The Crooked Dissembler Local

The Straight Talk Express is up on blocks in BS Ville, USA.

This week, John McCain took on war critics as being too critical of the status of Iraq. Sort of his special take on the whole "defeatist" line the President was so fond of for a while. First he said Baghdad is so safe that General Petraeus often wanders outside the Green Zone in an unarmored vehicle. CNN checked with Petraeus' staff. They said he never leaves the green zone in anything less than "an uparmored humvee."

Next, McCain said that there are neighborhoods in Iraq that anyone can just walk around carefree as a lamb. General Barry McCafferty, who just returned from Baghdad had this to say when queried: "No Iraqi government official, coalition soldier, diplomat, reporter, foreign NGO, nor contractor can walk the streets of Baghdad, nor Mosul, nor Kirkuk, nor Basra, nor Tikrit, nor Najaf, nor Ramadi -- without heavily armed protection."

I think there are many roads to the Presidency. Being an ass is not one of them.

This morning the alarm went off far too early for any reasonable man. Before I had time to react the radio announced that it had been a "bad weekend" in Iraq. Ever helpful and sensitive to my ears, NPR warned me that the upcoming story contained information regarding the death of children.

Snooze alarm.

The most valued of American perogatives in this age, the snooze alarm. Big fat button bar buys you six more minutes.

Some time ago, at the beginning of this horrible mess, I received an e-mail from a friend, a friend with some 16 years of Christian education behind her, stating that "people are dying. That is what happens in war." The tone suggested that to expect anything different was hopelessly naive and childlike. A kind of "deal with it" mentality. I remember thinking that in 2003 anno domani we should be able to do a bit better than "people die in wars."

We have. We invented the snooze alarm.

This Week in the News

This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee decided to issue subpoenas to various White House figures in connection with the sacking of same eight US Attorneys. The President vowed to fight any such subpoenas but offered to make personnel available for interviews on a bipartisan basis. These of course would be the types of interviews that are not public, have no oaths and no written transcripts and in which no one could actually be compelled to answer a question. Defending the White House' offer, Flakman Tony Snow noted, "You guys said the same thing when the President said he would not testify about Iraq intelligence without the presence of V.P. Cheney. You don't get the fact that this is not a star centered operation. We are more of an ensemble cast. Our lies tend to evolve through several people and we work better live, without any record of what we actual said or did. If there is one thing we learned from the Scooter Show, its that you don't want to be giving a taped monologue."

This week, the fires of the Attorney General Scandal (it gets capital letters once there are subpoenas) were fanned by the statements of Former Assistant Attorney General Sharon Eubanks. Eubanks was part of the team prosecuting the tobacco industry on behalf of the government in 2005. Eubanks, now retired, has stated that the Department of Justice radically scaled back the prosecution of the case including telling prosecution witnesses to change their testimony to favor the industry, scaling back the penalties sought and ordering Eubanks to read verbatim a closing statement prepared for her by the Attorney General's Office. Denying that the DOJ's actions had anything to do with the political muscle of Big Tobacco, AG Alberto Gonazalez stated, "No. It was more a paternal thing. Big Tobacco has been defrauding, misleading and being ruthlessly corrupt for so long. Taking them down would be like the student striking the teacher. Like David Carradine sticking his finger in the eye of that old monk on Kung Fu. Ask yourself, would Grasshopper do that? Some propriety must be observed...."


This week, a group of Pro Life South Carolinians announced they were pushing a law that would require any woman seeking an abortion to first view a sonogram of their fetus. The group hopes that the sight of the fetus would deter a woman from her decision and encourage her to commit the rest of her life to motherhood. Added Priscilla O. Varies, President of South Carolininas Against Babyless Sex (SCABS), the sonogram is just the first step. When the patient enters our clinic we will begin calling her "mom," we will give the fetus a name and urge "mom" to count fingers and toes. It is our hope that all the sentimental attachments of motherhood will overwhelm any actual rational thought about whether a woman should actually have a child or not."

This week, presidential hopeful John McCain added to the long list of issues on which he has changed his position when he said he supported President Bush's 2001 tax cuts. McCain had previously criticized those cuts for favoring the wealthy and ballooning the federal deficit. While McCain defended his fluid position to reporters he then entered the "Straight Talk Express" a bus with the supernatural power to make McCain tell the truth at all costs once he enters it. Once inside, a glassy eyed McCain stated that his new position was influenced by "Cash. Loads of cash. Some of it in the form of checks made to my campaign. Some of it shrink wrapped and stuffed in Fed Ex envelopes ready to be sent to different vulnerable districts without any record. Visions of phone banks, direct mail and niche voter ads dance before my eyes like so many sugar plums. And polls. Lots and lots of expensive polls that identify wedge issues. And it could all be mine if I just get the government off the back of the uber wealthy."

This week, US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton told the BBC that the United States deliberately failed to call for a cease fire in last summers battle between Israel and Hizbollah fighter in Lebanon. Bolton said it was "good politics" to let the conflict proceed in the hopes that Israel could win a military victory. (real quote). Bolton stated that the US only backed a cease fire when it became apparent Isreal would not achieve a military victory. Asked whether the over 1,000 Lebanese civilians who were killed in the dust up would agree with his call Bolton demurred, "Listen, I am in a bit of a rush. Can you just make up some little solemn line that makes it sound like I have all the appropriate sadness over a massive loss of human life. My press secretary has some bits you can work with. Regret the loss of life ... defense of ... something important ... you get the gist."

You Just Gotta Love These Guys

Today in Michigan, the Republican State Senate announced that it would not support Governor Granholm's proposed 2% tax on certain services. The tax, combined with spending cuts or $171 million, was intended to close the almost $3 billion state budget deficit. This was not Granholm's first attempt. She has already trimmed more dollars from Michigan's budget than any other governor in the state's history.

The Republican response to the deficit comes right from the GOP playbook circa. 1980:

• cut $14 million from adult foster care services,
• a 1% cut in Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals,
• a $14.7-million reduction in subsidies to local bus services
• cut $7 million in subsidies for programs to help recently released prisoners; and
• a $34/per student reduction in state aid to schools
• cut $21 million from the Community Mental Health fund

The Senate alos refused to look at increass in liquor or cigarette taxes proposed by the Governor.

So let me get this straight. Instead of me paying an extra .40 on a $20 haircut, we are waving the budget ax at people least able to fend for themselves.

Mind you, if you ever suggested the unfairness of this proposal, they would accuse you of fomenting "class warfare."

This Just In

Fox News reports that the White House stopped Atty. Gen. Gonzalez from appearing on the Sunday talk show circuit. Two possibilities: 1) they didn't want him opening his yap in advance of yesterday's document dump regarding the US Attorney Purge, or 2) they no longer want him to be the face of the Administration, which means his days are numbered.

Four Years On

Today marked the fourth anniversary of the Iraq War. I really do not have anthing to say that I have not already said. But for some useful information check out the following: Frank Rich's chronology in the 3/18/07 NYT, today's Onion and Tim Grieve's War Room at Salon.com. Each, in their own way, offe some insight into this profoundly sad episode.

Someone Finally Said It....

Over the course of writing this blog and its weekly counterpart, "This Week in the News" I have -- at various times -- been criticized for what readers have (correctly) interpreted as my hostility to organized religion. I have been accused of being a "religious bigot" by one reader, and as having a "grudge" by another. Sometimes it is difficult to meet these charge because "respecting faith while shunning its practice" is a hard argument to make. But I think recent events within the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) crystallize my own problem with the practice of christianity in America better than any argument I may make.

First, a little background. The NAE, like the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition is an organization designed by Evangelicals to build the influence of evangelical Christians within the mainstream culture, most importantly, within the Republican Party. A man named Fr. Rick Cizik is the Vice President of the NAE and a few months back created a veritable shitstorm when he stated that the struggle to solve global warming was one of the most important moral issues of our day. Calls for his ouster soon followed and various prominent members of the NAE (most with their own name-brand christian organizations) sent a letter that read in part:

Cizik and others, are using the global warming controversy to shift the
emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time, notably the sanctity
of human life, the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual
abstinence and morality to our children.

First we have to decipher this letter a bit because it uses a lot of code words. By "sanctity of life," the writers do not mean enemies of life like poverty, war disease or famine. They mean abortion. (Christians in America have very little to say about poverty, war, disease or famine. They have a lot to say about abortion.) By "integrity of marriage" they mean the prevention of any legal recognition of gay unions. By "sexual abstinence and morality" they mean the prevention of contraception and pre marital sexual relations. So, according to these folks, the preeminent moral issues of our time are ensuring that no one has sex before marriage, that when they do have sex it is with someone of the opposite sex, and that the aforementioned sex must result in a child.

I think it is absolutely absurd, perhaps insane, to term any of these "the great moral issues of our time." I think you would be hard pressed to argue they make the top three. These issues are undoubtly worthy of serious consideration. I have no doubt that one or all of them has presented a serious moral quandary to particular individuals. But they are not the most serious moral issues of our time. Sex is just not that important. Does anyone look out over the world landscape today and say "The world would be so much better if people did not use condoms." Can anyone honestly look at the world today and say that abortion is the greatest threat to human life in existence? The nuclear weapons we have in our own country can kill more (actual) people than abortions destroy fetuses in an entire year in the US. Is there really anyone who thinks that the world will fall apart if we recognize the unions of gay couples? Can anyone look at Iraq, Darfur, or the various inequalities here in the West and say that abstinence would solve them?

Apparently there are such people and they bear the dubious distinction of doing more harm than good. How is such a morality to be taken seriously?

What has happened is that marginal -- and highly personal -- issues of sexual mores have been elevated to the level of real moral issues, like who shall eat and who shall starve, who shall live and who shall die, and who will advance in a society and who will be left behind. Christians have taken a set of issues, none of which have any serious place in the teachings of Jesus Christ, and all of which are subject to contradictory biblical references, and made them raison d'etre of their faith. At the same time, they have sought fit to ignore those issues which speak to a regard for life on a communal and universal level -- poverty, war, inequality, the destruction of our common home, compassion, forgiveness.

Organized christianity -- much like the culture they often criticize -- has taken what is trivial and made it important, and taken what is important and made it trivial. They should know better.

This Week in the News

This week, Attorney General Gonzalez faced calls for his resignation when it was revealed that he was acting on orders from the White House and Presidential Advisor Karl Rove when he forced the resignations of a number of US attorneys and replaced them with Republican loyalists. The rush of public criticism was blunted howoever, when Gonazalez was informed that the President planned to award him the coveted ABBA award. The ABBA (Annual Boot Boy Award) is given each year to the public servant whose blind loyalty most accomodated the President's intellectual laziness, zeal for unchecked power, and misguided policies. Past recipients include Harriet "You're the Greatest" Miers and Jonathan "The Geneva Conventions are Optional" Yoo. Said Gonzalez, "I now know that the hours of meek fealty, of intellectual indignity, false praise, and reassuring the President that the world is just as he assumes it to be have paid off. It has always been my dream to be a yes man to an ambitious yet uninspiring leader. I am proof that in America, your dreams can come true." The award comes with a handsome plaque and a year's supply of lip balm.

This week, the Vatican announced that it is investigating the work of Spain's Father Jon Sobrino, a prominent theologian. The Vatican is concerned about Sobrino's espousal of Liberation Theology, which places the struggles of the poor for social, political and economic justice at the center of Catholicim. Before he was elected Pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger led a drive to purge the Church of Liberation Theologists, who he believed were closet Marxists. Commenting on the purge of Fr. Sobrino, a Vatican spokeman said, "As has been the Church's history in the 20th century, we must at all time make our faith palatable to those in power, which means we cannot question the legitimacy or justice of the social order. Father Sobrino would be well cautioned forget about the Sermon on the Mount and focus on stuff Jesus never really talked about. There are plenty of onanists and homosexuals to go after."


Ever wonder who is it that pays for all the mayhem that terrorists dish out around the globe? This week, we see that Chiquita Bannana of Cincinnati, Ohio has been footing the bill for at least one terrorist group. Chiquita has admitted that they paid millions of dollars to a right wing paramilitray group, the AUC, in Colombia. The AUC has been reponsible for scores of massacres and kidnappings in Colombia and is also responsible for a portion of the cocaine leaving that country. Chicquita made the payments, which it hid on its books for years, to ensure the safe transport of bannanas out of the Colombian jungle. Aware that an alliance with terrorist cocaine traffikers could damage the corporate brand, Chiquita announced that it was retaing former SNL character Father Guido Sarducci to acts as its spokesman. Sarducci immediately released a statement saying that AUC traffics only in "talcum powder" and executes only "thosa pesky barrio dwellers who getta ina the way of international capitaleesm."

This week, Nigel Griffins, a Minister in the British government resigned his position to protest the governments decision to renew the Trident nuclear missile program. Wow. So somewhere in the world there is a government inwhich men resign their posts on principle. (I hate it when sincere acts of integrity undermine my ability to be sarcastic.)

This week, protesters clashed with police is the Russian city of St. Petersburg, home to current Russian President Vladimir Putin. The protesters were voicing their disagreement with centralizing of authority, the continued war in Chechnya and various other acts of the Russian President. Wow. So somewhere in the world there is a place inwhich people take to the streets when their government abuses its authority. Here we just blog. The weather can be so unpredictable....

But the Same Hole is So Much Easier to Dig...

This week, Governor Jennifer Granholm continued to push her plan to balance the state budget by a mix of budget cuts and tax increases, most of them on services. For the third time in three weeks (but who is counting) the Republican majority in the State Senate said they would veto Granholm's efforts. For the third time in three weeks ( I am counting) the Majority Leader announced the GOP had a plan to balance the budget using only budget cutbacks. For the third time in three weeks, the Majority Leader declined to say what budget items he would reduce.

One could go on about how any more tax cuts would be ruinous (example: Michigan is laying off 30 state troopers, demoting about 80 more and closing the trooper academy) but it appears that I really don't have to. I think the GOP knows that any further cuts would only further destabilize our already precarious infrastructure and probably get to the parts of the budget their base actually cares about (cops and jails). They also know Granholm has cut more from the Michigan budget than any other governor. (There goes the tried and true "tax and spend liberal" argument.)

The State GOP is playing chicken with a foot on the brake and they know it. The only question is whether the Governor has the stuff to call them out.

Say Goodbye Alberto

As regular readers know, in the past I have tread lightly on the reputation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. My sympathy was based on two factors: 1) I think Gonzalez was often sent out to do legal battle for the Administration with an empty briefcase. I can sympathize. 2) I viewed Gonzalez as a pragmatic alternative to John Ashcroft, the evangelical nut job that preceded him.

Times have changed. I withdraw my support. Gonzalez must step down.

Late last week, Gonzalez assured the nation that the White House had nothing to do with the firing of eight US Attorneys. This week we learned that Gonzalez' own Chief of Staff, as well as White House figures such as Karl Rove and Harriet "Justice" Miers, were intimately involved in the decision. We also know that pressure from Republican Senator Pete Domenici played a role in at least one sacking and that anger over the prosecution of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham played a role in another. In documents hitting the press today, we see that Gonzalez' office ranked each US Attorney based upon their "loyalty" to the President and shared that ranking with the White House.

In short, not only did the DOJ implement a politically motivated purge, Gonzalez lied about this fact. You cannot be the nation's lawyer and lack credibility.

Step down. Take a job with a huge Washington law firm and take your seven figures like a man.

Making Friends and Influencing People

President Bush is finishing off his Latin American jaunt today. I heard a broadcast of his joint press conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon this morning. He made a fool of himself, at one point cutting off a Mexican reporter to ask about the dinner menu. Meanwhile, Calderon took shots on immigration (why a fence), and the war on drugs (reducing demand would go a long way to helping reduce supply).

At least in public, neither man was willing to discuss the real issue between Mexico and the US: NAFTA. Since NAFTA was signed, Mexico has seen only marginal economic growth, including at least on year of sharp economic contraction due to the peso crisis. The country's manufacturing economy has shrunk and the wages of industrial workers have declined. Mexico's agricultural economy has been devastated by competition with US agribusiness. This has left the country awash in jobless campesinos and frustrated workers in the supposed boom towns along the border.

Four years ago, we were assured Bush had a great relationship with Calderon's predecessor, Vincente Fox. However, it seems the lack of results from that relationship has made Calderon cautious about his supposed friend in Washington. (That and the fact that Calderon narrowly defeated an explicitly anti American Luis Obrador for the presidency.)

In sum, the President went abroad. He was greeted by hundreds of protesters everywhere he went. (Mexicans stormed both the hotel where Bush was staying and the US Embassy. Bush was kept under wraps in Colombia due to safety concerns and his trip to Brazil was marked by violent protests.) The closest thing he had to a friend, Calderon, was to say the least, candid about his concerns. Hardly a win.

That is So 2003...

V.P. Dick Cheney hit the speaking circuit this week with a speech to AIPAC inwhich he rattled off the following:

blockquote>

When members [of Congress] speak not of victory but of time limits, deadlines and other arbitrary measures, they are telling the enemy simply to watch the clock and wait us out," ..

"When members of Congress pursue an antiwar strategy that's been called 'slow bleed,' they are not supporting the troops, they are undermining them.

Mr. Vice President, the day when you can question opponents of your war by saying they undermine the morale of our troops is gone. A solid majority of Americans now believe this war was a mistake and you can no longer effectively use the "troops" as a weapon to silence your critics. By the way, a "slow bleed" is what the men and women who did your bidding are now experiencing at Walter Reed. Print that on a yellow ribbon and put it on your bumper, Dick.

IAP International

A few minutes worth of digging on IAP International, the firm that holds the service contract for Walter Reed Hospital brings up some interesting information. IAP has about $390 million in federal contracts, many having to do with Iraq and Afghanistan. IAP is headed by some former Halliburton officers, and is now owned by Cerebrus Capital Management, a venture capital firm managed by... wait for it ... Dan Quayle.

Who knew public service could be so lucrative.

Your Neigborhood Oil Field Services Company

Wondering what will happen to all the oil that Iraq is sitting atop? Late Friday (at the end of the news cycle) Halliburton announced it is moving its corporate headquarters to Dubai in the UAE. Dubai, closer to middle eastern oil fields yet further from the prying eyes of the American press.

Gitmo Hearings to Begin

Today the detainment facility at Guantanomo Bay begins hearings on whether its occupants for the last four years can be classified as as enemy combatant and then imprisoned indefinitely. Ok. The word is "hearing" is a little loaded. The detainees have representatives who are not lawyers and they are not allowed to view any of the evidence used against them that is deemed classified.

At least these "hearings" won't last too long.

We are a country that believes in the sanctity of freedom and the necessity of due process... except when we don't.

This Week In the News

This week, President Bush travels to Latin America on a diplomatic journey aimed at countering the recent leftward shift in that region. While US policy in the region has generally focused on free trade deals and drug interdiction, the President will now focus his efforts on cooperative projects aimed at alleviating the massive poverty many attribute to free trade agreements. In a break from his past, the President is also suspected to support trade deals that protect workers rights. Commenting on the Adminstration's apparent shift, Kevin Shreeveboot of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Louisiana Chapter) snapped, "Sweet Mary in a bottle. For twenty years we have preached the gospel of low wage offshore manufacturing as a hedge against having to share profits with US workers ... I mean as a way of achieving greater eeee-fficiency. Now a a Ree -pub-lican President is going over to Latin America with his arms wide open just 'cuz they elected a bunch of socialists.... the end is near my friends. I'll tell you what. Tell you what's gonna happen is we are goin' to sign some trade deals talkin' 'bout workers rights and such all and then we gonna have them UAW boys, and them Teamsters, and them hook nosed boys from the needle trades down heya talkin' 'bout healthcare and livin' wages and such.... That boy done gone and lost it. " *

This week, (ok last week) Massachusett's Governor Mitt Romney's presidential bid took a blow when a Powerpoint presentation prepared by one of his advisors was leaked to the press. Among other things, the presentation indicated that Romney's hair was "too perfect" and that his campaign should focus on "attacking European style socialism" and its "emblem Hillary Clinton." (real quotes). Defending the accusation that his campaign was based on superficialities and the lowest grade of bigoted nationalism, Romney was quick to defend his strategy: "I have no comment on my hair, being somewhat a fan of it. As to Euro socialism, I am confident that American voters will reject lowering ourselves to European standards." Asked to elaborate, Romney said "You know, in Europe its all lower than us. Lower infant mortality rates. Lower crime rates. Lower dropout rates. Lower levels of poverty. Lower incidence of death at an early age. Lower military spending. Lower defecits. The list goes on...."

This week,conservative trainwreck Ann Coulter called Democrat John Edwards a faggot. While many saw this as a desperate bomb thrown by a women confronting the end of her fifteen minutes of fame, others saw the beginnings of a perennial conservative attempt to out macho the Democratic field. Said Democratic strategist Tom Selby, "This is the just the beginning of a long campaign to make the GOP candidate appear uber masculine and the Democratic candidate seem like a prissy, effeminate, over intellectualized fairy. Remember this is the party that convinced America that a draft dodger was better able to defend our country than a decorated combat veteran." Ever curious TWN asked each of the Democratic candidates what maneuvers they planned to guard against a Republican onslaught of fake masculinity. Their answers appear below:

John Edwards -- "Basically piracy. Not stealing stuff, but being more like
an actual pirate. I plan to add some "arrghs" and other pirate
lingo to my speeches, As in "Avast maties there are two
Americas...Argghhh. And "Shiver me timbers there are 47 million without
healthcare. Arrrgh." Come October an unexplained accident will cause me to
don an eyepatch I think it has real possibilities."

Hillary Clinton -- "The American people already view me as more masculine than any twentieth century President, so I view this as a non issue. Non the less, I did respond to an internet ad that said I could add three inches of girth to my ...campaign staff."

Barak Obama -- Luckily I am blessed with the stereotypes that many
already apply to my race. I plan to depend on the perception of black men
as dangerous and strangely sexually potent. I figure that gets me by
Giuliani at least.

Al Gore-- Well stop writing books and making documentaries for one thing. More act now think later stuff. Be less articulate. More non verbal. If that doesn't take, I will adopt some hyper macho persona. W and Reagan had that fake cowboy thing. Maybe I will be like .. a motorcycle guy. Talk a lot about flushing the radiator in the middle east or leaning on the throttle
with the Russians. I'll tell Congres to slip it into gear. Pictures of
me all greasy. And wearing chaps. There is a demographic for the
chaps. People will love this. "

* Some commentators say that a subtext to Bush's journey is to create a rivalry between Brazil' s leftist President Lula DeSilva and Venezuala's leftist President Hugo Chavez. Bush plans to spend time with Mr. DeSilva touring Brazil and Chavez is planning a "counter tour" to coincide with Bush' visit. Apparently Lula and Hugo see themselves as rivals for Top Dog in South America. If this is true, than the Administration is showing twice the diplomatic guile than it has exhibited in all of the last six years.

Ahh Our Most Excellent and Exalted Leader

If you are really interested in wondering where the press has gone wrong, and looking for an example of people who should know better just throwing up on themselves, check out Fox' Chris Matthews commentary on the eve of the President's Mission Accomplished landing:


MATTHEWS: What's the importance of the president's amazing display of leadership tonight?
[...]

MATTHEWS: What do you make of the actual visual that people will see on TV and probably, as you know, as well as I, will remember a lot longer than words spoken tonight? And that's the president looking very much like a jet, you know, a high-flying jet star. A guy who is a jet pilot. Has been in the past when he was younger, obviously. What does that image mean to the American people, a guy who can actually get into a supersonic plane and actually fly in an unpressurized cabin like an actual jet pilot?


This is a guy who has his own TV show. Who worked on the Hill. To whom people presumambly listen. And here he is just about ready soil himself over the most obvious piece of faux masculine proganda since Il Duce crossed his arms. (Thanks to Atrios for digging this up.)

Boot Scoot Boogie

Good news: Scooter is guilty of perjury and obstruction.
Bad News: No more indictments are expected. Scooter will be the Fall Guy.
Good News: The trial afforded the American public a very ugly view of how the Administration does its dirty work.
Good news: V.P Cheney's political capital took a big hit.
Bad News: We will now hear a chorus from the "Let's get this behind us and heal" crowd who were responsible for Nixon's pardon.

I Feel your Pain Jon....

Last nite I watched Jon Stewart's Daily Show segment on the Walter Reed Hospital debacle. I have watched the Daily Show on and off for years and respect Stewart as a schtick man extraordinaire. His ability to keep it dead pan is his trademark. However, on last night's episode I could clearly see that Stew was closing to losing it. Close to simply going beserk over the fate of our wounded soldiers. ("Did I mention that their were people in those rooms? Did I mention those people were soldiers? Did I mention those people were wounded soldiers?").

Over the past eight years I have criticized the simple inhumanity and incompetence of the Bush Administration and its enablers in a tone that modulates between ironic and sarcastic. I always thought subtlety would prove more effective than a full frontal attack. But sometimes, it just gets too much. When you won't even keep vermin away from the men and women who have been wounded doing your foolhardy and deadly bidding, when you won't even lift them out of their own urine, even the most jaded among us begins to feel the heat rising to their face.

I know, I know, you can't actually hold the Commander in Chief responsible for what happens to his soldiers and what, with only $8 billion to spend each week....

It never F--king Ends..

According Rep. Harry Waxman (D CA), in 2003 a company called IAP Worldwide Services was given a contract to run Walter Reed Military Hospital , the hospital which has now twice been the subject of news articles detailings its horrible shortcomings and rancid conditions and is now the subject of congressional hearings.

The contract was awarded to IAP only after the results of an internal Army audit were reversed. IAP is run by two former executives of the Halliburton Corporation.

Who Carries the Water?

This weekend, Lil' Orphan Annie was at it again, calling John Edwards a "faggot" at the Conservative Political Action Committee meeting. On one level, not much to write about. As her popularity fades, I suspect we will see more outrageous statements, more extreme rhetoric, and a lot more cleavage from A.C. She will break a heel trying to keep up with the spotlight as it moves stage left.

On another level, the episode drives home a point. At least during my political lifetime, and in the twenty years preceding it, the purveyors of hate, smears, bigotry, and intolerance have been exclusively men and women of the right who carry the water of the Republican Party. While the conventional political wisdom is that the hatchetman is bipartisan, there really is no leftish equivalent to Lee Atwater, Roger Ailes, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Anne Coulter, or Karl Rove. All these people have either held positions within various Republican administrations or are unabashed advocates of the GOP.

The closest thing the Democrats have come to the bare knuckles is James Carville, who was colorful but never bigoted. In the late 1990s the National Review published a long piece that came to terms with anti semitism in the conservative movement. The Nation has never had to do similar soul searching. The Democratic Party has never adopted a "Northern Strategy" aimed at kicking up racial insecurities as did the GOP's infamous "Southern Strategy".

I suppose there are many good willed people out there who identify with the Republican Party or the conservative cause for any number of deluded reasons. Do they ever think about the company they keep?

That is Just Wrong Mr. Vice President

Last night Dick Cheney spoke at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee. This is what he said

In these circumstances, it's worth reminding ourselves that, like it or
not, the enemy we face in the war on terror has made Iraq the primary front
in that war.

This reasoning has two problems. First, Al Queda has not made Iraq a "primary front" in its war with the West. Our own intelligence has shown that Al Queda represents only a small portion of the militants who are fighting us in Iraq. In fact,the world wide surge in terror attacks suggests our enemies are in a lot of places other than Iraq, like England, Germany and Indonesia.

Second, last week our intelligence agencies reported that Al Queda has re established itself in the hills on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It enjoys relative security due to the treaty signed between the Pakistani government and its hill dwelling tribes. According to intelligence reports Al Queda has reopened training camps and even has nuclear ambitions. The bottom line is that the leaders of Al Queda and its significant operations are in Afghanistan, not Iraq.

The bottom line squared is that we have spent four years, countless lives, and a lot of treasure fighting a war where Al Queda is not. They have spent four years re-establishing themselves in the hills of Afghanistan.

This Week In The News

• According to an article in the NYT, leaders of the Christian Right are beginning a search for their own candidate to run in the GOP primaries. Apparently social conservatives are less than impressed with the group of infidels (Romney), adulterers (Giuliani, McCain) and unelectables (Brownback) in the current Republican field. Commenting on the search for an authentic evangelical candidate the Rev Don Wildmon of the Family Research Council, noted: " There is a reason we have always relied on conventional politicians to carry our water. Truth is, when you find a guy who meets all our criteria, you are looking at some narrow minded twit who still lives with his mom. He may be able to cover up his lack off depth with some folksy aphorisms, but that can't get you through November. The pickins folks, are slim."

• Last week, a federal court ruled that certain provisions of the Military Tribunals Act are constitutional. Those provisions make it impossible for a detainee to challenge the legality of their detainment as long as they are detained off U.S. soil (say in Cuba). In the same week, the Senate launched an effort to undo legislation proposed by the Bush Administration and passed by the Republican Congress, which made it easier for the President to declare martial law. Ever curious, TWN went to the hustings to check the pulse of the American Public. We asked Steve Ferrotone, of Effingham MA if he was worried about diminishing freedoms in the US. His response, " Not really. I am one of those guys who would rather live on my knees than die on my feet. Safety first I always say." Joselyn Parklane of Pierre, South Dakota also commented, " Less freedom? That's nonsense. Look at all the things there are to watch on TV. Look at all the things there are to buy. You can't get more free than that."

• This week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on the nomination of Sam Fox as US Ambassador to Belgium. Sam Fox is a major Republican donor, who gave $50,000 to a group called Swift Vote Veterans for Truth (SBVT), a group that promulgated the lie that Sen John Kerry (D MA) had fabricated his distinguished service in Vietnam. Interestingly, the Foreign Relations Committee is staffed by one Sen. John Kerry. During questioning, Mr. Fox praised Senator Kerry as a hero stating "You went to Vietnam. You were wounded. Highly decorated. Senator, you're a hero. And there isn't anybody or anything that's going to take that away from you. " (real quote) When Sen. Kerry pointed out that Mr. Fox had, in fact, tried to take precisely that away from him, Mr. Fox could not remember the $50k donation, claiming that he makes so many donations every year. He also denied knowing the mission of the SBVT, ever seeing the group's ads, or recalling who had asked him for a donation to the group. Asked if he maintained even a shred of integrity or credibility Mr. Fox replied, "No. I came in with very little and leave with even less. In all respects, I stand ready to serve this President."

• This week, another oops. Testifying before the Senate Armed Service Committee, Joseph Trainni, an intelligence official, testified that the intelligence community now has only "mid confidence" that N. Korea was building a uranium based nuclear weapons program. Such a program was presented as a certainty when the US confronted N. Korea in 2003. Now, the agency concedes that N. Korea may only have a plutonium based program.* Confronted with the possibility that the US and others had negotiated with the N. Koreans based on the belief that they had an expensive and dangerous program that now may not exist, Under Secretary of State Christopher Hill was fuming, "For weeks I have been the girly boy of this Administration because I actually negotiated something rather than threatening military action. For weeks the President has called me 'Chrissy Clinton' and exiled me from the Oval Office Fart Joke Club. I have been a pariah. And now I find out that the uranium program may not even exist. Well.... its enough to make we want to go and get some Marines to go surge somewhere."

• This week, a study by the McClatchy Newspapers revealed that of the 12% of the nation that lives in poverty, 43% live in severe poverty. Severe poverty is defined as a family of four with $9,000 or less in income. The number of Americans living in severe poverty grew by 26% since 2000 and is the fastest growing segment of the population. This figure is alarming given that worker productivity and overall corporate profits have grown since 2001. Speaking to the figures, Presidential Aide, Karl Rove, noted, "It is a tough one alright. What with all the compassionate conservative stuff. But I have been spending some time in the Reagan Archives and I think we will reach back to the past for our answer. I call it Poverty Isn't My Problem, or PIMP. The focus is on poverty being a result of the moral failings of poor people and not some sort of societal bad news. We are working with some themes like, "If they would just get of their ass....' and 'Poor people are just so irresponsible....."

• *What's is the difference? Plutonium can be used to make small warheads but must be enriched in huge and easily detectable (and bombable) complexes. Uranium on the other hand, can make massive warheads and can be enriched in small, almost mobile, enrichment locations. In nuclear terms, a plutonium enrichment program is like a .38 caliber pistol, dangerous but controllable. A uranium program is like an AR-15.