Rah! Rah! Rah! Sis! Boom! Bah! Kim's got an A-Bomb! Vote for Us or Die!

Think Progress

REPORT: Bush Officials Were 'Rooting' For North Korea to Test Nuclear Weapon

Senior Bush administration officials wanted North Korea to test a nuclear weapon because it would prove their point that the regime must be overthrown.

This astonishing revelation was buried in the middle of a Washington Post story published yesterday. Glenn Kessler reports from Moscow as he accompanies Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:

Before North Korea announced it had detonated a nuclear device, some senior officials even said they were quietly rooting for a test, believing that would finally clarify the debate within the administration.

Until now, no U.S. official in any administration has ever advocated the testing of nuclear weapons by another country, even by allies such as the United Kingdom and France.

One of these officials may have been Rice herself, Kessler hints. Rice, he reports, "has come close to saying the test was a net plus for the United States." Rice has been trying to counter the prevailing view that the test was a failure of the Bush administration's policy.

Fat chance, sister!

The revelation that some officials secretly wanted North Korea to test their nuclear weapons is evidence of how the administration's national security policy has become completely divorced from reality.

Mr. Cirincione is too kind. I would have put the words "just further" in front of "evidence".

Well, if the administration liked NK's test, they'll get their rocks off when Iran does one, huh?

Go read. Many comments.

Bush family member kills cop, skates...

USA Today

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - A police officer died Saturday, four days after being struck by a sport-utility vehicle driven by a federal judge, the mayor said.

Officer Dan Picagli, a 17-year veteran of the force, was hit while directing traffic in the rain Tuesday night. He had been wearing a black raincoat and a reflective vest.

The SUV was driven by John M. Walker Jr., a senior judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, who maintains court chambers in New Haven. He was leaving work when the accident happened, police said.

No charges have been filed.

Why doesn't that surprise me?

Police Chief Francisco Ortiz said the accident remained under investigation, but officers did not feel it was necessary to test Walker for drugs or alcohol.

That doesn't surprise me either. Anyone else would have been.

Walker, 65, voluntarily stepped down this month as chief judge of the court. He was appointed to the court in 1989 by President George H.W. Bush, who is a cousin of the judge.

Gee, three "no surprises" in a row!

I guess it's OK if you're a Bush family member for your royal carriage to mow down a peasant. I wonder if they'll bill the officer's family for damage to the SUV?

Quote of the Day deux

"The invasion of Iraq was a war crime in and of itself. Once we crossed that line, once the balloon went up, everything else that happens after is also illegal. If you don't get it by now you never will." - Fixer

Oh, the Irony...

Ironic Times

James Baker to Recommend Alternative to "Stay the Course" Or "Cut and Run"
Most likely: "Sit and Spin" or "Shuck and Jive."

Joint Chiefs Chairman General Pace Says "The Good Lord" Tells Rumsfeld What to Do
Even God now going around Bush.

10,000-Year-Old Meteorite Found in Kansas
Rock fell to earth thousands of years before God Created it.

Playing Tag Banned at Some Elementary Schools
Limits also placed on gunplay.

Quote of the Day

TRex:

... Gay Republicans are as bad as Nazi collaborators. They are working with the people who would outlaw and exterminate their own kind. ...

Civics Lesson

Your new Constitution.

Click to embiggen.

Tip o' the Brain to MJS.

You don't know ...

How many times I hear "we shoulda gone into Iraq and killed 'em all. We wouldn't have the problems over there we do now".

And I say "yes, instead of just attacking a sovereign nation and occupying it, we should have just gone there and committed genocide." Though that's what it's amounted to at this point, close to four years down the line.

I can't believe how many people think invading a nation that posed us no threat is justified. I can't believe that people are not angry about the invasion in itself, just the fact we fucked it up so badly. Do they think the Middle East is our private gunnery range? Do they think the guy in Iraq, who's doing nothing more than his counterpart here, trying to keep his job and put food on the table for his family, has any less of a right to live in peace than we do? Is the average Iraqi's life worth any less than an American one? If you don't understand why invading Iraq was wrong, I don't know what I can say to make you understand.

I think that's what bugs me the most. That people believe we have the right to do anything we want, destroy as many lives as we want, as long as we do it somewhere else.

Listen to me: The invasion of Iraq was a war crime in and of itself. Once we crossed that line, once the balloon went up, everything else that happens after is also illegal. If you don't get it by now you never will.

Personally, I don't give a shit about peoples' reasons for their animosity toward this President and Congress as long as they vote the corrupt bunch out on Election Day. It just gets me that people can disregard real American values so long as the shit doesn't splatter them. Most people in Germany didn't give a shit when they started dragging the Jews away either. Look what it got 'em.

Hat tip to Atrios.

Bush is a lyin' sack o' shit. Duh.

Crooks and Liars

Go watch the video of that lyin' sonofabitch Bush tell George Stephanopoulos "We've never been about 'stay the course'". Also see him try and get us to think 'strategy' and 'tactics' are the same thing. What an asshole.

Baseball, apple pie ...

If you watched a sporting event this weekend you probably saw this Chevrolet commercial. Nothing I need to add to the Chemist's observations.

The George W. Bush Presidential Library

No, not the magazine shelf in the White House bathroom.

...

Such libraries typically begin with the early career -- in this case The Foggy Years, the heroic service in the Air National Guard, and the falling upward economically. A gallery could commemorate all the Texas businessmen who helped young George turn business blunders into windfalls.

...

Tip o' the Brain to Montag.

Christians are tired of being Repugs' bitches

From that commie pinko godless Librul mob of bolshevik bomb-throwers at Bloomberg:

If Republicans lose control of the U.S. Congress, the Supreme Court will be packed with abortion-backing liberals, tax dollars will pay for research on cloning to create "little human beings" for organ farming, and elementary-school teachers will be forced to promote homosexuality to their students.

That's the view and vision of James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, a nationwide, politically active evangelical group allied with the Republican Party. The moral future of America is at stake and "staying home" isn't an option, Dobson told 2,400 followers at an Oct. 16 get-out-the-vote rally at the Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville. "Folks, we cannot afford to do that."

"Rove certainly sees Dobson as the most important and politically influential evangelical leader," said Ryan Sager, author of "The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals and the Battle to Control the Republican Party." "Dobson is someone who the White House works with extremely closely and constantly."

His difficulties mirror the party's. The Nashville rally was almost canceled after organizers failed to sell the 6,000 tickets they needed to fill the city's Municipal Auditorium, forcing them to hold the event in the Two Rivers Church. Similar events in recent weeks in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Pittsburgh also drew smaller-than-anticipated crowds.

"Republicans take advantage of conservative Christian voters," said Lewis Lampley, 60, who attended the rally in Nashville. "They take our votes for granted."

D'ya suppose the christians have figured out that Dobson et al are lying to them?

And by the way, just what was Jesus' position on the Estate Tax?

The real stories

As with any war, it'll take a couple years for the real stories to seep out. Vets returning home relate them to family and friends and the stories make the rounds, of the details of battles too graphic for the news to cover, or those the military classified to avoid embarrassment, or worse. This might be horseshit or it might be one of those stories, the details of which will come out years later, when those responsible for the negligence or dereliction of duty or incompetence can no longer be harmed by them.

And just to add for it might not be obvious to all: If this story is true, the strategic implications for the U.S. are very worrisome, for our policy in the region and throughout the world.

Thanks to Maru and Blah3 for the link.

100 Hours Redux

Following up on my Oct. 7 post, new polls find that most Americans agree with Nancy Pelosi. From Americablog via Raw Story:

Two weeks ago, Nancy Pelosi unveiled the Democratic agenda for their first 100 hours in power. Newsweek's latest poll shows strong, bi-partisan support for the Democratic plan:

Most worrisome for the president, should the Democrats retake one or both houses of Congress, the American public supports their proposed "First 100 Hours" agenda. An overwhelming majority says allowing the government to negotiate lower drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies should be a top priority for a Democratic Congress (74 percent, including 70 percent of Republicans); 68 percent want increasing the minimum wage to be a top priority, including 53 percent of Republicans; 62 percent want investigating impropriety by members of Congress to be a top priority; and 58 percent want investigating government contracts in Iraq to be a top priority. Fifty-two percent say investigating why we went to war in Iraq should be a top priority (25 percent say it should a lower priority and 19 percent say it shouldn't be done.)

When Pelosi announced the plan, she said she was going to "drain the swamp." It's looking more likely she'll get that chance. The Newsweek poll showed the generic numbers at 55% - 37% -- a commanding margin for the Democrats.

When the GOP loses, they will get even more ugly and more obstructionist. Clearly, the Democratic agenda resonates with the American people. They've had enough of the Republican agenda that has failed most Americans.

I still think "President Pelosi" has a nice ring to it. So does "Federal Inmates Bush and Cheney".

