March 21, 2008
The Passport Breach
First we find out that a couple of state department contractors looked at Obama's passport records three times, all politically significant dates this year. Then we read today that someone looked at Hillary's passport records sometime last year. And now, there are indications that someone looked at John McCain's passport records. Are they related? Are they the same couple of people, or are they all from the same contracting firm? Who did they report to? What other work do they do? What are their histories? Why hasn't the State Department released their names yet?
Given the record of this administration, it is not surprising that this only came out because a reporter had some inside information and not from the State Department itself. It is also not surprising that the State Department has not released any names yet. There might be a good reason, but the record leads me to be suspicious of their motives. I expect the State Department will stonewall any investigation
Posted by Chip Spear at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2008
O.I.L. (Our Illustrious Leader) Keeps Pounding for Yards
GW keeps pounding away at anyone who stands in his way as he continues his march to unrestricted Presidential power. He never backs down, he never doubts. His methods are consistent and have generally been very successful, haven't they? The Dems have been exceedingly ineffective to stop him from his torture requests or his recent moves to protect the telecom companies from prosecution for helping the Administration wiretap Americans without a warrant. (NYT)
"The flash point in the debate has been the question of whether to protect AT&T and other major phone companies from some 40 lawsuits pending in federal courts, which charge that the companies' participation in the eavesdropping program violated federal privacy laws and their responsibilities to their customers.
Mr. Bush says the companies acted out of patriotism in responding to what they believed was a lawful presidential order. He has said that the lawsuits are being pursued by money-driven class-action lawyers and that they should not be allowed to threaten the financial solvency of the phone companies."
Why change your strategy when it works?
Posted by Chip Spear at 1:32 PM
January 29, 2008
The Issue is No Longer Bush's Failed Play
We all know what a disaster Bush has been in far too many ways to bother itemizing. The issue now is with the response by the MSM to him and the Republican candidates. Given the disaster in Afghanistan, what is the Main Stream Media doing to adequately confront the President and the guys on the right running for his position? (AP)
Afghanistan risks sliding into a failed state and becoming the "forgotten war" because of deteriorating international support and a growing violent insurgency, according to an independent study.
The assessment, co-chaired by retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones and former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, serves as a warning to the Bush administration at a time military and congressional officials are debating how best to juggle stretched warfighting resources.
What is their strategy? What are they gaining by not seriously questioning them? Why do they continue to defer to the O.I.L.? Why do they still believe what he says? Are they gaining something here?
Posted by Chip Spear at 6:24 PM
June 6, 2007
Oh Boy, Here We Go
The Iranians are playing around in Iraq and now we have the Turks crossing the northern border, chasing Kurdish rebels. (AP)
Several thousand Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq early Wednesday to chase Kurdish guerrillas who operate from bases there, Turkish security officials told The Associated Press.
Two senior security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the raid was limited in scope and that it did not constitute the kind of large incursion that Turkish leaders have been discussing in recent weeks.
And they are discussing bigger moves. Oh boy, a regional war. Just what we all hoped for, isn't it?
Posted by Chip Spear at 11:44 AM
May 22, 2007
O.I.L Hits One "Outta Here"
O.I.L (Our Illustrious Leader) smacked a big one out the park when the Dems backed off the timetable withdrawals. More than 3 weeks ago Pat Buchanan said on Hardball that the Dems would cave, and guess what? THEY DID. Anyway you spin it, this is another win for the Pres to keep on, keepin' on. To say that they are going to tie funding to Iraq benchmarks is garbage. That is putting the onus on an external player that we do not control in any way. In fact that player is playing another game, in another stadium. Forget that. This game is between Congress and O.I.L., and the slimy one smacked it.
Posted by Chip Spear at 2:42 PM
May 2, 2007
The Withdrawal Game
It is certainly no surprise that the Congress sent O.I.L. a bill calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. And it is certainly no surprise that O.I.L. vetoed the bill, his second veto in six years. (NYT) The real fun begins now. I am very curious to see how the two players, O.I.L. and the Democratic leadership, find a way to resolve the impasse so they both can claim victory. Can we assume that they will agree to Iraqi benchmarks? That seems to be the prevailing projected scenario. How boring that would be. I am hoping for a surprise here.
