Neil Young - Living With War

This is awesome. The full CD is available for streaming.

(Sorry, Al, I have to listen to this today).

Senators to push for $100 gas rebate checks

quote[ Most American taxpayers would get $100 rebate checks to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline, under an amendment Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote Thursday.

However, the GOP energy package may face tough sledding because it also includes a controversial proposal to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration, which most Democrats and some moderate Republicans oppose.]

Are you freakin' kidding me??? That's about two fill ups for most people.

And, it lets them get into ANWR!

This is so disgusting.

Dial M For Moron

Won't Be Fooled Again...

quot[Illusionist David Copperfield has magically escaped getting robbed.

After his show at a West Palm Beach, Florida, performing arts centre on Sunday Copperfield was walking with two female assistants back to their tour bus when four armed teenagers pulled up in a black car and demanded the group's belongings, according to police.

An assistant handed over $US400 from her pockets while the other gave up her purse with euro200, $US100, her passport, plane tickets and a mobile phone.

Copperfield said he turned his pockets inside out to reveal nothing in them, even though he was carrying his passport, wallet and mobile phone.]

That's awesome!

Shooting an Elephant: Why Republicans are screwed

quote[When George Bush and Gerald Ford met this week, it's unlikely the president asked his predecessor for advice about how to weather midterm elections. In 1974, Ford alienated conservatives by picking moderate Nelson Rockefeller as his vice president. Then he alienated everyone else by pardoning Nixon just two months before the elections, leading to a 20-point plunge in his approval rating. The Republican National Committee could only rally the troops through commiseration, running an ad that asked, "When has it been easy to be a Republican?" Ford's party dropped 43 seats in the House and four in the Senate.]

Good article.

Target Letter Drives Rove Back to Grand Jury

quote[Karl Rove's appearance before a grand jury in the CIA leak case Wednesday comes on the heels of a "target letter" sent to his attorney recently by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, signaling that the Deputy White House Chief of Staff may face imminent indictment, sources that are knowledgeable about the probe said Wednesday.

It's unclear when Fitzgerald sent the target letter to Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin. Sources close to the two-year-old leak investigation said when Rove's attorney received the letter Rove volunteered to appear before the grand jury for an unprecedented fifth time to explain why he did not previously disclose conversations he had with the media about covert CIA operative Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who criticized the Bush administration's use of pre-war Iraq intelligence.

A federal grand jury target letter is sent to a person in a criminal investigation who is likely to be indicted. In a prepared statement Wednesday, Luskin said Fitzgerald indicated that Rove is not a "target" of the investigation. A "target" of a grand jury investigation is a person who a prosecutor has substantial evidence to link to a crime.]

I truly hope this is going to happen.

Drivers run out of gas to save money

quote[Some California drivers are resorting to desperate measures to beat the surge in gas prices at the pump -- deliberately running dry on the state's freeways and simply waiting for rescue.]

That's hilarious.

Mick beats George to suite

quote[George Bush can’t get no satisfaction — after Mick Jagger grabbed his hotel room.

The Rolling Stone splashed out £3,600 a night for the suite days before the US leader tried to book it.

Now Mick, 62, who has been a fierce critic of the Bush-led war in Iraq, is refusing to give it up.

The veteran rocker hired the luxury Royal Suite at the five-star Imperial Hotel in Vienna, Austria, for June when the Stones are due to play a gig in the city.]

LOL

Bush Impeachment - The Illinois State Legislature is Preparing to Drop a Bombshell

quote[The Illinois General Assembly is about to rock the nation. Members of state legislatures are normally not considered as having the ability to decide issues with a massive impact to the nation as a whole. Representative Karen A. Yarbrough of Illinois' 7th District is about to shatter that perception forever. Representative Yarbrough stumbled on a little known and never utlitized rule of the US House of Representatives, Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of the Rules of the United States House of Representatives, which allows federal impeachment proceedings to be initiated by joint resolution of a state legislature. From there, Illinois House Joint Resolution 125 (hereafter to be referred to as HJR0125) was born.]

Apparently California is doing the same thing too.

MSNBC: Rove Likely To Be Indicted

quote[SHUSTER: Now, regarding Karl Rove, the—according to the latest documents, for the first time, Rove is now described as a subject in the overall case, a subject being a technical term meaning that somebody is under investigation. And the latest prosecution documents also go out of their way to suggest that Rove is not going to be a prosecution witness at the Libby trial, even though Rove is part of the narrative against Scooter Libby. And the reason that‘s significant is because prosecutors usually don‘t put subjects on the witness stand for tactical reasons if they want to leave open the possibility of later charging that particular subject in a separate case.]

Very interesting...

Cheney Naps During Meeting With Chinese

quote[President Bush said yesterday that he and Chinese President Hu Jintao are now able to openly discuss their disputes "with respect" - but there was no sign that any of those disputes got resolved at their White House meeting.

"He tells me what he thinks and I tell him what I think and we do so with respect," Bush said.

Hu vaguely talked about making China's currency more "flexible" but offered nothing close to a demand for a big revaluation of the yuan that could reduce the giant U.S. trade deficit with China.

Later, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley...]

Woman arrested for speaking freely right after Bush call for "freedom...to speak freely"

quote[At an outdoor ceremony, Bush told Hu:

China has become successful because the Chinese people are experience the freedom to buy, and to sell, and to produce -- and China can grow even more successful by allowing the Chinese people the freedom to assemble, to speak freely, and to worship.

Seconds later, one of the people assembled on the White House south lawn actually tried to speak freely right here in America -- about both the lack of free speech and religious freedom in China.

That free-speaking woman was promptly hauled off and arrested...]

Ahh, the old double standard.

Fox News: Bush Approval At 33%

quote[More Americans disapprove than approve of how George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Congress are doing their jobs, while a majority approves of Condoleezza Rice. President Bush’s approval hits a record low of 33 percent this week, clearly damaged by sinking support among Republicans.]

Even they're admitting to this sinking ship.

Bullet's Path

quote[A bullet was filmed in a slow motion. Amazing]

Just for fun...This was pretty cool.

Valerie Plame To Attend White House Correspondents Dinner

quote[Will Valerie Plame be the talk of this year's White House Correspondents Dinner? E&P has confirmed that she is slated to attend this year's gala, along with her husband Joseph Wilson and several other notable non-journalist guests, such as Alex Trebek and Ben Rothlisberger, according to organizers.

As in the past, attendees at the annual black-tie affair, to be held on April 29 this year, often look for a controversial visitor who might spark extended gossip around the open bar. When outsiders such as Donna Rice, Michael Moore, Fawn Hall or Ozzie Osborne were escorted to the gathering, they sometimes drew nearly as much attention as the president during his remarks.]

I do hope she stares down Bush when he's speaking.

Walking the White House Plank

quote[Karl Rove is a subject of Fitzgerald's investigation - this is the headline buried in Libby's filing.

In white-collar criminal investigations, individuals who fall under the gaze of a prosecutor fit into one of three categories: witness, subject or target. Rove's attorney has suggested that Rove is simply a witness. But that is untrue. He is a subject. A subject is someone the prosecutor believes may have committed a crime and is under investigation. If the prosecutor decides he has accumulated sufficient evidence to prove guilt, he will change the designation of that person from subject to target and then indict him or her.]

Don't let the current insignificant WH tactics distract you. We've got to keep focused on things that really matter.

Lawmaker Puzzled by Obscenity in Letter

quote[Nobody expects to get a letter from a member of Congress that ends with an expletive. But that's what happened when Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (news, bio, voting record), R-Mo., recently corresponded with a resident of her southeast Missouri district.

The letter ended with a profane, seven-letter insult beginning with the letter a — "i think you're an Asshole."]

That's one way to appease your constituents.

Nice.

Another GOP Rep. Accused of Bribery

quote[A Washington watchdog called on the Justice Department today to begin an official investigation into whether Texas Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) received bribes from a San Fransisco defense firm in exchange for supporting earmarks that benefited the company, RAW STORY has learned.]

I suspect November will be fun.

Cheney Exploits Katrina Tax Loophole To Net $2M Refund

quote[ * By exploiting a law that was meant for people to donate to Katrina relief, Cheney was able to net a $2,000,000 tax refund.

