"Reds" Ready To Gut Social Security

Congressional Republicans Agree To Launch Social Security Campaign (washingtonpost.com): "The congressional Republicans' confidential plan was developed with the advice of pollsters, marketing experts and communication consultants, and was provided to The Washington Post by a Republican official."

What? No actuaries, economists or investment advisor types. One would think their goal was simply to gut Social Security, not to save it.

Ah, well, Gentle Reader, you know Pudentilla's motto: Let him find Saddam's WMD before he puts his filthy mits on our retirement security.

Great, So Can The Soldiers Come Home Now?

Boston.com / News / World / Middle East / Bush calls vote 'resounding success' for democracy: "President Bush congratulated Iraqis yesterday on what he called the ''resounding success' of their election, and signaled that he saw the vote as a victory for his larger vision of bringing democracy to the Arab world."

And if not, why not?

''A vibrant democracy is not going to emerge in Iraq in the next four years," he said. ''I don't think that just because people went to the polls, we should forget about all that has happened." (Ivo Daalder, Brookings Institution)

We are very happy that only 44 people were killed and 171 injured as millions of Iraqis showed the courage to vote for lists of candidates (without knowing the identity of members of that list) for a constitutional convention that will have to find ways to include the political perspective of Sunnis (who didn't vote) in ways not contemplated by any of the "authorizing documents" defining the constitutional convention. via James Wolcott we find Robert Fisk of the Independent's rather trenchant description of those elected in this desperate farce:

They have no control over their oil, no authority over the streets of Baghdad, let alone the rest of the country, no workable army or loyal police force. Their only power is that of the American military and its 150,000 soldiers whom we could see at the main Baghdad intersections yesterday.

We are just hesitant to call this exercise democracy. Although after Ohio and Florida, we wish to avoid the assumption that Americans have any business telling anyone what democracy should look like.

The Suburban Guerrilla provides some chilling historical perspective.

Rummy Supports Screws The Troops Again


Don't you think in an $80 billion dollar budget request they could spare the change so these wounded soldiers could get a meal? No. That would probably put the tax cuts for those who earn more than $200K/ year at risk.

Watch Rush and the freepers accuse these kids of greediness and treason for talking to the reporters.

When will we find the courage and the means to horsewhip these hypocrites from one end of Washington to the other, then tar and feather them, then ride them out of town on a rail? When they die we should dig up their bones and throw them into the sea beyond our national borders - of course that ancient Athenian response to such treachery (and what else might we call charging our injured soldiers for their meals) would entail a horrible act of pollution.

Salon.com News | Insult to injury: "The last thing a wounded soldier needs to worry about is where the next meal is coming from. But for hundreds of Walter Reed patients, that's a real concern. Starting this month, the Army has started making some wounded soldiers pay for the food they eat at the hospital. [--snip--]

Now outpatient soldiers there longer than 90 days pay for meals in cash. Although Walter Reed did not disclose the exact number of soldiers affected, the policy is most likely to affect at least the estimated 600 soldiers getting long-term outpatient care at the hospital in what the Army calls "medical hold." [--snip--]

Soldiers in medical hold are considered outpatients, but they usually live on hospital grounds -- some are put up in nearby hotels if housing on the grounds is full -- and have little choice but to buy food at the Walter Reed chow hall. Even as outpatients, soldiers in medical hold often have serious injuries. Some have been blown up by roadside bombs or crumpled in Humvee wrecks. They have serious head wounds and amputations. Others are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder after being flown out of Iraq with shellshock. Some soldiers in medical hold are waiting to get processed out of the Army because their wounds are so serious that they will never return to duty. But processing at Walter Reed can take over a year, much to the frustration of the soldiers who would prefer to get outpatient treatment near their homes and families. Soldiers in medical hold also complain they are still expected to line up for daily formations and buy new uniforms even as they struggle with debilitating physical and mental trauma from their service in Iraq. They say being charged for food while they're recovering is one more indignity. [--snip--]

The soldiers interviewed for this story asked for anonymity because they feared getting into trouble with their chain of command for speaking out. Many soldiers from Walter Reed attended the Heroes Red, White and Blue Inaugural Ball last week, attended by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and others. Soldiers told Salon they were lectured on the bus on the way to the ball that they would face consequences if any untoward comments about the military appeared in the press. One soldier said he and others were told that they should not feel compelled to speak with reporters, but if they did, they would be in their commander's office in the morning if they said anything negative."

Halliburton Promises To End Iran Ventures - Profits Not Patriotism Cited

Halliburton to End Iran Operations: "Halliburton Co. will pull out of Iran after its current contracts there are wound down, its chief executive said Friday.

"The business environment currently in Iran is not conducive to our overall strategy and objectives," Chief Executive Dave Lesar said in a conference call."

If Halliburton is bugging out, can AirForce bombing runs be far behind?

Don't Hold Your Breath

Recasting Republicans as the Party of Civil Rights: "Condoleezza Rice took the oath Friday as the first black woman to be secretary of State, then immediately reached back into history to invoke the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

Her words were the latest example of President Bush and his top aides citing the Republican Party's often-forgotten 19th century antislavery roots — a strategy that GOP leaders believe will help them make inroads among black voters in the 21st century."

DaVinci Workshop Discovered - No Evidence of Code Though

Likely Da Vinci Studio Is Found: "A forgotten workshop of Leonardo da Vinci, complete with 500-year-old frescoes and a secret room for dissecting human cadavers, has been discovered in Florence, Italy, researchers said Tuesday."

The find was made in part of the Santissima Annunziata convent, which let out rooms to artists centuries ago and where the likely muse of the Renaissance artist's masterwork, the "Mona Lisa," may have worshiped.

Ahnuld Seeks Outside Funds To Finance Campaign To Screw California Pensioners

Governor Seeks Outside Donors for Campaigns: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he would enlist donors from across the country to fund a multimillion-dollar fight over California's public pension system and its voting districts "

We Think He Should Find The WMD Before He Starts Messing With Our Retirement Security

Boston.com / News / Nation / Bush plan similar to 401(k): "Bigger questions about changes in Social Security -- such as how large the private accounts should be and how guaranteed benefits would be affected -- have yet to be resolved, officials said. But to keep the system solvent, the personal accounts are nearly certain to be accompanied by significant cuts in the basic, guaranteed Social Security benefit. And it will cost as much as $2 trillion over a decade to move to the new system."

When Reds Say "Get Out The Vote," They Mean It

Yahoo! News - In Armored Vehicles, Troops Tell Iraqis to Vote: "A rumbling column of U.S. Bradley fighting vehicles grinds to a stop in a rebellious Iraqi neighborhood of scarred houses and mud streets.

Heavily-armed troops jump out and begin searching homes as loudspeakers blast in Arabic: "On Sunday you should go out to out. Vote to give freedom to Iraq (news - web sites). Vote to save Iraq." A soldier hands out fliers to a group of untidy children.

In the heartland of Iraq's insurgency, American soldiers are trying to combine fighting with getting out the vote. "

In a similar story WaPo reports:

"Ask him does he know any anti-American forces or anti-coalition forces at all in this area," Shick told the interpreter. "Tell him we're searching all the homes in the area, so he's not going to get singled out."

"We don't have anything to tell you," the man's wife said plaintively in halting English.

The man shook his head no.

Shick checked the man's name against a list of suspects. Satisfied he was not a terrorist, Shick then tried to lock up his vote.

"Is he going to vote in the upcoming elections?" he asked the interpreter.

"Yes, they are going to go vote," the interpreter said after consulting with the couple.

"Good. Tell him thank you very much," said Shick, heading back down the stairs. "And make sure he votes. If he votes, we leave. Americans go home."

Funny, that's not what they're telling Americans.

"I firmly planted the flag of liberty for all to see that the United States of America hears their concerns and believes in their aspirations."
Il Ducetto at his press conference yesterday

Did Someone Run This By Margaret Spellings?

Yahoo! News - AP: Gitmo Soldier Details Sexual Tactics: "Female interrogators tried to break Muslim detainees at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay by sexual touching, wearing a miniskirt and thong underwear and in one case smearing a Saudi man's face with fake menstrual blood, according to an insider's written account."

Three Times Is Enemy Action: Another "Red" Shill Outed

Salon.com News | Third columnist caught with hand in the Bush till: "And three makes a trend.

