Bush is the biggest spender since LBJ

McClatchy News:
WASHINGTON — George W. Bush, despite all his recent bravado about being an apostle of small government and budget-slashing, is the biggest spending president since Lyndon B. Johnson. In fact, he's arguably an even bigger spender than LBJ.

“He’s a big government guy,” said Stephen Slivinski, the director of budget studies at Cato Institute, a libertarian research group.

The numbers are clear, credible and conclusive, added David Keating, the executive director of the Club for Growth, a budget-watchdog group.

America's Armageddonites Push for More War

Alternet:

Some fundamentalist evangelicals have moved from forecasting Armageddon to actually trying to bring it about.

Most journalists find it difficult to take seriously that tens of millions of Americans, filled with fantasies of revenge and empowerment, long to leave a world they despise. These Armageddonites believe that they alone will get a quick, free pass when they are "raptured" to paradise, no good deeds necessary, not even a day of judgment. Ironically, they share this utopian fantasy with a group that they often castigate, namely fundamentalist Muslims who believe that dying in battle also means direct access to Heaven. For the Armageddonites, however, there are no waiting virgins, but they do agree with Muslims that there will be "no booze, no bars," in the words of a popular Gaither Singers song.

Remembering Paul Wellstone

Senator Paul Wellstone died 5 years ago this week. He had some incredibly prescient things to say in the run up to the Iraq war. You can see what he had to say here

Wellstone’s voice sadly missed in a spineless Congress

Five years ago this week, the plane carrying Paul Wellstone and his wife Sheila, their daughter Marcia, and campaign workers crashed on the Iron Range. I can’t help but wonder how the past five years might have been different in Washington if Paul were still there representing the principles he so proudly upheld.

Fred Thompson says something stupid...Again

CNN:
Thompson: Iraqi insurgents 'a bunch of kids' with IEDs
BLUFFTON, South Carolina (CNN) — At a campaign stop in South Carolina Wednesday, Fred Thompson said that the Iraqi insurgency is made up of "a bunch of kids with improvised explosive devices," and suggested that the appearance of losing to such an enemy would harm U.S. national security.
Thompson was confronted about Iraq by a Bluffton resident named Bernhard Steinhouse, who asked Thompson whether he would bring back U.S. forces from the country.
"We will not be a safer country, we will not be a safer America if the whole world watches us being defeated by a bunch of kids with improvised explosive devices," Thompson said.

Attack Iran and you attack Russia

Asia Times:
The barely reported highlight of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran for the Caspian Sea summit last week was a key face-to-face meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A high-level diplomatic source in Tehran tells Asia Times Online that essentially Putin and the Supreme Leader have agreed on a plan to nullify the George W Bush administration's relentless drive towards launching a preemptive attack, perhaps a tactical nuclear strike, against Iran. An American attack on Iran will be viewed by Moscow as an attack on Russia

Gen.: Bush ordered 'torture' tactics himself

Rawstory:

More than 100,000 pages of newly released government documents demonstrate how US military interrogators "abused, tortured or killed" scores of prisoners rounded up since Sept. 11, 2001, including some who were not even expected of having terrorist ties, according to a just-published book.

In Administration of Torture, two American Civil Liberties Union attorneys detail the findings of a years-long investigation and court battle with the administration that resulted in the release of massive amounts of data on prisoner treatment and the deaths of US-held prisoners.

"[T]he documents show unambiguously that the administration has adopted some of the methods of the most tyrannical regimes," write Jameel Jaffer and Amrit Singh. "Documents from Guantanamo describe prisoners shackled in excruciating 'stress positions,' held in freezing-cold cells, forcibly stripped, hooded, terrorized with military dogs, and deprived of human contact for months."

Government Surveillance Threatens Your Freedom, Even If You Have Nothing To Hide

FindLaw:
The case against expanding surveillance powers for a White House that's already out of control.

"I've got nothing to hide, so electronic surveillance doesn't bother me. To the contrary, I'm delighted that the Bush Administration is monitoring calls and electronic traffic on a massive scale, because catching terrorists is far more important that worrying about the government's listening to my phone calls, or reading my emails." So the argument goes. It is a powerful one that has seduced too many people.

Millions of Americans buy this logic, and in accepting it, believe they are doing the right thing for themselves, their family, and their friends, neighbors, community and country. They are sadly wrong. If you accept this argument, you have been badly fooled.

CBS confirms 2006 Raw Story scoop: Plame's job was to keep nukes from Iran

Rawstory:
CBS News has confirmed, in advance of a 60 Minutes interview with outed CIA agent Valerie Plame to be run this Sunday, that Plame "was involved in operations to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons."

"Our mission was to make sure that the bad guys, basically, did not get nuclear weapons," Plame told 60 Minutes. Plame also indicated that her outing in 2003 had caused grave damage to CIA operations, saying, "All the intelligence services in the world were running my name through their databases" to see where she had gone and who she had met with.

Infamous Douchebag Coaches "Team Thompson"

Wonkette:
George “Macaca” Allen, the former Virginia governor and senator famous for hating brown people, is helping out the Fred Thompson campaign, proving that when it comes to lazy, stupid ex-senators, things work better in pairs.

Video: Meeting Resistance - Know Thine Enemy

C&L:

President Bush wants the world to believe that most of the attacks on our troops are coming from members of al Qaeda, but as the film shows, that is far from the case. The insurgents featured in this film are ordinary citizens who are resisting the occupation of their country by a foreign army — which is exactly what Americans would do were we to befall the same fate. Meeting Resistance has been shown to military personnel in Iraq in hopes of giving them a better understanding of the insurgency and the people behind it. ABC documented the experience, interviewing troops after watching the film and its message seems to have gotten through.

To watch the video Click Here

Putin Visits Iran, Warns US Against Attack

AP:

TEHRAN, Iran — Vladimir Putin issued a veiled warning Tuesday against any attack on Iran as he made the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Tehran in six decades _ a mission reflecting Russian-Iranian efforts to curb U.S. influence.

He also suggested Moscow and Tehran should have a veto on Western plans for new pipelines to carry oil and natural gas from the Caspian Sea, using routes that would bypass Russian soil and break the Kremlin's monopoly on energy deliveries from the region.

Fred Thompson Fading in the Polls

CNN:
Fred Thompson got into the Republican race with great expectations. And sure enough, just after he got in last month, polling showed Thompson and Rudy Giuliani were just about tied for front-runner.

But since then, Thompson's taken a lot of flak for alackluster campaign from party activists in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Support for his campaign has also wavered. The new CNN poll by the Opinion Research Corporation released Tuesday shows Thompson's support dropping -- now at 19 percent, down from 27 percent in September.

Bush taps birth control opponent to oversee contraception

Rawstory:
President Bush's choice for heading family planning programming within the Department of Health and Human Services is a critic of birth control.

"Susan Orr, most recently an associate commissioner in the Administration for Children and Families, was appointed Monday to be acting deputy assistant secretary for population affairs," reports the Washington Post. "She will oversee $283 million in annual grants to provide low-income families and others with contraceptive services, counseling and preventive screenings."

Top CIA Legal Official Quit In Protest Of Bush Administration’s Torture Policies

ThinkProgress:
The CIA’s Inspector General (IG) has investigated some of the Bush administration’s most controversial programs, includings its detainee torture policies. In 2004, IG John L. Helgerson issued a report warning “that some C.I.A.-approved interrogation procedures appeared to constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as defined by the international Convention Against Torture.”
The New York Times reports today that CIA Director Michael Hayden, who has been unhappy with Helgerson’s aggressive oversight, has ordered an internal investigation into Helgerson. The move is “unusual, if not unprecedented, and would threaten to undermine the independence of the office.”
Helgerson wasn’t the only government official concerned with the Bush administration’s torture policies. Harper’s Ken Silverstein reports today that “several sources” have told him that a senior CIA legal official quit in protest of such “enhanced interrogations” policies:
[I]t turns out that a former senior CIA legal official quit in protest over the administration’s use of “enhanced interrogations.” This official, whose name I have promised not to publish, previously worked as a deputy IG for investigations under Frederick Hitz, who served as CIA IG between 1990 and 1998. From there, the official moved on the CIA’s Office of General Counsel.
What’s interesting is that this official was generally known as something of a hardliner. I haven’t been able to pin down the date of his departure, which may have occurred a year ago or more. However, the sources tell me he couldn’t stomach what he deemed to be abuses by the Bush Administration and stepped down from his post.
Silverstein also reported in April 2006 that there was “a quiet conspiracy by rational people” at the CIA to “avoid involvement” in some of the Bush administration’s most objectionable policies, such as rendition.

UPDATE: Spencer Ackerman has House Intelligence Committee chairman Silvestre Reyes’s (D-TX) reaction to Hayden’s investigation of Helgerson HERE.
UPDATE II: Ackerman also points out that Bush’s prep school buddy Clay Johnson III may lead the investigation into Helgerson. Johnson “keeps a George Bush doll on his desk.”

On tape: Nixon said Thompson 'dumb as hell'

Rawstory:
Thirty-year-old Oval Office recordings made of President Richard Nixon paint an unflattering portrait of GOP presidential hopeful Fred Thompson, then an upstart Watergate counsel the former president dismissed as "dumb as hell."

"Fred Thompson has made much of his role 30 years ago as a young Senate lawyer helping to lead the investigation of Watergate and President Richard Nixon," reported ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross on Good Morning America.

Global Warming is Killing People NOW

These are the headlines, just from today:

Millions Forced to Flee Deadly Storms

BEIJING, China (AP) -- A storm drenched China's southeast on Sunday after killing five people on Taiwan and prompting the evacuation of 1.4 million people on the mainland, officials said. In Vietnam, the death toll from a separate storm rose to 55.

Runner dies, 300 treated as heat ravages Chicago Marathon

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Organizers shut down the course four hours after the start of Sunday's Chicago Marathon because of 88-degree heat and sweltering humidity that left one runner dead and sent at least 49 to area hospitals. Another 250 were treated at the site.

