Me-ow!
Lovely catty article about the Chickenshit-in-Chief -

On his triumphalist tour of India and Pakistan, where he hopes to wave imperiously at people he considers potential subjects, President Bush has an itinerary that's getting curiouser and curiouser. For Bush's March 2 pit stop in New Delhi, the Indian government tried very hard to have him address our parliament. A not inconsequential number of MPs threatened to heckle him, so Plan One was hastily shelved.

- from here.


Buk!
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Above the law and accountable to no one
The White House on Monday rejected the call by more than a dozen House Democrats for a special counsel to investigate the Bush misadministration's illegal eavesdropping program, the WH saying the Dictator-tot was just "exercising his constitutional authority."

WH spokestool Scott McClellan said Democrats should instead spend their time investigating the source of the unauthorized disclosure of the classified program, which "has given the enemy some of our playbook." {Oh please. - Ed.}

"I really don't think there's any basis for a special counsel," McClellan also said.

Hell, it's not like he got a blowjob, for petessake, right? Yeesh.

This will certainly add points in their favor
Lou Dobbs is reporting that Dubai Ports World officials have tried to silence him and get CNN to suppress his reports.

Popular war preznit's ratings at all-time low
Bush's job approval rating has fallen to the atomic number of selenium - headline at Fark.

The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has dump-dived into the crapper fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent - down from 42 percent last month - while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high.

Americans are also overwhelmingly opposed to the Bush-backed deal giving a Dubai-owned company operational control over six major U.S. ports. Seven in 10 Merica-hating Bush-bashers an' terrist-lovers Americans, including 58 percent of Republicans, say they're opposed to the agreement.

Even on fighting terrorism, which has long been a strong suit for Mr. Bush, his ratings dropped lower than ever. Half of Americans say they disapprove of how he's handling the war on terror, while 43 percent approve.

Thirty-four percent. Heh.


34%. 34.
Hee hee.
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Makin' progress, Bush 'optimistic'
Planet Earth: options in Iraq worsen as unrest grows, thousands are killed.

(Feb. 27) -- Iraq's intensified religious battles could undermine the Bush administration plan for cutting the number of US troops there, experts say.

"This throws a monkey wrench in the administration's strategy of standing down as the Iraqis stand up, because it suggests that many Iraqis are standing up to fight other Iraqis," says James Phillips, a defense scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Truthiness
The NYTimes profiles Steven Colbert and the lovable patsies in the "Better Know a District" segments of The Colbert Report.

Coast Guard: you're fucking crazy, dudes
Newly-released findings by the US Coast Guard puts kibosh on rethugs' re-assuming the position on their knees before the WH.

Republican congressional leaders had hoped to curtail bipartisan outcries over a United Arab Emirates-based company's pending takeover of some US port operations by brokering an agreement for a new investigation of the deal's potential security risks.

Then came the disclosure that the U.S. Coast Guard had raised concerns weeks ago that, because of intelligence gaps, it could not determine whether the UAE company, DP World, might support terrorist operations.

Looking to head off a Republican revolt, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and other GOP congressional leaders sought to ensure the White House would be able to stand with members of the president's own party and counter Democratic criticism that they were soft on terrorism when lawmakers returned to Washington from a weeklong break.

FUBAR fact: The Dubai company participates in the Arab boycott against Israel. Participation in such a boycott is a violation of US law.

Great moments in television
In which hero/patriot Jack Cafferty lays the smackdown on the strong on terra rethugs, with a special bitchslap for the craven braindead Senate Majority leader.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, when the news first broke over the Dubai port deal a week ago, the outrage in Washington was palpable. Members of President Bush's party in open revolt, congress going to stop the deal from happening, the president going to beat over legislation if they did. Fast forward a week and the same bunch of clowns that short-circuited the review process the first time -- that's the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS -- is going to get a do over.

