Four Color Politics

Quotes of the Morning: Hiatus

2007-08-21T04:15:00.000-07:00

“Ok everyone.. The Quotes are going to take a little time off. Probably about a month. I’ve been doing this for the last 10 to 11 years or so and I need a little break to recover my energies and to adjust to some changing circumstances. Skippy Junior is on the way and there are a few important things that I need to get in order before that happens, so I’m taking a break. They will return.. Oh yes. And I may drop the occasional one in there during the break, but for the most part they’re going to be gone for a month.
You’ll just have to make fun of Fearless Leader on your own.”
-Skippy

“If thou dost love life, then do not squander time... for that is the stuff life is made of.”
-Benjamin Franklin

“Learning how to operate a soul figures to take time.”
-Timothy Leary

“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.”
-Emily Dickenson

Quotes of the Morning: Work

2007-08-20T04:04:00.000-07:00

“Work is the curse of the drinking classes.”
-Oscar Wilde

“As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey.”
-Thomas Edison

“Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.”
-Sigmund Freud

“It is not always by plugging away at a difficulty and sticking to it that one overcomes it; often it is by working on the one next to it. Some things and some people have to be approached obliquely, at an angle.”
-Andre Gide

“Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who are alive.”
-Harold Whitman

“Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose.”
-Leonardo da Vinci

Quotes of the Morning: D'oW

2007-08-17T04:28:00.000-07:00

“Another lazy day.. Hmm… What can I slap together in 5 minutes to send out? How about some great quotes from our government?”
-Skippy

“Marge: This is the worst thing you've ever done.
Homer: You say that so often that it lost its meaning.”
-The Simpsons

“Oops.. Sorry. That was the Simpsons. Odd that I didn’t catch that immediately…”
-Skippy

“Homer: Oh Lisa, there's no record of a hurricane ever hitting Springfield.
Lisa: Yes, but the records only go back to 1978 when the hall of records was mysteriously blown away.”
-The Simpsons

“Hey.. This actually kind of works. If anything it makes the Administration sound smarter than most of the things that they actually say..”
-Skippy

“Kent Brockman: We win again. But the real winners here are Marge's Hors D'Oeuvres. Homer: How do you come up with such witty remarks?
[focuses in on ear plug/mic]
Guy in the van: I guess you could say its my racket.
Kent Brockman: I guess you could say I'm Iraqi.
Homer: Get off my property.”
-The Simpsons

“Now a few for Fearless Leader. With Karl Rove leaving maybe he can hire a few of the Simpsons writers. They seem to have a firm grip on his speaking style..”
-Skippy

“Oh, so they have internet on computers now!”
-Homer Simpson

“Homer: Aw, twenty dollars! I wanted a peanut!
Homer's Brain: Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!
Homer: Explain how!
Homer's Brain: Money can be exchanged for goods and services!
Homer: Woo-hoo!”
-The Simpsons

“How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?”
-Homer Simpson

“And now a few for Alberto ‘Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges!’ Gonzales”
-Skippy

“Scully: Homer, we're going to ask you a few simple yes or no questions. Do you understand?
Homer: Yes. (lie dectector blows up)”
-The Simpsons

“I want to share something with you: The three little sentences that will get you through life. Number 1: Cover for me. Number 2: Oh, good idea, Boss! Number 3: It was like that when I got here.”
-Homer Simpson

“Oh, everything looks bad if you remember it.”
-Homer Simpson

“Wow. This Administration has come a long way. No matter how hard you try to make fun of them they always seem to be able to be a little worse in real life.”
-Skippy

“Seventy-one times Gonzales claimed a faulty memory when members of the Senate committee asked such questions as who decided on the ousted eight, and whether Gonzales was or was not involved in the evaluation process.”
-Associated Press, April 20, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: September Morn

2007-08-16T04:17:00.000-07:00

“Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday a pivotal September report on the war in Iraq is likely to show ‘significant progress’ — putting himself ahead of President Bush, who has refused to speculate on what the report will say.
Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are required to report to Congress by Sept. 15 on progress in Iraq. Their evaluation is expected to shape the administration’s next move on the war, including decisions on how many U.S. troops will stay in Iraq, and for how long.
‘The reports I’m hearing from people whose views I respect indicate that the Petraeus plan is in fact producing results,’ Cheney told CNN’s Larry King in an interview to be telecast Tuesday night. ‘Now, admittedly, I’ve been on one side of this argument from the beginning.’”
-Associated Press, August 1, 2007

“Big Dick has always been an optimist. The kind of man who always sees his open graves as half full. Still, this is pretty impressive. He apparently has a lot of faith in General Petraeus’ ability to manage this war and what his report will indicate in September. Maybe that is because Petraeus has been a big supporter for a while now.”
-Skippy

“I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years ago - I mean, there's no question that there were chemical weapons years ago - whether they were destroyed right before the war, [or] whether they're still hidden.”
-Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, Commander 101st Airborne, May 13, 2003

“I mean, this is the kind of guy who had ‘no doubt’ that Iraq still had chemical weapons before the war. This is the kind of guy who thought that the Iraqis were stepping up…”
-Skippy

“Until a couple of weeks ago, [Gen. David] Petraeus was in charge of the U.S. effort to train and equip Iraqi forces. In perhaps the most detailed public account so far of the state of Iraq's forces he said 115 army combat and special police battalions were rated as being ‘in the fight.’"
-United Press International, October 6, 2005

“…even when his bosses weren’t quite so convinced.”
-Skippy

“GEN. CASEY: We fully recognize that Iraqi armed forces will not have an independent capability for some time, because they don't have the institutional base to support them. And so Level 1, as you'll recall from the slide, that's what's got one battalion. And it's going to be a long time before . . .
SEN. MCCAIN: Used to be three. Now we've gone from three to one?
GEN. CASEY: Pardon me?
SEN. MCCAIN: It was three before.
GEN. CASEY: Right.
SEN. MCCAIN: The previous report was you had three battalions. Now we're down to one battalion.
GEN. CASEY: Right, and things change in the battalions. I mean, we're making assessments on personnel, on leadership, on training.
SEN. MCCAIN: And you . . .
GEN. CASEY: I mean, there are a lot of variables that are involved here, Senator.
-Iraq War Hearings, September 29, 2005

“This is the man that Fearless Leader chose to lead his surge in Iraq, and we all know how successful that has been.”
-Skippy

“Last week, General Petraeus was in Washington to brief me, and he briefed members of Congress on how the operation is unfolding. He noted that one of the most important indicators of progress is the level of sectarian violence in Baghdad. And he reported that since January, the number of sectarian murders has dropped substantially.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, May 1, 2007

“U.S. officials who say there has been a dramatic drop in sectarian violence in Iraq since President Bush began sending more American troops into Baghdad aren't counting one of the main killers of Iraqi civilians.
Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three years, but the administration doesn't include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is beginning to defuse tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.”
-McClatchy Newspapers, April 26, 2007

“And the Administration already knows that Petraeus wants to keep on keeping on for a while..”
-Skippy

“U.S. officials tell ABC News that the troop levels in Iraq cannot be maintained at the present level, either politically or practically, with the military stretched so thin.
But that does not imply an immediate drawdown. Officials tell ABC's Martha Raddatz the senior commanders in Iraq -- Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno and Gen. David Petraeus -- want the surge to continue until at least December, and expect to report enough progress by September to justify the extension.”
-ABC News, June 1, 2007

“Yes, General Petraeus is a respected and trusted member of the Administration.”
-Skippy

“Here's the lineup of military commanders and ‘military thinkers and planners’ that the president is listening to: Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander in Iraq. Yesterday in his press conference, Bush mentioned him more than 10 times.
Yes, Bush mentioned the Joint Chiefs a few times in some vague way as people he consults with. But Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the president's principle military adviser by law? No mention, even by position. Adm. William Fallon, the commander of U.S. Central Command, the president's combatant commander for the region by law and the next in the chain of command above Petraeus? No mention.”
-William M Arkin, Washington Post, July 15, 2007

“But… there are times that his devotion to the cause may not be fanatical enough…”
-Skippy

“[U.S. Sen. Gordon ]Smith said he recently spoke with Gen. David Petraeus, the new top military commander in Iraq, who told him the troop surge has only a one in four chance of succeeding.
-The Oregonian, March 3, 2007

“…and so, since Fearless Leader has made statements like this..”
-Skippy

“And he's [Gen Petraeus] making progress. And I believe it's in the interests of this country, for our own security, for the United States Congress to fully support General Petraeus in his mission and to give him time to come back and report to the United States Congress the progress that he's making.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 26, 2007

“..well, some small changes may need to be made.”
-Skippy

“Despite Bush’s repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.
And though Petraeus and Crocker will present their recommendations on Capitol Hill, legislation passed by Congress leaves it to the president to decide how to interpret the report’s data.”
-LA Times, August 15, 2007

“Do you ever get the feeling that this September report is just a big theatrical piece to justify the war?”
-Skippy

“Stay with me a while
I only wanna talk to you
We've traveled halfway 'round the world
To find ourselves again

September morn
We danced until the night
Became a brand new day
Two lovers playing scenes
From some romantic play
September morning
Still can make me feel that way”
-Neil Diamond, ‘September Morn’

Quotes of the Morning: For Kids

2007-08-15T04:20:00.000-07:00

“Well, we found out yesterday that Skippy Jr. is doing just fine and still on schedule for arrival at the end of December. We also found out that Skippy Jr. shall be a man-child. I am trying to think whether ‘Thor’ or ‘Beowulf’ is a more appropriate name… In the meantime I’ll just sit here and dream of finally being able to play with toys again without seeming.. you know.. kinda creepy.”
-Skippy

“Mattel is recalling nearly one million toys in United States due to use of lead paint; all affected products were made in factories in China; more than 300,000 have already been purchased by consumers; this is toymaker's 17th recall in 10 years.”
-New York Times, August 2, 2007

“Um.. a million toys?
Still, it was a one time deal. Nothing to worry about.”
-Skippy

“Mattel, the world’s largest toy company, yesterday announced the biggest recall in its history.
In a double-barreled announcement, the company said it was recalling 436,000 Chinese-made die-cast toy cars depicting the character Sarge from the animated film ‘Cars’ because they are covered with lead paint.
At the same time, the toy maker said it was recalling 18.2 million other toys because their small, powerful magnets could harm children if swallowed. The magnetized toys were also made in China, but they followed a Mattel design specification.
[…]
Separately, laboratory tests have found that some Chinese-made vinyl baby bibs sold at Toys ‘R’ Us stores appear to be contaminated with lead.
Industry analysts said Mattel’s woes are part of a much larger problem.
‘If I went down the shelves of Wal-Mart and tested everything, I’m going to find serious problems,’ said Sean McGowan, managing director and the toy analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. ‘The idea that Mattel — with its high standards — has a bigger problem than everybody else is laughable. If we don’t see an increase of recalls in this industry, then it’s a case of denial.’”
-New York Times, August 15, 2007

“Whoa.. 18.6 million toys? This is insane.”
-Skippy

“Its first recall of more than a million toys drove a Hong Kong-based Mattel subcontractor to commit suicide over the weekend.”
-Forbes.com, August 15, 2007

“I take that back. A recall is sane. Killing yourself over it isn’t. Luckily the problem has been dealt with and now we can all rest easy.”
-Skippy

“’No system is perfect,’ Robert A. Eckert, Mattel’s chairman and chief executive, said in a conference call. ‘There’s no guarantee that we will not be here again.’
[…]
‘We do realize the need for increased vigilance, increased surveillance,’ said Jim Walter, senior vice president of worldwide quality assurance at Mattel, in an interview.”
-New York Times, August 15, 2007

“I’m going to just let Skippy Jr. play with something safe.. Maybe knives or something like that.”
-Skippy

“You know.. for kids.”
- Norville Barnes, The Hudsucker Proxy

Quotes of the Morning: Making the Beast with Two Fronts

2007-08-09T04:20:00.000-07:00

“And finally, I do want to congratulate you on the joint jirga that's coming up. This is a meeting between President Karzai, President Musharraf and representative elements from parts of their respective countries, all coming together to talk about reconciliation and how we can work together -- how you can work together to achieve common solutions to problems. And the main problem is to fight extremism, to recognize that history has called us into action. And by fighting extremists and radicals, we help people realize dreams. And helping people realize dreams helps promote peace. That's what we want.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, August 6, 2007

“Noooooooo!….. I feel like I’m watching that slow-motion scene that seems to happen in every action movie. You know.. The one where the grenade or bomb or whatever is exploding and the hero is running away at full speed in slow-motion. You would think that, after all of these years in office, Fearless Leader would have learned not to say anything optimistic about any future event that he has any influence over, but he just never learns.
Well.. Let’s get on with it.”
-Skippy

“On Monday, President Bush said after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Camp David retreat that the U.S. would strike at Al Qaeda figures inside Pakistan if it had solid intelligence about their whereabouts, but did not say whether Pakistan would be consulted.”
-LA Times, August 8, 2007

“..and so..”
-Skippy

“Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pulled out Wednesday from a council of hundreds of Pakistani and Afghan tribal leaders aimed at reining in militant violence.
Pakistan's Foreign Office said Musharraf was canceling his trip to Kabul because of ‘engagements’ in Islamabad. Pakistani political analyst Talat Masood said, however, that Musharraf probably was responding to recent U.S. criticism of Pakistan's counterterrorism efforts, which has included suggestions that the U.S. could carry out unilateral military strikes against al-Qaida in Pakistan.”
-Associated Press, August 8, 2007

“Don’t worry though.. Much of the discussion was to be about how to deal with the Taliban and their resurgence in Afghanistan, and that is no longer an issue..”
-Skippy

“Afghanistan's leader, Hamid Karzai, dismissed the Taliban as ‘defeated’ yesterday, saying the doctrinaire Islamic insurgency poses no threat to his government and has been reduced to terrorizing ordinary Afghans.
Despite the insurgency still raging across much of southern Afghanistan and the more than 40,000 foreign troops currently waging war against them, President Karzai said the Taliban is ‘a force that's defeated. It's a force that is frustrated. It's a force that is acting in cowardice by killing children going to school.’"
-Globe and Mail (Canada), August 7, 2007

“Defeated! No longer an issue! Karzai is in control and everything is going just swimmingly.”
-Skippy

“Despite his strong Western backing, Karzai has been the target of three assassination attempts and has struggled to build a robust central government amid longstanding tribal rifts and strong warlord control in the provinces.
The resurgence of the Taliban has led to the worst violence in Afghanistan since 2001, particularly over the last 18 months.
One issue Karzai wants to raise with Bush is his concern about a rise in deaths of civilians killed in airstrikes by U.S. and NATO-led forces aiming at the Taliban.”
-Reuters, August 6, 2007

“Hmm.. Can we spin this..”
-Skippy

“After a two-day Camp David meeting with the Afghan President, President George W Bush put a positive spin on Afghanistan's progress.
But both the leaders stressed that serious problems remain.
The two held talks on a rash of crises confronting Afghanistan civilian killings, a booming drug trade and the brazen resurgence of the Taliban. ‘
'There is still work to be done, don't get me wrong, but progress is being made, Mr President, and we're proud of you,’ Bush told reporters at a joint news conference.
The Afghan leader warned that it could take time to remove narcotics from his country and it was possible with the help of Washington.”
-Associated Press, August 7, 2007

“Yes, it might take a little time to get rid of the drugs.”
-Skippy

“Afghanistan now produces more than 90 percent of the world's heroin. Illicit narcotics trafficking spiked since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001, and the drug trade is helping fund and fuel the Taliban resurgence. Drug production and violence are particularly out of control in the volatile south, where, Schweich said, ‘We see a deteriorating situation, and we need to get it under control.’
Afghan heroin has been making its way into the American Midwest, particularly Chicago and St. Louis, sparking a sharp rise in fatal overdoses. The purity of the powdery-white heroin, and the fact that it can be inhaled, without requiring a needle for injection, has led to its growing use by suburban youngsters, local police and health officials say.
American military forces in Afghanistan were reluctant to get involved in the drug war, for fear of driving impoverished farmers into the arms of the Taliban. Now, Schweich said, U.S., NATO and Afghan security forces will focus more strongly than before on poppy production and heroin trafficking.”
-Post-Dispatch (St. Lous), August 9, 2007

“We needed to move our troops from Afghanistan to Iraq in order to deal with the danger of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction (and ‘cause he tried to kill Fearless Leader’s dad), so now we can deal with the War on Terror on both fronts (soon to be three if Big Dick gets his way and attacks Iran). Don’t you feel safer?”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Business is Booming

2007-08-08T04:05:00.000-07:00

“Attacks on American-led forces using a lethal type of roadside bomb said to be supplied by Iran reached a new high in July, according to the American military.
The devices, known as explosively formed penetrators, were used to carry out 99 attacks last month and accounted for a third of the combat deaths suffered by the American-led forces, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, said in an interview.”
-New York Times, August 7, 2007

“Yes, those silly Iraqis (the ones we attacked because they were going to build a nuclear bomb any day now) could never have the technical sophistication to develop EFPs. WMDs? Sure, we can believe that they could build those, but now we want to attack Iran, so we need to prove that Iran is the evil one.”
-Skippy

“Iraqi and U.S. troops fought militiamen in southeast Diwaniya, a stronghold of Sadr's Mehdi Army, which the Pentagon says poses the greatest threat to peace in Iraq. The head of Sadr's office in the city blamed rogue gunmen.
[…]
Bleichwehl said troops, facing scattered resistance, discovered a factory that produced ‘explosively formed penetrators’ (EFPs), a particularly deadly type of explosive that can destroy a main battle tank and several weapons caches.”
-Reuters, April 6, 2007

“Stupid reality! You keep trying to make this difficult.. Ok, so all of the EFPs aren’t coming from Iran, but you’d have to admit that most of the suicide bombers that make the war look bad are probably Iranian!”
-Skippy

“This list contains the names and countries of 139 suicide bombers in Iraq. The bombers came from the following countries: Saudi Arabia (53), Iraq (18), Italy (8), Syria (8), Kuwait (7), Jordan (4), Libya (3), Egypt (3), Tunisia (3), Turkey (3), Belgium (2), France (2), Spain (2), Yemen (3), Lebanon (1), Morocco (1), Britain (1), Bengal (1), Sudan (1) and Unknown (18).”
-Newsweek, August 2, 2007

“Huh.. Not one listed eh? Strange. And it seems like most of the suicide bombers are from Saudi Arabia, a Sunni nation (and please don’t forget that al Qaeda is a Sunni group) that is our ally, and not from Iran, a Shiite nation, that isn’t.. Funny how that works. I’m sure that we’re just as upset about Saudi Arabia though.”
-Skippy

“U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Sunday defended a $20 million arms sale to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states saying ‘there's nothing new in this.’
‘Well, let's remember that the United States has had interesting security cooperation in this region for decades,’ Rice told Chris Wallace on ‘Fox News Sunday. ‘It would make no sense to leave Saudi Arabia or the other Gulf states undefended, incapable of defending themselves or turning to others who might be less reliable in providing for their defense at a time when the security challenges in that region are increasing.’"
-Post Chronicle, August 5, 2007

“Don’t worry. Those guns sold to the Saudis won’t be used to attack us.. The insurgency really doesn’t need them.”
-Skippy

“More than 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols distributed to Iraqi forces by the US are missing, feared fallen into the hands of insurgents, a congressional watchdog warned today.
The highest previous estimate of missing weapons was 14,000, but a new report from the government accountability office (GAO) said US military officials did not know what had happened to 30% of the weapons the US had given to Iraqi forces since 2004.”
- Guardian Unlimited (UK), August 6, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: In Deep Shiite

2007-08-07T04:27:00.000-07:00

“Five Cabinet ministers loyal to Iraq's first post-Saddam Hussein leader will boycott government meetings, further deepening the political crisis that threatens to swamp the administration of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, two lawmakers said Monday.
The boycott of Iraqiya List ministers loyal to former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi leaves the government, at least temporarily, with no Sunni participants. It was a deep blow to al-Maliki's attempt to craft reconciliation among the country's majority Shiites and minority Sunnis and Kurds.
Iraqiya List lawmaker Iyad Jamal-Aldin said the Allawi bloc had suspended Cabinet participation because al-Maliki failed to respond to demands for political reform issued five months ago.”
-Associated Press, August 6, 2007

“Well that should simplify matters in Iraq. Most of the problems there seem to be due to a civil war raging between the Sunni and Shiite groups. If the government doesn’t have any Sunni members the government should run much smoother.
Look at Basra! It is a primarily Shiite area, and Britain has been able to accomplish wonderful things there..”
-Skippy

“Blair said today that Britain will cut its forces in Iraq to 5,500 by summer, down from 7,100 currently. And additional cuts to as few as 5,000 British troops in Iraq are possible by the end of summer, Blair said.
But in an exclusive interview with ABC News, Vice President Dick Cheney said the move was actually good news and a sign of progress in Iraq.
‘Well, I look at it and see it is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well,’ Cheney told ABC News' Jonathan Karl.
‘In fact, I talked to a friend just the other day who had driven to Baghdad down to Basra, seven hours, found the situation dramatically improved from a year or so ago, sort of validated the British view they had made progress in southern Iraq and that they can therefore reduce their force levels,’ Cheney said.”
-ABC News, February 21, 2007

“See? Progress! Dramatic improvement, just like the Big Dick said. Without Sunnis (you know.. ethnic cleansing) the Shiites will all live in peace and harmony.”
-Skippy

“As British forces pull back from Basra in southern Iraq, Shiite militias there have escalated a violent battle against each other for political supremacy and control over oil resources, deepening concerns among some U.S. officials in Baghdad that elements of Iraq's Shiite-dominated national government will turn on one another once U.S. troops begin to draw down.
Three major Shiite political groups are locked in a bloody conflict that has left the city in the hands of militias and criminal gangs, whose control extends to municipal offices and neighborhood streets. The city is plagued by ‘the systematic misuse of official institutions, political assassinations, tribal vendettas, neighborhood vigilantism and enforcement of social mores, together with the rise of criminal mafias that increasingly intermingle with political actors,’ a recent report by the International Crisis Group said.”
-Washington Post, August 7, 2007

“Shh.. Don’t talk about that. It will get in the way of all the progress. The British military has everything under control.”
-Skippy

"’The British have basically been defeated in the south,’ a senior U.S. intelligence official said recently in Baghdad. They are abandoning their former headquarters at Basra Palace, where a recent official visitor from London described them as ‘surrounded like cowboys and Indians’ by militia fighters. An airport base outside the city, where a regional U.S. Embassy office and Britain's remaining 5,500 troops are barricaded behind building-high sandbags, has been attacked with mortars or rockets nearly 600 times over the past four months.”
-Washington Post, August 7, 2007

“Um.. It isn’t the Shiite groups that are causing problems. They are living in peace and harmony.. Really. I mean it. No, the dangers that the British face come from another source.”
-Skippy

“The Iraqi port city of Basra, already prey to a nasty turf war between rival militia factions, has now been gripped by a scary rumour – giant badgers are stalking the streets by night, eating humans.”
-Agence France-Presse, July 11, 2007

“The Brits could handle the Shiites or the Sunnis, but no one has ever come up with a defense against Monty Python.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Obscenity

2007-08-06T04:12:00.000-07:00

“The heck with it.. I’m tired this morning, and can’t really find any new things to get offended about (just the same-old, same-old civilian murders, American soldier deaths, governmental deception and Fearless Leader). Let’s talk about obscenity, and, since I’m feeling especially lazy, let’s just let Senator Bulworth do the heavy lifting on this one..”
-Skippy

“Obscenity? The rich is getting richer and richer and richer while the middle class is getting more poor
Making billions and billions and billions of bucks
well my friend if you weren't already rich at the start well that situation just sucks
cause the richest mother f**ker in five of us is getting ninety f**kin eight percent of it
and every other motherf**ker in the world is left to wonder where the f**k we went with it
Obscenity?
I'm a Senator
I gotta raise $10,000 a day every day I'm in Washington
I ain't getting it in South Central
I'm gettin it in Beverly Hills
So I'm votin from them in the Senate the way they want me too
and-and-and I'm sending them my bills
But we got babies in South Central dying as young as they do in Peru
We got public schools that are nightmares
We got a Congress that ain't got a clue
We got kids with submachine guns
We got militias throwing bombs
We got Bill just gettin all weepy
We got Newt blaming teenage moms
We got factories closing down
Where the hell did all the good jobs go? Well, I'll tell you where they went
My contributors make more profits makin, makin, makin, Hirin' kids in Mexico
Oh a brother can work in fast food
If he can't invent computer games
But what we used to call America
That's going down the drains
How's a young man gonna meet his financial responsibilities workin and motherf**kin Burger King? He ain't! And please don't even start with that school s**t
There aint no education going on up in that motherf**ker
Obscenity? We got a million brothers in prison
I mean, the walls are really rockin
But you can bet your ass they'd all be out
If they could pay for Johnny Cochran
The constitution is supposed to give them an equal chance
Well, that ain't gonna happen for sure
Ain't it time to take a little from the rich motherf**ker and give a little to the poor? I mean, those boys over there on the monitor
they want a government smaller and weak
but they be speakin for the richest 20 percent when they pretend they're defendin the meek
Now, s**t, f**k, c**ksucker, that's the real obscenity
Black folks livin with every day
Trying to believe a mothef**kin word Democrats and Republicans say
Obscenity? I'm Jay Billington Bulworth And I've come to say
The Democratic party's got some s**t to pay
It's gonna pay it in the ghetto
It's gonna pay it in the-“
-Senator Jay Bulworth, Bulworth

“The irony of needing to sent this with the real words made into *** is not lost on me.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Heroism!

