Losing The War On Terror

From MSNBC:

Terrorist attacks worldwide shot up by 25 percent between 2005 and last year, killing 40 percent more people as extremists used increasingly lethal means to carry out high-casualty hits, the State Department says.

Bush Fills Condi's "Need;" He Is Her "Feed"

O Dub unearths this story for an early morning gag fest. Here's the gross-out 'graph:

Rice's friends insisted the attraction to Bush was platonic, but Brenda Hamberry-Green, her Palo Alto hairdresser, who had spent years commiserating with Rice over how hard it was for successful black women to find a good man, noticed a change when Rice started working for Bush. "He fills that need," Hamberry-Green decided. "Bush is her feed."

In other Condi news, the Washington Post did an expose of the State Department's failure to take advantage of hundreds of millions of dollars offered by foreign countries to assist Hurricane Katrina victims. The Post - ever digilent in protecting Condi - left Condi's name out of the piece even though she was head of the State Department at the time. Don't want anybody to think she was too bust shoe shopping to secure aid for Katrina victims, I suppose.

NFL Draft Day

The NFL draft is underway!

My team - the Minnesota Vikings - has the seventh pick. Either Laron Landry or Adrian Peterson would be a good pick.

The Lions have already drafted Calvin Johnson. I believe that's the fourth time they used their first pick on a wide receiver in five years. They don't seem to understand you need an offensive line to give your quarterback time to throw the ball.

The Arcade Fire

Since we're dealing with religion and hypocrisy, I thought I'd hook you up with some good sounds from The Arcade Fire.

BTW - Their new album - Neon Bible - is all that.

Fucked!

Randall Tobias, the head of USAID and a married man, has resigned because he was using the DC Madam's escort service. He claims he was only receiving massages and not having "sex."

But remember when it came to light that the Duke accuser had been an "escort" and all the righties swore that meant she was actually a prostitute. As I said then, they were likely correct on that point. Likewise, Tobias was not simply getting massages, unless those massages included hand jobs and he does not consider that "sex." More likely, he was getting full service.

And, if you didn't know, USAID has been pushing abstinence only, monogamy and decreasing encouragement for condom use in its efforts at AIDS prevention. In other words, it has been pimping the bogus family values/morality that is actual dangerous to people in underdeveloped countries.

Tobias is a world class hypocrite.

UPDATE: ABC's The Blotter broke this story and check out the first comment to their post:

So did Tobias wear a condom when he didn't have sex or not?

This is going to be fun.

Dick of the Day

John Boehner: "Boehner Voted For Somalia Withdrawal, Now Claims We Can’t Leave Iraq ‘Like We Did In Somalia’" (via Think Progresss).

These Righties really have no shame.

Bush On Not Counting Suicide Car Bombers In Iraqi Cas0ualty Numbers

"If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory."

In other words, the surge will succeed when we stop counting.

What an idiot.

(via Taegan Goddard).

Failure In The Military's Upper Eschelons

Cernig hooks us up today with this must-read essay from Lt. Col. Paul Yingling.

Here's a taste:

After going into Iraq with too few troops and no coherent plan for postwar stabilization, America's general officer corps did not accurately portray the intensity of the insurgency to the American public. The Iraq Study Group concluded that "there is significant underreporting of the violence in Iraq." The ISG noted that "on one day in July 2006 there were 93 attacks or significant acts of violence reported. Yet a careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light 1,100 acts of violence. Good policy is difficult to make when information is systematically collected in a way that minimizes its discrepancy with policy goals." Population security is the most important measure of effectiveness in counterinsurgency. For more than three years, America's generals continued to insist that the U.S. was making progress in Iraq. However, for Iraqi civilians, each year from 2003 onward was more deadly than the one preceding it. For reasons that are not yet clear, America's general officer corps underestimated the strength of the enemy, overestimated the capabilities of Iraq's government and security forces and failed to provide Congress with an accurate assessment of security conditions in Iraq. Moreover, America's generals have not explained clearly the larger strategic risks of committing so large a portion of the nation's deployable land power to a single theater of operations.

I disagree with Yinling on one point. I think the reasons for the Generals' actions are clear. You don't advance during the Bush years by providing sober and honest assessments but by supporting Bush spin and having the brownest nose.

