Former Aide to Tom DeLay will Plead Guilty

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former senior aide to Rep. Tom DeLay pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to fraud conspiracy, saying he joined a scheme with lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others to enrich themselves and illegally influence members of Congress.

[...]

The document also clearly refers to DeLay, calling him "Representative No. 2," but sources close to the investigation said nothing in the charges implicates DeLay, a longtime Abramoff associate. The Texas Republican gave up his post as majority leader in September after he was indicted in his home state on charges he improperly steered corporate donations to state legislative candidates in 2002.

GOI: The canaries in the coal mine of corruption are starting to sing and drop off left and right.

Rudy is the second DeLay aide to plead guilty in this case.

By the way. The path to competing and winning against the corporate conservative money machine is to donate online or otherwise to your local candidate for the House or Senate. In our house hold we set aside $10 each month to donate to our House district candidate Angie Paccione who is fighting the bigot Marilyn Musgrave here in Colorado. Ten dollars may not sound like much but if all of us donate what ever we can to our democratic candidates (or outside your state if you race isn't competative) then we have a good shot at over-coming corporate money to win back checks and balances of this out-of-control president. We need to reverberate this idea to furthest corners of the blogosphere. Together we can send honest and responsible Democrats into Washington on a wave of grassroots activism to clean up this mess.

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Uganda Worse Off Then Iraq Report Says

By Katy Pownall in Kampala
Published: 30 March 2006

The rate of violent deaths in war-ravaged northern Uganda is three times higher than in Iraq and the 20-year insurgency has cost $1.7bn (£980m), according to a report by 50 international and local agencies released today.

The violent death rate for northern Uganda is 146 deaths a week or 0.17 violent deaths per 10,000 people per day. This is three times higher than in Iraq, where the incidence of violent death was 0.052 per 10,000 people per day, says the report.

"The Ugandan government, the rebel army and the international community must fully acknowledge the true scale and horror of the situation in northern Uganda," said Kathy Relleen, a policy adviser to Oxfam, one of the organisations behind the report.

The report, by the Civil Society Organisations for Peace in Northern Uganda, puts the cost of the war in northern Uganda at $1.7bn over the past two decades. It says this is equivalent to the United States' total aid to Uganda between 1994 and 2002. "Twenty years of brutal violence is a scar on the world's conscience. The government of Uganda must act resolutely and without delay, both to guarantee the effective protection of civilians and to work with all sides to secure a just and lasting peace," said Ms Relleen.

The report is being released ahead of the arrival of the UN's humanitarian chief Jan Egeland in Uganda tomorrow. Mr Egeland will hold meetings with non-governmental organisations, ministers and Uganda-based UN officials before touring a camp in northern Uganda.

Almost two million people have been driven from their homes in the 20-year insurgency, and forced to live in government-controlled camps for their own protection. Rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army hold no territory but regularly abduct children, using the boys as soldiers and the girls as sex slaves. The report estimates that 25,000 children have been abducted during the war.

[..]

The rate of violent deaths in war-ravaged northern Uganda is three times higher than in Iraq and the 20-year insurgency has cost $1.7bn (£980m), according to a report by 50 international and local agencies released today.

GOI: Not many people care about what is going on in Africa and many people can't even name one African country. And yet their is genocide and brutal dictatorships that rival (or are at least as bad as) the situation under Saddam's Iraq:

-Equitorial Guinea is currently being run by a brutal dictator who came to power by way of a coup against his uncle whom we summarily executed. All political parties are banned and the dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema rules with an iron-fist through a military state.

-Sudan is a disaster as we all know (at least I hope you know about it) where people are being massacred, women raped and where people are forced to flee their homes for refuge camps in TChad by militas.

-Somalia is a lawless country that is split into fiefdoms ruled by waring factions and militias. The people of Somalia also suffer from severe drought and famine.

-Congo: After years and years of civil war this country is trying to have free and fair elections but thriving and waring militias are preventing them.

-Ivory Coast is a West African country in which I lived for 2 years. It is currently split into two sections with rebels ruling the north and the government ruling the south. Talks have so far not led to much improvement.

-Sierra Leone is currently in the grips of a civil war and according to Human Rights Watch over 5o,ooo people have been killed in the conflict and over one million displaced.

GOI: At this rate freedom isn't on the march but rather at a crawl. Bush better institute the draft (which would demand that every woman, man and child sign up) and get going or his perfect Jeffersonian Democratic utopia pipe dream won't happen. Bush is learning (at the expense of the lives of our brave soldiers, those of the Iraqis and our treasury) that you have to pick your interventions carefully or you will just make the violence and the situation worse.

Not to mention that you can not force people into Democracy. It's interesting that Bush wants more Americans to learn history when he himself didn't learn from our attempt to force democracy on the Vietnamese and ended up fighting a persistent insurgency for 10 f**king years!!

---End of Transmission---

Excellent News from Iraq!!

GOI: Jill Carroll has been released!!

BAGHDAD, Iraq - American reporter Jill Carroll was set free Thursday, nearly three months after she was kidnapped in a bloody ambush that killed her translator. She said she had been treated well.

