Brain-cell gap
Rumsfeld testifies Geneva Convention doesn't apply to "terrorists" who sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

Spot-on commentary
Top political correspondent Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart on The Daily Show:

Colbert: I'm just saying those journalists don't represent the journalists I know. The journalists I know love America, but now all anybody wants to talk about is the bad journalists--the journalists that hurt America.

But what they don't talk about is all the amazingly damaging things we haven't reported on. Who didn't uncover the flaws in our pre-war intelligence? Who gave a free pass on the Saddam-al Queda connection? Who dropped Aghanistan from the headlines at the first whiff of this Iraqi snipehunt? The United States press corps, that's who. Heck, we didn't even put this story on the front page. We tried to bury it on "60 Minutes II." Who's on that--Charlie Rose and Anglela Lansbury?

Stewart: Stephen, what do you think is at play here?

Colbert: Politics, Jon, that's what. Pure and simple. I think it's pretty suspicious that these tortures took place during a Presidential campaign. This is a clear cut case of partisan sadism. You know, come to think of it, I'm pretty sure those Iraqi prisoners want Bush out of office too. You know I wouldn't be a bit surprised if a pile of hooded, naked Iraqis has a job waiting for them in the Kerry Administration.

- thanks to Tresy.

Questions for "regular guy" Bush:
1. How much is your family worth?
2. How much do you give to charity?
3. Your daddy got you into Yale and out of Vietnam, right?
4. How many people did you allow to be executed when you were governor of Texas?

Bonus:
5. What does somebody have to do to get fired in your administration? Besides tell the truth?



BTW
Nick Berg’s killer was given 3 passes by Bush.

Lowering the bar
"Bush is right: it was 'the wrongdoing of a few' that led to this – the few highest officials that inaccurately planned for postwar Iraq."

Bush visited the Pentagon yesterday to send a public thumbs up to embattled Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. In doing so, he sent the clear impression that he will not do what it takes to extricate the United States from this dangerous mess.

We have often heard that president Bush prizes loyalty above all else among his closest advisers. His recent support for Rumsfeld indicates that he finds it far more important than accuracy or responsibility. Loyalty often goes hand in hand with hyperbole in the Bush White House. That's why it wasn't enough simply for the president and vice president to subtly affirm Rumsfeld's work. Instead, we heard Vice President Cheney call him the best defense secretary ever. And yesterday, president Bush praised Rumsfeld for doing "a superb job," and reminded us that "our nation owes you a debt of gratitude."

This is accountability in the Bush administration.

Bush attempted to put a positive spin on the situation with one of his old favorite lines, noting that despite the scandals, "Who can doubt that Iraq is better for being free from one of the most bloodiest tyrants the world has ever known?" Instead of contenting himself to compare US actions to the absolute lowest common denominator, president Bush should raise the levels of accountability in his administration to the highest levels of office.

- Daily Reality Check. Yeah, and I should win the lottery next week, but that's not gonna happen either.

Dumbass
Bush chose bad time to give up drinki impose Syria sanctions -Arabs

Many warned that the sanctions would only fuel anger against America. "If they are having such trouble in Iraq, they should at least calm down Iraq's neighbors," said Mohamed al-Sayed Said of Egypt's al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

Powell: Bush was told of Red Cross’s torture reports
The fascist liar may have known about Iraqi prisoner abuse earlier than he's admitted.

“We kept the president informed of the concerns that were raised by the ICRC and other international organizations as part of my regular briefings of the president, and advised him that we had to follow these issues, and when we got notes sent to us or reports sent to us ... we had to respond to them, and the president certainly made it clear that that’s what he expected us to do”

- a pissed-off Colin Powell.

WTF were they thinking??
Thanks for nothing, assh*les.

Changing the subject
According to Dumbya, Syria now poses an "extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States." Ok, who wants to guess what happens next?

American infidels reopen Saddam's torture chambers, rape rooms
/world

The sickening abuse of Iraqi prisoners will do incalculable damage to American foreign policy no matter how the administration responds. But if president Bush and his senior officials would acknowledge their complicity in playing fast and loose with international law and would pledge to change course, they might begin to find a way out of the mess. Instead, they hope to escape from this scandal without altering or even admitting the improper and illegal policies that lie at its core. It is a vain hope, and Congress should insist on a different response.

