'Bureaucratic SNAFU' or CYA?

Following up on yesterday's post about Lt. Rebrook who was charged for "losing" body armor when he was wounded, CNN has this:

A former Army soldier will be reimbursed after he was required to pay for his equipment when he was wounded in Iraq, a military spokesman said Wednesday.

The statement also said, "There is no question that [Rebrook] should not have to pay for the body armor of his that was destroyed in Iraq."

But that development came after the matter garnered national attention Tuesday when a West Virginia newspaper reported Rebrook's story.

On Wednesday, the Army said Rebrook would not have been asked to pay the money if he had filled out two required forms.

Those comments drew an angry rebuke from Rebrook's father, Edward Rebrook of Charleston, West Virginia.

"That is a lie," the soldier's father told CNN. "It's a case of CYA by the Army."

Bureaucratic SNAFU? CYA? My military experience tells me it's both, but without the publicity the EllTee woulda been SOL for his money.

Heh . . .

The Yella Bros. collaborate.

Curses, foiled again!

Okay...so they were gonna blow the cabin door open...with a shoe bomb...in a pressurized aircraft...and they're actually gonna be able to fly it...into a building...the tallest building in L.A....yeah...that's it...

Illegal? Inept? More like 'Criminally Moronic'

Bob Herbert. A tip o' the Brain once again to Tennessee Guerilla Women.

While testifying about the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was asked to explain how the program had been damaged by the disclosure of its existence in the press.

Senator Joseph Biden suggested that Al Qaeda operatives have most likely been aware for some time that the government is trying to intercept their phone calls.

Mr. Gonzales agreed. "You would assume that the enemy is presuming that we are engaged in some kind of surveillance," he said. "But if they're not reminded about it all the time in newspapers and in stories, they sometimes forget."

Senator Biden managed to laugh. Probably to keep from crying. This was the attorney general of the United States speaking, yet another straight man for an administration that has raised governing to new heights of witlessness. Watching the Bush administration in action would be hilarious, if its ineptitude and brutally misguided policies didn't end so often in needless suffering and sorrow.

The public should be aware of two important points about the president's domestic spying program: it's illegal, and it's not catching terrorists.

To laugh or to cry - that is the question as we contemplate three more years of this theater of the absurd known as the Bush administration.

Not much point in crying. Seething is good. The laughter will come when the ropes jerk taut.

Libby Authorized to Leak by Cheney, Others

Editor & Publisher

Lewis "Scooter" Libby testified to a federal grand jury that he had been "authorized" by his boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, and other White House "superiors" in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence, according to an article posted today by the National Journal.

“Beyond what was stated in the court paper, say people with firsthand knowledge of the matter, Libby also indicated what he will offer as a broad defense during his upcoming criminal trial: that Vice President Cheney and other senior Bush administration officials had earlier encouraged and authorized him to share classified information with journalists to build public support for going to war. Later, after the war began in 2003, Cheney authorized Libby to release additional classified information, including details of the NIE, to defend the administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case for war.

"Libby testified to the grand jury that he had been authorized to share parts of the NIE with journalists in the summer of 2003 as part of an effort to rebut charges then being made by former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson that the Bush administration had misrepresented intelligence information to make a public case for war."

One of those journalists was former New York Times reporter Judith Miller. She has written that at a July 8, 2003, meeting with Libby he offered some details from the then-classified NIE. Libby apparently is now saying he was authorized to give her that information.

In a January 23 letter, Fitzgerald wrote to Libby's attorneys: "Mr. Libby testified in the grand jury that he had contact with reporters in which he disclosed the content of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) in the course of his interaction with reporters in June and July 2003.… We also note that it is our understanding that Mr. Libby testified that he was authorized to disclose information about the NIE to the press by his superiors."

The public correspondence does not mention the identities of the "superiors" who authorized the leaking of the classified information, "but people with firsthand knowledge of the matter identified one of them as Cheney," Waas states. Libby also testified that he worked closely with then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove in deciding what information to leak to the press to build public support for the war.

In the correspondence, which emerged last week, Fitzgerald also asserted that Libby testified that he had met with Judith Miller on July 8, 2003, with the "purpose" of intending "to transmit information" to her "concerning the NIE."

Yo, The Dick 'n Turdblossom: Gotcha, motherfuckers!

Trapped like a rat...

William Rivers Pitt on Mrs. King's funeral and the political rebukes to Bush thereat:

And then, of course, the foolishness began. The nattering nabobs of network nonsense blithered into their cable news studios to deplore all the political statements that were served up before the appreciative crowd in that church. It was the Wellstone funeral all over again.

The central tenet of the civil rights movement has, is and will always be one simple truth: one must speak truth to power in order to affect change. This was the maxim by which Coretta Scott King lived her life, and the maxim by which her husband lived and ultimately died by. Had her funeral not involved speaking truth to power, the ceremony would have been incomplete. George W. Bush heard on Tuesday some hard truths that his fanatical insulation has to date spared him from. It may have been the healthiest moment this republic has absorbed in years.

This was a day for speaking truth to power, but it was more than that. Mr. Bush and his people have worked incredibly hard to keep this president from hearing anything that rubs against what he believes to be true. He speaks before hand-picked crowds of adoring supporters, never once seeing the face of someone who thinks he is running the nation into the ground. Millions upon millions of protesters have followed his every move, and yet it is almost certain he has never laid eyes upon a single one of them.

On Tuesday, by his own design. George W. Bush was trapped like a rat on that stage. He was forced to listen to eloquent denunciations of his politics and his policies, perhaps for the first time since he took office. The effect upon him was clear; during the speeches delivered by Rev. Lowery and president Carter, Bush looked as if he was sucking on a particularly bitter lemon.

When one speaks truth to power, especially arrogant power, that is usually the effect. Coretta Scott King would have approved.

I have nothing to add to that.

Letters

To the Dem leadership. It would be safe to assume the rank and file is fed up.

More guns

You remember my little rant the other day. My lovely neighbor Blondie has the statistics to back it up.

Eeyore

A great line (and bald truth) from Mustang Bobby:

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I truly wish they [Dems] would just get to work and let their actions speak for themselves. It's not as if the Bush administration and the GOP leadership in Washington hasn't handed them several truckloads of material to run on, and all we get is whining about they can't get any traction. So get out there and campaign, and stop turning the Democratic donkey into Eeyore.

It comes around

You've heard me bitch about my local town supervisor:

As regular readers of the Brain know, I speak my mind. Everybody knows where they stand with me. There's no guessing if I like you or not. If I don't you'll know it.

Anyway, it's with this attitude I pay my property taxes twice a year . . . in person. It's the one time I can get in my local politicians' faces . . . well, two times a year. They have to deal with me too because I give 'em $4000 at a clip. I also went to school with the Town Supervisor's (mayor's) useless piece-of-shit son.

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Well, things come around. I was wondering when they'd get him:

The Suffolk district attorney has seized Islip Supervisor Pete McGowan's $1-million campaign account and served scores of subpoenas to businesses that have dealt with his campaign fund, town and county officials said yesterday.

The subpoenas appear to be focusing on possible misuse of campaign funds, and are part of a long-running investigation by District Attorney Thomas Spota into political corruption in Suffolk County.

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Ha-ha! See you in Hell, motherfucker.

Mah new brother

Seems the Chimp wants to be connected to Clinton now. Hmmmm. Do we have some unresolved issues with daddy or are you that desperate politically?

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But the constant references to Clinton from the current President Bush have taken on a forced, almost contrived feel. Why would Bush try so hard to remind everyone, as often as possible, about his close connections to Clinton?

I suspect it's because Clinton has something that Bush doesn't: high poll numbers. Last summer, an ABC News/Washington Post poll asked respondents, "Thinking back to when Bill Clinton was in office, would you say you approve or disapprove of the way Clinton handled his job as president?" A whopping 62% of Americans said they approved. At the time, the ABC/Post poll showed Bush's support at 47%, a number which has dropped even lower since.

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If this is a strategy for Bush to get a bump in popularity, the Bush gang might want to look for a Plan B. The frequent Clinton references only serve to remind people of a time when we had a president who had the country on track - economically, militarily, fiscally, and diplomatically.

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Driven to Distraction

Ever mindful that old age is gonna kick my ass one of these days (put a sock in it!), I read with interest this article in the LATimes:

Exploring the anatomy of attention, researchers have discovered that middle-aged people are more readily driven to distraction by interruptions because of age-related changes in how their brains work.

Grady, however, suggested that people in their 20s today - their brains molded by instant messaging and all of the other high-technology of the short attention span - may be better able to manage unwarranted interruptions when they reach old age.

Screw them young whippersn - Ooh, look! A shiny nickel!

Watch the Mighty Wurlitzer Start

Following up on Fixer's post, The Left Coaster chimes in on the RS3M* follow-up to Mrs. King's funeral.

President Bush was humiliated at Coretta Scott King's funeral yesterday by Reverend Lowery and the thunderous applause for the Clintons. What the blogosphere has termed The Mighty Wurlitzer just got cranked up in response, for public, televised put-downs of The Almighty George cannot be countenanced under any circumstances.

The Wurlitzer - talk right radio, backed up by cable TV news and eventually harmonized with network news - will endlessly blather on for the next 48 hours how uncouth, crude, and disrespectful-of-all-that-is-decent those liberals and democrats were yesterday at the funeral; semi-freaks like that surely can't accurately reflect the All America Love that the US basks in for Bush.

This ol' semi-freak just fuckin' loves to watch all the brouhaha!

Go read. Coupla links.

*RS3M: Republican Spin, Slime, & Smear Machine. "The Mighty Wurlitzer" works good too.

Smokey the Bear is a Republican

Go see this Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility news release from October:

The October 11, 2005 order issued by NPS Director Fran Mainella requires that the selection criteria for all civil service management slots (Government Service grades or GS-13, 14 and 15) include the "ability to lead employees in achieving the ...Secretary's 4Cs and the President's Management Agenda." In addition, candidates must be screened by Park Service headquarters and "the Assistant Secretary [of Interior] for Fish, and Wildlife, and Parks," the number three political appointee in the agency.

The President's Management Agenda includes controversial policies and proposals such as aggressive use of outsourcing to replace civil servants, reliance on "faith-based initiatives" and rollbacks of civil service rights. Interior Secretary Gale Norton's "4Cs" is a slogan she uses to express her management approach: "4 Cs: communication, consultation, cooperation, all in the service of conservation."

"It is outrageous that park superintendents must swear political loyalty to the Bush agenda and parrot hokey mottos in order to earn a promotion," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "The merit system is supposed to be about ability, not apple polishing."

"Presidents come and go but the civil service is designed to serve whoever occupies the swivel chair in the Oval Office," Ruch added. "It is downright creepy that now every museum curator, supervising scientist and chief ranger must be okayed by a high-level political appointee."

Creepy, shit. It's downright North Korean. So is the part about "presidents come and presidents go". Not if Kim Il Bush has anything to say about it!

I wonder if we'll have to sign a Loyalty Oath to go visit our National Parks? Good ploy on their part if we do. I'll never sign one. I'll never see it when they sneak all the trees out and the oil wells and strip mines in, either.

Since Bush wants to privatize the parks, don't be surprised if a pimply-faced underpaid non-professional-looking "Park Ranger" asks "want fries with that?"

Bake sales for body armor

Upon reading (probably at Grannyinsanity) that wounded Vet Lt. Rebrook was being charged for the body armor he "lost" in Iraq, John Aravosis of Americablog put out a call for donations to cover it. The effort succeeded.

Wow, you guys were amazing. In just two hours, we raised over $5,000, with over 180 donations ranging from $1 to $400 (average donation was around $20, so this really was a community effort).

Here's to hoping that some day we won't need virtual body armor bake sales to help provide for our service members in Iraq.

Editor & Publisher has more:

"We liberal folk may disagree with the Bush administration over the reasons for going to war and over how they're fighting this war," he declared, "but one thing you'd expect no disagreement over would be the treatment of our soldiers. They fight for their country and they deserve some respect in return. And that means not charging them for their body armor because someone blew them up on the battlefield."

Why do you think the Captain always goes down with his ship?

I think the only disagreement on how we treat our soldiers comes from the Pentagon and DoD. It looks like the "Liberal traitors" are doing a better job.

The Top 10 Conservative Idiots

Democratic Underground has the 231st in a series. It's worth going to just to scroll down to the photo at the bottom, or, better yet, read it.

Thrust & Parry...

If you're interested, Senator Obama has posted his and McCain's letters that are causing the media to go into such paroxysms of ecstasy. Yawn.

Bush doll

The Old White Lady's got the best one yet.

The cartoons...again

This has been given far more attention than it deserves. Here's the deal. There is such a thing as measured response. You don't burn, kill, and riot over cartoons. Boycott - yes, peacefully demonstrate - yes, Jihad - no. The spectacles in the Middle East over some shitty cartoons makes it so much easier for some in the West to justify killing your people wholesale. Perceptions count and this violence makes you look like a bunch of savages. Save the Jihad for defending your homeland from serious threats.

Alien and Sedition Acts

As many of you know, John Adams is a hero of mine, for many reasons, but he made some mistakes (looking at them in hindsight) too. The Alien and Sedition Acts, the largest of them. While they expired in 1800, Farnsworth looks at the modern day equivalent:

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Okay, fast-forward to today's case in point: Laura Berg, an employee of the US Veterans Administration -- a nurse, in fact -- in New Mexico, who had the fucking nerve, the pure unmitigated gall, to write a letter to the editor of a small weekly newspaper, a letter that was critical of the Bush Maladminstration...

Yeah, I know, what a subversive. But it gets worse.

Storm troopers from the VA Gestapo (whatever they call their Internal Affairs Division over there) showed up at her desk, impounded her computer and accused her of "sedition". Jesus, sedition? Who even talks like that any more? And maybe somebody ought to set up a fund to buy a goddamn dictionary for these assholes, so they can see the fucking difference between "forcefully" and "forcibly".

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Real good, but the thing that makes me sit up and think is this graf:

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So let's go back to the Alien and Sedition Acts. That last one, Number 4, it's the Big Kahuna, and that's exactly the one that we have to worry about the most. Every one of us out here in Left Blogistan is potentially at risk of violating that one. We're fortunate that the act expired with the end of Adams' term -- otherwise the BFEE would not be above dusting it off, dressing it up and trotting it out, to apply it wholesale to those of us who are acting forcefully to remove an administration filled with vicious deceit.

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To the free speech Gestapo: Bring it on, bitches. You know where to find me.