NO LONGER TENETIVE ABOUT TALKING

Former CIA Director George Tenet breaks his silence about the Bush administration, and the mistakes his department made, both pre- and post- 9/11 to 60 Minutes in advance of his book release this week. Click on the link and see videos of the entire interview. Here is an excerpt of that interview with the always outstanding Scott Pelley...
About briefing Condi Rice....
"by the summer of 2001, Tenet says he was so alarmed by intelligence that an attack was coming, he asked for an immediate meeting to brief then-National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice. "Essentially, the briefing says, there are gonna be multiple spectacular attacks against the United States. We believe these attacks are imminent. Mass casualties are a likelihood," Tenet remembers.

"You're telling Condoleezza Rice in that meeting in the White House in July that we should take offensive action, in Afghanistan, now. Before 9/11," Pelley remarks. "We need to consider immediate action inside Afghanistan now. We need to move to the offensive," Tenet says.

In his book, Tenet says that even though he told Rice an attack on Americans was imminent, she took his request to launch pre-emptive action in Afghanistan and delegated it to third-tier officials. "You’re meeting with the president every morning. Why aren't you telling the president, 'Mr. President, this is terrifying. We have to do this now. Forget about the bureaucracy. I need this authority this afternoon,'?" Pelley asks. "Right. Because the United States government doesn't work that way. The president is not the action officer. You bring the action to the national security advisor and people who set the table for the president to decide on policies they're gonna implement," Tenet says.

About Iraq....

The truth of Iraq begins, according to Tenet, the day after the attack of Sept. 11, when he ran into Pentagon advisor Richard Perle at the White House. "He said to me, 'Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday, they bear responsibility.' It’s September the 12th. I’ve got the manifest with me that tell me al Qaeda did this. Nothing in my head that says there is any Iraqi involvement in this in any way shape or form and I remember thinking to myself, as I'm about to go brief the president, 'What the hell is he talking about?'" Tenet remembers. "You said Iraq made no sense to you in that moment. Does it make any sense to you today?" Pelley asks. "In terms of complicity with 9/11, absolutely none," Tenet says. "It never made any sense. We could never verify that there was any Iraqi authority, direction and control, complicity with al Qaeda for 9/11 or any operational act against America. Period."

About the erronious Niger intel in regards to Saddam seeking uranium.

The CIA had knocked down that uranium claim months before. The agency even demanded it be taken out of two previous presidential speeches. How did it get through the third time? "I didn't read the speech. I was involved in a bunch of other things," Tenet says.

And about the outing of Valerie Plame....

When it became clear there were no weapons of mass destruction, a rift split the White House and CIA. A former ambassador named Joe Wilson wrote an article debunking the uranium claim that had slipped into the State of the Union address. The White House retaliated, leaking a story that exposed the identity of Joe Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, as an undercover CIA officer. "She's one of my officers. That's wrong. Big time wrong, you don't get to do that," Tenet says. "And the chilling effect that you have inside my work force is, 'Whoa, now officers names are being thrown out the door. Hold it. Not right.'"

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

WILL SHE TALK WITH IRAQ, OR STAY MUMMY-FIED IN EGYPT?

America prepares to talk with Iran

after 28 years of silence

Condoleezza Rice held out the prospect yesterday of direct talks with her Iranian counterpart this week in what would be America’s most significant contact with the Islamic republic since ties were severed almost 30 years ago. The US Secretary of State was speaking shortly after Iran said that Manouchehr Mottaki, its Foreign Minister, would on Thursday attend talks in Egypt on the future of Iraq. “I will not rule out that we may encounter one another,” Dr Rice said in a series of interviews with Sunday talk shows. “This isn’t an opportunity to talk about US-Iran issues. This is really an opportunity for all of Iraq’s neighbours to talk about how to stabilise Iraq.”

The State Department has been more forthcoming, saying that there is a strong likelihood of bilateral talks in Egypt. Although Colin Powell, Dr Rice’s predecessor, found himself embarrassingly seated next to Iran’s Foreign Minister at a dinner in 2004, there has been no meaningful dialogue between the two nations since the US introduced sanctions after the storming and occupation of its embassy in Tehran by revolutionary students in November 1979.

But President Bush has come under pressure to rekindle diplomacy from Democrats in Congress, the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group and allies such as Tony Blair. Yesterday, asked what she would say to the Iranian Foreign Minister, Dr Rice provided a substantial agenda of items for discussion. “I think we want to talk about how we can all take actions, and Iraq’s neighbours can take actions, to help the Iraqis secure themselves,” she said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1723160.ece

GOP MIS-STEPS IDENTIFIED

It seems that we are hearing on a daily basis repeated issues and situations that point to the administration, and GOP ruling bodies. This is in large part due to the consternation and investigations by the press (obviously the Washington Post is working overtime), and the newly Democratically controlled House and Senate. Here is a brief summary, as I see it.

