Happy Halloween

The Cheney's Home at the Naval Observatory Has Important Guests

Guess we know a bit more about what the Cheney's are thinking now that we know that Mid-Atlantic Shredding Services was seen at their home earlier this month.

Remarks by the President at Georgia Victory 2006 Rally

In a last ditch effort to place blame squarely where it belongs, Bush finally explains to us who the real enemies are.

Remarks by the President at Georgia Victory 2006 Rally:

"So over the past five years we have acted on our philosophy and passed the largest tax relief since Ronald Reagan was in the White House. (Applause.)

In other words, we just didn't talk about philosophy -- there's too many philosophers in Washington -- we acted. We got the job done."

Extra credit to the first of us to use this in a final exam question.

Bush "Upbeat" on Iraq?

Just to add to the head-shaking about how far this can go before something, anything, gives...

Bush "Upbeat" on Iraq?: " Last week, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and senior White House officials, in hopes of shoring up the GOP's sagging poll numbers before the November 7 midterm election, went on a media blitz, granting on-the-record interviews to dozens of conservative print and broadcast reporters. One of those interviews resulted in a backlash against the White House when Cheney told a reporter that, for him, water-boarding, a controversial technique used against terror suspects that simulates drowning, was a 'no brainer.'

But poring through another transcript revealed statements made by President Bush during a lengthy interview at the White House with conservative columnists that are equally disturbing but that have not been reported with the same gusto and zeal as the reports that Cheney backed water torture.

While discussing the situation in Iraq and explaining the reasons the United States launched a pre-emptive strike against the country, Bush told the journalists that 'I believe when you get attacked and somebody declares war on you, you fight back. And that's what we're doing,' according to a transcript of the interview."

State of the Presidential Press Briefing October 2006

I've got zero time right now, but I just can't let this friday's Press Briefing pass without documentation.

This might get long, but read on if you want a synopsis of the misama of misinformation that is the relationship between press and administration. Dick's balls got way out in front of him again, and now the WH team has to spin like there is no tomorrow to manage what could have been the admission of a war crime by a chief executive.

I don't know what pains me more...The insanity involved in grown ups talking to each other like this, or the total powerlessness of all legal or political institutions to hold the administration accountable.

10/27 Press Briefing by Tony Snow:

Q Tony, your argument that Vice President Cheney didn't know that he was being asked about water boarding or wasn't being asked about water boarding and didn't intend to give an answer that suggested he was saying the United States uses water boarding, it doesn't follow when you read the transcript and it doesn't follow sort of common sense.

MR. SNOW: Well, I'll tell you what he --

Q How can you really make that argument?

MR. SNOW: I'll tell you what he said. He was asked the question, "You dunk somebody's head in the water to save a life, is it a no-brainer?" And also, if you read the rest of the answer, he also -- the Vice President, who earlier had also been asked about torture, he said, "We don't torture."

Snow here shows some of his cards...No one brings up the issue of international law and just how serious such an admission would be legally and yet he intones:

Let me give you the no-brainers here. No-brainer number one is, we don't torture. No-brainer number two: We don't break the law, our own or international law. No-brainer number three: The Vice President doesn't give away questioning techniques...The Vice President says he was talking in general terms about a questioning program that is legal to save American lives, and he was not referring to water boarding.

He didn't say what he said. Besides, he would not have said it anyway.

Q Then how can you say that he's not referring to water boarding, when it was very clear, when you look at the whole context, not only that specific question --

MR. SNOW: Does the word --

Q -- but the one before?

MR. SNOW: Did the word "water boarding" appear?

Q It came up in the context of talking about interrogation techniques and the entire debate that has been conducted in this country.

Well, I've been reading these gaggles and briefings pretty regularly for the last six years, and I must admit that this was one occassion in which the press corps members were not willing to give the Administration the last word on anything.

Q Let's back it up here for a second, because what we're saying is -- and I've got the transcript -- "Would you agree a dunk in water is a 'no-brainer' that can save lives?" Vice President: "It's a 'no-brainer' for me." Tony --

MR. SNOW: Read the rest of the answer.

Q What could "dunk in the water" refer to if not water boarding?

MR. SNOW: I'm just telling you -- I'm telling you the Vice President's position. I will let you draw your own conclusions, because you clearly have. He says he wasn't talking --

Q I haven't drawn any conclusions. I'm asking for an explanation about what "dunk in the water" could mean.

MR. SNOW: How about a dunk in the water?

Alright, it is obvious to all thinking creatures that they've got no option left but deny deny deny. But still, how could he say it? What the hell could he be thinking of when he allows these words to pass over his lips?

