This is NOT how They Wanted to Roll into Election Day

It Seems the GOP Majority leader of the House and the GOP Speaker of the House knew that Representative Foley (now resigned) was approaching underage boy(s?) serving as Congressional Page(s) as early as 2005. Evidently ABC has actual documentation dating back to 2003 (I will spare you the link).

So how does it play with "Family Values" when your leadership covers up for a sexual predator? On a side note, i find it funny that the drudge report has a scant one line link on a breaking story involving a congressional sex scandal and cover-up. I'm sure he's busy complaining about Rosie O'Donnell or something else equally newsworthy.

Sunday Will be Better?

Well, Mississippi State lost to LSU this weekend and that was expected. luckily we weren't shut out this time. As for Tulane, they were down 21 to 0 at halftime and pushed to a nailbiter at the end. Sadly we came up short. 28-33.

if Ole Miss loses and the Saints win, we can still sorta salvage the weekend....
:)

UPDATE!!

Rep Foley (below) may be prosecuted under the child predator laws he helped pass.

Republican Family Values on the March

Here is GOP Representative Mark Foley (52 years old, Fla.) 2 years ago speaking about the internet:

"(it) provides a new medium for pedophiles to reach out to our most vulnerable citizens -- America's children."

Today he's resigning today from office for a scandal that just broke.

What was it all about? unsolicited advances on a 16 year old boy via email. The child was a page at the US Capitol. i guess that kills the re-election campaign.

GO SAINTS!!! 23 to 3 over Atlanta!!!

OH MY GOD! what a great game so far. New Orleans and Atlanta come into the game undefeated. Its the first game back in the Superdome. The place is SOLD OUT! They sould out all their SEASON TICKETS for the FIRST TIME EVER in the history of the team!! They're playing against one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in he game (Michael Vick) and he's barely been in the game. maybe you know this, but the Saints fans are a beat down bunch. no team has had more losing seasons. no one. We haven't won a monday night football game in over a decade. We didn't have our first winning season for TWENTY YEARS! what a way to overcome the stink of katrina in that dome.

I'm really sort of speechless. the crowd is huge. We're undefeated. We've beat our biggest rival who's also undefeated. We were supposed to be last place, but tonite we're doing so well. Tonite's game plus U2 playing at the pre-game show puts the good of new orleans, the good there now, on display. that city is ready for people to come and visit and experience the place. I really hope this helps. it feels like it already has. i think that place has had the demons exercised tonight.

I feel so good. I LOVE NEW ORLEANS!!

On a side note:

The new rookie superstar Reggie Bush has been extraordinary for the team and the city. Here's a guy that came from USC. He isn't from New Orleans, or anywhere near it. despite this, he's put a rider into ALL of his endorsement deals where if they want to sponsor him for a product, they have to give some of their money to the New Orleans relief effort. extraordinary.

Bin Laden Dead?

This UPI story seems to point to this being true. it appears typhoid fever was the culprit. so, does that mean Bush was not too far off hte mark by closing down the intelligence unit charged with hunting down Bin Laden?

he hopes so.

Not the Best, but he's up there....

this is worth reading...if only for a minute. click and read. some folks make me proud to be an american. that's a nice feeling these days.

My Vote....

I'm giving my vote today for the finest living american.

...Willie Nelson. I really just hold him in high esteem and admire the hell out of the guy.. That's my vote for my favorite american. who's your pick? seriously. tell me.

If I Were to Rock...

This boxset gets me thinking. If I had a guitar (and i wish i did), i think i'd be playing rockabilly or surf rock (or both). I love all sorts of music, but that's the only stuff that really makes me want to pick up a guitar and play!

EASILY the Funniest Thing I Saw All Week.

go ahead and click. tell me who YOU think is the real problem.

What is THIS? No More Nukes?!?

it wasn't so long ago that Bill Frist and the GOP senators were threatening to trigger the 'nuclear option' on filibusters in the senate. That meaning they'd kill the unique rule in the senate that allows a senator to stand (alone, if need be) against legislation he/she thought should not pass, as long as they had the stamina to do so. The GOP leadership decried the abusive nature of the filibuster. of course they only thought this when the Democrats were threatening to hold up ye ole rubber stamp on President Bush's Judicial nominations.

Well, it seems times have changed. Bill Frist, the man who talked so badly about this filibuster rule has just announced he will use it himself if the President isn't given approval to allow changes to the geneva convention, so as to deny due process and allow torture. Good to see Frist has his principles in check.

as an aside...you don't save america by destroying its principles.

Action in Iran? We May have Already Started!

