"And believe me -- you can check -- there are four or five different strains of venereal diseases more popular than Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld."

~Paul Begala on CNN

Executives Cash In on War and Oil Bonanza

WASHINGTON - Top oil and defence industry executives in the United States are raking in record personal profits on the backs of the U.S. wars following the terror attacks of Sep. 11, 2001 and sky-high oil prices, two think-tanks said Wednesday.

"CEOs (chief executive officers) in the defense and oil industries have been able to translate war and rising oil prices into personal jackpots," says the new report "Executive Excess 2006," a 60-page study by the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington and the Boston-based United for a Fair Economy.

The report's authors say U.S. taxpayers are funding much of this bonanza and faulted U.S. political and congressional leaders for not exercising better and more thorough oversight.

"Americans across the political spectrum should be outraged by the sight of executives cashing in on war windfalls," says report co-author Sarah Anderson. "Unfortunately, partisan politics has stopped Congress from effectively overseeing this war contracting free-for-all."

Hawks

During a large-scale protest in downtown Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Mayor Rocky Anderson unleashed perhaps his harshest criticisms yet of President George W. Bush -- just hours before the president was scheduled to arrive in Utah.

"[President Bush] is afraid that we are right, afraid of the truth even to the point of denying it," Anderson said. "Afraid that history will rank [his] as the worst presidency our nation has ever had to endure."
(snip)
"No more lies... no more wars that triple the value of Dick Cheney's company, Halliburton," the mayor added. "No more lies from Condoleezza Rice... no more lies of incompetence from the Secretary of Defense... no more human torture... no more unconstitutional wiretapping... no more attacks on immigrants, who work so hard in this nation."

Video: Mayor Anderson blasts President Bush
Sky2 Video: Protesters march thru the streets of SLC
Slideshow: Protests and Preparations

The nation's policies would be better conceived, if more Americans were, like Anderson, willing to speak truth to power and demand accountability.

"What I think the president ought to do is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your spigots. One reason why the price is so high is because the price of crude oil has been driven up. OPEC has gotten its supply act together, and it's driving the price, like it did in the past. And the president of the United States must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price."

Report: U.S. gave Iran 1st nuclear reactor

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- An irony in the international struggle to get Iran to stop enriching uranium is that the United States gave Iran its first reactor, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The dome-shaped Tehran Research Reactor was given to the country as part of a U.S. Cold War strategy to help the shah, who was also against the Soviet Union. Compounding the irony in today's stand-off is that the U.S. government also supplied Iran with 10 pounds of weapons-grade uranium needed to power the facility, and which is likely still there, the newspaper said.

While the uranium has undoubtedly been processed, its waste remains radioactive and capable of being used in a weapon, the report said.

Under the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Iran has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. But the U.N. Security Council now claims Iran has failed to prove it is not building weapons, and has demanded Iran stop enrichment by Aug. 31.

Link

Today, Lieberman and Lamont will mark two different anniversaries.

Lieberman will appear with two prominent Republicans, Gov. M. Jodi Rell and U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd, to celebrate last year's reversal of a Pentagon decision to close the Groton submarine base.

Lamont will be a featured speaker at an event in New York City sponsored by MoveOn.org to commemorate efforts to rescue victims of Hurricane Katrina and launch a new book about the effort. Lamont has criticized the Bush administration for its response to the disaster.

Joe Down Low On Ballot

It's Lieberman, I-Conn. for fall ballot
State confirms signatures necessary for November election

HARTFORD, Conn. - U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman has gathered more than the 7,500 signatures needed to secure a spot on the November ballot with a new party, the secretary of the state said Tuesday.

The certification means that Lieberman, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000 and a presidential candidate in 2004, will run for re-election as part of the Connecticut for Lieberman party against Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Alan Schlesinger.

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said Lieberman had 7,700 validated signatures. The campaign collected more than 18,500 signatures, but Bysiewicz's office stopped counting when employees determined Lieberman had enough names.

Sucks!

