Save the Polar Bears, Save the World

Apparently polar bears are the canaries in the mines for the modern world, as this is my third "polar bears affected by pollution" post recently.

Toxic waste creates hermaphrodite Arctic polar bears

Wildlife researchers have found new evidence that Arctic polar bears, already gravely threatened by the melting of their habitat because of global warming, are being poisoned by chemical compounds commonly used in Europe and North America to reduce the flammability of household furnishings like sofas, clothing and carpets.

A team of scientists from Canada, Alaska, Denmark and Norway is sounding the alarm about the flame retardants, known as polybrominated diphenyls, or PBDEs, saying that significant deposits have recently been found in the fatty tissues of polar bears, especially in eastern Greenland and Norway's Svalbard islands.

Studies are still being carried out on what impact the chemicals might be having on the bears, but tests on laboratory animals such as mice indicate that their effects can be considerable, attacking the sex and thyroid glands, motor skills and brain function.

There is also evidence that compounds similar to the PBDEs have contributed to a surprisingly high rate of hermaphroditism in polar bears. About one in 50 female bears on Svalbard has both male and female sex organs, a phenomenon scientists link directly to the effects of pollution.

"The Arctic is now a chemical sink," declared Colin Butfield, a campaign leader for the Worldwide Fund for Nature, which last month indicated that killer whales in the Arctic were also suffering from elevated levels of contamination with fire retardants as well as other man-made compounds. "Chemicals from products that we use in our homes every day are contaminating Arctic wildlife."

The pollutants are carried northwards from industrialised regions of the US and western Europe on currents and particularly on northbound winds. Contaminated moisture often condenses on arriving in the cold Arctic climes and is then deposited, ready to enter the food chain.

Previous Posts:

USA Poisons the World

Bush Killing Polar Bears

Road Trip

Heading to New York today. Blog posting will be light until I return home on Sunday.

Blog Round-Up January 10, 2006

Roger Ailes (the good one) says that Jack's friends don't know Jack anymore: Toward Amnesia

Steve Gilliard at the News Blog compares today's Army lowering its standards for recruiting to McNamara's "Project 100,000" for Vietnam (which I had never heard of): Time travel back to 1970

Digby says Alito is a Freeper (and an asshole, or is that redundant?): Freeping The Court

By contrast, I just had a chance to see Alito's opening statement and I have to say that I think he came off as an asshole:

And after I graduated from high school, I went a full 12 miles down the road, but really to a different world when I entered Princeton University. A generation earlier, I think that somebody from my background probably would not have felt fully comfortable at a college like Princeton. But, by the time I graduated from high school, things had changed.

And this was a time of great intellectual excitement for me. Both college and law school opened up new worlds of ideas. But this was back in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

It was a time of turmoil at colleges and universities. And I saw some very smart people and very privileged people behaving irresponsibly. And I couldn't help making a contrast between some of the worst of what I saw on the campus and the good sense and the decency of the people back in my own community.

This is the same guy who wanted to keep women out of Princeton. Presumably, they wouldn't have "felt comfortable" there. But that's not what made that statement so revealing. It's this notion of smart and privileged people "behaving irresponsibly."

I think it's fairly certain that he's not talking about branding frat boys' asses or getting drunk and stealing Christmas Trees. He's talking about anti-war protestors, feminists etc. And like so many campus conservatives of that era, he sounds like he's still carrying around a boatload of resentment toward them.

John Yoo, Bush's facilitator of illegal spying, answers questions on Edicts of Nancy: Ask John Yoo!

As Ye Sew...

...so shall ye reap....

Lobby Firm Is Scandal Casualty
Abramoff, DeLay Publicity Blamed For Shutdown

One of Washington's top lobbying operations will shut down at the end of the month because of its ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former House majority leader Tom DeLay.

Alexander Strategy Group, which had thrived since its founding in 1998 thanks largely to its close connections to DeLay (R-Tex.), will cease to operate except for a relatively small business-development division, Edwin A. Buckham, the former top DeLay aide who owns the company, said yesterday.

[]

Buckham's firm employed DeLay's wife, Christine, for four years. It also benefited by working closely with Abramoff. Abramoff's plea agreement mentioned his close ties to Tony C. Rudy, one of Buckham's colleagues at ASG, identified in the court papers as "Staffer A."

Rudy, a former DeLay aide, worked for Abramoff before joining ASG. According to the plea document, a political consulting firm run by Rudy's wife allegedly received $50,000 in exchange for official actions Rudy took while working for DeLay.

However, most lobbyists never die, they just move laterally:

The 12 lobbyists who now work at ASG -- other than Rudy and Buckham -- intend to start a successor firm and intend to keep as many of the clients as possible, according to one of the lobbyists.

'Horrific at Best'

From Knight-Ridder:

Seniors encounter problems with Medicare drug benefit

WASHINGTON - Many of Medicare's poorest and most sickly patients are going without their medications because of administrative glitches, misinformation and confusion surrounding the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.

[]

"There's almost nothing that isn't going wrong," said Jeanne Finberg, an attorney for the National Senior Citizens Law Center in Oakland, Calif. "People are crying. They're calling their legislator's office in tears."

The most incompetent administration ever.

Strip Search Sammy is a Borklette

For any Senator who is still laboring under any uncertainty about Strip Search Sammy Alito, read this from the WaPo:

Proving His Mettle in the Reagan Justice Dept.

His opinion of Robert Bork?

"I think he was one of the most outstanding nominees of this century," Alito told Michael Aron of NJN News's "Front Page New Jersey" in a little-noticed 1988 interview. "He is a man of unequaled ability, understanding of constitutional history, someone who had thought deeply throughout his entire life about constitutional issues and about the Supreme Court and the role it ought to play in American society."

A fellow Republican describes Alito thusly:

"He's a Borklette, a Bork without the edge," said Bruce Fein, who was associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan Justice Department.

Here's the link to the 1988 interviewo of Alito from a New Jersey television public affairs program: Alito Comments from 1988

Let's see whether our Democratic Senators have a spine.

Just for Laughs

From WTF Is It Now?:

The man who bought Washington

There's a cancer on the presidency.
No no no, that's a freedom cyst.

USA Poisons the World

From the LA Times:

Polar Bears Face New Toxic Threat: Flame Retardants

Already imperiled by melting ice and a brew of toxic chemicals, polar bears throughout the Arctic, particularly in remote dens near the North Pole, face an additional threat as flame retardants originating largely in the United States are building up in their bodies, according to an international team of wildlife scientists.

Presstitute of Day: Nina Easton

Play the exciting corporate media game "Name That Source" with Nina Easton in today's Boston Globe as she channels all sorts of Bushco spinners:

Kinder, gentler Bush seen as '06 style
Seeks to boost GOP with compassionate conservative return

WASHINGTON -- Climbing his way out of low public ratings and facing a bruising battle to maintain Republican control of Congress, President Bush is seeking to resurrect his early reputation as a compassionate conservative who reaches across the aisle, according to officials close to the White House.

[]

''We learned our lesson last time," said one GOP strategist close to the White House, referring to the president's ill-fated Social Security plan.

In the coming weeks, the president will continue to advertise progress in Iraq, and the war on terror, as well as highlighting good economic news.

''This White House is conscious of historical trends," said the same strategist. ''You're going to see a focus on legacy items -- war on terror and the economy, focus on creation of jobs."

But the public will also hear the president talk more about education initiatives to bridge the wage gap, as well as conservative ideas to address poverty, especially as New Orleans recovers from Hurricane Katrina, according to officials close to the White House.

[]

President Bush, strategists say, needs to be careful not to anger his conservative base, as he did when he proposed a guest-worker immigrant program. Immigration, officials say, is an issue he will continue to approach gingerly, mostly talking broadly about border security.

Fiscal conservatives remain angry about high deficits and the levels of government spending, so the president is unlikely to make any expensive policy proposals in his State of the Union speech, officials say. Sweeping tax reform plans could also splinter the base and will probably be avoided, they add.

[]

Republican strategists, mindful of the upcoming November election, will also look for opportunities to trap Democrats on Capitol Hill into potentially embarrassing votes, just as they did when Republican House leaders forced a vote after Representative John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and Marine veteran, proposed a withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

One area where the White House believes it has staunch public support is the disclosure that the administration, in pursuing terrorists, has wiretapped Americans without a court order. Republicans say they will win any vote that pits physical security against privacy concerns.

