Life in OUR America, Volume 5, the Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

This was emailed to me by a friend of mine in California.

Sorry its political, but its quite good.

"I'm the Decider"

by Roddy McCorley

I'm the Decider
So watch what you say
Or I may decide
To have you whisked away.

Or I'll tap your phones.
Your e-mail I'll read.
`cause I'm the Decider -
Like Jesus decreed.

Snuffysmith .....

From you ...

"Sorry" is neither needed ...

Nor required .....

And so ......

And the piece was excellent ....

And timely ....

And since "politics" is a part of "LIFE" here in OUR America .....

Well ......

[Livyjr]

And since the "Snuf" has got us over onto "politics" .....

Here is the sleazy REPUBLICAN version of it ...

As practiced up here in REPUBLICAN George Pataki's ......

Corrupt REPUBLICAN EMPIRE .....

Of New York .....

Where the REPUBLICANS just cannot seem ....

To rise themselves up ....

From the lowest depths .....

At the bottom of the barrel ....

That they seem to have claimed ....

As their permanent DOMAIN ....

And so ....

"McFarland aide attacks rival candidate's ethics and morals"

By MARC HUMBERT, Associated Press
Last updated: 5:37 p.m., Wednesday, May 3, 2006

ALBANY -- Ed Rollins, the veteran Republican operative orchestrating a Senate campaign in New York, contends that a rival candidate for the GOP nomination has moral and ethical problems that would be exploited by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"People will pay attention to those kinds of issues in a statewide race," Rollins said Tuesday during an interview with a New York City cable news channel.

Rollins, a top adviser to political novice Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland, went on to talk about former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer's "illegitimate children" and "nepotism" while Spencer was mayor.

Spencer had a long-running affair with his chief of staff while he was mayor and while he was married.

The chief of staff gave birth to two children before Spencer divorced his first wife and married his top aide.

The details of his personal life have been previously reported by many news organizations.

Spencer, in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Wednesday, said Rollins' "vicious personal attacks" were "desperation tactics of behalf of the failing candidacy of McFarland.

"They are pathetic, and they should be ashamed of themselves."

McFarland appeared repentant.

"I have made it clear from the start that I don't like mudslinging and attack politics."

"In fact, it is one of the reasons I decided to run," she said in a statement sent to the AP.

"Mr. Spencer's personal life is of zero interest to me and I don't expect it to come up again."

"Questions about his mayoralty are relevant, but how he conducts his personal life is his own business."

Spencer adviser John McLaughlin called Rollins' comments "sleazy."

"Voters get sick of people attacking people for their personal lives."

"He was in a marriage that fell apart."

"He ended up remarrying," said McLaughlin.

"If the McFarland campaign is going to stoop that low that they're going to attack somebody for their personal life, it's just an embarrassment."

"I guess Rollins is trying to justify his large fees."

"He hasn't delivered on anything else," added Spencer campaign manager Kevin Collins.

"I've had one of the best detective firms in New York looking at this," Rollins told New York 1.

"He runs around saying `I'm a good Catholic.'"

" ... That's bigamy where I come from," Rollins said, adding "that's just the tip of the iceberg in the sense that he thinks he can live a double life."

McFarland has repeatedly vowed she will run a positive campaign that does not attack her rivals, but Rollins has been derisively dismissive of Spencer for weeks.

In a March interview with the AP, Rollins said Spencer "wouldn't know (on) which side of the Capitol the U.S. Senate meets."

In a telephone interview with the AP on Wednesday, Rollins laughed when asked if his comments were part of a "good cop-bad cop" campaign strategy with McFarland taking the high road.

"We're in a very competitive challenge here."

"Part of his whole mantra is, `I'm the guy who can stand up against Hillary Clinton; I'm the one she fears; I'm tough; I'm the one she fears,'" Rollins said.

"I'm just simply saying that our campaign also has that ability to be aggressive and be tough."

Polls have shown Clinton far ahead of both Spencer and McFarland, a former Reagan-era Pentagon official who has been out of public service since 1985.

Spencer and McFarland could face each other in a September primary.

end quotes

"I'm just simply saying that our campaign also has that ability to be aggressive and be tough?"

Well, Slick ......

Up here ...

Where I am .....

Your "big city tough guy" talk .....

Has you sounding like an ******* ......

And not much more ....

And so ...

In my estimation .....

The best thing Ms. McFarland could do ....

Is to very publicly ...

Toss you .....

And your REPUBLICAN drivel ....

Right into the ****-can .....

And so ...

[Livyjr]

Does anyone out there remember this Donald Rumsfeld character?

George W. Bush's ....

Perhaps senile ....

Minister of War ....

And Death ...

And Destruction ....

And Perversion, too ....

When you factor in Abu Ghraib ....

Which happened on his watch ....

And for which ...

He took responsibility ....

And so ....

"Rumsfeld Heckled by Former CIA Analyst"

By SHANNON McCAFFREY, Associated Press Writer

1 minute ago

ATLANTA - Protesters repeatedly interrupted Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld during a speech Thursday and one man, a former CIA analyst, accused him of lying about Iraq prewar intelligence in an unusually vociferous display of anti-war sentiment.

"Why did you lie to get us into a war that caused these kind of casualties and was not necessary?" asked Ray McGovern, the former analyst, during a question-and-answer session.

"I did not lie," shot back Rumsfeld, who waved off security guards ready to remove McGovern from the hall at the Southern Center for International Studies.

With Iraq war support remaining low, it is not unusual for top Bush administration officials to encounter protests and hostile questions.

But the outbursts Rumsfeld confronted on Thursday seemed beyond the usual.

Three protesters were escorted away by security as each interrupted Rumsfeld's speech by jumping up and shouting anti-war messages.

Throughout the speech, a fourth protester stood in the middle of the room with his back to Rumsfeld in silent protest.

Officials reported no arrests.

Rumsfeld also faced tough questions from a woman identifying herself as Patricia Roberts of Lithonia, Ga., who said her son, 22-year-old Spc. Jamaal Addison, was killed in Iraq.

Roberts said she is now raising her young grandson and asked whether the government could provide any help.

Rumsfeld referred her to a Web site listing aid organizations.

President Bush seldom faces such challenges.

Demonstrators usually are kept far from him when he delivers public remarks.

Rumsfeld has been interrupted by anti-war demonstrators in congressional hearing rooms as he has delivered testimony to lawmakers in recent months, and at some speeches around the country.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has had direct confrontations overseas.

These include demonstrators who called her a murderer and war criminal in Australia in March, and throngs of anti-war protesters who dogged her every move in northern England in April.

Demonstrators were kept far away from Rice during a visit last week to Greece, where riot police confronted a violent street mob that smashed shop windows in protest of U.S. policies and Rice's role in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

More than half of Americans say the war in Iraq was not worth the cost financially or in loss of life, recent public polling has found.

Just over one-third of those surveyed say they approve of Bush's handing of the war.

Public sentiment about the war has been at those low levels since fall.

Just over one-third of the public says Rumsfeld is doing an excellent or pretty good job, according to polling in March, while six in 10 said fair or poor.

In the run-up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration repeatedly spoke of evidence that Saddam Hussein had acquired weapons of mass destruction.

No such armaments have been found.

Officials also spoke about connections between Saddam and al-Qaida that critics say remain unproven.

In recent weeks, at least a half dozen retired generals have called for Rumsfeld's resignation, saying he has ignored advice offered by military officers and made strategic errors in the Iraq war, including committing too few troops.

But he has received strong backing by Bush, who repeatedly has indicated he will keep Rumsfeld at the Pentagon.

When security guards tried removing McGovern, the analyst, during his persistent questions of Rumsfeld, the defense secretary told them to let him stay.

The two continued to spar.

"You're getting plenty of play," Rumsfeld told McGovern, who is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq.

Responding to another protester who also accused Rumsfeld of lying, the secretary said such accusations are "so wrong, so unfair and so destructive."

At one point, Rumsfeld was praised by an audience member who said he had followed Rumsfeld's career and wondered what in his upbringing had shaped his positive outlook on life.

"I guess one thing I'd say is that my mom was a school teacher and my dad read history voraciously."

"And I guess I adopted some of those patterns of reading history," Rumsfeld replied.

Rumsfeld focused his speech on a U.S. need to increase its emphasis on more flexible partnerships with foreign militaries and rethinking of the role of long-established alliances like NATO.

He called such changes "necessary adjustments, based on the new realities and the new threats that have emerged since the end of the Cold War."

He also said, "We need ways to make sure we're better understood in the world than we are."

