Really late.

Cool song, video sucks.

Kid Rock: "All Summer Long"

-Diane

Caption this.

-Diane

Turn Around America- Detroit, MI

Grand Prize Winner
Michael Newman, 19
Bloomfield Hills, MI

ACLU Turn America Around online video competition


-Diane

Bestest (and most ironic)damn news article of the day...

WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court reviewing evidence at Guantanamo Bay compared a Bush administration legal argument to one made by a hapless, dimwitted character in a 19th century nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit cited the 1876 poem, "The Hunting of the Snark," in ruling that the military improperly labeled a Chinese Muslim as an enemy combatant. The ruling was issued last week but an unclassified version of the opinion was released only Monday.

It was the first time a court has reviewed the military's decision-making and considered whether a detainee should be held.

...

The court said Parhat deserved a new hearing or should be released - though it didn't say to where. The U.S. does not want to send him to China for fear he will be tortured.[emphasis mine]

-Diane

Late, late

Rihanna - "Take A Bow"


-Diane

Sy Hersh discusses his new report on US covert operations inside Iran

Here is Hersh's New Yorker article 'Preparing the Battlefield'


The full transcript of Hersh's interview with Candy Crowley is available online here.



-Diane

Tit for Tat

Iran to ready thousands of graves for enemy soldiers



Propaganda, no doubt, but it speaks volumes as to the threat the Iranians no doubt feel coming at them from the West.

-Diane

AT&T

Is laughing at you.


-Diane

And who could blame them?

Iran has moved ballistic missiles into launch positions, with Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant among the possible targets, defence sources said last week.

The movement of Shahab-3B missiles, which have an estimated range of more than 1,250 miles, followed a large-scale exercise earlier this month in which the Israeli air force flew en masse over the Mediterranean in an apparent rehearsal for a threatened attack on Iran’s nuclear installations. Israel believes Iran’s nuclear programme is aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons.

The sources said Iran was preparing to retaliate for any onslaught by firing missiles at Dimona, where Israel’s own nuclear weapons are believed to be made.


Are they supposed to wait for the mushroom cloud?

-Diane

Sy Hersh updates on Bush's Iran war games

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. congressional leaders agreed late last year to President George W. Bush's funding request for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran aimed at destabilizing its leadership, according to a report in The New Yorker magazine published online on Sunday.

The article by reporter Seymour Hersh, from the magazine's July 7 and 14 issue, centers around a highly classified Presidential Finding signed by Bush which by U.S. law must be made known to Democratic and Republican House and Senate leaders and ranking members of the intelligence committees.

"The Finding was focused on undermining Iran's nuclear ambitions and trying to undermine the government through regime change," the article cited a person familiar with its contents as saying, and involved "working with opposition groups and passing money."

Hersh has written previously about possible administration plans to go to war to stop Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons, including an April 2006 article in the New Yorker that suggested regime change in Iran, whether by diplomatic or military means, was Bush's ultimate goal.

Funding for the covert escalation, for which Bush requested up to $400 million, was approved by congressional leaders, according to the article, citing current and former military, intelligence and congressional sources.

...

None of the Democratic leaders in Congress would comment on the finding, the article said. The White House, which has repeatedly denied preparing for military action against Iran, and the CIA also declined comment.

I'm not certain right now which is more troubling. The report itself, or all those 'no comments' from Dem leaders?

-Diane

Oh, Cindy...

San Diego County would like a word. Or two.

-Diane

Busted

Freepers outted as misinformation central.


-Diane

-Diane

Caption this.

-Diane

30,000 troops heading to Iraq

We can't get the madmen out of the White House quick enough:

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is preparing to order roughly 30,000 troops to Iraq early next year in a move that would allow the U.S. to maintain 15 combat brigades in the country through 2009, The Associated Press has learned.


The deployments would replace troops currently there. But the decisions could change depending on whether Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, decides in the fall to further reduce troop levels in Iraq.

Several officials familiar with the deployments spoke on condition of anonymity because the orders have not yet been made public.

According to the officials, three active-duty Army brigade combat teams, one Army National Guard brigade and two Marine regimental combat teams are being notified that they are being sent to Iraq in early 2009. Officials would not release the specific units involved because the soldiers and Marines and their families have not all been told.

The Guard unit, however, is the 56th Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, from the Pennsylvania National Guard. Members of that unit — a large brigade with heavily armored Stryker vehicles — were told last October that they should be prepared to deploy to Iraq early in 2009. The order this week is the formal notice that includes a more specific time frame.

-Diane

Bush lawyers on child torture and burial alive

John Yoo and David Addington, two leading architects of the Bush administration's policies on torture, testified before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday. Even seemingly simple questions yielded evasive answers.

Yoo, at one point, was asked several times by Committee Chairman John Conyers whether or not the President had the authority to bury a detainee alive. Yoo was unable to offer an answer.


-Diane

-Diane

Worst Person in the World

6-25-08: Keith's Murdoch impression is hysterical.

-Diane

Late

Neil Young: 'Let's impeach the president'

-Diane

Wexler: We need to be looking into impeachment.

6-25-08: Countdown with keith Olbermann.

-Diane

Caption this.

-Diane

First Lung Cancer Vaccine Approved by Cuba

A new vaccine with promises of extending the life of lung cancer patients up to 5 months or more has been approved:

"It's possible to provide this vaccine to any patient, because it's available in Cuba, it's approved by the Cuban drug agency so we can market the vaccine in Cuba and we can receive patients from outside," she said.

The exception would probably be Americans, she said, who are restricted from Cuba travel by the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba in place since 1962.



This embargo is such bullshit.

-Diane

Wednesday Monkey Blogging

Better early than late. Or so I'm told.

-Diane

Legacy

If you've attended an event or festival in San Francisco lately - or even just hung out at a city park - you've probably seen them.

Admittedly, they're hard to miss. Someone in the group is usually toting a large American flag, and another is often carrying a boom box blaring patriotic music. Sometimes one of them dresses up as Uncle Sam.

They're the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco, but don't let the serious name fool you. The group's intentions are in the gutter: They want to rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W. Bush Sewage Plant come January, when the next president is sworn in.

During the inauguration, the group also wants supporters to participate in a "synchronized flush"- a way to send a gift to the renamed plant, which supporters say, would be a "fitting monument to this president's work."

It sounds like a harmless joke, or maybe a college civics lesson gone awry. But the handful of friends who dreamed this up over beers one night say they have already collected 8,500 signatures in support of the plan - 1,300 more than the minimum needed to put the question to city voters in November. When they submit the signatures in July, election workers will have to verify that at least 7,168 are from registered city voters for the measure to qualify for the ballot.



Well, on the plus side, he wouldn't have to wait years to see how history will judge him.

-Diane

Land O' the Free Files

Clinic workers imprisoned patient who couldn't pay


-Diane

Ooga booga

The White House in December refused to accept the Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled, telling agency officials that an e-mail message containing the document would not be opened, senior E.P.A. officials said last week.

The document, which ended up in e-mail limbo, without official status, was the E.P.A.’s answer to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required it to determine whether greenhouse gases represent a danger to health or the environment, the officials said.

This week, more than six months later, the E.P.A. is set to respond to that order by releasing a watered-down version of the original proposal that offers no conclusion. Instead, the document reviews the legal and economic issues presented by declaring greenhouse gases a pollutant.

Over the past five days, the officials said, the White House successfully put pressure on the E.P.A. to eliminate large sections of the original analysis that supported regulation, including a finding that tough regulation of motor vehicle emissions could produce $500 billion to $2 trillion in economic benefits over the next 32 years. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

Both documents, as prepared by the E.P.A., “showed that the Clean Air Act can work for certain sectors of the economy, to reduce greenhouse gases,” one of the senior E.P.A. officials said. “That’s not what the administration wants to show. They want to show that the Clean Air Act can’t work.”


Pesky facts cannot penetrate the bubble. Reminds me of a toddler with fingers stuck in each ear saying 'I can't hear you, nannie-nannie-boo-boo.'

-Diane

Late.

Probably my two most favorite guitarists...

Eric Clapton/John Mayer: 'Crossroads'

-Diane

George Carlin...

As you no doubt know already, George Carlin passed away in Los Angeles on Sunday evening. Condolences and peace to his family, friends, loved ones.

The video is his monologue of 'The American Dream.'



-Diane

Countdown

This is from yesterday, June 23. I missed it, so in case y'all did too here it is. Guest appearance by The Great Orange Satan.

-Diane

Filibuster, baby!

Live streaming at Raw Story...

Edit: Hmm...a prelude to the filibuster? Well, anyways, the transcript of Senator Dodd's remarks in opposition of the FISA bill are available here.



-Diane

Supreme Court: Death Penalty Is 'Totally Badass'

The Onion ;)
-Diane

Teh Evil Gays upset 200 Homophobes

Heinz has withdrawn its Deli Mayo TV ad that featured two men sharing a kiss and apologised to viewers after the advertising regulator received about 200 complaints that it was offensive and inappropriate.

The Heinz Deli Mayo ad has been pulled after less than a week on air after viewers complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that it was "offensive" and "inappropriate to see two men kissing".


How many complaints do you think will be needed to bring it back? All y'all know what to do:


HEINZ CONSUMER AFFAIRS

For general consumer product questions, information about current promotions or suggestions, please contact Heinz Consumer Affairs at (800) 255-5750. You may also click here to email Consumer Affairs.

If you are a member of the media and need to contact our Communications Department, please contact the appropriate person listed below.

HEINZ WORLD HEADQUARTERS

P.O. Box 57
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15230


Ted Smyth
Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Vice President, Corporate & Government Affairs
Telephone: 412-456-5780
Fax: 412-456-6025
E-mail: Ted.Smyth@us.hjheinz.com

Michael Mullen
(Primary Press Contact)
Director of Global Corporate Affairs
Telephone: 412-456-5751
Cell: 412-613-5214
Fax: 412-456-7883
E-Mail: Michael.Mullen@us.hjheinz.com

Mike Yeomans
Manager Communications
Telephone: 412-456-5788
Fax: 412-456-7883
E-Mail: Michael.Yeomans@us.hjheinz.com

THE AMERICAS

Heinz North America
P.O. Box 57
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15230


Jessica Jackson
Senior Manager, Public Relations
Telephone: 412-237-3562
Fax: 412-456-6025
E-mail:
Jessica.Jackson@us.hjheinz.com

Tracey Parsons
Manager, Public Relations
Telephone: 412-237-5774
Fax: 412-456-6025
E-mail: Tracey.Parsons@us.hjheinz.com



Heinz Canada
90 Sheppard Avenue East
Suite 400
North York, Ontario M2N 7K5
Joan Patterson
Communications & Corporate Affairs Manager
Telephone: 416-226-7587
Fax: 416-226-5141
E-mail: Joan.Patterson@ca.hjheinz.com

Alimentos Heinz C.A.
Heinz Venezuela
Ave. Orinoco, Torre UNO, Piso 1
Las Mercedes, Caracas 1060
Venezuela
Media Contact Telephone: +58 212-909-1811
Fax: +58 212-993-0329
E-mail: MediaContact@heinz.com.ve

