Lost in the Wilderness

When Palin does the crash and burn, someone ought to let her use one of her lifelines; it's the humane thing to do. Another respected journalist jumps off the Scary Talk Express. Culled from TruthDig:

Calling Sarah Palin’s recent interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric “the last straw,” Newsweek editor and columnist Fareed Zakaria tells Wolf Blitzer on Monday’s episode of “The Situation Room” that it’s not a matter of Palin not giving the right answer when faced with a complex question about the economy or foreign policy, “it’s that she clearly does not understand the question.”

The highlight reel begins at 1:54.

McCain's Vet Support a Sham

First, sorry for my absence, I've been wicked busy at work and at home, not to mention this campaign season has begun to take it's toll. On to Grampy MCAncient's voting record on vets (and the troops).

Making Sense Of It All has a great piece on just how many lies McCain tells about his support for veterans and active duty troops.

When it comes to his voting record and him claiming to be supported by all veterans groups is obviously false. This would be obvious because even back in 2000 veterans groups have been the most critical of McCain’s voting record.

Frankly, McCain rest on his laurels as a veteran but has an 80% negative voting record, while Obama maintains an 80% positive voting record on veteran's issues and support. I have not heard ONE mention of it in the MSM. Fucking assholes.

Radio Diversity? Not

Think Progress has this post on the latest developments with the FCC and the mega-conglomerate desire to own ALL the radio stations in America which of course, are broadcast on the PUBLICLY OWNED AIRWAVES. Then check the "Think Fast" post.

Greetings from San Francisco

I have to start slowly today as I'm achy and up to my eyeballs in paperwork. Achy from running the San Francisco Bay to Breakers and paperwork for our imminent relocation.

As far as the Bay to Breakers, it was about 60,000 participants strong and one of us got our name in the paper for placing in the first 10,000.

Hope everyone had a stellar weekend. I haven't yet checked the news, but did update the casualty figures from Iraq (22 more dead since Thursday), and caught enough of the talking heads this weekend to see they buried the latest saga of Gonzo-gate on page 27, so to speak. This media malfeasance has got to stop. This administration clearly lobs so many bombs, it's hard to keep up with the damage they inflict much less try to correct it. It is so time to throw the bums out.

Impeachment Pie, best served piping hot

And boy, am I hot. The Honorable Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has filed Articles of Impeachment against Dick Cheney, and not a moment too soon. He made the announcement of his intetions yesterday.

This story got exactly NO PLAY on mainstream media, not even Olbermann's show (in his defense, Allison Stewart is subbing for him this week). The buzz is, because impeachment is a long and involved procedure, by the time it comes to fruition, the point becomes moot. Horse feathers.

The weight of scandal as a result of negligence, malfeasance and criminal enterprise by this administration will ultimately bring it down. It will take actions like this by the Democrats and about 1000 more investigations, but it will happen. The only caveat: The American People. If we do not support and demand further action from our representatives, they get the idea that we don't give a shit and/or are too stupid to care.

Ohio newspaper, The Chronicle -Telegram writes this about Congressman Kucinich's bold move:

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich filed articles of impeachment Tuesday against Vice President Dick Cheney, saying his action is driven by a desire to defend Americans’ right “to have a government that is honest and peaceful.”
The Ohio congressman said Cheney manipulated and fabricated intelligence on weapons of mass destruction to justify the Iraq war.
Kucinich said it was important to introduce the legislation “because the threat of war against Iran is very real.”
“This vice president cannot be permitted to continue to violate both the U.S. Constitution and the U.N. Charter,” he added. [snip] Kucinich had said earlier Tuesday that he was planning to postpone his plans to introduce the articles of impeachment due to Cheney’s health concerns. Cheney was taken to his doctor’s office for an ultrasound of a blood clot in his leg Tuesday. He later returned to the White House to resume his normal schedule, said Megan McGinn, a spokeswoman for the vice president.

Not said in the article was Rep. Kuchinich filed later in the day after Darth Cheney resumed his "normal schedule" of calling Democrats traitors and telling the American people to go fuck themselves.

Today WaPo's Dana Millbank, the cocktail-wienie-eating kiss-ass reporter smirks outwardly while narrating about the futility of Kuchinich's effort. Dennis addresses his rationale for impeachment in the only video of the news conference I could find. Wolf Blitzer takes Dennis on in The Situation Room and gives a bit of honest context and the serious weight this resoultion deserves.



Now, go call your representative to encourage them to go forward with H Res.333 impeachment proceedings and then go give a little love to Dennis Kuchinich for his bravery. It will take the pressure of the American conscience to raise the backbone of spineless politicians in this effort. Please throw your weight into the mix.

