Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Betsy's news & blog pix for today

Click daily to see what I've posted.

Betsy




Bush's Herd of Loyal Texas Advisers Continues to Thin
via t r u t h o u t on Aug 28, 2007
Dave Montgomery, of the McClatchy Newspapers writes: "They were fiercely loyal, unfailingly disciplined and, as a unit, offered the president a comforting touchstone from his home state. Now, Team Texas is moving ever closer to extinction. The already thinning cadre of advisers who followed George W. Bush from Austin to Washington is unraveling even further, with Alberto Gonzales and Karl Rove heading toward the door."

American Nightmare: Gonzales “wrong and illegal and unethical”
via Greg Palast by Greg Palast on Aug 28, 2007
by Greg PalastTuesday, August 28.

“What I’ve experienced in the last six months is the ugly side of the American dream.”

Last month, David Iglesias and I were looking out at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island where his dad had entered the US from Panama decades ago. It was a hard moment for the military lawyer who, immediately after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired Iglesias as US Attorney for New Mexico, returned to active military duty as a Naval Reserve JAG.
Captain Iglesias, cool and circumspect, added something I didn’t expect:

“They misjudged my character, I mean they really thought I was just going to
roll over and give them what they wanted and when I didn’t, that I’d go away
quietly but I just couldn’t do that. You know US Attorneys and the Justice
Department have a history of not taking into consideration partisan politics.
That should not be a factor. And what they tried to do is just wrong and illegal
and unethical.”
When a federal prosecutor says something is illegal, it’s not just small talk. And the illegality wasn’t small. It’s called, “obstruction of justice,” and it’s a felony crime.

Specifically, Attorney General Gonzales, Iglesias told me, wanted him to bring what the prosecutor called “bogus voter fraud” cases. In effect, US Attorney Iglesias was under pressure from the boss to charge citizens with crimes they didn’t commit. Saddam did that. Stalin did that. But Iglesias would NOT do that - even at the behest of the Attorney General. Today, Captain Iglesias, reached by phone, told me, “I’m not going to file any bogus prosecutions.”
But it wasn’t just Gonzales whose acts were “unethical, wrong and illegal.“

It was Gonzales’ boss. Iglesias says, “The evidence shows right now, is that [Republican Senator Pete] Domenici complained directly to President Bush. And that Bush then called Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General, and complained about my alleged lack of vigorous enforcement of voter fraud laws.“ In other words, it went to the top. The Decider had decided to punish a prosecutor who wouldn’t prosecute innocents.

All day long I’ve heard Democrats dance with glee that they now have the scalp of Alberto Gonzales. They nailed the puppet. But what about the puppeteer? The question that remains is the same that Watergate prosecutors asked of Richard Nixon, “What did the President know and when did he know it?” Or, to update it for Dubya, “What did the President know and how many times did Karl Rove have to explain it to him?” During the Watergate hearings, Nixon tried to obstruct the investigation into his obstruction of justice by offering up the heads of his Attorney General and other officials. Then, Congress refused to swallow the Nixon bait. The only resignation that counted was the one by the capo di capi of the criminal-political cabal: Nixon’s. The President’s.

But in this case, even the exit of the Decider-in-Chief would not be the end of it. Because this isn’t about finagling with the power of prosecutors, it’s about the 2008 election.“This voter fraud thing is the bogey man,” says Iglesias.


Beck: "Nobody Cares" About Gonzales Resignation
via The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com by The Huffington Post News Editors on Aug 28, 2007
Yesterday on his CNN Headline News show, Glenn Beck mentioned the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, stating that he was "surprised" the "media jumped all over this story":
Well, after weathering the storm of congressional calls for his resignation, Alberto Gonzales has finally done just that, he has resigned. But the thing is, I don't think anybody cares. I don't think how he -- anybody cares how he was connected to the firing of those nine U.S. attorneys.


U.S. most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people (Reuters)
via Yahoo! News: Top Stories on Aug 28, 2007
Reuters - The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, making it the most heavily armed society in the world, a report released on Tuesday said.

