Secretary of State Condi Rice has been on the attack recently, claiming the Clinton administration did not leave a "comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda" and no suggestions for approaching Pakistan to help in this fight.

Documents that have been released since 9/11 show that Ms. Rice is flat-out lying. One briefing from counter-terrorism czar Richard A. Clarke was titled "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al-Qida: Status and Prospects." That seems almost as clear as "Bin Laden Determined To Attack On American Soil," the title of another memo given to Rice pre-9/11. It's not like Ms. Rice didn't get the memo, she referred to it several times on the record after it was given to her, although she immediately "forgot" about it after 9/11.

It's clear that Ms. Rice is being sent out by strategists in the Republican party, particularly Karl Rove, to attack Bill Clinton and other Democrats in the months prior to the mid-term elections. Ms. Rice is seen as less of a politician that most Republican leaders because she was not elected. Her gender and ethnicity are also a factor, because they are typically associated with the Democratic party.

This is just another slimy trick by Karl Rove and his underlings. I'm not sure if this is worse than Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (against John Kerry) or POWs for Truth (against John McCain), both of which were used to get Bush elected, but it's pretty disgusting.

The only question remaining is how involved is Condi Rice in this whole thing. Is she a willing pawn in Karl Rove's game, like the swift boat vets (actually, most of them lied, only a few were actually ever on a swift boat)? I'd guess she probably knows what she's doing. Unlike many top members of the Bush administration, she's actually fairly intelligent. I would find it hard to believe that she is being tricked into risking her own reputation so turds like George Allen can get re-elected.
The Raw Story | 2001 memo to Rice contradicts statements about Clinton, Pakistan

Secretary of State Condi Rice has been on the attack recently, claiming the Clinton administration did not leave a "comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda" and no suggestions for approaching Pakistan to help in this fight.

Documents that have been released since 9/11 show that Ms. Rice is flat-out lying. One briefing from counter-terrorism czar Richard A. Clarke was titled "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al-Qida: Status and Prospects." That seems almost as clear as "Bin Laden Determined To Attack On American Soil," the title of another memo given to Rice pre-9/11. It's not like Ms. Rice didn't get the memo, she referred to it several times on the record after it was given to her, although she immediately "forgot" about it after 9/11.

It's clear that Ms. Rice is being sent out by strategists in the Republican party, particularly Karl Rove, to attack Bill Clinton and other Democrats in the months prior to the mid-term elections. Ms. Rice is seen as less of a politician that most Republican leaders because she was not elected. Her gender and ethnicity are also a factor, because they are typically associated with the Democratic party.

This is just another slimy trick by Karl Rove and his underlings. I'm not sure if this is worse than Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (against John Kerry) or POWs for Truth (against John McCain), both of which were used to get Bush elected, but it's pretty disgusting.

The only question remaining is how involved is Condi Rice in this whole thing. Is she a willing pawn in Karl Rove's game, like the swift boat vets (actually, most of them lied, only a few were actually ever on a swift boat)? I'd guess she probably knows what she's doing. Unlike many top members of the Bush administration, she's actually fairly intelligent. I would find it hard to believe that she is being tricked into risking her own reputation so turds like George Allen can get re-elected.
The Raw Story | 2001 memo to Rice contradicts statements about Clinton, Pakistan

Here's a nice little cheat sheet for voters come this November. It lists the 20 most corrupt members of Congress, and even uses Google Maps to show where they come from.

Lest you think this list is just another chance to bash conservatives, there are a few Democrats on the list. A short look into the political histories of those particular Dems will prove to anyone that they belong on this list. Of course, all but one of them (Maxine Waters, California) comes from a red state.

There shouldn't be any surprises for the names topping this list. They are the names we usually hear in the same sentence as "possible indictment", "defrauding tax payers", and "in bed with lobbyists and big corporations". They include Conrad Burns, Bill Frist, and Rick Santorum. Remember, this list is only for members of the House of Representatives, otherwise we'd be seeing names like Ted Stevens, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney thrown in there.
Home | Beyond Delay

President Bush finally admitted a few weeks ago that there were secret CIA prisons in Europe, and that they would be closed down. The prisoners in that secret prison system, who were being held without charges and faced torture if they did not give up information they may or may not have been holding, were transferred to Guantanamo Bay.

CIA leaks have revealed that some prisoners have died during torture in the secret prisons. As if that wasn't damaging enough for the Bush administration, news CIA leaks indicate that it was not the President's decision to shut down the prison. He was forced to shut down the prisons after CIA agents refused to work in them anymore.

It's possible that some agents were worried that they could face charges of war crimes, as what they were doing was a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions. Those agreements were supported by past presidents, because they are intended to protect our own soldiers in hostile territory.

If the countries that were hosting these secret prisons had decided to turn on the United States, they could have arrested the CIA agents involved in the torture, even though they were acting on orders from their superiors, right up to the president himself. The Nuremburg trials se the precedent for this, with judges ruling that officers in the Third Reich were not immune from prosecution for war crimes, even though they were following orders from higher officers.

Maybe we should step back and ask the following questions:

So what is our "security president" really doing to protect American security? If we commit war crimes, why should we expect our enemies to follow the Geneva Convention when they capture some of our soldiers? Does torture in secret prisons yield valuable information (studies have shown that it does not)? Doesn't this kind of behavior just further the sentiment held by large parts of the world that America is the "evil empire"? Who's keeping us safe now?
FT.com / US / Rendition - CIA ‘refused to operate’ secret jails

Senator George Allen (Republican - Virginia), once considered a presidential hopeful, is now a contender for the dumbest man on earth.

He entered the Senate Chamber today just before Senator Dick Durbin (Democrat - Illinois) was about introduce an amendment to a Department of Defense appropriations bill. He asked for permission to speak before Durbin, and permission was granted. Allen then proceeded to introduce an amendment exactly the same, verbatim, word-for-word-the-same, as the one Durbin was about the introduce. This amendment was written, edited, and prepared by Durbin, and for some reason George Allen thought he could just steal the whole thing and nobody would notice.

This incident could raise a whole bunch of interesting legal questions, should Durbin decide to pursue legal avenues. Could George Allen face a copyright violation lawsuit? He stole the material, and there is plenty of solid proof that he stole it. Does Allen's use, which consisted of taking it and presenting it as his own before the Senate, constitute a copyright violation?

Senator Ted Kennedy called out Allen on the similarities in wording, or more accurately, the exactly identical wording, in the amendment. Senator Ted Stevens (Republican - Alaska), who might give George Allen a challenge for dumbest man alive, made a vain attempt to cover up the gaffe by suggesting Allen used the word "shall" in one section instead of "may". Allen was clearly flustered and embarassed when it was revealed that his presentation was stolen from that of another speaker.

Here's the video:

Raising Kaine :: George Allen STEALS an Amendment! (UPDATE: YouTube video of Allen)