Appointing Randall Tobias to oversee our efforts to control and eradicate HIV/AIDS, who all the while was a frequent customer of Washington madams and call girls.

Ditto for Mark Foley, who chaired the Senate counsel for missing and exploiting children, all the while laboring to seduce congressional pages.

Not listening to your Director of the CIA, George Tenet on concerns he had over the Middle Eastern situation, especially his concerns over Iraq and Iran.

Appointing a FEMA director whose only experience was as a director of horse shows, then publically endorsing, and supporting him in the initial stages of Katrina relief, which was, and remains an absolute disaster, up to/ and including the rejection of some forms of foreign aid, and the failure to collect on foreign offers of monetary assistance.

Appointing the Florida Secretary of State as your state election campaign secretary(a brilliant maneuver in hindsight).

Appointing / retaining the services of eight State special prosecutors, who you later charged with either poor performances, or incompetence ultimately leading to their terminations.

The deletion of e-mail transmissions, which may have a direct connection to the Gonzalez inquiry currently taking place in the Senate.

Rejecting calls (and subpoenas) from Congress for public testimony of many of your administration as a result of oversight committee hearings, thus appearing to be hiding transgressions.

Appointment of Donald Rumsfeld as your Defense Secretary.

An administration so mired in controversy that an entire state leveled the following charges: "Bush and Cheney's actions in the U.S. and abroad, including in Iraq, "raise serious questions of constitutionality, statutory legality, and abuse of the public trust."

Hastily, and foolishly sending troops into Iraq, rather than trust the U.N. inspection process, whose findings showed no WMD's. Trusting / producing "faulty" intelligence reports in order to justify said invasion, then charging your dissenters with being unpatriotic, and an enemy to our troops and enablers and border line supporters of terrorism.

I could go on and on, but does anybody see a pattern here?

ANOTHER SCANDAL FROM THE GANG WHO COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT

Another day, yet another scandal for the Bush administration. Can this administration go more than a couple of days without the Bush ball o' yard unraveling some more? What could possibly be more fun for a liberal like me to watch, than one scandal, one bone-headed move, after another? The amazing thing to ponder is the President's approval ratings, inexplicably (and undeservedly) somehow over 30%. Obviously, there is a lot of stupid out there. Here is an excerpt of the latest from the Washington Post.

WASHINGTON - Randall L. Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, abruptly resigned yesterday after he was asked about an upscale escort service allegedly involved in prostitution, U.S. government sources said. Tobias resigned after ABC News contacted him with questions about the escort service, the sources said. ABC News released a statement last night saying Tobias acknowledged Thursday that he had used the service to provide massages, not sex. Tobias has been Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's point man in an ambitious effort to overhaul how the U.S. government manages foreign aid, a key part of her "transformational diplomacy" agenda.

Just two days ago, President Bush lauded Tobias for his work in the administration leading "America's monumental effort to confront and deal with the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the continent of Africa."

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who operated the escort service, was indicted on federal racketeering charges in February and has threatened to expose her high-profile client list. Palfrey has contended that her escort service provided clients with college-educated women who engaged in legal, sexual game-playing for $275 per 90-minute session in their homes or hotel rooms. Prosecutors allege she ran a prostitution ring.

I wonder how the administration is going to spin this one? HIV/AIDS RESEARCH?

And that is the "World According to Kimba."

Thanks for reading.

UNITY 2008

SAMPLE OF DREAM TICKETS YOU CAN DESIGN BOTH CANDIDATES MUST BE FROM DIFFERENT PARTIES

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HINDSIGHT AND OVERSIGHT

As the House and Senate vote to send a "dead on arrival" piece of legislation to the President which calls for a time line for an American troop pullout from Iraq (attached to the newest round of spending increases for the war effort), a new Tim Russert poll indicates the obvious, the American people no longer feel the American troops will achieve victory in the Iraq war. Only one-third of the American citizens polled indicated that victory in Iraq is achievable. Clearly even the conservative support for the administrations contentions that victory is possible is eroding. In fact, the Yes voting percentage mirrors the administrations favorables in all recent polling regarding the popularity and job performance of the administration as a whole.

In other news today, the White House has rejected an attempt by Democrats to force Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, to testify before Congress about the Bush administration's use of intelligence to justify its invasion of Iraq, in particular the since discredited assertion that Saddam Hussein had tried to acquire uranium from Niger. The House committee on oversight and government reform voted 21-10 in favor of issuing a subpoena to Ms Rice, who has refused to testify before the committee on the grounds that she had already provided all necessary information.

