The Billion dollar Soap Opera

from Moon of Alabama

EXCERPT
To sum it up:

• Maliki is the U.S. supported puppet in Iraq
• Maliki starts a war on Sadr
• Sadr stops the offense against him and successfully attacks Maliki's forces and his backers in the Green Zone
• Maliki sends folks to Iran to have an Iranian "terrorist supporter" mediate a peace deal with Sadr
• Sadr sets the terms under which he agrees to stop fighting
• Maliki agrees (somewhat) to Sadr's terms and the truce
• The U.S. taxpayer pay $12 billion a month to watch this show

Isn't this a bit absurd?

The Full Article is a good read

Last of Iraqis gives you the 6 days of the Sadr Surge from an Iraqi perspective

And of course, Juan Cole always has more information on the situation

UPDATE: Newshoggers: Basra and Beyond

The Maniac and the Brainiac

Sorry I love this pic and had to share. Two sides of the same coin....

True Patriots fight FOR Freedom, not against it

80 year old Anti War Deacon arrested for t-shirt

They are arresting American citizens for t-shirts that offend warhawks. They are arresting preachers in America for calling for an end to the Iraq war. They are arresting eighty year old men who openly voice their opinion peacefully.

They are arresting American citizens for exercising free speech.

We are not free to oppose the warlike among us. We are not free to express morality in a country run by the immoral. We are not free to assemble peacefully when our opinion opposes that of the corporatists.

We are not free.

Those who are for the war can assemble, protest, and even assault the antiwar crowd and not be arrested. But if you dare stand up for the thousands of soldiers who are dying to make money for the military industrial complex, you will be spat upon, you will be accosted, you will be harrassed, you will be arrested by government officials.

I don't know who I despise more, the government who is taking away our American freedom, or the pathetic citizen scumbags who assault other Americans for speaking out FOR THE TROOPS.

I take heart that more and more christians are standing up for true christian beliefs and morality against the war. I pick christians out because the pro-war, pro-torture crowd, by and large, is made up of those who consider themselves christians.

Another Gathering of Eagles brownshirt story. This weak ass nazi gets "assaulted" by an 82 year old woman after verbally abusing her veteran husband. She kicks the dumbass in his dumb ass. I guess those Octagenarian peace activists are really dangerous, after all.

She got a $25 fine. Where can I send her my $25 for standing up to these nazis?

More American Patriots, veteran and otherwise:

Amnesty International teen protest

Winter Soldier

Iraq Vet: we need to leave Iraq immediately

Voices speak out (World Can't Wait)

Give me a link to your favorite American patriot who is working to end the war now, in the face of those who would steal our freedom...

BONUS LINK: Matt Taibbi on the Rev.Wright

Bullets to the Face

Sacrificing your child to your Religion

Canadian Seal Hunters now required to kill baby seals before they start skinning them

Strip Club where 12 year old runaway danced nude cannot be shut down

Demonica Abron, 27, who worked as a stripper in the club, and David Bell, 22, have been charged with felony sexual performance of the child in connection with making the 12-year-old work at the club. Both are also accused of engaging in organized crime.

Bell is accused of two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and aggravated kidnapping.

He was being held at the Dallas County Jail on Thursday in lieu of a $450,000 bond. It was unclear if Bell had an attorney.

Abron also faces a prostitution charge.

Feminism for Typical clueless Males

That would be the Other version of Shazam- Selene, Hera, Athena, Zoroastra, Artemis, and Macha ...

Uh, did I mention that I'm from West Texas?

whenever I say that, it means I was raised clueless, and sometimes it takes a lot to clue me in...

While I was commenting on the subject that's been on my mind quite a bit lately, (Marriage) on Alternet , someone mentioned that I might be clueless as to what feminism meant. I support feminism and even claim the title of feminist from time to time. I decided I would set this person straight for attempting to set me straight, and I'd do it with by first providing the definition of feminism to them.

.

Oops. The danger of researching facts when setting folks straight- is that you might set yourself straight. And I guess that's what I did. This morning my personal definition of feminism was simply "A movement to advance women's rights." What I found first was:

.

Feminism Feminism: 1. Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.
2. The movement organized around this belief.

.

Wait, I thought, that's not right. It doesn't mention women specifically at all. So I dug in again, and I found something that fit a little better with my personal interpretation (which we all know is what the internet is REALLY good for).

.

Merriam-Webster had this: 1 : the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes 2 : organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests

.

That was a little better, because it mentioned women. And Fem is the latin root for woman, and that's what it's all about- giving women equal rights with men. And because I believed it was ALL about women, I had some misconceptions about the concept and how it has evolved, uh, in the last 100 years or so. And maybe I'd even held some inner contempt for what I believed feminism was, on some levels. This feeling was intensified by some of the times that I had been soundly thrashed over at Pandagon by some commenters for basically just saying what was on my mind. Anyway, realizing there was something that I was missing, I dug in to the concept feminism once again today.

.

As it struck me that Feminism has a broader scope, a couple of doors opened in my mind, and I realized what the commenter had subtly (and I thank them for the subtlety) tried to guide me towards. And I also realized that a lot of beliefs that I had of the man's role - were in actuality Feminism. So, I learned some things today, not the least of which was that I truly am a Feminist!

.

I know, I'm a dumbass. But I'm less of a dumbass than I was yesterday ;) and that's what's important.

How bad do you want it?

How did I miss this?

Bill Clinton does the Limbaugh show

..Bill going on the Rush show the day of the Texas primaries, when Rush was exhorting Republicans to illegally vote as Democrats just to hurt the Democratic party- That's just... ..low. Damn, it's lower than low.

Then there's this- Scaife-Hillary

"I don't know just how this went down. But the idea Sen. Clinton and her staff went into an editorial board meeting with Scaife and his lackey reporters without a clear sense that they were going to get at least one choice Jeremiah Wright question just somehow doesn't ring true to me."

The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy is baaaaack... and apparently this time the Clintons are working with it.

Rush Limbaugh!? Richard Scaife?!

I can put up with a LOT from a presidential candidate as long as they are willing to fight for the constitution against the Bushbots. But I'll be damned if I support a candidate who panders to Rush Limbaugh's crowd and then works side by side with the people who worked so hard to attempt to destroy you. Hell, how can she even sit in the same room with that man? Unless...

Unless it's all been a goddamned sham from the get-go.

Any way you slice it, it's NOT what I want from a Democratic leader. And half of Progressive Democrats in America want Hillary to be the next President?

