Bush: We Don't Negotiate With Terrorists

ABC News' Blotter notes Arab newspaper Al Hayat has reported that a secret deal made between the U.S. government and "The Holy Jihad Brigades" resulted in the release of a FOX News correspondent and cameraman.

... [The] U.S. secretly negotiated with the group through leaders of 'the Palestinian popular resistance committees.'

[snip]

... [Al Hayat] reports that the public demand was not serious and that the group's 'real demands' were that the U.S. press Israel to reopen the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Palestine and cease the shelling of 'Palestinian activists'' residences.

According to the report, the mediators contacted a representative of a European country who in turn contacted U.S. and British diplomats. The paper's sources said in the report that members of a senior FBI delegation, who had arrived in the area a few days earlier, were also involved in the negotiations.

The announcement that the two journalists had converted to Islam as a reason for their release was only a camouflage to conceal the fact that the U.S. had agreed to the hostage-takers' demands, according to the sources cited in the article. A few days ago the Rafah crossing was reopened for a few hours daily, and the Israeli forces stopped shelling residences of activists in the past few days, noted the paper's sources.

Evidently, the Bush administration is willing to "negotiate with terrorists" when it comes to Faux News employees.

Wonder if similar secret negotiations were being conducted behind the scenes during the abductions of Daniel Pearl, Nick Berg, Jack Hensley, Eugene Armstrong and the other hostages who were subsequently murdered by their captors in Iraq?

Olberman Comments on Rumsfeld

If you didn't catch this Wednesday night, you missed one great commentary. Fortunately, Crooks & Liars has the video and the transcript. At least go read it. But Olberman's at his best when you hear and see him.

Legend of a Mind

What Donald Rumsfeld sees when he looks in the mirror. (With apologies to Ray Thomas.)

Another Corrupt Republican

Seems the U.S. State Department has been investigating Kenneth Tomlinson, former chief at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Tomlinson was ousted last November after an inquiry found he had violated rules meant to insulate public television and radio from political influence. That inquiry also determined Tomlinson improperly helped the staff of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page win a $4.1 million contract to finance a weekly program on public television.

Tomlinson also was rebuked in the earlier inspector general report for improperly hiring an acquaintance to monitor several public radio and television shows for political bias. Tomlinson paid his acquaintance $15,000 to make a list of every guest who had appeared on the Bill Moyer’s “Now” program. The list was readily available on Moyer's website.

Since 2002, Tomlinson has been chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the federal agency which oversees the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and other U.S. government broadcasting abroad. State Department investigators have concluded Tomlinson misused government money on several occasions, overbilling for his time
and funneling unauthorized contracts to a friend.

According to the New York Times:

[Tomlinson] used his government office for personal business, including running a “horse racing operation” in which he supervised a stable of thoroughbreds he named after leaders from Afghanistan, including President Hamid Karzai and the late Ahmed Shah Massoud, that have raced at tracks across the United States. They also said that Mr. Tomlinson repeatedly used government employees to do his personal errands and that he billed the government for more days of work than the rules permit.

The State Department inspector general presented those findings in a report last week to the White House and on Monday to some members of Congress. Three Democratic lawmakers, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Representatives Howard Berman and Tom Lantos of California, requested the inquiry last year after they were approached by a whistleblower from the agency about the possible misuse of federal money by Mr. Tomlinson and the possible hiring of phantom or unqualified employees.

[snip]

The summary of the State Department inspector general’s report said the United States attorney’s office in Washington had been given the report and decided not to conduct a criminal inquiry into the matter. It said the Justice Department was pursuing a civil investigation that focused on a contract Mr. Tomlinson had awarded to his friend.

The three lawmakers who had requested the inquiry sent a letter to the president this afternoon urging him to remove Mr. Tomlinson from his position immediately “and take all necessary steps to restore the integrity of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.”

[snip]

The heavily edited State Department report on Mr. Tomlinson’s activities at the Broadcasting Board of Governors did not specify the identity of the friend who received the improper contract at the direction of Mr. Tomlinson. Agency officials said he was a retired worker already on a government pension who was rehired by Mr. Tomlinson, without the knowledge of the board or any competitive bidding process, to work on projects for him. The employee was known by other employees as “the phantom” because he was often not at work, other agency employees said.

