BluegrassReport.org

Rev. Jerry Falwell Compares Homosexuality To "Bank Robbers" In Kentucky Visit

Randy Patrick has an excellent Q&A with Rev. Jerry Falwell in yesterday's Winchester Sun following Falwell's Friday night visit to the region.

During the exchange were these two passages:

Patrick: One of the social conservative issues that has gotten a lot of attention this week is homosexuality, because Dr. (Albert) Mohler at the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville has said that Christians should accept that there probably is a biological basis for homosexuality.

Falwell: That's what the article said, but today, if you go to his Web site, he denies all of that. (Mohler's blog is at www.albertmohler.com)

Patrick: What is your thought on that?

Falwell: I don't think anybody is born a bank robber or an adulterer or a homosexual or you name it. I think we are all born sinners in need of a new birth experience, but I think our behavior is all a matter of choice.

Patrick: There's a lot of science recently that contradicts. (Here Falwell interrupted the question.)

Falwell: Half of those are gay scientists. It's hogwash. I believe that when you're born, you have a clean slate, but you have a fallen nature because of Adam and Eve. Everyone needs to be born again, to come to know Christ personally.

By the way, Falwell also stands by his comments that the attacks on 9/11 were God's wrath on America, even though he apologized for those very comments on September 14th:

I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."

Falwell is still a nutjob.

CBS/NYT Poll: Bush Appoval Rating Drops To 29%; Handling Of Foriegn Policy To All-Time Low 25%

In anticipation of President Bush's (R) big Louisville fundraiser this evening for Senate Minority Leader McConnell (R), the latest CBS News/New York Times poll has bad news for the administration.

CBS News/New York Times Poll. Feb. 23-27, 2007. N=1,281 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3% (2/8-11  results)

Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as President?

Approve 29 (32) (second-lowest ever)
Disapprove 61 (59)

Do you feel things in this country are generally going in the right direction or do you feel things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?

Right 23 (26) (ties all-time low)
Wrong 68 (68)

Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling foreign policy?

Approve 25 (28) (all-time low)
Disapprove 66 (61)

Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling the situation with Iraq?

Approve 23 (27) (second-lowest ever)
Disapprove 71 (68)

Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling the campaign against terrorism?

Approve 40 (44) (all-time low)
Disapprove 53 (49)

Libby Trial -- Closing Arguments

Closing arguments are going on as I write this in the federal perjury trial of Scooter Libby. Based on the various media accounts of the testimony, things don't look good for Libby.

But beyond the fate of Libby, momentum seems to be gathering for the investigation to examine Vice President Cheney's role in the leak case. Murray Waas, who's done fine reporting in this case, wrote a piece in yesterday's National Journal about this very subject that is definitely worth a read. Among the things that stood out was this:

If Libby is found guilty, investigators are likely to probe further to determine if Libby devised what they consider a cover story in an effort to shield Cheney. They want to know whether Cheney might have known about the leaks ahead of time or had even encouraged Libby to provide information to reporters about Plame's CIA status, the same sources said.

Finally, Firedoglake has been living blogging the entire from the courtroom and they've just posted the prosecution's closing arguments (part 1, part 2) as well as the first part of the defense's closing, if you're interested in something not yet spun by the mainstream media.

Here's how the prosecution began it's closing (this is a rough-cut of what was said, not a transcript):

On behalf of defense, Wells elected to give opening. He painted different picture, told you about WH conspiracy to scapegoat Libby. Effort to make LIbby into sacrificial lamb so that Karl Rove would go free. You've heard witnesses testify, you've heard witness after witness, you've heard them testify about one or another conversation with Libby about Valerie Wilson during the time period that Libby claimed he had no memory of Wilson's wife. You heard Russert testify, take an oath and say he never spoke to Libby about Wilson's wife. In direct contrast to what Libby claimed. Now did you hear any evidence about a conspiracy to scapegoat Libby? If you draw a blank, it's not because of a problem with your evidence. I bring that to your attention to remind you that evidence is what happened on witness stand and introduced as evidence. Unfulfilled promises from counsel do no constitute evidence. Fitz told you this is case about lying, and I submit that is right. Not a case about bad memory or forgetting. Libby does claim he forgot 9 separate conversations over a 4 week period, but he also invents out of whole cloth, two conversations that never happened. His conversation with Cooper and his conversation with Russert. That's not a matter of forgetting or misremembering, it's lying.

