::: 9-11 Commission Told No ... No Extension :::

Hastert Tells W. House He Won't Extend 9/11 Panel


Could the administration really think the American people, remember them, the ones
who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001, are not interested in finding out how
9-11 unfolded, answering the countless questions that do not add up, in providing
explanations for grieving family members?

I doubt it.

There could be tiny indescrepancies lurking, missed signals, ignored warnings. Could
the party in power (as well as the one in the minority) be so self-absorbed, so intent
on retaining that power, they would deny the American people answers, the answers
to the questions on the tip of their tongues?

Could they be so embroilled in teir secrecy trip they could deny the 9-11 Commission
the right to examine the PDB (President's Daily Brief) reports, allowing one or two
panel members to review all the docs, then report to the rest of the panel?

Perhaps it is the the Saudi Secrets ... the 28 pages of blank lines ... page
after page after page.

[...]
It's not just the Saudi secret that's being kept.

The recent report of the joint congressional committee that probed intelligence failures before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon reveals what the Bush administration doesn't want Americans to know about the American government.

You would not know this from media accounts about this report. They have dwelled on what the Bush administration doesn't want us to know about the Saudi government.

This is the famous 28-page chapter, a series of blank lines across page after page, that the president refuses to declassify despite the pleadings of the bipartisan group of lawmakers and the Saudi government itself.

The dustup over Saudi secrets is exquisitely convenient. It obscures George W. Bush's relentless hold on U.S. secrets and on information he maintains should be secret, though it has not necessarily been before now.

The report's appendix hints at what these secrets are, and why they are kept. "Access Limitations Encountered by the Joint Inquiry," the section is titled.
[...]

During spring and summer of 2001, the intelligence community was warning of the
possibility of a spectacular attack against the United States involving mass
casualties. Research shows countless warning came in from many other countries
such as Egypt, Pakistan, Israel and many more. Why were the warnings ignored?

And then there were these other curious occurances:

NEWSWEEK has learned that the state of alert had been high during the past two weeks, and a particularly urgent warning may have been received the night before the attacks, causing some top Pentagon brass to cancel a trip.

Pentagon officials cancelled September 11 flying plans day before: On Sept. 10, NEWSWEEK has learned, a group of top Pentagon officials suddenly canceled travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of security concerns.

US Heard 'Tomorrow Is Zero Hour' on Eve of Attacks: U.S. intelligence intercepted two messages the day before the Sept. 11 attacks that indicated an event was planned the following day, but the communications were not translated until Sept. 12, government sources said on Wednesday.

NSA Intercepts On Eve of 9/11 Sent a Warning: The National Security Agency intercepted two messages on the eve of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon warning that something was going to happen the next day, but the messages were not translated until Sept. 12, senior U.S. intelligence officials said yesterday.

Bin Laden's Trail - Rushdie Air Ban (banned from flying from September 3rd): THE author Salman Rushdie believes that US authorities knew of an imminent terrorist strike when they banned him from taking internal flights in Canada and the US only a week before the attacks.

Wednesday, May 22, 2002 10:51 a.m. EDT
Dan Rather: Bush Issued Bogus Terror Alert to Cover Up 9-11 Bungle.

[...]
CBS Evening News" anchorman Dan Rather accused the Bush administration Wednesday morning of issuing an unwarranted FBI terrorist alert to New York City yesterday primarily to distract from questions about its handling of pre-Sept. 11 intelligence information.

Appearing on the "Imus in the Morning" radio show, Rather said he "believed" his network's report a week ago that the White House received a CIA briefing before 9-11 on possible al-Qaeda hijackings prompted the administration to issue the alert for political damage control.

"I can believe that the president and the people around him were surprised and peeved, to say the least," Rather contended, "that the information got out last week with [CBS's] report that President Bush had been briefed about some things that, in retrospect after Sept. 11, would indicate that, well, maybe somebody should have done something."
[...]

Some Got Warning: Don't Go Downtown on Sept. 11: Federal investigators have received evidence that some Middle Easterners in the New York area were warned ahead of time to stay out of lower Manhattan the morning of Sept. 11, the Daily News has learned.

Police: Arab-American community, heard rumors of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in the days leading up to the hijackings, law enforcement sources say.

Trade Center warning baffles police: I went to Brooklyn this week in search of an “urban myth” about the World Trade Center attacks. What I came back with was no longer a myth — it was cold, chilling fact. But it didn’t clear anything up for me; that the “myth” was true only made matters murkier. Was word of the attacks on the street beforehand? I wanted to find out.

Western Intel Knew bin Laden's Plan Since 1995 - German Pape: Western secret services knew as far back as 1995 that suspected terror mastermind Osama bin Laden planned to attack civilian sites using commercial passenger planes, German newspaper Die Welt said Friday.

*******************************************************************************************************
NOTE: Something strange is happening with Blogspot lately. I did not click on the tab to "publish" this or the most recent post I am working on. I clicked on "post" which would normally SAVE it, not posted, so I can continue to work on it. Also, I did not intend for the entire post to be "bolded" and when I edit the post, I can find no reason for ALL of it to be bolded.

I am very puzzled and I wondered if anyone else is having problems?

There is a huge amount of data involved in this file ... most of which I just "cut" out. My plan was to work on it a bit more today when I had time and to provide the links to go with the questions or info ... also to cull whatever I did not think appropriate.

Granny,
who is working on it, but not finding reasons for the oddities.
- posted by JT @ 11:18 PM |

 
::: Greenspan Completes The Betrayal :::

Greenspan suggests we make the President's tax cuts for
the rich permanent, but only if they are paid for offset by
an estimated $1 trillion in spending cuts.