SNL Rips Fred Thompson: "How Badly Do I Want To Be Your President? On A Scale Of One To Ten, How 'Bout A Six?"

Huffingtonpost:

SNL's Darrell Hammond rips on Fred Thomspon for being lazy/lacksadaisacal — but lets him off easy for not actually knowing all that much. Would have been vastly improved by the presence of a giant stogie.

This wasn't one of SNL's chosen YouTube vids so here are a few moments

An Exit Toward Soul-Searching

Washington Post:
As Bush Staffers Leave, Questions About Legacy Abound

Klein used his Time magazine blog to directly challenge a Wehner essay on politics and the war, chastising his onetime friend for ignoring "the lives lost and shattered" and the "vast damage" to U.S. standing done by the Iraq war. "I have two pieces of career advice," Klein wrote to Wehner. "Stop writing this swill and think about penance. Take some time to clear your head, a lot of time, and pay for your sins by emptying bedpans at Walter Reed."

Kids' healthcare price of 40 days in Iraq

Rawstory:
The Measure vetoed last week by President Bush to provide millions of children with affordable health coverage would cost what the Pentagon spends every 40 days in Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today.

Appearing on the program Fox News Sunday, moderator Chris Wallace asked Pelosi if she would compromise with the president if she failed to round up enough votes to override his veto.

"The president calls himself the decider," Pelosi responded, "and I don't know why he would want to decide that one child has health care and another does not."

From GOP savior to campaign punch-line

C&L:
It seems almost amusing to think that as recently as, say, August, a significant portion of the Republican Party was absolutely convinced that actor-lobbyist-politician Fred Thompson was going to ride into the presidential forum on a white horse and save the party from electoral ruin.

It’s clearly not working out as planned. Even if we put substance aside, Thompson, at this point, is perhaps the least capable candidate of the 18 people running for president.

Twenty-four minutes after he began speaking in a small restaurant the other day, Fred D. Thompson brought his remarks to a close with a nod of his head and an expression of thanks to Iowans for allowing him to “give my thoughts about some things.”

Then he stood face to face with a silent audience.

“Can I have a round of applause?” Mr. Thompson said, drawing a rustle of clapping and some laughter. “Well, I had to drag that out of you,” he said.

Ouch. This comes just a few weeks after Thompson, while campaigning in Florida, drew such blank stares from his audience that he asked no one in particular if his microphone was on. It was.

Scientist: I've created artificial life

Guardian UK:
Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.

The announcement, which is expected within weeks and could come as early as Monday at the annual meeting of his scientific institute in San Diego, California, will herald a giant leap forward in the development of designer genomes. It is certain to provoke heated debate about the ethics of creating new species and could unlock the door to new energy sources and techniques to combat global warming.

White House Eyed in Election Scam

Union Leader:
WASHINGTON – Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are pressing for information linking the executive branch to the 2002 New Hampshire "phone jamming" scheme.

U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes commended the Democrats for their letter to Acting Attorney General Peter D. Keisler, which seeks details of any Department of Justice inquiries into the plot to tie up the state Democratic Party's phone lines on Election Day 2002.

Gonzales Secretly Authorized Torture

NYT:

Secret opinions issued by the Department of Justice in 2005 authorized a vast expansion of interrogation techniques available to the CIA, including painful remedies incorporating simulated drowning, "head-slapping" and exposure to frigid temperatures.

First reported by the New York Times, the legal memorandum was issued soon after the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, and was approved despite objections from then Deputy Attorney General James Comey.

ADMINISTRATION -- FORMER BUSH LAWYER CALLS SPY PROGRAM A 'LEGAL MESS'

Center for American Progress:
Jack Goldsmith, a former Bush administration attorney, told Congress yesterday that President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program was "the biggest legal mess [he] had ever encountered" and after leading an internal review, he "could not find a legal basis for some aspects of the program." Contradicting testimony by former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who said there were no "serious disagreements about the program" within the administration, Goldsmith stated, "There were enormous disagreements," with the internal fight culminating "in a threat by Goldsmith, [former Deputy Attorney General James] Comey, and others to resign en masse if the program were allowed to continue without changes." Goldsmith added that Vice President Cheney's counsel David Addington had "told him that his position might mean failure to halt a new terrorist attack that would leave him with the blood of thousands on his hands." Goldsmith's testimony also emphasized the reluctance of the White House to allow any oversight of its wiretapping program.

Fred Thompson as Delusional as Bush

ThinkProgress:
Former Sen. Fred Thompson, speaking in Iowa today, declared that Iraq did indeed have WMDs prior to the U.S. invasion. The Des Moines Register reports:
[Thompson] was certain former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, a point of contention in the 4.5 years since the war began.

“We can’t forget the fact that although at a particular point in time we never found any WMD down there, he clearly had had WMD. He clearly had had the beginnings of a nuclear program,” the former Tennessee senator told an audience of about 60 at a Newton cafe.
Apparently, Thompson is as delusional as President Bush, who privately insisted through April 2006 that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. The Iraq Survey Group conclusively proved otherwise.