The media keeps attacking Obama

The New York Times recently reported on Sen. Barack Obama's sale of stock that, it turns out, wasn't in as blind of a trust as he had initially thought. To the Senator's credit, as soon as he learned that the trust wasn't blind, he sold the stock at a $13,000 loss. The stockbroker in whose hands this trust was placed confirms Obama's recounting of the incident.

The first fact - that Obama held stock in companies that supported his campaign and had business in front of Congress - was seized on by the complicit media, both in print and on television, who subtly implied that Obama intentionally acted in an unethical fashion from the point of purchase of the stock. However, they dismissed his immediate sale of, and his loss on, the stock as invalid evidence that he is telling the truth. CNN's Wolf Blitzer repeated the accusation, even though the report airing immediately after debunked the claims of impropriety!

The complicit mainstream media is always happy to claim that a Democrat is a liar, and they spread the accusations of such, even if they are clearly untrue.

Reporting on Walter Reed = Not supporting the troops!

... at least according to those freaks over at KSFO.

Brian Sussman, who co-hosts a show with Melanie Morgan (freak!) and "Officer" Vic, and their guest, FreeRepublic.com's Kristinn Taylor, claim that the Washington Post "held onto" the Walter Reed story, "[sitting] on it until they were ready to ... hit their target at the right opportunity." Sussman then asserts that this shows that "the mainstream media doesn't support our troops. They don't support the mission. God forbid, they don't support the commander-in-chief."

What these HACKS don't realize is that good journalism takes time. Information must be compiled, sources must be vetted, and dots must be connected. If we turn our gaze back to the 2004 presidential election, CBS - and Dan Rather - was lambasted for not properly and thoroughly vetting documents that claimed that Bush's National Guard service was practically fraudulent.

So, good journalism is essential when it benefits the neo-con agenda, but is serving political opportunism when it accuses the neo-cons of impropriety. Just another classic case of right-wing projection tactics. Sickening!!!

Don't talk about the polar bears!

The Alaskan division of the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service has been muzzled by the Bush cabal! Government biologists and other department officials are not allowed to discuss issues involving global warming, sea ice, or polar bears unless they are pre-approved to do so. The implication here is that you're only allowed to discuss these issues if you repeat the relevant Bush administration views (a.k.a. "right-wing talking points"). However, the right-wing talking points pretty much consist of, "We don't believe anything's wrong, so we're not going to talk about it."

The Bush administration is a disgrace to America, and harmful to Earth and life on it!

Grover Norquist, Obstructionist

Somehow, we passed over this gem from CPAC. Disgusting!

Grover Norquist suggests that Republicans use the word "NO" in response to anything the Democrats in Congress support. He also says that GOP members of Congress should use the next two years to develop some new hobbies, such as "belly danc[ing]," "golf," and "read[ing] novels."

Fired US Attorneys testify!

Months ago, we reported on the abrupt - and unusual - firings of up to eight US Attorneys, who were replaced by appointments that circumvented traditional Senate confirmation proceedings. (This circumvention was aided by a provision slipped into a bill around the 2006 election - link to come.)

The Senate Judiciary Committee recently began holding hearings into these firings. Listen to the testimony of former US Attorneys David Iglesias (New Mexico) and John McKay (Seattle) regarding improper contact from members of Congress regarding investigations.

Another former US Attorney, Thomas DiBiagio of Maryland, came forward recently claiming to have been pressured out of his position under similar - read "political" - circumstances a few years ago, for having the temerity to investigate associates of his state's Republican governor.

Obviously, this story has picked up a little steam - as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales felt the need to write an editorial in USA Today defending the removal of the attorneys (this will not stop the Senate Judiciary Committee from issuing subpoenas to Justice Department officials, however) - but not enough steam to warrant coverage on NBC or ABC, who apparently feel that Americans can only handle three serious news stories per day.