Wonder where they will trim the $1 trillion from? Hmmm ... lets see,
how about entitlement programs. If they do that, we can invade
a few more countries, get more contracts for Cheney's Halliburton.
Never mind that Halliburton is under criminal investigation.

And then the real kicker ....
[...]
With an eye toward balancing the budget to avert a financial disaster after baby boomers start retiring in six years, Congress should consider cuts in all spending programs -- including the politically sensitive entitlements Social Security and Medicare, he said.
"I am in favor, as I have indicated in the past, for continuing the tax cuts that are in dispute at this particular stage. But I would argue strenuously that it should be taken out on the expenditure side," he said.

"Everyone is looking at the issue only of the discretionary spending part of the budget," he said, but simple "arithmetic" dictates that benefits will have to be trimmed.
Social Security, with more than $450 billion in spending a year, is the most expensive program, followed by defense at $400 billion, Medicare at $260 billion and Medicaid at $150 billion.

"The arithmetic doesn't work," Mr. Greenspan said. "I raise these issues largely because I think we have ... constructed a good deal of the benefit structure over the last quarter-century without a real, firm look at whether or not the real resources were there to meet those benefits."

While many senators at the hearing said they want to balance the budget and curb spending, no one voiced support for the curb in entitlements suggested by Mr. Greenspan.

Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, Maryland Democrat, was incredulous that Mr. Greenspan advocated $1 trillion in spending cuts to make Mr. Bush's tax cuts permanent.

"How do you take it out on the expenditure side?" he asked. "At this point, even if you just froze expenditures -- and we have all of these expenditures, in Iraq and homeland security -- you'd still be running up an additional over $1 trillion deficit."

Extending the tax cuts "will undermine our future fiscal strength in terms of dealing with the very problem that you just spent a few minutes outlining for us," Mr. Sarbanes said.
[...]

Now I don't mind telling you ... this really burns me up. After we, the largest
generation to carry the Social Security program on our backs and pay in the
taxes necessary to do so.

The Medicare Bill, which is a total fraud, will NOT help seniors and
will destroy Medicare as we know it has already jumped to over $500
billion and I am sure it will do so again.

The Republican bill passed late last year in the middle of the night by
holding open what would have normally been a 15-20 minute vote
for several hours while Republicans raced all around the senate
scrounging for votes and having doubters speak to Bush personally
on the phone.

Then another story of sleeze and possible misconduct broke ...

[...]
WASHINGTON (CNN) --The House Ethics Committee announced Wednesday it started an investigation almost two months ago into
allegations Rep. Nick Smith was offered a bribe to vote for the Medicare prescription drug bill.

It was the first public acknowledgment the committee was looking into the matter, following public statements suggesting it was not.

On the night of the Medicare vote in November, Republican leaders worked hard to persuade Smith, a fiscally conservative Republican from Michigan who opposed the $400 billion price tag of the measure, to support the bill. In the end, he did not. (Full story)

Days later, however, he wrote in a column on his Web page that he was offered financial support for the campaign of his son, Brad, to succeed him when he retires at the end of this term.

"This is the end of a Medicare program that forces seniors to choose between food on the table and the medicine that they need," Frist said.

Opponents, however, vowed that the fight isn't over. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle predicted that once seniors learned how the bill worked, they would mobilize as they did 38 years ago for the original Medicare bill.

I was struck by how vacant the galleries were and so few seniors citizens looking down," Daschle, D-South Dakota, said after the vote. "What you saw instead were lobbyists packing the halls. They will do well. Our seniors will not, and that is why the fight will go on."
[...]

Shame on the administration for running TV ads that do not pass the
sniff test and should trigger a suit for truth in advertising ... if they
have not trashed that law to suit themselves as well. The statements
made in those ads are just the nearest breath to lies. Only the
precise wording saves the ad from a legal standpoint. But that does
not excuse the attempt to pull the wool over seniors eyes and make
claims they can "keep their Medicare the same as it is" and that will
include the prescription benefit. That is not true.

The entire bill is a sham start to finish, was written by the drug companies
and the insurance industry who stand to benefit in $billions. It is the same
kind of legisation we have come to expect from the Bush administration:
think Energy Bill.

From the premium estimated (not set) at around $35 per month (in truth,
the insurance companies could change that figure to whatever they please
to the "gap" in coverage and a few other detail not mentioned in the ads
... such as if a senior signs with an insurance company that provides
prescription coverage, their regular Medicare coverage is terminated. It
is a blatant move to privatize Medicare and the administration should be
ashamed of themselves for duping seniors desperate for rx coverage.
The bill is so fraught with pitfalls for hopeful seniors.

But, of course, they are NOT. There is hope though, seniors in America
have become wary of complicated plans and understand far more of the
insidious details than the framers of this bill realize.

Personally, when AARP sent me a surprise card in the mail, I tore it to
shreds and wrote them a scathing, informative note with instructions
where to keep it.

WOW, Granny is mad now!
- posted by JT @ 7:24 PM |

 
::: Bush Has Balls :::

So sorry to be crass, but it is so difficult to respond to the hideous
policies of Geroge Bush in a ratiional manner.

Another Recess Appointment

It is beyond me why some Americans think the secrecy and stealth of
the Bush Administration are an appropriate way to operate an open,
democratic government. Unless it is the end justifies the means.

