Pictures Of Lily

The Battle of the soft fuzzy striped humanoid squeaky thingy

Q: How many Christianists does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: Christianists don't screw in lightbulbs, they screw in brothels.

Q. How many neocons does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A. That's an interesting question, one that I'm sure future historians will investigate in detail. Look, let me address this issue up front: I don't know who's been installing light bulbs or who hasn't. That's none of my business. There's a lot of different views, there's a range of views, and a lot of concerns, and we are working to accommodate those concerns. We know at this point that we still have some work to do and we are working very hard to address these issues. We're not making estimates. At this point what you've had are some fairly -- you had some dramatic testimony and comments -- by the way, you can expect people to be ventilating these differing points of views in coming days. Our view is you have to have a resolution that offers a solution. And you're going to have people -- there is sometimes, you'll be surprised to hear, a disparity between comments made in public for domestic audiences around the world, and comments made in private, as well. In short, we don't want to comment on an ongoing investigation.

No Surprise

No One Admits To Singing, Writing, Producing Nation's No. 1 Song

LOS ANGELES—Neither rejected American Idol contestants nor Diddy have come forward as creators of the song, whose sole lyrics are "Baby baby, Luvya girl."

No Question

"I think more war crimes have been committed in the detention and interrogation and fake trials of people in Guantánamo than people in Guantánamo have committed. And I don't think the question is whether they've tortured people," - Major Tom Fleener, United States Army Reserve, and a military lawyer assigned to one of the Gitmo detainees.

Read the whole thing if you still believe the lies your government is telling you about its detention and rendition policies.

Well, Duh

If they weren't so incompetent at dictatorship we might have gotten something out of all this tragedy.

Bush Aides See Failure in Fight With Al Qaeda in Pakistan

WASHINGTON, July 17 — President Bush’s top counterterrorism advisers acknowledged Tuesday that the strategy for fighting Osama bin Laden’s leadership of Al Qaeda in Pakistan had failed, as the White House released a grim new intelligence assessment that has forced the administration to consider more aggressive measures inside Pakistan.

The intelligence report, the most formal assessment since the Sept. 11 attacks about the terrorist threat facing the United States, concludes that the United States is losing ground on a number of fronts in the fight against Al Qaeda, and describes the terrorist organization as having significantly strengthened over the past two years.
In identifying the main reasons for Al Qaeda’s resurgence, intelligence officials and White House aides pointed the finger squarely at a hands-off approach toward the tribal areas by Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who last year brokered a cease-fire with tribal leaders in an effort to drain support for Islamic extremism in the region.

“It hasn’t worked for Pakistan,” said Frances Fragos Townsend, who heads the Homeland Security Council at the White House. “It hasn’t worked for the United States.”

Bye Bye Rudy Bye Bye

Compare and contrast the trend lines of these two 'top tier' Republican Candidates

Geez, The Mullahs Musta Had Problems With This

OK, this one caught us off guard:

Arafat died of AIDS, confirms Palestinian leader

....Jibril, like many Palestinians, readily accepted the notion that Israel had assassinated Arafat, and wanted the Palestinian Authority to conduct an official investigation concluding as much. The response from Abbas' aides changed in an instant Jibril's view of his deceased mentor.

“They were silent, and then one of them said to me: 'To be honest, the French gave us the medical report, that stated that the cause of [Arafat's] death was AIDS.'”

Arafat eventually died in a Paris hospital after being airlifted out of Ramallah. Many speculated that the Palestinian leader, who was said to have had numerous homosexual relationships, had in fact contracted AIDS.

The Lazy Susan Of Why

Think Progress Reviews The History of Our Iraq Goals

The Ever Changing Definition of ‘Mission’ In Iraq

In June 2005, ThinkProgress noted the Bush was constantly revising the definition of our “mission” in Iraq.

Reporting on his escalation strategy this week, President Bush claimed “satisfactory” progress in many areas of the “new mission” in Iraq. Bush has changed the definition of our “mission” in Iraq so many times, he has made it impossible for the American public, U.S. forces, and the Iraqi population to have any confidence that the mission will be ever completed.

THE PRE-WAR MISSION WAS TO RID IRAQ OF WMD
Bush: “Our mission is clear in Iraq. Should we have to go in, our mission is very clear: disarmament.” [3/6/03]

AFTER THE WAR BEGAN, THE MISSION EXPANDED
Bush: “Our cause is just, the security of the nations we serve and the peace of the world. And our mission is clear, to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.” [3/22/03]

Bush: “Our forces have been given a clear mission: to end a regime that threatened its neighbors and the world with weapons of mass destruction and to free a people that had suffered far too long.” [4/14/03]

THEN THE MISSION WAS COMPLETE
Bush: “On Thursday, I visited the USS Abraham Lincoln, now headed home after the longest carrier deployment in recent history. I delivered good news to the men and women who fought in the cause of freedom: Their mission is complete, and major combat operations in Iraq have ended.” [5/3/03]

BUT THEN IT CONTINUED AGAIN
Bush: “The United States and our allies will complete our mission in Iraq.” [7/30/03]

THEN THE MISSION WAS TO DEVELOP A FREE IRAQ
Bush: “That has been our mission all along, to develop the conditions such that a free Iraq will emerge, run by the Iraqi citizens.” [11/4/03]

Bush: “We will see that Iraq is free and self-governing and democratic. We will accomplish our mission.” [5/4/04]

AND TO TRAIN THE IRAQI TROOPS
Bush: “And our mission is clear there, as well, and that is to train the Iraqis so they can do the fighting; make sure they can stand up to defend their freedoms, which they want to do.” [6/2/05]

Bush: “We’re making progress toward the goal, which is, on the one hand, a political process moving forward in Iraq, and on the other hand, the Iraqis capable of defending themselves. And we will — we will complete this mission for the sake of world peace.” [6/20/05]

THEN IT SHIFTED TO ADVANCING DEMOCRACY
Bush: “We will stay as long as necessary to complete the mission. … Advancing the ideal of democracy and self-government is the mission that created our nation — and now it is the calling of a new generation of Americans.” [11/30/05]

AND PROTECTING AMERICA FROM TERRORISTS
Bush: “In the coming days, there will be considerable reflection on the removal of Saddam Hussein from power and our remaining mission in Iraq…By helping the Iraqi people build a free and representative government, we will deny the terrorists a safe haven to plan attacks against America.” [3/11/06]

Bush: “We will finish the mission. By defeating the terrorists in Iraq, we will bring greater security to our own country. And when victory is achieved, our troops will return home with the honor they have earned.” [3/18/06]

THEN THE MISSION WAS PROVIDING SECURITY FOR THE IRAQI POPULATION
Bush: “In fact, we have a new strategy with a new mission: helping secure the population, especially in Baghdad. Our plan puts Iraqis in the lead.” [1/13/07]

Bush: “[I]t’s the combination of providing security in neighborhoods through these joint security stations, and training that is the current mission we’re going through, with a heavy emphasis on security in Baghdad.” [4/10/07]

AND NOW?
Bush: “It’s a new mission. And David Petraeus is in Iraq carrying it out. Its goal is to help the Iraqis make progress toward reconciliation — to build a free nation that respects the rights of its people, upholds the rule of law, and is an ally against the extremists in this war.” [6/28/07]

Impeachment: The Final Solution

GW Bush From David Brooks' NYT column today:

"It's more of a theological perspective. I do believe there is an Almighty, and I believe a gift of that Almighty to all is freedom. And I will tell you that is a principle that no one can convince me that doesn’t exist."

Lindsey, Bill - Maybe You Should Follow The Money

Senator Graham insisted that military re-enlistments show the faith that service-families have in our Iraq adventure. Bill Kristol, purveyor of Kristol-Meth, insists that we must support the families wishes by hanging in ther with 'em and their efforts.

But ... I wonder if the $50k, tax-free re-enlistment bonus has anything to do with the re-ups.

