Month: November 2007

Uncategorized5 Comments

Homeland Security program using Firefighters to spy on citizens

FromGovExec.com: WASHINGTON (AP) — Firefighters in major cities are being trained to take on a new role as lookouts for terrorism, raising concerns of eroding their standing as American icons and infringing on people’s privacy. Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel don’t need warrants to access hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, putting them in a position to spot behavior that could indicate terrorist activity or planning. But there are fears that they could lose the faith of a skeptical public by becoming the eyes of the government, looking for suspicious items such as building blueprints … Continue reading Homeland Security program using Firefighters to spy on citizens

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood

C Ray Not Vote

Oh Man… New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin recently pronounced himself “disgusted” with apathy among city residents, saying it was “unacceptable” that only about a quarter of registered voters bothered to cast a ballot in the Oct. 20 primary. Turns out the mayor himself has skipped a few elections, according to state records. Nagin didn’t cast a vote in the October primary, or in two previous citywide elections in March and May, according to Secretary of State Jay Dardenne’s office. SNIP “It was kind of offensive to me, because here I am bustin’ my butt every day and all I’m asking … Continue reading C Ray Not Vote

Political Crack7 Comments

Mother Nature Cleans Up After Israeli War Criminals

Thanksmom. The season’s first hailstorm Tuesday was a blessing in disguise for cluster bomb-infested parts of southern Lebanon, triggering blasts from previously unexploded bomblets. No injuries were reported. After a long dry spell across Lebanon, hailstones as big as walnuts hit villages and struck undiscovered bomblets scattered across the landscape, the state-run National News Agency reported. Dalya Farran, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center (MACC), confirmed that many cluster bombs exploded when they were hit by hailstones in villages near the town of Marjayoun. More than 30 people have been killed by cluster bombs in southern … Continue reading Mother Nature Cleans Up After Israeli War Criminals

Holden's Obsession with the Gaggle3 Comments

Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle

Helen Thomas Kicks Dana Peroxide’s Narrrow Ass

Q How many billions have we spent already for the Defense Department?

MS. PERINO: The Defense Department says that they need this funding in order to keep the war running, as well as to keep these civilians –

Q Maybe they don’t want the war to keep running.

MS. PERINO: Well, I think that that has been —

Q The country doesn’t want it —

MS. PERINO: I think that Americans have seen what our troops have been able to do this year, in trying — is starting to turn things around in Iraq. We’ve got a long way to go, but they have started to make some significant gains, and to pull the rug out from under them now seems to be — seems irresponsible.

Q To keep killing you mean.

MS. PERINO: Helen, every — the security situation in Baghdad is vastly improved, because of what our troops have been able to do, working alongside of the Iraqis. I can’t imagine that they would not want to fund these troops before they go home for Christmas. They have gone to Iraq, many members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, have gone to Iraq. They’ve seen for themselves what’s happening on the ground there. They’ve had briefings from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. They are working very hard to make sure that they — these trends that we’re starting to see can actually take hold and be cemented, and so that they can continue the progress —

Q More people are dying every day in Iraq.

MS. PERINO: There’s no doubt that there continues to be violence. But we do know that because of what we have been able to put in place as the result of the surge, we have less death, less violence, and we have some of troops starting to come home.

Continue reading “Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle”

Stupid Republican Tricks11 Comments

Embarrassment Squick

Via the Crack Den, for the love of the baby Jesus on the Thanksgiving holiday: Leave aside the cliches about Hillary Clinton. It is true that Republicans are willing — and have been willing for some time — to aggressively and unapologetically pursue policies even when they are unpopular. They know how to read polls as well as anyone else. They knew that most Americans were vigorously opposed to Clinton’s impeachment, but they pursued it to the bitter end anyway. And they know that the Iraq War is deeply unpopular with Americans, and that George Bush is even more unpopular, … Continue reading Embarrassment Squick

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood3 Comments

Hilarious

From theTimes Picayune: Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., one-time chairman of the Republican National Committee, [and present co-chair of Commission on Presidential Debates] brushed aside speculation that Republicans vetoed New Orleans as a presidential debate backdrop for fear that the Bush administration’s hapless response to Hurricane Katrina would reflect poorly on them. “That’s stupid,” Fahrenkopf said. “This isn’t a bunch of fly-by-night politicians making these decisions. We don’t play games.” Ahh that from the president and CEO of theAmerican Gaming Association. But I don’t think people suspect that Fahrenkopf was playing games as much as making deals. Continue reading Hilarious

Political Crack4 Comments

Column: Bookwhoring

Bookity: The lessons this place has to teach have a hungry audience in journalism today. The rapacious demand for more and more profits, for the news to serve not the public but investors, has had a disastrous effect on American newspapers. Six-paper cities have become one-paper cities, afternoon dailies have moved into morning, big papers become smaller and smaller, bargaining that if they aren’t giving people what they need, giving them less should fix that problem. More dangerous, national political reporting turns presidential elections into unholy hybrids of beauty contests and game shows, and wars into soundtracked soap operas. The … Continue reading Column: Bookwhoring

