Popular wartime prezdint’s approval ratings hit new low
Worst... approval... ratings... ever.

The much-loved Preznit Popularity's job approval ratings have hit the lowest point of his tenure, according to a Gallup poll released Friday

Only forty-four percent of Americans approve of the way the well-liked President GameBoy is handling his job, according to the poll, while 51% disapprove. That is a four-point drop from Bush's approval rating of July 22-24 and 1% below his previous low of 45% in a poll taken June 24-26.

"44 sounds big! Like a hundred trillion gazillion!"
***

I’m flying
This is where I grew up – my parents’ house is at the center of the cove, and the green thing bulging into the water is their willow tree.


Clickarooni.
***

Time waster
I’m having fun with Google Earth today – our house is the one in the lower left. The faint rectangular thing below it is the veggie garden.


Clicky.
***

A done deal?
Preznit Integritude intends to use a recess appointment to put no-talent assclown John "I lied to Congress!!!" Bolton in the UN ambassador post before leaving Washington on Tuesday to spend August at his Texas fleapit, the AP reports.

My past life revealed!
Thanks to skippy I took one of those blog quizzes, and found out that I was an insane executor of sacrifices who lived in New Zealand and died of typhoid fever.

Rectum? Damn near killed 'im!
In the absence of any real Turd Blossom news, here are some Karl Rove jokes.

"The president's top political adviser, Karl Rove, is spending all his time working on Bush's next Supreme Court nominee. Well sure, that's because this judge could decide if Rove is going to prison or not." - WH toady Jay Leno, in between Clinton's cock jokes.

"Suspicion for the leak was immediately cast on White House adviser and long time Bush confident, Karl Rove, known as one of the few men in Washington with flesh colored hair" - Jon Stewart

"Karl Rove is in a lot of trouble. The White House says today that President Bush is standing by his top advisor Karl Rove even though Rove apparently revealed the identity of a CIA agent. However, Bush did say he would fire Rove if he revealed the end of 'Charlie and the Chocolate factory.'" - Conan O'Brien

"It's easy to simplify it and just say that Karl Rove is a vicious cut-throat character assassin and that's not true.... he's also a beety-eyed doughy amoral putz." - Bill Maher


***

Friday cat blogging


Sleepytime!
***

Friday random 10
I finally remembered to bring my iPod to work:

1. Cry Me A River - Joe Cocker, though I always picture John Belushi doing 'Lonely at the Bottom' from Lemmings.
2. Kiss Him Goodbye - Steam
3. Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC. She was a fax machine, she kept her modem clean...
4. Gloria - Patti Smith. Always reminds me of that one epidode of 'Millennium'...
5. Photograph - Def Leppard
6. People Are Strange - The Doors. "The one thing about livin' in Santa Carla I never could stomach...all the damn vampires."
7. Eli's Coming - 3 Dog Night. Heh: he said 'coming'....
8. Whipping Post - The Allman Brothers
9. Dancing Barefoot - Patti Smith. See #4.
10. Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations

Bonus tracks
11. Grazing in the Grass - Friends of Distinction. Can you dig it, baby?
12. It's Raining Men - The Weather Girls

Totally embarrassing track
As if "It's Raining Men" wasn't bad enough...
13. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham! I'm so ashamed.

Word
Veteran reporter/heroine Helen Thomas is vowing to 'kill herself' if Dick 'dick' Cheney announces he will run for president.

"The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself," she told The Hill. "All we need is one more liar."Thomas added, "I think he'd like to run, but it would be a sad day for the country if he does."
- from drudge, so no link.



"Mehhhh! Go #uck yourself!"
***

Friday cat blogging


Meanwhile, somewhere in the jungle...
***

Fingergate
WH spokestool is not confirming or denying Jeebus's Fave-rit Preznit's denial that he flipped off the press corps.

Scott McClellan: I'm just not going to -- I'm not going to dignify that with a response. I mean, I haven't seen the video that you're talking about, but I know the way the President acts. And if someone is misportraying it, that's unfortunate.

AmericaBlog: Well, with all due respect Scott, you just lied again. You know how the president acts? Implying, what, that the president would never flip someone off? Of course, he DID flip someone off and we have it on tape. He also called a NYT reporter a "major league asshole." Bush has a history of flipping off reporters.


Actual picture of Preznit Dignitude.
***

Flip-flopping
Whoa. Evidently in the last throes of syphilis, Senator/douchebag Bill Frist tells Preznit Lawn Ornament and the christian right to go to hell.


