News from Around the World

Tony Juniper began by putting the demonstration in context, noting Blair's recent change of heart, away from international emissions targets and towards voluntary technology uptake, revealed in comments to Condoleeza Rice at the Clinton Global Initiative two months ago (this contradicts my post of Tuesday, but I think Juniper is right on this). You can get more of Tony Juniper's view in his piece in the Guardian yesterday.

The Bush Administration has launched a full-frontal assault these past several weeks attempting to staunch the bleed-out of its credibility concerning the Iraq war. As accusations of misused intelligence information continue to surface, Bush Administration officials like Condoleeza Rice have begun to push back against their critics by once again asserting that "everyone" believed Hussein was an imminent threat and had WMD's. "Everyone" being defined as the Bush Administration, Congress and foreign leaders.

What is of great wonder (maybe, to some) is why Al-Jazeera’s most hopeless but vocal opponent has been the United States who prides itself on spreading freedom to the region. Throughout Miles’ history the US stops at no moral expense to bring an end to this new free voice in the Arab world. Public condemnations belch forth from the usual suspects such as Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, and others only to be supplemented by the harassment of Al-Jazeera staff in the field including their incarceration at Abu Ghraib, the targeting of Al-Jazeera bureau by gun, missile, and bomb, and the continued dismissal of accountability for any violence directed at the organization. Miles is masterful at indicting the United States’ clearly murderous military response to the network that is the most far-reaching medium of political communication throughout the Middle East. Of particular interest here is his later chapter, “Free Speech and the Domino Effect” that illuminates the complicated relationship this new freedom works on US foreign policy.

In fact, looking at the thoughtful Republicans who happen to be black (e.g., Lt. Gov. Steele, Condoleeza Rice, Thomas Sowell), and comparing that to the blind groupthink of the Maryland Demoncrats, causes me to wonder if the determining factor isn’t the ability to think for one’s self.

In the field of foreign affairs, the leading race traitor, hands down, is Condoleeza Rice, Bush’s National Security Adviser…

If Steele were a Democrat and this was happening, the cries of racism, and the lawsuits, would be springing up from all quarters. Since he is a Republican, however, he is as much persona non grata as Clarence Thomas and Condoleeza Rice, and even the most vicious and vile attacks are fare game.

I recall something less than a brouhaha (I like the world brouhaha) when Candidate Kerry, also thinking himself off-mike, used the F word concerning his rivals, or when his wife told a reporter to “shove it” and passed out buttons identifying Bush, Cheney and Condoleeza Rice as the “asses of evil.”

At least this president is consistent. Iraq War and the subsequent occupation has been grossly mismanaged with deadly results; no changes in the management, i.e. Rumsfeld remains at the helm and previous occupation czar Paul Bremer is awarded the Medal of Freedom. Intelligence leading up to the war proves to be unfounded (thus making the justifications for the war no longer supported); then-CIA Director Tenet is also awarded the Medal of Freedom, then-National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice is promoted to Secretary of State, and chief war architect Paul Wolfowitz is promoted to the World Bank. Alberto Gonzales helped justify torture of "enemy combatants" in violation of federal and international laws, yet he was promoted to Attorney General, the nation's top law enforcement officer. John Bolton is promoted to UN Ambassador, despite the fact that he doesn't work well with others and tries to get rid of people who disagree with him even when the intelligence supports that opposing position.

Dick Morris, former political advisor to former President Bill Clinton, is making the rounds of major media markets hawking his new book, Condi vs. Hillary : The Next Great Presidential Race. His thesis, as he explained on Steve Gill’s radio talk show this morning in Nashville, is (1) that Hillary Clinton has a lock on the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination unless she inexplicably decides not to run, and (2) there is no potential Republican candidate who can beat Hillary except Condoleeza Rice.

Modern day heroines are like Oprah Winfrey, Madeleine Albright, Condoleeza Rice etc I am sure my esteemed readers can come up with lots more example.

