Why the lies if they did nothing wrong?

Attorney’s do serve at the pleasure of the president…no argument there. But if there was nothing nefarious going on why did they lie about it?

1- “The attorney’s were fired for performance”. (Many had stellar reviews and Gonzales’s chief of staff has admitted that he NEVER saw performance evaluations of at least one of the attorney’s fired for “Performance” issues)
2- Gonzales said he didn’t know about the firings (In fact, he approved them)

If there is no story here, why all the lying? That is why they are in trouble with America. The lying. If the Attorney General is a liar with the full support of the President it makes it even clearer to Americans that the White House if full of liars.

Making them hate Democracy...good job

Here is some more data on the impacts of Bush's policy.

He's making them Hate Democracy: (well done GW)

A 43% plurality say democracy would be the best political system for Iraq, a marked decline in 16 months. In an ABC News survey beforeelections in 2005, 57% chose democracy.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-19-iraq-poll-day2_N.htm?csp=34

and more data:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-18-poll-cover_N.htm?csp=34

Face-to-face interviews with 2,212 Iraqis - a survey sponsored jointlyby USA TODAY, ABC News, the British Broadcasting Corp. and ARD, a GermanTV network - find a nation that in large measure has fragmented intofear. Six in 10 Iraqis say their lives are going badly.

Only one-third expect things to improve in the next year...Even some of those whose sect suffered under Saddam recall that time fondly. "I miss those good old days," said Jasim Mahmood Rajab, 60, aShiite businessman. "I had my work and my social life, and now -nothing. I'm ready to pay everything I have to sit at Abo Nowas Streetand eat fish at night."Before the war, Abo Nowas Street, which runs along the Tigris River, was lined with outdoor cafes. They are shuttered now>"

"I always talk to other girls in the bank remembering our old days when we were going shopping, or even walking in the streets," Solaf MohamedAli said. "Now we speak about all those things like a nice dream that is hard to get."And the next generation? Shiites are the most optimistic that their children will have a betterlife than they have had; two-thirds express optimism about that. So do half of the Kurds polled. But seven of 10 Sunnis predict that their children's lives will be worse.The pessimism was universal among the Sunnis who live in Baghdad: 100%of those surveyed said their children would have a worse life than theyhave had.

Lies Lies and more lies

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17702224/"

Sure, they'll talk but we need them to lie so we won't let them speakunder oath.

Disgusting.

The problem with their use of "executive privilege" is that they trot it out every time they do something illegal or immoral. Like, say the King of England would have in 1638, or some South American despot 50 years ago. The President is not above the law, he answers to the people and Congress when he's asked to. He should read the Constitution, or at least have someone read it too him. For all his spouting off about Democracy and ridding the world of dictators he spends a hell of lot of time acting like a dictator with a true disdain for the People's Checks on his power.

Under the Bus

It looks like they might be preparing for just that (under the bus). Alberto has been with the President a VERY long time, I don't think he does much with out talking to him (or at least Cheney), so to talk of this growing divide between them is hard to believe. More likely that he's just taking the blame.

Hey, remember when George Bush forget completely that he and Ken Lay were really good friends? "Ken Lay? Rings a bell, but not sure I know him". Or Jack Abramoff "He came to the WH once for a Hanukah party"So there is a pattern.

Don't you feel safer?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/03/14/med.marijuana.ap/index.html

Our ports are unprotected, and yet our government wants to prosecute thedying for smoking weed. The puritanical drive behind this effort would make the Taliban proud. Thank god, the government is there to protect this dying woman from hurting herself.

The problem with torture

The problem with torture is that people don't necessarily tell the truth, they say what you want to hear so the torture will stop (Interrogation 101).

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/14/guantanamo.mohammed/index.html

In addition to confessing to every terrorist plot of the past 15 years. Mohammed also confessed to the Kennedy Assassination, being the Zodiac killer and kidnapping the Lindbergh baby. He also confessed to being tangentially involved in the Lincoln Assassination by providing horses to Booth and others.

The Bushie version of accountability

In the Bush WH all you have to do is say "I accept responsibility" and let your underlings go to prison, get fired, etc and somehow you'reaccountable.
"I'm accept full responsibility, which is why I've fired mysubordinate". Is a classic Bushie line.

Not only are they immoral and criminal, but they are cowards too.

Shameful:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/13/fired.attorneys/index.html

Dick Cheney's future employer or Why does Halliburton hate America?

No bid contracts, war profiteering, shoddy work, endangering the lives of American Soldiers and NOW maybe trying to avoid paying taxes. Why does Halliburton hate America?

Another proud day for the Bush administration and it's personal money making machine. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17577926/

Has there ever been a more amoral and corrupt administration?

Sure, Nixon was corrupt, but at least he did something good in foreign policy with China. Bush has done nothing postivie in any area. He didn't meet any of his promises to the people that elected him and his party is in shambles due to the corruption and immorality that he not only allowed but embraced and encouraged.

