Truth and justice

Interesting to note that the person who could bring down this administration and history may now hinge on what she does in the near future is named Monica. If she testifies or not, will I'm sure depend on if she gets some type of plea bargin. For her to indicate she will plead the fifth indicates she was very much involved in what happened and knows that what she did or knew was against the law. A shocking revelation when you stop to consider she works for the Justice Department.

Blue footed boobie

Because I needed more traffic here.
Thanks to Py

Solutions

I was just thinking about all the problems we face in the U.S today and I think it's time to really work on some solutions. Here's mine feel free to add you own in the comments.

1. Double penalties for politicians who break the law.
(Hey they're the ones who make the laws they should be able to follow them)
2. Drug testing for politicians just like the rest of the country
( I haven't worked for a company in the last 20 years that didn't require it)
3. Spending limits on campaigns giving everyone a fair chance.
4. TV air time paid for by 10 corporate sponsors per candidate picked by lottery if necessary.
5. Six month maximum for campaigning. (Stars are created in six to eight weeks)

Other solutions I'm working on include health care and education.

Ouch!

This story via King 5 news sure gives my profession a black eye.

SPOKANE, Wash. - Workers from the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Ecology found 50 containers of cyanide and other toxic chemicals at a Spokane home this week.
Wearing hazardous waste suits, the workers toiled to clean up the site (at 5606 N. Loma Drive) today and yesterday.
Ecology spokeswoman Jani Gilbert said crews "overpacked" the drums and other containers into larger containers for transport to an approved treatment and disposal facility.
Gilbert said investigators found the 50 containers in a detached garage. A few others were stored in a backyard behind the garage. Most of the containers were 55-gallon drums containing cyanide and various corrosive and flammable materials.
Gilbert said the source of the contaminants is under investigation.
Homeowner Genevieve Webb said her son had stored the barrels and she wasn't concerned about them.
Sources told The Spokesman-Review newspaper that the barrels were waste from a methamphetamine laboratory cleanup business.
There was no evidence that any of the containers leaked at the home. Environmental officials say at inspection showed the home was safe.
Neighbors were surprised by the cleanup operation on the quiet northwest Spokane street. Stephanie McConahy said she had seen the barrels in the back yard, but assumed they were empty.

Yes and I've done a few drug lab clean ups in my career. This is embarrassing.

The gift that keeps on giving

Another conviction (sorry these links aren't working again story below)

Griles, an oil and gas lobbyist who became an architect of President Bush's energy policies, is the ninth person convicted in a continuing Justice Department probe. The government is still actively investigating other public officials linked to Abramoff, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Abramoff's ties to at least three other current or former Republican lawmakers have come under scrutiny in the criminal probe: Rep. John Doolittle of California, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and former Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana. None of them has been charged; all have denied wrongdoing. One former House member, Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, already is serving a jail term on a guilty plea.

Griles pleaded guilty to a felony charge of obstruction, admitting in a plea agreement that he lied in testimony before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Nov. 2, 2005, and during an earlier deposition with the panel's investigators on October 20, 2005.

``I am sorry for my wrongdoing. I fully accept the responsibility for my conduct and the consequences it may have,'' he said in a statement. ``When a Senate committee asks questions, they must be answered fully and completely and it is not my place to decide whether those questions are relevant or too personal.''

Prosecutors recommended that Griles serve no more than a 10-month sentence - the minimum they could seek under sentencing guidelines - but only half of it in prison. The other five months would be in either a halfway house or under house arrest. The maximum sentence he could face is five years and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is set for June 26.


Author's note:
There's another conviction in the Abramoff scandal. At the rate their going convictions might continue through the next administration.
Then of course there's the breaking GONZO NEWS. Seems Gonzo signed the paperwork firing the prosecuters. Gee didn't he just say last week he knew nothing about it.

Is this misadministration falling apart at the seams? I think so.

More pain and torture

Looks like another hard week with some overtime. I really wish this would happen in the late spring or summer when I'm in better shape. My heartfelt feelings for firefighters who have to sit around for long periods then have to leap into action. Needless to say posts will be thin. Keep the snark going the coffee hot and I'll throw a jab in there when I can...later.

What next?

I wanted to post an updated list of the debotchery of the Bush administration from a list on Major Conflict blogspot, but it looks like the Major has started over with only two posts and no archives. So I don't think I'll bother to find the list right now as it's back to the grind of another long week. Only wish I could be at the war protests being held here this afternoon, but my work schedule is a bit odd (beginning to feel like Dracula) if you know what I mean. So Keep the pressure on, your powder dry and maybe truth, justice, and the real American way will prevail.

Oh No!

Son! didn't I tell you to empty the litter box?

War Protest 5th Year

AP photo via Yahoo


I must admit this one slipped past my radar. Guess work was a bit much for me this week. War
With Plamegate, Attorney firings, Walter Reed, and all the other insanity going on it's hard to keep up. Our news media is not doing a very good job of keeping us informed. As Stranger over at Blah3 has pointed out Fox and CNN are doing a diservice in trying to cater to a dying demographic with fear mongering and youth bashing in order to pander to the 60+ crowd. To this I say:
If Faux and CNN think they are positioning themselves for the upcoming "boom" generation they'd better think again. Remember we were the ones who changed the sixties. As I come nearer to that magic median age I find myself becoming more liberal and highly skeptical of this fear mongering. Aside from the web I watch BBC news. Not that they are much better but they do give broader coverage with items from other countries not seen on U.S. news. I like hearing from bloggers around the world to get a fresh perspective and some overlooked insight. Remember when the media was a check on government? That responsibility now falls on bloggers. I truely believe that bloggers made a difference in the last election by pointing out the hypocracy of the Republican party. Even my dyed in the wool Republican relatives compared the current administration to the Sopranos. The New media will be defined by such blogs as Firedoglake and Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and their ability to present accurate accounts of the events of the day. They need to be honest above reproach and accountable only to their readers. Like many companies that have come to the realization that if the focus is on the product and not the bottom line then the rewards will follow. It will truely be interesting to see how this new media evolves as technology advances and more able people enter the blogosphere.

Friday cat blog

Cool Cat

This is a new breed of house cat called a Toyger. Bred to look like a tiger yet with a great disposition they are a long way from large numbers and consistant appearance. Oh yes and the price is a bit prohibitive start at $4000.

hat tip to cute overload

Hump day plus

As my week is quickly coming to an end but not quick enough, seems that there some familiar phrases coming out of the white house. Remember "Heck of a job Brownie" or "Heck of a job Rumsfeld" all just before they got fired. I think Jack Cafferty summed it up nicely when he said something to the effect that I'll bet you a tunafish sandwich Gonzales won't be around long. And hopefully not, but then I wonder what will happen to those that got fired for political reasons. It would be nice if these people could have no political affiliations however even judges who are elected have a past that gives an indication as to their political leanings. This is starting to remind me of what happened Germany, Russia and Ireland. The concept that you are not giving enough support for those at the top and therefore we will eliminate you. It's a sad state of affairs when you join an organization only to have it try ruin your reputation. Maybe Grocho Marx was right when he said "I'd never want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member".

Random insanity

Looks like Haliburton is moving to Dubai. Their head honcho says it's not for tax purposes (yea right) Imagine trying to get oversite in a foreign country. And to add to my disbelief their stock will be listed on a foreign exchange. Maybe they can hire a few stockbrokers from Nigeria to pump up their stocks.
Meanwhile Shrub sends more of our hard earned dollars over to Iraq and Afganistan while cutting funds for unnecessary things here at home like education, transportation and agriculture. insane
Now if that doesn't piss you off consider that he is sending disabled troops back to Iraq (go to Blah3 (link on right side of page) for that story).
And if that's not bad enough
Shrub is sending a hospital ship to South America to give free health care to 85,000. All this right after the Walter Reed story. I'll let you find that story yourself cause I think my head is about to explode.

Military Intelligence?

As George Carlin would say those two terms are diametrically opposed. Military intelligence?
I guess we'll all have to go to Aljazeera to get even half the truth. What you want to bet that Walter Reed will be the start of a news blackout from the military.

The Friday news dump

Looks like Gonzales has egg on his face and there's no hiding it no matter what Rove says. The republicans are eating their own. Six of the ten judges fired were REPUBLICANS.
The Brizilian protests articles and photos are slowly being removed or erased from web news sources. Big thanks to all you bloggers who are keeping this alive.
Hipocrite Newt Gingrinch admits to having an affair while going after Bill Clinton for the same thing.
The Unpatriot Act debockle or Warrants? warrants? we don't need no stinking warrants! Not to mention phone taps, email taps and the opening of U.S. mail. Here's my solution: Make your file so large that nobody would want to tackle it. Make it large enough that if it were hard copy it would fill a moving van.
Walter Reed story continues albet much more is still being covered up as in (Talk to the news media soldier and you'll be digging latrines out back). Note to Main Stream Media: Thanks for at least bringing this one out.

All this and more behind the news storys at http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/

Back for a bit

Looks like I'm back for a bit due to some tech problems. And as a lot of the jobs we do involve fixing other peoples' screw ups this one is a biggy. But on to some news items not covered in other blogs.
A few days ago I was reading ( I believe it was in B3) about the legacey of presidents and how at the end of their second terms they go on road trips as they have lost their clout here at home. It seems from recent trips that the only place left for king George to grace his face was South America. Unfortunately it seems George was met with more protests than his European tour and looks like these have been more violent than those in the past.
On the economic front the DOW has started to come back as momentary greed pushes the numbers. Take care with your long term investments. There is an inverse yeild curve (translation: people are afraid to invest long term which usually means a recession coming), the savings rate for the nation is in the negative %, the national debt is at an historic all time high, and lastly the baby boomers are close to retirement. If that was not a receipe for disaster I don't know what is.

One last word

Just a few short articles before I head out.

U.S. in financial Doo Doo
Now George tell me again how great the U.S. economy is doing.

Wonderful treatment of our soldiers
Or replacing one crony for another.

(sorry these links are not working again go to americablog.blogspot for the full story)

Winning the hearts and minds of Afghanis
Also notice that the number of fatalities keeps going down as the story is repeated.

(Damn links, go to voanews.com/english sorry again)

Back to the grind

Just got a call from the boss today and it looks like I'll be headed back to work after some time off. I don't mind except it's hard to get back in the swing of things especially when you wear a two lb. respirator clamped to your face and he did mention we're working 10 hour shifts. (Joy Joy ) So my posts may be a little thin at least until next weekend. Keep the snarkiness coming. I'll chime in when I can.

The Scandal

Cheney




I'd like to thank the Huffington Post for bringing this scandal back to light in recent days. Seems Cheney was being investigated by the French government for bribes ( over $100 million) made to Nigeria while he was the head of Halibruton. I had a few years back come upon the story when it first appeared in Google News. A year later when writing another of my snarky comments I did a Google News search only to discover it had dissapeared. Gone down the abyss of covered up or deleted storys that would have been a big embarassment prior to an election. My question in all of this is simply: What crime will it take to even start an investigation into the dealings of this administration? We have seen the likes of Cunningham and Delay and what happened with their misdealings. And the whole story on Abramoff is still not finished. This should be a heavy weight on the Republicans who still hold any principles of honesty and duty to their offices. To say "we didn't see it or didn't know anything about it " is not going to hold water. If you work for any company or organization then you know the tone they set in dealing with issues of ethics. The examples set by this administration have degraded the principles of truth duty and honor. It has set the stage for further corporate corruption and sets an example to our children that you can cheat lie and steal if you are in a high enough position with enough money and expensive lawyers.
Then there is the other side of the story. What happens to the victims of the corruption. Well take a Look and decide for yourself if permitting the present administration to suck the life blood from this country is not grounds for impeachment and criminal charges.

Editor's Note:
For some reason blogger will not permit a link to the site I have marked "Cheney" so you'll need to go to:
www.halliburtonwatch.org
Sorry for the inconvience but now you see what has happened to me in researching this.

The Shell Game

Do you remember the guy back in school who lied so much that nobody believed anything he said? Well I think the individuals in the white house fit the bill perfectly. WMDs nope. Welcomed with open arms? no. Last throes? no again. Democracy for Iraq? not likely. And again we face another war this time with Iran. Now attention is focused on the shell marked diplomacy. This while more of our U.S. fleet is heading for the Pursian Gulf supposedly for support for operations in Afganistan. Meetings with North Korea? Just another shell. Every time another failed plan or scandal arises the shell gets moved as does the focus. As nothing has worked for this white house they will keep the shells moving until their terms are up someone palms the pea and we are left with three empty shells an empty wallet and thousands dead for playing the game. The whole experience of what is happening today reminds me of a cross between "Catch 22", "1984" and a Greek tragedy. Especially "Catch 22". Remember the character Milo Minderbinder ? His character seems to sum up perfectly what has happened in the U.S. today. The sense of right and wrong have been abandoned for corporate profits at all costs. The sad thing here is that in the process of greed and lying any remaining respect however minute for the Republican party has been lost forever. It will take decades to gain back any sembalance of respect. Remember the Democrats in the late 60's. At least Johnson realized he had a quagmire on his hands and felt guilt. That's not to say he didn't do some nasty things behind our backs, but he did change the social climate with a war on poverty, civil rights and the like.
It's time to tell all in the Congress and the Senate that we the American people would like to stop playing the shell game before it's too late.