Isn't it interesting how Bush (the elder) is the founder of the Arbusto oil company, also a former shareholder in 7 Energy, yet another oil company and a former director of Harken Oil and Gas. As for Condoleeza Rice, a former director of Chevron Oil and Caspian Oil, she even had an oil tanker named after her. Vice President Cheney used to be the CEO of Halliburton Industries and is involved in Unocal, Exxon, Shell and Chevron, yet more oil companies! Perhaps the moral reason of why Hussein is "evil" and why we are going to war, lies in the fact that Hussein is sat upon that oil and not the US administration that is full of oil barons! They've been pushing for it since 1998 and before.

I also find myself reminded of Ted Rall’s Condoleeza Rice cartoon.

After being shamed by Bloggers around the world USA Today has now altered their picture of Condoleeza Rice. But check out their bullshit excuse.....anyone with even basic knowledge of picture manipulation knows this is crap.

And then there is the other foot…. isn’t there. The next Republican candidate for the next U.S. President. All of the above seven, including a ‘devout’ Catholic, have indicated they would be happy to support, “I’m all for a woman’s right to choose”, Condoleeza Rice.

Grabbing a smoke before my midterm, Michael P. mentioned that this Friday our dear campus will be playing host to Condoleeza Rice and Jack Straw.

Anyway - probably no other entries today - I’ll be making dinner and hanging out with everyone here that I avoided all morning. Meanwhile - for your entertainment: Check out this rumour: Dick Cheney will resign and be replaced with Condoleeza Rice. The story is over at US News.

According to Condoleeza Rice, it's because we thought Al Qaeda attacked us. She was on Meet The Press today.

"The fact of the matter is that when we were attacked on September 11, we had a choice to make. We could decide that the proximate cause was al Qaeda and the people who flew those planes into buildings and, therefore, we would go after al Qaeda…or we could take a bolder approach..." - Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice

Trust and power: All the President’s women - Today - MSNBC.com Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings Ambassador Karen Hughes Harriet Miers, Counsel to the President ———————————————————————————– NYT: OPINION All the President’s Women By MAUREEN DOWD The White House is filled with buttoned-up nannies serving as adoring work wives, catering to W.’s every political, legal and ego-affirming need. “Vestal virgins” “Cheerleader” “Workaholic bachelorette” ———————————————————————————– Ms. Dowd doesn’t mention that Karen P. Hughes is also a wife and mother who gave up her Washington life for a time for the sake of her family, nor does Ms. Dowd acknowledge the agonizing choices and sacrifices that must be made by women like Ms. Hughes, Condoleezza Rice and Harriet E. Miers. These women devote themselves to careers and put in 16-hour workdays to make it to the highest echelons of political power (as do men who rise to their levels). ———————————————————————————– The Trouble With Harry By MAUREEN DOWD Conservatives may consider Harriet Miers the last straw. But what will Harriet Miers consider the last straw with conservatives? Maybe it will be Bork Borking her. The old Supreme Court nominee reject rejected the new Supreme Court nominee, calling her “a disaster on every level” and “a slap in the face” to conservatives. Robert Bork complained to Tucker Carlson on MSNBC last night that Ms. Miers had “no experience with constitutional law whatever,” that it was wrong for W. to choose a justice simply to have a woman’s perspective and that conservative reaction veered between “disapproval and outrage.” WHAM! BLAM! POW! Way to crack the gal right across the kisser, when she’s already on the ropes from so much conservative wailing and gnashing of teeth. Senator Sam Brownback suggested it would be futile for the “very decent lady,” as he dismissively called her, to compete with John Roberts’s masterly performance because that would be like “following Elvis.” Pat Buchanan told Keith Olbermann that conservatives were “agonized,” “depressed,” and “virtually heartbroken,” and Charles Krauthammer wrote: “If Harriet Miers were not a crony of the president of the United States, her nomination to the Supreme Court would be a joke, as it would have occurred to no one else to nominate her.” Ouch. Conservatives are shocked to discover that President Bush has been stuffing his administration with cronies and mediocrities in important places? If Ms. Miers were a sworn foe of Roe v. Wade and an ardent advocate of originalism in constitutional jurisprudence, would the same conservatives be so sick about her qualifications? Clarence Thomas, after all, was anything but a leading light of American jurisprudence. The New Republic this week chooses the biggest 15 hacks in the Bush administration, noting that “no administration has etched the principles of hackocracy into its governing philosophy as deeply as this one.” Ms. Miers wins at No. 1. W.’s case for her elevation is their closeness, because she is, as Alexander Hamilton put it, one of the “obsequious instruments of his pleasure.” But there is some sign, at least, that there are limits to cronyism, even for the Bush administration. The president had nominated Timothy Flanigan to be deputy attorney general, a job in which he would oversee all U.S. attorneys, the criminal division of Justice and the F.B.I. His qualification for this was a stint as Alberto Gonzales’s deputy White House counsel, a job where he helped write the torture memos. In Congressional testimony at one point, he said that waterboarding was a good thing, because it doesn’t leave visible or permanent marks. After his White House stint, Mr. Flanigan was a senior executive at Tyco International, where his main contribution was hiring Jack Abramoff, the Republican influence peddler, to protect Tyco’s offshore tax shelters. Yesterday, Mr. Flanigan withdrew amid growing questions. The right is right about Ms. Miers’s insufficiency to join the Brethren, even if the right is cynical. Actually, there’s a lot of cynicism in the Miers affair. Those on the left are perfectly happy to look away from mediocrity because it is the lesser of two evils, because they were spared the nightmare of a reactionary maniac. W. is so loath to leave his little bubble - where caretakers tell him how brilliant and bold he is - that he keeps selecting the people in charge of the selection committees. It’s just so much easier to choose a sycophant who’s already in the room than to create one from scratch. He used to disdain pointy-headed liberals from Yale, but now he’s angry at pointy-headed conservatives demanding some sort of genius for the Supreme Court, rather than a den mother who did all of W.’s legal wet work and who prefers John Grisham to Leo Strauss. While the Bushies have been trying to reassure the right that W. knows Harry’s heart, that she’s a good Christian church lady who will vote in a way that will please them, Harry is probably working herself up to a good grudge against all those meanies who are savaging her as a lightweight apple polisher. Imagine! After she rechristened herself midlife as born again and Republican for them. Even if she was going to be a loyal conservative jurist before, why should she be now, after all the loathsome things they’ve said? The old maxim goes that a neoconservative is a liberal who got mugged by reality. But if you’re a conservative mugged by conservatives, neo and paleo, it may have the opposite effect and turn you into … David Souter!!!! Copyright 2005 The New York Times Com ———————————————————————————– All the President’s Women By Maureen Dowd The New York Times Wednesday 05 October 2005 I hope President Bush doesn’t have any more office wives tucked away in the White House. There are only so many supremely powerful jobs to give to women who are not qualified to get them. The West Wing is a parallel universe to TV’s Wisteria Lane: instead of self-indulgent desperate housewives wary of sexy nannies, there are self-sacrificing, buttoned-up nannies serving as adoring work wives, catering to W.’s every political, legal and ego-affirming need. Maybe it’s because his mom was not adoring enough, but more tart and prickly, even telling her son, the president, not to put his feet up on her coffee table. Or maybe it’s because, as his wife says, his kinship with his mom gives him a desire to be around strong, “very natural” women. But W. loves being surrounded by tough women who steadfastly devote their entire lives to doting on him, like the vestal virgins guarding the sacred fire, serving as custodians for his values and watchdogs for his reputation. First he elevated Condi Rice to secretary of state, even though she had bungled her job as national security adviser, failing to bring a sense of urgency to warnings about terrorism aimed at America before 9/11, and acting more as an enabler than honest broker in the push to invade Iraq. But what were these limitations, considering the time the workaholic bachelorette logged at W.’s side in Crawford and Camp David, coaching him on foreign affairs, talking sports with him, exercising with him, making him feel like the most thoughtful, farsighted he-man in the world? Then he elevated his longtime aide, speechwriter, memoir ghostwriter and cheerleader Karen Hughes to undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, even though it is exceedingly hard for the 6-foot Texan to try and spin a billion Muslims whom she doesn’t understand the first thing about. But who cares about her lack of expertise in such a critical job, as long as the workaholic loyalist continues to make her old boss feel like the most thoughtful, farsighted he-man in the world? And now he has nominated his White House counsel and former personal lawyer, Harriet Miers, to a crucial swing spot on the Supreme Court. The stolid Texan, called “Harry” by some old friends, is a bachelorette who was known for working long hours, sometimes 16-hour days, and was a frequent guest at Camp David and the Crawford ranch, where she helped W. clear brush. Like Ms. Hughes and Laura Bush, she’s a graduate of Southern Methodist, and she has always been there for W. In 1998, during his re-election race for governor, Harry handled the first questions about whether Mr. Bush had received favorable treatment to get into the Texas Air National Guard to avoid the draft. Though the former Democrat once gave a grand to Al Gore in ‘88, she passed the loyalty test for W. during the Bush v. Gore standoff in 2000, when she recruited conservative lawyers to work for the Bush scion in Tallahassee. But who cares whether she has no judicial experience, and that no one knows what she believes or how she would rule from a bench she’s never been behind, as long as the reason her views are so mysterious is that she’s subordinated them to W.’s, making him feel like the most thoughtful, farsighted he-man in the world? David Frum, the former White House speechwriter and conservative commentator, reported on his blog that Ms. Miers once told him that W. was the most brilliant man she knew. Bushie and Harriet share the same born-again Christian faith, which they came to in midlife, deciding to adopt Jesus Christ as their saviors. The Washington Post reported that she tithes to the Valley View Christian Church in Dallas, “where antiabortion literature is sometimes distributed and tapes from the conservative group Focus on the Family are sometimes screened,” and where, when she returns, Ms. Miers asks well-wishers to pray for her and the president. Born Catholic, she switched to evangelical Christianity in her mid-30’s and began to identify more with the Republicans than the Democrats, The Times reports today; she joined the missions committee of her church, which opposed legalized abortion, and one former political associate said that Ms. Miers told her she had been in favor of a woman’s right to have an abortion when she was younger, but that her views hardened against abortion once she became born again. W. is asking for a triple leap of faith. He has faith in Ms. Miers as his lawyer and as a woman who shares his faith. And we’re expected to have faith in his faith and her faith, and her opinions that derive from her faith that could change the balance of the court and affect women’s rights for the next generation. That’s a little bit too much faith, isn’t it? ———————————————————————————–