[...]
The nomination of Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor Jr. to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit was, from the beginning, a provocation on the part of the Bush administration. Yesterday Mr. Bush made that provocation all the more provocative by installing Mr. Pryor -- who has been held up by a Democratic filibuster -- by recess appointment. Mr. Pryor is the second judge the president has placed on the bench using this procedure, which allows the president to bypass Senate confirmation for appointments made on a temporary basis. The result is that Mr. Pryor will be a judge for now, but he will leave office unless both Mr. Bush and a filibuster-proof Republican Senate majority win election this year. In other words, his prospects of longer-term service on the bench will be bound up with the electoral fate of the Republican Party -- exactly the sort of political dependency from which judges are supposed to be insulated.
[...]
But the opposition to Mr. Pryor's nomination was well justified by his repeated descriptions of courts and judging in overtly political terms. His willingness to accept a recess appointment only underscores his unfitness.
[...]

It is one thing to appoint uncontroversial judges by recess appointment,
but quite another to do so because of fear a judge will not be confirmed
on his or her merits.

Granny
- posted by JT @ 3:51 PM |

 
::: Bushville Tent City To Rise In New York :::

Hail To The Hobo Chief

Coming to a town near you ... The Dubya Circus!!

[...]
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group fighting poverty announced plans on Thursday to erect a tent city called "Bushville" during the Republican Party convention in August, one of several demonstrations expected in a summer of political protest in New York.

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign will put up the tents for five days before the Aug. 30-Sept. 2 meeting, which will nominate President Bush to run for a second four-year term in the Nov. 2 election.
[...[

We will be marching because both Democrats and Republicans alike have failed to address our real life and death issues," said spokeswoman Cheri Honkala. She said the political establishment neglected poor and homeless people and issues such as health care, housing and farm workers' rights.

Honkala, a formerly homeless mother in Minneapolis, Minnesota, said the group will provide "reality bus tours" in rundown areas of New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey from the tent city. She declined to disclose its precise location.

The group plans a march on Aug. 30 from U.N. headquarters to the Madison Square Garden convention venue, she said.
[...]

Well, shut my southern mouth ... that will be a sight to see!

Gran


- posted by JT @ 3:42 PM |

 
::: Ann Coulter ~~ Vitrolic Attack On Max Cleland :::
::: Mr. Rumsfeld, Please Send Her To Iraq ~~ PDQ :::

Shame on You, Ann Coulter

Scott Galindez points up the mean spiritedness of the compassionate conservatives.


Ann Coulter's recent attack on Max Cleland shows just how un-patriotic the right has become. In a recent column, Ms. Coulter rewrites history in a shameful attack on a real American hero:

Excerpts from Coulter's column:

"Cleland lost three limbs in an accident during a routine non-combat mission where he was about to drink beer with friends. He saw a grenade on the ground and picked it up. He could have done that at Fort Dix. In fact, Cleland could have dropped a grenade on his foot as a National Guardsman - or what Cleland sneeringly calls 'weekend warriors.' Luckily, for Cleland's political career and current pomposity about Bush, he happened to do it while in Vietnam."

But he didn't "give his limbs for his country," or leave them "on the battlefield." There was no bravery involved in dropping a grenade on himself with no enemy troops in sight. That could have happened in the Texas National Guard - which Cleland denigrates while demanding his own sanctification."
[...]

Peter Carlson of the Washington Post also wrote:

"On April 8, 1968, during the siege of Khe Sanh, he stepped off a helicopter and saw a grenade at his feet. He thought he'd dropped it. He was wrong. When he reached down to pick it up, it exploded, ripping off both legs and his right hand. He was 25."

Makes one a bit sick this early in the morning.

Granny



- posted by JT @ 8:46 AM |

 
::::::::: Certain To Brighten Your Day ::::::::
::: Ashcroft May Be Doing The Perp Walk :::

Prosecutor Sues Ashcroft

ShaaZamm! Makes Granny happier than three hogs wallowing in the mud.

[...]
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino of Detroit accused the Justice Department of ''gross mismanagement'' of the war on terrorism in a whistleblower lawsuit filed late Friday in federal court in Washington.

Justice officials said Tuesday they had not seen the suit and had no comment.

The suit is the latest twist in the Bush administration's first major post-Sept. 11 terrorism prosecution, which is now in danger of unraveling over allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.
[...]

In a move famaliar to most of us by now (Think Plame) ...

[...]
Convertino also accused Justice officials of intentionally divulging the name of one of his confidential terrorism informants (CI) to retaliate against him.

The leak put the informant at grave risk, forced him to flee the United States and "interfered with the ability of the United States to obtain information from the CI about current and future terrorist activities," the suit alleges.
[...]

This is just too rich (even if it is embarrassing as an American .... though no
one deserves it more than Mr. Wooden Broom-Up-His-Pious-Butt) ... you
guys will just have to click and read for yourselves.

Granny
- posted by JT @ 5:40 PM |

 
*** Granny's War Memories ***

While Saddam was penning romance novels, Dubya was peeing down his leg
and talking on the phone to Daddy Bush, "Why not, the evildooer tried to kill
you, after all, and besides I know he has WMD. I swear I will find it
if I have to dig up every rose bush in all of Iraq.

Then there was Shock and Awe ... which proved to be not quite as shocking as
the Prince of Darkness, Rummy, had hoped ... and right away the Pentagon
began to wonder how Saddam managed to engineer a Mars-Red dust storm ...
the embeds were working out well when they were not driving off into rivers,
or failing to quit when they were ahead.

Many sections of Iraq were eerily quiet ... with only abandoned tanks and
chem suits left in the rush from war. Americans rushed home each
night to watch the war on TV. Arabic stations bombed the airwaves
with pictures of American dead and prisoners of war and Americans got
a video game report and Baghdad Bob.

