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February 19, 2005
Greatest presidents
The results of the latest Gallup "greatest presidents" poll are, what's the word? Weird.
1. Reagan
2. Clinton
3. Lincoln
4. FDR
5. JFK
6. George W. Bush
7. George Washington
8. Jimmy Carter
9. Harry Truman
10. Teddy Roosevelt
11. Thomas Jefferson
12. George HW Bush
13. Ike
14. Nixon
A few things here. Woodrow Wilson and James Madison are conspicuously missing. Jefferson is way too low on the list. Lincoln is third? And George W. Bush shouldn't even be on the list -- even if all 43 presidents were listed (put Pierce on twice to fill the space).
08:54 AM | Comments (5) | Posted By Bob Cesca
February 18, 2005
Gannon, bias, and watchdogs in the press
Newsflash: the Republican apologists for Jeff Gannon are balls-out delusional. Cliff Kincaid, of the right-wing "Accuracy in Media", was on the Franken show this afternoon and had the nerve to compare Helen Thomas and, what he called, "bias" to the flagrant bias of man-whore Jim "Jeff Gannon" Guckert.
Why can't the Republicans see the distinction between bias and watchdogging?
Let's define this for the delusional sycophants on the right.
Helen Thomas is a full-blooded journalist with 40 years in the White House press corp. Sure, she asks tough, hard-nosed questions of the Bush administration and has suffered as a result -- being thrown from the front row and stripped of her ceremonial duty of saying, "Thank you, Mr. President," at the end of Bush's press conferences.
To say that she's biased is an absolute LIE. Thomas has asked tough questions of every White House administration she's covered: Clinton, Bush 41, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, and Kennedy. She's quite literally THE DEFINITION of what the U.S. press ought to be: a watchdog, holding our elected officials accountible at every turn, then reporting the results.
The members of the "press" who defend Bush at every turn have failed to do their duty and should be driven from the ranks of the press as failures, miscreants, and throw-backs to the days of yellow journalism. They're nothing less than biased propaganda arms for the Bush/Rove White House.
I don't care which party the press covers. They have a duty take a muckraking, watchdog role in order for the American public to get the full story.
On that account, the American press is brain dead.
02:39 PM | Comments (8) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Rendered obsolete and quaint
01:35 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Rummy must resign
Sorry for stating the obvious in the headline, but now more than ever, Rumsfeld is behaving like a lunatic. A 6th grader could give better answers than these:
Asked about the number of insurgents in Iraq, Rumsfeld replied: "I am not going to give you a number."
Did he care to voice an opinion on efforts by U.S. pilots to seek damages from their imprisonment in Iraq? "I don't."
Could he comment on what basing agreements he might seek in Iraq? "I can't."
How about the widely publicized cuts to programs for veterans? "I'm not familiar with the cuts you're referring to."
Not familiar? These are Bush's cuts that impact Rummy's department and he's not familiar with them? Seriously... Wouldn't a grade school student be flunked or sent to the principal for these sorts of answers? Here's the worst:
When the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Ike Skelton (Mo.), asked about the number of insurgents in Iraq, the secretary said, "I am not going to give you a number for it because it's not my business to do intelligent work."
Full story and more short bus quotes at the Washington Post.
11:01 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
February 17, 2005
Iraqi prisoner died under interrogation
Fraternity pranks, Mr. Limbaugh? Eff you.
An Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA interrogation while in a position condemned by human rights groups as torture _ suspended by his wrists, with his hands cuffed behind his back, according to reports reviewed by The Associated Press.
One Army guard, Sgt. Jeffery Frost, said the prisoner's arms were stretched behind him in a way he had never before seen. Frost told investigators he was surprised al-Jamadi's arms "didn't pop out of their sockets," according to a summary of his interview.
Frost and other guards had been summoned to reposition al-Jamadi, who an interrogator said was not cooperating. As the guards released the shackles and lowered al-Jamadi, blood gushed from his mouth "as if a faucet had been turned on," according to the interview summary.
Full story from the AP.
04:20 PM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
February 16, 2005
More '08 speculation
This seems to generate plenty of varied opinions, so here's another ticket to chew on. How about:
Bill Richardson / Wes Clark
Discuss.
06:14 PM | Comments (5) | Posted By Bob Cesca
And Bush doesn't give a flying damn
Kyoto protocol goes into effect today. And Mr. Bush is worried about a Social Security "crisis". Bloody hell.
Check this photo journal at BBC. Sad, sad, sad.
05:08 PM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bush administration is suing U.S. POWs
This is insane! For the love of all that was once good in this country, send this story to every Bush-apologist you know. The LA Times:
WASHINGTON — The latest chapter in the legal history of torture is being written by American pilots who were beaten and abused by Iraqis during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. And it has taken a strange twist.