This time they're going to do the whole 45-day review like they were supposed to do the first time, but didn't bother. When the review's complete, it will land on the president's desk for his approval. From the sounds of some in Congress over the weekend now, they're all busy backing down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A beaming BILL FRIST, Karl's finger firmly up his pooper: We all trust the president. We are behind the president 100 percent and believe his decision is, in all likelihood, absolutely the right one. But until we have the opportunity to ask the same questions so that we can go back to our constituents and have that same comfort level, we are just asking for a pause.

(END VIDEO CLIP) Asshat.

CAFFERTY: What a joke. Apparently selling control of six American ports to a country with ties to terrorism is OK, we just have to wait a while. Right, Senator Frist? You snivelling drip-hole?

Later...

CAFFERTY: The question is this: is it a mistake the members of Congress back down over the port deal?

Kevin in Sandy Hook, Virginia, writes, "If you're a Republican looking to keep control in November, it'll be disastrous if Congress is unable to stop the deal, regardless of its real merits or shortcomings. It is political suicide for anyone running in 2006 to support it."

Karla in Birmingham, Alabama: "Members of Congress who back down and knuckle under the Bush administration's demands that Arabs be allowed to guard our ports are traitors, plain and simple."

Bill in Madison Heights, Michigan: "They've already backed down. They're just taking up time to smooth it over and cool it down. Some are already talking money instead of America. Benedict Arnold is smiling in his grave."

Perry in Council Bluffs, Iowa: "This is the first sign of any backbone in Congress in over six years. Seeing them on the job makes some of us feel good."

Franc in New York writes, "Of course, it's a mistake to back down. This is the single most important issue facing us today, and President Bush simply cannot be allowed to unilaterally decide this one with the threat of a veto. Congress should muster up the courage and the votes to challenge King George."

And Patricia in Atlanta: "Is it a mistake? Nope, just politics as usual, like my favorite shoes, flip-flops! I fully expect that this deal will close and all the concerns we have will be swept away under the rug" -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jack, thanks very much. :: sob ::

Tweety sings the praises of Preznit Securitude
On Friday's Noballs, the Bush suck-up whose Tiger Beat-style ardor for Chimpy McStupid has pretty well crossed over into the grotesque came up with another corker. Here he's talking about Bush's resolute petulant stand in the firestorm over the Dubai port debacle:

MATTHEWS: Well, he looks like he's a wise man now and a man of restraint, almost Atticus Finch. You know, almost the guy against the mob outside this police station.

Gag. What a sacrilege. Jebus, Tweets, he looks more like a stale pile of dogshit somebody forgot to scrape off the front steps, you drooling idiot. What a dumbfuck.


STFU
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Things that make you go hmmmmmm
I just looked under the sofa cushions and there they were!

Last week the White House “discovered” 250 pages of emails from Dick Cheney’s office related to the Valerie Plame leak and turned them over to Patrick Fitzgerald.

The emails are said to be explosive, {Heh - Ed.} and may prove that Cheney played an active role in the effort to discredit Plame’s husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a vocal critic of the Bush administration’s prewar Iraq intelligence, sources close to the investigation said.

The sources added that the emails could prove that Cheney lied to FBI investigators when he was interviewed about the leak in early 2004.

- via Blah3.

Cheney may resign after mid-terms
Looking forward to drinking full-time, shooting people in the face, avoiding prison.

The power behind the throne retire? I can't see it. But, for what it's worth:

Grain of salt/tinfoil beanie time. Dick Cheney, who once drunkenly shot a 78-year-old man in the face, might quit shortly after the mid-term elections, according to senior Republican sources. The sources said Cheney may be "persuaded" to step down as he becomes "an increasing liability" to the popular Chimpy McStupid. There is a growing rift between the president and the vice president and their staffs, sources told World Nut Daily.

They said the White House was expecting Mr. Cheney to defend himself against charges from his former chief of staff, Lewis Libby, that the vice president ordered him to relay classified information. Such a charge could lead to a congressional investigation and even impeachment proceedings.

Well, there you are. We report, you decide.


"Leave this idiot in charge? I don't think so."
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Corrupt, fascist scumbag uses DHS IRS to subdue political enemies
Sleaz-O-Meter® implodes

The Internal Revenue Service recently audited the books of a Texas nonprofit group that was critical of campaign spending by [indicted piece of shit] Tom DeLay after receiving a request for the audit from one of DeLay's political allies in the House.

The lawmaker, House Ways and Means Committee member Sam Johnson (R-Naturally), was in turn responding to a complaint about the group, Texans for Public Justice, from a Washington lawyer close to DeLay and his fundraising apparatus, according to IRS documents.

- from the WaComPo via AmericaBlog.

Cool

Workmen in Ireland have discovered a 1000-year-old stone tunnel where people might have hidden from Vikings.

"It would be a brave man that would come down one of these after you - not knowing the plan of it and not knowing at which corner he stuck his head round you'd be waiting on the other side with an axe or whatever."

The olden days were so awesome.

An ancient sun temple with statues resembling Yul Brynner Ramses has been found under an outdoor market in Cairo. Can you imagine? It is so cool that people are still finding stuff like that. The bad part is they're finding them while they're putting up yet more condos made of stone-a housing or shopping complexes. Down the road from us a Revolutionary War building was torched just to put up another fucking goddamned bank. Like 3 within 50 yards of each other wasn't enough.

The GOP: tougher on national security
Oh really: On top of the whole ports debacle, now all 50 governors say the Bush misadministration is weakening the National Guard.

Thousands to protect Smirky McFlightsuit on India visit
Bubble-boy to be kept "untouchable"

About 5,000 personnel including snipers, commandos and US marines using helicopters, bomb detectors and electronic jammers will protect our brave, manly war preznit during his visit to India this week, officials said on Monday.

Besides the inner-ring of security forces, an outer cordon would be deployed "as deep as possible" to thwart any attack by a rocket launcher. {Rocket launcher?? - Ed.} Surrounding the outer cordon will be phalanxes of tinfoil-helmeted guard dogs, 'black ops' agents disguised as dancing girls, and two-way plebney lights mounted onto robotic cattle. The entire entourage will be enclosed in a plexiglas™ pope-mobile-type bubble impervious to nooculer blasts cooties.

I wonder if he'll avail himself of the marvelous Indian cuisine while he's there or if he'll bring his personal chefs over to BBQ ribs for him, the clueless twit.

Pic by G Steve.

Living in a pre-9/11 world
"President Bush now is apparently giving an Arab country control to American ports. Does that seem like a good idea? If he keeps this up, people are going to start questioning his judgment." - David Letterman.

"It's hard to believe that just one week after the vice president of the United States shot a man in the face, an even bigger story would come along..."

"We've defended them on wiretaps, we've defended them on Iraq, we've defended them on so many things he's tried to accomplish, that to be left out here supporting this thing in a vacuum is kind of offensive," Republican Representative Mark Foley on Sunday after the agreement to the 45-day national security review was announced. "If it's just about saving face and letting us humor ourselves, we won't be satisfied."

We'll see. We'll see how long it takes before Karl buys his ass.

FUBAR fact: Al-Qaeda has infiltrated key government agencies in the UAE, according to a "disturbing" document released by the US military. The GOP: tough on national security.

Life in the seraglio
Senate Majority Leader/bunghole Bill Frist: "Uhhhh! Uhhhh! Uhhhh! Uhhhhhhhh!"

The Bush misadministration takes "laxness to a new level"
On Sunday, the Australian government issued the following alert: "We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in the United Arab Emirates because of the high threat of terrorist attack."

"Bush is choosing sides, and he's choosing an Arab oil country over our national security interests." - John Aravosis, AmericaBlog.

Nothing to see here, move along
Democratic Congressional candidate and outspoken critic of the Iraq war put on "no-fly" list.

The physician-candidate told the Plattsburgh paper that the secrecy surrounding his name's addition to the "no-fly" list, and the prospect that it might be there because of his anti-war views, is outrageous.

"This is like McCarthyism in the 1950s."

Did not! Did too!
Now, now - there's enough incompetency to go around...

Former FEMA head Michael Brown escalated his campaign to shift blame from himself yesterday by pointing an accusing finger straight at President Bush.

