Some would call this...

an oligarchy, others just call it George Bush's America.

Liberal Media: AP-ABC News Edition

Goddammit! They did it again. This time the culprit is the AP/ABC news.

Look folks, Bob Menendez (my Senator and ex Rep.) and Hillary Clinton were the ones who made this story about our Ports being controlled by a terrorist supporting government an issue. They were the first ones out in front, and the first ones to say anything about it, and the first ones to draft/introduce legislation to stop it dead in its tracks. Fact is that if it weren't for them, this would have sailed right on by along with the ships carrying dirty bombs.

First off, the headline. "Frist Calls for Halt to U.S. Ports Deal." This is a reaction to a letter that Menendez, Clinton, Lautenberg, and Boxer sent to Bill Frist today.:

February 21, 2006

> The Honorable William H. Frist, M.D.

> Majority Leader

> United States Senate

> Washington, DC 20510

> Dear Senator Frist:

> We thank you for joining the call of lawmakers who are gravely
> concerned about the Dubai Ports World deal. As you know, unless
> Congress acts, operations at six major U.S.ports, and other U.S.
> port facilities, will be turned over to Dubai Ports World, a
> company owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates, on
> March 2. This sale will create an unacceptable risk to the
> security of our ports. We therefore request that emergency
> legislation we are introducing to ban foreign governments from
> controlling operations at our ports be slated for immediate
> consideration when the Senate convenes on February 27.

> Dubai Ports World has announced plans to buy P&O Ports, the company
> that runs commercial operation at ports in New York, New Jersey,
> Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami andPhiladelphia. The transaction was
> reviewed and approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the
> United States (CFIUS), a committee made up of representatives of
> different federal departments and agencies.

> Since that approval, however, numerous questions have been raised
> about the quality of that review and the prospect of a company
> owned by a foreign government controlling operations at U.S.
> ports. Only 5 percent of containers that enter the United States
> through ports are actually inspected, despite repeated warnings by
> security experts that ports are a prime target for terrorist attacks.

> The president has the authority to reverse or approve decisions
> made by CFIUS. However, in the absence of presidential
> intervention, the Senate must show leadership and act quickly. We
> urge you to bring up for debate legislation we are authoring to
> prevent sales ofU.S. port operations to companies owned by foreign
> governments. This issue transcends philosophical posturing and
> partisan bickering – it is about our nation’s security.

> The Senate must act fast and show leadership on this issue because
> too much is at stake. We look to your leadership in assisting our
> efforts in making this legislation a priority.

> Sincerely,

> _________________________
> _________________________

> ROBERT MENENDEZ
> HILARY RODHAM CLINTON

> United States
> Senator United
> States Senator

> _________________________
> _________________________

> FRANK R. LAUTENBERG BARBARA
> BOXER

> United States
> Senator United
> States Senator

(excuse the formatting, its from an emailed press release)

Yet this is not mentioned anywhere in the article and Bob Menendez is mentioned only in the 15th paragraph:

Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist called Tuesday for the Bush administration to stop a deal permitting a United Arab Emirates company to take over six major U.S. seaports, upping the ante on a fight that several congressmen, governors and mayors are waging with the White House.

"The decision to finalize this deal should be put on hold until the administration conducts a more extensive review of this matter," said Frist. "If the administration cannot delay this process, I plan on introducing legislation to ensure that the deal is placed on hold until this decision gets a more thorough review."

In the uneasy climate after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration decision to allow the transaction is threatening to develop a major political headache for the White House.

"I'm not against foreign ownership," said Frist, "but my main concern is national security." He was speaking to reporters in Long Beach, Calif., where Frist was doing a fact-finding tour on port security and immigration issues.

Frist, R-Tenn., spoke as other lawmakers, including Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said they would offer emergency legislation next week to block the deal ahead of a planned March 2 takeover.

Frist's move comes a day after two Republican governors, New York's George Pataki and Maryland's Robert Ehrlich, voiced doubts about the acquisition of a British company that has been running six U.S. ports by Dubai Ports World, a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates.

The British company, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., runs major commercial operations at ports in Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia.

Both governors indicated they may try to cancel lease arrangements at ports in their states because of the DP World takeover.

"Ensuring the security of New York's port operations is paramount and I am very concerned with the purchase of Peninsular & Oriental Steam by Dubai Ports World," Pataki said in a statement. "I have directed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to explore all legal options that may be available to them."

Ehrlich, concerned about security at the Port of Baltimore, said Monday he was "very troubled" that Maryland officials got no advance notice before the Bush administration approved the Arab company's takeover of the operations at the six ports.