Posted by Chip Spear at 7:55 AM
April 18, 2007
Surge Strategy Thrown for a Loss
Six bombings, 170 dead, 193 wounded today. Seems like the whole surge strategy thing is having a few problems. (CNN)
Posted by Chip Spear at 11:35 AM
April 8, 2007
Hmmmmm, this is a shock
The AP writes:
"The corroded and corrupt state of Saddam was replaced by the corroded, inefficient, incompetent and corrupt state of the new order," Ali A. Allawi concludes in "The Occupation of
Iraq," newly published by Yale University Press.Allawi writes with authority as a member of that "new order," having served as Iraq's trade, defense and finance minister at various times since 2003. As a former academic, at Oxford University before the U.S.-British invasion of Iraq, he also writes with unusual detachment.
The U.S.- and British-educated engineer and financier is the first senior Iraqi official to look back at book length on his country's four-year ordeal. It's an unsparing look at failures both American and Iraqi, an account in which the word "ignorance" crops up repeatedly.
First came the "monumental ignorance" of those in Washington pushing for war in 2002 without "the faintest idea" of Iraq's realities. "More perceptive people knew instinctively that the invasion of Iraq would open up the great fissures in Iraqi society," he writes.
Follow the link, there is much more of interest.
Posted by Chip Spear at 9:36 PM
The Strategy and Soul of O.I.L.
One should no longer be surprised by much that occurs by way of scandals with regard to O.I.L. How can one really be taken off-guard? Everything is part of the same strategy, the same tactics which get the identical results. Throughout this Presidency, O.I.L has shown total contempt for the country, the people, and the notion of the government as a useful tool to help address problems and prepare for the future. He has loaded department after department with political cronies, large campaign contributors, incompetent administrators and people whose sole mission is to further a political agenda rather than do an excellent job. Let’s start down the list. Energy policy? Hello big oil. And how about the DOD and the Pentagon? Those troops sure are well supplied aren’t they? Hello Halliburton? And how goes the war? What about our intelligence community? 9/11? Katrina? Alberto Gonzales and the DOJ? Then there is the attitude that fosters Duke Cunningham, Jack Abramhoff and Abu Ghraib. And what about the good old Constitution and our Civil Rights? Search and seizure? How are we doing overseas? Are we held in high esteem? Do people around the world still think of us as a beacon of hope and justice? Not a chance. Global Warming? Taxes and the budget? I would contend that anyone who supports this guy either had a massive brain fart, is incapable of analytical thinking, or has directly benefited from his policies either though government contracts or tax cuts.
Posted by Chip Spear at 4:50 PM
April 7, 2007
The Iranians and O.I.L (Our Illustrious Leader)
Doesn't the recent incident with the Iranians remind you of George? The British were clearly in Iraqi waters. How do I know? Well, I wasn't there actually, and I don't have a GPS even if I was, but the Iranians changed there story regarding the coordinates shortly after they found out the first location they gave for the British capture was in Iraqi waters. Enough said. But what do they do? They lie, repeat the lie continually, get many within Iran to believe them, and act as if everyone else is at fault, using their lie for political purposes. Did you see the pictures on the news of the huge demonstrations? Looked like a huge number of brainwashed people to me. Does this sound familiar? It sure does to me.
Posted by Chip Spear at 7:43 AM
March 24, 2007
Cheney says House Dems don't support the troops
So, our Illustrious Vice Pres. says because the Dems don't support the disastrous implementation os the Iraq War that they are against the troops. This tactic is not unexpected. Given the state of Congress, being controlled by the Dems, and the actions of the White House, it is not surprising that the Democrats are against administrations policies. I am not sure how that translates into "not supporting the troops", but I am certain that the White House figures that it can still get some traction out of the charge in the "red" states and shore up flagging poll numbers. They probably assume that the tactic they have been using for the past few years still has some life it it. We shall see, now won't we? (AP)
Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday accused the Democrat-led House of not supporting troops in Iraq and of sending a message to terrorists that America will retreat in the face danger.
"They're not supporting the troops. They're undermining them," Cheney told a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition at the oceanside Ritz-Carlton hotel in Manalapan, Fla., about 60 miles north of Miami.
On Friday, the House voted to clamp a cutoff deadline on the Iraq war, agreeing by a thin margin to pull combat troops out by next year.
Do people actually believe this crap anymore?