"Poopies!"
***

Nasturtium flower, 25 July 05.


State Dept admits Bolton gave "inaccurate" answers
Liar and no-talent assclown LIED to the Senate Foreign Relations committee, country

"And you wanted to be my latex salesman..."
- Jerry Seinfeld, to a prone and hysterical George Costanza.

The State Department reversed itself on Thursday night and acknowledged that President Honor'n Integritude's UN ambassador nominee lied to Congress about a government investigation into lying about faulty prewar intelligence he was involved in.

"When Mr. Bolton completed his form during the Senate confirmation process he did not recall being interviewed by the State Department inspector general," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said with a straight face.

Yes, Preznit Stupid's "right man" for the important UN position is not only an obnoxious bully, but a proven liar. Good one.


***

Ahhhhhhh!
The cicadas are back!


***

Over 300 kids get heat stroke waiting for Bush to show up
Speaking of compassionate...

More than 300 Boy Scouts were sickened by the heat Wednesday while waiting for the Chimp-in-Chief to arrive at a memorial service for four Scout leaders.

Soldiers carried Scouts on stretchers to the hospital, and others were airlifted from the event.

The manly, resolute preznit never appeared, due to the “threat of severe thunderstorms and strong winds.”

Pussy.


"Ah'm a-scared a thunderstorms!"
***

Pic by Ellen at AMCGLTD.com.


Welp, it looks like we're back online. But for how long........................?


That's what Jesus would've done
Our compassionate Christian prezdint gives the press the finger - AmericaBlog has the video.


***

Lapdog whines, licks master's balls
Tony 'Piddles' Blair is an asshat.


***

My Struggle
Bunnypants, the "tool of statecraft," gets handlers to create new talking points in face of public scepticism, ennui.

The "War on Terra" against homicide bombers an' other evildooers is now "a global struggle against the enemies of freedom."

"The shift in terms comes at a time when the US public is increasingly pessimistic about the war in Iraq - and sceptical about its links to the fight against terrorism."

A new slogan. Yeah, that'll soooo help.


"Evildooers are poopy!"
***

Rummy tells Iraqis to shit or get off the pot
Quit milking this damn war thing already, you girlie-men, the US secretary of defense tells officials.

Donald Rumsfeld calls for the new Iraq constitution to be completed by the 15 August deadline, saying the US does not want any delays: "Now's the time to get on with it."

"It's hard work.... but we're makin' progress," Iraqi officials should've replied, giggling.


***

Karl Rove has a girrrrrrrlfriend, Karl Rove has a girrrrrrrlfriennnnnd
Rethug family values and the sanctity of marriage

“I’ve heard the stories, but I would never write about [puffy, treasonous adulterer] Karl [Rove] and [repuke lobbyist/homewrecker] Karen [Johnson]. If you want to keep your job as a reporter in Texas, you make believe you don’t see them together.”

Paging Rick 'sanctimonious asshat' Santorum! Rove is married and supposedly has a teenaged son, though probably through budding. Won't somebody think of the children?


***

Operation Coverup
Joe Wilson's a liar! Valerie Plame wasn't undercover! Karl never specified Wilson's wife by name, address, mother's maiden name and Social Security number, so it doesn't count!

President Bush says he won't publicly comment about the Plame case while the investigation continues. But the reason the investigation continues is partly his fault. He should have determined early on who leaked Plame's CIA identity to members of the press, and dealt with it.

Why didn't Bush two years ago just ask Karl Rove and a few others in the administration whether they had leaked Plame's identity to Bob Novak and the others? Why doesn't he ask Rove now? Is it because he knows the answer? Or because he doesn't want to have to fire Rove?

- from a 7/27 LA Times editorial.


***

Fundraiser featuring Karl Rove "marred" by protesters
Why does Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele hate America?


***

"Do we really want an adulterous scumbag who commits treason advising the president?"
- posted at dkos.

White House effort to discredit Joe Wilson is examined in detail
"Washington conservatives care less about genuine national security than they do about protecting their friends and maintaining their political dominance."

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has asked not only about how CIA operative Valerie Plame's name was leaked but also how the administration went about shifting responsibility from the White House to the CIA for having included 16 words in the 2003 State of the Union address about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium from Africa, an assertion that was later disputed.

Court records show Fitzgerald is seeking information about the communications WH stenographer Judy Miller had with Bush officials between July 6 and July 13, 2003, when the White House was attempting to discredit Wilson and his allegations.