In any case, Gonzales' claim that the firings were based on performance, and not politics, rings a little hollow. McClatchy Newspapers reported nearly a month ago that at least five of these attorneys had received positive job performance reviews in their most recent evaluations. In addition, one of the ousted attorneys, H. E. Cummins of Arkansas, was fired essentially for the sole purpose of opening a position for one J. Timothy Griffin, a Bush hack that Harriet Miers (remember her?) intervened on behalf of. (Interestingly, Griffin pulled out of the official appointment, opting instead for a no-confirmation-necessary interim one, after it was revealed he played a role in the "caging list" scandal in Florida in 2004.) A Deputy Attorney General, William Moschella, offered some obfuscating and/or false explanations for some of the firings.

In the Iglesias case, both Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson have come forward and admitted that they did speak to Iglesias, though they deny any accusations of impropriety. Wilson even went to the extra step of getting House Minority Whip Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) to vouch for her integrity.

A recurring theme that we at the ELPN see here is that, when a Republican is accused of wrong-doing, his/her first reaction is to deny that it ever happened. This strategy works (to a degree) because it essentially casts doubt on the integrity of those who make the accusations, and is a strategy that the GOP has used for the last six-plus years. As I've said in the past, "They get caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and the first thing they say is, 'I never even touched the cookie jar!'"

Ann Coulter should learn to STFU.

Seriously, she doesn't know when to quit. After her asinine comment regarding John Edwards at the CPAC conference last weekend, three companies advertising on her website pulled their ads. CNN reported on this the day she was to appear on Paula Zahn - and, surprise, Coulter bailed out on CNN.

Advertisers yanking ads, though, doesn't stop her. She went on Sean Hannity's radio program Tuesday and claimed, again, that there is nothing offensive regarding the term she used to describe Edwards, or any variant thereof.

Three newspapers have decided they will no longer print Coulter's columns.

Maybe she should keep talking, so enough people will realize what a vile human being she is, and stop giving her a platform from which to spread her hatred, bigotry and lies.

UPDATE: Add another newspaper to the list of Coulter-droppers!

More on plame Case......

This is a great op-ed from Common Dreams, by David Lindorff. It looks at the big picture... who forged the Niger documents originally, and why did Bush include it in the 2003 State of the Union?

These questions could lead to the impeachment of the president! Who forged the documents, and why were they used?

The right is calling for the pardon of Libby, as expected.

I say pardon Libby only when a full investigation is conducted and we learn the answers to these questions regarding the Italian documents. These answers can prove why Plame and Wilson were attacked. The administration could have very well forged these documents, thus being directly responsible for them.

Libby's defense started on the right track by painting Libby as a scapegoat; they presented that handwritten Cheney letter, making the point that Libby was being scapegoated by Rove and Bush. Individuals testified proving that there was a smear campaign against Wilson coming from the top of the administration. Libby's defense abandoned these tactics in the last few weeks.

One can conclude that Libby and his team were told to be quiet by the administration and take the conviction because there will be a pardon. Libby was no longer being painted as a scapegoat, because that would (obviously) implicate the Bush administration.

Now Plame and Wilson will go for a civil lawsuit against the administration. This is not enough for America, it may suit Plame and Wilson, but not America. We need to know the truth about how we got into war in Iraq.

This administration may have forged documents to lead us up to a war that was planned for years by PNAC. The GOP knew the documents were fake, but still used them in the State of the Union.

Libby will eventually get a pardon, bank on it. I hate to be the pessimist, but it will happen; he shut his mouth at the trial after the first couple of weeks, and we may never know the truth about the forged documents.

Why celebrate? The neo-cons will get their way.

Will America ever learn the truth about the Niger documents and why Bush used them? That will be up to Congress.

Jared

Connecting the Dots: Why Plame case is important

The so-called "journalists" of the broadcast media - and even the print media - are not properly covering the implications of the Libby trial, and Plame-gate in general, so I will attempt to connect all the dots for our loyal listeners and readers.

The Iraq war has been in the making for years; the PNAC people really started banging the drum for Iraq in March of 2001 with an op-ed in The Weekly Standard, and right after 9/11, Paul Wolfowitz of PNAC was calling for America to skip Afghanistan and go into Iraq!

PNAC wanted the Iraq war, and the administration was working with PNAC, so the Iraq war was bound to happen.

The administration decided to use forged Italian documents claiming that Saddam had tried to purchase uranium from Niger. Our own intelligence concluded that the documents were fraudulent; they were provided by Rocco Martino, a Italian intelligence agent. The problem is, though, Vincent Cannistraro, formerly of the CIA (during Reagan), has said the documents were originally produced in America and funneled to Italy!!! Bush, of course, included the famous 16 false words in January of 2003, right after Bush was told the Italian documents were a fraud, and knowing the results of Wilson's trip to Niger, which was made in 2002.

His trip resulted in the famous Wilson op-ed published in the New York Times and various papers in July 2003.

Shortly after this, Plame's name started being leaked.

More to come...

Jared

Reactions to the Libby trial.....

Some interesting reactions to the Libby trial:

Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes is calling for a pardon! Surprise!

Joe Wilson, on Keith Olbermann, thinks the administration can save face by not pardoning Libby, and letting future administrations decide whether he should be pardoned.

The Washington Post (normally a good source), sadly, allowed their op-ed page to be dominated by right-wing talking points, downplaying the importance of the verdict, and the trial in general. ThinkProgress debunks it all!

Joe Wilson's initial response to Bush and Cheney: "Why did you out my wife?"

Fitzgerald on the case, and White House hack Dana Perino explaining that "no comment" will be the administration's reaction!

Brit Hume and Robert Novak blame it all on Richard Armitage obscuring the fact that Rove and the Bush administration were running a smear campaign against Wilson, because Plame picked Wilson to go to Niger for the Bush administration. We learned of the smear campaign during the Libby trial itself.

One of the jurors from the Libby trial stated "Libby was a fall guy!"

It is going to be up to Congress to re-open the initial investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame. We confirmed during the trial that the administration ran a smear campaign against Joe Wilson. The question now is, "Was outing Plame part of the smear campaign?" I won't count on the Congress to do this; they are so soft that they won't even give America a strong Iraq war resolution! Instead, we get a watered down resolution, with waivers for Bush!

Rudy Watch - the ass-kissing NEVER stops!

The Rudy ass-kissing is reaching fever pitch once more...

Newsweek magazine is calling Rudy "a man of destiny"!!! I almost puked when I read this!!! The editor of Newsweek also went on Imus echoing this idea.

Newsweek, and the New York Times, are claiming Rudy was not a cheerleader for the Iraqi war. However, recently on Hannity and Colmes, Rudy echoed GOP talking points and talked about 9-11 and the Iraqi war in the same sentence! Now that the Times is sucking up to Rudy, you can count on this creep as your next president. I will not stop covering this degenerate!!! I fear for America with Rudy as the president. I will do a Rudy attack on Thursday night on the live show!!! Ralph, my buddy, count on it!!! (Ralph replies: I won't stop you. :) I just don't want to do an anti-Rudy segment EVERY episode like you do!)

On Charles Gibson, more mis-information regarding how the right will forgive Rudy for his supposed "liberal views," while polls show otherwise.

Sadly, the only people questioning Rudy are far-right Christians! Thank you, Richard Land, head of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention! With absolutely no criticism or reporting being done on this enemy of America, I will take anything!

Nobody is talking about the mainstream media's ignoring of Rudy's failures besides MediaMatters - not even progressive talk radio! I will continue to expose the media's love of Rudy. Now that it is clear that the complicit media wants this fascist for president, we have to fight back!!! He is a bigger danger to America than the Bush administration.

Jared

Four out of five - GUILTY!

Scooter Libby has been found guilty on four out of five counts against him.

We await announcement of an appeal, in order to prevent Patrick Fitzgerald from investigating the Plame leak further, based on these findings.

Rice appoints neo-con as counselor of the State Department

Eliot Cohen, a dirty, filthy neo-conservative radical, who wanted to call the wars we are involved in now "World War 4," has been appointed by Rice as counselor of the State Department. Cohen is one of the biggest supporters of attacking Iran. He wanted Iran before we invaded Iraq!!! He was one of the fools who believed that "spreading democracy" in the Middle East would eliminate radical Islam. We know how that theory has worked! His track record of insane theories did not stop Rice from promoting him. Bank on an attack on Iran. This is just more evidence.

Giuliani Watch...

