Quote of the Day

Montag:

No blowjobs for this Monica, she was there to give Justice a good fucking.

More surge ...

What, 4 months into the 'surge' and we need more troops? No-fucking-shit. Me, in January:

...

If several hundred thousand were required to keep Iraq from decending into the mess we're in now, it will take far more than that to dig us out from it now. 20,000 troops are a drop in the bucket; the best we can hope for are short-term successes in certain neighborhoods, but one Friedman Unit from now, we'll all be asking what this 'surge' actually accomplished.

It will accomplish a few things. It will extend tours for troops already on extended tours. It will draw more National Guard and Reserve units into the war, thus degrading our response time to emergencies over here that much more. It will probably break our Army and Marine Corps. It will hinder or destroy our military's ability to respond to another crisis somewhere else in the world. It will affect recruiting efforts, already has. And it will further marginalize us in the international community.

...

So today, the 'commanders on the ground' say they need more.

The commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq said Friday that he did not have enough troops to deal with the escalating violence in Iraq's Diyala province, an unusually frank assertion for a top officer and a sign that American military officials might be starting to offer more candid and blunt assessments of the war.

Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. "Randy" Mixon also said that the Iraqi government had failed to help the situation in the restive province and that it has been a hindrance at times by failing to support local army and police forces. Diyala borders Baghdad on the east, and violence in the province has grown as U.S. troop levels have been bolstered in the capital.

...

May I ask the good general, are ya gonna pull 'em out your ass? We certainly don't have the Guard troops to supplement, as we've seen in Kansas last week. Know what, General? There are no more. Yeah, you can con a few more into enlisting, somebody's always got it bad enough to think a tour or two in Iraq is a step up, or an escape from the law, but without a draft, we don't have the manpower anymore.

Iraq has become a meatgrinder, chopping up our kids' bodies and minds, and all they can do is ask for more young flesh to be shoveled into it. It's time to defund this war, even if our guys have to run for it like they did in Vietnam, they'd be better off than being sentenced to that war for an indeterminate amount of time, for an indeterminate number of deployments. No more 'wait and see'. No more Friedman Units. Send the C-5s and -141s and bring our kids home now, every last one of 'em.

The Counterfeit President

Diatribune goes off on Bush big time. Today's 'must read'.

Bush is American only by courtesy of birth. He feels no debt of honor or loyalty to his natal country, or to the people who depend on the government to do the jobs it was created for. Our forests, the environment that literally keeps us healthy and alive, he labels "resources to give away to corporations" and forgets about it; it’s a big world, and there’s always more – somewhere. For him, at least. He has no problem with stealing elections by any means necessary, as long as he and those he supports win. Besides, as long as "his own kind" control the laws, the courts and the information, no one can prove anything. The deaths of our young men and women are simply what they’re for to him. That’s what all peons are for: if a few thousand, or a few hundred thousand or however many die in securing MORE – more oil, more control, more for the holy "bottom line" for him and his, then they have fulfilled their purpose, and it’s an equitable trade. His oath to defend the Constitution is simply a silly ritual that he had to go through and nothing more. This is clearly shown in this quote of Bush from a staffer: "Quit throwing the Constitution in my face! It’s just a Goddamned piece of paper!" That it is also the core document that defines America and Americans, that it is the single most magnificent piece of ethical and philosophical poetry in legislation since Hammurabi also means nothing to him. It is just an obstruction that keeps getting in the way by making people think they actually have rights and can make demands on him based on them. If he could, he would simply burn it and forget about it. Anyway, he’s gotten around almost all of it now. For all the force it has, it may as well have been burned.

The writer's just gettin' warmed up! He better watch his blood pressure.

OxyContin: The Giuliani Connection

A twofer at Truthout:

Rudolph Giuliani and his consulting company, Giuliani Partners, have served as key advisors for the last five years to the pharmaceutical company that pled guilty today to charges it misled doctors and patients about the addiction risks of the powerful narcotic painkiller OxyContin.

Federal officials say the company, Purdue Frederick, helped to trigger a nationwide epidemic of addiction to the time-release painkiller by failing to give early warnings that it could be abused.

Prosecutors say "in the process scores died."

Drug Enforcement Administration officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com Giuliani personally met with the head of the DEA when the DEA's drug diversion office began a criminal investigation into the company.

According to the book "Painkiller," by New York Times reporter Barry Meier, both Giuliani and his then-partner Bernard Kerik "were in direct contact with Asa Hutchinson, the administrator of DEA."

As in almost everything involving corporate/Repuglicant doings, profit trumps morality and human life.

