Opinion in the Midwest starting to turn on Iraq war

A 56-year-old schoolteacher has something to say to politicians of all strips: "My son is gone...but don't go hiding behind my skirt"


Folks in Louisville, KY aren't afraid for their Red neighbors...
2,000 shirts blow in wind at vigil

"I'm totally against this war," she said. "I totally support the troops. I think they should come home now."

BushCo caves to radical right wing extremists...

...by appointing one - Samuel Alito, aka 'Scalia Lite'

ThinkProgress does a good job breaking down Samuel Alito’s America.

On of the most important distinctions...

ALITO WOULD OVERTURN ROE V. WADE: In his dissenting opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito concurred with the majority in supporting the restrictive abortion-related measures passed by the Pennsylvania legislature in the late 1980’s. Alito went further, however, saying the majority was wrong to strike down a requirement that women notify their spouses before having an abortion. The Supreme Court later rejected Alito’s view, voting to reaffirm Roe v. Wade. [Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 1991]

Libby is indicted - Resigns


Cheney's top aide indicted in leak case

Update - Ohio GOP Wasteland

Tom Noe, a major GOP donor, has been indicted for illegal campaign contributions to BushCo 2004 re-election campaign.

Follow reports at Swing State Project on the Reform Ohio Now campaign.

Wingnuts Win, Miers Withdraws

Armando from Daily Kos provides immediately responses.

The Wingnuts would not even wait for the confirmation process to unfold. The straw the broke the camel's back was, without a doubt, the disclosure of Miers' 1993 speech which may have signalled that Miers would uphold Roe.

Ultimately, the reactionary reaction is what we call a litmus test, as Armando, indicates in the heading of his piece examining the Republican flip-flops regarding Miers and her muddled speech on a woman's right to choose...

Reactions, posted at The Washington Post, are mixed and typical. My favorite:

"There was also an undercurrent from the liberals in the Senate which suggested that anyone who attends church regularly is biased and should be excluded from public service." _ Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the conservative Traditional Values Coalition.

Yep, always blaming the liberals, when, in reality, it was the radical right who ousted Miers because she was not ultraconservative and activist enough. The Reverend is campaigning, not attending to his flock.

Missing Their Moment

If Hurricane Katrina exposed anything, it showed us the Democrat's inability to step up and take charge. How will it be any different after they take back Congress next year?

The Democratic leadership seems somehow unable to grasp the huge gap in outrage between them and their base. Go anywhere, talk to people who are Democrats or, poor souls, progressives, and the sheer fury of everyday people, if it could be harnessed, would solve this winter’s upcoming energy crisis. People are not only enraged; they are also deeply worried.

Rewarding incompetence.

FEMA Extends Brown's Contract by 30 Days

Brown should have left long ago. He has nothihng to offer the new people in the agency. Except what NOT to do in case of emergencies...

U.S. military deaths reach 2,000 in Iraq

Worse than Watergate

The fallout for BushCo continues around the TreasonGate scandal. The mainstream Media is catching up. Tricky Dick Cheney apparently told his Chief of Staff, Lewis Libby of CIA officer Plame. And there is a twist that is sure to earn Libby an indictment:

Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Libby and Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Libby's testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the CIA officer, Valerie Plame, from journalists, the lawyers said.

The notes, taken by Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, who was questioning the administration's handling of intelligence about Iraq's nuclear program to justify the war.

The notes also divulge that Cheney learned of Plame from George Tenet, then CIA Director, in response to an inquiry of Joseph Wilson, Plame's husband and critic of the intelligence used to invade Iraq. Now, while this is not illegal - given the status of these folks, the question of how the information made it to Novak, Miller, Cooper and others in the Press is where the scrutiny lies and who knew makes them suspect. Furthermore, the fact that the testimonies before the Grand Juries have changed leads to clear-cut obstruction of justice and perjury. These serious offenses would force Libby, Rove and others to resign that would put BushCo in a tailspin.

Lawyers involved in the case said they had no indication that Fitzgerald was considering charging Cheney with wrongdoing. Cheney was interviewed under oath by Fitzgerald last year. It is not known what the vice president told him about the conversation with Libby or when Fitzgerald first learned of it.