And I think that this fact may suggest where the families' idea of suppport lies (from iraqslogger.com):

The Presidential campaigns just released their quarterly campaign finance reports, leaving much of the mainstream media remarking on Paul's surge in online donations from his healthy Internet following, though the $2.3 million he raised still has him trailing far behind the front runners.

But a closer look at the reports reveals a less obvious but more remarkable development--the antiwar Republican received nearly 50% of the money donated by employees of the US military.

It's No Walk In the Park, But We Could Live With It

"I honestly don't think it will be apocalyptic. But it will be ugly," - retired Marine Col. Gary Anderson, who conducted war games for the Pentagon to predict what would happen in the event of a US withdrawal from central Iraq. The three main scenarios:

Majority Shiites would drive Sunnis out of ethnically mixed areas west to Anbar province. Southern Iraq would erupt in civil war between Shiite groups. And the Kurdish north would solidify its borders and invite a U.S. troop presence there. In short, Iraq would effectively become three separate nations.

Perhaps it should have happened a long time ago. More pertinent:

The games also predicted that Iran would intervene on one side of a Shiite civil war and would become bogged down in southern Iraq

John Edwards Vows To End All Bad Things By 2011

DES MOINES, IA—Edwards' "Good Things for All" initiative builds on previous efforts to end bad things, like skinned knees, curse words, and splinters.

Only 553 Days Left And So Much Mayhem Still To Create

The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months, the Guardian has learned.

The shift follows an internal review involving the White House, the Pentagon and the state department over the last month. Although the Bush administration is in deep trouble over Iraq, it remains focused on Iran. A well-placed source in Washington said: "Bush is not going to leave office with Iran still in limbo."

Read On ....

Weenies!

A Congressional Democrat has been reined in for calling President George W. Bush a 'liar' during a Thursday hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, according to the Monday edition of the newspaper Roll Call.

"Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) offered a lengthy criticism of Bush’s record toward the end of Thursday’s hearing, which included a statement that Bush lied about the reasons for going to war with Iraq in 2003," writes Susan Davis. "Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) offered an objection on the grounds that Watt’s words were 'unparliamentary' and violated House rules on debate and decorum that forbid personal attacks on Members, the president or vice president."

The Rest here

A Precis' On The Precipice

Mr Dan and I often laugh about conversations that we have overheard on the Train between DC and NYC but we never ride the high-speed, high-roller Acela. Adriana Huffington does and so does GT12 bete' noir William Kristol. And she eavesdrops too...

Kristol was sitting a row behind me, talking on his cell phone with someone who apparently shared his optimism. "'Precipitous withdrawal' really worked," I overheard him say, clearly referring to the president's use of the term in that morning's press conference. "How many times did he use it? Three? Four?" he asked his interlocutor, and the conversation continued with a round of metaphorical back-slapping for the clever phrase they had "come up with."

I, of course, have no idea who was on the other end. Tony Snow, perhaps? After all, he and Kristol were colleagues before Snow left Fox. But whoever it was, the emphasis during their conversation on the significance of the "clever" phrase has been emblematic of the White House prepping of the president.

Instead of sending their boss out with the real facts or logical arguments, Bush's aides and their friends (see Kristol) concoct some nonsense phrase in the spin lab, hand it to him and tell him to go out there and repeat it as often as he can. The latest is "precipitous withdrawal." It's the new "cut and run." It's actually not all that new: back in January 1969, Richard Nixon used it again and again in his famous "Silent Majority" speech: "The precipitate withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam would be a disaster not only for South Vietnam but for the United States and for the cause of peace." Again and again throughout the speech, Nixon used the phrase to paint the nightmarish consequences of a "precipitate withdrawal" from Vietnam.

Ms H reviews the the sordid trail of lies that Bill has been shamelessly hoisting on the public.

I know it's a pretty high bar, but Bill Kristol, the founder of the Project for a New American Century that spawned the Iraq war, the man whose editorials often seem to be inserted directly into the president's speeches, and who once boasted that "Dick Cheney does send over someone to pick up 30 copies of [The Weekly Standard] every Monday," has now just written the single most deceptive piece of the entire war.