JulieAnnie? President? Fat fuckin' chance!

Supplemental cost-plus funding

William Rivers Pitt

Another hearing took place on Capitol Hill yesterday that was truly chilling to observe. Representative John Murtha's (D-Pennsylvania) Subcommittee on Appropriations heard testimony from two investigators whose work has been focused on the phenomenon of private military contractors in Iraq. The first to give testimony was Jeremy Scahill, author of "Blackwater: Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army." The second witness was Robert Greenwald, a documentary filmmaker who recently released a new film titled "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers."

Even more disturbing was the testimony offered by Greenwald. Some excerpts:

...

I also spoke with Shane Ratliff, a truck driver from Ruby, South Carolina. He saw Halliburton advertising a job for truck drivers in Iraq and he signed up. When Shane started telling me that empty trucks were being driven across dangerous stretches of desert, I assumed he was mistaken. Why would they do that? Then he explained that Halliburton got paid for the number of trips they took, regardless of whether they were carrying anything. These unnecessary trips where putting the lives of truckers at risk, exposing drivers and co-workers to attack. This was the result of cost-plus, no-bid contracts.

Another young Halliburton worker named James Logsdon told me about the burn pits. Burn pits are large dumps near military stations where they would burn equipment, trucks, trash, etc. If they ordered the wrong item, they'd throw it in the burn pit. If a tire blew on a piece of equipment, they'd throw the whole thing into the burn pit. The burn pits had so much equipment they even gave them a nickname: "Home Depot."

The trucker said he would get us some photos. And I naively asked, how big are they, the size of a backyard swimming pool? He laughed and referred to one that he had seen that was 15 football fields large and burned around the clock! It infuriated him to have to burn stuff rather then give it to the Iraqis or to the military. Yet Halliburton was being rewarded each time they billed the government for a new truck or new piece of equipment. With a cost-plus contract, the contractors receive a percentage of the money they spend. As Shane told me, "It's a legal way of stealing from the government or the taxpayers' money." These costs eat up the money that could be used for other supplies.

Dina Rasor, author of the recently released book "Betraying Our Troops: The Destructive Results of Privatizing War," offered further insight into the private contractor phenomenon in a Huffington Post story on Wednesday. "There is also evidence that these contractor billings are sucking up the supplemental money and making other logistical areas suffer," wrote Rasor. "The supplemental money is flexible so that the Army can use it where they need it, but there is evidence that the contractor over-billings are taking away much needed money for replacing basic fighting equipment such as night vision goggles, workable radios and armored vehicles. The most common email that I get from Iraq makes the point that while troops can get luxury items at the large bases, such as soft-serve ice cream and plasma televisions, they can't get enough equipment needed to save their lives when they leave the cushy bases and go out into hostile areas. There is real resentment among the troops that KBR makes life very nice for the military brass and others at the base, but will not go out of the gate, as required, to make sure that they have the basics that they need."

Beyond this is one central point hammered home by Scahill and Greenwald: How can we justify the usage of private armies that profit from this war, and thus have a financial interest in continuing and expanding this war? Is this not a recipe for endless conflict and bottomless profiteering?

Now we know why Bush is holding out for his supplemental war funding 'blank check' so vehemently. Once again, he's hiding behind the troops as an excuse to profit Halliburton.

Bush and his gang need to be under the jail.

As the whore turns ...

It's Saturday and the next chapter of my novel The Fourth Estate is up at The Practical Press.

Also, stop in to congratulate the winners of The Practical Press Awards and thank you for all your votes (we took runner-up in two categories).

I could do this ...

But then I'd want to stay the night after the show.

Do as I say, not as I do...

CBS shitcans Batiste

Think Progress

CBS Fires Batiste For Anti-Bush Advocacy, Hires Bush Aide To Engage In Pro-Bush Advocacy

In a recent VoteVets ad, Gen. John Batiste says, "I left the Army in protest in order to speak out." Now, CBS has punished him for speaking out. Last night, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann reported, "General John Batiste loses his CBS job after appearing in an advertisement critical of the president."

See the ad here.

CBS News spokeswoman Sandy Genelius spoke to ThinkProgress this morning and confirmed that Batiste's consulting contract has been canceled due to his participation in the VoteVets ad. Genelius said Batiste "inadvertently violated our standards" and therefore "we and the General mutually agreed to end his consultants' arrangement with CBS News."

While CBS claims it will not tolerate consultants engaging in outside advocacy, it apparently has no problem paying a former White House communications director to engage in the Bush administration's advocacy on air. While being billed as CBS News' "political consultant," Nicolle Wallace has propagated talking points advanced by her old colleagues in the White House communications office. [...]

