Delay needs Truth Serum

DeLay: "I wasn't asked to testify in front of the grand jury", DeLay's lawyer: "He was asked to testify in front of the grand jury" LIAR!

Delay's blame game

DeLay has now blamed The Austin-American Statesman, “unabashed partisan zealot” District Attorney Earle (the truth is here), a “runaway” grand jury, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the DCCC, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Democrats generally, and the rest of the news media.

Poor Tom DeLay.

And the Kool-Aid drinking GOP.

George not the only one drunk these days

Two Politcal Junkies

Nail the hammer to a billboard

Imagine Tom DeLay in Jail

GOP Majority Leader Tom Delay and two close associates were just indicted on charges of criminal conspiracy for channeling illegal corporate money to advance careers of fellow republicans and engineer an uprecedented power grab of the Texas government.

This is just the latest charge in a string of ethics violations swirling around DeLay including his abuse of power, money-for-influence machine, corporate shilling, ethics rebukes, foreign trips with lobbyists, and huge campaign payouts to family members.

It's time to put DeLay and the GOP culture of corruption he has fostered where it belongs: behind bars.

Give now to make make this billboard a reality.

"If I wasn't walking with the Lord, I would have been destroyed."—Tom DeLay

This is only the beginning folks...

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Representative Tom DeLay, the highest-ranking U.S. House leader ever to face criminal charges, called his indictment yesterday ``one of the weakest, most baseless'' in American history. Even if he's right, bigger legal battles may lie ahead.

The larger legal challenge for DeLay may center on a task force led by the U.S. Justice Department that's investigating Jack Abramoff, the indicted lobbyist who boasted of his relationship with DeLay.

A toast from The 22nd Congressional District of Texas

Is Bill Frist next?

The Republican Senate Majority Leader possibly on the way out as well. Lessons learned at Justice Sunday?

Per Raw Story

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, now under a formal investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading, made between $2 million and $6 million by selling his HCA holdings just before stock values plummeted in the face of a bad earnings report, an analysis released today by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) alleges.

Tom: Back to the good old days

Delay's statement

Delay's statement to the press. Found on Crooks and Liars.

A little about Ronnie Earle before the smears begin

You’ll hear plenty from DeLay et al. about Ronnie Earle. Here are the facts:

EARLE HAS PROSECUTED FOUR TIMES AS MANY DEMOCRATS AS REPUBLICANS: “Over Earle’s 27-year tenure, his Public Integrity Unit has prosecuted 15 elected officials, including 12 Democrats.” [Los Angeles Times, 5/15/05]

EARLE PROSECUTED DEMOCRATS AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF STATE GOVERNMENT: “Some of the Democrats prosecuted by Earle and his Public Integrity Unit are former Texas House Speaker Gib Lewis, former Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox, former State Treasurer Warren Harding and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Yarbrough.” [AP, 12/12/04]

EARLE AIDES WENT ON TO RUN FOR OFFICE AS REPUBLICANS: “Some of his top assistants have been with him for decades. A few have gone on to run for elected office as Republicans.” [Los Angeles Times, 5/15/05]

FRIEND OF OFFICIAL TARGETED BY EARLE CALLED HIM A ‘BOY SCOUT’: “Democrats, for their part, are still upset over the prosecution of Attorney General Jim Mattox for bribery in 1985. … He was acquitted and years later, Jim Marston, a civil lawyer in Austin and friend of Mr. Mattox, asked Earle why he went ahead with the questionable case. “I said, ‘Ronnie, how can it be an abuse of power to threaten a lawyer? We threaten each other all the time.’ He told me that elected officials are held to a higher standard. They are supposed to be [above suspicion] like Caesar’s wife.’ It was then that Mr. Marston realized how deep Earle’s principles run. ‘Ronnie Earle is a Boy Scout who is offended by wrongdoings, chief among them, public officials’ abuse of power.’ [Christian Science Monitor, 12/03/04]

EARLE HAS REPUTATION AS PRINCIPLED, ‘OVERLY CAUTIOUS’: “Deliberate in the capital cases he sends to juries, Earle is well known for examining an issue from all angles before acting. ‘If I have any complaint about Ronnie, it’s that he is overly cautious about who he prosecutes,’ says Marston. ‘The fact that it has taken two years to investigate Tom DeLay is a sign not of partisanship, but of being completely careful.’” [Christian Science Monitor, 12/03/04]

EARLE HAS REPUTATION FOR ‘STRONG MORAL STREAK’: “[T]o those who know him, Earle has always exhibited a strong moral streak - from his formative years growing up in a small town outside Fort Worth, to his time on the Austin night court, to his political service in the state legislature. But they contend his morality is tempered by his compassion. ‘Ronnie is very principled and will do the right thing even if it isn’t the smartest political thing to do,’ says Ellen Halbert, a victim’s rights advocate.” [Christian Science Monitor, 12/03/04]

EARLE HAS REPUTATION FOR RESPECTING THE RULES: “‘One of the things I admired most about Ronnie was his indefatigable ability to go and meet with groups all over town all the time–right-wing groups, left-wing groups, the Rotary,’ says Bill Reid, an attorney who retired from Earle’s office in 1997. ‘He’s not a bloodthirsty prosecutor who wanted to get notches on his gun. There are some who have a reputation for walking close to the line in terms of evidence and rights, but there was never a push or inclination from him that we ought to bend the rules. Working for him, I was doing what I wanted to do, and I could go home and sleep at night.’” [Los Angeles Times, 5/15/05]

HOUSTON CHRONICLE: ALLEGATIONS OF PARTISTANSHIP NOT SUPPORTED BY FACTS: Chronicle editorial: “The record does not support allegations that Earle is prone to partisan witch hunts.” [6/14/04]

Delay indicted: The hammer falls

Well Tom finally gets what he deserves.

A Texas grand jury today indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and two political associates, charging them with a conspiracy to violate Texas campaign finance laws. DeLay said he was temporarily stepping down from his post as the No. 2 Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Meanwhile the White House still says he is a great ally and to let the legal process work. Sound familiar?

Jack Cafferty on Tom DeLay: "Has he been indicted yet?" (VIDEO)

The right just adores Jack Cafferty.

When asked about Tom DeLay's position on government pork, Jack "Ching Chong" Cafferty responded with "Has he been indicted yet?". Perhaps Jack should ask "Is my embarrassing career over yet?".

BLITZER: All right. Tom DeLay says there's no pork, everything is essential. I don't know if you heard him say that.

CAFFERTY: Has he been indicted yet?

BLITZER: We'll leave that alone.

Video available in WMV or Real formats.

I love him!

Tom Delay: Don't pick up the soap

Why you may ask? look here, here, here, here and here.

Delay from the other side

SunTzu expresses her conservative views of Tom Delay.

No one in the Republican caucus and broader GOP community would question Majority Leader Tom Delay's conservative bona fides. Yet, Mr. Delay responded to calls for cuts to earmarks in the recently enacted transportation bill by preemptively stating that "My earmarks are pretty important to building the economy". What does it mean when an avowed fiscal conservative and leader of the conservative small government movement makes such a remark?

Mr. Delay faces the toughest re-election fight of his life next year. As usual, the stakes are not ideological as the Democrats are not attempting to unseat Mr. Delay by advancing better ideas. Rather, they have waged a fairly succcessful campaign that seeks to tar Mr. Delay with the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal brush. This unprincipled assault on Mr. Delay's integrity has softened support for the congressman in his district.

What is significant is that a fiscal conservative facing a difficult re-election fight does not run on the conservative principles that led to his election in the first place. What is significant is that Mr. Delay thinks the way to turn back this electoral challenge is by delivering big government pork to his district.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for Mr. Delay getting re-elected. I'm confident that Mr. Delay knows his district and what it will take for his re-election to be successful. And there's the rub. In the fight of his life, Mr. Delay has decided that he needs to bring home the pork.

It is a commonplace that stress tests character and that under stress we tend to fall back on those behaviors that we really trust. When push comes to shove, an otherwise principled leader of the conservative movement, has decided that his re-election efforts are more likely to succeed using government largesse than advancing the conversative agenda. I trust Mr. Delay's reading of how to succeed in the 2006 election. I find his answer disturbing.

I don't blame Mr. Delay for the situation in which he finds himself. Rather I think it illustrates the crossroads at which we conservatives now find ourselves. Recent electoral successes have brought sweeping affirmation of the conservative message. Yet, despite this affirmation Mr. Delay's conviction that his re-election depends to some not insignificant measure upon delivering the pork is a symptom of the fact that the changes in national governance envisioned by the conservative message have yet to be understood at a gut level by the American people.

Conservatives are justified in their exuberance for and celebration of our electoral successes. At the same time, we need to recognize that we are only at the halfway point. Ideas have yet to be meaningfully translated into convictions.

Everyone second guessing Bush

Republicans continue with their internal fighting. This time Santorum knocks the White House over the beyond dead Social Security Plan. You gotta love it!

Santorum has been a vitriolic critic of President Bush's now all-but-defeated plan to privatize Social Security. Now, it seems, White House allies are pushing back

“The president did essentially what [Santorum] was talking about. I don’t know why he’s pinging the White House,” a GOP source with knowledge of the administration’s thinking told the Capitol Hill paper.

The paper's headline? "Santorum Out-Bushes Bush Team on Social Security."

Roll Call notes Santorum told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week that he didn’t understand Bush’s decision to take on “the sacred cow of the [political] left” so soon after the 2004 election.

“You’ve just defeated your opponent, and you know, you take a 3-iron to the beehive,” he told the Gazette. “You go out there and whack the beehive, and you wonder why all these bees are buzzing around your head. And not only do you whack the beehive, but then you don’t do anything more for two months.”

GOP insiders defended the administration by telling the paper that Bush did hit the ground running after announcing his intent to push Social Security privatization the day after the November 2004 election.

Remember when bush anounced his mandate after the election? Well he never had it and never will.

Nick Lampson new campaign site

I kind of like it...well anything is better than what he had before.

Things that make you say "what the f$ck"

From CBS News:

CBS News correspondent Gloria Borger reports that Michael Brown, who recently resigned as the head of the FEMA, has been rehired by the agency as a consultant to evaluate its response following Hurricane Katrina.

(HT: Crooks and Liars)

UPDATE: The Department of Homeland Security is already spinning the story. From the AP:

Brown is continuing to work at the Federal Emergency Management Agency at full pay, with his Sept. 12 resignation not taking effect for two more weeks, said Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke.

During that time, Brown will advise the department on “some of his views on his experience with Katrina,” as he transitions out of his job, Knocke said.

This isn’t consistent, however, with Brown’s statement on the day he resigned:

Today I resigned as Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As I told the President, it is important that I leave now to avoid further distraction from the ongoing mission of FEMA.

Again thanks to Think Progress.

Some say Bush has hit the bottle again so that probably explains it.

Back home from Rita road trip

Hello all, I made it back from a trip out of Houston that was quite an adventure. The family and I made the decision to evacuate and head south instead of our original destination of San Antonio. And man was that a wise move to make. The horror stories I heard Wednesday of people heading west and north made we wonder if we should even leave at all. Of course my wife would never go for that with two kids and all so we packed up our personal belongings, hopped in the car and hoped for the best. Traveling south was a gamble because at the time Rita was still projected to land in the Matagorda area which is just due south of Sugar Land. I was amazed that at 4am the roads were at a complete stand still. It took us four hours to reach the town of Rosenberg which normally is a 20 to 30 minute drive. The scene on Highway 59 was amazing and very chaotic. The average speed was anywhere from two to five miles per hour, there were cars out of gas and broken down on the side of road and people driving with their eyes closed from a night of driving. We actually saw two incidents of individuals falling asleep behind the wheel. Every artery onto 59 was packed with all gas stations with tremendous lines if they even had gas at all. It was at this point where I actually became very nervous knowing I had already used a quarter tank of gas and only traveled 30 miles. What would the future hold for us? Would we run out of gas? Would the bumper to bumper traffic extend to Victoria...to Corpus Christi or longer. Would we get caught in the path of the storm? Would we need to locate a shelter?

Well all our worries diminished as we passed Rosenberg where the traffic thinned out and was able to travel over the speed limit. High fives were in order here only to arrive at our next problem....NO GAS.

We stopped at gas station after gas station only to find people waiting in line for gas at pumps that didn't even have gas. Even though the pump had a no gas sign, people were so desperate that they would attempt a transaction anyway...thus creating a line. After topping off at a station further south I was able to make it to the comfortable home of my parents in San Benito, Texas.

I arrived home yesterday to a few leaves on my driveway. Go figure. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

Global warming is a national security issue

To slow the rate of global warming is to reduce appreciably the greenhouse gas emissions. This is the familiar agenda of the global warming concern. However, with the consequences of global warming already so severe, global warming has to be treated as a national security problem, involving not just the EPA but also the National Security Council and the top leadership of America. Global warming is a national security issue

Hitting the road

Well this little lefty is loading up the wife and kids and heading to San Antonio. I'll stay in touch as much as possible. I'll be packing the laptop.

Holy Shit!!!!!

Rita rolls on

You want to see scary!

Parts of Houston join mandatory evacuation.

Sugar Land urges all businesses to shut it down.

Houston area storm surge map.

Rita: It's Time to get Serious

To my fellow Houstonians and other locals. I would listen to Eric. This is not a storm to mess with.

If today began with a glimmer of hope for Houston, it has ended rather poorly.

The evening's last update for Hurricane Rita shows a powerful category-4 hurricane, with 145 mph winds, coming ashore between Matagorda and Freeport. If anything, the official track has nudged closer to the Houston metro area tonight.

As I wrote several months ago, this is very nearly a worst-case scenario for Houston.

If there is a reason to hope for those of us living in the greater Houston area, it's the fact that Rita still lies more than three full days away from land. Wide uncertainty remains in the forecast, and, if anything, some of the models are yet diverging.

Considerable uncertainty also remains in the intensity forecast, as Rita could still come ashore as a weaker storm.

However, it should now be abundantly clear to everyone along the middle and upper coasts of Texas that a very powerful hurricane is headed our way. The time for drinking a margarita to Rita has ended. It's time to be serious.

