Bring 'em on

Today in Iraq:

"There are some who, uh, feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is: Bring 'em on. We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation. “

- George W. Bush, July 2, 2003.

The Seattle Times: Local News: North America's tallest mountain getting crowded

The Seattle Times: Local News: North America's tallest mountain getting crowded:

North America's tallest mountain getting crowded
By MARY PEMBERTON
ANCHORAGE — North America's tallest mountain is getting crowded — too crowded for safety.
For the first time, the number of climbers allowed on the 20,320-foot Mount McKinley in Alaska will be capped at 1,500 a year beginning in 2007 — not too many more than the record-breaking 1,340 alpinists who attempted to scale the mountain last year.

It Didn’t Work: William F. Buckley

William F. Buckley Jr. Throws in the Iraq towel and Joins Dean on the traitors gallows. Here is the link to his editorial on the failure of Bush's war.

A few months ago, when Howard Dean said that he thought we would be unable to fulfill the mission in Iraq as Bush has described it, he was denounced as a traitor and Ronald Reagan's son urged that he be hanged -- literally. And yet, now we have William Buckley saying that our mission has failed and it's time for Bush to acknowledge defeat. Will they hang him, too? Once we hang all the tratiors and subversives who have abandoned Bush, there sure won't be many people left.

First Bush Veto

Bush to veto efforts to stop UAE port deal

by kos

Tue Feb 21, 2006 at 01:57:44 PM PDT

Bush has never used a veto. Never.

But he finally found something worth expending some of that
almost-expended "political capital" on -- protecting the right of the
UAE to take over port security.

President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that a deal for a state-owned
Dubai company to manage major U.S. ports should go forward and will not
jeopardize U.S. security.

Bush told reporters traveling back to Washington with him from Colorado
that he would veto legislation to stop the deal from going through.

"After careful review by our government, I believe the transaction
ought to go forward," Bush said. He added that if the U.S. Congress
passed a law to stop the deal, "I'll deal with it with a veto."

"Careful review". The White House has also claimed that there was a rigorous national security review of the deal.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, my understanding, Les, is that this went through
the national security review process under CFIUS, at the Department of
Treasury. That is the agency that is responsible for overseeing such
matters. And this includes a number of national security agencies --
the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense,
the Justice, among others, and there is a rigorous review that goes on
for proposed foreign investments for national security concerns. And in
terms of specifics relating to this, Treasury is the chair of this and
you should direct those questions to Treasury.

Yet Rumsfeld has just admitted that he had no clue what this deal was about and that he wasn't consulted.

QUESTION: Are you confident that any problems with security -- from
what you know, are you confident that any problems with security would
not be greater with a UAE company running this than an American company?

RUMSFELD: I am reluctant to make judgments based on the minimal amount
of information I have because I just heard about this over the weekend.

This weekend? The deal was approved Feb. 13.

So who exactly approved this deal? It wasn't the people McClellan
claimed it was. And why is Bush so hell-bent on seeing it happen, to
the point of threatening his first-ever veto?

We believe you George. in a pigs eye we do!.

click on this or any blue underlined link to go to Bert's blog.
We believe you George. in a pigs eye we do!.:

isn't this fun?

posted by Bush Wacker @ 5:05 PM

Bert's blog

click here to go to bert's blog.

The Trust Gap - New York Times

Wow, this may be the MSM wakeup that we have been waiting for. Thank you NYT for this great editorial, the game is on.

The Trust Gap - New York Times:

Editorial
The Trust Gap

Published: February 12, 2006

We can't think of a president who has gone to the American people more often than George W. Bush has to ask them to forget about things like democracy, judicial process and the balance of powers — and just trust him. We also can't think of a president who has deserved that trust less.

This has been a central flaw of Mr. Bush's presidency for a long time. But last week produced a flood of evidence that vividly drove home the point.

Alaska's Don Young tied to Abramoff Scandal

Even if this doesn't come as a shock, it is rather fun to see the house of cards falling apart.