One day after President Bush ordered his Cabinet secretaries to stop hiring commentators to help promote administration initiatives, and one day after the second high-profile conservative pundit was found to be on the federal payroll, a third embarrassing hire has emerged. Salon has confirmed that Michael McManus, a marriage advocate whose syndicated column, 'Ethics & Religion,' appears in 50 newspapers, was hired as a subcontractor by the Department of Health and Human Services to foster a Bush-approved marriage initiative. McManus championed the plan in his columns without disclosing to readers he was being paid to help it succeed." [--snip--]

To date, the Bush administration has paid public relation firms $250 million to help push proposals, according to a report Thursday in USA Today. That's double what the Clinton administration spent on P.R. from 1997 to 2000. Shortly after Williams' contract came to light, the Democrats on the Committee on Government Reform wrote a letter to President Bush demanding that he "immediately provide to us all past and ongoing efforts to engage in covert propaganda, whether through contracts with commentators, the distribution of video news releases, or other means." As of Thursday, a staffer on the committee told Salon, there had been no response.

Our question is why has this money been directed to such second tier hacks? Are we soon to discover that the "Red" A-team has also been getting beaucoup de federal bucks - or is their compensation mechanism more complicated (Atrios' explication of Fred Barnes' income sources is a good example)? Do the Scaife's of the world save their money for the stars and use federal PR dough to subsidize the up and coming. Or are these the hacks that matter outside the beltway and we have just been assuming that because we loathe Rush et al., "Red" America doesn't realize he is packed with excrement.

[AmericaBlog, Atrios, Publius at the American Street, Tresy at Corrente, kos, the Suburban Guerrilla, Oliver Willis, Jesse at Pandagon, and Jerome at MyDD have more.]

If You Can't Take The Heat

Ominous Ring to Calls About Social Security: "In a sign of the political dangers surrounding President Bush's plans for Social Security, a number of congressional Republicans said Thursday that their constituents had received anonymous, automated phone calls accusing the lawmakers of trying to damage the government retirement program by 'privatizing' it." [--snip--]

"This plan would cost taxpayers $2 trillion," said the automated calls, according to a transcript provided by the office of Rep. Clay E. Shaw Jr. (R-Fla.). "It would also decrease future benefits to retirees by 47%…. Tell Congressman Shaw that we want real Social Security reform, not a risky Wall Street gamble. Call him."

We are confused. The numbers cited in the call are accurate. Are the Republicans upset because the call script didn't say the "Reds" wanted to "personalize" (as opposed to privatize) their destruction of Social Security?

We are confused about the nature of the "Reds'" complaint. Didn't the College Republicans hire the National Center for Public Policy Research, which specializes in raising funds for "Red" clients by sending doom-filled fright-mail (the doom relates to the havoc Democrats will allegedly wreck upon Social Security and Medicare), solicitations to elderly citizens which are co-ordinated with right-wing radio talk shows.

Is the difference that the "Reds" lie through the mail, whereas the robo-call campaign here told the truth on the phone? Is the difference that the College Republicans are a 527 groups which Republicans are permitted to use anyway they please. Or is the "Red" complaint the inevitable conclusion of IOKIYAR theology - it's only okay if you're a Republican.

Connecting The Dots

FBI in Talks to Extend Reach: "
Officials familiar with the FBI's thinking say they hope that a tentative draft of the procedures — which are classified — will be completed next month; they said the bureau also hoped to obtain new assurances that the CIA would share information about its U.S. activities with the FBI."

also hoped to obtain new assurances that the CIA would share information

We are thrilled that Il Ducetto's minions are finally hoping to fix the problems that threaten our national security. We understand that these problems were identified on 9/11/01, when several thousand people died in NY, DC and Pennsylvannia.

Another "Red" Hack Found Feeding At The Federal Trough

Writer Backing Bush Plan Had Gotten Federal Contract (washingtonpost.com): "In 2002, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher repeatedly defended President Bush's push for a $300 million initiative encouraging marriage as a way of strengthening families. [--snip--]

But Gallagher failed to mention that she had a $21,500 contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's proposal. Her work under the contract, which ran from January through October 2002, included drafting a magazine article for the HHS official overseeing the initiative, writing brochures for the program and conducting a briefing for department officials.

"Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing it?" Gallagher said yesterday. "I don't know. You tell me." She said she would have "been happy to tell anyone who called me" about the contract but that "frankly, it never occurred to me" to disclose it"

We refer Ms. Gallagher to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics

Act Independently

Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.

Journalists should:

* Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
* Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
* Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
* Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
* Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.
* Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
* Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.

Be Accountable

Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.

Journalists should:

* Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.
* Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.
* Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.
* Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.
* Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

Yes, Ms. Gallagher, you did violate journalistic ethics.

[Atrios, Josh Marshall, Roger Ailes, Jesse at pandagon, bassjhs at MyDD, Paul Glastris at the Political Animal, The Suburban Guerrilla, and Oliver Willis have more.

[Ed. not: we originally linked in error to the Australian Journalist's Ethics Code - we are now happy to report that journalists in both Australia and America disclose the kind of payments Ms. Gallagher received. We are also now wearing our bifocals.]

C.E.O. President Cooks The Books

Budget Deficit to Set Record: "White House officials said Tuesday that this year's budget deficit would reach a high of $427 billion, propelled by President Bush's request for an additional $80 billion for war costs in Iraq and Afghanistan. [[--snip--]

Although officials revealed few specifics about how the new money would be spent, one senior administration official said much of it would be devoted to refurbishing and replacing Army equipment and to training Iraqi security forces — which the U.S. hoped would bring about a reduction of American troops in Iraq."[--snip--]

The 10-year figure represented an increase of nearly 60% from the budget office's comparable $861-billion estimate just four months ago, partly because of recent legislation extending popular tax breaks that were due to expire, such as relief from the "marriage penalty." In addition, disaster assistance to victims of the Florida hurricanes last year prompted the budget office to project similar expenses in the future, in accordance with forecasting rules.

The budget office's figures also did not take into account the revenue loss to the Treasury if Congress were to give its expected approval to an extension of major tax cuts that were enacted in 2001 and 2003, and which were scheduled to expire in the next 10 years. Nor did it include potential relief from the alternative minimum tax — which was designed to prevent high-income taxpayers from using tax breaks to escape most income taxes but was beginning to bite ordinary taxpayers as inflation pushes their income higher.

We know we are only a citizen but we wonder, shouldn't the executive branch have to explain to the legislative branch how it plans to spend the taxpayer's money? Or is this a new precedent? Will future Democratic administrations be able tor request $80 billion for "miscellaneous educational spending requirements?"

We are, however, delighted with the "Red" approach to deficit calculation. We hope taxpayers can start saying to banks, "Oh, we don't include credit card payments in our calculations." Although we suspect, for some reason, that it would only work if we were a Republican.

Expect To See More Chicks, Less Brass In Casualty Lists

on the one hand:

Boston.com / News / Nation / Washington / US women get closer to combat: "The Army for the first time is placing women in support units at the front lines of combat because of a shortage of skilled male soldiers available for duty in Iraq and is considering a repeal of the decade-old rule that prohibits women from being deployed alongside combat forces, according to Pentagon officials and military documents. [--snip--]

The Army maintains that it has not changed the overall Pentagon policy regarding women in combat, which limits women to serving on surface ships and in attack aircraft. But internal Army documents indicate the service is ignoring a 1994 regulation barring women from serving alongside units that conduct offensive operations. [--snip--]

''They are able to bond with men or pick up and shoot an automatic weapon when that is necessary. They have no problem living hard in the field," Manning said. ''All those old excuses for why women can't be in combat are falling by the wayside."
"

on the other hand:

David Hackworth, in a very disturbing post on the abuse of combat pay in the military reports:

Maybe you better sit down and pop a Xanax before reading any further, because what I’m about to tell you should seriously short you out: not only is the average soldier’s salary barely life-sustaining, the combat pay of the average grunt in Afghanistan and Iraq is only $7.50 a day or a measly $225 a month. And to make matters worse, the folks bringing up the rear – hundreds of miles from the horror show – are pulling down the same combat pay as our heroes who daily lay their lives on the line. [--snip--]

Another loophole creates an even more gross inequity: senior officers – read generals and colonels – regularly fly into Afghanistan and Iraq on monthly 48-hour useless VIP visits in order to both collect their combat pay for the entire month and rack up tax breaks that can run almost seven grand a month. Not bad double-headers for Perfumed Princes who can barely tell a foxhole from a bidet.

We wonder how the "Reds" will manage their women once they start sporting Purple Hearts. We note that Rummy could probably bring that $80 billion request down a step or two if told the brass to stop ripping off the taxpayers and leave the combat pay for the men (and now women) who actually earn it.

"Red" Christians Get Their Pig In A Poke, Promise Payback On Plans To Gut Social Security

GOP Still Plans to Advocate for Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: "A group of Republican lawmakers Monday renewed their push for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, even though hope for its passage appears to have dimmed, even among some of its main supporters. [--snip--]

Bush's comments in an interview with the Washington Post this month raised doubts about how hard he would press for amendment. He noted that many senators have questioned the need for it unless the courts strike down the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, which says no state is required to recognize a same-sex marriage allowed by another state." [--snip--]

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), in response to a question, insisted the measure remained a key GOP goal, despite its absence from the list of legislative priorities he released Monday.