Wanna stay out of Iraq?

Stop paying your bills*:

... Thousands of U.S. troops are being barred from overseas duty because they are so deep in debt they are considered security risks. "We are seeing an alarming trend in degrading financial health." ...

*Please don't take it I am implying our troops are purposely going deeply into debt to avoid being sent to a war zone. Nor am I advocating anyone purposely should. The sad thing is our troops are getting into these situations because we treat them purely as cannon fodder and deck apes.

Aside from the obvious ...

The disrespect to the families notwithstanding, what bugs me about this is the fact there are some manholes in the Ground Zero area that haven't been opened in over five years. WTF? I mean, in a place so obsessed with security, one would assume every bit of downtown would have been searched ... more than once.

(New York - WABC, October 21, 2006) - There is late word that city officials on site Saturday did remove some material from manholes for further analysis by the city medical examiner.

Construction at Ground Zero continues as New York City officials vow to search parts of the World Trade Center site again for remains of the September 11 dead.

...

Clean Elections

I think we would all probably agree that the only way to clean up politics is to get special interest money out of it. But HOW?

Last night I watched a special one-hour NOW on PBS. The show went into great detail about how "Clean Elections" legislation works at the state level in Arizona and Maine. It's a voluntary program that allows average people to run for state office and not be beholden to special interest money. It's 'voluntary' due to the fact that one of the more bone-headed Supreme Court decisions is that political contributions are "free speech", even from Big Money special interests seeking access and influence over legislation.

"Clean Elections" is also on the ballot in California this November as Proposition 89. It went from conception to the ballot in less than six months, and set a new record for the shortest amount of time ever to collect the necessary signatures for a ballot initiative. It may not pass, but I hope it does: if California does it, the most populous state (dammit!) in the nation, other states may follow. See Yes on 89.

If "Clean Elections" legislation becomes popular in enough states, it may be extended to Federal elections as well. A worthy goal, in MNSHO.

I like the idea. Hit the links and noodle around. The show itself is here. Many links, MP3, etc. Let us know what you think.

I was worried about NOW when Bill Moyers left, but David Brancacchio is doing a fine job.

Dave

Looks like it's a 'Dave Mejias Weekend' here at the Brain. The New York Times*:

For Congress In Nassau

October 22, 2006

Elections in the Third Congressional District, which covers half of Nassau County and a slice of Suffolk along the South Shore, are usually yawners, with Democrats meekly stepping up to be stomped upon by the Republican incumbent, Peter King. He has not had a close race since his first, in 1992.

This year might be different. The Democrat David Mejias, is waging a lively campaign, brandishing his credentials as a member of the Nassau County Legislature and seeking to ride what he says is a general wave of disgust with Washington, with Congress and with President Bush.

Mr. King is the last Republican standing in Long Island's Congressional delegation, and judging from his lonely pugilistic persona, he just might like it that way. Many voters warm to his belligerence, believing it denotes independence and truthfulness.

Those in its receiving end of his rhetorical bombardments are surely less charmed. He has blisteringly belittled many, from constituents criticizing Mr. Bush's Social Security plan to Catholic clergy members who condemned Mr. King's immigration bill and got a lecture in return about pedophile priests and an admonition to go to confession.

(The Times was also in Mr. King's cross hairs, for writing - treasonously, he says - about a secret terrorist-surveillance program.)

We do not support Mr. King, but not because he wants us in jail. Our decision has to do with temperament, effectiveness and differences on issues from taxes and Iraq to abortion and immigration.

Mr. King does not get everything wrong. As chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Mr. King has been a vocal defender of New York's interests in anti-terrorism funding. But he has also stood in zealous opposition to abortion rights and in support of Mr. Bush's harmful tax-cutting policies, and he has been an enabler of Mr. Bush's go-it-alone defiance of Congress, courts and the Constitution in waging the war on terrorism.

Mr. King also lost us with his singular devotion to hard-line immigration enforcement measures, particularly the bill he co-sponsored that would make felons of people giving charity to illegal immigrants.

Mr. Mejias is one of the few bright bulbs in the low-watt Nassau Legislature. He helped to create a bill of rights for domestic workers in Nassau, requiring that employers give them written statement of their rights under federal and state law. He has a good environmental record, particularly in efforts to preserve open space, and has been an important ally of County Executive Thomas Suozzi in restoring fiscal discipline to Nassau government. He promises to be a refreshing change in the Third District, and we endorse him.

