Who Says Humans Are Worth Only 98 Cents? In Afghanistan the Ones American Forces Want Get You $4000

You'd think an administration that would first, go so far as to steal a phrase like "culture of life" from (now deceased) Pope John Paul, would take some pains to preserve its meaning. Doh, when will I learn?

According to this article there are 'prisoners' at GITMO who are there for no more reason other than being human, an Arab human to be exact. No charges, no defense, no contact with the outside world ensures illegitimate trafficking in human cargo can go on pretty much unknown--sweet deal for international 'mafia' rings...

The Detroit News Online:

"A former CIA intelligence officer who helped lead the search for Osama bin Laden told AP the accounts sounded legitimate because U.S. allies regularly got money to help catch Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. Gary Schroen said he took a suitcase of $3 million in cash into Afghanistan himself to help supply and win over warlords to fight for U.S. Special Forces.

'It wouldn't surprise me if we paid rewards,' said Schroen, who retired after 32 years in the CIA soon after the fall of Kabul in late 2001. He recently published the book 'First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan.'"

--snip--

"One detainee who said he was an Afghan refugee in Pakistan accused the country's intelligence service of trumping up evidence against him to get bounty money from the U.S.

' "When I was in jail, they said I needed to pay them money and if I didn't pay them, they'd make up wrong accusations about me and sell me to the Americans and I'd definitely go to Cuba," he told the tribunal. "After that I was held for two months and 20 days in their detention, so they could make wrong accusations about me and my (censored), so they could sell us to you." '

"Another prisoner said he was on his way to Germany in 2001 when he was captured and sold for "a briefcase full of money" then flown to Afghanistan before being sent to Guantanamo."

' "It's obvious. They knew Americans were looking for Arabs, so they captured Arabs and sold them - just like someone catches a fish and sells it," he said. The detainee said he was seized by "mafia" operatives somewhere in Europe and sold to Americans because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time - an Arab in a foreign country." '

War profiteering at its finest--and who says 'the Third World' doesn't understand capitalism?

From the BushCo Choir: (All We Are Saying)...Is Give Peace a Chance...

From blog MyDD's Daily Pulse comes this fine image (scroll down at target link):


Given that a hawk has a brain the size of a walnut, such delusional thinking should be expected. So, why are they ruining running our foreign policy?

Reid Lays Out Reform Agenda

Today at the National Press Club, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid introduced a common sense agenda for the common good. After moderation triumphed over polarization in the Senate, Democrats are moving forward with a positive agenda for the American people.

The entire text of the speech is below.

Remarks by Senator Harry Reid
“The Use of Power: An Agenda for Reform”
National Press Club
Washington, DC
Thursday, May 26, 2005

Remarks as prepared for delivery:

This has been an important week for America. The defeat of the nuclear option was not a victory for any party, but a victory for our Constitution and our country.

As we said from the beginning of this struggle, our fight wasn’t over some obscure rule of the Senate. It was a fight for Americans’ fundamental rights and against the abuse of power.

And I'm here today to say that fight has not ended. It is only beginning.

This week threatened to be one that would undermine our democratic traditions. Instead, it marks a moment when we can finally turn away from government by polarization…and build a government for the people.

Time and again, the American people have seen George Bush and the Republican leadership choose between their partisan interests and the people’s interest. And every time, they have chosen an ideological agenda over an American agenda.

When George Bush and the Republican leadership make their decisions, the whispered wishes of a few right wing activists drown out the pleas of America’s families.

But if the Washington Republicans stopped to listen to the American people, this is what they’d hear:

Americans are sick and tired of getting caught in the crossfire of partisan sniping.

Americans want us to put the common sense center ahead of nonsense .

Americans want us to bring people together, to focus on what we owe to one another, and the responsibilities we share.

And Americans want their agenda – their jobs, their health care, their security – to get back on the front burners of the nation’s agenda.

Americans are coming to realize this Republican Congress is out of touch with the real problems of working families and that the agenda the Republicans are advancing is at odds with what people in this country really care about.

We Democrats have something better to offer. A reform agenda that will cleanse Washington…give power to the people – not special interests…and make sure that everyday Americans and their concerns get back on the Congressional calendar.

