Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly.
He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
WASHINGTON — The three military service chiefs have been dropped in the Bush administration’s doomsday line of Pentagon succession, pushed beneath three civilian undersecretaries in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s inner circle.
A holiday week executive order from President Bush moved the Pentagon’s intelligence chief to the No. 3 spot in the succession hierarchy behind Rumsfeld. The second spot would be the deputy secretary of Defense. The Army chief, who long held the No. 3 spot, was dropped to sixth.
This is another good argument for the need of a playoff system to determine championship rather than relying on rankings. That’s the BCS of Tyranny.
Perhaps as system like the NCAA Basketball tournament? That way just about everybody gets a chance; even the Colonel in charge of paperclips at the Pentagon.
We could compile ratings based on head to head confrontations between departments in case of need for a tiebreaker. It ain’t looking too good for State Dept in that regard.
Any Dept or agency that has had an indictment in the past year would be sanctioned and ineligible to compete. Internal investigations don’t rule them out but any lawsuit by the ACLU would count against them.
Cheney’s the wildcard alright.
Does anyone else get the genuine feeling that if BushCo is seriously challenged, a crisis might arise that allows him to suspend the Constitution?
Call me Alice in Wonderland, but whaaaaaaaaat is going on here?
On ABC’s overnight news program they reported that a small town in Mississippi is the subject of a DOJ investigation. An African American majority town is being investigated for election disenfranchisement, against whites. Now, I actually have no problem with this if there is grounds and if there are violations they should be given the proper action.
BUT, BUT, BUT What about Ohio? What about Florida? What about New Mexico? What about any and every other place that there were well documented efforts to disenfranchise specific segments of voters?
This is an ultimately Insulting and outrageous action by the Department of Justice! It has no bearing that the majority of voters and residents in this town are Democrats. I am sure it does not.
I can’t wait to wake up and find out this whole planet was just a bad dream and I am really still on the Star Base.
It’s that one and the one of the dark-skinned devil and Cheney. Someone is having a hissy fit over it and it is getting very racially nasty in this diary.
Personally I never look at the ads, although I did ad block the P0rn one just because I’m at work and who knows who will see it.
Say it isn’t so! Things have gotten dicey lately during these Kos exoduses. I must think positive though…..my New Year’s thing. After so much negative and fighting the grind back things have gotten a lot more positive so I must adjust.
right now. One guy though was talking about the date a Democrat ad and said that he clicked on it to run the counter up for Kos but was very unimpressed with women available for dating. He said that they sounded like they were shopping for accessories. I laughed so hard I spit my coffee. “DUDE, I’M A FEMINIST AND I DON’T NEED YOU….BUT I MIGHT WANT YOU, I GUESS THAT MAKES YOU AN ACCESSORY.”
just got back from taking Boo to the vet. Poor old guy has bad arthritis and a benign tumor is growing on his eyelid.
Boo is often discriminated against for his size and his propensity to knock over small children and to send spit grenades onto people’s walls and furniture.
As for Kos’s ads: I ask people to consider that it would cost Kos $1200/Week to turn either of those ads down. That doesn’t mean that he should have accepted them. But at least consider the dynamics of his choice.
Booman, I have nothing against Kos taking ads at all and I just block what I don’t want to see because not everything is work safe. I was just pointing out that some posters over there have their knickers in a twist. I don’t take my advertising that seriously. 🙂
Is there anything the vet can do for Boo and his health issues?
I’m not belittling people’s concerns about the ads, but more pointing out that a decision to turn down an ad has financial consequences.
This site brought in about $1200 in ad revunue for the entire month of December. Kos makes that with one ad. That might make it easier to decline an ad than it is for me, or it might make it harder. It certainly involves a greater sacrifice on his part that on mine. That said, some ads are inappropriate.
I just want people to judge Kos in the proper context. Asking him to reject those ads is the same as asking him to turn down $2400.
As for Boo: his has a steroid eyedrop that might help with the tumor and he has new anti-inflammatories for his arthritis, which is really bad in his front elbows.
If the anti-inflammatories help, and they aren’t Deramax, can you post a comment about it somewhere? Our German Shepherd (a very big GSD) has arthritis and the Deramax our vet has her on isn’t really helping anymore. I’m looking for other things to try. (She’s also already on cosequin and a diet.)
