Poll: Obama, Huckabee leading rivals

DES MOINES, Iowa - Presidential contenders rang in the 2008 election year with near-constant campaigning on Monday as a poll showed Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee leading their rivals with three days remaining before the Iowa caucuses.

The poll by the Des Moines Register showed Obama, an Illinois senator, with the support of 32 percent of those surveyed, compared to 25 percent for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and 24 percent for former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

Among Republicans, Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, had the backing of 32 percent of those surveyed, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had 26 percent.

MORE...

Electronic voting is questioned

DENVER - With the presidential race in full swing, Colorado and other states have found critical flaws in the accuracy and security of their electronic voting machines, forcing officials to scramble to return to the paper ballots they abandoned after the Florida debacle of 2000.

In December alone, top election officials in Ohio and Colorado declared that widely used voting equipment is unfit for elections.

"Every system that is out there, one state or another has found that they are no good," said John Gideon of the advocacy group Voters Unite.
"Everybody is starting to look at this now and starting to realize that there is something wrong."

MORE...

Islamic Rage Boy Sings "Infidels" (Jingle Bells)

Kathy Griffin on Ann Coulter

What???? Now the G.O.P. is BRAGGING about illegal campaign practices???

"Voter caging," according to the Brennan Center for Justice, "is the practice of sending mail to addresses on the voter rolls, compiling a list of the mail that is returned undelivered, and using that list to purge or challenge voters’ registrations on the grounds that the voters on the list do not legally reside at their registered addresses."

The problem with all of the above is that voter caging is so extremely unreliable as an indicator of the legitimacy of a voter's right to vote that its use has been eradicated. Except by the Republicans.

And do you know why voter caging is near and dear to Republican hearts? Because they ONLY target minorities or any voting constituency they perceive as being likely to vote Democratic.

And THAT'S against the law. Republican abuse of voter caging was so extreme, the Grand Old Party was forced by federal court to sign a consent decree never to do it again.

They lied. That, and denying Americans the right to vote is a crime. But, it gets worse. Now, the Republicans are BRAGGING about it.

From "Crooks and Liars" and "Blue Tide Rising" we learn that the head of the Republican Party for the State of Kansas sent out an email bragging of the following, "To date, the Kansas GOP has identified and caged more voters in the last 11 months than the previous two years!”

Slate.com also has a write-up on the Republican Party's attempt through voter caging to subvert yet another American election.

If you are curious about the Republican chairman whose big mouth has put the spotlight square on Republican efforts to steal America away from Americans, his name is Kris Kobach and you can learn more about him here and here. America may actually owe this bigmouth a huge debt of gratitude for being the practical whistleblower that he's turned out to be.

Here's yet another instance of Karl Rove and his bot interfering with the 2004 election. It begins: "For years, Tim Griffin, the former aide to Karl Rove who’s been at the center of the U.S. attorney controversy, has been dogged by allegations that he was a part of a 2004 scheme to block African-Americans in Florida from voting."

This article poses the very believable scenario that Tim Griffin, Karl Rove protege and champion vote-supressor, was persuaded to withdraw his name from Senate consideration to be permanently appointed as a United States attorney purely to avoid having to answer questions under oath about his illegal voter-suppression activities.

Then there's this article about Mr. Griffin's illegal activities on behalf of his master, Karl Rove.

And here's another report on how the Republicans are focusing on disenfranchising minority voters in Ohio and Florida for the 2008 election.

The PBS program, "Voter Caging & Housing Works" attempts to answer the following: "Was there a White House plot to illegally suppress votes in 2004? Is there a similar plan for the upcoming elections? This week NOW examines documents and evidence that points to a Republican Party plan designed to keep Democrats from voting, allegedly by targeting people based on their race and ethnicity with key battleground states like Ohio and Florida of particular interest." Here is their video (in addition to the linked article).

The PBS program makes reference to David Iglesias, one of the fired U.S. Attorneys, who was ordered to go out "fishing" for likely targets for voter caging and when all his investigating failed to turn up enough dirt, he was fired. Here is that interview with David Iglesias.

RELATED LINKS:

E-mails between National Republican Party headquarters and Ohio State Republican Party officials about plans to challenge voters in Ohio [pdf]

List of people in the Cleveland, Ohio area who the Republicans planned to stop on Election Day, 2004 [pdf]

Guidebook for Republicans interested in becoming poll monitors[pdf]

"Truth About Voter Fraud"

BBC: "New Florida vote scandal feared" by Greg Palast

"In 2004, BBC reporter Greg Palast obtained two e-mails -- prepared for the executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign's national research director -- that listed '1,886 names and addresses of voters in predominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas' of the Jacksonville, FL Naval Air Station. Palast explains: "Here's how the scheme worked: The RNC mailed these voters letters in envelopes marked, 'Do not forward', to be returned to the sender. These letters were mailed to servicemen and women, some stationed overseas, to their US home addresses. The letters then returned to the Bush-Cheney campaign as 'undeliverable.'"

SO THE REPUBLICANS SUNK SO LOW THAT THEY SOUGHT TO DISENFRANCHISE OUR SOLDIERS. Who's the traitor now?

Here's one of those anti-American traitors...

Please, don't let them steal America again. This country belongs to the people!!! And 70% of us want the current crooked regime OUT OF THERE ALREADY!!!!

Permission is granted to repost my words in this specific article (only) on any blog or website or forum or messageboard. If you do copy this article, please keep "fair use" and "copyright" in mind and do not copy more of the excerpted articles than what you see here and please leave a link back to the original sources as I have done.

One of the 50 most loathsome people in America: YOU

One of the 50 most loathsome people in America: YOU
by John Aravosis (DC)
· 12/28/2007 03:48:00 PM ET ·

Charges: You believe in freedom of speech, until someone says something that offends you. You suddenly give a damn about border integrity, because the automated voice system at your pharmacy asked you to press 9 for Spanish. You cling to every scrap of bullshit you can find to support your ludicrous belief system, and reject all empirical evidence to the contrary. You know the difference between patriotism and nationalism -- it's nationalism when foreigners do it. You hate anyone who seems smarter than you. You care more about zygotes than actual people. You love to blame people for their misfortunes, even if it means screwing yourself over. You still think Republicans favor limited government. Your knowledge of politics and government are dwarfed by your concern for Britney Spears' children. You think buying Chinese goods stimulates our economy. You think you're going to get universal health care. You tolerate the phrase "enhanced interrogation techniques." You think the government is actually trying to improve education. You think watching CNN makes you smarter. You think two parties is enough. You can't spell. You think $9 trillion in debt is manageable. You believe in an afterlife for the sole reason that you don't want to die. You think lowering taxes raises revenue. You think the economy's doing well. You're an idiot.

Exhibit A: You couldn't get enough Anna Nicole Smith coverage.

