HEY AMERICA! ARE WE HAPPY YET?

My husband and I bravely ventured out of Houston on Saturday and drove to a wealthy, mostly white, naturally republican and very comfortable and well-protected outpost in the northern suburbs, nearly 40 miles away. (Um...I have some relatives there..) That confession having been confessed......the bumper stickers on our non-republican car:

Barbara Ann Radnofsky for U.S. Senate 2006
Texas Democrat
Support Our Troops NOT Bush

drew a few interesting and perplexed glances at stop lights. Indeed, teenagers had gathered behind our van in a restaurant parking lot to read the stickers. No, the van was not vandalized, nor were the signs removed. The kids probably had never seen or heard anything but W./Cheney, FOX Republican "news" and Rush driven propaganda in their mostly white, very wealthy and naturally republican and well protected homes. Hopefully the kids will become more informed than their parents. LS

ON TO NEWS ON THE DUDES FOR WHOM THE LAWS OF OUR LAND DO NOT APPLY

As Randi Rhodes of Air America Radio suggested today, watch The Godfather I and The Godfather II to gain a keen understanding of how the Bush Administration operates.

A MEMO THAT WARNED OF DETAINEE ABUSE AND TORTURE WAS THRWARTED BY THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION

Found on Raw Story.com.

Excerpts:

Alberto J. Mora was informed of detainee abuse at Guantбnamo back in December of 2002 by the head of the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, David Brant, who said that nobody else seemed to care, because after 9/11, the "gloves had to come off" and the United States "had to get tougher."

The memo is a chronological account, submitted on July 7, 2004, to Vice Admiral Albert Church, who led a Pentagon investigation into abuses at the U.S. detention facility at Guantбnamo Bay, Cuba. It reveals that Mora’s criticisms of Administration policy were unequivocal, wide-ranging, and persistent. Well before the exposure of prisoner abuse in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, in April, 2004, Mora warned his superiors at the Pentagon about the consequences of President Bush’s decision, in February, 2002, to circumvent the Geneva conventions, which prohibit both torture and “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.” He argued that a refusal to outlaw cruelty toward U.S.-held terrorist suspects was an implicit invitation to abuse. Mora also challenged the legal framework that the Bush Administration has constructed to justify an expansion of executive power, in matters ranging from interrogations to wiretapping. He described as “unlawful,” “dangerous,” and “erroneous” novel legal theories granting the President the right to authorize abuse. Mora warned that these precepts could leave U.S. personnel open to criminal prosecution.

MEMO EXPOSING TORTURE THWARTED

HOW THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION SHUT DOWN PROBE ON WIRETAPPING

Andy Card put the squeeze on moderate Republicans who caved in to Bush pressure. It seems the party of corruption is also a party of moral wimps. LS

From the Washington Post via Raw Story.com

WHITE HOUSE TIRES TO AVOID WIRE TAP PROBE

WHEN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS BUSTED FOR COMMITTING A CRIME, THE OPERATING IMPERATIVE IS TO IMMEDIATELY OBSTRUCT DUE PROCESS

From the New York Times via Buzz Flash.com

Excerpt:

The prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, said the requests for a large amount of sensitive information beyond what they had been given was unjustified. Mr. Fitzgerald told the federal judge hearing the case that defendants like Mr. Libby had an incentive to derail their trials by asking for sensitive documents that the government might not want discussed openly.

Graymail is the practice of discouraging a prosecution from proceeding by contending that a defendant may need to disclose classified or sensitive information as part of a full defense. Such an approach can force the government to choose between dropping the prosecution or allowing the information to be disclosed at a trial.

FITZGERALD SAYS LIBBY IS TRYING TO THWART CRIMINAL CASE

CNN SAYS BUSH NOW LAMEDUCK BECAUSE OF CHENEY'S SHOOTING

Let's hope so. We certainly do not need any more of Bush/Cheney's evil "law making." These dudes and dudettes have done far too much raping and pillaging of our constitutional rights and democracy.

CNN SAYS BUSH IS A LAMEDUCK

BUSH'S SPEECHES ON TERRORISM CONTRADICT ONE ANOTHER

Go figure. Everyone knows the guy is a moron, though a very dangerous one, indeed.

Found on Crooks and Liars.com

Excerpt:

George Bush gave another speech yesterday on the "Global War on Terror." If one actually sits down and reads these speeches, it really is staggering how much deceit and propaganda gets packed into each one of them. What they have him say is not just factually false, but directly contrary to claims he made in the past or which other Administration officials are making now. Sometimes, the most compelling argument against the White House's propaganda is simply to place it side-by-side with prior Administration statements and/or undisputed political facts:

BUSH SPEECHES ON TERRORISM CONTRADICTORY AND DECEITFUL

BUSH DRUG PLAN MAY RUN OFF OLDER VOTERS

Music to my eyes. Only a senile idiot would believe anything W. has to say anyway. LS

From the New York Times

BUSH DRUG PLAN RUNNING OFF OLDER VOTERS

THE DYING SCANDAL THAT WON'T GO AWAY

Ken sent this wonderful piece written by Glenn Greenwald. Mr. Greenwald served as a litigator in NYC for 10 years specializing in First Amendment challenges, civil rights cases and corporate and security fraud matters. Sounds like the perfect dude to go after Bush, if you ask me. By the way, find a copy of the U.S. Constitution, read the Amendments and try to find where it says it’s AOK to spy on Americans. You don't need a law degree to realize Bush has lied once again. LS

From Glenn Greenwald.blogspot.com

GLENN GREENWALD BLOG HERE