In what can only be seen as an unexpected show of testicular fortitude, the Democrats have done something! In a 22-17 vote the House Judiciary Committee voted to charge former White House hack Joshua Bilton, and almost Supreme Court Justice (she never had a chance) and questionable legal mind (oh and former White House Counsel) Harriet Miers for contempt of Congress for their failure to comply with subpoenas.

The vote was along party lines, no surprise the republicans have refused to stand up for constitutional democracy for over a decade now, so why start now.

The showdown will begin, because if you will recall, the Justice Department, headed by uber-discredited Alberto Gonzales, has stated that the Attorney General for the District of Columbia does not have to execute the charges laid out by Congress, which has basically destroyed the creditability of the Justice Department as a neutral arbiter of the law, and laid waste to the idea of checks and balances.

The question every American should be asking is, “If, as they claim they have nothing to hide, then why are they hiding SO MUCH?”

RIP USA

Reason 12,349 as to why the Republicans hate the troops. The Democratic Congress has in the Defense Appropriations Bill a 3.5% pay raise for the troops starting in October, the start of the governments fiscal year. Bush thinks this is far to much for our troops. How dare the troops who are asked to do 15 month deployments in Iraq, with only a few months at home before they do it again, ask for a raise.

I kid you not, this is sick! 3.5% is nothing, and trust me, I was a troop, they make nothing! Bush has a new motto for the troops, “Nothing is to good for the men, and nothing is what they are going to get as long as I am president”

The Honolulu Advertiser as a good breakdown

Talk about lousy timing. With President Bush’s popularity scraping bottom in opinion polls, with U.S. casualties rising in Iraq in a force surge that has stretched tours to 15 months, the Bush administration has said it “strongly opposes” key military pay and benefit gains tossed into the fiscal 2008 defense bill.

Initiatives the administration opposes include:

• A military pay raise for next January of 3.5 percent versus 3 percent endorsed by the White House.
• Lowering the age-60 start of reserve retirement annuities for reserve component members by the length of their future mobilizations.
• Expanding eligibility for Combat-Related Special Compensation to service members forced by combat disabilities to retire short of 20 years.
• Directing pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide the Department of Defense with same-price discounts for Tricare retail pharmacy network that are provided on medicines dispensed from base pharmacies.

The administration also grumbled that the Senate intends to block for another year Tricare fee increases for under-65 retirees and dependents.

The objections appear in a “Statement of Administration Policy” from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget delivered to Senate leaders as they opened floor debate on the defense authorization bill.

A day later, Senate Republicans, at White House urging, blocked amendments that would have shortened Iraq tours for U.S. ground forces and slowed the frequency of war deployments.

What a fantastic load of hypocrisy, I love how the republicans have made it a crusade to force their sense of morality on Americans, and yet they frequent whores. GOP Senator David Vitter has run to the right-wing line, “This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible,” he went on to say, “Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counselling.”

Look if you truly have a shit about your wife, and god for that matter, you would have never had your bone waxed by a call girl. I guess your faith was not as strong as you would have us believe. Well the way I look at it is we have another Hate filled member of the Republican party who can no longer be trusted attempting to legislate morality.

I think there are more Republicans under investigation by the FBI than those that are not. The genius who explained to us that the internet “is not a big truck, but a series of tubes,” Red Stevens of Alaska is under investigation… If you ask me, Republican = Corruption

From Yahoo

Federal agents are looking into Sen. Ted Stevens’ role in the ongoing investigation into the remodeling of his Alaska home, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the probe.

The two officials said Stevens was not considered a target of the investigation. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing inquiry.

The investigation has been open for some time, and is linked to the VECO Corp. bribery case that earlier this month produced guilty pleas from two of the oil-field service company’s top executives, the law enforcement officials said.

The FBI and Justice Department are investigating corruption in Alaska — which may extend to the state’s federally elected officials in Washington, the officials said.

Three contractors who worked on the remodeling project at Steven’s home in Girdwood, a resort town about 40 miles south of Anchorage, said the FBI asked them to turn over their records from the job, the Anchorage Daily News reported Tuesday. One also said he testified about the project before a federal grand jury in December.

The remodeling work in summer and fall 2000 more than doubled the size of the house, a four-bedroom structure that is Stevens’ official residence in Alaska.

American was once a proud beacon of human rights that the rest of the world looked up to, even strive to be, but those days are long over.  found in the Friday news dump was a report by the United Nations that the United States of America has broken international human rights laws.  This is what America has become under Bush, a nation that can now hold its head up prowd with the likes of North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, China, and even little Uzbekistan. I remember the day when the United States could chastise other countries for the slightest human rights violation because our hands were clean, because our laws went out of their way to protect the rights of individuals, I guess human rights is so pre-September 11 thinking.  According to the UN report the United States has broken the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights treaty, a treaty signed by the United States.

the UN cited the United States’ use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” is nothing more than a form of torture and inhumane treatment, a direct violation of international law (if you’ll recall in last week’s Republican debate every one of the candidates seemed eager to share with the sick right wing how eager they wear to break international law).  The UN went on to say that President Bush’s classification of people as “unlawful enemy combatants” is nothing more than a “description of convenience” and is not defined at any point under international law.  This is where we are in Bush’s America, and it sickens me that we have come this far, and we are going to let a group of evil son of a bitches flush everything this country is worked so hard for down the toilet.

the Democrat should use the precedence set forth by the Republicans when they were in control of the House and Senate. Subpoena for the information they want or start contempt hearings, I wonder if the Republicans are starting to regret the witchhunt they waged against Bill Clinton.

When Bill Clinton was president the Republicans clearly felt that anything going on in the White House was fair game, why should this president expect anything less than the swift justice Republicans were willing to deal out when Clinton was president. The president has been set gentlemen and the rules of engagement were written by the Republicans, so Bush give Congress what they want or prepare for impeachment.

Let’s take a trip in the way back machine, all the way to May 10, 1996. From the New York Times (bolds are mine)…

A House committee investigating the dismissals at the White House travel office voted today to begin criminal contempt proceedings against one current and two former Presidential aides after President Clinton’s top lawyer invoked executive privilege in refusing to turn over documents sought by the panel.

The 27-19 vote by the Government Reform and Oversight Committee came after Presidential aides cited the constitutionally based doctrine that permits Presidents, under rare circumstances, to withhold national security or deliberative material from Congress or the courts.

Representative William F. Clinger Jr., a Pennsylvania Republican who is chairman of the committee, said he would delay the next step, sending the contempt action to the House floor for a vote, in hopes that he could reach a compromise with the White House over the disputed documents.

If not, aides to Mr. Clinger said that within a week he would seek a full House vote on the measure. If approved, the contempt charges would be referred to the United States Attorney here for prosecution and would probably be transferred to Kenneth W. Starr, the Whitewater independent counsel, who is already investigating travel office matters.

If convicted, the three men facing criminal contempt proceedings could face up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $1,000. The men named in Mr. Clinger’s resolution are Jack Quinn, the White House counsel; David Watkins, a former top administrator at the White House, and Matthew Moore, a former White House lawyer.

It only gets better for Bush and the Republicans. Has the media changed sides and is now working for us?

From Reuters

The Pentagon is not adequately equipping the National Guard and has not adapted to the increasingly important security role it plays in the post-September 11 environment, an independent commission said in a report to Congress on Thursday

The report said the global war on terrorism had placed increased demands for the National Guard to provide forces for both overseas and domestic missions, but added that the Defense Department, or DOD, had been slow to adapt to the change.

"DOD's failure to appropriately consider National Guard needs and funding requirements has produced a National Guard that is not fully ready to meet current and emerging missions," the commission concluded.

Among its findings, the 13-member panel said the Defense Department was not adequately equipping the Guard for its domestic missions.

The National Guard's 458,000 citizen-soldiers have a dual mandate to protect the United States both at home and abroad.

Nearly 90 percent of Guard units in the United States are rated "not ready," partly because of equipment shortages, according to Guard data and the findings of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, The Washington Post reported.

In a stinging rebute of “President” Bush’s failed Iraq policies the House today voted 246 to 182 on a non-binding resolution to stop the escalation of the war. While the house is in strong Democratic hands a large handful of Republicans (17) joined them in sending a clear message to Bush, your plan for Iraq sucks, and has failed.

Now many of the right-wing will say that “Oh the Democrats don’t support the troops, blah blah…” this is total crap. The Republicans have taken every chance they get to dig the troops into whole after whole. From the total lack of armor and vehicles in Iraq, to taxing their combat pay, the Republicans have shown that NOTHING is to good for the troops, and NOTHING is what they are going to get.

For the record, Marshall, Jim; Georgia, 8th and Taylor, Gene; Mississippi, 4th, both Democrats voted with the lapdog Republicans.

Read this! Our own military is saying that there is not equipment to give these troops what they need to even dream of winning. Why does Bush, and the Republicans hate the troops so much

Washington Post (bolds are mine)

Boosting U.S. troop levels in Iraq by 21,500 would create major logistical hurdles for the Army and Marine Corps, which are short thousands of vehicles, armor kits and other equipment needed to supply the extra forces, U.S. officials said.

The increase would also further degrade the readiness of U.S.-based ground forces, hampering their ability to respond quickly, fully trained and well equipped in the case of other military contingencies around the world and increasing the risk of U.S. casualties, according to Army and Marine Corps leaders.

“The response would be slower than we might like, we would not have all of the equipment sets that ordinarily would be the case, and there is certainly risk associated with that,” the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. James Conway, told the House Armed Services Committee last week.

President Bush’s plan to send five additional U.S. combat brigades into Iraq has left the Army and Marines scrambling to ensure that the troops could be supported with the necessary armored vehicles, jamming devices, radios and other gear, as well as lodging and other logistics.

-snip-

Adding to the crunch, the U.S. government has agreed to sell 600 up-armored Humvees to Iraq this year for its security forces. Such sales “better not be at the expense of the American soldier or Marine,” Speakes told defense reporters recently, saying U.S. military needs must take priority.

Yep, read it people, we are willing to sell the damn trucks to Iraq, but fuck the American troops, they can kiss Bush’s ass. This makes me cry how much Bush is willing to toy with American troops lives, so he can cash in. FUCK YOU GEROGE!

I really agree with Bob Geiger when he says �[he] is makin� a list�. These are the Republicans who hate Americans so much that they would not even vote for a minimum wage increase after 9 years of nothing. I have bolded the ones that are up for reelection (Thanks Bob).

Oh and one Senator did not bother to vote, and it is presidential candidate and spokesman for the right-wing whack-jobs, Senator Brownback, from the �Theocratic Republic of Kansas�

• Alexander (R-TN)
• Allard (R-CO)
• Bennett (R-UT)
• Bond (R-MO)
• Bunning (R-KY)
• Burr (R-NC)
• Chambliss (R-GA)
• Coburn (R-OK)
• Cochran (R-MS)
• Corker (R-TN)
• Cornyn (R-TX)
• Craig (R-ID)
• Crapo (R-ID)
• DeMint (R-SC)
• Dole (R-NC)
• Domenici (R-NM)
• Ensign (R-NV)
• Enzi (R-WY)
• Graham (R-SC)
• Grassley (R-IA)
• Gregg (R-NH)
• Hagel (R-NE)
• Hatch (R-UT)
• Hutchison (R-TX)
• Inhofe (R-OK)
• Isakson (R-GA)
• Kyl (R-AZ)
• Lott (R-MS)
• Lugar (R-IN)
• Martinez (R-FL)
• McCain (R-AZ)
• McConnell (R-KY)
• Murkowski (R-AK)
• Roberts (R-KS)
• Sessions (R-AL)
• Shelby (R-AL)
• Smith (R-OR)
• Stevens (R-AK)
• Sununu (R-NH)
• Thomas (R-WY)
• Thune (R-SD)
• Vitter (R-LA)
• Voinovich (R-OH)

This story just makes me giddy. Now that the Republicans are out of power, and for the most part, the Gestapo that ruled them for so long has lost election, or under indictment is gone, and the fact that the White House is thumbing it�s nose at the Military and the American people on Iraq, Republicans are starting to act like individuals, and that is causing the Republicans to fall apart.

From the Washington Post (bolds are mine)

House Republican leaders, who confidently predicted they would drive a wedge through the new Democratic majority, have found their own party splintering, with Republican lawmakers siding with Democrats in droves on the House's opening legislative blitz.

Freed from the pressures of being the majority and from the heavy hand of former leaders including retired representative Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), many back-bench Republicans are showing themselves to be more moderate than their conservative leadership and increasingly mindful of shifting voter sentiment. The closest vote last week — Friday's push to require the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare — pulled 24 Republicans. The Democrats' homeland security bill attracted 68 Republicans, the minimum wage increase 82.

"You're freer to vote your conscience," said Rep. Jo Anne Emerson (R-Mo.), who received an 88 percent voting record from the American Conservative Union in 2005 but has so far sided with Democrats on new budget rules, Medicare prescription-drug negotiations, raising the minimum wage and funding stem cell research. "Or, really, I feel free to represent my constituents exactly as they want me to be."

"Times have changed. I don't want to be someone who they say is too stubborn to change too," said Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), whose 92 percent conservative rating did not stop him from voting with Democrats on the homeland security and minimum-wage bills.

After their stinging defeat in November, Republican leaders in the House had gamely promised to draft procedural motions and parliamentary gambits that they said would split the new majority. With so many new Democrats hailing from moderate-to-conservative districts, even some Democrats saw the pledge as plausible.

In theory, Republicans have made good on their promises. Republicans argued vociferously against Democratic measures over the past two weeks, saying new deficit-control rules would guarantee tax increases, stringent homeland security measures would cripple commerce, and a minimum-wage increase would hurt the economy.

Man I love it when the smug Republicans fall on their asses. You know they were a failure as a majority, proving to Americans that they could not govern, and not it looks like they can not even be an effective Minority.

Golden State Fence Co, of California is under investigation for hiring undocumented aliens, ei illegal immigrants to build the fence.

The San Diego Times

A California company under investigation on suspicion of hiring undocumented workers won a contract in the late 1990s to help build the San Diego border fence with Mexico to thwart illegal immigration, federal records show.

Federal authorities said there is no indication that the company, Golden State Fence Co., which has an office in Oceanside, hired undocumented workers on the fence project.

Over the past year, Golden State has been the focus of an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security for allegedly hiring undocumented workers on several projects, including those at military bases. No charges have been filed.

In 1997, Golden State received a contract worth more than $590,000 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to work on a portion of the 14-mile barrier separating San Diego from Tijuana.

As authorities continue their investigation, they acknowledged in recent interviews and public documents that Golden State had worked on a portion of the fence project.

We all know Bush spent the first half of his life drunk and/or stoned out of his mind, we also know the Bush girls are quickly following in their father�s footsteps. Well Wonkette has a great post about the Bush twins being kicked out of Argentina, where they were celebrating their 25th Birthday. Go read and prepare yourself for what we all know is coming. It will include nude photos, girl on girl kissing, and/or a secret abortion.

WARNING: SOME OF THE LINKS POSTED ARE TO THE FREEREPUBLIC WEBSITE, THE SCUM OF THE RIGHT AT BEST, IT MAY BE SEEN BY THE FBI AS A TERRORIST SITE NOW. CLICK, AND THEN SHOWER

I have always suspected that in order to be a member of the FreeRepublic website you needed to have 3 of the following 4 qualities.

1. You must be so close minded, so to the point that even hearing an opinion that only slightly deviates from yours drives you to violence.
2. You must only get your news from FOX or the hillbilly heroin addict Run Limbaugh, all other sources of news will destroy you, see number 1
3. You must have a hatred for all things Democratic, no matter how poor you are, or how much the Republicans are shitting on you, you must always vote Republican, even if it is against your own best interests. In short, self hating.
4. You think you love Jesus, because you think you know what the bible says, when in fact you do not, you just know what your preacher, or FOX tells you the bible says. You choose not to read the bible, see Number 2.

Well today the FBI arrested Chad Conrad Castagana, 39, for sending letters laced with a white powered to Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, David Letterman, John Stewart and other high-profile figures. Shocker this person is a rabid Bush supporter and member of the extremist site FreeRepublic (user name marc costanzo) would also hate America so much that he would commit an act of terror, would waste its resources, resources that could be used to really fight terror.

I am guessing he has all 4 of the above qualifications to post on FreeRepublic. We know he has number 3, because he is un-employed and lives with his mom, and he votes Republican. Hey loser, how is the great Republican economy doing for you? Oh, it's not…

Here is his FreeRepublic Bio

I am a lifelong Conservative Republican .

I have an Associates Degree in the Science of Electronics .

Ann Coulter is a Goddess and I worship Laura Ingraham and Michele Malkin .

English is the langauge of the United States of America- - our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution are written in the langauge that expresses our civilized freedoms .

Spanish is the language of Banana Republics, beyond that it belongs in a European country .

To show how messed up this person is, there was even a post on the FR site around Nov 2 about a letter, and the very person who sent it commented on it.

To: PghBaldy

Hold it here now, what are the facts ?

The links provide few details .

This info is very sketchy !

36 posted on 11/04/2006 5:28:47 PM PST by marc costanzo ("Win the Crowd, and You Will Win Your Freedom " - - Gladiator)

We have learned something today, rabid Bush supporters are terrorists. The FBI may want to close that site down…

UPDATE: Here are some more comments this terrorist made over on FreeRepublic

Newspaper Circulation Falls Sharply (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch)

Posted by marc costanzo to Mrs. P; abb
On News/Activism 10/31/2006 5:09:56 AM PST � 15 of 55

Hey, here is another factor- -

The New York Post is the only newspaper that reported Keith Olbermann's panic attack when he discovered that someone had mailed him a 'Prank Anthrax' letter .

The New York Daily News reported the incident in Clinton's Harlem office the other day, and did so in a semi-humorous way

Maybe the American People like to read about such stuff .

The NY Post got high circulation in the 1980's by headlining stories about serial killers .

__________________

FNC Breaking - Suspicious White Powder Found in Clinton's Harlem Office -nothing follows

Posted by marc costanzo to Politics4Fun
On News/Activism 10/30/2006 7:34:19 AM PST � 230 of 233

Not to make light of the situation, but drama queen Olbermann put on quite a production even after he'd been told the powder was harmless and checked out by doctors and told he was fine. He demanded that he be rushed to the hospital for more tests. I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if he mailed it to himself. I've never seen someone more desperate for attention and approval.
__________________

FNC Breaking - Suspicious White Powder Found in Clinton's Harlem Office -nothing follows

Posted by marc costanzo to mystery-ak
On News/Activism 10/28/2006 10:10:28 AM PDT � 215 of 233

>>Hasn't this happened before at his Harlem office?……it's probably his drug dealer.
________________

Hearing to Be Held in Suit Over Newspaper Anthrax Columns

Posted by marc costanzo to Perdogg; All
On News/Activism 10/14/2006 5:31:42 AM PDT � 6 of 6

I heard recently that The Washington Post got interrupted beifly the other day becaue of a 'suspicious letter' .

I read about this at Wonkette.com

They said that this letter only contained harmless powder of Boric Acid .

__________________

Video: Olbermann donates to Clinton's charity on camera (SUPREME Barf Alert!)

Posted by marc costanzo to All
On News/Activism 09/23/2006 5:35:54 AM PDT � 6 of 16

This partisan loudmouth Olbermann is a demagogue !

Someone should find out where he lives and mail him a Ted Kazcinski letter .

John McCain has stated that he has opened up an exploratory committee to run for President in 2008. First he hated Evangelical Christians, then he loved them, then he was against Bush before he was for Bush, then he was in love with Bush, then he liked him again. John McCain will never get the Republican nomination, I mean I hope he does, because that will only help the Democrats. All in all, McCain has flip-flopped more than all of congress combined, his fellow Republicans are going to tear him alive.