Between scattered reports of firefights and a few pictures of Iraqi dead, we
were treated on CNN to Aaron Brown and the wise commentary of Wesley
Clark, consummate General. And ... more Baghdad Bob assuring the world
the Americans were being slaughtered and were no where near Baghdad.

Soon there was the forging of rivers, the taking of Saddam International
Airport, and by golly, some smiling Iraqis in the streets. Troops settled into
the past master's castles and America gave a sigh of relief.

Right away there was more excitement ... Iraqis tried to pull down a statue
of their ousted leader ... American troops in a tank watched as the Iraqis
tried and tried again in vain to topple the dictator. They were ill-equipped,
brandishing only a few shoes and a couple of ropes ... so ... it was the
yanks to the rescue, making short work (and a faux flag maneuver) of the
tyrant's image.

Yes, there is more and it goes downhill from there. (You know what goes
down hill?) Far too many American souls have arisen from shredded bodies
in a foreign land and David Kay has finally put an end to the WMD question
... NOT!

Oh, and let us not leave out a single heroic act ... there was the staged
rescue of Jessica Lynch, who is indeed a hero as all the brave hearts are
who were shipped to Iraq for no good reason ... or at least no reason
they will admit.

America the Occupier is truly an Ugly American and hated as such. But we
were and are there and it was not and is not possible to walk out ... not
after we had just walked out on Afghanistan for the second time.

The Death Toll shot past 500 recently and yesterday I heard this
was the all time bloodiest month to date. But President Bush thinks we
should receive a pat on the back ... for the liberation and for pulling
Saddam out of his spider hole.

Hmmm ... as SouthKnoxBubba would say ...

OK then ...
- posted by JT @ 5:37 PM |

 
::: Bush's Foreign Policy Dream Team Duped :::
::::::: Ahmad Chalabi Conned The NeoCons ::::::

Learn how Dick Cheney's Secret Service name "Backseat" got him into the
front seat in Maureen Dowd's piece in the N.Y Times, The Thief of Baghdad.

Personally I would have thought the name HindEnd would suit him better, but
hey, the White House does not usually check with me on the things.

[...]
In the Ford White House, Dick Cheney's Secret Service name was Backseat, because he was the model of an unobtrusive staffer, the perfect unflashy deputy chief of staff for that lord of the bureaucratic dance, Donald Rumsfeld.

As James Mann writes in his new book, "The Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet," Mr. Cheney started out supervising such lowly matters as fixing a stopped-up drain in a White House bathroom sink; getting a headrest for Betty Ford's helicopter seat; and sorting out which salt shakers -- the regular ones or, as he put it, the "little dishes of salt with funny little spoons" -- would be best for stag dinners in the president's private quarters.

Rummy's alter ego rose quickly, though, because he seemed to have no ego. Good old Dick could be counted on to be the man behind the man, a butler to power. The new President Bush, a tabula rasa in foreign affairs, put himself in Mr. Cheney's hands.

But W. had barely settled into the Oval when Backseat clambered into the front seat. Retracing the rush to war, the names Cheney and Chalabi are entwined in bold relief.
[...]

After 9/11, his passionate desire to take out Saddam coincided with that of conservatives. All they needed for their belli was a casus, so Mr. Chalabi obligingly conned the neocons.

He hoodwinked his pals Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle into believing Iraq would be a flowery cakewalk to democracy.

A wily expert in the politics of the bazaar, he knew he had to sell his scheme on what was good for Americans and their security. He was happy to funnel information to the vice president that painted a picture of Saddam hunkered on a hair-raising stockpile of W.M.D. His group, the Iraqi National Congress, tried to spin our government and media through its "information collection program." Intelligence officials now say that the prewar information provided to Washington by this group was suspect and useless, even disinformation.

But here's the wild thing: the propaganda program was underwritten by U.S. government funds. So Americans paid Ahmad Chalabi to gull them into a war that is costing them a billion a week -- and a precious human cost. Cops dealing with their snitches check out the information better than the Bush administration did.

Mr. Chalabi's seances swayed the political set, the intelligence set and the journalistic set. In an effect Senator Bob Graham dubs "incestuous amplification," the bogus stories spewed by Iraqi exiles and defectors ricocheted through an echo chamber of government and media, making it sound as if multiple, reliable sources were corroborating the same story. Rather, one self-interested source was replicating like computer spam.
[...]

In case anyone forgot: Dowd says: Dump Cheney Now

Granny
- posted by JT @ 4:17 PM |

 
Hmmmm ... Quite A Few Heated Discussions Pop Up :::

Granny really wants to dive into those with both feet. Such As:

*** Note: Granny must apologize ... after looking over this mish-mash of a post, I had
to correct a multitude of errors .... this does not surprise me since I was foolish enough
to post (dog-tired) without reading it. Sorry guys, will try to do better.

But ... can only do a few short notes ... crowd roars a cheer ... I went crazy
today, leaving an email in progress flashing for hours while I became obsessed
with Pre-Spring Cleaning. On top of that, I kept hearing odd noises from the
basement (we're talking sawing, hammering and the like), ran into the hubby in
the kitchen and he was doing the same thing in the basement. What the dog
tails is up? Reckon it is Bird Flu or Mad Cow?

Scott McClellan Press briefing yesterday

Could it be America's Free Press has just lifted its head? It is about time what with the
insanity Bush has heaped on us the past 3 years. He usually manages to piss me off
at least once a day ... sometimes twice. And I cannot bear to hear him speak anymore.
Both he and Scot McClellan sound like automatons.