Sentence: A gradual decline into abject poverty as you continue to vote against your own self-interest. Death by an easily treated disorder that your health insurance doesn't cover. You deserve it, chump.

Strange... this post very much describes the majority of posters at the Bully Pulpit forum at Delphiforums. They become apopletic with insane rage if you suggest they follow the Golden Rule... you know, if you wouldn't like it if someone hijacked your own threads because they politically disagreed with you and if you didn't like it when people launched personal attacks against you, then you probably should not do that to others.

In fact, the frothing-at-the-mouth extremists at the Bully Pulpit will even insist that anyone who dares to suggest the Golden Rule ought to be a guideline for forum behavior absolutely must be banned from that forum.

They really, really hate you for posting the real facts. Truth is anathema to extremists because it is not bendable to extremist talking points.

Pity.

Priests brawl at Jesus' birthplace

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) -- Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests attacked each other with brooms and stones inside the Church of the Nativity as long-standing rivalries erupted in violence during holiday cleaning on Thursday.

The basilica, built over the grotto in Bethlehem where Christians believe Jesus was born, is administered jointly by Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic authorities.

Any perceived encroachment on one group's turf can touch off vicious feuds.

On Thursday, dozens of priests and cleaners were scrubbing the church ahead of the Armenian and Orthodox Christmas, celebrated in early January. Thousands of tourists visited the church this week for Christmas celebrations.

But the clean-up turned ugly after some of the Orthodox faithful stepped inside the Armenian church's section, touching off a scuffle between about 50 Greek Orthodox and 30 Armenians.

Palestinian police, armed with batons and shields, quickly formed a human cordon to separate the two sides so the cleaning could continue, then ordered an Associated Press photographer out of the church.

LINK

WWJD?

Well, I guess this is one endorsement Rudy won't be getting...

Rudolph Giuliani, Oxycontin Defender

One way that Rudy used his post-9/11 hero status was to go to bat for the makers of the drug Oxycontin. They were being criminally investigated for misleading the public and health care professionals about the potential dangers of using the drug. As head of Guiliani Partners, the lobbying firm hired by the Oxycontin makers, it was Rudy's job to thwart that criminal investigation. How is that representing the best interests of the American people? If he was President, what highest bidder would he sell us out to as George Bush has done vis-a-vis being owned in business by the bin Ladens and the Carlyle Group?

In western Virginia, far from the limelight, United States Attorney John L. Brownlee found himself on the telephone last year with a political and legal superstar, Rudolph W. Giuliani.

For years, Mr. Brownlee and his small team had been building a case that the maker of the painkiller OxyContin had misled the public when it claimed the drug was less prone to abuse than competing narcotics. The drug was believed to be a factor in hundreds of deaths involving its abuse.

Mr. Giuliani, celebrated for his stewardship of New York City after 9/11, soon told the prosecutors they were wrong.

In 2002, the drug maker, Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn., hired Mr. Giuliani and his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, to help stem the controversy about OxyContin. Among Mr. Giuliani’s missions was the job of convincing public officials that they could trust Purdue because they could trust him.

READ MORE...

Rudy would never tell a lie... would he?

Two Items on Benazir Bhutto

...both from "The Huffington Post."

First, Arianna Huffington's personal recollection of Benazir Bhutto who might have preferred to be a housewife and mother but who put aside her personal wants to serve the people of Pakistan.

Then, a startling email from Benazir Bhutto herself, read on-air by Wolf Blitzer and which had been kept secret, to be revealed only in the event of her assassination. Ms. Bhutto makes the point in her email that any assassin who could get past all the protection and security that surrounded her would have to have official help and so she points the finger at Musharaff in the event she is killed.

"The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends" - Soldiers Speak Out

SEE THE TRAILER:
"The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends," takes an unflinching look at the training and dehumanization of U.S. soldiers, and how they struggle to come to terms with it when they come back home.

This film overrides familiar images of heroic soldiers in battle, and overjoyed returning faces, reunited with their families with one effortless stroke. Instead, we see a scenario that can include illness, amputation and injury, depression and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), of which Iraq has become a fertile breeding ground. While America's poor treatment of veterans is not news to most, "The Ground Truth" makes it so personal and real, it is impossible to dismiss its characters simply as war statistics.

The film gives us glimpses into a Marine Corps boot camp that allows us to comprehend how a man or woman can kill as part of their job. We get hit with more understanding of our soldiers' dehumanization by seeing Iraq combat footage that shows routine indiscriminate killing. Their jobs over, the confusion, guilt and shame that comes home with these "killers" is the tip of the iceberg.

Left with few resources and families that cannot understand what they have seen or done, their anguish only intensifies. Foulkrod's graphic footage and still-photographs of the ground conflict in Iraq, should forever shatter the sanitized images found on the nightly news and provide a much needed wake-up call for all of us.

PBS Frontline: Cheney's Law

Watch the documentary and afterwards decide for yourself if we in America still live in a "free country." When your country has been taken over by a cabal of powergrabbing greedy corrupt criminals and they seemingly are not answerable to the Constitution and the laws of this land, that they are in effect, a dictatorship, so how free can the country be?

It was Cheney's "energy advisors" and good buddies who had such a rip-roaring good time manufacturing an "energy crisis" in California that didn't have to happen but which "made the grannies cry" according to Cheney's energy advisors. The more grannies that cried, the richer they got.

Now Cheney wants to block our Republican Governor's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the state of California. Seems Cheney's energy advisors have struck again. Since when did the federal government have the authority to stop a State from trying to be more environment-friendly?

The crooks are so blatant, they don't give a shit what anyone thinks and they believe they will never be held to account. They don't even care if they've destroyed the Republican Party for a generation or more.

A Conservative Republican's View of the events of 9/11

This link leads to a short trailer for this conservative Republican's documentary (also downloadable from this page) on his view of the events of 9/11.

Perhaps his next video will be showing his proof that creationism is an earth/physical science?

Stop Rape Now

STOP RAPE AS A WEAPON OF WAR

Sexual violence in conflict is an atrocity affecting millions of people, primarily women and girls. It is employed by soldiers and other combatants in conflict to humiliate opponents, terrify individuals, and destroy societies. Yet, rape remains largely ignored in conflict prevention and peace-building efforts. Many still view sexual violence as an inevitable consequence of conflict - an attitude that encourages impunity for perpetrators.

But, we can end this.

Be a part of the growing movement to encourage governments and support civil society organizations to end sexual violence in conflict.

VISIT THE WEBSITE

Bush says US economy is safe and sound

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - President Bush worked to reassure Americans on Monday about the economy but said "there's definitely some storm clouds and concern" because of the nation's credit crunch and mortgage problems.

"But the underpinning is good," Bush told business and community leaders at a gathering of Rotary Club members.

"We've had a pretty good economic run," the president said in a speech intended to show he is aware of the public's edgy mood these days. Consumer confidence has eroded as turmoil in the housing and credit market have battered the economy.

READ THE ARTICLE

Do you suppose he's aware that 70% of Americans think he's full of shit?

Saudi king pardons rape victim

Abdullah reportedly spares woman in sex-assault case from jail and lashes

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has pardoned a female rape victim who had been sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes for being alone with a man who was not related to her, a Saudi newspaper reported Monday.

...The victim in the case, known only as the "Girl of Qatif" after her hometown in eastern Saudi Arabia, was in a car with a man in 2006 when they were attacked and raped by seven men.

She was initially sentenced in November 2006 to several months in prison and 90 lashes for being alone in a car with a man with whom she was neither related nor married, a violation of the kingdom's strict segregation of the sexes.

The woman, who was 19 at the time of the rape, has said she met the man to retrieve a picture of herself from him because she had recently married.

The case sparked international outcry, especially after the court more than doubled the sentence last month to 200 lashes and six months prison in response to her appeal.

READ MORE

Yep, Saudi Arabia sure does have a HUGE public relations problem with the rest of the world. A few of their nasty bits of business:

"Death of a Princess" - This story, which generally went around as a girl who willingly accepted to die rather than compromise over a love she felt for a boy, that touched buttons. It's a crucifixion story. It has that same sort of resonance. And that stirred things in people. And that was what the film was about, was about that stirring. At the same time, it was trying to find the girl herself. Who was she?

Saudi Arabia: Religious Police Role in School Fire Criticized - Eyewitnesses, including civil defense officers, reported that several members of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (mutawwa'in, in Arabic) interfered with rescue efforts because the fleeing students were not wearing the obligatory public attire (long black cloaks and head coverings) for Saudi girls and women.

...The report noted that mutawwa'in were at the school's main gate and, "intentionally obstructed the efforts to evacuate the girls. This resulted in the increased number of casualties."

The religious police reportedly tried to block the entry of Civil Defense officers into the building. "We told them that the situation was dangerous and it was not the time to discuss religious issues, but they refused and started shouting at us," Arab News quoted Civil Defense officers as saying.

"Whenever the girls got out through the main gate, these people forced them to return via another. Instead of extending a helping hand for the rescue work, they were using their hands to beat us," Civil Defense officers were quoted as saying.

The officers also said they saw three people beating girls who had evacuated the school without proper dress. A Saudi journalist told Human Rights Watch that the mutawwa'in at the scene also turned away parents and other residents who came to assist.

Sex slave trafficking in Saudi Arabia - Today the State Department released a list of countries that are not doing enough to prevent international trafficking of people, especially women and children. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, who has previously led the efforts to track and punish international human traffickers, urged immediate action by the State Department to insure that countries, including some U.S. allies, take responsibility for putting an end to this horrific practice of buying and selling women and children.

...Sen. Schumer continued, “I am particularly disturbed that Saudi Arabia, according to today’s report, ‘does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, particularly its failure to protect victims and prosecute those guilty of involuntary servitude.’”

“This only serves to strengthen the arguments many have made that this Administration is too close to the Saudi government and has not held them accountable to the most basic standards of humanity,” Schumer concluded.

Anti-Americanism in Saudi Arabia - Several developments have contributed to the rise of anti-Americanism in Saudi Arabia since the end of the Cold War, including the steady growth of American influences on Saudi society and mores and the decline of common external threats. There were also a series of events that highlighted or symbolized two realities in conflict with the Kingdom's self-concept as the hub of Islam: dependence on the United States for external security, and American cultural influence. These events include the Persian Gulf War in 1990-91, the second Palestinian intifada, the terror attacks of September 11, and the second American war with Iraq.

Saudi Schools Indoctrinate Their Children with Hate : ...However, these textbooks are part of the official curriculum for Saudi students and are a fundamental part of their education. Approximately 35% of school studies is devoted to compulsory Saudi religious education. (For more on Saudi religious education, see FRONTLINE's interviews with Ali al-Ahmed, Mai Yamani, and Hassan Youssef Yassin.).

SOME EXAMPLES FROM SAUDI SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS:

"The last hour won't come before the Muslims would fight the Jews and the Muslims will kill them so Jews would hide behind rocks and trees. Then the rocks and tree would call: oh Muslim, oh servant of God! There is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only "Gharkad" tree, it is of Jews' trees."

"It's fate decided by Allah that the Muslims and Jews will fight till the end of the world."

"The Hadith predicts for the Muslims God's victory over the Jews."

"The opposition of God and his Apostle and the opposition of His Sharia- is a reason for retribution of Allah that is what happened to the Jews of Ibn-Nadhir. God Says: "That is because they acted in opposition to Allah and His Apostle, and whoever acts in opposition to Allah, then surely Allah is severe in retributing (evil)"

"It's allowed to demolish, burn or destroy the bastions of the Kufar (infidels)- and all what constitutes their shield from Muslims if that was for the sake of victory for the Muslims and the defeat for the Kufar."

The Kingdom of Corruption - The Saudi Connection: But Wahhabism remains the state religion of Saudi Arabia, imported with petro-dollars to fund extremism elsewhere in the world. During the war against the Soviet Union, Pakistani military intelligence requested the presence of a Saudi prince to lead the jihad in Afghanistan. No volunteers were forthcoming and the Saudi leaders recommended the scion of a rich family, close to the monarchy. Ossama Bin Laden was despatched to the Pakistan border and arrived in time to hear President Carter's National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brezinski, turban on head, shout: "Allah is on your side."

The religious schools in Pakistan where the Taliban were created were funded by the Saudis and Wahhabi influence was very strong. Last year when the Taliban decided to blow up the old Buddhas there were appeals from the ancient seminaries of Qom and al-Azhar to desist on the grounds that Islam was tolerant. A Wahhabi delegation from the Kingdom advised the Taliban to execute the plan. They did. The Wahhabi insistence on a permanent jihad against all enemies, Muslim and non-Muslim, was to leave a deep mark on the young boys who later took Kabul. The attitude of the United States in those days was sympathetic. A Republican Party packed with Christian cults could hardly offer advice on this matter and both Clinton and Blair were keen on advertising their Christianity.

The Corruption of Corporate America By The House of Saud - This site is dedicated to the Royal House of Saud, and to the web of corruption it has spun around corporate America. And while it has become evident, even without those secret excerpts from the official U.S. Government 9/11 Report, that the House of Saud has been instrumental in the spread of hateful Wahhabism, that is not the main theme of this web page. The purpose of this site is to open up the discussion on an even more insidious aspect of the corrupt House of Saud, that is the influence it holds within the highest levels of the U.S. Government and American corporations.

