Boston Globe: Bush Claims He Has Authority To Disobey More Than 750 Laws…

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

From Dailykos: Pictures the US doesn't want you to see

* WhiskerBiscuit's diary :: ::

I found an article about a visit by Denzel Washington to visit Brook Army Medical Center. It includes a huge number of photographs of soliders who have been injured in Iraq -- recovering, spending time with their families, and just getting by.

WARNING: Some of the pictures are bloody and horrible.

The article, in Spanish, is here. If your reading knowledge of Spanish is limited (like mine), you might want to translate the page to get the gist.

For whatever reason, the US press doesn't generally discuss the story of our soldiers wounded in Iraq, much less depict them visually. Is it simply because some of the pictures are awful to look at, and they're afraid of exposing young children and those of delicate constitution to images that might cause permanent harm -- or is it part of a political agenda? I don't know.

No verbal description of the war ever hit me as hard as this photographic essay. It seems like there has to be some way to get this message across, in a way that the press will find tenable. But how?



Their sacrifices are immense. They've served and given this country their very lives, their bodies, in protection and in love of this great nation. We should never forget. These are our children, our brothers, our sisters, our fathers and our mothers. Their very lives have been inalterably changed by the choices of governments. We, the people must do the wounded from this war justice by putting an end to its destructive cycle.

To get to the article Click Here

My Letter to the Editor regarding the Bush Economy

April 28, 2006

To the Editor:
A different perspective
I read your Thursday editorial praising Bush’s record on the economy (“Bush’s White House deserves some credit for a strong economy,” p. 7) and felt the uncomfortable need to retch.

Maybe such a boastful perspective on Bush’s economic successes requires a pair of Enron-colored glasses or the bank account of a billionaire. The truth is, the average worker in this country has seen no benefit from Bush’s economic policy.

Here are some facts. The medium income for workers has dropped every year since Bush has been in office. Household debt is through the roof. In 2005, for the first time since the Great Depression, Americans borrowed more than they earned. Health care costs have skyrocketed along with what we pay at the pump. Gas prices are up 62 percent since 2001. College tuition is up 40 percent. Corporate profits are at a 60-year high, while workers wages have remained stagnant.

The economic climate under Bush is great if you’re a billionaire. Under Bush, a record number of billionaires have been created, and oil companies have seen record profits. This should come as no surprise, when almost every major player in the Bush regime is a former oil executive.

So what does this say about Bush’s trickle down theory and his tax cuts to the rich? The only thing working Americans are seeing trickle down are higher costs and lower incomes. If serfdom for the working class is the goal of Bush’s economic policy, he’s done one heckuva job.

37076
Cecily Friday

To read it in the City Paper Click Here

To read the letter I was responding to Click Here

Republican Bill Gives Billions in Tax Breaks to Oil Companies

From August 2005: The new 1,724-page energy law, four years in the making, will provide $14.5 billion in tax breaks. The recipients will include producers of oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power...

Target Letter Drives Rove Back to Grand Jury

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

CIA leak prosecutor goes to grand jury

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top White House aide Karl Rove prepared to testify Wednesday for a fifth time before the federal grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA officer's identity, two people familiar with the case said.

This Week on Left Turn with Cecily Friday

Joining me on the program this evening is Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, author of Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics. In 2002, he founded DailyKos.com, one of the most popular political blogs in the nation. Garnering more daily readers than the Washington Post or the New York Daily news, his website averages more than a million daily visitors. He is considered to be at the forefront of the political blogging revolution. Join us for the discussion Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM CST

To check out Crashing the Gate Click Here

15 Year Old Alabama Girl Receives Death Threats From Bush Supporters

Ava Lowery is a fifteen-year-old who lives in Alabama. She calls herself a peace activist, and for the past year, she’s been producing her own short animations on her website, peacetakescourage.com. All in all, she’s made about seventy of them, she says, and most of them oppose Bush and his Iraq War.

She wasn't prepared for the reaction she received from some Bush supporters over her latest creation WWJD. You can read those reactions by clicking the link to the article above.

To watch her latest video Click Here

From MyDD: Saving Internet Freedom

The internet is open because private companies haven't been allowed to block content they don't like. Now the telcos want to make it so they can block what you see. Click here to see what you can do about it.

Eighth General joins chorus calling for Rumsfeld resignation

Ret. Marine General Paul Van Ripper has become the 8th retired U.S. General to call for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, according to an interview with Fox News.

Ripper retired before Rumsfeld took office, but is currently engaged in war games with two branches of the military. He claims that many currently serving share his view.

32% Bush Approval Rating Hits New Low

President Bush's approval ratings have sunk to a personal low, with only a third of Americans saying they approve of the way he is handling his job, a national poll released Monday said.

From Firedoglake: The Dividing Line of Torture

I don’t know how to write about torture being committed by the US government. It’s an incredibly difficult subject to dissect, in large part because it gets to the heart of why most liberal bloggers do what they do... But there is something so deeply wrong and at such dissonance between the country we grew up to believe in and what this government is now engaged in that its unspoken presence informs every post, every word, even the decision to get up every morning and turn on the computer. To sit back and do nothing while this happens is unthinkable for anyone who genuinely believes in this country and the principles upon which it was founded

Check out the trailer for "An Inconvenient Truth"

To watch the trailer to the new movie "An Inconvenient Truth" premiering everywhere June 16 Click Here

From what I've read and seen of this film it gives a frightening picture of what we are potentially facing if we don't do something now about global climate change. We are what's causing it and we are the only ones that can fix it.

McClellan Out, Rove Leaving Policy Post

(AP) WASHINGTON White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove is giving up his policy portfolio and press secretary Scott McClellan is resigning, continuing a shakeup in President Bush's administration that has already yielded a new chief of staff.

Scientists Say They're Being Gagged by Bush

Washington - Scientists doing climate research for the federal government say the Bush administration has made it hard for them to speak forthrightly to the public about global warming. The result, the researchers say, is a danger that Americans are not getting the full story on how the climate is changing.

Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us

Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters..

A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.

This Week on Left Turn with Cecily Friday

Susan Joy Hassol joins me on the program this evening. She is a climate change analyst and author with 20 years of experience in global change science. She is the author of Impacts of a Warming Arctic, the synthesis report of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment and was the lead author of Climate Change Impacts on the United States, the report of the U.S. National Assessment of the Consequences of Climate Change. She has served as Environment Fellow for the Aspen Institute and as Research Associate and Director of Communications for the Aspen Global Change Institute. She most recently wrote for a documentary to air on HBO, about global warming, titled “Too Hot Not to Handle”. It premieres on April 22. Join us for the discussion Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM CST


To read more on the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment Click Here

Upcoming Guests on Left Turn with Cecily Friday

April 19: Susan Joy Hassol- she was the lead author on the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment sponsored by 7 nations and wrote for the HBO documentary "Too Hot Not to Handle" on global climate change to air on April 22.

April 26: Markos Moulisas Zuniga of DailyKos will be on the promote his book "Crashing the Gate" and an upcoming event at Mafiaoza's on April 27th at 6:00 pm

Tune in Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM CST

Waste in Katrina Response Is Cited

I'm traveling down to New Orleans this weekend with a friend, to deliver a car, that has been donated to a relief organization. I'll be reporting on what I see. From what I hear from aid workers, New Orleans is still very much a disaster area and many relief workers house themselves on the other side of the river because of air quality issues. When we are coming upon a weekend, celebrating resurrection, it saddens me that our grand city to the south still waits for such renewal. Stay tuned. In the mean time check out the latest news on the subject:

Nearly eight months after Hurricane Katrina triggered the nation's largest housing crisis since the Second World War, a hastily improvised $10 billion effort by the federal government has produced vast sums of waste and misspent funds, an array of government audits and outside analysts have concluded.

As the Federal Emergency Management Agency wraps up the initial phase of its temporary housing program -- ending reliance on cruise ships and hotels for people sent fleeing by the Aug. 29 storm -- the toll of false starts and missed opportunities appears likely to top $1 billion and perhaps much more, according to a series of after-action studies and Department of Homeland Security reports, including one due for release today.

Powell: Playing up Iraq Nuclear Threat "All Cheney"

"The CIA was pushing the aluminum tube argument heavily and Cheney went with that instead of what our guys wrote," Powell said. And the Niger reference in Bush's State of the Union speech? "That was a big mistake," he said. "It should never have been in the speech. I didn't need Wilson to tell me that there wasn't a Niger connection. He didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. I never believed it."

When I pressed further as to why the president played up the Iraq nuclear threat, Powell said it wasn't the president: "That was all Cheney." A convenient response for a Bush family loyalist, perhaps, but it raises the question of how the president came to be a captive of his vice president's fantasies.

Iran Threat Hyped- Experts Say Nuclear Iran is Years Away

Western nuclear analysts said yesterday that Tehran lacked the skills, materials and equipment to make good on its immediate nuclear ambitions, even as a senior Iranian official said Iran would defy international pressure and rapidly expand its ability to enrich uranium for fuel.
...
They said nothing had changed to alter current estimates of when Iran might be able to make a single nuclear weapon, assuming that is its ultimate goal. The United States government has put that at 5 to 10 years, and some analysts have said it could come as late as 2020.

Bush even Worse than Imagined

It’s this simple. They are even worse than we’ve allowed ourselves to imagine. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney use classified information about vital national security matters for naked political purposes—often character assassination—and when they do so, they feel free to lie about it.

