March 22, 2006
War Crimes and an Impeachable offense
"Never again?" or "support our troops?"
Must read
Iraqi police report details civilians' deaths at hands of U.S. troops
At 230 of 15/3/2006, according to the telegram (report) of the Ishaqi police directorate, American forces used helicopters to drop troops on the house of Faiz Harat Khalaf situated in the Abu Sifa village of the Ishaqi district. The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 people, including 5 children, 4 women and 2 men, then they bombed the house, burned three vehicles and killed their animals (map coordinates 098702). (names of the murdered follow).

March 20, 2006
The media remains stuck in imbecile mode. Wrong Question. What do ALL the constitutional scholars say about a president making up new laws and breaking old ones?
Many have doubts on spying, but Feingold stands alone on censure
WASHINGTON - While most senators recoiled last week from Sen. Russell Feingold's resolution to censure the president, many of them agreed with one of its basic premises: that the wiretapping of Americans without a warrant is against the law.

March 20, 2006
First they were called terrorists and that was a lie. Then they were called insurgents. But, it's always been Iraqis fighting Iraqis - a civil war.
Three years after Iraq invasion leader says civil war has begun
IYAD ALLAWI, Iraq's former Prime Minister, chose the third anniversary of the invasion yesterday to say that he believed that civil war had begun.

Mr Allawi told the BBC that civil war had already started and that violence could spread to Europe and the US. He said: "We are losing each day an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is." As he made his comments yesterday, 12 Iraqis were killed in insurgent attacks and a US raid north of Baghdad. Four bodies turned up in a sewage plant and Shia pilgrims were attacked with a mortar.

March 22, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
When the facts don't conform to your beliefs, rewrite the facts. America's Hitler is still at it. It'd be nice if we find a way to stop him.
Rewriting The Science
"In my more than three decades in the government I've never witnessed such restrictions on the ability of scientists to communicate with the public."

March 22, 2006
While the media pushes Bush's silly war in Iraq, here's what Americans are really thinking about.
Poll: Energy Heats Up
Public concern about the United States' energy supply is up sharply this year. According to Gallup's annual Environment survey, updated March 13-16, there has been a 10-point increase (from 31% to 41%) in the percentage of Americans rating the nation's energy situation as "very serious," and a 9-point increase (from 39% to 48%) in the percentage worrying "a great deal" about the nation's energy supply.

March 21, 2006
The only logical reason for this war is to keep energy prices at record levels. Are Americans fed up yet?
Independents and Democrats Negative on Economy
There has been little major change in Democrats' attitudes across these first three months of 2006. Democrats became slightly more negative about current economic conditions in February and have remained negative in March. There has been virtually no change in Democrats' views of whether or not the economy is getting better or getting worse so far this year.

There has been more change among independents. Their rating of current economic conditions (based on the percent rating the economy as excellent or good) is 13 percentage points lower now than it was in January, and the percent of Independents saying the economy is getting better is now 12 points lower than in January.

March 27, 2006 (issue)
An Impeachable Offense
DOJ Concedes Warrantless Searches Were Illegal
Martin, who has handled more intelligence-oriented criminal cases than anyone else at the Justice Department, puts the issue in stark terms: "The failure to allow it [information obtained from warrantless surveillance] to be used in court is a concession that it is an illegal surveillance."

March 20, 2006
Bush won re election even though a majority disapproved of his presidency. For that to happen the media had to twist a lot of facts, figures and minds.
In a Word...Incompetent
Currently, 48% use a negative word to describe Bush compared with just 28% who use a positive term, and 10% who use neutral language.

The changing impressions of the president can best be viewed by tracking over time how often words come up in these top-of-the-mind associations. Until now, the most frequently offered word to describe the president was "honest," but this comes up far less often today than in the past. Other positive traits such as "integrity" are also cited less, and virtually no respondent used superlatives such as "excellent" or "great" ­ terms that came up fairly often in previous surveys.

The single word most frequently associated with George W. Bush today is "incompetent,"and close behind are two other increasingly mentioned descriptors: "idiot" and "liar." All three are mentioned far more often today than a year ago.

March 18, 2006
42% support censure in this poll, even though there's almost no talk of it in the media.
A bitterly divided electorate
March 18, 2006 - A bitterly divided electorate gives President George W. Bush an approval rating of only 36 percent in the latest NEWSWEEK poll, matching the low point in his presidency recorded last November.

March 20, 2006
The title is misleading. The article is an intelligent attack on anti-gay Churches, mostly Catholic.
Homosexuality - Disgusting or Delightful?
But the Church has a seamless garment approach to sexuality - it isn't just homosexuality that is forbidden (though that admittedly is the most disgusting of sex's faces), it also forbids all touching of oneself (otherwise known as masturbation, and called "normal development" by demon psychologists), all heterosexual contact outside of marriage, and, of course, any sexual contact that uses birth control since the ONLY ALLOWABLE sex must always leave open the possibility of childbirth. God created sex for procreation, not recreation. He added pleasure to the sexual act as a little trick to keep the population growing. But we are not meant to enjoy the pleasure, or if we do by chance, that cannot be our primary purpose.

March 19, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Correction
In Secret 'Black Room,' a Portrait of U.S. Abuse
As the Iraqi insurgency intensified in early 2004, an elite Special Operations forces unit converted one of Saddam Hussein's former military bases near Baghdad into a top-secret detention center. There, American soldiers made one of the former Iraqi government's torture chambers into their own interrogation cell. They named it the Black Room.

March 20, 2006
One possible solution is for the US to take sides. Not taking sides hasn't worked.
US influence wanes as full-scale civil war looms
"The majority of Iraqis are now against this occupation, whether they are Sunni, Shiite or Kurd," says Wamidh Omar Nadhmi, a political scientist who heads a Sunni-led group called the Foundation Conference. "But those in government positions are trying to unleash a campaign of suppression, to take advantage [of the violence], to dominate.

