Another Ney Aide Subpoenaed

Ah, another day, another subpoena in one of Ney's offices. This time it's John Bennett, an aide in Ney's eastern Ohio office. Sounds like the Justice Department is getting ready to present to the grand jury.

Found via TPM Muckraker

Propaganda

There apparently was a video posted on an Islamic web site today which shows the bodies of the two American soldiers who were kidnapped and murdered last month. The audio states that these two soldiers were killed in retaliation for the rape and murder of a 15 year-old girl and her family as the family was killed by members of the same regiment.

This is most likely complete bullshit. The rape story didn't become public until after the two soldiers were killed, and given the stigma surrounding rape in the Islamic culture, it's highly unlikely the family would have gone around telling people about it. It's pretty obvious that the audio was added at a later date to take advantage of the situation, pure propaganda.

No, these two soldiers were killed along with one other who died at the initial attack scene because the opportunity presented itself. Somebody screwed up and these three were left alone to guard a checkpoint, nothing more.

Goldbrickers

The Washington Post has an article today about goldbricking republicans, It's a decent article I guess, but there are a couple of things I want to address about it. First, this passage about Julie Doolittle. From the Post:

[John] Doolittle's wife, Julie, a professional fundraiser, has collected 15 percent of all contributions to Doolittle's leadership PAC and additional commissions on contributions to his campaign committee -- a total of nearly $140,000 since 2003, according to Federal Election Commission records.

A professional fundraiser? Are you joking? You might remember when I wrote this about Mrs. Doolittle in March based on an article in the San Diego Times Union:

Doolittle paid his wife, Julie, over $180,000 in commissions through her company Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions. She must be pretty good at fundraising, huh. Actually, she had no fundraising experience prior to forming SDFS and simply took a 15% cut of money that she brought in, or umm, to put it kindly, the money that was steered to her. [ed note] The $180,000 figure I quoted here dates back to 2001 when SDFS was founded while today's Post story only goes back to 2003.

Julie Doolittle is in no way a professional fundraiser, she is just the wife of another goldbricking republican who is using his position in Congress to enrich himself.

Also, this part about Rick Santorum really struck me as funny. Maybe it's because The Big Lebowski has recently been airing on Showtime. From the Post:

Sen Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) received attention in February when the news media reported leadership PAC expenses at a Starbucks near his Virginia home that totaled $558 since 2001, as well as payments to Wal-Mart, Burger King bills totaling $50 and 11 meals at Arby's worth $118.

This is classic goldbricking behavior. Can it be long before Santorum's charity Operation Good Neighbor (The Little Santorum Urban Achievers) has to pay a "ransom" to get Karen back? Better stay out of Malibu Rick, I hear the sheriff is a real reactionary, man.

A Picture Worth 25,000 Votes?

Zack Space has released an internal poll showing him ahead of Bob Ney 46% - 35%. It's an internal poll, so as always, take it with a grain of salt. I myself still have the general feeling that the race is closer than that.

Still, if these numbers are to be believed, I would have to attribute Ney falling behind due to the picture that was recently floated showing Ney meeting with the Tigua tribe of Texas, a meeting Ney lied about to Senate investigators when he denied it ever happened.

Space should enclose that photo on every mailing he sends out. Hell, I'd buy billboard space featuring that picture with the caption, "Bob Ney says he never met with these guys."

Hackett To Endorse Brown Today

At a rally in Cincinnati today, Paul Hackett will endorse Sherrod Brown. Hackett has the potential to push Brown over the top should he rally the independents that support him to back Brown. I don't know what Hackett has on his plate these days, but I'd like to see him make more appearances with Brown than this one rally.

A lot of the Hackett supporters that I met at various functions seemed to me to be more Paul Hackett activists than they were partisan political activists if that makes any sense. To be honest, several of them didn't even really seem to know that much about politics. That is the kind of people that Paul Hackett brings out, and that is important.

There was a lot of nasty infighting between staffer of Brown and Hackett after Hackett dropped out of the race. Hackett didn't help much by saying he was forced from the race by the beltway crowd. That always struck me as total bull. I'm not saying that pressure wasn't applied, but those such as Ned Lamont faced the same pressures and stayed in the race. Of course, Lamont has the advantage of not needing their money, so there is a slight difference.

Hopefully Hackett's endorsement will end any ill will his supporters still have towards Brown.

This Is How The GOP Likes To Fight It's Wars

Sounds eerily familiar to today, doesn't it?

Rumsfeld's Transformation Of The Military

In 2004, Donald Rumsfeld famously uttered, "As you know, you have to go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want." One of Rumsfeld's main goals for the military was to transform it into a different fighting force, and oh what a transformation it has been.

Rumsfeld has taken a great institution and turned it into one that unofficially has a don't ask, don't tell policy for white supremacists, despite a 1996 dictate to keep such individuals from the military. The rule came into place after it was found that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh had recruited fellow soldiers for that act.

Recruiters have been hiding the fact that some recruits belong to white supremacy groups to make up for recruiting shortfalls, and commanders in the military have been silently overlooking these people to maintain numbers. How bad has it gotten. From the New York Times:

[Defense Department investigator Scott]Barfield, who is based at Fort Lewis, Wash., had said that he had provided evidence on 320 extremists there in the past year, but that only two had been discharged. He also said there was an online network of neo-Nazis.

This is a bad thing of course for many reasons. We don't want to train another crop of McVeighs obviously, and the reason this rule was enacted back in 1996 was because they found these individuals degraded unit cohesiveness. Also, our soldiers are in some parts of the world, the face of America. These are people we do not want representing that face.

In other great transformation news, it appears that financial shortfalls are hitting our domestic and foreign bases not in the Iraqi theater. From MSNBC:

In San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston hasn’t been able to pay its $1.4 million monthly utility bill since March, prompting workers in many of the post’s administrative buildings to get automated disconnection notices.

Fort Bragg in North Carolina can’t afford to buy pens, paper or other office supplies until the new fiscal year starts in October.

And in Kentucky, Fort Knox had to close one of its eight dining halls for a month and lay off 133 contract workers.

Heck of a job, Rummy. We went to war with the Army Rumsfeld had, we'd better make nice with the Army Rumsfeld has transformed.

The Possible Coming US Building Sector Disruption

One of the materials that the US construction industry depends heavily on is copper, and global inventories of copper are at an all time low so any disruptions in the supply chain can cause major disturbances in the US market.

Such a disruption seems poised to happen at the end of this month. BHP Billiton's Escondida mine in Chile, the largest copper mine in the world has started a work slowdown and can legally strike on August 2nd, the day their contract expires. Indeed, this possibility caused copper futures to soar 21.3 cents per pound (6%) just yesterday.

This very well could happen. The company and it's employees are pretty far apart in negotiations. BHP has offered miners a ridiculously low 1.5% wage increase while the employees are demanding an equally ridiculous 13% wage increase with a 16 million peso ($29,299) signing bonus.

If a strike does occur, with global inventories virtually nil, this would lead to a slowdown in this country's building sector. We import 23% of our copper from Chile, and while many would be eager to fill the US demand for copper it is important to remember that copper is sold on the commodity market, so the spike in price would also contribute to a slow down.

Jobs Report

Another first Friday of the month, another lousy jobs report. I just don't understand how these forecasts can be so far off. There were 121,000 job created, 175,000 jobs forecast. Actually, the yammering I was hearing this morning talked of the possibility of 225,000 jobs created.

I think it is time to face facts, the economy is nowhere near as good for wage earners as republicans are making it out to be. They're out of touch with working Americans and Democrats really should start pushing that meme instead of cowering when people say that other economic indicators show the economy doing well.

Those indicators don't mean a damn thing to the man on the street who is unemployed or at least underemployed. Sure, Iraq is a bigger issue, as is being showed in the Connecticut Senatorial primary between Lieberman and Lamont, but out here in the fly over states, the economy sucks for a lot of people.

That Was Close

The Miami terror unit had their first hearing today. It looks like they were simply garden variety IslamoBuddoChristoGnostoTao Freemason terrorists. They ran into problems when they went looking for help from two men who were FBI informants. From the Miami Herald:

The investigation began last fall when Batiste allegedly tried to obtain financial and military support from two men of Arabic descent who worked as informants for the FBI.

One was a North Miami convenience store owner who got acquainted with Batiste, the group's ringleader, in October. He introduced Batiste to the other man, a veteran FBI informant with immigration problems who posed as an al Qaeda representative.

These guys were obviously trying to obtain slushies of mass destruction, probably lime. I think this case might become an embarrassment for the FBI.

Found via TPM Muckraker

What?

Since copper was on the move today, I had to hit the net to find out the reason, and umm, well here is something you don't see everyday in the business section of the paper. From the Australian:

If you don't believe that Australian Mining Investments is sitting on a copper resource worth many billions of dollars, then Wayne McCrae, the company's executive chairman, reckons you're a "dickhead".

"The proof will be in the pudding - any doubting is totally uninformed," he told The Australian yesterday at the site of the company's find near Cloncurry in northwest Queensland. "If you want to know what the definition of a dickhead is, these guys (the doubters) symbolise it. I don't know why we've been forced to defend ourselves."

McCrae might want to stay out of the Fosters while he is working.

John McCain: He So Crazy

Well, it looks like John McCain's attempt to mend fences with the base has finally got some results. Rightwing news outlet NewsMax.com has run a hit piece on him using a familiar theme from the 2000 presidential campaign, that he's insanely angry and unfit to be the Commander and Chief. From NewsMax:

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is considered a front-runner for the 2008 race, but does McCain have the temperament to be president?

As portrayed by the mainstream media, McCain is an engaging war hero, a man of political moderation positioned between the left and the right.

But to insiders who know him, McCain has an irrational, explosive side that make many of them question whether he is fit to serve as president and be commander in chief.

Actually, if you read the rest of the article, it would lead you to believe he has never had a conversation that didn't end with him telling the other party to fuck off. He is also portrayed as a complete paranoid. Also from NewsMax:

"People who disagree with him get the f--- you," said former Rep. John LeBoutillier, a New York Republican who had an encounter with McCain when he was on a POW task force in the House. After LeBoutillier had openly tape recorded comments at a conference, McCain got the idea that LeBoutillier was secretly tape recording him.

"Are you wired up?" LeBoutillier quoted McCain as asking. "Of course not," LeBoutillier said.
"Prove it," McCain said.

LeBoutillier said he lowered his pants, apparently satisfying McCain that he was not taping him.

It should be noted that LeBoutiller actually writes for NewsMax now, and does regular appearances on right leaning radio under their banner. It's always nice when you don't have to bother to go out of house to get your hit quotes, isn't it?

The bottom line is that these people are never going to accept McCain no matter how much he reaches out to them. They're gonna punk him again. Hell, we're not even through the 2006 elections and they are taking shots at him for 2008, and I'm happy to pass those shots along. That McCain fucker is nuts.

Ill

I've been ill the last couple of days, so look for posting to remain relatively light today. Perhaps I celebrated the fourth a little too vigorously.

This is a picture of the National Debt Clock that was installed in 1989 in Times Square. It's an old picture, mind you. Our current national debt is $8,416,483,511,679.68 as of this writing and rising. Under a republican president with possibly a republican held Congress, next year this sign will no longer have enough digits to measure our national debt. It's pretty simple, if you want to downsize the debt, voting Brand D is a no brainer.

Ken Lay Has Died

I think there are better ways to avoid prison.

Happy J4

I myself am off to see the Doo Dah parade, an exemplary example of irreverence. For those of you that like to partake in illegal fireworks, try not to lose a finger. Happy J4

Social Security & Mike DeWine

Last year during the Social Security debate, Mike DeWine offered up pretty much every possible answer and position as he ducked and dodged the issue, how shall we say, as diplomatically as possible.

This year DeWine is up for re-election and President Bush has stated that he would again next year try to take a run at dissolving the current system. It's time the local press here in Ohio pressured DeWine into taking a firm stand one way or the other if he wants to be granted another six years from Ohio voters. What's it gonna be Mike, up or down for the venerable safety net for senior citizens?

Farm Subsidies

Today, the Washington Post reveals the ways farmers game the system to maximize sell prices and collect the most farm subsidies. It's pretty interesting, but far more interesting is how some Democrats can exploit this issue in an election year. I'll touch on that subject Wednesday when blogging resumes to a much more normal level.

Because 9/11 Changed Nothing

It's no wonder the Bush administration has been trying to put the kibosh on the lawsuit against major telcos over the NSA spy program, there is a lot of politically damaging information about the administration that will come out if the suit proceeds.

Bloomberg released some of that damaging information Friday. You see, as much as the Bush administration claims that 9/11 changed everything, the fact is they were already moving to spy on the American people and even if 9/11 never happened they would still be spying on us.

Indeed, a June 23 filing by attorney Carl Mayer in this case states that the administration came to AT&T seven months before 9/11 to see about implementing the program. Now, a little simple arithmetic tells us that they approached AT&T within two weeks of Bush's inauguration. The administration had it's foot to the floor on this program from day one.

The divulging of the timing of the beginning of the program tells us something very important about this administration. This isn't an idea a transition team works up in a couple of months, the powers that push and pull Bush's strings had to be planning to spy on the American people before the 2000 presidential election. Kinda makes you rethink election irregularities, doesn't it?

Welfare Queens

Farm subsidies have been spiraling out of control ever since the republicans took control of Congress in 1994, but I had no idea that it has gotten as bad as is exposed in today's Washington Post. The federal government now pays $1.3 billion a year to people who live on land that used to be farmland.

That's right, if you buy a tract of land that was formerly farmland, you get farm subsidies for every undeveloped acre. Even worse, people who decided they didn't deserve the money were appalled to find out that if they didn't take it, it wouldn't save the country money, it just meant others in the program would get more money.

Look, it's long been a dirty little secret that the program had become a form of welfare for republican supporters in the red states, in fact this program has grown to be 50% larger than the actual welfare program which serves millions more people at a time when farming profits have soared to near record highs. I'd really like to see the number of subsidy recipients that donate to republican candidates. Certainly the farm lobby pours a ton of money into republican coffers.

If the republican party wants to have any credibility anymore on conservative fiscal policy, this program needs to be reigned in, and subsidies for non-farmers have to stop. That isn't going to happen though, the modern republican party threw their principals down the drain years ago. They are now simply about steering as much of the nation's treasure as they can to their supporters. They are modern day legislative robber barons.