at-Largely

Cheney much more involved in Plame leak (surprised?)

We all knew this, but it seems the Obama administration wants to keep a lid on it anyway. Why?

"A document filed in federal court this week by the Justice Department offers new evidence that former vice president Richard B. Cheney helped steer the Bush administration's public response to the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson's employment by the CIA and that he was at the center of many related administration deliberations.

The administration's discussion of Wilson's link to the CIA was meant to undermine criticism by her husband of administration allegations that Iraq attempted to acquire uranium, a matter that her husband had probed for the CIA, according to testimony presented in a 2007 trial.

A list of at least seven related conversations involving Cheney appears in a new court filing approved by Obama appointees at the Justice Department. In the filing, the officials argue that the substance of what Cheney told special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald in 2004 must remain secret."

I am sure Lizzie Cheney will soon be deployed to defend her daddy's treason. Of course this too is troubling:

"The Obama administration has since agreed that the material should not be disclosed. A Justice Department lawyer at one point last month argued that vice presidents and other White House officials will decline to be interviewed in the future if they know their remarks might "get on 'The Daily Show' " or be used as fodder for political enemies."

And there you have it. Our leadership is afraid that a comedian will make fun of them for holding to account a man who committed treason. Anyone feel like we have entered a whole new, yet unpublished chapter, of 1984? Maybe we should now use 1985 to explain the realm we are now in?

Fox News: A nuke attack on US soil would be great for America...

Hate TV, that is what I am going to call Fox News from this point on. Every single day this "news" outlet sells hate and incites violence. The latest is just unreal. Here is what Glenn Beck guest Michael F. Scheuer said:

""the only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama Bin Ladin to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States... only Osama can, can execute an attack which can force Americans to demand that their government protect them effectively, consistently and with as much violence as necessary."

See it below (h/t to Media Matters)

The guest saying this is not some random lone psychotic. Scheuer is the former head of Alec Station, a CIA OBL tracking group. He is a serious terrorism expert, which is why him saying this on a "news" show is incredibly dangerous and unethical. He is bringing the weight of his authority on a comment of this nature.

Scheuer's passions for another attack, his misplaced and perverted version of patriotism in which killing some Americans justifies the greater good, not to mention his many contacts abroad used to track OBL, should put federal authorities on alert. If this guy is so willing to sacrifice Americans for what he believes is America's protection, then I put nothing past him - not even him strapping on a bomb and waving an American flag while everything goes kaboom.

I did used to respect this guy, although I thought he was a bit out there. Now I think he is just dangerous. Finally, if Scheuer wants OBL to detonate a bomb on American soil, perhaps he should request that the next ground zero be his own home, rather than volunteering the rest of us to die so he can prove a political point.

Fox Hate TV should be ashamed for airing this kind of perverted hope for more dead Americans. I am curious, who gets to pick which Americans will be sacrified to this cause? Or is it a random hope for terrorism with as many casualties as needed to prove a point?

By the way, I did not notice Beck crying as he so famously does whenever he speaks of 9/11, clearly indicating that some terrorism and some dead Americans are okay by him.

Journalism: Fascinating, but not surprising...

From journalism.org. Our mainstream media is basically tabloid oriented. Are you surprised?

Riot police attack protesters in Honduras, army cuts media...

See earlier threads here, here, and here.

Why is seemingly no one as interested in the police attacks against protesters in Honduras as they were with the police attacks on protesters in Iran?  In addition to violence, the new president has set a curfew for his people. Here is the latest:

"Protesters demanding the return of their ousted president clashed with police and army troops here Monday, as the day-old provisional government found itself severely isolated with world leaders from President Barack Obama to Venezuela's Hugo Chávez condemning Sunday's coup."

As with all coups, the military stepped in quickly to shut down the press:

"Honduras has shut down television and radio stations since an army coup over the weekend, in a media blackout than has drawn condemnation from an international press freedom group.

Shortly after the Honduran military seized President Manuel Zelaya and flew him to Costa Rica on Sunday, soldiers stormed a popular radio station and shut international television networks CNN en Espanol and Venezuelan-based Telesur, which is sponsored by leftist governments in South America.

A pro-government channel also was shut down.

The few local television and radio stations still operating played tropical music, ran soap operas and aired cooking shows on Monday.

They made little reference to the demonstrations or international condemnation of the coup even as hundreds of protesters rallied at the presidential palace in the capital to demand Zelaya's return and an end to the blackout."

By the way, has anyone been able to locate the actual Supreme Court order that gave the military power to remove Zelaya? Can you please post a link if you have it, because I am unable to find this document, despite claims that it exists.

More hate and crazy from the extreme right-wing...

Rep. Sally Kern (R-OK) should resign from office or be removed because she is clearly in need of immediate medical attention and is unable to properly serve her constituents. From prof Turley:

"Kern has drafted a resolution that puts the current economic crisis squarely on the backs of libertines and godless people who have produced a moral crisis. This includes Obama’s refusal to “uphold the long held tradition of past presidents in recognition of our National Day of Prayer.”

You may recall Kern from his viral video ranting about gays, here. Now, she has gone macro economic in showing how free sex can destroy the free market. It is like the lost chapter of Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Of course, one must remember that, like his successor Kern, Smith held forth on both moral and economic theories with his publication The Theory of Moral Sentiments. [Richard Posner's Economics and Reason doesn't count and proved far less exciting than its title]."

If she wants to preach on the nature of sin, she can go work at her local church instead of wasting tax dollars trying to codify hate. Again, this is exactly the type of right-wing extremism that has no business in our government. I suggest you read the whole thing, including her attempt at

Just to clarify too, when I say "right-wing" extremism, I am not speaking of Republicans. I am speaking of people who are zealots, often violent, and entirely insane. I call them glue-sniffers, because there is no polite way to describe people of this nature. Kern is a typical glue-sniffer. She needs to resign. Surely the people she represents have more pressing concerns than this waste of legislation proclaiming hate as a virtue? Oklahoma, if you want to be taken off the rolls of red-neck rolls, I suggest you have people of substance represent you.

Bull Feather Merchants Revisited

Posted by Jeff Huber

It ran in the Los Angeles Times so it’s official: the key to Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s success in the Bananastans will be a “civilian surge.” The thinking apparently goes that if McChrystal stops killing as many Afghans as he used to when he was head of the secret Joint Special Operations Command, they’ll flock to his arms in gratitude.

It’s clear that no one in the national security establishment is serious about “winning” in the Bananastans, but they’re certainly serious about their war propaganda. In the old days, four-star generals like David Petraeus had personal public affairs colonels. McChrystal is so important he’s snagged himself a public affairs admiral: Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith. Like all military reporting now, the LAT piece, titled “U.S. to limit airstrikes in Afghanistan to help reduce civilian deaths,” is a poorly camouflaged piece of stenography, and it’s clear that Smith did the dictating.

Right-Wing Extremism: hoping our military overthrows Obama...

I was going to add this as an update to my earlier post, but thought it deserved its own post. Apparently, some glue-sniffing types are hoping that our own military will be inspired by the Honduras coup to overthrow our own president in order to save democracy. I kid you not. I have been reading the comments at several blogs and they are mind-blowing.

For one example of  how the patriotic and in-love with democracy the average glue-sniffer is, you can go here and read the comments. But below is just a taste, in a few snips:

"Our democracy was the first that fell under Obama, as exemplified by the shenanigans on Porkulus and other economy-destroying, utopia-fantasizing legislation, which would have made the Politburo blush. Or to quote Dear Leader, democracy is no longer necessary because "he won."

"Of course Obumma is "deeply concerned." He doesn't want our own armed forces to get the notion that they too may need to defend the constitutional order from the depredations of a lawless "president."'

"WE ARE NEXT. 3rd world countries get it. Why don't WE!!!! WAKE the F#ck up people"

"sic semper tyrannis. Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Kennedy, and the rest out there destroying America . . . it could happen here (please God)"

This should scare everyone who values democracy, especially given the recent number of violent crimes committed by extremists of this nature.