Think Progress

ThinkFast: April 4, 2006

By Think Progress on Apr 4th, 2006 at 9:07 am

ThinkFast: April 4, 2006


Karl Rove’s White House deputy Peter Wehner takes conservatives William F. Buckley, George Will, and Francis Fukayama to task for expressing dissention from Bush’s “freedom agenda.”

In a letter to Secretary Rumsfeld, Sen. George Allen (R-VA) recommends that Lt. Gen. William Boykin — who infamously described the war on terrorism as a battle between a “Christian nation” (the United States) and “Satan,” and claimed that Muslims worship an “idol” — be promoted to lead the U.S. special operations command.

For the last seven months, the Cincinnati Enquirer has been publishing a “largely upbeat” Iraq blog called Grandma in Iraq without making clear that its author is a Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, whose job is to “generate positive news about U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq.”

Rumsfeld’s potted plants: Despite a 1986 law urging the Joint Chiefs of Staff to speak openly, advisors say the top military officials “are caught in Credibility Gap as Rumsfeld stamps out dissent.” Said one officer: “I feel I’m working for a bunch of politicians.”

“Afghanistan’s Taliban-led insurgency is likely to worsen this year,” U.S. officials warn. Last year was “the deadliest for rebel violence since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001.”

Yesterday, Sudan’s government barred the United Nations top emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, from visiting Darfur. “We could have nightmares even worse than the horrendous situation we now have,” said Egeland. Darfur’s civil war has killed as many as 400,000 people.

In newly published portions of the pre-war Iraq memo detailed last week, President Bush suggests persuading Russian leader Putin to back the war by “sending Italian PM Berlusconi to teach Putin ‘a thing or two’ about oil and economics.”

2,700. Pages of transcripts and related documents of Guantanamo detainees released yesterday by the Pentagon. The LA Times: “Some of their stories…are harrowing.”

And finally: British lawyers build case against wigs. “Some people think it gives them more authority,” said one lawyer. “But most of us just think they’re itchy.”

What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.



38 Responses to “ThinkFast: April 4, 2006”

  1. Subway Serenade says:

    Ya just gotta love all of the positive news coming out of this misadministration. IF it wasn’t so freakin’ tragic it would read like an old Keystone Kops/Leaping Fish movie. We even have Coke Ennyday in the title role.

    There must be 50 Ways To Dump The Dubya!


  2. ElectricBassPlayer says:

    You know, if the Grandma blog had just revealed that she was a PR officer in the first place, then I wouldn’t have had any trouble with the info.

    But now it seems like willful deception. What else aren’t they telling us? Was the Cincinnatti Enquirer complicit in this lie of omission?

    This stupid administration, they lie, everything’s a secret, don’t trust the American people with the truth, classify everything, etc., etc.


  3. Preznit Pinhead says:

    Even the mainstream media are having a hard time keeping the lid on all of the evil shit bubbling up from the Bushistas’ ongoing crime spree. If this keeps up, I might even become optimistic again.


  4. MadMonk says:

    Not only thought fast, but read fast, and my adolescent brain turned Francis Fukayama into Francis Fukyomama. Which is probably what Rove and Wehner are calling him behind closed doors.


  5. hotfroggy+ says:

    known as the most secret administration ever!!! how can we stop the bleeding? transparency in democracy is sooo dead! it surely seems these guys are getting ready to self implode!, so i’d say get ready for some serious game move on their part. raw story is carring an article on armageddeon (sp?) that is too freaking real. i wouldn’t put it past any of these guys to end the world rather than let go of all the power they have accumulated. raptured~ bastards!



  6. Jay Randal says:

    If Rep. Hastert and the GOP membership in DC have Rep. Cynthia McKinney arrested and handcuffed in public, then expect massive protests in Washington and in Georgia! VP Cheney was allowed to shoot a man in the face, while drunk, and nothing was done to him, so even if McKinney slapped a police security guard she should not be touched!


  7. Preznit Pinhead says:

    # 5–it may be time for another false flag, 9/11-style “event”. Gotta get that martial law declared before things unravel any further…


  8. Mash says:

    Here’s the beginning of a list I’m creating about my favorite chicken hawks. Check it out, it even has their pretty pictures!


  9. unbelievable says:

    “Afghanistan’s Taliban-led insurgency is likely to worsen this year,” U.S. officials warn. Last year was “the deadliest for rebel violence since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001.”

