Cheney Is Insane

I know that the above statement is probably not a surprise to anyone, but it seems to me that anyone who would continue to assert that Iraq was linked to Al-Qaeda five years after the start of the invasion of Iraq, when even the President has said there is no evidence of a link between Hussein and September 11th, has either got to be certifiably insane, an insidious, compulsive liar or both. My bet is on both.

On Thursday, Vice President Darth Cheney, speaking on the Rush Limbaugh show (of course) said "that al-Qaeda was operating in Iraq before the March 2003 invasion led by U.S. forces and that terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was leading the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda. Others in al-Qaeda planned the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
'He took up residence there before we ever launched into Iraq, organized the al-Qaeda operations inside Iraq before we even arrived on the scene and then, of course, led the charge for Iraq until we killed him last June,' Cheney told radio host Rush Limbaugh during an interview. 'As I say, they were present before we invaded Iraq.'

Yet on that very day, THAT VERY DAY, the Pentagon declassified a report that shows "interrogations of the deposed Iraqi leader and two of his former aides as well as seized Iraqi documents confirmed that the terrorist organization and the Saddam government were not working together before the invasion."

But that doesn't matter to Cheney as he spews his lies on the Limbaugh show. They wouldn't want to lose the 30% base that is basically the audience still listening to the drug-addicted, child molester. At this point, wouldn't it be fair to say that Cheney (who actually has a lower approval rating than Bush if that's possible) can't be taken on his word for ANYTHING?

In that same interview, he maligned Speaker Nancy Pelosi for taking a trip to Syria, calling it "bad behavior on her part." Of course, he would never mention the fact that Pelosi was actually there to reinforce Bush administration policies and goals regarding Syria, and this is according to Republican Rep. David Hobson who accompanied her on the trip! But although five of the eleven politicians who have visited Syria in the past five days have been Republican, no mention or criticism of their trip has been apparent.

Diplomacy is not this administration's strong suit by a long shot, especially when most of the time they don't even consider it an option. So wouldn't a trip by an opposing party member extolling the Bush party line, and the Syrian government knowing that the Democrats aren't playing either, be advantageous to the administration? You'd think so, but since they are all crazy and live in Oppositeland, it completely makes sense to attack and smear. Just like this New York Post front page picture from March 31st, 2007.

God I hate these people.

Bush The Deceitful

An abuse of power to the Nth degree.

President Bush has appointed Sam Fox as Ambassador to Belgium. If you don't know who Sam Fox is, he was Chimpy's nominee for said appointment back in January. During his Senate Confirmation Hearing in February however, he hit a bit of a snag when questions arose on why he donated $50,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. You remember them, don't you? They're the lying scumbags who smeared John Kerry during his Presidential campaign in 2004.

So there is Sam Fox, sweating in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, answering questions asked by... John Kerry, who is on the committee. Chickens coming back to roost anyone?

Well, knowing Fox didn't have the votes was just a bit too much to take for Curious George and on March 28th (just seven days ago) he withdrew Fox's nomination. So now what does this sneaky, evil, criminal son-of-a-bitch do? He waits for Congress to go on a one week recess and then APPOINTS SAM FOX Ambassador to Belgium!

"We view the recess appointment of Mr. Fox as a clear abuse of the President's recess appointment power," three Democratic senators wrote in a letter to the Government Accountability Office, Congress' auditing agency.

Apparently Bush thinks that this is a dictatorship, not a democracy. Talk about brass balls! The Democratic senators were outraged, and asked the Government Accountability Office Thursday, "If the U.S. Senate defeats the nomination of Mr. Fox, would Mr. Fox's recess appointment continue through the current session of Congress, or would it be terminated?"

But that's a longshot as Bush had done this before with the 2002 blocked nomination of Otto Reich as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Senator Chris Dodd blocked that nomination and the Chimp-Man gave Reich the job as a recess appointment. The GAO then cited the US Constitution in Bush's favor. Ironic isn't it?

