Given what we now know, Bush and Cheney ought to be impeached.
If they can't be impeached, then their top officials should be prosecuted for their crimes.
If the top officials can't be prosecuted for their crimes, then Congress and the American people should insist that those top officials be fired.
If top Bush officials can't be fired, Congress should at least censure the president.
If Congress won't censure the president, then they should at the very least hold the president accountable with investigations—real ones this time.
If Congress won't even hold the president accountable, then it's time to send people to Washington who will.
For the next year, the agenda can't be any clearer than that.
Posted by Craig at April 21, 2006 12:07 AMSecretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been doing a series of softball interviews with hosts like Rush Limbaugh in an effort to rehabilitate his image. On Monday, Rumsfeld appeared on the Bill Cunningham Show and had this to say about the retired generals criticizing his management of the Iraq war:
"Of course the implication that there was something wrong with the war plan is amusing almost because of the fact that the war plan's fashioned by the combatant commanders and it's reviewed in great detail by the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then it's recommended to me and the President."
In other words, Rumsfeld is arguing that there is nothing wrong with the Iraq war planning -- but if there was anything wrong it wasn't his fault. He's blaming the combat commanders and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Rumsfeld doesn’t make these kind of statements in the mainstream media, probably because he knows a “pass the buck” strategy wouldn’t go over well. But this is the message he wants to deliver to his base of supporters.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/04/20/rumsfeld-amusing/
Will this defense work when this criminal is tried at the Hague for war crimes? Bastard! "Amusing"? Try this for amusing asshole. You are going to retire at some point into civilian life, and I predict it is not going to be a 'bed of roses' for you. It's called karma jerk.
"Amusing" was the word that struck me...like a brick. "Amusing?" when talking about war, bloodshed, death and maiming....and that's the people who signed up for it, not to mention the civilian innocents. I hate those dirty f***s. There are not words to convey how much I despise them.
Posted by Sharon at April 21, 2006 05:07 AMWhen do we enter a stage where several factions feel nearly three years of an incompetent, ineffectual president present an unacceptable risk to the prosperity and security of the nation? Or to the prosperity and prospects of their party? With no reasonable expectation of Congressional cooperation on impeachment proceedings what methods may they resort to to remove Bush from office? What are the most desperate and troubled amongst them capable of? Are there more than the usual number of Secret Service agents in Bush's entourage lately?
Posted by steve duncan at April 21, 2006 05:15 AMJudith, unfortunately crime does pay for ex-politicos or their operatives. Talk to G. Gordon Liddy, Ollie North or John Negroponte about how rough they have it.
Posted by steve duncan at April 21, 2006 05:29 AMCan Saddam use the same defense Rummy is using?
Posted by at April 21, 2006 05:34 AMI recall when Rummy was first appointed by CatTorturer in Chief; Rummy's family in Germany had a FIT! They warned us in a series of statements just WHAT we were getting into. Relatives desparaged their own as VILE..VILE..VILE. The whole bunch are sadists.
But...don't misunderestimate Rove. He will make damn sure November elections won't sweep them out. These criminals have escaped with everything without accountability, why stop at mid-terms?
Posted by Mal Feasance at April 21, 2006 05:59 AMIt looks to me that the voting process is fixed. Recounts do no good because the majority of voting machines are paperless and all a "recount" does is spit out the fixed results.
Then, when you consider the "wag the dog" process that is in motion, "Contacts close to the echelons of power in Pakistan's military headquarters, Rawalpindi, tell Asia Times Online that judging from the pattern of talks, all of the Muslim countries that side with the United States anticipate a US attack attack. on Iran around October." The October Surprise together with the fixed voting machines make for a very grim outlook for the country.
Most TV viewers love a good war with lots of bombs killing vicariously for them. "Shock and Awe II" will play great for the Republicans in November. Without a fair voting system, there is no way to get the bad guys out.
Until the election system is repaired and votes get fairly counted, no amount of "politicking" matters. Money to Democratic candidates is just money thrown down a rathole.
I'm sorry to talk so pessimistically, but how are the Republic and our freedoms to survive? I simply have no idea how this disaster can be turned around.
Posted by JWP at April 21, 2006 07:13 AMThe difficulty with your position, JWP, is that having reliable voting machines is meaningless in your scenario because the citizenry is too backward and imbecilic to see through the "America-at-war" manipulation anyway.
If that's the case, then ipso facto the Republic is doomed, and one needs to check out of politics and simply try to survive the coming inevitable authoritarian dictatorship. I guess that's your position, and I can understand it.
I do agree that we have enough evidence to see that the electronic machines are highly unreliable, tend to make errors that favor the Republicans, and that Republicans are the party entirely blocking any federal legislation regulating such machines---pretty suspicious for a party supposedly committed to "democracy".
It should be the Dems first priority, yet it doesn't even seem it's on the agenda.
Posted by euzoius at April 21, 2006 07:31 AMTHOMAS WAGNER
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Six off-duty Iraqi soldiers were captured and shot execution-style outside a restaurant in northern Iraq on Friday, police said.
The soldiers were just leaving the restaurant after lunch there when they were taken into custody by a group of unidentified gunmen waiting outside, said police Capt. Arkan Ali. The gunmen took their captives to a nearby street, lined them up and shot them to death, Ali said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sure glad this whole "spreading democracy in the Middle East" thing is going so well.........
Another really good diary by bonddad on DailyKos. Given muck's contention that "no one cares" about gas prices, the results of the Fox survey that bonddad write about is...ah....interesting:
This is really interesting. People who thought the economy was getting better said it was because of more jobs (49%) and a pay increase (23%). First, notice how the open-ended question did not elicit a response of "more better-paying jobs." Also notice that only 23% said it was because of a pay increase. Shouldn't a booming economy have a higher rate of pay increases? (We'll get to that in a minute).
Gas prices were largely responsible for people saying the economy was getting worse (59%).
48% of people said their experience determines their perception of the national economy.
Here is something else that is really interesting. The factors people said were important in deciding if the economy was in good shape were: The availability of good jobs (89%), The price of gasoline (83%), The amount of money you are saving for the future (77%), the general direction of the country (77%).
Why 72% of Americans Think The Economy is Fair or Poor
Posted by ann at April 21, 2006 08:18 AMeuzpious writes, "The difficulty with your position, JWP, is that having reliable voting machines is meaningless in your scenario because the citizenry is too backward and imbecilic to see through the "America-at-war" manipulation anyway."
That is precisely the difficulty, not with my position, but with our current situation. If you took a poll today, my guess is that a huge portion of the citizenry still believes that Sadaam attacked us or supported the attackers. My guess is that a large percentage would believe that the majority of the attackers came from Iraq and that a lot of them came from Iran.
The reality is that MSM, the blogosphere, the educational system, and all other information sources have not been effective in educating the mass of the population to understand what has happened.
In earlier times, the masses did not matter so much because the educated elite that ran the country had a general concept of civic responsibility. With the advent of the Neo-Conservative/Ayn-Rand/Libertarian/Evangelical-Neo-Christian era, it has become un-stylish for the educated people to be informes. The NCARLENCs have escaped from a need to be civically responsibility because they have been convinced that exercising their narrow self-centeredness maximizes societal benefit and, hence, that the liberals who are civically minded are the cause of all failure. Being freed from any need to be informed, they spout Ayn Rand and bogus Ministers instead of watching out for their real interests.
I do despair because unless we get a new mindset in the populus all is ipso facto, really lost.
Notwithstanding that, I am not yet giving up.
Posted by JWP at April 21, 2006 08:20 AMSteve, I was suprized to see on CNN that 65,000 residents of Iraq are currently living as refugees in tents. More refugee camps are being built as we speak, due to neighborhood segregation.
One Shite was quoted: "I have lived in my house, next to Sunnis for 22 years, with no problems. Now they try to kill us."
Maybe this religious hatred and intolerance requires a 900 pound gorilla like Sadaam to manage it. Perhaps our esteemed military is being asked to do the impossible.
Posted by TIKI AL at April 21, 2006 08:28 AMezuious writes, "I do agree that we have enough evidence to see that the electronic machines are highly unreliable."
Your statment is not true. The voting machines are very reliable. They work admirably and reliably do exactly what they were designed to do--rig elections. Technically, the voting machines, optical scanners, and central accumulators are "Election Management Systems" and that is exactly what they do--manage elections.
Correction of my defective link: The voting machines are very reliable.
Posted by JWP at April 21, 2006 08:55 AMEvery time that I open my politcal email there are ten thousand action items.
One of the ways that a dictator gains control is by controlling access to information. That is exactly what this anti-net neutrality bill will do.
Make no mistake; they want to shut down progressive sites. This is what they want.
These bastards will stop at nothing to create the feudal society that they want.
You can find out here how the Reps voted.
You can sign the petition here. Move On also has a preserve net neutrality petition.
They really want to keep us all ignorant.
Just imagine what it would be like for us all if the only access that we have to information was the mainstream media!
Posted by Anjha at April 21, 2006 09:40 AMI also wanted to make sure that you have all had the opportunity to watch Feingold's video.
I hope there is enough money for him to put this on the air.
Posted by Anjha at April 21, 2006 10:00 AMYep, the Platform of the Republican Party:
1. All actions to concentrate and retain political control are legal (only for Republicans) and proper.
2. Promote non-net neutrality to keep the masses in control by spoon-feeding and stopping the effective competition of dissenting ideas and infomation that is not on the talking points.
3. Institute a comprehensive and effective surveilence state where the Bill of Rights is repealed, every communication is monitored and recorded, and no home or office is safe from secret search in order to stifle free speech and dissent and for use in jailing or blackmailing opponents to maintain power.
4. Instutute an effective election management system so the Party cannot lose any election.
5. Create a police state so all dissenters are neutralized and all scum are segregated from the Party elite.
6. Use Fear, War, Racism, and Scapegoated Aliens as tools of social control.
7. Concentrate wealth in a few families.
8 Make most Americans wage-slaves to support the chosen ones.
9. Provide TV, false religion, and Shock & Awe as entertainment to keep the masses deceived, entertained, in debt, besotted, and passive.
10. Enjoy Life without a thought for the well-being of anyone not a Party member.
Posted by JWP at April 21, 2006 10:10 AMJWP: Your 10 points speak volumes of truth.
Mink Mucklucks: Cnn set up at a pawn shop, and interviewed people pawning heirlooms to pay for their gas. Apparently they did not read your post on how the price of gas should have no effect on them.
Posted by TIKI AL at April 21, 2006 11:39 AMBased on your subsequent posts, JWP, I see no real disagreements between us, quibbles aside.
I had intended my comment about paperless voting machines being "unreliable" to mean rigged or hackable by GOP operatives, but can see I was unclear.
One's view of the reliability of voting systems is a matter of one's point of view.
As someone once said, "Form follows function."
Posted by JWP at April 21, 2006 12:21 PMAs someone once said, "Form follows function."
Louis Sullivan. Can't help being an architecture junkie in Chicago.
Posted by ann at April 21, 2006 12:37 PM