GonzoWatch ... Day 11. At the moment, Joe Conason is the odds on favorite to win our "Gonzo Is Gonzo." He wagered that Alberto Gonzales would resign this Friday at 4 p.m. Not a bad bet... But for Pete's sake. Alberto, please resign. If only because the Seder Juggernaut is running out of Gonzo pictures.
Today on the show: We'll talk about Al Gore and more wiht Andrew Revkin, environmental reporter for the New York. Later, we'll talk progressive politics with Mike Lux, author of a new six-part series on The Huffington Post.
Sam made a serious threat this morning: Contact Congress and voice your support for tesimony from White House officials UNDER OATH ... or Sam will continue to play children's music on the show.
Call 202-225-3121 or go here to find your Senator or member of Congress.
Alan writes: "I have spoke to Senator Schumer's office, and left a message at
Senator Clinton's office, please no more music!"
Billy writes: "i PROMISE i will call my senator and vote next term if you PROMISE not to play anymore kiddie music.made me want to shoot my face off yesterday."
110 comments:
Good morning
Anybody else want to step up and make a prediction?
blah blah blah said...
lets hope war with iran doesn't start at 5:45 tonight...
seriously, i would expect gonzo to be gone by the end of the day.
March 20, 2007 1:00 PM
morning sam and the gang. when the decider decided to dig in, i think he moved the gonzo going going gone window way out. he's going to dig in and fight because every day that we're talking about something other than iraq or the economy or immigration or corporate reform is a good day for the bushies.
p.s. can you post something short on the blog when you open a new thread. or perhaps mr. obvious could give us a lesson on how to figure that out.
i called both my senators yesterday! please no more of that music.
Morning all. What is that, Gonzo with Sherlock Holmes?
Edwards wife has cancer again.
Make your choices. Hilary or Obama.
You gotta pick one.
The other choice is another republican fascist fundamentalist.
baby's on fire
better throw her inn the water
Gonzo with Sherlock Holmes?
March 22, 2007 6:10 AM
Clouseau, man!
I think that's Gonzo with Peter Sellers, a.k.a. Inspector Clouseau (sp?)
John Edward and his wife are holding a news conference today. He had cancelled a campaign stop to accompany his wife to a doctor's visit.
Bob Novak reports conservatives are angry at CIA Director Michael Hayden for telling Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) that Valerie Plame was covert. “Waxman’s statement astounded Republicans whose queries about her had been rebuffed by the agency. That confirmed Republican suspicions that Hayden is too close to Democrats. … When Hayden’s role was pointed out to one of the president’s most important aides, there was no response.”
LINK
We keep hearing that the Federal prosecutors serve at the pleasure of the President. What Gonzo, Snowjob, the (p)Resident and corporate media seem to forget is that the President serves at the pleasure of the American people...and the American people are NOT pleased!
A review 1,400 veterans hospitals has turned up more than 1,000 reports of substandard conditions. In response, VA Sec. Jim Nicholson this week ordered “immediate corrective action” to fix the problems. Bobby Muller of the Veterans for America said, “There is a social contract between a country and those it sends to war, and America’s social contract is broken.”
LINK
“Three of the eight federal prosecutors ousted by the Justice Department as poor performers ranked in the top 10 for prosecutions and convictions by the nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys, an analysis of court records shows.” A fourth prosecutor “ranked among the top third of all U.S. attorneys during four of the past five years.”
LINK
toniD said...
Bob Novak reports conservatives are angry at CIA Director Michael Hayden for telling Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) that Valerie Plame was covert
i've got to admit that i found that statement really surprising. how do you suppose hayden found his way off the reservation?
the 5:45 statement was mine the other day prior to bushes news conference at 5:45.
what really scares me is that the neocons behaviour isn't too far removed from a rabid animal. you need to be real careful when you get them backed into a corner.
Morning folks. Think I'm taking the day off from work today. Got my XM hooked up finally. Nice to be able to listen to you on my home system, Sam, instead of streaming. :)
this is come uppance time. These guys are squirming trying to avoid their come uppance.
i thought tony snow said "sworn testimony", too
i thought tony snow said "sworn testimony", too
i thought tony snow said "sworn testimony", too
sorry.
You have to lie real big time to know how bad your going to get it to be worrying about it this much, I mean, they must really think theyre going to get it. Making me think theyve done even worse than we think theyve done. Just makes e m look more guilty.
SNow,"Do you think theres information you not going to get if you just trust the person you think is lying to you,"
Reporter,"Well sir, actually, if the guy Im supposed to trust is the one Im suspicious of lying to m...."
Snow,"The answers No, why would you think we're going to lie, stuuuuuupid!"
Reporter,"Oh, really... Is that the way you want it? Oooo, kaaaay..."
WHITEHOUSE REPORTERS ARE WUSSIES WITH NO BALLS!
we need a real press in this country.
Bush, "if I was expected to be held account for my actions, then how could I get away with actions Im ususally supposed be held account for conducting, without being held account for my actions". I, I, I , mean, how could I get away with anything, if, if, if, I let people hold me to account, and just investigate what Ive done however they feel like?"
Ed Henry be the hammer
Tony Snow be the nail.
The 'zip-it' thing set Ed off, obviously.
