Timb's Blog

If Obama Doesn't Prosecute Bush's Torture Team, We'll Pay a Big Price Down the Road

"How did it come about that American military personnel stripped detainees naked, put them in stress positions, used dogs to scare them, put leashes around their necks to humiliate them, hooded them, deprived them of sleep and blasted music at them? Were these actions the result of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own? It would be a lot easier to accept if it were. But that's not the case."

-- Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, June 17, 2008

I really wanted to go to Gobbleroo Wednesday night, but my wife's corporate / capitalist masters made her work until 9PM.

Satellite

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I slept in. I'm not going anywhere near a mall, today.

Unless you're a Turkey.

I have no idea how much it pays to stand behind a counter selling gas, cigarettes, "stimulants", lottery tickets, and junk food. I'm guessing "enough to get by", probably slightly less than that, but what do I know. Maybe he's the owner's brother? I will say that I need a place to buy gas, cigarettes, "stimulants", lottery tickets, and junk food at a reasonable price, so I'm glad that he does the job for whatever it pays him.

Obviously, standing behind the counter 8 hours a day, he talks to people, but let me set up the situation a little bit more.

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And I couldn't be happier.

My hat is off to the GOP for sticking with their "war on Christmas" guns. May they embrace the fundie nutbags, forever. (Because I sure won't.)

From The Rude Pundit:

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Go ahead. Search through this story. I can wait, but I'll save you some time. You won't find "Halliburton" in it, anywhere. I know. I looked.

KBR (Kellogg, Brown, and Root) was a Halliburton subsidiary until April of 2007.

The Pentagon findings on Houston, Texas-based KBR stem from the widely publicized death of Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a highly decorated 24-year-old Green Beret from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Maseth was electrocuted while taking a shower at his base in Baghdad.

snip

Pentagon officials now say at least 18 troops have been electrocuted since 2003 -- many due to faulty wiring and improper grounding.

Cheney's war profiteering didn't just kill troops on the battlefield.

You won't hear a peep about this from the rabid right wingers who still insist that the war in Iraq was justified. Rush Lumpy-ass is still too busy trying to blame Obama for Bush's 8 years of failure. (And don't even get me started on that idiot Brent Bozell.)

It's not possible to be too ruthless against the RW until they're extinct. Buncha scummy fucking murderers is what they are.

...maybe letting the auto companies die is the right decision, even though an auto industry collapse would be a huge blow to an already slumping economy. But it’s a decision that should be taken carefully, with full consideration of the costs and benefits — not a decision taken by default, because of a political standoff between Democrats who want Mr. Paulson to use some of that $700 billion and a lame-duck administration that’s trying to force Congress to divert funds from a fuel-efficiency program instead.

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Story Highlights

# Report says China will have growing impact, second largest economy by 2025
# There will be an unprecedented global transfer of power because of oil, report says
# Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, will likely see power, desire for natural resources increase
# "Unprecedented" growth means demand for basic resources will outweigh supply

How many of us have been saying that "investment in alternative energy" is "in the interest of our national security" for years, now?

Last minute actions by an outgoing President are nothing new. Clinton banned building roads in forests and the incoming Bush administration began working to overturn it almost as soon as they were in office. (Of course the first thing on their list was covering up the crimes of the father and Reagan with an executive order sealing their records. Let's hope that one can and will be undone, quickly.)

The Clinton pardon of Mark Rich will likely be matched by the Bush pardon of Scooter Libby and anyone else potentially vulnerable for the treasonous outing of a CIA NOC. (Said outting being vigorously defended by the rabid supporters of the.worst.President.ever).

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...that Reaganomics, aka "trickle down", aka "voodoo economics", aka "enrich the wealthy and we'll all be better off", aka "piss on you economics" works?

WASHINGTON - A government report says construction of new homes plunged 4.5 percent last month to the lowest level on government records, as U.S. builders slashed production while Wall Street nose-dived.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that construction of new homes and apartments dropped more than expected to an annual rate of 791,000 units from an upwardly revised September rate of 828,000 units. Previously, the slowest pace had been in January 1991, when the country was in recession and going through a similar housing correction. The government’s records date back to 1959.

