March 9, 2006
Bush failed on 911, WMD and the war in Iraq, yet Americans trust his party over dems. When did failure become popular?
Public Sees Terrorism Weakness at Seaports, Border Crossings
GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- More than 7 in 10 Americans say it would be easy for a terrorist organization to bring weapons into the United States through U.S. seaports or border crossings between the U.S. and Canada or Mexico, according to a recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.

March 9, 2006
Teens rise above the misinformation from their schools, government, religions and families and find the truth.
Gallup: Teen Survey on Gay Issues
The survey shows American teenagers are essentially split on the question of support for gay marriage and same-sex unions. On the question of gay marriage, 51 percent approve of gay marriage and 49 percent disapprove. The results show that boys and girls gave very similar responses, with girls slightly (four percentage points) more in favour than boys.

March 9, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Everything touched by Bush/Cheney has become corrupt.
Justice Dept. Cites F.B.I. Wiretapping Violations
In one instance, the F.B.I. received the full content of 181 telephone calls as part of an intelligence investigation, instead of merely the billing and toll records as authorized, the report found. In a handful of cases, it said, the bureau conducted physical searches that had not been properly authorized.

March 9, 2006
US will close Abu Ghraib prison
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military will close Abu Ghraib prison, probably within three months, and transfer some 4,500 prisoners to other jails in Iraq, a military spokesman said on Thursday.

March 9, 2006
It's now fair to say the Shiites are as corrupt as the GOP.
Official Says Shiite Party Suppressed Body Count
BAGHDAD, March 8 -- Days after the bombing of a Shiite shrine unleashed a wave of retaliatory killings of Sunnis, the leading Shiite party in Iraq's governing coalition directed the Health Ministry to stop tabulating execution-style shootings, according to a ministry official familiar with the recording of deaths.

March 9, 2006
Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing
The poll found that nearly half of Americans -- 46 percent -- have a negative view of Islam, seven percentage points higher than in the tense months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, when Muslims were often targeted for violence

March 8, 2006
Vermont Towns Endorse Move to Impeach Bush
NEWFANE, Vt. Mar 8, 2006 (AP)— In five Vermont communities, a centuries-old tradition of residents gathering in town halls to conduct local business became a vehicle to send a message to Washington: Impeach the president.

An impeachment article, approved by a paper ballot 121-29 in Newfane Tuesday, calls on Vermont's lone member of the U.S. House, independent Rep. Bernie Sanders, to file articles of impeachment against President Bush, alleging he misled the nation into the Iraq war and engaged in illegal domestic spying.

March 8, 2006
Vanity Fair: Bush Had Ties to Abramoff
WASHINGTON Mar 8, 2006 (AP)— Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff says President Bush knew him well enough to joke with him about weightlifting. "What are you benching, buff guy?" Abramoff said Bush asked him. The president has said he doesn't know Abramoff.

March 2006
An Impeachable Offense - the military is out of control
Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan
Despite these numbers, four years since the first known death in U.S. custody, only 12 detainee deaths have resulted in punishment of any kind for any U.S. official. Of the 34 homicide cases so far identified by the military, investigators recommended criminal charges in fewer than two thirds, and charges were actually brought (based on decisions made by command) in less than half. While the CIA has been implicated in several deaths, not one CIA agent has faced a criminal charge. Crucially, among the worst cases in this list – those of detainees tortured to death – only half have resulted in punishment; the steepest sentence for anyone involved in a torture-related death: five months in jail.

March 8, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
The US is responsible for security under the Geneva Conventions
State Department: Iraqi Police Murder Civilians
"Police abuses included threats, intimidation, beatings, and suspension by the arms or legs, as well as the reported use of electric drills and cords and the application of electric shocks," the State Department said of Iraqi human rights three years after U.S. troops invaded to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

March 8, 2006
Bush had a willing GOP Congress in both Houses. Blame Bush is you must, but the problem is the GOP.
Conservatives Attack Bush
Bartlett certainly thought so. He began by predicting a big tax increase "to finance the inevitable growth of government that is in the pipeline that President Bush is largely responsible for." He also said many fellow conservatives don't know about the "quite dreadful" traits of the administration, such as the absence of "anybody who does any serious analysis" on policy issues.

March 8, 2006
Almost 90% of soldiers still think Saddam did 9/11. We're dealing with a very dumb military.
Uniformed soldiers at GOP event raise hackles
A Department of Defense directive, however, prohibits active military personnel from participating in partisan political meetings while in uniform. Forsyth was one of two uniformed soldiers at the event.

March 8, 2006
Forty-Four Percent of Americans Strongly Disapprove of Bush
When Americans were asked a follow-up of whether they strongly approve or disapprove of Bush, more than twice as many Americans say they strongly disapprove (44%) as say they strongly approve (20%) of Bush. The strong disapproval rating is the highest Gallup has measured for Bush by a percentage point, and is the highest for any president since Richard Nixon during the Watergate era.