Odor of Corruption Over Saudi "Contract of the Century" - Last year, Tony Blair, then still prime minister, blocked an investigation of financial embezzlement involving the Saudi royal family in the negotiation of this fabulous contract. The investigation had begun in 2004 and established that BAE had transferred a billion pounds sterling (1.4 billion euros) to the private account of Prince Bandar, who was Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington for twenty years, and another billion pounds to the Swiss accounts of other royal family members. The British Serious Fraud Office (SFO), a theoretically independent agency, was not authorized to pursue its investigations.

London has succeeded in keeping a lid on this scandal, to finally end up signing this contract.

The Corner House and CAAT win landmark ruling on BAE-Saudi corruption case - This past Friday, 9 November 2007, just before 1 pm, two High Court judges granted permission to Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and The Corner House for a full judicial review hearing against the UK Government's decision in December last year to cut short a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in recent arms deals with Saudi Arabia.

U.K. politician to boycott official Saudi visit to protest handling of corruption probe - The acting leader of a British opposition party said Sunday he will boycott a state visit by Saudi King Abdullah to protest the handling of a British investigation into claims that members of the Saudi royal family received kickbacks as part of a massive arms deal. It begins Monday and is to include a banquet held by the Queen Elizabeth II in his honor at Buckingham Palace.

... "I have introduced three debates in Parliament this year expressing serious concerns over the al-Yamamah contract and the corruption allegedly involved. I have, in my arguments, also been very critical of members of the Saudi royal family and the Saudi record on human rights, including its maltreatment of British citizens," the letter said.

"In my opinion, it is quite wrong for the British government to have proposed a state visit at this time. Therefore, it would, I believe, be inappropriate for me to participate in a ceremonial state visit against this background."

Human rights in Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia is one of a number of countries where courts continue to impose corporal punishment, including amputations of hands and feet for robbery, and lashings for lesser crimes such as "sexual deviance" and drunkenness.

...In 2002, the United Nations Committee against Torture criticized Saudi Arabia over the amputations and floggings it carries out under its interpretation of Sharia.

...Saudi Arabia also engages in capital punishment, including public executions by beheading and stoning. While some are also executed in private by firing squad, many executions are popular public attractions.

...Individuals accused of crimes are not provided with representation, and according to Amnesty International, some defendants are convicted based on confessions obtained under duress, torture or deception.

...Saudi women face severe discrimination in many aspects of their lives, including education, employment, and the justice system and are clearly regarded as inferior to men. Although they make up 70% of those enrolled in universities, women make up just 5% of the workforce in Saudi Arabia, the lowest proportion in the world. The treatment of women has been referred to as "gender apartheid."

...In the legal system, women face discrimination as the criminal laws of Saudi Arabia adhere to strict Islamic precepts. The testimony of a woman is not regarded as fact but as presumption.

As a result of these laws women are particularly vulnerable in cases of assault and/or rape, as their testimony is treated as a presumption, while that of their attackers is accepted as fact. In some cases, victims of sexual assault are punished on the grounds that they should not be alone with unrelated males.

Women are not allowed to drive or ride bicycles on public roads in large cities.

Women cannot be admitted to a hospital, examined by a doctor, travel abroad or leave the house without the express permission and/or company of an immediate male relative.

After their first menstrual cycle, women must cover their entire body in a long black cloak (abaaya) as according to tradition. Failing to do so results in severe punishment. Foreign women are also expected to wear abaya, violators may face caning, harassment or fines.

Women are forbidden from voting.

"Freedom of religion does not exist," the U.S. State Department's 1997 Human Rights Report on Saudi Arabia states. "Islam is the official religion, and all citizens must be Muslims. The government prohibits the public practice of other religions." However, at the U.N. Third Millennium Summit in New York City, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz defended Saudi Arabia's position on human rights, saying "It is absurd to impose on an individual or a society rights that are alien to its beliefs or principles."

Saudis prepare to behead teenage maid - Human rights campaigners yesterday urged the authorities not to behead a 19-year-old Sri Lankan maid found guilty of killing a baby in her care.

According to the Saudi authorities, Rizana Nafeek admitted strangling the four-month-old boy while feeding him with a bottle.

But Nafeek, whose job was not meant to include child care, has denied making any such admission. She claims the child had begun to choke before losing consciousness in spite of her desperate efforts to clear his airway.

Tonight is the deadline for appeals in the case. Unless the Saudi authorities change the sentence or the parents of the victim offer clemency, Nafeek will have her head cut off by an executioner wielding a sword in front of a crowd of onlookers.

On September 11, 2001, 15 out of the 19 hijackers who carried out the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were Saudi citizens.

On Iran, Bush faces questions of what he knew when

WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush faced questions on Tuesday about whether he knew of intelligence that Iran had ended its nuclear arms program when he warned in October that Tehran could trigger World War Three.

"Can't you be accused of hyping this threat?" Bush was asked at a news conference a day after his administration released a new National Intelligence Estimate concluding that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

"I was made aware of the NIE last week," Bush replied.

But it was his next remark that drew attention from Democrats, the news media and intelligence experts: "In August, I think it was (U.S. intelligence chief) Mike McConnell came in and said, 'We have some new information.' He didn't tell me what the information was."

Increasingly strident U.S. rhetoric over Iran's nuclear program reached a peak on Oct. 17 when Bush warned that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to World War Three.

A day later, Vice President Dick Cheney announced his own warning of "serious consequences" for Iran if it refused to abandon its nuclear activities.

The comments stirred fears of a possible U.S. military confrontation with Iran and helped send world oil prices soaring toward the $100 a barrel mark.

On Tuesday, some former intelligence officers said Bush and other top White House officials were probably briefed about the intelligence findings long before the NIE was published.

"I can't imagine that McConnell ... would tell the president about this and not tell him what the information actually said," remarked Flynt Leverett, a former member of Bush's National Security Council.

"I think they certainly played fast and loose with the facts," he said in an interview with CNN.

READ THE ARTICLE

ALSO SEE: Kucinich questions Bush's mental health over Iran

Hamas Plans New War of Aggression Against Israel

Hamas' charter calls for the complete destruction of the state of Israel. They will not be satisfied until Israel and the United States both cease to exist.

The numbnut left-wingers in this country who know Israel is not the aggressor but who persist in their anti-Semitic diatribes against our ally Israel have to do some real pretzel-twisting to continue to support terrorist Hamas.

I'll spell it out. The numbnuts are FOR Hamas because the numbnuts claim to want peace. But, that doesn't jive with the reality of Hamas' constant bombardment of rockets into Israel. Hamas = murder and aggression. The numbnuts want Hamas to be weak and defenseless and the poor simple victims of Israeli self-defense moves... that were started by Hamas rocket attacks/aggression. Whatever lie fits the numbnuts program, that's the one they promote.

Okay. Enough pretzel-twisting. For now.

So, now Hamas is threatening another war of aggression. They warn they should be allowed to launch their rockets against innocent civilians without facing any repercussions whatsoever. They warn if Israel defends itself in this war, "Jews, go back, because we have already dug graves for you."

And the numbnuts will still call Hamas the peaceful ones.

READ THE REUTERS STORY ON HAMAS' PLANS OF AGGRESSION

HORROR UNDER THE HIJAB

HORROR UNDER THE HIJAB

A Canadian Muslim teenager was murdered this week for trying to establish her own identity by moving out of her family home and for reportedly defying her father’s command to cover her head. Meanwhile, Canada’s largest daily newspaper, the Toronto Star, disgracefully hid its own head in the sand.

Pakistani-Canadian Aqsa Parvez, 16, was strangled by her father in an honor murder last Monday in the Toronto-area city of Mississauga. Refusing to wear the Islamic hijab, Parvez, who was herself born in Pakistan, wanted to live the normal lifestyle of a Canadian teenage girl, but ran into conflict with her strict, religious father. One friend and schoolmate said the Canadian teenager was afraid of her father and often came to school wearing bruises, the result of his violence.

“She was scared of her father; he was always controlling her,” the friend told the National Post, a Canadian national newspaper. “She wasn’t allowed to go out or do anything.”

Nevertheless, the Grade 11 student, according to friends, would leave home wearing the hijab but arrive at school in western-style clothes, having changed on the way. This was part of her courageous desire to live her own life and overcoming the fear in which she lived.

Despite the Canadian public’s disgust and outrage over this murder and in contrast to Parvez’s courage, the Toronto Star avoided tackling head on the issue of Muslim male intolerance and violence toward female family members who wish to establish their independence and lead their own lives.

READ THE ARTICLE

My Delphi Forums Sig File

I hang out at a lot of different forums at Delphi because they have every possible interest covered there. A lot of wacky people run forums at Delphi and it's a great deal of fun to be an observer to human behavior there. I've actually been able to create and flesh out characters for my writing from some of the folks who post at Delphi, especially the rabid fanatics of various political stripes.

Ha ha ha ha... the most fun I had was posting factual data on the rabid right-wing forum, "The Bully Pulpit," where they finally banned me for suggesting that people ought to follow the Golden Rule. I'd been discussing how the forum owner and her moderators permitted "pile-on thread hijacking" whenever anyone posited a middle-of-the-road or liberal or Democratic view of issues but the threads of the rabid ones were vigorously protected with constant "clean up" when the right-wing talking points were challenged.

I'd mentioned to one rabid right-winger that if he truly was the Christian he pretended to be then he believed in the Golden Rule. Makes sense, doesn't it? So... when he burst into threads with vicious personal attacks and insults and the aforementioned thread hijacking, he was proclaiming to all that was how he wished to be treated. It follows logically the concept of the Golden Rule, does it not?

So they banned me because the rabid dog whined that I'd made a terrorist threat. Ha ha ha ha ha ha... I love it. Only the brain dead would not see the humor here.

Anyway, this is the "sig file" that attaches to the bottom of all my postings in any forum at Delphi that permits sig files...



My Blogs:

The Politics Schmalitics Blog
"Where Truth will never be silenced by liars, hypocrites, or any other hater of American values!"


The Writer Blog
"Do you write? Want to write? Screenplays? Novels? Short stories? Poetry? I've got the resources for you!"

Brain Juice Blog
FOR ALL WRITERS: Ideas, Challenges, Story Starters, oh man, I have a whole crapload of stuff to get the juices flowing and the batteries running!

The Brain Farts Blog
"A little of this, a little of that... Whatever it is, it's a surefire cure for boredom!"

The X-Shikseh Files
"A Jewish blog from a
genuine Zionist hoodlum."

Spectacular Israel


Join the Blue Ribbon Online
Free Speech Campaign!

The last bit in there about free speech was just to tweak the beaks of the rabid dog extremists. In fact, the very last one, a smilie custom made by me, was put into my sig after a long list of links to posts of mine that had been censored by a left-wing anti-Semite who hosts a forum at Delphi. For example, he made up a bunch of crap or linked to crap from either white power websites or terrorist sponsored websites (or websites run by people who also were involved with terrorists or the general left-wing anti-Israel movement) and for every lie he posted, I would have the annoying habit of digging up the actual truth. Which he would promptly delete. LOL. So when my friend Randy started a Delphi Form to discuss Islamofacism from an American point of view, I started re-posting every censored post there with that little smilie.

Oh, man the rabid dogs sure hate you when you tell the truth and back it up. Makes me feel good all over. Proof of success comes in various forms such as the responses that include the personal attack. But, nothing beats getting banned for proof of success! Yee-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!!!! LOL LOL LOL!!!!

More Free Political Bumper Stickers for Your Blog, Website, forums, emails, etc.

You can find more in my earlier post here. Please download images to your own computer. Do not directly link (hotlink) to any images here. I often reorganize and change folders and file names and you may end up with a broken image link if you hotlink any images here. Also, I sometimes change the image to something embarrassing to the hotlinkers. You do not have to link back to my blog to use the images but it would be nice if you could. Don't sweat it, though.

CIA destroyed tapes despite court orders

Several issues involved here even though the opposite extremist ends of the political spectrum would desire that folks only paid attention to one issue or another or one very narrow view of an issue.

The Bush administration was under court order not to destroy videotapes of prisoner interrogations. Knowing they were forbidden to destroy those tapes, the Bush administration went ahead and destroyed them, anyway.

One has to ask, is this a "high crime" or "misdemeanor?" Is it an impeachable offense or, when taken together with other offenses committed by the Bush administration, is all of it "impeachable offenses?"

Is it scary that a President thinks he is above the law and entitled to make up his own laws as he goes along? Should America be concerned about this?

Is a President answerable to the law of the land?

There are also the debates over what constitutes torture and how to safeguard the secrecy of C.I.A. operations, something the Bush administration has clearly demonstrated little regard for when it suited their vengeful political purposes. Can they now hide behind the same protection they denied to a loyal C.I.A. operative and all she came into contact with as a part of her job?

Even if making public knowledge of the torture tactics used by the Bush regime was something that still required debating behind closed-to-the-public top secret doors, should not the evidence/issues to be debated have been preserved?

The Bush Derangement Syndrome suffered by the right-wing extremist zealots will have them scurrying like obedient little lemmings to defend any crime comitted by their leader. At this point, I truly do have to question their love for this country. How can they advocate for criminal behavior and dictatorship and say they love America? The truth is, they only love agenda and be damned to America and her laws... and her democracy.

FROM THE ARTICLE:

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration was under court order not to discard evidence of detainee torture and abuse months before the CIA destroyed videotapes that revealed some of its harshest interrogation tactics.

Normally, that would force the government to defend itself against obstruction allegations. But the CIA may have an out: its clandestine network of overseas prisons.

While judges focused on the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and tried to guarantee that any evidence of detainee abuse would be preserved, the CIA was performing its toughest questioning half a world away. And by the time President Bush publicly acknowledged the secret prison system, interrogation videotapes of two terrorism suspects had been destroyed.

READ THE ARTICLE

Free Political Bumper Stickers for Your Blog, Website, forums, emails, etc.

Please download any image you wish to use to your own hard drive (usually by RIGHT-clicking on the image). Do not DIRECT LINK (hotlink) to these images. I often change directories or delete items and occasionally will substitute something rather embarrassing for the hotlinkers, so thanks for not doing that. You don't really have to link to my blog for using these images, but it would be nice if you did. Enjoy!

Military Families Turn on Bush

Bush loses ground with military families
A majority disapprove of the president's handling of the war in Iraq and come closer in line with the views of the general public

WASHINGTON -- Families with ties to the military, long a reliable source of support for wartime presidents, disapprove of President Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq, with a majority concluding the invasion was not worth it, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.

The views of the military community, which includes active-duty service members, veterans and their family members, mirror those of the overall adult population, a sign that the strong military endorsement that the administration often pointed to has dwindled in the war's fifth year.

Nearly six out of every 10 military families disapprove of Bush's job performance and the way he has run the war, rating him only slightly better than the general population does.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE

Is the President of our country mentally ill? Is he under the influence of the Carlyle Group (Bin Ladens) or Cheney-Halliburton or any of his father's old cronies? Exactly who's running the show in Washington?

Presidential Sex Tapes

Description: President George W. Bush needs money bad to pay for the war in Iraq, so former president Bill Clinton has an idea - they should make a "Sex tape, baby!" just like Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton! Sung to Kid Rock's "Cowboy," George and Bill just need a hi-8 and some drunk interns for their presidential sex tape, then the girls can come "and take a ride on Air Force One." Now if they can just keep Hillary away.....

SEE THE VIDEO

Olbermann Reads Irreverent O'Reilly Comic Strip On-Air, Mocks Falafel Scandal

Friday night on "Countdown," Keith Olbermann closed the program with a dramatic reading of a Tom Tomorrow comic strip mocking Bill O'Reilly. To adequately channel the voice of the cartoon, Olbermann read the comic as O'Reilly himself. The comic happened to mention O'Reilly's superior ratings and Olbermann's small penis, as well as a few references to Bill O'Reilly's phone sex/falafel scandal of years past. Watch, and try to keep from laughing out loud if you're at the office.
SEE THE VIDEO

Republicans Call Bush's Bluff On War Funding Threats

This would be funny except it's not funny. Know what I mean? On the heels of Congress passing the largest Defense spending bill ever, Bush and his bots are crying "poor" and were threatening to "lay off" 200,000 Pentagon employees if Bush didn't get everything he asked for.

Well, the Republican lawmakers called his bluff.

But in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Virginia Republicans Tom Davis and Frank Wolf say the administration's threat is baseless, because the Pentagon has the authority to make shifts in its budget to avoid forcing employees to take leaves of absences.

...The letter -- also signed by Reps. Jim Moran, D-VA, Chris Van Hollen, D-MD, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-MD, Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-DC, John Sarbanes, D-MD, and Elijah Cummings, D-MD -- comes less than a month after Congress passed a $459 billion defense spending bill. The Pentagon has "general transfer authority of $3.7 billion" and can also reallocate $8 billion of "excess working capital fund cash" to meet other budget, the letter states.

Citing this monetary flexibility, Rep. Moran labeled Gates' doomsday furlough proclamation an "old budget showdown tactic." Indeed, President Bush, himself, has been ramping up the rhetoric, repeatedly warning of severe damages to the Defense Department in the absence of an agreement on Iraq War funds.

"Given that the administration's threats were announced on the heels of Congress passing the largest defense spending bill ever, their cries of poor mouth raise a red flag the size of the North Pole," Moran said.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Lawn work at Romney's home still done by illegal immigrants

Oh, Mitt. You've been a very bad boy. READ THE ARTICLE.

Deal near on mortgage defaults

The right-wing extremists must be in a tizzy over this one because they do not acknowledge the housing market, much less the general economy, is in any kind of a "slump." The right-wing extremists get their marching orders - talking points - from the pundits who know how to make a buck off the true believer.

It's a real head-spinner indeed when the titular head of the gang of true believing agenda pushers, George Bush, not only betrays their loyalty by having his regime acknowledge yes, indeed, there just might be a problem with the economy and specifically with the housing market, but here's what my administration proposes to do about it...

And once the extremists recover from that body blow and regain their wind (gas?), then they have only their old standard of "If you're having financial hard times, it's your own fault" to fall back on and that supreme selfishness is not well served by a President whose regime actually appears to be trying to do something to relieve the problem.

It should be noted the extremists never have any real solutions to real problems and any attempt to address Reality is considered by them to be clearly un-American and treasonous.

Well, here's their bad news for today:

Deal near on mortgage defaults

WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday he is confident there will soon be an agreement to help thousands of homeowners avoid mortgage defaults by temporarily freezing their interest rates.

Paulson told a national housing conference that this effort involved a "pragmatic response" to current realities as the economy goes through the worst housing slump in more than two decades. The number of homeowners struggling to meet higher payments because their initial introductory rates are resetting is currently soaring.

Paulson and other top Treasury officials have been holding talks with major players in the mortgage industry over the past several weeks to hammer out an agreement that would freeze the lower introductory rates to keep them from resetting to higher levels for a period of years.

"We are working aggressively and quickly, utilizing available tools and creating new ones, to help financially responsible but struggling homeowners," Paulson said in a speech to a national housing conference sponsored by the Office of Thrift Supervision.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Yeah, it would be nice if we lived in a perfect world and there were no hungry people or working families who had a hard struggle to make ends meet.

Chavez loses constitutional vote

CARACAS, Venezuela - Humbled by his first electoral defeat ever, President Hugo Chavez said Monday he may have been too ambitious in asking voters to let him stand indefinitely for re-election and endorse a huge leap to a socialist state...

...Foes of the reform effort — including Roman Catholic leaders, media freedom groups, human rights groups and prominent business leaders — said it would have granted Chavez unchecked power and imperiled basic rights.

READ MORE HERE

I understand that Chavez and Bush have a hard-on for each other but from the average Venezuelan citizen's P.O.V., why is this Chavez guy who provides government housing for poor people a bad guy and how did the Venezuelan opposition manage this startling achievement of handing Chavez his first major defeat? And when it comes time for him to leave office (2012), will he go?

George W. Bush Joke

One night, George W. Bush is tossing restlessly in his White House bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him Bush asks him, "George, what's the best thing I can do to help the country?"

"Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, and then fades away.

The next night, Bush is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through the darkened bedroom. Bush calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I can do to help the country?"