Scott-Bot repeated this at least one hundred thousand times (more or less).

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think if you look at the documents, what they show are the days on which he was paid, the payroll records. And we previously said that the President recalls serving both in Alabama and in Texas.

The reporters tore into him with great zeal and I was really proud of them instead of
wondering why they said, "oh ok" to every uttered word. Credit due, they have been
a bit more feisty lately. Bless their little hearts ... felt great, didn't it guys?

McClellan gets the "Throw Him A Fish Award," though. Somebody in the
big White House must have said, "Say only this in response." And by golly he did it!

***************************
*** what follows is total paraphrasing -- actual transcript not at hand. ***

On the other hand, there was Colin Powell ... same subject, different reaction. He
became irate while testifying today at a hearing at just the mention of Dubya perhaps
being AWOL. He said he did not want to talk about it, (furrowed brow) said he would
not discuss it, (face became very colorful) said the questioner should be ashamed of
himself, (brows knit closer) and said if they (Deamoncrats, I assume) wanted
to get into a political fight they could do so in the proper forum.

I couldn't find the link, so I skipped over to SouthKnoxBubba
to see if he had an link, then got sidetracked and ended up posting this in response to his Tennessee Elections post


Gosh, its the same ole bitchin and moanin ... just like always.
Ok, the candidates. Kerry is top Dog at present (just like Dean was), Kerry had a big shake up in the management of his campaign (just like Dean has now).

Now, not only will the other candidates hammer the frontrunner, Kerry, since he is looking pretty good at present (who bothers me for some reason I cannot seem to grasp ... jealous of his $$$ ... Nah.), but the Repubs will go after him with the sharp knives.

So ... Granny predicts ... Kerry will implode under the pressure, flip out and give a rebel yell (just like Dean) Edwards will be our man to go after Dubya.

There ya go ...Edwards is new POTUS.

Too far out?? Could happen.

Somebody will beat Bush if it is only me and a baseball bat.

No single person could try that hard to be such a moron, sound so much like an automaton (Dubya-Bot ... come to think of it, Kerry seems a bit robotic at times and besides, he is too tall). I think Bush-Baby wants to go home to Crawford and clear brush ... good plan, George, but take Cheney with you.

Anyway ... does it seem to anyone else Bush is doing every single thing possible to loose? The State of the Union was an absurd Dubya-Bot / Dubya, grinning fool on drugs disaster ... really Georgie --- (mock Kennedy) The Moon and a Manned Expedition to Mars? Bush does not have delusions of grandeur. He has hyperdimensional delusions.

Meet The Press was basically a shorter rewind of the SOS, then today the fool comes out ... now this is a time in America when everybody save the over $200,000 crowd is watching the abyss slip closer and closer ... (could it be due to idiotic policies and gifts to the Drug, Oil and Gas companies, toxic polluters, and Insurance Companies ... today he defended his head economic advisor who said "exporting American Jobs is no problem, it is a good thing, good for trade."

(That is probably off the deep end of literary license and a mixture of Bush, Greenspan, and his advisors remarks on the subject today)

Even the conservatives are turning on him.

Oh, and remember they kept asking Scott-Bot where Bush's "Band Of Brothers" was and do they travel with him. McClellan, face begging to shine red, was so pumped up for his mission, he continued to hold up the unreadable paper and say these are the payroll records, you get paid for when you are there and he fulfilled his duties and got an honorable discharge.

Here's the kicker ... one of George's Band showed up today, A Fellow Guardsman.

Here is a teaser:

During the Vietnam War, I was what filmmaker Michael Moore would call a "deserter." Along with President Bush and countless other young men, I joined the National Guard, did my six months of active duty (basic training, etc.) and then returned to my home unit, where I eventually dropped from sight. In the end, just like President Bush, I got an honorable discharge. But unlike President Bush, I have just told the truth about my service. He hasn't.

Wow, I just dropped in to see if Bubba had a link to the Red-In-The-Face Colin Powell outburst, but I fell down this no-memory hole.

Better get back over to Granny ... and just publish most of this .. ha great idea.. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Gran
- posted by JT @ 9:45 PM |

 
::: We Owe You An Apology :::

Who? Scott Ritter. He tried his best to tell us there were no weapons of mass distruction
in Iraq, that intel was being hyped for political reasons ... to invade Iraq. We would not
listen. Not only that ... we labeled him a traitor, accused him of not being patriotic, branded
him as treasonous.

But ...

He was right and I want to apologize.

Some tried to resist what we were told because we know how politics works, but 6000
were dead, we were hurting and angry and wanted to attack. So we wore ribbons and
pins and hung flags outside our doors. We formed groups and watched hours of TV to
see what else we could do to help people or ourselves. Just the sound of planes over-
head gave us nightmares. We listened nightly for advice to come home and our lives to
come back and to feel good and feel light laughing again. But, we had anthrax to contend
with, and all sorts of new color codes and new rules and if we were not afraid to fly we
were afraid we might by stripped at the airport as we heard the diligent screeners did to
even some elderly women.

Then we learned the number of dead was decreasing ... Thank God, we said and prayed
for more errors. Numbers dropped because of simple clerical errors and some thought
lost were found ... oh, they were not there that day, and that was wonderful and
we were glad, but we were still mad inside, boiling. As the number of dead dwindled and
we eventually settled at approximately 3000, we still simmered. Someone had to pay.

Even though the worst of the pain and shock were passed, when you tried to speak, we,
the ones who lost only strangers and lived far away from the tragedy just could not listen.
What was it? Were we just plain mad and wanted revenge, wanted someone to pay.

