Bush Inaction: More Identity Information Lost
I got excited yesterday about the lax attitude of the Bush Administration concerning identity theft (see diary) and this morning's news about Ameritrade's data loss isn't making me any happier. How...
View ArticleTom DeLay & The Saipan Sex Trade
Apologies in advance if this topic has been posted before, BUT the idea of a House Majority Leader as an advocate for the criminals running factories in the Northern Marianas is more unconscionable...
View ArticleGeorge's School Daze
I have a couple of messages for the Bushites: First, Get Off the Kids' Backs; and, Second, Start Putting Your Money Where Your Mouths Are. The first part of this tirade will fit in the main entry....
View ArticleGOP takes second bite at the Bankruptcy Apple
David Sirota Sirota has a summary of the GOP "Ney Bill" that looks like the Bankruptcy Debacle Part Two. Not content to make Americans destitute with low wages, ever increasing medical plan costs, and...
View ArticleMother of Big Brother: Problems with the Real ID Act
The Real ID Act is an atrocity attached to a must pass appropriation bill. A "shout out" to those who've covered this legislation in previous diaries, see below. So, why another diary on this topic?...
View Article48 Hours to Real ID
Patchmonkey's diary"The US Senate is scheduled to vote this Tuesday on the Real ID Act. They've never debated the bill. Most of them haven't even bothered to read it.Nevertheless, they're going to pass...
View ArticleSEC: Rollback on Sarbanes-Oxley?
From the Business section of the Washington Post"Regulators next week will urge auditors to exercise better judgment and increase their reliance on the work of corporate employees as the audit firms...
View ArticleThe Good Old Days- Terrible!
This weeks Bush Follies were enough to make me review one of my favorite books. In 1974 Otto L. Bettmann published a book "The Good Old Days--They Were Terrible!" The book is still in print, and it is...
View ArticleWhy would BP threaten magazines?
Why would BP, with all those slick advertisements touting its environmentally friendly research and operations start threatening magazines that might criticize the corporation? Think Progress notes:...
View ArticleWishing you a Safe Summer!
It's June 1. School's out (or just about out) and the following is a wish for you and yours to have a safe and fun outdoor experience this summer. While I'm good at shooting off at a mediocre level of...
View ArticleThe Silence of the White House: Killen Case
Mr. Bush must have been very busy indeed today. The announcement of the verdict in the trial of Klansman Killen was made hours ago. [Guilty of manslaughter, three counts] Did we hear a statement from...
View ArticleAnother Group Rove Insulted
I'm not one for personal diaries. For this I'll make an exception, and note that the inspiration came from Keith Olbermann this evening. He admitted that from time to time he's utilized the services...
View ArticleA Taxpayer who wants answers!
This is our "busy season" but I'm going to ask for your patience while I vent some frustration with what I've been hearing on the news today. One: What kind of perverse psychology informs the comments...
View ArticleDeja Vue All Over Again
I'm not the first to notice a pattern in the responses of the Bush Misadministration, and I'm sure I won't be the last. However, anyone who misses the comparisons between the press briefings by...
View ArticleAre We Safe? Do you know the answers to these questions?
Plans, Plans, Who's Got the Plans? How many of us know the name and phone number of our LOCAL emergency management director? How many of us have actually LOOKED at the emergency plans for our own...
View ArticleBush Did Have Vision?
SteinL's Diary sums up a failed man in a failing presidency, and commentary from readers fills in more of the blanks. However, we may be deluding ourselves if we believe that Bush has no vision. He has...
View ArticleHow the Chamber of Commerce is Anti-Our Small Business
Since we started up our very small business a few years ago we've been getting cajoling phone calls about joining the Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business. At first...
View ArticleA Conservative on the CPA Corruption
The Bush Administration's problems with FEMA's response to Katrina/Rita, issues surrounding the outing of a CIA operative, and the QuagMier'd Supreme Court nomination, put some cracks in the mirror in...
View ArticleAlarm Call: Vote Suppression and Affordable Housing
The prospects weren't good for passage of H.R. 1461 (affordable housing bill) when 35 conservative members of the House of Representatives sent a letter last April to Tom DeLay announcing their...
View ArticleHouse GOP Vote Suppression Amendment on Now
The House of Representatives is considering H.R. 1461 on the floor now, with one hour for each side. A quick summary: House members of the Republican Study Committee objected to and stalled the...
View ArticleAnd the next SCOTUS nominee?
While the Rapture Right takes credit for tanking the Miers' nomination, and the president sits in Camp David this weekend trying to figure out how to spend the remaining 25 cents worth of his political...
View ArticleNews: The Cover Up Congress
Nancy Pelosi doesn't have the benefit of the Senate Rules, but she did two things today that help further the inquiry into the manipulated intelligence, and other issues surrounding the War in Iraq....
View ArticleWashington Black Sox Scorecard: Franklin to Tomlinson
OK, it's autumn and the 'aspens are showing their colors, all rooted together as they are'; and, so are the Republicans. Each scandal that blows through brings cries of "It's just a few bad apples."...
View ArticleNixon November 3, 1969 and Bush Today
On November 3, 1969 President Richard M. Nixon gave what's now called the "Silent Majority" Speech. We still had a black and white television set, some faux Danish modern dinette furniture, and we...
View ArticlePombo's Wonderful Land Rush
For the past few days diaries from Land of Enchantment, and Dcookie among others, brought attention to Richard Pombo's Wonderful Land Rush. A small provision inserted into the House version of the...