Bush Wants to Nuke Iran's Nuke Sites- Joint Chiefs Threaten Resignation over Plan

The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack.
...
One former defense official, who still deals with sensitive issues for the Bush Administration, told me that the military planning was premised on a belief that “a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government.” He added, “I was shocked when I heard it, and asked myself, ‘What are they smoking?’ ”
...
The attention given to the nuclear option has created serious misgivings inside the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he added, and some officers have talked about resigning

Republican Dad gets son off in AZ sex case

From Crooksandliars...

This is too much.

Poliremix:

"A 19 and 17 year old from Arizona, have been offered a plea deal which requires no jail time and virtually no penalty for crimes they admitted to commiting. What were these crimes? As counselors at a boys camp, the 19 and 17 year old punished 18 of the 11-14 year old boys by making them lay face down on their bed, in front of all the other boys, shoving a broomstick into their anus through their pants. Eighteen 11-14 year olds! And, no penalty despite the parents outrage.

One may ask how this could happen. It is really quite simple. The 19 year old, Ryan Bennett, is none other than the son of Arizona's Senate President, Ken Bennett, a Republican who is part of the effort to ban equal rights for same-sex couples in the state, viewing same-sex relationships as immoral...After his son's admission, Bennett wrote a letter to the D.A. handling the case informing her that his son could not rightfully serve time in jail, because he is prepared to leave the country on a mission - to teach the word of Christ to youth around the world...read on..."

Here's the AZ Central article

Nixon's former Legal Counsel-Grand Jury should investigate Bush

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has now revealed in court filings bombshell information that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby told the grand jury investigating the leak of Valerie Plame-Wilson's covert CIA identity. According to Fitzgerald's filings, Libby said that he was authorized by the President and Vice President to leak classified information to New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

At a minimum, the filing indicates that the President and Vice President departed radically, and disturbingly, from long-set procedures with respect to classified documents - and that the Vice President, in particular, exceeded his declassification authority. And it may indicate that they, too, ought to be targets of the grand jury.

BUSH AUTHORIZED LEAKING DESPITE REPEATED ASSURANCES TO THE CONTRARY:

From the Center for American Progress
Throughout the past two and half years, while the investigation into the leak of Valerie Plame's identity has been ongoing, Bush has made numerous public statements indicating his desire to crack down on leakers. For instance, on September 30, 2003, Bush said, "There's just too many leaks, and if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is." He added, "I want to tell you something -- leaks of classified information are a bad thing." And on October 28, 2003, the president said, "I'd like to know if somebody in my White House did leak sensitive information." Bush never indicated that he was engaged in leaks, instead casting "himself as a disinterested observer, eager to resolve the case and hold those responsible accountable." The new revelations by Fitzgerald, however, demonstrate Bush was personally authorizing highly-sensitive intelligence leaks and has therefore been engaged in a cover-up about the extent of his own involvement in the leak case. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said, "The president has always stood so strong against leaks. If he leaked himself, he should explain why this is different than every other leak."

CIA Leak Update- CNN Gaffe

CNN errantly reported that according to grand jury testimony, President Bush had directly authorized Vice President Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis Libby to leak the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

However, according to Libby's testimony, Cheney did authorize leak of classified information claiming that Bush himself had given the go-ahead.

BUSH AUTHORIZED LEAK IN CIA OUTING CASE, LIBBY SAYS

A former White House aide under indictment for obstructing a leak probe, I. Lewis Libby, testified to a grand jury that he gave information from a closely-guarded "National Intelligence Estimate" on Iraq to a New York Times reporter in 2003 with the specific permission of President Bush, according to a new court filing from the special prosecutor in the case, THE NEW YORK SUN reports Thursday.

This Week on Left Turn with Cecily Friday

Jason Leopold joins me on the program this evening. His work has appeared in many publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The San Francisco Chronicle, and the Los Angeles Times. He has appeared on CNBC and National Public Radio as an expert on energy policy and has written extensively on the Enron scandal. He received the Dow Jones Journalist of the Year Award in 2001. His most recent book titled News Junkie, releases next month. In the past year he has cultivated relationships with insiders involved in the CIA leak investigation. We’ll be delving into that issue tonight. Join us for the discussion Wednesday at 7:00 PM CST

To read Jason Leopold's latest article on the CIA leak investigation Click Here

GOP Scandal Sheet

Print it out, send it to Harry Reid, or just read it and weep. Here are 34 scandals from the first four years of George W. Bush's presidency - every one of them worse than Whitewater.

Bush's Paper Trail Grows

The Manning memo uncovers even more evidence that the president knew his case for invading Iraq was based on bogus intelligence.