Posted by Chip Spear at 9:53 PM
March 21, 2007
Showdown Looms in Attorney Firings
Ha, ha, ha. I have to laugh. This is sooooo ridiculous. What did you expect, really? For the past 6 years the President has treated the entire country, and especially the Democrats with comtempt. The Democrats have taken it on the chin. Now the Dems have some power. They are not about to back down to the Pres on this one. To expect otherwise is silly. (AP)
On the flip side, the President is not going to suddenly roll over to the Democratic leadership in Congress. He is going to continue with the gameplan...Attack! Put the Dems on the defensive anyway he can. He proposes a compromise solution. Of course it is his rules and conditions; no press, no oath, behind closed doors, no record, no nothing. My own guess is no truth either, but who knows.
How do you beat this?
Posted by Chip Spear at 8:32 PM
June 5, 2006
Bush Attacks
President Bush and the right wing have attacked Gays with their latest attack to ban gay marriage. Someday we will think of this like the civil rights movement. It is not quite the same, but there are enough similarities to give one pause. We should also remember de Tocqueville who warned us in his book, Democracy in America, that the greatest threat we face is from the tyranny of the majority. Given the right conditions, the majority could impose draconian laws on many minorities in our country.
Posted by Chip Spear at 11:05 AM
May 29, 2006
Bush wants to honor war dead
Our OIL wants to honor the war dead. That is a joke, right?b (B.C)
President Bush, delivering a Memorial Day message surrounded by the graves of thousands of military dead, said Monday that the United States must continue fighting the war on terror in the name of those have already given their life in the cause.
"The best way to pay respect is to value why a sacrifice was made," Bush said, quoting from a letter that Lt. Mark Dooley wrote to his parents before being killed last September in the Iraqi city of Ramadi.
Here is a guy who refuses to go to the funerals of war dead, or allow the press to publish photos. I get it.
Posted by Chip Spear at 9:04 PM | Comments (2)
May 21, 2006
U.S. Mismanages Iraqi Police Training
In another NY Times piece, the paper reports that the U.S. badly mismanaged the training of Iraqi police. This is news? We didn't know this? Or is it the specifics that is new and interesting? It is widely known that the U.S. had far too few troops and support personnel in Iraq to deal with the aftermath of the fall of Saddam. Cobra II, the excellent book by Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor describe in some detail how the Administration thought they could invade, conquer and leave without dealing with the aftermath. Granted they did not go into explicit detail about the police force, but they did explain the administration's tactics and strategy, which has been a disaster. Others have reiterated the same conclusion. (NYT)
Arrogance is such an "interesting" state of mind.
Posted by Chip Spear at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)
May 19, 2006
Byrd Slams Bush On Immigration Dough
Sen. Robert Byrd hit the President hard yesterday in response to the President's funding requests for border control. (AP)
Bush asked Congress for $1.9 billion Thursday to pay for 1,000 Border Patrol agents and the temporary deployment of up to 6,000 National Guard troops to states along the Mexican border.
His request was not warmly welcomed by some key senators.
Sen. Judd Gregg (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, delayed a vote on Bush's promotion of U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record) to White House budget director to show his displeasure. He said Bush's request calls for using money for proposed for border security equipment to pay for operational exercises.
Sen. Robert Byrd (news, bio, voting record), the Senate Appropriations Committee's top Democrat, complained that he had offered amendments providing for border security nine times since 2002, only to have the Bush administration reject them as extraneous spending or expanding the size of government.
"If we had spent that money beginning in 2002, we would not be calling on the National Guard today," Byrd said.
I wonder why this is such a big deal now, as opposed to a few months ago, of last year, or a couple of years ago? All of a sudden immigration becomes a huge deal.
Posted by Chip Spear at 10:02 AM | Comments (1)
May 17, 2006
NSA, Phone Records and Fox Press Secretaries
Crooks and Liars has a hilarious clip of Jon Stewart commenting on the NSA phone mining controversy. It is worth a listen. (C&L)
I read that the NSA is actually tapping only land lines, no cell phones. That means that they are missing almost all calls of folks under 60, except for businesses. Gee, I wonder how smart that is? Al Qaeda never would use cell phones, would they?
Posted by Chip Spear at 2:23 PM | Comments (0)
May 15, 2006
There is No Sports Metaphor that Fits This Disaster
I want to give these guys the benefit of the doubt once in a while. I want to believe in the Government, the President, Congress, and everyone else for that matter, but I am reaching the point of no return. The wiretaps, the lies, the incompetence continue to become bigger and bigger parts of our world. It is very disturbing. Last week John Negroponte insisted that the NSA was not tapping domestic calls. (WaPo)
When he was asked about the National Security Agency's controversial domestic surveillance program last Monday, U.S. intelligence chief John D. Negroponte objected to the question and said the government was "absolutely not" monitoring domestic calls without warrants.