- As if. From a WaPo editorial.

First-rate research
The Bush misadministration has used 27 rationales for war in Iraq, a new study says.

Woot!
Kerry's first choice for Secretary of Defense: John McCain.

PSM
We're getting a lot of requests for the Nick Berg beheading video (??), so here are some links.

Cheney has serious doubts about releasing abuse photos
Implies salaciousness, journalistic rubbernecking and voyeurism, not to mention hating America.

Dick 'dick' Cheney suggested Tuesday that releasing additional photos "might do nothing more than cater to journalists' appetite for more pictures to print."

"It's not just a matter of sort of whetting people's appetites to see sensational stuff here," Cheney told the sym-pathetic asskissers at Fox News Radio.

Though the Chimp-in-Chief has said he trusts us, the misadministration still has not said whether it would release the photos to the public.

Is our children learning?
Bush begins three-day education tour of Arkansas. Sometimes the jokes just write themselves.

It's official: Rush Limbaugh IS on drugs
Media Matters chronicles the latest meltdown of America's Junkie.

Spokesman for Jebus: the Bushies are evildoers

"The tortures? They are a harder blow for the United States than September 11 in the sense that this blow was not carried out by terrorists but it was the Amercans who inflicted it upon themselves."

- Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo in La Repubblica.

The cube-banshee is shrieking about her 'adorable' little hell-moppet again. I've become a mass of tics.




The Abu Ghraib spin zone
"[The prisoners] were probably guilty of something." - Senator and douchebag James Inhofe.

The administration and its Republican allies appear to have settled on a way to deflect attention from the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib: accuse Democrats and the news media of overreacting, then pile all of the remaining responsibility onto officers in the battlefield, far away from president Bush and his political team.

That cynical approach was on display yesterday morning in the second Abu Ghraib hearing in the Senate, a body that finally seemed to be assuming its responsibility for overseeing the executive branch after a year of silently watching the bungled Iraq occupation.

- Ouch. From a NY Times op-ed. About time, guys. The same could be said about you too, you know.

"Rush Limbaugh spoke out on the Iraqi prison pictures situation today. He said it's entirely generated by the media. What? Is this guy on drugs?" - Jay Leno.

"Donald Rumsfeld's been getting a lot of heat. Up until today, a lot of people thought he might step down or get pushed out, but this morning, president Bush said Rumsfeld's doing a 'superb' job. Wait until he finds out 'superb' means 'good.'" -Jimmy Kimmel.

The Bushies' era of responsibility
cough***choke***
Reposted:

The basic attitude taken by Rumsfeld, Cheney and their top aides has been "We're at war; all these niceties will have to wait." As a result, we have waged pre-emptive war unilaterally, spurned international cooperation, rejected United Nations participation, humiliated allies, discounted the need for local support in Iraq and incurred massive costs in blood and treasure. If the world is not to be trusted in these dangerous times, key agencies of the American government, like the State Department, are to be trusted even less. Congress is barely informed, even on issues on which its "advise and consent" are constitutionally mandated.

Leave process aside: the results are plain. On almost every issue involving postwar Iraq - troop strength, international support, the credibility of exiles, de-Baathification, handling Ayatollah Ali Sistani - Washington's assumptions and policies have been wrong. By now most have been reversed, often too late to have much effect. This strange combination of arrogance and incompetence has not only destroyed the hopes for a new Iraq. It has had the much broader effect of turning the United States into an international outlaw in the eyes of much of the world.

Whether he wins or loses in November, George W. Bush's legacy is now clear: the creation of a poisonous atmosphere of anti-Americanism around the globe. I'm sure he takes full responsibility.

- from the must-read by Fareed Zakaria.

Before we forget
29 US soldiers were killed in Bush's war-for-04 during the first week of May.

Signs the call center employee you're dealing with is overseas
5. "I'm sorry, Wing-Ma took the morning off for maternity leave. She'll be back after lunch."

4. "Boy, what a commute this morning. My bus plunged off a mountainside - again!"

3. "Hi, my name is Bob Deathtoamerica. How may I help you?"

2. "Would you like to add the extended service agreement for an additional 80 wildebeest furs?"

1. "I am sorry, but it is quite sunny here today, so I have no place to stick your overdraft notice."

- from Top5.com.

He works hard for the money
We rejoin WH WHore WHolf Blitzer, as he harangues Terry McAuliffe on whether the Kerry campaign is using the Iraq prisoner scandal to raise money, as the rethugs have implied.

McAuliffe replies:

Oh for the love of the holy bleeding Jesus... No. I just find it absolutely absurd, this argument. Here is the Republican National Committee's web site. Here are their two latest appeals that talk about national security and homeland security. Do I have to draw you a damn picture, you little toady?

On both of these, I have circled where it says 'donate now.' On 'Bush-Cheney,' where it talks about homeland security and 9/11, there's a click button for 'donate now.' It is so hypocritical that the Republicans, who, as you know, their first ad, they had pictures of a flag-draped coffin coming out of the World Trade Center. They had to pull that ad down.

This is the same group of people, Wolf, who picked New York City, were quoted saying we did the convention in New York City to take advantage of 9/11. It is outrageous. But their own Web sites say, contribute now. So it's hypocritical.

Now pull that tampon out of your ass, Wolf, I think I hear Dick Cheney calling (paraphrased).

Dear Wolf,
Don't you worry, a change is in the air. Yes, Bill Clinton's memoir just went to the editors.

Yeah...tell it to Bill Clinton

"[S]urely it is not too much to ask of the rest of us to act like adults and put things in perspective - even during an election year. That includes the media."

- misadministration panderer Thomas Sowell, having a damp-panty crisis over the latest Bush misadmin atrocities.

Isn't 'inhofe' Inuit for 'santorum'?
Sen. James Inhofe expressed outrage at the outrage over the abuse of prisoners. No word yet on the outrage over the senator's outrage at the outrage.

Cthulhu pokes head out of R'lyeh, orders coffee
Don Rumsfeld manages to say "This department is not involved with politics" with a straight face, does not get struck by lightning.

Coalition of the exceedingly pissed-off

Opposition leaders pressed Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday to withdraw Italian troops from Iraq following a prisoner abuse scandal that has rocked the U.S. and British governments.

Berlusconi is due to meet George W. Bush in Washington next week and centre-left opponents said he should use the visit to demand publicly the resignation of U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"Our troops shouldn't stay a week more if the prime minister does not get Bush to sack Rumsfeld," said Francesco Rutelli.

A "public display of the president's inept leadership"
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) rips into the Moron-in-Chief.

Speaking of stupid
We join WH WHore WHolf BLITZER as he makes another pathetic spectacle of himself:

BLITZER: For more on the war in Iraq and how the fight for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people is going right now, I'm joined by Juan Cole, he's a professor of Middle East history at the University of Michigan. Professor, thanks very much for joining us. Are we exaggerating the impact of these prisoner abuse pictures within the heart and mind, let's say, of the Arab world?

Prof. COLE: I don't think there's any doubt this is an enormous event in the hearts and minds of the Arab world generally, you incredible moron. Nudity is a taboo in the Arab world. So far, there's been a great deal of rage and disappointment in Iraq, but it hasn't manifested itself to any great extent in street politics. There's been one big demonstration, a joint Sunni/Shiite demonstration at Abu Ghraib. But the major party leaders haven't come out and spoken forcefully. In other Arab countries, yes, it has brought enormous damage to the U.S. image.

BLITZER: Even though much worse atrocities go on in other Arab countries on a day-to-day basis?

COLE: What the holy baby Jesus is wrong with you, Wolf? I think it's always the case that a public minds the atrocities done to its people by a foreigner more than it minds internal atrocities. After all there's a great deal of prison abuse in the United States but Americans don't get as exercised about that as they do when an American is attacked by a foreigner. Christ. How much is the WH paying you?