The charitable view is that he's lost his mind. The less charitable view is that he's now officially surpassed Dick Cheney as the most intellectually dishonest member of the neocon establishment (the highest of all high bars). The truth-shattering piece appeared yesterday on the front page of the Washington Post Outlook section. It is entitled "Why Bush Will Be A Winner."

....

It isn't pretty. In fact, the Washington Post should have put some kind of warning on the piece for pregnant women, heart patients, and anyone with an allergy to bullshit. And if the pipeline from Kristol to the White House works the same for this piece as for "precipitous withdrawal," the country is in even worse shape than we thought.
So what did he say? I'll take it in order, and focus on national security.

After allowing that the war has been "difficult," he writes that "we now seem to be on course to a successful outcome."

Really? Not only does he give no evidence for this, not only does he ignore all the overwhelmingly contradictory evidence; he also conveniently neglects to even define what a "successful outcome" would be.

Then comes an onslaught of lies:

Read it all here and know why he should be jailed.

Pictures Of Lily

Ixnay Onay the Reedomay of Eligionray

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Everytime I think about having voted for thios guy for veep, I need a shower.

Lieberman: Bush’s ‘Ratings Among Historians Will Be Greater Than His Ratings In The Polls Today’

Yesterday in an interview with right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) praised President Bush’s policies in Iraq and predicted that Bush will be remembered by historians as a great President:

HEWITT: Oh, that’s fascinating. Last question, how do you think history’s going to evaluate George W. Bush?

LIEBERMAN: Well, I personally believe look, mistakes were made, and I know the polls are down, but I think on the largest issue of our time, which is the rise of Islamist extremism, that he will be judged as a president who saw the threat, and in the midst of an unpopular war, he stuck with it. And so I think overall, over time, his ratings among the historians will be greater than his ratings in the polls today

Well, Who's Left Then?

O'Reilly takes on Tony Snow, 'You can't win' in Iraq

Fox News' Bill O'Reilly promised his audience "the truth about Iraq" on Thursday, saying that most Americans now feel the war has not been worth the costs, while "the president's argument for sustaining the war is largely theoretical."

O'Reilly turned on his special guest during the segment, White House press secretary Tony Snow, saying, "You can't win ... unless the Iraqi people turn on all the terrorists. And they're not."

O'Reilly said he agreed with the president that defeat in Iraq could harm the US but said that "enough is enough." The populist pundit who, according to his Wikipedia entry hasn't been a registered Republican since 2000, added that the American people are as exhausted by this war as they ultimately were by Vietnam, and also that "the Iraqi government is incompetent and "the people themselves largely ungrateful."

A Big Reason That I'm A Democrat

Obama derided President Bush's commutation of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison term, noting black men routinely serve time.

"We know we have more work to do when Scooter Libby gets no prison time and a 21-year-old honor student, who hadn't even committed a felony, gets 10 years in prison," Obama said.

Aides said Obama was referring to Genarlow Wilson, a Georgia man serving a 10-year prison sentence for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. A judge last month ordered Wilson to be freed, but prosecutors are blocking the order.

Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of lying and obstruction of justice in the CIA-leak case. He received a 30-month prison sentence, which Bush commuted last week.

Another Reason That I'm A Democrat

I'm against Big Government

The Decider

I'm on the road but Sullivan has a nice wrap-up of The Mishap-In-Chief's press conference.

From The Blogosphere

A reader of Andrew sullivan writes:

In saying merely that the GOP has shown a contempt for gay voters, you are being far too fair. The more accurate statement is that the GOP has built its base on a political ideology that demonizes gays. And also feminists. And scientists. And anyone who doesn't hold traditional Jewish or Christian views. That IS the culture war. When that old-fashioned God and gay hatred are used to define one side, that puts a lot of us on the other. And what are the rest of us to do, in our political efforts in a two-party system? Treat equally the party that demonizes us and the party that welcomes us?

