Dnea si nmubre one

3384

DIVEST FOR DARFUR - SIGN THE PETITION

http://ga6.org/campaign/fidelitypetition/i8u85dur2btw3xx?

Deans and DFA are first!

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Olmert has the putzCo disease ... he doesn't believe that HE should be held accountable.

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Olmert fingers army over Hizbullah conflict
Staff and agencies
Thursday May 10, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

The embattled Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, told an inquiry he blamed the military for failings in the Lebanon war, according to testimony released today.

"I think the army disappointed itself to a large degree," he told the Winograd commission, which is investigating last year's costly and inconclusive war against Lebanon's Hizbullah guerrillas.

"Something in the command and control concept did not meet expectations and undoubtedly led to a disparity between what we were capable of achieving and what we actually achieved," Mr Olmert told the inquiry. Zevulun Orlev, an MP from the opposition National Religious party, accused Mr Olmert of trying to evade responsibility by placing blame on the army.

"He should take responsibility now for his failings and resign," Mr Orlev told reporters.

In an interim report last week, the government-appointed panel said Mr Olmert was guilty of "a serious failure in exercising judgment, responsibility and prudence" in deciding to go to war after Hizbullah seized two Israeli soldiers.

Saying he was best placed to fix mistakes cited by the commission, Mr Olmert has weathered a protest rally attended by at least 100,000 people demanding his resignation and rejected a call from his own foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, to step down.

Mr Olmert told the inquiry that Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, the chief of staff who has since resigned over the military's failings in the 34-day conflict, had told him the armed forces were strong "and ready to carry out any mission".

[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,32982...

No recollection Gonzo ... yet another putzFollies member who believes that no accounting is the way to go.

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Gonzales Testifies on U.S. Attorney Firings
By Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 10, 2007; 12:50 PM

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales told the House Judiciary Committee today that the removal of a U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo., was not part of the same process that led to the firings of eight other prosecutors last year.

Todd P. Graves said in an interview Wednesday that he was asked to leave his post as U.S. attorney in January 2006--the same month that his name appeared on a firing list compiled by Gonzales's chief of staff.

But Gonzales, without explicitly confirming that Graves was asked to resign, sought to cast the departure as separate from others that came later in the year.

"It's always been my understanding that this focus has always been on the eight United States attorneys," Gonzales testified, adding later: "As part of this review process...these were the individuals that were identified."

Gonzales's remarks came during his second major appearance in Congress since the controversy over the U.S. attorney dismissals sparked a furor in Congress centered largely on the Justice Department's shifting explanations of the reasons for the move. Lawmakers, including some from the Republican Party, have called for Gonzales to resign, but President Bush has said his longtime confidant will remain in the post.

Graves said yesterday that he was asked to step down from his job by a senior Justice Department official in January 2006, months before eight other federal prosecutors would be fired by the Bush administration.

[...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

Illegals Cheer As Police Beat Amnesty Protester

Prison Planet.com | May 10, 2007 

A driver chooses to voice his disagreement with the thousands of mainly illegal immigrants marching to demand amnesty for criminals who have already broken the law by unlawfully entering the U.S. without permission.

He opens his sunroof and sticks his middle finger up at the throngs of demonstrators, countering their free speech with the right to his own under the first amendment.

Almost immediately, police arrive, drag the driver out of his car and wrestle him down the pavement - blood begins to pour from his face.

The immigrants cheer, taunt and laugh as the police manhandle the protester.

One of the pro-illegal demonstrators uses the spectacle to stick his placard in front of the cameras, lauding how the "American Dream" should be available to illegal immigrants, while thug cops slap handcuffs on the protester.

"Now you bleeding, you're bleeding punk," screams one pro-illegal.

"What's it like now bitch," yells another.

Police grabbing someone from their own car, wrestling them to the floor and smashing their face into the concrete for protesting is all acceptable and encouraged by the pro-illegals.

Perhaps it reminds them of their homeland, where such practice is commonplace.

