Second update to "And the excuse is..."

Turns out that "President" Bush was informed about Cheney shooting a hunting companion on Saturday night... yet the information wasn't made public until the next day... and not by the White House.

Add to that the fact that WH Spokesman Scott "I really, really miss Ari" McClellan was informed that same night... but he (supposedly) was only told that someone in Cheney's hunting party was involved and maintains he didn't know that Cheney was the shooter until the next morning, when he then urged the vice president's office to get the information out "as quickly as possible."

Believe it... or not.

I choose not, but that's just me.

Poll Position

It’s the end of the 2-week polling period, and the results are in and, wow, the readers really responded and reacted to this poll, garnering the most votes of any poll we at TBWA have ever posted.

We thank you for offering your opinions.

The question for the past 2-weeks was: Does “President” Bush have the constitutional power to approve wiretaps and spying without a court order?

• 80% of the more than 300 votes show that the majority of people believe that Bush does not have that authority and is trampling on the civil liberties of U.S. citizens.
• 9% believe that the President does have the authority and believe that ANYTHING is okay in order to keep the country safe.
• 9% of responders are split on the issue and think that spying on a non-domestic basis is fine, but are against it from a domestic standpoint.
• And 2% of the over 300 voters do not think that this has any effect on them and don’t care what the president does.

Scott and I respect all the answers given, though the individuals who selected option 4, that this doesn’t affect them and they don’t care, need to get a clue. To act and respond with that much torpor is insipid and moronic.

Again, thank you for responding.

Please take a moment to respond to the poll above as we present to you the new 2-week poll question. As vandals in Denmark desecrate Muslim graves and an Iranian newspaper calls for cartoons about the Holocaust, we pose the question: The Muslim Cartoon controversy: what is your take on it?

And the excuse is?

Many folks, including us here at TBWA, are wondering why did it take the White House so long to report that V.P. Cheney shot fellow quail hunter,Harry Whittington in the face? The shooting took place late Saturday afternoon while the V.P. was hunting with a group on the Armstrong Ranch in Texas. However the White House did not publically acknowledge the incident until it was called by a reporter from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times newspaper on Sunday.

How did the reporter know of the incident? The paper was called by ranch owner Katharine Armstrong.

By the way, the folks at the Armstrong ranch need to brush up on thier stories before giving interviews.

In an interview with CNN, Ms. Armstrong told CNN that "Whittington was a guest of hers, not someone Cheney invited, and she did not know whether the two men had met before. " However in another interview, Katharine's mother Anne, said that "she had invited Cheney and Whittington to the ranch, which she manages, to go hunting. She said the two men were "dear friends" of her late husband, Tobin Armstrong, and that they had known each other for 30 years and hunted together before."

Mr. Whittington is said to be in stable condition, but remains in Intensive Care. Initial care was given on scene by members of Cheney's detail. Good thing the traveling cardiologist knows how to treat shotgun wounds.

Get ready for more backpeddling than you would see at the circus.

UPDATE from Kemp: Scott, maybe we should take into consideration that the Vice President had an hallucination and thought Whittington was Patrick Fitzgerald… or former VP Dan Quayle (he was quail hunting after all… sorry, bad pun)... or a "liberal-media" reporter...

Or maybe it was because the friend is an attorney and attorneys aren’t some of the Veep’s favorite people right now.

Or maybe the Veep was unfocused while thinking about how his former Chief of Staff (Scooter Libby) has sold him down the river by stating that Cheney and others told him to leak confidential information to reporters and that has led some Senators to call for Fitzgerald to investigate Cheney.

Or maybe it’s because authenticated photos of "President" Bush with über-lobbyist Jack Abramoff have surfaced.

You have to wonder how long Dick’s ticker can withstand this kind of abuse… we should all stay tuned…

The Weekly Rewind

Well this past week was a busy one. Not only was there the funeral for Mrs. King, but we also had many events, stupid comments, episodes of cranial-rectal inversion and just plain, what the hell were you thinking!

So without any further ado, I give you The Weekly Rewind.

Heckle: to V.P. Dick Cheney. Nice shooting Dick! Note to self, never, ever go hunting with the V.P. !

Applaud: to Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Word is that the Senator is starting to explore a possible run for the White House in 2008. We at TBWA respect the Senator and would welcome his name to the 2008 campaign field. Senator Barack Obama (another Senator we at TBWA respect) thinks differently.

Heckle: to D.H.S. Secretary Michael Chertoff. Not only did former FEMA Director Michael Brown state that talking to Chertoff was a “waste of time“, but a report to be released this week by House Investigators looking into the response failures surrounding Hurricane Katrina singles out Chertoff for blame. Heckuva job Mikey!!

Heckle: to the continuing saga of Jack Abramoff. Even with the release of photos, the President had said that he really didn’t know Jack (go ahead, word play with that statement is good!) Abramoff stated that in his meeting(s) with Bush, our dear old president joked with him about his children. Ooops !

Heckle: to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In a speech at the New School, James Hansen, NASA’s lead climate scientist stated that NOAA essentially has censor’s shadowing it’s scientists when they discuss findings with the media. I’m sorry I didn’t know that the Third Reich escaped 1940’s Europe and is now running the U.S. Government’s weather bureau of the 21st century. This has to be a bad dream right?

Heckle: to V.P. Dick Cheney (yes again). This time for suggesting that the NSA wiretapping program should be an election issue in the upcoming November congressional elections. Sorry Dick, but these are civil liberties we are talking about, not a school district referendum.

Applaud: to Rev. Joseph Lowery. During his remarks at the funeral for Coretta Scott King, the good reverend, in a slam dunk on the president, remarked that "We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. But Coretta knew and we knew that there are weapons of misdirection right down here." Basically, for a time, the funeral turned into a 'Bush Bashing event'. All this while sitting right in front of the president and the first lady…..

Heckle: to being a lemming. “Scooter” Libby testified that his superiors at the White House had essentially order him to leak information to the press. One of these superiors was his former boss, Dick Cheney.

Heckle: to questionable contacts. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), has disclosd his ties to Jack Abramoff and clients of the lobbyist. Sen. Reid has been an outspoken critic of the Republican ties to the lobbyist and is stating that all of his contacts were routine and regular and were in no way influened by donations that he received totalling nearly $68,000.

Applaud: to thwarting terrorism. Heckle: to distraction techniques. Earlier this week the president released details regarding the government stopping a '9/11 type attack' on the US Bank Tower in Los Angeles. The tallest building west of the Mississippi river. Ok, we all approve of stopping the terrorists, but is this supposed to make us 'feel better' about unchecked domestic spying?

There were many other things to heckle and applaud this past week. Instead of rehashing them all why not take a look at the our postings of last week as you scroll down this page. You will find insightful commentary and interesting rebuttal comments.

Until next week. Be Good, stay informed....later.

A Tip of the Hat to Aaron Burr?

Ya know, there are so many jokes to be made out of THIS STORY… I can’t pick just one… so I invite all of you readers to make up your own and leave it as a comment...here's a snippet of the story, click HERE to see... the.Rest.Of.The.Story (I always wanted to do that... thank you Paul Harvey)

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and injured a man during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, his spokeswoman said Sunday.

Harry Whittington, 78, was "alert and doing fine" after Cheney sprayed him with shotgun pellets on Saturday while the two were hunting at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, said property owner Katharine Armstrong.

Armstrong said Whittington was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his cheek, neck and chest, and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Whittington was in stable condition Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System.

Scooter is Back in the News

First I have to ask, am I the only one who find themselves singing the Libby, Libby, Libby on the label, label, label jingle when they see this name? I am… that’s what I was afraid of. But I’m getting off track…

Former White House aide “Scooter” Libby, who was charged of outing CIA agent Valerie Plame, has testified that Vice President Dick “Darth” Cheney gave him the okay to leak classified information in 2003 in order to bolster the case for the US-led war against Iraq (I am shocked… shocked and appalled)

NBC television news, citing sources familiar with the case, said that Libby will partially be basing his defense on claims that Cheney advised him to give classified information to reporters and that Libby and his attorneys discussed this revelation with federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, along with the judge that is overseeing the case in a teleconference call.

Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, is of course denying charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements in an stratagem tied-up in the Bush administration’s drive to war with Iraq. (It should be noted that the trial is slated to start sometime in January 2007, naturally after November's mid-term elections… but I’m sure there’s no connection between the two events…and if you believe that, I have some nice property to sell you in Afghanistan)

For those of you who forgot or for those of you who can’t see your party for what it really is, critics charge that senior US officials deliberately blew Plame's cover in an attempt to punish her husband, ex-diplomat Joseph Wilson, who had criticized the White House's reasoning for going to war with Iraq.

My first reaction to the Libby news is… why the hell isn’t anyone paying attention to this?? Libby admits that his boss, who just happens to be the Vice President of the United States, gave him the order to leak the information… am I missing something here? This should be big news am I right? I said, am I right??

Apparently not as the Bush Media-Whores do their best to bury this story in the trash. Well, all I can say is, and I’ve said it many times before on this site… ‘Karma, baby!’

By the way, the “president's” top political strategist, Karl Rove, is still under investigation over the leaking…

So stay tuned…

Do I smell 'Brownies' burning in the Senate?

Former FEMA director Michael Brown (aka: Brownie) goes before a Senate committee today to answer questions in the ongoing investigation as to the failings of the federal governement follwoing the Gulf Coast hurricanes last fall.

Brownie had requested that the White House assist him by offering a claim of 'executive priviledge'. That request was rebuffed by White House Counsel Harriet "I could have been a Justice" Miers.

Browns response was that without any protecttion or assistance from the administration he will essentially spill his guts when asked questions.

Let's see if he keeps to his word on this one. This could get interesting.

UPDATE: In Testimony to the Senate committee, Michael Brown blamed the DHS, and specifially said that talking to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff was a "waste of time".

I told you this would be interesting....stay tuned.

Another swing and miss...

It seems that the newly minted House Majority Leader John Boehner rents a basement apartment from a lobbyist whose clients had an interest in legislation overseen or sponsored by Boehner (R-OH) who pays $1,600 a month rent for the apartment owned by lobbyist John Milne and his wife, Debra Anderson. (I am shocked! Shocked to find gambling in this establishment!)

Boehner, it should be noted, is heavily involved in GOP efforts to reform lobbying rules which have been born as a consequence of influence peddling by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff (Remember him? The black trench coat, black fedora wearing lobbyist who looks like he just walked off the pages of a Mickey Spillane novel… or at least WANTS to look like he just walked off the pages of a Mickey Spillane novel) This is THE Abramoff, the lobbyist who has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in a Capitol Hill corruption investigation after pleading guilty to conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud last month.

Lobbying records show that Milne represented a couple of restaurant companies in their lobbying on the minimum wage… which is handled by the Education and the Workforce Committee… which just happens to be chaired by… who can guess? Anyone? Anyone? How about you there in the back… you know it; Boehner (you see how all of this is tying together now?)

Once again the GOP strikes and misses. They have an opportunity to spin things in a positive light and elect someone to take over for disgraced (and disgruntled) Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) who isn’t in bed with a bunch of lobbyists (which is easier said than done, I know)

The thing that is aggravating many people isn’t necessarily the fact Boehner has ties with lobbyists (I mean, let's get real now, you show me a politician who doesn’t has ties with any lobbyists and I’ll show you a poor politician) but the way Boehner tried to paint himself as someone who is clean and not tainted by the wicked ways of lobbying…

You got it wrong again (right)wing-nuts… wrong again…

A new element ?

The recent hurricanes, gasoline issues and general confusion in Washington is proof of the existence of a new chemical element. A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element has been named "Governmentium." Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. The smallest amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that under normal circumstances would normally take less than a second, to instead take over four days to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of four years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each organization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium -- an element which radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Ok, that explains a lot…..

(A shout goes out to PK for bringing this new discovery to our attention!)

A Short Post about Secret Courts and FISA Judges

In the last few years the presiding judge of the secret surveillance court was told on two separate occasions that information that had been obtained via the “President’s” domestic eavesdropping program “may have been” used inappropriately in order to get additional wiretap’s from the court, this according to a special article in the Washington Post (or WaPo for those of you in the know)

Naturally, these disclosures have pissed-off U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (who is the current presiding judge of the FISA court that issues the aforementioned wiretapping warrants)

Seems Judge Kollar-Kotelly has, in the past, expressed some doubts as to whether or not the warrant-less monitoring ordered by BushCo was legal. (It should also be noted that her predecessor as presiding judge, Royce C. Lamberth, also expressed severe reservations about the legality of the program)

Now, you would think that if the judge(s) that presides over the FISA court is herself unsure if the wiretapping is illegal or not, that the Bush(Whacked) administration would get a clue… not so… at least not so as long as Commander Cuckoo-Bananas is in charge.

Read the complete article and decide for yourself.

More to come…

Now the truth comes out

Remember during the State of the Union address when our fearless leader stated that his budget plan would cut the federal deficit in half by 2009?

You had to ask yourself how this was going to be accomplished with the continued spending on the 'police action' in the middle east and the tax cuts that have been thrown around by the administration. Basically it comes down to more money going out and less coming in. Well we at TBWA were asking the same thing and now the administration has given us the answer.

The White House has released documents saying that in order to achieve Bush's goal, significant cuts would be needed throughout the rest of this decade to many domestic programs, even some of the Presidents own favored programs. Others that would be cut include Veterans Heath Care and funding for the National Institutes of Health. Many of the affected programs are slated for funding increases in 2007, but would then be hit with drastic cuts in 2008-2010.

Just another case of "look at the shiny object in my left hand and pay no attention to the trickery taking place in the right".

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it's probably a lie.

Eep

For those of you who don't know what the term 'staring daggers' means, take a glance at Laura Bush...

Random Political Thoughts for a Wednesday Afternoon

Wednesday is here and we all know what that means, Random Political Thoughts for a Wednesday Afternoon…so without any pageantry or ado…away we go:

McCain vs. Obama. In this corner; Senior Republican Senator and Vietnam veteran John McCain, and in this corner; Freshman Democrat Senator and the next-big-thing Barrack Obama… let’s get ready to rumble. It seems the two opposing Senators are squaring off in a grudge match over efforts to enact a new set of ethics rules after Sen. McCain accused Sen. Obama of being "disingenuous" for reneging on a pledge to help craft a bill that could be embraced by both parties. Following a meeting between the two, Obama sent McCain a letter expressing support for a proposal by Harry Reid (D-NM) and NOT the bipartisan task force that McCain (and other GOP leaders) had suggested. More letters were exchanged between the two and now, on Wednesday, it seems as though both men have made nice-nice. I don’t buy it and think that this little incident will come to a head very, very soon. As always, stay tuned…

Bush: Stop cartoon violence. “President” Bush on Wednesday asked for a suppressing of the violence that has spread regarding anger over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. The rise in tension is also being blamed for adverse effects on the U.S. and their relationships with Muslims and the Middle East. I honestly don’t have an opinion on this, so I leave it up to you to make up your own minds.

A Challenge to Mayor Nagin: This just got interesting… Audubon Nature Institute CEO Ron Forman announced yesterday that he will join the list of candidates that are lining up to run against incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin this April. Nagin has come under fire for his performance (or lack thereof) in the lead-up and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and has (seemingly) fallen out of favor with business and community leaders. Forman decided to make the run this past Sunday after supporters persuaded him that he would have the financial support and backing of a multiracial coalition of the city's business, civic and religious leaders. (Nagin seems to be someone who enjoys the spotlight but who has also put his foot into his mouth a few too many times to govern effectively. Stay tuned…)

No Lemmings Allowed. Chairwoman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence (which oversees the National Security Agency) Heather Wilson (R-NM) is calling for a full Congressional inquiry into the Shrub (sorry, my bad) Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program. said in an interview that she had "serious concerns" about the surveillance program. By withholding information about its operations from many lawmakers, she said, the administration has deepened her apprehension about whom the agency is monitoring and why. (I don’t know what’s harder to believe… that a Republican is not acting like a lemming going over the cliff and is going against the grain of her own party… or that there is someone named ‘Heather’ in Congress… your call)

Asbestos Bill Moving Forward. The Senate voted overwhelmingly (98 - 1) on Tuesday to consider a bill that would halt asbestos lawsuits and create a $140 billion fund for people who suffer from asbestos-related diseases. Great idea and all, but many hurdles remain before the bill can be approved. The incredibly lopsided vote came after Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) dropped an objection and encouraged other Senators to bring the measure to the floor. It should also be noted that the House has a differing bill that would still allow asbestos suits but only if claimants meet certain medical criteria. Stay tuned…

Budget Wars. The administration submitted their budget the other day (all 15 pounds of it) and, not surprisingly, Shrub proposed a defense budget that is the largest ever (and slashed the budget for pretty much everything else) with farmers, teachers and doctors pissed as you know what. Click HERE to see reaction to the administration’s budget from both sides of the aisle. Also in the new White House budget are submissions to eliminate or significantly diminish 141 domestic programs in the next fiscal year.

Nixon who? (Now you would think this story would get a lot of attention, but, with the media being in bed with Bush and Dick – insert own sophomoric joke here – it’s not, save for Keith “ESPN who?” Olberman) On his MSNBC show Tuesday night, KO spoke about Bush Strategist Karl Rove and his attempts to blackmail Republicans into submission over the issue of illegal wiretaps. Seems Rove, according to Conservative magazine Insight is telling Republican Senators and Congressmen that if they don’t see Bush’s way on wiretapping, they will be ‘blacklisted.’ Hmmmm… sounds a lot like something akin to the Alien & Sedition Acts and the dark days of blacklisting during the Joe McCarthy era. Goodnight and Good luck indeed…

Take them as you will…

A couple of milestones...

Yesterday marked two events that we at TBWA are especially proud of. What happened you ask? Well thanks for asking, I'd be happy to tell you.

First, yesterday at 4:17 pm central time, we had a visitor from Rhode Island ! It wasn't from Quahog, but from a reader in Wakefield.

Why are we making a big deal about a visitor from Rhode Island? Well, as of the 1st of the year we had visitors from every state except Rhode Island. We even had visitors from Guam and Puerto Rico. So as of yesterday afternoon, we have had visitors to the blog from every state in the nation ! We have also had vistors from every continent except the Arctic and Antarctic..... come on South Pole science stations !

Secondly, yesterday afternoon also marked our 4,000 visitor to our little blog. Not bad for a site that started back on September 23, 2005. Just two guys from the midwest who happen to have a passion for calling things as we see them, and thought why not let the world know what we think? Hopefully we also open some people's eyes along the way, or at least get people to question 'why?', instead of just following the crowd.

Kemp and I started on this endeavor with the purpose of letting people know our opinion on politics and current events. While we do slant to the left side of the political spectrum, we both consider ourselves to be more or less open to great ideas from either side of the aisle. Hell, we would even settle for a good idea coming out of Washington or even state governments from time to time. We hope that you enjoy what we do and you will keep coming back, why not tell a friend or two ! That way you will have something to talk about amongst yourselves.

So eveyone can relax, we have hit the 4,000 mark in roughly 4 months (not bad) and we have had a visitor from Rhode Island....thanks Wakefield! However, we are only 5 weeks into 2006 and it appears the roller coaster ride is just getting started.

Make sure your seatbelts are fastened and keep your hands and arms inside the car at all times...it looks like the ride is going to get a bit bumpy.

Be good, stay informed....later.

Billions and billions...

Commander Cuckoo-Bananas sent his budget to Congress yesterday (all 15 pounds of it)

Not surprisingly, Shrub proposed a defense budget that is the largest ever (and slashed the budget for pretty much everything else) with farmers, teachers and doctors pissed as you know what.

Why are they pissed? In pushing for his massive defense budget, Bush is cutting other group's money in an effort to stave off the deficits his administration has bred.

More to come later...

UPDATE: In a previously released statement, Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Chief Patricia Harrison said she was disappointed in the Bush(Whacked) administration's budget proposal that would cut $53.5 million from the $400 million due to be doled out to public TV and radio stations in 2007 and another $50 million in 2008 (it should be noted that Harrison is a past co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee)

With this news comes a very strong statement from Jeff Chester who is the Executive Director of the public-interest group Center for Digital Democracy. Upon hearing news of the CPB’s cuts, Mr. Chester stated “The Bush White House is taking an axe to help chop off Big Bird's head and turn Elmo out into the streets.” (Nice imagery there Jeff)

Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) released this statement on his website, “In a world of fast-and-furious television with content often inappropriate for young children, the public broadcasting system represents the last stronghold of quality, child-oriented programming -- we owe this free over-the-air resource to America's children and their parents.”

Stay tuned as there is still more to come...