Old Fashioned Patriot

"...the commission must agree in writing that it will not request additional public testimony from any White House official, including Dr. Rice." It seems simple enough but what if you are orchestrating ConJob Rice's testimony? What does this mean?

Some are speculating that Rice will resign in disgrace. (Ha! I have a better chance of winning the Lotto in all 50 states and being struck by lightning!) Some are speculating that Rice, like the other crooked liars she works with will perjure herself. (She probably will but looking at the tenaciousness of most of the commissioners we probably won't find out until after we are dead.)

Sadly, it is simpler than all that. She will testify publicly under oath to hearsay evidence.

Three White House staffers can tell Rice that they "heard Clarke was going to write a book and smear dear leader to get publicity."

Two White House Staffers can tell Rice that Clarke's plans were "unworkable."

One White House Staffer can tell Rice that Osama bin Laden gave Clarke a blow job.

These staffers can do this on the walk from her office to the limo that takes her to testify in public under oath and she could word her testimony to avoid that detail.

Kindasleazy Rice can then testify publicly and under oath that White House staffers told her that Clark wrote a book and smeared Bush to get publicity. Other staffers thought Clarke's plans were unworkable and he got a blow job from Osama bin Laden.

A hard hitting Democrat might ask why she didn't know any of this directly and ConJob can say that Clarke was supposed to report to her underlings which might be why he hates a black woman.

The 9/11 Commission won't be able to do a thing about it because, in keeping with Bush's White Wash of what it didn't do before 9/11, it has agreed to not call any other witnesses if CondiLiar testifies.

P.S. My apologies to the world if Karl Rove hadn't already thought of it and I gave him the idea.

Anthony over at Atrios comments suggests a Google Bomb to help people find Air America Radio.
You better plant those Google bombs before we get classified as cyber terrorists:

<a href="http://www.airamericaradio.com/www/main.cfm" target="air">Air America Radio</a>.

I'm in.

CNN reports that Entertainment Weekly lists Chris Rock as the #1 comedian. 21 years of Chris? It doesn't seem that long, I am beginning to feel old and Chris Rock, well, rocks!

David Letterman hit #11 on their top 10 list.

Speaking of CNN and Letterman - there was a bit of flap on the Letterman show. Apparently Dave ran a video of a kid at a Bush campaign speech fidgeting during the Chimperator's ramble. CNN "reported" that the White House said it was edited by the Letterman show and it didn't really happen. Dave, of course, stood by his story. CNN didn't. They sent a note to Letterman while he was taping (!?!) retracting their report that the White House said Letterman was making it up. After that, Letterman was sweating bullets because he accused the White House of lying based on a CNN report of what the White House said.

The terror is right here in this room.

My own guess is someone in the White House told CNN to spin and then countermanded it.

"One, this administration has provided unprecedented cooperation to the 9/11 Commission. Their work is very important, and we are working with them in a cooperative and close manner to make sure that they have the information they need to do their job."

Scott McClellan, Feb 27, 2004

"Second, the commission must agree in writing that it will not request additional public testimony from any White House official, including Dr. Rice."

Alberto Gonzales, March 30, 2004.

With all this "cooperation", the White House missed the chance to have Rice testify on April Fool's Day.

I hope they can come to terms. I still think they should go with my plan. Make Nader Attorney General and watch corporate criminals and war profiteers (like Cheney and Halliburton) squirm, squirm, squirm. I think in a show of bipartisanship that Kerry should offer Bush a job in his administration - I hear positions to ride point on Highway 8, Iraq's "Road of Death" open up daily.

Clarke's testimony was believable on its own but it is always nice to have another witness espeically because Rice is probably willing to lie under oath. After all, she is just a heartbeat from a pardon.

Former U.S. State Department deputy coordinator for counterterrorism, Tom Maertens said, "Despite its own failings, the Bush administration has conducted a scorched-earth smear campaign against Clarke, because his book threatens Bush’s carefully orchestrated image as a war president."

I guess it was a dry run for November. Bartcop reports that some precincts in California had 290% turnout.

Kindasleazy Rice says she won't answer sworn testimony with sworn testimony. What does she have to hide? She says she is doing it to protect a principle. Or perhaps, to protect a principal? Following Rice's brand new made up principle then we need to throw out John Dean's sworn testimony against Nixon. That would suit her lying ass, wouldn't it?

This just in Condoleezza Rice To Testify In Public, Under Oath. Republicans say she has nothing to fear. She can't be impeached and she didn't get a blow job. WTF? The 9/11 Commission can't ask for anyone else from the White House? What kind of "full cooperation" is this from Bush?

Condiliar threatens Jamaica if it doesn't expel Aristide immediately. Pretty hardline stance for a gang that pretends it had nothing to do with Aristide's overthrow.

Crooked liars admit they lied. Luckily, for Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rice, they weren't under oath. I guess Frist won't be taking on any challenges from Clarke...

G.I.'s Padlock Baghdad Paper Accused of Lies:
"BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 28 — American soldiers shut down a popular Baghdad newspaper on Sunday and tightened chains across the doors after the occupation authorities accused it of printing lies that incited violence."

Lies that incited violence. Sort of like the New York Time's Judith Miller printing lies about WMDs that led to widespread violence, death and destruction. Why isn't Bush padlocked instead of telling tasteless jokes?

The WTO ruled against US policy against online gambling. I wonder if we will start seeing the religious right at anti-WTO protests?

In DC, Washington Fires Health Chief Over Handling of Lead in Water. According to Wilentz's Medical Effects of Lead Poisoning it can lead to:

"..decreased intelligence, short-term memory loss, reading under-achievement, impairment of visual-motor function, loss of auditory memory, poor perceptual integration, poor classroom behavior, and impaired reaction time.."

Update: Thanks to Damfa for the perception link and thanks to Matt for the poor classroom behavior link. One more and I will have hit the trifecta!

Republicans, clutching at straws to help their foundering candidate who has bumbled and fumbled in the White House for the last few years notice a strange similarity between Moveon's ads and John Kerry's ads. The Republicans notice both of these groups are attacking Bush's handling of the economy, the environment, the war on terror, the health care crisis, the educaton crisis, the war on Iraq which diverted resources from the war on terror. The crooked liars at the RNC jump to the unfounded conclusion that this could only be the result of collusion. It would never occur to them that Bush's incompetence at handling these issues might be a factor in the similarity of the ads...

In fact, MoveOn's collection of independent ad submissions, many of which were similar, would seem to be a good defense against the Republican Nazis who are trying to ban anti-Bush ads.

John Kerry's proposal to close tax loopholes that encourage U.S. companies to move work abroad has been my hobby horse for years. If you don't want to move to India or China to find a job we have to elect this man.

He championed a 3 billion tax cut for cut and run company Boeing at the expense of school children in Washington state. The quid pro quo was Boeing was going to make the 7E7 here thus creating jobs.

It didn't entirely work out that way. It turns out the 3 billion will cost more because of off book donations to Chicago corporation Boeing. It turns out that Illinois company Boeing wrote its contracts such that only the final assembly is done here. 800 jobs for 3 billion dollars. Way to go, Governor.

Oh, by the way, Boeing announced more layoffs. My guess is they will bleed off another 800 jobs within the year. Whoopee! A 3 billion dollar tax cuts for no increase in jobs. Don't let the door slam you in the backside, while you are leaving, Gary.

By invading Iraq, the president of the United States has greatly undermined the war on terrorism, Clarke told the commission yesterday.

I heard Richard Clarke on "Fresh Air" last night. He explained the difference in drunken frat boy's reaction to "increased chatter" and Clinton's reaction to "increased chatter." One held daily meetings where he wanted reports about what was being done to prevent a terrorist attack(and key members of the plot were arrested before it took place) and the other spent a month in Crawford. Can you guess which one people think is "strong against terror"? Can you guess which one got impeached?

Clarke: Rice should have done job before 9/11

So maybe Chevron will take KindaLazy's name off of the tanker and put it on one of their wrecking trucks.

Listening to Richard Clarke's testimony, it appears that Bush's "war on terra" is the result of on the job training. It also appears he didn't learn the lessons very well. His hardon for Iraq oil made him ignore pre 9-11 warnings. That is giving Bush the benefit of the doubt. The neocons did want their Reichstag fire. The planes were not scrambled. The only conclusion I can draw is Bush used the warnings to make sure he was not in a high value target area.

This is an older article I ran across about autism. It is the only one I have seen that has doubted the "genetic epidemic" theory of autism.

The rate used to be 1 in 10,000 and the article now mentions the 1 in 150 to 1 in 500 level. In my opinion, those numbers understate the epidemic because it is looking at the population as a whole. If you look at cohorts, kids 12 and under instead of the population as a whole, the rate is approaching 1 in 75. Don't believe me? Do a nose count in your local elementary school. You will find one out of 3 classrooms (of 25 kids or so) has an autistic child with an aide or the child has been moved to the special ed classes.

Twenty years ago, the most common disability for schools to deal with were Downs Syndrome kids. Now they are a small fraction of the schools' special ed population.

By the way, the autism epidemic isn't better or different diagnostic criteria. It isn't that parents want the label. There is something bad happening in our environment and the Center for Disease Control is not looking into it.

The NY Times brings us this gem: Despite the Sluggish Economy, Welfare Rolls Actually Shrank.

"Some families have left the cash welfare rolls because they reached the time limits set by federal and state laws. Some have been removed from the rolls as a penalty for failing to comply with work requirements."

I guess it is kind of hard to get benefits if you have been cut off for failing to find a job in Bush's "recovery".

The part that economists are ignoring is that a huge number of our poorest American families were having to work two or three jobs to make ends meet. If you get laid off from one of them (thanks to Republican financed outsourcing via tax credits) then you won't be eligible for some programs because of having the jobs.

The NY Times reports Delivery Delays Hurt U.S. Effort to Equip Iraqis . At the very bottom of the article it mentions the company involved in the dispute:
"Nour USA's president, A. Huda Farouki, is a friend of Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council who has close ties to several senior Pentagon officials. But Nour executives and senior Army officials say that relationship played no role in awarding the contract to Nour."

The amount involved in this case is 327 million of working Americans' tax dollars. No wonder Bush and Cheney think of Chalabi as Presidential material. He probably reminds them of ... them.

It seems one of the reasons debate about Iraq, America and the War on Terra is all askew in America is most Americans don't understand what a terrorist is. For many, terrorist means brown Arab Muslim. This is why so many stupid Americans can get excited about Bush's war on terror. Bush has bombed and killed a minimum of 10,000 civilians. They were brown, Muslim Arabs (for the most part) so he must be winning the war on terra. Ha! That part of the American invasion isn't a war on terror but a war of terror. Bush has tripled his buddy bin Laden's score. The 10,000 doesn't include Iraqi military that were killed. While Bush's invasion was probably a war crime I don't consider his attacking military targets as terrorism. It is unfortunate for both our countries that Bush entangled us in this unnecessary war.

Fast forward to Bush's occupation of Iraq. He secured the ministry of oil and the oil fields and pretends this illegal war isn't about oil.

The conflict in America is understanding our conquered land's perspective. Are Iraqis attacking American troops terrorists or freedom fighters? Considering they want to rid their country of foreign invaders I believe an Iraqi history, if they are ever allowed to write one, will judge them to be freedom fighters. The Iraqis attacking police stations and mosques and hotels with car bombs are terrorists. Bush has squandered countless lives and has not made anyone, American or Iraqi, safer for it.

Answer: Thanks to American bombs, little brown, Muslim, Arabic kids get to meet God right before they get sent straight to hell.

and the Crooked Liars that tell them are convincing voters that Kerry will say what people want to hear rather than what he believes.

Let me get this straight.
Bush knows people want to protect forests so his "Healthy Forests" law allows massive, unfettered clear cutting.
Bush knows people want a "War on Terrorism" so he keeps insisting that Iraq has something to do with 9/11.
Bush knows people care about education so he calls his plan "No Child Left Behind" but it does nothing but punish schools that fail to meet guidelines and doesn't actually help schools achieve them.
Bush knows people want senior citizens to get the medicine they need so he passes "Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act" which gives more money to drug companies and is of very little benefit to most seniors.

This reminds me of that other campaign. When "straight shooter" Bush convinced everyone that Gore was a liar. It looks like he is going to convince people that Kerry says one thing and does another.

