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Go to "user cp", click "options" and change the "default thread age cut off".SOS2008 said:Christ, the archives in P&WA isn't even two complete pages.
Go to "user cp", click "options" and change the "default thread age cut off".SOS2008 said:Christ, the archives in P&WA isn't even two complete pages.
Could you be specific - what about that story is screwing me?SOS2008 said:Hey Republican Bush supporters--You're getting screwed too! You know that don't you?
Thanks for the info. -- but it seems a reflection of how this section of PF is viewed.russ_watters said:Go to "user cp", click "options" and change the "default thread age cut off".
Aside from referring to a month-old quote,russ_watters said:Could you be specific - what about that story is screwing me?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President George W. Bush's public approval rating has fallen to 32 percent, a new low for his presidency, a CNN poll showed on Monday.
The survey also showed that 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job.
Bush's poll numbers have languished below 40 percent in the last couple of months, hit by growing public opposition to the Iraq war, his support for a now-abandoned plan for a Dubai firm to take over major U.S. port operations and American anger over gas prices now topping $3 a gallon at the pump.
Continuing fallout from the Bush administration's mishandling of the initial response to Hurricane Katrina has also hurt his popularity.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/14444680.htmPhone-jamming case invokes images of Watergate
Democrats and Republicans here are locked in a legal battle over GOP operatives who tried to suppress voter turnout in a key 2002 U.S. Senate race by jamming Democratic get-out-the-vote phone banks on Election Day.
The case has national implications. New Hampshire Democrats, through a civil lawsuit, are trying to question Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, and White House officials about why one GOP official who was involved in the scheme called the White House repeatedly.
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Democrats say smoking guns abound in the case:
-A Republican operative who later was convicted in the case called Mehlman's former office in the White House nearly two dozen times.
-The RNC paid millions of dollars in legal expenses for the operative, though it was under no legal obligation to do so.
-Contributions were made to the state GOP by Indian tribes whom disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff represented and by former House Speaker Tom DeLay's political action committee in amounts that together almost equaled the cost of the phone-jamming scheme.
"There are some parallels to Watergate," Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman, said last week. "This is a third-rate, silly effort that definitely turns out to be rooted in the White House."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Patriot_Act_Records.html?source=mypiFriday, April 28, 2006 · Last updated 4:15 p.m. PT
U.S.: FBI sought info without court OK
By MARK SHERMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The FBI secretly sought information last year on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents from their banks and credit card, telephone and Internet companies without a court's approval, the Justice Department said Friday.
It was the first time the Bush administration has publicly disclosed how often it uses the administrative subpoena known as a National Security Letter, which allows the executive branch of government to obtain records about people in terrorism and espionage investigations without a judge's approval or a grand jury subpoena.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1893802&page=2WASHINGTON Apr 26, 2006 (AP)— White House aide Karl Rove spent almost four hours at the federal courthouse Wednesday, during which he made his fifth grand jury appearance in the Valerie Plame affair.
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Wednesday's session is believed to be only the second time Fitzgerald has met with the grand jury examining questions left unanswered in the Plame affair. The only other day Fitzgerald was seen going before the new panel was Dec. 7.
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Rove's legal problems stem from the fact that it was not until more than a year into Fitzgerald's criminal investigation that the White House adviser told the prosecutor about his contact with Cooper regarding Plame.
Rove says he had forgotten the Cooper conversation, which occurred several days before Plame's identity was revealed by conservative columnist Robert Novak.
Rove and Novak, who is not related to Viveca Novak, also had discussed the CIA status of Wilson's wife.
Other unfinished business in the probe focuses on the source who provided Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward information about Plame, whose CIA identity was leaked to Novak in July 2003.
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Woodward says his source, whom he has not publicly identified, provided the information about Wilson's wife, several weeks before Novak learned of Plame's identity. The Post reporter, who never wrote a story, was interviewed by Fitzgerald late last year.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/263307_thomas17.htmlFriday, March 17, 2006
Kansas' Roberts puts politics first
By HELEN THOMAS
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has a true friend and protector in Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
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What it comes down to is that committee Republicans have succeeded in blocking an investigation that might reflect poorly on the president and his key advisers, who launched the Iraq war almost three years ago.
