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October 28, 2005

The Merits of our Goods are Univerally Acknowledged

Sadly, I have too much work to do to be blogging at this juncture. What poor timing. I didn't even know Harriet Miers stepped down until about 9:30 p.m. last night.

I urger readers to check out Scooter Libby's indictment (PDF) and, as background, the WMD Report (PDF, 3.2MB), AKA "The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction."

...Now back to work.

Posted by MJuhre at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)

October 26, 2005

Hipocracy has a new face. Wait, sorry, no -- same old faces.

E.J Dionne Jr. has a good editorial in today's Washington Post,"'Rule of Law'? That's So '90s":

"...It seems like a hundred years ago when Clinton's defenders were accusing his opponents of using special prosecutors, lawsuits, criminal charges and, ultimately, impeachment to overturn the will of the voters. Clinton's conservative enemies would have none of this. No, they said over and over, the Clinton mess was not about sex but about 'perjury and the obstruction of justice' and 'the rule of law.' The old conservative talking points are now inoperative. It's especially amusing to see former House majority leader Tom DeLay complain about the politicization of justice."

It is, indeed, especially amusing.

Lest anyone forget how the Republicans locked arms to impeach Bill Clinton in 1998 for perjury and obstruction of justice, after he lied to a grand jury about getting hummers from a White House intern, I thought it useful to pull in some quotations on that subject by some prominent conservatives:

"I would have voted for it. I thought the man lied." - George W. Bush speaking in 1999. (If link goes dead, try this.)

"It was about honor and decency and integrity and the truth," Mr. DeLay said, his voice breaking, "everything that we honor in this country. It was also a debate about relativism versus absolute truth." Tom Delay (now indicted for conspiracy and money laundering in a campaign finance scheme), speaking in December 1998.

"President Clinton committed perjury during his grand jury appearance. The criminal law of the United States forbids perjury before a grand jury..." Senator Bill Frist (now under investigation by the SEC for insider trading), speaking in February 1999.

More to be posted as I come across them. If you have any of your own, please send them in via comment, with link to the original source.

Posted by MJuhre at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)

October 25, 2005

I Just Couldn't Ignore These Little Darlings

I know this is a few days late, but I didn't get to it before, and just can't let it go. America's newest Disney-esque, Hillary Duff wannabe girl talent, known as "Prussian Blue", are also spokesmodels for the American white-power movement.

See the story here (if link fails, click here).

Thanks to Brett for the t-shirt photo. Here's a pic of their album.

Have a bigger pic, if you need it.

And here's an mp3 of their bloody awful song "Victory." Check out that guitar.

[The following links were sent in by an anonymously. Thanks, whoever you are - CF].

Prussian Blue Blog
Dresden's Blog
Prussian Blue Website
Prussian Blue Forums
Jerry's Prussian Blue Page

Posted by MJuhre at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)

Pundits Pore Over Daily News 'Bush Scoop'

Yesterday, the talking heads of cable television were all abuzz over the (New York) Daily News.

That's not something you hear every day. But yesterday's cover story, "Bushies feeling the boss' wrath", painted a picture of the commander in chief that sounded more like story about George Steinbrenner than George W. Bush.

The story, written by Daily News D.C. Bureau Chief, Thomas DeFrank, paints a picture of a moody and angry Dubya uncharacteristically lashing out at subordinates as his world falls apart around him -- or, as it might be put in more journalistic parlance -- "as his administration faces its toughest challenges to date" (but let's be serious -- things look to go from bad to worse for all things Bush).

[Excerpts]:" 'The President is just unhappy in general and casting blame all about,' said one Bush insider. 'Andy [Card, the chief of staff] gets his share. Karl gets his share. Even Cheney gets his share. And the press gets a big share.' ... 'This is not some manager at McDonald's chewing out the help," said a source with close ties to the White House when told about these outbursts. "This is the President of the United States, and it's not a pleasant sight.' "

When I read the story (on the 5:38 train to New Haven, where I was lucky enough to find the rare, discarded Daily News among the sea of New York Posts the Connecticut business class so adores), I scratched my head and just kind of had a "whaa?" feeling. It isn't the first time I've read of rumors of a brooding, erratic, and irascible Bush (I'd seen one many months ago in a Beltway newsletter, the name of which, sadly, eludes me at the moment). But I hadn't read anything like this in a major daily.

It is a bit of a strange story, what with all its unnamed sources, but frankly, no stranger than one in the Sept. 21 issue of The National Enquirer, which cited inside sources as saying Bush's woes had him crawling back to the bottle. (You may laugh, but they broke the story of Rush Limbaugh's drug addiction, which turned out to be true).

