongly suggested" President Bush's twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara Bush, cut short their trip to Buenos Aires because of security issues, U.S. diplomatic and security sources tell ABC News.
Withdraw in the face of mounting security problems? A ludicrous notion.

Last week ABC reported that Barbara had her purse stolen. Even worse, their shenanigans are creating headlines in the country. One tabloid featured a story about the two running naked, Borat-style, down the hallway of their hotel, according to ABC.

Security problems continue, according to the network:

Thursday night, an ABC News producer was able to walk into their hotel unchecked and engage Barbara Bush in conversation while she checked her e-mail on a computer in the lobby. Jenna sat talking with friends on a sofa nearby. No Secret Service agents were anywhere to be seen in the lobby, according to ABC News' Joe Goldman.
But no, Barbara and Jenna aren't cut-and-runners. "Sources tell ABC News the twins plan to stick to their original itinerary and stay in Buenos Aires until Thursday." That's the spirit.

Oh my God, this is good. Karen Hughes, who is America's "goodwill" Embassador to help our country's reputation in the Middle East, is taking questions from the American people! And guess what? Out of the 1,000 when I last checked, many of the questions were against her and the Bush Regime. I love it!

If you want to, you can ask ole Karen a question or you can do what I did and read through the ones that have already been asked. FREAKING HILARIOUS!!!

Have fun!

George W Bush and his band of wealthy followers are working to raise a record $500 million for the Bush Presidential Library.

Bush and his band of followers hope to build the massive center to "Refurbish" the Bush legacy that has been tattered.

Sources tell the New York Daily News that they hope to get half of the needed money from "megadonations" of $10 million and $20 million a pop.

Bush's loyal followers have already lined up wealthy heiresses, Arab nations,and leaders of industry to be major donors.

The Bush Center will have conservative scholars writing books and papers favorable to the tarnished Bush Presidency.

This Bush Presidential library will be the most expensive in history. The building will be in a soon to be announced city in Texas.

One has to wonder what could the Bush library have that would adequately reflect the Bush legacy?

Will it be filled with portrait size photos of all the bloody victims the Bush war in Iraq has produced?

Will it include documents Bush signed to relieve Americans of their Constitutional rights.

Will it include the Bush wiretapping documents that were collected on ordinary innocent American citizens?

Will the Bush library have a list of the millions of Americans who lost their jobs to China and India?

Will the library show footage of all the corruption in the halls of the Bush administration?

Will the Bush library show secret documents that allowed Haliburton to reap billions of tax dollars for no reason?

Will the Bush library have the names of the thousands of innocent Iraqi women and children who were killed and maimed from the Bush Iraqi invasion?

Will the Bush library give tribute to the thousands of U.S military families who lost their loved ones from Bush's war?

It is safe to say that Bush's library will not mention any of those things, because Bush thinks nothing of the thousands of lives that have died on his orders.

The New Bush Library: Promoting A Legacy of Lies.

Yeah, applying for a job at the Central Intelligence Agency should be a fun time and the application should make you laugh like hell when you're filling it out too! Honestly, I don't think the CIA should be screening their future employees to see who has a better sense of humor or who 'gets it'. I think the CIA should be concentrating on hiring individuals who are professionals, who understand the history of our own country and the history of other countries, and who know many different languages to spy on our enemies across the planet. But hey, who am I to tell the CIA to act like professionals by hiring the right people for the job and by weeding out the serious people anyways?

Oh, this is funny:

The agency's online personality test is the equivalent of a help-wanted sign, posted on the closest thing the agency has to a front door - its Web site. The frivolous quiz is designed to encourage job applications while dispelling myths about the agency, some of them born of the James Bond stereotype.

For instance, the CIA wants you to know that everyone who works there does not drive a sports car with machine guns in the tailpipes. Successful applicants will, in fact, see their family and friends again. Also, "you don't have to know karate or look good in a tuxedo to work at the CIA," the personality quiz says.

All fun aside, the hiring push began almost immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and picked up steam in November 2004 when President Bush called for a 50 percent increase in the agency's ranks of operatives and analysts.

I'm just laughing out loud now! Let's hope stand up comics all over our nation spend time chuckling and filling out this online application, because it will make me sleep better knowing we have comedians protecting us rather than professionals. Even the retirees of the CIA don't see the humor in the way the current leaders of it are handling the new recruits:

Some of the CIA's traditionalists fear the agency is tarnishing its proud, exclusive roots to meet the presidential directive. They worry that the CIA quiz and its advertisements during "MythBusters" and other cable shows with cult followings are too gimmicky.

In short, they worry that the agency is sacrificing quality to get quantity. Last year alone, the agency received 135,000 applications - a number that has more than doubled since Sept. 11, 2001.

Tom McCluskey, the CIA's chief of hiring and employee development, heard the concerns firsthand at a recent gathering of the Florida chapter of the agency's retirees association.

"Some of the old-timers grumbled, 'Where's the mystique? Where is the aura of mystery around what we do?"' McCluskey said in an interview. "The good news is that we are not seeking to hire those people."

Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller weighed in on the importance of setting humor aside when hiring for the CIA:

Meanwhile, Congress is watching the agency's recruitment efforts. The incoming chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., has said one of his priorities is investigating whether the CIA has the right people in the right jobs and ensuring the CIA has enough people who are fluent in crucial foreign languages.

Just recently within the past few months, the Senate Intelligence Committee held a meeting to talk with the individuals at the CIA about their hiring practices. As I watched this, one thing jumped out at me which was a comment made by Robert Mueller. He was asked why the Agency was not hiring young people out of college who spoke Arabic and other languages and who were highly educated individuals, which would be a benefit to our Intelligence field. Mueller responded to the question by saying the CIA likes hiring individuals from Wall Street instead because of their age, experiences, and because they just trust them more. Apparently those on Wall Street see the humor in the CIA and get first priority.

Uh huh. Wall Street & comedians are the best bet for the safety of our nation according to Mueller! Please don't send the CIA anyone with the necessary tools to combat terrorism to hire...oh no!...please just send the people who have a great personality and who will make the other agents at the water cooler laugh like hell!

If you don't feel safe, you have good reason to feel that way. Under the Bush Administration scientists and other professionals have been thrown to the curb, while the humourous and uneducated of our country (and the Bush Loyalists I may add) are put in positions that affect all of us, but they don't care. Great, huh? Think I'm making too much of this and taking it wrong? I don't care! I want people protecting me who know what the hell they're doing, rather than whether or not they get the sarcasm and irony of the CIA itself!