(paraphrased)

And, for God's sake, the 'president' is an assh*le!

"Well, you know, if people aren't tuned in, I mean, many years - in 2000 I could understand that. In 1996, I could understand that. But we're engaged in a global war against radical Islamist terrorists. We're engaged in wars in Iraq, in Afghanistan, facing deficits that are crushing us in trade, in our federal budget. What in the world do you mean it's too early for people to start paying attention?"

- Lou Dobbs, to MoveOn.org founder Wes Boyd, who had said with six months before the election most sheep people 'aren't tuned in.'

Sad to say, they're both right. Think about it: most people - if they watch news at all - sit in a stupor in front of the local news watching the latest apartment fire before switching over to Entertainment Tonite or whatever. It's enough to make my eyes cross in rage at the stupidity.

Predictable
The repukes trash Gen. Taguba.

In the news this morning

Iraqis Protest Against Shi'ite Militia in Najaf

US Civilian Convoy Hit in Iraq, Several People Missing

Senate Panel to Grill Military on Prison Abuses

Amnesty Report Fuels Scandal on Abuse of Iraqis

Bush Shown Iraq Abuse Photos, Again Backs Rumsfeld

Six Israelis Killed in Biggest Gaza Ambush in Months

Mistreatment Of Detainees Went Beyond Guards' Abuse

Secret World of U.S. Interrogation

As Insurgency Grew, So Did Prison Abuse

Three Killed in Bomb Attack in N.Iraq City Kirkuk

Outlook Dim as Envoys Gather for North Korea Talks

Mercenaries fill U.S. void in Iraq

Gee, all of a sudden a stained blue dress doesn't seem so bad, does it?

Merde alors!
Some whine and cheese with your freedom fries, monsieur?

The Bushies have asked France to send troops to provide security for the UN mission in Iraq. You can't make this stuff up.

We had a hell of a thunderstorm last night - it was literally right overhead and knocked the power out twice. The well pump and water heater seemed to have survived this time, though the cable's out (big surprise). I'll find out about my computer once I get home. Scary. And then I'll have to reset all the damn clocks.



Moral catastrophe

From the day his administration took office, its slogan has been "just trust us." No administration since Nixon has been so insistent that it has the right to operate without oversight or accountability, and no administration since Nixon has shown itself to be so little deserving of that trust.

-Paul Krugman.


'There is no credibility'
'The American people are not being told the facts and the truth. The US Congress is not being told the facts and the truth.' - statement on the Iraqi prisoner atrocities, by Senator Mark Dayton.

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Space cadet
Change the subject again, quick!!
Sounds like somebody's got a bad case of flop sweat:

Bush plans to make a major speech early this summer defending his plan for a new U.S. space exploration initiative, sources told UPI.

"The president wants to speak about space," a senior administration source said.

I'll bet he does.



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Mail
Rove gives commencement address and admits being beat up by a girl because he had a Nixon bumpersticker on his bicycle. This ain't The Daily Show.
- David K.

Yes, even as a young man he was a fascistic pussy asswipe.

________________________________________________
Wisconsin paper begs for pro-Bush letters
"Letters to the editor, a staple of The Post-Crescent, are a way to take the political and social temperature of the Valley."

Recently, though, the number of letters rightfully disparaging this fascist, incompetent misadministration have skyrocketed.

We’ve been getting more letters critical of the Moron-in-Chief than those that support him. "We’re not sure why, nor do we want to guess. But in today’s increasingly polarized political environment, we would prefer our offering to put forward a better sense of balance.

"If you would like to help us “balance” things out, send us a letter, make a call or punch out an e-mail. We’d love to hear from you."

Here's the addy! Go for it!

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Turn on the hoses!

George Bush is King Midas in reverse.

Everything he touches turns to feces.

That would be amusingly odd - and perhaps worth spending a few bucks to witness - if his rare "talent" were something that passing motorists could see advertised on successive little signs along the roadways of Crawford, Texas.

"Crapman, 5 Miles Ahead!"

"See the Amazing Dungheaps!"

"Shit! You're Almost There!"

- Dennis Rahkonen.

