The Heretik

SLIME TIME NEWS

NEWS WITH OOZE tm plus Bush China Bike Tour Tips: Stay the course!  When our mission is complete, our bikes will return home with honor. Our bike ride is just, just what I needed.

BUSH ESTABLISHES PRIORITIES IN CHINA  [WaPo] At an appearance with Chinese President Hu Jintao just a few hours earlier, he had seemed flat and listless, his voice drained of energy, but zipping over the rugged trails put some air back in his tires. 

THE HERETIK CANNOT WAIT for a newly inflated Bush to return to action.  Whether he sees nails in his political coffin or just nails in the road ahead, Bush is sure to bike through it all.  Oy.

Think Progress picks up on Pee Wee’s Bush’s Big Bike Adventure: A number of the most senior White House officials on the trip, perhaps seeking the comforts of their Texas homes, chose to skip the kimchi in South Korea to go to dinner at Outback Steakhouse – twice.” (Via Atrios)

THE BUMP IN BUSH’S ROAD [NY Times] Mr. Hu made clear, by his words and his government's actions, that he had no intention of giving in to American pressure. 

BUSH APPARENTLY had right pressure on tires, not enough pressure on policy.

BUSH CLARIFIES Chinese policy [White House] Finally, I had a bike ride. I'd like to clarify my comments. Compared to Crawford, this trail is a great bike trail and really difficult. It is clear that I couldn't make the Chinese Olympic cycling team. 

ALSO: Bush has faith in China. "I will continue to remind President Hu about, for example, my personal faith and the belief that people should be allowed to worship freely," Bush told a group of Asian reporters in a White House interview last week.
By going to church, he sends a message without saying a word, although it's not likely that many Chinese will hear it.

BUT MANY EVANGELICALS at home will see Bush in church.  Bush rarely goes to church, but when he does it is always with an announcement.

BUSH RESPECTS POWER OF CHINA’S HU But in excitement may misunderstand what Hu can do  [White House]  Bush says: Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, thank you for arranging such beautiful weather, it's a beautiful day.
Secondly, thank you for the very frank and candid discussion we just had on a range of issues. China is an exciting country, and it's an important country. And this visit is a chance for you and me to continue a very important relationship.

HU DID NOT CONTINUE relationship with Bush on bike ride. Rumors that Bush told Hu he read up on him in the Who's Who of China are unconfirmed. 

Also Check out: Incurious George . PLUS: George W Bush has been the master of low expectations.

AND IN NON BUSH BIKE NEWS . . .
ALITO GOES WITH GOD [NY Times] Both supporters and opponents say he has the potential to become the most aggressive supporter of religious liberty on the court, moving it toward greater deference to religious practices.

THE HERETIK SEES Alito has ruled in favor of a variety of different religious groups, not just Christian groups.  Are public displays of multiple religions in government areas better or worse than those totally oriented to the Christian?  At what point does respect for the few become a subtle or not so subtle oppression of all?

THE END OF THE ROAD [NY Times] General Motors said today that it would cut up to 30,000 jobs and close a dozen automobile and parts factories and distribution centers in the next three years in an effort to stem the company's billion-dollar losses.

HOW LONG AGO was it the slogan was “See the USA in a Chevrolet”?  While GM has been offering the GM employee discount to consumers, it is sad to see thirty thousand employees less likely to get it soon.

SLIME TIME NEWS

NEWS WITH OOZE tm plus The DC Survival Guide: "How to Tell the "Truth" about Small Things to Hide The Big Truth.  At least for awhile.  Until people catch on.  Maybe after the next election.

ALAS, POOR HADLEY I hardly knew him. London Times reports Stephen Hadley Woodward source on Valerie Plame.  Maybe this explains how "normally mild mannered" Hadley was so excitable about accusations the President lied about pre war intelligence nine days ago.

THE SAME OLD same old.  Hadley denies meeting with Woodward on dates in question. 

IS IT TOO SOON to say conspiracy?

THE HERETIK BELIEVES this is a con, con, con . . . a conspiracy of a confederacy of dunces.  That Airforce One ride in Egypt looks like a place where more plans took flight.

MORE ON HADLEY
Shakespeare's Sister: At some point, are they all going to drop the pretense and just say that the White House’s official position is Nobuddy did nuttin’! unless and until somebody gets caught?

PLUS: Woodward, the high priest of the objectionable. 

FIVE FOR FIVE Via e mail from The Faithful Progressive: The LA Times has a story that proves what a majority of Americans already know: that in its rush to war, the Bush Administration intentionally distorted intelligence about the threat posed by Iraq. No less than 5 (FIVE!) senior officials from the German Federal Intelligence Service (the BND) told the LA Times that they had warned the US that the Iraqi defector known as Curveball overstated claims about germ warfare.

