Month: June 2007

Cable Newsers Go Ga-Ga over Undetonated Car Bombs in London

Jon Ponder

Are you scared yet? As you have undoubtedly heard by now, a pair of car bombs were discovered in London yesterday. Authorities said both cars were Mercedes and the apparatus in both was the same: Canisters of propane and gasoline and nails. “These vehicles are clearly linked,” said a London police commissioner.

The thwarted terror attacks put the lie to the ridiculous theory that by attacking the terrorists “over there” (Iraq), we’re preventing them from attacking us “over here” — if “here” is defined as any English-speaking country that invaded Iraq.

MSNBC covered it extensively yesterday, giving it nearly the whole hour during its Tucker Carlson and Chris Matthews shows and their late afternoon repeats. The story continues to lead on both CNN and MSNBC this morning.

(As I write this, MSNBC is reporting that a burning Jeep Cherokee just burst through the doors at an airport in Scotland. One source says that one of two Asian men in the car was also on fire. Another source says there was only one man in the car and he was apprehended by police. Here’s a link to the story on CNN.)

On MSNBC’s “Countdown” last night, Keith Olbermann was having none of it. His guest for the segment was Larry Johnson, one of the former Republican CIA agents that Bush scared straight with the Iraq war and outing of secret agent Valerie Plame Wilson.

Johnson portrayed the would-be bombers as amateurs and doubted that the bombs could have caused the sort of catastrophic damage being hyped by the newsers. He also said that whether the would-be terrorists were Al Qaeda or just wanna-bes was nearly irrelevant.

In either case, and despite the fact the attacks were bungled, the attempts in London put the lie to the ridiculous theory that by attacking the terrorists “over there” (Iraq), we’re preventing them from attacking us “over here” — if “here” is defined as any English-speaking country that invaded Iraq.

Here’s a flavor what Johnson had to say about the thwarted bombings on his website, No Quarter:

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The Search for Iraq’s WMDs is Officially Over

Trish

The U.N. announced today, five years after our invasion of Iraq because we were told by our president that he knew for sure they had weapons of mass destruction, the search is over.

The resolution, approved by a vote of 14-0, terminated the mandate of the U.N. bodies responsible for overseeing the dismantling of Hussein’s programs to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and long-range missiles…

Since 2005, the United States has been trying to get the Security Council to wrap up the work of the inspectors, who were pulled out of Iraq just before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and were barred by the U.S. from returning.

So George, you can stop looking. Now can we bring our troops home?

Romney: My Dog Liked Riding on Car Roof 12 Hours from Boston to Ontario

Jon Ponder

Mitt Romney has reacted to the story that he illegally transported his large dog in a carrier on the roof of his car for 12 hour trips in the 1980s, including one from Boston to Ontario. He says the dog liked it:

“He scrambled up there every time we went on trips, got in all by himself and enjoyed it,” Romney said of the Irish Setter.

And, anyway, the entire controversy is PETA’s fault because they criticized him:

“PETA has not been my fan over the years. PETA was after me for having a rodeo at the Olympics,” he said in reference to his role as chief executive of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. “PETA was unhappy when I went quail hunting in Georgia, and they’re not happy that my dog likes fresh air.”

This dumbass is one sick puppy.

Mitt’s Dog: “Dad is Not the Sharpest Knife in the Drawer”

Trish

The Boston Globe’s Scott Lehigh penned a pointed, but under the circumstances, quite restrained analysis of the Mitt Romney dog on the roof story.

If the question of what to do with Seamus was presented as a Harvard Business School case study, the remedy Mitt arrived at would not be widely seized upon as the most intelligent choice

For the last few mornings, I’ve lingered over the breakfast table, reading all about Mitt Romney, from his Michigan boyhood to his boffo business career to his determined days as chief of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

And what do I come away thinking?

One: Poor Seamus Romney.

And: Does a vacuum periodically settle in between the ears of the Mighty Mighty Mittster, rather like one of those low-pressure areas that sometimes stalls for days on end over New England?

Good questions, especially about someone who portrays himself as a sensible — if not outright clever — guy. As it was, the dog probably had reason to believe that Mormon was out of his freaking mind.

And who, really, can blame Seamus, riding up there alone and forgotten, eyeing each approaching overpass and anxiously wondering if Mitt had calculated the clearances correctly, while the rest of the Romneys were safely ensconced in the vehicle below, no doubt whiling away the hours with joyous renditions of “This land is your land, this land is my land”?

…I suspect that if the question of what to do with Seamus was presented as a Harvard Business School case study, the remedy Mitt arrived at would not be widely seized upon as the most intelligent choice…

The story made me wonder a little about the rest of the Romneys as well…I’d like to think that at some point during the trip, Tagg or Matt would have displayed enough of that brash iconoclasm to pipe up and inquire: “Say, Dad, do you hear that howling? Have you considered that Seamus may not be enjoying himself up there on top of the car?”

Lehigh suggests that if space inside the car was at such a premium, there was still one more possibility.

If the rooftop ride really was such a smart solution, at the very least Mitt could have taken a turn up there himself. Certainly he’s proved resolute in the face of risk, at least in the business world, and I have it on good report that the hair product he uses is guaranteed to hold fast in gusts of up to 70 miles an hour.

Is Cheney Giving State Secrets to the Saudis?

Jon Ponder

Rogue government: Is the Vice President of the United States doling out the nation’s secrets to its allies, such as the Saudis or the Israelis? Or how about our enemies — the Chinese, North Korea, Iran?

Cheney has visited Saudi Arabia twice in the past seven months — at the end of November and again in May. Who can say whether his mission was to deliver state secrets to the Saudi king?

No one knows the answer to these questions because Cheney refuses to allow his own administration’s inspectors to certify his compliance with his own administration’s security directives. He has exempted himself from oversight.

Since noothing compels him to tell the truth, why in the world would anyone believe a word he says? Why should we give him the benefit of a doubt that he is not giving away national secrets?

In the 1990s, the rightwing accused Vice Pres. Al Gore of selling weapons plans to the Chinese in exchange for campaign donations. This led to a House investigation chaired by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana) that eventually cost American taxpayers $7.4 million, making it the costliest congressional inquiry ever — all for nothing, of course.

Without oversight on how Dick Cheney is handling our nation’s secrets, for all we know he is packing them up in crates and shipping them to the Saudis or the Chinese or the North Koreans.

Cheney has visited Saudi Arabia twice in the past seven months — at the end of November and again in May. Who can say whether his mission was to deliver state secrets to the Saudi king? Apparently, even Pres. Bush does not know what his vice president is up to.

Romney Strapped Dog in Carrier to Roof of Car, Drove 12 Hours

Jon Ponder

He should have gone to jail in 1983:

Romney strapped a dog carrier — with the family dog Seamus, an Irish Setter, in it — to the roof of the family station wagon for a twelve hour drive from Boston to Ontario, which the family apparently completed, despite Seamus’s rather visceral protest. [The dog beshat himself.]

Massachusetts’s animal cruelty laws specifically prohibit anyone from carrying an animal “in or upon a vehicle, or otherwise, in an unnecessarily cruel or inhuman manner or in a way and manner which might endanger the animal carried thereon.” An officer for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals responded to a description of the situation saying “it’s definitely something I’d want to check out.” The officer, Nadia Branca, declined to give a definitive opinion on whether Romney broke the law but did note that it’s against state law to have a dog in an open bed of a pick-up truck, and “if the dog was being carried in a way that endangers it, that would be illegal.”

DoD: More Concerned with Appropriations than Appropriate Medical Care for Soldiers

Buck Banks

So what happens if you develop a software system that enables Army physicians in Iraq to seamlessly track medical information on a wounded soldier through the Army’s medical system and into the Veterans Affairs medical system? And what if that software solved the problems that plagued Walter Reed Army Hospital and its treatment of wounded veterans? And what if you developed it on the cheap? And what if your software was lauded by the highest of the higher-ups in the Army and VA?

Answer: You get transferred to the equivalent of “bureacratic Siberia.”

Such was the fate of Lt. Col. Mike Fravell, who developed the patient-tracking system in 2003 and created a Web-based version last year while on a fellowship at VA.

The ability to transfer electronic medical information between DoD and the VA is critical to providing the highest quality health care to the men and women who have been wounded in combat .
— David Gorman, executive director of Disabled American Veterans

The transfer was in retaliation for Fravell’s public criticism of the two Defense health agencies, a congressional source said. At a hearing in May of the House Veteran Affairs Committee, Fravell spoke highly of the two patient-tracking systems he developed and criticized MHS’ reluctance to work with VA on the two systems. “I think on the DoD side, things are very territorial,” Fravell told the committee.

The transfer occurred despite widespread praise for Fravell’s systems. Army Chief of Staff George Casey said this month they provided the Army with “improved visibility on location, medical status and progress of soldiers’ care.” David Gorman, executive director of Disabled American Veterans, said, “The ability to transfer electronic medical information between DoD and the VA is critical to providing the highest quality health care to the men and women who have been wounded in combat or otherwise require medical care after serving in the military.”

Now why would the Department of Defense transfer a guy who had created a cheap, effective, popular tool that aids the medical treatment and care of sick and wonded soldiers? Can you spell money?

At stake are billions of dollars. Through fiscal 2006, AHLTA [Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application] alone cost Defense $775 million to develop and deploy. The system’s fiscal 2007 budget is $392 million. By comparison, [Fravell’s] Joint Patient Tracking Application system cost less than $1 million to develop and $2 million a year to maintain.

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“Warrantless Wiretaps” Now Spun into “Warrant-Free Eavesdropping”

Trish

This reeks of classic Rove.

The AP — and therefore official mainstream media — wording for Bush/Cheney’s warrantless wiring taping program is suddenly the new and improved “warrant-free program” or alternatively, “warrant-free eavesdropping.”

“Warrantless” wiring taping sounds as if what you did was without a warrant, which would make it illegal. “Warrant-free” just means you were unfettered by warrants. That sounds so much nicer.

Think about it. Warrantless wiring taping sounds as if what you did was without a warrant, which would make it illegal. Warrant-free just means you were unfettered by warrants. That sounds so much nicer, doesn’t it? Like sugar-free is superior to sugarless, or law-free is better than illegal.

And eavesdropping is what Lucy did to Ethel when she was trying to find out what Ricky was getting for her birthday. Wiring tapping…well, that makes makes you think of Watergate.

Here was yesterday’s debut usage, picked up by CNN:

The Senate subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s office Wednesday, demanding documents and elevating the confrontation with President Bush over the administration’s warrant-free eavesdropping on Americans.

And here’s today’s, picked up by newspapers everywhere:

Just Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, demanding documents pertaining to terrorism-era warrant-free eavesdropping. “It’s an outrageous request,” White House press secretary Tony Snow said.

I like that “terrorism-era” tacked in front. That tells you these are dangerous times we’re living in, and they call for desperate measures. Which it’s really not AP’s job to tell you.

Meanwhile at trustworthy Reuters, it’s still warrantless, plus it’s domestic spying:

The assertion of executive privilege to the congressional subpoenas for material related to the probe on the firings of the prosecutors comes one day after Leahy’s committee subpoenaed the White House for documents related to the administration’s warrantless domestic spying program.

Right on, Reuters.