Perhaps equally disturbing is the tendency of the media to “marry off” prominent unmarried women to the men they work for—as if to underscore that their power is actually negligible, that they are merely the pawns of powerful men. Condoleeza Rice is the example that comes to mind. Also “unmarried and childless,” she is portrayed as a fawning syncophantic devotee of the president, unhealthily attached to him, in a way that is a little pathetic, like a schoolgirl with an inappropriate crush on a teacher. Miers is already being characterized this way. And again, my problem with this is that it undermines the seriousness of the cronyism charges that have been leveled against her.

King interviews many major political figures on his program. Some guests have included Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Barbara Bush, and Condoleeza Rice. He has also interviewed major athletes such as Lance Armstrong and celebrities like Pamela Anderson. Larry King interviews his share of celebrities, but he also focuses on the news with political events like presidential elections and like I stated earlier, the devastation of the recent hurricanes.

That being said, after learning about "peak oil" I forgot all about Bush, or Cheney receiving stock and money from Halliburton, or Condoleeza Rice a former Chevron board memeber... I forgot all about that crap. I really, by nature, just want to look at the science.

It occurs to me that there are only a few really genuine (meaning coming-up-from-the-real-world-instead-of-the-privileged-one) folks currently prominent in America Politics - really, only a few: Condoleeza Rice, Clarence Thomas, Rudy Guiliani and Donna Brazile. And of those four, only two of them, Thomas and Brazile, knew real poverty in their lives. Guiliani and Rice grew up middle class.

