Outside the Spectrum

Stop it.

   Whatever you have on John McCain, stop it. Whatever nude photographs, whatever information you have—stop making John McCain your little helper after you fucked him in South Carolina.

   This on the McCain Amendment from today’s New York Times:

The White House has threatened to veto any bill containing such a ban, but President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, has been negotiating with its chief sponsor, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to find a compromise.

   Although I have little respect for a man who has spent the last five or ten years being ass-raped by the Republican Right and telling everyone that it actually feels good, any remaining respect I have for the Senator will be gone if he compromises. We’ll see if it even survives the House.

   I might add that Hadley is one of the nefarious architects of the “lie this country into war” strategy that worked so well in 2003. He was the head doctor in the Office of Special Plans operating room dedicated to adulterating U.S. intelligence, with Drs. William Luti and Douglas Feith assisting. He was the one who “forgot” to tell the President that he shouldn’t include the Niger uranium info he adduced in his State of the Union because the CIA sent him two memos before the State of the Union saying the Niger uranium info was bunk. Hadley also repeatedly claimed that Iraq had ties to Al-Qaida after the CIA warned him repeatedly that such charges were not backed by intelligence. A few weeks after the 2003 State of the Union Hadley, to remove any further doubts about his desire to make claims despite intelligence estimates, again repeated the claim in a Chicago Tribune editorial that Iraq had tried to acquire uranium from Niger.

   Also from this seminal article:

The Bush administration has previously said the ban on cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment did not apply to Americans working overseas. In practice, that meant CIA employees could use methods in overseas prisons that would not be allowed in the United States.

   Am I taking crazy pills? How many times must this administration advocate torture before we, as a people, stand up and say “Whoa. This is America.”

   Proving once again that the line between 1933 Germany and 2005 America grows exceedingly thin, there’s always a justification and an apologist for Evil. We have to win the War on Terror! We have to use evil methods to do so! The ends justify the means! God knows we would never misuse torture!

   Ridiculous. I’ve been flogging the torture horse for a few days now just because the issue is so important. And unambiguous.

How Much Money?

We have spent $277 billion. That’s what’s been appropriated for this operation. We have $50 billion sitting on the table right now in our supplemental, or bridge fund we call it, in the Appropriations Committee. They’re going to ask for another $100 billion next year.

   That’s Murtha speaking, a quote I peeled off of thinkprogress.org. Did you know that the Marshal Plan was only 97 billion in year 1950 dollars? That Vietnam was 531 billion in Y2005 dollars? At our current level and spending rate this war is approaching the cost of the Vietnam War, and will exceed it in two years. It has already cost us half of that war in dollars spent.

   Disaster. Over and over again the evidence piles up that this preemptive, illegal war in Iraq is a disaster, even if we leave next year. Even if 2,100 dead and tens of thousands of American soldiers maimed means nothing to you. Even if 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians means nothing to you.

   I overheard Talking Points saying that Preznit Drinky’s* JAR is up to 48%. Try 45%, Misquote. And that is from the Rasmussen Poll which, as my friend Chris Bowers said, “records a higher number of Republicans in their polls than other outfits. Generally speaking, along with their practice of pushing out all undecideds, this largely accounts for the discrepancy between their results and those of other polls.”

   Even Gallup runs two or three points higher than other poll in Drinky’s JARs, a discrepancy I have no desire to explore.

Ask Not For Whom the Bell Tolls…

Paging Mr. Delay…paging Mr. Delay…you’re wanted in THE NINTH CIRCLE OF HELL.

   This from my buds at the burntorangereport:

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll taken from December 1-4 shows that, if the election were held today, Congressmen Tom Delay would lose his CD 22 seat to an unnamed Democratic candidate. Here are the numbers from CNN's website:
QUESTION: If Tom DeLay runs for re-election in 2006, in general, are you more likely to vote for the Republican candidate Tom DeLay or for the Democratic Party's candidate for Congress?
Democrat49%Tom DeLay 36%

   I smell something, Mr. Delay…it’s…it’s….the smell of death.

   Right now the Bugman is shitting baby-sized bricks and popping hillbilly heroin faster than Rush Limbaugh on a bender. If you don’t think he’s aware of or cares about this poll you’re nuts. The Overlords of the Republican Corporatocracy realize that unless Delay beats the charges, kisses a thousand babies and then receives a small miracle from God he’s going down like W’s Job Approval Ratings. Time to jack up the terror alert level, boys!