A few days ago, myself and others on AMERICAblog were talking about the UCLA student who was tasered for not having his library identification card on him. The video of this attack was very disturbing to say the least. You can hear the kid trying to defend himself and after he's tasered and falls to the floor the UCLA security asses continue to taser him like he's a video game or something. My position on this case is that the security guards did have a right to ask this young man for his ID, but they didn't have the right to use force of that magnitude. They could have chosen to let the kid leave peacefully and remind him that next time he has to have his card on him, otherwise, he won't be able to use the library. Well, his skin color, I believe, added to the paranois of these guards and in the video you can see an individual pushing a table out of the doorway, because at some point, someone did push that table in front of the doorway, so this "terrorist" could not leave. Disturbing to me the amount of racial discrimination, paranoia, and unnecessary force upon a citizen of this country!

We are a Police State if this kind of force is being used on an unarmed individual in this country without good cause. Not having a library card is not a justifiable offense to be shot or tasered!

Well, the Police State has now arrived on the East coast. Yesterday, the New York police gunned down individuals of a wedding party who had just left a strip club there (article linked in the title of this post). The groom, who was scheduled to be married to his high school love that evening is now in a hospital. The police's reason for firing off 21 rounds of gunfire into the groom's car? They say they have one but no one has heard yet. Apparently, there was an argument outside the strip club amongst the wedding party and others. An argument. There were no guns in the hands of anyone, you know, just words and a bunch of beer muscles being flexed, but yet, the police decided to stop the car, pepper it with bullets, and THEN decided to check the car to see if there was a gun AFTER DOING THIS! Shooting first and asking questions later, apparently, is the first sign of a Police State.

Oh for the love of the Banana Cupcakes! Is this what our nation is coming to? Are we headed down this path that other nations have taken in which we don't approve of? Huh? Gunning down or bombing of individuals of a wedding party, hauling members of a church out onto the street and pouring kerosene on them and lighting them on fire, and storming into a new radio station and killing the members of it because you don't like their political views? Well, this shit I just mentioned is happening in Iraq right now on a daily basis, but the fact that it is happening in our own country on some levels is dispicable. It makes me want to use my blinking cursor to round up the Bush Adminstration from the past 6 years, select them, and then delete them entirely because of how they've changed our country! I don't even recognize it at this point and I hate them for that.

The neocon Bush Appeaser's reaction to stories like these? They say that us liberals have it coming to us and that we should be afraid. They like the idea of Americans being gunned down for not having an ID on them or having a groom injured on his wedding day because they like the power of it. What they don't get is that one of these days, they too will feel the brunt of Bush's Police State mentality and they'll suddenly realize that the America they once knew is gone and we liberals were right in wanting to defend her.

The End.

As of today, the Iraq War has now lasted as long as World War II and even though World War II ended with the U.S in victory, the War in Iraq has no end.

George W Bush invaded Iraq instead of bringing the one who attacked America to justice. Bush claims a "higher power" told him to launch a war on Iraq.

The "Higher Power" most Americans know, would not approve of killing innocent men,women and children. He would not approve of sacrificing many to gain wealth for a few.

2,878 American soldiers have reportedly died so far in Iraq. Does Bush really care?

There are 46,137 U.S Non-Mortal Casualties so reported and there have been 21,485 Americans reported wounded in Iraq. Does Bush really care?

As George W Bush lounged in the plush confines of Camp David, munching on his turkey and dressing prepared by the military, at least 200 Shiites were killed and hundreds more seriously wounded in Iraq.

Did Bush make any kind of public statement about this Iraqi slaughter? Did Bush leave his 52 inch TV screen long enough to let American know this was terrible?

Bush did as he always does, he remain silent, thought little of the Americans whose lives are in constant danger.

Bush didn't have the decency to spend Thanksgiving in Iraq where he says things are going so splendid.

Bush hasn't attended one funeral of a U.S soldier killed in the war he started, has no idea how to win, and could care less about how long it will last.

The title of this post was taken from a very insightful blog of which the author Maria took a photo at an anti-war demonstration of a protestors sign.

The sign read "The Rapture is Not An Exit Strategy".

Lets hope Bush doesn't wait for the Rapture to get out of Iraq.

14053, is the number of civilians admitted killed in Iraq from July 1st 2006 to October 31st 2006, basically from the 4th of July till Halloween. 14053 Mothers or fathers or sisters or brothers or sons and daughters no longer exist, they died in the secular violence the illegal invasion of the neo-cons spawned. They were kidnaped and were tortured with drills. They were shot in the back of the head, after being blindfolded. They were killed by a road side bomb, or killed by a mortar attack. They were killed for where they lived, or just who they were. Or more recently they were killed along with others by the rising number of car bombings as a means to incite more violence. By the mortar attacks which haunt Baghdad now days.

14053 is a large number of people dying for any reason, it is almost 5 times the number who died on Sept 11 2001. In Iraq The Us has lost 2872 Soldiers since March 19, 2003 but in every month the Iraqi people have lost more people that the entire US losses for the war, or we lost on that fateful late summer day five years ago.

As a comparison, there are about 25 million Iraqi's and 300 million Americans, so if we were having a comparable number of violent deaths here it would be around 168,500 people killed violently by sectarian violence(in the same time period). If that were to happen, especially in a situation where two different groups of people were using extreme violence and mass killings to fight for control of the government and power here, I'm sure we would call it something akin to a civil war.

The Bush administration does NOT want to call it a civil war, OK lets call it what it really is war crimes spawned by the illegal invasion of a sovereign country by a group of people who thought they were above the law, the Geneva Convention, above being held accountable for their breaches of the code of human conduct that before this had been agreed upon by civilized nations.

Well George Bush must be happy, because there is NO Geneva Convention in effect inside Iraq. Hell there is not even the rule of law any more. People in Iraq have nowhere to turn except to the people causing these deaths, so they will continue. They will continue while the "Know Nothings" inside Washington debate the latest idea to try to turn this Fiasco around. The killings have gone on while Jim Baker polishes up his plan which is already outmoded. The deaths do not stop as the beltway pundits and pontificators argue whether more troops or less troops is the way to go.


