PICK YOUR POISON

IS BUSH A DICTATOR IN THE MAKING, A KING GEORGE WANNABEE OR JUST A PLAIN JUNKYARD BULLY? IN ANY CASE HE MOST CERTAINLY CONSIDERS HIMSELF ABOVE THE LAW.

Here in a GOP orchestrated, gerrymandered and election rigged HappyStupidLand U.S.A, Bush says he does not have to be in compliance with conditions set forth by the reauthorized Patriot Act, specifically the part that requires him to inform Congress about how the FBI is using their expanded police power. Click your heels and put on those armbands folks. Or you could roll up your sleeves and beat the bully back into the coward's corner. LS

I found this piece on the Boston Globe via BUZZ FLASH.COM

Excerpt:

Bush signed the bill with fanfare at a White House ceremony March 9, calling it ''a piece of legislation that's vital to win the war on terror and to protect the American people." But after the reporters and guests had left, the White House quietly issued a ''signing statement," an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law.

In the statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law's requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would ''impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties."

Bush wrote: ''The executive branch shall construe the provisions . . . that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch . . . in a manner consistent with the president's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information . . . "

The statement represented the latest in a string of high-profile instances in which Bush has cited his constitutional authority to bypass a law.

BOSTON GLOBE PIECE ON BUSH ADDENDUM TO THE REAUTHORIZED PATRIOT ACT

MAUREEN DOWD (OF THE NEW YORK TIMES) PIECE THAT HAS RUMSFELD TRASHING HER

This is one of Maureen's finest pieces. LS

Found via BUZZ FLASH.COM on TOPPLE BUSH.COM

Fly Into a Building? Who Could Imagine?
by Maureen Dowd
The New York Times
March 22, 2006

Excerpts:

We could have cracked the 9/11 plot if the F.B.I. wasn't run by dunces. Mr. Moussaoui's lawyers got a break because according to the testimony of the officer, Harry Samit, a better-run bureau could have broken the case even without the terrorist's confession -- maybe F.B.I. officers should have shot him with some paintballs.

On Sept. 10, 2001, Mr. Samit confided to a colleague that he was "desperate to get into Moussaoui's computer." He never heard back from the F.B.I.'s bin Laden unit before 9/11 -- what did the unit have to do that was more pressing than catching bin Laden? And he was obstructed by officials in F.B.I. headquarters here, whom he labeled "criminally negligent."

Even though Condi Rice told the 9/11 commission that "no one could have imagined" terrorists' slamming a plane into the World Trade Center, an F.B.I. officer did. Officer Samit testified that a colleague, Greg Jones, tried to light a fire under Mr. Maltbie by urging him to "prevent Zacarias Moussaoui from flying a plane into the World Trade Center."

Missing 9/11, missing Katrina, mangling Iraq, racking up a $9 trillion debt -- those things don't cause officials to lose their jobs. Only saying something honest -- as prescient Gen. Eric Shinseki did -- can get you a one-way ticket to Palookaville.

Rummy told reporters last week that the military was preparing for a civil war in Iraq, but he did not consider it a civil war yet -- even though he acknowledged it was hard to tell exactly when chaos tipped into civil war.

"I don't think it'll look like the United States' Civil War," he added sanguinely. Yeah. At Fort Sumter, Lincoln let the enemy fire first. So the defense secretary believes if the body count stays below the Civil War era's 600,000, Iraq will achieve a healthy blue-state, red-state democracy?

Topplebush.com
Posted: March 23, 2006

MORE ON KINGS, DICTATORS AND BULLIES

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT RESPONDS TO HOUSE QUESTIONS ON WIRE TAPPING

In a nutshell the Bush Justice Dept. says it is AOK to spy on Americans without warrants. RAW STORY.COM broke this story. LS

Excerpt:

At their core, the responses echo previous assessments by the Bush Justice Department which maintain that the eavesdropping program was legal and met the demands of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

"The FISA court of review discussed the President's inherent authority to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance in 2002, twenty-four years after FISA was enacted," the authors write.

The responses provide little new information about the program. The Attorney General refused to disclose how many Americans were spied upon, and declined to provide specifics on how "terrorists" are defined. Critics of the program say it is ripe for abuse and violates federal law.

RAW STORY PIECE ON JUSTICE DEPARTMENT RESPONSE ON WIRE TAPPING

NEWS FROM THE LAZY, THE PATHOLOGICAL LYING AND THE MEDIOCRE WING OF THE GOP:

RIGHT WING BLOGGER FOR THE WASHINGTON POST RESIGNS AFTER LIBERAL BLOGGERS CAUGHT HIM PLAGIARIZING

MEDIA MATTERS ON RIGHT WING PLAGIARIZING BLOGGER

The DAILY KOS has covered this issue in detail. Scroll down to see piece on Ben Domenech, the right wing blogger who steals other writers' work because he is either too dumb or lazy or smugly entitled to do the research and write his own pieces. A perfect fit, indeed, for a Bush role model. How much did the WaPo pay you cheater dude? LS

HOLIER THAN THOU SANTORUM OF PENNSYLVANIA SAID TO HAVE FUNNELED CHARITY MONEY TO FAITH BASED GROUP KNOWN FOR ITS POLITICAL ACTIVITY

Political activity that promotes right wing "christian" ideology, also known as the Taliban Wing of the GOP. LS

Found on pnionline.com via THE HUFFINGTON POST

SANTORUM FUNNELED MONEY TO POLITICALLY ACTIVE FAITH BASED GROUP

NEWS FROM THE SLEAZY LOW LIFE CRIME AND WHITE TRASH UNIT OF THE GOP

ABRAMOFF IS SUBPOENAED IN MURDER CASE

Gosh! It seems that GOP who aren't dumb, lazy or who steal other's work like to dabble in crime on a larger level.

Another great find on RAW STORY.COM LS

SUN SENTINEL PIECE ON ABRAMOFF SUBPOENA

TOM DELAY LOSES LICENSE TO CARRY CONCEALED WEAPON IN TEXAS

Only indicted felons have to give up their concealed weapons in this gun slinging state... This must be a real blow to the bug man's manhood. Actually the dude probably has a rather small and limp...never mind...not going to vulgar land here, though it is rather tempting and could be fun. After all, it is undignified, petty, irrelevant and not worthy of the party who prefers to take the higher ground, even though it has cost us two elections. LS

RAW STORY ON DELAY LOSING HIS LICENSE TO CARRY CONCEALED GUN IN TEXAS