01.31.06
Posted in SSquirrel at 7:36 pm by SSquirrel
Martin Garbus
It came about this way. The Democrats wanted Magistrate Federal Judge Susan Wingenton to be a federal judge. The Bush Administration said no.
This year the Bush Administration agreed to give the Democrats who they wanted in exchange for the Democrats agreeing to remove the Abramoff prosecutor. Wingenton got her appointment; the Democrats agreed to the removal of Noel Hillman, and he accepted a judgeship. Bush got rid of him, put in his own man, and the Abramoff prosecution ended.
Interesting post, but the asst. prosecutor is still there and while she is a bit of a winger, I don’t think she’s a true believer. I think they still got trouble. ‘Least Ney does.
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 11:09 am by SSquirrel
Akaka, Hawaii; Baucus, Mont.; Bingaman, N.M.; Byrd, W.Va.; Cantwell, Wash.; Carper, Del.; Conrad, N.D.; Dorgan, N.D.; Inouye, Hawaii; Johnson, S.D.; Kohl, Wis.; Landrieu, La.; Lieberman, Conn.; Lincoln, Ark.; Nelson, Fla.; Nelson, Neb.; Pryor, Ark.; Rockefeller, W.Va.; Salazar, Colo.
These people have violated their oath of office. They swore to defend the Constitution and they did not. Trading ethics for expediency may make you a good politician, but it makes you a lousy human being. Your job is to represent the people of the United States and to defend the Constitution. You didn’t, You know it.
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 10:10 am by SSquirrel
Carol D. Leonnig
WaPo
In a letter to the attorney general yesterday, Feingold demanded to know why Gonzales dismissed the senator’s question about warrantless eavesdropping as a “hypothetical situation” during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January 2005. At the hearing, Feingold asked Gonzales where the president’s authority ends and whether Gonzales believed the president could, for example, act in contravention of existing criminal laws and spy on U.S. citizens without a warrant.
Gonzales said that it was impossible to answer such a hypothetical question but that it was “not the policy or the agenda of this president” to authorize actions that conflict with existing law. He added that he would hope to alert Congress if the president ever chose to authorize warrantless surveillance, according to a transcript of the hearing.
The Attorney’s General of The United States committed perjury before congress. Will the Democrats in congress go on TV shoutfests every day and demand his resignation? Fuck no. Why not? Fuck if I know. Stupidity?…
Permalink
01.30.06
Posted in SSquirrel at 12:19 pm by SSquirrel
ROBERT PEAR
~NYT
Millions of low-income people would have to pay more for health care under a bill worked out by Congress, and some of them would forgo care or drop out of Medicaid because of the higher co-payments and premiums, the Congressional Budget Office says in a new report.
The Senate has already approved the measure, the first major effort to rein in federal benefit programs in eight years, and the House is expected to vote Wednesday, clearing the bill for President Bush.
It said that by 2010 about 13 million low-income people would have to pay more for prescription drugs, and that this number would rise to 20 million by 2015.
“About one-third of those affected would be children, and almost half would be individuals with income below the poverty level,” the report said in addressing co-payments for prescription drugs.
Under the bill, states could end Medicaid coverage for people who failed to pay premiums for 60 days or more. Doctors and hospitals could deny services to Medicaid beneficiaries who did not make the required co-payments.
The budget office said the new co-payments would save money by reducing the use of medical services.
“About 80 percent of the savings from higher cost-sharing would be due to decreased use of services,” the report said.
Once again, Repugnicans prove that Jesus is not what they believe in.
Permalink
01.29.06
Posted in SSquirrel at 5:51 pm by SSquirrel
IAN JAMES ~AP
Cindy Sheehan, the peace activist who set up camp near President Bush’s Texas ranch last summer, said Saturday she is considering running against Sen. Dianne Feinstein to protest what she called the California lawmaker’s support for the war in Iraq.
