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Keith Olbermann shows how The Bush administration pretends to cater to the religious right, but really just uses them for their votes, and laughs at them behind their backs. They are catching on and are pissed.
Consortium News
Excerpt:
Months before 9/11 and the “global war on terror†– and two years before the Iraq War – George W. Bush tested out his tough-talkin’ diplomacy on communist North Korea. Bush combined harsh rhetoric and intimidating tactics to demonstrate to Pyongyang that there was a swaggering new sheriff in town.
In his first weeks in office, Bush cast aside the Clinton administration’s delicate negotiations that had hemmed in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. The new President then brushed aside worries of Secretary of State Colin Powell and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung about dangerous consequences from a confrontation.
At a March 2001 summit, Bush rejected Kim Dae Jung’s détente strategy for dealing with North Korea, a humiliation for both Kim, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Powell, who wanted to continue pursuing the negotiation track. Instead, Bush cut off nuclear talks with North Korea and stepped up spending on a “Star Wars†missile shield.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Bush got tougher still, vowing to “rid the world of evil†and listing North Korea as part of the “axis of evil.â€
Seems like lots of Republicans knew about Mark Foley, and his solicitation of underaged Congressional pages for sex. They just didn’t say or do anything about it. Typical of the GOP
(Gay or Pedophile)
NY Times
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON — The House ethics committee Thursday questioned a Republican member of the House page board who said afterward that GOP leaders hid from her Rep. Mark Foley’s inappropriate approaches to teenage male pages.
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said after the closed-door session, “I’m a member of the page board who was not informed of the e-mail messages that were sent. I want the investigation to go forth quickly and reach a conclusion
Keeping Capito out of the loop would raise questions about whether other Republicans tried to tell as few people as possible about Foley as part of a cover up. She is one of three members of Congress who serve on the page board.
Rep. Dale Kildee of Michigan, the lone Democrat, also said he was not told about Foley.
H.L.s Take
Its not the crime that gets them, its the coverup
H.L. is happy to welcome backBackward Bush.com
They’ve got lots of cool stuff including this Bush Countdown clock that you can get for free to put on your webpage, or Myspace site. There’s a sidebar version also.
I was reading my good friend Bartcops site site a couple of days ago when I saw his posting that one of his favorite bands, whom also happen to be friends Del Castillo, would be playing at the Vine St. Lounge in Hollywood, which is only about a 10 minute walk from H.L. Headquarters. Bart has been raving about these guys for a long time, and was thinking of having them play at a future Poker and Tequilafest in Austin Texas which is where Del Castillo is from. Bart used to own a couple of night clubs in Tulsa, and Del Castillo played at them way back. These guys played the music on the Kill Bill soundtrack, so they have become famous in that respect.
Got to the Vine St. Lounge a few minutes before the show, A nice crowd for a Tuesday night of about 150 people were there. A couple of minutes later the band came out. Del Castillo plays a Spanish style acoustic rock with the 2 brother Rick, and Mark Del Castillo sitting on stools and trading riffs on their acoustics.
As Bart says both these guys are awesome guitar players. During the songs they would take turns, one would play lead while the other strummed chords and played rhythm, they kept switching back and forth and were really getting into it. These guys have been playing together for at least 30 years since they were kids, and know each other so well that one knows what the other is thinking. The band also has a great drummer, Conga player and singer. The show lasted a little over an hour and was excellent. I can’t wait to see the Kill Bill movies again, so I can check them out on the soundtrack. Quentin Tarantino rules afterall. Pulp Fiction is one of my favorite movies ever. Anyway the show was great. Bart, you should definitely get these guys to play, at the Austin Tequilafest. I didn’t get to meet the band as I had to run out right after the show. Still I had a great time.
Another month in the debacle.
AP
Excerpt:
BAGHDAD, Iraq - More than 2,660 Iraqi civilians were killed in the capital in September amid a wave of sectarian killings and insurgent attacks, an increase of 400 over the month before, according to figures from the Iraqi Health Ministry.
The increase came despite an intensified U.S.-Iraqi sweep of Baghdad that was launched in mid-August to try to put down the wave of violence that has swept over the capital. The violence consists of a deadly combination of bombings and shootings by Sunni insurgents, and slayings by Shiite and Sunni death squads.
The September numbers come as a controversial new study contends that nearly 655,000 Iraqis have died in the three-year-old conflict in Iraq — more than 10 times higher than other independent estimates of the toll.
Hope you guys in the military got nothing better to do for the next 4 years.
AP
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army has plans to keep the current level of soldiers in Iraq through 2010, the top Army officer said Wednesday, a later date than Bush administration or Pentagon officials have mentioned thus far…
“This is not a prediction that things are going poorly or better,” Schoomaker told reporters. “It’s just that I have to have enough ammo in the magazine that I can continue to shoot as long as they want us to shoot.”
Even so, his comments were the latest acknowledgment by Pentagon officials that a significant withdrawal of troops from Iraq is not likely in the immediate future.
Currently there are 141,000 troops in Iraq, including 120,000 Army soldiers. Those soldiers are divided among 15 Army combat brigades plus other support units.
H.L.s Take:
The Bush crime family is just making too damn much money to get out.
Is Bush about to make the biggest military blunder in history, and start a war with Iran, right before the election, does he think that will save the Republcians from losing Congress?
Buzzflash
Excerpt
“Time magazine and many international sources have reported a major US air-sea build-up in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, in preparation for a US assault on Iran which is considered to be imminent. When is the President planning to call Congress back into session to ask for a Declaration of War, which he will need, under Section 8, Article I of the Constitution, in order to proceed?”
The “international sources” mentioned in the proposed question above include Time, “What the War with Iran Would Look Like” (9/25/06), and those appearing in the extensive reference list (85 of them in fact) of “The March to War,” by M.D. Nazemroaya,
H.L.s Take
Maybe thats the cover he needs to steal the congressional elections he needs, then they can come on TV and say. “See Americans are worried about safety beyond all else, thats why they voted for us again.”
Heres a blog post from an NBC reporter in Baghdad.
NBC
Excerpt
Some readers and viewers think we journalists are exaggerating about the situation in Iraq. I can almost understand that because who would want to believe that things are this bad? Particularly when so many people here started out with such good intentions.
I’m more puzzled by comments that the violence isn’t any worse than any American city. Really? In which American city do 60 bullet-riddled bodies turn up on a given day? In which city do the headless bodies of ordinary citizens turn up every single day? In which city would it not be news if neighborhood school children were blown up? In which neighborhood would you look the other way if gunmen came into restaurants and shot dead the customers?
H.L.s Take:
Is that what Hillbilly Heroin, and Falafel Boy are saying now??? That Iraq is as safe as a big American City…. I think not.
Those PR Whiz’s in the marketing department at the Pentagon are finally replacing that “Army of One” slogan, before it really is an “Army of One”
WCVB-TV Boston
Excerpt
WASHINGTON — In its battle to win the hearts and minds of recruiting-age Americans, the Army is replacing its main ad slogan — “An Army of One” — with one it hopes will pack more punch: “Army Strong.”
The new approach, the fruit of a $200 million-a-year contract with a major advertising agency, was announced Monday by Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey. He said “Army Strong” will be the centerpiece of a multimedia ad campaign to be launched Nov. 9, timed to coincide with Veterans Day weekend
H.L.s Take
Army Strong?, Army Strong??? Thats what they came up with for $200 Million. Who wrote that one? Bush?? What does he think he is Tarzan? oooh oooh oooh Army Strong…oooh oooh oooh, You weak, Army Strong. Don’t forget thats our Tax money they are wasting.
Uh, Private.. could you please drop and give me 20… I mean if you feel like it.
ABC News
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON Oct 10, 2006 (AP)— Hollywood may have to tone down its portrayal of the military’s screaming, in-your-face boot camp drill sergeant. In today’s Army, shouting is out and a calmer approach to molding young minds is in, says the head of Pentagon personnel. The Army says it has reduced by nearly 7 percent the number of recruits who wash out in the first six to 12 months of military life.
H.Ls. Take:
Recruiting is so bad now, that they have to do anything they can to get more people to sign up and go over to Bush’s Quagmire bloodbath. What would Sergeant Hartmann from Full Metal Jacket have to say about this….
Full Metal Bush Pt. 2
Now with correct link.
Jack Davis is running against Tom Reynolds in The NY-26th Congressional Race. Reynolds is the guy that Mark Foley gave those fat checks to, and who refuses to give them back. He also encouraged Foley to run for re-election despite the scandal. Here is Jack Davis New Commercial.
Boston.com
Excerpt:
Acting on the unrealistic assumption that he need not and should not stoop to bargaining with “evil” regimes such as those in Pyongyang and Tehran, Bush has allowed hard-liners in his administration repeatedly to prevent or sabotage genuine negotiations with the North. For their part, North Korean representatives have made it plain that they will respond to rebuffs from hard-liners — be they in Tokyo or Washington — with missile launches, or with the extraction of plutonium from nuclear fuel rods, or now with an underground nuclear explosion.
H.L.s Take
He won’t even talk to N. Korea, but we will be in Iraq until 2010. I wonder why that is. Could it have something to do with all the oil they are pumping out of those unmetered wells in Iraq???
Think Progress.org
Excerpt:
The Washington Post reported that North Korea’s apparent nuclear test “may well be regarded as a failure of the Bush administration’s nuclear nonproliferation policy.”
Today, a reporter asked if President Bush believes he has made any mistakes with respect to North Korea. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow responded, “Oh, my goodness…it’s a silly question.” Later, he called the question “gratuitious.” Snow explained that “you need to give presidents the benefit of the doubt when national security is involved.”
Robin Williams is back in a new movie in which he plays a TV talk show host who becomes President of The United States in “Man of The Year.†Tom Dobbs (Williams)
Is a TV personality with an emphasis on Politics a la John Stewart, on The Daily Show.
When he gripes about the state of politics in the United States, he declares the he should run for President, which touches off a groundswell of support, and leads to Dobbs actually deciding to run. He declares he will spend no money on commercials, but his support keeps building through the show. Then, in a highly unlikely moment among many highly unlikely moments in the film, Dobbs is allowed into the debate. Of course this would never happen in the real world of 2 party politics, witness the fact that third party candidate Ralph Nader was not allowed to debate Gore, and Bush in 2000.
Dobbs lets it all hang out in the debate, which becomes Robin Williams doing his Robin Williams A.D.D. stick to the hilt. (and, I’m told, using a lot of the same jokes he used back in 2002) If you like Williams you’ll like the movie, especially this scene. Personally having never been a big RW fan, I didn’t find many of the jokes to be very funny.
The movie brings up the important topic of Electronic touch screen voting but gets it all wrong when it tries to get serious after Dobbs wins the election. (Seems it was a mistake, not voter fraud that made the wrong guy win this time) There was a problem with the voting and Eleanor Green (Laura Linney) Knows what it is. Of course her bosses at Diebold, um I mean the company she works for, don’t want anyone to know what that problem is, and tries to get her to keep quiet. The movie then turns into a bad episode of Three’s Company as she repeatedly tries to tell the president elect. Finally Dobbs finds out what is really going on. What will he do about it??? Well you’ll have to go see the movie to find out.
While it is nice that the film brings up what will be a huge issue this election day, and might help people who don’t follow politics to learn about the perils of electronic voting, as far as the comedy is concerned you might as well watch reruns of Mork an Mindy on TV Land.
Brad Blog
Democrats Now Beating Republicans on ‘Every Single Issue’…
Democrats now outdistance Republicans on every single issue that could decide voters’ choices come Nov. 7. In addition to winning—for the first time in the NEWSWEEK poll—on the question of which party is more trusted to fight the war on terror (44 to 37 percent) and moral values (42 percent to 36 percent), the Democrats now inspire more trust than the GOP on handling Iraq (47 to 34); the economy (53 to 31); health care (57 to 24); federal spending and the deficit (53 to 29); gas and oil prices (56 to 23); and immigration (43 to 34).
H.L.s Take:
I went to a little get together Saturday night with a group of L.A. Liberal Bloggers. It was hosted by MJS of Corrente Wire, and I got to meet a great bunch of people including Johnny Wendell, who does a show on KTLK which is the Air America Radios L.A. affiliate, also people from Martini Republic, The Huffington Post, Cenk Uygur from Young Turks, which is on Air America from 6-9AM Eastern. and the great Brad Frieman from Bradblog
We discussed many topics including Brads story about how Voting Machines can be fixed in 60 seconds by implanting a virus that can flip the vote, spread the virus to other voting machines, and then completly extract itself at the end of the voting. This coming on the heels of the Busby/Bilbrae election down in San Diego in which election officials were Allowed to take the machines home with them overnight. Brad is predicting a fiasco this election day with more contested elections then ever before, especially when Republicans lose, which they are going too. Thanks to Frank for putting on the shindig. Great time.
Heres another one from the great Bradblog.
Brad Blog
Excerpt:
In Friday’s Democracy at Risk segment Lou and Kitty look into the story from New York state where counties are beginning to question whether their voters should be forced to vote on electronic voting machines. Why should they not be able to keep the machines that have served them well for decades?
The text-transcript of Friday’s segment on Lou Dobbs Tonight follows in full…
DOBBS: Tonight, election official the all across the country, most of them alarmed about the threat that electronic voting poses to our democracy, many are deciding to simply reject e-voting technology altogether. These officials say it’s safer to use decades-old voting machines than to risk a free and fair election in which you can’t count votes
H.Ls. Take:
Watch out on election night when after Republicans lose big they start crying voter fraud, becuase of the same diebold machines that were put in in the first place.
This flashback is from that bastion of left wing anarchy, Fortune Magazine. and came from What Really Happened.com
Excerpt:
(FORTUNE Magazine) – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld rarely keeps his opinions to himself. He tends not to compromise with his enemies. And he clearly disdains the communist regime in North Korea. So it’s surprising that there is no clear public record of his views on the controversial 1994 deal in which the U.S. agreed to provide North Korea with two light-water nuclear reactors in exchange for Pyongyang ending its nuclear weapons program. What’s even more surprising about Rumsfeld’s silence is that he sat on the board of the company that won a $200 million contract to provide the design and key components for the reactors.
The company is Zurich-based engineering giant ABB, which signed the contract in early 2000, well before Rumsfeld gave up his board seat and joined the Bush administration.
Bush and his buddies prove many times over how much worse they were then Richard Nixon, to bad they didn’t listen to what Nixon had to say about Rummy back in the 70’s
Washington Post
Excerpt:
Before he appointed Donald H. Rumsfeld as secretary of defense, President Bush would have done well to listen to the tape of an old telephone conversation between Rumsfeld and President Richard M. Nixon. It was March 1971, and Nixon was offering career advice to Rumsfeld, then head of Nixon’s Office of Economic Opportunity:
“You should be thinking of what you should do in the future,” he told the 39-year-old Rumsfeld….
Perhaps Nixon understood something about Rumsfeld that eludes Bush.
H.L.s Take:
It was Time for Rummy to go 35 years ago
Seems like old Macaca might be involved in a little war profiteering.
AP
Excerpt:
RICHMOND, Va. - For the past five years, Sen. George Allen has failed to tell Congress about stock options he got for his work as a director of a high-tech company. The Virginia Republican also asked the Army to help another business that gave him similar options.
Congressional rules require senators to disclose to the Senate all deferred compensation, such as stock options. The rules also urge senators to avoid taking any official action that could benefit them financially or appear to do so.
Those requirements exist so the public can police lawmakers for possible conflicts of interest, especially involving companies with government business that lawmakers can influence.
H.Ls. Take:
Have you ever heard the call of the Macaca bird, its a rare species from French Tunisia, it has a high pitched sqeal that goes Macacacacacacacaaaaaaaaaahhhhh. Next time you are out there in the French Tunisian Jungle listen for it.
OK lets start off with more lies,lies, lies, about who knew what about what and when.
AP
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON - A Republican member of Congress confronted then-Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record) about his Internet communications with teenagers as early as 2000, according to a newspaper report.
The report in the Washington Post pushes back by at least five years the date when a member of Congress acknowledges learning of the Florida Republican’s questionable behavior toward pages.
H.Ls. Take: So they knew about it for at least 6 years and did nothing, preaching family values, hatred of Homosexuality, and Death to child molestors all the way. This must be the reason why.
NY Daily News
Excerpt:
Mark Foley may be an embarrassment to the Republicans, but they still like his money.
The National Republican Congressional Committee intends to spend the $100,000 the former Florida legislator gave this summer - before his sordid e-mail exchanges with male teenage congressional pages turned him into a grand old pariah.
“We’re going to do with it what we do with other donations - use it to help elect Republicans,” said NRCC spokesman Carl Forti.