EUROPE

Heinz Europe
South Building, Hayes Park
Hayes, Middlesex
UB4 8AL

Heinz UK & Ireland
South Building, Hayes Park
Hayes, Middlesex
UB4 8AL
Nigel Dickie
Director of UK Corporate and Government Affairs
Telephone: 44 (0) 20 8848 2726
Cell: 44 (0) 773 657 2909
E-mail: Nigel.Dickie@uk.hjheinz.com

Heinz Italy
Via Cascina Bel Casule 7
20141 Milano, Italy
Antonio Cartolari
Director Communications
Telephone: +39 02 5256 2357
E-mail: Antonio.Cartolari@plasmon.it

Heinz Netherlands
De Breul, Arnhemse Bovenweg 160-178
3708 AH Zeist
Netherlands


Peter Boterman
Heinz Netherlands
Telephone: +31 30 697 3620
E-mail: Peter.Boterman@nl.hjheinz.com

Heinz Poland
Wilanowska 212
02-756
Warsaw, Poland


Patrycja Hatalska
Heinz Poland
Telephone: +48 22 849 7882
E-mail: PHatalska@heinz.pl


PACIFIC RIM AND ASIA

Heinz Wattie's Australasia
105 Camberwell Road
East Hawthorn, Victoria 3123
Australia

Heinz Australia
105 Camberwell Road
Hawthorn East 3123
Victoria, Australia
Ros Kohler
HR & Corporate Affairs Manager
Telephone: +61 3 9861 5015
Fax: +61 3 9861 5513




If you get responses, please do post them in the comments section.

-Diane

‘He Should Never Have Gone to Iraq’

NEWSWEEK:


Pvt. David Dietrich had a history of cognitive problems. He struggled in boot camp at Fort Knox, Ky., striking at least one of his superiors as unfit for the military. Dietrich was so slow at processing new things, some fellow soldiers called him Forrest Gump. His squad leader, Pfc. Matthew Berg, says Dietrich couldn't hit targets on the rifle range and had trouble retaining information. "He was very strong physically, but mentally he wasn't really all there," Berg says. Recruited as a cavalry scout, one of the toughest specialties in the Army, Dietrich seemed to lack the essential skills for the job: concentration, decisiveness and the ability to move around without being noticed. He was sent for psychological evaluations at least twice, yet somehow Dietrich advanced—from Fort Knox to Germany and on to Iraq in November 2006. Eight weeks later, at 21, Dietrich was killed by a sniper while conducting reconnaissance from an abandoned building in Ramadi.

What was a guy like Dietrich doing in the military? At a time when an overstretched Army is sending into combat thousands of soldiers who once would have been considered mentally or physically unfit for duty, his story illuminates the complexities and human cost of the war—and shows how hard it is to find the line between tragic circumstances and military misconduct.

Dietrich's problems did not surface on enlistment tests. In Iraq, it's unclear whether his cognitive issues had something to do with his death. Yet his superiors had serious misgivings about the troubled soldier. One of them says he worried that Dietrich would pose a danger to himself and others if he was sent to Iraq and pushed to have him processed out of the military—only to be rebuffed by higher-ups. In conversations with NEWSWEEK, he asked not to be named for fear of jeopardizing his Army career. Berg, the squad leader, says he is speaking publicly because he feels partially responsible for Dietrich's death. "The Army was under a lot of pressure to graduate scouts at the time, and even now … no matter how competent or incompetent," Berg says.


You go a killin' with the bodies you've got...


-Diane

19 Year Old is California's 500th war casualty

"He told me he would go through villages handing out coloring books and the kids would rip them up and throw them back at him," she said. "He told us they didn't want Americans there."



-Diane

-Diane

-Diane

A picture for your pocket.

Show it to anyone you meet who says they want to vote McCain.


A photograph of his daughter, Leia Ryan Baum, was placed inside the uniform of Sgt. Ryan John Baum during visitation at a funeral home in June 2007. "That's all he wanted to do, is come home and put her on his chest," said Dana Baum, Sgt. Baum's mother.



-Diane

Bateman

Why are you voting for McCain?

-Diane

TGIF

-Diane

Now that's Bounce, baby!

Newsweek: Obama opens up 15 point lead over McSame


-Diane

It's o-k-a-y to have a spine, really.

The Bush administration yesterday invoked executive privilege and refused to turn over key documents sought by a House investigative committee, escalating a fight over the White House role in U.S. policy on greenhouse-gas emissions and ozone air quality standards.

Rep. Henry L. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called off a threatened contempt of Congress vote against Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson and a White House budget official while congressional Democrats decide how to respond.

Things never turn out well -- or as they should -- once the whole spineless bunch of them gather in a huddle. *sigh*

-Diane

McClellan testimony today...

Via TPM TV: Republican Rep. King to Scottie: 'Could you not have taken some of this to the grave with you and done this country a favor?'

I can't say for certain, but, I think that's how you say 'Fuck off and die' on camera, and on the record.

-Diane

From the 'You know you've done something terribly wrong when' Files

-Diane

-Diane

More

6-19-08: Keith and Rachel Maddow discuss Mission A-freakin-complished, the big oil corps move into Iraq for the kill.

-Diane

Countdown

6-19-08: Keith Olbermann discusses how Congress plans to GUT the 4th amendment.

-Diane

Shredding the Constitution

Breaking months of acrimonious deadlock, House and Senate leaders from both parties have agreed to a bill that gives the nation's spy agencies the power to turn a wide swath of domestic communication companies into intelligence-gathering operations, and that puts an end to court challenges to telecoms such as AT&T that aided the government's secret, five-year warrantless wiretapping program.