Carroll, 28, was dropped off near offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party. She walked inside, and people there called American officials, Iraqi police said.

“I was treated well, but I don’t know why I was kidnapped,” Carroll said in a brief interview on Baghdad television.

GOI: Let's hope that lesser known captives in Iraq will be let go as well. There are still many Iraqi's that are kidnapped everyday and every night. They do not get air time on the international news agencies and probably not even by Iraqi news agencies. These kidnappings must stop in order to have true peace and security in Iraq.

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Bush: I Love a Good Lobbyist

Bush loves a good lobbyist.

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President George W. Freud Part 2

This is the second slip:

The Iraqi security forces have not broken up into sectarian groups waging war against each other. Instead Sunni, Shia and Kurdish soldiers stood together to protect religious sites, enforce a curfew and restore civil wa, civil order.

Quite the Freudian slip George.

No civil war, eh?

President George W. Freud Part 1

This first audio was Spurious George today speaking on the Iraq war in front of the "Freedom House." This is his first Freudian slip (the audio is choppy so turn up your speakers) Here is what he says:

Now the elements of a free Iraq are trying to stop the formation, the enemies of Iraq are trying to stop the formation of a unity government.

---End of Transmission---

Card Out, Bolton In

A lot has already been said about this but let me just say that I hope Card's exit is just the beginning.

However, It's not like Card fell on his sword to help change the direction of country is headed in but because Bush had drained him like the vampire he is for 5 and one half years.

And Bolton isn't the independent blood that the administration needs but rather yet another Bush loyalist sycophant. So basically we've just traded in one insider for another insider.

It's like the mafia. The Godfather doesn't go out and post a job opening on Monster.com but rather recrutes from inside "the family" to keep a tight control on things.

So this is not exactly a "shake up."

---End of Transmission---

Spiraling Into Hell

By BUSHRA JUHI
Associated Press Writer

AP Photo/HADI MIZBAN

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Three groups of gunmen kidnapped at least 24 Iraqis working at a currency exchange and two electronics stores in Baghdad on Tuesday, the interior ministry said. South of the capital, a car bomb exploded as police exchanged fire with two suicide bombers at a police station, wounding at least a dozen people.

The attacks follow two days of violence in Iraq that left at least 151 dead, including 16 people killed Sunday in a military assault on what Iraqis claim was a mosque. Shiite politicians halted negotiations on a new government in response to the assault.

[...]

Fifteen gunmen wearing military uniforms but arriving in civilian cars stormed the Moussa Bin Nasir Exchange Co. in the southwest Harthiyah neighborhood at about 1 p.m., kidnapping six people and stealing tens of thousands of dollars, police said.

GOI: It is a sad commentary when the story of 24 Iraqi's kidnapped and tens of thousands of dollars taken by militias is the third story on the AP wire. I don't even know if ANY U.S. paper even ran this story at all. The WashPost didn't have it on their website and neither did the New York Times. It isn't even being reported on CNN International. The "big story" instead are new protests in Paris. Ooooo big deal. I'm sorry but I think the situation in Iraq is a much bigger story. It should at least be reported in the main-stream media!!

Are we becoming insulated from this chaos by just pretending that it isn't there? If that is the case then shame on us. Shame.

I think the situation can be summed up with this quote from an average Iraqi:

"We either die by the Americans, the insurgents in the name of jihad, the security companies, which kill you and leave you laying in the street, the Iraqi police or...the death squads. Three years after the American invasion of Iraq, I have only one wish. I do not want democracy, food, electricity and water. I just do not want to die." - Laith Muhammad, an Iraqi student.

Thanks to Dharmavidya for the quote from the WashPost.

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INTRUDER ALERT!!! INTRUDER ALERT!!!

It seems that I now have a very personal story with the NSA spying network.

Studying my stats page I discovered that the internet watch dog organization Cyveillance. They scan websites looking mp3 files and and movie titles to see if you are ripping music and/or vidoes. This is because the greater music and movie industries are two of their clients. So basically they monitor websites looking for risks to their "clients."

However, since I do not have mp3 files or videos on this blog and that I give credit to stories taken from online news agencies I can't see why they are snooping around. EXCEPT for the fact that probably their biggest client is the United States government and I happen to write a spit-fire, political, highly critical of the Bush government blog.

This is from their website:

Using patented technology, Cyveillance examines the public domain areas of the Internet for information of pivotal interest to Federal, State, and Local governments.

Yep, Big Brother George.

So, I'd like to give a big HELLO to the feds (waves hand and then quickly reveals a big, fat, proud American middle finger).

"God" Bless the First Amendment!!!

---End of Transmission-

Afghan Christian to be Spared? What is the Future of Afghani Democracy?

Good news, bad news in the case of the Afghan Christian.

The good news is that it appears that he will be released, however, I worry for his life should he decide to stay in "Democracy in name only" Afghanistan.

This from the Associated Press:

A Western diplomat, also declining to be identified because of the sensitivity of the case, said questions were being raised as to whether Rahman would stay in Afghanistan or go into exile in a foreign country.