Rumsfeld also likened the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan to the Cold War.

"There is no question our country is facing difficulties in Iraq and difficulties in Afghanistan," he said

[jeffmoskin]

"I did not lie," shot back Rumsfeld

As Clinton might have said, "it depends on how lies lies."

[Snuffysmith]

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/05/05/opini...1&hp&oref=login

As Energy Prices Rise, It's All Downhill for Democracy
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: May 5, 2006
In case you haven't noticed, all the oil-rich bad guys seem to be having a fine and dandy time these days.

Iran, awash in oil money, thumbs its nose at U.N. demands for it to desist in its nuclear adventures and daily threatens to wipe Israel off the map. President Vladimir Putin of Russia, awash in oil money, jails his opponents at home and cozies up to America's opponents, like Iran and Hamas, abroad. Sudan, awash in oil money, ignores the world's pleas to halt its genocide in Darfur. Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, awash in oil money, regularly tells America and his domestic opponents to take a hike.

And Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Angola, Saudi Arabia, Chad and Syria, all flush with oil or gas, are comfortably retreating from even baby steps of democratization.

There is a pattern here. Many people assumed that with the fall of the Berlin Wall, we were going to see an unstoppable wave of free elections and free markets slowly spread across the globe. For a decade that wave seemed, indeed, to be real and powerful.

But as the world has moved from an oil price range of $20 to $40 per barrel to a range of $40 to $70 a barrel, a very negative counterwave has arisen.

What I would call "petro-ist" states — highly dependent on oil or gas for their G.D.P. and having either weak institutions or outright authoritarian systems — have started asserting themselves. And they are weakening, for now at least, the global democratization trend.

Economists have long taught us about the negative effects that an overabundance of natural resources can have on political and economic reform in any country: the "resource curse." But when it comes to oil, it seems that you can take this resource curse argument a step further: there appears to be a specific correlation between the price of oil and the pace of freedom.

I call it the "First Law of Petropolitics," and it posits the following: The price of oil and the pace of freedom always move in opposite directions in petro-ist states.

According to the First Law of Petropolitics, the higher the price of global crude oil, the more erosion we see in petro-ist nations in the right to free speech, a free press, free elections, freedom of assembly, government transparency, an independent judiciary and the rule of law, and in the freedom to form independent political parties and nongovernmental organizations. Such erosion does not occur in healthy democracies with oil.

Conversely, according to the First Law of Petropolitics, the lower the price of oil, the more the petro-ist countries are forced to move toward a politics that is more transparent, more sensitive to opposition voices, more open to a broad set of interactions with the outside world and more focused on building the legal and educational structures that will maximize the ability of their citizens, both men and women, to compete, start new companies and attract investments from abroad. (For an elaboration of this argument, see the current issue of Foreign Policy magazine, www.foreignpolicy.com.)

Yes, many factors are involved in shaping the politics of a country. But is it an accident that when oil was $20 to $40 a barrel, Iran was calling for a "dialogue of civilizations," and when it hit $70 a barrel, Iran was calling for the destruction of Israel?

When a barrel was $20 to $40, we had "Putin I." That's when President Bush looked Mr. Putin in the eye in 2001 and said he'd found "a sense of his soul." If Mr. Bush tried to get a sense of Mr. Putin's soul today — the soul of "Putin II," the Putin of $70-a-barrel oil — he would see down there the huge Russian energy company Gazprom. Mr. Putin's regime has swallowed Gazprom, along with a variety of once-independent Russian media outlets and institutions.

While these increasingly bold petro-authoritarians don't represent the sort of strategic or ideological threat that communism once posed to the West, their impact on global politics is still quite corrosive. Some of the worst regimes now have more oil money than ever to do bad things for a long time — and many decent, democratic countries have to kowtow to them to get oil and gas.

Given the inverse relationship between the price of oil and the pace of freedom in petro-ist states, any U.S. strategy for promoting democracy in these countries is doomed to fail unless it includes a credible plan for finding alternatives to oil and bringing down the global price of crude.

The price of oil should now be a daily preoccupation of the secretary of state, not just the secretary of energy. Today, you cannot be an effective democracy-promoting idealist without also being an effective energy-conscious environmentalist.

[Livyjr]

As Clinton might have said, "it depends on how lies lies."

"Well, Rummy," I would have said, "If you did not lie ..."

"Just what version of the apparently innumerable versions of the 'truth' that you BUSHCOS seemed to be possessed of, did you tell us?"

"Since your version does not seem to be connected to any 'reality" that is perceivable to a majority of the American public, and most especially, your own crowd of Conservatives, here in OUR America, who are apparently deserting you, and YOUR MASTER, in droves!"

And of course .....

That would have gotten Rummy off the hook ....

Since having a whole passel of different "truths" that you can tell people, depending on the day of the week, or even the minute of the day, in the case of the BUSHCOS .....

Is not exactly the same ...

According to Rummy ...

And the BUSHCOS .....

As telling a whole passel of lies ....

And so .....

Say, jeffmoskin ....

When you look up ....

Does it look like a rabbit hole above your head too?

Can this be Kansas, anymore, when there is a big cat with a funny grin ....

Sitting on the branch of a tree ....

Talking to me ....

In a version of GIBBERISH ....

That is very reminiscent of the speech patterns of George W. Bush?

Can someone please lower me down a rope?

I want out of here ....

"Hey Tweedle Dee, can you give me a hand here, please?"

[Livyjr]

And speaking of the "love affair" ....

That appears to be over ....

Between the FABULOUS FLYING BUSHCOS ....

Who never lie, of course ...

While at the same time ...

Never seem to tell the same "truth" over again .....

Even in the same sentence ....

And the CONSERVATIVES ....

Who apparently ...

Are not finding the "truth" they want ....

In the whole passel of apparent lies ...

That spew forth from the "HUNKER AND BUNKER" BUSHCOS ....

By the minute ....

Here in OUR America ....

Where I am deemed a CENTRIST, myself ....

We have ....

"Poll: Conservatives cutting approval rates"

By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:16 a.m., Friday, May 5, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Angry conservatives are driving the approval ratings of President Bush and the GOP-led Congress to dismal new lows, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that underscores why Republicans fear an Election Day massacre.

Six months out, the intensity of opposition to Bush and Congress has risen sharply, along with the percentage of Americans who believe the nation is on the wrong track.

The AP-Ipsos poll also suggests that Democratic voters are far more motivated than Republicans.

Elections in the middle of a president's term traditionally favor the party whose core supporters are the most energized.

This week's survey of 1,000 adults, including 865 registered voters, found:

-- Just 33 percent of the public approves of Bush's job performance, the lowest of his presidency.

That compares with 36 percent approval in early April.

Forty-five percent of self-described conservatives now disapprove of the president.

-- Just one-fourth of the public approves of the job Congress is doing, a new low in AP-Ipsos polling and down 5 percentage points since last month.

A whopping 65 percent of conservatives disapprove of Congress.

-- A majority of Americans say they want Democrats rather than Republicans to control Congress (51 percent to 34 percent).

That's the largest gap recorded by AP-Ipsos since Bush took office.

Even 31 percent of conservatives want Republicans out of power.

-- The souring of the nation's mood has accelerated the past three months, with the percentage of people describing the nation on the wrong track rising 12 points to a new high of 73 percent.

Six of 10 conservatives say America is headed in the wrong direction.

Republican strategists said the party stands to lose control of Congress unless the environment changes unexpectedly.

"It's going to take some events of significance to turn this around," GOP pollster Whit Ayres said.

"I don't think at this point you can talk your way back from those sorts of ratings."

He said the party needs concrete progress in Iraq and action in Congress on immigration, lobbying reform and tax cuts.

"Those things would give the country a sense that Washington has heard the people and is responding in a way that will give conservatives a sense that their concerns are being addressed," Ayres said.

Conservative voters blame the White House and Congress for runaway government spending, illegal immigration and lack of action on social issues such as a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage.

Those concerns come on top of public worries about Iraq, the economy and gasoline prices.

Candice Strong, a conservative from Cincinnati, said she backed Bush in 2004, "but I don't agree with the way he's handling the war and the way he's handling the economy."

"I think he should have pulled our troops out of Iraq."

Hardline conservatives are not likely to vote Democratic in the fall, but it would be just as devastating to the Republicans if conservatives lose their enthusiasm and stay home on Election Day.

AP-Ipsos polling suggests that Democrats may be winning the motivation game.

Fewer voters today than in 2004 call themselves Republicans or Republican-leaning.