Unbelieveable Spin

I wasn't planning to post this weekend, but just had to share this Bush Administration spin about its successes in the war on terror. This is from a CNN interview on Thursday night with National Security Adviser Frances Fragos Townsend:

HENRY: You know, going back to September 2001, the president said, dead or alive, we're going to get him. Still don't have him. I know you are saying there's successes on the war on terror, and there have been. That's a failure.

TOWNSEND: Well, I'm not sure -- it's a success that hasn't occurred yet. I don't know that I view that as a failure.

Think about all the stunning successes you've experienced that haven't yet occurred. What a remarkable fantasy world this administration lives in. This too.

Happy New Year.

U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Primer (New York Times)

Just how dumb are these guys?  I have to wonder whether our Republicans friends here at BGR are beyond embarrassment over the stumbling of the Bush Administration.

Here's the latest from The New York Times today:

U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Primer
By WILLIAM J. BROAD, The New York Times

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.

Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. A spokesman for John Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, said access to the site had been suspended “pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing.”

Officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency, fearing that the information could help states like Iran develop nuclear arms, had privately protested last week to the American ambassador to the agency, according to European diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. One diplomat said the agency’s technical experts “were shocked” at the public disclosures.

...former White House chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr. said today that senior officials had been cautioned against posting the information.

“John Negroponte warned us that we don’t know what’s in these documents, so these are being put out at some risk, and that was a warning that he put out right when they first released the documents,” Mr. Card said on NBC’s “Today” show, according to The Associated Press.

(click here to keep reading story)

The greatest danger to our national security appears to be ourselves...

The Shift...

Oh my, how the country has shifted...

Yarmuth Ad

Here's John Yarmuth's (D) latest ad in his race to oust Bush-loyalist Rep. Anne Northup (R). I think John is right on message with this ad and he couldn't ask for a more reception political environment for it right now.

This seat is very much in play. Don't let the wingnuts try to tell you otherwise...

Senator McConnell: Wishful Thinking or Delusional?

Let's do a point, counter-point regarding Senator McConnell's (R) comments in today's AP story on the events in Washington.

Item #1: Mark Foley

POINT: U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said several of this year's Senate races are close but he's not expecting Republican candidates to be negatively affected by the Internet scandal involving a former Florida congressman.

COUNTER-POINT: Polling released yesterday shows that the scandal has hurt President Bush's (R) numbers already (dropping three points in each poll), and he's even further removed from the scandal than is the Senate, the other branch of Congress.

Also, the actual smart money on the Republicans losing control of the Senate has taken a real hit on TradeSports.com -- where real money is wagered -- over the past few days with a futures contract dropping from 84.0 to 72.1 (out of 100) in just five days.

Item #2: Bob Woodward's new book

POINT: McConnell also said he didn't believe Bob Woodward's new book, "State of Denial," would affect the fall election. The book contends that President Bush is misleading the public about the Iraq war.

"It will have zero impact on the election because it is a Washington Beltway issue," he said. "Most Americans don't know who Bob Woodward is and they couldn't care less."

COUNTER-POINT: From Political Wire: "Just days after its release, Bob Woodward's State of Denial "has already gone into its third printing, with 900,000 copies in print for the latest, and harshest, chronicle of the Bush administration by the celebrated Washington Post reporter," the AP reports.