"We needed to know before this was a done deal, given the state of where we are concerning security," Ehrlich told reporters in the State House rotunda in Annapolis.

The arrangement brought protests from both political parties in Congress and a lawsuit in Florida from a company affected by the takeover.

Public fears that the nation's ports are not properly protected, combined with the news of an Arab country's takeover of six major ports, proved a combustible mix.

Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina said on Fox News Sunday that the administration approval was "unbelievably tone deaf politically." GOP Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia said on ABC's "This Week," "It's a tough one to explain, but we're in a global economy. ... I think we need to take a very close look at it."

Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey said Monday that he and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., will introduce legislation prohibiting the sale of port operations to foreign governments.

This is simply rediculous! Frist, King, Pataki, Ehrlich, Graham, and Tom Davis are all mentioned before Menendez and Clinton. That's 6 Republicans that get mentioned before the Democrats who brought the issue to the attention of the press.

All of whom get to make their grandstanding statements and promises of legislation before a Menendez mention. Yesterday it was Cokie Roberts and NPR, today it is Associated Press writers Will Lester, Matthew Verrinder, Tom Stuckey along with ABC news.

In short, if Democrats don't do anything, they get called the "Idea-less or Obstructionist" party. If they steal an issue near and dear to Republican's hearts (like Homeland Security), Republicans simply co-opt the press into stealing it back.

Yet another fine example of your finest Liberal Media.

Your Liberal Media: NPR Edition

So I am barely waking up this morning and I hear a blathering Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborn Boggs a.k.a. Cokie Roberts talking about how the Katrina Report was all Republicans as is the opposition to the UAE owning the port system.

First off, in fairness, the Republican committee that issued a report on Wednesday is totally Republican. However, when asked on ABC's This Week, Rep. Gene Taylor said that they didn't bother to subpoena White House records, for fear of being stonewalled and thus delaying the report. I guess the report just HAD to come out February 15th so that folks planning Mardi Gras could prepare special floats with Chertoff bullseye's painted on. Either way, the Republican committee failed to really scathe the White House because, the White House wouldn't let them see their records. Good job Committee. In other words, the reasons Democrats boycotted the committee in the first place came to fruition in the Republican's version of the GAO and DHS Inspector General reports.

Besides, this is only the first of 3 reports on Katrina. The next one to come out is from a BI-PARTISAN Senate Committee. Too bad Cokie forgot to mention that.

However, Cokie wasn't done lifting the Republicans above all ills.

She then went right ahead and blatenly lied.

Cokie went right ahead and said that Republicans were the only one's outraged over the UAE takeover of our Port system.
This as we all know, is what Washingtonian Press Folk would potentially call, blatant disregard for the truth. Isn't it enough that Bob Menendez has to issue rapid responses to Michael Chertoff?

However, NPR wasn't done with their Republican cheerleading effort just yet. Immediately following Cokie Roberts' wankery, Peter Overby filed this report, which basically tried to explain the already debunked convoluted way that Harry Reid shares guilt in the Abramoff scandal.

Audio of all of this should be available at 10 AM. Get your vomit receptacles ready.

This Morning Edition's pyloric parastolsis gives credence to Atrios' idea that NPR really stands for Nice Polite Republicans.

Your Democratic Party Part 2

Mother Jones has an update on the Paul Hackett broo haha. Kossacks have been mulling this over with arguments ranging from "Fuck the DSCC" to Hackett threw his own sabots into the campaign.

Personally, I don't buy any argument that Hackett did this to himself. If he saw Brown's bankroll and pissed himself, why would he take a dump on the party and say "they" did it to him?

Makes no sense. This guy is a tried and true progressive and he genuinely wanted to get to Washington. He isn't some stooge either. It's not like he thought, "I'll just shit on the party, and run later." No way dude. You don't shit on the party and get to run again, cuz they can shit on you.

So I think the party shat on him.

I think there are lots of reasons for this, both good and bad, but mostly it was a bad choice. Bad decision. The party is in shambles, the message is off, they can't be united on anything, and they are all scrambling like cockroaches in a recently lit room. This guy was their key to the base, their trophy boy. Their, "we love you lefties and bloggers so keep up the good work."

Plus, he could have been proof of the "we support the troops" idea that the Republicans keep pestering them on.

This Hackett boondoggle, like Bankruptcy, the SOTU laugh/yuck fest, the failed anti-Alito thing, and their constant shunning of the left creates one thing. Cynicism.

It does not creat votes, it throws a wrench into the machine. It dismays. It makes people like me say fuck it all, there really is no point and this really is only a game. A game of mighty powerful folks fucking with our tax dollars and fucking us all over.

I say fuck it. Let em loose. Let them fucking loose. Over and Over and Over again. Meanwhile, this is a dog eat dog world folks, poor people? Your fucked. Do the best with what you got to get out of your situation. People who got some good luck? Keep on keepin' on.

If you want to make change, donate to charities, or volunteer. These political games are simply fucked up idea festivals designed to squeeze money from the layman. Much like what the priest does on Sundays, except these fuckers want your money all the time.

Happy Friday and enjoy the weekend!

Paul Hackett, sorry dude. You coulda, shoulda, woulda been a contender.

Democracy!

Headline: A Deal Is Reached to Name a Victor in Haiti's Election:

The agreement is a result of negotiations by Mr. Préval, government officials, foreign diplomats and international observers, including the Organization of American States.

A high-ranking official from the Organization of American States, who insisted on anonymity because of the fragile nature of the agreement, said on Wednesday night that loopholes in Haitian electoral law allow the government to discard an estimated 85,000 blank ballots included in the original tally. By excluding them, Mr. Préval's lead would increase from 48.7 percent of the votes to slightly more than 51 percent.

Under election rules, the winner needs 50 percent plus one vote to avoid a run-off.

An adviser to Mr. Préval, who confirmed the agreement, said on Wednesday that electoral authorities had indicated they began recovering a large number of missing ballots that were believed destroyed or stolen, and that those ballots, estimated at 8 percent of all ballots cast, were overwhelmingly in Mr. Préval's favor.

It's always good to avoid a run-off! Run-off's are exceedingly complicated and extremely undemocratic.

Sometimes you have to wonder what the hell kinda world we live in. Hopefully, Haitians like this guy, and hopefully he won't piss them off enough to have another revolution.

The LIberal Media

Mr. Daou shows us the demonstrable proof.

Note to Self...

Don't ever try to mess with Media Matters. They will simply chew you up and spit you out.

Peppered Update

Boy being peppered by a shotgun must be a bigger deal than Cheney and the gullible media have made it out to be thus far, just in:
Hunter Shot by Cheney Suffers Mild Heart Attack

The 78-year-old lawyer who was accidentally shot by Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday suffered a mild heart attack today after bird shot migrated to his heart, doctors in South Texas said, and he underwent a successful catheterization to determine the extent of the damage.

Doctors said Mr. Whittington had been moved back into the intensive care unit after undergoing the procedure at about 10 a.m. Eastern time, which showed that one BB-size pellet entered his heart. Peter Banko, the administrator of Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in Corpus Christi, Tex., said Mr. Whittington suffered a minor and "asymptomatic heart attack" that was noted only after monitors picked up an irregular heart beat early this morning.

"Some of the bird shot appears to have moved and lodged into part of his heart in what we would say is a minor heart attack," Dr. Banko told reporters this afternoon at a news briefing outside the hospital.

Goddamned Birdshot... ITS ALIVE I TELL YOU!!!

Then there is this:

Mr. Whittington's doctors, in consultation with White House doctors, determined that he should undergo the catheterization

Uh.. Why are White House doctors making medical decisions about a guy in Texas? This must be due to strict HMO rules and regulations as to who the Primary Care Provider is and wether or not those Corpus Christi docs are "in plan" or "out of plan." Or maybe this has more to do with White House doctors interfering in another man's diagnostic care?

Why were White House doctors consulted on this man's care?

Will a member of the media, preferably one who has spoken to a hunting expert and stopped reffering to the shooting as a peppering, ask this question? (ht atrios)

Where are the Quail Hunting Experts?

Shouldn't there be a parade of hunting experts, NRA folks, along with the quail hunting champion of the world on each and every cable news program by now?

All we have is Scottie Doo, and the campaign contributors that were involved in covering this whole thing up in the first place answering our intrepid media's flawed questions.

I remember all sorts of tracking experts flaunted about during Natalie Holloway. There were brain surgeons and senator/doctors making inferences on Terri Schiavo's condition. Every other menial story has gotten such coverage.

Dick Cheney, the Vice President of the United States, shoots a 78 year old, what experts do we get?

Pepper shakers, and Spray bottles. Nice job.

Sunday Talk Leans Right

I don't know how many times this needs to be proven before the whole "liberal media" theory dies, but here it is once more. The Media is NOT liberal.

Hullabaloo

A.K.A. digby. Go read the whole f'in thing.

I read the news today Oh Boy..

First off, it turns out Democracy really isn't top dog in this or Israel's administration. What I don't understand about these things is that in Iraq, we are trying to get the Sunni's (a.k.a. insurgents/terrorists) involved in the democratic/political process. Why is this not acceptable in Palestine?

