May 2006

Bush's Speech

You can now view the Bush speech today on the new revelations of the domestic wiretapping program on the White House's website (requires Real Player). After watching it, I agree with John 100% that Bush is pissed. You can tell this new report definitely hit a nerve and he did not deny the reports accuracy at all. He of course got September the eleventh in there also.

Republicans - when you are out of a job come this fall, this asshole is who you get to thank. The days are upon him where he will wish his approval ratings were back above 30%.

Bush Might Be Pissed

Well Bush must be worried about the today's USA Today report and has already addressed reporters on it:

President Bush addressed Thursday a newspaper report that the National Security Agency was collecting records of tens of millions of ordinary Americans' phone calls.

Bush neither confrimed or denied the report that AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications Inc., and BellSouth Corp. began turning over records to the NSA shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as USA Today reported based on anonymous sources it said had direct knowledge of the arrangement.

"Our intelligence activities strictly target al-Qaida and their knwon affiliates," Bush said. "We're not mining or trolling through the private lives of innocent Americans."

Bush said any domestic intelligence-gathering measures he's approved are "lawful," and he says "appropriate" members of Congress have been briefed.

So why not allow the DOJ to investigate then? If this is so "legal" there should be nothing to hide. True the same man calling this "legal" is the same man that said "who would of thought the levees would break", "you're doing a heckuva job Brownie", "if anyone in my administration leaked the identity of a CIA agent they will no longer be in my administration", "Harriet Miers is the best pick for the Supreme Court" and on and on and on. No one has any reason at ALL to believe a single word Bush says. He has proven himself a liar time and time again.

John has a quick synopsis of Bush's speech up.

Your Phone Has Been Tapped

Last night we were slapped with this very disturbing piece of news:

The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers the necessary security clearance to probe the matter.

The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR, sent a fax to Rep. Maurice Hinchey , D-N.Y., on Wednesday saying they were closing their inquiry because without clearance their lawyers cannot examine Justice lawyers' role in the program.

This was a jaw dropper. So an agency who has admitted to illegal activity can ward off any investigation by not giving security clearance to the DOJ. "Gee officer I do have marijuana in that brief case but you don't have the security clearance to look in it so I am free to go." Imagine if our entire justice system worked like that. We would definitely cure our problems of over-crowded jails. Hell we could close down most of them if we operated in this typical GOP justice mind set.

Well after fuming over that piece of crap news, I wake up to find this:

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans - most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

TENS OF MILLIONS!!!! The means that out of the people that read this blog, there are certain a number who have had their calls collected by the NSA (and I am sure they have done mine - after all I am a liberal blogger). This also means we are all experiencing a violation of our rights as we speak (type or read).

The Coulter Defense

Last night I read through Ann Coulter's latest piece as my eyes bled. Instead of forcing the same agony upon all of you, I figured I would highlight a couple things that really got my attention:

It's pretty pathetic when a Kennedy is too drunk to drive into the Potomac. After the visibly intoxicated Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashed his car into a police barrier near the Capitol just before 3 a.m. last Thursday morning, he explained to the police he was hurrying back to the Capitol for a vote, a procedure known on the Hill as "last call." It could have been a lot worse: Patrick's designated driver that night was Ted Kennedy.

At some point in his scrolling list of excuses, Kennedy eventually claimed he was addicted to prescription drugs and checked himself into the newly opened Kennedy Wing of the Mayo Clinic. He explained he had been "sleep driving." If people fall for his story, his father, Ted, plans to attribute his last immigration bill to "sleep legislating."

Coming right on the heels of a three-year witch-hunt directed at Rush Limbaugh for an addiction to prescription drugs (because of his politics) -- as well as the continuing threat to put Tom DeLay in prison (because of his politics) -- you would think there would be at least some serious discussion of prosecuting the young Kennedy for his addiction to prescription drugs, too.

First let's clear something up. Coulter is suppose to be an attorney but apparently does not understand the basic principles of law. Kennedy clearly admitted he had a problem and sought help for that problem. Limbaugh denied any problems which lead into a three year ~~witch-hunt~~ INVESTIGATION and resulted in him striking a deal with prosecutors. If Limbaugh was innocent then why strike this deal? Spin it anyway you want Ann but the facts are; Rush does have a problem and he was ARRESTED for that problem (if being booked, processed and released is not an arrest then apparently I was never arrested in my younger days).

Now wait, her latest spew of lies just gets better:

Democrats adored the independent counsel statute -- until it was used to catch an actual felon in the Oval Office. Then they noticed all sorts of problems with the law. Democrats swore up and down that women never lie about rape -- until that same felon was credibly accused of rape by Juanita Broaddrick on "NBC News," not to mention the four other card-carrying Democratic women who described being raped by Bill Clinton in eerily similar detail in Christopher Hitchens' book "No One Left to Lie To."

BREAKING: Tom Noe To Change Pleas

This could turn into something big:

A coin dealer and major GOP fundraiser asked Wednesday to change his not guilty pleas to federal charges that he illegally funneled donations to President Bush's re-election campaign.

Tom Noe had denied illegally funneling $45,400 in contributions to President Bush's re-election bid. He was accused of giving money directly or indirectly to 24 friends and associates, who then made the campaign contributions in their own names.

Federal prosecutors said he did that to skirt the $2,000 limit on individual contributions.

Noe's attorney and the U.S. attorney's office jointly filed a request Wednesday asking a federal judge to set a change of plea hearing as soon as possible. The filing did not indicate what the new plea will be.

There are also questions surrounding Ohio Governor Bob Taft's knowledge and involvement in the scandal. Perhaps we could see another cooperation deal in the making here and more Republicans finally being brought to justice.

Whirlpool Is The Latest Cutting Jobs

This one really hits home. Not only is it in my state but it also affects the field I use to be in:

Whirlpool Corp. said Wednesday that it will eliminate 4,500 jobs by closing three plants and consolidating corporate offices and other sites following its acquisition of rival appliance maker Maytag Corp.

The moves come in the wake of Whirlpool's $1.8 billion acquisition of Maytag on March 31, extending its lead as the nation's biggest appliance maker.

Whirlpool plans to close Maytag washer and dryer plants in Newton, Iowa; Herrin, Ill.; and Searcy, Ark. Laundry manufacturing sites in Clyde, Ohio, and Marion, Ohio, will absorb the production, Whirlpool spokesman Daniel Verakis said.

Also slated to close are Maytag's corporate headquarters and research center in Newton, Iowa, as well as administrative offices in Schaumburg, Ill., Canada and Mexico.

I started out in the appliance repair field in 1994. Back then it was a vibrant industry and provided a decent living. Within 7 years the field totally imploded to being almost none existent.

The problem is that we live in a disposable society. Instead of repairing appliance, it is easier, and a lot of the time cheaper for people to go out an buy new.

The manufacturers of appliances also dealt a serious blow to the industry by increasing the price of replacement parts dramatically while decreasing the price of new appliances. This caused the appliance repair field to also dwindle down to nothing. A couple years ago I went to my old parts house to get a new ice maker for my refrigerator. It was my first time there in about three years. When I use to go there, they had approximatley 30 people working for them. That work force had been reduced to eight and still shrinking.

Mary Cheney Upset With John Kerry Two Years Later

John at AmericaBLOG has a great entry about our vice-President's daughter:

Welcome to Mary Cheney's million-dollar closet. It's still a bit stuffy in here as a lot of things haven't been totally cleared out.

For someone who has been "out" for a decade, Mary still shows major signs of just-coming-out syndrome. It's what Jeff Gannon is going through, and what many if not most gays go through (especially conservative ones) when they first come to terms with being gay. They start being publicly gay, sometimes say good things, but more often than not their internalized homophobia comes slipping out.

Check out the rest of his entry as he untangles this web of hypocrisy.

SEC Investigating Diebold

This is great news:

Diebold Inc. , one of the world's largest makers of automated teller and electronic voting machines, on Tuesday said staff at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have begun an informal inquiry into how the company recognizes revenue.

North Canton, Ohio-based Diebold said it learned recently about the SEC inquiry and is cooperating. The company disclosed the inquiry in its quarterly report filed with the agency.

A Diebold spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment. SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment.

Diebold has struggled with high manufacturing costs and lower demand in North America for its ATMs. It is incurring some restructuring charges this year as it

To find out all the nitty-gritty on this check out BradBlog

Feingold Speaks

But will they listen?

Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), a potential anti-war candidate in the 2008 presidential field, urged fellow Democrats on Monday to show more backbone in challenging President Bush on Iraq.

"We must get out of our political foxholes and be willing to clearly and specifically point out what a strategic error the Iraq invasion has been," Feingold, D-Wis., told a National Press Club audience.

He said some Democrats in Congress gave in to "intimidation" by the Bush administration when they voted to authorize the war in 2002, and warned: "If we do not show both a practical and emotional readiness to lead in the fight against terrorism, we will lose in '06 and we will lose in '08, just like we did in '02 and '04."

In March, Feingold called for the censure of Bush over the administration's warrantless surveillance program. So far, only two Democrats, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Barbara Boxer of California, have signed on as co-sponsors

Feingold is right. The Democrats need to get louder and stand their ground to the GOP machine. They need to let America know they hear her cries and want to help. The Republicans flat out tell us they won't listen so we need someone who will. If the Democrats won't then we might as well give up.

Oh The Fiscal Responsibility

Apparently when Bush had the national debt limit raised to $9 trillion recently, that wasn't enough:

A $2.7 trillion budget plan pending before the House would raise the federal debt ceiling to nearly $10 trillion, less than two months after Congress last raised the federal government's borrowing limit.

The provision -- buried on page 121 of the 151-page budget blueprint -- serves as a backdrop to congressional action this week. House leaders hope to try once again to pass a budget plan for fiscal 2007, a month after a revolt by House Republican moderates and Appropriations Committee members forced leaders to pull the plan.

Leaders also hope to pass a package of tax-cut extensions that would cost the Treasury $70 billion over the next five years. They would then turn Thursday to a $513 billion defense policy bill that would block President Bush's request to raise health-care fees and co-payments for service members and their families.

In recent days, Congress has received some good news on the budget front. A surge of tax revenues this spring, sparked by economic growth, prompted the Congressional Budget Office last Thursday to revise its 2006 deficit forecast from around $370 billion to as low as $300 billion.

But the federal debt keeps climbing because of continued deficit spending and the government's insatiable borrowing from the Social Security trust fund.

Yeah so what's a trillion dollars? We don't need to worry about that, after all we are spreading democracy in the Middle East. Why don't we go ahead and free the entire world from dictators. Who really cares if we become a third-world nation because of it?

Bush's Speech

Bush Might Be Pissed

Your Phone Has Been Tapped

The Coulter Defense

BREAKING: Tom Noe To Change Pleas

Whirlpool Is The Latest Cutting Jobs

Mary Cheney Upset With John Kerry Two Years Later

SEC Investigating Diebold

Feingold Speaks

Oh The Fiscal Responsibility

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