Happy Chinese New Year

Japanese sandwich cakesIt's Chinese New Year tomorrow, which means it's a night of celebrations tonight.Festivities in Sydney's Chinatown have already begun, with the annual Chinatown Markets lining Dixon Street and Hawker Central taking over Belmore Park.Chinese New Year dog mascot in Sydney's Belmore ParkTree festooned with red colanders--surprisingly pretty!Chinese chess players on Dixon

Happy Chinese New Year

Japanese sandwich cakesIt's Chinese New Year tomorrow, which means it's a night of celebrations tonight.Festivities in Sydney's Chinatown have already begun, with the annual Chinatown Markets lining Dixon Street and Hawker Central taking over Belmore Park.Chinese New Year dog mascot in Sydney's Belmore ParkTree festooned with red colanders--surprisingly pretty!Chinese chess players on Dixon

Vegans of mass destruction

As someone who yesterday made a lovely pot of split pea soup made with an equally lovely bone from a lovely spiral-sliced ham, I know full well that sometimes vegans can be as holier-than-thou and self-righteous and insufferable as anyone in the Christofascist zombie brigade.

That doesn't make them a terrorist threat.

The Bush Administration, however, disagrees. Via Pam, cross-posting at Pandagon, comes this lovely example of how the Bush Administration is protecting you from Scary Arab People by turning his Eye of Sauron on people who don't eat meat:

The ACLU of Georgia released copies of government files on Wednesday that illustrate the extent to which the FBI, the DeKalb County Division of Homeland Security and other government agencies have gone to compile information on Georgians suspected of being threats simply for expressing controversial opinions.

Two documents relating to anti-war and anti-government protests, and a vegan rally, prove the agencies have been "spying" on Georgia residents unconstitutionally, the ACLU said. (Related: ACLU Complaint -- PDF file)

For example, more than two dozen government surveillance photographs show 22-year-old Caitlin Childs of Atlanta, a strict vegetarian, and other vegans picketing against meat eating, in December 2003. They staged their protest outside a HoneyBaked Ham store on Buford Highway in DeKalb County.

An undercover DeKalb County Homeland Security detective was assigned to conduct surveillance of the protest and the protestors, and take the photographs. The detective arrested Childs and another protester after he saw Childs approach him and write down, on a piece of paper, the license plate number of his unmarked government car.

"They told me if I didn't give over the piece of paper I would go to jail and I refused and I went to jail, and the piece of paper was taken away from me at the jail and the officer who transferred me said that was why I was arrested," Childs said on Wednesday.

The government file lists anti-war protesters in Atlanta as threats, the ACLU said. The ACLU of Georgia accuses the Bush administration of labeling those who disagree with its policy as disloyal Americans.

Think about it: The program that the Bush Administration is defending is one that's going after a bunch of young kids picketing a HONEY BAKED HAM STORE.

Someone please tell me what this has to do with Islamic terrorism. Especially since Muslims won't touch ham with a 10-foot pole.

Holding the media accountable

During the 2004 campaign, a number of people set up "watch" blogs to monitor so-called "journalists" like Jodi Wilgoren, who took every chance she could to trash first Howard Dean, then John Kerry.

In that tradition of holding them accountable, we now have a crop of "open letter" blogs cropping up. These blogs are designed to flag the most egregious Bush-fellaters and hold them to account via letters to them and their bosses, and also to their medium's advertisers.

Right now there are three, all of which arose from the insistence that Jack Abramoff gave money to both parties, which is demonstrably false. Abramoff himself gave illegal contributions to only Republicans. Democrats accepted money from tribes Abramoff represented -- legal contributions which actually DECREASED after Abramoff started representing said tribes.

• Open Letter to theWashington Post arose from ombudsperson Deborah Howell's drawing equivalences between these legal contributions from the tribes which Abramoff, it turns out, BILKED OUT OF MONEY, and illegal direct contributions from Republicans by Abramoff himself.


• Open Letter to Chris Matthews is a response to Chris Matthews, who is getting nuttier by the day, claiming that Americans who are concerned about the Iraq War sound like Osama Bin Laden. Matthews has been a treasure trove of Bush Blowjobbery over the last few weeks, which makes me wonder if perhaps someone has photos of Mr. Matthews doing unspeakable things with either an underage girl, and underage boy, a mule, or JimmyJeffGannonGuckert. First we had the "Democrats = Osama" meme. Then he appeared on Don Imus show making sniggering jokes about Brokeback Mountain. Then he jumped on the "Abramoff gave to Democrats too" bandwagon. And now he's claiming that Latinos ought to be natural Republicans since they're so hard-working. Matthews is the gift that keeps on giving, and you can do your part to get him to get honest or get off the air here.


• Last, but by no means least, we have Open Letter to Tim Russert. L'il Tim is an even bigger tool than Matthews. Up to his eyeballs in the Plame outing case, he nevertheless continued to ask guests on Press the Meat leading questions designed to minimize the importance of that particular scandal. Russert finally became a target when he decided that All Black People Are Alike by asking Barack Obama to comment on the remarks of Harry Belafonte, a private citizen, that George Bush is the world's worst terrorist. Russert is going to be an awfully big whale to bring down, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

There no "Open Letter to Katie Couric" site for HER insistence that Jack Abramoff gave to both parties, but I expect one any day now. In fact, I might set one up myself. No one can say I'm bullying a poor defenseless woman if I do. After all, it's OK to knock your own team.

Here is the president that has the Democrats so spooked

In true lyin' ass boyfriend, "I'll fight the big one next time, baby, I promise" orm, the Democrats are going to let the Alito nomination sail through without a fight. Buzzflash is even reporting that the Great Democratic Hope, Barack Obama, is opposing a filibuster.

