CAN ANYBODY MAKE IT STOP? I'M STARTING TO FEEL SICK...

PRESIDENT BUSH gave a predictably lame STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS...

During his State Of The Union address tonight,
George W. Bush (inadvertently?) described
his presidency in these words...

BUSH: "THE DESTRUCTION OF HUMAN LIFE..."

when he was talking, not about himself & Dick Cheney, or Iraq; but about... stem-cell abortions, or something.




Bush's SOTU speech
su-hucked, as usual.
'Didn't make sense!



It was like ~ the Greatest Hits of Bush's "presidency," featuring all BUSH's THIS-IS-HOW-I-SEE-IT favorites.

He ended with a sort-of scolding to Congress about "trusting the people," ...and how important it was for them (politicians) to "TRUST THE PEOPLE," without addressing why:

CONGRESS & "THE PEOPLE" CANNOT TRUST GEORGE W. BUSH, OR ANYBODY IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION.

Good-point, I made... [LYING is really the only thing we can TRUST the Bush White House to do!
Thank You, Herb.

Karl Rove was gonna speak at some high-school... STUDENTS & STAFF DON'T WANT HIM THERE, PROTESTING! [Update: REJECTED!]

UPDATE:
ROVE WAS CANCELLED!
END UPDATE.

Students Plan to Protest Rove Speech.

Students at the prestigious prep school Choate Rosemary Hall are protesting the choice of Karl Rove as their commencement speaker.

AP reports that some students “plan to walk out, while “others are trying to bring comedian Stephen Colbert to campus for an alternate speech.”

The campus newspaper has also written an editorial urging the school to reject Rove.

God Bless The Children!

Karl Rove ruined the Country:
These kids & their teachers don't want a TRAITOR giving a speech to them. Karl Rove is a LIAR and a total FRAUD... Who cares, what he has to say? (Tell it to the Corrections Officer, b!tch!) He stole a couple elections, ruined our reputation, and perverted the Federal Government to serve Republicans (only). SELFISH PIG!

Graduation's a day of celebration; Why should the kids be TORTURED?

Who's booking speakers, damnit?

Q: How does President Bush know what's happening "on-the-ground"?

A:










President Bush: In-touch, with the problems facing average Americans? ['From a safe distance; And after the "storm."] Classic Bush, Herb.

PS: Do they give any award[s] for:
BIGGEST PUSSY IN THE WORLD?

'Wonder if the US President
has ever won before (Bush).

Bush/Cheney LIED Iraq LIES... LIARS: George W. Bush & Dick Cheney [Bush Administration/Bush White House]

I had another picture...*







*See post below.

Bush/Cheney Told A THOUSAND LIES ABOUT IRAQ - After 9/11...

Via Keith Olberman, where we saw it first: A NEW
STUDY ADDS-UP BUSH ADMINISTRATION IRAQ-LIES

"George W Bush, White House
Told 935 Lies after September 11"

US President George W Bush and other top officials (i.e., DICK CHENEY, CONDI RICE, DON RUMSFELD, etc.) issued almost one thousand false statements about the national security threat from Iraq following the September 11 attacks, according to a study by two not-for-profit organisations.

The Associated Press reports the study, published on the website of the Centre for Public Integrity, concluded the statements “were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanised public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretences”.

According to the study, 935 false statements were issued by the White House in the two years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks...

I'm rounding it up to a thousand, for Monk...
Adrian Monk, Herb.

IMPEACH, DAMNIT!

Fred Thompson, Republicans' Great White Hope, DROPS-OUT of Primary Race... QUITTER!

Wh-- Uh; What?

"Different Fred?"
"Different show."

WHO CARES*?
Not rhetorically,
seriously: Who cares?

Fred-happy -- Fred-sad.

UPDATE: [See Right: pic]
*Rather than "who-cares,"
I shoulda probably said...
"WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?"!
LOOK AT THOSE TWO PICS!

I can't imagine Law & Order wanting him, back? Anymore than the Republicans wanted him... Poor bastard:
He's outta work, now (too).

John Edwards, upset that Clinton/Obama catfight is all that's covered in the media... [WE AGREE.]

Via the Guardian UK:

"Edwards claims media overlooking his campaign..."