*Via email from the Mejias campaign. I'll try to find a link later.

Update:

Peter King Watch has it.

"...reminiscent of a goat that had been struck between the eyes with a tire iron ..."

A double dose of Saturday snark. First a review of Destined for Destiny: The Unauthorized Autobiography of George W. Bush:

In Destined for Destiny, Dikkers joined with Peter Hilleren to "help" write Bush's "unauthorized autobiography" -- a description as impossible as Douglas Adam's five-book "trilogy" on hitchhiking the galaxy -- and lets the voice and comedy of WRA's George Walker Bush guide us on a satiric odyssey of the life of a man who will forever remain the epitome of "The Peter Principle."

Dikkers and Hilleren have a lot to work with, from Prescott's efforts to aid the Nazis in WWII to Bush's future presidential library. Add to that a running gag involving Jesus' personal involvement in Bush's every decision -- and the hilarious photo essay showing Jesus' involvement -- and this book will make you laugh out loud in quiet reading rooms and on crowded public transportation.

Excerpts:

On Barbara Bush:

"Apart from my mother, George H. W. Bush is the finest man I ever knew. My father met my mother at a debutante party when she was 30. He was immediately enchanted by her horse-like beauty, her forceful nature, and her immense stature."

On meeting Laura Bush:

"I was blessed with the good fortune of meeting a wonderful small-town Texas woman who had a dazed and clueless stare reminiscent of a goat that had been struck between the eyes with a tire iron -- a halting kind of beauty which every man desires in a woman."

I'm glad the authors found something funny to write about that pathetic little wimp.

Second, the tabloids' and MSM's treatment of the Bushes:

You won't read it on the front of the New York Times (although they were eager to place under a microscope every salacious inquiry into the marriage of the Clintons).

But you will find it blaring as the front-page stories of the tabloids read by Bush voters in the fly-over states.

National Examiner Cover - Bush Marriage Over!"Bush Marriage Over! Laura Erupts After Drinking Binge," is the cover story of the October 23, 2006, National Examiner.

Globe - Bush Divorce Deal"Bush Divorce Deal: Laura Wins, Condi Loses," is the "World Exclusive" that the Globe ran in a photo-filled cover on August 14, 2006.

You may want to patronizingly dismiss tabloids, but remember that they almost did Bill Clinton in, as the mainstream papers cribbed from them to run front-page stories on Bill and Hillary.

This time, the mainstream media is adopting a double-standard and avoiding the allegations that the tabloids are boldly making. But the point to remember here is that the real readers of these publications are, in large part, the people who normally have voted for Bush.

Many of them are religious, and they aren't going to look kindly on the charges of boozing and philandering by Bush. Not at all.

If you are wondering about what might hurt Bush the most in the red states -- and have a spillover effect on the Congressional races -- these covers from the National Examiner and Globe may have more impact than FoleyGate and the Iraq debacle.

Don't snicker. This is the kind of grass roots tar that sticks.

Who knows, it may even be true.

Sorry, BuzzFlash - I'm snickering, and it doesn't matter if it's true or not, though it would be icing on the cake if it was. It's hilarious on one level, but disturbing on this one: there are folks out there, Americans who vote, who think they can't print something if it isn't true. That's also the basis for the success of F** N**s. Hey, if it's on TV (other than the Librul Media of course) it has to be true or they couldn't say it. Scary. On the other hand, if it makes them less likely to vote for Repuglicans, it's good scary.

I'll admit to a childish glee at Mrs. G's childish glee when she discovers these juicy George/Laura headlines on the covers of those birdcage liners (is that cruelty to animals?) while we're in the supermarket checkout line on Saturdays. She doesn't touch them!

Further, in the good Progressive spirit of transparency and disclosure, I'll cop to reading those rags at my late Mother-in-law's house. She usually had a stack of 'em. Reading those things is like riding a moped: it's fun, but you don't want your friends to see you.

The one tabloid headline that I'm sorry I missed was in '46: "Bar Gives Birth To Alien Space Baby!"

[Welcome BuzzFlash readers, make yourselves da home. ~ Fixer]

OC GOP to Nguyen: Di-di mau!

Following up on my two earlier posts on the intimidation letter sent to Hispanic voters in Orange County CA, from AP.

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) - Orange County Republican leaders on Thursday called for the withdrawal of a GOP congressional candidate they believe sent a letter threatening Hispanic immigrant voters with arrest.

