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A 'massive fix to justify Bush's revenge'

The message was implicit. Saddam Hussein had to be stopped NOW before he brought death and destruction to the West.

But the real axis of evil lies far closer to home, right in the Oval Office. It lies in the blind prejudice of men like US Vice President Dick Cheney, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz.

Men who believed America, the sole and triumphant superpower, had the right to change the world at a whim.

Clever, shadowy men who manipulated a fool of a President into unleashing a Pandora's Box of endless war that really does now threaten the entire world.

...As it turned out, Saddam was one telling the truth and our leaders, Bush and Blair, were the ones telling lies.

- terrorism expert Kevin Toolis.

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Bush as guilty as abusive soldiers
'The electrodes' switch is in Washington'

"...there are no longer torture chambers or rape rooms or mass graves in Iraq."

George W. Bush's words appeared on page A7 of Saturday's Washington Post.

On the front page, a photo featured a hooded Iraqi prisoner balancing himself on a box after his American jailers told he would be electrocuted if he fell. On the jump page, A16, two soldiers gloated while standing over a group of Iraqi prisoners forced to pile naked on one another.

"I shared a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated the way they were treated. Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people." So says George of this new scandal.

You know what this means: We have caught Bush in still another lie. .... One way or the other, he is just as guilty as the soldiers who abused the inmates.

No way can Bush dismiss this incident as one that fell through the cracks. Under Bush, the cracks in the system have been awfully wide and numerous. At best, the degradation of these Iraqis fits a pattern of sloppy management of the war in Iraq.

- Bruce S. Ticker.

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Rethugs announce convention event schedule
The following is the "first final" list of events for the Republican National Convention in New York City, August 30 to September 2.

AUG. 30 6 p.m. -- OPENING PRAYER read by Mel Gibson, while being flogged with a spiked leather strap wielded by Ann Coulter, who will enjoy it a little too much.

* TOM RIDGE raises National Alert Level to RED.

* LEST WE FORGET -- HONORARY ROLL CALL of All Members of (and Friends of) Bush Administration Who Might Very Well Have Been Killed In Vietnam If It Hadn't Been For Nasty Trick Knees, Anal Cysts, Recurrent Headaches, and Highly-Placed, Overly-Protective Parents. (Sponsored by Tyson Chicken)

Heh. Read more here.

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They all make me sick

The reason for the tandem testimony by Bush and Cheney is, of course, all too obvious. But it is still awfully embarrassing when the leader of the most powerful country on the planet must, when discussing issues of national security, be accompanied by a minder.

The absurdity of the president and vice president demanding that there be no official record of their meeting with the commission would be the subject of a congressional outcry and a constant media battering of the administration if Bush and Cheney were members of another political party. Just imagine if Bill Clinton had asked that there be no recording or official record of obviously troubling and politically damaging statements he made during the interviews and inquisitions of the Republican-sponsored "sexgate" investigations of the late 1990s. The screams of outrage would still be echoing today.

But Bush and Cheney will get their pass from the commission, the Congress and a cheerleading media. The willingness of major media to go along with the charade is particularly galling, but not surprising in an era when the White House press corps tends to ask probing questions along the lines of "how high?" in response to presidential press secretary Scott McClellan's regular requests that they jump to the right.

- John Nichols.

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Kerry mildly mentions aWol, Cheney's 5 deferments
during French manicure

"I think a lot of veterans are going to be very angry at a president who can't account for his own service in the National Guard, and a vice president who got every deferment in the world and decided he had better things to do, criticizing somebody who fought for their country and served."

Now if you'll excuse me, my sommelier is waiting...
/groan

Good GOD. He's got to do better than that.

In some good news, hero/patriot Wesley Clark may be on Kerry's list for VP.

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'Sadistic abuses'
"This is how military intelligence wants it done," the email says. "We have had a very high rate with our style of getting them to break," the email adds. "They usually end up breaking within hours."

Meanwhile, clueless stepford wife Laura 'Pickles' Bush called US troops 'the face of American compassion abroad.'

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Pinch-hitting for MWO...
David Brock, with support from former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, has launched a watchdog site 'to closely monitor conservative commentators and journalists and, when they make erroneous or misleading claims, to point them out and set the record straight.' Please welcome and support Media Matters for America.

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Strategic catastrophe
'As I say in the literally first paragraph of the book, Karl Rove, a week after the Novak article appeared, called Chris Matthews of NBC and said, "Wilson's wife is fair game," that it was OK to go after somebody's spouse because you disagreed with what her husband said. And now remember, when you talk about partisan, what I did was my civic duty to hold my government to account for what it had said, a pattern of deception to the Congress of the United States and the American people, including these 16 words in the State of the Union address.' - Joseph Wilson explains things to pathetic WH toady Tim Russert on Meet the Press.

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Howdy. I'm a total #ucktard and I'm yore preznit.
How dumb can a president get?

Don't get me started.

'Now, when the idea of American freedom, of US democracy is brought up, it will be a pathetic joke, a travesty of the true ideals.'

Bush's inadequate grasp of the English language, his inability to communicate, screams in the face of the travesty of Iraqi prisoner tortures. Now, more than ever, the US faces the hatred, scorn and wrath of the Arab world. It takes a smart, articulate leader to respond to such horrors. Bush fails in so many ways.

"I shared a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated the way they were treated," Bush said. "Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people. That's not the way we do things in America. And so I didn't like it one bit."

His comments are not nearly good enough. They are pathetic, thoughtless blurtings of a fool. It is a time like this that we need a leader who has the ability to communicate, to eloquently express the horror, shock, and apology that is necessary. Obviously his speechwriters weren't able to supply him with words with any resemblance to the words of a thoughtful leader. The real Bush came through with a gigantic thud.

- read more of Rob Kall at OpEdNews.com.

My neighbors probably hate me, but I like dandelions.

Tigger was back at the feed bowl this morning, but there was still no sign of the kittens.



'Getting the memo'
Bremer retracts critical statement after major asspounding by Karl and Dick.

WH patsy Paul 'pussy' Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, assumed the position and took back his statement that the Bush misadministration was doing nothing to prevent terrorism.

On Feb. 26, 2001, Bremer had said, "The new administration seems to be paying no attention to the problem of terrorism. What they will do is stagger along until there's a major incident and then suddenly say, 'Oh, my God, shouldn't we be organized to deal with this?' ... They've been given a window of opportunity with very little terrorism now, and they're not taking advantage of it."

On Sunday, after a locked-door session with a lubed-up Karl Rove and Dick Cheney brandishing battery cables*, he said he regretted the statement.

*Alleged.

Accountability
In a related story, like a whiny chickenshit snivelling little brat pointing fingers when it looks like he's gonna catch it from dad, Bush lied again, this time to the 9/11 commission, the cowardly lying little fuck.

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Pressure mounts on Cheney over smears against diplomat and 'outing' of CIA wife
From the 02 May 2004 Independent:

Vice-President Dick Cheney was under mounting pressure last night after he and his senior officials were accused of smearing a former ambassador and outing his wife as an undercover CIA officer in a deliberate act of revenge hatched inside the White House.

Should the Vice-President be personally implicated - which Mr Wilson believes he is - the outcome would be devastating for both Mr Cheney and Mr Bush as they campaign for re-election.

We can only hope.

And from today's SJ Mercury News, Joseph Wilson writes 'White House officials went after me and my wife, a CIA operative, after I questioned their claim that Saddam was pursuing nuclear weapons. Here's how they did it, and why it was so important to them:'

The Bush administration lied to get us into war, and it lied when it said the war in Iraq was part of the struggle against terrorism.

The invasion of Iraq may have been about other things: among them, the president's vision of bringing the "Almighty's gift'' of freedom to the Middle East, at the barrel of a gun. But it was not about weapons of mass destruction, and it was not about terrorism. Not until we attacked and gave Al-Qaida the best recruitment tool it ever had.

Americans have been bombarded in recent weeks with overwhelming evidence that our government has bungled its way into the desert equivalent of a quagmire. Former administration loyalists Paul O'Neill and Richard Clarke essentially said so, arguing that the White House was so focused on overthrowing Saddam Hussein that it pushed aside other priorities, including fighting Al-Qaida.

