ThinkFast: April 7, 2008
ThinkFast: April 7, 2008
CNN reports that “President Bush is planning to address the nation Thursday morning about the Iraq war,” following two days of congressional testimony by Amb. Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus. Bush “is expected to discuss the administration’s decision to reduce combat tours of duty from 15 months to 12 months, as well as the future in Iraq.”
Tomorrow on Capitol Hill, Gen. David Petraeus “is expected to call for halting troop reductions that began in December for about six months to assess the security situation.” Petraeus’ recommendation “would keep about 140,000 troops in Iraq — 10,000 more than before the surge of troops last year.
USA Today reports that “[t]he percentage of recruits requiring a waiver to join the Army because of a criminal record or other past misconduct has more than doubled since 2004.” Since last October, “13% of recruits have entered the Army with conduct waivers” compared to 11% for all of last year.
“The national average price for gasoline jumped 5 cents the past two weeks according to the bi-weekly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations. The average price of self-serve regular gasoline Friday was $3.32 a gallon, mid-grade was $3.44 and premium was $3.55, according to the Lundberg Survey.”
“It isn’t just happening on Main Street.” Roll Call reports that the banking crisis “may have cost 51 Members [of Congress] as much as $13.2 million in stock value during the past 15 months.”
Last year, Congress adopted strict ethics rules “requiring members to disclose when they steered federal money to pet projects.” Lawmakers, however, are still relying on “soft earmarks,” in which they direct “billions of dollars to favored organizations by making vague requests rather than issuing explicit instructions to government agencies in committee reports and spending bills.”
Government auditors are investigating the $2.6 billion Veterans Affairs employees charged to agency credit cards last year, which included “hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters, and high-end retailers such as Sharper Image and Franklin Covey.”
“Security officials have extinguished the Olympic flame amid heavy protests” in Paris, the AP reports. The torch was extinguished due to “pro-Tibetan protests” that “broke out along its path.”
President Bush and Vladimir Putin met for a final time in Russia on Sunday. While Bush hailed the conversation as “a significant breakthrough” on the contentious issue of missile defense, “Putin was more cautious, saying it ‘does not provide any breakthrough’ and that ‘the devil is in the details.’”
And finally: While traveling, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice likes to work out on the elliptical machine. White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, however, prefers bowling. While in Romania for the NATO summit, Bolten “sneaked off the first night for an evening of bowling, along with communications director Kevin Sullivan and some others.” In Zagreb, Croatia, he also “hit the local Harley-Davidson store, where he bought a T-shirt. Then, in Sochi, he hit another bowling alley.”
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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The U.S. establishment media in a nutshell
In the past two weeks, the following events transpired:
Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days:
“Yoo and torture” – 102
“Mukasey and 9/11″ — 73
“Yoo and Fourth Amendment” — 16
“Obama and bowling” — 1,043
“Obama and Wright” — More than 3,000 (too many to be counted)
“Obama and patriotism” – 1,607
“Clinton and Lewinsky” — 1,079
Edited from Glenn Greenwald at Salon:
April 7th, 2008 at 9:01 amhttp://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/04/05/media/index.html
What did you miss?
I heard on the radio this morning the results of a survey of a considerable number of historians.
98 percent said that GDumbya will go down in history as a failed presi-dunce.
More than 60 percent said that he will go down as the worst presi-dunce in history. An additional 30 percent said that he will go down as one of the worst.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:08 am“hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters, and high-end retailers such as Sharper Image and Franklin Covey.”
Whoa whoa whoa — you mean people actually BUY things at The Sharper Image?
April 7th, 2008 at 9:09 amI suspect the reality of our military strength may be starting to set in. On the one hand, we have Petraeus expected to ask that troop withdrawals come to a grinding halt — on the other hand, we also have the military scraping the bottom of the barrel to fill their uniforms. So what will Bush say about the future of Iraq? If he wants to maintain the occupation at the current strength, he’s going to have to find a way to do it with a diminished military, unless he plans to reinstate the draft. Even with stop-loss, there are limits.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:09 amRoll Call reports that the banking crisis “may have cost 51 Members [of Congress] as much as $13.2 million in stock value during the past 15 months.”