“She voted for the war. She continues to vote for the funding. She won’t call for an immediate withdrawal of the troops,” Sheehan told The Associated Press in an interview while attending the World Social Forum in Venezuela along with thousands of other anti-war and anti-globalization activists.
“I think our senator needs to be held accountable for her support of George Bush and his war policies,” said Sheehan, whose 24-year-old soldier son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004.
Sheehan said running in the Democratic primary would help make a broader point.
“If I decided to run, I would have no illusions of winning, but it would bring attention to all the peace candidates in the country,” she said.
Being in Iraq just makes it easier for the to recruit. At this point we just fuel anger and unite Sunnis with Zarqawi. Pull back the troops, negotiate a cease fire, send in the Pros from Dover. (The UN) It’s what they do. This ain’t rocket science people, Chimpy, Chumpy, and Rummy just make it look hard…
S(ecretary)Squirrel
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 2:20 pm by SSquirrel
Will Dunham ~Reuters
The U.S. Army has forced about 50,000 soldiers to continue serving after their voluntary stints ended under a policy called “stop-loss,” but while some dispute its fairness, court challenges have fallen flat.
“As the war in Iraq drags on, the Army is accumulating a collection of problems that cumulatively could call into question the viability of an all-volunteer force,” said defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute think tank.
“When a service has to repeatedly resort to compelling the retention of people who want to leave, you’re edging away from the whole notion of volunteerism.”
A report commissioned by the Pentagon called stop-loss a “short-term fix” enabling the Army to meet ongoing troop deployment requirements, but said such policies “risk breaking the force as recruitment and retention problems mount.” It was written by Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer.
So much for the “all volunteer” bullshit…
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 1:27 pm by SSquirrel
Daniel Klaidman, Stuart Taylor Jr. and Evan Thomas
By then, Goldsmith was gone from Justice. He and his wife (who is a poet) and two children had moved to Cambridge, where Goldsmith had taken a job on the Harvard Law faculty. Other dissenting lawyers had also moved on. Philbin, who had been the in-house favorite to become deputy solicitor general, saw his chances of securing any administration job derailed when Addington, who had come to see him as a turncoat on national-security issues, moved to block him from promotion, with Cheney’s blessing; Philbin, who declined to comment, was planning a move into the private sector. Levin, whose battles with the White House took their toll on his political future as well, left for private practice. (Levin declined to comment.) Comey was working for a defense contractor.
Maybe Chimpy should appoint Bork head of the OLC? Of course Alanis could sing “Isn’t It Ironic” at the press conference and Fearless Leader still wouldn’t have a clue…
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 12:58 pm by SSquirrel
NYT Editorial
A bit over a week ago, President Bush and his men promised to provide the legal, constitutional and moral justifications for the sort of warrantless spying on Americans that has been illegal for nearly 30 years. Instead, we got the familiar mix of political spin, clumsy historical misinformation, contemptuous dismissals of civil liberties concerns, cynical attempts to paint dissents as anti-American and pro-terrorist, and a couple of big, dangerous lies.
Nice, well written, indisputable. Left out George W. Bush should resign for the good of the country though…
Permalink
01.28.06
Posted in SSquirrel at 6:01 pm by SSquirrel
He met with staffers from Republican Sen. Rick Santorum’s office, who promised to look into the matter. The senator wrote to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, asking for an investigation of Stoffel’s complaints, according to documents supplied to The Associated Press by Santorum’s staff.
Heartened, Stoffel went back to Iraq, where he was summoned to a series of meetings in the Green Zone to discuss his complaints. Eventually, after arguing back and forth, it was agreed that Zayna would make an initial payment to the contractors.
Five days later, Stoffel and Wemple were shot to death.
Another link to the lovely and talented (though probably not real tall) Ms Desi…
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 5:07 pm by SSquirrel
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee seems to be a criminal in his spare time…Desi is far too kind…
A representative from another company that has lobbied Weldon’s office said a senior Weldon aide suggested the firm retain Grimes. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to protect his company from retribution.