There were a few speeches that riled some countries. Condoleeza Rice (United States secretary of state) spent a bit of time in her 15 minutes directly chastising Iran for their thoughts and actions on nuclear weapons. Iran returned fire in their Foreign Minister’s speech. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela also has a few interesting words to say to the United States.

Looking at Feingold’s record, it’s hard to deny that he’s anything but principled. Shakes highlights a vote that will trouble liberals: his vote to confirm Condoleeza Rice. More troubling to most Democrats will be his earlier vote to confirm John Ashcroft. But even those votes were ones I could always understand. Feingold believes that the President should be able to choose his own Administration. But on matters of policy, he clearly believes in standing up.

Here are some words that you would expect to hear in the wake of a huge natural disaster: disaster, storm, flood, destruction, relief, water, aid, emergency, mobilization, National Guard, Coast Guard, search and rescue, etc. Instead, these are the words we heard: President George W. Bush plays guitar, Condoleeza Rice shops for shoes, Vice President Dick Cheney vacations, Halliburton gets contracts, etc. In the wake of a disaster, the only reports we typically hear of any President are two things: 1) “The President has declared “”“disaster location”” a state of emergency,” and 2) “The President flew out to survey the damage today.” Most of us have witnessed a few disasters (of course, none comparable to this) and we are aware of the role the President normally plays in the aftermath. A President that had exhibited panic in the face of this disaster would have transferred that panic to the public. I have to feel that regardless of the President's, or any one on his his Cabinet members', actions after this catastrophe, the media had a predetermined scapegoat. The President did everything in his power correctly in this situation, yet the media and the left wing elite began this attack on President Bush before this storm's dead were even cold. Any blame, if you can find blame after a natural disaster, remains firmly planted on people and circumstances wholly out of our President's control.

There have been rumors going around that the pic of the Bush Bathroom break note to Condoleeza Rice was photoshopped.

We also know now that Bush could have saved countless lives if he would have responded more quickly to the country’s largest natural disaster ever. Instead, he remained on vacation, taking time out only to promote his war to a sympathetic audience of military people in San Diego. His immediate presence on the scene would have sent a clear signal to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the military about the magnitude of the human crisis. He did not make a major speech about the incident until thirty-six hours after the hurricane hit. Vice President Dick Cheney remained on vacation. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was spotted buying shoes in New York.

This incredible picure was shot by Rick Wilking of Reuters. It appears to be over Bush’s shoulder as he scribbles a note. Bush’s note says “I think I may need a bathroom break? Is this possible…” It appears to be destined for Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

Bush handwrote this note to Condoleeza Rice at the UN today.

The next day, Saakashvili left for the United States where he will attend the 60th General Assembly of the United Nations. Saakashvili will also meet with the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and sign an agreement to receive $295 million in assistance from the Millennium Challenge Account, $102.2 million of which is earmarked for the rehabilitation of infrastructure and roads in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region partly inhabited by ethnic Armenians.

But I’ll also remember the August 6th, 2001, President’s daily briefing paper that warned of impending attacks by bin Laden. I’ll remember the ring of anti-aircraft guns around the Genoa G8 summit in the summer of 2001 while pondering Condoleeza Rice’s assertions that nobody ever thought of airliners being used in an attack (and her other probable perjuries before the 9/11 commission). And I will remember the little man who bravely ran away on 9/11 to bunkers in the West, who let bin Laden get away, and who is responsible for wasting the goodwill of the world on a war we shouldn’t be fighting.

There are 4 of us girlfriends total.� We really do not have any room for additional girls, we are full up at the moment, because after reading about us, you will want to get in� and I am just letting you down easy right now.� Due to privacy reasons, I will not be using their real names in this excerpt.� Let me explain the dynamic we have together.� We, 4 girls, are beautiful, intelligent, smart and physically fit and svelte.� We have led such incredible lives separately and bring such truly unique qualities to the Posse, that together we make up the perfect woman.� The most perfect woman, the most intelligent and sly, the most beautiful and desired, the most perfect athlete.� We are Condoleeza Rice, Jackie Joyner Kersee, and the human form of Barbie all rolled up into one person, The Posse.

--Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, overheard this afternoon at Ferragamo on 5th Avenue.

What does surprise us: Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman. Link

Perhaps if Condoleeza Rice had not found it more important to go shoe shopping in New York than to go back to Washington where she could get involved with the rescue effort, you might not find so many fingers pointing your way.

I don’t even know where to start with the federal level. The amount of incompetence, grandstanding and spin on this level is nauseating. The President cut his vacation short by a day. Wow, a whole day! Condoleeza Rice goes shoe shopping and takes in a show. Dick Cheney… where the hell was he? The broken levees were in various states of disrepair, funding cut to provide more for our lovely Iraqi occupation. Where were many of the officers of the Engineering Corps, the entity in charge of repairing those levees? Oh yeah, Iraq. FEMA’s actions, yes the whole organization, could have been a comedy skit if it weren’t real and so very tragic. Failure.

How can we do that? In another post back in January, I laid out the case for running Condoleeza Rice for President against Hillary. It would be a sure thing, and would take away almost every position that the Democrats and Hillary would be running on.

America also wondered not only where the hell the President of the United States was at, but also the Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. She was out buying shoes. Several thousand dollars worth of, shoes.

What does surprise us: Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice, new shoes (we’ve confirmed this, so her new heels will surely get coverage from the WaPo’s Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper, unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice’s timing, went up to the Secretary and reportedly shouted, “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” Never one to have her fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE the woman.

Did Harry Belafonte just call Bush Hitler and Condoleeza Rice a black tyrant? When asked specifically who was a "black tyrant" in the Bush administration, Belafonte responded to this reporter, "You." When this reporter noted that he was a Caucasian and attempted to ask another question, Belafonte abruptly ended the interview by saying, "That's it."

Was it because it peeked in on Condoleeza Rice because of her connections to Stanford, or was it because the Chinese kept showing up?

Another Strategic Vision Poll has former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani leading among Republican supporters in Florida. The real news, however, is that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice (21%) is just two points behind Mr. Giuliani (23%) in her first appearence in the poll.

I’m going to admit it: I like Condoleeza Rice. In fact, I think she’s fantastic. Apparently, so do a lot of people. In the latest 2008 Republican nominee straw poll, she’s the leading fantasy candidate with 24 percent margin over second place Dick Cheney. Unfortunately, she’s not considering running for President.

Bush, whose administration once boasted formidable figures such as Rumsfeld and Cheney who understood and articulated the need for a strong offensive, is now led around by the nose by James Baker Institute affiliated diplomat Condoleeza Rice who has America making so many deals with terrorists we might as well be on Al Jazeera sawing our own heads off, even as she continues demanding that Israel give up more land to the forming of a terrorist state.

Of course we all know we can’t just pull out of Iraq and that more soldiers will die, GUARANTEED, before this mission is over. But we all know that the mess was caused atop lies and scandal, and yet no heads are rolling. George Tenet got a “Freedom Award” and Condoleeza Rice shrugs off claims of her part in it with talking points and flat out lies to the public.

- I’m proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My “poorest millionaire,” Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

I usually like Condoleeza Rice. But I've got to say, on a day like today, day 4 of the Disengagement, and before the Palestinians have done the first thing to rein in the terrorism that is quite likely to erupt in the wake of the Jewish departure from Gaza, this strikes me as extremely tone deaf.

I usually like Condoleeza Rice. But I've got to say, on a day like today, day 4 of the Disengagement, and before the Palestinians have done the first thing to rein in the terrorism that is quite likely to erupt in the wake of the Jewish departure from Gaza, this strikes me as extremely tone deaf.

For Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice it’s a matter of faith.

- Bush to Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso as reported in Der Spiegel. Condoleeza Rice interceded explaining that Brazil has the greatest number of black citizens of any nation outside of Africa.