2007-08-03T04:16:00.000-07:00

“President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors.
The White House, however, did offer again to make former counsel Harriet Miers and one-time political director Sara Taylor available for private, off-the-record interviews.”
-Associated Press, July 10, 2007

“Fearless Leader has a history of bold action. His crusading work in Iraq and his infinite compassion with the situation in New Orleans being only a few of the more notable examples. But he would not be able to move forward with his fierce leadership if he didn’t have an honest assessment of the world around him, and for that he needs good advice from his advisors. He couldn’t get that if people were always pestering them with questions, so Fearless Leader has, once again, taken bold action.”
-Skippy

“President Bush is expected to claim executive privilege to prevent two more White House aides from testifying before Congress about the firings of federal prosecutors.
Today is the deadline for Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, to provide testimony and documents related to the firings, under a subpoena from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Also subpoenaed was White House political aide J. Scott Jennings. The Justice Department included both men on e-mails about the firings and the administration's response to the congressional investigation.
White House Counsel Fred Fielding has consistently said that top presidential aides, present and past, are immune from subpoenas, and has declared the documents sought off-limits under executive privilege.”
-Associated Press, August 2, 2007

“But wait! He only claimed executive privilege for Karl Rove! J. Scott Jennings testified!”
-Skippy

“A young White House political aide was grilled inconclusively by the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday about the firings of U.S. attorneys after Karl Rove, the president's senior political adviser, failed to show up at the committee's hearing in response to a subpoena.”
-Washington Post, August 3, 2007

“Yes, we all knew that Rove wouldn’t show. He is allergic to sunlight and only arises after dark to suck the blood of the living, but what about Jennings? He testified!”
-Skippy

“J. Scott Jennings, 29, the deputy political director for the White House, refused to address the firings but tried to explain how thousands -- or possibly millions -- of White House e-mails to and from the political office were transmitted only through communications accounts controlled by the Republican National Committee.
That use of the RNC accounts put some of the political office's messages outside the reach of the National Archives, which sought to preserve them under a federal law mandating eventual public access, and the reach of Democratic congressional investigators, who have sought to look at them for evidence of improper actions.
Jennings offered a stripped-down explanation: He wanted a White House-supplied BlackBerry and was told no, and so he got one from the RNC, as many other political affairs aides had done.
‘I was receiving a lot of e-mail on my official account. And I requested [a BlackBerry] at that moment, and I was told that it wasn't the custom to give political affairs staffers those devices,’ Jennings said.”
-Washington Post, August 3, 2007

“Oh.. He refused to talk about the central issue and his excuse for violating the Presidential Records Act was apparently that he really, really wanted a Blackberry. Good enough for me, though a little confusing.
Why wouldn’t the White House want staffers testifying? Well.. apparently they aren’t very good at it. The Executive branch has had problems with expressing itself…”
-Skippy

“Nobody has accused me of having a real sophisticated vocabulary. “
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, October 11, 2006

“…and it shows.”
-Skippy

“With potential perjury accusations hanging over him, embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sent a letter to Senate leaders Wednesday acknowledging he ‘may have created confusion’ in his previous testimony. […]
‘I recognize that the use of the term 'Terrorist Surveillance Program' and my shorthand reference to the 'program' publicly 'described by the President' may have created confusion, particularly for those who are knowledgeable about the NSA activities authorized in the presidential order described by the DNI [director of national intelligence], and who may be accustomed to thinking of them or referring to them together as a single NSA 'program,' ‘ Gonzales wrote. [...]
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales writes of his concern with ‘suggestions that my testimony was misleading.’ But he said he did not mean to mislead senators and was ‘determined to address any such impression.’"
-CNN, August 1, 2007

“You see, it looks bad when people accidentally mislead and confuse Congress with half-truths and little white lies. It is much better to take the simpler, clearer choice.”
-Skippy

“Senator, pursuant to the president’s assertion of executive privilege, I must respectfully decline to answer your question at this time.”
-White House Deputy Political Director Scott Jennings, August 1, 2007

“Much better.. Now if there were only a way to make not testifying sound like a good thing. Hmm.. something that would make him sound like a mighty hero for ignoring Congress. If there were only some way..”
-Skippy

“Jennings, 29, was the first sitting White House official to appear, but he made it clear from the outset that he would not answer any questions related to the firing of the nine prosecutors.
‘I hope that you can appreciate the difficulty of my situation,’ Jennings told the panel. ‘It makes Odysseus’ voyage between Scylla and Charybdis seem like a pleasure cruise.’”
-Cox News Service, August 3, 2007

“Well done Mr. Jennings. Someday you will sit at the Emperor’s right hand.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: It Will Be Just Like Nirvana

2007-08-02T04:10:00.000-07:00

“I know that this gets redundant at times, but it looks like there was another bad day in Iraq today.”
-Skippy

“Baghdad shook with bombings and political upheaval Wednesday as the largest Sunni Arab bloc quit the government and a suicide attacker blew up his fuel tanker in one of several attacks that claimed 142 lives nationwide.
The Iraqi Accordance Front's withdrawal from the Cabinet leaves only two Sunnis in the 40-member body, undermining Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's efforts to pull together rival factions and pass reconciliation laws the U.S. considers benchmarks that could lead to sectarian reconciliation.
The U.S. military announced the deaths of four more American soldiers, including three killed in Baghdad on Tuesday by a powerful armor-piercing bomb. Washington says these types of bombs are sent from Iran. The fourth soldier was killed by small arms fire on the same day. A British soldier also was killed Tuesday in a roadside bombing.”
-Associated Press, August 2, 2007

“Still, one bad day. It isn’t like this is happening all the time. The media just isn’t looking at the positive side of Iraq.”
-Skippy

“The number of Iraqi civilians killed in the country's brutal civil conflict rose by more than a third in July despite a five-month-old surge in US troop levels, government figures showed Wednesday.
At least 1,652 civilians were killed in Iraq in July, 33 percent more than in the previous month, according to figures compiled by the Iraqi health, defence and interior ministries and made available to AFP.”
-AFP, August 1, 2007

“Silly media. The surge has only been in place for like a month, and we won’t have any idea how it is going until at least September. Really, are 2,750 or so dead civilians over a couple of months really all that important if we can still bring them American Freedom™? I mean, we deposed a dictator! Now we just need to root out the foreign al Qaida terrorists and Iraq will be like Nirvana (and no, I don’t mean that their leader will be killed with a shotgun blast to the head.. though that could happen). Iraq would be ideal if it weren’t for the foreign terrorists.”
-Skippy

“Despite President Bush's recent insistence that al Qaida in Iraq is the principal cause of this country's violence, senior American military officers here say Shiite Muslim militias are a bigger problem, and one that will persist even if al Qaida is defeated.
‘The longer-term threat to Iraq is potentially the Shiite militias,’ one senior military officer said, echoing concerns that other American officials raised in recent interviews with McClatchy Newspapers.
[…]
Combating the influence of Shiite militias had long been a cornerstone of American policy in Iraq. But that position changed last January, when President Bush, facing rising congressional and public opposition to the war in Iraq, pronounced al Qaida the No. 1 cause of violence there and said he was dispatching more than 20,000 additional troops to confront the problem.
In the months since, as congressional criticism grew, Bush has gone even further, calling al Qaida in Iraq ‘the same people’ responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, though al Qaida in Iraq didn't form until after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and has at best only hazy ties to the al Qaida of Osama bin Laden.”
-McClatchy Newspapers, July 31, 2007

“Ok, so there might be some small issues with hostile armed militias, but we will continue to support the Iraqi security forces, and with their help we will be able to calm things down.”
-Skippy

“The Pentagon cannot fully account for $19.2 billion worth of equipment provided to Iraqi security forces, government auditors said Tuesday.
The finding by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, comes a few days after the Pentagon acknowledged that the U.S. and its allies have delivered a little more than a third of the equipment in the pipeline for the Iraqi Army and less than half of what is destined for the Iraqi police.
Baghdad officials have long complained that the lack of equipment has made it difficult to train and equip Iraqi forces.
Since the program's beginning, the GAO found, consistent records confirming the date of issue, what type of equipment was received, and by what Iraqi unit were not kept. Before December 2005, no centralized records were kept.”
-Associated Press, July 31, 2007

“Wow.. That seems like a lot of money (and guns) to have lost. Never fear though, Fearless Leader has a plan to keep costs low so that we can continue to fund the bloodbath, um… I mean security situation… in Iraq.”
-Skippy

“President Bush should abandon his threats to veto legislation that would renew the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program, New Jersey’s senators said today. Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg, both Democrats, urged Bush instead to endorse congressional efforts to cover more low-income children. Speaking on the Senate floor, they added that a country that spends billions each week in Iraq could certainly afford to spend more on its own vulnerable children. Congress is expected to approve SCHIP legislation this week.
The Senate measure calls for $35 billion more for the program over the next five years. The House proposes nearly $48 billion. Both would raise federal cigarette taxes and the House bill would cut Medicare Advantage, under which 9 million senior citizens receive coverage from private plans that receive Medicare money.
Bush, who has proposed $5 billion for SCHIP, wants states to stop enrolling parents in the future and favors scaling back income eligibility guidelines for future enrollees.”
-Gannett News Service, July 31, 2007

“Those poor American children probably didn’t need any kind of medical attention anyway.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Improvement

2007-08-01T04:07:00.000-07:00

“Iraq is obviously not doing all that well. Violence is still rampant, and it doesn’t seem to show signs of stopping. Therefore it is really good to see that we are at least getting the guns off the street.”
-Skippy

“First, the number of weapons caches captured -- last year, in all of 2006, the number is 2,726. Already to this point in the year it's nearly 3,700 -- 3,698. As you can see, General Petraeus referred to this as staggering, the improvement in the seizures. Just a couple of examples from recent weeks. First, a coalition raid on July 23rd found 21 rifles and pistols in multiple locations, 28 grenades, 252 rockets, 391 mortar rounds, 475 gallons of nitric acid, and 5,000 pounds of fertilizer. Those who have studied Oklahoma City know how devastating the last two can be. And in an Iraqi raid in An Nasiriyah on the 24th, they found 11 heavy machine guns; 42 IEDs; 70 mortar rounds; and approximately 400 rockets of various calibers.”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesman Tony Snow, July 31, 2007

“Fantastic! Just a few less guns to be taking aim at our soldiers.”
-Skippy

“Thus, DOD and MNF-I cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armor, and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi forces as of September 22, 2005. Our analysis of the MNSTC-I property book records found that DOD and MNF-I cannot fully account for at least 190,000 weapons reported as issued to Iraqi forces as of September 22, 2005.”
-“Stabilizing Iraq: DOD Cannot Ensure That U.S.-Funded Equipment Has Reached Iraqi Security Forces”, General Accounting Office, July 2007

“Ok.. So there might be a few guns left.
Another problem in Iraq is corruption in the new government.”
-Skippy

“The report, written by U.S. advisers to Iraq's anti-corruption agency, analyzes corruption in 12 ministries and finds devastating and grim problems: ‘Corruption protected by senior members of the Iraqi government,’ the report said, ‘remains untouchable.’
[…]
The draft report cited an incident at the Ministry of Oil that implicated the Shiite minister and four other officials. One of the four was a Sunni. The rest were reportedly Shiites, who were ‘the only ones capable of giving testimony against the minister.’
The minister, the report said, then used a technicality in Iraqi law to exempt the three Shiites from prosecution so that only the Sunni went to prison.
That technicality he allegedly used is a Saddam Hussein-era law known as Article 136B that was lifted when Americans first occupied the country. It was reinstated by the Iraqi government.
The law allows the prime minister to exempt Cabinet ministers from prosecution and allows ministers to exempt their employees from prosecution.
‘This is tantamount to a get out of jail free card,’ Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, told NBC. He pointed to the oil ministry case involving the three Shiites as a stark example of the problem. ‘It exposes the arbitrariness of Article 136B.’
Bowen said the provision ‘essentially acts as a bulwark against effective enforcement. If a minister wants to protect an employee from corruption charges, simply by fiat that minister can do so.’"
-NBC News, July 30, 2007

“My God! No wonder we’re having such a problem with corruption there. When high officials can simply make their subordinates immune to prosecution it removes all incentive for their subordinates to help in the judicial process, the backbone of the rule of law. It could cause the downfall of their fledgling democracy!”
-Skippy

“The president had initially said he would fire anyone in his administration found to have publicly disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and a CIA operative. Ten days ago, Bush commuted the 30-month sentence given to I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby by a federal judge in connection with the case.”
-Associated Press, July 12, 2007

"As it considers the contempt resolutions, we think it is important that the Committee appreciate fully the longstanding Department of Justice position, articulated during Administrations of both parties, that ‘the criminal contempt of Congress statute does not apply to the President or presidential subordinates who assert executive privilege.’
-Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski, July 24, 2007

“So we aren’t having much luck with the government or the insurgency in Iraq. Do we have any real good news to report?”
-Skippy

“Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday a pivotal September report on the war in Iraq is likely to show ‘significant progress’ — putting himself ahead of President Bush, who has refused to speculate on what the report will say.
Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are required to report to Congress by Sept. 15 on progress in Iraq. Their evaluation is expected to shape the administration’s next move on the war, including decisions on how many U.S. troops will stay in Iraq, and for how long.
‘The reports I’m hearing from people whose views I respect indicate that the Petraeus plan is in fact producing results,’ Cheney told CNN’s Larry King in an interview to be telecast Tuesday night. ‘Now, admittedly, I’ve been on one side of this argument from the beginning.’”
-Associated Press, August 1, 2007

“Hey, if Big Dick says that the report will be favorable, then things must be going well. Our government would never lie to us..”
-Skippy

“A year ago, I did give the speech from the carrier, saying that we had achieved an important objective, that we'd accomplished a mission, which was the removal of Saddam Hussein. And as a
result, there are no longer torture chambers or rape rooms or mass graves in Iraq."
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, April 30, 2004

“…again.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: A Series of Tubes

2007-07-31T04:19:00.000-07:00

“You know, every day when I walk down the street people stop me to ask, ‘Skippy, how do you keep up on what is going on in the world? How do you always seem to have your finger on the pulse of the news cycle?’
Ok.. No one ever asks me that. Still, the answer is simple. I read the internets, just like Fearless Leader.”
-Skippy

“Information is moving -- you know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it's also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, May 2, 2007

“MARIA BARTIROMO (CNBC): I'm curious, have you ever Googled anybody? Do you use Google?
DUBYA: Uhh, occasionally. One of the things I've used on The Google is, uhh, to pull up maps.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, October 23, 2006

“If you don’t use it, you should.. I’m not sure that I can really describe the Internets properly. I’ll let Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska do it instead.”
-Skippy

“It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.”
-Senator Ted Stevens, June 28, 2006

“Such eloquence. Such vivid expression. He makes the Internet come alive to me. You can imagine how shocked I was then to find out that the obviously well educated Senator Stevens may be involved in a crude and unseemly scandal.”
-Skippy

“Agents from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service raided the Alaska home of Republican Senator Ted Stevens yesterday as part of a broad federal investigation of political corruption in the state that has also swept up his son and one of his closest financial backers, officials said.
Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, is under scrutiny by the Justice Department for his ties to an Alaska energy services company, Veco, whose chief executive pleaded guilty in early May to a bribery scheme involving state lawmakers.
Contractors have told a federal grand jury that in 2000, Veco executives oversaw a lavish remodeling of Stevens's home in Girdwood, an exclusive ski resort area 40 miles from Anchorage, according to statements by the contractors.
Stevens said in a statement that his attorneys were advised of the impending search yesterday morning. He said he would not comment on details of the inquiry to avoid ‘any appearance that I have attempted to influence its outcome.’
Stevens, 83, who joined the Senate in 1968, has been considered one of the most powerful members of Congress for more than a decade, including six years in which he held wide sway over nearly $1 trillion in federal spending as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.”
-Washington Post, July 31, 2007

“But is he guilty?”
-Skippy

“I am guilty of asking the Senate for pork and proud of the Senate for giving it to me.”
-Senator Ted Stevens, 2001

“Well said sir. Now some of you may be picturing Senator Stevens as being part of the $223 million dollar ‘bridge to nowhere’ boondoggle in Alaska that was pushed into one of the last budgets back when the Republicans ruled the Earth. You would be incorrect. That was the only member of the House of Representatives from Alaska, Don Young.”
-Skippy

“A senior House Republican has come under criminal investigation in the Justice Department's widening inquiry into alleged influence-peddling and self-dealing in Congress.
Rep. Don Young of Alaska, the former chairman of the House Transportation Committee, now is the subject of a continuing criminal inquiry involving possible political favors for a company in Alaska, people close to the case said. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, the powerful former chairman of the Appropriations Committee and the longest-serving Senate Republican, is also now under criminal investigation, these people said.
Federal investigators are examining whether Rep. Young or Sen. Stevens accepted bribes, illegal gratuities or unreported gifts from VECO Corp., Alaska's largest oil-field engineering firm, people close to the case said.
It isn't known what VECO allegedly may have received in return. The company has been awarded a series of federal contracts since 2000, including contracts to provide logistics support for arctic research, among other projects.”
-Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2007

“You should read the Internets more often. They are full of interesting tidbits like this. Just don’t read too much. We don’t want to clog the tubes.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Gratitude

2007-07-30T04:05:00.000-07:00

“PELLEY: Do you think you owe the Iraqi people an apology for not doing a better job? DUBYA: That we didn't do a better job or they didn't do a better job?
PELLEY: Well, that the United States did not do a better job in providing security after the invasion.
DUBYA: Not at all. I am proud of the efforts we did. We liberated that country from a tyrant. I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude, and I believe most Iraqis express that. I mean, the people understand that we've endured great sacrifice to help them. That's the problem here in America. They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that's significant enough in Iraq.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 12, 2007

“Dang straight. Stupid Iraqis don’t appreciate all the hard work that we’ve done for them!”
-Skippy

“About 8 million Iraqis — nearly a third of the population — need immediate emergency aid because of the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, relief agencies said Monday. Those Iraqis are in urgent need of water, sanitation, food and shelter, said the report by Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee network in Iraq.
The report said 15 percent of Iraqis cannot regularly afford to eat, and 70 percent are without adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003. It also said 28 percent of children are malnourished, compared with 19 percent before the 2003 invasion.
‘Basic services, ruined by years of war and sanctions, cannot meet the needs of the Iraqi people,’ said Jeremy Hobbs, the director of Oxfam International. ‘Millions of Iraqis have been forced to flee the violence, either to another part of Iraq or abroad. Many of those are living in dire poverty.’"
-Associated Press, July 30, 2007

“The United States often promotes the number of rebuilding projects, such as power plants and hospitals, that have been completed in Iraq, citing them as signs of progress in a nation otherwise fraught with violence and political stalemate. But closer examination by the inspector general's office, headed by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., has found that a number of individual projects are crumbling, abandoned or otherwise inoperative only months after the United States declares that they have been successfully completed. The United States always intended to hand over projects to the Iraqi government when they were completed.
[…]
In fact, in the first two quarters of 2007, Bowen said, his inspectors found significant problems in all but two of the 12 projects they examined after the United States declared those projects completed.
In one of the most recent cases, a $90 million project to overhaul two giant turbines at the Dora power plant in Baghdad failed after completion because employees at the plant did not know how to operate the turbines properly and the wrong fuel was used. The additional power is critically needed in Baghdad, where residents often have only a few hours of electricity a day.
[…]
Barton said that the episode was probably inevitable given that the elected Iraqi government operated mainly within the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad and had little capability of managing thousands of new projects around the country.”
-International Herald Tribune, July 27, 2007

“Hey, we’ve treated those Iraqis with the same respect and concern that we’ve shown the rest of the world. I don’t know why anyone is surprised.”
-Skippy

“A surgeon general's report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote the administration's policy accomplishments, according to current and former public health officials.
The report described the link between poverty and poor health, urged the U.S. government to help combat widespread diseases as a key aim of its foreign policy, and called on corporations to help improve health conditions in the countries where they operate.”
-Washington Post, July 29, 2007

“If there is one thing that the Bush Administration has shown us, it is that there are no links between poverty and poor health.”
-Skippy

“Corporate control of health care inevitably puts money, rather than well-being, at the system's bottom line. That's the premise of Michael Moore's Sicko, the film that has recently cast light on the ugly reality that millions of people in the world's wealthiest country are without the medical attention they need.
The statistics are startling. A 2004 report by the S.C. Department of Insurance found that 19.4 percent of our state's citizens are uninsured, and we rank 46th in overall health nationwide. One in nine American children is without insurance, a condition passed on like a disease from uninsured parents. Insurance premiums have risen 58 percent over the last seven years, while incomes have grown only 2 percent”
-Charleston City Paper, July 25, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: Big Trouble in Little White House

2007-07-27T04:27:00.000-07:00

“Fearless Leader is a man of bold and courageous vision.. A man who dares to do what no sane man would do. A man who sees what no one else can see..”
-Skippy

“Can see things no one else can see. Do things no one else can do.”
-Egg Shen, Big Trouble in Little China

“For instance.. Most people feel that Iraq is a mess…”
-Skippy

“The Pentagon is making contingency plans for a gradual U.S. withdrawal of troops from Iraq, according to U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who called the planning a ‘priority.’
‘You may rest assured that such planning is indeed taking place with my active involvement as well as that of senior military and civilian officials and our commanders in the field,’ Gates said in a letter delivered this week to Senator Hillary Clinton, a Democratic presidential candidate who had tangled with the Pentagon to learn whether such plans exist.
‘I consider this contingency planning to be a priority for this department,’ Gates said.
His comments came as a highly sophisticated simultaneous truck bombing and rocket attack devastated a Shiite market district in one of Baghdad's safest central neighbourhoods yesterday, killing at least 28 people and wounding 95. Separately, the U.S. military announced the deaths of seven American troops in Iraq.”
-Reuters, July 27, 2007

“…but not Fearless Leader.”
-Skippy

“And he's [Gen Petraeus] making progress. And I believe it's in the interests of this country, for our own security, for the United States Congress to fully support General Petraeus in his mission and to give him time to come back and report to the United States Congress the progress that he's making.
It's really interesting to watch this counterinsurgency strategy work. I mean, when people on the ground begin to have confidence, they, all of a sudden, start making good decisions for a state that will represent their interests. There is such a thing as top-down reconciliation -- that's the passage of law. And the Iraqi parliament has passed quite a few pieces of legislation, and they're working, trying to work through their differences. Sometimes legislative bodies aren't real smooth in getting out a piece of legislation in timely fashion, as some of you might recognize. But nevertheless, they're working hard to -- learning what it means to have a parliament that functions.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 26, 2007

“Ok, you people! Sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. And if we're not back by dawn... call the president.”
-Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China

“Many people think that Alberto Gonzales is a lying SOB who is taking down the entire Justice Department with his politicizing the work they do and his blatant lying to Congress…”
-Skippy

“The head of the FBI contradicted Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' sworn testimony and Senate Democrats requested a perjury investigation Thursday in a fresh barrage against President Bush's embattled longtime friend and aide.
In a third blow to the Bush administration, the Senate Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas to compel the testimony of Karl Rove, Bush's chief political adviser, in connection with its investigation of the firings of federal prosecutors.
‘It has become apparent that the attorney general has provided at a minimum half-truths and misleading statements,’ four Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote in a letter to Solicitor General Paul Clement calling for a special counsel to investigate.”
-Associated Press, July 26, 2007

“But Fearless Leader can see into Gonzales soul and knows that he is worthy.”
-Skippy

“The White House defiantly stuck by Gonzales on the perjury matter and flatly denied that FBI Director Robert S. Mueller on Thursday contradicted the attorney general's sworn testimony on internal Bush administration dissent over the president's secretive wiretapping program.”
-Associated Press, July 27, 2007

“Q On Gonzales, this Negroponte memo shows an apparent contradiction in what he told the committee two days ago about that briefing at the White House. But yet Gonzales' spokesman says that what he said on Tuesday was true. How can that be? Can you explain that?
MR. SNOW: Unfortunately we get into areas that you cannot discuss openly. It's a very complex issue. But the Attorney General was speaking consistently. The President supports him. I think at some point this is going to be something where members are going to have to go behind closed doors and have a fuller discussion of the issues. But I can't go any further than that.
Q Everyone else says the meeting was about the TSP. Negroponte says it, people who were there said it, Comey said it. How could that not be right?
MR. SNOW: It's simply more complex than that, and I can't go into any more detail.
Q Is there another program that existed besides the TSP program?
MR. SNOW: I will repeat myself -- it's more complex, and I cannot go any further than that.
Q Does that mean that members of the Congress are being briefed on something they didn't realize they were being briefed on? If they're all describing it in this way --
MR. SNOW: Look, the most important thing to do is, I'll refer you back to DOJ to going through all this. But there were a series of briefings for a small, restricted number of members of Congress who seem to have differing recollections about what went on. As I've told you the last couple of days, I'm not going to try to be the fact witness on this. “
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesperson Tony Snow, July 26, 2007

“And some argue that the economy is hitting some rough spots..:
-Skippy

“Wall Street suffered one of its worst losses of 2007 Thursday, leading a global stock market plunge as investors succumbed to months of worry about the mortgage and corporate lending markets. The Dow Jones industrials closed down more than 310 points after earlier skidding nearly 450.”
-Associated Press, July 26, 2007

“But Fearless Leader knows better than any of the so-called ‘economists’.”
-Skippy

“In other words, this economy is strong. And I would argue with the doubters and the skeptics that one of the reason is because of the tax cuts we passed.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 26, 2007

“And while Fearless Leader my question our enemy’s motives..”
-Skippy

“We were attacked by a group of ruthless killers who have an ideology. In other words, they believe something.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 26, 2007

“He isn’t going to let that get in the way of his own beliefs.”
-Skippy

“I believe in that old Texas adage, if you don't stand for something, you don't believe in anything.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 26, 2007

“God bless you Fearless Leader. I once was afraid, but through you I have seen that all I was scared of was reality. Now I will try to just ignore it like you do.”
-Skippy

“When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, looks you crooked in the eye and asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: ‘Have ya paid your dues, Jack?’ ‘Yessir, the check is in the mail.’"
-Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China

Quotes of the Morning: Begging Your Pardon

2007-07-26T04:04:00.000-07:00

“Hello, everybody. As you probably know, the House Judiciary Committee has just voted along partisan lines to have a criminal contempt of Congress referral against White House legal counsel and the White House Chief of Staff. For our view, this is pathetic.”
-White House Spokesman Tony Snow, July 25, 2007

“Um. Harriet isn’t the White House legal counsel anymore. Tony, you work in the White House. I’m kind of surprised that you don’t remember that. Remember? This is all about Congress asking Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten questions. Congress wants them under oath and with a transcript. The White House says that they will let them testify, but only if they can lie and without a transcript to prove it..”
-Skippy

“Q The lack of a transcript seems to be the one area in which you could all agree. It seems to be one thing that is, frankly, just silly. Everybody knows that the lack of a transcript is something that --
MR. SNOW: You know what's silly, Victoria, is after we have made all these offers, Congress doesn't step forward with anything. That's silly.
Q -- that leads to this question --
Q Conyers says he has something.
MR. SNOW: Well, he has something -- would you characterize ‘something’?
Q Conyers says he has uncovered serious evidence of wrongdoing by retaliation for the improper firings. What do you have to say about that -- other than a pregnant pause?
MR. SNOW: Look forward to hearing what he has -- (laughter.)”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesman Tony Snow, July 25, 2007

“Of course, putting Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten in contempt just means that they should be prosecuted by the Department of Justice…”
-Skippy

"As it considers the contempt resolutions, we think it is important that the Committee appreciate fully the longstanding Department of Justice position, articulated during Administrations of both parties, that ‘the criminal contempt of Congress statute does not apply to the President or presidential subordinates who assert executive privilege.’"
-Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski, July 24, 2007

“…which, strangely enough, is not prone to wanting to enforce the contempt charges. You know, I could swear that I’ve heard something else about the Department of Justice in the news recently.”
-Skippy

“Q What do you mean when you say that nobody has really laid a glove on Gonzales? Isn't the President troubled by senators questioning his truthfulness and by Specter saying that he doesn't think he has any credibility?
MR. SNOW: Well, what's happened on a number of occasions is that people have hauled him up and there have been insinuations and, yet, in the end, what is the specific charge? What is the specific charge of malfeasance?
Q Well, for one thing, his truthfulness has been questioned.
MR. SNOW: But again, the President stands --
Q Isn't the President bothered by that?
MR. SNOW: The President is bothered sometimes by the tone of debate in Washington. He understands it can be bruising and he stands by the Attorney General.”
-White House Spokesman Tony Snow, July 25, 2007

“Nobody has touched him, and Congress is full of old meanies. Nothing has shown that Gonzales is a criminal.”
-Skippy

“Documents show that eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The documents, obtained by The Associated Press, come as senators consider whether a perjury investigation should be opened into conflicting accounts about the program and a dramatic March 2004 confrontation leading up to its potentially illegal reauthorization.
[…]
At a heated Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Gonzales repeatedly testified that the issue at hand was not about the terrorist surveillance program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on suspects in the United States without receiving court approval.
Instead, Gonzales said, the emergency meetings on March 10, 2004, focused on an intelligence program that he would not describe.
Gonzales, who was then serving as counsel to Bush, testified that the White House Situation Room briefing sought to inform congressional leaders about the pending expiration of the unidentified program and Justice Department objections to renew it. Those objections were led by then-Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey, who questioned the program's legality.
‘The dissent related to other intelligence activities,’ Gonzales testified at Tuesday's hearing. ‘The dissent was not about the terrorist surveillance program.’"
-Associated Press, July 25, 2007

“Well if Gonzales is found guilty of perjury Fearless Leader has a way of dealing with those people.”
-Skippy

“President Bush on Thursday acknowledged publicly for the first time that someone in his administration likely leaked the name of a CIA operative, although he also said he hopes the controversy over his decision to spare prison for a former White House aide has ‘run its course.’
‘And now we're going to move on,’ Bush said in a White House news conference.
The president had initially said he would fire anyone in his administration found to have publicly disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and a CIA operative. Ten days ago, Bush commuted the 30-month sentence given to I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby by a federal judge in connection with the case.”
-Associated Press, July 12, 2007

“The biggest concern that Fearless Leader has is that his hand will cramp up from all of the commutations and pardons he is going to have to write.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Fearless Leader Explains

2007-07-25T04:21:00.000-07:00

“Nearly six years after the 9/11 attacks, America remains a nation at war. The terrorist network that attacked us that day is determined to strike our country again, and we must do everything in our power to stop them. A key lesson of September the 11th is that the best way to protect America is to go on the offense, to fight the terrorists overseas so we don't have to face them here at home. And that is exactly what our men and women in uniform are doing across the world.
The key theater in this global war is Iraq.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 24, 2007

“So we went into Iraq in order to fight the terrorists after 9-11?”
-Skippy

“Because Bush has told the public that Iraq is central to the war on terror, the worse things go in Iraq, the more the public thinks the war on terror is going badly. Asked at his press conference what invading Iraq had to do with Sept. 11, Bush seemed so dumbfounded that at first he answered directly. ‘Nothing,’ he said, before sliding into a falsely aggrieved self-defense – ‘except for it's part of -- and nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack.’"
-Salon, August 24, 2006

“But I thought it had to do with Saddam. How is the War on Terror linked to our removing Saddam from power?”
-Skippy

“The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al-Qaida, because there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaida. This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al-Qaida. We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, June 18, 2004

“So it had to do with terrorism, but Saddam wasn’t in charge. So al Qaeda was there and Saddam was supporting them?”
-Skippy

“A taped message believed to be from fugitive militant Osama bin Laden on Tuesday warned Arab nations against supporting a war against Iraq as threatened by the United States -- but branded Saddam Hussein an infidel.”
-Reuters, February 11, 2003

“I’m confused.. It certainly sounds like al Qaeda wasn’t an issue in Iraq until after we invaded.”
-Skippy

“Some note that al Qaida in Iraq did not exist until the U.S. invasion -- and argue that it is a problem of our own making. The argument follows the flawed logic that terrorism is caused by American actions. Iraq is not the reason that the terrorists are at war with us. We were not in Iraq when the terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. We were not in Iraq when they attacked our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. We were not in Iraq when they attacked the USS Cole in 2000. And we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 24, 2007

“Ah.. So al Qaeda in Iraq is really just the same group that hit us on 9-11?”
-Skippy

“They know they're al Qaida. The Iraqi people know they are al Qaida. People across the Muslim world know they are al Qaida. And there's a good reason they are called al Qaida in Iraq: They are al Qaida ... in ... Iraq.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 24, 2007

“Thank you sir, but you don’t need to be so condescending. I was just trying to figure out how al Qaeda managed to become big in Iraq since it doesn’t seem like they were really all that involved there before.”
-Skippy

“A good place to start is with some basic facts: Al Qaeda in Iraq was founded by a Jordanian terrorist, not an Iraqi. His name was Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Before 9/11, he ran a terrorist camp in Afghanistan. He was not yet a member of al Qaida, but our intelligence community reports that he had longstanding relations with senior al Qaida leaders, that he had met with Osama bin Laden and his chief deputy, Zawahiri.
In 2001, coalition forces destroyed Zarqawi's Afghan training camp, and he fled the country and he went to Iraq, where he set up operations with terrorist associates long before the arrival of coalition forces. In the violence and instability following Saddam's fall, Zarqawi was able to expand dramatically the size, scope, and lethality of his operation.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 24, 2007

“Oh. So what you are telling me is that al Qaeda in Iraq was actually founded in Iraq after 9-11, and really didn’t gain any power until the chaos and instability caused by your half-assed invasion. They must have grown pretty quickly. How did that happen?”
-Skippy

“According to our intelligence community, the Zarqawi-bin Laden merger gave al Qaida in Iraq -- quote – ‘prestige among potential recruits and financiers.’ The merger also gave al Qaida's senior leadership -- quote – ‘a foothold in Iraq to extend its geographic presence ... to plot external operations ... and to tout the centrality of the jihad in Iraq to solicit direct monetary support elsewhere.’"
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 24, 2007

“Huh… So we actually increased Zarqawi’s reputation by invading, and that helped him to build up to the point of becoming an actual threat to America. Scary. You’re sure that there is no distinction between the guys that are currently rebuilding in Pakistan and the ones that we are fighting in Iraq?”
-Skippy