GOI: Sad to think that a Christian would have to fear for his life in a supposed democratic country that was swept up in Bush's "march for democracy."

However, it isn't only an issue of freedom of religion in Afghanistan. There is also a problem over freedom of press:

Ever since the demise of the Taliban regime, conservative judges have used their power base -- which includes a large, strong section of the National Assembly -- to challenge Afghanistan's reform-minded government. Prior to the apostasy case, the main arena for these challenges has primarily raged over the limits to freedom of the press.

In most of the media cases, the Karzai government has managed to find short-term political compromises. Abdul Rahman's case, though, may entail more long-term challenges for President Karzai. If Karzai does not intervene, he will upset his Western backers. If he intervenes, he will undermine his standing among conservatives, on whose support he desperately depends.

The fact that Karzai on March 22 renamed the arch conservative Fazl Hadi Shinwari as Afghanistan's chief justice is a testament to the power of the religious circles in the country. Indeed, it was this influence that forced the inclusion of articles in that country's constitution affording extraordinary power to the judiciary.

For Afghanistan to become a more inclusive and tolerant society, merely holding elections and putting other democratic institutions in place does not make the country a democracy. The country needs to work on a long-term program to establish a civil society, including a reformed and balanced judiciary.

GOI: Afghanistan would be much better off had we stayed there and focused all of our resources on them and helping their democracy shift out of strict, anti-democratic Taliban style government rather then shifting most of our power and influence into Iraq.

This example is a test case and we shall see if Afghanistan addresses the bigger issue here of whether or not they want to become a true Democracy and grant religious freedom to their citizens.

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Militias Just as Much a Problem as the Terrorists in Iraq

By VANESSA ARRINGTON
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- As a gunbattle raged south of Baghdad, Sens. John McCain and Russell Feingold told Iraqi leaders Saturday that American patience was growing thin and they needed to urgently overcome their stalemate and form a national unity government.

[...]

The U.S. delegation also voiced alarm about increasing sectarian violence in Iraq showing itself in the daily count of drive-by shootings, bombings and dumped corpses, victims of execution-style killings in the shadowy Shiite-Sunni settling of scores.

Seven people - most civilians killed in their homes by mortar fire - died and several others were wounded in a gunbattle between forces of the Shiite Mahdi Army militia and Sunni insurgents near Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of the capital.

At least 13 other people were killed in scattered violence Saturday and two more bodies were found dumped in the capital, shot in the head with their hands and feet bound.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who has patiently shepherded negotiations to form a new government, already was looking beyond that task to the need to cap the sectarian, militia-inspired killing.

"More Iraqis are dying today from the militia violence than from the terrorists," Khalilzad told reporters during a visit to a sports complex refurbished with American aid. "This will be a challenge for the new government - what to do about the militias."

The country's leadership must "overcome the strife that threatens to rip apart Iraq," he said.

Nevertheless, a sixth session of multi-party meetings Saturday failed to overcome the logjam that has snarled formation of a government for more than three months.

[...]

GOI: Here's the sticky part of our situation in Iraq. We can't leave and we can't stay but either way things seem dead-set on getting worse:

McCain agreed that the damage could be enormous.

Failure in Iraq, he said, would leave "this part of the world in chaos. Not just Iraq, but all of the surrounding countries as well."

In other violence Saturday, according to police:

- A female teacher was killed by Iraqi soldiers as she drove past their convoy in Baghdad.

- A Sunni mosque preacher was killed by gunmen when he stopped to have his car repaired in west Baghdad.

- Gunmen killed a man driving with his family and wounded his two sons in the capital.

- A bomb exploded in a traffic police hut near the Iraqi Finance Ministry in north Baghdad, killing four civilians and wounding five people, including a traffic policeman.

- Gunmen killed three people in the northern city of Mosul.

- A roadside bomb killed two people in Balabroz, 55 miles northeast of Baghdad.

- Drive-by gunmen killed the bodyguard of the head of Basra's Sunni Endowment, the organization that oversees the sect's religious property in the predominantly Shiite southern city.

---End of Transmission---

Bad News Outweighs Good News from Iraq

By VANESSA ARRINGTONAssociated Press Writer
AP Photo/KARIM KADIM

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- American and Iraqi troops swept the oil-rich region of Kirkuk for suspected insurgents and captured dozens, while drive-by shootings, roadside bombings and sectarian violence killed at least 29 people in Iraq on Friday.

GOI: See, this is the problem from the get go. We get some good news of capturing insurgents while back at the ranch another 30 people die. The good news is either neutralized by continued violence or the bad news far out weighs the good. This is the reality of the situation on the ground in Iraq. The media isn't making this stuff up folks. I find it sickening that the Bush administration and their sycophants are trying to pin the blame of slipping American support of the war on the media! Not only is such a claim insulting to the intelligence of the entire American population but it is down right absurd. It is good old fashioned denial, denial and another heaping dose of denial.

Pinning the blame of the war being unpopular on the media is irresponsible and childish but then what do expect from a man who was born with a silver spoon up his ass. And this from the same man who was never held accountable for anything he has messed up. This is also the same man who couldn't admit to making any 3 mistakes in his life during one of the presidential debates in the last election. The ultimate blame rests on the administration that got us into this mess o' potamia in the first place!

The media didn't start this war and the media isn't responsible for the disastrous post-invasion planning!! Blood will always lead in reporting a war. It is like someone bursting into your home and killing half of your family but instead of reporting the murders the media is supposed to report that the plumber fixed your toilet the day before?? And you are supposed to take heart from your neighbors saying, "well at least you have good plumbing now." If 30-50 people were dying in America everyday then your damn right that story would lead the news over a school being opened!! Once again they are trying to pin this on ANYONE but themselves. Shame, shame on them!!!

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There He Goes Again!!!

This was from the Bush speech in Ohio the other day:

Q Mr. President, at the beginning of your talk today you mentioned that you understand why Americans have had their confidence shaken by the events in Iraq. And I'd like to ask you about events that occurred three years ago that might also explain why confidence has been shaken. Before we went to war in Iraq we said there were three main reasons for going to war in Iraq: weapons of mass destruction, the claim that Iraq was sponsoring terrorists who had attacked us on 9/11, and that Iraq had purchased nuclear materials from Niger. All three of those turned out to be false. My question is, how do we restore confidence that Americans may have in their leaders and to be sure that the information they are getting now is correct?

THE PRESIDENT: That's a great question. (Applause.) First, just if I might correct a misperception. I don't think we ever said -- at least I know I didn't say that there was a direct connection between September the 11th and Saddam Hussein. We did say that he was a state sponsor of terror.

GOI: True, he never said that there was a direct connection but he has said as much so to connect the too in the public's mind. Remember this?:

"The use of armed forces against Iraq is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations [Iraq], organizations [al-Qaeda] or person [Osama bin Laden] who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001." [President George W. Bush, Letter to Congress, 3/21/03]

GOI: Think about this section from an article written in 2003 right before the start of the Iraq War:

WASHINGTON – In his prime-time press conference last week, which focused almost solely on Iraq, President Bush mentioned Sept. 11 eight times. He referred to Saddam Hussein many more times than that, often in the same breath with Sept. 11.

GOI: If Bush wasn't trying to connect Saddam Hussein and 9/11 then why did he mention the two so much and often in the same breath? Hmmm???

Bush never pinned blame for the attacks directly on the Iraqi president. Still, the overall effect was to reinforce an impression that persists among much of the American public: that the Iraqi dictator did play a direct role in the attacks. A New York Times/CBS poll this week shows that 45 percent of Americans believe Mr. Hussein was "personally involved" in Sept. 11, about the same figure as a month ago.

Sources knowledgeable about US intelligence say there is no evidence that Hussein played a role in the Sept. 11 attacks, nor that he has been or is currently aiding Al Qaeda. Yet the White House appears to be encouraging this false impression, as it seeks to maintain American support for a possible war against Iraq and demonstrate seriousness of purpose to Hussein's regime.

"The administration has succeeded in creating a sense that there is some connection [between Sept. 11 and Saddam Hussein]," says Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.

[...]

In the end, will it matter if some Americans have meshed together Sept. 11 and Iraq? If the US and its allies go to war against Iraq, and it goes well, then the Bush administration is likely not to face questions about the way it sold the war. But if war and its aftermath go badly, then the administration could be under fire.

"Going to war with improper public understanding is risky," says Richard Parker, a former US ambassador to several Mideast countries. "If it's a failure, and we get bogged down, this is one of the accusations that [Bush] will have to face when it's all over."

GOI: You'd have to be an idiot not to realize that Bush was trying to connect Saddam Hussein and the attacks on September the 11th to whip up support for his war.

---End of Transmission---

Is Afghanistan Really a Democracy?

March 19 2006 at 05:33PM

Kabul - An Afghan man detained for converting to Christianity could face the death penalty if he refuses to become Muslim again, police and a judge said on Sunday.

Abdul Rahman was detained two weeks ago after his relatives reported to the police about his conversion which is forbidden under Islamic Sharia law."Yes that's true, a man has converted to Christianity. He's being tried in one of our courts," Supreme Court judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada said, adding that his trial began early last week.

He said the man could face the death penalty if he refused to revert to Islam as Sharia law proposes capital punishment for any Muslim who converts to another religion.

Afghanistan's constitution states: "No law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam.

"If sentenced, the man will be the first to be punished for conversion since the ouster of the Taliban who introduced and implemented tough Sharia law.

GOI: Is this really Democracy??? Isn't one the main tenets of Democracy a freedom of religion? After all Americas first citizens came here from Europe due to religious persecution!! I don't think that a country can be a Democracy if they are willing to kill someone for converting to Christianity!!

So this guy is going to be put to death for choosing one religion over another and that was the same policy under the Taliban so what has really changed over there???

