:: Da' Militant One's Lair ::

:: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 ::

The Fall of the Hammer

Texas Court Issues Warrant for DeLay

By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 19, 2:27 PM ET
AUSTIN, Texas - A Texas court on Wednesday issued a warrant for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay' s arrest, and set an initial $10,000 bail as a routine step before his first court appearance on conspiracy and state money laundering charges.

Travis County court officials said DeLay was ordered to appear at the Fort Bend County, Texas, jail for booking, where he'd likely be fingerprinted and photographed. DeLay's lawyers had hoped to avoid such a spectacle.
The warrant, known as a capias, is "a matter of routine and bond will be posted," DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin said.
The lawyer declined to say when DeLay would surrender to authorities but said the lawmaker would make his first court appearance Friday morning.
The charges against the Texas Republican stem from allegations that a DeLay-founded Texas political committee funneled corporate money into state GOP legislative races through the National Republican Party.

:: DM1 10/19/2005 05:34:00 PM [+] ::
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The Liar

Not Only Did Bush Know - But He Lied About It To The Press
Originally published Oct 19, 2005

The Nation takes the Daily News story and kicks it up a notch:

Wait a minute! Two years ago, the White House--via McClellan--definitively declared that Rove was not "involved" in the CIA leak. But if Bush at some point upbraided his guru about the leak that means (a) Bush knew that Rove was involved and (b) Bush countenanced McClellan's dissemination of a false cover story. This is evidence that Bush was a party to the attempted White House cover-up and that Bush might have directly lied about the issue. On September 30, 2003 [link added], he was questioned by reporters about the leak investigation. Here's an excerpt:

Q: Yesterday we were told that Rove had no role in it--
The President: Yes.
Q: Have you talked to Karl and do you have confidence in him?
The President: Listen, I know of nobody-- I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody leaked classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action.
Quite possibly, we've found Bush's "I did not have sex with that woman" moment.The "appropriate action" - again - apparently is to promote them to deputy chief of staff and sweep your knowledge of it under the carpet.
Posted at 11:22 AM

:: DM1 10/19/2005 05:31:00 PM [+] ::
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Weary of the Fight

Sorry folks, I have grown weary of the fight. The chickens are roosting and indictments are pending. None of this is a surprise to me. What does surprise me is that some of the sheep are still heading to the slaughter. Bush never gave a f-ck about you and he and his henchmen are proving it everyday. You voted for a total incompetent that could not lead his way out of a paperbag. Remember that after 9/11 Bush had a 90% approval rating. HE squandered his support and YOU enabled him by being petty, partisan and STUPID with an emphasis on STUPID. You need to look at the demographics that Bush and his henchmen go after. The mark is usually a white christian that is not well educated. There is a reason for this. You can be manipulated very easily. Your continued support of this charlatan is proof of this fact. You deserve better yet you settle for B.S. Well the future is out of your hands and that's the way it should be because you have forfeited your right to be part of the solution.

:: DM1 10/19/2005 05:10:00 PM [+] ::
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From the Feelings are Mutual Category, "Black People Don't Care About George Bush"

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, October 13, 2005; 3:09 PM

In what may turn out to be one of the biggest free-falls in the history of presidential polling, President Bush's job-approval rating among African Americans has dropped to 2 percent, according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.

The drop among blacks drove Bush's overall job approval ratings to an all-time low of 39 percent in this poll. By comparison, 45 percent of whites and 36 percent of Hispanics approve of the job Bush is doing.

A few months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found Bush's approval rating among blacks at 51 percent. As recently as six months ago, it was at 19 percent.

But Bush's bungled response to Hurricane Katrina -- seen by many blacks as evidence that he didn't care about them (see my September 13 column ) -- may have brought support for the president in the African American community down to nearly negligible levels.

Tim Russert called attention to this startling statistic on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams yesterday: "Brian, listen to this," he said. "Only 2 percent -- 2 percent! -- of African-Americans approve of George Bush's handling of the presidency -- the lowest we have ever seen in that particular measure."

So this morning, I called Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff, to get a better sense of the significance of the results.

"African Americans were not supporters, but I don't think that they outright detested him -- until now," Hart said. "The actions in and around Katrina persuaded African Americans that this was a president who was totally insensitive to their concerns and their needs."

Hart said he has never seen such a dramatic drop in presidential approval ratings, within any subgroup.

This latest poll included 807 people nationwide, and only 89 blacks. As a result, there is a considerable margin or error -- and the findings should not be considered definitive until or unless they are validated by other polls.

David Bositis, a senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which tracks African American public opinion, told me this morning that it's clear that Bush's job approval among blacks "has taken a hit from both the ongoing things in Iraq and what happened with Katrina."

But down to 2 percent? "I doubt that it's actually 2," he said.

"But would I be surprised if it's 10 or 12? No." And 10, he said, is typically "about as low as you can go" when it comes to approval ratings.

The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, released September 13, about two weeks after Katrina hit, found Bush's job approval among blacks at 14 percent, compared to 42 percent among the general population. Exit polls showed that 11 percent of black voters voted for Bush in November 2004.

[Late Update: The Pew Research Center is just out with its latest poll, which has a larger sample, and it finds Bush's approval rating among blacks at 12 percent, down only slightly from 14 in July. Here are those results .]

:: DM1 10/14/2005 08:57:00 AM [+] ::
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Tom Delay

I know that some of you are wondering what my take is on that crook Tom Delay. See that's the problem with many white folks, as long as the criminal is black they keep their eyes on the prize, but if it' s a white person it takes a while for them to focus on white criminaility. Delay has always been a crook, but the arrogance of power has pushed in into the void.

:: DM1 10/09/2005 02:29:00 PM [+] ::
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A Thought on That Fat A$$ Bill Bennett


Here is the exchange between Bennett and the caller that got him to acknowledge what he believes:

From the September 28 broadcast of Salem Radio Network's Bill Bennett's Morning in America:

CALLER: I noticed the national media, you know, they talk a lot about the loss of revenue, or the inability of the government to fund Social Security, and I was curious, and I've read articles in recent months here, that the abortions that have happened since Roe v. Wade, the lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30-something years, could fund Social Security as we know it today. And the media just doesn't -- never touches this at all.

BENNETT: Assuming they're all productive citizens?

CALLER: Assuming that they are. Even if only a portion of them were, it would be an enormous amount of revenue.

BENNETT: Maybe, maybe, but we don't know what the costs would be, too. I think as -- abortion disproportionately occur among single women? No.

CALLER: I don't know the exact statistics, but quite a bit are, yeah.

BENNETT: All right, well, I mean, I just don't know. I would not argue for the pro-life position based on this, because you don't know. I mean, it cuts both -- you know, one of the arguments in this book Freakonomics that they make is that the declining crime rate, you know, they deal with this hypothesis, that one of the reasons crime is down is that abortion is up. Well --

CALLER: Well, I don't think that statistic is accurate.

BENNETT: Well, I don't think it is either, I don't think it is either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don't know. But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.


Notice how when talking about abortion and its affect on Social Security Bennett qualifies his statement "assuming they're all productive citizens." Now notice when he's talking about the abortion of black babies and the crime rate, he make no statement "assuming they're all criminals." Why because his mind he has already laid down the criteria when he spoke about abortion and Social Security. "Assuming they're all criminals" is the only point that is left out of his linking of the abortion of black babies and crime because that is essence what he already believes. He also says that "But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down." As far as I know there has never been a black baby who has committed a crime unless the crime that they committed is being born. To some white folks like Bennett being born black is a crime because when this black baby grows up his genetic pre-disposition for crime mainfests itself. I wonder if it truly is a black baby who is genetically criminal that Bennett should be worried about? Maybe that black baby has no genetic pre-disposition at all to commit crime. Maybe after that black baby is brought up into a world of sex, drugs, crime and violence he becomes a product of his environment. Now that Bennett has come up with the solution for the crime rate he can explain the criminal behaviour of Delay, Frist, Bush, Cheney and I doubt its because their mothers are black!

:: DM1 10/09/2005 07:28:00 AM [+] ::
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More Sobering News:


Retired general: Iraq invasion was ‘strategic disaster'
By EVAN LEHMANN, Sun Washington Bureau



WASHINGTON -- The invasion of Iraq was the “greatest strategic disaster in United States history,” a retired Army general said yesterday, strengthening an effort in Congress to force an American withdrawal beginning next year.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. William Odom, a Vietnam veteran, said the invasion of Iraq alienated America's Middle East allies, making it harder to prosecute a war against terrorists.

The U.S. should withdraw from Iraq, he said, and reposition its military forces along the Afghan-Pakistani border to capture Osama bin Laden and crush al Qaeda cells.

“The invasion of Iraq I believe will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history,” said Odom, now a scholar with the Hudson Institute.

Homeward Bound, a bipartisan resolution with 60 House co-sponsors, including Lowell Rep. Marty Meehan, requests President Bush to announce plans for a draw-down by December, and begin withdrawing troops by October 2006.

The measure has not been voted on, nor has the House Republican leadership scheduled hearings. But supporters were encouraged yesterday, pointing to growing support among moderate conservatives and the public's rising dissatisfaction with the war.

Meehan, one of the first to propose a tiered exit strategy in January, when few of his Democratic colleagues dared wade into the controversial debate, pointed to “enormous progress.”

“Talking about this issue, having hearings on this issue, getting more Americans to focus on it will result in a change of policy,” Meehan told The Sun. “The generals and commanders on the field in Iraq overwhelmingly are saying we need less in terms of occupation and more Iraqis up front, and that's the only strategy I think that will result in getting American troops back home.”

:: DM1 10/01/2005 12:32:00 AM [+] ::
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In Case You Aren't Paying Attention:

Uzbeks Stop Working With U.S. Against Terrorism

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 30, 2005; A14



After cutting off U.S. access to a key military base, Uzbekistan has also quietly terminated cooperation with Washington on counterterrorism, a move that could affect both countries' ability to deal with al Qaeda and its allies in Central Asia and neighboring Afghanistan, U.S. officials said.

The government of President Islam Karimov, one of the most authoritarian to emerge from the collapse of the Soviet Union, has made a broader strategic decision to move away from the 2002 agreement made with President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and is cooling relations with Europe as well, the officials said.

The move follows tough criticism from Washington and the European Union over Uzbekistan's crackdown on protests in May in Andijan province, where human rights and opposition groups say hundreds died. Uzbekistan has charged that terrorists initiated the violence.

As tensions deepen, Karimov is shifting his strategic alliance toward Russia and China, the officials said. In July, Tashkent banned U.S. troops and warplanes from the Karshi-Khanabad air base, which was used for counterterrorism, military and humanitarian missions.

Because of the internal Uzbek crackdown, the European Union laid the groundwork yesterday for a vote expected on Monday to impose new sanctions on Uzbekistan for failing to allow an independent international inquiry of the Andijan incidents. The measures include an embargo on arms and any equipment that could be used for internal repression, and visa restrictions for any Uzbek official linked to the violence, European diplomats said.

Senior officials from the State Department, the Pentagon and the National Security Council held three hours of talks with Karimov on Tuesday to express U.S. concern about Uzbek human rights violations and the deterioration in relations between the two countries.

"We do want to cooperate, but it has to be across the board, not just on counterterrorism and security but also to support democratic and market reforms," Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said yesterday in a telephone interview from Kazakhstan. He called the recent Uzbek decision to cut back on counterterrorism cooperation "very disappointing."

A spokesman from the Uzbek Embassy in Washington said his nation is still cooperating with the United States but would not comment further.

The E.U. has been pressuring Washington to impose similar sanctions, but the Bush administration wants to give Karimov one last chance to renew cooperation. "The United States is going to look very closely at whether Karimov responds to our message, and, if not, we will draw conclusions," Fried said. "We're not talking about six months. My purpose was not to drag out the process."

The Bush administration has concluded that Karimov fears democracy more than terrorism, officials said. The biggest threat to his government is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which a State Department report says has been involved in attacks on U.S. forces in Afghanistan and has plotted attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Central Asia. Aligned with al Qaeda, it seeks to overthrow Karimov and create an Islamic government, the report says.

The Uzbek issue is gaining more attention on Capitol Hill. Reps. William D. Delahunt (D-Mass.) and Lloyd Doggett (D-Tex.) held a news conference yesterday to urge the White House to end all Pentagon payments to Tashkent and to go to the United Nations to bring the Uzbek leader to justice.

Karimov "inflicts immeasurable pain and misery on his own people and then evicts us from a strategic military facility -- and the Pentagon's idea of a penalty is the gift of millions of U.S. tax dollars," Delahunt said. The Pentagon recently agreed to pay $23 million for past use of the K-2 air base.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

:: DM1 10/01/2005 12:28:00 AM [+] ::
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