I hope the media doesn't CREATE the monster they're obsessed with: A Democratic Primary race between just Hillary Clinton [scary!] & Barrack Obama [18 yrs-old?].

WHY ? ...WHO KNOWS: Inexplicably, KARL ROVE isn't in JAIL yet.

The bastard hasn't even been arrested (yet).
'Wonder what they're waitin' fer, Herb.

ADDENDUM: WELL, AT LEAST:

"...at least four years’ worth of Rove e-mails are “missing.”"

Maybe that kinda sh!t flies, in Texas; but you can't just destroy all the evidence, when you've STOLEN, CORRUPTED, RUINED & PERVERTED just about EVERYTHING in our National government... from The White House, while working for the President.

There's laws 'gainst that, Fatty!

Am I right? Thank you.

Eight Long Years: BUSH/CHENEY, Thanks for NOTHING! "What Are We Gonna Do Now?" [Clampdown]

Oh? OH INDEED! Bush/Cheney Are The WORST DISASTER EVER to Hit The U.S.! The Bush Administration.

COUNTRY ON WRONG TRACK:

Three in four Americans think the country is off on the wrong track, matching the highest number recorded in the twenty-five years since CBS News began asking the question.
Only 19% (Alzheimer's + Dementia population?) say it is headed in the right direction, matching the all-time low reached last June.

I don't even think the U.S. is ON the "WRONG TRACK."
I'm not saying we're on the right track. I'm saying the BUSH ADMINISTRATION is OFF
THE TRACK, altogether.

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS OFF THE WRONG TRACK. They're completely lost... there are no more "tracks," trails, pathways, roads, or anything else. Nothing left, where these guys've dragged us...
Over the cliff, Herb

G0D D@MNIT!

Nothing pisses-me-off more, than-
Bush/Cheney killing all the poor-
innocents (animals, people, et. al.)
with their greed for oil-policies








*******DEATH & DESTRUCTION*******
Environmental-policy that's KILLED the
Planet, for OIL to enrich themselves;
Chose endless war(s) that RUINED our
Military & DESTROYED our reputation.
**************NO FUTURE*************

(Federal) POLITICAL CROOKS, When Found GUILTY, Should be Sentenced to LIFE In A New Orleans Prison Camp -- REBUILDING THE CITY!

Rebuilding the poor-areas of New Orleans -- like the Ninth Ward -- and Low Income Housing destroyed by Hurricane Katrina... For a Dollar-a-day --
IF they're productive!
[They're bein' punished.]

And G*dD@mnit, I don't wanna hear any
WHINING about poor-health,
or old-age, or anything...

You're gonna work a ten-hour day
like the rest of us!!!
(Six on Sunday.)

What were you ol' bastards thinkin', anyways? "War profits"? That's so Un-Ameerican -- GET BACK TO WORK, OLD MAN!

The SCANDAL-PLAGUED BUSH/CHENEY ADMINISTRATION*... This'll be the last "list" we post; for awhile. [Promise]

*Or, alternatively**:
THE SCANDAL-ADMINISTERED
BUSH/CHENEY PLAGUE...
**Or, dyxlessically:
"The Bush-Cheney Plague!"

From the Halls of
TPM-Muckraker, Enjoy:

Indicted / Convicted/ Pled Guilty
* Eric G. Andell - deputy undersecretary in charge of newly created Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (previously senior adviser to Secretary of Education Rod Paige) - pleaded guilty to one count of conflict of interest for using government travel for personal causes and was sentenced to one year of probation, 100 hours of community service, and fined $5,000.

* Claude Allen - Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy- resigned, pled guilty to shoplifting from Target stores.

* Lester Crawford - Commissioner, FDA - resigned in late September 2005 after only two months on the job. On October 17th, he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts, making a false writing and conflict of interest. On February 27, 2007, Crawford was sentenced to to three years of probation and was fined $90,000.

* Brian Doyle - Deputy Press Secretary, Department of Homeland Security - Resigned in wake of child sex scandal. Doyle was arrested on April 4th, 2006 and pleaded no contest on September 19, 2006 to seven counts of use of a computer to seduce a child and sixteen counts of transmitting harmful material to a minor. On November 17th, 2006 Brian Doyle was sentenced to five years in state prison and ten years of probation. He will also need to register as a sex offender.

* Steven Griles - Deputy Secretary at the Interior Department - is the highest-ranked administration official yet convicted in the Jack Abramoff scandal. In March 2007, Griles pleaded guilty to lying about his role in the Jack Abramoff scandal. Sentenced to 10 months incarceration.

* John T. Korsmo – Chairman of the Federal Housing Finance Board from 2002 to 2004 – pleaded guilty in 2005 to lying to the Senate and an inspector general. He swore he had no idea how a list of presidents for FHFB-regulated banks were invited to a fundraiser for his friend's congressional campaign. On the invites, Korsmo was listed as the "Special Guest." Got 18 months of probation and a $5,000 fine.

* Scooter Libby - Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff - resigned after being indicted for lying to a grand jury and investigators in connection with the investigation stemming from the leak of Valerie Wilson’s covert CIA operative's identity. Convicted on four of five counts, making him the highest-ranking White House official to be convicted of a felony since the Iran-contra scandal. Sentenced to thirty months imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. On July 2nd, after a judge decided that Libby would remain in prison during the appeals process, President Bush commuted Libby's sentence by removing the thirty months in prison.

* David Safavian - former head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at the Office of Management and Budget - convicted of lying to ethics officials and Senate investigators about his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff. On October 27, 2006, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He is currently appealing the ruling.

* Robert Stein - former comptroller and funding officer for the now disbanded Coalition Provisional Authority, Southern Central Region in Al-Hillah, Iraq - pleaded guilty to conspiracy, bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, possession of a machine gun, and being a felon in possession of a fire arm. On January 30, 2007 Stein was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to forfeit $3.6 million.

* Roger Stillwell - desk officer, Interior Department - pleaded guilty to failing to report Redskins tickets and free dinners from Jack Abramoff.

Resigned Due to Investigation, Pending Investigation or Allegations of Impropriety
* Philip Cooney - chief of staff, White House Council on Environmental Quality - a former oil industry lawyer with no scientific expertise, Cooney resigned after it was revealed he had watered down reports on global warming.

* George Deutsch - press aide, NASA - resigned amid allegations he prevented the agency's top climate scientist from speaking publicly about global warming.

* Michael Elston - chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty - announced his resignation on June 15, 2007. Despite allegations that he’d threatened at least four of the eight fired US Attorneys, McNulty said Elston had served the Justice Department "with distinction for nearly eight years."

* Kyle Dustin “Dusty” Foggo - appointed executive director of the CIA, the agency’s third-highest post, in October 2004 - resigned and was ultimately indicted on bribery charges related to the Duke Cunningham scandal.

* Alberto Gonzales - former Attorney General - resigned without explanation amidst investigations of the firings of U.S. Attorneys, the politicization of the Justice Department, warrantless surveillance, and the torture and mistreatment of detainees.

* Monica Goodling - former Justice Department liaison to the White House and senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - resigned on April 7, 2007 amidst the investigation of the firings of U.S. Attorneys.

* Michelle Larson Korsmo - deputy chief of staff, Department of Labor - Helped her husband (see John Korsmo, above) with his donor scam. Quietly left her Labor plum job in February 2004, about two weeks before news broke that she and her husband were the targets of a criminal probe.

* Howard "Cookie" Krongard - former State Department inspector general -- accused of not properly investigating State Department contractor fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan; of retaliating against whistleblowers in his own office; and of not telling the truth about his knowledge of his brother's ties with Blackwater, a State Department contractor. Faced with a possible perjury investigation, Howard Krongard resigned on December 7, 2007.

* Julie Macdonald - former deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks at the Interior Department - resigned in May 2007 after an "inspector general's report found she had improperly leaked information to private organizations, bullied staff scientists and broken federal rules." The Department of the Interior is investigating many of her decisions regarding endangered species; so far seven have been overturned.

* Paul McNulty - Deputy Attorney General for the Department of Justice – resigned, after questions about his involvement in the U.S. attorney firings and his testimony to Congress about the firings.

* Richard Perle - Chairman, Defense Policy Board - resigned from Pentagon advisory panel amid conflict-of-interest charges.

* Susan Ralston - assistant, White House - resigned amidst revelations that she had accepted thousands of dollars in gifts from Abramoff without compensating him, counter to White House ethics rules.

* Janet Rehnquist - inspector general, Department of Health and Human Services - resigned on June 1, 2003 in the face of an investigation into her alleged efforts to block a politically dangerous probe on behalf of the Bush family.

* James Roche - secretary, U.S. Air Force - resigned in the wake of the Boeing tanker lease scandal, after it was revealed he had rather crudely pushed for Boeing to win a $23 billion contract.

* Kyle Sampson -former chief of staff for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - resigned amidst the investigation of the firings of U.S. Attorneys.

* Joseph Schmitz - Inspector General, Defense - Resigned amid charges he personally intervened to protect top political appointees.

* Bradley Schlozman - resigned from his third and final post with the Justice Department after accusations of actively politicizing the department. He's currently under investigation by the Department's inspector general.

* Thomas Scully - Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - shortly after Scully resigned in 2003, an investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general found that Scully had pressured the agency's actuary to underestimate the full cost of the Medicare reform bill by approximately $100 billion until after Congress passed the bill into law. Scully was also hit with conflict of interest charges by the U.S. attorney's office for billing CMS for expenses incurred during a job search while he still headed the agency. He settled those charges by paying $9,782.

* David Smith - deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife, and parks, Interior Department - resigned on July 21, 2006 after shooting a buffalo and accepting its skeletal remains and meat as an illegal gratuity. He eventually paid over $3,000 for the dead buffalo, but only after the internal inquiry had commenced. The Department of Interior inspector general also noted in a May 16, 2006 report that Smith's involvement in the designation of Houston as a port of entry for imported wildlife in order to benefit a friend was inappropriate.

* John Tanner - Voting Rights Section Chief, Justice Department - resigned in December of 2007 and moved to the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices. Already under suspicion for aiding efforts to politicize the voting section, the bumbling proponent of voter identification laws angered lawmakers with his comments that such laws actually discriminate against white voters because "minorities die first". Even more impressive was his apology for the comment. The DoJ's Office of Professional Responsibility is currently investigating his travel habits and those of his deputy.

* Sara Taylor - Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Political Affairs at the White House, where she was Karl Rove´s top aide - resigned amidst the U.S. attorneys investigation and other probes of Rove´s alleged politicization of the government.

* Ken Tomlinson - Board Chairman, Corporation for Public Broadcasting; member, Broadcasting Board of Governors - resigned at the release of an inspector general report concluding he had broken laws in spending CPB money to hire politically connected consultants to search for "bias" without consulting the board. At BBG, a separate investigation found he was running a "horse racing operation" out of his office, and continuing to hire politically-wired individuals to do "consulting" work for him. After being nominated and serving another term, he finally stepped down from that spot earlier this year.

* Carl Truscott - Director, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Bureau - resigned. A report by the Justice Department's inspector general found that Truscott wasted tens of thousands of dollars on luxuries, wasted millions on whimsical management decisions and violated ethics rules by ordering employees to help his nephew with a high school video project.

* Paul Wolfowitz - World Bank President - resigned in May 2007 after a committee report found that he broke ethics rules by giving his girlfriend a substantial raise.

Nomination Failed Due to Scandal
* Linda Chavez - nominated, Secretary of Labor - withdrew her nomination in January 2001 amidst revelations that an illegal immigrant lived in her home and worked for her in the early 1990s. Chavez blamed what she said were the "search-and-destroy" politics of Washington.

* Timothy Flanigan - nominated, Deputy Attorney General (also Alberto Gonzales’ top deputy at the White House) - withdrew his nomination in October 2005 amidst revelations that he'd worked closely with lobbyist Jack Abramoff when he was General Counsel for Corporate and International Law at Tyco, which was a client of Abramoff's.

* Bernard Kerik - nominated, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security - withdrew his nomination amidst a host of corruption allegations. Eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor relating to improper gifts totaling tens of thousands of dollars while he was a New York City official in the late 1990's. Subsequently, on November 8, 2007; Kerik was indicted on sixteen counts for bribery, tax fraud, and false statements with a maximum sentence of 142 years and more than $5 million in fines. Kerik has pleaded not guilty...

* William Mercer - the former associate deputy attorney general and US Attorney for Montana - withdrew his nomination to be the permanent number three official at the Department of Justice on June 22, 2007 due to his role in the U.S. attorney firings.

* Hans von Spakovsky - Commissioner, FEC - nomination to another term after his recess appointment failed due to allegations that he'd worked at the Justice Department to suppress minority voter turnout.
Under Investigation But Still in Office

* Stuart Bowen - Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) - was once admired for his successes while investigating allegations of waste and fraud in Iraq, but now employee allegations have prompted four government investigations into the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR).

* Lurita Doan - Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration - still in office, despite investigations by both the Office of Special Counsel and the House oversight committee that found that Doan had "crossed the line" by suggesting that the GSA use its resources to help Republicans get elected.

* Alfonso Jackson - Secretary of Housing and Urban Development - following reports that Jackson told a business group in April 2006 that he once canceled a contract after the contractor criticized President Bush, an investigation by the HUD inspector general found that while Jackson told his deputies to favor Bush supporters, there was "no direct proof that a contract was actually awarded or rescinded because of political affiliation." A second, criminal investigation was triggered in part by Jackson's claim before Congress in May 2007 that "I don't touch contracts." That probe, now before a federal grand jury, has turned up evidence that Jackson may indeed have touched contracts - and steered them towards friends. -END-

The End. (This post.)

How exciting: The IOWA CAUCUSES Are Coming! WOW... The Iowa Caucuses!!

SERIOUSLY... Thank You! 'What I thougtht, Herb.

MEANWHILE...
@ The White House;
& The Justice Dept.;
& The Pentagon...
The CIA, The FBI,
& The VP's Office:

These DUMMIES are the DUMBEST of the DUMB!!! ...Bush/Cheney's LAME LEGAL ARGUMENTS

Legal Fictions...

"The Bush Administration's
Dumbest Legal Arguments of
the year."

By Dahlia Lithwick
:::The Bush Administration's Stupidest
Legal Arguments of 2007.

10. The NSA's eavesdropping was limited in scope.
NOT AT ALL. Recent revelations suggest the program was launched earlier than we'd been led to believe, scooped up more information than we were led to believe,
and was not at all narrowly tailored,
as we'd been led to believe...
Surprised? Me neither.

9. Scooter Libby's sentence was commuted because it was excessive.
Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, was found guilty of perjury and obstructing justice in connection with the outing of Valerie Plame. In July, before Libby had served out a day of his prison sentence, President Bush commuted his sentence, insisting the 30-month prison sentence was "excessive." In fact, under the federal sentencing guidelines, Libby's sentence was perfectly appropriate and consistent with positions advocated by Bush's own Justice Department earlier this year.

8. The vice president's office is not a
part of the executive branch.
We also learned in July that over the repeated objections of the National Archives, Vice President Dick Cheney exempted his office from Executive Order 12958, designed to safeguard classified national security information. In declining such oversight in 2004, Cheney advanced the astounding legal proposition that the Office of the Vice President is not an "entity within the executive branch" and hence is not subject to presidential executive orders. When, in January 2007, the Information Security Oversight Office asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resolve the dispute, Cheney recommended the executive order be amended to abolish the Information Security Oversight Office altogether. In a new interview with Mike Isikoff at Newsweek, the director of the ISOO stated that his fight with Cheney's office was a "contributing" factor in his decision to quit after 34 years.

7. The Guantanamo Bay detainees enjoy more legal rights than any prisoners of war in history.
This has been one of the catchiest refrains of the war on terror, right up there with the claim that the prisoners there are well-fed and cared for. The government brief in the December Supreme Court appeal on the rights of these detainees to contest their detentions proudly proclaimed that the "detainees now enjoy greater procedural protections and statutory rights to challenge their wartime detentions than any other captured enemy combatants in the history of war." That certainly sounds plausible. But as my colleague Emily Bazelon detailed here in Slate, a vast gaggle of historians, constitutional scholars, and retired military officers vehemently dispute that characterization of the legal processes afforded the detainees. The argument that Guantanamo prisoners have greater rights than they would otherwise be afforded relies on deep distortions of both fact and law.

6. Water-boarding may not be torture.
Water-boarding is torture. It's torture under the Geneva Conventions and has been treated as a war crime in the United States for decades. The answer to the question of its legality should be as simple as the answer to whether boiling prisoners in oil is legal. But in his confirmation hearings to become U.S. attorney general, Michael Mukasey could not bring himself to agree. He claimed not to have been "read into" the interrogation program and to be incapable of speculating about hypothetical techniques. He added that he did not want to place U.S. officials "in personal legal jeopardy" and that such remarks might "provide our enemies with a window into the limits or contours of any interrogation program." Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., seems to be catching on to what it means when senior legal advisers find themselves incapable of calling water-boarding torture.

5. Everyone who has ever spoken to the president about anything is barred from congressional testimony by executive privilege.
This little gem of an argument was cooked up by the White House last July when the Senate judiciary committee sought the testimony of former White House political director Sara Taylor, as well as that of former White House counsel Harriet Miers, in connection with the firing of nine U.S. attorneys for partisan ideological reasons. Taylor was subpoenaed in June and, according to her lawyers, she wanted to testify but was barred by White House counsel Fred Fielding's judgment that the president could compel her to assert executive privilege and forbid her testimony. As Bruce Fein argued in Slate, that dramatic over-reading of the privilege would both preclude congressional oversight of any sort and muzzle anyone who'd ever communicated with the president, regardless of their wish to talk.

4. Nine U.S. attorneys were fired by nobody, but for good reason.
Of course, the great legal story of 2007 was the unprecedented firing of nine U.S. attorneys who either declined to prosecute Democrats or were too successful in prosecuting Republicans. After months of congressional hearings, subpoenas, and investigations, the mastermind behind the plan to replace these prosecutors with "loyal Bushies" has yet to be determined. The decision is instead blamed on a "process" wherein unnamed senior department officials came to a "consensus" decision. No one is willing to name names, even though the firings were ostensibly legal, because, in the words of the president himself, these prosecutors all "serve at the pleasure of the president" and can be fired for any reason. Nevertheless, the firing of the nine U.S. attorneys—many of whom had stellar records and job reviews—remains shrouded in secrecy, although at least according to everyone who's testified, they were all fired for good reasons (which also cannot be articulated).

3. Alberto Gonzales.
I am forced to put the former attorney general into his own category only because were I to attempt to round up his best legal whoppers of the calendar year, it would overwhelm the rest of the list. As Paul Kiel over at Talking Points Memo so aptly put it earlier this year, Gonzales was and is clearly "the lying-est attorney general in recent history." Kiel went on to catalog Gonzales' six most egregious legal lies of the year, but I'll focus here on just two. First, his claim at a March press conference that he "was not involved in seeing any memos, was not involved in any discussions about what was going on" with respect to the U.S. attorney firings. This was debunked shortly thereafter when Kyle Sampson testified that Gonzales was frequently updated throughout the process. Second, his April testimony that he had not "talked to witnesses because of the fact that I haven't wanted to interfere with this investigation and department investigations," which was promptly contradicted by Monica Goodling's testimony about his efforts to coordinate his version of the story with hers.

2. State secrets.
Again, it's virtually impossible to cite the single most egregious assertion by the Bush administration of the state-secrets privilege, because there are so many to choose from. This doctrine once barred the introduction into court of specific evidence that might compromise national security, but in the hands of the Bush administration, it has ballooned into a doctrine of blanket immunity for any conduct the administration wishes to hide. The privilege was invoked in 2007 to block testimony about its torture and extraordinary rendition program, its warrantless surveillance program, and to defend the notion of telecom immunity for colluding in government eavesdropping, among other things. No longer an evidentiary rule, the state-secrets privilege has become one of the administration's surest mechanisms for shielding its most egregious activities.

1. The United States does not torture.
First there was the 2002 torture memo. That was withdrawn. Then there was the December 2004 statement that declared torture "abhorrent." But then there was the new secret 2005 torture memo. But members of Congress were fully briefed about that. Except that they were not. There was Abu Ghraib. There were the destroyed CIA tapes. So you see, the United States does not torture. Except for when it does. -END-

GOOD STUFF;, BUT IT'S AN AWFUL LOTTA WORDS*. My fault, it's all there... No edits. Peace & Love, Herb.

*UPDATE: I spiced it up w/ a few pictures... Now it's good!

...2008...