Instahoglets 5th Jan 06

Someone remind me to put AmericaBlog on my blogroll, because John does some incredible blogging.

Like this amazing story that NBC is investigating whether Bush's illegal use of NSA wiretaps may have included spying on CNN's Christiane Amanpour. If so, then it has potentially explosive ramifications. Christiane's husband is former Clinton administration senior official Jamie Rubin, who was spokesman for the State Department under Clinton but also chief foreign policy adviser to General Wesley Clark's presidential campaign, and then worked as a senior national security adviser to John Kerry's presidential campaign. Spying on Amanpour would automatically mean spying on Rubin - and thus probably spying on his conversations with Clinton, Clark, Kerry and several others...

...and I remember a major Rightwing blogger writing just the other day that Snoopgate wouldn't lead to Bush's impeachment unless it was revealed he had done something like spy on the Kerry camp during the election!

I confess to being puzzled by Iran's no-show for a meeting with the IAEA in Vienna today to discuss its decision to resume nuclear fuel research. It will only help fuel the narrative leading to war. Iran has actually done more than it has to by international law and more than just about any other nation ever has in being transparent about it's plans to develop nuclear power, despite what the narrative claims - it should have continued to do so and this is a really dumb move. I can only assume power-politicking back home meant the delegation got an order to not appear. That will create shockwaves in Iran as well as abroad - Iran isn't an utterly authoritarian dictatorship by any means and many moderates have the power to seriously upset the current President's plans.

More from AmericaBlog: the definitive list of all the politicians who accepted direct donations from Abramoff, and guess what - not a single Democrat on the list, just an estimated 15 feet of printout with Republicans on it.

Bush is on the list, though - and just by way of an emphasis here's a story from the Texas Observer about how Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist billed clients for meeting G.W....The Pimping Of The Presidency.

However in all fairness Hilarity Clinton's doing her bit to prove that some Dems can manage the high level of corruption needed to be a GOP candidate. fund-raising committee for Senator Clinton's 2000 campaign has agreed to pay a $35,000 civil penalty and to concede that reports it made to the federal government understated by more than $700,000 donations to a California celebrity gala held to benefit her Senate bid. Have you considered crossing the floor, Hil? Even if just for giggles? It would give the folks at NRO apoplexy!

Buried in a Stars and Stripes story about V Corps leaving Germany, veteran of Iraq Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez admits of the Satrapy that it is "on the verge of a civil war" and also admitted the Iraqis aren't standing up all that well, due to what he called “neglected police capacity.” Obviously the censors missed this one. I wonder where their next tours of duty will be?

Take a moment to think kindly of Lance Cpl. Blake Miller. The man who became known from as the iconic "Malboro Man" is now suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - something he will share with an estimated 15 - 17% of the million or so troops who have now been through Iraq! Meanwhile, the Bush administration is underfunding the VA and trying to make sure as few veterans as possible are able to claim benefits for PTSD. That Bush, he surely does hate the troops.

Maybe all the Rightwing chickenhawk bloggers who lauded the original "Marlboro Man" pic as a sure sign of the John Wayne spirit needed for victory could organise a collection to help Miller and those like him? Thought not. Ignorant manipulative people-using bastards.

More from Iraq - and the utterly unsurprising news that Bush appointee Stephen Cambone headed a move by Bush acolytes at the Pentagon to use special-ops personnel in an effort to get some Iraqis to help plant some WMD there, after exhaustive searches failed to turn up the genuine article. They failed to turn up anyone dumb enough to go along with the plan, it seems.

Time for a follow-up to my recent post on Chigaco Transit Authority's turning down CITGO free oil worth $15 million. The local CBS affiliate is reporting that city politicians are none too happy with the CTA. State Rep. Marlow Colvin (D-Chicago) said the CTA must be doing well if it can bypass the offer. "Frank Kruesi [CTA President], we're sending a warning to you today," he said. "When you come down with that hat, there'd better be a check for $15 million in it." As expected, the CTA decision had more to do with toeing the Bush line than real practical objections to accepting CITGO's offer. "We're not in the business of operating a separate foreign policy from the United States government, and I have no intention of beginning such a process," said Kruesi.

Lastly, and encouragingly, Spain is planning to give refugee status to those fleeing persecution on grounds of gender or sexual orientation in a revision of its asylum laws. The new draft law would offer asylum rights to women facing severe persecution linked to sex discrimination and to to homosexuals who faced serious discrimination, such as the death penalty or other severe punishment for homosexual acts.

Viva Espana!