The War On Truth:
The other day W. tried to terrify all of us into submission by recounting the daring-do of our anti-terrorism forces in thwarting an al-Qaeda plot in 2002 to fly a plane into the tallest building in L.A. Of course, the administration doesn't talk about their sources and methods, unless that is, there's some political hay to be made by doing so. In this case, it appears it wasn't much of a plot to begin with. AP reports that, "The plan never appeared close to the stage where it could be put into execution." The would-be pilot of this suicide attack, a Malaysian named Zaini Zakaria, decided to quit al-Qaeda after he saw the carnage of the 9/11 attacks. "Zaini told Malaysian interrogators that he 'didn't want that kind of Jihad.' Another interrogator said that Zaini told him, "He was not prepared to die as a martyr, so he backed out."
See, this is the kind of story that gets buried on page A-11 and the only thing anyone remembers is that W. saved us from a big attack. We keep hearing about all these attacks that have been prevented from happening, but because of security concerns they can't tell us anything about them, so we just have to take W.'s word for it, and I certainly believe W., don't you? When he says "I don't know" Jack Abramoff, I believe that, too. I mean, the guy only gave him $100,000 for his election campaign, that's chump change compared to what Kenny Boy gave him, right?
Oh...he really does remember meeting Abramoff after all? Yes, apparently so; Abramoff himself wrote in an e-mail to the editor of the Washingtonian, that Bush "joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids." Well, maybe W. just has a bad memory? Nope, Abramoff says Bush "has one of the best memories of any politician I have ever met." [AP]There appears to be a contradiction here somewhere. Someone is lying, it must be Abramoff, right?
Well, even if W. is lying sack-of-you-know-what, at least there's Dick Cheney, he would never lie. He says he 'knows-nothink' about how Valerie Plame's name got out there to the press. AP reports, Cheney's former Chief of Staff and current indictee "Scooter" Libby, "told a federal grand jury that his superiors authorized him to give secret information to reporters as a part of the Bush administration's defense of intelligence used to justify invading Iraq....In a Jan. 23 letter to Libby's attorney, [Special Prosecutor Patrick] Fitzgerald said Libby also testified before the grand jury that he caused at least one other government official to discuss an intelligence estimate with reporters in July 2003."
Hmmm...his superiors, now who would that be? Oh, right, Dick Cheney. So, let me get this straight, Darth claims Libby acted on his own, yet Libby says he was authorized to leak secret intelligence to the press. Isn't there a DOJ investigation going on right now looking into which top government official leaked the spying program to the press? Many GOP congressmen and W. himself where just "outraged" about this breech in national security, but I guess not so much when it comes to sticking it to a political opponent.
Man, when the rats start leaving the ship things can get hairy. Not that Libby would ever try to save his own hide by turning on W. & Co. or anything, right? Luckily for the Republicans, Libby's trial doesn't start until next year, long after the midterms. But the Abramoff thing could still be a problem, but that shouldn't be much of one as the special prosecutor in the Justice Department investigation of Jackie Boy has been bumped upstairs to a federal judgeship and Tom DeLay is now on the subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department which just happens to be investigating Abramoff and himself. [FOX] Pretty slick, way slicker than even "slick Willy."
For its part the White House is keeping mum on the whole thing. Scott "my-dad-thinks-LBJ-killed-JFK" McClellan says, "Our policy is that we are not going to discuss this when it's an ongoing legal proceeding" unless W. exercises his presidential prerogative and says Tom DeLay is innocent in his money laundering trial down in the great state of Texas.
War on science, continued:
A few days ago I commented on W.'s war against government scientists that talk about Global Warming and here's an update. On the 8th the NYT reported (I'm always a day late and a dollar short):
George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters' access to top climate scientists and told a web designer to add the word "theory" at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said." It appears, young Mr. Deutsch said on his resume that he had graduated from Texas A&M, but it turns out he really didn't. D'oh! Not that he wasn't extremely qualified for his position, though as all Bush appointees are---like Michael Brown was at FEMA---he worked on Bush's re-election committee and his inaugural committee. That's good enough for me!
On Friday, in response to complaints by scientists about this muzzling policy, first reported in the Times, Michael Griffin, the head of NASA, launched a full review of the agency's PR policies. The Times quotes Dean Acosta, deputy assistant administrator for public affairs and Deutsche's boss as saying, "NASA is in the process of revising our public affairs policies across the agency to ensure our commitment to open and full communications." And he might have added---as per administration policy to promote the president's back-to-the-moon-policy, 'these revisions should have great applications in man's return to the moon and future colonies on Mars.'
The man in the middle of this controversy, Dr. James Hansen, called Deutsch a "bit player" and reiterated his concerns that "On climate (policy), the public has been misinformed and not informed. The foundation of a democracy is an informed public, which obviously means an honestly informed public. That's the big issue here." Oh Dr. Hansen, what planet are you on? "An honestly informed public?" What kind of liberal crap is that? If the public were honestly informed on a whole bunch of issues, Tom DeLay would be behind bars and W. & Co. would be making way for Dennis Hastert to move into the White House for the next three years. Get real!
