From Holden: In today’s gaggle, on a day that saw the Dow tumble 191 points, following a month-long period in which the Dow has lost 500 points, Little Scottie said the following in his opening statement: And the economy is seeing strong and sustained growth because of the action [tax cuts for the super-rich] that we took, as well. On the Social Security front the Bush assministration is still playing their little game of pretending to give ground in order to entice one of the slower Democrats (*cough* Lieberman *cough*) into a compromise. Q Scott, how serious is this idea … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Chimpy took his Social Security demolition derby to Ohio today, where he once again denied that Treasury Bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America It’s a pay-as-you-go system, by the way. That means, when the money goes in, it comes right out. It’s not a trust. [And later.. ] By the way, I went to West Virginia the other day and saw the asset base of the so-called Social Security trust: You know what, it was about four or five file cabinets full of paper. (Laughter.) It was the IOU … Continue reading Baboon-a-palooza: Mega-Lying In Ohio

From Holden: Read Helen’s latest, a discussion of JimmyJeff, journalism and bloggers, here. Continue reading Helen Thomas

From Holden: Both the president and vice president released their 2004 federal income tax information today. Let’s see how much richer the rich became last year. President and Mrs. Bush reported taxable income of $672,788 and paid $207,307 in federal income taxes, or 30.8% of their taxable income. They contributed $77,785 to charity, or 10.3% of their income before the charitable contributions are deducted. And the Cheneys? They reported taxable income of $1,328,678, on which they paid federal taxes of $393,518 (a 29.6% rate). So, despite reporting taxable income that was double what the Bushes earned, the Cheney’s managed to … Continue reading Tax Day At The White House

From Holden: Who is that getting a handjob from Jenna Bush at the Washington Nationals’ game yesterday? Looks like Laura, clutching the back of her neck, should have brought an umbrella. Continue reading Hey…

From Holden: Our friends at FreewayBlogger got their hands on an interesting domain name: http://www.abstinenceonly.com. Give it a try, I promise you won’t go blind. Continue reading Have You Tried Faith Fucking?

From Holden: On the deteriating relationship between Tom DeLay and the Chimpster, I give you… Bush Mouthpiece Little Scottie McClellan, on Monday: Q Have you been tracking these ethics allegations against Tom DeLay? Do you think he has some explaining to do, or as Congressman Shays says, should he step aside? MR. McCLELLAN: I think you’ve heard from the President, what he has said on the matter, that Majority Leader DeLay is someone the President considers a friend, and he is someone that he has worked closely with to get things done in Washington. And the President looks forward to … Continue reading Thank You For Being A Friend

From Holden: A la Froomkin, we learn that the women of planet Earth think Chimpy ain’t all that. In a recent online poll conducted by Esquire magazine, 11,000 women in 15 countries were asked to rate Bush’s sex appeal on a scale of one to 10, and America’s commander-in-chief failed to register much more than a two. Continue reading Putting Him Somewhere Between Jesse Helms and Dennis Hastert on the Sexpot Scale

From Holden: Looks like My Bush Boom is in a persistent vegetative state, as consumer confidence falls at a rate 354% greater than analysts had anticipated . U.S. consumers felt less secure in the economy‘s strength in April as gasoline prices soared, reinforcing nascent concerns that growth in the United States may be on the brink of a slowdown. The University of Michigan said its measure of confidence slid to 88.7 so far this month from 92.6 in March, according to market sources who saw the subscription-only report. Analysts had forecast a more modest dip to 91.5. At the heart … Continue reading Randall Terry: My Bush Boom Needs You

A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging

From Holden: MoJo Blog leads us to the cost, so far, of Chimpy’s push to demolish Social Security. The Bush administration has spent millions of dollars in the past two months on its campaign to overhaul Social Security, narrowly skirting laws that prohibit spending of taxpayer funds to indirectly lobby Congress. Mother also informs us that firecrackers are now considered to be Weapons of Mass Destruction by the Department of Justice, casting a new light on young George Jr.’s frog-exploding antics. Continue reading Respect Your Mother

From Holden: Following the leadership of Senator Robert Byrd, the Senate voted 98-0 yesterday to attach an amendment to the “emergency” endless war funding bill that would ban the use of taxpayer dollars for the creation of video press releases disguised as news. In a related story, Fox News, the American Spectator, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, and the National Review simultaneously announced massive lay-offs today. Continue reading Senate Bans Chimpy’s Propaganda