This is what open borders and amnesty is all about, creating an underclass of ignorant and submissive victims who have no history of freedom, don't understand freedom, and are perfectly willing to let the cops walk around and beat people up so long as they get their welfare checks at the end of the day

Not sure how many here know about the new group blog I started a couple months ago.

Howard-Empowered People is still online as well, but I wanted to do something that wasn't specific to Dean people. 

Good comment and reminder of the gap between myth and reality.

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Published on Thursday, May 10, 2007 by TruthDig.com
GOP’s Reaganesque Tall Tales
by Joe Conason

Sensing their own smallness, contemporary politicians often seek to puff themselves up by appealing to myth and legend. For Republicans, there is no mythology more appealing than that of Ronald Wilson Reagan, as the party’s presidential candidates eagerly demonstrated during their May 3 debate in the library that bears his name.

Those charmless imitators seem to believe that the late president’s image can not only win primary votes but vanquish America’s enemies. As Rudolph Giuliani explained, a Reaganesque glare should be enough to scare the Iranian despot into surrendering any nuclear ambitions: “He has to look at an American president and he has to see Ronald Reagan. Remember, they looked in Ronald Reagan’s eyes, and in two minutes, they released the hostages.”

Such belligerent invocations of the old actor are standard fare on the GOP primary circuit. The actual circumstances of American relations with Iran during the Reagan years—and indeed of security policy in general back then—were more complex and less inspirational.

The tough gunslinger described by the Republican candidates resembles the real Reagan about as accurately as his movie roles resembled his real life. It was strange to hear him mentioned in the context of Iran, the scene of the worst foreign-policy fiasco of his administration—and the topic that most clearly demonstrates the distance between right-wing fantasy and historical reality.

And it was especially strange to hear those words uttered by Giuliani, who wants everyone to remember that he once served as a top official in the Reagan Justice Department, yet seems to have forgotten the criminal case and constitutional crisis known as the Iran-contra affair. But let’s begin at the beginning.

Available evidence strongly indicates that when the Iranian regime released American hostages in January 1981, within hours of the first Reagan inauguration, that decision had nothing to do with fear of the new president and everything to do with a pre-arranged deal. While no proof of that plot has ever emerged, the covert sequel that commenced three years later certainly arouses suspicion.

[...]
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007...

Hey, Renee! Mighty good to *see* you!

JudyforDean
Thu, 05/10/07
6:54 pm

================

Historically (except for the 1940s) the Israeli army has been the moderating factor in Israel. The blunders and aggressive strategies have  mainly  come from the right-wing government leaders and the  IDF  just follows orders.

DANIEL ROONEY
Thu, 05/10/07
6:04 pm

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good political thinking - no wonder most people misunderstand my positions LOL

Good comment from Buzzflash ...

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Polls: Americans want Bush Impeached more now than they did Clinton in '99
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Thu, 05/10/2007 - 1:07pm. Analysis
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

A 1999 poll in the midst of Bill Clinton's impeachment trial showed that only 32% of Americans wanted to remove him from office. But a poll this week shows that 39% of Americans want Bush and Cheney to be impeached.

So why is all of Congress - save Rep. Dennis Kucinich - just sitting around when Republicans have already set the impeachment bar so low? In 1999, 79% agreed Clinton had actually committed perjury but a majority of those people still didn't think it was enough to ditch him. By contrast, a poll two months ago found that 54% believe the Bush Administration "deliberately misled the American public" about Iraq, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

Of course, Clinton's approval rate was 67% at the time - more than twice Bush's current 28%. That's because Clinton was making the nation a better place despite his personal failings, as opposed to Bush making the whole world worse. For example, 89% of Americans thought the economy was in good shape in 1999, and today 65% oppose the war in Iraq.

Now that so many more people want Bush to be axed than they did Clinton, Republicans must either stay consistent and impeach Bush or admit they impeached Clinton out of blatant, selfish partisanship (and then resign).

[...]
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analys...

Putin Is Said to Compare U.S. Policies to Third Reich

NY Times | May 10, 2007 
ANDREW E. KRAMER

President Vladimir V. Putin seemed to obliquely compare the foreign policy of the United States to the Third Reich in a speech on Wednesday commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.

The comments were the latest in a series of sharply worded Russian criticisms of the foreign policy of the United States — on Iraq, missile defense, NATO expansion and, more broadly, United States unilateralism in foreign affairs.

Many Russians say the sharper edge reflects a frustration that Russia's views, in particular opposition to NATO expansion, have been ignored in the West. Outside of Russia, however, many detected in the new tone a return to cold-war-style antagonism, emboldened by petroleum wealth.

Mr. Putin's analogy was a small part of a larger speech, otherwise unambiguously congratulating Russian veterans of World War II, known here as the Great Patriotic War. Mr. Putin spoke from a podium in front of Lenin's mausoleum on Red Square before troops mustered for a military parade.

Renee in Ohio
Thu, 05/10/07
7:00 pm

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Hi Renee! How's Oscar doing.  Whenever I see Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street I think of him.

Only Ron Paul Can Defeat Hillary Clinton
Which is why the corporate elite that have already selected the New York senator are doing their best to blackball the Texas Congressman - including Yahoo! who lied by claiming Paul had not filed papers to officially run, and omitted him from their website coverage

There is only one Republican candidate that can prevent Hillary Clinton from walking into the Oval Office after the next election and that's Ron Paul - which is why the corporate interests that have already selected Hillary are busy trying to stem the tide of a populist onslaught to bring the Texas Congressman to the attention of the American people.

Ron Paul is the only Republican candidate to carry a message that resonates with the American people, his thoroughbred anti-war and anti-big government stance, but the establishment press have done their level best to keep Paul in the shadows while lying in claiming that every participant featured in last week's debate was pro-war .

Ron Paul is the only Republican candidate to have voted against the Iraq war.

Ron Paul is the only Republican candidate who will not seek to lead the U.S. into a military confrontation with Iran, something also that Democrats Obama, Clinton and Edwards have all vowed to keep "on the table."

Ron Paul is the only Republican candidate who is not compromised while the likes of Giuliani and Romney have more skeletons in their closet than a fancy dress boutique. He holds true conservative values unlike the vehemently pro-abortion Giuliani and Romney.

Putin Is Said to Compare U.S. Policies to Third Reich

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the pot calling the kettle black - I guess  It's not about the oil in Checknya either

Good to see you too, Judy. This is the first week in a month that I haven't had to work overtime. Being home at a "normal" dinner time feels like a luxury.

Oscar hasn't been blogging much any more, Fred. Last I heard from him he was commenting on a post at Booman Tribune, in support of Obaman

D'oh! I didn't mean to add the "n" to Obama's name.

I'm not "for" anyone yet, though. 

Renee in Ohio

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give him my regards, if you see him - I like Obama too - closest thing we've had to Kennedy in a long time

Çriminals all!

Bush Administration Withheld Emails About Rove
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051007R.shtml
The Bush administration has withheld a series of emails from Congress showing that senior White House and Justice Department officials worked together to conceal the role of Karl Rove in installing Timothy Griffin, a protege of Rove's, as US attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

House Democrats Raise New Criticism of Gonzales
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051007S.shtml
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales endured new criticism on Capitol Hill today as House Democrats questioned his leadership of the Department of Justice and his personal candor. Mr. Gonzales, appearing before the House Judiciary Committee, was questioned again about the dismissals of United States attorneys - amid a new assertion that, in effect, nine of them were let go, rather than eight as previously reported - and about his awareness of what is going on in his huge department.

Obama the closest thing to Kennedy...ROFLMAO!

Well, I agree with Lakoff that the Queen bee hasn't been incompetent and that it's the whole coterie that's to blame.  However, I disagree that individual initiative is central to their philosophy.  Ideally, there's no individual or autonomous behavior at all.  Everything is directed either by the state or the religious institutions.

Basically, the whole system of government is a web of guilt and threats that's designed to subjugate the great majority for the benefit of the elite few.  Of course, they can't say that's the agenda 'cause nobody would buy it, so they lie. 