Democrats, meanwhile, will try to use the burgeoning ethics scandals to undermine the Bush agenda. ''On the ethics stuff, there's nothing Bush can do. He has no control," said one Republican lobbyist. ''But what he can control and needs to work on is the war. That's the more critical thing for him."

Why let yourself be used to put out spin? This is journalism? Or it just pillow talk?

Because Nina Easton is from the Howie Kurtz School of Journalism. Keeps it in the family, where they all, in baseball parlance, bat right and throw right.

Here's the announcement of her wedding to Russell Schriefer from the New York Times.

Mr. Schriefer, also 46, is a Republican strategist and a founder of the Stevens & Schriefer Group, the Washington-based political consulting firm; he has helped advised numerous Republicans, including Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000. This year he served as the program director for the Republican Convention and was a media adviser to President Bush. The bridegroom graduated from Manhattan College.

Nina Easton, Presstitute.

Why Consumers Think the Economy Sucks

Just paid my gas bill for the month of December, and it's one of the highest bills I've ever paid. And it wasn't one of my high use months, either. Both years the bill covered the exact same term, 34 days, ending December 27th.

December 2004

149 therms used, $225.36

December 2005

142 therms used, $272.20

Last year I used 202 and 165 therms for the following two months, so I should get bills for more than $300 for both months.

I've only had a $300 gas bill once in my life, and that was January 2004 when the temperature for the month was the lowest average since 1895.

An Old Stomping Ground

Man, woman are fatally shot in Allston
2d male wounded; city's first homicides of 2006 stun neighborhood

Yesterday's shootings took place in a second-floor apartment at 244 Kelton St. in Allston, a neighborhood filled with red-brick apartments populated mostly by graduate students and young professionals.

I gasped when I saw this story on the news this morning, because I lived in one of these red brick buildings in 1979 for a summer. It's been so long that I can't remember the address, but I don't think it was 244. It might have been one of the buildings on either side, though.

It was my first apartment after college. My two college roomates & I sublet the apartment from a woman who attended Pine Manor College. She'd gone home to Grosse Pointe, Michigan for the summer, leaving us the Grosse Pointe, Michigan Garden Club book in a kitchen cupboard listing her mother as a board member. Also hideous primary color Marimekko prints on the walls and vinyl couches that were awful to sit on that hot, humid summer. I had a crappy job in Cambridge and took the old, creaky Green Line every day, crammed in and sweating in subway cars with broken air conditioning as they broke down between stations. It was a dodgy neighborhood, & I tried not to be walking alone at night. We did spend a few happy evenings at The Phoenix, the late lamented restaurant/bar at the corner of Kelton and Comm. Ave. which had great Tex-Mex food.

The neighborhood is described as "normally placid" in today's Globe article. I haven't been there except to drive through for the past decade, but it doesn't look that different today than it did 25 years ago. This incident is listed on the City of Boston website:

Violent crimes in Allston/Brighton: November

Thu, 11/24/05 4:01:00 AM
244 KELTON ST (Allston)
A&B HANDS, FEET, ETC.- MED. ATTENTION REQ.

Delay's Next Gig: Appropriations Committee

And he's not just taking any seat on the Appropriations Committee! It's confessed felon Duke Cunningham's seat!

From ThinkProgress (via firedoglake)

DeLay Takes Over Cunningham’s Spot On Appropriations Committee

Yes, Delay has been bounced to the most powerful committee in the Senate. Way to get him out of there, Denny.

Cheney in Training

Yesterday I posted my predictions for 2006, including this one:

9. When Fitzgerald's investigation begins to focus on Cheney, he resigns for health reasons. Condi appointed Vice President, Stephen Hadley appointed National Security Advisor.

Then I woke up this morning to these headlines:

Cheney Hospitalized, Then Released

Cheney Briefly Hospitalized Monday Morning

I began to feel power coursing through my fingertips....

Well, not really. The doctors' diagnosis is that

he was retaining fluid because of medication he was taking for a foot problem.

Cheney diagnoses himself differently:

"I'm a little hobbled-up today," Cheney joked to workers Friday at a Harley-Davidson factory in Kansas City, Mo., where he was highlighting upturns in the economy. "I don't usually carry a cane, but (Defense Secretary) Don Rumsfeld has been chewing on my ankles."

From the AP article, this is the funniest part:

Cheney, who has not suffered a heart attack since he became vice president in 2001, began a daily exercise program in 2000 and started eating healthier.

Cheney exercises daily? I can't stop laughing.

The Noose Is Tightening

In tomorrow's Washington Post:

Hastert Moves to Tighten Rules on Lobbyists

While ostensibly about Hastert's attempt to close the barn door, WaPo has new details about how prosecutors are closing in on Tom Delay:

But last week, a prominent client of Abramoff's former law firm offered fresh revelations linking Abramoff to DeLay's office, saying it had sent $25,000 to an Abramoff-linked Orthodox Jewish group in 2000 as part of a lobbying campaign to thwart a proposed postal rate increase. That money appears to have then been paid to the wife of Tony C. Rudy, the deputy chief of staff of then-House Majority Whip DeLay who was helping to spearhead efforts against the increase.

Under the plea agreement made public Tuesday, Abramoff said that he and others sought Rudy's agreement to help torpedo the postal rate increase and a prohibition on Internet gambling. "With the intent to influence those official acts," the documents say, Abramoff provided "things of value, including but not limited to . . . ten equal monthly payments totaling $50,000" to the wife of a congressional aide called "staffer A" but identified elsewhere as Rudy. Those payments came from clients "that would and did benefit" from Rudy's actions.

The Washington Post had previously reported that $25,000 had come from eLottery Inc., an Internet gambling firm and Abramoff client, which sent the money to a Seattle-based foundation, Toward Tradition, that then paid fees to Rudy's wife, Lisa.

On Friday, the Magazine Publishers of America, which had hired Abramoff's firm Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP in 2000 for a $10 million campaign against the postal rate increase, revealed where the other half came from.

"I can confirm that based on direction from Preston Gates, the MPA did make a $25,000 contribution to Toward Tradition in 2000," said MPA spokesman Howard J. Rubenstein. The MPA directors "had absolutely no knowledge of how the money would be used, and if it turns out that it was used for an improper purpose, they would be, quite frankly, outraged."

{I added the links within the articles. WaPo link? I think not.}

2006 Predictions

Jeanne Dixon I am not, but here goes:

1. Karl Rove indicted, resigns, gets job with Hudson Institute.

2. After spending the last quarter of 2005 vilifying John Murtha for suggesting that U.S. forces be drawn down and deployed to the borders of Iraq, BushCo will do just that in 2006. Prediction of numbers of American troops in Iraq, end of 2006: 80,000.

3. Liverpool wins Premier League in shocking upset over Chelsea. (Prediction or hope? You make the call.)

4. Argentina wins World Cup.

5. Neocons will begin sabre rattling about attacking Iran. Can you say, Mushroom cloud?

6. Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and James Dobson will each say something incredibly stupid and offensive.

7. Red Sox finish in second place in American League East behind MFY.

8. BushCo's vast data-mining operation will be exposed. Forget Christiane Amanpour. We've all been caught up.

9. When Fitzgerald's investigation begins to focus on Cheney, he resigns for health reasons. Condi appointed Vice President, Stephen Hadley appointed National Security Advisor.

10. Democrats sweep to victory in midterm elections, but electoral gerrymandering has been so successful that Republicans retain control of House of Representatives.

The Incompetence, The Corruption, and The Cronyism: Sunday, January 8, 2006

Rethugs in fine form this week:

The Incompetence:

The new Medicare drug plan is an unmitigated disaster. It's impossible to figure out. Seniors can't figure it out. Pharmacies can't figure it out either. As a result, they're refusing to give people their medications. People will die because of this simple fact: The Bush Administration is incompetent. They care more about ideology than good government, and as we saw during Hurricane Katrina, that's often fatal.

States Intervene After Drug Plan Hits Early Snags

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 - Low-income Medicare beneficiaries around the country were often overcharged, and some were turned away from pharmacies without getting their medications, in the first week of Medicare's new drug benefit. The problems have prompted emergency action by some states to protect their citizens.

Although there are no hard numbers, concerns expressed by state officials and complaints from pharmacists suggest a widespread pattern of problems.