Liberal Bloggers Are Right About Media

The Horse's Mouth has a great post up: Liberal Bloggers Are Right About Media

How Many Dead Equal Failed Government?

Larry Johnson's No Quarter

What are we to make of the bizarre contrast between our national grief over the terrible slaughter of students and faculty at Virginia Tech and our muted reaction to the continuing bloodbath in and around Baghdad? One mass killing in the 209 years since Virginia Tech was founded is not exactly a trend. It is a terrible thing but not likely to be repeated anytime soon.

Rovian Moves

For anyone who hasn't seen the horror that is Karl Rove, check out Rapmaster Rove at the Correspondents Dinner last night. Karl's admitted hobby: "ripping the heads off small animals." Charming Karl, charming. Think Progress posts.

CNN=Captioned Cable News

Good on CNN and their clever screen captioneers. [Found at Alternate Brain]

The Gray Lady Says Something Worth Printing

March 4, 2007
New York Times

The Must-Do List

The Bush administration’s assault on some of the founding principles of American democracy marches onward despite the Democratic victory in the 2006 elections. The new Democratic majorities in Congress can block the sort of noxious measures that the Republican majority rubber-stamped. But preventing new assaults on civil liberties is not nearly enough.

Five years of presidential overreaching and Congressional collaboration continue to exact a high toll in human lives, America’s global reputation and the architecture of democracy. Brutality toward prisoners, and the denial of their human rights, have been institutionalized; unlawful spying on Americans continues; and the courts are being closed to legal challenges of these practices.

It will require forceful steps by this Congress to undo the damage. A few lawmakers are offering bills intended to do just that, but they are only a start. Taking on this task is a moral imperative that will show the world the United States can be tough on terrorism without sacrificing its humanity and the rule of law.

Today we’re offering a list — which, sadly, is hardly exhaustive — of things that need to be done to reverse the unwise and lawless policies of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Many will require a rewrite of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, an atrocious measure pushed through Congress with the help of three Republican senators, Arlen Specter, Lindsey Graham and John McCain; Senator McCain lent his moral authority to improving one part of the bill and thus obscured its many other problems.

Our list starts with three fundamental tasks:

Restore Habeas Corpus

One of the new act’s most indecent provisions denies anyone Mr. Bush labels an “illegal enemy combatant” the ancient right to challenge his imprisonment in court. The arguments for doing this were specious. Habeas corpus is nothing remotely like a get-out-of-jail-free card for terrorists, as supporters would have you believe. It is a way to sort out those justly detained from those unjustly detained. It will not “clog the courts,” as Senator Graham claims. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has a worthy bill that would restore habeas corpus. It is essential to bringing integrity to the detention system and reviving the United States’ credibility.

Stop Illegal Spying

Mr. Bush’s program of intercepting Americans’ international calls and e-mail messages without a warrant has not ceased. The agreement announced recently — under which a secret court supposedly gave its blessing to the program — did nothing to restore judicial process or ensure that Americans’ rights are preserved. Congress needs to pass a measure, like one proposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein, to force Mr. Bush to obey the law that requires warrants for electronic surveillance.

Ban Torture, Really

The provisions in the Military Commissions Act that Senator McCain trumpeted as a ban on torture are hardly that. It is still largely up to the president to decide what constitutes torture and abuse for the purpose of prosecuting anyone who breaks the rules. This amounts to rewriting the Geneva Conventions and puts every American soldier at far greater risk if captured. It allows the president to decide in secret what kinds of treatment he will permit at the Central Intelligence Agency’s prisons. The law absolves American intelligence agents and their bosses of any acts of torture and abuse they have already committed.

Many of the tasks facing Congress involve the way the United States takes prisoners, and how it treats them. There are two sets of prisons in the war on terror. The military runs one set in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay. The other is even more shadowy, run by the C.I.A. at secret places.

Close the C.I.A. Prisons

When the Military Commissions Act passed, Mr. Bush triumphantly announced that he now had the power to keep the secret prisons open. He cast this as a great victory for national security. It was a defeat for America’s image around the world. The prisons should be closed.

Account for ‘Ghost Prisoners’

The United States has to come clean on all of the “ghost prisoners” it has in the secret camps. Holding prisoners without any accounting violates human rights norms. Human Rights Watch says it has identified nearly 40 men and women who have disappeared into secret American-run prisons.