The NY Times exposed how Rudy Giuliani has forgotten about his two children after his divorce. Meanwhile, in the world of the complicit right-wing media, sellout Chris Matthews declares how the South knows Rudy is a hero, drools once more over Rudy "cleaning up the pee on the streets of NYC", and, on CBS Evening News , they are still touting the success of Rudy on 9/11, ignoring all we have learned about his failures in planning before and during September 11th.

Broadcast "journalism" will not criticize this disgusting fascist. They have attacked every Democratic candidate already, but when it comes to Rudy and his lack of family values, lack of character, failures in emergency planning for NYC before 9/11, dismissive attitude regarding police brutality cases in NYC and his milking of 9/11 to the tune of $100,000 a speech, all is forgotten. The only analysis of Rudy can be found in the Wayne Barrett book, "Grand Illusion," and an occasional story in the New York Times.

The media wants this man as our next president! I will continue in the next 21 months leading up to this election to expose this unqualified freak for exactly what he is, an unqualified hack, using the 9/11 tragedy for personal and political gain.

Americans with decent earnings are suffering

Who would have thought an American earning $60,000 a year would not be able to afford health care? 47 million Americans are currently uninsured, and this number continues to grow. Cut-throat free-market policies of radical conservatives, which started during the Reagan years, are slowing destroying the working class. The New York Times has a good story of a woman in the $60K income bracket who cannot afford health care.

It seems it is becoming impossible to be self-employed in America. Self-employment used to be a great way to earn a living outside of the civil service and corporate world. However, with the rising cost of health care and a laissez-faire government, which favors HMOs and big drug companies over the little guy, it seems there will soon be no way to live comfortably in America.

Right-wing union-busting efforts are killing civil service workers' right to collectively bargain; you can guarantee there will be a rise in private health care costs for civil service workers. Meanwhile, if you work for corporate America, you will pay huge monthly payments out of your check for a lousy HMO plan. Never mind that the reality in corporate America now is that it's perfectly fine for a corporation to renege on your pension, so that, once you're done feeding the corporate machine years of your life, it won't owe you a thing, even though you've paid into that "privilege."

How can you raise a family in a country that only cares about 3% of the population?

Even more proof that Bush wants war forever!

According to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, "Plan B [in Iraq] is to make Plan A work."

According to Condi Rice, "I don't think you go to Plan B [if the Iraqis don't do what we ask of them]. You work with Plan A."

There is no Plan B, people. The Bush cabal had no plans for failure, which, in and of itself, is a failure. It is a failure at the highest levels - a failure of planning and of foresight. They don't want this war to end; if they did, they would have planned properly, and held those who failed accountable for that failure.

Further adding to the incompetence and malfeasance of this criminal Bush administration, Gen. Petraeus, our top military commander in Iraq, has stated that the surge has a 1-in-4 chance of working. 1-in-4!!! What will the plan be if Bush's mighty surge fails? "We need a bigger surge!!!"

We must stop our warmongering president from sending even ONE MORE American soldier to Iraq without a plan for getting our soldiers out of there, since he can't seem to produce any plans for victory that do not involve throwing more American lives at the problem that he created!!!

Military hospitals failing systemwide!

The Washington Post reports today that, since its coverage on the horrible treatment of soldiers at Walter Reed, it has received numerous reports of horrendous conditions at military hospitals all across the country!

If you want to be cold and callous, and say that our veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are young, and should tough it out, that's bad enough. However, the conditions at these hospitals also directly affect veterans of other wars. The "greatest generation," and the Korean and Vietnam veterans, also do not deserve such terrible treatment from the government that they gave themselves to protect and defend!!!

I'm beginning to believe that this is an orchestrated movement by the corporate Bush cabal to shift veterans' care services to private corporations. "You see, the government can't handle it; we'll give it to the corporations!" Yeah, so they, too, can profit off of this disgraceful occupation for oil and money.

The Bush administration is an abject failure for 99.9% of America!!! The grounds for impeachment grow on a daily basis. Eventually, it has to reach a "breaking point," where the American people finally decide they've had enough.

