Progressive Minds

The Hotline reports that at least three "pioneers" from the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign, who each raised over $100,000 for the Bush Crime Team, are currently under indictment or investigation in various scandals.

The Bush chronies/pioneers under indictment include: Jack Abramoff, Tom Noe and Brent Wilkes.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2005/11/30/bush_pioneers_under_scrutiny.html

The Los Angeles Times reports that the United States government has secretly been paying Iraqi newspapers to print favorable stories about the Iraq quagmire.

From the L.A. Times:

"As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq.

The articles, written by U.S. military "information operations" troops, are translated into Arabic and placed in Baghdad newspapers with the help of a defense contractor, according to U.S. military officials and documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

Many of the articles are presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists. The stories trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country."

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-infowar30nov30,1,3365667.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage&ctrack=1&cset=true

Memo to George Bush: If you had gotten Iraq right from the get-go, and had been truly committed to creating a democracy instead of an Islamic theocracy, perhaps you wouldn't have to pay the Iraqi newspapers!

It appears that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, disagree on what the United States' responsibility is when it comes to stopping inhumane treatment of detainees.

During a Pentagon news conference, Pace said "It is absolutely the responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene to stop it."

Rummy then stated: "But I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to report it," to which the General replied "If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it."

The Secretary of Defense of the United States doesn't believe that members of our armed forces have an obligation to stop inhumane treatment, if they witness it.  So he has to go to Human Rights 101 class and learn from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that indeed, our service men and women do have an obligation to try to physically stop inhumane treatment.

http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20051129-042325-2961r

Ayad Allawi, the first Prime Minister of Iraq in the post-Sadaam era, says that human rights abuses in Iraq are as bad as they were under Sadaam Hussein, and may even surpass Sadaam's record.

He told The Observer: "People are doing the same as [in] Saddam's time and worse. It is an appropriate comparison. People are remembering the days of Saddam. These were the precise reasons that we fought Saddam and now we are seeing the same things."

He also goes on to say that Iraq is also seeing the implementation of Islamic Sharia law: "We are hearing about secret police, secret bunkers where people are being interrogated.  A lot of Iraqis are being tortured or killed in the course of interrogations. We are even witnessing Sharia courts based on Islamic law that are trying people and executing them."

Well, Cindy Sheehan finally has her answer.  She has been asking a very valid, poignant question of George W. Bush: 'for what noble cause did my son die?'

And based on the comments of Ayad Allawi, it appears that sadly, Cindy Sheehan's son died for the creation of an Islamic theocracy.

Of course, those of us in the reality-based community already knew this; but Allaw's comments are another confirmation of it.

Abuse worse than under Saddam, says Iraqi leader

Michael Brown has worn many hats in his day.  First, he was a Commissioner at the International Arabian Horses Association, until he was fired from there for supervisory failures.

Then he became head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he presided over the government's poor response to the worse natural disaster on U.S. soil.  While people were literally drowning and dying in New Orleans, he declared himself a "fashion God," and was more concerned with how he came across on t.v., than what was happening in the Superdome.

Now he's wearing the title of "Consultant," starting his own emergency planning consulting business.  So let me see if I've got this straight.  The same Michael Brown who purgered himself before Congress some weeks ago, falsely stating that Governor Kathleen Blanco never declared a state of emergency for New Orleans, is now going to tell people how to respond to emergencies!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/24/brown.consultant.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest

The best headline about Michael Brown's new work comes courtesy of The Guardian: Laughing Stock of Katrina Makes Disaster His Business 

Giving Thanks

(Author Unknown)

According to a recent Harris Interactive Poll, 64% of Americans say they believe that the Bush Crime Team "generally misleads the public on current issues, while fewer than a third of Americans believe the information provided by the administration is generally accurate."

Of course, this poll shouldn't come as a surpise to anyone.  Americans "get it."  They know that George W. Bush was lying in his 2003 State of the Union Speech, when he said Iraq tried to acquire yellowcake uranium from Africa.

They know George Bush lied during a Presidential debate last year, when he denied every saying that he did not know or care where Osama bin Laden was.

Mos importantly, they now know he lied when he promised to restore honor and integrity to the White House, and usher in a new era of responsibility.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2005/11/23/most_dont_believe_bush_administration.html

As usual, President Bill Clinton continues to show us the way.  He continues to teach us that we should be brought together by our common humanity; not separated by our differences.

"I think it's a healthy thing in a democracy to have people disagreeing, but if you're screaming or demonizing, then the very people you want to reach -- which is those who don't agree with you -- can't hear you."

-- Bill Clinton, in an interview with USA Today.

Rep. Jean Schmidt, the freshman Congresswoman who had her remarks striken from the record last week after calling veteran Congressman John Murtha a coward, has been pretty quiet since the uproar she caused.

Her Washington office says Schmidt is laying low because things are "way too partisan now."

So let me see if I can wrap my beautiful mind around this (to borrow a phrase from Barbara Bush).  Jean Schmidt calls a Congressman who served in Vietnam a coward, simply because he called for redeploying our troops, since it's clear we have not and cannot win in Iraq.

Several days after calling Murtha a coward, Jean Schmidt's minions complain things have gotten way too partisan.  Mmmmm...did it ever occur to them that THEY have helped contribute to the partisan rancor?

 http://www.channelcincinnati.com/health/5376320/detail.html

Some current and former employees of Sinclair Broadcasting are now saying publicly, what many of us have suspected all along: Sinclair is a tool for right-wing propoganda.

In an article for GQ magazine, former and current employees of Sinclair say they were subjected to a political litmus test before Sinclair would hire them.  They also allege that Sinclair courted powerful Republicans on Capitol Hill who could use their status as legislators to help Sinclair become the largest owner of TV stations in this country.

Moreover, they say the company ordered them to only report "good" news coming out of Iraq, and that when they conducted an interview with George W. Bush, they were ordered to send it to stations and replace the face of the real interviewer, with the face of a local anchor in that market.

http://www.imdb.com/news/sb/2005-11-18 (scroll to very bottom of page)

"What we need is a little more commander-in-chief, and a little less campaigner-in-chief."

-  Sen. John F. Kerry, speaking on Good Morning America's weekend edition

Today on the House floor, fresh Repuke Representative Jean Schmidt (R-OH) took to the House floor to call Rep. John Murth, who recently called for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, a "coward."

She said:

"Yesterday I stood at Arlington National Cemetery attending the funeral of a young marine in my district. He believed in what we were doing is the right thing and had the courage to lay his life on the line to do it. A few minutes ago I received a call from Colonel Danny Bubp, Ohio Representative from the 88th district in the House of Representatives. He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message, that cowards cut and run, Marines never do. Danny and the rest of America and the world want the assurance from this body – that we will see this through."

Shortly thereafter, Schmidt returned to the house floor, to have her remarks removed from the record.  And she said:

"Mr. Speaker, my remarks were not directed to any member of the House and I did not intend to suggest they applied to any member, most especially the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania."

So just who is Jean Schmidt?  Recently, Schmidt came thisclose to losing a special election to Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran. Hackett saw the grave mistake that was Iraq up close, and he returned to this country to continue his service, and ran for Congress as a Democrat in the red state of Ohio.  Hackett make an execptionally strong showing against Schmidt that surprised everyone, and is now running for the Senate.

Jean Schmidt may be a United States Representative.  But today she showed that she is the true coward, not John Murtha or any Democrat who wants to see us get Iraq right.

If Jean Schmidt were truly proud of her original remarks on the House floor, and stood by them, then she would not have returned to the floor to basically apologize.

People who are truly proud of their statements, do not back down from them. 

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/11/18/schmidt-shame/

"Those (Arlington) gravestones don't say Democrat or Republican. They say American!"

- Rep. John Murtha (D-PA)

At first we didn't use white phosphorous in Iraq, and then we did!

Sounds like the Bush administration hard at work covering up its lies.

After denying intial reports, the Pentagon now admits that the United States military did indeed use white phosphorous in Iraq.

The Pentagon admits using white phosphorous against 'insurgents' in Iraq, but denies a news report on Italian televisionw which said the U.S. military also used the substance against Iraqi civilians.

http://www.dawn.com/2005/11/17/top13.htm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051116/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_white_phosphorous_4

As the old saying goes "The more things change...the more they stay the same."

Newly declassified documents show that Richard Nixon purposefully and knowingly deceived the America public on Cambodia, even after his "secret" war there became known.

In referene to the situation in Cambodia, Nixon told White House aides "Publicly, we say one thing.  Actually, we do another."

According to an Associated Press article:

"In a memo from the meeting marked "Eyes Only, Top Secret Sensitive," Nixon told his military men to continue doing what was necessary in Cambodia, but to say for public consumption that the United States was merely providing support to South Vietnamese forces when necessary to protect U.S. troops.

"That is what we will say publicly," he asserted. "But now, let's talk about what we will actually do."

He instructed: "I want you to put the air in there and not spare the horses. Do not withdraw for domestic reasons but only for military reasons."

Hmmm....sounds like George Bush has more in common with Richard Nixon that he realizes. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051116/ap_on_re_us/nixon_papers

The Republican Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has all but admitted that the U.S. Congress wrote George Bush a blank check to go to war, without examining the facts.

Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) said on Fox News Sunday: "I think a lot of us would really stop and think a moment before we would ever vote for war or to go and take military action.  We don't accept this intelligence at face value anymore. We get into preemptive oversight and do digging in regards to our hard targets."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/13/AR2005111301131.html?referrer=email

Memo to Pat Roberts: This is what you call Monday Morning quarterbacking.  If you had done your job as a United States Senator, and asked the tough questions that needed to be asked up front, perhaps we would not have well over 2,000 dead soldiers.

John Adams was the first U.S. President to actually sleep in the White House.  On his first night in the White House, he wrote a letter to his wife Abagail, which in part read:

"I pray Heaven bestow the best blessing on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof."

Well, as we continue to face the ramifications of a corrupt, morally bankrupt Bush Administration, it's clear that John Adams' wishes did not come true.

Today's required reading:

1.  White House declines to totally rule out torture: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/usattackstorture

2.  McCain: Torture Ban Needed for U.S. Image: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051113/ap_on_go_co/mccain_torture

It's a sad testament to the state of affairs in this country, and the quality of character of this administration, that we even have to have the above articles.  A U.S. Administration advocating U.S. sponsored torture!  These are not our values!

The Associated Press reports that despite pledges to the contrary a month ago, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has failed to re-open four large no-bid contracts relative to Hurricane Katrina.

FEMA had promised to re-open the no-bid contracts, and had also promised to hire more minority-owned firms.

To date, those promises have gone unfulfilled.

Now is the time for the Congress to truly exercise its oversight function, and hold FEMA's feet to the fire.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10006959/

Bill O'Reilly is so upset about a ballot measure recently passed by San Francisco voters, that now he wants terrorists to come and attack the city.

San Francisco voters really approved a ballot measure that urges public high schools and colleges to end on-site military recruitment.

In response, Bill O'Reilly said:

"And if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200511100008

Tonight has turned out to be a big night for Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, as Tim Kaine and Jon Corzine win their state's governorships, respectively.

There's been a lot of talk recently, that today's election results would be a referendum of sorts on the Bush Administration.

But I offer a different perspective.  I think what tonight's results show, is that the American public, by and large, is tired of the politics of personal destruction.

The American people want politicians who bring them hope; politicians who offer ideas and solutions that will help make life better for all Americans.

And if Doug Forrester should learn one lesson tonight, it's that putting your opponent's ex-wife in your campaign ad, doesn't help someone put food on their table, or educate their children.

While listening to local coverage of the Virginia race today, one voter commented that he didn't originally intend to vote, but decided to do so after seeing the negative ads by Republican Jerry Kilgore.

And while tonight has been a good one for Democrats, we must not lose sight of the need for true election reform.

There were reports of voting problems in at least four different precints in Virginia today.  Some voters who said they intended to cast their vote for Democrat Jim Kaine, said they had problems doing so.  Their votes were either not recorded, or took several attempts being being processed.  These voters said the touch screens that they were used, indicated that they were voting for Republican Jerry Kilgore instead.

So while tonight is a victory for the progressive agenda, we must continue to move forward with election reform.

Newly released emails from former FEMA Chief Michael Brown show that as people were literally growning and dying in New Orleans, he was more concerned with his appearance, and how he came across on t.v. 

In one particular email, a FEMA public affairs official compliments Brownie on his outfit, telling him it looks 'fabulous."  Brownie replies ""I got it at Nordstroms.  Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?"

On August 31, Marty Bahamonde (who happened to be the only FEMA Official on the ground in New Orleans when Katrina made landfall), wrote to Michael Brown: "Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical ... many will die."  Now, a normal person would have galvanized into action to help save lives.  Not Brownie!  He responded: "Thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?"

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/index.php?nid=78&sid=312846

"I was a 9-year-old Southern white boy who rode a segregated bus every single day of my life.

When Rosa showed us that black folks didn't have to sit in the back anymore, two of my friends and I who strongly approved of what she had done decided we didn't have to sit in the front anymore."

- President William Jefferson Clinton, speaking at the funeral of Rosa Parks today

Looks like the Democratic Party has found its soul once again.

After years of failing to ask the hard questions of this criminal administration, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid yesterday forced the Senate into a closed-door session to discuss how this Administration took us to war based on lies. 

The Republican-controlled Congress has acted as a country unto itself, serving as apologists for the Bush Criime Team, and rubber-stamping the Bush agenda.

The Democrats had no choice but to force this rare closed session of the Senate.

So Congratulations, Senate Democrats, on your re-birth! 

http://reid.senate.gov/record2.cfm?id=248135

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/02/news/senate.t.php

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/01/AR2005110101037.html