Even if the latter party is a disorganized opposition party with historical obligations to a wide variety of special interest groups, even if one might prefer some of the specific planks of the first party, it's hard to overlook that demonization. That counts for a lot in politics. And should. Gays, scientists, and atheists have been told by the GOP that they ARE the enemy. In practical politics, a group's demonization by one of the two major political parties may look quite a bit like its "merger" with the other. It's important, nonetheless, to understand the root cause of that shift.

What more is there to say?

A Question Of Size

Recent visitors have remarked that Lily is smaller than GT12's pictures suggested. So here's a pic w/some reference (the shoe is a size 10).

Post-Jurassic Park Coming Soon

A very well preserved 10,000 year old Baby Wooly Mamoth has been found in Siberia.

Ahh, July, when a young scientists attention goes to thoughts of re-creation (from CNN):

Scientists hope the animal might yield DNA samples that could be used to clone and effectively resurrect the extinct members of the elephant family.

Good Target

"Sen. John Edwards began what he's calling his poverty tour today. He's visiting people who have no money and no hope. His first stop: John McCain's campaign headquarters,"

- Jay Leno last night.

An Important New Blog

Hi, I'm Rusty.

I am afraid of high speeds.

In fact, high speeds scare the crap out of me. My owner is helping me get the word out against Mitt Romney.

Mitt Romney is mean to dogs. He scares us.

Help me get my message out [Here].

Rusty

Just say no to tying your dog to the roof of the car for 12 hour family road trips.

"Those People"

OK, they can go lower than I ever thought....

More from Dr. Carmona 's testimony.

And administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because, he said, of that charitable organization’s longtime ties to a “prominent family” that he refused to name.

“I was specifically told by a senior person, ‘Why would you want to help those people?’ ” Dr. Carmona said.

The Special Olympics is one of the nation’s premier charitable organizations to benefit disabled people, and the Kennedys have long been deeply involved in it.

When asked after the hearing if that “prominent family” was the Kennedys, Dr. Carmona responded, “You said it. I didn’t.”

Why Harry Matters

The Order Of the Phoenix in the Potter Books is a model insurgent patriot group ... really.

As I re-read the book a few weeks ago I was again warmed by the knowledge that millions of children are reading about the need to question and mistrust their leaders.

But don't take my word for it, here's University of Tennesee law Professor Benjamin Barton:

"What would you think of a government that engaged in this list of tyrannical activities: tortured children for lying; designed its prison specifically to suck all life and hope out of the inmates; placed citizens in that prison without a hearing; ordered the death penalty without a trial; allowed the powerful, rich or famous to control policy; selectively prosecuted crimes (the powerful go unpunished and the unpopular face trumped-up charges); conducted criminal trials without defense counsel; used truth serum to force confessions; maintained constant surveillance over all citizens; offered no elections and no democratic lawmaking process; and controlled the press?

"You might assume that the above list is the work of some despotic central African nation, but it is actually the product of the Ministry of Magic, the magician's government in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series."

Finally! Someone Going To Ten

I have limited interest in Moore's oeuvre' ... I don't really value my side's propaganda anymore than I do the other side's ... BUT

Why, after all the failures of the media, their complicity (you're on my list Judy Miller and Tom Friedman) in repeating the administrations lies (and their refusal to even examine them) does it take until last night for anyone to really tear them the new one they so richly deserve. Cheers to you Michael Moore. (Oh, and Fuck you Wolfie and Sanjay)

God Is Great, Science Is Bad, Your Doctor Should Know This

From The NY Times:

Former Surgeon General Says He Was Muzzled

"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation's top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee.

"The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science, or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds. The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation, not the doctor of a political party," Carmona added.

Carmona said Bush administration political appointees censored his speeches and kept him from talking out publicly about certain issues, including the science on embryonic stem cell research, contraceptives and his misgivings about the administration's embrace of "abstinence-only" sex education.

Carmona's comments came two days before a Senate committee is due to hold a hearing on Bush's nomination of Dr. James Holsinger as his successor. The administration allowed Carmona to finish his term as surgeon general last year without a replacement in place.

Continue...

Pictures Of Lily

Seemingly a bit perplexed on her second Monday in Chicago

Traditional Conservative ... Neo-Liberal?

or just sane ...

