WTF Is It Now?!?

Finally it's Friday.
This morning I went out to feed the stray cats and there were 3 kittens in the cat igloo on the back deck! One orange, one grey-striped with a white patch on it's face, and a dark one way in back that I couldn't get a good look at. What fun!


"Don’t be bummed out by these terrorist alerts. If you see something suspicious, you should immediately send a note to Washington and Bush should get to it in a few years." - Letterman

'Attack of the clowns: The real Bush is back'

With the recent scandals and miscues, the President is no longer Winston Churchill or Franklin Roosevelt, he is once again the bungler from Texas who finished second in the presidential race. This return to reality is good news - the nation should be paying attention to the president's agenda, not engaging in mindless hero worship.

(snip) The bottom line is that in President Bush's America, the only genuinely safe investment is a contribution to his re-election campaign. Stopping this assault on the nation's well-being will not be easy, but the first step is recognizing that the guy in the White House is running a scam for his rich friends.

- - (Dean Baker at Counterpunch).


"Bush is overseas in Germany kicking off a tour of Europe. He is also going to visit France, Italy and Oregon." - Conan


Pipeline to Hell....

Last week's outpouring of stories in the mainstream press about the Bush regime's criminal carelessness in safeguarding the citizens of the United States surely came as no surprise to anyone. The facts were always out there, in plain sight. You just had to sift through the sludge -- the spin-gobbling, self-serving prose of the corporate media -- to find the truth.

The Bush regime never had much interest in protecting America from terrorism; their priorities lay elsewhere -- enriching the elite, raping the land, gutting democracy and "projecting dominance" over all the earth.

That's why Bush ordered federal agents to back off their investigations of Osama bin Laden and his family (which had long-standing business connections with Bush's family). That's why Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered the CIA to end its remote monitoring of bin Laden and rejected a request to shift $800 million from "missile defense" to counter-terrorism.

That's why Attorney General John Ashcroft told the FBI that he "didn't want to hear it" when they begged for more resources to fight terrorism. That's why Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill fought international efforts to crack down on off-shore money laundering schemes used by terrorists, mafias -- and wealthy backers of the Bush regime.

(snip) Other priorities, you see: enriching, raping, gutting, projecting. The regime did take the time to negotiate with the Taliban that summer, promising the rabid religious fascists a "carpet of gold" if they'd dump bin Laden and allow Bush's oil pals to build a pipeline through Afghanistan. And when that deal fell through, they did take the time to draw up a plan for attacking Afghanistan and punishing the Taliban for its intransigence. This was, in fact, the very war plan later launched in mid-October. Bush had it in hand on Sept. 10.

- - (Chris Floyd in The Moscow Times).


"That controversial memo that Bush might have read, well, it turns out he might not have read it. Dick Cheney accidentally shredded it with some Enron papers." - Letterman



Beyond Contempt

(snip) It seems that everyone can calm down. Horrific terrorist attacks are not, in fact, imminent. Everything is well in hand. The Bush administration is merely using the fear and horror that another September 11th-type attack may happen again as a means to deflect legitimate criticism from the Democratic Party. Nothing to see here. Go about your business. This is, after all, just politics.

It was bad enough that Bush had made his crass 'trifecta' joke eight different times. You know this one: Someone reported that Bush promised not to raid social Security or dive into deficit spending unless the nation was faced with war, recession or national emergency. After 9/11, Bush was heard to crack on eight separate occasions, "Lucky me, I hit the trifecta."

- - (another excellent column by William Rivers Pitt at Truthout.com).


"The Democrats are attacking Bush. Do you think this is fair? Senator Joe Lieberman said that the White House should have been able to put two and two together. Well, that right there eliminates Bush." - Leno


Last Night on Crossfire:

Sen. Majority Leader Tom Daschle (video clip): Despite what some in the administration have suggested, silence in the face of security lapses is not patriotism. If anything, it is the opposite. And the consequences of such silence can be devastating.

Paul Begala: Tom Daschle served this country in uniform when Dick Cheney was ...

Pretty-boy:: Give me a break.

Paul Begala: Tom Daschle was serving in the Senate when Dick Cheney was making money selling equipment to Iran, Iraq and Libya. Dick Cheney needs to not lecture Tom Daschle about patriotism.


"Sobering warnings have been given out by Vice President Cheney. He's said it's not a matter of if, but when, 'president' Bush will next choke on a snack food." - Letterman