Lieberman and Lamont Tied in Connecticut

Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont are in a statistical tie in the race for United States Senate in Connecticut according to the latest survey from the American Research Group. Among likely voters in November, 44% say they would vote for Lieberman, 42% say they would vote for Lamont, 3% say they would vote for Alan Schlesinger, and 11% are undecided.

Lieberman leads Lamont 57% to 18% among enrolled Republicans and 48% to 38% among unaffiliated (independent) voters. Lamont leads Lieberman 65% to 30% among enrolled Democrats.

A total of 56% of likely voters have a favorable opinion of Lieberman and 41% have an unfavorable opinion of Lieberman. A total of 47% of likely voters have a favorable opinion of Lamont and 34% have an unfavorable opinion of Lamont.

Overall, 9% of likely voters have favorable opinions of both Lieberman and Lamont. Of this group, Lieberman leads Lamont 68% to 32%. Of the remaining 91% of likely voters, Lieberman and Lamont are tied at 44% each. Also of the remaining 91% of likely voters, 46% have a favorable opinion of Lieberman and 51% have an unfavorable opinion of Lieberman, and 42% have a favorable opinion of Lamont and 40% have an unfavorable opinion of Lamont.

Lieberman SUCKS!

"Those who heralded the decision not to give law enforcement the tools necessary to protect the American people just simply don't see the world the way we do," he said.

And he chided political opponents for not sharing his vision of how domestic security should be ensured.
LINK

"(prior to 9/11/2001) The feds had supported after-school programs. They had supported placing more police officers in crime hot spots in major cities. These federal efforts were reduced," he said.
~snip~
Smaller cities with populations of more than 500,000 are raising the alarm, posting an 8.3 percent rise in violent crime in 2005. Nationwide, the murder rate rose 5 percent -- the biggest rise in a single year since 1991.

After dramatic declines in murder rates in the 1990s, some cities dropped programs that emphasized prevention and controls on the spread of guns, often citing budget cuts
~snip~
"The Bush administration has scaled back funding for federal cops program," said Jens Ludwig, a criminal justice expert at Georgetown University. "From 1993 to 2000 we saw an impressive run-up in the number of law enforcement people patrolling against crime. That has really slowed down."
LINK

(click on picture for video)

Rough transcript: "I made my position clear..... about this war on terror....I uh eh and by the way the enemy made their position clear yet again when they.... when... wh wh wh... when um.... when we were able to (sigh) stop 'em."

The Bush administration has begun designating as secret some information that the government long provided even to its enemy the former Soviet Union: the numbers of strategic weapons in the U.S. nuclear arsenal during the Cold War.

."It would be difficult to find more dramatic examples of unjustifiable secrecy than these decisions to classify the numbers of U.S. strategic weapons," wrote William Burr, a senior analyst at the archive who compiled the report. " . . . The Pentagon is now trying to keep secret numbers of strategic weapons that have never been classified before."
LINK

Facing Senator Joseph I. Lieberman's independent candidacy, Republican officials at the state and national level have made the extraordinary decision to abandon their official candidate, and some are actively working to help Mr. Lieberman win in November.

Despite Mr. Lieberman's position that he will continue to caucus with Democrats if re-elected, all three Republican Congressional candidates in Connecticut have praised Mr. Lieberman and have not endorsed the party's nominee, Alan Schlesinger. An independent group with Republican ties is raising money for Mr. Lieberman, who has been a strong supporter of President Bush on the Iraq war.

Senator John McCain of Arizona, while saying he would support the Republican nominee, is not planning to campaign for him, and even allowed two of his aides to consult with the Lieberman camp before the Aug. 8 Democratic primary. And Newt Gingrich, the Republican who once served as House speaker, has endorsed Mr. Lieberman's candidacy.

While some Republicans are quietly rooting for his Democratic opponent, Ned Lamont, because they feel he would be such a polarizing liberal target, many leading Republicans say it would serve the party better to have a centrist like Mr. Lieberman remain in office, particularly after being spurned by his own party.

More

(Emphasis mine.)

The production cuts are the latest indication of just how difficult it will be for the Detroit companies to rejuvenate themselves. Together, Ford and General Motors are shedding tens of thousands of jobs, closing more than two dozen plants and cutting billions of dollars of costs. But those measures are effectively canceled out when automakers cannot sell the vehicles already on the showroom floors.