From Holden: Non-citizens are avoiding U.S. military service in droves. The number of foreign nationals enlisting in the U.S. military is dropping, even though service now provides a fast track to American citizenship, an Associated Press review of military data shows. The decrease in non-citizen enlistees, who hail from countries such as the Philippines, Mexico, Nigeria and Germany, has hit all branches of the armed services, which already are struggling with recruitment as the U.S. presence in Iraq enters year three. While U.S. citizen enlistments also have fallen, the drop is more pronounced among non-citizens – legal immigrants the military … Continue reading Fodder Watch

From Holden: Here’s yet another damaging story about John Bolton in today’s WaPo. In 2003, John R. Bolton, President Bush’s choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, ordered a young official working closely with then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell removed from duties in the State Department’s nonproliferation bureau in what U.S. officials described as a third attempt by Bolton to purge career officials he perceived as impeding his policy goals. The officials, who would discuss the incident only on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss it, said Rexon Ryu, an expert on nonproliferation … Continue reading Chafee or Hagel – Who Will Step Up?

From Holden: Senate Majority Leader/Videotape Diagnostician Bill Frist lashes himself to the Christofascists. As the Senate heads toward a showdown over the rules governing judicial confirmations, Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, has agreed to join a handful of prominent Christian conservatives in a telecast portraying Democrats as “against people of faith” for blocking President Bush’s nominees. Fliers for the telecast, organized by the Family Research Council and scheduled to originate at a Kentucky megachurch the evening of April 24, call the day “Justice Sunday” and depict a young man holding a Bible in one hand and a gavel in … Continue reading Jesus H. Frist

From Holden: Or more precisely, your president takes a few questions from the nation’s newspaper editors. On Armstrong Williams, the investigation he is currently stonewalling. Q Thank you, Mr. President. We’re all aware of the press issues with Armstrong Williams and the video news releases and using government funds to promote true media in journalism — positions that you feel you need to get out. Is that consistent with your values and your First Amendment beliefs? And do you think that’s deceptive to the American people? THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it’s deceptive to the American people if it’s not disclosed. And … Continue reading Your President Speaks

From Holden: Today’s installment of Obsession is liable to be long. The press corps batted Little Scottie around like a tennis ball over whether or not it’s time for Chimpy to move past the “public education” phase of his plan to destroy Social Security and actually put some specifics before congress. Scottie tried to serpentine but the press corps was persistent, noticeably pissing him off. I’ll try to relay as much as possible without losing the sense of what I thought was a pretty good gaggle. On Scottie quote from his opening monlogue that you should keep in mind for … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: I’ve been obsessed with my buddy Les Kinsolving for some time now, and I’m not about to stop. In today’s gaggle Les (whose only source of information seems to be the Moonie Times) was upset about his vigilante friends and an eight-year-old dispute over an intercepted cell phone call. Q Scott, in an interview with The Washington Times yesterday, House Majority Leader DeLay, when asked about the President’s description of border minutemen as vigilantes, DeLay said, I’m not sure the President meant that. I think they’re providing an excellent service. And my first question, does the President still … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with Les

Okay, stick this in your frame. Democratic governor of Wisconsin says he doesn’t want stray cats shot: Gov. Jim Doyle said he does not expect Wisconsin to legalize the shooting of feral cats, and he personally opposes the idea. The controversy over the idea is hurting the state’s image, he said. Republican Bill Frist, on the other hand, likes to cut cats open. Please don’t kill me. Be a Democrat! They’re for kitties! A. Continue reading Democrats (Heart) Kitties!

I get weekly emails from Facing South, a progressive news organization, run by the Institute for Southern Studies. This is from the email I got today: INSTITUTE INDEX – Missing Tax Dollars Percent that state income tax collected from corporations has dropped since 1989: 40 Amount of federal revenue lost yearly due to corporate offshore tax havens: $255 billion Amount lost from corporations underreporting their income: $30 billion Of 275 largest corporations, number that didn’t pay any taxes at least on year between 2001 and 2003: 82 Amount of spending the Pentagon admits it cannot account for: $2.3 trillion Amount … Continue reading This is the Way We All Fund Walmart