At least four states - Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Vermont - acted this week to make sure poor people received the drugs they were promised but could not obtain through the federal Medicare program.

Gov. Jim Douglas of Vermont, a Republican, said the state would pay drug claims for low-income people until the federal government fixed problems in the new program, known as Part D of Medicare. Michael K. Smith, the state's secretary of human services, said, "The federal system simply is not working."

On Thursday, the Vermont Legislature passed a bill declaring, "There is a public health emergency due to the federal implementation of Medicare Part D, which has resulted in serious operational problems, causing Vermonters to be turned away at the pharmacy without the drugs they need."

The Corruption:

Tom Delay IS the King of All Corruption.

Ethics Issues Snared GOP's Champion
DeLay's Focus on Fundraising Powered Party Gains But Led to Problems


And slowly, Delay is drawing other Republicans down into his sinking ship:

A Donor Who Had Big Allies
DeLay and two others helped put the brakes on a federal probe of a businessman. Evidence was published in the Congressional Record.

WASHINGTON — In a case that echoes the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, two Northern California Republican congressmen used their official positions to try to stop a federal investigation of a wealthy Texas businessman who provided them with political contributions.

Reps. John T. Doolittle and Richard W. Pombo joined forces with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas to oppose an investigation by federal banking regulators into the affairs of Houston millionaire Charles Hurwitz, documents recently obtained by The Times show. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was seeking $300 million from Hurwitz for his role in the collapse of a Texas savings and loan that cost taxpayers $1.6 billion.

The investigation was ultimately dropped.

The Cronyism:

George Bush appoints unqualified Julie Myers to head the bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Here's the story, under a bad headline by the Times (surprised?) as criticism of this 36-year-old lawyer with no immigration and scant managerial experience is broad and bipartisan.

Democrats Criticize Appointment at Immigration Agency

Ms. Myers, who has held a variety of federal jobs over the last four years, drew attention because of her ties to the White House and some senior officials. She is a niece of Gen. Richard B. Myers, who recently stepped down as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the wife of John Wood, Mr. Chertoff's chief of staff.

[]

Criticism of her nomination was not limited to the comments of Democrats. In September, National Review, an influential conservative publication, urged Mr. Bush to withdraw Ms. Myers's nomination. In an editorial, the magazine compared her to Mr. Brown and called her "another unqualified nominee for a vital position in the Department of Homeland Security."

In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.
H.L. Mencken

Bush Knows Him Some Jack

And not just Jack Daniels, either. From ThinkProgress:

Abramoff Met With Bush In May 2001

[] he attended [] three events, holiday receptions at the White House....

AND

The Texas Observer reports that Abramoff met with Bush on May 9, 2001, with his clients, the Coushatta tribe. (The chairman of the Coushatta tribe initially denied the meeting occured, but subsequently admitted that it did.) Abramoff charged his client 25,000 to arrange the meeting.

They're Reading Your Mail, Too

Homeland Security opening private mail
Retired professor confused, angered when letter from abroad is opened

Privacy? So Last Century

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Your phone records are for sale

How well do the services work? The Chicago Sun-Times paid $110 to Locatecell.com to purchase a one-month record of calls for this reporter's company cell phone. It was as simple as e-mailing the telephone number to the service along with a credit card number. The request was made Friday after the service was closed for the New Year's holiday.

Most powerful investigative tool

On Tuesday, when it reopened, Locatecell.com e-mailed a list of 78 telephone numbers this reporter called on his cell phone between Nov. 19 and Dec. 17. The list included calls to law enforcement sources, story subjects and other Sun-Times reporters and editors.

Sago Mine Disaster: The Untold Story

I was reading dailykos this morning and came upon this long, detailed article about coal mining and how the Sago Mine Disaster probably happened:

Underground Mining, Sago, and Death by Greed

The conclusion:

So why didn't ICG keep Sago safe? Because these guys are vultures. Outfits like this exploit corporate bankruptcy laws to take over mines that are on the ropes, then squeeze their bones for every last cent. In the case of Sago, ICG's corporate shell game managed to avoid safety and environmental citations, to escape black lung payments, and break a union contract. Then they got to sell coal into the highest priced market ever. How nice for them, huh?

What killed those men at Sago? Stupid corporate laws that make corporations into "super citizens" and allow shell companies to come and go at will -- companies that squeeze out union support and ignore safety to make another dime. An MSHA that has been gutted and weakened (the mine where I use to work had an MSHA inspector on site ever single day, and sometimes as many as six). And they were killed by men like this:

Wilbur Ross, the New York financier and Palm Beach socialite who swallowed up the company, has been seen squirming before the cameras in the aftermath of the Sago disaster. Maybe he should have gotten his ass down there to rescue the Sago miners -- they're his workers. Well, OK, maybe he shouldn't have. But like other mine owners, he and his company didn't want the expense of keeping a rescue squad on the scene, which some speculate is why it took almost a full day to get the effort going. In any event, the Sago mine, like many others, had numerous citations for safety violations.

That's right. Sago Mine had no rescue team, a fact so astounding, I still have a hard time grasping it. But hey, if it saves Wilbur another dime...

The story of how Wilbur Ross and other corporate vultures are fleecing and destroying the American middle class is from the Village Voice:

Vulture in a Coal Mine
Rescuing dying mine companies? Wilbur Ross is your man. Rescuing dying miners? Well, er, uh..

Here's Ross's MO: He buys a company that is in bankruptcy proceedings. He gets a federal bankruptcy judge (most have been appointed by Republicans) to approve screwing the workers by

1. Busting the union. No union, no union benefits, no union safety voice.

2. Eliminating retirees health insurance.

3. Eliminating retirees pensions.

4. Making millions for himself personally in the process.

He's done it, according to the article, to the Coulterville, Illinois mine (250 miners), which as well as five other union mines in Illinois lost their union jobs, health insurance, and pensions:

After the sale, six union operations previously owned by Horizon were shut down. The nonunion mines remained open.

Under the bankruptcy and reorganization plan, U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Judge William Howard in August agreed that Horizon should not be responsible for $800 million in health insurance contractual obligations to more than 3,000 active and retired United Mine Workers of America union members.

The judge threw out the contract and voided the collective bargaining agreement to make the sale of the mines more appealing to Ross and his partners.

Zeigler No. 11 was the last UMWA-operated mine in Southern Illinois. … The union tried to prevent the judge from allowing Horizon to sever its contract with the union and void its obligations to union retirees. But under federal bankruptcy guidelines, the move is legal.

The 2300 retired union members who lost their health insurance were especially hard hit. Many are less than 60 years old and not eligible for Medicare yet. So many of them are essentially bankrupt (although they probably can't actually declare bankruptcy and void those bills under the new, draconian bankruptcy bill).

Wilbur Ross? He turned around and sold the now non-union mines to a Netherlands-based conglomerate and made, between 267 and 300 MILLION DOLLARS on the deal.

He's also made money by eliminating health benefits and pensions for the retirees of Bethlehem Steel:

Approximately 90,000 widows and retirees of defunct Bethlehem Steel, for example, collectively lost $380 million in health-care benefits between March 31, 2003, when those benefits were terminated by Judge Burton Lifland of U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and October 25, 2004, when Ross sold the former Bethlehem assets to Mittal [the conglomerate].

Of course, we the taxpayers end up paying the medical costs of people whose retiree health care is stolen by corporate raiders like Ross.

In back-of-the-envelope terms, these Americans, plus a government agency and, indirectly thousands of U.S. businesses, absorbed roughly $1.2 billion in losses coming from Wilbur Ross's "rescue" of the bankrupt steel companies.

And he couldn't be bothered to have a rescue squad on hand at the Sago Mine.

Wilbur Ross. Now there's a man who should be in jail.

Recruiting Woes

Bushco sends its generals out to rag on John Murtha. He's hurting recruiting, they say:

Lawmaker's Talk About Military Irks Joint Chiefs Chair

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, criticized Rep. John P. Murtha yesterday for sending "the wrong message" to American youth when the congressman indicated in an interview this week that he would not join today's military.

Here's what really hurts recruiting:

Pentagon Study Links Fatalities to Light Armor

A secret Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor. Such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.

The ceramic plates in vests now worn by the majority of troops in Iraq cover only some of the chest and back. In at least 74 of the 93 fatal wounds that were analyzed in the Pentagon study of marines from March 2003 through June 2005, bullets and shrapnel struck the marines' shoulders, sides or areas of the torso where the plates do not reach.