Hillary Offers to Housesit for Bush

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) said today that she was "just trying to be helpful" when she offered to housesit for President Bush at the White House for the remainder of August.

Sen. Clinton, who was immediately criticized by congressional Republicans for advancing the proposal, said that her only intention was to "hold down the fort" while Mr. Bush took his traditional August vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

"I would water plants and take in the mail," Sen. Clinton told reporters. "And if any Presidential Daily Briefings come across the desk with titles like 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the U.S.,' I would read those for him."

More

Tampa Bay, Florida - Take a look at this police video. Watch as police pull over a man for speeding and a loud stereo. You'll see as the man gets belligerent - it seems he thinks that noise laws should not apply to what he is listening to.

During this stop, the man that was pulled over for speeding explains to the officer, that wasn't listening to rap, and he wasn't listening to rock and roll. He opines that since he was listening to Bill O'Reilly, that it was ok to have it at top decibel. The officer explains differently.

Click the picture to watch the video!

(Window's Media Player)

"The insurgency has gotten worse by almost all measures, with insurgent attacks at historically high levels," said a senior Defense Department official who agreed to discuss the issue only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for attribution. "The insurgency has more public support and is demonstrably more capable in numbers of people active and in its ability to direct violence than at any point in time."
LINK

MR. SNOW: No, number one, there is not a civil war going on. I was on the phone earlier today with Major General Caldwell in Baghdad .... And the other thing that's happening is that there has been -- there has been some improvement at least in the situation on the ground, slightly.
LINK

Fox News Airs Call for 'Muslim-Only' Line

A Fox News guest proposed having a "Muslims only" line for airport travelers, an idea that "Dayside" co-host Mike Jerrick called attention to it so that viewers did not overlook the proposal.

Conservative radio host Mike Gallagher suggested the idea during a segment Tuesday (August 15, 2006) with constitutional lawyer Michael Gross discussing racial profiling.

"Dayside" co-host Juliet Huddy set up the debate by noting that all terrorists have been Muslim extremists, and Jerrick claimed that some people oppose racial profiling as "politically incorrect."

"It's not just a matter of political correctness, please," responded Gross. "It's illegal, it's unconstitutional, unethical, immoral, it shouldn't be done. We do not in this country prejudge a person based upon their race, creed, color, country of national origin and it's wrong to do so and it addition it's not effective. It doesn't work. It actually perpetuates the problem. That is, it separates us."

More hate here

Dems: Santorum Staffers Faked Signatures

As part of their ongoing challenge of the signatures gathered for Green Senate candidate Carl Romanelli, the Pennsylvania Democrats are analyzing them for fraud. And William J. Ries, a forensic document examiner working for them, has found that a petition signed by John Michael Glick, a Santorum staffer (of duck costume fame), has four "questionable" signatures.

The signatures belong to family members of another fellow staffer, Julianne George, Santorum's Deputy Director of Coalitions. You can see a side by side comparison of the signatures here.

"The writing expert's findings raise serious questions, not only about the illegal financing of the petition drive paid for by Santorum backers but how he authorizes the use of campaign staff for apparent fraud," Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney said.

Democrats say that more than 69,000 of the approximately 100,000 signatures gathered by Santorum staffers and JSM, Inc., a private company hired by the Greens with Republican money, are fraudulent.

More

Video-WMP Video-QT-mp4

Keith runs down the timeline from 2002 until the latest UK plot regarding the politicization of terror. Remember when Tom Ridge explained how the administration signaled terror alerts that he didn't think should have been used?

Dial-up alert: this is a long video - 12 minutes, 32 MB.

Bush Refuses to Back GOP Candidate

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said this morning that President Bush will not endorse Connecticut U.S. Senate candidate Alan Schlesinger (R) over Sen. Joe Lieberman even though he's the Republican nominee.