Not to put too fine a point on it, 1991 was towards the end of Reagan's second term.

Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, convicted last month on federal ethics charges, lost his bid for a seventh term as final ballots were counted on Tuesday, giving Democrats at least 58 seats in the Senate for the first years of the Obama administration.

Apparently, ethics don't matter to GOP supporters.

This also closes a door for Moosalini to "bust through" by appointing herself to the Senate.

Or too little?

It's always hard to add anything to Greenwald.

Where is the evidence of the supposed partisan wrangling that we hear so much about? Just examine the question dispassionately. Look at every major Bush initiative, every controversial signature Bush policy over the last eight years, and one finds virtually nothing but massive bipartisan support for them -- the Patriot Act (original enactment and its renewal); the invasion of Afghanistan; the attack on, and ongoing occupation of, Iraq; the Military Commissions Act (authorizing enhanced interrogation techniques, abolishing habeas corpus, and immunizing war criminals); expansions of warrantless eavesdropping and telecom immunity; declaring part of Iran's government to be "terrorists"; our one-sided policy toward Israel; the $700 billion bailout; The No Child Left Behind Act, "bankruptcy reform," and on and on.

Most of those were all enacted with virtually unanimous GOP support and substantial, sometimes overwhelming, Democratic support: the very definition of "bipartisanship." That's just a fact.

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No Shit.

The Senate has chosen not to represent me.

They just lost this time.

The Religious Right And Election 2008: Down But Not Out

After eight years of unprecedented access to the White House and (until 2006) in the halls of Congress, Religious Right organizations are about to lose a lot of clout with much of official Washington and could see their influence at the national level diminished.

But it’s unlikely any of these organizations will close down. Rather, they will organize to defeat individual-freedom initiatives put forward by President Barack Obama, and they will place more emphasis on state and local governments as a way to press their agenda forward.

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I'm pleased to see that there are people besides Lloyd who see that we're living in a police state. We'll have to see how long such awareness goes, given the seemingly overwhelming problems Bush is leaving us.

License to Steal

Long before "9-11 changed everything," and George Bush declared war on the Bill of Rights, everything had already been changed and the Constitution already a victim. An ancient practice once used to enrich Kings and Warlords was sadly resurrected in the United States: Asset Forfeiture, a government issued license to steal, backed up by a crew armed to the teeth, and divisions of consiglieres and judges all in on the take that would make any old style Mafia Capo look like an amateur.

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...and telling the doctor "We don't need your stinking medicine, just pray over us!"

The Moose Stops Here

But they're not dead as a pary, yet, so the show goes on.

...and start ruining the world again:

Politico is asking their panel of pundits this question: "What's the most important first step Republicans should take on the road to recovery?" Not surprisingly, the responses break down into two camps. Left-leaning respondents basically say "become less douchebaggy," while right-leaning ones say, in effect, "become more douchebaggy."

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Link

(Maher's season finale)

Not that you didn't already know that the vulgar pigboy is a shameless liar, but in case you run into some hapless dupe who buys the garbage he's peddling...

In a time when the nation calls out for cool leadership and rational discussion, Limbaugh stirs the caldron, a tendency he proved in a particularly grotesque way last week when he accused Obama's party of plotting a government takeover of 401(k) retirement plans.

"They're going to take your 401(k), put it in the Social Security trust fund, whatever the hell that is," Limbaugh woofed. "Trust fund, my rear end."

A slight problem with Limbaugh's report: Obama and the Democrats have proposed no such thing.

The proposal, in fact, emanated from a single economist, one of many experts testifying to a congressional committee.

The president-elect has thus far shown as much interest in taking over your 401(k) as he has in moving the capital to Nairobi. (If you look hard, you might find that one somewhere out there in the blogosphere, too.)

To broadcast such a report -- so drained of context as to constitute a lie -- would be a shameless act at any time. But Limbaugh needlessly stirred the fears of the millions he holds in his thrall -- making the 401(k) thievery sound like nearly a done deal. Shameless.