He said the proposed amendment would be brought to the Senate floor for a vote, though he did not say when.

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36)." The whole world, much less a piece of unscheduled legislation supported by less than half of the guys you voted for. How does it feel to a "Red" Christian to be played for a fool? Uncle Karl wonders as he chuckles. Not so fast Karl Rove, the "Red" Christians have your number.

Backers of Gay Marriage Ban Use Social Security as Cudgel

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 - A coalition of major conservative Christian groups is threatening to withhold support for President Bush's plans to remake Social Security unless Mr. Bush vigorously champions a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. [--snip--]

In a confidential letter to Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political adviser, the group said it was disappointed with the White House's decision to put Social Security and other economic issues ahead of its paramount interest: opposition to same-sex marriage [--snip--]

The letter continued, "When the administration adopts a defeatist attitude on an issue that is at the top of our agenda, it becomes impossible for us to unite our movement on an issue such as Social Security privatization where there are already deep misgivings." [--snip--]

The members of the coalition that wrote the letter are some of Mr. Bush's most influential conservative Christian supporters, and include Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the Southern Baptist Convention, the American Family Association, Jerry Falwell and Paul Weyrich.

Several members of the group said that not long ago, many of their supporters were working or middle class, members of families that felt more allegiance to the Democratic Party because of programs like Social Security before gravitating to the Republican Party as it took up more cultural conservative issues over the last 20 years.

What a fine mess, Karl. If you bring the Hate Amendment to a vote you a) blow your "compassionate conservative" cover, b) probably increase support for civil unions, and c) lose. If you don't bring the Hate Amendment to a vote, a) the "Red" Christian pastors won't tell their sheep to follow you blindly off a cliff on Social Security, b) you lose both the Hate Amendment and the Wealth Transfer To Wall Street Act, and c) your duck will start quacking big time. Nice stewardship by the "Red" pastors, though, trading programs that protect the lives and dignity of their flocks for a chance to hate queers loudly in the halls of Congress before their amendment loses. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. (Ps. 109:29)

[The farmer at Corrente, Jerome at MyDD, Pam's House Blend, Steve Gilliard and the Suburban Guerrila have more.]

More Torture/Rape Rooms Discovered in Bagdhad - Ours

Pentagon Files Reveal More Allegations of Abuse in Iraq: "Pentagon documents released Monday disclosed that Iraqi prisoners had lodged dozens of abuse complaints against U.S. and Iraqi personnel who guarded them at a little-known palace in Baghdad converted to a U.S. prison. Among the allegations was that guards had sodomized a disabled man and killed his brother, whose dying body was tossed into a cell, atop his sister.

The documents, obtained in a lawsuit against the federal government by the American Civil Liberties Union, suggest for the first time that numerous detainees were abused at Adhamiya Palace, one of Saddam Hussein's villas in eastern Baghdad that was used by his son Uday. Previous cases of abuse of Iraqi prisoners have focused mainly on Abu Ghraib prison."

"Freedom...liberty....freedom...freedom...liberty...freedom..."
- Il Ducetto's 2nd Inaugural

Torture in Iraq Still Routine, Report Says
Detainees Beaten, Hung by Wrists, Shocked by Security Forces, Rights Group Finds

BAGHDAD, Jan. 24 -- Twenty months after Saddam Hussein's government was toppled and its torture chambers unlocked, Iraqis are again being routinely beaten, hung by their wrists and shocked with electrical wires, according to a report by a human rights organization.

Iraqi police, jailers and intelligence agents, many of them holding the same jobs they had under Hussein, are "committing systematic torture and other abuses" of detainees, Human Rights Watch said in a report to be released Tuesday.

Legal safeguards are being ignored, political opponents are targeted for arrest, and the government of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi "appears to be actively taking part, or is at least complicit, in these grave violations of fundamental human rights," the report concludes.

"Freedom...liberty....freedom...freedom...liberty...freedom..."
- Il Ducetto's 2nd Inaugural

Army Closed Many Abuse Cases Early
Few Detainee-Treatment Inquiries Led to Penalties, Documents Show

Army personnel have admitted to beating or threatening to kill Iraqi detainees and stealing money from Iraqi civilians but have not been charged with criminal conduct, according to newly released Army documents.

Only a handful of the 54 investigations of alleged detainee abuse and other illicit activities detailed in the documents led to recommended penalties as severe as a court-martial or discharge from military service. Most led to administrative fines or simply withered because investigators could not find victims or evidence.

"Freedom...liberty....freedom...freedom...liberty...freedom..."
- Il Ducetto's 2nd Inaugural

"Disruptive" detainees
The Pentagon confirms the report of a mass suicide attempt by prisoners at Guantanamo in 2003.

Twenty-three detainees at the Guantánamo Bay military camp made an apparent mass suicide attempt in an orchestrated protest in 2003, the United States confirmed Monday night. The captives tried to either hang or strangle themselves in their cells over eight days in August of that year. Ten made an attempt on Aug. 22.

The military did not say why it had not previously reported the incident, described by officials as "self-injurious behavior" -- an attempt to get attention rather than genuine attempts at suicide. The plan had been engineered, they said, to disrupt operations and unnerve new guards. Sixteen of the 23 are among 553 prisoners still at the camp. Many of the detainees have been held for three years without being charged.

Critics said the mass protest came in the same year that Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller assumed command of the camp in Cuba with orders to get more information from prisoners suspected of having links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

"Freedom...liberty....freedom...freedom...liberty...freedom..."
- Il Ducetto's 2nd Inaugural


[Steve Gilliard, The Suburban Guerrilla, Netaloid, War and Piece, TalkLeft and the Daily Kos have more.]

We Write Letters

Dear Senator,

I read with great concern the report in Newsweek that Alberto Gonzales lied to Senators of the Judiciary Committee in written testimony provided for the hearings on his nomination to the post of Attorney General. In that testimony, Mr. Gonzales described the nature of his representation of then Governor Bush when Mr. Bush was called for jury service on a D.U.I. case as quite minimal.

Asked by Sen. Patrick Leahy to describe "in detail" the only court appearance he ever made on behalf of Bush, Gonzales—who was then chief counsel to the Texas governor—wrote that he had accompanied Bush the day he went to court "prepared to serve on a jury." While there, Gonzales wrote, he "observed" the defense lawyer make a motion to strike Bush from the jury panel "to which the prosecutor did not object." Asked by the judge whether he had "any views on this," Gonzales recalled, he said he did not.

The judge and defense attorney in the case, however, dispute the written account Mr. Gonzles gave:

The judge and other lawyers in the case last week disputed a written account of the matter provided by Gonzales to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "It's a complete misrepresentation," said David Wahlberg, lawyer for the dancer, about Gonzales's account.

The judge who tried the case, indeed, recalls that Mr. Gonzales asked for an "off-the-record" conference in chambers.

[B]efore the case began, Gonzales asked to have an off-the-record conference in the judge's chambers. Gonzales then asked Crain to "consider" striking Bush from the jury, making the novel "conflict of interest" argument that the Texas governor might one day be asked to pardon the defendant (who worked at an Austin nightclub called Sugar's), the judge said. "He [Gonzales] raised the issue," Crain said. Crain said he found Gonzales's argument surprising, since it was "extremely unlikely" that a drunken-driving conviction would ever lead to a pardon petition to Bush. But "out of deference" to the governor, Crain said, the other lawyers went along. Wahlberg said he agreed to make the motion striking Bush because he didn't want the hard-line governor on his jury anyway. But there was little doubt among the participants as to what was going on. "In public, they were making a big show of how he was prepared to serve," said Crain. "In the back room, they were trying to get him off."

I am not unsympathetic to the embarrassment Mr. Bush would have felt had his at yet unknown drunk driving record been revealed during voir dire (although his effort to avoid rather than face that embarrassment does not speak well for the nature of his recovery from alcoholism), and don't have an opinion regarding Mr. Gonzales's efforts to spare his client that embarrassment. The fact that Mr. Gonzales would deliberately lie to the Senate Judiciary Committee, however, when being considered for the post of Attorney General, is alarming. It does not seem right that the post of Attorney General would be entrusted to a man who would rather perjure himself than embarrass the President.

If you won't reject Mr. Gonzales' candidacy because he refuses to condemn torture, and you won't reject his vision of executive authority that holds that the President has the inherent authority to ignore laws that Congress might pass, would you at least consider rejecting Mr. Gonzales for a job supervising the enforcement of this nation's laws simply because he is a liar? [Body and Soul, LiberalOasis, Mark Kleiman, mcjoan at the Daily Kos, Roger Ailes and Matt Yglesias have more.]

