, by Bonnie Azab Powell, UC Berkeley News, 11 October 2004 "How could eight or nine neoconservatives come and take charge of this government?" he asked. "They overran the bureaucracy, they overran the Congress, they overran the press, and they overran the military! So you say to yourself, How fragile is this democracy?"
, By Joanne Morrison, Reuters, Oct 29, 2004 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' top contracting official on Friday called the government's grant of multi-billion dollar contracts to oil services giant Halliburton the worst case of contracting abuse she has ever seen.
, by William Rivers Pitt, truthout, 06 October 2004
Debating Halliburton: There are still more questions than answers about Vice President Cheney's tenure as CEO of Halliburton and the favors he has since done for the company. Will he clarify matters in the vice presidential debate?
, by Garry Wills, New York Times, November 4, 2004 This election confirms the brilliance of Karl Rove as a political strategist. He calculated that the religious conservatives, if they could be turned out, would be the deciding factor. The success of the plan was registered not only in the presidential results but also in all 11 of the state votes to ban same-sex marriage.
By Neal Gabler, LA Times, October 24, 2004 This election is about Rovism, and the outcome threatens to transform the U.S. into an ironfisted theocracy.
Donald Rumsfeld: "Doing a superb job" as Secretary of Defense
(He's certainly got enough to be defensive about!)
, Margaret Carlson, LA Times, January 27,2005 Boxer asked Rice if "your loyalty to the mission … to sell this war overwhelmed your respect for the truth." Rice, without explaining a thing, coolly accused Boxer of impugning her integrity. No explanation of why her stories of yellowcake uranium, aluminum tubes and a potential Saddam Hussein mushroom cloud did not constitute an (over)selling of the war.
On Tuesday, January 18th and Wednesday, January 19th, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a confirmation hearing for her appointment as Secretary of State. Dr. Rice's confirmation hearing must not be a rubber stamp of President Bush's appointment. The Senate must take its "advice and consent" role seriously.
A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY | Updated 8/1/03 YOU decide: Is she misleading the public about her role in the road to war in Iraq, or alternately, has she been grossly negligent in not reading the government’s most important intelligence documents?
How our National Security Adviser finds the strength to defend the free world, by B. Denise Hawkins for Christianity Today. "When I'm concerned about something, I figure out a plan of action, and then I give it to God, I just ask to be carried through it. God's never failed me yet."
"The Chevron Corp. oil tanker Condoleezza Rice sailed into the sunset one day in April 2001 and never was seen again. No problem, however: The 129,000-ton vessel returned shortly thereafter as the Altair Voyager, safely rechristened after a real star in the galaxy instead of a political star on President George W. Bush's national-security team."
Alberto Gonzales, Bush's Terror Mongering Pick for Ashcroft's Replacement! The man who called the Geneva Convention quaint and obsolete is here to protect you!
Democrats flash steel on Gonzales: Their opposition, to the point of alienating Hispanics, offers a preview of likely fight over judicial nominations.
, by Gail Russell Chaddock, The Christian Science Monitor, February 1, 2005
, Washington Post, January 16, 2005 DESPITE A POOR performance at his confirmation hearing, Alberto R. Gonzales appears almost certain to be confirmed by the Senate as attorney general. Senators of both parties declared themselves dissatisfied with Mr. Gonzales's lack of responsiveness to questions about his judgments as White House counsel on the detention of foreign prisoners. Some expressed dismay at his reluctance to state that it is illegal for American personnel to use torture, or for the president to order it. A number of senators clearly believe, as we do, that Mr. Gonzales bears partial responsibility for decisions that have led to shocking, systematic and ongoing violations of human rights by the United States. Most apparently intend to vote for him anyway.
, LA Times, January 15, 2005 If nothing else, Education Secretary Rod Paige made it easy for his successor to outclass him. All Margaret Spellings will have to do is institute a few basic rules of ethics.
, LA Times, October 19, 2004 Rod Paige isn't just an Education secretary, he's an award-winning journalist. Of course, his award came from a PR agency that had been paid $700,000 by the Education Department to, among other things, conduct a survey rating media stories about the No Child Left Behind Act. Articles were ranked by how frequently and favorably they mentioned the law, and got extra credit for fawning on the Bush administration and the Republican Party.
Lt. General William D. Boykin, Defense Department Inspector General
, Washington Post, August 23, 2004 "Gen. Boykin, deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, was delivering himself of bigoted remarks -- generally while in uniform -- that directly undercut President Bush's repeated insistence that America's war is not against Islam generally and is not a clash of religious civilizations. By unloading the matter on the inspector general, Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Bush avoided having to condemn the remarks forthrightly while seeming to take appropriate action."
Congressional Extensions of Bush's Iron Will
Tom Delay, the former pest killer who became the Federal Government!
“The Environmental Protection Agency is the Gestapo of government.”
"Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are daycare, the teaching of evolution and working mothers who take birth control pills."
(In response to the Columbine tragedy)
"Judges need to be intimidated...We are doing a lot of research on judges' records to see what kinds of attitudes they have."
Time's Up for Tom DeLay: The ethically challenged Texan House Majority Leader has represented his district of Sugarland for 10 terms. It doesn't look like the people want him back for an 11th.
, CNN, October 21, 2004 House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been subpoenaed to testify in a Texas civil lawsuit about his role in using government resources to track down Democratic legislators who fled the state during last year's bitter redistricting dispute.
Records show that four of the five Republicans investigating an ethics complaint against U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay have received campaign contributions from DeLay's political action committee, according to a published report. Click2Houson.com, July 11, 2004
The State Department's extreme makeover: A veteran Foreign Service officer warns that when Colin Powell departs in a second Bush term, America will lose its last bulwark against the radical ideologues who are planning more Iraqs.
By "Anonymous" (A veteran Foreign Service officer currently serving as a State Department official. The views expressed are personal and not related to his official position.), Salon.com.
Oct. 4, 2004
He told us in his confirmation hearings he could put aside his Christianity and uphold laws which didn't conform to his beliefs...one of the first things he did was overturn Oregon's Assisted Suicide law. Liar. (Source) PDF of the Ashcroft Ruling
, by Robert Pear, New York Times, September 7, 2004
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