SmithAntics

Cheers to the brave souls who pulled this off.

Yeah, I’m sure this is exactly how it went down.

Condi informed Codpiece of Iraq’s “sovereignty” via Post-It note, on which our Great Leader scribbled “Let Freedom Reign!”

How very Bruckheimer.

Cue ominous-sounding music….

"Mr. President...Iraq is sovereign."

Give me a fucking break. I am not a god damn twelve-year-old.

This warmed the cockles of my heart.

The Dawn Patrol goes public.

I hear they’re looking for new recruits.

Be all that you can be.

Krugman:

Let's say the obvious. By making Iraq a playground for right-wing economic theorists, an employment agency for friends and family, and a source of lucrative contracts for corporate donors, the administration did terrorist recruiters a very big favor.

Paul, that smart stuff makes people’s heads hurt.

A basic truism about BushCo is that every public move they make is a PR stunt designed to cover their criminality or their incompetence.

And the media poodles just lap it up.

Doesn’t care much for ThugCo.

How did your mother feel about being ushered to her seat by President Bush?

Well, he did a better job than Dick Cheney did when he came to the rotunda. I felt so bad. Cheney brought my mother up to the casket, so she could pay her respects. She is in her 80's, and she has glaucoma and has trouble seeing. There were steps, and he left her there. He just stood there, letting her flounder. I don't think he's a mindful human being. That's probably the nicest way I can put it.

How do you account for all the glowing obituaries of [your father, Ronald Reagan]?

I think it was a relief for Americans to look at pictures of something besides men on leashes. If you are going to call yourself a Christian -- and I don't -- then you have to ask yourself a fundamental question, and that is: Whom would Jesus torture? Whom would Jesus drag around on a dog's leash? How can Christians tolerate it? It is unconscionable. It has put our young men and women who are over there, fighting a war that they should not have been asked to fight -- it has put them in greater danger.

Enough already.

Josh Marshall brings up a point about Cheney’s contempt for transparency that I’ve been making for years now—of course, Marshall is much more gifted with words than I.

“He prefers to act in secrecy and is a man to whom government transparency has all the allure that a shaft of sunlight has to a vampire.”

Read the whole excellent post here. I think Marshall has the goods on Cheney—the proverbial wooden stake—and he's just shoring up his facts before going public. After all, he was all over the Plame case before anyone else.

Forget the “preaching to the choir” theory. Farhenheit 9/11 is blowing up all over the country, including Republican strongholds.

Hell, Dale Earnhardt., Jr. is telling his pit crew to go see it, sending shockwaves through NASCAR land. The movie is set to expand to many, many more theaters. This is huge, guys.

Also, Josh Marshall is sitting on what could be a major development in the Iraq-Niger-uranium-forgery story. He’s been hinting at a major bombshell for a while now. Marshall is not just a blogger; he is a serious investigative journalist with deep sources. Could Cheney's house of lies come tumbling down? Pretty please.

The early handover of “sovereignty” and the Supreme Court decisions are biggies, too.

Too busy to link more stuff, but keep an eye on the sites to your right.

Also, it’s Monday, and that means Top Ten Conservative Idiots: "F--- Yourself" Edition!”

Dear FOX Trolls:

HAAAHHH-HAAAAAHHHHH!

Signed,

Me

Slamming

By playing on the insecurities of an inexperienced leader, Mr. Cheney has managed to change W. from a sunny, open, bipartisan, uniter-not-a-divider, non-nation-builder into a crabby, secretive, partisan, divider-not-a-uniter, inept imperialist. Vice is bounding around the country, talking to his usual circumscribed audiences of conservatives, right-wing think tanks and Fox News anchors. No need to burrow in the bunker when you've turned America into one.

We need more Maureen Dowds.

I’m stickin’ it to BushCo all over town. And, boy, does it feel great.

Here are some of the messages I’ve been leaving in public restrooms, bus stops, dumpsters, gas stations, gym lockers, supermarket shelves, etc.

WORST PRESIDENT EVER

WAR-PROFITEERING AND TORTURE ARE NOT AMERICAN

DICK CHENEY LAUGH$ HIMSELF TO $LEEP

FOX "NEWS" IS IGNORANCE

SAUDI AMERICA

DUBYA M D

GEORGE W. BULLSHIT

YOU ARE BEING LIED TO. WAKE UP. DEFEAT BUSH

There is great satisfaction in leaving these stickers in public places.

