This could be the first signs of a Republican "revolt" against Bush and his neocon cronies. Take note though....I'M NOT HOLDING MY BREATH.

From the Associated Press via Yahoo News:

GOP House Panel Votes to Block Ports Deal

According to Bush's hatchet-man, Donald Rumsfeld, al Qaeda has access to the workings of the media.

From Salon:

Rumsfeld: Al-Qaida may be behind media reports on Iraq

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said today that the U.S. news media is to blame for the public's poor perception of the war in Iraq, suggesting that "al-Qaida media committees" are succeeding in filling Americans' minds with incorrect and unduly negative reports about the situation on the ground.

Although he didn't say so, Rumsfeld seemed to be focused on a disputed Washington Post report that put the death toll from sectarian violence at about 1,300 when many other media outlets were reporting numbers in the 300-400 range. "Interestingly, all of the exaggerations seem to be on one side," Rumsfeld said at a news conference. "It isn't as though there simply have been a series of random errors on both sides of issues. On the contrary, the steady stream of errors all seem to be of a nature to inflame the situation and to give heart to the terrorists and to discourage those who hope for success in Iraq."

Rumsfeld is a fine one to talk about media errors and exaggerations. It was Rumsfeld, after all, who said unequivocally before the war that Saddam Hussein "possesses chemical and biological weapons." It was Rumsfeld who said that "we know" where those weapons are. And it was Rumsfeld who told anyone who'd listen that the war would probably take no more than a matter of months. None of that stopped Rumsfeld from throwing stones today, nor did his admitted lack of proof for any link between the U.S. media and al-Qaida.

"We do know, of course, that al-Qaida has media committees. We do know that they teach people exactly how to try to manipulate the media. They do this regularly. We see the intelligence that reports on their meetings. Now I can't take a string and tie it to a news report and then trace it back to an al-Qaida media committee meeting. I'm not able to do that at all."

However, he said, "we do know that their goal is to try to break the will; that they consider the center of gravity of this -- not to be in Iraq, because they know they can't win a battle out there; they consider it to be in Washington, D.C., and in London and in the capitals of the Western world."

But if bad news from Iraq comes only from al-Qaida influence and infiltration, perhaps Rumsfeld and his colleagues in the Bush administration ought to be taking a hard look at some of their own, starting with the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. In contrast to the sunny assessment of Iraq Rumsfeld offered today, Zalmay Khalilzad -- he works for the president, not for the press -- tells the Los Angeles Times that Iraq is "really vulnerable" to civil war if there is another attack like last month's bombing of the Askiriya shrine in Samarra. By invading Iraq, Khalilzad says, the United States has "opened the Pandora's box" of sectarian strife in Iraq.

-- Tim Grieve

Now, how much can we trust this statement......

"We do know, of course, that al-Qaida has media committees. We do know that they teach people exactly how to try to manipulate the media. They do this regularly. We see the intelligence that reports on their meetings....."

......since he lied soooo much just to get us into this illegal war in the first place?

The Democratic National Committee is going to be doing a series of articles on just how secure the Bush administration and the Republican controled Congress are keeping these United States. Buzz Flash will be carrying them.Today is the first in the series. I'm not sure if this will be a daily item or not, but as they do I will post them.

Today's item of security...or insecurity:

Homeland In-Security Watch, #1: Port Security

From the DNC:

Washington, DC- Karl Rove and the Republicans argue that the issue of security will propel them to victory in 2006, but the truth is Republican leaders have been weak on security. Four years after 9/11, President Bush and Republicans in Congress have demonstrated a pre-9/11 mentality and made the wrong choices, which have made America less safe. In fact, according to recent national polls, the American people no longer believe Republicans can keep them secure.

Each day, the Democratic National Committee will issue a "Homeland In-security Watch" to spotlight specific security lapses that have occurred under the watch of the Bush White House and the Bush-led Republican Congress.

Our inaugural installment focuses on the Bush Administration's failures to make our nation's ports safe and secure. Democrats have long argued that the White House is dangerously under-funding port security and also fought to increase funding for border security and cargo inspection.

