Fabuous Fruit Loops

Bitchin'.

We got a couple of Fruit Loops (Ahmadinejad and Bush) who keep yapping about the end of times butting heads.

Frankly, I don't think these two cynical bastards are all that focused on the end of times. I think that's just a ploy to get the sheeple lined up to fight for their respective causes.

Oil .

Selling it .

And maintaining access to it.

America's Hidden War Dead

America's Hidden War Dead
By Howard Witt
The Chicago Tribune

Monday 26 March 2007

More than 770 civilians working for US firms have lost their lives supporting the military in Iraq, and some families are now speaking out.

...If those deaths-of truck drivers and cooks, laundry workers and security guards-are added to the military toll, the human cost of the U.S. war effort in Iraq is nearly 25 percent higher...

...The most common estimate of the number of contractors currently working for U.S. firms in Iraq is 100,000, according to military analysts, but that figure includes unknown proportions of Americans, Iraqis and citizens of other countries...

Katie Couric bugs the living sh*t out of me

Click on title link to watch Katie Couric "interview" John and Elizabeth Edwards from 60 minutes last night .

Here's a couple of responses to it from the truly liberal media:

This is for you, Katie Couric TPM cafe


Open Letter To Katie Couric: You Were Unfair To The Edwards OpEdNews.com
March 26, 2007 at 05:06:43

My response to it:

Big Business is terrified of John Edwards. He's spanked a few negligent companies and he was not born a prince. Heaven forbid that the public might want to elect someone who actually embodies the "American Dream" and might have their best interest at heart because he's actually been there, he actually understands them.

The Newz Bizness is a cynical business also Katie.

Katie, it's so obvious that you are a shill for Big Business, that's your job.

Update. David Sirota has something to say also: Et Tu, Katie Couric?

Hey Katie, you think you might take those hard edged interrogation skills and find out how Dennis Kucinich plans to deal with the health care crisis?

No?

I didn't think so.

Wayne Madsen has updated the Politics Journalism incest chart


Oh. My. God.

I just can't seem to stop adding stuff to this post

I want to read this book.

The cover art alone spells out exactly how I feel about the MSM and the excerpts are wonderful.

I loved David Brock's Blinded by the Right, so this book looks like it's right up my alley.

Is the American Empire on the Brink of Collapse?

By Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash. Posted March 24, 2007. Alternet

U.S. military expert Chalmers Johnson argues the catastrophe in Iraq and the staggering cost of running a military that stretches across 130 countries on 737 bases may finally cost America its empire.



(click on pic for info on Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, vengeance, and hubris)

Bill Maher new rules

"CA50: Appellate Court Dismisses Busby/Bilbray Election Contest as Now 'Moot'"

moot

(snort!) Oh Nooooooooww it's moot?



Republicans Rush to Swear-in Bilbray Before Results are Counted or Winner is Certified!

BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 6/13/2006 4:59PM
Officials Confirm: Tainted Election Results Still Features Thousands of Uncounted Ballots, Unofficial Numbers, No Winner has Been Certified!
Now Why Would The Republicans Do That?

These aren't Republicans, Brad, they're Repugnant Thuglicans.

U.S. Senate subpoena for Rove approved in prosecutors' uproar; Republican brokers deal

Thursday, March 22, 2007
LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press Writer

and

New Developments in the U.S. Attorney Controversy:Why Bush Refuses to Allow Karl Rove and Harriet Miers to Testify Before Congress, and What Role New White House Counsel Fred Fielding May Play

By JOHN W. DEAN ----
Friday, Mar. 23, 2007


Wow. Just wow. No go laugh "The White House Is Adamant That Their Advisors...Retain The Right To Lie"

Reading Now

I love Senator Boxer

Speak Loudly, Carry a Big Gavel: If the past two days have been any indication, Senate Democrats seem to have become quite comfortable wielding committee gavels. Former Vice President Al Gore was supposed to be the main attraction at Wednesday's Environment and Public Works hearing, but chairwoman Barbara Boxer of California stole the show when she gave former chairman — and global warming skeptic — James Inhofe of Oklahoma a none-too-subtle reminder of who’s in charge. If you can't view the video, here's the exchange:


Boxer: Would you agree to let the vice president answer your questions, and then if you want a few extra minutes at the end, I'm happy to give it to you. But we’re not going to get anywhere …

Inhofe: Why don't we do this? Why don't we do this — at the end you can have as much time as you want. …

Boxer: No, that isn't the rule. You’re not making the rules. [holds up gavel] You used to when you did this. You don't do this anymore. Elections have consequences.

Then today, as the Senate Judiciary Committee prepared to authorize subpoenas related to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont cut off Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter, who suggested holding off on subpoenas until after conducting interviews the White House had offered. Leahy's angry response: "No, no, what we're told we can get is nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing!”

Back in the day, the Senate was known for its "clubby" atmosphere. It appears those days have long since passed.

E-mails Tell Story of Lam's Dismissal (voiceofsandiego.org)

Behind Lam's Ouster (from Voice of San Diego )

The Issue: Internal Justice Department communications indicate that Carol Lam was pushed out because of her record in prosecuting immigration cases.

What It Means: Lam had made a name for herself for prosecuting white-collar and political corruption cases, but congressmen and her Justice Department superiors were unhappy with her lack of attention to immigration smugglers.

The Bigger Picture: The firing of Lam and a group of other U.S. attorneys nationwide has sparked a political controversy, leading to one of the first big showdowns between the Democratic-controlled Congress and the White House. Some Democrats had speculated Lam was pushed out because of her prosecution of Republican figure

...Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wanted Lam "on a very short leash," wrote Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former chief of staff, on June 1....

...If Lam balked or didn't deliver smuggling prosecutions in 45 days, Sampson wrote to two top Justice Department officials, "remove her."...

RepugnantThuglican Daryl Issa grandstands and Bush buttkisses on CNN and the thing blows up and it looks like she doesn't care about human smuggling----yeeesh.

Fer Christsakes, illlegal immigration issues need to be dumped in the laps of those who create them: EMPLOYERS who are so fucking greedy they hire the cheapest labor that they can get their hands on, and then get their panties in a wad because they can't rent out their slum-like rental properties. (from me)

...Lam met with Issa in August to discuss his concerns. The meeting appeared productive, and Justice Department attorneys in Washington were pleased. Lam made her priorities clear, and Issa didn't want any follow-up information.

"It was fine (at least I think it was,)" Lam wrote in an e-mail to Rebecca Seidel, a Justice Department attorney. "The tone was civil and at times even friendly. ... Essentially I must make a choice -- prosecute the coyotes who are smuggling but not endangering anyone, or the rapists and murderers who are coming back to rape and murder again."...

DOJ emails: "Hey Lam, can you edit our response to dumbass Issa?" (from Kos )

Was Carol Lam Targeting The White House Prior To Her Firing? (from Think Progress)

at Largely

Why was U.S. Attorney Carol Lam Fired? Here are a Few Political Possibilities. Tell Us What You Think the Reason Was. (from Buzzflash)

TPM Muckraker coverage

Yay Senator Leahy!

"We don't have a law that would make war profiteering specifically a federal crime," Sen. Leahy (D-VT) said in this morning's efficient hearing conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee, so he is introducing one.

Watch this stupid war end real quick-like if this bill passes.

Reading now

Bush declares war four years ago today

Bush declares war
Wednesday, March 19, 2003 Posted: 11:05 PM EST (0405 GMT)



Bush: "I assure you this will not be a campaign of half measures and we will accept no outcome but victory."


U.S. President George W. Bush announces the U.S. and coalition forces opening strike on Iraq.


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. President George W. Bush has announced that war against Iraq has begun.


Ahhhhh, guess what?

We're still fucked, but the Big Oil companies are really fucking happy.

And four years later Preznit Poopypants still looks like a fucking retard, acts like a fucking retard, man I say if it looks like a duck, let's go duck hunting, eh?

(Just kidding, I don't hunt)

Matthew Simmons on Peak Oil

The Women’s War

hat tip Stories in America.

I was never in the military but I worked on a base for a couple of years.

The harrassment never stops.

I learned the word cochino during this period of my life.

This article was really hard for me to read.

All the Rage

There's no denying it, we progressives are angry
by Paul Waldman

China, Sun Tzu and Iraq's oil

“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” Sun Tzu, Chinese author and military strategist, c. 544-496 BC

Bush and Cheney may be declaring “Mission Accomplished” now that the Iraqi Cabinet has approved the draft of an oil law granting foreign companies unprecedented access to the country’s fields.

But Beijing is having the last laugh.

Just last week, Chinese oil company officials arrived in Baghdad to revive Hussein-era contracts for developing Iraq’s oil, specifically, the Ahdab oil field in south-central Iraq. Hundreds of millions of dollars and a reduction in Iraq’s Chinese debt are already on the table.

Tomgram: The Seymour Hersh Mystery

A Journalist Writing Bloody Murder…
And No One Notices
By Tom Engelhardt

Let me see if I've got this straight. Perhaps two years ago, an "informal" meeting of "veterans" of the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal -- holding positions in the Bush administration -- was convened by Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams. Discussed were the "lessons learned" from that labyrinthine, secret, and illegal arms-for-money-for-arms deal involving the Israelis, the Iranians, the Saudis, and the Contras of Nicaragua, among others -- and meant to evade the Boland Amendment, a congressionally passed attempt to outlaw Reagan administration assistance to the anti-communist Contras. In terms of getting around Congress, the Iran-Contra vets concluded, the complex operation had been a success -- and would have worked far better if the CIA and the military had been kept out of the loop and the whole thing had been run out of the Vice President's office ...



Rather: Journalism Has ‘Lost Its Guts’
By CNET.
Source: Daniel Terdiman, CNET

AUSTIN, TEXAS–To longtime CBS broadcaster Dan Rather, American journalism in recent years “has in some ways lost its guts.”

During his hour-long keynote address at South by Southwest Interactive, Rather opined at length on the state of his profession, in which too many journalists have become lapdogs to power, rather than watchdogs.


(snort).

Attorney General Gonzales in hot water

..."I acknowledge that mistakes were made here,'' Gonzales said. "I accept responsibility. I've overcome a lot of obstacles in my life to become attorney general. I am not here because I give up.''
White House Counsel Harriet Miers first proposed asking all 93 U.S. attorneys to step down after Bush was elected to a second term in 2004. Gonzales said he rejected that suggestion. ..

Note to Gonzales: They are soooooooooo going to throw your ass under the bus.

And after firing the prosecutor in my city who was one of the "ineffectual managers and prosecutors" who "chafed against Administration initiatives." I can't wait to see you go splat, fucker.

update 3/26/2007 Evidence Suggests U.S. Attorney Firings May Have Been Part of White House Scheme to Help Game 2008 Election

Halliburton moves headquarters to Dubai

20 Billion Later Halliburton moves Headquarters to Dubai

Deadeye Dick goes to bat for Israel...again

Or is it for the dollar?


Maybe the Halliburton detention camps are exactly what they say they are and the US government will round up the Mexicans, detain them and send them back to Mexico after the dollar completely implodes. Americans might have to pick their own vegetables, in fact, in order to eat they may be thrilled to pick vegetables and fruit.

Any way you look at it, the American way of life is going to change.

The rest of the world has suffered for far too long because of US foreign policy.

Why I don't want grandchildren:

Warming Report to Warn of Coming Drought
Email this StoryMar 10, 7:32 PM (ET)By SETH BORENSTEIN
famine
war
air pollution
water pollution

I''ll bet you thought it was because I'm a selfish bitch & I didn't want to change the dirty diapers, huh?

I'm bleary eyed from watching stuff online all day

And it's hard to learn stuff sitting in front of the boob tube, so it was a good day.

Thanks Loopy, this was interesting. Doha Debates

Did you read Baer's book, Sleeping with the Devil, or see Syriana?

Iranian influence soaring in Iraq

Oil, War and Geopolitics:
The Global Struggle Over Disappearing Petroleum Lecture By Michael Klare, Five Colleges professor of peace and world security studies
Feb 22, 2007 at Dickinson College, The Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues

You know, sometimes I wonder whether we will have ANY access to Iraq's oil if and when things ever calm down over there. Sometimes it seems like we created a shit storm over there so that the Saudis and the Iranians could fight over control of Iraq's oil.

None of this would matter if the US' infrastructure had been planned with more than next quarter's profits in mind, eh?

Bienvenido Sr. Bush........uh.......NO

Bush visits Latin America

Supposedly to brush up the US's image there.

One question. How the hell is Bush going to put lipstick on a pig?

And a thought. Yeah, right, that's what he's there for, uh huh---NOT

And now for some comedy

Mexican president promises to keep Mexicans at home, instead of heading to U.S.
LISA J. ADAMS Associated Press Writer

AP) - MEXICO CITY-Mexican President Felipe Calderon won't be fighting for migration reform when he meets with U.S. President George W. Bush next week. Instead, he will be be spelling out what he intends to do to keep Mexicans at home

bwaaaa ha ha ha haa haa haa haa ha ha ha

Bush's new US attorney a criminal?

'BBC Television had exposed 2004 voter attack scheme by appointee Griffin, a Rove aide.Black soldiers and the homeless targeted.by Greg Palast
March 7, 2007.

There’s only one thing worse than sacking an honest prosecutor. That’s replacing an honest prosecutor with a criminal.
There was one big hoohah in Washington yesterday as House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers pulled down the pants on George Bush’s firing of US Attorneys to expose a scheme to punish prosecutors who wouldn’t bend to political pressure....(click on title link)

more from Greg

Like watching a train wreck in slo mo

watch it online:
Frontline Special -- -- News war

hat tip David Sirota

I can't stop watching it.

Whatever you do, watch #18 "Info-snacking"

I thought Google's motto was "do no evil" ???

Go home Rudy Giuliani

Your kid doesn't even believe your bullshit. We don't need any more RepugnantThuglicans in San Diego. We have plenty of our very own thugs here.

I don't trust Rudy.

y mas

Why Rudy Guiliani Is Destined to Fall
By Paul Waldman, TomPaine.com. Posted March 1, 2007.

and in other news today:

Scooter Libby Found Guilty In CIA Leak Case

Ex-Cheney aide guilty in CIA leak case The Associated Press
Published March 6, 2007, 11:07 AM CST

Ok, who's next?
Hmmmmmmm?

I've been avoiding this

Because I feel angry when I watch the suits blather on about
"We're gonna fix it, blah, blah, blah...
The approval rating for disability benefits for the Army is 4 percent? Hmmm hmmm, makes me wonder why so low? Navy 35%. I can't remember the other percentages for the other services, but it was at least 25% for the other services

What very few papers are reporting on:
Poison DUst tells the story of young soldiers who thought they came home safely from the war, but didn't. Of a veteran's young daughter whose birth defect is strikingly similar to birth defects suffered by many Iraqi children. - Every American who cares about our troops should watch this film. Everyone who cares about the innocent civilians who live in the countries where these weapons are used should watch this film

And I cry when I read about how these guys are treated. It brings back really bad memories. This is not new. Ever seen a cockroach inside a tracheotomy tube? I know someone who has. DoD or VA -- ya think there's a whole lot of difference when a particular building is slated to be closed?

Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility
By Dana Priest and Anne Hull
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, February 18, 2007; A01

here's an example:

"...Frustration at Every Turn

The frustrations of an outpatient's day begin before dawn. On a dark, rain-soaked morning this winter, Sgt. Archie Benware, 53, hobbled over to his National Guard platoon office at Walter Reed. Benware had done two tours in Iraq. His head had been crushed between two 2,100-pound concrete barriers in Ramadi, and now it was dented like a tin can. His legs were stiff from knee surgery. But here he was, trying to take care of business..."

53?
Two tours in Iraq?
WTF?

update:
more anger from Badtux the Snarky Penguin and Grumpy Old Man

Porgera Gold Mine Transforms Pacific Island

by David Martinez, Special to CorpWatch
February 21st, 2007

I know this article is three weeks old, but I just discovered it. I don't have time to check every site on my blogroll every day and this one doesn't update every day, or even every week. Anyhoo, as I read the article I was reminded of this CD by Greg Palast.

Why?

Barrick, and Poppy Bush.


Weapon of Mass Instruction

Greg Palast (amazon.com)