So this is what it's come to here?  Are people here DELUSIONAL?  

Can't people here separate what they see actors doing on TV from REALITY?

Right now, the McCain Heebie Jeebies video diary is at the top of the recommended list.

Can someone please explain why?

At least the "bad teeth" diary was about something real -- McCain's somewhat yellowed teeth.  

This one is based in some sort of utter delusional nonsense -- that somehow McCain playing a creepy husband in a skit on SNL is somehow indicative of his true charter.

Are those of you who recommended this divorced from reality?  Please explain!

This just up on Americablog.com:

Why is McCain getting $58,000 a year in disability income?
John Aravosis (DC)    

First off, I find it fascinating that John McCain, who is refusing to vote for the GI Bill for our troops because "it's too generous," is himself getting $58,000 a year, tax-free, from the US government for his military service. Had McCain been getting that amount every year since Vietnam, that would total $2,000,000 for the man who isn't into overgenerous government. I just find that interesting.

Holy wheelchairs, Batman!

If you check my diary history here, you'll see several on how the administration and their propaganda machine is reading from a prepared script re: "let's attack Iran".

Well today there are several new sources claiming that Bush will attack Iran before his term is out.  One of them says he's going to do it especially if a Democrat wins the nomination.   But the other is Rush Limbaugh, boasting of special insider knowledge:

Today on his radio show, Rush Limbaugh boasted about his insider access and told a caller that important Bush donors had assured him the President would attack Iran soon ...

Yeah sure it's a great thing that Hillary has finally gotten caught up on her third grade math, but while we're all nice and distracted by that, Bush is making the moves to steal Iraq for good.  And we're talking a permanent act of piracy, a literal lockdown of another foreign country, something unprecedented (as far as I know) in American history, and something none of us, or any of our elected representatives, have had any say in.  Oh yeah, and it'll cost a damn fortune.  Forever.

Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control

Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors

Isn't that special?  Heck, make me a damn contractor and send me to Iraq!  I can get 100% immunity for anything I do!  WHOO HEE!

Yup, guys like Newt Gingrich know what's good for America.  More terror attacks.

"This is ... one of the great tragedies of the Bush administration," Gingrich continued. "The more successful they've been at intercepting and stopping bad guys, the less proof there is that we're in danger. And therefore, the better they've done at making sure there isn't an attack, the easier it is to say, 'Well, there never was going to be an attack anyway.' And it's almost like they should every once in a while have allowed an attack to get through just to remind us."

What a patriotic Republican hero this man is!  It's a shame he didn't run for President!

Call me cynical and burned-out, but the whole Snotty McClellan "story" has left me unmoved.    Mainly because, well, it's old news.   Bush lied?  Yawn ....  

So what DID piss me off about this?   Well, I'll tell you:  Nancy Pelosi's response:

"''This war is a big lie. It was a lie to begin with..and it continues to be a lie.."

Whoa, whoa, Nancy, slow down here.  It looks to me that you are admitted your own guilt.   Are you not obligated, required by law as Speaker of the House, to pursue justice where laws have been broken by the executive branch?   Yet formerly you told us that no investigation would take place, that impeachment was "off the table", in effect that Justice would not be served, no matter what crimes were committed.  

Isn't this analagous to a if a judge were to say, at a murder trial, that he had already decided to find the defendant not guilty, regardless of what evidence was presented?

Well, look who's decided that high oil prices aren't just the result of speculators:

LONDON (AFP) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Wednesday that the world faced an era-defining oil "shock" that required urgent action, as European leaders struggled to contain growing protests over soaring fuel prices.

"It is now understood that a global shock on this scale requires global solutions," Brown wrote in The Guardian newspaper.

And there's someone else who's not happy about it either -- the CEO of Dow Chemical.  More on that over the bump.  

Today, Alternet published an excerpt from Bill Moyers' new book, "Moyers on Democracy", which states the plain damn simple truth about this mess America is in right now.   I'm amazed nobody here has diaried it yet (I did a search but found nothing.)

At any rate, here's a little sampler:

. . . the philosophy popularized in the last quarter century that "freedom" simply means freedom to choose among competing brands of consumer goods, that taxes are an unfair theft from the pockets of the successful to reward the incompetent, and that the market will meet all human needs while government itself becomes the enabler of privilege -- the philosophy of an earlier social Darwinism and laissez-faire capitalism dressed in new togs -- is as subversive as Benedict Arnold's betrayal of the Revolution he had once served.

Wow.  Just wow.  More over the break

Surprised this hasn't been diaried yet:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has, since 2001, cremated some of the remains of U.S. service members killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in a Delaware facility that also cremates pets, a practice that ended Friday when the Pentagon banned the arrangement.

The facility, in an industrial park near Dover Air Force Base, has cremated about 200 service members, manager David Bose said Friday night. It uses separate crematories a few feet apart to cremate humans and animals, he added.

Nice.

"There are more and more dead bodies on the streets and the stench is unbearable. Smoke is everywhere. It's hard to know how much people outside Fallujah are aware of what is going on here. There are dead women and children lying on the streets. People are getting weaker from hunger. Many are dying are from their injuries because there is no medical help left in the city whatsoever. Some families have started burying their dead in their gardens."

That was Fallujah in 2004.  Bush and Petraeus are about to do the same to the slum of 2.5 million in Baghdad known as Sadr City.  1,000 civilians have already been slaughtered.  Right now 75,000 children are trapped.  

Welcome to the buzzkill.  It's called Bush's War Crimes R Us, and it's the reason most of us have been so furious for all these years now.  

They're about to do to Sadr City what they did to Fallujah, and why?  Because they're still in power, because nobody has been able to stop them.  

Last night I wrote a diary which I really didn't expect to get much attention:

Scott Ritter - "virtual guarantee" of Iran strike

I was heartened that it ended up on the recommended list and got a lot of comments.  Today I stumbled across two more indications that the Bush administration is determined to attack Iran before the elections.  

The first is the one the title mentions.  Over at Think Progress, Bolton: Striking Iran ‘Is Really The Most Prudent Thing To Do’.  

Yesterday morning, Fox News interviewed former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton to discuss whether America is close to striking Iranian targets, as new reports indicate the Bush administration is drawing up plans for a "surgical strike." Bolton said that while there are "obviously risks associated" with a strike on Iran, the risks of not doing something are "far higher" at this point.

Scott Ritter hasn't been wrong about too many things regarding U.S. intentions in the Middle East.  He was one of the few who called "bullsh*t" on Bushco's claims of WMD's in Iraq.  A former Marine and former Republican, he's not exactly a partisan player, he seems to be a guy who just doesn't like being lied to.  And now he's telling us there's a "virtual guarantee" of a strike against Iran:

Ritter: US will target Iran next

We take a look at the military buildup, we take a look at the rhetoric, we take a look at the diplomatic posturing, and I would say that it’s a virtual guarantee that there will be a limited aerial strike against Iran in the not-so-near future—or not-so-distant future, that focuses on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Command. And if this situation spins further out of control, you would see these aerial strikes expanding to include Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and some significant command and control targets.

United States is drawing up plans to strike on Iranian insurgency camp

The US military is drawing up plans for a "surgical strike" against an insurgent training camp inside Iran if Republican Guards continue with attempts to destabilise Iraq, western intelligence sources said last week. One source said the Americans were growing increasingly angry at the involvement of the Guards’ special-operations Quds force inside Iraq, training Shi’ite militias and smuggling weapons into the country.

Man found in Lady Bird Lake was teacher, FBI target
Police said that victim, who taught at a Southwest Austin middle school, may have committed suicide.

By Tony Plohetski, Sue Banerjee
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, April 18, 2008

Austin police said Thursday that they are leaning toward a ruling of suicide in the death of a middle school teacher and activist whose body was found Wednesday in Lady Bird Lake with his hands and legs bound and tape over his eyes.

Yes, you read that correctly.  And here's the headline from another article about this:

Man Found Dead in Lake Claimed FBI Tracked Him

I was astounded by this comment in another diary this morning:

ABC's Morning Joe Sliming O Now (3+ / 0-)

What an awful show to wake up to ! Mika, Joe, and Tucker Carlson all calling O an unbearable elitist. Saying he's totally out of touch with modern day. Calling Tom Shales a complete fool. Obviously ABC has taken a position and needs to defend it's awful "debate" hosts but this goes way beyond anything civil. Evidently Hennenger in WSJ has an anti-O story and they are reading it over and over. They are going full- FOX. Joe Leiberman to come on.

If I may translate:  

Wow, the sewage this  morning they were pumping into my living room was particularly smelly today.  Wet, ugly, and brown, I sat there as it washed over me, gagging and choking.  I couldn't believe it!  I keep thinking "gosh, this sewage really stinks", and it's really starting to piss me off.  Oh, I need to pay the bill for that, how much is it again?

I just want to post a list of those who have tried to warn us about Bushco's desire to start a war with Iran before the clock runs out:

1. Senator Christopher Dodd

2. The British Government

3. Zbigniew Brzezinski

4. U.S. News and World Report - 6 Signs the U.S. May be Headed for War in Iran.

5. William K. Polk, at Juan Cole's site.

6. The Arab press, (and the German press, to be fair) warning us that Saudi Arabia, after Dick Cheney's recent meeting, is making preparations to deal with fallout from attack on Iran's nuclear sites.

7.  Gary Hart

And today, the Wall Street Journal is giving us a heads-up.  

What will you be doing when the U.S. strikes Iran?  Maybe writing, or reading, yet another "How Hillary Can't Win" diary?  Well, good for you.  Bushco sure ain't interested in who the candidate is, because they have the "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" song on their playlist for their "October Surprise".  Links and more over the bump.  But only if you're interested in this sort of thing.  

General David Petraeus (the man who originally said there was no military solution to Iraq, only to completely change his tune after Bushco made it clear who the boss was, and whispered sweet nothings about being President some day into his ambitious ear) will be testifying this coming week on Capitol Hill.  According to the British, Petraeus will be telling lies and "beating the drum" for strikes against Iran.  The British are worried.

British officials gave warning yesterday that America's commander in Iraq will declare that Iran is waging war against the US-backed Baghdad government.

I don't even know where to begin with this one.  Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post has an article up which contains, in one place, more damning information about Bush and Cheney and the administration's illegal shenanigans immediately following 9/11, including warrantless wiretapping, torture, and lying about, well, just about everything.  There's a far more readable version of it here at Truthout.org.  I'll just start here:

It's a case study in how the Bush administration intimidated the press after 9/11.

The publication of a new book by Eric Lichtblau, one of the two New York Times reporters who in late 2005 broke the story of the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program, is calling attention to how the White House successfully persuaded the Times to suppress its expose in the fall of 2004 - when it might have had a profound effect on President Bush's reelection hopes.

That's just the set-up.  It gets better, much better.