I'm sure you feel the same way but this Politics of confrontation practiced by Bushco in order to pursue their new world order. I have written at least 25 stories updating the progress between Putin and Bush as Bush insists on infringing on Russia with its supposed missile defense system. To me it is designed "work or not" to instigate countries I.e.. Russia so Bush will be forced to fight in order to replace existing order with his new order using The Russian Doctrine of Destruction
How appropriate it is that a Russian is going to be the one to stop him. To me, God help all of us if he manages to get this going before he leaves office and his pundits call for a Constitutional Amendment to keep him in office or worse. It absolutely blows me away that knowing what Bush has done to us right here in using 9/11 and the Patriot Act to still as much abusive power as possible and change America and the world to his liking ignoring totally the wishes of the Democrats and we the people that Bushco is concerned that Russia under Putin is doing the same thing.
Listen to this crap! The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has amassed so much central authority that the power-grab may undermine Moscow's commitment to democracy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday. "In any country, if you don't have countervailing institutions, the power of any one president is problematic for democratic development," Rice told reporters after meeting with human-rights activists. Where the hell does Bushco have the room to talk?
"I think there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. I have told the Russians that. Everybody has doubts about the full independence of the judiciary. There are clearly questions about the independence of the electronic media and there are, I think, questions about the strength of the Duma," said Rice, referring to the Russian parliament. The U.S. is concerned about the centralization of power and democratic backsliding ahead of Russia's legislative and presidential elections in December and March. Putin will step down next year as president. He has said he would lead the ticket of the main pro-Kremlin party in the parliamentary elections and could take the prime minister's job later. Although she would not speculate about Putin's ambitions, Rice said there were signs that whatever transition occurs could be smooth. Rice worried about Putin's power
You could laugh at the idiocy of Bushco if this wasn't so serious. I have to laugh remembering Bush had the audacity to tell Putin he should model his Democracy after the hell he has created in Iraq. Anyway, Bush is not concerned about us but he's afraid Putin will stop his new world order and is trying to gum up Russia with problems!
Rice met with human rights activists Saturday while Bushco ignores his own. It was a low key effort designed so as not to rankle Putin. Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday received a chilly reception from Putin and senior Russian officials on U.S. proposals for cooperating on a missile defense system in Eastern Europe that Russia vehemently opposes. But as she has in the past, Rice declined comment on Putin's possible political future and said she did not raise the matter in her official discussions. Rice meets with civil rights activists
Traveling back to Washington on Saturday, Gates said that despite Russian officials' public rejection of new proposals made during the meetings, he believed that Putin was "intrigued by a couple of them" and was taking them seriously. I can't believe the never ending audacity. Putin will be rankled and he might have been intrigued at Bushco's idiocy but nothing will change, Putin will not Bend! As you know, Russia is supplying Iran and Syria with missiles, anti missile batteries and aircraft requiring Russian arming, and other advanced weaponry, as well as building the Bashir nuclear facility amongst other things and have declared they will protect their interests militarily.
Every one of you know, Bush doesn't care about us as he goes about widening the gap between classes in order to form his new societal order He has to concern himself with Putin though! He is concerned Putin will get in the way of his plan for new middle east and world order and with his ally China he will. To stave this off Bush and Rice are doing their damnedest to incite division for their gain as they do here successfully. Bush is trying to undermine Russia with internal problems so they are preoccupied but it will not work. Sound familiar?
James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com
How appropriate it is that a Russian is going to be the one to stop him. To me, God help all of us if he manages to get this going before he leaves office and his pundits call for a Constitutional Amendment to keep him in office or worse. It absolutely blows me away that knowing what Bush has done to us right here in using 9/11 and the Patriot Act to still as much abusive power as possible and change America and the world to his liking ignoring totally the wishes of the Democrats and we the people that Bushco is concerned that Russia under Putin is doing the same thing.
Listen to this crap! The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has amassed so much central authority that the power-grab may undermine Moscow's commitment to democracy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday. "In any country, if you don't have countervailing institutions, the power of any one president is problematic for democratic development," Rice told reporters after meeting with human-rights activists. Where the hell does Bushco have the room to talk?
"I think there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. I have told the Russians that. Everybody has doubts about the full independence of the judiciary. There are clearly questions about the independence of the electronic media and there are, I think, questions about the strength of the Duma," said Rice, referring to the Russian parliament. The U.S. is concerned about the centralization of power and democratic backsliding ahead of Russia's legislative and presidential elections in December and March. Putin will step down next year as president. He has said he would lead the ticket of the main pro-Kremlin party in the parliamentary elections and could take the prime minister's job later. Although she would not speculate about Putin's ambitions, Rice said there were signs that whatever transition occurs could be smooth. Rice worried about Putin's power
You could laugh at the idiocy of Bushco if this wasn't so serious. I have to laugh remembering Bush had the audacity to tell Putin he should model his Democracy after the hell he has created in Iraq. Anyway, Bush is not concerned about us but he's afraid Putin will stop his new world order and is trying to gum up Russia with problems!