It's times like these that I come close to agreeing with Vlad Kalashnikov on the state of American politics: America is fucked beyond all repair.

I will leave you with Vlad's thoughts on Bear Stearns and the financial symmetry of the Russian collapse with the impending American one...

Everything about Bear Stearns collapse and bailout is a deja vu of collapse of Yeltsin-era banking system. Back then in the 1990s, American advisers created Russia's "market" system, and that ended in a total economic collapse in August of 1998. What is happening today in America is just a repeat. For example, the development this week of the Bear Stearns collapse reminds me so much of the same way Russian banks collapsed under American guidance in the 1990s. In Russia under Yeltsin, when a bank was close to collapse they always assured the public that everything was fine and they blamed "rumors" for causing problems; this week, the CEO of Bear Stearns and all the American journalists on Bear Stearns payroll blamed "rumors" and "irrational psychology" for causing a run on Bear Stearns' money during the week. The purpose of these lies is that it allows the insiders to cash out their money while the rest of the trusting American fools keep their money in, only to lose it later. Then after the insiders cash out, comes the supposed "panic" and "sudden" collapse, best to take place on a Friday of course. The "sudden collapse" and "panic" gives cover for the next even bigger transaction: the connected Bear Stearns banker calls the Central Bank Chief Bernanke, just as Khodorkovsky would call Dubinin or whoever was Central Bank chief then, and naturally Bernanke gives to Bear Stearns as many billions as the CEO asks for, and everyone thinks it's okay because the billions were necessary in this atmosphere of alleged "sudden panic," as if Bear Stearns and Bernanke had not been speaking to each other like phone sex addicts every day 24/7 the entire week. Reports Bloomberg:

The Fed is taking on the credit risk from collateral supplied by Bear Stearns, which approached the central bank for emergency funds, Fed staff officials said today.

The Fed, under Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, voted unanimously to lend the funds through JPMorgan because it would be operationally simpler than a direct loan to Bear Stearns, the staff said on condition of anonymity. The regulator invoked a little-used law that allows it to make loans to corporations and private partnerships, which required a Board vote, according to the staffers.

Yes, you read that correctly. In the exact replay of Yeltsin-oligarchs' strategy to steal and steal, the Central Bank bailout money is not directly from the government to Bear Stearns, because that makes it harder to steal those billions. Instead, it is funneled through another well-connected bank, J.P. Morgan, so that those corrupt bankers can also take a nice cut in the deal ("otkat" it's called). Essentially the "bailout" is a massive bribe from corrupt Bush to corrupt J.P. Morgan, and in return JP Morgan will buy the ruins of Bear Stearns with the government money (minus what they steal). Meanwhile plenty of billions make sure that major Bear Stearns principles all cash out well. Here comes the funny part. How does "free speech" America hide this outright corruption and thieving from the population? Let a Russian explain to your naive innocent little American eyes: stop all this bullshit about "transparency" because it is no longer convenient:

The senior [Central Bank] staffers declined to describe how large the loan to Bear Stearns was, and declined to say whether a private- sector bailout was attempted before the Fed extended credit through JPMorgan.

NO ONE KNOWS HOW MANY BILLIONS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT JUST GAVE TO BEAR STEARNS, AND HOW MANY MORE BILLIONS WILL FOLLOW. The ghost of Yeltsin lives in the Federal Reserve! We don't know anything, and we didn't know it was even legal, because American government and banks exploited "obscure never used" laws to justify outright corruption and fraud, according to Wall Street Journal:

The arrangement employs a little-used Depression-era provision of the Federal Reserve Act.

It is sad to see Americans imitating the very worst Russians 10 years late, what incredible fucking losers you are! And meanwhile the American masses have no fucking idea, free press or no free press, they just stand around like retarded jackasses with a sign on their backs that reads "ASS-FUCK ME", because they trust their leaders. Americans don't know anything about Iraq anymore except that they're winning, they don't know hundreds of billions being stolen in front of their fat stupid faces, they don't know anything except where to find a bargain on hamburger buns. I almost cannot blame Bush and the bankers for stealing from American fools, it's just too easy! Let the bloodthirsty corrupt elite steal from the bloodthirsty retarded masses, it will hasten the final collapse of this cruel and shameful empire called "America."

...

No, Americans have no fucking idea what is happening to them. We Russians were not such trusting dumbshits, even against all odds, we did understand when it happened to us in the 1990s. We are not trusting dumbshits Americans. We fought but we were too weak to fight against Yeltsin regime, supported with hundreds of billions of American "loan" money, sophisticated propaganda which we still didn't understand, and guns. Do not forget that the entire Yeltsin economy, including the notorious corrupt banking system, was forced upon us by United States government and the American investment bank advisers who were seated inside the Russian government at all times. That is why today's American banking collapse is so easy to understand for Russians. Russians tried as early as in 1993 to stop the vicious Yeltsin/American "shock therapy" economics that turned a proud nation into desperate paupers. I remember the dark time because even though I was just a student in 1993, my family suffered through this years together. First we lost all savings, and first my grandfather and then two uncles died quickly and brutally. Our democratically elected parliament tried to stop Yeltsin "shock therapy" and throw out American "free market advisers" to save what was left. Americans and Yeltsin decided democracy was not good anymore so Yeltsin, the democrat, ordered tanks to attack the opposition parliament in 1993. He killed several hundred brave Russian patriots, who died fighting against this corrupt ruinous American "shock therapy" economics. We were crushed with tanks, you see. Naturally President Clinton immediately supported Yeltsin, showing who was the real master of that putsch against Russian democracy. It meant something that Clinton immediately gave his support to Yeltsin. It was like a wartime defeat. I can tell you, back then we were in such awe of America, we had no choice but to accept defeat, it was hopeless. We lost the power to stop banks and government from stealing every last part of Russia, until the final collapse in 1998.

It took tanks to keep Russians down while they robbed the country. Tanks, and American money.

What is your excuse today, Americans? There are no tanks, no Russian interference to destroy you and demoralize you. Why do you let your leaders steal everything your country has? Why do you sit passively like slaves who mated with sheep, the sheep-slaves with a big stupid smile on your fat fucking faces? You are not even human beings, you deserve worse than a total collapse of you country, you deserve to be wiped off the face of this planet forever, as if you were just an embarrassing accident and it will never happen again, you sickening pussy sub-human dumbfucks!