“You might wonder why some in Washington insist on making this distinction about the enemy in Iraq. It's because they know that if they can convince America we're not fighting bin Laden's al Qaida there, they can paint the battle in Iraq as a distraction from the real war on terror. If we're not fighting bin Laden's al Qaida, they can argue that our nation can pull out of Iraq and not undermine our efforts in the war on terror. The problem they have is with the facts. We are fighting bin Laden's al Qaida in Iraq; Iraq is central to the war on terror; and against this enemy, America can accept nothing less than complete victory.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 24, 2007

“Ok.. We have to fight them in Iraq because you think that your incompetence in the invasion set them up to take control if we leave…”
-Skippy

“We've already seen how al Qaida used a failed state thousands of miles from our shores to bring death and destruction to the streets of our cities -- and we must not allow them to do so again.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 24, 2007

“…and because Iraq is currently a failed state. Wonderful. Bravo sir. Can’t imagine why anyone would ever doubt you.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Waiting for a Sign

2007-07-24T04:23:00.000-07:00

“These last few months (ok.. years) haven’t been such a good time to be an Iraqi, especially since the military surge seems to have ratcheted up the violence on both sides.”
-Skippy

“A suicide car bomber struck the center of a major Shiite city in southern Iraq this morning, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens as the streets were packed with shoppers and people on their way to work, police said.
The explosion occurred at 9 a.m. in a commercial district in Hilla, according to provincial police. Hilla, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, has been the site of some of the deadliest bombings, including a double suicide attack on March 6 that killed 120 people.
The attack came a day after a string of car bomb attacks left at least 17 people dead in Baghdad on Monday, many of them civilians killed by three blasts in one of the city's busiest neighborhoods.
In all, at least 42 Iraqis were killed nationwide on Monday, according to security officials who asked not to be identified because they feared retribution.”
-Washington Post, July 24, 2007

“The surge has lead to a few more injuries for the American troops too.”
-Skippy

“The ‘surge’ in U.S. troops in Iraq has resulted in an increase in patients passing through this [Rammstein] base.
[…]
May and June stand among the busiest months ever for airmen who help transport and care for wounded servicemembers coming from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Air Force figures.
June saw the highest number of patient movements since April 2004, when U.S. forces conducted a major offensive on the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
In May, the airmen conducted 1,545 ‘patient movements.’ In June, the facility saw 1,564 movements.
[…]
Only two other months have been higher than May and June, he said. The facility saw the greatest number of patients in April and May 2003. April 2004, when military forces converged on Fallujah, was the second busiest time, Langevin said. He could not provide statistics for those months.
Since 2003, the facility has received 43,807 patients from Afghanistan and Iraq. Of those, 9,548 had battle injuries. Airmen have conducted nearly 70,000 patient movements.”
-Stars and Stripes, July 23, 2007

“Of course when our troops are injured they are having some trouble getting the care they need..”
-Skippy

“Frustrated by delays in health care, injured Iraq war veterans accused VA Secretary Jim Nicholson in a lawsuit of breaking the law by denying them disability pay and mental health treatment.
The lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, filed Monday in federal court in San Francisco, seeks broad changes in the agency as it struggles to meet growing demands from veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Suing on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans, it charges that the VA has failed warriors on numerous fronts. It contends the VA failed to provide prompt disability benefits, failed to add staff to reduce wait times for medical care and failed to boost services for post-traumatic stress disorder.
The lawsuit also accuses the VA of deliberately cheating some veterans by allegedly working with the Pentagon to misclassify PTSD claims as pre-existing personality disorders to avoid paying benefits. The VA and Pentagon have generally denied such charges.”
-Associated Press, July 23, 2007

“So I guess we’ll just have to wait this war out until Fearless Leader hears back from his boss..”
-Skippy

“Pakistani leaders say President Bush said God told him to invade Iraq and Afghanistan. That is Palestinian leaders' remarks attributed to Mr. Bush are in a BBC documentary. The White House dismisses it as absurd.”
-CNN Saturday Morning News, October 8, 2005

“Imagine our surprise Wednesday to read in the Israeli paper Haaretz (online), that Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Abu Mazen, meeting recently with militants to enlist their support for a truce with Israel, said that, when they met in Aqaba, President Bush had told him this: ‘ God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam [ Hussein], which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them.’
So who needs to find WMD or a link with al Qaeda when the orders come from The Highest Authority?
Two calls to the White House for clarification went unreturned, but colleague Glenn Kessler did some digging. The Haaretz reporter, Arnon Regular, read what the paper said were minutes of the Palestinians' meeting to Kessler and another colleague, who is an Arabic speaker.
The Arabic-speaking colleague's translation, was this: ‘God inspired me to hit al Qaeda, and so I hit it. And I had the inspiration to hit Saddam, and so I hit him. Now I am determined to solve the Middle East problem if you help. Otherwise the elections will come and I will be wrapped up with them.’"
-Washington Post, June 27, 2003

Quotes of the Morning: Emboldening

2007-07-23T04:34:00.000-07:00

“You may remember this one from Friday…”
-Skippy

“The Pentagon told Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton that her questions about how the U.S. plans to eventually withdraw from Iraq boosts enemy propaganda.
In a stinging rebuke to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman responded to questions Clinton raised in May in which she urged the Pentagon to start planning now for the withdrawal of American forces.
A copy of Edelman's response, dated July 16, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.
‘Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia,’ Edelman wrote.”
-Associated Press, July 19, 2007

“Well the Senator from New York has had a chance to respond.”
-Skippy

“Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday accused the Pentagon of impugning her patriotism simply because she raised questions about U.S. planning for the eventual withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
The politically heated back-and-forth began Thursday with a sharply worded missive from Eric Edelman, undersecretary of defense for policy, to Clinton warning that such questions boost enemy propaganda.
Clinton pressed Edelman's boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on Friday, asking if he agreed with his aide's charge. The New York senator said in a statement that Edelman had ducked her questions and ‘instead made spurious arguments to avoid addressing contingency planning.’"
-Associated Press, July 20, 2007

“Hillary is so wrong with this one.. So, very wrong. Her works cut deeply at the war effort by adding to enemy propaganda. Much more deeply than insulting the faith of the Iraqi people..”
-Skippy

“And I just -- I cannot speak strongly enough about how we must collectively get after those who kill in the name of -- in the name of some kind of false religion.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, August 1, 2002

“…or blaming them for being grateful enough for being ‘liberated’.”
-Skippy

“PELLEY: Do you think you owe the Iraqi people an apology for not doing a better job? DUBYA: That we didn't do a better job or they didn't do a better job? PELLEY: Well, that the United States did not do a better job in providing security after the invasion. DUBYA: Not at all. I am proud of the efforts we did. We liberated that country from a tyrant. I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude, and I believe most Iraqis express that. I mean, the people understand that we've endured great sacrifice to help them. That's the problem here in America. They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that's significant enough in Iraq.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, January 12, 2007

“But still, I think that we can all agree that at least the Pentagon is fair and balanced. I remember all of the times that they have spoken up to criticize conservative pundits for calling Arabs ‘towel heads’ or saying that Islam is a religion of hate. Seems like a week doesn’t go by that they aren’t correcting Bill Kristol or other conservative talking heads for saying that we should go kill them all and let God sort them out. I mean, that stuff has the potential to make the enemy really want to fight us (well, that and Abu Ghraib, civilian deaths, etc..).”
-Skippy

"We should invade their [Muslim’s] countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."
-Ann Coulter, September 13, 2001

Quotes of the Morning: Political Bias

2007-07-20T04:29:00.000-07:00

“The Pentagon told Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton that her questions about how the U.S. plans to eventually withdraw from Iraq boosts enemy propaganda.
In a stinging rebuke to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman responded to questions Clinton raised in May in which she urged the Pentagon to start planning now for the withdrawal of American forces.
A copy of Edelman's response, dated July 16, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.
‘Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia,’ Edelman wrote.”
-Associated Press, July 19, 2007

“Shame on Hillary! She should know better than to criticize the President and his Eternal War on Terra! Criticizing the government is not an option! She needs to be more patriotic.”
-Skippy

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does NOT mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country."
-President Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt

“Oh come on.. I’m not talking about the President, I’m talking about the Administration. They are here to serve in an unbiased way. The Pentagon exists to support the military, not to drive a political agenda.”
-Skippy

“[T]he Pentagon’s public affairs division has become a dumping ground for administration cronies…seek[ing] to bypass the traditional media and work directly with talk radio and bloggers, mostly those with a heavily conservative tilt.”
-Harper’s Magazine, July 16, 2007-07-20

“None of the branches of the Administration have been twisted by Fearless Leader’s bold guidance.. Not the Department of Defense..”
-Skippy

“The Defense Department…has stepped up intelligence collection inside this country since 9/11, which now includes the monitoring of peaceful anti-war and counter-military recruitment groups.”
-MSNBC, September 14, 2005

“The Department of Justice…”
-Skippy

“After the 2004 election, administration officials quietly began drawing up a list of US attorneys to replace. Considerations included their perceived loyalty to Bush and a desire by White House political adviser Karl Rove to increase voter fraud prosecutions, documents and testimony have shown. Most of the proposed firings were for US attorneys in states with closely divided elections. Among those later fired was David Iglesias, from the battleground state of New Mexico, where many of his fellow Republicans had demanded more aggressive voter fraud probes.”
-Boston Globe, May 6, 2007

“Unlike federal judges, immigration judges are civil service employees, to be appointed by the attorney general based on professional qualifications, not their politics. [During Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s aide Monica Goodling’s] tenure, vacancies were apparently not always posted and she selected lawyers to be considered for interviews based in part on their loyalty to the Republican Party and the Bush administration.”
-New York Times, May 25, 2007

“NASA…”
-Skippy

“The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming…officials at NASA headquarters had ordered the public affairs staff to review his coming lectures, papers, postings on the Goddard [Institute for Space Studies] Web site and requests for interviews from journalists.”
-New York Times, January 29, 2006

“The Food and Drug Administration…”
-Skippy

“The top Food and Drug Administration official in charge of women’s health issues…resigned in protest against the agency’s decision to further delay a final ruling on whether the ‘morning-after pill’ should be made more easily accessible. ‘I can no longer serve as staff when scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by the professional staff here, has been overruled,’ she wrote in an e-mail to her staff and FDA colleagues.”
-Washington Post, September 1, 2005

“Health and Human Services…”
-Skippy

“An internal investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services confirms that the top Medicare official threatened to fire the program’s chief actuary if he told Congress that drug benefits would probably cost much more than the White House acknowledged.”
-New York Times, July 7, 2004

“The Office of the Surgeon General…”
-Skippy

“The first U.S. surgeon general appointed by President George W. Bush accused the administration on Tuesday of political interference and muzzling him on key issues like embryonic stem cell research.”
-Reuters, July 10, 2007

According to President George W. Bush's first surgeon general, scientific information he wanted to share with the nation was regularly distorted, ignored or buried by White House officials in service to their political agenda. Similar complaints have come from the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
[…]
‘Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried,’ Dr. Richard H. Carmona said Tuesday in testimony before a House committee. During his 2002 to 2006 stint as surgeon general, Carmona said he was also ordered to mention Bush at least three times on every page of his speeches.”
-Newsday, July 14, 2007

“The Office of National Drug Control Policy…”
-Skippy

“At the request of Sara Taylor, the former White House Director of Political Affairs, John Walters, the nation’s drug czar, and his deputies traveled to 20 events with vulnerable Republican members of Congress in the months prior to the 2006 elections. The trips were paid for by federal taxpayers and several were combined with the announcement of federal grants or actions that benefited the districts of the Republican members.”
-House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, June 17, 2007-07-20

“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting…”
-Skippy

“Kenneth Tomlinson, the chairman of the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, has said on several occasions that the Bush administration does not interfere with how the CPB operates.
On several matters over the past year, however, the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has pursued policies and the appointment of executives at the behest of the White House, according to Tomlinson's own e-mails.”
-NPR, June 20, 2005

“The EPA…”
-Skippy

“At issue is next week's huge government report on the state of the environment. Under heavy editing pressure from the White House, a lengthy chapter on climate change has been gutted.
In a draft of the report – obtained by CBS News – strong language that ‘climate change has global consequences for human health and the environment" was stricken by the White House; as was government research that suggests recent climate change is "likely mostly due to human activities.’
An edited version said that climate change ‘may have potentially profound consequences’ but, ‘The complexity of the earth system and the interconnections among its components make it a scientific challenge to document change, document its cause and develop useful projections on how natural variability and human actions may affect the global environment in the future.’
The revised draft removed a reference to a 1999 study showing global temperatures had risen sharply in the past decade compared to the previous 1,000 years. But it did cite another study, partly paid for by the oil industry, challenging the uniqueness of recent temperature increases.
And it deleted a National Research Council finding that various studies have suggested that recent warming was unusual and likely due to human activities. The 2001 NRC report had been commissioned by the White House and cited in the past by President Bush.”
-CBS/AP, June 19, 2003

“The Interior Department…”
-Skippy

“The Washington Post concluded an amazingly detailed series on Vice President Dick Cheney this week with a disturbing revelation involving Oregon and California.
Cheney, the paper said, played a key role in events leading to the 2002 die-off of more than 70,000 salmon in the Klamath River near the border of the two states. He reportedly did it by getting Interior Department bureaucrats to override government biologists and divert water from the river to irrigate farms, dooming the protected fish. “
-The Oregonian, June 30, 2007

“The Office of Faith-Based Initiatives…”
-Skippy

“More than five years after President Bush created the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, the former second-in-command of that office is going public with an insider’s tell-all account that portrays an office used almost exclusively to win political points with both evangelical Christians and traditionally Democratic minorities.
The office’s primary mission, providing financial support to charities that serve the poor, never got the presidential support it needed to succeed, according to the book.”
-MSNBC, October 13, 2006

“Really.. This Administration is just like Fox news.. Fair and balanced.”
-Skippy

"The Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision,"
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 12, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: Whack a Mole, Pt 2.

2007-07-19T04:10:00.000-07:00

“Yesterday we discussed how we shouldn’t be worrying about al Qaeda regrouping in Pakistan, because we have brought the fight to them in Iraq. It sure is a good thing that we’re winning the war there, because everywhere else it seems to be going to Hades in a handbasket.”
-Skippy

“President Bush’s top counterterrorism advisers acknowledged Tuesday that the strategy for fighting Osama bin Laden’s leadership of Al Qaeda in Pakistan had failed, as the White House released a grim new intelligence assessment that has forced the administration to consider more aggressive measures inside Pakistan.
The intelligence report, the most formal assessment since the Sept. 11 attacks about the terrorist threat facing the United States, concludes that the United States is losing ground on a number of fronts in the fight against Al Qaeda, and describes the terrorist organization as having significantly strengthened over the past two years.”
-New York Times, July 17, 2007

“We would be fighting al Qaeda in Pakistan, but, as you all know, Pakistan is a sovereign country, and we only attack sovereign countries that have four letters in their names and start with ‘Ir’ (Iran.. you’re next).”
-Skippy

“Q: Tony, is it because the U.S. military is stretched and taxed and every other way you want to describe it, in Iraq, is that a reason why when the report says that there is a safe haven in the Pakistan federally administered tribal area that includes the lieutenants and top leadership of al Qaeda, is that why the U.S. isn't going in there, or is it out of deference to Musharraf?
MR. SNOW: No, again, if you talk -- when you talk about the U.S. going in there, you don't blithely go into another nation and conduct operations. We --
Q: Well, the President went into a sovereign nation in 2003.
MR. SNOW: Well, he went into a sovereign nation that was, in fact -- he also had with him the support of 17 U.N. resolutions, including Resolution 1441.
Q: But he could seek similar world support for such an action --
MR. SNOW: Well, again -- but on the other hand, we are working with a sovereign nation which is an ally with us, in this particular case. And when it comes to Pakistan, the United States has, in fact, been continuously working with President Musharraf and we're going to do what we can to try to strengthen his hand in whatever he needs. We have spent -- we have devoted considerable resources to helping him beef up capabilities and presence within the federally administered tribal areas, which are very tough.
Q: With all the complications and diplomacy and everything else involved in this, but just for the American citizen watching this, if we can identify that the safe haven is there, that lieutenants and top leadership are there --
MR. SNOW: Well, it's not as if they've hung out a shingle and there's a great big compound. These are people who, in fact, do their very best to remain concealed.”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesman Tony Snow, July 17, 2007

“Yes, as Fearless Leader has told us, the terrorists hide in caves!”
-Skippy

“They hide in caves. See, this is a different kind of war. And part of my responsibilities as your President is to remind people about the realities that we face in America. One of the realities is, is that these people hide in caves.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, September 5, 2002

“See? That is why we had to attack Iraq instead. It is a desert, so there are fewer caves for the terrorists to hide in, so we can find them easier there. Personally I am going to check my closet, since it is too small to give them any hiding places at all. Makes perfect sense. I feel safer already.”
-Skippy

“Q: Tony, when the report -- the NIE says that al Qaeda is likely to try to leverage the gains it's made in Iraq to mount an attack on U.S. soil, doesn't that undermine the President's case that by fighting the terrorists in Iraq, we're preventing them from coming to U.S. soil and attacking here?
MR. SNOW: No, and you asked the same question to Fran, and she reread to you the language of the NIE, which is probably worth doing, because what it really talks about is the fact that it will -- let me just find the particular item there -- what's happening is al Qaeda basically is looking for ways to generate bragging rights that are going to be useful in recruiting or plotting or trying to leverage contacts. Here's what it says: ‘Of those concerns, we assess that al Qaeda will try to exploit the conflict in Iraq, to leverage the contacts and capabilities of al Qaeda in Iraq, its most visible and capable affiliate, and the only one known to have expressed a desire to attack us here.’ It does not say that it has a stronger hand. What it says is that it is going to try to exploit, for political and also for recruiting purposes, anything it possibly can out of the ongoing conflict in Iraq.
Q: Right. The President was warned of that, though, by the CIA before the war in Iraq.
MR. SNOW: Well, the President had a lot of inputs before the war.”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesman Tony Snow, July 17, 2007

“Yes, many, many people told Fearless Leader things before he invaded Iraq, and he didn’t listen to any of them. Now we just need to understand that, despite being stuck in the middle of a civil war while the real enemy regroups in another country, we are safer.
That doesn’t sound right.. Tony, can you explain it better?”
-Skippy

“Q: What do you want the public to take away from a day that has seen the administration talk again about a heightened terror environment, while at the same time again saying there are no credible, specific threats?
MR. SNOW: I think what they ought to take away from it is that we have a vigorous and, so far, successful effort to go against al Qaeda. And, in fact, there ought to be reassurance and, at the same time, vigilance.”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesman Tony Snow, July 17, 2007

“See? You should just relax and be frightened at the same time. It isn’t like the war in Iraq distracted us from winning against al Qaeda, because there was no way to win in the fight against al Qaeda anyway. Don’t believe me? Just ask the Administration.”
-Skippy

“Q: Tony, doesn't all this discussion of the threat posed by al Qaeda on multiple fronts, on which you, yourself, say the government is going after them, suggest that the group should have been crushed entirely before the U.S. took up something like going into Iraq?
MR. SNOW: No.
Q: Why not?
MR. SNOW: The fact is that this is a group that was --
Q: Why give them the battlefield?
MR. SNOW: Excuse me -- they were already spread out over 60 countries, Wendell, before the war began. Al Qaeda started war against the United States in 1993 with the bombing of the World Trade Center, that continued with actions at Khobar Towers, the bombing of the USS Cole, the bombings of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Al Qaeda was already in the battlefield before that war began. Furthermore, al Qaeda had dispersed itself around the globe.
So, in point of fact, what you are asking is a question, why didn't we crush al Qaeda globally before we went into Iraq?
Q: Precisely, yes, that's what I'm asking.
MR. SNOW: The answer is that, as part of a larger war on terror, you're assuming that al Qaeda is a small, contained entity that can be beaten by conventional war methods. And the fact is, when you take a look at asymmetrical warfare, it is something where you constantly have to go after a shifting enemy.
[…]
Q: Are you telling me it was impossible to smash them globally before we went into Iraq?
MR. SNOW: Yes.
Q: Thank you.”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesman Tony Snow, July 17, 2007

“As Mr. Snow explained.. Crushing al Qaeda was impossible before we attacked Iraq, and now we aren’t even trying to fight them in their strongholds, so the War on Terra will continue forever. I guess the big problem is that they have so many high-level management people ready to take over..”
-Skippy

“Q: Could you talk about the hierarchy here and how you decide who is high-ranking, who isn't high-ranking? You put 26 guys high-ranking. Do you have any sense of how big this operation is, what the command and control is like there?
MR. SNOW: Well, you do know -- again, you don't want to go too far into disclosing sources and methods, but on the other hand, what you do have is a pretty clear structure. You do have al-Masri and his lieutenants, who are sort of at the top of the pyramid. And actually, Kevin did provide kind of an operational flowchart. I'll make that available to you. I did not put that together as a slide --
Q: But just the scope of the organization. I mean, you, over the years, have said that, I think, two-thirds of al Qaeda, the international leaders --
MR. SNOW: Yes, senior leadership.
Q: -- senior leadership was knocked out, and yet you said they're regenerating. It appears, from tracking this for the past few years, that al Qaeda in Iraq also regenerates --
MR. SNOW: Of course.
Q: Zarqawi was killed. So you'd say, these senior leaders, they just keep regenerating?
MR. SNOW: Well, look, people fill the vacancies. But on the other hand, what you also have when you fill those vacancies, quite often are people with less experience and less capability than the people they have replaced. “
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesman Tony Snow, July 17, 2007

“That’s just the way it is in management. There is always someone ready to step up to the plate and take over.”
-Skippy

“The Bush administration has failed to fill roughly a quarter of the top leadership posts at the Department of Homeland Security, creating a ‘gaping hole’ in the nation's preparedness for a terrorist attack or other threat, according to a congressional report to be released today.
As of May 1, Homeland Security had 138 vacancies among its top 575 positions, with the greatest voids reported in its policy, legal and intelligence sections, as well as immigration agencies, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard. The vacant slots include presidential, senior executive and other high-level appointments, according to the report by the House Homeland Security Committee.”
-Washington Post, July 9, 2007

“I guess that what we don’t have in quantity we will have to make up in quality..”
-Skippy

“I don't know what I'll do long-term. I'm a terrible long-term planner.”
-Condoleeza Rice, interview in the issue July 23 issue of Business Week

“We are royally screwed.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Whack a Mole

2007-07-18T04:21:00.000-07:00

“A new National Intelligence Estimate presents a sobering analysis of terrorism threats to the United States, concluding that Al Qaeda has reconstituted its core structure along the Pakistani border and may now be a stronger and more resilient organization today than it appeared a year ago, according to three U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the draft document.
-Newsweek, July 11, 2007

“I put this one up a few days ago.. Al Qaeda seems to be back, and as big as ever, in Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan.”
-Skippy

“Q: I wonder if you could explain what possible reason there could be for al Qaeda's ability to reconstitute itself, aside from U.S. strength is being diverted in Iraq -- special ops forces and various other military means -- and the U.S. diplomatic abilities, if you will, are compromised in countries that oppose our operation in Iraq? What else could account for al Qaeda's ability to regenerate?
MS. TOWNSEND: Well, there's no question -- I think there's a tendency to try and suggest that al Qaeda core and al Qaeda in Iraq are two separate things. Let's step back for a minute, because I think that is not accurate.
Clearly, what we know is the al Qaeda that attacked us on September 11th was an al Qaeda that is led by Osama bin Laden and caused the killing of 3,000 Americans -- that same al Qaeda, headed by bin Laden, is the same al Qaeda that Zarqawi, when he becomes the emir of al Qaeda in Iraq, swears biot, or loyalty, to. So it's the same organization. This isn't a question of diverting.”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesperson Fran Townsend, July 17, 2007

“So the enemy in Iraq is al Qaeda, and the al Qaeda there is just the same as the al Qaeda elsewhere.. so all of the problems (bombings, murders, etc.) in Iraq are just proof that we are directly engaging the terrorists in combat. We will defeat al Qaeda by attacking them in Iraq so we don’t have to attack them in Afghanistan and Pakistan where they, um, are. Good for us!”
-Skippy

“Q: Let me try another approach on the Iraq issue. To what extent has the war turned Iraq into an unprecedented training ground, breeding ground, for terrorists? You didn't have the sophistication with the IEDs and the other things that this war has developed.
MS. TOWNSEND: Well, there's no question that we've watched developing tactics, but they're also being fed -- lest we suggest, that al Qaeda in Iraq is the only enemy inside Iraq. It's not. We know very well, and you've heard briefings from DOD about the transfer of advanced technology into Iraq to advance some of this by Iran. So this is not -- al Qaeda in Iraq is not the only enemy in Iraq. And interestingly enough, recently we've seen Sunni tribal groups walk away from al Qaeda in Iraq.”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesperson Fran Townsend, July 17, 2007

“Um.. But not all of our problems in Iraq are al Qaeda apparently. The people developing IEDs are apparently a different group: Iran (and luckily, based on Ms. Townsend’s response, the must not be teaching al Qaeda anything). So apparently Iraq is the central front in our war on al Qaeda AND against Iran. Tough neighborhood. I wonder why we decided to go after al Qaeda there instead of in Afghanistan? I mean, wouldn’t it have been easier to go after just one group? Iran wasn’t supporting terrorist groups against us in Afghanistan.”
-Skippy

“Pakistan's government is battling to save a peace accord with pro-Taliban tribal chiefs in a mountain region bordering Afghanistan, as it seeks their help to drive out al-Qaeda-linked terrorists.
Clan leaders in North Waziristan said at the weekend they were pulling out of an accord to expel non-Pakistani gunmen and would stop cooperating with authorities.
‘It was not the government that scuttled the deal,’ Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said yesterday in the capital, Islamabad, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported. ‘The negotiations are still continuing.’
President Pervez Musharraf says the accords signed since 2004 have helped control militants, who fled across the border from Afghanistan after the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001. The Bush administration has criticized the strategy and says that giving tribesmen more autonomy has allowed al-Qaeda to regroup in the region and plan further attacks against the West.”
-Bloomberg News Service, July 17, 2007

“Ah.. I guess we had to shift to focus to Iraq after Pakistan started giving safe haven to the Taliban and al Qaeda in the mountain regions. Without the support of Pakistan we were forced to take the war to al Qaeda in Iraq instead…”
-Skippy

“In February 2002, after a briefing on the status of the war in Afghanistan, the commanding officer, Gen. Tommy Franks, told me the war was being compromised as specialized personnel and equipment were being shifted from Afghanistan to prepare for the war in Iraq -- a war more than a year away. Even at this early date, the White House was signaling that the threat posed by Saddam Hussein was of such urgency that it had priority over the crushing of al Qaeda.” -Bob Graham, November 20, 2005

“…except that we had already moved the majority of our troops from the region well before that. The Taliban was deposed. Why would we stay?”
-Skippy

“Q: Fran, I think a lot of Americans watching this will have two very simple questions: Where is Osama bin Laden? And why, nearly six years after the President said we would get him, dead or alive, do we not have him? How has he possibly eluded our grasp?
MS. TOWNSEND: Well, there is no question that we have put extraordinary resources against finding him. If I could answer directly, with a pinpoint on a map where he was, he wouldn't be there. So the question is, does he -- it presumes, frankly, that he sits in a single place with an address, a street address and a phone number, so it should be easy for us to go and get him. I wish, Sheryl, that it were that easy. It's not.”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesperson Fran Townsend, July 17, 2007

“It has nothing to do with him being in the area in Pakistan where he is sheltered by the Pakistani peace accord. Nothing to do with the majority of our forces being moved to Iraq. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
-Skippy

“I truly am not that concerned about him [Bin Laden].”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, March 12, 2002

Quotes of the Morning: General Confusion

2007-07-17T04:09:00.000-07:00

“At his press conference yesterday, President Bush urged Congress and the American people to let the military leadership determine the ‘conditions on the ground’ in Iraq and the possibilities for success. He urged support and respect for the ‘command structure.’
I noticed, however, that none of the president's statutory military advisers was mentioned by name or position. Some Bush critics and war opponents may conclude that the president is avoiding widespread dissent in the Pentagon by creating his own command structure and stacking it with yes men and weak leaders. I read it exactly the opposite: The brass is avoiding the president and the war in Iraq -- and doing so in the passive-aggressive way that has come to characterize our current civilian-military relations.”
-William M Arkin, Washington Post, July 15, 2007

“So it looks like the military is starting to push back a little, eh? I guess that if you read about the military claiming that Fearless Leader wants something, well, then you can pretty much guarantee that the military doesn’t want it. Let’s take a look..”
-Skippy

“The U.S. military's top general said Monday that the Joint Chiefs of Staff is weighing a range of possible new directions in Iraq, including, if President Bush deems it necessary, an even bigger troop buildup.”
-Associated Press, July 16, 2007

“That certainly sounds like something that the military doesn’t want to do. Why would the Joint Chiefs of Staff want to bypass their direct advisory roll on this though?”
-Skippy

“Here's the lineup of military commanders and ‘military thinkers and planners’ that the president is listening to: Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander in Iraq. Yesterday in his press conference, Bush mentioned him more than 10 times.
Yes, Bush mentioned the Joint Chiefs a few times in some vague way as people he consults with. But Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the president's principle military adviser by law? No mention, even by position. Adm. William Fallon, the commander of U.S. Central Command, the president's combatant commander for the region by law and the next in the chain of command above Petraeus? No mention.”
-William M Arkin, Washington Post, July 15, 2007

“Once again.. The Joint Chiefs of Staff are apparently not generals ‘on the ground’. Bush is quite adamant about only listening to the generals ‘on the ground’.”
-Skippy

“We have an objective in Iraq, and as we meet those objectives, our commanders on the ground will determine the size of the troop levels.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, December 19, 2005

“Our strategy in Iraq is, as the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down. Troop levels on the ground will be decided by commanders on the ground -- not by politicians in Washington, D.C..”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, February 24, 2006

“I guess he’s started listening to them because of the lack of success with the early part of the war. Fearless Leader went to the generals and asked questions…”
-Skippy

“I remember going down to the basement of the White House the day we committed our troops as last resort, looking at Tommy Franks and the generals on the ground, asking them, ‘Do we have the right plan with the right troop level?’
And they looked me in the eye and said, ‘Yes, sir, Mr. President.’ Of course, I listen to our generals. That's what a president does. A president sets the strategy and relies upon good military people to execute that strategy.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, Second Bush-Kerry Presidential Debate, October 8, 2004

“…and we all know how that went. Now it is years later and we are trapped in the middle of a civil war with no end in sight. You know who I blame? Tommy Franks. I would blame Fearless Leader, but the other day he clearly showed that it was the general’s fault.”
-Skippy

“On Thursday, the White House gave Congress a progress report that showed the Iraqi government was making unsatisfactory progress on many political and military milestones. At a news conference, President Bush defended the buildup of U.S. troops as well as his decisions on troop numbers earlier in the conflict.
Bush said that when he asked Gen. Tommy Franks, the Central Command chief during the initial invasion in March 2003, whether he had enough troops, he told him he did. Bush said he recalled sitting in a meeting downstairs at the White House asking each commander responsible for different aspects of the operations that led to toppling Saddam Hussein.
‘I said to each one of them ‘Do you have what it takes?' Are you satisfied with the strategy?' And the answer was ‘Yes,' ‘ Bush said.”
-Associated Press, July 13, 2007

“And we all know what the punishment for incompetence is at the White House.”
-Skippy

“President Bush will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to L. Paul Bremer III, Tommy R. Franks, and George J. Tenet in a ceremony at the White House on December 14, 2004.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation's highest civil award. It was established by President Truman and later re-established by President Kennedy. It is awarded by the President of the United States to persons who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”
-White House Press Secretary, December 2, 2004

“Still, Fearless Leader is listening to top people and learning his lessons. He’s already learned a lot…”
-Skippy

“I learned some good lessons from Vietnam. First, there has to be a clear mission. And second, politics has to stay out of fighting the war. ... I’ve got great confidence in Gen. Tommy Franks.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, March 13, 2002

“… and he is learning how to better articulate his desires for peace and security…”
-Skippy

“And there's no better symbol of our desire to work for peace and security than working on a missile defense system -- a missile defense system that would provide security for Europe from single or dual-launched regimes that may emanate from parts of the world where leaders don't particularly care for our way of life, and/or in the process of trying to develop serious weapons of mass destruction.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 16, 2007

“…so by the time we attack Iran we should be ready to do it right.”
-Skippy

“The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favor of military action before US President George W. Bush leaves office in 18 months. The shift follows an internal review involving the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department over the past month. Although the Bush administration is in deep trouble over Iraq, it remains focused on Iran.”
-The Guardian (UK), July 17, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: What Enemy?

2007-07-16T04:14:00.000-07:00

“We’re not in a civil war. This is just not true.”
-William Kristol, Fox News Sunday, July 15, 2007

“Sure, WE aren’t, but the Iraqi people sure as heck seem to be involved in one.”
-Skippy

“A car bomb packed with explosives detonated Sunday in a central Baghdad square, killing 10 people and wounding 25, the deadliest attack on a violent day that claimed the lives of at least 18 others.
Still, a U.S. military spokesman on Sunday that the month-old American offensives in and around the capital were starting to have an effect, reducing violence and civilian deaths. He did not cite figures.”
-Associated Press, July 16, 2007

“Hmm.. It sounds like a civil war. Mr. Kristol, are you sure that there can’t be a civil war going on?”
-Skippy

"There's been a certain amount of pop sociology in America ... that the Shia can't get along with the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq just want to establish some kind of Islamic fundamentalist regime. There's almost no evidence of that at all. Iraq's always been very secular."
-William Kristol, Fresh Air, April 1, 2003

“Ah.. Well, I guess that proves it then. All of those bombings must be coming from somewhere though.. I wonder where?”
-Skippy

“Although Bush administration officials have frequently lashed out at Syria and Iran, accusing it of helping insurgents and militias here, the largest number of foreign fighters and suicide bombers in Iraq come from a third neighbor, Saudi Arabia, according to a senior U.S. military officer and Iraqi lawmakers.
About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said.
Fighters from Saudi Arabia are thought to have carried out more suicide bombings than those of any other nationality, said the senior U.S. officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity. It is apparently the first time a U.S. official has given such a breakdown on the role played by Saudi nationals in Iraq's Sunni Arab insurgency.”
-LA Times, July 15, 2007

“Wait.. That can’t be right either. Saudi Arabia is our ally. I’ve seen the pictures of Fearless Leader walking hand in hand with the Prince. Can’t we blame this on Syria or Iran or somebody else?”
-Skippy

“A previously undisclosed Army investigation into an audacious January attack in Karbala that killed five U.S. soldiers concludes that Iraqi police working alongside American troops colluded with insurgents.
The assault on the night of Jan. 20 stunned U.S. officials with its planning and sophistication. A column of SUVs filled with gunmen who posed as an American security team passed through Iraqi police checkpoints at a provincial headquarters in the Shiite holy city.
Within a few minutes, the attackers killed one American, wounded three and abducted four. The captives were later found shot to death; the gunmen escaped.
‘(The American) defense hinged on a level of trust that … early warning and defense would be provided by the Karbala Iraqi police. This trust was violated,’ the report dated Feb. 27 says.”
-USA Today, July 11, 2007

“No, no, no.. Dang it, Iraq is not in a civil war and all of our problems there are coming from non-Saudi terrorists, not a native insurgency! Can’t you get that through your head? We need to root out these foreign terrorists and then we can finally declare victory and leave Iraq.”
-Skippy

“Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police are capable of keeping security in the country when American troops leave ‘any time they want,’ though he acknowledged the forces need further weapons and training.
The embattled prime minister sought to show confidence at a time when congressional pressure is growing for a withdrawal and the Bush administration reported little progress had been made on the most vital of a series of political benchmarks it wants al-Maliki to carry out.
Al-Maliki said difficulty in enacting the measures was ‘natural’ given Iraq's turmoil.
But one of his top aides, Hassan al-Suneid, rankled at the assessment, saying the U.S. was treating Iraq like ‘an experiment in an American laboratory.’ He sharply criticised the U.S. military, saying it was committing human rights violations, embarassing the Iraqi government with its tactics and cooperating with ‘gangs of killers’ in its campaign against al-Qaida in Iraq."
-Associated Press, July 15, 2007

“Don’t listen to the government of Iraq. We ain’t leaving ‘til every last non-Saudi foreign terrorist is dead.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Fearless Leader Speaks

2007-07-13T04:16:00.000-07:00

“President Bush on Thursday acknowledged publicly for the first time that someone in his administration likely leaked the name of a CIA operative, although he also said he hopes the controversy over his decision to spare prison for a former White House aide has ‘run its course.’
‘And now we're going to move on,’ Bush said in a White House news conference.
The president had initially said he would fire anyone in his administration found to have publicly disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and a CIA operative. Ten days ago, Bush commuted the 30-month sentence given to I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby by a federal judge in connection with the case.”
-Associated Press, July 12, 2007

“Ah.. so Fearless Leader, the man who blocked all investigation of this case for several years and then commuted the sentence of a criminal who was found covering up evidence via perjury, has finally accepted that he has a criminal working for him (after swearing that he would ‘take care of’ whoever leaked the information)… and he is cool with that. That is some rather severe cognitive dissonance there. Usually only Fox News can provide that level of reasoning.”
-Skippy

"The Scooter Libby decision was, I thought, a fair and balanced decision,"
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 12, 2007

“Ah.. There you go. Fearless Leader also spoke yesterday on the good news in Iraq.”
-Skippy

“The Iraqi government has made only mixed progress toward fulfilling goals for political, military and economic reform, the Bush administration said Thursday in a report certain to inflame debate in Congress future U.S. war strategy.
At a news conference that coincided with the report's release, President Bush said he saw ‘cause for optimism’ in its efforts.”
-MSNBC, July 12, 2007

“See, they have only made any real progress towards eight of 18 goals, but that is still a cause for optimism. Of course meeting ANY of the goals would have been the best news, but when life gives you lemons, make an unendurable hellhole for our troops to be stuck in I always say. It isn’t the insurgency that is the problem though.. No, civil war has nothing to do with our problems in Iraq. Those problems are all caused by outsiders getting involved in Iraq (like we are I guess). Foreign terrorists are our enemies!”
-Skippy

“The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th, and that's why what happens in Iraq matters to the security here at home.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 12, 2007

“Really? The same folks? Aren’t the people who hijacked those airplanes, you know… dead?”
-Skippy

“And the guys who had perpetuated the attacks on America -- obviously, the guys on the airplane are dead, and the commanders, many of those are either dead or in captivity, like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 12, 2007

“’There is a perception in the coverage that Al Qaeda may be as strong today as they were prior to September the 11th,’ Bush said. ‘That's just simply not the case. I think the report will say, since 2001, not prior to September the 11th, 2001, because of the actions we have taken, Al Qaeda is weaker today than they would have been.’”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 12, 2007

“So we’re winning in our War on Terra? Good, because it sounds like things are pretty bad..”
-Skippy

“A new National Intelligence Estimate presents a sobering analysis of terrorism threats to the United States, concluding that Al Qaeda has reconstituted its core structure along the Pakistani border and may now be a stronger and more resilient organization today than it appeared a year ago, according to three U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the draft document.
-Newsweek, July 11, 2007

“Leaks of a US intelligence report show Al Qaeda's operating capabilities are at their strongest since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The report suggests the network has rebuilt itself despite a six-year campaign to dismantle it.”
-ABC News, July 13, 2007

“So what you are saying is that the ‘perception in the coverage’ is incorrect, though that coverage is based upon your own intelligence reports? I guess that you really can’t believe everything that you read.”
-Skippy

“Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the US”
-Presidential Daily Briefing, August 6, 2001

“At least I hope that you aren’t just skipping through the reports just looking for the pictures. No, we are winning the War on Terra, and we are winning the War in Iraq. Our successes are entirely due to Fearless Leader, while our failures.. well, someone else made those problems.”
-Skippy

“I mean, one of the questions is, should we have sent more in the beginning? Well, I asked that question, do you need more, to General Tommy Franks. In the first phase of this operation, General Franks was obviously in charge, and during our discussions in the run up to the decision to remove Saddam Hussein after he ignored the Security Council resolutions. My primary question to General Franks was, do you have what it takes to succeed? And do you have what it takes to succeed after you succeed in removing Saddam Hussein? And his answer was, yes. Now, history is going to look back to determine whether or not there might have been a different decision made. But at the time, the only thing I can tell you, Wendell, is that I relied upon our military commander to make the proper decision about troop strength.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 12, 2007

“But, despite the apparent difficulties with our success in Iraq, we need to stay longer, because Fearless Leader cannot afford to listen to the majority of the American people.”
-Skippy

“In other words, if our troops said, well, here we are in combat, and we've got a Commander-in-Chief who is running a focus group -- in other words, politics is more important to him than our safety and/or our strategy -- that would dispirit our troops.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 12, 2007

“Yes, removing the troops from a 360 degree combat zone in Iraq would be bad because it might hurt their feelings. Unlike, you know, IEDs and rifles, which only hurt their bodies and may kill or cripple them for life. Well said Fearless Leader.. Well said.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Badgering Iraq

2007-07-12T04:18:00.000-07:00

“In a broadly worded legal opinion, the Justice Department has concluded that President Bush's former top lawyer, and possibly other senior White House officials, can ignore subpoenas from Congress to testify about the firings of U.S. attorneys.
The three-page opinion raises questions about whether the Justice Department would prosecute senior administration officials if Congress voted to hold them in contempt for not cooperating with the investigation into the firing last year of eight top prosecutors.”
-LA Times, July 12, 2007

“So the Justice Department has concluded that people who worked for the White House do not have to respond to subpoenas from Congress.. which is currently investigating improper White House involvement in the Justice Department. It is all so wonderfully circular. The Justice Department is blocking the rule of law regarding the Justice Department. Let’s see, we have an autocratic leader, gulags (aka Guantanamo), and now we have law enforcement divisions that are above the law. I’m not so sure that we won the Cold War.”
All that is missing is a government that spreads propaganda (lies) to its own citizens and I think we’ll be there…”
-Skippy

“Early on the morning of Nov. 13, 2006, members of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group gathered around a dark wooden conference table in the windowless Roosevelt Room of the White House.
For more than an hour, they listened to President Bush give what one panel member called a ‘Churchillian’ vision of ‘victory’ in Iraq and defend the country's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. ‘A constitutional order is emerging,’ he said.
Later that morning, around the same conference table, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden painted a starkly different picture for members of the study group. Hayden said ‘the inability of the government to govern seems irreversible,’ adding that he could not ‘point to any milestone or checkpoint where we can turn this thing around,’ according to written records of his briefing and the recollections of six participants.”
-Washington Post, July 12, 2007

“That can’t be right! We’re winning the war! We’re beating the terrorists!”
-Skippy

“A new National Intelligence Estimate presents a sobering analysis of terrorism threats to the United States, concluding that Al Qaeda has reconstituted its core structure along the Pakistani border and may now be a stronger and more resilient organization today than it appeared a year ago, according to three U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the draft document.
-Newsweek, July 11, 2007

“If I didn’t know better I’d say that Iraq is a big mistake that has distracted us from really pursuing al Qaeda and has, in fact, actually damaged us as a nation based upon both our military preparedness and our international standing while actually increasing the dangers of terrorism by creating a lawless ‘failed state’ in the middle of the Middle East.
And now for something completely different.”
-Skippy

“THE Iraqi port city of Basra, already prey to a nasty turf war between rival militia factions, has now been gripped by a scary rumour – giant badgers are stalking the streets by night, eating humans.
The animals were allegedly released into the area by British forces.
Local farmers have caught and killed several of the beasts, but this has done nothing to dispel the rumour.
Iraqi scientists have attempted to calm things down. However, the story has spread like wildfire in the streets of the city and the villages round about.
Mushtaq Abdul-Mahdi, director of Basra's veterinary hospital, has inspected the corpses of several badgers and tries to reassure Iraqis that the animals are not a new post-war arrival in the region.
[…]
Both the scientists and the soldiers agree that the badger ought not to be a danger to humans, but so far they have failed to reassure the populace.
‘I was sleeping at night when this strange animal hit me on my head. I have not seen such an animal before. My husband hurried to shoot it but it was as swift as a deer,’ Suad Hassan, a 30-year-old housewife said.
‘It is the size of a dog but his head is like a monkey. It runs so quickly.’
Cell phone video of the badgers circulating in Basra shows a stocky skunk-like animal with long front claws.
The honey badger, or ratel, is known as a brave predator capable of killing a cobra. It weighs up to 14kg.
Sattar Jabbar, a 50-year-old local farmer from Abu Sakhar north of Basra, believes the badger can tackle even large prey.
‘I saw it three days ago at night attacking animals. It even ate a cow. It tore the cow up piece by piece. I tried to shoot it with my gun but it ran away into the orchards. I missed it,’ he said.”
-Agence France-Presse, July 11, 2007

“That is so silly.. The British would never think of using giant badgers for a military purpose..”
-Skippy

“Arthur:(to Bedevere) What happens now?
Bedevere: Well, now, uh, Lancelot, Galahad and I, uh, wait until nightfall, and then leap out of the rabbit, taking the French, uh, by surprise. Not only by surprise, but totally unarmed!
Arthur: Who leaps out?
Bedevere: (pointing to each knight as he names him) Uh... Lancelot, Galahad, and I.... uh, leap out of the rabbit, uh, and, uh....
Lancelot: (groans)
Bedevere: (pause) Oh... um, look, if we built this large wooden badger....”
-Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Quotes of the Morning: Gut Reactions

2007-07-11T04:05:00.000-07:00

“A secret U.S. law enforcement report, prepared for the Department of Homeland Security, warns that al Qaeda is planning a terror ‘spectacular’ this summer, according to a senior official with access to the document.
‘This is reminiscent of the warnings and intelligence we were getting in the summer of 2001,’ the official told ABCNews.com”
-ABC News, July 2, 2007

“Aaaaaah! Be afraid! Be afraid! There are terrorist plots! Live in terror! ….wait, um.. Don’t the terrorists win if we live in terror?”
-Skippy

“Chertoff also played down a report that al-Qaida was planning a big attack in the United States. ‘We do not currently have any specific threat information that is credible about a particular attack on the United States,’ Chertoff told Fox News.”
-MSNBC, July 2, 2007

“Whew.. Luckily Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was there to calm this down a little bit…”
-Skippy

“U.S. counterterror officials are warning of an increased risk of an attack this summer, given al-Qaida's apparent interest in summertime strikes and increased al-Qaida training in the Afghan-Pakistani border region.
On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the editorial board of The Chicago Tribune that he had a ‘gut feeling’ about a new period of increased risk.”
Associated Press, July 10, 2007

“Until he then turned around and tries to scare the poo out of us based on his ‘gut’. I guess that’s ok.. Some of the people I trust most think from their guts.”
-Skippy

“Every night on my show, The Colbert Report, I speak straight from the gut, okay? I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the ‘No Fact Zone.’ FOX News, I hold a copyright on that term.
I'm a simple man with a simple mind. I hold a simple set of beliefs that I live by. Number one, I believe in America. I believe it exists. My gut tells me I live there. I feel that it extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and I strongly believe it has 50 states, and I cannot wait to see how the Washington Post spins that one tomorrow.”
-Stephen Colbert, April 29, 2006

“So there is no specific threat, but Chertoff’s ‘gut’ and apparently a secret U.S. law enforcement report both agree that something is going down. I guess that they don’t want to scare everyone or make them change what they do at all (or they’d be changing the terrorism color level.. remember that?), but they’d kind of like to have an available ‘I told you so’ if something… bad… happens.”
-Skippy

“Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the US”
-Presidential Daily Briefing, August 6, 2001

“Don’t worry though.. The brave men and women in Homeland Defense, with the support of Fearless Leader, will always be there to help protect us from harm that may, or may not, be coming.”
-Skippy

“The Bush administration has failed to fill roughly a quarter of the top leadership posts at the Department of Homeland Security, creating a ‘gaping hole’ in the nation's preparedness for a terrorist attack or other threat, according to a congressional report to be released today.
As of May 1, Homeland Security had 138 vacancies among its top 575 positions, with the greatest voids reported in its policy, legal and intelligence sections, as well as immigration agencies, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard. The vacant slots include presidential, senior executive and other high-level appointments, according to the report by the House Homeland Security Committee.”
-Washington Post, July 9, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: King of Pain

2007-07-10T04:26:00.000-07:00

“Things are never easy for Fearless Leader. His crown lies heavy upon his head. I mean, the poor man just got over having to commute the sentence of a good friend convicted of lying to Congress, and now that stupid old Congress is sniffing around for more things to bother him with. Can’t they just let the poor man get back to watching cartoons?”
-Skippy

“President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors.
The White House, however, did offer again to make former counsel Harriet Miers and one-time political director Sara Taylor available for private, off-the-record interviews.”
-Associated Press, July 10, 2007

“No one is allowed to talk to the White House advisors because there needs to be free and unfettered communication between Fearless Leader and his flying monkeys, and the fear of Congress asking questions could make his monkeys not tell him the good news that he knows is happening all around him in the bright gleaming bubble of happiness and agreement that surrounds him like a halo..
Of course they WOULD be aloud to speak to Congress if they could avoid any kind of responsibility for what was said. You see, those communications are very private and personal, but if they weren’t under oath their communications would suddenly be ok to discuss. They could tell you anything (and probably would).
Exactly why is this executive privilege? Let’s let the White House answer.”
-Skippy

“In a letter to the heads of the House and Senate judiciary panels, White House counsel Fred Fielding insisted that Bush was acting in good faith and refused lawmakers’ demand that the president explain the basis for invoking the privilege.
‘You may be assured that the president’s assertion here comports with prior practices in similar contexts, and that it has been appropriately documented,’ the letter said.”
-Associated Press, July 10, 2007

“See? You just have to trust that the man who’s office is under investigation for withholding vital investigation into a corruption case will tell you the truth. Other than testimony, what else could you want…”
-Skippy

“Fielding also said the White House would ignore the committees’ request for a list of documents it was refusing not turn over.”
-Cox News Service, July 9, 2007

“…other than any information at all?”
-Skippy

“As a longtime attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, I can honestly say that I have never been as ashamed of the department and government that I serve as I am at this time.
The public record now plainly demonstrates that both the DOJ and the government as a whole have been thoroughly politicized in a manner that is inappropriate, unethical and indeed unlawful. The unconscionable commutation of I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby’s sentence, the misuse of warrantless investigative powers under the Patriot Act and the deplorable treatment of U.S. attorneys all point to an unmistakable pattern of abuse.
In the course of its tenure since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration has turned the entire government (and the DOJ in particular) into a veritable Augean stable on issues such as civil rights, civil liberties, international law and basic human rights, as well as criminal prosecution and federal employment and contracting practices. It has systematically undermined the rule of law in the name of fighting terrorism, and it has sought to insulate its actions from legislative or judicial scrutiny and accountability by invoking national security at every turn, engaging in persistent fearmongering, routinely impugning the integrity and/or patriotism of its critics, and protecting its own lawbreakers. This is neither normal government conduct nor ‘politics as usual,’ but a national disgrace of a magnitude unseen since the days of Watergate — which, in fact, I believe it eclipses.”
-John S. Koppel, civil appellate attorney with the Department of Justice since 1981, July 5, 2007

“Let’s go out on something a little more light-hearted. Give us a good one Fearless Leader..”
-Skippy

“You know, our government and the people -- the generosity of the Americans, American people can be -- as manifested by just money, spending money.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 9, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: Revolutionary Ideas

2007-07-09T04:21:00.000-07:00

“The Bush administration is urging a former White House political director to ignore a subpoena and not testify before Congress about the firings of federal prosecutors, her lawyer says.
The Senate Judiciary Committee wants to hear from Sara Taylor at its hearing Wednesday and she is willing to talk. Testifying, however, would defy the wishes of the president, ‘a person whom she admires and for whom she has worked tirelessly for years,’ lawyer W. Neil Eggleston said.
Eggleston stated, in a letter this weekend to committee leaders and White House counsel Fred Fielding, that Taylor expects a letter from Fielding asking her not to comply with the subpoena.”
-Associated Press, July 8, 2007

“Um.. So let me see if I understand this. The White House is now urging people to break the law and not comply with a Congressional subpoena?”
-Skippy

“’In our view, it is unfair to Ms. Taylor that this constitutional struggle might be played out with her as the object of an unseemly tug of war,’ Eggleston wrote.
He added, ‘Absent the direction from the White House, Ms. Taylor would testify without hesitation before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She has committed no wrongdoing. She will assert no personal privileges.’”
-Associated Press, July 8, 2007

“Yes, it is terrible that Ms. Taylor is caught between obeying the law and standing up for her old boss. That whole ‘rule of law’ thing is such a pain sometimes. Maybe if she is thrown in jail Fearless Leader can commute her sentence to time served. It worked for Libby.
I guess the rules are simple enough. There is to be no questioning of Fearless Leader or his policies, even if those policies lead to things like this..”
-Skippy

“A deadly truck bombing in a busy market in northern Iraq has killed 105 people and injured 240, police say.
The morning blast destroyed the market in the small town of Amirli, south of Kirkuk, killing many people instantly and trapping dozens among the rubble.
It was the deadliest single attack in Iraq since April, correspondents say.
It came as 29 people were killed in separate violence, including 22 people who died overnight in Diyala province when a suicide bomber hit a cafe.
-BBC News, July 7, 2007

“Those are just the birth pangs of a new nation. The same thing happened here when the United States was founded 20-some years ago. Huh? Wait that can’t be right…”
-Skippy

“Our first Independence Day celebration took place in a midst of a war -- a bloody and difficult struggle that would not end for six more years before America finally secured her freedom. More than two decades later, it is hard to imagine the Revolutionary War coming out any other way -- but at the time, America's victory was far from certain.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 4, 2007

“Oh.. I guess we were founded back in the 1980s after all.. I guess the American Revolution and the Reagan Revolution were one in the same.. Funny how I don’t remember that.”
-Skippy

“Do you realize that the past, starting from yesterday, has been actually abolished? If it survives anywhere, it's in a few solid objects with no words attached to them, like that lump of glass there. Already we know almost literally nothing about the Revolution and the years before the Revolution. Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right. I know, of course, that the past is falsified, but it would never be possible for me to prove it, even when I did the falsification myself. After the thing is done, no evidence ever remains. The only evidence is inside my own mind, and I don't know with any certainty that any other human being shares my memories”
-Winston Smith, George Orwell, 1984

Quotes of the Morning: Tricky Dicks

2007-07-06T04:14:00.000-07:00

“Everything old is new again.. All of the stories of 35 years ago have returned. We have an unpopular president in the White House…”
-Skippy

“In a remarkable span, the approval that people voice for the job Bush is doing has sunk to record lows for his presidency in the AP-Ipsos and other polls in recent weeks, dipping within sight of President Nixon's levels during Watergate.”
-Washington Post, July 4, 2007

“..an unpopular war…”
-Skippy

“Substituting the word ‘Iraq’ for ‘Vietnam’ in the text of a declassified 1967 CIA memo shows ‘eerie parallels’ between the two conflicts.
Former senior U.S. national security official Kurt Campbell and an associate at the centrist Washington think tank where he now works, the Center for a New American Security, have penned a piece for the new issue of Foreign Policy magazine.
The Sept. 11, 1967, memo -- titled ‘Implications of an Unfavorable Outcome in Vietnam’ -- was requested by CIA Director Richard Helms and ‘detailed a lengthy list of potential dark outcomes and worrisome prospects’ of U.S. failure in Vietnam, says the article. “
-UPI, June 26, 2007

“..obstruction of justice..”
-Skippy

“Former White House aide I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals court unanimously ruled Monday.
The decision is a dramatic setback for Libby, who likely will have to surrender to prison in weeks. The ruling puts pressure on President Bush, who has been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Libby was convicted in March of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. He is the highest-ranking White House official ordered to prison since the Iran-Contra affair.
[…]
The decision leaves Libby with few legal options, the most likely being an appeal to Chief Justice John Roberts. Barring an intervention there, it seems only Bush could spare Libby prison time.”
-Associated Press, July 2, 2007

“I have earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life I have never obstructed justice. People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got."
-Richard M. Nixon, November 18, 1973

“On Saturday, July 27, the House Judiciary Committee approved its first article of impeachment charging President Nixon with obstruction of justice. Six of the Committee's 17 Republicans joined all 21 Democrats in voting for the article. The following Monday the Committee approved its second article charging Nixon with abuse of power. The next day, the third and final article, contempt of Congress, was approved.”
-Historyplace.com

“..and other minor similarities..”
-Skippy

“Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal.”
-Richard M. Nixon, interview with David Frost, May 19, 1977

“..but now the new election year is coming, so we have a chance to change the storyline and pick a new direction..”
-Skippy

“The day before Senate Watergate Committee minority counsel Fred Thompson made the inquiry that launched him into the national spotlight -- asking an aide to President Nixon whether there was a White House taping system -- he telephoned Nixon's lawyer.
Thompson tipped off the White House that the committee knew about the taping system and would be making the information public. In his all-but-forgotten Watergate memoir, ‘At That Point in Time,’ Thompson said he acted with ‘no authority’ in divulging the committee's knowledge of the tapes, which provided the evidence that led to Nixon's resignation. It was one of many Thompson leaks to the Nixon team, according to a former investigator for Democrats on the committee, Scott Armstrong , who remains upset at Thompson's actions.
‘Thompson was a mole for the White House,’ Armstrong said in an interview. ‘Fred was working hammer and tong to defeat the investigation of finding out what happened to authorize Watergate and find out what the role of the president was.’"
-Boston Globe, July 4, 2007

“..if we can find one.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Screws Fall Out

2007-07-05T04:20:00.000-07:00

“I respect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.
My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby. The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged. His wife and young children have also suffered immensely. He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect. The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be long-lasting.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 2, 2007

“He respects the verdict. That means that he thinks that Scooter is guilty, but that he didn’t deserve jail time for withholding evidence and lying to Congress in obstructing a federal investigation of the outing of an undercover CIA operative.
Sure, he has no problem with Scooter not doing any time for that, but we should give him credit… At least he agrees that Scooter is guilty.”
-Skippy

“The White House on Tuesday declined to rule out the possibility of an eventual pardon for former vice presidential aide I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby. But spokesman Tony Snow said, for now, President Bush is satisfied with his decision to commute Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence.”
-Associated Press, July 3, 2007

“Hey.. Here’s a little-known factoid for you. If Scooter had been pardoned he would not be able to incriminate himself further in the Plame investigation, since the pardon would mean that he could not be found guilty of a crime in that regard. In other words, if he had received a pardon he could not take the Fifth in any further investigations.
Anyone want to bet when he receives that pardon? I’m betting about an hour before Fearless Leader leaves office.
Somehow it seems that someone in the White House should be apologizing for some of this stuff..”
-Skippy

“Q Tony, I want to go back to the issue of an apology, and I want to stay issue-focused and not blaming. Are there -- is the American people owed some kind of apology from someone in this administration for the leaking of a CIA person's name, personnel's name?
MR. SNOW: Yes, it's improper to be leaking those names.
Q You say it's improper, so you're saying someone in this administration owes the American public an apology?
MR. SNOW: I'll apologize. All done.
Q No, it's not. That's flippant, that's a very flippant way of doing something very serious -- it was a very serious matter. That was very flippant.
MR. SNOW: Well, no, I think in some ways the characterization -- because there are so many complex issues involved in this, including the provenance of it, and furthermore, the fact that in the Washington culture things get leaked all the time. And I'm not aware --
Q Does that make it right?
MR. SNOW: How many of you have apologized for a controversial name appearing under tough circumstances in a news story? I daresay the answer is zero.
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesman Tony Snow, July 3, 2007

“Well… At least we received the apology. See? Tony apologized, but really, isn’t the breaking of federal law and outing an undercover CIA operative investigating nuclear proliferation just like mentioning a controversial name in the news? I mean except for the part about it being a matter of violating national security and breaking a law under the federal statutes. Other than that.”
-Skippy