* At least half, if not more if this refund was solely due to their exploiting of this law.

* In order to do this, they had to write a personal check for over $2,000,000 at the end of 2005.

* None of the donations were to any Katrina relief organizations.

* The donations were from income related to Halliburton, which Cheney supposedly had no financial ties to.

* In any other year, they still would have received a few hundred thousand in tax refunds from this "non-financial tie" to Halliburton, if they donated the proceeds to charity.

* In each of the prior three years, their donations were never more than 4%-5% of their 2005 totals, the only year that this law applies to.

* Once again, they flat out lie in their press release by obscuring the million or so that they personally benefited from this transaction.

* The timing, while not illegal, is extremely self serving and shady, especially in light of the fact that they should not be benefiting financially from any ties to Halliburton.]

And, none of the charities were Katrina related.

The Republican 1040 Form

quote[(Guide your mouse's cursor over the colored areas of the form.)]

Ha!

Antimatter Spaceship for Mars Missions?

quote[Most self-respecting starships in science fiction stories use antimatter as fuel for a good reason – it’s the most potent fuel known. While tons of chemical fuel are needed to propel a human mission to Mars, just tens of milligrams of antimatter will do (a milligram is about one-thousandth the weight of a piece of the original M&M candy).

However, in reality this power comes with a price. Some antimatter reactions produce blasts of high energy gamma rays. Gamma rays are like X-rays on steroids. They penetrate matter and break apart molecules in cells, so they are not healthy to be around. High-energy gamma rays can also make the engines radioactive by fragmenting atoms of the engine material.]

Very cool!

Joe Lieberman puts Colin McEnroe to sleep on air!

quote[Joe Lieberman's best friend Colin McEnroe and AP Capitol Reporter, Susan Haighs, were on WITC's Beyond the Headlines on Sunday and they explained why everyone should take Ned Lamont's campaign very seriously. They also go into why Joe's running scared and threatening to run as an independent (here's a hint: it's becasue there's a VERY good sign that Lamont will beat him in the primary).]

I personally think this was pretty unprofessional, and probably intentional. McEnroe, you might recall, has written several biting articles on Lieberman and had a pretty contentious interview with him on his radio show.

Yet Another General Calling For Rumsfeld's Head

quote[The retired commander of key forces in Iraq called yesterday for Donald H. Rumsfeld to step down, joining several other former top military commanders who have harshly criticized the defense secretary's authoritarian style for making the military's job more difficult.

"I think we need a fresh start" at the top of the Pentagon, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004-2005, said in an interview. "We need leadership up there that respects the military as they expect the military to respect them. And that leadership needs to understand teamwork."

Batiste noted that many of his peers feel the same way. "It speaks volumes that guys like me are speaking out from retirement about the leadership climate in the Department of Defense," he said earlier yesterday on CNN.]

By my tally, we're 4-0 now.

Someone In The White House Spilling The Beans?

quote[I was going to post this in the "Expose the big lie" thread but after I wrote it I thought it was interesting enough to merit a thread of its own. This is all good information, personally verified or witnessed by none other than me, but I will not answer any questions about it or go into any detail other than what I've already typed out. I may reply with more information or anecdotes if I see fit, but I've pretty much already scraped the barrel of my experiences.

These are some facts I have witnessed and learned through my employment. Take it at face value, believe it or don't believe it, because I'm not providing corroborating pictures, details, or evidence beyond my own testimony.

Homeland security buys in bulk and at great premium millions of dollars of useless personal appliances from China, such as rice cookers, nose hair trimmers, massage wands, and heating pads, boxes them up, and buries them in railroad shipping containers in the Arizona desert for no reason whatsoever other than to spend its budget and prevent sub-agencies from getting the funds. I suspect that the money goes to a middleman in order to secretly siphon funds into foreign organizations which we can't support over the table, but this is just me trying to find a justification for this massive and intentional government waste.

Donald Rumsfeld needs to wear iced underwear because of some medical condition, and he has his secret service detail hold his spares. He was recently getting uncontrollable long-term erections and had to change up his medical treatments. The underwear and the erections is why he uses a standing desk, not because he is some super-man. He also wears nylon stockings, not because he's gay, but to control some vascular problem with his legs which causes him intense pain.

President Bush uses anti-depressant medication, a lot of it, at a stupendous dosage, and he is hiding it from the American public. This is the real reason he stopped drinking. Because of the dosage, he is also impotent.

Tom Ridge carries 20 credit cards with him at all times, each one with a very low limit. I have never heard of him using one, ever, but he has them. He also wears his socks inside-out, and will flip the fuck out and walk strangely if he is forced to wear them properly, because it drives him crazy. All of his socks must be laundered right side in and then turned inside out before they are returned to him. He gave specific instructions about handling his food, and not allowing his vegetables to touch any other food item on the plate. His utensils must be steamed over boiling water. He will not eat soup which hasn't been boiled within the past 20 minutes or which he has not prepared himself. If any of these rules are violated, he flies into a rage, turns beet red, and will not eat a single thing. He has his personal attendants confirm over and over that the food is as he likes it. He also shaves his forearms and hands because he can't stand the idea of body hair on his arms. He demands that his bedsheets are bleach white and changed fresh every night and he sleeps in a separate bed in a big, tight, body-length nylon sleeve, with a fan blowing over him at full power. He is terrified of animals which have fur or hair longer than one inch, and will not go near curly hair of any kind, even on people. At one time he ran from his office and demanded that someone look under everything for a rodent which did not and could not exist, then he had the entire place wiped down with disinfectant and vacuumed twice. While this was done he couldn't even bear to look at the door, or come within 20 feet of his office. He was in hysterics.

President Bush, when dining at the white-house, does not eat any item of food which has not been first sniffed by a trained dog before being prepared. Think about that.

Word among the staff is that Cheney was drunk when he shot that lawyer, and secluded himself for a day to sober up and avoid felony firearms charges. I don't have any direct information on this because the guys with him at the time are not talking. This is totally unconfirmed, but I think it is plausible.

Dick Cheney has chronic gum problems and his breath smells like shit as a result. He is also a CLOSE TALKER. He keeps a small bottle of diluted hydrogen peroxide which he rinses with every hour on the hour, and he swallows it instead of spitting. He also picks his nose vigorously (violently) and hums loudly and tunelessly to himself while taking shits.

There is a sealed room in the whitehouse which once held a half-ton block of cheese for about 30 years.

The White house is planting its own men among the press agents at press conferences.

The white house lawn is mowed every other day by the same man humming the same tune.

Despite all of this craziness, there is nothing strange whatsoever about Condoleeza Rice. She is completely balanced and normal, if slightly robotic in her personal demeanor. She smells very nice at all times. She does, however, constantly check her investments online from her office when she thinks that nobody is looking, and she has slept at her desk on multiple occasions.

There is an administrative law judge who sits in an office in a building near the white-house, earns around 200k per year and has a secretary, and he does nothing except sit, read, and listen to classical music all day. His secretary likewise does nothing. He gets meals taken to him from the White-house kitchen, and is so lonely that he latches on to whoever gets sent and talks to them for hours about the korean war. His family is all dead and his secretary hates him. In a drawer in his desk he has an old revolver, which he got in there somehow despite that he shouldn't have been able to bring it in. I think he will shoot himself one day.

The "undisclosed location" is usually a local police officer training ground or state trooper college. Shh.]

Another howler. Probably fake though.

Remove Me From Your Rooster!

quote[One of the joys of being a gay rights activist is getting your daily dose of hate mail. Ok, most of it is pretty bland, but every once in a while there is a gem that makes up for all the rest. Here's the best of what I've received, along with a few others...
Here is the absolute best I've seen. It is snippets of various pieces put together by George Neighbors and Kathleen DeBold when they were working for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, which gets its fair share. Thanks for sharing it with us, George!

"Dear Faggots, Dikes, Soddomites, Lissbians, and Queer Bates: I recently
came across your address in a magazine I was reading and a plea for
donations to support your perversions caught my eye. Their is no excuse for
you. Your all sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick.
Gays are barf-inducing because you know what they do in private. Sex organs
are not very sanitarilly clean. Regard- less of a man's ability as an
artist, dress designer, or choreographer (three favorite professions, I'm
sure) the bottom line is that he enjoys [a long, explicit and obliviously
well-researched description of gay male sex]. I'm sure that lesbians engage
in similar disgusting acts [no description: they still can't figure out what
we do in bed!].]

LOL! A good read.

NASA to Crash Space Probe Into Moon

quote[
NASA plans to crash a space probe into the moon in 2009 — a collision so violent it will be visible on Earth through a telescope, the space agency said Monday.

The moon crash, part of a larger mission that includes a lunar orbiter, is a quest for ice. Water is the key ingredient for supporting future human outposts on the moon, a goal of the Bush administration.

NASA scientists say the collision should excavate a hole about a third the size of a football field and hurl a plume of debris into space. After the crash of the space probe, the mothership that released it will fly through the plume and look for traces of water ice or vapor — similar to NASA's Deep Impact mission last July, which blasted into a comet.]

Interesting...

Texas Judge Orders Medication for Inmate

quote[A judge who halted an execution because the inmate was mentally ill has agreed to force the man to take anti-psychotic medication so he can be put to death.]

WTF???

Let The Bombing Begin

quote[Iran, which is defying United Nations Security Council demands to cease its nuclear program, may be capable of making a nuclear bomb within 16 days if it goes ahead with plans to install thousands of centrifuges at its Natanz plant, a U.S. State Department official said.]

And we should trust this assessment why?

Is Lieberman trying to force Lamont out?

quote[LIEBERMAN: I'll always be a member of the Democratic party. I hope there's not a primary. I'm confident if there is one, I'll win it, but I'm not gonna rule out any other option for now because I feel so strongly that I can do better for the State of Connecticut for the next six years in the United States Senate that I want to give all the voters a chance to make that decision on Election day in November. I want to do it as a Democrat. If I didn't want to do it as a Democrat, I would choose to run in some other party, trust me. But I want to do it as a Democrat because I believe in the Democratic party, so really the choice is up to my fellow Democrats...]

Video File.

Support Ned Lamont.

Third Retired General Wants Rumsfeld Out

quote[The three-star Marine Corps general who was the military's top operations officer before the invasion of Iraq expressed regret, in an essay published Sunday, that he did not more energetically question those who had ordered the nation to war. He also urged active-duty officers to speak out now if they had doubts about the war.

Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, who retired in late 2002, also called for replacing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and "many others unwilling to fundamentally change their approach." He is the third retired senior officer in recent weeks to demand that Mr. Rumsfeld step down.]

Its time for Rummy to go.

Actually, it was time many years ago.

Saturn's moon 'best bet for life'

quote[Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus may be the best place to look for life elsewhere in the Solar System.

That is the view of a senior scientist working on the Cassini spacecraft, which has been studying Saturn and its moons for nearly two years.

Dr Bob Brown told a major conference in Vienna, Austria, Enceladus contains simple organic molecules, water and heat, the ingredients for life.

He raised the possibility of future missions to probe inside the moon.]

This is really cool.

Local Teacher's Run-In With Gestapo (...I Mean Homeland Security) Creates Insecurities

quote[However, Tuesday afternoon Pickett's niceness turned to anger, disappointment, and betrayal when, as Pickett was directing bus traffic, he said he was handcuffed and roughed up and humiliated by the very people that were supposed to protect him.

"I walked up to him and said, 'Sir, you need to move.' That's when he said 'I'm a police officer. I'm with Homeland Security ... I'll move it when I want to.' That's when he started grabbing me on my arm," Pickett said.]

US considers use of nuclear weapons against Iran

quote[The administration of President George W. Bush is planning a massive bombing campaign against Iran, including use of bunker-buster nuclear bombs to destroy a key Iranian suspected nuclear weapons facility, The New Yorker magazine has reported in its April 17 issue.

The article by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said that Bush and others in the White House have come to view Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a potential Adolf Hitler.

"That's the name they're using," the report quoted a former senior intelligence official as saying.

A senior unnamed Pentagon adviser is quoted in the article as saying that "this White House believes that the only way to solve the problem is to change the power structure in Iran, and that means war."]

Jesus Christ, this administration is fucking insane!

Anyone else see the irony of using nuclear weapons to prevent nuclear weapons? And, who is acting more like Hitler here?

AT&T Gave Your Data to Feds

quote[AT&T provided NSA eavesdroppers with full access to its customers' phone calls, and shunted its customers' internet traffic to data-mining equipment installed in a secret room in its San Francisco switching center, according to a former AT&T worker cooperating in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuit against the company.

Mark Klein, a retired AT&T communications technician, submitted an affidavit in support of the EFF's lawsuit this week. That class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco last January, alleges that AT&T violated federal and state laws by surreptitiously allowing the government to monitor phone and internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants.]

See this also.
quote[What I observed first-hand:

In 2002, when I was working in an AT&T office in San Francisco, the site manager told me to expect a visit from a National Security Agency agent, who was to interview a management-level technician for a special job. The agent came, and by chance I met him and directed him to the appropriate people.

In January 2003, I, along with others, toured the AT&T central office on Folsom Street in San Francisco -- actually three floors of an SBC building. There I saw a new room being built adjacent to the 4ESS switch room where the public's phone calls are routed. I learned that the person whom the NSA interviewed for the secret job was the person working to install equipment in this room. The regular technician work force was not allowed in the room.]

Now I know I have an FBI file.

Petition in Support of the Resolution of Censure

quote[Yes, Tom! Please let your colleagues in the Senate know that the American people demand accountable, law-abiding democracy here at home, not just rhetoric about democracy abroad! I want you to mobilize support for Senator Feingold's Resolution of Censure so that when the Senate returns to session after the Easter recess, a vote on the Senate floor will tell President Bush that no American can be above the law!]

Please, sign the petition!

Dems call for Bush to 'come clean,' cite 8 denials

quote[President Bush, 9/30/03:

"I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action."

President Bush, 9/30/03:

"If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of. . . . I have told our administration, people in my administration to be fully cooperative. I want to know the truth. If anybody has got any information inside our administration or outside our administration, it would be helpful if they came forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true and get on about the business."

President Bush, 10/28/03:

"I'd like to know if somebody in my White House did leak sensitive information."

President Bush, 6/10/04:

Reporter: "Do you stand by your pledge to fire anyone found to have done so?"

President Bush: "Yes. And that's up to the U.S. Attorney to find the facts."

President Bush, 10/28/03:

"I want to know the truth. ... I have no idea whether we'll find out who the leaker is, partially because, in all due respect to your profession, you do a very good job of protecting the leakers."

President Bush, 7/18/05 issue of USA Today:

"If someone committed crime, they will no longer work in my administration."

White House Press Secretary, 9/29/03:

"The President has set high standards, the highest of standards for people in his administration. He's made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct. If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration."

White House Press Secretary, 10/7/03:

"Let me answer what the President has said. I speak for the President and I'll talk to you about what he wants . . .If someone leaked classified information, the President wants to know. If someone in this administration leaked classified information, they will no longer be a part of this administration, because that's not the way this White House operates, that's not the way this President expects people in his administration to conduct their business."]

Face it, he's a fucking liar.

Bush 'ordered leak', ex-aide says

quote[President Bush authorised the leak of secret intelligence to the New York Times to help defend the war in Iraq, a former top White House aide has said.

The claim comes from Lewis Libby, the former chief-of-staff to Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Mr Libby is facing trial for allegedly obstructing an investigation into a different leak.]

Of course, we already knew this.

Rumsfeld Challenges Rice on 'Tactical Errors' in Iraq

quote[Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he did not know what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was talking about when she said last week that the United States had made thousands of "tactical errors" in handling the war in Iraq, a statement she later said was meant figuratively.

Speaking during a radio interview on WDAY in Fargo, N.D., on Tuesday, Rumsfeld said calling changes in military tactics during the war "errors" reflects a lack of understanding of warfare. Rumsfeld defended his war plan for Iraq but added that such plans inevitably do not survive first contact with the enemy.]

Ooh, they're fighting amongst themselves now.

U.S. Officials Are Mulling Iran Strikes, Experts Say

quote[Key players in the Bush administration think a military confrontation with Iran is unavoidable, leading to stepped up military planning for such a prospect, according to several experts and recently departed senior government officials.