Thirty-one of the deadly wounds struck the chest or back so close to the plates that simply enlarging the existing shields "would have had the potential to alter the fatal outcome," according to the study, which was obtained by The New York Times.

For the first time, the study by the military's medical examiner shows the cost in lives from inadequate armor, even as the Pentagon continues to publicly defend its protection of the troops.

Why does the Bush Administration hate the troops? Why have they let them die rather than properly equip them? Are they STILL, three years later, "surprised" by the insurgency?

Bremer Says U.S. Was Surprised by Insurgency

Just the usual. The incompetence, the corruption, the cronyism. Dumber than a bag of hammers, and half as useful. These bums have to go.

WalMart PR Machine Busy

I posted on the Walmart/Planet of the Apes story this morning and was soon thereafter visited by "Edelman PR". I didn't connect the two, but became curious when the same outfit visited my blog two times more today.

Edelman must be assigned to this issue, as they are on the WalMart payroll to provide reputation management. They must be sending some big bills if they've visiting my little blog 3 times today (3 of my 25 visits). I wonder how many times they've been to firedoglake or Crooks & Liars?

Too bad they didn't just advise WalMart against eliminating surplus food donations to the homeless. Morons.

From Sourcewatch:

Edelman

In October 2005, Reuters reported that Edelman is to mount an aggressive campaign against Robert Greenwald's new documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of a Low Price. In what is reported to be a movie industry first, Edelman's representatives emailed reporters press kits containing a point-by-point rebuttal of the film's trailer, which Wal-Mart is demanding be altered or removed from the walmartmovie.com website. (The trailer is under fire because the documentary itself will not be released until November 1, 2005.) "The press kit includes snippets from negative reviews of Greenwald's earlier works - one dating as far back as 1980 - and three examples of what the retailer calls factual errors in the latest documentary."

I do love my site meter.

The Plot Thickens

From slate.com, the Bush Administration's foray into illegal wiretapping started BEFORE 9/11.

You heard that right. Before 9/11.

Tinker, Tailor, Miner, Spy
Why the NSA's snooping is unprecedented in scale and scope.

A former telecom executive told us that efforts to obtain call details go back to early 2001, predating the 9/11 attacks and the president's now celebrated secret executive order. The source, who asked not to be identified so as not to out his former company, reports that the NSA approached U.S. carriers and asked for their cooperation in a "data-mining" operation, which might eventually cull "millions" of individual calls and e-mails.

Presstitute of the Day: Jim VandeHei Buys Operation Photo Op, Oval Office edition, 1.0, Hook, Line and Sinker

Is Jim VandeHei the worst political journalist currently plying his trade? He's gotta make the top five, for gems like this:

New York Times on Operation Photo Op, Oval Office edition: Visited by a Host of Administrations Past, Bush Hears Some Chastening Words

Jim VandeHei's take on the very same meeting, for the Washington Post: Voices From History Echo Anew
Former Cabinet Officers Offer Advice on Iraq to Commander in Chief

Journalism is all about the basics, right? Who, what, when, where, why.

Like, how long did this "meeting" take?

VandeHei:

Bush spent an hour with [] prominent foreign policy voices

Not really, according to David Sanger of the New York Times:

an exceedingly upbeat 40-minute briefing to 13 former secretaries of state and defense about how well things are going in Iraq,

followed by

But if it was a bipartisan consultation, as advertised by the White House, it was a brief one. Mr. Bush allowed 5 to 10 minutes for interchange with the group - which included three veterans of the Vietnam era: Robert S. McNamara, Melvin R. Laird and James R. Schlesinger - before herding the whole group into the Oval Office for what he called a "family picture."

And who did the assembled really get to meet with? Not exactly the principals:

Those who wanted to impart more wisdom to the current occupants of the White House were sent back across the hall to meet again with Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser, and Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But as several of the participants noted, by that time Mr. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had gone on to other meetings.

All of the detail provided by Sanger, omitted by VandeHei, as to the details of the meeting tell us the truth. It was a photo op, using the former officials for that nice Oval Office photo at the top of each article. Bush didn't even meet with them for more than 5 or 10 minutes, if he listened at all. (Listening not exactly his forte, you know?)

VandeHei's concludes his paean of praise to Bush for the photo op with this obsequious paragraph:

Still, it was a sense of the span of history in the room -- as much as the future of Iraq -- that left a lasting impression for many in attendance. "It was a sense that when we walked into the room and you see the personalities as far back as McNamara . . . that it was a good feeling among people who have shouldered considerable responsibility in the past and understand what this administration now confronts," Cohen said.

Presstitute.

Bush Knows Jack

Good column by E.J. Dionne in today's Washington Post, outlining some of Abramoff's ties to the Republican Party and George W. Bush:

Abramoff and His Vanishing Friends

After the 2000 election, Abramoff was named to the Bush transition team for the Interior Department, which regulates the Indian casinos that paid Abramoff his inflated fees.

Remember that when the Bushies start to claim that Bush didn't know Jack Abramoff. Bush doesn't know jack, but he did know Jack.

When I Get Audited, I'll Know Why

From dailykos:

IRS tracked taxpayers' political affiliation

IRS officials acknowledged that party affiliation information was routinely collected by a vendor for several months. They told the vendor last month to screen the information out.

"The bottom line is that we have never used this information," said John Lipold, an IRS spokesman. "There are strict laws in place that forbid it."

[]

According to Murray's office, the 20 states in which the IRS collected party affiliation information were Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.

How can you believe the IRS when they say "strict laws" forbid using this information, when their bosses are illegally wiretapping us? Laws, schmaws, we know Bushco does what it wants, damn the laws and the Constitution.

The IRS itself is in open violation of a court order: Above the law: Bush's IRS defies court order

Better get my last 6 years of tax files in order.

Blog RoundUp

When you looked at "Planet of the Apes" the movie on WalMart's website, they also recommended movies about blacks. Story broken by firedoglake, , here, and here, also Crooks and Liars, Steve Gilliard, Washington Post. Turns out their website also linked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Power Puff Girls, Polar Express, and Home Alone to African-American-themed DVDs. As a result, Wal-Mart Halts Movie Suggestions on Web

Glenn Greenwald, guestblogging for Digby, good post on the culture of criminality in the Bush Administration: An ideology of lawlessness

Tbogg on Operation Photo Op, Oval Office edition, 1.0: My Big Fat Publicity Stunt

Paul Cummins on HuffPost: The Emerging Bush Legacy

1. Tax cuts leading to massive, unprecedented deficits
2. Preemptive wars against non-aggressive nations
3. Sanctioning of torture
4. De-regulation of environment protections
5. Weakening of the separation of church and state
6. Exempting the gun industry from lawsuits
7. Weakening of individual privacy protections
8. Rejection of international organizations - U.N., World Court, etc.
9. Increased hatred of the U.S.A. in Islamic countries
10. Increase in terrorist attacks since 9/11
11. Neglect of poverty in the U.S.A. and abroad
12. Shifting the tax burden from wealthy corporations and individuals to wage earners
13. Reducing (hoping to abolish) estate taxes thus creating "a permanent aristocracy" in America
14. Furthering anti-intellectualism - a president who admittedly does not read and is embarrassingly inarticulate
15. Increased military spending; hostility to spending for social services
16. Increased number of Americans without health care
17. Rejection of minimum wage increases - five consecutive years
18. Applying the principle of awarding lucrative contracts to crony companies without competitive bidding
19. Attempts to privatize Social Security
20. Four consecutive years of increases in the percentage of Americans living in poverty

Just Another Little Miscalculation

The Cost of The War

Nobel Laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard budget expert Linda Bilmes plan to present this week a paper estimating the cost of the Iraq War at between $1-2 trillion. This is far higher than earlier estimates of $100-200 billion.

That's $1,000,000,000,000 to $2,000,000,000,000 for those of us using an abacus.

Time for another tax cut for the millionaires.

LaHood: DeLay is El Toast

From Reuters:

DeLay's bid to return to US leadership in jeopardy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rep. Tom DeLay's bid to return as majority leader of the House of Representatives was in mounting jeopardy on Thursday as fellow Republicans feared his ties with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff have made the Texan too much of an election-year liability.

"I would not support him for majority leader," Rep. Ray LaHood told Reuters in a telephone interview from his central Illinois district.