View ArticleWorst Person in the World
Several diaries this past week highlighted the provisions (Sections 6201-6207) inserted into the Budget Reconciliation Bill (HR4241) by Representative Richard Pombo of California. These provisions...
View ArticleA Little Good News Today
In the maelstrom of bad news about American citizens being spied on without warrants, and GOP shenanigans in Congress there is a little good news coming over the wires. Four stories about paid faux...
View ArticleAction Item: Promises Unkept
I keep checking on the Senate web-site for any indication that Senator John Ensign (R-NV) has scheduled the hearings on Halliburton's alleged fraud, abuse, and mismanagement of tax payer dollars (and...
View ArticleHalliburton and Human Trafficking: An Update
The Chicago Tribune today raises the issue of Halliburton's egregious hiring practices. There were reports about subcontractors and brokers practices back in October, 2005 that echoed the dismal...
View ArticleHappy New Year An Old Speech for a New Time
Janus was the god who looked in both directions; toward the inside and the outside, the past and the future. So, perhaps January is a good month to consider an old speech delivered on January 6, 1941...
View ArticleOperation Shamrock Redux
Thus much for the Republicans bringing us new visions for a modern era; all they've done in the current domestic spying flap is haul out the same old tactics clothed in slightly new self...
View ArticleThe Call and Stall Congress
The recent Congress could be tagged as the "Call and Stall" Congress. Democrats called for Congressional Oversight on a wide variety of topics and the Republicans stalled, whitewashed, and obfuscated....
View ArticleFYI the Alexander Strategies Group
No wonder there's a scramble in Washington DC to de-link from the Abramoff tainted Alexander Strategies Group! A quick look at the companies, organizations, and coalitions for which ASG registered as a...
View ArticleFYI: The Federalist Group LLC and their connections II
While the publicity spotlight is on the Alexander Strategies Group and its demise in the Abramoff Scandal, the need to regulate the relationships between lobbyists, political fundraising, and our...
View ArticleCNN's bad business plan and other ramblings
I posted a comment on another diary and had to stop myself from all but hijacking the whole thing with my views on business plans. Better I should use up my daily diary than someone else's. So here...
View ArticleBush HSA with NASCAR stickers on the Podium?
Here we go again. One more SOTU speech, followed by more tickets only, screened ahead of time, soft ball questions from selected audience members; and, only photos from the White House PR photographer...
View ArticleSuper Secret Bush Administration: A Timeline
This list isn't nearly complete. It is just what anyone can find in about three hours of internet searching. And, it's appalling. We've winced at the reports that Bush's photos are "press releases" not...
View ArticleRove Threatens Judiciary Committee Reps with Blacklist
Heads up, via Huffington Post link to Insight Magazine"Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources...
View ArticleStop Me! Or help me?
Not too long ago I started a keeping a record of Republicans who've been indicted, investigated, convicted, or pleaded guilty to all kinds of nefarious stuff. At first it was just a little one page job...
View ArticleBush is keeping me safe from what please?
The bigoted offensive "offensive" after the Coretta Scott King funeral by Hannity, The Oxycontin Kid, and others-- "shocked" that African Americans would discuss things like wire tapping, anti-war...
View ArticleMehlman headed down the same old road?
The GOP's playing the same old framing game on the chatterati shows and with Mehlman's press releases. I, for one, am getting tired of it. Speaking of a party with "no new ideas" that's beginning to...
View ArticleWiccan Soldier won't get emblem
This isn't a one line diary, but it shouldn't take more than that to illustrate the incredible intolerance of the Bush Administration and the Department of Defense. It's a simple story: A soldier from...
View ArticleThe FBI searches the FEC
If we were thinking that the FEC wasn't on top of its game, we were right. According to a story deep inside the folds of the Washington Post, there's a small scandal going on that's eaten away at the...
View ArticleAnother Republican Staffer Another Revolving Door
From Senate Job to Nuclear Lobbyist describes the quick trip made by Alex Flint, former staffer for Pete Domenici's Senate Committee from staff to lobbyist for the Nuclear industry. Two thoughts...
View ArticleWho's on the Look Out List?
The Bush Administration's No Fly List, which seems to do a good job of nabbing Nebraska nuns and small boys from Colorado, may have an offshoot called the "Look Out List." A German tourist of Syrian...
View ArticleRepublicans Stall Senate Ethics Bill
The votes haven't yet been posted on the Senate website in regard to the cloture vote on the Senate Ethics Reform bill, however, one could guess that the GOP is trying one last inglorious effort to...
View ArticleEx-Halliburton Execs held Walter Reed facilities contract
There's a pattern developing in regard to all things military that have anything to do with Halliburton, KBR, of their spin off companies. Once the "privatization" is accomplished there follows a...
View ArticleImus: Once more with feeling
Once more with feeling. WFAN-AM and MSNBC have offered no more than token apologies for the blatantly racist comments made by Don Imus about the Rutgers Womens' Basketball team. Thus far all the two...
View ArticleNorthern Exposure: GAO Report Cites Lack of Security and Resources
In the midst of the mostly well deserved media attention to the attacks in Mumbai, the GAO has released a report, "Northern Border Security: DHS's Report Could Better Inform Congress by Identifying...
View ArticleBattered Senator Syndrome? Dems caving on public option
The AP is reporting that the Senate Democrats are "paring back subsidies" and "floated a compromise that rules out direct government competition against private insurers."sourceHas it not occurred to...
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