GAO: Looming Threat to US Oil Supply

By Matt Renner
t r u t h o u t Report
Friday 30 March 2007
A report released Thursday by the non-partisan Government Accountability Office concludes that worldwide oil production will eventually grind to a halt and the United States has no strategy in place to deal with the possible catastrophic results.

No shit Sherlock.

Those SUV's are gonna make really nifty planters, huh?

Former DoJ Official: Department Used to "Skew" Elections

By Paul Kiel - March 30, 2007, 12:40 PM

Straight from the horse's mouth.

Joseph D. Rich was chief of the voting section in the Justice Department's civil right division from 1999 to 2005. Today he penned an Op-Ed in The Los Angeles Times, and he didnt' mince words:

Over the last six years, this Justice Department has ignored the advice of its staff and skewed aspects of law enforcement in ways that clearly were intended to influence the outcome of elections.

( read the whole thing)

And you'll understand why I loved it when I overheard this statement:

"This democracy is so fucked."

China calls new U.S. tariffs 'unacceptable'

And Americans call the loss of our entire fucking manufacturing base to China.....?

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Survey says?

UNACCEPTABLE.

Democracy is for the rich

By Kevin Barr 03/30/07 "Fiji Times" -- -- Democracy is a system of government where the political power rests with the nation's population either directly or through elected representatives. It is government of the people, for the people, by the people.


Good read, somewhat depressing from ICH

Crap, something's wrong with Haloscan. Hacked? The site's down right now.

Oh Look, it's Khamenei finger puppets

Detained Marine apologizes on Iranian TV for trespassing
By Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim, Special to the Times
9:11 AM PDT, March 30, 2007
TEHRAN -- A British marine captured by Iranians a week ago was shown on state television today apologizing for trespassing on Iranian territorial waters.


.... It was in this setting that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently made a significant statement.

The UN Security Council has voted against Iran on the nuclear issueHe said that so far Iran had acted legally to defend what it saw as its right to pursue a nuclear programme....

Josh Marshall informs.... I wonder about connecting the anthrax dots

Just. Go. Read it.


Local FBI head to become top security for Sempra Energy

Ha ha ha, welcome to my town.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if they find out eventually that the idea to send anthrax to the Democratic senators who were questioning the Patriot Act, and the rush to war was hatched right here in San Diego. Grover Norquist loves the place.

This town is full of brainwashed right-wing fucktards.

Yeah, I said fucktards.

Greedy fucktards with a sense of entitlement like you ain't never seen before.

Whiny punk-assed sniveling puerile bitches with porcine faces.

That's the husbands.

Don't even get me started on the airhead trophy wives.

I call them RepugnantThuglicans.

I'm sure they are buying the republican talking point that Lam needed to go because she couldn't keep up with the demands on her immigration cases. Senator Feinstein's questioning should put that to rest. These people will cover their ears with their hands and go "la la la la, I can't hear you."

They're also the type that grunt "Ugh, Mike Aguierre bad" because Mike won't let the real estate developers do whatever the fuck they want to do, unlike Downsize Jerry and Chief Landsdowne.

God I hate the fishwrap. They hate him. I love him.

Retailer TJX says computer breach involved 45.7 million

AP) - BOSTON-At least 45.7 million credit and debit card numbers of TJX Cos. customers were stolen from the discount retailer's computer system over several years, according to a regulatory filing by the company, which has stores in North America and Europe.


Crap.

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?