Tuesday, June 26, 2007

IMPEACH CHENEY * HOW TO TALK TO ANN COULTER IF YOU MUST

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(Political Animal) FEIN: IMPEACH CHENEY....As part of the Washington Post's multi-part profile on Dick Cheney, Bruce Fein, an associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan, accused the Vice President of having made "monarchical claims" on power.

In an interesting Slate piece, Fein, a self-identified conservative, follows up on these concerns and explicitly calls for Cheney's impeachment.

In grasping and exercising presidential powers, Cheney has dulled political accountability and concocted theories for evading the law and Constitution that would have embarrassed King George III. The most recent invention we know of is the vice president's insistence that an executive order governing the handling of classified information in the executive branch does not reach his office because he also serves as president of the Senate. In other words, the vice president is a unique legislative-executive creature standing above and beyond the Constitution. The House judiciary committee should commence an impeachment inquiry. As Alexander Hamilton advised in the Federalist Papers, an impeachable offense is a political crime against the nation. Cheney's multiple crimes against the Constitution clearly qualify. (CBS News)

cartoon by Stephen Pitt

cartoon by Sack

I do not believe in an anthropomorphic God nor do I believe in a physical anti-Christ — but I believe that fundamentalism itself, the kind Ann Coulter practices, is un-Christian. This is anti-Christ thought.

And Elizabeth Ewards is my hero.

Ann Coulter was on Chris Matthews today, and Elizabeth Edwards called in to ask her to stop making personal, hateful attacks against her husband, John Edwards (yesterday on GMA, Coulter said she will not call Edwards the "f" word anymore, but she will say she wishes he was killed in a terrorist attack... and it doesn't matter that she was trying to make fun of Bill Maher in this, her words are those of a corrupt, evil, low life who cannot use her brain for anything productive.

I am so sick of this monster getting attention for her extermination speak.

Ann Coulter is the exact opposite of a true Christian, and is actually one of the reasons our society is falling apart. She supports the war in Iraq and couldn't care less about civilian casualties, but loathes Bush now because of his "amnesty" bill. Christ, if he were alive today, would have supported the exact reverse of Coulter's position.

"I had a very happy childhood – nothing conflicted, lots of friends, lots of boyfriends, athletic," she said. In the seventh grade her beagle, Tiger, died. "That was the only bad thing that ever happened to me."

Wow! This explains it all. This makes the case for Democrats. If not having suffered in life makes one as brittle and spiteful as Ann Coulter, a “Republican,” then it stands to reason that suffering in life makes one more compassionate, more empathetic and hence more connected to the human race! Hence, a Democrat.

I think I detect “suffering envy” in Coulter. She is actually jealous of those who have loved and lost.

I have a solution: get married, have kids and get a family life. Care about someone other than yourself. Then you can join the human race and stop inflicting your heinously distorted views on others you have nothing in common with. Life is messy: people cry, make mistakes, act like jerks, care about each other. Not everyone is the enemy. In fact, even the enemy can become a friend. Take my husband for example.

Her premise is that it's wrong to use your suffering. My question to Coulter is, why are you so against understanding “the other” and personal history? Our suffering often deepens us, defines us, and helps us grow into truly empathetic souls. As a wise man once said, “pain is the touchstone of all spiritual progress.” Wouldn't it have been better for George Bush to have actually been through some tragedies in life, so he could relate to fellow human beings, instead of admittedly being so estranged from the tragedy in New Orleans? Bush admitted he has no idea how the poor of New Orleans felt, for he had never had a moment in his life when he was deprived. I would rather have a president who has actually been through personal trials, and was deepened by them.

Losing a child, as John Edwards did, often changes a person; it is the defining moment in a parent's life. Nothing is ever the same after losing a child.

So tell us Ann, what childhood abuse are you hiding? Why have you so little empathy and “compassion” – that corney, hokey quality you revile in Democrats? I’m sorry, but “compassion” is not a dirty word. Caring about your fellow man is not a wimpy quality unveiled just to get votes. I know you and Glen Beck have a special hatred for people who have lost loved ones, especially 911 widows and Katrina victims.

You cringe when Angelina Jolie or Miss Universe sounds sappy, but there is something refreshing about people stating out loud that they want to change the world by helping others. Maybe it doesn't sound “cool” to your brand of SS Storm Trooper, but it is exactly what American kids need to hear: beautiful women pleading for charitable causes, instead of scarecrows chortling about killing 'rag heads!'

On behalf of Democrats, I will say this: we are interested in understanding the enemy in order to solve problems. This does not make us unpatriotic or treasonous! I believe that once you understand people's motivations, you can enter into diplomacy. “Keep your enemies close” is smart behavior, especially in time of war. I keep getting comments on my blog from people who twist my words and call me a traitor simply because I do not love the bomb.

Coulter's pathological hatred qualifies her for a mental institution, not the top of the bestseller list. What I'd like to know is how did America get to the point where a sociopath can become a best-selling author? Calling for the killing of a Supreme Court Justice or former president — isn't this criminal intent, and shouldn't this woman be in jail? Ann Coulter is about to blow, and I hope she doesn't own a gun.

cartoon copyrights:
http://www.light-to-dark.com/Stephen_Pitt_Cartoons.html
cagle.com/news/ AnnCoulter/images/sack.jpg

177 comments:

  1. Hi Lydia!

    Coulter is a monster and I believe she is a paid monster! Someone is paying her big bucks to be that way. She is hateful and mean but she is doing it for the money. Isn't that why all NeoCons spew their hate? Money and power.


    Great post Lydia!!

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  2. Absolutely!

    My wife and I were watching and could not get over how unashamed the - I will now temper my language - "woman" was. SHe has no problem bashing anyone she disagrees with in such a mean-spirited manner that one has to wonder why they didn't teach ethics and good manners along with law up in Michigan.

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  3. My friend, Prissy Patriot, interviewed the DC Madam yesterday.

    The DC Madam told her Cheney is on the list.

    You can read about it on my blog.

    LOL

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  4. Prissy
    June 25th, 2007 at 8:59 pm · Edit

    Sinking fast S-Q, and let me be the first to announce to you that Dick Cheney is indeed on the DC Madame’s list.

    That’s right, you always suspected it and now you know for sure. From Prissy’s lips to your ears!

    Ms Palfrey told Betty Buckaneer and I today in our interview with her. And as luck would have it, Jack Abramoff may even be somehow involved (no word yet if HE’s on the list)

    NeoCons Are Sinking

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  5. I think she laughs all the way to the bank, she makes her money. Spewed venom is her product. And people still buy it.

    I think its important to talk about her role, but too much attention gives her more credibility than she deserves. More attention as a pundit, makes people look to her for her views on current events because she can generate "buzz".

    I choose to mainly ignore her existence, I sure dont want to help her sell more crappy books about nonsense accusations.

    She is a joke, a caricature. Classless and desperate. Petty and bratty.

    But worse are the people who look up to her. Hang on her icky words.

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  6. Here. Here is a link to the interview with Ann Coulter and Alan Colmes last night, where she said that conservatives are the only ones who have religion down right.

    COULTERS CRAPOLA

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  7. The link will take you to a ThinkProgress page that has the video.

    Just click the video and it will play.

    It starts out with a Barak Obama speech that Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes and Ann Coulter are listening to. Listen to the whole thing. At the end, Ann Coulter tells Alan Colmes that conservatives are the only ones who have religion right.

    Its amazing.

    Colmes really talked her into a corner.

    Watch it.

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  8. I saw her today on MSNBC "Hardball" with Chris Matthews.

    That woman not only causes me to be physically ill, but she makes my skin crawl.

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  9. Coulter is soon to be irrelevant, the repugs will throw her under the bus soon, like they are abouit to do with Cheney.

    there is no loyalty or honor among thieves when a person stops being useful to the Neo Cons they are discarded.

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  10. America has shifted away from the idealogues and religigious zealots and bigots of the Reich Wing and Dinosaurs like Coulter and Cheney to dumb to adapt are finished!

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  11. I posted the same subject today about Miss ANN. Let's Talk About It post was the video, I would love to have put in the words that you posted on this site.

    Well we can't all be blessed to write as well as others. Great post and great writing on Ann Coulter.

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  12. A second senator has turned on the surge and Bush's fiasco for a massive ego.

    A policy of responsible military disengagement with a corresponding increase [in] non-military support is the best way to advance our nation’s interests in Iraq and achieve our primary goals: to help Iraqis stabilize their country and improve the security of the United States. However, I am also concerned that we are running out of time.

    The commitment of the United States to the principles of democracy and freedom will not falter. Our military has fought courageously and admirably, and it is time to pursue a strategy that combines the resources of our military with the resources of our diplomatic corps and international partners. I have enclosed a brief position paper that outlines my thoughts for a way forward in Iraq.

    I hope that you will review this paper, and the many other recommendations that have been proposed, as you fulfill the responsibilities of being our Commander-in-Chief. My prayers are with you and our nation."


    I wonder if dead eye is checking if Chimpy McFlightsuit can be given the powers to claim certain republican senators as enemy combatants and sent to Gitmo?

    I wonder if the reichwingers in the supreme court would even care if they did?

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  13. (M)Ann Coulter is THE poster child for what's wrong with this planet.

    But, like others allude to, if you hate her, she's doing her job well. Its best to ignore her. BUT THAT'S HARD TO DO.

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  14. Why she gets so much air time for saying nothing of substance, I'll never know! ; (

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  15. The coulterguist gets air time for the same reason Paris Hilton gets air time, it costs almost nothing to get a "controversial" time filling spot on news and propaganda programs with out actually discussing things which really matter, and the coulterguist does spout a very venomous version of the idiotic reichwing message which is red meat to the dumber among the sheeple. (certain trolls here actually prove this point)

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  16. Great post. Actually, being the anti-Christ, she is a person who brings me closer to my God. After hearing her speak, I inevitably spew some hate of my own, calling her an anorexic psychob%%^&*# or some such thing. And I'm not a hater.....which brings me to pray for guidance and forgiveness...for myself and for the Anti-Christ. So thank you Ann Coulter.