In addition, 27 percent of registered voters were strong Republicans just before the 2004 election, while only 15 percent fit that description today.

Democratic numbers are the same or better since 2004.

"This tells us we've got our work cut out for us," said Sen. Sam Brownback, a conservative Republican from Kansas who may run for president in 2008.

"The key for us is to show restraint on spending and on dealing with immigration."

Bush's strong suit continues to be his handling of foreign policy and terrorism, an area in which he modestly improved his ratings since April.

Still, a majority of Americans disapprove of his performance on both fronts.

It gets worse.

Only 23 percent of the public approve of the way the president is handling gasoline prices, the lowest in AP-Ipsos polling.

Those who strongly disapprove outnumber those who strongly approve by an extraordinary 55 percent to 8 percent.

As for his overall job performance, history suggests that Bush's paltry 33 percent spells trouble for Republicans in the fall.

In the past six decades, only one president had a lower job approval rating six months before a midterm election -- Richard Nixon in May 1974, the year in which Watergate-scarred Republicans lost 48 seats in the House and four in the Senate.

By November, Nixon was out of a job too, having resigned the presidency in August.

Nearly half of the public strongly disapproves of Bush, a huge jump from his 5 percent strong disapproval rating in 2002.

The poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Of all Republicans, nearly 30 percent disapprove of the job Bush is doing, including 13 percent who feel strongly about it.

"Hopefully this is a wakeup call for my party to get out of its bunker and hunker mentality," said Republican strategist Greg Mueller, whose firm specializes in conservative politics.

He urged his party to start criticizing Democratic positions on the Iraq war, immigration and the economy.

"We've been like a punching bag," Mueller said.

Democrats need to gain 15 seats in the House and six in the Senate for control of Congress, no easy task in an era that favors incumbents.

"What we have to do is earn the public approval of our right to govern again," said Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean.

The Democratic strategy is to nationalize the elections around a throw-the-bums-out theme.

Republicans counter that they will do better than polls suggest when voters are forced on Election Day to choose between candidates in their particular House and Senate races.

"But," Ayres said, "we better get in gear."

[Livyjr]

And from the PASSEL OF LIES .....

That the BUSHCOS spew forth constantly ....

Even when we are asleep ....

To the truth that nature can dish up ....

Whether we are awake ...

Or not ....

We have ....

As an alternate "reality" ....

To the "BIZARRO-WORLD" that the BUSHCOS have created ....

Out of nothing but hot air ...

And toxic sludge ....

As follows .....

"Caribbean in for another bad hurricane season"

By Anthony Boadle
Thu May 4, 9:02 AM ET

HAVANA (Reuters) - Small Caribbean and Central American countries have suffered devastation and thousands of deaths from increasingly frequent hurricanes, and forecasters predict another rough season this year for the region and its tourist resorts.

International relief agencies warn poor countries are not prepared to cope with the disasters and say deaths will continue to rise.

A record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season brought 28 tropical storms, 15 of which became full-blown hurricanes.

Cuba's National Weather Institute predicted on Tuesday that there will be an above-average 15 tropical storms this year, and at least nine are expected to become hurricanes.

That's because water temperatures in the Atlantic-Caribbean basin remain warm and there is no sign of a counteracting El Nino phenomenon in the Pacific, said Cuban forecaster Maritza Ballester.

The first storm will form in late June or early July, she predicted, with three arising in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Everything points to an active season," said Ballester, developer of a mathematical model for predicting hurricanes.

Hurricane Katrina, which wrecked New Orleans and killed about 1,300 people in August, brought home to Americans a scenario of devastation familiar to inhabitants of the Caribbean and Central America.

Mudslides buried entire villages and floods washed away homes and roads in Central America when Hurricane Stan drenched the region for a week in October.

More than 2,000 people died, mainly in Guatemala.

Hurricane Wilma briefly became the most intense Atlantic hurricane ever observed before hovering over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula for two days, causing heavy damage to Cancun and Cozumel resorts where tourists were trapped in their hotels.

Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country, is by far the most vulnerable.

It has been virtually stripped of trees, which are cut down for charcoal, allowing for erosion and devastating flash floods and mudslides.

Two years ago, 3,000 people died in its third-largest city Gonaives when Tropical Storm Jeanne triggered flash floods.

Barren, parched, brown hillsides loom on the outskirts of the port city on Haiti's west coast.

Jeanne's heavy rains saturated the hills, sending torrents of mud into Gonaives in September 2004.

Muddy water reached the roof of the two-story Chachou Hotel in the center of the city.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

U.N. experts say environmental degradation, the lack of governability and acute poverty make Haiti the most complicated case, and loss of life is lower in other Caribbean states.

English-speaking Caribbean nations have decreased hurricane casualties through preparedness and early-warning systems, but the economic impact on their small economies grows larger.

"While the deaths are decreasing, the economic losses are increasing," said Jeremy Collymore, head of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency, a CARICOM initiative set up in 1991 to handle disaster management from Barbados.

In 2004, Hurricane Ivan damaged 90 percent of Grenada's housing and caused $2.2 billion in destruction, more than double its annual economic output.

Grenada officials said it would take the island 10 years to recover.

Wealthier Caribbean nations, such as the Cayman Islands, an off-shore financial haven, have not escaped the wrath of storms but can get back on their feet faster.

Ivan damaged or destroyed 93 percent of the housing on the Cayman Islands, ranked fifth in the world in per capita income ($35,000 a year).

The real estate market has since bounced back, fueling a construction boom.

But higher rates for homeowner insurance have pushed up the cost of living.

MANDATORY EVACUATION

Some countries, such as Jamaica and Belize, have tried to beef up their evacuation plans for hurricanes, taking a cue from Cuba, which has the best record in avoiding fatalities.

Countries focus on getting residents out of precarious buildings.

A recent U.N. Development Program study concluded that the risk of dying in a hurricane in the United States was 15 times higher than in communist-run Cuba.

Cuba has been hit by 14 major storms in the last 20 years, but fewer than 40 deaths have been reported.

President Fidel Castro's government has reduced hurricane deaths to a minimum through mandatory evacuations.

Some 2 million of Cuba's 11 million people were evacuated before Ivan passed by, skirting the western tip of the island.

Western diplomats in Havana said this was only possible in a one-party state, but no democratically elected government could resort to such drastic steps.

According to Angeles Arenas, a UNDP advisor on regional disaster reduction, evacuation is fine but very costly, and few poor nations can afford to do the same.

Moreover, the run-down state of 43 percent of its housing makes Cuba vulnerable to a disaster, said Arenas, who works for the UNDP's Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery.

"You don't need a category 5 hurricane, just a category 2 and intense rains..."

"Losses would be much greater," she said.

(Additional reporting by Alan Markoff in Gran Cayman)

[Livyjr]

And from all the silly chatter of the "air-heads" on FOX NEWS FAIR AND BALANCED YOU DECIDE this morning ....

As broadcast on CLEAR CHANNELS WORLD-WIDE .....

It appears that George W. Bush's SYCOPHANT over there in Jolly Olde .....

The "very pretty" Tony Blair .....

Is having some problems ....

And so ...

Has sent the "STRAW MAN" packing ....

SO ....

Let's "jump" across the pond ourselves ...

To see what exactly is going on over there ....

And so ....

"Tony Blair fires foreign secretary"

By BETH GARDINER, Associated Press
Last updated: 7:16 a.m., Friday, May 5, 2006

LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair fired his law and order chief Friday and chose a new foreign secretary in a wide-ranging Cabinet shuffle a day after his party took a pounding in local elections.

The Labour Party pulled 26 percent of the vote to the Conservatives 40 percent, a result that renewed calls from some quarters for the prime minister to step down.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke, embroiled in a politically damaging furor over the failure to deport foreign criminals, confirmed that Blair had removed him from office.

Defense Secretary John Reid was moved to the Home Office, and Des Browne was promoted from chief secretary at the Treasury to secretary of defense.

Blair removed Jack Straw as foreign secretary, replacing him with Margaret Beckett, who had headed the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

She becomes the first woman to hold the job.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who admitted an affair with a secretary, will keep his title but was stripped of the responsibilities of his department, which include housing and planning.

"I felt that it was very difficult, given the level of genuine public concern, for Charles to continue" as home secretary, said Blair, who days earlier had defended Clarke as the right man to deal with the prisoner issue.

Clarke said he had turned down offers of other government posts.

"I do not think it would be appropriate to remain in this government in these circumstances," Clarke said in a statement.

The shake-up appeared aimed at demonstrating Blair still holds a firm grip on his beleaguered government after weeks of negative headlines and scandal.

