And Then We Can Come Home

Hopefully, even the most peacful of activists knows that we can't just pick up and leave Iraq on a dime. The last thing we want/need is a chaotic scenario that resembles the fall of Saigon. Unlike the aftermath of the invasion, it has to be strategized and planned so that both our troops and Iraqis are safe and that there is some semblance of stability. General Wesley Clark has a few thoughts. Will anybody listen?

"But in calling for an immediate withdrawal, the peace movement can’t duck a central question: Just how do we leave?

On Friday, Sheehan appeared on a Congressional Black Caucus breakfast panel with General Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander and presidential hopeful, who was there to address the issue of whether the U.S. can 'win' the war in Iraq.

'We’re involved in a war that we didn’t have to fight. That’s the simple truth,' Clark said. 'Now it’s in trouble, deep trouble. I wish it was just as simple as saying, Mr. President, you made a mistake, get those troops out now.'

The trouble is, he continued, that the Islamic extremists 'really do want to attack us. Getting out of Iraq will be a great defeat for us unless we do it in the right way.'

Clark said the anti-war movement should demand that Bush establish a 'regional dialogue with other Arab states, including people we don’t like, like Syria and Iran,' and focus on 'changing the minds and cutting off the recruiting' of those now blowing up tanks and buses in Iraq.

'We need to turn off the flow of weapons and fighters going into Iraq and turn off the invective and fears and create a climate where the Iraqis don’t need to fight each other,' he said. 'And then we can come home.'

I just wish that everyone who had a suggestion contrary to the President's didn't get beaten over the head with "We aren't going to cut and run. We are going to win." speech. No matter when we leave, insurgents of some type are going to be trying to bomb us on the way out. I think people need to understand what winning is and be prepared for the fact that all still probably won't be well in Iraq or the region.

Bill's Holiday Ornaments

I guess in all his rabid bluster, he failed to realize that the merchandise he is always peddling exhibits the wretched war on Christmas quite nicely! Come on Bill! An "O'Reilly Factor Holiday Ornament?" Why do you hate Christmas?



If everyone at Fox has bought into the idea that progressives are attacking Christmas, they need to tell the shop keeper and the webmaster. I wonder how long it will be before they change the text?

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!

Last time I checked, this country is still called the United States of America - a place with freedom of thought and freedom of speech. So what difference should it make to Bill, sexual harrassing, O'Reilly if I say Happy Holidays during the holiday season instead of Merry Christmas (which I generally say on that day).

During the November 28 'Talking Points Memo' segment of his Fox News show, The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly decried those who avoid using the holiday greeting 'Merry Christmas': 'Anyone offended by the words 'Merry Christmas' has problems not even St. Nicholas could solve.' He further asserted: 'Every company in America should be on its knees thanking Jesus for being born.'"

Irish Catholic Bill probably needs to cut the rhetoric and remember how Christmas came about. Companies need to thank the Holy Roman Empire for manufacturing this holiday to celebrate the birth of Christ in order to ease the Roman pagans into the religion that was being thrust upon them. It was a political move - not a spiritual one.

In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.

Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first ...

The controversy continues even today in some fundamentalist sects.

How Stupid Is This Man?

Are times really that hard that Bill O'Reilly has to dream up enemies? I think I've said it before but I'll say it again. Because he is forever instigating some type of "beef" with someone or some entity he is just a suited up 50 Cents with an undeserved outlet to spew his tirades over nothing.

The following media operations have regularly helped distribute defamation and false information supplied by far left websites:

- New York Daily News
- The St. Petersburg Times
- MSNBC

These are the worst offenders. In the months to come, we expect to add more names to this list. We recommend that you do not patronize these operations and that advertisers do the same. They are dishonest and not worth your time and money.

His loud mouthed, inarticulate, thugged-out, grease ball of a friend, Bo Dietl, is a regular on MSNBC's IMUS In The Morning. Will he start a beef with him now?

Ruh Rho For Real For Rove

Works for me!

Earlier this month, attorneys say Fitzgerald received additional testimony from Ralston — who said that Rove instructed her not to log a phone call Rove had with Cooper about Plame in July 2003." If this checks out, Rove is sunk.

Wouldn't Pay A Buck For Fifty Cents

I know it is insane for me to have two posts on 50 cents today but people keep sending me these links just to get my blood pressure up. Even if I hacked 20 years off of my age, would I ... could I ... ever, ever ... buy a motorized version of 50 cents? -- Long Pause -- NOPE!

"His movie may not being making much money but rapper 50 Cents is trying to make money other ways. It’s a universally acknowledged truth that ’sex’ sells, and now rapper 50 Cent is hoping that the same will come true for him as well, as after trying his hands at almost everything, he is planning to release his own new line in condoms and sex toys.

The rapper, who already has a clothing line and a range of energy drinks, is planning to extend his business into the lucrative sex market , by making condoms, and even creating a vibrator that looks just like him. A sign of surefire vanity that is historically a hit or miss effort by an artist regardless of genre.

Contactmusic quoted him as telling America’s GQ magazine. "I need to make a 50 Cent condom, and a motorised version of me. A motorised version of me will definitely have to be waterproof, so you could utilise it in the tub. A lot of them (vibrators) aren’t waterproof,"

"Blue is my favourite colour, so it would probably be blue. But I don’t know how big. I don’t know if big is better because I’m not sure a man wants his woman playing with a really big dildo. But I want to do something like that, to create something that’s popular and exciting sexually for women," he added."

What kind of interview was this? How do you go from discussing Bush to sex toys? Somebody was high! Was it 50 or the interviewer?

Bush Got Game

Well, I guess I can thank God for small favors. 50 Cents sees the "gangsta" in Bush and would have voted for him if he could have. Perhaps Bush will pardon some of his felony convictions so he can drum up support from his fellow hoodlums.

In a bizarre outburst, 50 Cent has heaped praise on President Bush saying he wants to meet him.

The views contradict those of the likes of Kanye West who accused Bush of not caring about black people in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Fiddy even said that if he didn’t have felony convictions preventing him from balloting, he would have voted for Bush in the last election.

As breaking news reports, Fiddy said: 'He’s is incredible… A gangster. I wanna meet George Bush, just shake his hand and tell him how much of me I see in him.'

This is just what Bush needs: the support of a rapper who has been shot nine times, still has a bullet fragment in his tongue and a bullet hole posing as a dimple in his face. If Bush's street cred with 50 weren't so funny, it would be downright frightening. I guess the next G-Unit member will be calling himself Killa Bush or something! This puts him right up there with the Gottis.

I Ain't Sayin' She's A Gold Digger ...

Come on! Is it about prostitution now? What about the men? Do they have to wait for bling too?

The Other White Meat

... or Afghanistan: The other Iraq

The killing of an abducted Indian worker in Afghanistan by the Taliban is the latest evidence of a dangerous new turn in the country's militancy, a UAE paper commented today.

"The signs of Afghanistan going the Iraq way in violence and deaths should be ominous not only to President Hamid Karzai but also the international presence in the country. It is possible that the Indian worker's killing is a new trend-setter,"'' according to ''The Gulf Today.

In its daily comment, the paper said : "Maniyappan Raman Kutty, a worker with India's Border Roads Organisation, was working on the Zaranj-Delaram Road project in Afghanistan when the Taliban abducted him and another person. His body was found, throat slit. The Taliban demanded BRO withdraw from the road project if Kutty was to be freed. The deadline passed and there was no second chance for talks.

"This is the first time an Indian becomes a victim of terror while working overseas. Seven Indians were abducted by an Iraqi groups several months ago, but were released after lengthy negotiations. There are several Indians working for firms, mainly in the transport sector, that suppy goods for the coalition troops in Iraq.

"There has been wide condemnation of Kutty's killing in Afghanistan. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that there will be no change in the country's policy of helping Afghanistan's reconstruction projects.

"What is important is the way the Taliban is changing tacticts in its fight against the Karzai government as well as the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. The usual method has been direct attacks using bombs and rocekts against government and military targets. However, the groups seems to have adopted the methods of Al Qaeda and other militant organisations engaged in Iraq.

"Abductions and killings are now becoming routine in Afghanistan."

Naturally, no one is really paying attention to this new democratic state. Few seem to have realized that we've lost more soldiers this year than in the year of the initial invasion. No one seems to be paying attention to the ring of fire we've created in the Middle East with our troops trapped in the center.

Noooooooooooooooooooooo!

Since I am a reality show junkie, I saw the spawning of this relationship when it began two seasons ago on The Surreal Life. Growing up in the 70s, of course I watched the Brady Bunch and, being an America's Next Top Model fan, I knew who Adrianne was. On The Surreal Life, I didn't understand her fixation with Chris Knight -- who could be her daddy. But she was VERY aggressive and I am not sure what middle aged man could/would resist a woman (more than half his age) who is putting herself out there on her back and prone. I found "My Fair Brady" nauseating. Aside from the sex, he didn't seem to have an ounce of respect for her and she just appeared to whine, plead and beg, constantly, for him to make a commitment. It was ridiculous and, granted, she is in her early 20s, I know I would have been done had a man told my mother (who is his age) that things would progress when her communication skills matched her sexual maturity (her mother cried). The man is anal retentive and twice divorced. She could be his daughter and had to blackmail him into a commitment. Why are they doing this?

As a member of 'The Brady Bunch,' Christopher Knight grew up in front of the cameras. So it should be no surprise that his wedding will be a reality TV event.

Knight, aka Peter Brady, met Adrianne Curry, the first winner of 'America's Next Top Model,' on VH1's 'The Surreal Life.' That spawned a reality show about their romance - 'My Fair Brady.'

VH1 announced this week that 'Brady' will be back for a second season, and the cable channel plans to capture all the excitement when Knight, 48, and Curry, 23, tie the knot.

I Don't Understand!

What the heck is up with all of these wackos escaping from jail?

Eight inmates escaped from a county jail Friday by breaking an upper floor window and climbing down a rope made of bed sheets, authorities said.

Four were quickly recaptured before they could leave the jail grounds, said Will Paulakis, a Yakima County Corrections Department division chief.

Authorities were searching for the other four, including a 20-year-old man scheduled to go on trial Dec. 5 on charges of second-degree murder, another charged with burglary, and two in custody on second-degree assault allegations.

All were maximum security inmates, Paulakis said."

You Gots To Be Kidding Me!

After making a total mockery of what FEMA is supposed to be about and, clearly, failing the people of New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast, this man is about to become a disaster consultant:

He learned his lessons, and now they're for sale.

Ousted FEMA director Michael Brown, who was vilified over his handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, plans to make a fresh start in Colorado, selling his expertise about how emergency planning can go right or so very wrong.

'You have to do it with candor. To do it otherwise gives you no credibility,' Brown said Wednesday. 'I think people are curious: 'My gosh, what was it like? The media just really beat you up. You made mistakes. I don't want to be in that situation. How do I avoid that?' '

In an interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Brown acknowledged key mistakes he made while overseeing the federal response to the hurricane that ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi. He also lashed out at the media and discussed plans to base his fledgling consulting business in the Boulder-Longmont area of Colorado, where he lived before joining the Bush Administration in 2001.

I really wish I had what it took to be that brazen and arrogant. When I am not good at something, I don't pretend that I am. If I'd contributed to the loss of life and the purveyor of unnecessary misery and chaos, I wouldn't want to show my face or hold my head high for a long time. Who on earth would call this moron for advice on what not to do? All they have to do is watch archived footage from CNN to see what NOT to do. I suppose I'll really scream if George Bush hires this guy and pays him with taxpayer dollars.

More TomKat Yuckiness!

Dang! Right before Turkey Day I have to read something that makes me lose my appetite. Now crazy Tom wants to monitor this alien implant at home.

Tom Cruise has reportedly purchased an Ultrasound machine so that he can moniter his alien fetus anytime he wants. Katie Holmes isn't due until next year, but Tom wants to make sure that the new Prince of Scientology is safe at all times.

He also told Barbara Walters in an interview that the pair won't get married until after their alien is born. They are planning a summer/autumn wedding.

There's not going to be a wedding, is there? Once Katie gives birth to his alien spawn he will get rid of her! He will finally has the key to make him immortal!

Boil Her In Oil!

Sheesh!

A popular south Indian actress has been pelted with sandals, tomatoes and rotten eggs and hauled before court for telling Indian men not to expect their brides to be virgins anymore.

Khushboo, a 35-year-old star of Tamil language movies, told a magazine in September there was nothing wrong with premarital sex -- as long as it was protected sex.

She is now out on $100 bail, and banned from making any more public comments or giving interviews.

Anything To Highlight A Fool

I am definitely going to laugh at this one! We all know that this is just a slam to Bush and his oil rich croanies but at least those cash strapped by the Bush economy will benefit.

Thousands of low-income Massachusetts residents will receive discounted home heating oil this winter under an agreement signed Tuesday with Venezuela, whose government is a political adversary of the Bush administration.

Citgo Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, will supply oil at 40 percent below market prices.

It will be distributed by two nonprofit organizations, Citizens Energy Corp. and the Massachusetts Energy Consumers Alliance.

The agreement gives President Hugo Chavez's government standing as a provider of heating assistance to poor U.S. residents at a time when U.S. oil companies have been reluctant to do so and Congress has failed to expand aid in response to rising oil prices.

U.S. Rep. William Delahunt of Massachusetts, a Democrat, met with Chavez in August and helped broker the deal.

He said his constituents' needs for heating assistance trump any political points the Chavez administration can score.

Hat tip to Daffodillane

It's All About The Benjamins!

Well, I'll be damned! After many of the NBA players went into conniptions after being told they'd have to wear business casual attire while travelling and arriving/departing from games, they may end up profiting from the new rule. I recall that one of them pouted that he should be given a clothing stipend if he had to wear certain attire. Many players may just get paid after all:

The National Basketball Association's controversial new dress code has some clothing manufacturers offering players free clothing in an effort to land endorsement deals, according to a published report.

Trade publication Advertising Age reports that Levi Strauss & Co.'s Dockers brand has offered to outfit all 450 NBA players with business-casual clothing at a cost of almost half a million dollars. And J.A. Apparel Corp.'s Joseph Abboud, maker of high-end suits, has sent a letter to more than 100 first- and second-year NBA players offering a clothing-for-advertising deal, according to the publication. Both companies are privately held.

In addition, Italian fashion house Valentino has contacted the league about an apparel deal, executives familiar with the matter told Ad Age.

I agreed that the kuckleheads should have been better dressed so I guess I cannot complain. But, gees, it just seems wrong that they should get paid after acting like such little bitches!

Ahhhh, capitalism!

They've Given The Word. Will We Keep Ours?

We said we'd leave if/when they asked us to. Now it seems as though the factions in Iraq finally agree about something. They want us out! The question is: will we leave without a fight ?

"Leaders of Iraq's sharply divided Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis called Monday for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in the country and said Iraq's opposition had a "legitimate right" of resistance.

The final communique, hammered out at the end of three days of negotiations at a preparatory reconciliation conference under the auspices of the Arab League, condemned terrorism, but was a clear acknowledgment of the Sunni position that insurgents should not be labeled as terrorists if their operations do not target innocent civilians or institutions designed to provide for the welfare of Iraqi citizens.

The participants in Cairo agreed on "calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops according to a timetable, through putting in place an immediate national program to rebuild the armed forces ... control the borders and the security situation" and end terror attacks."

Also, it is a little bit telling that they are not calling the insurgents terrorists and acknowledge their "legitimate right" of resistance. Does that mean they will kill more of our soldiers to make us leave?

Wait A Minute! Wasn't Mary ....?

Though I really don't want to digress into my views on whether I thought that Mary had a virgin birth, I believe that all agree that according to the Bible, she was an unmarried woman at the time of conception (however that came about). So how is it that they are asking teachers to convey the teachings of the Catholic faith when the mother of the man the very church was built upon found herself in the same predicament.

Newsday reports today on a 26-year-old teacher at a Catholic preschool who was fired last month for being unwed and pregnant. Now, the New York Civil Liberties Union has taken up her case, and filed a complaint against both the school and the Diocese of Brooklyn.

"This is a difficult situation for every person involved, but the school had no choice but to follow the principles contained in the teachers' personnel handbook," diocese spokesman Frank DeRosa said in a statement. Newsday notes that the handbook says that each teacher must "convey the teachings of the Catholic faith by his or her words and actions."

But lawyers at the NYCLU -- which argued a similar suit in Buffalo in 2003 and won -- argued that administrators enforced the policy in a way that disproportionately affects women.

"The school used her pregnancy as a marker," attorney Cassandra Stubbs told Newsday. "How do they determine if male employees engage in premarital sex?"

If the father of the child worked at the same school, I wonder if he would have been fired?

Brought To You By The Letter X

And if the X fits ...

We Never Had The Burden Of Proof?

Why the heck did they present all of that trumped up information in order to convince the American public that Saddam was a threat? Does this now mean we can randomly attack anyone we want at will because they cannot prove to our satisfaction that they aren't cooking up a plan to attack us? I don't know who listens to Dick Cheney anyway but I wish he'd shut up.

"Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday accused critics of 'corrupt and shameless' revisionism in suggesting the White House misled the nation in a rush to war, the latest salvo in an increasingly acrimonious debate over prewar intelligence.

Cheney also denounced proposals for a quick U.S. withdrawal from Iraq as 'a dangerous illusion' and shrugged off the failure to find weapons of mass destruction. 'We never had the burden of proof,' he said, adding that it had been up to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to prove to the world that he didn't have such weapons.

Following President Bush's lead, Cheney praised the character of Rep. John Murtha even as he voiced strong disagreement with the Pennsylvania Democrat's proposal last week to pull out all U.S. troops."

Another thing! Dick Cheney and the entire Bush team are hardly the ones who should be accusing anybody of being "corrupt and shameless!"

Still Clueless And Dangerous

No surprise. Even in this day and age, I run across bone heads with similar views on this and other things related to women. Men still don't get that no means no and that rape is not about sex but about violence and power. Why should men only be held accountable for sexual assault if the victim is an infant/child or an elderly nun? Why do 1 in 3 people think that if the victim is a vibrant young woman who is sexy, she is responsible for a man's inability to control himself?

"On a break from jury duty, I spotted this horrifying story in the Guardian about a new Amnesty International report showing that in the U.K., one in three people interviewed believe that a woman who behaves flirtatiously is partially responsible should she be raped. About a third of people also believe the woman is partly or wholly to blame for getting raped if she is drunk. And a quarter of the people interviewed believe she was asking for it if she was wearing sexy clothing. It's hard to pick the most troubling statistic in this report, but I'm going to go with this final one -- that 'nearly 15 percent of respondents thought a woman would be partly responsible for being raped if she was known to have many sexual partners, and 8 percent [thought she would be] totally responsible.'"

(Oh, and there are some woman who think this way too)!

Presenting The Leader Of The Free World

It is one thing for Michael "Wakco Jacko" Jackson to make faces at the press. Despite his musical genious and my fond memories of him as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, even I can acknowledge that he may be one tick on the otherside of crazy. But THIS is the President of the United States of America and the defacto leader of the free world.

Irked by a reporter who told him he seemed to be 'off his game' at a Beijing public appearance, President George W. Bush sought to make a hasty exit from a news conference but was thwarted by locked doors.

At the end of a day of meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other Chinese officials, Bush held a session with a small group of U.S. reporters and spoke at length about issues like religious freedom, Iraq and the Chinese currency.

The final reporter he called on critiqued Bush's performance earlier in the day when he stood next to Hu in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square to deliver a statement.

'Respectfully, sir -- you know we're always respectful -- in your statement this morning with President Hu, you seemed a little off your game, you seemed to hurry through your statement. There was a lack of enthusiasm. Was something bothering you?' he asked.

'Have you ever heard of jet lag?' Bush responded. 'Well, good. That answers your question.'"

My God! I honestly don't think I can take another three years of this man!

Across The Border

Bill O'Reilly has long since crossed the border into the land of beyond ridiculous. The invitation for al Qaeda to attack San Francisco because parents don't want their children being lured into the military on school grounds. I realize that FoxNews pays him big bucks to capture the minds of the mindless but, for crying out loud, he is just getting idiotic.

Appearing yesterday on a conservative San Francisco radio show, Bill O’Reilly offered his first public comments since being criticized for saying he would approve of an al Qaeda terrorist attack on the California city.

O’Reilly not only stood by his comments, but claimed they “needed to be said”:

I mean, look, everybody knows what’s going on there. What I said isn’t controversial. What I said needed to be said. I’m sitting here and I’m looking at a city that has absolutely no clue about what the world is. None. You know, if you had been hit on 9/11 instead of New York, believe me, you would not have voted against military recruting. Yet the left-wing, selfish, Land of Oz philosophy that the media and the city politicians have embraced out there is an absolute intellectual disgrace."

Sorry, he is the intellectual disgrace!

Sex And The Stick

I guess the latest issue of New York magazine is causing a stir in some circles. I probably wouldn't have thought twice about the photo because I am so used to seeing images like that.

Both Feministing and Gawker have noticed that the cover of New York magazine's annual "Sex" issue features a tangle of the limbs and lips belonging to dozens of lily-white people.

I'll second that and jump in with my own observation: that what New York terms, in its headline, "The State of Play" is pretty undernourished, small-chested, and totally shorn. None of these people seem to have an ounce of fat on them. Nor, despite their supposedly amorous embraces, does it look like they have ever perspired. In their whole lives. And apparently, women who are sexy do not have any hair on their bodies except for the stuff on their heads. They also have boyish bodies and vacant stares.

A friend's husband once made the remark that men who prefer stick thin women with no curves or shape were really lusting after adolescent boys. I'd never thought of it like that before but it makes me think about that everytime I see someone oogling some waif or, from an ethnic standpoint, some of these very petite and juvenile looking Asian women. I really have to check myself sometimes because, particularly here in California, there seem to be many white men who consider themselves "Asiaphiles." When I see such couples I almost automatically think "pedophile" and am sure I grimace in some way. It feels rather awful to admit that but, particularly when the men are grossly unattractive or much older, I just get icked out and think the worst.

I Hate BAKs!

This is a mini-vent about bad assed kids! In my apartment complex, my parking space faces the window of a first floor apartment. Over the years, many people have lived there and I've never really taken note of the residents. A few months ago, a family moved in and, apparently, one of the children occupies the room that faces my car when I pull in. On a regular basis, I see this child (peering through fully drawn blinds) watching me unload groceries, my purse, backpack and whatever else from my car. I almost always have a load. There also appears to be a cat who is there sometimes (and, of course, I say "hi kitty kat" most of the time).

Well, today I return from a grocery store run and this little child is outside on a scooter/skateboard. She says "Excuse me, can you not look in my window?" After digesting what this CHILD said to me, I am appalled and ready to break into full sister mode that she would have the audacity to address an adult that way. So, I reply, "If you are standing in your window STARING AT ME, I am going to look back ... LITTLE GIRL! YOU DO NOT TALK TO ADULTS THAT WAY!!!"

Turning 45 today, I know that because I am petite and have smooth skin, I can still look like a kid - particularly to a kid. But, god dammit, I will not be sassed by some fat little redneck child who feels she can glare at me out of her window (and I even used to smile at the little urchin from time to time) then tell me not to look at her! Who raises these little heathens?

Okay, vent over. Happy Birthday to me!

Next!

Okay! They can filibuster away for all I care! This is getting ridiculous!

Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito boasted about his work arguing that 'the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion' while trying to become a deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration, according to documents released Monday.

Alito, a federal appellate judge nominated by President Bush to the nation's highest court, was a young lawyer working for the solicitor general's office in 1985 when he applied for the position under Attorney General Edwin Meese.

As part of his application, Alito sent a document saying his work in the solicitor general's office had included helping 'to advance legal positions in which I personally believe very strongly.'

'I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government argued that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion,' he wrote.

That sentence provides one of the first clear-cut statements attributed to Alito about abortion, which will be one of the main topics of his January confirmation hearing as retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's replacement.

Sleepy Loser!

Wah, wah, wah! Poor baby couldn't get to bed before 10 p.m.! I am so sick of this fool!

President Bush was furious with the staff preparation for last week's inter-American summit in Argentina where his trade proposals ran into unexpected opposition.

The president was reported as particularly unhappy with the work by his National Security Council staff in getting ready for the meeting. That added to Bush's distress in Buenos Aires, dealing with violent street demonstrators and hostile fellow presidents led by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and including Argentina's Nestor Kirchner.

The crowning indignity for Bush was the Friday night state dinner starting at 10 p.m., an hour when the president normally is in bed. He left the dinner early, but it was midnight by then.

God Forbid If I Can Buy My Own Drinks

It's so refreshing to see such a young little thing so well trained in the tradition of sexism and chauvinism. Here's an opinion column by a college student on the changing roles of men and women.

The day men and women have the same level of power is the also the day when chivalry dies. Many women enjoy visiting bars and having men buy them drinks in exchange for a casual conversation. It seems that after all the work women put into getting ready for a night out, they won't compromise their ability to get free alcohol for the sake of self-independence.

Other women appreciate a man paying for dinner or movie tickets. But in a world where men and women see each other as equals, a man might not open his wallet and show a level of gallantry toward an intriguing woman.

Many of life's common courtesies would disappear if men and women were the same. Women would have to protect themselves and a lot of women would find themselves walking home alone instead of being escorted home by a man. A man's reflex to open a door for a woman would be replaced with the thought of her being comfortable enough to open the door for herself.

Just a few questions/comments:

• Women would have to protect themselves from whom?
  
• I didn't know men had natural reflexes to open doors. Many don't get the hint unless a woman (who actually does expect it) stands there waiting for him to do so.
  
• Drinks in exchange for conversation is called prostitution (in the strict sense of the word).
  
• I didn't realize that a man (or woman) paying for dinner was so crucial to the balance of power in a relationship (and refer to the item above).
  

Though I know many older men who still think like this, I still forgive this youngun for still having these notions in this day and age. Perhaps he'll find someone who will allow him to do all the things he listed above that validate his manhood. For the record, many women do pay for their own drinks and dinners because they know full well that many men ultimately expect some form of affection in exchange for him footing the bill. Most men tend to get the hint that if a woman pays for herself, he probably won't be getting none at the end of the evening. If they want to call it gallantry, that's fine. Women wising up over the past couple of generations, and seeing wining and dining for what it is, are hardly seeking equality. They are seeking to promote the notion that the honor of their company is worth more than a couple of drinks and a plate of food.

Why Does Walmart Hate Christmas?

Here we go again with Christian bullies claiming that saying Happy Holidays is an attempt to steal Christmas. Wal-Mart says that it intends to use the Happy Holidays greeting in lieu of the more narrow Merry Christmas so now the drum beats are sounding and the wagons are circling.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Thursday said it no longer employs a worker who wrote to a shopper that Christmas is a mix of world religions, but that the company does support the generic greeting, 'Happy Holidays,' as being more inclusive amid year-end celebrations by numerous faiths.

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights criticized the world's largest retailer and called for a boycott over Wal-Mart's approach to Christmas.

'We want a) an apology for insulting Christians by effectively banning Christmas and b) a withdrawal of its insane statement regarding the origins of Christmas and c) a revision on its website,' Catholic League President Bill Donohue said on the group's Web site.

In an interview, Donohue dismissed Wal-Mart's statement that it was respecting multiple beliefs as 'corporate arrogance.'

'If Wal-Mart, which is the family-friendly institution, gets away with this, then all the other department stores will just fall into line,' he told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The dispute erupted after a Wal-Mart worker responded to a woman who complained that the company was replacing "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays." The response described Christmas as a combination of world traditions from Siberian shamanism to Visigoth calendars.

The e-mail, which Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said was genuine, said Wal-Mart had to act as a global organization in a world with many different practices.

"The colors associated with Christmas red and white are actually a representation of the aminita mascera (sic) mushroom. Santa is also borrowed from the Caucuses, mistletoe from the Celts, yule log from the Goths, the time from the Visigoth and the tree from the worship of Baal. It is a wide wide world," said the e-mail, from a customer service worker identified only as Kirby.

Here are some hints for the "little bus" people. Happy Holidays encompasses the entire holiday season. From a shopping standpoint (the reason stores exist in the first place), it begins the day after Thanksgiving. While most consider it to be the Christmas season, there are numerous other holidays and celebrations which occur during the same time period: Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Winter Soulstice, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. This is why it is more appropos to embrace the entire season and include ALL celebrations - not just one day. I have no idea why some random "temporary" employee would attempt to provide a consumer with facts about the pagan orgins of many symbols of Christmas (because that is beside the point). But, I'd hardly call Wal-Mart's decision to include all of its customers "corporate arrogance." I'd say that the Catholic League was exhibiting "Christian arrogance" by assuming that the holidays were all about them. As someone who HATES Wal-Mart, I'm already effectively boycotting them by never shopping there. So, them being targeted is no skin off of my teeth. I just wish these "Christians" would show this much outrage about Wal-Mart's questionable business practices and employee rights/benefits policies.

My God Is An Awesome God

I don't know who the heck Pat Robertson worships!

Conservative Christian televangelist Pat Robertson told citizens of a Pennsylvania town that they had rejected God by voting their school board out of office for supporting 'intelligent design' and warned them on Thursday not to be surprised if disaster struck.

Robertson, a former Republican presidential candidate and founder of the influential conservative Christian Broadcasting Network and Christian Coalition, has a long record of similar apocalyptic warnings and provocative statements.

Last summer, he hit the headlines by calling for the assassination of leftist Venezuelan Present Hugo Chavez, one of President George W. Bush's most vocal international critics.

'I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city,' Robertson said on his daily television show broadcast from Virginia, 'The 700 Club.'

'And don't wonder why He hasn't helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I'm not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that's the case, don't ask for His help because he might not be there,' he said.

When will there come a point where people will stop giving this man a platform upon which to issue his "fatwas?" He sounds utterly and completely out of his mind!

Don't Be Back!

I know I voted no on all 8 initiatives on GP alone because I thought that the entire special election was a waste of time and money (and this was the most expensive election in history) and that Ah-nold was totally out of line for demanding it. They were all defeated and now Arnold has to stop playing Terminator and work with the people he promised to work with.

'The buck stops with me,' he told reporters Thursday during a Capitol news conference, referring to the clean sweep against his proposals in Tuesday's special election. 'I take full responsibility for this election. I take full responsibility for its failure.'

Voters rejected each of the initiatives Schwarzenegger was pushing on the ballot. He sought to implement a state spending cap and give the governor authority to make midyear budget cuts, change the way legislative districts are drawn, lengthen the probationary period for teachers and restrict the ability of public employee unions to raise money for political campaigns.

Asked if there was anything he would do differently, Schwarzenegger said, 'If I was to make another Terminator movie, I would tell Terminator to travel back in time to tell Arnold not to have another special election.'

Voters also rejected unrelated measures on abortion, prescription drugs and California's energy market.

'I operate with a different mentality,' Schwarzenegger said, saying he will seek to be more patient with legislators. 'I think I recognize that now more so than I did before."

If he doesn't pull anymore power plays, I think I can tolerate him until the election next year. I am still mad at the morons who voted in this Kindergarten Cop but I think that most of them have seen the err of their ways.