***

Boo-#ucking-hoo
Close to having a petulant hissyfit over the fact that he can't get his no-talent assclown nominee rubberstamped, Preznit Poopypants threatens again to give the possibly traitorous John Bolton a recess appointment right before he goes on vacation in August.

***

Integritude
The Pentagon admits that it made up a fake Iraqi source for a news article.


"Did I fabricate a story? What if I did? Couldn't it have happened? Who's to say it didn't?"
***

"Please come and kill me"
Winning hearts and minds...

"If these pictures are released to the public, it's going to make matters worse."

"Worse"? Worse????? Good Lord, they were sodomizing children...

The Pentagon has blocked the release of 87 new pictures and 4 videos from the misadministration's cheerleading camp at Abu Ghraib prison - because, as Don Rumsfeld says, they show acts "that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhumane."

"The American public and that crazed asshat Rush Limb needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here. We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience,’ Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters. ’We're talking about rape and murder -- and some very serious charges.’

You can almost hear Karl Rove mumbling "go for it."
***

Peanuts - to you
So, what would you rather pay to watch: The Life of Marcel Marceau done in mime; or a remake of the original Star Trek pilot - in Klingon?

I guess this makes Mel Gibson officially insane.


***

Democratic Senators press for CIA leak probe
"Can anyone argue with a straight face that Congress has time to look at steroid use in baseball but doesn't have the will to provide congressional oversight of the leak of a CIA agent's name?" - Sen. John Kerry, D-Hero.


***

"Santorum" - it's Latin for "asshole"
Father brings dead, miscarried fetus home from hospital to teach his children a lesson in abortion, posing with it for family photos... ladies and gentlemen, meet Sen. Rick Santorum.


***

Man-on-dog, maybe...
"Homosexuality is a choice that's made over time. We read hundreds of studies on this in Massachusetts. You never heard of an interracial marriage involving two black men." - New Hampshire state representative/idiot Philip Travis.


***

No child left behind
The Pentagon now requires that high schools nationwide turn over student's private information for military recruitment purposes, or face education funding cuts.


***

Press continues to hammer White House on leak
"This is an ongoing investigation, and I think it would do a disservice to the ongoing investigation if I stood up here and commented on an ongoing investigation"
"But Scott...."
"Ongoing investigation!!!"

Raw Story reports:

A White House press corps increasingly irritated at the White House after stonewalling with regards to an investigation into the role of senior officials in outing a CIA agent exploded again Monday.

The final question was a zinger -- a member of the American press corps asking the White House whether the leak would have constituted treason.

To which Scott replied "I think that in terms of decisions regarding the investigation, those are matters for those overseeing the investigation to decide."


***

No quarter
BradBlog reports: 'With their backs against the wall vis a vis TreasonGate, [GOP operatives in the SCLM] have been given some fresh smear ammo, apparently, to try and help the White House minimize and obfuscate their unprecedented outting of a covert CIA operative.'

The rightwing is resurrecting an op-ed I wrote in July 2001. I stand by the full article. It is still relevant today. I am accused, incorrectly, of ignoring the threat of terrorism. In fact, I correctly noted that the real threat emanated from Bin Laden and Islamic extremism.

President Bush, for his part, ignored the CIA warning in August of 2001 that Al Qaeda was posed to strike inside the United States.

Reprinted below is the article I wrote in January 2003. My key warning is contained in the second paragraph:

"In fact there is a serious risk that a US led war against Iraq may crystallize the diffused anger in the Arab and Muslim world--a heretofore unattained goal of bin Laden and his followers--and persuade more Muslim youths to take up the terrorist banner against American and her citizens."

- Larry Johnson, former CIA official, responding to the rightwing smear machine.
****

Spending time with his family
After irresponsible and constant impregnation of his broodmare wife, thoughtless, sanctimonious Senator/asswipe Rick Santorum rules out a 2008 presidential bid in order to shoulder some of the burden of actually raising his own hellspawn.

That and his poll numbers are totally in the crapper.



The exhausted Mrs Rick Santorum buys her husband a present.

After yesterday's power outage which left me with no computer - which is out of service anyway due to the previous power outage - and no phone, the bf has finally agreed to help me pick out a cell phone. Even though I typically make phone calls only once or twice a year, it would be nice to have one in case of emergencies. Any recommendations? One with a camera?



Turdgate
Smelly...

"Congress will conduct a series of hearings on national security and espionage issues raised by the CIA-leak controversy surrounding senior Bush adviser Karl Rove, officials said on Monday."

Sounds good, right? Up until you get to the part that says repukes also want to investigate Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation.