Brown said Bush should have known by Sunday, Aug. 28, the day before landfall, that the storm would be a cataclysm.

"The alarm bells were being sounded on Sunday," he said. "Because not only was I having conferences with the President on the telephone, but he was also on the video conference with all of the state emergency managers."

A White House report released this week ladled blame on Brown for the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina - though not his boss, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, or anyone in the White House.

What... a... surprise.


"Me? How kin you blame me?! Ah wuz on vacashun!"
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Ho-bag Ho-ward
Avedon Carol at The Sideshow points us to a list of blogs WH WHore wHoward Fineman reads while listening to Bunnypants' radio addresses to the faithful and trying to jerk off his vestigial weener. Funny, I don't see I Love Karl Rove anywhere on there. Maybe he's too embarrassed? He should be.

Traitorous commie troop-hating terrist-lover enabling the enemy
Howard Dean: "One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed."

Uhhh, no, wait, it's conservative William F. Buckley.

Mission accomplished
"The gravest crisis since the US invasion in 2003"

Iraq's defense minister warned on Saturday of a civil war that "will never end" and said he was ready to put tanks on the streets as violence flared. Meanwhile, the US looks to be "increasingly powerless" as violence, corruption and "the blurry lines of guerrilla warfare are clouding any hopes of victory."

Abroad, there are concerns that the Iraqi sectarian violence could inflame the entire Middle East if it gets out of hand.

I guess it could finally turn into the smoking mushroom cloud threat the misadministration warned us about. Swell. Heckuva job, assholes.
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Resolootnitude
The Bush misadministration said Friday it won't reconsider its approval for the United Arab Emirates to take over operations at six US ports*. "We're not going to admit we made a mistake," said a WH spokesman. "Plus, this will all blow over in a day or two. Once Karl finishes threatening republican holdouts."

Republican Tom Kean, the former head of the Sept. 11 commission, hadn't gotten the memo yet. The deal "never should have happened," he told reporters.

"The fact that you are putting a company in place that could already be infiltrated by al-Qaida is such a mindboggling dumbfuck idea you'd have to be a fucking retar a silly thing to do," said Mike Scheuer, who headed the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit until 1999.


"Trust me. Heh heh."

*Actually, its more like 21.
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Massive hit on Bush over ports
In a new poll, only 17 percent of Americans approve of the deal to turn over control of US ports to the United Arab Emirates, a "major blow" to Smirky McStupid's perceived leadership in the "war on terror."

Heh
"Cheney slays 4 in Olympic biathlon incident."

Swallowing kool-aid, WH spunk
The second in command at the Pentagon said Thursday that people who oppose allowing Dubai to take over management of US ports are threatening national security and enabling terrorists.

"The terrorists want our nation to become distrustful," Deputy Defense Secretary/asshat Gordon England said. "They want us to become paranoid and isolationist, and my view is we cannot allow this to happen. It needs to be just the opposite."

Otherwise, the terrists win! Or... whatever!

Friday cat blogging


Berry and SpiceGirl after a hard day of ... well, sleeping.
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You can't make this stuff up
Though worthless, Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff was not aware of the port deal until it had been approved. Because everyone knows that port security has no bearing on homeland security.

Bush backing down in US ports battle
Flip... flop!

The White House is folding like a house of cards attempting to remove Congress's death grip from their swelling, painful balls placate members of Congress angered over plans to let a Dubai company run several major US ports, with a top administration official saying that a delay in the deal is possible.

Just days after Preznit Resolvitood threw down the gauntlet and vowed to veto any bill that could delay the transaction, Rasputin-like weasel Karl Rove said in a radio interview that he told Squinty McNumbnutz to get out there and do some major backpedaling the president "might consider" a postponement after all.

That's mighty white of him.

Reaping what you sow
So, has the misadministration said yet that investigating the UAE port deal "aids and comforts our enemies"? *

The chickens are coming home to roost. A White House that routinely brands anyone who disagrees with its positions as soft on terrorism is now complaining that election-bound lawmakers are callously using the ports deal to frighten voters. A White House that invaded Iraq as a substitute for defeating Al Qaeda is frustrated because Congress is using the company, Dubai Ports World, as a stand-in for all the intractable perils of the Middle East. Well, they can suck my weeping dick.