H.Ls. Take:
Thats right. Foley has been writing big checks to the Republican leadership council the whole time. Everyone else that Foley has been paying off is giving the money back, but the Republicans are going to use that money to help campaign for a whole new generation of child molestors and war profiteers. Isn’t that great???… Well Maybe not according to this story.
Washington Post
Excerpt:
“It’s sucking all the air out of the room,” Shaw said in an interview after his news conference at the port. “It’s a tough time; there’s just total saturation right now.”
Back in Washington, Republican strategists acknowledge privately that, even under their best-case scenario, Foley’s sexually charged messages and allegations that House leaders were too passive in responding to them will remain an all-consuming distraction for GOP campaigns for the next week.
Their strategy — equal parts hope and calculation — relies on waiting for the story to die down in local news outlets, even if it continues to dominate national news, while also accusing Democrats of exploiting a personal lapse for political gain.
H.Ls. Take:
There you have it in black and white right from the horses mouth. Their solution to the problem, same as it ever was. Try to blame Democrats. Rep. Patrick Mc Henry a little Republican twit from North Carolina went on Wolf Blitzer and tried to do just that, unfortunately he has no evidence and he sat there looking stupid as Wolf asked for the proof over and over again check out the video from Think Progress
Of course the biggest Bush ass kisser, (and face kisser) of them all Joe LIEberman is trying his best to cover up for his fellow republicans.
Here is a little set up snippet to the video from Fire Dog Lake.com
He then goes on to parrot the new GOP defense of Hastert du jour — let’s “wait until the investigation” in order to call for Hastert’s resignation. Right-o. That would be the GOP controlled Ethics Committee that GOP Joe has so much faith in to get to the bottom of the GOP coverup for sexual predators within their ranks. Hmmm. Some folks not named Lieberman are rightfully skeptical that this particular Ethics Committe, gutted and retro-fitted by Hastert himself to look away from every single GOP scandal of the past two years, is qualified to do the job:
They’ve now set up a Tip Line to call if you have been molested by one of them so they a can pay you off. They want to make sure they don’t end up with a repeat of this:
Well there’s more, but thats enough for today. Stay tuned for the next in an never ending series. Republican Hyprocricy News of The Day
Believe it or not this is a true story. Hey kid if you are missing your Daddy, or Mommy because they have been sent to Iraq for a 4th time now. Don’t worry the Army has a solution. A life size cardboard cut out of him/her, that they will send you. Now you can always have them around even when they are not there. Don’t try to get them to play catch, or help with the homework though. Hey its as good as the real thing.
The Observer
Excerpt:
It is one of the hardest things about being a military family. How to cope when a husband and father, or wife and mother, is posted abroad, especially to combat zones such as Iraq or Afghanistan.
Now the United States army has come up with a bizarre solution: Flat Daddy and Flat Mommy.
Many military units can provide families with a life-size cardboard cutout of their overseas warrior. The family can then take that figure to parties, put it in the passenger seat of their car, take it to bed or do whatever it is that families want to with a replica of their loved one.
Heres one from a site called Soldiers for the Truth, written by soldiers for soldiers, (real soldiers not the make believe kind that sometime post on this site.) Of course real soldiers with a brain know whats really going on.
Soldiers For The Truth
Excerpt:
The Washington Post is currently serializing excerpts from Bob Woodward’s new book, State of Denial, which reads distressingly like Count Ciano’s diaries. Yesterday’s excerpt quotes Marine Corps General James L. Jones, the current NATO commander, saying to another Marine, General Peter Pace, on the eve of his accession to the Chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “You’re going to face a debacle and be part of the debacle in Iraq.â€
I’ve known General Jones since he was a major. He is an acute observer of the political scene, and his warning to General Pace was right on the mark. Unfortunately, General Jones is now caught up in another war, the war in Afghanistan, which is not going altogether well. Perhaps it is time to share some bad news with him, as he did with General Pace.,,,
It is not news to you that the Taliban has the initiative. What your staff may not be telling you is that NATO is helping the Taliban stage its comeback. NATO is botching the war in Afghanistan in ways remarkably similar to those the U.S. has employed in Iraq. It is conducting massive sweeps, bombing villages, and alienating locals. It may not be too late to turn it around; no one is better positioned to do so than yourself. But if you are to avoid presiding over one defeat while Pete Pace presides over another, you need to act along the following lines:
