Have a happy one

Have a pint on SPIIDERWEB™.

Cat Blogging

Had to break away for a quick couple of posts. First up is cat blogging.

One last post for now

This is a hit whore post. Can't wait to see the traffic it generates.

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NUDE KIDS
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My additions
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nude
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porn

Stolen from Bloggasam.

Sorry

Tree of Life

Little to no posting for the next several hours. Sometimes my life intrudes.

When advertising slogans collide

I bet there are more examples out there. Send 'em to me if you find or create some.

(via Jonco)

Really important must read IMHO

Go.

I'm number one

No one tops me for "Popcorn Chicken Recipe" on a Google™ search for "popcorn chicken recipe stuffing".

Sometimes the internets tubes make me laugh. Make me laugh very hard.

Top aide to U.S. attorney general resigns over prosecutor firings

Hmmm. What comes to mind? Oh yeah, rats and ships.

The top aide to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned Tuesday amid revelations that White House staff initiated the decision to fire federal prosecutors.

A statement from the Justice Department confirmed the resignation of Kyle Sampson, who was Gonzales's chief of staff.

Sampson may be called to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the issue of the firings of eight U.S. attorneys.

Democrats have likened the dismissals to a political purge and even called for the resignation of Gonzales himself.

"U.S. attorneys have always been above politics, and this administration has blatantly manipulated the U.S. attorney system to serve its political needs," said Senator Charles Schumer, No. 3Democrat in the Senate.

He said Sampson's departure "does not take the heat off the attorney general. In fact, it raises the temperature."

Tho I don't condone Kyle Sampson's complicity in this mess, I do applaud his integrity to walk away from it all. There are many more government employees who are ignoring the problem to retain their jobs. I understand them, but doubt I would not join them.

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Another perspective

Courtesy of ASWJ BLOG.

Referring to my earlier post. It seems the media didn't report sheikh Omran's remarks entirely accurately. In fact they fucked them up completely.

..."What we have nowadays? As the most important scientists, when they meet last month, they call them scientists of the day of judgement... did you hear about that meeting? It was the conference in Europe... And when they reveled curtain they put three minutes to twelve. Like three minutes left to the world to finish. Finish because of what? Because of our deeds. Because of our science. Because of our experiments. This Experiments went so wild because there is no control, fear of Allah is not there. So we have now polluted air, polluted water. a waste land..."

...

..."Real civilised person (is the one) who lives harmoniously with the surrounding around them. Who is good, as same as to other human as same to the fish in the water. As same to the bird in the air, as same to the plant in the ground. This is the real civilised person.

This is why you see in our sharia you are not allowed to cut the tree for no reason. Or, to harm bird without reason. But water is must to be looked after. "...

Thank you ASWJ for your input.

I have such great readers. And we correct when we find problems. Gotta love the internets tubes.

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Howard Dean shows his balls

Howard Dean keeps impressing me. He didn't hang the moon, but he's doing what he can.

WASHINGTON, March 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following release was issued today by the Democratic National Committee:

The best way for Attorney General Gonzales to accept responsibility is to step down. While the American people soundly rejected the Republican Culture of Corruption last November, the Bush White House continued to put partisan politics ahead of the interests of the American people when it fired US Attorneys and inserted politics into ongoing criminal prosecutions.

"The best way for Attorney General Gonzales to accept responsibility is for him to step down," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "The Bush White House has consistently put protecting the President and doing his bidding ahead of upholding the integrity of our nation's laws. Karl Rove should pack his bags and go too. His type of leadership doesn't belong at the White House. America deserves better."

I'm so proud of that juvenile headline which is my own.

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Are you on the "no fly" list?

I can't vouch for the accuracy of this info, but it appears to be correct. You can decide for yourself.

I'm on the list. No surprise. Even without an outdated algorithm, I fully expected to be on it. My guess is any liberal, anti-Bush bloggers are on it.

Yeah, its a strange graphic for this post, but it is a "no fly" graphic. Jeez.

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When sharks attack

Sometimes there is justice. One shark attacked another.

A prosecutor with the Palm Beach County State Attorney's office became the victim of an apparent shark attack Sunday while surfing at the Tiger Shores Beach off Hutchinson Island in Martin County.

Authorities said Adam McMichael, 29, of Boynton Beach, apparently fell of his surfboard just before 2 p.m. when a shark attacked him and tore a lange chunk of flesh from his forearm.

Disclaimer and self preservation: I've never had any interaction with an attorney which I would describe as negative. I respect the profession and nearly joined it. This post is just a cheap shot which is compulsory in my family.

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(via neatorama)

Why Bush hates Hugo Chavez

Because Hugo Chavez is right and a threat to imperialism.

Bush Justice

Phone sex: No comment

Must Read IMHO

Absolute must read. This will blow you away. Its an interview by David Swanson of Sibel Edmonds. Eventually this is going to get very very ugly.

