Away for a while...

I'm off on a much needed vacation...will be back after July 4th. Happy Independence Day!

Cheney On Civility and Respect in Washington

CLAIM:

"Governor Bush and I are also absolutely determined that [we] will restore a tone of civility and decency to the debate in Washington."
- Dick Cheney, 8/4/00

CLAIM:

"I look forward to working with you, Governor, to change the tone in Washington, to restore a spirit of civility and respect and cooperation."
- Dick Cheney, 7/25/00

FACT:

"Typically a break from partisan warfare, this year's Senate class photo turned smiles into snarls as Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly used a profanity toward one senior Democrat, sources said." Cheney "blurted out the 'F word' at Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont during a heated exchange on the Senate floor… The incident occurred on Tuesday in a terse discussion between the two that touched on politics, religion and money, with Cheney finally telling Leahy to 'f--- off' or 'go f--- yourself,' the aides said…Cheney, who is president of the Senate, ripped into Leahy for the Democratic senator's criticism this week of alleged war profiteering in Iraq by Halliburton, the oil services company that Cheney once ran...During their exchange, Leahy noted that Republicans had accused Democrats of being anti-Catholic because they are opposed to some of President Bush's anti-abortion judges, the aides said. That's when Cheney unloaded with the 'F-bomb,' aides said."
- CNN, 6/24/04; Reuters, 6/24/04

* Also...remember, White House Chief of Staff Andy Card attacked Senator Kerry for using the F-word, saying, "I'm very disappointed that [Kerry] would use that kind of language. I'm hoping that he's apologizing."

Cheney Forces Taxpayers To Foot His Fundraising Costs

“A $31,900 bill for Vice President Dick Cheney's recent visit to Lincoln is languishing in City Hall and appears likely to stay there...[The Lincoln mayor's chief of staff] He said the city would seek repayment of the $31,900 incurred by such things as paying for Lincoln Police officers who helped provide security for Cheney during his visit to Lincoln Friday...The city wants reimbursement, he said, because Cheney's visit was for a political campaign and cost to the public was extensive…
Organizations including the U.S. Secret Service and the National Republican Congressional Committee said they don't want the bill and won't pay it. The city's Washington lobbyist, Carolyn Chaney, got a similar answer Tuesday from the Department of Homeland Security.”
- Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star, 6/22/04

Cheney Lies About Lying

CLAIM:
BORGER: "Well, let's get to Mohamed Atta for a minute because you mentioned him, as well. You have said in the past that it was, quote, 'pretty well confirmed.'" CHENEY: “No, I never said that.”
- CNBC, 6/20/04

FACT:
“It's been pretty well confirmed that [Atta] did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April, several months before the attack.”
- Vice President Dick Cheney, 12/9/01

FACT REFUTING CHENEY'S ORIGINAL LIE ABOUT ATTA-IRAQ CONNECTION:
“There is no evidence that the alleged leader of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Mohamed Atta, met in April 2001 with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague, a finding that eliminates a once-suggested link between the terrorist attacks and the government of President Saddam Hussein, according to a senior administration official.”
- Washington Post, 5/1/02

Firm With Bush-Saudi Ties Buys Loews Movie Theaters

Just days before the release of Michael Moore's film "Farenheit 9/11" (which analyzes the Bush-Saudi relationship), the Washington Post reports the Bush-Saudi connected Carlyle Group purchased Loews Cineplex theaters. The $2 billion deal is part of Carlyle's larger efforts to buy up more telecommunications/media companies.

Carlyle, of course, is a firm with deep ties to both the Bush and Saudi Royal families. As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported, President George H.W. Bush "joined the Carlyle Group, an investment firm that used its contacts in the government to secure lucrative contracts, including enormous ones in Saudi Arabia, and then sell them at a high profit." Similarly, the conservative Boston Herald pointed out Carlyle "has deep connections to the Saudi royal family as well as financial interests in U.S. defense firms hired by the kingdom to equip and train the Saudi military." Additionally, Bush Sr.'s Secretary of State James Baker is also a senior official at Carlyle.

Even the Carlyle spokesman commenting today on the media buy up is Bush-connected: "Clearly we feel this is a good time to be buying telecom," said Carlyle spokesman Chris Ullman. Ullman came to Carlyle after a stint as the top spokesman for the White House budget office in the current Bush administration.

The Carlyle buy up of Loews probably won't affect the screening of Moore's movies at Loews theaters...but it raises troubling concerns that such a wealthy and powerful company with connections to both the Bush and Saudi royal family is making aggressive efforts to control more of what we see and hear - right on the eve of a movie critical of the Bush-Saudi relationship, and just as the mainstream media begins focusing more scrutiny of that relationship. Coincidence?

Nice Try...But No.

For those Bush apologists breathlessly pointing to this weekend's allegations that one of Saddam's military officials was supposedly a top al Qaeda operative:

WASHINGTON - The CIA concluded "a long time ago" that an al-Qaida associate who met with two of the Sept. 11 hijackers in Malaysia was not an officer in Saddam Hussein's army, as alleged Sunday by a Republican member of the 9/11 commission. Commissioner John Lehman, who was Navy secretary under Ronald Reagan, said "new ... documents" indicated that "at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen," an elite army unit, "was a very prominent member of al-Qaida." Lehman's remarks on NBC's "Meet the Press" lent support to the Bush administration's insistence that there were strong ties between Hussein and al-Qaida.

See the article for yourself.