No where to run to

Trying to get back into the posting thing, so starting with a couple of quick takes on what our zany Republicans are up to lately.

Dick Cheney cancels a speaking appearance:

TORONTO — Former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney has cancelled an April appearance in Toronto citing concerns Canada is too dangerous.

“He felt that in Canada the risk of violent protest was simply too high,” said Ryan Ruppert, president of promotions company Spectre Live Corp., which had booked Mr. Cheney for an April 24 appearance at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Apparently his last trip to Vancouver was a bit unpleasant, what with all the protesters shouting about war criminals outside. Admit I feel a little guilty for taking pleasure in his discomfort, but can't deny I'm glad he's finding it difficult to profiteer from his criminal reign at the White House.

In a completely unrelated development, no matter how hard he tries to channel his inner ordinary guy, Willard just can't hide his wealth. He lobs this gem into an interview.

FINEBAUM: You are a Patriots fan, I know that you’ve had a lot of support from that family. Having said that, the most coveted free agent in NFL history is Peyton Manning. I know you want him somewhere away from New England, where do you think he ought to go?

ROMNEY: Well, you know I’m surprised to hear that Denver’s thinking about him, they’re — I don’t want him in our neck of the woods, lets put it that way, I don’t want him to go to Miami or to the Jets. But I’ve got a lot of good friends, the owner Miami Dolphins, and the New York Jets — both owners are friends of mine. But let’s keep him away from New England, so that Tom Brady has a better shot of picking up a championship for us.

Who among us doesn't have a couple of good friends who own major sports franchises? Though to be fair, at least he knew something about what's going on in football. And it doesn't seem to be hurting him in the current primaries. Polling is showing him with a decent chance to take one of both of the big two in the south tonight.

Which leaves us wondering about what will Newt do if he doesn't pull off at least one win. Last I heard Newt is vowing to stay in all the way to Tampa no matter what happens. Of course, what else would he say? Remains to be seen if Sugar Daddy Sheldon feels the same way about bankrolling him that far.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Heartless

It's enormously frustrating to see the same people who got away with lying about innoccuous end of life planning and equating it with "death panels" then turn around and get away with actually instituting for real death panels. The truly sad part is I suppose conservatives are cheering for this policy because nothing says "fiscally responsible conservative" like sentencing poor people to death.

CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy reports at least two people have died since November. Mark Price, a father of six, died waiting for a bone marrow transplant. Now the University Medical Center in Tucson says a man needing a new liver died due to the cutbacks.

There are about 100 people who are probably going to die because of Arizona's cutting off funding for transplants for Medicaid recipients. The poorest of the poor. And at what "great" savings?

Campbell says cutting the transplant program is saving Arizona $1.4 million, or one-tenth of 1 percent of its $825 million budget deficit.

But that's the taxpayers money don'tcha know and hell, we can't afford to be keeping these deadbeats alive, can we?

Meanwhile, I'm betting the taxpayers coughed up more than a million on keeping this heartless man alive. And I mean that almost literally.

Mr. Cheney’s heart will never beat at full strength again, doctors say. His new mechanical pump, a partial artificial heart known as a ventricular assist device, leaves patients without a pulse because it pushes blood continuously instead of mimicking the heart’s own beat.

Got that, the man has no pulse. One step away from a zombie and he bled enough money out of his government service connections to pay for his own damn transplant, which he's likely to need soon.

They say the waiting list shows no favoritism, but what do you want to bet Darth boy won't die waiting for one? Also betting not one conservative will complain about their tax dollars paying for this deadbeat.

Fox Judge Says Indict Bush and Cheney

You do have to wonder how long Fox News' Judge Andrew Napolitano is going to get to keep his job after giving this interview where he just trashes Bush and Cheney. Here's the best part.

Nader: What's the sanction for President Bush and Vice President Cheney?

Napolitano: There's been no sanction except what history will say about them.

Nader: What should be the sanctions?

Napolitano: They should have been indicted. They absolutely should have been indicted for torturing, for spying, for arresting without warrants. I'd like to say they should be indicted for lying but believe it or not, unless you're under oath, lying is not a crime. At least not an indictable crime. It's a moral crime.

Of course they will never be indicted in a court of law. But it's good to see them called to account in the court of public opinion, albeit far too late to do any good.