And to add insult to injury, of course Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, (The "I" must stand for "imbecile") the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney "hailed the appointment." Why wouldn't they? It's just another end-around to subvert the checks and balances of the Constitution that Bush hides behind when it's in his favor, but disregards when it is not.

Our Cat Murray

Murray, our feline son, fell ill a few weeks ago. We originally thought it was an infection caused by bad teeth. Our vet took good care of him and Murray had three teeth pulled! Guess he takes after his dad when it comes to cavities. After a week of antibiotics, we thought he was on the way to recovery, but this past weekend he didn't look right, stopped eating and wasn't his normal self.

We went back to the vet and x-rays revealed a large mass behind his heart and a small one in front. Blood tests showed liver and pituitary damage. Murray had cancer.

After thinking about what we should do and speaking with the doctor, we decided that Murray had suffered enough and we should put him down. We made an appointment with the vet last evening, one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. Murray, however, had his own plans.

He hated being kooked up in his pet carrier and despised the ride to the vet. After two trips in the last two weeks, he beat us to the punch and passed away peacefully at home a few hours before his last trip, a couple of months before his 7th birthday.

Murray was a very "talkative" cat and sometimes sounded like a baby when he meowed. He also liked wet cat food. We only fed him dry food, but he would dump a mouthful of food into the water dish, watch intently as he waited for it to sink, then scoop it out and eat it with his paws.

He would then proceed to track one wet paw around the house. What a nutty cat. He wasn't normally a nuzzly cat, but was a loud purrer and buried his head into your chin when you picked him up. He didn't need to be all over you but enjoyed being in the same room with you. As long as you were within eyesight, he was cool. As he got a little older, he became more affectionate and liked watching Keith Olbermann at night with his dad, lying on dad's legs which rested on the coffee table. The problem was, he was so damned heavy, dad's feet would fall asleep.

I know that he loved us, maybe even more than he loved pasta (but that's a close race). He will be sorely missed by his mom and dad and his brother Chester (from the same litter), but it's a relief to know that he's no longer in pain.

Take care of your pets. You never know how long you're going to have them.

NY Times: McCain Wrong On Security

This can't be right. John "Straight Talk" McCain is apparently stretching the truth just a teensy bit regarding the safe streets in Baghdad. But... but I thought he shopped... I thought he was in a safe neighborhood and that according to him, there are plenty of safe neighborhoods.

Well, why don't we talk to the Iraqi merchants?

NY Times:

“What are they talking about?” Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday. “The security procedures were abnormal!”

“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media.” He added, “This will not change anything.”

“They asked about our conditions, and we told them the situation was bad,” said Aboud Sharif Kadhoury, 63, who peddles prayer rugs at a sidewalk stand. He said he sold a small prayer rug worth less than $1 to a member of the Congressional delegation. (The official paid $20 and told Mr. Kadhoury to keep the change, the vendor said.)
Mr. Kadhoury said he lost more than $2,000 worth of merchandise in the triple bombing in February. “I was hit in the head and back with shrapnel,” he recalled.

“This area here is very dangerous,” continued Mr. Youssef, who lost his shop in the February attack. “They cannot secure it.”

“Every time the government announces anything — that the electricity is good or the water supply is good — the insurgents come to attack it immediately,” said Abu Samer, 49, who would give only his nickname out of concern for his safety.

But wait a minute! I thought John McCain, Mr. Straight Talk, one of the Republicans running for the Presidential primary said it was safe. How can this be? How can he be wrong? He was there himself, wasn't he?

Mr. McCain was asked about a comment he made on a radio program in which he said that he could walk freely through certain areas of Baghdad.
“I just came from one,” he replied sharply. “Things are better and there are encouraging signs.” He added, “Never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today.”

Well I guess that statement is true. I don't know of many people that can claim that they go shopping wearing body armor, with 100 armed troops watching their back, and helicopter support overhead.
How misguided can this freak be? Doesn't he know there are these new inventions called CAMERAS out there in the real world that can record and take images of his "safe shopping stroll" through the streets of Baghdad?! Here's one:

McCain, you miserable, good-for-nothing, idiot. Stop wasting taxpayer dollars on photo op trips to Iraq. You are so desperate to claim this lost war is working, you'll do or say anything in your zealous run for the presidency to achieve your goal. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for us), you are as out of touch with reality as are the 30% of the population that still support the Chimp in Chief. How in the hell do you think you can even come close to winning an election when you are at odds with 70% of the American people?!

Go home, Maverick. Stop embarrassing us... Just go home.

The Maverick Takes a Stroll

John McCain sure shut people up today when he took a leisurely stroll down a Baghdad street. The streets that he claims are safe for Americans to walk down.

By the way, the street market he shopped for about an hour was a three minute drive outside the Green Zone, he wore body armor and was accompanied by a contingent of 100 armed soldiers, three Blackhawk helicoptors and two Apache gunships.

Way to go, Maverick! You sure showed us. All aboard the Straight Talk Express!

David Hicks and the Problem with Gitmo

On March 30 2007, David Hicks was convicted of "providing material support for terrorism", marking the first conviction at a U.S. war-crimes trial since World War II. Hicks has been he only detainee who has been formally charged under a new military tribunal system. Prosecutors say they plan to charge as many as 80 of the 385 men now held at Guantanamo on suspicion of links to al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

There are a few problems with this, in my opinion:

1 - David Hicks was sent to Guantanamo in 2002... five years ago. FIVE YEARS AGO, with no charges filed against him.

2 - In 2004, Hicks was charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and aiding the enemy - to which he pleaded not guilty - the charges were subsequently dropped after a US Supreme Court ruled that the system of military tribunals was unlawful. Yet he stayed locked up in Gitmo.

3 - Originally assigned three lawyers, two of his three attorneys were removed from representing him. Hicks' civilian attorney was removed because he refused to sign a statement agreeing to abide by military rules that had not yet been drafted and another attorney was removed because she supposedly did not have the correct credentials for the commission. That left Hicks with only one attorney, his military attorney, Dan Mori. Although Mori has been doing an exemplary job for Hicks, there was a little cloud hanging over Mori: the prosecuting attorney has suggested that Mori should be brought up on charges of misconduct for his zealous defense of Hicks.

4 - He finally pleaded guilty to "providing material support for terrorism", a charge that wasn't a crime when he was arrested. Of course, ex post facto laws are unconstitutional, but that doesn't matter anymore, does it?

5 - As part of his plea bargain - yes, plea bargain - he'll be sent to Australia to serve nine months of the seven years he was sentenced to. The deal included a statement by Mr. Hicks that he “has never been illegally treated” while a captive, despite claims of beatings he had made in the past. It also included a promise not to pursue suits over the treatment he received while in detention and “not to communicate in any way with the media” for a year.

6 - Legal analysts saw the nine-month term as suspiciously accommodating of Australia's election season as the deal keeps Hicks out of the public arena until just after the vote expected by December.

I thought we didn't bargain with terrorists, that is of course unless we have nothing on the guy, torture him for five years, charge him with a crime that didn't exist when he was arrested, take away legal counsel and force him not to talk to the media for a year and refute his testimony of being tortured.

Don't misunderstand me. Following the 9/11 attacks, Hicks telephoned his father from Kandahar in Afghanistan, to tell him he was going to help the Taliban defend Kabul from the Northern Alliance. He was captured on 9 December 2001 near Kunduz in Afghanistan by the Northern Alliance.

The debate is not whether Hicks is innocent or guilty, or a patsy, or a sick man with Islamic delusions of grandeur. The question is whether or not he deserved a fair and speedy trial as dictated by the 6th Amendment of the Constitution. And if he did not, how long before we are next?

God, I hate these people.

Australian reporter Ray Martin's video report of February 18th: The Ghost of David Hicks