The drumbeat for war went on and we simply could not resist, not even after we attacked
Afghanistan. At least, we thought, "those poor people" can now have a better life. We
patted ourselves on the back. Each anniversary will bring renewed pain and sorrow for
people we never knew and never would know.

They said ...

Saddam is a sponsor of terrorist. He has ties to Al-Qaeda. He has massive amounts of
weapons of mass destruction. He could mount those weapons and we could be awash
in a radioactive mushroom cloud. He could do it in 45 minutes and our families and our
children would be dust.

How could we not? We were afraid. We are still afraid. But the menace we face now is
far more insidious and is in our backyard.

So ... we are sorry Scott and thank you for all your diligent work and attempts to keep
us from making a horrible mistake.. Thanks also to the many others whose names we
don't know who tried to speak of reason and peace and making sure ... but we did not
listen.

And as always in war .... someone paid.

Granny
- posted by JT @ 1:12 AM |

 
::: Golly Gee ~~ Mr. Cheney Has Another Bad Day Or Two :::

Plame-Out

Federal law-enforcement officials said that they have developed hard evidence of possible criminal misconduct by two employees of Vice President Dick Cheney's office related to the unlawful exposure of a CIA officer's identity last year. The investigation, which is continuing, could lead to indictments, a Justice Department official said.

According to these sources, John Hannah and Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were the two Cheney employees. "We believe that Hannah was the major player in this," one federal law-enforcement officer said. Calls to the vice president's office were not returned, nor did Hannah and Libby return calls.

The strategy of the FBI is to make clear to Hannah "that he faces a real possibility of doing jail time" as a way to pressure him to name superiors, one federal law-enforcement official said.
[...]
On Oct. 7, Bush said that unauthorized disclosure of an undercover CIA officer's identity was "a criminal matter" and the Justice Department had begun its investigation into the source of the leak.


WHACK! Not A Welcome Home ... Lets play WHACK A TOAD

Now Instead Of Hunting Birds ~~ Cheney Is Likened To One ~~ An Albatross
[...]
WASHINGTON - If United States Vice President Dick Cheney was hoping that the cold, crisp air of Davos and his private audience with Pope John Paul II late last month would revive his spirits, as well as his standing in the polls, he must be deeply disappointed.

Since returning home, he has faced a seemingly unrelenting succession of disclosures and attacks that appear to get worse with each passing day. What the albatross was to the ancient mariner, Cheney is fast becoming to George W Bush's re-election chances.

Just consider what happened to Cheney Thursday: the early morning edition of the Wall Street Journal ran an article - first reported by Newsweek - on how Justice Department investigators had asked Halliburton Company for documents relating to US$180 million in allegedly illegal payments by a consortium of companies, including Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, in connection with the construction of a big natural-gas plant in Nigeria in the late 1990s, while Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive officer.
[...]
WHACK [...]
When the Los Angeles Times hit the news stands a couple of hours later, Cheney was right there on the front page with the headline: "Scalia was Cheney Hunt Trip Guest; Ethics Concern Grows."
[...]
WHACK [...]
Cheney may have tuned in to watch Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director George Tenet deliver a passionate defense at Georgetown University of the official intelligence community's performance in the runup to the Iraq war, only to find himself a target, if only inferentially.
[...]
WHACK [...]
While Tenet didn't say anything explicitly about Cheney, he certainly didn't do much to dispel the increasingly strong impression in Washington - among Democrats, it's become a conviction - that, of all of Bush's senior advisers, Cheney and his staff worked hardest to hype what the intelligence community was saying about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction programs.
[...]
WHACK [...]
While the intelligence community had concluded that Saddam wanted nuclear weapons, Tenet declared, it also made clear as of late 2002 that Saddam had none, and that he probably would not have been able to make one until some time between 2007 and 2009, at the earliest.
[...]
WHACK [...]
That assertion, of course, raises a major question. If the intelligence community agreed that Saddam had no nuclear weapons, where did Cheney get the information that would substantiate his statement on the very day that the US launched its invasion last March: "And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."
[...]
WHACK [...]
The answer, according to Democratic members of the Congressional intelligence committees, who have become increasingly outspoken in recent days, is that Cheney and his staff had an independent source of "intelligence" outside the formal intelligence community. Lodged in the Pentagon's policy shop under Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith, the now-notorious Office of Special Plans "cherry-picked" raw intelligence, interviewed "defectors", and produced its own talking points and analysis that were "stovepiped" straight to Cheney's office, notably John Hannah, his top Mideast staffer, and I Lewis "Scooter" Libby, his powerful chief of staff.
[...]

BUT .... hold on ... didn't we just hear those two names in regard to the
outing of Valerie Plame?

WHACK [...]
But if Cheney felt displeased by Tenet's performance, things only got worse - much worse - - later in the afternoon when United Press International (UPI) reported what has been rumored ever since Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself from the investigation into the "outing" as a CIA officer by "two senior administration officials" of Valerie Plame, shortly after her husband, retired ambassador Joseph Wilson, had published an article in the New York Times charging that the administration knew that its reports of Saddam's alleged attempts to buy uranium yellowcake in Africa were bogus.

