Soldiers Write/Read Letters

There is an interesting vein of letters in Stars and Stripes on neo-conservatives and PNAC. It seems these letters are educating soldiers on the neo-conservative agenda. I don't think they like what they are learning.
It starts with the letter entitled Grim Reminder of the Future. Here is the latter portion...

The PNAC document notes that “the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor.” Or like Sept. 11, which Bush continues to exploit. The 9/11 Commission has determined, however, that Iraq was not responsible for the World Trade Center/Pentagon attacks and that it possessed no weapons of mass destruction.

PNAC predicted America’s “global struggle against violent extremism” could proceed without public interference provided the U.S. casualty rate remains below 30,000 — PNAC’s threshold of public outrage and a grim reminder of what Americans face in Iraq during its next four years of occupation.
Michele Winter
Würzburg, Germany

Then a soldier replies in a letter called Document Is A Must Read.....

In response to “Grim reminder of the future” (letter, Aug. 28), read the Project for a New American Century (a neo-conservative think tank that contains major players in our current administration) report, “Rebuilding America’s Defenses.” It contains a step-by-step blueprint for American policy that the government is now following. It predates the first George Bush presidency, showing that he may only be the public face of an agenda that was already laid out before he took office.

We are duty-bound to defend the republic, but anyone who considers himself a true patriot should read this text.

Alone, the mention of needing a “catastrophic event” to galvanize the nation so they could push their agenda forward is a dark foreshadowing of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It is a must-read, but it may send a chill down your spine, considering the current rhetoric being touted.

Warrant Officer 1 Gerald Kuruc
Baghdad

Then there is a letter in reply "Must Read" Writer A Patriot. Here is the latter portion....

The letter writer is right when he says this is a “must read” because that neo-conservative think tank has laid out the blueprints for our future, if they are to maintain control of our government and resources. They have counted on our collective complacency for years, and it is time to bring these issues to light. [W]e as a people had better start becoming aware of what is really going on in D.C.

To the letter writer: Thank you for giving me hope in the officer corps. I hope that there are many more patriots like you who are not willing to subject themselves to a “group-think” mentality because if the “fit ever hits the shan,” we, the people, will be counting on soldiers like you to defend us from our own draconian government.
Henry Hubbard
Ansbach, Germany

It's unclear if the first and last letter are from soldiers. But this is Stars and Stripes and soldiers do read these letters.

Judy Is Free

To talk tomorrow to the Grand Jury. Not sure what to make of it. I hope a bad deal wasn't made.
Like NeedleNose says may be the case.....

that means if Miller testifies she told Libby about Plame, Fitzgerald can't ask her where she got the information -- so if John Bolton or one of his aides (for example) told her as a way of laundering the leak, everyone could get off the hook ... unless Fitzgerald tries to prosecute Libby, Karl Rove et al. for disseminating the information after Miller passed it along to them.

But Digby gives me hope....

The question is what Fitzgerald got in return for agreeing not to ask Judy about her lovers ..er sources. And don't think he didn't get something in return.
In case anyone's wondering if Fitzgerald is really the tough guy everyone thinks he is, check out this story from last week about the Governor George Ryan trial in Illinois. You'll notice that he flipped Ryans "political son" by arresting his mistress and squeezing her until she convinced him to testify:
To read the rest

Better yet read the Avenging Liberal link pointed out in Digby's update.

Perp Walk for DeLay???

DeLay must appear in Austin, TX to be Booked.
Will the Hammer be fingerprinted and photographed?

DeLay's attorneys were working out the details of when the 11-term congressman would return to Texas in hopes of saving him from further embarrassment, they said.
"What we're trying to avoid is Ronnie Earle having him taken down in handcuffs, and fingerprinted and photographed. That's uncalled for and I don't think that's going to happen," said Dick DeGuerin, DeLay's attorney.

But Earle says the Court will decide how the Bugman is to be arraigned.
I so hope for a perp walk, handcuffs and a bad photo at Smoking Gun....and Delay holding up an Ink Stained Finger only with a different meaning this time.

Nora Ephron On Bloggers on Blogging

Nothing important but some of it is funny

Now Can We Get On With the CIA Leak?

From the BBC:

Eight charged over Star Wars leak:
Eight people have been charged by US authorities with the illegal online release of the final Star Wars film before it appeared in cinemas.

Get This on a DVD for POTUS Please

Ok is anyone really surprised by this?
The Arctic ice cap shrank to the smallest size since taking records. Now what is really bad is that "the change also appears to be headed toward becoming self-sustaining."
And the scientists here agree that the influence of greenhouse gases from human-caused warming is at least an influence with many saying it is the cause.