The House judiciary committee on Wednesday also voted to seek a judicial order to compel testimony from Monica Goodling, a White House liaison for Albert Gonzales, attorney general, about the firing of eight federal prosecutors. Separately, the Senate judiciary committee approved, but did not issue, a subpoena for Sara Taylor, a deputy to presidential adviser Karl Rove.

ALL IN ALL, IT WAS A PRETTY GOOD DAY

News briefs that will tickle the soul of any fellow liberal.....
These scandals just will not go away, nor should they....

• Dennis Kucinich is launching an effort to impeach VP Cheney on charges that he had “purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens of the United States” about a potential threat of Iraqi chemical, biological and nuclear weapons during the Saddam Hussein era and has “openly threatened aggression” against Iran. Asked why Cheney and not Bush, Kucinich very wisely stated, "if we impeach Bush, then we would have Cheney as President."
• Mark Zacarias was the 11th person to be convicted in the Justice Department probe as he admitted engaging in official acts on Abramoff's behalf while working for Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who chaired the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
• A federal intelligence unit has announced it has begun an investigation into illegal political activity by an office under Karl Rove for violations to the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees engaging in political activities using government resources on the governments time. "We're in the preliminary stages of opening this expanded investigation," Loren Smith, a spokesman for the special counsel's office, an independent investigative and prosecutorial agency, said Tuesday. "The recent suggestion of illegal political activities across the executive branch was the basis we used to decide that it was important to look into possible violations of the Hatch Act." The complaint was filed after hearing of a presentation by Rove's aide J. Scott Jennings to the General Services Administration on how the political appointees could help GOP candidates in 2008. The presentation materials used alledgedly bore the White House seal.
• A White House counsel has announced that Karl Rove unintentionally deleted the missing e-mails which could give the Senate a clearer picture as to the involvement of the White House in the scandal involving the eight fired federal prosecutors. Rove has stated he thought the e-mails were being archived in accordance to the law. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has announced he will subpeona the White House e-mails, with the obvious exception of those accidentally deleted from the server.

DON'T ROVE INTO OHIO, KARL

Ohio Democrats Attack State GOP for Bringing Rove to Dinner
April 18, 2007 From U.S. News reporter Silla Brush:

Ohio Democrats are going on the attack, criticizing Republicans in the state for inviting Karl Rove to the annual Tuscarawas County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner. "Rove doesn't represent us; does he represent Ohio Republicans?" asked Chris Redfern, head of the state Democratic Party. The ploy makes it apparent that Democrats are trying to continue the "culture of corruption" theme of the 2006 election campaign.

As part of the strategy, the party has put out an "affidavit" asking Karl Rove to sign a document saying he had no involvement in the U.S. attorney firings, did not discuss the firing of New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias with President Bush or Sen. Pete Domenici, did not delete hundreds of E-mails pertaining to investigations, did not play any politically motivated role in the outing of Valerie Plame, and did not meet with Jack Abramoff.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/blogs/news_blog/070418/ohio_democrats_attack_state_go.htm

SAY IT AIN'T CHO YOUR HONOR

Click on the link below and read a document from the Montgomery county courts system on mass murderer Cho dated December 14, 2005. Observations were, "mood is depressed, denies suicidal tendencies and refuses to acknowledge symptoms of a thought disorder. Insight and judgement are normal. Presents an imminent danger to self as a result of mental illness."

Further testimony from a Kathy Godbey states, "is mentally ill and needs hospitalization." "Presents an imminent danger to self or others as a result of mental illness."

But the next day, a physician concluded that, while mentally ill, Cho did not present an imminent danger to others or require involuntary hospitalization. Paul M. Barrett, a special justice with the Virginia District Court in Christiansburg released him. (Page 5 of the document).

A 1968 federal law prohibits those who have been involuntarily hospitalized for mental illness from buying firearms. Because he had not been committed, Cho could legally purchase the .22-caliber and 9mm handguns he bought in February and March and used in this week's attack.

A chilling and concerning post document that clearly shows that Cho's mental illness was clearly identified and was given outside counseling in substitution of what he really needed, immediate hospitalization. As noted in the document, that despite these observations, duly presented to the state of Virginia court system, Cho remained able to legally purchase all of the guns and weapons he so desired, under the laws of the state of Virginia, because he was not hospitalized.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/images/blogs/news_blog/ChoDetention.pdf

PERLES OF WISDOM FROM AN ARCHITECT OF THE IRAQ WAR

"Neo Culpa"
Please don't call them "architects of the war": Richard (Prince of Darkness) Perle, David (Axis of Evil) Frum, Kenneth (Cakewalk) Adelman, and other elite neoconservatives who pushed for the invasion of Iraq are beside themselves at the result.