But the evidence of Cheney's direct involvement in the effort to learn more about Wilson is sure to intensify the political pressure on the White House in a week of high anxiety among Republicans about the potential for the case to deal a sharp blow to Bush's presidency.

This does not look good and is much bigger than most people realize. Or want to realize... The battle is not over though. Expect Fitzgerald to be attacked and smeared, once he rolls out the indictments. BushCo will be on damage control and the propaganda will fly through the mainstream corporate Media. The real question here is whether the American people, tired and disillusioned by BushCo already, will demand that enough is enough. Time will tell. Nixon, of course, allowed time to force him out of office because he would not see the forest for the trees. His reckless regard for rule of law and lust for power destroyed him and the men around him, while scarring a generation of Americans to reject government outright. That was a low time in American history. This time, it looks as if the same tragic outcome will result. BushCo, however, will not go down respectfully and with the understanding the government and American people are something greater than him. That is what sets this current administration apart from that of Nixon's - being above the law is all they have and will not cede that power for the sake of Democracy and America. Nixon, at least, had the courage, to walk away...

A real guide to Arnie's special election in California...

Jan Frel gets into the hidden specifics and realizes, like main local papers in California, that this special interest election will make or break Arnold's career.

This "special" election is happening at the wrong time in the wrong place. The burden on California taxpayers is already difficult as it is and now that we have to bankroll an election that nobody really wants is a waste of money. This is ironic coming from a governor that ran on anti-special interest and reform agenda, then changed his mind and now is running an election that have more special interest ties than former Gov Gray Davis.

Judging a political book by its cover just doesn't work anymore...

Top aid to Colin Powell calls out Cheney

"Cheney cabal hijacked US foreign policy."

In a scathing attack on the record of President George W. Bush, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Mr Powell until last January, said: “What I saw was a cabal between the vice-president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made.

It seems Tricky Dick is taking a beating lately. With rumors flying over possible indictments in the TreasonGate scandal, Cheney finds himself in a tight bind. Certainly this latest charge coming from a insider in the Powell camp could have Cheney reconsidering his place in politics?

There is no exit strategy...

Rice spins, deflects, but ultimately gives us a 10 year time frame.

Later, Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., told Rice that her response to questions about U.S. troop withdrawal leaves open the possibility that U.S. forces could be in Iraq five or even 10 years down the road. Rice did not dispute that.

"I don't know how to speculate about what will happen 10 years from now, but I do believe that we are moving on a course on which Iraqi security forces are rather rapidly able to take care of their own security concerns," Rice responded.

What does this really mean? What it means is that "Iraq Security Forces" aren't even close to the level they need to be. Constitution or not, the violence will continue and so will the excuses...

Arrest warrant issued for DeLay

Fingerprinting and mug shot are likely. The freefall in Republicanland continues and desperation sets in as BushCo tries to distance himself from Rove and TreasonGate.

Ten Tips For Dealing with Fitzmas

A diarist at DailyKos reminds progressives to calm down a bit on the PlameGate scandal conclusion. It is not over yet. BushCo republicans never go down without a fight...

Cheney on the block?

It appears that Cheney may be a target of the CIA leak investigation. How can Libby, who certainly is involved, not even hint this information to Cheney during the many, many hours they spend together?

Libby is often described as "Cheney's Cheney," a loyal and discreet lieutenant who shares his boss's hard-line philosophy and bareknuckle attitude toward political enemies of the Bush administration.

Cheney and Libby spend hours together in the course of a day, which causes sources who know both men very well to assert that any attempts to discredit Wilson would almost certainly have been known to the vice president.

"Scooter wouldn't be freelancing on this without Cheney's knowledge," a source told the Daily News. "It was probably some off-the-cuff thing: 'This guy [Wilson] could be a problem.'"

BushCo can't be taking this lightly? Is it really possible that Fitzgerald will actually lay down the law? Time is running out and I find it hard to believe...

The Tale of Two 'Times'

Criticism abound for Miller and The New York Times.

No single facet of yesterday's Times account drew more condemnation than Miller saying she cannot recall the name of another source who told her about "Valerie Flame," as she recorded the name in her notebook. Miller said the notation was in a different part of the same notebook used for her first interview with Libby in June 2003.

