Note to Democrats: Get in There & JUMP Already!

Where the hell are the Democrats?



It's hard to believe that it's just been two weeks since Bush and Blair hijacked the nation's news cycles with an alleged plot by British nationals to explode airplanes over the Atlantic ocean.



Ned Lamont had just decisively beat Joe Lieberman.



It had ignited a groundswell of media coverage, about a wave of populism across America that threatened to throw incumbents, mainly Republican, out of office. But before that had a chance to take hold in Americans' minds, George W. Bush pressured Tony Blair to lower the boom on an alleged group of plotters.



After that sucked all of the air out of a week's worth of news cycles (as well as all coverage of Israel's bombing Lebanon back to the stone age, AND coverage of the civil war in Iraq, all due to Bush's failed foreign policy) and before anyone could say "Ok, where were we?" in America's upcoming election debate, John Mark Karr confessed to Thai police that he'd murdered JonBenet Ramsey ten years earlier.



The media is now covering the Bush administration's rewriting of hurricane Katrina one year ago, Joe Lieberman has pulled ahead of Ned Lamont in the polls, the Bush administration has begun Saddam Hussein's second trial, MSNBC just led their news hour with an interview on "Energy drinks for women - how safe are they?", and a story on the "Recall of body parts."



Bush is busy giving away the shop, trying to get Russia on board for an attack on Iran once the deadline for Iran to give up its' lawful right to explore its nuclear anmbitions (yes, it's lawful) passes in a few days. Once the attack of Iran begins, it'll be too late to discuss it because "Anybody who doesn't line up behind the President when U.S. troops have been sent into harm's way is a dirty, rotten, unpatriotic traitor!"


I've seen this show before. Several times.



Democrats have lost what was a double-digit lead over Republicans just a few weeks ago: "Republicans Close Gap on Democrats in Congressional Races."

Filed under: Democrats, DLC, DNC, DSCC, DCCC, midterm election, 2006

Armitage & Powell Were NOT Against the War in Iraq

The Rove- and Libby-defenders claim that there was no conspiracy against the CIA, Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame because "Richard Armitage and Colin Powell were against Bush's going to war in Iraq."

Even if that was true (and it's not), it fails to put the kabosh on the fact that the Bush administration conspired to destroy Valerie Plame's career (and the cover corporation Brewster Jennings, and all agents who worked there) in order to threaten others in the CIA from going public. To begin with, a "senior administration official" has already admitted that the outting of Plame was "revenge."

Armitage and Powell weren't against going to war in Iraq. They were against the way that the war was waged: To lose. Both were very much in support of taking Saddam Hussein out.

This piece of the Newsweek story gets lost in the telling about Armitage's part in the outing of Valerie Plame. From Newsweek:

Armitage's calendar also shows that a week before Woodward's meeting with Armitage, the deputy secretary of state met for 15 minutes with Libby.

That meeting occurred as State officials were about to prepare a report outlining how Plame's husband was sent to Niger before the Iraq war to check unverified intelligence that Iraq was seeking nuclear materials from Africa.

Two "witnesses" to the meeting (one of whom, I'd bet all the change in my pocket, was Armitage, himself) deny that Armitage and Libby talked about Plame in that meeting, but I don't buy it for a minute.

How is it that Armitage, "a well-known gossip who loves to dish and receive juicy tidbits about Washington characters," had a top secret security clearance in one of the most sensitive jobs anybody could have in the U.S. government?

From what is allegedly in David Corn's book, "Hubris" (due out next month):

"I'm afraid I may be the guy that caused this whole thing," Armitage later told Carl Ford Jr., State's intelligence chief. Ford says Armitage admitted to him that he had "slipped up" and told Novak more than he should have. "He was basically beside himself that he was the guy that f---ed up. My sense from Rich is that it was just chitchat," Ford recalls.

That's sounds almost verbatim to what Karl Rove told Matt Cooper:

". . . . I have a distinct memory of Rove ending the call by saying, `I've already said too much.'"

If Armitage wasn't a willing co-conspirator, but instead was set up, he certainly fell for it, allegedly exposing the identity of a CIA agent to two journalists before anybody else in the Bush White House had. Maybe he's realized what a chump he was and is standing still for it because of worse threats against him - worse charges that the Bush Justice Department could file against him.

Armitage is looking more like George Tenet every day.

Filed under: Richard Armitage, Colin Powell, Iraq, Novak, Woodward, Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson

`Islamo-Fascists' - It's Not Even a Word

Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly:

ISLAMOFASCISM....Spencer Ackerman spent last week visiting the Muslim community in Dearborn, Michigan, and comes back with a news flash for the president about the term "Islamofascist":

Practically everyone I've spoken with in Dearborn, from oncologists to students to clerics, brings up the term unprompted to explain how they feel themselves under collective suspicion from the Justice Department, a tone they feel Bush has set himself by using the phrase.

....Last week in the Weekly Standard, the apparent inventor of the phrase, Stephen Schwartz, dismissed those who'd be offended by "Islamofascism" as "primitive Muslims." That should tell you all you need to know about those who use the term. I confess to using it, if ironically, in a recent piece, and here in Dearborn I learned precisely why you and I shouldn't. The people it infuriates aren't primitive. They're the moderate, pro-American, well-integrated Muslims who form one of the greatest bulwarks against Al Qaeda that the U.S. possesses, and they see the term as draining their Americanness away.

It's remarkable that anyone needs to be told this, but obviously they do. So now they've been told. And I have some advice of my own for George Bush: you should probably avoid any phrase that's used primarily in the fever swamps of the hawkish blogosphere. Following their lead will merely dig you into an even deeper hole than you've already dug all by yourself.

If you think that Bush needs to be told this, then I have to ask, "What do you think Bush intended to accomplish using the word?"



Keep in mind that this new term, "Islamo-Fascists" was disseminated throughout the GOP's talking heads - Joe Lieberman almost slipped and said it on the first day that the term was taken out for a spin (it was the second or third day after Lieberman lost the Connecticut primary).

I think that we, who have been blown away by the cloddishness of this administration these last six years, keep thinking they are inept. I suggest to you that they are not inept, and that they have been wildly successful at everything they've done. Bush used exactly the right word to achieve what he intended.

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, the Neocons behind these wars, the GOP (Ken Mehlman, Santorum, Tom Delay, Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott, et al), these aren't statesmen working towards world peace. You don't call people names if you want to get along with them. It's one of the most important lessons taught in kindergarden.

The Bush administration does not want peace - they want a wider stage of hostilities. It's after that wider stage of hostilities that what Bush-Cheney are after happens: The U.S. will control oil in the Middle East. Whether it's through the Saudis (after antagonizing and then annihilating all in the Middle East whom object and join the opposition against the U.S.) or some other way, it's pretty obvious that's what Bush-Cheney are after. It's the only way that "fighting them over there" makes any sense at all.

Read Juan Cole, August 6, 2006, "One Ring to Rule Them."

And Read Sy Hersch.

Bush and Cheney want to broaden the conflict to include Iran and Syria. They have wanted to do this, they have intended to do this, since, at least, Bush's "axis of evil" SOTU speech. We know now, as we did not know then, that Bush was looking for any excuse to attack Iraq BEFORE 9/11/01.