After providing “KP” support to Mrs./Dr. K.P. while she was in vet school for 4 years, I’m semiqualified to offer this suggestion FYI:
There are (dry) dog foods you can buy for arthritic dogs that have glucosamine in the formulation, to help with their aches and pains. Sam says it keeps his paws in top blogging form, LOL. If you haven’t discussed this with your vet you might want to. I’ll check with the vet tonight and drop you an email.
Now they just need to come up with a glucosamine-containing breakfast cereal and I’d be set too.
not easily. She said she would have to knock him out, and she only wants to do that if it starts touching his cornea. It’s not very attractive on such a noble face, but it is just getting started and the drops might help to shrink it.
Whole thing is depressing, but he got his annual oil change, clean ears, the works. And he’ll be in less pain with the pills.
keeps reminding me of Baghdad Bob. I loved Baghdad Bob, it was all going to be lies and propaganda reporting until a tank sat on his head. God what a fighting heart he had to go with his lying lips.
Scottie is completely outclassed in the b.s. department by Baghdad Bob. B.B. had flair and enthusiasm in his b.s. Scottie has toilet paper, ex lax, and rolaids in his b.s.
The death of a Peruvian security guard who had worked in Iraq may have been caused by exposure to depleted uranium.
Wilder Gutierrez Rubio, 38, died a few hours after arriving in Lima, Peru, on Dec. 6. Days before, he had been diagnosed with severe leukemia at Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad and immediately flown back to his home country, World Socialist Web Site.Org reported Wednesday.
WSWS.org said Gutierrez was part of a 200-man Peruvian contingent sent to Iraq in early October to provide security for Baghdad’s Green Zone. It is widely suspected in Peru that Gutierrez’s leukemia was the result of exposure to high levels of uranium in Iraq, the site said.
Heavily armed soldiers of the Brazilian military, which leads the UN military mission to Haiti known as MINUSTAH, had earlier taken over a building in Pele belonging to an accused drug dealer with alleged ties to presidential candidate Guy Philippe. The troops were seen reinforcing the facility with sand bags and equipment as a military unit on the ground led a group of black-hooded residents through the neighborhood on a mission to identify and target suspected “bandits” for arrest. Twelve residents, ten men and two women, were reportedly arrested based on the accusations of the hooded informants and were taken away to an undisclosed UN facility. Several residents reacted with shock and anger at the site of the black-hooded informants, a new tactic apparently being used by the UN forces to pacify poor neighborhoods in the capital. “This is really scary because we don’t know who these hooded accusers are. We don’t even know if they are really from our area. I just saw them arrest a man I have known for years and who is not involved with anything violent. Where are they taking him?” asked one angry woman who refused to give her name.
The neighborhood of Pele borders the teeming seaside slum of Cite Soleil that has been a launching site for massive demonstrations demanding the return of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Demonstrations have also demanded an end to political persecution against Aristide’s Lavalas party and the release of their leaders held behind bars and deemed to be political prisoners. On July 6, about 350 UN troops led by a Jordanian contingent under the command of the Brazilians, entered Cite Soleil on a mission to kill a suspected gang leader and Aristide supporter Emmanuel “Dread” Wilme along with four of his lieutenants. When the smoke cleared not only did the five men lie dead from a hail of bullets but also so did at least 12 unarmed residents including women and children. Exclusive video footage of the incident seen by independent journalists is said to provide enough evidence to conclude that UN forces deliberately targeted unarmed civilians in the deadly raid. Although the UN promised an investigation into the July 6 incident, nothing has been said since except the well-known denials of UN Special Envoy Juan Gabriel Valdes who continues to dismiss any criticism of the UN mission as “propaganda and lies.”
On November 27, Cite Soleil came under heavy fire again from Brazilian forces in a military operation against suspected bandits (a code word, according to residents, borrowed from Haiti’s wealthy elite to describe Lavalas supporters in poor neighborhoods of the capital). At least seven people were wounded by automatic gunfire in an incident described by Canadian journalist Isabel MacDonald, “Suddenly, we saw four UN APCs-also manned by Brazilians–drive slowly up along the largest road in the vicinity. MINUSTAH bullets were suddenly whizzing by our heads. In the street alley we were in, people frantically flew in all directions, ducking into doorways, hiding behind ledges of the long concrete walls lining the alleyway. I took cover with a half dozen residents hiding behind a ledge of the wall that jutted out about six inches. The MINUSTAH APCs continued to fire rounds in our direction for about ten minutes.”