Rice met with human rights activists Saturday while Bushco ignores his own. It was a low key effort designed so as not to rankle Putin. Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday received a chilly reception from Putin and senior Russian officials on U.S. proposals for cooperating on a missile defense system in Eastern Europe that Russia vehemently opposes. But as she has in the past, Rice declined comment on Putin's possible political future and said she did not raise the matter in her official discussions. Rice meets with civil rights activists
Traveling back to Washington on Saturday, Gates said that despite Russian officials' public rejection of new proposals made during the meetings, he believed that Putin was "intrigued by a couple of them" and was taking them seriously. I can't believe the never ending audacity. Putin will be rankled and he might have been intrigued at Bushco's idiocy but nothing will change, Putin will not Bend! As you know, Russia is supplying Iran and Syria with missiles, anti missile batteries and aircraft requiring Russian arming, and other advanced weaponry, as well as building the Bashir nuclear facility amongst other things and have declared they will protect their interests militarily.
Every one of you know, Bush doesn't care about us as he goes about widening the gap between classes in order to form his new societal order He has to concern himself with Putin though! He is concerned Putin will get in the way of his plan for new middle east and world order and with his ally China he will. To stave this off Bush and Rice are doing their damnedest to incite division for their gain as they do here successfully. Bush is trying to undermine Russia with internal problems so they are preoccupied but it will not work. Sound familiar?
James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com
26 comments:
Change just a few words and you can switch which country Condi was talking about:
"I think there is too much concentration of power in the White House. I have told the Americans that. Everybody has doubts about the full independence of the judiciary. There are clearly questions about the independence of the electronic media and there are, I think, questions about the strength of the Legislature," said Rice, referring to the Congress.
I don't think Putin is going to back down on Iran. Russia is building their nuclear plant. Putin feels certain Iran is not going to build a nuke.
Bush cannot bully Putin around.
In fact, I think Bush is afraid of Putin.
Putin may be the one who can stop the bombing of Iran.
Check this out Jim:
By Joe Gandelman
Once upon a time, there was a phrase that truly was cringe-worthy. It was as trite as when someone would say (as if it was profound) “we don’t want to sit around singing Kumbaya.”
The phrase is “they’re just being Good Germans.” It’s a phrase that was hideously overused during the Vietnam War (for those of us who remember) and now in the Iraq war….which has shaped up as this generation’s Vietnam war.
But New York Times columnist Frank Rich has now made it legitimate again in a column that is that asks readers to stop and see how far the United States has come — or fallen. His use of the words “Gestapo tactics” and “Good Germans” will be red flags to some, but he’s clearly speaking about a descent of long-held American values here and not just throwing lash-out adjectives around.
And, indeed, if you look at Point A as where we were X number of years ago in terms of American steadfast values and Point B where we are now, there is a perceptible shift – not one that has come with any big announcement, but via a series of teeny baby steps taken as if no steps were taken at all.
The thrust of his piece is at its end:
Our moral trajectory over the Bush years could not be better dramatized than it was by a reunion of an elite group of two dozen World War II veterans in Washington this month. They were participants in a top-secret operation to interrogate some 4,000 Nazi prisoners of war. Until now, they have kept silent, but America’s recent record prompted them to talk to The Washington Post.
“We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with their torture,” said Henry Kolm, 90, an M.I.T. physicist whose interrogation of Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy, took place over a chessboard. George Frenkel, 87, recalled that he “never laid hands on anyone” in his many interrogations, adding, “I’m proud to say I never compromised my humanity.”
Our humanity has been compromised by those who use Gestapo tactics in our war. The longer we stand idly by while they do so, the more we resemble those “good Germans” who professed ignorance of their own Gestapo. It’s up to us to wake up our somnambulant Congress to challenge administration policy every day. Let the war’s last supporters filibuster all night if they want to. There is nothing left to lose except whatever remains of our country’s good name.
The beginning is where he also notes a common administration response and the reason he felt this column’s time had come:
“BUSH lies” doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s time to confront the darker reality that we are lying to ourselves.
Ten days ago The Times unearthed yet another round of secret Department of Justice memos countenancing torture. President Bush gave his standard response: “This government does not torture people.” Of course, it all depends on what the meaning of “torture” is. The whole point of these memos is to repeatedly recalibrate the definition so Mr. Bush can keep pleading innocent.
And that has been a modus operandi not just of the administration, but going back to Mr. Bush’s 2000 Presidential campaign.
When he ran against Arizona Senator John McCain, who was widely seen then as a reformer, Mr. Bush reformulated his campaign at one time and appeared behind signs that said he was “reformer with results.” But after Mr. Bush was elected, it turned out some of those reforms were not such great reforms after all.
Administration environmental policies have been given names to sound like great environmental policies, but check with any number of prestigious, independent environmental organizations and they’ll tell you that the administration is considered to have one of the poorest records on environmental issues. Similarly, the administration insists it is not saying Saddam Hussein was involved with 911 but it has repeatedly suggested just that even as it denied it was doing so.