[Huh?]

The National Enquirer story was ignored by the "media elites" as right wingers like to say, and I really had no reason to believe The Daily News story would not be equally ignored (despite the latter paper's generally higher degree of credibility).

But then I went home and turned on CNN (for starters). They were all talking about it. Why?

What I didn't know, is that DeFrank, the story's author, is practically a "Bush insider" himself.

"DeFrank has a unique relationship to the Bush world, particularly to the older generation," writes Joshua Marshall on his blog, Talking Points Memo. "He cowrote James Baker's diplomatic autobiography The Politics of Diplomacy, for instance. And back in the summer of 2001, The Weekly Standard suggested he'd actually been in the running to be chief Pentagon spokesman, before the job went to Tori Clarke."

So, the story has some weight, it seems. What remains to be seen, is whether it has legs, or if it just disappears down the memory hole like the boozing Bush Enquirer story. For today we have buzz about Dick Cheney's involvement in the Plamegate case, the 2000th American death in Iraq, and the likelihood of indictments against Karl Rove and/or Scooter Libby. Of course, it is because of all these issues that Bush is supposedly losing his shit.

Posted by MJuhre at 12:08 PM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2005

Corporate Donor Flies Delay to Court Hearing

When Tom Delay flew to Houston last week to face charges he illegally funneled corporate donations Texas Republicans, he didn't have to fly coach.

Instead, one of his corporate donors was kind enough to loan him a jet. Luckily for Mr. Delay the donor is well respected for its honesty and integrity, and is unlikely to cause any appearance of impropriety in the case.

Of course, I'm joking. Really it could hardly be more ridiculous.

[From the Minneapolis Star Tribune]: DeLay's staff disclosed that he flew to Houston on Thursday morning on a corporate jet owned by R.J. Reynolds, a longtime contributor that has flown him to Puerto Rico and other destinations; they said the jet was "used in compliance with regulations." The company, which has also given $17,000 to DeLay's legal defense fund, did not comment Friday.

Posted by MJuhre at 02:51 PM | Comments (0)

Former National Security Adviser Calls Administration on Bushit

Brent Scowcroft, the National Security Adviser under the first President George Bush who has often been at odds with the current administration, threw all caution to the wind and called those chumps out in an interview with The New Yorker magazine, released today.

"This [Iraq] was said to be part of the War on Terror, but Iraq feeds terrorism," he told the magazine. Back in August 2002, Scowcroft warned the Bush administration that "an attack on Iraq at this time would seriously jeopardize, if not destroy, the global counter-terrorist campaign we have undertaken."

"...This is exactly where we are now," he said of Iraq, with no apparent satisfaction. "We own it. And we can't let go. We're getting sniped at. Now, will we win? I think there's a fair chance we'll win. But look at the cost."

"... The real anomaly in the Administration is Cheney," Scowcroft said. "I consider Cheney a good friend -- I've known him for thirty years. But Dick Cheney, I don't know anymore."

When the New Yorker asked Scowcroft if the current President George W. Bush son was different from his father, the first President Bush, Scowcroft said, "I don't want to go there," but his dissatisfaction with the son's agenda could not have been clearer, the New Yorker said. Goldberg wrote, "When I asked him to name issues on which he agrees with the younger Bush, he said, "Afghanistan." He paused for twelve seconds. Finally, he said, "I think we're doing well on Europe," and left it at that.
--------------------------
Flashback – Brent Scowcroft – 30 years+ in the shadow world:

Above, images of a 1991 "declassified" memo from Scowcroft to Dick Cheney from MIT Archive. A text version can be found here.

More random Scowcroftness:

His resume at Scowcroft.com

Days into the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Henry Kissinger tells Scowcroft that President Nixon is too drunk to take a phone call from British Prime Minister Edward Heath.

Posted by MJuhre at 02:33 PM | Comments (0)

October 21, 2005

'Official' Corroboration is Nice, But This Falls in the 'No Shit' Category

Former Powell Aide Says Bush Policy Is Run by 'Cabal' (New York Times)

By BRIAN KNOWLTON
Published: October 21, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 - Secretary of State Colin Powell's former chief of staff has offered a remarkably blunt criticism of the administration he served, saying that foreign policy had been usurped by a "Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal," and that President Bush has made the country more vulnerable, not less, to future crises.

(go to article)

If above link does not work, go here.

Posted by MJuhre at 01:06 PM | Comments (1)

There Goes That Smirk

Ahh that's better (the pic, that is -- see previous post).

But this is an interesting development. Tom Delay's defense team has requested a new judge because of bias concerns.

Posted by MJuhre at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2005

Smart to the Last...in More Ways Than One

Sadly, we saw no arrest and have no perp-walk images, as Tom Delay today turned himself in to police.

Much as I can't stand the guy, I have to hand it to him. He's smart...and gave himself a makeover in one fell swoop.

Knowing full well his mug shot would be reproduced by every news outlet, and abused by many a leftist blogs, Delay made sure his mug shot was very photogenic, in order to quite literally put a new face on his image.

It's about the best picture I've seen of him in weeks. Most media outlets, including this one, have chosen lately to exhibit less-than-stellar photos of Mr. Delay.

In fact, when I searched for Delay in Google News today, the two images below appeared by links to relevant stories. But when I clicked on those stories, the above image has supplanted both of them, because it is more newsworthy.

Brilliant. No doubt about it. Hopefully, Delay's date in court tomorrow will wipe that smirk off his face, and this smart mug shot will fade into history.

(AwfulPlasticSurgery.com has some interesting thoughts on Delay's pic.)

Posted by MJuhre at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)

Arrest Warrant Issued for Tom Delay

The stuff that dreams are made of:

The above warrant was posted as a PDF on Nancy Pelosi's web site today, but was later yanked for reasons unknown. (Well, the details are unknown. I think we can all imagine various reasons why she might take it down.) Thankfully, The Smoking Gun pulled a copy before it disappeared. See the BBC's story here.

You can bet we'll post any mug shots and perp-walk photos we can find.

On that note, last month Daily Kos reported that posed (i.e. fake) pictures of Delay's arrest will be sold by Delay's defense team to rais funds...for his defense. No idea whether this is still true, or was ever true.

Posted by MJuhre at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2005

Without Further Delay - Your Update

Time for your update on the indictment of Tom Delay (aka "The Hammer").

Over the past two weeks, the Congressman's defense team has engineered numerous delay (ho ho ho!) tactics, but all seem to be failing. Delay's lawyers have filed several number of motions to dismiss the indictments, based on highly dubious claims.

Yesterday, for example, the Delay defense team admitted it had no evidence to support its claim that Earle and his staff "attempted to browbeat and coerce" a grand jury as part of a politically charged attack on the Congressman.

Earlier, Delay's lawyers claimed this week that the charge of money laundering could not apply to this case, because anti-money laundering (AML) laws cover only the laundering of "funds", such as coins or currency, and that the money transfers cited in the indictment involved "checks."

Dudes...You might just as well claim that money laundering charges can only be levied against people who actually wash cash with cleaning agents. I'm no lawyer, but I used to cover the AML beat for a little newsletter called Bank Security News, and I can assure you that you can launder money without actually managing any hard cash. Checks are good enough. This was true even before America's AML laws were substantially beefed up in the PATRIOT Act.


And, of course, it was only after Delay's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the original charge of criminal conspiracy, claiming the law under which it was constructed was not yet in effect, that a second Texas grand jury came back and said "okay, money laundering -- how do ya like dem apples?"

The conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison. The money laundering charge? Five to life, mutha!

Finally, this is old news, but I have this video and haven't posted it yet. The Delay camp is resorting to some downright strange television ads in an attempt to shift the public conversation. Check out this television ad (sorry, WMV file only) by Delay's camp, which compares prosecutor Earle to a bad dog. "Bad Ronnie, Bad." It's not exactly the caliber of spin I've come to expect from the GOP.

Posted by MJuhre at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2005

Pirro Pirro...What a Zero

I have a love/hate relationship with Hillary Clinton. I love her because she is a brilliant political strategist, because she generally believes in traditional Democratic values (even if she does not always act on them), and because conservatives hates her so much (even if they do so because they think she's more liberal than she is).

I hate her sometimes because she panders and meanders and leaves many battles unfought because they threaten her political position (but, once she's president maybe she won't have to do that!).

That said, I can't wait for Hill to eat Jeanine Pirro alive, or at least chew her up and spit her out. Pirro, the Republican District Attorney for Westchester County, New York, has been annointed by her party to run against Hillary in the 2006 Senate race.

So far Pirro's off to a great start.

Her speech last August announcing her candidacy was a disaster. In the middle of her opening she stopped abruptly, spent 30 seconds silently shuffling papers in a panic, and finally asked an aide where page 10 of was (see Vote for me because...uh, where's page 10?).

She hasn't been able to raise any real money ($439 thousand total, compared to Hillary's $14 million dollars).

And today, it was revealed, her campaign sent a fundraising letter to...Hillary Clinton (and at her old address, the White House, no less).

"Dear Hillary," You and I have been through a lot over the years...Hillary, I need to know if I can count on you to stand by my side in my campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate in 2006...you and I know the U.S. Senate isn't Hillary's real goal. Hillary wants to use New York as a pit stop on the way to the White House..."

Brilliant. "No wonder Ms. Pirro raised so little money," quipped Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson on Monday.

When the Senate race TV commercials start being produced and Hillary is the only one who can afford them, it won't help that District Attorney Pirro's husband is a jailbird.

Albert Pirro was convicted in June of 2000 for income tax evasion, after a court ruled he conspired to hide $1.2 million by labelling personal spending as deductible business expenses.

Jeanine Pirro claimed she knew nothing of her husbands dealings, and has distance herself from him since his conviction (duh).

"Though federal tax law allows spouses to claim ignorance of their other half's business dealings," wrote New York Magazine in May 1999, "Al's list of exemptions raises real concerns -- at least about Jeanine's lack of curiosity. 'She's a bright lawyer,' says a former assistant U.S. Attorney who worked in the office now prosecuting Al. 'How could she not know?'"

"Though she co-signed several of the couple's joint tax returns (she earns $136,700 a year as D.A.), she has offered no explanations. Not about the Mercedes, which she drives each day past the $40,000 electronic gates of her $1.7 million Harrison home -- gates Al claimed as a business deduction -- or about the deductions of a $3,700 backyard awning; $10,000 in furnishings for a West Palm Beach vacation home; another Mercedes, for Jeanine's mother; cruise tickets; stereos; fine wines; cigars; toys; and even salaries for workers who baby-sat the Pirro children, picked up the dry cleaning, and took the family's pot-bellied pigs to the vet."

But let's take Pirro's word for a second, and assume she really didn't know. Uhh, she must be one hell of a District Attorney, eh?

Jeanine. Hillary is going to pound you into flour, make bread, and feed you to the people of New York.

Posted by MJuhre at 04:24 PM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2005

Memogate II: Electric Boogaloo -- Is the Zwahari letter Just Another White House Ruse?

On October 11, the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence released what it claims is "a letter between two senior al Qa'ida leaders, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, that was obtained during counterterrorism operations in Iraq. This lengthy document provides a comprehensive view of al Qa'ida's strategy in Iraq and globally. The letter...is dated July 9, 2005. The contents were released only after assurances that no ongoing intelligence or military operations would be affected by making this document public."

But some say this letter doesn't pass the sniff test and at CF we are inclined to agree.

First, U.S. intelligence agencies are not in the habit of divulging to the public the...well the intelligence it collects. In fact, these agencies often refuse to reveal its intelligence to even Congress upon formal request -- especially in the past three years, and especially when the intelligence pertains to Iraq. Therefore, it seems odd that the federal government would randomly release of this grand interception by our spooks, which just so happens to conveniently provide what the U.S. alleges is "a comprehensive view of al Qai'da's strategy in Iraq..."

Second, on October 13, "Al Qaeda in Iraq" disclaimed the letter, calling it "another fabrication ... by the Black House" [what they like to call the White House]. But you can't trust terrorists anymore than you can trust the U.S. intelligence community, right? Fair enough.

Okay, strike three. The U.S. claims this letter was written by Ayman al-Zawahiri to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Yet, one of the final paragraphs in the letter reads "By God, if by chance you're going to Fallujah, send greetings to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi." But...he IS Zarqawi...right? Why would Zawahiri tell Zarqawi to say hello to himself he was in Fallujah.

If fake, this letter's fabricator may have made fatal flaw there -- Oct, 14, 2005 US cannot explain suspicious Zawahri letter passage (Reuters).

If real, then the letter is clearly NOT written to Zarqawi, and U.S. intelligence is clearly a contradiction in terms.

(PDFs of the letter, in Arabic and its English translation, can be downloaded here.

Posted by MJuhre at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)

And Only One Year Ago I was Sure Dubya Would "Out-Teflon" The Gipper

As I surely hope most of you recall, Reagan was dubbed the "Teflon President" since nothing stuck to him. You know, fun little things like GOP operatives stealing Jimmy Carter's debate briefing book during the 1980 presidential race, the October Surprise, the Iran-Contra scandal that convicted only a few, low-level losers (like future FOX News host, Oliver North).