Craig Recants Misconduct Plea
via washingtonpost.com - Politics by Paul Kane on Aug 28, 2007
Facing a revolt from his closest GOP allies, Sen. Larry Craig today disavowed his own criminal plea agreement for disorderly conduct in an airport men's restroom in June, declaring he was "not gay" and vowing to continue to serve in the Senate.


NJ tops nation in household income
Bridgewater Courier News - 21 minutes agoBy RAJU CHEBIUM WASHINGTON - Though New Jersey is one of the country's richest states, more than 1 million of its residents lack health insurance.Household incomes rise but ... CNNMoney.comUS Income and Poverty Rates Improved in 2006 New York TimesReuters - Dallas Morning News (subscription) - Indianapolis Star - The Coloradoanall 260 news articles
NJ no longer richest state, Camden no longer poorest US city - Newsday
via Google News on Aug 28, 2007
KARENJ no longer richest state, Camden no longer poorest US cityNewsday - 1 hour agoBy GEOFF MULVIHILL AP Writer 3:03 PM EDT, August 28, 2007 MOUNT LAUREL, NJ - New Jersey is no longer the nation's wealthiest state and Camden is no longer the nation's poorest city, according to federal data released Tuesday


Trainers faulted in Fort Hood GI death
via Statesman - Top Stories on Aug 28, 2007
A 1,700-page Army investigative report, obtained by The Associated Press, details a multitude of violations, judgment errors and alleged misconduct.

Gannon: I’m ‘the most honest’ White House reporter.
via Think Progress by Matt on Aug 28, 2007
Jeff Gannon, the infamous former male escort who for two years gained a White House press pass using a pseudonym, is releasing a book next week, in which he chronicles what he sees as liberal bias in the White House press corps. “In my mind, I was the most honest reporter [in the White House press corps] because I was absolutely transparent with regards to my [conservative] perspective,” Gannon told the Washington Examiner. “My work has never been discredited.”

See more of betsy's shared items ...

Friday, August 24, 2007

The Bush Flowchart



(Click to enlarge.) Thanks to Alfred for sending this in. He found it here.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The Post Turtle

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old Texas rancher whose hand had been caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to former Texas Governor George W. Bush and his elevation to the White House.

The old Texan said, "Well, ya know, Bush is a post turtle." Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was.

The old rancher said, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle."


The old man saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain. "You know he didn't get there by himself, he doesn't belong there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there and you just want to help the dumb shit get down."

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

A nice image



Thanks to AfterDowningStreet for the image. Click to enlarge.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Deciding how to best spend MY hard-earned money

Dear "conservative" friend,

I've decided that you're right. I should be paying far less in taxes and I should be deciding how best to spend MY hard-earned salary. Government's a mess anyway, right? Here's my plan:

Sundays I'll handle all the faith-based initiatives programs.
Mondays I will inspect mines and bridges.
Tuesdays I will run the court system.
Wednesdays are homeland security.
Thursdays I will run the army & the air force. Military is important, but those generals earn too much. I can do it cheaper.
Fridays I'll be an air traffic controller.
And I can look out for business interests on Saturday. Except that's my day off. Sorry.

How does that sound?

Now, when do I earn all the money that I won't be taxed on?

Sincerely,
Your newly conservative friend, who is always willing to help out.

At the State Fair

What kinds of shoes do you wear to the state fair? My guess is that they're not quite as dressy as the ones Fred Thompson wore.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Why Karl left


click to enlarge
Posted by Picasa

It's about money and not about healthcare

It is ALL about money. They don't even pretend that it's about people and their health anymore. Shameful!

New rule: Medicare will stop paying for errors at hospitals

From The New York Times

Change is to save money, improve care of patients

WASHINGTON

In a significant policy change, Bush administration officials say that Medicare will no longer pay the extra costs of treating preventable errors, injuries and infections that occur in hospitals, a move that could save thousands of lives and millions of dollars. Private insurers are considering similar changes, which they said could multiply the savings and benefits for patients.

Consumer groups welcomed the change, set forth in rules to be published Aug. 22. Although hospital executives endorsed the goal of patient safety, they said, the policy would require them to collect large amounts of data they do not now have.

Under the new rules, Medicare will not pay hospitals for the costs of treating certain “conditions that could reasonably have been prevented.”

Among the conditions that will be affected are bedsores, or pressure ulcers; injuries caused by falls; and infections resulting from the prolonged use of catheters in blood vessels or the bladder.

In addition, Medicare says it will not pay for the treatment of “serious preventable events” like leaving a sponge or other object in a patient during surgery and providing a patient with incompatible blood or blood products.

“If a patient goes into the hospital with pneumonia, we don’t want them to leave with a broken arm,” said Herb B. Kuhn, the acting deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The new policy - one of several federal initiatives to improve care paid for by Medicare, at a cost of more than $400 billion a year - is sending ripples through the health-care industry. It also raises the possibility of changes in medical practice as doctors hew more closely to clinical guidelines and hospitals perform more tests to assess the condition of patients at the time of admission. More

Protest in Sudan

I am glad that someone, somewhere is protesting the way that our government treats prisoners/enemy combatants. We must insist that Guantanamo prisoners be given fair trials.

Families of Sudan detainees in U.S. prison protest

By Abigail Hauslohner

Families of nine Sudanese detained in the U.S. Guantanamo prison camp protested at the U.S. embassy in Khartoum on Sunday demanding their release, following news that one may be freed soon.

Last week the brother of detained Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj said Washington had outlined a conditional release for Hajj provided he does not leave Sudan.

Hajj's brother Asim al-Hajj told Reuters the conditions were unfair but welcomed his possible release. He said the group was marching outside the embassy in solidarity with all nine.

"We are here in solidarity to demand the release of our brothers, sons, and fathers from Guantanamo and for their return to their families," he said.

"This suffering needs to end ... it has continued for longer than 67 months, without any hearing for the detainees before a court, and without charge," he added.

The U.S. holds nine Sudanese at the internationally criticized prison camp, all detained in Pakistan and Afghanistan on suspicion of "terrorist" activity and later transferred to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, family members leading the protest said.

Family members of the nine said the possibility for Hajj's release was good news but they wanted all to be freed.

"This news gladdens us, news of the release of any one of the detained brothers is good news," said Adil al-Tayyib, holding a banner picturing his brother-in-law Adil Hassan Hamad who was arrested by U.S. forces while working as an aid worker in Pakistan.

One of the protesters presented U.S. embassy official Joel Maybury with a petition of 5,000 Sudanese signatures for the release of the detainees.

Maybury said the embassy would convey the message to Washington.

He said review of Hajj's case was a regular procedure.

"It gives an opportunity for people who know them or governments who are responsible for them ... to provide any information that might help in determining the person's status," he added.

Maybury declined to comment on the likelihood of the release of any of the prisoners.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Assorted news and blog links

GOPer: Iraqi Parliament Works Better Than Dem Congress

Rep. Thelma Drake (R-VA) went to Iraq and found a government she can get behind.




Census Bureau wants to halt 2010 raids Thu Aug 16, 7:45 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The Census Bureau wants immigration agents to suspend enforcement raids during the 2010 census so the government can better count illegal immigrants.


For Giuliani, Ground Zero as Linchpin and Thorn

As Rudolph W. Giuliani campaigns around the country, his stewardship of New York City after the Sept. 11 attacks has become a topic of scrutiny.


A shopper looks over the selection of meat in a grocery store in this December 24, 2003 photo. Three young men in the northern Dutch town of Damwoude were charged with damaging property after adding maggots to supermarket meat that was later sold to a customer, police said on Thursday. (Frank Polich/Reuters)

Three nabbed for adding maggots to supermarket meat

Thu Aug 16, 9:20 AM ET AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Three young men in the northern Dutch town of Damwoude were charged with damaging property after adding maggots to supermarket meat that was later sold to a customer, police said Thursday.


  • The '@' character is seen August 16, 2007. A Chinese couple tried to name their baby '@,' claiming the character used in e-mail addresses echoed their love for the child, an official trying to whip the national language into line said Thursday. (Graphics/Reuters)
    Couple tried to name baby "@" Thu Aug 16, 9:19 AM ET

    BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese couple tried to name their baby "@," claiming the character used in e-mail addresses echoed their love for the child, an official trying to whip the national language into line said Thursday.


Majority of Americans Don't Trust Petraeus

Despite the White House PR blitz, people don't think



Mueller Notes: Ashcroft out of White House Surveillance Loop

The FBI Director's hospital showdown pages reveal that the Attorney General wasn't trusted with details of warrantless wiretapping. Conyers wants to know more.


MSNBC

Olbermann First Anchor To Turn Spotlight On Mining Czar's Safety Record


  • Man told to "walk off pain" after shooting Thu Aug 16, 9:17 AM ET

    JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African man shot three weeks ago was told to "walk the pain off" and is still trying to persuade hospitals to remove the bullet lodged in his side, a newspaper said Thursday.



CIA/FBI/Wikipedia

CIA, FBI Edited Wikipedia Entries About Iraq And Gitmo



Another Collapse At Utah Mine


Bush Approves Using Spy Satellites On Americans

Fewer Than 2 Percent Of Newspaper Errors Corrected



Open Thread: No national parks without a passport, bud.

Real ID and Patriot Act

CNN.com: Federal ID plan raises privacy concerns.

The cards would be mandatory for all “federal purposes,” which include boarding an airplane or walking into a federal building, nuclear facility or national park, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the National Conference of State Legislatures last week. Citizens in states that don’t comply with the new rules will have to use passports for federal purposes.


An embarrassed Fox News hits Wikipedia

wikipedia-fox.jpgchris-wallace.jpg It’s been a rough week for our ol’ friends at Fox News. Thanks to some IP-address based research, the political world learned that the FNC was responsible for “touching up” Wikipedia pages, editing content that didn’t fit with the partisan network’s political agenda.

video_wmv Download (1870) | Play (2457) video_mov Download (629) | Play (1020)

For example, embarrassing content from Media Matters about FNC personalities was quietly removed. Criticism of Keith Olbermann and Al Franken was accenuated. The network that specializes in on-air propoganda had taken its usual schtick to Wiki pages.

With that in mind, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Fox News’ Chris Wallace — you guessed it — sought to undermine Wikipedia’s credibility with a report tonight.

The irony is rich. Pay particular attention to the references to “self-serving agendas” and businesses desperate to “improve their public image.”

Fox News tried to exploit Wikipedia, and got caught, so naturally it’s time to undermine the source of the network’s embarrassment. Typical.


At least 510 dead in 8.0 quake in Peru

Texas couple to get $80,000 settlement after being arrested for anti-Bush T-shirts

Feds pay $80,000 to pair arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts

The federal government has agreed to pay $80,000 to a Texas couple arrested and charged with trespassing in 2004 after they refused to cover up homemade T-shirts with anti-Bush slogans.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Nicole and Jeffery Rank of Corpus Christi, Texas, announced the settlement on Thursday.

The Ranks were handcuffed, removed from the July 4, 2004, rally at the state Capitol and held in police custody for between one and two hours.

"This settlement is a real victory not only for our clients but for the First Amendment," said Andrew Schneider, executive director of the ACLU of West Virginia. "As a result of the Ranks' courageous stand, public officials will think twice before they eject peaceful protesters from public events for exercising their right to dissent."

An order closing the case was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charleston.

"We are pleased that this matter has been concluded," said White House spokesman Blair Jones. "The parties understand that this settlement is a compromise of disputed claims to avoid the expenses and risks of litigation and is not an admission of fault, liability, or wrongful conduct."

The recent revelation of the existence of a presidential advance manual made it clear that the government tries to exclude dissenters from the president's presidential appearances, the ACLU said in a prepared statement. "As a last resort," the manual says, "security should remove the demonstrators from the event."

The front of the Ranks' T-shirts bore the international symbol for "no" superimposed over the word "Bush." The back of Nicole Rank's T-shirt said "Love America, Hate Bush." On the back of Jeffery Rank's T-shirt was the message "Regime Change Starts at Home."

Jeffery Rank, who was a Republican who disagreed with Bush, said he found it ironic that the government manual encourages event organizers to use young Republicans as "rally squads to oppose messages like ours at presidential appearances." Rank has since changed his party affiliation, the ACLU notes in its release.


Erin leaves a mess — Surfers fled the beach and flash floods swept trucks onto railroad tracks. Images from the storm's impact on Houston.
Video of today's storms
Rainy weather expected to continue for days — The Houston area is in for a soggy few days, meteorologists say. During the next 24 hours, an additional one to three inches of rain will fall throughout Harris County. Meanwhile about 7,000 households remain without power. READ STORY


Texas billionaire target of Russian identity theft

Woman has rare identical quadruplets 1 minute ago HELENA, Mont. - A 35-year-old Canadian woman has given birth to rare identical quadruplets, officials at a Great Falls hospital said Thursday. Karen Jepp of Calgary, Alberta, delivered Autumn, Brooke, Calissa and Dahlia by Caesarian section Sunday afternoon at Benefis Healthcare, said Amy Astin, the hospital's director of community and government relations.



Monday, August 13, 2007

The "Liberal" Media

Dave Lindorff has a great piece up over at Buzzflash where he asks why Dennis Kucinich has disappeared from the paper of record even though he's clearly still in the race, and beating Biden and Richardson in some polls. Lindorff states that

Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has been "disappeared." Not in the sense of victims of America's so-called War on Terror. He hasn't been carted off in an orange jumpsuit to some black site in Kazakhstan. But he has been "disappeared" by the reporters and editors of The New York Times.

He notes that

In an article by Jeff Zeleny and Mark Santora on Sunday headlined "Democrats Say Leaving Iraq May Take Years," the Times reports that Democratic candidates, with only candidate Bill Richardson "standing apart," are saying that troops will have to stay in Iraq and the area around Iraq for a long time.

But wait. Kucinich, who in many polls does as well as or better than Biden and Richardson (in a new straw poll of Democratic activists in California, he ranked right behind Edwards and Obama, and ahead of Clinton and the rest of the crowd), not only wants the U.S. out of Iraq; but also he has submitted an actual bill in Congress (HR 1234) calling for a removal of all U.S. troops within three months' time, and barring the expenditure of any funds on future military activity in the region, except for the purpose of orderly withdrawal.

So why was Kucinich left out of the Times article on Democratic candidates' positions on the Iraq War? The answer seems clear. The Times has decided that Kucinich isn't a candidate. He doesn't exist. He has been disappeared.

But to me, the kicker is actually the following paragraph, which notes that Kucinich's candidacy is not the only think missing from the New York Times.

The same is true on the issue of impeachment. The Times has only twice mentioned the bill, H Res 333, for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney, which Kucinich filed on April 24. The first mention was a three-sentence "National Brief" item that ran the day Kucinich filed the measure, half of which was taken up with a Cheney spokeswoman's mocking response; the only other was a phrase tucked within a parenthetical comment in a April 27 article reporting on a lackluster candidate's debate.

Americans who get their news from the Times -- and that would include millions who read or watch news that itself is produced by organizations whose editors' opinions are shaped by the Times -- would not know that over the course of the last three and a half months, some 20 members of Congress, including six members of the crucial 23-member House Judiciary Committee, have signed on to Kucinich's Cheney impeachment bill. That is roughly 10 percent of the House Democratic caucus.

I am ever grateful for the existence of the blogs at a time when the paper vilified by the right-wing as "liberal" can't be bothered to report the news.