These senseless killings are the result of their failure to listening to those who realized early on this was going to turn out bad. The mistakes of ignoring what was really happening on the ground. Placing more emphasis on purple fingers than security or electricity. Trying to stage manage the collapse of a society with no plan for rebuilding it, nor having enough qualified people who actually know how to do that. Mistakes piled upon mistakes as they have to pile body on body in the Baghdad morgue.

14053 is the number of reported deaths by the UN, the real number is probably higher still, but since the neo-cons deny this is a civil war, and refuse to count the civilian deaths, they do not really worry about the numbers or even the deaths. They are beginning to worry about their futures, because even though they do not think it is a civil war or they should be held accountable, most of the rest of the world KNOWS it is a civil war, and the neo-cons are responsible.

Clif, who is one of my contributors to my blog posted a thread below entitled, "It's Past the Tipping Point..." and it reminded me of what Winston Churchill once said:

"An appeaser is a guy who throws his friends to the alligator in hopes that the alligator will eat him last." ~ Winston Churchill

The neocon trolls in our country for the past six years or so (can even say that their brains changed in 1980 when Reagan became president at this point!) have been the cheerleading section for the most corrupt, vile, warmongering, and vicious presidency in the history of our nation. What they haven't realized all this time is that feeding these alligators will be their own demise at some point. After this year's election, they started eating each other. Awwwwwww. Idiots.

We are Americans and the leaders of our country always reflect us as a nation and this is why myself and others have been so pissed off! The last six years has been a bruise on our country's reputation and we have the APPEASERS OF THE BUSH REGIME to blame for that.

My conscience is clean and their's is not and will never be. Future historians will blame them and so will I.

Oh yes. Our very own Prince of Darkness is in Saudi Arabia today to meet with King Abdullah to try to quell the mounting violence in Iraq. Huh, wouldn't you think it would be appropriate for Cheney to meet with the members of the Iraqi government instead? I think so, but then again, when the rumor started flying that Dick Cheney was going to go to Iraq on Thanksgiving Day to meet our troops, the violence in Iraq escalated! So, it's probably a good thing he wasn't around when this happened:

In Iraq, the slaughter Thursday of 215 people in a series of car bombs by suspected Sunni insurgents in a Shiite neighborhood prompted a new political crisis ahead of talks scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Jordan between the Iraqi premier and U.S. President George. W. Bush.

It doesn't matter to the Iraqis who in our government is coming. They're angry at us. Why shouldn't they be? Once Bush and Cheney put the boots on the ground in March of 2003, they've pretty much sat back and have done nothing to make the peace with the people of this country.

Will meeting with Prince Abdullah combat this type of violence or will it just escalate it? The following massacre is devastating to Americans with a conscience:

Shiite militiamen seized six Sunnis as they left Friday prayers in Hurriyah — a mixed enclave in western Baghdad — drenched them with kerosene and burned them alive, and Iraqi soldiers did nothing to stop the attack, The Associated Press reported, citing police and witnesses. Police Capt. Jamil Hussein said Iraqi soldiers at a nearby army post failed to intervene in the burnings of Sunnis carried out by suspected Mahdi Army members.

Burning people alive! Unbelievable!!! If our Prince of Darkness can make a difference in Iraq after meeting with the King of Saudi Arabia, I will be so thankful. I don't see it happening though. I see Cheney going over there to not squash the violence, but rather, to conspire with the King on issues of Iran. Iran is the goal of the Bush Regime and like Cheney said about the November election...he doesn't care who ends up in power in houses of Congress, because he and Bush and the rest of the Cabal are going to do what they want to do anyways. Yup! Ole Dick could care less what the American people think. He wants to have perpetual war and nobody is going to stop him from this agenda either.

I spit on him.

It's been a long tradition for American presidents to pardon the Thanksgiving turkey. The impression most Americans get is that the turkey being pardoned will not be slaughtered for consumption by the president's family. Hey, it looks good and I'm sure the turkey isn't killed, but that doesn't mean the First Family isn't going to eat turkey anyways!

Here's what the Bush family's Thanksgiving feast consisted of:

On the first family's menu was free-range roasted turkey, cornbread dressing, zucchini gratin, whipped maple sweet potatoes, basil chive red potato mash and pumpkin pie.

Yup, the First Family ate turkey! Okay, it probably wasn't the same turkey that Bush had pardoned, but they nonetheless ate turkey on Thanksgiving anyways. Shall we add this little stunt to the long list of lies, deceits, and distortions that have been accumulated under this family for the past six years? I think so. Hey, if you're going to pardon a turkey to show the American people that at least one turkey will not meet it's ultimate fate on that day, could you please eat a ham instead to make it look good!?! Jees.

Blame Dave

by Davis Sweet

As the conventional wisdom on Iraq drifts from "there's no hope" to "there's no fucking hope in hell," it appears that the only thing keeping American troops in the line of fire is George Bush's unwillingness to accept blame for this colossal oopsie. So I have a simple solution for a witheringly simple man: blame me.

It wasn't GW who kept the vampire Rumsfeld in charge of "Defense" until after the mid-terms; it was me. Sorry. I thought he was going to come up with a brilliant plan to unscrew the mother of all fuck-ups, but I guess I was looking at the résumé rather than the man. Can't apologize enough, really.

As for the many-sided but oddly single-minded insurgency, that was me. You may have thought it was the power vacuum created by the Coalition Provisional Authority destroying the Iraqi government and army. Nuh-uh. I actually thought it would be a kind of friendly rivalry, like Bon Jovi and .38 Special, but the pyrotechnics got way out of hand. My bad.

We can let our fearful leader off the hook for every moment of jaw-dropping incompetence, every inhumanity visited on innocents, every motherless and/or fatherless kid -- Iraqi or American -- who's going to equate America with evil for the rest of their lives, and he doesn't even have to give back the bloody money he and his vice-ridden Veep have pocketed. They can just declare November whatever to be "National Dave Did It Day." I'll fess up. I'll even let one of those chickenhawk morons like Hannity or O'Reilly berate me on a live teevee interview for letting Bush take the blame for so long.

There's the deal, Blameless George. Point the finger -- at me, or, really, anybody whose scapegoatitude can make you comfy enough to pull your head out of your ass -- and BRING THE GOD-DAMNED TROOPS HOME NOW.

Thanks, and sorry. So incredibly sorry.