AllAroundPhilly:

Feb 11, 7:28 AM EST

Three More Lawmakers Linked to Abramoff

By TONI LOCY and PETE YOST
Associated Press Writers




WASHINGTON (AP) -- Three members of Congress have been linked to efforts by lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a former General Services Administration official to secure leases of government property for Abramoff's clients, according to court filings by federal prosecutors on Friday.

The filings in U.S. District Court do not allege any wrongdoing by the elected officials but list them in documents portraying David Safavian, a former GSA chief of staff, as an active adviser to Abramoff, giving the lobbyists tips on how to use members of Congress to navigate the agency's bureaucracy.

Abramoff is cooperating with federal investigators in a wide-ranging probe of corruption on Capitol Hill that threatens several powerful members of Congress and their staff members. Last month, he pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud.

Safavian is charged with lying to a GSA ethics officer when he said Abramoff was not seeking business with the agency at the time the lobbyist paid for Safavian and several others to go on a golf outing to Scotland in August 2002.

At the time of the trip, prosecutors said, Abramoff was trying to get GSA approval for leases of the Old Post Office Pavilion in Washington for an Indian tribe to develop and for federal property in Silver Spring, Md., for use by a Jewish school.

Two of the elected officials referred to in Friday's filings have been identified in published reports as Reps. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, and Don Young, R-Alaska
.....there is more at the site.

Trey Ellis: President Cheney's Goose Is Cooked (Part Two) - Yahoo! News

Trey Ellis: President Cheney's Goose Is Cooked (Part Two) - Yahoo! News:

Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken this long for the proof to come out that Scooter Libby was ordered and orchestrated by his boss, (Vice) President
Dick Cheney to out
Valerie Plame. Back in October when the indictments were being handed down I wrote part one on why the Vice President's days in office were numbered. Back then I remember reading this excerpt from Fitzgerald's indictment on talkingpointsmemo.com:
President and others to and from Norfolk, Virginia, on Air Force Two. On his return trip, LIBBY discussed with other officials aboard the plane what Libby should say in response to certain pending media inquiries, including questions from Time reporter Matthew Cooper. 23. On or about July 12, 2003, in the afternoon, LIBBY spoke by telephone to Cooper, who asked whether LIBBY had heard that Wilson's wife was involved in sending Wilson on the trip to Niger. LIBBY confirmed to Cooper, without elaboration or qualification, that he had heard this information too. It seems that this was the fateful flight where the Vice President and his chief of staff decided to break the law. Who else was on the plane? Did Karl Rove have any discussions with Mr. Libby about how to handle this matter politically? If he did not it would be one of the only times in Mr. Rove's entire career that he did not micro-manage a political crisis right at his doorstep. Rove is speculation, Cheney is fact. Cheney has been able, somehow, to duck the question since October however somebody, somewhere has to ask him point blank, "Did you authorize or otherwise encourage I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to reveal to members of the press that Ambassador Wilson's wife was an employee of the C.I.A.?" Mr. Libby has now testified that the Vice President did so. Unless Mr. Libby is perjuring himself (again) than Mr. Cheney's resignation should be on the President's desk before nightfall.

I mean how much worse than Watergate does it have to get?

Vault Radio

Vault Radio

I heard about this audio streaming site from NPR this morning. Check it out here
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/Static.aspx?Type=Audio/Radio.htm

Please, no special status for any religion.

Because of some badly drawn and "insensitive" cartoon, published in a Danish newspaper the Muslims have taken to the streets, burning flags and buildings, and crying for the "death of the satans" that would dare to publish such an outrage.

There are calls from the "sensitivity" MSM to change our laws so no religion will be offended. This is wrong-headed in a truly free nation.

We do not need to assure Muslims that we are caring. We do not need to bestow a status upon Islam that we not bestow upon other religions and other faiths. Muslims are not special and they are not deserving of special status.

Why? Because in a free society, we don't care about your beliefs. We do care about your actions and behavior. You are free to integrate and to assimilate into our society in whole or in part. We really don't care. Do not tell us we need to care about your beliefs and your concerns above all else and above our own beliefs. If you do try to make that assertion, you will soon be surprised at how easily you will be marginalized and resented- not for your beliefs, but rather, for your attempt to jump to the head of line. You are not more important than anyone else.