_______________________________________
The cynic in me believes that if there’s a way for Congress to shore up their own stock values while ignoring the needs of Americans just trying to get by, they will.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:12 amtom Says:
April 7th, 2008 at 9:08 am
What did you miss?
I heard on the radio this morning the results of a survey of a considerable number of historians.
98 percent said that GDumbya will go down in history as a failed presi-dunce.
_____
But that surey is inaccurate! Historians are biased towards a past-looking conception of history. If they want to know what the future opinion of this administration will be, they need to talk to futurists.
You know, like the ones who predicted we’d have flying cars and a moon colony by 1998.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:12 am“It isn’t just happening on Main Street.” Roll Call reports that the banking crisis “may have cost 51 Members [of Congress] as much as $13.2 million in stock value during the past 15 months.”
Oh, BOO HOO
April 7th, 2008 at 9:13 ammisshusseinmolly Says:
April 7th, 2008 at 9:09 am
I suspect the reality of our military strength may be starting to set in. On the one hand, we have Petraeus expected to ask that troop withdrawals come to a grinding halt — on the other hand, we also have the military scraping the bottom of the barrel to fill their uniforms.
______
Don’t forget about Bush touring Eastern Europe recruiting for NATO. If the draft and stop-loss policies don’t work out, we could import some Ukranian and Albanian troops super-cheap.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:14 am15 members of congress losing $13.2 million? Guess Bush’s brand of fascism is “coming home to roost”. Maybe now they’ll get off their fat asses and impeach this charlatan?
April 7th, 2008 at 9:31 am“It isn’t just happening on Main Street.” Roll Call reports that the banking crisis “may have cost 51 Members [of Congress] as much as $13.2 million in stock value during the past 15 months.”
Too bad so sad. It’s too bad that the Republicans didn’t think this thing through. Why they thought that bankrupting this country and sending it into a recession/depression would not affect them is beyond me. Perhaps they all forgot to take a basic economics class in college.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:32 amHow did Russia fall? What came first – the chicken or the egg? Military failure, political failure, and then financial failure. Looks like we’re hell bent on duplicating Russia’s story.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:33 am#8 – Add to that “Boo Effin Hoo!”.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:33 amLawmakers, however, are still relying on “soft earmarks,” in which they direct “billions of dollars to favored organizations by making vague requests rather than issuing explicit instructions to government agencies in committee reports and spending bills.
There is a simple solution to this earmark problem. Just pass a law that says that there can only be one single subject per bill passed. Then once or twice a year, pass one law for earmarks. Not all earmarks are bad. Many fund very worthy projects. What is bad about them is their lack of transparency. So, the “earmarks” bill should require 1) strict disclosure of who is asking for the money and 2) where exactly the money will be spent.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:34 amTomorrow on Capitol Hill, Gen. David Petraeus “is expected to call for halting troop reductions that began in December for about six months to assess the security situation.”
A guy goes to the doctor and the doctor says he only has 6 months to live. The guy couldn’t pay his bill, the doctor gave him another 6 months.
You see how ridiculous this merry-go-round is? “We need 6 months to assess the situation.” So after 4-5 years they’ll say they need another 6 months to reassess the situation. Someone needs to stop this insane bullshit now!
April 7th, 2008 at 9:35 amHere’s the link to the historian survey I noted in #3 –> http://hnn.us/articles/48916.html
Here are a couple notable quotes from the article:
One historian indicated that his reason for rating Bush as worst is that the current president combines traits of some of his failed predecessors: “the paranoia of Nixon, the ethics of Harding and the good sense of Herbert Hoover. . . . . God willing, this will go down as the nadir of American politics.” Another classified Bush as “an ideologue who got the nation into a totally unnecessary war, and has broken the Constitution more often than even Nixon. He is not a conservative, nor a Christian, just an immoral man . . . .” Still another remarked that Bush’s “denial of any personal responsibility can only be described as silly.”
“It would be difficult to identify a President who, facing major international and domestic crises, has failed in both as clearly as President Bush,” concluded one respondent.
