Bush Contemplates Rebirth of Dictatorship for Iraq

This may be a little tinfoil-hattish, but I'll believe almost anything about Bush and his evil little neocons these days.

The Progressive

There was a big clue planted at the bottom of the very long lead article in The New York Times of August 17.

The last three paragraphs of this story revealed that "senior administration officials...are considering alternatives other than democracy," according to a military expert who was just briefed at the White House.

Hmmm, "alternatives other than democracy."

My, what can those be?

Monarchy? Dictatorship?

The Bush Administration may be looking for an Iraqi Stroessner, or another, more reliable Saddam.

That may have been what Cheney and Rumsfeld had in mind all along. From the very beginning, they wanted to install in power Ahmad Chalabi and his groups of exiles roosting in the Iraqi National Congress, writes George Packer in his book The Assassin's Gate. When the situation in Iraq began to deteriorate, Cheney blamed those in the Administration who refused to go along with this plan.

"In the fall of 2003, Dick Cheney approached his colleague Colin Powell, stuck a finger in his chest, and said, 'If you hadn't opposed the INC and Chalabi, we wouldn't be in this mess,' " Packer reports.

Maybe Chalabi is waiting in the wings still - or some other Saddam wannabe.

Bush appears to be taking applications.

Gee, Georgie, you could have just left Saddam alone and saved us a Hell of a lot of trouble, death, destruction, and expense, let alone possibly irreparable damage to the United States' image, reputation, and moral standing in the world. Maybe even put real effort into fighting terrorists around the world instead of into imperialist neocon pipe-dreams. You evil, dumb, scaredy-cat, punk little motherfucker.

I wonder if he'll do an Emily Litella impression: "Never mind!"

November. Subpœna power. Impeachment. Fuck jail. Get a rope.

House Repuglicans Support Pentagon Stealing From Vets' Widows

NYTimes

A 1972 law created the Survivor Benefits Plan, a Department of Defense retirement income fund similar to a life insurance policy. The plan, in turn, pays benefits calculated according to a dead service member's rank and length of service.

In addition, widows of veterans who died of service-related causes receive monthly cash stipends from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Known as the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation stipend, it is currently $1,033 plus $257 for each child.

But under the law, which placed restrictions on the plan that it created, the payment to widows enrolled in the Survivor Benefits Plan is reduced, dollar for dollar, by the amount of the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation stipend.

For example, a widow who would be entitled to $1,000 from the Survivor Benefits Plan and the $1,033 Dependency and Indemnity stipend receives $1,033, not $2,033.

But widows and their supporters say that the Pentagon's opposition to a change in the law really stems from its cost, especially at a time of rising expenses for the war in Iraq.

Juan del Castillo, a retired Coast Guard commander who has been paying into the plan since 1972, accused the Pentagon of "stealing money from widows."

"They are financing their operation from money stolen from military widows," Mr. Castillo said. "They have been doing that since 1972."

This is very similar to the law that deducts disability payments from retired military personnel's pensions. Despicable cheap shit.

In other, unrelated news: tax cuts for the rich continue apace, as do subsidies for the poor little oil and pharmaceutical companies as well as the rising cost of a failed criminal occupation in Iraq. Screw widows and orphans.

On JonBenet

Aside from every news channel wasting all their time* on a ten year old murder case, listen to me. I don't give a damn who you are, you'd gladly confess to any crime in the U.S. (even if it came with a life sentence), than spend an hour in a Thai prison. Got it? Now can we get back to real news.

[*Link added after the fact.]

Neo-Goebbels

Pic stolen from Station Charon.
Clicken Sie das bild fur gross machen.

Update:

And speaking of the visual arts, Bob Geiger has the Saturday Cartoons up.

Daily Dave

I have to stop off at Mejias Headquarters on Monday afternoon after work to pick up some campaign materials. While I was there, I figured I'd drop off a list of questions for the candidate to answer about his position on subjects concerning the state of the nation, his plans once he gets to Washington, and on subjects of specific interest to NY-03. I'll also try to set up a live chat here as Election Day gets closer. If any of you have questions, feel free to leave them in comments or email them to me.