With the publication of my book Friday, I added my voice to that group. I believe The Politics of Truth will shine a light on leaders who refuse even to entertain information that could challenge their assumptions and keep them from making grave errors of judgment. Like invading Iraq.

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Rats
Tigger moved the kittens from the igloo on the deck to who knows where after the bf was out there grilling Friday night.

I'm pretty sure he was grilling hamburgers.

Anyway, I haven't seen her since. I'm hoping she moves them back once it starts raining.

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Did you know...
The Smirking Moron-in-Chief had proclaimed May 1st Loyalty Day?

As Americans, we work to preserve the freedom declared by our Founding Fathers, defended by generations, and granted to every man and woman on Earth by the Almighty. On Loyalty Day, we are reminded that we are citizens with obligations to our country, to each other, and to our great legacy of freedom and democracy.

Yeah, good luck with that. What a #ucking tool.

Torture and humiliation by American soldiers replace torture and humiliation by Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi prisoners faced numerous "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" by US.

US military intelligence officers may have encouraged abuse.

Torture at Abu Ghraib: How far up does the responsibility go?

Iraq war veteran criticizes Bush
"I don't expect our leaders to be free of mistakes. I expect our leaders to own up to them," said Army National Guard 1st Lt. Paul Rieckhoff.

Rieckhoff called his comrades in Iraq "men and women of extraordinary courage and incredible capability. But it's time we had leadership in Washington to match that courage and match that capability."

In response, republicans circulated doctored photos of Rieckhoff in a wedding gown, sacrificing a small child in front of an altar to Cthulhu.

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Ick
Did draft-dodging liar Dick Cheney get married and pork his harpy wife into producing a hellspawn just so he could avoid the draft?

Cheney's five draft deferments - and six years in college - during Vietnam emerge as a campaign issue.


"OK, it ain't much, but can a lesbian top that?!"

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California says 'hasta la vista, baby' to Diebold
California's Secretary of State withdrew his approval of Diebold's electronic voting machines throughout the state on Friday, unless they met 23 new security conditions.

Diebold "broke the law. Their conduct was absolutely reprehensible. Their conduct should never be tolerated from anyone doing business again with the state of California," Kevin Shelley said, and called on California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer to open a criminal and civil probe of the company.

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Iraqi general receives hero's welcome as US marines bug out of Fallujah
The people of Fallujah have been liberated from the liberators by the former oppressor who is greeted by the mythical flowers and candy supposedly meant for us (thanks to BuzzFlash).

Pic from Bartcop


Happy Mission Accomplished day!
One year after he strutted around the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln like a toddler who had just made his first poopy in the grown-up's john, Chimpy McFlightsuit made no apologies for declaring "major combat operations" over on May 1, 2003.

"There are no longer torture chambers or rape rooms or mass graves in Iraq" Bunnypants sputtered in a news conference Friday.

594 US soldiers have died since Il Ducebag stuffed himself like a summer sausage into a flightsuit and grinned like the smirking moron he is last May 1st. 732 have died since the beginning of military operations last year. We lost 136 soldiers and 1360 Iraqis last month, Fallujah is handed over to a former Saddam General, and al Sadr holds Najaf.

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Middle-finger news
Tisbury, Massachusetts, this week became the 300th government to denounce the Patriot Act, even as Il Ducebag was campaigning Congress to make the Act permanent before its expiration next year.

Nancy Reagan just says no to idea of Saint Ronald of Reagan U.

A Hamas suicide bomber blew up two armed Palestinians who tried to rob him at gun point in the Gaza Strip (thanks to our friends at AMCGLTD.com!).

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Reasons to be cheerful
Though still in the early talking stages, hero/patriot Howard Dean is mulling over the idea of hosting his own syndicated talk show.

A group of students at Florida State University is demanding that FSU's president ask Dirty Dick Cheney not to attack John Kerry or make a "political diatribe" aimed only at "scoring points in the presidential campaign" Saturday when he delivers the school's commencement address.