The Bush administration is fighting the former prisoners of war in court, trying to prevent them from collecting nearly $1 billion from Iraq that a federal judge awarded them as compensation for their torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Can I have one Bush-apologist volunteer who can explain to me how the fucking hell Bush "supports the troops"?
Related flashback: Bush has a long history of blocking valid lawsuits. During this lawsuit blockage, then-governor Bush perjured himself. More on "Funeralgate" here and here.
08:26 AM | Comments (6) | Posted By Bob Cesca
It begins: the war build-up lying
It looks like the neocon strategists are doing it again. Brad Blog is following the repeated use of a series of satellite photos of the SAME location which are being passed off as SEPARATE nuclear facilities located in BOTH North Korea and Iran.
First, CNN carried the photos then retracted when they were alerted, and now a government funded news site (!) is running the same images.
The only thing scarier than another war is the American press and citizens buying another litany of flagrant lies and disinformation from these ass backwards lunatics. You watch. Smart people will be marginalized and criticized (as Scott Ritter was) and the hype and propaganda from the Bush administration will be taken at its word.
And most of America will be distracted by the fucking Michael Jackson circus.
08:04 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
February 15, 2005
If you have to discuss bias, you're biased
Media Matters reported on a curious question Chris Matthews posed to Tucker Carlson on Friday's Hardball: "Do you think our network is getting too conservative?"
Of course MSNBC's roster of right-wing hosts is growing. But that's only symptomatic of the real issue.
The question itself is the issue. Bias should never have to be discussed. And most of all, when pundits are reporting on themselves, the press becomes the story and there goes the ballgame. Every second they spend masturbating, is one less second they can spend on doing their job (reporting the news and watchdogging the government for their viewers).
If you have to ask, "Is my body getting too much cancer?" there's one thing for certain: you HAVE cancer. The other thing that's for certain is, you're asking the wrong goddamn questions.
10:00 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Oh crap.
Mr. Bush during yesterday's swearing-in of Torturer General Alberto Gonzales:
As Attorney General Gonzales begins his service, he will build on the outstanding work of Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Crap. Crap crap crap.
And in return, we must provide you [Gonzales] all the tools you need to do your job. And one of those tools is the Patriot Act, which has been vital to our success in tracking terrorists and disrupting their plans. Many key elements of the Patriot Act are now set to expire at the end of this year. We must not allow the passage of time or the illusion of safety to weaken our resolve in this new war. To protect the American people, Congress must promptly renew all provisions of the Patriot Act this year.
CRAP!
09:13 AM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
49%: Bush's Iraq election bump is over
Gallup is now showing Bush's approval at 49% -- down from the 57% Gallup rating which came in shortly after the Iraq elections (most other pollsters show Bush as low as 45%).
This occurred to me... What sort of Bush incident/mistake would force some of the drowned-in-Kool-Aid, Hannity-style Republicans to back away from this guy?
08:54 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
February 14, 2005
Weren't they going to fix the vetting thing?
Think Progress has this today regarding the highly qualified judges Bush is sending to Congress:
“I’ve a constitutional responsibility to nominate well-qualified men and women for the federal courts – I have done so.” - President Bush, 2/14/05
“Nominations Sent to the Senate…Thomas B. Griffith, of Utah, to be United States Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit” - White House Press Release, 2/14/05
“Thomas B. Griffith, President Bush’s nominee for the federal appeals court in Washington, has been practicing law in Utah without a state law license for the past four years, according to Utah state officials.” - Washington Post, 6/21/04
Bush's "ability" to select qualified nominees for various federal appointments is at about the same level as a monkey's aptitude for Pythagorean mathematics.
05:04 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Al-Sistani: The Official Website
While you're pondering what the hell happens next in this ridiculous war, check out al-Sistani's official website here.
The best part of the site? Al-Sistani's "Cat Blogging".
08:27 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
February 13, 2005
Millions paid to contractors... in cash
No wonder $9 billion is missing. The AP:
U.S. officials in postwar Iraq paid a contractor by stuffing $2 million worth of crisp bills into his gunnysack and routinely made cash payments around Baghdad from a pickup truck, a former official with the U.S. occupation government says.
Because the country lacked a functioning banking system, contractors and Iraqi ministry officials were paid with bills taken from a basement vault in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces that served as headquarters for the Coalition Provisional Authority, former CPA official Frank Willis said.
Maybe I'm naive to how things are done with government contractors, but don't most of them have bank accounts and headquarters with accounts receivable departments... in the U.S.? And isn't the Pentagon... in the U.S.?
What the hell kind of banana republic are we living in now? And how can you Bush-apologists stand to look yourselves in the mirror? This is just embarassing. I mean, Bremer received the Medal of Freedom! Deluded! Deluded, deluded, deluded. We've crossed over. America has become a fairy tale.
07:41 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