Nixon is the only other president to register strong disapproval ratings above 40% in Gallup Polls. Nixon had a 48% strong disapproval rating in February 1974, and a 46% rating days before he resigned from office in August 1974.

March 6, 2006
Higher Debt Ceiling Sought
(AP) Treasury Secretary John Snow notified Congress on Monday that the administration has now taken "all prudent and legal actions," including tapping certain government retirement funds, to keep from hitting the $8.2 trillion national debt limit.

March 3, 2006
The right wing is filled with liars from top to bottom.
Horowitz McCarthyism: "There are 50,000 professors ... [who] identify with the terrorists"
On MSNBC's Scarborough Country, right-wing activist David Horowitz claimed that "[t]here are 50,000 professors" who are "anti-American" and "identify with the terrorists." There are just over 400,000 tenured and tenure-track full-time university professors in the United States. If Horowitz's numbers are accurate, that means approximately one out of every eight tenured or tenure-track college and university professors is a terrorist sympathizer.

March 8, 2006
Make no mistake about it. There's one thing that's an absolute in all these attacks - the end of science. No science in global warming, abortion, evolution and gay rights. Theocracy instead of science.
S. Dakota Abortion Task Force Disavows Science
Shortly after the meeting convened, the 14 task-force members present were handed a 72-page report that was identified as containing the group's final findings. Many of the panel's members, including the four pro-choice participants on hand, had never seen the document before. It was unclear who had written it. The panel adjourned for three hours so that the report could be scrutinized.

What pro-choice members of the task force found in the document alarmed them. The authors of the proposed final report had discounted all scientific evidence and testimony supporting abortion rights. The report described the testimony of one respected pro-choice scientist as "offensive" and "eugenic in nature." By contrast, the most scientifically dubious assertions about abortion, such as that it causes breast cancer, were accepted as established fact. The report even went so far as to denigrate the need for access to abortion in cases of incest, citing evidence that 97 percent of the time such pregnancies result in healthy babies.

March 4, 2006
The military jerks who made this happen should be fired ASAP.
No Iraq Trip for Legislator Who Opposed Deal on Ports
WASHINGTON, March 3 — Representative Peter T. King's prominent opposition to a proposal to allow a Dubai company to take over some terminal operations at American ports may have earned him some punishment from the Bush administration: He has been grounded.

Mr. King, the New York Republican who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, confirmed Friday that a few days after he first threatened legislation to hold up the port deal, the Pentagon informed him that it could not provide an aircraft for his planned March Congressional delegation to Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

March 6, 2006
If dems don't win EVERY House seat and EVERY Senate Seat then it will be because they failed to talk about impeachment.
Impeachment Proves Risky Political Issue
But Mr. Trupiano's pledge hasn't much impressed Democratic Party leaders, who are keeping their distance from impeachment talk. They remember how the effort boomeranged on Republicans in the 1998 midterm elections, when Mr. Clinton's adversaries expected to gain House seats but lost ground instead.

March 6, 2006
Gays can't marry, women can't get abortions. When they come after your rights who will be left to defend them?
S. Dakota Legislation to Ban Most Abortions
PIERRE, S.D. - Gov. Mike Rounds signed legislation Monday that would ban most abortions in South Dakota, a law he acknowledged would be tied up in court for years while the state challenges the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

March 4, 2006
As an occupying power the US is responsible for security. An impeachable offense
Iraq Prison Torture Increases
In a report published on Monday the human rights group suggests that many detainees being held by the US-led multinational force (MNF) are trapped in a system of arbitrary detention with some being held without being charged for more than two years.

The report, entitled Beyond Abu Ghraib: Detention and torture in Iraq, also says there is mounting evidence of torture by Iraqi security forces, working alongside the MNF, including the so-called Wolf Brigade that reports to the Iraqi interior ministry.

March 5, 2006
Pace should be fired for lying to the American people
Murtha: Only Iran, al-Qaida want U.S. in Iraq
Murtha expressed skepticism of assurances given by Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. Pace said the war in Iraq was going "very, very well."

"Why would I believe him?" said Murtha, D-Pa. "This administration, including the president, has mischaracterized this war for the last two years ... So why would I believe the chairman of the Joint Chiefs when he says things are going well?"

March 7, 2006
It's always been civil war
Majority in U.S. Fears Iraq Civil War
An overwhelming majority of Americans believe that fighting between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq will lead to civil war, and half say the United States should begin withdrawing its forces from that violence-torn country, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.

March 6, 2006
Which side of history are you on?
Conservative Jews to Consider Ending a Ban on Same-Sex Unions and Gay Rabbis
In a closed-door meeting this week in an undisclosed site near Baltimore, a committee of Jewish legal experts who set policy for Conservative Judaism will consider whether to lift their movement's ban on gay rabbis and same-sex unions.