The Media's Invisible Terrorist

Feministe has the story on the bomb planted in front of a woman's clinic in Austin, Texas.

The Late Night Music Club

Here's one of my current favorites.

The Arctic Monkeys, "Leave Before The Lights Come On"

Bush Administration's "War On Democrats"

Last night, I listened to a story on NPR about the growing resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. I thought to of the failure to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden when we had the chance at Tora Bora. Inexplicably at the time, Bush did not want to commit the necessary troops and resources to the job in Afghanistan. Instead, these resources - we later learned - were being readied for a different war.

Of course, the war in Afghanistan had no political edge to it as it was supported by large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans; Americans in general. The wedge issue that would divide Democrats and pay dividends to Republicans in the 2002 and 2004 elections was declaring war on Iraq.

Getting Bin Laden was a casualty to the Bush administration's broader demostic policy of crushing the Democratic party.

Thus, only to the likes of a David Broder should it be a surprise that we are discovering the lengths to which the Bush administration has politicized the federal government. Despite the failure of many in the media to comprehend it, the US attorney scandal is not simply about Alberto Gonzales misleading Congress, but is about the use of some of our most important law enforcement resources - the US Attorneys and their offices - for political purposes. Cases against Republicans were being delayed or derailed and charges against Democrats were being chased to the ends of the Earth.

Today's big revelation is more of the same. It has now been learned that, prior to the 2004 election, Karl Rove's bagman, Scott Jennings, gave presentations to the heads of at least 15 federal agencies seeking their assistance in using their resources to assist in danger Republican candidates and to undercut targeted Democratic candidates. TPM Muckraker has the breakdown of the scheme.

The smoking gun evidence comes from Jennings' presentation to the GSA. From The Washington Post:

At its completion, GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan asked how GSA projects could be used to help "our candidates," according to half a dozen witnesses. The briefer, J. Scott Jennings, said that topic should be discussed "off-line," the witnesses said. Doan then replied, "Oh, good, at least as long as we are going to follow up," according to an account given by former GSA chief acquisition officer Emily Murphy to House investigators, according to a copy of the transcript.

"Something was going to take place potentially afterwards" regarding Doan's request, GSA deputy director of communications Jennifer Millikin told investigators she concluded at the time.

The American taxpayers are not paying these people to play politics with their money. They work for everybody. As they have failed to understand this, they must go.

Start with Rove, Jennings and Doan. But ultimately, it all leads to Bush and Cheney.

Does Anybody Believe Petraeus?

CNN reports:

The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, told reporters Wednesday that sectarian murders in Baghdad have been reduced by about one-third since the beginning of the year.

Talk about throwing a hanging curveball to a liberal blogger.

So, as I readied to put the wood to this nonsense, I decided to run over to the Newshog blog where I had earlier seen a link to a piece on how the Iraqi government was withholding civilian death statistics from the UN. And damn if I didn't find that Cernig had already kicked, stomped and shredded Petraeus' talking point in a much more succinct fashion than I ever could.

Here's what Cernig wrote:

Still, I wish some on the Hill would do their homework. When Petreaus told them sectarian deaths in Baghdad were a third of pre-surge reates, I wish someone had asked about overall death rates including suicide bombs (which aren't counted as sectarian). Most counts say overall deaths have hardly dipped at all despite the flood of troops - but it's difficult to be sure since the Iraqi government refuses to release the official figures. Convenient, eh?

And to all 5 of my readers --- if you aren't reading Newshog everyday, you really should. When they go big, I'll be writing a post titled, "I Was Reading Them When ..."

An Adult To A Child

Rudy Giuliani claimed that another 9/11 was more likely to occur with a Democratic president than a Republican one.

Here's Barack Obama's response:

“Rudy Giuliani today has taken the politics of fear to a new low and I believe Americans are ready to reject those kind of politics. America’s mayor should know that when it comes to 9/11 and fighting terrorists, America is united. We know we can win this war based on shared purpose, not the same divisive politics that question your patriotism if you dare to question failed policies that have made us less secure. I think we should focus on strengthening our intelligence, working with local authorities and doing all the things we haven't yet done to keep Americans safe. The threat we face is real, and deserves better than to be the punchline of another political attack.”

