Okaaaay

WASHINGTON Mar 16, 2005 — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday it was a mistake for Hawaii to post a confidential report on its Web site, but the department will continue to communicate openly with state and local authorities about potential terror threats.

Hawaii officials published a draft copy of a confidential Homeland Security report that catalogues ways terrorists might strike in the United States. The report, requested by a presidential directive in December 2003, marks Homeland Security efforts to spur state and local authorities into thinking about preventing attacks.

"My understanding is this was an error," Chertoff said in an interview with reporters. "… It's not going to deter us from working closely with our state and local partners in fashioning these plans." [my emphases]

[. . .]

Duh. Can we do anything right?

Link via WTF.

DeLay: Reminds ya of an outhouse on a warm Summer day...

Molly Ivins has a memorable Op-Ed about the stench of rotting ethics in the House emanating from Bugs DeLay. Via Working For Change.

I grant you a certain resemblance to some of our more notorious standards: "Everybody does it" and "They did it first" are actually considered excuses here. But I categorically reject cultural responsibility for Tom DeLay. Real Texas politicians are neither hypocritical nor sanctimonious. A pol does what he must -- fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly -- but no pol of the Old School, when DeLay served in the Lege, would add self-righteousness to shady dealing.

This was before the time when religion was regularly dragged into politics. The idea that you were immune from ethical lapses because you had found Jesus did not fly here. Sanctimony stinks in the nostrils of the Lord.

This guy smells like a slop jar. Get him out of there.

Molly calls 'em like she sees 'em, bless her heart. Even if you don't go read her column, and you should, click on the link in the quote.

Slogans 'r' us

Will Durst offers some help to Karen Hughes in her upcoming P.R. campaign. Via Working For Change.

It'll be interesting to see what measures Ms. Hughes takes when she finds out the problem isn't so much our lousy public relations but our lousy foreign policies. You want to improve America's image, I'll tell you how to improve America's image. Put a leash on Rumsfeld and stop treating the rest of the world like it made a doo doo on the shag rug in front of Mother Teresa's holier sister on Easter.

I got to say, creating the position of Spinmeister General does makes sense; at least we're playing to our strengths. As a country we have always excelled at selling the sizzle over the steak. Just last fall, this nation's veterans chose a borderline deserter over a decorated war hero. And the responsibility for that feat can be laid directly at the altar of advertising.

Mr. Durst offers "30 U.S. FOREIGN POLICY EXTREME MAKEOVER SLOGANS" in an effort to help. Go read. Here's my favorite:

America 2.0. Now With Improved Press Suppression.

What's yours?

I'll only put it in 10,000 feet, honest...

Joel Connelly writes about ANWR in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The final push to drill the Arctic Refuge has a curious resemblance to America's politics of 100 years ago, only in reverse.

Under President Theodore Roosevelt, America was coming out of the Gilded Age. Given its name by Mark Twain, the Gilded Age was the opulent, corrupt era of the late 19th century in which corporate moguls ruled the country.

The trust-busting Roosevelt inaugurated a progressive era.

He created our national forest system and designated national monuments in the Grand Canyon and Olympic Mountains. He protected the vast estuary of Alaska's Copper River Delta from exploitation by greedy coal barons.

America today is entering a new Gilded Age. The Arctic Refuge and the American public have this in common: Both are about to get drilled.

"The Arctic has a call that is compelling ... it is a call to adventure. This is not a place to possess like the plateaus of Wyoming or the valleys of Arizona. It is one to behold with wonderment.

"It is a domain for any restless soul who yearns to discover the startling beauties of creation in a place of quiet and solitude where life exists without molestation by man."

Given this administration's propensity for turning back the clock and returning to the heyday of the Robber Barons, I think the comparison is apt, and chilling. These people don't give a rat's ass for the majesty and grandeur of Alaska, much less the romantic symbolism of the Arctic or the future of its critters and environment. They just want to put it in their pocket.

There may not be all that much oil there anyway, and what they find will probably be exported to Asia anyway, because that's easier than getting it to the lower 48. So why are they doing it? There are lots better options, such as working to promote lessening our dependence on oil for motor fuel.

To show us pissants they can pass any law they want and the Hell with the rest of us, that's why. And also because they are so short-sighted that they think the only approach to a complex problem is a brute-force solution, just like Iraq.

Just like Iraq, they're dead wrong.

More Religious Hypocrisy

This in from today'sonline San Diego Union-Tribune:

The owner of a popular local nightclub with a gay clientele can't have a funeral in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego because the church has deemed his business "inconsistent with Catholic moral teaching."