---End of Transmission---

Ayad Allawi: Iraq is in Civil War

Iraq's former interim prime minister said the increasing attacks across his country can only be described as a civil war, and that the United States and Europe could be touched by spreading violence, according to an interview aired Sunday.

"It is unfortunate that we are in civil war. We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more," Ayad Allawi told the British Broadcasting Corp. "If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is."

GOI: This is coming from the Bush administrations darling that they hand-picked. There is nothing wrong with admitting the truth. Truth allows us to look at the situation as it really is rather then believing things are fine when they aren't. Sure there are some good things happening in Iraq but if you can not provide basic security then what is the good of having new schools open? Who would want to send their kids out onto those streets right now to walk to those new schools?? Would you? I mean, come on. Seriously.

We can not win this war with rhetoric saying black is white and white is black. The truth is we are in a CIVIL WAR so given that reality we need to reaccess what we are doing over there and what we need to do differently. There have even been some prominate Conservatives [William F. Buckley, Fukuyama] who have jumped ship with the President on the reality of this war because the President refuses to acknowledge the truth. He is of the delusion that it is everyone's fault but his own. Don't believe me but if you can't believe these Conservatives and now Ayad Allawi then I have to say that you are delusional.

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New Low Poll Numbers for Bush

By Christopher Dickey
Newsweek
Updated: 11:31 a.m. ET March 18, 2006

March 18, 2006 - A bitterly divided electorate gives President George W. Bush an approval rating of only 36 percent in the latest NEWSWEEK poll, matching the low point in his presidency recorded last November. His image as an effective leader in the war on terror is tarnished, with less than half the public (44 percent) approving of the way he’s handling terrorism and homeland security. Despite a series of presidential speeches meant to bolster support for the war in Iraq, as well as the announcement of a major military offensive when the poll was getting under way, only 29 percent of the people questioned approved Bush’s handling of the situation in Iraq. Fully 65 percent disapprove.

GOI: I know that the President says he doesn't listen to poll numbers (which means that he doesn't listen to his bosses-us the American people). However, maybe he should start to look at them when nearly three quarters of the American public disapprove of his handling of the war in Iraq.

Just a suggestion Mr. President.

Other poll numbers show similar low approval ratings on domestic issues:

The way the president has dealt with issues at home hasn't brought him much support either. His approval ratings for the handling of energy policy (28 percent) and health care (28 percent) were new lows, while approval on the economy (36 percent) mirrored his overall rating. The single area where President Bush accrued more approval than disapproval was in his appointments to the Supreme Court, which 47 percent approved.

GOI: Woohoo!! We have a President that has huge negative approval ratings in all the important areas except one. I feel really sad about these poll numbers as America has to deal with a horrible, HORRIBLE President. No one wants to see an American President fail but he has hung himself with his own rope and there comes a point when we have to jump ship rather then sink with the captain. These numbers show that there are mass numbers of Americans jumping from the U.S.S. Bush and want to be picked up by a new captain of a more stable and strong ship.

Again, I say: WORST. President. EVER!!!

---End of Transmission---

St. Paddy's Parade Chair: Gays like Nazis, KKK, Prostitutes

VERENA DOBNIK
Associated Press

NEW YORK - The chairman of the nation's biggest St. Patrick's Day Parade sidestepped questions Friday about his incendiary remarks about gays, as bagpipers and bands marched past hundreds of thousands of flag-waving spectators.

[...]

Organizers have faced questions about their attitudes toward gays and have barred an Irish gay and lesbian group for 16 straight years.

The snub led City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is openly gay and of Irish descent, to decline to participate in the Fifth Avenue march, and she blasted Dunleavy over remarks that appeared in The Irish Times on Thursday.

He told the newspaper, "If an Israeli group wants to march in New York, do you allow Neo-Nazis into their parade? If African Americans are marching in Harlem, do they have to let the Ku Klux Klan into their parade?"

About the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, Dunleavy said, "People have rights. If we let the ILGO in, is it the Irish Prostitute Association next?"

GOI: Well, he could have just come out and said the basic, "we hate fags" but instead he went for the gold and compared them to Neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and prostitutes. What's next? I suppose next year we will hear some or all of the following: Gays are terrorists, gays are child molestors or gays have cloven feet. You know, there was a time when the Irish were heavily discriminated against. Isn't it interesting how quickly people forget their history of being discriminated against only to become the ones who perpetrate the descrimination?

However, he didn't win the gold for "worst bigot of St. Patricks Day 2006." Noooo, that honor goes to the Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the supreme religious authority for Shi'ite Msulims in Iraq and worldwide.

In the midst of sectarian violence that threatens to drag Iraq into civil war, the country's influential Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has issued a violent death order against gays and lesbians on his Web site, according to London-based LGBT human rights groups OutRage.

Written in Arabic, the fatwa comes from a press conference with the powerful religious cleric, where he was asked about the judgment on sodomy and lesbianism. “Forbidden,” Sistani answered, according to OutRage, “Punished, in fact, killed. The people involved should be killed in the worst, most severe way of killing.”

GOI: Yey!!! Who's up for some good old fashioned torture and stoning???

My stomach is seriously sick right now.

---End of Transmission---

Once Republican Rockies now a Battleground

Interesting article on the changing landscape of Colorado politics and other places through-out the western United States.

---End of Transmission---

Senator Allard R-CO and President Bush's Approval Numbers Drop Again.

In response to Senator Russ Feingold's move to censure the President my senator Wayne Allard R-CO said that Feingold is "siding with the terrorists!!!"

No matter what you think about Senator Feingold's push to censure the President surely one can not agree with that statement from Allard!!

These comments come despite the fact that only 31% of Coloradoans believe that the President obeyed the law on the NSA wire-tapping issue. Special thanks to the blogger ColoradoLib for leading me to those numbers.

In other news, President Bush's approval of his Presidency has slipped to only 33%.

Maybe though he can take comfort in knowing that his VP Dick Cheney has only 18% support.

The pain doesn't stop there, however, for the Republicans. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll only 26% feel the country is head in the right direction and only 37% want a Republican congress elected this fall.

Republican Senator Norm Coleman from Minnesota said today, "I have some concerns about the team that's around the president. ... All of a sudden we are hearing the phrase 'tin ear.' That's a phrase you shouldn't hear. The fact that you're hearing it says that the kind of political sensitivity ... the ear-to-the ground that you need in the White House ... isn't there at the level it needs to be."

American's want a President with better approval ratings then 33%!!! And these numbers aren't a blip on the radar. They've been down in the thirties for a long time now. No one supports this President anymore but the hard-core, brain-washed, "lock-step" sycophants. If Bush was a Democrat I would be running as far away from him as I could as well. I don't want a President as imcompetent as Bush is no matter what party he/she represents!

---End of Transmission---

87 Bodies Found in 24 Hours in Iraq

By STEVEN R. HURST
Associated Press Writers

AP Photo/SAMIR MIZBAN

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraqi authorities discovered at least 87 corpses - men shot to death execution-style - as Iraq edged closer to open civil warfare. Twenty-nine of the bodies, dressed only in underwear, were dug out of a single grave Tuesday in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad.

The bloodshed appeared to be retaliation for a bomb and mortar attack in the Sadr City slum that killed at least 58 people and wounded more than 200 two days earlier.

GOI: That's four bodies every hour for 24 hours!!

---End of Transmission---

John McCain Shows His True Colors

So much for McCain being a "Maverick" and a "Moderate."

McCain urged the Republican straw poll votes on saturday in Tennessee that would be cast for him instead go to President Bush to show support for the embattled President:

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, among the most popular Republicans in national surveys, threw a wrench in the polling Friday night by asking delegates to vote for Bush as a show of support. He finished a distant fifth.

He went on to say in an interview with Chris Matthews that backing the President on the port issue was the right thing to do! And went on to lash out against the Republicans who fought the President on that issue.

No longer can McCain say that he is an "independent" who is his own man since he has been cozing up the President over the past few years. Support which has come to a final union in this move in the Tenn. straw poll. He is thinking about himself with this move and not about the American people who a majority disapprove of. Rather he is whoring himself out to the hard-core conservative wing-nuts who dish out the money McCain needs to run.

This from the Kansas City Star:

Right now, each has something the other badly needs. Bush needs the more popular senator from Arizona to vet his controversial Iraq and national security policies, to essentially provide the president with political cover. And McCain needs to connect with the pivotal factions that spurned him six years ago - the Bush money network and the Bush-friendly conservative grass roots - to grease the skids for a strong presidential bid in 2008.

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Feingold Wants to Censure President Bush

Sen. Russ Feingold, a potential presidential candidate, told CNN's "American Morning" the surveillance program is illegal and he will fight against the "intimidation campaign" that the Bush administration has launched to defend it.

Feingold, a member of the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees, said a censure would "send a clear signal" that Bush's actions were "wrong."

[...]

"It's an unusual step," he said. "It's a big step, but what the president did by consciously and intentionally violating the Constitution and laws of this country with this illegal wiretapping has to be answered."

The Wisconsin Democrat's move is expected to be largely symbolic. No Republicans are expected to support the resolution.

GOI: This is great message to send. Either we are for the rule of law or we aren't. Power, arrogance and cronyism have pushed this President and his administration in a place where they have violated the law and soiled the Constitution. This move puts the Republicans (and some Democrats) on the defensive and forces them to side with the increasingly unpopular President during the race for the mid-term elections. It is an excellent move to show the American voters what side of this President do they stand on? It's time to draw a line in the sand.

BREAKING NEWS: The Republicans (led by Sen. Bill Frist) are pushing to not even allow this censure issue to come to the floor let alone get a vote. Which flies right in the face of the Republican mantra of "up or down vote" that they beat it into ground during the judical hearings of Roberts and Alito. They have the majority in the Senate and the House so what are they worried about then? Why not let the Democrats vote for their censure and be soundly defeated by your sledge hammer majority?? Why? Because they are scared to be put into the box of backing this unpopular President. They want it both ways and the Democrats are finally calling their bluff.