The Predictable Happens

Apparently, it wasn't just a single suicide bomber. Time has the details on the attack in Baquba yesterday that left 9 US troops dead and 20 njured:

The strike was what U.S. soldiers call a complex attack, one involving elaborate planning to maximize casualties. Initial assessments suggest that first a suicide car bomber rammed a vehicle into the gates of a small U.S. patrol base outside Baquba in the same area where single car bomber attacked a patrol base last month. A second suicide car bomber apparently followed the first in yesterday's attack, however. And at the same time insurgents fired small arms and rocket propelled grenades, according to soldiers from the 82nd Airborne. In the end, the patrol base was all or mostly destroyed, with several soldiers dead beneath the rubble.

How many more people will have to die as part of Bush's vanity war?

We've now topped 3,600 dead coalition troops in Iraq. The goal for us liberals: not 4,000. But damn if Bush isn't doing everything in his power to get us past that in a hurry.

Media Idiots

Somebody please send a memo informing Newsday and the San Francisco Chronicle that 34.6 is less than 35.6.

They ran headlines stating, respectively, "Dems boost Bush's sagging approval ratings" and "Democrats lift Bush's approval ratings."

Their evidence - in April 2006 Bush's average approval rating was 35.6% and in April 2007 it is 34.6%.

I'm not sure that even qualifies as truthiness.

(via Media Matters).

The Truth About Our Military Leadership

Congressional hearings today are shining the bright light on two of the military's biggest whoppers of recent years --- the lies about Pat Tillman's death and the lies about the capture of Jessica Lynch. I akm in awe of Kevin Tillman's courage in calling out the "deliberate and calculated lies" told about Pat and of Jessica Lynch's selflessness and truthfullnesss when they easier - and probably more profitable - route would have been to remain silent.

But let's not forget that the lies coming from our military leadership don't end with these two stories. Indeed, we have been spoon-fed false information from the military on numerous other occasions:

- the cover-up on the civilian deaths in Haditha;

- the bombing of Al Zawahiri in Pakistan that actually resulted in dead women and children and not Zawahiri;

- the false numbers of Iraqis killed during the revenge slaughter following the bombing of the Golden Mosque;

- the wedding bombing;

- the gamed PR of the tearing down of the Saddam statue;

- the bombing death of Chemical Ali.

And those are the ones I can recall just off the top of my head.

The truth is that our military leadership has also been grotesquely politicized. Too many are interested - and being rewarded - for placing Republican spin above sober and honest assessments.

A change needs to be made in our military leadership. We need military leaders who understand that in a transparent democracy truth trumps spin. We need military leaders who place integrity above loyalty to their political benefactors. We need the likes of Kevin Tillman and Jessica Lynch to be pushed up the ladder for their committment to truth rather than promoting the best ass kissers and spinners.

In short, there needs to be accountability that restores the faith of the American people and the people of the World in the statements from our military.

This War Is Lost

According to Bush Spokeswoman Dana Perino, if we withdraw from Iraq, we would leave "the people in Iraq flailing and defenseless." That's some statement about the Iraqi government, military and security forces.

After 4 years and after spending $400 billion of the U.S. taxpayers money and after more than 3,500 coalition troop deaths and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths, this can only be seen as a loss.

I challenge any righty to explain to me how a "flailing and defenseless" Iraq is a victory or constitutes winning.

The Nigerian Election Fraud

Given that we have green-lighted the gaming of elections, is it any wonder that Nigeria's recent vote was so horribly rigged.

Chris McGreal at the Guardian has the full story.

Here are a couple of choice passages. The first of outgoing President Obasanjo (who's party won the fraudulent election):

The outgoing president, Olusegun Obasanjo, acknowledged fraud and other "lapses" in the vote but said the result reflected opinion polls. In a national television address he added that if Nigerians do not like his handpicked successor's victory they will have an opportunity to vote again in four years.

Sounds just like a Bush Republican.

And here's the glorious response of the United States:

The US state department said the elections were flawed, "and in some cases deeply flawed", but said it was not calling for a rerun.

In other words "Democracy Schemocracy - our guy won!"