(From my email.)

Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational, which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. The winners are:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

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Glenn Greenwald

A Washington Post article today on the need to restore confidence in the Justice Department quotes former high-level Clinton DOJ official Robert Litt urging the new Obama administration to avoid any investigations or prosecutions of Bush lawbreaking...

snip

There is a coherent way to argue against investigations and prosecutions of actions by Bush officials: one could argue that they weren't illegal. Obviously, if one believes that, then that is conclusive on the question.

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I had on what passes for "news" these days and saw a clip of Limbaugh talking about "the Obama Recession". It's easy for the sane to dismiss such nonsense as Rush's ass-hattery, but the fools who listen to his verbal vomit will undoubtedly agree that conservatism hasn't failed, it's liberalism that's brought us to the brink of disaster.

So, here's a little background to prepare you for when you have to speak to the terminally stupid:

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The Desperate Right's Five Biggest Flops of the 2008 Election

How Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber and other stupid stunts did not win the election for McCain.

From Time Magazine's "Blog of the Year" founder John Assrocket comes this bit of wisdom:

Obama thinks he is a good talker, but he is often undisciplined when he speaks. He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not. In this regard, President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn't raise his standards, he will exceed Bush's total before he is inaugurated.

I don't know whether to laugh or just settle for being hysterically happy that people like this, who aren't even dipping their big toe in reality any more, aren't in power any more.

Regarding the bailout: It was never about disagreement that the economy was in trouble. It was always about giving so much power to the people who broke it in the first place.

A Quiet Windfall For U.S. Banks
With Attention on Bailout Debate, Treasury Made Change to Tax Policy

"It's just like after September 11. Back then no one wanted to be seen as not patriotic, and now no one wants to be seen as not doing all they can to save the financial system..."

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(Just in case anyone forgot that "elections have consequences" or that "the Supreme Court matters".)

via digby

Steve Benen at the Washington Weekly keeps a careful eye on Federalist Society extremists and he noted today that Jon Kyl, the Senate minority whip under Mitch McConnell, is already ignoring President-elect Obama's plea for going beyond narrow partisanship to solve the country's problems together. Kyl, one of the most mean-spirited ideological and vicious gut fighters in Congress, is already threatening to obstruct Obama's campaign promise to move the Supreme Court back towards the political mainstream and away from the far right extremism Kyl and the Federalist Society revel in. Hissing menacingly about a filibuster, Kyl promised to derail Supreme Court nominees like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and Stephen Breyer and derided Obama's judicial philosophy:

"He believes in justices that have empathy," said Kyl, speaking at a Federalist Society meeting in Phoenix. The attorneys group promotes conservative legal principles.

Kyl said if Obama goes with empathetic judges who do not base their decisions on the rule of law and legal precedents but instead the factors in each case, he would try to block those picks via filibuster.

Think about that. The second highest ranking Republican in the Senate, just a few days after the election, is already talking about blocking Supreme Court nominations that haven't been named, in response to Supreme Court vacancies that don't exist.

I'd add, by the way, that Kyl was one of the conservative Republicans who, in 2005, supported the "nuclear option," which would have declared that filibustering a judicial nominee was against congressional rules. That, of course, was when Bush nominees were in jeopardy.

Ah. Take a big old whiff of that bipartisan spirit.

I'd add one more thing. When the GOP was threatening to nuke the Senate I was outspoken in daring them to do it, say "we'll retake the congress, some day".

BTW, I was also glad that they didn't.

This seems to be routinely overlooked, but take a moment to consider what the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs actually does: it's the committee principally responsible for oversight of the executive branch. It's an accountability committee, charged with investigating the conduct of the White House and the president's administration.

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I'm amazed. I flipped on CNN this morning and the first thing I saw was an interview of Tony Perkins (loser - FL) and Grover Norquist (never ran - 9th circle). They'd held a secret meeting "to decide the future of the Republican party" and were willing to talk about it.

Setting aside the "who died and made these guys the Republican party" part of it...

Their basic premise was "conservatives win" and therefore the party's problem was "too many moderates". "Look at what happened to the first Bush" is one quote that comes to mind.

I don't even know where to begin, and have no desire to help the GOP, anyway, but consider:

Gore got more votes than Bush. Bush won by 170,000 votes in OH in 2004. Clinton won by large margins and was at 70% popularity when he left office. Obama won by a landslide while Palin (the choice of the "social conservative", read "fundie nutbags") was a drag on the McCaim ticket. The Democrats have picked up seats in congress for the last two elections (but I must admit that future gains *will* be tough given the makeup of the states).

I'm not too concerned about the GOP kicking out all the moderates (they practically have, already, can you say "Chris Shays" and "Lincoln Chaffee"?) and going on to retake power.

But it's real obvious the "conservative" wing has already started kicking and screaming like children. It's going to be hard for the sane conservatives to retake control of the GOP.

And (this is important), Obama may as well forget about "bipartisanship" and just go ahead and steamroll these idiots.

Check out the football board.

This is pretty funny. The wingers are all convincing each other to march off the cliff 4 abreast.

RedState is pleased to announce it is engaging in a special project: Operation Leper.

We're tracking down all the people from the McCain campaign now whispering smears against Governor Palin to Carl Cameron and others. Michelle Malkin has the details.

We intend to constantly remind the base about these people, monitor who they are working for, and, when 2012 rolls around, see which candidates hire them. Naturally then, you'll see us go to war against those candidates.

It is our expressed intention to make these few people political lepers.

They'll just have to be stuck at CBS with Katie's failed ratings.

Initial list:

1. Nicolle Wallace
2. Steve Schmidt
3. Mark McKinnon

Oooooh! Sane Republicans better not pick on Caribou Barbie or there's gonna be a war within the party! Now *THAT* is a threat!

Here's the headline on the Drudge Report, right now:

STOCKS CONTINUE POST-ELECTION PLUNGE

See, everything was fine until two days ago. Now that Obama's President-elect (he doesn't even take office 'til the latter half of January) and the Democrats have a larger majority (that's not sworn in until January), everything that happened in the 8 years prior to the election has gone away. It never happened. It's all the Democrat's fault, now. "The Party of Responsibility" is blameless. The markets are crashing because the same people who voted TWO DAYS ago are now scared shitless of the government they chose.

(BTW, the story his headline links to doesn't even contain the *word* "election".)

This is cool.

For the first time, researchers have decoded all the genes of a person with cancer and found a set of mutations that may have caused the disease or aided its progression.

Using cells donated by a woman in her 50s who died of leukemia, the scientists sequenced all the DNA from her cancer cells and compared it to the DNA from her own normal, healthy skin cells. Then, they zeroed in on 10 mutations that occurred only in the cancer cells, apparently spurring abnormal growth, preventing the cells from suppressing that growth and enabling them to fight off chemotherapy.

But let's not forget the hideous race John McCain ran.

I'm watching THE VIEW, and Joy Behar was talking about how last night McCain "finally came back to who he was." I.e., he's been kind of an ass for the past several months, and finally started to find his honor again. The token Republican countered with the following:

"I think it's hard because campaigns... really bring out the ugly in everyone on both sides. It's when you see them in their pure moments, Barack's speech last night, and John McCain's speech lsat night, that you see these moments of hope that they really have given us."

Horse shit.

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They've decided they're not right-wing extremist enough.

I'm not kidding.

They're actually giving serious consideration to running Sarah or Mitt in 2012.

Sarah didn't know Africa was a continent.

Eric Cantor for house minority leader Boehner or whip, anyone?

There's virtually no one left in the GOP with a voice to stop their move to even further extremism.

I saw film of some of this right before I went to bed, last night.