    Mission Accomplished, eh?


  10. Styve says:

    Call Allen’s Office [1-888-355-3588]and tell him to focus on Abramoff, rather than trying to ensure more Abu Ghraib treatment of Muslims!!
    ————————-
    After reading ThinkProgress, and being disgusted by the Allen/Boykin blurb, I just called Allen’s office to tell him that he should be paying more attention to the ever-creeping Abramoff scandal and stop doing stupid things like promoting Boykin (religious crusade against Satan) to head of the Special Ops in Iraq. I said that we do not need more religious nutcases trying to destroy this country.

    Funny thing…I didn’t even know of particular Allen involvement with Abramoff…just assumed?!?! Googled “Abramoff Allen” and voila!! http://www.raisingkaine.com/1292

    It’s nice to have truth and justice on our side!

    Styve


  11. unbelievable says:

    Which is probably what Rove and Wehner are calling him behind closed doors.

    Comment by MadMonk — April 4, 2006 @ 10:21 am

    Why not Straw called Condoleeza Rice “Condom” in front of an audience the other day. Guess we know where his mind is since it’s not on his job…


  12. katy says:

    oooooou pictures…
    hey that richard perle is quite a looker, heh?


  13. Solitaire says:

    the weiner said “Critics of the Iraq war have offered no serious strategic alternative to the president’s freedom agenda, which is anchored in the belief that democracy and liberal institutions are the best antidote to the pathologies plaguing the Middle East.”

    Liberal institutions? Like Sharia Law? Liar.
    Democracy? Like paying for propaganda to run as news articles? Like telling the Iraqis who may NOT be prime minister? Like refusing to deal with the democratically elected Hamas? Yeah, they sure do stand up for democratic ideals… when it suits them. And they undermine democratic ideals when it suits them, and they use democratic ideals to hide behind when they are found out. Liars.

    And the part that ticks me off royally is the “offered no serious strategy alternative”. What bull. Just because the GOP refuses to listen doesn’t mean that there isn’t an alternative. And you know what I hear when this particular remark is made? “Sure, we led you lemmings over the cliff, but why get mad at us? You can’t come up with any way to save yourselves, that’s your problem. We’re just gonna keep directing the lemmings over the cliff until YOU come up with an alternative.”
    Assholes. That’s the only word I can really come up with at this point. Pick rosey assholes.


  14. hotfroggy+ says:

    #8 you are so right. if you have a chance, read the armageddeon article, with it’s links and see if you get the same doomsday prediction i do. it’s not all that unfeasible that we are headed toward world nuclear war. if any administration has been morally capable of pushing the big red button! (notice it’s fucking red!) this one is! bush won’t have to pardon anyone, we’ll all be vaporized!!


  15. unbelievable says:

    In a letter to Secretary Rumsfeld, Sen. George Allen (R-VA) recommends that Lt. Gen. William Boykin — who infamously described the war on terrorism as a battle between a “Christian nation” (the United States) and “Satan,” and claimed that Muslims worship an “idol” — be promoted to lead the U.S. special operations command.

    Ugh! What part of ‘Freedom of Religion’ do these religious freaks not get? We are NOT a nation of any religion. Yes, the majority of the population is Christian, but it doesn’t establish a national religion as a result.

    The thing that I don’t get is how they don’t understand that if you give a leader the authority to declare a national religion – you are subjecting yourself to getting a leader who changes the religion. Didn’t what happened to Russian and China validate that? We want freedom of choice. It’s in the best interest of us all!


  16. Joe Sixpack says:

    “Afghanistan’s Taliban-led insurgency is likely to worsen this year,” U.S. officials warn.

    I’m Thinking Fast here, but I am reminded of what junior and just three of the Republican Senators have said about Afghanistan:

    Today, Afghanistan is a world away from the nightmare of the Taliban.
    George Bush, 7/12/04

    The recent successful elections in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown us that freedom is the best antidote to terror.
    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

    We can be proud of our record as an international beacon of liberty. From fostering democracies in Eastern Europe to the stabilization of Iraq and Afghanistan, we have been true to that calling and helped spread freedom to oppressed peoples everywhere.
    Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas)

    Elections are breaking out in the strangest places: Afghanistan, Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Georgia, Ukraine. A genuine election in Lebanon would be a darn goodSe thing.
    Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky)


  17. Zwack says:

    I found the “wigs” article scary… And not because of a suggestion to get rid of wigs…

    What the heck is going wrong with the UK these days? They’re palnning on introducing a supreme court modeled after the US high court? I’m confused about that.

    In England you can appeal your magistrates court case to the Crown Court. From Crown Court you can appeal to the Appeals Court or High Court (depending on circumstances), If you lose there you may be able to appeal it up to the Law Lords. So why is there a need for a fricking “supreme court?”… Isn’t that the equivalent of the Law Lords?

    Of course Scottish Law is different from English Law so use of the word “British” here is misleading.

    Z.


  18. Chase says:

    Is there no forthcoming discussion about the criminal charges faced by Rep McKinney, as well as her spending violations?

    Guess not – the rules can only be applied to Chimpy McShrub’s cronies, huh.

    Slackers.


  19. Chase says:

    Is there no forthcoming discussion about the criminal charges faced by Rep McKinney, as well as her spending violations?

    Guess not – the rules can only be applied to Chimpy McShrub’s cronies, huh.

    Slackers.


  20. Grand Moff Texan says:

    Creationists attack random scientists in fit of primate rage.
    .


  21. Preznit Pinhead says:

    Here’s the best part–the Bushista neocons know they can get away with ANYTHING–they’ve got control of the house, senate, and judiciary; not to mention the media and in many cases, the “instruments of democracy”, the voting machines. If all else fails, they can pull a false flag operation and declare martial law.

    Yeah, go ahead and call me a tinfoil hat wearer–but these guys want to maintain their control on power and they won’t let something silly like “democracy” get in their way. We’ve already seen the tinkering in Ohio and Florida; we’ve also seen how ruthless they can be in achieving their wars for conquest.


  22. Preznit Pinhead says:

    Yes Chase, Cynthia McKinney’s possibly misdemeanor actions are critical considerations for national and world security. Almost as much as Clinton’s sex with an intern was.

    Pay no attention to the trillions of dollars and thousands of lives evaporating because of the Bushista’s wars of conquest to enrich Halliburton et. al.


  23. Zookeeper says:

    #23 – Well said.


  24. Preznit Pinhead says:

    #24–and just think, I’m a former republican. With the rise of the neocons, I severed ties with the party. I’m an old fashioned conservative, one who believes in limited government and individual freedom. The neocons believe the government should function as a transfer program that takes money from the taxpayers and deposits it into their own pockets via the military-industrial complex (the very one that Ike, a REPUBLICAN, warned us about). There is nothing conservative about today’s neocon republicans. They want complete control of our lives.


  25. Paul in Mexico says:

    George Allen is the senates biggest drunk. I have a list of all the alcoholics in the Senate, all pukes, and George Allen tops the list.

    He is not to be listened to because it is nothing more than his fuzzy brain talking.


  26. big papa says:

    Pervez Musharraf is a tyrant

    …with the help of the American military (aircraft) he’s bombing schools and villages in regions of Pakistan…

    …where tribal rebels are complaining that their ancestral homelands are being robbed of their natural resources…

    natural gas pipelines are being built across them

    …and the Musharraf government is not compensating these villagers fairly

    …the tribal rebels have been driven from their homes by Musharraf’s thugs in the military…

    THIS is Bushiva’s “freedom on the march!”


  27. Marie says:

    Sen. Allen is blatantly pandering votes from the evangelicals who think Boykin is a representative of god on earth. Now how they equate a military general with a benevolent god is something only the evangelicals can explain.
    Allen is a simpering sycophant, who deserves to be sent home, not forwarded on toward presidential nomination. But then again, we do have Bush don’t we.


  28. Zookeeper says:

    #25 – I wish more could see the difference between real conservatism and this neocon crap. I know so many people who stop thinking at “Republican” and “Democrat.” It’s just not that simple anymore.


  29. Redleg says:

    The Cincy Enquirer is so openly conservative that it makes my fucking teeth ache just thinking about reading it. Since I live 15 minutes from Cincy, the Enquirer is our local rag (both in Ohio and Kentucky sides of the river). I cancelled my subscription to that biased rag and now take USA Today.


  30. ElectricBassPlayer says:

    #29. . . It sure isn’t. You know what the difference between conservatism and neoconservatism is?

    Conservatism, and liberal progressivism, both had the goal of positive gain for the average person. Of course the methods were different, but the idea was to improve living standards, buying power, and the general well-being of the populace, all done within routine societal and political mores.

    But neoconservatism isn’t positive at all. It is negative in its goals and methods. Identifying and attacking enemies is the unifying theme, both at home and abroad. To them the Constitution is a speedbump instead of a roadmap. Lying is so clearly acceptable that the neocons have built a media industry around it. Those who disagreed with each other at least respected the other person’s right to disagree; now you’re branded a traitor. The neocons are so outrageously hypocritical that the bar of character is as low as it’s ever been. Hatred of political opponents has gone from being extreme to mainstream. If you know the right people and can dredge up a few half-truths, that ton of money you make in the publishing world can sure ease any un-Christian pangs to your conscience.

    Neocons like to say that liberals have no new ideas. Well, besides for the fact that any new progressive ideas have no way of getting a public airing because the neocons have such a lock on Congress and the media, the main goal of the left should be to return to the time when we agreed on more than we disagreed on. I think getting rid of DeLay is a sure sign that America’s getting back on the right track.

    (Apologies for run-on/convoluted sentences. . . I was trying to Think Fast!â„¢)


  31. I-RIGHT-I says:

    Ya just gotta love all of the positive news coming out of this misadministration. IF it wasn’t so freakin’ tragic it would read like an old Keystone Kops/Leaping Fish movie. We even have Coke Ennyday in the title role.

    There must be 50 Ways To Dump The Dubya!

    Comment by Subway Serenade

    That’s probably what Chamberlain’s lackeys said after Dunkirk. If you want to be among friends move to France or Spain. A little yellow on your underwear to them is the sign of a real man.

    Who want’s to bet that went over his head and out of the park? Thank you NEA.


  32. I-RIGHT-I says:

    Even the mainstream media are having a hard time keeping the lid on all of the evil shit bubbling up from the Bushistas’ ongoing crime spree. If this keeps up, I might even become optimistic again.

    Comment by Preznit Pinhead

    You are a pinhead. There is no lack of bad news from your friends at the MSM. But it doesn’t mean a thing as you and the rest of the sub-par thinkers in the Filthy Left really don’t matter at all. Hell, our Mexican gardeners are smarter than you.


  33. Clif says:

    Homeland Security deputy press secretary arrested

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

    MIAMI, April 4 — The deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was arrested Tuesday for using the Internet to seduce what he thought was a teenage girl, authorities said.

    Brian J. Doyle, 55, was arrested in Maryland where he lives on charges of use of a computer to seduce a child and transmission of harmful material to a minor. The charges were issued out of Polk County, Fla.
    Doyle, of Silver Spring, Md., had a sexually explicit conversation with what he believed was a 14-year-old girl whose profile he saw on the Internet on March 14, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
    The girl was an undercover Polk County Sheriff’s Computer Crimes detective, the sheriff’s office said.
    Doyle sent the girl pornographic movie clips and had sexually explicit conversations via the Internet, the statement said.
    During other online conversations, Doyle revealed his name, that he worked for the Homeland Security Department and offered his office and government issued cell phone numbers, the sheriff’s office said.
    Doyle also sent photos of himself to the girl, but authorities said they were not sexually explicit.

    The corrupt (christian) repug party keeps on giving…..



  34. unbelievable says:

    The corrupt (christian) repug party keeps on giving…..

    Comment by Clif — April 4, 2006 @ 10:56 pm

    I think it’s become a splinter sect of the Republican Party. I used to a Republican and a Christian, and I never condoned the behavior that these people at the helm are presently supporting. And I think that if we are going to defeat them, we hav eto make that distinction between honorable Republicans and neocons. We look like loonies to say that ALL Republicans are corrupt and ALL Democrats are chaste. But f we point to the sect that is out of control and try to work with the honorable Republicans, I think we have a much better chance of getting the Average American’s attention in 2008.


  35. unbelievable says:

    Hell, our Mexican gardeners are smarter than you.

    Comment by I-RIGHT-I — April 4, 2006 @ 10:08 pm

    What are you talking about? You are your own Mexican gardener.


  36. Young Girls Youngest Boys Gallery Young Girls Naked says:

    Young Girls Youngest Boys Gallery Young Girls Naked

    I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view



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