-Condoleeza Rice grew up in the south when they still had seperate drinking fountains, bathrooms, sections of the bus, etc. Some of her childhood friends were killed by racists in that famous school bombing. (or was it a church --I need to read up on that)

The decision to free the men has largely been met with approval in the west, with US Government spokespeople such as Condoleeza Rice saying that the moves were steps in the right direction, however, Saudi opposition groups based in London noted that over 4,000 political prisoners remain in Saudi jails, including some jailed in the past few months.

With Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleeza Rice on their way to Crawford, Texas, to meet with President Bush on Thursday, Cindy Sheehan will hold a blog conference call hosted by Joe Trippi of JoeTrippi.com, Bob Fertik of Democrats.com, and Jodie Evans of CodePink4Peace.org. Given the urgency of Cindy’s situation, we hope that you will attend the call.

All roads then lead back to Rovegate which shows, once again, undeniably that the administration lied to go to war and continued to lie about it afterwards by attacking those who told the truth. In his apparent quest to smear Ambassador Joseph Wilson who was reporting the truth about Saddam Hussein’s lack of weapons of mass destruction, Rove was merely participating in the conspiracy of lies sanctioned by the president and perpetuated by Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, fomer Secretary of State Colin Powell, and then National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, all of whom will live in historical infamy for their assault on American democracy.

‘But,’ critics say, ‘we need to show Russia that a new form of imperialism will not be tolerated.’ This I agree with. Russia has done nothing in the last ten years to demonstrate a return to democracy. Putin has consolidated power, muscled the post-Soviet republics by force and by political manipulation, and has reinstituted much of the propaganda of the Soviet era (Stalin’s birthday as the crowning example). Condoleeza Rice has a lot to do with this, as she is an expert Sovietologist, and as a side note, for whom I have a lot of respect. Still, the State Department has done something they should not: they accepted the invitation to a country and then preceded the visit with less than veiled attacks on their nation’s character. This is NOT in the diplomatic handbook, and it certainly won’t win us any allies within Russia.

I’d pay really big money if the gods handed me a chance to see Thomas Jefferson’s face as he looked on Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Jefferson held the same office under President George Washington.

Because today, I posted another article there, about the arrest of the leaders of the Opposition Party (Kefaya, meaning “enough”), albeit briefly. The US has been pressuring Egypt for more political reform and democratization (and indeed, Condoleeza Rice just cancelled a trip to Egypt), and within the civil society there, there has been growing calls for multi-candidate elections. During this protest over Mubarak running for his 6th term, an AP reporter saw the police beat and kick protesters, and manhandle journalists. “Greater democracy” as Mubarak’s party professes to want, might start with freedom of speech and a free press…

Stygius usefully provides both Joe Biden's letter to Condoleeza Rice noting this unfortunate lapse or memory, and also provides the precise text of the question in response to which Bolton displayed this regrettable yet seemingly spreading symptom of growing neurological deterioration:

Senator Joe Biden addressed the failure by Bolton in a letter to Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice and, mirabili dictu, the State Department has thus confirmed that Bolton falsified information provided to the Senate for purposes of reviewing his nomination as U.N. ambassador.

In the Unites States, the Human Rights Campaign has called for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to condemn the executions.

In Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's visit to Israel and in meetings with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and PA leader Abbas, she called on the PA to act on ending terrorists attacks against Israel. This is the response.

According to reports, Condoleeza Rice’s entourage of aides and press personel were roughed up by Sudanese security forces at the gate of and inside the presidential compound in Khartoum. Part of her motorcade was held up at the gate and then finally let in. Once they were inside the compound guards wouldn’t let them in the building. Finally they got in and during the press conference reporters were manhandled yet again and prevented from asking questions.

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had high praise for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement from Gaza. She said his decision will lead to better security for Israel and a better chance for lasting peace. She said she would encourage the PA to take action against terrorists. She also said she was encouraged by the PA's statement against "gunmen" and that she would encourage Mahmoud Abbas in that work.