In a heavy drizzle shortly after midnight, several thousand people filled the barricaded segment of Pennsylvania Avenue between 15th and 17th streets in front of the White House dancing and chanting "O-ba-ma!" and "Whose house? Obama's house!" Some sang "America the Beautiful" and "Star Spangled Banner."

snip

The most remarkable scene unfolded after midnight in front of the White House. Under the watchful eye of the Secret Service and the Park Police, a predominantly young crowd waved huge American flags and sported signs that said "Yes we did!" Some climbed fences around the construction site where inaugural reviewing stands are going up.

A group of about a half-dozen Georgetown athletes said they jogged spontaneously from campus after hearing of Obama's victory. "This might be the best day of my life," said Danielle Bailey, 18, a freshman from Florida.

Kyle Poole, 48, a financier, said he brought a flag because he felt "honored and proud."

"I was once a Republican," he said. "Then George Bush came to the White House and now I'm thrilled to be here with the flag."

More humor and feelgood reporting at the WaPo link.

I heard the strangest sound around midnight, last night. Did anyone else hear it?

It sounded like popcorn, or millions of bottles of champagne being opened at the same time.

Or heads exploding.

Does anyone know what it was?

PLEASE kick Liebermann to the curb.

The saying is, "as California goes, so goes the nation."

It looks like California is on the verge of putting bigotry in their state constitution. This surprises me.

Florida and Arizona banned same-sex marriage and Arkansas passed a measure that would stop homosexuals from adopting children, but SD and CO defeated laws aimed at being test cases to overturn abortion rights.

So, gender and race seem to be fading as barriers to equality.

Choice of life partner? It's going to take a while.

Why did God abandon you?

This one's for you:

I stopped into DU and found this post.

(I recommended it, too. ;-> )

Has anyone got the stomach to visit Free Republic, tonight?

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So, I stole it.

If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. - Frederick Douglass

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I can't bring myself to post about the latest polls. Superstition, I guess.

"I'm not depressed" is about as close to "optimism" as I want to get.

Nearly 30% of Americans think Bush did a great job. That's frightening.

Even if Obama wins in a landslide, these people will continue pulling us down. They'll be voting "for Sarah".

I may not be able to, but if I can get away from work I'm going to PA to help GOTV, tomorrow. However, IMO, the media narrative about PA is wrong. It's not a "must win" for Obama. It's a "can't win without it" for McSame.

We're on the verge of something extraordinary. The utter defeat of the extreme RW ideology that has ruled this country with an iron fist for decades.

But it hasn't happened, yet. It's not "in the bag".

Work to make it happen if you have the time.

Stay in line and vote, even if you don't have the time.

Don't ask for power. Take it.

Then, after the election, if we're fortunate enough to wrest power away from the forces of hatred, intolerance, eternal war, corruption, and irresponsible spending...

Don't forget to hold onto it.

Nothing's "over", tomorrow.

He's possessed. Or something.

Some People Call You Batshit Crazy. John McCain Calls You His Base

First off, we'd like to apologize for our earlier, constant, and may we say, in retrospect, tasteless, mockery of candidate McCain's consistenly vapid, disjointed ramblings (you will find a typical example here). There is of course a world of difference between an idiot and a man who is compelled by warlocks (or genies) to act like an idiot, and believe us, we would never knowingly make fun of the latter. As far as we're concerned, voodoo-induced inanity is a type of, well . . . disease, we guess, or handicap . . . you know, like being a cripple. Disability, that's the word! Call it what you will, but the victims of this Satanic scourge deserve our respect, our sympathy, and -- for having the remarkable courage to appear before large crowds of people in a state of utter, stupefied bewilderment -- our admiration.

And secondly, we don't know how much Gov. Sarah Palin paid this wanker to rebuke every form of witchcraft against her, but we surely do hope she had a money-back guarantee.

Hope

No Hope

And the President has just been punked.

Sarah Palin Pranked by Sarkozy Impersonator (Transcript) (Audio)

Lots of ideas for the next one.

"This is Pooty-Poot. I can see your house from here!"

"Hi Sarah. Ahmadininutjob, here. Death to America! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"President Palin, SAC just picked up incoming missiles. We're going to lose NYC. You need to retaliate quickly!"

What fun!