"It'll take far more than a reshuffle," Conservative Party leader David Cameron said.

"What we need in this country is a replacement of the government."

"I think what we have seen over the last few hours is that while the Labour Party is collapsing, the Conservative Party is building," Cameron said as he toured London to celebrate his party's gains in the local elections.

Glenda Jackson, a former Labour government minister who has been a persistent critic of Blair, joined the calls for him to go.

"The problem for the party and its government is its leader," she said.

Thursday's vote was widely seen as a referendum on Blair's government, and Cameron emerged as the main winner.

"I'm a happy man this morning," said Cameron, who took over the party in December.

Labour took 1,065 seats in incomplete counting, down 251 seats compared with the results of the last election.

The Conservatives won 1,567 seats, a gain of 249.

Labour lost control of 16 local councils -- including some boroughs in London -- and the Tories gained eight.

The far-right British National Party won 13 seats.

Labour also did badly in the 2004 local vote but that didn't stop Blair from leading the party to its third straight national election victory a year later -- albeit with a reduced majority in the House of Commons.

Treasury chief Gordon Brown, the man expected to succeed Blair, said voters were concerned about issues of crime, terrorism and their financial and job security.

"We've got to show in the next few days, not just in the next few weeks, that we are sorting these problems out," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Voters in Thursday's elections chose representatives to fill 4,360 seats in 176 local authorities across England, a little less than half of all English councils.

London was the biggest battleground, with elections in all 32 boroughs.

Labour's poor showing was likely to embolden those calling for Blair to step down soon or at least offer a timeline as to when he may leave office.

Most Labour members of Parliament "are saying now that we've got to get the party under new management."

"It ought to happen fairly soon," said Frank Dobson, who was health secretary in Blair's first Cabinet.

The government's acknowledgment last week that officials had failed to screen 1,023 foreign criminals for deportation before freeing them from prison over the past seven years was particularly damaging.

------

Associated Press writers Beth Gardiner and Daniel Woolls contributed to this story.

[Livyjr]

And from the "very pretty" Tony Blair .....

Over there in England .....

Being apparently ....

Not pretty enough anymore ....

We come back to here ....

And .....

"Consumer confidence hits 7-month low"

By JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press
Last updated: 7:46 a.m., Friday, May 5, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Consumer confidence sank to a seven-month low as sticker shock from rising gasoline prices made Americans anxious about the economy's prospects and the strain on their own budgets.

The RBC CASH Index, based on results from the international polling firm Ipsos, showed confidence at 67.1 in early May.

That marked a big deterioration from 89.4 in April.

The new confidence reading was the lowest since October, when the country was still reeling from the devastation and fallout wrought by the Gulf Coast hurricanes, including high energy prices.

"Whenever we get big spikes in oil and gasoline prices it takes a toll on consumer confidence," observed economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

The latest confidence snapshot came as high energy prices have touched off fresh debate on Capitol Hill, at the White House and elsewhere about what can be done to help the situation.

Oil prices topped $75 a barrel, a record high in late April.

The confidence reading for April was taken before that run up.

Oil prices, which have been gyrating since then, were hovering below $70 a barrel on Thursday.

Gasoline prices at the pump have marched higher and are above $3 a gallon in some areas.

President Bush's job-approval rating, meanwhile, is now at 33 percent, the lowest in AP-Ipsos polling.

The confidence index is benchmarked to a reading of 100 on January 2002, when Ipsos started the gauge.

One of the areas where consumers expressed the most angst in May involved their expectations about the next six months -- including conditions where they live or work and their own financial positions.

This expectations measure cratered to 6.3 in May -- a steep slide from April's reading of 56.9.

It was the worst showing since October, when the expectations gauge posted a tiny increase after falling into negative territory for the first time ever in September.

Economists blamed most of the drop in the May expectations measure to concern that energy prices could move even higher.

"People think, `Oh my God, I'm paying $3 a gallon now.'"

"Then when they look out into the future and they think it may be $4 a gallon."

"It is particularly depressing," said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services.

Concerns about the direction of the housing market, which is cooling after setting record-high sales five years running, may be another factor weighing on consumer confidence, economists said.

Analysts track consumer confidence for clues about consumers' willingness to spend, an important force shaping overall economic activity.

So far, high energy prices haven't daunted shoppers.

Major retailers reported strong sales figures for April on Thursday.

The economy is expected to log growth in the 3 percent range in the April-to-June quarter, which would still be healthy but would be a moderation from the brisk 4.8 percent pace registered in the January-to-March period.

Economists believe consumers will be more cautious in the second quarter but they don't foresee them dramatically scaling back.

"There will be a certain amount of economizing," said Mayland.

"But history teaches us that consumers would sooner cut back on their savings rather than cut back significantly on their spending to sustain their lifestyles."

Consumers' feelings about current economic conditions dipped to 90.3 in May, from 98 in April.

Another measure tracking consumers' sentiments about making a purchase, saving and other investment decisions dropped to 79.9 in May, compared with 86.7 in April.

And, peoples' confidence in the job climate came in at 110.3 in May.

While that is down compared with April's reading of 124.5, it is still a good showing.

The RBC consumer confidence index was based on responses of 1,000 adults surveyed Monday through Wednesday about their attitudes on personal finance and the economy.

Results of the survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

[Livyjr]

And apparently ....

With consumer confidence low ....

Not only Jack Straw ....

But Porter Goss, as well ....

Had to go .....

And so .....

The SHAKE-UP of BUSHCO CENTRALE .....

Continues BIG TIME ....

As George W. Bush becomes .....

More and more .....

Just an ICON .....

For a small, right-wing FRINGE GROUP .....

Here in OUR America ......

And so ....

"CIA chief Goss leaves CIA in latest change"

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:47 p.m., Friday, May 5, 2006

WASHINGTON -- CIA Director Porter Goss resigned suddenly Friday, nudged out after a turmoil-filled 18 months at the spy agency as it struggled to forge a new identity in an era of intelligence blunders and government overhauls.

Goss offered little explanation in a brief appearance with President Bush and a televised address to agency personnel.

"CIA remains the gold standard," he said.

"When I came to CIA in September of 2004, I wanted to accomplish some very specific things, and we have made great strides on all fronts."

But the agency, as well as the Bush administration, has been far from peaceful.

Goss' departure was the White House's third major personnel move in just over a month, aimed at reinvigorating Bush's second term.

Among those talked about as possible replacements are Bush's homeland security adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend; David Shedd, chief of staff to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, and Mary Margaret Graham, Negroponte's deputy for intelligence collection.

Goss said he was willing to stay awhile for a smooth transition, but there also was talk that an acting chief could be named.

Making Friday afternoon's announcement from the Oval Office, Bush said Goss' tenure had been one of transition.

The director, a former CIA agent and then Florida congressman, had been given the job only a little over a year and a half ago.

The president said, with Goss at his side, "He's instilled a sense of professionalism."

"He honors the proud history of the CIA, an organization that is known for its secrecy and accountability."

It was not entirely clear why Goss resigned so unexpectedly.

An intelligence official, speaking only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his position, said Goss had stood up for the agency when there were differences with National Intelligence Director John Negroponte's office, which was created about a year ago.

Goss was taking a stand against "micromanagement," the official said and wanted the agency to "remain what its name says, the 'Central' Intelligence Agency."

With the backing of the White House, Negroponte recently raised with Goss the prospect that he should leave, and the two talked about that possibility, a senior administration official said.

That official also spoke on condition of anonymity, in order to give a fuller account of events.

Agency officials dismissed suggestions that the resignation was tied to controversy surrounding the CIA's executive director, Dusty Foggo.

The FBI is investigating whether Foggo's longtime friend, defense contractor Brent Wilkes, provided prostitutes, limousines and hotel suites to a California congressman who pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Wilkes and others in exchange for government contracts.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said Goss' resignation also was not related to the recent firing of a CIA officer the director said had unauthorized contacts with the press -- a firing that found support within the agency and the White House.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., an Intelligence Committee member, said many in Washington want to know the full story.

"I suspect that his decision could be based on any number of things that weren't stated, including a strong desire just to get on with his personal life after many years of public service," Issa said.

Bush nominated Goss in 2004, in the midst of a re-election campaign that was riddled with accusations about the botched prewar intelligence on Iraq. Bush said he would rely on the advice of Goss on the sensitive issue of intelligence reform.

Goss, the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, came under fire almost immediately, in part because he brought with him several top aides from Congress who were considered highly political for the CIA.

They developed particularly poor relations with segments of the agency's clandestine service.

By December, Congress passed the most sweeping intelligence overhaul in 50 years.

One result: The CIA that took pride in being the premier element of the spy community found itself relegated to a crowded second tier of 15 other agencies.

California Rep. Jane Harman, the Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said CIA employees with a combined 300 years of experience have left or been pushed out.

"This has left the agency in free fall," she said.

Goss also had some public missteps.

In March 2005, just before Negroponte took over, he told an audience at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library that he was overwhelmed by the duties of his job.

"The jobs I'm being asked to do, the five hats that I wear, are too much for this mortal," Goss said.

"I'm a little amazed at the workload."

A number of former congressional colleagues released statements praising Goss on Friday, but not all were kind.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said his concerns about Goss, whose nomination he opposed, were never resolved.

"Mr. Goss resisted efforts to lift the veil of secrecy around the intelligence failures of 9/11," he said, urging public release of the CIA inspector general's report on the Sept. 11 attacks.

Bush aides have been looking for ways to rescue his presidency from sagging poll ratings and difficulties with the Iraq war and his agenda in Congress.

The shake-up began with the resignation of Andrew Card as chief of staff and his replacement by Joshua Bolten.

Other changes have included the replacement of press secretary Scott McClellan with Fox News commentator Tony Snow.

It wasn't immediately clear what's next for Goss, 67.

He was supposed to retire after representing a Republican district on Florida's West Coast for 16 years, but he became CIA director when Bush called in 2004.

Many former directors take consulting positions on various corporate boards.

Goss and his wife own a central Virginia farm, where they raise cattle, sheep and chickens.

------

Associated Press writer Jennifer Loven contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

Shades of the Viet Nam times ....

All over again .....

Here in OUR America ....

Thanks to the BUSHCOS .....

And so ....

"'West Point' Off Limits to Anti-War Alums"

By WILLIAM KATES, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 11 minutes ago

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Army warned an anti-war group of former U.S. Military Academy cadets to stop using the words "West Point" in its name, saying they are trademarked.

A co-founder of West Point Graduates Against the War countered Friday that his organization is simply following the cadets' code.

"At West Point, we were taught that cadets do not lie, cheat or steal — and to oppose those who do," said William Cross, a 1962 West Point graduate.

"We are a positive organization."

"We are not anti-West Point or anti-military."

"We are just trying to uphold what we were taught."

The group, open to West Point graduates, spouses and children, claims about 50 members.

West Point spokesman Lt. Col. Kent Cassella said the academy sent the April 12 warning letter because the group failed to go through a licensing process to get permission to use the term "West Point."

The group's anti-war stance is irrelevant, he said.

"This is not a political issue."

"They did not ask for permission."

"We are doing what any college or university would do to enforce its trademarks," Cassella said.

The Army registered the words "West Point" — as well as "United States Military Academy," "USMA," and "U.S. Army" — as trademarks in 2000 to control their use on educational material and commercial goods.

An attorney hired by Cross and his colleagues said the warning raises questions of First Amendment speech protection and selective enforcement.

Joseph Heath said he noted the concerns in a response sent to the Army on Monday; he has not yet received a reply, he said.

"I would hope that the Army would be proud of these men and their willingness to promote democracy and freedom of speech," wrote Heath, a Navy veteran who also opposes the war.

Heath also noted widespread commercial use of the words "West Point."

Cassella said the Army has negotiated agreements with local businesses allowing them to use the phrase in their names.
___

On the Net:

Group: http://www.westpointgradsagainstthewar.org

Academy: http://www.usma.edu

[Livyjr]

And while this next story may not directly affect us ...

Perhaps it stands to show .....

How far into the future ....

Our own actions may carry forward ...

And so ....

"2,000-year-old Roman road excavated"

By MARIE ZARKA, Associated Press
Last updated: 7:05 a.m., Saturday, May 6, 2006

PARIS -- Deep beneath pavement pounded by tourists on Paris' Left Bank lies an ancient path -- a 2,000-year-old Roman road recently excavated during construction work.

Remnants of private houses rigged with baths and ingeniously heated floors were among the findings, now on view in a stunning dig.

Over the next few weeks, however, archaeologists will rip up the ruins to make way for a research center.

The archeologists gradually remove every layer of ruins until they reach the geological stratum -- the original ground -- and eventually draw a chronological diagram.

"Excavating is destroying."

"We dig into historic layer after historic layer," said Didier Busson, scientific supervisor of the archaeological site.

The discovery, during construction work on the Pierre and Marie Curie University near the famed Sorbonne, offers a window onto one of the many layers of history underpinning this bustling capital.

Archaeologists said it was the first such site discovered in the city -- known as Lutetia in pre-Roman and Roman Gaul -- from the reign of Roman emperor Augustus (63 B.C.-14 A.D.).

Items from daily life such as flowerpots, ceramics, bronze chains and drawer handles were dug out and will soon be exhibited in museums.

"We are trying to find out about the foundation and founders of the city," Busson said, adding,

"It is exceptional that a Parisian site be so well-preserved."

Archeologists are divided over the background of this neighborhood's builders.

Most contend that a Gallic aristocracy, recruited by the Roman army to fight in their civil wars, probably came back from the battlefield and settled in the area.

The Romanized returnees built the city according to Roman norms, but used local materials.

They were wealthy enough to own a private Roman bath -- the jacuzzi of the era -- found in one of the houses discovered beneath the university.

The archaeologists identified the various historical layers they uncovered according to the various types of houses they excavated.

The first houses were made of clay and straw.

Masonry appeared only later and so did tiled roofs -- "a major chronological milestone," according to Busson.

This urban compound was built in the first decade of the 1st century, at the end of emperor Augustus's reign, away from the administrative center of the Roman city.

The neighborhood stands on the old "cardo maximus," the Roman main street, which was originally paved for the Romans to cross the nearby Seine River and is today the Rue St. Jacques in Paris' chic 5th arrondissement, or district.

Every excavated layer corresponds to a historic period.

"Paradoxically, a conservation of the sites would prevent us from learning more about ancient Paris," Busson said.

Remnants of the Convent of the Visitation, built on the site in 1632, and a 20th century sewer were found before the Roman ruins were reached, indicating that the site was abandoned between Roman times and the 17th century.

"It's like a mille-feuilles cake," said Francois Renel, Busson's assistant and an archaeologist specialized in antiquities, referring to a pastry with many layers.

The National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research, known by its French acronym INRAP, has been watching out for construction work in the neighborhood since they realized some 25 years ago that the Roman city of Lutetia was much larger than earlier believed.

Whenever construction work in central Paris is planned, archaeologists review the building permits and ask for INRAP's opinion if the site is of interest.

An excavation permit is then issued.

Busson's INRAP team started digging at the beginning of March and must be finished by June 30, when the construction work on a new research building starts again.

[Livyjr]

And from then ...

We come back ....

To now ....

Where the much vaunted BUSHCO MILITARY MACHINE ....

Is out there ....

Floundering around ...

Which happens when you have an incompetent in charge ...

As Commander-in-Chief ....

And as it flounders ...

It burns up thousands of pounds of fuel a day .....

FOR NO PURPOSE WHATSOEVER ...

Other than the salving of the massive ego ...

Of George W. Bush ....

The alleged LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD .....

Which is a laughable proposition .....

When you think on it ....

And so ....

89-octane up here in the State of New York was $3.20 per gallon, just the other day ....

"Poll: Gas pinch weighs on Americans"

By WILL LESTER, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:36 a.m., Saturday, May 6, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Americans are driving less, trimming vacations and cutting back on heating and air conditioning, according to an AP-Ipsos poll taken as gasoline prices in many areas have topped $3 a gallon.

Seven in 10 say gas prices are causing a financial pinch.

And that pressure is being felt increasingly by middle-income and higher-income families.

"Now, I'm just going to work and coming home -- not doing anything else," said Kathleen Roberts, who makes a daily, 100-mile round trip from York, Pa., to her teaching job in Baltimore.

Like many Americans, Roberts is trying to adjust to gas prices that have risen steadily over the last five months.

The price of a gallon of regular-grade gas is now almost what it was soon after Hurricane Katrina battered domestic refineries along the Gulf Coast last August.

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.92 on Friday, according to AAA, the motorists' club.

The all-time high came last year on Labor Day, according to AAA, when that same gallon cost $3.05.

"These days, I'm just traveling, period," Roberts said.

"Instead of going to the market as often, if I don't have it, I just make do."

"In our neighborhood, we just borrow from each other."