His will go down as the worst Presidency ever. It effects will be felt for years to come. I have NO DOUBT that Scooter Libby is not the last Bushie to be found guilty of crimes.

The corruption and depravity knows no bounds. It permeates this administration and he ran on "restoring integrity to the Office". He's nearly destroyed it.

Hypocritical Bastards

Is there a single member of the GOP who isn't an adulterous hypocrite criminal?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17527506/

YIKES

Cheney said the attackers were trying "to find ways to question the authority of
the central government."

Let me suggest, that if the Taliban can drive up to the entrance of a US Military installation, I’d say the central government is already in question. But we’ve been saying that for years. If Bush had only finished the job in Afghanistan, then our hand picked president might actually have some legitimacy outside of the capital. Not to mention, the Taliban must have had knowledge of where and when Cheney would be, that should be the scariest part of all. How would they get that information?





And to think, Afghanistan is the one that is going "well". --------------

Afghan blast kills 23; Taliban says Cheney targeted

By ALISA TANG The Associated Press BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber
attacked the entrance to the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan today during
a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, killing up to 23 people and wounding
20.
Cheney was unhurt in the attack, which was claimed by the Taliban and was
the closest that militants have come to a top U.S. official visiting
Afghanistan. At least one U.S. soldier, an American contractor and a South
Korean solder were among the dead, NATO said.
Cheney said the attackers were
trying "to find ways to question the authority of the central government." A
Taliban spokesman said Cheney was the target.
About two hours after the
blast, Cheney left on a military flight for Kabul to meet with President Hamid
Karzai and other officials, then left Afghanistan.
The vice president had
spent the night at the sprawling Bagram Air Base, ate breakfast with the troops,
and met with Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, the commander of U.S. troops in
Afghanistan.
He was preparing to leave for a meeting with Karzai when the
suicide bomber struck about 10 a.m., sending up a plume of smoke visible by
reporters accompanying him. U.S. military officials declared a "red alert" at
the base.
"I heard a loud boom," Cheney told reporters. "The Secret Service
came in and told me there had been an attack on the main gate."

They don't care about cheating

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17136318/

If NASCAR was serious about stopping cheating they wouldn't suspend crewchiefs they'd suspend drivers. You send Jeff Gordon home for cheatingat Daytona, people will take notice, especially the sponsors. Right now there is NO incentive not to cheat. I have no doubt that these crews can still change tiresand understand gas consumption without their chief trackside.

NASCAR's current actions make about as much sense as suspending theDefensive Line coach of San Diego for Shawne Merriman's steroid use...or maybe the team doctor.

This is a nice switch on the "I don't remember" defense to the "He don't remember" offense. The halls of Washington are supposed to be filled with the best minds in America, if not the world. Sure, many elected officials can't claimthat but for the people who work there it should be true. YET, everysingle time someone gets in trouble they "Can't remember anything".This isn't a partisan slam, b/c it works for both parties. As if beingan incompetent idiot is a defense for being corrupt.

When asked about this stuff, it's always "I don't recall". That's bullshit. I guarantee you that any one us could be questioned about infinitely more mundane matters and remember 95% better than any politico that ever gotinto trouble. Whether it's Reagan or Bush selling Arms to our enemies or Clinton getting some in the oval office. There is NO WAY those men get to power without having some intelligence, and memory would be at the most basic level.

No doubt when George Bush goes on trial for his crimes, he'll forget everything even though this guy supposedly can remember everysingle nickname he ever handed out.

New rule: if you use "I don't remember" as a defense for your corrupt actions, you should be deemed "mentally incompetent", removed from office and forever banned from working in any position of governmentalresponsibility.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17128427/

Shins New CD ...disappoints (and it pains me to say it)

The fine people at SubPop were nice enough to send out the new Shins CD
a few days early and I got it yesterday (hits the streets today). So,
I've given it a listen and a half and maybe my expectations were too
high, but I'm disappointed. As you may know, I don't think bands
should necessarily "grow" or "move in new directions". If it ain't broke
don't fix it. It's a small group of bands that can change it up and pull it
off. (think Stones doing Country or the Beatles doing whatever they
want)

That said, the new CD has a few (2 or 3) songs with the "classic" Shins
sound; guitar-driven popiness with very abstruse lyrics. The ambiguous
lyrics are there, but the guitars are missing. At times it feels like
Beck broke into the Studio and added synthesizers. I also think (and I
mentioned this when the single was released) that James Mercer was
listening to a lot of Beach Boys, and I still think he did try to
channel Brian Wilson on a few tracks.

When "Chutes Too Narrow" came out, I didn't love that either, but it
grew on me. It's still no "Oh, Inverted World", but it's a great CD.
At this point "Wincing the Night Away" is not and it hurts me to say
that.

What will Zach Braff do?

New Shins CD

I pre-ordered my Shins CD months ago directly from SubPop. Have you? When I ordered it I also order two CD singles. Oh James, why so long b/t CDs?