Russ Feingold in his own words on censuring the President:

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Throwing the Babies Out with the Bathwater

By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer March 10, 2006

BOSTON --The Boston Archdiocese's Catholic Charities said Friday it would stop providing adoption services because state law allows gays and lesbians to adopt children.

GOI: This is so wrong. SOOOO wrong!!!

The children are the ones that are going to suffer here. They are going to be denied loving, caring homes because the Archdiocese is rabidly bigoted. Now, now. That's not very Christian now is it? However, it doesn't seem to stop at banning homosexuals from adopting. From the headline it appears that the Boston chapter is going to "throw the babies out with the bath water" in an all or nothing, discriminating policy. Like I said, the ones who are going to suffer here and the poor kids.

The state's four Catholic bishops said earlier this month that the law threatens the church's religious freedom by forcing it to do something it considers immoral.

GOI: As a church they do indeed have the religious freedom to do this and yet some how I don't think that the all-loving Jesus Christ would punish children in this way.

Why would Jesus allow such bigoted behavior to be carried out in His name? Why would He deny orphaned children loving and caring homes???

It's a HUGE, ignorant assumption to say that children with homosexual parents are going to be neglected and/or abused somehow simply because their parents are homosexual! As if there aren't bad parents out in the "straight" community. This is like saying that children of African-American house-holds will be neglected more then children of white house holds!! It's ABSURD!!!!

One of their [the Catholic church] arguements against homosexual parents is that it denies these children the influence of a female in a male/male house-hold or male in a female/female house-hold. Despite the fact that these children are exposed to positive male or female influences in their relatives, family friends and at school.

In a 2003 document, the Vatican said gay adoption was "gravely immoral," and that children placed in such home "would be deprived of the experience of either fatherhood or motherhood."

The other problem here in the Catholic church saying that these kids must have a mother and father to be healthy children is that it's hypocritical. This is partly because they say that kids in a single parent house-hold aren't necessarily deprived:

This is not to say that all children of divorced or single parents are doomed to be physically or emotionally impaired. There are many exceptions to statistical generalizations

GOI: And yet they doom children of ALL homosexual marriages. Although they state that there are "many exceptions to statistical generalizatons!!" However, no exceptions for homosexual parents. They are all evil and will corrupt their children!! Hmmm. Sounds pretty narrow-minded, biased and hypocritical don't ya think? They are making sweeping generalizations of homosexual parents and yet that flies in the face of their position that their are "many exceptions to statistical generalizations!!!" It's enough to make your head-spin.

PLUS placing children in same sex house holds is something they have done in the past so why the flip-flop now??:

In the past two decades, Catholic Charities has placed 720 children in adoptive homes. Of those 720 children, 13 were placed with same-sex couples

GOI: In good news, however:

Eight members of Catholic Charities board later stepped down in protest of the bishops' stance. The 42-member board had voted unanimously in December to continue considering gay households for adoptions.

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I Can't Believe I Missed This!

Remember back in early '05 when the Moron-in-Chief was on his out of touch social security tour?

Well, the following exchange (audio found at the bottom of the page) came during a stop in Omaha, Nebraska. From The Airing of Grievances Blog:

One of the audience members, Mary Mornin, a woman in her late fifties, told the president she was a divorced mother of three, including a 'mentally challenged' son. Bush attempted to comfort Ms. Mornin by stating that "the promises made will be kept by the government." Without prompting, Ms. Mornin replied which led to this impromptu exchange:

Ms. Mornin: That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.

The President: You work three jobs?

Ms. Mornin: Three jobs, yes.

The President: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.)

GOI: What an asshole. I can't believe that I missed this one. He is sooo clueless that it is just breath-taking!!!

Need some wood? I'm sure that Bush's answer to her dilema would be to give her a 4th job with his timber company at minimum wage.

That way she would surpass being a "uniquely American" and become a "Uniquely patriotic American!" Since we all know that he and his party are the ones who deem a person patriotic or not. It's like knighting someone. No wonder then why he acts like a king!!

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Bush's $40,000 Dollar Vote

March 7, 2006)—The President and First Lady flew back to Central Texas Tuesday to vote in the Republican primary election.

GOI: O.k., this President does EVERYTHING the hard way. I guess it's too much to expect for this President to just fill out an absentee ballot and stick a 37 cent stamp on it and send the damn thing in.

No, this jackass has to fire up Air Force 1, and fly to Texas to vote in person. The cost of the flight with gas, etc. costs approx. $40,000 for the tax payers. Nice. Thanks again Dubya. That 40 grand excursion could pay off my student loans in one swoop. Good to see that you're using our money wisely King Georgie.

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Gen. Peter Pace on Meet the Press

GOI: Gen. Peter Pace Chairman, Joing Chiefs of Staff was on Meet the Press this morning and was saying that we are on the right pace in Iraq. However, they have been saying that for the last 4 years!! If we are on such a good pace and the Iraqi's are indeed stepping up as much as they say they are then why are we still there or at the very least why aren't we scaling back our forces more then we are?