Swanson: But you clearly came upon things that the FBI did not want to see made public - would have found embarrassing. Things that you made public to the extent that you were able, that things were poorly translated, things were missed, things were done wrong, and you reported to higher-ups that you had colleagues who were not doing their work properly.

Edmonds: Correct - and, again, there were two categories involved. In some cases it was either intentional or unintentional, unintentional due to incompetence - certain information that was not translated before 911 or they were translated inaccurately. And I also emphasize intentional cases that I reported.

The second category (of things that I reported) was other information that was available and there were significant issues, significant cases, that were not pursued because of 'certain diplomatic relations' and this is something that a lot of people have a hard time understanding, and that is, selective selection of information. That is, let's say certain information came from, let me give you a hypothetical example, let's say it came from Iraq, or certain Iraqi individuals, you can bet that would be processed because of the Axis of Evil Doctrine by our President

Swanson: Whereas Saudi Arabia is 'less evil', for example?

Edmonds: Absolutely! Or you would have in certain cases, there were certain cases that you had several individuals or entities from different nations, let's say, Pakistan, or Turkey, or Israel - and that information, due to pressure by the State Department, they were not transferring that information from counter-intelligence (they were obtained under counter-intelligence, ok) - to the counter-terrorism division - even though they were relevant, extremely relevant, directly relevant.

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The Email That May Take Down Alberto Gonzales

I'm not too sure Gonzales will be taken down, but I doubted Rumsfeld would. What I am sure of is Cheney will be next to last to go and Bush absolute last if the purge continues.

An important point of contention in the rapidly escalating controversy over the recent mass-firing of U.S. Attorneys is whether the Bush administration ever intended to invoke its authority under Section 546 of Title 28. This provision, which was inserted at the last second into the Patriot Act reauthorization last year, allows the Attorney General to bypass the normal Senate confirmation process and simply install U.S. Attorneys at his discretion.

When he testified before Congress in January, Alberto Gonzales was adamant that the Administration had no intention of invoking this provision:

This is a good compilation over at The Anonymous Liberal.

I personally am delighted when their tactics come back and bite them in the ass.

For your amusement

Stolen entirely from Big Shot Bob in Texas.

This is a timed test and you have 10 seconds to click on the answer!!!!

Best of luck and well Big Shot Bob got a score of 5, now that is not bad considering the fact that Al Gore got a 4. And of Course George W. Bush could not get pas[t] the Ready Key! And SPIIDERWEB™ is pissed because he only got 8. Damn!

http://www.richstevens.com/flash/iq.swf

Corps placed faulty pumps in New Orleans

I really apologize to my readers. I've ignored this story and should not have.

The Army Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush's promise to protect New Orleans by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The 2006 hurricane season turned out to be mild, and the new pumps were never pressed into action. But the Corps and the politically connected manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy-duty pumps working properly.

The pumps are now being pulled out and overhauled because of excessive vibration, Corps officials said. Other problems have included overheated engines, broken hoses and blown gaskets, according to the documents obtained by the AP.

Such a huge surprise. Its a "politically connected manufacturer" who is fucking NOLA. What does Bush have to do before he's thrown out on his ass? Just asking.

And yes, I do blame Bush because he's a fucking bully who would pressure people at the Army Corps of Engineers to do whatever it takes to "appear" to protect people.

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Gonzales rejects calls for resignation

File under: No fucking way!!!1!!

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales rejected growing calls for his resignation Tuesday as scores of newly released documents detailed a two-year campaign by the Justice Department and White House to purge federal prosecutors.

Gonzales acknowledged his department mishandled the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys and misled Congress about how they were fired. He said he was ultimately to blame for those "mistakes" but stood by the firings.

Alberto Gonzales is an honorable man and would never...

Sorry, I was out of my head for a bit there. As a friend once said to me, "Ya never know when the drugs are gonna kick in."

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Jesus H Crist with cold sores!

I can't believe that last fucking post took nearly an hour to upload. I kept getting useless error messages saying an HTML tag wasn't closed, but it didn't identify the location. Argh!!!1!!

But I persisted because I'm anal and decided it was one of my more important screeds. You be the judge as you always are.

Why Dems should fear Former Senator Fred Thompson

I have 6 reasons why the Dems should fear a former Senator Fred Thompson run for the WH.

1. Ronald Reagan.

2. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

3. His stature is impressive. At 6' 6" (1.98 m) he's a most imposing figure. Check out the pix. Your eye is drawn to him even when walking with Roberts, the Chief Justice of the SCOTUS. Imagine his standing next to Kim Jong Il.

4. He's a former US Senator.

5. That voice. The deep, strong voice of authority. Hell, he was the voice of Andrew Jackson. And it has that easy, good ol' boy, down-to-earth southern drawl to it that voters eat up like candy.