“George Bush has combined mediocrity with malevolent policies and has thus seriously damaged the welfare and standing of the United States,” wrote one of the historians, echoing the assessments of many of his professional colleagues. “Bush does only two things well,” said one of the most distinguished historians. “He knows how to make the very rich very much richer, and he has an amazing talent for f**king up everything else he even approaches. His administration has been the most reckless, dangerous, irresponsible, mendacious, arrogant, self-righteous, incompetent, and deeply corrupt one in all of American history.”
April 7th, 2008 at 9:35 amGovernment auditors are investigating the $2.6 billion Veterans Affairs employees charged to agency credit cards last year, which included “hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters, and high-end retailers such as Sharper Image and Franklin Covey.”
Wow, it appears that the Bush Administration took office and then told everyone, go have a ball on the government’s dime. There will be no accountability whatsoever.
Can anyone remember anything this administration has done to find anyone accountable for any action?
April 7th, 2008 at 9:36 am> It was revealed that the Bush
> administration declared the Fourth
> Amendment of the Bill of Rights to
> be inapplicable to “domestic military operations”
Normally I’m a strong supporter of an attorneys right to give his honest legal opinion about any matter, but Yoo’s “opinions” are so delusional I beleive they cannot be recognized as legitimate legal advice. In Yoo’s bizarro world, any government official who wants to violate the constitution can do so as long as he labels his actions in a certain way. Want to search without a warrant? Just call it a “scan” instead of a “search” and you’ll be ok.. I’m sure this guy would have done a good job as a lawyer for hitler, stalin, or saddam..
April 7th, 2008 at 9:36 amIran to OPEC: Stop Oil Sales in Dollars
War Drums Beat Louder
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/32525
** Don’t forget the Iranians opened their own trading bourse just weeks ago that does NOT accept U.S. dollars.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:39 amChocolate Jesus Says:
April 7th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Normally I’m a strong supporter of an attorneys right to give his honest legal opinion about any matter, but Yoo’s “opinions” are so delusional I beleive they cannot be recognized as legitimate legal advice. In Yoo’s bizarro world, any government official who wants to violate the constitution can do so as long as he labels his actions in a certain way. Want to search without a warrant? Just call it a “scan” instead of a “search” and you’ll be ok.. I’m sure this guy would have done a good job as a lawyer for hitler, stalin, or saddam..
April 7th, 2008 at 9:42 am———————–
And the entire media mentioned it only 16 times. It must not be too important?
The cynic in me believes that if there’s a way for Congress to shore up their own stock values while ignoring the needs of Americans just trying to get by, they will.
Why do you think Congress sat idly by watching the Feds pour billions of our tax dollars into bailing out Bear Sterns. It’s in their own financial best interest to bail out the institutions, but not the ailing homeowners.
What I would like to know is where the Feds got the authority to spend our taxpayer dollars without going through Congress. I thought that Congress was the only governmental body that could spend our taxpayer funds.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:46 ammanicare Says:
Most of all the US oil refiners lost money last fiscal quarter! Just a heads up for TP to give us more info on the subject!
Well, since you think this is a fact, why don’t you link to the reliable news source you read it on. Only thing I have read is the gross profits the US oil companies have been reporting for the last year.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:50 amClinton Chief Strategist Pushed Out — ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Jake Tapper and Eloise Harper Report: Mark Penn has been pushed out as chief strategist of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign after his work on a Colombian free-trade agreement that Clinton opposes, sources tell ABC News.
Does that mean she doesn’t have to pay him the millions she owes him? That’s a clever way to reduce your debt load. Just fire the people you owe lots of money to.
Clinton should have done this a long time ago. That man has been nothing but an embarrassment to her.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:53 amChocolate Jesus Says:
April 7th, 2008 at 9:36 am
———————–
From Glenn Greenwald at Salon dot com on John Yoo:
April 7th, 2008 at 9:53 am
#3, tom – there is an article in Harper’s Monthly titled Worst.President.Ever. Here is a quote by one of the historians and it says it all – “No individual president can compare to the second Bush. Glib, contemptuous, ignorant, incurious, a dupe of anyone who humors his deluded belief in his heroic self, he has bankrupted the country with his disastrous war and his tax breaks for the rich, trampled on the Bill of Rights, appointed foxes in every henhouse, compounded the terrorist threat, turned a blind eye to torture and corruption and a looming ecological disaster, and squandered the rest of the world’s goodwill. In short, no other president’s faults have had so deleterious an effect on not only the country but the world at large.”
April 7th, 2008 at 9:57 amWhat did you miss???:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080406/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_no_closer
April 7th, 2008 at 9:57 amBowling?
Nice to know we’re spending taxpayer dollars to send the White House staff clique to bowl in Croatia. Shouldn’t they be talking to their foreign counterparts?
Really.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:00 amWhat did we miss?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/05/clinton-under-fire-over-f_n_95218.html
Oh gee, imagine that. Another Hillary “misstatement”.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:02 amHey Bilbo, do you ever get the impression that Hillary is as dilusional as George?
April 7th, 2008 at 10:05 amWill Bush announce on Thursday that his daughters will be joining the army in order to help out with the surge? FDR’s four sons were in the military during World War II yet neither Bush nor Cheney [five deferments "other priorities"] have encouraged their daughters to join up and fight for their cause, a cause for which they were mysteriously absent during something called the Vietnam conflict. Those in power are quite content to advocate and wage war as long as they can call upon other people’s children to fight their wars.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:08 am>Iraq – Sadr Party Faces Rising Isolation
Yep, the squelching of democracy in iraq. Lets call it what it really is. Sadr has massive popular support in the Shia populace, and the Maliki government knows that if his movement isnt repressed, it will gain alot of political power in the upcoming elections since Sadr boycotted the previous ones.
So thanks Kilo for reminding us that we’re spending our blood and treasure in iraq supporting a government trying to suppress legitimate democracy .
We’ll see what comes of it.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:10 amPetraeus’ recommendation “would keep about 140,000 troops in Iraq — 10,000 more than before the surge of troops last year.
But it’s a SURGE, not an escalation! A surge, I tell you!
April 7th, 2008 at 10:14 amthis is what Maliki’s really aiming for.. denying Sadrists the vote..
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-32890320080407
anyone who thinks Sadr is the only political figure with a militia in iraq is incredibly naive.
apparently sadr is seeking advice from the Iranian cleric Sistani now, who is someone even the united states wont cross.
i predict sadr will say “we disbanded” but not much will change, much like the governments Total Information Awarness program was officiall killed by congress yet continues under many different names today..
April 7th, 2008 at 10:15 amGOP WISHES THE INTERNET HAD NEVER BEEN INVENTED
It makes it way to easy for someone to document their crimes.
An internet agitprop artist publishing the website “Republican Offenders dot com” has produced a list of 272 Republicans charged with criminal activity, 60 of which are pedophiles. Each name is linked to a group heading of the type of crime alleged or convicted. (Among the categories are rape, bribery and “assorted felonies”.)
The list really has to be seen to be appreciated.
Republican presidential campaign official Matthew Joseph Elliot was arrested for outstanding warrants in regard to his status as a sex offender and a 2006 case of sexual exploitation of a child. He briefly joined the Iowa Presidential Campaign staff of Mitt Romney before leaving to run for Iowa state legislature.
Can you say background check… It lists Corruption, Bribery, Fraud, Rape, Felonies and more. The list in very long but you have to see it to appreciate it. Very tragic list, great Watchdog site.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:19 amLooks like we missed a bunch of rightwing lies and progaganda, according to Kilo.
Oh, well, Kilo=Koolaid.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:20 am>Iraq – Sadr Party Faces Rising Isolation
Really is amazing, actually, that just about the only thing
the iraqi government can reach a consensus on is that, much like iranian elections, certain political groups shouldnt be allowed to have candidates…I guess those purple fingers come with an asterisk..
Was banning inconvient political parties one of the benchmarks the “surge” was supposed to be buying time for?
April 7th, 2008 at 10:23 amGovernment auditors are investigating the $2.6 billion Veterans Affairs employees charged to agency credit cards last year.
No wonder they can’t update the Veterans Hospitals across the country. Every single one of them that have bogus charges should have to pay it back and apologize to all the Vets that suffered because it. Will the greed and uncaring never end?
April 7th, 2008 at 10:24 amRadio host Ed Schultz: ‘I’m sorry … John McCain is a warmonger’
“I’m sorry, John, the label sticks. John McCain is a warmonger,” liberal radio host Ed Schultz said a few minutes ago on CNN’s American Morning.
Schultz called McCain a “warmonger” on Friday as he was warming up the audience at a fundraiser for the North Dakota Democratic Party in Grand Forks. Sen. Barack Obama, who later addressed the audience, was not in the hall when Schultz made his remark.
On Saturday, McCain called on Obama to condemn Schultz’s words. The Democrat’s campaign issued a statement saying that “John McCain is not a warmonger and should not be described as such. He’s a supporter of a war that Senator Obama believes should have never been authorized and never been waged.”
Sunday, McCain said the matter was settled by the Obama campaign’s statement.
But this morning, Schultz showed he’s not going to apologize or tone down his words.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:27 am[...]
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/04/radio-host-ed-s.html
White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, however, prefers bowling.
Happy to see the usual amount of attention by this administration is paid to the affairs of state.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:28 amhttp://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/04/07/iraq.main/index.html
Apparently when the Iraqi government reaches a consensus that inconveent political parties should be banned, thats acceptable to thier overlords..BUT if the iraqi government says Blackwater isnt allowed in thier country anymore.. well..tough luck fellas..
America, bringing “democracy”* to Iraq
April 7th, 2008 at 10:28 am… government credit-card bills at … high-end retailers such as Sharper Image…
and STILL sharper image is going bankrupt? … yes, it is…
April 7th, 2008 at 10:31 amBIG SURPRISE!!!
Putin to become PM and United Russia leader after stepping down UPDATE
Forbes – 2 hours ago
MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) – President Vladimir Putin is to become prime minister of Russia on May 8, the day after stepping down from the Kremlin, and will also be asked to head Russia’s ruling party, the speaker of parliament said.
Putin to be confirmed Russia’s new PM on May 8 Hindu
Putin may head Russia’s dominant party, lawmakers say Monsters and Critics.com
NOT.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:33 am#16 Bilbo…
April 7th, 2008 at 10:37 amBecause your excellent suggestion would give the necessary transparency and accountability to all earmarks, is precisely the reason we won’t see it in my lifetime.
#50-The Right Stuff
You neglected to mention that McCain was shot down while attempting to bomb a light bulb factory, which is a civilian target and not a military installation. This, of course, is in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions and which makes McCain a war criminal for committing war crimes.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:55 amI still can’t believe war criminals are allowed to run this country.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:59 amBushitler: worst president -EVER!
Never in the history of this country have so few have done so much harm to so many in so short a time.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:00 amWrong_Stuff recognizes that McCain is quite content to advocate and wage war.
Either that, or Wrong_Stuff decided to erect a straw man.
Either possibility seems equally likely.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:01 amKilo Says:
April 7th, 2008 at 10:23 am
If they weren’t immunised against prosecution in the US, they would be immunised against prosecution in the Hague.
_________________
I don’t F-in’ believe it. Here we go agaon.
Can ANYBODY hear understand what this blithering idjit is saying here?
If they WEREN’T immunized against… in the US, they WOULD BE immunized… in the Hague?
I know I shouldn’t taunt this cretin, but… WTF????????????????
April 7th, 2008 at 11:02 amkaty Says:
April 7th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Radio host Ed Schultz: ‘I’m sorry … John McCain is a warmonger’
————————————
Our Progressive Radio hosts are under attack. Randi Rhodes was suspended last week for calling Hillary an ‘F” ing whore at a private event and Ed Schultz is under fire for calling MCain a “Warmonger”.
Whether you like these two personalities or not the fact remains that they speak to more Progressives per week than anyone else.
Meanwhile, Minnesota right-wing radio host Chris Baker is suggesting KILLING peace protesters:
So calling Hillary and John McCain names off-air is unacceptable. But advocating the KILLING of peace protesters over the public airwaves is just fine?
April 7th, 2008 at 11:06 amAnd Kilo offers the comforting thought that, as long as one has “legal opinions resulting in a legal framework” one is able to ignore any law one chooses.
Hence the BushCo Reign of Error.
Torture? No problem. “Legal opinions resulting in a legal framework”.
Spying on Americans without a warrant? No problem. “Legal opinions resulting in a legal framework”.
Using the Justice Department to pursue political goals? No problem. “Legal opinions resulting in a legal framework”.
Lying to the American people to pursue a war against a nation that was no threat? No problem — he’s the Commander in Chimp.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:07 ami hear ya, 2 million…
but – randi WAS at an AAR affiliate for a sponsored event and it IS the company’s
policy, yadda yadda yadda… you know…
don’t have to agree with it, but that’s how it is…
support randi here feedback@airamerica.com
maddening that it was her own “progressive” employer who came down on randi… but i bet the publicity is great for business…
i’m glad that ed schultz is not backing down, and that his company, JONES, is not forcing him to do so… he’s on in about 40 minutes – should be good radio…
the wrong-wingers are hate filled trouble makers, that’s for sure…
i heard tavis smiley, on maher, call pat buchanan a “racial arsonist”…
April 7th, 2008 at 11:20 aminclude them all and their ideas under the label “HATE ARSONISTS”…
.
katy Says:
April 7th, 2008 at 11:20 am
i hear ya, 2 million…
but – randi WAS at an AAR affiliate for a sponsored event and it IS the company’s
policy, yadda yadda yadda… you know…
don’t have to agree with it, but that’s how it is…
support randi here feedback@airamerica.com
maddening that it was her own “progressive” employer who came down on randi… but i bet the publicity is great for business…
April 7th, 2008 at 11:35 am———————-
Mark Green, who was her boss until recently, is an ultra Hillary supporter. I don’t think Randi has the best relationship with him. Hillary is, in my opinion, a conservative Republican. Take all this into consideration and it’s evident that Randi was not suspended by a Progressive. She was suspended by a Republican.
>And once again, the problem is that you understand literally >nothing about the topic of discussion,
Right, we’d be better off just speaking incredibly cryptically about what knowledge we do have, while ignoring anything and everything that doesnt mesh with bs we’re spewing. Blurring what other people dont know with what you refuse to acknoweldge is great for community college philosophy courses and not much else..
April 7th, 2008 at 11:37 amGood grief. These reichwingers are STILL defending torture?
Still defending warrantless spying on Americans?
Still defending war criminals?
Kilo, Wrong_stuff: What the fresh HELL is wrong with you?
April 7th, 2008 at 11:47 amOnce again you attack others for what is your own charactor flaw. Your self-serving, arrogant and ignorant posts are dishonest and I am tired of you attacking everyone here and never entering into discussions which you profess to be so adept at…..flagged.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:54 amYou forgot to mention that McCain’s son is in fact on the front lines in Iraq, and that McCain himself was a POW.
Since no links were offered, I’ll assume its more baloney. The military couldn’t take the chance of having the son of a sitting senator in combat, as it would present too great a target to insurgents. he’s probably another rear-echelon type, like Duncan Hunter’s son.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:55 amIf they weren’t immunised against prosecution in the US, they would be immunised against prosecution in the Hague.
Without a link to prove it – more baloney.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:57 amThe WARMONGER comment seems to be perfectly accurate….”bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran” can only be described as WARMONGERING. The F-ing Whore comment is not necessarily true in the most literal sense, but still not an unreasonable statement. Yoo is a war criminal, no doubt.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:01 pmThe only way to reduce tours in Iraq/Afghanistan to 12 months, while keeping 140K+ troops in Iraq and boosting the troop level in Afghanistan is to reinstate the draft. After all, it’s only your children and grandkids being let to the slaughter.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:09 pm>If they weren’t immunised against prosecution in the US, >they would be immunised against prosecution in the Hague.
he’s vaugely correct, although again, the way it was phrased was unncessarily combersome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court
“The Court is designed to complement existing national judicial systems: it can exercise its jurisdiction only when national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute such crimes.[9][10] Primary responsibility to investigate and punish crimes is therefore reserved to individual states.[11 ”
however, it is questionable whether the current government immunizing someone means they will forever be beyond the reach of future governments from that country..
once again, this is all a distraction.. the real point is the utter insanity and legally unsound-ness of the administrations beliefs about the scope of thier power.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:12 pmlets not forget this adminsitration has asserted its right to sexually torture children. that assertion defies all logic and reason in a civilized democracy…
A round up of the British newspapers’ reaction to Mark Penn’s resignation from Hillary Clinton’s campaign — at TheZoo.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:20 pmHillary Clinton wins the Veruca Salt Award!
April 7th, 2008 at 12:21 pmLet us begin with The Right Stuff at #58. Did you actually bother to read the link that you wished to bring to my attention? Nowhere in McCain’s narrative does McCain state what “the target”, as he put it, actually is. If McCain, the war criminal, had been truthful, he would have told his readers that the target was, as I wrote in comment #52, a light bulb factory, which, as I wrote, is a civilian target and therefore in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Next up we have the pseudo expert known as Kilo at #57. You refer to what I had written of McCain at #52 as swiftboating. What Kerry had done to him by the Swift Boat veterans were lies told by veterans who did not serve with Kerry. What you conveniently did not address were the comments that I had accurately written describing the target that McCain had attempted to bomb while on his last mission. After McCain had been shot down, Vietnamese peasants who had belonged to the village near the target that McCain was trying to bomb attempted to [justifiably] beat McCain to death. Fortunately for McCain, a security guard named Mai Van On [who worked at the same light bulb factory that McCain was attempting to destroy] interceded on McCain’s behalf and prevented the crowd of about 40 people from killing him.
As I previously mentioned, attempting to bomb a civilian target during war time is in direct violation of the Geneva Convention, which makes McCain not a war hero but rather a war criminal. John McCain- war criminal then, war criminal now, war criminal forever.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:42 pmBAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blasted the U.S. State Department for renewing its contract with the Blackwater security firm, saying the company
The Iraqi government was not consulted on the State Department decision, he said.
“No judicial action has been taken and no compensation has been made,” al-Maliki said Sunday. “Therefore, this extension requires the approval of the Iraqi government, and the government would want to resolve the outstanding issues with this company.”has yet to answer for what he called a “massacre” last year.
LINK
April 7th, 2008 at 12:53 pmKilo believes Sadr’s popularity has dropped in Iraq, because Sadr’s political rivals say so. And he’s glad that Yoo helped immunize war crimes, because it allows the war criminals to evade justice in both the US and at the Hague, where they will never submit themselves for justice.
Iraq goes to hell, America goes with it, and Kilo provides the ponies.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:59 pmInteresting strategy that Kilo employs: produce unintelligible variations of standard talking points, then when no one can see any sense in them or understand even what his point is, accuse others of being “not too bright”.
I wonder if Kilo actually believes it. No one else does.
April 7th, 2008 at 1:06 pmWHY OUR FEITH-BASED IRAQI POLICY FAILED
Here we go again. Another architect of the Iraq war’s disastrous aftermath has written a spine-tingling tell-all that basically reads as a had-you-listened-to-me-none-of-this-would’ve-happened fairy tale. Douglas Feith, a neo-con from the Henry “Scoop” Jackson School for War Mongering Idealists and former No. 3 man at the Pentagon, insists had we followed his plan, Iraq would be a thriving, oil-rich and IED-free democracy with Baghdad its shining city upon a hill. His plan? Install Ahmed Chalabi as leader and more or less get out of Dodge. The discredited former Iraqi exile would have calmed sectarian nerves and kept a civil war from erupting. Right on, Doug.
That someone with so warped a view of the Middle East could have held so high a post in the U.S. government is chilling. Here is a man who ran a clandestine office in the Defense Department with the Orwellian title “Office of Special Plans.” Its mission was to stovepipe intelligence stemming from the CIA (which was supposed to be run by one Paul Wolfowitz but he kept on getting caught having extramarital affairs with staffers). Feith was especially keen on proving a link existed between Saddam and al-Qaeda while over-hyping Iraqi links with Niger on the sale of yellowcake uranium and a supposed meeting in Prague between Mohammad Atta and an Iraqi spook.
Only under the Bush Administration could Feith be praised, in any other administration he would have been shown the door..
April 7th, 2008 at 1:17 pmErroll Says:
April 7th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I find a certain poetic symmetry in the fact that a dim bulb like Little Johnny McNumbNuts was shot down while attempting to bomb a light bulb factory.
April 7th, 2008 at 1:50 pmNow I know we’ll see legislative action on this important issue! They’ll probably pass a law that protects Members of Congress who lose money in the stock market — and Vegas too. It goes along with their health care plan…
April 7th, 2008 at 1:51 pm