“Screws fall out all the time. The world is an imperfect place.”
-John Bender, The Breakfast Club

“And finally.. A question regarding Vice-Leader Dick.”
-Skippy

“Q Is Cheney a member of the executive branch?
PRESIDENT BUSH: I didn't hear you.”
-Questions and Answers with George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 2, 2007

“Seriously.. That is where the question and answer session ended. He apparently suddenly went deaf and that was the end of the meeting.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: It's Good to Be King

2007-07-03T04:22:00.000-07:00

“No one can say that Fearless Leader is not a man of his word. He is a rock of integrity. When Fearless Leader says something like this…”
-Skippy

“If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is . . . If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, September 30, 2003

“…you know that he means it. He will take care of that person. Personally. So when bad things happen…”
-Skippy

“Former White House aide I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals court unanimously ruled Monday.
The decision is a dramatic setback for Libby, who likely will have to surrender to prison in weeks. The ruling puts pressure on President Bush, who has been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Libby was convicted in March of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. He is the highest-ranking White House official ordered to prison since the Iran-Contra affair.
[…]
The decision leaves Libby with few legal options, the most likely being an appeal to Chief Justice John Roberts. Barring an intervention there, it seems only Bush could spare Libby prison time.”
-Associated Press, July 2, 2007

“…Fearless Leader isn’t afraid to step in and take care of the criminal in question.”
-Skippy

“President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby from a 2½-year prison term in the CIA leak investigation Monday, delivering a political thunderbolt in the highly charged criminal case. Bush said the sentence was just too harsh.
Bush’s move came just five hours after a federal appeals panel ruled that Libby could not delay his prison term. That meant Libby was likely to have to report soon, and it put new pressure on the president, who had been sidestepping calls by Libby’s allies to pardon Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff.
‘I respect the jury’s verdict,’ Bush said in a statement. ‘But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.’”
-Associated Press, July 2, 2007

“After all, the law is for lesser men than those in the White House. Their laws are not those of the rabble, and making one of these fine men attend a prison (which I have heard are filled with criminals and non-‘white male executive’ types) would be unfair. They live by a higher standard.”
-Skippy

“We fully recognize that the Constitution provides that commutation decisions are a matter of presidential prerogative and we do not comment on the exercise of that prerogative. We comment only on the statement in which the President termed the sentence imposed by the judge as ‘excessive.’ The sentence in this case was imposed pursuant to the laws governing sentencings which occur every day throughout this country. In this case, an experienced federal judge considered extensive argument from the parties and then imposed a sentence consistent with the applicable laws. It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals. That principle guided the judge during both the trial and the sentencing.
Although the President’s decision eliminates Mr. Libby’s sentence of imprisonment, Mr. Libby remains convicted by a jury of serious felonies, and we will continue to seek to preserve those convictions through the appeals process.”
-Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, July 2, 2007

“After all, Mr. Libby was a great man who did a lot of vital work in obstructing justice for the Office of the Vice President (aka the fourth branch of the government), and Vice-Leader Cheney knows how important that is for America.”
-Skippy

“I have always considered him [Libby] to be a man of the highest intellect, judgment and personal integrity — a man fully committed to protecting the vital security interests of the United States and its citizens. … The defense has indicated it plans to appeal the conviction in the case. Speaking as friends, we hope that our system will return a final result consistent with what we know of this fine man.”
-Vice-Leader Dick Cheney, July 2, 2007

“Of course that was an endorsement from Vice-Leader Cheney (who was taking time out from his busy schedule of eating babies and shooting old men in the face). Other people are not quite as happy about the unique form of justice shown.”
-Skippy

"This is a complete departure from the usual procedure. Scooter Libby is getting a very special brand of justice. He is getting enormous privileges that are not available to ordinary criminal convicts."
-Jeffrey Toobin, CNN Legal Analyst, July 2, 2007

“But most of the people complaining are Democrats, so it must all be just partisan bickering again.”
-Skippy

"Today's decision is yet another example that this Administration simply considers itself above the law. This case arose from the Administration's politicization of national security intelligence and its efforts to punish those who spoke out against its policies. Four years into the Iraq war, Americans are still living with the consequences of this White House's efforts to quell dissent. This commutation sends the clear signal that in this Administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice."
-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, July 2, 2007

"The President's decision to commute Mr. Libby's sentence is disgraceful. Libby's conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq War. Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone. Judge Walton correctly determined that Libby deserved to be imprisoned for lying about a matter of national security. The Constitution gives President Bush the power to commute sentences, but history will judge him harshly for using that power to benefit his own Vice President's Chief of Staff who was convicted of such a serious violation of law."
-Sen. Harry Reid, July 2, 2007

“The President’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison sentence does not serve justice, condones criminal conduct, and is a betrayal of trust of the American people. The President said he would hold accountable anyone involved in the Valerie Plame leak case. By his action today, the President shows his word is not to be believed. He has abandoned all sense of fairness when it comes to justice, he has failed to uphold the rule of law, and he has failed to hold his Administration accountable.”
-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, July 2, 2007

"Only a president clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences could take the action he did today. President Bush has just sent exactly the wrong signal to the country and the world. In George Bush's America, it is apparently okay to misuse intelligence for political gain, mislead prosecutors and lie to the FBI. George Bush and his cronies think they are above the law and the rest of us live with the consequences. The cause of equal justice in America took a serious blow today."
-Sen. John Edwards, July 2, 2007

"This decision to commute the sentence of a man who compromised our national security cements the legacy of an Administration characterized by a politics of cynicism and division, one that has consistently placed itself and its ideology above the law. This is exactly the kind of politics we must change so we can begin restoring the American people’s faith in a government that puts the country’s progress ahead of the bitter partisanship of recent years."
-Sen. Barack Obama, July 2,2 007

"From my viewpoint, the president has stepped in to short circuit the rule of law and the system of justice in our country. In so doing, he has acknowledged Mr. Libby's guilt for, among other things, obstruction of justice, which by definition is covering up for somebody in a crime. By commuting his sentence, he has brought himself and his office into reasonable suspicion of participation in an obstruction of justice. The commutation of (Libby's) sentence in and of itself is participation in obstruction of justice."
-Ambassador Joseph Wilson, July 2, 2007

“President Bush's eleventh hour commutation of Scooter Libby’s sentence makes a mockery of the justice system and betrays the idea that all Americans are expected to be held accountable for their actions, even close friends of Vice President Cheney. It's a tragedy that with young Americans paying the ultimate price in Iraq for this administration's mistakes, this White House continues to avoid accountability and reward deceit for their friends and supporters.”
-Senator John Kerry, July 2, 2007

“The rule of law is for lesser men. Our leaders are made of sterner stuff. God save the King.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Uniting Iraq

2007-07-02T04:27:00.000-07:00

“On the facts, reduced violence in Baghdad and incredibly reduced violence in Anbar province to the west, which Al Qaeda in Iraq was in control of a few months ago. The surge is working. You might say that in Iraq, we have the enemy on the run. But for some reason in Washington, a lot of politicians are on the run to order a retreat by our troops even as they are beginning to succeed.”
-Sen. Joseph Lieberman, July 1, 2007

“Feel the Joementum! Things in Iraq are great! Wonderful! Stupendous!”
-Skippy

“Three months after the start of the Baghdad security plan that has added thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital, they control fewer than one-third of the city’s neighborhoods, far short of the initial goal for the operation, according to some commanders and an internal military assessment.”
-New York Times, June 3, 2007

“Hey, that was almost a month ago. No fair. Since then things have been looking up.”
-Skippy

“The US military says their forces have found around 40 bodies, bound and shot, in a fresh mass grave south of Fallujah.
It also reported 26 militants killed in heavy fighting in Baghdad.
A local Iraqi citizen's tip led coalition forces to the site of a mass grave late Friday evening (local time) outside Ferris, approximately 35 kilometres south of Fallujah, in western Anbar province.
Coalition forces uncovered 35 to 40 bodies at the site.
‘There were gunshots to the head and torso. Some of them had been bound, they were executed. It was recent,’ Major Jeff Pool said, adding that an investigation had been launched to identify the victims and their killers. “
-AFP July, 1, 2007

“Those corpses were NOT found in a mass grave. They couldn’t be. Not a chance. Why? Because there are no more mass graves in Iraq. Fearless Leader says so.”
-Skippy

“A year ago, I did give the speech from the carrier, saying that we had achieved an important objective, that we'd accomplished a mission, which was the removal of Saddam Hussein. And as a result, there are no longer torture chambers or rape rooms or mass graves in Iraq."
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, April 30, 2004

“I don’t think of it as a ‘mass grave’. I think of it as a ‘designated corpse internment zone’. The whole ‘ethnic cleansing with, um, designated corpse internment zone’ kind of thing does bring back memories of an earlier world conflict. I wonder if anyone else sees it?”
-Skippy

“I had an Arab diplomat say to me two weeks ago that what is happening in the Middle East today reminds him of what happened in Europe during the 1930s, when Nazi Germany began to make moves and the rest of Europe and the United States did not act quick enough to stop the Second World War. He was talking about Iran. Iran is on the move in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Afghanistan. And if we pull out of Iraq, Iran and Al Qaida are the victors. So my answer is, as long as we have a reasonable chance of success in Iraq, then I’m going to say it’s worth it for us to stay.
Because if Iran and Al Qaida take over Iraq, they will destabilize the entire Middle East, and they will strike at us here at home…”
-Sen. Joseph Lieberman, July 1, 2007

“Good ol’ Joe. He knows how to talk about the Nazis. The first, and most important, thing is that HE isn’t talking about them. No, an Arab diplomat was. And it was a good point. You see, if we leave Iraq then Iran (a conservative Shiite state) and al Qaida (an ultra-conservative Sunni organization) will take over and go after us.
Yep, apparently if we leave the two sides currently killing each other in Iraq will give up their religious conflicts and will unite to kill us.”
-Skippy

“I’m a uniter, not a divider.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush

Quotes of the Morning: Executive Privileges

2007-06-29T04:14:00.000-07:00

“White House counsel Fred F. Fielding said in a letter to the chairmen of the Senate and House judiciary committees that President Bush will not make available the requested documents or permit testimony by two former senior aides about White House and Justice Department calculations in the firing of nine federal prosecutors.”
-Washington Post, June 28, 2007

“But, but, but.. There is nothing to hide. It was all legal and above-board. Executive privilege regarding the testimony of former employees? Has that ever been done before?”
-Skippy

“Q I take it the President's assertion of executive privilege does not cover Miers and Taylor testifying? Or is he saying that it does -- since they've left the executive branch?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Oh, thank you for giving me the opportunity to clarify that. The position stated in this letter and in this exercise of executive privilege is only with regard and in regard to documents; that's the only thing at instant issue.
However, the President has advised that he would exercise executive privilege in regard to the testimony of both of those individuals if it gets to that point and the subpoenas are not withdrawn and they're still (inaudible) at the time they're due. The fact that they are no longer present employees has nothing to do with the principle of executive privilege and the information protection that that affords.
Q Can you give us some background on precedent on that? Have there been other examples where people who have left government have complied with a presidential order not to testify because of executive privilege?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I'm sure we could provide that for you. I'm searching right now, I'm looking across the table. Does anybody have one -- yes.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: In, I believe, the early 1950s, material was sought from the Eisenhower administration pertaining to conduct at State in the Truman administration. And former -- then former President Truman, himself, wrote a letter objecting to the attempt to obtain such material, and it was resolved, I believe, without turning anything over.
Q That's documents, not people, right?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Don't know the answer to that, I think that's right.”
-Press Gaggle with a ‘Senior Administration Official’, June 28, 2007

“So the President is claiming that anything having to do with information that he may have heard people tell him is covered by executive privilege, correct?”
-Skippy

“Q For any of you, I have a question about -- as a non-legal scholar. My understanding is the evolution of the law, the executive privilege, that there are basically two forms of privilege that a president can claim. And I wanted to clarify: Is the President saying, by doing this, that he himself personally was in receipt of advice about the U.S. Attorney firings, and that's why he's invoking the privilege? The documents went to him; that his staff provided him with advice, and that's what he's protecting.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Oh no, no, that would be a misconstruction of the breadth of the executive privilege. What is related -- deliberations, formulation of advice, performance of executive branch duties consistent with the President's constitutional obligations.
Q So he is still maintaining that he had nothing to do with the actual discussions between White House staff, meaning Ms. Miers and Sara Taylor and the Justice Department related to the Attorney firings; that he had no direct involvement.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, there's no change in our prior position at all.
Q But that is -- the way I've stated it is correct?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, state it again. I'm going to make sure -- I don't have a transcript.
Q Maybe you should get one. That would help. No -- in this case, the President is saying that he had nothing to do, directly himself, with receiving advice about the firing of the U.S. Attorneys and approving the list or adjusting the list. Just because Ms. Miers or Ms. Taylor or Scott Jennings appeared in emails with DOJ discussing that, he is asserting that there is no involvement; his personal involvement did not engage in those discussions.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: He has no personal involvement. Our position has never been any different than that.”
-Press Gaggle with a ‘Senior Administration Official’, June 28, 2007

“Oh.. So really he is saying that any intelligence that may have been used in the executive branch, whether or not he had anything to do with it, is covered by executive privilege. Luckily there is very little intelligence used by the executive branch in this administration.
You know, some of this stuff sounds kind of familiar.”
-Skippy

“The statements from all sides yesterday called to mind the harsh rhetoric in Washington heard at the height of the Watergate scandal.
‘This is a further shift by the Bush administration into Nixonian stonewalling and more evidence of their disdain for our system of checks and balances,’ said Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. ‘Increasingly, the president and vice president feel they are above the law.’"
-Washington Post, June 28, 2007

“Nixon? Really? Nah, can’t be. I mean Bush has said that he would allow people to speak, just as long as they respect his reasonable suggestions.”
-Skippy

“Bush has offered to make Rove and other senior aides, including former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers, available for private interviews, but he has refused to allow a transcript to be made of those sessions and said they could not be conducted under oath.”
-Washington Post, June 28, 2007

“See? As long as they can lie without any chance of evidence proving it they can testify. And believe me.. Fearless Leader wants some of what Harriet Miers knows to make it out to the general public..”
-Skippy

"’You are the best governor ever - deserving of great respect,’ Harriet E. Miers wrote to George W. Bush days after his 51st birthday in July 1997. She also found him ‘cool,’ said he and his wife, Laura, were ‘the greatest!’ and told him: ‘Keep up the great work. Texas is blessed.’"
-New York Times, October 10, 2005

“So trust me, this is nothing at all like Watergate.”
-Skippy

“A key question, Sunstein said, is whether executive privilege covers only a president, as the Supreme Court ruled in a 1974 case that required President Richard M. Nixon to turn over private tape recordings during the Watergate investigation.”
-Washington Post, June 28, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: Getting Ahead in Iraq

2007-06-28T04:28:00.000-07:00

“Bad news in Iraq. Apparently the three month death toll of U.S. troops is at an all time high.”
-Skippy

“The violence is also causing American deaths. U.S. military officials said a soldier was killed during combat operations Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in eastern Baghdad. Four soldiers were injured. On Tuesday, a Marine was killed in combat in al-Anbar Province west of the capital, the military reported Wednesday.
Those deaths brought to 92 the number of U.S. troops killed so far in June. There have been 322 U.S. casualties in Iraq since the beginning of April, making the last three months the most deadly period for U.S. forces since the war began in March 2003.”
-Washington Post, June 28, 2007

“Our allies aren’t feeling that good about things either.”
-Skippy

“Three British soldiers have been killed and another seriously injured by a roadside bomb after they dismounted from their armoured patrol in southern Iraq.”
-Guardian Unlimited (UK), June 28, 2007

“And the Iraqis caught in the middle of the fighting are getting a little beaten up.”
-Skippy

“A massive car bomb exploded at a street-side bus depot during Baghdad's Thursday morning rush hour, killing at least 22 people and wounding more than 40 others in a tremendous explosion that set fire to scores of vehicles, Iraqi police said.
[…]
Arabia TV showed a huge crater in the street where the car bomb exploded. The Associated Press reported that as many as 40 empty minibuses were incinerated in the blast and subsequent fires.
The attack followed a late-night car bombing on Wednesday that killed at least 14 people near a major Shiite shrine in the Kadhimiya neighborhood in northern Baghdad, police reported.”
-Washington Post, June 28, 2007

“But we need to look on the bright side. Sure there are problems with the Shiites and the Sunni, but the Kurds are much, much better off than they were under Saddam.”
-Skippy

“The head of Turkey’s powerful armed forces reaffirmed on Wednesday his view that a cross-border operation into northern Iraq was needed to crush Kurdish rebels based there.”
-Daily Times (Pakistan), June 28, 2007

“Um.. For now.
Despite all of this, America sees progress…”
-Skippy

“America's second-ranking diplomat in Iraq predicted progress by fall on bringing together Iraq's feuding factions as violence claimed more lives yesterday, including 14 people killed in a late-night car bombing near a Shi'ite shrine in the capital.
In all, at least 60 Iraqis were killed or found dead across the country, most of them in the Baghdad area, according to police reports. Also yesterday, one American soldier was killed and four were wounded in a roadside bombing in east Baghdad, the US command said.”
-Associated Press, June 28, 2007

“…and you should never forget that we are working hard there to re-build the country and create new infrastructure.”
-Skippy

“One of Baqouba's main thoroughfares is so packed with IEDs that the U.S. military is considering declaring it ‘irrevocably mined,’ said Col. Steve Townsend, commander of the Army's 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
U.S. forces would then build their own road - right alongside the mined one - and guard it 24 hours a day, said Townsend, 47, from Griffin, Ga.
[…]
On May 6, a deep-buried IED killed six U.S. soldiers from Townsend's brigade serving in Baqouba, along with a Russian photographer embedded with them. The blast flipped their Stryker vehicle -- an eight-wheeled, 37,000-pound troop carrier -- upside down and tore out the interior, killing everyone inside except the driver.”
-Associated Press, June 27, 2007

“Just remember that rebuilding a country takes time. We definitely shouldn’t lose our heads about all of this.”
-Skippy

“Twenty beheaded bodies were discovered Thursday on the banks of the Tigris River southeast of Baghdad, while a parked car bomb killed another 20 people in one of the capital’s busy outdoor bus stations, police said.”
-Associated Press, June 28, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: Fighting On Both Fronts

2007-06-27T04:20:00.000-07:00

“Ok.. I was wrong. I admit it. I thought that this strategy…”
-Skippy

“The US military has embarked on a new and risky strategy in Iraq by arming Sunni insurgents in the hope that they will tackle the extremist al-Qaida in Iraq.
The US high command this month gave permission to its officers on the ground to negotiate arms deals with local leaders. Arms, ammunition, body armour and other equipment, as well as cash, pick-up trucks and fuel, have already been handed over in return for promises to turn on al-Qaida and not attack US troops.”
-Guardian (UK), June 12, 2007

“Ali Hatem Ali Suleiman, a leader of the Sunni Dulaimi tribe who works in Anbar and Baghdad, said many of the fighters in Amiriyah belong to the Islamic Army, which includes former officers from Saddam Hussein's military and is more secular than other insurgent groups. The fighters have been organized and encouraged by local imams.”
-Washington Post, June 9, 2007

“…was going to be dangerous to the U.S. troops since we are basically, you know, arming the enemy. It turns out that it was more dangerous for the Sunni insurgents.”
-Skippy

“More than two years ago, Sheik Fasal al Gaood approached the U.S. military with what was then an unprecedented offer: His tribesmen were prepared to help American troops rout insurgents linked to al Qaida from Anbar province in western Iraq.
But the Sunni Muslim tribal leader and former provincial governor met one rebuff after another from American officers, he told McClatchy Newspapers at the time. Discouraged and angry, he warned that U.S. officers risked losing him as an ally.
The Americans eventually came around, and al Gaood renewed his offer. He helped turn some of Anbar's most prominent Sunni tribes into a force in the war against al Qaida's followers. That high-stakes partnership may have cost him his life: Al Gaood and 11 other Iraqis were killed Monday in a bombing at a Baghdad hotel where tribal sheiks who've joined forces with the U.S. were scheduled to meet.”
-McClatchy Newspapers, June 25, 2007

“So I think that that strategy is probably now ‘non-operable’. Meanwhile, back on the homefront..”
-Skippy

“A federal judge chastised the Interior Department's former No. 2 official and doubled his proposed prison term to 10 months Tuesday for lying to senators in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and making excuses about it in court.
J. Steven Griles was the department's deputy secretary and is the highest administration official sentenced in the probe. He pleaded guilty to obstructing a congressional investigation, but on Tuesday his lawyers tried to deflect blame for his faulty testimony.”
-New York Times, June 26, 2007

“Obstruction again.. So strange. Let’s see.. That gives us criminals in the Interior Department (Griles) and the Office of the Vice President (Libby) with a major scandal still underway in the Justice Department (Gonzales). It just goes to prove that while Fearless Leader’s Administration seems criminal and incompetent in it’s waging of the Iraq war and in international relations, it is also criminal and incompetent in dealing with internal matters. Good to know.
And now for something completely different.”
-Skippy

“Human-animal hybrid embryos conceived in the laboratory - so-called ‘chimeras’ - should be regarded as human and their mothers should be allowed to give birth to them, the Roman Catholic Church said yesterday.
Under draft Government legislation to be debated by Parliament later this year, scientists will be given permission for the first time to create such embryos for research as long as they destroy them within two weeks.
But the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, in a submission to the Parliamentary joint committee scrutinising the draft legislation, said that the genetic mothers of ‘chimeras’ should be able to raise them as their own children if they wished.
The bishops said that they did not see why these ‘interspecies’ embryos should be treated any differently than others.”
-Telegraph (UK), June 27, 2007

“Rosemary Woodhouse: What have you done to him? What have you done to his eyes, you maniacs!
Roman Castevet: He has his father's eyes.”
-Rosemary’s Baby

Quotes of the Morning: Beaten With the Executive Branch

2007-06-26T04:23:00.000-07:00

“Alright.. The peace, love and joy brought of Comfest is now over (though we remain in the Festivus season until after the DooDah parade), so how is the rest of the world been doing in my absence? Surprisingly, it turns out that all of those social studies and civics classes I took in school were wrong..”
-Skippy

“Q Dana, as long as we're talking about branches of government, can you go back to Vice President Cheney again, the argument that he's not part of the executive branch. Does the President believe he's part of the executive branch?
MS. PERINO: I think that that is an interesting constitutional question, and I think that lots of people can debate it. I think when we were talking about the EO from last week, we've gone over that several times. You probably don't want me to go over it again. But the Vice President -- any Vice President has legislative and executive functions. “
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesperson Dana Perino, June 25, 2007

“Huh? What the heck? Since when was there any question about whether the Vice President was a part of the executive branch? We only have three branches.. It should be pretty easy to figure out where he fits..”
-Skippy

“The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice President asserts that his office is not an ‘entity within the executive branch.’
As described in a letter from Chairman Waxman to the Vice President, the National Archives protested the Vice President’s position in letters written in June 2006 and August 2006. When these letters were ignored, the National Archives wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in January 2007 to seek a resolution of the impasse. The Vice President’s staff responded by seeking to abolish the agency within the Archives that is responsible for implementing the President’s executive order.”
-House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, June 21, 2007

“Ah.. so Cheney claims that he was exempted from the requirement to allow the National Archives to keep track of all of the classified, etc, information in his office because he really isn’t in the executive branch of the government after all. I can’t think of why that would cause any concern.”
-Skippy

"Today's resignation by his chief of staff does not take the heat off the attorney general. It raises it," Schumer said. ‘Kyle Sampson will not become the next Scooter Libby, the next fall guy.’
Libby is Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, convicted of misleading the grand jury investigating the leak of the identity of a CIA agent.
And Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said senators plan to look into how language ended up in the Patriot Act that allowed the Attorney General to replace the federal prosecutors.
The provision was added to the Patriot Act renewal while staffers were working out differences in the versions of the bills that had passed the House and the Senate. Brett Tolman, now the U.S. Attorney for Utah, was then Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter's staffer handling the issue and added it at the request of the Justice Department, Specter said at a hearing last month.”
-Salt Lake Tribune, March 13, 2007

“But how can they argue this one with a straight face? After so many arguments that they have ‘executive privilege’ doesn’t it seem a little.. insane.. to now claim that he isn’t a part of the executive branch?”
-Skippy

“Q But, Dana, how could the Vice President, earlier in the administration, argue he didn't have to turn over records about the energy task force, for example, because he was a member of the executive branch? He clearly stated that.
MS. PERINO: You could ask the Supreme Court who ruled in his favor.
Q But he did not say, I'm a member of the legislative branch, as well, so I don't have to -- I mean, he clearly stated that there was strong executive power and he didn't have to turn over these records. Now, when it suits his interest, he seems to be saying a different legal argument.
MS. PERINO: Look, I'm not a legal scholar and there's plenty of them that you can find in Washington, D.C. But just that very point that you're making there shows that he has functions in both the executive branch and the legislative branch.
Q But he didn't mention those functions -- dual functions in the early legal arguments at the beginning of the administration. He only used the executive branch arguments.”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesperson Dana Perino, June 25, 2007

“Apparently no, they cannot argue this with a straight face, and it looks like this could be something for the press to have some fun with..”
-Skippy

“Q Can you send someone out here who can? You're stonewalling. Is the President a member of the executive branch? Is he answerable to any law, to any executive order? I mean, what is this? What's going on here?
MS. PERINO: Helen, the President, of course, is head of the executive branch.
Q Any accountability to the American people?
MS. PERINO: Absolutely.
Q Does the Vice President see top secrets in this administration as a member of the executive branch? Does he attend NSC meetings?
MS. PERINO: In his executive duties, as discharged by the President, he does see classified materials, yes.
Q And he is allowed to?
MS. PERINO: Victoria, go ahead.
Q We should get someone out here who can answer our questions.”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesperson Dana Perino, June 25, 2007

“I get the feeling we may see some more of this story..”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Ooo Baby.. Welcome to Comfest

2007-06-26T04:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry this wasn't actually posted Friday.. Comfest started Friday, and I sent the Quotes out early. Didn't want to give it away to those who read the blog (all 3 of you)

“Comfest is here, and with it a little news from the Quotes of the Morning…
Tremble ye heavens and quake with fear all ye gods of Valhalla. The divine and somewhat exhausted Mrs. Skippy doth be officially knocked up. We have rounded the first trimester and are now heading into the long (and ever expanding) run towards a roughly New Year’s baby.
Despite numerous medical issues (and my having given up all hope of having one the old fashioned way), it happened. That sound you hear in the distance is the seventh seal being opened.
Unless something goes wrong.. I’m going to be a father!”
-Skippy

“Bethany: Well, I am the last Scion.
Metatron: Actually, you WERE the last Scion. Now this
[puts his hand on Bethany's stomach]
Metatron: is the last Scion.
Bethany: You mean, I'm pregnant?”
-Dogma

“Havin' my baby
What a lovely way of sayin'
How much you love me
Havin' my baby
What a lovely way of sayin'
What you're thinkin' of me
I can see it, face is glowin'
I can see in your eyes
I'm happy you know it”
-Paul Anka, Having My Baby

“Happy ComFest everyone. It is shaping up to be a wonderful year. The Quotes of the Morning will return next Tuesday once I have a chance to sober up.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Comfest is at T-1. Comfest Eve!

