As I mentioned on here yesterday, this past Saturday author, commentator, tv host and activist Tavis Smiley held his annual State of the Black Union symposium.

Each year, Tavis brings together a group of African-American political and religious leaders, educators, opinion makers, activists, etc., to discuss issues of importance within our community, and how we can continuously make Black America better.  Because as Tavis is often fond of saying, when we make Black America better, we make all of America better.

Each February for the past seven years, I have looked forward to these symposiums, and always feel more energized after them.

One of the ideas born from last year's symposium, was the concept of a Covenant With Black America: a single document to address issues such as education, economics, health, etc.  And the brilliant part is: the public would help contribute to the document! 

The Covenant With Black America, which was developed into a book, was the focus of this year's symposium.

One of the main things to come from this year's symposium, was a pledge from both the Democratic and Republican parties.

The Chairmen of both the Democratic and Republican parties (Howard Dean and Ken Mehlman, respectively) sent letters to Tavis Smiley, promising that any candidate seeking their party's Presidential nomination in 2008, would address the issues which are outlined in the Covenant With Black America, and let us know where they stand on those issues.

While that may make for a happy story, will the two parties live up to that pledge?

Specifically, the actions of some prominent African-American Republicans call into question whether the Republican Party is truly interested in a dialogue with Black America.

During the symposium, Tavis mentioned that several Black Republicans (such as HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson and Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell) had confirmed their attendance for the symposium, but failed to show up.

Alphonso Jackson was in the same hotel as Tavis, but was a no-show.

How can we expect the Republican Party to ensure their candidates in '08 will address the issues outlined in the Covenant, when they won't even show up for a dialogue right now on how to make Black America better?

Jackson's failure to show, even though he was a confirmed participant, is really no surprise though.  He doesn't exactly have a record of addressing or caring about issues of concern within his own community.

During the 2004 campaign, Jackson said he was advising the Bush team to focus their efforts on younger African-Americans, and forget about those who came up during the civil rights movement. 

He commented: "You can't rise as a class. You have to rise individually. It's what many of the civil rights-era people don't understand."

I would say to Mr. Jackson that I believe the words of Rev. Martin Luther King instead, when he said:

"I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds."

Finally, thank you Mr. Tavis Smiley for your faithfulness and dedication to  making Black America better!

To learn more about the Covenant With Black America, visit: http://covenantwithblackamerica.com

On this past Saturday, t.v. host, commentator and activist Tavis Smiley hosted his annual State of the Black Union, and as usual, it was terrific!

This was the 7th year that Tavis held the State of the Black Union, and as usual, there was a lot of information to digest.

I've had several days now to soak it all in and digest...so tomorrow I'll be posting my thoughts on this year's State of the Black Union.

Looks like Idiot Son's approval ratings are in another freefall.

CBS News has his current approval rating at an all-time low of 34%.

My only question: who are the 34% who refuse to live in the reality-based community? 

Poll: Bush Ratings At All-Time Low

So in his interview with Brian Williams today, Michael Brown revealed that on Tuesday, August 30, during a secure conference call, his first words to Idiot Son regarding Katrina were:

"Mr. President, my estimate is that 90 percent — 90 percent — of the population of New Orleans has now been displaced."

After Idiot Son responds "90 percent?" Michael Brown replies "Yes sir, I believe it is that bad. That's how bad it is."

Yet despite this warning, and the warnings that he received before Katrina and in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, George W. Bush still had to be shown a DVD of various newscasts from NOLA, to make him see the reality of what was happening on the ground.

Clearly, this calls into question his mental capacity to understand and grasp important information.

If Bush couldn't comprehend and understand that 90% of the residents of NOLA had been displaced, do we really want him to be the one carrying the nuclear football and having the codes?

I think his inability to understand and grasp vital information should be an impeachable offense in itself.

Michael Brown: I was ‘left on the battlefield’

Ex-FEMA head says he either fell or was pushed on his sword after Katrina

Forget about John Kerry. Seems like Sen. Bill Frist has done some flip-flopping of his own. 

We can now say that Bill Frist was against the Dubai port deal before he was for it.

The Senate Majority Leader now says he feels "pretty good" about the deal, despite his prior stated objections to it.

I'm thinking that Bush's Brain, Karl Rove, has been working the phone lines tirelessly, threatening to withold support in this midterm election season, for any Republican that doesnt support the deal.

Frist says he's OK with ports deal

Must read article from Joe Klein in Time Magazine:

Bush's Broken Political Antenna--Bush is "airy and out of touch..."  His response to the Dubai ports issue, and the Dick Cheney shooting scandal, has been "surreal."

You know things are bad for Idiot Son George Bush when William Buckley says America has failed in Iraq.

In an Op/Ed for National Review, Buckley says:

"I can tell you the main reason behind all our woes — it is America...Everything that is going on between Sunni and Shiites, the troublemaker in the middle is America...the American objective in Iraq has failed."

A Republican who knows how to tell the truth? In the words of Donald Rumsfeld, "who knew?"

It Didn’t Work

Just when you thought Fox News (or is that Faux News) couldn't stoop any lower....they manage to do just that.

With people dying in Iraq daily, and the sectarian violence escalating, Fox News pontificated on whether civil war might actually be a good thing for Iraq!

Courtesy of Media Matters for America, here's the screen capture:

I wonder if the right-wing nut jobs at Fox would be cheering for civil war, if they had loved ones and friends in Iraq?

http://mediamatters.org/items/200602240003 (Great Job as always, Media Matters!!)

"People don't need to worry about security."

Idiot Son George W. Bush (the man who ran for "re-election" by saying he was the only one who could keep us safe), speaking on his administration's port deal with the UAE.

It's bad enough that George W. Bush wants to outsource our ports to the very people who helped finance some of the 9/11 hijackers. 

But now he's pleading ignorance over the port deal, saying he only found out about the port deal when reports started surfacing that members of Congress where unhappy with the deal.

From CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer today:

BLITZER: Brian Todd, in Baltimore.

Thanks very much.

President Bush is clearly drawing a line in the sand over the deal for the ports despite deep concerns voiced by congressional leaders from both parties.

Presidential counselor Dan Bartlett told CNN just the other day that the president didn't even know about the deal until he heard reports of the uproar in Congress. Dan Bartlett is joining us now from the White House.

Well, let's travel back in time, shall we, to April 2005, when Idiot Son pleaded ignorance over the U.S. re-entry plan:

Friday, April 15, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 a.m.

Bush puzzled by U.S. re-entry plan

By Knight Ridder Newspapers and The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — President Bush expressed dismay yesterday over plans to require American, Canadian and Mexican citizens to show passports to enter the United States — a requirement of an intelligence-reform bill he signed late last year — saying it could "disrupt the honest flow of traffic."

"When I first read that in the newspaper, about the need to have passports, for particularly the day crossings that take place — about a million, for example in the state of Texas — I said, 'What's going on here?"' Bush told the American Society of Newspaper Editors. "I thought there was a better way to ... expedite the legal flow of traffic and people."

Does George W. Bush know what's going on in his own government?  He's outsourced our ports to the very people who financed the attack on us on 9/11.  Maybe he's outsourced his entire Presidency, as well.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0602/21/sitroom.02.html

Bush puzzled by U.S. re-entry plan

More evidence of a government shrouded in secrecy....

The New York Times reported today that a secret program at the National Archives has existed for 7 years now, in which our intelligence agencies have reclassifed previously available papers and materials. 

Because of the reclassification, the public is no longer able to access thousands of historical documents that had been available for years, including documents already photocopied by private historians.

Former President Clinton signed a declassification order in 1995.  But in 1999, the CIA and 5 other agencies began reclassifying certain materials, and this reclassification process has excelerated under BushCo.

Just a common-sense question here, for our no-common sense government: What is the point of re-classifying material that is already out there in the public domain, in the hands of some of our nation's historians?

U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review

Remember the old adage that parents would often give their children: "If you weren't so bad, you wouldn't be so scared..."

Hmmm...well, it seems that's a lesson the Bush Crime Team never learned.  They've been working feverishly to avoid any investigation into their domestic spying program, and have been making urgent calls to members of Congress, in hopes of avoiding an investigation.

Which begs the question: what are they trying to hide?  What do they fear about an investigation into their illegal spy program?

White House Working to Avoid Wiretap Probe

According to the latest from Truthout.org, the CIA Leak Investigation is once again heating up.

And the focus is clearly on Dick Cheney and his peons.

Truthout reports on the mounting evidence that senior officials at the National Security Council, and within the Office of the Vice President, collaborated and conspired to expose Valerie Plame's identity, in the hopes that it would keep her husband Joe Wilson from admonishing the Administration's pre-war intelligence.

It also says that the investigation has begun to focus on a specific group of individuals who were directly involved in pushing the Bush White House to cite bogus documents in it's rush to war.

NSC, Cheney Aides Conspired to Out CIA Operative

Newsweek magazine reports that none of the 9/11 Commission staffers believe Dick Cheney's version of events.  (And what a shocker this is.  He's always been so forthcoming!!!) 

"Others close to Cheney had suggested that he was profoundly affected by 9/11. It is hard for anyone who was not in Cheney's shoes that day, and in the weeks and months that followed, to appreciate the stress and uncertainty of that time.

Around 9:35 on the morning of 9/11, Cheney was lifted off his feet by the Secret Service and hustled into the White House bunker. Cheney testified to the 9/11 Commission that he spoke with President Bush before giving an order to shoot down a hijacked civilian airliner that appeared headed toward Washington. (The plane was United Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field after a brave revolt by the passengers.) But a source close to the commission, who declined to be identified revealing sensitive information, says that none of the staffers who worked on this aspect of the investigation believed Cheney's version of events.

A draft of the report conveyed their skepticism. But when top White House officials, including chief of staff Andy Card and the then White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, reviewed the draft, they became extremely agitated. After a prolonged battle, the report was toned down. The factual narrative, closely read, offers no evidence that Cheney sought initial authorization from the president. The point is not a small one. Legally, Cheney was required to get permission from his commander in chief, who was traveling (but reachable) at the time. If the public ever found out that Cheney gave the order on his own, it would have strongly fed the view that he was the real power behind the throne."

The Shot Heard Round the World

Dr. Martin Luther King asked me to pass a message on to you.  Especially those of you who believe we have no obligation to the least among us.  For those of you who believe it's all about "me, me, me" instead of "us" and "we."

The Rev. King wanted me to remind you:

"We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds."

Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail

How sad is it, that it takes a foreign newspaper to put into perspective the great moral challenge that America faces today.

The Observer (UK) has done a great job of focusing the spotlight on the 37 million Americans now living in poverty.  To put it all in perspective, that's 12.7% of our population, and sadly, the highest percentage in the developed world.

America has earned a reputation as being the "land of the plenty," but there are plenty of people who have not.

More than one in ten of our fellow citizens here in America are living in poverty.  And to no fault of their own, many of them cannot meet their bills, despite working 2 or 3 jobs.  (Note to our conservative friends: that's what you call the 'working poor.')

Under the Bush Administration, an additional 5.4 million Americans have slipped into poverty.  And as The Observer points out, many times families with two working parents fall below the cracks, due to medical emergencies or their place of employment (i.e. a factory) shuts down.

I believe this continues to be one of the great moral tests of our time: how do we treat the least among us?  It is an issue which Senator Hubert Humphrey also addressed: "It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life -- the sick, the needy and the handicapped."

If Sen. Humphrey were alive today, I think that, with a heavy heart, he would say we have failed that test.

He would look at the comments today from our 'friends' at Conservative Central, and their view that the victims of Hurricane Katrina are riding the "gravy train," and he would grade us with an F minus.

What would Rev. Martin Luther King have to say to us, for such a time as this?

He too, would say we have failed the least among us.

When people think about Rev. Martin Luther King's "Been To the Mountaintop" speech (which he gave on the day before he was assassinated), many of them remember in particular the very last few lines, when he talks about not having feared any man, and having been to the mountaintop and seen the promised land.

But there is another part of that speech that is particularly poignant for me.

During his "Been To The Mountaintop" speech, Dr. King said:

"It's all right to talk about "long white robes over yonder," in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here. It's all right to talk about "streets flowing with milk and honey," but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preachers must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do."

During his sermon at Foundry United Methodist Church shortly before leaving office, President Bill Clinton reminded us of our obligation when he said: "Christ admonished us that our lives will be judged by how we do unto the least of our neighbors."

America: this is our moral challenge.  Are we up to the task?  For the sake of 37 million of our brothers and sisters, I hope we are.

37 million poor hidden in the land of plenty

"If he'd been in the military, he would have learned gun safety."

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) speaking about Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a fellow hunter.

It appears as though when right-wing nut job Ann Coulter voted last week in Palm Beach's council election, she voted in the wrong precint!

Coulter cast her ballot in a precint 4 miles north of the precint where she owns a home in Palm Beach!

Bless her heart, this is the idiot that peope like Elmer's Brother, C-Mom, and the rest of their ilk get their news and opinions from. 

Maybe Coulter needs to be subjected to a literacy test before she is allowed to vote.

Ballot botch: Coulter votes in wrong precinct

From Roll Call:

He never thought he’d say it, but Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) no longer thinks it’s such a big deal that Vice President Cheney told him to go you-know-what himself on the Senate floor last year.

Considering what happened to poor Harry Whittington (who remained in stable condition

yesterday) this past weekend, Cheney’s shot at Leahy could have been a lot worse.

“In retrospect it looks like I got off easy,” Leahy joked, referring to Cheney’s accidental shooting of his buddy and campaign contributor.

Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), another prominent Democrat who has traded personal barbs with Cheney, is also delighting in the vice president’s bizarre hunting mishap.

If readers recall, during the tail end of the 2004 presidential campaign, Cheney made a comedy routine out of mocking Kerry’s hunting getup, saying on one occasion, “He wore a brand new camouflage jacket for the occasion, which makes you wonder just how often he does really go goose hunting.”

cont'd...

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/51_83/hoh/12174-1.html

NOTE: Thanks to the folks at DU for this pick-up!!! 

Looks like the addiction to Oxycontin really did a number on Rush Limbaugh.  We know that Rush's hearing has been impacted by the OxyContin.  He admitted to experiencing sudden hearing loss, to the point where he had to use a telepromter and staff members to assist him in answering callers.

But now it appears that his eyesight was affected as well, because he clearly can't tell the difference between black and white.

On his radio show, Limbaugh tried to inject the issue of race into Paul Hackett's decision to drop out of the Ohio Senatorial campaign.  And he claimed that Hackett's former opponent, Sherrod Brown, is black!  He said: "And don't forget, Sherrod Brown is black. There's a racial component here, too."

Sorry Mr. Limbaugh, that's a lie!  Sherrod Brown is Caucasian, just like you!

Just in case you can indeed see it, here is Mr. Brown's picture!

http://mediamatters.org/items/200602160001

So after hearing Pat Roberts say the Senate Intel Committee won't investigate the spy program, it's quite obvious that Congress no longer respects itself.

There used to be a time when Congress demanded accountability from the Executive Branch. And if the Executive Branch abused its power by witholding documents and information, Congress was not afraid to say so.

Pat Roberts basically made a deal with the devil: who knows what the Bush Crime Team threatened him with, if he allowed his Committee to investigate the spy program.

And then, there is the fact that during his confirmation hearings, Justice Alito was told by Sen. Chuck Grassley "not to loose any sleep" over the fact that Alito had failed to keep his promise, to recuse himself from any cases reguarding Vanguard.

A Supreme Court nominee LIED to the Senate during his previous confirmation hearings, and a Senator tells that nominee "not to loose any sleep" about it?

It's a sad day when Congress no longer has any reguard for its own responsibility for oversight.

White House Ordered to Release Spy Papers

Hmmm....Richard Nixon had the 18½ minute gap on a critical Watergate tape. And when Alberto Gonzales was informed by the Justice Department that it would be launching an investigation into who leaked Valerie Plame's name, Gonzales waited 12 hours before notifying White House staff that they had to preserve all emails and other related documents in the Plame situation.

When Republicans get in trouble, important documents and information go missing.

Now, we learn that the Department of Homeland Security cannot find the transcript of a critical conference call that took place 5 hours after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, even though it has transcripts of other key discussions that were recorded before and after Katrina.

It seems that the particular conference call in question, took place at approximately 12 Noon on August 29, as the levees were being breached in New Orleans.  And DHS cannot find any transcript of that call (what a shocker)!

The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which is investigating the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina, wants the transcript of the conference call.  They want to know who was on the call, and what was said.

Sadly, they may never know.

Katrina Records Contain A Gap

Missing: Homeland Security Conference Call As Levees Failed

I would be absolutely remiss if I did not take the Democratic Party to task today.

It appears as though members of the Democratic Party (namely Sen. Charles Schumer, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee) have been successful in convincing Senate candidate Paul Hackett in dropping out of the race.

For those who may not be familiar with him, Paul Hackett is a veteran of the Iraq war, and he came thisclose to defeating Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) in a Congressional race.

Recently, Hackett has been running for the Senate; he and Rep. Sharrod Brown have been campaigning to win the nomination in the primary.

But under pressure from Chuck Schumer and others, Hackett has withdraw from the race.  Apparently some Deomcrats think Sharrod Brown will have a better chance in the general campaign against Republican Sen. Mike Dewine.

To Schumer and any other Democrat involved in this farce: who do you think you are, to tell Paul Hackett to withdraw from the race?

Here is a man who went and served his country in combat.  To his credit, he wants to serve his country some more, this time as a United States Senator.  And you want to tell him no thanks, his service isn't wanted anymore?

These are NOT the values of the Democratic Party I know and love, Chuck Schumer.

Three former business associates of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff came forward today.  And they said that Abramoff told them he had close ties to the Bush Crime Team, particularly through Bush's Brain (Karl Rove).

The former associates of Abramoff said he frequently mentioned Karl Rove, when talking about his influence in the Bush White House.

This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.  Idiot Son denied any relationship with Kenneth Lay when the Enron scandal broke, and we subsequently learned they were so close, that Bush had a nickname for him, "Kenny Boy."

Abramoff Said to Claim Close Ties to Rove

An investigation by the United Nations has concluded that the United States conducted "acts amounting to torture" at Guantanamo Bay, and says the site should be closed.

Among the allegations from five U.N. human rights experts:

- The United States committed acts tantamount to torture, including force-feeding detainees, and exposing them to prolonged solitary confinement.

- The U.S. government violated detainees' rights to a fair trial, as well as their right to freedom of religion and to health.

- The U.S. violated the 30-day maximum rule.  Detainees at Guantanamo can only be held in islolation for 30 days, but the U.S. held some detainees in solitary confinement or "quasi-isolation" for as long as 18 months.

- Some detaineees were kicked, hooded, and stripped.

Moreover, the report concludes that the United States is trying to act as prosecutor, defense, judge and jury in the case of the detainees at Guantanamo.

The report states: “In the case of the Guantanamo Bay detainees the U.S. executive operates as judge, as prosecutor, and as defense counsel. This constitutes serious violations of various guarantees of the right to a fair trial before an independent trial.”

The United Nations' report says that Guantanamo Bay should be closed, and that the U.S. "should revoke all special interrogation techniques authorized by the Department of Defense."

U.N.: U.S. tortures Guantanamo detainees

If this headline from the Associated Press doesn't make you want to cry, then I don't know what will!

Storm Victims Leave Hotels for Sofas, Cars

A federal judge has ruled that FEMA can now stop paying directly for the hotel stays of those who were left homeless by Hurricane Katrina last August.

FEMA says the evacuees will still get rent assistance that they can put towards hotels or other housing, but the organization will no longer pay for hotel bills directly.

Some evacuees said they were running out of money fast, and would be forced to sleep in their cars, sleep on a relative's couch, or go to a shelter.

One mother with a one year old child says "I got nowhere to go."   Another evacuee proclaimed "I only got my rent check last week. It's not enough time to find a place."

It's a sad commentary that in the richest country in the world, the government will not step up to the plate and provide long-term assistance to its own citizens who were tremendously impacted by the worst natural disaster on U.S. soil.

What do we pay federal taxes for, if our own government cannot do faithfully "unto the least of this" in a true time of need?

Note: Editing to include link to article regarding a Congressional report released this week on the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina.  The report calls the Government's response to Katrina "a failure of leadership" and says "America is still not ready for prime time."

Report: Katrina response a 'failure of leadership'

Well, many of us have always suspected George Herbert Walker Bush of being a real phony.  Now, here's proof.

It seems like in 1988, during his campaign against Michael Dukakis, George H.W. Bush had to help coach his wife Babara on how they should look lovingly at each other on camera.

In a memo to his wife, Bush wrote:

"Sweetsie. Please look at how Mike and Kitty do it. Try to be closer in more - well, er, romantic - on camera. I am practicing the loving look, and the creeping hand. Yours for better TV and more demonstrable affection. Your sweetie pie coo coo. Love ya, GB."

This exchange between the Bushes has been re-printed in My Dear President: Letters Between Presidents and Their Wives, a book that chronicles the more private side of our nation's first families.

Memo to first lady: the president loves ya

Some United States Senators, Republican and Democrat alike, are saying that Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald should investigate Dick Cheney and other senior White House officials if they authorized former Cheney Chief of Staff Scooter Libby to leak classified information.

Republicans like George Allen (R-VA) are being forced to realize what many of us in the reality based community have known for a long time: the Bush Administration is a criminal one.

Sen. Allen said a full investigation in warranted, and that "I don't think anybody should be releasing classified information, period, whether in the Congress, executive branch or some underling in some bureaucracy."

Last week, released court documents revealed that Libby told the Grand Jury in the CIA leak case, that Dick Cheney and other "superiors" in the White House authorized him to disclose classified material, including a National Intelligence Estimate.

Senators: Cheney Should Be Probed in Leak

So of course one of the main stories in the news today, is that Dick Cheney (or Darth Vader, if you will) accidentally shot one of his fellow hunters.

But the question most on my mind is, why the 24-hour delay in reporting the story?

The shooting occurred on yesterday, but was not reported until this afternoon as Breaking News.

Why the 24 hour delay, and who was responsible?  Did the White House delay this news, trying to figure out a way to spin the story, or did the news media sit on it, like the New York Times sat on the spy story for a year?

From CNN.com:

Darth Vader and his victim, Harry Whittington

Cheney accidentally shoots fellow hunter

Looks like former Whitewater Independent Counsel Kenn Starr has made a career change.

He's gone from sending pornographic referrals to Congress, to sending fake clemency letters to Governors.

Kenn Starr is being accused by prosecutors of sending fake clemency letters to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Prosecutors say that lawyers for a death row inmate, including Ken Starr, sent the Califnoria Governor fake letters from jurors asking him to spare the man's life.  The jurors in the case have said they don't believe the condemned man deserves clemency.

Nathan Barankin, spokesman for the Attorney General Bill Lockyer, say they queried each juror whose name the letters of clemency had been sent on behalf of, and they all denied saying what was in the letters.

And remind me, Mr. Starr, what's that age-old saying about karma?

Starr accused of sending fake clemency pleas

Prosecutors: Ex-independent counsel fabricated letters on inmate’s behalf

The latest Republican to come down with foot-in-mouth-disease is apparently Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele.

Steele, an African-American Republican who is running for the U.S. Senate, recently compared stem cell research to the atrocities of the Holocaust.

While meeting with Jewish leaders in Baltimore ths week, Steele told them: "You of all folks know what happens when people decide they want to experiment on human beings, when they want to take your life and use it as a tool.  I know that as well in my community, out of our experience with slavery, and so I'm very cautious when people say this is the best new thing, this is going to save lives."

He was speaking to approximately 40 people at a Baltimore Jewish Council board meeting.

In response to Steele's comments, Art Abramson (Executive Director of the Baltimore Jewish Council) said:  "If the lieutenant governor was drawing a comparison between stem cell research and human medical experimentation during the Holocaust, he must understand the pain this kind of analogy would inflict on survivors and their families.  We absolutely reject any comparisons between ethical and lifesaving medical research, and the horrors committed by the Nazis in their evil drive to create a master race. We welcome any clarification Lt. Gov. Steele can offer about his remarks."

Steele's words at meeting faulted

According to a new AP-Ipsos poll, Idiot Son George Bush's approval rating is "stuck near the bottom."

Idiot Son's overall approval rating is 40%, while his approval on handling the economy is at 39%.

Also of note, the poll found that 47% of Americans want to see Democrats take control of Congress, compared to the 37% who say they want Republican control of Congress.

Bush's Job Approval Stuck Near Bottom

Republicans continue to show they are the party that rewards incompetence, not to mention unethical and illegal behavior.

Disgraced former Majority Leader Tom Delay, who has been indicted on charges of money laundering, was rewarded for his behavior with a slot on the Appropriations Committee.  The Appropriations Committee is one of the most sought-after committee assignments in the House.

Delay was also given a position on the House sub-committee which oversees the Justice Department.  Coincidentally, the Justice Department just happens to be investigating the influence-peddling scandal that Jack Abramoff is caught up in.

And speaking of Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist now says he met with George W. Bush on at least 12 occassions, which of course is in complete contradiction with the Bush Crime Team's claims that Bush did not know Abramoff. 

DeLay wins key committee assignment

Abramoff says he met Bush "almost a dozen" times

The man who used to be the Chief Rules Enforcer for the International Arabian Horses Association continues to show what a joke he is, and just how qualified he is to be a horse's, well, you get the picture!

Former FEMA Chief Michael Brown has indicted he may be willing to share some of his official correspondence with George Bush and other officials regarding Hurricane Katrina, but only if the White House lets him!

On February 6, Michael Brown's lawyer wrote a letter to White House Counsel Harriet Miers, in which he said Brown still respects Idiot Son's "presidential perogative" to get confidential advice from his aides, and that "Unless there is specific direction otherwise from the president, including an assurance the president will provide a legal defense to Mr. Brown if he refuses to testify as to these matters, Mr. Brown will testify if asked about particular communications."

Senators on both sides of the fence have continued to express fustration over the Bush Crime Team's failure to answer questions or release documents about the advice Idiot Son received about Hurricane Katrina.

Brown may reveal Bush correspondence

EDIT FOR UPDATE: The White House refuses to give Michael Brown legal cover for not testifying.  They refused (and rightly so, on this one) to let Michael Brown claim executive priviledge. Now let's just see if he'll tell the truth when he testifies tomorrow. 

Former FEMA Director to Testify About Katrina

Denied Executive Privilege, Brown Plans to Discuss Communications With Bush

It's amazing how people will begin to talk and tell the truth once they realize they are facing serious jail time.

Scotter Libby, indicted and disgraced former Chief of Staff to Dick Cheney, has confessed to a grand jury that Dick Cheney and other White House "superiors" authorized him to leak classified information to reporters.

Meanwhile, Special Prosector Patrick Fitzgerald has given indications that he intends to introduce evidence which will show that Libby shared with reporters the contents of a Summer 2003 National Intelligence Estimate, which Bush used to help justify the Iraq war.

Libby: White House 'superiors' authorized leaks of classified information

Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information

The Republicans call this reform?

By electing Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) as the new Majority Leader in the House, Republicans would have the American public believe they are serious about ethics reform.

But the facts tell another story.

Rep. Boehner is infamous for having passed out checks from the tobacco industry, on the floor of the House.  He would pass out the tobacco checks to some of his fellow Republicans on the floor of the House.

Now, we learn that Boehner is renting an apartment that is owned by a lobbyist in D.C.

Boehner: Big Tobacco’s Personal Western Union

Matthews on Gergen's reference to Boehner tobacco check incident: "Wow. ... Everybody else ... forgives and forgets, but not Gergen."

Boehner attempts comeback to leadership table 

Boehner Rents Apartment Owned by Lobbyist in D.C.

The neo-cons have been nearly spastic about Coretta Scott King's funeral yesterday. 

It seems as though the same Republicans who never have shared Coretta Scott King's values, or championed her issues,feel they are uniquely qualified to tell her children how to funeralize their mother, and tell them who they should and should not have invited to speak.

These same Republicans are outraged that Rev. Joseph Lowery would dare speak.  The Joseph Lowery who was like a brother to Mrs. King, and was right there with her in the trenches of of the movement.

Our Republican friends are outraged over the fact that Jimmy Carter would DARE tell Mrs. King's life story.  How DARE he mention the fact that both Mrs. King and her husband were wiretapped by our very own government.  Never mind the fact that our own FBI once called Martin Luther King the "most dangerous negro" and said he had to be "knocked from his pedastal."

Well, to the Republicans, I say: are you still looking for something to be outraged about?  If there is anything you should be outraged about, it's your very own, Rush Limbaugh.  Speaking about the Coretta Scott King funeral, Rush Limbaugh said to his listeners: "So here's the little office pool that we have going here. Here you might want to have your own version of this in your office or your home today. The end of the funeral, when it's all over, how many women will be picked up? The next question we're asking ourselves, how many babies will be born nine months from today? I mean, you've got Bill Clinton in there; you've got Jesse Jackson and Teddy Kennedy -- and the next question we're asking, "Will a car fail to negotiate a bridge somewhere in Georgia late tonight, and if so, who will have been driving?"

Check out the look on Laura's face at Rev. Joseph Lowery speaks truth to power at the funeral of Coretta Scott King.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery speaks during the Coretta Scott King funeral ceremony at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga. Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2006. At rear is Pres. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr., took several jabs at foreign and domestic policies. 'We know there were no weapons of mass destruction over there, but Coretta knew and we knew there are weapons of misdirection right down here,' Lowery said, complaining that were far too many in the U.S. are living in poverty and without health care insurance. (AP Photo/Pool, Jason Reed)

"You want to treat our friend Coretta like a role model? Then model her behavior."

- President William Jefferson Clinton, speaking at the funeral of Coretta Scott King!

So the party of so-called family values want to trim down survivor benefits.

The budget that Idiot Son submitted calls for the elimination of $255 lump-sum death payment that has been part of Social Security for 50 years.

It also asks Congress to cut off monthly survivor benefits to 16 and 17-year old high school drop outs.

Speaking on Idiot Son's irresponsible budget, Sen. Chuck Schumer said ""They can't resist trying to cut Social Security and to cut a survivor's, a widow or widower's benefits; it just shows how warped the priorities are in this budget."

Bush Plan Would Trim Survivor Benefits

Well, color me surprised here (NOT)!!!

Insight magazine is reporting that Karl Rove has threated to blacklist any Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who might vote against the Bush Administration during the Judiciary COmmittee's investigation into the illegal spy program.

Congressional sources have told Insight that the White House will not provide any political or finanicial support to any Republican Senator running for re-election, who goes against the Administration's spy program.  The Bush Crime Team is running scared, afraid that if a handful of Republicans vote against the Administration, it could lead to a determination that the Bush Crime Team violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (originally signed into law by President Jimmy Carter).

OneCongressional source said "It's hardball all the way" while another said that Karl Rove is "lining them up one by one." 

This, of course, is Karl Rove's classic modus operandi. He runs the Bush White House like a mafia, threatening those Rethuglicans who would dare to even think about voting their conscience, and thus voting against the Administration.

Rove counting heads on the Senate Judiciary Committee

I don't know whether to laugh or cry!  Alberto Gonzales, our cluessless, law-breaking Attorney General, says that George Washington and Abe Lincoln were doing more spying than BushCo, and on a greater scale!

During today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Gonzales said:  "President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader scale."