Oh fuck, now ruined my good mood. I need to run back to my friends now to celebrate your collapse. There will be time for bitter memories of the 1990s.

And for me, I'm sure, time for bitter memories of the 2008 elections.

News

Good Mammal News of the Day

From the Duh Dept -
Sex Ed reduces teen pregnancy, Abstinence does not

What kind of parents let their kid get breast surgery? Death by plastic surgery Anyone who opts for plastic surgery just to make them more attractive is a FOOL. Hell, I'm ugly, it's not that bad, really.

Another Top Notch Arizona Republican speaks: Sen.Kyl blames Democrats, minorities, the poor, and the young for the Sub prime mess. What next? Brittney Spears was behind the Bear Stearns Bailout?

Cheney on 4,000 Dead Americans : They Volunteered.

More on what they volunteered for... Prisoners of War

EXCERPT

What kept him going was the end that was in sight. He just had to hang on till his contract was up, and then he could go home, go back to school, and finally be a 20-year-old kid. Then days before he was scheduled to get out, his unit was locked down, stop-lossed as part of the surge. He was looking at another 18-month deployment.

...

I find it so painfully ironic that as other excuses for the war have been proven false, (weapons of mass destruction, U.N. sanctions, ties to Al-Queda, etc.) the administration has fallen back on the most unbelievable of all: freedom. While George Bush insists that Iraqis accept freedom, American style, one out of every 100 of our own citizens are in prison. Almost twice as many as the runner-up, China. Iraq is 62 on the list, though it is unclear whether that includes those being held by Americans. In this country, there are 2,258,983 in prison. That figure does not include the 723,000 locked up in local jails. Or the 60,000 stop-lossed soldiers.

Pentagon studies have shown that each deployment leaves a soldier 60 percent more likely to suffer serious mental health problems. In support of that, as this president sends soldiers back into combat as many as five times in as many years, the U.S. Army Medical Command Suicide Prevention Action Plan acknowledges that suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007 were up 20 percent from 2006, their highest level since the Army began keeping such records in 1980. And the number of suicide attempts has increased sixfold since the Iraq war began. There were several in the I-30 Infantry Battalion, and Goldsmith holds his sergeant major responsible. Like Goldsmith, these young soldiers are being told not only that they are prisoners, but that they are disposable. They are our children, and their deaths are on the hands of those who hold their freedom hostage.

Dept of Republican Security - Nuclear Fuses sent to Asia on Accident

"The Defense Department mistakenly shipped secret nuclear missile fuses to Taiwan more than 18 months ago and did not learn that the items were missing until late last week, Pentagon officials acknowledged yesterday, deepening concerns about the security of the U.S. nuclear arsenal."

Ligers ...

And Glenn Greenwald brings us Iraqis thoughts on American Intervention- that you seldom see on American media : Operation: Pay Attention

A Plague of three piece suit Locusts

Pestilence

EXCERPT
Under these circumstances, how can anyone seriously accept any judgment or opinion of the Federal Reserve as an honest or ethical arbiter?

The original Bear takeover agreement was forged with the support of federal regulators, and the U.S. Federal Reserve is balking at the higher price, The New York Times said, citing people involved in the talks.

The newspaper said the Fed originally directed J.P. Morgan to pay no more than $2 per share to assure that it would not appear that Bear shareholders were being rescued.

By these metrics, will Bear be valued next week at $50 or $0 per share? Better yet, is the DOW properly valued at 12,000, or does 2,000 or perhaps 60,000 sound a little closer to the mark?

Do these grotesque proceedings, from start to finish, not reek of a snake-oil-swindling carnie act?

The entire article, from Financial Sense is here: Pestilence

UNRELATED BONUS UPDATE: War Nerd splains Kosovo

Religious Persecution in America

And by this I mean, being persecuted by Christians, not the silly notion that Christians are somehow persecuted in America...

Extremism

Blog against Theocracy



Expelled at Expelled - PZ Myers gets bible-blocked at a creationist movie that supposedly addresses the issue of SUPPRESSION. I've got mixed feelings about this movie since another equally intellectual flick is about to hit the theaters and is aimed at the same demographic, the average American idiot.

Will Ben Stein convince Amerkan idiots that Jewish Mythology is getting the short end of the stick in Amerkan education? Will Harold and Kumar touch a nerve of morality within that same dumb Amerkan bastard and convince him (in between tokes) that destroying the constitution and torturing people (although hilarious) is bad? God (my one true god, not yours!) only knows...
Make sure you check out the link to see which big bad atheist made it in to see the film.

"Whoever fears to submit any question to the test of free discussion, loves his own opinion more than the truth."

I should have known this already, but I discovered yesterday that the reason we hide eggs on the spring festival of Easter is because centuries ago Christians tried to kill off the pagan tradition of giving colored eggs as a symbol of fertility on this pre-christian holiday. They banned the practice of giving the eggs and punished those who they caught giving them as gifts on Easter.

I guess the ban didn't work. A thousand years later, my brother, a part time christian, took his children to the largest easter egg hunt in our area yesterday, a church sponsored event where 5000 christian children unwittingly participated in an ancient pagan ritual. And I'm sure, like me before them, there were 5,000 children wondering what rabbits and eggs had to do with the death of Jesus. I sat down with my daughter and we discussed what Easter meant to our ancestors. We discussed the celebration of Spring, the rebirth of the earth, the traditions and the meanings of the colored eggs and the rabbits. It ended up being a great conversation that I believe enriched her understanding of our world, and the mentalities of people both past and present. Unfortunately the parents of those 5,000 children (like my brother) will brush aside their own children's questions and inexplicably attempt to convince them that this is all for Jesus.

After talking about the christians attempting to make Easter their own holiday, she told me something I've heard many, many times growing up in West Texas: "My friend Bethany isn't my friend anymore because she says I am not a christian and I'm going to ... down there"
I smiled and replied "Honey, there isn't a hell. Why would a god who loves us and forgives us need a place like that?" She shrugged, and gave me that I dunno look.
"God doesn't NEED Hell. Only christians do. The ways of our ancestors were not the ways of christians. Their prisons are the ones they create for themselves. You don't need to worry too much about their judgements. " And then, realizing the cold truth of the matter, I added "But sometimes, it's safer not to make yourself a target for them. What you believe is only your business."

"He who will not reason is a bigot, he who cannot reason is a fool, and he who does not reason is a slave."

UPDATE: Creationists instruct their children about Vegetarian T-Rex

Sunday, bloody Sunday

Easter letter from Michael Moore:

Friends,

It would have to happen on Easter Sunday, wouldn't it, that the 4,000th American soldier would die in Iraq. Play me that crazy preacher again, will you, about how maybe God, in all his infinite wisdom, may not exactly be blessing America these days. Is anyone surprised?

4,000 dead. Unofficial estimates are that there may be up to 100,000 wounded, injured, or mentally ruined by this war. And there could be up to a million Iraqi dead. We will pay the consequences of this for a long, long time. God will keep blessing America.

And where is Darth Vader in all this? A reporter from ABC News this week told Dick Cheney, in regards to Iraq, "two-thirds of Americans say it's not worth fighting." Cheney cut her off with a one word answer: "So?"

"So?" As in, "So what?" As in, "F*** you. I could care less."

I would like every American to see Cheney flip the virtual bird at the them, the American people. Click here and pass it around. Then ask yourself why we haven't risen up and thrown him and his puppet out of the White House.

The Democrats have had the power to literally pull the plug on this war for the past 15 months -- and they have refused to do so. What are we to do about that? Continue to sink into our despair? Or get creative? Real creative. I know there are many of you reading this who have the chutzpah and ingenuity to confront your local congressperson. Will you? For me?

Cheney spent Wednesday, the 5th anniversary of the war, not mourning the dead he killed, but fishing off the Sultan of Oman's royal yacht. So? Ask your favorite Republican what they think of that.

The Founding Fathers would never have uttered the presumptuous words, "God Bless America." That, to them, sounded like a command instead of a request, and one doesn't command God, even if they are America. In fact, they were worried God would punish America. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington feared that God would react unfavorably against his soldiers for the way they were behaving. John Adams wondered if God might punish America and cause it to lose the war, just to prove His point that America was not worthy. They and the others believed it would be arrogant on their part to assume that God would single out America for a blessing. What a long road we have traveled since then.

I see that Frontline on PBS this week has a documentary called "Bush's War." That's what I've been calling it for a long time. It's not the "Iraq War." Iraq did nothing. Iraq didn't plan 9/11. It didn't have weapons of mass destruction. It DID have movie theaters and bars and women wearing what they wanted and a significant Christian population and one of the few Arab capitals with an open synagogue.

But that's all gone now. Show a movie and you'll be shot in the head. Over a hundred women have been randomly executed for not wearing a scarf. I'm happy, as a blessed American, that I had a hand in all this. I just paid my taxes, so that means I helped to pay for this freedom we've brought to Baghdad. So? Will God bless me?

God bless all of you in this Easter Week as we begin the 6th year of Bush's War.

God help America. Please.
Michael Moore

Anything but fkn Politics

A prominent Feminist blog posts about the joys of Competitive Cheerleading.



No, it's not a joke. It's like important, and stuff. A girl, raised by veggies and yoga instructors, with a blue streak in her hair even, like wrote it. YAY Feminism! Gimme an F!

(and just so you know, I hate ALL teenage sports equally. I don't even want my son to play football, but his mom is convinced that he's going pro... I'd rather him study and learn than roll around in the dirt and glorify such inconsequential bullshit)

The Adrenaline post in honor of my upcoming nuptials...






I am soooo addicted to this song. 'Tube didn't have the Radiohead cover of Rhinestone cowboy. Too bad...




A poem for 5 years of hell

Life
They bruised my soul with a proverb,
They bruised my back with a rod,
And they bade me bow to my elders,
For that was the word of God.

They pent up my soul and bound me
Till life was a living death,
They struck the wine from my fingers,
The passion from my breath.

I reached my hands to living,
They hurled me back into school,
And they said, "Go learn your lessons,"
You innocent young fool."

They yowled till they woke the trumpets --
And the sword blade rent the plow,
And they said, "It is your duty"
"To die for your elders now.

"They cowered far from the battle
As I went into the strife,
And I spilled my guts in the trenches
In the red dawn of my life.

And the elders named me hero,
But more than their words and ire
Was the scent of a strange wild flower
There where I died in the mire.

Robert E. Howard


This one's for Angry-



okay, maybe a little politics... Neocons in Star Wars? of course they would be living on a planet that they made into a wasteland ...

God aborts the child of a sinner - Old skool God wasn't Pro-life.

And What's a Good Friday without a Pagan fertility rite? Procreate, Fornicate, Multiply. Do it with love. or at least a modicum of enthusiasm.

Perspective.

Maybe it's being on so many Republican's mass mail lists that allows me to keep the whole Hillary/Obama stuff in perspective... Unity. Get some.

Hillary or Obama would both be fine as President. And if they realize just how much they will owe to the American voter (who will elect the next President on Change and Ending the War) they will make strides to truly serve the American people. Especially if they desire that all-important second term in the White House.

Hillary or Obama is much better than McCain. Continuing to snipe irrationally at both of them for playing politics is a self-defeating endeavor. Slow your role, don't be chumps. Try not to act like a bunch of spastic chicken littles when your candidate of choice looks like they might lose. It's not the end of the world. Obama will not make slaves of all the white people. Hillary will not begin her Presidency by announcing WWIII. Don't fall prey to the Dan Abrams sniping at the Democratic candidates. Focus on the real problems and concentrate on asking YOUR candidate how they plan to address these issues. Don't fall prey to mindless bickering about Obama and Clinton- Rush Limbaugh is popping a viagra and beating off furiously with that big fat fucking smug grin on his dopey face over this shit. Let's not give him the satisfaction, okay?

But, as far as perspective goes- that's ALL Rush has to be happy over- the Dem on Dem violence. Seriously, the right wing is losing it's damn mind right now over its loss of prominence, respect, and power. 75% of the population realize that Republicans are simply full of shit hypocrites. The right wing has been burnt by their leaders. And they finally know it. Even the bushbots who forward all the misogynistic Hillary jokes and the racist Obama jokes are starting to taper off into nothingness. My in-box used to be full of that simple shit. Still the Republicans cling to the desperate notion that as bad as it has been that it would have been worse with a Democrat.

I don't know how.