When asked what would be a fair price for gasoline, many of those surveyed said $2-a-gallon on average -- a price not seen consistently in the U.S. for more than a year, according to AAA.

Energy analysts blame the higher prices on a tight supply internationally, unstable politics in oil-producing countries and fast-growing economies in places like China and India.

Other factors include an inadequate number of U.S. refineries and delays in the switchover to summer blends of fuel, the analysts say.

Whatever the reasons, soaring gas prices are affecting behavior.

Two-thirds of people said they have cut back on driving and have reduced the use of heating and air conditioning.

Half now say they have trimmed their vacation plans.

Hearing talk about vacation cutbacks upsets Susan Morang, a psychiatric counselor from Washington, Maine.

She helps clients deliver antiques for sale during the summer tourism season.

"Each summer, you have to make the majority of your money to live on the whole rest of the year," said Morang, who has cut her own driving to the minimum.

Morang's GMC truck guzzles gas, but she said she needs it to help clients haul their belongings.

"A lady paid me 40 dollars yesterday," she said.

"I used it to fill my gas tank halfway."

Gas prices have affected some behaviors more than others.

The number of people who say gas prices are causing them money problems has risen from half to two-thirds in the last year, the poll found.

Just over six in 10 of those who make between $50,000 and $75,000 a year now say gas prices are a hardship -- up from four in 10 a year ago.

And more people say they will reduce driving, travel and utility use.

But the price spike hasn't influenced people's views on buying more fuel-efficient cars.

A year ago, four in 10 said they were considering getting a car with better mileage -- the same number who say that now, according to the AP-Ipsos poll of 1,000 adults taken Monday through Wednesday.

The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Auto industry watcher Erich Merkle said gas prices would have to top $4 a gallon in the next six to nine months to significantly affect sales of SUVs and light trucks.

Jerry Taylor, an energy analyst at the Cato Institute, which favors limited government and free markets, said the price of gasoline as a share of a worker's earnings is not that high when compared with the share of earnings 50 years ago.

But reports about "skyrocketing gas prices" have an influence because "there's a big market for fist-shaking and red-faced conniption in the media."

Don't try to tell Max Paredes, an engineer in Rogers, Ark., that gas prices aren't that high.

"I used to pick up my kids from football."

"Now they need to get rides from other people," he said.

------

AP manager of news surveys Trevor Tompson and news survey specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this story.

------

On the Net:

Associated Press/Ipsos poll: http://www.ap-ipsosresults.com

When I started driving ....

In 1964 ....

Gas was around $.20 a gallon .....

And a dollar was easy to come by ....

And it went a whole lot further than it does now ...

And so ....

[Livyjr]

 
And while America decimates Allawi's political opposition in Iraq, or is it George W. Bush's political opposition; I am never sure; let us see what George W. Bush has brought to OUR America on this bright, sunny, but cold day here in the Great North-East of OUR America; and it looks like just more chaos and unrest to me, from where I sit here, anyway:

washingtonpost.com Highlights

"Deputy chief resigns from CIA - Agency said to be in turmoil under new director Goss"

By Dana Priest and Walter Pincus, Washington Post

Updated: 3:46 a.m. ET Nov. 13, 2004

WASHINGTON - The deputy director of the CIA resigned yesterday after a series of confrontations over the past week between senior operations officials and CIA Director Porter J. Goss's new chief of staff that have left the agency in turmoil, according to several current and former CIA officials.

John E. McLaughlin, a 32-year CIA veteran who was acting director for two months this summer until Goss took over, resigned after warning Goss that his top aide, former Capitol Hill staff member Patrick Murray, was treating senior officials disrespectfully and risked widespread resignations, the officials said.

Yesterday, the agency official who oversees foreign operations, Deputy Director of Operations Stephen R. Kappes, tendered his resignation after a confrontation with Murray.

Goss and the White House pleaded with Kappes to reconsider and he agreed to delay his decision until Monday, the officials said.

'Confusion throughout the ranks'

Several other senior clandestine service officers are threatening to leave, current and former agency officials said.

The disruption comes as the CIA is trying to stay abreast of a worldwide terrorist threat from al Qaeda, a growing insurgency in Iraq, the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan and congressional proposals to reorganize the intelligence agencies.

The agency also has been criticized for not preventing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and not accurately assessing Saddam Hussein's ability to produce weapons of mass destruction.

"It's the worst roiling I've ever heard of," said one former senior official with knowledge of the events.

"There's confusion throughout the ranks and an extraordinary loss of morale and incentive."

Current and retired senior managers have criticized Goss, former chairman of the House intelligence committee, for not interacting with senior managers and for giving Murray too much authority over day-to-day operations.

Murray was Goss's chief of staff on the intelligence committee.

Changing of the guard

Transitions between CIA directors are often unsettling for career officers.

Goss's arrival has been especially tense because he brought with him four former members of the intelligence committee known widely on the Hill for their abrasive management style.

Three are former mid-level CIA officials who left the agency disgruntled, according to former colleagues.

The fourth, Murray, who also worked at the Justice Department, has a reputation for being highly partisan.

When senior managers have gone to Goss to complain about his staff actions, one CIA officer said, Goss has told them, "Talk to my chief of staff."

"I don't do personnel."

The overall effect, said one former senior CIA official, who has kept up his contacts in the Directorate of Operations, "is that Goss doesn't seem engaged at all."

If other senior clandestine officers leave, said one former officer who maintains contacts within the Langley headquarters, "the middle-level people who move up may eventually work out, but meanwhile the level of experience and competence will go down."

The CIA declined to comment on the issues raised by the current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

A CIA spokesman said McLaughlin's retirement "was a long-planned personal decision taken at a natural transition point in the administration and not connected to any other factors."

McLaughlin issued a statement that said:

"I have come to the purely personal decision that it is time to move on to other endeavors."

Goss, too, issued a statement, which applauded McLaughlin's "outstanding service."

"On a personal note," the statement continued, "I want to thank John for the kindness he has shown me as Director of Central Intelligence."

Agency undergoing facelift

In addition to bringing in his former aides from the Hill, Goss plans to dilute the authority of the Directorate of Operations by removing the director as the central figure in appointing country station chiefs overseas and regional division chiefs at headquarters.

"I definitely think all this is disrupting people's work," one agency official said.

"Everyone is waiting for the centipede to drop all his shoes."

Associates said McLaughlin was disappointed by Goss's management style and was particularly disheartened by a series of recent confrontations between Murray and senior leaders.

Yesterday, Murray told the associate deputy director of counterintelligence that if anything in the newly appointed executive director's personnel file made it into the media, the counterintelligence official "would be held responsible," according to one agency official and two former colleagues with knowledge of the conversation.

All three sources gave the following account:

The woman, a highly respected case officer whose name is being withheld because she is undercover, told Michael Sulick, the associate deputy director of operations, about the threat.

Sulick told Kappes, and both sought a meeting with Goss to complain.

Goss, Murray, Kappes and Sulick met to discuss the matter.

After Goss left, Sulick "got in Murray's space," according to one of his associates whose account was corroborated by another.

Murray then demanded that Kappes fire Sulick.

Kappes refused, and told Goss that he would resign.

Goss and other White House officials appealed to Kappes to delay his decision until Monday.

Clash of styles, personalities

Goss, a former CIA case officer and Republican legislator from Florida, promised during his confirmation hearing to set aside partisan politics and work to strengthen the CIA clandestine service.

But current and former officials have said that his plans have been unclear to the senior clandestine service officials who would be responsible for carrying them out.

In addition, they have been concerned by the backgrounds of the senior staff Goss has hired.

Michael V. Kostiw, who was Goss's first choice for executive director — the agency's third-ranking official — withdrew his name after The Washington Post reported that he had left the agency 20 years ago after having been arrested for stealing a package of bacon.

More generally, Goss's aides arrived at the CIA with harsh views of the clandestine service.

Their views were laid out in a House intelligence committee report in June.

"There is a dysfunctional denial of any need for corrective action," the report said.

The clandestine service suffers from "misallocation and redirection of resources, poor prioritization of objectives, micromanagement of field operations and a continued political aversion to operational risk."

The report was drafted primarily by Jay Jakub, whom Goss appointed to the newly created position of special assistant for operations and analysis.

The House report's critique brought on a tough response from then-CIA Director George J. Tenet and led to a near-breakdown in relations between the agency and the panel staff.

It was repeatedly noted by present and past clandestine officers that Jakub had a limited career at the agency, first as an analyst and later as a case officer.