Ban Extraordinary Rendition

This is the odious practice of abducting foreign citizens and secretly flying them to countries where everyone knows they will be tortured. It is already illegal to send a prisoner to a country if there is reason to believe he will be tortured. The administration’s claim that it got “diplomatic assurances” that prisoners would not be abused is laughable.

A bill by Representative Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, would require the executive branch to list countries known to abuse and torture prisoners. No prisoner could be sent to any of them unless the secretary of state certified that the country’s government no longer abused its prisoners or offered a way to verify that a prisoner will not be mistreated. It says “diplomatic assurances” are not sufficient.

Congress needs to completely overhaul the military prisons for terrorist suspects, starting with the way prisoners are classified. Shortly after 9/11, Mr. Bush declared all members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban to be “illegal enemy combatants” not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions or American justice. Over time, the designation was applied to anyone the administration chose, including some United States citizens and the entire detainee population of Gitmo.

To address this mess, the government must:

Tighten the Definition of Combatant

“Illegal enemy combatant” is assigned a dangerously broad definition in the Military Commissions Act. It allows Mr. Bush — or for that matter anyone he chooses to designate to do the job — to apply this label to virtually any foreigner anywhere, including those living legally in the United States.

Screen Prisoners Fairly and Effectively

When the administration began taking prisoners in Afghanistan, it did not much bother to screen them. Hundreds of innocent men were sent to Gitmo, where far too many remain to this day. The vast majority will never even be brought before tribunals and still face indefinite detention without charges.

Under legal pressure, Mr. Bush created “combatant status review tribunals,” but they are a mockery of any civilized legal proceeding. They take place thousands of miles from the point of capture, and often years later. Evidence obtained by coercion and torture is permitted. The inmates do not get to challenge this evidence. They usually do not see it.

The Bush administration uses the hoary “fog of war” dodge to justify the failure to screen prisoners, saying it is not practical to do that on the battlefield. That’s nonsense. It did not happen in Afghanistan, and often in Iraq, because Mr. Bush decided just to ship the prisoners off to Gitmo.

Prisoners designated as illegal combatants are subject to trial rules out of the Red Queen’s playbook. The administration refuses to allow lawyers access to 14 terrorism suspects transferred in September from C.I.A. prisons to Guantánamo. It says that if they had a lawyer, they might say that they were tortured or abused at the C.I.A. prisons, and anything that happened at those prisons is secret.

At first, Mr. Bush provided no system of trial at the Guantánamo camp. Then he invented his own military tribunals, which were rightly overturned by the Supreme Court. Congress then passed the Military Commissions Act, which did not fix the problem. Some tasks now for Congress:

Ban Tainted Evidence

The Military Commissions Act and the regulations drawn up by the Pentagon to put it into action, are far too permissive on evidence obtained through physical abuse or coercion. This evidence is unreliable. The method of obtaining it is an affront.

Ban Secret Evidence

Under the Pentagon’s new rules for military tribunals, judges are allowed to keep evidence secret from a prisoner’s lawyer if the government persuades the judge it is classified. The information that may be withheld can include interrogation methods, which would make it hard, if not impossible, to prove torture or abuse.

Better Define ‘Classified’ Evidence

The military commission rules define this sort of secret evidence as “any information or material that has been determined by the United States government pursuant to statute, executive order or regulation to require protection against unauthorized disclosure for reasons of national security.” This is too broad, even if a president can be trusted to exercise the power fairly and carefully. Mr. Bush has shown he cannot be trusted to do that.

Respect the Right to Counsel

Soon after 9/11, the Bush administration allowed the government to listen to conversations and intercept mail between some prisoners and their lawyers. This had the effect of suspending their right to effective legal representation. Since then, the administration has been unceasingly hostile to any lawyers who defend detainees. The right to legal counsel does not exist to coddle serial terrorists or snarl legal proceedings. It exists to protect innocent people from illegal imprisonment.

Beyond all these huge tasks, Congress should halt the federal government’s race to classify documents to avoid public scrutiny — 15.6 million in 2005, nearly double the 2001 number. It should also reverse the grievous harm this administration has done to the Freedom of Information Act by encouraging agencies to reject requests for documents whenever possible. Congress should curtail F.B.I. spying on nonviolent antiwar groups and revisit parts of the Patriot Act that allow this practice.

The United States should apologize to a Canadian citizen and a German citizen, both innocent, who were kidnapped and tortured by American agents.

Oh yes, and it is time to close the Guantánamo camp. It is a despicable symbol of the abuses committed by this administration (with Congress’s complicity) in the name of fighting terrorism.