“In a stinging, wide-ranging assessment,” Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen found the U.S. was “unprepared for the extensive nation-building required after it invaded Iraq, and at each juncture where it could have adjusted its efforts, it failed even to understand the problems it faced.”
LINK
“Public housing projects damaged by Hurricane Katrina would not be knocked down until the U.S. government has a plan to replace them under a bill” passed by the House yesterday. It would “also would grant tenants who lived in New Orleans public housing before the storm the right to return to homes and apartments subsidized by the government.”
LINK
Notice how they add all those designations and qualifiers for what type of issue this is and that isnt saying,"he'll answer that, but this is a question of this, or this, or that" just so he can later say, "Im not going to get into this legal wrngling and language". The language he stared off with to avoid the question initially, hes putting the foot down now. Like he tried to fool us with complex Dennis Miller isms, but when the reporter had a larger vocabular enough, so as to understand the complex flurry of words, and answer the question worded in a way to be difficult to answer(done so so as to not be caught in a lie) then all of a suddon, Snow flips the checker board onto the floor,"Im done talking, you dont play fair Im talking my toys and going to my room,".
WHile you stand there like, "we havent even started playing....Its your game anyway...iI was just reading the rules, we hadnt even started yet....Ok if he wants to be a baby, we'll just play his peice for him cause apparently Mr RUle ruler cant handle someone actually playing by the rules. Fuck him give me his character, his car, stick his ass on Luxery Tax for the rest of the game,".
“unprepared for the extensive nation-building required after it invaded Iraq, and at each juncture where it could have adjusted its efforts, it failed even to understand the problems it faced.”
The only truth Bush ever told; "We don't do nation building".
The Pentagon is “quietly seeking congressional approval for significant new military sales to US allies in the Persian Gulf region” to counter Iranian influence. The sale of arms -could “spark concerns that further military buildup in the volatile region would bring Washington closer to a confrontation with Iran.”
LINK
I have a feeling that emails are missing after references to "the boss" because, maybe, the boss IS NOT BUSH.
If John drops out, the Democrats are royally f---ed. They will be left with two pipe dream frontrunners.
Soldier's dad tells Bush, `This war is wrong'
The two-page letter is signed from the “proud father of a fallen soldier.”
A little more than six weeks ago, his soul a cauldron of grief and rage, Richard Landeck, 56, of Wheaton addressed and mailed it to President Bush.
And since he’s yet to receive an acknowledgment or reply, he asked me if I’d help get his message out.
“My voice, and that of many other frustrated Americans is not being heard,” he said.
It’s the least I can do, I replied.
“My son was killed in Iraq on February 2, 2007,” says the letter. “His name is Captain Kevin Landeck….
“He was killed while riding in a Humvee by a roadside bomb just south of Baghdad. He has a loving mother, a loving father and loving sister. You took him away from us.”
The letter adds that Kevin Landeck (pictured here in a recent family photo), 26, a Wheaton Warrenville South High School and Purdue University graduate, had been married for 17 months and was very proud to be serving his country.
But “the message he continued to send to me was that of incompetence,” Landeck’s letter says. “Incompetence by you, (Vice President Richard) Cheney and (former defense secretary Donald) Rumsfeld. Incompetence by some of his commanders as well as the overall strategy of your decisions.
“When I asked him about what he thought about your decision to `surge’ more troops to Baghdad, he told me, `until the Iraqis pick up the ball we are going to get cut to shreds. It doesn’t matter how many troops Bush sends, nothing has been addressed to solve the problem he started,’” says Landeck’s letter (full text below) .
LINK
He was at our Local anti-war rally!
I love it when crooks tell cops how to investigate them.
Tony Snow,"Hey, pig. Quit looking in the trunk of my car for cocain and dead bodies. What dripping blood and powder trail a mile long? Man, you must be imagining things. Stop being an asshole to me, I dont care if people are missing and one of them matched that dead chicks description. This isnt even my car. This?! This is sugar, I just had doughnuts. What blood? No, this isnt a bottle of windex and peroxide...Yes the road does look squueky clean all of a suddon. But not cause I cleaned the blood off it while you were checking that doughnut sugar trail.....but leave my trunk alone pig."
Sam,
Two points you need to HAMMER today:
1. Call your member of congress, especially if they're on the Judicial Committee!!! (If not, call Conyers or Linda Sanchez.)
2. They keep talking about this unprecedented and comprehensive email dump. Put the word out that this is only emails to/from people outside Justice...no internal emails. It's neither unprecedented nor comprehensive.
Keep up the fight!
Hello everyone just wanted to let everyone know about I site I found months ago that has alot of unedited clips you will never see on any of the networks. Some clips of our US soldiers in Iraq in firefights that will give a good feel of what they are going through. It is a very varied site with many other subjects. There are also some anti american videos that are there also, so be forewarned. Even though some of the videos are very diffulcult to watch there are what are being played in other countries and we should pretend they do not exist. the site is
http://www.liveleak.com/
UN Chief Dodges Iraq Attack
AP | March 22, 2007 08:58 AM
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was unharmed as he ducked behind a podium after a rocket or mortar round landed near the prime minister's office Thursday while the two men were holding a news conference.
