Live on Chapelle Show.

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It’s Friday… always for some.

YouTube – Primal Scream – Country Girl

MCCLELLAN: I’m checking into that. I said he’d check into that. I think someone asked that question the other day. I think it is very few times that he has been here in addition to any holiday receptions. [White House Press Briefing, 1/4/06]

MCCLELLAN: Well, I indicated yesterday that I think there were a few staff-level meetings. But, no, I’m making sure that I have a thorough report back to you on that. And I’ll get that to you, hopefully, very soon. [White House Press Briefing, 1/5/06]

MCCLELLAN: No, I did check. There were a few staff-level meetings. I think I previously indicated that he attended three Hanukkah receptions at the White House. It is actually one two Hanukkah receptions that he attended. … My understanding from the check that we did was that there are just a few staff-level meetings in addition to those. [White House Press Briefing, 1/17/06]

MCCLELLAN: Well, I did do a check, and I indicated to you exactly what I just told you. I indicated to you that there were a few staff-level meetings that he attended at least — he attended two holiday receptions, in 2001 and 2002. [White House Press Briefing, 1/23/06]

Yesterday a report from the Republican-led House Government Affairs Committee stated that Abramoff had as many as 485 contacts with the White House, and prime among his lobbying targets was former White House political director Ken Mehlman, and Bush’s adviser Karl Rove.

Of those 485 contacts, 345 were described as meetings or other in-person contacts; 71 were described as phone conversations and 69 were e-mail exchanges.

Think Progress – FACT CHECK: White House Falsely Claimed Abramoff Had “Very Few” Meetings With Staff

Yesyerday, we find out more confirmation that Bush, Rice, and Rumsfeld ignored Bin Laden PRIOR to 9/11:

Mr. Woodward writes that in the weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Tenet believed that Mr. Rumsfeld was impeding the effort to develop a coherent strategy to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. Mr. Rumsfeld questioned the electronic signals from terrorism suspects that the National Security Agency had been intercepting, wondering whether they might be part of an elaborate deception plan by Al Qaeda.

On July 10, 2001, the book says, Mr. Tenet and his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, met with Ms. Rice at the White House to impress upon her the seriousness of the intelligence the agency was collecting about an impending attack. But both men came away from the meeting feeling that Ms. Rice had not taken the warnings seriously.

Bush failed to respond for urgent requests for more troops:

The White House ignored an urgent warning in September 2003 from a top Iraq adviser who said that thousands of additional American troops were desperately needed to quell the insurgency there, according to a new book by Bob Woodward, the Washington Post reporter and author. The book describes a White House riven by dysfunction and division over the war.

AMERICAblog: Rumsfeld impeded and Rice ignored terror fight in 2001

Today’s revealing insider tidbits are another blow. Woodward reveals former WH Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Laura Bush conspired to have Rumsfeld removed but were vetoed by Cheney and Rove (who runs the WH?) fearing

that it would be seen as an expression of doubt about the course of the war and would expose Bush himself to criticism.

Also in the same piece Woodward mentions the unreleased Intelligence Estimate specifically on Iraq the same estimate that yesterday the WH said was still in draft and could not be released.

Woodward writes that there was a vast difference between what the White House and Pentagon had known about the situation in Iraq and what they were saying publicly. In memos, reports and internal debates administration officials have voiced their concern about the conduct of the war, even while Bush and cabinet members such as Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have insisted that the war was going well.

Last May, Woodward writes, the intelligence division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff circulated a secret intelligence estimate predicting that violence will not only continue for the rest of this year in Iraq but increase in 2007.

“Insurgents and terrorists retain the resources and capabilities to sustain and even increase current level of violence through the next year,” said the report, which was distributed to the White House, State Department and other intelligence agencies.

The report presented a similarly bleak assessment of oil production, electricity generation and the political situation in Iraq.

“Threats of Shia ascendancy could harden and expand Shia militant opposition and increase calls for coalition withdrawal,” the report said.

Woodward writes that Rice and Rumsfeld have been warned repeatedly about the deteriorating situation in Iraq.

Card Urged Bush to Replace Rumsfeld, Woodward Says – washingtonpost.com

Lott went on to say he has difficulty understanding the motivations behind the violence in Iraq.

“It’s hard for Americans, all of us, including me, to understand what’s wrong with these people,” he said. “Why do they kill people of other religions because of religion? Why do they hate the Israeli’s and despise their right to exist? Why do they hate each other? Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me.”

CNN.com – CNN Political Ticker

Senate Republicans are ready to cram in the “compromised” Presidential torture bill today before the end of the Senate session. They’ve held these people some for more than 5 years and suddenly there’s a great urgency (read: political need) to have them tried. And what a trial it would be:

These are some of the bill’s biggest flaws:

Enemy Combatants: A dangerously broad definition of “illegal enemy combatant” in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted.

The Geneva Conventions: The bill would repudiate a half-century of international precedent by allowing Mr. Bush to decide on his own what abusive interrogation methods he considered permissible. And his decision could stay secret — there’s no requirement that this list be published.

Habeas Corpus: Detainees in U.S. military prisons would lose the basic right to challenge their imprisonment. These cases do not clog the courts, nor coddle terrorists. They simply give wrongly imprisoned people a chance to prove their innocence.

Judicial Review: The courts would have no power to review any aspect of this new system, except verdicts by military tribunals. The bill would limit appeals and bar legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions, directly or indirectly. All Mr. Bush would have to do to lock anyone up forever is to declare him an illegal combatant and not have a trial.

