Glenn Miller Orchestra
American Patrol

From CNN:

Standing with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bush said he and the nation’s top military commanders had “a very candid and fruitful discussion about how to secure this country and about how to win a war that we now find ourselves in.”

That we NOW find ourselves in? You mean the one you lied us into and have fucked up in every imaginable way possible since you got us there? Oh brother…….somebody shut this guy up! Please……for the love of God, tell me I don’t have to listen to two more years of this shit!!!!!!

I learn something new every day……. so what would be an example of a Senate Rule that a President would possibly break? I’m serious…..not being facetious…..anyone know? And when does the newly elected congress vote in a new Sergeant of Arms? And would this person be held responsible for the pages safety as well? Just wondering……….

The Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper, elected by the members, serves as the protocol and chief law enforcement officer and is the principal administrative manager for most support services in the United States Senate.

When the first Congress convened in 1789, the Office of Doorkeeper was established to address the single most pressing problem confronting the Senate at its birth - its inability to keep a majority of members in the Capitol long enough to organize and begin the business of government. (gee, sounds like the current Sergeant at Arms should have done this with the Republican controlled congress!)
A doorkeeper was also necessary to control access to the Senate sessions, which were private for the first six years. Later, when the sessions were open to the public, the doorkeeper was responsible for maintaining order on the floor of the Senate and in the galleries. The title of Sergeant at Arms was added in 1798 to reflect the expanded administrative duties of the position.

The protocol responsibilities include escorting the President and other heads of state or official guests of the Senate who are attending official functions in the Capitol; making arrangements for funerals of senators who die in office; assisting in plans for the inauguration of the President and organizing the swearing-in and orientation programs for newly elected senators. The Sergeant at Arms leads the senators from the Senate to the House chamber for joint sessions of Congress, to the presidential inaugural platform, or wherever the Senate may go as a body. As executive officer, the Sergeant at Arms has custody of the Senate gavel.

As chief law enforcement officer of the Senate, the Sergeant at Arms is charged with maintaining security in the Capitol and all Senate buildings, as well as protection of the members themselves. The Sergeant at Arms serves as the executive officer of the Senate for enforcement of all rules of the Committee on Rules and Administration regulating the Senate Wing of the Capitol and the Senate Office Buildings and has responsibility for and immediate supervision of the Senate floor, chamber and galleries. The Sergeant at Arms is authorized to arrest and detain any person violating Senate rules, including the President of the United States.

Read more about the Sergeant at Arms here

Is an end of an era looming in the foreign exchange markets? The dollar has been depreciating against the euro for weeks. Currency experts and the German government don’t yet see this as cause for alarm. The US currency’s role as a lead currency isn’t as important as it used to be, they say.

Like most central bankers, Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), has a penchant for cryptic comments. Injecting a certain degree of incomprehensibility is a signal to the professionals that he’s competent. And when it comes to laymen, industry jargon has the desired effect of generating the necessary respect.

Last Thursday the public was treated to yet another example of Trichet’s convoluted speaking style. A number of risks, the ECB president said, could jeopardize a generally favorable economic outlook in the euro zone. They included, according to Trichet, “concerns regarding possible uncontrolled developments triggered by global economic imbalances.”

What Europe’s most powerful protector of the currency was actually saying was this: The gradual decline of the dollar in the foreign currency markets in recent weeks could pose a threat to the economy. What Trichet was also trying to broadcast is that the ECB has recognized and is aware of the threat.

Nevertheless, the European Central Bank in Frankfurt again increased its key interest rate on Thursday by a quarter percentage point to 3.5 percent, which makes the euro more attractive to international investors. The central bankers had no choice but to take the step, having already announced their intentions weeks ago.

Experts have been predicting for some time that the dollar would eventually go into a nosedive, and now that time seems to have come. The US currency has lost five percent of its value against the euro since late October, and 13 percent since the beginning of the year. The euro is currently fluctuating around a value of $1.33, which is only 3 cents away from its all-time high in 2004. And yet Trichet’s counterpart Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has done nothing but look on as the dollar plunges.

A sea change appears to be taking place on the international financial markets. For years, global capital flowed in only one direction, with $2 billion going into the United States every day. Investors viewed the world’s largest economy not only as a bastion of stability, but also as a place that promised the best deals, the most lucrative returns and the highest growth rates.

The Americans, for their part, welcomed foreign investment. For them, it was almost a tradition to save very little and spend more than they earned — essentially achieving affluence on credit. Foreigners financed the Americans’ almost obsessive consumer spending, which spurred worldwide economic growth for years.

Because the US government was unable to fall back on the savings of its citizens, it too was forced to finance its budget deficit with foreign capital. Both consumer spending and the federal deficit kept the dollar high, because the rest of the world was practically scrambling to invest in the United States.

This phase seems to have come to an end, at least for the time being. “There are fundamental weaknesses in the American economy. This could not continue in the long term,” says Alfred Steinherr, chief economist at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW).

Read more at SpiegelOnline

I’ll lay odds this is “the plan forward.” Nevermind what the American public wants, nevermind the ISG report, nevermind, nevermind nevermind……. and nevermind!

WASHINGTON - As President Bush weighs new policy options for Iraq, strong support has coalesced in the Pentagon behind a military plan to “double down” in the country with a substantial buildup in American troops, an increase in industrial aid and a major combat offensive against Muqtada Sadr, the radical Shiite leader impeding development of the Iraqi government.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff will present their assessment and recommendations to Bush at the Pentagon today. Military officials, including some advising the chiefs, have argued that an intensified effort may be the only way to get the counterinsurgency strategy right and provide a chance for victory.

The approach overlaps somewhat a course promoted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz). But the Pentagon proposals add several features, including the confrontation with Sadr, a possible renewed offensive in the Sunni stronghold of Al Anbar province, a large Iraqi jobs program and a proposal for a long-term increase in the size of the military.

Such an option would appear to satisfy Bush’s demand for a strategy focused on victory rather than disengagement. It would disregard key recommendations and warnings of the Iraq Study Group, however, and provide little comfort for those fearful of a long, open-ended U.S. commitment in the country. Only 12% of Americans support a troop increase, whereas 52% prefer a fixed timetable for withdrawal, a Los Angeles Times/ Bloomberg poll has found.

“I think it is worth trying,” a defense official said. “But you can’t have the rhetoric without the resources. This is a double down” - the gambling term for upping a bet.

Such a proposal, military officials and experts caution, would be a gamble. Any chance of success probably would require major changes in the Iraqi government, they said. U.S. Embassy officials would have to help usher into power a new coalition in Baghdad that was willing to confront the militias. And the strategy also would require more U.S. spending to increase the size of the U.S. military and for an Iraqi jobs program.

Read more at the LATimes

Too bad Nelson didn’t defy Bush and his Detainee Bill. Nelson is one of the Democrats who voted for it. (unforgiveable) Perhaps he went to Syria to check out their torture techniques……. or perhaps he and his plastic wife (how I wish I had saved that Christmas card so you could see her) just wanted to see the Middle East…….
He’ a Democrat I hope to see replaced come next election.

WASHINGTON –In a direct affront to the Bush administration, a Democratic senator spent an hour Wednesday with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, asking him to do more to stabilize Iraq.

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, met with Assad after the State Department said that it disapproved of his trip. The United States has limited diplomatic ties with Syria because of its support of Hezbollah and Hamas, which the U.S. deems terrorist organizations, and President Bush has expressed reluctance to seek help from Damascus on Iraq until the Syrians curb that support and reduce their influence in Lebanon.

Assad “clearly indicated a willingness to cooperate” in controlling its border with Iraq, Nelson told reporters in a conference call following the meeting. The U.S. says foreign fighters often enter Iraq across that boundary.

Nelson said he reported the information to embassy officials and will brief his congressional committees on the trip. He said he expects Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., to also visit Syria.

Read more at Boston.com

Gotta hand it to him, the man has drive! Pull anything he can out of his ass in order to score points with the NASCAR, fraidy-cat crowd. It worked for Bush!

Mass. troopers to detain illegal aliens

GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer

BOSTON - Gov. Mitt Romney, who is weighing a White House bid, signed an agreement Wednesday that allows Massachusetts State Police troopers to detain illegal aliens they encounter over the course of their normal duties.
…
“The scope of our nation’s illegal immigration problem requires us to pursue and implement new solutions wherever possible,” Romney said in a statement. “State troopers are highly trained professionals who are prepared to assist the federal government in apprehending immigration violators without disrupting their normal law enforcement routines.”

The governor, who has been burnishing his conservative credentials in anticipation of a campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, has advocated building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to check the flow of illegals into the country.
…
“I’m going to investigate what power I have,” the governor-elect told reporters last week. “You know that I think it’s a bad idea for state troopers to be involved in immigration enforcement. They have enough to do as it is, and I said that consistently.”

The agreement also comes at an embarrassing time for Romney, who has pledged to announce his decision about a presidential candidacy early next year.

The Boston Globe reported recently that the landscaper who maintains the governor’s 2.5-acre property in Belmont has been employing illegal aliens.

Source: YAHOO! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The incoming Democratic chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee promised on Wednesday to combat what he denounced as President George W. Bush’s war-time trampling of American rights.

“We have a duty to repair real damage done to our system of government over the last few years,” Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said in outlining his panel’s agenda for the 110th, Democratic-led Congress, which is set to convene on January 4.

“Americans’ privacy is a price the Bush administration is willing to pay for the cavalier way it is spawning new databanks. But privacy rights belong to the people, not to the government,” Leahy said.

Leahy made the comments in a speech entitled, “Ensuring Liberty and Security Through Checks and Balances,” to be delivered at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Leahy and other Democrats have complained about Bush’s tactics in the war on terror, particularly the Republican president’s warrantless domestic spying program that Democrats and some Republicans say violates the law.

Read more at Reuters

Somebody explain to me why all this identity theft is happening? And why are these people driving around with the laptops in their cars, and leaving them in clear view where they’d be stolen? And if they’re going to let people drive around with them, why isn’t the data encrypted? Makes no sense……..

A laptop with personal information on hundreds of thousands of Boeing Co. employees was stolen earlier this month, and the aerospace company will inform those potentially affected by the theft in a company e-mail today.

“In the first week of December, a laptop was stolen from an employee’s car,” Boeing spokeswoman Kelly Danaghy said. “That laptop had files that contained Social Security numbers for about 382,000 past and present employees, and in most cases it also included a home address, phone number and date of birth.”

There was no reason to believe that any of the stolen information has been used illegally, she said.

It was unclear Tuesday whether the data was encrypted. No banking or credit card information was stored in those files, but the company will provide free three-year credit monitoring for employees whose personal information was compromised.

The company employs about 156,000 people, with 68,000 of those employed in Washington state.

Read more here

Funny stuff…… Arianna Huffington smacks down Tom Delay

Dear Tom,

First let me say, welcome to the blogosphere — always nice to have a new voice in the mix. So good to know you have access to a computer in jail (oh, sorry, you dodged that bullet). And thanks for the link.

But since you’re a newbie blogger, I want to give you a hand by pointing out some rookie mistakes your site made in its diatribe about me and the Huffington Post today.

For starters, you seem to have missed the class on the difference between linking to a news story and offering an opinion on said news story. You claim that I was “in quite a tizzy” and that I’d “acquired sound intel” that there are Christians in the Defense Dept.

Acquired sound intel? That sounds so cloak and dagger, like a secret fact-finding golf mission to Scotland. You make it seem like I’m skulking around in a trench coat and fedora — oh wait, that’s your pal Jack Abramoff. Far from skulking or acquiring intel, what we actually did was “link” (a key term you should know as a blogger) to a story written by a reporter for “Reuters,” which is a news wire service (a handy place to get “facts.” Here’s a link.)

Read more at the Huffington Post