    Now on to Matthews. He allowed this woman to sit there and wish for the death by terrorist attack of a presidential candidate, and didn't blink an eye. No response. We really need to bombard MSNBC with emails telling them this is NOT ok. It's NOT what we want or expect out of a "news" network.

    And last of all...two words for Elizabeth Edwards. Class Act. In a few short minutes, and in a polite and respectful way, she responded to Coulter's hate speak in a way that left the psychob%&*$# unable to defend herself.

    I do believe Ann Coulter lives for the dollar. And in the big picture, it's so not where anyone should be living!

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  17. Robert Rouse, Question Girl, Let's Talk... Thank you for your comments and welcome.


    As long as the MSM keeps putting her on as a "public intellectual" and condones her hate-speak, we have to keep refuting her words and shining a light on it.

    We have to marginalize her the way they did to Michael Moore.

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  18. It's too bad Chris Benoit killed himself before he got to wrap his hands around her scrawny little Adam's Apple...

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  19. Here Coulter demonstrates her knowledge of the Vietnam War on the CBC show, The Fifth Estate:
    Coulter on Canada and the Vietnam War

    She thinks Canada officially participated in the Vietnam War.

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  20. Ann Coultergeist is inhuman. Suzie-q has a good point - she's doing it for the money.

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  21. Lydia Cornell said.

    We have to marginalize her the way they did to Michael Moore.

    --

    With due respect I disagree. I think instead of trying to marinalize the oppositions speakers, we need to focus on getting ours out there.

    When the public sees the right wing on the news, they're busy getting their message out.

    When the public sees the left wing on the news, we're always crying about something the right wing said about us.

    Which is why we look like wimps.

    We need to stop dancing to their piano tune, and start making our own music.

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  22. When Network Television is showing Farenheit 911 on prime time, then we'll be accomplishing something.

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  23. She is nothing more than a female bully who loves taunting people and watching them hurt. She masks her own insecurity by attacking others.

    Why she gets so much air time is beyond me. I'm posting about this tomorrow. I want to know when did someone like her become entertaining and to whom?

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  24. PoP,

    To little right wing hood wearing Nazis who march around with her book because it's the only short-skirted female photo their parents will allow them to have around the house.

    Know them by the toilet paper sticking to the heel.

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  25. Hi Lydia
    Coulter should be censored. I refuse to believe she gets away with saying the ignorant things she does.
    She only does because she is in Bush's side. If she was using that childish ignorance on Bushco she would have paid with her career long ago.
    She is cold and callous. Sadly many right wingers just think it is great that she makes Democrats look like fools and is not held accountable. I think it is sick. With some of the things she has said, she should be tried for terrorism.
    Like Suzie-q I would like to know who is paying her or handling her, well not handling, advising. Phew!
    Those idiots would rather crack jokes and act like fools to the detriment of all of us than to realize we are in trouble and come together and do the right thing for America.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Great minds, Lydia. Ciulter earned a Bush Sweetheart award today at my place. :-)

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  27. BARTLEBEE said...
    Lydia Cornell said.

    We have to marginalize her the way they did to Michael Moore.

    --

    With due respect I disagree. I think instead of trying to marinalize the oppositions speakers, we need to focus on getting ours out there.

    When the public sees the right wing on the news, they're busy getting their message out.

    When the public sees the left wing on the news, we're always crying about something the right wing said about us.

    Which is why we look like wimps.

    We need to stop dancing to their piano tune, and start making our own music."


    While I completely agree with your point that we NEED to stop dancing to THEIR tune and make our own music and I dont think she should be censored i'm with Lydia that she should be marginalized just like she tries to do to her opponents.

    We most certainly SHOULD be getting our message out and bringing the debate back to and focusing on the issues and facts rather than personal attacks and BS...............BUT if the fascist McCarthy like repugs keep lying or parroting mistruths and dishonest talking points they need to be attacked and marninalized by clearly demonstrating how uncredible, dishonest and untrustworthy they are.

    Allowing fools like Cheney and Coulter a bully pulpit to spew lies unopposed is dangerous and stupid because.........lies become believable if repeated often enough, we've seen that with Hitler, McCarthy and we are currently witnessing that with Bush and his minions, more that half of our country believes that Saddam was in league with Al Qaeda or that he had WMD because the lie was repeated over and over by people of authority who SEEM credible.

    Tactically it is imperative to never be relegated to ONLY playing defense and thats what the Democrats have been reduced to the last 7 years. In chess when a player is reduced to ONLY playing defensively they lose at least 95% of the time.

    Bartlebee, i'm assuming you might be equating the word marginalize to censorship........I see marginalize as not allowing these people to spew lies or BS............while I would not censor Cheney or Coulter i would challenge, refute and humiliate them publicly enough to were market forces meaning their own fear of being humiliated, discredited or perceived as a total laughing stock made them think twice about opening their mouth and saying something riddiculous or their own party and the powers that be that influence politics and the MSM started exerting pressure to replace them with more credible and honest sources.

    The Democrats need to be tough and NEED to focus on getting the message out like the repugs have done the past 30 years........however being tough means marginalizing and hitting them back when they lie, resort to personal attacks and dont address the issue but deflect........there is a time for turning the other cheek and there is a time for hitting them back 3 times as hard till they fear and respect you enough to think twice about throwing that first punch and drawing first blood.

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  28. BARTLEBEE said...
    When Network Television is showing Farenheit 911 on prime time, then we'll be accomplishing something."

    Bartlebee while I see your point and basically agree.........Realistically and objectively.....that will NEVER happen till we take back the MSM and break up these media empires and conglomerates that are bought and paid for by the Reich Wing and serve as propaganda tools for media sorcery and mind control to deceive and influence the weak minded.

    The media empires need to be broken up to insure diversity of opinion and we NEED to bring back the Fairness Doctrine.

    ReplyDelete
  29. an average patriot said...
    Hi Lydia
    Coulter should be censored. I refuse to believe she gets away with saying the ignorant things she does.
    She only does because she is in Bush's side. If she was using that childish ignorance on Bushco she would have paid with her career long ago.
    She is cold and callous. Sadly many right wingers just think it is great that she makes Democrats look like fools and is not held accountable. I think it is sick. With some of the things she has said, she should be tried for terrorism.
    Like Suzie-q I would like to know who is paying her or handling her, well not handling, advising. Phew!
    Those idiots would rather crack jokes and act like fools to the detriment of all of us than to realize we are in trouble and come together and do the right thing for America."

    With all due respect Patriot.....NO ONE should be censored the opposing side should get to have their say in a fair manner and the best ideas win out.

    As for Coulter making the Democrats look like fools..........I think your way off base here.........she certainly makes HERSELF look like a fool but not the Democrats.........unless youre referring to the brainwashed goosestepping Volksturm that believe every word this idiot spews.

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  30. I have to humbly disagree with Average Patriot. I do not believe in censorship for any reason - especially people I disagree with. We must always take the moral high ground and set examples. As for Mann Coulter, let her keep saying what she's saying. Eventually she will trip herself up with her own vitriol.

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  31. Mike said...

    Allowing fools like Cheney and Coulter a bully pulpit to spew lies unopposed is dangerous

    --

    Well perhaps, but to respond to it is to always be dancing to their tune. It puts us in the news always on the defensive.
    Here. Let me give you and example.

    HEADLINE: "Deomcrats show outrage"

    HEADLINE: "Democrats cry foul"

    HEADLINE: "Democrats voice frustration with smear tactics"

    HEADLINE: "Democrats demand apology"


    You see what I'm saying? We need to stop "responding" to news made by the republicans and start making our own news.

    And that means stop being moral wimps, and get behind our far left spokespeople, like the republicans do.Michael Moore for one. Its been 5 years and Farenheit 911 has YET to be shown on Network television!

    I think we need to start playing our own songs, and stop dancing to theirs.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Mike said...
    Bartlebee, i'm assuming you might be equating the word marginalize to censorship
    --

    I worried about that, but I was fairly certain that you didn't mean censor, although some other posters right after you DID say censor.

    Censor is a dirty word for an American.

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  33. We just need to stop responding every time Coulter cracks a mouth fart, and start breaking wind in her face.

    :P

    ReplyDelete
  34. Ann Coulter is a prime example of the Zeroth, Second and Fourth Principles of Incompetence ( http://pov-mentarch1.blogspot.com/2007/06/eight-principles-of-incompetence.html ).

    Primitive Minds ( http://pov-mentarch1.blogspot.com/2007/06/primitive-minds.html ) like hers know only one thing: hate.

    A shame, really ...

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  35. First of all, I have a hard and fast rule to try to keep from giving C**tler any more of my blog time. She does what she does precisely so people will continue to watch the car wreck. The hell with that.

    Secondly (and more importantly,) she's been advocating the assassinations of officers of the Federal Government for years. This is NOT protected speech-in fact, it is a felony. Why is she not where she belongs? The evidence is all over the place.

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  36. If you folks are watching Keith Olberman, you will see that they are saying that it looks like the road to impeachment is in place as we speak.

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  37. Poll: Gore Leading In New Hampshire

    Ben Smith flags a new Suffolk University poll finding that a whopping 32% of the state's Democrats would back Al Gore, making him the leader in the Democratic primary there. Hillary Clinton would be particularly damaged by his hypothetical entry, losing a quarter of her support. Without Gore, Clinton leads with 37% of likely Democratic voters, leading Barack Obama at 19%, and John Edwards and Bill Richardson, both at 9%.

    All he has to do is announce.......

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  38. They've got the president on crimes with the homeland spying and the signing statements.Theres a good chance he could be impeached sooner than we think.

    ReplyDelete
  39. BARTLEBEE said...
    We just need to stop responding every time Coulter cracks a mouth fart, and start breaking wind in her face.


    I have a better idea.

    How about we have someone follow her around who suffers from incontinence and every time she opens her mouth, she gets pissed on.

    Call it negative reinforcement...

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  40. Well, I was speaking metaphorically.

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  41. Lydia,

    Coultergeist is a creature from the black recesses of the NeoConjobs twist in logic.

    She's what we call a contradiction in terms..

    Let's just look at that crazy Adam's Apple Shall we ?