"Respect the Constitution, as I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight...

The third night sleep still does not come for Bush. He awakens to see the ghost of FDR hovering over his bed. Bush whispers, "Franklin, What is the best thing I can do to help the country?"

"Help the less fortunate, just as I did," FDR replies and fades into the mist...

Bush isn't sleeping well the fourth night when he sees another figure moving in the shadows. It is the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. Bush pleads, "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now to help the country?"

Lincoln replies, "Go see a play."

Saudi Court to Review Case of Rape Victim

The Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister announced on Tuesday that the case of a rape victim who was sentenced to 200 lashes and prison time will be reviewed by the Saudi judiciary. The case has drawn international outrage over the harsh sentence handed to the 19 year old woman, who was abducted at knife-point and gang-raped, because she was in a car with a man she is not related to at the time of the attack.

The announcement is a change in direction from the Saudi Justice Ministry’s Saturday announcement defending the sentence and claiming that the woman had confessed to adultery. The victim, who was recently married, states that she was meeting with a high school friend to retrieve a picture of herself, reports the Associated Press.

The Saudi court originally sentenced the woman to 90 lashes, but more than doubled it to 200 lashes and six months in prison when her lawyer appealed the case, claiming that she was trying to use the media to influence them. The appeals court also increased the rapists’ sentences, from one to five year prison terms to two and nine year prison terms.

Media Resources: Feminist Daily Newswire 11/26/07; Associated Press 11/27/07; AFP 11/27/07

Experts Urge Congress to Cut Abstinence Only Funding

Ten top public health researchers urged Congressional leaders last week to cut funding for failed abstinence only programs. The letter, signed by researchers from universities like Columbia and Yale, as well as from the Guttmacher Institute, was sent to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. It warned that abstinence only programs withhold "potentially life-saving information" about contraceptives and ignore the health needs of homosexual, bisexual and transgender youth, reports the Washington Times. Abstinence only programs also omit information on the use of condoms, which would aid in the prevention of spreading sexually transmitted diseases.

Abstinence only programs have come under increasing fire as studies reveal how ineffective they are. The US has spent about $1 billion on failed abstinence only programs in the past decade.

Many states, including New York, Maine and Pennsylvania, have rejected the matching federal abstinence only funds in favor of teaching comprehensive sex education. Virginia recently became the 14th state to do so, cutting the $275,000 from the state budget that is required to match federal abstinence-only funding.

Media Resources: Daily Women’s Health Policy Report 11/28/07; Washington Times 11/28/07; Feminist Daily Newswire 11/26/07

SEE ALSO:

Bush Pushes for More Abstinence Only Funding

President Bush is pushing for more funding for abstinence only programs even as a Congressional study shows they are ineffective. The US has spent about $1 billion on failed abstinence-only sex education programs over the past decade and President Bush proposes a 2008 budget of $204 million for such programs, reports Women’s eNews.

In fact, a November 7th study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy showed that programs that combine abstinence and contraception were most effective.

Many states are now rejecting the matching federal abstinence only funds in favor of teaching comprehensive sex education. Just this month, Virginia became the 14th state to do so, cutting the $275,000 from the state budget that is required to match federal abstinence-only funding.

Bush Cuts Food Program for Women and Children

President Bush’s proposed budget for 2008 would cut half a million people from the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, which provides, among other things, food vouchers for low-income pregnant women, new mothers, and children.

Bush has proposed $5.4 billion in funding to serve about 8.3 million people. However, the caseload has increased to 8.5 million. Also, prices for products like milk and cheese, which account for about 40% of WIC food costs, have increased. Because of that, the proposed spending level will cut about 500,000 people from the WIC program, reports USA Today.

WIC was created in 1974 and provides vouchers for nutritious foods, counseling on healthy eating, and health care referrals to low-income pregnant women and new mothers, infants, and children under age five who are at nutritional risk. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, WIC has been acclaimed for its effectiveness in reducing the incidence of low-weight births, reducing child anemia, and improving nutrition and health outcomes.

100 Examples of GOP Corruption, Lies, and Ignorance

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

Biden To Bush: Bomb Iran And I'll Impeach

PORTSMOUTH — Presidential hopeful Delaware Sen. Joe Biden stated unequivocally that he will move to impeach President Bush if he bombs Iran without first gaining congressional approval.

Biden spoke in front of a crowd of approximately 100 at a candidate forum held Thursday at Seacoast Media Group. The forum focused on the Iraq war and foreign policy. When an audience member expressed fear of a war with Iran, Biden said he does not typically engage in threats, but had no qualms about issuing a direct warning to the Oval Office.

"The president has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran, and if he does, as Foreign Relations Committee chairman, I will move to impeach," said Biden, whose words were followed by a raucous applause from the local audience.

Biden said he is in the process of meeting with constitutional law experts to prepare a legal memorandum saying as much and intends to send it to the president.

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE

More gay men describe sexual encounters with U.S. Sen. Craig

David Phillips. Mike Jones. Greg Ruth. Tom Russell.

Four gay men, willing to put their names in print and whose allegations can't be disproved, have come forward since news of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's guilty plea. They say they had sex with Craig or that he made a sexual advance or that he paid them unusual attention.

They are telling their stories now because they are offended by Craig's denials, including his famous statement, "I am not gay, I never have been gay." Those words, spoken on live national TV on Aug. 28, are now memorialized on a just-released-for-Christmas Talking Senator Larry Craig Action Figure.

David Phillips is a 42-year-old information technology consultant in Washington, D.C., who says Craig picked him up at a gay club in 1986 and that they subsequently had sex.

Mike Jones is a former prostitute who told the world he had sex with the Rev. Ted Haggard last year. The former Colorado Springs evangelist at first denied it but eventually confessed. Jones says Craig paid him for sex in late 2004 or early 2005.

Greg Ruth was a 24-year-old college Republican in 1981 when he says he was hit on by Craig at a Republican meeting in Coeur d'Alene.
Tom Russell, now 48, is a former Nampa resident who lives in Utah. Russell said his encounter with Craig occurred at Bogus Basin in the early 1980s.

A fifth gay man, who is from Boise but who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, offered a recent and telling account: He was in a men's restroom at Denver International Airport in September 2006 when the man in the next stall moved his hand slowly, palm up, under the divider. Alarmed, the man said he waited outside the restroom and then identified the man in the adjoining stall as Craig, whom he had met in Idaho.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Also on this page:

NOVAK VOICES DOUBTS

Conservative columnist Robert Novak has raised doubts about Sen. Larry Craig's truthfulness. In his syndicated column Sept. 3, Novak wrote that "several Republican senators and staffers were not a bit surprised" by Craig's guilty plea in connection with a sex sting.

On Oct. 5, the day after Craig reversed his pledge to resign, Novak elaborated on Bloomberg Television, saying he'd spoken to several Senate sources about Craig.