Kids Today

In Pudentilla's day, queer youth had to sneak into obscure corners of research libraries to even find books that mentioned homosexuality, much less understood it (try reading the Well of Lonliness if you want a real downer.) But kids today get queer videos before their naptime in kindergarten. Wow, it seems like Spanking Dobson's right and the homosexual agenda is really advancing - we really do recruit, and SpongeBob's starting in on kids still in their nappies.

Oh, wait, the video only encourages tolerance for social and cultural diversity, you say?

Christian [sic] groups however have taken exception to the tolerance pledge on the foundation's Web site, which asks people to respect the sexual identity of others along with their abilities, beliefs, culture and race.

You mean it promotes a Christian agenda ("love one another" - John 13:34). Hmm. Perhaps some separation of Church and state issues if the video is shown in public schools, but that's not Spanking Jim's complaint, is it. His complaint is that old SpongeBob will encourage children to abandon the central tenet of the Hateful Christian's "Red" theology.

"Their inclusion of the reference to 'sexual identity" within their 'tolerance pledge' is not only unnecessary, but it crosses a moral line," James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said in a statement released Thursday.

Of course Dobson's assault on core American values like respect and tolerance threatens the fabric of our civic life, and in these perilous times poses a real danger to all Americans. But Spanking Jim has a constitutional right to hate queers, we suppose. The more urgent danger Dobson poses, in fact, is to Christianity. Jesus didn't die on the cross for you to hate, Spanking Jim. PGL at Angry Bear, Dave Neiwert, Gordon at the Alternate Brain and James Wolcott have more.

Rummy's Got A Shiny, New, Unconstitutional, Private AND His Own Secret Police

Secret Unit Expands Rumsfeld's Domain (washingtonpost.com): "The Pentagon, expanding into the CIA's historic bailiwick, has created a new espionage arm and is reinterpreting U.S. law to give Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld broad authority over clandestine operations abroad, according to interviews with participants and documents obtained by The Washington Post." [--snip--]

Pentagon officials said they established the Strategic Support Branch using "reprogrammed" funds, without explicit congressional authority or appropriation. Defense intelligence missions, they said, are subject to less stringent congressional oversight than comparable operations by the CIA. Rumsfeld's dissatisfaction with the CIA's operations directorate, and his determination to build what amounts in some respects to a rival service, follows struggles with then-CIA Director George J. Tenet over intelligence collection priorities in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pentagon officials said the CIA naturally has interests that differ from those of military commanders, but they also criticized its operations directorate as understaffed, slow-moving and risk-averse. A recurring phrase in internal Pentagon documents is the requirement for a human intelligence branch "directly responsive to tasking from SecDef," or Rumsfeld. [--snip--]

Pentagon officials emphasized their intention to remain accountable to Congress, but they also asserted that defense intelligence missions are subject to fewer legal constraints than Rumsfeld's predecessors believed. That assertion involves new interpretations of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which governs the armed services, and Title 50, which governs, among other things, foreign intelligence. [--snip--]

Under Title 10, for example, the Defense Department must report to Congress all "deployment orders," or formal instructions from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to position U.S. forces for combat. But guidelines issued this month by Undersecretary for Intelligence Stephen A. Cambone state that special operations forces may "conduct clandestine HUMINT operations . . . before publication" of a deployment order, rendering notification unnecessary. Pentagon lawyers also define the "war on terror" as ongoing, indefinite and global in scope. That analysis effectively discards the limitation of the defense secretary's war powers to times and places of imminent combat.

We wonder how this kind of "legal" thinking would work in other fields. For instance, could Pudentilla reexamine the tax code and determine that "income" means only dollars that float "in" to her front door, thereby "rendering the filing of tax returns unnecessary." We think not, but we have a quaint penchant for following the laws. Who knew Sejanus would be a role model for Il Ducetto's administration. The Samuel Taylor Coleridge Foundation, TalkLeft and Oliver Willis have more on the development of a new American praetorian guard and the new spy service.

The Answer My Friend, Is Blowing In The Wind

The New York Times > National > Few but Organized, Iraq Veterans Turn War Critics: "Sean Huze enlisted in the Marine Corps right after the Sept. 11 attacks and was, in his own words, 'red, white and blue all the way' when he deployed to Iraq 16 months later. Unquestioning in his support of the invasion, he grew irritated when his father, a former National Guardsman, expressed doubts about the war.

Today, all that has changed. Haunted by the civilian casualties he witnessed, Corporal Huze has become one of a small but increasing number of Iraq veterans who have formed or joined groups to oppose the war or to criticize the way it is being fought." [--snip--]

Iraq Veterans Against the War, which started in July with 8 people, now has more than 150 members, including some still serving in Iraq, said Michael Hoffman, a former lance corporal in the Marines and a co-founder of the group.

Operation Truth, based in New York, began with 5 members and now has 300, with an e-mail list of more than 25,000 people. Its Web site is a compendium of soldiers and veterans' stories, a media digest on the war, and a rallying point on issues affecting troops.

Arnold Leads Trial Run On Red Attack Against Worker's Retirement Security


The New York Times > National > Schwarzenegger Aims at State Pension System: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, echoing language used by those who claim Social Security is headed for a crisis, contends that California can no longer afford a generous traditional pension plan for state employees and teachers and should force all new workers into a 401(k)-style plan of private accounts. [--snip--]"

Although Mr. Schwarzenegger described the plans as a looming train wreck, even advocates of privatization in his own administration say the system is currently sound. The plans, taken together, are nearly 90 percent funded, a level that most experts consider quite healthy.

Is Greenspan Growing A Spine?

The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Economic View: Deficits May Be Wearing Thin at the Fed: But as President Bush embarked on his second term last week, it was hard to escape the sense that his longtime honeymoon with the Federal Reserve may be ending.

The Fed and its chairman, Alan Greenspan, have arguably been Mr. Bush's most important economic supporters. Mr. Greenspan gave his blessing to the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and, less enthusiastically, to those of 2003.

"Despite Mr. Greenspan's reputation as a staunch opponent of fiscal deficits, he tiptoed around criticism of the soaring federal debt that Mr. Bush ran up in his first term and will almost certainly continue to run up in his second." [--snip--]

Is the timing merely a convenient coincidence for Il Ducetto? Or did Greenspan only discover the problem deficits pose after his wealthy friends got their tax cut?

The "Untamed Fire of Freedom" Flickers


Excerpts From Il Ducetto's Second Inaugural

....freedom...liberty...freedom...liberty...freedom...liberty...freedom...liberty...
freedom...liberty...freedom...liberty...freedom...liberty...freedom...liberty...
freedom...freedom...freedom...freedom...liberty...freedom...liberty...freedom...
freedom...liberty...freedom...liberty...freedom...freedom...freedom...liberty...
freedom...freedom...freedom...liberty...freedom...freedom...freedom...freedom...
freedom...freedom...liberty....

Saudi women barred from voting

The Saudi interior minister has said women will not be allowed to vote in the country's municipal elections starting in February 2005.

In response to a question about women's getting the vote, Prince Nayef bin Sultan said simply: "I don't think that women's participation is possible." [--snip--]

Women in the kingdom live with highly circumscribed rights. They are, for example, not permitted to travel unaccompanied by male relatives or allowed to drive.

Riverbend asks an interesting question:

I’m sure people outside of the country are shaking their heads at the words ‘collective punishment’ [a possible explanation posed for the absence of running water in Baghdad]. “No, Riverbend,” they are saying, “That’s impossible.” But anything is possible these days. People in many areas are being told that if they don’t vote- Sunnis and Shia alike- the food and supply rations we are supposed to get monthly will be cut off. We’ve been getting these rations since the beginning of the nineties and for many families, it’s their main source of sustenance. What sort of democracy is it when you FORCE people to go vote for someone or another they don’t want?

The answer is "Il Ducetto's kind of democracy." Riverbend's conclusion?

It's amazing how as things get worse, you begin to require less and less. We have a saying for that in Iraq, "Ili yishoof il mawt, yirdha bil iskhooneh." Which means, "If you see death, you settle for a fever." We've given up on democracy, security and even electricity. Just bring back the water.

Students Protest IOKIYAR Theology At Catholic University

Gingrich Speech at CU Opposed
Event Would Violate School Policy, Some Students Contend

By Paul Schwartzman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 22, 2005; Page B02

Newt Gingrich's scheduled speech at Catholic University next week is prompting criticism from students who contend that the appearance would violate the school's policy barring speakers who have espoused positions contrary to Vatican teachings.

Last fall, organizers of an Italian film festival considered inviting actor-director Stanley Tucci to their event, but Catholic University officials objected because of his support for abortion rights organizations. In Gingrich's case, the college's student Republican organization invited the former House speaker to speak on politics and world affairs. [--snip--]

Victor Nakas, the university's spokesman, denied that Gingrich's appearance violates the speaker policy, though he declined to explain the substance of the regulations. "I don't want to give this more attention than it deserves," he said, adding that similar issues have been debated in the past. "We have explained this -- we're rehashing old ground."