May be all the non neo-cons need to accept the blame for NOT working hard enough to stop this criminal enterprise, they call the Iraq War. Then the idiot can blame all of us, change course, and finally bring the troops home.

What ever it takes after this week, because I can not explain it, but things seem to be starting to get really out of control, and this is BAD, not last Feb Bad after the mosque bombing bad, but past the point of NO RETURN bad, fight till the death bad, large scale massacre bad, whole sale slaughter bad, revenge with NO MERCY BAD. This means the American Army and troops are in for one hell of a fight, to stay and possibly one just to get out.

The final exit out of Vietnam will seem like a well planned and coordinated exercise compared to what the troops could go through in the next six months.

I do not give it much longer than that. The situation is falling apart way too fast for the bureaucratic pentagon or national security establishment to respond to them and adapt. Especially when the "official line" is still it is NOT a civil war. If they have their collective heads that far up their asses this late in the game, it can NOT turn out good for the troops. Time is far past for it to turn out good for the people of Iraq.

As the days grind by and the news gets worse and worse, I see Iraq reaching the breaking point and both sides attacking with out pause, and the American Military will never have enough boots on the ground at that point.

Just as thanksgiving day and it's aftermath shows, the US and Iraqi government are slow to respond, which the insurgents and militias count on.

Basically we have two choices. Whether they are willing to admit defeat and leave, or they are going to try to stay, and if they chose that bad option, who they are gonna get to help us restabilize the country, and "occupy it for years while attempting to defuse this explosive situation.

It will have to include the Arab Sunni and Iran states in the middle east, because unlike Afghanistan, NATO troops will just be pouring gasoline on this fire. and no Russian or Chinese government want to help Bush out at this point with out being given at least part of the control of the situation on the ground.

The neo-con wet dream of a American presence in the Middle east with a democratically elected Iraqi Government inviting us to stay is OVER. They need to wake the fuck up, so we all can start getting the Iraqi people, US troops and the world out of the nightmare their dream has become in reality.

"Of all the evils to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies and debts,and taxes,are the known instruments for bringing the many under the dominion of the few. In war,too,the discretionary power of the executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices,honors,and emoluments is multiplied;and all the means of seducing the minds are added to those of subduing the force of the people! No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

President James Madison 1812


These words are very appropriate for the times of today. James Madison made this statement in the time of war. Notice how true those same words are today?

Would Bush understand such a statement or would he even care about the toll war takes on a country and its people? Does Bush really understand war and its evils or is it a means to an end?

Bush extended his discretionary power more than any President and he has multiplied his own worth above the worth of his nation and its people.

Massive debts are already upon us and the dialogue of taxes lurk just around the corner as a tool to further bring the many under the dominion of the Bush few.

If our leaders refuse to look back into the history of wars on the nation, then perhaps its time for the people to retake that nation from the few.

From Juan Coles Blog

Another friend, a Sunni sheikh of the Shammar tribe noted to me that thousands of former officers are prepared to assault the G[reen] Z[one]. It is no longer a matter of can they do it, they are only mulling over the timing. The breach of the Green Zone security the other day was a test of their ability to get in, and not a real attempt at a coup, though it is reported as such. Every Iraqi I talk to says unambiguously that the resistance attached to the former regime would take out the Shiite militias with barely a fight, but that the resistance will not commit wholesale revenge against the Shiite population. They just want to get rid of the "carpet baggers" from Iran. '

What would be the result of a brazen attack on the green zone even if it failed in the end?

The United States military would have to question the safety of those who work for the US and Iraqi governments from there. They also would have to review what protections they have, and what they need. It could turn out to be the Iraqi version of Tet, especially if the Sunni Baathists had any success at all. Because they would prove that not only can they set up car bombs in Sadr City, or attack Shiite dominated Ministries like the Ministry of Health, but the very symbol of American power and influence in the country, the Green Zone.

Such an attack three and a half years after the Iraqi Baathists were supposedly crushed by the American Army would embolden the Sunni insurgency. It would also raise more doubts here at home about this war. If we had been so successful in the invasion, and we had what we need in that country to achieve some sort of victory, how could the Baathists even dare to attempt such a daring attack, let alone carry it out.

There are questions what this would do inside the country.

How would the American military react, especially how would they reposition troops to either attempt to stop such an attack like this, (they must know it is being planned, if it is on the net.)

What will al Sadr and the Shiites do, if they see the Sunni’s attacking the Green zone, stand by and allow the US and Sunni forces to fight it out, or come to either sides aid. More interestingly could they use such an attack as a welcome diversion. They could react by attacking in other areas knowing the vast US response will be in defense of the green zone, and not their timely attacks on Sunni forces they want to defeat in Baghdad and elsewhere.

The situation inside Iraq is fragile at best, and after this weeks attacks in sadr City, and on the ministry of Health, the Sunni’s are making a statement they are a force to be reckoned with, but are they willing to step it up a notch, and attack directly into the center of the American power presence in Baghdad?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it's my favorite holiday of the whole year. I love nothing more than being with my son, eating tons of food, and taking the time to regroup ourselves on what it is that we are thankful for. Of course, most years my son is thankful for his Play Station, his electric guitar, and his dog, but he does manage to throw in that he loves his mother, which is huge because he's twelve and he's at that hormonal stage in his life where any woman or girl is not something he likes to show affection to. Anyways, every year I am thankful for my son and our health, but this year, I can throw in that I am thankful for Americans coming out of their mental slumber to vote the most vicious vile piece of crap neocons in our government out! Yes, it's going to be a great Thanksgiving and I bought spiced apple martini mix to celebrate our good fortune!

So, what do you think the Bush family is thankful for each year? I just picture these assholes sitting around a table not even talking about it, but rather, conspiring about their next global finanction transaction in the form of war and laughing over the thought of thousands of people being put in peril, or worse...put to death because of their greed! I mean really, what possibly could this family be thankful for except their power over our government for their own financial gain? I would love to be a fly on the wall or even part of the staff to listen to what they say this time of year.

Don't even get me started on Babs. She spawned these lying, stinking, warmongering, thieves and for that, she should be grateful her husband has Secret Service protection because the angry mobs would pull her apart like a golden turkey!!!