Dan Phillips:

Does victory mean toppling Saddam? Done. Does victory mean ensuring Iraq doesn’t have weapons of mass destruction? Done. Does it mean a stable and Western style democracy in Iraq? Good luck with that. Does it just mean a stable but perhaps not democratic Iraq? Good luck with that as well. Does it mean modernizing and westernizing all of the Middle East? Does it mean stamping out all vestiges of "Shari'a-observant Islam" or more crudely put, wiping out "Islamo-fascism." Most War on Terror supporters I have talked to cannot give a coherent answer.

Party-son

Bill Kristol let's us know what really at stake in Iraq. And of course it ain't the honor of our soldiers sacrifice. Bill Kristol is just a piece of shit. I understand why people support the death penalty when I think of Bill Kristol. Unlike him and his ilk, I understand that 'feeling' does not trump law and order. National or international.

Why on earth pull the plug now? Why give in to an insane, irrational panic that will destroy the Bush administration and most likely sweep the Republican party to ruin?

Bush Trends Below 29%

Why Sting Doesn't Matter

No One Can Re-Invent, Re-Create, Re-Energize and Re-Discover like the little Italian girl from Dearborn MI.

God Bless Madonna.

Now, For The Important Predictions

Harry as a Horucrux? I'd never thought of that.

Salon Polls it's writers. Here's my favorite:

Do Harry and evil Lord Voldemort finally throw down?

They most certainly do, in a 223-page rampage of blood, sweat, and potions. The action is pitched and plainly homoerotic. (At one point, transfigured into amorous bonobos, they tongue-kiss.) Having battled to a draw, they settle the matter in a most unexpected manner: a chili cook-off! Voldemort, allergic to the peanut oil Harry used to braise his tenderloin, goes into anaphylactic shock and perishes.

What about the death eaters, then?

Without Voldemort's leadership, they return to politics.

And Hogwarts?

One word: Disney.

For the record, I say that Voldemort and Snape snuff-it. Harry will do in The Dark Lord and Snape will die protecting Draco from The Killing Curse.

Oh, BTW, I'm not available 7/21/07 -7/22/07.

Finally, I'm Stunned

I didn't see this coming:

A new poll from American Research Group shows a startling result: The people are evenly divided on impeachment proceedings against the president, and a majority favor the House beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney.

Do you favor or oppose the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush?

Favor Oppose Undecided

All Adults 45% 46% 9%
All Voters 46% 44% 10%

Do you favor or oppose the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney?

Favor Oppose Undecided

All Adults 54% 40% 6%
Voters 50% 44% 6%

*** FYI: The average # who wanted Clinton impeached was 26%; His Job approval rating stayed at about 65%.

If This Were True, The Parade Wouldn't Have Been So Boring

But it makes for good reading:

A "national underground network" of pink pistol-packing lesbians is terrorizing America. "All across the country," they are raping young girls, attacking heterosexual males at random, and forcibly indoctrinating children as young as 10 into the homosexual lifestyle, according to a shocking June 21 segment on the popular Fox News Channel program, "The O'Reilly Factor."

Titled "Violent Lesbian Gangs a Growing Problem," the segment began with host Bill O'Reilly briefly referencing for his roughly 3 million viewers the case of Wayne Buckle, a DVD bootlegger who was attacked by seven lesbians in New York City last August. Deploying swift, broad strokes, O'Reilly painted a graphic picture of lesbian gangs running amok. "In Tennessee, authorities say a lesbian gang called GTO, Gays Taking Over, are involved in raping young girls," he reported. "And in Philadelphia, a lesbian gang called DTO, Dykes Taking Over, are allegedly terrorizing people as well."

After this introduction, O'Reilly went to a split-screen live interview with "Fox News crime analyst" Rod Wheeler.

"Tell me what's going on," O'Reilly said.

Wheeler, a Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department officer-turned-paid Fox News commentator, launched right in: "Well, you know, there is this national underground network, if you will, Bill, of women that's lesbians and also some men groups that's actually recruiting kids as young as 10 years old in a lot of the schools in the communities all across the country," he reported. "And they actually carry a number of weapons. And they commit a number of crimes."