Quoting "federal law-enforcement officials," UPI's intelligence correspondent Richard Sale reported on Thursday that the two main suspects were none other than Libby and Hannah. One official reportedly told Sale that Hannah was being advised "that he faces a real possibility of doing jail time" in order to pressure him to implicate higher-ups - presumably Libby, if not, perhaps, Cheney himself.
[...]
WHACK [...]
According to recent polls, Cheney's approval ratings, hovering around 20 percent, are already far below Bush's, which have themselves sunk below 50 percent for the first time in his presidency. Even Halliburton, whose public image has become so tarnished that it has launched a controversial television ad campaign to boost its image, last week listed Cheney's association to the company as a "risk factor" for its shareholders.

Republicans in Congress, particularly on the intelligence and foreign relations committees, find themselves having to devote more time and political capital to defending the vice president, and even some influential Republican donors have privately suggested that Cheney bow out. Speculation about possible replacements - most recently, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani (the Republican convention is in New York City, August 30 to September 2.) - is growing steadily. Of course, there's always another day.
[...]

WOW and Whack-A-Ducky
Granny
- posted by JT @ 9:47 PM |

 
::: Cheney & Scalia Need To Get Their Ducks Taped :::

PATTERSON, La. — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia traveled as an official guest of Vice President Dick Cheney on a small government jet that served as Air Force Two when the pair came here last month to hunt ducks.

The revelation cast further doubts about whether Scalia can be an impartial judge in Cheney's upcoming case before the Supreme Court, legal ethics experts said. The hunting trip took place just weeks after the high court agreed to take up Cheney's bid to keep secret the details of his energy policy task force.

According to those who met them at the small airstrip here, the justice and the vice president flew from Washington on Jan. 5 and were accompanied by a second, backup Air Force jet that carried staff and security aides to the vice president.

Two military Black Hawk helicopters were brought in and hovered nearby as Cheney and Scalia were whisked away in a heavily guarded motorcade to a secluded, private hunting camp owned by an oil industry businessman.

The Times previously reported that the two men hunted ducks together while the case was pending, but it wasn't clear then that they had traveled together or that Scalia had accompanied Cheney on Air Force Two.

Several experts in legal ethics questioned whether Scalia should decide the case
[...]
Judges are bound by different rules, however. Federal law says that "any justice or judge shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might be questioned."
[...]
Two years ago, the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch sued Cheney, seeking to learn whether the vice president and his staff had met behind closed doors with lobbyists and corporate officials from the oil, gas, coal and electric power industries.

A judge ordered Cheney to turn over documents detailing who met with his energy task force. Cheney appealed, and in September, Bush administration lawyers asked the Supreme Court to hear the case and reverse the judge's order.

It "would violate fundamental principles of separation of powers" to force the president or the vice president to disclose who they met with, said U.S. Solicitor Gen. Theodore B. Olson.

After considering the appeal behind closed doors on three occasions, the Supreme Court on Dec. 15 announced that the case of "in re Richard B. Cheney" would be heard in the spring.

**************************
Scalia's Blind Eye
[...]
In mid-December, the high court voted to hear arguments in the appeal, now scheduled for April. Three weeks after that vote, Scalia and Cheney spent two days huddled together in a Louisiana marsh. Because the duck hunting was lousy, they had plenty of time to kill — and to talk privately.

Federal rules instruct a judge to disqualify himself "in any proceeding in which his impartiality might be questioned." Though these ethics rules apply to all federal courts, the Supreme Court does not have a formal policy for ensuring that individual justices follow them. Scalia has bristled at suggestions that he recuse himself or that his longtime friendship with Cheney — and their many past hunting trips — could bias his judgment.
[...]

Well ... ain't that just Ducky
Granny
- posted by JT @ 9:27 PM |

 
::: Who Is Exporting Our Jobs :::

From the hard working Lou Dobbs at CNN's
web site. A listing of the incredible number
of corps sending our jobs overseas.

AMAZING!

***********************************************
Updated: Feb 27, 2004

Here is a list of companies we've confirmed are "Exporting America." These are U.S. companies either sending American jobs overseas, or choosing to employ cheap overseas labor, instead of American workers.


A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y

3Com
3M

A
Accenture
Adaptec
ADC
Adobe Systems
Advanced Energy Industries
Aetna
Affiliated Computer Services
AFS Technologies
A.G. Edwards
Agere Systems
Agilent Tech.
AIG
Alamo Rent A Car
Albertson's
Allen Systems Group
Alliance Semiconductor
Allstate
Alpha Thought Global
Amazon.com
AMD
American Express
American Household
American Management Systems
American Standard
Amphenol Corp.
Analog Devices
ANDA Networks
Andrew Corp.
Anheuser-Busch
AOL
A.O. Smith
Apple
Applied Materials
A.T. Cross Company
AT&T
AT&T Wireless
A.T. Kearney
Automatic Data Processing
Avanade
Avery Dennison

B
Bank of America
Bank of New York
Bank One
BearingPoint
Bear Stearns
Bechtel
BellSouth
Best Buy
BISSELL
Black & Decker
BMC Software
Boeing
Brocade
Bumble Bee

C
Cadence Design Systems
Candle Corporation
Capital One
Carrier
Caterpillar
Celestica
Cendant
Cerner Corporation
Charles Schwab
ChevronTexaco
CIBER
Ciena
Cigna
Circuit City, Inc.
Cisco Systems
Citigroup
CNA
Coca-Cola
Cognizant Technology Solutions
Columbia House
Comcast Holdings
Computer Associates
Computer Sciences Corporation
CompuServe
Continental Airlines
Convergys
Cooper Tire & Rubber
Cooper Tools
Countrywide Financial
COVAD Comm.
CSX
Cummins
Cypress Semiconductor

D
Dana Corporation
Delco Remy
Dell Computer
Delphi
Delta Air Lines
Direct TV
Discover
Document Sciences Corp.
Dow Chemical
Dresser
Dun & Bradstreet
DuPont