Last fall, after Tucci was barred from the school, Nakas explained that the university always has the prerogative to bar speakers whose views differ from those of the church. A new set of directives issued in July by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops prohibited Catholic institutions from giving "awards, honors and platforms" to those who oppose the church's tenets, including its position on abortion.

Yes, Gentle Reader, it's time for the "white sepulchres" verse (Matt 23:27):

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.

At Least The 9/11 Victims Didn't Die In Vain

Leading Donors to Pataki PAC in 2004 Included Developers of Ground Zero
By PATRICK D. HEALY

Published: January 22, 2005

A political action committee set up to burnish Gov. George E. Pataki's national reputation gathered more than $1 million in 2004, and among the biggest donors were four business leaders or officials heavily involved in rebuilding ground zero.

While leading real estate investors often contribute to political officials, these developers made unusually large donations of $25,000 each to the committee, which was created in Virginia to avoid New York State campaign finance limits. Given that the money to the committee came from people with major interests in the redevelopment of ground zero - viewed as sacred space by families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attack - this intersection between money and politics could prove especially delicate.

Gotta love the "Reds." No grave they won't jump up and down on.

"Red" Christians Buying Souls In South East Asia

Mix of Quake Aid and Preaching Stirs Concern
By DAVID ROHDE

Published: January 22, 2005

MORAKETIYA, Sri Lanka, Jan. 19 -A dozen Americans walked into a relief camp here, showering bereft parents and traumatized children with gifts, attention and affection. They also quietly offered camp residents something else: Jesus.

The Americans, who all come from one church in Texas, have staged plays detailing the life of Jesus and had children draw pictures of him, camp residents said. They have told parents who lost children that they should still believe in God, and held group prayers where they tried to heal a partly paralyzed man and a deaf 12year-old girl.

The attempts at proselytizing are angering local Christian leaders, who worry that they could provoke a violent backlash against Christians in Sri Lanka, a predominantly Buddhist country that is already a religious tinderbox. [[--snip--]

The Americans in Sri Lanka belong to the Antioch Community Church, an evangelical church based in Waco, Tex. Two members of the church were arrested, and accused of proselytizing, by the Taliban in Afghanistan in August 2001. When the United States invaded the country several months later, pro-American Northern Alliance forces freed the women, who church officials say did speak with Afghans about their personal "relationship with Jesus."

The Antioch Community Church is one of a growing number of evangelical groups that believe in mixing aidgiving with discussing religion, an approach that older, more established Christian aid groups like Catholic Relief Services call unethical.

An interesting exercise in Biblical criticism by the "Red" Christians who obviously believe that what Jesus really said was "give some of what you have to the poor on the condition that they come follow George Bush. This really works when the poor are devasted and starving, trust me. The old farts think that if you walk the talk, the poor will be inspired by your example. But that is so blue. Get 'em while they're down, orphaned, starving, thirsty and sick."

Luke 18:18-22 tells it a bit differently:

And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? You know the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and your mother. And he said, All these I have kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said to him, You still lack one thing; sell all that you have, and distribute to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich.

Freedom in Bushworld

Mystery in Iraq as $300 Million is Taken Abroad
By DEXTER FILKINS

Published: January 22, 2005

AGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 21 Earlier this month, according to Iraqi officials, $300 million in American bills was taken out of Iraq's Central Bank, put into boxes and quietly put on a charter jet bound for Lebanon. [--snip--]

In an interview on Al Jazeera television, Mr. Shalaan said he would order the arrest of Ahmed Chalabi, one of the country's most prominent politicians, who has publicly accused Mr. Shalaan of sending the cash out of the country. Mr. Shalaan said he would extradite Mr. Chalabi to face corruption charges of his own.

"We will arrest him and hand him over to Interpol," Mr. Shalaan thundered on Al Jazeera. The charge against Mr. Chalabi, he said, would be "maligning" him and his ministry. He suggested that Mr. Chalabi had made the charges to further his political ambitions.

Mr. Chalabi first made the allegation against Mr. Shalaan last week, on another Arabic-language television network. He said there was no legitimate reason why the Iraqi government should have used cash to pay for goods from abroad. He implied that at least some of the money was being used for other things.

"Why was $300 million in cash put on an airplane?" Mr. Chalabi asked in an interview this week. "Where did the money go? What was it used for? Who was it given to? We don't know."

The $300 million flight has been the talk of Iraq's political class, and fueled the impression among many Iraqis and Western officials that the interim Iraqi government, set up after the American occupation formally ended in June, is awash in corruption. It is not clear whether the money came from Iraqi or American sources, or both.

But who will the freepers blame?

Svengali Speaks

Cheney Upholds Power of the Presidency (washingtonpost.com): "Vice President Cheney said in an interview that the proper power of the presidency has finally been restored after being diminished in the wake of the Vietnam War and Watergate, and that President Bush contributed to the process by not allowing his narrow victory in the 2000 election to inhibit him during his first term."

Dies Atri

Snow and Crowds Descend on Capital (washingtonpost.com): "Umbrellas of cascading fireworks over a snow-dusted White House lawn, the elegance of the storied Black Tie and Boots Ball and ever-tighter security precautions last night presaged today's 55th inauguration, when an expected 100,000 will sit and stand in the cold and cheer and jeer the president on his historic victory lap."

Moral Clarity

US official confirms Allawi shot six dead - After Saddam - www.smh.com.au: A former Jordanian government minister has told The New Yorker that an American official confirmed to him that the Iraqi interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, executed six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station last year. [--snip--]

Writing about his research in Jordan in December, Anderson says: "A well-known former government minister told me that an American official had confirmed that the killings took place, saying to him, 'What a mess we're in - we got rid of one son of a bitch only to get another one'." [--snip--]

"Anderson writes: 'The man ... described how Allawi had been taken to seven suspects, who were made to stand against a wall in a courtyard of the police station, their faces covered. After being told of their alleged crimes by a police official, Allawi had asked for a pistol, and then shot each prisoner in the head. [One of the men survived.] Afterward, the witness said, Allawi had declared to those present, 'This is how we must deal with the terrorists.' The witness said he approved of Allawi's act, adding that, in any case, the terrorists were better off dead, for they had been tortured for days.'"

Gonzales: "It Depends On What I Mean By Torture, But I Won't Tell You What I Mean - PS: The President Is Still Above The Law"

Torture by U.S. Personnel Illegal, Gonzales Tells Senate (washingtonpost.com): "Attorney general nominee Alberto R. Gonzales, responding to questions about his role in setting controversial detention policies, told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that any form of torture by U.S. personnel is illegal, according to new documents released yesterday.

But Gonzales, the White House counsel who is expected to be confirmed by the Senate in coming weeks, declined to identify the techniques allowed under U.S. interrogation policies, citing restrictions on classified information. He also reiterated his view that a president could theoretically decide that a U.S. law -- such as the prohibition against torture -- is unconstitutional, though he dismissed the question as irrelevant under President Bush."

The Senate is expected to confirm Mr. Gonzalez as Attorney Torturer General next week. Because the people who will vote for him have a moral compass that ever points to Hell.

House Republicans Bailing on Il Ducetto's Plan To Gut Social Security

New Doubts On Plan For Social Security (washingtonpost.com): "House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) predicted yesterday that partisan warfare over Social Security will quickly render Preshttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifident Bush's plan 'a dead horse' and called on Congress to undertake a broader review of the problems of an aging nation."

Thomas, one of Capitol Hill's most powerful figures on tax policy, is the highest-ranking House Republican official to cast doubt on the president's plan for creating individual investment accounts. He said that as an alternative, he will consider changes such as replacing the payroll tax as Social Security's financing mechanism and adding a savings plan for long-term or chronic care as "an augmentation to Social Security payments." [--snip--]

The mercurial Thomas, whose chairmanship of the tax-writing committee allows him to heavily influence the fate of Bush's domestic agenda, also said he wants to consider revisions to the tax code simultaneously with debate over Bush's private-account proposal. The White House had indicated a preference to put off revisions to the tax code until next year.

We conclude that Thomas obviously didn't get the Cheney memo. We ask what would replace the payroll tax as a financing mechanism (higher income taxes?)? And we wonder if this is a bid by Thomas to hijack the Social Security bill to get Il Ducetto to support what he wants for the tax "reform" bill (we love it when the robber barons squabble over the best way to rob us).

Atrios thinks that Thomas is about to be Cheneyed up and wisely warns against the "Trojan Compromise" which Delay will transform in conference to the bill Il Ducetto and his minions want. Kevin Drum shares Atrios' uncertainty about the exact nature of the game that Thomas is playing, and links to Ed Kilgore who opines that the whole thing is a plan to get super Keoghs to shelter high income earners from taxes. Pudentilla, herself, recently considered the "head fake" possibility and concluded that the "switch" was making the tax cuts permanent.