Small chips of debris floated down from the ceiling above the U.N. chief after the explosion rattled the building in the Green Zone.
LINK
SNow continues,"I know its a 5 pound bag, but its sugar. Right, for my doughnuts. They never powder them enough for my taste. But no, thats not cocain. The dismemebed coarps in t he trunk...UMmmmm, designated driver....Yeah, I know her torso is lying on her head but her legs are on top and thats why Im driving. What do you mean am I serious, of coarse Im serious. I mean I know Im covered in college coed blood and cocain, but seriously do I look like a bad guy. Right, the whole cars full of powder, like I said doughnuts, I mean you copd know how crazy it sometimes gets when you have a fresh box of jelly crooler and bear claw. So can I go, yeah I have a sorority to go massacr...I mean a frat party to go to.Yeah, frat party, thats the ticket. Kegger, manly moral stuff, spanking other men, raping chicks who are passed out and throwing up. But none of this other faggy stuff youve been accusing me of cause only fags do that. Im an innocent. BY the way, could you close the trunk of my car back up, you have no idea how hard it was to get that bitch in there after I killed her,"
the boss IS NOT BUSH.
March 22, 2007 6:58 AM
now, that would be interesting...
The '60s Are Gone, But One of Its Most Controversial Organizations Is Back
By Astra Taylor, AlterNet
Since its fiery demise in 1969, there have been various attempts to revive Students for a Democratic Society. All such efforts failed ... until recently.
LINK
And thats Tony Snow, White House Press Secretary on why you should trust whatever he says no matter how dumb or inprobable it may sound.
oversight?
wha' da'??
But officer, it was a jelly doughnut.
I was VERY perplexed/amazed at the sweet deals Limbaugh got both in the doctor shopping case as well as the Viagra illegal import/deceitful label incident. Just what "ranking" did the US Attorney that tried this get on the list? Was he a "keeper"? (I don't know if the doctor shopping case was a federal case or not, but the other one must have been since it involved immigration.) Was he leaned on? Not like one of the wingnuts' icon, head propagandist for the administration etc was going to be left to fend for himself so easily, right? Really, all this has the terrible side effect of making all of these cases suspect, doesn't it?
daniel said...
But officer, it was a jelly doughnut.
March 22, 2007 7:18 AM
with robotussin flavored jelly and powdered coke and baby laxative
In this report we see that the DOJ cases involving public figures were roughly 80/20 involving democrats/repoblicans respectively.
http://www.epluribusmedia.org/columns/2007/Table%201%20375%20Candidates%20and%20Elected%20Public%20Officials.pdf
Here is an analysis of how key fired attorneys map into this:
Now when you look at the political corruption case handled the USA's from key states they break down like this:
AR D=2, R=0
CA D=32, R=6
NV D=11, R=1
MI D=18, R=0
AZ D=0, R=2
NM D=1, R=0
Nothing too dramatic there but when you look at the total cases for these states on a per-capita basis it turns out that there were 1/3 fewer case than the US average.
It is also interesting that the % of cases involving repub's is 14% for this group vs 21% for the country as a whole. However, when you factor out the East and Central CA areas and Michigan (MI had 18 dem's and 0 repubs) the remaining USA's in this group had a 26% repub case load, notably higher than average.
So, perhaps the performance issue is: They were prosecuting too many repubs and not enough dems.
Hey folks. HEADS UP: new thread/post
http://samsedershow.blogspot.com/2007/03/your-baby-has-fever.html
Really, all this has the terrible side effect of making all of these cases suspect, doesn't it?
March 22, 2007 7:21 AM
EVERYTHING IS SUSPECT NOW...drug cases, terrorism, privacy, rendition, graft, corruption.
it all STINX
Snow,"Wait,I know what it was. Officer officer, I sware, I sware it was a doughnut. I know what happened. I was driving, and I sware all of a suddon I saw AL Pachino. And then. Suddonly this bag of blow knocked my doughnut out of my hand just right before you all pulled me over, causing me to spin out crashing into the woman, who then coincedently took up that position, who you just found dead in my trunk. Why are you leaving the cuffs on? Aw man, come onnnn,".
If they didn't want this to be a circus, the RepubliCONS should not have made the symbol of their party an elephant.
I wonder if right before Karl Rove puts his hand on the bible, we will sudden declare war on Iran because of an unconnected Terrorist Attack®.
Oy. Even if I want to take a day off from work, I still can't quite escape it... damn technology. ;-p
I sware it was just a doughnut... :)
What happened to web streaming? I've been cut off for more than a week.
I think the Anti-Democrats should put registered trademakers on certain phrases like Al Qaeda Terrorists® and Emboldening the Enemy®
I wonder about their obsession with the Clintons? I think they should receive help or at least take medication for their delusions. The Clintons aren't that Liberal. They have some Liberal ideas, but they are still often appeasing corporate bigwigs.
Don't forget the method that was used to put in the replacements for the fired USAs. It was the provision in the renewed Patriot Act that circumvented Senate approval of the replacement USA.
It seems that at the same time they were selecting the USA they were going to fire, they were also creating the procedure to put in the replacements without any opposition.
All this was occurring prior to the 2006 election. I guess there was so much hubris that they never expected any oversight.
We'll take a comet thats made of ice, and gently lower it onto the north pole. Brilliant!!! Wait a minute, saw it in in convenient truth...How much does a Texas sized ice ball weigh? a billion trillion tons....This may be a problem.
We will construct a metal heat sink....miles high, out of the ocean of the North pole that stretches to space to coducts heat from the water super frezzing it like a tumor. Brilliant....Wait a minute, a 100 mile tall tower into the cold of space???? It be unsightly.
Drop Dick Cheneys heart into the water. Freezing it instantly like thos cool little Halls cough drops from Demolition man.
Barbra Bush, or Ann Coulter could losen there brass bra a bit, stick the ol udder in.
What's up with the people that still drive around town with the "W in '04" stickers on their car?!? I can't help but think, look what you've done to our country. I think I need to buy a gun!
new thread gang!
https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1260223047421551014&postID=4687543372958121978
Good to hear you speak with empathy about Edwards and the possibility that he might not be among the nominees for '08. For those of us who anticpated a horse race with Edwards in the mix, this is a disappoinment. But I strongly believe that support for his wife comes first.
And for those who really love blogging check out this new site www.vernasmith.blogspot.com
Maybe these people (Bush, Inhofe, etc.) know it's just a precursor to where they will spend all eternity---HELL---so they want the chance here to get acclimated to the extreme temperature fluctuations, such as when "hell freezes over." :)
Sam, Thursday morning as you opened your Air America Segment you said some things that were not only disturbing but maimed your credibility with me.
In regards to Al Gore's recent efforts and comments you said something like: "Well all of Al's predictions won't happen for a hundred years, we'll all be dead, so what difference does it make?" followed by a little sniggering.
Astounding, maybe you should just euthanize your child now.
Where is your soul Sam? Anyone working as hard as you do to discredit the liers has one.
Wasn't Inhofe the assclown who, on the morning of the Oklahoma City bombing, said there will be few casualties since federal employees rarely come to work before 9AM.
did anyone pick up on the far right coming out against the administrations grab for power?
rtsp://video.c-span.org/15days/e032007_afa.rm
http://12.170.145.161/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQue
ryText=american+freedom+agenda&image1.x=0&image1.y=0&image1=Submit
SAM:
Play this clip from Colbert ASAP:
http://tinyurl.com/2278rm
or at
http://www.airamerica.com/direct/node/207#comment-817
Don't drink the cool-aid on Zimbabwe. This is a conflict for Zimbabwe's national resources, in the interests of Western corporations and the White minorities in Africa.
The West owns most of the corporations that are active in Africa, and in many countries, they own most of the land.
There has never been a REAL independence movement in Africa that has been backed by the US, the UK or other western powers. NEVER. They were against the ANC, against MPLA, against SWAPO. They ALWAYS backed these organisation's enemies - IFP, UNITA, all backed by apartheid and the CIA.
So why is Morgan Tsvangirai the media darling of the west? Because as a 'real good boy', he will do what the west wants - throw African people off the land, sell off the national industries, and sell whatever mineral resources the government owns to western corporations.
That is the MDC agenda, and it is the neoliberal agenda that has been trod out all over the world. Is President Mugabe perfect - he is no more flawed than any leader in the region. But the alternative the MDC presents, has the potential to set the entire continent on fire, just like the war in Iraq has the potential to set the entire Middle East on fire.
Don't let a couple of self-induced bruises tell you otherwise. And the '1700%' inflation rate - how much is that because of sanctions, if it is real to begin with. And why are they proposing more sanctions? Has anyone even tried to verify that? Anyone who is proffering this number is aiding and abetting the neoliberal agenda. Now everyone knows.
Read on...
http://trinicenter.com/cgi-bin/selfnews/viewnews.cgi?newsid1174487247,82274,.shtml
That bozo bought the conceit that 'socialized' means 'socialist'.
TURNING YOU OFF.
You want to keep playing that kid crap, go ahead. I don't want to listen to it or you. It's not funny.
Sorry, I podcast, so I am a day behind. They Might Be Giants have some great kids music that make it much much easier when your little one gets hooked on something.
Hello Sam!:
I was listening to your excerpt on 'Global-Warming',...and i have a few comment's of my own to add to what you were talking about!.
Im no expert, so expert advise would be prudent to confirm what information that i will present here!.
Global Warming will indeed at 1st increase temperature's, which will cause the Polar Ice-Cap's to melt, which will then inject a huge amount of 'Fresh-Water' into the Ocean or more pointedly into for instance, the Pacific Ocean Thermal-Conveyor-Belt-System,...which causes Polar chilled water to submerge to the bottom and flow to the Equator, and at the same time,...the Equatorial Warmed Waters are flowing to the North or South Pole!.
This system helps to distribute and moderate Temperature's on the Earth. Now!,...with all of this Fresh-Water entering this Conveyor Belt System, the Conveyor Belt will now not work as effeciently/effectively as it did before. At this point...i believe [Check to Confirm] that Global Temperatures will really change,...such as in bringing on a New Ice Age,...as well as turning previous usable farming areas into Desert's, thereby causing terrible food shortages on the planet!.
Global Warming is not just a 'happy happy joy joy' situation of warmer temperature's for our enjoyment,...it comes with a very 'Heavy' 'Heavy' price for all of us!.