- from a NY Times editorial. Mostly.



*On edit: yep.
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Shooting themselves in the face foot
After telling the nation over and over again that they were stronger on security than those pansy America-hating terrist-coddling librals, the Bushies have sold that security to their pals, donors and bidnez buddies. Turns out that not only did the UAE give $1 million to the George Duhbya Bush preznental lieberry, but they're major investors in Bush-the-elder's Carlyle Group and brother Neil Bush's software company. Feeling safer yet?

Uhhhh, one more thing...
UAE terminal takeover extends to 21 US ports

The United Arab Emirates government-owned company is poised to take over port terminal operations and security in 21 American ports, far more than the six widely reported.

Port facility operators have a major security responsibility, and one that could be exploited by terrorists if they infiltrate the company, said an attorney representing a port facility operator in Florida.

Oh good. What's next, bidding out airport security?

Well, Jaffa's illness is still a mystery. The ultrasound showed he has malformed kidneys - "we've never seen anything like that before!" - so now we have to wait for the results of a biopsy. Blah. Thank you everyone who wrote in! Hopefully we'll know something more by Tuesday.


Rewriting history books
This is so #ucking pathetic -

Actual cover of book (via amazon.com):


Bush nanny Karen Hughes' version:

Why didn't they just draw a fucking halo over his kingly head while they were at it?

Stubborn shit-for-brains his own worst enema
Crappy idea may send poll numbers further down toilet.

Bush is now putting his entire presidency at risk, thanks to incompetence by his staff — and his own I-know-best stubbornness on the port furor.

Bush has landed fellow Republicans in Congress with a nightmare choice: They can create a diplomatic incident by blocking the United Arab Emirates takeover of ports like New York, or they can commit political suicide.

"No member of Congress is going to risk a TV ad run by their opponent showing Arab street thugs burning American flags and waving AK-47s superimposed over port icons like the Statue of Liberty," says a veteran Republican.

- the normally brownnosing NY comPost.

CREW Files Ethics Complaint Against Frothy, Rule-Breaking Douchebag
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) have filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee charging that Senator Rick Santorum (R-Naturally) violated the Senate gift rule by accepting a mortgage from a bank that serves rich clients and whose officials have contributed thousands to Santorum’s campaign and political action committee.

White House Report Cites Katrina Response Failures
Accountability...

New report from the White House concludes that the Katrina response was everyone else's fault.

Makin' progress
Iraq forces on alert as the shiite hits the fan.

Killings mount: the death toll in Iraq now tops 100, and fears rise of an all-out civil war.

Pic by Karin von Ansbach.

US terror fears, long stoked by Bush, now being turned against him
"Not just NO — but HELL NO."

For almost five years Preznit Resolootnitude has warned Americans to fear terrorism, but now those words have come back to bite him in the ass.

The president, who has cast himself as America's protector against terrorism and Islamic militancy, has been thrown on the defensive by a bipartisan revolt over his administration's approval of a state-owned company from the United Arab Emirates assuming operation of six major U.S. seaports.

Even ultra-conservative partisan crook Tom DeLay has turned on Chimpy McFuckhead. "Politically, for the president, it is a huge mistake for him to be defending this decision. The president will be overturned," he said.

Bush has long been successful in persuading Americans they were under constant threat and he was the best man to protect them.

"That's what makes this story so ironic. I guess you can't have it both ways," pollster John Zogby said.

Heh.

Cat scan
Last week we brought Jaffa to the vet because he was losing weight. We were told that he doesn't have diabetes, worms or a thyroid problem, but he's developed a heart murmur, and has an increase of renal enzymethingiemacallits in his blood. So tomorrow he goes in for an ultrasound. Poor kitty.

Rule of law
The Bush misadministration failed to conduct a manditory, legally-required investigation before approving the UAE port deal. Feeling safer yet?