"He never distinguished himself before he left," a former boss said.

end quotes

Before Porter Goss was appointed to this post by George W. Bush, he had reported himself that he was unqualified to work at the CIA, today.

After he reported that he was unqualified to work at the CIA, George W. Bush in fact appointed him to lead the agency, where he, in his own words, was unqualified to work.

Despite his admission that he was unqualified to work at the CIA, the Senate then confirmed him, Democrats and Republicans alike.

And, now, here is the other side of that appointment.

Where, oh where, can we possibly be going, here in OUR America?

It is an adventure, for sure.

May we always live in interesting times!

Yes, indeed!

And as we do our Porter Goss "retrospective" in here this morning .....

The man who made it clear ...

Back then ...

That he was not qualified to lead the CIA .....

Which did not faze George W. Bush ...

Who nominated him, anyway ....

Because he was a loyal REPUBLICAN ....

Or the United States Senate ....

Which alleged "august body" ....

As they would have us call them ....

Despite his admitted lack of qualification ....

Simply "RUBBER-STAMPED" George W. Bush's choice .....

And so ....

"Hayden favored to get CIA post; Goss out"

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:36 a.m., Saturday, May 6, 2006

WASHINGTON -- The White House planned to quickly nominate a new CIA director to replace outgoing Porter Goss, who offered little explanation in announcing his resignation from the embattled agency.

The leading candidate to replace him is Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, top deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, said a senior administration official.

An announcement could come as early as Monday.

Hayden was National Security Agency director until becoming the nation's No. 2 intelligence official a year ago.

Since December, he has aggressively defended the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program.

He was one of its chief architects.

Goss was scheduled to deliver a commencement speech Saturday at Ohio's Tiffin University, one of a growing number of schools to offer national security studies programs.

Goss spent 40 years in federal and local government, including 16 years as a congressman and 10 years as a CIA operative in the 1960s and '70s.

He stepped down as the agency's director after 19 tumultuous months, as the agency struggled to forge a new identity in an era of government overhauls stemming from Sept. 11 and the flawed prewar intelligence on Iraq.

He offered little publicly to explain his decision.

"CIA remains the gold standard," he said in a statement.

"When I came to CIA in September of 2004, I wanted to accomplish some very specific things, and we have made great strides on all fronts."

But the agency, like the Bush administration, has been far from peaceful.

Goss' departure was the White House's third major personnel move in just over a month, aimed at reinvigorating President Bush's second term.

Knowledgeable Republicans said Friday night that Hayden was thought to top Bush's short list of candidates to replace Goss.

Among others mentioned were Bush's homeland security adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend; David Shedd, Negroponte's chief of staff; and Mary Margaret Graham, Negroponte's deputy for intelligence collection.

It was not clear why Goss resigned so unexpectedly.

An intelligence official, speaking only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his position, said Goss had stood up for the agency when there were differences with Negroponte's office, which was created about a year ago.

Goss was taking a stand against "micromanagement," the official said, and wanted the agency to "remain what its name says, the 'Central' Intelligence Agency."

With the backing of the White House, Negroponte recently raised with Goss the prospect that he should leave, and the two talked about that possibility, a senior administration official said.

That official also spoke on condition of anonymity, in order to give a fuller account of events.

Negroponte, Goss' classmate at Yale University, said in a statement that Goss worked tirelessly during a CIA transition period.

"As my friend for almost 50 years, I will miss Porter's day-to-day counsel," he said.

Agency officials dismissed suggestions that the resignation was tied to controversy surrounding the CIA's executive director, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo.

The FBI is investigating whether Foggo's longtime friend, defense contractor Brent Wilkes, provided prostitutes, limousines and hotel suites to a California congressman who pleaded guilty to taking bribes from Wilkes and others in exchange for government contracts.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said Goss' resignation also was not related to the recent firing of a CIA officer the director said had unauthorized contacts with the press -- a firing that found support within the agency and the White House.

Bush nominated Goss in 2004, in the midst of a re-election campaign that was riddled with accusations about the botched prewar intelligence on Iraq.

Bush said he would rely on the advice of Goss on the sensitive issue of intelligence reform.

Goss, the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, came under fire almost immediately, in part because he brought with him several top aides from Congress who were considered highly political for the CIA.

They developed particularly poor relations with segments of the agency's clandestine service.

By December, Congress passed the most sweeping intelligence overhaul in 50 years.

One result: The CIA that took pride in being the premier element of the spy community found itself relegated to a crowded second tier of 15 other agencies.

Hayden, the highest ranking military intelligence officer, has been brought into management challenges before.

In 1999, he was tapped to shake up the National Security Agency, as the Internet and new communications tools were frustrating the agency's eavesdroppers.

With a Hayden nomination, Democrats would be sure to seize on his intimate connection to Bush's anti-terrorist surveillance program, which has drawn the ire of even some Republicans.

Bush aides have been looking for ways to rescue his presidency from sagging poll ratings and difficulties with the Iraq war and his agenda in Congress.

The shake-up began with the resignation of Andrew Card as chief of staff and his replacement by Joshua Bolten.

Other changes have included the replacement of press secretary Scott McClellan with Fox News commentator Tony Snow.

It wasn't immediately clear what's next for Goss, 67.

He was supposed to retire after representing a Republican district on Florida's West Coast for 16 years, but he became CIA director when Bush called in 2004.

Many former directors take consulting positions on corporate boards. Goss and his wife own a central Virginia farm, where they raise cattle, sheep and chickens.

------

Associated Press writers Terence Hunt and Jennifer Loven contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

It's amazing ....

How far down ...

George W. Bush ....

Has been able ...

To pull .....

OUR America ...

In such a short time ...

With his lack of vision .....

And just general ignorance ...

And incompetence .....

It is said ....

That before he finally latched onto George W. Bush as his "candidate" .....

That Karl Rove had made a bet with one of his fellow "political operatives" .....

That he was so good ...

This being Karl, of course ....

And the American people so stupid .....

That Karl Rove could get a dead dog elected president of America .....

And so ...

Apparently, the bet was made ...

And Karl set off to find an appropriate dead dog somewhere to run as a candidate for the American presidency ...

And during that search ....

He came across George, first ....

Which they considered same-same to a dead dog ...

And so ...

Karl won the bet, of course .....

And as they say ....

The rest is now history ...

And so ....

[Livyjr]

And then ....

There is Ms. Hillary ....

Who is giving the REPUBLICANS conniption fits .....

Up here in the corrupt REPUBLICAN EMPIRE of New York .....

Where they are all running around ...

Hissing like a bunch of cats .....

Or a nest of vipers ...

Because Ms. Hillary might run for president .....

And win .....

"Conservative authors target Clinton - Prospect of run for presidency inspires new batch of books"

By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press
First published: Saturday, May 6, 2006

NEW YORK -- For someone who insists she is only thinking about her re-election campaign this year, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has attracted the attention of conservative authors offering a host of new books aiming to slow her path to the White House.

Clinton has been the focus of some 40 tomes already -- mostly conservative, with titles like "American Evita" and "The Hillary Trap."

And while most of those culled their material from her eight years as first lady, the latest batch is being marketed with an eye to 2008.

Publishers' interest in Clinton is part political, part economic: Several books about the New York Democrat have become best-sellers, and her own memoir, "Living History," has sold over 3 million copies.

But her presumed presidential run has invigorated a market that seems almost oversaturated with Clinton titles.

"There's a market interest in her, and the fact that she's positioning herself to run for the presidency really fuels that," said Eric Jackson, president of World Ahead Publishing.

World Ahead just released a biting collection of Clinton quotes -- the authenticity of some vehemently disputed -- titled "I've Always Been a Yankees Fan: Hillary Clinton in Her Own Words."

The company's also publishing a new children's Christmas book that features Clinton as a Grinch.

Analysts say they offer fresh material to conservative media outlets and others eager to derail a potential presidential candidacy.

Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines declined to comment on any of the new titles, suggesting interested readers sample the books Clinton has penned herself.

"For those who are truly interested in reading her own words on many important issues, there are no better books than 'It Takes a Village' and 'Living History,"' Reines said.

[Livyjr]

"Conservative authors target Clinton - Prospect of run for presidency inspires new batch of books" 
 
By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press
First published: Saturday, May 6, 2006

NEW YORK -- For someone who insists she is only thinking about her re-election campaign this year, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has attracted the attention of conservative authors offering a host of new books aiming to slow her path to the White House.

Clinton has been the focus of some 40 tomes already -- mostly conservative, with titles like "American Evita" and "The Hillary Trap."

And while most of those culled their material from her eight years as first lady, the latest batch is being marketed with an eye to 2008.

"There's a market interest in her, and the fact that she's positioning herself to run for the presidency really fuels that," said Eric Jackson, president of World Ahead Publishing.

World Ahead just released a biting collection of Clinton quotes -- the authenticity of some vehemently disputed -- titled "I've Always Been a Yankees Fan: Hillary Clinton in Her Own Words."

The company's also publishing a new children's Christmas book that features Clinton as a Grinch.

http://www.worldaheadpublishing.com

http://www.worldaheadpublishing.blogspot.com

http://www.worldahead.com/news/peaceMom.php

The company's also publishing a new children's Christmas book that features Clinton as a Grinch.

Now ...

There is a statement ....

Right above here ...

About this CONSERVATIVE children's book ....

That teaches children to begin to hate ...

While they are still children ....

That really serves to define this CONSERVATIVE FRINGE GROUP ....

Here in OUR America ...

More than anything else that I have seen lately ...

This thing of teaching children to hate ...

As children ....

And so ....

Whereas ...

To me ...

Anyway ....

An older American ...

Who is a CENTRIST .....

According to the political polls of today anyway ....

What differentiates the alleged LIBERALS ....

And me as a CENTRIST, as well ...

From these CONSERVATIVES .....

Is that we are against teaching children hate ...

At any age ...

And so ....

I wonder what kind of person would buy this book depicting Hillary Clinton, an elected United States Senator, whether anyone likes that ...

Or not ...

As a GRINCH ....

FOR A CHILD?

Who out there would actually begin to pour poison down a child's mind like that ....

While the child was still a child ....

Other than a CONSERVATIVE .....

And so ....

And I myself am not a real fan of Ms. Hillary ....

Although I would never poison a child's mind about her ....

Or anything, for that matter ....

And so ....

I have included the web addresses for the World Ahead Publishing Company ....

If anyone out there might be interested in hate literature designed and intended for children .....

And so .....

[Livyjr]

And while we are on the subject ...

Of the HATE which the CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS ....

Have already sown out there in the world ....

And the "fruits" that SOWING OF DISCORD ....

By these CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS ...

Has already borne ....

And is bearing today ...

As the "vines" ....

And "tendrils" ....

Continue to spread ....

Through this world of ours ....

Like some kind of fungal growth ....

We have ....

From George W. Bush's COLONY OF IRAQINAM ....

As follows ....

"Iraqis, British troops spar after crash"

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press
Last updated: 3:55 p.m., Saturday, May 6, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A British military helicopter apparently was hit by a missile Saturday and crashed in Basra, triggering a confrontation in which jubilant Iraqis pelted British troops with stones, hurled firebombs and shouted slogans in support of a radical Shiite Muslim cleric.

Iraqi police said four British crew members died in the crash in the southern city, and four Iraqi adults and a child were reported killed during the ensuing melee when Shiite gunmen exchanged fire with British soldiers who hurried to the scene.

About 30 civilians were injured.

Reminiscent of other outbursts of Iraqis cheering the deaths of foreigners, the chaotic scene was widely shown on Iraqi state television and on the Al-Jazeera satellite station.

The violence underscored that discontent over the presence of foreign soldiers has been growing among Iraq's majority Shiites even though they have generally steered clear of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency.

Police Capt. Mushtaq Khazim said the helicopter went down in a vacant lot between two houses after it was struck by a shoulder-fired missile -- a weapon widely available among insurgent groups and armed militias in Iraq.

He said the four crew members were killed.

with armored vehicles rushed to the site and were met by a hail of stones from a crowd of at least 250 people, many of them teenagers, who jumped for joy and raised their fists as thick smoke rose from the wreckage.

As many as three armored vehicles were set on fire, apparently with gasoline bombs and a rocket-propelled grenade, but the troops inside escaped unhurt, witnesses said.

The crowd chanted "we are all soldiers of al-Sayed," a reference to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, an ardent foe of foreign troops being in Iraq.

Calm returned by nightfall as Iraqi authorities imposed a curfew and hundreds of Iraqi police and soldiers set up checkpoints and patrolled the streets, residents said.

Sporadic rocket fire could be heard throughout Basra, Iraq's second largest city.

The British Defense Ministry confirmed only that there were "casualties" in the afternoon crash but refused to give a figure or discuss the cause.

A British spokeswoman, Capt. Kelly Goodall, said British soldiers who responded came "under attack by a variety of weapons, including small arms fire, petrol bombs, as well as blast bombs and stone."

She said the soldiers fired "a small number of live rounds" in self defense.

She said there was some minor injuries among the troops on the ground, but gave no details.

In London, Britain's newly appointed defense secretary, Des Browne, said he was "deeply saddened" by the death of British soldiers, "which reminds us of the risks our servicemen and women face every day" in Iraq.

The crash came at a tough time for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who angered many Britons, including members of his own Labour Party, by his support for the war.

On Friday, Blair carried out a sweeping overhaul of his Cabinet after Labour suffered a drubbing in local elections, drawing calls for the prime minister to set a firm timetable for leaving office.

Tensions have been worsening in southern Iraq, where Britain has about 8,000 soldiers and other countries also have troops.

Three Polish soldiers were wounded by a bomb Saturday in the mostly Shiite city of Diwaniyah.

On April 27, a roadside bomb killed three Italian soldiers and one Romanian near Nasiriyah, another Shiite city in the south.

Trouble in the largely Shiite region is due in part to the growing influence of al-Sadr, who led two armed uprisings against U.S.-led forces in 2004 and who has been an outspoken critic of the U.S.-led foreign military mission.

Last September, British troops battled Shiite gunmen in Basra after two British undercover soldiers were seized by police, whose ranks have been infiltrated by Shiite militiamen.

British forces staged a raid that freed the men.

Tensions boiled again in February when the London newspaper News of the World published video images that appeared to show British soldiers beating Iraqi civilians during a riot in Amarah in 2004.

Shiite anger has also been stoked by a perceived shift in U.S. policy since the arrival of U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, a Sunni Muslim who has criticized the Shiite-led Interior Ministry for human rights abuses and made overtures to Sunni insurgents in hopes of getting them to lay down their arms.

In violence elsewhere, a suicide bomber wearing an Iraqi army uniform entered an Iraqi base in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and detonated an explosives belt, killing three officers, said the Iraqi Defense Ministry's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed Jassim.

The attack appeared to be part of an insurgent campaign to discourage Sunni Arabs from joining the government army and police.

The U.S. command also announced that an American soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad on Friday.

At least 2,417 U.S. military personnel have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003.

In other developments Saturday, according to police:

-- Two Iraqi soldiers and three insurgents were killed in a firefight near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad.

-- A car bomb killed two policemen and an Iraqi soldier about 30 miles north of Baqouba.

-- One policeman was killed and eight people injured by roadside bombings in the capital.

A drive-by shooting killed two brothers in the city.

-- Police in Baghdad found the bodies of 18 Iraqi men who had been kidnapped and brutally killed by sectarian death squads.

Meanwhile, seven Iraqis, including three paramilitary policemen, were kidnapped south of Baghdad.

-- A roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul wounded two Iraqi policemen.

Police also found the bullet-ridden bodies a father and son who had been kidnapped earlier in the day.

[Livyjr]

And then ....

There is always Porter Goss ....

"White House Denies Bush Lost Faith in Goss"

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 1 minute ago

WASHINGTON - The White House on Saturday denied that President Bush had lost confidence in just-resigned CIA Director Porter Goss, saying there was a "collective agreement" the agency needed a new leader now.

Bush planned to act quickly, perhaps as early as Monday, to nominate Goss' successor.

The leading candidate was Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, the top deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, a senior administration official said.

Goss played an important role in the fight against terrorism and "helped transform the agency to meet the challenging times we're living in," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters Saturday as Bush flew to Oklahoma State University for a commencement address.

She said Goss "made significant steps in order to put all those transitional pieces in place and there was a collective agreement that now would be a time that we could have a new CIA director come in and take the ball and move the agency forward."

Goss, who met with Bush on Friday to tender his resignation, has offered little explanation for quitting after just 19 months.

Goss was to deliver a commencement speech Saturday at Ohio's Tiffin University, one of a growing number of schools that offers programs in national security studies.

Negroponte, with the backing of the White House, recently raised with Goss the prospect that he should leave, and the two men talked about that possibility, a senior administration official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to give a fuller account of events.

"Reports that the president had lost confidence in Porter Goss are categorically untrue," Perino said.
___

Associated Press writers Terence Hunt, Jennifer Loven and Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.