The Earth will be Heavily Depopulated, and mostly unlivable!.
That's it for now!.
Puleeze!!! Stop with the kid's earworms you're planting. It was cute at first ( & I know sometimes the fun of a joke is wearing it out) but please...
Now, I'm calling Leahy and my represtntatives!
Remember, Al Gore may not be campaigning for President, but that doesn't mean we don't have the Power to solicit the best person for the job to enter.
I can't settle for just better than Bush. I want someone that clearly represents and has a record of proof on where he stands on the correct issues. I want GOOD! I hope you do too.
Please add your name to the growing petition. We know Al Gore cares deeply about our country and solving the problems we face. If he sees the people support him, we may actually get a GREAT President.
Join the growing list of over 60,000 alread signed names at
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/algore2008/signatories-1237.html
Beck continued attacks on "fat witch" Rosie O'Donnell
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703220010
On the March 21 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Glenn Beck aired a clip from the March 20 edition of ABC's The View in which co-host Rosie O'Donnell -- during a discussion on allegations of torture at Guantánamo Bay -- said to conservative co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck: "Okay, wait, Elisabeth, you have to stop, you have to stop. You can ask a question but you can't just blather on your opinion." Beck then said of O'Donnell: "She goes off on her opinion every step of the way. But there's a conservative on the show and she's shut down. You can't just say your opinion. What the hell is this show all about, you fat witch? What is this show about?" Later, Beck claimed that O'Donnell has "blubber ... just pouring out of her eyes," and asked, "Do you know how many oil lamps we could keep burning just on Rosie O'Donnell fat?" Steve Burguiere, the executive producer and head writer of Beck's radio show, who is known on-air as "Stu," also attacked O'Donnell: "I mean, she's the type of idiot that watches documentaries online about 9-11 and conspiracies that a fourth-grader made on a PowerPoint and believes them. So there's much more to go to on that direction than just her rolls and rolls of hideous fat."
More media attacks on Clinton: Makes "some want to drink a gallon of rat poison"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703220013
In his March 22 column, Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman wrote that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) makes "some want to drink a gallon of rat poison while lying across a railroad track." He also asserted, without evidence, that "[m]uch of the support she has comes from people who wish her husband could serve a third term." The column's subhead read, "The Big Sister we can do without," a reference to an unauthorized video produced by a self-identified supporter of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and uploaded to YouTube in which Clinton is portrayed as a Big Brother-like figure.
****
Gosh.
It's great the way we women are treated, isn't it?
Such respect.
Not that I'm complaining... because we're not allowed, of course.
I mean... god forbid...
Now, if you're a Bill O'Reilly kinda white male...
Well then!
NY Times omitted Republican objections to Bush restrictions on testimony
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703220012
A March 22 New York Times "White House Memo" by reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg suggested that only Democrats raised objections to the conditions under which President Bush has "offered" to make White House senior adviser Karl Rove and other White House aides available to speak with members of Congress about the controversy over the firing of several U.S. attorneys. The article said Bush's conditions for testimony -- "only in private, without transcripts, and not under oath" -- were "not acceptable to Democrats," and added that Republicans have "lined up behind the president on the testimony issue," citing this as evidence that the issue had "seemed to turn" into a "partisan battle." However, the article made no mention that two Republican senators have declared their support for the public testimony of White House aides on this issue. As Media Matters for America noted, on the March 21 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash reported that Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said that "if there is going to be information provided, it best be provided in public." And Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) said, "It would be very helpful to have a transcript. My own preference would be to have it open, so that people see what is going on."
I'm thinkin' Specter is thinkin' that here's his chance to get rid of the "Bushies" before they get rid of him.
They were trying to twist his nuts on a lot of issues lately, threatening him...
Ha!
Just how many friends do you think this administration has left in Congress or the Judicial branch at this point anyway?
Maybe ... 3?
Naw.
Zero.
NY Times uncritically cited "statistician" and discredited global-warming skeptic Bjorn Lomborg
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703220011
A March 22 New York Times article about former Vice President Al Gore's March 21 congressional testimony on global warming reported that "Danish statistician and author" Bjorn Lomborg also testified to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The article noted that Lomborg is "critical of people who present environmental problems as a crisis" and that, during his testimony, he "asserted that Mr. Gore's portrayal of global warming as a problem, and his prescription for solving it, were deeply flawed." But the Times did not report the criticism leveled at Lomborg's book The Skeptical Environmentalist (Cambridge University Press, 2001) by several well-known environmental specialists, which Media Matters for America recently documented. Nor did the Times mention that Lomborg has previously misrepresented Gore's claims regarding global warming.
From Wayne Madsen:
March 22, 2007 -- Open memo to General Michael Hayden, CIA Director.
General, you probably remember me when I was writing about all the whistleblowers at the National Security Agency (NSA) who criticized you for cuddling up to the Bush administration on illegal wiretaps and electronic eavesdropping, purging and setting up NSA signals intelligence analysts who did not agree with White House cookie cutter pre-ordained intelligence on Iraq or the illegal surveillance programs, wholesale outsourcing of critical NSA operations to contractors with questionable foreign connections, and other dubious NSA policies directed from the White House and the Pentagon. And General, you remember I asked you a question about NSA whistleblowers at your press conference at the National Press Club? You were quite irritated at the question and at me.
