White House Mafia Blog

STICKY: How to Navigate This Blog and Other Important Stuff...

EXCLUSIVE DEALS FROM YAHOO!

A) Sign up for Yahoo! Personals 7 Day Free Trial

B) Download the Yahoo! Music Jukebox Plus

C) Reliable web hosting from Yahoo! Web Hosting - 35% off for a limited time!

NAVIGATION:

1) On most posts, you must click "continue reading" to see all the text or pictures.

2) To find posts not shown on the front page, use the links you see on the left and right side of this blog: "recent posts," "archives," and "categories."

3) Use the "Email/RSS Feed" tools at the top right to grab the RSS feed or subscribe via email.

If you haven't read it already, check out Chas Freeman's speech to the United States Information Agency Alumni Association: Why Not Let Them Hate Us, as long as They Fear Us?

Important Announcement...

From now on photos will be posted on Flickr and blogging will be done on WordPress.

Why am I moving? Here's why.

What are the new web addresses?

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickrchrisco

WordPress: http://chrisco.wordpress.com

Please update your bookmarks and/or hop on over to the links above, where you can subscribe via Email or RSS feed.

Have a great 2008!

Cheers,
chrisco

Article: Laying Waste to the Deep Sea

From the Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007, Time Magazine:

Laying Waste to the Deep Sea
By Ken Stier

Far out on the high seas, on any given day, hundreds of fishing vessels drag huge nets, big enough to snag a 747 jumbo jet, across the ocean bottom, vacuuming up 150-year-old fish, flattening ancient reefs and destroying everything else in their paths.

Only the biodiversity of tropical rainforests rivals that of the deep sea — our planet's largest wilderness — an aquatic wonderland that is now being systematically razed by what is likely the world's most environmentally destructive business.

Excellent Article: The Picture Of Conformity - Big Brother Is Watching

From the Friday, November 16, 2007, Washington Post:

The Picture Of Conformity
In a Watched Society, More Security Comes With Tempered Actions

By Lynne Duke
Washington Post Staff Writer

Don't look now. Somebody's watching.

But you knew that, didn't you? How could you not? It's been apparent for years that we're being watched and monitored as we traverse airports and train stations, as we drive, train, fly, surf the Web, e-mail, talk on the phone, get the morning coffee, visit the doctor, go to the bank, go to work, shop for groceries, shop for shoes, buy a TV, walk down the street. Cameras, electronic card readers and transponders are ubiquitous. And in that parallel virtual universe, data miners are busily and constantly culling our cyber selves.

Is anywhere safe from the watchers, the trackers? Is it impossible to just be let alone?

There, in that quintessentially public space, the Mall, came Michael Thrasher, 43, an ordinary guy, just strolling on a lovely recent day. We found him near an entrance to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, where a tower-high surveillance camera loomed overhead.

Thrasher didn't immediately see it. But when asked his feelings about privacy and surveillance, he said, "You just feel like there's always someone looking at you."

Another Example of Insurance Companies Screwing Us - Healthcare Must Change - Plus My Rant: We Must Help Each Other - A Look at the French

America, we need to wake up and protest this kind of shit. We need to stick together and stick up for EACH OTHER. It's the only way they -- we're going to force them -- are going to change the current system.

Changes won't happen if we only care about ourselves and only say something when we're personally wronged.

Imagine a system in which, if you were wronged people would rush to your aid, whatever that might be, and if others were wronged you would rush to their aid? Sounds like a fairy tale, but it is possible. Indeed it's happening in some places.

In America the media makes fun of the French people and their system, which of course is not perfect, just like every other system. Did you ever wonder why it is that these fat cat corporate types, politicians, lobbyists and media companies, which are owned and controlled by rich people who benefit from the current system, spend so much time bashing the French? Why they want you to look down on them? Because they're scared that if you open your eyes and think for yourself that you'll see that actually the French have it pretty good... and if you see that then you'll want to make changes to the American system... and if that happens it will cost them money and power... and they like their money and power... they want to keep it... they don't want you to have any of it.... just keep slaving away... That's why.

Do you know that the French economy is more productive than the U.S. economy even though it has higher unemployment, everybody has healthcare, they only have a 35-hour work week, and they get many, many weeks of vacation per year? And they eat and drink lots of great food and drink! How can they have all this? Because they stick together. When the fat cats try to take from one group, the others strike and protest. It works.

Pay attention and think for yourself. Most importantly, stick up for other people, especially those who don't have what you have. This is the system we should work towards. We can do it by expanding the circle one person at a time. Get out there and stick up for someone. Now repeat. Make it your life! Cheers.

Now on to the article, which is just a microcosm of what's going on in the entire corrupt and perversely incentivized system.

State accuses Blue Shield of illegal cancellations
By Lisa Girion
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

December 13, 2007

What Does This Say About The System?

From the December 13, 2007, New York Times:

Contempt Vote in Panel for Bush Aides
By DAVID STOUT

WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Thursday to hold a present and a former aide to President Bush in contempt of Congress, but it is by no means clear that they will be dragged before the lawmakers anytime soon.

By 12 to 7, the committee voted citations against Joshua B. Bolten, the White House chief of staff, and Karl Rove, the president’s former chief political adviser, for refusing to comply with subpoenas in a Congressional inquiry into the firings of nine federal prosecutors.

Article: The Dream Is Dead

From the December 12, 2007, New York Times:

The Dream Is Dead
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON

The man crowned by Tommy Franks as “the dumbest [expletive] guy on the planet” just made the dumbest [expletive] speech on the planet.

Doug Feith, the former Rummy gofer who drove the neocon plan to get us into Iraq, and then dawdled without a plan as Iraq crashed into chaos, was the headliner at a reunion meeting of the wooly-headed hawks Monday night at the American Enterprise Institute.

The room was packed as the former No. 3 at the Pentagon, previewing his upcoming book, “War and Decision,” conceded that the case could be made that “mistakes were made.” His former boss, Paul Wolfowitz, and the former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle sat supportively in the front row.

But he wasn’t self-flagellating. He was simply trying to put an egghead gloss on his Humpty Dumpty mishegoss.

Article: Ominous Arctic Melt Worries Experts

New York Times Book Review: The Fall of the House of Bush

From the December 7, 2007, New York Times:

Books of The Times
Under a Microscope, Bush and His Presidency
By MICHIKO KAKUTANI

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF BUSH (on Amazon.com)

The Untold Story of How a Band of True Believers Seized the Executive Branch, Started the Iraq War, and Still Imperils America’s Future

By Craig Unger

437 pages. Scribner. $27 (less on Amazon.com)
The story of how the Bush administration took the United States to war in Iraq is such a complicated tale with so many plots and subplots, so much misinformation and spin, so many missteps and outrageous misjudgments that reporters in countless newspaper and magazine articles, television documentaries and dozens of books have struggled to piece together the narrative. It is a continuing process, as more and more information comes to light and needs to be sifted and weighed and connected.

Article: One couple's descent into health-care hell

From CBS MarketWatch:

One couple's descent into health-care hell
By Sarah Baicker, Medill News Service
Last update: 4:24 p.m. EST Dec. 9, 2007

WASHINGTON (Medill News Service) -- Denise and Marvin Shaw did everything right. They both had good jobs, a nice home in Virginia and excellent health insurance through Denise's Fortune 500 employer. In the middle of a national health-care crisis, the Shaw's were secure and unafraid.

But in just over a year, and through no fault of their own, everything changed.

Their story illustrates the pervasiveness of the health-care problem in America -- even for those who have access to health insurance, the slightest wrong move not only threatens peace of mind, but a family's economic security.

Article: Inquiry Begins Into Destruction of Tapes

From the December 9, 2007, New York Times:

Inquiry Begins Into Destruction of Tapes
By MARK MAZZETTI and DAVID JOHNSTON

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 — The Justice Department and the Central Intelligence Agency’s internal watchdog on Saturday began a joint preliminary inquiry into the spy agency’s destruction of hundreds of hours of videotapes showing interrogations of top operatives of Al Qaeda.