Keep Ignoring The Man Behind The Curtain

When are they going to stop this farce?

Top White House officials say they're developing a 'campaign-style' strategy in response to increasing Democratic allegations that the Bush administration twisted intelligence to make its case for war.

White House aides, who agreed to speak to CNN only on the condition of anonymity, said they hoped to increase what they called their 'hit back' in coming days.

The officials say they plan to repeatedly make the point -- as they did during the 2004 campaign -- that pre-war intelligence was faulty, it was not manipulated and everyone was working off the same intelligence.

Breeding At The Bottom

I saw a promo for this recently and really think it illustrates the point I was making yesterday on the Pope's mandate for larger families (and no abortions). Mississippi's pro-life junkies have been successful at closing down all but one clinic in the entire state. They basically protest, harass, intimidate and shame women from going in. This special on PBS will take a look at this movement against choice.

PBS' Frontline is scheduled to air an episode tonight, The Last Abortion Clinic. The episode will take a look at the increasing amount of state level anti-choice legislation and will focus on Mississippi. I wonder why.

In the last decade, all but one clinic providing pregnancy terminations in the state have closed. The last abortion clinic, in Jackson, is difficult to access for women outside the capital who do not own a car, who have limited funds for gas or who cannot easily take time off from work or child care responsibilities.

"It's like even before Roe v. Wade for these poor women," says Pat White, a nurse-midwife who has been working in the Mississippi Delta for decades. "We are making decisions for them. These women have no option except to continue with the pregnancy, whether they can afford it, or whether or not it's wanted, or whether or not they can emotionally provide for the child."

Ugh. I'm sure I'll end up screaming at the television the entire time, but I'm planning on watching anyway.

A video preview of the episode is available online.

Here's my problem with this strident movement to prohibit choice. Mississippi consistently ranks as one of the poorest states in the nation. From an education standpoint, students perform at the lowest levels as well. So, just as with third world nations that have few resources and few options, women are stuck having children they cannot afford to feed, educate an properly nurture. So, yes, they can hold the moral high ground on making sure all children are born. But for DECADES Mississippi has been unable to rise from the pits of poverty and illiteracy yet they keep breeding and breeding more children into this sick cycle. Now, what is moral about that?

More Crash Dummies For Iraq

As if they didn't learn a lesson from Lyndie England about recruiting low hanging fruit, it seems they have tripled the number of not so bright soldiers.

The number of new recruits who scored at the bottom of the Army's aptitude test tripled last month, Pentagon officials said, helping the nation's largest armed service meet its October recruiting goal but raising concerns about the quality of the force.

Former Army Secretary Thomas E. White said the service was making a mistake by lowering its standards. 'I think it's disastrous. You are throwing the towel in on recruiting quality,' said White, a retired general whom Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld fired in 2003 over other policy differences.

'We have clear experience from the 1970s with recruiting a sizable number of people from the lowest mental categories,' said White. After the Vietnam War, the Army accepted a higher proportion of low-scoring recruits, leading to training and discipline problems, he added.

To achieve last month's recruiting targets, 12 percent of those accepted by the Army had the lowest acceptable results. They scored between 16 and 30 points out of a possible 99 on an aptitude test that quizzes potential soldiers on general science, mathematics and word knowledge.

Then again, I guess you need stupid people to fight a stupid war.

Look What We Done Did!

I don't know what we did to Italy but they are telling on us!

Italian media going full-bore on the Bush Administration. After its revelations on the subterfuge behind the Nigergate forgeries, documentary evidence of the use by US troops of phosphorus and a new formulaton of napalm [MK77] on the Sunni civilian population will be broadcast tomorrow on international satellite TV. Global coverage of the atrocity, folks.

Read the whole thing! As much as I hate George Bush, I'm scared!

We Just Treat 'Em Real Bad

I think a few hundred pictures would lead most to a different conclusion but baby Bush is running around Panama telling people we don't torture.

President Bush on Monday defended U.S. interrogation practices and called the treatment of terrorism suspects lawful. 'We do not torture,' Bush declared in response to reports of secret CIA prisons overseas.

Bush supported an effort spearheaded by Vice President Dick Cheney to block or modify a proposed Senate-passed ban on torture.

'We're working with Congress to make sure that as we go forward, we make it possible, more possible, to do our job,' Bush said. 'There's an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again. And so, you bet we will aggressively pursue them. But we will do so under the law.'

Cheney is seeking to persuade Congress to exempt the Central Intelligence Agency from the proposed torture ban if one is passed by both chambers.

Bush spoke at a news conference with Panamanian President Martin Torrijos on the same day the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider a challenge to the administration's military tribunals for foreign terror suspects.

Somebody Give Me A Bat

Bush in Panama::

"People around here know how to play baseball."

Jesus Cristo! No mas, por favor!

Hoodwinking The Wackos

I haven't even touched the Abramoff scandal. There is just too much scurrilous behavior for me to keep up. But, I had to post this tidbit which illustrates what many of us have known all along. The religious right is no more than a pawn and cornerstone of GOP sleazy strategy:

Consider one memo highlighted in a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday that Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, sent the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana to describe his strategy for protecting the tribe's gambling business. In plain terms, Scanlon confessed the source code of recent Republican electoral victories: target religious conservatives, distract everyone else, and then railroad through complex initiatives.

'The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees,' Scanlon wrote in the memo, which was read into the public record at a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. 'Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them.' The brilliance of this strategy was twofold: Not only would most voters not know about an initiative to protect Coushatta gambling revenues, but religious 'wackos' could be tricked into supporting gambling at the Coushatta casino even as they thought they were opposing it.

Suckers!

A Bridge Too Far

It seems like an eternity since the 2000 election season when I was actually taking a good look at John McCain as an acceptable consolation prize that I could settle for in the event that Al Gore didn't win. But, after his great big butt kiss to Bush (after all of the unconscionable dirty tricks he and Rove played to smear he and his family during the primaries), I wrote him off as an opportunistic punk-assed bitch. Thank God I saw his true colors long ago. Now, I am not so bothered by seeing that he is reaching out to the Tele Tubby obsessed Jerry Falwell.