It's apparently only advocacy when you're opposing Bush. Americans United notes that it took two weeks for CBS to fire Don Imus for racial slurs, but two days to fire Batiste for speaking up on Iraq.

General Batiste appears to be a fine man, who resigned from the Army in order to speak out. He's not a flaming lefty, even though it might seem so to CBS. He told the truth about Bush putting us in peril with his criminal war and occupation, and the truth has a decidedly liberal bias. He did sorta call Bush a liar, and rightly so, but his main point was to exhort Congress to "act now to protect our fighting men and women".

Apparently, you can't speak out while in the uniform of CBS either. I guess the exercise of free speech in the suggestion of "protecting our fighting men and women" while drawing attention to Bush's failed strategery is not corporate policy.

Or did Turdblossom have a casual little chat with Chairman Redstone about SEC and IRS audits and 'suggest' Batiste's replacement?

Scarcer than usual

Out of town (Cologne) on business until the 20th. Should have a connection in the hotel, but not certain how good. I will try to get a few posts off, but probably not before Thursday. Have fun all.

R.

In Iowa, they're finding out ...

What we already knew in NY. The great TRex:

...

Unless Emperor Rudy can count on running into you on the polo pitch or at some swank $5,000-a-plate funder, you're just dirt underfoot, another neck to step on as he makes his grasping, elitist way from imposing a police state in New York City to trying to impose one on the whole country.

No wonder he's the front runner for the GOP nomination. He's the veritable embodiment of Republican Values. Place the priorities of millionaires and mega-corporations first, fill all available jobs with your cronies, no matter how corrupt and incompetent they are, and display a breathtaking indifference to real American values like liberty, freedom, and equal justice under the law. Oh, and make a lot of noise about "family values" while leading a private life that would make Caligula look like a Brownie Scout.

...

Go to Harlem, go to East New York, and go to the subway steam grates on Manhattan's sidewalks and ask those folks how it was under Rudy's administration. Ask the cops what the term 'Giuliani Time' means. Better yet, and less expensive (if you don't live within the 5 Boroughs), watch this:

Pet food update

More great cartoons and links at Sumo's place.

Get. The. Fuck. Out.

Not only do the American people (70% of us anyway) want us out of Iraq, so do the fucking Iraqis. Let's go.

Who plotted what at Fort Dix?

CJRDaily

It's hard for the press not to run with stories of possible domestic terrorism, and for good reason -- it's serious and scary business. That said, not all plots are created equal, and lumping them all together into one grab bag of thwarted domestic terrorism cases is something reporters should avoid, especially given some of the absurd plots that have been uncovered over the last couple years. This is not to say that all leads shouldn't be investigated -- they should -- or that anyone discovered in any stage of planning an attack shouldn't be scooped up -- they should-- but we've seen a couple of cases in the last few years be blown way out of proportion, and that makes us wonder what the Fort Dix story will become.

The Bush administration's Justice Department has a vested interest in portraying every "plot" it busts as the next 9/11, regardless of how embryonic or feeble. It serves as a distraction from the administration's failures in Iraq and elsewhere, it perpetuates the state of fear that has served this White House well in recent years, and it justifies the massive Homeland Security bureaucracy. Journalists, meanwhile, are at a decided disadvantage when trying to determine the seriousness -- or lack thereof -- of the threat, because the government holds all the cards. That's why a healthy dose of skepticism -- given this administration's track record with truth -- is crucial to the press's handling of stories like Fort Dix. These would-be terrorists in New Jersey should be taken seriously, at least until we have reason to believe they shouldn't. We're only a couple of days into this story, but it's never too early to watch for the hype, and watch for how the press either runs with it, or turns a skeptical eye.

Good advice. Some FBI 'informants' turn out to be 'instigators' who set these guys up. Look, if someone offers you explosives, guns, and bus fare to go something bad, be a little skeptical.

I've got a feeling that none of the arrested groups of 'plotters' could ever have pulled any of this shit off anyway. It's probably good that they're off the street for a while, but federal law enforcement could probably do better if it expended more effort to go after some of the people who are plotting things they can pull off and aren't stupid about it, instead of going for flashy 'Terrorist Plot Foiled!' headlines to make it look like they're really helping.

The buck stops elsewhere

Go read The Old Ay-rab.

President Bush still has to learn "the buck stops here" when it comes to presidential decisions.

The "decider" and commander-in-chief seems to be trying to pass the buck, particularly if the war in Iraq implodes and he has to bring troops home from his disastrous invasion of Iraq.

The president is counting on Gen. David Petraeus - the top military commander in Iraq - and Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki to take the fall if his troop "surge" fails.

Bush is a long way from that mirage even with an expected Pentagon buildup of U.S. troops to 160,000 by midsummer.

But White House spokesman Tony Snow rejected any suggestion that Petraeus' comments pointed to September as a deadline. The president was not accepting any troop withdrawal date, Snow insisted.

More ominous is a report Wednesday by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius that an unnamed Saudi source said Bush told the Saudis that he will not withdraw from Iraq during his presidency.

If true, that's more in line with speculation that Bush wants to run out the clock and pass the war on to his successor at the White House.

However, it's not far-fetched to believe that Republicans will wake up and see their reelection chances flame out if Bush continues the war until 2008.

Soon after the war started and all the false rationales justifying the invasion were falling like 10 pins, Ari Fleischer - Bush's first press secretary - stepped up to the podium in the White House pressroom and picked the battleground, declaring: "Iraq is the central front in the war on terrorism." And al-Qaida took him at his word.

The mantra for Bush's new strategy in the war is called "the way forward." But if Americans have any say, it should be "the way out."

Unfortunately, our 'say' may have to wait until 11/07 unless Congress can pound some sense into the Chimp or throw his ass out.

Anyway, not a bad summation by that dear old broad. Her phone number is at the bottom of the article. I wonder if she'd like to go out...

Powell's Chief of Staff Proposes Impeachment

AfterDowningStreet

On Thursday, May 10, 2007, Lawrence Wilkerson, speaking on National Public Radio, proposed impeaching President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Here's the audio. (Click 'listen', upper left - G)

Wilkerson said in early comments on the show: "This administration doesn't know how to effect accountability in my opinion." But he did not raise the possibility of impeachment until after a member of the audience had phoned in.

The first caller who was put on the air demanded an investigation of the lies that launched the war, and asked for accountability "all the way up." In response to Adelman's claims that history would hold people accountable, the caller said "I would love to have a job where, worst case scenario, my historical record is flawed."

That hit home for me. As a motorcycle mechanic, I have held hundreds of people's lives in my hands. I've had customers die through their own actions or those of others, but never because I did something wrong or left something undone, thank you Lord. 'Accountability' had nothing to do with it, really. It's a moral imperative not to put folks in more danger than they're already in out there among the blind, deaf, and dumb cage drivers. And speaking of 'historical records', I sent something to my septic tank this morning that will have a better 'legacy' than Bush and Cheney put together.

After an interruption, Wilkerson continued: "The language in that article, the language in those two or three lines about impeachment is nice and precise – it's high crimes and misdemeanors. You compare Bill Clinton's peccadilloes for which he was impeached to George Bush's high crimes and misdemeanors or Dick Cheney's high crimes and misdemeanors, and I think they pale in significance."

Ashbrook asked for some examples of such high crimes and misdemeanors, and Wilkerson replied: "I think that the caller was right. I think we went into this war for specious reasons. I think we went into this war not too much unlike the way we went into the Spanish American War with the Hearst press essentially goading the American people and the leadership into war. That was a different time in a different culture, in a different America. We're in a very different place today and I think we essentially got goaded into the war through some of the same means."

Same means, yes, but this time it was for oil and hegemony instead of selling newspapers. Another difference is that, however wrong it may have been, The Spanish-American War lasted only 113 days and we won, not X amount of years of loss of blood and treasure and Bush lost.

Impeach Cheney, then Bush. First the organ grinder, then the monkey.

Chuck E. Cheese Legislation

Welcome to Pottersville

Years ago when the kids were small we'd take them to Chuck E. Cheese in Natick, MA. It was there that I learned an invaluable tip on parenting.

My wife would dole out two or three dollars in tokens to each of the three kids and they'd invariably pester us for more every ten or fifteen minutes. So I asked her why she didn't give them more tokens at a time and she said, "So they'll keep checking in."

Isn't this basically what Congress has been reduced to doing with George W. Bush with the war funding bill? We're giving George his hundred billion in video game tokens for that kewl Iraq War arcade game ("Oil Wars", I think it's called) to which he's been addicted for the last four plus years on the condition that he not get into any more mischief. In other words, from here on in, he has to earn his war. There was even a House resolution briefly kicked around that Bush gets his mad money like a monthly stipend in which he had to show significant benchmarks, which is even more perfect for my analogy.

Overall, what Congress is going through with George Bush is getting to be exactly what Mrs. JP is currently going through with her parents, what so many middle-aged people go through when their parents get too incompetent to care for themselves or fall ill- the once-subordinate child, by necessity, becomes the parent.

Our kids never complained about having tokens doled out to them in dribs and drabs and my in-laws aren't complaining about being relieved of the burdens of home maintenance by their only child.

But Bush is complaining about being held to non-existent "rigid and artificial deadline(s) for American troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq". You know, like the one that said we'd be out of Iraq six to eight weeks, tops, after the 2003 invasion. Because Bush knows how incompetent his war's being run. He knows that the Iraqi parliament barely surpasses his own Congress in terms of skepticism and distrust.

Because he knows that benchmarks, even suggestions of them, will automatically set up for failure not the troops but him.

He's already failed and he knows it. He just can't and won't admit it. He'll try and keep his War Crimes going until a (hopefully) sane President pulls the plug on the Iraq clusterfuck and then blame him/her/?. That's his M.O.

Here's a great thought:

Any dog breeder will tell you that when two dogs copulate, the female determines the length of the time of procreation. The male's penis is, literally, caught by the female's vagina and he is not going to get out until she's damned good and ready.

Bush has really screwed the pooch on this one and the bitch isn't letting him go just yet.

A bucket of cold water is way too rude to use on dogs to break a tie, but I think it's entirely appropriate to use on Bush.

Thank you, Jurassicpork.

Bye-bye, 'George'

Will Durst

Even though this honorable moniker stands as a symbol of our country's birthing struggle due to the father of our nation wrestling its honor from the crazed clutches of King George III, parents must be having second, third and no thoughts whatsoever about naming their kids George lest it be seen as a tacit approval of the ways and means of the current administration. Hell, I bet the names Mothra, Dweezil, and Philomena get better placement in the baby name books than George and/or Georgette over the next couple of decades. Wouldn't be surprised to hear Prince George, British Columbia attempts to change its handle to Margaritaville.

He goes on to say that 'George' may soon join 'Adolf' and 'Attila' on the list of names folks don't name their kids any more. Not just because of Bush either, but mostly. For some reason, he left out 'Cain' and 'Ananais'. Must not be religious.

Funny shit. Please go read the rest.

Woodshed Time for the Chimp

Truthout, video from Keith Olbermann and two articles:

In a sign of the growing fissure between the White House and its congressional allies over the war, NBC News reports tonight that 11 Republican members of Congress pleaded yesterday with President Bush and his senior aides to change course in Iraq.

'Pleaded'? They need to grab him by the stackin' swivel and shake him like a rat. The first words out of their mouths should be "listen up, asshole".

One said "My district is prepared for defeat. We need candor, we need honesty, Mr. President." The president responded, "I don't want to pass this off to another president. I don't want to pass this off, particularly, to a Democratic president," underscoring he understood how serious the situation was.

Participants in the Tuesday meeting between Mr. Bush, senior administration officials and 11 members of a moderate bloc of House Republicans said the lawmakers were unusually candid with the president, telling him that public support for the war was crumbling in their swing districts.

There's the rub. I'm glad these Repugs finally had a 'moment of prayer' with Bush, but it pisses me off a little. They didn't go to see him because this criminal war is all wrong or because he has run it so badly that it has wrecked the military, divided the country, spent us into the poorhouse for generations, wrecked our standing all over the world, and shed oceans of blood unnecessarily.

Basically, they told him to let the generals do his lying for him because they're afraid they won't get re-elected. They don't deserve to be re-elected and I hope they aren't. This is a welcome thing they did and I hope it has an effect, but it's years too late.

I hope the Repugs in Congress come to the realization that their best chance for re-election lies in impeaching Bush and Cheney and stopping this imperialistic occupation. It wouldn't hurt if they strung up a buncha neocons, neither.

Quote of the Day

“I'm worried about over committing our military around the world. I want to be judicious in its use. You mentioned Haiti. I wouldn't have sent troops to Haiti. I didn't think it was a mission worthwhile. It was a nation building mission. And it was not very successful. It cost us a couple billions of dollars and I'm not sure democracy is any better off in Haiti than it was before.... I'm not so sure the role of the United States is to go around the world and say this is the way it's got to be. We can help. And maybe it's just our difference in government, the way we view government. I mean I want to empower people. I want to help people help themselves, not have government tell people what to do. I just don't think it's the role of the United States to walk into a country and say, we do it this way, so should you.”
—Texas Governor George W. Bush during his campaign for President in 2000.

A doff of the Jersey cap to Marty Kaplan at HuffPo for that gem.

R.