It’s the use of language to recast and deny. But if previous definitions were used or not shifted and tossed away, it is clear on several fronts that this administration has made many significant shifts which claiming it was doing no such thing. Rich writes:
By any legal standards except those rubber-stamped by Alberto Gonzales, we are practicing torture, and we have known we are doing so ever since photographic proof emerged from Abu Ghraib more than three years ago. As Andrew Sullivan, once a Bush cheerleader, observed last weekend in The Sunday Times of London, America’s “enhanced interrogation” techniques have a grotesque provenance: “Verschärfte Vernehmung, enhanced or intensified interrogation, was the exact term innovated by the Gestapo to describe what became known as the ‘third degree.’ It left no marks. It included hypothermia, stress positions and long-time sleep deprivation.”
Still, the drill remains the same. The administration gives its alibi (Abu Ghraib was just a few bad apples). A few members of Congress squawk. The debate is labeled “politics.” We turn the page.
There has been scarcely more response to the similarly recurrent story of apparent war crimes committed by our contractors in Iraq. Call me cynical, but when Laura Bush spoke up last week about the human rights atrocities in Burma, it seemed less an act of selfless humanitarianism than another administration maneuver to change the subject from its own abuses.
Laura Bush’s comments and motivations? That’s up for debate and no one — Rich included — can say they know she was trying to change a subject. Perhaps this happened: perhaps she WAS outraged by it. Rich almost undermines his argument by falling into the discredit-you-opponents trap.
But the larger issue in America is that our goal posts keep changing.
And how can they change so easily?
Once upon a time there were people in both parties who were staunch partisans but had ideals that they would not toss away just to win an election or cling to power.
These ideas were steadfast and were the reason WHY they belonged to X or Y party — and the reason they were so proud to be Americans.
Those of us who have spent years of our lives overseas (in my case India, Bangladesh, Spain and covering parts of Mexico) often ran into heated criticisms and outright denunciations of the United States but we also know that the United States has long been a country considered by many in the world to be perhaps a CUT ABOVE the rest due to certain values.
These values have also been a selling point for the United States abroad. But now some of the values are falling by the wayside and, as Rich notes, many Americans really don’t seem to care.
We are now in an era when politics to many seems to be less about policy and fundamental values than defending your own party’s political players, no matter what they do.
Longtime principles are tossed out as quickly as used Kleenex. The mental adjustments are made (this MUST be right because the administration says so and because this or that talk show host or blog says so). Old values become inoperative and the new values (or non-values) are rationalized and quickly become the norm.
What’s the solution? Congress? Congress can only be part of it. And clamoring for one political party to do something about it won’t cut it, either.
It’s about Americans who are now willing to let a government or party change the rules of the game or throw away longstanding ideals and values and just go along with it. It’s about whether politics means more than just making sure your side gets in and stays in.
They used to say about conservative icon Barry Goldwater: “He’d rather be right than be President.”
Politicos of both parties seems as if they’d all rather be president — and worry about being right later on.
But so do many Americans. Torture? Many who insist what’s going on now isn’t torture KNOW in their hearts it is torture but that’s not what “their team” says so they’ll insist it isn’t and go after those who say it is.
It’s not about Americans being “Good Germans.”
It’s about Americans being bad — and negligent — trustees of long held, long cherished values.
Values that generations of American died to protect — and to perpetuate.
–Newsbusters:
It’s not as if Frank Rich has a deep and abiding hatred of his nation’s leadership, or contempt for his fellow Americans. It’s just that he accuses the Bush administration of using tactics worthy of the Gestapo — the Nazi secret police headed by Heinrich Himmler — and his fellow Americans of being like citizens of Hitler’s Germany who turned a blind eye to the atrocities in their midst.
….I believe that when the history of this war is written, it will be seen that our nation waged it in accordance with some of the highest ethical standards ever observed in a major conflict. Yet Frank Rich paints our government as adopting Nazi tactics, and average Americans as akin to passive supporters of Hitler’s regime. Were it not ever-so-gauche to do so, you might call that unpatriotic.
–Michael van der Galien:
All the exaggerations aside, I’m with American liberals on this one: I won’t compare anyone to Hitler - because Hitler was truly evil, not someone who simply went a bit too far in his desire to protect his people - but the treatment of prisoners is truly embarrassing to the US. Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, etc. have done great damage to America’s image and rightfully so. Personally I don’t understand why this hasn’t caused more outrage in the US than it has done. This is one of the major weaknesses of Bush and this is one of the errors the US has made. Enhanced interrogations techniques shouldn’t be used. Not only do experts point out that they’re not all that effective, it’s also inhumane to use them. Even the worst criminals in human history should be treated in line with human rights. All of them should have a fair trial, all of them should be treated humanely.
