ThinkFast: April 6, 2006
ThinkFast: April 6, 2006
Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-MN) and Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) agreed to cosponsor “a landmark proposal to create a special House committee to investigate Iraq war spending, joining Democrats in demanding more accountability for billions of dollars that allegedly have been misspent.â€
War Cabinet Infighting: Donald Rumsfeld said he did not know what Condi Rice was talking about when she said last week that the U.S. had made “thousands” of “tactical errors” in Iraq. “[Y]ou have to constantly adjust and change your tactics. … If someone says, well, that’s a tactical mistake, then I guess it’s a lack of understanding, at least my understanding, of what warfare is about.”
It’s official: Katie Couric is taking the helm at CBS. In the meantime, Media Matters runs down her lowlights on NBC.
Protecting genocidal war criminals: “The United States is opposing the inclusion of any Sudanese official on a potential U.N. Security Council sanctions list of individuals blocking peace in Darfur.”
$44 million: The amount the pharmaceutical industry spent over a two-year period on lobbying state officials “to fight proposals that would have reduced prescription drug costs.†The Center for Public Integrity has a full report.
$29 billion: The amount Congress spent on pork-laden pet projects this year, a record high, according to a new report.
Meanwhile, Trent Lott weighs in on the Porkbusters campaign to cut down on wasteful spending: “I’m getting damn tired of hearing from them.” Lott was upset over complaints about the $700 million railroad project he placed on an “emergency” spending bill.
A media panel discussion yesterday said coverage of the Iraq war is too polarized between “good news” and “bad news,” thus missing out on presenting a complete picture. Said one Iraqi photojournalist: “It’s a civil war, people are getting killed every single day, every hour … everywhere in Iraq. It’s a civil war and we’re still shying away from the word civil war.”
Defeat for net neutrality. An amendment aimed at preserving the Internet as a level playing field was voted down yesterday in a House committee.
And finally: Political T-shirts “are absolutely catching on,” according to one fashion expert. “It’s really an interesting movement to watch…. It’s totally democratic and really kind of fun.†Unfortunately for the right, one conservative clothing maker “admits business has been a little slow recently.”
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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Love the cabinet infighting. More proof if you hate government, you won’t run it very well.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:11 amCorps chief admits to ‘design failure’
Thursday, April 06, 2006
By Bill WalshWashington bureau New Orelans Times Picayune
…
Lt. Gen. Carl Strock told a Senate committee that the corps neglected to consider the possibility that floodwalls atop the 17th Street Canal levee would lurch away from their footings under significant water pressure and eat away at the earthen barriers below.
“We did not account for that occurring,” Strock said after the Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing. “It could be called a design failure.”
…
… a 1986 corps study … warned of just such separations in the floodwalls.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1144306231230500.xml
Anyone sick of “local corruption” being blamed for levee failures? I sure am. Blame the people who designed the levees: United States Army Corps of Engineers. But, no one can say “no one could have anticipated” it; their own study indicated it could happen, 20 years ago.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:21 amThe timing of these Republiscum Bushites is very shady…
…funny how the closer we get to midterm elections…
…more and more Republiscum Bushites NOW want to exercise their constitutionally mandated “oversight” duties…
…hell, if they don’t indict a lot of war profiteers…
…then they’re just yanking our chain…
…which I suspect is the case anyway…
…the horse has been out of the proverbial barn for the past three years…
…and NOW the Republiscum Bushites want to close the da*n door…
…and the MSM is a DISGRACE!
…civil war has existed in Iraq for the past year or so, and they’re focusing in on Cynthia McKinney…
…what a*sholes, what a sh*thole country and government…
April 6th, 2006 at 9:24 amTime to borrow another trillion bucks. A cornered animal is viscious.
Time to drive the Republicans out of their ever-lovin’ minds.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:29 amRumsfeld on Condi: He’s right.
And I hate agreeing with that SOB.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:31 amWonder if Katie Couric will go by her given name (Katherine) now that she has a real grown-up job and all.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:34 amThere may have been thousands of “tactical” errors and Rummy may be correct when he talks of adjusting tactics as required. What was not admitted however by Condi Rice were the “strategic” errors made during the course of the war and the planning leading up to the war. Condi can blame Rumsfeld with conviction for errors on the graound but it in no way lessens her involvement in the many “strategic” errors made in the last four years.
Will Fields
April 6th, 2006 at 9:35 am$29 billion: The amount Congress spent on pork-laden pet projects this year, a record high, according to a new report.
You mean they wasted money that could have gone to Iraq? (sarcasm off)
April 6th, 2006 at 9:40 am“[Y]ou have to constantly adjust and change your tactics. … If someone says, well, that’s a tactical mistake, then I guess it’s a lack of understanding, at least my understanding, of what warfare is about.â€
Well George Says its about “Staying the Course” SO Rummy is now Saying that Bush shouldn’t “Stay the Course”
Know what? If these Neo-Kooks would stop bastardizing the english language with all this “hypocritical doublespeak” then maybe they would know what the HELL each other is saying.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:41 amNo Wonder This Admin has “no course”, they have no Leader.
It’s a civil war and we’re still shying away from the word civil war.
A rose by any other name…
April 6th, 2006 at 9:43 amWhat is going on in the Senate under Majority Leader Frist is nothing short of criminal, but does it get into the MSM? NO
Frist, the finagling frump, was on CNN early this morning declaring the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill dead, kaput, The reason was the unexplained “foot dragging” by the “other side”. The real reason – the bill had a democrat sponsor – Kennedy.
Now it seems that Hagle-Martinez have introduced a piece of legislation 500 pages long, more liberal than the McCain-Hagle bill, but it will be brought to a vote probably as soon as today! This monstrousity could easily pass, unless the dems really do drag their feet.
When will this shit stop? The only thing that will stop it is the complete takeover by the house and senate by the people in the upcoming elections. It can, and should be done.
To the folks up there I have this to say. Get off your asses, get off the frigging computers, take to the streets, the mall, the pool halls and for Gods sake – do something!
April 6th, 2006 at 9:45 am29 billion on PET projects, Trillions on War, and we cant get the People of this Country out of a Poverty Level Wage?
Its not the Liberals that are stealing the “Conservatives” money and giving it to the poor, its the Neo-Liberal Cheney Bush Cabal stealing your Tax dollars and giving it to “Pet Projects”
Heckuva Job Conservatives [Neo-Liberals] , your Faux “Liberal” Bias has created a far bigger criminal of your “Money” than ever before. Not only that But the Conservative groups supported ALOT of this Corruption.
Yes I Rant I, that means you, and all the trolls are worse than “LIBs” You are Neo-libs
April 6th, 2006 at 9:49 amIf a strategy fails, and that strategy was not a mistake, then does that mean Rumsfeld meant that strategy to fail?
April 6th, 2006 at 10:00 amHeckuva Job Conservatives [Neo-Liberals] , your Faux “Liberal†Bias has created a far bigger criminal of your “Money†than ever before. Not only that But the Conservative groups supported ALOT of this Corruption.
Comment by Cheney loves Wolfie — April 6, 2006 @ 9:49 am
YOu know, you’re right. Chomsky calls the people we refer to as ‘neocons’ as neo-liberals. And he and you are right. That is the real term for them. They are a corrupted version of the originals. As they’ve taken the fundamental liberal ideology of balancing wealth (to stop the criminality of the Robin Hood Effect), and exploited it to shift wealth – not to the huddled masses, but into tehir own checking accounts. And teh fact that they’ve underfunded the education system in this country so that the average American cannot comprehend this political schism, the Republicans will go right on voting for these “Republicans’ (in name only), and never understand whytehir fellow ‘conservatives’ are doing them more harm than good.
Excellent point CLW!
April 6th, 2006 at 10:12 amWhere is Dennis Moore when we need him?
April 6th, 2006 at 10:12 amIf a strategy fails, and that strategy was not a mistake, then does that mean Rumsfeld meant that strategy to fail?
Comment by Bruce Gorton — April 6, 2006 @ 10:00 am
Shhh. I think you get your head chopped off for even questioning Heir Rumsfeld…
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Goper’s Lament (Hard To Be A Republican) – 1275
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April 6th, 2006 at 10:15 amDonny Rumsfield….here’s a guy who has done nothing but sit behind desks and (insert sexually provocative act of your choice) his master, be it Ronnie, George41 or King dumbya.
And he has the nerve to say that he knows what waging war is all about. He’s about as clueless as his beloved Feuher.
April 6th, 2006 at 10:28 amThe economy is ROARING! Jobless claims plunge again. The only real issue is energy, but since liberals are anti-production it won’t hurt the GOP.
Remember when it was all about the jobs? When lying liberals focused only on the job market. Why aren’t they focusing on jobs now?
April 6th, 2006 at 10:40 am#19 AKA I-idiot -I, When the jobs are created by wal-mart and the like it is about the jobs you ass!! Just because a person has a job does not mean they have a liveable wage. Costs have soared and most americans live paycheck to paycheck.
April 6th, 2006 at 10:48 amLOL Rumsfeld knows nothing about running the military > he was a CEO of a prescription drug manufacturing company! Rummy is just a criminal con-man who smells money to be made in warfare! He is a stooge for the “Military-Industrial-Complex” profiteer/CEOs! Condi Rice was an executive of Chevron Oil Cartel, so she knows ZERO about running the military as well! Both of them must be forced to resign their positions ASAP!
April 6th, 2006 at 10:54 am#20 – it all about the jobs. Why are you such a partian liar?
April 6th, 2006 at 10:55 amI am not a republican so I am a fan of the truth. Why do you keep changing the names you post under?
April 6th, 2006 at 10:57 amJay – at least he wants America to win unlike you. Why do cheer for our enemies? Why are you a traitor?
April 6th, 2006 at 10:57 amHow to wage war:
Attack seats of economic, political, and military power.
Examples: The Twin Towers, The Pentagon, and The White House.
Two out of three ain’t bad.
Somebody knew what they were doing.
Who?
April 6th, 2006 at 10:58 am#24 – why do you hate America? Why do you hate our troops and want them to die?
April 6th, 2006 at 10:58 am#23 – you are a fan of hate. You hate the truth. Truth is Democrats thought Sadam was a threat until the war got tough. Bush never LIED. Until you accept that, you will be shut out at the polls.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:00 amPost 24 the war in Iraq is about profiteering for criminal swine > if you think that is ok, then you are a traitor?! Being against a unjust criminal war is patriotism! Shame on you for being a Bush lover and apologist!
April 6th, 2006 at 11:02 am#24 I sure hope you are a joke. Drug companies are evil, plain and simple.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:04 amYes #27 because this country just loves that asshole you call a president so much that republican candidates are distancing themselves from him!
April 6th, 2006 at 11:05 amPost 26 > sending American troops to die for profits is criminal! Why do you hate the troops and hate America? I want Bush’s fiasco/debacle war ended and the troops brought home to their families! Shame on you Bush stooge!
April 6th, 2006 at 11:09 am#19. Jobs, eh? This roaring economy has produced fewer jobs than any recovery since records have been kept.
The 2.5 million jobs added by the economy since 2001 have been a net gain after 2+ million were lost in the first 2.5 years. 5 years, and only 2 million jobs? Do you know how long it took the economy to add 2.5 million jobs during Clinton’s presidency? 10 months – from February to November 1993.
Do you know how many jobs have been added due to federal goverment spending? 2.8 million. (that means that we would be net -800k jobs without the budget deficit)
Do you want to talk about a real roaring economy? The current expansion has lasted 30 months, generating about 4.5 million jobs. Do you know how many jobs were added in Clinton’s first 30 months (not the best 30, just the first 30)? 7.5 million, from February 1993 to July 1995. How about the 30 average Clinton month: 7.1 million jobs.
This President’s economy has produced 354,000 jobs in its best month. Do you know how many times Clinton’s economy produced more than that? 11 months. This President’s economy has produced 38,000 jobs, on average. Do you know how many jobs CLinton’s presidency produced per month? 237,000 jobs.
Cut the shit on the roaring economy – Democrats always run a better economy. This economy sucks.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:10 amPost 26 sorry a correction you were referring to post 24 who hates the troops, not me who wants them to come home! It is “kindness-loves-terrorists” guy who hates America and our troops! ( “Jules” in post 26 is a good person and a patriot!)
April 6th, 2006 at 11:28 amI am not a republican so I am a fan of the truth. Why do you keep changing the names you post under?
Comment by Jules — April 6, 2006 @ 10:57 am
Jules, this is a troll known as ‘wwallace’ who has been permanently banned from the site due to this sort of aggressive and derisive posting. Please, just ignore him. He’s a high school student with no friends (really, not just said for effect), who likes to annoy people for fun. You can tell him by his mimicry, and irrational attacks.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:33 amWow, ned’s back, AGAIN.
I’m proud to be the foil in your screen name.
You, your just another failed Hitler Youth.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:35 amYou could be right unbelievable. No matter. Both were and are twits. Maybe when they watched re-runs of The Monty Python Show, they thought they found their muse.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:38 am14- I believe they also call that “kleptocracy.” Or at least they do when it’s a corrupt African government in question.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:40 amJay Randall you are so intuitive! No wonder you are a democrat.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:42 am34 & 35- NED, IRI, MA, Wally, whatever it is today; they are all the same person. One Bushbot can screw up the whole thread by derailing it into some juvenile “you’re a traitor,” “no, you’re a traitor,” type of food fight. What a waste of time, energy, brain cells. Ignore them- they can not stand the lack of attention, and it is not worth anyone’s time. They are, sadly, beyond hope, or help.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:49 amYou could be right unbelievable. No matter. Both were and are twits. Maybe when they watched re-runs of The Monty Python Show, they thought they found their muse.
Comment by kindness — April 6, 2006 @ 11:38 am
Funny.
I didn’t know him as NeD, just as wwallace. Sounds like he’s a menace without boundaries. Must suck to be someone that desperate to hang around people who do not like you.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:55 amDavid, I know what you are saying is correct, the wrestling in the mud with the pig and all, but have you ever just felt so pissed off at “them” that you just could not help yourself?
I mean I know wayyyyyyyy more democrats than republicans who have served this country but then they have the audacity to question my patriotism.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:57 am$44 million: The amount the pharmaceutical industry spent over a two-year period on lobbying state officials “to fight proposals that would have reduced prescription drug costs.â€
$44 million here, $29 billion there – it would be interesting to see all the waste added up into one number (Hint, hint Judd :) and then compared to the cuts that the Bush Regime has made to the budget to fund the war on ‘terra’.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:59 amPost 40 the Bush trolls get paid to post on TP and other progressive sites! Their job is to disrupt the threads, cause fights, and get the subject off on tangents! We all should ignore them, but they say such outlandish crap that we are compelled to slap them > lol.
Jules thanks for the compliment and sorry for confusing you with “kindness loves terrorists”.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:04 pmLes Moonves is really messing up these day.
Oh well, CBS news was the best network news, they just helped the other two networks. Yeh for ABC and NBC.
Katie Couric is not night time news, and will ruin the quality and reputation of 60 Minutes. The Today Show is the National Enquirer of the mornings.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:07 pmMedia Matters forgot the biggest example of Katie Couric being a world class Republican tool, the appearance of Dick and Lynn Cheney just days before the election where she let them go on about how outrageous it was the John Kerry mentioned theiir daughter was a lesbian. No mention that the daughter was openly gay and held jobs related to that, no mention that a Republican Senate candidate had called their daughter a pervert (or worse) without a peep from the Cheneys, and no mention that Lynn Cheney had written a book with lesbian sex scenes, no mention of what Kerry actually said or inquiries why that wasn’t a legitimate comment because of all the Republican gay bashing. Just a complete tool!
April 6th, 2006 at 12:18 pm$44 million: The amount the pharmaceutical industry
I wonder how much the pharmaceutical industry spent on lobbying to keep no retail limits on ephedrine and pseudoephedrine and limit regulations.
Profits at any cost, any way, no matter what.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/etc/synopsis.html
With all the millions, and millions, they spend on lobbying, they could actually reduce the cost of their beneficial drugs – and we can all agree Americans are over-medicated, aggressively sold drugs that are not really needed, and could, thru diet and exercise reduce their needs for drugs. We don’t talk about the later, because it’ll hurt profits.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:21 pm41- Yes, and I too have hurled back vitriol-laden facts (and the occasional insult) many, many times. It is at best quixotic, at worst an infuriating, thread busting, topic diversion.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:43 pmThe Today Show is the National Enquirer of the mornings.
Wouldn’t that be Foz & Friends? The Today Show seems a little more like one of those awful morning zoo type local radio shows without the bleeped out words.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:47 pm#12 DAMN fine point. I applaud you and agree 100%. You have described it very succintly and clearly enough so that it can be a perfect message. People need to understand exactly what they are voting for. The snowjob is over!
April 6th, 2006 at 1:11 pm#35 NeD is never gone. We are his only friends. Ah well, maybe enough reality from us will open his eyes. I’m so glad I had good parents, good friends, and good neighbors. You know, NeD, It Takes A Village. :-)
April 6th, 2006 at 1:14 pmAddition:
Democracy Now is reporting an increase in fake news coming from corporations and being aired by stations as if it were real news. They have no disclaimer or acknowledgement of where they came from. (Personally I’d like to boycott every big time actor that appears in a commercial, or infomercial, but that’s sub-issue)
We know the administration likes propaganda and fake news (i.e., Gannon, HHS video on new prescription drug program).
If we are to keep our Democracy we need an educated and knowledgeable electorate, and truthful, brave, journalists.
I am cautiously looking forward to the Independent World Television, IWT.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:35 pm51- Hell, how much of the “news” is actually just advertising? This, unfortunately, is nothing new. Whenever there is a “news” story touting the benefits of any product, you can bet that someone paid for it.
Toxic Sludge is Good for You, while several years old, is still a great resource on discerning actual news from the typical bullshit being passed off as same.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:49 pmKatie Couric reminds me of a giddy little school girl dying to screw the football team’s quarterback. CBS’s ratings should be in the tank after about one year of her at the helm. What a joke!
April 7th, 2006 at 1:35 am