March 4, 2006
When HS can't secure its own headquarters, can they secure our borders?
Homeland Security Headquarters Insecure
"I wouldn't feel safe nowhere on this compound as an officer," former guard Derrick Daniels told The Associated Press. Daniels was employed until last fall by Wackenhut Services Inc., the private firm that protects a Homeland Security complex that includes sensitive, classified information.

March 5, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
When lawlessness in the WH is called a leak by the media we know we're in trouble.
McCarthyism: Bush attacks whistleblowers
In recent weeks, dozens of employees at the CIA, the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies have been interviewed by agents from the FBI's Washington field office, who are investigating possible leaks that led to reports about secret CIA prisons and the NSA's warrantless domestic surveillance program, according to law enforcement and intelligence officials familiar with the two cases.

March 2, 2006
We've already established the fact that republicans are idiots. Now they want us to be as dumb as they are.
Over 400 Economists and Social Scientists Urge Congress to Save Key Census Survey
WASHINGTON - March 2 - More than 400 economists and social science researchers signed a letter to Congress today opposing the elimination of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).

President Bush's FY07 budget would eliminate the Census Bureau survey, which provides information on programs such as Medicaid, Social Security, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and unemployment insurance. The letter was signed by 432 researchers, including Brookings Institution fellow Ron Haskins and Nobel Laureate economists George Akerlof and Lawrence Klein.

March 3, 2006
People who lied or were uninformed used to be spurned. Today, they run our government.
Rice Lied about no one knowing Hamas would win election
WASHINGTON - A State Department-commissioned poll taken days before January's Palestinian elections warned U.S. policymakers that the militant Islamic group Hamas was in a position to win.

Nevertheless, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after the election that they had no advance indication of a major Hamas triumph.

March 4, 2006
As we search for one honest republican, this crosses our desk. . . .
Katherine Harris Caught Up in Bribery Scandal
TAMPA, Fla. (March 3) - U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris said Thursday she did not knowingly do anything wrong in her associations with a defense contractor who prosecutors say illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign in 2004.

March 4, 2006
More evidence the GOP doesn't know how to govern.
Bush Plan Would Raise Deficit by $1.2 Trillion
WASHINGTON, March 3 — President Bush's budget would increase the federal deficit by $35 billion this year and by more than $1.2 trillion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office reported on Friday.

The nonpartisan budget office said that Mr. Bush's tax-cutting proposals would cost about $1.7 trillion over the next 10 years and that his proposals to partly privatize Social Security would cost about $312 billion during that period.

March 3, 2006
Gallup: Bush Job Approval at 38%
PRINCETON, NJ -- President George W. Bush's job approval rating is now at 38%, while his disapproval rating is at 60%. These new ratings show a slight deterioration from early February.

March 4, 2006
The Tillman family has been begging for the truth since their son was killed. What's taking so long?
Army to Launch Criminal Probe Into Tillman Death
WASHINGTON - The Army said Saturday it will launch a criminal investigation into the April 2004 death of Pat Tillman, the former professional football player who was shot to death by fellow soldiers in Afghanistan in what previous Army reviews had concluded was an accidental shooting.

A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the new investigation has not been formally begun, said it would focus on possible charges of negligent homicide.

March 5, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
A conservative Supreme Court allows the government to violate the Constitution. Impeach Bush and the Supreme Court.
Thousands of Federal Cases Kept Secret
WASHINGTON - Despite the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of public trials, nearly all records are being kept secret for more than 5,000 defendants who completed their journey through the federal courts over the last three years. Instances of such secrecy more than doubled from 2003 to 2005.

March 4, 2006
The media still doesn't get it. Prisoners of war are called POW's.
Pentagon Releases Names of Gitmo POW's (inmates).
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba Mar 3, 2006 (AP)— After four years of secrecy, the Pentagon handed over documents Friday that contain the names of detainees held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. The release resulted from a victory by The Associated Press in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

March 5, 2006

An Impeachable Offense
A conservative Supreme Court doesn't have what it takes to stop Bush's crimes against humanity.
Torture of Walid Al-Qadasi Revealed
al-Qadasi says that he remembers almost nothing of the unexpected move. He recalls being given an injection at Guantanamo and then simply waking up in another cell in what turned out to be Yemen. (Other detainees have also spoken of being drugged during transfers.) Once in Yemen, al-Qadasi said, he was "routinely beaten" by guards. Yemeni officials insist al-Qadasi is being held at the request of the United States, an assertion the Pentagon denies. Whatever the case, al-Qadasi has now been sitting in that jail for two years without a lawyer or prospects for a trial.

March 4, 2006
Here's a novel idea. Force republicans to pay for what they say they support - Medicare Rx, war, military spending etc. When the day is done, there won't be a republican standing.
Fifteen States Sue Bush over Medicare Rx Costs
WASHINGTON -- Fifteen states are urging the Supreme Court to take the unusual step of immediately intervening to resolve a dispute between states and the federal government over the costly new Medicare prescription drug program.

March 4, 2006
The US's nuclear cave-in
This looming congressional battle will pit the proliferation fighters against the nuclear lobby and the increasingly powerful India lobby. Companies and countries (including France, Canada and Russia) are lining up to sell fuel and reactors to India. They will be joined by the US neo-conservatives who seek to construct an anti-China alliance. For them, as one architect of the India deal reportedly said, "The problem is not that India has too many nuclear weapons, it is that they do not have enough."

March 4, 2006
It's a matter of trust. We can't trust Bush. Period!
Bush faces nuclear deal fallout
An alliance of conservative Republicans is concerned that the deal will encourage Iranian intransigence, and liberal Democrats claim the Bush Administration has effectively scrapped the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

March 3, 2006
Former Congressman Gets Eight-Plus Years
SAN DIEGO - Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who collected $2.4 million in homes, yachts, antique furnishings and other bribes on a scale unparalleled in the history of Congress, was sentenced Friday to eight years and four months in prison, the longest term meted out to a congressman in decades.

March 1, 2006
What to do when the emperor has no clothes
The U.S. Constitution provides a simple, ultimate way to hold him to account for war crimes and the failure to attend to the country's defense. Impeach him and let the Senate hear the evidence.

March 3, 2006
Resolution to Impeach Bush-Cheney Passes 7-3
On Tuesday, February 28, 2006, the City and County of San Francisco became the first large municipality to call for the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney, by a 7-3 vote. Supervisors Sean Elsbernd, Michela Alioto-Pier, and Sophie Maxwell cast the dissenting votes (Sup. Jake McGoldrick was absent for the vote). Sup. Chris Daly commenced his introduction of Agenda Item 27 with "I initially thought this ... would be a noncontroversial piece of legislation. Perhaps it still is, maybe not-a-unanimous-vote piece of legislation. But if you remember when we took our oath of office we swore to uphold the Constitution."

Justices were told Friday that states should not be forced to help fund the program, which could cost them billions of dollars over the next two years.

March 3, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
If congress wanted an exception, they'd have written one.
Bush Cites Exception in Torture Ban
Bush administration lawyers, fighting a claim of torture by a Guantanamo Bay detainee, yesterday argued that the new law that bans cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody does not apply to people held at the military prison.

March 1, 2006
Possible Impeachable Offense - contempt of congress
Missing Katrina transcripts: Who know what
Congressional investigators say they can't recall seeing a transcript of this Aug. 31 conference call. An administration official said the White House is withholding the Aug. 31 transcript in order to protect the confidentiality of communications between the president and his advisers.

March 2, 2006
Talk Radio, like Talk TV is for morons who can't think for themselves.
Overland Students Walk Out In Support Of Teacher
CBS4) AURORA, Colo. Hundreds of students at Overland High School walked out of class Thursday morning in support and protest of a teacher who was at the center of a controversy over comments he made about President Bush during a geography class.

"Now I'm not saying that Bush and Hitler are exactly the same, obviously they're not, OK," Jay Bennish was heard saying on a recording of his class lecture on the day after President Bush's State of the Union Address. "But (there are) eerie similarities to the tones that they use."

The students left class for about an hour and lined the streets near the school Thursday morning. Many students said they were frustrated and angry about how Bennish had been criticized on talk radio.

March 3, 2006
200 Real Americans
Teacher suspended for speaking out against Bush.
This week, Mr. Bennish was placed on administrative leave pending a school-district investigation after 16-year-old Sean recorded a lecture during his sophomore geography class in which the teacher compared Mr. Bush to Adolf Hitler.

About 200 Overland students staged a morning walk-out yesterday to support Mr. Bennish, waving signs with messages such as "Let Him Teach!" Another group of students held a counter-rally backing Sean, shouting, "Teach, don't preach! Sean was right!"

March 2, 2006
Code: Bush can't be trusted with National Security.
Republican Will Try to Squash Ports Deal
"Dubai cannot be trusted," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and normally one of the administration's most trusted allies. He called the United Arab Emirates "a bazaar for terrorist nations" and asserted that the United States should not permit DP World to take over significant operations at six U.S. ports.

March 2, 2006
Conservatives supported this war right? Why exactly?
Iraq Abuses Growing Worse
SYDNEY, Australia - Human rights abuses in Iraq are as bad now as they were under Saddam Hussein, as lawlessness and sectarian violence sweep the country, the former U.N. human rights chief in Iraq said Thursday.

March 1, 2006
There are two types of republicans; corrupt and uninformed.
How Santorum got $8.5 million for his charity's largest donor
The largest known giver to a controversial charity founded by U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum made its $25,000 donation as the senator was working to win as much as $8.5 million in federal aid for the donor's project in the Philadelphia suburbs.