"Republicans simply can't be trusted to make the right decisions when it comes to security and keeping Americans safe," said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney. "Americans trusted the Bush White House and the Bush-led Congress to protect their security, but were instead given only tough talk and recycled rhetoric. Democrats believe America can do better than a Congress that rubberstamps the Bush Administration's incompetence. Democrats will continue with our efforts to make sure our ports and borders are secure, and make homeland security a real priority."

Port Security: A House Of Cards

DHS Report Card: Bush Administration Gets "C-/D+" on Port Security; Bush Port Policies A "House of Cards." The Democratic Staff of the Committee on Homeland Security's annual report card on the Department of Homeland Security gave the department a C-/D+ on its port security policies. They called the current port security regime a "house of cards," and noted that containers arriving at American ports are rarely inspected and that the Department "remains unaware of security arrangements at foreign ports and vessels shipping goods to the United States." In addition to the threats millions of Americans face as a result of the Bush White House's failed port policies, it was estimated that "a terrorist attack at a major U.S. seaport would cause $60 billion in economic damages." [Democratic Staff of the Committee on Homeland Security, Annual Report Card, 2/06]

That's just a part of the entire article. The rest has all the dollar amounts listed that the Republicans rejected. Below is the link to the rest. GO READ! The Republicans don't care if we are or are not secure!

The DNC's "Homeland In-Security Watch" -- #1: Port Security 3/7

This may be the only time those furry little felines scurrying around the house get mentioned here...but I just couldn't resist.

I've just gotta teach our three cats to do this:












Stolen from the Tennessee Guerilla Women. Thanks ladies.

So...Bush and the neocons say Iraq is better off without Saddam. They say that they have put a stop to all his torture and killings.

Not according to an article in the UK Times Online today I found via Buzz Flash.

This is Bush and Negroponte's "Salvidorean" Death Squad Option at Work in Iraq. Don't Read After Eating Breakfast.

THERE was no sign of danger as Mohammed Sammarai arrived at his brother Mustafa’s home for lunch last week, no hint that this would be their last meal together.

It was not until after they had been joined by their old friend Ali Ahmad that they heard a commotion outside and realised something was wrong. Even then, the three men — all government employees, all Sunnis — had no inkling of the terrifying events that were about to overwhelm them.

First two police vehicles pulled up outside their house in the Hay al-Jihad district of Baghdad’s sprawling southern suburbs. Then came a convoy of up to 10 black BMWs and Opels — the favoured cars of the Shi’ite militias. Suddenly masked men brandishing Kalashnikov automatic rifles were storming inside.

“I walked home barefoot in a terrible state,” he said. “I could not call any official to report this. How could I when they were involved?” Two days later he found his friends’ bodies in the city’s Teb al-Adli mortuary. Mustafa’s right eye had been gouged out and his right leg broken. Other parts of his body appeared to have been penetrated by an electric drill, an increasingly common tool of torture in Iraq.

Mohammed’s body bore similar injuries. Both men had been shot in the head.

“Under Saddam, if you agreed to forgo your basic right to freedom of expression and thought, you were physically more or less okay,” he said. “Now you have a primitive, chaotic situation where anybody can do anything they want to anyone.”

Bush's hitmen? Could very well be.

I know that we all get frustrated...at times...thinking that there isn't much we...as individuals...can do stop the lies, deceit, and corruption of the Bush administration, the neocons, and the Republicans in Congress. I'm sure we've all spent time just wishing it would all go away.

Well it won't on it's own. We have to keep fighting those lies, deceit, and corruption and bring the truth to the forefront. We can not become numb or complacent....we must fight on.

Today, in Political Cortex, I found a post by Devilstower that has to do with those feelings of anger and numbness. The post refers to a post that is at Daily Kos. Below, you will exerpts from that DK post with a link to the entire post.

It is kinda long, but the author makes very strong points. A very good read...I highly suggest it to any of you who have ever questioned whether what we, as liberal, are doing is doing any good.

You're Still Too Angry
by stephdray

You didn't used to be like this.

You didn't used to get enraged at George Bush's picture whenever it came on the tube. Now you flip him the bird, even if you're standing in front of the bank of televisions at Best Buy. And you never used to wonder if you should even be shopping at Best Buy. You never used to worry about whether or not your money was financing the destruction of the environment, the constitution, your future, your kid's future. You never needed to know what 'Buying Blue' meant.

You used to get along fine with your neighbor when his bumper sticker was Dole/Kemp. You never wanted to key his car until the W sticker showed up and visions of fascism danced in your head.

You used to believe that basically good people went into government, people who were out to improve the nation--people who cared about others, even if some of their ideas were a bit misguided. You used to have faith in our voting system. You used to have faith in voters.

It's different now. You're different now.
Now, whenever you stop to admire the courage of our firefighters on 9/11, or the passengers of Flight 93--those memories are marred by all the awful things we've done since. You want to reflect that 9/11 brought out the best in us, but you know it also brought out the worst.

There was a time you were astounded by this administration's disdain for the law, their reflexive dishonesty, and their malice towards everything you value. Whether it be the environment, the plight of the poor, accountability in government, international law, civil liberties, women's rights, the separation of church and state, jobs, Medicare, social security--the list of New Deal reforms that saved this country and led to the longest period of prosperity in the history of mankind are all subjects of this administration's contempt. You kept thinking that the administration's obvious incompetence alone, their obvious 'out of touch/out of step' approach to American concerns would have destroyed them by now and set things to right. You had faith that the media, those supposed bulldogs of the Fourth Estate, would do something about it.

But sometimes, you wonder if it's better to just shut it off.
You're sure you'd be happier if you just didn't care. If you could go about your life with the now-out-of-fashion apathy that appeals to so many Americans. You want to think only about yourself, your money, your health, your situation, your family, your job. And sometimes, if you let yourself, you can slip into that self-absorbed delusion that everything is ok. Maybe, sometimes, you pick up a newspaper and read about the latest corruption scandal and you just feel numb inside. As if you no longer had the capacity to care. As if you were suffering from outrage overload--and you just can't even feel the blows anymore.

Because you're still too angry to do nothing about it.
You're angry, because you know that you're living in a time of regression. You're living in a time of injustice--not the injustice of things the way they always have been, but a voluntary injustice. We are living in a time when our country could choose to do the right thing, or the wrong thing, and its 'leaders' are choosing the darker path. Don't ignore the plea of your psyche.

Martin Luther King Jr. said "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

You are not here to vent to people, within a chamber, from whence your voice will not escape. You're here because your anger matters. You're angry about things that matter. You want things to change. You're here, because you want to MAKE SOME NOISE.

Fight on! Fight the good fight...we, our children and our children's children, can't afford to lose this fight.

I know that by now you've all heard about the high school teacher from Aurora, CO, who got suspended for puting Bush and Hitler in the same sentence. Here's a little more in a column by August Keso at the Progressive Daily Beacon.

Irony and More "1984" - America's Children Are Becoming Orwell's Children
by August Keso, March 4th, 2006

The whole column is kinda long, but well worth the read. Good rant. Link is at the bottom.

"With those children [Winston] thought, that wretched woman must lead a life of terror. Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy. Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party." -- George Orwell, "1984"

The irony should be lost on no person: A high school teacher in Aurora, Colorado, told his class that there were similarities between Bush's State of the Union rhetoric and things Hitler used to say. The teacher's name is Jay Bennish and he was immediately placed on administrative leave. Yet, the irony is dwarfed when compared to the ultimate Orwellian circumstances surrounding Bennish's personal nightmare.

Sean Allen, one of Bennish's students and a sophomore at Overland High School, recorded his teacher's comments and brought them to a local radio station. In Orwell's classic "Big Brother is watching you novel," children are taught by "Big Brother" and the Party's adherents to inform upon society. They are actively indoctrinated in the act of spying on and reporting parents, teachers, friends, and neighbors that speak unflatteringly of "Big Brother" and the Party's political constructs. In "1984," the children would report this "unpatriotic" behavior to the government and the "guilty" would soon disappear.

Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, FOX News, and Christian groups implicitly encourage students to report on their teachers' so-called transgressions. O'Reilly, Hannity, and FOX News encourage this behavior by incessantly reporting, covering, and providing moral support for this deviant and anti-freedom-loving behavior. Groups like Dobson's "Focus on the Family" believe it to be an almost religious duty for children to inform parents whenever a teacher or a school fails to recognize the Christian faith in accordance with their preferences.