March 17, 2006
The GOP destroyed our reputation, bankrupted our treasury and lost the war in Iraq. What message did they ever have?
GOP Struggles To Define Its Message for 2006 Election
Republican efforts to craft a policy and political agenda to carry the party into the midterm elections have stumbled repeatedly as GOP leaders face widespread disaffection and disagreement within the ranks.

Blunt said it is more important for Democrats to produce a governing agenda because Republicans have a record to run on. But he also said action this year is essential. "We are, after all, legislators," he said. "We need to be making something better, eliminating something or moving in a new direction."

March 17, 2006
Murtha's right on firing everyone associated with the Iraqi war, including the generals, but he's wrong about not censuring Bush. Every legal expert says Bush broke the law - they don't need any more investigations.
Murtha Interview on Meet the Press
MR. RUSSERT: The president picks up the phone and calls you up, and says "Jack, come on down. You voted for this war, you now think it was a mistake, but we're in a fix. And if I get out right away, we could leave behind a civil war, we could leave behind a haven for terrorism. Tell me specifically Mr. Murtha, what should I do today?"

REP. MURTHA: Here, here's what you should do, Mr. President. First of all, you should fire all the people who are responsible for that, which gives you international credibility.

Let's take Operation Swarmer. Now, they said a lot of Iraqis, more than half of them were Iraqis. American helicopters, American planning, American logistics, American artillery, American medical evacuation—everything was American.

March 18, 2006
If you haven't studied logic, "straw-man" is a fallacy. The entire Bush presidency has been based on fallacies (also known as lies) - tax cuts, surpluses, WMD, you name it. Logic dictated there were no WMD in Iraq because the UN inspectors couldn't verify one word of Bush's intelligence after months of trying.
Bush Using Straw-Man Arguments in Speeches
"There are some really decent people," the president said earlier this year, "who believe that the federal government ought to be the decider of health care ... for all people."

Of course, hardly anyone in mainstream political debate has made such assertions.

When the president starts a sentence with "some say" or offers up what "some in Washington" believe, as he is doing more often these days, a rhetorical retort almost assuredly follows.

March 19, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
It's time to gut the military and start all over again. If you don't agree, read the entire article.
US took over Saddam's torture chamber
The new account reveals the extent to which the unit members mistreated prisoners months before and after the photographs of abuse from Abu Ghraib were made public in April 2004, and it helps belie the original Pentagon assertions that abuse was confined to a small number of rogue reservists at Abu Ghraib.

The abuses at Camp Nama continued despite warnings beginning in August 2003 from an Army investigator and American intelligence and law enforcement officials in Iraq. The C.I.A. was concerned enough to bar its personnel from Camp Nama that August.

March 10, 2006
We can all agree Bush doesn't have what it takes to be CIC, but the second problem is incompetent military leaders. Generals need to be fired a lot of generals.
24,000 dead in Baghdad area alone
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Three years into the war, one grim measure of its impact on Iraqis can be seen at Baghdad's morgue: There, the staff has photographed and catalogued more than 24,000 bodies from the Baghdad area alone since 2003, almost all killed in violence.

Bloodshed has worsened each year, pushing the Iraqi death toll into the tens of thousands. But no one knows the exact toll.

March 16, 2006
The key to republican electoral success is singular -tax cuts. Republicans borrow trillions from the next generation and give it away. Every republican in both Houses should be booted out of office for their tax cut votes alone. $2.5 trillion of new debt in a little over four years is unforgivable.
Senate Approves Budget, Breaking Spending Limits
"This budget could be the final nail in our coffin, if we don't watch it," said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who said the Republican spending pattern was demoralizing party voters. "I don't think we properly understand the keys to our electoral success."

March 18, 2006
There are no fiscal conservatives in the republican party. Never have been, never will be. It's a bigger farce than WMD.
GOP Spenders Think Voters Dismiss Deficits
"Senators are betting that pandering to the public with billions in election-year promises will pay off more than they lose by cutting the fiscal conservatives in their own party off at the knees," said Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense.

March 19, 2006
Bush's polls have dropped 30% in three years (67%-37%). Lying works short-term, long enough to get reelected.
Iraqi People Hopeless in 3rd Year of Occupation
The Iraqi people are at such a point that they miss the days of Saddam's era and they demand the end of occupation, which makes their life even harder. The ethnic and sectarian division is seen as the biggest obstacle before the democratic structure in Iraq.

March 19, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
When I get fined for speeding, I admit my mistake and pay the fine - not US corporations. More corporate welfare brought to you by the GOP.
Corporations Stiffing Government on Fines
When coal firms' violations were blamed for deaths, injuries and risks to miners from Alabama to West Virginia, they were slapped with more than $1.3 million in penalties.

What happened next with these no-nonsense enforcement efforts? Not much. The pipeline tab was eventually reduced by 92 percent, the labs' assessments were waived as soon as they were issued, and the mine penalties largely went unpaid.

March 18, 2006
If you still have any doubts about the media being lazy and filled with liars, doubt no more. Why hasn't ABC fired this reporter?
ABC: News For Morons
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the journalist responsible for "Vet Fakes Dog's Death" and "Breast-Feeding Moms Take Action" would be a lightweight, but a quick check into her one medical source, "Dr. Joseph Agris, a Houston physician" proved downright creepy. Far from being a microbiologist or contagious disease specialist, the guy is a plastic surgeon.

March 18, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Bush panders to big business, breaks the law and it's not even a one day story. It appears the press has gotten to use his law-breaking.
Court Says Changes By EPA Violated Clean Air Act
A federal appeals court blocked the Bush administration's four-year effort to loosen emission rules for aging coal-fired power plants, unanimously ruling yesterday that the changes violated the Clean Air Act and that only Congress could authorize such revisions.

March 17, 2006
Reid: Bush is "worst president this country has ever had."
WASHINGTON, March 16 — The Senate narrowly approved a $2.8 trillion election-year budget Thursday that broke spending limits only hours after it increased federal borrowing power to avert a government default.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said Thursday that given Mr. Bush's record, "I really do believe this man will go down as the worst president this country has ever had."

