Well, it looks like Bob Kerrey is looking at running for the Nebraska Senate seat again.
While’s he not Joe Lieberman, he’s done a simply fab job of spewing Republican talking points, and while I understand that a Democrat from one of the big square states probably has to be right of party center, there is a difference between a conservative Democrat, and a disloyal one.
This time, it involves mishandling nuclear fuel.
I think that we should move all nuclear fuel processing and waste storage to Crawford, TX.
For example:
The commission said there were two areas, the glovebox and an old elevator shaft, where the solution potentially could have collected in such a way to cause an uncontrolled nuclear reaction.
In response to discoveries of the screwups, they’ve locked down documents.
Delightful.
Anonymous source in Bush Admin tells NY Times. Heard it on radio. One wonders what sh&$ is about to hit the fan that they want this news to obscure. It has to be big.
Because the public access policy of the NHTSA certainly appears to be implementing what Orwell warned against.
Under the new access policy, no one is allowed to speak for attribution to the press under almost any circumstances. They have to get advance permission for the most routine things. This means that the press office cannot tell a member of the press who the director of the HTTSA is:
If you want to know something as simple as who heads the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, don’t bother to ask the safety agency’s communications office. Without special permission, officials there are no longer allowed to provide information to reporters except on a background basis, which means it cannot be attributed to a spokesman.
Without such attribution, there are few circumstances under which most reporters will report such information. This makes for interesting dealings with the office charged with providing information about the nation’s top automotive safety agency.
So, I will end the suspense about the boss’s identity. The administrator is Nicole R. Nason, who took over on May 31, 2006, after she was appointed to the post by President Bush.
And it is she who put the big hush on one of the government’s most important safety agencies.
…
H/t to the Carpetbagger Report
Strategic Vision Polled voters on a number of issues, including Iraq, and the results are interestting, particularly question 4.
4. Do you favor a withdrawal of all United States military from Iraq within the next six months? (Republicans Only)
Yes 51%
No 39%
Undecided 10%
Given those numbers, and given the number of candidates who are running, the highest in the polls gets barely 30%, the first credible* Republican candidate to call for a pullout wins Iraw.
*Credible means not a racist libertarian nutjob like Ron Paul.
It appears that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, will be calling for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
He wants half of the troops out in a year.
Petraeus still wants to increase troops (do I feel a draft?), but he’s not retiring shortly, and he knows that his best chance is to suck up to Bush and His Evil Minions™.
A number of blogs have come across an article by noted Neocon Philip Atkinson on a prominent Neocon web site which called for nuclear genocide in Iraq, and a military coup to make GW Bush president for life.
I can think of no way of illustrating how un-American, angry, and plain bat$%#@ crazy these guys are than by printing his article in full:
Exclusive: Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy
Philip Atkinson
Author: Philip Atkinson
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: August 3, 2007
While democratic government is better than dictatorships and theocracies, it has its pitfalls. FSM Contributing Editor Philip Atkinson describes some of the difficulties facing President Bush today.
Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy
By Philip Atkinson
President George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. He was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2005 after being chosen by the majority of citizens in America to be president.
Yet in 2007 he is generally despised, with many citizens of Western civilization expressing contempt for his person and his policies, sentiments which now abound on the Internet. This rage at President Bush is an inevitable result of the system of government demanded by the people, which is Democracy.
The inadequacy of Democracy, rule by the majority, is undeniable, for it demands adopting ideas because they are popular, rather than because they are wise. This means that any man chosen to act as an agent of the people is placed in an invidious position: if he commits folly because it is popular, then he will be held responsible for the inevitable result. If he refuses to commit folly, then he will be detested by most citizens because he is frustrating their demands.
When faced with the possible threat that the Iraqis might be amassing terrible weapons that could be used to slay millions of citizens of Western Civilization, President Bush took the only action prudence demanded and the electorate allowed: he conquered Iraq with an army.
This dangerous and expensive act did destroy the Iraqi regime, but left an American army without any clear purpose in a hostile country and subject to attack. If the Army merely returns to its home, then the threat it ended would simply return.
