A New Post: Sorry For The Lack Of Updates

WOW! It's been the better part of a month since I last made a post.

Let's see, since my last post:

1. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed, then immediately replaced. His death was symbolic and didn't really mean anything.

2. Seven Marines & 1 Sailor currently face murder charges for an assult on Iraqi citizens.

3. We reached the 2,500 deaths mark for U.S. troops in Iraq. So far, there have been about 310 deaths in Ahfghanistan & we've been there since 2001.

4. The Democrats offered two bills in Congress for pulling out of Iraq, one nearly immediate withdrawl, the other a phased withdrawl. The Republicans decided to blindly follow President Bush by rejecting both measures.

Number 3 is an extremely sad event. Why did so many soldiers have to die? What's out plan for exiting Iraq? And most of all, What's President Bush feeling right now? Does he even care?

NOT JUST A NUMBER---

I found this animation from Peace Takes Courage, a website dedicated to, well, peace. I think everybody should watch this quick animation. Really helps remind you about the Iraq war:

Peace Takes Courage

I'll try to keep this place updated a little more. Until next time.

-Adam

New Treasury Secretary; Why Listen To Frist?

SNOW RESIGNS, PAULSON TAPPED

Treasury Secretary John Snow (the guy who signs your money) has resigned. His departure has been rumored for about a month. The Treasury Dept. has been facing a falling Dollar in the world economy lately.

Henry Paulson, CEO of Goldman Sachs, has been nominated by President Bush to replace Snow.

Not super exciting, I know...Let's move on to Frist...

FRIST'S COMMENTS

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R) recently changed his tune on the (most likely) illegal search & seizure of documents in Rep. William Jefferson's office. Frist NOW says that it was leagal, and the right thing to do.

First of all, he's a heart surgeon & U.S. Senator. What does he know about the LAW?

Second, this is a House of Representatives issue. I can understand Speaker Hastert & Minority Leader Pelosi commenting on it, but Frist is in the Senate. What does his opinion matter? He is disambiguous of the House, until Bills are passed, and half the time they can't even do that!

Frist won't have to deal with any internal punishment Jefferson may recieve, like asking him to step down from his committee chairmanships. That's Rep. Pelosi & Speaker Hastert's job. Forgive the continuous critisism, but that's like a member of Microsoft's Board of Directors embezzeling, and the CEO of Google asking him to step down.

Keep your focus on the Senate, Senator Frist. It needs enough work as it is...

-Adam
Source: CNN/Money

Rep. William Jefferson

"Former associates have said Jefferson accepted more than $400,000 in bribes to help them sell telecommunications technology to Nigeria and other West African countries."

"Two of those associates have pleaded guilty to bribery charges, and the FBI disclosed on Sunday it has videotaped Jefferson accepting bribe money and has found $90,000 in cash in his freezer."

-Reuters.com

Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) is the target of an FBI investigation, as stated above. Then, the day before yesterday, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R) joined Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi in asking the Dept. of Justice to release the information seized from Rep. Jefferson's Congressional office back to Congress. They claimed that the Constitution prevented the DoJ from using evidence seized from a Congressman's official office from being used in an investigation (If you want to read about the ABC's accusation towards Hastert, using an interestingly-timed leaked info, read below.)

Now, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Deputy Atty. Gen. Paul McNulty, & FBI Director Robert S. Mueller all threated to resign if the White House ordered them to return the information to Congress. President Bush has order an immediate 45-day freeze on the documents, until the DoJ & Congress can work out a solution.

I'm really not sure who's lawfully right, but since I like to see the Bush's Administration crumble under its own weight, I'd tell the President to give 'em back. Is that wrong? Maybe. But then again, I'm not in politics...yet.

[Note: I forgot to mention in my last immedate post (directly below) that CNBC reported that Secretary of Treasury John Snow, will resign once Bush has picked a replacement.]

-Adam

Source: Reuters.com

The United States Senate (And A Little More)

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been feeling sick the last few days, but I'm better now, and ready to lash out at our Conservative leaders (when they deserve it).

The Senate's been very active the last few days:

General Michael Hayden, who has spent most of his life in the Air Force, is now head of the CIA. Hayden is leaving his job as head of the NSA, which he's held since 1999. Hayden was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 78-15. I don't know where the other 7 senators were. I assume he's qualified, since he was easily confirmed. But I'm proud to say that my senator, Ron Wyden, laid into Hayden over the wiretapping, which he [Hayden] oversaw.

Hayden now oversees the CIA, which I guess is good, because he won't be able to wiretap (the CIA operating in the U.S. is illegal.)