General, since you are from Pittsburgh, I once told an author who was writing about NSA that since Pittsburgh was a Democratic city, for all I knew you might be a Democrat yourself. I began to doubt that later. However, General, Bob Novak, who outed one of your agency's covert agents and an entire non-official cover operation directed against WMD proliferation, is now accusing you, General Hayden, of being "too close to the Democrats." Novak is now going after you General Hayden in his OP ED today in the Washington Post, which now spews forth more neo-con drivel and bile on a daily basis than the Moonie-owned Washington Times.
Novak, citing your phone call yesterday with former House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Chairman Peter Hoekstra, says that you did not answer a question from Hoekstra about whether Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert agent under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. However, Novak cites your recent meeting with House Government Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, in which you said that Mrs. Wilson was a covert agent. Novak left out the fact that your meeting with Waxman was also attended by HPSCI Chairman Sylvestre Reyes. Novak will now try and turn you into a liar with only Waxman, who Novak feels is a partisan hack, as the other witness to a "lie.". But that is just Novak's shoddy style of Swiss cheese journalism. Hoekstra and his pals at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue likely have something else in store for you.
General, Novak, Karl Rove, the Post (which conspired with the White House to out Mrs. Wilson and Brewster Jennings and debase Ambassador Joseph Wilson), and Hoesktra are setting you up for a fall. They will do to you what the White House directed you to do to others at NSA. General, you don't have to become yet another victim of the "Bushies" (a somewhat more cuddly term than what they really are -- Nazis). If you are a blue collar-rooted Pittsburgh Democrat, come forward and denounce the Bushies before you end up like Paul O'Neill, Eric Shinseki, Colin Powell, at least 8 U.S. Attorneys, and those who you may be more familiar with -- Russ Tice, Ken Ford, Jr., Sibel Edmonds, and others in the US Intelligence Community who shall remain nameless. The Bushies and their co-conspirators at the Washington Post can and will begin a campaign to bring you down -- they are in scapegoat search mode right now. Novak has fired the first shot across the main gate at Langley.
A recent German movie called "The Lives Of Others" features an East German Stasi Colonel who secretly helps dissidents evade arrest and prison. He is the hero of that movie. General Hayden, you can also help restore the broken lives of others, people who served this country loyally, and come out as a hero.
LINK
Fox News' Garrett and others mischaracterized or omitted Gore's response to Inhofe on his energy use
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703220015
On the March 21 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Fox News congressional correspondent Major Garrett mischaracterized an exchange between Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-OK) and former Vice President Al Gore during Gore's testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Garrett reported that Inhofe "posed a question to Gore that Gore himself poses at the end of his documentary [An Inconvenient Truth], quote, 'Are you ready to change the way you live?' a reference to Gore's Tennessee compound." According to Garrett, Gore replied that "he didn't have to because he purchases a variety of environmental credits, meaning, though his compound consumes a lot more energy than the average home in America, it's global warming neutral, he said." In fact, Gore said that he and his family "purchase wind energy and other green energy that does not produce carbon dioxide," that his personal life and his two businesses are already "carbon neutral," and that he is "in the midst of installing solar panels" at his home.
Despite GOP criticism of Bush, CNN's Bash again said congressional Dems "defied" president, not vice versa
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703220009
On the March 21 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash reported that Democrats had "defied" President Bush by authorizing subpoenas for White House senior adviser Karl Rove and other current and former administration officials to testify in the ongoing investigation into the U.S. attorney firings, again suggesting that the Democrats' insistence that White House staff testify in public and under oath constituted defiance of the president, rather than Bush's insistence that interviews be conducted in private, not under oath, and with no written record being a defiance of Congress and its oversight responsibilities. As Media Matters for America noted, on the March 21 edition of CNN Newsroom, Bash asserted that the House Judiciary Subcommittee was going to "pretty much defy the president point blank" by voting to authorize subpoenas.
Ignoring withheld emails, Wash. Post, Kondracke claimed that U.S. attorney emails include nothing incriminating
http://mediamatters.org/items/200703220008
A March 22 Washington Post editorial on the Bush administration's controversial firings of eight U.S. attorneys called the scandal and the possibility of congressional subpoenas of White House officials "an unnecessary constitutional crisis" and claimed that the "many emails that the administration has released for the most part suggest nothing nefarious in the dismissal process." But while the editorial referred to the "e-mails that the administration has released," it made no mention of the entire category of communications that the White House has said will not be released. As Media Matters for America previously documented, White House counsel Fred Fielding indicated in a March 20 letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees that the White House would provide copies of only those communications between the White House and either Justice Department officials or "third parties." The Post itself reported on March 21 that the 3,000 pages of email communications recently released by the Justice Department do not include "internal White House records."
March 22, 2007 -- It is time for Congressional investigators to drive to Olney, Maryland with subpoenas in hand. The last time the Bush White House could not find e-mails was last year when it could not find 250 e-mails from 2003 on the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and Vice President Dick Cheney's smearing of her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Now the White House is missing 18 days of email traffic concerning the sacking of 8 U.S. Attorneys for political purposes. It is all reminiscent of Rose Mary Woods' 18-minute gap in recordings of Richard Nixon's Oval Office during the Watergate scandal.