They've got a President who couldn't protect them from terrorism, couldn't (or didn't want to) catch Osama Bin Ladin, lied them into war, completely screwed the pooch on Hurricane Katrina, who tripled their gas prices, who shot inflation into the sky, helped destroy what little healthcare they had, went on a radical government spending spree that makes me want to bring back Reagan and his $300 hammers and $500 toilet seats, sold out the EPA for corporate interests, helped expand NAFTA and outsource american jobs to other countries, cut benefits to our troops while pretending to support them, and has wiped his feet with our constitution with a system of government cronies that make Nixon's little helpers look like a phalanx of angels. They can't even whine about Global warming any more. Now all they can say about it is a weak splutter and some mumbling about "still haven't proved it's caused by man". Who the hell cares? Now that you admit it's there, dipshit- let's do something about it, mkay?

A Democrat couldn't have fucked up as bad and as consistently as Dubya, it's impossible. He's staying the course of sticking his head right up his ass . And no one, especially not the American people will tell him how, why or when to pull it out. He's the decider.

To put another Republican in office after the ALL THIS is pure retardation. The only thing worse than Der Shrubenfuhrer would be to continue this madness under McInsain. And even the Republican leadership understands this. They've got a candidate that they basically dislike. He's an idiot and a flip flopper. He has lost the christian coalition wingnuts And he STILL doesn't seem to know the difference between a Shia and Sunni. Not that it matters to the Republican voters in general, they don't know either. McCain doesn't even have a decent running mate who isn't hated just as much as he is. He'll basically have to bring up a second stringer who is an unknown. Face it, the Republicans are fucked.

They are so fucked, that the one Repub email I did receive this morning was a fricking Bob Hope clip. That's it?! Holy smoke, not even John Wayne or maybe a fake story about a soldier who beat up a hippie or shot an ay-rab for jesus? I got a clip of Bob Hope calling Democrats zombies....

wow.

How weak is that? It was entitled "Greatest Movie Line Ever." which shows the Republican talent for blowing miniscule bs completely out of proportion. This is all they can do right now, take their 80 year old asses and look for Bob Hope clips..? Fricking pathetic. Republicans don't believe in Evolution, they think the world is 6,000 years old. They are old dusty racist dinosaurs. They, in short, are the past. Every day another hundred or so of these old dumb bastards die off and America is that much better for it.

Bob Hope clips are the last gasp of the Republican party. It's really all they ever had, soundbite bluster, jingoistic flag-waving, and manly chest thumping bout War, dammit!

It's time to put this segment of uneducated hypocrites to bed for awhile. That means showing a little more tolerance. This means YOU SusanUnPc. This means YOU John Aravosis. This means everyone who has went off the deep end attacking our own side. Ranting about Republicans whose actions have hurt all Americans is fine. Ranting about how bad a Democrat - ANY Democrat at all- would be in the White House is just bullshit.

The Speech

It takes someone who is both white and black to be 100% credible to Americans when speaking like this. I can't say I've ever heard anything like this from a politician before. It was just ... truth. Unglossed and laid bare- just simple truth about the race divide and how to get past it. I know there are those of you who think he threw his grandma under the bus , and then there are those who think he threw Rev. Wright under the bus. I don't believe in moving towards the right, making concessions with those who have outright ruined so much in the past few years. But, when it comes to race, we can all stand to move a little closer together. This speech did that for me, and apparently quite a few others.

The Speech

Reactions:

at Ice Station Tango

at Crooks and Liars

Ornery Bastard

Yakety Yak

The Poor Man Institute

Morning Martini

It's hard to pick just one piece out of this very important and candid talk about race by Obama. Read the whole thing, please.

EXCERPT:
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

...and all I got was this lousy youtube...

Freida Bee has the intertube of the week - (below the Johnny Cash)

Shatner, Seventies, Scifi Awards show

They're still there, we're still here.

Polishifter posts about the antiwar protests at Huntington beach recently...
There's a lot of great pictures of patriotic Americans using their freedom to speak out.

How many more? lives, souls, dollars, years..?

And to those of you who have recently been championing Nader - A vote for Nader won't stop the war. It won't stop lives from being wasted in Iraq. The ONLY way to do that is to vote for whichever Democratic candidate ends up running for President and holding them to getting us out of Iraq. THIS ELECTION is it. War or No war? It's a simple enough choice to me.

Casting a larger shadow

Liberality tagged me with the Book Meme. The instructions for this meme are as follows:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

This book was on my nightstand, I am reading it for the second time. It's George R. R. Martin's A Clash of Kings, book two of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. I don't know why I'm re-reading this series, because I have thrown the last two books of the series across the room through various parts of the story... I don't know if he kills ALL of the main characters off in horrible ways in ALL of his books, but ... shit. These books are fricking depressing. He's got my attention though, if he'd just hurry up and finish the next book so he can kill off the final living member of the hero's family AND his family pet so I can quit hoping that somehow, someway this story manages to end up with a happy ending. Awesome books, but it's like: hell, if I wanted to see a neverending story where the bad guys win in the end I'd blog about politics or something...

"You are too kind, more wine?"
"No, no, truly I ... Oh, gods be damned, yes. Why not? A bold man drinks his fill!"

And the five people I tag are: Greg, Ryan, Everett Eugene, Bobby jr, and Lauren.

I sorta like the whole randomness of it, but chaos yields somewhat lackluster results. If I could have picked and chosen, I would have gone with this passage:

"Why are you so helpful, my lord Varys?" he asked, studying the man's soft hands, the bald powdered face, the slimy little smile.

"You are the Hand. I serve the realm, the king, and you."

"As you served Jon Arryn and Eddard Stark?"

"I served Lord Arryn and Lord Stark as best I could. I was saddened and horrified by their most untimely deaths."

"Think how I feel. I'm like to be next. "

"Oh, I think not," Varys said, swirling the wine in his cup. "Power is a curious thing, my lord. Perchance you have considered the riddle I posed you that day in the inn?"

"It has crossed my mind a time or two," Tyrion admitted. "The king, the priest, the rich man- who lives and who dies? Who will the swordsman obey? It's a riddle without an answer, or rather, too many answers. All depends on the man with the sword."

"And yet he is no one," Varys said. "He has neither crown nor gold nor favor of the gods, only a piece of pointed steel."

"That piece of steel is the power of life and death."

"Just so. . . yet if it is the swordsman who rule us in truth, why do we pretend our kings hold the power? Why should a strong man with a sword ever obey a child king like Joffrey, or a wine-sodden oaf like his father?"

"Because these child kings and drunken oafs can call other strong men, with other swords."