Sen. John McCain is taking action to make it hard for conservatives to write him off in the 2008 presidential race. His office confirms that the maverick moderate recently met with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a conservative icon who is influential with voters on the right. Also, as McCain prepares a campaign-style trip to South Carolina, critical in the 2008 GOP primaries, a key ally is putting himself in the good graces of conservatives. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is winning kudos from conservatives for backing Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, raising his stature in the state and maybe even making his 2008 endorsement the key to victory. And should McCain win the state that derailed his 2000 bid, Graham would vault to the top of the veep list, say insiders.

Kids: They're Not Just For Farming Anymore

Way, way back in the day when we lived in a largely agrarian culture, there was some benefit to having a lot of children. If the family had a farm, tons of children meant tons of hands to work the farm. These days, despite intangible joys of parenting, children today can be seen as mere drains on the pocketbook and people in civilized cultures are opting out of having more than they can afford to feed, educate and nurture. The Pope, therefore, needs to get with the times!

Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday called on Italian lawmakers to provide incentives to large families as Europe continues to struggle with sagging fertility rates.

'It is my hope that further adequate social and legislative measures be promoted to protect and support more numerous families, which constitute a richness and a hope for the entire nation,' the pope said.

...

'In the current social context, families with lots of children constitute a testimony of faith, courage and optimism, because without children there is no future,' Benedict said.

When I went to Spain a few years ago, our tour guide spoke of how they were providing incentives for people to have more children because it appeared that young couples were opting to have fewer children or no children at all. They were also allowing in immigrants from other countries who typically bred larger families (though I'll bet that won't last more than a generation). What I find sad about the influence of Catholicism is that far too often, the countries who are having the most children, are the ones who can least afford to provide them with healthy, quality lives. I have a copy of The Dali Lama's Little Book of Inner Peace at my desk. A while back, while browsing it, I found a passage on "over population, poverty and birth control." It states:

More than five billion people in the world is too many. Morally, it is a mistake because it aggravates the distortion between rich and poor countries. And on a practical level, it's a disaster. We could ensure that everyone has enough to eat if we mitigated the power of commercial interests, which is not so simple to do. But it is far less certain that we could ensure that everyone has enough to drink.

Therein lies the difference between religion and spirituality. You have a Pope promoting large families in a world that is already too crowded and that inadequately shares resources. As with the abortion argument, I call people who place church doctrine above common sense, compassion and concern for a long life, pro-birthers - not pro-lifers because they seem to have little regard for what happens to babies/children/women/people after they emerge from the womb. The religious conservatives on the far right who would force women to have the child of a rapist, are the same ones who are prepared to cut funding for foster care for the unwanted/neglected children who are already here.

So while the Pope is pursuing sainthood for a woman who married a widower with two children then birthed him nine more, there is a globe filled with children who are fending for themselves, being used and exploited and who are dying of malnutrition, hunger and curable diseases.

It's time for Vatican III, IV and V because this old white man needs to get his mind and beliefs out of the Stone Age and the church needs to stop plotting to gain an endless supply of parishioners who will ultimately only serve to line church coffers.

He Must Be Kidding!

One of the things that bothers me so much about George W. Bush is that far too often he just plain doesn't get it. Ethics, like morality, integrity and good manners, are something that have to be cultivated and developed from an early age and throughout life. Perhaps this is a desperate attempt to convince the public that his entire staff isn't crooked but these little mandatory ethics briefings are going to be like trying to plug the broken New Orleans levees with a piece of Doublemint gum.

President Bush has ordered White House staff to attend mandatory briefings beginning next week on ethical behavior and the handling of classified material after the indictment last week of a senior administration official in the CIA leak probe.

According to a memo sent to aides Friday, Bush expects all White House staff to adhere to the 'spirit as well as the letter' of all ethics laws and rules. As a result, 'the White House counsel's office will conduct a series of presentations next week that will provide refresher lectures on general ethics rules, including the rules of governing the protection of classified information,' according to the memo, a copy of which was provided to The Washington Post by a senior White House aide.

The mandatory ethics primer is the first step Bush plans to take in coming weeks in response to the CIA leak probe that led to the indictment of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, and which still threatens Karl Rove, the deputy White House chief of staff. Libby was indicted last week in connection with the two-year investigation. He resigned when the indictment was announced and on Thursday pleaded not guilty to charges of lying to federal investigators and a grand jury about his conversations with reporters.

It's sad people. Just sad!

Negro: It's A Good Thing

Granted, I missed the beginning of this conversation. But, why on earth would Andy Rooney be at all preoccupied with the words black or negro. Heck, why didn't he add colored?

ROONEY:The word negro, which is a perfectly good word, it�s a strong word and a good word. I don�t see anything wrong with that.

How do you feel about this?

Now, I have witnessed some younger people get bent out of shape about the word negro because many of them were somehow taught that it was derogatory and a synonym for nigger. I've often had to explain that they needed to slow their roll and understand that it is not a bad word. During my stint on this earth and in this country we've been called colored, negro, Afro-American, black and now the very inaccurate African American (that's right, I think that Teresa Heinz Kerry has more claim to the label African American than me - a native black/negro/colored American). But, as I told a curious person from my college dorm who asked which of those words I wanted to be called, "my name is Susan and I prefer that."

At Least Somebody On The Right Gets It!

I am so sick of people brushing off the outing of Valerie Plame as though it was no big deal! How dense are these pundits and Bush apologists that they cannot see that it was clearly wrong - and possibly dangerous - to blow the secret cover of an agent. I am still totally perplexed by what would possess Bob Novak to publish such a thing and his current "hiatus" from television came none too soon for me. William Buckley, at least, is willing to speak out about the seriousness of outing Valerie Plame. The fact that the Bush administration has sunk so low that they don't even have regard for the sanctity of our secret agencies if it interferes with their nefarious plans is telling indeed!

We have noticed that Valerie Plame Wilson has lived in Washington since 1997. Where she was before that is not disclosed by research facilities at my disposal. But even if she was safe in Washington when the identity of her employer was given out, it does not mean that her outing was without consequence. We do not know what dealings she might have been engaging in which are now interrupted or even made impossible. We do not know whether the countries in which she worked before 1997 could accost her, if she were to visit any of them, confronting her with signed papers that gave untruthful reasons for her previous stay that she was there only as tourist, or working for a fictitious U.S. company. In my case, it was 15 years after reentry into the secular world before my secret career in Mexico was blown, harming no one except perhaps some who might have been put off by my deception.

The great question here is Robert Novak. It was he who published, in his column, that Mrs. Joseph Wilson was a secret agent of the CIA. I am too close a friend to pursue the matter with Novak, and his loyalty is a postulate. What was going on? If there are mysteries in town, that surely is one of them, the role of Novak.

