Month: February 2009

Republican Blows Iraq Security by twittering About It

Trish

Hoekstra’s twitter feed

Just when you thought you could hold no more contempt for Republicans, along comes this bit of news: the former chair (when Republicans ran things) of the House Intelligence Committee breached security by twittering about a secret trip to Iraq — while he was there.

Security for the excursion was so tight that even the few media outlets that knew about it agreed not to report it. But that didn’t stop Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) from twittering away on the subject like a tourist at Disneyworld.

“Just landed in Baghdad,” messaged Hoekstra, a former chairman of the Intelligence panel and now the ranking member, who is routinely entrusted to keep some of the nation’s most closely guarded secrets…

Not only did Hoekstra reveal the existence of the lawmakers’ trip, but included details about their itinerary in updates posted every few hours on his Twitter page, until he suddenly stopped, for some reason, on Friday morning.

Hoekstra, like most Republicans in politics, has never served in the military. What he has done, however, is build a long and distinguished history as a dumbass. It was Hoekstra, after all, who erroneously announced in 2003 that (chemical) weapons of mass destruction had been located in Iraq. A few years later, in 2006, a web site he created, along with Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) was shut down after the New York Times reported the site was helpful to anyone who would like to create their own nuclear weapon.

Which might explain why he posted top secret security information for the world to read in real time.

Since it’s already a matter of public record, here are some of Hoekstra’s twitter dispatches, typos and all, delivered in just 140 characters or less:

“On the way to Andrews Air Force base.12 hour flight to mid east. Be back on Mon instead of tues. Votes mon. I’ll keep you posted,” he wrote on Feb. 4

In his last dispatch today, he wrote: “Moved into green zone by helicopter Iraqi flag now over palace. Headed to new US embassy Appears calmer less chaotic than previous here [sic].”

It does not explain what House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner was thinking when he included this moron on the trip.

Hoekstra is planning to retire at the end of his current term. We can only hope he won’t have the opportunity to pass along any other vital information first.

I’ve Been Snagged by Sarah Palin

Buck Banks

beartrap.jpg

A few days back, I wrote a post about former veep candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin starting up Sarah PAC, her own personal political action committee. I was going to sign up for updates only, but filling in that box led me to a whole online form, which there was no way I was going to complete. However, I got caught in that initial bear trap. That was Jan. 28. On Feb. 4 I received this:

Dear Supporter,

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for joining SarahPAC. What a week it has been! Thanks to supporters like you we have had a fabulous start.

I want you to know that I have been truly touched by your notes of support and encouragement and look forward to working with you all in the future to advance our shared ideas and goals. These are just a few of the touching notes I’ve received from you:

Don from Juneau, AK: “I joined the PAC, and I’m willing to help in any way I can. I firmly believe you are exactly what this country needs, more so now than ever. Go Sarah!”

Cindy from St. Louis, MO: “My husband and I signed up for the PAC this morning. We are thrilled and behind you 100%! We will help any way we can.”

Dee from Nashville, TN: “Be courageous! Be strong! Be bold! Don’t quit. Thanks for all you’ve done, there are many of us praying for you daily!”

As a nation, we face serious challenges ahead. Our country is far too dependent on foreign sources of energy. Greed and corruption have broken the public’s faith in our economic system.

[…]

I Friend Dead People*

Buck Banks

silhouette.jpg

There’s this dead guy on my Facebook page and I don’t know what to do about him. He died back in mid-December, just a few days after he logged in to his Facebook page for the last time. I’d pretty much forgotten he was in my friends list until his birthday notice popped up earlier this week. Today is his birthday, so Facebook reminds me, not that I knew the date when he was alive.

See, we weren’t really friends, just business acquaintances. Indeed, we only share one friend on Facebook, and I know her but vaguely, though better than some of my Facebook friends, who I know only through friends or friends of friends. They could be dead, too, for all I know.