Not really funny

You've probably heard Dick Cheney was hospitalized. I didn't want to get into it on Twitter, but I'm appalled at how many liberals are joking about it. Maybe it's just me, but no matter how vile I find someone, I don't wish them ill - ever.

Sorry, but I don't see how snarking about anyone in a health crisis makes us any better than the creepy conservatives that cheer the failures of their opponents.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

"Lost" Bush White House emails found

I'm always feeling overwhelmed by my own overflowing inboxes, but glad I don't have to read the 22 million "lost" emails that were recovered after techs discovered they had been mislabeled. I'm seeing some optimism around the internets that this could lead to some long overdue frog-marching of high level Bush era officials, but I wouldn't start holding my breath just yet.

"The e-mails themselves are not what we're getting," Sloan said.Documents related to the handling of e-mail under the Bush administration and subsequent information regarding how White House e-mails are currently archived will be released under a settlement with the Obama administration, which inherited a lawsuit the groups filed in 2007. But the National Archives must sort out which documents are covered by the Freedom of Information Act and which ones fall under the Presidential Records Act - which means they could be withheld for five to 10 years after the Bush administration left office in January, Sloan said. [...]

Monday's settlement allows for 94 days of e-mail traffic, scattered between January 2003 to April 2005, to be restored from backup tapes. Of those 94 days, 40 were picked by statistical sample; another 21 days were suggested by the White House; and CREW, and the National Security Archive picked 33 that seemed "historically significant," from the months before the invasion of Iraq to the period when the firings of U.S. attorneys were being planned.

Also requested were several days surrounding the announcement that a criminal investigation was under way into the disclosure of then-CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson's identity. That investigation led to the conviction of White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to federal agents probing the leak.

There's some hope the emails could prove "Patrick Fitzgerald never received all the documents he requested during the Plame leak probe" but even if that happens, somehow I doubt we'll ever see Cheney or Rove in an orange jumpsuit. I keep remembering that weird "April Fool's joke" and the subsequent reports that emails had been deleted. Whatever the story behind that was, Rove really did visit the server farm around that time. Still think it's a strong possibility that the damning mail was routed through a dedicated server that has been sitting on the bottom of the ocean for a very long time.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

No respect for Dick Cheney

Bear with me friends and readers. I'm so tired I could sleep for about 36 hours straight. But one more afternoon of tying up loose ends and I'll be able to just collapse here for a couple of days and regroup. What passes for normal posting should resume soon. On my way out right now but this was the most amusing item I saw this morning that blessedly had nothing to do with Tiger Woods' penis. It is about a dick though, as in Cheney. Much as I hate polls, this is funny.

Just 1 percent pick George W. Bush as the best reflection of the party’s principles, and only a single person in the poll cites former vice president Richard B. Cheney. About seven in 10 say Bush bears at least “some” of the blame for the party’s problems.

Granted it was a small sample, but still that puts Cheney at almost a negative number. Yet he appears regularly on our teevees as if he mattered at all to anyone except some idiot who started a draft Cheney for 2012 site. Hell, they should go all the way and draft Dick and Liz. Another historic election meme for our horserace crazy media - first father-daughter ticket. That would be infotaining.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Cheney's success story - updated with video

I've been pretty much keeping to my pledge not to read wingnuts or neoo-cons or any other rightwing asshats for at least nine months now. When I went to the doctor today, in spite of the fact I had only been taking half my BP meds for month because I was running out, I had the best reading I've had in years -- 130 over 80. Coincidence? I think not.

But I do read what others say about the people on my DNR list and Steve Benen gets quote of the day on Cheney's latest foray into revisionism.

Cheney thinks it was a sterling success when it came to national security and counter-terrorism. Perhaps there's something to this. After all, except for the catastrophic events of 9/11, and the anthrax attacks against Americans, and terrorist attacks against U.S. allies, and the terrorist attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Bush's inability to capture those responsible for 9/11, and waging an unnecessary war that inspired more terrorists, and the success terrorists had in exploiting Bush's international unpopularity, the Bush/Cheney record on counter-terrorism was awesome.

I hear Gibbs also had a great takedown at the WH presser today. Sorry I lost the link, but he effectively asked why anybody bothers to listen to Cheney anymore. It's a good question. Maybe the media could think up an answer to that one. We wouldn't have to listen to him if they stopped putting him on teevee.

Update: Video of Gibbs remarks.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

All the news that's fit to leak

As has become customary, these are attributed to anonymous sources, but very interesting if true. It certainly seems plausible that Cheney was directly involved in deceiving Congress.

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday. [...]

Intelligence and Congressional officials have said the unidentified program did not involve the C.I.A. interrogation program and did not involve domestic intelligence activities. They have said the program was started by the counterterrorism center at the C.I.A. shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but never became fully operational, involving planning and some training that took place off and on from 2001 until this year.

Hmmm. Wonder if that has anything to do with Cheney's extended SS protection? Also wondering how many other secret programs they had that we may never find out about. And any bets on whether Fox News will ever ask him about it?

Meanwhile, in a related development, what will Holder do?

Four knowledgeable sources tell NEWSWEEK that he is now leaning toward appointing a prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's brutal interrogation practices, something the president has been reluctant to do.

"I hope that whatever decision I make would not have a negative impact on the president's agenda," he says. "But that can't be a part of my decision."

All the smart people are already blogging on this so I'm just going to say, "I'll believe it when I see it." If memory serves, I've heard this rumor before.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Unprecedented protection for Cheney

Customarily vice president's don't get to keep their Secret Service detail but in Cheney's case, they made an exception and extended Cheney's protection for the foreseeable future. Probably a good idea that Obama signed off on it. Considering the guy is more universally hated than Castro, Chavez and root canals, he probably needs it. Word has it he's still getting regular death threats.

In un-related neo-con news, Karl Rove is asking for help in naming his memoirs. I'll be happy to pass on any suggestions if you're not on Twitter yourselves.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Shorter McClatchy: Cheney is a liar

Once again, McClatchy commits actual acts of journalism in dissecting Cheney's speech at AEI. The lede says it all:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney's defense Thursday of the Bush administration's policies for interrogating suspected terrorists contained omissions, exaggerations and misstatements.

The piece goes on to "fisk" the rest of the low points of Cheney's fairy tale. On his denial that the Bush White House was intimately involved in authorizing torture policies at Abu Ghraib and beyond, McClatchy notes:

However, a bipartisan Senate Armed Services Committee report in December traced the abuses at Abu Ghraib to the approval of the techniques by senior Bush administration officials, including former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Read the whole debunking, if only for the pleasure of seeing a news outlet use a responsible model of reporting. That being he said/the record states...

I've been hearing that McClatchy is on shaky financial ground. I propose we all do our part to keep them in business by linking more often. Towards that end I've put them on the sidebar so I remember to look there first for blog fodder. I encourage everyone to do the same.

Update: Dan Froomkin adds his own context to this story and is also one of the very few journalists willing to call a lie, a lie.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

You really got me going

Song in my head that inspired the title of this little linkfest.

I was messing around in youtube because Tim Meehan left this update on Facebook. "Try this: add &fmt=18 to the end of youtube video URLs. You'll hear a big difference." I didn't notice any difference on this video but maybe I'm just too deaf to hear it. Or maybe it only works on your own home-produced vids. If anyone can figure out what it's supposed to do, please leave a comment.

Dan has the rant of the day on the GOP's foolishness.

And I've had this rant on single payer health care hanging around so long I forgot what jurassicpork said, but I remember it was really worth reading. By the way, he's fallen in love on the internets.

SCOTUS upholds CA medical marijuana law by refusing two appeals by hold-out counties without comment.

On a related note, Ohio DEA agent indicted for perjury and fabricating evidence in a case that involves a professional informant called Bray. I seem to recall he was involved in some dicey cases in Oregon a few years back. [h/t Avedon]

Meanwhile, Holland is shutting down prisons because they don't have enough criminals. [via Moonbootica]

Moon also is my primary source for science news these days. She unearths Ida the missing link. I really love fossils. Next lifetime I want to be an archaeologist.

And an interesting twist on climate change. Arctic melt that is causing the sea to retreat and the land to rise. Weird.

Picture of the day at mikevotes place. It takes some talent to snarl with a smile.

Related art of the day from Andy. Picture made entirely of corn. Seems fitting.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Jesse Ventura calls a Dick a dick

Jesse Ventura is doing the talk show circuit to promote a book and he gave Larry King an earful on Dick Cheney's latest historical revision tour.