However, if you get your information predominantly from cable news, you may be in trouble. Of the three major cable news outlets, only CNN mentioned Walter Reed more than Anna Nicole Smith last Friday alone. It seems that informing the public about the mistreatment of our injured veterans is less important than making sure every American knows exactly what has been happening to a woman who died a month ago.

Also from the Washington Post, the numbers of homeless veterans of our most recent wars may be significantly off.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy

Apparently, when you're represented by agents, it's a good idea not to viciously smear a longstanding client of theirs.

Michael Savage was recently (as in early last week) signed by Creative Artists Agency, a Hollywood(!) management agency. However, when they caught wind of Wiener's comments regarding longtime CAA client Melissa Etheridge, they dropped him faster than you can say, "The Purple Hand of Hollywood"!!!

Savage, like many other virulent right-wing hosts, will be learning that there is a price to pay for their extremism.

However, it did not stop him from going on a massive anti-liberal rant in an indirect response to CAA dropping him, which, I'm sure, he feels only happened because of websites like MediaMatters. Here at the ELPN, we're happy to contribute our small little piece to the pile-on on this hateful, disgusting, piss-poor excuse for a human being.

Gates calling for accountability?? More on the Walter Reed fallout

Maj. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker was appointed as the new Walter Reed commander a day after Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey was fired for re-appointing Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley to the commander position at Walter Reed. I personally feel Harvey was told directly by the Bush administration to re-appoint Kiley and remove Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman (who was doing a better job than Kiley).

Defense Secretary Gates is claiming that, under his authority, unlike Rumsfeld, people will be held accountable for failing to do their job. I find it hard to believe, considering Bush appointed Gates, and accountability is the last thing this administration strives for. Kiley blames the Washington Post for exposing the treatment of the soldiers at Walter Reed, and calls it "yellow journalism". Lt. General Kiley seems like just the kind of man the Bush administration would support. Harvey also claimed that Kiley was only going to fill in at Walter Reed for one week. Somehow, I do not buy any of it.

If the Washington post did not expose the reinstatement of Kiley and the removal of Weightman, Harvey would still have his job. Gates was embarrassed and had to do something; firing Harvey was the easiest thing to do. Too bad Gates could not fire Cheney and Bush, who probably had a lot more to do with this decision than Harvey!

Proving my theory is Brit Hume, who only finds fault with the fact that this Walter Reed incident makes the Bush administration look bad!!! Hume does not care about the conditions of the troops, he only cares that the Republicans look awful.

The only reason why Weightman was relieved of his position was for public relations, so the administration can say "Hey, we did something". The problem was the media caught on to the lousy decision of bringing back the man who failed Walter Reed to begin with!

Do not be deceived, Gates does not care about accountability, all they care about is saving face.

Ralph adds:
Actually, they DO care about accountability - when you allow the malfeasance to become part of the public record, you're held accountable for ruining the grand schemes of the Bush cabal, and are summarily removed from your position! Note how, as we discussed last week, they fired the volunteer who brought Mrs. Rumsfeld to the REAL Walter Reed, as opposed to the sugar-coated version her husband always saw. The Bush administration reserves its harshest treatment for the whistleblowers!!!

Ann Coulter: A true class act!!!

At last week's Hitler Youth Rally, excuse me, Conservative Political Action Conference, radical right wing lunatic Ann Coulter called John Edwards a "faggot". This is not the first time Coulter has accused Democrats of being gay or used the term "fag". The whore called Al Gore a "total fag", accused Hillary Clinton of being a lesbian and Bill Clinton of being gay as well. What is most embarrassing is that she did this at a serious political conference, where potential Republican presidential candidates appeared, including Giuliani and Romney. Conservatives show their true colors as usual. This time, Coulter may have jumped the shark, and ended her career as transsexual speaker for the conservative movement.

In response, McCain, Romney, and Giuliani have criticized Coulter for the slur, and the psycho-bitch herself said "I would never insult gays by suggesting that they are like John Edwards. That would be mean.”

Speaking of the Conservative Political Action Conference, the key speakers barely mentioned Bush at all!

I'm sure that I would have been taken away in handcuffs if I appeared at this conference, as conservatives make me extremely violent.

Jared