Also, the past week...I can't get enough of The New Pornographers "Twin Cinema". I liked it when I bought it, but I have seriously listened to that CD a dozen times all the way through in the past week and it is pure brilliance.

Some more of that ""Bush is doing everything he can to protect America"

"Bush is doing everything he can to protect America" (that's how the Bushies always explain when they are imprisoning Americans while ignoring the COnstitution)

OR

"Just following in Daddy's footsteps by selling arms to our enemy, Iran."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16648850/

Will Bush use this to invade Syria

Are these the Weapons that my Bushie friend has been talking about for four years?



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16655063/

Which Romney?

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/jan/10/video_of_liberal_mitt_romney_quotes_surfaces
I'm confused. Which Romney do you like?

The "unchanging institution of marriage"

A Bushie friend got his shorts in a bundle over gays in the military. When I asked him why he chose to put America in danger b/c boys kissing made him feel icky, he got onto gay Marriage (a tactic he's no doubt learned from watching America's most dangerous idiot, Sean Hannity, on a loop). That thread had started when the article about retired General Shalikashvili wrote in the NY Times that he felt gays should serve openly in the military.

_______________
In response to his claim that Marriage was an institution that was thousands of years old and was "the basis for our civilization and culture".

My response:

Again, Marriage wasn’t the topic, so I’ll just assume you put your “icky feelings” about gays above the safety of America.

With that established, you need to do some research on marriage. The concept of “civil” marriage is relatively new. Marriage as a religious sacrament is quite older, so if you’re supporting a Libertarian solution that states should completely get out of the civil marriage game, they’ll be glad to have you.

Additionally, since you’ve brought up “thousands of years” you’ve opened up this debate to the globe (since the United States did not exist thousands of years ago). What about other parts of marriage, polygamy, arranged marriage, daughters sold into marriage and assorted other practices that have existed as “marriage” for thousands of years, do you also support those for the mere sake of nostalgia? That seems to be your argument. “Because we did it that way, that’s the way we should continue to do it” That is your position, no? Fortunately, most of the world doesn’t hold on to things b/c that’s how we’ve always done it. If so, we’d still be riding horses and reading by candlelight.

I don’t even need to get into the dissolution of marriage and how that has changed.


As for your belief (wrong as usual) that the “institution of marriage” is this unchanging bedrock here’s just a few points to challenge your mind:

1830 - Right of married woman to own property in her own name (instead of all property being owned exclusively by the husband) in Mississippi.
1848 - Right of married women to own property in her own name in New York.
1854 - The Republican party referred in its platform to polygamy as one of the "twin relics of barbarism" (in addition to slavery). At the time, polygamy was a practice of some Mormons. See plural marriage.
1862 - The United States Congress enacted the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, signed by Abraham Lincoln, which made bigamy a felony in the territories punishable by $500 or five years in prison.
1873 - Supreme Court rules that a state has the right to exclude a married woman from practicing law.
1874 - Congress passed the Poland Act, which transferred jurisdiction over Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act cases to federal prosecutors and courts in Utah, which were not controlled by Mormons.
1879 - The Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Reynolds v. United States
1882 - Congress passed the Edmunds Act, which prohibited not just bigamy, which remained a felony, but also bigamous cohabitation, which was prosecuted as a misdemeanor, and did not require proof an actual marriage ceremony had taken place. The law also allowed polygamists to be held indefinitely without a trial.
1887 - Congress passed the Edmunds-Tucker Act, which allowed prosecutors to force polygamist wives to testify against their husbands, and abolished the right of women in Utah to vote.
1890 - Mormons in Utah officially renounce polygamy through the 1890 Manifesto.
1900 - All states now grant married women the right to own property in their own name.
1904 - Mormons in Utah officially renounce polygamy again, excommunicating anyone who participates in future polygamy.
1907 - All women acquired their husband's nationality upon any marriage occurring after that date.
1920 - Right of women to vote.
1933 - Married women granted right to citizenship independent of their husbands.
1965 - Supreme Court overturns laws prohibiting married couples from using contraception.
1967 - Supreme Court overturns laws prohibiting interracial couples from marrying (Loving v. Virginia).
1971 - Supreme Court upholds an Alabama law that automatically changed a woman's legal surname to that of her husband upon marriage.
1972 - Supreme Court overturns laws prohibiting unmarried couples from purchasing contraception.
1975 - Married women allowed to have credit in their own name.
1976 - Supreme Court overturns laws prohibiting abortions for married women without the consent of the husband.
1996 - President Clinton signs the Defense of Marriage Act into law.
2004 - Massachusetts recognizes same-sex marriage.

Why we don't need to jump the gun with Iran (and screw that up worse than it is)

As I've said (although it was said by people a lot smarter than me longbefore) that Iran's moderate's don't want to live in an Islamistbackwater. They've tasted Capitalism and freedom and they like it (Justlike Levi's in Russia). So, it looks like the worst thing we could dowould be to act aggressively toward Iran and unify the entire countrybehind the psycho currently in power.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/19/iran.elections.ap/index.html