SO CURVEBALL WAS LOW and in the dirt.  Everybody knew it, everybody said it.  But Bush told it like truth.  Oy.  Maha says duh and offers a related link from Bob Graham: What I Knew Before the Invasion.

SHAKE AND BAKE UPDATE  The Telegraph on Brit use of WP, Willy Pete, white phosphorus. More from the Heretik previously here.  And more later. 

THIS DATE IN HISTORY The Nuremburg Trials began in 1945.  We will hear how these times are different. We will hear of the ticking bomb.  Today more than ever Imagine via Body and Soul: Imagine, if you will, that you are an Iraqi. You have a captured American pilot. You know that American jets will be bombing your city later this afternoon. If you could only find out what their targets are you could move the women and children – maybe even the old and the sick – out of harm’s way. You might be able to save hundreds, perhaps thousands if you only knew where the bombs would strike. Your children are in the city. Your grandparents. Your cousins. The girl you loved when you were twelve years old, who married someone else and is now the mother of two lovely twins.
You could save them, if only you could get that American pilot to talk.

IT IS SO EASY to justify what we do from our view.  How much different would it be if we remembered the Iraqi with cousins is our brother too?
 

 

SLIME TIME NEWS

NEWS WITH OOZE tm plus The DC Dining Tip: "Chicken" is being served all over DC this week and it tastes like chicken.  Stop calling each other names. Discuss the issues, dorks.  Then maybe Congress won't be competing with Bush for who can hit zero approval in the submarine polls. 

MORE WAR NEWS Republican "stunt" pilots strafe Dems.   Have the Democrats struck out?  Casey at the bat for withdrawal.  Did General strike out?  Will Repubs call leading general in  Iraq a coward? Will the tone improve around here?  Probably effing not.  Will that Ohio Republican Congress chica Jean Schmidt wear stars and stripes forever?  Oy, the shame.  Take my words down, please.  Does anybody see the big picture? Republicans reunited and it feels so good? 

WAS JEAN SCHMIDT a case of political kabuki? Was Jean Genie a  political disaster that popped out of the bottle?  Of course there's video. Can the Republicans ever recover dignity after their "victory" yesterday? Um, anybody remember the saying: win the battle, lose the war.  Or lose the war of words on the war?  Can't win for losing?  Pyrrhic victory? What about shoot yourself in the ass? 

THE "CONTINUING INVESTIGATION" CONTINUES to approach parody.  WaPo plays NY Times today to Bob Woodhead's Judy Miller.  Presidenting and reporting and editing are hard work. Captain Ed: Woodward Apologetics.   Left, right, left, right.  Bloggers on Woodward and Plame on CNN.

COMING IN HOT 
THE DEMOCRATS WANT  to see what's in the President's Briefs.

DEFINING THE TERMS The Right Wing Dictionary via Demi Orator.

GUANTANAMO access denied to UN observers. 

THE ANSWER my friend, is blowing in the wind.

 

SLIME TIME NEWS

NEWS WITH OOZE tm plus The Dumb Debunk and Other Junk.  Murtha of God, what is going on here?  Slime the vet?  Are they done yet?

SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH? Is it finally over?  Do Americans really just want to be left alone?  And leave others alone?  Some thoughts. 

PICTURE THIS . . . can't a woman just walk down the street without . . . and damn, just Damn . . .

HEY POT it's the kettle calling.  Bush's credibility problems in Asia.  China's message via Ari Fleischer?  We watch what you say, we watch what you do.

AND WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING? Lots of McKrap TM out there today.  Former CIA Official Calls Cheney "VP for Torture"   Cheney will probably spin that as Stansfield Tuner hates America.  Oy. Responding to the reponse on Murtha.  The Heretik adds: F*ck the Murthaf*ckers.  More to follow.

THERE, THERE now I feel better.  Won't happen again.  Decorum, yes.  Nope. Not here. Unless it has to.

 

SLIME TIME NEWS

NEWS WITH OOZE tm plus The Dumb Debunk and Other Junk.

GET DOWN get down. WSJ reports Bush approval rating now and 34%.  Pretty soon we will be hearing Harry Truman comparisons about how low Truman went and how he is now revered.  See The Truman Show now. More on the Bush down low here.  Oy, Truman said the buck stops here, but Bush will buck no criticism.  And speaking of bucks . . .

FROM THE PEOPLE WHO LOST EIGHT BILLION in Iraq Department. Some graft indictments are in.  Xan at CorrenteWire says: You'd think there's an orchard for bad apples.  T Bogg: Looks like some of the Young Republican whiz kids are going to be visiting a special resort without squash courts.
GRAFT corruption, eight billion dollars lost by your CEO blunderer in chief in Iraq and his cronies. Oy.

SENATE DEMANDS plan on Iraq.  General Decries Call For Timetable in Iraq: "Setting a [timetable for withdrawal] date would mean that the 221 soldiers I've lost this year, that their lives will have been lost in vain," said Army Maj. Gen. William Webster.  Is it full speed ahead, drive the car over the cliff.  Is there no method beyond the madness?

DID YOU BRING your ID? What are Identity Politics?  Good?  Bad?  Very bad?  Pejorative? Do you care?  Is it somebody else's problem?

PLUS PLUS Pics of Cheney protest at University of Tennessee.  When is a Free Speech Zone not?

GOT SOMETHING HOT that is leaving you hot under the collar?  Share it in comments.  Remember: if they ooze, we lose.

MORE TO FOLLOW

 

 

SLIME TIME NEWS

NEWS WITH OOZE tm.  Big surprise.  Oil Execs met with Cheney on energy policy back in the day and lied about it yesterday. Or was it last week?  Or has it been all along? [story] More at The Nitpicker, Suburban Guerilla.  The crude is rising.  The unrefined truth is under a White House rock.

"THE INTERNET LIVES to innovate for another day," and it’s ours damn it.  Ours.  Do not be alarmed.  Captain Ed: The Internet is not the Panama Canal. We created it, and we should continue to run it. Any President who agreed to give it away should plan on keeping his or her bags packed and ready at the exit of the White House. 
The Heretik is uncertain when Bush will do the official speech: The internets is a  gift from the Almighty, we will spread the fire of the internets . . . blah, blah, blah.  Bottom line?  We control the servers, so we are the masters.

TORTURE ALLEGED AT MINISTRY outside Baghdad.  When Iraqis do it to each other, will the White House label it abuse?  NY Times goes boldly with torture in headline, refers to abuse in article.  One thing is clear. It is the Shias torturing abusing Sunnis.  Progress in Iraq is measured by shutting down Saddam and Sunni torture rooms so the Shia majority can do unto others what was done unto them.  The Next Hurrah: I’m shocked to find there's gambling going on in this casino.
The Heretik asks who isn't embarassed to admit they are relieved this report isn't about Americans, not this time. 

WHAT ABOUT BOB? Woodward testified in Plameout.   . . . there's a lot of innocent actions in all of this . . . Jane Hamsher says: Woodward isn't just reluctant to criticize the Administration -- he's become the water carrier of choice.  PLUS: It looks like Mr. Fitzgerald may finally be on the Bolton trail after all.
Somewhere Carl Bernstein is laughing.  Tom Maguire is not laughing: This disclosure by Woodward raises many questions, starting with, why is he only coming forward now, and why is the "senior Administration official" only coming forward now. Just One Minute has the goods on the worst of this today, including the best twist for those grinches who never liked Fitzmas. Re Fitz: What else did Fitzgerald not know, and when did he not know it?

THE HERETIK LOOKS out across the Bay of Confusion and wonders how such a big fish as Blurby Bob Woodward slipped through the nets until now.  And what other fish will hit the pan and fry? Joe Gandelman says this could tarnish Woodward's reputation.  Could is not the word here for Bob Woodhead Woodward. Who would have thought the man who helped expose Nixon would now um expose himself?   Woodward looks like he is doing his own "modified limited hangout."  The Deep Throat dude is in deep doo doo.  Woodward apparently never heard the Dictum of Dick Nixon on tape: Doo unto others . . . Oy.

MORE SLIME IN ITS TIME

SLIME TIME NEWS

THE NEWS WITH OOZE tm Read today what people regret about yesterday.  John Edwards says he was wrong about Iraq.

EDWARDS IS WRONG about being wrong [Ranting Prof]

God Almighty, I actually voted for this guy once. Are we actually supposed to take this seriously just because he admits he regrets his original vote for war? As he himself points out, the question is what to do now.

ALSO FOR WRONG ABOUT WRONG and RIGHTING writing about it with the right hand. Don Surber on the Democrat ingenue John Edwards:

It is a disingenuous plan that requires a false confession of error on his part. ("I was wrong.") A false premise for the war. ("Weapons of Mass Destruction" only.) And a false assessment of the situation. ("Iraq is a mess and has become a far greater threat than it ever was.")
First, as John Edwards fully knows, WMD were but a part of the justification for this war. It was about establishing a democratic model for Arabia.

THE HERETIK SAYS wow, there is more than enough disingenuous to go around.  See Wolfowitz on WMD and selling the war. Oy.  We are one election cycle away from Republicans charging that Democrats lost not just Iraq, but the entire Middle East.

EDWARDS IS RIGHT about being wrong, says The Heretik.   Also voting for right about wrong, but right now from the left.  Jude Nagourney Camwell says:

This could never have been easy for Senator Edwards to admit. Most political leaders in Washington still won't admit what we all can see - that they were mistaken. I admire Senator Edwards' honesty and humility. He's a man of outstanding moral character. It isn't the first time he's publicly communicated his regret, and it may not be the last. . . . I'm proud of Senator Edwards for sending this message to the people of America - to Washington D.C. - and to the world. Integrity, honesty, courage, humility, and truth are values that are largely missing in Washington D.C. today. Clear ideas born of ethics are even more of a rarity. Is it any wonder that our vision has been lost?

EDWARDS WOULD HAVE HELPED himself and the country if he had said last October what he says now.  If the election were held now in the autumn of Bush’s discontent, we wouldn’t be talking about Edwards being wrong.  We would be correcting what Bush did wrong.  Or not.  Bush is getting hammered because of Iraq.

BUSH COULD BE THE FIRST president with approval numbers below zero. Joe Gandelman notes: Watch what's happening with independent voters. Bush and the GOP did NOT win elections by getting votes ONLY from Republicans. 

A FEW MORE NOTES on those sinking poll numbers. Could it be more obvious why?  The Heretik is confident the White House will continue its attack. The Democrats might want to develop an um plan for Iraq, something that stands in contrast to the quagmire.  What is served by fighting about the past?  And what is the past?  Are we fighting about what we did in Iraq or Vietnam all over again?

SO NOW WHAT Democrats? Tom Maguire declares:

Left unexplained - how the Democrats unrelenting focus on the use of pre-war intelligence is going to substitute for a plan to resolve the situation in Iraq.  Was it really only two weeks ago that Harry Reid forced the Senate into a closed session to discuss that? . . . This political posturing by the Dems is understandable - their party is pretty well united around the desire to have a mulligan on the decision to go to war against Iraq. 

THE HERETIK AGAIN agrees Democrats voted for the war and there are no do overs.  But if the focus returns to where the war is now, how can Bush do anything but lose?  Today there is little talk of the future, but if we look at the past too long without assigning the real responsibility where it lies with the leaders, the executives of this war, we will never learn from our mistakes.  And the future will be far more grim.  Be assured, though, the world is safe.  While all this is going on, Condoleezza Rice, a woman at the center of this all, is confident and silent.  Somewhere in a shoe store unknown to us now she may be buying shoes.

SLIME TIME NEWS

ALL THE OOZE THAT DRIPS and drops our way today TM.  Are trees being hugged today or what?  The House has shelved plans for drilling in the ANWR [story]  Caribou must have hired Jack Abramoff to lobby [more] And speaking of Jack, he can get you a  meeting with the President of the United States for a cool  . . . nine million [story] The indicted Abramoff is well connected to the indicted Tom Delay.  The sludge continues to bog up the smooth transmission of the White House message. [Froomkin]

SO LOOK for Republican dogs to attack [story]  But Dick’s dogs of doom have lost their bite.  Sucks to be you, Cheney. [story]  The Patriot Act may actually come close to respecting the Fourth amendment. [story]  As the sun rises today, a thin oily sheen still shines on once clear waters.  Oy. 

AND SO IT BLOWS . . .
THREE CHEERS FOR THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE [John Cole/Balloon Juice] It made no sense to me that these needed to be ten year limits- we manage to hold national elections every four years. Congress can’t hold a vote on whether these [Patriot Act]provisions be continued every 4 years, as well? Are they that busy?
THE HERETIK LOUDLY applauds Congress doing its job.  Hit the gym, kids, and be ready for work again tomorrow.

THE MAJORITY HAS SPOKEN [Generation Why] Don't know if those guys in Congress are just victims of our failing public school system, but I wish somebody would remind them that having more representatives than the other guys means you're IN THE MAJORITY. With the title "majority party" comes certain privileges, namely... passing the legislation that your constituents want passed!
THE HERETIK NOTES Generation Why obviously has not seen why polls show majority of voters want ANWR left pristine.  Nice try. On the other hand, the oil lobbyists are pissed.  This Congress was already bought and paid for . . . *sigh*  Damned caribou.  When a hugged tree falls in the forest, does it laugh? Cookie Jill has more for crunchy types.