March 17, 2006
Operation Swarmer appears to have been an attempt by bush to see if he still owns the media. He does. They can't help themselves. They have to push his agenda no matter how stupid it is. They can't help themselves.
How Operation Swarmer Grizzled
But contrary to what many many television networks erroneously reported, the operation was by no means the largest use of airpower since the start of the war. ("Air Assault" is a military term that refers specifically to transporting troops into an area.) In fact, there were no airstrikes and no leading insurgents were nabbed in an operation that some skeptical military analysts described as little more than a photo op. What's more, there were no shots fired at all and the units had met no resistance, said the U.S. and Iraqi commanders.

March 17, 2006
Call me old school, but I still value the truth.
Secret Service Agents posed as journalists
Recounting the pre-visit days for WLOX and the Sun Herald, Jerry Akins, who received Bush, mentioned that on the Friday before Bush arrived, two men approached him identifying themselves as members of the media.

But after the president left Akins' home, the two men again approached Akins and let him know they were not media after all, but were with the governmental entourage.

March 16, 2006
Before Bush won re election his approval rating was only 40% (scroll down this page). So don't put too much into his dismal numbers. He's had low numbers for a long time, but it's taken the media a long time to write about it.
Bush battered by US pessimism, leadership doubts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deep doubts about the Iraq war and pessimism about America's future have shattered public confidence in President George W. Bush and helped drive his approval ratings to their lowest level ever, pollsters say.

Bush's approval rating dipped as low as 33 percent in one recent poll after a string of bad news for the White House, including uproars over a now-dead Arab port deal, a secret eavesdropping program, a series of ethics scandals involving high-profile Republicans and a bungled response to Hurricane Katrina.

March 14, 2006
I think it's fair to say Bush is insane.
The mission: Find a way to stay relevant
Through the challenges, the President has kept his human touch. Touring New Orleans last week, he met a man who had survived for days on canned goods before being evacuated to Utah. "Were you the only black man in Salt Lake City?" Bush asked.

March 17, 2006
The Port deal was set up by Rove so the GOP could distance themselves from Bush before the election. The GOP voted for everything they now say they hate about Bush. Don't let them get away with lying to you again. The GOP doesn't have the brain power to govern (read: republicans are idiots and they know it).
GOP Irritation At Bush Began After His Numbers Fell
President Bush's troubles with congressional Republicans, which erupted during the backlash to the Dubai seaport deal, are rooted in policy frustrations and personal resentments that GOP lawmakers say stretch back to the opening days of the administration.

March 17, 2006
What you need to know. First the media will always fall for make-believe news. Second, Rove and the WH were testing to see if the media was still inept. Three, the media is still inept. Four, Bush will pull off another fake invasion before the election and sucker conservatives into voting for his failed policies again.
How US assault grabbed global attention
It was billed by the US military as "the largest air assault operation" since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

By the middle of Day Two in the ongoing operation, it was clear from both US and Iraqi military sources that the advance had met no resistance.

There were no clashes with insurgents. No casualties were reported.

March 16, 2006
At Fox, when the facts don't conform to delusion, they rewrite the facts and let you decide. I have never met an informed person who listens to Fox or Rush Limbaugh.
Fox lie: illegal wiretapping
Fox News correspondent Jim Angle cropped a quote from Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid to falsely suggest that Reid did not agree with Sen. Russ Feingold that the Bush administration's warrantless domestic wiretapping program is illegal. Angle's report marked the second consecutive day that a reporter for Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume cropped a quote from one of Feingold's Democratic colleagues to falsely suggest that Feingold is alone in having legal objections to the program.

March 16, 2006
What we learn about today's class of political pundits is they're all intellectually inconsistent. They should be ignored.
Matthews proposed censure of Clinton, questions if censure of Bush legal
Chris Matthews claimed that "there's a big question about whether it's even legal or not in the Senate" to censure President Bush, as Sen. Russ Feingold recently proposed, over Bush's authorization of warrantless domestic surveillance. But Matthews said something very different about the issue of censure in the context of former President Bill Clinton, at that time taking credit for first promoting the idea of censuring Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky controversy: "I'm not bragging, but I believe I was the first person to talk about the notion of censure because nobody else talked about it."

March 17, 2006
Red States protect criminals.
Boot Camp Teen Likely Suffocated
A teen who died after guards punched and kicked him at a boot camp likely was suffocated during the confrontation and was brain dead when he was brought to a hospital, a pathologist told lawmakers Friday.

No guards have been arrested or fired. The camp no longer houses any juveniles and is being closed.

March 18, 2006
Google isn't accused of committing any crimes but it still has to turn over documents to the government. Since there's no reasonable cause only a fool thinks this is a victory for Google. Fascism, here we come.
Google Wins Ruling on Turning Over Search Queries to Government
March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc. won a partial victory in a battle with the government when a federal judge ruled yesterday that the company didn't have to turn over customer search queries to the U.S. Justice Department.

U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Jose, California, refused to make Google, the most-used Internet search engine, give the agency 5,000 search queries as part of an effort to defend a law aimed at keeping children from accessing Internet pornography. Ware did rule Google had to comply with the U.S. demand for 50,000 Web addresses from its index of Web sites.

March 16, 2006
Shock and Awe II
Two-Thirds Say U.S. Is 'Losing Ground' in Preventing Civil War
As the third anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq approaches, public support for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq has reached its lowest point and assessments of progress there have turned significantly more negative than they were just a few months ago.

March 17, 2006
Republicans will never read this article.
Was it worth it? An Iraqi family debates
But for many Iraqis, who have watched in horror as tens of thousands of their countrymen have died since the 2003 invasion, hopes for the future are muted, or gone. US promises of freedom and democratic rule after the tyranny of Saddam Hussein have instead given way to Iraqi anger at US invaders and Iraqi insurgents.