Interesting interview from Vanity Fair (now published in its entirety on their web site), of Richard Perle, a PNAC / Bushie who helped frame the Iraq war, now sees the light in total hindsight. And that is OK, the trouble is with those stubborn fools who cannot see the light through the backsides of their trousers.

See the link below for the entire interview.

These are the highlights....

Perle had spent much of the 1990s urging the ouster of Saddam Hussein. He was aligned with the Project for the New American Century, a neoconservative think tank that agitated for Saddam's removal, and he had helped to engineer the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act, which established regime change as formal U.S. policy. After the accession of George W. Bush, in 2001, Perle was appointed chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, and at its first meeting after 9/11—attended by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld; his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz; and Rumsfeld's No. 3, Douglas Feith—Perle arranged a presentation from the exiled Iraqi dissident Ahmad Chalabi. Perle wanted to shut down terrorist havens—not only in Afghanistan but also in Iraq.

According to Perle, who left the Defense Policy Board in 2004, this unfolding catastrophe has a central cause: devastating dysfunction within the Bush administration. The policy process has been nothing short of "disastrous," he says. "The decisions did not get made that should have been. They didn't get made in a timely fashion, and the differences were argued out endlessly. At the end of the day, you have to hold the president responsible.…

Perle goes as far as to say that, if he had his time over, he would not advocate an invasion of Iraq: "I think if I had been delphic, and had seen where we are today, and people had said, 'Should we go into Iraq?,' I think now I probably would have said, 'No, let's consider other strategies for dealing with the thing that concerns us most, which is Saddam supplying weapons of mass destruction to terrorists.' … I don't say that because I no longer believe that Saddam had the capability to produce weapons of mass destruction, or that he was not in contact with terrorists. I believe those two premises were both correct. Could we have managed that threat by means other than a direct military intervention? Well, maybe we could have."

The article goes on to access the other neo-con proponents of the war think now...Would there be a similar "neo culpa"?

David Frum, the former White House speechwriter who co-wrote Bush's 2002 State of the Union address, accusing Iraq of being part of an "axis of evil," says it now looks as if defeat may be inescapable, because "the insurgency has proven it can kill anyone who cooperates, and the United States and its friends have failed to prove that it can protect them.

Kenneth Adelman, a longtime neocon activist and Pentagon insider who has served on the Defense Policy Board, wrote a famous op-ed article in The Washington Post in February 2002, arguing, "I believe that demolishing Hussein's military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk." Now he says, "I am extremely disappointed by the outcome in Iraq, because I just presumed that what I considered to be the most competent national-security team since Truman was indeed going to be competent. They turned out to be among the most incompetent teams in the postwar era. Not only did each of them, individually, have enormous flaws, but together they were deadly, dysfunctional." Fearing that worse is still to come, Adelman believes that neoconservatism itself—what he defines as "the idea of a tough foreign policy on behalf of morality, the idea of using our power for moral good in the world"—is dead, at least for a generation. After Iraq, he says, "it's not going to sell."

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/01/neocons200701

HE "RUSHES" TO BLAME THE LIBERALS

The quote of the day...no, month by the political gasbag pictured to the right. Rush Limbaugh, the hero and mouthpiece of the political right, obviously overjoyed at the opportunity to slam the liberals, even if at the expense of all those victims at Virginia Tech. At a time of great sorrow, the exalted Mr. Limbaugh stated the following....

"Cho Seung Hui? He has got to be a liberal.

Railing against the rich like he did.....he has got to be a liberal...."

A lesser man would have curtailed his hate filled comments about everything he despises, (namely the Democratic party and all it stands for) during a time of extreme national sorrow. But not this piece of shit. He takes every opportunity to slam the liberal majority of the country, even as they lay the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre into the ground.

Other right wingers have humorously said Cho was possibly put up to the deed by the Republicans in order to be a diversion against the Gonzalez hearings, or the Rove subpoena, or the Wolfowitz investigation at the World Bank, or the failing efforts in Iraq, or the veto of a time line for our departure in Iraq.

But that is OK, there is nothing more Christian than taking advantage of the deaths and misfortune of others to further your political agenda, and get a really, really cheap laugh.

HE TOOK IT TO THE (WORLD) BANK

Wolfowitz under investigation at the World Bank for improperly promoting girlfriend.

A substantial pay raise and promotion for his current girlfriend is at issue. Wolfowitz’s nearly two-year employment with the World Bank may be at end. The World Bank board said Friday that the situation should be dealt with “urgently, effectively and in an orderly manner.” The ad hoc group will make recommendations to the board’s executive directors. No timetable was provided. The board asked the group to look into Wolfowitz’s handling of Riza’s compensation package with regard to bank rules and “conflict of interest, ethical, reputations and other relevant standards.”

President Bush has run to the aid of Mr. Wolfowitz, who publically has stated that "the administration is in full support of Mr. Wolfowitz." Great character reference. With "W" on his side, certainly his days are numbered.

My advise to Mr. Wolfowitz is to run back to the Bush administration, where such hubris and dirty dealings are not only tolerated, they are all a part of the pattern of behavior that has been developing, and will continue through the end of the administrations terms of office.

VERMONT VOTES FOR IMPEACHMENT

Vt. Senate calls for Bush, Cheney impeachment
16-9 vote in non-binding resolution cites domestic, foreign policies

MONTPELIER, Vt. - Vermont senators voted Friday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, saying their actions have raised "serious questions of constitutionality."The non-binding resolution was approved 16-9 without debate — all six Republicans in the chamber at the time and three Democrats voted against it. The resolution says Bush and Cheney's actions in the U.S. and abroad, including in Iraq, "raise serious questions of constitutionality, statutory legality, and abuse of the public trust."

Forty towns voted in favor of similar non-binding impeachment resolutions at their annual town meetings in March. State lawmakers in Wisconsin and Washington have pushed for similar resolutions.

SILENCE MOMENTARILY BROKEN BY BLOODSHED

Everyone knew. Everyone who came in contact with Cho, a slight, quiet Asian college student, knew. They knew he was a time bomb waiting to explode. Bullied in high school and desperately lonely, this young kid replaced the voices of what should have been childhood friends and loved ones with the sick and twisted voices inside his head.

Shyness and loneliness became anger and mental illness, and everyone knew. Cloaked in sunglasses, and completely non-communicative, this young boy became what he ultimately wanted to be, an infamous mass murderer, much in the same vein as the kids in Columbine. And everyone knew it could happen. Few came to his aid. Some did, and failed. They knew it could happen, and valiantly tried to prevent it, to get through. They knew it could happen. And this week, it did.

"Cho, of Centreville, the son of immigrants who run a dry cleaning business and the brother of a State Department contractor who graduated from Princeton, was described by those who encountered him over the years as at times angry, menacing, disturbed and so depressed that he seemed near tears. He often spoke in a whisper, if at all, refused to open up to teachers and classmates, and kept himself locked behind a facade of a hat, sunglasses and silence."

So Cho did what the voices in his head said to do. Reach out to the world he could never quite fit into. Reach out, and pay back. It is obvious he had planned this for quite some time. Plotted and planned. Planned and prepared, and purchased the arsenal he needed to follow in the footsteps of the Columbine students he respected and admired. And understood. And seen in the media a hundred times before. He was going to be famous and go down in a blaze of glory.

So he prepared a package of information and pictures and sent them off to the media. More fodder for the building of the marketing of yet another madman, another famous mass murderer. I think he relished the attention he would soon get, the attention he never got throughout his unfortunate childhood.

He knew. His act of madness, his upcoming act of desperation, his planned acts of violence against the unwitting victims of his vendetta against society would make him famous. He knew. The media would be whipped into a frenzy over him. Yes, the media knew better. The around the clock coverage of these unfortunates is what they crave. The media knew. But they cannot help themselves. They are ruled by ratings and the money the ratings create. So knowing that it's wrong, knowing the publicity they would create is what drives the mentally ill like Cho. And knowing all of that, they couldn't stop themselves from giving Cho really what he wanted. The attention and fame and martyrdom he thought he deserved. So Cho took self portraits of himself with guns and knives, dressed in garb that could only be described as a modern day Taxi Driver character. He knew. The pictures would make him famous. He knew. He was about to make history.

Everyone knew. But the story plays out in the media of yet another madman who gave plenty of warning. Who gave every indication that he was ready to go off. The only question was, when? Now WE know. It was this week. And a nation grieves. And the families of the unwitting victims of this desperate, angry and depressed young man gone wrong, are forced to witness the endless coverage of the murderer that everyone knew could go off.

And they are forced to bury and mourn the tragic loss of their children and loved ones who had so much promise, so much to live for. Cut down in the prime of their lives by a young man, a child really, who had nothing. No friends, no future, no potential, no promise, nothing to live for. So he ended his own life, but not until he took his revenge, exacted his vengeance for a troubled life so tragically gone wrong.

But what he didn't know...he had no one else to blame but himself.

KIMBA'S BOOK CLUB SELECTION OF THE MONTH

LEE IACOCCA: Where Have All The Leaders Gone?