Can this party be MORE out of touch with the American people?

Here is how America thinks of the president that has the Democrats wetting their collective pants in fear:

A majority of Americans said the presidency of George W. Bush has been a failure and that they would be more likely to vote for congressional candidates who oppose him, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.

Fifty-two percent of adults said Bush's administration since 2001 has been a failure, down from 55 percent in October. Fifty- eight percent described his second term as a failure. At the same point in former President Bill Clinton's presidency, 70 percent of those surveyed by Gallup said they considered it a success and 20 percent a failure.

In a poll conducted in January of 2002, after Bush was president for one year, 83 percent of those surveyed said his presidency was a success.

In the new poll, conducted Jan. 20-22, fifty-one percent of those surveyed said they would be more likely to vote for congressional candidates who do not support Bush's policies.

The percentage of Americans who called Bush ``honest and trustworthy'' fell 7 percentage points in the last year to 49 percent, the poll found.

The new poll also found that 62 percent of Americans said they are ``dissatisfied'' with ``the way things are going'' in the U.S., unchanged from a December survey. The percentage of ``dissatisfied'' Americans reached its peak in October of 2005 when 68 percent of those surveyed agreed.

The survey interviewed 1,006 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points. For the questions about whether Bush's presidency is a success, about 500 U.S. adults were surveyed and the margin for error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

I hear John Kerry is supporting a filibuster. Of course, John Kerry wants to run for president again. He doesn't understand that if he had done his damn job as a candidate in 2004, we wouldn't even be IN this mess.

Don't hold your breath, Tom

For some strange reason, Tom Friedman persists in believing that George W. Bush is a thoughtful president who will do what's best for the country. Today he advises the president to take on energy independence as the theme for his State of the Union address:

The direction in which America needs to go is obvious: toward energy independence. If Mr. Bush steps up to that challenge, this speech could be a new beginning for his presidency. If he doesn't, you can stick a fork in this administration. It will be done — because it will have abdicated leadership on the biggest issue of our day. Here's the speech I'll be listening for:

[snip]

I am here to tell you that if we don't move away from our dependence on oil and shift to renewable fuels, it will change our way of life for the worse — and soon — much, much more than communism ever could have. Making this transition is the calling of our era.

Why? First, we are in a war with a violent strain of Middle East Islam that is indirectly financed by our consumption of oil. Second, with millions of Indians and Chinese buying cars and homes as they join the great global middle class, we must quickly move away from burning fossil fuels or we're going to create enough global warming to melt the North Pole. Because of that, green cars, homes, offices, appliances, designs and renewable energies will be the biggest growth industry of the 21st century. If we don't dominate that industry, China, India, Japan or Europe surely will.

But to lead, we must impose the highest energy-efficiency standards on our own automakers and other industries so we force them to be the most innovative. I want to inspire girls and boys across America to study math, science and engineering to help our nation achieve green energy independence. President Kennedy said, Let's put a man on the Moon. I say, Let's make oil obsolete.

Friedman is absolutely right that this kind of speech would be the best way for Bush to regain any shred of credibility, because it affects the domestic economy AND national security. But in case Friedman has forgotten, George W. Bush, and indeed this entire Administration, is owned lock, stock, and barrel by the energy industry. His Middle East policy is based on the notion that somebody is going to control that oil and he wants it to be us. He denies that global warming exists, let alone that it's a threat.

I think it's a pretty safe bet that Friedman is not going to get what he wants, nor is he going to get the resignation of Dick Cheney that he wants, either. And I'm not sure that the CEO of General Electric, whom he offers as an alternative, is going to be a whole lot better, given GE's status as a military contractor.

The only question is whether Friedman is going to say that Bush is toast after the SOTU, which from what we hear is going to be more of the same "Run for the hills! The terrorists are coming! Only we can keep you safe, and only if you give up your freedom!" theme we've been hearing from this bunch ever since the 9/11 attacks saved their bacon the first time.

Is this the beginning of the Bush Reich's resettlement camps?

Is KBR/Halliburton building concentration camps in the US?

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2006--KBR announced today that the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) component has awarded KBR an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contingency contract to support ICE facilities in the event of an emergency. KBR is the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL).

With a maximum total value of $385 million over a five-year term, consisting of a one-year based period and four one-year options, the competitively awarded contract will be executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District. KBR held the previous ICE contract from 2000 through 2005.

"We are especially gratified to be awarded this contract because it builds on our extremely strong track record in the arena of emergency operations support," said Bruce Stanski, executive vice president, KBR Government and Infrastructure. "We look forward to continuing the good work we have been doing to support our customer whenever and wherever we are needed."

The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs. The contingency support contract provides for planning and, if required, initiation of specific engineering, construction and logistics support tasks to establish, operate and maintain one or more expansion facilities.

The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other U.S. Government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster. In the event of a natural disaster, the contractor could be tasked with providing housing for ICE personnel performing law enforcement functions in support of relief efforts.

ICE is one of three agencies that make up the Border and Transportation Security (BTS) Directorate of the DHS. The mission of the BTS Directorate is to secure the nation's air, land and sea borders. ICE, the largest investigative arm of the DHS, is responsible for identifying and shutting down vulnerabilities in the nation's border, economic, transportation and infrastructure security.

Does anyone honestly believe that this kind of contract was necessary at this moment SOLELY to encamp illegal immigrants? Especially at a time when the Bush Administration and its mouthpieces in the media are calling Americans who don't agree with Bush policies "like Osama Bin Laden"?

The Jews in Nazi Germany believed the camps were for what the Reich said they were for at first too.