From 2002 to early 2005, I was convinced that George W. Bush was set to out-Teflon Reagan. His administration had clearly engaged in more immoral and illegal activities than Reagan's (and, as the no-bid contracts of government privitization illustrate, actual corruption -- something which I don't think tainted the Reagan White House). And yet, he was reelected.

But as Congressional Quarterly points out, Bush may turn out to be the "Velcro President." Everything -- the lost Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina failures, Plamegate -- may stick to him and at least destroy his second term, and his legacy. And all because the American people recognize the puppet more than the puppet masters.

Check out CQ's story.

Posted by MJuhre at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)

Bush's Millenarian Mojo

There is much bicker lately about whether or not George W. Bush really said in June 2003 that God told him to "end the tyranny in Iraq." as Nabil Shaath, the then Palestinian Prime Minister says he did.

If Bush really said then that God spoke to him directly, it was not the only time. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Bush told an audience of Amish in Pennsylvania, "I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job," according to the Lancaster New Era.

(The paper's archive of the article is no longer available for free, but FreeRepublic.com has reposted in its entirety here.)

Posted by MJuhre at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Keith Olbermann (host of MSNBC's "Countdown") noted in his blog on October 12 that, since 9/11, all empty "terror threats" leaked by federal sources have coincided with political turmoil for the Bush Administration.

"Last Thursday [October 6] on Countdown," he writes, "I referred to the latest terror threat -- the reported bomb plot against the New York City subway system -- in terms of its timing. President Bush’s speech about the war on terror had come earlier the same day, as had the breaking news of the possible indictment of Karl Rove in the CIA leak investigation. I suggested that in the last three years there had been about 13 similar coincidences -- a political downturn for the administration, followed by a “terror event” -- a change in alert status, an arrest, a warning."

Yes, likely most Culture Freak readers have been thinking this the same, but it's useful when such assertions are made via a media outlet the masses consider to be "legitimate." MSNBC, which has tried to outFOX FOX for the past few years, can hardly be dismissed by the Willam Kristols and Rush Limbaughs of the world as the "liberal press."

Olbermann, in my view, is MSNBC's finest asset (indeed, perhaps, its only redemption). He does the zaniest thing a talking head on television can do: faithfully report based on evidence, regardless of whether that evidence paints an ugly picture.

He has made a comprehensive list of the thirteen of events cited above, and it is worth a look.

Posted by MJuhre at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)

Bitch is Lying

Judith Miller "can't remember" who gave her Plame's name. Uh huh.

Posted by MJuhre at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)

October 14, 2005

Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain

Whoops!

Yesterday, George W. engaged in a "spontaneous" chat U.S. toops in Iraq. The only trouble is, before going live, the dress rehearsal for this event was accidentally broadcast via satelite to news rooms around the world, and made it clear the event was, in fact, carefully staged (as if I ever would believe it were not, anyway).

NBC's Brian Williams and Andrea Mitchell took the administration to task (see the video from Crooks & Liars -- I encourage you to donate to the site's fund drive, as I am, since it provides a much-needed video archive).

So did some other news outlets. One CF reader advised me that Keith Olbermann did a great round-up of the rehearsal, which you can see here (note to Foxfire users: MSNBC is in cahoots with Microsoft so guess what? Yep, from my experience, you have to use Internet Explorer to view MSNBC video).

Of course, there are are two spins...er sides to every story, eh?

Bush, Troops Have Rehearsed Chat (CBS) * * Pentagon Denies Talk With Troops Was Staged (FOX)

Posted by MJuhre at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)

October 12, 2005

Two-Fist Frist

Frist apparently still believes he has a chance in hell of filling George W. Bush's shoes one day, even though his recent flip-flop on federal funding for stem-cell research made him no friend to the Christian right whose support he would most certainly need.

Oh yeah, and he's corrupt.

In addition to the shares his (not-so) blind trust owned in his family-founded Hospital Corp. of America (HCA Inc.)until he ordered them dumped, a few weeks before the stock tanked, it has come to light that he also owned additional secret shares, controlled by his brother, a top officer of HCA.

So, Frist held HCA financial interest in both hands. Can somebody say subpoena?

Posted by MJuhre at 04:12 PM | Comments (0)

Lautenberg: congratulations Halliburton and Vice President Cheney!

Rumor has it that Vice President Dick Cheney is becoming a focus of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's "Plamegate" investigation. Cheney hasn't exactly been in the public eye much these days, but so far, his being investigated by Patrick Fitzgerald is just rumor. On the other hand, this press release, issued by Senator Frank R. Lautenberg office last month, presents known facts about Cheney's conflict of interest, and outright corruption with regard to his Halliburton holdings. Enjoy.

Cheney's Halliburton Stock Options Soar to $9.2 Million

WASHINGTON -- Senator Frank R. Lautenberg reiterated his call for Vice President Dick Cheney to forfeit his continuing financial interest in the Halliburton Co (HAL), in light of the surging value of Vice President Cheney's Halliburton holdings. Vice President Cheney continues to hold 433,333 Halliburton stock options, now worth $9,214,154.93 (at close yesterday.)


"As Halliburton's fortunes rise, so does the Vice President's, and that is wrong," said Senator Lautenberg. "Halliburton has already raked in more than $10 billion from the Bush-Cheney Administration for work in Iraq, and now they are being awarded some of the first Katrina contracts. It is unseemly for the Vice President to continue to benefit from this company at the same time his Administration funnels billions of dollars to it."

All of Vice President's Cheney's stock options are "in the money" for the first time in years. According to the Vice President's Federal Financial Disclosure forms, he holds the following Halliburton stock options:

100,000 shares at $54.5000 (vested), expire 12-03-07 33,333 shares at $28.1250 (vested), expire 12-02-08 300,000 shares at $39.5000 (vested), expire 12-02-09

The Vice President has attempted to fend off criticism by signing an agreement to donate the after-tax profits from these stock options to charities of his choice, and his lawyer has said he will not take any tax deduction for the donations. Valued at over $9 million, the Vice President could exercise his stock options for a substantial windfall, benefiting not only his designated charities, but also providing Halliburton with a tax deduction.

The Vice President also continues to receive "deferred salary" from Halliburton. While in office, he has received the following salary payments from Halliburton:

Deferred salary paid by Halliburton to Vice President Cheney in 2001: $205,298 Deferred salary paid by Halliburton to Vice President Cheney in 2002: $162,392 Deferred salary paid by Halliburton to Vice President Cheney in 2003: $178,437 Deferred salary paid by Halliburton to Vice President Cheney in 2004: $194,852

In September 2003, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a memorandum to Senator Lautenberg concluding that holding stock options while in elective office does constitute a "financial interest" regardless of whether the holder of the options will donate proceeds to charities. CRS also found that receiving deferred compensation is a financial interest.

The CRS report can be downloaded at:

http://lautenberg.senate.gov/Report.pdf [note from Culture Freak - this link was dead when I tried it...hmmm. When I have a sec I'll query Lautenberg's office]

The CRS findings contradict Vice President Cheney's puzzling view that he does not have a financial interest in Halliburton. On the September 14, 2003 edition of Meet the Press in response to questions regarding his relationship with Halliburton where he was employed as CEO for five years, from 1995 to 2000, Vice President Cheney said:


"And since I left Halliburton to become George Bush's vice president, I've severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interest. I have no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had, now, for over three years."

Posted by MJuhre at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)

More Terror Horse Shit

So, of course you know by now that the recent NYC terror alert was, as have been all the others since 9/11, a "hoax" (at best), terrorist-sponsored disinformation, the smoke-and-mirrors of domestic politics, or some combination therein. When a real threat emerges will we believe it? Alas, I realize I should always take to heart the words of the National Stranger song, "Always Already": "Where there's smoke there's mirrors...and that's what I expect. All these years of sin ain't over yet."

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Penn Station), carrying a salad purchased with a 10% corporate discount at (New York chain) Seattle Coffee Roasters, the Lord is not my shepherd.

My shepherd it seems, is the dude with the M-16, though its he that follows me up the escalator, rather than the other way around.

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. (Well, not really. Actually it's a little unnerving.)

Damn, they put too much balsamic vinnaigrette in my salad.

Posted by MJuhre at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2005

Slightly Less Jaded Than Two Days Ago

Each day on my way to and from work, I hear the following automated announcement from the Metropolitan Transit Authority: "passengers are advised that their backpacks or large parcels are subject to random search by police. Thank you for your cooperation."

Yesterday morning I marveled how hollow these proclamations had become. Back in July and August, in the wake of the London transit bombings, police actually did search bags, and I even had mine checked twice. But for the past month or so, nothing. Any terrorist recently scouting the subway or commuter rail systems could be relatively confident that no bag searches would take place.

Then, about 7 hours after I had these thoughts, New York City announced it had new(?), specific, and admittedly somewhat daunting threats to our subway system.

To get to my job I arrive by comuter rail at Grand Central Terminal, whereupon I immediately board the Shuttle subway to Times Square. From there I board a train to the Manhattan's other major rail hub, Penn Station, which is located next to Madison Square Garden. I spend the remainder of my day 24 stories above, at Two Penn Plaza, and at 5 p.m. repeat the above commute in reverse.

This means that every day I pass through three likely terrorist targets...twice...during rush hours. Plus, I pretty much stay above or around one of those targets all day.

That's somewhat disturbing, to say the least.

Everybody Loves Raymond

On the flipside, if there's one thing that gives me some feeling of safety, it is that we have Raymond Kelly as our police commissioner. I first learned of Ray Kelly's wildly impressive resume while writing an article on homeland security in 2002.

Last month I suggested he be named to replace Michael Chertoff at DHS, since he actually knows something about security, and has experience coordinating local, regional, national, and even international law enforcement efforts. But now I think, shit, let's keep him in New York. Lacking confidence in DHS, the FBI, or the CIA to fully intercept and/or thwart direct threats to New York City, Kelly has created an international intelligence unit within the NYPD. It's led by an ex CIA agent, and has operatives in London, Israel, Singapore and, soon, Jordan.

Still, while I am not well studied in the acturarial sciences, I can count, and the numbers regarding my commute and workday give me pause. I travel by train and foot through major New York targets 30 times a week during rush hour and spend about 35 hours a week in a cubicle above one. I'm not sure how much longer I'll do this and I'm all but certain that if a New York falls victim to its version of London's July transit attacks, and I'm not killed, I'll quit my job and figure something else out.

Posted by MJuhre at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)

October 06, 2005

Former U.S. Marine Press Officer Takes Flack From Right Wing

Last week former US Marine Corps Captain Josh Rushing, 32, became the center of controversy for the second time, when Arab news network Al Jazeera hired him as a Washington correspondent for its nascent English-language broadcast.

His first brush with fame (or infamy, as some would have it) came in 2003, when he unknowingly appeared in "Control Room," a documentary film about Al Jazeera and its coverage of Operation Iraqi Freedom. At the time of the filming, Rushing was a First Lieutenant, and the junior public affairs officer for CENTCOM in Qatar. His commanders chose him to be the CENTCOM liaison to Al Jazeera, because he had developed a rapport with several of its journalists after asking them to teach him some basic Arabic, a language he did not speak, but which he felt would be useful in order to best do his job.

Proponents of the war and the Bush administration didn't like some of the things Rushing had said on camera.

Those things, of course, were simply honest observations about the difference between the U.S. and Arab media, in their coverage of the war.

"When I watch Al Jazeera," Rushing says in one segment, "I can tell what they're showing and I can tell what they're not showing, by choice. Eh, same thing when I watch FOX on the other end of the spectrum. I know which of the stories that we put out that they're picking up on and which ones they're not giving much bounce. It benefits Al Jazeera to play to Arab nationalism 'cause that's their audience, just like FOX plays to American patriotism for the exact same reason -- American nationalism, because that's their demographic audience and that's what they want to see."

Uh, oh. "Truth? Them's fightin' words."

Now that Rushing is actually joining the Al Jazeera network, the right wing zipper heads are really going after him, calling him a traitor like this half-assed, Ann Coulter wannabe, Debbie Schlussel.
Schlussel who called Rushing a "moron and traitor" in her blog yesterday. "Not only is he a bigger boob than Anna Nicole Smith's entire chest combined," she writes, "Rushing also shares her intellect and the politics of . . . well, Al-Jazeera."

Huh. Wait Debbie, who's the moron?

First, I understand your intended meaning with the "entire chest combined" thing, but in the English language you cannot combine a singular noun (e.g. "chest") unless you combine it with something (like say, your face) and your prose could use some work.

Second, and more importantly, your assertion that Rushing shares "the politics of…Al Jazeera" is not supported by the record.

In a January interview on PBS's "NOW" (watch the
video), Rushing, who joined the Marines at 17 and remained on active duty until he turned 31 (when he felt all but drummed out of the Corps, after Control Room hit movie screens) addressed this point of view very bluntly:

"That's such a stupid, simplistic way to look at it. I haven't befriended Al Jazeera. I don't get in my pajamas and call 'em at night. What I'm advocating is, they are too important to ignore. And the fact that you say Al Jazeera's befriended Al Qaeda is ignorant. If you were in Al Qaeda's shoes, you too would send your tapes to Al Jazeera 'cause that's what everyone [in the Arab world] is watching."

"What the Marines trained me to do was to represent the best of what America stands for to a foreign audience," Rushing told USA Today last week. "That's exactly what I'm going to do."

As per usual, Schlessel and her ilk equate telling the truth with being a traitor. But surely, it is words like these (from Rushing's interview on "NOW") that rile her feathers.

Rushing: "If you look at the culture that starts from the top -- just look at Secretary Rumsfeld and look at the culture there. He says publicly -- it's in the movie Control Room -- he says 'They [Al Jazeera] lie, they lie! They take a bombed out building and put a crying woman in it and say her family was in it.' Well, there were a lot of families in those bombed out buildings and so she's probably not lying. We have to acknowledge the ugly face that war has on it.

…I've been very critical of [FOX News] where they have a culture where they can't be critical of the military -- and the Bush administration I think recognizes that and so often they'll push down messages for military guys to put out instead of administration flacks...

NOW: Did you see this?

Rushing: Well I think I did it. By having me argue why we go to war, instead of the administration, it became this 'oh well if he says it...' y'know because it's kind of sacred cow if the military says it. And I blame FOX a lot for not being more critical of the military -- now I think the military is a great job and I particularly love the Marine Corps and will always love the Marine Corps. But I think it's a healthy environment to have a media that's critical of it -- to ask the tough questions.

But, of course, asking tough questions is a traitorous act, the right wing has asserted for the past five years.

Again, ersatz Coulter, Debbie Schlussel: "Now this enemy-pandering nimrod, Josh Rushing, is the new face of America to billions of radical Muslims worldwide."

Right Debbie, and I suspect he'll do a better job than Karen Hughes is.

An aside: I don't even wanna get started, but I have to at least mention this jackass:

Dan Senor is the former spokesman of the Coalition Provisional Authority (back when Paul Bremmer ran things in Iraq). Now he works for FOX news in the most recent successful example of a government job being transferred to the private sector.

Posted by MJuhre at 01:28 PM | Comments (0)

October 05, 2005

Al Qaeda Posts ‘Help Wanted’ Ad On Website

No idea if it's true, but if it is...wow. See article in the Khaleej Times Online.

Posted by MJuhre at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)

Totally Jaded in the New World Order

This post is a little disjointed. Forgive me.

So Bush wants to use the U.S. military to enforce quarantines in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak, eh?...Huh. Well, I suppose that figures. It's sad that it hardly fazes me.

Now that we're living in the proto-fascist dystopia envisioned by the movies I enjoyed at a teenager (e.g. Mad Max), Blade Runner, I've decided it's time to review those films to find the instances where life has imitated fiction (you know, like today's trend toward privatization of military and police functions, similar to that in Robocop), or the trend toward private ownership of water utilities, similar to the Mars mining colony in Total Recall, where the mine owner makes his workers pay a fee to breathe oxygen).

In this effort, Blog Cabin commentator HB and I just saw Terry Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil the other day. It the first time she saw it, and the first time for me in many years. Yesterday she emailed me:

I've been listening to the generals speak at the senate hearing on C-SPAN. "Blah blah… terrorists are spread in small cells across the globe... They want to wreck havoc on all civilized societies…" (Reminds me of Brazil!).

Yep. In Brazil, terrorists blow up public places so often, that restaurant patrons spared by the blast continue to nonchalantly dine next to the dead and dying. While growing up, I kind of knew those movies were frightening windows to the future (see my Nov. 4, 2004 posting, The oracle that is Demolition Man), and that was what I loved so much about them.

Now that we're here in the future, the one of the things I find most disturbing is how jaded and nonchalant I have become. Perhaps not quite like the folks in Brazil. The last time I saw a building blow up, my friends and I indeed fled in fear (as the World Trade Center rained down on us). But today, only four years later, I walk by soldiers and bomb sniffing dogs at the rail station and have twice had my bag searched by police. All in a day's work...

So today I read that Bush wants to use the military to enforce quarantines in the event of a flu pandemic. Three years ago a friend of mine warned me that this exact scenario was on the horizon (the only thing she wasn't sure of was which disease Bush would use as his excuse for martial law). I dismissed her as just becoming more paranoid than I was prepared to be.

But today, I'm way beyond that level of paranoia I once dismissed. These days I just assume the worst and, when it arrives, say things like "Huh, martial law eh? Well I just hope I'm not at work in Manhattan when the George Bush transforms it into the huge prison from Omega Man scenario. Well, gotta get back to work."

***********************************
CF reader and Matt weighs in with these thoughts:

This may be the Bushies testing the waters a little bit to see how much they can get away with. They may need one more (biologic) incident, before people
are sufficiently scared to get the bill cleared [e.g. revising the Posse Comitatus Act – Ed.].

Posted by MJuhre at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)