Everybody knows that Bush attacked Iraq with insufficient troops and had no plan to rebuild the country. This keeps coming up every 3 months since "Mission Accomplished," and nothing changes. Nobody has yet to ask Bush or Rumsfeld, "The situation gets worse there, you keep saying that we're 'staying the course,' and that you're not going to be doing anything differently. . . . what is it that you're hoping is going to change?" The follow-up to whatever the answer Bush or Rumsfeld give should be "HOW???"

If the past is the prologue for the future, and everything that this administration had done these last six years has been for the enrichment of the upper class, the dismantlement of (by bankrupting) government), and using the vestments of power (keeping the nation at war) for the continual rule by the corporate power behind the Conservatives (AND if I'm wrong, and Rove isn't able to steal the election), Bush will need a spectacular October surprise in order for Republicans to hold on to Congress after this next election.

I'm sure that he and Rove have a series of spectacles they can set off, if they need to. Such as killing Osama bin Laden. Grudgingly. Bush only "accomplishes" something in his War on Terror when he must for political survival or gain. I think a more accurate name for it is "The Grudging War."

The rest of the time, Bush-Cheney and the GOP are in pillage-mode on America.

There is one other point.

Bush (and Cheney, but specifically Bush) doesn't care if he's liked or popular by the American people. I doubt that Bush has any close friendships, and that's part of what made Bush attractive to the powerful who put him in the White House. "Wanting to be liked" wasn't going to get in the way of doing and saying whatever was necessary to implement the Republican antisocial policies. They give their legislation touchy-feely titles ("Clear Skies Initiative" and "Leave No Child Behind") that bear no resemblance to what the programs in actuality do.

So the more that Americans react negatively to what the Bush administration is doing, the more that Bush and Cheney will ramp up their plans. They'll speed it up not because they're having second thoughts, but because they know that the American people are getting wise to what's going on, we are waking up, and Bush-Cheney have to get it off the front pages before any organized movement can coalesce to stop them.

That's how Bush & Cheney have gotten away with it so far. Too much heat on Israel in Lebanon? Agree to the cease-fire, wait a few days before giving Israel the go-ahead (on a "take out the trash-Friday") to do a massive operation, down and dirty. If Hezbollah doesn't retalliate, go quiet for a few days until the furor dies down. And then do it again.

This has worked very well for Bush and Cheney. Nobody, least of all the American citizens, has stopped them.



Filed under: Bush, Cheney, Islamo-Fascism, Lebanon, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Kevin Drum, Washington Monthly, Juan Cole, JonBenet Ramsey, John Mark Karr, Hezbollah

The U.S. Tour of the John Karr Show Kicked Off With His Unshackled Release From a Bangkok Jail

The man who allegedly confessed in JonBenet Ramsey’s death sips champagne on his flight.



U.S. federal agents, George W. Bush's federal agents, struggling to keep control over their prisoner, led an unhandcuffed John Karr through a frenzied mob of paparazzi at Bangkok's airport:

Ten years after JonBenet Ramsey’s murder captured the attention of the world, the man suspected of killing the little girl returned to the United States — in style.

Even while en route, more unusual clues to John Mark Karr’s life emerged as he sipped champagne and munched prawns in the business-class seat of his Thai Airways flight from Bangkok. The three American officials who accompanied Karr took no extraordinary security measures and Karr was not handcuffed.

Karr, 41, whose life has shaped up to be as bizarre as the mysterious murder and subsequent investigation of the 6-year-old girl, arrived in Los Angeles late Sunday.

In Bangkok, a doctor at a clinic that specializes in sex-change surgery confirmed that Karr was a patient there.

Thep Vechavisit of the Pratunam Polyclinic refused to provide further details. But another employee at the clinic, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that Karr had talked to the doctor about a sex-change operation. The clinic also performs cosmetic surgery, however, which might have been Karr’s aim.

Law enforcement officials in Thailand handed Karr over to U.S. officials on Sunday for a trip expected to end in Boulder, Colo., where the 1996 killing occurred.

But Karr will be held for several days in Los Angeles while officials process paperwork related to his deportation from Thailand and his extradition to Colorado. After arriving in Los Angeles, Karr was to be arrested by local officials on the warrant from Colorado and he would then get an extradition hearing before being moved to Boulder.

That would give Boulder officials more time to complete their investigation, including the pending results of a DNA test, and prepare their case against him, some legal observers said.

Karr submitted to a DNA test after his arrest Wednesday in Bangkok. That sample will be matched with evidence found at the murder scene.

“It’s hard to imagine the pressure (on Colorado prosecutors) increasing, but it will from the moment he arrives in Boulder,” said Craig Silverman, a Denver attorney and former prosecutor. “Certain deadlines will start to kick in.”

Karr also has been wanted in California since December 2001, when he failed to show up for a court hearing in relation to child pornography charges and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

As of Sunday, Karr had not been formally charged in the Boulder murder, which could explain why he was not handcuffed if officials traveling with him felt he did not pose a threat.

Nobody, not in the U.S. government agencies transporting Karr to Colorado or prosecutors in Colorado, believes that John Karr killed JonBenet Ramsey.

Week two of Karl Rove's 2006 Election Circus is about to begin.

Iraq's Artists & Patrons: "Art, Music & Theater is a Cultural Luxury Losing Out to the Daily Killings"

Baghdad's Few Remaining Movie Theaters About to Close



The 1,800-seat Semiramis cinema in Baghdad used to feature seven daily films. It now closes at 2:30 p.m. and operates with just three employees:

He was the libidinous modeling agent afraid of commitment. She was the tango teacher searching for love. But all their heartache was forgotten in the final scene, as he reached for her hand and asked, "Shall we dance?" while the camera slowly pulled away over their festive Egyptian wedding.

"No, no, wasn't very good," Thiah Isan said dismissively, as the lights came on in Baghdad's largest movie theater after the recent matinee showing of "The Ladder and the Snake," an Egyptian film. "It's a story about love -- some boyfriend, meets a girl, she wants to get married, he doesn't."

"I am always lonely," he added.

In the capital of this warring country, where days beat to the percussion of bombings and gunfire and nights are spent locked down under a citywide curfew, Baghdad's remaining moviegoers are all lonely souls. The showing at the cavernous Semiramis cinema, with its 1,800 red velvet seats and two balconies, attracted just 11 people, each of them sitting by themselves.

"People like me are starting to feel ashamed of coming over here. Because of the violent situation, they think you are a carefree person if you go to the cinema in such conditions," said Ali Hussein, 49, a cosmetics wholesaler unemployed since his office burned down six months ago. "But some people feel more secure here than in the cafes and restaurants, which are being blown up."

Most of the city's once-popular movie theaters have shut down for lack of business. Those that remain open save money by replaying the same films. As with art and music and theater in Baghdad, going to movies is a cultural luxury losing out to the daily killing.

"There are more stories worthy to become movies in Iraq than there is oil in this country," said Ziad Turkey, the cinematographer of "Underexposure," Iraq's first post-invasion feature-length film. "But we don't have an audience. All that we have, the movie houses, are merely buildings. They are not theaters."

At Semiramis, in central Baghdad, moviegoers used to line up off of Sadoun Street to watch one of seven daily films, said an employee who feared to give his name. Now, in addition to the Egyptian movie, there are three choices: Jackie Chan's "Thunderbolt," Jet Li's "Hero" and Wes Craven's Baghdad-appropriate effort "Scream." All were released before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The owners can no longer afford to import the latest films.

So the Semiramis shows about 60 old films over and over again. Once open until midnight, it now closes at 2:30 p.m. Only three of its 10 employees still have jobs.

"Now, no one is in the mood even to watch a movie on TV because your mind is busy and tired," said the employee. "In a month or two from now, we will definitely be closed. What else can we do? By the end of the year, there will not be one cinema left in all of Iraq."

Iraq's film industry has languished for years, first under the censorship of President Saddam Hussein, then under the post-Persian Gulf War international embargo that prohibited the importation of moviemaking equipment. The three-year-old war and escalating sectarian violence have taken care of the rest.

"We are aimless, hopeless. Nobody cares about artistic activity. The most important thing is the foolish religious activity, and the activity of killing," said Qasim Sabti, a painter and the owner of the Dialogue Gallery in northern Baghdad, one of the few remaining gathering places for artists, actors and writers. "There is only black now. No colors. Nobody believes in the future."

When actor Basher Al Majed, 44, signed on to the cast of "Ahlaam" to play a haunted former Iraqi soldier who wanders the halls of a Baghdad psychiatric ward and the city's bombed-out streets, he realized he would be risking his life.

"I personally did not sign a contract with the director to be the actor of the movie as much as I signed my own death certificate," he said.

While filming one scene, U.S. helicopters swarmed overhead. Fearing an attack, the crew waived white clothes and wrote on the ground in large letters in English: "We are a film crew," Majed said. Three months into the filming in 2004, the crew was captured by gunmen in Baghdad. The audio technician was shot in the leg, Majed said. The crew spent a week in captivity before being turned over to American soldiers at Baghdad International Airport and was eventually released.

"Ahlaam" was developed in Beirut, edited in London, and has been shown at several film festivals, though never in Iraq. At the Brooklyn International Film Festival this year, Majed won best actor, an accolade he learned about only after looking on the Internet, because he couldn't leave Iraq to attend the festival.

Majed, who spent 12 years as a political prisoner under Hussein, is now a student at Baghdad's College of Fine Arts. He said he has been reading over another Iraqi script but doesn't know if it's possible to film in Baghdad.

"The idea of carrying a cinematographic camera in the flaming streets of Baghdad is considered suicide," he said.

The desolate recreational landscape that Iraqis find themselves navigating affects all artistic endeavors. For many residents, the violence and nightly curfew mean that staying home watching satellite television programs is the safest option. While Hussein fostered an intellectually repressive atmosphere, his government also paid artists salaries to help produce their work, a benefit that has disappeared.

Artist Qasim Sabti, 53, has not held an exhibition at his gallery for more than a year and resorts to selling his work over the Internet to customers outside Iraq.

"There is an Arab proverb: 'Standing water decays fast,' " he said. "And we've started to decay -- the artists have started to live in a very narrow space."

Sabti spoke in the tree-shaded courtyard of his gallery, as other artists drank lemon tea at white plastic tables under slowly twirling ceiling fans. His gallery's proximity to the Turkish Embassy is his only protection, he said.

"We need a special dialogue, a special message, to tell the others what happened here," he said. "By art, by culture, by sport, not by killing. We are not Bedouins in the desert, we are not guards of oil, we are the people of the two rivers."

At another table sat Karim Wasfi, director of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra and the son of one of Iraq's most famous movie stars. His orchestra has endured similar hardships: destroyed concert houses, canceled performances, musicians regularly missing rehearsals. But he remains hopeful, and even plans to start a weekly concert series.

"I hate to use arts and culture for a tool, but it is a tool, you know, considering the situation right now. And I want to use that to give a chance, give hope, and somehow participate in the cultivation of refinement of the society," said Wasfi, a cellist educated at the Indiana University School of Music. "People are hungry for it, they are in real need, they are eager to be part of this process. Even by only attending, by participating, by being an audience, by coming and listening to music."

"I know my cello will not probably stop car bombs," he went on. "But I will still think the sound of the cello, and the sound of the orchestra, and the civilized sound of music, could be, should be, stronger than the sound of the car bomb."

Monday. Again.

Treadmill dancing. I use mine as a plant stand.

"You Put Da Lime in Da Coconut . . . ."

If you have a better way to see this week out, I'm all ears.

Filed under: Harry Nilsson, Coconut

Aaron Sorkin Returns to Prime Time

About a month or so ago, video clips from Aaron Sorkin's and Thomas Schlamme's new show for NBC ("Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,") began to appear on the Internet.

The first 2 minutes and 15 seconds of this trailer is a thrill. If only that was the show they were bringing to weekly network television. Because after that first couple of minutes, it becomes the same tired, formula that was the last two years of "West Wing":



I have sorely missed Judd Hirsch on network television, but I'm guessing that his appearance is a one-shot deal. With the exception of Timothy Busfield (who can walk through any soundstage and raise the ratings), the rest of the cast is just okay. I like some better than others; it's an awfully studied (contrived) collection of second stringers for an ensemble cast. Where's the age range? I just don't see Brad Whitford (after Judd Hirsch, the oldest member of the cast) and Matthew Perry as a team, as partners, carrying this show.

But today is Matthew Perry's birthday (and who won't forever love Chanandeler Bhong?), so I'm stifle my doubts. As much as I am ever able to.

Watch for the premiere, September 18th.


Filed under: Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, NBC, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Matthew Perry, Brad Whitford, Timothy Busfield, Judd Hirsch, West Wing, Chanandeler Bhong

More Pharmacists Refuse to Give Plan B - On Moral Grounds

Plan B needs another Plan B



Catherine Komp at The New Standard reports:

Health care providers in New York have filed complaints against two pharmacies for refusing to fill prescriptions for Plan B emergency contraception, commonly know as “EC” or “the morning after pill.”

The complaints, by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) acting on behalf of Planned Parenthood employees in the Mohawk-Hudson region, allege that pharmacists at CVS and Rite Aid stores violated state laws in 2005 and 2006 when they refused to refill prescriptions for the drug.

The pharmacists had dispensed the initial EC prescriptions, but refused to provide refills to the patients despite orders to do so from the health care professionals.

“Because the effectiveness of EC in preventing pregnancy decreases as time passes,” wrote the NYCLU in a letter to the New York State Office of Professions, “writing prescriptions for EC with refills is the standard of care, and is necessary so that women have access to EC as soon as they need it. The pharmacists offered judgmental – not medical – objections in support of their refusals.”

The complaint asks the state to discipline the pharmacists on the grounds that their actions violated New York State pharmacy laws and “lacked medical justification and therefore exceeded pharmacists’ scope of authority.” It also alleges the employees violated laws prohibiting sex discrimination in public accommodations and breached the pharmacist’s duty of care to the patient.

Mike DeAngelis, a spokesperson for CVS, told The Saratogian that company policy “is to dispense all legally prescribed medications.”