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
Last year, WMR was contacted by an anonymous source who claimed to have intimate knowledge of how the "EOP" (Executive Office of the President) archived older e-mail and other documents. The source said that it is EOP policy to send archival documents to an underground Federal Support Center at 5321 Riggs Road in Olney, Maryland for safekeeping. WMR passed this "tip" on to those who have "back channel" communications with Patrick Fitzgerald's office with an emphasis that the anonymous source appeared to have a very good working knowledge of White House document handling and archival procedures. The anonymous source suggested that Fitzgerald and a team of FBI agents show up unannounced at the Olney facility and simply seize the e-mails in question. Shortly thereafter, most of the the "missing" 2003 smoking gun e-mails involving Cheney's office were found.
With the Watergate-like 18-day "gap" in White House emails being discovered -- emails between mid-November and the first week of December concerning the firing of US Attorneys have not been turned over to Congressional investigators -- it may be time for those investigators to make a short road trip to Olney, subpoenas for the missing e-mails in hand.
Road Trip!!!
Cindy Sheehan: White Hot Rage
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Wed, 03/21/2007 - 9:33pm. Guest Contribution
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Cindy Sheehan
I have long suspected that Blackwater Security and L. Paul Bremer (what's his nickname? Scooter? Pookie?) were responsible for the insurgency in Iraq and subsequently the death of my son, Casey. I am reading Jeremy Scahill's new book: Blackwater and it is doing nothing to decrease my suspicions, only to confirm them.
Bremer arrived in Iraq in 2003 to oversee reconstruction and the occupation as the Assistant Fuhrer to BushCo and the war profiteers. He surrounded himself with a virtual small army ("Praetorian Guard," as Scahill calls them) of Blackwater security personnel; two helicopters; armored humvees; and armored SUVs. He traveled from place to place heavily guarded, as a hated, marked man, while Casey (a motor pool driver and mechanic) was sent to do battle in the back of a wide open trailer.
LINK
Bremer's devastating "Orders" disbanded the Republican Guard -- causing 400,000 former armed soldiers to hate and target the U.S.; he began de-Baathification that let go myriads of professionals who could help with putting the Bush-torn country back together. The mere fact he slunk out of the country, secretly, under the cover of darkness with almost 9 billion reconstruction dollars missing only increased Iraqi hatred of Americans.
So Punky Bremer, or whatever they call him, is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for totally making FUBAR of the occupation and escalating an insurgency by allowing Blackwater to run rampant over the citizens of Iraq. In one horrible instance, a Blackwater employee brags about using a bullet that can pierce through armor, but when it gets into a body, it explodes and does horrible damage. He was really proud of himself when he shot someone in the ass who died from internal injuries. Blackwater agents randomly kill innocent Iraqis with impunity because Bremer also issued an order that they could not be held accountable for killing innocent Iraqis, unlike our soldiers who are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
So, on March 31, 2004, the residents of Fallujah, already mad at America for a "stray" bomb during the first Gulf War that missed a bridge and hit an apartment complex, killing and injuring dozens of residents, were already fed up with the oppressive occupation of Iraq, Buster Bremer, and Blackwater, who strut around like cocks of the walk with their Oakley sunglasses and sub-machine guns. On that fateful day, four security agents were killed, burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah. I don't condone or support those killings and my heart aches for their families -- and for the families of Fallujah who have been devastated (time and again) by Bush and his cronies. On that day, Sporty Bremer instituted oppressive measures against the Fallujans and Moqtada al-Sadr called for ambushes on American soldiers. That's as far as I have gotten in the book.
Enter Spc. Casey Sheehan. On the fateful day of March 31, he began a letter to us, because he finally knew where we could write to him. He never finished the letter or sent it to us. We got it back with his "personal effects" from Iraq. He said that they had an uneventful convoy to Baghdad from Kuwait and that they were looking forward to a pretty "smooth year" because "only two" soldiers from the unit that they were replacing were killed the previous year. He also said something that broke my heart and will haunt me until I die.
He called me from Kuwait one day before his unit convoyed to Iraq. It was about noon his time and after midnight our time. I was thrilled to hear his voice and I would have kept him talking forever if I knew it was the last time I would hear from him. But in his letter, he expressed his doubts that I would remember the conversation because I was half asleep. How could my boy think I would forget that he called me? I am forgetting what his voice sounded like. I am forgetting what he smelled like. I am forgetting how smooth his cheeks felt when I kissed him. I will never forget his last call or what he looked like in his coffin, though, after I have forgotten many other things.
Anyway, on April 4, 2004, his unit got the call that some soldiers had been trapped in one of the insurgent's ambushes. Casey's sergeant was told to put together a Quick Response Force to go help them. There was no room in the back of that open trailer for Casey, but he made a private get out, pulling rank on him. His sergeant told him: "Sheehan you don't have to go." "Where my sergeant goes, I go," Casey replied. Well, Casey and 6 other soldiers -- 5 from the first Cavalry like Casey, and one, Michael Mitchell from the First Armored Division who only had one week left in Iraq -- were killed in an ambush on the way to rescue the other soldiers that were ambushed. Eight soldiers were killed that day in Baghdad, and from reports I have heard from two un-embedded reporters that were there: scores of innocent Iraqis were killed in a First Cavalry bloodbath retaliation.