–The Heretik (who always has incredible original graphics on his posts):
Good Americans, we don’t torture. So our leaders say. But if we believe that, more than the dignity of a detainee’s body is lost. The bones of our civilization are broken and our morality evaporates. We have acted better when things were far worse.
–TMV coblogger Pete Abel at his excellent blog Central Sanity:
Rich seems to suggest that “the war’s last supporters” are synonymous with those who would excuse and/or enable torture. That implication is neither fair nor accurate.
Among others, I both condemn torture and support the mission to stabilize Iraq. I agree wholeheartedly with those like Rich and Andrew Sullivan who have rejected the Administration’s repeated attempts to liberalize definitions of what does and does not constitute torture. I further believe American leaders and citizens must take the moral high ground on these subjects, consistently, without wavering. And we do just that when we both stand against torture and advocate the prevention of the massacre in Iraq that would be prompted by a too-soon withdrawal of American forces.
–Rhymes With Right:
Frank Rich can be officially dismissed as a serious commentator on the war (not that he ever really credibility) after this column today…..This is the classic reductio ad Hitlerum intended to cut off all debate or discussion — and as such, as per common application of Godwin’s Law, Mr. Rich loses.
–The American Street:
Not all of us will be guilty of benign neglect. I believe the majority of the citizenry still stands for the rule of law and wants to restore legitimacy to our government and restore our nation’s values to one of clear, unbending principles.
I don’t care what party you belong to. Are you with the good of humanity or are you against it? There is no neutral position, no escape. Answer the question of whether our America, our democracy will exist. Or whether you surrender it and create an inferior second rate country in its place.
–Flopping Aces shows Al Qaeda photos of terrorist torture techniques and writes:
Frank Rich, the always hyperventilating liberal, is at it again today in this column inside the New York Times. As usual with most of the far left he calls Bush another Hitler, and the CIA his Gestapo. This time he also calls those Americans who do nothing about the Bush Administration’s use of interrogation techniques “good Germans.”
….These are the same kind of liberals who believe putting panties on one head is “torture”, and Mr. Rich also obviously believes sleep deprivation is “torture” because he can cite cases where the Germans used that technique also. Well whoopdidoo…..Do these liberals really believe that a hard core al-Qaeda agent is just going to sit down and tell us everything because we were super nice to them? Gave them some cookies and warm milk? It appears they do.
–Say Anything:
Op-ed columnist Frank Rich’s article entitled,”The Good ‘Germans’ Among Us” makes me want to bury my head in shame for what my country has done in Iraq. If this article does not move you, nothing will.
–Arkansas Politics Blog:
When I started to read Frank Rich’s latest piece my skin got cold. He was comparing my country and my fellow Americans to the good Germans…the Germans that turned a blind eye and professed ignorance of there Gestapo and what was happening in their country. And as I got further into what Rich was saying I realized he was right. The damage this administration has done to our country is stunning and as Rich explains, we all have to share in what has happened to this once great country. I will add, that there is no other country on this earth, that when we set our hearts and minds to fixing something…we can do it. The question is…are we willing?
–Sister Toldjah:
Rich is another in a long list of liberals whose perspective doesn’t extend beyond the inauguration of President Bush in January 2001. It almost makes me wish that time machines actually existed, time machines that could accommodate a large number of people, so we could encourage the numerous liberal columnists, journalists, and “scholars,” among other deluded lefties, who have asserted for years that this administration is essentially a modern day American version of Nazi Germany and that our troops are supposedly merely mindless followers, to travel back to that time period in history, and have them attempt to report from the front lines what they’re observing about Hitler’s regime.
That is, of course, assuming they wouldn’t be discovered first by the Gestapo.
The Blackwater Gestapo: The Bush Army of Choice!
Polishifter
I know, isn't it unbelievable? The two faced in your face underhanded audacity is sickening and those idiots do not care how obvious it is . I hate it!
Oh yeah, anyway you know I agree! Putin will not back down and this will end in the new world order war Bush needs to impress his new order.
That’s all Internet traffic, foreign and domestic, data and voice. And the decision to do this was taken, not because of 9/11, but as soon as Bush took office. As was the decision to ignore the rule of law. So much for the idea that the extremely benevolent and trustworthy Bush administration was reacting to 9/11, and just wants “surgical” surveillance* to keep us safe from terrorists, eh? Could this program be Spencer Ackerman’s “Project X”?
Anyhow, it’s late, so I can’t do this story justice, but according to Wired:
And in May 2006, a lawsuit filed against Verizon for allegedly turning over call records to the NSA alleged that AT&T began building a spying facility for the NSA just days after President Bush was inaugurated. That lawsuit is one of 50 that were consolidated and moved to a San Francisco federal district court, where the suits sit in limbo waiting for the 9th Circuit Appeals court to decide whether the suits can proceed without endangering national security.
According the allegations in the suit (.pdf):
The project was described in the ATT sales division documents as calling for the construction of a facility to store and retain data gathered by the NSA from its domestic and foreign intelligence operations but was to be in actuality a duplicate ATT Network Operations Center for the use and possession of the NSA that would give the NSA direct, unlimited, unrestricted and unfettered access to all call information and internet and digital traffic on ATTÌs long distance network. […]
The NSA program was initially conceived at least one year prior to 2001 but had been called off; it was reinstated within 11 days of the entry into office of defendant George W. Bush.
An ATT Solutions logbook reviewed by counsel confirms the Pioneer-Groundbreaker project start date of February 1, 2001.
The allegations in that case come from unnamed AT&T insiders, who have never stepped forward or provided any documentation to the courts. But Carl Mayer, one of the attorneys in the case, stands by the allegations in the lawsuit.
“All we can say is, we told you so,” Mayer said.
Mayer says the issue of when the call records program started - a program that unlike the admitted warrantless wiretapping, the administration has never confirmed nor denied - should play a role in the upcoming confirmation hearings of Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey.
Mukasey will have to “come clean on when this program started,” Mayer said. “The entire rationale was that it was necessitated by 9/11.”
Well, yes, Tooliani operative Mukasey should indeed be asked about all this. Hey, here’s an idea: Leader Nance could write Mukasey a Sternly Worded Letter!
And this does explain why the telcos are lobbying so hard for retroactive immunity, doesn’t it?
And now that we can be totally sure that Iraq was for oil—even in the absence of the suppressed records of the Cheney energy task force—and we know that massive warrantless surveillance was the order of the day immediately after Bush took office, it looks like what “changed” after 9/11 wasn’t “everything,” but just the catapult Bush used for the propaganda. Eh?
NOTE * The trad press coverage of McConnell’s lying on “surgical” was even more bogus than usual.
UPDATE Here’s WaPo’s Ellen Nakashima and Dan Eggen. They focus on the court filings from which the Wired story above is derived. They get the pre-9/11 nature of the program:
Nacchio’s account, which places the NSA proposal at a meeting on Feb. 27, 2001, suggests that the Bush administration was seeking to enlist telecommunications firms in programs without court oversight before the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The Sept. 11 attacks have been cited by the government as the main impetus for its warrantless surveillance efforts.
Right. All this crap about protecting the American people was and is just propaganda; 9/11 was just the icing on the cake for the criminal Bush regime. They were secretly working to destroy the Fourth Amendment, and the Constitution from the start—right after they seized power in Bush v. Gore. Tell me again why we live under a legitimate government?
Now, Eggen and Nakashima are framing this in terms of “phone records,” not “all call information and internet and digital traffic”, as Wired has it:
In a statement released after the story was published, Nacchio attorney Herbert Stern said that in fall 2001, Qwest was approached to give the government access to the private phone records of Qwest customers. At the time, Nacchio was chairman of the president’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
But they do have the money quote:
“Mr. Nacchio made inquiry as to whether a warrant or other legal process had been secured in support of that request,” Stern said. “When he learned that no such authority had been granted and that there was a disinclination on the part of the authorities to use any legal process, including the Special Court which had been established to handle such matters, Mr. Nacchio concluded that these requests violated the privacy requirements of the Telecommunications Act.”
A “disinclination.” Nice. So Nacchio turned down the request. The consequences: The so-called Justice Department sued him for insider trading—Nacchio had sold his stock at a high on the expectation that the contract would go through because who would have fucking thought the request would be illegal. (This is America!) And, cleverly, the so-called Justice Department then gamed the system of security clearances and got the judge to suppress any defense based on the request because of the “state secrets” privilege.*
So, Nacchio wasn’t a total, total greedhead. And all the other telco CEOs were, apparently. What a re-assuring portrait of the integrity and benign intentions of our ruling class.
And it looks like the multiple nature of the surveillance programs is causing a lot of confusion. “Call records” implies only voice but, as Wired says (and they’ve got the technical expertise) what we have long believed: that it’s voice and data, with domestic data the real prize; just like 9/11, the foreign intelligence aspect is just a cover for the real goal. We’ve always thought that ratfucking was the important part, but now I’m thinking that espionage for favored corporations could also play a role. Marcy has an excellent timeline.
Another Bush lie and coverup!
Damn Lary
You are a wealth of information. It might have been you that pointed those veterans out to me but of course I read the interviews and was very impressed that they spoke against what Bush is doing and using their righteous behavior to justify his underhanded over the top tactics.
Their righteousness made me happy. My ex father in law is 89 and one of those veterans. He left the CIA to fight in WW2. He too never talked about his experiences and is dying right now. Oh well. thanks!
Larry
Bush is a Nazi wanabe! They would have been proud of that scum.I would not hesitate to compare him to a Nazi. You know his past. The only difference is he has to make believe this is a Democracy to appease those that think it is so he can get his Nazi way! This is his new order America not ours!
The 10 Dumbest Votes in the U.S. House
Part of my job at the Club for Growth is to research the votes taken in the U.S. House. Over time, I've come across some of the dumbest votes you can imagine, so for the heck of it I thought I'd collect ten of them and post them on the blog. Now, to be sure, these aren't the only dumb votes out there. There are scores of dumb votes taken every year, but these particular votes struck me as monuments to dumbness. And I also don't claim these to be absolute. If I did this same exercise tomorrow, I could come up with 10 completely different votes that I would consider the most dumb-gusting.
One more thing - these votes are dumb for different reasons. The vote result might be what's dumb. Or the topic of the vote. Or the circumstances surrounding the vote. No matter what...they are all dumb.
In no particular order:
MOHAIR SUBSIDIES (Roll Call 383, 2000) - Offered by then-Rep. Mark Sanford, this vote sought to defund all mohair subsidies. Pray tell, what exactly is mohair? Webster's dictionary says it's, "a fabric or yarn made wholly or in part of the long silky hair of the Angora goat." From 1995 to 2005, taxpayers have been on the hook for $40 million on mohair subsidies. For more information, don't ask the Mohair Council of America, the leading special interest group defending and receiving the subsidies. Their website has all the friendliness of a tumor. But the House still sided with them. The vote failed, 166-255.
CONGRESSIONAL PAY RAISE (Roll Call 580, 2007) - Where else but in Congress can a person give himself a raise? Worse still, if you had a 27% approval rating, do you think you'd deserve a raise? Well, in Congress, you would and it would be automatic! Back in 1989, they voted to put the pay raise on auto pilot, but thankfully, every year a House member offers a motion asking that the House decline the pay raise. The vote to kill this procedural maneuver almost always wins and it is always a bipartisan affair.
FREE MONEY FOR CRIMINALS! (Roll Call 224, 2007) - Earlier this year, the House passed a bill that would give assistance (read: free money and loans) to small businesses in natural disaster areas. As part of that bill, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) offered a motion to send the bill back to committee with instructions that language be include which would prohibit giving this free money to convicted felons. Seems reasonable, right? Well, "reasonable" doesn't sell in the U.S. House. The motion failed, 204-218.
VIAGRA SUBSIDIES (Roll Call 312, 2005) - Did you know that Viagra used to be subsidized through Medicaid and Medicare? Rep. Steve King (R-IA) offered an amendment to remove the subsidy in 2005. According to the New York Times, "Mr. King said it was wrong to tell taxpayers that "we're going to take the money you earned on overtime to pay for Grandpa's Viagra." Thankfully, the House sided with King, but 121 members still wanted to keep it up (the subsidies, that is).
CLINTON'S BIRTH PLACE (Roll Call 23, 2006) - This vote was to designate Bill Clinton's birth home in Hope, Arkansas as a national historic site. To be fair, this isn't ridiculously offensive. It arguably pays respect to the office and not to the man. That's probably why it passed, 409-12. But I liked Rep. Lynn Westmoreland's response after the vote was taken. In opposition to the bill, he said, "President Clinton says we don’t need tax cuts for wealthy people such as him. Well, if he has spare money, maybe he can help the taxpayers out by fully funding the maintenance to keep his birthplace open to the public. He could also solicit donations. There are many options in the private sector that would avoid adding another obligation on taxpayers."
CRIMINALIZE PRICE-GOUGING (Roll Call 115, 2006 and Roll Call 404, 2007) - These two votes aren't dumb because of the issue (well kinda), but because of the explicit flip-flop done by most of the Republicans involved. In 2006, while in the majority and under public pressure from high gas prices ahead of the election, the GOP voted with the Democrats to pass a bill that would criminalize price gouging (even though nobody knows how to define "price gouging"). However, now that they are in the minority with the election behind them, most Republicans voted to oppose criminalization. Well, at least they're moving in the right direction.
VOTES UNDER SUSPENSION - According to House procedures, the Committee on Rules establishes how a bill is managed on the floor. There are closed rules and open rules and modified rules that dictate how bills will be offered, how many amendments will be allowed, and how much time will be spent on debate. However, when bills are assumed to be non-controversial with bipartisan support, the House will sometimes "suspend" the rules and vote on the bills in an expeditious manner. Because of this, a 2/3rd super majority is required for passage. But that's usually a low hurdle. To get an idea of the really dumb votes that get passed under suspension, go here. If you want to get a weekly list, go here.
PORK, PORK, PORK (Roll Call 636, 2007) - This year, the House voted on 50 separate amendments that would have defunded several different pork projects. These amendments included some doozies. My favorite was the vote on the $1 million pork project for the "Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure" in Johnstown, PA. What's especially dumb about this project is that, prior to the vote, nobody could confirm the existence of the Center! Here's a video of the debate. In the end, the House happily handed the mysterious "Center" one million smackeroos with a vote of 326-98! To view the other 49 amendments and how every House member voted on them, see the Club's RePORK Card.
YOUR HOUSE? NO, MY HOUSE! (Roll Call 350, 2005) - Remember that disastrous Supreme Court decision which said the 5th Amendment didn't really mean what it says? In Kelo v. City of New London, the Court essentially held that it was okay in certain circumstances to take private property from one person and give it to another person. Rep. Scott Garrett sought to restrict this newly realized lever of government power by disallowing its application in an appropriations bill. Thankfully, his amendment passed, but there were still 189 congressmen who voted against it. When those 'NO' voters realized that their reflexive big government response was not popular with the American public, they were lucky enough to vote on a subsequent bill the placed similar restrictions on eminent domain abuse. But, alas, the second vote didn't unring the bell of their original vote.
TICK TOCK THEY DON'T STOP - As mentioned before, the Committee on Rules establishes how a bill is managed on the floor, including how long the voting machines remain open. Large, important bills usually have a 15-minute window in which every member can vote. However, in 2003 the GOP-controlled House left the window open for almost 3 hours on the massive Medicare drug bill so that they could twist some arms. As one member recalled, "I saw a woman, a member of the House, a lady, crying when they came around her, trying to get her to change her votes. It was ugly." But don't think for a minute that the Democrats are without guilt. During the Agriculture appropriations debate earlier this year, a GOP motion was being voted on. The electronic scoreboard said 215-213 when the Democrat member in charge gaveled the vote. The Republicans clearly won, but the Democrats maintained that the motion failed.
Thousands are dying in Iraq, thousands lose their jobs in America each week, thousands see their home go into foreclosure each week and this is all the Congress can get done!
Turkey, which is a key supply route to U.S. troops in Iraq, recalled its ambassador to Washington on Thursday and warned of serious repercussions if Congress labels the killing of Armenians by Turks a century ago as genocide.
Ordered after a House committee endorsed the genocide measure, the summons of the ambassador for consultations was a further sign of the deteriorating relations between two longtime allies and the potential for new turmoil in an already troubled region.
Top International stories
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Turkey United States George W Bush Robert M Gates Senate House of Representatives Nabi | NABI
Egeman Bagis, an aide to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told Turkish media that Turkey a conduit for many of the supplies shipped to American bases in both Iraq and Afghanistan might have to "cut logistical support to the U.S."
Analysts also have speculated the resolution could make Turkey more inclined to send troops into northern Iraq to hunt Turkish Kurd rebels, a move opposed by the U.S. because it would disrupt one of the few relatively stable and peaceful Iraqi areas.
"There are steps that we will take," Turkey's prime minister told reporters, but without elaboration. It also wasn't clear if he meant his government would act immediately or wait to see what happens to the resolution in Congress.
He declined to answer questions about whether Turkey might shut down Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, a major cargo hub for U.S. and allied military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Turkey's Mediterranean port of Iskenderun is also used to ferry goods to American troops.
"You don't talk about such things, you just do them," Erdogan said.
The measure before Congress is just a nonbinding resolution without the force of law, but the debate has incensed Turkey's government.
The relationship between the two NATO allies, whose troops fought together in the Korean War in 1950-53, have stumbled in the past. They hit a low in 2003, when Turkey's parliament refused to allow U.S. forces use their country as a staging ground for the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
But while the threat of repercussions against the U.S. is appealing for many Turks, the country's leaders know such a move could hurt Turkey's standing as a reliable ally of the West and its ambitions to be a mediator on the international stage.
More enemies as Bush prepares for his World War III.
You're right Larry! 9/11 only gave him the excuse to get this all going. That is why it was allowed to happen. He needed the world behind his effort and 9/11 did that giving him the excuse of fighting terrorism while he was implementing his new world order.
The Patriot Act gave him the power he needed to steal our America and begin his new middle east and world order. Nothing is going to stop him. This nightmare is just beginning. His worst damage is yet to come!
Larry
You want to laugh? Look at The pig Book Pick a year and get sick!
Larry
End result is Turkey recalled their Ambassador but it is only temporary. That was genocide after all they just don't want it called that and they calculate that because of what the chief idiot has done they can do it again in Iraq. As you note, this is all part of what I came to know as Bush's Forever War! It is still just beginning.
Attack on Iran Said To Be Imminent
Yesterday’s edition of Le Canard Enchaîné, a French weekly known for its investigative journalism, reported details of an alleged Israeli-American plan to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. The frontpage headline read: “A report sent to the Elysée — Putin tells Tehran: They’re going to bomb you!”
The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, also expressed concerns to reporters in New York that an attack on Iran might be imminent.
Like most stories in the French paper, the article was based on unnamed sources who said that in order to reduce casualties, the attack against Iran is planned for October 15, the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Israel would bomb the first targets while America would orchestrate a second wave of strikes, the report said.
Jim:
Check out this article:
http://www.adolfhitlerresearchsociety.org/index8_files/JBCampbell_Zionist_War_Crimes.html
patriot...
There is also a major Military Martial Law exercise taking place from October 15th. through the 20th. of the month.
We all know that any Military exercise that the Government has has a way of becoming a live exercise.
Think 9\11 and the pulling of WTC Building 7. They didn't setup the explosives they used in a few hours. They already had them setup and ready to go when they needed them.
It looks like the shit is going to be hitting the fan very soon. I guess the time is right to commit an act of terrorism against our own citizens so we can blame Iran and start World War III.
Are you ready for it? I sure the hell am not.
God Bless.
The United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has just announced plans for an anti-terrorism exercise called Vigilant Shield 08. The exercise which is slated to run from October 15th to October 20th is described as a way to prepare, prevent and respond to any number of national crises. The exercise is simply a test case scenario for the implementation of martial law. Although the description of the exercise is disturbing, USNORTHCOM also announced that they are more prepared for a natural disaster and a
terrorist attack after they used their response to Hurricane Katrina as a test laboratory.
During Hurricane Katrina, authorities violated the constitutional rights of citizens by stealing people’s firearms and even relocating people against their will. These announcements are incredibly disturbing on a number of levels as the nature of Vigilant Shield 08 and the admission that Hurricane Katrina was used as a test laboratory shows that the government is actively preparing the military and government institutions
for martial law.
Below is the full press release from USNORTHCOM describing Vigilant Shield 08.
“North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command along with U.S. Pacific Command, the Department of Homeland Security as well as local, state and other federal responders will exercise their response abilities against a variety of potential threats during Exercise Vigilant Shield ‘08, a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-designated, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM)-sponsored, and U.S. Joint Forces Command-supported Department of Defense exercise for homeland defense and defense support of civil authorities missions.
VS-08 will be conducted concurrent with Top Officials 4 (TOPOFF 4), the nation’s premier exercise of terrorism preparedness sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, and several other linked exercises as part of the National Level Exercise 1-08. These linked exercises will take place Ocober 15-20 and are being conducted throughout the United States and in conjunction with several partner nations including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as well as the Territory of Guam.
VS-08 and National Level Exercise 1-08 will provide local, state, tribal, interagency, Department of Defense, and non-governmental organizations and agencies involved in homeland security and homeland defense the opportunity to participate in a full range of
exercise scenarios that will better prepare participants to prevent and respond to national crises. The participating organizations will conduct a multi-layered, civilian-led response to a national crisis.
USNORTHCOM’s primary exercise venues for VS-08 include locations in Oregon, Arizona and a cooperative venue with USPACOM in the Territory of Guam. NORAD’s aerospace detection and defense events will take place across all the exercise venues, to exercise
the ability to mobilize resources for aerospace defense, aerospace control, maritime
warning, and coordination of air operations in a disaster area.”
This exercise is clearly a way to prepare government to respond to a national crisis with martial law. This announcement also follows a number of other news stories that indicate the government is becoming more actively prepared for the implementation.
Why doesn't Pelosi stop this?
patriot...
I just noticed the picture in the post and I have a question about it.
Is this the photo from that Treasonous Traitor I. Scooter Libby's book where he writes about a trained bear that has sex with woman?
I really wanted the see the Scooter in a jail cell with Bubba teaching him the finer points of prison life.
Anyway was just wondering about the photo.
God Bless.
Larry
The end of Ramadan sounds likely. A massive 1,200 point strike was discussed and replaced with a more palatable strike to the public, a precision strike on the RG to save our soldiers from being killed by Iranian interests.
As you know , I am just an average American and have fully expected it this fall and with Israel. I am so sick of having to wait for the so called experts to say something.
They are always dead wrong and way too late. We are the experts today, the people in the trenches of life. This is Iraq x 1000 as Bush progresses his Forever War then it will get progressively worse!
Larry
That was funny, I just tried that link and it said "Adolph said the URL has changed, try again"
Anon
Always a pleasure to talk with you. It must have been Larry I duscussed that exercise with. It is a prelude to an attack on Iran. Everything including the long expected time is perfect for it.
At this point Anon I can only laugh! Ready for it, no, expect it yes. it is going to happen then Bush's Forever War will really get started. All we can do is observe and hold on while our kids get abused by Adolph Bush, we are helpless!
Larry said...
The United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has just announced plans for an anti-terrorism exercise called Vigilant Shield 08. The exercise which is slated to run from October 15th to October 20th
Larry I could have sworn it was you I had this discussion with. This is definitely a prelude to attack Iran and squelch the Democrats and the public. I told you it would be this fall and before anyone could get in his way. Then Bush's Forever War will really get going. I told you, his greatest damage is yet to come.
Anon
I have to laugh! I thought the picture would illicit a comment and I knew it would be you Bud! I too wanted Libby to get it up the yahoo but knew qwe would take a screwing there too in the end, Ha.
To me I used the photo to portray the Russian Bear screwing up bush the Whore. I figured others could use there imaginations.
Larry
You really want to get peeved? Look at the $4.5 million dollar boat nobody wanted and was forced on the Navy by political earmarks
I pity the chick on the photo:)
Amre
You're funny! I knew some would comment on that and you and Anon did not disappoint. The picture too me is the Russian Bear on Bush the whore but subject to your own interpretation.
I was able to get on your site again but you haven't written anything. What did you do block it?
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