Not content with viciously smearing the patriotic Americans involved in bringing to light Karl Rove's possible treason and perjury, Congressional repukes now want to probe the special prosecutor. Lovely. Why does the GOP hate America?


***

And the winner is..
The winners of this year's Stupidity Awards have been announced. The highlights:

Insane harpy skankho Ann Coulter won the award as Stupidest Man of the Year. LOL

Fox News for Media Outlet Which Has Best Furthered Ignorance

And Preznit Stupid won the coveted Stupidest Statement award for his comment "They never stop thinking of ways of harming America, and neither do we."

Fun fact: vp/asshat Dick Cheney got 2nd place for telling a senator to "go fuck yourself."
***

A great start
Supreme Court nominee starts off by lying to America

"Bush administration indicates it does not intend to release all of John Roberts papers or the photos from his 'lost weekend' in the Hamptons."
- headline at Fark.

Judge Roberts may have been on the steering committee, and attended meetings, and had his name listed in their "leadership directory," but he never paid dues, so don't call him a Federalist Society member, dammit.


***

The scum is rising
Why no-talent assclown John Bolton will never be ambassador to the United Nations

[A]s Josh Marshall points out, as part of her confirmation hearings for a State Department public relations position, "former" Bunnypants nanny and alleged transsexual pro-wrestler Karen Hughes was, by law, obligated to answer a questionnaire that asked whether there were any legal proceedings to which she might be a be part of: She admitted that she had testified before Fitzgerald's grand jury. Marshall points out [WH pet John] Bolton also answered "no" on the questionnaire -- though, it turns out he also testified before the grand jury on the contents of the Plame memo.

If Bolton intentionally misled the Senate in his questionnaire, he's toast. End of story.

The key is revealed in the Washington Note's Steve Clemons' latest post: He asserts that Bolton was a major source for NYT's WH stenographer and propaganda chief Judith Miller, currently incarcerated for refusing to surrender a source's name to the Fitzgerald grand jury.

Hmmmmm: not only has Dick 'chicanery' Cheney's chief-of-staff Scooter Libby been identified as one of the sources in the Plame leak case, so has Cheney's neocon protege' John Bolton... so is this Dick 'dick' Cheney's blue dress?

Update: a Sprint tech is coming over Thursday to try to fix the computer.

The dominoes are falling

"George Bush faces a political lobotomy if it is proved that Karl Rove, the man they call the President’s Brain, betrayed a CIA agent.

"Rove, Bush’s right-hand man, is battling charges that he took petty revenge on a valued agent who ought, even now, to be fighting the “war on terror.” Not very patriotic, is it? Not even very edifying when you consider that all Plame’s husband, [former ambassador Joe] Wilson, had done was to expose a lie based on a set of forgeries..."

- Ian Bell, the UK Sunday Herald.

The plot thickens
"[President Stupid] has yet to address some uncomfortable questions that he may not be able to evade indefinitely... even some Republicans say Mr. Bush cannot assume that he will escape from the investigation politically unscathed." - the NY Times.

Attorney General Abuto Ghraibzales said yesterday that he spoke with White House Chief of Staff Andy Card immediately after learning that the Justice Department had launched a criminal investigation into the Valerie Plame leak. But Gonzales, who was White House counsel at the time, waited 12 hours before officially notifying the rest of the staff of the inquiry.

"You have to wonder what sort of message Andrew Card emailed at 8pm to the other people in The White House... what sort of documents could have been shredded in those 12 hours," Senator Joe Biden said.


***

Prosecutor investigates whether Rove lied under oath about that woman, Valerie Plame
Rule of law -

The special prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation has shifted his focus from determining whether White House officials violated a law against exposing undercover agents to determining whether evidence exists to bring perjury or obstruction of justice charges, according to people briefed in recent days on the inquiry's status.

Huh - imagine that
It's almost like they're afraid of something... Nah, couldn't be...

"The White House on Thursday threatened to veto a massive Senate bill for $442 billion in next year's defense programs if it moves to regulate the Pentagon's treatment of detainees or sets up a commission to investigate operations at Guantanamo Bay prison and elsewhere."

Take your flag pin and shove it
Former CIA agents explain in no uncertain terms what outing an agent means to the powermad "patriotic" pinheads in the misadministration. David Corn reports:

. Today, the Senate Democratic Policy Council and the Democratic side of the House Government Reform Committee held an unofficial hearing in the Senate Dirksen Office Building, in which former intelligence professionals discussed the Plame/CIA leak, especially its impact on the intelligence community, current officers, and Valerie Wilson. (The Democrats had no choice but to hold such a session because the Republicans in the House and Senate refuse to examine or investigate the leak.)

