Headlines - Saturday

GOP: Divorced From Reality - Bill Maher http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-maher24-2009apr24,0,927819.story

###

Fun fact: Jay Bybee, the man who wrote the torture memos, is a devout Mormon who graduated from the wonderful BYU law school. Awesome!

The Mormon church has purged thousands because they are gay and takes a moral stand based upon "the sanctity of marriage." Are they going to stand up for the "sanctity of human life and dignity" or are they going to give fellowship to someone who is by nearly all definitions a war criminal? Maybe he learned something about avoiding justice when he was a Mormon missionary in Chile when Pinoche was in charge.

###

With victory just around the corner and $12 billion being spent per month...

Yesterday in Iraq: 1 US soldier and 93 Iraqis killed; 163 wounded: http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2009/04/24/iraq-21/

4,277 soldiers killed in Iraq; 679 in Afghanistan.

###

Compare and contrast

"The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said, referring to Bush, who addressed the world body during its annual meeting Tuesday. "And it smells of sulfur still today." 9/06

On Earth Day, Venezuela gave New Jersey an island off their coast that is home to a pair of American bald eagles, several great blue herons and state-endangered black-crowned night herons: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/24/content_11249252.htm

 

###

 

Warren County, Ohio won't be getting new buses. The county commissioners rejected the over $350,000 from the federal stimulus package to upgrade their public transportation. Said commissioner Mike Kilburn, in a line straight out of an Onion article, "I'll let Warren County go broke before taking any of Obama's filthy money."

The money was "specifically for transit improvements in rural areas to improve transportation for disabled people, seniors and others needing access to health care and educational opportunities." Of course, in a sign of compassion, Kilburn said, "I'm tired of paying for people who don't have." 

Oh, by the way, it's not that Warren County, a solidly Republican stronghold, is against all federal money. No, you'd be mistaken. Another commissioner, David Young, made it clear that some of that filthy money would be lovingly laundered in Warren County: "[I]t should be on big projects like highway improvements. We might not like deficit spending, but at least we could live with it if the funds were being used for those things. To use it for vans? That's crazy."

But, hey, at least they took a stand.

 

###

President Obama rebuffed calls for a commission to investigate alleged abuses under the Bush administration in fighting terrorism, telling congressional leaders at a White House meeting yesterday that he wants to look forward instead of litigating the past. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/23/AR2009042304314.html?wprss=rss_politics

###

Republicons reveal cunning plan to retake power

Republicans have finally realized that just offering the same old tired ideas--tax cuts, anyone?--isn't going to be enough to derail the Obama Train. So what's a sure fire way to capture the imagination of the country again? I've got it!

A conservative faction of the Republican National Committee is urging the GOP to take a harder line against both Democrats and wayward Republicans, drafting a resolution to rename the opposition the "Democrat Socialist Party" and moving to rebuke the three Republican senators who supported the stimulus package. [....]

To make the "Socialist" designation something approximating official party policy is plainly not the direction preferred by Steele or other top Republican officials — and it's spurring grumbling toward [RNC member James] Bopp's band of conservatives.

"This was engineered by a bunch of people who ought to be involved in College Republicans, not the RNC," complained a well-connected Republican sympathetic to Steele. "It's not that they're not well-intentioned, but it's just juvenile."

Wow, there's actually a Republican somewhere that can recognize a juvenile stunt when he sees it? He'd better be careful and get on board, because I'll bet Rush signs right on to this killer strategy, and then it'll be apology time all over again.

Over at Salon.com, commenters have been suggesting ideas for renaming the Republican Party, including:

• Confederate Douchenozzle Party
• Republican National Crooks

###

 

The Rude Pundit asks the simple question: why? Why did the Bush administration commit and allow (and encourage, if not force others to commit) what are, seemingly without a doubt, treaty-busting crimes? Because, see, you read something like footnote 10 on page 2 and you come across this line: "According to Gonzales, the 'positive' consequences of setting aside the Third Geneva Convention include 'preserving flexibility' and 'substantially reduc[ing] the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act,'" and you realize that, whatever the motivation of the people involved, they didn't care. And they didn't care for a simple reason to answer that simple question: the Bush administration thought it was the beginning of an ascendant Republican reign and that they'd never be investigated.