But the press throws it right back in his face:

Q So, wait a minute, so "dunk in the water" means what, we have a pool now at Guantanamo, and they go swimming?

MR. SNOW: Are you doing stand up?

...

MR. SNOW: I'm telling you what the Vice President says. I can't go any further, and I'm not going to engage in what-could-he-mean because he said what he meant. He said -- he said he wasn't talking about water boarding.

Again we seen signs that the WH has tacitly or explicitly admitted that IF Dick HAD been talking about water-boarding as a tactic we use, THEN he'd be fucked.

Q One follow on this, because what you said in the morning was, "You think Dick Cheney is going to slip up on something like this?" Is it possible that he's not slipping up at all --

MR. SNOW: No.

Q -- but that he's winking to the base and saying --

MR. SNOW: No.

Q -- "of course we water board, and of course we'll do anything we need to to get the information because he knows that what they do --

MR. SNOW: I think you just won the cynical question of the year award. No, I don't.

Q How is that cynical?

Q No, no, no. There are more.

MR. SNOW: Jim, you can bang away as much as you want. I'm telling you what the Vice President's -- I talked to Lea Anne about it. She says no, he wasn't referring to water boarding; he was referring to using a program of questioning -- not talking about water boarding.

Let me put it this way. You got Dick Cheney, who had been head of an intelligence committee. He's been the Secretary of Defense. He's been the Vice President. He's not a guy who slips up, and he's also not a guy who does winks and nods about things that involve matters that you don't talk about for political reasons. Sorry.

But this time they fire back:

Q Why did the Vice President then, when the inference was clearly there from the questioner, who more than once referred to a dunk in the water --

MR. SNOW: I believe that his office is --

Q Let me finish. He, in the questioning, talked about how his radio listeners believe that this is a useful tool. "If it takes dunking someone in order to save lives, isn't it a silly debate to even be questioning that?" The Vice President says, "I do agree," later says, "That's been a very important tool that we've been able to secure the nation" -- referring to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

If the Vice President is so careful, why did he allow himself to answer a question in which "dunking in the water" was a part of that question?

MR. SNOW: The answer -- look, he was answering a question. And also as you know, he went on to talk about torture. Look, I've said what I'm going to say on it. I can't -- I really -- what you're asking me to do is to deconstruct something. I've asked what he meant. I've told you what he said he meant. I can't go any further than that, so you can ask all the whys and wherefores.

Did you catch that? Derrida's revenge?

And the hits keep on coming...

Q He was asked about a technique, and he responded to a technique, and said that he agreed --

MR. SNOW: No, he was not asked -- he was not asked, no.

Q Informally, he did.

MR. SNOW: No, informally doesn't work.

Q It does in the context of a radio interview --

Q You're quibbling over semantics, to borrow your phrase. You're quibbling over semantics.

MR. SNOW: I know. But, no, I think -- I actually think --

Q He's in a conversation with a radio audience to speak to the American people.

MR. SNOW: I understand all that.

Q It doesn't have to be legally precise. The Vice President understood what the questioner was asking.

MR. SNOW: I'm telling you -- and I will tell you once again -- the Vice President says that he refers to the fact that when you're questioning people, you don't torture. You obey the law, and you protect the American people. We're not going to go any further.

Q Tony, is it not possible that the two are not mutually exclusive? In other words, that the Vice President does not construe water boarding as torture, and therefore, to him --

MR. SNOW: No, no, no, no --

Q -- when he says "dunk in the water," that's a serious question. You can't just sort of beg off and say, I'm sorry, I'm not going to deconstruct it.

MR. SNOW: No, but, Jennifer -- Jennifer, you've listened -- there have been statements out of that office for two consecutive days that say they don't talk about water boarding, they don't talk about torture, they don't condone torture. They're not going to talk about techniques.

Q All we're asking is, what's a "dunk in the water"?

Q He agrees with it. We want to know what that means.

MR. SNOW: All right.

Q If he agrees with a "dunk in the water," then --

I guess grown ups do occassionally get tired of having to have discussions such as these. Exhibit A:

Q To say that Vice President Cheney doesn't make mistakes like this, he did go up and curse a senator to his face on the Senate floor, and accidentally shot his friend, so he's not perfect. (Laughter.)

Here comes Helen Thomas. Tony Snow's smart, though. He knows who she is and where she's coming from. She's one of "You Guys".

Q Is the emphasis on "we don't torture" when we send captives to notorious places that do torture? Does that absolve you?

MR. SNOW: No, it's -- as we've said many times, when we move people to another place, we have to have assurances that there will be no torture, and the treatment will be in accordance with international law.

Q Why do you send them there? Why? Why don't you keep them in your own captivity?

MR. SNOW: Well, wait a minute, I thought you guys wanted to close off Guantanamo. The only way you do that -- we quite often try to repatriate people to places --

I think Snow's assignment was to keep saying "VP meant dunk in water, like he said." And to say absolutely nothing more than this. Oops. Now watch him try to close THIS door. Exhibit B

Q I think the larger issue is credibility -- yours and the White House's. We're talking both in this instance and yesterday about very clear -- about specific language where you refute the semantic differences within the language and refuse to acknowledge what's very clear.

MR. SNOW: No, I can understand that people will look at this and draw the conclusions that you're trying to draw, as for yesterday.

I understand this. We will try to deal with it. I think you guys are -- maybe it's the end of the week. You're getting whipped into a frenzy.

Exhibit C

Q Do you have contempt for the American people, do you think they don't understand?

MR. SNOW: No, what I'm saying -- no, I think it is because you guys know Dick Cheney. You know the issue. I will go back and I will try to find some language for you.

Q We don't know him.

Q That's a logical fallacy.

Q Will he disavow dunking people in water as a part of the robust interrogation --

Q Clarify something. A couple seconds ago, you said, "I can understand why people look at this and draw this conclusion."

MR. SNOW: Well, because you're going to talk about dunks in the water, and I know people say, "oh, that must mean water boarding." I mean I understand that you'd draw that, so we'll get into it.

Q Wouldn't you draw that conclusion if you were reading this?

MR. SNOW: No, I wouldn't because I know the Vice President, and I know the way people think in the White House.

Ah, well, that settles it then.

The real meaning of Obama's speech. - By Amy Sullivan - Slate Magazine

The real meaning of Obama's speech. - By Amy Sullivan - Slate Magazine:

This is not to the point of the article, but a wonderful rendition of the DB value (which I put at -6.54) of Bush w/ regard to those voices he hears:

"For the past six years, the most prominent Christian in America has been the president. His belief is not of the 'God said it. I believe it. That settles it,' sort that fundamentalists embrace. Rather, Bush subscribes to a syllogistic doctrine of presidential infallibility: God works through Christians; I am a Christian; I have decided to do X; therefore, X is God's will."

Coming War w/ Iran (among others...)

Ellsberg's open call for insider disclosure of Iran Plans:

The Next War (Harpers.org): "A hidden crisis is under way. Many government insiders are aware of serious plans for war with Iran, but Congress and the public remain largely in the dark. The current situation is very like that of 1964, the year preceding our overt, open-ended escalation of the Vietnam War, and 2002, the year leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

In both cases, if one or more conscientious insiders had closed the information gap with unauthorized disclosures to the public, a disastrous war might have been averted entirely."

The complete work of Charles Darwin:

"The largest collection of Darwin's writings ever assembled"

Nov. 5th Surprise

In case you guys didn't see this piece in the Nation.

The US-backed special tribunal in Baghdad signalled Monday that it will likely delay a verdict in the first trial of Saddam Hussein to November 5. Why hasn't the mainstream media connected the dots between the Saddam's judgment day and the midterm elections?

Absolute Freedom and Terror

WSJ.com:

"A growing number of studies offer clues as to how terrorism and other deadly events affect people's voting decisions. The latest research shows that because such violent political acts are brutal reminders of death, they make conservatives, but not liberals, more hostile toward those perceived as different, and more supportive of extreme military policies, according to a study in April in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

For 20 years, researchers have been exploring how people manage the fear engendered by intimations of mortality. Reminded of the inevitability of their own death (which happens to a lesser degree by merely walking past a funeral parlor), people try to quench or at least manage the resulting 'existential terror' in several ways. They become more certain of their worldview or faith. They conform more closely to the norms of their society. They show greater reverence for symbols of their society, such as flags and crucifixes."

Bush Increasingly Finds Reality "Unacceptable"

Bush Confounded by the 'Unacceptable' - washingtonpost.com:

"President Bush finds the world around him increasingly 'unacceptable.'

In speeches, statements and news conferences this year, the president has repeatedly declared a range of problems 'unacceptable,' including rising health costs, immigrants who live outside the law, North Korea's claimed nuclear test, genocide in Sudan and Iran's nuclear ambitions.

[snip]

But a survey of transcripts from Bush's public remarks over the past seven years shows the president's worsening political predicament has actually stoked, rather than diminished, his desire to proclaim what he cannot abide. Some presidential scholars and psychologists describe the trend as a signpost of Bush's rising frustration with his declining influence.

In the first nine months of this year, Bush declared more than twice as many events or outcomes "unacceptable" or "not acceptable" as he did in all of 2005, and nearly four times as many as he did in 2004. He is, in fact, at a presidential career high in denouncing events he considers intolerable. They number 37 so far this year, as opposed to five in 2003, 18 in 2002 and 14 in 2001."

Chickens comin'...

Aide says White House mocked evangelicals: "A former senior presidential aide has accused the Bush administration of using evangelical Christians to win votes but then privately ridiculing them once in office. The allegations by David Kuo, the former deputy director of the White House office of faith-based initiatives, come at a devastating time, when the administration is counting on born-again Christians to vote in sufficient numbers to save the Republicans' hold on Congress in the November elections."

Iraqi Death Toll Exceeds 600,000

Iraqi Death Toll Exceeds 600,000, Study Estimates - WSJ.com:

"WASHINGTON -- A new study asserts that roughly 600,000 Iraqis have died from violence since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, a figure many times higher than any previous estimate.

The study, to be published Saturday in the British medical journal the Lancet, was conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health by sending teams of Iraqi doctors across Iraq from May through July."

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Gaza sliding into civil war

Gaza sliding into civil war:

When they buried Rafiq Siam, the traffic stopped and hundreds of armed men, some firing into the air, gathered at the Gaza mosque. Eight men wearing red berets and black combat uniforms lifted his body wrapped in a white shroud and Palestinian flag and carried it inside with as much ceremony as the pressing crowd would allow.

As Yusuf Siam stood to greet mourners, a boy arrived with a handful of papers marked from the al-Aqsa Brigade, a Fatah-affiliated militant group, and handed them out. The letter offered condolences to the family and then vowed revenge. 'For the families of the people who lost their sons at the hands of Hamas we swear that their blood will not be spilt for nothing,' it said. 'We will give a lesson to Hamas.'

There are signs that this is more serious than rhetorical rivalry between militants. 'The Palestinian situation is marred by sharp divisions and battling; it is a misery and shameful for any Arab and any Palestinian,' Egypt's foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who has tried to mediate in this crisis, told the Al-Ahram newspaper this week. Some senior Palestinians are openly warning now of the danger of civil war."

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Japan bans all trade with North Korea

Bush on the 'well, he started it' defense...

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Japan bans all trade with North Korea: "Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, urged Pyongyang not to escalate an already 'extremely difficult situation'.

He urged the US to enter direct talks with North Korea, something which Washington consistently refuses to do. 'I have always argued that we should talk to parties whose behaviour we want to change,' Mr Annan said.

Mr Bush rejected criticism from Democrats that he had failed to build on a 1994 deal with North Korea agreed by then president, Bill Clinton.'It is the intransigence of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, that led to the current situation,' said Mr Bush."

US Soldiers Wounded in Iraq Reaches Highest Monthly Level

US Soldiers Wounded in Iraq Reaches Highest Monthly Level: " The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq has surged to its highest monthly level in nearly two years as American GIs fight block-by-block in Baghdad to try to check a spiral of sectarian violence that U.S. commanders warn could lead to civil war.

Last month, 776 U.S. troops were wounded in action in Iraq, the highest number since the military assault to retake the insurgent-held city of Fallujah in November 2004, according to Defense Department data. It was the fourth-highest monthly total since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003."

"September was horrific" in terms of the toll of wounded, and if the early October trend continues, this month could be "the worst month of the war," said John E. Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia-based Web site that tracks defense issues.

The Observer | World | Hidden victims of a brutal conflict: Iraq's women

The Observer | World | Hidden victims of a brutal conflict: Iraq's women: "They came for Dr Khaula al-Tallal in a white Opel car after she took a taxi home to the middle class district of Qadissiya in Iraq's holy city of Najaf. She worked for the medical committee that examined patients to assess them for welfare benefit. Crucially, however, she was a woman in a country where being a female professional increasingly invites a death sentence.

As al-Tallal, 50, walked towards her house, one of three men in the Opel stepped out and raked her with bullets.

A women's rights campaigner, Umm Salam - a nickname - knows about the three men in the Opel: they tried to kill her on 11 December last year. It was a Sunday, she recalls, and 15 bullets were fired into her own car as she drove home from teaching at an internet cafe. A man in civilian clothes got out of the car and opened fire. Three bullets hit her, one lodging close to her spinal cord. Her 20-year-old son was hit in the chest. Umm Salam saw the gun - a police-issue Glock. She is convinced her would-be assassin works for the state."

All Things Interesting

uber-amazing canolli made by Frodo...so good.