I wish they all could have been tied to a chair and forced to listen to him. (Ken Mehlman, Tucker Eskew, Clifford May, William Safire--this means you.)

Referring to those who have derided Valerie Wilson and belittled the seriousness of this leak, an angry Marcinkowski said, "The exposure of Valerie Plame's cover by the White House is the same as the local chief of police announcing to the media the identity of its undercover drug officers...

"Before you shine up your American flag lapel pin and affix your patriotism to your sleeve, think about what the impact your actions will have on the security of the American people....Those who take pride in their political ability to divert the issue from the fundamental truth ought to be prepared to take their share of the responsibility for the continuing damage done to our national security."

Waxman: 11 security breaches by the Bush misadministration in the Plame Case
Report published today cites multiple administration leaks.

This isn't going away, Karl! Mwwwwwwaaaahahahahaha...

Hmmmmm.... smells like.... Turdblossom.

The Novak column appears to be only one of multiple leaks of Ms. Wilson's identity. As this fact sheet documents, there appear to be at least 11 separate instances in which Administration officials disclosed information about Ms. Wilson's identity and association with the CIA.

Under Executive Order 12958, the White House is required to investigate any reports of security breaches and take "prompt corrective action," such as suspending the security clearances of those involved. Unlike prosecutions for criminal violations, which require "knowing" and "intentional" disclosures, the executive order covers a wider range of unauthorized breaches, including the "negligent" release of classified information. There is no evidence that the White House has complied with its obligation to investigate any of the 11 reported instances of security breaches relating to Ms. Wilson or to apply administrative sanctions to those involved.

By Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Hugeballs, July 22, 2005.

Gah. My home computer is out again, so I'm using the bf's work laptop, without a mouse and without any speed at all. Plus, I can't get to my files, so no pictures, and Jaffa keeps walking all over the keyboard, so some strange characters may pop up now and then.

Helpful hint: never eat cheese anywhere near your computer if you have a houseful of cats.

Roll out the tumbrils

First, there were the Downing Street memos. Now, there is evidence of a major leak in Karl Rove’s propaganda machine.

The political compass is pointing to the White House with growing evidence that indeed the reason to go to war in Iraq was fixed either around erroneous beliefs or outright lies, hang the truth and hang the facts, either way.

Rove is due a rendezvous with Congressional interrogation, as are President Bush, George Tenet, and other governmental officials who participated in “fixing” a war that has killed our young men and women and made our nation a pariah in much of the rest of the world.

- the Texas Iconoclast.

Gratuitous and mean-spirited George W. Bush jokes

A doctor, a lawyer, and an accountant all die and go to heaven on the same day. When they get to the Pearly Gates, they are greeted by St. Peter. St. Peter says, "Scott McClellan is a lying sack of shit and I'd tell him so myself if he weren't going straight to hell when he dies."

This guy walks into a bar carrying a small poodle in one hand and a bowling ball in the other. The guy says, "I'd like a glass of milk for me and a whiskey for my poodle." The bartender says, "Yeah? Well, I'd like an impartial and independent judiciary, but try telling that to Bush, Frist, and the rest of the GOP!"

Q: What do you get when you cross a giraffe and a monkey?
A: I'm sorry, I can't think about that right now because I'm too busy wondering why Congress hasn't launched an official investigation into Bush lying to the American public about WMDs and leading us into a war under false pretenses. Tell you what—as soon as I solve that little riddle, I'll get to work on your little genetic experiment.

Q: How many eggs does it take to make a good omelet?
A: Three. By the way, Tom DeLay is a hypocrite of the highest order.

Did you hear that Bill Clinton hired a new intern? It turns out that his old intern had to go home and spend time with her family after her brother was killed in Iraq.

- from McSweeney's.


***

President does half-assed job - on one of the most important decisions he'll have to make - out of political expediency

Bush accelerated his search for a Supreme Court nominee in part because of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's name, according to Republicans familiar with administration strategy.

Bush originally had planned to announce a replacement just before his planned July 28 departure for a month-long vacation at The Lazy W, his Crawford, Texas hellhole, said two administration officials, who spoke on the condition they not be named.

The officials said those plans changed because Rove has become a focus of Fitzgerald's interest and of news accounts about the matter.

- Bloomberg (thanks to BuzzFlash).


***