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The End
"...somebody named Cliff Schecter, an expert. Never heard of him."-Rush Limbaugh
A Senate electoral playing field that was already wide open for 2008 has become considerably more perilous for Republicans with the retirement of Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and the resignation of Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho).
Republicans need a net gain of just one seat to take back control of the Senate, but they have 22 seats to defend, and campaign cash is conspicuously lacking. Warner's retirement raised to two the number of open Republican seats, and both of them -- in Virginia and Colorado -- are prime targets for Democrats.
(snip)
"The state of the playing field looks very good, even in places where we didn't expect it to look good, even in deeply red states," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "Things could change, but if you did a snapshot, we're going to have a good year."
"It's always darkest right before you get clobbered over the head with a pipe wrench. But then it actually does get darker," said a GOP pollster who insisted on anonymity in order to speak candidly.
Switch To New Site Finally Happening
A military airplane carrying four members of the U.S. Congress came under fire over Iraq on Thursday but the plane was not hit and no one was hurt, a spokesman for one of the lawmakers said on Friday.Mmmm. The Baghdad skies: Lean back, soar among the clouds, and....DUCK!
The C-130 cargo aircraft conducted evasive maneuvers after a nighttime takeoff from Baghdad, said Ken Lundberg, spokesman for Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, who was on the plane.At least it was a bipartisan attack.
In addition to Martinez, the plane was carrying fellow Republican Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, and Alabama Rep. Robert "Bud" Cramer, a Democrat.To quote our favorite Wide-Stancer, "Jiminy!"
ALSO UP AT AMERICABLOG:
Snort.
However, I believe history will provide a more clear-eyed verdict on this president’s leadership than the anger of current critics would suggest.
President Bush will be viewed as a far-sighted leader who confronted the key test of the 21st century.
(snip)
Damn, it would have made my Friday night.
Craig to announce his plans Saturday
Staff
AP News
Aug 31, 2007 17:18 EDT
Idaho Sen. Larry Craig will announce his future plans Saturday after widespread calls from fellow Republicans to resign, according to his spokesman.
BREAKING - Buh-Bye John Warner
The Band Marches On: War Profiteers Find Ever More Sickening Ways To Commit Treason
You start off as a well-connected bureaucrat: in this case, as an Air Force civil engineer, a post from which Robbins was responsible for overseeing 70,000 servicemen and contractors, with an annual budget of $8 billion. You serve with distinction for thirty-four years, becoming such a military all-star that the Air Force frequently sends you to the Hill to testify before Congress -- until one day in the summer of 2003, when you retire to take a job as an executive for Parsons, a private construction company looking to do work in Iraq.Yes, if this doesn't remind you of the very "military industrial complex" President Eisenhower--a Republican at a time when they were actually a respectable party instead of a collection of self-hating lunatics--warned us about in his farewell speech, you're dumber than Dubya.
....
A few months later, in March 2004, your company magically wins a contract from the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq to design and build the Baghdad Police College, a facility that's supposed to house and train at least 4,000 police recruits. But two years and $72 million later, you deliver not a functioning police academy but one of the great engineering clusterfucks of all time, a practically useless pile of rubble so badly constructed that its walls and ceilings are literally caked in shit and piss, a result of subpar plumbing in the upper floors.
Following the conviction of a few low-ranking soldiers for their roles in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, Lt. Col. Steven Jordan was reprimanded Wednesday by a 10-member jury after his conviction on only a single charge - failing to obey an order. As a result, he will spend no time in jail, after being cleared of all allegations that he abused prisoners or failed to do his duty as a senior officer at the notorious prison. The case is supposed to be the last of the criminal proceedings concerning this dark chapter of the Iraq war, but sources close to the Abu Ghraib legal drama tell TIME that two key civilians who worked as private contractors in the notorious facility's cell blocks could still face prosecution.Well that clears it up. They don't "tolerate" or "condone" torturing other human beings. So that's why it didn't happen. Oh wait, it did.