VENTURA: It's drowning. It gives you the complete sensation that you are drowning. It is no good, because you -- I'll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders.

I never followed Jesse. I always thought he was pretty crazy and never really understood how he managed to got to be governor of Minnesota but he's shining here. He takes on more of the sacred GOP cows in this clip, including Rushbo. Love to see Rushbo bite back against him but I'm sure he wouldn't dare.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

GOP to Cheney - just go away

GOPers thinking Cheney should crawl back under the rock he slithered out from:

[One unnamed] legislator said Cheney, whose approval ratings were lower than President Bush’s during the last Congress, didn’t think through the political implications of going after Obama.

Cheney did “House Republicans no favors,” the lawmaker said, adding, “I could never understand him anyway.

Really? I wonder what part of "Go fuck yourself," he doesn't get? I'd say that sums up his whole tenure in office, if not his entire life.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Obama slaps back Cheney criticism

I wonder how long it will take the usual suspects to start hyperventilating about President Obama's 'disrespect' for the former occupiers of the White House? Pushing back on Cheney's previous bizarre criticisms of his new approach to the fight against terrorism, Obama had this to say among other things.

“How many terrorists have actually been brought to justice under the philosophy that is being promoted by Vice President Cheney?”

Bush administration terrorism policy “hasn’t made us safer,” Mr. Obama said, according to excerpts of the interview released Saturday. “What it has been,” he continued, “is a great advertisement for anti-American sentiment.”

I get encouraged when our president talks like this. It's the kind of change I believe in. Unfortunately, I never stop reading so I find myself wondering if he's really going to walk that talk. Embracing the same tactics to cover up the past administration's criminality won't change anything.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Mysterious deaths

Avedon says out loud what I was thinking when I first heard about this:

It would be even more interesting to know whether Dick Cheney's Assassination Squad explains the mysteriously convenient deaths of so many people who seemed to stand in his way politically.

I mean, when you start counting them up, there were a lot of them.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

For the record...

Dick Cheney is a smug, remorseless. lying, soulless, malevolent parasite and a irredeemable psychopath. That is all.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Sucking up to Cheney

Dick Cheney is a vile, scum sucking monster and should STFU. And the daring trio at Politico should be ashamed to be such willing fluffers for his self-serving fearmongering.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News.]

Perp walk for Cheney and Gonazles?

I agree with Steve. It's unlikely. Steve adds the prosecutor is a bit of a nutcase besides, but the charges of the indictment make good reading.

Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. Cheney is accused of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies. [...]

The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately run prisons.

As my pal GTL notes, this is a prime case to apply RICO, but I wouldn't advise holding your breath waiting for that to happen. It would be nice though, if the matter generated some discussion on the abysmal prison conditions in America. The abuses here under privitization rival Gitmo and Abu Ghraib in the breadth of their horror.

[Graphic: Vanity Fair.]

Delayed justice would be better than none

Not being a fan of talk radio, I'll have to take Scott Horton's word that Gene Burns is one of the nation’s most popular talk radio hosts who has consistently defended the Bush administration's use of torture. Like most Americans, he apparently didn't realize how far they had gone in their pursuit of 'intelligence gathering.' He's now seen the light.

And then I saw Torturing Democracy.

And I’m afraid, now that I have seen what I have seen, that I was wrong about that. It looks to me, based on this documentary, as if in fact we have engaged in behavior and practices at Guantánamo Bay, and in these illegal renditions, that are violations of the international human rights code.

And I believe that Dick Cheney is responsible. I believe that he was the agent of the United States government charged with developing the methodology used at Guantánamo Bay, supervising it for the administration, and indulging in practices which are in fact violations of human rights.

Scott notes that the Bush administration has done its best to spike both this documentary and another called Taxi to the Dark Side. It's worth noting that neither will be aired on major broadcast stations until after Bush leaves office since the stations fear White House retribution.

One can only hope that when and if these films receive wide dissemination, Americans will step up and demand that our Congresslizards finally hold Bush and Cheney accountable for this gross violation of everything this country used to stand for.

[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

Vincent Bugliosi rips Bush a new one

expatbrian

In case you missed this over at C & L, I think it's the best thing on YouTube today. Bugliosi is given a platform before the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend his new book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. The repubs on the committee got a little more than they bargained for.