Political Bloviation

A Hostage Situation - New York Times

Anyway, never mind the political calculations. Confronting Mr. Bush on Iraq has become a patriotic duty.
Amen. The President threatens to veto a non-binding suggestion that he withdraw, then says the democrats are at fault for daring to have anything to say about the debacle the President’s leadership has created [...]

Missing E-Mail May Be Related to Prosecutors - New York Times

But in August of that year, according to the Republican official, the committee decided that e-mail sent by White House officials would be kept on the server. Still, the change did not prevent White House officials from manually deleting their e-mail, and some, including [...]

Bush Appoints Walter Reed Commission - New York Times
I’m sure Dole and Shalala will do and admirable job of investigating the problems in the military health care system. I’m also sure the Bush administration will ignore them just as they did the 911 commission and the Iraq Studyy Group. These people enjoy using the troops [...]

Food risks up, inspections down - Infectious Diseases - MSNBC.com
Another debacle brought to you by Bushco. There’s been a 47% drop in food inspections since 2003.

Crooks and Liars » Olbermann: A Look Backward at the Commander’s Credibility
The video of Olberman’s pre-speech retrospective of past statements from the decider-in-chief should be enough to scare all but the most rabid neo-cons out there. In discussing the speech with friends today the point was made that the most important thing is not how [...]

Video Is a Window Into a Terror Suspect’s Isolation - New York Times
Is this the America that you want to be part of? A place where a man is held in inhuman conditions for what appear to be very weak charges? A place where the accused is denied counsel for 22 months, drugged, blindfolded and [...]

Union Leader - Gingrich raises alarm at event honoring those who stand up for freedom of speech - Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2006
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich yesterday said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism.
Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a “different [...]

As Bechtel Goes - New York Times
The administrations final answer on dealing with wasted money, outright incompetence and perfidy in the failed reconstruction of Iraq is to shoot the messenger. Instead of dealing with correcting the situation they have decided to close the Special Inspector General’s Office for Iraq Reconstruction. It was simply too embarrassing [...]

Half of U.S. still believes Iraq had WMD - Yahoo! News
Is it really possible that so many American are that fucking stupid?

Bush casts his first veto on stem-cell bill - Yahoo! News
The man is an idiot. He can’t veto pork laden bullshit that comes out of congress but he can veto this? What pisses me off about the whole thing is the sheer falseness of it. During the announcement of the veto, there were children in [...]

It would be one thing if the wholsale outsourcing of military functions was cost-effective and consistent with the mission, it’s another thing entirely if people die so others might profit while damaging our effectiveness in the field. Check out the trailer for “Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers”

Missing Soldiers Found Dead In Iraq
…The deaths were first reported by an Iraqi defense official. Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Muhammed Jassim said in a news conference Tuesday they had been tortured and killed “in a barbaric way.”
This is exactly why the US needs to renounce torture and abide by Geneva Convention standards for the treatment [...]

US House clears $427.6 billion for Pentagon - Yahoo! News
Voting 219-207 largely along party lines, the House defeated an amendment to make the National Security Agency obtain warrants before listening to the international phone calls and reading the e-mails of U.S. citizens.
I guess it’s clear which party favors judicial oversight and which party favors unfettered [...]

Add massive data mining operations to the laundry list of transgressions by the Bush administration:
Yahoo News gives us the President’s reaction to a USA Today story - NSA has massive database of Americans’ phone calls
Text: Bush’s Comments on NSA Activities - Yahoo! News
Today there are new claims about other ways we are tracking down al-Qaida [...]

Tim Roemer writes in today’s NY Times Op-Ed section (behind a subscription wall):
Enough Already - New York Times
“Had Enough? Vote Democratic!” is a slogan that spotlights the many mistakes in Iraq, the mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina and the mangling of fiscal responsibility with “bridges to nowhere.” Indeed, you can see and hear Democratic candidates rallying [...]

Warrantless Wiretaps Possible in U.S.
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales left open the possibility yesterday that President Bush could order warrantless wiretaps on telephone calls occurring solely within the United States — a move that would dramatically expand the reach of a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program.
If this doesn’t bother you, then you deserve Bush [...]

Somebody straighten me out here. Are all women just flat out, balls to the walls, incurably insane? Are high levels of estrogen toxic? I begin to think so.

If I ever get the opportunity, I’d like to take…