From Holden: …the GAO dings the Dept. of Defense for failing to do so. The agency found the Defense Department spent more than $60 billion supplying troops with 2 million tons of equipment, spare parts and other items before, during and after major combat operations in Iraq from October 2002 to September 2004. “Despite these expenditures, there have been widespread reports of serious shortages of critical items needed by U.S. troops,” the report (GAO-05-275) stated. Specifically, GAO cited shortages of batteries, tires, vehicle track shoes, body armor, meals ready to eat (MREs), Humvees with extra armor, and add-on armor kits … Continue reading Support Our Troops

Hit him with the chair! A. Continue reading Happy Democrat Photo: Christopher Dodd Edition

From Holden: Geeze, you must be thinking, Holden links to this Froomkin guy everyday. Sorry, but I think I’m developing another obsession. Ususally Dan Froomkin’s WaPo column is extremely bloggy, composed of a series of excerpts and links to news articles about the executive branch. But today Dan dabbled in some first-hand reporting as he telephoned two members of the Families of the Fallen™. One of the subjects was allowed to meet with Chimpy at Ft. Hood Tuesday, the other was not. “I just told him it was very wrong,” one of the widows, Linnie Blankenbecler, 47, told me yesterday. … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with Dan Froomkin

People wonder why I get so riled about threats to journalists, jokes about killing journalists, blanket statements that all journalists are worthless. You know why I get riled? Because of things like this: MEXICO CITY — Three muckraking journalists have been assaulted or gone missing this month, with at least one of them slain, in a sign that investigating corruption remains a dangerous trade in Mexico. The attacks appear to be an effort by organized crime to silence the media so that “no one knows anything,” Deputy Atty. Gen. Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos said Saturday. The latest victim was prizewinning … Continue reading Something Else For Ass Missile and Little Penis to Joke About

From Holden: Arizona Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe urges Chimpy to start explaining, specifically, what he proposes to do to make Social Security solvent. The president met with House GOP members to talk about Social Security, part of an ongoing series of discussions. Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., said he told Bush ”the time has come where we’ve got to start to put some specifics out there about how we’re going to fix the solvency of it.” But Kolbe said Bush might not be prepared to do that, yet. ”He does understand that at some point we have to start talking about … Continue reading What’s the Plan, Stan?

From Holden: The longer, the better. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday postponed until Tuesday the vote on John R. Bolton’s nomination as US ambassador to the United Nations amid continued controversy over Bolton’s suitability for the post. [snip] The delay in the vote gives Democrats more time to find evidence that might persuade Senator Lincoln Chafee, Republican of Rhode Island, to vote against Bolton. Chafee, whose vote could defeat the nomination, said after Tuesday’s hearing that he was still listening to the evidence, but that he had not yet seen a pattern of so-called abuse serious enough to merit … Continue reading Bolton Vote Postponed

From Holden: OK, so that’s a failed attempt to link John Prine to My Bush Boom. It’s Thursday and that means it’s time once again to look at the weekly new jobless numbers. You’re going to read headlines like this today: New Jobless Claims Fall By 10,000 to 330,000. That means that last week the Labor Department reported 340,000 new jobless claims, right? Wrong, last week they reported 334,000 new claims. This week they revised that number, adding 6,000 new claims. The previous week they added 3,000 claims to the number originally reported for the prior week (350,000 was the … Continue reading Mama, Won’t You Take Me Back To Bush Boom County

From Holden: This is unbefuckingleiveable! The Pentagon is laying-off 70 Florida National Guardsmen currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan in a cost-cutting measure (made necessary by Chimpy’s endless wars) that will end a successful drug interdiction/port security project. If the Guardsmen had been working for a private employer their firing would be illegal. But since they are working for the federal government, anything goes. Amid the chaos of war, Sgt. Roberto Orozco and about 35 other members of the Florida National Guard sent to Iraq relied on what they knew for certain: their military training, the love of their families … Continue reading Pentagon Fails to Suppor Our Troops

From Holden: The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) comptroller-general tells congress that the Pentagon can’t account for some of your tax dollars spent on Chimpy’s endless wars. The US Defence Department is unable to track how it spent tens of millions of dollars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the US war on terrorism, the US Congress’s top investigator has said. The department “doesn’t have a system to be able to determine with any degree of reliability and specificity how we spent” tens of millions in war-related emergency funds set aside by Congress, comptroller-general David Walker told a Senate Armed Services … Continue reading Follow the Money

From Holden: The U.S. Artist General sent me this Bushflash video on the 14 signs of Fascism. Continue reading Are We There Yet?