Read the book, don't read the book, that's your business,

but read the following excerpt and tell me you do not agree with Mr. Iacocca's common sense outrage.

Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course." Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out! You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies.Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for.

So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened. Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

"NOTHING IMPROPER" : THE A.G. SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT

In today's op-ed section of the Washington Post, Alberto Gonzales writes, in a preview of tomorrows hearings before the hill.......

"While I have never sought to deceive Congress or the American people, I also know that I created confusion with some of my recent statements about my role in this matter. To be clear: I directed my then-deputy chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, to initiate this process; fully knew that it was occurring; and approved the final recommendations. Sampson periodically updated me on the review. As I recall, his updates were brief, relatively few in number and focused primarily on the review process. During those conversations, to my knowledge, I did not make decisions about who should or should not be asked to resign."

I am committed to explaining my role in this process
and will do so Tuesday when I testify before Congress.

Let's see... he "directed the initiation of this process, knew it was occurring, received periodic updates in regards to the process, and approved the final recommendations, including each individual attorney that was fired.

But he did not make recommendations over who would be fired.

I've seen better tap dancing than this on "Dancing with the Stars".

See you tomorrow on the hill.

Bring your tap shoes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401010.html

THE ONLY GOP CANDIDATE* WITH LEGS

*not announced.

You heard it here first folks, this gentleman will be the GOP candidate for president in 2008. Faced with a slate of candidates sickeningly weak (Guiliani-"too liberal", McCain-"imploding, darling of the press" and Romney-"flip flopper"), the conservatives are already gravitating towards this man, former Senator from Tennessee, co-counsel to the Watergate Committee, and oh yes, the co-star of the widely popular "Law and Order" TV program.

It must be pointed out that although Thompson has not formally announced his intentions, he has been seen lunching on the hill recently, most notably with former senate majority leader Bill Frist, his Tennessee partner in crime. He also enjoys the encouragement of not only Frist, but Howard Baker, Lamar Alexander, J.C. Watts and Tenn Rep Zach Wamp, who has started a "Draft Thompson" movement. A recent poll shows Thompson in third with 12% of Republicans, only behind Guiliani and McCain, and slightly ahead of undecided with 11%.

Senator Thompson, although sporting a pretty thin resume, spent eight years in the Senate before not seeking re-election after the death of his daughter by heart attack. He then went into acting, playing government officials as well as his present role as DA of New York City. Although he has less experience than any of the other top GOP candidates, he does sport a persona and cache of strength, and a "Reaganesque" like communication skill.

These days, perception is reality, and all the public knows (in general) is that when they see this man, they think of strength, and that ain't bad. He has virtually little skeletons in the closet, and is firmly a "Law and Order" candidate. During his senate terms, he was a strong advocate of states rights, and that ain't bad for a conservative either. Plus, since his departure from the senate, he cannot be tied to the Iraq war, or the pork barrel spending record of the GOP dominated house and senate, which have dramatically increased the federal deficit.

Sen. Thompson does have issues, though. It has been bantered around that he is "not religious" enough, and he is currently in remission from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. However, it should be pointed out that others have announced battles with cancer themselves, McCain (skin), Tsongas (lymphoma), and Guiliani, Dole, and John Kerry, all with prostate cancer. And of course, the press has been widely reporting the recurrence of Elizabeth Edwards cancer as well. Doctors have stated that Mr. Thompson's cancer is "an indolent form which responds well to medical treatment", and they can detect "no signs of the cancer currently through any medical testing."

I think Bill Frist said it best, "Fred Thompson understand real people, and they understand him.....he understands the legislative process, and has a strong bi-partisan appeal, though he is a real conservative."

Ladies and gentlemen, you are hearing it first from the

World According to Kimba,

Fred Thompson will be the GOP candidate for the Presidency in 2008.

All he has to do is decide to run, and announce.

And he will give Barack and Hillary a run at that coveted Hollywood $$$$.

I have said it before, and I will say it again. Voters want what they did not have in their last President. Nixon begat Carter (honesty), Bush sr. begat Clinton (youth,charisma), and Bush Jr. will result in voters looking for intelligence, strength and an "in your face, everything out in the open, this is the way it is going to be, because I am the President, and I say so" leader. Someone with a commanding presence. I think (although he is far too conservative for me) this is the candidate the libs must fear most.

Who do they have to counter Senator Thompson? Hillary? Obama? This could get ugly fast for the liberals. And, as long as the democratic voters are confident in their ability to maintain control of the houses, why not a conservative leader to provide checks and balances and keep the legislative and executive branches in check?

WHITE HOUSE DELETIONS THAT DO NOT INVOLVE ATTORNEYS..........YET

Reports from Washington are that possibly up to 5 millions e-mails are "missing" and may have been "accidentally" deleted from the server. Would you be surprised to find out that the majority of these "missing" e-mails were from and to George Bush's chief political advisor, Karl Rove? What are the odds? Now that the dems are in power, and are handing out subpoenas to Republicans like they were invitations to Jack Abramoff's birthday party, the GOP suddenly come up lame on all of the information from over 5 million e-mails? Is this shades of the Nixon era, and the 18 minutes of tape? Not since Watergate has there been an administration more out of control, or less ethical.

The missing e-mails posed some of the weightiest questions of a sprawling political and legal conflict between the Bush administration and Democrats in Congress. Democrats are questioning whether any White House officials purposely sent e-mails about official business on the RNC server -- then deleted them, in violation of the law -- to avoid scrutiny.
White House officials say they can't rule that out, but that the administration is making an honest and aggressive effort to recover anything that was lost. "We have no indications that there was improper intent when using these RNC e-mails," spokeswoman Dana Perino said. Luskin said Rove didn't know that deleting e-mails from his RNC inbox also deleted them from the RNC's server. That system was changed in 2005.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/04/13/fired.prosecutors.ap/index.html

IMUS THINKING IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME

I have reserved comment on the unfortunate (continuing) saga of Mr. Don Imus, cultural icon, and radio, if not TV star / personality. Imus, speaking from his "Imus in the morning" pulpit, was quoted as calling the women athletes on the Rutgers basketball team, "nappy headed ho's", among other things.

Was I surprised to hear the latest hate filled comments from Mr. Imus? No, he had always pushed the envelope on his radio and TV simulcast show. And gotten away with it with nary a reprimand from his employer. And, as in most matters of this nature, it got progressively worse. On Imus, no subject was taboo. Sex, politics, religion, celebrities, whatever was in the forefront of the news was fodder for the Imus teams comedic stylings.

Am I shocked at the comment? No. Am I shocked at the moral outrage from virtually the entire population? No, of course not. Imus was chastised from all sections of the populous, especially from black leaders such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson, and rightfully so. The public outcry, the public debate and discourse over the Rutgers basketball team was louder than the public discourse that certainly should have developed over the treatment (or more correctly, lack of treatment and or help) the victims (largely African American) of the devastating disaster which was Hurricane Katrina, which killed many, and displaced thousands of middle class minority citizens. Am I shocked? No.

What shocked me was the silence from the broadcasting network, who merely suspended the simulcast TV portion of his show. Was that penance enough? Obviously the broadcasting company waited to measure the nations outcries. Well, today, the hammer came down on the "Imus in the morning" show, both TV and radio.

The shocking part was Imus was not fired for saying the hate filled racist comments towards collegiate athletes who had done nothing, absolutely nothing to deserve this. No, Imus was fired for one reason, and one reason alone.....

Imus lost his sponsors.

No sponsors, no money, no Imus in the morning.

It is as clear as black and white.

And again, no, I am not shocked at that either.

Imus, who did apologize profusely, did what Michael Richards did after his racial incident, he pointed towards the amount of charity work he had done, and the number of black friends and associates he had. Pathetic. How either of these nimrods could have possibly thought their comments were acceptable, let alone funny or amusing completely escapes me.

Don Imus, Michael Richards and Mel Gibson, three classic examples of how this country; a country who couldn't even pass a civil rights bill until 1964, is not only populated, but having its politics, religion and its entertainment shaped to a small extent by moronic bigots, operating publicly through a cloak of secrecy. However, the truth always, always comes out eventually. Bye Don, your 15 minutes are up.

I THINK YOU McUNDERSTOOD WHEN I JUST McSPOKE

John McCain, in his further pathetic at all costs support of his President, and the Iraqi war, was quoted as saying, "There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through today." What Senator McCain failed to mention was while undertaking this dramatic photo opportunity with the crew of 60 Minutes was the company he was keeping to insure his safety, namely the contingent of armed soldiers, ten armored Humvee and the two Black hawk attack helicopters circling overhead.

When Reporter Scott Pelley asked him about the quote, Mc Cain stated....

"Of course I'm going to misspeak and I've done it on numerous occasions and I probably will do in the future. I regret that when I divert attention to something that I've said from my message but you know that's just life, and I'm happy frankly with the way I operate, otherwise it would be a lot less fun," McCain says.

Pictured above left, is Senator McCain walking safely through a greatly improved Baghdad marketplace. The story is not the conditions in Iraq, which I very much hope actually are improving. It is the quote itself. "I misspeak often, I will misspeak in the future. I am happy with the way I operate, otherwise it would be a lot less fun."

And oh, by the way, vote for me?

What on earth are you thinking?

Put a fork in him folks, he is done.

WAS THIS HEAD START, OR NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND?

NEW ORLEANS - Five fifth-grade students face criminal charges after authorities said four of them had sex in front of other students in an unsupervised classroom and kept a classmate posted as a lookout for teachers. The students were arrested Tuesday at the Spearsville school in rural north Louisiana, authorities said. Two 11-year-old girls, a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year old boy were charged with obscenity, a felony. An 11-year-old boy, the alleged guard, was charged with being an accessory. Authorities said the incident happened March 27 at the school, which houses students from kindergarten through 12th grade. A high school teacher normally watches the fifth-grade class at the time, but went to an assembly for older students and the class was inadvertently left unattended, Buckley said. The class, which had around 10 other students, was alone for about 15 minutes, he said. "When no teacher showed up, the four began to have sex in the classroom with the other elementary students in the classroom with them," he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17980152/

WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM

New on the market, Stephen Colbert's "Americone Dream" ice cream. Destined to be a cult classic, much like his comedy show. This is the first of a series apparently, as the new owners of Ben and Jerry's want to use their products to raise public awareness to its political concerns. Soon to be appearing on your local market shelves will be....

Bill O'Reilly's "Caramel Crackpot"

an all-vanilla base with pockets of self righteous bits to chew on, with no substance

George W. Bush's "PNAC Butter Light"

he is not sure what is in it, what prompted it, or where it will take you,

but it was in the planning stages since his Dad was in office, and he was in detox

I will keep you informed of the next flavors to come down the line.

Currently on the drawing board....

Mark Foley's "Rainbow Slurpit"

Barack Obama's "Not so Rocky Road" and

Tom De Lay's "Crookies and Creamed"

THE LETTER OF THE LAW

A must read for all political scientists (both professional and amateur), or people like us who simply want to know how we got into the mess we are in at the moment.


"Filled with headline-making revelations, this explosive account by two award-winning investigative reporters tracks the behind-the-scenes story of the forged intelligence document that the Bush administration used to push the nation into war with Iraq."
http://www.amazon.com/Italian-Letter-Bush-Administration-Build/dp/1594865736

Let's put this all into perspective with some quotes on the record from a former head of the CIA counter intelligence unit, Vincent Cannistraro....

The hawks are not getting evidence of al-Qaeda/Iraq ties “from the CIA because the CIA, to its credit, is telling it the way they see it, which is what they should be doing, describing the world as it is, not as policy-makers wish it to be, or hope it to be, but as it is.” [CBC News, 11/1/2002]

“They are politicizing intelligence, no question about it. And they are undertaking a campaign to get George Tenet [the director of central intelligence] fired because they can’t get him to say what they want on Iraq.” [Washington Post, 10/25/2002]

“All I can tell you is there is a general feeling among CIA analysts that intelligence was politicized and that the CIA and (Defense Intelligence Agency) was not given full consideration because the Pentagon, the policymakers, including the vice-president’s office, did not want to hear that message. They wanted to hear a hard line message supporting a policy they already adopted.” [Agence France-Presse, 6/1/2003]

“The Iraqi opposition, particularly the group led by Ahmed Chalabi, whose intelligence was underwritten by the Pentagon, played a crucial role in informing the Pentagon… with information that looks, from this vantage point, like it was fraudulent, in many cases was fabricated, and the most benign interpretation was that it was just flat wrong.” [ABC News, 6/16/2003]

The fact is that even if the documents hadn't been bogus, this was an easy one: All they had to do was translate the documents. And as soon as they [translated them] a year later, everyone said, "Oh, well, they are bogus." ...

Investigative journalist Craig Unger reports that nine US officials believe “the Niger documents were part of a covert operation to deliberately mislead the American public.”

This book is going on my "to do" list. And what a cast of characters!! Cheney, Bush, Rove, Tenet, Rumsfeld, Powell, as well as CIA insiders, Wilson, Plame, Cannistraro and Carl Ford (see link below for a very interesting interview he gave to PBS).
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darkside/interviews/ford.html

BE SCARED. BE VERY SCARED.

I have a connection in Florida who tells me that "W" is scheduled to attend a couple of graduation ceremonies (one is at a community college) in Florida soon, and will meet with his bro Jeb in Miami for massive photo opportunities.

You heard it here first.

His brother Jeb is not only considering, but 90% sure he will throw his hat into the GOP ring for the Presidency in 2008. Unfortunately for Jeb, the hat will read "I With Stupid." What a wonderful prospect this is, yet another President who is a card carrying member of the PNAC group. The Bush brothers are pictured above left with one of the carcasses they left behind on the road to the White House.