Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Danielle Crittenden: The Secret Presidential IMs: Bush Decides Who's Naughty or Nice. Partygrrl1600: Mr. President? Kickass43: Lea? Kickass43: watu doin still at wrk? Partygrrl1600: just tying up some loose ends for the holiday reception 4 the press sir Partygrrl1600: it's this thurs Kickass43: I'm sick of xmas parties Partygrrl1600: "holiday receptions" sir Kickass43: whatvr Kickass43: theyr BOR-ING Kickass43: all I get 2 do is shake hands & smile Kickass43: like sum Macys santa Kickass43: aint nuthin I like 2 eat Kickass43: can't DRINK nuthin Kickass43: cept nog Kickass43: HATE nog Partygrrl1600: im sry u feel that way sir Partygrrl1600: trly Partygrrl1600: but they'll be ovr soon Partygrrl1600: & rite now I'm getting emails from press all ovr washington who weren't invited this yr Kickass43: bunch o crybabies Partygrrl1600: yes but these r our supporters sir Partygrrl1600: that's y I thought I should run sum names by u just to make SURE u don't want 2 invite them Kickass43: its my party Kickass43: I'll invite who I want! Partygrrl1600: of course sir Partygrrl1600: but at this rate aside from the bureaus the only guests will be Helen Thomas! Kickass43: that's rite Kickass43: she can talk 2 harriet Partygrrl1600: and Fred Barnes Kickass43: gr8 guy! Kickass43: a real team playr Partygrrl1600: let me throw just a few more names at u Kickass43: k shoot Partygrrl1600: Bob Novak? Kickass43: way cranky Kickass43: bsides we still don't kno wat he sed 2 tha grand jury Partygrrl1600: I don't think it's worth having him mad at us sir Kickass43: o rite Kickass43: he mite sock us Kickass43: like he did 2 that airline passenger Kickass43: man we'll tell im 2 deck the halls Kickass43: & he'll deck the gests Kickass43: speshully if they get between him & the punchbowl Kickass43: k put him on Kickass43: he mite be useful Kickass43: wen isikoff gets rowdy Kickass43: who else Partygrrl1600: Judy Miller Kickass43: :-/ Partygrrl1600: scooter askd Kickass43: k Kickass43: I ges Kickass43: shes tuff Kickass43: like dat Partygrrl1600: well here's a "tuffer" call sir Partygrrl1600: r anti-harriet friends Kickass43: 2 wrds Kickass43: No. Way. Partygrrl1600: Let's not be rash sir. Partygrrl1600: I completely understand how u feel. Partygrrl1600: I love Harriet as much as the next staffer. Partygrrl1600: But I don't think we can afford to alienate the entire conservative press corps. Partygrrl1600: we'll still need them in '06 Kickass43: not "all" Kickass43: we've got Fox Partygrrl1600: mayb if we go through this 1 by 1 Kickass43: *sigh* Kickass43: k Partygrrl1600: George Will? Kickass43: ummm Partygrrl1600: he likes baseball Partygrrl1600: u can alwys talk about that Kickass43: k Kickass43: next Partygrrl1600: Laura Ingraham? Partygrrl1600: Bartlett thinks it would be wise, sir. Kickass43: k Kickass43: but only cuz shes a hottie Kickass43:& we cd use sum more decorashuns Partygrrl1600: Ann Coulter? Partygrrl1600: she's considered a "hottie" 2 sir Kickass43: :-O Kickass43: as in 911 majr 4-alarmer Kickass43: NOT Partygrrl1600: Just a few more here Partygrrl1600: Bill Kristol? Kickass43: >:-O Partygrrl1600: u like his dad Kickass43: fine Kickass43: hanukkah party Kickass43: next Partygrrl1600: David Frum? Kickass43: not EVEN the hanukkah party Kickass43: next Partygrrl1600: The rest of the National Review crowd? Lowry? O'Beirne? Goldberg, Lopez etc.? Kickass43: jus the ol man Kickass43: Bill Buckley Kickass43: the rest can go fly Partygrrl1600: rite sir Partygrrl1600: we can pretend theirs got lost in the mail Kickass43: any more? Partygrrl1600: that's it, sir Partygrrl1600: I can handle it from here Partygrrl1600: otherwise it's just the usual stuff Partygrrl1600: richard cohen calling me everyday Partygrrl1600: asking y we can't re-instate the "after party" like bill clinton used 2 do Partygrrl1600: & maureen dowd wanting "secret santas" this yr Kickass43: o Kickass43: I jus remembrd 1 more Partygrrl1600: ? Kickass43: DISinvite o'reilly Partygrrl1600: ! Partygrrl1600: difficult sir Partygrrl1600: he's already on a rampage over your "holiday card" Kickass43: xactly!! Kickass43: so y have im? Kickass43: he's crankier than novak! Partygrrl1600: y don't I just THREATEN to disinvite him sir Kickass43: clevr grl Kickass43: thatll wrk Kickass43: nrly forgot 2 ask u Partygrrl1600: what sir? Kickass43: wat am I going 2 get the 1st lady 4 xmas? Kickass43: :-[ Kickass43: she droppd any hints???? Partygrrl1600: no sir Partygrrl1600: personally I'd ask that u not get her another dog Partygrrl1600: I'm up 2 my eyeballs in pet mail Kickass43: keep ur ears open Kickass43: im ttlly stuck Kickass43: mayb ill jus regift the basket I got from rummy Kickass43: 4 sum reason he went way ovr the top this yr Kickass43: mucho $$$ Kickass43: like a dozen pears from asia Kickass43: truffles Kickass43: sissy coffee Kickass43: & fig paste Kickass43: don't like fig paste Kickass43: wrse than nog Kickass43: barney likes it tho Partygrrl1600: I think we can do better for the first lady sir Partygrrl1600: I'll put my thinking cap on Kickass43: u do that Partygrrl1600: And if I don't get the chance to wish you this in person, Happy Holidays sir. Kickass43: & Merry Xmas 2 u Ms. Berman The President of the United States is offline. The Secret Presidential Ims appear here every Tuesday. The column will be back on January 3rd. Have a very Merry Whatever-U-Celebrate and a Happy New Year. 1:37:33 PM    comment []