[snip]

The State Department report said that from 2003 through 2005 Mr. Tomlinson had requested compensation in excess of the 130 days permitted by law for the post he holds. It said that he had requested and received pay from both the broadcasting board and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the same days worked on 14 occasions, but that investigators were unable to substantiate whether they were for the same hours worked on the same days.

Investigators who seized Mr. Tomlinson’s e-mail, telephone and office records found that he had improperly and extensively used his office at the Broadcasting Board to do nongovernmental work, including work for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and horse racing and breeding ventures. The material seized included racing forms and evidence that he used the office to buy and sell thoroughbreds.

Tomlinson is a friend of Karl Rove, so it's no surprise he's corrupt. Note that the White House received the report last week and did nothing. In fact, President Bush says he still supports Tomlinson's renomination to another term as chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, whish is pending before the Senate.

For good measure, the Bush administration wanted the investigation findings kept secret:

...the State Department warned that making it (the report) public could be a violation of federal law.

Probably has something to do with the war on terra, national security, and whatnot. After all, taxpayers have no right to know how their taxes are being funneled to friends and acquaintances of corrupt Republicans.

Newsflash: JonBenet Ramsay is still dead.

A Reminder

August 28, 2005: FEMA Warns Bush "This Is the Big One"

Bush asked no questions, claimed to be "fully prepared"


August 29, 2005: Katrina Makes Landfall

Bush has cake with McCain

Then sells his Medicare package to seniors in Arizona

And again in California


August 30, 2005: NOLA is Under Water

Bush holds a photo-op in San Diego to commemorate 60th Anniversary of V-J Day

Bush plays guitar with country singer Mark Willis, then returns to Crawford, Texas for a final night of vacation


August 31, 2005: 3,000 People Stranded at Convention Center Without Food or Water

Bush finally observes the devastation in New Orleans . . . from 5,000 feet

Condoleezza Rice shops for shoes, plays tennis, and attends a Broadway show


September 1, 2005: NOLA Descends Into Anarchy

Bush claims no one expected the levees to break


September 2, 2005: Superdome Evacuated, Food and Water Reaches Stranded at Convention Center

Bush stages photo-op "briefing;" Coast Guard helicopters and crew diverted from rescue efforts to act as backdrop

Bush uses 50 firefighters as props for a second photo-op


Complete Katrina timeline at ThinkProgress.org

"Wait'll They Get A Load of ME!"

How much work has Laura had done on her face, and why did she use The Joker's plastic surgeon?

Your President Speaks

George Bush spoke at a fund-raiser for the Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate:

No, these are people that are politically driven. They've got motives. They do not believe in freedom. They don't believe in freedom of religion; they don't believe in freedom of dissent; they don't believe in women's rights. They have a backward view of the world. And yet, they want to impose their vision on other people. That's what they're trying to do. And the United States of America must never retreat and let them have their way.

Sounds a lot like the Republican party: They don't believe in freedom of religion, unless you're talking about their religion. They don't believe in freedom of dissent as dissenters are committing treason. They don't believe in a woman's right to control her own body. They have a backward view of the world (trickle-down economics, creationism, intelligent design). And they want to impose their vision on other people, namely minorities, gays, women, atheists and anyone who doesn't join lock-step in their world view.

The Decider also introduced a new word--Suicider:

You know, when you have resentment and anger, that breeds hatred; that breeds recruiting grounds for people to become a suicider. Imagine the mentality of somebody willing to kill for an ideology that just doesn't -- is not hopeful, and yet I believe a lot of it has to do with the fact that parts of the world breed resentment.

We don't have to imagine. We've got the Bush administration willing to kill for an ideology. That's why more than 2,500 American soldiers have died in Iraq while bin Laden, the terrorist behind 9/11, is ignored.

Web Survey

Fellow bloggers should take this blogger survey. Simple and painless.