I’ve gotten pretty good at stealth placement. This morning, after pulling a jug of orange juice from the supermarket cooler, I left this message among the price tags:

BUSH LIES SOLDIERS DIE

Some recommendations:

Don’t use permanent labels. That is vandalism. Not cool. I’m using address labels that can be pealed off fairly easily. The point is to have one or more individuals see your message. This sounds like a little, but it can mean a lot. Also, many who see the sticker will not take the effort to remove it. It could stay up for hours.

Don’t put stickers on cars. Again, vandalism.

Don't insult your audience. This will have an opposite effect. For example, I considered making a sticker that read "BushCo Thrives on Your Ignornace." I reconsidered and changed it to "BushCo Thrives on Ignornace." The point is to make people think, not to strengthen their allegience to BushCo. Of course, unswayable Bushbots will just get pissed off when they see these stickers, and that's a good thing.

Be stealth about it. This is half the fun. After pealing the sticker from its backing, “palm” it until no one is watching, then stick it quickly.

Be aware of cameras. Last night I placed a sticker on a gas pump. If the station wanted to pursue it, they could check the video from the security camera and see yours truly placing the sticker. But again, these are not permanent stickers. Removing them is a minor annoyance.

After printing a sheet of labels, I cut it up into individual labels. I keep a supply in my glove compartment and in my pocket. You never know when an opportunity to stick it to BushCo will arise.

Give it a try!

If you want a label template with the messages listed above and more, just let me know in the comments box below and I’ll email it to you. Of course, you can use the template to make your own messages.

The world is dominated by corporate messages. This is one way to get a dissenting viewpoint into the public realm.

Stick it to BushCo!

For dropping a nuclear bomb on BushCo.

I will not spoil the movie for you. Just rest assured that it is a near comprehensive indictment of BushCo. Few bases are left uncovered.

When the movie ended, the theater erupted in loud applause, which—I kid you not—brought tears to my eyes. I walked out of the theater just shaking with joy and righteous anger. The mood around me was electric. The people were cleary moved by the experience. Man, what a great feeling!

Yes, that good.

Please, please take a conservative family member, friend, or coworker to see this movie. Buy his or her ticket. Let them put their support for Bush to the test.

See this movie!

Just printed my ticket. Can't wait!

I'll have a full report/review later this afternoon.

If I’m lucky, there will be a Move America Toward a Police State contingent outside the theater (they’re based in Sacramento).

Nothing would make me happier than to get nasty with some BushCo Brownshirts.

Honor and integrity restored.

(Three of today's five posts are about Cheney. The man is on fire!)

Cuz why shouldn’t Ken Lay be writing our national energy policy?

In secret.

From Talking Points Memo:

Speculation is rife about whom John Kerry will choose as his running mate. Newsweek reports that Kerry "is engrossed in the final shortlist of veep picks. Kerry sources say the choice is narrowing to Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt, and that the candidate remains personally uncomfortable with Sen. John Edwards."

Vilsack?

Kerry / Vilsack ’04!

A rallying cry for the new millennium. BushCo may has well call it quits

Oh, by the way…. Who or what the hell is a “Vilsack”?

And Gephardt?

Way to inject some vitality into the ticket by placing a tired old relic of party failure in the VP slot.

Christ!

Even if Kerry does wise up and pick Edwards—whom I believe is the only logical choice—the fact that he’s seriously considering these disastrous picks makes me shudder with fear.

But he just wraps himself in the flag and the ignorant sheeple fall at his feet.

Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton, was awarded a no-bid contract worth over $7 billion to help rebuild Iraq. The process for awarding this rare and lucrative contract was coordinated by Dick Cheney's own office in the White House. Dick Cheney still receives deferred compensation from Halliburton, showing a lingering financial interest in the company. [Washington Post, 9/26/03; Richard B. Cheney Personal Financial Disclosure, May 15, 2002]

Despite the Cheney favoritism, Halliburton has shown little regard for American taxpayers -- from overcharging the military for gas to not delivering meals to troops. Halliburton is a symptom of a wider problem: a House committee found that at least $1 billion has been wasted in Iraq because of a lack of planning and poor oversight.

More bloodboiling details about Cheneyburton here.

Take action here. (Nice to see the Kerry campaign kicking into gear)

What a great idea.

The centerpiece of the Bush/Cheney ’04 re-selection campaign is blown out of the water, and the story gets placed on page A-9 of my morning paper.