Delay: Dehypocrite

"The time has come that the American people know exactly what their Representatives are doing here in Washington. Are they feeding at the public trough, taking lobbyist-paid vacations, getting wined and dined by special interest groups? Or are they working hard to represent their constituents?"

-- Rep. Tom DeLay, in remarks on the floor of the House [link is to a PDF file], Nov. 16, 1995

Operation Photo Op, Oval Office Edition, 1.0

Bush and Former Cabinet Members Discuss Topic No. 1: Iraq

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 - Colin Powell said nothing - a silence that spoke volumes to many in the White House today.

His predecessor, Madeleine Albright, was a bit riled after hearing an exceedingly upbeat 40-minute briefing to 13 living former secretaries of state and defense about how well things are going in Iraq. Saying the war in Iraq was "taking up all the energy" of President Bush's foreign policy team, she asked Mr. Bush whether he had let nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea spin out of control, and Latin America and China policy suffer by benign neglect.

"I can't let this comment stand," Mr. Bush shot back, telling Ms. Albright and the rare assembly of her colleagues, who reached back to the Kennedy White House, that his administration "can do more than one thing at a time."

The Bush administration, the president insisted, had "the best relations of any country with Japan, China and Korea," and active programs to win alliances around the world.

That was, according to some of the participants, one of the few moments of heat during an unusual White House effort to bring some of its critics into the fold and give a patina of bipartisan common ground to the strategy that Mr. Bush has laid out in recent weeks for Iraq.

But if it was a bipartisan consultation, as advertised by the White House, it was a brief one. Mr. Bush allowed 5 to 10 minutes this morning for interchange with the group - which included three veterans of another difficult war, the one in Vietnam: Robert S. McNamara, Melvin R. Laird and James R. Schlesinger. Then the entire group was herded the Oval Office for what he called a "family picture."

I'm not sure you really need to read the article. Anyone who is really paying attention to this White House knows that George W. Bush doesn't listen to anyone but his inner circle. This meeting was all about the photograph at the top of the article. Operation photo op, Oval Office edition, 1.0. People will hear, or see, that this bipartisan group of former officials gathered. They won't hear or see the substance. Rove's theory -- and it's been working to date -- is that a good picture triumphs the facts or the truth.

As media have proliferated, people just don't read any more. They don't even have the attention span to watch the entire evening news program. People hear a fragment, they read a headline, they glance at a picture on the front page or as they flick through the channels looking for something interesting. My parents watched the evening news religiously, and discussed it. Today, they'd be reading their email, answering their cell phones, driving their kids to extracurricular activities (in my day we took the bus for such things), flicking through their 57 or 300 or 1000 television channels, surfing the web, or working late to keep their jobs and their health insurance.

And even if people were paying close attention, there is always the Mighty Wurlitzer, Faux News and talk radio and MSNBCNNCNBCABCD, all saying "On the one hand, on the other hand...", all issues have two sides and both are equally valid.

And thus the New York Times headline: "Bush and Former Cabinet Members Discuss..." Discuss, my Irish ass. There was no discussion. There was a short, faux meeting and a very real photo op. No substance. They may have been talking, but Lalala I Can' Hear You George Bush isn't listening.

More on Recess Appointments

Bush Appointments Avert Senate Battles

Hacks, cronies, and Michael Brown-like incompetents

Now You Know Something That's Not in the Papers Today

NBC is investigating, and probably has information supporting their questions, whether the United States government wiretapped CNN reporter Christine Amanpour.

NBC changes official transcript of Andrea Mitchell interview, deletes reference to Bush possibly wiretapping CNN's Christane Amanpour

Mitchell: Do you have any information about reporters being swept up in this net?

Risen: No, I don't. It's not clear to me. That's one of the questions we'll have to look into the future. Were there abuses of this program or not? I don't know the answer to that

Mitchell: You don't have any information, for instance, that a very prominent journalist, Christiane Amanpour, might have been eavesdropped upon?

Risen: No, no I hadn't heard that.

This very interesting question did not make ONE outlet of the corporate media.

So you know something that journalists didn't bother report today.

Fun, huh?

Left blogtopia (yes! skippy invented that word!) rules.

King George Goes to Cronys-R-Us To Celebrate Abramoffakuh

From the White House website:

Personnel Announcement

President George W. Bush today recess appointed the following individuals:

Floyd Hall, of New Jersey, to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board.

Enrique J. Sosa, of Florida, to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board.

Nadine Hogan, of Florida, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Foundation (Private Representative).

Roger W. Wallace, of Texas, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Foundation (Private Representative).

Gordon England, of Texas, to be Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Benjamin A. Powell, of Florida, to be General Counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Ronald E. Meisburg, of Virginia, to be General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.

Julie L. Myers, of Kansas, to be Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

Tracy A. Henke, of Missouri, to be Executive Director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at the Department of Homeland Security.

Arthur F. Rosenfeld, of Virginia, to be Federal Mediation and Conciliation Director at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Ellen R. Sauerbrey, of Maryland, to be Assistant Secretary of State (Population, Refugees, and Migration).

Dorrance Smith, of Virginia, to be Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs).

Robert D. Lenhard, of Maryland, to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission.

Steven T. Walther, of Nevada, to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission.

Hans Von Spakovsky, of Georgia, to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission.

Peter N. Kirsanow, of Ohio, to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board.

Stephen Goldsmith, of Indiana, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

I googled all of them except for Myers and Sauerbrey, who had made previous appearance on this blog in "The Incompetence, The Corruption, and The Cronyism" posts. Couldn't find anything of note on Nadine Hogan. Most of the linked material is from sourcewatch.org. These were appointments that are on hold for specific reasons. Lawyers who advocated for torture; AMTRAK board members who've never ridden a train; just your typical Bushco appointees meant to kill the governmental entity to which they are being appointed.

And hey, who needs the Senate and all that pesky Advise and Consent stuff when you've already declared "ah'm a wahr prezident"?

Update: Firedoglake points out that

Amongst them -- Hans von Spakovsky, who was in large part responsible for the purge of mostly Democratic, mostly African American and mostly legitimate people from the Florida voting lists in 2000.

Another payback for the stolen 2000 election, a la John Roberts.

Army Corps of Engineers/Orleans Levee District Death Toll: 588 Dead

From Knight-Ridder:

Majority of New Orleans deaths tied to floodwalls' collapse

NEW ORLEANS - Nearly 600 people who died because of Hurricane Katrina might have survived had floodwalls on two New Orleans canals not collapsed, a Knight Ridder analysis of where bodies were found after the storm indicates.

The bodies of at least 588 people were recovered in neighborhoods that engineers say would have remained largely dry had the walls of the 17th Street and London Avenue canals not given way - probably because of poor design, shoddy construction or improper maintenance - after the height of the storm.

In contrast, 286 bodies were recovered in the Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans East and neighboring St. Bernard Parish, where Katrina's storm surge poured over levees and flooded neighborhoods.

The role of the 17th Street and London Avenue canal floodwalls in the destruction of New Orleans has been hotly debated in the four months since the storm. Engineers who are investigating their collapse think that floodwaters generated by Katrina never rose high enough to pour over the walls, and they blame flawed design, construction or maintenance for the walls' failure and the flooding that followed.

Today Big Media is agog about the Sago mine disaster. In three months it will be forgotten by the MSM, as it has forgotten and ignored the aftermath of the much greater American disaster, Hurricane Katrina and the collapse of the New Orleans levees. Pay no attention to the pious pronunciations by blow-dried anchors that they will follow this story in the days and weeks ahead. There will be another missing white woman, another fake war (War on Easter? War on Valentine's Day? War with Iran?), another White House press statement to be delivered verbatim, without questioning or analysis.

Look for coverage of the flawed levee story on TV. I dare you. You won't find it.

Presstitute of the Day: Gloria Borger

I heard Gloria Borger's report on the Abramoff indictment on the CBS morning show. She ended her description of his nefarious doings by saying, of course, Abramoff gave money to Democrats as well as Republicans.

This is not true. Abramoff never gave money to any Democrat.

Bloomberg (via firedoglake):

Between 2001 and 2004, Abramoff gave more than $127,000 to Republican candidates and committees and nothing to Democrats, federal records show.

Jack Abramoff's political contribution history, from the Federal Election Commission (via Newsmeat). Not a penny, not to one Democrat.

Gloria Borger: Presstitute, delivering (false) Republican talking points as fact.