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WTF?
Blogger's doing bizarre things to this site.

_________________________________________________
Pope John Paul II: Bush may be the Anti-Christ
Is there a '666' tattooed somewhere on Jebus' Fave-rit pReznit? Does the pope shit in the woods?

"Bush's blood lust, his repeated commitment to Christian beliefs, and his constant references to 'evil doers,' in the eyes of many devout Catholic leaders, bear all the hallmarks of the one warned about in the Book of Revelations - the anti-Christ. People close to the Pope claim that amid these concerns, the Pontiff wishes he was younger and in better health to confront the possibility that Bush may represent the person prophesized in Revelations.

According to journalists close to the Vatican, the Pope and his closest advisers are also concerned that the ultimate acts of evil - the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon - were known in advance by senior Bush administration officials. By permitting the attacks to take their course, there is a perception within the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy that a coup d'etat was implemented, one that gave Bush and his leadership near-dictatorial powers to carry out their agenda. "

- Wayne Madsen.

OK, weird - but it could still be true.

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Walkin' round in women's underwear
Seventy-to-ninety percent of Iraqi detainees were probably arrested by mistake, report says. Rumsfeld to prisoners: sorry about those electrodes on your naked genitals, yo.

_________________________________________________
That's crazy talk
Bush, apparently back on the booze, claims that Rumsfeld is not only "doing a superb job," but that the nation owes him "a debt of gratitude."

Yeah, great, thanks. I needed another reason to pretend I'm Canadian.

_________________________________________________
After they get caught, that is
"One basic difference between democracies and dictatorships is that free countries confront such abuses openly and directly." - the Smirking Moron, at the Pentagon, 5/10/04.

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pReznit gives Rummy turkee
"You are doing a superb job."

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Priorities
Why do they hate America?

The Bush misadministration spends 3 dollars on Iraq for every 1 dollar spent on homeland security.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

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Jesus Christ...
Justification for torture: "The feeling among US soldiers I've spoken to in the last week is also that 'the gloves are off'. Many of them still think they are dealing with people responsible for 9/11."

_________________________________________________
The Geneva convention is for cheese-eating commies!
says Bush Pentagon chief Gen. Buck Turgidson.

'Soon after 9/11, as the war on terror got under way, Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly made public his disdain for the Geneva conventions. Complaints about America’s treatment of prisoners, Rumsfeld said in early 2002, amounted to "isolated pockets of international hyperventilation."'

_________________________________________________
The grand crusade
"Liberate Iraq? Rubbish," said a prominent Jordanian businessman. "You occupy Iraq for the strategic and economic benefits. You are building the largest embassy in the world in Baghdad. Halliburton and Bechtel are running everything, at enormous profits. And then I watch Bush on Al-Arabiya and all I see is his sense of moral superiority. He brings democracy and freedom to the barbarians. But who are the barbarians? Even before the Abu Ghraib pictures, we saw male soldiers searching Iraqi women and humiliating Iraqi men by forcing their heads to the ground."


_________________________________________________
Now he thinks of it
"This administration cannot be trusted to govern if it cannot be counted on to think and, having thought, to have second thoughts." - conservative cocksuc columnist George Will, sounding awfully like some treasonous commie America-hater.

_________________________________________________
Shhhhhh... I'm hunting wabbits...
Sick. And very disturbing.

Iraq's former human rights minister blasted Paul Bremer, saying that he had warned him repeatedly last November and December of 'the rampant abuse in US military prisons.' Dr Turki said that in March he and other ministers even demanded an investigation after a US soldier raped a woman prisoner.

"We were told this matter would be dealt with in secret, and with only Americans attending," he said.

My twitch is back.
Mondays. Besides the obvious reasons why they blow, it's the big day for the cube-banshees to gather round, screeching, cackling and clucking about the weekend, their hellspawn's poopy habits, their lazy husbands, and their favorite television shows. Oh, and Mother's Day! Heartwarming moments spent with overexcited little brats who sounded as though they needed major doses of Ritalin and a good kick in the pants, and prune-faced mothers-in-law who obviously needed a good spliff. Am I the only one with work to do? Can't they do their shrieking somewhere else - like in Hell??