A-9

Damn that liberal media!

If you have this, this, this, and this, and if you want this idiot out of office, you are ready to join the Smithantics Sticker Trade!

It’s simple. Just print a variety of anti-BushCo messages on labels and stick ‘em in public places (bathrooms, restaurants, gas stations, anywhere).

But watch out for cameras. Be stealth about it!

It’s a great way to get the word out that BushCo must go. And the sight of these stickers drives Bushbots crazy with dumb animal rage! Hooray!

To enhance the fun, you can trade stickers with your Bush-bashin’ pals.

Collect them all!

Thanks to a member of the Dawn Patrol, who shall remain anonymous, for coming up with this awesome idea.

Just when BushCo thought that pesky AWOL story had finally slipped down the memory hole....

Drip…drip….

Part I

Via the indispensable Paul Krugman.

In April 2003, John Ashcroft's Justice Department disrupted what appears to have been a horrifying terrorist plot. In the small town of Noonday, Tex., F.B.I. agents discovered a weapons cache containing fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs and a chemical weapon — a cyanide bomb — big enough to kill everyone in a 30,000-square-foot building. Strangely, though, the attorney general didn't call a press conference to announce the discovery of the weapons cache, or the arrest of William Krar, its owner. He didn't even issue a press release.

You can find out why here. But don’t click if you have high blood pressure.

Part II

You can't make this shit up.

This morning, before daylight, four patriotic comrades and I made a public display of dissent against BushCo.

Our message existed for over four hours and was viewed by thousands.

A picture should be posted here soon.

Please take three minutes to read this frightening analysis from Billmon.

This country has gone off the tracks.

Note: If you are not familiar with the philosophical father of the neoconservative movement, Leo Strauss, there’s a good article on him here.

Note II: Billmon's post is followed by some very thoughtful and intelligent reader comments (as opposed to the idiocy you encounter on right wing blogs). Serious stuff.

Horror.

Some background.

Without compunction.

And is never held to account.

Never.

He must laugh himself to sleep.

And Michael Moore is ready to hit back on the RW spinmeisters who question or deny the accuracy of the film.

Mr. Moore is readying for a conservative counterattack, saying he has created a political-style "war room" to offer an instant response to any assault on the film's credibility. He has retained Chris Lehane, a Democratic Party strategist known as a master of the black art of "oppo," or opposition research, used to discredit detractors. He also hired outside fact-checkers, led by a former general counsel of The New Yorker and a veteran member of that magazine's legendary fact-checking team, to vet the film. And he is threatening to go one step further, saying he has consulted with lawyers who can bring defamation suits against anyone who maligns the film or damages his reputation.

"We want the word out," says Mr. Moore, who says he should have responded more quickly to allegations of inaccuracy in his Oscar-winning 2002 anti-gun documentary, "Bowling for Columbine." "Any attempts to libel me will be met by force," he said, not an ounce of humor in his familiar voice. "The most important thing we have is truth on our side. If they persist in telling lies, knowingly telling a lie with malice, then I'll take them to court."

The New York Times is already playing fast and loose.

Let the spin begin.

I don’t think any informed, honest, and serious observer can dispute this.

A narrow group of corporate interests managed to illegally seize power and—among a staggering array of crimes—lead the country into an unnecessary war for its own profit-making motives.

This deception was whitewashed by the corporate mainstream media, and was virtually unchecked by the so-called opposition party.

Failure.

Material abundance has bred apathy and accommodation of corporate actors who are effectively dismantling our democracy.

This decadence allowed Dick Cheney to happen.

I wonder what he plans to do next?

I suppose whatever the hell he wants.

Here’s an ardently conservative Republican campaigning for four more years of the most criminal regime in this country’s history.

The same Republican who Kerry literally begged to be his VP.

John McCain.

You know, the guy who is a every bit as hawkish as Dick Cheney….

The guy who’s a strident opponent of women’s reproductive rights….

The guy who stands firmly on every plank in the Republican platform….

Can you see him?

He’s the one with his nose firmly implanted in Bush's ass.

That would be the same George W. Bush whose 2000 presidential campaign smeared then-opponent McCain as the nutcase father of an “illegitimate black child.”

Yes, a real "maverick" this McCain fellow.

Always ready to place principle above party.

Nice move, Kerry.

It looks like U.S. hostage Paul Johnson was beheaded.

God damn you, BushCo!

This man’s murder is on your head.

This slaughter is a direct and foreseeable consequence of your misguided, ideologically driven “War on Terror,” which has radically escalated militant Islamist violence against Americans.

This is a response to the torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib that you authorized!

Your response to 9-11 has been to court an endless cycle of violence, which you manipulate for your own political purposes.

I am ready to fucking explode right now!

This is a bit dated, but I enjoyed it.

I will be on a work assignment through Thursday of this week. I will not have web access.

Please keep the information flowing here by posting stuff in the comments box below.

If you want to post items from the web, please use TinyURL to shorten the length of the link. Otherwise it may not fit in the comment box.

It’s your chance to takeover this blog!

Do whatever the hell you like!

If you haven't been here for a while, scroll through some of the recent posts, or peruse the links listed on the right. Lot's to talk and think about. BushCo is up to some seriously disturbing shit.

Have a great week.

Steve

There was an interesting discussion on Democratic Underground today about political bumper stickers. Some people are reluctant to place Kerry or anti-Bush stickers on their car for fear that some wingnut will vandalize or destroy the vehicle. Given the preponderance of idiots out there, this is understandable. I recently placed a “Kerry for President” bumper sticker on my car, and the thought of some Bush asshole taking a key to it—or worse— certainly crossed my mind. I’ve read about this kind of shit happening.

But you know what? Screw these assholes.

Damn if I’m going to abrogate my right advertise my chosen candidate or my political affiliation on my vehicle because some knuckle-dragging Bushbot might vandalize it.

I can’t believe it has come to this. This is 1930s-Germany shit. Bush brownshirts abound.

And I don’t even want to get into the fact that the candidate displayed on my bumper has turned his back on his own party and has been begging a Bush Republican to be his VP.

Fuckin’ A.

Who Will Pay?

I still hold out hope that the trespassers in the People’s House will be engulfed in the righteous flames of justice.

One has to survive somehow:

The Telegraph understands that four confidential Red Cross documents implicating senior Pentagon civilians in the Abu Ghraib scandal have been passed to an American television network, which is preparing to make them public shortly.

"There are some extremely damaging documents around, which link senior figures to the abuses," said Scott Horton, the former chairman of the New York Bar Association, who has been advising Pentagon lawyers unhappy at the administration's approach. "The biggest bombs in this case have yet to be dropped."

Bring it.

Why do "26 former senior diplomats and military officials, several appointed to key positions by Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush" hate America?

I haven't paid attention to the news today. As you can see, I've been messing with the look of the blog.

Please tell me the Reaganfest is over.

No, not that Rush.

Nice Kimono, though.

This Rush.

The pain-sensitive scourge of those wimp prisoners in Iraq.

He’s getting divorced for the third time.

A true champion of family values, this man.

UPDATE: "El Rushbo" on divorce. Unbelievable.

Children.

Beyond words.

This must not slip down the memory hole.

WASHINGTON A Pentagon e-mail said that Vice President Dick Cheney coordinated a huge Halliburton government contract for Iraq, Time reported Monday, despite Cheney's denial of interest in the company, which he ran until 2000.

The March 5, 2003, e-mail, from an official of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said that a top Pentagon official, Douglas Feith, got the job of shepherding the contract, according to the latest edition of the weekly magazine.

Feith approved the multibillion-dollar deal "contingent on informing WH tomorrow," the e-mail said, referring to the White House. "We anticipate no issues since action has been coordinated" with the "VP's office," it added, referring to Cheney's office. The e-mail was obtained by Time.

The newsweekly said that Halliburton won the contract three days later, and that no other bids were submitted.

"As vice president, I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts led by the Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the federal government," Cheney told NBC's "Meet the Press" in September, Time reported.

Cheney had been Halliburton's chief executive until 2000, when he accepted the vice presidential spot.

Cheney's spokesman, Kevin Kellems, told the magazine that since 2000, the vice president had "played no role whatsoever in government-contract decisions involving Halliburton."

The e-mail was sent "in anticipation of controversy over the award of a sole-source contract to Halliburton," a Pentagon spokesman said, adding, "We wanted to give the vice president's staff a heads-up."

Douglas Feith, under secretary of defense for policy, was handed the job of coordinating the contract by his boss, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Time said.

Feith, Wolfowitz and Cheney, along with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, are the key Bush administration "hawks" who pushed for war in Iraq.

You can donate here to put the truth about Cheneyburton on the airwaves in crucial swing states.

I just sent my $10. Please consider making a contribution

Great programming!

Are you listening yet?

You can find stations or listen live here.

In Sacramento, Air America can be heard on 1240 AM.

This is getting a lot of laughs in my office. Personally, I find it frightening.

This is a very interesting little piece on Tenet and his sudden resignation.

The section below gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling—and I’ll take all I can get of that these days!

Meanwhile, back in the States, Patrick Fitzgerald is calmly and fastidiously putting the finishing touches on a grand jury investigation of the Bush administration's involvement in burning deep cover CIA operative Valerie Plame. It is this and only this development that has Bush and Cheney feeling as if they were perched atop a leaky oil drum above a raging bonfire. Cheney has already been interviewed in the probe, though he was not under oath, and no one is yet saying what exactly happened during the Q&A.

The only thing that is known is that shortly after Cheney got through with his obligation to the Plame grand jury, Bush consulted outside counsel, a move that struck just about everyone in Washington as a pretty ominous sign. The White House was not particularly deft in deflecting speculation that perhaps this development meant that our head of state really might have something very serious to hide from prosecutors, and that the secret is related to Bush's knowledge of the actions of the Vice President's office.

Tenet, weak and pitiful though he was, had until now acted as a sort of firebreak between the growing conflagration of anger in the CIA ranks and the increasingly dry, crackling bundle of sticks that is the Bush White House. With Tenet gone, it's only a matter of time before the place goes up and reduces the whole gang down to charcoal.

Indeed, though it pains me to break it to all of the other political junkies in the audience, we may be about the witness a premature end to the competitive portion of this summer's presidential race. If, as I suspect will be the case, Fitzgerald files an indictment in the Plame case this month, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle and company are essentially finished, regardless of whether any of them actually glimpse the inside of a jail cell.

Bring. It. On.

Check out the whole article.

President Bush has claimed that the prison abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib was "disgraceful conduct by a few American troops," and had nothing to do with broader administration policy. But according to a March 2003 Pentagon memo, Bush administration lawyers issued legal justifications for torture, specifically claiming, "President Bush was not bound by either an international treaty prohibiting torture or by a federal anti-torture law." The revelations have now forced the President to backtrack from his previous denials of culpability, with the White House yesterday admitting for the first time that Bush did, in fact, "set broad guidelines" for interrogation in Iraq - a tacit admission that Bush himself "opened the door" to the torture tactics in the first place.

Now, the U.S. Senate is demanding the full Pentagon memo from the Bush administration. But the President has refused, instead dispatching Attorney General John Ashcroft to tell "lawmakers he won't release or discuss" the memo, even if he is cited for contempt of Congress. This is the same Ashcroft who "conveniently declassified" internal Justice Department memos in an effort to slander 9/11 commissioner Jamie Gorelick. It is also the same Bush administration that leaked the classified name of a CIA officer in an effort to intimidate a former ambassador who had debunked their false WMD claims.

This scandal should be on the front page of every newspaper in America.

Democrats and Republicans alike should be demanding answers and accountability.

Please take five minutes to contact your congressional representatives and ask them to get to the bottom of this abomination.

You can order T-shirts and mugs here.

In the truest sense of the word.

He is running your government.

Not related to the lionization of the second-worst president in American history.

Torturegate is heating up.

Impeach this unholy cabal.

In Florida.

Again.

”The head of Florida's elections division resigned Monday amid reports he was feeling political heat over a push to purge thousands of suspected felons from the state's voter rolls.”

“In the 2000 election, which President Bush won after taking Florida by 537 votes over Al Gore, there were accusations that thousands were wrongly disenfranchised when the state purged the voter roles of suspected felons.”

More.

Out-fucking-rageous.

Clinton 65%
Reagan 63%
Eisenhower 59%
Bush 56%
Ford 53%
Johnson 49%
Carter 34%

Source

This drives the Republicans and their media poodles crazy.

So they just lie and say that Reagan was the most popular recent president.

This better not happen.

Seriously, don’t do it.

This is not an Eric Alterman fan page. But he’s just been damn good lately.

They are just plain nutty.

I won’t be posting too much.

But underneath the Stalinesque underbelly of Reaganweek, there is a lot going on.

I strongly recommend a survey of the top few sites linked to your right.

This item in particular caught me eye.

Are you kidding me?

Don’t answer that.

I have tuned out from weekend-long, vomit-inducing televised lovefest. Predictably, it seems that every living Republican politician and pundit has come out to share thoughts and memories of the Great Man.

Shit, can you blame them for wanting to talk about something besides U.S. troops sodomizing Iraq detainees with broom handles--with White House approval?

Or Halliburton’s non-competitive Iraq contracts that were coordinated out of former Halliburton CEO and current stock holder Dick Cheney’s office?

Or BushCo’s friendship with Iranian spy Ahmed Chalabi?

Or the fact that the unelected fraud will likely be called to testify before a grand jury about his administration’s Soprano-like exposure of an undercover CIA officer?

Hell, I guess I’d welcome the distraction as well.

But lost in this heartfelt reminiscence (complete with soft-focus images and heart-tugging musical strains) is the true story of the monster that was Ronald Reagan.

This was the man who inaugurated the extremist right wing movement that has come into full and horrifying bloom under the current ultra-Reaganite regime.

This was the cold-hearted bastard who took a hatchet to countless hard-won progressive social programs in the United States, and advanced the idea of poverty as personal failure.

Reagan's cultural agenda was dictated by the religious right, a virtual American Taliban, whose racist, homophobic, misogynistic vision aims to take social relations in this country back to the stone age.

It was Reagan who formed an unprecedented alliance between government and big business, an association that dramatically enriched the ultra-rich and further impoverished the swelling ranks of the Reagan-era poor.

And it was Reagan’s massive increases in defense spending (including the failed but now BushCo-resurrected Star Wars program) that created enormous deficits that resulted in further slashing of critical social programs.

Yes, I’m sure the single mothers who were denied funding for college education and the literally starving children who were taken off the welfare roles have dear memories of “Ol'Dutch.”

In deference to his reactionary, homophobic base, Reagan turned a blind eye to AIDS. Thousands died as a result.

Public funding for the care of the mentally ill was slashed to the bone under Reagan, sending scores of patients into the poverty of the streets--without medication, of course.

Think I exaggerate?

And what about the “Great Communicator’s” foreign policy?

Reagan was a great friend and patron to genocidal right-wing thugs, particularly in Central America, where his administration illegally funded the torture, disappearance, and murder of tens of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.

Ask the child whose mother was raped and dismembered by Reagan-funded death squads what she thinks about the “Gipper.”

And how about Iran Contra? This was the Reagan administration’s illegal sales of arms to Iranian terrorists to fund the illegal Contra war against a democratically elected government in Nicaragua? (Wait, scratch that. Reagan didn’t know about this, and Poppy Bush was “out of the loop”)

Or perhaps we should recall the funding of the Mujahadeen “freedom fighters” in Afghanistan, who are better know today as the Taliban.

Reagan armed Osama bin Laden. Anyone remember him?

Oh yes, and let’s not forget that it was under Reagan’s approval and financial support (including shipments of chemicals and equipment from American companies) that U.S. friend and ally Saddam Hussein gassed thousands to death.

Reagan bankrolled Saddam Hussein.

But the liberal media does not want you to know about this stuff.

The real Reagan has been erased from official history.

God bless America.

A refreshing--if brief--alternative to the fairy tale the mass media are providing, along with some useful recommendations on scholarly literature.

Absolute must-read today.

The lying, unelected fraud, in a Rose Garden Q and A:

Q: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Chalabi is an Iraqi leader that's fallen out of favor within your administration. I'm wondering if you feel that he provided any false information, or are you particularly-

THE PRESIDENT: Chalabi?

Hey, asshole, he’s the Iranian spy standing behind your Stepford wife in the State of the Union Presidential Box.

The obesity epidemic in this country is spiraling out of control.

Portion size, folks.

If you’re playing out the string at work today (or if you have no life), you might enjoy this descent in to the blogosphere (Wait, does that make sense? Descent into the blogosphere?).

Anyway, Atrios links to Alterman, who includes on his blog a letter from regular Altercation reader and occasional guest Altercator, Charles Pierce, who blasts media whore Tim Russert and the increasingly annoying brouhaha over “The Greatest Generation.” If you don’t care to explore, here’s the quote I found the most salient:

“In case you've missed it, Little Russ is out there shilling for a book about the lessons he learned from his father. The book is as gruesome a sea of treacle as one might imagine; it is an extended version of the old saw about how much smarter your Dad gets as you get older. In this, it shares a kind of cheesy Weltschmerz with Brokaw's endless maundering about The Greatest Generation -- namely, that our Daddies are dying and we don't measure up.

Of course those who supported and fought in World War II performed a great service to this country. Especially those who paid the ultimate price. We should give them the respect and gratitude they are owed.

But enough of the over-sentimental books, movies, and television specials. Jeez, give it a rest.

We're dogshit compared to the old folks.

Okay?

A staggering selection here.

It’s payday for many of you.

Display your dissent.

You will look back on these days, and, if you are honest, you will kick yourself for not doing more to oppose these bastards.

Go public.

You’d think with all the crazy political stuff going on I’d have something more urgent to post than this. But the headline gave me a laugh, and, frankly, I’m in too good a mood to deal with BushCo today. Also, this story concerns a hero to my friend and colleague Steve Hilton (who, incidentally, is no faggot).

Here.

Rejoice.

Unloads.

Send this to the wingnut in your life.

So which is it?

“My meetings with [Chalabi] were very brief. I mean, I think I met with him at the State of the Union and just kind of working through the rope line, and he might have come with a group of leaders. But I haven't had any extensive conversations with him.”

George W. Bush
June 1, 2004

“They're not going to develop [an Islamic extremist regime] because right here in the Oval Office I sat down with Mr. Pachachi and Chalabi and al-Hakim, people from different parts of the country that have made the firm commitment, that they want a constitution eventually written that recognizes minority rights and freedom of religion.”

George W. Bush
On “Meet The Press” Last February

And the unelected fraud retains a personal lawyer in response to the Plame investigation.

And the Chalabi situation continues to unfold.

What does it all mean?

Josh Marshall thinks someone in the administration might be in “a world of trouble”.

I stopped listening to this pretty song a long time ago.

You would expect that someone as astute as Marshall would realize by now that BushCo gets away with everything. Every god damned thing.

These thugs have committed a staggering array of crimes that merit the highest penalties (see Florida 2000, Cheney's energy task force, 9/11 coverups, Plame, Iraq lies, prison torture, etc.)

But you know what? They will never face true justice. Never.

They are bullet-proof.

Instead of allowing the “liberal”media to paint you as a soul-mate of this idiot, perhaps you could inform the electorate of said idiot’s cozy relationships with the thieving bastards that gamed the California energy market and the guy who sold out the U.S. to “Axis of Evil” member Iran.

Jesus, this stuff is on a platter.

What gives with Kerry?

It will hit theaters on June 25!

Says Moore:

"On behalf of my stellar cast — GW, Dick, Rummy, Condi and Wolfie — we thank this incredible coalition of the willing for bringing 'Fahrenheit 9/11' to the people."

Bring. It. On.

More bumps on the road to “sovereignty.”

Remind me again. I’m a little slow.

What the fuck are we doing in Iraq?

No, seriously.

Is not happy about Michael Moore’s upcoming film.

I cannot wait for F 9/11 to be released!

Another example of the restoration of honesty and integrity to the White House.

Vice President Dick Cheney was a guest on NBC's Meet the Press last September when host Tim Russert brought up Halliburton. Citing the company's role in rebuilding Iraq as well as Cheney's prior service as Halliburton's CEO, Russert asked, "Were you involved in any way in the awarding of those contracts?" Cheney's reply: "Of course not, Tim ... And as Vice President, I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts led by the [Army] Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the Federal Government."

Cheney's relationship with Halliburton has been nothing but trouble since he left the company in 2000. Both he and the company say they have no ongoing connections. But TIME has obtained an internal Pentagon e-mail sent by an Army Corps of Engineers official—whose name was blacked out by the Pentagon—that raises questions about Cheney's arm's-length policy toward his old employer. Dated March 5, 2003, the e-mail says "action" on a multibillion-dollar Halliburton contract was "coordinated" with Cheney's office. The e-mail says Douglas Feith, a high-ranking Pentagon hawk, got the "authority to execute RIO," or Restore Iraqi Oil, from his boss, who is Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. RIO is one of several large contracts the U.S. awarded to Halliburton last year.

The e-mail says Feith approved arrangements for the contract "contingent on informing WH [White House] tomorrow. We anticipate no issues since action has been coordinated w VP's [Vice President's] office." Three days later, the Army Corps of Engineers gave Halliburton the contract, without seeking other bids. TIME located the e-mail among documents provided by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group.

I often wonder what things would be like in this country if we had a real congress...an enforced system of checks and balances...a functioning press...an operating democracy….

?