If I were Dr. Hansen I would be getting someone else to start my car, because not only is Tom DeLay on the subcommittee that's investigating his "close personal friend" Jack Abramoff, but he's also on the appropriations committee that oversees funding for NASA. (Oddly enough, the Johnson Space Center just happens to be in DeLay's district in Houston.) By the time the "Hammer" gets through with those climate change eggheads at NASA, they'll probably be experiencing global warming up close and in personal on some ice berg up in the artic.
See, this is the kind of story that gets buried on page A-11 and the only thing anyone remembers is that W. saved us from a big attack. We keep hearing about all these attacks that have been prevented from happening, but because of security concerns they can't tell us anything about them, so we just have to take W.'s word for it, and I certainly believe W., don't you? When he says "I don't know" Jack Abramoff, I believe that, too. I mean, the guy only gave him $100,000 for his election campaign, that's chump change compared to what Kenny Boy gave him, right?
Oh...he really does remember meeting Abramoff after all? Yes, apparently so; Abramoff himself wrote in an e-mail to the editor of the Washingtonian, that Bush "joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids." Well, maybe W. just has a bad memory? Nope, Abramoff says Bush "has one of the best memories of any politician I have ever met." [AP]There appears to be a contradiction here somewhere. Someone is lying, it must be Abramoff, right?
Well, even if W. is lying sack-of-you-know-what, at least there's Dick Cheney, he would never lie. He says he 'knows-nothink' about how Valerie Plame's name got out there to the press. AP reports, Cheney's former Chief of Staff and current indictee "Scooter" Libby, "told a federal grand jury that his superiors authorized him to give secret information to reporters as a part of the Bush administration's defense of intelligence used to justify invading Iraq....In a Jan. 23 letter to Libby's attorney, [Special Prosecutor Patrick] Fitzgerald said Libby also testified before the grand jury that he caused at least one other government official to discuss an intelligence estimate with reporters in July 2003."
Hmmm...his superiors, now who would that be? Oh, right, Dick Cheney. So, let me get this straight, Darth claims Libby acted on his own, yet Libby says he was authorized to leak secret intelligence to the press. Isn't there a DOJ investigation going on right now looking into which top government official leaked the spying program to the press? Many GOP congressmen and W. himself where just "outraged" about this breech in national security, but I guess not so much when it comes to sticking it to a political opponent.
Man, when the rats start leaving the ship things can get hairy. Not that Libby would ever try to save his own hide by turning on W. & Co. or anything, right? Luckily for the Republicans, Libby's trial doesn't start until next year, long after the midterms. But the Abramoff thing could still be a problem, but that shouldn't be much of one as the special prosecutor in the Justice Department investigation of Jackie Boy has been bumped upstairs to a federal judgeship and Tom DeLay is now on the subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department which just happens to be investigating Abramoff and himself. [FOX] Pretty slick, way slicker than even "slick Willy."
For its part the White House is keeping mum on the whole thing. Scott "my-dad-thinks-LBJ-killed-JFK" McClellan says, "Our policy is that we are not going to discuss this when it's an ongoing legal proceeding" unless W. exercises his presidential prerogative and says Tom DeLay is innocent in his money laundering trial down in the great state of Texas.
War on science, continued:
A few days ago I commented on W.'s war against government scientists that talk about Global Warming and here's an update. On the 8th the NYT reported (I'm always a day late and a dollar short):
George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters' access to top climate scientists and told a web designer to add the word "theory" at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said." It appears, young Mr. Deutsch said on his resume that he had graduated from Texas A&M, but it turns out he really didn't. D'oh! Not that he wasn't extremely qualified for his position, though as all Bush appointees are---like Michael Brown was at FEMA---he worked on Bush's re-election committee and his inaugural committee. That's good enough for me!
On Friday, in response to complaints by scientists about this muzzling policy, first reported in the Times, Michael Griffin, the head of NASA, launched a full review of the agency's PR policies. The Times quotes Dean Acosta, deputy assistant administrator for public affairs and Deutsche's boss as saying, "NASA is in the process of revising our public affairs policies across the agency to ensure our commitment to open and full communications." And he might have added---as per administration policy to promote the president's back-to-the-moon-policy, 'these revisions should have great applications in man's return to the moon and future colonies on Mars.'
The man in the middle of this controversy, Dr. James Hansen, called Deutsch a "bit player" and reiterated his concerns that "On climate (policy), the public has been misinformed and not informed. The foundation of a democracy is an informed public, which obviously means an honestly informed public. That's the big issue here." Oh Dr. Hansen, what planet are you on? "An honestly informed public?" What kind of liberal crap is that? If the public were honestly informed on a whole bunch of issues, Tom DeLay would be behind bars and W. & Co. would be making way for Dennis Hastert to move into the White House for the next three years. Get real!
If I were Dr. Hansen I would be getting someone else to start my car, because not only is Tom DeLay on the subcommittee that's investigating his "close personal friend" Jack Abramoff, but he's also on the appropriations committee that oversees funding for NASA. (Oddly enough, the Johnson Space Center just happens to be in DeLay's district in Houston.) By the time the "Hammer" gets through with those climate change eggheads at NASA, they'll probably be experiencing global warming up close and in personal on some ice berg up in the artic.
posted by William Duane at 1:10 PM
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