Either that or he's brilliant, though I doubt it. He's calling for a reinstatement of the military draft in this country, something that hasn't existed for close to thirty years.

This infuriates me to no end for a lot of reasons. First off, if this administration hadn't bungled Afghanistan and Iraq so badly, there wouldn't be a need to even consider this. As it is, there shouldn't be a need.

Second, Hagel pays lip service to starting up the draft in order to even out the inequity of minorities getting killed overseas, but this is bogus horse-shit, because we all know that the additional draftees would be the children of the unconnected. Or, in other words, lets add poor white trash to the blacks and hispanics that have already died, but leave the rich boys out of it.

But I have a counter proposal for Hagel, and it works like this. If a military draft is reinstated, then every single child between 18 and 26 of a congressman, senator, governor or other elected representative, federally appointed officer or cabinet member, is given 1-A status, and number 1 in the lottery. They all go first. Number 2 in the lottery are the children of any CEO, CFO, Chairman of the Board or other executive officer in any Fortune 500 company. Number 3, the children of any individuals who reported income higher than five million dollars for 2003. Number 4, every child of anyone who works for Halliburton or its affiliates.

There will be no exemptions, no deferments, no excuses. Every one of these children will be in boot camp the morning after the law is passed. And Number 5 will not be drawn until every one of these children is in Iraq and ten percent of them have come back in boxes.

That's how you do an equitable draft. You make the bastards who are making war put their families on the line. You put AK-47s in the hands of Chuck Hagel's children, tell them to kiss daddy good-bye and send them off to die because they don't have proper armor or munitions, because the asshats in this administration launched off into a war that was unnecessary and did so with no exit strategy.

Hell, let's up the stakes. No age limit for the children mentioned above. If they're eighteen or older, they go.

After all, W seems to think god is directing his actions, and didn't god order the death of the firstborn in that fairy-tale upon which they based the movie The Ten Commandments

"If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied. -- Rudyard Kipling, Common Form
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Sorry to post a New York Times link, since it requires that registration bullshit that no one fills out with real info (for now, you can log in with "suckmychoad" as a user name and "motherfuckers" as the password), but this was too good to pass up. Apparently, the 9-11 Commission is going to rake Asscroft over the coals for not being interested enough back in the summer of '01 to go after terrorists.

Hm. Impeachable offenses yet? Here's a man who stopped flying commercial airliners in June 2001, and yet could find nothing more important to do than go after online sellers of glass pipes that may or may not have been used to smoke (gasp) pot. And, in recent days, what has he been up to? Why, protecting America from pornography.

Yeah, that's right -- porn has killed far more people than terrorists.

This Asshat has got to go. The man is not just delusional. He's totally insane. The evidence is here.
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From Catherine Austin Fitts, who was a member of the Bush I administration, a big ol' bitch slap at Condi Rice. Just a taste here:

...You are guilty of criminal gross negligence. If you want to catch a terrorist today, you need look no further than your own mirror...

BTW, Ms. Fitts sent this to the President and Vice President, among others. I'll expect she'll be facing an IRS audit (or worse) soon.
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From Tompaine.com, a Bush I-era CIA operative, and a Republican, provides the not very-flattering to Bush II assessment of the August 6th Presidential Daily Briefing. His opening sentence gives a good idea of his opinion:

"Are George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice really as clueless as they are claiming to be?

(Emphasis in original).
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It hit me the other day, while watching the reports of the chaos in Iraq, that we really are in WW III. Yeah, I know. We all expected that it would involve the US, USSR and China lobbing nukes at each other and that it would be over in thirty minutes. But, given recent events, let's consider...

We have a coalition of mostly Western nations involved in what has now become high-stakes street fighting in a middle eastern nation, but which has polarized the Muslim world against us. And don't discount those numbers. Not only does the "Muslim world" include the middle east, you can add in many nations in Africa; Malaysia and Indonesia; and countless numbers of muslims scattered among every nation of the world.

Not that I think every follower of Islam is going to take up arms against the US, just as I don't think that every Christian is going to take up arms against Muslims. But it's just that the scope of W's folly in Iraq is really so much larger than one small, unimportant desert country. We've already seen Spain's sitting government booted out of office over the conflict. We've seen nations alienated by the unilateral and imperialistic behavior of the US. Hey, by this point in WW II, Hitler had barely managed to annex Poland and Czechloslovakia. The US wasn't even involved, and Neville Chamberlin was "negotiating."

And North Korea is making its usual threats of nuclear war, except that a Pakistani official has now confirmed having seen the missiles.

We have less than eight months to fix this mess, people. Look at it this way. It's not a vote on homeland security. It's not a vote on the economy. It's a vote on whether you want the US to be the aggressor nation in World War III. It's a vote on whether you want us to become the Germany of the next century.