Tim Russert then went on to quote conservative William F. Buckley:

One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed. ... Our mission has failed because Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an invading army of 130,000 Americans. ... One of these postulates, from the beginning, was that the Iraqi people, whatever their tribal differences, would suspend internal divisions in order to get on with life in a political structure that guaranteed them religious freedom. The accompanying postulate was that the invading American army would succeed in training Iraqi soldiers and policymakers to cope with insurgents bent on violence. This last did not happen. And the administration has, now, to cope with failure.

-William F. Buckley
National Review column
February 24, 2006

GOI: The general then went on to say that:

Pace: Mr. Buckley would probably do well to take a trip over to Iraq and walk the streets and talk to Iraqi's, talk to Iraqi government, talk to Iraqi army, talk to Iraqi police. I belive that what is happening there is very, very positive with regard to the training of the army, the training of the police. The loyalty of that army and police who were, performed exceptionally well during this most, most recent crisis. Uh, this is not, uh a failure. This is a very, very difficult situation putting together a democracy inside of a country that for the last multiple decades has known nothing but nothing but tyrany. This is not going to be easy to do but it is coming along and it is coming along with good progress.

Russert: Do you really believe that it would be safe for William F. Buckley to walk the streets of Baghdad?

Pace: (smiling and laughing) I think not all the places in Baghdad, no but, but I do believe that if he had a chance to get over there propelly escorted, I would want to be escorted myself but probably escorted, uh that he would have the chance to talk to folks and see, see that, um the Iraqi people are postive about their future and that the Iraqi armed forces and the Iraqi police are loyal to the government (GOI: Of course though general with the huge caviot of the militias operating on their own and sometimes within the Iraqi forces) and are getting much, much better each day.

GOI: Soooo, if this is not a failure and if things are going as well as the general says, then why wouldn't he [Buckley] be able to walk the streets of Baghdad without out an armed forces escort after four years of "things getting better?" The Iraqi's have to walk those same streets without an escort so why don't you ask those Iraqi's if they are positive about their future and if things are going swimmingly? Things aren't going well if they are afraid to walk down to the corner store, take their kids to the local school or walk/drive to their job (if they are so lucky to have a job)??

If things are going so well I'd hate to hear/see the general's idea of "things going badly!"

Jack Kemp was on later saying that we had to get the Iraqi' economy going more. So how are we going to do that Jack? Out source American jobs to Iraq? I wonder if we've already invested more in Iraq then our own country during these past four years. I think it's safe to say that at least we've spent more money rebuilding Iraq then rebuilding New Orleans and the Mississippi gulf coast!

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Nukes for Mangos

Just heard on Lou Dobbs on CNN that we are trading India sensitive nuke information for mangos. Yep, you heard me right. Mangos. I think that this President traded for mangos because he has a mango for a brain!

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Bush Was Warned About Levee Danger Before Katrina Hit

A new videotape of a U.S. government briefing on hurricane Katrina is raising new questions about President George W. Bush's handling of the hugely destructive storm last summer.

The video shows Bush and his federal disaster officials being warned that the levees in New Orleans could be breached.

A hurricane expert is seen and heard warning about his "grave concerns" of imminent danger and destruction of the storm.

"I don't think any model could predict whether it'll top the levees, but that's obviously a grave concern," said Max Mayfield, the Director of the U.S. National Hurricane Centre.
After the hurricane struck, Bush later went on television saying: "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."

On the tape, Michael Brown, chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency–who was forced to step down after the storm hit –also voices his concerns.

Brown raised the possibility that emergency officials would not be able to adequately help all those who might end up displaced in places like the New Orleans Superdome.

"I'm concerned about...their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown said.

"We're going to need everything that we can possibly muster, not only in this state and in the region, but the nation, to respond to this event," Brown warned.

Bush is not seen asking any questions during the briefing, but is heard telling state officials, "We are fully prepared."

On Wednesday, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had blunt words about the tape, which is part of six days of tapes and briefings obtained by the Associated Press.

"You know, from this tape it looks like everybody was fully aware," Nagin said. "I have kind a sinking feeling in my gut right now."

"I hope people don't draw conclusions from the president getting a single briefing," presidential spokesman Trent Duffy said. "He received multiple briefings from multiple officials, and he was completely engaged at all times."

GOI: Um, the above comment from the White House is a bold faced lie. He might have been "engaged" which by the way is defined as meaning "having ones energy or mind engaged" in following something. However, Bush is heard and seen as saying that "we are fully prepared" which is defined as meaning, "made ready or fit or suitable beforehand."This is obviously a HUGE difference. Wow, Bush lied (again). I'm so surprised.

The other part of this story is that the media has been sitting on this story for SIX MONTHS!!! Plus, instead of responding right away to Katrina he [Bush] spends days doing other things and responding to seemingly trivial (given the gravity of the Katrina disaster) issues (sharing a birthday cake with John McCain and then going to Arizona). All of this despite being warned by several people during this video conference that this storm will need all the attention and aid that we can muster. And yet, days went by without relief. I want to vomit (yet again).

This President is beyond incompetent.

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