Remember:

Help out via Dave for America

Donate via ActBlue

Do you live in NY-03?

Shut up

Please, you gullible Jesus freaks, stop seeing the Virgin Mary in every inanimate object you find. Listen, during the late Sixties and Seventies, I did more acid, mescaline, and other drugs than I can remember, and I never saw the shit you people do. And just an aside, the last sign you people found looked more like Mary's private parts than the Virgin Mother herself.

Let me 'splain something. Every coincidence is not a sign from God or some shit. You wonder how this country got so fucked up? These are the same people who swallowed the Rethug bullshit hook, line, and sinker. I tell ya what. You guys can have a nut looking for your signs and omens but stay out of government.

Update:

Lurch has more Christian fun. Jesus weeps.

Katrina Plus One Year

The Rude Pundit just got back from NOLA. Scroll 'n read 'n look at photos.

Someone give George Bush a God damn fucking civics lesson

By John in D.C. at Americablog, in toto 'cause I like it.

[I've had it with this idiot.

We've got the president of the fucking United States of America lecturing a US court of law that it's supposed to reach decisions NOT based on the rule of law, but on "the nature of the world we live in."

You God damn stupid fuck.

You have the nerve to claim Osama and the terrorists hate our democracy? They got nothing on you and your fellow "Republicans." Do you people even believe in freedom? Do you believe in the Bill of Rights? Do you believe in our Constitution? Do you fucking believe in anything other than your absolute power to do whatever the fuck you want like some two-bit communist dictator rather than the president of the greatest country on earth?

We live in a democracy, you incompetent ass - one that is quickly eroding because half the people of this country elected a moron to the presidency (twice) and now are so embarrassed by their vote that they refuse to stand up and demand an end to your idiotic reign of terror.

These are judges you're demeaning. American jurists. The people in charge of our laws. And you speak of them like they're nothing more than crap. You and your party have contempt for our entire system of jurisprudence, the entire system of checks and balances our democracy is based on, because you can't get your way 100% of the time. Well boo-fucking-hoo. We are a country of laws, you stupid stupid man.

The world in which we live is one in which the town drunk thinks he's the king of the fucking world.

Osama bin Laden is a danger to be sure. But the greatest threat to our democracy is from George Bush and his genuflecting Republicans.]

Couldn'ta said it better myself, at least not so politely.

Ultimate electoral power really does belong to us

Geov Parrish on the real lesson of the Connecticut voter uprising that led to Ned lamont's victory:

That is why Lamont's victory, more than most underfunded Congressional challenges, scares the hell out of the permaclass running our nation's capitol. That small, incestuous circle jerk of legislators, lobbyists, think tanks, and corporate donors knows it can only be taken down in one way: by the will of the voters. And while come November incumbents of both parties will continue to have every advantage, we now know, each of us, in every state and Congressional district, that our local D.C.-business-as-usual hack can be beaten. If it doesn't happen this November (and, generally, it won't), there's plenty of time for 2008.

That's why all the hysteria, and hot air, from Beltway people who know better. It's not that they don't recognize that voters, properly motivated, can bring down this whole corrupt charade of corporate democracy; it's that they don't want you to recognize it. Because if you, which is to say we, understand that the ultimate electoral power really does belong to us, we're capable of ending a lot more than just the war in Iraq.

Let's do as much as we can this November and finish the job in '08.

Quote of the Day

Dr. Attaturk (Podiatrist to the Stars):

Does anyone doubt that after going literally 2 years without these sort of "high alert" warnings, suddenly ten weeks before the election they start off again.

Anybody want to predict when between mid-October and November 7, Osama will be suddenly showing up with his latest finger waving diatribe?

Abstinance works ...

Yeah right. Can we all agree, now, that abstinence-only sex ed DOES NOT WORK? Pam:

Sex Ed Changes At School With 65 Pregnant Teens. The failure of abstinence-only programs rears its ugly head again for an Ohio school board. "Education" like this can't be spun as a success when 13% of one high school's female students were knocked up last year.

...

Daily Dave

About Peter King's record on organized labor*:

Peter King's lifetime rating from the AFL-CIO stand at 35% - meaning that he votes against working families 65% of the time. In 2005, his rating plunged to a mere 20%, voting against the interests of working people 80% of the time. King's anti-labor stances include voting repeatedly against raising the minimum wage and supporting the Bush plan to privatize Social Security. He even supported the Labor Department giving a sweetheart deal to Wal-Mart, where Wal-Mart would receive an unprecedented 15 days notice before the Department would conduct any on-site investigations.

I know what it's like to work hard and pay taxes. I know what unions have done for the working people in this country, but guys like Peter King don't give a shit. He'll vote for giving tax breaks to Exxon/Mobil and Paris Hilton, but heaven forbid he helps out the folks who really need it.

It's time to get the Bush cronies out of Congress. King (R-Bigot**) is the last one on Long Island. Dave Mejias will represent Nassau County in the House and put an end to the rubber stamp Congress the Chimp has enjoyed.

I say it every day:

If you live on Long Island, volunteer.

If not, donate at ActBlue.

Vote Dem in November across the board.

*From the Aug. 16 Mejias campaign press release.
**Link thanks to PKW.
View map of NY-03 by clicking here.

Don't piss me off ...

To the wingnut troll [no link to his blog but you can find it through AOB's. I did.] who's decided to set up shop in the comments section of AOB's blog. You mess with AOB, you're gonna piss Gord and me off ... well you already have. Don't pick fights you have no chance of winning.

"Don't ask me to be consistent"

Sirota

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) is vice-chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee - the committee whose official mission is "to elect more Democrats to the United States Senate." Yet, Pryor says he's supporting GOP-endorsed candidate Joe Lieberman (CT) against Democratic nominee Ned Lamont. He's supporting Lieberman at the very same time he acknowledges that Lieberman's continued parroting of RNC talking points is unacceptable. Pryor's public rationale? "Don't ask me to be consistent," he told a group in Arkansas. Right, I forgot - no one should ask Democratic U.S. Senators to be consistent...what were we thinking?

...and some people still wonder why the Democratic Party remains susceptible to GOP charges of flip-flopping and/or standing for nothing.

With this kind of "friend", who needs enemies? Get that sonofabitch outta there. Put someone in his place who will support Democrats, for fuck's sake. Supporting the official Repuglican candidate is absolutely unacceptable.

All the vicious dummies ain't in the administration...

Sometimes I run across stuff that is so bizarre that I feel compelled to share.

LATimes

Westminster woman sues J.C. Penney after she and the dummy clash over a blouse.

"Attack of the Mannequins" might sound like a horror film title, but, for some shoppers, it could also be a documentary.

Diana Newton, 51, of Westminster sued the J.C. Penney Co. last month after she was allegedly thwacked on the head by a department store dummy.

"There are a slew of lawsuits like this," said mannequin manufacturer Barry Rosenberg, who joked that stores should run background checks on dummies before letting them mingle with shoppers.

Most of the cases involved mannequins toppling over onto customers, but an Indiana woman claimed she caught herpes from the lips of a CPR training dummy. She dropped her lawsuit against the American Red Cross in 2000 after further tests revealed that she didn't have the disease, according to news reports.

There's more. Go read.

Rule of Law: "No King George."

Here's a trifecta, or menage a trois if you prefer, you rascals, on the ruling on the criminal Bush's NSA surveillance.

The Nation

In ruling on Thursday that the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program is unconstitutional and must be halted, U.S. district Judge Anna Diggs Taylor slammed the White House on several critical fronts.

Indeed. Go read.

She cites not only Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, but Clinton v. Jones, as well as several references to "that goddam piece of paper". And then:

She noted:

The Government appears to argue here that, pursuant to the penumbra of Constitutional language in Article II, and particularly because the President is designated Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, he has been granted the inherent power to violate not only the laws of the Congress but the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, itself.

We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all "inherent powers" must derive from that Constitution.

Once again, a court has told Bush that he is not all-powerful. He cannot create military tribunals on his own. He cannot detain American citizens as enemy combatants without affording them some elements of due process. Taylor's decision will probably be appealed by the Bush administration, and the case will wind its way toward the Supreme Court. But this decision reaffirms--and puts into practice--the bedrock principle that a president's power does not trump the workings of a republican government, even when it comes to war. Weeks before he took office in 2001, Bush quipped, "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." Democracy, though, is not easy. And a commander in chief has to abide by the rules, as various courts have now ruled. The administration's King George approach to governance has taken another blow. But it's royally unlikely this president is going to accept the decision and give up his claim to the throne.

From the NYTimes:

The ruling eviscerated the absurd notion on which the administration's arguments have been based: that Congress authorized Mr. Bush to do whatever he thinks is necessary when it authorized the invasion of Afghanistan.

No sooner had this ruling been issued than Mr. Bush's loyalists in Congress, who have been searching for ways to give legal cover to an illegal spying program, began calling for new laws to overcome Judge Taylor's objections. Republicans quickly pointed out that Judge Taylor was appointed by President Jimmy Carter and that some of the many precedents she cited were written by liberal judges. These efforts to undermine Judge Taylor's arguments will undoubtedly continue while the White House appeals the decision, and the outcome in the conservative Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is uncertain.

But for now, with a careful, thoroughly grounded opinion, one judge in Michigan has done what 535 members of Congress have so abysmally failed to do. She has reasserted the rule of law over a lawless administration and shown why issues of this kind belong within the constitutional process created more than two centuries ago to handle them.

Thirdly, here's the 44-page actual Court Decision. There may be a name or two in the list of plaintiffs that will surprise you.

I have, er, spoken, yeah, that's the word, many times to judges over the years, but I've never said this before: Ya done good, Judge Taylor. Thank you.

I will also thank in advance the judge who upholds this decision on appeal and hope I don't have to take it back. Whoever you are, do the right thing.

Bush may have as many as thirty counts against him of violating Federal laws. We only need a conviction on one.

Rubble Rousers

A little more from the Daily Show on Israel and Lebanon. Apparently, Hezbollah's reconstruction efforts are merely the prelude to bigger and better things. Is not to miss! From One Good Move.

Happy 6-0, Big Dog

Raw Story

Bill Clinton turns 60 on Saturday, but the celebration will only reach its climax with the Stones' performance on October 29 in Manhattan's Beacon Theatre - three days after Senator Hillary Clinton's 59th birthday.

Heh. I'm sure she's thrilled that got in there!

In many ways, it's typical of how the US baby boom generation is entering retirement - rockin', rollin', and still on the move without a thought of sitting in a rockin' chair. US President George W Bush turned 60 in July with less fanfare.

That's because he's an asshole.

But for Clinton, turning 60 is harder than it looks.

"I hate it, but it's true," Clinton said at the world AIDS conference in Toronto earlier this week. "For most of my workinglife, I was the youngest person doing what I was doing. Then one day I woke up and I was the oldest person in every room."

He's not alone. Welcome to the club, Bill. Happy Birthday.

Bush went to bed 59 and woke up 60. I bet Clinton'll go to bed 60. He's a much better example for us, in every way.

Typo Truth

Hepkitty's Litter Box caught this great typo, or perhaps not a typo. Read the fifth paragraph. The WH press secretary's name is sorta misspelled. Ha!

Party? What party?

It's time to write some letters asking a few Dem senators why they've turned their backs on their party and voters by continuing to support Holy Joe Lieberman. He's proven he's no Democrat. Remind them they can go the way of Lieberman in their next primary if they don't get on board. The days of Dems voting 'Republican-Lite' are over. If you want to vote for Repukes and DINOs, join the GOP. Contact info at the link.