"Then these other swordsmen have the true power. Or do they? Whence came their swords? Why do they obey?" Varys smiled. "Some say knowledge is power. Some tell us that all power comes from the gods. Others say it derives from law. Yet that day on the steps of Baelor's Sept. our godly High Septon and the lawful Queen Regent and your ever-so-knowledgeable servant were as powerless as any cobbler or cooper in the crowd. Who truly killed Eddard Stark, do you think? Joffrey, who gave the command? Ser Ilyn Payne, who swung the sword? Or . . . another?"

Tyrion cocked his head sideways. "Did you mean to answer your damned riddle, or only to make my head hurt worse?"

Varys smiled. "Here, then. Power resides where men believe it resides. No more, and no less."

"So power is a mummer's trick?"

"A shadow on the wall," Varys murmured, "yet shadows can kill. And oftimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow."
...

And for those of you out there who may consider yourselves writers more than bloggers, you might relate to this : Don't Blog. Write.

For no particular reason

My Three Favorite Illustrators, no particular order...

click on the artist's names to go to their official sites



M.W.Kaluta


Charles Vess


Barry Windsor-Smith

I have this last print hanging in the entryway to my house. I own both volumes of Opus. I highly recommend them.

Damn its been a great Day!

Ahhh. And it's friday and it's payday. And while treating myself to lunch, fajitas ole, and a couple of Bud lights (Kiss my ass, diet!) I ran into a friend who informed me of a party for a friend who just got out of the military tonight. And since this is my last free weekend before the wedding, I am most definitely there.

FISA Fight Update - Whoda thunk?

from the Kos comments, by The Ice Cream Man:

I agree. In this case, Reid and Pelosi appear to have done something amazing. They have totally outmaneuvered the Republicans (plus Lieberman and Rockefeller and some of the "Blue Dogs"), and in order to do so, they had to endure some pretty harsh criticism from progressives. Given that criticism of them from the extreme Right is constant and heavy, they allowed themselves to be attacked from all sides while they quietly laid the groundwork to make it really hard for the Republicans (and DINOs) to give Bush what he wants. If they had said what they were doing, the Republicans might have been able to stop them somehow, but they went about their work, putting the long-term interests of the country ahead of their own short-term political interests.

In other words, they acted in a way that was exactly the opposite of how Republicans always act, putting their party's short-term political interests ahead of everything, including the interests, long-term and short-term of the USA. This is why we all worked and donated to get Congress back in the hands of Democrats, and why we're still working to elect "more and better Democrats" to Congress.

If Reid and Pelosi really planned this the way Kagro X suggests, then I am as impressed with them as I have ever been with poltical leaders. What an amazing series of moves! I personally take back the negative things I've said about them, because FISA is a really big one, and they are doing just the right things to keep the country safe while at the same time laying the groundwork for some major doses of the "best disinfectant" (sunlight) to be applied to some of the dirtier corners of Bush-Cheney malfeasance. With more and better Dems elected to Congress on Obama's coattails in November, we should see some major revelations in the first half of 2009.

Some part of me hopes Bush and Cheney will have to answer for some of their crimes, but I suspect they'll end up getting away with just about all of it without any punishment. But at least we'll have the chance to protect US citizens from the kinds of abuses that have taken place under Bush and Cheney, with the complicity of the rubber-stamp Republican-controlled Congresses.

And the market closed down, making all my inverse fund option spreads look very, very good.

Hope your friday was as good as mine... Tell me about YOUR good news of the day




have a loco weekend!

Zip! Pow! Bam! Socialism bad-

... unless you are a corporation facing insolvency....

Day Traders generally ain't worth a damn... Arrogant Gordon Gecko Young Republican wannabes, bragging about how much money they made on blah blah blah. No one knows market movements like those guys, though, (they've lost enough money in one minute's time to be fully aware of sudden spikes the wrong way).

Fly at IBankcoin.com cracks me up daily, along with his flytrap of faithful followers. He's always close to the target, but it's the nature of the daytrading mentality to secondguess themselves. While they are bobbing and weaving, trading jabs- investors are standing back, waiting for the time to unload the haymaker and call it a day. Reminds me of the old Dad and son bull joke...

"No, son, let's walk down, and fuck em all".

Fly's dead on with his assessment of today's news, though -

Wasn’t it nice to find out there is NO inflation, via today’s CPI data? According to the Fed, gasoline and commodity prices went LOWER. Ha.

Something tells me the g-men are trying to save a few bad dollars in social security payments, via juking the inflation data to appear benign.

Forget about what the idiots with pocket protectors say. We have run away inflation. Trade accordingly.

Apparently, (BSC: 32.48 -43.02%) is on the brink of insolvency. As you know, should the worthless assets of Bear Sterns be recognized for what they are (worthless), the world would slip into a black hole and be eaten by dinosaurs.

So, in order to prevent world destruction, the NY Fed, in their infinite wisdom, decided to save Bear Sterns. Very nice.

Let’s sum up the bullshit country we live in:

During the worst housing crisis in 100 years, we’ve learned, NO ONE is allowed to fail. Everyone is too big. From homebuilders to money centers to low-end brokerage houses to monoline insurers, if you need a little scratch, knock on the Governments door and they’ll help you out. This, as you know, is not capitalism. This is socialism heavy, not light, which is disgraceful.

However, none of my bickering or sharp spikes in interpersonal acts of violence will help anyone make money.

Here’s how I see it:

Fuck Dennis Gartman. Ride this sucker out. When I smell panic, there is bound to be some sort of shoe to drop. Just so you know, the Fed is panicking. If you’re the nervous type, hedge some of your downside plays, with a few longs. No big deal.

Inevitably, those betting on the downside will be right, as the recession deepens and little fuckers like Bear Sterns get washed out.