I have a lot to be thankful for this year and the biggest one being Americans making a huge statement to the Pigs in control of our country right now that we've had enough of them. I am thankful to be alive during the most incredible moment in our country's history. Come January, I will be making my resolutions and I'm sure somewhere tucked in that long list that I usually don't look at after I write it will be: I WILL CONTINUE TO TEAR OFF THE ARMS AND LEGS OF THE MOST VILE FAMILY & PRESIDENCY IN THE HISTORY OF OUR NATION. I WILL NOT QUIT THIS.

See? It's going to be a great Thanksgiving this year...and next year...will be more fun than the last!

WASHINGTON (IWR News Satire) - The bipartisan Iraq Study Group made a unanimous recommendation today that the President Bush should be confined to the naughty chair until the end of his term in 2009.

"It doesn't matter if we go long, short, home or if we end up slicing and dicing the whole goddamn country with a Vegomatic.

The first thing we have to do to stabilize Iraq is make sure dumb shit doesn't start anymore friggin' wars or piss any more Muslims off, and the best way to do that is to confine the moron to his naughty chair in the Oval Office," said Jim Baker to reporters.

From TPM

Pretty amazing stuff. And it seems like it's being treated with a near total media blackout. Stung by the voters' rebuke, the out-going Republican Congress has decided to close its doors without doing it's mandated job, finishing the budget bills for next year. By all rights they should send back their paychecks too.

From the AP ...

Republicans vacating the Capitol are dumping a big spring cleaning job on Democrats moving in. GOP leaders have opted to leave behind almost a half-trillion-dollar clutter of unfinished spending bills.

There's also no guarantee that Republicans will pass a multibillion-dollar measure to prevent a cut in fees to doctors treating Medicare patients.

The bulging workload that a Republican-led Congress was supposed to complete this year but is instead punting to 2007 promises to consume time and energy that Democrats had hoped to devote to their own agenda upon taking control of Congress in January for the first time in a dozen years.

We're their employers. Shouldn't there be some sort of garnishment?

Let me know if you see mentions of this elsewhere in the news media or on the shows.
-- Josh Marshall

**********************************************

These bills were supposed to be done before Oct 1 2006, but the anti gay legislation and anti first amendment "flag burning" amendment is MORE important than the repug assclowns doing their REAL jobs, which the constitution tells them to do.

They should have to return their salaries this year....especially the leadership of the house, and repug chairmen of the committees who have failed to perform their constitutionally prescribed duties.

They should NOT be allowed to collect the money if they are not going to do the work.

I guess overpaying them does NOT produce the best congress ...eh tiny?

Give their salaries to the troops whose families are living on food stamps.

Give the money to the "food deprived" children of this country.

But do NOT pay these cretins who have the hubris to utterly fail in their jobs, no over site, no appropriations bills to fund the budget, and this is especially significant because this was the process they tried to shut down the federal government in 1995, which backfired on them, so this time they just refuse to do their jobs.

Thus.....we should refuse to pay them.

From the screeching and gnashing of teeth, along with the daily wailing of doom from the bloviated blabbering talking heads of the reichwing, this image is their considered view of this past election.

Too bad these repugs were not being evacuated to serve in Iraq until they want those soldiers to come home.

Then at least they really would have something real to complain about.

For those who do not have the historical perspective to understand this image, The analogy of Vietnam April 1975 is the starting point, but the real analogy is the criminal behavior of those who were in charge the 6 years before then. We have a very similar situation in Iraq today. The criminal behavior of those who lead this country into another illegal war, and their refusal to admit their strategy failed .

That failed strategy has killed up to 750,000 people and destroyed a country, incited a war between the two major sects of Islam on the ground and possibly started a civil war which threatens to engulf the entire region. But unlike the Vietnam war which each administration kept upping the effort to use US military to fight a war against the expressed wishes of the majority of the Citizens of Vietnam, this Administration had a real plan to topple the government and set up their puppet government to achieve their no-con dream of restoring a puppet government that danced to the neo-con tune. That has failed in Baghdad as it failed in Saigon years ago and thus we are here where the same people are decrying the desire to withdrawal from this failed policy and strategy, just as they fought withdrawal from Vietnam until the bitter end.

As in Vietnam John Kerry's tragic horrible question begins to haunt us once again, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

This is the question that the politicians do not want to ask, but that looms heavy over their actions, and will haunt those who incited this illegal war, and ignored the looming disaster it has become to try to save their grasp on power. It is fitting they decry this election which is a repudiation of their lies, failed policy and strategy. And a renunciation of their political agenda which used the politics of fear and military aggression to formulate a meme which they sold as the face of their criminal actions

They should feel like they need to be evacuated from our nations capital. They should feel scared they will be tried for crimes against the world, this nation, its people and it’s future. They should feel the fear that those illegally held in abu Ghraib and Gitmo felt. They should have to worry about their futures just as every Iraqi has to worry about theirs. They should be held criminally responsible for this crime against humanity, just as others before them have.

Former President Bush, finishing a speech in the United Arab Emirates was suddenly found defending his son, the current President, according to an AP report.

A female in the audience yelled " we do not respect your son. We do not respect what he is doing all over the world."

Bush appeared stunned and angered as the audience made up of young business leaders yelled and whistled in approval.

Bush Sr. declared to the audience his son is not going to change his view because of polls or views of a lady who feels deeply in her heart about this.

Bush Sr. lost his cool with one audience member, calling him "crazy" and recomemding that he "go back to school."

Another audience member told Bush that U.S wars were aimed at opening markets for American companies.

Bush Sr. said "I think its weird and nuts, To suggest that everything we do is because we're hungry for money, I think that's crazy.

George W Bush has been boasting for months about his supposedly "Great Economy". He has touted his economy in speeches for months, leading up to the November elections.

Bush and his mouthpiece complained that the public wasn't noticing the economy, even though they claimed it was so good.

The U.S housing market has shown even more signs of the economic downturn that the economy is in.

October figures show that housing sales has slowed significantly in 38 states. This decline was 12.7% and still falling.

Economists predict that there will be yet another major drop in housing before it hits the bottom.

The Index of Economic Indicators show the economy is growing slowly in areas beside housing and auto sales.

Moody Investor Service predits that the economy may be in for a hard landing.

Where is the "Fantastic Bush Economy" that they bragged about before the November elections? Where are all these jobs that are supposed to have been created?

Bush lied to America to get us into a war that has brought about record deficits, falling housing and auto sales, and the prospects of many more major corporations going into bankruptcy.

Bush lied about the war. Bush lied about the economy.

How many more lies will Americans have to hear before the great "Decider of Lies" completely destroys this country?