“He didn’t flat out say to hire her,” the official said, recalling the aide’s advice. “But he said … it would be good to have her on our side.”
The company did not retain Grimes because “the situation didn’t feel right,” the firm’s representative said.
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 4:47 pm by SSquirrel
ANDREW C. REVKIN ~NYT
The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
The scientist, James E. Hansen, longtime director of the agency’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said in an interview that officials at NASA headquarters had ordered the public affairs staff to review his coming lectures, papers, postings on the Goddard Web site and requests for interviews from journalists
But Dr. Hansen said that nothing in 30 years equaled the push made since early December to keep him from publicly discussing what he says are clear-cut dangers from further delay in curbing carbon dioxide.
In several interviews with The New York Times in recent days, Dr. Hansen said it would be irresponsible not to speak out, particularly because NASA’s mission statement includes the phrase “to understand and protect our home planet.”
He said he was particularly incensed that the directives affecting his statements had come through informal telephone conversations and not through formal channels, leaving no significant trails of documents.
Dr. Hansen’s supervisor, Franco Einaudi, said there had been no official “order or pressure to say shut Jim up.” But Dr. Einaudi added, “That doesn’t mean I like this kind of pressure being applied.”
“The thing that has always struck me about him is I don’t think he’s political at all,” said Mark R. Hess, director of public affairs for the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., a position that also covers the Goddard Institute in New York.
“He really is not about concerning himself with whose administration is in charge, whether it’s Republicans, Democrats or whatever,” Mr. Hess said. “He’s a pretty down-the-road conservative independent-minded person.
“What he cares deeply about is being a scientist, his research, and I think he feels a true obligation to be able to talk about that in whatever fora are offered to him.”
Cover-up is JOB ONE. All else is not their problem. Fearless Leader: Worst President Ever…
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 4:27 pm by SSquirrel
Juan Cole ~Salon
“The stunning victory of the militant Muslim fundamentalist Hamas Party in the Palestinian elections underlines the central contradictions in the Bush administration’s policies toward the Middle East. Bush pushes for elections, confusing them with democracy, but seems blind to the dangers of right-wing populism. At the same time, he continually undermines the moderate and secular forces in the region by acting high-handedly or allowing his clients to do so. As a result, Sunni fundamentalist parties, some with ties to violent cells, have emerged as key players in Iraq, Egypt and Palestine.
“Democracy depends not just on elections but on a rule of law, on stable institutions, on basic economic security for the population, and on checks and balances that forestall a tyranny of the majority.”
Truth you won’t find on cable “news”
S(igmund)Squirrel
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 6:49 am by SSquirrel
The blogs-vs.-establishment fight represents the latest version of a familiar Democratic dispute. It boils down to how much national candidates should compromise on what are considered core Democratic values – such as abortion rights, gun control and opposition to conservative judges — to win national elections.
Jim VandeHei ~WaPo
Women’s rights may be important, and part of opposition to fringe dwelling fascist judges that are well coached in lying to Congress, but gun control and opposing nuts are not a “core” anything. Is Jim being deliberately stupid? Dangerously ignorant? Just a lousy writer? All three?
It’s drivel like this that cause the Repugnicans to totally ignore the media and go right on lying to the American People. The so called “liberals” are the majority in every poll, Single payer health care? Any intelligent person says obviously yes. Just look at the overhead in Medicare, not to mention every other modern country in the world. Hell it’s a ridiculous drag on competitveness in a global economy if nothing else.
Abortions? Religous nuts do more to encourage unwanted pregnancy than Budweiser. No sex ed, no birth control, no low cost pre-natal health care, no “working wage”, no day care, no free health care for kids. Kids without even basic health care? In this country! That’s a “Core Belief”.
Fair taxes, No fake wars against third rate tinpot dictators, Clean descent shools, Clean air and water…Core Fucking Values moron. You want gun control? I’ll show ya 10/10 inside the nine. Who wants to sell cheap guns to kids and criminals? Obviously just gun companies and the NRA.