Strengthening our national defense. Rebuilding our economy. Providing families with affordable health care. Making America energy independent. Securing our retirement. That’s our agenda. That’s America’s agenda. But the Republican Congress has put all this and more on hold. I hope that now we can finally turn to the people's business.

Six moths have passed since this Republican Congress began and here’s their record:

They spent precious days trying to overturn constitutional principles.

They tried to overturn the decisions of courts and duly elected legislatures in order to insert themselves into one family’s tragedy in Florida.

They all-but disbanded the House Ethics Committee in order to protect the Republican leader from scrutiny – but then were forced to reverse themselves under public pressure.

But perhaps the greatest abuse of power is to have the ability to help but choose to do nothing.

While gas prices have shot past $2 a gallon, this Republican Congress did nothing to lower prices and give families some relief.

At a time that parents are having to tell their children that the family can’t afford to send them to college, this Republican Congress rejected a proposal to make college more affordable.

And even though we have gone eight years without an increase in the minimum wage – the second longest period ever – this Republican Congress rejected an increase that would give the hardest working Americans the chance to provide for their families.

Whether it is rejecting Democratic initiatives to provide medical care to veterans or to return to fiscal responsibility, this Republican Congress’s record is clear: when it comes to answering the call of the far right, it’s “I’ll do it ASAP.” When it comes to doing the people’s business, it’s “take a message.”

Americans deserve a Congress that will use its power to advance American values not a Congress that abuses its power to advance the agenda of a radical few.

We need a common sense reform agenda for the common good. And that starts with defending our nation and making it more secure. As of this month, more time has passed since 9-11 than the time between Pearl Harbor and the defeat of Japan. During those three years and eight months – sixty years ago – we invaded North Africa and Normandy. We freed people from the Philippines to France. Hitler lay dead and Tojo was in chains. We had defeated fascism around the world and had begun to build the new United Nations.

But today Osama bin Laden is still on the loose, our homeland is still not secure, we’re still not energy independent, and – in many ways – Americans are less safe than we were before 9-11.

Democrats are the party of national security. And we have an agenda to defend America from danger. We stand for increasing our military strength by 40,000 troops so we can wage the War on Terror on every front. We stand for securing our borders and bridges, our seaports and airports, our nuclear and chemical plants. We stand for tracking down and securing the loose nuclear weapons that threaten our people. And we will honor our troops and their families by making sure they get the benefits they have earned.

Our common sense reform agenda will take our economy from sluggishness to prosperity. A prosperity where a rising tide lifts the boat of every American who is willing to work hard.

When it comes to the economy, the Washington Republicans offer the same old answers and then try to change the subject. But the growing trade deficit and a runaway national debt that puts us into hock to China and Japan show that this Administration and this Congress have lost control over America’s economic destiny.

Democrats stand ready to win back America’s prosperity. We’ll end the tax breaks that encourage companies to take jobs overseas. Restore fiscal responsibility. Spur innovation. Open the doors to college. And make work pay more than welfare.

And if we want our companies to be ready to compete in the world economy, we have to hold down health care costs. Today, Starbucks spends more on health care than on coffee. Today, GM spends more on health care than on steel. Today, we can’t ask our companies to go head to head with foreign competitors with this burden on their backs.

Our families will never get ahead while they are getting battered down by health care costs that total $10,000 a year.

And our country will never be what it should be as long as the color of your skin or the size of your bank account determines whether your children can see a doctor. We can do better for them. And they are expecting nothing less from us.

Many of the jobs of the future will be jobs that come from new energy saving industries. Today, Japan’s and South Korea’s head start on innovation means they are running away with those jobs. We have to get back in that race.

Americans are getting fed-up every time they go for a fill-up. They know that our reliance on Mideast oil is making America less safe. They want us to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and make this nation energy independent. We can get there – but only if we start putting America’s security and prosperity first.

And Democrats will continue to stop George Bush from privatizing Social Security while we say “yes” to shoring up Americans’ pensions and making our retirement system more secure.

This is our agenda – an agenda for reform, an agenda to do the people’s business. And for them we will continue to fight.