Still not a square inch of space on the planet for George Bush to go to where he won't be protested by angry mobs:

Indonesia Warns of Bush Terror Threat
By ZAKKI HAKIM, AP

JAKARTA, Indonesia (Nov. 18) - Indonesian police warned that the threat of an attack by al-Qaida-linked militants has increased sharply ahead of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit Monday to the world's most populous Muslim country.

(...)

Islamic groups and students have vowed to come out in full force to protest Bush's visit. They have held small but rowdy demonstrations in cities nationwide almost every day this week, including a rally Saturday in front of the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta.

Hundreds also turned out in Bogor, where rifle-toting soldiers, police and members of an elite anti-terror squad could be seen patrolling the streets near the presidential palace.

A bomb squad was briefly called in to investigate a suspicious vehicle left unattended for two days, but police towed the sedan away after explosives experts determined it posed no danger.

Protests also were held in the cities of Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Bandarlampung and Mataram, and on Bali.

Ha ha. He totally deserves to be hunted down by the angry dogs for what he and his Cabal have done in the past years. He's a war criminal and deserves to be treated as such. I don't think he'll find much silence either when he and his crime family & friends move to Paraguay to escape.

Read THIS and then convince me racism is dead in this country....really find a way to convince me that in 2006, this group of White Sheeters in disguise are not doing exactly what the Jim Crow laws did. That they do not think exactly the same way Trent Lott expressed in the comment that cost HIM his majority position.

Oh and BTW tell the kids in this school why they had to attend separate but supposedly equal classes, and idea tossed aside in 1954 by the Supreme court.

Ruling: Classes divided by race

At Preston Hollow, principal tried to appease affluent parents, halt white flight, judge says



For years, it was an open secret at North Dallas' Preston Hollow Elementary School: Even though the school was overwhelmingly Hispanic and black, white parents could get their children into all-white classes. And once placed, the students would have little interaction with the rest of the students.

The result, a federal judge has ruled, was that principal Teresa Parker "was, in effect, operating, at taxpayer's expense, a private school for Anglo children within a public school that was predominantly minority."

Judge Sam Lindsay's opinion paints an unflattering picture of the elementary school and a principal who was so desperate to appease the school's affluent white parents that she turned back the clock on school desegregation 50 years.

In April, Hispanic parents sued, claiming illegal segregation. The three-week trial concluded in late August. On Thursday, Judge Lindsay declared that the school's principal violated the rights of minority children by assigning them to classrooms based on race.

The judge ordered Mrs. Parker to pay $20,200 to Lucrecia Mayorga Santamaría, the lone named plaintiff, who sued on behalf of her three children.

Although the judge did not find the Dallas school district liable for Mrs. Parker's actions, he strongly criticized DISD administrators for being "asleep at the wheel."

"The court is convinced that several of the area superintendents knew, or should have known, about the illegal segregation at Preston Hollow," the judge wrote in his 108-page ruling.
Also Online

WFAA-TV's Jeff Brady reports

En español

Read Judge Sam Lindsay's opinion

The district has until Jan. 17 to remedy the segregation at the school. Mrs. Parker did not return messages left at her home and school Friday.

District spokesman Celso Martinez said Mrs. Parker would remain the school's principal "until further notice."

Mr. Martinez said the school has undertaken steps to comply with the court order, namely relying on student language scores to place students.

"The truth is we have initiated quite a few changes at the school already," he said. "We need to compare those changes with the court order. We may well be in total compliance."

However, when asked if there are still classes at Preston Hollow containing only white students, Mr. Martinez replied: "That's a good question. I don't know the answer to that."
Desegregation plan

In 2003, a federal judge released the district from its court-ordered desegregation plan. That plan, however, focused on the allocation of resources and treatment of black students. In the 30 years the district operated under the order, whites fled and Hispanics have grown to become the majority. Blacks make up less than a third of the district; whites about 6 percent.

Preston Hollow's unwritten policy of clustering whites together was known for years among parents and teachers, according to testimony. In fact, Mrs. Parker's subordinates – including teachers and her assistant principal – raised concerns about it multiple times. One even wrote a letter to Superintendent Michael Hinojosa about it. Those complaints fell on deaf ears, the judge wrote.

"I began to see something very strange," Ms. Santamaría said in Spanish. "The difference was that the Anglo students would go to lunch together while the Latinos went with the Asians and the African-Americans." That, she said, raised a question in her mind "because the children don't know what segregation is."

Once the Hispanic families sued, Mrs. Parker tried to cover her tracks, according to testimony. For example, on the day an investigator was to observe classes at the school, Mrs. Parker "reshuffled" the student's classroom assignments, according to assistant principal Robert McElroy.

Mrs. Parker also asked members of her staff to sign confidentiality agreements about how students were assigned to their classes, and paperwork detailing the classroom assignments was destroyed under mysterious circumstances, according to the judge's ruling.
Principal uncooperative

The judge also took exception to Mrs. Parker's apparent unwillingness to cooperate with the court. At one point during the trial, the judge noted, Mrs. Parker testified that she didn't know whether Preston Hollow is a predominantly white neighborhood.

"The court finds it astounding that Principal Parker, who has served at Preston Hollow for five years, would testify that she knows nothing about the ethnic makeup of the immediate neighborhood surrounding her school."

The school's attendance zone is mostly north of Northwest Highway, east of Preston Road, south of Royal Lane, and just east of North Central Expressway. It includes affluent, mostly white single-family homes, as well as middle-class homes and apartments that are predominantly minority.

The judge also had sharp words for the district's attorneys, who argued that segregation would cause no harm to the minority students because their teachers used the same curriculum as those teaching white students.

"The court is baffled that in this day and age, that [DISD relied] on what is, essentially, a 'separate but equal' argument," the judge wrote.

Mr. Martinez, the district spokesman, said the district doesn't believe Mrs. Parker was segregating students, but he acknowledged that classrooms at the school need to be better integrated.

"It's our opinion that we were not segregating students at all," Mr. Martinez said. "In fact the judge found that we were not violating the constitutional rights of anybody. Do we need to integrate the classrooms? Yes, and we're doing precisely that."

Although the judge ruled against the school's principal in her personal capacity, he did not find the district, its trustees or Mrs. Parker liable in their "official capacities."

David Hinojosa, the parents' attorney from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said he apparently didn't convince the judge that the district knew the segregation was happening.