Bob WoodRuff on Iraq

For anyone that missed it, I'm linking the ABC News docmentary, "To Iraq and back" done by reporter Bob Woodruff who himself was the victim of a roadside IED in Iraq while reporting 13 months ago. Bob has made a remarkable recovery and is now trying to shed light on the mis treatment and plight of injured soldiers waiting to be medically boarded and the newest veterans who are being warehoused without adequate treatment and resources. So worth it. Watch it here.

Watching Afghanistan and Walter Reed

Salon.com is burning up the wire with spot-on analysis and reports on the fall of Afghanistan and the continuing cover story the military spins about Walter Reed and the abusive treatment our servicepersons are receiving in the military hospitals and VAs paid for by our tax dollars. Talk about yer troop support...read all about it. also read the series done in 2005 by Salon trying to shed light on the situation at Walter Reed. Anyone wonder where the MSM was on this story before last week? H/T to Lotus for the link. Photo:Sergio Caro

9th Downed U.S. Helicopter in 5 Weeks

Can someone explain to me why I have to go to China to find this article that really should be on the front page of AMERICAN newspapers? Oh yeah, teh MSM and non-military people don't really care...

Mean Bloggers

Shoephone of Evergreen Politics has a great post up, "Mean Bloggers Threaten the White House Press Corps." If I could only vent my frustrations as well as she does...Read it.

When it says Libby, Libby, Libby...

...On the label label label. Remember that TV commercial from the 70's? Label the Scooter Libby trial file under Partisan Politics.







An observation, if you will (oh, I will...)
With the nation at a new and possibly unprecedented level of partisan polarization, will it be possible for Scooter Libby to get a fair trial? I don't think so and here's why.

A jury trial used to be about who made the best argument and presented the facts of the case in a way that convinced a jury. That criteria seems to have vanished. Now it would seem that stocking the jury with fellow ideologues and spinning a story you know panders to an ideological belief system is all that is required. One's ability to appeal to the public's 'common sense' for a fair and just outcome, to paraphrase Voltaire, is no longer so common. The ideological split has become so deep and the chasm so wide in this country that 'common sense' no longer has to do with the facts only with how they are spun. Keep in mind, this is without considering or opining on the partisanship of the bench.

It shocks me that 'facts' no longer seem relevant. In the world of Fox News the 'information' is clearly at the level of propaganda. The other mainstream media outlets fair only slightly better. If you listened to Bill Moyers yesterday or read any number of articles here, at Media Matters or a dozen other websites that report on media disinformation and misrepresentation (links on my site), you will find this to be true.

Then we come to the issue of dead-eye Dick slated to testify. Try and pick an impartial juror for that bit of testimony. Is the vice president credible? According to the latest polls his approval ratings are so low, the only people who find Cheney "credible" are already drunk on koolaid. One of the questions posed to potential jurors is, "During this trial, you will hear testimony about some of the evidence the Bush administration considered when deciding to go to war in Iraq" one question states. "Based on what you know at this time, do you believe that the administration misled the American people to justify going to war?" Are you fucking kidding me? This question literally precludes the facts that are known to be true. We know BushCo "cherry-picked" intel, we know they lied, what was the question again? Am I retarded? With questions like this, the fix is in from the get-go.

Will Scooter get a fair trial? If he does, he'll go to jail. If it isn't, there's always the presidential pardon.

Bill Moyers on Media Reform

Amy Goodman does it again hosting on Democracy Now! veteran broadcast journalist Bill Moyers who spoke on Friday before 3,500 at the opening of the National Conference on Media Reform in Memphis. He announced his return to the airwaves and outlined his vision of media reform.

"As ownership gets more and more concentrated, fewer and fewer independent sources of information have survived in the marketplace; and those few significant alternatives that do survive, such as PBS and NPR, are under growing financial and political pressure to reduce critical news content and to shift their focus in a mainstream direction, which means being more attentive to establishment views than to the bleak realities of powerlessness that shape the lives of ordinary people."

"It is absolutely stunning, frightening, how the major media organizations were willing, even solicitous hand-puppets of a state propaganda campaign cheered on by the partisan, ideological press to go to war."

Things That Make You Go "Aaahh!"

Media Matters in their year-end edition give us a review of the best of over 2,700 errors or misrepresentations they caught in the past year. Also presented are "Most Outrageous Comments of 2006", they find the American Broadcast System to be the "Misinformer of the Year" and much, much more. Media Matters are tireless watchdogs that deserve our support and a look at their hard work.


Extra added bonus: Riverbend has a new post up. She hasn't posted since before the election, living in Bagdad makes it difficult one would guess. Every post she writes is a jewel full of clarity and painful truth. If you've never read her, do it before the year is out.