Bush's Crib Notes

Eschaton

Atrios has the picture. You can clearly read Bush's talking points and a list of reporter's names...

There's about six names. The first two names are Deb Reichmann from the AP, and David Morgan. Bush only took two questions. Guess which people he called on?

What a maroon.

Detainee Reportedly Was Lost in System

Washingtonpost.com

Okay. This is one more example of what freaking idiots we have in charge of our nation these days.

So Tenet and Rummy gets all Orwellian and decides to "disappear" a prisoner because Ashcroft's lawyers are telling him that he can.

Well, they disappear him so well, that they lose the mofo in the general population!

This is the first known case in which Tenet and Rumsfeld were said to be involved in such an arrangement. In October, the CIA general counsel's office told the agency it had to return the captive to Iraq. It was then that Tenet asked Rumsfeld not to give the prisoner a number and to hide him because the CIA wanted to further interrogate him, Whitman said.

The CIA forgot about the man until January, when CIA officers inquired of his whereabouts at Camp Cropper, where he was being held. Because he had not been assigned a number and no official records were kept, the military prison officials responded that they could not find him, intelligence officials said.

Twice after that, however, military prison officials began inquiring about the man's status. "When the request was made from the command in Iraq, it was not handled through the channels that could have resolved it," said Whitman, and the man languished for several more months. His status was first reported by U.S. News & World Report.

Let's see Steven Spielberg make a movie out of this!

Unbrand America

Unbrand America

Childe Dubya to the Papal Throne Came

Talking Points Memo

Josh is musing quite pointedly on Bush's recent request of the Pope to encourage "more explicit activism" in pursuing common causes between the Church and the Republican agenda.

The question of whether pro-choice politicians (particularly Democrats, it would seem, and particularly one named John Kerry) should be denied communion has been roiling the country's Catholic bishops. And starting today, June 14th, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will gather in Englewood, Colorado and one key item on their agenda will be to arrive at some guidelines or uniform decision on this issue of denying communion to Catholic politicians.

As Josh reminds us, though Bush would love a crackdown on issues like stem cell research and abortion, other Church positions on issues like war and the death penalty could open up Republican candidates to friendly fire.

So Deal Hudson, a principal Bush ally in the Catholic Church, has explained the best possible take: deny communion to Kerry alone.

Thank you, Josh. Friends and neighbors, this is why the Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, erected a wall of separation between church and state in this country. It's a wall Bush has been yearning to tear down his entire tenure as President, and this naked appeal for the use of "the Euchrist as a political sancion" is fundamentally unamerican. What greater instrument of fear could Bush use than the specter of endangering his political opponent's relationship with his God?

It's precisely "kingmaker" moves like this that the First Amendment was enacted to prevent. And I can't understand the reason why Bush would do this - prostrating himself before the Pope isn't going to play well back at Bob Jones University.

George Walker Bush just doesn't understand how we do things here in America. You can't wrap yourself in the flag here in America and then piss on it in Vatican City. In a presidency full of autocratic assaults on our constitutional government, this moment stands head and shoulders above the rest. It's one of the most disgraceful moments I've ever witnessed in American politics.

I'm sensing the need for a new top ten list - George Bush's Most Shameless Acts as President. I'm afraid, though, that we don't know the half of what this man and his gang of incompetent criminals has done to America. The floor is open for nominations.

(By the way, the post is an oblique reference to the release of Stephen King's sixth Dark Tower novel. Just so ya know...)

InstaParody

Eschaton > Crooked Timbers

That's the trouble in constantly posting one to two word posts: parodies become a imitate-by-numbers affair.

Retired Officials Say Bush Must Go

LA Times

While not explicitly endorsing Sen. John F. Kerry for president, 26 former diplomats and military officials, including many who served in Republican administrations, have a signed a statement calling for the defeat of President Bush in November. Their names and some of the posts they have held are:

Avis T. Bohlen — assistant secretary of State for arms control, 1999-2002; deputy assistant secretary of State for European affairs 1989-1991.

Retired Adm. William J. Crowe Jr. — chairman, President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Committee, 1993-94; ambassador to Britain, 1993-97; chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1985-89.

Jeffrey S. Davidow — ambassador to Mexico, 1998-2002; assistant secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, 1996

William A. DePree — ambassador to Bangladesh, 1987-1990.

Donald B. Easum — ambassador to Nigeria, 1975-79.

Charles W. Freeman Jr. — assistant secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs, 1993-94; ambassador to Saudi Arabia, 1989-1992.

William C. Harrop — ambassador to Israel, 1991-93; ambassador to Zaire, 1987-1991.

Arthur A. Hartman — ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1981-87; ambassador to France, 1977-1981.

Retired Marine Gen. Joseph P. Hoar — commander in chief of U.S. Central Command, overseeing forces in the Middle East, 1991-94; deputy chief of staff, Marine Corps, 1990-94.

H. Allen Holmes — assistant secretary of Defense for special operations, 1993-99; assistant secretary of State for politico-military affairs, 1986-89.

Robert V. Keeley — ambassador to Greece, 1985-89; ambassador to Zimbabwe, 1980-84.

Samuel W. Lewis — director of State Department policy and planning, 1993-94; ambassador to Israel, 1977-1985.

Princeton N. Lyman — assistant secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, 1995-98; ambassador to South Africa, 1992-95.

Jack F. Matlock Jr. — ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1987-1991; director for European and Soviet Affairs, National Security Council, 1983-86; ambassador to Czechoslovakia, 1981-83.

Donald F. McHenry — ambassador to the United Nations, 1979-1981.

Retired Air Force Gen. Merrill A. McPeak — chief of staff, U.S. Air Force, 1990-94.

George E. Moose — assistant secretary of State for African affairs, 1993-97; ambassador to Senegal, 1988-91.

David D. Newsom — acting secretary of State, 1980; undersecretary of State for political affairs, 1978-1981; ambassador to Indonesia, 1973-77

Phyllis E. Oakley — assistant secretary of State for intelligence and research, 1997-99.

James Daniel Phillips — ambassador to the Republic of Congo, 1990-93; ambassador to Burundi, 1986-1990.

John E. Reinhardt — professor of political science, University of Vermont, 1987-91; ambassador to Nigeria, 1971-75.

Retired Air Force Gen. William Y. Smith — deputy commander in chief, U.S. European Command, 1981-83.

Ronald I. Spiers — undersecretary-general of the United Nations for Political Affairs, 1989-1992; ambassador to Pakistan, 1981-83.

Michael Sterner — deputy assistant secretary of State for Near East affairs, 1977-1981; ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, 1974-76.

Retired Adm. Stansfield Turner — director of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1977-1981.

Alexander F. Watson — assistant secretary of State for Inter-American affairs, 1993-96; deputy permanent representative to the U.N., 1989-1993.

Source: Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change

Well, alrighty then. Coffinwatch is officially over.

This Is Why I Love Oprah

TV Barn Ticker: Thanks to Oprah, 'Anna Karenina' is #1

For the first time, Oprah picked a book she hadn't read first. I've read Anna at least twice, and I'm thinking that I'll read it again this summer. Right after I finish this incredible biography of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.

Something tells me a new movie version will be in the works. I'd love to see Julianne Moore as Anna, but I bet Meryl Streep would throw anybody in her way in front of a train to play the part. And I wouldn't complain a single bit...

No, no, who am I kidding? Susan Sarandon should play Anna. She's the perfect age right now.

I know, I know. They just did a version (actually two miniseries and a movie) of Anna recently. You don't see any remakes of The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter in production, do you?

Oh, well. I'll keep my fingers crossed.