As if you needed another reason

WASHINGTON - Even talking football, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks diplomatically.

She made clear Friday that she wants the Indianapolis Colts to win Sunday's Super Bowl over the Chicago Bears, but her words were measured.

During a photo opportunity to tell Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov goodbye, the two refused to answer questions about the Middle East situation, the subject of Lavrov's visit. Then, as they turned away, a reporter asked Rice to forecast the Super Bowl outcome.

"I really like both Chicago and Indianapolis, but I think Indianapolis is going to win it," she said. Then, as if it were an afterthought, she added: "And that would be a good thing."

Quote of the Day

Janning, to be sure, is a tragic figure. We believe he *loathed* the evil he did. But compassion for the present torture of his soul must not beget forgetfulness of the torture and death of millions by the government of which he was a part. Janning's record and his fate illuminate the most shattering truth that has emerged from this trial. If he and the other defendants were all depraved perverts - if the leaders of the Third Reich were sadistic monsters and maniacs - these events would have no more moral significance than an earthquake or other natural catastrophes. But this trial has shown that under the stress of a national crisis, men - even able and extraordinary men - can delude themselves into the commission of crimes and atrocities so vast and heinous as to stagger the imagination. No one who has sat through this trial can ever forget. The sterilization of men because of their political beliefs... The murder of children... How *easily* that can happen! There are those in our country today, too, who speak of the "protection" of the country. Of "survival". The answer to that is: *survival as what*? A country isn't a rock. And it isn't an extension of one's self. *It's what it stands for, when standing for something is the most difficult!* Before the people of the world - let it now be noted in our decision here that this is what *we* stand for: *justice, truth... and the value of a single human being!* - Judge Dan Haywood, Judgement at Nuremburg

Alex, may I have "Stating the Obvious" for a trillion dollars, please?

A long-awaited National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, presented to President Bush by the intelligence community yesterday, outlines an increasingly perilous situation in which the United States has little control and there is a strong possibility of further deterioration, according to sources familiar with the document (more) .

Wow, there's a shocker.

He's probably right....

During the Super Bowl media day nonsense, Bears wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad gave us this one, a shout-out to the troops:

To all the troops in Iraq and Iran, we love you and we’re with you!’’

I'd say he's probably right on this one.

Did you ever read something that just, well, made you question everything?

While waking up this morning, I was browsing some right-wing blogs via the Daou Report on Salon. I find it best to read some of these things when I'm not fully awake. One of the hot topics, apparently, is global climate change. Really, you say, after the Liar in Chief mentioned it in his State of the Union address, people who have previously doubted the mountain of scientific data telling us that human activity affects the environment are changing their minds? Or perhaps it's that they're aghast, as any thinking person should be, that the White House has been actively pressuring scientists to not release that data?

(I think you know where I'm going with this...)

Of course not. They're digging in their heels even harder, and in the process, are just going wacko. Yes, I'm comfortable using that word for people who write things like this:

"Paper recycling is probably responsible for a lot of CO2 remaining in the air and not being removed."

You see, you environmentalist activist nutjobs - if (and I mean if!) human activity is causing global climate change, it's because of your crazy recycling. Not the burning of coal. Not the burning of gasoline and oil. No! You, who are trying to "save" the earth, are killing it!

Quick - everyone jump in your Hummers and go to the paper recycling plants and burn them down - they're destroying the earth. That's the only way we can save ourselves.

Torture Boy Takes a Page from Joseph Heller

Apparently Torture Boy Gonzalez has agreed to release details of the illegal domestic spying program. What makes this story funny is the following quote from torture boy himself:

"It's important for us that they (congress) understand what we're doing (with the spying program). All they have to do is ask."

Of course, NO ONE in congress knew ANYTHING about the illegal spying on US citizens for months - if not years - after it was instituted shorty after 9/11. Even then, only a few highly placed GOP toadies and the ranking Democrat in the house and senate were let in on the EXISTENCE, but not the workings and/or scope, of the illegal fishing expedition. To make matters worse, they were FORBIDDEN from even acknowledging that the program existed.

So, how exactly was congress **supposed** to ask? It took a FEDERAL judge, an overwhelming electoral defeat, a change of leadership in BOTH the house and senate, AND two weeks of foot-dragging and stonewalling before saying: all they had to do was ask?

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There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he [Yossarian] observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.
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Note to Team Thinker

We have been "Google-ized," we're in the new format now. You will need to get a Google account to post.

UPDATE: It is pretty screwed up right now, bear with me.

Updated update--Better.

From the "Is this supposed to surprise me?" File

WASHINGTON (AP)- The U.S. government wasted tens of millions of dollars in Iraq reconstruction aid, including scores of unaccounted-for weapons and a never-used camp for housing police trainers with an Olympic-size swimming pool, investigators say.

The quarterly audit by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, is the latest to paint a grim picture of waste, fraud and frustration in an Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has cost taxpayers more than $300 billion and left the region near civil war.

“The security situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, hindering progress in all reconstruction sectors and threatening the overall reconstruction effort,” according to the 579-page report, which was being released Wednesday.

(more)

Inmates Running the Asylum

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 — President Bush has signed a directive that gives the White House much greater control over the rules and policy statements that the government develops to protect public health, safety, the environment, civil rights and privacy.

In an executive order published last week in the Federal Register, Mr. Bush said that each agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee, to supervise the development of rules and documents providing guidance to regulated industries. The White House will thus have a gatekeeper in each agency to analyze the costs and the benefits of new rules and to make sure the agencies carry out the president’s priorities.

This strengthens the hand of the White House in shaping rules that have, in the past, often been generated by civil servants and scientific experts.

Yeah, that was a crazy idea having those wacky scientific experts involved in regulation. Everyone knows Bush appointees do a MUCH better job there!

We REALLY need to take the Senate in '08.

We need a solid majority where we don't need miscreants like Droopy:



Oh sorry, wrong Droopy:



He gives us this gem:

"I'm open to supporting a Democrat, Republican, or even an Independent [White House '08]if there's a strong one," the U.S. Senator from Connecticut told "Fox News Sunday." "You make a decision based on a whole range of issues. But obviously, the positions that some candidates have taken in Iraq troubles me. Obviously, I will be looking at what positions they take in the larger war against Islamist terrorism."

I want to beat him badly, humiliate him on committee assignments and let him turn Republican. He will then learn the bitter lesson Benedict Arnold learned upon moving to England--while people use traitors, no one LIKES them.

Ted Kennedy unloads on the Greedy

From Schmidlap, we know that there are three types of Republicans, Evil, Greedy, and Stupid. It's probably some combination of the first two that has prevented the Senate from passing the minimum wage bill that the House passed very easily during the first 100 hours flurry. They killed it in a cloture vote (essentially, now everything takes 60 votes to pass), although they bitched to high heaven when the Dems did it when they were in the minority, and are now trying to add tons of amendments to it, just to make sure that rich people don't, you know, incur any actual costs or anything.

Ted Kennedy's sick of it, and he's letting people know (thanks to Bob Geiger for the story):

"We have now had amendments that have been worth over 200 billion dollars… Amendments that have been offered. We've had amendments on education of 35 billion dollars. We've had health-savings amendments that will benefit people with average incomes of $112,000… We've had those kinds of amendments and we're looking at the Kyl amendment at 3 billion dollars. But we still cannot get two dollars and fifteen cents -- over two years. Over two years!

"What is the price, we ask the other side? What is the price that you want from these working men and women? What cost? How much more do we have to give to the private sector and to business? How many billion dollars more, are you asking, are you requiring?

"When does the greed stop, we ask the other side? That's the question and that's the issue."

"Make no mistake about it -- they have on the Republican side, 70 more amendments. 70 more amendments!" said Kennedy. "We have none. We're prepared to vote now. 70 more amendments… 'Oh yes, we want an increase in the minimum wage, we want this, we want that but… let's have some other kinds of amendments that have virtually nothing to do with this.'"

"240 billion dollars in tax breaks for corporations. 36 billion dollars in tax breaks for small businesses. Increase in productivity -- 42 percent over the last 10 years," yelled Kennedy emotionally. "But do you think there's any increase in the minimum wage? No. At 12 after five today, on Thursday, I speak for all of our Democrats and say we're prepared to vote now. Now!"

"Do you have such disdain for hard-working Americans that you want to pile all your amendments on this? Why don’t you just hold your amendments until other pieces of legislation? Why this volume of amendments on just the issue to try and raise the minimum wage? What is it about it that drives you Republicans crazy? What is it? Something. Something! What is the price that the workers have to pay to get an increase? What is it about working men and women that you find so offensive?"

"We don’t want to hear any more from that side for the rest of this session about permitting or not permitting votes in here when you're denying it on the most simple concept of an increase in the minimum wage," said Kennedy. "We don’t want to hear any more about that."

"This is filibuster by delay and amendments. I've been around here long enough to know it when I see it and smell it, and that's what it looks like, that's what it is, make no mistake about it. Make no mistake about it."

Now, that's some real vitriol. Wait for the SCLM to hammer him for being uncivil.

State of the Union Whack-a-Mole

First, we must balance the Federal budget. We can do so without raising taxes. What we need to do is impose spending discipline in Washington, D.C. We set a goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009 — and met that goal 3 years ahead of schedule. Now let us take the next step. In the coming weeks, I will submit a budget that eliminates the Federal deficit within the next 5 years. I ask you to make the same commitment. Together, we can restrain the spending appetite of the Federal Government, and balance the Federal budget. Next, there is the matter of earmarks. These special interest items are often slipped into bills at the last hour — when not even C-SPAN is watching. In 2005 alone, the number of earmarks grew to over 13,000 and totaled nearly $18 billion. Even worse, over 90 percent of earmarks never make it to the floor of the House and Senate — they are dropped into Committee reports that are not even part of the bill that arrives on my desk. You did not vote them into law. I did not sign them into law. Yet they are treated as if they have the force of law. The time has come to end this practice. So let us work together to reform the budget process … expose every earmark to the light of day and to a vote in Congress … and cut the number and cost of earmarks at least in half by the end of this session.