Steve Gilliard thinks Il Ducetto needs the private accounts to prop up the stock market and thus, we infer (cautiously - he might not have gotten to it yet), thinks the Thomas head fake is so much sound and fury. Matt Yglesias, on the other hand, takes Rep. Thomas at his word, and considers the implications for some of the ideas Thomas seems to be offering. Oliver Willis, on the third hand, attributes Rep. Thomas' caution to the old "third rail" adage, and thoughtfully links (as most have today) to the BlogPac page dedicated to the proposition that "There is No Crisis."


Mark Schmitt, however, has the most byzantine (and therefore most appealing to the paranoid, like Pudentilla) while still the most optimistic analysis of l'affaire Thomas we have yet to read:

This sorry game is over. The challenge for Democrats is now to drag it out, to inflict maximum pain, to drag this out at least as long as the Clinton health care debacle was drawn out.

Il Ducetto Can't Stop The Car Bombs In Baghdad

Car Bombs Kill at Least 26 in Baghdad (washingtonpost.com): "At least 26 people died this morning in four separate attacks during a 90-minute convulsion of violence aimed at derailing Iraq's planned Jan. 30 elections, the U.S. military said."

The NPR coverage of the story this morning explained that the "interim government's" authorizing documents and the U.N. resolution, which provide the thin veneer of legality for the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq, explicitly call for elections by the end of January. If they postponed the election, a step which we sincerely doubt their cowboy mentality could tolerate, then our military presence in Iraq could not be explained by any reference to Iraqi or international law. Plus Sistani wants the election. Nice way to back yourselves into a corner, boys. Convenient that none of your friends are the innocents who will die for your mistakes.

Condi Won't Condemn Torture, Promises More Of The Same

more of the same

Rice Defends Iraq Mission but Says Military Can't Do It Alone: "In a sometimes stormy 9 1/2-hour session, Rice signaled little overall change in the Bush administration's approach to dealing with other countries. Rice said that as secretary she would strive to work through alliances, but only if the efforts were productive. "

incapable of irony

Rice offered blunt criticism of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, saying the United States was "very concerned about a democratically elected leader who governs in an illiberal way, and some of the steps he's taken against the media, against the opposition, I think are really very deeply troubling."

no "do unto others" approach on terrorism

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) grilled Rice on the treatment of terrorism suspects in U.S. custody, asking her whether she considered alleged abuse to be torture. Rice said she would leave it to the Justice Department to provide a legal definition of torture. [--snip--]

But she said U.S. officials expected captured Americans to be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention. Repeating a long-standing administration policy, she said individuals associated with Al Qaeda did not qualify as prisoners of war under the convention.

We conclude they are deliberately torturing prisoners and that folks all the way up the chain of command are well aware of the fact. [TalkLeft cites the Amnesty International report of a U.S. citizen being tortured by the Saudis with the knowledge and complicity of the U.S. government, for example.] Otherwise it would be quite easy to say, "we condemn torture and won't condone it's use." Of course, the political price for refusing to condemn torture is fairly low. Just ask all the Democrats who are going to vote for her anyway.

Juan Cole has a rather bracing takedown of Condi today that is well worth the read. The Rude Pundit is even more bracing. And the Suburban Guerrilla points us to Crooks and Liars, who discover via David Frum (of all people) that the word on the street in D.C. is that Richard Lugar made Condi promise not to employ any naughty neo-cons if she wanted his support.

Now That The Election's Over, Support For War Plummeting

Support for War in Iraq Hits New Low: "The poll, conducted Saturday through Monday, found that the percentage of Americans who believed the situation in Iraq was 'worth going to war over' had sunk to a new low of 39%. When the same question was asked in a similar poll in October, 44% said it had been worth going to war."

But when asked whether the United States should begin withdrawing troops after Iraq's election Jan. 30, 52% said the administration should wait to see what the new Iraqi government wanted. More than a third, 37%, said the United States should begin drawing down at least some of its troop strength."

We would be interested in knowing what percent of the 39% who continue to believe the war is worth it are serving, are eligible to serve or have family members serving or eligible to serve in the Armed Forces. Because we may disagree with those who walk the talk, but we respect them.

We suppose it is from the rest of the 39%, those who afford themselves the luxury of supporting the war on the backs of others' service, that we should expect to find the next generation of "Red" politicians.

Is Il Ducetto All Quacked Up?

Boston.com / News / Nation / Washington / Bush agenda faces some GOP resistance: "At least four elements of Bush's plans are drawing reactions from Republicans ranging from outright opposition to quiet discomfort. The cracks in party unity are appearing at a time when the White House needs to move quickly to implement new policies before the momentum coming out of the November elections fades."

The items of resistance include: Il Ducetto's plan to gut Social Security, his to give papers to some undocumented immigrants, his funding of insurance and drug companies through the Medicare program and his desire to destroy public education by subjecting highschools to NCLB. Thus, it would appear that the fiscal conservatives, small government conservatives and nativist elements of the "Red" fascist coalition are growing restive. Il Ducetto's recent test balloon about abandoning the effort to amend the Constitution to ensure that gay folks can't marry had such a profound response that the Ministry of Excuses, as Patrick at the Samuel Taylor Coleridge Foundation Points out, backed away from it within hours. (Interestingly enough, efforts to pass a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Massachussetts seems to have suffered a setback.) The loyalty of the "Red" Hateful Christian element of the fascist coalition's, one might infer, is being tested.

Boffo will perhaps read this as evidence of Il Ducetto's lame duck status. We prefer to be more paranoid. The LRWM* is merely softening us up in order to make Il Ducetto's ultimate victory seem the more significant. Why do we think this? Because Dick Cheney is running the domestic agenda this term (just as he ran the foreign policy/security agenda last term).

Administration officials say Mr. Cheney sits in not only on nearly all policy discussions with Mr. Bush, but also some of those at lower levels, and he has lunch each Wednesday with the senior members of the administration's economic team to stay on top of things. He is the White House's main pipeline to Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman, a friend since they both worked together in the Ford administration in the mid-1970's and someone whose support the administration needs for much of its agenda. Mr. Cheney is "involved in everything," said Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff.

Through his close ties to Republican lawmakers, especially in the House, he plays a central role in setting and carrying out the White House's legislative strategy on domestic matters - a role that could be especially vital this year, given the reluctance of many Congressional Republicans to embrace changes to Social Security.

While elements of the "Red" fascist faction in Congress may grow annoyed with Il Ducetto, they fear Cheney. Josh Marshall has a disheartening analysis of the implications of the plan to gut Social Security that Cheney backs. We hope you remain well enough to work for a very long time.

*Lying Right Wing Media

Il Ducetto: King Would Have Supported Plans To Gut Social Security


Alright, he didn't say that. He did imply, however, that Dr. King would have supported his illegal and unjustified war which has killed thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians.

The New York Times > Washington > Bush Cites Religion as a Pillar for Dr. King: "'He believed and he knew that the image of God we share is a source of our dignity and human beings and the basis for our equality,' Mr. Bush said. 'He believed and he knew that the teachings of Jesus stand in eternal judgment of oppression. He believed and he knew that the God who made us for freedom will bring us to freedom.'"

We think it unlikely that Dr. King would have supported his war against the Iraqi people.

May We Recommend?

We have updated our blogroll to include new and old discoveries. We apologize to the old for taking so long and welcome all:

The Alternate Brain-

Bill's Big Diamond Blog

Into The Breach -

Netaloid -

Suburban Guerilla

Trash Act From Our Federalist

Sun Journal Archive: "Maine's first lady, Karen Baldacci, doesn't have to worry about what to wear to President's Bush inauguration. She and Gov. John Baldacci aren't going.

They aren't invited."

As a colleague said yesterday, "You'd think the President of the United States would know enough to invite all the Governors of those states to the Inauguration.

Perhaps its the fact that Il Ducetto's planning to screw Maine's biggest employer in its new Defense Budget and Maine's poor folks in its Medicaid budget that embarrasses Il Ducetto. No, that assumes he is capable of shame.

Perhaps he just doesn't want to be President of a blue state, even if he's willing to vacation there and drive drunk while he's there.

The Second Kick of the Mule

The U.S., despite Alberto Gonzalez’s reservations (and we note that he has yet to be confirmed as the country’s Torturer Attorney General), is a signatory to the U.N. Charter which provides in Article 2.3-4:

3. All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.

4. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

Which leads Pudentilla to wonder whether we are at war with Iraq. According to Seymour Hersh’s latest piece in the New Yorker:

The President has signed a series of findings and executive orders authorizing secret commando groups and other Special Forces units to conduct covert operations against suspected terrorist targets in as many as ten nations in the Middle East and South Asia. [--snip--] The Administration has been conducting secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran at least since last summer. Much of the focus is on the accumulation of intelligence and targeting information on Iranian nuclear, chemical, and missile sites, both declared and suspected. The goal is to identify and isolate three dozen, and perhaps more, such targets that could be destroyed by precision strikes and short-term commando raids. “The civilians in the Pentagon want to go into Iran and destroy as much of the military infrastructure as possible,” the government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon told me.

