Just Say the Word, Oil be There for You

No doubt you've seen pictures of Darth Cheney emerging yesterday from a plane at Baghdad airport with his shiny new flak jacket. What could possibly have led him to leave his secret lair? Has his conscience finally gotten to him for being the impetus behind a campaign of deceit to start a war based on lies? Has the body count approaching 4,000 US soldiers, not to mention the tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths, finally pushed him to do something to reverse the horrors his inhuman policies have caused? Hmmm, I don't think so. What could possibly lead an administration led by two oilmen to send the vice-president off to Iraq? Let's see what Darth himself had to say....Cheney’s unannounced visit to Iraq, part of a Middle East tour, signals growing US impatience at Iraq’s slowness in passing laws on oil distribution. Surprised? I'm not.

Lordy, I DON'T Believe!

How can anyone belong to a political party that is so co-opted by the ultra-extreme right wing Christianists that 3 out of 10 of their PRESIDENTIAL candidates are willing to stand up in a public forum and announce that they don't believe in evolution?????!!!!! These are college educated men (well, of course it's only men, this is the republican party after all!) who have been exposed to the outside world and have held positions of responsibility in our government. How appropriate that they were standing in the "library" of that deep thinker, Ronald Reagan!

Bush Makes Things "Perfectly Clear"

NPR published the article reprinted below today on the latest plan for Iraq dreamed up by the same White House geniuses who have got us in the quagmire we find ourselves. They plan to get tough with Iran by threatening to attack them on Iraqi soil. How long before US troops end up chasing combatants across the border into Iran? The writer of the article, being a student of history, saved himself some work by just updating an old article from 1973. Here's his submission to his editor:

Note to editor - please delete all text in red.

President Nixon Bush vowed on Monday to respond firmly if Cambodia Iran foments violence in Vietnam Iraq, but said he had no intention of invading Cambodia Iran.
Washington has accused Kampuchea Tehran of undermining efforts to bring stability in Vietnam Iraq. Two U.S. aircraft carriers have been stationed in the Gulf as a warning to Cambodia Iran.
"If Cambodia Iran escalates its military action in Vietnam Iraq to the detriment of our troops and, or, innocent Vietnamese Iraqi people, we will respond firmly," Nixon Bush told ABC NPR in an interview.
The Nixon Bush administration has repeatedly told Cambodia Iran not to fuel violence in Vietnam Iraq, and U.S. forces detained a number of Cambodian Iranian officials in raids over the past month in Vietnam Iraq.
Nixon Bush has insisted he wants to resolve the dispute with Cambodia Iran diplomatically, but also has kept his options open. Nixon Bush's comments on Cambodia Iran, along with tougher financial sanctions and actions against Cambodian Iranian involvement in Vietnam Iraq, have revived speculation about a possible U.S. attack on Cambodia Iran.
Nixon Bush told ABC NPR he was not planning to invade, but would do "whatever it takes" to protect U.S. troops in Vietnam Iraq against Cambodian Iranian attacks.

Well, Duh!

Wouldn't you know that the newspaper that would endorse Mark Kirk because he's a moderate (!), would also have a headline like today's classic..."Baghdad Strategy Flawed". Gee, I was shocked to learn that the gang of corrupt and incompetent Republicans who came up with the genius plan to attack Iraq three years ago, have not been successful in their campaign over the past two months to get control of Baghdad. Only the editors of the Chicago Tribune would consider this newsworthy enough to be a headline. What's tomorrow's headline..."Bush May Not Be Genius" or "Kirk Votes With Bush"?

Let Me Make This Perfectly Clear

Wow, Hastert is really going all out in taking responsibility for his ineptness, and possibly criminal actions, in supressing the truth on the Republican scandal. I guess when he said "the buck stops here", no one noticed he was pointing at the sacrificial lambs on his staff. He announced yesterday that anyone on his staff who covered up the Foley scandal will be fired. I'll bet his co-chiefs of staff John Halderman, Jr. and John Erlichman, Jr. are sweating this thing out!

Go Denny Go!

Let the record show that I was indeed ahead of the curve in calling for Dennis "Head in the Sand" Hastert's resignation days before the Washington Times, perhaps the most conservative newspaper in the country, published an editorial calling on Hastert to resign. It's also been pointed out that Hastert was a teacher before getting elected to the House. A teacher! Don't you think someone trained as a teacher would have the decency to take SOME action to investigate "over friendly" emails from a 50 year old man to a 16 year old boy? Talk about a lack of shame! How can you stay in office when you ignore evidence of child abuse in order to hold onto a 'safe' congressional seat? Have you no sense of shame, Mr. Speaker?

And isn't it interesting that John Shimkus, Republican Chairman of the House Page Board that oversees the page program, knew of Foley's activities with pages but never mentioned it to the one Democratic member of the Board. Must have slipped his mind...

Bonus posting - anyone who lives in eastern Lake County or northeastern Cook County, the 10th Congressional District of Illinois, has got to check out this...http://www.kirknbush.com/

Hey, Ho, Denny Must Go!

As disgusting as it is to see another sanctimonious, conservative, holier than thou Republican exposed as a pervert, we are now seeing that the Republican leadership has known about this hypocrite sniffing around underage pages for months, maybe years. In order to hold onto power by keeping Foley's seat safely in the Republican column, Speaker Hastert turned a blind eye to what was obviously inappropriate behavior that has now been exposed. The only honorable course he can now take is to resign as Speaker. He can't hide behind legal niceties and attempts to parse the series of events in such a manner as to show he didn't know for sure that someone was wrong. These were underage minor children entrusted to the House of Representatives. As leader of the House, he must take responsibility for the fact that he KNEW something improper, and most likely illegal, was going on and chose not to pursue the truth. This is a true national scandal. These are minors being pursued by a sexual predator and a coverup by the Republican leadership. Don't listen to anyone (and I'm sure Faux News has trotted out the usual Clinton haters) trying to compare this to Monicagate. That scandal involved a willing woman in her twenties who flirted with and ultimately chose to have a dalliance with a weak-willed man. It was not a 52 year old man sending messages to a 16 year old boy asking "Do I make you a little horny?"
The next questions that need to be asked are "who else in the Republican leadership knew about this and chose to keep it secret?" What did House Majority Leader John Boehner know and when did he know it? What did the former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay know and when did he know it? What did House Majority Whip Roy Blunt know and when did he know it? What did House Assistant Majority Whip Mark Kirk know and when did he know it?