Look back at when all this shit went down. Karl Rove and others were talking about a permanent Republican majority. So, rather than go whole hog with blow torches and pliers, the Office of Legal Counsel pushed methods as far as they could go. In other words, as long as they could say, at the end of the day, that there was a line they would not cross, a Republican Congress wouldn't do jackshit to stop them. As John "I Teach Students" Yoo wrote in his March 14, 2003 memo, criminal laws would not apply to certain interrogations and the Justice Department could not therefore prosecute the interrogators. Again, you only say that if you think you're going to control the Justice Department for time immemorial.

The name "Karl Rove" doesn't appear in the report. But his greasy fingerprints are all over this. This was war as a political operation. Taken as a whole, all that happened here is one big cover-up, like an old porn star after ten plastic surgeries. In other words, in the real world, what we call all the memos, all the discussions of how far torture could go, is another simple word: "alibi."

 

###

 

John McCain November 29, 2007 while campaigning:

 

"Following World War II war crime trials were convened. The Japanese were tried and convicted and hung for war crimes committed against American POWs. Among those charges for which they were convicted was waterboarding."

 

###

A very disturbing story from the Times Online titled..."Rape, beatings and bribery: Iraqi police out of control."

###

I Commit A Hate Crime - http://griperblade.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-commit-hate-crime.html

###

It depends what "know" means: Pelosi admits that she was briefed on torture but claims ignorance on its actual use: http://jonathanturley.org/2009/04/24/it-depends-what-know-means-pelosi-admits-that-she-was-briefed-on-torture-but-never-told-it-was-being-actually-used/#more-10296

I want an investigation of this atrocity. I don't care if Nancy Pelosi and half the democratic party gets swept up in rectifying the horror aWol and his cronies made of our government. It's not about partisan identity. It's about choosing what kind of country we want by choosing what kind of rules we to govern ourselves by, and governing ourselves by those rules. 

###

 

21 Polo ponies were pharmaceutically poisoned by an error in "concocting" a medication that may be illegal here in the united states. miami herald

 

###

 

The World Health Organization is worried about a potential epidemic of Swine Flu.  Sixty people in and around Mexico City have died from the virus and seven non-fatal cases have been confirmed in the southern United States.  Epidemiologist are conducting tests to see if the outbreaks are linked.  The WHO is concerned enough that it has opened it's strategic health operations center, which only operates during periods of acute public health risks.  

 

###

 

Add up the numbers

 

Rasmussen produces another poll on GOP talking points, and, surprisingly, finds them remarkably effective. It's amazing how this always happens with Rasmussen issues polling, which consistently reveals that an overwhelming majority of the nation usually agrees with the Republican party. This must be because the GOP is so darn popular lately.

Anyway, there is great joy in Wingnuttia, because, apparently: http://whiskeyfire.typepad.com/whiskey_fire/2009/04/add-up-the-numbers.html

###

The Phelps clan was in Bethesda today to protest Walt Whitman High School - because it's named Walt Whitman High School. Not kidding. But, the students at Walt Whitman High were having none of it. And, when school let out, the kids lined up to form a counter-protest. There were seven Phelps compared to over 500 students. It actually sounds like the Phelps clan did a good job of uniting Whitman.

###  

In 2002, the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (the people that ran the SERE training) sent a memo to the Pentagon's chief lawyer about the effectiveness of torture:

Conceptually, proponents [of torture] envision the application of torture as a means to expedite the exploitation process. In essence, physical and/or psychological duress are viewed as an alternative to the more time-consuming conventional interrogation process. The error inherent in this line of thinking is the assumption that, through torture, the interrogator can extract reliable and accurate intelligence. History and a consideration of human behavior would appear to refute this assumption.

Note also that the memo stated that if the US uses torture, that will be seen by the rest of the world as license to torture Americans.

### 

Yesterday, both Newt Gingrich and Al Gore testified before Congress on the Waxman-Markey clean energy economy legislation. While Gore spent the majority of his time explaining the global warming crisis and how investing in clean energy can simultaneously solve the problems of climate, economy and national security, Gingrich chose to spend his time launching into a set of attacks focused at Gore:

GINGRICH: I am an amateur paleontologist. I would be glad to take the Vice President to the Smithsonian or the American Museum of Natural History, where we can all look at all sorts of marine invertebrate life, which is collected as fossils because in fact, they use carbon quite effectively.

ThinkProgress assembled a compilation of Gingrich's personal attacks on Gore. Watch it: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/24/gingrich-attacks-gore/ 

###

Gore tells GOP deniers they're victims of "the Bernie Madoffs of global warming" - and that "These corporations ought to apologize to the American people for conducting a massive fraud for the last 14 years."     http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/24/gore-madoff/

###

Greg Sargent reports that centrist Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson (NE) -- who voted to confirm both Samuel Alito and John Roberts -  will oppose Dawn Johnsen's nomination to lead the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Nelson says he opposes Johnsen, a noted legal scholar and outspoken critic of the Bush administration's torture program, because of her pro-choice views:

Senator Nelson is very concerned about the nomination of Dawn Johnson, based on her previous position as Counsel for NARAL. He believes that the Office of Legal Counsel is a position in which personal views can have an impact and is concerned about her outspoken pro-choice views on abortion.

Nelson is buying into the right-wing's war against Johnsen. Outspoken anti-choice Republican Rep. Chris Smith (NJ) said Johnsen has a "a prejudice against motherhood, the family and a fundamental respect for all human life." The National Review's Andy McCarthy claimed she would be a "culture-war agitator." Republicans have threatened a filibuster against her.

UpdateNelson had opposed the use of the filibuster on John Bolton and former Bush EPA adminstrator Stephen Johnson. "Nelson generally opposes the filibuster on nominees, even if he doesn't like the candidate," notes Brian Beutler. It remains to be seen whether he will filibuster Johnsen.

 

###

 

In a new column, MSNBC pundit Pat Buchanan refers to the Nicaraguan president as 'the scrub stock of the hemisphere.' What does 'scrub stock' mean? It turns out it's an antiquated phrase referring to an inferior breed of farm animal — and eugenicists once extended the use of the phrase beyond animals and into humans." For the 1,000-word insanely over-researched etymological report that ultimately concludes that Pat Buchanan probably meant nothing racial was a terrible, snarling racist when he used this old-timey metaphor. TPM Muckraker

 

### 

Texas Rep. Joe Barton has been harnessing all of the momentum he built up the other day when he kicked the everlasting fuck out of that Chinese science fag, "Choo Choo," with his mind powers. According to the Sierra Club hippies, Barton followed up yesterday with this uber-pwnage: "Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) says Americans will only drive hybrids under military force: Barton not only said that hybrids don't pay for themselves over time, which isn't true, but he said that Americans will only drive them when forced to do so by the government, 'backed by the army.'" It's hilarious how close Joe Barton pushes the limit but always stops just before shouting "I LITERALLY DO WHATEVER THE OIL COMPANIES TELL ME TO DO." Sierra Club

###

As the GOP accelerates its transition to America's own "National Front" fringe-nut-racist party, U.S. voters are, shockingly, repulsed by the Republicans. A new poll gives the Grand Old Party a favorable rating of just 23%, down another point from a week ago. Congressional Republicans have a 15% approval rate, also down a percent from last week. But what about socialist-elitist Barack Obama … you know, the black dude who is president?

Despite the terrible economy and general feeling of UGH in America, Obama's got a 68% favorable rating — pretty much the mirror of the GOP's 67% unfavorable rating. This is how Socialist Hitlers trick the voters: by doing things the voters like and approve of, which is a devious way of getting their "support."

The Democrats, not the most likable bunch of people around by any stretch of the imagination, still have a healthy 53% favorable rating. Even the Congressional Democrats get a pass from 43% of Americans, compared to the tragic 15% who approve of Congressional Republicans. (This is the same 15% who fall for Nigerian email scams, think Reagan is still president)

###

In its first filing on detention and torture under the Obama administration, the Department of Justice filed briefs in March urging the Court of Appeals to reject any constitutional or statutory rights for detainees. The Obama Justice Department further argued that even if such rights were recognized, the Court should rule that the previous administration's officials who ordered and approved torture and abuse of the plaintiffs should be immune from liability for their actions. Go read the whole shameful thing:

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Appeals_court_rules_Gitmo_detainees_are_0424.html