The lines that divide Congress should be between right and wrong, not right and left.

Our enemies should not be those in the other party, but the common threats that face the American community.

Our goal should not be winning the news cycle, but breaking the vicious cycle of political battle and winning a future where all Americans can live out their dreams.

The defeat of the nuclear option shows what is possible when people of good faith – Republicans and Democrats – join hands and put principles ahead of partisanship.

This doesn’t have to be an isolated incident – a momentary ceasefire before Washington’s trench warfare starts up again. Rather it can be a new beginning. Because on issue after issue, there is a common sense center in America that knows what it believes and can’t understand why this Republican Congress won’t get the job done.

Just as there was a bipartisan majority that could not stomach the nuclear option, there is a bipartisan consensus for action on many fronts. And all we need for progress is for President Bush and the Republican leadership to let America’s agenda get its day.

The American people are demanding it. And Democrats are going to be standing in the common sense center to make sure that we get there.

In this Congress, there is a bipartisan consensus for raising the minimum wage – but the White House and the Republican leadership stand in the way.

There is a bipartisan consensus for allowing the prescription drugs to be safely reimported – but the White House and the Republican leadership stand in the way.

And there is a bipartisan consensus for stem cell research that has the potential to help cure diseases such as diabetes and help save American lives. >From Nancy Reagan to Orrin Hatch, Republicans have broken ranks to join the common sense center on this important issue.

For four years, President Bush has not vetoed a single piece of legislation. Even when this Republican Congress sent him bill after bill weighed down with pork or special interest subsidies or runaway spending, he chose to keep his veto pen in the drawer.

But now, he is threatening to veto stem cell research. Not because most Americans oppose it. They support it across party lines. President Bush is threatening to veto it because the far right is demanding he do so.

I ask President Bush to step away from the far right and join us in this common sense center, to show he will be part of this new spirit of national consensus by letting stem cell research go forward.

This week’s events mark our chance to forge a common sense center that embraces an American agenda for reform. As Democratic Leader, I will be working aggressively to advance the work the American people sent us to do. And I hope that Republicans of good faith will join with us to get this job done: To strengthen our national security. To make America energy independent. To restore economic prosperity and opportunity. To help our families and business afford their health care. To boost Americans’ retirement security and protect their Social Security.

In the coming weeks and months, I’ll have more to say on all these fronts. But I pledge today, that in everything we do, the lesson of this week – that we can build on the common sense center – will remain front and center.

The nuclear option could have been another long, sad stride down an ever more slippery slope toward partisan crossfire and abuse of power.

Instead, its defeat marks the moment we turned around and began to climb the hill toward a common politics of national purpose and a rebuilding of America's promise.

This journey is our cause – and reaching the top of that hill will mark our real victory.

Thank you.

Activist Judge Starts Witch Hunt -- Literally

You knew this was coming. The question is what are you going to do to stop it before it spreads?

An Indianapolis father is appealing a Marion County judge's unusual order that prohibits him and his ex-wife from exposing their child to 'non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals.

The parents practice Wicca, a contemporary pagan religion that emphasizes a balance in nature and reverence for the earth.

-snip-

The parents' Wiccan beliefs came to Bradford's attention in a confidential report prepared by the Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau, which provides recommendations to the court on child custody and visitation rights. Jones' son attends a local Catholic school.

And what activist Christian is on the Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau? Does the Council have a mandated state or federal order to butt into people's private lives? Or is this just a strain of personal moral activism as has now infected employees on other issues such as the dispensing of birth control? Are they instead dispensing religion? What next, you can't get married if you're gay? Oops, forgot...

There is a discrepancy between Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones' lifestyle and the belief system adhered to by the parochial school. . . . Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones display little insight into the confusion these divergent belief systems will have upon (the boy) as he ages," the bureau said in its report.

The federal government has given Wiccans protection under the First Amendment," Snyder said. "Unless this judge has some very specific information about activities involving the child that are harmful, the law is not on his side.

-snip-

At times, divorcing parents might battle in the courts over the religion of their children. But Kenneth J. Falk, the ICLU's legal director, said he knows of no such order issued before by an Indiana court. He said his research also did not turn up such a case nationally.

