The Thinking Man - You Tube

See, I told you so.

Catch you later.....

The Raw Story | Bush Administration will keep secret 'grim' Afghanistan report quiet until after election

The Raw Story Bush Administration will keep secret 'grim' Afghanistan report quiet until after election:

A secret US intelligence report which says the political and military situation in Afghanistan is "grim" will be withheld from the public until after the election, a new report says.

Intelligence officials are finishing up the National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan, according to ABC's Brian Ross, "but there are 'no plans to declassify' any of it before the election," an official said.

Is this what McCranky means when he claims to put country before party? Hypocrites!

Catch you later.....

(photo by Violinsoldier/Flikr)

What Price a Nation?

American Democracy sold out for "30 pieces of silver"; from the NY Times:

LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL FOR TREASURY AUTHORITY
TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS

Section 1. Short Title.
This Act may be cited as ____________________.

Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.

(a) Authority to Purchase.--The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.

(b) Necessary Actions.--The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:

(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;

(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;

(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;

(4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and

(5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.

...Sec. 8. Review.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

(emphasis mine)

Go to the link and see how easily and cheaply we can sell our national soul. It's only $2,333 per man, woman and child.

As long as we no longer need our Constitution or Bill of Rights, why not get rid of that pesky Judiciary?

And Congress? Traitors and capitulators all! String 'em up.

The NeoCon (emphasis on the "con") wet dream come true.

Call and Email your representatives at once and demand Congressional debate and oversight, as well as judicial review. This is BushCo's final assault on America and it must be stopped.

Catch you later.....

(Image courtesy of AntiWarPosters.com)

Update: Email response from Rep. Darrell Issa...

Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I am honored to serve you in Congress and take my obligation to you seriously. Your thoughts and concerns are always important to me and do make a difference. Please know that I will respond to your message as soon as possible.

If your message requires immediate attention, please do not hesitate to contact my Washington, D.C. office at 202-225-3906 and speak to a memberof my staff. You may also contact my Vista, California office at760-599-5000.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be of service.

Oh, you can be sure to hear from me, Congressman, but will you be listening?

FBI disregarded secret court on private records - Yahoo! News

FBI disregarded secret court on private records - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI twice disregarded a secret court's constitutional objections and obtained private records for national-security probes, a U.S. inspector reported on Thursday....

...An influential Senate Democrat accused the FBI of "systemic failure" and the American Civil Liberties Union said the reviews demonstrated a need to check the agency's authority....

...Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the report "outlines more abuses and what appears to be the improper use of National Security Letters for years in a systemic failure throughout the FBI ... Legislative action may be necessary to correct these abuses."

The FBI's assertion that is working to correct flaws in the system with an eye toward protecting civil liberties is believeable. Right? They're trustworthy, right? Santa?

Catch you later.....

Thanks, Georgie, you're doin' a heck of a job!

Retail gasoline price hits record: AAA - Yahoo! News

Remember when the war in Iraq was going to pay for itself?

TOM TOMORROW:

http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2008/03/10/tomo/

One extremely gratifying aspect of the Web is the ease with which one can go back and look anew at the lunacy of the Neocons and their demon-partners, the "religious" right.

Together, I think with malicious intent, these marginally aware, minimally conscious groups have brought us to the brink of the destruction of the American Dream. Out of pure avarice. Greed. The lust for power.

And in John McLame they offer us 4 more years of this mindless crap, with the added attraction of an anger management problem.

Meanwhile, democrats, progressives, liberals, whatever are fighting among themselves like a bunch of jealous sisters around prom time. Jeebus people, look at the stakes, grow a spine and get down to the dirty work that lies ahead.

Impeach Already! Protect the Constitution!

I've been looking hard at this on-line, learn Chinese at home deal, 'cause it looks like it'll be more important here in So-Cal than even Spanish before long. We're giving the store away!

The inter-personal, intra-party B.S. going on in the Netroots, cable news, and elsewhere is, frankly, disgusting, especially given the long term stakes.

Supreme Court, anyone?

Admiral Fallon's departure today does not bode well for the near term future. Think Bush will go for a hat-trick? Three wars in one Administration! War with Iran! Because Iraq was a typo?!

Our culture, history, current level of education, awareness does not bode well for taking the long view. Something that opposing entities (nations, philosophies, religions, whatever) seem to do easily.

Enlightened Self-Interest Anyone?

Catch you later.....

Military Manpower Shortfall

Received a troubling E-Mail from an old shipmate today.

He's 56, last active duty 1975, retired from Naval Reserve 1999, Ready Reserve (like me) since.

He's been called back for active duty with the National Guard! After some quick training in Florida, he will report to Iraq later this spring to serve as an MP for 12 to 15 months.

Things are going so well in Iraq that an old salt, whose specialty is instrument optics, who is less than 10 years from Medicare, is to go overseas and carry a gun in a freakin' war zone!

Does this mean the Chimpster-in-Chief will be joining the fray next February? He still owes some service time, as I reckon. Hey, Georgie! Gonna join in the fun? Ya AWOL bastard.

Catch you later.....

Court rejects ACLU challenge to wiretaps - What a surprise!

Court rejects ACLU challenge to wiretaps - Yahoo! News

.....ACLU officials described the situation as a "Catch-22" because the government says the identities of people whose communications have been intercepted is secret. But only people who know they have been wiretapped can sue over the program.

A lawsuit filed by an Islamic charity met a similar fate. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year ruled against the Oregon-based U.S. arm of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, concluding that a key piece of evidence is protected as a state secret.

In that case, the charity alleged the National Security Agency illegally listened to its calls. The charity had wanted to introduce as evidence a top-secret call log it received mistakenly from the Treasury Department.

The hits just keep on coming.

Catch you later.....

Bush Family Mini-series

The Bush family is to be featured in a sequel to ROOTS.

The working title is FERTILIZER.

Catch you later.....

The Spies Who Love You - Mark Fiore's Animated Cartoon Site

Enjoy:

Mark Fiore's Animated Cartoon Site

Daily Kos: FISA Fight: Here's what happens when you tell the truth

Daily Kos: FISA Fight: Here's what happens when you tell the truth

Finally! A glimpse of a spine... Am I dreaming?

I won't feel less safe at 12:01am, I'll feel more safe.

Catch you later.....

This Modern World - GOP Dream or Nightmare?

This Modern World Salon Comics

DUH!

With a year to go, trust academia to prove what has been obvious to all but 29% of us for a very long time.

Study: False statements preceded war - Yahoo! News

What galls the most is Shrub and Dick's cynical belief, since proven mostly true, that they would get away with it because a fearful mob is easy to lead and we want to believe our elected leaders in time of crisis. And just because they could. Bastards!

Catch you later.....

NEW BUSH COINS...funny

It's funny. Scary but funny.

_: NEW BUSH COINS

Catch you later.....