If we are, as Mr. Hersh asserts, sending troops into Iran via Afghanistan, it would seem that we are using forces against the territorial integrity of Iran. If we have done so, it would seem that we have committed acts of war against Iran. But wait, only Congress can declare war, you may say. Well then, must we conclude that Il Ducetto has violated the Constitution in a not trivial way?

Or perhaps you take comfort in the Pentagon’s denial of the charges. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita released a press release today in which he stated:

The Iranian regime’s apparent nuclear ambitions and its demonstrated support for terrorist organizations is a global challenge that deserves much more serious treatment than Seymour Hersh provides in the New Yorker article titled “The Coming Wars.”

Mr. Hersh’s article is so riddled with errors of fundamental fact that the credibility of his entire piece is destroyed.

Mr. Hersh’s source(s) feed him with rumor, innuendo, and assertions about meetings that never happened, programs that do not exist, and statements by officials that were never made.

We would take greater comfort in Mr. Di Rita’s denial but for three facts. First, Mr. DiRita does not refute Mr. Hersh’s central charge: that U.S. forces have violated the territorial integrity of Iran. Second, Mr. Di Rita’s track record on refuting Mr. Hersh is less than stellar. We shudder to recall his denial of Mr. Hersh’s Abu Ghraib reporting:

"Assertions apparently being made in the latest New Yorker article on Abu Ghraib and the abuse of Iraqi detainees are outlandish, conspiratorial, and filled with error and anonymous conjecture….."No responsible official of the Department of Defense approved any program that could conceivably have been intended to result in such abuses as witnessed in the recent photos and videos. [at globalsecurity.org via warblogging.com ]

Mr. Di Rita has not, to our knowledge, revised his remarks on Mr. Hersh's Abu Ghraib story, despite the revelations of recent months which have rather thoroughly contradicted them. And third? Third is the fact that Iran (regardless of the status of its nuclear program) has a rather large army appalling close to the rather small army we have stationed in Iraq which has already proven itself incapable of controlling the insurgency there. Let’s hope that this time Mr. Di Rita is right and Mr. Hersh is wrong, and that Il Ducetto has not ordered this country’s military to commit acts of war against the territorial integrity of a large and well-armed country in violation of the U.S. Constitution and the U.N. Charter. Today we celebrate Dr. King's birthday. It would be very nice, today especially, if our hopes for peace and justice were realized rather than the fears of unending war abroad and unchecked villainy at home that Il Ducetto's regime brings to mind and heart.

Bloggers following the Iran imbroglio include: Flamingo Jones at The American Street, Lambert and the farmer at corrente, Mustang Sally at RiverRocks, Quiddity at uggabugga, Oliver Willis, Susan at Suburban Guerilla, EBW at Wampum, and The Fixer at the Alternate Brain.

"Desperate" Insurgents Succeed Again

Yahoo! News - Gunmen Kidnap Catholic Archbishop in Iraq: "Gunmen kidnapped a Catholic archbishop and targeted security forces in a series of brazen attacks Monday that killed more than 20 people. U.S. Marines suffered undisclosed casualties in a car bombing in Ramadi, where two Shiite Muslims were beheaded and their bodies left on a sidewalk."

Frist: Social Security Benefit Cuts May Be Necessary (To Ensure Wall Street Profits)

Frist Hints of Sacrifices In Social Security Changes (washingtonpost.com): "Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said yesterday that Americans might need to 'take some medicine' to fix Social Security, and said he would consider a plan being floated by the White House that would reduce scheduled benefits."

Insurgency Spreading In Iraq - "Safe" Provinces Under Attack

Insurgents Kill 16 in Attacks in Iraq: "Gunmen killed eight Iraqi National Guard soldiers at a checkpoint in central Iraq on Monday, and eight people died in a suicide car bombing at a police station north of Baghdad, as insurgents struck at security forces on the day exiles began to register for Iraq's national elections.

Some of the latest violence, including a series of weekend attacks along a highway southeast of Baghdad, occurred in provinces which U.S. and Iraqi authorities have deemed safe enough to hold the elections and appear to be attempts to scare the country's majority Shiites away from the Jan. 30 polls."

Il Ducetto Failing to Protect Homeland From Terrorist Bio-Attacks

Smallpox Exercise Poses Big Question: Is Anyone Ready?: "The CIA agrees. The National Intelligence Council, the CIA's in-house think tank, warned in a report Thursday that terrorists were more likely to obtain and use pathogens and pestilence than nuclear weapons to cause mass casualties in the next 15 years." [--snip--]

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration and Congress have poured billions of dollars into programs to upgrade security and develop vaccines to prevent or control epidemics. But critics say far more needs to be done to counter potential bioterrorism.

Indeed, obtaining lethal germs and toxins still appears surprisingly easy in the U.S. [--snip--]

Moreover, experts increasingly fear that terrorists may seek to replicate the genetic sequence of smallpox and other diseases. Researchers already have charted the DNA sequence of the variola major virus, which causes smallpox, and in theory it could be copied.

The conclusion of Jerzy Buzek who was prime minster of Poland on 9/11 and participated in recent bio-attack war games: "Nobody is ready."

Will They Excommunicate Tom Ridge?


Despite Tom Ridge’s support for the death penalty and abortion, Vatican Cardinals, a handful of “Red” Catholic bishops and lay “Red” Catholic leaders in Karl Rove’s pocket have not publicly threatened to deny him the Eucharist, as they did Catholic Democratic candidate, John Kerry. It seems Mr. Ridge may have finally crossed a line, however. The Raw Story led us to a BBC interview with Mr. Ridge, outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security, in which Mr. Ridge refused to rule out the continued use of torture by officials and officers of the United States Government. Since the interview was aired Mr. Ridge’s spokesman said that he did not “approve” of torture. Mr. Ridge did not, however, take the opportunity this moment of clarification provided to condemn torture.

Citizens of all religious confessions might find Mr. Ridge’s refusal to condemn torture, even when he questions its utility, disturbing.

Mr Ridge told BBC News 24's HARDtalk: "By and large, as a matter of policy we need to state over and over again: we do not condone the use of torture to extract information from terrorists."

But he said it was "human nature" that torture might be employed in certain exceptional cases when time was very limited.

In the event of something like a nuclear bomb threat "you would try to exhaust every means you could to extract the information to save hundreds and thousands of people", he said.

But he admitted there was "a real question" whether using torture on terrorists would actually gain the information required "given the nature of the enemy".

Catholic citizens, however, no doubt are outraged. The Roman Catholic Church’s teachings on torture are not in the least ambiguous. For example, Bishop Kevin Manning of the diocese of Parmetta in Australia observes that:

The teaching of the Church is clear:

Torture which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity …

In times past, cruel practices were commonly used by legitimate governments to maintain law and order, often without protest from the Pastors of the Church, who themselves adopted in their own tribunals the prescriptions of Roman law concerning torture … In recent times it has become evident that these cruel practices were neither necessary for public order, nor in conformity with the legitimate rights of the human person. On the contrary, these practices led to ones even more degrading. It is necessary to work for their abolition. We must pray for the victims and their tormentors. (CCC n. 2297-2298)


Free and responsible
Some of the soldiers at Abu Ghraib are reported to have said that they were just following orders. The Nuremberg Tribunal at the end of World War II did not accept this excuse and neither does Catholic teaching. Every human being is free and responsible. We are responsible for our own actions and can choose not to obey immoral orders. It only took one prison officer answering the call of conscience to bring the abuses at Abu Ghraib to light.

“Red” Catholics in America might not necessarily find the preaching of an Australian bishop too compelling. Unfortunately for these "Reds," however, American bishops, agree with him. The Archdiocese of Chicago’s web page discussing the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Political Responsibility Statement for example, condemns torture and observes that:

Further, the United States has a responsibility to use its power and influence consistently and creatively in the effective service of human rights throughout the world.

Similarly, the Office of Social Justice: Diocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has a web page on Catholic social teaching and guess what? Catholic teaching condemns torture:

The varieties of crime are numerous: all offenses against life itself, such as murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia and willful suicide; all violations of the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture, undue psychological pressures; all offenses against human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, degrading working conditions where people are treated as mere tools for profit rather than free and responsible persons: all these and the like are criminal: they poison civilization; and they debase the perpetrators more than the victims and militate against the honor of the creator. [The Church in the Modern World, #27]

We sure hope the “Red” Catholics begin a “wafer watch” on Tom Ridge for failing to condemn torture as their Church teaches them to. If they don't, we will have to conclude that they and their “Red” bishops and Vatican cardinals want to add torture to the ever lengthening list of social evils the Church condemns a bit, but condemns far less than abortion and equal protection of the laws for gay citizens, enough less not enough to embarrass “Red” Catholic politicians. An IOKIYAR approach to theology, we suppose.

Scientific Applications Who?

Boston.com / News / Nation / Washington / FBI set to dump its new $170m computer system: "-- The FBI said yesterday that a nearly $170 million computer system intended to help agents share data about terrorist threats and other criminal cases is seriously deficient and will be largely abandoned before it is launched. [--snip--]

But the FBI has concluded that the system, the latest version of which was provided by Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego last month, is already outdated. New contractors are examining whether any portions of the system can be salvaged, and are determining how much it will cost to complete the project, the FBI said."

Scientific Applications International Corp of San Diego? Oh, that SAIC:

Diebold hired Scientific Applications International Corporation (SAIC) of San Diego to develop the software security in their voting machines. A majority of officials on SAIC's board are former members of either the Pentagon or the CIA, including:

Army Gen. Wayne Downing, formerly on the National Security Council

Bobby Ray Inman, former CIA Director

Retired Adm. William Owens, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Robert Gates, another former director of the CIA.

So we have a CIA/military private firm that programmed the security in the voting machines for companies owned by some of the largest military contractors in the country.

And that SAIC:

PR Week, May 19, 2003
"US efforts to re-establish Iraq's media hit a milestone last week as defense contractor Scientific Applications International (SAI) rolled out the country's first post-Saddam newspaper and original TV news program," PR Week reports. "The 30-minute nightly news show, staffed by Iraqi journalists formerly in exile, reportedly addresses concerns about electricity, water, and lawlessness in the region. The twice-weekly newspaper, al Sabah ("the Dawn"), began printing on Thursday with an initial run of 50,000 copies. The short-term goal is to quell unrest among Iraqis by establishing America's presence and control over basic issues. The San Diego-based information-technology firm holds a Pentagon-issued contract to set up a media operation in post-war Iraq in coordination with Psychological Operations and the White House communications staff. SAI referred all questions about the contract to the Pentagon, which would not comment beyond confirming the price of the contract, which is $45 million." (see here and here and here as well)

and that SAIC

In January 1999, Hatfill went to work for Scientific Applications International Corp., a defense contractor with an office in McLean, Va., that works with the government in developing defenses against biological weapons. He was there through early March of this year.

and that SAIC

Less well known is San Diego-based Scientific Applications International Corporation (SAIC), one of the Pentagon's largest, most lucrative and politically connected contractors. Of the six billion dollars it earned in revenue last year, about two thirds came from the US Treasury, mostly from the defense budget.

SAIC is among the most mysterious and feared of the big 10 defense giants - feared because of its ruthlessness in procuring contracts, says the Washington Post; mysterious, in part because, as an employee-owned company, it does not have to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and because its press officers are notorious for not providing information. Indeed, for this article, SAIC press officers referred all questions to the Pentagon's general press office.

SAIC, which specializes in advanced technologies that can be applied to the battlefield, particularly in command and control systems, is now deeply involved in the Pentagon's most important operations in Iraq.

That it should be is really no surprise, taking into account its various connections. Among the hawks on the DPB, Rumsfeld's mini-think tank, for example, is retired Admiral William Owens, a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who also served as SAIC's president and CEO and is currently its vice chairman.

Another member of SAIC's board is retired Army General Wayne Downing, who until last summer served as the chief counter-terrorism expert on the National Security Council (NSC) staff.

Before that, Downing also served as a lobbyist for the Iraqi National Congress (INC) led by Ahmad Chalabi, the controversial Iraqi expatriate long championed by the neo-conservatives in the administration and the DPB. Like Shultz, Downing was also on the board of the CLI, which, not coincidentally, worked closely with the INC.

Another prominent SAIC executive and former vice president also has a long-standing connection with Iraq: David Kay, the former UN weapons inspector who was hired by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in June to head the effort to track down Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

A former senior science official in the Reagan administration, Kay argued forcefully last fall against relying on UN weapons inspections to "contain" Iraq and for removing Saddam Hussein from power.

These connections may account for some of SAIC's success in landing Iraqi-related contracts.

For example, it has been running the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council (IRDC) since the body was established by the Pentagon in February.

According to press accounts, the 150 mostly-expatriate Iraqis employed in the program, most of whom have been in Baghdad since May, are to serve as the "Iraqi face" of the occupation authority. Senior members of the IRDC, many of who have been closely associated with the INC, hold posts at each of Iraq's 23 ministries with a mandate to rebuild them.

Perhaps not coincidentally, SAIC's corporate vice president for strategic assessment and development, Christopher Ryan Henry, joined the Pentagon as deputy undersecretary of defense for policy at the same time as the IRDC got underway, serving with Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, who was in overall charge of preparing for post-war Iraq.

SAIC is also a subcontractor under Vinnell Corporation, another big defense contractor that has long been in charge of training for the Saudi National Guard, hired to reconstitute and train a new Iraqi army.

Not much is known about the progress that is being made in either of those projects, but a third has become, by all accounts, a major disaster.

The Iraqi (sometimes referred to as "Indigenous") Media Network (IMN) project, valued initially at a minimum of US$25 million, was formally launched in mid-April as a successor to a psychological warfare program that beamed radio broadcasts before and during the war into Iraq from a C130 cargo plane called "Commando Solo". But the IMN was considerably more ambitious in scope, since its aim, as an outgrowth of the IRDC operation, was to put together a new information ministry, complete with television, radio and a newspaper, and the content that would make all three attractive to average Iraqis.

To oversee the job, SAIC hired away the director of Voice of America (VOA), Robert Reilly, an outspoken right-wing ideologue who began his public career in the 1980s as a propagandist in the White House for the Nicaraguan contras.

Reilly tangled immediately with his deputy, Mike Furlong, a Pentagon contractor who worked on media issues in Kosovo. Both men were out of the project by the end of June, according to knowledgeable sources.

"SAIC didn't have any suitable qualification to run a media network," according to Rohan Jayasekera, who has kept an eye on media developments in Iraq for London-based Index on Censorship. "The whole thing was so incredibly badly planned by them that no one could make sense of what they were doing," he said.

Jayasekera noted, for example, that SAIC ordered equipment that was incompatible with existing systems in Iraq and that it had made no plans for TV programming. When it asked for help from VOA, which considers itself a professional news organization, it was forced to rely on hastily patched together and dubbed network news programs, much of which would appeal only to a domestic audience.

"Increasingly, the newscasts became irrelevant for Iraqis," one source told The Washington Post in May. "They're not really interested in the Laci Peterson [murder] case."

A page reserved for the project on the website of the US provisional authority in Iraq said Wednesday, "There is no information available at this time."

Three months into the project, Ahmad Rikabi, a highly-regarded Iraqi expatriate brought in to help manage the operation, abruptly quit, apparently frustrated at the lack of planning, resources and investment that SAIC put in the project and the hemorrhaging of his professional staff, some of whom had not been paid for weeks.

"Saddam Hussein is doing better at marketing himself, through al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya Gulf channels," Rikabi told reporters.

One of the project's principal trainers, Don North, who had worked with media in Afghanistan, has also quit, complaining to the New York Times that the Pentagon was not interested in professional journalism.

"Its role was envisioned to be an information conduit," he said, "and not just rubberstamp flacking for the CPA", the initials of the occupation authority run by L Paul Bremer.

The Pentagon itself has kept the project stumbling along on short-term contracts with SAIC, but, according to Jayasekera, is actively looking for an alternative. The fact that that SAIC was hired in the first place, however, "appears to have been a serious mistake".

and that SAIC

The internet naming system, known as the "domain name system"
has made the transition to the private sphere from the once
taxpayer supported public sphere, under guardianship of the
National Science Foundation. The current operator of the
name registry, the InterNIC (internet network information center),
is Network Solutions, Inc.who now enjoys a highly profitable monopoly.

Network Solutions, Inc., who is owned by Scientific Applications
International Corporation (SAIC) began charging for the once gratis
name registrations in September 1995 as the internet was well on its
transition to a commercial marketplace. Their registration fee of
$100 for the first 2 years of service has richly lined NSI's coffers
as the number of registrations reached around 50,000 per month during
1996.

SAIC, one could conclude, is a scam run by military industrial complex types which takes tons of government money in return for really bad products and services. Just like Halliburton, but not so famous.

UPDATE: The comments to DavidNYC's post on Kos include more details about "Son of Halliburton," including opensecret's discussion of their corporate and individual campaign donations, and Center for Public Integrity's discussion of the emoloyment links between government officials and SAIC.