The Deets

A harsh reality outlined by a hard core Bush apologist, Robert Novak in today’s Chicago Sun Times. One can’t help but wonder how different things might be in Afghanistan today had Bush not diverted $700 million in funds approved for the war in Afghanistan to plan his illegal war in Iraq. The diversion and dilution of limited troops and funds has been a political and tactical failure for the guy running this country.

U.S. is lost in Afghanistan: “The handful of valiant American warriors fighting the ”other” war in Afghanistan is not a happy band of brothers. They are undermanned and feel neglected, lack confidence in their generals and are disgusted by Afghan political leadership. Most important, they are appalled by the immense but fruitless effort to find Osama bin Laden for purposes of U.S. politics.”

If the Bush campaign believed that you shouldn’t say anything if you didn’t have anything good to say, it would be very quiet on the Right. Clearly, Cheney will say anything to further enrich his oil buddies, and Bush will attempt to say whatever they put in front of him.

Yahoo! News - From Bush, Unprecedented Negativity: “Incumbent presidents often prefer to run on their records in office, juxtaposing upbeat messages with negative shots at their opponents, as Bill Clinton (news - web sites) did in 1996.

Scott Reed, who ran Robert J. Dole’s presidential campaign that year, said the Bush campaign has little choice but to deliver a constant stream of such negative charges. With low poll numbers and a volatile situation in Iraq, Bush has more hope of tarnishing Kerry’s image than promoting his own. “

Dick Cheney is keeping busy lavishing corporate welfare on Halliburton. No surprise there. The corporatization of America at its worse. Hey DICK, what’s the role of government? If you say, “to enrich my colleagues” it’s time to go.

Yahoo! News - Cheney coordinated Halliburton Iraq contract: report: “A Pentagon e-mail said Vice President Dick Cheney coordinated a huge Halliburton government contract for Iraq, despite Cheney’s denial of interest in the company he ran until 2000. “

The GOP welfare queens are at it again.

Yahoo! News - Bush Campaigns Heavily Via Air Force One: “President Bush is using Air Force One for re-election travel more heavily than any predecessor, wringing maximum political mileage from a perk of office paid for by taxpayers. “

It’s interesting to read what sounds like a constitutional understanding of the separation of church and state by George Bush. You certainly don’t see that every day. However, he contradicts his statement in the same interview by admitting he is attempting to impose his religious beliefs on Americans and the world.

Bush Calls for ‘Culture Change’ - Christianity Today Magazine: “How you do balance not promoting a particular religion, while still being influenced by your personal faith?

My job is to make sure that, as President, people understand that in this country you can worship any way you choose. And I’ll take that a step further. You can be a patriot if you don’t believe in the Almighty. You can honor your country and be as patriotic as your neighbor.”

Definitely a humorous way to steal an issue from the right. Maybe Bush could scoop the left by providing universal health care? We can only hope.

Look at All This Venison!: “So if I were John Kerry I’d go buy a grandfathered assault rifle at a gun show, then head out to the woods and mow down a few deer with my semi-automatic firing. ‘Some in my party,’ Kerry intoned, ’say that this is not a legitimate hunting weapon. To them I say: Look at all this venison.’ “

If this administration lies about things when there isn’t even an inkling of justification for a lie, how can we trust them to tell the truth when it comes to important stuff? Oh wait. We can’t. That’s as well documented at the lie behind Bush’s bike crash.

Bush bike accident: They say recent rain explains it, but they’re lying : “Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman, immediately offered excuses for his boss. ‘It’s been raining a lot, and the topsoil is loose,’ he said.
(via WaPo)

YABL. Alert reader Mark looked up the National Weather Service report for Waco, TX, near Crawford, here. There’s been no rain at all for a week. “

It took the Pentagon less than a month to prevent another Abu Ghraib prison photo situation. How did they solve it? By banning camera phones in Iraq. And to make sure there aren’t any future photos of similar abuses in other areas of the world by US troops, Donald Rumsfeld plans on rolling this policy out to the entire US military.

If this guy Rumsfeld is not comfortable allowing his policies to be documented, he needs to step down immediately. America’s strength is tarnished through secrecy.

To put it another way, American’s too often have no idea why so many people in the world hate us. By censoring the consequences of our leader’s policies, we end up with an uninformed democracy, which is a very dangerous thing.

Yahoo! News - Rumsfeld bans camera phones in Iraq: report:

“LONDON (AFP) - Cellphones fitted with digital cameras have been banned in US army installations in Iraq (news - web sites) on orders from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a business newspaper reported. “

My impression of the Pentagon’s reaction to the New Yorker articles about the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib to be a case of, “It’s not true, and even if it were, it’s not accurate.” billmon breaks it down in detail:

Whiskey Bar: Saladin’s Revenge:
“Meanwhile, I wanted to call your attention to the press statement the Pentagon released yesterday in response to Sy Hersh’s story. It’s an artful (if prolix) example of what in the Watergate era would have been called a ‘non-denial denial’ - that is, a statement carefully constructed so that it appears to deny a serious allegation, but without actually doing so.”

Since when did people in Iraq start leaving artillery shells on the medians of roads? Why is FOX the only news source reporting this?

FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Tests Confirm Sarin in Iraqi Artillery Shell: “Another shell filled with mustard gas, possibly also part of an improvised explosive device (IED) was discovered on May 2, Defense Dept. officials said.

The second shell was found by passing soldiers in a median on a thoroughfare west of Baghdad. It probably was simply left there by someone, officials said, and it was unclear whether it was meant to be used as a bomb. “

Does anything think the following headline is somewhat alarming? After reading it, I was under the impression that the Kurds had evidence of WMDs. But read a couple paragraphs and you realize FOX isn’t really interested in factual headlines.

Kurds: We Have Evidence of WMD: ”

An Iraqi Kurdish official had no doubt similar substances will be found as the weapons hunt continues.

‘We don’t know where they are, but we suspect they are hidden in many locations in Iraq,’ Howar Ziad, the Kurdish representative to the United Nations, told Fox News on Tuesday. ‘It’s quite possible that even the neighboring states who are against the reform of Iraq … are helping the Saddamites in hiding.’ “

Pathetic.