Woodward's book has also "helped sales of other books critical of the president, including Thomas Ricks' Fiasco and Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Ever Sold."

INSANITY

Josh Marshall asks this very good question:

Is it me or is all hell breaking loose in this country's politics? We're in the last month of an election cycle and there are maybe four or five stories, each of which could totally dominate the national political news on their own. And each is flaming out of control at once. You've got the Foley debacle. The revelations in the Woodward book. The NIE revelations that almost seem like old news now. A major part of the pre-9/11 story that somehow never saw the light of day and may bring down Condi Rice. And did I mention the election?

Sadly, so much is going on that we haven't had a chance to examine the continued insanity of Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist (R) who yesterday suggested that since we can't defeat the Taliban militarily, we should invite them to join the Afghan government as a way of getting the country under control:

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan war against Taliban guerrillas can never be won militarily and urged support for efforts to bring "people who call themselves Taliban" and their allies into the government.

The Tennessee Republican said he learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous and had too much popular support to be defeated on the battlefield.

"You need to bring them into a more transparent type of government," Frist said during a brief visit to a U.S. and Romanian military base in the southern Taliban stronghold of Qalat. "And if that's accomplished, we'll be successful."

Um, wasn't toppling the Taliban government one of the primary objectives of our invasion in 2001?

Beyond that problem, given the awful consequences of having Hamas in the Palestinian government and Hezbollah in the Lebanese government, does anyone think having the Taliban join the Afghan government is anything but moronic?

Finally, imagine what the GOP would say if a Democrat had suggested what the Republican Senate leader said in that story??? 

And to think that at the beginning of the year, both Frist and Senator George Allen (R) were considered top-tier Republican contenders for president in 2008...

GOP Fracture On Bush Anti-Terror Legislation

This didn't work out like the Bush Administration and Republican leadership hoped.

Yesterday,Democrats joined Republican Senators John Warner, John McCain, Susan Collins and Lindsay Graham to defy President Bush on his anti-terror legislation:

Senate Panel Rebuffs Bush on Anti-Terror Legislation
By Richard B. Schmitt and Joel Havemann
Times Staff Writers
1:35 PM PDT, September 14, 2006

WASHINGTON — President Bush's campaign for tougher legislation on terrorists suffered another blow today when Senate Republicans supported efforts to block his plan to reinterpret Geneva Convention restrictions on the interrogation of prisoners.

By a 15-9 vote, Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and three other Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the change.

[...]

Today's vote came several hours after Colin Powell, the secretary of State in Bush's first term, spelled out his position in a letter to Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

"The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism," Powell said. "To redefine [a portion of the Geneva Convention] would add to those doubts."

More than that, he said, it could lead to the mistreatment of American troops captured in Iraq and elsewhere during the war on terrorism.

Powell's letter came as the Senate Armed Services Committee met in closed session to consider Bush's proposal. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Susan Collins (R-Me.) joined Warner and McCain and all the Democrats on the committee in voting against the proposal.

Also, quite remarkably, was the following letter that former Secretary of State Colin Powell sent in opposition to Bush's proposal. Incredible:

Five Years Later (LEO)

I used my LEO column this week to discuss the 5th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

Bluegrass Politics: Five Years Later
By Mark Nickolas

New York, NY (September 11) — I was in a Midtown Manhattan hotel on the morning of Sept. 11 when I turned on my television. My stomach dropped at the sight of an airplane smashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center.

Unlike New Yorkers who experienced the horrors of the 9/11 attacks in person, I was only watching NBC’s replay of the coverage on the fifth anniversary of that nation-altering attack. I wondered what it must have been like to see these images live from this very hotel room, mere blocks from Times Square, with an endless convoy of police cars, fire trucks and ambulances screaming southward.

Five years later, Chantel and I spent last weekend in Manhattan, the place I called home for several years after graduating from college in 1989, visiting our good friends, Dave and Ariel, both of whom lived through the 9/11 attack.

On the fifth anniversary, I asked how they feel about life in New York City since that day. “Apprehension” they told me, particularly when it comes to traveling by subway.

Dave reminded us that while the rest of the country was guided by the Homeland Security Department’s color-coded system, New York City has never seen a day that is not “red.” And you need only to ride the No. 1 subway train through Times Square during rush hour to understand why.

Like many New Yorkers, Dave and Ariel have concerns beyond their personal well-being. They worry about what would happen if terrorists struck the crowded subways, and what that would do to the city’s economy and future.

I asked if they feel safer today than five years ago. “Not really,” they said. That’s a typical response, judging by a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, which showed that only 14 percent of Americans — one in seven — feel safer today than they did on 9/11, with the lion’s share of blame directed at the Bush administration’s misguided priorities.

Many if not most political observers believe the high water mark of the Bush presidency occurred on Sept. 14, 2001, when he spoke through a bullhorn atop rubble at Ground Zero, promising retribution for “the people who knocked these buildings down.” Soon after we learned that Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network masterminded the attacks.

Americans were fully behind Bush. Within about a month, American military forces went after bin Laden and his fighters in Afghanistan, as well as the country’s ruling Taliban government. It seemed that by year’s end, Bush would live up to that Sept. 14 promise when U.S. forces cornered bin Laden during an intense battle in the mountainous Tora Bora region near the Pakistan border.

But bin Laden got away and vanished.

(click here to continue reading column)

Bin Laden Trail 'Stone Cold' (Priest/Tyson, Washington Post)

Five years since the September 11th attacks come this front-page Washington Post story today:

Bin Laden Trail 'Stone Cold'
U.S. Steps Up Efforts, But Good Intelligence On Ground is Lacking
By Dana Priest and Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 10, 2006; Page A01

The clandestine U.S. commandos whose job is to capture or kill Osama bin Laden have not received a credible lead in more than two years. Nothing from the vast U.S. intelligence world -- no tips from informants, no snippets from electronic intercepts, no points on any satellite image -- has led them anywhere near the al-Qaeda leader, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.

"The handful of assets we have have given us nothing close to real-time intelligence" that could have led to his capture, said one counterterrorism official, who said the trail, despite the most extensive manhunt in U.S. history, has gone "stone cold."

Don't you feel safer today?

Incompetents.

Bin Laden Gets a Pass from Pakistan (ABC News)

Unfriggin' believable!

This afternoon, in a speech on the purported war on terrorism, President Bush said:

Five years after our nation was attacked, the terrorist danger remains. We're a nation at war. And America and our allies are fighting this war with relentless determination across the world.

Together with our coalition partners, we've removed terrorist sanctuaries, disrupted their finances, killed and captured key operatives, broken up terrorist cells in America and other nations, and stopped new attacks before they're carried out.

We're on the offense against the terrorists on every battle front and we'll accept nothing less than complete victory.

Then later today was this from ABC News:

Bin Laden Gets a Pass from Pakistan
September 05, 2006 5:41 PM
Brian Ross and Gretchen Peters Report:

Osama bin Laden, America's most wanted man, will not face capture in Pakistan if he agrees to lead a "peaceful life," Pakistani officials tell ABC News.

The surprising announcement comes as Pakistani army officials announced they were pulling their troops out of the North Waziristan region as part of a "peace deal" with the Taliban.

If he is in Pakistan, bin Laden "would not be taken into custody," Major General Shaukat Sultan Khan told ABC News in a telephone interview, "as long as one is being like a peaceful citizen."

Bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere in the tribal areas of Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, but U.S. officials say his precise location is unknown.

In addition to the pullout of Pakistani troops, the "peace agreement" between Pakistan and the Taliban also provides for the Pakistani army to return captured Taliban weapons and prisoners.

"What this means is that the Taliban and al Qaeda leadership have effectively carved out a sanctuary inside Pakistan," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, the former White House counter-terrorism director.

Nice job, Mr. President. Now you've lost Pakistan as an ally.

Thanks for absolutely screwing-up the real war on terror -- which was Osama bin Laden and his allies. Remember him, you dumb ass?

More McConnell Spin

Another reminder from Senator McConnell (R) that this is all they've got left:

Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority whip, made his party’s case on the CBS program “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “We’ve liberated Afghanistan and Iraq, and by staying on offense we’ve protected America here at home,” Mr. McConnell said, acknowledging that the struggle was “a tough slog.” But in terms of the ultimate goal of protecting the home front, he said, “that policy has been a 100 percent success.”

Actually, I'm surprised that McConnell doesn't use the same logic for taking credit that Republicans global efforts this year "has been a 100 percent success." After all, we haven't been hit by a major hurricane this year. Right?

It was 60 years between the attacks on Pearl Harbor and those on September 11. But since we haven't been hit in the five years since, we're to give McConnell credit for being 100% successful? Seems a little generous to me.

Of course, when we are hit again, McConnell will shift to telling us that we're still in a war and that the GOP is better able to protect us, after all, it was five/six/seven years since the last attack.

A non sequitur of the highest order. While the public has been willing to listen to these charlatans and medicine men with blind faith that they are right, it seems that they're finally catching-on to the frauds of McConnell, Bush and crew...

Howard Dean 1, Mitch McConnell 0

This morning, DNC Chairman Howard Dean and Senator McConnell (R) squared-off on CBS' Face the Nation, and while I'm most often impressed with McConnell's media appearances, I thought Dean crushed McConnell.

First, Dean did an impressively effective job in encapsulating how badly the Bush Administration, and the Republican-controlled Congress, have bumbled not just Iraq, but our overall foreign policy priorities as well (you can read the transcript of the show here):

DEAN: ...the Republicans look increasingly incompetent in defending our nation. Five years into the Bush presidency and a Republican majority, we see Iran is about to get nuclear weapons, North Korea not only has them, but is expanding the number of nuclear weapons, Osama bin Laden is still at large. And I think the American people realize that Iraq was a war of choice, and that the real war is the war on terror. The Democrats want a new direction in our defense policy. We want to fight the war on terror. That means capturing or killing Osama bin Laden, focusing on the terrorists in northwest Pakistan. And we don't think that the Iraq war is the right way to fight the war on terror, because it simply was--has nothing to do with the war on terror.

And then there was this illuminating exchange about whether Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should resign:

DEAN: Of course I think he should resign. He's fundamentally incompetent, and he's also not very smart politically. Sixty percent of the American people believe the war in Iraq was a mistake. Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney have gone on television saying people who disagree with the president are essentially like Nazi appeasers. You know, when you start attacking voters out of your frustration, that is not a good thing for winning elections, and I think that's one of the reasons the Republicans are in trouble.

[...]

McCONNELL: I think Secretary Rumsfeld's done an excellent job. He'll be remembered as one of the great secretaries of defense.

McConnell's willingness to embrace the performance of Rumsfeld and President Bush while his party's chances in November appear bleaker and bleaker tell me they don't know what else to do.

Republicans can't run on their record because the Republican-led Congress hasn't been able to deliver anything to either their base (failing on gay marriage, flag burning amendment, and abortion restrictions) or the mainstream voter (failing on minimum wage increase, lobbying reform, immigration reform, and expanded funding for stem cell research).

All people like McConnell have left is to try to scare voters on national security matters (and that's no longer working) or argue that Rumsfeld and Bush are great, Iraq is going well, and corruption really hasn't run rampant within their leadership ranks.

That's why the number of vulnerable Republican House seats has doubled in the past few months, why previously safe Senate seats in Virginia and Tennessee are now competitive, and the number of Americans registering to vote as Republicans have taken a significant drop in less than two years, just as it has here in Kentucky.

Dean creamed McConnell today and not because McConnell was off his game. McConnell was solid as usual in presenting his points, but this time the messenger could not overcome the painfully disturbing message that he's trying to sell the America people, and you gte the sense that McConnell even seems to know it.

This comment by McConnell really illustrates what Republicans are going to try to sell to America:

McCONNELL: I think it's important in each of those races for our candidates to remind the voters in those states what Democrats do when they're in power. What they'll do is cut and run in Iraq, they'll raise our taxes, we know that, and they'll try to impeach the president. That's their agenda.

That's all they got left? Good luck with that, Senator.

Apparently, this is all the GOP has in its arsenal and folks aren't buying it. Not even here in Kentucky.

Re-Inventing The New World Order

Matthew Yglesias, filling in today for Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo, has an excellent analysis of the re-invention by the Bush administration of the Iranian threat and how that has re-written why we're doing what we're doing in Iraq.

Here's an excerpt, but I urge you to read the whole piece:

The Iran debate has really become rather surreal. You have the "Islamofascist" locution jumping from the fever swamps of rightwing punditry into the mouth of the President of the United States. You have the Secretary of Defense issuing dire warnings of another Munich. These things are being done by the exact same people who, four years ago, were utterly dismissive of claims that invading Iraq was likely to serve Iranian interests better than American ones. Indeed, you have the exact same people who two years ago were assuring us that it made sense to commit American blood and treasure to fight Sunni insurgents on behalf of Iranian-backed Shiite militias now saying we need to commit more blood and treasure in Iraq to stop . . . Iranian-backed Shiite militias.

Axis Of Evil

Let me start where I end this post with today's news -- "Iran has turned away U.N. inspectors wanting to examine its underground nuclear site in an apparent violation of the Nonproliferation Treaty, diplomats and U.N. officials said Monday."

Is there any doubt that history will treat the administration of George W. Bush as one of the worst foreign policy eras in American history?

Consider:

January 2002 -- 'Axis Of Evil' speech regarding Iraq, Iran & North Korea:

States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.  By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger.

[...]

We'll be deliberate, yet time is not on our side.  I will not wait on events, while dangers gather.  I will not stand by, as peril draws closer and closer.  The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons.

October 2002:

North Korea admits to a secret nuclear program. United States does nothing but allow them to further develop its programs while demanding six-party talks.

March 2003:

The United States invades Iraq because we believe they are hiding weapons of mass destructions. After taking down the government, losing 2,500 American soldiers and tens of thousands Iraqi civilians, no weapons were found.

August 21, 2006:

Iran has turned away U.N. inspectors wanting to examine its underground nuclear site in an apparent violation of the Nonproliferation Treaty, diplomats and U.N. officials said Monday..."The Islamic Republic of Iran has made its own decision and in the nuclear case, God willing, with patience and power, will continue its path," said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to state television.

To summarize: In 2002, Bush was concerned about three countries -- Iraq, Iran and North Korea -- acquiring nuclear weapons and promised we would not "permit" such a thing. So, we invaded the one country that didn't have a weapons program and are effectively bystanders as the other two countries with active programs have refused access to UN inspectors, are thumbing their nose at us, all while becoming more dangerous by the day.

Heck of a job, Bushie.

Offensive, But It Will Backfire This Time

Shame on Senator McConnell (R) and Senator Hatch (R-UT).

America deserves a whole lot better than their partisan fear-mongering. Let's hope the voters are smarter this time around. remember that it's leaders that McConnell who got us into this mess in Iraq.

From yesterday's Lincoln Journal Star:

McConnell: U.S. safer with GOP in control
BY DON WALTON / Lincoln Journal Star

The United States will be safer if Republicans maintain control of the Congress this November, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Wednesday during a stop in Nebraska.

From Political Wire:

"Terrorists are waiting for the Democrats here to take control, let things cool off and then strike again."

-- Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), quoted by the Salt Lake Tribune.

Let me remind you of some of the other utterances that Senator McConnell has made in the recent past:

• Senator Mitch McConnell called Rumsfeld “a spectacular secretary of defence, one of the best in American history,” also appearing on Fox News Sunday. (April 2006)
                          
• Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the war in Iraq has been an "extremely successful undertaking." (April 2006)
                    
• Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called Bush "one of the great presidents in the history of the United States." (April 2006)
                     
• McConnell recently appropriated $20 million for parties, parades and ceremonies for returning Iraq War veterans. (December 2005)
                             
• Despite eroding support from the public, the war in Iraq is a success, United States Senator Mitch McConnell assured Pike Countians during a speech Monday at Pikeville College. "On the whole, it's been a very successful enterprise." (August 2005)
                    
• While the Sept. 11 commission reported in 2004 that it had found no "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al Qaeda, McConnell explicitly linked the war in Iraq to the terrorist attacks on America. (August 2005)
                  
• "It all began, I don't have to remind you, on Sept. 11, 2001," he said. He also labeled the war a "success," saying "We haven't been attacked here since Sept. 11." (August 2005)
                     
• During the speech, McConnell also briefly addressed the accusations of abuse in the American military base at Guantanamo Bay, saying prisoners there often are living more comfortably than American soldiers in war zones. (August 2005)
                    
• "Your country is not involved in a systemic mistreatment of prisoners." (August 2005)
                    
• "Iraq is like a glass of water on the table - it's either half empty or half full, depending on your point of view," he said. (August 2005)
                       
• He said most of Iraq is calm and conditions better than under Saddam Hussein although the Sunni triangle around Baghdad remains "tough - no question about that. There's no way to diminish the importance of that, but I think more things are headed in the right direction than not." (August 2005)
                     
• "You get a much more optimistic picture of what's happening than you do reading the paper or watching TV." "All the trends are in the right direction." (June 2005)
                          
• Senator McConnell returned last weekend from his third trip to Iraq since October 2003, declaring on national television that "all the trends are in the right direction." He said the same thing after his first trip in October 2003 ("I think a lot is going in the right direction"), and then again in January 2005. (June 2005)

Looks like when it comes to Iraq and indicted Governor Fletcher (R), Senator McConnell has let us down, big time. Shameful, if you ask me.

Federal Judge Rules Bush Admininstration's Warrantless Wiretapping Program Unconstitutional, Orders Immediate Halt (AP)

While all the networks are fixated on the latest in the JonBenet Ramsey case, comes this breaking news moments ago:

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it. U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.

The Next Big Republican Embarrassment...

Remember the Homeland Security spokesman/pedophile (Brian Doyle) that was caught last month allegedly trying to solicit a 14-year-old girl online and was arrested after it turned out that he was really chatting with law enforcement?

Well, prosecutors have just released transcripts of their interviews with Doyle and among the many fascinating nuggets was this comment about his boss, President Bush:

"nice guy but not a good president ... he is not very bright and it is evident ... bush is a liar ... there were NO weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. total lie to go to war."

But MUCH MORE disturbing is this excerpt of Doyle chatting with his believed-to-be 14-year-old friend about the issue of shoulder-fired missiles at airplanes...

BD: . . . [I]t's a little busy. I'm um, I'm dealing with this reporter in San Francisco who's doing a piece for the San Francisco Chronicle on the Counter man (inaudible) program. [ed: he's likely referring to the counter-MANPADS systems the department is considering, to protect aircraft against shoulder-fired missiles.] Those are the shoulder fired missiles. Uh, that you can either, can shoot at a plane and the system is being developed to counter the (inaudible) laser systesm, so. . . It's a very kind of a, tricky story to try to deal with because there is a lot of politics involved in it and you kinda have to be careful of what you say as much as uh, (inaudible) and also how you say it, if you know what I mean?

Agent: Well, sounds pretty important right?

BD: Well it's very (inaudible), very, very tight. So uh, you know, once, once this thing comes to publication I'll be much more comfortable I think. Uh, get that out of the way.

Again, Doyle was a spokeman at the Department of Homeland Security...

Senate Idea: Blanket Pardons For Illegal Domestic Spying. SERIOUSLY

Did Senator McConnell (R) whisper this idea to Judiciary Chairman Senator Specter (R-PA)???

Check out Specter's idea on how the Senate should deal with Bush Administration lawbreaking related to unauthorized domestic spying, according to today's Washington Post:

Another part of the Specter bill would grant blanket amnesty to anyone who authorized warrantless surveillance under presidential authority, a provision that seems to ensure that no one would be held criminally liable if the current program is found illegal under present law.

Senate legislation, Kentucky-style.

It makes my skin crawl that this is even being discussed...

(Thanks to a reader for noting the Daily Kos post on this subject)

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is Dead (MSNBC)

Finally, some good news. Let's hope this changes the equation some, though as of late it's been sectarian violence -- not insurgents -- who have been most problematic. But this is very, very good news. I suspect someone is $25 million richer, which was the rewards placed on Zarqawi:

Al-Qaida in Iraq's al-Zarqawi 'terminated'
Terror group confirms death, vows to continue ‘holy war’
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:17 a.m. ET June 8, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida’s leader in Iraq who led a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and kidnappings, has been killed in an air strike, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday, adding that his identity was confirmed by fingerprints and a look at his face.

...Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said al-Zarqawi was killed along with seven aides Wednesday evening in a remote area 30 miles northeast of Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba, al-Maliki said.

[...]

Loud applause broke out among the reporters and soldiers as al-Maliki, flanked by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told a news conference that “al-Zarqawi was eliminated.”

But any hopes the Jordanian-born terror leader’s death would help stem the violence in Iraq were dimmed hours later when a car bomb exploded in a Baghdad market, killing 19 and wounding 65.

[...]

A Jordanian official said Jordan also provided the U.S. military with information that helped in tracking al-Zarqawi down. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was addressing intelligence issues, would not elaborate, but Jordan is known to have intelligence agents operating in Iraq to hunt down Islamic militants.

Some of the information came from Jordan’s sources inside Iraq and led the U.S. military to the area of Baqouba, the official said.

Baqouba has in recent weeks seen a spike in sectarian violence, including the discovery of 17 severed heads in fruit boxes. It was also near the site of a sectarian atrocity last week in which masked gunmen killed 21 Shiites, including a dozen students, after separating out four Sunni Arabs.

UPDATE: They're still in denial, aren't they?

"I think the jury is still out on WMD."

-- Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), quoted by the Delco Times, still holding out hope that weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq.

Playing The Terror Card...Again...

I guess it is about that time -- given Bush's low approval ratings and the pending elections -- to play this card again...

U.S. officials believe that an attack in the United States is likely and could happen soon.

Why would we believe them this time, given all the politicizing of national security this administration has done?

(Source: CBS News)

Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're Calling

Dangerous stuff.

Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're Calling
May 15, 2006 10:33 AM (ABC News.com)

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

"It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation.

...sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.

Hat tip, again, to Political Wire.

A Lucid Moment?

What does it say when loony GOP Rev. Pat Robertson has a lucid moment like he did at a Republican youth convention this weekend?

"This is our government at work, and unfortunately it is run by Republicans," he said.

Robertson was among several Republican figures who spoke to a group of about 40 people at the convention held at the Prince William County Government Center.

In light of the NSA wire-tapping revelation, which he called a "tool of oppression," Robertson admonished the Bush administration for "encroaching on" Americans' personal liberties.

Hat tip to Political Wire.

UPDATE: A reader pointed out a related New York Times story today:

Conservative Christians Criticize Republicans
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

WASHINGTON, May 13 — Some of President Bush's m