Ok, call me crazy here.  I would imagine that during George Washington's time, electronic surveillance wasn't exactly something our first President had at his disposal, if only because we were not as technologically advanced then as we are now.  Secondly, let's just say, Alberto, for the sake of argument, that George Washington and Abe Lincoln did do electronic surveillance.  That doesn't necessarily mean you have the right to follow suit!  If you saw someone jump off a cliff, does that mean you're supposed to jump off the cliff as well?

 Link to video footage from today's hearing, courtesy of Crooks and Liars: http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/02/06.html#a7043

Our wonderful American values at work here.....(insert sarcasim)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has given the ax to 59,000 hungry Americans nationwide, by cutting them from the Commodity Supplemental Food Program effective February 1.

The program had been providing them with 25-pound boxes of free groceries every month.

A spokeswoman says the Agriculture Department reduced the program because of rising food costs and budget costs.  The federal government is encouraging those who have been dropped from the program, to apply for food stamps.

Jan Pruitt, a local food bank officer in Texas, says: "The reality of the situation is, people are going to fall through the cracks.  They're going to go pick up their box, and it's not going to be there, and they're not going to go anywhere else.  We know these government cuts are going to mean seniors going without food because we can't reach everybody.  This is really impacting a very vulnerable population."

Ok, so let me see if I can wrap my brain around this.  George Bush and the neo-cons are still talking about cutting taxes (by tring to make the tax cuts permanent), and yet our government can't seem to find it within themselves to do the right thing by the most vulnerable among our citizentry?

Food program cuts 700 local seniors

Paul Craig Roberts, who served in the Reagan Administration as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, says in a new op/ed that the Bush Crime Team is using it's illegal spy program to blackmail members of the media, as well as the Democratic Party.

From his op/ed, Who Will Save America: My Ephiphany:

"We have reached a point where the Bush administration is determined to totally eclipse the people. Bewitched by neoconservatives and lustful for power, the Bush administration and the Republican Party are aligning themselves firmly against the American people. Their first victims, of course, were the true conservatives. Having eliminated internal opposition, the Bush administration is now using blackmail obtained through illegal spying on American citizens to silence the media and the opposition party.

Before flinching at my assertion of blackmail, ask yourself why President Bush refuses to obey the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The purpose of the FISA court is to ensure that administrations do not spy for partisan political reasons. The warrant requirement is to ensure that a panel of independent federal judges hears a legitimate reason for the spying, thus protecting a president from the temptation to abuse the powers of government. The only reason for the Bush administration to evade the court is that the Bush administration had no legitimate reasons for its spying. This should be obvious even to a naif.

The United States is undergoing a coup against the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, civil liberties, and democracy itself. The "liberal press" has been co-opted. As everyone must know by now, the New York Times has totally failed its First Amendment obligations, allowing Judith Miller to make war propaganda for the Bush administration, suppressing for an entire year the news that the Bush administration was illegally spying on American citizens, and denying coverage to Al Gore's speech that challenged the criminal deeds of the Bush administration."

Who Will Save America: My Epiphany

Sen. Arlen Spector (R-PA), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says he believes that the Bush Administration has violated the law with respect to it's domestic spying program.

Spector also says that Mr. Torture Man, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, has not adequately explained why the Bush Crime Team failed to get court orders for the wiretaps it was conducting, and he called the AG's explanations thus far "strained and unrealistic."

Meanwhile, Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, is predicting that they will have to subpoena the Administration in order to obtain the documents that they are seeking. (Of course, it should be noted that the Committee would not have to subpoena the Bush Administration, if the Administration actually respected Congress' responsibility for oversight).

Specter Criticizes Rationale for Spying

Right wing televangelist Pat Robertson continues his culture of death crusade, once again calling for the assassination of Hugo Chavez.

During an appearance on the February 2 edition of Hannity & Colmes, co-host Alan Colmes asked "Do you want him [Chavez] taken out?" to which Robertson responded "Not now, but one day, one day, one day."

He originally called for Chavez's assassinatin in August of last year.

(As usual, Media Matters is on the case! Great job!)

Robertson again calls for Chavez's assassination: "Not now, but one day"

The Bush apologists will have you believe that Valerie Plame was not a covert CIA operative when her identity was revealed by the Bush Administration.

New newly released court documents show that indeed she was.  According to Newsweek magazine:  Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald learned that Valerie Plame conducted "covert work overseas" in areas regarding counterproliferation matters, and that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) "was making specific efforts to conceal" Plame's identity.

The CIA Leak: Plame Was Still Covert

Today, Coretta Scott King, the "First Lady" of the civil rights movement, became the first woman, and the first African-American, to lie in honor in the Georgia Capitol Rotunda.  Of course, it was an honor well deserved.

As I watched the coverage on t.v. today, I began to think that today, a circle was completed.

When Rev. Martin Luther King was assassinated, he was denied the honor his wife received today.  Segregationist Governor Lester Maddox refused to let Rev. King lie in honor, and he expressed his outrage over the lowering of state flags in honor of Rev. King.

But today, a circle was indeed completed, because it can very well be said that Coretta Scott King laid in honor today for both her and her husband.  As she laid in honor today, so did Rev. King, because in many ways, Coretta Scott King continued her husband's legacy.  Over the years, she continued to speak out and give a voice to the voiceless. 

She championed the issues and the values that had been close not only to her heart, but her husband's as well.

So today, I simply say thank you to both Rev. & Mrs. King, for their faithful service.  You completed your course.  The circle is now complete.

Next month will mark the 3rd anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. And lest we forget how our Commander in Chief took us to war based on lies, let's once again examine the Downing Street Memo.