The incidents in New York follow similar cases in other states, as previously reported by The NewStandard, including Missouri, Arizona and New Hampshire.

Filed under: Plan B, pharmacists, FDA, Bush, reasons not to vote for Republicans

It's Now the Crazy Season for Mainstream News Media

The Media is So Desperate to Not Cover Matters Relevant to Citizens, Like the Truth of Bush-Cheney Failures, the Corruption of the GOP and the Election Issues Facing American Voters . . . .



. . . that on-air personalities like Chris Jansing at MSNBC (and I thought nobody was fluffier, i.e. stupider, in the television news business than Kyra Phillips on CNN) is interviewing Vicki Warren, a psychic, about an old sketch that had been drawn from another psychic's (Dorothy Allison, who has since, herself, died) description of "the real killer" of JonBenet Ramsey.

Jansing, who said that she thinks that the sketch looks "exactly like," but for the "excepts" ("except for the hair," "...the mouth," etc.) a photograph of John Karr, just about asked this latest psychic, Vicki Warren, to channel the dead psychic, Dorothy Allison.

Vicki Warren responded that she "doesn't know what to make of the sketch," but that at the time of the murder, she (Vicki Warren) was seeing "red," so "if Karr was wearing a red shirt it could be him."

Speaking of remarkable resemblances, how could Chris Jansing fail to notice resemblances that two other subjects of stories she read on the air today bore to others?

Jansing interviewed this man, Harry Knowles, of aintitcool.com, about the opening of the latest Samuel L. Jackson movie, "Snakes on a Plane" . . . .



. . . . and she failed to remark of his uncanny resemblance to this man:

Eric Stoltz as Rocky Dennis in the 1985 movie, "Mask."

And when she read this on air . . .

Some See the `Virgin Mary' in Chocolate Blob Drop Under Vat at Chocolate Factory . . . .


Bodega Chocolates' employee Cruz Jacinto holds the piece of chocolate dripping next to her `Virgin Mary' prayer card.


. . . how could Jansing not recognize . . .


. . . . The Maltese Falcon?

Following Chris Jansing's interview with the second, unrelated to anyone or anything psychic, she interviewed Victor Malarek. Malarek is a self-professed expert on the sex-trade tourist business in Thailand. Malarek was brought on camera to imply that John Karr was in Bangkok for the sex.

Ever since John Karr ran out on warrants issued in California in 2001, he's been bouncing around the world, from Germany to Honduras. Is Karr's behavior and affect strange? Yes, but he hasn't been tried for, much less convicted of, anything.

Is this really how we want to conduct our criminal justice system and our news coverage of criminal acts? By rumor and innuendo, in media interviews with so-called experts who have dubious credentials themselves, coloring public opinion when they have no first-hand connection to the case at hand?

Have we really sunk this low?

I guess we have, as have the Thai police, who are now changing their stories because their original statements have been disproven:

A Thai official is backing off statements he quoted which raised serious questions about whether suspect John Karr was involved in the murder of JonBenet Ramsey.

The Thai immigration police official is changing part of his account about what Karr told interrogators specifically about details that set off a few red flags.

For one thing, the police official quoted Karr as saying that he had given the 6-year-old girl drugs, but the autopsy after the 1996 murder revealed no drugs in her system.

But today the Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul backed off that, saying Karr told him, "It may have been drugs," and that everything was a "blur."

Also, the police official now says Karr never told him that he picked up JonBenet at school. He said he got that from a documentary he had seen.

Excuse me? A Thai police official has seen a documentary about the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, where John Karr claims to have picked up JonBenet at school? This story made it into the Thai news in 1996 and Thai culture?

Karr remains in a Thai jail ready to leave for the U.S. at any time to face accusations in the slaying.

Unlike yesterday, when he answered questions from reporters and stunned them by declaring he killed the girl accidentally, a sign is posted at the jail today tells reporters Karr is not allowed visitors.

Karr did get a visit today from a U.S. consular official, who had no comment on the Ramsey case.

A Thai police official said Karr is ready to return to the U.S. but now wants to fight the case. He said U.S. officials are preparing documents and plane tickets.

The district attorney in Boulder, Colo., said Karr was arrested a day after he began teaching second grade in Bangkok. Karr had been fired from a job teaching first-graders at another Thai school in June because officials said he didn't seem to work well with young children.

Another American teacher who works at the school said he found Karr to be an "odd ball."

I think there's another story here, flying under the radar, just beneath the surface: Who are all of these anglos flanking John Karr, who is supposed to be in the custody of the Thai police, but it's U.S. government types who seem to be controlling both Karr and the show?









And on an even lighter note (as if this blog entry could get any less weighty), who decided to include John Mark Karr's middle name when reporting this story? Didn't we all learn from the Mel Gibson/Julia Roberts' movie "Conspiracy Theory" that using three names is reserved for lone gunmen assassins (Mark David Chapman, Lee Harvey Oswald)? Has JonBenet Ramsey's death now been elevated to an assassination?

How this story came to light, at this particular time, when I'm told that the District Attorney wasn't ready to file charges (shades of Tony Blair in last week's British terrorist plot expose'), and who exactly is Michael Tracey, would be good places for investigative journalists to begin:

Boulder District Attorney Mary Lacy thanked 13 law enforcement agencies for help in arresting John Mark Karr in the murder of JonBenét Ramsey.

Lacy never mentioned Michael Tracey. He's a journalism professor at the University of Colorado, not a cop. But Tracey, a longtime critic of JonBenét media coverage, hooked up with Karr via e-mail and got information that many believe led to Karr's arrest in Bangkok on Wednesday.

"There was one particular thing that made me decide (to go to authorities)," Tracey said Thursday before Lacy met the press. "I'm not going to say what."

One fact in one e-mail among years and hundreds of pieces of correspondence.

So goes the cat-and-mouse game that has been played since someone killed and may have sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl in her Boulder home in 1996.

There are holes in Karr's supposed confession and questions about whether he's truly been arrested or is just being deported. Still, the media circus did not take long to reassemble across from the Boulder justice center. Dozens of journalists gathered to hear Lacy say she couldn't say anything.

Tracey wouldn't talk much either.

I told him it looked as if Karr would not have been arrested without him.

"Apparently," he said. "I was kind of pleased when I heard he'd been arrested." Then, the professor quickly added, "I don't know if he's guilty or not."

At this point, the case against Karr doesn't look any better than the case against JonBenét's parents. John and Patsy Ramsey lived under the infamous "umbrella of suspicion" for a decade. A grand jury refused to indict.

Patsy died in June. Her husband now waits to see if he is finally vindicated.

It is no sure thing. Lacy twice mentioned "exigent circumstances." "There are circumstances that may exist in any case which mandate an arrest before an investigation is complete," Lacy said. "The primary reason is public safety. A secondary reason is fear of flight."

Lacy stated that she was "not commenting on the particular nature of this investigation or arrest." It was left to the collective imagination to decide if the arrest related to something Lacy had said moments earlier: Karr, who has kiddie porn convictions, started teaching second grade Tuesday at a school in Bangkok.

Karr gave an impromptu press conference during a perp walk in Thailand. For a potential capital criminal, he sounded awfully eager to confess. In Tracey's own words, Karr may be "a wing nut." Karr admitted accidentally killing JonBenét. Thai cops say he also said he drugged her and had sex with her. The public evidence doesn't show intercourse or drugs.

Tracey said he doesn't know of Karr's being in Colorado. Karr's ex-wife told a TV station Karr was in Alabama when the murder occurred. Lacy said nothing.

The slam dunk in this case will be matching Karr's DNA to DNA found at the murder scene.

Until that happens, the JonBenét media circus will once again operate three rings, 24/7. It will feed off itself when it has to. Wednesday afternoon's drive-time radio featured talk-show hosts defending themselves for attacks on John and Patsy Ramsey. Thursday, it was Tracey's turn to be the king of all media.

"I did what I thought was responsible," he said to a sea of microphones.

"If you look at the way leaks were used (and) lies were used to frame the Ramseys, I lost a lot of faith in how law enforcement functions," continued Tracey, who made a documentary film about JonBenét a few years back. "Some of that (faith) has been restored by (Boulder police Detective) Tom Bennett and the people working with Tom and Mary Lacy."

Still, although Tracey said that he long ago made a "judgment" that "all John and Patsy Ramsey did to their daughter was love her," Lacy refused to publicly say whether Karr's arrest has taken John Ramsey off the list of suspects.

"John Ramsey is presumed innocent; John Mark Karr is presumed innocent," Lacy said. "I cannot comment past that."

So the mystery of who killed JonBenét endures.

Maybe not the same as it ever was, but close enough to remain what it's always been: more questions than answers.

Amen to that.


Filed under: MSNBC, Chris Jansing, Kyra Phillips, JonBenet Ramsey, John Ramsey, Harry Knowles, Snakes on a Plane, mainstream media, 2006 election, John Mark Karr, Karl Rove, Bush, Republicans, Dorothy Allison, Vicki Warren, psychic, chocolate Virgin Mary

August 18th: Happy Birthday, Robert Redford

"Have we got plans to invade the Middle East?"





Kick the oil habit.


Filed under: Robert Redford, oil, environment

Friday Cat 'Water-Logging' Blogging

I can't get mine close to a bathtub much less a swimming pool.


Filed under: Friday Cat Blogging

"Exactly What Is `Bird's Nest' Soup?"

Whether it's traveling halfway around the world, or curling up on the couch in front of the TV watching Dishnet, I love visiting other cultures and experiencing how other people live. And eat.

Even in America, some of the tastiest, inexpensive (and healthful) meals can be found in the ethnic neighborhoods of American cities. I've never understood American tourists abroad eating at McDonald's or Burger King.



In France yet!

In keeping with America's media and their focus this week (self-proclaimed Jon Benet Ramsey murderer, John Karr, a child porn collector and ex-pat living in Bangkok), TCA brings a bit of Thai culture to the story, an epicurean delicacy served all over the far east - bird's nest soup. Unlike other imaginatively-named dishes in Asian cuisine ("Thousand Year-Old Eggs" and "Four Happiness Shrimp"), "Bird's Nest Soup" is a literal concoction.

From Kate McGeown, at the BBC:

As dawn breaks in violence-wracked southern Thailand, a welcome sound fills the air.

Thousands of birds stream from the eaves of houses in the region, bringing their birdsong with them.

It is not only the birds’ sounds, though, that the locals have come to enjoy. An increasing number of people see these swiftlets as a way to make money, by harvesting their nests to make soup for Chinese restaurants.



Many houses have been left empty so that birds can nest in them, while other buildings have been constructed specially for the purpose. There are 80 bird houses in Pattani town alone.

"If you give a house to the birds, in return they give you money for free," said Punrit Wattanayakorn, whose family has been harvesting nests for more than 100 years.





Pongsak Jangurasii spends most of his time working as a doctor in a Pattani clinic, affected like everyone else by the constant violence caused by the ongoing separatist insurgency. But in his spare time he goes to his bird house and checks whether there are any empty nests that he can harvest.



Pongsak and his team only remove the nests if there are no eggs or young birds inside.



Two species of swiftlet have edible nests. They make them from a special secretion from their salivary glands.

"These are fantastic birds – they’re so clever, like artists, building these nests," said Pongsak.



"I don’t know how they do it. Outside the nest is very strong, while the inside is like a web or a net, so it’s soft for the egg."

Pongsak and his wife Saowanee employ seven people to help them with their birds’ nest business – mainly for the labour-intensive cleaning process.

"In order to clean them, we put the nests in water for two hours to make them soft, then we use forceps to take out the feathers, insects and pieces of shell," said Saowanee.



"It takes a long time, and is something that can only be done by hand. We employ five people to do this with us."



Pongsak recommends drinking the birds’ nests with honey or sugar, after simmering for about 20 minutes on a stove.

The Chinese usually put the nests in a soup, to eat as a starter. Chef Sayon Manratpoh, at the CS Pattani hotel, offers customers a special birds’ nest menu. You can have nests with fried rice as a main course, or with ice cream and coconut milk as a dessert.



Birds’ nests are said to be good for the lungs and the kidneys.

"It’s seen as royal food in China," said Pongsak. "There’s a famous Chinese legend in which a great person searched the world and arrived at the sea, found these birds’ nests and took them back to China as a present for the emperor."



It's a lucrative business.

Pongsak sells his birds’ nests in boxes of 100g, retailing for 1,000 Baht ($25) each.

The continuing attacks in southern Thailand have dissuaded many businesses from operating in the area, and it is one of the poorest regions in the country.

Harvesting birds’ nests is becoming increasingly important as a way to earn a living.

"It’s a good source of income here. In the future, it might even become the main source of income," said harvester Punrit Wattanyakorn.



But for many people, harvesting birds’ nests is as much an act of love as a business venture.

"Since I was young, I’ve been used to birds being everywhere. I love them – my whole family do. My favourite is a bird called Speto," said Punrit Wattanyakorn.

And being around birds certainly provides a welcome relief from the daily reality of bombs, shootings and arson attacks that plague this region.

If you find yourself with a hankerin' to cook some up yourself (or some other exotic taste treat), visit Kevin Kelly - Cool Tools website, a sort of third world Williams-Sonoma, and TCA's 'Coolness'-ness site of the day.


Filed under: John Karr, Jon Benet Ramsey, Bangkok, Thailand, bird's nest soup, recipe, Kevin Kelly, Williams' Sonoma, kitchen tools

A Break in the JonBenet Ramsey Case? Boy, That Rove is Good!

Yes, I'm kidding. Maybe.

Anything that gets the news media to stop covering the truth of Bush and the GOP, I figure Karl Rove is behind. Even getting a "convicted sex offender" to confess to killing JonBenet Ramsey so that the media won't cover the wave of populism sweeping through the nation that threatens to bring down the entire political structure that is supporting the corrupt two party system.

It's not like it's such a reach to connect these two stories.

Before he ran for the U.S. Congress two years ago (and lost the Republican primary by 500 votes), John Ramsey was the owner and CEO of Access Graphics, a billion dollar company and subsidiary of Lockheed Martin and absorbed by G.E.