When Roberts adjourned a committee meeting rather than allow a vote on a wiretap inquiry, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. -- top Democrat on the committee -- said the panel was "basically under the control of the White House, through its chairman."
Republicans obviously have wanted to avoid a full-blown investigation of the root causes of the war, especially at a time when the president is embarked on another major round of speeches to explain the U.S. strategy for victory in Iraq -- and to muster more public support.
Roberts and cohorts have tried to save the administration from an expose of its spying activities, but the senator from Kansas comes up lacking compared with the late Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho, who led a stunning investigation in 1975 into abuses and skullduggery by the intelligence community.
In an effort to block an investigation, Roberts has led the move to appoint a seven-member congressional panel to increase oversight on the wiretapping program.
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The prospect of the Republican-controlled Congress carrying out its oversight role over the White House is far-fetched, especially with Roberts as ringmaster.
Roberts, has made it clear when it comes to loyalty, the interests of party politics prevail over the country.
The former inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security says he was pressured to tone down criticism of security failures in the months before the 2004 Presidential election, ABC NEWS is reporting.
The following came as a release.
FROM ABC NEWS:
Clark Kent Ervin says he was confronted personally by then Secretary Tom Ridge “to intimidate me, to stare me down, to force me to back off, to not look into these areas that would be controversial, not to issue critical reports.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/02/AR2006050201554.htmlKill This Bill
The House pretends to reform itself.
Wednesday, May 3, 2006; Page A22
"BOLD, RESPONSIBLE, common-sense reform of our current lobbying and ethics laws is clearly needed," House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) told his colleagues on the House floor last week. "We owe it to our constituents. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to this institution."
Very true -- which is why House members should reject the diluted snake oil that Mr. Dreier and the GOP leadership are peddling as bold reform. Their bill, which is expected to come before the House for a vote today, is an insult to voters who the GOP apparently believes are dumb enough to be snookered by this feint. The procedures under which it is to be debated, allowing only meaningless amendments to be considered, are an insult also -- to the democratic process.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/w...4/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/?page=3Bush is the first president in modern history who has never vetoed a bill, giving Congress no chance to override his judgments. Instead, he has signed every bill that reached his desk, often inviting the legislation's sponsors to signing ceremonies at which he lavishes praise upon their work.
Then, after the media and the lawmakers have left the White House, Bush quietly files ''signing statements" -- official documents in which a president lays out his legal interpretation of a bill for the federal bureaucracy to follow when implementing the new law. The statements are recorded in the federal register.
In his signing statements, Bush has repeatedly asserted that the Constitution gives him the right to ignore numerous sections of the bills -- sometimes including provisions that were the subject of negotiations with Congress in order to get lawmakers to pass the bill. He has appended such statements to more than one of every 10 bills he has signed.
''He agrees to a compromise with members of Congress, and all of them are there for a public bill-signing ceremony, but then he takes back those compromises -- and more often than not, without the Congress or the press or the public knowing what has happened," said Christopher Kelley, a Miami University of Ohio political science professor who studies executive power.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush_administrationBush places a high value on personal loyalty and, as a result, his administration has high message discipline. He maintains a "hands-off" style of management that he believes prevents him from being tangled by intricacies that hinder sound decision-making. "I'm confident in my management style. I'm a delegator because I trust the people I've asked to join the team. I'm willing to delegate. That makes it easier to be President," he said in an interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC in December of 2003. However, critics allege that Bush is willing to overlook mistakes [1][2] made by loyal subordinates, and that Bush has surrounded himself with "yes men".
Everything Bush touches is disaster
Bush beats the odds. Whenever you do something about something, there are three things that can happen: It can get better, it can stay the same, it can get worse.
Each has a 33 1/3 chance of happening. So staying the same or getting better has a 66 2/3 chance of happening. Regardless of where the fault lies, where ever this guy is, things get worse. He owns the Texas Rangers, they finish last. He owns an oil company, it goes bankrupt. He gets allegedly elected president and voting will never be the same.
Osama bin Laden dead or alive, how about free as a bird? Lead the free world, lead it in being hated. Lead it in being alone. While he's president, two American cities are attacked and another drowns.
Surpluses disappear, defi-cits appear.
Intelligence for war, wrong. Energy prices, Iran, North Korea, Enron, Iraq, global warming, I don't care who's fault it is, be my guest, blame Clinton for providing a climate that spawned this catastrophe. I won't buy any stock in any company Bush is involved with — it's the kiss of death. Murphy's law is Bush's legacy.
THIS WEBSITE is committed to exposing and actively resisting the Bush Administration. Even though Bush has been irreparably damaged by Iraq and Hurricane Katrina, his administration's disregard for law, separation of powers, and lack of accountability must be stopped. We expose the incompetence, the politicization of almost every government function, the secrecy, the deliberate lack of transparency, the nonaccountability, and the disinformation in this administration - an administration that abuses the powers of crony capitalism to enrich itself, the GOP, and the wealthy, while dividing the rest of the nation on religion and wedge issues. We are an anti-Bush, anti-war, progressive site. We show only contempt for Bush and his enablers. This website features a unique and intelligent combination of anti-Bush humor, including our list of recent additions, a free newsletter, commentary, well-written articles, free anti-Bush music in mp3 format, the Bush Resume, free tools for progressive activists, and our growing list of candidates for 2006 who need your support. Also take a look at our funny and interactive Topplebush Projects.
The media does not like to cover issues that are too difficult for the general public to understand? As for the importance of the issue, the word "insidious" was precisely the word that came to my mind too--I almost used it in my post.Gokul43201 said:The issue about the signing statements (mentioned by SOS a couple posts ago) has gotten little mainstream press coverage, and is, in my opinion, arguably the most insidious abuse of the Constitution by this President.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-05-18T002959Z_01_N17336879_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-REPUBLICANS-NEWHAMPSHIRE.xml&pageNumber=0&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage2CONCORD, New Hampshire (Reuters) - A senior official in U.S. President George W. Bush's re-election campaign was sentenced to 10 months in prison on Wednesday for his role in suppressing votes in a key U.S. Senate race, a scandal that Democrats charge may involve the White House.
James Tobin, 45, one of three Republican campaign operatives convicted in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in a 2002 election, was convicted in December of two telephone harassment charges.
Going back to 1996:At issue is a "lobbying reform" bill, created by the Republicans and intended to erase the taint of scandal that has hovered over the Republican-controlled Congress for months. The bill, however, will do little to actually change the behavior of lobbyists like Jack Abramoff... Democrats have called the bill a "sham," while newspapers across the nation are calling it a "ruse," a "joke," and a "con."
The bill passes, 217 to 213. Boehner, who in the course of trying to tear down McDermott has risen to the powerful post of House majority leader, replacing the disgraced DeLay, is elated. "Trust between the American people and this Congress is very important, and this is the first major step in rebuilding that trust," he tells the New York Times.
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=34045McDermott asks rhetorically: Does Boehner really want this lawsuit, and its connection to past Republican scandals, to resurface right around this fall's midterm elections? Does Gingrich, who McDermott believes is considering a run for president, really want the Supreme Court to be taking up a case tied to his ethics flap just in time for the run-up to the 2008 presidential elections?
The Republicans and Boehner thought they were avenging Gingrich when they started this lawsuit, McDermott says, but a sword cuts both ways.
"You got to be careful when you try to take vengeance. Because what goes around comes around."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/17/AR2006051701874.htmlAn aggressively annoying new phrase in America's political lexicon is "values voters." It is used proudly by social conservatives, and carelessly by the media to denote such conservatives.
This phrase diminishes our understanding of politics. It also is arrogant on the part of social conservatives and insulting to everyone else because it implies that only social conservatives vote to advance their values and everyone else votes to . . . well, it is unclear what they supposedly think they are doing with their ballots.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/428045p-360963c.htmlFRONTLINE: THE DARK SIDE. Tonight at 9, PBS (WNET/Ch. 13).
Michael Kirk, as writer, producer and director, already has crafted two fine PBS "Frontline" documentaries on the war on terror: one on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, called "Rumsfeld's War," and one on "The Torture Question."
Tonight at 9, he and "Frontline" provide a third.
It's called "The Dark Side," and takes its title from a quote by Vice President Cheney in the wake of 9/11. Cheney said that the CIA, the Pentagon and other intelligence-gathering U.S. forces would have to "work from the dark side" to glean information and combat and defeat terrorism.
...According to "Frontline," when Cheney and others in the Bush White House pushed for an early connection between 9/11 and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, they were told bluntly, by the CIA and others, that the U.S. strike was the work of Afghanistan-based Al Qaeda.
...It's a complicated narrative, but Kirk tells it clearly. He makes it seem irrefutable that the battle to link 9/11 with Iraq eventually pitted Rumsfeld and Cheney, who backed that position, against former CIA Director George Tenet and others, who found no facts to support it.
The book on this subject continues to be written. With "The Dark Side," though, we're treated to the latest, and most impressively thorough, chapter.
Cheney would know the dark side.SOS2008 said:http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/428045p-360963c.html
So that's why Tenet left? Impeach Bush/Cheney for their treasonous lies to the American people!
Ex-Aide To Bush Found Guilty
Safavian Lied in Abramoff Scandal
A federal jury found former White House aide David H. Safavian guilty yesterday of lying and obstructing justice, making him the highest-ranking government official to be convicted in the spreading scandal involving disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
I guess ol Ricky is getting desperate back in PA.Sen Rick Santorum (R-Pa) and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) held a press conference yesterday to announce that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq, only to have their claims flatly disavowed by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Skyhunter said:Oh, nevermind the DOD has denied his claim, damn.![]()
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/37966/
I guess ol Ricky is getting desperate back in PA.
Russ you live in Philly right?
What is your take on Santorum?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200601,00.htmlWe have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons… Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent”.
From the article you linked.Edward said:Santorum was on Fox news acting as if this was real news. Then ollie North took off on the same topic.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200601,00.html
Santorum used the term degraded as if it made the weapons more potent.![]()
A senior Defense Department official, however, made the following clarifications:
• These findings do not reflect a WMD capacity that was built up after 1991.
• These are not the WMDs this country and the rest of the world believed Iraq had.
• These are not the WMDs for which this country went to war.
I knew he was unpopular, but Casey has not even won the primary and is already 13 points ahead.Gokul43201 said:You folks must be aware that Santorum is going to have to pull off something REAL BIG to win back his seat this November. All the recent polling numbers show him losing to the Democratic challenger, Bob Casey. And his approval rating has been on the slide for several months now.
Seeing that bigoted imbecile be re-elected would be a BIG downer for me!
Edit : http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x11379.xml?ReleaseID=911
Democratic State Treasurer Robert Casey Jr. leads Pennsylvania incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum 49 - 36 percent, with 12 percent undecided, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
Upon their son's death, Rick and Karen Santorum opted not to bring his body to a funeral home. Instead, they bundled him in a blanket and drove him to Karen's parents' home in Pittsburgh. There, they spent several hours kissing and cuddling Gabriel with his three siblings, ages 6, 4 and 1 1/2. They took photos, sang lullabies in his ear and held a private Mass.
I guess going fishing is his idea of "moving heaven and earth", which was the expression he used when asked whether 9/11 could have been prevented.Ron Suskind's "The One Percent Doctrine"
We've known for years now that George W. Bush received a presidential daily briefing on Aug. 6, 2001, in which he was warned: "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." We've known for almost as long that Bush went fishing afterward.
What we didn't know is what happened in between the briefing and the fishing, and now Suskind is here to tell us. Bush listened to the briefing, Suskind says, then told the CIA briefer: "All right. You've covered your ass, now."
Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.