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood6 Comments

Times Picayune Blasts Presidential Commission on Debates

FromTP: Editorial: A shameful rebuff How naive of New Orleanians to think that a sense of justice and site logistics — not politics — would determine the locations for next year’s presidential debates. What else but politics explains the indefensible decision by the Commission on Presidential Debates to leave New Orleans out? The commission’s official line is that the city, recovering from Hurricane Katrina, is not ready to host such an important event. That’s what commission Co-chair Paul Kirk told Anne Milling, founder of Women of the Storm, which together with four local universities sponsored New Orleans’ proposal. “Politics trumped … Continue reading Times Picayune Blasts Presidential Commission on Debates

War in Iraq2 Comments

Rebuilding the Palace

The long haul: The compound, which will be completed by late fall, is the largest and most expensive embassy in the world, a walled expanse the size of Vatican City, containing 21 reinforced buildings on a 104-acre site along the Tigris River, enclosed within an extension of the Green Zone which stretches toward the airport road. The new embassy cost $600 million to build, and is expected to cost another $1.2 billion a year to run—a high price even by the profligate standards of the war in Iraq. [snip] The new embassy has tennis courts, a landscaped swimming pool, a … Continue reading Rebuilding the Palace

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood16 Comments

New Orleans Rejected for Presidential Debate…told not ready

If the NBA and NCAA think NOLA is ready you have to wonder…Who’s really not ready here? A national commission today rejected New Orleans’ bid to host a 2008 presidential debate, deciding that the city was not sufficiently recovered from Hurricane Katrina to handle such an important event. The commission’s position contrasts with the NBA and the NCAA, which are both holding their premier events in New Orleans early next year. The city will play host to the college football championship in January and the NBA All-Star game in February. Anne Milling, founder of Women of the Storm, said she … Continue reading New Orleans Rejected for Presidential Debate…told not ready

War in Iraq1 Comment

US Embassy, Baghdad

B-b-but, people inBaghdad are beginning to exhale! </NYTimes> In Baghdad the mortar fire is growing more accurate and intense. After 30 mortar shells hit the Green Zone one afternoon last July, an American diplomat reported that his colleagues were growing angry about being “recklessly exposed to danger”—as if the war should have come with warning labels. At least the swimming pool has been placed off limits. Embassy staff are required to wear flak jackets and helmets when walking between buildings, or when occupying those that have not been fortified. On the rare occasion when they want to venture a short … Continue reading US Embassy, Baghdad

Political Crack3 Comments

Heckuva Job, Condi!

Are theadults still in charge? WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has told dozens of nations and organizations to expect invitations to a U.S.-sponsored conference launching new Mideast peace talks, the State Department said Tuesday. A week before the session is expected to begin in Annapolis, Md., the United States has not laid out an agenda, or publicly said when the meeting will take place and exactly who will attend. Continue reading Heckuva Job, Condi!

Uncategorized12 Comments

Malkin proves once again to be a Hack

Malkin hacks out another post. This time it involves New Orleans beingrejected as a site for a presidential debate. What bothers me is that on one level Malkin doesn’t now what she is talking about and on another level won’t admit what a teenager could figure out…New Orleans would be the last city in America that a Republican would want to have stand in, to debate and defend Republican domestic policy. Malkin claims that NOLA Democrats are “really really mad,” ignoring the non partisan groan and anger coming out of New Orleanians upon realizing the negative impact of the national … Continue reading Malkin proves once again to be a Hack

War in Afghanistan1 Comment

Fucking Up The “Good War”

War profiteering come first. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. spending on aid work in Afghanistan is only a fraction of what the American military spends, and too much of the aid money pays the high salaries of expatriate employees, an international aid agency said Tuesday. [snip] Though the government aid arm U.S. Agency for International Development has spent more than $4.4 billion in Afghanistan since 2002, the British-based aid agency Oxfam said that figure is dwarfed by U.S. military spending here — some $35 billion in 2007 alone. “As in Iraq, too much aid is absorbed by profits of companies … Continue reading Fucking Up The “Good War”

Happy Democrat Photo8 Comments

Happy Dodd Photo: Suck It, Laura Edition

Oh noes! He spoke Teh Spanglish! My world, it is destroyed! Does anybody else remember back when we were kids, and the ice caps melted and the woolly mammoths moved out, and having life skills like, say, speaking another language was viewed as an advantage to making one’s way in the world? Of all the aggressive stupid on the wingnut end this one makes me the craziest, mostly because it’s obviously part and parcel of their whole “Teh Brainmeats, They Scarez Me”thing. I have a total tin ear for languages. Can practice myself into familiarity with one, but if I … Continue reading Happy Dodd Photo: Suck It, Laura Edition

Geek Cred6 Comments

Fundraising Ends: Thank You All

I think everybody who kicked in to the drive should have received an e-mail from me, but I want to say this to everybody everybody anyway, because it’s important: Thank you all for supporting this blog. It means a lot to know that what we’re doing here matters to you. Thanks to you we’re going to be able to do some good things this year. You rock the house. Have a speech, best shouted drunkenly to the tops of skyscrapers in an unfamiliar city but not bad at all here either: A. Continue reading Fundraising Ends: Thank You All

Pony, Bitches!1 Comment

Pony Up!

It’s like clockwork. Just when theWaPo andUS News decide Chimpy is primed for a comebackGallup comes out with a new poll showing we still hate him as much as we ever have. Bush’s job approval ratings have shown little change in the past two months — 32% of Americans now say they approve of the job he is doing as president and 61% disapprove. Over the course of the year, Bush’s approval ratings have been fairly stable, averaging 34% and fluctuating between a high of 38% in April and his administration’s low point of 29% in July. [snip] Bush’s approval … Continue reading Pony Up!

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood4 Comments

A noun, a verb and 8/29

Kos has his firstNewsweek piece up and argues Democrats should make the Bush record the issue. Somewhat prominent in the piece is the Gulf Coast recovery as one example of how poorly the government has worked under Bush and the Republicans. As Kos writes…“And when you elect people who believe that government won’t work, you shouldn’t be surprised when government stops working.” Kos writes that absent amnesia by the electorate the…“Democrats will win in 2008. As long as Democratic candidates remind voters that the Republican platform and Bush’s record are one and the same, victory will be assured.” I would … Continue reading A noun, a verb and 8/29

Economy4 Comments

Looooooooser!

To be honest, Chimpy’s status as a loser has little to do with ehtanol. Ethanol Bust Makes Loser of Bush, Gates, Archer Daniels Midland Ethanol, the centerpiece of President George W. Bush’s plan to wean the U.S. from oil, is 2007’s worst energy investment. The corn-based fuel tumbled 57 percent from last year’s record of $4.33 a gallon and drove crop prices to a 10-year high. Production in the U.S. tripled after Morgan Stanley, hedge fund firm D.E. Shaw & Co. and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla helped finance a building boom. Even worse for investors and the Bush administration, energy … Continue reading Looooooooser!

LOL6 Comments

Saturday Afternoon Fun

Oh, man: How to Get Rejected: 1. Name your fictional city “Vamperia.” 2. End your title with “…of Destiny/Fate.” 3. “I’d like you to read my 400,000 word novel…” 4. “Here are the first three chapters, each of which is 80 pages long…” 5. Assert that there are NO young adult books with strong female leads, and yours will be the first. 6. Describe your thriller’s token female sidekick/love interest as “smarty and feisty BUT attractive.” I have read that story. Many, many times. I think I WROTE that story, too, once upon a time. When I was submitting this … Continue reading Saturday Afternoon Fun

Faith6 Comments

There May Yet Be Hope For You

Robert: That is the burden of a lonely heart, of a heart you carry on your own and keep closed to every other human heart. That will lead you to stand on the thin ice and lure your tormenter there, and then stand tormented about what you really want to do: save him? or watch him suffer? That is what faith outside a community leads you to. But is faith inside a community any easier? No. No, it is not easy at all. But it is faithfulness, to carry the burden of others as well as the burden of yourself. … Continue reading There May Yet Be Hope For You

Uncategorized3 Comments

Townsend Resigns

NYT: WASHINGTON (AP) — Fran Townsend, President Bush’s top White House-based adviser on terrorism and homeland security, has resigned, it was announced Monday. It was Townsend who was in charge of the White House’s Lessons Learned study on Katrina. And it was Townsendwho said of Bush’s role in the Katrina response… “I reject outright any suggestion that President Bush was anything less than fully involved.” Continue reading Townsend Resigns

War in Iraq3 Comments

Your Monday Morning Progress Report

Better off under Saddam. Despite the fact that Iraq and U.S. officials have made water projects among their top priorities, the percentage of Iraqis without access to decent water supplies has risen from 50 percent to 70 percent since the start of the U.S.-led war, according to an analysis by Oxfam International last summer. The portion of Iraqis lacking decent sanitation was even worse — 80 percent. [snip] Electricity, which is needed to power pumps, continues to be unreliable in many parts of Iraq, causing some taps to go dry because pumping stations and water treatment plants can’t operate. In … Continue reading Your Monday Morning Progress Report

Holden's Obsession with the Gaggle

Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle

Dana Peroxide Takes A Shot At Fran Townsend Q On Fran Townsend, when did she tell the President, or when was he informed that she was leaving? MS. PERINO: They’ve had conversations over the past several months. Obviously none of us would have wanted Fran to leave service. I think all of us felt safe because of her work.Of course she always says we are safer, but not yet safe.[emphasis added] No Deadlines For Anyone Other Than Saddam Q Dana, back on Pakistan. Does the President have any time frame in mind? How long is he willing to allow this … Continue reading Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle

War in Iraq

“An Incident”

That’s whatthey called it. SAMAWA – The provincial governor of Muthanna province accused U.S. troops of opening fire on civilian cars south of Baghdad, wounding six people, and threatened to suspend ties with U.S. officials over the attack. A U.S. statement said that a U.S. military convoy was involved in “an incident” that resulted in the death of two Iraqis and wounded four more, but gave no additional details. Continue reading “An Incident”