Weak on Terror
"It's now clear that by shifting his focus to Iraq, Mr. Bush did Al Qaeda a huge favor. The terrorists and their Taliban allies were given time to regroup; the resurgent Taliban once again control almost a third of Afghanistan, and Al Qaeda has regained the ability to carry out large-scale atrocities."

Bush may be weak on terror but at least he has torn up our constitutional rights in the process.

As our co-conspirator at VLWC points out in comments - Unansweredquestions.org is a great place to question our so-called Steady Leader regarding (according to the SCLM) his greatest success, 9/11. Hmmmm. Oh, yes, Steady Leadership

<a href="http://unansweredquestions.org/" target="steady">Steady Leadership</a>

A "Steady Leader"
is just an anagram for
"Steal Yer Dead" Bush ad.

I am the #8 hit for "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns" which brings up my post about the Declaration of Independence and the parallels between King George III and Chimperor George. (A belated hello to whoever found me that way on Google.)

Now that the California State Supreme Court has decreed an injunction against gay marriages isn't it time that a smart lawyer turned the religious fundamentalists' argument on its ear? Couldn't a lawyer cite all the religious extremists going on and on about the sacrament of marriage and that gays are defiling this sacred institution of religion and then say, perforce, considering the religious nature of marriage that state, county and city governments have no right recognizing a religious rite by giving out marriage certificates and then seek an injunction to stop everyone, heterosexuals, homosexuals, Santorum and his dog from getting a marriage certificate? Just aking. Civilly, of course.

I am not going to commit blasphemy and say Mel Gibson's latest move is excessively bloody but I will note that last Saturday, I saw several priests sitting in the front row filling wine goblets for Sunday mass...

I dare you to ask everyone you know these two questions:

If the 9/11 commission asked you to spend a day of your time testifying before them, would you?

If the 9/11 commission asked you to testify under oath, would you?

My question to you : Why is Bush, the self proclaimed "Steady Leader", the only American to answer no to both of those questions?

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Edward R. Murrow's See It Now broadcast that criticized Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R- Coulter's hero) for using fear of terrorism by Communists to reduce the US to a one party system. Walter Cronkite had a great piece on NPR tonight remembering those times. Hey, Heathers, I suggest you watch that old black and white broadcast to see how TV journalism is really done.

For Bush, 9/11 isn't about debate. It is about shutting up people who would question his tax cuts; his ability to do his job; his singlemindedness in committing war crimes.

Bush won't answer why USAF fighters were held back for nearly an hour. Not to mention the physical evidence doesn't prop up the official story. I think the Miserable Failure had a hand in the atrocities of that day.

Defiling the dead of 9/11 isn't enough for George W. Bush; deaths that Bush probably contributed to with his negligence. Bush is going to pay respects shamelessly use for a photo op a 9/11 memorial on his way to a fundraiser. This means Bush doesn't have to pay for his endless security expenses which should be paid by his campaign. Thanks, No More Mister Nice Blog, for this info.

Hey! If Bush believed he was making the world safer for Americans why doesn't he act like it?

Atrios points us to Breslin's latest: "What makes it worse is that this George W. Bush acts like he's entitled to treat the remains of a dead man like a souvenir." What do you expect from Skull & Boners? Bush's grandfather was one of the defilers who stole Geronimo's skull.

Apparently, he is trying to out neocon the neocons. The Black Commentator reports that Powell personally initiated the overt, criminally culpable act in the kidnapping of a head of state.

Bush and Blair sing Gay Bar by Electric Six.

Jesus Chainsaw Massacre.

I thought Rod Paige would get #1 Conservative Idiot for his assertion that teachers are terrorists. Don't forget teachers pay taxes so that Bush can give it to rich people who don't work.

AOL also made the list for their preventing aWol from showing up as the top hit for Miserable Failure. A project many of you know is dear to my heart.

Yeah, you, Bill O'Rielly. Your buddies Bush and Greenspan have stolen trillions of dollars from middle class working American familes. The people you say you look out for. When are you going to call those thieves on their unAmerican perfidy?

Boniface Alexandre, Haiti's Supreme Court Justice, replaces resigned President Aristide.