For our neo-con friends who don't live in the reality-based community, you may be asking "What's the Downing Street Memo?"  Well, the Downing Street Memo is actually the minutes that were transcribed from a July 23, 2002 British Prime Minister's meeting.

The main bombshell to come from the Downing Street Memo, was the fact that the Bush Administration was so determined to go to war, that it was fixing the facts (read: the intelligence) around the policy (it's determination to go war no matter what).

Here's an actual paragraph from the July 23, 2002 minutes of the UK meeting:

"C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action."

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/1

This week, the House passed a morally reprehensible budget bill that gives the cold shoulder to the poor, the infirm, and our nation's students.

The bill that the House sent to the White House for Idiot Son's signature calls for major cuts to Medicaid, Welfare, child support, and student loans. Mind you, this budget was sent to Idiot Son the day after he went before the nation to wrongfully declare that the state of our union is strong.

Equally amazing, is that the House Republicans allowed 13 Republicans worried about their elections this November, to vote against the bill, to provide them political cover when they go back home to campaign this year.

Two-hundred Democrats and one Independent voted agains the bill.

Budget Cuts Pass By a Slim Margin

Poor, Elderly and Students to Feel Pinch

A new memo that details a January 31, 2003 meeting between Idiot Son and his puppy, Tony Blair, shows just how determined Idiot Son was to go to war with Iraq.

Some of the standouts from the meeting:

- George Bush was worried about the failure to find any hard evidence against Sadaam Hussein.  So much so, that he told Blair he was considering "flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours". Mr Bush added: "If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach [of UN resolutions]".  In other words, George Bush considered entrapping Sadaam Hussein, because he knew there was no hard evidence that Saddam had WMDs.

- As further evidence that George W. Bush doesn't live in the reality-based community, he told Blair that he did not believe there would be warfare between the various ethnic and religious groups in Iraq.  (NOTE: This is similar to how Bush told Pat Robertson that there would be no casualities in Iraq, after Robertson told him he needed to prepare the nation for a brutal and deadly war).

-  Blair gave Bush assurances that he was "solidly" behind Bush's plan to go to war, despite the fact that he had not yet sought advice on whether the war was legal, and despite the lack of a second U.N. resolution.

This new memo is just more evidence that George W. Bush and Tony Blair deserve to be brought up on charges of war crimes.

Blair-Bush deal before Iraq war revealed in secret memo

Gotta love it when the Republicans eat their own!

Commenting on what he thought about Idiot Son's State of the Union speech, Bill Weld, Republican Gubernatorial candidate in New York, said "The speech didn't do that much for me. I thought it was smarmy at worst."

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/387823p-329004c.html

John Bolton continues to show why he's such an embarrassment to the United States on the international stage.

Bolton couldn't even get confirmed to his position in the Republican-led Senate, and so to get his man, Bush resorted to a recess appointment of Bolton.

Today, in what amounted to a big "screw you" to Bolton by other diplomats, he presided over an empty U.N. Room.  Bolton said "I brought the gavel down at 10. I was the only one in the room."  He was trying to open his first meeting as head of the Security Council .

Bolton presides over empty U.N. room

Today, U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts refused to grant immunity to former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Todd Whitman. 

Whitman, who was head of EPA on 9/11, was seeking immunity from a class-action lawsuit, filed in 2004, by residents, students, and people working in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.  These individuals say they were exposed to hazardous materials after the Twin Towers fell.

Judge Batts took Whitman to task for giving reassuring statements to New Yorkers that it was safe to return to their jobs and homes post-9/11, while toxic dust was polluting the neighborhoods.

Calling Whitman's actions "conscience-shocking," Judge Batts also said "No reasonable person would have thought that telling thousands of people that it was safe to return to lower Manhattan, while knowing that such return could pose long-term health risks and other dire consequences, was conduct sanctioned by our laws."

Whitman certainly does bear much of that blame and responsibility.  But the Bush White House also bears responsibility as well.

In 2003, a report issued by EPA Inspector General Nikki Tinsley concluded that the Bush White House "convinced EPA to add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones."  The report also said that on September 18, 2001, when the EPA said the air was "safe" to breath, it did not have the data and analyses to sufficiently make that statement.

Judge Slams Ex-EPA Chief Over Sept. 11

White House edited EPA's 9/11 reports

Congressional investigators have concluded that the Bush White House and Michael Chertoff (Homeland Security Secretary) failed to provide leadership and decisive action when Hurricane Katrina struck.

According to the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), the White House did not establish a clear chain of command, and they faulted Idiot Son for failing to designate a single person to coordinate federal decision-making.

A nine page report by investigators says "In the absence of timely and decisive action and clear leadership responsibility and accountability, there were multiple chains of command."

 White House, Chertoff Faulted Over Katrina

Just think, these were the folks who kept telling you in the 2004 Presidential campaign, that they were the only ones who could keep you safe, not that evil John Kerry guy.

Well, here's a real shocker (not!)---it looks like the Bush White House cannot account for many of the emails from Dick Cheney's Office at the time Valerie Plame's name was leaked in 2003.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who secured an indictment against Dick Cheney's disgraced former Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, wrote to Libby's lawyers that many of the emails from Cheney's office during the time of the Plame leak, have been deleted out of accordance with White House policy.

Hmmm...just one more example of what Idiot Son and Darth Vader have in common with Richard Nixon.

Leak prober got supersecret files