"You just have a certain legal standard you have to meet, and unfortunately, the court didn't find that," he said. "We might appeal the issue if need be ... but we got the ultimate relief we wanted. The parents wanted to stop the segregation that was going on there."
PTA chief criticized

Judge Lindsay also criticized Meg Bittner, the school's PTA president, who wanted to lure more affluent white families out of private schools and back to Preston Hollow.

More white families would result in a healthier PTA, she testified, bigger fundraisers and, ultimately, more money for the school. The best way to lure back white families, teachers and others testified, was to put white children together in the same classrooms.

Teacher Janet Leon told the court that "neighborhood classes" were predominantly made up of white students because "the people who live in the Preston Hollow neighborhood, who are the majority being white, would want their children grouped together."

To aid in the recruitment of more affluent whites, the school's PTA created a brochure for parents that featured almost all white students. Hispanic parents had shown up at the school the day photos were being taken for the brochure, but the principal blocked their entry into the classroom where the photos were being taken, the judge's ruling states.

Additionally, the PTA, in conjunction with the school, held separate open houses and kindergarten recruitments for white parents. And when PTA members gave prospective parents tours of the school, they were never taken down the "Hispanic halls" where the minority classes were housed, teachers testified.

Mrs. Bittner and other PTA officers did not respond to phone messages seeking comment.

An open secret. which MEANS many people KNEW she was breaking the law, and DID nothing.

Yes this country can be very great, but it fails so much of the time, because of people like this school principle.

His handle was "TWEAK" and he had been part of the Patriotic movement on AMERICAblog for a long time. Here is his last post on AMERICAblog. He posted it the day after election night from his hospital bed before he died:

HI GUYS!!!

IT TOOK A WHOLE LOT OF YELLING AND A C-NOTE TO LET ME HAVE MY COMPUTER IN THIS GODFORSAKEN ROOM FOR A FEW MINUTES, BUT I DID IT.

MY TIME IS SHORT, (ON THE COMPUTER-LOL) SO HERE IT GOES....

HALL-A-FUCKING-LOU-YA!

I AM SO GLAD I WAS ABLE TO WITNESS THIS HISTORIC EVENT!
YOU PEOPLE ROCK! A-BLOG ROCKS!
JOHN A. YOU ROCK TOO.
HELL, EVEN YOU ROCK TODAY "BUSBOY', YOU FLAMING PILE OF REPUBLICAN TURDS YOU!

NO ONE, NOT EVEN A PERSONAL HOSPITAL VISIT BY KATHLEEN HARRIS CAN BRING ME DOWN FROM THIS NATURAL HIGH!

REMEMBER PEOPLE, THAT WAS A HELL OF A POLITICAL BATTLE.
OUR WEAPONS, (TRUTH AND JUSTICE) HAVE BEEN TESTED, HONED AND ARE READY FOR THE REAL REVOLUTION OF 08'

GAWD, I HOPE I GET TO SEE THE FINAL NAILS PIERCE THE REPUBLICAN COFFIN.
THAT WOULD BE AKIN TO LETTING ME EAT THE PROVERBIAL CAKE, AFTER HAVING BAKED AND FROSTED IT MYSELF.

ODDLY ENOUGH, LIFE HAS BEEN VERY GOOD TO ME AND I HOPE THE POWERS THAT BE LET ME SEE THIS ONE THROUGH TO THE 08' FINISH...
IF NOT IT'S OKAY. I ALREADY KNOW WE WILL WIN.

FIGHT ON ABLOG WARIORS! FIGHT ON!
IT AIN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER.

I LOVE ALL OF YOU.

We love you too TWEAK!

As you can see, TWEAK sensed that he didn't have much more time. He knew the end was near, but he wanted to make sure that he shared in the electrifying win that night with all of us. What a true Patriot he was. His light, wit, and love for our country will live on in our hearts for a long time. I miss him already and want him back. Myself and others had wondered what had happened to him but we had just chalked it up that he was taking some time off to absorb the huge win (one blogger on there "MargaretPOA" was posting under "Vacationing Peggy" because she wanted to absorb the positive energy from the win and she said she was waiting for a soapbox response when something in the news triggered her outrage again! She was on "vacation" for two weeks. LOL).

My heart, though, is aching so badly right now with the knowledge that he is gone. Losing an online friend is so different than losing a friend or family member that you know in person. In most cases, none of us have ever met and probably never will. It's our words, thoughts, and opinions that link us together and it's a different kind of relationship, though wonderful. Most of us feel such huge compassion for each other that we've instructed our families upon our deaths to make sure that these online friends are notified of it.

TWEAK's brother left us a message on AMERICAblog alerting us to his death:

To any and all who knew my brother, who used the handle "TWEAK".

He passed Tuesday evening from complications during heart surgery.

I thought those who spoke with him should know. He loved this blog. He recently told me how blogs like this one (his favorite) were going to be the salvation of this country.
I didn't understand what actually took place here until I started reading some of his musings last night. While I don't quite understand the charachter of "Tweak" he created, I can tell you he was a passionate man who cared deeply about the USA and the world.
He thought all of you, no matter your opinions, were the new "shock troops" of freedom.
I thank you for taking the time to read this. I know I can always come here to see his special smile and remember his acerbic wit.
I miss him so much.
Anonymous 11.17.06 - 4:53 pm #

It would be wonderful if you could go there and leave a thought or a prayer for TWEAK's family. His brother is reading the comments (under "Anonymous" and "Little TWEAK"). He now knows how loved TWEAK was and I'm sure it is helping him through his loss.

Thank you Patriots! I truly love all of you and I'm so glad you're all in my life. You're my sanctity, peace, and happiness.

Think Progress is reporting that insiders are saying Karl Rove may be leaving in a few weeks. We'll have to find out in a few weeks, but here's what is being said about it:

The White House Bulletin, a service of Bulletin News, reports that White House senior political adviser Karl Rove — aka “Bush’s Brain” — may soon be on his way out:

The rumors that chief White House political architect Karl Rove will leave sometime next year are being bolstered with new insider reports that his partisan style is a hurdle to President Bush’s new push for bipartisanship. “Karl represents the old style and he’s got to go if the Democrats are going to believe Bush’s talk of getting along,” said a key Bush advisor.