As the embedded reporters were treated to photo opportunities of happy smiling residents receiving aid buckets in Pele last Friday, heavy gunfire broke out from Brazilian forces on Route Nationale 1, a main highway that separates Pele from Cite Soleil. “No one fired at them. They just started shooting for no reason and several people were injured,” stated a bystander who witnessed the incident. 27 year-old Fritzner Montinard was later interviewed in St. Catherine’s hospital in Cite Soleil were he lay immobilized by automatic gunfire that strafed both of his legs. “I was walking down the street. It was quiet and I saw the blue helmets but everything seemed calm. Suddenly they opened fire and I was shot in both legs. I didn’t hear any gunfire before that and still don’t know what caused them to shot at us like that” stated Mr. Montinard from his hospital bed.
Military Chiefs Are Bumped in Doomsday Plan
WASHINGTON — The three military service chiefs have been dropped in the Bush administration’s doomsday line of Pentagon succession, pushed beneath three civilian undersecretaries in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s inner circle.
Bring back Wolfowitz!
This is another good argument for the need of a playoff system to determine championship rather than relying on rankings. That’s the BCS of Tyranny.
Perhaps as system like the NCAA Basketball tournament? That way just about everybody gets a chance; even the Colonel in charge of paperclips at the Pentagon.
And Dick Cheney could hold the wildcard spot.
We could compile ratings based on head to head confrontations between departments in case of need for a tiebreaker. It ain’t looking too good for State Dept in that regard.
Any Dept or agency that has had an indictment in the past year would be sanctioned and ineligible to compete. Internal investigations don’t rule them out but any lawsuit by the ACLU would count against them.
Cheney’s the wildcard alright.
Does anyone else get the genuine feeling that if BushCo is seriously challenged, a crisis might arise that allows him to suspend the Constitution?
Does anyone else get the genuine feeling that if BushCo is seriously challenged, a crisis might arise that allows him to suspend the Constitution?
Isn’t this what has been, is now, and will be, “the plan?” Are there any doubters left?
Call me Alice in Wonderland, but whaaaaaaaaat is going on here?
On ABC’s overnight news program they reported that a small town in Mississippi is the subject of a DOJ investigation. An African American majority town is being investigated for election disenfranchisement, against whites. Now, I actually have no problem with this if there is grounds and if there are violations they should be given the proper action.
BUT, BUT, BUT What about Ohio? What about Florida? What about New Mexico? What about any and every other place that there were well documented efforts to disenfranchise specific segments of voters?
This is an ultimately Insulting and outrageous action by the Department of Justice! It has no bearing that the majority of voters and residents in this town are Democrats. I am sure it does not.
I can’t wait to wake up and find out this whole planet was just a bad dream and I am really still on the Star Base.
Here is the story, it is currently only an allegation in a law suit:
Link
Pie Fight 2 brewing over at DKos. Booman, prepare for another influx of refugees.
I haven’t looked yet…is it the p0rn ad?
It’s that one and the one of the dark-skinned devil and Cheney. Someone is having a hissy fit over it and it is getting very racially nasty in this diary.
Personally I never look at the ads, although I did ad block the P0rn one just because I’m at work and who knows who will see it.
Say it isn’t so! Things have gotten dicey lately during these Kos exoduses. I must think positive though…..my New Year’s thing. After so much negative and fighting the grind back things have gotten a lot more positive so I must adjust.
Is it vodka:30 yet?
right now. One guy though was talking about the date a Democrat ad and said that he clicked on it to run the counter up for Kos but was very unimpressed with women available for dating. He said that they sounded like they were shopping for accessories. I laughed so hard I spit my coffee. “DUDE, I’M A FEMINIST AND I DON’T NEED YOU….BUT I MIGHT WANT YOU, I GUESS THAT MAKES YOU AN ACCESSORY.”
just got back from taking Boo to the vet. Poor old guy has bad arthritis and a benign tumor is growing on his eyelid.
Boo is often discriminated against for his size and his propensity to knock over small children and to send spit grenades onto people’s walls and furniture.