    Coulter, Rush, Oreilly, and others like them are all on their way out as the Neoconjobs and their apologists are falling out of favor with the American Public...

    In a few years these people will be seen as low life's who once got to fool the public with their flaming controversies..

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  42. btw:

    gef = Global Evildoer Fighter

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  43. Train Wreck- exactly how I feel about it.

    And no, I dont ever agree with censorship either.

    but I do agree with letting dumbasses like Tweety Bird Matthews and others know that they are disgusting when they sit there in silence. I dont expect her to be silenced, but there's often little balance with her.

    Why is she treated like an intellectual? She belies her education by talking more like an adolescent. Not a pundit of worth.

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  44. Lynn said "I dont expect her to be silenced, but there's often little balance with her.

    Why is she treated like an intellectual? She belies her education by talking more like an adolescent. Not a pundit of worth."

    My point exactly!!!!!

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  45. Coulter only spews hate and lies! That isn't news!

    She is an evil beast who works for big bucks for the NeoCons!

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  46. I'm sure Coulter's soul is rotting away and that is why she looks like hell!

    ReplyDelete
  47. GEF said...
    Lydia,

    Coultergeist is a creature from the black recesses of the NeoConjobs twist in logic.

    She's what we call a contradiction in terms..

    Let's just look at that crazy Adam's Apple Shall we ?

    Coulter, Rush, Oreilly, and others like them are all on their way out as the Neoconjobs and their apologists are falling out of favor with the American Public...

    In a few years these people will be seen as low life's who once got to fool the public with their flaming controversies.."


    Hey GEF, good to have you here.........and as usual I couldnt agree more........i've been saying basically the same thing for a LONG time.........another couple of years and you wont be seeing losers like Coulter anymore......she's allready starting to lose that fascade of credibility she has.

    ReplyDelete
  48. BARTLEBEE said...
    They've got the president on crimes with the homeland spying and the signing statements.Theres a good chance he could be impeached sooner than we think."

    Well, I sure hope you're right.........but I think Cheney will be the one thrown under the bus.............sure they'll let him resign because of "health reasons" to save face but they will use this opportunity to anoit Fred Thompson as the heir apparent and get him some experience before 2008 and they will also do it to throw the Democrats a bone and give their base (the ones clamoring for Impeachment of Bush and Cheney) some read meat........ See Bush and the Neo Cons are appeasers and they will try to appease the Democrats, then play tough guy "DECIDER" and try to last the rest of his term.

    I've heard these rumors swirling from several sources that Cheney is history and I think its gonna happen............as for Bush unless a smoking gun comes to light that is so irrefutable that the repugs will have NO CHOICE but to impeach him, I think he's untouchable as much as I hate to say that.........Time is working against us if Bush can last till the election cycle gets in full swing in early 2008 he will most likely be homefree........the clock is ticking on getting rid of this piece of human waste we call a president lets hope the stars allign right and for one of the few times in the last 7 years true justice is served.

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  49. Suzie-yer blog hates me.

    I was just gonna say old Mitt sounds like a typical "compassionate conservative" to me :)

    ReplyDelete
  50. Micheal Moores on The Daily Show.

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  51. BARTLEBEE said...
    Mike said...

    Allowing fools like Cheney and Coulter a bully pulpit to spew lies unopposed is dangerous

    --

    Well perhaps, but to respond to it is to always be dancing to their tune. It puts us in the news always on the defensive.
    Here. Let me give you and example.

    HEADLINE: "Deomcrats show outrage"

    HEADLINE: "Democrats cry foul"

    HEADLINE: "Democrats voice frustration with smear tactics"

    HEADLINE: "Democrats demand apology"


    You see what I'm saying? We need to stop "responding" to news made by the republicans and start making our own news.

    And that means stop being moral wimps, and get behind our far left spokespeople, like the republicans do.Michael Moore for one. Its been 5 years and Farenheit 911 has YET to be shown on Network television!

    I think we need to start playing our own songs, and stop dancing to theirs."

    Bartlebee, your clearly misinterpretting what i said.....the words and examples I used clearly indicated taking the offensive and agressive action rather than responding or reacting. notice I NEVER said anything about crying, demanding an apology or whining about their behavior being unfair or reacting.

    Some of the words i used were challenge and refute and some of the examples I used were in chess when you react and are relegated to passive, defensive or reactionary play you lose 955 of the time VS when you are the aggressor and are on the offensive provided you operate tactically and strategically sound and arent reckless you win the majority of the time, the other example I used is when an opponent plays dirty and sucker punches you you hit them back 3 times as hard so they think long and hard about ever doing that again.

    Now you might make the case that refuting them or attacking their lies aggressively is REACTING to them, as I said before that would not be my ONLY form of action.........I would go on the offensive by focusing on our issues and supporting our people as you say but to allow a lie that is easily refuted to be repeated over and over till it becomes believed and truth to much of the masses because you are afraid of being labeled reactionary is strategically as well as tactically stupid. Hitler deceived people by repeating lies over and over again until they became accepted as truth, perhaps if his lies were refuted and challenged early enough millions would not have been murdered and slaughtered senselessly.

    Again i'm not trying to be an ass or argumentative, I actually agree with you that we need to go on the offensive and focus on the issues we want brought to the light, but that doesnt mean we need to be too timid to respond to issues or talking points that are easily refuted with little effort.

    As for your characterization of how the media portrays liberals........I stated before that the MSM is clearly Conservative and THAT is a huge factor in how and why liberals are portrayed as reactionary wimps..........although I most certainly agree with you that they have done much to deserrve this label as well..........they NEVER really define the issues themselves they always allow Conservatives to do that and they rarely go on the offensive with their own issues or bring the focus bact to facts and issues when attacked personally.

    To sum up my point I essentially agree with you that we need to go on the offensive, define our own issues and not dance to their tune and react to their manipulation but that DOESNT mean being afraid to confront or challenge them and refute their lies and dishonest talking points.................its an unfortunate fact that the MSM is Conservative owned and liberals wont get anywhere near as much airtime so we NEED to make what we do get count and work twice as hard at defining our own issues and making our own news as you say as well as refuting their lies when neccessary.

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  52. I saw Moore........anyone see Lol Bush.......that show is priceless, the "DECIDER" must be steaming if he is watching that.

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  53. Suzie-Q said...
    I'm sure Coulter's soul is rotting away and that is why she looks like hell!"

    Well. i'm sure she loks like Hell...........but I dont think her soul is rotting away, she doesnt have a soul, it must have rotted away a long time ago.

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  54. No I wasn't accusing you of those things Mike I was speaking in genral.

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  55. But mark my words, I think Cheney will be gone by Fall.........He;s history!

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  56. And in general you are essentially correct.........but reuting their lies is crucial...........think if the Neo Cons "so called" intelligence they used to justify the war had been attacked and discredited by people who KNEW better..........we might not have went into Iraq and a million or so people wouldnt be dead and almost a trillion dollars wasted and our Constitution might not be on life support!

    ReplyDelete
  57. Basically I just want to see more clips of liberals exposing Bushs lies, or maybe an expose on CNN about how Coulter commmitted voter fraud and then manipulated certain individuals at the FBI to cover it up for her, instead of what we see now, which is liberals saying things like "oh nooooo" or "how could they say that"?. Thats all you see anymore.

    The truth is Elizibeth Edwards looked weak, almost wimpy, compared to the more confident (although she did get nervous when she heard Edwards was on the phone, she kept pulling her hair back, which is her "tell")Coulter.

    Edwards sounded nervous, shakey, unconmitted and ill prepared for that phone call. She should have had the dates at her fingertips of the events before she called in. She should have strongly responded when Coulter lied and blasted those dates out. But instead she sounded weak, and it did us no good.

    We need to go on the offensive, and when we do respond, we need to be prepared, informed and committed.

    I know you're for all those things.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Jolly:

    I see your post about Romney on my blog. :)

    ReplyDelete
  59. And we need to see Farenheit 911 on Network Television, now!

    ReplyDelete
  60. Olbermann then turned to law professor Joanathan Turley, who agreed tentatively that the administration might move slowly enough to "run out the clock" on its time in office. "But there is one thing that might concern them about the court," Turley said, "and that is, you know, for many years, since we first found out about this program, some of us have said that this was a clearly criminal act that the president called for. ... If we're right, not only did he order that crime, but it would be, in fact, an impeachable offense."

    Raw Story

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I leave you in good thoughts of Impeachment...

    Goodnight :)

    ReplyDelete
  61. P.S.

    That is regarding the illegal wiretaps..

    ReplyDelete
  62. Hey thanks for posting that Suzy. See! I told you guys Olberman and his guest (Turley) said that tonight.

    Bush is going to be impeached or resign.

    ReplyDelete
  63. BARTLEBEE said...
    Basically I just want to see more clips of liberals exposing Bushs lies, or maybe an expose on CNN about how Coulter commmitted voter fraud and then manipulated certain individuals at the FBI to cover it up for her, instead of what we see now, which is liberals saying things like "oh nooooo" or "how could they say that"?. Thats all you see anymore.

    The truth is Elizibeth Edwards looked weak, almost wimpy, compared to the more confident (although she did get nervous when she heard Edwards was on the phone, she kept pulling her hair back, which is her "tell")Coulter.

    Edwards sounded nervous, shakey, unconmitted and ill prepared for that phone call. She should have had the dates at her fingertips of the events before she called in. She should have strongly responded when Coulter lied and blasted those dates out. But instead she sounded weak, and it did us no good.

    We need to go on the offensive, and when we do respond, we need to be prepared, informed and committed.

    I know you're for all those things."


    I am for ALL those things, and i'm in complete agreement with what you just said.........the only fly in the ointment so to speak is the MSM is arent willing to coperate, they bought and paid for by the Neo Con Fascists and the only way to take it back is to break up the media empires so we have diversity of opinion and factual, honest and unbiased news.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Suzie-Q said...
    Olbermann then turned to law professor Joanathan Turley, who agreed tentatively that the administration might move slowly enough to "run out the clock" on its time in office. "But there is one thing that might concern them about the court," Turley said, "and that is, you know, for many years, since we first found out about this program, some of us have said that this was a clearly criminal act that the president called for. ... If we're right, not only did he order that crime, but it would be, in fact, an impeachable offense."