The importance of the law against revealing the true professional identity of an agent is advertised by the draconian punishment, under the federal code, for violating it. In the swirl of the Libby affair, one loses sight of the real offense, and it becomes almost inapprehensible what it is that Cheney/Libby/Rove got themselves into. But the sacredness of the law against betraying a clandestine soldier of the republic cannot be slighted.

Obsessed Much?

This is crazy! Who sits up and worries about other people having sex? What kind of psycho would withold a known preventative cure for a serious virus out of fear that teens will do what they have been doing since the beginning of time?

A new vaccine that protects against cervical cancer has set up a clash between health advocates who want to use the shots aggressively to prevent thousands of malignancies and social conservatives who say immunizing teen-agers could encourage sexual activity.

Although the vaccine will not become available until next year at the earliest, activists on both sides have begun maneuvering to influence how widely the immunizations will be employed.

Groups working to reduce the toll of the cancer are eagerly awaiting the vaccine and want it to become part of the standard roster of shots that children, especially girls, receive just before puberty.

Because the vaccine protects against a sexually transmitted virus, many conservatives oppose making it mandatory, citing fears that it could send a subtle message condoning sexual activity before marriage. Several leading groups that promote abstinence are meeting this week to formulate official policies on the vaccine.

I honestly believe that these wingnuts are closet freaks and deviants. There is just no way a normal person spends this much time worrying about someone else's sex lives (teens or adults).

It May Have Been A Little Rude

But it sure was funny!

A question posed to White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan at this morning’s “gaggle” by CBS White House correspondent John Roberts has attracted quite a bit of chatter on the Internet. Of course, the topic of the day is the Supreme Court nomination of Samuel Alito, and the question from Roberts, was, “Scott, you said that – or the President said, repeatedly, that Harriet Miers was the best person for the job. So does that mean Alito is sloppy seconds, or what?”

He later apologized but one thing it is showing is that McClellan's credibility is thin and reporters seem to be losing respect for him and a sense of decorum in his daily briefings.

The Budget Is A Moral Issue

Unfortunately, the "Christ-filled" party of the greedy does not care about the needy. Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojo.net often says that the budget is a moral issue. It's too bad they don't get that giving tax cuts to the richest in America while cutting funds for the poorest is as immoral as it is sinful.

The Senate took up far-reaching legislation yesterday that would slice $39 billion over the next five years from a slew of entitlement programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, student loans and agriculture subsidies, while raising revenue by opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. A final vote is due Thursday.

The House will go further. Most likely by Thursday, the House Budget Committee will take up eight different bills from eight different committees saving at least $50 billion over five years. In so doing, the legislation will rewrite welfare laws, curb federal support of state child-support enforcement, reverse a court-mandated expansion of foster-care programs, and make significant changes to Medicaid, such as allowing states to add co-payments and premiums for families just above the poverty line. The full House is expected to take up the measure next week.

I wonder if the poor and elderly who voted for Bush understand that it's not what someone says, it's what they do? Many of them will die or go hungry finding out.

More On Harry Doin' The Damn Thing!

The Washington Post has more on Harry demanding the closed Senate session. Seems he pissed the hell out of Bill Frist!

'I demand on behalf of the American people that we understand why these investigations are not being conducted,' Reid said. He then demanded the closed session.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) angrily denounced the move, charging that 'the United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership.' He told reporters that he has never as majority leader 'been slapped in the face with such an affront to the leadership of this grand institution.'

Frist called the closed session 'a pure stunt' by Reid, Durbin and the Democratic leadership.

'This is an affront to me personally,' he said. 'It's an affront to our leadership. It's an affront to the United States of America. And it is wrong.'

Frist sharply criticized Reid personally, saying he could never trust the Democratic leader again.

Can you believe these losers? One of the biggest pack of lies of this century was used to rush us into a pre-emptive war and Bill Frist is pouting that he can't trust Harry Reid? Is he crazy or high?

[...]
"The purpose of this closed session is to discuss the need for a phase two investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee," Durbin told reporters after the move. He said this investigation was promised as early as Feb. 12, 2004, yet "nothing has been done."

"It is clear now that the American people were not informed properly before the invasion of Iraq," he said. "Intelligence information was distorted, was misused, and we have seen as late as last week the lengths which this administration has gone to try to silence and discredit their critics of the misuse of this intelligence information."

Durbin added, "We're serving notice on [Senate Republicans] at this moment: Be prepared for this motion every day until you face the reality. The Senate Intelligence Committee has a responsibility to hold this administration accountable for the misuse of intelligence information. They have promised this investigation. We will continue to make this request until they do it."

Under Rule 21, the chamber can be ordered into closed session when any member calls for it and the motion is seconded. No vote is required. Going back into regular session requires a majority vote.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the move "historic" and said it was prompted by mounting frustration.

"An administration that can't admit it makes mistakes is bound to make many, many, many more of them," he said. The closed session was needed to "get the majority to implement its proper oversight role," he said. "That relates to the war, and it relates to many, many others issues as well."

Bravo dudes! They wanted a showdown over SCOTUS, they can take another one!

Give 'Em Hell Harry!

It is about time! The bright among us have smelled a rat in the White House since the call for war began. There is no Godly reason, beyond senility, that would have prompted Libby to obsess over Joe Wilson's report enough to out his CIA wife and ruin her career - then lie about it so sloppily. Though Patrick Fitzgerald may not be investigating the case for war, it is obvious that it needs to be investigated. I'm glad Harry Reid is stepping up to the plate on this one.

The Senate's Democratic leader Harry Reid (D-NV) unexpectedly pulled the Senate into secret session Tuesday afternoon in order to have closed discussion of Iraq intelligence, RAW STORY has learned. Specifically, the senator sought to discuss a Senate Select Committee on Inteligence report on the failure of Iraqi WMD intelligence.

The maneuver immediately shuttered the doors of the Senate and cleared the Senate press galleries. It has been invoked just 53 previous times in the history of the body. It was last used during the Clinton impeachment hearings.

Closed sessions were also employed in 1997 for the Chemical Weapons Convention, and in 1992 during debate over China's 'Most Favored Nation' trade status.

The Senate can vote to end closed session by a simple majority. It is unknown how long the Senate will remain closed, Reid's office told RAW STORY.


Reid's statement: