Can I get a “Well…duh!”? Chicago Tribune | Former CIA official says Bush misled country to war WASHINGTON — The former CIA official charged with managing the U.S. government’s secret intelligence assessments on Iraq says the Bush administration chose war first and then misleadingly used raw data to assemble a public case for its decision to invade. Paul Pillar, who was the CIA’s national intelligence officer for the Middle East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, said the Bush administration also played on the nation’s fears in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, falsely linking Al Qaeda to…
-
-
Oops! – Bush Unaware Mikes Were Still On – Yahoo! News When reporters left, Bush spoke about the National Security Agency program that he authorized four years ago and which has drawn criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. However, the microphones stayed on for a few minutes. That allowed journalists back at the White House to eavesdrop on Bush’s defense of the eavesdropping. His private statements were basically no different from what he’s said in public. “I want to share some thoughts with you before I answer your questions,” Bush began. “First of all, I expect this conversation we’re about…
-
I’ve been tagging del.icio.us links with this phrase today: RhetoricOfFailure. In fact, I bundled it together with a lot of other terms, like “CorruptRepublicans” and “SmirkingBastards” and “anti-truth.” Because every time I read a news item about something that didn’t go so well lately for the current Administration, I tag it and add it to the growing linkslist of failures. . I’ll be adding a new tag to the bundle: “Disengaged.” I just ran across this article from Boing Boing, and began sobbing helplessly at the needless loss of life and property because a bunch of elected and appointed officials…
-
It’s Alive! It’s Alive! It’s… not quite dead, but it’s feeling better. Call your Congressdrone: Error may snag $39 billion spending-cut bill – Yahoo! News WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A typographical error in a $39 billion U.S. domestic spending-cut bill signed into law by President George W. Bush on Wednesday could mean another vote on the measure that passed only after Vice President Dick Cheney intervened with a tie-breaking vote. The law, which sparked fury among Democrats and strong opposition from some Republicans in an election year, cuts funds for health care, student loan and other programs. This time, MAYBE, we…
-
Right, enough incessant style-twitching and markup-tweaking for a while. Now for a few things that I’ve been turning over in my mind lately, kind of like when you’re out back digging in the garden in early spring, and you turn over a forkful of earth and find a lot of worms and goo. Thursday night, I stopped off at a nearby mega-supermarket to pick up a few items for dinner. I’m always on the lookout for odd experiences there ever since the Screaming Child incident, and generally I am rewarded with minor annoyances; they have far more “scan your own…
-
IMproPRieTies: reax Of all the tedious media coverage of reaction to the SOTU I saw, I most respected Renee Montagne’s visit to three New Orleansians in a FEMA trailer in the darkened eastern sector of the city. These people watching the Bone tossed from the House, sailing through the deluxe mediascape, landing with an thud in that dark abandoned wreck of the town. Hearing the President ignore not just the city, but his federal administration’s obscene failure to address the city, and now the failure to address that obscene failure, which is apparently the only way Mr. Bush knows how…
-
Lobbying Colors GOP Leadership Contest Boehner, the guy who handed out checks on the House floor from tobacco concerns, has just been elected Majority Leader. A fair chunk of his change was raised from Abramoff-linked Indian tribes. Not that it’s wrong that they’re Indians, it’s that they were working with Abramoff. “We will want people who are clean running the House,” said Rep. Melissa Hart (R-Pa.), a Boehner supporter. So do we, Melissa. So we’ll just have to elect them. Do these people not get it? Do they not realize that the lobbying scandal taints everyone in their leadership? I…
-
You now, I heard Our Leader say this the other night, but due to an unfortunate overenthusiasm for Adam Felber’s SOTU Drinking Game, it just skidded on by: “Tonight I ask you to pass legislation to prohibit the most egregious abuses of medical research: human cloning in all its forms, creating or implanting embryos for experiments, creating human-animal hybrids, and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos. Human life is a gift from our Creator — and that gift should never be discarded, devalued or put up for sale.” Guess there’s no tax credit for hybrid humans, only hybrid cars. Damn.…
-
Naturally, I am drinking Sam Adams for the speech. Fanatical Apathy – The 2006 State of the Union Drinking Game Strong and stronger! [drink] 9/11! [drink] Weapons of mass (murder) [drink] terrorists hate our freedom! [drink] EVIL! He said evil! [drink] Clear plan for victory in Iraq! YAY! [drink] War is difficult. Sounds like “hard work” to me. [drink] We are winning! Woohoo! [drink] Support our troops! Ovation of teh evul minions! [drink] Military making sacrifices. Sounds like “hard work” to me. [drink] (Justifiable ovation for the family of the soldier killed in Fallujah. Support our troops, damn you, by…
-
ABC News: Majorities Disapprove of Bush on Ethics Jan. 27, 2006 — A clear majority of Americans now disapprove of President Bush’s handling of ethics in government, and three-quarters say the administration should disclose all contacts between White House officials and disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The administration has declined to release records of Abramoff meetings, saying it will not “engage in a fishing expedition.” But in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, 76 percent said the White House should produce such a list. Even 65 percent of Republicans said so… That’s a good sign. I know most Republicans won’t…