Wheeler asserted that "we've actually counted, just in the Washington D.C. area alone, that's Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, well over 150 of these crews. … And they — like I said, they recruit these kids to be members of these gangs."

Should've Asked For One Mil-li-on Dollars

Kids have no sense of money.

Preteen Sisters Accused in Kidnapping

ENID, Okla. -- Detectives arrested a 12-year-old girl and her 10-year-old sister for allegedly abducting their neighbor's 1-year-old son and demanding $200,000 for his return.

Brandon Wells was safe back at home Thursday night, hours after intruders broke into his family's residence and took him while his mother, Sheila Wells, slept, police said.

The Non-Arbitrary Timetable That Will Decide For The Decider

Joe Klein explains:

There is another clock, not often mentioned, that sits in the Pentagon. It is the Broken Army clock, the service timeline for an exhausted force. Petraeus and his staff were deeply concerned when rumors of another tour extension, from the current 15 months for soldiers, spread in mid-June. "It would be a last resort," Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told reporters — but troop morale is so iffy that Petraeus quietly urged his commanders to "get the word out" to their soldiers that the extension rumors were false.

According to the Broken Army clock, troop levels will begin to wane in March 2008, no matter what Congress decides in September; the current 20 brigade combat teams will be reduced to 15 by August 2008. There is growing speculation in the military that Bush will try to pre-empt the Petraeus testimony by announcing a gradual drawdown from 20 to 15 combat brigades later this summer. "As if that isn't going to happen anyway," a senior officer told me. "But it may give us some political breathing space" — that is, it may subvert the Democrats' calls for a more rapid withdrawal — "if the President makes a big deal of announcing we're drawing down."

Redefine, Refuse, Impeach

Reagan's National Security Advisor offers some advice to Democrats. General Odom was the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) under Reagan (think "Minority Report," and you have the NSA). They're the super-duper secret spy agency that's way more top secret than even the CIA. This guy's credentials are beyond stellar. Here is an excerpt of his recent essay:

If the Democrats truly want to succeed in forcing to begin withdrawing from Iraq, the first step is to redefine "supporting the troops" as withdrawing them, citing the mass of accumulating evidence of the psychological as well as the physical damage that the president is forcing them to endure because he did not raise adequate forces. Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress could confirm this evidence and lay the blame for "not supporting the troops" where it really belongs – on the president. And they could rightly claim to the public that they are supporting the troops by cutting off the funds that he uses to keep U.S. forces in Iraq.

The public is ahead of the both branches of government in grasping this reality, but political leaders and opinion makers in the media must give them greater voice....

The president is strongly motivated to string out the war until he leaves office, in order to avoid taking responsibility for the defeat he has caused and persisted in making greater each year for more than three years.

To force him to begin a withdrawal before then, the first step should be to rally the public by providing an honest and candid definition of what "supporting the troops" really means and pointing out who is and who is not supporting our troops at war. The next step should be a flat refusal to appropriate money for to be used in Iraq for anything but withdrawal operations with a clear deadline for completion.

The final step should be to put that president on notice that if ignores this legislative action and tries to extort Congress into providing funds by keeping U.S. forces in peril, impeachment proceeding will proceed in the House of Representatives. Such presidential behavior surely would constitute the "high crime" of squandering the lives of soldiers and Marines for his own personal interest.

A Patriot, A True Heir To Bush

Committed To Dick Cheney's America!

Via Raw Story:

According to an article in Wednesday's Boston Globe, GOP presidential hopeful, and one-time Republican Senator from Tennessee, Fred Thompson leaked information to the Nixon white house during the height of the Watergate investigation. In his capacity as the Senate Watergate Committee minority counsel, Thompson tipped off Nixon's attorney that the committee was aware of the president's secret tapping device, and would be making the information public.

In his Watergate memoir, "At That Point in Time," Thompson recalls that he acted with "no authority" in disclosing this information to Nixon. Former investigator for the Democratic majority on the Watergate committee, Scott Armstrong, claims this was just one of many leaks Thompson provided to the Nixon administration.

"Thompson was a mole for the White House," Armstrong claims. "Fred was working hammer and tong to defeat the investigation of finding out what happened to authorize Watergate and find out what the role of the president was." When asked to comment on today's article, Thompson responded, "I'm glad all of this has finally caused someone to read my Watergate book, even though it's taken them over thirty years."

Earlier this year, Watergate icon Bob Woodward stated that Fred Thompson's role in the Watergate investigation was exaggerated and that when Thompson famously asked about the existence of a secret White House taping system, he already "knew the answer."

The role of Thompson as a "mole" for the Nixon White House undermines the cultivated image of a straight shooting and independent minded prosecutor who played a role in bringing down the president. Thompson's website even proclaims that he "gained national attention for leading the line of inquiry that revealed the audio-taping system in the White House Oval Office."

Why Al Gore III Matters

According to Amormino, Gore was driving south about 2:15 a.m. in his Toyota Prius, going 100 mph on the San Diego Freeway.

100 mph in a Prius!!!!??? Duuuuude!

It Means Fair And Balanced, I Guess

"Well, I guess I don't know what you mean by equal justice under the law,"

- Scott Stanzel, White House spokesman

Why There Aren't More Heroes In The U.S.

Because we don't know how to say thank-you effectively. Let us look at how Britain's Scotch populace is thanking the guy who tackled the mad-bomber-doctor in Glasgow:

Over 1,200 pints are paid for and metaphorically lined up, on the bar at the Glasgow Airport Holiday Inn, with John Smeaton’s name on them..

It’s going to happen. We are going to sort it out. The Big Night Oot For The Big Man is coming soon. Subscribe to our email list for updates on the night that will go down in history.

It’s going to be a Hell of a night, and we’re going to need a big bar for everyone who has put their money where their mouth is (and John’s feet were). John will be thirsty no more.

What's Past Is Past

Mr. Starr's view holds that in a society founded on the rule of law, false swearing or witness tampering, abuse of office or obstruction of justice by the person vested with the highest legal powers is impermissible no matter how petty the subject. - "Shame at the White House," New York Times (12 September 1998)

The idea seems to be that perjury about sex is not as serious as perjury about other matters. That won't wash.

Lying under oath strikes at the heart of our system of justice and the rule of law. It does not matter in the least what the perjury is about. - Robert Bork & James Rosen, "The Clinton Meltdown," National Review (12 October 1998)

And we know that when a person testifies under oath that he doesn't remember something when in fact he does, he has committed perjury. - William Bennett, "What We Know," Wall Street Journal (10 November 1998)

Perjury to cover embarrassing personal behavior is still perjury; and such perjury is sufficiently serious a federal crime for Sen. Herbert Kohl to have argued that the president could still be "criminally prosecuted, especially once he leaves office." - Gary McDowell, "Rule of Law," Wall Street Journal (30 August 1999)

since the 1960s, truth has been a conspicuous casualty: not only particular truths but also allegiance to the very ideal of truth as an indispensable component of any just and moral life. The competing, countercultural ideal holds that loyalty to the personal trumps loyalty to the truth - Roger Kimball, "Leftists Sacrifice Truth on the Altar of Friendship," Wall Street Journal (22 February 1999)

And this was the essential problem, it was the going around the Justice Department that created all the scandals that are now flowering." - David Brooks on the Marc Rich Pardon, February 22, 2001

And finally:

"I don't believe my role is to replace the verdict of a jury with my own," -

George W. Bush on why he signed death warrants for 152 inmates as governor of Texas. The quote is from his own book, "A Charge To Keep."

Pictures Of Lily

Blogger Privilege allows for indulgent pet-posting.

Here are highlights from Lily's first full day in 'The City That Works'

And ... of course the title of this post is not just a happy accident.

Lily chews

Lily chews some more

Homegirl

GT12 is just please as punch to announce the newest member of our team, Lily. Lily hails from our hometown of Toledo and is currently adjusting comfortably to life in a solid blue state. We Welcome her.