RNC Chief Refuses to Back Republican Over Lieberman

Interesting item from The Plank: "On Hardball Chris Matthews just asked Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman what he will tell GOP donors who ask his advice: donate to Lieberman, or to the Connecticut Republican nominee, Alan Schlesinger? Mehlman dodged the question, saying he would tell just people to give cash to the RNC to spend strategically. When Matthews pressed him, Mehlman again refused the chance to say that the GOP clearly supports Schlesinger over Lieberman. Fascinating."

Democrats Pleased Joe Got Beat in Connecticut

An overwhelming majority of likely-voting Democrats nationwide said they are glad three-term Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman was walloped by anti-war challenger Ned Lamont in that state's Democratic primary election Tuesday.

They also said the Lamont victory over one of the few pro-war Democrats in Washington makes them optimistic they can win control of at least one of the two houses of Congress in November.

The Zogby Interactive survey was conducted Aug. 9-10, 2006, and included 1,229 Democratic respondents nationwide. It carries a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percentage points.

It found that nearly four out of five Democrats (79%) were happy the former Democratic vice presidential nominee was knocked off by Lamont, a wealthy cable television executive whose campaign focused almost exclusively on his opposition to the war - and Lieberman's support of it. Just 12% said they were not pleased with the results of the primary, which riveted political junkies across the nation. Another 10% of Democrats said they were not sure what to think.

More Mentum

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security also barred passengers from carrying liquids, including beverages, hair gels and lotions, aboard planes. It said travelers in both countries should expect long delays.

Homeland Security said it took an unprecedented step by raising the threat level for commercial flights originating in the United Kingdom to "severe," or red.
Full Story

War Crimes Act Changes Would Reduce Threat Of Prosecution

The Bush administration has drafted amendments to a war crimes law that would eliminate the risk of prosecution for political appointees, CIA officers and former military personnel for humiliating or degrading war prisoners, according to U.S. officials and a copy of the amendments.

Officials say the amendments would alter a U.S. law passed in the mid-1990s that criminalized violations of the Geneva Conventions, a set of international treaties governing military conduct in wartime. The conventions generally bar the cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment of wartime prisoners without spelling out what all those terms mean.

The draft U.S. amendments to the War Crimes Act would narrow the scope of potential criminal prosecutions to 10 specific categories of illegal acts against detainees during a war, including torture, murder, rape and hostage-taking.

Left off the list would be what the Geneva Conventions refer to as "outrages upon [the] personal dignity" of a prisoner and deliberately humiliating acts -- such as the forced nakedness, use of dog leashes and wearing of women's underwear seen at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq -- that fall short of torture.

Link

"I'm a sports fan, so I'm going to use a sports comparison, and as I see it in this campaign, we've just finished the first half and the Lamont team is ahead. But in the second half, our team - Team Connecticut - is going to surge forward to victory in November."
LINK

More than in recent days, the senator came across as both contrite and self-satisfied yesterday. He lamented that he had not "clarified" his criticism of the war and the White House earlier, but he also argued that Republicans were "salivating" over the possibility that Democrats would pick an antiwar liberal instead of Mr. Lieberman.

"They are anxious to say the left wing is taking over, the antisecurity wing," Mr. Lieberman said of Republicans.

Go Ned!

Texas Republicans on Monday abandoned their court fight to replace former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on the November ballot after being turned back at the Supreme Court.

The decision came after Justice Antonin Scalia rejected Texas Republicans' request to block an appeals court ruling saying DeLay's name should remain on the ballot.

"I think all our legal avenues are exhausted in terms of affecting the ruling prior to the election," said Jim Bopp Jr., the attorney who argued the Republican Party's case to allow party officials to substitute another candidate for DeLay.

Under indictment on money laundering charges in Texas, DeLay won a March primary election that made him the Republican nominee for Congress from his home district near Houston. In June, he resigned from Congress and said he would not seek re-election.
LINK

Texas GOP asks Scalia to block ruling

WASHINGTON - Texas Republicans asked Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Monday to block an appeals court ruling that says the name of indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay must appear on the November ballot.

Democrats are suing to keep DeLay on the ballot, with the former lawmaker's legal troubles becoming a symbol for claims of Republican corruption.

DeLay won a March primary before resigning June 9 from Congress.