I'm not going to go too deep into it because the link above sums it all up very well. Col. Sam Gardner was on the news discussing military action in Iran. A couple of days ago i posted a snippet regarding Navy deployments which may be part of a blockade against Iran. Col. Gardiner elaborates beyond the "what if's" saying that it isn't a matter of IF we'll go into Iran. According to him, we already have troops IN Iran. CNN transcript below. better, quick to read link above:

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: So how likely is a U.S. military strike against Iran? And would it lead to all-out war?

Joining us now is retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner. He’s taught strategy and military operations at the National War College, the
Air War College, and the Naval War College. Colonel, thanks very much for coming in. You’ve just prepared a paper for the Century Foundation entitled
"Considering the U.S. Military Option for Iran." You speak to a lot of people, plugged in.

What is your bottom line? How close in your opinion is the U.S., the Bush administration, to giving that go-ahead order?

COL. SAM GARDINER, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): It’s been given. In fact,
we’ve probably been executing military operations inside Iran for at
least 18 months. The evidence is overwhelming.

BLITZER: Wait. Let me press you on that.

GARDINER: Sure.

BLITZER: When you say it’s been given, the president says he wants
diplomacy to work to convince the Iranian government to stop enriching
uranium, to not go forward.

GARDINER: Sure.

BLITZER: "I would tell the Iranian people that we have no desire for
conflict,: he told David Ignatius of "The Washington Post" the other day.

GARDINER: Sure.

BLITZER: So, what does that mean, the order has been given?

GARDINER: We are conducting military operations inside Iran right now.
The evidence is overwhelming from both the Iranians, Americans, and
from congressional (ph) sources.

BLITZER: What is military operations? Define that.

GARDINER: Sure. Sure.

They probably have had two objectives going back 18 months. The first
was to gather intelligence. Where is the Iranian nuclear program?

The second has been to prepare dissident groups for phase two, which
will be the strike, which will come as the next phase, I think.

BLITZER: Well, preparing intelligence, that’s understandable…

GARDINER: Sure.

BLITZER: … using all sorts of means. They want to know what the
Iranians are up to in terms of their nuclear — nuclear program. But
are you suggesting that U.S. military forces, Special Operations Forces,
or others are on the ground right now in Iran?

GARDINER: Yes, sir. Certainly. Absolutely clear. The evidence is
overwhelming from lots of sources.

And again, most of them you can read in the public. Seymour Hersh has
done good work on it, and there are lots of other people who have done
that.

I have talked to Iranians. I asked an Iranian ambassador to the IAEA,
"What’s this I hear about Americans being there?" He said to me, "Well,
we’ve captured some people who worked with them. We’ve confirmed that
they’re there."

BLITZER: Yes, but, you know, these guys, the Iranians, you can’t
necessarily believe what they’re saying.

GARDINER: Sure. Sure.

BLITZER: They could arrest some dissidents in Iran…

GARDINER: Sure. Sure.

BLITZER: … and say these are American spies. They do that all the
time.

GARDINER: Sure. The House Committee on Emerging Threats tried to have
a hearing some weeks ago in which they asked the Department of State and
Defense to come and answer this question because it’s serious enough to
be answered without congressional approval, and they didn’t come to the
hearing. There are sources that I have talked to on the Hill who
believe that that’s true and it’s being done without congressional
oversight.

BLITZER: Look, I was once a Pentagon correspondent many years ago…

GARDINER: Sure.

BLITZER: … and in those days and in these days, and as Jamie McIntire
just reported, and as you well know from your time in active duty at
Pentagon in the U.S. military, these guys are planning contingency
operations for almost everything. If Canada goes to war against the
United States, they’ve got a contingency plan.

GARDINER: OK. Different now. Two differences.

Number one, we have learned from "TIME" magazine today that some U.S.
naval forces had been alerted for deployment. That is a major step.
That’s first.

The second thing is the sources suggest the plan is not in the Pentagon.
The plan has gone to the White House. That’s not normal planning.
When the plan goes to the White House, that means we’ve gone to a
different state.

BLITZER: You think it’s possible there’s a little psychological warfare
being played on Ahmadinejad right now to rattle him, to spread the word,
to put out this kind of information to get him nervous, perhaps a little
bit more agreeable to the diplomatic option?

GARDINER: It’s possible. It’s also possible that this path was
selected a long time ago.

You’ll recall that even before Gulf Two, at a time when the president
said we have no plan, "I have no plan on my desk," in the summer of 2002
we began bombing Iraq, Operation Southern Focus. Without congressional
approval, without the U.N. sanctions, we went ahead and began bombing…

BLITZER: Well, the argument at that time was if there were violations
of the no-fly zone, if U.S. warplanes were flying in the north and the
south and there were rockets or anti-aircraft fire going up, they could
take those out.