"I wouldn't call it domestic spying," he told reporters. "This is about international terrorism and telephone calls between people thought to be working for international terrorism and people here in the United States."
Three days later USA Today reported that the NSA was tracking domestic phone calls.
Three days later, USA Today divulged details of the NSA's effort to log a majority of the telephone calls made within the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- amassing the domestic call records of tens of millions of U.S. households and businesses in an attempt to sift them for clues about terrorist threats.
To many lawmakers and civil liberties advocates, the revelation seemed to fly in the face of months of public statements and assurances from President Bush and his aides, who repeatedly sought to characterize the NSA's effort as a narrowly tailored "terrorist surveillance program" that had little impact on regular Americans.
So much for believing anything he says.
Now ABC News reports that the government is tracking reporter's calls to find government leakers. (ABC)
A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources.....
Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.
Tracking phone numbers might not be illegal, I don't know, but it surely is part of an increasingly disturbing pattern of secrey and paranoia permeating the White House..
Posted by Chip Spear at 1:45 PM | Comments (2)
May 12, 2006
Random Thoughts
So, the Justice Department attempts to investigate the NSA. The NSA says you don't have the proper security clearance to investigate us. The Justice Department says, okay, oh well, and walks away. Wow! Does something smell fishy about this? The NSA could be doing something very illegal, very dictatorial or something. They tell the Justice Dept., who is supposed to have the authority to investigate anything and everything like this, to take a hike and the Justice Dept. gives up. I hope that bothers you as much as me.
Congress, more specifically Republicans, passed a Bush backed bill to extend his tax cuts another two years. Most all of those cuts help the wealthy and hurt the middle class. Nothing new here, it is just more of the same play they have been running for the past 5 years. Perhaps this is one of the reasons his poll numbers are so anemic. Maybe one day he will start doing something that actually helps most people in the country instead of his major campaign contributors and friends.
NSA phone taps and Gen. Hayden to lead the CIA - the path to dictatorship by a thousand tiny steps......
Karl Rove & Bush's poll numbers - A Harris survey reports that OIL's poll numbers are currently tracking at 29%. If Rove is indicted OIL's poll numbers could drop to 26%. From a strategic standpoint, I have no clue how he can reverse this. Attacking Iran would seriously inflame the country. The economy, despite government numbers is not raising all boats. And then there is the ever expanding corruption disease. Every day brings new charges and new investigations throughout the Republican arena. The team has some serious problems. It actually reminds me of what is happening to the NY Knicks. Dolan, the owner, and Isaah Thomas insist that they are doing the right thing while the team self-destructs.
Posted by Chip Spear at 2:36 PM | Comments (2)
May 11, 2006
Truth, Trust and The American Way Strike Out
How could this possibly be a surprise? USA Today reports that the NSA has been monitoring tens of millions of Americans phone calls. Bush defended the program (USAT)
President Bush today said everthing the National Security Agency has done is legal, protects the privacy of Americans and helps guard the nation against terrorist attacks.
"We're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans," he said. Instead, the NSA's efforts "strictly target al-Qaeda and their known affiliates."
Bush - without expressly confirming or denying the USA TODAY report - indirectly addressed the potential impact of the story. "Every time sensitive intelligence is leaked," he said, "it hurts our ability to defeat this enemy."
USA TODAY reported in today's editions that AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications Inc., and BellSouth Corp. telephone companies have turned over records of tens of millions of their customers' phone calls to the NSA since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The newspaper cited anonymous sources it said had direct knowledge of the arrangement.
Given the actions of the White House over the past few years it should certainly surprise no one that this is happening. Why should one trust the White House to do the right thing and be honest with the American people? Or if they felt that something like this was necessary to fight Islamic fundmentalism, why didn't they go to Congress to get authorization?
Posted by Chip Spear at 1:39 PM | Comments (2)
May 9, 2006
The G. W. Bush Presidential Library
G. W. is already thinking about his Presidential Library. (NYT)
.President Bush had dinner last month on the Stanford University campus at the home of George P. Shultz, who was President Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, and the topic of conversation was not, as might be expected, the war in Iraq. Instead, guests said, Mr. Bush spent the evening focused on how he could create a public policy center with his presidential library after he leaves office in 2009.