So much for that "oil addiction". Turns out, the tax breaks Republicans give to oil companies aren't enough. So they had to give them free drilling rights, so that the government gets $7 billion less from big oil.

The Dick Cheney Shooting is pretty big news. Its funny, it has a good plot, and the media is complicent in calling it anything but a shooting. I'll summarize for the cave dwellers. Dick goes hunting, Dick turns and shoots with complete disregard for basic hunting safety rules, Dick shoots 78 year old man, Dick and gang stay mum about the whole thing for almost 24 hours. Media then calls it a "peppering" or a "spraying" even though the man was shot at close range (30 yds) and whatever "peppering" the old man got put his ass in the Intesive Care Unit. Note to the media, for every other news story, you get experts on the topic at hand. I have yet to see one "hunting expert" on any news program discussing this matter. Call the NRA goddamit.

Michelle Kwan quits, boo hoo. She has had lots of chances and she blew them all, so while I understand her brilliance, I don't think her career will suffer as a result of not getting an Olympic gold medal. The New York Times, however, begs to differ.

And thats the round up of crazy news for the day.

Your Democratic Party

Wankers the whole lot of them. This is why I feel I have to either stay home or vote green. This is simply bullshit. Democrats it seems would rather have the President spy on us so that the Republicans won't call them "weak on national defense" than prop up a genuine tough guy who came pretty close to taking down a Republican in a Republican district.

I say stop donating to Democrats. Really, just stop it. I wonder how Kos feels about this? Hackett was a total product of the netroots/base. The Democrats are alienating "the base" the Democrats are putting career politicians ahead of the little guy. The Democrats are still in the minority, and Iraq is the major issue of the campaign, they don't know this.

This is simply dispicable and worthy of the netroots shitting upon the Democratic party for it.

Write to Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and tell them their machinations are unwelcome particularly in lieu of the fact that they bungle every single opportunity they have to actually make us the base happy.

Gulag

All that talk about Gulag not being an applicable term to Gitmo seems to be consistently discredited.

If you still are averse to the term Gulag, then perhaps think of this. In Paksitan, Afghanistan, Iraq, the United States, and perhaps in all other middle eastern countries. You better be good to your neighbor, otherwise he can report you to the secret American police, and you get an all expense paid trip to Gitmo. Where since you will not be tried for the crime you did not commmit, you can bank on staying for as long as Bush sees fit.

It may not be a Gulag, but it certainly is a lot like room 101.

It is a prison, that isn't secret, but realy isn't that hard to get put into. Plus once you are in, there are really no prospects of getting out.

And it all has the United States seal of approval right there at the front door. In a country by the way, that we won't even buy sugar from.

Nice.

It's been a while

I know, and for that I am sorry. Work has been a bit outta control.

Also, I have been in a cinical funk about politics in general so despite being angered by the President's empty SOTU address, and despite being angry at Democrats yukkin' it up before during and after the speech as if they weren't in the room with the anti-christ himself, I can't seem to give a rat's ass enough to write about anything. Besides, nobody really reads this shit so what is the point.

Anyway, I will be writting something about the Abu-Gonzales liefest and the Senate Republican's not wanting to do their basic job, but that will have to wait some more. Maybe the 5 of you will be lucky and get something to snack on today.

For now, go read Adam Nagourney's latest beat down on the Dems piece.

Then ask yourself, why? Why do Democrats allow this to happen?
Why do Democrats critcize themselves to the press like this? When will they realize that they accomplish nothing but headlines that put the word Democrat and some perjorative together in bold face. Right there for the guy who gets his news by reading headlines while he waits for his buttered roll and coffee to be served at the deli.

Here is one simple idea. If you really are having a hard time finding some unified consistent stance and a person to be the messenger of said stance, keep it to yourselves. Do this in private underground meetings. Then when you talk to the press say, everything is fine and dandy. Dean? Hell yeah he's grand master flash in our eyes. He is the man! Obama? Yeah man he is the man? Al Gore? How can I have anything negative to say about a Vice President that presided over the greatest expansion in the American economy.

etc. etc. etc.

Then if you don't like these guys, say so in your private meetings with fundraisers or whatever.

But do NOT let this shit get out in the press (certainly to Adam Nagourney). They are not on your side, and they will not be on your side anytime soon.
So stop giving them the bat that they use to beat you.

And for once, vote together on something. Anything. Pick a frekin bill and all say nay. Period. So long as its not a vote that you already voted for before you voted against, it will not affect the outcome of your election.

This cowtowing and pissing show however, will.

Wise up dipshit Democrats. You don't want what little voting population you have left to stay home in November do you?