GARDINER: Yes, but it was a campaign to begin the war before the war
began. And, you know, I would suggest the evidence is there.

BLITZER: All right. So you see a similar pattern right now.

World War Three?

This is a phrase bandied around lately, often by people more conservative than me. I tend to think it a bit of hyperbole. wouldn't we have to have more countries involved to make it a world war? well maybe not. in the past, it only took a couple of nations to make a world war and we could pull that off. right?

The question is, do we want to do that? this article is worth reading. it outlines what has previously been chocked up to 'saber rattling'. Now it is a little different. this outlines "ORDERS to Deploy" that the US Navy has given for Oct. 1st (just in time for elections?). where are they going? The Strait of Hormuz, of course. This is the small strait through which most oil leaving the persian gulf must go. is moving out the ships one would need to blockade the strait. THIS is the sort of wrench we may be putting on Iran. we already boycott trade with Iran. this would effectively keep their trade out of OTHER nations' hands. This is the sort of thing that's lead to standoffs and war for centuries. we may be playing a tough hand now before they actually have WMD's. the problem with this sort of pressure is the effect on oil markets and the other nations around the globe that rely on Iran to provide their fuel.

this is scary stuff. a snippet from Time magazine below:

The first message was routine enough: A "Prepare to Deploy" order sent through naval communications channels to a submarine, an Aegis-class cruiser, two minesweepers and two mine hunters. The orders didn't actually command the ships out of port; they just said to be ready to move by Oct. 1. But inside the Navy those messages generated more buzz than usual last week when a second request, from the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), asked for fresh eyes on long-standing U.S. plans to blockade two Iranian oil ports on the Persian Gulf. The CNO had asked for a rundown on how a blockade of those strategic targets might work. When he didn't like the analysis he received, he ordered his troops to work the lash up once again.

What's going on? The two orders offered tantalizing clues. There are only a few places in the world where minesweepers top the list of U.S. naval requirements. And every sailor, petroleum engineer and hedge-fund manager knows the name of the most important: the Strait of Hormuz, the 20-mile-wide bottleneck in the Persian Gulf through which roughly 40% of the world's oil needs to pass each day. Coupled with the CNO's request for a blockade review, a deployment of minesweepers to the west coast of Iran would seem to suggest that a much discussed—but until now largely theoretical—prospect has become real: that the U.S. may be preparing for war with Iran.

The WORST Football EVER?

My two (terrible) teams happened to play each other this weekend. The result?

Tulane 32
Miss. State 29

That, however, is not the big deal. what IS the big deal is that my two damn teams are the WORST in all football. just what do i mean? going into this weekend, Miss. State was ranked LAST in Offense in all Division 1 college football. How can Tulane possible counter that? by being LAST in Defense, of course! Good lord, why do i have to cheer for the actual WORST teams in the game?

Speaking of usual worst's, The New Orleans Saints beat the Green Bay Packers 34-27 making them 'undefeated' 2 weeks into the season. We beat the Falcons next week and we're No. 1 in the NFC South.

ok. enough football.

So It Begins Again...

From the Washington Post:

U.N. inspectors investigating Iran's nuclear program angrily complained to the Bush administration and to a Republican congressman yesterday about a recent House committee report on Iran's capabilities, calling parts of the document "outrageous and dishonest" and offering evidence to refute its central claims.

Does this mean we have another (Fake) smoking gun? lord knows we need to fight 3 wars now (with no help).

RIP Ann Richards

Ann Richards was a housewife. she decided she needed to pull politics in Texas from the exclusive grip of white men. how'd she do that? she ran for governor...and won. I have always admired Richards for her wit as much as for her politics. she died today of cancer at 73. When i was in grad school i did a large research project on women in modern politics. she was one of the central figures at the time. I really respected her like most all who met her. Here's my favorite Richards quote about women doing a 'man's job':

Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels.

CIA Prisons and Gitmo

there was a request below to talk more about the CIA prisons. This whole thing has me concerned. The president has moved 14 "high value targets" from our 'secret prisons'. This is as by the numbers Karl Rove as it gets:

Bush wants the congress to put into law all the illegal procedures he just assumed on his own. He's been getting heat over gitmo. So what does he do? he puts the true nasty guys on display. THESE are the people he claims gave us 50% of our Al Qeada intelligence came from these 14 guys. now he'll be able to put a face on gitmo. they'll no longer just be some nameless guys who might actually be innocent. They'll have the 14 worst to point to during any debate. When it comes to pitching the new laws, they'll be able to say THESE rules are what we used on the 14. they will say THIS is what kept us safe for the last 5 years. The Iraq war will be blended into the war on terrorism and they will try to ride this all the way into the elections.

the good or bad of any of this...the prisons, the prisoners, the laws...whatever. it is meaningless at this point. there's no policy involved. it's all about trying to work the one thing the public hasn't given up on when it comes to the GOP. this is their only bet as a national policy.

the problem for me is that i actually think it will work for them. It isn't that the Democrats have no answer to this. it's that they don't have a good articulation of a unified answer to this. I guess that's my worst case scenerio. the saving grace? GOP candidates have been reluctant to carry the water on this because Bush is so unpopular. the desire is to localize their races. THAT may be what hamstrings this national GOP push. If the Democrats don't get better at framing the debate now, it won't get easier in the future.

9/11 All over Again...or Not at All, Really...

I've done all i can to avoid this 9/11 stuff. i haven't felt this overexposed to the event since just after the disaster. I don't want to hear about it. All i see is the fluff from Mississippi. I don't see the humanity or the hurt anymore. i know it is there, but my head just won't grasp it anymore. I can't see New York from here. I can see New Orleans.

9/11 has become all TV Movies and fat bloated ceremonies. I don't know anymore. I watched the president's speech. It seems he decided to trot out Bin Laden again. the mastermind. the killer. you know, the man that gets ignored until election time when he gets to be a priority. stopping terrorism is something we do in the leadup to the first tuesday in november. then we get back to working this government for our good friends at brown and root. at haliburton.

Tonight the president said “The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad.” I'm tired of the constant tie of 9/11 and Iraq. the terrorism in iraq came afterwe did. we made a government where more citizens die daily NOW than under Saddam. Think about this. we have a civil war that we created. we have a daily deathtoll that supercedes that of the 'madman' saddam. that's our winning strategy. we screw it up so bad that more people die than under saddam each day. perfect.

see. i can't even talk about 9/11 anymore. i can't stay focused. 5 years ago i was unloading freight at the mall. that was one of my jobs. I'd pass the bar in 2 weeks, but in that moment i didn't think I would. i didn't know if i was going to get a job and I was working 3 jobs to keep myself up an running. the story came over NPR. I couldn't recall a time since the 1st gulf war when i was so fixated on the radio. like my connection to the world. i felt a kinship to millions of other people who had disasterous events unfold to them through those radio waves. i felt distant and part of someting at the same time. i don't feel it at all now...because that moment in our time has been squandered.

Consider this:

Even my most ardent Republican friends cannot name a point in history when our nation was held in lower esteem around the world. This is fact regardless of whether any of us like it. Now think of this. 5 years ago a Million people spontaneously gathered in Tehran, Iran.

For US. to mourn the loss on 9/11.

A Million Iranians held a vigil for America 5 years ago. that is the image that's stuck in my head now. we aren't 5 years away. we're a lifetime away now.

My Mayor has a Goon Squad. What does YOURS Have?

My mayor travels around in a police mobile command center. he brings 'at risk' street kids, 17-22 years old, with him too. last week they beat up a man that owns a night club that has been targeted by the mayor as one of his enemies. THIS week, he got his goons to destroy someone's house. click and read about the pride of Jackson, MS.

click here and then here.

know what's the worst part? our Mayor and some thugs tear up a house and it doesn't hit the TV news or the Clarion Ledger until a WEEK later.

The Best Democrat in New England?

Now this race gets more and more telling by the minute. It turns out that Joe Lieberman is more than just a little too cozy with the Republicans. Seems Lieberman owes a lot more than we thought to the President. As it turns out, Lieberman was receiving millions from the GOP. The White House itself was helping GOP doners funnel money into Lieberman's campain PRE-primary. MILLIONS. so the question is...what if he wins? how do you keep a democrat in leadership if they've been bought and paid for by the other side?

GOP secretly channeled millions to Lieberman

The White House funneled millions of dollars through major Republican Party contributors to Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s primary campaign in a failed effort to ensure the support of the former Democrat for the Bush administration.

A senior GOP source said the money was part of Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove's strategy to maintain a Republican majority in the Senate in November. The source said Mr. Rove, together with Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, directed leading pro-Bush contributors to donate millions of dollars to Mr. Lieberman's campaign for re-election in Connecticut in an attempt that he would be a "Republican-leaning" senator.

Sad News

I just read this report today:

CAIRNS, Australia - Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.

Irwin was at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called "Ocean's Deadliest" when he swam too close to one of the animals, which have a poisonous barb on their tails, his friend and colleague John Stainton said.

"He came on top of the stingray and the stingray's barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said Stainton, who was on board Irwin's boat at the time.

Crew members aboard the boat, Croc One, called emergency services in the nearest city, Cairns, and administered CPR as they rushed the boat to nearby Low Isle to meet a rescue helicopter. Medical staff pronounced Irwin dead when they arrived a short time later, Stainton said.