Republican wedge issues are not “liberal” or “core values” of our side. Just because they scream “black or white”, we say the truth is obviously gray.
Jim, c’mon, at least do your job. 5 W’s .
S(cribbled)Squirrel
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 5:24 am by SSquirrel
ESTES THOMPSON ~AP
Army officials are investigating allegations that members of the celebrated 82nd Airborne Division appear on a gay pornography Web site, a spokeswoman said Friday.
Authorities at Fort Bragg have begun an inquiry into whether the paratroopers’ actions violated the military conduct code.
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 5:09 am by SSquirrel
CHARLES J. HANLEY ~AP
Iraqi human rights activist Hind al-Salehi contends that U.S. anti-insurgent units, coming up empty-handed in raids on suspects’ houses, have at times detained wives to pressure men into turning themselves in.
Iraq’s deputy justice minister, Busho Ibrahim Ali, dismissed such claims, saying hostage-holding was a tactic used under the ousted Saddam Hussein dictatorship, and “we are not Saddam.” A U.S. command spokesman in Baghdad, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, said only Iraqis who pose an “imperative threat” are held in long-term U.S.-run detention facilities.
But documents describing two 2004 episodes tell a different story as far as short-term detentions by local U.S. units. The documents are among hundreds the Pentagon has released periodically under U.S. court order to meet an American Civil Liberties Union request for information on detention practices.
In one memo, a civilian Pentagon intelligence officer described what happened when he took part in a raid on an Iraqi suspect’s house in Tarmiya, northwest of Baghdad, on May 9, 2004. The raid involved Task Force (TF) 6-26, a secretive military unit formed to handle high-profile targets.
“During the pre-operation brief it was recommended by TF personnel that if the wife were present, she be detained and held in order to leverage the primary target’s surrender,” wrote the 14-year veteran officer.
He said he objected, but when they raided the house the team leader, a senior sergeant, seized her anyway.
“The 28-year-old woman had three young children at the house, one being as young as six months and still nursing,” the intelligence officer wrote. She was held for two days and was released after he complained, he said.
Like most names in the released documents, the officer’s signature is blacked out on this for-the-record memorandum about his complaint.
Say it ain’t so, GI Joe…
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 4:53 am by SSquirrel
“Truth no longer matters in the context of politics and, sadly, in the context of cable news,” said Aaron Brown, whose four-year period as anchor of CNN’s NewsNight ended in November, when network executives gave his job to Anderson Cooper in a bid to push the show’s ratings closer to front-runner Fox News.
Permalink
01.26.06
Posted in SSquirrel at 6:18 pm by SSquirrel
CNN.com
Ed Cox, the son-in-law of Richard Nixon who launched and then suspended a campaign to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, has decided to sit out the 2006 race.
“After careful consideration of the circumstances and conditions as they exist surrounding the race, including the now-shortened time frame available to run an aggressive and effective campaign, I will not seek my party’s nomination,” Cox, a Republican, said in a written statement Thursday.
Last summer, Cox, a 58-year-old Manhattan lawyer, began seeking elective office for the first time, believing he had the backing of state Republican leaders.
But when Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, 54, entered the race in August and received a public endorsement from three-term Republican Gov. George Pataki, Cox withdrew.
Cox had raised and spent $1.3 million barnstorming the state. His latest Federal Election Commission report showed him with $38,357 cash on hand.
After Pirro’s campaign sputtered through a marred announcement speech and sluggish fund-raising, a majority of the state’s 62 Republican county chairs pushed her to run for state attorney general.
“Will the state GOP settle for its eighth choice?” Democratic spokesman Blake Zeff said in a news release.
Buehler?…Buehler?
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 6:01 pm by SSquirrel
via Thinkprogress
The Bush administration has pulled out all the stops in attempting to defend the NSA’s warrantless domestic spying program. After speeches by President Bush and Attorney General Gonzales, Deputy Director of National Intelligence and former NSA Director General Michael Hayden took another crack at the defense in a speech on Monday. He’s not exactly the ideal choice to restore the administration’s credibility.