#ucker can't even handle a pretzal, for chrissakes
"I deserve a second term because, first, I've showed the American people I'm capable of handling tough times," the bunker-hopping mouthbreathing fascist coward said to the pithed republican stooges at the Bushmoonie Times.

Yeah, it's got to be rough, all that fundraising, taking extended vacations, playing golf and watching the money roll in from the tax cut you gave yourself, never taking blame or responsibility for anything....

Oh, sorry. Bush is NOT a privileged lazy punk who's been bankrolled and bailed out countless times by his daddy, he's a regular guy, and his pasty, grublike nanny Karl Rove is feverishly working to make sure we don't forget it.

The strategy to beat Mr. Kerry is relatively straightforward, Rove said. This entails framing Bush as a rugged individualist and Mr. Kerry as a condescending elitist.

"One guy who comes from Midland, Texas. You know: 'The sky's the limit. I trust you, not the government. I respect the individual,'" Rove said. And another guy who says: 'Hey, I'm better than you. I know better than you. The government knows better than you.'"

There are so many things wrong with this that it's making my head hurt. Make it stop.

_________________________________________________
King me
I thought he was already dead.

_________________________________________________
Wife of saint forgets she's a republican
Go, Nancy!

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So #uck you
"People ought to get off [Rumsfeld's] case and let him do his job." - warmongering assclown Dick 'dick' Cheney.

"Well, something that was said, attributed to the vice president--I don't know if it's true or not--really bothers me. Says, "Get off his back." Senator Warner's hearing is not being on Secretary Rumsfeld's back. The hearing we're going to have Tuesday is not being on Secretary Rumsfeld's back. The Congress has an independent duty to find out what happened in that prison. It affects us all. So the vice president's comments, I don't know if they actually came from him or not, is just as inappropriate as calling for the resignation of the secretary and politicizing this even before he testifies. Nobody's on their back. We're doing our job." - Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), on Meet the Press.

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Drinkies!
The good news: I'm the first in my family to actually, finally get a damn wisteria to flower.

The bad news: I found the buds in the compost bucket after I accidently cut them off while pruning the damn thing because I figured shit, it would've bloomed already if it was going to, so...

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Is she still on the payroll??
Fire her, too.

Flashback - via Atrios:

Rice will manage Iraq's 'new phase'
pResident Bush is giving his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, the authority to manage postwar Iraq and the rebuilding of Afghanistan.

Ummmmm, good job so far.
/feh

_________________________________________________
More bad news may be on the way for Bush

In one of the darkest weeks of his administration, president Bush saw America's reputation sullied, the U.S. effort in Iraq damaged and his own campaign for re-election clouded. And more bad news may be on the way.

From the White House to Capitol Hill, policy-makers are worried that the United States faces lasting damage abroad — particularly in the Middle East — from the pictures of naked Arab men being tortured and humiliated by American soldiers, the same forces sent to Iraq to liberate the country from Saddam Hussein's torture and repression.

Analysts describe the pictures as great recruiting tools for al-Qaida and other extremist groups and said they undermine America's claims to a moral high ground. Rumsfeld said the impact was "radioactive."

Lawmakers worried the pictures would harm U.S. credibility for years, perhaps decades. While the United States champions freedom and democracy in Iraq, the pictures show vivid scenes of cruelty and insensitivity.

"This has been a difficult few weeks," Bush said. "Yet our forces will stay on the offensive, finding and confronting the killers and terrorists who are trying to undermine the progress of democracy in Iraq."

Confronting his own misadministration would be a great place to start.

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Operation FUBAR
Senior officers: we are #ucked.

Deep divisions are emerging at the top of the U.S. military over the course of the occupation of Iraq, with some senior officers beginning to say that the United States faces the prospect of casualties for years without achieving its goal of establishing a free and democratic Iraq.

A senior general at the Pentagon said he believes the United States is already on the road to defeat. "It is doubtful we can go on much longer like this," he said. "The American people may not stand for it -- and they should not."

Asked who was to blame, this general pointed directly at Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz.

NATO balking at Iraq mission
"#uck that shit!" said one NATO official.

Amid rising violence and public opposition to the occupation, allies want to delay a major commitment until after the US democracy facade election.

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No word yet on how many were 'detained' afterwards
'Dissatisfied with their school’s choice of commencement speaker, about half of Saturday’s graduating class at Cheyney University rebuffed U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., by standing and turning their backs to him during his speech.'

The price of arrogance
Fareed Zakaria grows a pair.

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That's our Bush, part deux

The most obvious expression of Bush's choice of ignorance is that, at the age of 57, he knows nothing about policy or history. After years of working as his dad's spear-chucker in Washington, he didn't understand the difference between Medicare and Medicaid, the second- and third-largest federal programs. Well into his plans for invading Iraq, Bush still couldn't get down the distinction between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, the key religious divide in a country he was about to occupy. Though he sometimes carries books for show, he either does not read them or doesn't absorb anything from them. Bush's ignorance is so transparent that many of his intimates do not bother to dispute it even in public.

"Iraqis are sick of foreign people coming in their country and trying to destabilize their country. And we will help them rid Iraq of these killers." - pReznit Dumbass, speaking on Al Arabiya television, 5/5/04.

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Why Joe Lieberman is an assh*le, cont.

LIEBERMAN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Secretary, the behavior by Americans at the prison in Iraq is, as we all acknowledge, immoral, intolerable and un-American. It deserves the apology that you have given today and that have been given by others in high positions in our government and our military.

I cannot help but say, however, that those who were responsible for killing 3,000 Americans on September 11th, 2001, never apologized. Those who have killed hundreds of Americans in uniform in Iraq working to liberate Iraq and protect our security have never apologized.

Mumbling goofball. Shouldn't he be feeding pigeons in a park somewhere?

_________________________________________________
Whoa
Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, JCS Chairman Gen. Richard Myers, Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker & Deputy Commander of Central Command Lt. Gen. Lance L. Smith testify before the Senate Armed Services Cmte. on the treatment of Iraqi detainees and prisoners in U.S. custody, 5/7/2004:

SEN. MARK DAYTON (D), MINNESOTA: Mr. Secretary were you aware, did you authorize General Myers to call CBS to suppress their news report?

RUMSFELD: I don't have any idea if he discussed it with me. I don't think he did.

DAYTON: Over the last two weeks, calling CBS to suppress the news report?

RUMSFELD: "Suppress" is not the right word at all.

DAYTON: I'm sorry, sir, but I...

RUMSFELD: It's an inaccurate word.

DAYTON: General Myers, did you discuss it with the secretary?

MYERS: This had been worked at lower levels with the secretary's staff and my staff for some time.

DAYTON: That you would call CBS to suppress their news report?

MYERS: I called CBS to ask them to delay the pictures showing on CBS's "60 Minutes" because I thought it would result in direct harm...

DAYTON: Mr. Secretary, is that standard procedure for the military command of this country to try to suppress a news report at the highest level?

MYERS: It didn't -- let me just -- Senator Dayton, this is a serious allegation...

DAYTON: Sure is.

MYERS: ... and it's absolutely -- the context of your question, I believe, is wrong.

DAYTON: I understand the context, General, you...

MYERS: Let me just...

DAYTON: ... told us the context earlier. I have very limited time, sir.

MYERS: I want to take as much time as we need to straighten this out. This report -- the report was already out there, the news was out there about the abuse...

DAYTON: General, if the news had been out there and we had all known about it...

WARNER: Senator, I ask that the witness be allowed to respond to your question. They're very important questions. General, would you proceed?

MYERS: Thank you, sir. Thank you, Senator Dayton. This was not to suppress anything. What I asked CBS News to do was to delay the release of the pictures, given the current situation in Iraq, which was as bad as it had been since major combat ended, because I thought it bring direct harm to our troops; it would kill our troops.

We talked about it, and I said, "I know this report will eventually come out. But this -- if you can delay it for some period of time -- it would be helpful."

DAYTON: What period of time is that?