Modern Air Travel

Remember when flying was romantic? Now I hate flying. It is a horrible, unpleasant experience. I just returned from a week at my brother's in St. Louis. My mom & I flew Continental Airlines. While we flew Economy class, our flights cost over $325 each round trip, with taxes & fees.

On our departing flight, we were crammed into the tiny seats of our plane. My knees hit the back of the seat in front of me, and I am only 5'4". The magazine & emergency card were in the seat-back pocket in front of me, which was ripped away from the seat and hanging loose. I reached in and found everything in there sopping wet. So much for reading the emergency instructions. There was no padding left in the seat cushion, which flattened completely when I sat down. I reached up to turn on the air to find that the vent buttons of both seats in my row were missing. So, no air.

Then the pilot announced that we would be leaving slightly late because "they" (as though "they" had no connection to Continental Airlines) had forgotten to clean the plane's lavatories, and that this would be completed quickly. Minutes later we took off. Needless to say, I didn't use the facilities.

Our return flight was even worse. The seat cushion was thin again, but no obvious disrepair. Then, about 10 minutes after takeoff, in a bank of clouds, our plane rocked and rolled. I was sent up, down, and sideways -- twice -- into Mom's seat. I grabbed her arm thinking, this is it. I almost threw up. Most violent turbulence I ever went through. I kept saying, Go up or go down, as in, get out of these clouds, you fool pilot. We finally emerged from the clouds into the sunshine. Nothing from the cockpit. I guess throwing the passengers from side to side in a small plane is de rigeur to them. No announcements, they didn't even mention it until an hour and half later when we were ready to land -- "Hope we don't have any turbulence like we did on take-off." Huh.

The CEO and the board of Continental Airlines should be forced to sit in a seat the size of their airline economy seats while they do their work. Rock 'em about every two hours without explanation. Pour water over the papers on their desks randomly. Turn off the HVAC system. See how they like it.

The Final Insult

Twelve Found Dead in W.Va. Coal Mine

SAGO, W.Va., Jan. 4 -- Great joy turned suddenly to deep sorrow Wednesday morning when stunned family members were told that 12 of the 13 miners trapped 13,000 feet into a mountainside since early Monday were dead rather than alive, as they, and the world, had been told hours earlier.

The first announcement, of a "miracle," was the result of a "miscommunication," a company official said.

The new announcement came at roughly 3 a.m., interrupting and then silencing celebratory church bells in this small town and leaving relatives of the miners in shock, grief and anger.

Sago Mine Disaster: By The Numbers

2 years

273 safety Violations

$24,000 in penalties ("corporate pocket change")

1 dead, 12 missing

Safety Violations Have Piled Up at Coal Mine

Time and again over the past four years, federal mining inspectors documented the same litany of problems at central West Virginia's Sago Mine: mine roofs that tended to collapse without warning. Faulty or inadequate tunnel supports. A dangerous buildup of flammable coal dust.

[]

In the past two years, the mine was cited 273 times for safety violations, of which about a third were classified as "significant and substantial," according to documents compiled by the Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Many were for problems that could contribute to accidental explosions or the collapse of mine tunnels, records show.

[]

Other inspection reports over the past two years fault the mine for "combustibles," including a buildup of flammable coal dust and a failure to adequately insulate electric wires. Sparks from electrical equipment can ignite coal dust and methane gas, triggering fires and explosions.

The mine is contesting some of the violations, while agreeing to pay more than $24,000 in penalties to settle others.

The Republicans have decimated OSHA. I'd get a bigger fine for speeding on the Massachusetts turnpike than a coal company would get from OSHA for endangering the lives of its workers. Shame.

Get Thee to FireFox

Windows Security Flaw Is 'Severe'
PCs Vulnerable to Spyware, Viruses

Unlike with previously revealed vulnerabilities, computers can be infected simply by visiting one of the Web sites or viewing an infected image in an e-mail through the preview pane in older versions of Microsoft Outlook, even if users did not click on anything or open any files. Operating system versions ranging from the current Windows XP to Windows 98 are affected.

My computer was shutting down from spam/ad/spyware attacks regularly until I switched to Mozilla Firefox two months ago. Now, I never have any problems. It's a free download and will save you a Bill-Gates-sized headache.

The Little Red Hoax

Federal agents' visit was a hoax
Student admits he lied about Mao book

And I fell for it:

He Knows What You've Been Reading

I was thinking about this kind of thing the other day while I watched coverage of the latest day of Saddam Hussein's trial. Hussein was claiming to have been beaten while in U.S. custody. A few years ago I would have laughed at such a claim. Now, after Guantanimo, Abu Graib, dozens of prisoners dead at the hands of their U.S. captors, I had to think. Maybe we did torture him.

And that's one of the tragedies of the Bush Administration. Their conduct has been so anti-democratic that everyone now assumes the worst about them. There's no presumption of innocence once you've broken the law so many times.

I'd believe just about anything they're accused of. Sad.

Blogweather Report

Heading out for the holidays today. Posting may occur, but will be intermittent. More likely on Saturday, and from Tuesday next. However, unpredictability is key here. Don't count on anything.

Happy holidays, Merry X-mas (why are they taking the "X" out of Xmas, anyway?) and Happy New Year.

'We Have Dentists'

US soccer fans win a rare award (from the Guardian.uk):

Swells Awardz 2005

The Best Crowd Heckle Ever Award goes to ...
American fans at the US v England friendly in Chicago. Not only did they sport T-shirts proclaiming "Tea is for pussies", "Beach Boys kick Beatles' ass", "Beckham is a Fairy", "FDR can't save you now", "Magna Carta this..." and "We own Man U", but - led by a drummer - they taunted David James for an entire half with:

"We Have Dentists!"
Boom boom boom-boom-boom
"We Have Dentists!"
Boom boom boom-boom-boom
"We Have Dentists!"
Boom boom boom-boom-boom
"We Have Dentists!"
Boom boom boom-boom-boom
"We Have Dentists!"
Boom boom boom-boom-boom.

Faux War on Christmas: The Final Act

From Attaturk:

Five to the Egg Noggin'

A Drop of Good News

Senate Blocks Alaska Refuge Drilling

WASHINGTON - The Senate blocked oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge Wednesday, rejecting a must-pass defense spending bill where supporters positioned the quarter-century-old environmental issue to garner broader support.

Drilling backers fell four votes short of getting the required 60 votes to avoid a threatened filibuster of the defense measure over the oil drilling issue. Senate leaders were expected to withdraw the legislation so it could be reworked without the refuge language. The vote was 56-44.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was among those who for procedural reasons cast a "no" vote, so that he could bring the drilling issue up for another vote.

The vote was a stinging defeat for Sen. Ted Stevens (news, bio, voting record), R-Alaska, who for years has waged an intense fight to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He had thought this time he would finally get his wish.

Cheney To Middle Class: Go Fuck Yourself

From Reuters:

Senate passes spending cuts after Cheney breaks tie

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Wednesday narrowly passed a bill to trim nearly $40 billion from federal spending over five years, including cuts to social welfare programs such as health care for the elderly and poor.

But the super-rich (like Cheney) keep their tax cuts.

The man is going to hell.

WWJDD?

What would Johnny Damon do? It's one of my favorite Red Sox t-shirts from the World Championship season.

Guess I'll have to retire it, because Damon has just become a MFY*.

Apparently, the answer to the question is, he'd go anywhere for money.

Damon jumps to Yankees
Deal with New York worth $52m

Into the trash heap my WWJDD t-shirt will go, along with "Get Foulked" and "Cowboy Up". Maybe I can bear to take them out some day far in the future. Right now this is painful.

Favorite Damon diatribe so far, from A Red Sox Fan in Pinstripe Territory:

F This/Where Have You Gone, Bill Lee?

None of these shithead macho jocks cares about anything except the money that's waved under their noses. David Ortiz aside, of course. What's the point in rooting for any of these people? What if Steinbrenner said he's changing the yankees logo to an Old English red "B"? Would yankee fans still root for the yankees? Why should I choose a side in a game where all the sides are the same?

*Mother Fucking Yankees

You Can't Fight the Philistines With a Spoon

Peter Daou on salon.com (via firedoglake [amusing side note, blogger's spellcheck wants me to replace "firedoglake" with "prodigally". Ha.])

