Rove: These (religious right guys) are my friends, they're not nuts

It's now been widely reported that David Kuo, formerly high up in the White House Office of Faith Based Initiatives, has written a book (to be published Monday) in which he accuses Rove and other Repub chieftains of calling the figures of the religious right "nuts" and other non-complimentary terms.

Quote of the day

I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing round the world are caused by our presence in Iraq, but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them.  I think history will show that the planning for what happened after the initial successful war fighting phase was poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning.
General Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the British Army, in an interview with the British paper the Daily Mail.

Prosecutors recommend 30 to 37 months in prison for Safavian

When David Safavian was first charged with criminal activity, a lot of right wing propagandists tried to depict the situation as blood thirsty liberals trying to hunt down an innocent man for political purposes, simply because of his association with Abramoff.

Quote of the day:

Have I done something to offend the White House? I am always getting the shaft...they came to Ft. Pierce.  A few weeks ago and said I was not allowed to attend. yet Joe Negron is there...tomorrow Potus is in Martin County and I am told I am not allowed to there either.
Former congressman Mark Foley, complaining in 2004 e-mails to Florida governor Jeb Bush.

[Why the persona non grata status you might wonder if you were a suspicious person]

Bush press conference--it's the same old song

Once again President Bush faced the cameras and the nation in a televised press conference.  Once again he addressed Iraq.  Once again the press inquired about Iraq.  Once again the president offered his same old song.

Quote of the day:

I awoke on Nov. 3, 2004, the day after the re-election of George W. Bush, with something like a hangover - and I hadn't been drinking. I had to decide at that point whether to retreat into my very comfortable life as a tenured professor or to try to do something to change this country's ruinous course. What rankled me most, even more than the outcome of the election itself, was the widespread assumption on the part of my fellow evangelicals that it was something akin to a sin to vote for anyone other than the incumbent, a man whose policies, in my judgment and despite his protestations of faith, are morally bankrupt.
Randall Balmer, evangelical Christian author, responding to an interviewer's query on why Balmer had written his book Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America: An Evangelical's Lament.

Retrospective on N. Korea and nuke equipment--can you spot Rumsfeld

You know the pictures of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam and smiling.  Do you remember the revelation in 2003 by a British newspaper that Don Rumsfeld sat on the board of a corporation that sold light water nuclear reactors to North Korea?

Conrad Burns, "hero" to the American Taxpayer?

So Grover Norquist's grubby little group dedicated to the death of all taxes, "Americans for Tax Reform" (ATR) has given Montana Senator Conrad Burns one if its "Hero of the Taxpayer" awards.

Quote of the day:

Republicans are awaiting the Nov. 7 election with the sense of dread felt by Gulf Coast inhabitants as a hurricane makes landfall: They know a wave is coming and pray that the levees hold.
John Aloysius Farrell, Denver Post Washington Bureau Chief.

Debt rising fast among the elderly

Living on a fixed income is bad enough.  What do you do when you're on a fixed income and have a ton of debt?  It looks like we may be about to find out.