See, what puzzles me here is why all the drama? If Miller was intending to testify all along, why cover up the crime so long? Can the New York Times really claim ignorance here? Wouldn't it be in their best interest, given their "liberal- bias" to have roasted Libby and Plame long ago and not pay lip service to BushCo? Let's face it, those who still think the Times is not mainstream and Rush-induced ultra-liberal have much to learn. This Miller fiasco even shows lip service being paid in spite of a serious crime being committed, or the Times is "FEMA-incompetent.

"It's hard for anyone to imagine that Judy either didn't know who provided that information or, if it was clearly someone else, why she did not make that available."

-Alex Jones, a former Times reporter who heads the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University

It is hard to believe, period. Miller is another perpetrator and victim of the BushCo mentality. First, incompetent journalism just to push the Administration line in Iraq, then using the veil of integrity in "protecting" sources that engaged in a traitorous act.

"This is as believable as Woodward and Bernstein not recalling who Deep Throat was," wrote columnist Arianna Huffington.

Rove Testifies Again in CIA Leak Probe

No Comment is the new line for BushCo on the CIA Leak Investigation. Rove testified for the last time and "amounted to the last chance for the presidential confidant and architect of Bush's election wins to convince the jury that he did nothing wrong."

Could this be the end for Rove and Libby? The American people are getting restless for results by this administration. They are failing on many counts and poll numbers are in the dumps. Is it possible that the Grand Jury here will reflect that sentiment and stand up to say "We can't take it anymore!" It seems BushCo is running out of gas and desperate all round - even staging video conference with hand-picked soldiers in Iraq.

GNN's Paul Reickoff comments:

This thing was not just staged, it was superstaged. In a disgusting display, the President again used our troops as political props in an event so scripted that it basically turned into a conversation with himself. I wish the White House had put this much effort into post-war planning when my platoon hit Baghdad.

He certainly has a right to be upset...

TV's political talk shows shun women

Joan Ryan talks about the reality of political inequality...

So when a study released Tuesday revealed that just 14 percent of the guests on the influential Sunday morning political talk shows are women, and that 56 percent of the episodes included no women at all, I wondered if anyone was surprised. I wasn't. One need only listen to the weekly interviews and discussions -- the dearth of ideas, the ponderous iteration of solutions that haven't worked, the recycled assumptions that rattle inside the beltway like a shoe in a dryer -- to know that women aren't at the table.

Why should we be surprised? We have seen a lot of inequality lately. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina made it painfully clear that the cabal of white men that make up most of the BushCo administration are from another time and don't plan to ever level the playing field. Their failure to protect the poor black and white folks of the Gulf Coast show the stack reality of our security as well. Security is provided based on privilege and class.

Chris Grumm, President & CEO of the Women's Funding Network, whom Ryan interviewed, asks:

"Is security only about the number of military people in the field? Or is security also about people being economically secure so they don't want to go take over another village? Is security about people having political access to make their lives better?" she asked. "Women bring a different set of questions, different agenda items, that come from a different view of the world."

Because women are so poorly represented, the shows perpetuate the public impression that "women lack the credibility, expertise and authority to address our nation's most significant problems," as the study's authors put it.

And, as you know, this is quite untrue. I will be a little more frank than Ms. Ryan: The imbalance in politics today attributes to the failures of fairness and justice within our governmental bodies. The state of warmongering that has so consumed us only reveals the BushCo has no respect nor understanding in the role of women and all citizens, for that matter, in the idea and practice of Democracy. Nor do they seem to care that balance of power, dissent, community, human rights, and protection are all fundamental ingredients that keep a democratic society intact.

Ryan remarks:

The more we can see and hear women who have been anointed on television as serious commentators and authorities, the more confidence the public will have in voting women into Congress and someday the White House. And the more we hear from knowledgeable women, the greater the range of ideas and perspectives pouring into the political marketplace -- thus the more likely we are to make inroads on problems that have not responded to traditional solutions.

And that is the rub. We now realize that the current governmental solutions are not working. Bringing in new progressive ideas is a huge challenge, but definitely possible. It will take basic baby steps to move in the right direction. The first step? - Change the balance of power in Congress in the Mid-term elections...


Go to SheSource.org for a list of expert women who can speak on a variety of issues - launched by the White House Project and Fenton Communications. It also explores the study in question.