You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to imagine a scenario where Rove and Ramsey collaborate for their mutual benefit and enrichment - Now there's a deal made in hell.

In the meantime, while all of the oxygen is being sucked out of news cycles, we'll be working on stories for future publications, AND, the new design for the website, which we hope will be debuted sometime next month.


Filed under: John Ramsey, Jon Benet Ramsey, Karl Rove, Access Graphics, Lockheed Martin, General Electric

Oops! Army Recruiter 'Goofed,' Disciplined for Enlisting Autistic Teen

In a follow-up:

A U.S. Army recruiter who signed up an autistic Portland teenager has been relieved of his recruiting duties and will be reassigned.

S. Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Ky., said an investigation found that Cpl. Ronan Ansley concealed the recruit's disability, which would have made him ineligible for service.

Military officials also admonished Sgt. Alejandro Velasco, who worked with Ansley at a Portland recruiting station, The Oregonian newspaper reported in its Thursday editions.

The investigation started after Jared Guinther's parents contacted the newspaper, which subsequently asked questions about his enlistment.

Guinther's father, Paul, said Wednesday he is pleased with the military's action.

"We didn't want to have the recruiters' lives ruined over this," he said. "We just wanted them to admit what they'd done and get our son out of his enlistment obligation."

The Army released Guinther from his enlistment contract in May after he had signed up to be a cavalry scout. If Guinther had not been released from the contract, he would have started basic training next week.

Guinther, 19, has been diagnosed with moderate to severe autism, a developmental disorder that causes problems with social interaction, language and intelligence.

Maj. Curt Steinagel, commander of the Military Entrance Processing Station in Portland, said in May that the papers filled out by Guinther's recruiters contained no indication of his disability.

Military policies forbid enlisting anyone with a mental disorder that interferes with school or employment, unless a recruit can show he or she hasn't required special academic or job accommodations for a year.

Guinther, who graduated from high school this spring, had been in special education classes since preschool. He scored 43 out of 99 on the Army's basic entrance exam. A score of 31 is the lowest the Army allows for enlistment, military officials said.

Filed under: War in Iraq, military recruitment, autism

Autistic, and Recruited

Recruiting abuses mount as Army struggles to meet goal

Jared Guinther is 18. Tall and lanky, he will graduate from high school in June. Girls think he's cute, until they try to talk to him and he stammers or just stands there - silent.

Diagnosed with autism at age 3, Jared is polite but won't talk to people unless they address him first. It's hard for him to make friends. He lives in his own private world.

Jared didn't know there was a war raging in Iraq until his parents told him last fall - shortly after a military recruiter stopped him outside a Portland strip mall and complimented his black Converse All-Stars.

"When Jared first started talking about joining the Army, I thought, 'Well, that isn't going to happen,' " said Paul Guinther, Jared's father. "I told my wife not to worry about it. They're not going to take anybody in the service who's autistic."

But they did. Last month, Jared came home with papers showing that he had not only enlisted, but signed up for the Army's most dangerous job: cavalry scout. He is scheduled to leave for basic training Aug. 16.

Officials are now investigating whether recruiters at the U.S. Army Recruiting Station in southeast Portland improperly concealed Jared's disability, which should have made him ineligible for service.

Tracking by the Pentagon shows that complaints about recruiting improprieties are on pace to again reach record highs set in 2003 and 2004. Both the active Army and Reserve missed recruiting targets last year, and reports of recruiting abuses continue from across the country.

A family in Ohio reported that its mentally ill son was signed up, despite rules banning such enlistments and the fact that records about his illness were readily available.

In Houston, a recruiter warned a potential enlistee that if he backed out of a meeting, he would be arrested.

And in Colorado, a high school student working undercover told recruiters he had dropped out and had a drug problem. The recruiter told the boy to fake a diploma and buy a product to help him beat a drug test.

Violations such as these forced the Army to halt recruiting for a day last May so recruiters could be retrained and reminded of the job's ethical requirements.

The Portland Army Recruiting Battalion Headquarters opened its investigation into Jared's case last week after his parents called The Oregonian and the newspaper began asking questions about his enlistment.

Maj. Curt Steinagel, commander of the Military Entrance Processing Station in Portland, said the papers filled out by Jared's recruiters contained no indication of his disability. Steinagel acknowledged that the current climate is tough on recruiters.

Paul Guinther, 57, labors 50- to 60-hour weeks as a painter-sandblaster at a tug and barge works. His wife, Brenda, 50, has the graveyard housekeeping shift at a medical center.

Jared didn't speak until he was almost 4 and could not tolerate the feel of grass on his feet.

Doctors diagnosed him with moderate to severe autism, a developmental disorder that strikes when children are toddlers. It causes problems with social interaction, language and intelligence.

School and medical records show that Jared spent years in special-education classes. It was only as a high school senior that Brenda pushed for Jared to take regular classes because she wanted him to get a normal rather than a modified diploma.

Jared required extensive tutoring and accommodations to pass, but in June he will graduate alongside his younger stepbrother, Matthew Thorsen.

Last fall, Jared began talking about joining the military after a recruiter stopped him on his way home from school and offered a $4,000 signing bonus, $67,000 for college and more buddies than he could count.

Matthew told his mother that military recruiting at the school and surrounding neighborhoods was so intense that one recruiter had pulled him out of football practice.

Brenda phoned her two brothers, both veterans. She said they laughed and told her not to worry. The military would never take Jared.

The Guinthers, meanwhile, tried to refocus their son. They thought it had worked until five weeks ago. Brenda said she called Jared on his cell phone to check what time he would be home.

"I said, 'Jared, what are you doing?' 'I'm taking the test' - he said the entrance test. I go, 'Wait a minute.' I said, 'Who's giving you the test?' He said, 'Corporal.' I said, 'Well let me talk to him.' "

Brenda said she spoke to Cpl. Ronan Ansley and explained that Jared had a disability, autism, that could not be outgrown. She said Ansley told her he had been in special classes, too - for dyslexia.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, there's a big difference between autism and your problem,' " Brenda said.

Jared scored 43 out of 99 on the Army's basic entrance exam - 31 is the lowest grade the Army allows for enlistment, military officials said.

After learning Jared had cleared this first hurdle toward enlistment, Brenda said she called and asked for Ansley's supervisor and got Sgt. Alejandro Velasco.

She said she begged Velasco to review Jared's medical and school records. Brenda said Velasco declined, asserting that he didn't need any paperwork.

"He was real cocky and he says, 'Well, Jared's an 18-year-old man. He doesn't need his mommy to make his decisions for him.' "

The Guinthers are not political activists. They supported the Iraq war in the beginning but have started to question it as fighting drags on.

Jared doesn't understand the dangers or the details of what he has done, the Guinthers said.

S. Douglas Smith, spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, in Fort Knox, Ky., said he could not comment on specifics of the investigation in Portland. But he defended the 8,200 recruiters working for the active Army and Army Reserve.

Last year, the Army relieved 44 recruiters from duty and admonished 369.

"Everyone in recruiting is let down when one of our recruiters fails to uphold the Army's and Recruiting Command's standards," Smith said.