6. This is the clincher. Hollywood knows how to cast actors. When they want someone with stature, authority and gravitas they don't cast Adam Sandler. They cast Fred Thompson as:

the White House Chief of Staff,
an FBI Agent,
a doctor,
a Rear Admiral,
a Major General,
a District Attorney,
a prosecutor,
the Director of the CIA,
a Lieutenant Colonal, or even
the POTUS his own self.

This guy has been pre-packaged for the American public as the "go-to" guy. The guy who can be trusted. The guy you can depend on to save the day. He's near perfect.

Trust me. Don't follow all the links unless you're really enticed. But you might want to click on the next one.

But here's the thing that scares me the most. His association with AEI (the American Enterprise Institute). He's a fucking neocon. We don't need another neocon. You can trust me on that one too.

Hollywood couldn't come up with a more perfect candidate for president and the GOP would be unimaginatively stupid to not draft Thompson. Of course we have George Clooney to counter Thompson, but...

Are all guests welcome?

This is the perfect doormat.

I've tried to tell you this

"Spiders are cool..."

-- Tim F
Balloon Juice

Too bad spiders is spelled wrong. Always use two "Is".

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CLIPS: O'Reilly to viewer: "Your so-called compassion helped kill those children" in Bronx fire

This is taken from Media Matters. All emphasis is in the original.

Bonus points, I stole the headline too.

From the March 9 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: And then there is that terrible fire here in New York City, where eight children were killed, children of parents born in Mali, West Africa. Because New York is a sanctuary city that protects illegal aliens, The Factor cannot confirm whether or not all these children were in the USA legally.

What we can confirm is that 17 children were living in a rowhouse, along with five adults, that one of the men in the house had two wives -- one upstairs, one downstairs -- and that living conditions were chaotic and dangerous.

After our report last night, I received this letter from [viewer] in Houston. "O'Reilly, it was despicable to hear you question the status of those children. I was a big fan of yours but I'll never watch you again and urge others who feel compassion for immigrants not to watch you as well."

OK, [viewer], but here's the no-spin truth, so listen up. Your so-called compassion helped kill those children. They should have never been in that circumstance. If the authorities had investigated as they should have, those kids might be alive right now, legal or not.

It is against the law to overcrowd a dwelling. It is against the law to have two wives. If any one of those people were here illegally, that is another infraction. But New York City looks the other way. It doesn't want to know.

It is people like you, [viewer], who promote that kind of chaos in the name of compassion, who look the other way while poor workers and children are exploited by greedy landlords and businesses because you don't like the immigration laws.

Yeah, it's great to be compassionate sitting at home watching the tube. But for decades, our government has allowed people from all over the world to walk in here without supervision. That's why these children are dead -- because their chaotic situation was ignored by New York City authorities.

[...]

O'REILLY: I'm basically saying that we must get this situation of illegal immigration under control. The chaos is killing children. Go.

RIVERA: I think to draw -- to make the connection between illegal immigration and
that horrific fire in the Bronx two days ago is an injustice to the victims of that fire. Why did they die?

There's no code violations that they found. There were no required, you know -- everything in the building so far --

O'REILLY: Twenty-two people in the house.

RIVERA: There were two batteries missing in the fire alarm.

O'REILLY: Twenty-two people in a house.

RIVERA: But, Bill, the status of the immigration is not relevant.

My legal nanny has children in school with three of those victims. It is the human cause. And if you --

O'REILLY: This is what you missed. I'm going to give you the last word. But this is what you missed. This is a sanctuary city. That means the authorities do not ask any questions about anybody's status or anybody's condition.

RIVERA: Bill, they're dead children, for God's sake, they're dead children.

O'REILLY: If they had been American children --

RIVERA: They'd still be dead children. It would still be heartbreaking.

O'REILLY: No, the authorities would have gone in and checked them out.

RIVERA: No, please. That's not so.

O'REILLY: Yes, it is.

RIVERA: You don't know that to be a fact.

O'REILLY: Yes, I do.

RIVERA: You don't --

O'REILLY: You know it is.

RIVERA: -- there are little babies dead. There are people -- mothers throwing babies out the window. They're dying. Falling onto the -- you've got to be compassionate, brother. You've got to be compassionate.

O'REILLY: Twenty-two people in a rowhouse. They don't let people do that.

RIVERA: You gotta take a step back and say, "Wait a second, this isn't about illegal immigration. This is about the human cost of a terrible tragedy."

O'REILLY: This is about a system --

RIVERA: Those firemen were crying. They were crying because the babies died.

O'REILLY: Four of the firemen were almost killed.

RIVERA: That's right.

O'REILLY: And that situation never should have existed. Never.

RIVERA: Please, I've covered poverty in this country for 35 years. I've seen legal poor people living under conditions far more squalid than that. That was a working family at a good school. You've gotta divorce their status from their victimization.

O'REILLY: They have to be supervised. And they weren't.

Think what you will about Geraldo Rivera. He is a show boater, he loves the attention and limelight. All true. But his passion is genuine especially compared to O'Reilly's.

In this case he's absolutely right. Human life is human life regardless of nationality or citizenship. O'Reilly is human excrement a piece of shit (I had second thoughts).

Oh yeah, notice O'Reilly said Geraldo would be allowed the last word? Who really got it? O'Reilly could never give anyone the last word, anytime, anywhere, anyway. He's a total ass.

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Treasury Department misusing Patriot Act

Something has to be done about the Patriot Act. Its being abused in so many ways as to become a de facto replacement for the Constitution. And isn't it always nice when a piece of legislation can be called a sledgehammer? Just asking.

Under a little-noticed provision in the USA Patriot Act, the Treasury Department has ordered severe restrictions against foreign banks or countries for reasons beyond the stated purpose of the law and without producing evidence.

Section 311 of the 2001 Patriot Act was drafted to halt terrorist financing and money laundering, but the Bush administration has used it against an alleged source of terrorist financing - a bank in Syria - only once. The Treasury has invoked it more often to punish alleged human-rights abuses or offshore banking havens.

Although Congress has yet to examine the Treasury's use of Section 311, the provision is likely to add to the controversy over other sweeping powers the executive branch of government acquired under the Patriot Act. According to a recent audit, the FBI used the act illegally to obtain personal information about U.S. citizens, and the administration has agreed to abandon a provision that it used to replace eight U.S. attorneys for what Democrats charge were partisan political reasons.

"It becomes a form of expanding executive power that's difficult to check," said Shayana Kadidal, staff attorney for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, a rights organization that's critical of many Patriot Act provisions.

Supporters view Section 311 as a diplomatic sledgehammer that gets results. Critics - many of whom refused to speak on the record, saying they feared retribution - complain that the provision denies suspects due process and presumes that the accused are guilty rather than innocent.

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Israel recalls El Salvador envoy after reportedly found naked, drunk

Here they go again. Why can't they all just agree on the facts?

First from ABC Online.

Israeli ambassador found naked, drunk on city street

Then from HAARETZ.COM

The Foreign Ministry recalled Israel's ambassador to El Salvador, Tzuriel Refael, after he was found in the back yard of his residence naked, drunk, bound and gagged, it emerged Monday. [emphasis mine].

My guess is had I bothered to sift through more stories about this incident eventually I'd run across the article saying he was found in the lobby of the local Hilton or in a fountain in the city's center.

Human Rights Worker Charged With Espionage

First the story or at least part of it.

An African government with a reputation for heavy-handedness is detaining a respected human rights worker on spying charges, drawing condemnation and rebukes from U.S. lawmakers and anti-corruption activists.

Nearly four weeks ago, security forces from the government of Angola stormed the hotel room of Dr. Sarah Wykes, a 41-year-old British activist visiting the country to meet with government and nonprofit officials. Wykes' group, Global Witness, has criticized the Angolan government for taking billions of dollars from oil companies while most of its residents live in poverty.

After jailing her for several days, Angolan authorities charged her with espionage. The government has denied Wykes her own lawyer. Though she has been released on bail pending her trial, Wykes is not permitted to leave Angola.

...

Global Witness, is a non-profit group that has been exposing oil corruption in Angola for years. A recent International Monetary Fund report shows that the country has taken in almost $18 billion in oil revenue, but that at least $4 billion of it has gone missing. Despite the large profits for the government, more than 70% of the country's population lives in poverty.

...

Fifteen members of Congress have signed letters strongly rebuking the Angolan government's actions. One letter signed by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Barack Obama (D-IL), urges the government to "personally ensure that Dr. Wykes is not being targeted unfairly and that she is granted permission to return to the United Kingdom at the earliest possible date."

Another letter signed by Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA) and Tom Lantos (D-CA) among others, uses even stronger language.

"While the United States values its trading and strategic relationships with Angola and, accordingly, Congress has provided $45 million in military, economic development and humanitarian assistance to Angola in 2007, we are equally committed to ensuring that our allies and partners who benefit from our foreign assistance comply with international standards of human rights."

OK, first off it doesn't sound like this woman has access to anything "sensitive". Doesn't espionage require some sort of state or military secret gathering?

Next there are the letters. Only 4 Congress critters are mentioned, tho 15 have written letters. Does it not strike you as strange that no "compassionate conservatives" are mentioned? The story only mentions Dems.

Finally there's that little blurb about $45 million in assistance to Angola from the US? What the fuck is that? The Angolan government is taking in almost $18 billion in oil revenues, $4 billion of which they've "lost", and the US is still giving them aide? Send the $45 million to the gulf states.
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Iran and the Congo's Vanishing Uranium Bars

How long before this becomes a big item in the MSM? So far I've read nothing. Its possible nothing has been reported because there's no there there, but still. The MSM ran with the Niger yellow cake story right from the start.

A mysterious Congo vanishing uranium bars incident has emerged, coinciding with a decisive International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of governors meeting in Vienna on March 5-8, regarding Iran's nuclear program.

According to Kinshasa's Le Phare newspaper (March 7), "more than 100 bars of uranium as well as an unknown quantity of uranium contained in helmet-shaped cases, had disappeared from the nuclear centre in Kinshasa as part of a vast trafficking [operation]" (Le Phare, 8 March 2007, Le Phare, 7 March 2007)

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's Commissioner for atomic energy Professor Fortunat Lumu and his associate were arrested over allegations of uranium smuggling. The Congo's state prosecutor, Tshimanga Mukeba said that Lumu is being "questioned regarding the alleged disappearance of unspecified quantities of uranium in recent years." He is accused of "orchestrating illicit contracts to produce and sell uranium". (BBC, 8 March 2007)

The IAEA is also said to be "investigating the situation". While the names of the alleged buyers were not revealed, the evolving consensus within the Western media, based on an "authoritative" August 2006 Sunday Times report, which is quoted profusely in syndicated press reports, is that Tehran might be behind the uranium smuggling operation.

Iraq, Iran, Niger, The Congo, yellow cake, missing uranium 238 bars.

A feeling of déjà vu.

Remember the Niger uranium yellow cake, which was used as a pretext to wage war on Iraq.

Ironically, while Professor Lumu was arrested on March 6 for alleged smuggling of uranium 238 (natural uranium) in Kinshasa, back in the US, on the same day, former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted by a federal grand jury on multiple counts of perjury and obstruction of justice in relation to the Niger "yellow cake" operation.

According to US media reports, Bush's adviser Karl Rove and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage were also involved.

As confirmed in the trial proceedings, the yellow cake story was a fabrication triggered by forged documents which described Saddam Hussein as buying "yellow cake" from Niger allegedly for the production of a nuclear bomb. Libby was acting on the orders of Vice President Dick Cheney, who is widely believed to have instigated the "yellow cake" psyop.

Déjà Vu?

Are we dealing with a similar fabricated Psyop in the case of the alleged missing Congo uranium bars, which could at some later date be used as a pretext directed against Iran?

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Must Read IMHO

Iyad Allawi

An excellent article by Pepe Escobar in Asia Times.

The Bush administration has perfected the art of fall-guy selection. The more convoluted the plot, the more credible the fall guy must be. As Lewis "Scooter" Libby was the fall guy in Washington, Premier Nuri al-Maliki will be the fall guy in Baghdad.

The Baghdad conference on Saturday was a derivative talk-fest setting up three committees to prepare the way for another meeting at the foreign-minister level next month in Istanbul. The subtext, though never explicit, is more glaring: it is the absolute US impotence to guarantee security or stability in Iraq, and the desperate search for a way out, now pitting the "axis of fear" (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates) against the "axis of evil" (Iran and Syria).

...

General David Petraeus, touted as the miracle worker who might save the occupation from itself, had to admit on the record that in fact the surge won't solve or stabilize anything. To "stabilize" Baghdad to a minimum, the US would have to deploy at least 120,000 combat troops.

But that's not the point. The point is that this gory chronicle of a failure foretold is inevitably slouching toward the "secret" US Plan B - which is none other than installing the new Saddam Hussein: in this case the same old "Saddam without a mustache" (as he is known in Baghdad) Iyad Allawi. Allawi's stellar record - former car-bomber, Ba'ath thug, alleged embezzler (in Yemen), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) asset, corrupt interim prime minister and "butcher of Fallujah" - could have been penned by a Hollywood hack.

Maliki has been the fall guy from the start. Unlike Libby in Washington, he was not following Dick Cheney's command. He may have even suggested the broad terms of the surge to Bush. But the Bush administration had no trouble trapping him in his own insecurities in one more operetta starring loads of "collateral damage".

Many have contended a new "Saddam Hussein" is the only way to get control of Iraq. If so, what was the whole point of this little adventure? The real Saddam Hussein was already there and it sure doesn't look like Allawi will behave any differently. The only distinction is he's Bush's guy. The Iraqi people probably won't be any better off than they were under the real Hussein.

Support the troops: Demand impeachment

Its not my headline nor my post, but came from Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast. I was gonna post about injured soldiers' being sent to Iraq, but she did such a good job I'll defer. Just a bit.

"This is not right," said Master Sgt. Ronald Jenkins, who has been ordered to Iraq even though he has a spine problem that doctors say would be damaged further by heavy Army protective gear. "This whole thing is about taking care of soldiers," he said angrily. "If you are fit to fight you are fit to fight. If you are not fit to fight, then you are not fit to fight."

As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records.

And Bush says we libs don't support the troops, but he does. Bullshit!

My problems are, for now, solved

Its taken a long time and almost endless searching for solutions, but I'm back online.

I'm no guru and to try to solve connection problems which seem to be at my end is really a PITA (pain in the ass).

Locked out of the internets tubes

You may have noticed, if you're a regular, I'm reactionary and a sometime encourager. I don't come up with the "big ideas" without some source to get me thinking. I don't write essays out of whole cloth.

Currently all my attempts to access sites are timing out. Without the online dictionary and access to other blogs and online news sources, this guy can't really blog.

I have no idea what's going on. Perhaps this post won't work. If it does, I promise I'll return as soon as the internets tubes allow.

Taliban Defense Minister Freed Two Days after Capture

Was it all just for show because Cheney was in town? Sure looks like it.

Former Taliban defense minister Obaidullah Akhund, reportedly captured the day Vice President Dick Cheney visited Pakistan, is reportedly back on the loose.

A Swiss newspaper claimed Sunday that the Taliban’s former defense minister was free two days after his reported capture by Pakistani security forces. The Swiss weekly SonntagsBlick said one of its reporters spoke to Mullah Obaidullah Akhund on Feb. 28 unhindered in an Islamic school in the southwestern city of Quetta.

And BTW, isn't a member of the Taleban considered a key player in the terrorist networks? Just asking.

Also BTW, if you follow the link you will see, although probably true, this story hasn't been confirmed.

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AFGHANISTAN: War crime immunity law gets green light

This is gonna be popular. It seems Bush's style of rule is spreading. There's nothing wrong with committing criminal acts.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday signed a controversial bill which provides sweeping amnesty for war crimes committed over more than two decades of conflict in Afghanistan.

Afghan legislators who have been opposing the bill criticised the move.

"We are deeply concerned over the contents of this undemocratic document," said Shukria Barakzai, an MP and democracy activist whose parliamentary group opposes the amnesty law.

Mir Ahmad Joyenda, another lawmaker, told IRIN that those "MPs opposing the immunity law were explicitly threatened by powerful warlords in the national assembly".

Noor Akbari, a former Afghan diplomat, said the enacted law contradicts the country's constitution and will violate some of the international human rights treaties to which Afghanistan is a signatory.

To be clear. No one has the right to grant amnesty to war criminals. No one. There are some people who don't deserve amnesty such as child molesters, serial killers and especially war criminals.

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Report: Climate effects here now

Sometimes I feel I'm posting far too much about this subject, but it does seem to be accelerating. When scientists seem to be scared, its serious because they don't panic easily.

The harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up, and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people won't have enough water, top scientists are expected to say next month at a meeting in Belgium.

At the same time, tens of millions of others will be flooded out of their homes each year as the Earth reels from rising temperatures and sea levels, according to portions of a draft of an international scientific report obtained by the Associated Press.

Tropical diseases like malaria will spread, the report says. By 2050, polar bears will mostly be found in zoos, their habitats gone. Pests like fire ants will thrive.

For a time, food will be plentiful because of the longer growing season in northern regions. But by 2080, hundreds of millions of people could face starvation, according to the report, which is still being revised.

The draft document by the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change focuses on global warming's effects and is the second in a series of four being issued this year. Written and reviewed by more than 1,000 scientists from dozens of countries, it still must be edited by government officials.

But some scientists said the overall message is not likely to change when it's issued in early April in Brussels, the same city where European Union leaders agreed this past week to drastically cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020. Their plan will be presented
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to President Bush and other world leaders at a summit in June.

The report offers some hope if nations slow and then reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions, but it notes that what's happening now isn't encouraging.

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U.S. speeds visas for Cuban doctors in other countries

Somehow this seems like supreme hypocrisy, that we'll accept Cuban trained doctors, but still belittle Fidel Castro's rule, but I can't put my finger on it. Or did I?

Hundreds of Cuban doctors and other medical personnel who defected in other countries have applied for fast-track entry into the United States under a 6-month-old special program, U.S. officials said.

More than 100 already have arrived in the United States under the program, and hundreds more are hiding in places such as Bolivia and Venezuela, awaiting U.S. background checks to ensure that they're medical professionals, not rights abusers or Cuban government agents.

After a slow start, the program, intended for Cuban medical personnel who defect while they're working abroad, has received so many applicants that Cuban-American activists are scrambling to assist the new arrivals. There are reports that Cuban authorities are visiting family members of doctors stationed abroad to warn them of reprisals if their relatives flee.

"It's a hugely successful program," said Emilio Gonzalez, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the Department of Homeland Security. "The word is getting out, and obviously we get an increased number every week."

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Vampire hunters drove stake through Milosevic's heart

File under: Beyond bizarre. Sometimes the world is just so weird.

Serbian vampire hunters rammed a wooden stake through the heart of former dictator Slobodan Milosevic to stop him 'returning from the dead'.

Miroslav Milosevic, no relation to the former president, gave himself up to police who have launched an investigation.

He claimed he and his fellow vampire hunters acted to stop the former dictator returning from the dead to haunt the country.

(read more)

New Feedblitz feed

I've added a Feedblitz sign-up button to the right sidebar. I think I've done it right, but am not sure. It allows readers to receive email notices of SPIIDERWEB™ blog updates. If you choose to subscribe and it works, I would love to hear from you to know its working.

Just fill in your email address and click on the "Subscribe me" button.

I will, of course, not give nor sell your email address to anyone. It is just for subscription service only. I hate spam as much as you do.

Personally, I don't use such subscriptions because I get automatic update notices with Bloglines, but I know some people prefer emails.

The little confab in Baghdad

You will soon see why the headline is so vague. Did any journalists actually attend? Just asking. First headline and a snippet.

Accusations fly at Iraq conference

The United States and Iran traded blame for the violence engulfing Iraq at a conference of Iraq's neighbors Saturday that was hailed as a first step toward resolving the building tensions between the decades-old rivals.

Seated near opposite ends of a large rectangular table, the U.S. and Iranian envoys exchanged accusations of kidnapping, arms smuggling and inciting violence, tempering hopes of an imminent thaw in their relationship.

Though they talked for nearly eight hours, the delegates from 13 nations and three organizations failed to reach agreement on the main item on the agenda: setting a time and a place for their next meeting, to be held at the ministerial level.

Just as the envoys were about to break for lunch, two mortars exploded beside the Foreign Ministry building where the conference was taking place, underscoring the dangers inherent in holding any kind of high-level gathering in Baghdad.

Then we have this.

US envoy says talks with Iran, Syria 'businesslike'

he US ambassador to Iraq says Saturday's conference with Iran and Syria on Iraqi security was businesslike and constructive.

Zalmay Khalilzad spoke with reporters by conference call from Baghdad after meeting with representatives of Iran and Syria about helping pacify their neighbor, Iraq.

"The overall mood was businesslike, constructive exchanges, nobody was pounding the table, the exchanges were quite, I would say, ordinary and there was a frank and sometimes even jovial exchanges," he said after the meeting in the US Green Zone in Baghdad.

Why yes, I've attended many business meetings where we exchanged accusations of kidnapping and inciting violence. Who hasn't?

Then we come to this one.

Iraq says Baghdad conference a success

Iraq signalled that world powers and neighbouring countries, including Washington and its adversaries Iran and Syria, had agreed in Baghdad it was vital to all to stop sectarian violence spreading in the region.

Well, maybe it was a success after all.

Just tell me something, do bloggers get it much more wrong than these clowns? Just asking.

Australian cleric credits climate change to the ungodly

Super idiots are not confined to the US.


Muslim cleric Sheik Mohammed Omran

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said Sunday that Sheik Mohammed Omran's sermon linking rainfall to piety was just plain wrong.

The radical Muslim cleric on Friday called climate change the prophet's pay-back for a sinful world.

"While we have free speech in Australia, people will have the good sense to reject those things which bear no relationship to the truth," Bracks said. "I've a lot of faith in the people of Victoria and the people of Australia to stand up and say 'No, that's wrong.'"

(courtesy link to Raw Story)

Container Holding Uranium Found At Pawn Shop

First of all, why in hell did he keep it?

Second, Bush didn't have to look to Iraq and Nigeria for yellow cake, he could have found it in Florida. Jeb could have picked it up for him.

A container believed to be holding 1 ounce of uranium yellow cake was recovered at a Central Florida pawn shop on Thursday, according to authorities.

Marion County Fire Rescue officials retrieved the container with the uranium yellow cake, which is a processed form of uranium, from Gold Mine Pawn in Belleview after being called in regards to a suspicious container.

The container was a lead cylinder with markings that the contents were radioactive, according to Marion County officials.

The owner of the pawnshop said the container was kept in a box that had been in storage since being purchased from an out-of-town estate sale about 20 years ago.

(read more)

Poll: Character Trumps Policy for Voters

Come on now. All these folks were elected because no one had a clue about their character?

Bill Frist
Roy Blunt
Richard W. Pombo
Maxine Waters
Randy "Duke" Cunningham
William J. Jefferson
Conrad Burns
Bob Ney
Tom Feeney
Gary Condit
Newt Gingrich
Bill Clinton
George H W Bush
George W Bush
Wilbur Mills
Bob Packwood
Richard Nixon
James Strom Thurmond

Now either this poll was poorly worded or, and this is what I think happened, the people told the pollsters what they thought the pollsters wanted to hear. Or, slightly differently, they gave answers that would make them look better to the pollsters.

(read more)

Something the MSM probably won't tell you

Which is interesting inasmuch as it involved the Associated Press (AP).

The US military has said that a soldier was justified in erasing journalists' footage of the aftermath of a suicide bombing and shooting in which at least eight Afghans were killed.

In a letter to the Associated Press news agency a military spokesman said publication could have compromised an investigation and led to false public conclusions.

"Investigative integrity is one circumstance when civil and military authorities will reluctantly exercise the right to control what a journalist is permitted to document," Colonel Victor Petrenko, chief of staff to the US commander in eastern Afghanistan, said on Friday.

The letter was a response to a protest from the Associated Press which had employed the two freelance journalists who were forced to delete photographs and video footage of the incident in Barikaw, eastern Afghanistan on 4th March.

Thirty-four people were also wounded in the violence.

Petrenko said that photographs or video taken by "untrained people" might "capture visual details that are not as they originally were".

...

Kathleen Carroll, the Associated Press executive editor in New York, disputed the assertions.

"That is not a reasonable justification for erasing images from our cameras," she said.

"AP's journalists in Afghanistan are trained, accredited professionals working at an appropriate distance from the bombing scene. In democratic societies, legitimate journalists are allowed to work without having their equipment seized and their images deleted."

I could see a reasonable case for confiscating the photos and video as evidence to be used in the investigation of the incident. Although obtaining copies would be better.

However, destroying potentially useful evidence doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
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Bush seeks 8,200 more troops for wars

What's truly sad about this is Bush and probably the Dems view this as a cost thing. It is a cost thing, but it isn't about the money, its about the lives of our military people.

And as Bush continues to float in his own little bubble he seems unaware he is asking for resources the military just doesn't have.

President Bush asked Congress on Saturday for $3.2 billion to pay for 8,200 more U.S. troops needed in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of the 21,500-troop buildup he announced in January.

Bush wants Congress to fund 3,500 new U.S. troops to expand training of local police and army units in Afghanistan. The money also would pay for the estimated 3,500 existing U.S. troops he already announced would be staying longer in the region to counter an anticipated Taliban offensive in Afghanistan this spring.

In Iraq, most of the additional troops would help with the latest Baghdad security plan, which is getting under way in the capital. The money would pay for 2,400 combat support troops, 2,200 military police forces and 129 troops for reconstruction teams.

The budget revisions come as many lawmakers opposed to the buildup in Iraq are debating funding for the war. But in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Bush proposed canceling $3.2 billion in low-priority defense items to offset the extra money needed to support the additional troops.

And this at the same time the Pentagon Struggles to Find Fresh Troops

Military leaders are struggling to choose Army units to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan longer or go there earlier than planned, but five years of war have made fresh troops harder to find.

Faced with a military buildup in Iraq that could drag into next year, Pentagon officials are trying to identify enough units to keep up to 20 brigade combat teams in Iraq. A brigade usually has about 3,500 troops.

The likely result will be extending the deployments of brigades scheduled to come home at the end of the summer, and sending others earlier than scheduled.

Final decisions _ which have not yet been made _ would come as Congress is considering ways to force President Bush to wind down the war, despite his vow that he would veto such legislation.

In the freshest indication of the relentless demands for troops in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commander of coalition forces in the north, told reporters Friday that his troops have picked up the pace of their attacks on the enemy in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.

"Could I use more forces? No question about it," Mixon said, adding that he had asked for more.

(pic via Shakespeare's Sister)

For your amusement

Its over at MILITANTPLATYPUS and its a animated stereogram.

Quote of the day

"I’ve slept with too many women to be a politician."

-- George Clooney
A-list actor, director
and producer

2008 Beijing Olympic games

This is the "Bird Nest" building being built in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. Its the Olympic National Stadium and is fantastic. Wait 'till you see the other pix.



That blue building in one pic at the "Bird Nest" link is the "Bubble Building". Its fashioned after natural soap bubbles and will be the National Swim Center.

How nerdy are you?

This just gets bigger and bigger

I'm talking about the judicial firings for "apparent" political reasons. And guess who's right in the middle.

Presidential advisor Karl Rove and at least one other member of the White House political team were urged by the New Mexico Republican party chairman to fire the state's U.S. attorney because of dissatisfaction in part with his failure to indict Democrats in a voter fraud investigation in the battleground election state.

In an interview Saturday with McClatchy Newspapers, Allen Weh, the party chairman, said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to a White House liaison who worked for Rove and asked that he be removed. Weh said he followed up with Rove personally in late 2006 during a visit to the White House.

"Is anything ever going to happen to that guy?" Weh said he asked Rove at a White House holiday event that month.

"He's gone," Rove said, according to Weh.

"I probably said something close to 'Hallelujah,'" said Weh.

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Must Read IMHO

Its about time these people started speaking out.

A new generation of pastors has expanded the definition of moral issues to include not only global warming, but an array of causes. Quoting Scripture and invoking Jesus, they’re calling for citizenship for illegal immigrants, universal healthcare and caps on carbon emissions.

The best-known champion of such causes, the Rev. Jim Wallis, this week challenged conservative crusader James C. Dobson, the chairman of Focus on the Family, to a debate on evangelical priorities.

“Are the only really ‘great moral issues’ those concerning abortion, gay marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence?” Wallis asked in his challenge. “How about the reality of 3 billion of God’s children living on less than $2 per day? — What about pandemics like HIV/AIDS — [and] disastrous wars like Iraq?”

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