Santa Baby

Santa Baby

Santa baby, slip a Bush or Cheney under the tree, for me
I've been an awful good girl

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, Articles of Impeachment too, it won't make me blue
I'll wait up for you dear.

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Think of all the fun I've missed
Think of all the fellas whose phones have been tapped, that I haven't been able talk to

Next year I could be oh so good
If you'd check off my Christmas list

Boo doo bee doo

Santa honey, I wanna a new President and really that's
Not a lot
I've been an angel all year

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa cutie, there's one thing I really do need, the Articles of Impeachment

Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, I'm filling my stocking with checks
Sign your 'X' on the line

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Come and trim my Christmas tree
With some decorations bought by Congress

I really do believe in you
Let's see if you believe in me

Boo doo bee doo

Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing, a ring on an
untapped phone

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry down the chimney tonight

Happy Holidays Everyone!

MSM, Employed By The Bushivistas

I don't know about anyone else but I'm pretty sick and tired of hearing the rightist whine about Liberal media bias. It's as if their screeching that lie out enough times will make it so. In my opinion, we cannot trut what the MSM (mainstream media) tells us and/or we must recognise that they fail to tell us about the Bush Administration's corruption. To me it's more than apparent the Bushivisatas control the media.

I have a Liberal friend who once worked as an editor and defends the Washington Post and the New York Times for not being forthcoming about the corruption in the Bush Administration. I told her I had cancelled my subscription to those papers and she claimed, "Have you ever sat in an editor's or producer's chair and had to decide what stories make the news, time each one to conincide with alotted space or time constraints? I have and it's not an easy job. Could be that they're waiting for some concrete facts to emerge rather than rush into print (or on air), only to later have to issue a retraction. Give it some time for them to develop a proper story. And BTW, blogs don't have to adhere to the same set of standards." [She said this about blogs because I told her if you want to hear the truth the blogs will provide it.]

Anyhoo, this morning Alternet, the greatst blog in the blogosphere, btw, has two really great articles about the Washington Post and the NYT failing to do their jobs. In case you missed them, here they are for your reading enjoyment...

Why the Times published the spy story now
Posted by Evan Derkacz at 8:32 AM on December 21, 2005.

Because, after 14 months, they'd finally gotten it together? Nope.

The disappointment continues, one after another after another at the New York Times. You have this incredible institution filled with bottomless talent, connections, history, and dedication, yet due to what looks suspiciously similar to institutional cowardice the paper insists on letting its reputation just hang in the breeze.

Not only did the paper of record cave in and neglect to record Bush's illegal spying (before the election no less) but its explanations are looking increasingly unconvincing.

Here's Times editor Bill Keller's explanation:

"the administration argued strongly that writing about this eavesdropping program would give terrorists clues about the vulnerability of their communications... Officials also assured senior editors of the Times that a variety of legal checks had been imposed..."

Gabriel Sherman disagrees, noting that the Times' own James Risen was due to release his book on the subject next month:

"Mr. Risen returned from his book leave in June of 2005. He soon began agitating to revive the wiretapping piece and get it into the paper, according to bureau sources."

"According to multiple Times sources, the decision to move forward with the story was accelerated by the forthcoming publication of Mr. Risen’s book, State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration."

Worried about getting scooped (again; see Judith Miller's incarceration and subsequent song singing), the paper decided to let Risen write the story for the paper. How generous.

Risen, Sherman reports, has been badgering the eds to abandon their ninny status on a number of issues over the years including, coincidentally enough, Judith Miller's wish-fulfillment reporting on WMD. If there's an award for fixing the system from the inside out, I nominate James Risen.

Call it the Microwaver? (OffTheRecord)


The 'I-word' is 'out there'
Posted by Evan Derkacz at 6:47 AM on December 22, 2005.

Impeachment files.

You can't unring a bell, or shove the 'iword' back into the box. No thanks to the Washington Post's boneheaded pollster, Impeachment talk is gaining momentum in the blogs, in polite discourse, and even in the media.

Jane Hamsher, with the assist from Media Matters, notes that the Post's pollster Richard Morin has a short memory. The Post's Deborah Howel wrote last month that: "The question many demanded that The Post ask [in its polls] is biased and would produce a misleading result, Morin said."

In an online "chat" Morin responded to readers' impeachment questions with remarkable restraint, considering their lack of editorial experience: "This question makes me mad... Getting madder... Madder still..." Later concluding: "[W]e do not ask about impeachment because it is not a serious option or a topic of considered discussion..."

Sure, lying to start a war and illegal wiretaps aren't serious, we realize that, but blowjobs... now you're talkin! Rewind to a Post poll from Jan. '98:

"If this affair did happen and if Clinton did not resign, is this something for which Clinton should be impeached, or not?"

"If Clinton lied by testifying under oath that he did not have an affair with the woman, and he did not resign, is this something for which Clinton should be impeached, or not?"

And yes, Morin was the editor then.

In the Post's less serious and totally separate cousin, the online Post, Dan Froomkin, who is most definitely not a print reporter wrote, via John Aravosis:

"The revelation that President Bush secretly authorized a domestic spying program has incited a handful of Congressional Democrats to discuss his possible impeachment. And while continued Republican control of Congress makes such a move extremely unlikely, the word is reemerging into mainstream political discourse."

John Conyers' resolutions for investigations and censures of Cheney and Bush are [HERE].
MSNBC's Howard Fineman via Prometheus 6: "The 'I-word' is out there, and, I predict, you are going to hear more of it next year — much more."

You may be skeered of who'll take the reins should Bush be impeached, but upholding the standards are, arguably, more important. Discuss. (Firedoglake, Americablog, Truthout, Prometheus 6)

This Just In...

About damn time too.

December 20, 2005

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

News from the Rep. Conyers' office:

Congressman John Conyers, Jr.Michigan, 14th District
Ranking Member, U.S. House Judiciary CommitteeDean, Congressional Black Caucus www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/

CONYERS RELEASES REPORT ON MISCONDUCT OF BUSH ADMINISTRATION CONCERNING IRAQ WAR

Calls for Censure of President Bush and Vice President Cheney

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Representative John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, released the following statement regarding today's release of a staff report entitled "The Constitution in Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retributions and Cover-ups in the Iraq War." The Report is my best effort to examine all of the charges of misconduct by the Bush Administration concerning the Iraq War.
Conyers Report: http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/iraqrept.html

"In brief, we have found that there is substantial evidence the President, the Vice-President and other high ranking members of the Bush Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq; misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for such war; countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in Iraq; and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of their Administration. There is at least a prima facie case that these actions that federal laws have been violated - from false statements to Congress to retaliating against Administration critics. In response to the Report, I have already taken several initial steps. First, I have introduced a resolution (H. Res. 635) creating a Select Committee with subpoena authority to investigate the misconduct of the Bush Administration with regard to the Iraq war and report on possible impeachable offenses. In addition, I have introduced Resolutions regarding both President Bush (H. Res. 636) and Vice-President Cheney (H. Res. 637) proposing that they be censured by Congress based on indisputable evidence of unaccounted for misstatements and abuse of power in the public record. There are a number of additional recommendations in the Report that I expect to be taking up in the coming weeks and months.

The Report rejects the frequent contention by the Bush Administration that there pre-war conduct has been reviewed and they have been exonerated. No entity has ever considered whether the Administration misled Americans about the decision to go to War, and the Senate Intelligence Committee has not yet conducted a review of pre-war intelligence information, while the Silberman-Robb report specifically cautioned, that intelligence manipulation "was not part of our inquiry." There has also not been any independent inquiry concerning torture and other legal violations in Iraq; nor has there been an independent review of the pattern of cover-ups and political retribution by the Bush Administration against its critics, other than the very narrow and still ongoing inquiry of Special Counsel Fitzgerald."