As Think Progress documented back in December, Hayden misled Congress. In his 10/17/02 testimony, he told a committee investigating the 9/11 attacks that any surveillance of persons in the United States was done consistent with FISA.
At the time of his statements, Hayden was fully aware of the presidential order to conduct warrantless domestic spying issued the previous year. But Hayden didn’t feel as though he needed to share that with Congress. Apparently, Hayden believed that he had been legally authorized to conduct the surveillance, but told Congress that he had no authority to do exactly what he was doing. The Fraud and False Statements statute (18 U.S.C. 1001) make Hayden’s misleading statements to Congress illegal.
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 1:23 pm by SSquirrel
Senator Tim Johnson, who apparently doesn’t give a crap about the Constitution, Women’s Right’s, or the right’s of any minority, has decided to betray his country and support Alito for the Supreme Court. Who wants to run against this coward? You have my support.
WaPo
Meanwhile, the White House renominated Brett M. Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. President Bush nominated Kavanaugh, the White House staff secretary, in July 2003, but he fell victim to intense battles between Senate Democrats and Republicans over numerous judicial appointments. A May 2005 bipartisan pact averted a showdown over judicial filibusters and enabled some contested nominees to win confirmation.
Hey Harry, Shut it down. “Arrogance, Incompetence, and Corruption” there’s your theme.
Permalink
Posted in SSquirrel at 12:52 pm by SSquirrel
By JOHN O’NEIL
and CHRISTINE HAUSER
President Bush today called on Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, to stay in office despite the apparent victory of the rival faction Hamas in parliamentary elections.
Mr. Bush noted that “a government hasn’t formed yet” in the wake of Wednesday’s vote. “And our message to Mr. Abbas is that we would hope he would stay in office and work to move the process forward,” he said.
Mr. Bush declined to state flatly whether he would deal with a government that Hamas participated in. But, he said, “I have made it very clear that a political party that articulates the destruction of Israel as part of its platform is a party with which we will not deal.”
Overall, Mr. Bush took a positive view of the elections, saying they “remind us of the power of democracy.” .
“When you give people the vote and give themselves a chance to express themselves at the polls, and if they’re unhappy about the status quo, they’ll let you know,” he said.
Mr. Bush brushed off suggestions that the results marked a setback to his policy of lessening conflict in the Middle East by promoting democracy. In the last year, Iran has voted in a hard-line Islamic government, Iraq has given religious Shiite parties a dominant place in its new government and Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood have done well in elections in Lebanon and Egypt.
“We’re watching liberty spread across the Middle East,” he said.
I would hope (probably in vain) that someone has, by now, pointed out to the Clueless Fucktard In Chief that Abbas as President, not a Prime Minister, has four more years as President. I have no hope that anyone, including the media, will point out to him that his policy of not engaging in diplomacy with countries who won’t agree to accept Fearless Moron’s point of view before they even get to talk to anyone in the State Department is dangerous, stupid and ignorant. When it comes to diplomacy, the United States is like Porsche, there is no substitute. I guess the theory is that countries should be treated like lobbyists. If you stop making nuclear weapons we’ll let you get your picture taken with Condi (Little George too, if you contribute to the RNC!)
Mr. Bush’s tone was a marked contrast to the reaction among European leaders, who expressed caution and concern. Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, called the outcome a “very, very, very bad result.”
Mr. Bush said the results showed that Palestinians were upset about corruption in the government led by Mr. Abbas’s Fatah party and its failure to provide services. He called the results were a “wake up call” that should “open the eyes of the old guard.”
“On the other hand,” he said of Hamas, “I don’t see how you can be a partner in peace if you advocate the destruction of a country as part of your platform. And I know you can’t be partner in peace if your party has got an armed wing.”
(Note: Fatah also has an armed winged, you idiot)
Earlier today, Ms. Rice said that Hamas should react to its apparent victory in the Palestinian elections by laying down its weapons and accepting Israel’s right to exist.
Speaking by videophone to a session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Ms. Rice declared that “democracy and terrorism are incompatible.”
“Democracy brings not just rights but obligations and responsibilities, too,” she said. “One of these is to be a fighter for peace and not for war and not for violence.”
Ms. Rice said she thought Hamas’s unexpectedly strong showing had much to do with frustration among Palestinians over the corruption of the government led by the Fatah party founded by Yasir Arafat. “I suspect that the Palestinian people were expressing their desire for change,” she said.
But Ms. Rice said that the international community had to send “a clear signal” to Hamas that it needed to drop its hard-line agenda.
(Apparently Ms. Rice is too busy posing for photos and shopping for shoes to actually do her fucking job)
In Britain, a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said today that his government was prepared to work with Hamas, but only if it ended its reliance on violence.
“Of course we recognize electoral mandates,” the spokesman said, according to news agencies, “but equally people have to be clear that you can only do business with those who have renounced terrorism.”
Mr. Berlusconi struck perhaps the gloomiest tone. “If this news was confirmed, everything we had hoped for, that chance for peace between Israel and Palestine, is postponed to who knows when,” he said, the agencies reported.
The French prime minister, Dominiqe de Villepin, expressed “concern.” He said the conditions for negotiating with any Palestinian government were “renunciation of violence and agreeing to move forward according to the peace objectives that have been fixed.”
“And, second, recognition of the state of Israel and international agreements,” he said.
(more at WaPo)
There is an old saying that even a blind Squirrel finds the occasional acorn. But this administration seems to have not a shred of squirrel anywhere in sight. The world is becoming more dangerous and less stable every day the incompetents in the current administration stay in office. We need to face the truth, these people are the most serious threat to our country in the long term and the short term. But on Planet Chimp the skies are always pink and the parking is free (for rich people). So somehow this is a victory and “We’re watching liberty spread across the Middle East” .
So I guess it’s Miller Time; take three more months off Little Man, you’ve earned it?
S(wiss)Squirrel
Permalink
01.25.06
Posted in SSquirrel at 1:23 pm by SSquirrel
ERIC LIPTON
The Bush administration, citing the confidentiality of executive branch communications, said Tuesday that it did not plan to turn over certain documents about Hurricane Katrina or make senior White House officials available for sworn testimony before two Congressional committees investigating the storm response.
The White House this week also formally notified Representative Richard H. Baker, Republican of Louisiana, that it would not support his legislation creating a federally financed reconstruction program for the state that would bail out homeowners and mortgage lenders. Many Louisiana officials consider the bill crucial to recovery, but administration officials said the state would have to use community development money appropriated by Congress.
In response to questions later from a reporter, the deputy White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, said the administration had declined requests to provide testimony by Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff; Mr. Card’s deputy, Joe Hagin; Frances Fragos Townsend, the domestic security adviser; and her deputy, Ken Rapuano.
Mr. Duffy said the administration had also declined to provide storm-related e-mail correspondence and other communications involving White House staff members. Mr. Rapuano has given briefings to the committees, but the sessions were closed to the public and were not considered formal testimony.
Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, objected when administration officials who were not part of the president’s staff said they could not testify about communications with the White House.
“I completely disagree with that practice,” Ms. Collins, chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in an interview Tuesday.
According to Mr. Lieberman, Michael D. Brown, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, cited such a restriction on Monday, as agency lawyers had advised him not to say whether he had spoken to President Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney or to comment on the substance of any conversations with any other high-level White House officials.
White House and other federal agencies have been less helpful, members of the investigating committees said, particularly the Pentagon and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, who is the subject of the sole subpoena issued so far.
Exposing what a total fuckup Fearless Leader really is at this crucial point in the war on terror would seriously demoralize the brave men and women in our armed forces. No doubt mass suicides would ensue. So in the interests of national security we are unable to talk to anyone about anything for the foreseeable future.
Permalink
« Previous entries ·