None of the 98 Catholic churches in San Diego or Imperial counties will be allowed to provide services for Club Montage owner John McCusker as a result of the decision by San Diego Bishop Robert Brom.

But I bet Michael Jackson would be eligible for a funeral in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, since his behavior is consistent with the San Diego Catholic Diocese's moral conduct. The San Diego Diocese long sheltered Rev. Paul Shanley, a Catholic priest who was arrested here in May 2002 on three counts of child rape. He was the founding member of the North American Man-Boy Love Association and operated a bed & breakfast in Palm Springs for homosexuals.

Reading crap like this makes me proud to be a pagan!

How much

You wanna bet that as soon as they pull the plug on that poor Schaivo woman in Florida, Democrats are gonna be branded as murderers? Just for the record, so there's no confusion. If I ever end up a turnip, yank the fucking plug, put a pillow over my face, put a gun to my head. I don't want to live like that.

The Finger

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Pro-Syrian Hizbollah guerrillas will keep their weapons despite U.S. calls to disarm and Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon, the group's chief said on Wednesday.

[. . .]

"I'm holding on to the weapons of the resistance because I think the resistance ... is the best formula to protect Lebanon and to deter any Israeli aggression," [The group's leader, Sheikh Hassan] Nasrallah said in a live interview with Hizbollah's al-Manar television.

[. . .]

They give Chimpy the finger. So what does he do?

More below the fold . . .

Black Irish?

Go read Steve Gilliard's take on St. Paddy's Day in New York.

No worries

Malibu, CA

We'll all be walking soon.

ANWR . . . once more

Bill Moyers via American Views Abroad:

[. . .]

'Once upon a time I believed that people will protect the natural environment when they realize its importance to their health and lives of their children. Now I am not so sure. It's not that I don't want to believe this----it's just that as a journalist I have been trained to read the news and connect the dots. I read that the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) has declared the election a mandate for President Bush on the environment.'

[. . .]

Wasting time

Two trials down in one day. Boy was I happy. I might see some news now. Nah, we have these overpaid, whiny bitch baseball players and the congressional circle-jerk.

Even Shorter Wolfie

Stolen from Dianne:

See my post below and explain to me why anyone short of deranged would appoint this man to be the head of the World Bank?

Short ANWR

From the Dog:

[. . .]

Well, that's the way it goes. ANWR will be despoiled forever, millions will be made by thieves who bribe members of Congress and the executive branch for the lucrative ANWR oil concessions, and if we're lucky, this may lower the price of gasoline by a nickel or a dime... around the year 2016 or so.

[. . .]

. . . The GOP just got to piss in a national park anyway it likes (one of the last unspoiled wildernesses on Earth, btw) so a few well-connected oil industry folks can profit, and in exchange, the rest of us got... nothing. NOTHING. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

Another Excuse For Catholics To Get Drunk

The self-professed good christians at Landover Baptist Church, where the worthwhile worship and the unsaved are not welcome (as Jesus commanded) have a few inspirational words about Saint Patrick's Day. Read, you'll enjoy.

March is now upon us. It is the month that Catholics cause to come in like a lion eating True Christians™, and Baptists rescue and make go out like the Lamb of God. Right at this very moment, the Pope is instructing his new cardinals, all wearing dresses the color of Satan's rump, to open the lower dungeons of the Vatican and let loose their annual storehouse of malignant leprechaun spirits to steal gold from wealthy, blessed Evangelicals and spread green leprosy into the homes and upholstery of True Christians.

As always, Landover Baptist is well prepared for the demonic onslaught this year. "Saint Patrick's Day is like green beer - something the Lord never intended," says Pastor Deacon Fred. "We always get a little taste of Catholic Hell on this 'so-called' holiday, made popular by Irish layabouts, who seem to think it is a badge of honor to come from an island without snakes – even though it is chock-full of potato-boiling drunks.

Granted, a few of our Irish and Irish-for-a day friends may see a few snakes in the next day or so, but what the heck, it ain't like they're handling them in church, now is it? Faith an' Begorrah!

Economic hit men

Digby:

[. . .]

DAVID BRANCACCIO: You think that from the word go that this kind of lending was meant to essentially put these countries into hock?

JOHN PERKINS: There's no question in my mind that this was what I was intended to do was to go out and create these projects that would bring billions of dollars back to US corporations and create projects that would put these countries into such deep debt, that in essence, they became part of our empire. They became our slaves in a way.

[. . .]

Enlightening post about how the World Bank really works and who the infrastructure projects it finances in developing nations actually serves.

More deficit

From DemVet:

I know that it makes wingnuts heads explode when I say this, but our deficit economy is as much of a long-term National Security issue as any war we'll ever fight. And it's an issue that we're losing on, thanks to Preznit Lucky Sperm and his idiot-bastard colleagues.

[. . .]

It is a threat, a big one. I expect it from Bush and his hacks, but Greenspan knows better. What that old bastard is doing (actively endorsing what he knows is a recipie for economic disaster) is criminal and should swing with the rest of 'em when we storm the gates.

Update: 15:25:

Indirectly related. I found this while rooting around over at Ezra's:

[. . .]

But this week, when I was flying, the headlines all should have punctured the bubble we were flying in. The International Energy Agency says oil is in short supply, recommends conservation. The second highest monthly trade deficit ever. Oil approaches record price. The falling dollar. Trade gap widens. China is muscling private oil drillers in its country. The dollar continues to fall against the Euro. Imports of cotton trousers up 1000%. The headlines are insistent. Repetitive.

Here we were, burning up jet fuel so we could arrange to ship goods all the way around the world to a bunch of people, an entire country, who can’t or won’t pay their debts. But the words kept streaming by. THIS FLIGHT CAN’T GO ON ANY LONGER. GET OFF THE PLANE, IT’S GOING TO CRASH, the newspaper headlines might as well have said.

[. . .]

More air for me

They sentenced Scott Petersen to death. One less trial I have to hear about. Now, if only Michael Jackson and Robert Blake would up and die, maybe cable news would find time for something like . . . I don't know . . . NEWS maybe?

Shit

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Via Froggy:

[. . .]

Just saw the headline on msnbc.com. The Senate voted to open the ANWR to drilling. The House has voted for it consistently, so it will go through there. Didn't see the vote count. I am interested in the "swing" Republican votes that approved it. We really have to take back the Senate in 2006. It is so important it is beyond belief.

Fuck, shit, godammit. Fuck. Shit.

Get 'em, Harry!

From The Hill.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) yesterday that Democrats will stop working with Republicans on most legislation if Republicans invoke the so-called “nuclear option” on judges.

In a letter to Frist, Reid said Democrats would cooperate with Republicans only on bills that relate to U.S. troops and ongoing government operations.

“Beyond that we will be reluctant to enter into any consent agreement that facilitates Senate activities, even on routine matters,” Reid wrote.

“Today, we say to the American people: If you believe in liberty and in limited government, set aside your partisan views and oppose this arrogant abuse of power,” Reid said.

I'm not sure about setting aside my partisan views but I'm damn sure opposed to the arrogant abuse of power. I think this is something that both sides should be actively concerned about.

And in the letter, he noted that changing the rules unilaterally “would be an unprecedented abuse of power.”
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said in an interview that he believes at least a half-dozen Republican senators are torn over whether to go along with GOP plans.

Trying to appeal to senators’ institutional role as a check and balance on the White House, and saying the change would overturn 200 years of tradition, Reid said the Senate would become simply a rubber stamp for the executive branch.

Byrd (D-W.Va.), the chamber’s longest-serving member, used the Ides of March anniversary to invoke Julius Caesar’s murder and told The Hill that “freedom of speech in the Senate is about to be assassinated.”

“Let’s don’t let it happen,” he added. “Fight.”

If Freedom of Speech is "assassinated" in the Senate, can ours be far behind? Fight, indeed.

Thanks to Sens. Reid and Byrd for showing some stones. It's a start. Maybe it'll catch on. The future of our country is riding on it. Read the whole piece.

Denial

Me at the Cross:

[. . .]

The thrust of the post had nothing to do with my marksmanship, it had to do with me finally owning a gun becasue the Repubs have fostered a climate in this nation of hate and bigotry and I feel I need one (at least) to protect my family and property. I made the inexcusable mistake of not consulting my DD Form 214 before using the term 'marksman' as opposed to 'expert' in describing my qualifications. To me, big deal, the last time I looked at my 214 was 1988, just to make sure it was correct, and I filed it away. What did I get picked apart over? The gist of the post that I'm gonna kill anybody who tries to take my shit or fuck with my rights and the state of the nation that brought me to the decision? Nah. I get nailed because I used 'marksman' in place of 'expert'. That's all they could break my balls over, and boy did they. Losers. This is why you can't argue with them in any productive manner. They never argue the actual point and beat you with triviality until you throw up your hands and say 'fuck it'.

[. . .]

By the way, the post at the Cross has less to do with my problems other than pointing up the fact that Holocaust deniers are being given the same credibility as people who are actually dealing in, you know, facts. I just put this part up here to symbolically drop my pants, spread my cheeks, and say 'French-kiss my ass', you Repub morons.