The dozen or so guests at the dinner included directors and fellows of the Hoover Institution, the Stanford-affiliated policy center with close ties to the Bush White House. Mr. Bush spent most of his time, guests said, grilling the center's director, John Raisian, about the pros and cons of having an organization like Hoover within the confines of an institution like Stanford
So, do you think they will have the book the children were reading to OIL (Our Illustrious Leader) when he was sitting in the classroom as the planes hit the World Trade Center? I would love to see that book.
Posted by Chip Spear at 3:58 PM | Comments (0)
May 4, 2006
Priorities
Read this article then think about the priorities established by the White House. Why are we going to have our largest embassy in the world in Iraq? And 104 acres?
THE question puzzles and enrages a city: how is it that the Americans cannot keep the electricity running in Baghdad for more than a couple of hours a day, yet still manage to build themselves the biggest embassy on Earth?
Irritation grows as residents deprived of air-conditioning and running water three years after the US-led invasion watch the massive US Embassy they call “George W’s palace” rising from the banks of the Tigris.
In the pavement cafés, people moan that the structure is bigger than anything Saddam Hussein built. They are not impressed by the architects’ claims that the diplomatic outpost will be visible from space and cover an area that is larger than the Vatican city and big enough to accommodate four Millennium Domes. They are more interested in knowing whether the US State Department paid for the prime real estate or simply took it.
Bigger than the Vatican? Wow! I would guess that implies something about our long term plans for the country, doesn't it? And what about the big military bases we are building there?
Posted by Chip Spear at 8:53 AM | Comments (2)
April 20, 2006
The White House Shuffle
Ah, so many changes, I just can't keep it all straight, or is it a case of the more things change, the more they remain the same. I don't intend to add too much more to the already endless discussion about the meaning of these changes. A couple of things strike me though. I don't see any of these changes as being particularly substantive. They are more like window dressing. No major player is gone. No infusion of new blood.
Imagine you are coaching a team. It isn't doing well. The playoffs are looming, the fans are screaming, the team keeps losing. What do you do? Do you pull a couple of players off the bench, give them more minutes on the floor, have them run the same offense and defense and expect more wins? I doubt it. You make a trade, you get new blood. You look in the mirror, take a good look at yourself, get some respected advice, try a new offense, new plays, something. Is that happening? I don't think so.
So why not? Why hasn't Bush made any big changes? I would contend that one only changes when you admit that you are screwing up. You need to admit failure to change. Bush should know this sort of thinking from AA, if he went to AA. We get a sponser to help us, a guide. In this case the guide probably should not be Dick Cheney. However, I don't think he feels that things are wrong. One doesn't get the sense that he feels he is failing. Until that happens I doubt he will relegate his leading players to the bench.
Posted by Chip Spear at 2:27 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2006
Bolton and Bush Making Changes?
Is the new White House Chief of Staff Making changes at the White House? (NYT) Rumor has it, however I would think that the man is merely resting a couple of players instead of actually changing anything.
Even as he poked fun at the way "little flickers of gossip start moving" about a possible staff shake-up, the president suggested that more changes would be coming in the White House and possibly in the cabinet.
Unless we see Rove, Cheney, Rice or Rumsfeld go, I would contend that nothing substantive will actually change. The White House will still act the way it has the past five years. All underlings will follow in lock step. Does anyone actually think that changing the Treasury cheerleader will affect how the adminstration plays with the economy? Having Snow resign or Scott McClellan replaced will do little to change Administration strategy or tactics. Those folks are all role players at best. Unless and until Bush changes some of the major players on his team, we are stuck watching a game of three card monte.
Posted by Chip Spear at 10:53 AM | Comments (1)
March 15, 2006
Bush as Art
It suddenly struck me that the Bush Administration is actually a piece of artwork created by Marcel Duchamp, Jean Arp and Max Ernst. I started doing some research and surprisingly came across some incriminating evidence from each of their estates detailing a long term plan to turn the U.S. government into art. We know that Duchamp gave up the creation of conventional work for chess while living in the U.S. However, I have found enough communication between the three men to indicate they collaborated with some early genetic engineering experiments with they then tried on Bush's family. It has finally reached its nadir today. How else to explain such a surreal state of affairs.
Now I realize that this is far removed from my usual Political Sports arena, but sometimes we must expand our consciousness a bit to make room for a better explanation of reality.
Posted by Chip Spear at 4:17 PM | Comments (0)