Corrente

Digby says the same thing as the headline using longer words, riffing on this astonishing article in WaPo. Read below the fold...

I say "during." By far the best political theatre. Der Speigel:

[According to reports from the press agency DDP] "western security sources" claim that during CIA Director Porter Goss' Dec. 12 visit to Ankara, he asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to provide support for a possibile 2006 air strike against Iranian nuclear and military facilities. More specifically, Goss is said to have asked Turkey to provide unfettered exchange of intelligence that could help with a mission.

Read below the fold...

+++

(Jivester News, Lmtd.) President Bush cut short his holiday celebrations to fly back to Washington, DC and sign emergency legislation to keep 2005 on life support and "...remind Americans that our culture of life will not just roll over and gasp for air while being smashed, stomped, choked and murdered by elitist liberal fairies who hate our freedom." The year 2005, set to die at midnight, has not responded to stimuli ever since the Winter Solstice, when its condition took a turn for the worse. Scott McClellan, speaking on condition that no one call him "Chubby McFucklips" has reassured all Americans that the inevitable is not inevitable, and that all things that must pass do not have to pass. "The President will not abandon the year in its hour of need," said Chubby McFucklips, who added, "When the clock strikes twelve we are prepared to strike back." Read below the fold...

Here's to the old pagan tradition of wassailing the apple trees. From the Sulgrave Manor website we read: Read below the fold...

AP:

"The president's New Year's resolution is to continue to work tirelessly [when not vacationing] for peace abroad and prosperity at home," White House spokesman Trent Duffy said Saturday.

Well, He's doing a heckuva job so far...

Readers, can you think of any New Year's Resolutions that would be more appropriate for Bush? Ones that He could actually keep? Read below the fold...

Blowout story in the WaPo today...how thoughtful of them to run it on not only a Saturday but New Year's Fucking Eve, when of course so many people pay close attention to the news: Read below the fold...

Sweet! And on the Friday before New Year, too--I seem to have some champers handy.... AP

Federal prosecutors and lawyers for Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff are putting the finishing touches on a plea deal that could be announced as early as Tuesday, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

Read below the fold...

Step two: Clap harder!

The architects of tyranny in the White House are going to go after the Times for revealing Bush's warrantless surveillance program. God, isn't it enough that the Times held the story back for a year, and got Bush elected? Apparently not. No, these guys want it all. No stopping points. AP: Read below the fold...

So how come they're tracking me in my house? AP:

Unbeknown to the Bush administration...

Uh huh! [Nods head vigorously]

...an outside contractor...

Isn't that always the way with the Republicans? If it isn't an overzealous operative, it's an outside contractor. Read below the fold...

What Digby said:

'm of the mind to adopt "give me liberty or give me death" as my personal motto. If I have to kowtow to a bunch of childish Republican panic artists who have deluded themselves into believing that fighting radical Islam requires turning America into a police state, then it's just not worth it.

Right on. Just because Bush crapped his pants doesn't mean he gets to wipe himself with the Constitution. Read below the fold...

An end of the year wrapup by the Observer. The Brits, who actually ran an empire for several hundred years, are not sanguine. Forget the thousands who gave their lives to establish a Shiite theocracy and bring Iran new allies; that's a given. A failed Iraqi state and civil war are what we have to worry about:

There have been three administrations of Iraq since the US invasion, and all have failed.

Think this time will be different? Read one: Read below the fold...

I am so sick and tired of having to post about torture. I'm not naive, I get the fact that throughout US history and in general, it's happened and in some cases probably been unavoidable. This is not one of those cases: Read below the fold...

Tide Pools

+++ Read below the fold...

Okay, I don't know if Ms. Ivins has siblings, or if they have offspring, so as to make her "Aunt Molly" to anybody really. The line was just too good to pass up: Read below the fold...

If we really want to stop Illegal Immigration it's simple: mandatory 10 year jail sentences for anyone who employs an illegal immigrant, all the way up the management chain. Combined with strict, massive, dragnet-style enforcement.

If Illegal Immigrants can't get jobs in the US they will stop coming over the border. No need for a giant, expensive, stupid fence.

Problem solved. Any questions? Read below the fold...