As for Kos’s ads: I ask people to consider that it would cost Kos $1200/Week to turn either of those ads down. That doesn’t mean that he should have accepted them. But at least consider the dynamics of his choice.
Booman, I have nothing against Kos taking ads at all and I just block what I don’t want to see because not everything is work safe. I was just pointing out that some posters over there have their knickers in a twist. I don’t take my advertising that seriously. 🙂
Is there anything the vet can do for Boo and his health issues?
I’m not belittling people’s concerns about the ads, but more pointing out that a decision to turn down an ad has financial consequences.
This site brought in about $1200 in ad revunue for the entire month of December. Kos makes that with one ad. That might make it easier to decline an ad than it is for me, or it might make it harder. It certainly involves a greater sacrifice on his part that on mine. That said, some ads are inappropriate.
I just want people to judge Kos in the proper context. Asking him to reject those ads is the same as asking him to turn down $2400.
As for Boo: his has a steroid eyedrop that might help with the tumor and he has new anti-inflammatories for his arthritis, which is really bad in his front elbows.
Hope the meds help Boo.
If the anti-inflammatories help, and they aren’t Deramax, can you post a comment about it somewhere? Our German Shepherd (a very big GSD) has arthritis and the Deramax our vet has her on isn’t really helping anymore. I’m looking for other things to try. (She’s also already on cosequin and a diet.)
Thanks!
i checked and the stuff is deramaxx.
Hi Boo,
After providing “KP” support to Mrs./Dr. K.P. while she was in vet school for 4 years, I’m semiqualified to offer this suggestion FYI:
There are (dry) dog foods you can buy for arthritic dogs that have glucosamine in the formulation, to help with their aches and pains. Sam says it keeps his paws in top blogging form, LOL. If you haven’t discussed this with your vet you might want to. I’ll check with the vet tonight and drop you an email.
Now they just need to come up with a glucosamine-containing breakfast cereal and I’d be set too.
Poor BooDog. Can they take the tumor off his eyelid easily?
not easily. She said she would have to knock him out, and she only wants to do that if it starts touching his cornea. It’s not very attractive on such a noble face, but it is just getting started and the drops might help to shrink it.
Whole thing is depressing, but he got his annual oil change, clean ears, the works. And he’ll be in less pain with the pills.
and forgot he was old for quite awhile. Boy he full of piss and vinegar on those.
I hope the drops work. Are you already doing the glucosamine/chondroitin dog chow?
It’s so hard to watch your buddy get old. I still miss my old Aussie, and watching her go downhill was heartbreaking.
I add two gluco pills in his dinner. So, I guess that is the same thing.
The vet was appalled by the state of his front elbows and blamed it on his giant head which apparently weighs too much.
all posting about the b.s. from Tom Delay’s spokesperson…
Ah yes… that would be good old Kevin “Maddog” Madden (read snippet down the page on that link).
You can read a little more about this particular professional lie… er… um… Republican spokesperson at The 10,000 Things.
keeps reminding me of Baghdad Bob. I loved Baghdad Bob, it was all going to be lies and propaganda reporting until a tank sat on his head. God what a fighting heart he had to go with his lying lips.
I guess 2006 will be the year we find out if Scottie has the same panache under fire, eh?
Scottie is completely outclassed in the b.s. department by Baghdad Bob. B.B. had flair and enthusiasm in his b.s. Scottie has toilet paper, ex lax, and rolaids in his b.s.
Have you seen the new ACLU ads? They are great. I especially like ad #1.
I want the Bush spied on me t-shirt. Stuff is really getting fun now.
t-shirt ad?
Shall we start an email campaign to them, telling them to advertise on BT and we’ll buy their stuff?
and I’ll buy shirts. Anybody else want to ask them?
What’s the email addy?
Are they americablog t-shirts?
I think they are AmericaBlog shirts. John A. makes them up and puts them on his site to generate some extra $$$.
info@spreadshirt.com. I don’t know if they are Ameriblogs or not.
It’s probably a store host – similar to CafePress.
MT: I have a couple of military related questions for you (regardung my dad)
thank you and sorry for bothering you 🙂
Uranium Suspected in Iraq Merc’s Death
UN “Peacemakers” in Haiti