Okay, hindsight is 20/20. I'm sure many good Germans without a fascist bone in their body liked Hitler and what he was doing back in '38. But we have the advantage of being able to use that hindsight in this situation. If you've ever told yourself that you would have stood up to the Nazis as they were coming to power, then tell yourself you'll do it now. And tell yourself that you can't possibly support someone who, in only three short years, has made such a mess of the world that we are in a more dangerous situation than at the height of the Cold War, than at the darkest day of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

And remember this -- while Fallujah is exploding, while the American death count is racking up faster than at any other point in this war, while innocent civilians are being taken hostage left and right, the Asshat in charge is on vacation, telling the world that "things are improving in Iraq."

Yeah. That's like saying "Things are improving in Hiroshima" right after the bomb was dropped. Yeah, improving if you consider a sudden drop in air temperature an improvement.

We're edging up to 700 dead. How many more will it take? Do we have to hit a thousand? At this rate, we'll match the 9-11 death toll in a month. And then what? Will it take W directly causing the deaths of as many Americans as the terrorists did for people to wake up?

Or would you like to be able to tell your grandchildren (assuming any of us are alive to have them) all those thrilling tales of life "during the Big One, back in '05..."
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Oddly enough, Drudge dug up this link -- the WaPo's comments on the infamous "Osama" Presidential Daily Briefing from May, 2002.
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651

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Nine little words: "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.

And here's my problem with that. This was the 7title of a report presented to the current administration on August 6, 2001. A PDB, or "Presidential Daily Briefing," Kinda Sleazy Rice brushed it off in her 9-11 Comission testimony by saying it referred to old information on past attempts by Osama to attack the US.

Two problems here, babe. First, if it referred to past information, then why not declassify it immediately and let us all read it? Okay, fine. If the report talks about the 1993 WTC bombing and nothing else, great, you proved your point. Except that it brings up this question: given the "chatter" of the summer of 2001, and Asscroft's sudden fear of commercial airlines, wouldn't an August 2001 PDB not mentioning possible imminent bin Laden attacks on the US indicate an enormous intelligence fuck-up? Should not heads roll for that omission, like, yesterday?

Which brings me to number two: if the report is not declassified immediately, why not? Because, perhaps, it refers to the immediate future and not the distant past? After all, yapping about a 1993 terrorist attack in 2001 on the US for which the perps had already been tried and convicted seems a bit... pointless?

I think this particular PDB is the smoking gun, and it damn well better be released, uncensored, immediately. Otherwise, the title alone implies this much: They knew. They knew and could have acted to stop it. They knew and could have acted to stop it and didn't. And it's up to every American citizen to contact their Senator and Representative now and demand the release of this document, unedited, right now. Use the FOIA, make them put up or shut up.

They knew.

They knew and could have acted to stop it.

They knew and could have acted to stop it and didn't.

They knew and could have acted to stop it and didn't and 3,000 people died.

Hm. Our last elected president was impeached for a blow-job. Shouldn't our current non-elected president be tried, convicted and executed for treason for the deaths of 3,000 American citizens? After all, a cum stain will wash out of a GAP dress. A bloodstain will never wash off...

Unless your family name is Bush, and that bloodstain is Nazi collaboration by your grandfather, a collaboration with Fascism that continues to this day. But that's another story. Sure you don't want to hear it -- just might interfere with the latest episode of Survivor or American Idol or whatever corporate media crap you're filling your brains with at the moment.

Anything but reality, mommy. Reality... scary....
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Make that 646 -- five more in just a few hours...
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Current Count of Dead American soldiers in Iraq: 641. One week ago, it was only 600...

Or, to put it another way, nearly seven percent of this year-long war's casualties have happened in the last seven days.


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I saw the following reprinted on Bartcop, and felt I had to comment on it here. The original post's text is in red; my commentary is in blue.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank President Bush for his many accomplishments over the past 3 1/2 years.

Thank you for the tax cuts and the checks you sent to all Americans.
Tax cut check? Hm. Tax cut check. I never got one of those. Did you? The few people I knew who did get them wound up having to pay them back on their next return. The only people who benefited from this reverse Robin Hood were the super rich. If you're going to cut taxes, do it like this: eliminate income taxes for people earning under a certain minimum per year, and raise that limit for each kid they have.

Thank you for leading us out of recession and into a robust economy.
Sorry. Had to stop laughing before I could type. Saying this economy is robust is like saying that the heart attack patient just brought back from the dead only to go into a coma is "recovering nicely." Or, to put it another way, when W's policies have screwed the economy so badly that all indicators were below sea level, the only way to go is up -- but when you've fallen five miles, climbing one foot is nothing.

Thank you for keeping us safe in our homeland.
Keeping us "safe" by keeping us not free. And, as is finally becoming apparent, keeping us safe meant nothing in August 2001, when W was taking a month long vacation, Ashcroft was avoiding commercial airlines and all that "chatter" was pointing at something. Soon.

Thank you for your vigilance against terrorism.
Just because it hasn't happened here again -- yet -- doesn't mean W's done anything about it. Remember that place called Afghanistan? We seem to have abandoned it in favor of going after all that yummy, yummy oil in Iraq.

Thank you for freeing the people of Iraq.
Fallujah. And six other cities. You mean the same people we've put under curfew? The same country where we blew up a mosque? The same country where all those free, happy people are now fighting back, against their so-called liberators? By the way, what do you think about Clinton freeing the people of Bosnia from an evil dictator?

Thank you for the improvements to Medicare and especially the new prescription drug benefits.
Medicare? Oh yeah -- the same system that's going to run out of money before 2020. What's the improvement, that it won't exist for us Gen Xers once the aging baby boomers suck it dry? And yeah, the "benefits" in the above are great. For the pharmaceutical companies. When this administration makes it legal for Canadian pharmacies to sell OTC drugs to Americans, then I'll believe they're doing something.

Thank you for freeing the people of Afghanistan.
See above. Afghanistan is a forgotten hellhole, ruled by feuding warlords and wracked with anarchy. Although, I guess by definition, anarchy is the ultimate freedom. Gosh. Didn't think you knew how to use irony.

Thank you for bringing home ownership in America to record levels.
Not in my part of town, bubby. Of course, I live in one of the more expensive cities in the world. As for elsewhere -- sure. Crash the local economy, and the real estate becomes dirt cheap. In fact, home ownership levels are lower now than they have been since before the post WW II boom. But, typical of the right, repeat a lie long enough, it starts to sound true. Oh, wait. You said "record levels." My bad -- you did mean "record low levels," right?

Thank you for your support in the fight against AIDS. Your commitment to send $5 billion to Africa for this fight is unprecedented.
Well, the commitment was originally $18 billion, announced with fanfare. Then it dropped to five. Then, it disappared. Quietly. Africa is still waiting, and still dying.

Thank you for the No Child Left Behind act, which will improve our children's education.
Except... it's a federal act that requires state education departments to front the money. And y'know what? Thanks to the tanked economy, there ain't no money in the states' coffers to fund it. Yet another example of W and Company's usual MO -- describe a grandiose plan loudly and in public, then quietly refuse to pay for it. It's like the rents saying to their child at the party, "Son, you're getting a brand new car for your birthday." Then, after everyone leaves, they add, "And you're paying for it. By yourself. In cash."

Thank you, most of all, for your strong but compassionate leadership. You are a true inspiration to all Americans. Keep up the good work.
Some things just make me want to barf. Strong? Is that why he ran on 9-11? Compassionate? W has all the compassion of a starving crocodile for a wounded bunny. Inspiration? I don't think so. Keep up the good work? Right after the next month-long vacation on the ranch, I'm sure.

But what scares me most of all is that there are a good number of Americans out there who are stupid enough to believe the crap in red above. Stupid enough to not seek out the news and the truth. Stupid enough to give these criminals another four years.

Stupid enough to get what they deserve...
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Twelve Marines killed in Iraq today, and expect that number to keep climbing. We've lost 31 American soldiers in four days. At that rate, we'd lose 2,828 in a year.
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Ah, yes. The totally bogus reason W keeps giving for why things like Fallujah happen in Iraq. "Because they hate freedom," he says. Well, that's just crap. It's because we invaded their country, the only provocation being some Bush family vendetta against Sadam, a man who was armed and funded by Reagan and Bush prior to the first Gulf War.

No, the ones who really hate freedom are W and company, as exemplefied by John Ashcroft and his religious insanity. America is the likely target of terrorist attack, so let's go after American citizens instead. Let's go after Tommy Chong, whose only crime was selling glass pipes on the internet. Or, for the first time in over a decade, let's go after porn.

Yeah, there's a major threat that's going to kill people -- consenting adults making sexual entertainment for other consenting adults.

Quoth Asscroft: "(Pornography) invades our homes persistently though the mail, phone, VCR, cable TV and the Internet... (and has) strewn its victims from coast to coast."

Hm. There's an image. Herds of wild porn creeping through the streets and oozing into our homes uninvited. Yeah, I've certainly gotten a lot of porn through my phone (not). And, oh dear, how did this pornographic video tape wind up in my VCR? I didn't put it there. And I am sick of having to step over all the porn victims strewn all over the place.

But it's just more of the typical Republican double-speak. Out of one side of their mouth, they'll say that big corporations should not be regulated at all, they should be free to do what they want because it's "good for business." At the same time, the other side is saying that the American people should not be free to do what they want, look at consenting adults engaging in sex, smoking flowers, etc., etc.

Well, let me offer this quote from House Resolution 3687 -- debated, written, read and discussed in Congress. The filthy bastards:

"As used in this section, the term profane, used with respect to language, includes the words shit, piss, fuck, cunt, asshole, and the phrases cock sucker, mother fucker, and ass hole, compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms).'.

So -- except for the replacement of "tits" with "asshole," a George Carlin routine has now been immortalized in official government documents. If it passes, six of his seven dirty words will become part of the United States Code.

Now ain't that a fucking kick in the cunt? Shit. Those cocksucking, motherfucking assholes can go piss up a rope for all I care.
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Bill O'Reilly opines on talk radio, and all I can say is, "Bill - fuck you. You've been spewing this same mindless crap on TV, so you've got no place to complain. Want to be a non-hypocrite? Then pull your sorry, rightwing apologist ass off the airwaves now."

Then maybe, just maybe, I'll take some of the crap in this editorial seriously. Otherwise, I repeat: "Bill - fuck you."
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So, looks like W's rosy job recovery picture announced last week is a total load, at least according to this report.

Bank of America Corp... said Monday it will cut 12,500 jobs, or about 7 percent of its combined work force.

Of course, the Republican spin on the job thing is a complete handjob. Yeah, sure, gaining a few thousand jobs might look nice on paper -- as long as you conveniently ignore the several million jobs lost...

It's like a gambler in Vegas who's ten grand in the hole announcing to his starving family, "I'm back on top" when he wins forty bucks at blackjack.

Yeah, right...
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More appalling Republican bullshit. Take away the ability of non-profit groups to advocate a position -- if it's critical of the administration. Or, in other words, shred the First Amendment yet again. And yet, we don't hear these same people trying to castrate corporate PAC's that buy and sell candidates and elections with impugnity.

Basically, Howard Dean's successful yet failed grassroots efforts have scared the crap out of you-know-who and friends. Don't let them get away with this one. Email your comments on these proposed changes to the FEC. Get information at theFEC's site. Get pissed, get involved, do something and let your voice be heard. Go to People for the American Way for even more info.

Following is a short list of their examples of the effects this ruling would have on politics -- and note that it's not just a stifling of liberal voices. The affects everyone, from far right to far left.

Under the proposed rules, nonprofit organizations that advocate for cancer research, gun and abortion restrictions or rights, fiscal discipline, tax reform, poverty issues, immigration reform, the environment, or civil rights or liberties - all these organizations could be transformed into political committees if they criticize or commend members of Congress or the President based on their official actions or policy positions.

Such changes would cripple the ability of groups to raise and spend funds in pursuit of their mission and could be so ruinous that organizations would be forced to back away from meaningful conversations about public policies that affect millions of Americans.

If the proposed rules were adopted, the following organizations would be treated as federal political committees and therefore could not receive grants from any corporation, even an incorporated nonprofit foundation, from any union, or from any individual in excess of $5,000 per year:

- A 501(c)(4) gun rights organization that spends $50,000 on ads at any time during this election year criticizing any legislator, who also happens to be a federal candidate, for his or her position on gun control measures.

- A "good government" organization [§501(c)(3)] that spends more than $50,000 to research and publish a report criticizing several members of the House of Representatives for taking an all-expense trip to the Bahamas as guests of the hotel industry.

- A fund [§527] created by a tax reform organization to provide information to the public regarding federal candidates' voting records on budget issues.

- A civil rights organization [§501(c)(3) or §501(c)(4)] that spends more than $50,000 to conduct non-partisan voter registration activities in Hispanic and African-American communities after July 5, 2004.

- An organization devoted to the environment that spends more than $50,000 on communications opposing oil drilling in the Arctic and identifying specific Members of Congress as supporters of the legislation, if those Members are running for re-election.

- A civic organization [§501(c)(6)] that spends $50,000 during 2004 to send letters to all registered voters in the community urging them to vote on November 2, 2004 because "it is your civic duty."

Other potential ramifications include the following situations:

- A religious organization that publishes an election-year legislative report card covering all members of Congress on a broad range of issues would be unable to accept more than $5,000 from any individual donor if the report indicated whether specific votes were good or bad.

- A 501(c)(3) organization that primarily encourages voter registration and voting among young people will be required to re-create itself as a federal PAC.

- A 501(c)(4) pro-life group that accepts contributions from local businesses would break the law by using its general funds to pay for any communications critical of an incumbent Senator's position on abortion rights after the Senator had officially declared himself for reelection more than a year before the next election.

- A 501(c)(3) civil rights group that has been designated as a political committee can no longer hold its annual fundraiser at a corporate-donated facility, and it must refuse donations or grants from donors that have already given $5,000 for that year.

And the beat goes on...
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