Ohio GOP Wasteland Update

Noe transferred coin cash before giving to politicians.

The Toledo Blade has a nice time line on Noe's illegal contributions and GOP corruption in Ohio before and after 2004 Presidential election

Tom Noe often transferred tens of thousands of dollars from the Ohio rare-coin funds he managed to his personal business before bankrolling Republican candidates and causes with contributions and loans.

A Blade examination of the accounting records from Mr. Noe’s $50 million rare-coin venture shows a pattern of large sums of money moving from the coin funds to his personal business, Vintage Coins and Collectibles, in the days and weeks before the coin dealer and his wife, Bernadette, made contributions to Republican candidates ranging from President Bush to U.S. Sen. George Voinovich and Gov. Bob Taft down to Lucas County Auditor Larry Kaczala.

It seems Noe can't escape the fact that he used Ohio state funds and taxpayer money to fund his Ponzi scheme coin venture and pad his personal account. What is really illegal is that he cannot explain the large campaign contributions. But it is par for the course. Now that Governor Taft has become the only Ohio governor to be charged with crime and is connected to Noe, you wonder if Ohioans are going to show the GOP the door...

Daily Kos looks into a story by Blade reporter on Noe back in 2004 via Salon. Interesting...

Randi Rhodes puts a foot in GOP ass

It quite hilarious and revealing... Follow link to Blondesense for more info.

Via Crooks and Liars

Rove on the hot seat

Prosecutors can't promise immunity the 4th time around. Will we find out next week if Fitgerald will get it done? Or will he cave in to BushCo and not do his job?

We shall see...

Coincident Timing?

Karl Rove is said to testify in CIA Plame Leak Case.

New York Boosts Security After Subway Threat

Timing is everything...

Roy Blunt, DeLay - Part Duex...

DeLay, Blunt Traded Secret Donations

Tom DeLay deliberately raised more money than he needed to throw parties at the 2000 presidential convention, then diverted some of the excess funds to longtime ally Roy Blunt through a series of donations that benefited both men's causes.

When the financial carousel stopped, DeLay's private charity, the consulting firm that employed DeLay's wife and the Missouri campaign of Blunt's son all ended up with money, according to campaign documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

Missouri joins fellow midwest states of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee in the GOP corruption wasteland. It appears that the political machine of Roy Blunt (not the Republican Majority Leader in the House), his son the Governor, and others are connected to the Abramoff-DeLay scandal.

"These people clearly like using middlemen for their transactions," said Lawrence Noble. "It seems to be a pattern with DeLay funneling money to different groups, at least to obscure, if not cover, the original source," said Noble, who was the Federal Election Commission's chief lawyer for 13 years, including in 2000 when the transactions occurred...

Noble said investigators should examine whether the pattern of disguising the original source of money might have been an effort to hide the leaders' simultaneous financial and legislative dealings with Abramoff and his clients.

"You see Abramoff involved and see the meetings that were held and one gets the sense Abramoff is helping this along in order to get access and push his clients' interest," he said. "And at the same time, you see Delay and Blunt trying to hide the root of their funding.

"All of these transactions may have strings attached to them. ... I think you would want to look, if you aren't already looking, at the question of a quid pro quo," Noble said.

Just a sampling. The AP does a decent job laying out the timeline here...

Senate Votes against Torture and defies BushCo

The notorious nine who voted against limiting interrogation tactics and torture? All Republicans, all committee chairmen (as War and Piece points out).

Allard (R-CO)
Bond (R-MO)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Stevens (R-AK)

Via Billmon

Fear Mongering 101

BushCo seems to be in a self-destructive spiral right now. With fall out from Hurricane Katrina, decreasing support for the war in Iraq, indictments and investigations of key GOP leaders, and now, possible prosecution for traitorous acts, the Administration resorts to desperate measures.

Apparently, the new terrorists are the old Communists and we will all die if we don't follow the BushCo plan. Some of the excerpts from Bush's speech seem like paranoid delusions...

In truth, they have endless ambitions of imperial domination and they wish to make everyone powerless except themselves…They seek to end dissent in every form and to control every aspect of life and to rule the soul itself...

No act of ours invited the rage of the killers, and no concession, bribe or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans for murder...