Religion comes up most frequently when there are disputes between the parents. There are lots of cases where a mom and dad are of different faiths, and they're having a tug of war over the kids," Falk said. "This is different: Their dispute is with the judge. When the government is attempting to tell people they're not allowed to engage in non-mainstream activities, that raises concerns.Jones said he does not consider himself a witch or practice anything resembling witchcraft.

-snip-

During the divorce, he told a court official that Wiccans are not devil worshippers. And he said he does not practice a form of Wicca that involves nudity.

"I celebrate life as a duality. There's a male and female force to everything," Jones said. "I feel the Earth is a living creature. I don't believe in Satan or any creature of infinite evil.

Too bad there isn't a creature of Infinite Evil, I know some Christians Republicans I'd like it to meet...oh wait...there is Karl Rove.

A Deal On Social Security? Do Dems Just Hate Us?

I'm beginning to feel like a winger. That's because the idea of the Social Security deal that appears to be brewing is making me feel like going nucular!

"For months, the Social Security debate has been stuck in an endless round of recriminations between President George W. Bush and Capitol Hill Democrats. But with House and Senate committees ready to start drafting a Social Security overhaul in June, partisan whining is likely to wind down. And while it is too early to know whether Bush and Congress will reach a deal, the framework for an agreement is -- surprisingly -- beginning to take shape."

Heck, even Kos agrees with me on this one.

Why any Democrat would want to give bush "half a victory" rather than an anvil is beyond me, and completely and utterly unacceptable. Here's an issue we have used to drive Bush and his allies into the ground (helped by DeLay's ethical messes and some other side issues, as well). Here's an issue that we can ride to major electoral gains in 2006.

Why should we make a deal to fix an unbroken program? So we don't look like obstructionists? Why the hell do we look like obstructionists when we refuse to do the absolutely wrong thing? Was it obstructionist of the USA when we refused to allow Hitler to stay in Paris after he occupied it (argument sound familiar)? Just because Republicans lied, cheated and stole to get the majority doesn't mean they have a right to dismantle the government before they're thrown out! Dems have got to stop making deals. Maybe they need to revisit how making deals with thieves Europeans worked for the American Indians...we know who (still) loses.

See Frist Jump. See Frist Roll. See Frist Heel. Heel, Frist, Heel!

I knew they couldn't be trusted but so soon? Frist may cave by week's end?! Youbetcha! Christian Nationalist's Dobson and Perkins have their butt-pooch screwed and tatooed! Oh God, I can hardly stop laughing! What a SLUT! Jeez where do they keep his muzzle and whip?

Hey, Frist, here boy! HEEL!

Mr. Smith Can Go To Washington (But He'd Better Watch His Back)

A deal. Who won? Well, Dems did, but not the way I think we will (winning seats in 2006) when the switch is finally pulled (after Rove believes he has a way to off-set the bad polling numbers). Until then I think the best way to really comprehend the scope of this win (and dig it while the loser is self-flagellating) is to read how a Repug loser describes this loss. Here's a good one from right-wing blog Power Line:

"Finally, and most importantly, the president probably will be unable to get a Supreme Court Justice confirmed this session unless he appoints a moderate. And barring Republican gains in 2006, he probably will be unable to appoint a conservative Justice at all.

Senator Graham and his friends have likely given away one of the president's most important powers. I hope they enjoy the praise they are about to get from the Washington Post and the New York Times."

Don't forget (he writes earlier), "President Bush should respond with aggressive recess appointees."

I'm quite sure that a politician who is willing to lie about another country so he can invade and kill hundreds of thousands for his Own Private War, already has that plan wrapped and in the can.

[UPDATE 5-25-05] Maybe I should have been more pointed when I wrote the 5-23 post but in my view our 'win' with the deal was not a true win, just a postponement of the inevitable and in the end, a loss; any winger judges are too many. I have been posting vociferously that point of view on other blogs but realized I had not been so clear on my own...sorry. Kos does not agree with me on this issue, but David Corn does.

EVE OF DESTRUCTION?

There is only one thing you can do today that is of vital national consequence--as vital as voting was on November 2--suppport the Senate filibuster rules from Republican destruction.

There are 2 ways you can do it and I recommend both. First, call one or more of the Republican Senators who are centrist and may join the Democratic vote on the list below, preferably at their state home office. Ask them to uphold the backbone of American democracy--the protection of American rights in the Senate. The second thing you can do is read the post on this blog from MoveOn (posted yesterday) and sign their petition.

Well, there is a third thing you can do after the first two. If it makes you feel better, pray.

Arlen Specter: (Pennsylvania)
DC Office:
202-224-4254
Philadelphia Office:
215-597-7200
Pittsburgh Office:
412-644-3400

John Warner: (Virginia)
DC Office:
(202) 224-2023
Richmond Office:
(804) 739-0247
Norfolk Office:
(757) 441-3079

Mike Dewine: (Ohio)
DC Office:
(202) 224-2315
Cleveland office:
(216) 522-7272
Columbus office:
(614) 469-5186

Chuck Hagel: (Nebraska)
DC Office:
(202) 224-4224
Omaha Office:
(402) 758-8981"

EMERGENCY ACTION: MoveOn PAC--Petition To Save US Courts

From MoveOn:

Dear MoveOn member,

This is it -- they've pulled the trigger.

On Tuesday May 24th, the Senate will vote on a motion to end debate on judicial nominations, and when that motion fails Senator Bill Frist will launch the "nuclear option" -- an unprecedented parliamentary maneuver to break the rules of the Senate and seize absolute control over lifetime appointments to the highest courts in the land. The vote is going to be incredibly close, and there are as many as 6 votes still up in the air -- more than enough to win. We must act now.

We've launched an emergency petition and, starting Monday, we'll deliver your signatures and comments to the Senate floor every three hours until the vote is complete. As the debate rages on, Senators fighting to preserve our independent courts will read your statements from the floor of congress. And every senator, every 3 hours, will receive thousands of pages from their constituents demanding that they stand up and do the right thing.

We have less than 72 hours to win this vote and save our courts. Please sign today.

LINK TO PETITION

Think Nuclear is the Answer? Think Again.

A snippet of Chernobyl satellite coverage from SPROL:

"You can see how large the disaster footprint was in this image of the surrounding region. The yellow box represents the area depicted in the top photos (of Chernobyl). That one reactor contaminated the areas around it enclosed in overlapping blue lines."

Venezuela Next Target for Bush Oil War?

There's a reason I read Daily Kos. It's because at least a dozen citizen journalists spend hundreds of hours combing news services of every type culling information that (in their specific area of interest) seems outstanding, unusual or otherwise notable. Therefore, daily Kos has broken more useful news than any commercial broadcast source of which I know.

From dKos comes this and folks, the diarist makes sense:

I've diaried occasionally about the psy ops and propaganda Bushco is levelling at the Chavez regime in Venezuela and at home in the American media. Venezuela - with the world's fifth largest oil reserves and a leader twice as popular as Bush - is a natural candidate for Bushco "regime change". The National Endowment for Democracy is spending millions to target the most popular democratically elected government in our hemisphere. See here and here and here.

Today the Bushco campaign escalates to a new level as former Senate staffer, White House and Pentagon official Douglas MacKinnon asserts in the Houston Chronicle that Chavez is seeking nuclear weapons from Iran and medium-range ballistic missiles to attack the United States. He says Chavez is a madman and poses a bigger threat to the United States than Osama Bin Laden. While it isn't the first time that MacKinnon has attacked Chavez outrageously, the nuke allegations are clearly designed to press the American panic button and raise the call to action.

(snip)

This is no accident, folks! Bushco has failed to position itself to exploit Iraq as it wanted. Bushco has been stymied in attacking Iran by Europe, the Russians and the Chinese. Bushco needs cheap oil to keep the SUV-loving patriots that vote GOP happy, and that leaves Venezuela.

OUTRAGE: Is This What Jesus Would Do?

The fundamentalists, to whom Bill Frist is beholden, want America turned into a Christian Nation, a place where search warrants are unecessary, birth control will become illegal and fundamentalist judges decree by Divine, not human, will. So, when we import the kind of justice we feel is acceptable on innocents in Afghanistan, will this be what Jesus would do?

"The prisoner, a slight, 22-year-old taxi driver known only as Dilawar, was hauled from his cell at the detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan, at around 2 a.m. to answer questions about a rocket attack on an American base. When he arrived in the interrogation room, an interpreter who was present said, his legs were bouncing uncontrollably in the plastic chair and his hands were numb. He had been chained by the wrists to the top of his cell for much of the previous four days.
Skip to next paragraph

Mr. Dilawar asked for a drink of water, and one of the two interrogators, Specialist Joshua R. Claus, 21, picked up a large plastic bottle. But first he punched a hole in the bottom, the interpreter said, so as the prisoner fumbled weakly with the cap, the water poured out over his orange prison scrubs. The soldier then grabbed the bottle back and began squirting the water forcefully into Mr. Dilawar's face.

'Come on, drink!' the interpreter said Specialist Claus had shouted, as the prisoner gagged on the spray. 'Drink!'

At the interrogators' behest, a guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummeled by guards for several days, could no longer bend. An interrogator told Mr. Dilawar that he could see a doctor after they finished with him. When he was finally sent back to his cell, though, the guards were instructed only to chain the prisoner back to the ceiling.

'Leave him up,' one of the guards quoted Specialist Claus as saying.

Several hours passed before an emergency room doctor finally saw Mr. Dilawar. By then he was dead, his body beginning to stiffen. It would be many months before Army investigators learned a final horrific detail: Most of the interrogators had believed Mr. Dilawar was an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time."

Paul Craig Roberts: Save America--Impeach Bush

Generally I hate the new Republicans who are simply referred to as neocons. I'm not that wild about the previous batch(s) of conservatives either (Goldwater and Reagan Republicans).

But then here comes a Reagan Republican who writes about impeaching Bush. It's a good first step...

"George W. Bush and his gang of neocon warmongers have destroyed America’s reputation. It is likely to stay destroyed, because at this point the only way to restore America’s reputation would be to impeach and convict President Bush for intentionally deceiving Congress and the American people in order to start a war of aggression against a country that posed no threat to the United States.

America can redeem itself only by holding Bush accountable."

Karl Rove's Court Abomination: Justice Priscilla R. Owens

[UPDATE 5-22-05] Link to summary of Texas Bar Association's rating (poor) for Owen.

[UPDATE 5-21-05] Link to Lou Dubose story (not SALON) re: Willie Searcy and how Owen's corporate activism killed him.

Okay, how arrogant and self-confident can one man be? If the man is Karl Rove, I'd say without limit.

Of all the Bush-related names I can think of none strikes more nausea, bile, hate and vitriol in my heart than that of Karl Rove. I have spent more than my share of daydreaming time imagining him well, 'rapturized', and felt really quite happy afterward. That's a shame isn't it, a peace-loving person being driven by the Machiavellian perversion of just one self-loathing nerd to fantasies like that?

Well, I'm afraid that if there is to be an end to the abomination that Rove has distorted the political party my mother of 80 is now embarassed to be a card-holder of, he will have to go. I'd say just losing him politically would be fine, but he won't get lost. He's a pit bull of Satan (in fact were I Christian I would fear him as the anti-christ). Well, actually, he's just a dough boy who couldn't get laid (by either sex) so he learned that if you're fat and ugly you'd better have power. Then he substituted the orgasm of power for that of sex (imagine if he were actually that addicted to sex--he'd be in recovery forever--but I digress) wait, maybe he's really a self-loathing homo? You think?

Anyway, his abomination preened for Bush, the anti-woman 'Prissy' Owens, is a very good reflection of Rove's inner mind. Do you think she ever whipped out a vibrator to entice her hubby? Naw, neither do I, ergo, perfect anti-sex-because-it-is-"bad" (anti-abortion) cold fish. Brrrr...why are these Theocons so damn dead? Oh, there goes my Id again... sorry.

Even on the conservative, all-Republican bench that the State Supreme Court had become, Justice Owen occasionally stood out among her colleagues, sometimes in tandem with another justice, Nathan Hecht. In no situation was this more so than in cases involving the interpretation of a state law providing for a teenage girl to obtain an abortion without notifying her parents if she can show a court that she is mature enough to understand the consequences.

In one dissent, Justice Owen said the teenager in the case had not demonstrated that she knew that there were religious objections to abortion and that some women who underwent abortions had experienced severe remorse.

Mr. Gonzales, a Texas Supreme Court justice at the time, was in the majority and wrote that the position of the three dissenters was "an unconscionable act of judicial activism" because it would create obstacles to abortion that the Legislature did not enact.

Mr. Gonzales, in interviews with The New York Times, acknowledged that his words were directed at her dissent but said that he remained enthusiastic about her nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

But he has been repeatedly pressed by conservatives to declare that he did not mean her. Recently, he tried to distance himself from the remarks by telling a Senate committee that he was referring to himself, not the dissenters. His apparent explanation seemed to be that it would have been an act of judicial activism for him if he had done what Justice Owen and her two fellow dissenters had done.

Craig McDonald, an official with Texans for Public Justice, said Justice Owen is indeed a judicial activist, "and it is not confined to a few cases over abortion." He said, "She is a serial activist, often in service to corporations and the powerful."

Galloway to Coleman (in short): Senator, Have You No Shame?

Though articles already abound on the match between MP George Galloway and Senator Coleman here, here, and here (to post a few), the only place I could find what may be most (all?) of Galloway's speech text is in this dKos diary (damn those guys are good):

"I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims did not have weapons of mass destruction.

I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda.

I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001.

I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.

Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies."

Interestingly, Galloway was not subpoenad. He showed up to ream Coleman for unsubstantiated accusations (imagine that) and to read the Senate (i.e. the US Government) the riot act for warmongering! Wow, what do Americans have to do to get that kind of hearing?

[UPDATE 5-18-05] Full Galloway statement transcript here (a taste follows):

If the world had listened to Kofi Annan, whose dismissal you demanded, if the world had listened to President Chirac who you want to paint as some kind of corrupt traitor, if the world had listened to me and the anti-war movement in Britain, we would not be in the disaster that we are in today. Senator, this is the mother of all smokescreens. You are trying to divert attention from the crimes that you supported, from the theft of billions of dollars of Iraq's wealth.

"Have a look at the real Oil-for-Food scandal. Have a look at the 14 months you were in charge of Baghdad, the first 14 months when $8.8 billion of Iraq's wealth went missing on your watch. Have a look at Haliburton and other American corporations that stole not only Iraq's money, but the money of the American taxpayer.

"Have a look at the oil that you didn't even meter, that you were shipping out of the country and selling, the proceeds of which went who knows where? Have a look at the $800 million you gave to American military commanders to hand out around the country without even counting it or weighing it.

"Have a look at the real scandal breaking in the newspapers today, revealed in the earlier testimony in this committee. That the biggest sanctions busters were not me or Russian politicians or French politicians. The real sanctions busters were your own companies with the connivance of your own Government."

I can smell the sizzle...

Is Newsweek More Ethical Than the White House?

Over at dKos diarist RonZ's got it right with White House Retracts Disputed Iraq Story:

The White House says Newsweek the Bush Administration took a "good first step" by retracting its story that U.S. investigators intelligence agencies found evidence interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Quran Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, but it wants the magazine administration to do more to repair damage caused by the article claims.

Read the entire diary (which presumes you already know about the Downing Street Minutes) for a funny but sobering take on how far from ethical our entire government has swung.

Of course the main difference is that the Newsweek story is true (even if not substantiated, Quran's were 'tortured') and the Bush story is false (reams of evidence that there were no WMD's).

So wait--why is that funny?

[UPDATE 5-19-05] Link to Quran 'torture' testimony.

[UPDATE 5-25-05] Ah, this breaking news that the Quran was, in fact, abused.

[UPDATE 5-27-05] And the hits just keep on coming (5 more to be exact).

John Conyers and the 88: Bush, Explain This Memo!!!

From the The Seattle Times:

"A highly classified British memo, leaked during Britain's just-concluded election campaign, claims President Bush decided by summer 2002 to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and was determined to ensure that U.S. intelligence data supported his policy."

Here's the link to the British memo, or this blog's post of May,1 2005.

Bush Lied. Period. And he began an illegal war. Period. Don't we hang traitors, or was that just for the Rosenberg's...?

INCOMING: U.S. May Allow Nuke Strikes

You live in Florida. Imagine: your neighbor has a sudden epiphany and decides God talks to him and tells him how to conduct his life. He tells everyone he meets this information and includes that God has told him who is good and who is evil and that everyone who doesn't worship God (his God in fact) is evil. And he can tell if someone is evil by the things that they do and those things that don't look like what he does means that person doing those things is not worshipping the same God and is therefore evil.

He goes on to declare that God has told him to spread this type of God worship around the neighborhood because it will wipe out evil and bring good to everyone. And he also informs everyone that God has told him that he can use a gun to kill people who don't accept his insistence that they join his religion (or at least act like they do).

You live in America with this guy, so you buy a gun to defend yourself. Your neighbor then informs you he is going to shoot you because having bought a gun to defend yourself is proof that you fear him and that only people who have something to hide would fear him hence you are not following his religion (why else would you fear him?) and are therefore evil. So you put up a chain-link fence to keep him out of (and the attack dogs you now own in) your yard. And you put in a house alarm, and buy a few more guns.

Things keep escalating between you until one night one of your dogs barks at a rabbit, the sound flips on the yard alarm lights, the neighbor's guard shoots the dog, you fire at the guard, the neighbor declares you fired at him and in the name of self-defense orders all his guards to blanket your home in arms fire, killing you and terrifying the whole neighborhood, that then in horror falls in line...except for the really big family up the street that calls in all their relatives and their resources--hundreds of them, millions of dollars--to put an end to your neighbor's rogue behavior.

I mean, we can see where this leads and so can Bush. So why aren't we impeaching him now?

Internal PM Blair Memo Nails Bush for 'Fixing' Intelligence to Suit Iraq War Policy!

What does it take to get Americans off their asses and into the courts to try Bush for war crimes? How many of YOUR kids have to die for this megalomaniac who thinks God tells him to start a war (nice justification)? The story from Britain and The Independent:

"A damning minute leaked to a Sunday newspaper reveals that in July 2002, a few weeks after meeting George Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Mr Blair summoned his closest aides for what amounted to a council of war. The minute reveals the head of British intelligence reported that President Bush had firmly made up his mind to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein, adding that 'the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy'."

From the Britsh Sunday Times, here is the text of the 'leaked' memo.

I refuse to believe that Americans are going to sit by and--knowing now what we should have known then--continue to accept this president, the so-called moral straight-shooter, to run this country.

On this basis I for one call for the impeachment of George W. Bush. And so should you (oh, and if you're wondering if this is impeachable, imagine how this would be handled were it Clinton instead).

[UPDATE] Kos founder Markos Moulitsas' article in the Guardian Unlimited.

[UPDATE] Bush's March 2003 press conference comments (before invasion).

[UPDATE 5-17-2005] Alternet article here:

Thanks to a formerly secret memorandum published by the London Sunday Times on May 1, during the run-up to the British elections, we now have a partial answer to that question. The memo, which records the minutes of a meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair's senior foreign policy and security officials, shows that even as president Bush told Americans in October 2002 that he "hope[d] the use of force will not become necessary" -- that such a decision depended on whether or not the Iraqis complied with his demands to rid themselves of their weapons of mass destruction -- the president had in fact already definitively decided, at least three months before, to choose this "last resort" of going "into battle" with Iraq. Whatever the Iraqis chose to do or not do, the President's decision to go to war had long since been made.

[UPDATE 5-29-05] British RAF forces increased bombing raids in Iraq in 2002--were US and Britain already waging 'war'? dKos diary with Congressman John Conyers letter to Rumsfeld here.

[UPDATE 6-1-05] The site AfterDowningStreet has been launched to further efforts at drawing investigation into the matter.