MYERS: I did it based on talking to General Abizaid and his worry was like mine, and he convinced me that this was the right thing to do. There was no -- this report has been around since January. What was new were the pictures. I asked for the pictures to be delayed.

DAYTON: Did you discuss delaying -- calling CBS to ask them to delay their report, with the secretary of defense, or the vice president or the president?

MYERS: Of course not.

DAYTON: None of those.

MYERS: Of course not.

DAYTON: I would just say, General -- and I agree with your assessment of the consequences of this on our troops, and that's the great tragedy of this, but attempts to suppress news reports, to withhold the truth from Congress and from the American people is antithetical to democracy.

MYERS: You bet it is. And that's not what we were doing.

DAYTON: And whatever the intentions may be, sir, the result is always the same. And it's, I think, terribly tragic that the president, who wants to expand democracy around the world, by actions of his own administration is undermining that democracy in the United States.

DAYTON: That's always the result when people try to control information, delay it, manage it and suppress it, it has that result. It's antithetical to a democracy.

RUMSFELD: May I speak a minute, Mr. Senator?

Throughout the history of this country, there have been instances where military situations have existed that have led government to talk to members of the media and make an editorial request of them that they delay for some period disclosing some piece of information. It is not against our history. It is not against our principles. It is not suppression of the news. And it's a misunderstanding of the situation to say it is.

DAYTON: It is against our principles. It's against our principles when you come before 40 to 45 members of the Senate three hours before that news report is going to occur and don't mention one word about it, sir.

That is antithetical to democracy and the Constitution, which has the Senate and the House as co-equal responsibility for this country.

- Transcript

I hate to start the day off on a downer, so here's a joke:

"I saw the president on TV. I though he looked calm. I thought he looked confident. I thought he looked focused. That's right, he was drinking again." - David Letterman.


The real 'Butcher of Baghdad'

The Bush administration is feigning shock and disgust over the revelations of systematic torture of Iraqi prisoners. But there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the White House was fully aware that such crimes were being committed and by whom. Not only that, they continually took steps to cover their own butts should the matter ever come up - like refusing to sign onto the International Court and declaring an instant end to the war in May 2003 to circumvent the Geneva Convention. Among the mercenaries being trained in the US and deployed to Iraq, some on the Pentagon payroll, are former commandos from the brutal Pinochet regime and 'enforcers' from South Africa's former Apartheid regime."

- Cheryl Seal.

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That's our Bush

[I]f "numskull" is an imprecise description of the president, it is not altogether inaccurate. Bush may not have been born stupid, but he has achieved stupidity, and now he wears it as a badge of honor. What makes mocking this president fair as well as funny is that Bush is, or at least once was, capable of learning, reading, and thinking. We know he has discipline and can work hard (at least when the goal is reducing his time for a three-mile run). Instead he chose to coast, for most of his life, on name, charm, good looks, and the easy access to capital afforded by family connections.

Having chosen stupidity as rebellion, he stuck with it out of conformity. The promise-keeper, reformed-alkie path he chose not only drastically curtailed personal choices he no longer wanted, it also supplied an all-encompassing order, offered guidance on policy, and prevented the need for much actual information. Bush's old answer to hard questions was, "I don't know and, who cares." His new answer was, "Wait a second while I check with Jesus."

- From How Bush chose stupidity, in Slate.

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An'... an'... an' he gave me a cookie!
Q: Senator Harkin said today, "For the good of the country, the safety of our troops, our image around the globe, Secretary Rumsfeld should resign. If he doesn't resign, the president should fire him." We know you weren't happy with him yesterday. Should he keep his job?

BUSH: Secretary Rumsfeld is a really good secretary of defense. Secretary Rumsfeld has served our nation well. Secretary Rumsfeld has been the secretary during two wars and he's an important part of my Cabinet and he'll stay in my Cabinet.

So phththththththththththhhhhh...

And they wonder why I call him 'pReznit Poopypants.'

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Zzzzzzzzz... another Bush panel... right...
"Bush says he wants to get to the bottom of the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison - an unlikely claim from a man who started the war on Iraq with a lie." - Michael Harris nails it.