Other elements are also at play: The election yesterday of Sen. Trent Lott to the number two GOP leadership position in the Senate is also a threat to the White House and Rove, who worked against him when he battled to save his majority leader’s job after his insensitive remarks about Sen. Strom Thurmond.

And insiders report that Bush counsel Harriet Miers isn’t a fan, believing that Rove didn’t do enough to help her failed Supreme Court nomination among conservatives. In fact, one top West Wing advisor said that the unexpected ouster of Rove aide Susan Ralston over ethics questions was orchestrated by Miers as a signal to Rove to leave. The advisor said that Rove is aware of the situation and that a departure might come in “weeks, not months.” A Rove ally, however, noted that he has a record of out-witting his critics.

Wow! How nice it will be knowing that this asshole won't be around anymore. Well, okay, he at least won't be on our televisions that is. I'm sure Bush will keep in touch with him. I mean really...how can the man survive without his 'brain'? He doesn't use his own to begin with, so he definately needs to have his 'Rove Brain' close by.

The last election seems to have made an impact on Bush and that is good news. If Bush is really kicking Rove out because he truly wants bipartisanship in the Congress, that would be a huge milestone for him. How Americans will react will be a different story. America's psyche has been damaged and it's going to take a lot more than kicking Karl Rove out of office to change it. A lot.

A Quick Reminder

Eleven days from today, all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive telemarketing calls.

.....YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222.
It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time.
It blocks your number for five (5) years.

You can also register on-line at DoNotCall.gov

You must call from the cell phone number you are wanting to have blocked.
You cannot call from a different phone number.

HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS

Thanks to Carl at Simply Left Behind for this reminder.

This Administration has achieved a new level of hubris. They have the gall to go to a hungry child and tell them they are NOT hungry, just food deprived. That is right, there is NO more hunger in the United States, just a lack of food. Well some might question why this is important, just ask the hungry child if they understand they are food deprived and not really hungry. Get back to me when the child says they are NO longer hungry.

It is one thing when these cretins play word games with grown ups, but to play this kind of unconscionable word game strikes of stooping into OJ territory. There is probably some correlation here, after all both OJ and these assclowns put themselves FIRST at the peril of everyone else including the children. OJ, his children, these cretins, all the rest. First in running a credit card system of funding the federal government which the children will have to figure out some way to pay for when they become adults. But even worse changing the wording they use to describe the child's empty stomach.

Only in an alternate reality could they think changing the words they use do anything to improve the situation. Yes they might not to have to hear about hungry children anymore, so in that meaning it releases their consciouses from having to realize the hungry child is a result of the policies they fought for and support. In the real world, they have not improved the child's situation, but then again they were NEVER about that were they?

One question, did Jesus call them food deprived children, or did Jesus understand their hunger pangs...and call a Pharisee a hypocrite. These people make the pharisee of Jesus's days seem mild by comparison, at least Herod could accept he created the conditions of the Hungry child. These empty hollow people can not even admit that much. They have NO plan to feed the children, just change the way they describe it. So they can dishonestly say we have NO more hungry children, just some families that are food deprived. I hope they choke on their next meal and get to explain it all to Jesus real soon.

This is one way to look at what is happening since the election, but this view must be tempered with the knowledge that Bush 41, Baker and Gates would have celebrated if George W. Bush's illegal invasion of Iraq had succeeded, they are just trying to cut THEIR losses and resurrect their mid east policy of supporting the "moderate" dictators and keeping the oil flowing.

And they all agree it is the US who should decide in the end, NOT the Iraqi's or people who live there.

Georgie did not listen to what had worked, because he was gonna out do the old man, so daddy sends in his "friends" to save poor poor W all over again, but the saving of W is also saving daddy's friends and their generations of investments in the region. After all is said and done that is what they are after NOW.

From DailyKos:

Robert Gates Promoted and Financed Osama Bin Laden
by LondonYank

Thu Nov 09, 2006 at 12:45:40 AM PST

Robert Gates made Osama Bin Laden what he is today. This is not exaggeration. By funding Osama Bin Laden's operations, training camps, weaponry and political influence from 1979 (even before Russia invaded Afghanistan), Robert Gates personally gave us our principal enemy in the "War on Terror".

More frighteningly, all of Robert Gates' support to Osama Bin Laden ran through Pakistan's ISI. ISI has been linked to training and funding the 9/11 bombers, the London bombers, the Madrid bombers, the Bali bombers and the Delhi bombers but is strangely immune from official Washington scrutiny.

I really wonder which side Robert Gates thinks he's on. With a 30 year history of pomoting and financing state and non-state terrorism, I doubt it is the side of the peace and prosperity of the American people and bringing our troops home safe.

I've said for many years that Bush Sr. has always been connected to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida and I've always believed that al-Qaida is a Bush family death squad used to catapult their global domination agenda and to use them to control the world's markets for their own profit and gain. I've never believed the Bush family story that Osama bin Laden was the blacksheep of the family. They just want us to believe that to remove any connection they have (and Osama's family has) to him.

Remember when Clinton became president the first time in 1992 and about 30 days later 'al-Qaida' tried to blow up the World Trade Centers? Well, I believe Bush Sr. was pissed off and outraged that he lost that race, so he had his death squad come in to try to make Clinton's administration look bad. It backfired, of course, because Clinton had the 5 guys involved arrested and jailed where they remain today. Bush Sr. never once during his presidency mentioned 'Osama bin Laden' to our nation but he knew full well who he was (the families have been friends for at least 30 years) and what group he was the head of! I spit on him.

September 11, 2001 was the same thing. The 19 hijackers were allowed to live in our country for years and go undetected (though one observant woman at one of the flight schools called and alerted the FBI that one of the hijackers was taking lessons...but the FBI ignored the call and did nothing). Someone was financing them and I think Osama may have but the money to house them wasn't always electronically transfered to our country. I believe, to escape detection by authorities, it was brought over here via boat or private planes and given to the Bush family friends to be given to the hijackers under the table.

So, it's not surprising to me that Robert Gates, who was recently brought in by Bush Sr. to help his son out, has been nominated to replace Donald Rumsfeld and is back again. The Bush family has their friends who would do anything for them. They're loyal to the Bushies and because of that loyalty many get jobs in high places and guys like Osama get to continue to roam the planet (if he didn't die years ago and his image is just being used by Bush Sr.'s CIA to brainwash the masses) free from prison after killing 3000 Americans on September 11th!!

It's so insane.