"All their ferocity was turned outwards, against the enemies of the State, against foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children. And with good reason, for hardly a week passed in which the 'Times' did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping little sneak -- 'child hero' was the phrase generally used -- had overheard some compromising remark and denounced his parents to the Thought Police." -- George Orwell, "1984" ... more

Shelly had this posted at Left Is Right. Thought ya'll would like it.

Here's my opinion of the majority of the Democrats in the Senate: BUNCH OF WEAK-KNEED, CANDY-ASSED PUSSIES!!!

Only nine of Sen. Russ Feingold's colleages voted with him, and one Democrat was to much of a chicken-shit to raise his head out of the sand and vote at all.

The ten voting against the "Revised" Patriot Act: Jim Jeffords, I-VT, Russ Feingold, D-WI, Robert Byrd, D-WV, Daniel Akaka, D-HI, Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, Tom Harkin, D-IA, Patrick Leahy, D-VT, Carl Levin, D-MI, Patty Murray, D-WA, and Ron Wyden, D-OR.

And the lone chicken-shit Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-HI.

From the Associated Press via Yahoo News, and from the New York Times:

Senate Approves Renewal of Antiterrorism Bill

WASHINGTON, March 2 — The Senate voted overwhelmingly today to extend the Patriot Act, clearing the way for the House to follow suit and send the anti-terrorism bill to President Bush before it expires on March 10.

The 89-to-10 vote was somewhat anticlimactic, since senators who back the bill had defeated a series of parliamentary delaying moves on Wednesday, but it was still good news for President Bush, who regards the measure as the legislative keystone of his anti-terrorism policies.

Indeed, President Bush issued a statement half a world away, in New Delhi, before the Senate voted but when it was obvious that the bill's detractors had run out of tactics.

"I applaud the Senate for voting to renew the Patriot Act and overcoming the partisan attempts to block its passage," the president said. "The terrorists have not lost the will or the ability to attack us. The Patriot Act is vital to the war on terror and defending our citizens against a ruthless enemy.

"This bill will allow our law enforcement officials to continue to use the same tools against terrorists that are already used against drug dealers and other criminals, while safeguarding the civil liberties of the American people."

But reaction to today's vote signaled that the Patriot Act will continue to be debated in the United States long after Congress has approved it. The senators opposing the bill, all Democrats except for the independent James Jeffords of Vermont, argued that the civil rights protections written into the measure were too modest.

"Americans want to defeat terrorism and they want the basic character of this country to survive and prosper," said Senator Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, who was the only senator to vote against the original bill when it was passed shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "They want both security and liberty, and unless we give them both — and we can if we try — we have failed."

The bill, which extends 16 provisions of the USA Patriot Act (14 permanently and two through 2009), now goes to the House, which will act on it next week. That chamber has already approved the general measure, but it must vote again to accommodate the late changes put in by the Senate.

Since a majority of House members support the Patriot Act — and since the House procedures do not include a filibuster, under which a minority of lawmakers can stall legislation — passage in the House is certain, barring an extraordinary shift in sentiment in the days just ahead.

Until this afternoon, the Patriot Act had been stalled in the Senate in a protracted debate over the right balance between national security and personal liberties. Enough changes were inserted in the measure to overcome the objections of all but the most vehement of the bill's opponents, setting the stage for today's vote. The changes included clarification of the rights of people served with subpoena-like "national security letters" and more curbs on investigators seeking library records.

The bill was argued bitterly in the Senate over two months. The debate produced seldom-seen political alliances as a handful of Republicans joined Democrats in declaring that the measure tilted too far toward government power. Senators Larry Craig, a conservative Republican from Idaho, and the liberal Mr. Feingold were on the same side for a while.

Some senators who voted for the bill today apparently did with at least a trace of reluctance. "Our support for the Patriot Act does not mean a blank check for the president," said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader. "What we tried to do on a bipartisan basis is have a better bill. It has been improved."

.....and here are the supposed protections added....like anyone inthe Bush administration will follow these.

It would:

• Give recipients of court-approved subpoenas for information in terrorist investigations the right to challenge a requirement that they refrain from telling anyone.

• Eliminate a requirement that an individual provide the FBI with the name of a lawyer consulted about a National Security Letter, which is a demand for records issued by investigators.

• Clarify that most libraries are not subject to demands in those letters for information about suspected terrorists.

I'm sure we all know that Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the neocons will either ignore these or will find a way to skirt around them.

....and I could have said "Fascist Neocon Toast."

Osama who?

Yeh, that's right...Bush is talking about his favorite boogey-man again. You know how the process works....when poll numbers fall (34%...hehe) it's time to bring out bin Laden.

But we're gonna get him....

From the Associated Press via Yahoo News:

Bush Confident Bin Laden Will Be Captured

KABUL, Afghanistan - In a surprise visit under extraordinary security, President Bush expressed unwavering confidence Wednesday that Osama bin Laden will be captured despite years of fruitless manhunts for the elusive terrorist leader who ran training camps in Afghanistan and plotted the deadly attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The president, who once boasted bin Laden would be taken "dead or alive," said the fugitive terrorist would not elude the United States forever. Bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar were driven into hiding by the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11. They are believed to be in the rugged Pakistan-Afghan border region.

"It's not a matter of if they're captured and brought to justice," Bush said at a news conference with Karzai at the war-battered presidential palace. "It's when they're brought to justice."

From the Seattle Post Intelligencer via Google News:

Analysis: Osama haunts Bush in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON -- What should have been a triumphant moment for President Bush in Afghanistan also served as a vivid reminder of setbacks in his war against terrorism. His visit came at a time of increasing violence and drug trafficking in the country. And Osama bin Laden remains at large, more than four years after Bush demanded his capture, "dead or alive."

Bush, who likes to salute Afghanistan as a beacon for emerging democracies, had to confront that reality at a news conference in Kabul on Wednesday when two of the four questions put to him and Afghan President Hamid Karzai dealt with the fugitive architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

"I am confident he will be brought to justice," Bush said with a bravado not shared by many military analysts. Bush suggested the issue was "not a matter of if ... but when."

Bin Laden is widely believed to be in hiding in rugged, remote areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, most likely in Pakistan.

I think everyone has heard about how a majority of the emails coming out of Iraq from the troops are saying they shouldn't be there. Now Zogby International has the poll numbers to prove it.

From Doug Thompson at Capitol Hill Blue:

Soldiers in Iraq know they are fighting and dying for a lie

Nearly three-quarters of the American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should withdraw within the next year and 29 percent feel we should get the hell out of the war immediately, a poll of military personnel serving in country reveals.

This jives with emails I've been getting from soldiers over the past several months and it confirms that those serving on the ground in the war don't share the rosy optimism painted by the Bush administration about the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The poll, conducted by Zogby International, offers a rare look into the mindset of fighting men and women serving in a war zone. That mindset is, to say the least, reflective of growing American unrest over a war based on false information and outright lies.

Among the findings by Zogby:

• Only 23 percent agree with the President's position that we should "stay in Iraq as long as needed."
• 85 percent of those surveyed felt they were fighting the war "to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9-11 attacks," although the 9-11 commission in 2004 found "no credible evidence" that Iraq had cooperated with al-Qaida in the attacks.
• 68 percent said they believed that the real reason for the war was simply to remove Saddam Hussein from power.
• 40 percent say the Iraqi insurgency is mostly homegrown, with very little foreign involvement - a direct contradiction of claims by the Bush administration.
• 55 percent flatly oppose using torture and other harsh interrogation methods on prisoners.

"Ninety-three percent said that removing weapons of mass destruction is not a reason for U.S. troops being there," says John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International. "Instead, that initial rationale went by the wayside and, in the minds of 68% of the troops, the real mission became to remove Saddam Hussein."

In another direct contradiction of stated White House policy, just 24% said that "establishing a democracy that can be a model for the Arab World" was the main or a major reason for the war.

Zogby interviewed the 944 soldiers at various locations throughout Iraq. Three quarters of the troops had served multiple tours and had a longer exposure to the conflict: 26% were on their first tour of duty, 45% were on their second tour, and 29% were in Iraq for a third time or more.

Well....so much for Bush, Cheney, and the Pentagon saying that the troops are 100% behind their little adventure.