We don't care if your are a Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu. You are free to worship as you believe. In fact, that is the last thing we worry about. America and free nations have long ago dispensed with the notion that what you believe how you believe, is relevant to peaceful existence. Notwithstanding the religious voices from the pulpits and the media, America has learned to live and let live.

We want to know if you are a good neighbor or an honest business person. We want to know that you'll make sure to keep a watchful eye on your kids and ours, in the neighborhood we live in. We don't really care how you dress (any more than they care how we dress) and we don't care what language you speak in your home. We don't care which newspapers you read or which TV news broadcast you watch. In fact, you are free to change the channel.

Let's repeat that- you are free to change the channel, read another newspaper or listen to another radio channel.

If you don't like offensive cartoons (and we don't blame you!), you are free not to buy that paper or cancel your subscription. You are free to boycott advertisers and write scathing letters to the editor.

You are not free to react violently or to threaten those you disagree with. Western democracies are just that- free societies and we do not operate under the 'laws of the jungle.' If we did, we would not take kindly to even the first display of barbaric behavior. Your dissent is a right. But it is also a privilege, contained in the same way a painting is contained in a frame. You are free to paint the canvas as you please- as long as you stay within the borders of what is deemed acceptable behavior- that is, behavior that is non violent or destructive.

Just as clearly, we are free to ignore your protests or disagree with your expressions. That is our right- to ignore you- and there is nothing you can do to change that. Your protests are not a mandate of recognition or credibility.

For many, the concept is a difficult one to assimilate. They come from cultures where they are a part of a majority- a culture and society that often persecute minorities and a culture and society the routinely afford that majority with privileges not afforded others.

Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald

Greenwald chimes in with doubts about the Bush speech, in the same vein that Bert wrote about yesterday.
Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald:

Al Qaeda has a good friend in the White House

The great big mystery of the day is what caused the White House to decide yesterday to disclose the classified details of George Bush's heroic salvation of the City of Los Angeles four years ago? People everywhere are scratching their heads in bewilderment -- why yesterday? What could possibly have caused the President to pick yesterday as the time to suddenly reveal the specifics of the diabolic plot by the terrorists to hijack an airplane into the Liberty Tower by putting bombs into their shoes?

Taslima Nasreen: `I will not be silenced'

Taslima Nasreen: `I will not be silenced':

Taslima Nasreen: `I will not be silenced'

Sam Wainwright

In early August, Bangladeshi feminist writer Taslima Nasreen, condemned to death by Islamic fundamentalists, arrived in Sweden where she is now sheltering. Nasreen invoked the wrath of the fundamentalists with the publication in 1993 of her novel Shame.

SOTU 'nuf said

Thomas Jefferson said:

If there is hope to be found in all this, it is in the words of Thomas Jefferson, written 208 years ago after the passage of the Sedition Act.

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt. If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake."

We believe you George. in a pigs eye we do!.

This is the very first post by our good friend and proudest liberal in the blogland of the midwest. Bookmark him, I'm sure he will have much to say.

We believe you George. in a pigs eye we do!.:

The Los Angeles Fable

I wish I could say that I am proud of Mr. Bush. Today we learned that in 2002, his administration helped stop a terrorist attack on Los Angeles. Here it is February 9, 2006, and we are just finding out about it. Is it that his gang is so modest or or is it that his gang is in such trouble?

Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald

Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald:

There is a substantial misperception about what the blogosphere is. Most people who don't read blogs regularly (and that is still the case for the overwhelming majority of people, even in journalism and national politics) basically see the blogosphere as being one big online Rush Limbaugh Show -- nothing but uninformed, ignorant, irresponsible, angry populist ranting by the dumb, dirty masses. The more exposure people have to blogs and bloggers, the more that perception will breakdown, because the reality, as people in the blogosphere know, is the opposite -- the discussions, analysis and even reporting in the blogosphere is at a much higher and more substantive level than that which takes place in what they consider to be the "respectable media" venues.