    Raw Story"

    SQ, thats my biggest fear that Bush will run out the clock and buy enough time to make it through his term and the election could allow him to do that..........I think there is Plenty of evidence to impeach him on............but a lack of time, uncooperative repugs and the election make it less likely every day............but i'm not without hope!

    ReplyDelete
  65. I'm watching lil Bush now Mike.

    I've never seen anything like it.

    A sitting president burned in effigy via a weely television show.

    Its NEVER been done before.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Lol, tonight they're mocking the fact that he was a cheerleader. LMAO.

    His parents are worried that he's gay, LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Not that theres anything wrong with that.

    ReplyDelete
  68. White House, Cheney's office subpoenaed By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
    53 minutes ago

    WASHINGTON - The Senate subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's office Wednesday, demanding documents and elevating the confrontation with President Bush over the administration's warrant-free eavesdropping on Americans.

    ReplyDelete
  69. These are the exact same kind of headlines we saw right before Nixon's impeachment hearings.

    ReplyDelete
  70. I watched LIL Bush..........that show is a much watch it even demands a beer!

    ReplyDelete
  71. This show lil bush, couldn't be more derogatory to Bush and his cabinet and family, than anything I've ever seen.


    Its hilarious.

    ReplyDelete
  72. They're showing lil George Bush dancing around with a halter top on cheerleading with Tony Blair.

    They're making them look like two little flamers, which is real funny. Its cracking me up.

    ReplyDelete
  73. As for The headlines prior to nixon's impeachment, I dont remember those i was too young..........but his actual resignation is burned into my brain forever, i was 3 going on 4 and we were coming home from a vacation in the mounains and my father made us listen to Nixon on the radio for 6 hours straight........then all the tv shows including many ofmy cartoons were interupted by Nixon coverage

    I remember discussions about Nixon all summer and I remeber the despair and feeling that he was untouchable until he was brought down.........hopefully this will be the same......but we need to get rid of Gonzalez first so the new AG can appoint a special prosecutor before Bush can be removed from power!

    ReplyDelete
  74. I love that Lil Cheney jackass sneering and muttering just like the real idiot does!

    And Lil Bush actually sounds like the Real Bush as well.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Well it looks like the surge in Baghdad is not going to solve this problem at all, but this problem could spell doom for any US puppet government in Iraq;

    Government said to have lost control of Basra

    As U.S. troops battle to retake Baghdad and surrounding areas, the government is reported to have lost its control of Basra where almost all of the country’s oil exports originate.



    The city, according to well-placed sources, is under the hegemony of militias who do not run its streets only but have imposed levies and taxes on oil output.



    “It may be too late for Prime Minister Nouri al-Naliki to restore control of Basra,” one source working for Iraqi intelligence said.



    The sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, point to the growing Iranian influence in Basra and most of southern Iraq.



    The loss of Basra to Shiite militias is a blow to current U.S. military operations mainly directed against Sunni rebels and elements of al-Qaeda group in the country.



    The four-month long operations in which tens of thousands of U.S. marines are involved have foundered due to tough resistance from various Iraqi groups particularly those linked to al-Qaeda.



    British troops in Basra are almost powerless as their previous military tactics to retake control of the city have all but backfired.



    Attacks on British troops have increased significantly recently. Roadside bombs target British armored convoys and their barracks come under frequent mortar attacks.



    The sources said Basra was in the midst of “huge chaos” with the political factions and their militias dividing the city into zones of influence.



    Senior Iraqi officials, refusing to be named, said Maliki was concerned about latest developments in Basra and other southern cities.



    The decline of government control in these areas comes as Iraqi and U.S. troops are engaged in fierce fighting with Sunni resistance and armed groups across the central part of the country.



    The officials said Maliki intends to deploy two army battalions and a commando police force in the city to strengthen the provincial government there.



    But according to intelligence reports it will take a much bigger force to take on the heavily armed militias in the city.



    Control of border points is no longer under the control of government troops and so are the city ports through which a sizeable portion of the country’s imports comes.



    The Oil Ministry’s supervision and administration of oil fields, terminals and a major refinery is only symbolic with militias in actual control of Basra’s oil industry.


    Wanna bet the idiots in charge feign surprise when this one bites them in the ass, like they acted like they were, when the civil war exploded.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Hanesbrands Inc. announced Wednesday it will cut 5,300 jobs and close nine sewing and assembly operations in five countries.

    The underwear and apparel maker will close plants affecting nearly 5,000 employees in Canada, the United States, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico as it moves production to lower-cost operations in Asia and Central America. Another 350 management and administration positions also will be cut, mostly in the United States.

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  77. BAGHDAD — A bomb in a parked pickup truck exploded at a crowded bus station here this morning, killing at least 22 people and injuring 35 in the Bayaa neighborhood.

    About 40 buses were still on fire an hour after the attack.

    Elsewhere, several mortar rounds struck the large wholesale Shorja market, killing at least two people and injuring 14.

    "Surge on"

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  78. BAGHDAD - Twenty beheaded bodies were discovered Thursday on the banks of the Tigris River southeast of Baghdad, while a parked car bomb killed another 20 people in one of the capital’s busy outdoor bus stations, police said.

    The beheaded remains were found in the Sunni Muslim village of Um al-Abeed, near the city of Salman Pak, which lies 14 miles southeast of Baghdad.
    AP:

    The bodies — all men aged 20 to 40 years old — had their hands and legs bound, and some of the heads were found next to the bodies, two officers said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

    Party at the White House mtoday.

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  79. AP:

    The economy limped ahead at just a 0.7 percent pace in the first quarter, the slowest in more than four years, as some businesses clamped down on spending given uncertainties about the severity of the housing slump.

    More of the Bush economy.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Reuters:

    A car bomb killed 25 people and wounded 40 in the Shiite district of Bayaa in Baghdad today, while the casualty count in an attack Wednesday in the capital’s Shiite Kadhimiya neighborhood rose to 10 dead and 17 wounded.

    In the Southern City of Basra, a roadside bomb killed three British soldiers and wounded another today.

    "Surge on Bush"

    ReplyDelete
  81. Reuters:

    Oil rose towards $71 a barrel on Thursday after a surprisingly steep decline in U.S. gasoline stocks revived supply worries during the height of the summer driving season.

    Good news for Bush and Exxon.

    ReplyDelete
  82. When John Kerry didn't respond to the swift boat crowd quickly, we admonished him for not speaking up as fast as he should have. We said he shouldn't have taken the high road but should have defended himself.

    Using that example, perhaps we should not try to take the high road with ann and instead speak up now and loud.

    ReplyDelete
  83. BARTLEBEE said...
    Well, I was speaking metaphorically.


    That's no way to defeat a monster!

    ReplyDelete
  84. Mike, Coulter was prepared for Edwards. She was told by the producers before the show that Edwards would be calling in. She OK'ed it - even though I don't know why they even care whether she agreed to it or not - so it was expected. I think her hair pull was her version of bitting the bullet while undergoing surgery without anesthesia.

    ReplyDelete
  85. The Official George W. Bush
    "Days Left In Office"
    Countdown:

    571 DAYS
    9 Hrs 48 Min 04.5 Sec

    Are we about there yet!

    ReplyDelete
  86. AP:

    The White House, moving toward a constitutional showdown with Congress, asserted executive privilege Thursday and rejected lawmakers' demands for documents that could shed light on the firings of federal prosecutors.

    President Bush's attorney told Congress the White House would not turn over subpoenaed documents for former presidential counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor.

    Those honest moral Republicans.

    ReplyDelete
  87. GQ:

    Let's talk about the war. You've been the White House communications czar ever since the run-up. Where do you feel like there was a failure to communicate?
    There was never a more benign incident that turned into a bigger messaging problem than "Mission Accomplished." It set the wrong tone for what became a protracted, difficult mission. If there was ever a do-over, that would be it.

    Sounds like the thousands of deaths and injuries are okay, it was that banner that hurt Bush!

    ReplyDelete
  88. Those moral Republicans must not have a problem with Coulter's hate and trampyness, since they remain silent, and schedule her at all their events.

    ReplyDelete
  89. Puting all that pettiness aside ......

    whats her home address ?

    (wink)

    ReplyDelete
  90. ABC News:

    Republican presidential candidate former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., has angered animal rights activists for strapping his dog to the roof of his car on a family trip from Boston to Ontario, Canada.

    According to the Boston Globe, in one of the family's 12-hour drives to their family's cottage in Canada over 25 years ago, Romney strapped a dog carrier to the roof of the car for the whole trip -- with the family Irish setter, Seamus, inside.

    Romney fits in perfectly with the Republican elite. He loves torture, so he tortures the family dog, until he can start a war of his own.

    ReplyDelete
  91. AP:

    Despite low approval ratings and hard feelings from last year's elections, Democrats and Republicans in the House are reaching out for an approximately $4,400 pay raise that would increase their salaries to almost $170,000.

    No impeachment, the war still rages on, Employee Free Choice Act defeated: Why do they deserve a raise???

    The cost-of-living raise endorsed Wednesday evening gets lawmakers back on track for automatic pay raises after a fight between the parties last year and again in January killed the pay increase due this year. That was the first interruption of the annual congressional pay boost in seven years.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Are there enough votes to impeach either Cheney or Bush? Is it eve a possibility?

    ReplyDelete
  93. Are there enough votes to impeach either Cheney or Bush? Is it eve a possibility?

    No, the reublicans can't piss off the 20% of ther American sheeple which is their base, who think Saddam was the cause of 9-11 and the WMD's are in Syria.

    Knowing that the democrats can't afford a fight right now about impeachment knowing the fight which is coming in Sept when the surge report card is due, and the re-pubies will be trying for another "friedman unit" in Iraq.... something they have done since the insurgency began in 2004.

    This sept is the best chance the democrats have to force the reichwing idiots to step up and end the war before Bush leaves in a year and a half.

    ReplyDelete
  94. "28301-016"

    He's not ready for prison; but prison's ready for him. Scooter Libby gets an inmate number.

    -- Paul Kiel

    ReplyDelete
  95. Today Congress decided they needed a raise for the following things:

    1. Allowing Bush and Cheney to remain in power.

    2. Allowing the war to continue.

    3. Leaving Katrina victims homeless and alone.

    4 Refusing to pass the right for workers to join a union without fear of reprisal.

    Does Congress deserve the hefty salary they already receive, much less than a raise?

    ReplyDelete
  96. Reuters:

    U.S. President George W. Bush made plain his feelings about Fidel Castro on Thursday -- wishing the Cuban leader would disappear.

    "One day the good Lord will take Fidel Castro away," Bush said in answer to a question after a speech at the Naval War College.

    That is true and one day the Good Lord will also remove you Mr. Bush!

    ReplyDelete
  97. USA Today:

    Elizabeth Edwards denied criticisms that her highly publicized on-air confrontation with conservative firebrand Ann Coulter was a calculated move designed to raise money for her husband’s presidential campaign.

    “I hope I was provoking people across the country to speak out when they hear this kind of hate language,” Edwards told TODAY’s David Gregory. “It made a difference in the South when racist language used to be the way that everyone spoke.

    “But then when decent people spoke out and said, ‘We don’t want to hear that anymore,’ it changed. And now racist language is not a part of civil dialogue in the South,” she went on. “We can accomplish the same thing, but only if people across the country speak out. I hope I was giving them a permission slip to do that.”

    ReplyDelete
  98. McClatchy Newspapers:

    WASHINGTON -- After spending $19 billion to train and equip 346,500 Iraqi security forces, the Pentagon doesn't know how many of them are on the job or whether their weapons have been stolen or turned against American forces, according to a bipartisan congressional report that was released Wednesday.

    It found that Iraqi security forces aren't ready to take full responsibility for their country's security and the central government of Iraq isn't capable of funding and guiding them. It demands that the Pentagon do a better job of accounting for the Iraqis it's trained and equipped.

    More stolen taxpayer dollars in the pouches of Bush.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Today Congress decided they needed a raise for the following things:

    1. Allowing Bush and Cheney to remain in power.

    2. Allowing the war to continue.

    3. Leaving Katrina victims homeless and alone.

    4 Refusing to pass the right for workers to join a union without fear of reprisal.

    Does Congress deserve the hefty salary they already receive, much less than a raise?

    ReplyDelete
  100. Hi Lydia and Guys!

    Yes, prison awaits Scooter! He will be one of the boys serving for this administration. Maybe he will be with Ney, Abramoff, or one of those guys?!

    ReplyDelete
  101. Personally, I think if Libby doesnt get the pardon, he'll spill the full beans on Cheney in exchange for probation or something.

    ReplyDelete
  102. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  103. I think that is why Fitz wants Scooter in prison NOW, so he can put the pressure on him to get to Cheney..

    ReplyDelete
  104. Suzie-Q said...
    I think that is why Fitz wants Scooter in prison NOW, so he can put the pressure on him to get to Cheney.."

    I'm sure that is Fitz intention but it will likely be moot anyway............Bush is so arrogant he doesnt care......he';ll just pardon Libby!

    ReplyDelete
  105. Libby will probably never use his prison number.

    ReplyDelete
  106. I predict the best news that will come out this Summer is Cheney will be GONE!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  107. I think you are wrong. Cheney will never leave his power, neither will Condi or Rove.

    ReplyDelete
  108. I think Rove will force him out to anoit fred Thompson

    ReplyDelete
  109. I don't. I think Cheney and Rove are so wrapped up in corruption, they will never leave.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Cheney is supposed to have surgery this Summer........Bush and Rove could force him out and still allow him to save face.

    course that would be an act of appeasement to help them last till 2009..........but we all KNOW what hippocrites the repugs are.

    ReplyDelete
  111. Bush and Cheney are in crime together, do you think Bush will force Cheney out, the one who can bring him down.

    ReplyDelete
  112. There's no Loyalty or honor among thieves Larry.............Power is ALL these megalomaniacs care about its the air they breathe..........they KNOW Cheney is a lame duck that will probably NEVER serve in a governmental roll ever again........if they can allow Cheney to save face by resigning for health issues it could help save the repugs chances to cling to power in 2008........they could portray Thompson as a New direction and fresh face that NOW has VP experience..........while at the same timesubtlely blaming Cheney (who will no longer be there) as the reason for all that has gone wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  113. Why would they risk dumping on Cheney, when he could turn on them and make a deal with the prosecution.

    ReplyDelete
  114. Larry said...
    Why would they risk dumping on Cheney, when he could turn on them and make a deal with the prosecution."

    It wont play out that way..........Bush will pardon him and get on the bully pulpit saying how sick he is and partisamn attacks are dispicable.......you know the old hippocritical I can do it but you cant......they will spin any investigations of Cheney as a partisan attack on a poor sick loyal public servant whose health is failing then he will pardon him...........while leaking intell to discredit and blame Cheney for all that has gone wrong at the same time.

    Cheney wont have to worry about turning on Bush or going to jail he will be pardoned as soon as the ink on the charges is dry!

    ReplyDelete
  115. Bush will never dump Cheney, Rove or Condi. Thieves at the top are afraid to turn on each other, because of the consequences.

    ReplyDelete
  116. Morning Edition, June 27, 2007 · In Iraq people die every day from acts of violence: a roadside bomb, a suicide attack, a sectarian assassination. Though it's hard to lose a loved one no matter what, in this kind of world it's considered a divine gift when someone dies a natural death.


    That's sad.

    ReplyDelete
  117. There will be a push to impeach Cheney for spitting on the checks and balance and oversight...........and if there isnt then Democracy is dead and we have a bigger problem!

    ReplyDelete
  118. Unless these fools are stupidewr4 than we even thought........they have to KNOW they are losing thats why I think Bush will try to cut off the head of the impeachment proceedings by throwing the Dems a little red meat and trying to appease them by getting rid of Cheney!

    ReplyDelete
  119. The Democrats have no spine to take Bush or Cheney on. The war vote proved that.

    ReplyDelete
  120. Maybe he will throw Gonzo to the dogs, but not his co-conspirator.

    ReplyDelete
  121. I dont think he'll throw Gonzo to the wolves.......i think he'll fight tooth and nail to protect Gonzo because he is holding the whole house of cards together...........see Gonzo is in charge of appointing special prosectutors and enforcing Congressional Subpoenas.........if he refuses to do these or stalls then Bush is homefree to make it to 2009........if Gonzo goes down then it will be like what happened to Nixon a special prosecutor will get appointed and the Congressional subpoenas...........you know the ones Bush et al ignored today would get enforced and the house of cards would crumble.

    But the Time fram is short if Bush can survive to January when the election cycle gets in full gear he will most likely be homefree!

    ReplyDelete
  122. If anything Cheney will bring Bush down, since Cheney runs/ruins the government anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  123. "we are interested in understanding the enemy in order to solve problems"

    That is the competent way of approaching problems - however complicated they may be.

    Patience, resolve, determination, dialogue and courage: the hallmarks of human competence.

    I wish we'd have more competence out there ...

    ReplyDelete
  124. Mentarch:

    Good point, and if we did have more competence out there, we wouldn't have the mess today.

    ReplyDelete
  125. Houston we might have a problem;

    IEA: without Iraqi oil, we'll be in deep trouble by 2015

    If Iraqi production does not rise exponentially by 2015, we have a very big problem, even if Saudi Arabia fulfills all its promises. The numbers are very simple, there's no need to be an expert

    Within 5 to 10 years, non-OPEP production will reach a peak and begin to decline, as reserves run out. There are new proofs of that fact every day. At the same we'll see the peak of China's economic growth. The two events will coincide: the explosion of Chinese growth, and the fall in non-OPEP oil production. Will the oil world manage to face that twin shock is an open question.

    While none of these facts should be surprising to my regular readers, it's quite something else to see them explicitly stated by one of the top officials of one of the major energy watchdogs of the Western world.

    The only question left is - will our governments listen, now?


    The IEA is the International Energy Agency (i.e. the intergovernmental body created after the oil shocks of the 70s to coordinate the West's reaction to energy crises)

    The IEA is dedicated to preventing disruptions in the supply of oil, as well as acting as an information source on statistics about the international oil market and other energy sectors. They have a secondary role in promoting and developing alternate energy sources, rational energy policies, and multinational energy technology co-operation.

    from wiki about the IEA

    So if the mouth pieces of the western Oil Companies is starting to ramp up with out Iraqi oil coming on line rather soon we might not have enough oil to go around, it looks like Georgie's illegal war is really going to cause problems for a hell of a lot of people besides the Iraqis and american troops who have to fight there.

    ReplyDelete
  126. I guess he might know why the price of crude is still going up everywhere;

    Brent Blend 73.0
    Tapis 74.42
    Alaska North Slope 71.33
    Dubai 1M 66.07
    Louisiana Sweet 73.86
    Urals 71.9
    WTI 69.58
    Oman 1M 67.01
    Minas 71.12
    Forties 72.8
    Bonny Light 74.4

    This list is the price of different benchmarks for oil around the world.

    Everyone except for Oman and Dubai is above 70 dollars a barrel with West Texas Intermediate being the price usually spouted by the MSM but with the back up at Cushing Oklohoma since quite a few refineries are not able to run at full capacity, this is skewing their price lower, like the damage done by Cyclone Gonu did to both Oman and Dubai.

    It looks like if anything happens here in regards to our hurricane season we could easily see oil going near 100 dollars a barrel and gas climbing close to five dollars a gallon.

    Enjoy this summer and early fall.

    ReplyDelete
  127. I dont think he'll throw Gonzo to the wolves.......i think he'll fight tooth and nail to protect Gonzo because he is holding the whole house of cards together

    This is exactly right. No way are they going to let Electrode Al go to the wolves. He'll have a "fatal heart attack" before that occurs.

    ReplyDelete
  128. UNMOVIC's Final Report - 1,160 Pages

    UN Inspectors' Report's de Facto Summary: We were Right, War was Wrong


    On the eve of its belated decommissioning, the Iraq-focused team of UN weapons' inspectors, UNMOVIC, today released an exhaustive report on the unit's successes, failures, and lessons learned.

    Two key graphs from the so-called "Compendium":

    "Despite some skepticism from many areas within the international community, in hindsight, it has now become clear that the U.N. inspection system in Iraq was indeed successful to a large degree, in fulfilling its disarmament and monitoring obligations."

    "The UN's verification experience in Iraq also illustrates that in-country verification, especially on-site inspections, generate more timely and accurate information than other outside sources such as national assessments."


    You can read the entire 1,160-page report here.

    ReplyDelete
  129. In essence they are saying Bush and Cheney lied but we all already knew that one.

    ReplyDelete
  130. Since the "surge" idea was hatched and begun by the Bush administration, the deaths of US soldiers have only gotten worse, MUCH worse, we have had three months with the deaths of US soldiers over 100 personnel, sons and daughters mothers and fathers brothers and sisters who are never coming home to their friends or loved ones again.

    Here are the statistics as of 29 June 2007;

    6-2007 100 deaths

    5-2007 126 deaths

    4-2007 104 deaths

    3-2007 81 deaths

    2-2007 80 deaths

    1-2007 83 deaths

    With a total of 3577 US soldiers bring killed in Iraq for the neo-cons and Bush's ego and 25830 wounded since Bush illegally invaded Iraq based on ther lies he and Cheney and Rumsfeld cooked up and told.

    29407 people who were needlessly killed or wounded because some people thought they could LIE and steal a country from it's people.

    And they call themselves christians?

    Please, Jesus decried things like this.

    Lies and killing for greed are both sins even when Bush or Cheney do them.

    No matter how much the id-jet reichwing spin-meisters screech or howl about their being deities of amerika.......

    Heck of a job georgie

    ReplyDelete
  131. Reuters:

    Five American soldiers were killed and seven wounded in a coordinated attack in southern Baghdad involving a roadside bomb and rocket-propelled grenades, the U.S. military announced Friday.

    Five American soldiers were killed seven wounded in a coordinated attack in southern Baghdad.

    Party time for the Bush White House.

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  132. General Motors Corp. on Thursday said it has agreed to sell its Allison Transmission unit for $5.6 billion to a pair of private- equity firms, extending the auto maker's fundraising drive and its push to focus on improving core automotive operations.

    The Detroit auto maker said in a press release it has struck a preliminary agreement with Carlyle Group LP of New York and Canadian investment firm Onex Corp. (OCX.T), marking the latest in a string of large private-equity deals in the beleaguered U.S. auto industry. Carlyle and Onex beat out Centerbridge Capital Partners among other bidders for Allison, a highly profitable unit that specializes in building transmissions for GM's heavier trucks but also sells products to other customers.

    The Carlyle Group owning a legendary company will make the Bush elite happy, and the workers in peril.

    ReplyDelete
  133. In Wow they have a name for girls like ann ......

    succubus

    now when can I meet her

    please please please !!

    ReplyDelete
  134. And now today in London we have the "potentially viable explosive device" Are you shakin' in your boots with fear yet?

    If we live in constant fear, wouldn't that mean the terrorists are winning?

    ReplyDelete
  135. Gullwing Radial said...
    In Wow they have a name for girls like ann ......

    succubus


    I wouldn't let her suck a bike, much less a bus...

    ReplyDelete
  136. Lydia Cornell said...
    Are there enough votes to impeach either Cheney or Bush? Is it eve a possibility?


    No, not so long as Bush runs out the clock. That's why he's thrown up roadblocks to subpoenas and such.

    If only in 2002 the Dems had run a halfway decent campaign and taken back the Congress then...

    ReplyDelete
  137. BARTLEBEE said...
    Lydia Cornell said.

    We have to marginalize her the way they did to Michael Moore.

    --

    With due respect I disagree. I think instead of trying to marinalize the oppositions speakers, we need to focus on getting ours out there.

    When the public sees the right wing on the news, they're busy getting their message out.

    When the public sees the left wing on the news, we're always crying about something the right wing said about us.

    Which is why we look like wimps.

    We need to stop dancing to their piano tune, and start making our own music.

    GOOD POINT BARTLEBEE!!

    ReplyDelete
  138. Hey Gullwing/Moo Moo get a life you pathetic loser................no one wants to listen to your ignorant BS so why dont you go play in traffic or something!

    ReplyDelete
  139. The Supreme Court just ruled that Colusion is ok and this clown wants to talk baby talk gibberish.................Bush has stacked and rigged the courts as he has every fascet of government and the effects of his treasonous and ignorant policies will be felt for decades.

    ReplyDelete
  140. Lydia,

    I'm on the fence regarding your view, altho I commend you for having the courage, in the face of the terrible cyberabuse Coulter put you through, for sticking with this instead of collapsing into "silence them all!"

    Coulter is the equivalent of shouting "fire!" in a crowded movie theatre: people get hurt by her exercise of free speech (exorcise?). Free speech should carry the responsibility of civility.

    Ann herself demands that in her "concerts", having hired goons and thugs take out protestors and questioners. For me that draws a clear line that she should be excised from the national dialogue.

    ReplyDelete
  141. pissed off patricia said...
    And now today in London we have the "potentially viable explosive device"


    Yes, I wrote about the Spice Girls reunion at my blog...

    ReplyDelete
  142. Mentarch - thank you for your comment. Agreed.

    Carl, I agree with you. But how do we get the MSM to stop "enabling" Coulter?

    Chris Matthews said "Ann Coulter is a beautiful writer, her writing is beautiful."

    Gag me.

    (I admit her writing is witty, but "beautiful?"

    ReplyDelete
  143. Her obituary would be beautiful writing (that was NOT nice - shame on me)

    ReplyDelete
  144. pissed off patricia said...

    If we live in constant fear, wouldn't that mean the terrorists are winning?


    Yes Patricia, it does. In fact, I may be one of the only people in America who rememeber this, but right after 911, the CIA released a tape of Bin Laden, where he said that Americans will "choke on their own fear and the freedoms the so loudly proclaim will be taken from them by their own hands, for their fear".

    He also indicated that he was "patient", and that "his time table is not our timetable. The CIA estimated at the time that his time table was somewhere around 6 to 9 years.

    They quickly stopped playing that tape, and I have never seen it since, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

    ReplyDelete
  145. pissed off patricia said...
    And now today in London we have the "potentially viable explosive device" Are you shakin' in your boots with fear yet?


    And did you also notice that these foiled "terrorist" attacks just happen to coincide with the senate subpoena's to the White House which yesterday was the top of the headlines.

    Today, its at third place, and the terrorist plots are at number one.

    Imagine that.

    ReplyDelete
  146. Hi Lydia!

    How are you?

    Who is on your show tomorrow?

    ReplyDelete
  147. This is it. This is the showdown we all feared, and hoped for, between the Congress and the White House. There have been other such confrontations between congress and the White House, but they've never made it to court.

    What I fear however, is the White House wants this showdown, because knowing how the Federal courts and the Supreme Court is stacked, its possible that this might wind up with a resulting precedent giving the president new and kinglike powers.

    If it ends up at the Supreme Court, the president could end up with more power than ever, changing forever the very nature of our 3 tiered system of government.

    ReplyDelete
  148. BARTLEBEE said...
    This is it. This is the showdown we all feared, and hoped for, between the Congress and the White House. There have been other such confrontations between congress and the White House, but they've never made it to court.

    What I fear however, is the White House wants this showdown, because knowing how the Federal courts and the Supreme Court is stacked, its possible that this might wind up with a resulting precedent giving the president new and kinglike powers.

    If it ends up at the Supreme Court, the president could end up with more power than ever, changing forever the very nature of our 3 tiered system of government."


    yeah thats basically what I said before Bush has tried to infiltrate every facet of our government with blindly loyal goosestepping partisan fascists loyal to him.

    His actions both in foreign policy and stacking the courts will be felt for decades...........look at the recent rulings being over turned by Bush's Supreme court......they essentially declared that colllusion is ok today.

    I fear Bush wants this controntation as well........but that doesnt mean we should waver or back down Congress NEEDs to confront this dictator........we have a Constitutional Crisis!

    ReplyDelete
  149. BARTLEBEE said...
    and did you also notice that these foiled "terrorist" attacks just happen to coincide with the senate subpoena's to the White House which yesterday was the top of the headlines.

    Today, its at third place, and the terrorist plots are at number one.

    Imagine that."


    That ALWAYS happens whenever any news comes out that is unfavorable to the Neo Con fascists.

    Cheney should be impeached and removed from office for what he did but so far not so much as a peep from congress they should be shouting this FOOL down from the rooftops............its like they are afraid of the idiot!

    ReplyDelete
  150. Looks like Freddy Kruege...er I mean Thompson needs some work;

    Ouch.

    McClatchy reports from NH ...

    When Fred Thompson made his debut on the presidential stage here this week, he left some Republicans thinking he needs more work before his nascent campaign matches the media hype it's gotten in advance.

    The former Tennessee senator with the baritone drawl showed up Thursday in New Hampshire, the site of the first primary voting, and gave a speech that lasted only nine minutes, skipping over hot-button issues such as Iraq and immigration to invoke platitudes about freedom and strength.


    Really, I can't say I'm surprised. It's not that I think Thompson is such a disaster. It's just that it's not at all clear why he should be more than a mid-tier GOP presidential contender, at best. It is only Republican desperation that has spun him into some sort of dream candidate.

    Just ain't so.

    -- Josh Marshall

    ReplyDelete
  151. Will Ambassador Crocker Undercut Petraeus -- And Give Antiwar Movement Big Boost -- Come September?

    By Spencer Ackerman

    As people in Washington have been saying for weeks now, the whole town is waiting with bated breath for September's Iraq-war progress report from General David Petraeus. Depending on what it says, that report will either serve as a short-term bulwark against Democratic calls for withdrawal or will make withdrawal a politically unstoppable force.

    But it may be that an accompanying assessment of Iraq's political scene, to be delivered by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, will actually prove to be the more significant one -- in a way that could give a crucial political boost to the antiwar cause.