UPDATE: Watching Dubya (for moral and fiscal inspiration) on CNBC: Quotes as fast as I can type them:

"Interesting times ... Envy of the Free world ... ups and downs ... this is not the first time since I've been the President that we've faced economic challenges... corporate scandals and I have the difficult decision to confront the terrorists (lol)... resilient...flexible...Fortunately we recognized the slowdown early and took action... may sound incongruous (nailed it!) to you...robust... once I sign the bill, the signal's clear... tax rebates (bitches!)... buoy the consumer. (keep em bobbing in the ocean?) ... it's coming! Those checks ...second week of May... that's what the experts say (Bernanke, Paulson?)... I respect Ben Bernanke (heckuva job, Bernie!)... we also hold dear the notion that the Fed acts independently (snort!)... adding liquidity... some financial institutions... must repair their balance sheets (no sheet!)... make more credit available (max out, Amerka!)... promote stability... foreclosure disrupts community... temptation for people to limit the number of foreclosures is to put bad law into place... anything short of a massive intervention... deeply concerned about law- ... (hang on, picking myself off the floor... people in office staring)...

a couple of ideas I strongly reject... purpose of government ought to be to help the individuals... (ouch, couple of Bush corporate supporters just felt stabbing pains in their necks)... it sounds reasonable in a speech, I guess... market is in a process of correcting itself (to the bottom)... checks...second week of May... we want to help you refinance your notes!... 300, 000 families (and their mortgage lenders!)... walked across the street in Midland Texas and said I need a little help (Daddy!)... foreign country... hard to renegotiate the note... (no speaka da english)... industry wide standards ... (AAA ratings for all!)... whole purpose is to help people stay in their houses (and keep paying those mortgages!)... beginning to help, problem we have is, a lot of people aren't responding to letters send out... pay attention.... toll free numbers (wake up Amerka- we'll gladly ADJUST your finances to uh.. a better deal, yeah, thats it)... complete transparency... too complex... better confidence...strengthen oversight (oh noes!)... rough period... long term negative effects on the economy... without paying taxes (taxes is teh bad!)...
Congress... uncertainty...major source of uncertainty... (when is he going to mention terra again?)... if Congress doesn't act, capital gains will be taxed at a higher rate (oh the poor are worried about that!)... waste some of your money... Challenge congress to cut earmarks.. (Iraq is a biiiiiiiiggg earmark)... sent Congress a budget... priority... put those troops in harm's way... beyond that... non-security spending (all money for war) ... calm people's nerves (oh, THAT'S what he's doing?! My bad)... whether or not this country is confident enough to open markets overseas (China needs YOUR MONEY)... dangerous for this country to become isolationist ( I LUV Dubai!) ... made it clear... important agreement...national security... most Americans don't unnerstand... terrible signal... false populism.. (them, the people, bad)... work the issue hard... a confident nation accepts capital from overseas (keep buying our dollar, Please?!)... NAFTA has been good... best way to describe govt policy is like a car in a rough patch... its important not to over-correct... important to be steady... deal with the issues as we see em (yeehaw,bitches!)... respects- uh....

Uh-oh question and answer time... chuckles gonna wing him some. Expect laughs and lot of "uhs". Okay, got to stem the cerebral hemorrhaging... can't take it anymore.

Oh shit- "we got to figure out what the enemy is saying on their telephones" Christ on crutches, this bastard is full of shit.

Long term Goals

Just some thoughts on the current Primary situation-

I talked at length with one of my closest friends last night. Now, Greg is as Republican as I am liberal. I don't mean he is conservative, because his thoughts just don't run that deep. He's a good friend, but the guys a straight-up freeper and proud dittohead. Politics means more to him than policies. He is convinced that Liberals are the devil, he reads Coulter, and couldn't create an original thought if an attack on Iran depended on it. He's mainly just a computer geek and scion to a small fortune, so he's never really had to think much, anyway.

He chuckled as we discussed politics. "Don't you get what Rush is doing?" he asked.

"Well, yes," I replied, "he's playing the dems against each other to weaken Obama. But doesn't he realize that if Hillary gets the nomination, he might be facing his worst enemy?"

"Oh please!" I was told. "Obama is the threat, not Hillary. She's just doing our work for us right now and pissing off the undecideds at all Democrats."

"McCain?" I laughed- I know what the true Repubs think about McCain. "But he doesn't have a chance in hell against either of them!" I insisted.

"Sure, that's what you said about Bush in '04."

"But what do you Really think about McCain?"

"Oh" -long pause -"he sucks, but it doesn't matter. Every single Republican out there will vote for McCain, regardless, no matter what we say now. The "Terror" and the "liberal threat" talking point is going to get real big. You guys can't do anything in Congress that involves the war or terror, can you?"

But looking around, the divide and conquer strategy is working. The momentum is slowing, and the focus is being shattered. Meanwhile, supposedly Coulter is gearing up to release a movie about Hillary in spite of her loud claims of supporting Hillary over McCain.

Coulter (and Rush and the rest)would never give an ounce of support to Hillary if they believed it would actually result in her becoming President. When they recently threw their support behind Hillary in the primaries and in the media, it was just to keep the Dem race going closely.

As Greg brags, they are gaming America again. And, some progressives are helping them. The 2008 election isn’t the be all, end all for Hillary. In fact, it is my belief, that by standing down now and throwing her full support towards Obama and whoever he chooses as VP- it will yield PRICELESS results as far as 2012. Face it- in 2012 there will be MORE dems in Congress, and there will be a lot less of a burden to deal with as President.

Let Obama have ‘08. Bow out gracefully, and without expecting to be appointed as VP. Let Progressives come together to fight against our true enemy, as one, without any more of this divisive race. My candidate, Edwards, didn’t get there, and I’m sad, because I think he would have been the strongest candidate. But I’m not that worked up over it- there will be more chances for our candidates to have the presidency. Right now, Obama has the momentum, and for better or for worse- the high ground.

Let’s join, fight and Hillary can have her day in years to come, when the anti-Hillary fervor has abated a bit more. As someone mired in a red-state, I can tell you, Anti-Hillary bias is still at a fever pitch and will make the 08 race closer than it needs to be.

That's my long-er term plan. The bitch of it is, whoever ends up in the white house in 2008 has a HUGE row to hoe. I simply hope that whoever it is can end the farce of an occupation in Iraq and remove the radicalism of the Bush agenda from U.S. policy once and for all.

FRIST!'s Republican Leadership survey!

Take Bill Frist's VOLPAC "Republican Leadership Survey"


Because this man cares deeply...

The questions of course, are weighted to the Bushbot eleetz. And of course, no discussion questions, you know how the Repubs don't want to hear anything but their carefully selected talking point answers.

Sample Questions and the fristian results thus far :

So, Bush blowing too much money, Mexicans!, government having to collect more money to pay for Iraq, the dangers of improving Healthcare, the threat of addressing social issues, or Judges that don't favor corporations- Whatever could be the biggest Fear of Fristians?

Survey sez: MEXICANS! Closely followed by the horrors of attempting to fix social issues at home!

And, what do you believe that other Americans feel is the most important issue?