The weird thing is, once his upcoming birthday was announced, the guy was almost permanently in that little group of friend’s pages that shows up on your home page. And since he never uploaded a photo of himself, there’s just a ghostly outline — which I guess is a better likeness now than when he was alive. The spooky silhouette makes it more difficult to ignore him, or at least the Facebookial representation of his ex-existence.

The good thing is, he won’t SuperPoke me, but he’s haunting my Facebook page.

The question is, what to do about it? It wouldn’t feel right to “unfriend” him just because he’s dead. But do I really need a previously alive person on my Facebook page? Don’t get me wrong: the good thing is, he’s not going to SuperPoke me or hit me with a chicken or throw a water balloon or a sheep at me on Facebook. The bad thing is, he’s haunting my Facebook page.

According to a column in the New York Times, it’s not unusual for survivors to leave up a deceased family member’s Facebook page. It’s kind of a cyber-memorial that says, “He was here, on Facebook, at least.”

At a family member’s request, Facebook will delete a deceased person’s account. But, [Brandee] Barker [,a Facebook spokeswoman] added gently, “Many people who have somebody they’re still mourning find it very comforting and feel it keeps them connected to a loved one.”

But that assumes the family knew he had a Facebook page. Maybe he did it in secret. But there’s an adult daughter listed among his friends, and if you Google him, not only does his obit come up, but so does the link to his Facebook page, so the word’s out there.

I suppose the reason I would take his page down is because it’s so pitiful. He started doing Facebook in October 2007, and by the time he died, he’d accumulated just 16 friends, joined three groups and gave one guy a beer. That’s not much of a life on Facebook, while in real life the guy truly was somebody back in the day, a real, bona fide, New York City kind of important person. But you wouldn’t know it to look at his Facebook page; you’d have to read the obituary to understand he was not the loser his Facebook page would have you believe.

So I guess he’s going to stay on my friends list. I’ll keep him around to remind me — every year on his birthday — of my own tenuous mortality, oh, and to live well and leave a great-looking Facebook page.

*Thanks for the headline, Trish

Racist Email Sinks Florida Republican Committee Member

Trish
Comedian Carol Carter

A Florida Republican party board member took calls for her resignation over a flagrantly racist email as an opportunity to demonstrate her profound dull-wittedness. Any doubts about executive committee member Carol Carter’s prejudices were erased in her unapologetic apology.

It started when Carter sent this unfunny email to “less than a dozen” people through her personal account. At least one of them forwarded it on and it ended up with the party’s state chair and the media.

“I’m confused. How can 2,000,000 blacks* get into Washington, DC in 1 day in sub zero temps when 200,000 couldn’t get out of New Orleans in 85 degree temps with four days notice?”

Well gosh, Carol, I’m confused too. Maybe it’s because black people only want to get off their asses for a party? And they are too lazy to walk out of New Orleans with the clothes on their backs to go god knows where? What’s your explanation, Carol?

Before she resigned, Carter followed up the e-mail with an apology, but added in the message, ”I do hope that we are going to be allowed to keep our sense of humor.” Later in a telephone interview, she said she regretted that the e-mail became public because she realized it “could be taken as very racial.”

”I would never take something like this to the media,” she said. “It’s like what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

In one fell swoop Carter blamed whoever leaked her little joke to the media, insulted everyone who saw this as the stunningly hateful and snide remark it was fully intended to be (which evidently includes people in her own inner circle), lashed out at the leaker, and used bad grammar. The word is “racist,” honey, not “racial.” The fact that you don’t know the difference is part of the problem. You’re one of those idiot white people the rest of us blush over.

Speaking of turning red, no doubt that’s what Jim Greer, Florida GOP chair, did when he found out about Carter’s missive. Greer serves on the transition team for Michael Steele, the Republicans’ first black national chair.

* Let’s all buy into the idea that Obama is only the president of black people, shall we?

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

I really, really, really have a very simple goal, and that is to keep it as short as Bill Richardson’s tenure as Commerce Secretary.

I raised $17,000 from ex-boyfriends — true story! I know that is the record in the Senate, but in the House it’s held by Barney Frank.

John Edwards is still talking about two Americas — that was the greatest pickup line in history.

Typically, a Republican and a Democrat speak at this — you could have saved a lot of money by asking Joe Lieberman.

— Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), addressing the Washington Press Club Foundation’s Annual Congressional Dinner Wednesday night

Email Your Senator. This Means You.

Trish

It’s not that hard to write your senators and urge them to pass Obama’s economic stimulus plan. There are only two senators per state, after all. I just sent this message to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.). I sent the same message to both, ignoring the fact that Martinez wrote the tax cut alternative plan.

Tax cuts are all well and good for people who have jobs and therefore, taxes to pay. For people without jobs, they’re a lot like on-site child care for non-parents — a great workplace benefit, for someone else.

Please support and help gain passage of Obama’s economic stimulus plan, and do it fast. We need jobs, not tax cuts, and we need new, green-energy and good-paying infrastructure jobs the most. Thanks!

Takes two seconds. Google your person and the word, “contact.” It will take you right there.

This is urgent, folks. FOX Snooze and talk radio are beating the drum, and there’s a rightwing flood of calls and emails pouring in. We need to rouse ourselves and let them hear from us.

Gonzales: Torture, Waterboarding, Attorney Firings Were “Little Negatives”

Trish

Oh man. I see why no one wants to give former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a job. His memory, missing in action during his testimony to Congress on Justice Department malfeasance, is back. And the way he remembers it, he did a heckuva job. In an interview with CNN’s Campbell Brown, Gonzales was just amazing.

  • His overall record at Justice: “I hope history will reflect the fact that during my tenure both at the White House and at the Department of Justice we did a tremendous job in protecting our country and also as attorney general we focused on protecting our kids from sexual predators, we focused on making our neighborhoods safe from guns and drugs…so many people are focused on the little negatives that occurred.”

  • Firing attorneys because of party affiliation: “I’ve already testified, as I’ve indicated before and spoken to the American public about wishing that I had done things differently with respect to the removal of the U.S. attorneys. But I think you need to look at the overall record of the department during my tenure and the good things that we accomplished.”

  • Lobbying Attorney General John Ashcroft in the hospital, hours after major surgery, to O.K. illegal wiretapping: “Andy Card and I were sent on behalf of the president of the United States to talk to General Ashcroft. It was an announced visit. We were sent there on behalf of the president to inform the attorney general of a very important meeting that we had just had at the White House with congressional leadership about probably the most important intelligence collection program for the United States government.”

  • Approving waterboarding and other forms of torture: “Clearly there is no disagreement about the principle of not torturing. That is something that President Bush announced that his administration would follow that principle, which we tried to do. The issue of coercive interrogation to gather information from dangerous crim– dangerous terrorists to help protect our country is one that we clearly wrestled with.”

  • His future prospects: “I can understand in a very tough economy, some employers are going to be very hesitant about bringing someone like me on when you have ongoing investigation…I am anxious to move on to the next phase of my life. I feel like I still have a lot to contribute to our community and to our country and I want to do so.”

How’s about you don’t, Alberto, and we just say you did?

Remember: When the GOP Was in Charge, They Flew $12 Bil in Cash into the Iraq War Zone – And Lost It All

Jon Ponder

It is nothing less than astounding that Pres. Obama and the congressional Democrats have allowed themselves to be put on the defensive about stimulus spending by the same Republicans who, with George Bush, ran the national debt into the trillions in just six short years.

It does not bode well that the president and the Democrats can’t find the cojones to cram the Republicans’ hypocrisy on spending back in their faces.

In particular, this would be a good time to remind Sen. McConnell, Rep. Boehner and the rest that it was they who sat idly by while Bush’s men shrink-wrapped $12 billion in U.S. currency — 363 tons of $100 bills — loaded it onto pallets and flew it on transport planes into the Iraq war zone in mid-2003.

That money vanished into thin air, and Republicans have stonewalled Democrats’ efforts to find out what happened to it ever since.