The announcement comes amid new questions about which officials inside the C.I.A. were involved in the decision to destroy the videotapes, which showed severe interrogation methods used on two Qaeda suspects, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

The agency operative who ordered the destruction of the tapes in November 2005 was Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., then the chief of the C.I.A.’s national clandestine service, known as the Directorate of Operations until 2005. On Saturday, a government official who had spoken recently with Mr. Rodriguez on the matter said that Mr. Rodriguez told him that he had received approval from lawyers inside the clandestine service to destroy the tapes.

Draft Gore to Run for Pres. & Vote for Time Person of Year

Here’s the Draft Gore website:
www.draftgore.com

And here’s where you can vote for him on Time's website:
dwarfurl.com/dfe3f

Cheers,
chrisco

PS: If you really want to help spread the word and make this “draft Gore” idea go viral just do something like write about it, blog about it, comment about it, sign the petition, etc. If you don’t know HTML you can just grab the code for this bulletin and repost it on your blog or website. Feel free to edit or whatever. Here is a link to the code (2 KB .txt file): http://www.box.net/shared/8ypp21n0k1

Article: The Coup at Home

From the November 11, 2007, New York Times:

The Coup at Home
By FRANK RICH

AS Gen. Pervez Musharraf arrested judges, lawyers and human-rights activists in Pakistan last week, our Senate was busy demonstrating its own civic mettle. Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein, liberal Democrats from America’s two most highly populated blue states, gave the thumbs up to Michael B. Mukasey, ensuring his confirmation as attorney general.

So what if America’s chief law enforcement official won’t say that waterboarding is illegal? A state of emergency is a state of emergency. You’re either willing to sacrifice principles to head off the next ticking bomb, or you’re with the terrorists. Constitutional corners were cut in Washington in impressive synchronicity with General Musharraf’s crackdown in Islamabad.

In the days since, the coup in Pakistan has been almost universally condemned as the climactic death knell for Bush foreign policy, the epitome of White House hypocrisy and incompetence.

Article: From the Desk of Donald Rumsfeld . . . "Sacrifice = Victory"

From the Desk of Donald Rumsfeld . . .
In Sometimes-Brusque 'Snowflakes,' He Shared Worldview, Shaped Policy

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 1, 2007; A01

In a series of internal musings and memos to his staff, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld argued that Muslims avoid "physical labor" and wrote of the need to "keep elevating the threat," "link Iraq to Iran" and develop "bumper sticker statements" to rally public support for an increasingly unpopular war.

Article: Fearing Fear Itself

From the October 29, 2007, New York Times:

Fearing Fear Itself
By PAUL KRUGMAN

In America’s darkest hour, Franklin Delano Roosevelt urged the nation not to succumb to “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.” But that was then.

Today, many of the men who hope to be the next president — including all of the candidates with a significant chance of receiving the Republican nomination — have made unreasoning, unjustified terror the centerpiece of their campaigns.

Consider, for a moment, the implications of the fact that Rudy Giuliani is taking foreign policy advice from Norman Podhoretz, who wants us to start bombing Iran “as soon as it is logistically possible.”

Excellent Article: Pursue Them to The Grave

From Stephen Pizzo at NewsForReal.com:

October 29, 2007

Pursue Them
Pursue Them to The Grave

Those us of a certain age have been here and done this before. And many of us wonder how we could possibly allowed ourselves to be sucked into it again. And then it dawned on me this weekend -- the one critical thing we did not learn from our disastrous Vietnam experience. It's not what we did, but what we failed to do. And that one thing is the reason for nearly everything that's gone so terribly wrong in Iraq and our so-called "war on terror."

Got your pen? Because we can't afford to ever for this again. Okay, here it is:
http://www.newsforreal.com/

Article: What will World War IV cost?

What will World War IV cost?
How about $32,000 each, $5 gas and a military draft for your kids
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
Last Update: 7:19 PM ET Oct 29, 2007

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- First, let's clear the air: Someone please tell the White House we're already fighting World War III. Yes, they're great at picking buzzwords, but the truth is our global "war on terror" has engaged (or enraged) every nation on the planet.

Article: Ich bin ein Berliner

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air - however slight - lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.
-- Justice William O. Douglas

Click through to read the article...

Editorial: Another $200 Billion Down Bush's Bottomless Pit

From the October 25, 2007, New York Times:

Editorial
Another $200 Billion

President Bush waited until he had vetoed a relatively inexpensive children’s health insurance bill before asking for tens of billions of dollars more for his misadventure in Iraq. The cynicism of that maneuver is only slightly less shameful than the president’s distorted priorities. Despite a pretense of fiscal prudence, Mr. Bush keeps throwing money at his war, regardless of the cost in blood, treasure or children’s health care.

Article: Recovering From Injury, Returning to TV, Speaking for the Wounded (Bob Woodruff)

"Every day, now, is a 'free day.'" I can relate to that. In fact, those are the exact words I've been using ever since my mountain biking accident, which resulted in a seriously fractured skull and shattered cheekbone. I still have a good-size indentation in my right temple and large scars on my neck and head. How does it make me feel? I say it again, every day is a free day... thank you. Now on to the NYT story:

From the October 25, 2007, New York Times:

Recovering From Injury, Returning to TV, Speaking for the Wounded
By JACQUES STEINBERG

In the summer of 2006, as Israeli and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon were clashing, Bob Woodruff desperately wished to fly there to report for ABC News. Never mind that it had been less than six months since a roadside explosion in Iraq pocked his brain with shrapnel and other debris, almost killing him.

“I couldn’t even remember the word ‘Lebanon,’” Mr. Woodruff, 46, said in an interview this week in his office at ABC News, reflecting on the months after he emerged from a 36-day, medically induced coma. “I couldn’t remember the names ‘Israel’ and ‘Hezbollah.’”

Article: Straitjacket Bush (Bushes Gone Wild)

Straitjacket Bush
The president's warmongering remarks on the Iranian threat suggest he is psychotic. Really.
Rosa Brooks

October 25, 2007

Forget impeachment.

Liberals, put it behind you. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney shouldn't be treated like criminals who deserve punishment. They should be treated like psychotics who need treatment.

Because they've clearly gone mad. Exhibit A: We're in the middle of a disastrous war in Iraq, the military and political situation in Afghanistan is steadily worsening, and the administration's interrogation and detention tactics have inflamed anti-Americanism and fueled extremist movements around the globe. Sane people, confronting such a situation, do their best to tamp down tensions, rebuild shattered alliances, find common ground with hostile parties and give our military a little breathing space. But crazy people? They look around and decide it's a great time to start another war.

Article: Madness as Method (Crazy Dick Goes to Iran)

From the October 24, 2007, New York Times:

Madness as Method
By MAUREEN DOWD

Dick Cheney’s craziness used to influence foreign policy.

Now it is foreign policy.

Article: Suicide Is Not Painless

From the October 21, 2007, New York Times:

Suicide Is Not Painless
By FRANK RICH

IT was one of those stories lost in the newspaper’s inside pages. Last week a man you’ve never heard of — Charles D. Riechers, 47, the second-highest-ranking procurement officer in the United States Air Force — killed himself by running his car’s engine in his suburban Virginia garage.

Mr. Riechers’s suicide occurred just two weeks after his appearance in a front-page exposé in The Washington Post. The Post reported that the Air Force had asked a defense contractor, Commonwealth Research Institute, to give him a job with no known duties while he waited for official clearance for his new Pentagon assignment. Mr. Riechers, a decorated Air Force officer earlier in his career, told The Post: “I really didn’t do anything for C.R.I. I got a paycheck from them.” The question, of course, was whether the contractor might expect favors in return once he arrived at the Pentagon last January.

Article: Jimmy Carter Calls Cheney A "Disaster" For U.S.

From the October 10, 2007, New York Times:

Jimmy Carter Calls Cheney A "Disaster" For U.S
By REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday denounced Vice President Dick Cheney as a "disaster" for the country [and world!] and a "militant" who has had an excessive influence in setting foreign policy.

Cheney has been on the wrong side of the debate on many issues, including an internal White House discussion over Syria in which the vice president is thought to be pushing a tough approach, Carter said.

"He's a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world," Carter told the BBC World News America in an interview to air later on Wednesday.

Article: An Exit Toward Soul-Searching

These assholes get us into huge messes and shout us down when we're trying to keep America out of trouble with the world... then they quit at the height of the disaster and leave the suffering and damage they created for other to -- try to -- clean up. I wonder if they'll get a medal from Bush, like the other bush a-holes. Heckuva job!

From the Sunday, October 7, 2007; A01:

An Exit Toward Soul-Searching
As Bush Staffers Leave, Questions About Legacy Abound
By Peter Baker

It had been four days since Meghan O'Sullivan left her job at the White House. Just four days since she gave up her Secret Service pass, her classified hard drive and her entree to the president. Four days since she gave up any day-to-day responsibility for Iraq.

Too soon, evidently, for the dreams to end. "In fact, I was dreaming about Iraq last night," she said. "And I woke up and thought, 'When do you think this will stop?' "

Religious Nuts and Their Scandals Everywhere in bush's Amerika

Here's another one:

From the 2007-10-6 AP:

Scandal Brews at Oral Roberts University
By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS

TULSA, Okla. (Oct. 6) - Twenty years ago, televangelist Oral Roberts said he was reading a spy novel when God appeared to him and told him to raise $8 million for Roberts' university, or else he would be "called home."

Robert S. Cross, The Tulsa World / AP Richard Roberts, seen in 2004, is the son of televangelist Oral Roberts and president of the university that bears his father's name. He's denied allegations of misconduct detailed in a lawsuit filed by three ex-professors.

bush's Amerika: Religious Fanatics Only Care About a Single Issue

The Values Test
By JAMES C. DOBSON
Published: October 4, 2007
Colorado Springs, Colo.

REPORTS have surfaced in the press about a meeting that occurred last Saturday in Salt Lake City involving more than 50 pro-family leaders. The purpose of the gathering was to discuss our response if both the Democratic and Republican Parties nominate standard-bearers who are supportive of abortion. Although I was neither the convener nor the moderator of the meeting, I’d like to offer several brief clarifications about its outcome and implications.

After two hours of deliberation, we voted on a resolution that can be summarized as follows: If neither of the two major political parties nominates an individual who pledges himself or herself to the sanctity of human life, we will join others in voting for a minor-party candidate. Those agreeing with the proposition were invited to stand...

Two Cows - The Silicon Valley Version

You know those funny “two cows” emails going around? Such as here and here. Well I figured I’d add one more entry to the list:

You have two cows, both of whom go to a famous and over-rated university in Cambridge. One of them creates a me-me social network, the other stumbles upon and registers a great domain name, cowbook.com.

[click through to read the rest and see here for some more]

Article: Alan (Not Atlas) Shrugged

(image from www.alansbubble.com)

From the September 19, 2007, New York Times:

Alan (Not Atlas) Shrugged
By MAUREEN DOWD

It’s a lost art, slinking away.

Now the fashion is slinking back.

Nobody wants to simply admit they made a mistake and disappear for awhile. Nobody even wants to use the weasel words: “Mistakes were made.” No, far better to pop right back up and get in the face of those who were savoring your absence.

Article [and my comment]: The Nordic Option

COMMENT TO Roger Cohen regarding his "Nordic Option" article, posted below:

You can’t just compare the top tax rate in Sweden vs. the top tax rate in the US. You say [S]weden’s top personal income tax rate of 56 percent would make Americans pale.” What you fail to do is a full comparison of what people get (benefits) and what they pay (costs). That would turn your simpleton conclusions upside down. [Click through to read the rest]

Article: Sad Alan’s Lament

Yup.... that's why there's Alan's Bubble website (www.alansbubble.com). Click through to read Krugman's article: