Words Have Power

KSFO - Flagship of the Right Wing Noise Machine

2007-01-14T07:43:00.000-08:00

Over at the Daily Kos, WinSmith writes about the need to take away the cartoon reality that insulates so many Republicans from the real world.

The voices in the dark that reassure them that the falseness is okay are their one ritual protection from the painful truth of awareness. If they lose talk radio, they collapse.

Thus the danger when we expose KFSO in San Francisco, isn't simply the removal of a few hate spewing Z-list celebrities from their 75K a year job.

It is the removal of the curtain of false reality.

When you've spent years building a false reality, when you live in a bubble network of fact-free amplification and continual reassurance by like-minded cultists, this danger is as real as if a gun was pointed at your child.

That is why they shriek.

That is why they scream.

That is why they are terrified.

We are not threatening a radio station. We are threatening the fabric of reality that holds together their lives.

Without constant reassurance from right wing talk radio, people hanging onto the lies of the Republican Party and their corporate and religious fringe masters will have to begin to question things on their own.

Republican Corruption

2007-01-13T07:10:00.000-08:00

The Bush Administration has sent a chilling message to federal law enforcement officers this week. United States Attorney Carole Lam was told to resign and that demand by the Bush Administration was leaked to the press. It is virtually unprecedented for a chief law enforcement officer like Lam to be kicked out of such a post.

Speculation that the Bush administration allegedly has asked San Diego-based U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, the region's chief federal prosecutor, to step down was met with disbelief and dropped jaws by legal community members with ties to federal court.

"I was in a state of shock," said Peter Nunez, who served as the U.S. attorney in charge of the San Diego offices from 1982 to 1988. "It's just like nothing I've ever seen before in 35-plus years. To be asked to resign and to be publicly humiliated by leaking this to the press is beyond any bounds of decency and behavior. It shocks me. It really is outrageous."

Unprecedented unless the Bush Administration and Republican Party leaders are upset that Lam had made white collar crime and government corruption a priority for the San Diego region. Lam was responsible for the investigation and conviction of Republican congressman, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, and she is responsible for conducting the on-going investigation into Brent Wilkes, the San Diego business man in the middle of the Cunningham probe, who also has close ties to the Bush Administration and the CIA.

You can read more details over at TMP Muckraker.

KSFO DISNEY HATE FEST

2007-01-12T22:22:00.000-08:00

Before it drops off the radar, read through KSFO's lame attempt to convince the world that all its racial slurs, advocacy of torture and desire to kill anyone who disagrees with its on air personalities is just good clean fun.

Now is the time to push right wing hate radio back into the hole it crawled out of in the early 1990's. Part of the Republican Revolution.

KSFO Still Spewing Hate

2007-01-11T20:50:00.000-08:00

KSFO will attempt to boost it ratings with a blogger bashing tomorrow. KSFO's host and management will control the content of the discussion in a special three hour "town hall
meeting" where they will get the last word on every subject. You can get the details here as KSFO twist and turns to try and convince advertisers that their brand of hate radio isn't as bad as, well, their brand of hate radio sounds to reasonable people.

It might be that the fact that the MSM has picked up this story. It might also be the fact that no matter how the MSM coverage is pitched, KSFO and Disney come out smelling rotten. Here is coverage from the SF Chronicle.

KSFO, Disney and Hate Radio (Spocko, too)

2007-01-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

Over at Zen Cabin, Ripley tells us way the Spocko, KSFO, Disney dust up matters.

Ripley also tells us more about KSFO's Melanie Morgan's other right wing haunt, Move America Forward. Move America Forward is nothing more than an astroturf front for a right wing Republican PR firm, Russo, Marsh and Rogers (RM+R) and Morgan bangs the drum over there in the same way she does at KSFO.

After all, RM&R has a vested interest in maintaining Melanie’s image. And ‘Move America Forward’ spends a lot of time and text trying to move the conversation away from Melanie and back to ‘liberals hate America and love terror!!’. Plus, they ‘send cookies and Gatorade to the troops’. Hell’s bells! That’s practically taking on a dirty fucking terrorist with your bare hands!

RM&R is also responsible for promoting several ‘pro-troop’ videos, some of which can be seen on the YouTube. I’ll leave it to you to find them. (It turns out that Saddam Hussein was some kind of bad man. Oh, if only the Evil Liberal Media had reported such revelations!)

Hate pays the bills for lot of the Republican right.

CBS Confirms KSFO's Lost Advertisers

2007-01-10T06:32:00.000-08:00

Here is the video of CBS5's story on KSFO and Spocko. It is an excellent piece.

MSM, Spocko, KSFO and Disney

2007-01-09T22:54:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to the story that will run on the 11PM news in San Francisco.

At least two major corporations have pulled their advertisements from radio station KSFO-AM after bloggers publicized clips of broadcasts in which hosts took aim at politicians and a listener believed to be Muslim.

A series of remarks that aired on KSFO over the past year has sparked fury in the blogosphere. In recordings made by one blogger and posted online, talk show host Brian Sussman, who is a former CBS 5 weathercaster, grills a listener over whether the man is Muslim.

More advertisers will follow if you just give them a chance. Ask them why they support hate when there are other alternatives.

Disney, ABC, KSFO and HATE

2007-01-09T22:48:00.000-08:00

Great summary from Media Matters.

Main Stream Media Finds A Story

2007-01-09T22:27:00.000-08:00

The 11 PM report on San Francisco television CBS5 will include a discussion as to why hate radio KSFO is losing advertisers.

Check it out. Then write, call or email on of KSFO's unknowing advertisers.

KSFO's Melanie Morgan Hates The Weather

2007-01-09T14:41:00.000-08:00

When KSFO hate talk personality, Melanie Morgan, smells a liberal rat, she immediately goes in for the kill. Her latest target, The Weather Channel! Apparently, the Weather Channel has bought into the myth of global warming and Morgan wants concerned citizens to get the Weather Channel out of the business of education and back into the business of reporting record high temperatures and other assorted, but non-global warming related phenomena.

Morgan encourages the readers of her World Net Daily column to contact the Weather Channel and tell them to stop liberalizing the weather.

There's a con job going on at The Weather Channel, and it's time that viewers let the network know it's time to stop the liberal politicization of weather reporting.

I kid you not.

KSFO Down Another Advertiser

2007-01-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

According to Spocko's Brain, KSFO hate radio has lost another advertiser. After being made aware of what the ABC/Disney outlet considered entertainment, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation decided to not run any additional ads on the station.

Here is part of the exchange between MEDC executives and bluestatedon as reported on Daily Kos.

After I read last week that the Michigan Economic Development Corporation had advertised on KSFO, I sent emails to James Epolito, MEDC President and CEO, and Lisa Dancsok, MEDC VP for Marketing, Communications and Legislative Affairs, to inform them of the situation. I received a personal response via email that evening from Ms. Dancsok, informing me that they were investigating the situation immediately.

Yesterday, I received a phone call from Jim Epolito himself. He'd already met with with Governor Granholm about the situation, and needless to say she was horrified that money had been spent on advertising on that station.

Pick a company from the list of KSFO advertisers and see if that organizations management isn't just as "horrified" by being associated with the extreme hate and violence filled rhetoric that constitutes "entertainment" on KSFO.

KSFO, Spocko, Disney and the Extreme Right

2007-01-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

OnLine Media Daily has an excellent summary of Disney's attempt to stifle free speech in support of its hate speech talk radio station, KSFO. In his article Tom Siebert describes a typical day for anyone in the western states who might tune into KSFO:

What they heard was drive-time hosts endorse torture, insult Muslims and enact the execution of journalists. When some advertisers fled, the Disney legal department briefly killed the messenger with a cease-and-desist order, alleging copyright violation.

Siebert points out that Disney is struggling with a great deal of baggage from the last six years of what appears to be a corporate love affair with the values of right wing extremism.

During the Bush administration, Disney has repeatedly shown a willingness to put right-wing allegiance over profit. It disassociated itself from Michael Moore's extremely profitable agitprop documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11." More recently, it aired the controversial "Path to 9/11" docudrama miniseries on ABC television without commercial support when advertisers balked. The program contradicted the U.S. government's bipartisan "9/11 Report" in order to fictionally cast actions of the Clinton Administration in a poor light.

See below on this blog for a list of KSFO's advertisers or you can contact ABC and Disney directly. Zenia Mucha is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications for the Walt Disney Company, phone number is (818) 560-5300. Or email, Heather Rim the Vice President of Communications for ABC at heather.rim@abc.com.

Ask them why the value hate speech so much more than free speech?

Disney Has No Comment

2007-01-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

Torture, racism, assassination.... All apparently good as far as the folks at ABC/Disney are concerned.

Mike Stark called them to ask about their support for hate radio. The courageous folks at Disney apparently have "no comment" regarding KSFO's continued spewing of hate.

Not much of a surprise here.

KSFO, ABC , Disney - Make Them Pay For Their Own Hate Speech

2007-01-07T20:56:00.000-08:00

Mike Stark keeps the ABC/Disney "right to spew hate" story alive over at Huffpo.

Most of you know that Disney owns ABC. ABC, of course, owns the ABC Radio Network. Finally, ABCRN owns KSFO, a hate-radio talker in San Francisco. Common to every level of the corporate chain is an abiding affinity for Republican rule and a willingness to use hate and deceit in furtherance of their political objectives. Most recently, ABC set themselves up as the arrogant peddlers of the propaganda hit piece, "Path to 9/11" that blatantly lied about the path to 9/11 in ways that glorified Bush while smearing Clinton's role. The ABC Radio Network is home to Sean Hannity. KSFO? Well, you'll see (and hear).

Hate is all they have and they are going to play that card down to the wire. What we need to do right now is make them show how much hate means to them. Make them pay for their own hate talk and not pass those costs on to the consumers.

KSFO Meet The General

2007-01-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

Jesus General weighs in with some good programming advice for Disney. Expand on the hate, don't back down. If a little hate sells, a lot of hate will sell even more.

Here are a few of the Generals suggestions to Disney President and CEO Robert Iger:

What could be more entertaining that a show about castrating brown people hosted by Brian Sussman? I can almost see Donald Duck emasculating the seven dwarfs with big cartoon scissors after he catches a very swarthy Doc reading the Koran.

Certainly, Melanie Morgan's show about assassinating Speaker Pelosi would be a big hit as well. It might even be funnier than castration if Goofy were called in to the animated demonstration.

And what a Wonderful World of Disney it would be to have Lee Rogers host the show where Mickey Mouse turns the valves on a "delousing shower" for Indonesians.

You can add your endorsement to the General's ideas and pass it on to KSFO's advertisers. Here is the list.

KSFO's Featured Advertisers

2007-01-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

Here are some KSFO advertisers whose support is touted directly on the KSFO website. Give them a call and ask them if they make their customers or employees proclain that "Allah is a whore" before they will do business with or employ them? Ask them if they feel that being associated with such hateful comments is good for their business?

Chase Chevrolet
1-800-281-0626
6441 Holman Road
Stockton, CA 95212

Grace Body Shop
1379 San Mateo Avenue
South San Francisco, CA 94080
650-873-8166

Lexus Stevens Creek
3333 Stevens Creek Blvd.
San Jose, CA 95117
1-866-BUYLEXUS

Nino Quality Motors, Inc.
12284 San Pablo Avenue
Richmond, CA 94805
510-235-6466

3268 Sonoma Blvd.
Vallejo, CA 94591
707-643-6466

The Law Offices of Robert L. Goldstein
San Francisco Office
100 Bush St., Suite 501
San Francisco, CA 94104

Stub Hub
55 2nd Street
Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 222-8400

customerservice@stubhub.com

Interior Door Replacement Company
300 Pioneer Way, Suite B
Mountain View, CA 94041
650-965-4372

The Ultimate Window Company
1-888-897-3154

These are the advertisers that KSFO features on its own website.

KSFO and HATE Both Four Letter Words

2007-01-07T12:40:00.000-08:00

ABC/Disney promotes hate speech if will make them a buck. Here are few of the many blogs that have picked up the story of KSFO's attack on non-profit free speech while spewing hate speech for profit.

Crooks and Liars

Daily Kos

Firedoglake

Whiskeyfire

BlogIntegrity

OnLineMediaDaily

Jump on in. Write a letter, send an email, call a friend who works for on of the companies on this list of KSFO advertisers:

Administaff	800-237-3170
Agape Village	800-379-0103
Agape Village Foster Family Agency	209 824-5365
American Diabetes Association	703-549-1500
AT&T
BAAQMD
Benchmark Lending	800-680-4000
Best Buy	612-291-6114
BFS Retail & Commercial Operations LLC a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.	630-259-9121
Big O Tires (TBC Corp) via Sumitomo Corporation of America	561-227-0955
BMW of North America LLC.	800-831-1117
Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.
Bright Smile	1-800-542-4802
Cache Creek	800-992-8686
California Teachers Association
Check 'n Go	513-336-7735
Choice Hotels International	301-592-6719
Cingular Wireless
Cyber Mesa Telecom
Dennys
Eastern Furniture
FedEx
Freecreditreport.com Experian	847 517 5600
Frontier Airlines	800-265-5505
HMS Capital
Home Depot
HoMedics Inc.	1-800-466-3342
Humidex-Atlantic	800-293-9577
In and out Hamburgers	1-800-786-1000
Infineon Raceway at Sears Point	800-870-RACE ext. 137
John M. Cummuta	800-743-8533
Kaiser Permanente
Learning Annex Real Estate and Wealth Expo 1800-US ANNEX	(212) 371-0280
Match.com (an operating business of IAC/InterActiveCorp)	800-926-2824
Michigan Economic Development Corporation	(517) 335-1871
Microsoft Dynamics
Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc.	888-560-MMSA (6672)
Nestlé Purina PetCare Company	314-982-1000
New York Life Insurance Company	212-576-7000
OSH (part of Sears Holdings)	847-286-9036
Outofbk.com (Automated Finance Corporation)	(877) 688-6325
Pacific Gas and Electric Company	916-923-7053
Preparation H (Wyeth)
Pulte Homes, Inc.	1-866-785-8325
Riviana Foods
Shreve and Company Jewelers	(415) 421-2600
Sleeptrain
Sutter Health	415-925-7905
Taylor Made Water Systems	925.521.9100
The Jewelry Exchange -Goldenwest Diamond Corporation	714-542-9000
The Jewlery Exchange
Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc
Verizon
Verizon Wireless	(805) 372-6969
Visa Security Play (Visa U.S.A., Inc.)
Wheelworks
Window Broker	888-240-3688
Zuffa, LLC. (parent of UFC : Ultimate Fighting Championship)

Why Does Disney Hate Free Speech?

2007-01-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

Why does ABC/Disney want to you to hear rabid hate filled radio "free speech," but threaten a lawsuit when someone asks ABC/Disney's advertisers if they actually endorse that "free speech?"

Apparently, ABC/Disney has a different view of "free speech." It is not a problem for Disney to have its KSFO radio station advocate torture, murder and religious cleansing, but it is a problem if anyone calls them on that behavior.

According to A.J. Kandy at King Marketing, ABC/Disney may be on the wrong side in this argument.

ABC/Disney are tarnishing their own brand by lending their legal muscle to rabidly right-wing San Francisco talk affiliate KSFO. In doing so, they’ve also enraged the blogosphere with their shut-down of a critical blog that was hosting clips of their shows under Fair Use educational purposes.

The list is here. Contact KSFO's advertisers and ask them on which side of the torture, murder and extermination equation they come down?

KSFO - Disney Selling Hate

2007-01-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

Here is the message that KSFO broadcasts daily. Remember KSFO is part of ABC and ABC is owned by Disney.

For more details check in with Ripley here.

If KSFO's "personalities" believe in what they say and if ABC and Disney stand behind them, then losing their sponsers won't stop them. And, that's fine with me. I don't want to stand in the way of free speech, but I just don't want to see it sponsored by my purchases.

KSFO can continue in its current format and continue to advocate the violent death of journalist, Muslims, liberals, etc. Promote torture and the mass extermination of religious groups. As long as I don't pay for it with a trip to Disneyland.

Let's see how long Disney will support hate speech if there is no money in it.

KSFO Advertisers - Contacts

2007-01-07T09:05:00.000-08:00

Hate radio's San Francisco outpost is becoming an uncomfortable place for those who hide behind "free speech" to advocate torture, murder and religious cleansing.

If you have a few minutes and can afford a stamp or two, drop some of these folks a note today. Here is the format that Spocko used in his communications with AT&T to ask them to stop advertising on hate radio.

Here is contact and other information regarding some of KSFO's advertisers. Contact them and include some of the specific things that are being said on a daily basis on KSFO. Ask them how they feel about having their organizations image directly associated with hate speech? Be polite.

Denny’s
203 E. Main St.
Spartanburg, SC 29319-9966

Phone: 864-597-8000
Fax: 864-597-8780
Toll Free: 800-733-6697

Nelson J. Marchioli, Chief Executive Officer and President Denny's Corporation
Rhonda J. Parish, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary
F. Mark Wolfinger, Executive Vice President, Growth Initiatives and CFO
Janis S. Emplit, Senior Vice President, Company Operations
Margaret L. Jenkins, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer
Samuel M. Wilensky, Senior Vice President and Acting Head of Operations
Timothy E. Flemming, Vice President, General Counsel
S. Alex Lewis, Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasurer
Yvonne Wolf, Vice President, Chief People Officer

Denny’s Commitment to Diversity

Agape Villages, Inc.
3160 Crow Canyon Place, Suite 120
San Ramon, CA 94583-1338
Phone: 800-379-0103
Email: info@agapevillages.org

Wilma Flach, Chairperson of Agape Villages’ Board of Directors
Richard Blythe, Executive Director of the Agape Founders’ Fund
Janet Kleyn, President of Agape Villages.

Children's care and safe homes. How such an organization can support the hateful message on KSFO is a mystery.

Administaff

Corporate Headquarters
19001 Crescent Springs Drive
Kingwood, Texas 77339-3802

800-237-3170

Senior Management Profiles

Board of Directors

Code of Conduct

Ask this group if their corporate code of conduct would allow one of their employees to advocate violence or intolerance?

Benchmark Lending

120 Stony Point Road, Suite 210
Santa Rosa, CA 95401

Toll Free Telephone: 1-800-680-4000
Main Telephone: 1-707-546-5626
Email: contact@benchmarklending.com

Barney Aldridge, Founder
Jason Ehrlicher, President and CEO
Garry Goodman, Vice President of Sales
Mark Warnell, Director of Administration

Company has a strong history of support to charity and non-profit organizations. How can they reconcile that record of community commitment with their support of those who advocate torture and suggest that Muslims be bombed when they are praying?

Best Buy Co. Inc.
PO Box 9312
Minneapolis, MN 55440-9312
United States
Phone: 612-291-1000
Fax: 952-947-2422

Mr. Bradbury H. Anderson, Vice Chairman, Chief Exec. Officer and Member of Strategic Growth & Financial Planning Committee

Brian J. Dunn , President

Mr. Robert A. Willett , Executive VP of Operations and Chief Exec. Officer of Best Buy International

Mr. Elliot S. Kaplan , 70
Sec., Director and Chairman of Strategic Growth & Financial Planning Committee (Financial Planning)

Best Buy Community Commitment

"Giving back to our communities is central to the way we do business at Best Buy. Whether it’s funding innovative programs that make learning fun for kids, providing te@ch awards to K-12 schools each year, supporting the United Way and American Red Cross, or mobilizing TagTeam volunteers throughout the country, we are privileged to help strengthen our communities."

Ask Best Buy's leadership team how KSFO's advocacy of exterminating anyone their "on air personalities" consider a liberal helps strengthen the Bay Area community?

TBC Corporation (Owns Big O Tires)
7111 Fairway Drive, Suite 201
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418
561-227-0955

Lawrence C. Day, President and Chief Executive Officer

Big O Tires
12650 E Briarwood Ave #2D
Centennial, CO 80112
800-321-2446

John B. Adams, President and CEO, Big O Tires

Do TBC and Big O Tires only sell to those on the fringe that enjoy the thought of bombing women and children and torturing anyone which whom they disagree? Ask them.

Will be back later with more.

KSFO, ABC and Disney In Their Own Words

2007-01-07T07:44:00.000-08:00

Listen to what passes for political commentary on KSFO in San Francisco. Call, email or write KSFO's sponsors and ask them why they advocate murder and torture.

KSFO Hate Radio

2007-01-06T20:59:00.000-08:00

More and more blogs are joining in to focus on the hateful behavior of radio station KSFO in San Francisco. KSFO is an ABC owned broadcast enterprise. And, of course, ABC is owned by Disney.

KSFO has been at the cutting edge of right wing radio for several years, but as the fortunes of the Republican Party and the right wing in general have begun to fall on hard times, KSFO's on the air "personalities" have been advocating violence toward anyone with whom they disagree. And, they disagree with almost everyone in the United States. Women, minorities, liberals, Democrats, gays, union members, the list is endless.

The focus here is not on the right of these wingnuts to say and advocate what they want. The focus is on understanding if these hate mongers are speaking for ABC, Disney and the various sponsors that fund KSFO and pay the salaries of this crew.

That is the simple question that needs to be asked of ABC, Disney and the many companies that pay the bills at KSFO. Do you subscribe to the hate and violence that is being advocated in your name on the radio?

KSFO's advertisers are listed here, here and here. Each list comes with its own attached commentary.

Here is the way KSFO treats religious diversity. KSFO's Brian Sussman demands that a caller with an accent proclaim that "Allah is a whore" before he will allow him to give an opinion on the radio.

Brian Sussman tells caller to say 'Allah is a whore'

Here's how Sussman feels about torture:

Brian Sussman says we should cut off detainee fingers and penises

Melanie Morgan and her more successful wingnut pal, Ann Coulter suggest that liberals should be executed:

Melanie Morgan and Ann Coulter say liberals should be executed

And here is Morgan suggesting that the editorial staff of the New York Times be executed for exercising their (and our) 1st Amendment rights:

Morgan says 'hang the NY Times editors'

KSFO's Lee Rogers seems to be in favor of torturing anyone he doesn't like, for pretty much any reason:

Lee suggests hooking a Sears DieHard battery to someone's testicles, then blowing them away

Lee Rogers says that we need to kill Muslims in Indonesia:

Lee says we need to kill millions of Muslims in Indonesia

Lee says that any news organization that refuses to report nothing but happy news from Iraq needs to be put out of its misery:

Lee says the AP should commit mass suicide

KSFO is one of the nation's premier radio stations. It's call letters signify its status as one of the first radio stations in San Francisco. Today it has become one of the leading voices advocating the torture and murder of American citizens. It has become a voice advocating violence against whole nations and religions.

Contact KSFO's parents - ABC and Disney and then contact KSFO's sponsors. Ask them how they feel being associated with this sort of hate and advocacy of violence. Maybe they just don't understand how their dollars are being used. Time to ask them if they really support KSFO hate radio?

Hate Speak The Right's Right

2007-01-06T11:27:00.000-08:00

With no viable political philosophy and no coherent strategy for governance, the right wing nutjobs whose shrill radio broadcasted voices have advocated nothing but hate and contempt are starting to find themselves in the glare of the spotlight.

The right of these "radio personalities" to advocate violence, rape and torture against anyone they dislike or anyone who they define to be a "liberal" is being eroded as people wake up to the fact that hate isn't tool of govenment and that advocating violence against anyone who disagrees with you isn't leadership.

After more than a decade of descent into more and more pathalogical and potentially delusional fantasies about visiting violent indignities on their enemies (any American who disagrees with them) their party is about to be over.

Over at Kos, Spocko vs. Disney is putting the battle for our public airwaves into the public's consciousness. Here in some detail is the type of behavior that passes for public discourse on KSFO, in San Francisco.

Primarily, we want to raise awareness of the hate that is broadcast over our airwaves every single day. To that end, it’s useful to highlight clips like this one, in which the KSFO host ponders, "the day will come when unpleasant things are going to happen to a bunch of stupid liberals. It’s going to be amusing to watch, [cohosts laughter] very amusing to watch." Or this one, in which Melanie Morgan, speaking of Nancy Pelosi, claims to have "a bull’s-eye painted on her big wide laughing eyes." It is our hope that by shining the disinfectant that is sunlight upon these advocators of violence, we will give Congress reason to take a closer look at what has happened to political discourse since the evisceration of the Fairness Doctrine.
A secondary goal is to begin a dialogue with the advertisers that may still be ignorant of the horrible things uttered by the hosts at KSFO. For instance, does it make sense for Match.com to pay for advertisements that run immediately after Melanie Morgan suggests that Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, should be dug up and so that she could be killed again? How romantic do you feel after that visualization? Does it make sense for Denny’s, a company with a, how shall we say... less than adequate race record to advertise on Brian Sussman’s show when he agrees with a caller that all mosques in Syria should be blown up by cruise missiles when they are most likely to be full of praying Muslims?

Another of our goals is to encourage corporate responsibility. Disney allows their subordinate companies to engage in this kind of hateful behavior because it is profitable to the Disney parent. As long as Brian Sussman makes KSFO money by demanding that a caller prove he’s not a Muslim by saying "Allah is a wh*re," Disney will not intervene. Of course Winnie the Pooh, The Little Mermaid, Mickey Mouse and Snow White’s hearts are broken, but no matter...

Disney isn’t in it for the morality. It’s all about the benjamins. Why else would they allow Melanie Morgan’s cohost, Lee Rodgers to tell his listeners that good reason exists to "go in and attack the New York Times." Why do they allow express advocacy of violence against innocents to be broadcast from their corporate property? Here – listen to "Officer Vic" call Senator Barak Obama a "halfrican" because his mother is white. Or try this one – Brian Sussman describing how he would torture...

Finally, we’ve got some selfish goals. We are tired of being marginalized by fringe kooks like these guys. This clip here, in which they fantasize about putting NY Times Editor Bill Keller in a malfunctioning electric chair, really says it all. These people have set the tone and defined the discourse for the better part of 5 years – or longer. It is a ridiculous thought that these immature and dysfunctional children are given platforms from which their bile and venom is broadcast to millions. This air pollution is absolutely toxic and damaging to the goal of a reasonably harmonious and peaceful society and it needs to be marginalized. Nothing will marginalize it further that making what they say known. Melanie Morgan, Lee Rodgers, "Officer Vic" and Brian Sussman would be involuntarily confined if they uttered these statements on a street corner. Why should they be given 50,000 watts to do it over the broadcast spectrum that belongs to you and I?

I don't know what Morgan, Sussman and crew really believe. Most of what they do is an act, but it is an act that they get to play out because it garners advertising money for big corporations like Disney. If the money dries up, then this rough and tough talking crew of wingnuts will be out of work.

Here is a list of KSFO advertisers. Contact them and politely ask them to stop funding hate speech on the radio. If KSFO considers what its "personalities" do to be valid political commentary, then the station (ABC and Disney) can continue to fund this political commentary out of their own resources. I wonder how long that exercise in free speech would last.

Be polite in your communications – don’t assume the worst. As a matter of fact, as I understand the situation, ABC markets many of its radio stations as "family-friendly" Disney owned properties. Individual ad buyers never hear or have reason to know how their product is being tied to this filthy hate-pornography. Finally, contact your representatives – especially if you live in the Bay area. Make them aware of the garbage that is being broadcast into their own districts. Demand protection from offensive content. If there are seven words you can’t say on the radio, why should these people be allowed to advocate actions that are so much more dangerous? Obscenity is obscenity. KSFO has earned the right to millions in fines, but unfortunately, nobody has had the political will to hold them accountable. Maybe that time has come.

KSFO Advertisers

Administaff	800-237-3170
Agape Village	800-379-0103
Agape Village Foster Family Agency	209 824-5365
American Diabetes Association	703-549-1500
AT&T
BAAQMD
Benchmark Lending	800-680-4000
Best Buy	612-291-6114
BFS Retail & Commercial Operations LLC a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.	630-259-9121
Big O Tires (TBC Corp) via Sumitomo Corporation of America	561-227-0955
BMW of North America LLC.	800-831-1117
Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.
Bright Smile	1-800-542-4802
Cache Creek	800-992-8686
California Teachers Association
Check 'n Go	513-336-7735
Choice Hotels International	301-592-6719
Cingular Wireless
Cyber Mesa Telecom
Dennys
Eastern Furniture
FedEx
Freecreditreport.com Experian	847 517 5600
Frontier Airlines	800-265-5505
HMS Capital
Home Depot
HoMedics Inc.	1-800-466-3342
Humidex-Atlantic	800-293-9577
In and out Hamburgers	1-800-786-1000
Infineon Raceway at Sears Point	800-870-RACE ext. 137
John M. Cummuta	800-743-8533
Kaiser Permanente
Learning Annex Real Estate and Wealth Expo 1800-US ANNEX	(212) 371-0280
Match.com (an operating business of IAC/InterActiveCorp)	800-926-2824
Michigan Economic Development Corporation	(517) 335-1871
Microsoft Dynamics
Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc.	888-560-MMSA (6672)
Nestlé Purina PetCare Company	314-982-1000
New York Life Insurance Company	212-576-7000
OSH (part of Sears Holdings)	847-286-9036
Outofbk.com (Automated Finance Corporation)	(877) 688-6325
Pacific Gas and Electric Company	916-923-7053
Preparation H (Wyeth)
Pulte Homes, Inc.	1-866-785-8325
Riviana Foods
Shreve and Company Jewelers	(415) 421-2600
Sleeptrain
Sutter Health	415-925-7905
Taylor Made Water Systems	925.521.9100
The Jewelry Exchange -Goldenwest Diamond Corporation	714-542-9000
The Jewlery Exchange
Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc
Verizon
Verizon Wireless	(805) 372-6969
Visa Security Play (Visa U.S.A., Inc.)
Wheelworks
Window Broker	888-240-3688
Zuffa, LLC. (parent of UFC : Ultimate Fighting Championship)

All these organizations have websites and most have publicly available email contact information. Most also have a mailing address and list the names of their executives. Drop them a note. You might also discover that most of these organizations have mission statements or other statements indicating their commitment to serve their customers and respect their employees. Ask them how they would deal with an employee of their company who advocated the kind of violence and hate that you hear on KSFO against another of the company's employees?

Duke Going to Camp

2007-01-06T07:49:00.000-08:00

Convicted Republican felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham, once a decorated war hero and member of the United States Congress, will be moving to an Arizona prison facility. The San Diego Union Tribune reports that Cunningham is being moved to a federal facility near Tucson.

The Tucson camp houses about 120 inmates and is on a sprawling federal complex.

Inmates at the camp work there and at an adjacent medium-security prison with about 700 inmates. A high-security prison is set to open at the complex this year.

After nearly ten months of assessment at other federal facilities, Cunningham's assignment to the Tucson work camp is somewhat unusual, as the camps do not usually house prisoners with sentences as long as the nearly eight years Cunningham has remaining.

Camps are among the lowest-security facilities in the federal prison system and are typically home to prisoners with a short time left in their sentences, said criminologist Jeffrey Ian Ross.
“It just seems kind of odd that (he's going to) a work camp,” Ross said of Cunningham. “It might have a lot to do with how he was assessed in that 10 months.” A federal judge in San Diego had requested the evaluation.

At camp, Cunningham will get to hang with other white collar criminals, much like his days with his fellow Republican members of congress.

“He will be in with other kinds of white-collar criminals,” said Ross, who co-authored “Behind Bars: Surviving Prison” and teaches at the University of Baltimore.

“It's a different class of criminal who is sentenced there,” he said.

Inmates at prison camps typically cook, clean and do groundskeeping, he said.

Only eight years of cooking, cleaning and picking up litter for Duke. I wonder if at the end of that time he will still blame others for his situation?

Boycott Disney

2007-01-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

The right of free speech is sacred to most liberals, but the right to spew hate isn't the same as free speech. This is what happens when corporate America sells out to the hate mongers. Boycott Disney.

Duhhh...

2007-01-01T12:01:00.000-08:00

SURGE = ESCALATION

ESCALATION = MORE DEATH

Political Cover for the Minutemen

2006-12-24T07:48:00.000-08:00

Today's North County Times profiles the anti-immigrant group, the San Diego Minutemen. In it the group's virulent racial bias is clearly exposed, as are the local politicians who give hate groups like the Minutemen a veneer of respectability.

"My view is that the minutemen are the 21st century's Ku Klux Klan," said Bill Flores, an Escondido activist and retired San Diego County assistant sheriff. "They will dress up their racist attitudes as an immigration issue and act as if they are the victims and not the day laborers."

[...]

Flores and other critics say the fact that several prominent elected officials have participated in similar demonstrations is troubling. Former state Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, last year attended California Minuteman vigils at the border and Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Escondido, recently shared the stage with Schwilk at a rally organized by another group in Escondido.

"What's disturbing is that certain elected officials would give their ear to extremists and give these groups an air of legitimacy," said Flores, spokesman for El Grupo, a coalition of civil rights and Latino activist groups from around the county. "I think it's very shortsighted of politicians to align themselves with these groups."

Bilbray could not be reached for comment. His spokesman said he was unsure if the congressman knew Schwilk.

Escondido Councilwoman Marie Waldron was among a slate of candidates endorsed by the group in this year's primary elections. At a news conference accepting their endorsement, Waldron called the minutemen "fine Americans and patriots who are working to secure our borders because our government has failed to do so."

Waldron later proposed an ordinance passed by the Escondido council to punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants. Civil rights activists successfully sued to block the city from enforcing the law.

The San Diego Minutemen are a loose affiliation of concerned citizens, misguided nativists and outright racists. As this website notes, it is the racists who drive the agenda and ultimately it will be the violent haters who will define the Minuteman movement. The organization can't survive without catering to the most extreme elements in our society. And, without the political cover provided by politicians like Representative Brian Bilbray, the Minutemen would just be a bunch of disgruntled racists meeting in someone's trailer out in the boondocks of San Diego County.

Reason Prevails .... For A Minute

2006-12-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

In October the city council of the San Diego County community of Escondido voted to deputize landlords as immigration agents. To some observers the council action seemed to be more a pre-election ploy by some council members to curry favor with the North County various klan chapters, including the Minutemen.

...the election of Waldron and Daniels can be seen as a mandate for the misguided – and decidedly not-conservative – policy of drafting city government into the national struggle over illegal immigration. Waldron was behind Escondido's 3-2 council decision to penalize property owners who rent to illegal immigrants. And Daniels generally supports the policy.

The Escondido city action was scheduled to go into effect in November, but a court order prevented that as the ACLU and several other organizations went to court to stop the city from implementation. The Escondido council was warned that its action was unconstitutional and that it could not survive a court challenge, but in the pre-election days the council ignored those warnings.

Now that the election is over and immigrants are needed in Escondido to do the city's dirty jobs the council has decided that it might not be a good idea to continue to fight in court. In a closed session on Wednesday, the Escondido city council decided not fight to maintain its new ordinance and abandon any legal efforts to fight to implement the law it so proudly voted to enact in October.

Council members defended themselves against any public backlash by avoiding a vote on their decision.

The council's action Wednesday was taken in closed session without a formal vote, council members and City Attorney Jeffrey Epp said.

"They don't usually use formal parliamentary procedure," Epp said. "It's more a discussion aimed at achieving some kind of consensus. Sometimes a council member makes it clear that he or she doesn't agree, but says 'I won't stand in your way.' "

Discussions with council members make it evident that if a formal vote had been taken Wednesday, the tally would have been 4-1, with Waldron voting against.

The council's apparent practice of taking action in closed session without a formal vote may technically violate the Brown Act, the state law governing public meetings, experts on the law said.

Such courage.

The next day some of those same council members who technically didn't vote to end the court fight came out swinging. Courageous councilman Ed Gallo, speaking on right wingnut Rick Robert's local wacko talk radio show, blamed the whole thing on a stinking liberal judge.

Among the callers that Roberts heard from Thursday were two of the three council members who voted in favor of the ordinance ---- Ed Gallo and Marie Waldron. Both called the regular talk line and were not invited guests, he said.

During that discussion, Gallo said U.S. District Court Judge John Houston, who issued a temporary restraining order against the ordinance after a lawsuit was filed by the ACLU and others, had an "empathetic attitude towards minorities."

Prodded by Roberts, Gallo quickly downplayed race.

"The whole thing hinged on one person making the decision, Rick," Gallo said during the call. "We ended up with a liberal judge. It was the luck of the draw, if you will. His decision said, 'You guys are out.'

Liberal judge. That's it. Not that it was a stupid law, enacted in the face of a promised legal challenge. A legal challenge that any judge would have to support. The Escondido council's action was a political ploy not an effort to make the community a better place. Still, it takes a big man to blame a "liberal judge," doesn't it Ed?

Way Out of Touch....

2006-12-09T10:58:00.000-08:00

According to this analysis, evangelical voters stayed with the sinking Republican ship in the 2006 election. Not only could Republicans count on their votes, they also saw the number of evangelicals voting stay much the same as previous elections. Evangelical Christians ignored the ethical challenges and well documented hypocricy of the Republican Party and continued to led their support to the party of Mark Foley, Tom Delay and Randy Cunningham.

One of the most hotly debated pre-election questions revolved around whether, given all the Republican scandals and bad news emanating from Iraq, conservative Christian evangelicals would choose to sit the election out. They didn't. Instead, they stayed the course: The New York Times reported that about 24 percent of voters -- up from 23 percent in 2004 -- considered themselves evangelicals or born-again Christians. Seventy percent voted for Republican candidates, compared to 72 percent in the last election.

Evangelical voters stuck with Republicans because that is what the leaders of the religious right encouraged them to do. Ignoring the evidence that from top to bottom the Republican leadership was cynically using evangelical voters, the leaders of the movement stuck with their political allies, while abandoning their Christian principles.

Ken Connor, a Christian conservative leader who has consistently spoken out against this era's ethically-challenged Republican leaders and the evangelicals that support and enable them, lays part of the blame for the Republican's defeat at the doorstep of Christian evangelical leaders. "It is clear that Christian conservative leaders contributed to the Republican defeat, and in the process they've lost credibility," Connor wrote in a post-election commentary titled "Defending the Indefensible: The Road to Defeat."

Conner is very clear in his condemnation of the leaders of the religious right and points out that just like secular leaders, religious leaders are not immune to the seduction of political power.

Why have prominent Christian organizations and leaders behaved in this way? The sad reality is that many have been seduced by the Washington, D.C. political culture. They have identified themselves so closely with persons and parties that they have lost sight of principle. By excusing the behavior of the Republican Party, Christian conservatives set the party up for the 2006 defeat.

In their lust for power, men who presume to tell the rest of America how to live and who attempt to set standards for behavior, decide that they would rather court power than stand up for even the most basic moral principles.

Cal Thomas, one of the country's most widely syndicated columnists, maintained in a recent piece that intoxication with political power "often dulls the senses to morality and 'values.'" In a piece titled "Where do conservative Christians go from here?" Thomas argued that the "unholy alliance between people of faith and politicians... often ends in compromise on the part of the faithful and the cynical harvesting of their votes with little offered in return."

The case of Rep. Don Sherwood, a Pennsylvania Republican who lost his seat to a Democrat, is particular instructive, said Thomas. Here is someone who "cheat[ed] on his wife and allegedly abus[ed] his mistress, Cynthia Ore, [yet] he still gets an 85 percent approval rating from the Focus on the Family Action organisation. The delicious irony here is that he might have earned a 100 percent rating had he voted for the Marriage Protection amendment, which he supported."

So who's to blame for the Republican election debacle? According to one of the leaders of the religious right, Rev. Lou Shelton of the Traditional Values Coalition, suggests that it wasn't the moral failing of the Republican leadership that caused their defeat. No, instead Shelton blames the American people who voted against the corrupt Republicans.

The Rev. Lou Sheldon, the head of the Traditional Values Coalition maintained: "We know that in America the people are with us. They're just confused."

That's right confused voters failed to keep corrupt, lying, cheating Republican politicians in power.

Mitt and the Religious Right

2006-11-28T22:24:00.000-08:00

If Later Day Saint Mitt Romney succeeds in his quest for the Republican presidential nomination, it will have to be with the support of right wing religious fundamentalists. The problem here is how can supposed Christians support Romney? Romney's religious faith is considered a cult by both mainstream and conservative Christian denominations.

Want to know more about what makes Mitt tick and right wing fundies wince, check out Jon Krakhauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven."

For the so called Christian right to support Romney would be the ultimate act of hypocrisy. In fact, to support Romney, the Christian right would be guilty of apostasy.

Representative Brian Bilbray's Supporters

2006-11-28T22:02:00.000-08:00

These are Representative Brian Bilbray's (CA-50) people. The "new Klan" also known as Minutemen. This from Orcinus.

While the claims that the Minutemen are not a racist organization are are dubious at best, for the sake of argument let's grant these Minutemen organizers' claims that they are not the KKK in fresh clothes.

Nonetheless, what their own words reveal, beyond any serious doubt, is that they are classic extremists, by nearly any standard.

The first sign of this is their paranoia:

A deep voice accompanied by the sound of shattering glass ominously warns of the perils posed by illegal immigration.

"Every minute, they're crossing our borders looking for quick-cash jobs, transportation and accommodations," the voice intones. "Some may be Mideastern terrorists with look-alike resemblance to our south-of-the-border neighbors."

The second message: "Did you know that your congressmen and the president take an oath of office ... to protect each state from invasion? So what about the millions of illegals from alien nations crossing our borders ... ? Is that an invasion? Would you call a burglar in your home a houseguest?"

And then the third: "These folks in Washington, D.C. ... are granting amnesty to illegal aliens, and giving them everything from Social Security to free health care is just the tip of the iceberg.... Is that what you want? We don't think so."

This will be the legacy of convicted Republican felon Randy "Duke' Cunningham's replacement, carpetbagging racist Brian Bilbray. He will be the politician that made the 50th congressional district home to the new KKK.

We should all be proud of the man who represents us in Congress.

NC Times Calls Bilbray For Racist Behavior

2006-11-27T20:52:00.000-08:00

The North County Times finds Brian Bilbray's (CA-50) courting of the racist Minutemen "poor leadership." Guess they had better get used to that from racist baiting Representative Bilbray.

In an editorial about a Minuteman rally focused on evicting migrant workers, many in the United States legally, the NC Times suggests that Bilbray and fellow North County racist, state senator (elect) Mark Wyland are failing in their obligation to lead the county and country to find a meaningful solution, instead of simply participating in a series of new age Klan rallies.

It's worrisome that this is where the illegal immigration debate is heading. Even more worrisome are the elected leaders who align themselves with such actions. Assemblyman and state Sen.-elect Mark Wyland of Vista was at the rally, saying he supports "every single one of these people who came out here." Congressman Brian Bilbray, who keeps an office in Escondido, has headlined other Minutemen rallies.

That's just poor leadership. Instead of offering a real solution to the problem, our politicians are encouraging folks to roust the homeless out of their makeshift shelters.

Bilbray's contribution to the national debate is to bring the rope and a can of gasoline.

Just A Little Edit and History Is Changed

2006-11-27T20:07:00.000-08:00

What happened to "Mission Accomplished?"

Creating their own reality over at the White House.

Hat tip to Eschaton.

Once A Dick, Always A Dick

2006-11-26T20:03:00.000-08:00

Our boy Cheney sure hates the Constitution. Why is such a man in power? Oh, he's a Republican and they all hate the Constitution.

California Gas Price Manipulation

2006-11-26T09:53:00.000-08:00

When the story first broke in 2003 that Shell Oil was going to shutdown its Bakersfield California refinery there was a great deal of skepticism. Insiders and analyists both suggested that Bakersfield was a viable operation and that even though it only produces two percent of California's demand, shutting it down would have an adverse impact on gasoline prices in the state.

Shell responded that there weren't sufficient oil reserves in the Bakersfield area to support an on-going refinery operation and that its small and antiquated facility was simply not cost effective. In fact, Shell was so sure of its position that it never considered trying to sell the refinery to another operator. At least not until public and political outcry drove them to reconsider that position.

The Associated Press tells the story of Bakersfield in the context of big oil's manipulation of supply and demand to keep gas prices and profit margins high for consumers.

Shell's position:

Shell portrayed its Bakersfield refinery as old and unfit. One executive said there was "simply no longer an adequate supply of crude oil" nearby.

Reality:

However, oil reserves are expected to last for decades around Bakersfield and elsewhere, according to industry and government estimates.

Shell's position:

Imports were impractical at inland Bakersfield, Shell explained. Lynn Laverty Elsenhans, the head of Shell Oil Products US, said the refinery here just wasn't viable anymore.

"For this reason, we have not expended time or resources in an attempt to find a buyer and do not intend to do so," Elsenhans wrote to U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

Reality:

Skeptics like U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., got more vocal. They began to suspect that Shell wanted to shut the refinery to sell pricier gas from its bigger refineries elsewhere in the region. By taking a hit at Bakersfield, maybe Shell could come out ahead.

"They were trying to squeeze the market in every possible way," Wyden insists.

Shell's position:

Shell spokesman Stan Mays denies that. He says it's "impossible to speculate" on whether Shell would have profited from closing the plant.

But he indirectly acknowledges that Shell didn't intend to make the refinery attractive for a competitor: "Who's going to want to buy it? We're not going to give crude supply with it."

Reality:

In Bakersfield, government regulators eventually began to nose around, wondering if Shell hoped to game the market. But the company finally hired an investment banker to scout buyers. In January 2005, it announced a sale to truck-stop operator Flying J, of Ogden, Utah, which also runs a small refining business.

In Bakersfield, Flying J's 350 refinery workers now process 2.7 million gallons of oil a day _ as much as Shell did _ in the churning nest of boilers, piping and stacks venting six stories above the scrubland.

The new owner won't discuss current profits but acknowledges making money. With limited oil from Shell, Flying J has kept its boilers busy with crude from other wells, also right here in the valley.

In fact, the refinery is so full of promise that Flying J has decided to spend several hundred million dollars to nearly double its gasoline output. It hopes to make about $85 million more a year in profit.

Gaming the system to generate higher profit margins. Artifically reduce supply and drive up prices. Its a great system and its an easy scam when you have two oil men running the country and holding hands with Saudi princes.

"A handful of very large companies realize it's in their mutual interest to keep prices as high as possible," says Tyson Slocum, an energy expert at the consumer group Public Citizen, founded by Ralph Nader. "I don't think they're sitting around a table smoking cigars and price fixing, but I think there are sophisticated ways to manipulate the market."

Americans continue to enjoy the fruits of Republican control of our government.

Wilkes Legal Team Grows

2006-11-26T07:40:00.000-08:00

According to the North County Times, George Bush Pioneer and Randy "Duke" Cunningham ATM, Brent Wilkes has added a new superstar lawyer to his legal team.

In the latest twist to former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's tale of greed and corruption, celebrity defense attorney Mark Geragos has joined the legal team of one of the former congressman's alleged conspirators in a massive bribery scam.

Geragos, whose former clients include pop star Michael Jackson, former first brother Roger Clinton and former Congressman Gary Condit, said Wednesday that he recently began representing Poway businessman Brent Wilkes.

Except for this choice of Cunningham as his congressional toady, Wilkes has always believed in a first class fronts for his taxpayer scams. With federal indictments on the way, Wilkes' new legal addition suggests that he intends to go in a different direction than Cunningham's other corporate cash source, Mitchell Wade, who cut a plea bargain deal with the feds and is now in jail.

Aside from hookers, Wilkes is alleged to have provided substantial monetary assistance to Cunningham.

The specific allegations against Wilkes, cited in the government's Cunningham case documents, are:

- that he gave Cunningham $525,000 in early 2004 to help pay the mortgage on Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe estate. The government asserts that Wilkes wrote the check only after getting Cunningham to agree to secure $6 million in government contracts for ADCS;

- that he wrote two unreported checks to Cunningham on May 1, 2000, one for $70,000 and one for $30,000;

- that he wrote an unreported corporate account check for $11,116 for a payment on a boat owned by Cunningham and made regular mortgage payments on the boat between September 2000 and April 2001;

- that he lavished Cunningham with unreported gifts exceeding $10,000. The gifts allegedly included meals at high-end restaurants where the tab often ran into the thousands, and private jet trips to three-star hotels and resorts. During the plane trips, the prosecutors said, there were catered meals featuring expensive wines and lobster.

Wonder what Cunningham is telling federal investigators about Brent Wilkes as he chokes down his gruel in the slammer?

Surrender Monkey

2006-11-25T07:18:00.000-08:00

Another defeatist. Why can't we just "stay the course?"

The United States must begin planning for a phased troop withdrawal from Iraq. The cost of combat in Iraq in terms of American lives, dollars and world standing has been devastating. We've already spent more than $300 billion there to prosecute an almost four-year-old war and are still spending $8 billion per month. The United States has spent more than $500 billion on our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And our effort in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate, partly because we took our focus off the real terrorist threat, which was there, and not in Iraq.

Go to Hell George Bush

2006-11-19T21:46:00.000-08:00

How To Divide And Conquer

2006-11-19T07:57:00.000-08:00

Brian Bilbray (CA-50) was elected to congress because of a single issue. He may do the normal political glad-handing and baby kissing, but at heart Bilbray's only viable issue is his anti-immigrant stance. His nativist position is the only card he has to play and he is a shady enough politician to know that the less he says the better. He lets talk radio and hate groups such as the Minutemen speak for him and he just stands to the side and nods in agreement.

Why did Brian Bilbray win in the 50th district. What is going on in San Diego's North County offers an explanation:

October 18:

Marking the division of a community, a shouting match erupted Wednesday night outside of Escondido City Hall after the City Council approved an ordinance barring landlords from renting to illegal immigrants.

What started as a crowd of about 30 people before the meeting then grew into two raucous crowds totaling about 100 people. One was predominantly Latino, carrying religious symbols and picket signs. The other was predominantly white, carrying American flags and photos of officers the group said were killed by illegal immigrants.

November 18:

A protest by several anti-illegal immigration groups Saturday afternoon on the edge of a canyon where migrant workers have camped for years was peaceful, but tense, as nearly 200 flag-toting demonstrators chanted, sang patriotic songs, and were confronted by a handful of human rights observers.

Brian Bilbray has a congressional liasion office in Escondido. He supports the city's unconstitutional housing ban.

Brian Bilbray actively courted the Minuteman vote.

These are his people.

First we have Duke Cunningham, liar and second rate crook.

Now we have Brian Bilbray, liar and racist.

Immigration Top Issue In CA-50 Election

2006-11-12T07:29:00.000-08:00

According to exit polls in the 50th congressional district election, single issue carpetbagging lobbyist Brian Bilbray (CA-50) at least selected the right "hot button" issue.

In the 50th Congressional District, immigration was a top concern for voters, according to an exit poll by Zogby International, a polling and research firm with offices in Washington. It showed that 21.2 percent of those questioned said immigration was the most important issue in their decision to vote. Change in Washington was the second-most important issue among those polled, 15.5 percent.

Bilbray doesn't have a plan or policy, just a loud voice and a simple minded message: immigrants bad, stopping immigration good.

Why Brian Bilbray Will Win

2006-11-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

James Walcott breaks down the Republican Party with painful precision. This is why scheming liars like Duke Cunningham and Brian Bilbray garner the votes of Republicans. It's simple; Republicans are stupid and proud of their ignorance. Just as fundamental Christians will accept hypocritical liars like Ted Haggard; they will accept strutting hypocritical politicians like George Bush and Brian Bilbray.

Republicans learned how to exploit the intelligence gap, herding the dopey faithful to the polls, and depending on their docility between elections. "Karl Rove was there to recognize that there were substantial powers to be obtained by catering to stupid stubborn people, and George W. Bush would be the man to harvest such resources," Norman Mailer brilliantly proposes in The Big Empty (a series of dialogues between Mailer and son John Buffalo). "George W. understood stupid people well. They were not dumb, their minds were not physically crippled in any way. They had chosen to be stupid because that offered its own kind of power. To win a great many small contests of will, they needed only to ignore all evidence. Bright people would break down trying to argue with them." It's like trying to reason with a box of rocks. If Rove's vision of a permanent Republican majority comes to rotten fruition, America may well devolve into the moronic dystopia of Mike Judge's movie Idiocracy—a mentally handicapped superpower buried under a mountain of garbage where the Fox News Channel is the sole source of information.

Tell the uncurious lies and they will believe them. Tell the uninterested lies and the will believe them. Wrap it all up in the flag and they will believe any lie you tell.

Hat tip to Democratic Veteran.

Rummy Shakes Saddam's Hand A Year After Dujail Massacre

2006-11-05T19:35:00.000-08:00

Rummy was doing a fantastic job back in 1983, when he went to Baghdad to make sure Saddam had all the ingredients he needed for chemical weapons and to make sure that the targeting of civilians would be improved by coordination with American intelligence.

Here is how Carpetbagger Report sees it.

Remember, a vote for Brian Bilbray is a vote to leave these sorry ass crooks in power.

New Poll Shows Huge Bilbray Lead

2006-11-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

A new SurveyUSA polls shows that in a heavily Republican district, the best strategy for a Republican candidate is to hide from the voters. That's what Brian Bilbray (CA-50) has done in the 50th district and the latest poll shows Bilbray with a commanding lead. Remember, Republicans in this district flocked to the polls every two years to send convicted Republican felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham back to congress so he could steal millions. And, let's face it, if Cunningham were running from his prison cell, the loyal Republicans of the 50th would probably send him back to congress to steal some more.

This most recent polls suggests that it is Republican party loyalty more than any other factor that is deciding the election in Bilbray's favor. It seems that Republicans in the 50th don't want to hold Bilbray, his fellow Republicans and George Bush accountable for the disaster that this country has become. The most telling breakdown in this poll is the fact that of those who support President Bush, 95% say they are voting for Bilbray.

A vote for Brian Bilbray is a vote to continue the murder of American soldiers in Iraq because George Bush had no plan when he invaded that country and he has no plan now. Just keep the killing going until he leaves office and then the problem becomes someone else's. That is Republican leadership.

Close Race in CA-50

2006-11-04T08:21:00.000-08:00

Invisible Republican lobbyist and carpetbagger Brian Bilbray vs. energetic Democrat Francine Busby. An unscientific survey of the mood of the 50th district suggests the race for convicted Republican felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham's seat is indeed very close.

...informal conversations with 60 voters in four locations throughout the district last week revealed that the race appears close in most areas. Many of those interviewed in the district, which extends from Clairemont northward along the coast to Carlsbad and northwest to Escondido, cited immigration, a desire to change the balance of power in Congress and dislike for one or both of the candidates as deciding factors in their vote.

Rummy Must Go!

2006-11-03T20:50:00.000-08:00

A vote for Brian Bilbray (CA-50) is a vote for Donald Rumsfeld. A vote that each of the four military newspapers says is misplaced.

Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.

This is not about the midterm elections. Regardless of which party wins Nov. 7, the time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard bruising truth:

Donald Rumsfeld must go.

As long as Brian Bilbray and his fellow rubber stamp Republicans are running the show in congress, no one will hold Donald Rumsfeld accountable. That needs to change for the sake of our troops in Iraq.

Bilbray Is Next

2006-11-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

A Vote for Bilbray Is A Vote For Bush

2006-11-03T19:31:00.000-08:00

Remember who you are voting for on November 7. A vote for Brian Bilbray is a vote for George Bush!

Intervention Time

2006-11-01T18:38:00.000-08:00

I'm not a big Andrew Sullivan fan, but this recent line certainly makes the point about the importance of next Tuesday:

"This is no longer an election, this is an intervention."

It's time to step in and save our country before the Bush Administration and its rubberstamp Republican Congress do irreparable damage to the United States.

Electing Brian Bilbray (CA-50) to Congress sends another Bush enabler to Washington. The cost of sending Bilbray will be more lost American lives, more squandered billions and continued erosion of the Constitution of the United States, the one thing these men have sworn an oath to "preserve, protect and defend."

Checkout the latest Busby commercial.

Does Bush Know This?

2006-10-29T06:46:00.000-08:00

Note to lame duck George Bush from the Boston Globe:

"The less successful the war has been, the less plausible it has been for Bush to be stomping around in his cowboy boots," said Ralph Whitehead, a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. "The plausibility of Bush's electoral swagger as the campaigner-in-chief for his party depends to some extent on the plausibility of his military swagger as commander-in-chief of his country's presence in Iraq."

To many of us the idea that such a dim-witted failure of a man could be the commander-in-chief of our military and the leader of a free democratic country has always been implausible.

Brian Bilbray to 50th District - "Up Yours!"

2006-10-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

Compare and contrast Democrat Francine Busby's campaign schedule with that of lying, carpetbagger Brian Bilbray (CA-50). Busby is actually taking her case to the people of the district she wants to represent. Bilbray on the other hand hasn't even bothered to update his website since May. Other than carefully scripted events and in-studio television "debates," Bilbray is non-existent in the 50th district. Even though he claims to live here. How very freaking odd.

Bilbray's refusal to campaign in the 50th district is an embarrassment to him and an affront to the voters in the district. Why won't Bilbray speak about the grand jury investigating him for perjury and voter fraud? Why won't he justify his vote for oil exploration off the 50th district coastline? Why won't he answer why his first vote in congress after his election was for a pay raise?

It's time to take out the garbage in the 50th district. What are the chances that we will find Brian Bilbray anywhere near his mother's home?

Witness Confirms Bilbray Grand Jury

2006-10-27T18:10:00.000-07:00

According to the North County Times, a witness who testified before a San Diego grand jury investigation of perjury and voter fraud allegations directed at Representative Brian Bilbray (CA-50) has stepped forward and discussed his appearance before the panel.

Carlsbad resident, William Rider, lives near the address Bilbray claimed as his residence just prior to jumping into the CA-50 race when convicted Republican felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham's bribery and extortion scams became public knowledge.

Rider showed reporters court documents and discussed his nearly 90 minutes of testimony before the grand jury on August 29.

Bilbray filed documents claiming that his mother's home in Carlsbad was his primary residence and that he was living there to assist her. However, during the special election campaign to replace Cunningham, Bilbray's assertion that he lived a the address was questioned and at that time a number of resident of the neighborhood told reports that they seldom, if ever saw Bilbray at his mother's residence.

According to Rider, the purpose of the criminal grand jury was to determine if somebody who claimed to live in his neighborhood actually lived there.

He said that on the day he appeared, he was taken into a room at the county courthouse on Broadway and answered questions from [Patrick] O'Toole [special operations division attorney] and others from jurors. Rider said the questioning lasted about an hour and a half. He said that after first admonishing him not to discuss the proceedings outside of the courtroom and telling him that he was not the focus of the investigation, O'Toole said the jury was trying to determine whether somebody in his neighborhood in fact lived there.

O'Toole then proceeded to ask him a series of questions, like:"Did he know where Bilbray's mother lived? If he could see the mother's home from his house? How often he drove by Bilbray's house? If he had ever seen Bilbray helping his mother out of the house."

Rider said that O'Toole asked if he had ever seen Bilbray at the house."I believe I told him I had seen him there once or twice and that was eight or nine years ago," Rider said.

Bilbray claims that all this is driven by politics. Duhh. Bilbray's claim to live in Carlsbad was driven by politics. He could have run for Cunningham's seat, while claiming his Imperial Beach home as his California residence, which he does for tax purposes. That would have been perfectly legal, but it might not have gone down well in the district.

So, Bilbray chose to claim residence in the district, for the sake of political appearance. Now his lie has been exposed and it is indeed all about politics. And, if all politics is local, then it has become clear that Bilbray isn't a local as far as the 50th district is concerned.

Update: The San Diego Union Tribune picked up this story in the afternoon and included it in its on line edition. Now maybe some of the big time journalists who have been sitting on this story will begin to fill in more of the details.

Update: Coincidently, the Union Tribune has a feature story about Bilbray whistle-blower William Rider, a Vietnam veteran, who now works with Marines returning from deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan to help them through the symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

Bilbray and Abramoff

2006-10-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

For those of us who live in the 50th congressional district, it is hard to find one piece of truth that has come out of the mouth of our carpetbagging congressman, Brian Bilbray. Bilbray remains under investigation by a grand jury for his lies under oath regarding his place(s) of residence. Bilbray lies that he represents the wishes of the people of the 50th district and then votes to allow oil exploration and drilling off the district's coast.

Perhaps Bilbray's biggest lie is about his relationship with convict felon, Jack Abramoff. Bilbray says he hardly knew Abramoff, yet in 1996 Bilbray and his wife took an all expenses Abramoff funded and led trip to the Marianas Islands. While in the Marianas, Bilbray did a little sight seeing, played a little golf and, apparently missed any clues to practices like forced labor and child prostitution. Of course, it was in an effort to keep those two grand Republican practices alive in the Marianas that led Abramoff to invite Bilbray along on the trip in the first place.

On his return for the Marianas, Bilbray become a staunch supported of the Abramoff position and even produced legislation to insure that, despite being a United States trust territory, exploited residents of the Marianas would not be subject to the protection of the Constitution.

Here is a timeline of Bilbray's sell out to Abramoff from the Democratic Underground:

Dec. 13, 1996 – Bilbray prepares to take a trip to the Marianas that will be illegally funded by Jack Abramoff, who at the time is NOT under contract to the Marianas government. Bilbray is warned by the House Committee on Conduct that a planned trip to the Marianas may only take place only if it is a government expense and not paid for by lobbyists. “He received the invitation from the governor of the islands, because the islands were struggling to come to grips with foreign guest workers who were giving birth to children while staying there and then claiming birthright citizenship for their children, Bilbray said. Before he went on the trip, he also requested that the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct give its approval for the trip, he said.

In a Dec. 13, 1996, letter to Bilbray, the committee approved his request ---- with qualifications.

"Assuming the Committee's understanding regarding payment of the costs of the trip is correct, you may participate in the trip under this provision," the letter stated.”

Despite the warning, Bilbray goes on the trip either knowing Abramoff paid for it--or not checking exactly who was paying the enormous bill.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/02/05/news/top_sto...

1996 – For New Year’s Eve, Republican Congressman Brian Bilbray flies to the Marianas and back in the same plane as Jack Abramoff, along with gang member Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA), John Duncan (R-TN) and their wives. Abramoff invoices show that he paid for the trip, over $10,000 per Congressional couple. Once there, after a perfunctory sweatshop tour, it was golf, fun in the sun, and more golf (and who knows what else). All three Congressmen agreed that the Marianas were a “little experiment” in capitalism, from which Washington could learn a lot. Bilbray tells his Marianas audience “You’re the cutting edge, socially and economically…” He said the Marianas has a very “progressive approach to immigration issues. The Northern Marianas has a lot of answers for the rest of the American family.”

“Abramoff billed numerous trips to his personal credit card or the firm, the records state, and then pressed the islands to reimburse him to avoid violating the new ban on lobbyists giving gifts to House members”. - April 28, 2005 Atlanta Journal-Constitution

1997 – Bilbray does not disclose the Marianas trip on his financial disclosure forms as required, saying later he thought the Marianas government paid for the journey, making it a US government expense. After the Republican trip, the Marianas government re-hires Preston Gates and reimburses Abramoff for the plane and hotel bills.

1997 – Around 200 babies become US citizens per year in the Marianas, complicating matters for the crooked sweatshop owners and their partners in crime at Marianas immigration, who always threaten non-citizen workers in numerous ways. Bilbray writes a bill attempting to limit the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, so that babies born on US soil in the Marianas can become US citizens only if at least one of their parents is a US citizen—and only for the Marianas!

October 1997 – Bilbray, Rohrbacher, Royce and Duncan hold luncheon for Marianas Governor Tenorio to fight against Clinton’s attempt to repeal the islands’ “Made in USA” label status and take away local immigration authority unless reforms were made on the sweatshop, forced prostitution and forced abortion issues.

1997 – Led by Tom Delay, Bilbray and The Abramoff Gang in Congress votes against bill requiring Marianas sweatshop owners to raise the minimum wage past $3.05.

Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Brian Bilbray, two corrupt Republican liars. When will Republicans in the 50th district figure out that they are being played for suckers by their own party. Cunningham and Bilbray's job isn't to represent the 50th district, it is to support the lobbyists like Jack Abramoff, whose money is the life-blood of the Republican Party.

The 10 Worst In Congress

2006-10-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

Thank you Rolling Stone. Nine Republicans and one Democrat. The Democrat, Bill Jefferson (LA-2), appears to be a greedy crook, but the nine Republicans surrounding him have higher aspirations than a freezer full of cash. Most of them want to make sure that the Constitution is trashed, while they rake in millions in graft and kick-backs.

Here is the Congressional Hall of Shame:

1) Denny Hastert (R-Ill.):

“Most of us aren’t speaker of the House, and most of us don’t have a $200 million earmark running through our back yard. Hastert does, and he made a fortune from it.”

2) James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.)

“He treats us all equally,” says Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.). “He treats us all like dogs.”

3) Don Young (R.-Alaska)

When Sen. John McCain proposed that Young redirect his prized pork money to help rebuild New Orleans, Young accused his detractors of “ignorance and stupidity.” The victims of Katrina, he suggested, “can kiss my ear!“

4) “Dollar” Bill Jefferson (D-La.)

Despite his unethical behavior, Jefferson is cruising to re-election. “In Louisiana, they have a long tradition of corruption — a Huey Long tradition.”

5) Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.)

Even Brent Wilkes — the defense contractor whose payoffs sent Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham to prison earlier this year — has complained about Lewis’ shakedown operation.

6) Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.)

“He’s got the best track record in Congress,” raves Gordon Baum, head of the Council for Conservative Citizens, a “pro-white” group that lauds Tancredo for protecting America from a “full-scale invasion” of Latin immigrants.

7) Dick Pombo (R-Calif.)

“Dick Pombo is the most dangerous member of the House,” says Carl Pope of the Sierra Club. “There’s no one who represents the threat to our public lands that he does.”

8) Curt Weldon (R-Penn.)

“Curt Weldon has outlived his usefulness to the country,” says House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. “He’s seeing ghosts and conspiracies.”

9) Hal Rogers (R.-Ky.)

He has placed the interests of his own district ahead of defending the nation from Al Qaeda, prompting even the archconservative National Review to call him a “congressional disgrace.“

10) Marilyn Musgrave (R.-Colo.)

“She doesn’t like the idea of one gay person,” says Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts. “So obviously the idea of two of us hanging out makes her very unhappy.”

Time to toss this crew of corrupt crooks out.

Bilbray Favors Censorship

2006-10-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

I was going to start this by calling Brian Bilbray (CA-50) by his official title, "Representative," but as far as I know Bilbray has nothing to do with representing the 50th congressional district. Bilbray continues to hide from his constituents.

He had made no actual campaign appearances in the district. Instead he makes pronouncements and shuttles from his secret hideout outside the district to safe events inside the borders of the 50th. Thursday it was a meeting of chamber of commerce groups, a safe Republican audience. Before that, he met with a group of children in a private home to hear them plea for a Department of Peace. He listened, took time for a photo opportunity and then read them a chapter of "My Pet Goat."

Yesterday Bilbray ventured out of the bunker in his Imperial Beach (inside CA-51) green zone compound to downtown San Diego (inside CA-53) where Bilbray called for censorship of CNN for showing a video of Iraqi insurgents attacking American troops. Bilbray wants CNN punished for having the temerity to show the consequences of the actions of the Bush Administration and the Republican rubber stamp congress, of which Bilbray is a member in good standing.

“This is nothing short of a terrorist snuff film,” said Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad. “I think CNN should recognize it made a terrible mistake and pull it.”

Bilbray, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asking him to yank any CNN reporters embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq.

Exercising our Constitutional rights is something that these Republicans just can't abide. They know that when the American people see the truth about the Republican's war on terror, they will respond by tossing out the posturing fools and self-serving career politicians that have been using the lives of American soldiers own purposes. Brian Bilbray is just one more of those rubber stamp Republicans, more interested in preserving his place at the feeding trough than in serving the needs of his constituents.

It is no surprise that Bilbray didn't have the courage or courtesy to actually come to the 50th district to make his case for censorship. He hasn't made a case for any of his congressional decisions, from voting to allow oil drilling off the district's coast to giving himself a pay raise, to his constituents.

Brain Bilbray's Porn Loving Contributor

2006-10-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

Gee. Brian Bilbray (CA-50) has found a porn loving Republican sugar-daddy to help bankroll his candidacy in his race against Democrat Francine Busby. Bilbray has offered his unwavering support to Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Manboysex) and now is apparently taking money from anybody who will write him a check.

The contributor in question is Craig T. Schelske, the latest sanctimonious Christian Republican to be outed as a wannabe Rick James. Schelske is the husband and former manager to Nashville singer and Dancing With the Stars contestant Sara Evans. He is also a failed Republican congressional candidate, the executive director of American Destiny, which seeks to teach children about "the role of God and Christianity in America's story," and chairman of CRAIGPAC, a vanity political action committee that gives to Republican candidates.

Last week, Evans filed a bombshell divorce complaint [PDF] against Schelske in Tennessee, accusing her husband of being, well, a porn-loving, adulterous, abusive drunk who likes to advertise on Craig's List for three-ways and anal sex and takes naked pictures of himself standing at attention. In addition to cheating on her with their nanny, Evans said, Schelske "frequently watches pornography on each of [the family's] three computers," has "at least 100 photographs of [himself] posing with his erect penis" and "several photographs showing [himself] having sex with other women."

That's our congressman, always willing to take a handout from a fellow Republican.

Whoops.............CA-50 In Play

2006-10-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

Apparently, Brian Bilbray's (CA-50) strategy of hiding out until after the election and then going back to his home in Virginia isn't quite working out as intended. Over the last few weeks, Bilbray has lost what once was a double digit polling lead over Democrat Francine Busby.

A SurveyUSA poll released yesterday shows the election as a statistical dead heat. Busby has made up 11% points on Bilbray since the last SurveyUSA poll on September 13.

Bilbray has lost 5 points and Busby has gained 6 points. Bilbray had led by 14 points, now leads by 3. Bilbray gets 85% of Republican votes. Busby gets 87% of Democrat votes. These numbers are similar to last month's. Most of the shrinkage in Bilbray's advantage is because the Republican edge in the composition of CA50 likely voters has decreased from 14 points to 6 points. See the supplemental analysis box below. Among Independents, Busby has gone from 2 points behind to 9 points ahead.

Bilbray continues to take hits due to an on-going grand jury investigation that, although, still not credible in the main stream media due to its anonymous sources, highlights both Bilbray's lack of veracity and the fact that he has never and still doesn't live in the 50th district.

Bilbray's lack of visibility in the district makes his stance regarding debating Busby even more troubling. He is seen as an outsider, intent on making his home in congress not the North County. North County Times columnist Gale Chatfield, today, asks will Bilbray won't debate the issues in front of 50th district voters. She points out that Bilbray does have time for fund raising at expensive Rancho Santa Fe restaurants. You know Rancho Santa Fe, that's where convicted Republican felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham chose to live once he began pulling in the big bribery money.

Yes, Brian Bilbray did tell this paper that he would try and accommodate challenger Francine Busby as much as possible, sarcastically adding that he would give "face time" to Busby "as long as she agrees the debate can be done in English."

He also said that this campaign is not his "No. l priority right now" because he is extremely busy doing what he was elected to do.

What Bilbray was elected to do was serve the constituents of the 50th District until November's election. Congress even gave him and other members time off to campaign in their home districts.

It's not that he hasn't been asked. Back in June, the AARP invited Bilbray and Busby to debate on the Saturday morning of Oct. 7 at the Encinitas United Methodist Church. The night before the debate, Bilbray declined the invitation. He did likewise to an invitation from local radio station KLSD.

It's not that he doesn't have the time. Bilbray recently had time for cocktails, conversation and fundraising for the invited few at Rancho Santa Fe's Mille Fleurs restaurant.

We constituents deserve more than "face time" with this conveniently transplanted North County resident. We need a public forum where we can ask tough questions of every candidate.

Bilbray's invisibility in the district has independents looking at Busby again. Bilbray's support of the Republican agenda, Bush's Iraqi war and Dennis Hastert's failure to protect 16 year olds from a sexual predator all factor into this changing public mood.

Remember, too, Bilbray's support among Republican conservatives is luke warm at best and the impact on a GOTV effort that doesn't utilize the conservative and religious base will be a reduction in the number of Republicans delivered to the polls on Election Day.

Brian Bilbray - Carpetbagging Liar

2006-10-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

Here is the full statement from Democrat Francine Busby's press conference yesterday. The facts are clear and simple. Lobbyist, carpetbagger Brian Bilbray (CA-50) is being investigated by a grand jury in San Diego. Bilbray lied about his residence status in sworn statements and now he is under investigation. The mainstream media considers this a "he said/she said" until someone who has either been before the grand jury or who has first hand knowledge of the grand jury spills the story. In essence the media, including some serious journalist is waiting to have the story handed to them. So much for investigative journalism.

Is Bilbray The Target Of A Grand Jury Investigation?

Statement From Francine Busby, Candidate - Fiftieth Congressional District

Thank you being here today. These are difficult times, and grave circumstances.

I want to recognize the honor and courage of our Republican District Attorney, Bonnie Dumanis, for doing the right thing - for rooting out corruption wherever it lies, without regard for partisan politics. This is what leadership is all about.

If Brian Bilbray is indeed being investigated by a criminal Grand Jury with the District Attorney's office, the voters of the 50th District deserve to know. They have a right to know because they have endured the Cunningham scandal. They have endured a year without effective congressional representation and they have endured a series of very difficult elections that cost over $15 million dollars. All because an elected official refused to be honest with voters and fully disclose the facts in a timely fashion.

Now, we find ourselves in similar circumstances. The citizens of the 50th District deserve no less than the full truth before casting their votes on November 7. Brian Bilbray must tell the voters of the 50th District if he is being investigated by a criminal Grand Jury for fraud. The people of this district have been through enough. They deserve nothing less.

Statement From Ray Drew, Campaign Manager:

Around Labor Day weekend, I received a call from a person who said he was a neighbor of Brian Bilbray’s mother. He had testified in front of a criminal Grand Jury with the District Attorney’s office in an investigation of Congressman Bilbray for fraud. This witness stated that he was asked questions regarding where Mr. Bilbray lived, whether he lived with his mother, and if he had ever seen him at his mother’s house. He stated that at least 5 of his neighbors had also been subpoenaed to testify before the Grand Jury.

Since then I have heard from other neighbors, confirming this report and adding additional details. They have all stated that they were heavily warned by the Grand Jury, not to repeat their testimony to the press, under penalty of contempt of court.

These neighbors have confirmed that Bilbray does not live there.

Just this past Monday, an attorney contacted me and asked to meet with me. He confirmed that he represented a client who had been subpoenaed and had testified in front of this Grand Jury. This witness felt compelled to let us know about the Grand Jury. He stated that the public should know that Bilbray is being investigated, especially given that this District has had to deal with so much scandal and corruption in the last few years. But he could not risk coming forward to the press.

This attorney had spoken to a Deputy DA and confirmed that indeed the District Attorney’s office was investigating Bilbray on charges related to fraud. Mr. Bilbray signed his voter registration form, under penalty of perjury, stating that he lived with his mother on Unicornio Street in Carlsbad.

Brian Bilbray did not have to establish residence in the 50th district to run for congress. It was a choice he made. He could have run from his Virginia home or his Imperial Beach address. It was his decision to pretend he lived in Carlsbad, the middle of the 50th district. So the lies and deceptions are his and his alone.

There is some limited local media coverage, here and here, but, let's face it, no 16 year olds are being raped by congressmen and Bilbray's association with Jack Abramoff, though real, isn't likely to end up in an indictment, so the media doesn't really give a shit.

Rest In Peace Noma - We'll Deal With The Republicans

2006-10-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

This is a woman, I wish I had had the chance to meet. From today's Union Tribune obits:

Noma L. Salgado

SALGADO, NOMA L. Noma 91, of Escondido passed away peacefully on October 9, 2006. A loving, cheerful mother and grandma to many, she will be remembered for her boundless love and kindness. Noma found great joy being surrounded by family and friends. Noma was an ardent reader and avid seamstress, especially enjoying sewing quilts and dresses for her grandchildren. She feared little in life except snakes, heights, and Republicans. Mom was the root of our family tree, the fabric that made up the quilt of our lives. She will be missed by all whose hearts she touched.Please sign the guest book at obituaries.uniontrib.com

Much like so many of us. Fearing only heights, snakes and Republicans. Of course the difference between snakes and Republicans seems to be shrinking lately.

Bilbray Speaks From Undisclosed Location

2006-10-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

Today's North County Times gives us some feedback from lobbyist, carpetbagger Brian Bilbray's (CA-50) undisclosed bunker (you know the place where the surfer congressman lays his head and hangs his wetsuit).

Bilbray tells the NC Times that "he has not been subpoenaed by any grand jury and has no knowledge of the existence of one." As reassuring as that might be, Bilbray seems to have missed the point that many others seem to have discovered: there is a grand jury and it is investigating Bilbray's false statements regarding his place of residence prior to the special congressional election in the 50th district.

Democrat Francine Busby's campaign responded to Bilbray's spin and obsfucation by pointing out that it a large number of people living in the La Costa neighborhood where Bilbray claim residence in his mother's home, have been called before a GRAND JURY to testify as to the veracity of Bilbray's claim. And, to a man/women they have testified that Bilbray is nowhere to be seen at the house where he claims residence.

There is a grand jury and it is investigating Bilbray. That's the reality, despite what Bilbray says. He lied about where he lives, what else will he lie about?

Will The Lapdog Media Cover Bilbray's Grand Jury?

2006-10-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

Circling around the story concerning the San Diego grand jury investigation of Representative Brian Bilbray's (CA-50) are a number of main stream journalist. None will publish the story until they receive confirmation from either the district attorney or a witness that the investigation exists.

Credible sources, say the story is true and that there is indeed a grand jury investigation of Bilbray in place. Bilbray's place of residence and time of residence in the 50th district are already a matter of record. While claiming his mother's La Costa home as a residence, Bilbray spent no time at that address and was also claiming legal rights to his home in Virginia.

The bottom-line, Bilbray never established legal residence in the 50th district. He falsified records and made claims on multiple residences, but he never resided in the 50th district. Perjury, voter fraud, the list of potential charges goes on and on.

The main stream media refuses to investigate this story. They are sitting this one out until someone comes forward and hands them the story. Do you think the fact that both major San Diego County newspapers endorsed Bilbray in June has something to do with the editorial reluctance to do their jobs? Sure looks that way.

Bilbray Events

2006-10-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

Other than testifying before the grand jury, carpetbagging lobbyist Brian Bilbray (CA-50) is scheduled to speak and do a question and answer session in Escondido on October 19. This event is co-sponsored by the Economic Development Council and the North County Chamber Organization (a group of North County chambers of commerce).

Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Escondido, will speak and take questions during an appearance from 6-7:30 p.m. Oct. 19 at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.

Bilbray's participation was announced in the San Diego Business Journal on September 26. i suspect the odds are pretty slim that any of the chamber of commerce types will ask Bilbray about his grand jury status, so here's the contact information to reserve a space at this free event.

To make a reservation, call the San Diego North Economic Development Council at (760) 598-9311. Alternatively, send an e-mail to info@sandiegonorthedc.org.

Will Bilbray come out of hiding and actually make an appearance?

Bilbray Under Investigation by Grand Jury

2006-10-11T06:17:00.000-07:00

Maybe this is why Republican lobbyist, turned carpetbagger, turned member of congress; Brian Bilbray (CA-50) is hiding out from his constituents in the North County. According to this Bilbray is the subject of a grand jury investigation into allegations of perjury and voter fraud relative to his place of residence. Please remember that Bilbray never lived in the 50th district and only claimed residence here after the initial story about Randy "Duke" Cunningham's real estate deals broke.

The San Diego Democratic Party requested an investigation of Bilbray's multiple and conflicting residency claims and it appears that that investigation has reached the level where evidence of potential wrong doing is being presented to a grand jury. Here is the essence of the complaint against Bilbray:

Our original letter to the San Diego District Attorney (5/17/06) refers to Bilbray's signed voter registration -- days after the Cunningham story broke -- declaring a Carlsbad address to be his "residence and domicile" under penalty of perjury (6/21/05).

Less than two months after re-registering, he signed a new deed of trust for his home in Alexandria, Virginia (8/25/05). He did not indicate that the home was anything other than his "principal residence," which the deed would have explicitly forbidden.

In December of 2005, Bilbray's children testified under oath that they lived in Virginia with their father. The context was a lawsuit in which Bilbray claimed his children were out-of-state residents who deserved to pay the same tuition as undocumented immigrants who lived in-state. A few months later, he signed a formal declaration of candidacy to run for Congress (2/23/06), citing his mother's house on Unicornio Street in Carlsbad as his residence.

Throughout this entire period, he was receiving a homeowner's tax exemption on his property in South County's Imperial Beach, where neighbors had spotted him in the community ever since he began to run for the North County seat.

If Bilbray is the subject of a fraud investigation, he certainly doesn't want to have to answer that question in a public forum. That explains why he is avoiding debates and public appearances.

Once again Republicans in the 50th district have decide to allow themselves to be represented by a man to whom the truth is a complete stranger. At some point you would think that they would get tired of having their congressional representative under threat of indictment.

Brian Bilbray - Still Missing

2006-10-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

Brian Bilbray (CA-50) is behind a lot of negative campaign flyers, but Bilbray himself is completely missing in the 50th district.

Where is he? Why won't he appear in any public forum? There is something going on that is making Bilbray afraid to take questions from the public or the press.

Of course, the San Diego press is totally subserviant to the Republican Party so no one even asks why Bilbray is in hiding. They just assume that he is doing the public's work, despite the fact that congress in in recess so elected representatives can meet with their constituents.

If that is the case, where is Bilbray? Maybe you should ask the North County Times or the San Diego Union Tribune.

Where the heck is Brian Bilbray and why won't he stand up before the public or press? Seems like that is an important question.

Help Us Find Brian Bilbray

2006-10-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

Representative Brian Bilbray (CA-50) is missing. Despite the fact that congress adjourned last week and, by the way, there is an election in less than a month, Bilbray has disappeared. Has he's pulled a Dick Cheney and moved to an undisclosed bunker, where he apparently plans to hide out until after the election.

Polls show Bilbray with a solid lead over Democrat Francine Busby in the 50th district race, but you would think that Bilbray would want to at least remind voters in the 50th that he is, well, their congressman.

Talk about a laid back approach to campaigning. Bilbray's campaign web site hasn't been updated since May 17th. I can find no evidence on the San Diego County Republican Party website that Bilbray is participating in any campaign events for himself or any other Republican candidate.

Isn't that odd? I mean, think about it, this guy was elected by a slim majority back in June amid charges that he was a carpetbagger who never lived in the district. And, in fact lots of questions were raised about Bilbray's actual residence of record during the campaign. It certainly looked like his ties to his home in Virginia were a lot stronger than his tenuous residency at his mother's address in La Costa.

Based on the fact that lots of 50th district residents see Bilbray as an outsider opportunist who jumped in when Randy "Duke" Cunningham's bribery scandal broke, you would think Bilbray would want to be seen and have contact with his constituents in the North County. But, there is no evidence that Bilbray is willing to attend any public forum in the 50th district. Bilbray has refused to accept invitations to several candidate forums and debates. Last week he was a no show at a debate sponsored by the AARP (pdf) after indicating that he might show up.

Certainly, Bilbray might feel better not having to stick up for the Bush Administrations botched Iraqi policy. He might not want to field questions about fellow Republican Mark Foley's predilection for sex chat with congressional pages. But, still you would think he would want to be seen and interact with the people who live in the district.

So, that leaves me with one more thought. Is Brian Bilbray afraid of something? Is there a question out there that Brian Bilbray doesn't want to come out in a public forum? It seems to me that the only people who hide out are people with something to hide. What is Brian Bilbray hiding?

The Difference Between Democrats and Republicans

2006-10-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

Back in the good old days of April 2006, it looked like a Democrat might be elected to represent California's 50th Congressional District. Republicans were in disarray after their 50th district stalwart, Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned, confessed and went off to prison. The best candidate the badly split Republicans could cough up in an early April special election was a lobbyist who had never lived one day in the 50th district.

Polls showed Democrat Francine Busby even or ahead of Republican lobbyist and carpetbagger, Brian Bilbray, and it looked like Busby had a real chance for an upset victory despite the huge Republican voter registration advantage in the district. Money and support were pouring in to the Busby campaign and she looked strong preparing for the June 3 run-off that would decided who filled out the final months of Cunningham's term.

Then in mid-April the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) went nuclear on Busby with a series of attack ads that made the Swift Boating of John Kerry look like a teenage prank video on YouTube. The NRCC threw millions at the race and worked diligently to discredit Busby.

The most egregious ad the NRCC threw up attacked Busby as being soft on child pornography. The rationale for the NRCC charge was that a teacher, who worked in the Cardiff School District, on whose board Busby serves, was suspected of having child pornography on his personal computer at his home.

The teacher in questions was under investigation based on information gleaned from credit card records and other personal information. As soon as the school district administration was informed of the investigation, the teacher was stripped of his teaching credential and he was placed on administrative leave. He never entered a classroom or had contact with another student from that time forward. The teacher subsequently resigned rather than face a school board administrative action to terminate him.

The man behind the NRCC advertising that put the Busby campaign in a defensive mode, none other than Representative Tom Reynolds (NY-26). Reynolds is the head of the NRCC and in April with the Busby/Bilbray race the only congressional action on the table, Reynolds was free to turn all his time and effort to the attack.

Compare the behavior of the Cardiff School District and board member, Francine Busby, with the behavior of the man responsible for the NRCC's advertising, in the Foleygate page sex scandal. By his own admission, Reynolds told "his supervisor," House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert (IL-14) that Representative Mark Foley's behavior toward house pages seemed inappropriate. AND, then, Reynolds walked away. He didn't follow-up, he didn't ask his own chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, if there were more to the situation with Foley. Fordham, would have been a good person to ask as he had spent ten years as Foley's chief of staff before going to work in the same capacity for Reynolds.

Reynolds is attempting to spin the story by offering up his "sincere" mea culpa that he should have done more and suggesting that others dropped the ball and did nothing to protect congressional pages from his colleague Representative Foley.

"Nobody's angrier and more disappointed that I didn't catch his lies," the New York representative says, referring to Foley, in the television commercial that appeared Friday on stations in Buffalo and Rochester. "I trusted that others had investigated. Looking back, more should have been done, and for that, I am sorry."

Interesting, huh? When a Democratic candidate does everything possible to protect children, Republicans like Reynolds make up stuff to discredit her. On the other hand, when a senior member of the Republican leadership is told that one of his colleagues is behaving inappropriately with young men, who are supposedly under the protection of the institution of which Reynolds is a leader, Reynolds passes the buck up and does nothing.

Bringing this back to the 50th district, there are two things to keep in mind here. First, when Reynolds and crew went after Busby in April, she called upon Republican Brian Bilbray to repudiate the ads and to ask the NRCC to stop running them in his behalf. Bilbray smirked and said that there was nothing he could do about the ads.

Bilbray is still smirking as he continues to support Reynolds and Hastert and the rest of the Republican leadership as they twist, spin and lie in an effort to deflect the public from its perception that they are engaged in a massive cover-up. Bilbray is just another Republican who has one single interest, reelection. The needs of the people in his district, the needs of the pages under his protection, none of that matters to men like Bilbray. Getting power and holding power is what it is all about for them.

Cunningham to "liablest" Reporters - It's All Your Fault

2006-10-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

In a letter responding to an interview request from reporter Marcus Stern, former 50th district congressman and now convicted felon, Randy "Duke" Cunningham laid the blame for his incarceration on Stern and the San Diego Union Tribune.

To Cunningham, Stern, whose work breaking the Cunningham bribery story won him a Pulitzer, is the reason that Duke is sitting in prison. Apparently the bribes Cunningham solicited and accepted had no influence on his current situation.

In a letter filled with spelling and punctuation errors, Cunningham tells Stern and his colleagues that the “truth will come out and you will find out how liablest [libelous] you have & will be.”

Cunningham also blames Mitchell Wade, who provided him with millions in cash and gifts, while Cunningham directed a series of earmaks to Wade's MZM Incorporated. According to Cunningham, “Wade is the absolute devil and his lawyer is trying to save his donkey.”

So, this is Randy "Duke" Cunningham in a nutshell. In Duke's world he is the victim. The victim of a businessman who kept giving him things and a journalist who reported on those gifts. Duke sees himself as entitled to the bribes and undeserving of the criticism and consequences of these actions.

The sad part of all this is the fact that this sick, perverted man with his sense of personal entitlement and his complete lack of ethics or morality was elected and reelected to congress time after time by the Republicans of the 50th district. Who is more to blame the enabled or the enablers?

Bilbray Another Republican Racist?

2006-10-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

How bad does Brian Bilbray (CA-50) suck. Take a look at this.

CA-50 Slipping Away

2006-09-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

It certainly looks like lobbyist and Virginia resident Brian Bilbray has a lock on re-election the 50th District. Democratic challenger, Francine Busby has slipped to nearly the same position that she was in two years ago when convicted Republican felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham defeated her 58% to 36%.

According the a SurveyUSA poll taken last week, Bilbray is the choice of 54% of likely voters in November's election, while Busby has the support of 40%.

Republican Bilbray Increases Lead in Duke Cunningham's District: In an election for the U.S. House of Representatives today, 9/13/06, in California's 50th Congressional District, incumbent Republican Congressman Brian Bilbray defeats Democrat Francine Busby 54% to 40%, effectively taking this seat out of play for the Democrats, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KGTV-TV San Diego. Bilbray, who beat Busby by 4 points in a special election 6/6/06 to win the seat, now with the advantages of incumbency leads by 14 points. In an identical SurveyUSA KGTV-TV poll 2 months ago, Bilbray led by 11 points. The election is in 8 weeks, on 11/7/06. Much of the movement from SurveyUSA's July poll to today comes from Moderates. Busby had led by 14 among CA50 Moderates, now trails by 3, a 17-point swing. Moderates make-up 42% of likely voters in SurveyUSA's turnout model. Bilbray leads among male voters by 34 points. Busby leads among female voters by 4 points, a 38-point "gender gap." Bilbray wins 15:1 among Republicans. Busby wins 7:1 among Democrats. Independents are tied. Among those who approve of President Bush's job performance, Bilbray leads 30:1. Those who disapprove of Bush's performance vote for by Busby 5:1.

With moderates deserting Busby, the overwhelming Republican registration in the district may be more that her cash and volunteer strapped campaign can overcome.

Despite Bilbray's support of the Bush folly in Iraq, he is too new in the job for much of the voter antipathy that is impacting other Republican incumbents to be aimed in his direction. He owns the illegal immigration issue and there is no way Busby can get to the right of him on that unless she starts running with the Minutemen down at the border.

The real tragedy here is that Democrats had two golden opportunities to elect Busby to this office. With big money support, professional staff and national attention on a special election and a run-off, Busby got fewer votes in either election than she did in the 2004 general election when she ran against Cunningham the first time. Granted that was a presidential election, but in 2004, Busby got 105,509 votes. In the special election she pulled down just 60,010 and in the run-off, 71,146. In either election somewhere between 7,200 and 8,700 more votes would have put Busby into congress.

In the end, apathetic voters in the 50th district gave Brian Bilbray the job and now they are going to let him keep it. I guess the folks in the 50th are getting what they deserve.

Shoes Are Going to Drop In Cunningham Investigation

2006-09-17T11:39:00.000-07:00

According to US News and World Report, some big shoes are going to begin to drop on the spider web of corruption and greed that the convictions of former CA-50 representative, Republican felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham and one of his cheif bribbers, Michael Wade, has exposed.

Today, the FBI, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Defense Security Service are working with prosecutors to put the finishing touches on indictments against several other defense contractors, and senior defense and intelligence officials, who helped Wade with his corrupt activities. "We have been looking at everybody that's involved," says a federal law enforcement official. "Anytime you talk about defense contracting, it's a huge spider web."

Lots of people are going to go down. Remember that the Republicans controlled congressional oversight when this corruption and criminal activity went down. They can't be trusted to control the levels of power.

Help Defeat Doolittle

2006-09-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

One of the most corrupt members of the Republican congress of corruption is in trouble. John Doolittle (CA-4) is probably going to end up indicted for his relationships with Jack Abramoff and Brent Wilkes, but more to the point he might even lose his seat in congress.

Doolittle's challenger in the CA-4 race, Democrat Charles Brown has closed to within 2% points of the scandal plagued Doolittle. Brown, a military veteran who served in Vietnam and the first Gulf War, got a boost today when the regions only major newspaper, the Sacramento Bee, endorsed him for the job. The Bee's endorsement has a concise summary of why Doolittle must go.

Doolittle is emblematic of what's wrong in Washington -- all-too-cozy relations among lobbyists, politicians, their spouses and staffers.

[...]

Doolittle and his wife are caught up in a troubling web of relationships.

From 2002 to 2004, Julie Doolittle was paid more than $66,000 by Abramoff's lobbying firm Greenberg Traurig. Roll Call newspaper showed those payments coincided with the time Doolittle intervened in matters for Abramoff's Indian clients.

Doolittle pays his wife a 15 percent commission on contributions that come to his political committees, totaling nearly $180,000 from 2003 to April of this year, with more to come in this election cycle. This is money that goes directly to Doolittle family income -- turning political contributions into personal gain.

Doolittle is open about his winning $37 million in earmarks for San Diego businessman Brent Wilkes for products not requested by the military. From 2002 to 2005, Doolittle received $118,000 in political contributions from Wilkes, his family and partners.

The people of the 4th District deserve better from a congressman.

Nobody deserves to be "represented" by a greedy, corrupt tool, whose primary purpose is to create legislation that ensures that the flow of campaign funds from lobbyists and those they represent never stops flowing. And, that is who John Doolittle is and who he represents.

Want to read more about Doolittle's web of corruption, check out Dump Doolittle.

More important, send Charlie Brown some cash so he can go after Doolittle and his multi-million dollar political machine.

Bombing Is Our Only Solution - What Was The Problem?

2006-09-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

Saw this over at Democratic Veteran. At first, I thought the Krauthammer article he was linking to was something at the Onion or a suggestion from Jesus General. But, no it's the real thing. What we have is an opinion piece in a major American newspaper that suggests we need to bomb Iran and that we need to get the ball rolling soon.

...there is the larger danger of permitting nuclear weapons to be acquired by religious fanatics seized with an eschatological belief in the imminent apocalypse and in their own divine duty to hasten the End of Days.

That sentence was meant to apply to the government of Iran, but out of context it certainly could more easily apply to the Bush Administration.

To Krauthammer's credit, he recognizes some of the consequences of his call to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities.

An attack on Iran is likely to send oil prices overnight to $100 or even to $150 a barrel. That will cause a worldwide recession perhaps as deep as the one triggered by the Iranian revolution of 1979.

Iran will shock the oil markets by closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of the world's exports flow every day.
Iran could do this by attacking ships in the Strait, scuttling its own ships, laying mines or just threatening to launch Silkworm anti-ship missiles at any passing tanker.

The U.S. Navy will be forced to break the blockade. We will succeed, but at considerable cost. And it will take time -- during which the world economy will be in a deep spiral.

Iran will activate its proxies in Iraq, most notably, Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. Sadr is already wreaking havoc with sectarian attacks on Sunni civilians. Iran could order the Mahdi Army and its other agents within the police and armed forces to take up arms against the institutions of the central government itself, threatening the very anchor of the new Iraq.

There will be massive criticism of America from around the world. Much of it is to be discounted. The Muslim street will come out again for a few days, having replenished its supply of flammable American flags, most recently exhausted during the cartoon riots...

These are just the easily decernible effects. Global economic meltdown, a deepened military quagmire in the Middle East, the complete collapse of Iraq, the hate and emnity of most of the world are a small price to Krauthammer. In the neocon world cause and effect no longer have an rational meaning or relationship.

Brian Bilbray - Elected for Life

2006-09-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Brian Bilbray apparently regards his election in the CA-50 to be more of a lifetime appointment. He may be right. I think that the voters in the Republican heavy district would have re-elected convicted Republican felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham had prison not forced him to move out of the district.

Funny thing, at least Cunningham lived in the district. He even took part on one of the favorite past times of district residents, real estate speculation. Brian Bilbray on the other hand never lived in the North County, nor does he live in the district he supposedly represents now. Brian Bilbray lives in Virginia, just as he has done for years.

Bilbray has already indicated that he is going to vote with President Bush right down the line. His only dissent will be to take a tougher stand on immigration; a stand he knows will never be put into practices. It's the perfect wedge issue for Bilbray in the 50th District. Vote for endless war - check. Vote to invade Iran - check. Vote to trash the Constitution - check.

Last week Bilbray dismissed Democratic challenger, Francine Busby's request for a series of debates with this comment:

Bilbray on Thursday said sarcastically that he would do his best to see that Busby gets "face time with me, as long as she agrees the debates can be done in English."

Maybe its time for the voters in CA-50 to wake up and realize that Brian Bilbray isn't just a rubber stamp for the worst president and congress in American history, but he is also pretty much a jerk.

Daily Double at Democratic Veteran

2006-09-12T21:20:00.000-07:00

Over at the Veteran site, Jo Fish, hit the daily double with these two posts.

On Bill Kristol and Rich Lowry his insight into the chicken hawk mindset is brilliant:

Brilliant fucking strategists that they are, no one can tell those two know-it-alls that winning the battle is not the same as winning the war.
Certainly none of Kristol or Lowry's relatives will be among the increased numbers of troops, should escalation become a reality. Neither will any with the surnames Frist, Bush, Delay, Hastert, Santorum or legions of other war-mongering republicans/Neo-Cons.

And, this on the fear mongering of the Bush Administration:

We survived several decades of having thousands of thermonuclear-tipped missiles and bombers loaded with multi-megaton bombs pointed at every city in America. The Soviets could have killed us all at least ten times over, we'd have been so dead, they'd have had to dig up our ancestors and incinerated them twice more to make all that destruction meaningful.

But now, thanks to the fear-mongering, morally-bankrupt republicans we're afraid of brown people with water bottles at airports.

Check out the Vet he is on a roll.

John Doolittle Slipping A Bit

2006-09-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

Not only is there a CA-4 poll out that shows corruption leader John Doolittle in a statistical dead heat with Democratic challenger, Charlie Brown, but now some folks on the Christian right (not the Mormon right) find John's work for Abramoff in the Marianas Island to be a little less than "what would Jesus do?"

New Disney/ABC Offering

2006-09-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

According to the General, this new Disney/ABC series will be in the 10PM, Wednesday time slot. For those who don't watch TV, that's right after "Lost." It's not a coincidence either that Osama Bin Laden turns up as one of the mysterious band that inhabits the island that is called, "the others."

Stay tuned after "Lost" for "The Propogandists."

George Bush's Dirty Little Secret

2006-09-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

While ABC/Disney gives George Bush a free pass on the hunt of Osama Bin Laden, the real facts continue to emerge. Before 9/11, George Bush ignored all warnings that Bin Laden was planning a massive attack on US soil. He blew off a briefing with that very title and stayed on vacation in Crawford, Texas.

After the 9/11 attacks, Bush did something. He went after Bin Laden, his Al Qaeda organization and its Taliban enablers in Afghanistan. But, within weeks of tossing the Taliban out of power and, with the net closing around Bin Laden, Bush, encouraged by his neocon advisors turned his eyes from Bin Laden and his terrorist network and began planning to become an historic war president.

Bush abandoned the hunt for justice and pursued the hunt for political glory and geopolitical dominance of the Middle East, per the plan developed by the neocon cabal at the Project for the New America Century. Bush moved quickly from the idea of protecting America to the idea of projecting American power into the very region of the world where that projection of American power and influence would be most likely to validate Bin Laden's arguments about America and the Western/Modern world.

Bush who vowed to get Bin Laden "dead or alive," reneged on the promise before the words had finished echoing around Ground Zero in New York. After all, if Bin Laden were captured, how strong would public sentiment be for military adventurism in the Middle East?

The Washington Post compiles the history of Bush's reluctance to find Bin Laden and his ultimate abandonment of the search.

On the videotape obtained by the CIA, bin Laden is seen confidently instructing his party how to dig holes in the ground to lie in undetected at night. A bomb dropped by a U.S. aircraft can be seen exploding in the distance. "We were there last night," bin Laden says without much concern in his voice. He was in or headed toward Pakistan, counterterrorism officials think.

That was December 2001. Only two months later, Bush decided to pull out most of the special operations troops and their CIA counterparts in the paramilitary division that were leading the hunt for bin Laden in Afghanistan to prepare for war in Iraq, said Flynt L. Leverett, then an expert on the Middle East at the National Security Council.

"I was appalled when I learned about it," said Leverett, who has become an outspoken critic of the administration's counterterrorism policy. "I don't know of anyone who thought it was a good idea. It's very likely that bin Laden would be dead or in American custody if we hadn't done that."

Six months after 9/11, Bush calls off the hunt for bin Laden.

Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who commanded U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2003, said he thinks bin Laden kept close to the border, not wandering far into either country. That belief is still current among military and intelligence analysts.

[...]

Although the hunt for bin Laden has depended to a large extent on technology, until recently unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were in short supply, especially when the war in Iraq became a priority in 2003.

In July 2003, Vines said that U.S. forces under his command thought they were close to striking bin Laden, but had only one drone to send over three possible routes he might take. "A UAV was positioned on the route that was most likely, but he didn't go that way," Vines said. "We believed that we were within a half-hour of possibly getting him, but nothing materialized."

In 2003, Bush removes the tools and resources required to hunt down Bin Laden and Al Qaeda because he needs them to attack Iraq.

Do you think that this information will show up in the yet to be filmed ABC/Disney special, "The Path to the Next 9/11?"

I doubt it, too.

Fantasyland............ABC/Disney Deserve Contempt

2006-09-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow night and Monday, the ABC television network will broadcast a "docudrama" titled "The Path to 911." This five hour dramatic rendition of events leading up to the 9/11 attacks apparently lays the entire blame upon Bill Clinton and his administration and gives the bungling Bush Administration a free pass.

ABC acknowledges that the story is not historically correct and that some of the events depicted never happened. So, here's the bottom-line: a major television network is going to broadcast a five hour programs about the 9/11 attacks that consists of a series of egregious lies, distortions and character assassinations.

Millions of Americans will watch the program and many will believe that what they are seeing is the true historical record. Just as more than half of the American public still believes that Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda were working together and that Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks. Why do people believe it? Because the Bush Administration and the right wing propaganda machine that supports them keep saying so. Even after this mornings newspaper headlines once again say,

"Hussein Wasn't Allied With Al Qaeda"

ABC docudrama was made by a group of right wing film makers allied with wacko conservative David Horowitz. It's purpose, political propaganda. In fact, coming in the midst of a Presidential blitz to justify his actions in Iraq and his inaction in the real effort to find the terrorist who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks, this film is a political ploy to keep Democrats from using Bush's failures to wrest control of Congess from the lapdog Republicans who has gone along with everything Bush has done and not done since 9/11.

Max Blumenthal has the background of the key players in "The Path to 911" and it will come as no surprise that they come from the far right of the political spectrum.

..."The Path to 9/11" is produced and promoted by a well-honed propaganda operation consisting of a network of little-known right-wingers working from within Hollywood to counter its supposedly liberal bias. This is the network within the ABC network. Its godfather is far right activist David Horowitz, who has worked for more than a decade to establish a right-wing presence in Hollywood and to discredit mainstream film and TV production. On this project, he is working with a secretive evangelical religious right group founded by The Path to 9/11's director David Cunningham that proclaims its goal to "transform Hollywood" in line with its messianic vision.

These are Bush's cronies. Bush may claim that Al Qaeda and its allies hate America's freedoms and democracy, but in reality this group is the group that hates our freedoms and our democratic system. This is where hatred for our Constitution is concentrated, not in some cave on the Afghan border.

Remember, fascism only takes root in democratic states. When big business supports right wing cabals to insure the election of a single party and then works to maintain that party in power through lies and deception, we are within a hair breadth of seeing the great work of the Founding Fathers destroyed.

CA-50 Election Discrepancy Lawsuit Continues

2006-09-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

Bradblog is the authoritative source on this topic. It appears that the principals in the original lawsuit alleging that San Diego County Registrar of Voters, Mikal Haas, failed in his obligations to protect the integrity of the voting equipment in the June primary and CA-50 special election run-off.

I've never felt that this effort would have any impact on Bilbray's selection to congress. And, once in congress, even if the election were determined to be fraudulent, Bilbray would retain his seat unless his fellow representatives decided to toss him out (an unlikely situation in the Republican congress).

Still, if elections aren't honest and transparent, we don't have a democracy. Send some money to this legal effort through The Velvet Revolution.

Busby Reasonable on Hardball...Nobody Wants Reasonable

2006-09-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

Bluestate has a good piece on the joint appearance of Democrat Francine Busby and carpetbagging lobbyist Brian Bilbray (CA-50) on Hardball. As this YouTube link shows, Busby has a more coherent, nuanced and intelligent take on key issue of illegal immigration than does Bilbray.

The problem is that the issue of illegal immigration doesn't have a coherent, nuanced, intelligent audience in San Diego or the 50th congressional district. I think that within the district, the vast majority of resident and voters understand that the solution to this issue is going to be a complex multifaceted compromise that will leave everyone somewhat dissatisfied.

Despite that clear understanding, Busby's message is not what people want to hear. Just like the most liberal among us enjoy the moral clarity of Dirty Harry asking a low-life to "go on, make my day," people long for a different solution to the crisis of illegal immigration.

The bottom-line is that Busby can't beat Bilbray on immigration. No matter how intelligent her arguments. No matter how valid her points. People understand that the solution to this problem isn't going to be mass deportations and the devastation of the California economy. Knowing that, they still just want to hear a politician pretend to be Dirty Harry.

If Busby wants to win in the CA-50, she needs to attack Bilbray for his mindless support of George Bush's adventure in Iraq and his abandonment of any effort to bring those responsible for 9/11 to justice.

Busby and Bilbray on Hardball

2006-09-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

Rumor has it that Francine Busby and carpetbagging lobbyist Brian Bilbray (CA-50) will be on Hardball with Chris Matthews tomorrow.

FRANCINE WILL BE PLAYING HARDBALL WITH BILBRAY

Wednesday, Sept. 6 on NBC 7 between 2:45 and 3:30 pm (Exact time not confirmed) With moderator Chris Matthews They are highlighting candidates from the most competetive races in the country.

The Busby campaign is keeping a very low profile on this, which is hard to understand considering the potential for some local news coverage.

Sound Like A Trick To Me

2006-09-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

According to ABC News (cough, cough), the same folks who are going to present a fictional account of 9/11 that blames Bill Clinton for everything, our allies in Pakistan have no intention of hunting down 9/11 mastermind, Osama bin Laden.

The surprising announcement comes as Pakistani army officials announced they were pulling their troops out of the North Waziristan region as part of a "peace deal" with the Taliban.

If he is in Pakistan, bin Laden "would not be taken into custody," Major General Shaukat Sultan Khan told ABC News in a telephone interview, "as long as one is being like a peaceful citizen."

Bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere in the tribal areas of Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, but U.S. officials say his precise location is unknown.

[...]

"What this means is that the Taliban and al Qaeda leadership have effectively carved out a sanctuary inside Pakistan," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, the former White House counter-terrorism director.

Considering that this announcement broke the same day that President Bush was telling the American people that he was working with America's allies "to deny terrorists the enclaves they seek to establish in ungoverned areas across the world," there must either be a mistake or Bush has a secret plan to lull Osama out into the open so he can be captured.

Sure...That's it. Bush is telling everyone that if Osama promises to behave, we won't try to capture him (wink, wink, nod, nod). What a brilliant strategy. Almost as fool proof as looking for Osama in Iraq back in 2003.

Write-off Democrat Gains In California

2006-09-03T08:27:00.000-07:00

Two separate articles in today's Los Angeles Times tell us that Democrats have no chance to pick up any House seats currently occupied by Republicans. This is certainly not the kind of news that Democrats want to hear, particularly those taking on the poster children for the Republican culture of corruption.

According to the Times, Richard Simon, ethics issues and corruption just aren't playing with the electorate.

Ethics scandals cast a shadow over the last session of Congress, and the "culture of corruption" under the Republican majority was expected to be a major Democratic theme in the midterm campaign.

But it hasn't turned out that way.

[...]

Rep. John T. Doolittle, a California Republican, has called disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff a friend.

Doolittle used Abramoff's skybox at a Washington sports arena for fundraising and has refused to return political donations from Abramoff. Now the congressman is the target of attack ads. One features an argument over whether Doolittle is "corrupt or ineffective."

Even so, Doolittle is favored to win re-election.

[...]

Rep. Jerry Lewis, a California Republican and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee who is under investigation over ties to lobbyists, faces such a little-known, underfunded opponent that he hasn't even hired a campaign manager or opened a campaign office.

Rep. Richard W. Pombo, a California Republican under attack for his conduct as well as for his record on the environment, is favored to win because of his Republican-leaning district and ability to raise campaign funds as House Resources Committee chairman.

[...]

Democrats were dealt another blow when they tried to make ethics a major theme in the race to replace imprisoned former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a California Republican who pleaded guilty to corruption charges last year.

Republican Brian Bilbray won that seat despite Democrats' efforts to highlight his work as a lobbyist.

In his column in the Times today, Jonathan Chait, compares the upcoming mid-term election to World War I (WWII having already been co-opted by the Republicans for their "war on terror").

Despite being called a "world" war, the vast majority of fighting from 1914-1918 took place in a relatively limited space. The same is true of the 2006 elections. Collectively, they are a national election, but for most Americans, the fight will take place "over there."

[...]

The battle for control of the Senate will take place mostly within five states where Republicans, who hold a five-seat advantage, look vulnerable: Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Missouri.

In the House, the terrain is even more concentrated than in the Senate. Democrats need to pick up just 15 seats out of 435 to win control. That may sound easy, but no more than a few dozen seats — less than a tenth of the total — appear remotely competitive. There are two reasons that more than nine-tenths of the House is out of play. One is that Republicans increasingly live near other Republicans and Democrats increasingly live among other Democrats, which reduces the number of districts with a close enough partisan balance to field a competitive election. The second is that members of both parties have drawn up districts in order to cement their incumbents in place. Gerrymandering is an ancient art, but the technology used to create districts has grown so sophisticated that both parties — but especially Republicans — have learned to use it with less shame and more sophistication.

California Democrats and Republicans are especially notorious practitioners, having drawn a map that safeguards the state's House incumbents from virtually all challenges. As a result, none of the expected competitive races lie within the Golden State.

Although, Chait goes on to express his hope that Democrats retake Congress, his pessimism regarding California's congressional races mirrors that of Simon. Both Chait and Simon point to the disfunctional leadership of the Democrats as part of the party's national problem in retaking any part of the government from one of the most unpopular presidents in American history.

Chiat:

As was the case in World War I, the limited terrain has spurred a strategic quarrel about widening the war. During the Great War, generals on both sides, but especially the Allies, debated whether to concentrate their resources in France, where the heaviest fighting took place, or to open fronts elsewhere, such as Turkey or Mesopotamia. Democrats are having the same debate today. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is committing resources in all 50 states, with the long-term goal of making his party viable everywhere. This strategy has drawn bitter criticism from Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois and Charles E. Schumer of New York — the Democrats in charge of directing their party's electoral campaign — who insist that the 50-state goal has diverted resources from battleground states where control of Congress will be won.

Simon:

Both parties agree that a strong get-out-the-vote effort would play a key role in who wins. That poses a potential problem for Democrats. Infighting at the top -- between Emmanuel and Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee -- over voter-turnout tactics has become a public battle.

Unsatisfied with Dean's strategy of spreading money in all 50 states, Emmanuel has decided to implement and pay for a separate turnout operation for House seats. Their philosophical differences have them not speaking to one another, and Dean on the defensive.

So with the survival of American Constitutional government on the line, the leaders of the Democratic Party aren't speaking to each other. God help us.

Piling On...Can't We Just Leave George Allen Alone?

2006-09-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

So, Virginia Republican Senator George Allen is a racist? So, Virginia Republican Senator George Allen like to hang around with white supremacists? Why is everybody piling on here?

Apparently, the ACLU won't take this case, so it is left to patriots like General J.C. Christian to defend Allen's right to not only be a racist, but to make racist comments and associate with white supremacists.

It is a sad day for America.

We Need Katherine Harris

2006-09-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

There is a some evidence that Florida Republicans might actually be starting to see Katherine Harris as she really is - an unstable, wacko who might be clinically mentally ill. Despite that, Harris still looks like she will win the Florida Republican senatorial nomination.

Three polls released this week all put Harris, 49, at least 16 percentage points ahead of her three Republican rivals. But with two of the challengers closing in on her, and the share of undecided voters larger than her advantage, analysts say the contest for the party's nomination is far from over.

Democrats need Harris in the public eye, for comic relief if nothing else. What other Republican candidates might think, Harris says out loud. She is the real face of the Republican party.

...the latest controversy stirred up by Harris — an interview she gave to the Florida Baptist State Convention for its weekly journal in which she deemed the separation of church and state "a lie we have been told" and "so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers." She also told the Florida Baptist Witness that only Christians should serve in Congress because otherwise it will "legislate sin."

I thought that it was Katherine Harris who chose George Bush as our ruler in 2000. Does that mean that she thinks she is God? Or is she just one of his agents here on earth?

Perhaps It's Time For A New Political Party

2006-08-31T19:51:00.000-07:00

If Democrats can't seize power in 2006 and retake the White House in 2008, then perhaps it is time to create another political coalition, one made up of labor, progressive, minorities, rural communities and urban populations, church goes, etc.

Of course, the Republicans may have complete destroyed this country by the time such a party springs for the ashes of the directionless, gutless Democrats.

Drop This Dickhead A Note

2006-08-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

Government accountability.....A novel concept and one that Alaska Senator Ted Stevens opposes. Drop this clown a note.

What a F**king Surprise.................

2006-08-29T22:52:00.000-07:00

California Superior Court Judge Yuri Hoffman did the expected today. He refused to step into the election dispute in CA-50, where the actual vote count and certification by the county's Republican Registrar were essentially fudged to insure that Republican Brian Bilbray was declared the winner over Democrat Francine Busby prior to a complete counting of the votes or a resolution of questions about the security of Diebold voting machines.

The Union Tribune's coverage is here. For a more realistic view of yet another stolen election take a look here.

The bottom line: maybe Bilbray won, maybe he didn't. The county registrar of voters has essentially pulled a Kathrine Harris and insured that the will of the people of the 50th District will never officially be known.

Time to Put Up or Shut Up

2006-08-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

I'm a big supporter of Francine Busby in the CA-50 and it is good to she her shaking off the timid advice and strategic planning that came wrapped around the DCCC's financial support of her special election run against entrenched Republicans and, ultimately Brian Bilbray in the district.

Yesterday, Busby attacked Bilbray for his recent declaration that he is fully behind George Bush's "stay the course" strategy in Iraq. Busby came out swinging at Bilbray's assertion that the only way to change the current American strategy regarding Iraq and/or the "war on terror" was to get oneself elected president (or appointed emperor). As Bilbray puts it:

"The executive branch makes those decisions, and if you want to make them, you run for president."

Busby suggested that Bilbray may have missed the congressional orientation class that discusses the separation of powers provisions of the Constitution.

"Mr. Bilbray is wrong,” Busby said at a news conference outside the Veterans Museum and Memorial Chapel in Balboa Park.

“The Constitution says that Congress is responsible for oversight and funding of our armed services,” she said, adding that Congress had “shirked its responsibilities.”

“The time for mindlessly repeating the 'stay the course' mantra is over,” she said, backed by two dozen supporters. “It's time for answers, accountability and for action.”

This is the approach that Busby is going to have to take to break herself free of the inertia that has gripped the district after two years of almost continuous campaigning for Randy "Duke" Cunningham's congressional seat. Busby tried running against Cunningham in the June run-off, but voters in the heavily Republican district were unwilling to see Bilbray as Cunningham Lite.

To engage independents and rally the Democratic base for one more frontal assault, Busby needs to hang George Bush around Bilbray's neck. It's really the only strategy she has left, but she is going to have to be far more assertive than she was on Sunday to make this approach work.

Busby was vague when asked what actions she would push for if she defeats Bilbray, who is seen by analysts as the favorite in November in the heavily Republican 50th Congressional District.
Asked in an interview what Iraq policy she would push for in Congress, Busby said: “The first thing I would do is open the floor of Congress for a debate, so that we can ask these questions: 'Is this still a viable military option? Should this be changing into more of a diplomatic mission?' ”

[...]

She did not offer specifics.

“Maybe we leave some (troops) there for stability,” she said. “Maybe we leave some there for training the Iraqi troops.”

Asked about a timetable, she said: “I'm not in a position to give a timetable answer, because (generals) need to tell us what's viable.”

Note to Busby: If you are going to attack your Republican opponent for not having a plan, it would be a good idea to have one of your own.

Busby failed in June by being too cautious, she can't afford to make that mistake again. Take the battle to Bilbray!

Here Today, Gone To Maui.............

2006-08-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

You might have heard that phrase. Look for us with this tool. See you in a week or so..........unless something better comes along.

Nothing to Sell But Fear Itself..................

2006-08-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I was reading up on the binary liquid explosive that the British bombers were going to mix up after they boarded flights to the United States. The explosive, TATP (triacetone triperoxide) is melodramatically called "the mother of Satan" by at least some explosive experts. Here's the problem I had with TATP: It is at it's most explosive in crystal form, not liquid. So, after mixing the liquid precursors, the TATP would have to be allowed to dry before detonation.

TCAP generally burns when ignited, unconfined, in quantities less than about 2 grams. More than 2 grams will usually detonate when ignited; smaller quantities might detonate when even slightly confined. Completely dry TCAP is much more prone to detonation than the fresh product still wetted with water or acetone.

So, the proper chemicals need to be mixed with reasonable care and the resulting liquid, although dangerous, needs to be reduced through drying to its highly unstable crystalline form to be an effective explosive. Imagine this process being accomplished in the spacious confines of an aircraft lavatory as the plane bounces along on a transoceanic flight. That's why this analysis of the liquid bomb plot suggests that the British Bombers were somewhat wishful in their thinking regarding actually running their chemical labs in the coach class toilets on full trans-Atlantic flights.

So the fabled binary liquid explosive - that is, the sudden mixing of hydrogen peroxide and acetone with sulfuric acid to create a plane-killing explosion, is out of the question. Meanwhile, making TATP ahead of time carries a risk that the mission will fail due to premature detonation, although it is the only plausible approach.

Certainly, if we can imagine a group of jihadists smuggling the necessary chemicals and equipment on board, and cooking up TATP in the lavatory, then we've passed from the realm of action blockbusters to that of situation comedy.

It should be small comfort that the security establishments of the UK and the USA - and the "terrorism experts" who inform them and wheedle billions of dollars out of them for bomb puffers and face recognition gizmos and remote gait analyzers and similar hi-tech phrenology gear - have bought the Hollywood binary liquid explosive myth, and have even acted upon it.

We've given extraordinary credit to a collection of jihadist wannabes with an exceptionally poor grasp of the mechanics of attacking a plane, whose only hope of success would have been a pure accident. They would have had to succeed in spite of their own ignorance and incompetence, and in spite of being under police surveillance for a year.

We may have a dangerous group rounded up in Britian, or we may have a slightly more sophisticated than the Florida group that spent its time conspiring with undercover federal agents, who had to suggest virtually every move to the group in order to get them to even consider hatching an "aspirational" terror plot.

Remember the 2006 Republican campaign motto: "We have nothing to sell but fear itself."

"Sometimes I take his calls out of pity."

2006-08-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

Convicted Republican felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham's wife, Nancy, tells her story to presidential biographer (sort of) Kitty Kelly in The National Review (registration required).

Throughout our interview, Nancy referred to her husband as "Mr. Cunningham." "It's a mental distancing," she explained. "As far as I'm concerned, he no longer really exists." But, in this frosty dismissal and her constant Victorian references to "Mr. Cunningham," there was a sense of disappointment. "I have to tell you, I once idolized him," she later confessed. "He was the most charismatic person I ever met." In her recollections of their early days together, Duke mesmerized men as well as women. Despite his later lies and betrayals, she can still see him as the dashing young Navy ace. In weak moments when she isn't wishing him dead, she wonders why someone with "all the promise he once had" ever married someone like herself. "I identify with women like Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Diana," Nancy said. "They, too, had husbands like that."

[...]

But, while she acknowledges her husband's volcanic temper and relentless need for ego-gratification, she also criticizes the Republican Party for exploiting him for fund-raising without reward. She deftly wields a shiv as she discusses traveling with the speaker of the House and his wife on a private plane paid for by Wilkes, one of Duke's unindicted co-conspirators. "I usually told my husband to check everything with Ethics, but it never occurred to me there might be something wrong about flying with Speaker Hastert and his wife. How can it be illegal or unethical if the most important man in Congress does it?" Nancy claimed she went on only one congressional junket--to the Paris Air Show in 2001, an experience she was quick to dismiss. "They are nothing more than fancy vacations for congressional representatives, their families, and staffers to fly in luxury and shop at PX's on military bases and see castles and museums," she said.

[...]

But the real tragedy for Duke Cunningham is that, by the time he arrived in Washington, the prestige and glamour that he imagined he would find there were long gone. The people who had the lifestyle he fantasized about weren't politicians; they were lobbyists. And Duke, the war-hero who felt he had earned a place in the pantheon of Kennedys and Bushes, felt cheated.

Imagine that, you're a member of the United States Congress. People do your bidding, women throw themselves at you, lobbyists hand you envelopes stuffed with cash. Oh, and you take an oath to do your job and swear it before God.

For Randy "Duke" Cunningham neither the respect and adulation nor the oath were enough to overcome his greed and selfishness.

One Word Sums Up the Bush Administration

2006-08-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

See if you can guess the word as you watch this illuminating film strip.

Here is the question:

To be a member of the Bush Administration or one of its Republican supporters you must be an _______________ ?

Hat tip to Down With Tyranny.

They Did Have The Bomb

2006-08-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

OK, so the Islamofascists plot to blow up airplanes turns out to have not been as far advanced as the worldwide panic appears to suggest.

No, the would be bombers didn't have plane tickets. No, most of the would be bombers didn't have passports. But, here is some exclusive footage of potential liquid bombs being tested.

Snapple my ass, these crazies were going nuclear.

Sometimes the Voices In Your Head Aren't God

2006-08-16T15:15:00.000-07:00

Note to Representative Katherine Harris (FL-13): The voice you hear inside your head isn't God talking. Undaunted by polls that show her trailing, once vunerable Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, by something like 50 percentage points, Harris says that God told her the He wants her to be a senator.

Former top political adviser Ed Rollins said Harris told him, "God wants me to be a senator."

Rollins, a nationally known veteran GOP operative who left the campaign in March, said he responded, "Maybe God wants you to run because he wants Bill Nelson to be senator."

If God wants Harris in the Unites States Senate, it must be for comic relief.

But, this isn't the first political office to which Harris ascribes a divine motivation. When, as Florida's Secretary of State she insured George Bush's electoral victory in Florida, she compared herself to Biblical ruler, Queen Esther.

As overseer of state elections, Harris was set up to become the central figure in the frenzied 2000 Florida presidential election recount, which made George Bush president by 537 votes.

Harris, one of several Florida Bush campaign co-chairs, made several crucial decisions that tended to impede manual county recounts Democrats thought could boost Al Gore's vote total.

She maintains steadfastly that she simply followed the law throughout.

Harris wrote that she was inspired during the recount by the Queen Esther story, and quotes scripture suggesting that God put Esther in power so she could prevent a massacre of her people:

"And who knows," Esther's father says, "but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

Lots of times, when people hear voices in their heads telling them to do bad things, they blame God for the results. Harris clearly falls into that population of nut cases and Republican politicians.

Imagine The Late Charges

2006-08-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

Apparently somebody over at NASA checked out with the original video tapes of the Apollo's 11 moon landing. The images of the landing broadcast live to the world back in 1969 were essentially the stripped down version of the original tapes. There are lots of stories on this, but I had to go with this version from Britian's Daily Telegraph, " One giant cock-up for mankind."

"What was broadcast to the world was nowhere near as good as what was received," said John Sarkissian, of the CSIRO Parkes Observatory in New South Wales, one of the three tracking stations that taped the original footage before sending it on to Houston in converted form.

Those tapes, although nowhere near the standard of normal television transmissions, would still be of far better quality than the video we have today, especially if processed using modern digital techniques.

But rather than being prized as vital recordings, Nasa simply filed them away. And as personnel retired or died, the location of the tapes was forgotten.

No wonder they can't keep ice chunks from raining down on the space shuttle.

Duke Cunningham's Shady Connections

2006-08-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

Say it isn't so! Duke Cunningham and famous Sesame Street muppet, Elmo. Please don't let it be about hookers.

Adopt A Pig....It Sure Would Help BP

2006-08-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

Funny how the oild companies always seem to be ahead of the curve when it comes to squeezing a profit out of what to anyone else would be disaster. According to this Florida columnist, BP has started an "adopt a pig program." In fact, for a small monthly contribution you can adopt a BP oil line inspection deviced (called a pig) named "Pombo" in honor of one of BP's most stalwart supporters.

"At the moment, I have several pigs available for you to adopt. Let's see now: I have 'Hummer' -- he's a utility pig. Big, hulking fellow. And I have a precocious little smart pig named 'Pombo.' "

"As in -- "

"Yes, sir. He's named in honor of Sen. Richard Pombo, the California Republican who's been a major supporter of our industry."

"And your industry has been most generous to him."

"He's a visionary, sir. I don't know if you've heard, but he says this little Prudhoe leak demonstrates the need for us to diversify our domestic oil supply and begin drilling elsewhere."

No question Dicky Pombo (CA-11) is a visionary. Fortunately, he's not a senator quite yet.

When Republicans Run The Place....

2006-08-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

The city of San Diego has become the poster child for the effects of Republican municipal leadership. Once hailed as "America's Finest City," San Diego is now being called "America's Cheapest City" or "Enron by the Sea."

Simply put, San Diego is the victim of the Republican approach to civic governance that is the outcome of two decades of drinking the Ronald Reagan/Grover Norquist cool-aide. Averse to pay as you go government and incapable of taxing anyone but tourists through hotel and car rental fees, the city of San Diego managed to drive itself to technical bankruptcy in ten years thanks to the Republican dominance of its public administration.

San Diego's financial woes date back to 1996, when the city's Republican leaders decided to systematically under fund its city employee's pension fund in order to meet the city's current financial obligations. This was a pattern of behavior that went on for several years, as successive Republican administrations failed to balance the city's books. Exacerbating the problem, pension fund managers routinely took actions, some potentially criminal, to increase the city's pension obligations to future retirees.

The city's finances began to unravel in 1996, when the City Council voted to increase pension benefits while underfunding the retirement plan. A vote in 2002 continued the practice. The benefit increases, along with the underfunding, stock-market losses and settlements with retirees, have contributed to a pension system shortfall of $1.4 billion.

[...]

The fiscal meltdown that resulted sparked investigations by the U.S. Justice Department and the SEC in early 2004. Five former city and pension fund officials were charged with federal fraud and conspiracy in January.

And, to make matters worse, while the city's Republican leaders were stealing money from the city workers pension plan they were illegally shifting the cost of the managing the city's sewer system from corporate users to the city's households.

In a $20 million report presented to the city last week, risk management company, Kroll Incorporated lays out the city's malfeasance and names names. The report stops short of alleging criminal misconduct by city leaders, but it comes very close.

San Diego city leaders “fell prey” to the same type of “corruption of financial management” that afflicted Orange County before it sought bankruptcy and corporations like Enron before it collapsed, the 266-page report issued by Kroll Inc. stated.

The report, which cost the city more than $20 million and took 18 months to produce, outlined numerous cases of wrongdoing by San Diego's city officials related to the city's fiscal crisis and offered recommendations to improve fiscal management and accountability.

“We didn't pull any punches,” Arthur Levitt, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the head of the Kroll team, told the council and audience.

Two sections of the report concern violations of law concerning the wastewater system and the pension system.

The report names dozens of current and former city officials, both elected and administrative. It doesn't paint a flattering picture.

Levitt said his group found the past city leadership committed violations of the California Constitution, the city's charter and municipal code, and federal securities laws.

He decried a culture in which the city's budget decisions had a lack of transparency and were marked by “artful manipulation.”

“In my judgment San Diego's problems are not economic, they are political,” Levitt said.

Saying there was a “prevailing culture of political expedience,” Levitt said city officials made a concerted effort to water down a Blue Ribbon committee report that evaluated the city's financial problems.

“Concern was expressed that disclosure of the truth would derail the city's effort to issue bonds to build a new baseball stadium,” he said.

Levitt also said the city overcharged homeowners on their sewer bills to subsidize large industrial users. Those actions, according to the report, left the city liable for the return of $265 million in state funds.

According to the report, the city's pension system was thrown into crisis “by years of reckless and wrongful mismanagement involving any number of city and pension board officials.”

The report said that the renewal of the city's pension under funding plan in 2002 was “unlawful for a number of reasons,” a contention that City Attorney Michael Aguirre has made repeatedly since he took office in 2004.

This is not a single instance of mismanagement of misconduct. What the Kroll report clearly defines is a ten year history of willful illegal conduct. Conduct that resulted in amended city financial reports that have devastated San Diego's credit rating.

In Sunday's San Diego Union Tribune, one of the factors that started the city down the road to financial ruin is identified. According to the UT, the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego forced the city to dig deep to come up with sufficient funds to pay for all the frills the national party demand of the convention's host city.

The convention is now seen by some auditors and investigators as among a string of events that strained San Diego's tight city finances, leading policy-makers in 1996 to balance the books by paying less into the city pension system than was needed to meet its future obligations to thousands of retirees.

[...]
Kroll connected the dots in a 266-page report delivered Tuesday. It cited the convention among a few key things that “put a particularly severe strain” on the city's ability to meet its annual pension-payment obligation. The other strains were benefit increases and a new method of calculating the city's retirement costs.

It is indeed ironic that in a community where elected and appointed Republicans have for years proclaimed their belief in law and order and conservative fiscal policy, that financial disaster has been inflicted by these same politicians decisions to steal money from homeowners and retirees. Adding more bitterness to the irony is the fact that the Republican National Convention that the city's Republican leaders so assiduously courted was one of the unpaid bills that forced those fiscal conservatives to begin their financial ponzi scheme.

Be Afraid...Ned Lamont Wants The Terrorist to Win

2006-08-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

So, the dramatic arrests, the disruption in international air travel, the negative impact on airline stocks, the drastic increase in check in times at US airports, all of that and more happened because the Bush Administration wanted to get Ned Lamont's victory over Joe Lieberman off of the top of the news.

Certainly, that's the implication in this NBC report.

A senior British official knowledgeable about the case said British police were planning to continue to run surveillance for at least another week to try to obtain more evidence, while American officials pressured them to arrest the suspects sooner. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.
In contrast to previous reports, the official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports.

"Some did not even have passports." Let's assume that British bureaucracy is as efficient as its American counterpart. From the time of application, figure a couple of weeks until a passport is delivered. So, this "imminent" attack was dependent, in part, on the efficiency of the British passport office and mail system. Talk about split second timing.

The Tattered Coat has a great summary of the Bush Adminstration's intervention into an active terror investigation for political purposes.

For the GOP, the short term political importance of getting the Lamont victory, and the developing sense that America had fully turned against the Iraq War, off the news was reason enough to disrupt an active terror investigation. The disruption hurt the legal case against the terrorists — it will be much harder to convict them without passports or airline tickets. The GOP was so insistent on the timing that they threatened to “render” the lead suspect if the British did not comply with their wishes.

The war on terror is all that Bush and his neocon allies have left. Of course, before 9/11 they didn't even have that. You might say that 9/11 was the best day in the history of both the Bush Administration and the neocon movement.

It's Saturday Night!

2006-08-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

Real rock and roll.

Video from TheByrds1990.

Noma L. Salgado
SALGADO, NOMA L. Noma 91, of Escondido passed away peacefully on October 9, 2006. A loving, cheerful mother and grandma to many, she will be remembered for her boundless love and kindness. Noma found great joy being surrounded by family and friends. Noma was an ardent reader and avid seamstress, especially enjoying sewing quilts and dresses for her grandchildren. She feared little in life except snakes, heights, and Republicans. Mom was the root of our family tree, the fabric that made up the quilt of our lives. She will be missed by all whose hearts she touched.Please sign the guest book at obituaries.uniontrib.com

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