The whole "English as a National Language" OR "English as a Unifying and Common Language" issue. Take your pick. It really won't matter. Congress members admit that it's largely symbolic. I get the feeling, however, that it will cost $200M+ a year to uphold.

President Bush, during his recent joint press-conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, admitted that the U.S. had made some mistakes during the Iraq war. This follows up Secretary Rice's earlier admission that errors had been made. I didn't watch it, but I imagine that no large admissions of guilt were made.

Also, as you have may heard, ABC News reported that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert may be involved in the same scandal that Jack Abramoff was in. Rep. [Speaker] Hastert demanded a retraction of the story. ABC stands by the story. The White House declined they released the story in an effort to "punish" Speaker Hastert for criticizing the probe on Rep. William Jefferson (see above story.)

There's one more thing I'm forgetting...let me think...

...Oh! We're giving some of those who came here illegally citizenship. Even worse, we're giving others the chance to "gain" citizenship. The Congress is effectively making a 2nd class citizen. They had something like that about 250 years ago. They were called Indentured Servants.

[Note: Each House of Congress has passed a different version of this bill. Chances are something will be lost during negotiations.]

-Adam

Phone Companies Deny; Border Plan Half-baked

ASSTANCE DENIED
This is just getting weirder. Both BellSouth & Verizon deny the fact that they turned over phone record information to the NSA, as reported in an article for the NYT.

As they pointed out on CNN this morning, though, it was the wording of the company statements that could draw attention. They statements were along the lines of 'we didn't give any information to the NSA'. Which, I suppose, leaves open the possibility that they gave the records to someone else, or the information was not volutarily given. Of course, as of right now, there's no evidence to support either of those senarios.

GUARDS TO BORDER
President Bush, in his primetime address to the nation, really didn't impress anyone. The President ordered the National Guard, the official 'minutemen' of our country, to the southern border, to keep out all the illegal immigrants. Makes me wonder if Bush will bring back the rest of them from Iraq to defend our country here. That's what their supposed to do, but the President obviously doesn't know that.

The 6 thousand he's posting along the border probably aren't enough. And they won't have the ability to detain or arrest, either. This means that they'll either need to have a few Border Patrol officers with them at all times, or call BP and hope they show up before the "crossers" get away. EIther way, this will draw resources from other areas where BP could have been posted.

Once again, President Bush has an entry plan for the situation, but NO CLUE what to do when he gets there. The border security issue is an all-or-nothing-at-all situation. The U.S. needs to have the ability for 'easy entry' for those who wish to come here legally, a plan for those who are already here illegally, and a stategy for those who are willing to challenge the troops posted on the border.

Bush's plan is half-baked.

-Adam
Source: CNN.com

May 11: The CIA Scandal Gets Worse

It's getting worse.

1. First, CIA Director Porter Goss suddenly resigned without a public explanation.
2. Hours later, the CIA's Executive Officer (#3 guy) Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, resigned.
3. The Director of National Intelligence's top deputy, General Michael Hayden, is tapped by President Bush as the next CIA Director.
4. Criticism arises due to the fact that Hayden is in the Army, possibly making him a 'pointman' for the SecDef.
5. Gen. Hayden said he may resign his post if he's confirmed by the Senate.
6. The NSA is now monitoring tens of millions of calls across the country, and General Hayden oversaw it.
7. "Dusty" Foggo was issued a search warrant by the FBI for his home & CIA office.

Dusty Foggo apparently has connections to the same Defense Contractor which Cal. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham was involved with, and ultimately went to jail over. So far, at least, I assume his resignation had to do with this issue, not anything having to do with the NSA or anything else.

It's getting nasty. The CIA has suddenly been engulfed in scandal, which is not what it needs right now. Maybe the government needs to "reboot" the CIA, like they're going to do with FEMA. After all, it's just a government agency. It's not like it has any public respect, anyway.

This post brought to you by Verizon, AT&T, and BellSouth, and the National Security Agency. "We're listening."

-Adam
NOTE: This post is not sponsored by any phone companies or any government agency.

Moussaoui Jailed For Life; May Day Protests

BREAKING NEWS: Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person held in the attacks on America on September 11, 2001, has been sentenced to like in prison without the possibility of parole.

Moussaoui will rot in prison for the rest of his life. But from what the news is reporting, it was NOT a unanimous verdict. The majority of the jury concluded that some mitigating circumstances, including his upbringing, may have contributed to him joining the terror group al-Qaeda.

MAY DAY PROTESTS

Well, the protests were two days ago, and the stores are still open. In fact, I only know of two establishments of which had to close on the 1st, throughout the whole state of Oregon. Both were Burger Kings, who didn't have enough employees show up to stay open.

Over 1 Million people protested H.R. 4437, which would make all people who enter America illegally, felons. However, it sounded more like the protests took place to protest the U.S. stance on immigrants altogether (Leave a comment if you think I'm wrong...or right).

But I don't think the numbers are in yet, as far as financial damage. Since it was an economic boycott, the only way to see if it was truly effective is to wait for monthly earning reports. I know that many immigrants (illegal, legal, naturalized citizens) did not skip work and protest, due to the concern that they may not have a job on the 2nd.

I can understand wanting rights (if you're here legally), but the economic protest probably hurt this country. How does that help you? Doesn't it also damage the economy you've been working for? The one you, and everyone else, relies on?

Maybe I'm wrong, but maybe not...

-Adam

Snow New Pressman; Soldiers Not So Receptive

NOTE: A new poll has been posted.

Tony Snow is new White House Secretary

FOX News (former) anchor Tony Snow will be the new White House Press Secretary, the White house announced the other day. Snow, who was a speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush, will replace current Press Secretary Scott McClellan. McClellan replaced Ari Fleischer as Press Secretary about 2 years ago.

Some political analysts have said that Snow will be "more open" with the press than McClellan was. One analyst, who's name I can't recall, said that Snow will do a better job "handling" NBC's White House Correspondent, who presses McClellan, or whoever the Press Secretary may be, to be clearer with his answers & not 'dance' around the questions.

Some soldiers could care less about Rummy & Rice's "Suprise" visits to Iraq

Some U.S. soldiers currently serving in Iraq said they really didn't care whether or not Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld & State Secretary Condie Rice came and visited Iraq for their suprise tours.

In fact, many troops don't get to see, or even don't know about, the VIP's when they visit. Most soldiers are simply too busy doing their job to praise Rummy & Rice when they come to Iraq on their 'trips'. One unidentified soldier, on his second tour, said that if he got the opportunity to see Rumsfeld, he'd "...ask him for a plane ticket home to see my wife. I have barely seen her in the last two years."

For more about this story, including a story about what one Division was doing during Rumsfeld's visit: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/04/27/damon.baladtroops/index.html

-Adam
source: CNN.com

New Orleans Voted...It's A Runoff

38% of New Orleans resident eligible to vote cast their ballots for Ray Nagin, the current mayor of New Orleans. He recieved the most votes, but he also failed to secure 62% of the votes, which could hurt him when the runoff election takes place.

Under the current NOLA law, the Mayor must recieve 50% of the votes, otherwise a runoff would occur. The other candidate to appear in the runoff will be Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, who recieved 29%. The third place finisher, business Ron Foreman, who recieved 17% of the vote & will not be in the runoff, threwhis support behind Landrieu. This is understandable, because a person who comes in third in anything would never throw his support behind the leader.

I don't live in New Orleans, so don't really know how Mayor Ray Nagin is viewed down there. It sounds like he's popular, but there might be some mistrust in the workings of the government in that area, which is understandable, considering all the failures.

NOTE: The jury is now deliberating in the Zacharias Moussaoui case. It'll be interesting to see what verdict he recieves...and how fast the defense will appeal over the fact that the trial was not "fair".

-Adam
SOURCE: MSNBC.com

Change Is Upon The White House

Unfortunately, Donald Rumsfeld will not be among them, according to President Bush.

Scott McClellan, the White House Press Secretary, announced his resignation today. This comes right after McClellan relayed new Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten's message that "whoever wants to leave better get out now".

McClellan said in a statement with the President in tow on the White House "press" lawn that he looked forward to the next chapter of his life, and would stay on to help with the transition of a new, not-yet-announced Press Secretary.

CNN has learned from a senior WH official that Karl Rove, the Deputy Chief of Staff, will be shifting his focus from White House policy to the ever-increasing importancy of political strategy. This is what he's best at. I don't think he was at all qualified to be a policy director.

Joel Kaplan, a Deputy Director of the Office of Budget & Management, is expected the take the Deputy Chief of Staff position of policy advisor, which has been held by Rove since the beginning of Bush's first term. Joshua Bolten, the Chief of Staff, was formerly the Director of the Office of Budget & Management. Looks like he's bringing in his own people to fix the situation.

All this comes a few weeks after Andrew Card, the former White House Chief of Staff, resigned. I bet the WH isn't done.

-Adam
SOURCE: CNN.com