Hmm. Mr. President. where have you been for the last six years?

For the terrorists, life since 9/11 has never been the same.

You're absolutely right, since 9/11, it has been Terrorist-apalooza.

Our enemies are quite explicit about their intentions....By killing and terrorizing Americans, they want to force our country to retreat from the world and abandon the cause of liberty.

Hmmm, who are our enemies??? How are we advancing "liberty??"

We have said this many times here, but the basic fact is that this is NOT A WAR. There is nothing to be won or lost here as in a war. There is just an end, and a bad end at that.

Everyone's running for President!

Except John Kerry.

Stay in the Senate, John. I certainly won't miss you.

Repubicans hate poor people

Despite passing easily in the House, the Republicans in the Senate just can't keep their grubby hands to themselves, and have messed up an attempt to raise the minimum wage. The bill from the House was extremely simple, spelling out when and to what amount the minimum wage would be raised, and that's it. However, unless businesses get tax breaks (I know, shocking), the GOP doesn't believe that they should have to pay their workers a respectable wage.

Of course, they killed it in a cloture vote. What about an up and down vote, folks? What about those obstructionists in the other party?

Who cares about the poor, anyway - hell, can they even vote?

The Blogger and the Pea

There is so much to comment on from last night, so much fuzzy math and so many disconnects from reality. However it is the first and the smallest, the pea under oh so many mattresses, that is really bothering me. Perhaps I'm suffering from outrage overload on Iraq, or perchance I'm dumbstruck that this man with the popularity of open sores would dare broach funding religious schools or screwing up social security at this late date.

But no. Read the official transcript: "Some in this chamber are new to the House and Senate—and I congratulate the Democratic majority." But he didn't say that. He used the Newt Gingrich-Frank Luntz "talking point" adjective, the DEMOCRAT majority. You see, they really aren't "democratic" and it rhymes with RAT--get it?

OK, back to business now, but that damned pea certainly does bother me.

(Note: See Joshua Holland over at Alternet for a thorough breakdown. Note in particular how Tony Snow described picking out the highlights of the speech as choosing among "a drawer full of diamonds." YACK.)

I don't know who's watching tonight

Link to the text (h/t Think Progress)

Who yelled "Whoo!" when W was introduced?

Health care? Higher fuel standards? Global climate change? Who does this guy think he is, a liberal?

What the hell is Cheney smirking at?

Oh, crap. 9/11. Time for whiskey.

Notice how he's gotten almost no applause at all about his 20k Tank Fodder approach?

This really is a painfully weak speech. He's not saying anything at all. Not the usual nothing, but really nothing. Even the "initiatives" are small time for a SotU. Not exactly what he needs to get a bounce.

Man, did he have to concentrate to say "Dikembe Mutombo".

Someone call Jack Nicholson. Laura stole his Joker mask.

That's it - if we have kids, I'm never buying them "Baby Einstein" stuff.

I'll give Wesley Autrey his props, though. That took some serious guts.

Thoughts?

Will the Circle be Unbroken?

Will the Circle be Unbroken? Yup.

There is a god.

E, Howard Hunt dies on the day where Pat Fitzgerald comes out firing on Cheney, the man whose idiot daughter penned a ridiculous op-ed saying that our republic was in an “existential” struggle while der Chimpenfuhrer prepares an address that even Republicans don’t want to hear.

Indeed, there is a god. As former Chicago Bulls guard Jamaal Crawford once opined, things are coming to “fruitation.”

When in free fall, objects accelerate downward at a constant rate of 9.8 m/s/s

CBS News' latest poll has the Liar in Chief at a 28% approval rating.

Other presidents two years before their 2nd term was up?

Clinton in 99, after the impeachment (remember, he was hated and despised and ruined America) - 65%.

Reagan in 87, after Iran-Contra - 52%.

LBJ in 67, hip-deep in Vietnam - 47%.

Ike in 59 - 57%.

Where the hell were you people in November of 2004?

--UPDATE (by Rousing Rabble)--
Good Dr. Magoo didn't have access to my archives, but I have been able to find the approval rating of one other famous (well, infamous) American president who had his own war debacle

Jefferson Davis, 1865, after Appomattox - 29%

Meanwhile, back in Frostbite Falls

BAGHDAD (AP) — Twin bombings Monday tore through stalls of vendors selling second-hand clothes and DVDs in a busy Baghdad market catering to Shiite Muslims during a religious festival. A market also was attacked north of the capital, and police said nearly 100 people died in the renewed campaign blamed on Sunni Muslim insurgents.

Think about this for a minute. Nearly a hundred people dead in ONE DAY in ONE CITY. We have sown the wind, and are indeed reaping the whirlwind.

Having nothing to do with politics

Bear down, Chicago Bears
Make every play clear the way to victory;
Bear down, Chicago Bears
Put up a fight with a might so fearlessly.
We'll never forget the way you thrilled the nation
With your T-formation.
Bear down, Chicago Bears
And let them know why you're wearing the crown.
You're the pride and joy of Illinois
Chicago Bears, bear down!