    Here's why: Some recent comments Crocker made to a reporter that have gone almost entirely unnoticed suggest that he is on the verge of concluding in his report that the Iraqi political scene is flatlining and that there's really no hope for political reconciliation. And if he does say this come September, it would likely undercut Petraeus's expected plea for more time to prosecute the surge. It would also give antiwar critics much more ammo to pressure wavering Republicans in Congress into abandoning Bush and the war.

    *************************************

    The evidence that Crocker may say as much in his report can be found buried in Joe Klein's recent article in Time magazine about Iraq.

    When Klein met up with Crocker in Iraq, he found the Ambassador in something of a frustrated mood, thanks to Maliki:

    The Iraqi government is irresolute to the point of near collapse. It is nowhere near to figuring out how to make a political deal amongst the contending parties that might lead to stability. "All this attention on benchmarks has actually been bad for the process," Ambassador Crocker says. "We've wasted so much time and energy on getting a hydrocarbon law" — that is, a law to divide oil profits amongst the ethnic and religious parties, likely to be approved soon — "but it has very little to do with getting a functioning government in place." The truth is, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government is puttering along, happily dependent on the U.S. "There are no consequences for them when they screw up," Crocker says. "Whatever's wrong, we take care of it."

    Recall that Crocker's predecessor, Zalmay Khalilzad, lauded the hydrocarbon law -- which doesn't solve the problem of oil-revenue distribution -- as a "significant achievement for Iraqis' national reconciliation." For Crocker to say, publicly, that the hydrocarbon law is a waste because the Maliki government is too dysfunctional is a huge admission. Not only does the Bush administration lose a favorite good-news talking point, but Crocker is showing the back of his hand to the government he has to interact with every day.

    What's more, Crocker's denouncement of the so-called "benchmarks" announced by President Bush in January is predicated on their toothlessness -- essentially the line of Democratic war critics. If that's a taste of what Crocker will tell Congress in his September report, the antiwar faction in congress will be very pleased.

    Crocker is not used to being listened to by the press or by Maliki, and indeed, it can't be much fun to be the chief diplomat in Baghdad. You wake up in the morning and things explode around you in the Green Zone. You spend your day haggling with recalcitrant Iraqi politicians and fending off briefing requests from panicked officials at the White House. And even though you're only the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, charged with delivering your own progress report to Congress in September on the political aspects of the surge, the only one reporters dropping into Baghdad want to interview is Petraeus, Petraeus, Petraeus.

    But if come September his report is anything like his comment to Klein, he suddenly might find himself with a far larger audience than he ever thought possible.

    **************************************

    If I remember right a US Ambassaodor out ranks a four star general, especially when it comes to the pronouncements they make.

    Looks like another republican wants off the bus but not under the tires.......

    ReplyDelete
  152. Lydia Cornell said...
    Carl, I agree with you. But how do we get the MSM to stop "enabling" Coulter?


    Start boycotting the advertisers.

    ReplyDelete
  153. The fiasco in Iraq is revealing how badly the army's officer corps are becoming overworked, torn down and disillusioned, which is NOT a good thing if they are who you are going to depend on to lead troops intop battle in Bush's never ending war senario.

    Critiques of Iraq War Reveal Rifts Among Army Officers

    Colonel's Essay Draws
    Rebuttal From General;
    Captains Losing Faith


    Last December, Lt. Col. Paul Yingling attended a Purple Heart ceremony for soldiers injured in Iraq. As he watched the wounded troops collect their medals, the 41-year-old officer reflected on his two combat tours in Iraq.

    He was frustrated at how slowly the Army had adjusted to the demands of guerrilla war, and ashamed he hadn't done more to push for change. By the end of the ceremony, he says, he could barely look the wounded troops in the eyes. Col. Yingling just had been chosen to lead a 540-soldier battalion. "I can't command like this," he recalls thinking.
    DEBATING IRAQ

    • The Situation: Officers' critiques of U.S. failures in Iraq are roiling the military.
    • The Background: Conflicting explanations for what's gone wrong reflect divisions between younger officers and more conservative generals.
    • The Bottom Line: The debate could shape how the Army looks going forward and sow mistrust in the ranks.

    He poured his thoughts into a blistering critique of the Army brass, "A Failure in Generalship," published last month in Armed Forces Journal, a nongovernment publication. "America's generals have been checked by a form of war that they did not prepare for and do not understand," his piece argued. (Read the article.)

    (snip)

    The controversy over Col. Yingling's essay is part of a broader debate within the military over why the Army has struggled in Iraq, what it should look like going forward, and how it should be led. It's a fight being hashed out in the form of what one Pentagon official calls "failure narratives." Some of these explanations for the military's struggles in Iraq come through official channels. Others, like Col. Yingling's, are unofficial and show up in military journals and books.

    (snip)

    The conflicting explanations for the Army's struggles in Iraq could also breed mistrust in the ranks. Many young officers are frustrated and exhausted by four years of war and don't understand why their small victories in the field aren't adding up to a safer and more stable Iraq.

    "There is enormous pride among young officers in their units and in each other," says Lt. Col. Peter Kilner, who recently returned from two months in Iraq interviewing young Army officers for a research project. "But I see strong evidence that they are rapidly losing faith in the Army and the country's political leadership."

    In his controversial essay, Col. Yingling pinned much of the Army's failings in Iraq on generals who he says didn't prepare for guerrilla fights in the decade prior to the war, and then didn't adjust as quickly as front-line troops. Young officers had to adapt to survive, he wrote. The generals, products of a system that encouraged conformity and discouraged risk takers, were often a step behind the enemy, he said. "It is unreasonable to expect that an officer who spends 25 years conforming to institutional expectations will emerge as an innovator," he wrote. The solution, he said, is to change the way the Army selects and promotes generals, taking into account reviews by subordinates.

    (snip)

    At Fort Hood, Maj. Gen. Jeff Hammond, the top general at the sprawling base, summoned all of the captains to hear his response to Col. Yingling's critique. About 200 officers in their mid- to late-20s, most of them Iraq veterans, filled the pews and lined the walls of the base chapel. "I believe in our generals. They are dedicated, selfless servants," Gen. Hammond recalls saying. The 51-year-old officer told the young captains that Col. Yingling wasn't competent to judge generals because he had never been one. "He has never worn the shoes of a general," Gen. Hammond recalls saying.

    The captains' reactions highlighted the growing gap between some junior officers and the generals. "If we are not qualified to judge, who is?" says one Iraq veteran who was at the meeting. Another officer in attendance says that he and his colleagues didn't want to hear a defense of the Army's senior officers. "We want someone at higher levels to take accountability for what went wrong in Iraq," he says.

    (snip)

    The right failure narrative, voiced by the top brass and backed up by concrete action, could help rekindle the faith of young officers, who are leaving the service at a worrisome rate. Late last month, Col. J.B. Burton, who commands a 7,000-soldier brigade in Baghdad, warned in a memo to the Army's top generals of a looming crisis in the junior officer corps. Today's officers "have spent the past four years in a continuous cycle of fighting, training, deploying, fighting etc. ...and they see no end in sight. They have seen their closest friends killed and maimed, leaving young spouses and children as widows and single parent kids," he wrote. (Read the memo.)

    Heck of a job as "the commander guy" Georgie......

    ReplyDelete
  154. BTW things just might heat up near Iran soon;

    Enterprise Joins Fleet Near Iran Friday

    A third US carrier, the nuclear-powered USS Enterprise Strike Group is speeding towards the Persian Gulf

    The USS Enterprise CVN 65-Big E Strike Group, the US Navy’s largest air carrier, will join the USS Stennis and the USS Nimitz carriers, building up the largest sea, air, marine concentration the United States has ever deployed opposite Iran. This goes towards making good on the assurances of four carriers US Vice President Dick Cheney offered the Gulf and Middle East nations during his May tour of the region. Washington is considering deploying the fourth US carrier for the region in the Red Sea opposite Saudi Arabian western coast to secure the three US carriers in the Gulf from the rear as well as the Gulf of Aqaba and Suez Canal.

    **********************************

    Four carrier task forces is a hell of a lot of fire power, niot to mention quite a good number of US Marines in their Amphibious Assault groups.

    I wonder what sneeky tricks ole dead eye has planned this time?

    ReplyDelete
  155. Clif,

    Col. Yingling brews a fine beer, too!

    ReplyDelete
  156. The show today was hilarious. Had a big fight with a right-wing caller about Ann Coulter and Bill Maher.

    You be the judge: was what Bill Maher said about Cheney, even CLOSE to what Ann Coulter said about Edwards?

    ReplyDelete
  157. I am re-reading the funniest book ever written:

    "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by Dave Sedaris

    I have literally been laughing so hard I fell off my chair.

    ReplyDelete
  158. I have a new hero and her name is Mika Brzezinski

    ReplyDelete
  159. I agree that the left should stop whining about Coulter, but I also think that if we keep talking about her she will get air time and coverage. I think the only solution is to be saavy on issues right back, only perhaps keep the behavioral upper hand. The "left" need to create dialogue, not always be responding to it on their terms or on the defensive. We have enough to gripe about that is factual. We dont have to call people the f word for attention.

    The media care about profit.
    If you look at top google searches, you see that people ask for stupid news, they search for Paris and Britney and Brangelina. The media will give people what they want which is negativity, and give attention to the most obnoxious, not the smartest.

    ReplyDelete
  160. Lydia Cornell said "Coulter's pathological hatred qualifies her for a mental institution, not the top of the bestseller list. What I'd like to know is how did America get to the point where a sociopath can become a best-selling author? Calling for the killing of a Supreme Court Justice or former president — isn't this criminal intent, and shouldn't this woman be in jail? Ann Coulter is about to blow, and I hope she doesn't own a gun."

    Your absolutely right, Its a sad state our country has reached when a mentally deficient sociopath nutcase like Coulter is deemed an intellectual pundit and best selling author.

    And yes she should be in jail or undergoing psycological evaluation or on the do not fly list because I KNOW if on a nationally televised MS tv or Radio show I called for the assassination of a public official on our Supreme court or a President or Senator I would be arrested and/or put on the do not fly list.........I thought this witch hates double standards and people who are untouchable or unassailanle.........how about SHE gets held accountable for her saying she wants Supreme Court justices or Clinton assassinated.

    ReplyDelete
  161. Lydia Cornell On behalf of Democrats, I will say this: we are interested in understanding the enemy in order to solve problems. This does not make us unpatriotic or treasonous! I believe that once you understand people's motivations, you can enter into diplomacy. “Keep your enemies close” is smart behavior, especially in time of war. I keep getting comments on my blog from people who twist my words and call me a traitor simply because I do not love the bomb.
    said "

    Exactly right understanding your enemies is theonly intelligent course of action.............as for the comments on the blog.........they are from blindly loyal Coulter and Bush worshippers who are so dishonest they often spend an entire day defending Bush and/or Coulter while claiming they dont even like or defend the person.

    ReplyDelete
  162. Baghdad:

    Iraqi civilian deaths in Baghdad dropped significantly in June, a possible indication that recent American military operations around the country and raids on car-bomb shops in the "belts" ringing the capital are starting to pay off.

    But June also marked the end of the bloodiest quarter for U.S. troops since the war began in March 2003.

    Unofficial figures compiled by McClatchy Newspapers' show 189 Iraqis, including police and government security forces, were killed in the capital through Friday, a drop of nearly two thirds since this year's high in February, when 520 were killed. The average monthly death toll of Iraqis in Baghdad was 410 from December through May.

    The trade-off for the decline in civilian deaths in Baghdad may be high U.S. casualties. The Web site icasualties.org tallied 101 U.S. soldiers killed in June, one of the deadliest months in Iraq for American forces. This raised to 330 the number of U.S. troops killed in the last three months.

    Bush's "surge" is really a "surge" in troop deaths.

    ReplyDelete
  163. An Alaska-centric story but it brings up the specter of a growing problem: suicide by veterans after returning from Alaska and Iraq.

    Working off a new study that finds, 'finds male veterans twice as likely to die by suicide as men with no military service -- and even more so if they're physically or mentally impaired' and looking at the fact that Alaska has one of the largest veterans concentrations, officials in the state worry about 'some omnious trends.

    Another result of Bush's war on the world.

    ReplyDelete
  164. Check out the kind words about Lydia and her blog from our friends at Liberally Mirth.

    Mirth had very kind things to say this morning about Lydia and her blog.

    We like Liberally Mirth's blog as well. It has a big following.

    Please check it out at Liberally Mirth

    ReplyDelete
  165. Well it looks like Bush's friends are leaving him;

    Australia plans to withdraw troops from Iraq: report

    Australian Prime Minister John Howard is secretly planning to begin withdrawing Australian troops from Iraq by February 2008, Australian media reported on Sunday.

    The Sunday Telegraph, quoting an unnamed senior military source, described Howard's withdrawal plan as "one of the most closely guarded secrets in top levels of the bureaucracy."

    The Sunday Telegraph said the drawdown of troops would focus on soldiers based in southern Iraq on security duty with Iraqi soldiers.


    While other just can't deal with the situation, and want to leave, (wanna bet Gordon Brown don't play poodle with Bush?)

    The Independent reports that there has been a security meltdown in Basra,

    The only people venturing out are British troops, and three died on the PM's first day. Will Miliband persuade his boss to pull them out?

    The new Prime Minister was never expected to continue Mr Blair's symbiotic relationship with George Bush, but Mr Brown's government appointments removed any doubt. David Miliband, his Foreign Secretary, privately doubted the wisdom of invading Iraq. Sir Mark Malloch Brown, now a Foreign Office minister, made no secret of his view that the Iraq war was almost certainly illegal. And John Denham, who quit the Government in 2003 in protest at the war, is back.

    (snip)

    In one of the most detailed independent reports on Basra since the invasion, the authoritative International Crisis Group (ICG) last week painted a devastating portrait of life in the city. It said Operation Sinbad, Britain's attempt between September 2006 and March this year to root out militias, restore security and kick-start economic reconstruction, appeared at first to be a qualified success. Criminality, political assassinations and sectarian killings receded somewhat, and relative calm prevailed.

    "Yet this reality was both superficial and fleeting," says the ICG report. "By March-April 2007, renewed political tensions once more threatened to destabilise the city, and relentless attacks on British forces in effect had driven them off the streets into increasingly secluded compounds. Basra's residents and militiamen view this not as an orderly withdrawal, but rather as an ignominious defeat. Today the city is controlled by militias."

    The ICG blames Britain for "the most glaring failing of all": the inability to establish a strong provincial administration capable of enforcing its will. Instead of the political parties responsible for the violence being confronted, they were treated as partners - an object lesson, it says, of what the Americans should not do as they carry out their security "surge" in Baghdad.

    (snip)

    That was clear the minute Mr Blair, for once going against American wishes, announced early this year that British forces would be reduced from just over 7,000 to their present 5,500. The bitter irony of last week's attack is that the resupply convoy on which the three soldiers died may well have been the last to Basra Palace, which is due to be handed over to Iraqi forces any day now. That will leave the airport as the only British base in Iraq.

    Military sources believe another 500 troops may come home soon, but that would be the last partial withdrawal: 5,000 is considered the minimum to ensure that the remaining force can protect itself. But what would be the point, many ask, of keeping them in one location, unable to achieve much beyond acting as a magnet for insurgent attacks?


    And of course one of our NATO allies has a few problems with OUR occupation of Iraq and the chaos it is causing them;

    Turkey warns of plans to invade northern Iraq

    · Call for US to move against Kurdish guerrillas
    · PKK behind bombings in Ankara, say authorities


    Turkey has prepared a blueprint for the invasion of northern Iraq and will take action if US or Iraqi forces fail to dislodge the guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from their mountain strongholds across the border, Turkey's foreign minister Abdullah Gul has warned.

    "The military plans have been worked out in the finest detail. The government knows these plans and agrees with them," Mr Gul told Turkey's Radikal newspaper. "If neither the Iraqi government nor the US occupying forces can do this [crush the PKK], we will take our own decision and implement it," Mr Gul said. The foreign minister's uncharacteristically hawkish remarks were seen as a response to pressure from Turkey's generals, who have deployed some 20,000-30,000 troops along the borders with Iraq, and who are itching to move against the rebels they say are slipping across the border to stage attacks inside Turkey.


    The "surge" will do nothing to deal with these three problems, however all three are going to make the situation much worse for Bush and the neo-cons who wanna stay in Iraq for the next 59 years, and make Iraq into some form of south Korea occupation, which of course would never work in any Muslim country.

    Heck of a job commander guy,

    Got that general officer thingy worked out yet?

    Or are the captains still jumping out of the permanent insane situation of 15 months in Iraq with 12 months home training for the next deployment, waiting for their turn on a plane to Landstuhl?

    ReplyDelete
  166. Here's a quote which deserves repeating;

    The GOP: Grand Obstruction Party

    Republicans have been making noise for a couple of weeks about how little the U.S. Senate is allegedly getting done now that Democrats have a scant majority and it's past time to set the record straight. Given their role in intentionally obstructing almost every issue that's come before the 110th Congress, the Senate's GOP leadership criticizing the Upper House's 2007 progress is a bit like Ann Coulter blaming the media for the impression that she's a bile-spewing gargoyle.

    ReplyDelete
  167. Ouch.

    I've just started reading Lynne Olson's new book Troublesome Young Men, which tells the story of the dissident Tory MPs who helped battled Stanley Baldwin's and then Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policies and helped lay the ground for Winston Churchill's crisis rise to the premiership in the summer of 1940.

    Today Olson has a piece in the Outlook section of the Post arguing that for all his self-comparisons, President Bush much more resembles Neville Chamberlain than Churchill. She's certainly on the mark in noting Chamberlain's mix of inexperience in foreign affairs and certainty that he, and only he, was the one who could manage the crisis of Hitlerism.

    The Chamberlain analogy only goes so far. But she's quite good in noting the many ways that Bush is really nothing like Churchill.

    -- Josh Marshall

    ReplyDelete
  168. I'll check out Liberally Mirth...right now!

    ReplyDelete
  169. Lynn@ZelleBlog said...
    I agree that the left should stop whining about Coulter,



    Stop whining and start mocking her.

    ReplyDelete
  170. Oh, thank you LIBERALLY MIRTH and Larry for bringing this to my attention.

    Thank you to all the new commenters.
    Luv
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  171. Since Trashcan Annie becomes the subject of many of her rants..isn't it wise to just say: NO, we won't write about your latest escapade?

    Its hard to deal with her because the MSM does cater to this blowhard so often.

    I fall into the trap of posting about her when its totally outrageous like using the Edwards dead child as fodder...that really got to me, even more than calling him a fag.

    ReplyDelete
  172. Not that I want to demean people with Asperger's Syndrome, as a special educator who works with Asperger teens, I see a lot of similarities between them and Anne Coulter. I posted about this at my weblog a couple of days ago, but one of my friends who comments there thinks maybe it is more a simple case of narcissism. I couldn't agree with him more. With the quality of our nation's political debate already at an all-time low, we don't need more people like Coulter, Hannity, Limbaugh, et al building or at least maintaining strong followings. I would never deny those people their right to speak out. I would just hope that people on the left can put forth persuasive-enough arguments to persuade Americans that those talkers are a bunch of paid stooges who are only there to protect the wealthiest Americans and to help those wealthy Americans keep their power.

    As for Cheney, I find it sad that someone so delusional and corrupt was ever allowed to get as high as he has in the political food-chain. For the question "What's wrong with this picture?" I think the answer must be "Everything". The guy seems to out of touch with everything reality-based, and he seems so wrong on just about everything. Why are so many people in D.C. so afraid of him? It seems like it wouldn't be that hard to take him down in a political/figurative sense. Why is Congress not going its job and helping rid the house of vermin?

    This is a great weblog. Thanks Larry for coming and commenting at my place, as I found this blog through you! I will get this site linked up right away.

    Cliff, re. your comment about casualties being worse in Iraq since the "surge", I have been noticing that to an extent as well. I have one of those little "counters" on my blog, and every time I look at my blog it seems like the number has gone up by several more U.S. troops. It's getting depressing enough that I have considered removing it, but no, if anyone happens to see it, it serves as a reminder that we need to keep up our fight to end the madness.

    ReplyDelete
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