The Dynamic of a Bush Scandal: How the Spying Story Will Unfold (and Fade)

7. A few reliable Dems, Conyers, Boxer, et al, take a stand on principle, giving momentary hope to the progressive grassroots/netroots community. The rest of the Dem leadership is temporarily outraged (adding to that hope), but is chronically incapable of maintaining the sense of high indignation and focus required to reach critical mass and create a wholesale shift in public opinion. For example, just as this mother of all scandals hits Washington, Democrats are still putting out press releases on Iraq, ANWR and a range of other topics, diluting the story and signaling that they have little intention of following through. This allows Bush to use his three favorite weapons: time, America's political apathy, and make-believe 'journalists' who yuck it up with him and ask fluff questions at his frat-boy pressers.

8. Reporters and media outlets obfuscate and equivocate, pretending to ask tough questions but essentially pushing the same narratives they've developed and perfected over the past five years, namely, some variation of "Bush firm, Dems soft." A range of Bush-protecting tactics are put into play, one being to ask ridiculously misleading questions such as "Should Bush have the right to protect Americans or should he cave in to Democratic political pressure?" All the while, the right assaults the "liberal" media for daring to tell anything resembling the truth.

9. Polls will emerge with 'proof' that half the public agrees that Bush should have the right to "protect Americans against terrorists." Again, the issue will be framed to mask the true nature of the malfeasance. The media will use these polls to create a self-fulfilling loop and convince the public that it isn't that bad after all. The president breaks the law. Life goes on.

10. The story starts blending into a long string of administration scandals, and through skillful use of scandal fatigue, Bush weathers the storm and moves on, further demoralizing his opponents and cementing the press narrative about his 'resolve' and toughness. Congressional hearings might revive the issue momentarily, and bloggers will hammer away at it, but the initial hype is all the Democrat leadership and the media can muster, and anyway, it's never as juicy the second time around...

Rinse and repeat.

Certainly that's how the recent glut of scandals has gone: the August 6, 2001 PDB, Guantanimo, Abu Graib, Scooter Libby, et al. Let's hope critical mass has been attained. And there's always Jack Abramoff, who the New York Pravda Times says today claims to be broke and is discussing a plea. (How broke can someone who stole millions be? Is he buying cat food for dinner? Doubt it.)

The Democrats cry out for a new leader. I had hopes for Barack Obama after the 2004 Democratic convention, but he is taking bland pleasantness to new heights. You can't fight the Philistines with a spoon. You need a sword. Obama is a plastic spoon at this point. We need someone who's really tough. Chimpeachment will come only at the point of the sword. Who will the sword be?

Fertilize the Tree of Liberty With a Little Bushit

Thomas Jefferson, November 13, 1787:

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural manure.

Root Bush out.

Conservatives for Chimpeachment

Conservative Scholars Argue Bush’s Wiretapping Is An Impeachable Offense

Conservative scholars Bruce Fein (constitutional scholar and former deputy attorney general in the Reagan Administration) and Norm Ornstein (American Enterprise Institute Scholar) argued yesterday on The Diane Rehm show that, should Bush remain defiant in defending his constitutionally-abusive wire-tapping of Americans (as he has indicated he will), Congress should consider impeaching him.

You know BushCo will continue to say all criticism is coming from Democrats, but how long will that hold up?

Oh, And Watch Out For the Queer Lawyers, Too

From Americablog:

Pentagon anti-terror investigators labeled gay law school groups a "credible threat" of terrorism

According to recent press reports, Pentagon officials have been spying on what they call "suspicious" meetings by civilian groups, including student groups opposed to the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual military personnel. The story, first reported by Lisa Myers and NBC News last week, noted that Pentagon investigators had records pertaining to April protests at the State University of New York at Albany and William Patterson College in New Jersey. A February protest at NYU was also listed, along with the law school's LGBT advocacy group OUTlaw, which was classified as "possibly violent" by the Pentagon. A UC-Santa Cruz "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" protest, which included a gay kiss-in, was labeled as a "credible threat" of terrorism.

Those gay kiss-ins are definitely hotbeds. Of something. Terror? Not so much.

The Vegans Are Coming, The Vegans Are Coming

Everybody to get from street!*

In today's New York Pravda/Times:

F.B.I. Watched Activist Groups, New Files Show

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 - Counterterrorism agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups active in causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and poverty relief, newly disclosed agency records show.

[]

One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis planned to conduct surveillance as part of a "Vegan Community Project." Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group's "semi-communistic ideology." A third indicates the bureau's interest in determining the location of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Well, I'm sure glad the Bush Administration is keeping us safe from the vegans, the Catholic Workers and the animal lovers. Al Qaida? Not so much.

*From The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966)

New York Times Pravda: Official House Organ of the Bush Adminstration

From today's Los Angeles Times (not to be confused with the Bush court stenographers, the New York Times):

Critics Question Timing of Surveillance Story
The New York Times, which knew about the secret wiretaps for more than a year, published because of a reporter's new book, sources say.

The New York Times first debated publishing a story about secret eavesdropping on Americans as early as last fall, before the 2004 presidential election.

But the newspaper held the story for more than a year and only revealed the secret wiretaps last Friday, when it became apparent a book by one of its reporters was about to break the news, according to journalists familiar with the paper's internal discussions.

So, the public wasn't entitled to know that one of the presidential candidates was violating the constitution's 4th Amendment prohibition on warrantless searches. During an election year.

Like I said yesterday, Fuck the [New York] Times. They're pathetic.

Liberal media, my ass. Journalism is dead. Long live the embedded corporate media.

Snoopgate = Chimpeachment

Jonathan Alter in Newsweek:

Bush’s Snoopgate
The president was so desperate to kill The New York Times’ eavesdropping story, he summoned the paper’s editor and publisher to the Oval Office. But it wasn’t just out of concern about national security.

[] Bush was desperate to keep the Times from running this important story—which the paper had already inexplicably held for a year—because he knew that it would reveal him as a law-breaker.

[]

This will all play out eventually in congressional committees and in the United States Supreme Court. If the Democrats regain control of Congress, there may even be articles of impeachment introduced. Similar abuse of power was part of the impeachment charge brought against Richard Nixon in 1974.

Not impeachment. Chimpeachment.

This Woman Should Run For Congress

Kristin Breitweiser, one of the 9/11 widows, has written a powerful deconstruction of why Bush doesn't need any more spy powers. He needs more intelligent analysis of the existing intelligence:

The King's Red Herring

President Bush should be stopped in his tracks with regard to his use of 9/11 scare tactics to circumvent constitutional laws that are meant to protect U.S. citizens. His justification for doing so – the inability to conduct surveillance on the 9/11 hijackers – is a red herring. History will bear out the truth – our intelligence agencies held a treasure trove of intelligence on the 9/11 hijackers, intelligence that was gathered through their initially unencumbered surveillance. President Bush should busy himself by investigating why that information was then stymied and not capitalized upon to stop the 9/11 attacks

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'World Is At Its Hottest Since Prehistory'

World is at its hottest since prehistory, say scientists

The world is now hotter than at any stage since prehistoric times, a top climatologist announced last week. His startling conclusion comes as Nasa reported that 2005 has been the hottest year ever recorded.

Dr Michael Coughlan, head of the National Climate Centre at the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology, said: "One probably has to go back into prehistoric times - and way back in them - to be seeing these sorts of temperatures."

[]

Last June, September and October were all logged as the warmest ever, world-wide. The past 10 years are all in the warmest 10 ever recorded, apart from 1996 whose place is taken by 1990.

This year Arctic sea ice dropped to its smallest ever extent, the Atlantic suffered a record hurricane season and an unprecedented drought reduced the flow of the Amazon to its lowest ever level. Canada and Australia had their hottest ever weather this year, while India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Algeria suffered heatwaves touching 50C.

Only an ideological fucking moron like George Bush could deny the reality of global warming.

Fuck the Times

Yesterday I thought about going out & picking up the Sunday New York Times, which I do on occasion for a day of culture immersion. Arts & Leisure, the magazine & the puzzle, Week In Review, etc.

And then I thought, fuck the Times. They withheld the story that (King) George Bush was violating the 4th Amendment during the 2004 election. While I was giving money to John Kerry and John Edwards, and arranging to fly to Florida to monitor a polling place so what happened in 2000 didn't happen in 2004, the New York Times decided to put their finger on the scale and withhold critical information. They may as well have stolen my political contributions out of my pocket.