August 18

“Your birth is a mistake you'll spend your whole life trying to correct.”
--Chuck Palahniuk

These people were born on this date:
1750 Antonio Salieri, Italian composer (think Amadeus)

1774 Meriwether Lewis (Lewis and Clark)

1835 Marshall Field (department store owner)

1904 Max Factor (cosmetics entrepreneur)

1917 Caspar Weinberger, (Sec. of Defense under Ronald Reagan, '81-87)

1920 Shelley Winters (actress)

1927 Rosalynn Carter (former First Lady)

1928 Marge Schott (former owner Cincinnati Reds)

1933 Roman Polanski (director)

1934 Vincent Bugliosi (LA prosecutor Manson Family case, Tate-Lobianco murders)

1934 Roberto Clemente (baseball player)

1936 Robert Redford (actor-director)

1943 Martin Mull (Fernwood 2Nite)

1952 Elayne Boosler (comedian)

1952 Patrick Swayze (actor)

1957 Denis Leary (actor)

1958 Madeleine Stowe (actor)

1958 DocLarry (blogger)

1969 Everlast (musician)

1969 Christian Slater (actor)

1969 Edward Norton (actor)

1970 Malcolm-Jamal Warner (actor)


These events happened on this date:
1227 Genghis Khan, Mongol leader, died

1868 French astronomer Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen discovers helium

1920 19th Amendment to US Constitution passes, guaranteeing women's suffrage

1963 James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.


1965 Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins - United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.

1988 Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle was nominated as George H.W. Bush's running mate during the Republican National Convention in New Orleans.

Blogger Issues

We've switched to the new Beta version of Blogger. Definitely had some trouble making the switch. Still may find a few bugs, but at least posts newer than March are again appearing. Stay tuned!

Landmark Civil Rights Protest Leader Dies

The Los Angeles Times reports that "Robert McCullough, who led a group of black students in a landmark 1961 civil rights protest, choosing to serve jail time on a chain gang for the crime of sitting at a whites-only lunch counter in South Carolina, has died. He was 64."

Given the option of paying a $100 fine or serving 30 days in jail, the Rock Hill students broke with earlier protesters and chose to serve the time, even though it meant an ordeal on a chain gang.

The Rock Hill group's sacrifice "made electrifying news" within the protest movement, author Taylor Branch wrote in his book "Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63."

"The obvious advantage of 'jail, no bail' was that it reversed the financial burden of protest, costing the demonstrators no cash while obligating the white authorities to pay for jail space and food," Branch wrote.

McCullough, who was selected as the group's leader, "did all the detail work and made sure everything was in place," said protester David Williamson. "He was like our teacher."

Another member of the group, Thomas "Dub" Massey, 18 at the time, said McCullough helped him recognize that what was happening at lunch counters was wrong.

"After talking to Robert, I felt like I needed to be involved and be part of the change. He said, 'It's not just about you, Dub. This is for all of humanity.' "

McCullough was only 19 at the time of the protest. Wiser then than many much older.

We're betting, upon his arrival, St. Peter ushered Mr. McCullough to the lunch counter in heaven.

Friday Beagle Blogging

The continuing drought and heat wave leaves Baxter loving the indoors and napping under a ceiling fan. He especially enjoys getting cozy with his blankey.

I'm Ensign Deadguy

I'm evidently not having a good month. First, my word verification on Chatter was "hefag." Now this. Next thing you know I'll have a birthday and turn old.

For those unversed in Star Trek, Ensign Dead Guy is a stock character whose sole purpose is to die violently soon after being introduced. Many refer to this character as a Redshirt because in the original Star Trek (Star Trek: TOS) security officers wore red shirts, and were often killed on missions under the aforementioned circumstances.

Your results:

You are An Expendable Character (Redshirt)

Since your accomplishments are seldom noticed, and you are rarely thought of, you are expendable. That doesn't mean your job isn't important but if you were in Star Trek you would be killed off in the first episode you appeared in.

70% An Expendable Character (Redshirt)
55% Deanna Troi
54% Data
50% Geordi LaForge
45% Jean-Luc Picard
45% Uhura
45% James T. Kirk (Captain)
35% Worf
35% Chekov
30% Will Riker
30% Mr. Scott
24% Spock
20% Leonard McCoy (Bones)
15% Beverly Crusher
15% Mr. Sulu

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Test

Blame It On The Brown People

No wonder Frazier Glenn Miller tried to file as a Democrat for Missouri's 7th Congressional District seat. He's obviously been reading The New Republic, which is, at least in words, a liberal magazine. In reality it has been the mouthpiece of the Democratic Leadership Committee (DLC), which, although portrayed as "centrist", is actually rather conservative for a part of the Democratic party.

Martin Peretz is the co-owner, and editor-in-chief of The New Republic magazine. He chatted with Hugh Hewitt

HH: Do you want the Democrats to win majorities in the House or the Senate, Martin Peretz?

MP: I'm...I'm appalled by some of the people who would become head of Congressional committees.

HH: Is that a no?

MP: Uh, but I'm also appalled by some of the shenanigans...

HH: But is that...I've got five seconds. Is that a no, Martin Peretz?

MP: It's a cowardly refusal to answer.

HH: (laughing) Okay. We'll carry it on, later. Martin Peretz, thanks.

And just who are those "people who would become head of Congressional committees" which appal Mr. Peretz? Probably the five brown Congresspeople (Rangel, Conyers, Millender-McDonald, Thompson, and Velázquez) who are in line to become committee chairs when the Democrats take the House, based on this column:

But, if Lamont is trying to put himself forward as a new face in the Democratic Party, the two men who planted themselves right in back of him on the stage at the victory party gave it all away. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are hustlers, and racist hustlers at that. They have accomplished nothing for African-Americans, nothing. Jackson keeps himself alive by conning big corporations out of bags of cash. He is a one-man reparations racket. Sharpton is the reverend with the big silver jewelry, and it isn't a cross. He sups off his perennial political campaigns and has been known not to pay taxes besides.

Should Frazier Glenn Miller (aka, Stephen Samuel Miller) ever decide to run for president, perhaps Martin Peretz could be his running mate.

CNN Political Director Moving to CBS

From TVweek.com:

Molly Levinson is leaving CNN to take the newly retitled position of CBS News political director, effective Aug. 22. She will oversee all political coverage and report to Paul Friedman, the CBS News VP who oversees hard news coverage.

Ms. Levinson has spent several years at CNN, where a number of political assignments led to her serving most recently as acting political director for the news network. Before CNN she worked for GQR Research as an analyst of opinion research and as a development assistant at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

It's Only Been How Many Years?

Evidently, September 11, 2001 is NOT a date that will live in infamy:

Some 30 percent of Americans cannot say in what year the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington took place, according to a poll published in the Washington Post newspaper.

But wait! There's more!

While the country is preparing to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives and shocked the world, 95 percent of Americans questioned in the poll were able to remember the month and the day of the attacks.

Thankfully, only 1 in 20 of Americans were UNable to remember that 9/11 happened on 9/11. Now, who's buried in Grant's Tomb?

Tony Snow Blames GHW Bush for 9/11

At a press briefing today, White House spokesman Tony Snow placed the blame for the events of September 11, 2001 squarely on the shoulders of George Herbert Walker Bush. That'd be Dubya's daddy.

There seems to be two approaches, and in the Connecticut race, one of the approaches is ignore the difficulties and walk away. Now, when the United States walked away, in the opinion of the Osama bin Laden in 1991, bin Laden drew from that the conclusion that Americans were weak and wouldn’t stay the course and that led to September 11th.

Snow was commenting on the outcome of the Connecticut primary in which Democrat Ned Lamont defeated Republican-lite Joe Lieberman. Snow said that Connecticut voters who backed Ned Lamont were choosing to “ignore the difficulties and walk away.”

Snow obviously didn't read the new CNN poll that shows 57 percent of Americans support Lamont's position on Iraq. According to that poll, 61 percent of respondents said they believed at least some U.S. troops should be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year.

But the big story here is that the official White House position on who is to blame for 9/11 is President George H. W. Bush who withdrew our troops in 1991 after pushing Saddam's forces out of Kuwait.

It's also quite obviously a further attempt by the Dubya administration to connect Iraq to 9/11 even though it has been clearly established that no such link exists. Well, other than in the minds of sheeple.

Which Administration shut down the CIA unit devoted to catching or killing Osama bin Laden, the main terrorist behind 9/11?

A Day-After Chuckle

Punkass Marc is creating a permanent list of things liberals whole-heartedly condemn so that Dennis Prager and those of his mindset never get confused again. Amanda Marcotteo says liberals completely condemn having fun at the expense of real people’s families. Like this:


We agree. This isn't a little bit funny. Nope. Not a little bit. Funny.

'Street Talk' Returns

Our summer hiatus is about to conclude. The ever-popular STREET TALK will debut a new program August 16th. Hosted by Ron Davis and Executive Produced by Lost Chord's chief typist, STREET TALK is a public-affairs show featuring wide-ranging interviews with newsmakers and the people who cover them. Our Associate Producer is the Snarling Marmot.

The new episode will focus on the August 8th primary results and what we may expect for the November mid-term election. As Mr. Davis notes, "about 83 percent of Greene County voters decided not to go to the polls on Tuesday." What will it take to get more people to vote?

Those who did vote on Tuesday largely chose the status quo. What will that choice mean in November?

Ned Lamont beat incumbant Joe Lieberman in a closely watched Democratic primary in Connecticut. Some say bloggers are the reason. Were they? Can bloggers influence an election? What impact will Lamont's victory have on the McCaskill-Talent race?

STREET TALK airs at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday (new time!) on Mediacom Connections Channel 14 in Springfield and across 21 communities in 10 Ozarks counties. Rebroadcasts are at 10:30 p.m. Thursday and 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Podcasts of every episode are available on the STREET TALK web site.

King George Tries to Expand His Powers

We missed news reports of this (if there were any) earlier this month. It's yet another example of how the Bush administration is attempting to not-so-quietly consolidate power into a streamlined federal apparatus with a unitary executive’s hands placed loosely on the controls:

A provision in section 511 of the House-passed DoD Act would allow the President to federalize the National Guard of the states without the consent of the governor. Specifically, this clause amends Title 10 of the United States Code to give the President the authority to take control of the Guard in case of “a serious natural or manmade disaster, accident, or catastrophe that occurs in the United States, its territories and possessions, or Puerto Rico.”

Further evidence that George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld are misusing the National Guard in that failed war in Iraq. After all, if this provision is necessary "to give the President the authority to take control of the Guard" in the future, under what authority are Guard members spending multiple tours in the Middle East?

Also further evidence that George really does think of himself as a king.

Happy(?) Anniversary

Five years ago today (has it been that long?) President George W. Bush, while on vacation (again) at his ranch in Texas, received a President's Daily Brief. The title of that PDB was "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US":

Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the U.S. Bin Laden implied in U.S. television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America."

[snip]

AI Qaeda members — including same who are U.S. citizens — have resided in and traveled to the U.S. for years, and the group apparently maintains asupport structure that could aid attacks.

[snip]

We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a [deleted text] service in 1998 saying that Bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Shaykh" 'Umar' Abd aI-Rahman and other U.S.-held extremists.

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

While not exactly "warning" Bush of the plot to fly planes into the World Trade Center, the language certainly makes us wonder why Bush didn't heighten our level of alertness. Perhaps he was too busy reading books about boats, golfing, and clearing brush on his ranch.

In 2004, during the 9/11 Commission hearings, Fred Kaplan wrote in Slate:

The revelation came this morning, when CIA Director George Tenet was on the stand. Timothy Roemer, a former Democratic congressman, asked him when he first found out about the report from the FBI's Minnesota field office that Zacarias Moussaoui, an Islamic jihadist, had been taking lessons on how to fly a 747. Tenet replied that he was briefed about the case on Aug. 23 or 24, 2001.

Roemer then asked Tenet if he mentioned Moussaoui to President Bush at one of their frequent morning briefings. Tenet replied, "I was not in briefings at this time." Bush, he noted, "was on vacation." He added that he didn't see the president at all in August 2001. During the entire month, Bush was at his ranch in Texas. "You never talked with him?" Roemer asked. "No," Tenet replied. By the way, for much of August, Tenet too was, as he put it, "on leave."

And there you have it. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has made a big point of the fact that Tenet briefed the president nearly every day. Yet at the peak moment of threat, the two didn't talk at all. At a time when action was needed, and orders for action had to come from the top, the man at the top was resting undisturbed.

Throughout that summer, we now well know, Tenet, Richard Clarke, and several other officials were running around with their "hair on fire," warning that al-Qaida was about to unleash a monumental attack. On Aug. 6, Bush was given the now-famous President's Daily Brief (by one of Tenet's underlings), warning that this attack might take place "inside the United States." For the previous few years—as Philip Zelikow, the commission's staff director, revealed this morning—the CIA had issued several warnings that terrorists might fly commercial airplanes into buildings or cities.

And now, we learn today, at this peak moment, Tenet hears about Moussaoui. Someone might have added 2 + 2 + 2 and possibly busted up the conspiracy. But the president was down on the ranch, taking it easy. Tenet wasn't with him. Tenet never talked with him. Rice—as she has testified—wasn't with Bush, either. He was on his own and, willfully, out of touch.

Where is Bush today? Same place he was on August 6, 2001.

Where is bin Laden today? Unknown. Bush doesn't seem any more concerned about the man behind the 9/11 attacks than he did five years ago. But at least Saddam is no longer in power. And more Americans died on 9/11 than have been killed in Iraq. So far.

BTW, remember just who briefed the Decider on that fateful day?

A 'Youth Culture' Pink Slip

A body-piercing and jewellery shop based in Cardiff, Wales decided to terminate an employee. Because the shop caters to the "youth culture," the management decided to use a "youth culture" method to notify the displaced employee: text messaging.

A company has defended its decision to sack one of its staff by text message...Katy Tanner, a 21-year-old sales assistant, received the message while she was off work with a migraine, the South Wales Echo newspaper said Friday.

The text message said: "We will not require your services anymore...Thank you for your time with us."

"I don't think it's right to just text someone. At least they should have talked to me face to face," Tanner said.

"You're not allowed to text in sick, you have to phone. The fact that they texted me is a bit of double standards."

Several senior staff members at Blue Banana, a body-piercing and jewellery shop based in Cardiff, defended the decision. But company director Jon Taylor added that an internal investigation was underway to see if "the ultimate action was ideal". The retailer claims it tried to reach Tanner directly "five or six times" and passed on a message through her boyfriend before the text was sent.

And store director Ian Besbie added that the dismissal method was fair because texting was a part of "youth culture".

"We are a youth business and our staff are all part of the youth culture that uses SMS (text) messaging as a major means of communication," he said.

We've been notified our services were no longer needed via the telephone, a letter, and in person. And once via proxy (our mother), but we were rather young at the time. Barely alive. Really.

ntodd has a little analysis to go with this story, and a good illustration. Check it out.

AP, NY Times, USA Today Small Businesses

Who knew? It begins to explain the Bush administration's concern about the impact that the estate tax has on small business owners.

Some of the nation's largest news media companies, including The Associated Press, were counted last year by the government as small businesses for contracting purposes, inflating the Bush administration's record of help to small companies.

Other media companies cited as small businesses included The New York Times Co., USA Today International Corp., Bloomberg L.P. and the Public Broadcasting Service, according to data the administration gave congressional investigators.

The media companies join other corporate giants like ExxonMobil and Microsoft Corp. that congressional investigators identified last week as companies listed as small businesses by the White House. The companies say the government erroneously gave them that designation and they did not portray themselves as small businesses to win the contracts.

The AP was cited as receiving five small business contracts valued at $31,600. Three of the contracts were awarded by the State Department, one was given by the U.S. Coast Guard and the fifth was from the Department of Transportation.

We never realized the "small" in "small business" is a meaningless nonsense word not intended to modify "business" at all. Silly us!

Who Said It?

A quote from a well-known person:

That building didn't fall for over an hour after it was hit. What do you bet that the Bush administration finished the job that the airplanes did not actually complete? What do you bet they killed their own people for the PR aspect? These people cannot compete with the Clinton legacy, so they have to fight the PR and the spin war. And it is amazing to me to see how easily the duped US and world media is.

Who said it? Answer below the fold.




Would you believe Rush Limbaugh?

OK, we edited the quote. Here's what Limbaugh really said:

That building didn't fall for eight hours after it was hit. What do you bet that the Hezbos finished the job that the Israeli bomb did not actually complete? What do you bet they killed their own people for the PR aspect? These people cannot compete militarily with any industrialized nation, so they have to fight the PR and the spin war. And it is amazing to me to see how easily the duped US and world media is.

But for a moment, didn't you believe some slightly off-center person could have said the first quote? And most people would find it abhorent and ridiculous.

Why, then, are people so willing to accept the real quote at face value and believe it to be the truth?

We grabbed this from Digby (read the whole post) who concludes:

So, the pictures of the dead are all phony, staged propaganda but the civilians need to be killed anyway in order to get to the root causes of the problem --- which I understand to be too many living arabs. If we don't kill them now, our kids and grandkids will have to kill their kids and grandkids later.

This blatant genocidal bloodlust has become de rigeur on the right now. It's on talk radio, TV and in the columns of respectable newspapers. They don't even pretend to be civilized anymore. Maybe it's just the SOS, but I've got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I don't ever remember this kind of stuff being openly bandied about like it's normal. And those who did, like Curtis LeMay, didn't have audiences of 25 million listeners to spew their bilge to.

But hey, what do we expect? Once you explode the taboo against torture, can genocide be far behind?

Is this the America you want to live in?