Coerced Evidence: Coerced evidence would be permissible if a judge considered it reliable — already a contradiction in terms — and relevant. Coercion is defined in a way that exempts anything done before the passage of the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act, and anything else Mr. Bush chooses.

Secret Evidence: American standards of justice prohibit evidence and testimony that is kept secret from the defendant, whether the accused is a corporate executive or a mass murderer. But the bill as redrafted by Mr. Cheney seems to weaken protections against such evidence.

Offenses: The definition of torture is unacceptably narrow, a virtual reprise of the deeply cynical memos the administration produced after 9/11. Rape and sexual assault are defined in a retrograde way that covers only forced or coerced activity, and not other forms of nonconsensual sex. The bill would effectively eliminate the idea of rape as torture.

Well there you have it, straight from the Orwell playbook. What have we become?

Antiterrorism Bill on Detainees, Geneva Conventions – Rushing Off a Cliff – New York Times

Watch it.

Crooks and Liars – Keith Olbermann takes a ‘look back’ at Bush’s first months in office leading up to 9/11

Permalink: YouTube – Al-Mormon

hat tip: tim

She calls out the ex-Prez and cites the 9/11 Commission. So here it is, complete with page #’s for the unbelievers.
This is why there is a need for internet journalism. The MSM has aired two sides of a story. They have simply presented them with no analysis as having equal merit. Facts should not have equal merit as lies and should not be presented as equal. There must be more weight given to the truth. Lack of follow through and basic research as a continuous method of “news” has left a huge gap that needs filling. In this case Think Progress brings the shovel.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday accused Bill Clinton of making “flatly false” claims that the Bush administration didn’t lift a finger to stop terrorism before the 9/11 attacks.

… “What we did in the eight months was at least as aggressive as what the Clinton administration did in the preceding years,” Rice added.

The 9/11 Commission Report contradicts Rice’s claims. On December 4, 1998, for example, the Clinton administration received a President’s Daily Brief entitled “Bin Ladin Preparing to Hijack US Aircraft and Other Attacks.” Here’s how the Clinton administration reacted, according to the 9/11 Commission report:

The same day, [Counterterrorism Czar Richard] Clarke convened a meeting of his CSG [Counterterrorism Security Group] to discuss both the hijacking concern and the antiaircraft missile threat. To address the hijacking warning, the group agreed that New York airports should go to maximum security starting that weekend. They agreed to boost security at other East coast airports. The CIA agreed to distribute versions of the report to the FBI and FAA to pass to the New York Police Department and the airlines. The FAA issued a security directive on December 8, with specific requirements for more intensive air carrier screening of passengers and more oversight of the screening process, at all three New York area airports. [pg. 128-30]

On August 6, 2001, the Bush administration received a President’s Daily Brief entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S.” Here’s how the Bush administration reacted, according to the 9/11 Commission report:

[President Bush] did not recall discussing the August 6 report with the Attorney General or whether Rice had done so.[p. 260]

We have found no indication of any further discussion before September 11 among the President and his top advisers of the possibility of a threat of an al Qaeda attack in the United States. DCI Tenet visited President Bush in Crawford, Texas, on August 17 and participated in the PDB briefings of the President between August 31 (after the President had returned to Washington) and September 10. But Tenet does not recall any discussions with the President of the domestic threat during this period. [p. 262]

Rice acknowledged that the 9/11 Commission report is the authoratative source on this debate: “I think this is not a very fruitful discussion. We’ve been through it. The 9/11 commission has turned over every rock and we know exactly what they said.”

Think Progress � Rice Falsely Claims Bush’s Pre-9/11 Anti-Terror Efforts Were “At Least As Aggressive” As Clinton’s

Apparently Bush will receive no G-dly messages by proxy.

By signing the peace document in front of the White House, the United Methodists and other protesters also hope to influence congressional races in November 2006 by forcing candidates to outline where they stand on the war.
Speakers at the Washington DC rally accusing the President of lying about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction and launching what they called an illegal offensive.

“Our demand as a movement is to end the war now,” said Bishop Morrison. The declaration calls the situation in Iraq “an endless fire consuming lives, resources and the fragile possibilities of peace.”

Will there be the typical response?

Evangelical Right: Bush’s Own Church Has Called For The Withdrawal Of Troops From Iraq

Wow…
It’s gonna be a cold winter for the Emperor with fewer and fewer clothes.
Inspired by Clinton’s “not gonna take it anymore” response to the FOX ambush, Olbermann crafts this indictment on the Bush administration and their “monkeys”. Olbermann clearly elevates himself in a historic sense with this one.

Crooks and Liars – Olbermann’s Special Comment: Are YOURS the actions of a true American?

For those of you looking for the whole interview. Not surprising that the version on the FOX News website cuts it off at, “I Failed”.

Be sure to visit the three links at the bottom which clearly debunk Wallace’s assertion that he and FOX News have asked these questions of Bush, Cheny, Rice, Rumsfeld, or any other neocon.

Think Progress: VIDEO: Clinton Sets The Record Straight On Terrorism, Smacks Down Fox News

Live on the Henry Rollins Show (IFC)

Permalink: YouTube – Jurassic 5 – Freedom (live 2006)

Sometimes when you’ve had a weak week…

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What happens when the Lawyers get hold of the Ten Commandments.

6. The Party of the Second Part shall not commit murder except under the following seventeen thousand and forty-one (17,041) proviso(s) [partial list only—see Exhibit B for complete list]:

i) To spread the word written herein
ii) To solve a land dispute
iii) To spread freedom and democracy
iv) To make the cover of the Daily News
v) To impress Jodie Foster

The Morning News – Covenant Schmovenant, by David K. Israel