Been so busy lately, hadn't even heard of this...

Constitutional Backlash?
Pelosi's Toothless Threat to Sue Bush

By DAVE LINDORFF

The bankruptcy of the Democratic Party leadership's position in Congress on impeachment was revealed in stark terms yesterday, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she would sue the president in court if he resorted to a signing statement to kill the next version of Congress's Iraq funding bill.

Suing Bush over a signing statement, given the number of Federalist judges that this administration has named to the federal district and appellate courts, and to the US Supreme Court, is not just an exercise in futility; it is a dangerous tactic which could backfire disastrously by leading to a ruling that it's perfectly constitutional for a president to ignore laws passed by the Congress. Does Pelosi really want to risk such a catastrophe?

The only solution is to impeach the president over his signing statements, and there is no need to wait for the next one to take action. Bush has invalidated more than 1200 laws or parts of laws passed by Congress since 2001 using what are called "signing statements."

Republican apologists for the president have noted that other presidents, including Clinton, also issued signing statements, which is true. But they fail to mention that other presidents did not use those signing statements to then ignore or invalidate laws passed by Congress. They merely used them to register their view that a law, or a part of a law, was unconstitutional.

Bush has made a wholly different argument. For the past six years, he has been claiming that because he is commander in chief in a time of war, by which he means the so-called "war" on terror, he has had what he calls "unitary executive" authority. By this he means that legislative and judicial power, as well as executive power, are all in his hands for as long as the threat of terrorism is with us. Since this "war" on terror never really ends, what he is claiming is that separation of powers no longer exists in America. Indeed, the Constitution itself is set aside. The president is a dictator during his term of office, and Congress is just a debating club.

At this point, it should be clear to anyone, including Speaker Pelosi, that the only remedy for this gross abuse of power by the president is impeachment.

Unfortunately for America and the Constitution, Pelosi is still hamstrung by her foolish insistence that "impeachment is off the table."

As long as she continues to refuse to allow impeachment of President Bush, she cannot hope to stop the war, restore habeas corpus, undo the Military Commissions Act, stop illegal spying on Americans by the National Security Agency, or win passage of any significant legislation to deal with global warming. She cannot really do anything, because Bush will simply issue signing statements and use his claim of "unitary executive authority" to invalidate any legislation passed by Congress.

Pelosi needs to be told by her colleagues and by all Americans who care about the survival of the Constitution that this is not an issue for the courts. It is an issue that demands impeachment.

The Founding Fathers were clear that where abuse of power occurs, it is Congress, not the Courts, that must have the responsibility to take corrective action. Abuse of power is not a violation of the law, and so it is not something that the courts are likely to handle properly even under the best of circumstances. Abuse of power is a so-called "political crime," which requires a political response, which is precisely why the Founders included an impeachment clause in the Constitution.

Pelosi has ducked this issue for long enough, and now she's about to do serious damage to the nation because of her political cowardice.

Basta! Enough!

If the American republic is to survive, it is time to impeach this president on a charge of abuse of power.

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff0509...

Renee, please don't be a stranger!

These long days for me come to an end tomorrow...I should get some more of the interview up then. Station stuff and problems are throwing a wrench in the works as well but me show must go on...

Just got back in time to add my voice to sea's, Renee. Please do NOT be a stranger!

Here's a great one via youtube from DU. Wes Clark knocks O'Lielly out of the ball park.

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Wes Clark nails Bill'O'Lielly on Iraq, Soros

http://www.democraticunderground.com/dis...

Is anyone else nervous about this?  Another *attack* would save the repugs a$$es.  Why is it necessary to do this?

Shadow government changes under Bush
Takes reins back from Homeland Security in case of national crisis.

monica, is the guitarist a friend? i wouldn't have guessed you're a prog-head???

Hi, seashell!

I meant to post about this a long time ago, but my work schedule got in the way. Still, some of the "good guys" could use some help, so, better late than never...