Vindication for Billy Ray Johnson

Billy Ray Johnson - a mentally challenged, 42 year old black man living in East Texas - was taunted and assaulted by a group of white teenagers. He was taken and thrown in a ditch on a mound of fire ants and next to a pile of old tires; left to die.

But he barely lived though he suffered permanent brain damage.

Under the East Texas criminal justice system, only two of the perpetrators were punished - one got 60 days and the other 30 days.

Fortunately, Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center took Johnson's case on a pro bono basis. And now ... a civil jury awarded Johnson a $9 million verdict against the two non-settling perpetrators.

ABC News has more.

Don't expect this case to get the same coverage on the right as the Duke case.

The Right Question

How can someone - Cho Seung Hui - who was found in December 2005 to be "mentally ill and in need of hospitalization" and "an imminent danger to self and others" be allowed to purchase a Glock and 50 rounds of hollow point bullets in March 2007?

ANSWER: Virginia has fucked up gun laws.

ABC News has more info on this issue.

Blame Video Games & Movies!

It didn't take long. On the day of Cho's shooting, we had Dr. Phil pandering to the wingnuts by suggesting that its the video games that desensitize American youth to violence and thereby implying a cause for Cho's rampage.

Now the New York Times and ABC News have both run pieces (both front paged with a photo on their websites) connecting Cho's massacre as an imitation of the South Korean movie Oldboy. Ignore the fact that they are only speculating that the Cho photo is based on Oldboy and, indeed, are only guessing that Cho had actually seen the movie. Ignore the fact that Oldboy involves a man getting revenge against a gang of violent and criminal bad guys and not going on a rampage against innocent civilians. It's a great hook for blaming the "Hollywood liberals."

These elite media types must have been disappointed to all hell when they found out Cho really dug a Collective Soul song rather than say rap music or heavy metal.

But if you were to follow the logic of these elitist media nutters, wouldn't you have to also consider Cho's statements that he is like Jesus Christ and question his Christianity as the cause of his actions? Of course, these pandering fools won't go there.

Nor should they. The evidence thus far indicates Cho's work was that of a very sick, mentally deranged young man. He may have taken things he saw in movies or learned in his religion to twist out a rationale for his despicable acts. But should the media really be looking to do that in an effort to blame video games or Hollywood liberals?

Justice Kennedy & The 4 Conservative Activists Vote To Torture The Likes of Coreen Costello

Today, Alito and Roberts revealed themselves as having been liars on the issue of Stare Decisis and voted to not require a full woman's health exception to federal abortion legislation. Special thanks to NARAL for having supported the likes of the Specters and Liebermans who made today a possibility.

In fact, 5 justices - the 4 nutters and Kennedy - voted to uphold the constitutionality of Congress' ban on partial birth abortions, a law that overrules the decision of the Doctor and patient as to the best medical procedure for relief from a dangerous pregnancy and provides that an intact dilation and extraction can only be performed if the woman's life, as opposed to health, is in danger.

Now read the story of Coreen Costello and see how Congress and the five activists have deprived her of her freedom and sentenced pweople like her to torture.

Most bizarre, Kennedy wrote that the opponents of the act "have not demonstrated that the Act would be unconstitutional in a large fraction of relevant cases." So much for individual rights under the Constitution. You get screwed so long as you just happen to fall within the fraction of those unconstitutionally affected by a Congressional act.

UPDATE: In my original post, I erroneously criticized NOW for past endorsements of Specter & Lieberman when I meant to diss NARAL. I noticed my error and have corrected it.

Notice also that Atrios posts a Hall of Shame list of Democrats who voted in favor of the legislation the US Supreme Court upheld today.

Tragedy In Blacksburg

I wish this was a headline on the sports page. Unfortunately, it's not.

Early reports are of "a gunman" killing 22 and wounding an additional 28. The number of dead has been steadily climbing. Let's hope it stops here.

I have a hard time believing only one person can unleash this level of havoc.

The Firing of Don Imus

It's sad when even a millionaire like Don Imus is fired from a job, especially in such a public way.

His comment about the young ladies on the Rutgers basketball team - "nappy headed hos" - was sexist and racist and, in my opinion, a firing offense.

People are going to make idiotic statements. What's important is what they do afterward to show either the statement was a mistake or that they have changed. I am willing to forgive where there is a sincere apology and deeds showing a true effort to change.

Imus' problem here was his past history. He has done this before and simply escaped with a mere apology or a pledge to Clarence Page. The latest incident made it clear that any apology from him could not be accepted at face value.

Further, his apology was connected with a bizarre and generalized attack on "black leaders" and "black journalists" which to me showed he didn't get it.

Even yesterday, he went on a rant that, after his scheduled meeting with the Rutgers team, he was done apology. It made the meeting sound like just an item on a contrition checklist and made it sound like he really wasn't going to do any deeds to prove he was changing.

I would have been happy if Imus had the decency to resolve this issue by diversifying his show. Get a voice on your show for black women.

In short, it wasn't this one comment in isolation that did him in. It was his past history, his insincere apology and failure to do any deeds that would show - going forward - he was willing to change.

On a final note, I also think the media has done us all a disservice by making this an "Imus vs. Sharpton" thing and by largely ignoring the equally heinous statements of Imus' sidekick Bernard McGuirk.

White House Busted Destroying Documents

The AP reports:

The White House said Wednesday it had mishandled Republican Party-sponsored e-mail accounts used by nearly two dozen presidential aides, resulting in the loss of an undetermined number of e-mails concerning official White House business.

I've got to believe that this violates the Presidential Records Act. The odds that Bush holds anybody responsible for this: ZERO.

Congress, it's up to you. Haul 'em in for some splainin'.

Anybody See "Grindhouse" Yet?

Apparently, two of the actresses from Grindhouse made the cover of Rolling Stone.

Just A Coincidence

Check out this post by drational at the Daily Kos. Along with some analysis, we get this interesting graphic:

The Real Surge

51 dead troops in Iraq in the past 10 days.

While you may not have heard that, I bet you are aware by now that DNA evidence indicates that Larry Birkhead is the father of Anna Nicole's daughter.

WTF? Fineman Tut Tuts Imus For Missing The Latest Change In The PC Rules

Digby. has the must read of the day. He hauls off and puts the wood to the traditional media's obsession of painting the liberal blogosphere as uncivil --- too many F bombs I suppose --- while ignoring the hate speech problems that permeate big time, rightwing political discourse.

Most stunnning is this amazing exchange between Howard Fineman and Imus:

FINEMAN: Just before I came on the show, I was coming upstairs and my cell phone rang, and it was some listener who called me out of the blue. I'd never heard of the guy before. I'd never heard his name. He called me and he said, "Are you going to go on the show and finally confront this Imus guy? Are you going to quit enabling him?" And, you know, I thought about that, and I said to the guy, "You know, I'll puzzle that through on the radio." And I would like to continue to enable you to do a lot of the good things you do. Including, you know, talking about stuff happening in the world, which you do a very good job of on this show.

You know, the form of humor that you do here is risky, and sometimes it runs off the rails. Most of the people who listen to this show get the joke most of the time, and sometimes, you know, as David Carr said in The New York Times this morning, sometimes you go over the line so far you can't even see the line. And that's what happened in this case. And I think of all the stuff you've done and do do, and, you know, you make your mistakes -- we all make our mistakes. We all make mistakes. This was a big one. And I thought that the way you handled it just now -- and I'm not blowing smoke here -- I believe it, you know, was very heartfelt. And I know you well enough to know that that's the case and you're going to do everything you can to set it right.

You know, I don't know what'll happen. I think -- you know, it's a different time, Imus. You know, it's different than it was even a few years ago, politically. I mean, we may, you know -- and the environment, politically, has changed. And some of the stuff that you used to do, you probably can't do anymore.

IMUS: No, you can't. I mean --

FINEMAN: You just can't. Because the times have changed. I mean, just looking specifically at the African-American situation. I mean, hello, Barack Obama's got twice the number of contributors as anybody else in the race.

IMUS: Amen.

FINEMAN: I mean, you know, things have changed. And the kind of -- some of the kind of humor that you used to do you can't do anymore. And that's just the way it is.

IMUS: But I would say, in the spirit of charity, that the same black journalists who are calling for me to be fired had the option -- and the same black leaders -- they had the option to call me when I was asking for weeks about help in trying to get more information about sickle-cell anemia, about what the government was doing, about what could be done about research. And nobody -- nobody -- called me.

Oh, how Fineman pines for the days - not long ago - of when you could freely drop racist gags so long as the N word wasn't dropped. Imus, for his part, thinks a good defense is to take a shit on "black journalists" and "black leaders."

These are bizarre fucking people. Elitist, arrogant and insincere about the offense that has been caused by Imus' racism.

But hell, I'm sure I've dropped an F bomb somewhere in the last 24 hours. Who am I to bash these Saints of our national discourse?

Monday Funnies

You thought Payton Manning was a good guy ... check this out.

What Would Happen If Joshua Bell Played His Stradivarius In The DC Subway With An Open Violin Case?

Read the results in this fun piece from the Washington Post.

Easter With The Sopranos

After its most lackluster season, the Sopranos returns tonight to kick of the final 8 episodes 4EVAH!!!

No coma-induced, dream sequences please; more paranoia, betrayal and surprise twists.

Told Ya

FDL has the latest on the DOJ's document dump which ... well ... didn't quite include everything.

Racism In the DOJ's Civil Rights Division

TPM Muckraker has the amazing story on the extreme difficulty Bush's DOJ is having in finding any blacks who have suffered from voting or employment discrimination.

Oh ... but they've been able to direct their massive resources to a number of "reverse discrimination" cases involving whites.

Looks like race based decisions are being made by those charged with protecting us from such.

The Shrinking Republican Lexicon

During the Bush years, there have been a number of conservative catchphrases that have - well - disappeared, including:

"Balanced Budget Amendment"

"Exit Strategy"

"The Rule of Law"

Cernig at Newshog highlights the latest casualty:

"Up or down vote".

Cheney In The Shrubs

Check out this surreal video of Dick Cheney lurking in the shrubs at Bush's presser today.

What the hell is he doing over there?

The Missing Story

Josh Marshall has the latest on the ongoing corruption case in San Diego.

Mark Geragos, as one would expect of a good criminal defense attorney, is making hay of the whole dust up between Carol Lam and DOJ officials in Washington.

But, here's Josh on what should be stunning to everybody:

... the DOJ was holding up the indictments. Why was that? And in that context what does her subsequent dismissal tell us? Let's not be fooled on this one. The White House and the politicals at the DOJ were and are doing everything it can to spring Wilkes and Foggo.

In this case, we already have two convictions including the longest prison sentence for a sitting U.S. Congressman in history. Two others have been charged including the No. 3 at the CIA. And the stink leads to some of the biggest and most powerful men in Congress (Lewis, Doolittle, Delay), to the Vice President's office, to the Pentagon and to the CIA.

But missing in action on this story is the establishment media. On the Duke angle, they were trumped by the San Diego Tribune. On the rest, they are simply MIA.

Dukakis In Baghdad?

Here's a picture of John Wayne McCain "walking freely" in Baghdad.



Oh ... and he was also accompanied by 100 soldiers, 3 Blackhawk and 2 Apache helicopters. Think Progress has it all here.

But hey, it's all good! Lindsey Graham bought 5 rugs for 5 bucks. Of course, he got screwed in the deal. They would've given him the rugs for free just to get his ass out of their market as quickly as possible. Graham misunderstood the vendor's last words to him as "Thanks!" In fact, the literal Arabic interpretation was "Thanks for making us targets!"

But the quote of the day goes to NBC's Tom Aspell who apparently has grown a set and wasn't biting on McCain's PR trip. Aspell said that with the level of protection McCain had: “even Paris Hilton could ride a bicycle in a bikini through Anbar province.”

ONE QUESTION - Why the fuck are we paying and diverting resources so McCain could make a PR trip to Baghdad?

Gonzales Wants A Redo

After getting Congress to defer to his requested date to testify (April 17th), Alberto comes to the realization that a date this far out just gives more time for the story to stew in its own juices.

He now has the temerity to request the date be moved up. But Committee Chair, Patrick Leahy, says "sorry, we're all booked up!"

CNN has the whole desperate affair here.