"They knew about it," Novak reported. "They knew he had this problem, and it was in the closet and it was not just a homosexual relationship, it was this weird, weird conduct."

UPDATE! The number is now up to eight men.

Rove Confronted Over Iraq War Lie

Farther down here, you'll find the post about Karl Rove's insane claim that poor little President Bush never wanted to go to war with Iraq but that nasty mean old Congress forced him into it.

These delusions would be laugh-out-loud hysterically funny except it's the current lie being pushed by the lunatics running our country.

They really think America is living their delusion with them. That's scary.

From Nico Pitney:

This morning on Fox News Sunday, Rep. Chris Van Hollen called out Karl Rove for his false claim that Congress, not President Bush, had pushed for a speedy vote on the 2002 Iraq war resolution.

"Clearly things have not gone right in Iraq and you've tried to revise history," Van Hollen told Rove, demanding he "retract the outrageous statements you made."

Rove refused to back down, instead reading off a series of quotes by then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) that Rove claimed backed up his point. But as ThinkProgress documents, "None of the quotes that Rove used suggested Daschle was desperately trying to force a war authorization vote."

Van Hollen then laid down his trump card: a quote by former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer in today's Washington Post: "It was definitely the Bush administration that set it in motion and determined the timing, not the Congress. I think Karl in this instance just has his facts wrong."

Read the rest of the confrontation here.

The Hypocrisy of Extremists

I got to thinking about this after making the post just two posts below this one, the post about waterboarding and is it torture or not. It seems the American people do view it as torture but what's pretty incredible is that a goodly portion of those have no problem with that.

Guess which political party most of them belong to and know that they would be screaming and whining and frothing at the mouth if a President of the other major political party had been the Waterboarder-in-Chief.

You see, it's not about the waterboarding. It's not about the torture. It's not about any single moral belief or article of faith other than the one that states the hypocrite's view of the world must reign supreme and all others must be utterly destroyed. It's all about pissing and who can make the fanciest pictures in the snow.

If you dare to challenge the machismo posturing (yes, even of the female fanatics), then you are the anti-American traitor, you are the one aiding and abetting America's enemies and you can be dehumanized and marginalized and ultimately discounted. It's the only way to maintain the Bubble World where the fanatics live.

I call it "Bush Derangement Syndrome," though the scope of this mental disorder goes far beyond one individual man.

The extremist hypocrites practice the most unAmerican of behaviors in the name of fighting whatever they deem as being unAmerican.

In fact, their extremist agenda is so all-important they eat their own as a matter of course if that lawmaker or business icon or even President should stray off the agenda's officially proscribed path.

And so, it is not America that matters to them at all. Not when they are fond of threatening our American society with open declarations of weapons stockpiling for the Armageddon against our own government that's sure to come if anyone not blessed by them should be elected to high office by the American public they swear they live to defend (except, not very many of these bigmouths seem to be active duty military or would even be eligible for service to this country, preferring instead to act as bullies behind the anonymous internet).

No, agenda comes first, even before America and American values. And for that alone, these gasbag fact-spinners of the new and old media are indeed hypocrites.

Getting back to waterboarding, Abu Ghraib, and various other truths... it would almost have been amusing to watch the extremists sizzle on the end of their hypocrisy stick - defending America by denying what America is - except there is nothing amusing about watching cancer grow.

So, according to the latest extremist talking point, if you're against torture you are positively unAmerican.

Hypocrites.

US says it has right to kidnap British citizens

Now, here's a helluva way to treat your friends... the Bush regime declares it has a right to kidnap the citizens of our most loyal ally in this world and NOT for purposes of snatching terrorists but for OTHER CRIMES the suspect may be accused of having done... such as bank fraud.

Hey, World, we the American people (at least over 70% of us) do not respect the criminal currently occupying the Oval Office and we do not support his policies. Please keep that in mind. We are even more horrified by his antics than you are.

Bush has no regard for the sovereignty of even our allies.

AMERICA has told Britain that it can “kidnap” British citizens if they are wanted for crimes in the United States.

A senior lawyer for the American government has told the Court of Appeal in London that kidnapping foreign citizens is permissible under American law because the US Supreme Court has sanctioned it.

The admission will alarm the British business community after the case of the so-called NatWest Three, bankers who were extradited to America on fraud charges.

...Until now it was commonly assumed that US law permitted kidnapping only in the “extraordinary rendition” of terrorist suspects.

The American government has for the first time made it clear in a British court that the law applies to anyone, British or otherwise, suspected of a crime by Washington.

READ MORE HERE.

Poll results: Waterboarding is torture

A majority of Americans consider waterboarding a form of torture, but some of those say it's OK for the U.S. government to use the technique, according to a poll released Tuesday.

Obama pulls ahead for Democrats in Iowa Poll

I think we are seeing a contest between Obama's "positives" versus Clinton's "negatives." Obama's main positive point is that he makes a good showing for himself as an advocate of the American family because he, himself, is a family man and treasures his loved ones. Every time he talks, this comes through and it makes people take notice of this guy.

Hillary's main negatives are that she is thought of as almost a carbon copy of George Bush when it comes to Iraq and that a vote for her is a vote for George Bush's policies and the country is sick unto death of that.

She's also got a huge negative in being thought of as a major player in the Slime Machine of American Politics. She's not much more than pond scum when it comes to that and the only thing beneath her are the scum who have actually been convicted of corruption. Never mind that they're Republicans - all pond scum is starting to look alike anymore.

If Obama gets caught with a mistress or Hillary can vault herself out of the pond and show clear evidence of having a conscience, then things may change.

Unfortunately for Obama, his JFK-esque fresh image also makes the average person wonder if he's a bit too pure for Washington and world politics. Once there, could he kick ass?

Anyway, have a peek at what the Des Moines Register has t o say:

Barack Obama has pulled ahead in the race for Iowa's Democratic presidential caucuses, while the party's national frontrunner Hillary Clinton has slipped to second in the leadoff nominating state, according to The Des Moines Register's new Iowa Poll.

Despite the movement, the race for 2008's opening nominating contest remains very competitive about a month before the Jan. 3 caucuses, just over half of likely caucusgoers who favor a candidate saying they could change their minds.

...The lead change appears after weeks of increasing criticism of Clinton by Obama and Edwards about her position on U.S. policy toward Iran and questions of her candor.

Meanwhile, Clinton has recently begun accusing Obama of inexperience and criticizing his proposal to expand health insurance coverage.

The poll shows what has continued to be a wide gap between the top three candidates and the remainder of the field.

READ MORE OF THE ARTICLE HERE

Security Cameras Capture Female Suicide Bomber and her Bra Bomb -- Do You Know This Woman?

Also see: Security clampdown in Sri Lanka capital after deadly blasts: police