E
Earthlink
Eastman Kodak
Eaton Corporation
EDS
Electroglas
Electronics for Imaging
Eli Lilly
EMC
Emerson Electric
En Pointe Technologies
Equifax
Ernst & Young
Ethan Allen
Evolving Systems
Expedia
ExxonMobil

F
Fair Isaac
Fedders Corporation
Federated Dept. Stores
Fellowes
Fidelity Investments
Financial Techologies International
First American Title Ins.
First Data
First Index
Fluor
Ford Motor
Franklin Mint
Franklin Templeton
Freeborders
Frito Lay
Fruit of the Loom

G
Gateway
GE Capital
General Electric
General Motors
GlobespanVirata
Goldman Sachs
Goodrich
Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Google
Greenpoint Mortgage
Guardian Life Insurance

H
Halliburton
The Hartford Financial Services Group
HealthAxis
Helen of Troy Corp.
Hewitt Associates
Hewlett-Packard
The Holmes Group
Honeywell
HSN
Humana

I
IBM
iGate Corporation
IndyMac Bancorp
Infogain
Ingersoll-Rand
Innodata Isogen
Innova Solutions
Intel
Intl. Paper
Intuit
Invacare
ITT Educational Services

J
Jabil Circuit
Jacobs Engineering
Jacuzzi
JDS Uniphase
Johnson Controls
Johnson & Johnson
JPMorgan Chase
Juniper Networks

K
KANA Software
Kaiser Permanente
Keane
Kellogg
Kemet
KeyCorp
KLA-Tencor
Kraft Foods
Kulicke and Soffa Industries
Kwikset

L
Lawson Software
Lear Corporation
Lehman Brothers
Levi Strauss
Lexmark International
Lifescan
Lillian Vernon
Linksys
Lionbridge Technologies
Lionel
LiveBridge
Lockheed Martin
Lowe's
Lucent

M
Maritz
Marshall Fields
Mattel
Maytag
McDATA Corporation
McKinsey & CO
Medtronic
Mellon Bank
Merrill Corporation
Merrill Lynch
Metasolv
MetLife
Microsoft
Monsanto
Morgan Stanley
Motorola

N
Nabco
National City Corporation
National Life
National Semiconductor
NCR Corporation
neoIT
NETGEAR
Network Associates
Newell Rubbermaid
New York Life Insurance Co.
Northrop Grumman
Northwest Airlines

O
Office Depot
Ohio Art
ON Semiconductor
Oracle
OshKosh B'Gosh
Otis Elevator Co.
Outsource Partners International
Owens Corning

P
palmOne
Parker-Hannifin
Parsons E&C
Pearson Digital Learning
PeopleSoft
PepsiCo
Pericom Semiconductor
Perot Systems
Pfizer
Pitney Bowes
Planar Systems
Portal Software
Pratt & Whitney
Primus Telecom
Procter & Gamble
ProQuest
Providian Financial
Prudential Insurance

Q
Quark
Qwest Comm.

R
Rainbow Technologies
Radio Shack
Rawlings Sporting Goods
Raytheon Aircraft
RCG Information Technology
Regence Group
Rockwell Automations
Rogers
Rohm & Haas
RR Donnelley & Sons
Russell Corporation

S
Sabre
SAIC
Sallie Mae
Sanmina-SCI
SBC Comm.
SEI Investments
Siebel Systems
Sikorsky
SMC Networks
Sola Optical USA
Solectron
Sovereign Bancorp
Sprint
Sprint PCS
Square D
Stanley Furniture
Stanley Works
Starkist Seafood
State Farm Insurance
State Street
StorageTek
StrategicPoint Investment Advisors
Sun Microsystems
SunTrust Banks
Supra Telecom
SurePrep
The Sutherland Group
Sykes Enterprises
Symbol Technologies
Synygy

T
Target
Tecumseh
Telcordia
Teleflex
TeleTech
Tellabs
Teradyne
Texas Inst.
Textron
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Time Warner
Tower Automotive
Toys "R" Us
Trans Union
Travelocity
Triquint Semiconductor
Tropical Sportswear
TRW Automotive
Tyco Electronics
Tyco Intl.

U
Union Pacific Railroad
Unisys
UnitedHealth Group Inc.
United Online
United Technologies
USAA

V
Valence Technology
VA Software
Veritas
Verizon
VF Corporation
Vishay

W
Wachovia Bank
Washington Group Intl.
Washington Mutual
WellChoice
Werner Co.
West Corporation
Weyerhaeuser
Whirlpool
Wolverine World Wide
WorldCom
Wyeth

X
Xerox
Xpitax

Y
Yahoo!

- posted by JT @ 4:04 PM |

 
::: Granny In Headache Hell :::

Just thought I would stop by in between Cat Scans to let everyone
know I have not passed over into computer heaven just
yet ... although ... it sounds pretty great.

Dr. thinks it could be migraines .... super yuck

Will get results on broken head .... maybe Tuesday. Have lots
to blog, but sometimes head is either pounding or goofy (actually
Granny's normal state).

I will do as best I can. At this moment I have NO HEADACHE.

YIPPPPEEEE. But you never know when one may sneak into my
convoluted brain.

I would really appreciate opinions or horror stories or best
medicines from experience.

Thanks ... and never fear ... Granny is here, reading when I can
stand it and watching CSpan.

Right this minute, they are fighting like mad over out incredibly
idiotic color coded terror alert system.

HAW

Gran
- posted by JT @ 3:39 PM |