So fuck the Times. They don't get any more of my money. Fuck them. Fuck Times Select. Fuck Judy Miller and Elisabeth Bumiller and all the other incompetent "journalists" living in the Bushco tank, breathing the fetid Bushco air and spewing filthy Bushco lies.

Charity Begins At Home

If you've been to the Boston Marathon in the last 25 years, you know who Dick and Rick Hoyt are. Rick Hoyt was born with cerebral palsy. They entered the Marathon in 1981 as a team, and Dick Hoyt ran pushing his son in a wheelchair. Honest to god, you get choked up every year watching them go by. It's an amazing thing to watch a father push his son's wheelchair for 26.2 miles. And he's back doing it again, at the age of 65, despite heart surgery in 2003.

They've hit a rough patch, and need a new van. I'm sending a check today. This is as about as good a cause as you can imagine.

Hoyts face a new challenge: Marathoning father and son need a van and a little bit of good luck

To contribute to the Hoyts’ van fund, send a tax-deductible check to the Hopkinton Athletic Association, P.O. Box 820, Hopkinton, MA 01748. Checks should be made out to the HAA, and specify the "Hoyts Fund" in the memo line of the check.

Bush Killing Polar Bears

Global warming is accelerating exponentially, thanks to the US, our production of greenhouse gases, and the Bush Administration's stubborn & insane refusal to recognize that global warming is real. Just ask a polar bear. Try to find one that hasn't....drowned.

From Britain's Sunday Times:

Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts

SCIENTISTS have for the first time found evidence that polar bears are drowning because climate change is melting the Arctic ice shelf.

The researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart.

Although polar bears are strong swimmers, they are adapted for swimming close to the shore. Their sea journeys leave them them vulnerable to exhaustion, hypothermia or being swamped by waves.

According to the new research, four bear carcases were found floating in one month in a single patch of sea off the north coast of Alaska, where average summer temperatures have increased by 2-3C degrees since 1950s.

'Bush Lied, Liberty Died'

George Bush went on the radio yesterday and admitted to violating his oath to uphold and preserve the constitution.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

President Acknowledges Approving Secretive Eavesdropping

President Bush said yesterday that he secretly ordered the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans with suspected ties to terrorists because it was "critical to saving American lives" and "consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution."

As usual, what Bush said was a bald-faced lie:

As President, I took an oath to defend the Constitution, and I have no greater responsibility than to protect our people, our freedom, and our way of life.

[]

In the weeks following the terrorist attacks on our nation, I authorized the National Security Agency, consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, to intercept the international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations. Before we intercept these communications, the government must have information that establishes a clear link to these terrorist networks.

Warrantless intercepts violate the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to figure this one out. Even cretins like Bob Barr, former Congressman from Georgia, can figure out that this is unconstitutional.

Bush has gone from Worst President Ever to President Most Likely to be Impeached.

Best blogtopia post title on this subject, from (the good) Roger Ailes:

Bush Lied, Liberty Died

He Knows What You've Been Reading

Agents' visit chills UMass Dartmouth senior

NEW BEDFORD -- A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book."

Two history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through the UMass Dartmouth library's interlibrary loan program.

The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.

The professors said the student was told by the agents that the book is on a "watch list," and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further.

Young Prophet

My brother reminded me of this Matt Damon soliquoy from Good Will Hunting:

(Matt Damon, as Will Hunting, being interviewed for a possible job with the National Security Agency - the spooks who conduct electronic eavesdropping for the U.S. Government)

Why shouldn't I work for the NSA? That's a tough one. But I'll take a shot. Say I’m working at the N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody can break. So I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I’m real happy with myself ‘cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never had a problem with get killed.

Now the politicians are sayin’ “Send in the marines to secure the area” ‘cause they don’t give a shit. It won’t be their kid over there, gettin’ shot. Just like it wasn’t them when their number got called, ‘cause they were pullin’ a tour in the National Guard. It’ll be some guy from Southie takin’ shrapnel in the ass. And he comes home to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, ‘cause he’ll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile my buddy from Southie realizes the only reason he was over there was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And of course the oil companies used the skirmish to scare up oil prices so they could turn a quick buck. A cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain’t helping my buddy at two dollars and fifty cents a gallon. And naturally they’re takin’ their sweet time bringing the oil back and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and play slalom with the icebergs and it ain’t too long ‘til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So my buddy’s out of work and can’t afford to drive, so he’s got to walk to the job interviews, which sucks ‘cause the shrapnel in his ass is giving him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he’s starvin’ ‘cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat the only blue plate special they’re servin’ is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State.

So what’d I think? I’m holding out for somethin’ better. I figure I’ll eliminate the middleman. Why not just shoot my buddy, take his job and give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? Christ, I could be elected president.

and do things like this:

Bush Authorized Domestic Spying

Have a Very Chewy Christmas

Can't beat Alvin and the Chipmunks, but funny nonetheless:

Chewbacca Sings!

Joke of the Day

Another over the email transom:

Robot bartender

A man enters a bar and orders a drink. The bar has a robot bartender.

The robot serves him a perfectly prepared cocktail, and then asks him, "What's your IQ?"

The man replies "150" and the robot proceeds to make conversation about global warming factors, quantum physics and spirituality, environmental interconnectedness, string theory, nano-technology, and sexual proclivities. The customer is very impressed and thinks, "This is really cool."

He decides to test the robot. He walks out of the bar, turns around, and comes back in for another drink. Again, the robot serves him the perfectly prepared drink and asks him, "What's your IQ?"

The man responds, "about a 100." Immediately the robot starts talking, but this time, about football, NASCAR, supermodels, favorite fast foods, guns, and women's breasts.

Really impressed, the man leaves the bar and decides to give the robot one more test. He heads out and returns, the robot serves him and asks, "What's your IQ?"

The man replies, "Er, 50, I think." And the robot says ... real ... slowly, "So ............. ya ....... gonna ....... vote ...... for ...... Bush ........ again?"

Good Riddance to the Mittwit

Have a nice life back there in your true home, Utah, after your Presidential run crashes and burns. Goodbye, our own living, breathing, press-conference holding Ken Doll. Even the Herald, our right-wing Murdoch rag, is sick of his schtick.

Yesterday's Boston Herald editorial:

Hey Mitt, it’s been swell!

OK, so Mitt Romney isn’t running for re-election. Well, we didn’t exactly stop the presses for that one.

The bad news is that Romney pretty much gave up the day job months ago — not a good thing. Legislative leaders have been working on that assumption too, for the most part treating the governor like the little man who isn’t there.

Now, in the wake of last night’s announcement, he really isn’t there — his eyes presumably set on bigger stuff. So it’s time for Romney to do the decent thing and turn over the day job to someone who (1) wants it and (2) is perfectly capable of doing it. That would be Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.

Being governor of Massachusetts isn’t beanbag. Memo to Mitt: Don’t let the screen door hit you in the backside.

Yesterday's Globe editorial:


Romney exits right

OUR NEW YEAR'S wish: a governor who wouldn't rather be elsewhere.

By thumbing his nose at Massachusetts after less than three-quarters of one term as its chief executive, Mitt Romney, yesterday surrendered his clout and squandered his legitimacy. If, as it appears, his heart and mind are no longer in Massachusetts, he should resign.

Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey is inexperienced. But the state would be far better off in the hands of someone focused on state problems, rather than someone touring the country ridiculing the people he was elected to serve. Romney has joked in several states that, as a Republican here, he feels like ''a cattle rancher at a vegetarian convention."

Today's Globe:

Facing hard realities, Romney accrued modest list of successes

Less than three years into the CEO-style governorship of Mitt Romney the broad reform agenda he promised in the early days has been reduced by the political reality of Beacon Hill to a more modest series of legislative accomplishments.

Horse-trading and patronage, long the currency of the State House, have been anathema to Romney. That reluctance to deal, combined with his uncompromising nature, has meant that many Romney proposals -- even bottom-line, money-saving moves -- were ignored, killed, or gutted by the Democrats who run the Legislature. Close courthouses? Not in our districts. Merge the Highway Department and Turnpike Authority? Forget it.

Even on reinstating the death penalty, a hot-button issue on which polls have indicated that Romney had popular support, the governor lost a vote in the House by nearly 2 to 1. Eight years earlier, a capital punishment bill failed on a tie vote.