The Guinthers are eager to hear whether the Army will release Jared from his enlistment. Jared is disappointed he might not go because he thought the recruiters were his friends, his parents said. But they're willing to accept that.

"If he went to Iraq and got hurt or killed," Paul Guinther said, "I couldn't live with myself knowing I didn't try to stop it."

Filed under: War in Iraq, military recruitment, autism

Airlines Wonder Who Should Pay for Alert

I say "Send the bill to the RNC."

The Republican National Committee should pay for them, too. They can tell their members it's a 'Bobbie tax'.

The British government on Monday downgraded its terror threat level from critical to severe, saying intelligence suggested that an attack was not imminent. While the government said passengers would now be permitted to carry a single bag onto planes, authorities at London Heathrow and other major airports said the ban on carry-on luggage would continue for another day.

And, in a related story, "British Release One of the People Arrested in Bomb Plot," and "would not say if the person was still under suspicion."
Seattlepi.com reports:

As the immediate security threat at British airports wanes, airlines are beginning to count the multimillion-dollar cost of the terrorist alert - and consider who should pay.

British Airways PLC on Tuesday led a growing campaign against the British Airports Authority, which many carriers claim was ill-prepared for the emergency that led to hundreds of canceled or delayed flights.

A joint compensation claim against BAA, which operates seven airports around Britain including London's Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick, could run as high as 300 million pounds ($570 million), based on analyst estimates of the airlines' daily losses.

Airlines say BAA was too slow to respond when the government imposed strict security checks on all passengers and a ban on onboard baggage last week after the discovery of a plot to blow up several airplanes on the trans-Atlantic route.

The alert crippled airport operations on Thursday and BAA has struggled to get flight schedules back to normal since then.

Analysts estimate that the crisis could be costing British airlines a combined 50 million pounds ($95 million) a day, putting the total costs at 300 million pounds ($570 million) by the end of Tuesday.

BAA, which was recently acquired by Spanish construction giant Ferrovial SA for 10 billion pounds ($19 billion), said it had no immediate comment on the compensation claims but two people close to the airports operator said it would likely fight any such action from airlines.

The airports operator kept bans on hand luggage in place for an extra day after the government eased the security threat level Monday. In a bid to ease congestion, it also ordered all airlines to cut the number of their departures by between 20 percent and 30 percent each day since the alert, with the threat of losing all their flight slots if they did not.

BAA lifted that requirement Tuesday but British Airways again canceled 20 percent of its flights and said there would be more cancellations Wednesday, blaming the scrapped flights on BAA's inability to cope.
The airline said it was actively considering whether to pursue BAA for compensation.

"Since 9/11, everyone in the industry has known there might be times when extra security measures needed to be put in place," British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh told the Daily Mirror newspaper. "Yet when the moment struck, BAA had no plan ready to keep the airport functioning."

Budget airline Ryanair Holdings PLC also canceled more flights Tuesday from Stansted, its key London airport.

"This morning, we had a situation where, despite assurances to the contrary, the staff were not in place," said Ryanair spokesman Peter Sherrard. "An hour before scheduled flights, there were still only half the 14 security points open."

Ryanair, which said it has seen a 10 percent dropoff in bookings since Thursday, said it was considering legal action against the government in order to reduce security screening delays at airports. It said it would consider compensation after it dealt with the current logistical issues.

It said the current restrictions, which still bar any liquids from being taken through security points, should be reviewed or alternatively police or army personnel should be deployed to speed up the screening of passengers.

Virgin Atlantic Airways said it was considering all options and was prepared to discuss compensation with BAA.

"Airlines have incurred substantial costs in the past few days, collectively running into millions of pounds and clearly we need to consider all the options for possible contributions to these costs, whether it be possible rebates, compensation or government support," it said in a statement.

However, no-frills carrier easyJet PLC said it had no plans to join in any attempt to sue BAA for compensation. Spokeswoman Samantha Day said BAA had dealt with the crisis as best as it could and the industry was better off discussing how to cope with future alerts.

BAA currently owns and operates airports that handle 63 percent of travelers to and from Britain - a figure that rises to 86 percent in Scotland and to 92 percent in London.

Britain's competition watchdog is considering a detailed inquiry into the domestic airport market and whether BAA's dominance delivers the best value for air travelers.

A full probe by the Competition Commission, which was mooted in the middle of the takeover battle for the airports operator in May, could complicate any bid from airlines for compensation.

Filed under: terrorist alert, Great Britain, Tony Blair, Bush, RNC, Republican National Committee, The Constant American, Constant American, Technorati Tag, Technorati Tags, tags, categories

Largest Ever Japanese Oil Tanker Spill As It Collides With Cargo Ship - 1.4 MILLION Gallon Oil Spill

A Japanese tanker spilled about 1.4 million gallons of crude oil in the eastern Indian Ocean following a collision with a cargo ship.



The AP reports:

Japan's Kyodo news service said the spill — which would be about 4,500 tons — may have been the largest ever involving a Japanese tanker.

The Bright Artemis tanker spilled the oil following a collision Monday with the Amar, a smaller cargo ship, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said in a statement. It said the accident took place when the tanker maneuvered near the Amar, which was in distress about 300 miles west of India's Nicobar islands.

Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean

The exact amount of the spill was not clear, the announcement said. The tanker was carrying about 77.6 million gallons, or 250,000 tons, of crude. It had left port in Oman bound for Japan.

There were no reports of injuries aboard the tanker, which had a Croatian captain and crew of 23, or the Amar, which was registered in Singapore.

Mitsui said the spill had been reported to Singaporean and Indian Coast Guard officials.

The largest oil spill involving a U.S. vessel occurred when the Exxon Valdez oil tanker emptied 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska in 1989, killing hundreds of thousands of birds and marine animals and soiling more than 1,200 miles of rocky beach.

Filed under: Japan, Indian Ocean, Nicobar Islands, oil spill, environment

Violations by Military Recruiters Up Sharply

Numbers Rose From 2004 to 2005 With Pressure to Meet Goals, GAO Finds

The number of alleged and substantiated violations by U.S. military recruiters increased by more than 50 percent in one year, a rise that may reflect growing pressure to meet wartime recruiting goals, according to a Government Accountability Office report released yesterday.

Allegations of wrongdoing by military recruitment personnel rose from 4,400 cases in fiscal 2004 to 6,600 cases in fiscal 2005, with substantiated cases increasing from 400 to almost 630, according to the report. The number of cases found to be criminal violations more than doubled, from 33 to 68.

The increase in violations was noted despite a significant decline in the number of people who joined the military. The number of new recruits fell from 250,000 in fiscal 2004 to 215,000 in fiscal 2005, even as recruiting efforts were significantly boosted, according to the GAO report.

The report noted that part of the increase in violations could be due to the Air Force's improved ability to track wrongdoing. But GAO officials concluded that because the Defense Department does not have an appropriate method of tracking violations across all the services, the total is likely to be higher.

"The department . . . is not in a sound position to assure Congress and the general public that it knows the full extent to which recruiter irregularities are occurring," the report says.

Citing internal Defense Department data, the GAO found that about 20 percent of active-duty recruiters believe that irregularities -- such as coercion, concealing information that would disqualify a candidate and falsifying documents, among others -- occur frequently. A majority of recruiters also reported dissatisfaction with their jobs.

The data indicate that irregularities increase around the time of monthly quota deadlines, according to the report.

The recruiting effort has become more difficult, especially for the Army, because new recruits know that they are likely to be deployed in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army officials have said that parents, coaches and advisers -- the "influencers" of recruits -- are less likely to recommend that young men and women join the military because of the wars. The low unemployment rate also means that young people have other options.

To avoid missing its annual goal, as it did last year, the Army deployed more recruiters and increased signing incentives this year, meeting its elevated monthly goals through last month.

Responding to the report, Defense officials wrote that they believe there needs to be a more centralized way of tracking recruitment violations to better assess how to prevent them.

"We certainly agree with the GAO statement that even one incident of recruiter wrongdoing can erode public confidence in DoD's recruiting process," Michael L. Dominguez, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, wrote in a letter dated July 24.

Reps. Victor F. Snyder (D-Ark.) and Fortney "Pete" Stark (D-Calif.), who released the report, said yesterday in a joint statement that the Defense Department needs to develop a better way of monitoring violations.

Filed under: War on terror, War in Iraq, military recruitment

Chertoff: "A Vote For Lieberman & Republicans is a Vote to for Patriot Act II"

Readers are advised that no changes in U.S. laws since Bush entered the White House on January 20, 2001 were necessary to have done what the Brits did in uncovering these alleged plotters.


Political appointee, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff on Meet the Press: "If Democrats don't retake control over Congress in November elections, Bush is going to declare that the election gave him a mandate to pass laws for more invasive surveillance programs on American citizens, and do away with habeas corpus, (and also drop nuclear bombs on Iran)"

The AP reports:

The nation's chief of homeland security said Sunday that the U.S. should consider reviewing its laws to allow for more electronic surveillance and detention of possible terror suspects, citing last week's foiled plot.

Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, stopped short of calling for immediate changes, noting there might be constitutional barriers to the type of wide police powers the British had in apprehending suspects in the plot to blow up airliners headed to the U.S.

But Chertoff made clear his belief that wider authority could thwart future attacks at a time when Congress is reviewing the proper scope of the Bush administration's executive powers for its warrantless eavesdropping program and military tribunals for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"What helped the British in this case is the ability to be nimble, to be fast, to be flexible, to operate based on fast-moving information," he said. "We have to make sure our legal system allows us to do that. It's not like the 20th century, where you had time to get warrants."

The Bush administration has pushed for greater executive authority in the war on terror, leading it to create a warrantless eavesdropping program, hold suspects who are deemed as "enemy combatants" for long periods and establish a military tribunal system for detainees that affords defendants fewer rights than traditional courts-martial.

Congress is now reviewing some of the programs after lawmakers questioned the legality of the eavesdropping program and the Supreme Court ruled in June that the tribunals defied international law and had not been authorized by Congress.

On Sunday, Chertoff said the U.S. is remaining vigilant for other attacks, citing concerns that terror groups may "think we are distracted" after last week's foiled plot. Attaining "maximum flexibility" in surveillance of transactions and communications will be critical in preventing future attacks, he said.

"We've done a lot in our legal system the last few years, to move in the direction of that kind of efficiency," Chertoff said. "But we ought to constantly review our legal rules to make sure they're helping us, not hindering us."

He said he expects the Bush administration to keep the U.S. on its highest threat alert for flights headed to the U.S. from the United Kingdom and at its second-highest level for all other flights.

"We haven't fully analyzed the evidence, and therefore, we're still concerned there may be some plotters who are out there," Chertoff said. "We also have to be concerned about other groups that may seize the opportunity to carry out attacks because they think we are distracted with this plot."

Still, Chertoff said he believed that the nation's airline screeners were well-positioned to catch future terrorists. He did not anticipate greater restrictions beyond the current ban on carrying liquids and gels onto airliners, such as barring all carry-on luggage.

"We don't want to inconvenience unnecessarily," he said. "I think we can do the job with our screening, screening training and our technology without banning all carry-on luggage."

Chertoff made the comments on "Fox News Sunday" and ABC's "This Week."

On "Meet the Press," David Gregory asked Chertoff:

MR. GREGORY: It is, of course, your job, a major part of your job, to understand how al-Qaeda thinks. This is what the vice president had to say this week with regard to that, after Senator Lieberman’s primary defeat. This is how Newsweek reported it: “Vice president, Dick Cheney, darkly warned that the Connecticut primary victory of antiwar candidate Ned Lamont over Sen. Joseph Lieberman would only encourage ‘Al Qaeda types.’ Interviewed by NEWSWEEK, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge bridled at his former colleague’s remark: ‘That may be the way the vice president sees it,’ he said, ‘but I don’t see it that way, and I don’t think most Americans see it that way.’” What’s your view of how al-Qaeda interprets our domestic politics?

SEC’Y CHERTOFF: Well, first of all, I stay out of domestic politics.

A political appointee, dispatched by the Bush-Cheney administration to make the rounds of the news programs on the Sunday following the U.S. pushing Britain to go public with their news of the alleged plot in order to change the subject of Ned Lamont beating Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary, and Chertoff claims to be staying out of domestic politics?!?!

Uh huh. . . watch now how Chertoff continues to not get into domestic politics:

SEC'Y CHERTOFF: What I do think is important is that we be very clear in our message to the world—and this has to be true on a bipartisan basis—that we are steadfast and resolute in the war against terror. I think if we suggest any weakness, that does encourage them to believe they can carry out their missions.

But I want to emphasize this, David. The targets here are all Americans. They, they do not distinguish between Republicans and Democrats. So we are all in this together, and this has to be a unified effort across the board.

"All Americans" are not the targets - They would love to get their hands on Bush and Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Rice, Stephen Hadley, Douglas Feith, and all other members of the U.S. government responsible for the policies and governments that continue to repress them in their countries. They know the difference between the U.S. government and the American people. But they can't get their hands on Bush, et al, who are hiding behind us, the American people.

The people in all of the countries in the Middle East would love real democracy in their nations, and the majority would vote out the governments that have been propped up by the west in a N.Y. minute and elect Shi'a clerics to represent and lead them. "People power." Where the resources of their nations belong to the people, and not the Royal families in the region or the puppet governments that the west has imposed on them. Nationalized oil.

MR. GREGORY: Let me ask you about our coordination with British authorities. What worked here?

Continuing not to stay out of domestic politics, Chertoff replied:

SEC’Y CHERTOFF: Well, what worked is deep relationships, trust, the fact that we did not have leaks prior to the takedown. You know, that’s one of the critical lessons out of this whole thing. The British trusted us with very sensitive information, and they were able to do it because they were confident we weren’t going to leak. That’s why leaks are so pernicious. Not only do they actually reveal secrets, but they undercut the basis of trust which is the foundation of our whole international effort.

I guess then that the American press corps can be trusted with information that legitimately needs to remain secret for the people's safety, and information that is kept secret for the political fortunes of Bush and the Republican party.

I am so ready for a change.


Filed under: Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security, David Gregory, Meet the Press, Al Qaeda, War on terror, reasons not to vote for Republicans, why they hate us