Scott's sues eco-friendly startup

Bush Says He'll Seek Agreement on Iraq Benchmarks (Update4)

By Roger Runningen and Laura Litvan

May 10 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush, facing growing dissent among Republicans as well as Democrats over the war, said he'll negotiate with Congress on setting benchmarks for progress in Iraq as part of legislation to fund troops.

While Bush didn't say whether he would accept penalties for Iraq's government if it doesn't meet goals, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said the president's remarks may provide an opening to get war funding legislation through Congress.

``One message I have heard from people from both parties is that the idea of benchmarks makes sense,'' Bush said during a news conference today at the Pentagon outside Washington. ``I agree, it makes sense to have benchmarks as a part of our discussion on how to go forward.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=2...

From johnmccain.com:

October 26, 1967 - Lt. Commander John McCain departs for his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam when his plane is struck by a surface-to-air missile. John ejects from the plane, knocking him unconscious and breaking both his arms and one leg. He is then taken as a prisoner of war and remains so for five and a half years.

++++++++++

For Immediate Release
May 5, 2007

Statement by Senator John McCain on Hillary Clinton's Proposal

ARLINGTON, VA - Today, while campaigning in Reno, NV, U.S. Senator John McCain responded to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's support for a "do-over" vote on the Iraq war:

"Senator Clinton's proposal is the worst idea anyone could possibly have.

"It's a bad idea not to give the strategy we now have in place in Iraq a chance to succeed, especially when we have seen signs of early progress.

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Ya know with a Quagmire going on now and people running for the highest office in the land who fought in a past Quagmire hoping to succeed another who dodged it, I must ask a question pertaining to that past Quagmire. With the 40th anniversary of the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam this coming January, I wonder if Senator McCain was made aware of it by his captors. I know it would be just propaganda, but such an attack, some 80,000 NLF guerrillas, unleashed on the towns and villages of that far-away land. After all, like now, we were told steady progress was being made....just a little more time....light at the end of the tunnel. Reading above, it says 23rd bombing mission. How many endless missions did we fly in that American graveyard? Yet, all those massive bombing runs over North Vietnam and along the Cambodian border couldn't bring that embarrassing conflict to an end.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144...

Just in case I'm not the only Rene Pape nut on the blog, I just discovered this gem of a little video (about 5 minutes) -- scroll and click on 'the report as video on demand' for a little documentary -- there's even a pix of him as a choirboy aaawwwww.....

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got a little history lesson (?)today from a Greek partisans son about how Serbs fought the Nazi push into the Balkans, while grabbing someting to eat at a place that was giving the news of the local unit being called up again for a third tour, and how the war has lasted longer than the Second World War, and he snorted something about "for late comers to that war" or something like that

Greeks and Turks have a history, and enemy of my enemy, and now Albanian sleeper cells in New Jersey so he was praising the Serbs, but I didn't quite get the connection so back to the bookshelf

when you are the melting pot you get every old grudge in the world

took this guy 12 years to get his citizenship and he told his sons in college if they ever vote Republican he'll send them back because the country he worked so hard to get to has been "ruined" by Bush (and this after complaining about Clinton bombing the serbs)

it was a borat moment and I was looking over his shoulder for a cameraman

instant friendship

not much rain in your ten day forecast Annilow, good luck

new thread

Question: I've been getting get more and more e-mails from people who are worried that the policies of the Bush administration will bring about a severe economic downturn or, perhaps, even another Great Depression. Do you believe that the problems in the real estate market, the falling dollar, the massive current account deficit, or the shaky hedge fund industry are likely to cause major meltdown?

Elaine Meinel Supkis: Great Depressions like the one that hit in 1929 are very rare. They usually happen only after two great empires exhaust their finances. WWI involved two of the biggest industrial powers in a massive death-struggle that didn't destroy their industries but wrecked their currencies and beggared their workers. Russia was a major empire but a minor industrial power so when the workers there revolted, the loss of this sector's industrial base had much less impact than the collapse of Germany's currency and its huge war debts.