Some people accuse me of being "angry." I just want to say, I am not "angry." I am filled with a white-hot rage that my first born is dead. My courageous, sweet, honorable, honest, funny, irreplaceable Casey is dead so companies such as Blackwater, Halliburton, KBR, Exxon, Raytheon, etc. can rape the American taxpayers. But can it be rape when the partner is willing?
I am outraged that Congress expediently buys into Bush's evil rhetoric that voting to cut off the funding will not be supporting the troops! THE TROOPS AREN'T GETTING THE MONEY! Blackwater security agents make more in two days in Iraq than our troops do in a month. Blackwater security agents are better equipped and armored than our troops. Our troops are dying guarding pipelines and Halliburton convoys.
I am angry for 3,200 other wonderful lives cut short like Casey's and I am angry that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are dead, because L. Paul did his job of increasing the insurgency well and was rewarded handsomely for it.
The people who say I am angry are correct. I am also angry that there is not sufficient fury in this country to get our citizens to demand that Congress pull back the money from the war profiteers and bring our troops home.
I am especially enraged that BushCo are still in power: reigning free to commit any crimes impervious to all slings and arrows. I am sick of waiting for the time when BushCo's "Get out of jail free" card expires.
When will the nightmare end?
I suspect never, as long as the Military Industrial Complex is running roughshod over every branch of our government with the silent complicity of the American public.
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/868
I think people forget why Cindy does what she does.
What is wrong with us?
These people being tortured, maimed and killed... they are REAL people... like you and me.
oooooooooooooobbbbbbbbbbbbbbooooooooohelp! Methcouver. Calling Methcouver.
You ask what US Attorneys had to do to keep their jobs. Beginning in 1996, they had to indict Internal Revenue Service employees in order to reduce the work force and squelch any zealous employees. The new Inspector General of the Treasury Department noted he would fire a specified amount of employees for unlawful acts. The IG did not specify he would investigate everyone and fire those who committed criminal acts. The US attorneys indicted hundreds of employees. The work force was reduced. The amount of money collected from tax revenue was reduced. A lack of money in the hands of the government justified the privatization of public assets and services that should be provided by the government, read war in Iraq. For further discussion I suggest you contact David Cay Johnston, at the New York Times, or Colleen Kelly, President, National Treasury Employees Union.
more Gonzo pics for the Seder Braintrust:
pic 1
pic 2
pic 3
pic 4
pic 5
pic 6
I found them on Google's picture search engine.
Google is a premiere search engine that finds word matches for you based on the traffic of a particular site.
Its like magic.
-conbo
I have never been too happy with you Sam. I guess youth has something to do with it. I've missed more of my youth--and I'm guilty. just me.
I would never have given you this info had you not talked about the quests you choose. Thank you for that. I will listen more carefully since I get a 9 o'clock and a 6 pm chance at you and you wisdom. Although, between you and Ed, I honestly believe you two do the poorest research.
In 1982, just two years after finishing my Teaching Cert. and divorcing a 32 marriage "the children you know" I felt a small lump in my right breast right at the edge of the nipple. I was taking a shower. It stung.
Did the classic, checked in with the family doctor. He sent me to a surgeon who had grown up in our town and was a contemporary of his.
I went in for the surgeon's exam. He tried to aspirate it, thinking that it was just a non-malignant tumor. The needle went through, puncturing the other side.
He said, "Come back day after tomorrow, and we'll try again. If it doesn't then I'll just put you on the table and do a biopsy of the tissue.
I went back. Needless to say the needle didn't find any plain old fluid. He Said, "Go home and we'll make an appointment for the biopsy." I looked at him very taken aback. He had said he would do a biopsy that day, not keep me waiting longer. I have a feeling that telling me that he'd do it the same day was a slip back into his old doctorin' ways. He shook his shoulders, and told the nurse to get the room ready since I seemed to be ready.
Office surgery was not a stranger to me. When I was small the Dr. took my tonsils out in his office. Not many years back, less than ten, my former Dr. took me over to a room at the old hospital, flipped me on my stomach (I don't think he had a nurse, and he was in his 60's)numbed me just below my shoulder blade, took his scaple and cut out a big, big chunk of fat. He showed it to me. It was all red bloody and veiny over white fat. He had taken my big strong son into his office room and excorsized a pilateral cyst such as graced the infamous butt of our great leader, Rush Limbaugh. And I had three babies, one who was a wide as he was long who's head matched his shoulders. So let's say it all felt like a natural process.
He sent the lump to be biopsied and it came back positive. He said it was a very small cancer, and I am sure we set up whatever had to be done, and I contacted family and made arrangements for care.
Hello Sam! Just testing out the change to whatever it is that blocks cookies.
You did an exceptionally GOOD job yesterday (Wednesday 3/28) with ALL of your interaction, i.e. interviews and calls, very, very smart stuff, a la Jon Stewart by way of S. Colbert, except I'd say with an even sharper informational point on it, as far as what the contradictions reveal.
When you're good, you're very, very good! Thanks for the pleasure!
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