Some of these observers stressed that military strikes against Iran are not imminent and speculated that the escalated war chatter could be a deliberate ploy to ratchet up diplomatic pressure on Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Still, they made clear, the tone in Washington has changed drastically.]

It's going to happen.

Two B-2s could take out Iran’s nuclear assets

quote[Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions will be history by the time US President George W Bush leaves office, said a report published here.

Veteran foreign correspondent Arnaud de Borchgrave, writing for the United Press International, quotes a “prominent neo-con” with good White House and Department of Defence contacts, as the source of the assertion. Asked what would the US do if sanctions did not make Iran turn away from its nuclear target, the source replied, “B-2s. Two of them could do the job in a single strike against multiple targets.”

De Borchgrave writes in an amused vein, “So we looked up B-2s. The US Air Force only has 21 of them. Perhaps price had something to do with it. They came in at $2.2 billion a copy. But they can carry enough ordnance to make Iranians nostalgic for the Shah and his role as the free world’s gendarme in charge of the West’s oil supplies in the Gulf. These stealthy bombers have one major drawback in the Persian magic carpet mode. They can only attack 16 targets simultaneously; one short of the 17 underground nuclear facilities pinned red on Mossad’s target-rich PowerPoint presentations to the political leadership. Presumably, that’s why two B-2s would be required.”]

Trust me. This will happen.

And it will result in a nightmare.

DeLay Announces Resignation From House

quote[Succumbing to scandal, former Majority Leader
Tom DeLay said Tuesday he will resign from Congress in the face of a tough re-election race, closing out a career that blended unflinching conservatism with a bare-knuckled political style.

"I have no fear whatsoever about any investigation into me or my personal or professional activities," DeLay said in a statement to constituents. At the same time, he said, "I refuse to allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative, personal campaign."]

I saw this last night, but still felt I should post it.

Woo-Hoo!!!

Questions Dog Harris Behavior

quote[Changing locks on her campaign headquarters and accusing her staff of disloyalty and her own party of spying on her are signs of erratic behavior that some Katherine Harris staff members say has worsened since her father's death.

Harris is restaffing her campaign and will announce new key staff members today, a campaign spokeswoman said Monday.]

Maybe she wouldn't come across as so nutty if she stopped strutting her breasts while speaking in a creepy porn star voice.

U.S. company claims to make stem cells from testes

quote[U.S. researchers said on Saturday they had transformed immature cells from men's testicles into powerful stem cells, which they then coaxed into becoming nerve, heart and bone cells.

Their work has not been assessed by standard peer-review processes, but was presented at a meeting of stem cell researchers in Valencia, Spain. If other researchers can duplicate their efforts, the study offers a possible new source of valuable stem cells.

The researchers, at Irvine, California-based PrimeGen Biotech LLC, worked with immature cells found in testes and ovaries known as germ cells. Scientists have hoped to use germ cells as a source of tissues for transplant and other medical uses.]

Cool, if this works.

Paid $200M, U.S. Contractor Fails To Complete 122 Of 142 Health Clinics In Iraq...

quote[A reconstruction contract for the building of 142 primary health centers across Iraq has run out of money, after two years and roughly $200 million, with no more than 20 clinics now expected to be completed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says.

The contract, awarded to U.S. construction giant Parsons Inc. in the flush, early days of reconstruction in Iraq, was expected to lay the foundation of a modern health care system for the country, putting quality medical care within reach of all Iraqis.

Parsons, according to the Corps, will walk away from more than 120 clinics that on average are two-thirds finished. Auditors say its failure serves as a warning for other U.S. reconstruction efforts due to be completed this year.]

Ridiculous!

Fitzgerald Knew Identity of Leaker From Start

quote[The special counsel appointed in late December 2003 to investigate the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson found out the identity of the Bush administration official who disclosed her undercover status to syndicated columnist Robert Novak just two months after the probe began.

But in early February 2004, a month after he started the investigation, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald shifted gears and started to build a perjury and obstruction of justice case against White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby according to several attorneys close to the investigation.

That month, Justice Department investigators working on the leak case approached a senior official in the Office of Vice President Dick Cheney who had been identified by witnesses as having played a major role in the Plame Wilson leak.]

Interesting, if true.