Frist says its been a ver-r-y inter-r-resting week.....

by graysmoke

Indeed Mr. Frist. Obviously he and Mitch McConnell don't get it yet. You know, the difference between standing firm and the word they love to throw around, "obstructionists".

My advice is stop licking your wounds and cope with the newer reality. The public is demanding that their representatives not lay down and let the rads run over them. Admittedly, this new configuration is fragile, but today was strengthening on another level. I think Frist/McConnell were counting on getting the Bolton nomination confirmed before the holiday break, expecting that the opposition would be willing to feel like they could give a bit after averting the nuclear option.

My take is that the senators are hearing plenty of input from constituents, wanting them to resist the authoritarian insistence of the administration of having their way, like spoiled rich brats - which our POTUS still behaves like.

Floor comments that don't hold water are:

Bolton should be okayed because he's been confirmed four times previously.

Previous confirmations are not sufficient reason to give an aye if the nominee doesn't have the education, training, experience, abilities specific to the assignment, or temperament for the new position. Isn't this what underlies the Peter Principle?


Peter Principle

NOUN:
The theory that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level at which they are incompetent.
ETYMOLOGY:
After Laurence Johnston Peter (1919–1990).

Behavior towards subordinates should not be a significant factor.

At the U.N. I am sure Bolton will consider everyone else a subordinate, so this proclivity alone should disqaulify him.

The everybody does it cliche. Should not be used after age 16.

This was used as the basis for excusing his efforts to have those who disagreed with him and resisted his aggressiveness, reassigned or demoted, perhaps even dismissed.

Presenting a false picture of his past performance.

This was particularly obvious in trying to give him any credit for the Libya case. In fact it was requested by the British that he be removed from the negotiations because he was a hindrance and not a help.

We don't need a minister of propaganda.

He essentially wanted to misuse intel.Insisting it be fashioned to fit his ideological position.

Let's nominate him for a crew of one to go to Syria and stay there until he finds those WMDs he declared were clandestinely trucked there from Iraq.

Administration members seem incapable of distinguishing between public diplomacy and public relations.

Let's hope between now and June 7th someone has enough sense to not assign Johnny to be nannied by Condi. Will it turn out that way? No way to know, just be a C-Span junkie when this is on the calendar for further action.

The Damning Downing Street Memo

by graysmoke

The memo was printed in the May 1 issue of the London Times and here is the critical paragraph, showing that GWB is guilty of gross deception and manipulation of public trust. He deserves to be furloughed. The memo is dated 23 July 2002.

Quote:

C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.

End of Quote.

(Color emphasis added.)

Here is the link to the entire memo in the issue cited. I urge you to read it in its entirety.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1593607_1,00.html

Perhaps the most interesting facet is how little attention has been given in the broadcast media to this revelation. Mostly it has been an internet item. With the accelerated insurgency action and the lack of progress on the military side, it seems as though the general public has decided to snooze through this.

Many, without this official confirming document, were already convinced that W had exploited the emotions following 9/11 to initiate an attack that had its origin in much earlier plans. Denials have been abundant from the administration and supporters. If I were a survivor of a 9/11 victim, I would be outraged all over again by this disclosure. I fortunately am not in that category but am hugely outraged.

The Morning After.......

After reading a collection of print press reports and assessments of the aftermath of the R7D7 coalition , it appears the message to the POTUS and Frist is that in this country we govern, not RULE. And the rigid religious extremists are squealing like stuck pigs.

It will be interesting what the demeanor in the future will be from the Oval Office. My personal expectation is that if there is any "give" it will be so minimal as to be insignificant. So in the R7D7 agreement, the real progress may come in revealing what is already known, that neither party is a monolithic entity and complexity not simplicity happens to be the status in each. When action as a whole is required there is the necessity of co-operation, consultation and flexibility.

McCain seems to be taking the most of the heat, but he has been targeted before and since his home state is less "red" than the Republican party would like you to believe, he probably will not take a backlash as severe as might be imagined. I don't think he planned to run for the presidency in 2008, but perhaps in the future his public service might be in a future administration in a cabinet position.

graysmoke

New Bloc in the Beltway

In the Senate, no less!


One can't help but ask, for how long? Will to-morrow arrive and bring a declaration from Frist that the senate will not recognize the SevenSeven agreement as binding or will he let a vote go forward and if he does and the nominee gets voted down, what then?

It all seems very shaky. Knowing this administration, Rove, Cheney and Co. are putting their heads together to hatch another power plot. If you can keep it, indeed Mr Franklin said per the octagenarian senate member.What if it is ruled that this (the agreement) must be voted on by the whole senate? Would it hold and if not, wouldn't there be a deeper hole everyone tumbles into?

Tuesday will find me again either watching a tv screen, or running the streaming video while 'putering.

My gut feeling is that this is not going to go down so easily.But I do want to salute those who showed the most sanity today.Let's see if Warner can prevent retaliation against the other Republicans that participated in this.

graysmoke

Skimming the scum....

On Meet the Press, Russert again carried the water for the R's and Dean failed to pick up on it. One of the main mantras of the framing techniques used so frequently was inserted again, and perhaps Dean has heard it too often to respond effectively. Did you catch it?

Russert asserted that raising the cap on Social Security amounts subject to taxation would be raising taxes. NOT SO. But this bait has been so overused by the R's that it goes unchallenged. Well here is why it must be challenged.

For years the first dollar up to the cap has been taxed. What privilege is there for the upper earners that makes them immune to the same treatment that the workers making wages below that amount are subjected to? Who can believe that this is just? Doesn't this soak the poor in favor of the rich, where would the account balance be now if this discrimination had not been allowed to occur all these years?

Are you going to believe that it is more burdensome for those earning 90,000 and on up than it is for a worker with a family or without for that matter and trying to survive on earnings from zero to 90,000, meet the living expenses prevalent today. What about the 15,000 to 30,000 category? Probably they are so tied down trying to find moonlighting jobs in order to keep food on the table and gas in the car so they can get to a job if they have a regular one, that they can't take time to be politically active and get this injustice addressed.

This same tactic used also when it is pointed out that rolling back the tax cuts for the wealthy would alleviate the fiscal Social Security shortfall in the future thirty-five years down the road. The R's again misapply the "raising taxes" mantra again. It is a major trigger on their knee jerk version of manipulation.

Enough! Alert all your representatives and your political organization officers to challenge this falsehood whenever they can, if it comes up or bring it up and cite the times you've heard them apply this disinformation technique. Don't allow them to manipulate that trigger.

Another phrasing that needs to be illuminated as manipulative is "obstructionist". Now aren't we weary of that one. It is applied to anyone that dares dissent during this extreme administration. Exercising the right of dissent and the rights of a minority is not obstructionist and that label needs to be opposed. But again the pejorative word is selected over and over in the R language assault.

This was applied this morning on the This Week news show with two senators as guests, Allen and Leiberman. The host again carried the water by using the mantra word, is this accidental or not? One must wonder.

Stephanopoulus fails to see that this is a specific and particular time in history and there are circumstances that were not in the mix at other historical periods. Therefore to imply that a position taken in past history should be taken again when the circumstances are very much changed, is like ignoring events that have taken place, a curious position for a journalist.

Focusing on another item brought up for discussion, the Newsweek flap - it was amusing to hear the commentary on this subject. George Will was outclassed by Zakaria, who works on Newsweek and K. vandenHoevel who is I believe on the staff of Nation magazine. She remarked that if it was correct to demand retraction by Newsweek based on their use of unreliable sources, then it would be consistent if Bush would retract the War on Iraq, since that was based on unreliable sources. Touche' Ms vandenHoevel.

Then on Face the Nation, you could have learned why you cannot believe this administration. Currently they have the First Lady out there trying to write revisionist history. I think Laura should let Georgie grow up and she could set a better example by not having been submissive in the past while he was misleading the nation. Let him handle his own dirty laundry, don't pick up after him.

Blitzer had Perle and General Clark as guests and since I simply can no longer abide Perle, I took a morning nap, after all I awake and start listening to C-Span's Washington Journal at 4 a.m. our time in the Mountain Standard Zone.

Stay vigilant, challenge misframing language coding.

graysmoke

"F" Day

It appears that Tuesday May 24, 2005 could become known in the future as the day the USA changed its spots and sacrificed the independence of the judiciary branch at the altar of extreme right wing pressure.

If that is the outcome, then the largest deficit in Washington D.C. will not be the trade deficit or the budget deficit, but rather the wisdom deficit. Our system will be seriously damaged by such a change. We absolutely must have independence in the judiciary - they must not be ordered to impose a decision on the political whim of the moment, as was attempted in the Schiavo case. But that is just what is likely to occur.

In all the words being tossed around, why isn't there more reporting of the decisions made by Priscilla Owens that show she is a corporate captive?

I haven't seen a single case cited in the media to show this, let alone the string of them that are on the records. You can google and learn about them, and some internet reporting lists a number of them, but you haven't been hearing them on the evening news, or on the popular talk shows. Why? Because it shows that she is unfair and gives short shrift to individuals/consumers vs big big business. And some of those cases involved the notorious shenanigans by the likes of Enron and Halliburton.

Here is a resource page for informing oneself about the judges that are involved in the controversy.

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=14172

One of the senators from my state, KYL, in his appearance on the senate floor outlining his right wing view, stated in his arguments that a simple majority is sufficient already for endorsing (rubber stamping?) all nominees that the chief executive submits. What?

He also sidestepped facts when using a percentage statistic to support the view that not enough of W's nominees have received approval and was later called on that by Senator Durbin, pointing out that the percentage would have been changed significantly if the offer of approving several specific nominees had not been refused by Senator Mitch McConnell who was acting for Frist.

So from my state one Republican is evidently going to cancel out the others vote, because McCain has openly declared that he is not in favor of destroying the filibustering rights.

So will Tuesday be the sell-out day? Already consumers and individuals are at a huge disadvantage when involved in life situations requiring adjudication and many just cannot pursue justice. It is plain as day the the deeper the pockets the more decisions you can obtain in your favor and so the corporate raping continues. You won't see any reporting on that either.

I hope wisdom breaks out and prevails Tuesday, otherwise, mourn a huge loss.

graysmoke

Doing My Part

My message today to Senator Reid: Regarding Judicial Nominees


I have listened to as much of the speaking as my schedule allows.

My recommendation is that it is going to be necessary to block the half-truths being marketed by the opposition as the whole truth, that all the Dems are going to need to instantly acquire some "Galloway Gut" and let the actual facts ring out loudly and clearly. We do not need to camouflage the truth in considerate "framing" a la Lakoff. The power of Galloway's impact is all over the major blog sites, even my little minor one.

This battle must be won to conserve our country and not let the contriving of Rove & Co.allow them to become de facto dictators.

graysmoke

Here's the link to Senator Reid's page where you too can send a message and I urge all to do so:

http://reid.senate.gov/

Along the left side column look down the page and select the "E-Mail Me" in order to do so.

Thanks

Sliding.........

Here we go down the rabbit hole. Nothing is what it seems and one must wonder when the camouflages will dissolve and a glimpse of reality be seen.

Are the betting parlors taking odds on whether the senate will still be hung up by this time next week?

I listened to as much of the debating as possible, but had to spend a hunk of the day with the long commute to the Mayo Clinic for scheduled PFT's and reports. There are rebroadcasts on C-span and so I don't think I missed much.

Important little things that should be emphasized are missing, like -- when have we before had one party control of all three branches, guess I'd better google, because my memory is not that digital. Back Soon. Here's a link:http://www.prospect.org/print/V15/2/kuttner-r.html

Seems not since the days of FDR and that was before I reached voting age in 1948, then we had to be twenty-one.

So when the declaiming goes on about this 'n that, just remember that it is not oranges and oranges when comparisons are given that leave out this vital little fact. And it seems so convenient for St. Orrin to always fail to mention his blocking in committee of sixty-some nominees of President Clinton, hoping his audience will be ignorant of the facts. I have heard him at least six times as a guest on Washington Journal, use this distortion when he says that nominees have always been given an up or down vote when they reached the floor, not pointing out that he prevented six times as many from even getting there. This from a man that swears he is honest! Well, not in my book - these holier-than-thou ruses are stale now.

So to whom would you give the best marks to today for sticking to the facts and to a fair representation of history? If you don't have a clue, then start listening and listening and listening until you can decide. Don't view it as tiresome, it is our future at stake, the country's future and the future for our youth. You have a chance to impact history. Contact your senator and let him know what this means to you. I, for one, do not want one party to have absolute power, that is just dangerous as H---, and if you think corruption is bad now, wait until that happens; on second thought, do everything you can think of to keep it from happening.

Flood the White House with messages. Broach the subject with your friends and family and get them in on the action too.

If we stand on each others shoulders we can climb out of this deep dark rabbit hole.

graysmoke

ALICE.........oh ALICE...

Can you wake us up and get us

out of Blunderland?

Things are just getting too bizarre.

The private plane incident, revealing that D.C. security is being maintained on cruise control. No need for any attention by the POTUS! We must not deduce from this that he is shuttled aside when major decisions are in order. We must think of something more illogical and insignificant for "it" to be believed. Try this, if his attention were diverted he might take another fall from his bicycle and hurt himself. Lewis Carroll where are you when needed?

Then there is the curious script Laura reads with forbidden risque allusions. My oh my what next, a bit of humor got snuck into her roasting. Must of had the rigid right turning livid. Off with the head of the author.

And I hope you didn't miss Galloway giving Norm Coleman more than a piece of his mind today. Priceless! The Brits conduct their politics a bit differently than the U.S. eh? Bully for them.

Let's see, what else can we add to this brew. Oh, mustn't leave out the flap caused by Newsweek. It appears that the outrage and backlash are strangely aligned. It is unclear whether the DOD Secty was angered because of it being reported and not by the possibility of it having happened. Now wonder why that sounds familiar. Rummy again absorbed by that 10-30-30 transformation deal and will claim not to know what is going on if later it turns out that there have been incidents where attempting to get detainees to cough up some intel, that it was decided to let go unnoticed the methods.

It was never clear in the Rather incident whether non-fraudulent papers existed from which the fakes were constructed - but that wasn't the point was it!

Wake me up, please.

graysmoke

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New Award Proposal

The DeLay Distortions

An article today in the internet issue of WP gave me the idea that an Award for Hypocrite of the Hour should be designed and presented, even if only virtually, to the Republican most deserving of it. Any ideas for designs? They would need to be mass producible.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/05/AR2005050501547.html?referrer=email

lenal