2007-06-21T04:01:00.000-07:00

“Tonight is Comfest Eve. The tie-dye stockings have been hung and bowls of beer have been left for St. Jerry when he visits all of the good hippies’ houses tonight leaving Comfest love and empty bowls. Six stages of free live music in the largest all-volunteer festival in the country. It is beautiful. It is wonderful. It is Comfest.”
-Skippy

“Homer : Hey who invited the hippy?
Lisa : I did. You owe them for the eco fraud.
Homer : Alright, but I am NOT saving the rain forest.”
-Simpsons

“This is more important than the ideals that our Hippy forefathers refused to go to war and die for.”
-Homer Simpson

“If I'm gonna be a real hippy, I have to learn from the master. Mr. Bob Flower-Child Hope.”
-Homer Simpson

“Homer: I don't have the discipline to be a hippie.
Marge : Does this mean you are going to shower again?
Homer : ... perhaps ... in time.”
-Simpsons

"Ah, beer, my one weakness. My Achilles’ heel, if you will."
-Homer Simpson

"Ah, good ol' trustworthy beer. My love for you will never die."
-Homer Simpson

"Now, son, you don't want to drink beer. That's for daddies and kids with fake IDs."
-Homer Simpson

"Me lose brain? Uh, oh! Ha ha ha! Why I laugh?"
-Homer Simpson

“Also, this weekend (and frequently overlapping with Comfest) is Columbus’ Pride celebration, with the second best parade in the city taking place Saturday afternoon..”
-Skippy

“I like my beer cold, my TV loud and my homosexuals flaming.”
-Homer Simpson

“God bless us.. Every one. Please stay tuned to this space tomorrow for an important announcement..”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Comfest is at T-2

2007-06-20T04:26:00.000-07:00

“It is nearly there. Tomorrow is Comfest Eve, when people leave bowls of beer on their porches in hopes that St. Jerry will come and tie dye their shirts in the night. Love and music are in the air, and I feel the peace and harmony that only comes from knowing that soon I will be surrounded by my once-a-year friends and family.
Goddess bless us, every one.”
-Skippy

“I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.”
-Hunter Thompson

“Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas ... with the music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.”
-Hunter S. Thompson

"Alcohol and marijuana, if used in moderation, plus loud, usually low-class music, make stress and boredom infinitely more bearable."
-Kurt Vonnegut

“At this point I would like to emphasize that the Quotes of the Morning do not endorse, condone, approve or anything similar the use of illicit narcotics. I just don’t feel that it is right for me to edit Hunter Thompson or Vonnegut. I’m arrogant, but not that arrogant. Please remember what our hippie forefathers said…”
-Skippy

“Stay away from needle drugs. Richard Nixon is the only dope worth shooting.”
-Abbie Hoffman

“Words to live by (though you might want to update it somewhat). No, I believe in a simpler way..”
-Skippy

"Here's to alcohol: The source of, and answer to, all of life's problems."
-Homer Simpson

“And as a great man once said..”
-Skippy

“Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
-Benjamin Franklin

Quotes of the Morning: Comfest is at T-3

2007-06-19T04:01:00.000-07:00

“I can hear it far off in the distance… A beautiful music I remember from my youth with melodies that draw me back to a purer, simpler time when the troubles of existence were not mine to bear and the pain and suffering caused by this weary world seemed so far away.. Wait a minute.. Is that Freebird? Aw heck, just Comfest again!
Come out, come out you long haired hippy people. The holidays are upon us. Comfest is at T-3.”
-Skippy

“My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.”
-Martin Luther

"Without music life would be a mistake."
-Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

“My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.”
-Vladamir Nabokov

“I like ideas about the breaking away or overthrowing of established order. I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that seems to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road towards freedom - external freedom is a way to bring about internal freedom.”
-Jim Morrison

“One thing I can tell you is you’ve got to be free..”
-John Lennon, Come Together

"God bless those pagans."
-Homer Simpson

Quotes of the Morning: Comfest at T-4

2007-06-18T04:07:00.001-07:00

“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”
-Hunter Thompson

“I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.”
-George Eliot

“Hell is full of musical amateurs: music is the brandy of the damned.”
-George Bernard Shaw

“Everybody should be able to make some music...That's the cosmic dance!”
-Maude, Harold & Maude

“There is nothing more notable in Socrates than that he found time, when he was an old man, to learn music and dancing, and thought it time well spent.”
-Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)

“That’s right people. Comfest is a mere four days away. As you read this somewhere the official Comfest mugs are already made and ready to be filled with sweet, sweet beer. Three days of free live music and fascinating people. Be there or your soul may die a slow and lingering death. You have been warned.
Now I just need to figure out how to make it all the way to Friday…”
-Skippy

"All right, brain. You don't like me and I don't like you, but let's just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer."
-Homer Simpson

Quotes of the Morning: A Win Win Situation

2007-06-15T04:16:00.000-07:00

“U.S. officials tell ABC News that the troop levels in Iraq cannot be maintained at the present level, either politically or practically, with the military stretched so thin.
But that does not imply an immediate drawdown. Officials tell ABC's Martha Raddatz the senior commanders in Iraq -- Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno and Gen. David Petraeus -- want the surge to continue until at least December, and expect to report enough progress by September to justify the extension.”
-ABC News, June 1, 2007

“There is going to be progress by September! The surge is working! Even three or four months before the report General Petraeus can already tell that this is going to be a success.”
-Skippy

“Violence increased throughout much of Iraq in recent months, despite a security crackdown in Baghdad that at least temporarily reduced sectarian killings there, according to a quarterly assessment of security conditions issued Wednesday by the Pentagon.
The report, which analyzed data from February through early May, said it was too early to say whether the security effort in Baghdad would achieve lasting security gains. And it described in more detail than officials had until now how security conditions in other parts of the country had worsened when American and Iraqi forces shifted in large numbers into the capital.
[…]
Although precise data are not included in the report, attacks on civilians and Iraqi and American troops increased by 2 percent from the previous quarter, the report said. The average number of attacks has exceeded 1,000 per week since the beginning of this year through early May, the highest level since the American invasion in 2003, it said.
Even the decrease in violence in Baghdad may be temporary, the report noted. Gen. David H. Petraeus and other American commanders have recently confirmed that the number of sectarian killings in Baghdad, while still below levels seen last year, has begun climbing again.”
-New York Times, June 14, 2007

“Um.. Violence is on the upswing again in Baghdad despite the new troops and has never really reduced overall in Iraq. How can that be a success?”
-Skippy

“Q Let me follow on that, because I think some American officials have called this an act of desperation. And I’m wondering how this is seen as an act of desperation. Does that mean that the terrorists are so concerned that they’re sort of being shut down, and that the surge is so effective that they’re now desperate to make a statement?
MR. SNOW: Well, I think, again — a couple of things. It does fit a pattern that we see throughout the region, which is that when you see things moving towards success, or when you see signs of success, that there are acts of violence. We saw that, certainly — we’ve seen that in Lebanon, once again, today, tragically. We also saw it earlier in Lebanon. We have seen it on a number of occasions where, when Israel and the Palestinians seem to be getting close to a deal, there are kidnapings and acts of violence.”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesman Tony Snow, June 13, 2007

“Ah. Now I understand. If violence goes down, that means that we are winning and the surge is successful. If violence goes up, that means that the insurgents are desperate, and so the surge is successful. Hey, this is easy. Now I see how General Petraeus can be so sure of what his report will be!
And now onto happier news.. ComFest is now at T minus one week. It begins next Friday. Break out your tie-dye. Find your bongo drums. The holiday season is rapidly approaching. You have been warned.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: The Enemy of My Enemy

2007-06-14T04:27:00.000-07:00

“Hey, guess what? We have a new strategy again!”
-Skippy

“The US military has embarked on a new and risky strategy in Iraq by arming Sunni insurgents in the hope that they will tackle the extremist al-Qaida in Iraq.
The US high command this month gave permission to its officers on the ground to negotiate arms deals with local leaders. Arms, ammunition, body armour and other equipment, as well as cash, pick-up trucks and fuel, have already been handed over in return for promises to turn on al-Qaida and not attack US troops.”
-Guardian (UK), June 12, 2007

“We’re going to arm the Sunni insurgents and hope that they attack al-Qaida instead of us.. Brilliant!”
-Skippy

"’This is a defining moment for us,’ said Kuehl, who commands the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 1st Infantry Division.
But aligning Americans with fighters whose long-term agenda remains unclear -- with regard to either Americans or the Shiite-led government -- is also a strategy born of desperation. It contradicts repeated declarations by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that no groups besides the Iraqi and American security forces are allowed to bear arms. And some American soldiers worry that standing up a Sunni militia could have dire consequences if the group turns on its U.S. partners.
‘We have made a deal with the devil,’ said an intelligence officer in the battalion.
-Washington Post, June 9, 2007

“Sure, it may not seem too bright, but the people that we are arming are all highly trained military professionals.”
-Skippy

“Ali Hatem Ali Suleiman, a leader of the Sunni Dulaimi tribe who works in Anbar and Baghdad, said many of the fighters in Amiriyah belong to the Islamic Army, which includes former officers from Saddam Hussein's military and is more secular than other insurgent groups. The fighters have been organized and encouraged by local imams.”
-Washington Post, June 9, 2007

“See? They’re more secular than the other insurgent groups. They’re cut from the same cloth as our old friend Saddam Hussein (the guy that we armed during his war with Iran), so we have a good history with these guys and know what to expect. Plus, they promise that they won’t come after us..”
-Skippy

“Let’s be honest, the enemy now is not the Americans, for the time being.”
-Ali Hatem Ali Suleiman, Sunni militia leader

“…yet. Still, I’m sure that this will work out better than Saddam did when we armed him to fight against Iran, or Osama when we armed him to fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan.”
-Skippy

“What, me worry?”
-Alfred E. Newman

Quotes of the Morning: No Respect

2007-06-13T04:26:00.000-07:00

“Poor Fearless Leader. These days, with his record of failures in Iraq, Afghanistan, New Orleans, and just about everywhere he’s ever been.. Well, he’s not getting a lot of respect.”
-Skippy

“IF YOU believe the old adage that you are what you eat, it is not surprising America's current president seems artificial, bland, insipid and rather unsubstantial. The man who cooked President George W Bush's breakfasts, lunches and dinners for the first four years of his presidency reveals in a new book that the most powerful man in the world likes no more than a cheap processed cheese sandwich for lunch.
‘Kraft singles on white bread was one of this President's most requested lunch items,’ says Walter Scheib, who, from 1994 until he was sacked by Laura Bush in early 2005, was Executive Chef at the White House.”
-Sunday Herald, May 21, 2007

“Last week I told my psychiatrist, ‘I keep thinking about suicide.’ He told me from now on I have to pay in advance.”
-Rodney Dangerfield

“I come from a stupid family. During the Civil War my great uncle fought for the west!”
-Rodney Dangerfield

“Nature apparently isn’t too fond of him either..”
-Skippy

“President Bush found himself the unintentional target of a bird on Thursday, during a press conference at the White House Rose Garden.
The president was participating in a question and answer session with members of the media when he was hit by some droppings from a bird flying overhead. The president was listening to a question when the droppings landed on his left arm.
Moments later, President Bush noticed the droppings and tried to wipe it off – with limited success.”
-KUTV, May 25, 2007

“I could tell that my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.”
-Rodney Dangerfield

“I met the surgeon general. He offered me a cigarette.”
-Rodney Dangerfield

“And other countries?”
-Skippy

“One moment President George W. Bush was glad-handing Albanians on Sunday, proudly sporting a watch with a dark strap on his left wrist. Moments later, it was gone.
Did it fall off? Did one of his bodyguards remove it? Or did one of the crowd artfully slip it off his wrist and pocket it?
The United States Embassy in Albania on Tuesday emphatically denied that Bush's watch was stolen during his visit to the country, where he was acclaimed as a hero.
The Albanian media — and international Web sites — is buzzing with video showing Bush's wrist watch apparently disappearing while he was shaking hands with people in Fushe Kruje, 15 miles north of Tirana.
‘What the local media is saying is absolutely not true,’ an embassy official, who declined to be named, said.
[…]
People waiting on the sidewalks Sunday gave Bush a rapturous welcome, shaking hands with him, grabbing him by the arms and wrists, reaching out to embrace him and even ruffling his hair.
Bush was clearly delighted by the attention and plunged back into the crowd for more hand shaking and to be kissed on the cheek.”
-Associated Press, June 12, 2007

“I'll tell ya, my wife and I, we don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless, and I donate money to the topless!”
-Rodney Dangerfield

My marriage is on the rocks again. Yeah, my wife just broke up with her boyfriend.
-Rodney Dangerfield

“Having watched the video.. They stole his watch. Right off of his arm. Apparently the Administration can’t tell the truth about anything.
As a second point… Can you imagine Fearless Leader doing this in any public event in the United States? Letting people grab him? Embrace him? Ruffle his hair? Maybe there is a reason or two why he doesn’t get any respect.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: He Hit the Trifecta!

2007-06-12T04:22:00.000-07:00

“Yesterday was another bad day for Fearless Leader. First, the courts told him that he apparently he NOT king after all.”
-Skippy

“The Bush administration cannot use new anti-terrorism laws to keep U.S. residents locked up indefinitely without charging them, a divided federal appeals court said Monday.
The ruling was a harsh rebuke of one of the central tools the administration believes it has to combat terror.
‘To sanction such presidential authority to order the military to seize and indefinitely detain civilians, even if the president calls them ‘enemy combatants,’ would have disastrous consequences for the Constitution — and the country,’ the court panel said.”
-Associated Press, June 11, 2007

“Then his first war had a bad day.”
-Skippy

“U.S. forces mistakenly killed seven Afghan police and wounded four in an apparent friendly fire incident early Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said.
“Police manning a remote checkpoint in Nangarhar province said an American convoy backed by helicopters approached and opened fire despite their protests and calls for them to stop.”
-Associated Press, June 12, 2007

“And finally, the insurgents in Iraq seem to be doing an increasingly good job of using their bombings for maximum effect..”
-Skippy

“With a thunderous rumble and cloud of dust and smoke, a suicide car bomb brought down a section of highway bridge south of Baghdad on Sunday, killing three U.S. soldiers and wounding six from a checkpoint guarding the crossing and blocking traffic on Iraq's main north-south artery.”
-CBS/AP, June 11, 2007

“Imagine that.. Someone committed suicide to blow up a bridge. Scary. And this is in spite of the ‘surge’ that was going to stop, or at least slow, the violence in Baghdad.”
-Skippy

“Three months after additional U.S. troops began pouring into Baghdad in the most recent effort to stanch violence in Iraq's capital, military observers are fretting that the same problems that torpedoed last summer's Baghdad security plan are cropping up again.
Violence is on the rise, Iraqi troops aren't showing up to secure neighborhoods, U.S. troops are having to revisit neighborhoods they'd already cleared, and Iraq's politicians haven't met any of their benchmarks.
With expectations high in Washington for a September assessment from new Iraq commander Army Gen. David Petraeus, military officials in Iraq already are saying they'll need more time.
One thing is already clear, however: The additional U.S. troops haven't yet had a major impact on reducing violence.”
[…]
“The number of bodies found on Baghdad's streets declined in March and April after the surge began on Feb. 15, but it shot back up to an even higher level in May. So far this month, 206 unidentified corpses have been found in the capital, compared with 176 in the first eight days of May.”
-McClatchy Newspapers, June 8, 2007

“This is just because the insurgents are desperate. They know that the ‘surge’ will create peace and harmony and bunnies and squirrels will we be everywhere. Let’s let the military say it..”
-Skippy

“In other news from Iraq, Multinational Force Iraq officials today condemned yesterday’s bombing at the Transportation Department in Tikrit.
‘These attacks were directed against Iraqi people and their infrastructure, and clearly show the desperate nature of these attackers intent on disrupting the Iraqi economy and intimidating innocent civilians,’ the statement read.”
-American Forces Press Service, June 11, 2007

“See? Desperate.”
-Skippy

“Sheriff Bart: Folks, can’t you see that this is the last act of a desperate man? Howard Johnson: We don’t care if it’s the first act of Henry V. We’re leaving!”
-Blazing Saddles

Quotes of the Morning: Fixing the Problems

2007-06-08T04:14:00.000-07:00

“It has been a long time since the Katrina disaster. A long time for Fearless Leader to think about his mistakes and to solve them. Little mistakes like this..”
-Skippy

“Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job."
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, September 2, 2005

“Some of these problems kind of found their own solutions..”
-Skippy

“Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown said Monday he has resigned ‘in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president,’ three days after losing his onsite command of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.”
-Associated Press, September 12, 2005

“While others don’t seem to have changed much at all…”
-Skippy

“Mississippi Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Bolton, and Gene Taylor, D-Bay St. Louis, sat on a panel during a Monday afternoon hearing on the current state of disaster preparedness along the Gulf Coast. They and other House members questioned four expert witnesses offering testimony on hurricane preparedness.
Thompson grilled a FEMA official particularly hard about a rewritten disaster response plan he said the agency promised Congress would be ready by last week.
But Phil May, FEMA's Region IV administrator, admitted under questioning that the plan was not yet ready. He also offered no firm date when it may be finished.”
-Sun Herald (Mississippi), June 5, 2007

“..but fortunately we know who to talk to look to to fix the problems...”
-Skippy

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility."
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, September 13, 2005

“..even if they are problems that he created.”
-Skippy

“I as president am responsible for the problem, and for the solution.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, September 16, 2005

“Now Fearless Leader is going to turn his fiery unblinking eye to medical issues, showing the same sensitivity and tack that he has become so well known for.”
-Skippy

“President Bush's nominee for surgeon general, Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr., wrote a paper in 1991 that purported to make the medical argument that homosexuality is unnatural and unhealthy. Doctors who reviewed the paper derided it as prioritizing political ideology over science, and Democratic aides on Capitol Hill say the paper will make his confirmation hearings problematic.
[…]
Noting that Holsinger also belongs to a church that offers a ministry to ‘cure’ gays of the sexual orientation, gay and lesbian rights advocates immediately protested Holsinger's nomination. ‘His writings suggest a scientific view rooted in anti-gay beliefs that are incompatible with the job of serving the medical health of all Americans,’ said the Human Rights Campaign in a statement. ‘It is essential that America's top doctor value sound science over anti-gay ideology.’"
-ABC News, June 6, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: The Administration that Cried Wolf

2007-06-07T04:26:00.000-07:00

“Federal authorities announced Saturday they had broken up a suspected Muslim terrorist cell planning a ‘chilling’ attack to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods.
Three men, one of them a former member of Guyana's parliament, were arrested and one was being sought in Trinidad as part of a plot that authorities said they had been tracked for more than a year and was foiled in the planning stages.”
-Associated Press, June 2, 2007

“Aaaaaahh! Terrorists! Be afraid! Panic! We should let the Administration do whatever they want to do as part of the War on Terra, otherwise these steely-eyed killers will destroy us all!”
-Skippy

“When U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf described the alleged terror plot to blow up Kennedy Airport as ‘one of the most chilling plots imaginable,’ which might have caused ‘unthinkable’ devastation, one law enforcement official said he cringed.
The plot, he knew, was never operational. The public had never been at risk. And the notion of blowing up the airport, let alone the borough of Queens, by exploding a fuel tank was in all likelihood a technical impossibility.
And now, with a portrait emerging of alleged mastermind Russell Defreitas as hapless and episodically homeless, and of co-conspirator Abdel Nur as a drug addict, Mauskopf's initial characterizations seem more questionable -- some go so far as to say hyped.”
-Newsday, June 6, 2007

“At its heart was a retired airport cargo worker, Russell Defreitas, 63, who the complaint says talked of his dreams of inflicting massive harm, but who appeared to possess little money or training and no known background in conceptualizing or planning a terror attack.
‘Capability low, intent very high,’ a law enforcement official said of the plotters. Other law enforcement officials and engineers also dismissed the notion that the planned attack could have resulted in a catastrophic chain reaction; system safeguards, they said, would have stopped explosions from spreading.”
-International Herald Tribune, June 4, 2007

“What? Again? Don’t these people remember all of the earlier terrorist arrests we’ve made?”
-Skippy

“A federal judge denied bond Wednesday for six men accused of plotting to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower and other federal buildings.
The six, who have pleaded not guilty, were arrested June 22 in Miami as part of an undercover FBI sting. They are accused of seeking to support what they thought was an al Qaeda operative's effort to bomb FBI buildings in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Washington.”
-CBS News, July 5, 2006

“From the indictment it is clear that the men had no shortage of ambition, asking for al-Qaeda training to wage a ‘full ground war’ to ‘kill all the devils we can.’ To his end, the group asked the undercover agent for a wish-list of equipment that included boots, uniforms, machine guns, bullet-proof vests, radios and vehicles — as well as $50,000 in cash. The group's leader also provided the government agent with ‘a list of shoe sizes for the purchase of military boots for his 'soldiers'.”
-Time.com, June 23, 2006

“…like the ‘Men Without Boots’ plot? Or maybe you remember this one..”
-Skippy

“A terrorist plot to set off explosives in the PATH railway tunnels under the Hudson River in October or November was disrupted in its planning stages, and several suspects in the plot have been apprehended, law enforcement officials said today.”
-New York Times, July 7, 2006

“One U.S. official called the plot ‘largely aspirational’ and described the Internet conversations as mostly extremists discussing and conceptualizing the plot. The official said no money had been transferred, nor had other similar operational steps been taken. […]
[CBS News correspondent Jim] Stewart reports his sources say that no one in the United States ever took part in the Internet conversations and that no one ever purchased any explosives or scouted the transit system.”
-CBS/AP, July 7, 2006

“..the dreaded ‘Railway Tunnel’ plot. Before that we had the guy trying to blow up his shoes, and, finally, Public Enemy #1, Jose Padilla.”
-Skippy

“After five years in prison, most of it in solitary in a grim navy brig where he was held as an enemy combatant, Jose Padilla went on trial yesterday in a case that spotlights the Bush administration's legal tactics in the so-called war on terror.
Instead of representing America's worst nightmare - the homegrown Islamic extremist poised to turn a booming city centre into a deadly wasteland with nuclear debris - the trial of the onetime Chicago gang member and U.S. citizen has become a cautionary tale in prosecutorial hype.
‘In apprehending al-Muhajir [Mr. Padilla's Muslim name] as he sought entry into the United States, we have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by exploding a radioactive dirty bomb,’ was the apocalyptic pronouncement by then-attorney-general John Ashcroft. At the time, fear gripped the country in the aftermath of the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center.
The actual threat posed by Mr. Padilla, 36, seems to have steadily receded ever since.
Yesterday, in a Miami courtroom, the real case against him was revealed: He was accused of filling out an application form to become a jihadi, or holy warrior. ‘Joining an al-Qaeda training camp was an incredibly rare thing for an American to do,’ said assistant U.S. attorney Brian Frazier, claiming that Mr. Padilla and two co-defendants, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, also provided money and support to Muslims fighting in Kosovo, Chechnya and Lebanon in the 1990s.
Its not clear if the government intends to attempt to link any of the three to any actual terrorist attacks. The indictment no longer makes any mention of the dirty-bomb plot.”
-Globe and Mail, May 15, 2007

“Apparently our anti-terror programs are so good that they work retroactively now. Dangerous terrorists are made nearly harmless from the start. Works fine until a real threat comes out..”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Fuck Yeah!

2007-06-06T04:11:00.000-07:00

“If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can blurt out vulgar language, then the government cannot punish broadcast television stations for broadcasting the same words in similarly fleeting contexts.
That, in essence, was the decision on Monday, when a federal appeals panel struck down the government policy that allows stations and networks to be fined if they broadcast shows containing obscene language.
[…]
Adopting an argument made by lawyers for NBC, the judges then cited examples in which Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney had used the same language that would be penalized under the policy. Mr. Bush was caught on videotape last July using a common vulgarity that the commission finds objectionable in a conversation with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain. Three years ago, Mr. Cheney was widely reported to have muttered an angry obscene version of ‘get lost’ to Senator Patrick Leahy on the floor of the United States Senate.”
-New York Times, June 4, 2007

“This is fantastic news, and thank you Fearless Leader and Deputy Fearless Leader for making it possible. Now when I read things like this..”
-Skippy

“The Bush administration made it harder Tuesday for non-permanent streams and nearby wetlands to be protected under the federal Clean Water Act.
The new guidance issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers requires that for such waters to be protected there must be a ‘significant nexus’ shown between the intermittent stream or wetland and a traditional waterway.
And the guidance says a determination will be made on a case-by-case basis, analyzing flow and other issues. Environmentalist argued that would negate the broader regional importance of many such waterways in the aggregate on water bodies downstream.”
-Associated Press, June 5, 2007

“The Bush administration is drastically scaling back efforts to measure global warming from space, just as the president tries to convince the world the U.S. is ready to take the lead in reducing greenhouse gases.”
-Associated Press, June 4, 2007

“..I can say ‘Fuck!’, and when I read this bit about Bush claiming that the missile defense system he wants to build is in order to save us from the guys who used box-cutters to make their one successful set of attacks on American soil I can ask, ‘What the fuck?’”
-Skippy

"As I've told President Putin, Russia is not our enemy. The enemy of a free society such as ours would be a radical, or extremists, or a rogue regime trying to blackmail the free world in order to promote its ideological objectives. And so my attitude on missile defense is, is that this is a purely — it's not my attitude, it's the truth — it's a purely defensive measure, aimed not at Russia, but at true threats."
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, June 5, 2007

“But I need to remember that when I read things like this..”
-Skippy

“Sixteen American troops died in Iraq in the first three days of June, marking a bloody start to the month as the US military presses on with its crackdown on sectarian violence in Baghdad.
A total of 127 American troops died in May, the third worst total for US forces since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Fourteen of the latest deaths were reported on Sunday alone by the US military.
North of the capital, a suicide car bomber attacked a police convoy in volatile Diyala province, killing 10 people in a busy market area and wounding 30 others, the local police chief said.
Gunmen at a fake checkpoint near Diyala's provincial capital of Baquba sprayed two minibuses with bullets, killing five people, police said.
-Reuters, June 4, 2007

“…is that the ruling by the court was based on the idea that most of the uses of ‘fuck’ were unintentional and not truly obscene, as they were not meant in a sexual manner. So telling Fearless Leader to go fuck himself would still not be allowed.
Something to remember.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Grading on a Curve

2007-06-05T04:02:00.000-07:00

“I know that I go on too much about Iraq. I mean, sure the hypocrisy and deceit are fun to point out, but it isn’t like it’s a matter of life and… um.. Well, it isn’t everything. Sometimes other things come up that are almost a much fun to talk about. Things like Alberto ‘Thumbscrews’ Gonzales.”
-Skippy

“Now, you asked about Alberto Gonzales. He has got my confidence.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, May 21, 2007

“That’s nice sir, but I wasn’t asking.
It seems that Mr. Gonzales is proud of the hard work that he is doing and intends to stay on the job.”
-Skippy

“Beleaguered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales vowed Friday to remain in his post through the end of President Bush’s second term, in a ‘sprint to the finish line.’
In his most definitive statement on the issue to date, Gonzales made clear to his critics during a speech on crime that he would continue to reject their calls for his resignation. ‘I know that I only have 18 months left in my term as attorney general, and that really does not feel like a lot of time to accomplish all of the goals that are important to me. So often Washington seems to run at a marathon pace, but I intend to spend the next year and a half in a sprint to the finish line,’ Gonzales said.
The attorney general volunteered the comments near the end of a speech announcing anti-crime initiatives at the headquarters of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Washington. ATF employees, whose agency is part of the Justice Department, gave their boss a strong round of applause when he was introduced and when he completed his speech.
News reporters were carefully kept away from the attorney general so he could not be questioned.”
-CNN, June 1, 2007

“Why should he leave? He was the support of Fearless Leader. Fearless Leader absolutely LOVES him. Gonzales is the kind of hands-on leader who is willing to jump in and get things done.”
-Skippy

“Attorney General John Ashcroft lay in an intensive care unit after emergency surgery on the night of March 10, 2004, when then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales made a surprise visit.
It was not a get-well call, according to a former top Justice Department official.
James Comey, then the department's No. 2 man under Ashcroft, said Gonzales and then-White House chief of staff Andrew Card went there to pressure the ailing attorney general to reauthorize a disputed surveillance program that Ashcroft already believed had no legal basis.”
-Copley News Service, May 16, 2007

“And why shouldn’t he stay on? It isn’t like what he tried to do with Ashcroft why the man was still recovering on pain killers was wrong. Or the illegal wiretaps, or firing those attorneys, or approving of torture, or any of that other stuff.. None of that was wrong.”
-Skippy

"’He has done nothing wrong,’ Bush said in an impassioned defense of his longtime friend and adviser during a news conference at his Texas ranch.
Despite Bush's comments, support for Gonzales is eroding, even in the president's own party. The Senate is prepared to hold a no-confidence vote, possibly by week's end, and five Republican senators have joined many Democrats in calling for Gonzales' resignation.
The attorney general is under investigation by Congress in last year's firing of eight federal prosecutors.
The president told the Democrats to get back to more pressing matters.
‘I stand by Al Gonzales, and I would hope that people would be more sober in how they address these important issues,’ Bush said. ‘And they ought to get the job done of passing legislation, as opposed to figuring out how to be actors on the political theater stage.’"
-Associated Press, May 21, 2007

“Dang straight! Judging Gonzo Gonzales on his politics is just wrong. If you are going to judge him you should base it on his law enforcement record, not his love of Fearless Leader (which is only natural after all.. Have you seen that man in a flight suit.. sigh).”
-Skippy

“The nation’s murder rate rose slightly last year but the number of robberies skyrocketed by 6 percent, preliminary FBI data released Monday show.
The statistics were part of an overall 1.3 percent rise in violent crime across the country in 2006 — the second straight annual increase.
[…]
The spike in robberies marked the highest increase in any category of crime surveyed in the FBI report, which was compiled with data from more than 11,700 law enforcement agencies nationwide.
Violent crime rose in every region of the country except for the Northeast, the FBI reported. Western states saw the largest jump in violent crime, by 2.8 percent, the data show.”
-Associated Press, June 4, 2007

“See? Violent crime is only up 1.3% thanks to the hard efforts of Gonzo Gonzales. Alberto is only responsible for law enforcement in the United States (except for those laws that Fearless Leader says don’t apply). Compare his work to what has been done in Iraq and I think that you will see that comparatively speaking he is doing a heck of a job.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: The Surge'n General

2007-06-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

“U.S. officials tell ABC News that the troop levels in Iraq cannot be maintained at the present level, either politically or practically, with the military stretched so thin.
But that does not imply an immediate drawdown. Officials tell ABC's Martha Raddatz the senior commanders in Iraq -- Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno and Gen. David Petraeus -- want the surge to continue until at least December, and expect to report enough progress by September to justify the extension.
The drawdown would begin in February 2008, although each of the two generals supports a slightly different plan.
Plan one, which officials say is being pushed by Odierno, calls for a reduction in troops from roughly 150,000 today to 100,000 by December of 2008.
Petraeus champions a slightly different approach that would be to cut the troops down to roughly 130,000 by the end of 2008, with further reductions the following year.”
-ABC News, June 1, 2007

“Interesting. Gen. Petraeus wants to reduce troop counts by 20,000 by the end of 2008. Hmm.. How big was that surge after all?”
-Skippy

“The top US commander in Iraq has requested another Army brigade, on top of five already on the way, as part of the controversial ‘surge’ of American troops designed to clamp down on sectarian violence and insurgent groups, senior Pentagon officials said today. The appeal -- not yet made public -- by Gen. David Petraeus for a combat aviation unit would involve between 2,500 and 3,000 more soldiers and dozens of transport helicopters and powerful gunships, said the Pentagon sources. That would bring the planned expansion of US forces so far to close to 30,000 troops.
News of the additional deployment comes about a week after President Bush announced that about 4,700 support troops will join the initial 21,500 he ordered in January. They are in addition to the estimated 130,000 troops already in Iraq.
‘This is the next shoe to drop,’ said one senior Pentagon official closely involved in the war planning. ‘But you cannot put five combat brigades in there and not have more aviation guys, military police, and intelligence units.’"
-Boston Globe, March 15, 2007

“Let me see.. carry the two.. Um, aw heck. How many more troops is that roughly?”
-Skippy

“President Bush asked Congress on Saturday for $3.2 billion to pay for 8,200 more U.S. troops needed in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of the 21,500-troop buildup he announced in January.”
-Associated Press, March 11, 2007

“So it looks like there were at least about 30,000 troops added to the war zones as part of the surge. So Gen. Petraeus is saying that he is not expecting full draw-down from the surge until at least a year and a half from now. So much for that September report.”
-Skippy

“The Bush administration will not try to assess whether the troop increase in Iraq is producing signs of political progress or greater security until September, and many of Mr. Bush’s top advisers now anticipate that any gains by then will be limited, according to senior administration officials.
In interviews over the past week, the officials made clear that the White House is gradually scaling back its expectations for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The timelines they are now discussing suggest that the White House may maintain the increased numbers of American troops in Iraq well into next year. ”
-New York Times, April 27, 2007

"I have tried to discourage my Republican colleagues from saying that September is some kind of seminal moment. I am aware the American people are frustrated. I share that frustration. I don't think the American people are aware of the consequences of failure."
-Sen. John McCain, May 27, 2007

“Thanks to Tim Juchter for today’s headline.. I’ve been waiting to use that one for a while.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Religious Extremism

2007-06-01T04:19:00.000-07:00

“Good news everyone! We can leave Iraq now!”
-Skippy

“Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Thursday that his country's forces would be able to assume security command by June 2007 — which could allow the United States to start withdrawing its troops.
‘I cannot answer on behalf of the U.S. administration but I can tell you that from our side our forces will be ready by June 2007,’ Maliki told ABC television after meeting President Bush on Thursday in Jordan.’”
-MSNBC, November 30, 2006

“See? The Iraqi forces are ready to take over.”
-Skippy

"’The evidence does not suggest that the surge is actually working,’ said Alastair Campbell, the outgoing defense attache at the British Embassy in Baghdad May 20. According to Britain's Sunday Telegraph, Campbell also disclosed that U.S. commanders had decided that the criteria for ‘success’ would be only a reduction in violence to the level prior to last year's bombing of the al-Askari Mosque in Samarra. That means 800 dead Iraqis a month - a figure that the Telegraph admits ‘few would regard as anything remotely approaching peace.’"
-Max Ebaum, May 29, 2007

“Shhh.. Shut up about that. We can all go home now, and now that the situation in Iraq is all cleared up we can turn our focus on more immediate issues, like immigration.”
-Skippy

“But do you understand what the New York Times wants, and the far-left want? They want to break down the white, Christian, male power structure, which you're a part, and so am I, and they want to bring in millions of foreign nationals to basically break down the structure that we have. In that regard, Pat Buchanan is right. So I say you've got to cap with a number.”
-Bill O’Reilly, May 30, 2007

“I was unaware of wanting to tear down the white, Christian, male power structure, but I guess I must. Here I thought that I was just looking to the Declaration of Independence which says that, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..’ I guess I forgot that white Christian males are more equal than others. My mistake. I can never keep up with these rules. I wish I could figure out once and for all who the superior, more righteous people are so that I don’t make these mistakes again.”
-Skippy

“[B]y all reports, President Bush is more convinced than ever of his righteousness.
Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated ‘I am the president!’ He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of ‘our country's destiny.’"
-Dallas Daily News, Opinion, May 31, 2007

“Oh.. Well, I guess that explains that. All praise and honor upon Fearless Leader. May he personally enjoy the benefits of the same American Freedom™ that he has brought to Iraq. Amen.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Local Politics

2007-05-31T08:06:00.000-07:00

“President George W. Bush would like to see a lengthy U.S. troop presence in Iraq like the one in South Korea to provide stability but not in a frontline combat role, the White House said on Wednesday.
The United States has had thousands of U.S. troops in South Korea to guard against a North Korean invasion for 50 years.”
-Reuters, May 30, 2007

“Of course the major difference between the two would be that the South Koreans kind of like us hanging out there and preventing the North Koreans from invading. Many of the Iraqi people (including those actively trying to kill us at the moment) on the other hand would prefer it if we get the hell out as soon as humanly possible.”
-Skippy

“A majority of members of Iraq's parliament have signed a draft bill that would require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and freeze current troop levels. The development was a sign of a growing division between Iraq's legislators and prime minister that mirrors the widening gulf between the Bush administration and its critics in Congress.
The draft bill proposes a timeline for a gradual departure, much like what some U.S. Democratic lawmakers have demanded, and would require the Iraqi government to secure parliament's approval before any further extensions of the U.N. mandate for foreign troops in Iraq, which expires at the end of 2007.”
-Washington Post, May 11, 2007

“Well, that sounds like they kind of want us to go instead of stick around for the next 50 years or so.. Didn’t Fearless Leader say that he’d leave if asked?”
-Skippy

“President Bush said in an interview on Thursday that he would withdraw American forces from Iraq if the new government that is elected on Sunday asked him to do so, but that he expected Iraq’s first democratically elected leaders would want the troops to remain as helpers, not as occupiers.”
-New York Times, November 21, 2005

“That was back in 2005. A lot has changed since then. Maybe Fearless Leader doesn’t want to listen to the Iraqi government anymore.”
-Skippy

“We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. This is a sovereign nation. Twelve million people went to the polls to approve a constitution. It’s their government’s choice. If they were to say, leave, we would leave.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, May 24, 2007

“No.. That’s not it. I wonder why the Administration isn’t listening?”
-Skippy

“RUSSERT: But if the duly elected people's bodies, the U.S Congress and the Iraqi Parliament, say they want a troop withdrawal, that's more than a poll. Isn't that the voice of the people?
MCCAIN: As far as the Iraqi Parliament is concerned, the Iraqi government obviously doesn't feel that way there … second of all, there is a certain amount of domestic political calculations involved there in what the Iraqi ‘Parliament’ said.”
-John McCain Interview on ‘Meet the Press’, May 14, 2007

“Ah! The Iraqi government is just trying to get us to leave because of domestic politics. Nothing to worry about. As long as we can just keep ignoring the politics of the situation we can stay in Iraq for another 50 years. All we have to do is ignore their politicians asking us to leave (and the people trying to kill our troops). After all, if we left Iraq it would mean that we were allowing politics to get in the way of waging a war, and if there is one thing that Fearless Leader has been perfectly clear about it has been this...”
-Skippy

“You cannot tolerate in a society the ability of people to take innocent life to achieve political objectives.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, March 11, 2007

“No, no, no.. Not that one. The one where he said that politics should stay out of fighting a war.”
-Skippy

"I learned some good lessons from Vietnam. First, there must be a clear mission. Secondly, the politics ought to stay out of fighting a war. There was too much politics during the Vietnam War. There was too much concern in the White House about political standing.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, March 13, 2002

“Yes that one! We all know that Fearless Leader would never let Iraqi politics get in the way of His war.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: What's On the Table?

2007-05-30T04:11:00.000-07:00

“Consumers face little risk from eating pork, chicken and eggs from farm animals that ate feed mixed with pet food scraps contaminated by an industrial chemical, government scientists said Monday.
“Mixing in material contaminated at low levels diluted it such that humans who eat the animals won’t be harmed, the scientists said.
[…]
Melamine, used to make plastics, and the related compounds contaminated pet food that either sickened or killed an unknown number of dogs and cats. Scraps left over from the manufacture of that dog and cat food was sold for use in animal feed before the pet food was known to be tainted and recalled from store shelves.”
-Associated Press, May 7, 2007

“Oh that is such old news.. I mean, why would you worry about a little contamination? The unnamed government scientists say that it is safe, and if the government says so, then that is good enough for me. I know how seriously they take food safety.”
-Skippy

“The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.”
-Associated Press, May 29, 2007

“In the words of John Stewart… Whaaaaaa?”
-Skippy

“The Agriculture Department tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.
Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too.
A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The ruling was to take effect June 1, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal -- effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge plays out.”
-Associated Press, May 29, 2007

“The Agriculture Department is, get this, stopping meat from being tested. Wow. That shows some serious brass ones. They want to block the testing because the big beef companies fear that they might ‘have to’ do it also if Creekstone does it. You know, like they have a gun to their head. I think what they really mean is that testing is expensive, and testing would either (a) cost them a little extra if they do it, or (b) cost them part of their market share if they don’t do it. Either way it kind of sounds like something that the conservatives usually call the ‘free market’ and rigorously defend. Odd that this is such a big deal.”
-Skippy

“Although the Agriculture Department confirmed Friday that a cow that died last year was infected with mad cow disease, a test the agency conducted seven months ago indicated that the animal had the disease. The result was never publicly disclosed.
The delay in confirming the United States' second case of mad cow disease seems to underscore what critics of the agency have said for a long time: that there are serious and systemic problems in the way the Agriculture Department tests animals for mad cow.”
-New York Times, June 26, 2005

“It isn’t like the topic hasn’t come up before. The reaction was the same.. testing the beef makes the Beef Association very, very nervous.”
-Skippy

“The nation's mad cow testing system is now infuriating both ranchers and consumers. Consumer lobbyists say the flawed results show once again that 15 years of testing has been dangerously inadequate. And now the beef lobby, which has long enjoyed a cozy relationship with the Agriculture Department, is complaining that the testing system is dangerously unpredictable.
Jim McAdams, president of the 25,000-member National Cattlemen's Beef Association, has complained that unexpected testing creates ‘great anxiety within our industry,’ and leads to ‘significant losses.’"
-New York Times, June 26, 2005

“Still, this is the United States. We spend billions a week to keep troops in a war zone so that terrorists will shoot at them instead of us. Do you really think that if there was anything that could possibly keep the public safe that we wouldn’t do?”
-Skippy

“Other countries use food-safety standards: Japan tests every cow, Europe tests about one in four.
The United States instead uses statistical models that it says will let a few tests detect the infection even in one cow in a million. It now tests one in 90; when the first mad cow case was found in 2003, it was testing one in 1,700.
With its statistical logic under regular attack, the United States has increased the number of tests to 388,000 in the past year, from 40 in 1990. But until recently, Mr. [Secretary of Agriculture] Johanns was discussing cutting back to 40,000 tests.”
-New York Times, June 26, 2005

“Don’t worry.. You’re safe I tell you. Testing food really isn’t necessary.”
-Skippy

“The Windom-based meat company linked to an E. coli outbreak in the Twin Cities is recalling 117,500 pounds of beef shipped to eight states, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
Health officials have said it appears that tainted ground beef from Lunds or Byerly’s stores sickened seven people, including three who had to be hospitalized before they recovered.
The USDA notice late Thursday said PM Beef Holdings LLC of Windom is voluntarily recalling the beef trim products that were sent to distributors and retailers in Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.”
-St. Cloud Times, May 12, 2007

“A meat company is voluntarily recalling about nearly 130,000 pounds of beef products in 15 states due to possible contamination with E coli, according to an alert issued May 11 by the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
The affected beef products produced between March 1 and April 30 by Davis Creek Meats and Seafood, based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, were shipped to foodservice distribution centers and Marketplace stores in Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.”
-Foodconsumer.org, May 17, 2007

“Oh sure, E coli may be a big deal, but see.. they test for that. The system works.”
-Skippy

“Brucellosis has been confirmed in a herd of beef near Bridger, Montana. State animal health officials say the outbreak affects seven cows traced to a ranch in Bridger, a small town south of Laurel and far from any Yellowstone bison. Some of the infected cattle might have spent time in the Emigrant area in Paradise Valley, about 25 miles from the park's northern boundary.
Since 1985, the state's beef herds have been certified as free of the disease, which causes cattle to abort their first calf after infection.
[…]
One infected herd does not mean the entire state loses its brucellosis-free status. But if a second herd tests positive, every rancher in Montana will face expensive testing and time-consuming restrictions when exporting cattle.”
-USAgNet, May 22, 2007

“Montana ranchers get to keep their brucellosis-free status for now, although the state remains in danger of losing the favored rating as the federal and state investigation continues.
Final tests Wednesday showed that 190 cattle on the Bruce Malcolm ranch near Emigrant were clean of brucellosis even though several of the seven Montana cows found carrying the disease came from this herd.
‘It means that this place up here is free from brucellosis. No reactors. No positive ones. Every animal we have is negative,’ said Malcolm, who also serves as a Republican state representative from Emigrant.
Over the past few years, Malcolm has shipped some of his cattle to his daughter and son-in-law's ranch near Bridger, including a few of the cows that tested positive. The Bridger herd has been quarantined and investigators are focusing next on testing cattle in the Bridger area that may have been in contact with the Malcolm family cattle during the past two years.”
-Billings Gazette, May 23, 2007

“Well if the Republican state representative who owned some of the infected cows says that they are safe, well, that’s good enough for me. Why would he lie?
I gave up eating mammal this year, so no beef for me, but all of you can jump right in. I’m sure it will be fine. After all, when has the Administration ever let us down?”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Time Keeps On Slipping Into the Future

2007-05-29T04:25:00.000-07:00

"I have tried to discourage my Republican colleagues from saying that September is some kind of seminal moment. I am aware the American people are frustrated. I share that frustration. I don't think the American people are aware of the consequences of failure."
-Sen. John McCain, May 27, 2007

“Don’t look to September as being anything except another date to extend the war in Iraq. As a matter of fact, things may become worse as we ratchet up the heat against the terrorists. To expect to see results by the Fall would be foolish.”
-Skippy

“Look, I think, I think by the end of this year we will see some signs of success, how significant those will be.”
-Sen. John McCain, May 13, 2007

“Well, I guess we can expect to see some success after all. What I meant to say was that we can’t expect to really see for some months whether or not the new ‘surge’ tactic is working.”
-Skippy

“McCain, a decorated Vietnam veteran who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war, said he hopes Americans will be patient and give the new Iraq strategy, led by Gen. David Petraeus, an opportunity to succeed. He said it should be clear within ‘some months’ whether the plan is working.”
-Seattle Times, February 23, 2007

“Um.. Sorry.. What I REALLY meant to say is that, though we will be able to see if the plan is working in some months (from February.. That would be.. um.. now), it isn’t like we’re going to win this war or lose it any time soon. This is a long, hard war, and it may take a few years to fix the problems we have created.”
-Skippy

“And, look, if you talk to most military experts, we’re in a critical and crucial time. We’re either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months.”
-Sen. John McCain, November 12, 2006

“John.. Really, you are making this tough on me. I keep trying to justify what you say, but that last Quote was from last November. I think that we already passed the ‘next several months’, and now you are saying that we won’t even know how we are doing until next winter. Are you even paying attention to what is happening over there?”
-Skippy

“Iraqis are clamoring to get out of Iraq. Two million have fled so far and nearly two million more have been displaced within the country. (That’s a total of some 15 percent of the population.) Save the Children reported this month that Iraq’s child-survival rate is falling faster than any other nation’s. One Iraqi in eight is killed by illness or violence by the age of 5. Yet for all the words President Bush has lavished on Darfur and AIDS in Africa, there has been a deadly silence from him about what’s happening in the country he gave ‘God’s gift of freedom’.”
-Frank Rich, New York Times, May 27, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: Iran So Far Away

2007-05-25T04:19:00.000-07:00

“President Bush said Thursday he would work with allies to beef up sanctions on Iran after a new U.N. report said Tehran is accelerating its uranium enrichment program in defiance of international demands.
‘We need to strengthen our sanctions regime,’ Bush said in a Rose Garden news conference. Leaders of Iran ‘continue to be defiant as to the demands of the free world,’ he said.
The president said he had directed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to work with European partners to ‘develop further sanctions.’”
-MSNBC, May 24, 2007

“Thank goodness Fearless Leader has stepped away from rhetoric like this…”
-Skippy

“In interviews, two senior administration officials separately compared the Tehran government to the Nazis and the Guard to the ‘SS.’ They also referred to Guard members as ‘terrorists.’ Such a formal designation could turn Iran's military into a target of what Bush calls a ‘war on terror,’ with its members potentially held as enemy combatants or in secret CIA detention.”
-Washington Post, January 26, 2007

“…and towards a more rational way of looking at the situation, like sanctions. I mean, let’s face it, sanctions were working pretty darn well against Saddam. Under sanctions he was unable to restart his nuclear or chemical weapons programs (not that it stopped us from invading). Sanctions have the advantage of working against a nation without creating a failed state lacking a working government at all.”
-Skippy

“We have passed one Security Council resolution, demanding that Iran cease its enrichment activities. We will see what the response is. We're beginning to get some indication, but we'll wait until they have a formal response. The U.N. resolution calls for us to come back together on the 31st of August. The dates -- dates are fine, but what really matters is will. And one of the things I will continue to remind our friends and allies is the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran.
But, no, you're right, this is a -- they're a central part of creating instability, trying to stop reformers from realizing dreams. And the question facing this country is, will -- do we, one, understand the threat to America? In other words, do we understand that a failed -- failed states in the Middle East are a direct threat to our country's security? And secondly, will we continue to stay engaged in helping reformers, in working to advance liberty, to defeat an ideology that doesn't believe in freedom?”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, August 21, 2006

“See? We don’t want to create a failed state in the Middle East. Oops, I mean ANOTHER failed state in the Middle East. We want to work with reformers and try to bring these nations around, not try to destabilize the governments in power there.”
-Skippy

“The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert ‘black’ operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a ‘nonlethal presidential finding’ that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.”
-ABC News, May 22, 2007

“Um.. I guess we do want ‘regime change’ in Iran after all. You know, Iran is much larger than Iraq, and, up until we put them on the Axis of Evil, they were on the path of becoming one of the more progressive nations in the region. Of course when we called them ‘evil’ the hard-liners in Iran took that as a sign that they were under attack and used that excuse to gain more power (stop me if this sounds familiar). Now we are apparently trying to create chaos there too. Hopefully, with Fearless Leader’s help, Iran can become the success story that Iraq has become.”
-Skippy

“From the beginning of May until Tuesday, 321 unidentified corpses, many dumped and showing signs of torture and execution, have been found across the Iraqi capital, according to morgue data provided by a Health Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The data showed that the same number of bodies were found in all of January, the month before the launch of the Baghdad security plan.”
-Washington Post, May 23, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: Farming the Land

2007-05-24T04:25:00.000-07:00

“One of the world’s worst refugee problems is one you've heard little about. Every month, while Americans debate their options in Iraq and whether the troop surge might reduce sectarian violence by the fall, another 30,000 to 50,000 terrorized Iraqis flee their homes.
Of a population of about 27 million, at least 1.9 million are now internally displaced; another 2 million have sought refuge abroad, mostly in Jordan and Syria but also in Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and elsewhere, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.”
-Editorial, LA Times, May 20, 2007

“All these displaced people! I’ll bet that a lot of it has to do with the sky-high unemployment rate in Iraq (well, that and the murder rate). I wish we could find these people something to do.. Something to bring in a little cash and stabilize the economic system.”
-Skippy

“Farmers in southern Iraq have started to grow opium poppies in their fields for the first time, sparking fears that Iraq might become a serious drugs producer along the lines of Afghanistan.
Rice farmers along the Euphrates, to the west of the city of Diwaniya, south of Baghdad, have stopped cultivating rice, for which the area is famous, and are instead planting poppies, Iraqi sources familiar with the area have told The Independent.
The shift to opium cultivation is still in its early stages but there is little the Iraqi government can do about it because rival Shia militias and their surrogates in the security forces control Diwaniya and its neighbourhood. There have been bloody clashes between militiamen, police, Iraqi army and US forces in the city over the past two months.”
-The Independent (UK), May 23, 2007

“Hey! Farming! Why didn’t I think of that? A good cash crop too. Pretty soon they’ll be able to support themselves the same way that they do in Afghanistan.”
-Skippy

“Profits from Afghanistan's thriving poppy fields are increasingly flowing to Taliban fighters, leading U.S. and NATO officials to conclude that the counterinsurgency mission must now include stepped-up anti-drug efforts.
This year's heroin-producing poppy crop will at least match last year's record haul and could exceed it by up to 20 percent, officials say, meaning more money to fuel the Taliban's violent insurgency.
[…]
Military commanders who viewed drugs as a minor irritant in 2002, when poppy production was much lower, have reassessed the importance of the vast fields of red and white poppies their soldiers drive past in security convoys, said a Western official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he didn't want to be seen as criticizing the military.
It's too early to say definitively what this year's crop will be. But another Western official with knowledge of the drug trade said it could exceed last year's record 407,000 acres by as much as 20 percent. The official declined to give his name.”
-Associated Press, May 22, 2007

“This money will be good for the small farmers in Iraq. You know, the salt of the earth kind of narcotics dealer. Trust me, the insurgency doesn’t need the cash.”
-Skippy

“The insurgency in Iraq is now self-sustaining financially, raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting, connivance by corrupt Islamic charities and other crimes that the Iraqi government and its American patrons have been largely unable to prevent, a classified United States government report has concluded.
The report, obtained by The New York Times, estimates that groups responsible for many insurgent and terrorist attacks are raising $70 million to $200 million a year from illegal activities. It says $25 million to $100 million of that comes from oil smuggling and other criminal activity involving the state-owned oil industry, aided by ‘corrupt and complicit’ Iraqi officials.
As much as $36 million a year comes from ransoms paid for hundreds of kidnap victims, the report says. It estimates that unnamed foreign governments - previously identified by American officials as including France and Italy - paid $30 million in ransom last year.”
-New York Times, November 26, 2006

“Thank goodness for the War on Terror. I feel so much safer.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: A Change of Strategery

2007-05-23T03:55:00.000-07:00

“President Bush and his senior military and foreign policy advisers are beginning to discuss a ‘post-surge’ strategy for Iraq that they hope could gain bipartisan political support. The new policy would focus on training and advising Iraqi troops rather than the broader goal of achieving a political reconciliation in Iraq, which senior officials recognize may be unachievable within the time available.
The revamped policy, as outlined by senior administration officials, would be premised on the idea that, as the current surge of U.S. troops succeeds in reducing sectarian violence, America's role will be increasingly to help prepare the Iraqi military to take greater responsibility for securing the country.”
-David Ignatius, Washington Post, May 22, 2007

“Whoo hoo! Fearless Leader is coming up with a new plan, and it is a great one! Instead of focusing on taking out all of the insurgents ourselves, we’re going to focus on training Iraqi forces to fight them. This is a new, and exciting, development.”
-Skippy

“US President George W Bush intends to reveal a new Iraq strategy within days, the BBC has learnt.
The speech will reveal a plan to send more US troops to Iraq to focus on ways of bringing greater security, rather than training Iraqi forces.”
-BBC News, January 2, 2007

“..except that it is, of course, the exact same strategy that we were using before the surge started. Doesn’t anyone else remember this?”
-Skippy

“President Bush began 2006 assuring the country that he had a ‘strategy for victory in Iraq.’ He ended the year closeted with his war cabinet on his ranch trying to devise a new strategy, because the existing one had collapsed.
[…]
The original plan, championed by Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top commander in Baghdad, and backed by Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, called for turning over responsibility for security to the Iraqis, shrinking the number of American bases and beginning the gradual withdrawal of American troops. But the plan collided with Iraq’s ferocious unraveling, which took most of Mr. Bush’s war council by surprise.”
-New York Times, January 2, 2006

“It seems like when the surge ends we’re going to be caught in a situation that is at least as bad as it was before the surge.. just with more dead soldiers to show for it. Luckily the word ‘surge’ means something different in the White House than it does in most of so-called ‘reality’.”
-Skippy

“Sending 15,000 to 30,000 more troops for a mission of possibly six to eight months is one of the central proposals on the table of the White House policy review to reverse the steady deterioration in Iraq. The option is being discussed as an element in a range of bigger packages, the officials said.
But the Joint Chiefs think the White House, after a month of talks, still does not have a defined mission and is latching on to the surge idea in part because of limited alternatives, despite warnings about the potential disadvantages for the military, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the White House review is not public.
The chiefs have taken a firm stand, the sources say, because they believe the strategy review will be the most important decision on Iraq to be made since the March 2003 invasion.”
-Washington Post, December 19, 2006

“Six to eight months.. Sounds like a fair amount of time, especially considering that this comment..”
-Skippy

“My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended…In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, May 1, 2003

“…happened less than two months from the beginning of the war. In other words the ‘surge’ was to last three to four times as long as the ‘major combat operations’. Seems like plenty of time to get the situation under control.”
-Skippy

“The Bush administration will not try to assess whether the troop increase in Iraq is producing signs of political progress or greater security until September, and many of Mr. Bush’s top advisers now anticipate that any gains by then will be limited, according to senior administration officials.
In interviews over the past week, the officials made clear that the White House is gradually scaling back its expectations for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The timelines they are now discussing suggest that the White House may maintain the increased numbers of American troops in Iraq well into next year. ”
-New York Times, April 27, 2007

“…except that they are now saying that six to eight months won’t even be enough time to see if the surge is ‘producing signs of political progress’. Maybe they need more troops to get the work done..”
-Skippy

“The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday.
This ‘second surge’ of troops in Iraq, which is being executed by extending tours for brigades already there and by deploying more units, could boost the number of combat troops to as many as 98,000 by the end of this year. When support troops are included, the total number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase from 162,000 now to more than 200,000 -- the most ever -- by the end of the year.
The efforts to reinforce U.S. troops in Iraq are being carried out without the fanfare that accompanied President Bush's initial troop surge in January.”
-Hearst Newspapers, May 21, 2007

“That’s it! If we just put more troops on the ground (again) and leave them there longer, we’ll finally be able to go back to the tactics that we were using before the surge began. Sweet, sweet progress.”
-Skippy

“We’re not going to lose in Iraq. As a matter of fact, we will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, July 11, 2006

Quotes of the Morning: Alberto.. Again

2007-05-22T04:22:00.000-07:00

"’He has done nothing wrong,’ Bush said in an impassioned defense of his longtime friend and adviser during a news conference at his Texas ranch.
Despite Bush's comments, support for Gonzales is eroding, even in the president's own party. The Senate is prepared to hold a no-confidence vote, possibly by week's end, and five Republican senators have joined many Democrats in calling for Gonzales' resignation.
The attorney general is under investigation by Congress in last year's firing of eight federal prosecutors. The president told the Democrats to get back to more pressing matters.
‘I stand by Al Gonzales, and I would hope that people would be more sober in how they address these important issues,’ Bush said. ‘And they ought to get the job done of passing legislation, as opposed to figuring out how to be actors on the political theater stage.’"
-Associated Press, May 21, 2007

“Ah yes.. Fearless Leader using the word ‘sober’ and accusing politicians of being political… Ah, I love the smell of irony in the morning. Alberto Gonzales is always good for a few morning Quotes. Let’s look at how he’s been keeping himself busy (when not testifying as part of an ever-increasing scandal).”
-Skippy

“Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pressing the U.S. Congress to enact a sweeping intellectual-property bill that would increase criminal penalties for copyright infringement, including ‘attempts’ to commit piracy.”
-CNet, May 15, 2007

“So owning Limewire or Kazaa will probably be illegal soon, as they will probably be seen as ‘attempts’ to commit piracy.”
-Skippy

“Permit more wiretaps for piracy investigations. Wiretaps would be authorized for investigations of Americans who are ‘attempting’ to infringe copyrights.”
-CNet, May 15, 2007

“Hmm? Oh sure, they’ll increase the government spying on people. If you have BitTorrent they’ll be allowed to tap your phone. You have a problem with this?”
-Skippy

“Allow computers to be seized more readily. Specifically, property such as a PC ‘intended to be used in any manner’ to commit a copyright crime would be subject to forfeiture, including civil asset forfeiture.”
-CNet, May 15, 2007

“And then they’ll be allowed to just take your computer, even if you actually did nothing illegal with it. I mean, if you INTENDED to use it to watch a bootleg video, that’s good enough for Alberto Gonzales. Still, Alberto, despite the scandals with the fired attorneys and his basic, kind of glaring, incompetence, manages to hold onto the only opinion that really matters.”
-Skippy

“Now, you asked about Alberto Gonzales. He has got my confidence.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, May 21, 2007

“And that is good enough for me. If there was any thought that something inappropriate was up you know Fearless Leader would be getting to the bottom of it.”
-Skippy

“President Bush said Tuesday he welcomes a Justice Department investigation into who revealed the classified identity of a CIA operative.
‘If there's a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is,’ Bush told reporters at an impromptu news conference during a fund-raising stop in Chicago, Illinois. ‘If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of. ‘”
-CNN, February 11, 2004

“President Bush appeared to backtrack Monday from his 2004 pledge to fire anyone involved in leaking the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame.”
-CNN, July 19, 2005

“Dang. Guess I’m wrong. Seems like Fearless Leader just shields criminals in his Administration from any kind of responsibility or repercussions of their actions. You’ll have to excuse my language, but it takes a lot of balls to do stand up in the face of public opinion like that.”
-Skippy

“We talked about enlargement -- we're looking forward to going to the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest to talk about enlargement.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, May 21, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: The Mystery of the Fired U.S. Attorneys

2007-05-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

“Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday he relied heavily on his deputy to oversee the firings of U.S. attorneys, appearing to distance himself from his departing second-in-command.
Gonzales' comments came the day after Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said he would step down by the end of summer, a decision that people familiar with his plans said was hastened by the controversy over last year's firings of nine U.S. attorneys, including Seattle's John McKay.
‘At the end of the day, the recommendations reflected the views of the deputy attorney general. He signed off on the names,’ Gonzales told reporters after a speech about Justice Department steps to curb rising violent crime.”
-Associated Press, May 16, 2007

“Good news everyone! The ‘Mystery of the Fired U.S. Attorneys’ has been solved. Apparently it was Old Man McNulty. And he’d have gotten away with it to if it weren’t for that blasted Congress. Well, the story is over. Please go watch something else now..”
-Skippy

“The Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested for termination between February 2005 and December 2006, according to sources familiar with documents withheld from the public.
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales testified last week that the effort was limited to eight U.S. attorneys fired since last June, and other administration officials have said that only a few others were suggested for removal.
In fact, D. Kyle Sampson, then Gonzales's chief of staff, considered more than two dozen U.S. attorneys for termination, according to lists compiled by him and his colleagues, the sources said.
They amounted to more than a quarter of the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys. Thirteen of those known to have been targeted are still in their posts.”
-Washington Post, May 17, 2007

“I said that this story is over. Stop paying attention.”
-Skippy

“The Justice Department on Wednesday told an angry Senate Judiciary Committee chairman it does not have documents described in a subpoena that demands all materials relating to Karl Rove's possible involvement in the U.S. attorney firings.
Instead, it said, Rove's lawyer must have them. Rove is the chief political adviser for President Bush.
The response from a top Justice Department official came just hours after the chairman, Vermont Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy and the panel's top Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, chastised Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in a letter for ignoring the subpoena's Tuesday deadline.
‘You ignored the subpoena, did not come forward today, did not produce the documents, and did not even offer an explanation for your noncompliance,’ the two senators wrote in the letter, sent Tuesday night.
‘The committee intends to get to the truth.’
A top Justice Department official responded Wednesday, saying a further Justice Department search yielded only two documents -- internal communications sent to Rove and others about a planned news conference in New Mexico by dismissed U.S. Attorney David Iglesias.
The newly released memo shows that Rove aide Scott Jennings was concerned about allegations Iglesias was politically pressured to resign.
Jennings told Rove and others he doubted ‘they can make an allegation such as this go away so easily.’
In the subpoena, Leahy had demanded all documents in the possession of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who investigated Rove in connection with the disclosure of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
But Assistant Attorney General Richard Hertling, Gonzales' top link to Congress, told Leahy a search was conducted and turned up nothing.”
-CNN, May 17, 2007

“You don’t understand. The Justice Department doesn’t have to supply that information any more. Didn’t you hear? It was Paul McNulty, and he stepped down, so the story is over. Stop looking into this stuff.”
-Skippy

“McNulty does not plan to leave until later this summer, which means he remains in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Department while having one foot out the door and congressional investigations still at full throttle.
Monica Goodling, the former counsel to Gonzales who resigned her post and invoked her Fifth Amendment protections, has accused McNulty of trying to blame her for the inaccurate testimony provided to Congress. Goodling has been granted immunity and is expected to testify before Congress as early as next week; friends say Goodling is eager to tell her side of the story.”
-CBS News, May 16, 2007

“No, no, no.. No more testimony. This case has been solved. McNulty may not be gone yet, but he will be. Honest. Quit investigating!”
-Skippy

“Gonzales appeared to have weathered the storm in recent weeks, insisting with White House support at two congressional hearings that the firings were justified though mishandled.
But he faced a new criticism this week after a former aide testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey said while White House counsel in 2004, Gonzales paid a hospital visit to the seriously ill John Ashcroft, then attorney general, in a failed bid to pressure him to set aside concerns by his own Justice Department and reauthorize Bush's domestic spying program.”
-Reuters, May 18, 2007

“Hey.. Would you cut it out? You’re making Gonzales look bad, and I already told you that this is all McNulty’s fault. You’re making it look like they were trying to take advantage of John Ashcroft while he was wiped out on pain killers in the hospital. I’m telling you, this is all about McNulty. It doesn’t go any higher than him. It doesn’t go to Gonzales, and there is certainly no scandal involving Fearless Leader.”
-Skippy

“Eroding Gonzales' support was the revelation that in 2004 Gonzales, as White House counsel, went to a hospital and pressured then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to certify the legality of Bush's controversial eavesdropping program while Ashcroft lay in intensive care.
Ashcroft had reservations about the program's legality and refused, according to Senate testimony by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey
Asked twice during a news conference Thursday whether he personally ordered Gonzales to Ashcroft's hospital room, Bush refused to answer.”
-Associated Press, May 18, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: Options on the Table

2007-05-18T03:34:00.000-07:00

“Paul Wolfowitz resigned as president of the World Bank on Thursday, ending a protracted battle over his stewardship prompted by his involvement in a high-paying promotion for his companion.”
-Reuters, May 18, 2007

“Wolfie is quitting? Why Wolfie, why? You were weathering this all so well.. Ok, not so well, but at least as well as Alberto, and God knows that he’s not going anywhere no matter what he does.”
-Skippy

“The Bush administration softened its support for World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz Tuesday, signaling a willingness to replace him if the bank's executive board does not fire him and accepts some blame for the ethics controversy engulfing the institution.
‘All options are on the table,’ said White House spokesman Tony Snow. ‘Members of the board (and) Mr. Wolfowitz need to sit down and figure out what is in fact going to be best for this bank.’"
-Washington Post, May 16, 2007

“Aaaaah! They were going to attack the World Bank! That has to be what they were saying! I recognize the language.”
-Skippy

Q: The Pentagon is calling for the development of low-yield nuclear weapons that could be used against China, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Russia, and Syria. Can you explain why the United States is considering this new policy, and how it might figure into the war on terrorism?
THE PRESIDENT: I presume you're referring to the nuclear review that was recently in the press. Well, first of all, the nuclear review is not new. It's gone on for previous administrations. Secondly, the reason we have a nuclear arsenal that I hope is modern, upgraded, and can work, is to deter any attack on America. The reason one has a nuclear arsenal is to serve as a deterrence.
Secondly, ours is an administration that's committed to reducing the amount of warheads, and we're in consultations now with the Russians on such a -- on this matter. We've both agreed to reduce our warheads down to 1,700 to 2,200. I talked with Sergey Ivanov yesterday, the Minister of Defense from Russia, on this very subject.
I think one of the interesting points that we need to develop and fully explore is how best to verify what's taking place, to make sure that there's confidence in both countries. But I'm committed to reducing the amount of nuclear weaponry and reducing the number of nuclear warheads. I think it's the right policy for America, and I know we can continue to do so and still keep a deterrence.
Q: Why a policy, though, that might go after a country like Libya or Syria?
THE PRESIDENT: First of all, we've got all options on the table, because we want to make it very clear to nations that you will not threaten the United States or use weapons of mass destruction against us, or our allies or friends.
-Press Conference with George ‘Dubya’ Bush, March 13, 2002

“In a stern warning to Iran, President Bush said ‘all options are on the table’ if the Iranians refuse to comply with international demands to halt their nuclear program, pointedly noting he has already used force to protect U.S. security.”
-Associated Press, August 13, 2005

“If the World Bank didn’t suck it up and accept some blame here for Wolfie cheating the system, well, that’s a nice bank you’ve got there. It would be a shame if something were to happen to it.”
-Skippy

“Wolfowitz and the Bush administration were seeking a face-saving deal with the board that would allow him to resign under his own terms and escape some blame for the furor involving his girlfriend’s compensation.
[…]
Behind the scenes negotiations took place on Wednesday for an exit package for Wolfowitz, but they failed to produce a resolution. Wolfowitz and his attorney, Robert Bennett, has said repeatedly that Wolfowitz won’t resign with a cloud of what they believe are unfair charges hanging over him.”
-Associated Press, May 17, 2007

“Dang straight! Wolfie should not be resigning with that kind of thing hanging over his head. He should be resigning with this kind of thing hanging over his head..”
-Skippy

“There are other differences that suggest that peacekeeping requirements in Iraq might be much lower than our historical experience in the Balkans suggest. There has been none of the record in Iraq of ethnic militias fighting one another that produced so much bloodshed and permanent scars in Bosnia.”
-Paul Wolfowitz, February 27, 2003

"There's a lot of money to pay for this. It doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money. We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon."
-Paul Wolfowitz, March 27, 2003

“.. or maybe he should be remembered for his intense concern regarding weapons of mass destruction..”
-Skippy

“Disarming Iraq of its chemical and biological weapons and dismantling its nuclear weapons program is a crucial part of winning the War on Terror.”
-Paul Wolfowitz, January 23, 2003

“..or his lack of concern regarding weapons of mass destruction.”
-Skippy

“I'm not concerned about weapons of mass destruction.”
-Paul Wolfowitz, July 21, 2003

“For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction [as justification for invading Iraq] because it was the one reason everyone could agree on.”
-Paul Wolfowitz in Vanity Fair interview, May 28, 2003

“Either way the World Bank should remember this.. Screwing with people who know where the bodies are buried in the Administration is not a wise thing to do.. They aren’t backing down on Alberto ‘Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges’ Gonzales, and he lied to Congress.
You have made the Administration look foolish… If I was on the board of the World Bank I’d be sleeping with one eye open.”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Happily Ignorant

2007-05-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

“Many parts of Iraq are stable now. But, uh, of course, what we see on television is the one bombing a day that discourages everyone.”
-Laura Bush, February 26, 2007

“Dear God! It is going so well, but seeing that one bombing a day makes it look so much worse. I wish we could fix that problem.”
-Skippy

“Iraq's interior ministry has decided to bar news photographers and camera operators from the scenes of bomb attacks, operations director Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf said on Sunday (local time).
His announcement was the latest in a series of attempts to curtail press coverage of the ongoing conflict, which has already attracted criticism from international human rights bodies.
‘There are many reasons for this prohibition,’ he said.
‘We do not want evidence to be disturbed before the arrival of detectives, the ministry must respect human rights and does not want to expose victims and does not want to give terrorists information that they achieved their goals.
‘This decision does not imply a curtailment of press freedom, it is a measure followed all over the world.’"
-AFP, May 13, 2007

“Ah.. Much better. As long as we can’t see the bombings we can live happy and ignorant, just like the First Lady.
Speaking of happily ignorant, have you heard that we have someone new in charge of the wars?” -Skippy

"I hear the voices. And I read the front page. And I know the speculation. But I'm the decider. And I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, April 18, 2006

“No.. The Decider has decided to abdicate his control over the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to someone new. Someone who can get things done.”
-Skippy

“In selecting Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute to manage the war in Iraq, President Bush has chosen a soldier who believes there is no purely military solution to the conflict and wants to forge a political accommodation among Iraqi factions that may fall short of full reconciliation but could lead to an exit strategy, according to friends and colleagues.
Lute's appointment shifts the balance within Bush's war council by adding a powerful voice who resisted sending more U.S. troops to Iraq and plans to pressure civilian agencies to take on a greater role. Lute promised Bush that he will do everything he can to make the buildup succeed despite his reservations, but he may be more open to arguments for a withdrawal should it fail, the colleagues said.”
-Washington Post, May 17, 2007

“Lt. General Lute, a three star general who will be telling four star generals what to do despite having only minimal authority and no real power in the chain of command.. Hmm.. I smell success in the air. How do we know that he will be effective?”
-Skippy

“Q: Tony, to coordinate and facilitate is great, but doesn't he also need some kind of power to jerk chains, light fires, to actually get things done among competing and sometimes jealous agency turf battles? Will the General be given any special powers? Or what will the administration do to facilitate his authority?
MR. SNOW: I think when you have somebody calling who is an Assistant to the President, dealing directly on -- first, let me step back. The members of the President's Cabinet are committed to the success of these things. Those certainly can serve as points of contact; they are the ones who are going to be responsible for making sure that their departments and agencies function properly. He's going to have the ability to communicate with them. And at the same time, you have to be respectful of chains of command and responsibility. “
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesman Tony Snow, May 16, 2007

“Well if Tony Snow says that it will all just work out, then that is good enough for me. You know, they’ve been looking for someone to take this job for a while now. I wonder why none of those retired four-star generals were willing to step up and come back in to help out?”
-Skippy

“The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job, according to people close to the situation.
At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.
‘The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going,’ said retired Marine Gen. John J. ‘Jack’ Sheehan, a former top NATO commander who was among those rejecting the job.”
-Washington Post, April 11, 2007

“Oh.. With all of the retired four-star generals turning the job down, I wonder why they chose an active three-star general?”
-Skippy

“See who we've got here tonight. General Moseley, Air Force Chief of Staff. General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They still support Rumsfeld. Right? You guys aren't retired yet, right? Right, they still support Rumsfeld.”
-Stephen Colbert, White House Correspondents’ Dinner, April 29, 2006

“That’s right! I’d completely forgotten that active military members fall under the chain of command and thus have to do what Fearless Leader in Chief wants them to do, like it or not. Don’t worry though, I’m sure that he’s 110% behind the surge and that everything will work out just fine.”
-Skippy

“The US is expected to pull significant numbers of troops out of Iraq in the next 12 months in spite of the continuing violence, according to the general responsible for near-term planning in the country.
Maj Gen Douglas Lute, director of operations at US Central Command, yesterday said the reductions were part of a push by Gen John Abizaid, commander of all US troops in the region, to put the burden of defending Iraq on Iraqi forces.
He denied the withdrawal was motivated by political pressure from Washington.
He said: ‘We believe at some point, in order to break this dependence on the . . . coalition, you simply have to back off and let the Iraqis step forward.
‘You have to undercut the perception of occupation in Iraq. It's very difficult to do that when you have 150,000-plus, largely western, foreign troops occupying the country.’”
-Financial Times, August 24, 2005

Quotes of the Morning: Tinky Winky Mourns

2007-05-16T04:30:00.000-07:00

“Sad news everyone.. Fearless Leader has lost one of his biggest supporters, the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Rev. Falwell was one of those old-time religion style preachers (assuming you consider the Inquisition to be ‘old time religion’) and I am sure that the Administration will miss his warm words of encouragement.”
-Skippy

"But you've got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I'm for the president to chase them all over the world. If it takes 10 years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord."
-Jerry Falwell, October 24, 2004

"I think [the war] is going well. CNN doesn't always get it right, but it goes pretty well if you watch it on FOX."
-Jerry Falwell, December 2, 2004

“Other people might not miss him so much..”
-Skippy

“The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say: you helped this happen.”
-Rev. Jerry Falwell on 9/11, September 13, 2001

“The Rev. Falwell kind of went out of his way to make enemies.. Let’s see.. Religion?”
-Skippy

"I think Muhammad was a terrorist. I read enough of the history of his life written by both Muslims and non-Muslims, (to know) that he was a violent man, a man of war."
-Rev. Jerry Falwell, October 6, 2002

"If he's going to be the counterfeit of Christ, he has to be Jewish. The only thing we know is he must be male and Jewish."
-Jerry Falwell commenting on the anti-Christ, January 1999

“Check. Those who believe in a secular government and the Constitution?”
-Skippy

“There is no separation of church and state. Modern US Supreme Courts have raped the Constitution and raped the Christian faith and raped the churches by misinterpreting what the Founders had in mind in the First Amendment to the Constitution.”
-Rev. Jerry Falwell

“The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews.”
-Rev. Jerry Falwell

“We're fighting against humanism, we're fighting against liberalism ... we are fighting against all the systems of Satan that are destroying our nation today ... our battle is with Satan himself.”
-Rev. Jerry Falwell

"The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country."
-Jerry Falwell, July 4, 1976

“Check. Women?”
-Skippy

“I listen to feminists and all these radical gals - most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men - that's their problem.”
-Rev. Jerry Falwell

“Check. Homosexuals?”
-Skippy

"Most of these feminists are radical, frustrated lesbians, many of them, and man-haters, and failures in their relationships with men, and who have declared war on the male gender. The Biblical condemnation of feminism has to do with its radical philosophy and goals. That's the bottom line."
-Rev. Jerry Falwell

“AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”
-Rev. Jerry Falwell

“AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharoah's chariotters.”
-Rev. Jerry Falwell

"Someone must not be afraid to say, 'moral perversion is wrong.' If we do not act now, homosexuals will 'own' America!...If you and I do not speak up now, this homosexual steamroller will literally crush all decent men, women, and children who get in its way...and our nation will pay a terrible price!"
-Jerry Falwell quoted in People for the American Way's, "Hostile Climate," 1997, p.15

"Well the fact that he's a gay Republican means he should join the Democratic party."
-Rev. Jerry Falwell on Marc Cherry, creator of Desperate Housewives, November 28, 2004

“Check.. But I was brought up not to speak badly of the dead, so I will just leave on the Rev. Falwell’s own words.”
-Skippy

“Grown men should not be having sex with prostitutes unless they are married to them.”
-Rev. Jerry Falwell, May 17, 1997

"I may be an idiot, but I'm not a pedophile."
-Rev. Jerry Falwell, June 12, 2002

Quotes of the Morning: Oil Laws are the King's Laws

2007-05-15T04:21:00.000-07:00

“You've said the Iraqis haven't met any obligations; I would disagree with your characterization. They have said that they will send Iraqi forces into Baghdad to take the lead, along with U.S. troops, to bring security to Baghdad, and they've done that. They said they'd name a commander for Baghdad; they have done that. They said they'd send up -- they'd send troops out into the neighborhoods to clear and hold and then build; they're doing that. They send they would send a budget up that would spend a considerable amount of their money on reconstruction; they have done that. They're working on an oil law that is in progress. “
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, April 3, 2007

“Ah yes.. the oil law. How’s that going?”
-Skippy

“Iraq's parliament should pass a new oil law and make progress on amending the constitution before the end of the month, two key ‘benchmarks’ being demanded by U.S. officials, a top Iraqi official said yesterday.”
-Washington Times, May 15, 2007

“The oil law is one of the key benchmarks we’re demanding?”
-Skippy

“It has not even reached parliament, but the oil law that U.S. officials call vital to ending Iraq's civil war is in serious trouble among Iraqi lawmakers, many of whom see it as a sloppy document rushed forward to satisfy Washington's clock.
Opposition ranges from vehement to measured, but two things are clear: The May deadline that the White House had been banking on is in doubt. And even if the law is passed, it fails to resolve key issues, including how to divide Iraq's oil revenue among its Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni regions, and how much foreign investment to allow. Those questions would be put off for future debates.
Iraq is believed to have some of the world's largest oil reserves, about 115 billion barrels. The country's 2007 budget is based on predictions that oil proceeds will reach $31 billion, 93% of the government's revenue.
But war and political instability have kept production down. Just before the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, production was 2.6 million barrels per day. U.S. officials predicted a rapid rise to 3 million barrels. Instead, Iraq often has struggled to push the daily total to 2 million barrels because of obsolete equipment and security problems.
The oil law is supposed to change this by opening the industry to foreign investors who could modernize equipment and increase production. U.S. officials hope that spreading oil profit fairly across the country would cause instability to ebb.”
-LA Times, May 13, 2007

“Ah! We need to spread profit evenly across Iraq. I guess that means taking the revenues from the oil rich northern (Kurdish) and southern (Shiite) regions and distributing it to the more central (Sunni) areas to try to bribe the insurgency. Of course there is one more group that has a little interest in the new oil law..”
-Skippy

“The result of this lobbying is the draft oil law before the Iraqi parliament. This could result in multinational oil companies controlling and profiting from most of the country's oilfields for up to 20 years. The first draft was written in July 2006 and was seen by Shell and other oil companies within two weeks. Members of the Iraqi parliament did not see it until eight months later, while Iraqi civil society was excluded together.”
-Jonathan Stevenson, Letter in the Guardian (UK), May 15, 2007

“Hey, the Iraq people don’t deal with oil on a daily basis. If we wanted to talk about car bombings we’d talk to them. No, this is about oil, so we went to the companies that deal with oil to talk about the new law and get input. Surely no one could complain about that.”
-Skippy

“To Iraq's Kurdish leadership, the issue of how to apportion the third-largest pools of oil in the world is ‘a make-or-break deal’ for the country as a whole, a top official told United Press International.
‘The oil issue for us is a red line. It will signify our participation in Iraq or not,’ Qubad Talabani, son of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and the Kurdistan Regional Government's representative to the United States, said in an interview from his Washington office.
[…]
‘This sets us back to square one, a point that's unacceptable to us. We're trying to modernize Iraq, build a new Iraq, built on new foundations, new policies. The symbol of this new Iraq will be how it manages its oil infrastructure,’ Talabani said. ‘And if people want to revert back to Saddam-era policies of a state-controlled oil sector with no accountability, with no accountability to the parliament or the people of the country, with no oversight except from one or two, then I'm sorry, that is not the Iraq that the Kurds bought into. That is not the Iraq that the Kurds would want to be part of.’
‘If a centralized oil regime is imposed on us, we will not participate in the state of Iraq,’ Talabani said. ‘And we have to make it absolutely clear to our friends in Washington, to our brothers in Baghdad, this is a make-or-break deal for Iraq.’"
-UPI, May 14, 2007

“Who would have thought that setting up a country could be so tough? Man, this democracy thing is a bitch to deal with some days.”
-Skippy

“As a matter of fact, I spoke to the Prime Minister yesterday about progress on the oil law. He reminded me that sometimes the legislature doesn't do what the executive branch wants them to do. I reminded him, I understand what he's talking about. “
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, April 3, 2007

Quotes of the Morning: One Standard For You, One For Me

2007-05-14T04:19:00.000-07:00

“A majority of members of Iraq's parliament have signed a draft bill that would require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and freeze current troop levels. The development was a sign of a growing division between Iraq's legislators and prime minister that mirrors the widening gulf between the Bush administration and its critics in Congress.
The draft bill proposes a timeline for a gradual departure, much like what some U.S. Democratic lawmakers have demanded, and would require the Iraqi government to secure parliament's approval before any further extensions of the U.N. mandate for foreign troops in Iraq, which expires at the end of 2007.”
-Washington Post, May 11, 2007

“Um.. Wow. Apparently the U.S. Congress isn’t the only group that wants to get our troops out of Iraq. Apparently the Iraqi government wants to get us out of there too.. That seems to be pretty clear.”
-Skippy

“RUSSERT: But if the duly elected people's bodies, the U.S Congress and the Iraqi Parliament, say they want a troop withdrawal, that's more than a poll. Isn't that the voice of the people?
MCCAIN: As far as the Iraqi Parliament is concerned, the Iraqi government obviously doesn't feel that way there … second of all, there is a certain amount of domestic political calculations involved there in what the Iraqi ‘Parliament’ said.”
-John McCain Interview on ‘Meet the Press’, May 14, 2007

“..unless you are John McCain, who apparently feels that the Iraqi Parliament (part of the ‘democracy’ that we’ve brought to Iraq) does not have a voice in the government. Apparently Iraq just doesn’t take the War on Terror as seriously as we do.”
-Skippy

“A recent case suggests that the war on terror has been superseded by the war on embarrassment
A man accused of blowing up an airliner and killing 73 people, who has already admitted to bombing hotels with fatal consequences and who has a conviction for a failed assassination attempt on a head of state, was freed on a technicality in a Texas court this week, and can look forward to a quiet retirement in Florida.
In London a man accused of hacking into the computer system of the Pentagon and Nasa is waiting to see if the House of Lords will hear his appeal against extradition to the US to face a trial in which one prosecutor has already indicated he should "fry". Blowing up an airliner is clearly regarded as less serious than causing major embarrassment to the defence establishment.”
-Guardian Unlimited (UK), May 12, 2007

“Huh? We let a terrorist go? Why would we do that?”
-Skippy

“Cuba accused the U.S. government on Friday of violating international anti-terrorism treaties by allowing Luis Posada Carriles, a man Havana accuses of violent acts against the country, to walk free of all charges after an immigration indictment against him was dropped.
‘The U.S. government has not only violated its own laws and supposed commitment to its self-proclaimed 'War Against Terrorism,' but also to its own international obligations,’ said a government declaration published Friday in the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
[…]
Havana accuses Posada of orchestrating a string of 1997 Havana hotel bombings, which killed an Italian tourist, and in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people.
Venezuela is seeking to extradite Posada in the jetliner explosion, but a U.S. federal judge ruled that Posada cannot be sent there or to Cuba for fear he may be tortured.
Accusing the U.S. government of hypocrisy, the Cuban declaration noted that ‘meanwhile, it maintains a prison in part of the territory it occupies in Cuba in Guantanamo and maintains prisons in the length and breadth of the planet where the most aberrant and inhumane acts are committed.’
The Cuban government's statement said the U.S. could have continued to hold Posada under the U.S. Patriot Act, which was passed after the 2001 terror attacks on the United States, by simply declaring him a national security risk.”
-Associated Press, May 11, 2007

“Oh sweet irony. We apparently claimed that we could not send a terrorist to Cuba because he might be tortured.”
-Skippy

It was not until last September that President George W. Bush acknowledged the CIA use of secret prisons around the world. He said all 14 high-value terrorism suspects that the CIA had been holding, including a mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, had been transferred to military custody at Guantanamo Bay for trials.
Officials said Friday that al-Iraqi was captured well after that, but John Sifton of Human Rights Watch in New York said he was skeptical.
After Bush's announcement, ‘We thought there were others who remained in CIA custody or, if they weren't, they were temporarily being held in some sort of proxy custody by someone else,’ Sifton said.
His group says it has a list of 16 additional people who had been in CIA custody at some time and have not been accounted for.
The CIA has not commented on the list.
Soon after the capture of a major terror suspect in 2002, the CIA decided it should hold high-value captives for extended periods to extract information, using ‘enhanced interrogation techniques.’
Those widely reported practices included openhanded slapping, cold, sleep deprivation and, perhaps most controversially, waterboarding. In that technique, a detainee is made to believe he is drowning.
‘The methods used in this program are thoroughly reviewed by our government to ensure that they are fully in accordance with our laws and treaty obligations,’ Gimigliano said.”
-Associated Press, April 27, 2007

“America.. We’re so rich that we can afford a second set of standards!”
-Skippy

Quotes of the Morning: Getting Polled

2007-05-11T04:12:00.000-07:00

“Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday told US troops in Iraq that he knows they're suffering hardships from extended deployments but the longer stays are ‘vital to the mission.’
His words were greeted with restrained applause at a rally on a US military base near Saddam Hussein's former hometown of Tikrit. On his second day in Iraq, Cheney also held classified meetings with US military leaders and emerged repeating the words of the top US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, that ‘we can expect more violence’ ahead.”
-Associated Press, May 11, 2007

‘Vice-Leader Dick bravely spent the night in a war zone! I think that puts him one night past the number of that Fearless Leader has ever spent in a war zone, but I’m not certain. He was there to look over the strategy and to talk to the troops. Let’s hear what he had to say..”
-Skippy

"’From our perspective, we don't see much as far as gains,’ said Marine Cpl. Bradley Warren, the first to question Cheney in a round-table discussion with about 30 military members. ‘We're looking at small-picture stuff, not many gains. I was wondering what it looks like from the big side of the mountain - how Iraq's looking.’
Cheney replied that remarkable progress has been made in the last year and a half.
‘I think when we look back from 10 years hence, we'll see that the year '05 was in fact a watershed year here in Iraq,’ the vice president said. ‘We're getting the job done. It's hard to tell that from watching the news. But I guess we don't pay that much attention to the news.’"
-Associated Press, December 18, 2005

“’05? Oops.. That was from the last trip that Vice-Leader Dick made to Iraq a year and a half ago. My bad. Still, this somehow sounds familiar. What the heck, let’s just look at what he said..”
-SKippy

“They've had three elections this year; each one has gotten better and stronger and more effective. I do think it's serving to undermine the legitimacy of the insurgency. I think it will make it increasingly difficult for the insurgents to be effective.
[…]
And while the level of violence has continued, I do believe that when we look back on this period of time, 2005 will have been the turning point when, in fact, we made sufficient progress both on the political front and the security front so that we'll see that as the watershed year.“
-Vice-Leader “Dick” Cheney, December 18, 2005

“And we had that election in January -- first free election in Iraq in decades -- and that we will be able to look back from the perspective of time, and see that 2005 was the turning point, was the watershed year, and that establishment of a legitimate government in Iraq, which is what that whole political process is about, means the end of the insurgency, ultimately.
[…]
That's my point, that, in fact, the political process did proceed successfully, and that they have made every single milestone represents ultimately the end of the insurgency because there will be legitimate democratic government in Iraq. And I don't think the insurgents will be able to stand up to it.“
-Vice-Leader “Dick” Cheney, December 18, 2005

“Ah yes.. The ‘watershed’ year of 2005, when we apparently first saw the beginnings of our great triumph in Iraq and the death of the insurgency. It was going great then, and it is apparently going even better now.”
-Skippy

“I can say that based on the conversations I've had today, and most of those conversations were with Iraqis and Iraqi leaders - some of them in the government, some of them not - that they believe the situation has gotten better. They cite specifically the statistics on sectarian violence, Sunni-on-Shia and Shia-on-Sunni violence that they think is down fairly dramatically.”
-Vice-Leader “Dick” Cheney, May 9, 2007

“See? The situation has become much better than it was back in 2005, and back then it was a ‘watershed’ turning point, so it must be practically perfect there now. Sectarian violence is down!”
-Skippy

“The United States military on Wednesday denied reports that a helicopter gunship fired on a primary school north of Baghdad but confirmed at least two children were killed in an attack on insurgent bombers.
A statement from US headquarters in Baghdad said attack helicopters went into action on Tuesday near Mandali, a small town in Diyala province, when pilots spotted militants planting a bomb near an illegal checkpoint.
Following the air strike, US forces dispatched to the area were told by Iraqi civilians that the two bombers were killed along with five bystanders, two of them children, the statement said.”
-AFP, May 9, 2007

“Of course blowing up children seems to be up. Well, as they always say, you can’t make an omelet without fragging some children. Those kids were probably going to grow up to be terrorists anyhow. It just proves that we are taking out the root causes of terrorists, children, and finally taking this war seriously. It’s game time, and apparently this war is a full-contact sport.”
-Skippy

“Q One last thing about -- in connection with the Vice President's trip. On board Air Force Two yesterday, senior administration officials said of the trip, and the message, ‘We've got to get this work done. It's game time.’ -- what does that suggest about the first four years of the war? Is it that the administration is just now saying that that was a scrimmage and now it's game time? What does that mean?
MR. SNOW: I think that's simply -- it gets back to what the President is saying. In some ways, there may be perceptions of two different clocks, Baghdad and Washington. The President said, you've got to speed up the clock. It is a matter of realizing that there have been a lot of efforts now. We've been working on this joint way forward in Iraq. You are getting results in a number of areas. We have been talking and working with the Iraqis on political, economic, and other reform.”
-Press Gaggle with White House Spokesman Tony Snow, May 10, 2007

“See? Our strategy is changing in order to get to our inevitable victory. Fearless Leader is calling the shots, so that some day he can march his troops back to the gates of Rome in triumph and take over the Senate.. Um, sorry, I was thinking of Julius Caesar. No, Fearless Leader changed his strategy because he hated getting polled.”
-Skippy

“I remind people -- I reminded them that last fall, late fall -- I had been one of these people that get endlessly polled -- you know, these surveys and the pollsters calling people all the time, it looks like -- and if they had asked my opinion, I'd have said, I disapprove of what was going on in Iraq. You could have put me down as part of the disapproval process -- and, therefore, had put a plan in place that would more likely cause me to approve of what's going on in Iraq. That's why I made the decision I made. “
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, May 10, 2007