The wisest course would have been for President Bush to use his nuclear weapons to slaughter Iraqis until they complied with his demands, or until they were all dead. Then there would be little risk or expense and no American army would be left exposed. But if he did this, his cowardly electorate would have instantly ended his term of office, if not his freedom or his life.
The simple truth that modern weapons now mean a nation must practice genocide or commit suicide. Israel provides the perfect example. If the Israelis do not raze Iran, the Iranians will fulfill their boast and wipe Israel off the face of the earth. Yet Israel is not popular, and so is denied permission to defend itself. In the same vein, President Bush cannot do what is necessary for the survival of Americans. He cannot use the nation’s powerful weapons. All he can do is try and discover a result that will be popular with Americans.
As there appears to be no sensible result of the invasion of Iraq that will be popular with his countrymen other than retreat, President Bush is reviled; he has become another victim of Democracy.
By elevating popular fancy over truth, Democracy is clearly an enemy of not just truth, but duty and justice, which makes it the worst form of government. President Bush must overcome not just the situation in Iraq, but democratic government.
However, President Bush has a valuable historical example that he could choose to follow.
When the ancient Roman general Julius Caesar was struggling to conquer ancient Gaul, he not only had to defeat the Gauls, but he also had to defeat his political enemies in Rome who would destroy him the moment his tenure as consul (president) ended.
Caesar pacified Gaul by mass slaughter; he then used his successful army to crush all political opposition at home and establish himself as permanent ruler of ancient Rome. This brilliant action not only ended the personal threat to Caesar, but ended the civil chaos that was threatening anarchy in ancient Rome, thus marking the start of the ancient Roman Empire that gave peace and prosperity to the known world.
If President Bush copied Julius Caesar by ordering his army to empty Iraq of Arabs and repopulate the country with Americans, he would achieve immediate results: popularity with his military; enrichment of America by converting an Arabian Iraq into an American Iraq (therefore turning it from a liability to an asset); and boost American prestiege while terrifying American enemies.
He could then follow Caesar’s example and use his newfound popularity with the military to wield military power to become the first permanent president of America, and end the civil chaos caused by the continually squabbling Congress and the out-of-control Supreme Court.
President Bush can fail in his duty to himself, his country, and his God, by becoming ex-president Bush or he can become President-for-Life Bush: the conqueror of Iraq, who brings sense to the Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Then who would be able to stop Bush from emulating Augustus Caesar and becoming ruler of the world? For only an America united under one ruler has the power to save humanity from the threat of a new Dark Age wrought by terrorists armed with nuclear weapons.
Here’s another story on the disastrous nuclear deal that the Bush administration has cut with India.
Money quote:
India’s leftist parties object strongly to the accord. They say it undermines the country’s sovereignty and its right to conduct nuclear tests. They insist the government stall negotiations, scheduled with the International Atomic Energy Agency and others, until their objections are met.
So, what are the consequences of this deal?
This is quite literally a bigger blunder than invading Iraq.
Well, actually Atlanta, Georgia, where some moron city councilman in Atlanta wants to ban baggy pants that allow underwear to show.
The embarrassing part is that he’s a Democrat.
Would the good people of atlanta please make him a former coundilman?
As you may or may not be aware, New York Governor Elliot Spitzer and Republican Senate Leader Joseph Bruno have been in a bit of a pissing contest lately.
Bruno used state travel resources, including helicopters to go on political junkets, and Spitzer used the state police to document it and leak it to the press.
At this point, you could call it a run of the mill political pissing contest, with the Republican controlled state senate investigating misuse of the state police, and stricter rules being implemented on use of official travel, but the Republicans hired a man with the ability, and the history, that allowed him to take this well into the twilight zone of sleaze, Roger J. Stone Jr.
Mr. Stone, the youngest of Nixon’s dirty tricks sleaze operatives at 19, while still a student at George Washington University, he has not mellowed with age.
Well, Roger Stone made threatening phone calls to Elliot Spitzer’s 83 year old father. He was threatening arrest over a campaign loan that was made to an earlier Spitzer campaign, and he called the governor a “phony” and a “psycho.”
Caller ID confirmed that the phone was in his apartment, and in his wife’s name.
Stone has been fired, but is claiming innocence, maintaining that his landlord is a Democrat, and that he allowed someone into his apartment to make the call.
Of note, this is the same excuse he used in 1996, when it turned out that he and his wife put out ads in a swingers publications looking for group sex. (Ad here if you can stomach it) He claimed that someone had stolen his information, and sock puppeted him.
Yeah, right. Yeah, right. They were SO scared of you that they broke into your apartment, and made threatening phone calls to an old dude.
He’s also the most likely guy to have fed Dan Rather the forged docs about Bushes military (non)record.
Admittedly, the election is not until 2010, but a new poll has Janet Napolitano leading John McCain in the Arizona Senate race by 47% to 36%.
The election is three years off, but McCain is in serious trouble. 37% is abysmal.
People now see him as a pathetic sick old man.
How much do you want to bet that there will be a McCain banner ad on my site in the next 24 hours because of the? God bless Google ads, at the rate that it’s generating revenue for me, I should be able to take my wife out to a swanky dinner to celebrate McCain’s defeat…just barely.
Well, it appears that an Astroturf group loaded with money from Bush contributors, Freedom Watch, is doing its bit to try to extend the war in Iraq: It’s running attack ads against Republicans who are going weak kneed on the war.
Seriously, this is being run through either current, or former, or soon to be former *cough* Rove *cough*Bush political operatives.
“For those who believe in peace through strength, the cavalry is coming,” said former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who is a founding board member of the group.
The big ad buy, funded by high-profile Republicans who were aides and supporters of President Bush, reflects a furious public relations battle that will unfold as Congress debates the crucial progress report by Gen. David Petraeus, which is due Sept. 15.
BTW, there is no Petraeus report. The Bush White House is writing the report with “input” from Petraeus.
FWIW, Tom Matzzie of Americans Against Escalation in Iraq has written their spokesman, Ari Fleischer, a thank you note, in which an analysis of the first ad buy is made, 37 targeting Republicans vs. 4 Democrats, and only one of the Democrats is not sharing a District with a Republican.
BTW, one of the people that they are targeting is Mitch McConnell, Republican leader of the Senate.
This is truly a WTF moment, and typifies Bush’s idea of loyalty. Even if it does not backfire, and I think that it will, because it shows how narrow and petty Bush and His Evil Minions&trade are, it gets these folks voting pro-war, and makes them vulnerable.
He’s crossing a line, a very big one, and it might be enough to shake some Republicans loose from mindlessly goose-stepping with him.
I found it via The Big Picture, who is now on my blog roll, and not just for this Toles cartoon.
Speaking as a Jew, and a Zionist, it is with no small amount of disappointment that I call on all people, regardless of faith to neither contribute to, or work with, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which was one the premier organizations opposing anti-Semitism.
They have formally come out in opposition to the congressional resolution decrying the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire during WW I. This Genocide is a FACT, and the idea that they would align themselves with those who would deny this fact is deplorable.
Their excuse is that modern Turkey, whose government had no role in the Genocide is an ally of Israel, and they do not wish to offend them. This is wrong and counter-productive.
What’s more, They fired a longtime ADL and activist because he acknowledged the genicide, which resulted in two of the regional board resigning.
Their statement follows, and I am willing to allow a representative to post here unedited to present their side.
ADL Statement on the Armenian Genocide
New York, NY, August 21, 2007
Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today issued the following statement:In light of the heated controversy that has surrounded the Turkish-Armenian issue in recent weeks, and because of our concern for the unity of the Jewish community at a time of increased threats against the Jewish people, ADL has decided to revisit the tragedy that befell the Armenians.
We have never negated but have always described the painful events of 1915-1918 perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians as massacres and atrocities. On reflection, we have come to share the view of Henry Morgenthau, Sr. that the consequences of those actions were indeed tantamount to genocide. If the word genocide had existed then, they would have called it genocide.
I have consulted with my friend and mentor Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and other respected historians who acknowledge this consensus. I hope that Turkey will understand that it is Turkey’s friends who urge that nation to confront its past and work to reconcile with Armenians over this dark chapter in history.
Having said that, we continue to firmly believe that a Congressional resolution on such matters is a counterproductive diversion and will not foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians and may put at risk the Turkish Jewish community and the important multilateral relationship between Turkey, Israel and the United States.
I wonder if I’ll get a post from Serdar Argic.
Well, Wonkette has an absolutely hilarious post wondering whether Jenna is pregnant.
If so, it’s probably not the first time, that is why, in December 2000, Bush went on his fishing vacation when Jenna had her abortion appendix removed.
It’s a family tradition. Bush got a girlfriend an abortion in the late 1960s (when it was illegal).
Remember when I said in jest that Bush wants American children to die? It may have been reality.
Remember when all the wingers were claiming that Clinton was selling the US out to China because of some chump change at a campaign event at a Buddhist temple? Well, now we have the Bush administration poisoning children at China’s behest.
The Bush administration has hindered regulation on two fronts, consumer advocates say. It stalled efforts to press for greater inspections of imported children’s products, and it altered the focus of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), moving it from aggressive protection of consumers to a more manufacturer-friendly approach.
….
In March 2006, a 4-year-old Minnesota boy died of lead poisoning after swallowing a metal charm that came with Reebok shoes. The charm was found to contain more than 90 percent lead.
….
China remains very much under the microscope. It’s fighting a CPSC proposal to bring the lead restrictions in children’s jewelry to the same levels as those imposed on toys and furniture — six hundred parts per million, which effectively amounts to a ban.
….
But in a March 12 filing, China was the only one of 48 interested parties to tell the panel that it opposed new restrictions on lead paint in children’s jewelry. Guo LiSheng, the deputy director of a Chinese global trade agency, warned against “unnecessary obstacles to trade” and advocated international rules that allow some lead content. He added that good product labeling was sufficient.
That boy is dead because of someone that George W. Bush employs.
Well, it appears that in order to appeal to Christian Evangelicals, Mitt Romney is repudiating Mormon Dogma. No surprise there from Mr. Flip Flop.
But for those trained to hear the subtleties, Mr. Romney was acknowledging something more. He implied an opposition to the birth control pill and a willingness to join in their efforts to scale back access to contraception. There are code phrases to listen for – and for those keeping score, Mr. Romney nailed each one.
One code phrase is: “I fought to define life as beginning at conception rather than at the time of implantation.” The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines pregnancy as starting at implantation, the first moment a pregnancy can be known. Anti-abortion advocates want pregnancy to start at the unknown moment sperm and egg meet: fertilization. They’d also like you to believe, despite evidence to the contrary, that the birth control pill prevents that fertilized egg from implanting in the womb.
This runs counter to Mormon doctrine, which says that a fertilized ovum does not have a soul until implantation, and hence it is not a human life.
It’s why the Church of Latter Day Saints supports stem cell research, and such anti-abortion stalwarts as Orin Hatch support embryonic stem cell research.
One more case of Romney pandering over what he claims to be deeply held beliefs.
On another note, this further indicates that the religious right wants to ban all forms of birth control, because otherwise, Romney would not have felt compelled to make this statement.
Hat tip to Talking Points Memo for finding this.
Romney is cutting back on TV ads. Current thinking is that they are out of money after spending all that money on the Iowa straw poll.
Romney’s strength has always been his fund raising. If his cash on hand is depleted, this will be a major blow when quarterly reports come out.
Or, more accurately, he wants it more than his he wants to disappoint his campaign contributors in the US insurance industry, because he’s doing his level best to make sure that children don’t get medical care.
First, he threatens to veto improvements to SCHIP, and now he’s crippling the existing program.
This article praises him for reaching across the aisle to right wingers.
I understand that he can’t be Paul Wellstone, but we need no more Liebermans.
Cases in point:
So he’s a lying sack of excrement DINO Dem, but I repeat myself.
Note that his re-election is a priority of the DCCC, so I would suggest that you give either directly to the candidates, or someone like Act Blue.
FWIW, any DCCC money going to him is largely wasted anyway. Last time, he ran against a guy who was being sued for choking his mistress. Won’t happen again.
The DCCC should not throw good money after bad.
See also Down With Tyranny on this if you want get a better written take on the situation.
If a member of the DCCC wants to dispute this, I’ll publish it, unedited.