....
CACI itself said in 2004 that its own internal investigation had produced no evidence that any of its employees had been involved in abuse at the prison. Contacted by TIME regarding new investigations into their former employee Stefanowicz, a spokesperson said: "CACI does not condone or tolerate illegal acts or behavior on the part of its employees. It is the company's clear and unambiguous policy that all its activities shall comply with all applicable laws at all times."
One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted.Is this the country you thought you lived in? Because it was not the one I grew up believing in. It is also not a country that is going to prosper much longer on the world stage, unless we do something to show people that we don't reward venality and criminal behavior.
Or worse.
For daring to report illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods.
Take top poster and pass to the left.
Following those instructions, hundreds of Hilliard Darby High School football fans fell into an elaborate prank on Friday night.
When they stood up during a football game against cross-town rival Hilliard Davidson High School and held up squares of construction paper, they thought they were spelling out: "Go Darby."
But from across the field, Davidson fans read the actual message:
"We suck."
Now why can't we do the same to a Bush or Cheney event?
Oh, I remember why. We'd all get cuffed and dragged off to another country to be tortured.
Richmond (Map, News) - Sen. John Warner, R-Va., is expected to announce today that he will not seek re-election, Republican officials said Thursday.
According to GOP campaign and congressional sources, the 80-year-old Warner has informed them he will retire when his fifth term ends at the end of next year. Political analysts, however, cautioned that Warner may not come to a final decision until he steps up to the microphone at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where he is scheduled to appear at 2 p.m.
(snip)
Some congressional aides said Virginia's senior senator could be hoping for a last-minute intervention by GOP leaders who want him to run again, but others say he has made up his mind not to seek a sixth term.
One top GOP aide described the decision to retire as “solid.”
WASHINGTON - Tony Snow, the highly visible White House press secretary, will leave his job on Sept. 14 and be replaced by his deputy, Dana Perino, an administration official said Friday.
President Bush was to announce the changes during an appearance in the White House briefing room.
Snow, ailing with cancer, had said recently he would leave before the end of Bush's presidency because he needs to make more money.
The Gay Penalty
Now there is the furious swiftness of the GOP's response to Craig. Senate Republican leaders have called for an ethics committee investigation and stripped Craig of his committee assignments; presidential candidate Mitt Romney couldn't boot Craig as his Idaho chairman fast enough. Would the reaction have been nearly so fierce if homosexuality wasn't involved?.
When Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter's phone number turned up on the accused D.C. madam's call list and he acknowledged a "very serious sin" in his past, there was hardly a peep from the GOP leadership. Craig pleaded guilty to a crime, and Vitter wasn't charged, but lawmakers' squeamishness with gay sex, I suspect, played a big role in the differing treatment
10. Bring stability and long term security to The View.
9. Each year on my birthday, every American gets a cupcake.
8. You'll have the option of rolling dice against the IRS for double-or-nothing on your taxes.
7. Having trouble getting a flight and Air Force One is available -- it's yours.
6. My vice president will never shoot anybody in the face.
5. Turn Gitmo into a Dairy Queen as soon as possible.
4. For over a century there have been only two Dakotas -- I plan to double that.
3. We will finally have a president who doesn't mind pulling over and asking for directions. Am I right, ladies?
2. I will appoint a committee to find out what the heck is happening on Lost.
1. One more pantsuit joke and Letterman disappears
Mucho buzz on the intertubes and CNN that Larry Craig will step down soon.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency gave an upbeat assessment of Iranian cooperation with international inspectors in a new report Thursday that could make it more difficult for the United States to win tougher U.N. sanctions against Iran.No way! If this keeps up, we'll have to find a brand new country to invade!
The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna also concluded that while Iran continues to enrich uranium in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, its fuel enrichment plant has produced "well below the expected quantity for a facility of this design." The quality of the uranium also was lower than expected, the IAEA said.What no mushroom cloud? No Holocaust? What fun is that?
The report praised Iran for --SCREEEEEECH! Huh?? Wait. Go back. Say that again.
The report praised Iran for taking "a significant step forward" by agreeing to a new work plan and timelines for resolving numerous questions about the history of its nuclear program. Separately, U.N. officials said that Iran had slowed construction of a new plutonium-fuel reactor in Arak.Boiiiiing! That was the sound of Bush's eyes popping out of his head.
The report suggests that if Iran adheres to the program and timelines, the agency could resolve its remaining questions about the nature of the country's nuclear program by the end of the year and close the file.Close the file? Close the file? What are they nuts? This must be some mistake. We can't have that. It simply won't do. That was Chimpy's favorite file!
If the IAEA concludes that Iran has not engaged in a covert program to develop nuclear weapons, it could raise new questions about the quality of U.S. intelligence in the Middle East. The United States made the case for going to war against Iraq based on claims that Saddam Hussein had programs to develop nuclear technologies and other weapons of mass destruction, but U.S. forces found no evidence of such programs after invading the country.Bush would have to come up with a whole new little skit on looking for WMD somewhere else. Wouldn't that be special? He's such a cut-up.
But the report also gave ammunition to Iran's critics, who noted that the country has not stopped its uranium enrichment...Whaddya want? They are part of the Axis of Evil. Nobody's perfect.
Dr. Drew Westin Peers Into The Craven "Mind" Of David Brooks
(CNN) — When will Fred Thompson officially jump into the race for the White House? That's the question all of us would like to know. Well, here's what we're learning.
A handful of sources working on Thompson's formal entry into the race for the GOP presidential nomination tell CNN to expect the former Tennessee senator and actor to make his announcement on the web, some time as early as the middle of next week. They say Thompson will travel and campaign in key primary states following the Internet announcement.
By delaying the filing of his organizational papers until books have closed on the third quarter of 2007, Thompson arguably will not have to file any disclosure reports with the FEC until January 31, 2008, after the Republican primaries/caucuses in WY, IA, NH, NV, FL and Lord knows who else at this point.
Got that?
Frederick of Hollywood's shadow campaign can raise millions and spend millions without having to disclose to the public a single contribution raised or disbursement made over a six-month span -- and while his opponents have been consistently doing so -- delaying disclosure until after at least five Republican primaries have been held.
And it's deliberate, too, just like his (failed) coy attempts to walk the tightrope on "testing the waters" activity.
The Larry Craig Arrest Audio
Justice Department investigators have expanded their probe into whether political considerations were improperly used in hiring, inquiring about personnel decisions as long as a year before Alberto Gonzales became attorney general.In a related story, Karl Rove is anxious to probe into his own activities to determine whether he's a lying, underhanded, destructive sleazeball.
THEY FOUND THE IRAQI WMDS!!!
UN Inspectors Find Chemical in UN Office
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- U.N. weapons inspectors who had been in Iraq discovered potentially hazardous chemical agents in their office near U.N. headquarters as they were wrapping up their operation, a U.N. spokesman said Thursday.
"There is no immediate risk or danger," U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.
Chemicals from Iraq inspections found in N.Y.
FBI called in to remove what U.N. inspectors collected decade ago
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. officials found vials of dangerous chemicals, which had been removed from Iraq a decade ago, in a U.N. building in New York, but U.N. officials said Thursday there was no danger.
Members of the 1st Battalion 265 Air Defense Artillery have mobilized and are on a plane headed first to Ft. Bliss, then for federal active duty in the capital region.The troops will be deployed for a year. [...]Thom got creeped out by this. When Thom's creeped out, so am I.
They are ordered by the president to the nation's capital, where they will operate high-tech weapons systems against any potential air threat. [...]
The 265th is part of Operation Noble Eagle.
This Is Why I Like Chris Dodd
Moveon Slams Rep. Brian Baird (D-Blue Dog) For Betraying The Soldiers In Iraq