Well so much for that great “War on Terror” we were fighting, because a new report released this evening has shown that terrorist attacks are up 25% over last year, and 40% more people are dead in those attacks. Solid proof that Bush is “War on Terror” really was nothing more than an excuse for him to go into Iraq. If you’ll recall Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 (no matter what Cheney says), it had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden (Saddam Hussein was a secular leader, he feared Islam because it would not allow him to do what he wanted), and up until just a few years ago were friends of the US.

So I can only assume that we have lost the war on terror, or we never went to go fight it anyway. given that Bush has squandered the resolve of the American people, we are gaining nothing from the war in Iraq, and our President and his cultlike followers has forgotten all about Afghanistan, I say we just bring everybody home, arrest George Bush for war crimes, and go in and clean up the mess after those countries that we so screwed up get done imploding. As bleak as this sounds it is my opinion is the only option the “President” has given us.

This war is getting us nowhere, and we brave soldiers are dropping all over. END THIS WAR NOW!

Ironic it was 4 years ago tomorrow Bush had his "Mission Accomplished" speach. 4 Years, and we are still there!!!!

From AP

Five U.S. military personnel were killed over the weekend in Iraq, including three by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, the military said Monday, pushing the American death toll past 100 in the deadliest month so far this year.

Four Army soldiers died in eastern Baghdad, a predominantly Shiite Muslim area where U.S. and Iraqi forces have stepped up operations in the security crackdown that began Feb. 14. A Marine was killed in Anbar province, a Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold west of the capital.

An al-Qaida-linked group, meanwhile, vowed to pursue a "long-term war of attrition" in Anbar against U.S. forces and an alliance of Sunni tribal leaders who have turned against the terror network.

In violence Monday, a suicide car bomber apparently targeting an Interior Ministry convoy struck an Iraqi checkpoint near a busy square in the predominantly Sunni Arab area of Harthiyah in western Baghdad, killing four people and wounding 10, police said.

The bomber detonated his payload, causing part of the road to buckle, as he emerged from an underpass heading toward a checkpoint manned by Interior Ministry commandos. Those killed included two commandos and two civilians.

On Sunday, Iran agreed to join the U.S. and other countries at a conference on Iraq this week in Egypt, raising hopes the government in Tehran would help stabilize its violent neighbor and stem the flow of guns and bombs over the border.

Well it is not really making it up, it is leaving it out. In order to make sure that the numbers look good, and that Republican talking heads have something to point to and say "See it's working" the administration had to leave out the scores of people who have dies because of car bombs. To Bush, those don't count.

From McClatchy (bolds are mine)

U.S. officials who say there has been a dramatic drop in sectarian violence in Iraq since President Bush began sending more American troops into Baghdad aren't counting one of the main killers of Iraqi civilians.

Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three years, but the administration doesn't include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is beginning to defuse tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

President Bush explained why in a television interview on Tuesday. "If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory," he told TV interviewer Charlie Rose.

Others, however, say that not counting bombing victims skews the evidence of how well the Baghdad security plan is protecting the civilian population - one of the surge's main goals.

"Since the administration keeps saying that failure is not an option, they are redefining success in a way that suits them," said James Denselow, an Iraq specialist at London-based Chatham House, a foreign policy think tank.

Bush administration officials have pointed to a dramatic decline in one category of deaths - the bodies dumped daily in Baghdad streets, which officials call sectarian murders - as evidence that the security plan is working. Bush said this week that that number had declined by 50 percent, a number confirmed by statistics compiled by McClatchy Newspapers.

But the number of people killed in explosive attacks is rising, the same statistics show - up from 323 in March, the first full month of the security plan, to 365 through April 24.

Is getting to the point where I should just pre-write these things and just fill in the Republican congressman's name. Florida Republican representative Tom Feeney is now under investigation by the FBI connected to former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Republican Representative Feeney has been in “cover your ass” mode for some time, one needs to look no further than his out of the blue check for $5,643 to the House ethics committee to “pay” for his trip to Scotland with Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff. So Republican Representative Rick Renzi, and Republican Representative John Doolittle in a third member in the train trip to the big house. And starting to wonder if there is a single Republican on Capitol Hill that is not corrupt.

Oh the shit is about to hit the fan, the subpoenas are in the mail.

From RawStory

In a meeting considering the issuing of a series of subpoenas from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday, the chairman said he had hit a 'brick wall' in dealings with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"We have hit a brick wall with the Secretary of State," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA). "She will not propose a date to testify, she will not agree to testify, and she insists that our Committee be satisfied with partial information that was previously submitted to other committees."

Waxman's remark came in a fractious hearing on issuing three subpoenas. One sought Rice's testimony on May 15 concerning the intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq. The other two concerned the deletion of e-mails on accounts supplied the Republican National Committee and used by White House employees, as well as RNC documents concerning the use of the General Services Administration to assist Republican political efforts.

All three subpoenas were agreed to by the Committee. Waxman attempted to show that his willingness to have a hearing with votes was a new direction for the Oversight Committee.

"Under the rules of this Committee, the Chairman has the power to issue subpoenas without debate or votes in the Committee. That is what Dan Burton used to do. In fact, that is what he did over 1,000 times," he said. "But I am taking a different approach today. I believe the entire Committee should have a chance to participate in the subpoenas we will consider today."

It has been reported that we lost 9 of our finest in one day in Iraq. For the love of all that is good and holy in this world, can we please end this pointless war. George, you have won, the military is broken and your friends are richer than they ever dreamed. You won, so can we now end the death?

END THIS WAR NOW AND BRING OUR TROOPS HOME. IT IS NO LONGER ABOUT SUPPORTING THE TROOPS, IT IS ABOUT SAVING THEM FROM THE MESS YOU HAVE CREATED!

This morning, Congresswomam Juanita Millender-McDonald, Democrat from CA dies to cancer. She will be missed.

From AP

Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, D-Calif., died early Sunday of cancer, an aide said. Millender-McDonald, who was 68, died at her home in Carson, Calif., said her chief of staff, Bandele McQueen.

McQueen could provide no details on what form of cancer Millender-McDonald had. He said she had been receiving hospice care.

The congresswoman had asked for a four- to six-week leave of absence from the House last week to deal with her illness.

She was in her seventh term representing a heavily Democratic Southern California district that includes Compton, Long Beach and parts of Los Angeles.

"California and the nation have lost a great friend and public servant," said California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres, who served with Millender-McDonald in the California state Legislature. "She was a champion for the consumer and fought injustice wherever she saw it. She always valued public service and served her state and nation with grace and honor."

Millender-McDonald is the second member of Congress to die this year of cancer. Republican Rep. Charles Norwood Jr. of Georgia died in February after battling cancer and lung disease.

it's getting to the point that we may need to put a new topic on the blog for the number of Republicans that are under investigation by the FBI. Rick Renzi a Republican representative from the state of Arizona, told America today that he is under investigation by the FBI and therefore is stepping down from his position on in the House Intelligence Committee. this little confession dropped in the Friday news dump is on the heels of California Republican John Doolittle's earlier confession that he is leaving the House Appropriations Committee after the FBI raided his Virginia home.

McCain could not keep his hands of his nose, it is gross! Anyway, a Freeper asks a question lifted right off the website, and McCain jokes at starting World War III. Do we really want this old, disconnected old man as President?

Contrary to the right-wing talking point of the “surge” is turning out to be nothing more than a disaster. Today marked one of the deadliest single days for Iraq for civilians since we invaded the damn country. Today in Baghdad for car bombs exploded, just one of them killed 127 people,With another 148 wounded. Totally a bloodbath from the four car bombings as well as the various bodies scattered throughout the city death toll today alone in Baghdad was 208.

President Bush is doing his best to beg the Democrats not to cut funding for his failure in Iraq. He cites three reasons why the will of the American people should not be listened to, all three of them are total bullshit.

• His first reason is that Indian war in Iraq will somehow hurt the troops, I'm not sure how one can justify the troops are safer in a war zone then they would be stateside, but then again this is Bush's America.

• His second justification for the continued war in Iraq is September 11, that Iraq is somehow got something to do with September 11 regardless of the vast piles of paper that say otherwise, I can only guess that since our President does not read newspapers and his only source of news is those around him, he must be listening to Dick Cheney, Not the Department of Defense, United Nations, FBI, CIA, and several foreign intelligence services who have released reports that show no connection between Iraq and the attackers on September 11.
• His final reason for not ending the war in Iraq is that his “surge” plan is going swimmingly, just ignore the 200 and eight dead people today alone.

It's time for the Democrats to give Bush an ultimatum, sign the legislation were about to send your desk work is your war funding goodbye because a second bill will not come to the floor. If the Democrats played their cards right outcome would clearly show that the war funding was vetoed by Bush, That the Democrats gave him the exact amount he was looking for.

What a shocker, the FBI raided a Republican congressman's home. The Republican Representative from the great state of California John Doolittle had his home in Oakton Virginia raided in connection to Jack Abramoff. I would like to say that I'm surprised but I'm not, what I am afraid of is whoever issued these warrants for the search better make sure their resume is up-to-date, because in the Bush administration if you go after Republican corruption you will get fired.

Wow, Bush does not give a shit about the rule of law.

From ThinkProgress

In a letter to the RNC, Emmet Flood, a special counsel to President Bush, “today again raised the possibility of an executive-privilege claim on e-mails and other documents from private e-mail accounts used by senior White House officials” but controlled by the RNC. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) called the request “extreme and unnecessary” and said it was “a clear attempt, on the Administration’s part, to delay this process and keep the wheels of Justice turning slowly.”

"Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ assertion that he was not involved in identifying the eight U.S. attorneys who were asked to resign last year is at odds with a recently released internal Department of Justice e-mail, ABC News has learned. That e-mail said that Gonzales supported firing one federal prosecutor six months before she was asked to leave."

Well leave it to Bush to make sure that every aspect of our once great nation is taken down to the level of shit he sit at. Bush was involved in the whole mess, he had a phone chat with the Republican Senator Pete Domenici himself…

From the ABQJournal (bolds are mine)

Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was fired after Sen. Pete Domenici, who had been unhappy with Iglesias for some time, made a personal appeal to the White House, the Journal has learned.

Domenici had complained about Iglesias before, at one point going to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before taking his request to the president as a last resort.

The senior senator from New Mexico had listened to criticism of Iglesias going back to 2003 from sources ranging from law enforcement officials to Republican Party activists.

Domenici, who submitted Iglesias' name for the job and guided him through the confirmation process in 2001, had tried at various times to get more white-collar crime help for the U.S. Attorney's Office— even if Iglesias didn't want it.
At one point, the six-term Republican senator tried to get Iglesias moved to a Justice Department post in Washington, D.C., but Iglesias told Justice officials he wasn't interested.

In the spring of 2006, Domenici told Gonzales he wanted Iglesias out.
Gonzales refused. He told Domenici he would fire Iglesias only on orders from the president.

At some point after the election last Nov. 6, Domenici called Bush's senior political adviser, Karl Rove, and told him he wanted Iglesias out and asked Rove to take his request directly to the president.

Domenici and Bush subsequently had a telephone conversation about the issue.

The conversation between Bush and Domenici occurred sometime after the election but before the firings of Iglesias and six other U.S. attorneys were announced on Dec. 7.

Iglesias' name first showed up on a Nov. 15 list of federal prosecutors who would be asked to resign. It was not on a similar list prepared in October.

The Journal confirmed the sequence of events through a variety of sources familiar with the firing of Iglesias, including sources close to Domenici. The senator's office declined comment.

It is Friday, so that can only mean one thing, it is time for the next Document dump from the Dept of Justice, and we start with a real good one. The White House was not only a part of the AG's getting canned, they also have been all over getting the story out of the news.

From Salon.com by Tim Grieve

New prosecutor purge documents just released by the House Judiciary Committee provide more reason to believe that the White House was involved not just in the decision to fire federal prosecutors last year but in the way it was spun to Congress.

On March 6, 2007, several of the ousted U.S. attorneys testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. One day before that meeting, Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos e-mailed Dan Bartlett and Cathie Martin to provide her advice on how the administration should "muddy the coverage up a bit" by switching the discussion from the reasons for why the prosecutors were fired to the way in which they were informed.

Bartlett holds the title of White House counselor. Martin was a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney before becoming a communications assistant for the president. It's not clear to us yet whether Bartlett or Martin responded to Scolinos' e-mail message, but here's the advice she provided them:

"In preparation for tomorrow's hearing where six of the dismissed U.S. attorneys will be testifying, we have drafted some talking points that we were going to insert into Will Moschella's testimony (the DOJ witness) that get out the message that although we stand by the decision to remove these folks the process by which they were informed was not optimal. Right now the coverage will be dominated by how qualified these folks were and their theories for their dismissals. We are trying to muddy the coverage up a bit by trying to put the focus on the process in which they were told — I suspect we are going to get to the point where DOJ has to say this anyway. First, it is true. Second, we are having morale problems with our other U.S. attorneys who understand the decision but think that these folks were not treated well in the process. I think from an internal management perspective it needs to be said. We are also discussing internally if we can/should release more information about why these folks were let go if we can address the privacy act aspects. I think it cuts both ways — it does prolong the story in a sense because I suspect that the U.S. Attorneys will just go away at some point when they feel they have vindicated their reputations. On the other hand, I don't know if the Senate Dems will let this go until it is all out in the open. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks."