Priests Purify Shrine After Bush Visit

ABC News International

NEW DELHI Mar 5, 2006 (AP)- Hindu priests who look after the memorial of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi conducted a purification ceremony at the shrine after a visit from President Bush. [...]

A Tijuana whorehouse would need spiritual cleansing after a visit from Bush.

The rest of the story:

[...] But it wasn't the president who offended them, it was the sniffer-dogs who scoured the area ahead of his visit.

These people have a strange order to their priorities. Yes, I know the dogs were a mortal insult to Hindu sensibilities, but I hope they saved some pixie dust to rid the joint of Bush's karma as well.

And these are the folks we're giving nuclear assistance to? If I remember right, they have a six-armed deity named Kali who claims to be the "destroyer of worlds".

Weekly reminder

Ironic Times

Survey: Only One in 1,000 Americans Can Name All Five Rights Guaranteed in 1st Amendment

Those who do are detained, questioned.

Analysis: American Economy Enters New Era

We borrow trillions from other countries to pay their workers low wages to make things our laid-off workers can afford.

Be sure to read all three pages.

On Moussaoui

After a month of jury selection, the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man charged with a crime in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, is set to begin today in a Virginia courtroom, and Hamilton Peterson, who lost his parents on hijacked United Flight 93, plans to be there.

"Justice must be done," Peterson, of Maryland, says. "There must be accountability."

...

I guess we can hoist a body high and claim victory, or revenge, or justice was achieved but this guy was just the dumbest member of the team. Had he been a little smarter, we wouldn't have caught him either, his DNA smeared on the pavement instead of the Chimp's only PR victory in the 'War on Terra'. All I ask is this, more than 4 years after 9/11; where's Osama?

Blame

I touched on this last night when I quoted Atrios commenting on an Andy Sullivan [I still don't get him, I never understood gay Repukes - Fixer] post. This morning my man Dave over at STF looks at another courageous Repuke, Instashithead [link to Kevin Drum; we don't link to idiots here].

The press had better hope we win this war, because if we don't, a lot of people will blame the media.

And a comment struck me:

But damn it, if the chickenhawks had just gone and fought...we'd have won easily, right?...

We sure as hell wouldn't have as big a recruiting problem. If blame is passed out, the ones who should take most of it, aside from the Chimp and his minions, are the Chickenhawks. Those who spoke loudest in favor of it, despite their broad-based unwillingness to serve.

All you so-called 'men' who get your kicks watching the military do their stuff, cheerleading from the safety of the sidelines. You're all pathetic, lame excuses for men and the only power you have comes from subjugating your women and arming yourselves to the teeth. If you believed so strongly in this war, you should have dropped everything and signed up. But that isn't your style, is it? You all talk a good line but, like your so-called leader, all you do is talk.

You've had your say and it's helped run this nation down the road to ruin. Now that we're there, I'm gonna make sure no one forgets your parts in it. Men? Not a chance. You're all a bunch of whiny little boys.

And I blame you!

Let's get this straight #2

To all those 'courageous' right wing bloggers and sycophants who are 'supporting the troops/the president/the war', listen to Atrios:

...

Of course by participating in the public discourse one plays a part in something, but typing away from one's basement does not involve "facing down" anything. Not a single person who opposed this war was "cowardly" as it takes no actual courage to send other people off to kill and die. One does not get to bask in the reflected bravery of those who are actually doing what you send them to do. There was nothing courageous about supporting a war which was supported by the US government and almost the entire punditocracy, and aside from helping to stifle debate and demonize people who quite sensibly opposed the war their contribution to their noble cause was precisely zero.

Eating their own

Last week I wrote about Rep. Peter King's stand against the Dubai ports deal. Seems the Chimp is paying him back:

WASHINGTON, March 3 - Representative Peter T. King's prominent opposition to a proposal to allow a Dubai company to take over some terminal operations at American ports may have earned him some punishment from the Bush administration: He has been grounded.

Mr. King, the New York Republican who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, confirmed Friday that a few days after he first threatened legislation to hold up the port deal, the Pentagon informed him that it could not provide an aircraft for his planned March Congressional delegation to Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

...

King is in a position to stick it right back to the White House. Let's see if he does it. I love election year politics.

Thanks to donkey o.d. for the link.

Wha...

No sex toy for you! Did you know Tennessee was overrun with 'em??!!!

Please don't

At Iddybud:

On today's Meet the Press, former Senator and 2004 VP candidate John Edwards of North Carolina stated that he was considering a run for US President in 2008.

I like John Edwards, I really do, and so does Mrs. F, but in '08 we need a person with national and international experience. We don't need someone who'll learn it on-the-job. The Chimp has screwed things to Holy Hell and we need someone who knows what they're doing in order to fix it.

I'd like to see him as a VP candidate on a Wesley Clark ticket. Wes Clark has the international connections (Supreme Commander of NATO) and the sechel to put good people in leadership positions where he is weak. We have to rebuild the foundations of this nation before we begin to move forward again.

And just to be clear, I'm not saying Wes Clark will be my choice, but Clark/Edwards does sound appealing.

Deadly Lies...

Or, Clinton with a Blue Dress.

Oscar blogging

I'm with Roger:

...

What will make this event even more revolutionary is that I haven't seen a single 2005 movie, either in theaters or on DVD. That's at least two less than TBogg. I am less qualified to have an opinion on 2005 films than anyone on any subject, with the exception of Michelle Malkin on any subject.

...

I, however, won't be liveblogging. I will be dead sleeping. All I know about the movies this year is just the premise of Brokeback Mountain has given four immature mechanics too much material.

And one more thing. I'm all for any movie that makes the Jesus-freaks crazy.

Leaving...

LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and Britain are planning to pull all their troops out of Iraq by the spring of 2007, two British newspapers reported in their Sunday editions, quoting unnamed senior defense ministry sources.

The Sunday Telegraph said the planned pull-out followed an acceptance by the two governments that the presence of foreign troops in Iraq was now a large obstacle to securing peace.

...

Stay the course, huh? After wasting hundreds of billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of lives, American and Iraqi, and destroying our standing in the world, we're just gonna throw up our hands and say 'oopsie'? I'm sorry, but Bush and Blair are gonna have to pay for this. For crying out loud, Bush 1 knew this would happen 15 years ago (the reason the cry 'on to Baghdad' wasn't heard after we kicked Saddam out of Kuwait) and most of the reality-based folks knew it too. Somebody's gonna have to be held accountable and be 'brought to justice'.

Standing up

I stole this from Pauly.

Hon. Pete Hoekstra, Chair
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Washington, DC

Dear Congressman Hoekstra:

As a matter of conscience, I am returning the Intelligence Commendation Award medallion given me for "especially commendable service" during my 27-year career in CIA. The issue is torture, which inhabits the same category as rape and slavery - intrinsically evil. I do not wish to be associated, however remotely, with an agency engaged in torture.

...

The obeisance of CIA directors George Tenet and Porter Goss in heeding illegal White House directives has done irreparable harm to the CIA and the country - not to mention those tortured and killed. That you, as Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, show more deference to the White House than dedication to your oversight responsibilities under the Constitution is another profound disappointment. How can you and your counterpart, Sen. Pat Roberts, turn a blind eye to torture - letting some people get away, literally, with murder - and square that with your conscience?

If German officials who were ordered to do such things in the 1930s had spoken out early and loudly enough, the German people might have been alerted to the atrocities being perpetrated in their name and tried harder to stop them. When my grandchildren ask, "What did you do, Grandpa, to stop the torture," I want to be able to tell them that I tried to honor my oath, taken both as an Army officer and an intelligence officer, to defend the Constitution of the United States - and that I not only spoke out strongly against the torture, but also sought a symbolic way to dissociate myself from it. [my ems]

...

What did it take for the man to do this? He has to sleep at night.

Desperation?

...

It appears that, to close the deal during his visit, Bush directed his negotiators to give in to India's demands that it be allowed to produce unlimited quantities of fissile material and amass as many nuclear weapons as it wants.

...

That's good.

...

But now the criticisms may focus on this question: By enabling India to build an unlimited stockpile of nuclear weapons, would this agreement set off a new Asian arms race?

And here's another question: Were Bush and his aides so eager for some good headlines -- for a change -- that they gave away the store?

...

Ya think?

...

"Last week, during a private meeting with a group of congressional leaders, [undersecretary of state for political affairs R. Nicholas] Burns suggested it was unlikely the sides would be able to quickly bridge significant gaps on the separation plan. But a last-minute decision by Bush to accept India's demands sealed the deal. . . . [my ems]

...

Let's see. I remember all the puckered assholes around here when the U.S. and Soviets were building ICBMs at an astounding rate in the 60s. We're gonna have another arms race, this time in far more unstable places than the U.S. and Soviet Union circa 1968, just to further Republican political goals. Tell me how this will make us safer? Tell me why Chimpy shouldn't be dragged out of the White House in irons right now?

Great thanks to C&L for the link.

NOLA

I've been remiss in not directing you to First Draft and Scout Prime's reports from New Orleans. Go to the bottom of the page and scroll up.

Strong-arming

...

This truly is an unprecedented move: the Senate Majority Leader is threatening to make the Intelligence Committee a political rubber stamp because the White House and the Republican leadership are so terrified that the President's actions won't withstand scrutiny and will be found illegal by the Committee.

Bill Frist is nothing but a cheater, who is trying to rig the Committee -- a majority of whose members WANT to provide oversight and actually DO their jobs. This is the single most craven, pathetic and weak move -- the fact that the interests of the nation would be served by an oversight hearing takes a back-seat to Karl Rove's marching orders that George Bush's authority not be questioned. Ever.

...

FDL.

So when do we go out in the streets? I mean, Frist is saying he is willing to bring this nation one step, a big step, closer to a dictatorship/monarchy. How long will we sit back and do nothing? Will it take the '06 elections stolen? Will it take another terror attack in the U.S.? Or will we just roll over and play dead?

Make up yer minds

Wax on, wax off.

Friday Saturday Cattle Dog Blogging

Princess Shayna says, "those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it."

La Legion Etrangere Americaine?

MM

...

I noticed a new proposal being floated to solve the manpower shortfall...offering expedited citizenship to the undocumented aliens in the country...another "pay for play" scheme.

...

and Lurch

...

I have to admit I gasped when I read this. It's an idea that does have some merit, in a quirky way. I'm sure there are thousands of young men around the world who would leap at the chance for a green card, and eventual citizenship.

...

have been talking about the idea we should create a new military unit(s) made up of non-Americans, the reward being U.S. citizenship at the end of their honorable service a la the French Foreign Legion. Do you think the U.S. should travel down this road?

One down

SAN DIEGO - Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham began his first day in prison after being sentenced to eight years and four months for taking $2.4 million in homes, yachts and other bribes in a corruption scheme unmatched in the annals of Congress.

...

Let's hope we can say this about DeLay and the rest of the Crooked Congressional Republican Club soon.

Thanks to AMERICAblog for the link.

Cartoons

Bob Geiger and his great Saturday roundup.