Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Reuters photo "Democratic" California Sen. Dianne Feinstein makes nicey-nice with Condoleezza "Mushroom Cloud" Rice at Rice's Jan. 18 confirmation hearing. In introducing Rice to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Feinstein gushed, in part: "In Iraq, across the Middle East, in North Korea, in our relations with China and in so many other places we face major challenges. I would submit that Dr. Rice has the skill, the judgment and the poise and the leadership to lead in these difficult times. If confirmed, she will have the deep personal trust and confidence of the president; a real asset. She's been by his side for every crucial national security decision in the last four years. My sense is that the president trusts her implicitly.... The problems we face abroad are complex and sizeable. If Dr. Rice's past performance is any indication, though, we can rest easy.... [Indeed,] this is a remarkable woman that I introduce to you today, and it is with great pride that I do so." Democrat-in-name-only Feinstein to run again California Sen. Dianne Feinstein made it official yesterday: She wants Californians to be stuck with her for another six years. Reports The Sacramento Bee today: Sen. Dianne Feinstein told reporters at a luncheon [yesterday] that she will be running for a third full term in the Senate next year. The Democratic senator, who turns 72 in June, did not equivocate when asked if she would seek another term. "There's no doubt about that," she said. "I'm in good health. I enjoy what I do. I've developed my skills as the years have gone on.... I think my skills are problem-solving -- taking something that's difficult and getting it done." Feinstein's campaign spent $10.3 million in her 2000 victory over Republican Tom Campbell, and $14.4 million in 1994 to beat back a challenge by [Republican] Michael Huffington [former husband of Arianna Huffington]. Feinstein already has banked more than $3 million over the last two years, according to a report her campaign will file soon with the Federal Election Commission. Sure, we have a "democracy." Feinstein will have to be put on a ballot, but that's mostly just for show; the fact of the matter is that with her name recognition and her millions, she has job security that would make a U.S. Supreme Court justice jealous. Looks like we're going to be stuck with the crusty, "go along to get along" Feinstein for years to come, although I for one will never vote for her again, if it means voting for no one or voting for a third-party candidate who is on my side. P.S. Here's what Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said about Condoleezza Rice today: "Dr. Rice has the intelligence, the integrity and the experience for this job. She has the president's confidence." That's pretty infuckingdistinguishable from what "Democrat" Feinstein said about Rice on Jan. 18. (And establishment Democrats bristle when you remark that Democrats are becoming more and more indistinguishable from Republicans.) Feinstein isn't the only "Democrat" who's a fucking sellout. The Associated Press notes that Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman (surprise surprise) and freshman Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar "spoke in Rice's favor" today. The AP reported that today Feinstein actually said today that Rice "will help the United States 'enhance lost credibility among many nations'" and that "A president deserves to have his selections confirmed." Memo to Feinstein: Your constituents deserve to have their senators work for their best interests. Supporting an architect of a bogus war in Iraq that is only making war profiteers richer with billions of U.S. taxpayers' dollars and making Americans less safe from future retaliatory terrorist attacks is not in your constituents' best interests. It's so nice to know where your loyalties lie. P.P.S. I recently wrote that "other Democrats will see that [California Sen. Barbara] Boxer not only did not implode or combust when she actually acted like a Democrat and stood up for the people, but now people are saying 'President Boxer' -- and those other Democrats' testicles, which have long been lodged within their abdominal cavities, will miraculously descend." The Associated Press reports that Democratic Minnesota Sen. Mark Dayton said in the Senate today that he would vote against Rice's nomination as secretary of state tomorrow and said, "I don't like to impugn anyone's integrity, but I really don't like being lied to repeatedly, flagrantly, intentionally. It's wrong. It's undemocratic, it's un-American, and it's dangerous. And it is occurring far too frequently in this administration. And this Congress, this Senate must demand that it stop now." Yup. The Dems need to start using the "L" word -- LIE -- more often. It's a sad comment on the state of our Republican-led government that to point out that a dirty fucking liar is a dirty fucking liar is considered a far worse crime than to be a dirty fucking liar. 10:12:28 PM    Comments []

King George II's 'culture of life' "This is the path of the culture of life that we seek for our country," "President" Bush yesterday told anti-abortion Nazis, who every anniversary of Roe v. Wade protest women's right to have control over their own uteri. Hmmm. What about "the culture of life" for other countries? "You know, we come from many, different backgrounds, but what unites us is our understanding that the essence of civilization is this: The strong have a duty to protect the weak," Bush pontificated yesterday. Here is what King George II's "culture of life" looks like in Iraq right now, and here is how well the strong (the U.S. military forces) are protecting the weak in Iraq (all photos were taken within the past month and all photos are from crisispictures.org): Caption: "An Iraqi girl screams after her parents were killed when U.S. soldiers fired on their car during a dusk patrol on Jan. 18, 2005, in Tal Afar, Iraq. The car held an Iraqi family of seven of which the mother and father were killed." (A Newsday story on this incident is here.) Caption: "Salal Mahmod Abdullah, 40, a taxi driver, recieves aid after being shot in the arm by U.S. forces as he drove his taxi in Mosul, Iraq, on Jan. 10, 2005. Unwittingly, Abdullah approached a foot patrol and U.S. soldiers responded with a five-shot volly at his taxi." Caption: "Iraqi youth stand around the remains of a human body still lying on a street following a bombing last night in the center of the southern city of Basra on Jan. 12, 2005." Caption: "Relatives mourn over family members killed by a U.S. tank in Baquba on Jan. 14, 2005. Ten Iraqis were killed and one injured when a U.S. tank ran over a minibus in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, police said." Caption: "A doctor at Yarmouk Hospital speaks to young girl burned in an attack near Baghdad mosque. A bomb blew up on Jan. 21, 2005, at a small green-domed mosque in western Baghdad, killing 14 worshippers and wounding 40 as they emerged from prayers, doctors and witnesses said." Caption: "A boy looks at the bloodied interior of a vehicle after Brigadier Amer Nayef, Baghdad's deputy police chief, was shot dead in Baghdad on Jan. 10, 2005. Gunmen assassinated Nayef outside his home in southern Baghdad, a police source said. Nayef was shot dead along with his son as they left the family home, he said." (All children should have to see things like this! I'm sure this little boy will grow up to just love us democracy- and freedom-lovin' Americans, as will the five newly orphaned Iraqi children mentioned above.) Caption: "A man sits slumped in his vehicle after being shot dead in al-Mutaiha region [of Iraq] on Dec. 27, 2004. Eyewitnesses said the 44-year-old was allegedly shot because he worked with the British coalition forces stationed in Basra." Caption: "An injured youth sits in a hospital bed in the western Ghazaliya district of Baghdad on Dec. 29, 2004, following an explosion. Thirty people were killed in a house when it was blown up during a police raid, in the latest calamity to befall Iraqi security forces with national elections barely one month away." (This young man probably won't be difficult for anti-American terrorists to recruit...) Caption: Members of the "24th Infantry Regiment give first aid to injured soldiers seconds after a roadside bomb was blown up in the northern city of Mosul on Jan. 10, 2005." Caption: "Police look at the remains of a body on the ground following a car bombing near the Hamdani police station in the Abul Khassib area of eastern Basra on Jan. 10, 2005." You wouldn't be seeing any of these images if the Bush regime had not illegally, immorally, unprovokedly and imperialistically invaded Iraq in March 2003 for the war profiteering of Dick Cheney's Halliburton and other war-profiteering subsidiaries of BushCheneyCorp. And you won't see images like these on Fox News, which repeatedly claims that things are going swimmingly well in Iraq. The Repugnicans' stance on abortion is clear to me now: They want you to be born so that they can kill you. P.S. And killing and maiming and orphaning innocent Iraqis is the best way to prevent future terrorist attacks upon Americans and American interests! It's so counter-intuitive that it's fucking brilliant! I am so fucking happy that George W. Bush & Co. are keeping us so fucking safe! P.P.S. Iraq Body Count reports that the U.S. military has, um, permanently "liberated" more than 15,000 Iraqi civilians since March 2003. Because George W. Bush believes in a "culture of life" and that "the strong have a duty to protect the weak."  11:37:05 AM    Comments []

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