Feingold calls it:

"The proposed FISA deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation," said Wisconsin Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, the only senator who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001. "The House and Senate should not be taking up this bill, which effectively guarantees immunity for telecom companies alleged to have participated in the President’s illegal program, and which fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home."

It is campaign season, and I think I can guess where a lot of pols got their campaign money from this year...

-Diane

-Diane

Until tomorrow...

Stone Temple Pilots: 'Plush'


-Diane

Wednesday Monkey Blogging

-Diane

Countdown

MSNBC Countdown with Keith Olbermann: June 18, 2008. A must see, Keith clearly explains why Americans are paying thousands of dollars more per year in gas and oil costs; the Enron Loophole. Other culprits include Morgan Stanley, husband and wife Graham, UBS, lobbyists and just about everyone surrounding John McCains campaign.


-Diane

Lies and Damned Lies File

REPORTER: I mean, you've talked a lot about freedom. I've heard you talk about freedom -- I think every time I've seen you.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Yes.

REPORTER: And yet there are those who would say, look, let's take Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib and rendition and all those things, and to them that is the, you know, the complete opposite of freedom.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Of course if you want to slander America, you can look at it one way. But you go down -- what you need to do -- I think I suggested you do this at a press conference -- if you go down to Guantanamo and take a look at how these prisoners are treated -- and they're working it through our court systems. We are a land of law.

REPORTER: But the Supreme Court have just said that -- you know, ruled against what you've been doing down there.

GEORGE W. BUSH: But the district court didn't. And the appellate court didn't.

REPORTER: The Supreme Court is supreme, isn't it?

GEORGE W. BUSH: It is, and I accept their verdict. I don't agree with their verdict. And it's not what I was doing down there. This was a law passed by our United States Congress that I worked with the Congress to get passed and sign into law.

REPORTER: But it looked like an attempt to bypass the Constitution, to a certain extent.

GEORGE W. BUSH: This was a law passed, Adam. We passed a law. Bypassing the Constitution means that we did something outside the bounds of the Constitution. We went to the Congress and got a piece of legislation passed.

REPORTER: Which is now being struck down, I think.

GEORGE W. BUSH: It is, and I accept what the Supreme Court did, and I necessarily don't have to agree with it.

My only point to you is, is that yes, I mean, we certainly wish Abu Ghraib hadn't happened, but that should not reflect America. This was the actions of some soldiers.


Rather than tell the truth, Bush will throw your sons and daughters in uniform under the bus. If the war doesn't kill 'em first...

-Diane

Supporting our troops

"I will never in my life recommend any person join our armed services." – 24-year Navy veteran,
Michael Baranik





A 24 year Navy Veteran diagnosed with terminal cancer is forced to beg for the chemotherapy needed to save his life.


I am completely outraged. I realize that there are people out there who don't give a damn about the poor, or needy, but we're talking now about a man who dedicated his life to serving his country. Denial of care shouldn't be an option for any stage of his seeking treatment for anything, and I'm talking about from the receptionist who greets him at the doctor's office on up. It should be 'Yes, sir, Mr. Baranik. Right this way, Mr. Baranik. Is there anything else at all we can do for you today, Mr. Baranik?'

I barely recognize the country I grew up in these days.

-Diane

-Diane

Late.

Maroon Five: 'She Will Be Loved'

-Diane

Countdown

6-17-08: Olbermann's Worst Person in the World.

-Diane

Remember 'Curveball'?

The CIA source for bogus intel on Saddams's non-existant WMD's...seems he's not too happy flipping burgers at McDonalds, and thinks he should be treated like a king for what he has done.

I can't help but wonder -- given that making a case for war was a priority for the administration -- exactly what does Curveball think he did that deserves that treatment befitting a king? Not that I could believe him if he ever explained.

-Diane

John Martell (L) and Rob Peters kiss as they are joined in wedlock as the era of same-sex marriage begins in California, Tuesday in West Hollywood, California. Conservative and religious groups hope that voters will support their initiative on the November ballot to alter the state constitution to permanently ban gay marriages. Meanwhile, many business owners are looking for a wedding related sales boom. A study released by University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) this month projects that nearly half of the state's 102,600 same-sex couples will marry in the next three years and, along with same-sex couples from other states, will spend more than $683 million on weddings, honeymoons and other marriage-related activities.
(June 17, 2008)

Getty Images


-Diane

Document the atrocities.

Halliburton subsidiary faulted for shoddy Hurricane work.


Yet, somehow, KBR gets chosen again, and again for US government contract work.

Also, an ex-Army official claims he was ousted for refuing to sign off on a questionable $1 billion dollar payment to KBR.

-Diane

Not Alex.

-Diane

Confession...

I don't care if Cindy McCain can bake cookies.

The shame.

-Diane

Hiccups

If you've been trying to download the latest version of Firefox today, their server was down for the count for a while but seems to be up and at 'em again. I'll have to give it a shot later on.


-Diane

The War on Idiocy

More on the AP idiots
by kos
Tue Jun 17, 2008 at 10:40:10 AM PDT

AP:

I'LL DRINK TO THAT: In The Mix, a bar in San Francisco's Castro district, a group of men and women broke into applause as a large flat-screen television showed the first same-sex couple getting their wedding licenses in City Hall.

"They're iconic," said Michael Groark, 61, of the couple, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. "This is a tribute they deserve."

Groark said much has changed since he first moved to San Francisco in the 1970s when much of the gay community rejected the idea of marriage as an imitation of heterosexual values.

Sitting on the long polished bar, Tom Longland, 66, agreed.

"I see a change in attitudes and I hope it starts spreading outside California," Longland said.

Hey AP -- that's 120 words. Have your lawyers call my lawyers.

The Great Orange Satan rocks. For those who haven't been following the blogger/AP war, here is where it all started.


-Diane

Winning the War on Terra

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A powerful car bomb exploded in a crowded market area of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 51 people and wounding 75, in the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital in months.

Police said the bomb was placed in a pickup truck parked next to minibus taxis near the main market in the predominantly Shi'ite neighborhood of al-Hurriya in northwestern Baghdad. The explosion left a heap of smoking, mangled wreckage.

At that time of day, the market is packed with shoppers buying food before returning home. Police said 51 people were killed and 75 wounded, including women and children.

I'll certainly be glad to retire the war on terror phrase at the end of this eight year nightmare.


-Diane

-Diane

LIVE from Joe Lewis Arena in Detroit

President Al Gore and Soon-to-be-President Barack Obama.

-Diane

Obama on Jimmy Kimmel

With topics including his high school basketball state championship and how he passes Father's Day, Barack Obama comes as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel's show.

-Diane

-Diane

Caption this.

-Diane

Six dead in Ohio

Robert Stamps, one of nine Kent State students wounded in the Ohio National Guard shootings that killed four other students 38 years ago, died in Tallahassee, Fla., of complications from pneumonia, his wife said.

Stamps, an observer who was sympathetic to anti-war demonstrators, was struck in the lower back on May 4, 1970 while fleeing tear gas and gunfire during a protest against the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. He rode in the same ambulance as Allison Krause and Jeffrey Miller, both of whom died from their wounds.

Stamps, 58, passed away Wednesday night, Teresa Sumrall said in an e-mail. He's the second of the nine wounded students to die. James Russell died last year at the age of 60, said Alan Canfora, another student who was wounded.

Condolences to friends and family, and of course, peace.

-Diane

Tim Russert~ In his own words

Happy Father's Day.

-Diane

'Worst of the Worst'

A fresh load of new tenents for Gitmo. Photo via the Memory Hole.









A McClatchy report today explains who is being held at Gitmo, and that they all too often are not men who belong locked up and subjected to 'harsh interrogations'[cough*cough]:

Nusrat Khan was in his 70s when American troops shoved him into an isolation cell at Bagram in the spring of 2003. They blindfolded him, put earphones on his head and tied his hands behind his back for almost four weeks straight, Khan said.

By the time he was taken out of the cell, Khan — who'd had at least two strokes years before he was arrested and was barely able to walk — was half-mad and couldn't stand without help. Khan said that he was taken to Guantanamo on a stretcher.

Several Afghan officials, including the country's attorney general, later said that Khan, who spent more than three years at Guantanamo, wasn't a threat to anyone; he'd been turned in as an insurgent leader because of decades-old rivalries with competing Afghan militias.

Ghalib Hassan was an Interior Ministry-appointed district commander in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, a man who'd risked his life to help the U.S.-backed government. Din Mohammed, the former governor of that province and now the governor of Kabul, said there was no question that local tribal leaders, offended by Hassan's brusque style, fed false information about him to local informants used by American troops.

The Pentagon declined requests to make top officials, including the secretary of defense, available to respond to McClatchy's findings. The defense official in charge of detainee affairs, Sandra Hodgkinson, refused to speak with McClatchy.

The Pentagon's only response to a series of written questions from McClatchy, and to a list of 63 of the 66 former detainees interviewed for this story, was a three-paragraph statement.

"These unlawful combatants have provided valuable information in the struggle to protect the U.S. public from an enemy bent on murder of innocent civilians," Col. Gary Keck said in the statement. He provided no examples.

Cetainly not surprising news, although it adds yet more importance to shutting the place down, and putting a halt once and for all to torture as a means of gathering intelligence.


Full article here.

Bush warns Brown against premature withdrawal.

I'm just the messenger.


-Diane

Deciphering the McCain Code

From today's International Herald Tribune:

About a year after his release from a North Vietnamese prison camp, Commander John McCain III sat down to address one of the most vexing questions confronting his fellow prisoners: Why did some choose to collaborate with the North Vietnamese?

McCain blamed American politics.

"The biggest factor in a man's ability to perform credibly as a prisoner of war is a strong belief in the correctness of his nation's foreign policy," McCain wrote in a 1974 essay submitted to the National War College and never released to the public. Prisoners who questioned "the legality of the war" were "extremely easy marks for Communist propaganda," he wrote.

Americans captured after 1968 had proven to be more susceptible to North Vietnamese pressure, he argued, because they "had been exposed to the divisive forces which had come into focus as a result of the antiwar movement in the United States."

To insulate against such doubts, he recommended that the military should teach its recruits not only how to fight but also the reasons for American foreign policies like the containment of Southeast Asian communism — even though, McCain acknowledged, "a program of this nature could be construed as 'brainwashing' or 'thought control' and could come in for a great deal of criticism."

It would seem that McCain's views towards antiwar activists were formed decades ago, and the media is making a great deal out of the revelations in this thesis penned in 1974. (Thesis document pdf)

I'm having a tough time reconciling the thesis statements with what we actually know to be true about McCain's time as a POW. He was shot down in 1967 -- supposedly before the influences he alleges for those in captivity after 1968. I'm still searching for a video clip of the following interview from 1997(if anyone reading has a copy, I'd be glad to include it here, as it shows he does denounce his service to his country after being subjected to torture:


October 12, 1997, Sunday



SHOW: 60 MINUTES (7:00 PM ET)


Sen. McCAIN: I m--made serious, serious mistakes and did things wrong when I was in prison, OK?

WALLACE: What did you do wrong in prison?

Sen. McCAIN: I wrote a confession. I was guilty of war crimes against the Vietnamese people. I intentionally bombed women and children.

WALLACE: And you did it because you were being tortured...

Sen. McCAIN: I...

WALLACE: ...and you'd reached the end of the line.

Sen. McCAIN: Yes. But I should have gone further. I should have--I--I never believed that I would--that I would break, and I did.


To be clear, I'm not criticizing the man for what transpired, or for 'breaking,'...I'm just saying it doesn't seem the antiwar movement had anything to do with his statements while in captivity.

I did come across this interview McCain gave with Charlie Rose in 1997. In it he discusses his treatment while held prisoner, and note that even then he 'hesitates' to call it 'torture':



It's a long interview rather than a short clip, so it would indeed be helpful to come up with a clip of the '97 60 Minutes segment.

A man who knows first hand that torture is practiced to elicit false confessions yet would vote to allow the CIA to continue to torture prisoners strikes me as being truly um, let's just say whacked. How he came out of that experience and penned this paper blasting the antiwar movement makes no sense to me, unless even back then the only thing of all importance was politics. Politics ahead of actual people, not politics that actually includes 'we the people.' He was indeed a young republican.


-Diane

'I'm voting republican'

-Diane

Iowa flooding

McSame says a prayer. Obama grabs a shovel.

-Diane

-Diane

Caption this.

-Diane

Exclusive: New batch of terror files left on train

Secret government documents detailing the UK's policies towards fighting global terrorist funding, drugs trafficking and money laundering have been found on a London-bound train and handed to 'The Independent on Sunday'.

The government papers, left on a train destined for Waterloo station, on Wednesday, contain criticism of countries such as Iran that are signed up to the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body created to combat financial crime and the financing of terrorism.

The confidential files outline how the trade and banking systems can be manipulated to finance illicit weapons of mass destruction in Iran. They spell out methods to fund terrorists, and address the potential fraud of commercial websites and international internet payment systems. The files also highlight the weakness of HM Revenue & Customs' (HMRC) IT systems, which track financial fraud.

The Independent on Sunday has returned the documents, and will divulge no details contained in them.

I guess the UK hasn't picked up on Bush's 'leave no paper trail' policy.

-Diane

-Diane

TGIF

Counting Crows-"Big Yellow Taxi "

-Diane

U.S. Iraq Security Agreement Rejected by Iraqi Lawmakers

June 13, 2008
Jim Lehrer News Hour

-Diane

Rose colored xanax?

First Lady mistakes sighs of relief for signs of approval.


-Diane

Indeed.

I second that wank.


-Diane

On a lighter note...

Whatever possessed John McCain? Until last week the Republican presidential candidate had a perfectly solid campaign song. Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode may not have been an inspired choice, but it surely did the job for which it was chosen.

Now though, it’s Take a Chance on Me. McCain’s decision to switch from a hardy rock’n’roll perennial to the Abba girls’ plea for pity – addressing someone who clearly has no intention of reciprocating their advances – is a frankly awful idea. It’s as though McCain had sought permission for the use of almost every remotely suitable song in music only to be thwarted by musicians who didn’t want to be associated with a Republican candidate.

I don't think the McCain camp need worry so much about the thoughts of pity, or begging voters might get from 'Take a Chance on Me.' As I listened to the video, I was overwhelmed with the sense of old, dated, out of touch...and then I had to run outside for a moment to catch some air at the thought of disco balls, strobe lights, and platform shoes.


-Diane

Tom Brokaw breaks the news of Tim Russert's death

Russert collapsed this afternoon in his office from a heart attack. He is survived by his father, wife, and a son. Peace to all.

-Diane

-Diane

Oops...Thursday Monkey Blogging?

-Diane

Countdown, Special Comment on John McCain

Part One. Keith comments on McCain's recent statement that it 'doesn't matter' when then troops come home from Iraq.




Part Two. From Thursday, June 12, 2008.

-Diane

-Diane

John McCain's YouTube nightmare...

-Diane

Why Do Women Give McCain a Zero?

More at http://TheREALMcCain.com/


-Diane

Countdown

6-10-08: Keith Olbermann discusses the impeachment resolution introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

-Diane

-Diane

You don't need to be a fortune teller...

to figure out who John McCain's running mate will be. Just go Google.


-Diane

Countdown

6-9-08: Scott McClellan joins Keith Olbermann again this evening.

-Diane

-Diane

Coming soon to a theater near you.

Religulous hits theaters on October 3rd 2008.

-Diane

Caption this.

-Diane

Priorities

In this Dec. 21, 2007 file photo, a person is silhouetted in their tent in Duncan Plaza across the street from New Orleans City Hall. In a massive spending bill, $350 million is set aside to help Iraqi refugees while $73 million has been allotted to help shelter physically and mentally disabled Katrina victims, and that money could be cut as early as Tuesday June 10, 2008.
(AP Photo/Bill Haber, File)

-Diane

The Other Mrs. John McCain.

Now that Hillary Clinton has at last formally withdrawn from the race for the White House, the eyes of America and the world will focus on Barack Obama and his Republican rival Senator John McCain.

While Obama will surely press his credentials as the embodiment of the American dream – a handsome, charismatic young black man who was raised on food stamps by a single mother and who represents his country’s future – McCain will present himself as a selfless, principled war hero whose campaign represents not so much a battle for the presidency of the United States, but a crusade to rescue the nation’s tarnished reputation.

McCain likes to illustrate his moral fibre by referring to his five years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. And to demonstrate his commitment to family values, the 71-year-old former US Navy pilot pays warm tribute to his beautiful blonde wife, Cindy, with whom he has four children.

But there is another Mrs McCain who casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator’s presidential campaign. She is seldom seen and rarely written about, despite being mother to McCain’s three eldest children.

And yet, had events turned out differently, it would be she, rather than Cindy, who would be vying to be First Lady. She is McCain’s first wife, Carol, who was a famous beauty and a successful swimwear model when they married in 1965.

She was the woman McCain dreamed of during his long incarceration and torture in Vietnam’s infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison and the woman who faithfully stayed at home looking after the children and waiting anxiously for news.

But when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.

When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter.

Through sheer hard work, Carol learned to walk again. But when John McCain came home from Vietnam, she had gained a lot of weight and bore little resemblance to her old self.

Today, she stands at just 5ft4in and still walks awkwardly, with a pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and, at 70, her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of silent suffering.

For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.

Carol insists she remains on good terms with her ex-husband, who agreed as part of their divorce settlement to pay her medical costs for life. ‘I have no bitterness,’
she says. ‘My accident is well recorded. I had 23 operations, I am five inches shorter than I used to be and I was in hospital for six months. It was just awful, but it wasn’t the reason for my divorce.

‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’

This article just continues to shed a light on McCain that is seldom seen:

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit.

‘When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it.

‘Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better.

‘This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.’

One old friend of the McCains said: ‘Carol always insists she is not bitter, but I think that’s a defence mechanism. She also feels deeply in his debt because in return for her agreement to a divorce, he promised to pay for her medical care for the rest of her life.’

Carol remained resolutely loyal as McCain’s political star rose. She says she agreed to talk to The Mail on Sunday only because she wanted to publicise her support for the man who abandoned her.

Indeed, the old Mercedes that she uses to run errands displays both a disabled badge and a sticker encouraging people to vote for her ex-husband. ‘He’s a good guy,’ she assured us. ‘We are still good friends. He is the best man for president.’

But Ross Perot, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel – even by the standards of modern politics.

‘McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,’ he said.

‘After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.’




While McCain's ex-wife is certainly more than forgiving...I wonder how the Hillary supporters who think they want to cast their vote for McCain in the general election when they see this in print.

None of it has been a dark, hidden secret, but even with Carol's endorsement(although I wonder if that was really the intent here, as Carol hasn't given an interview in years that I'm aware.), I think the cold-hearted opportunist Ross Perot sees is what will stick in the minds of all voters come November.

Timing is everything, and I think this will bite McCain in the ass well past the general election. Be sure to read the entire article.

-Diane

-Diane

Oops

I forgot to give you last night's Countdown's Worst Person in the World segment. My bad.

-Diane

Holding the criminals accountable.

Nearly 60 House Democrats yesterday urged the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to examine whether top Bush administration officials may have committed crimes in authorizing the use of harsh interrogation tactics against suspected terrorists.

In a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, the lawmakers cited what they said was "mounting evidence" that senior officials personally sanctioned the use of waterboarding and other aggressive tactics against detainees in U.S.-run prisons overseas. An independent investigation is needed to determine whether such actions violated U.S or international law, the letter stated.

"This [new] information indicates that the Bush administration may have systematically implemented, from the top down, detainee interrogation policies that constitute torture or otherwise violate the law," it said. The letter was signed by 59 House Democrats, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) and House Intelligence Committee members Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).

The request was prompted in part by new disclosures of high-level discussions within the Bush administration that reportedly focued on specific interrogation practices. Some of the new detail was contained in a report last month by the Justice Department's Inspector General, which described a series of White House meetings in which the controversial tactics were vigorously debated.

Conyers, whose committee already is looking into the role played by administration lawyers in authorizing aggressive measures, said a broader probe was now needed.

"We need an impartial criminal investigation," said Conyers, who called the detainee controversy "a truly shameful episode" in U.S. history. "Because these apparent 'enhanced interrogation techniques' were used under cover of Justice Department legal opinions, the need for an outside special prosecutor is obvious."

If we put aside for a moment the obvious extreme cruelty inflicted upon detainees in violation of the Geneva convention, I'd like to focus on our troops. What happens to our troops -- particularly while they are in active duty -- is one of the few things we can count on most everyone taking into account when discussing our continued presence in Iraq. The hardline 20% crowd who still support the administration.

We had young men and women signing up for military service who had no idea what sort of twisted torture was being inflicted upon detainees by order of the White House. We all cringed at news reports and photos of what was happening to contractors and troops who fell into 'enemy'hands. My point? Okay let's get to that, and certainly someone else has to have raised this one before now. Do we know if the torture of detainees influenced insurgents, terrorists, whomever in how they treated our captured troops?

Even if your thinking is so unlike my own, and you would support or condone the torture of another living being...can you support or condone these actions when they may well have led to US troops being decapitated, beaten, cut to bits and dumped, set afire, pissed on and hung in public?

I doubt when these young men and women signed their military contracts that they included any warning of the 'what ifs' due to illegal activities sanctioned by their own commander in chief.

Isn't this enough to unite everyone against torture, aka 'harsh interrogation methods' or whatever other whitewashed phrase has been coined in effort to make the whole torture debate no so unpleasant?

If you haven't yet written your Representative/Senate, I hope you will now and send a message of support in the effort to hold those responsible for torture accountable.


-Diane

-Diane

Late night.

Aerosmith: "No more, No more"

-Diane

$1.4 Billion dollars of your tax money.

In February, a B-2 stealth bomber crashed in Guam. Now we know why.

On takeoff from Andersen Air Force Base, the $1.4 billion plane abruptly "pitched up, rolled and yawed to the left before plunging to the ground," the AP describes. The reason why: "Water distorted preflight readings in three of the plane's 24 sensors, making the aircraft's control computer force the B-2 to pitch up on takeoff, resulting in a stall and subsequent crash." Luckily, "both pilots ejected safely just after the left wing made contact with the ground in the first crash since the maiden B-2 flights nearly 20 years ago."

Or, in layman's terms...it got wet.


-Diane

The Girl Effect

-Diane

John McCain loves him some warrantless wiretapping.

We don't call him John McSame for nothin' you know.

-Diane

Countdown

Bushed! 6-6-08 on Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

-Diane

Tidbits

Dupe



The dupe got duped!


Poll...



Obama leads McCain in national poll.






WATB's of the Day...



The Green Screen challenge.



More details here.

Snoutlaw...

The bloodthirsty mastermind of 9/11 appeared in public yesterday for the first time in five years - and complained in a pique of vanity that a courtroom artist drew his nose too big.

To make Khalid Sheik Mohammed happy, the sketch artist agreed to reshape his nose - and the Pentagon touted that as an example of how well the United States treats terrorists!

-Diane

The Earth in News

Air Today...

TOKYO (AP) -- The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday.

The report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency envisions a "energy revolution" that would greatly reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels while maintaining steady economic growth.

Thirsty?

A catastrophic water shortage could prove an even bigger threat to mankind this century than soaring food prices and the relentless exhaustion of energy reserves, according to a panel of global experts at the Goldman Sachs "Top Five Risks" conference.

An iceberg melts in Kulusuk Bay, eastern Greenland
The melting of Himalayan glaciers threatens the water supply to the world's rivers

Nicholas (Lord) Stern, author of the Government's Stern Review on the economics of climate change, warned that underground aquifers could run dry at the same time as melting glaciers play havoc with fresh supplies of usable water.

"The glaciers on the Himalayas are retreating, and they are the sponge that holds the water back in the rainy season. We're facing the risk of extreme run-off, with water running straight into the Bay of Bengal and taking a lot of topsoil with it," he said.

"A few hundred square miles of the Himalayas are the source for all the major rivers of Asia - the Ganges, the Yellow River, the Yangtze - where 3bn people live. That's almost half the world's population," he said.

Doomed!

A Senate bill to cut greenhouse gases and address climate change is heading toward almost certain defeat after nearly a week of stalemate and partisan bickering. Both sides are charging the other with blocking action.

The Associated Press has learned that senators close to the issue privately say there is virtually no chance to get the 60 votes they need to break a Republican filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has set a vote for noon on Friday. If the vote falls short, he will pull the measure off the floor.

-Diane

-Diane

Bateman

-Diane

Countdown: Deal or no deal?

-Diane

Bushed!

-Diane

Countdown Cont'd.

The primary from hell comes to an end, Part One.




The primary from hell comes to an end. Part Two.

-Diane

Countdown

World's Best Persons. From today, June 4, 2008.

More as they come off the presses...

-Diane

Appointed for Life.

SAN DIEGO - A federal judge Wednesday ordered the city to allow military contractor Blackwater Worldwide to begin using a new counterterrorism training center in a warehouse outfitted with an indoor firing range.

District Judge Marilyn Huff ruled that the company would suffer irreparable harm if it could not begin holding classes there for Navy sailors.

Blackwater sued last month to force the city to issue final occupancy permits after the required inspections were already approved, claiming officials upended normal procedures because they feared a political backlash.

The city responded that the company misled officials about the nature of the center, which includes a multilevel mock ship built out of cargo containers, to avoid triggering a full review by the city planning commission and a possible City Council vote.

Appointed in '91 by Poppy Bush, here are some comments on Judge Huff via The Robing Room:



"This judge neither understands nor follows the Evidence Code. She allows evidence based on whether jurors would "find it interesting." She avoids conflict, and therefore cannot make the difficult decisions judges are supposed to make. She allowed opposing counsel to highlight exhibits and give to jury, and did not allow the government to do the same. She showed obvious bias in the courtroom. This judge makes one wish federal judges were not appointed for life."


"This Judge lacks even the most basic understanding of the law. What's worse, she is so afraid to reveal her own ineptitude, that she feigns knowledge and almost always gets it wrong. Should be removed from the bench."


"As soon as prosecutors began reporting judges for giving downward departures, she became a government hack. The only objection she understands is :"403, 403!" She is snippy, snippy, snippy."


Not all of her reviews were bad, but, with a scale of 1-10 she averaged a 4.2...

Overdue for a vacation?

http://view.break.com/513310 - Watch more free videos

Unreal. This anonymous office worker blows a gasket, or more hopefully it's a hoax.

-Diane

Wednesday Monkey Blogging

-Diane

-Diane

Late.

Islands: "Pieces of You"

-Diane

Uh oh.

I blame Dick Cheney for this...


-Diane

Countdown

John McCain's connection to terrorist financing?





Senator Edward Kennedy after 3 hours of brain surgery today(while awake!) 'I feel like a million bucks!'





What next?



Reading tea leaves, the final countdown?



Worst Person in the World! No, I'm not gonna tell you who...



Bushed!

From Monday, June 2, 2008 with Keith Olbermann.

-Diane

Quote of the day...

Asked during a question-and-answer session at the National Press Club about the fact that a search of his family tree found he is a distant relative of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential front-runner, Cheney said the two politicians were unlikely to hold a family reunion.

He said that the Cheney line on his father's side of the family dates to 1630's, and a Cheney family line on his mother's side dates to the 1650's.

"So, I had Cheneys on both sides of the family — and we don't even live in West Virginia," Cheney cracked. After pausing for laughter from the crowd, Cheney added, "You can say those things when you're not running for re-election."


Needless to say, Senator Byrd of West Virginia was not amused.



-Diane

WAR IS OVER!

(If you're Australian)


'Coalition of the Coerced, Bribed
and Intimidated' Dwindles




-Diane