Texas Republican Party chairwoman Tina Benkiser requested a delay of the appeals court ruling until Republicans can formally ask the Supreme Court to review the case.

Blah

Lieberman to call for Rumsfeld resignation

US Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) will appear, momentarily, on the Ed Schultz show, a nationally syndicated radio program, on which he will call for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, RAW STORY has learned.

Sources have told RAW STORY that Lieberman will make a point of saying that while whether or not Rumsfeld leaves his post is the decision of President Bush, he should resign.

DEVELOPING...

Braves bench Focus on the Family

Focus on the Family was on the team that promoted Major League Baseball's first "Faith Days" event at Turner Field July 27, but the Atlanta Braves now say the anti-gay group headed by James Dobson is no longer part of its lineup.

"We have asked the promoter [Nashville-based Third Coast Sports] to not include Focus on the Family in our other two Faith Day events," Beth Marshall, Braves spokesperson, said Aug. 1. "We do not feel it is an appropriate connection for Focus on the Family to be part of this event."

Marshall declined further comment on the matter, but said hosting Faith Days was a business decision.

More goodness

Gas for $1.22? For 1 hour

Benjy Dunn's Filling station, at 103 West Main Street in Biscoe, will be selling gas for $1.22 a gallon between noon and 1 p.m. today. Biscoe is in Montgomery County, east of Charlotte.

The whole idea is the brainchild of Larry Kissell, a Democrat running for Congress in the 8th District against four-time incumbent Republican Robin Hayes of Concord. Benjy Dunn's Filling Station is across the street from Kissell's campaign headquarters.

Kissell is sponsoring the promotion to complain that Hayes is a supporter of the major oil companies. The price of gas between noon and 1 p.m. is the same that it cost when Hayes was elected to his first term in 1998, Kissell says.

Robin Hayes (NC-08) has taken nearly $250,000 from Energy Special Interests (1) and nearly $135,000 from Oil and Gas Interests (2) while voting for a final energy bill that gave away billions to Oil, Gas and Nuclear Industries (3). Hayes also voted three times (4) against cracking down on price gouging and lowering gas prices, and against giving consumers immediate relief (5) at the gas pump with increased investment in new energy sources like ethanol just last year.

Good Stuff

Examples:

"Mannish Boy" ~Muddy Waters
"Macho Man" ~Village People
"Dude Looks Like A Lady" ~Aerosmith
"The B*tch Is Back" ~Elton John

Add yours in the comments!

Unions representing thousands of staff scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency say the agency is bending to political pressure and ignoring sound science in allowing a group of toxic chemicals to be used in agricultural pesticides.

(snip)

The leaders also wrote that they believed that under priorities of E.P.A. management, "the concerns of agriculture and the pesticide industry come before our responsibility to protect the health of our nation's citizens."
LINK

Bush leaves Washington on Thursday, but will return nine days later to tend to the problems abroad and at home that are weighing on his presidency.

Vets set sights on Murtha

The "Swift Boat" veterans who grabbed national headlines in 2004 when they attacked John Kerry in his failed presidential bid now are turning their sights to Johnstown.

Their target is U.S. Rep. John Murtha, a critic of the Iraq war and a de facto spokesman on the subject for the national Democratic Party.

Armed as a new group - Veterans for the Truth - they're bringing their campaign to "Redeploy John Murtha From Congress" to his backyard.

They plan to hold a national rally in Johnstown in October "to show their outrage at John Murtha over what he is saying about our troops," state chairman and former Johnstowner Mark Parker said in a release.

Puke

"This may be the worst security flaw we have seen in touch screen voting machines," says Open Voting Foundation president, Alan Dechert. Upon examining the inner workings of one of the most popular paperless touch screen voting machines used in public elections in the United States, it has been determined that with the flip of a single switch inside, the machine can behave in a completely different manner compared to the tested and certified version.

"Diebold has made the testing and certification process practically irrelevant," according to Dechert. "If you have access to these machines and you want to rig an election, anything is possible with the Diebold TS -- and it could be done without leaving a trace. All you need is a screwdriver." This model does not produce a voter verified paper trail so there is no way to check if the voter's choices are accurately reflected in the tabulation.