"We can't like Iraq now, because we are tired," says Methboub. "If we had a lot of money, we would run away from this country. The civil war is starting."

Amal adds with some exasperation over the new government: "Iraq will be finished, all the people will die, but still politicians will fight for their posts."

March 16, 2006
The press should have exposed these illegal leaks instead of covering them up in the name of "protecting a source."
News outlets subpoenaed in CIA leak case
A subpoena to the Post could force star reporter Bob Woodward to reveal who in the government told him Plame's identity more than a month before it was made public. It is against the law for a government official to knowingly expose a CIA agent.

March 12, 2006
Iraq-War Vets: The Democrats' Newest Weapon
Sherwood's when-did-you-stop-beating- your-mistress travails may have made this race competitive for Democrats, but Chris Carney's qualities as a candidate are what make it significant. He is one of more than 50 veterans running for Congress as Democrats this year, eight of whom are Iraq-combat veterans. Carney didn't see action in Iraq, but he was a senior intelligence analyst who served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Indeed, he was one of a core group of military-intelligence officers who studied the Iraqi insurgency over the past three years and have been frustrated by the Bush Administration's failure to bring adequate force to meet the challenge. "We told them there was going to be an insurgency," Carney tells his audience in Montrose. "Did they prepare for it? No. We need to know why they didn't. Why wasn't Congress asking the tough questions about this war? Where was Mr. Sherwood?"

March 14, 2006
More law-breakers in the Bush Justice Department.
Federal lawyer coached witnesses in the trial of al-Qaida conspirator
"The TSA lawyer then forwarded the transcripts and sent multiple e-mails to government witnesses in a clear effort to shape their testimony in a manner that would be beneficial to the aviation defendants" in the civil suit, they wrote.

In court on Tuesday, Brinkema said that Martin violated federal witness rules when she sent trial transcripts to seven aviation witnesses, coached them on how to deflect defense attacks and lied to defense lawyers to prevent them from interviewing witnesses they wanted to call.

March 13, 2006
10 chapters of war crimes in Iraq - very long and very good. There are no pictures in this section. You can go to the original link at the bottom of the page to see with your own eyes (highly recommended).
Abu Ghraib Photos and videos
The human rights scandal now known as "Abu Ghraib" began its journey toward exposure on Jan. 13, 2004, when Spc. Joseph Darby handed over horrific images of detainee abuse to the Army's Criminal Investigation Command (CID). The next day, the Army launched a criminal investigation. Three and a half months later, CBS News and the New Yorker published photos and stories that introduced the world to devastating scenes of torture and suffering inside the decrepit prison in Iraq.

Today Salon presents an archive of 279 photos and 19 videos of Abu Ghraib abuse first gathered by the CID, along with information drawn from the CID's own timeline of the events depicted. As we reported Feb. 16, Salon's Mark Benjamin recently acquired extensive documentation of the CID investigation -- including this photo archive and timeline -- from a military source who spent time at Abu Ghraib and who is familiar with the Army probe.

March 15, 2006
The birth of a new ocean floor - cool!
AFRICA'S NEW OCEAN - A Continent Splits Apart
Basalt magma has risen into some of the crevices. For the moment, Ayalew explains, the lava seems not to be rising further. A number of recent eruptions, though, have left layers of new basalt lava on the Earth's surface. And it's the exact same kind of lava that spews out of volcanic ridges deep under the ocean -- a process which slowly pushes older lava sediments away on either side. The process has only just begun in the Afar Triangle -- and scientists for the first time can witness the birth of a new ocean floor.

March 17, 2006
The impeach question of flawed. They don't say why he should be impeached. Note how the say "why" in the censure question, but not in the impeach question. It's a start - the word "impeach" is out there and at some point Gallup will have to give in and do the poll.
ARG: Censure/Impeach Poll
Americans are split over the US Senate censuring George W. Bush, but more Americans are opposed to the US House of Representatives voting to impeach Bush.

March 16, 2006
There's ONE thing the GOP can do. They can spend money faster than anyone else.
Senate votes debt limit hike to $8.965 trillion
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a $781 billion increase in U.S. borrowing authority aimed at averting a possible government default on debt this month.

The Senate voted 52-48 to raise the federal debt limit to $8.965 trillion. The measure, the fourth time the cap has been raised since 2002, now goes to U.S. President George W. Bush for signing into law.

March 15, 2006
Under Bush the US went from "Leader of the Free World" and champion of human rights opposing human rights and being ignored by the world.
UN creates new rights council over US objections
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations General Assembly created a new U.N. human rights body by an overwhelming majority on Wednesday, ignoring objections from the United States.

Ambassadors broke out in sustained applause when the vote was announced: 170-4 with 3 abstentions. Joining the United States in a "no" vote were Israel, Marshall Islands and Palau -- but not American allies in Europe or Canada.

March 15, 2006
National security scandals continue to plague the GOP.
Dubai-owned company will sell all its U.S. port operations within four to six months
Lawmakers who criticized the Bush administration for approving DP World's earlier plans to operate in the United States said they were satisfied. Still, the House voted 377-38 Wednesday to formally express its opposition to DP World running any port terminals in America.<

March 7, 2006
8,000 Members Of U.S. Military Have Deserted Since Start Of Iraq War
According to USA Today, since fall 2003, 4,387 Army soldiers, 3,454 Navy sailors and 82 Air Force personnel have deserted their posts. Capt. Jay Delarosa, a Marine Corps spokesman says, the Marine Corps does not track the number of desertions each year but listed 1,455 Marines in desertion status last September, the end of fiscal 2005.

March 16, 2006
Who has the best healthcare in the country? The President, the VP, congress, the Supreme Court - everyone who has a government run plan.
US healthcare is expensive but only mediocre
Black or white, rich or poor, American patients receive essentially the same quality of health care, according to a major new study — mediocre.

The study, published in today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, found that though there are some disparities, the world's most affluent health system fails to provide all patients with optimal care at least 40 percent of the time.

March 14, 2006
Wrong question. As long as conservatives believe things that are not true it's impossible to have an intelligent discussion with them.
"This is your brain; this is your brain on politics."
Twenty percent of self-described extreme liberals gave "conservatives" (the word used in the question) zeroes, while 23 percent of extreme conservatives gave "liberals" zeroes. So about one-fifth of the people at both ends of ideological spectrum consider those they disagree with "dead to me," to use Tony Soprano's words.

March 14, 2006
Gays can fight and die for our country as long as no one knows they're gay. Then to top it off, they don't dare to ask for or get equal rights. Another example of pseudo Christian values.
Security Clearance Rules May Impede Gays
The Bush administration said security clearances cannot be denied "solely on the basis of the sexual orientation of the individual." But it removed language saying sexual orientation "may not be used as a basis for or a disqualifying factor in determining a person's eligibility for a security clearance."

March 15, 2006
Here's how it works. Fox can be indecent (use the "F" word because it pushes the Republican agenda. Rush Limbaugh isn't in jail for the same reason.
CBS Facing $3.6 Million Fine
Responding to other complaints, the commission found that Fox Television Network violated decency standards during the 2003 Billboard Music Awards. During the broadcast, actress Nicole Richie uttered the "F" word and a common vulgarity for excrement.

The commission also declined to fine Fox or its stations for the 2002 Billboard Music Awards, in which Cher uttered the "F" word.

March 16, 2006
Right wing fascist such as Fox commentators and Rush Limbaugh spew hate 24-7. Why doesn't the FCC fine them out of existence?
Justices Ginsburg, O'Connor are targets of death threats by irrational GOP hate-mongers
Conservative commentator Ann Coulter joked earlier this year that Justice John Paul Stevens should be poisoned. Over the past few months O'Connor has complained that criticism, mainly by Republicans, has threatened judicial independence to deal with difficult issues like gay marriage.

March 16, 2006
Our real "separation of Church and State." Almost every Christian Church in the US opposed the war and religious people didn't care. "Unjust" wars are immoral, so the largest group of moral Americans were people who don't go to church. Nothing new.
Protestants and Frequent Churchgoers Most Supportive of Iraq War
1. Protestants and other Christians are most supportive of the Iraq war, Catholics are slightly less supportive, and those with other, non-Christian religions and those with no religion are the least supportive.

March 16, 2006
The key word here is "failure." It's the only thing the governing class knows how to do.
Halliburton Failed to Protect U.S. Troops' Water
WASHINGTON - Halliburton Co. failed to protect the water supply it is paid to purify for U.S. soldiers throughout Iraq, in one instance missing contamination that could have caused "mass sickness or death," an internal company report concluded.

March 16, 2006
If it can be broken, the GOP will find a way to do it.
Medicare drug plan gaps will hit April 1
A special 90-day transition period, set by Medicare to prevent beneficiaries from losing any drug coverage, ends April 1. Private insurance plans can then stop covering drugs they don't usually pay for. Most of the 36 states that stepped in on an emergency basis to help low-income beneficiaries also will stop paying.

March 16, 2006
Stop donating to blogs, web sites and politicians. Give everything you can to our new leaders "Veterans for a Secure America." (You can click Google Ads instead.)
"Veterans for a Secure America."
Your donation will buy advertising time nationally and in local markets. The administration needs to hear from people who actually fight the wars. Help our Veteran Congressional Candidates get the message out.

Here's their Home Page Vets for a Secure America

March 16, 2006
The Bush Justice Dept. is corrupt and inept - like the rest of his government.
Federal Prosecutor Says 'No Point' in Continuing Moussaoui Trial
A federal prosecutor in the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui told the judge in the case that he saw "no point" in going ahead with the proceedings under a ruling that barred key government witnesses from testifying.

March 16, 2006
If you haven't followed this story, it's time. At least nine officers, one nurse and one doctor helped cover-up and murder a 14-year old black boy in Florida.
Beating at boot camp is blamed for boy's death
THE harrowing images captured by a surveillance camera showed that the black teenager was beaten to death by drill instructors at a Florida boot camp.

An official coroner blamed natural causes, but yesterday the truth began to emerge as a second post-morten established that Martin Anderson, 14, had met a violent death. His tragic fate and the subsequent cover-up have renewed calls for boot camps to be closed across the US.

March 15, 2006
The courts and Bush are openly hostile to individual rights (liberalism).
U.S. Cuts Back Request for Google Data
SAN JOSE — Justice Department lawyers on Tuesday dramatically scaled back their demand for information about Google Inc. search queries — a major concession in a closely watched case with ramifications for online privacy.

But in a blow to privacy advocates, the federal judge overseeing the case said he would probably order the Internet search giant to hand over at least some of the data sought by the government.

March 15, 2006
To save "freedom and democracy," both had to be destroyed. But first you had to fall for the lie that either were threatened in the first place.
FBI Took Photos of Antiwar Activists in 2002
"All we were doing was handing out leaflets, which is a perfectly legal way to spend an afternoon," said Tim Vining, the center's former executive director, who said he participated in the Nov. 24, 2002, protest monitored by the FBI. "All we want to do is exercise our First Amendment rights . . . Is handing out fliers now considered a terrorist activity?"

March 14, 2006
If Satan exists, he's in the minds and hearts of evangelicals. Of that I'm absolutely certain.
Top US evangelist targets Islam
Outspoken US Christian evangelical broadcaster Pat Robertson has accused Muslims of planning world domination, and said some were "satanic".

On his live television programme, The 700 Club, he said radical Islamists were inspired by "demonic power".

March 14, 2006
The GOP panders while dems cower. The "Band of Brothers" needs your support.
Feingold Accuses Democrats of 'Cowering'
WASHINGTON - Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold accused fellow Democrats on Tuesday of cowering rather than joining him on trying to censure President Bush over domestic spying.

"Democrats run and hide" when the administration invokes the war on terrorism, Feingold told reporters.

"I'm amazed at Democrats ... cowering with this president's numbers so low," Feingold said.

March 21, 2005
The case of the 12 zeros
The Bush administration and the Republican Party seem to have lost all capacity for financial self-control, turning their backs on the GOP's historical record of responsible fiscal management. The Republicans have squandered the huge budget surplus they inherited by spending not just on guns and butter but on guns, butter, and tax cuts. Because of government obfuscation, most Americans don't realize the deep fiscal hole we're in--and the fact that we're still busy digging.

March 15, 2006
Republicans don't know how to govern and democrats like being in the minority. That's why the country needs new leadership from the top down. Support "Vets for a Secure America"
Enough of the DC Dems
Mah fellow progressives, now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of the party. I don't know about you, but I have had it with the D.C. Democrats, had it with the DLC Democrats, had it with every calculating, equivocating, triangulating, straddling, hair-splitting son of a bitch up there, and that includes Hillary Rodham Clinton.

March 12, 2006
Intelligent people still deny gays equal rights. Does that make any sense? What's next? Take rights away from their mothers?
The Science Of Sexual Orientation
Ironically though, when it comes to their sex lives, he says gay and straight men actually have a lot in common.

"Straight men tend to be shallow in terms of focusing on looks. Gay men are shallow, too. Straight men are more interested than straight women in having casual, uncommitted sex. Gay men are like that, too," says Bailey.

March 14, 2006
If you associate with the FRC, please stop.
FRC: Feingold's call for censure is "borderline treasonous behavior"
On the March 13 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, asserted in a discussion with host Joe Scarborough that the resolution to censure President Bush introduced by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) on March 13 is "borderline treasonous behavior." Feingold proposed the censure for what he said was Bush's violation of the law in authorizing warrantless domestic eavesdropping.

March 14, 2006
Feingold's censure resolution of Bush referred to committee
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Russell Feingold's effort to censure President Bush is headed for the Senate Judiciary Committee, advancing a contentious debate over whether the president deserves a formal rebuke for his secret wiretapping program.

"I look forward to a full hearing, debate and vote in committee on this important matter," Feingold, D-Wis., said in a statement. "If the committee fails to consider the resolution expeditiously, I will ask that there be a vote in the full Senate."

March 13, 2006
There were no facts supporing war, but that didn't stop the media. There are thousands of facts supporting impeachment but that won't stop them from looking the other way.
Did Bush Make Mistakes in Good Faith?
And when we learn that Bush has long since authorized wiretapping without court approval, what are we to make of his public statements (such as last June 9, or July 14, 2004, or April 20, 2004) when he reassured us that all wiretapping requires court approval?

Our President says the United States does not torture, but he's been informed that it does because even if he doesn't read newspapers, reporters have asked him and his press secretary about specific cases. When Bush signed a bill banning torture he added a signing statement claiming the right to keep torturing. Yet he says he doesn't torture. How should we characterize that statement? It's clearly not the truth.

March 13, 2006
Bush promised to "cut and run" by the end of the year. He lost Iraq faster than Nixon lost Vietnam.
Execution-style shootings kill 87 in Iraq over 24-hour period
BAGHDAD (AP) - Police in the past 24 hours have found the bodies of at least 87 men killed in execution-style shootings in a wave of apparent sectarian killing, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday. They include at least 29 bodies in a mass grave in an eastern Shiite neighbourhood.

March 13, 2006
What's the republican legal defense? They have none.
Introducing a Resolution to Censure President George W. Bush
The President authorized an illegal program to spy on American citizens on American soil, and then misled Congress and the public about the existence and legality of that program. It is up to this body to reaffirm the rule of law by condemning the President's actions.

March 13, 2006
Everyone already knows the facts. Kerry is either lazy or afraid to deal with them. He should probably go away.
Kerry: Censure proposal needs closer look
"We also do need to hold the president accountable. I want to make sure that is the best way to do it before I make that final judgment," Kerry said.

March 13, 2006
Forcing lazy democrat leaders to take a stand on important issues is very good. It's too bad the Senate can't impeach.
Move to censure Bush will have political fallout
If Frist had succeeded in bringing Feingold's resolution up for a floor vote, it would have put on the spot Democrats who are thinking of running for president in 2008, such as Sens. Hillary Clinton, Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, and John Kerry.

March 14, 2006
Blair and Bush are either delusional or liars. Three years ago, they were singing high praises for each others efforts.
Blair told three years ago Bush was disastrously mishandling the occupation of Iraq
Senior British diplomatic and military staff gave Tony Blair explicit warnings three years ago that the US was disastrously mishandling the occupation of Iraq, according to leaked memos.

John Sawers, Mr Blair's envoy in Baghdad in the aftermath of the invasion, sent a series of confidential memos to Downing Street in May and June 2003 cataloguing US failures. With unusual frankness, he described the US postwar administration, led by the retired general Jay Garner, as "an unbelievable mess" and said "Garner and his top team of 60-year-old retired generals" were "well-meaning but out of their depth".

March 14, 2006
These numbers mean almost nothing. Bush was at only 40% approval in 2005 when he won reelection. The democrats lost because they're afraid to stand for something.
Here's the poll: Bush Approval at 36%
PRINCETON, NJ -- Only 36% of Americans approve of the job George W. Bush is doing as president, according to the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. That is the lowest rating recorded by Gallup during Bush's presidency, though only by one percentage point. In a Nov. 11-13, 2005 poll, 37% approved of the president's performance.

Pre Election 2005:
                      Approve     Disapprove
2005 Nov 7-10/2005      40            55
2005 Oct 28-30          41            56

March 13, 2006
George Clooney: I Am a Liberal. There, I Said It!
Bottom line: it's not merely our right to question our government, it's our duty. Whatever the consequences. We can't demand freedom of speech then turn around and say, But please don't say bad things about us. You gotta be a grown up and take your hits.

I am a liberal. Fire away.

March 14, 2006
When Murtha said it's time to bring our troops home, the democrat leadership ran for cover. When Feingold said Bush is a criminal, the same thing. Do you see the problem?
Bush promises to cut and run by end of year
President Bush vowed for the first time yesterday to turn over most of Iraq to newly trained Iraqi troops by the end of this year, setting a specific benchmark as he kicked off a fresh drive to reassure Americans alarmed by the recent burst of sectarian violence.

March 14, 2006
72 Bodies Found in Baghdad in 24 Hours
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Police found at least 72 bodies killed by gunfire in Baghdad in the past 24 hours - a gruesome wave of apparent sectarian reprisal attacks in some of the capital's most dangerous neighborhoods, officials said Tuesday.

March 13, 2006
Headline news? Hell no. A republican straw poll is more news worthy. First rule of modern news coverage "keep Americans as dumb as possible."
Bush's approval rating hits new low
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released on Monday put President George W. Bush's approval rating at 36 percent, a new low for that poll but similar to his rating in other recent surveys.

March 9, 2006
Which gets more news coverage? A republican presidential straw poll for an election nearly four years from now (headline news on all the networks and print) or Sen. Feinstein's censure resolution? The media remains in "dumb-down" mode. News must be abandoned. Idiocy must remain supreme.
Lap Dogs of the Press
"When watchdogs, bird dogs, and bull dogs morph into lap dogs, lazy dogs, or yellow dogs, the nation is in trouble."

After all, two of the nation's most prestigious newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post, had kept up a drumbeat for war with Iraq to bring down dictator Saddam Hussein. They accepted almost unquestioningly the bogus evidence of weapons of mass destruction, the dubious White House rationale that proved to be so costly on a human scale, not to mention a drain on the Treasury. The Post was much more hawkish than the Times--running many editorials pumping up the need to wage war against the Iraqi dictator--but both newspapers played into the hands of the Administration.

March 12, 2006
We went from Saddam having death squads to US a US supported government with death squads. I don't see much improvement, but then, maybe it's just me.
Death squads operated from inside Iraqi government
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Senior Iraqi officials Sunday confirmed for the first time that death squads composed of government employees had operated illegally from inside two government ministries.

March 12, 2006
The US military commits crimes and gets away with it because its commander in chief is a criminal.
SAS soldier quits Army in disgust at 'illegal' American tactics in Iraq
He said he had witnessed "dozens of illegal acts" by US troops, claiming they viewed all Iraqis as "untermenschen" - the Nazi term for races regarded as sub-human.

The decision marks the first time an SAS soldier has refused to go into combat and quit the Army on moral grounds.

March 12, 2006
Backfire indeed. Dems can grow a backbone or NOT. Which do you think they'll do?
Push By Feingold to Censure Bush Could Backfire
"It's a problem for the Democrats more than the president or the Republicans, is the irony of the thing," a political analyst at George Washington University, Stephen Hess, said in an interview yesterday. "It forces a lot of Democrats, notably Hillary, to a position where, is she going to pander, is she going to get her back up and resist it, or is she just going to ignore it?" he said. "It's hard to ignore it."

March 12, 2006
Feingold says Bush broke the law but the congress should only scold him. How quaint. I agree with Frist, talk of censure is "dead wrong." Bush should be impeached and removed from office.
FACT SHEET FROM U.S. SENATOR RUSS FEINGOLD
Senator Feingold's resolution of censure condemns the President for breaking the law by authorizing an illegal wiretapping program, and for misleading Congress and the American people about the existence and legality of that program.

March 12, 2006
Sorry, but the sole remedy for lawlessness in the WH is impeachment, not censure.
Feingold Calls for Bush's Censure
But in a copy of the censure resolution obtained by ABC News, Feingold asserts the president, "repeatedly misled the public prior to the public disclosure of the National Security Agency surveillance program by indicating his administration was relying on court orders to wiretap suspected terrorists inside the United States."

Feingold cites three instances over a year-long period in which Bush outlined the necessity of a court order or a judge's permission prior to a domestic wiretap of a U.S. citizen.

March 12, 2006
Conservatives hate Bush - that's a given, but don't forget it took a lot of conservatives in congress to push his agenda.
Simmering GOP revolt stoked by ports flap
"If I had a choice and Bush were running today against (Democratic President) Bill Clinton, I'd vote for Bill Clinton," said Bruce Bartlett, a former Reagan administration Treasury Department official whose book, "Impostor: How George Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy," is making the rounds of conservative think tanks and talk shows. "He was clearly a much better president in a great many ways that matter to me."

March 11, 2006
The port deal was a set-up. They created a way for the GOP Congress to run away from Bush before the election. Don't fall for it.
GOP Supports Lawlessness in the White House
The idea that a happy few are charging the White House ramparts is ridiculous. Republican lawmakers don't just turn a blind eye when they learn that the president is making profoundly bad choices, like cutting constitutional corners, abrogating treaties and even breaking the law. They actually legalize the president's misdeeds.

Take domestic spying, held up as another area of Republican revolt. The program violates the law. Congress knows it. The public knows it. Even President Bush knows it. (He just says the law doesn't apply to him.) In response, the Capitol Hill rebels are boldly refusing to investigate the program — or any other warrantless spying that is going on. They are trying to rewrite the law to legalize warrantless spying. And meanwhile, they've created new subcommittees to help the president go on defying the law.

March 11, 2006
Polls: Public Worried About Gov't Secrecy
Two new polls gauging Americans' views on government openness found a majority believe the federal government leans more toward secrecy than openness, while eight in 10 are convinced that an open government is necessary for an effective democracy.

March 11, 2006
War in the Middle East is good for one thing and only one thing - keeping the price of oil sky high. The war is very successful.
Iran Threatens to Use Oil in Nuke Standoff
TEHRAN, Iran Mar 11, 2006 (AP)— Iran on Saturday explicitly warned for the first time that it could use oil as a weapon if the U.N. Security Council imposes sanctions over an Iranian nuclear program that the U.S. and others suspect is trying to produce atomic bombs.

March 11, 2006
Interior Secretary Gale Norton Resigns
Norton announced Friday that she was leaving as secretary at the end of March, capping five years during which she guided the administration's initiative to open federal lands in the West to more oil and gas drilling, logging, grazing and commercial recreation.

March 10, 2006
The courts erred. The Bush WH leaks classified information almost daily (in violation of US law). Why shouldn't Libby have access to their leaks (crimes)? Libby should be given EVERYTHING.
Judge Says Libby Can See Bush Briefings
WASHINGTON - A federal judge ordered the CIA on Friday to turn over highly classified intelligence briefings to Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide to use in preparing the aide's defense against perjury charges.

March 9, 2006
If Rather had a spine, would he have resigned? Hypocrite.
Rather: Journalism needs new spine
TV newsman Dan Rather, who stepped down as CBS anchorman in the wake of a discredited report, on Wednesday night said the press "ought to be doing a better job."

"American journalism is in need of a spine transplant," Rather told about 600 people at the Star Forum at Cherry Hill High School West.

March 10, 2006
Without abortion there is adoption. Without adoption there's more money to pay for for church scandals. Know what this is really about, then ignore them.
Catholic Charities to halt adoptions over issue involving gays
BOSTON --The Boston Archdiocese's Catholic Charities said Friday it would stop providing adoption services because state law allows gays and lesbians to adopt children.

The social services arm of the Roman Catholic archdiocese has provided adoption services for the state for about two decades, but said it would discontinue once it completes its current state contract. It said that the state law allowing gays to adopt runs counter to church teachings on homosexuality.

March 10, 2006
The naked partisan reasoning in Bush vs Gore which handed Bush the presidency is part of the problem. Hypocrite.
Retired Supreme Court Justice hits attacks on courts and warns of dictatorship
I, said O'Connor, am against judicial reforms driven by nakedly partisan reasoning. Pointing to the experiences of developing countries and former communist countries where interference with an independent judiciary has allowed dictatorship to flourish, O'Connor said we must be ever-vigilant against those who would strongarm the judiciary into adopting their preferred policies. It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, she said, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings.

March 10, 2006
It's not George Bush they should be running from, it's their record. Americans hate the GOP congress more than they hate Bush.
Poll: Bush New Low. Republicans distancing themselves.
The poll suggests that most Americans wonder whether Bush is up to the job. The survey, conducted Monday through Wednesday of 1,000 people, found that just 37 percent approve of his overall performance. That is the lowest of his presidency.

March 10, 2006
This is really the ONLY issue you need to know about.
Debt ceiling rising to $9 trillion
WASHINGTON - Raising the U.S. debt limit once provoked government shutdowns and roiled financial markets, but no more: Congress and President Bush are preparing to raise the debt ceiling to just under $9 trillion next week with little public notice.

Here, in Q&A format, is a look at the issue:

Q: What is the national debt?

A: It's the difference between what government spends and collects in taxes, fees and other revenues. The Treasury covers the debt by auctioning $20 billion or more a week in U.S. bonds, bills and notes as older federal securities come due.

Q: How did the debt get so big?

A: Because presidents and Congresses of both parties haven't collected the taxes required to pay for goods and services they think the public wants and needs. Each American's share of the debt was $27,723.99 as of Friday, March 10, and increasing $2.17 a day, according to the National Debt Clock.

President Ronald Reagan put it another way in 1981 when the debt first hit $1 trillion: He dramatized its "incomprehensible" size as "a stack of $1,000 bills 67 miles high."

Today that stack is 549 miles high and climbing.

Major holders are Japan ($685 billion), China ($257 billion), the United Kingdom ($234 billion) and anonymous "Caribbean Banking Centers" ($111 billion) as of the end of 2005. However, China's U.S. bonds amount to 66 percent of its portfolio, followed by Venezuela at 37 percent. Japan's U.S. bonds amount to only 5 percent of its holdings.

March 11, 2006
30 US Reps for Bush Impeachment Inquiry
(APN) ATLANTA – 30 US House Representatives have signed on as sponsors or co-sponsors of H. Res 635, which would create a Select Committee to look into the grounds for recommending President Bush's impeachment, Atlanta Progressive News has learned.

"There has been massive support for House Resolution 635 from a very vigorous network of grassroots activists and people committed to holding the Bush Administration accountable for its widespread abuses of power," US Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) said in a statement prepared for Atlanta Progressive News.

March 11, 2006
The Hate America crowd is at it again. They tell us debate is unhealthy and blind obedience is true patriotism.
Newfane swamped with reactions on Bush impeachment vote
"Real Americans hate you," one man wrote. "Canada is looking for another province for their morons; looks like a marriage made in heaven."

Another message said 70 senior citizens on a bus tour would no longer stop in town.

March 11, 2006
It should be noted that we had civil discourse until Christian conservatives took power. Then all hell broke loose.
Public examples of uncivil behavior
A campaign by the Center for Constitutional Rights not to engage President Bush regarding his policies but simply to impeach him. Citing the "the Iraq war, indefinite detentions around the world, torture, domestic wiretappings and more," the center contends that any one could be grounds for impeachment. As a whole, a statement said, these policies "constitute something far more sinister, a plan to significantly weaken if not destroy our democracy."

March 11, 2006
Former Top Bush Aide Accused of Theft
Claude A. Allen, who resigned last month as President Bush's top domestic policy adviser, was arrested this week in Montgomery County for allegedly swindling Target and Hecht's stores out of more than $5,000 in a refund scheme, police said.

Before that, Allen worked for the Virginia state attorney general's office and as state health and human resources secretary. In that job, he earned a reputation as a staunch conservative; once he kept Medicaid funds from an impoverished rape victim who wanted an abortion.