Evil men who want to use horrendous weapons against us are working in deadly earnest to gain them...

The list is quite revealing and scary. So what do we know? It feels like there is a loss of control. The people in charge, BushCo, can't get anything right. The people not in charge, the Democrats, can't step up with alternatives. The arrogant "swagger" of BushCo Republicans doesn't make a difference in our security. We know that now. The Democrats can get their act together an bravely step forth to take the helm, but the potential is there. When it comes to protecting Americans, the notion that Dems can't provide it is a flat out lie. We know that now. It is hard to believe that the Republicans can do the same. Our hope is to elect the BushCo Congress and Senate members out next year and replace them with progressive-minded people, no matter their party affiliation. That's right, no matter... True, the GOP's united front makes it harder for progressive conservatives to move in and we are more likely to see pragmatic progressives in the Democratic, Green, and Libertarian Parties. But, if Democrats take the Congress back, these balances Republicans out there can help reshape their cracked Party and bring back the conservative values needed to balance our government.

Thinking practically is what brings progress. That is something Americans desperately need, for the sake of all government...

Miers Briefed Bush on Bin Laden PDB, But Papers Handle Photo From That Day Quite Differently

E&P examines the photo that the mainstream Media missed...

On its front page Tuesday, The New York Times published a photo of new U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers going over a briefing paper with President George W. Bush at his Crawford ranch “in August 2001,” the caption reads.

USA Today and the Boston Globe carried the photo labeled simply “2001,” but many other newspapers ran the picture in print or on the Web with a more precise date: Aug. 6, 2001.

Does that date sound familiar? Indeed, that was the date, a little over a month before 9/11, that President Bush was briefed on the now-famous “PDB” that declared that Osama Bin Laden was “determined” to attack the U.S. homeland, perhaps with hijacked planes. But does that mean that Miers had anything to do with that briefing?

As it turns out, yes, according to Tuesday's Los Angeles Times. An article by Richard A. Serrano and Scott Gold observes that early in the Bush presidency “Miers assumed such an insider role that in 2001 it was she who handed Bush the crucial 'presidential daily briefing' hinting at terrorist plots against America just a month before the Sept. 11 attacks.”

So the Aug. 6 photo may show this historic moment, though quite possibly not. In any case, some newspapers failed to include the exact date with the widely used Miers photo today. A New York Times spokesman told E&P: "The wording of the caption occurred in the course of routine editing and has no broader significance."

The photo that ran in so many papers and on their Web sites originally came from the White House but was moved by the Associated Press, clearly marked as an “Aug. 6, 2001” file photo. It shows Miers with a document or documents in her right hand, as her left hand points to something in another paper balanced on the president's right leg. Two others in the background are Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin and Steve Biegun of the national security staff.

The PDB was headed “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.,” and notes, among other things, FBI information indicating “patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks.”

I would think this has more significance than it is given... To Be Continued?

The big OH gearing for a Dem Primary?

Hackett To Challenge DeWine As Miers' Confirmation Begins

Looks like Paul Hackett's camp leaked a bit of news that may worry DeWine next year. Apparently, Rep. Sherrod Brown passed, now is reconsidering and may force a primary... DailyKos looks into it and has a Straw Poll running right now. Check it out

DeLay takes another hit

It just keeps getting worse for DeLay and BushCo...

25 questions about murder of the Big Easy

Powerful piece. Questions that nobody wants to answer. The shaming of America...

What's the Deal With Harriet Miers?

Who is she should be the first question...

Never a judge, Miers is a longtime GOP functionary, and has pumped thousands of dollars into the campaigns of right-wing GOP stalwarts in Texas—from Phil Gramm to Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Clearly she tows the Bush party line...

Above all, Miers is loyal to President Bush. It’s hard to imagine her putting faithfulness to the Supreme Court above faithfulness to the Bush family. She reportedly recommended Alberto Gonzalez to be Bush’s counsel when Bush was governor of Texas. Miers was Bush’s personal lawyer in Texas, coming with him to the White House in 2001 as a staff secretary—the person who checks out all documents before they go to the president. Miers became a deputy counsel, then counsel when Gonzalez was elevated to attorney general.

I guess Democrats have work to do, know that BushCo just spends more time nominating unqualified people to do the job. Just ask Michael Brown...