Tan D. Nguyen denied knowing anything about the letter in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press but said he fired a campaign staffer who may have been responsible for it. Nguyen's attorney said his client had no intention of quitting.

County Republican Chairman Scott Baugh said that after speaking with state investigators and the company that distributed the mailer, he believes Nguyen had direct knowledge of the "obnoxious and reprehensible" letter. He told the AP that the party's executive committee voted unanimously to urge Nguyen to drop out of the race against Democratic U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez.

"I learned information that allows me to draw the conclusion that not only was Mr. Nguyen's campaign involved in this, but that Mr. Nguyen was personally involved in expediting the mailer," Baugh said in a telephone interview.

Nguyen said he has fired an employee in his office who he believes might have used his campaign's voter data base to send the letter without his knowledge.

That's right out of the Repug playbook: When caught, blame a staffer.

"If it is proven that a candidate was responsible for this action, that candidate is clearly not fit to serve the people of California and should withdraw immediately from his or her race," California GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim said in a statement.

In an interview Thursday morning, Sanchez said she had never spoken to Nguyen because her campaign didn't see him as a threat to her re-election.

"If it is in fact this guy (who sent the letter), the most disgusting and saddest thing about it is that it comes from another immigrant," said Sanchez, who was born in the U.S. to Mexican parents and whose 1996 election signaled Orange County's increasing diversification. "These communities have spent years trying to get naturalized immigrants to vote."

Nguyen's campaign Web site says he was born in 1973 in Vietnam, where his family fled the Communist regime.

This is not the county's first dispute over alleged intimidation of Hispanic voters. In 1988, Republican Assembly candidate Curt Pringle posted uniformed "security guards" at 20 predominantly Hispanic voting places in Orange County.

Republicans said the guards were stationed to prevent noncitizens from casting ballots. Pringle and the county GOP paid $400,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit alleging intimidation of Hispanic voters.

I grew up in L.A. County, and Orange County, just to the south, became a joke when I was in my teens. It was always a Repuglican hotbed. Richard Nixon was born there, and they renamed their airport the "John Wayne Airport". There were always a lot of wealthy people there, and they elected people to look out for their interests. Hard-core right wingers.

I worked at motorcycle joints, a dealer and a distributor, in Orange County, but move there? No thanks! I commuted thirty miles from Burbank. Motorcycle jobs don't last, but mortgages do, and I didn't want to get stuck there.

With a big influx of Vietnamese, Koreans, and Latinos over the last thirty years, OC's political makeup has changed somewhat. I'm not exactly sure which demographic has had the most impact (inscrutable, them Orientals!) but the OC ain't quite as far right as it used to be.

It's still a joke.

October surprises ... revisited

I know Gord browses Truthout regularly and I got sent there via Maru this morning (while doing laundry left over from vacation ... oy). William Rivers Pitt on the Right's (in the form of dipshit Fred Barnes) salivating for a terror attack before election day:

...

The desperation is difficult to miss, yes, but sometimes it is astonishingly obvious. Take the following statement from Fred Barnes, executive editor for the right-wing whacko factory The Weekly Standard. Barnes, ever the optimist when it comes to permanent Republican control, warned the faithful in this week's edition to prepare for a total wipeout at the polls.

"Of course there's little time left for a major event to occur," wrote Barnes towards the end of his article, titled "How Bad Will It Be?" "The North Korean bomb test wasn't big enough to change the course of the campaign. So Republicans may have to rely on their two remaining assets: They have more money than the Democrats and a voter turnout operation second to none."

There it is, right there in black and white. "There's little time left for a major event to occur," wrote Barnes, who went on to lament that the GOP must fall back on their "two remaining assets." Ergo, a massive terrorist attack with huge casualties and the rise of total fear among the populace is an "asset" in the mind of Barnes, one that, sadly for Barnes, does not seem about to come to pass. After, all there is "little time left" for a bloodbath to come along and rescue the Republicans.

The worst part? Simple. The worst part is that few find it surprising anymore to see a Republican cheerleading for a devastating attack so as to maintain power in Congress. This from the "We Keep You Safe" party. Yes, the desperation is indeed there for all to see. [my emphases]

...

Notice the Repukes take for granted this 'major event' will happen in New York, or Boston, or Los Angeles, or San Francisco. I mean, they wouldn't nuke the 'base', would they? Or would Freddie and his butt-buddies volunteer to be at the next ground zero? Thanks for being so cavalier with our lives, assholes. These are Republican 'values'. Bloodthirsty motherfuckers.

November, people.