So we are approaching a point of what appears to be no return even if we do make changes. Perhaps we can mitigate the effects or give ourselves some time but this is very bad news.
Are Americans much less the Bush administration even paying attention?

This is Going To Be A Problem

We'll regret this. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but
soon .....
From the NYT:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 - Republican members of Congress say there are signs that the Defense Department may be carrying out new intelligence activities through programs intended to escape oversight from Congress and the new director of national intelligence.
The warnings are an unusually public signal of some Republican lawmakers' concern about overreaching by the Pentagon, where top officials have been jockeying with the new intelligence chief, John D. Negroponte, for primacy in intelligence operations. The lawmakers said they believed that some intelligence activities, involving possible propaganda efforts and highly technological initiatives, might be masked as so-called special access programs, the details of which are highly classified.
SNIP
Even under the new structure headed by Mr. Negroponte, the Pentagon's activities are widely understood to make up about 80 percent of an annual intelligence budget whose details remain classified but that is widely understood to total about $80 billion a year.
SNIP
In the interview, Rep Hoekstra (R-MI) said the committee had been told that the Pentagon was creating parallel structures "so they don't have to deal with the D.N.I.," the abbreviation for the new intelligence chief.

So much for one central director in control of our intelligence apparatus and the move to sort out the problem of stove-piping of intelligence. We can look forward to more redundancy and I'm sure DoD will not be sharing intelligence from programs they don't even want to admit exist or render to oversight. Then there is the cost. $80 Billion and this is what we get?
Stove Piping?
Redundancy?
No oversight?
Are these not the problems which contributed to 9/11?
Do you feel safer now?

Brownie Asked Bush for Help on Sat Before Katrina Hit

What may have been lost in the coverage of Brownie's defensiveness is that Brownie testified he spoke with Bush on the Saturday prior to Katrina striking to ask for help. Bush knew of the troubles stirring in LA from the start.

To view Video

The Devil Is in the Details....

The devils were everywhere at the Drownie Brownie Hearing...

How did Jeffrey Dahmer

come back as Shays aide?


And that big eyebrowed, smarmy lawyer behind Brownie....



It's a mystery! It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma!

BULLSHIT......

The NYT has an article on the difficulties Katrina victims will face with obtaining bankruptcies given the new law. They start out like this....

When Congress agreed this spring to tighten the bankruptcy laws and crack down on consumers who took on debt irresponsibly, no one had the victims of Hurricane Katrina in mind.

Come on. That they never imagined such a thing is just bullshit. They didn't care about the possible effects on Americans as they were too busy shooting down any and all amendments to this crap piece of legislation to ensure passage for the credit card companies. They knew of the possibilities. They didn't care.

Go read A copy of the Democratic House Judiciary Staff's dissenting views on the bankruptcy bill that was leaked to RAW STORY prior to the bill's passage. It's right there...

While some people abuse the bankruptcy system, more than 90 percent of debtors file for bankruptcy due to unemployment or underemployment, an illness or accident, or divorce. The bulk of the remainder suffered from other legitimate difficulties, including activation for military service, being a victim of crime or natural disasters, or a death in the family ...
SNIP

a. Concerns Regarding the Means Test

It is incorrect to assume that the effect of S. 256’s harmful provisions would be limited to individuals seeking bankruptcy relief who earn more than the state median income.

The definition of “current monthly income” used in the means test measures a debtor’s income based upon how much the debtor earned in the six months prior to bankruptcy. If the debtor lost a good job in month three and has been working at a low-wage job ever since, the income from that good job, and help from family members, would be counted as if that is what his future income would be. The debtor would be expected to pay out of income that may no longer exist. Also, the means test will pick up a variety of revenue sources – such as disaster assistance, and Veterans’ benefits – which will result in lower- and middle-income individuals being cast as bankruptcy “abusers” with income above the median.

What Happened to "Out of the Goodness of Your Heart"?

Let's just get it over with and turn the government over to the churches. From WaPo....

After weeks of prodding by Republican lawmakers and the American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said yesterday that it will use taxpayer money to reimburse churches and other religious organizations that have opened their doors to provide shelter, food and supplies to survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

FEMA officials said it would mark the first time that the government has made large-scale payments to religious groups for helping to cope with a domestic natural disaster.
SNIP
Civil liberties groups called the decision a violation of the traditional boundary between church and state, accusing FEMA of trying to restore its battered reputation by playing to religious conservatives.

Brownie Will Never Last...... Again

My sister called earlier and said she had just heard on the CBS Evening News that Michael Brown had been hired as a consultant by the government to help in finding out what went wrong with the Katrina response.
I laughed and laughed and laughed. I heard her say to her husband, "She's laughing."
And I was. Then she said, "I never heard you laugh like this." It must have been like a slap to the face that brings a hysterical person around. Why was I laughing like this?
I'm not sure....

What else can you do?
If you don't laugh you'll cry?

Only these guys would effectively fire and then re-hire what all of America knows to be an absolute incompetent and think they could get away with it. Their greed knows no bounds. They do not know the meaning of "Enough". I had thought when Brownie was let go that they had to face up to their limits, admit a mistake and take action. Snort...boy was I wrong. What made me think such a thing? It is that after all this time (5 Bush years seems like 10) I am still rooted in and operating in this world with a sense of reason, rationality, fairness and shame when I do wrong and above all with the expectation that our leaders would do the same. Whoa isn't that a hoot?

Maybe Not. At least not on this one. This Brownie story is all over the cable news already. People will be hot about this one by tomorrow. It will not stand. I just can't wait to see how they spin it before they fire him for the second time.
It's the Great Age of Irony it is.

Up Against the Wall....

Mother of a dead Soldier

Cindy Sheehan Arrested

From Yahoo News.....

Sheehan and several dozen other protesters sat down on the sidewalk after marching along the pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue. Police warned them three times that they were breaking the law by failing to move along, then began making arrests.

Cat Blogging: New Carrot Toy

Purchased the carrot toy on a tip from Eschaton reader four legs good. 4LG's Maxx the Lion Kitty loves it and I found so did Teddy........












.

Could He Possibly Look More

Disinterested In His Job......










Or Pouty?

Oh Oh...

From AP:

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., was updated several times about his investments in blind trusts during 2002, the last time two weeks before he publicly denied any knowledge of what was in the accounts, documents show.

Wyoming's FEMA Request Approved While WI is Denied

As in post below Wisconsin learned today that FEMA denied it's emergency disaster aid request for 3 counties hit by 28 tornados causing $47 million in damages. 2 people died, 67 homes were destroyed and 400 were damaged.
Governor Doyle had requested aid on August 25 prior to Katrina. It took 29 days to be told No. WI was informed Friday just one day before the request would have been disallowed.

Now people may say hey there is Katrina and so you just have to sacrifice as others are hurting more. Then how come this happened.......

What makes the situation more frustrating is how fast a similar disaster declaration was made out West in August, before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

According to FEMA reports on its Web site, Bush declared Wright, Wyo., a disaster area on Aug. 22, 10 days after the town of 1,500 people was struck by a tornado. Two people died, 60 homes were destroyed and another 60 damaged in Wright.

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal requested the emergency declaration Aug. 17 and got it from Bush five days later.

So let's compare......

Wisconsin................................Wyoming
28 Tornadoes..................................1 Tornado
67 homes destroyed .......................60 homes destroyed
2 Dead ...........................................2 Dead
Blue state ....................................Red state
Home of Cheeseheads ....................Home of Dick Cheney

The facts regarding each disaster appear to be even. No?
So you have to ask..... was it the last 2 that swung this one.
And in case you didn't catch this...Wyoming's request was expedited quickly while WI 's request took the entire 30 day period allowed. Tomorrow the request would have been disallowed.

FEMA Denies Aid to Tornado Ravaged Area of WI

28 tornadoes touched down in 3 Wisconsin counties on August 18. It was a one day record. Damage was estimated at more than $47 million. One town (Stoughton) south of Madison was particularly devastated. The Governor had requested aid for the disaster area.

However today it was announced that FEMA denied aid......

The Bush administration Friday denied a Wisconsin request for disaster assistance for three counties hit by tornadoes.

"Based on our review of all the information available, it has been determined that the damage was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments," wrote R. David Paulison, acting under secretary at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in a letter to Gov. Jim Doyle.
SNIP
Doyle said he would appeal the decision."I'm dismayed by this decision, having seen firsthand the damage these tornadoes caused," Doyle said in a statement. "While I understand that FEMA's resources are strained, the country shouldn't be in the position of having to choose between victims of one disaster and victims of another."

This is actually quite incredible as it was assumed FEMA would be there as it has in past disasters. American citizens need to realize just how unprotected they are at present and in the future.
It is well past time to demand an end to the Bush tax cuts for the rich.

Some Good News....

Fantastic job. Kudos to the pilots and crew!