BREAKING: As Torture Amendment Nears Passage, Pentagon Rewrites Army Detainee Standards. With Congress on the verge of passing the sweeping McCain amendment, the Bush administration has taken its drive to permit torture to new depths. The basis of the McCain amendment is establishing the Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation as the uniform standard for interrogation. That manual explicitly prohibits the use of so-called “coercive interrogation techniques.” As former Army interrogator Peter Bauer has written, “the standard interrogation techniques found in the US Army Field Manual 34-52 were far more effective than such abusive behavior as stress positions, sensory deprivation, and humiliation. We obtained more information [base ']Äì and more reliable information [base ']Äì with our basic skills than we did with even days of harsh treatment.” Realizing this, the Pentagon has one-upped McCain, and simply rewritten the manual: The Army has approved a new, classified set of interrogation methods that may complicate negotiations over legislation proposed by Senator John McCain to bar cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees in American custody, military officials said Tuesday. The techniques are included in a 10-page classified addendum to a new Army field manual that was forwarded this week to Stephen A. Cambone, the under secretary of defense for intelligence policy, for final approval, they said. The addendum provides dozens of examples and goes into exacting detail on what procedures may or may not be used, and in what circumstances. Army interrogators have never had a set of such specific guidelines that would help teach them how to walk right up to the line between legal and illegal interrogations. The political fall-out from this move is sure to be significant. The New York Times notes that McCain will likely be “furious” with the changes, and an unnamed Pentagon official is quoted, “This is a stick in McCain’s eye. It goes right up to the edge. He’s not going to be comfortable with this.” The idea that we have a “Vice President for Torture” now appears quaint. What we really have is an entire administration, openly and unapologetically for torture. [Think Progress] 1:28:32 PM    comment []

Iraqi Army endures desertions [Information Clearing House - News you won't find on CNN] 1:26:55 PM    comment []

Pat, In case you hadn't heard... Linda Breaking News: Devastating hack proven - Leon County dumps Diebold [Press release reprinted with the permission of http://blackboxvoting.org ] Due to security design issues and contractual non-performance, Leon County supervisor of elections Ion Sancho told Black Box Voting that he will never use Diebold in an election again. He has requested funds to replace the Diebold system from the county. He will issue a formal announcement to this effect shortly. Finnish security expert Harri Hursti proved that Diebold lied to Secretaries of State across the nation when Diebold claimed votes could not be changed on the memory card. A test election was run in Leon County today with a total of eight ballots - six ballots voted "no" on a ballot question as to whether Diebold voting machines can be hacked or not. Two ballots, cast by Dr. Herbert Thomson and by Harri Hursti voted "yes" indicating a belief that the Diebold machines could be hacked. At the beginning of the test election the memory card programmed by Harri Hursti was inserted into an Optical Scan Diebold voting machine. A "zero report" was run indicating zero votes on the memory card. In fact, however, Hursti had pre-loaded the memory card with plus and minus votes. The eight ballots were run through the optical scan machine. The standard Diebold-supplied "ender card" was run through as is normal procedure ending the election. A results tape was run from the voting machine. Correct results should have been: Yes:2 No:6 However the results tape read: Yes:7 No:1 The results were then uploaded from the optical scan voting machine into the GEMS central tabulator. The central tabulator is the "mothership" that pulls in all votes from voting machines. The results in the central tabulator read: Yes:7 No:1 This proves that the votes themselves were changed in a one-step process that would not be detected in any normal canvassing procedure - using only a credit-card sized memory card. Diebold Elections Systems head of research and development Pat Green specifically told the Cuyahoga County board of elections that votes could not be changed on the memory card. According to Public Records responses obtained by Black Box Voting in response to our requests shows that Diebold promulgated this misrepresentation to as many as 800 state and local elections officials. In other news, according to Bradblog a stockholder suit was filed today against Diebold by the law offices of Scott and Scott: http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002153.html/ Permission to reprint granted with link to http://blackboxvoting.org 12:31:53 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2006 Patricia Thurston.