March 2, 2006
Every republican was wrong about Iraq. How's that possible?
Gallup: 2 Out of 3 Americans Want U.S. Pull Out from Iraq
NEW YORK While newspaper editorials remain virtually silent on the subject, the American public seems to have made up its mind. A new Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll out tonight shows that 2 out of 3 adult Americans now want U.S. troops to start to come home from Iraq. And 55% call the decision to attack Iraq in 2003 a "mistake."

March 2, 2006
When will conservatives face the fact that tax cuts create record deficits?
George Will: Facing the facts
Today, with all three components of the "axis of evil" -- Iraq, Iran, North Korea -- more dangerous than they were when that phrase was coined in 2002, the country would welcome, and Iraq's political class needs to hear, as a glimpse into the abyss, presidential words as realistic as those Britain heard on June 4, 1940.

"With U.S reconstruction aid running out, Iraq's infrastructure, never fully restored to begin with, decays by the hour. ... The level of corruption that pervades Iraq's ministerial orbit ... would have made South Vietnam's kleptocrats blush. ... Corruption has helped drive every public service measure -- electricity, potable water, heating oil -- down below its prewar norm."

December 28, 2005, Posted March 4, 2006
Manassas Changes Definition Of Family
"Your nephew, under our law, is considered unrelated," Purchase said, then delivered the verdict: Two people had to go.

That is because a zoning ordinance adopted this month by the city of Manassas redefines family, essentially restricting households to immediate relatives, even when the total is below the occupancy limit.

"It is not only unfair; it's racism," said Edgar Rivera, an organizer with Tenants and Workers United, a Northern Virginia group that advocates affordable housing as a solution to overcrowding. "It's basically a way to just go after certain communities."

March 3, 2006
Scary huh?
Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Melting Rapidly
The Antarctic ice sheet is losing as much as 36 cubic miles of ice a year in a trend that scientists link to global warming, according to a new paper that provides the first evidence that the sheet's total mass is shrinking significantly.

March 1, 2006
Bush was warned about WMD intelligence. He didn't tell us. What else isn't he telling us?
Video Shows Bush Was Warned Before Katrina
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, put lives at risk in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage.

Bush didn't ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29

March 2, 2006
An Impeachable Offense - Bush was warned about WMD intelligence.
Bush Told About Intelligence Problems
The disclosure that Bush was informed of the DOE and State dissents is the first evidence that the president himself knew of the sharp debate within the government over the aluminum tubes during the time that he, Cheney, and other members of the Cabinet were citing the tubes as clear evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program. Neither the president nor the vice president told the public about the disagreement among the agencies.

March 3, 2006
An Impeachable Offense - violation of Geneva Conventions
US Will Release POW Names
The US defence department has said it will release the names of inmates detained at its Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba later on Friday.

However, the names will not appear as a simple list - they will be buried within 6,000 pages of documents to be posted on the Pentagon website.

March 1, 2006
An Impeachable Offense - another violation of Geneva Conventions
Guantanamo interview of POW
I am much lighter than I was. I am now about 120 pounds, down from about 150 pounds when I came here. I have become an old man here. I'm only 29, but I have been here four years in isolation and have got old and much weaker.

March 1, 2006
Note to Reuters: The debt limit was breached January 31, 2006.
US government long-term promises top $46 trillion
WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - As lawmakers prepare to raise the $8.18 trillion U.S. borrowing limit, a congressional agency on Wednesday warned that when promised government health and retirement benefits are taken into account the long-term obligations top $46 trillion.

The U.S. Treasury is already bumping up against a $8.18 trillion credit limit and has asked Congress to quickly raise the ceiling so the government can borrow more money and pay its bills.

March 1, 2006
Afghan Opium Stymies US
Opium production and trafficking account for one-third of Afghanistan's economy and is complicating U.S. efforts to rebuild the country and its government, a State Department report said Wednesday.

March 1, 2006
Pre Bush the US was admired around the world. Now . . . .
Thousands protest Bush in India
NEW DELHI - Tens of thousands of Indians waving black and white flags and chanting "Death to Bush!" rallied Wednesday in New Delhi to protest a visit by President Bush

Surindra Singh Yadav, a senior police officer in charge of crowd control, said as many as 100,000 people, most of them Muslim, had gathered in a fairground in central New Delhi ordinarily used for political rallies.

March 1, 2006
No shit.
Iraq May Spark Regional Fight
WASHINGTON - A civil war in Iraq could lead to a broader conflict in the Middle East, pitting the region's rival Islamic sects against each other, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said in an unusually frank assessment Tuesday.

March 1, 2006
If there's a war on terror, why are we in Iraq?
Senate OKs Limiting Patriot Act Powers
The overwhelming votes virtually assured that Congress will renew President Bush's antiterror law before it expires March 10. The House was expected to pass the legislation and send the bill to the president next week.

February 27, 2006
Bush cuts veterans benefits and. . . .
Iraq Vets Bringing Home Mental Health Needs at High Rate
Of the 21,822 service members who screened positive for post-traumatic stress syndrome, 79.6% said they either saw someone being killed or wounded or took part in direct combat during which they fired their guns.

In contrast, 47.8% of 200,798 veterans who screened negative for post-traumatic stress syndrome reported similar combat experiences during the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath, reported Charles W. Hoge, M.D., and colleagues in the March 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

February 28, 2006
Be honest. Do you feel comfortable with idiots in YOUR military?
Almost 90% of troops in Iraq think war is retaliation for Saddam's role in 9/11

• Le Moyne College/Zogby Poll shows just one in five troops want to heed Bush call to stay "as long as they are needed"
• While 58% say mission is clear, 42% say U.S. role is hazy
• Plurality believes Iraqi insurgents are mostly homegrown
• Almost 90% think war is retaliation for Saddam's role in 9/11, most don't blame Iraqi public for insurgent attacks
• Majority of troops oppose use of harsh prisoner interrogation
• Plurality of troops pleased with their armor and equipment

March 1, 2006
Recent misstep? Read my commentary at the end of the article
Recent White House missteps create rift with GOP legislators
In both the House and Senate, Republicans say they've never seen relations with the Bush administration more strained.

"This has been a tipping point for the relationship between the White House and Capitol Hill," said one House Republican staffer. "No longer will Republicans simply fall into line on major issues when they disagree with the president."

February 28, 2006
Do you want to be lied to? Listen to a conservative. Why does the slime ball network NBC employ this slime ball? -a question for deeper minds.
The Full Disclosure Tucker Carlson Isn't Making
But with all he's had to say about the case, there is one thing that Tucker Carlson has failed to mention: That his father, Richard Carlson, is on the advisory committee of the Libby Legal Defense Trust, the GOP-heavy-hitter-laden group that has so far raised $2 million.

February 28, 2006
When the Bush lie about fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq was exposed, it was already civil war. Iraqis fighting Iraqis was never a war on terror, it was always civil war.
Civil War Looms With 68 Killed in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunnis and Shiites traded bombings and mortar fire against mainly religious targets in Baghdad well into the night Tuesday, killing at least 68 people a day after authorities lifted a curfew that had briefly calmed a series of sectarian reprisal attacks.

February 27, 2006
Murtha was right again. US soldiers want out of Iraq fast.
Zogby Commentary of US Soldier Poll
Times have now changed. A first-ever survey of U.S. troops on the ground fighting a war overseas has revealed surprising findings, not the least of which is that an overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year.

February 27, 2006
As the Middle East spirals into chaos . . . .
Growing Threat Seen In Afghan Insurgency
The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency told Congress yesterday that the insurgency in Afghanistan is growing and will increase this spring, presenting a greater threat to the central government's expansion of authority "than at any point since late 2001."

February 27, 2006
CBS Poll Results
CBS POLL: George W. Bush now receives the lowest marks of his Presidency, even on fighting terrorism, a measure that has long been his strongest suit. Half of Americans now disapprove of how he is handling that effort, while 43% approve.

February 28, 2006
Bush pandered to his base and that's all he has left
Toll in Iraq's Deadly Surge: 1,300
BAGHDAD, Feb. 27 -- Grisly attacks and other sectarian violence unleashed by last week's bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine have killed more than 1,300 Iraqis, making the past few days the deadliest of the war outside of major U.S. offensives, according to Baghdad's main morgue. The toll was more than three times higher than the figure previously reported by the U.S. military and the news media.

February 27, 2006
Bush pandered to his base and that's all he has left
Poll: Bush Ratings At All-Time Low
(CBS) The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high.

Americans are also overwhelmingly opposed to the Bush-backed deal giving a Dubai-owned company operational control over six major U.S. ports. Seven in 10 Americans, including 58 percent of Republicans, say they're opposed to the agreement.

February 28, 2006
It's called the writ of habeas corpus. An Impeachable Offense
US settles suit by 9/11 detainee
The US government has agreed to pay $300,000 (£172,000) to settle a lawsuit brought by an Egyptian arrested after the 11 September attacks, reports say.

Ehab Elmaghraby was detained for nearly a year and deported after being cleared of links to terrorism.

February 27, 2006
Bush is doing what Reagan tried to do. Propose cuts NO ONE supports, then blame congress for not passing his cuts. Bush refuses to grow up.
Long-term Bush budget plan would cut veterans health care
In fact, the proposed cuts are so draconian that it seems to some that the White House is simply making them up to make its long-term deficit figures look better. More realistic numbers, however, would raise doubts as to whether Bush can keep his promise to wrestle the deficit under control by the time he leaves office.

"Either the administration is proposing gutting VA health care over the next five years or it is not serious about its own budget," said Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas, top Democrat on the panel overseeing the VA's budget. "If the proposals aren't serious, then that would undermine the administration's argument that they intend to reduce the deficit in half over the next several years."

March/April 2006
Must Read: Fixing What Bush Broke in Iraq
Seeing Baghdad, Seeing Saigon
The only way to break the logjam is to change the parties' relative comfort with the status quo by drastically raising the costs of their failure to negotiate. The U.S. presence now caps the war's intensity, and U.S. aid could give any side an enormous military advantage. Thus Washington should threaten to use its influence to alter the balance of power depending on the parties' behavior. By doing so, it could make stubbornness look worse than cooperation and compel all sides to compromise.

Today, however, Washington is doing just the opposite.

At a minimum, Washington should stop making matters worse. Understanding the war in Iraq as a communal civil war cannot guarantee success, but without this understanding failure is far too likely. Whatever the prospects for peace, they would be considerably better if Washington stopped mistaking Iraq for Vietnam and started seeing it for what it really is.

February 27, 2006
Working up the nerve toward 'impeachment'
Then it just lay there over the holidays and through January, looking bizarre and isolated. In recent days, however, Conyers' resolution snagged endorsements from two members who get attention from everybody - James L. Oberstar of Minnesota and John Lewis of Georgia.

Oberstar has husbanded every major transportation initiative passed in the past two decades, and Lewis is the battle-hardened warrior of the civil rights movement.

"There is no question in my mind that this president has already committed one or more technically impeachable offenses . . . For example, going to war in Iraq by misrepresenting to Congress what he was doing and why he was doing it. That's a crime to go before Congress and make material misrepresentations."

February 27, 2006
The Bush presidency can be summed up in two words "break everything!"
Bush Policies Are Weakening National Guard, Governors Say
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 — Governors of both parties said Sunday that Bush administration policies were stripping the National Guard of equipment and personnel needed to respond to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, forest fires and other emergencies.

February 27, 2006
The GOP has become the "fix what Bush breaks" party. If they had any balls, they'd impeach him.
How a Deal Became a Big Liability for G.O.P.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 — Representative Peter T. King of New York was in a room packed with reporters last week, complaining that the White House had jeopardized national security by contracting with an Arab-owned company to manage terminals in six American ports, when he felt his cellphone vibrate. It was Representative J. Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House.

Mr. King, like Mr. Hastert a Republican, finished talking and hurriedly returned the call, expecting the speaker, who has never broken with President Bush on a major issue, to chastise him. "And before I said anything," Mr. King recalled, "he said, 'You don't have to tell me what a bad deal it is: you and I are on the same page.' "

February 19, 2006
US trained police are thugs - worse than Saddam's henchmen.
Iraq Sunnis May Rejoin Government Talks
He said there were "some conditions" that must be met first, chief among them the return of mosques still occupied by Shiite militants in Baghdad and Salman Pak. Al-Dulaimi did not mention the other demands, but some Sunni politicians have insisted on replacing Shiite police with Sunni soldiers in heavily Sunni areas.

February 26, 2006
Must Read: It really is this bad! The world hates us.
Anti-American film pulled from Germany
The movie, which began showings in Germany three weeks ago, has played to sold out audiences since. Over 130,000 people, mostly young Muslims, saw the film in its first five days. The London Telegraph reports Berlin audiences, made up mostly of Turkish young men, clapping furiously when the building housing the U.S. military commander in northern Iraq is blown up and a standing ovation – accompanied by shouts of "Allah is great!" – when the movie's American antagonist, played by Billy Zane, is stabbed in the chest.

February 25, 2006
Wimpy at best
Democrats hit Bush on security, seek ports review
"We cannot afford to let this administration be stubborn in their mistakes and casual about our security," Corzine said. "Every homeland security expert identifies protecting our nation's ports as one of our greatest unmet security challenges."

February 19, 2006
Conservatism doesn't work. When will they get it?
37 million poor hidden in the land of plenty
A shocking 37 million Americans live in poverty. That is 12.7 per cent of the population - the highest percentage in the developed world. Each year since 2001 their number has grown. Under President George W Bush an extra 5.4 million have slipped below the poverty line.

February 26, 2006
Bush bans groups he doesn't like and is causing civil war.
Sunni call for deal to avert civil war in Iraq
Even before last week's turmoil, insurgent attacks were running at record levels. A US Defence Department report released last week said that 550 attacks occurred in the four-month period between August 29 2005 and January 20 2006 -- a post-war high. Eighty percent of those attacks targeted coalition forces, but three-quarters of the casualties were Iraqis.

The vast majority (83%) of attacks took place in four of Iraq's 18 provinces -- Baghdad, Anbar, Nineveh and Salaheddin, the report said.

February 22, 2006
The Chamber is fascist. Disregard it.
U.S. Chamber endorses DeLay
LEAGUE CITY -- U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay received an enterprise award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today as well as getting an endorsement from the national group.

February 26, 2006
Instead of fighting terrorism, Bush is fighting a civil war in Iraq.
Al Qaeda vows more oil attacks after failed strike
SAUDI ARABIA -- Al Qaeda on Saturday vowed more attacks on Saudi oil facilities a day after a foiled attempt to bomb the world's biggest oil-processing complex showed the group still can strike inside the kingdom.

February 24, 2006
Bush promised to get an up or down vote in the UN. He lied. Blitzer let him get away with it.
Blitzer Lie: Bush "usually gets his way"
CNN's Wolf Blitzer said that when President Bush "puts his mind to something, he usually gets his way, at least over these past five years." In fact, while Bush has threatened to veto legislation he opposed during his five years in office, he has never actually done so. Additionally, he has reversed course in cases where he initially vowed to see his agenda realized despite any opposition and has rebuked Congress only to change his stance later.

February 23, 2006
'Portgate': The implacable incompetence of a Bush Administration
Everyone's missing the essential point about "Portgate." What's dubious about the Dubai deal isn't the possibility of an Arab-owned company running American ports – you can't automatically profile it into the outer darkness, or rather the outer harbor, but the implacable incompetence of a Bush Administration that no longer seems to get anything right –from Hurricane Katrina to Iraq to Social Security to Homeland Security.

The port issue is the latest symbol of the collapsing Presidency of George Bush. Once the process begins, it doesn't stop.

February 25, 2006
The media already knows the leaker. Why not the jury?
Court rules against Libby on identity of WH leaker
Vice President Cheney's former top aide is not entitled to know the identity of an anonymous administration official who revealed information about CIA operative Valerie Plame to two journalists, a federal judge ruled in a hearing yesterday.

To defend himself against criminal charges, however, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby does have the right to copies of all the classified notes he took as Cheney's chief of staff from spring 2003 to spring 2004, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said. Libby sought the notes to refresh his memory about matters he was handling while discussing Plame with reporters and when questioned by investigators about those conversations.

February 23, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Military interrogators forced POW's to watch gay porn
WASHINGTON - Military interrogators posing as FBI agents at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, wrapped terrorism suspects in an Israeli flag and forced them to watch homosexual pornography under strobe lights during interrogation sessions that lasted as long as 18 hours, according to one of a batch of FBI memos released Thursday.

February 23, 2006
Will the media paint him as anti war too?s
Wiliam F. Buckley Throws in the Towel on Iraq
Now what will newspaper editors do? As the situation worsens in Iraq, one wonders what it will take for editorialists in this country to endorse the notion of a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. A look back at critical editorials on the eve of invasion shows how timidly editors have acted since.

Conservative icon William F. Buckley in a Friday column throws in the towel on the war, saying bluntly that our "mission has failed....different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgment of defeat."

February 25, 2006
Homeland Security Objected to Ports Deal
WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department objected at first to a United Arab Emirates company's taking over significant operations at six U.S. ports. It was the lone protest among members of the government committee that eventually approved the deal without dissent.

February 25, 2006
The GOP wants Bush to follow the law - Now that's quaint
Republican leaders seek port compromise
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans were in talks on Saturday about reopening the government review of an Arab state-owned company's purchase of terminals at key U.S. ports in a bid to fend off critics who say the deal could harm national security.

U.S. House and Senate Republican leaders were discussing asking the company, Dubai Ports World, to seek a 45-day review of security concerns from the White House, Republican congressional officials told Reuters.

February 24, 2006
The American objective in Iraq has failed
William F. Buckley: One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed. The same edition of the paper quotes a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Reuel Marc Gerecht backed the American intervention. He now speaks of the bombing of the especially sacred Shiite mosque in Samara and what that has precipitated in the way of revenge. He concludes that "The bombing has completely demolished" what was being attempted — to bring Sunnis into the defense and interior ministries.

February 23, 2006
Being an idiot worked for five years - why change now?
Bush did-not-know strategy on ports puzzles some
While Bush adamantly defended the deal again on Thursday, the I-did-not-know strategy has puzzled some political analysts and communications experts.

"It's a disaster for him, I think," said Michael Hogan, professor of communication, arts and sciences at Pennsylvania State University. "It's never a good thing for a president to say he doesn't know something."

February 24, 2006
Don't blame the US, Blame Bush and his supporters.
Spectre of civil war in Iraq grows as 130 die in one day
Sectarian killings are not new following the American-led invasion but what is happening now appears unprecedented in its scale and systematic nature.

Moqtada al-Sadr, the militant cleric whose black-shirted Mahdi army has been the most prominent of all the Shia armed groups warned that the government and US had failed to protect the Samarrah shrine and ordered his followers to defend all Shia holy sites.