Hmm.. Apparently the economy didn't make the grade. Neither did healthcare, the environment, inflation, war, torture, America's global loss of prominence, the damage done to the military, corruption, or corporate outsourcing of American jobs. It looks like its neverending war, spying on Americans, Mexicans!, and ... Iran? Seriously? Bush just sold millions of dollars worth of state of the art missles to Saudi Arabia, the country behind 9-11 , and Frist is worried about Iran building a nuke to protect itself from Israel? Oy.

Survey sez: MEXICANS! Twice in One Survey! Odelay!

And, I guess even only 5% of Fristians think that Iran's nuclear program is of note. Hopefully Frist (and other Rethugs) will take note. And only 11% of bushbots think that the Surge needs more time. That's heartening, if nothing else.

I encourage you all to join up and become an iFrist volunteer and help steer Volpac back towards some true conservatism and away from the neocon-war profiteering path they've been stuck on, which has really hurt the Republicans. Help let them know what the American people really want. The best way to do that is from inside Volpac itself. Go forth and multiply, friends.

Going Down?

CAPITALISM THREAT RED!!
(Ooogah! Ooogah!)



Carlyle Group's Mortgage bond fund collapsing - someone besides me will blog it better, I'm sure...

Retail sales decline because of High gas prices...

Dollar falls below 100 Yen...

Olbermann rips Clinton, justifiably.
I would beseech her to give up for the sake of the party and, uh, the country- but Amerka, apparently, has teh spoken. They are lackwits and popularity-chasing buffoons, even among the Progressives, and they are playing right into the hands of an extremely weak Right wing. And that right wing may walk away with this election because of our power hungry candidate. Hillary defers gracefully and she might be receiving long term gains for 2012. But, you know, my fellow Americans can't see past next fucking week, so I don't expect anyone with the foresight greater than that of a housefly to prevail.

ACLU reports that we are one minute closer to Midnight

And once again- Corporate corruption and LACK of REGULATION makes America unsafer

Today's investment tip: Stock up on Salvia and Ammo Now!

And remember kids- it could be worse- at least the Zombie assault hasn't begun!

Opinions you should have

From the Dept. of What goes around, comes around:
Spitz, Don't swallow the bullshit

From the Dept. of Vortex of Unchanging Violence:
Blood in,Blood out

From the Dept. of It's about M-F-ing time:
A Judge with Balls

From the Dept. of Popular Amerka Sports Deities:

I'm a lot like you, Dad

From the Dept. of God's people doeth the funniest things:

Bathroom Art critics and Let there be light!

6 word memoir meme - Passed to me from Liberality ... Not sure if there are rules, if so, I ain't found em... My fate:

Children- the only immortality you'll possess




(for my Steel, my Amethyst, my Amber, my Mercury... and ... something new. I'm afraid minimalism is something I have in short supply)

A Tale of Two Headlines

Both under "Terrorism" on MSNBC this morning...

Judge: Detainee's abuse claim not believable

Bush vetoes bill banning Waterboarding

A judge ruled Friday that an Australian man's claim that he had been mistreated in custody in Pakistan before being sent to the U.S. prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay could not be believed.

President Bush said Saturday he vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding to break suspected terrorists because it would end practices that have prevented attacks.

Justice Peter McClellan of the New South Wales state Supreme Court ruled against Mamdouh Habib in the man's defamation suit against a Sydney newspaper, which Habib said had implied he lied about being tortured.

"The Bush administration continues to insist that CIA and other nonmilitary interrogators are not bound by the military rules and has reportedly given CIA interrogators the green light to use a range of so-called 'enhanced' interrogation techniques, including prolonged sleep deprivation, painful stress positions, and exposure to extreme cold," Daskal said. "Although waterboarding is not currently approved for use by the CIA, Attorney General Michael Mukasey has refused to take it off the table for the future."

"I am satisfied that Mr. Habib's claims that he was seriously mistreated in the place of detention in Islamabad cannot be accepted," McClellan said.

The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror," Bush said in his weekly radio address taped for broadcast Saturday. "So today I vetoed it," Bush said.

He said Habib was "prone to exaggerate," "evasive" and had made claims about mistreatment in Pakistan and Egypt which could not be sustained.

Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch, said Bush "will go down in history as the torture president" for defying Congress and allowing the CIA to use interrogation techniques "that any reasonable observer would call torture."

Habib, an Egyptian-born immigrant, was arrested in Pakistan in late 2001. He says he was held there for 28 days and was interrogated by Americans before being transferred to Egypt, where he alleged he was beaten, shocked with electricity and nearly drowned while under interrogation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Bush often warns against ignoring the advice of U.S. commanders on the ground in Iraq. Yet the president has rejected the Army Field Manual, which recognizes that harsh interrogation tactics elicit unreliable information, said Reid, D-Nev.

The intelligence bill would limit CIA interrogators to the 19 techniques allowed for use by military questioners. The Army field manual in 2006 banned using methods such as waterboarding or sensory deprivation on uncooperative prisoners.

The military specifically prohibited waterboarding in 2006. The CIA also prohibited the practice in 2006 ... But the administration has refused to rule definitively on whether it is torture. Bush has said many times that his administration does not torture.

After six months, he was sent to the U.S. military base at Bagram, Afghanistan and then Guantanamo Bay. He was returned to Australia in January 2005.

Australian judges continue to believe that George Bush's policies haven't been resulting in kidnapping and torturing their citizens. I guess Australia believes that if the U.S. eventually releases their citizens after torturing them it's okay. The U.S. government decided that Habib was innocent after all.

Fortunately for Canadian citizens, their judicial system isn't so trusting of countries who want to torture their people.

The acclaimed Army officer who literally wrote the book on counterinsurgency weighs in on 24, its impact on the U.S. military’s view of torture, and the implications for the fight against terrorism: Torture is NOT ACCEPTABLE (from Foreign Policy.com)

Why Torture doesn't work (also from Foreign Policy.com)

UPDATE: I noticed that Frederick has been on fire lately, check his blog out...

UPDATE 2: Funny shit of the day : Whiny Cops -More Proof that the Internet has EVERYTHING. This site is for cops to whine about other cops giving them tickets and not letting them slide "for the brotherhood". It's fucking hilarious to see our "Proud men in blue" nominating their fellow officers for Dick of the Month. The whole point of the website seems to be that cops think they should only treat citizens like shit, not each other. The indignant cop who put this site up might get a little more respect from me if it was just a site for anyone to bitch about the poor common sense of traffic officers. But the attitude that Cops should get favorable treatment when breaking the law is just bullshit.