Headline Of The Day

"Cheney Backs Limbaugh Over Powell On GOP Future"

Because the Rethuglican Party always picks their leaders wisely and carefully.

Dead-Eye's Tortured Lie

Anyone who would believe a single word out of Dead-Eye Dick Cheney's mouth at this point would believe anything. His frequent lie that "enhanced interrogation" methods -- torture -- produced a ton of valuable intelligence has been contradicted by former senior government officials who followed the interrogation of terrorist Abu Zubaida:

"The methods succeeded in breaking him, and the stories he told of al Qaeda terrorism plots sent CIA officers around the globe chasing leads. In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions. . ."

Confessions or intelligence coerced by torture are notoriously unreliable, as any intelligence or military professional would tell you.

As Iraq was a diversion that ended up bleeding our military efforts against al Qaeda and weakening our position in the Middle East by empowering Iran, torture was a diversion that produced little or no useful intelligence, despite the chest-beating claims of Dead-Eye and the neocons. Maybe this was all about Dead-Eye and crew just wanting to have a little vicarious "fun."

Texas Grand Jury Indicts Dead-eye, Gonzo

A grand jury in Texas has indicted Dead-eye Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto "Gonzo/Berto/Fredo" Gonzales on charges related to prisoner abuse at Federal detention centers. Apparently Dead-eye is an investor in a company that manages the centers, and Gonzo halted an investigation into abuse at the centers as Attorney General.

Although the district attorney bringing the charges appears to be a loose cannon with only a few weeks left in office, this is a welcome annoyance to the duo that repeatedly undermined or ignored U.S. laws. And hopefully just the beginning.

Cheney Attending Rethug Convention

This should be good. His approval ratings are in the teens. Maybe they'll put him on in the 2 a.m. slot, right before Senators Larry "The Tapper" Craig and Ted "The Crook" Stevens. Hope we see Dead Eye in prime time with his arm around McBush.

Dead Eye's Aim On The Environment

Dead Eye Dick Cheney might not be much of a quail hunter, but the mighty Dickster can zero in on environmental testimony that conflicts with his partisan BS. So says former senior EPA offical Jason Burnett, who said that Cheney and his staff edited Congressional testimony to play down the scientific evidence of global warming. Never let science interfere with politics!

Dirty Dick Implicated In CIA Leak?

It looks like it. "Vice" Preznit Dirty Dick Cheney can't be excluded from the scandal involving the leak of Valerie Plame's classified CIA identity, according to former White House press secretary Scott McClellan. Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, McClellan could not say that Dirty Dick wasn't involved in the orchestrated effort to expose the wife of Joseph Wilson, the former ambassador who blew the whistle on the Bushit Assministration's false claims that Saddam Hussein's government was purchasing uranium yellow cake from Niger. By outing Valerie Plame in an attempt to intimidate critics of the war, Federal law was broken. Last year, former special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald alluded to the fact that, after "Scooter" Libby's conviction, there remained unnamed, "unindicted" participants in the attempt to expose Plame as a CIA agent.

Dirty Dick knew. He orchestrated it. Why would Scooter get out on a limb without his boss', Dirty Dick's, backing? Bastards.

"Dick, You Were Told To Burn Those Documents OUTSIDE"

News item: Fire in Old Executive Office Building, near Dead Eye Dick's ceremonial office.

Playing with fire again.

Dead-Eye Man Walking

Universal health care will be one of the key issues in the 2008 elections, as it should be. Think Progress passes along a wonderfully ironic ad by the California Nurses Association, which points out that Dead Eye Dick Cheney would be a dead man if not for his Federal health benefits coverage. His history of heart problems would have given him a "death sentence", according to the nurses' group, without the blue-chip health insurance provided to him.

Wait. . .Dead Eye has a heart?

(Photo: Dead Eye illustrating the amount of health insurance that he believes average Americans should have)

Surprised They Actually Located A Heart

Dead Eye is diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat. Nothing serious, according to his doctors. Lucky for him that he has health insurance.

Don't be surprised if from now on Speaker Pelosi starts sneaking up on him, shouting "boo."

Iran Coming Around?

The Washington Monthly notes a report from U.S. military officials in Iraq that apparently the flow of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from Iran has significantly diminished. A promising development, and one that will hopefully get diplomatic activities going in earnest with Iran before Dead Eye and his crew manufacture another false casus belli. And you know he's working on one.

Here We Go Again

Recent reports indicate that Dead Eye Dick has been surpressing a National Intelligence Estimate on Iran because it doesn't conform to his road map for war. The report, which has been held up for over a year, won't be released by the Cheney clique simply because it contains dissenting views on Iran's nuclear capabilities and intentions. Think Progress' article has a nice comparison of how this approach is identical to the manipulation of intelligence prior to the Iraq invasion.

Chalabi Your Butt-Boy?

Ahmed Chalabi, the corrupt Iraqi Dead-Eye Dick and the neo-con dimbulbs wanted to parachute into Iraq to set up a provisional government after "Mission Accomplished," looks like he's being maneuvered (or is maneuvering us) into being Prime Minister Maliki's replacement. Recently seen at Gen. Petreaus' side meeting with tribal leaders, the reptilian Chalabi seems to be on the verge of a comeback, thanks no doubt to the influence of Dead-Eye and his band of merry incompetents. Chalabi, who is all-too-willing to serve as the assministration's butt-boy if it propels him into power, has a history of corruption and double-dealing that turned even the CIA against him. Chalabi=Saddam Lite? Isn't democracy grand, people of Iraq?!

Kill The Wabbit, Kill The Wabbit. . . .

Citizens of Duchess County, NY need to be on alert this weekend, as Dead Eye Dick will be on a hunting trip there. Also, liquor stores and bars need to make sure that Dead Eye isn't served alcohol before hunting. Finally, it would be best for lawyers, "phony soldiers," and Senator Patrick Leahy (Dead Eye to Leahy: "Go f**k yourself") to avoid the Clove Valley Rod and Gun Club for the duration of his visit.

"Wake Me If They Discuss Iran"

In an example of both the caring Bush Assministration and your tax dollars at work, Dead Eye Dick nodded off during a White House cabinet meeting on the California wildfires. Such concern! Maybe Dead Eye's been staying up too late studying military maps of Iran. Can you hear Dumbya, noticing his boss dozing off, whispering "hey, let's all sneak out of the room. . .heh heh heh"?

(photo: An earlier picture of Dead Eye being briefed on the children's health insurance program)

The Changing Justification for War With Iran

An article in the New Yorker by Seymour Hersh details the Assiministration's, and particularly Dead Eye Dick Cheney's, determination to attack Iran. Knowing that the public won't buy the story that Iran is on the verge of having a nuclear weapon (analysts are telling the Assministration that it's at least 5 years away), Cheney, and the numbskull he has to pretend to work for, have been focusing on Iran's supplying of explosives to Iraqi Shiite militia as a new justification. A former intelligence officer also says Cheney's group haven't planned for what will happen when - - not if - - Iran retaliates, probably by stepping up activities within both Iraq and Afghanistan. After witnessing the results of short sighted planning in Iraq, this should be another debacle in the making just in time for the next President to try to clean up.

Better Hide Dead-Eye's Guns

Or don't show this story to "Dead Eye" Dick Cheney. The Washington Post reports that Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki has said that Iranian involvement in the insurgency in Iraq "has ceased" and that relations with Iran and Syria have improved. This flies in the face of the Assministration's frequent claims that Iran is providing major arms and logistical support to the Shiite insurgents, and therefore must be met with force. Dead Eye's office is the main proponent for war with Iran, and has an active neocon media cheering section (Wee Willie Kristol's Weekly Standard, the National Review, Faux News, etc.) promoting the "Iran is involved" story line.

How long before Maliki gets a call from Dead Eye's office, telling him to revise his comments? Or maybe they'll have Blackwater Security deliver the message for them.

Cheney: "Nothing To See Here, Move Along"

Unsurprisingly, "Vice" President Dead Eye Dick Cheney thinks the Congressional inquiries into the U.S. Attorney scandal are simply a "witch hunt." He wants the inquiries terminated, no doubt, because Congress is on to something, namely the use of Federal prosecutors in a partisan plan to pursue the Assministration's political enemies and to lay off on fellow Rethugs and corporate buddies. He also gives Gonzo a pat on the back as a "good man and good friend." These two belong in a jail cell together.

Asshole Examined, Cheney Stays In Charge

This is one of those inadvertently hilarious stories: Preznit Dumbya is going to get a colonoscopy (i.e., have his brain examined) this Saturday, and "Vice" President Dead Eye Dick Cheney will "take over temporarily" (bwhahahaha) while Dumbya's anesthetized. So what changes from the current situation, except that Dumbya will be more coherent under anesthesia?

Obstruction of Justice Continues

While "Scooter" scoots free, it's worth reflecting on the fact that the Decider, in commuting his sentence, has removed the only remaining incentive for Libby to expose the campaign led by Dead Eye Dick to discredit a critic of the Assministration's Iraq war rationale regarding WMD. Thus, the Decider is further obstructing justice, clearly concerned that further exposure of Cheney's misdeeds could lead to criminal charges against his Veep. Complicit in the "nothing to see here, move along" tactics of the Assministration is the Beltway media elite, who have embraced "Scooter" as someone to be protected from jail. One would think that the MSM would want to explore the mystery of "what is the Assministration trying to hide", but one would be wrong.

Glenn Greenwald says it best in his latest column in Salon:

"In every country ruled by a lawless government and a corrupt political and media elite, powerful political officials do not go to prison for crime."

Scootin' Free/Pardon Me!

OK, so it wasn't the pardon we had the premonition about earlier today (see below). But we had a feeling something might happen, and sure enough, the Decider, stalwart upholder of the Constitution and laws of the land, has commuted the jail sentence of Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The effect of this, coming at a critical time when "Scooter's" lawyers would presumably be looking to deal with the prosecution to reduce the sentence in exchange for telling what he knew about the Preznit's and Dead Eye Dick's involvement, is to continue the pattern of obstruction of justice that "Scooter" was convicted of in his trial. Well done, Mr. Preznit! We know Dead Eye Dick is proud of you!!