Tom DeLay and Don Young Co-Porkers of the Month

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) Co-Porkers of the Month for their response to requests to offset the costs of Hurricane Katrina relief. According to a Sept. 14 Washington Times article, Rep. DeLay declared an "ongoing victory" in the effort to cut spending, and that the Republicans had "pared (the government) down pretty good." While claiming to be receptive to proposed offsets, DeLay said that "nobody has been able to come up with any yet." He added that cutting the 6,000 earmarks in the recently-passed $295 billion Transportation Equity Act - A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU) would adversely affect "important infrastructure" and the economy, and it would be "right" to borrow the money to pay for Katrina relief.

read more...

John Q. Public isn't buying it anymore

Go figure! As the right wonders why their selected leader is the gutter, the White House continues to add more fuel to the fire day after day. The Bush White House will now use one of their own WMD experts to now investigate the Katrina mess. Now this is the kind of stupid crap that they once used to get away with, but not any longer. Jack Cafferty on CNN says, as I have been saying for some time now, that John Q. Public isn't buying it anymore.

Watch the video.

And 81% of Americans want an independent panel to investigate Katrina. Man is this loser we have as a president so out of touch or what?

Why I love beer

Rita may just give Barbara her wish

1900 US fatalities in Iraq

U.S. fatalities in Iraq eclipse 1,900 after four U.S. soldiers killed in roadside bombings.

Dead Agenda

The American Spectator explains How GW is disappointing people from his own party.

But at this stage of the game, barring some imaginative political moves that bear some resemblance to the Bush Administration circa 2002, Republicans on Capitol Hill and even some longtime Bush team members in various Cabinet level departments say this Administration is done for.

"You run down the list of things we thought we could accomplish and you have to wonder what we thought we were thinking," says a Bush Administration member who joined on in 2001. "You get the impression that we're more than listless. We're sunk."

Bush's approval lower after Katrina Speech

Bush speech a flop! Americans are not buying his BS any longer.

3 polling days after George W. Bush's prime-time speech to the nation from Jackson Square in New Orleans, a "can't win" dynamic is unfolding for the President, according to exclusive SurveyUSA data gathered Friday 9/16, Saturday 9/17 and Sunday 9/18. The number of Americans who now approve of the President's response to Hurricane Katrina is down: 40% today compared to 42% before he announced the Gulf Opportunity Zone. The number of Americans who disapprove of the President's response to Katrina is up: 56% today compared to 52% before the speech. Bush went from "Minus 10" on his Response to Katrina before the speech to "Minus 16" today.

Rove speaks off the record

Via Huffington Post

Karl Rove, President Bush's top political advisor and deputy White House chief of staff, spoke at businessman Teddy Forstmann's annual off the record gathering in Aspen, Colorado this weekend. Here is what Rove had to say that the press wasn't allowed to report on.

On Katrina: The only mistake we made with Katrina was not overriding the local government...

On The Anti-War Movement: Cindy Sheehan is a clown. There is no real anti-war movement. No serious politician, with anything to do with anything, would show his face at an anti-war rally...

On Bush's Low Poll Numbers: We have not been good at explaining the success in Iraq. Polls go up and down and don't mean anything...

On Iraq: There has been a big difference in the region. Iraq will transform the Middle East...

On Judy Miller And Plamegate: Judy Miller is in jail for reasons I don't really understand...

On Joe Wilson: Joe Wilson and I attend the same church but Joe goes to the wacky mass...

Bush Crime Family

John Ellis Bush, 21, shown in this photo provided by the Austin, Texas Police Department, was arrested early Friday morning, Sept. 16, 2005, in Austin and charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest, a Travis County Sheriff's Department spokesman said. Bush is the youngest son of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. (AP Photo/Austin Police Department)

And then there is Noelle.




and the future maybe?

Potty one day...buttons the next

There was just something kind of creepy about the speech last night. So fake...so phony...so not real...so made up...

Now We'll Never Know

Possibly the next governor of Texas: Kinky Friedman

Texas executed Frances Newton last night by lethal injection. Newton was the third woman and first black woman Texas has executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1982, and she might've been innocent.


There was evidence enough in fact to compel the president of the American Bar Association to write a letter to Rick Perry and to the Executive Clemency Unit of the Texas Board of Prisons and Paroles:


As President of the American Bar Association, I write to express the concern of the ABA about the case of Francis Newton, an African-American woman who is scheduled to be executed on September 14, 2005. Our concern arises from our understanding that arguably significant and compelling new evidence regarding Ms. Newton's case has not yet been evaluated by Texas courts. This new evidence includes forensic evidence and evidence of a lack of motive, both of which are made more serious by Ms. Newton's continuing and unwavering claim of innocence.


The Austin Chronicle claims that Newton was the first black woman to be executed since the Civil War, and points out that the manner in which Newton went from court room to death row is both frighteningly slipshod and incredibly common.


Unique in that historical sense, in other ways the Frances Newton case is painfully unexceptional. For there is no incontrovertible evidence against Newton, and the paltry evidence that does exist has been completely compromised. Moreover, her story is one more in a long line of Texas death row cases in which the prosecutions were sloppy or dishonest, the defenses incompetent or negligent, and the constitutional guarantee of a fair trial was honored only in name.

...

Lingering questions about the physical evidence against Newton prompted the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend, and Gov. Rick Perry to grant, a 120-day reprieve for Newton on Dec. 1, 2004 – the day she was last scheduled for execution. Although Perry said he saw no "evidence of innocence" – legally, an oxymoron – he granted the four-month stay to allow for retesting of evidence contested by Newton's defense, including nitrite residue on the hem of her skirt and gun ballistics evidence.

But testing on the skirt proved impossible, because the 1987 tests had destroyed the nitrite particles, and Harris Co. court officials had stored the skirt by sealing it inside a bag together with items of the victims' bloody clothing – thereby rendering it worthless as evidence. The second round of ballistics testing, on the other hand, supposedly confirmed a match between the gun prosecutors say Newton used and the bullets that killed her family. However, that match may be fundamentally undermined – because there is no certain connection between the gun and Newton.


At the very least, this is a case that deserved more attention from the State of Texas. We are not doing enough to insure equal justice in this state, and that's a frightening thing indeed when it comes to capital punishment. As Kinky himself often says "I'm not against the death penalty, but I am against executing the wrong person." The governor's job is to do everything in the office's power to make sure that only the guilty are put to death in Texas and that all evidence gets a fair hearing.

True justice demands nothing less.

Leadership isn't a toll-free number

Kerry speaks...

"Leadership isn't a speech or a toll-free number. Leadership is getting the job done. No American doubts that New Orleans will rise again, they doubt the competence and commitment of this Administration.

Weeks after Katrina, Americans want an end to politics-as-usual that leaves them dangerously and unforgivably unprepared.

Americans want to know that their government will be there when it counts with leadership that keeps them safe, not speeches in the aftermath to explain away the inexcusable."

The 'Dirty Bomb 54'

Think about this as Bush speaks tonight

Delay's "Ongoing Victory"

Thanks to Think Progress:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay yesterday declared an “ongoing victory” in his effort to cut spending, and said “there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget.” Here’s a list of vital programs Tom DeLay has marshaled through Congress:

$25,000 to study mariachi music in Nevada

$1.5 million for an Alaskan bus stop with heated sidewalks and electronic signs

$75,000 set aside for the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Appleton, Wisconsin

$100,000 for a film festival in Rochester, New York.

$50 million for an indoor rainforest in Iowa.

$18,000 for a smoking booth at a private New Jersey airport.

$200,000 for a peanut festival in Alabama

$200 million to build a bridge from Ketchikan, Alaska to a nearby island with 50 inhabitants.

$1 million for the B.B. King Museum in Indianola

$300,000 to construct the Great Falls Parking Garage in Auburn, Maine

$ 240,000 for potato storage research in Madison, Wisconsin

Bush: Can I go potty?

Reuters: U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14.

Delay gone wild

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that Republicans have done so well in cutting spending that he declared an "ongoing victory," and said there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget.

Mr. DeLay was defending Republicans' choice to borrow money and add to this year's expected $331 billion deficit to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief. Some Republicans have said Congress should make cuts in other areas, but Mr. DeLay said that doesn't seem possible

Asked if that meant the government was running at peak efficiency, Mr. DeLay said, "Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority we've pared it down pretty good."

But

American Conservative Union Chairman David A. Keene said federal spending already was "spiraling out of control" before Katrina, and conservatives are "increasingly losing faith in the president and the Republican leadership in Congress.

"Excluding military and homeland security, American taxpayers have witnessed the largest spending increase under any preceding president and Congress since the Great Depression," he said.

Don't you feel sorry for the bubble boys. Even their own huge conservative group turns on GOP, Bush over spending.

The party of national security

And they said Kerry wouldn't keep us safe. LIARS!

DeLay associates indicted in investigation

Funny how corruption runs in the moral conservative party. Stakeholder explains below.

DeLay associates indicted in investigation [AP]

Two associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay were charged Tuesday with two additional felony charges of violating Texas election law and criminal conspiracy to violate election law for their role in the 2002 legislative races.

The indictment is the seventh this month from a Travis County grand jury investigating the use of corporate money in the campaigns that gave Republicans control of the Texas House.

Jim Ellis, who heads Americans for a Republican Majority, and John Colyandro, former executive director of Texans for a Republican Majority, already are facing charges of money laundering in the case. Colyandro also faces 13 counts of unlawful acceptance of a corporate political contribution. The use of corporate money to influence political races is illegal in Texas.

The money laundering charges stem from $190,000 in corporate money that was sent to the Republican National Party. The party then spent the same amount of money on seven candidates for the Texas Legislature.

Americans for a Republican Majority, also known as ARMPAC, is DeLay's national fundraising committee. The Republican from Sugar Land helped create Texans for a Republican Majority.

Money laundering is a first-degree felony with a punishment of 5 to 99 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The two violations of the Election Code constitute a third-degree felonies punishable by a possible prison sentence of 2 to 10 years and a fine of up to $10,000. Criminal conspiracy as charged in this indictment is a state jail felony with a possible punishment of 180 days to 2 years in the State Jail and a fine of up to $10,000.

There's been increasing buzz that DeLay may be off the hook indictment-wise, and can now turn his attention to the coming ethics probes. But as I discussed towards the end of this post on Saturday, things may be a little murkier than they seem. In short, if Earle has given up looking at DeLay because of jurisdiction, why not refer him to the proper channels? Perhaps the proper channel would be a Republican hack, but let them try and pull a cover-up and see how it goes, right? And why just meet with him cordially rather than having him testify before the Grand Jury, even if just for the sake of the cases against Colyandro and Ellis? Again, DeLay could be off the hook, but these questions still stand at the moment.

As I said in that post, "it sure looks to me like Earle has a few cards left to play."
Perhaps the infamous widely cast net of "conspiracy" is one of those cards - we shall see.

New Fema Boss is "Duct Tape Man"

Time to invest in Duct tape?

Pentagon Foresees Preemptive Nuclear Strikes by Jim Lobe

Amid increasing tension between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, and growing concern about overstretched U.S. ground forces, the George W. Bush administration is moving steadily toward adopting the preemptive use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states as an integral part of its global military strategy.

According to a March document by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that was recently posted to the Pentagon's Web site, Washington will not necessarily wait for potential adversaries to use what it calls "weapons of mass destruction" before resorting to a nuclear strike against them.

read more...

This guy is more than dangerous!

Who would you trust?

Martin Frost speaks out

This sounds like a great plan and it's up to the Democrats to step up while the Republicans are on the way down.

MEMO TO: Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Howard Dean [...]

It's time to throw out the traditional playbook and be bold as you plan for the 2006 elections. There is a real possibility that next year's contest will be a landslide for Democrats and you need to be prepared to win.

Specifically, Emanuel and Schumer should file candidates for every single Congressional seat and ever single Senatorial seat in the country, even those that have traditionally been Republican. And the DNC should be encouraging state legislative leaders throughout the country to take similar action on the state house and senate levels.

In 1964, Democrats picked up 37 House seats. Republicans picked up 54 House seats, in 1994. At the depths of the Great Depression in 1932, Democrats picked up 90 House seats. History could repeat itself in 2006, but only if Democrats expand the playing field.

Why do I think big Democratic gains loom? The public is rapidly coming around to the view that Republicans lack the ability to handle the big issues facing our country. It's one thing to be right-wing ideologues, but it's quite another to not be able to put one foot in front of another. [Frost cites Iraq, social security privatization, and Katrina as issues killing Republicans.]

Now back to the strategy of the 2006 election. Ever since losing the House and Senate in 1994, Democrats have narrowed rather than expanded the playing field. The theory was to concentrate resources in those races where we had the best chance to win. That strategy was successful for House Democrats in 1996 and 1998 when we picked up a total of 14 seats despite being badly outspent by Republicans. But it didn't get us back into the majority and it led to a stalemate in the next three elections. Senate Democrats picked up a few seats last time around, but ultimately were dealt a significant loss in 2004.

It's now time to shoot the moon. Recruit and file everywhere and then late in the cycle decide which races present the best opportunities. Be prepared to win some seats that you don't deserve because the "force is with you."

If necessary, the Party should pay the filing fees to encourage some candidates to enter the fray. Remember that the Republicans elected some "accidental Congressmen" in 1994 that only lasted one term -- like those who defeated Dan Rostenkowski and Jack Brooks -- but were there when they took control.

It is important to step up recruiting now because some states like Illinois, Texas and California have early filing deadlines in December and January.

It would be great poetic justice to make the Republicans defend everywhere rather than just concentrating their resources in certain races. Even if Republicans have more money, they won't have enough to fund candidates everywhere and may leave some races short.

DeLay met Texas prosecutor; Probe seen nearing end

Slip the noose? Does this mean he's guilty but just lucky? Only time will tell.

"It's not over yet, but there's some light at the end of the tunnel for DeLay," said a GOP source official close to the Majority Leader. "He may just slip the noose on this one."

Bush: I've been working

Bush had no clue Brownie resigned because he's been working. Yes working. To make the reporters aware he still wasn't on vacation he repeated it three times.

Watch the video here.

The lack of Leadership

Look what the lack of leadership has cost us folks. Look what it cost us.

http://www.crankyliberal.com/video/leadership.wmv

Thank you Cranky Liberal

Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace meets my family

Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace attends a photo opportunity for the Kids With Epilepsy fundraiser check presentation at the Ragin' Cajun. The proceeds of our fundraiser go the Epilepsy Foundation. With the help of the Ragin' Cajun, we raised over $4,000 with a match of another $4,000. Thanks to the great crew at the Ragin' and for Mayor Wallace for helping us spread the awareness of this disease. My son thanks you! He's the little guy on the right.


left to right - Mark Wallis, Robert (restaraunt manager), Thomas Abraham - Sugar Land At-Large Position One Council Member, Lisa Entiken, Emma Grace Villarreal- my beautiful daughter, Mayor David Wallace, Matthew Villarreal - #1 son and Luke Mandola.

How many members of the Bush Administration are needed to change a light bulb?

1. One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed.

2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed.

3. One to decide that, yeah, it IS dark in here.

4. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb.

5. One to tell the nations of the world that they are either for changing the light bulb or for darkness.

6. One to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Haliburton for the new light bulb.

7. One to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a step ladder under the banner: "Light Bulb Change Accomplished."

8. One administration insider to resign and write a book documenting in detail how Bush was literally in the dark.

9. One to viciously smear #8.

10. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light-bulb-changing policy all along.

11. And finally, one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.

Way to go Horns!

Hook'em

And then there was Tom Delay

Via DU.

Believe it or not, there has been some news that is totally unrelated to Hurricane Katrina. Long-time Top 10 favorite Tom DeLay was once again in hot water. Last week a grand jury indicted Texans for a Republican Majority, a political action committee founded by Tom DeLay, on charges of accepting illegal corporate money. Three of DeLay's political buddies had been previously indicted on related charges of money laundering, unlawful acceptance of corporate political contributions, and making corporate donations. According to the Associated Press, the Texas Association of Business was also charged in a scheme to funnel "massive amounts of secret corporate wealth" into Texas campaigns. Somehow The Hammer avoided indictment himself, although a complaint was filed with the House Ethics Committee last year. Unsurprisingly, the committee has so far neglected to take any disciplinary action against DeLay. It's yet another example of the Party of Personal Responsibility failing to hold any of its own members responsible.

Oh, and while we're on the subject of Tom DeLay, don't miss this quote. Speaking to a group of young hurricane survivors in Houston, DeLay compared their situation to being at camp, and asked, "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?" Yeah, Tom, it's a real blast.

Newsweek explains how Bush blew it

Bush should enjoy his 38% approval rating because that may be as high as it gets for a long time. Newsweek expains why.

Congressional investigations will take months to sort out who is to blame. A NEWSWEEK reconstruction of the government's response to the storm shows how Bush's leadership style and the bureaucratic culture combined to produce a disaster within a disaster.

Read very carefully

Tom DeLay: Response to Katrina a “Phenomenal Accomplishment”

Speaking on the floor of the House an hour ago, Tom DeLay evaluated the response to Hurricane Katrina:

It’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, but you should have been in that control room where those people were making life and death decisions, people that stayed up and got no sleep and very little food for five to six days straight trying to make the right decisions to save people. What happens when we come up here? They point the finger. You didn’t make the right decision here. You didn’t take care of my aides there. You didn’t do this. You didn’t do that. The point is if you look at the big picture, it’s a phenomenal accomplishment by everybody involved. It’s unbelievable. I am constantly struck by where we are today just a little over a week from the worst catastrophe that this country has seen.

This is why these they should not be running this country. Unbelievable!

Down the drain

58%. That’s how many people disapprove of how Bush “handled” the Katrina disaster.

Expect silnce from the right on this.

The Pew poll says 67% believe that President Bush “could have done more” to help the relief effort and 52% overall disapprove of him.

Zogby has a 60% negative rating on Bush's handling of Katrina with a 36% positive.

So for you guys in the minority...the lies are not working!

Shame on Rick Perry

Gov. Rick Perry, in hurricane relief tours around the state, in news releases and on his official state Web site, has urged Texans to contribute to three groups: the Red Cross, Salvation Army and the OneStar Foundation.The last of those is a volunteer-coordinating effort founded by Mr. Perry. "One thing about politicians, you can never overestimate their shamelessness," said Fred Lewis, director of Campaigns for People, a group that favors greater disclosure of political donations and limits on the influence of large donors....read on

hat tip to Crooks and Liars

Fire Brownie now

Delay: One step closer to jail

Smells rotten!

A grand jury has indicted a political action committee formed by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and a Texas business group in connection with 2002 legislative campaign contributions.

The five felony indictments against the two groups were made public Thursday. Neither DeLay nor any individuals with the business group has been charged with any wrongdoing.

Clueless!

Oblivious, in denial, dangerous

God help us all.

At a news conference, Pelosi, D-Calif., said Bush's choice for head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency had "absolutely no credentials."

She related that she urged Bush at the White House on Tuesday to fire Brown.

"He said 'Why would I do that?'" Pelosi said.

"'I said because of all that went wrong, of all that didn't go right last week.' And he said 'What didn't go right?'"

"Oblivious, in denial, dangerous," she added.

Delay: Kick the have-nots while they're down

What a poor choice of words when people are suffering at the gas pumps.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Republican Leader Tom DeLay said on Tuesday there was no support for rolling back the federal gasoline tax to offset higher
prices.

"Absolutely not," he told reporters after a meeting with President George W. Bush on issues related to Hurricane Katrina.

"Now more than ever you're going to need ... that infrastructure, those highway trust funds, to rebuild the bridges that were destroyed, rebuild the railroads that were destroyed. You have to have the infrastructure or you can't have a recovery," DeLay said.

Makes you wonder what these two creeps talked about... permanent tax cuts for the rich... axing the estate tax... how to fix the reputation of a president from his despicable treatment of the people of New Orleans... inovative ideas on screwing the have-nots... new ways to smear the critics. God forbid they make a sacrifice.

On another note, I have been posting about the New Orleans disaster because my wife's family is from New Orleans and they are PISSED at our president and the federal government. Trust me, the people from New Orleans are not blaming the Mayor but the poor federal response.

I am so damn happy the reporters at today's White House Press Briefing are finally giving the president what he deserves. They let him skate on the whole Iraq invasion disaster, glide on with the torture bullshit and grew some balls with the Rove Plame-gate affair. But finally because the press is so pissed from the continuous lies and the gross incompetence of the administration, they are now asking some of the toughest questions this administration may be able to handle. The press now understands that the Rovian use of talking points and ridiculous photo ops is a game to fool them and the rest of the world. Most of us never bought this load of crap but finally the media, except for Fox News, isn't buying it either.

If you not read the transcript of today's White House Press briefing, please do so here. Watch the video here.

Firemen used as props

For something really fucked up...Bush used firemen as props instead of saving lives.

They must all go

Cafferty on CNN today:

Why are we talking about the "blame game" - there are thousands of people dead because government officials failed to do what they're supposed to be doing. That's criminal behavior. I mean, that's no game. There are people dead in the city of New Orelans and up and down the gulf coast because people charged with seeing to their welfare failed to do that. I don't understand this relecutance to say, Mr. Brown, you failed in your assignment. You're out of here. Go away. Go back to Colorado and go back to working for the Arabian Horse Assocaition that we got you from.

How can you blame them? They get all their information from the morning papers and not the internets.

Did the Bush team ignore their own National Response Plan?

It sure looks like it. Now, we can't be too harsh because they created a plan to meet emergency situations just like Katrina way back in, uh December 2004. I mean, who would really expect them to follow their own response plan? So, who's going to ask Bush & Chertoff about this one?

According to the PREFACE, President Bush, "directed the development of a new National Response Plan (NRP) to align Federal coordination structures, capabilities, and resources into a unified, all discipline, and all-hazards approach to domestic incident management. . . .The end result is vastly improved coordination among Federal, State, local, and tribal organizations to help save lives and protect America's communities by increasing the speed, effectiveness, and efficiency of incident management."

Josh Marshall also has full coverage of the lie-meisters at work who seem to be pushing the media to incorrectly report that Governor Blanco of Louisiana did not declare a state of emergency.

SHE DID, on August 26.The lies are coming as quickly as they can throw them right now.

Cross-posted from AmericaBlog.

Update: Andrew Sullivan has more and Larry Johnson talks Bush criminal negligence.

The provocative title is intentional. Why did the Bush Administration fail to act according to the National Response Plan they created in December of 2004 to deal with an incident like Katrina?

What do you do when the words on the paper don't match the action in the field? People are dying today in New Orleans because of the failure to provide immediate aid are dead in part because of the negligence of Michael Chertoff. That is a harsh judgment, but if you will take time to read the National Response Plan that was signed into effect in December of 2004 there is no other reasonable conclusion.

The current effort by the Bush Administration to blame the victims in Louisiana and Mississippi is bad enough, but they are in big trouble once Americans take the time to understand that they the Administration ignored it's own plan for dealing with a threat like Katrina. Why did they fail to implement the plan until it was too late to save lives along the Gulf Coast?

Don't take my word for it, read the plan yourself. You can download it at http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRPbaseplan.pdf


And by the way Fire Brown Now!!!

Video: mayor of NO crying for help...a must hear

look for the below on the CNN website. Listen to the clip.

From CNN: Watch: Mayor to feds: 'Get off your asses' Transcript

My God...I almost cried and I'm so damned angry!

A visit to Tom Delay's office with Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan made a detour today from her planned visit to Delay's Clear Lake office to the Sugar Land office. My office is across the street from Tom so I made a quick dash there on my way back from Clear Lake event.


Cindy Sheehan and yours truly.


Cindy, Iraq War Veterans and other members of her caravan talking to a representative from Tom Delay via speaker phone. From waht I could hear outside the door, his representative is a real ass. I arrived to late to sneak in.


Cindy talking to the media.




Cindy walking over to talk to me.




Here are some of the demostrators in front of Delay's office.


Notice the clown in the Uncle Sam suit?
















Kerry? Someone needs to tell this guy the election is over. Get over it, you won.