Strike Two for Bolton

via BlondeSense

Bolton Often Blocked Information, Officials Say WashingtonPost
Iran, IAEA Matters Were Allegedly Kept From Rice, Powell

This Bolton character seemed to play the role of a filter when it came to intelligence. If the information the analysts found didn’t fit his plan, he tossed it. If he couldn’t toss it, he hid it. Isn’t it strange that every time we put one of these specimens under the microscope we find bacteria, often times deadly...read on

Breaking? Not so much, but since I'm in the holiday spirit I thought I would give our readers the gift of laughter. As our UN Ambassador, John Bolton did almost as much damage to our reputation around the world as his boss, George Bush. Besides being wrong about just about everything, he was also a huge supporter of our former Vice President, Dick Cheney. So, it comes as no surprise that he penned this glowing, fact-free, delusional fluff piece -- proclaiming Dick Cheney -- Conservative of the year: (warning - link goes to Human Events)

In Washingtonian “inside the Beltway” terms, the most amazing aspect of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s new clout is that he is achieving it the old-fashioned way: talking about public policy. He is not running for President or any other office. He has not formed a PAC or a D.C. lobbying firm. He is not dishing on former colleagues, not spreading gossip, not settling scores. He is, instead, writing a memoir about his extensive career in public service, and giving occasional speeches and interviews, mostly on national and homeland security policy, long his central focus.

If you're feeling brave and looking for some extra laughs, click through to the original article and check out the comments. I'll start you off with #1 from commenter "Square Root":

The simple reason Dick Cheny causes angst to the ACLU atheist, heathen, pagan conglomerate is because he is so fearlessly honest. Conservatives such as he and Sarah Palin, threaten, by the power of their veracity to undermine those who must bribe fellow politicians in their last ditch effort to pass a government health care scheme that is rejected by 61% of Americans.

It is only a matter of time before these enemies of the people will fall on their own swords. Their bag of dirty tricks is nearly exhausted. They can not win on merit. Read on...

Amygdala: Changing attitudes toward mental illness.

Lance Mannion: Stupak and the bishops, the bishops and me.

Sadly, No: Nothing will make them happy.

TBogg: Atlas begs.

Pam's House Blend: Tradishinul marridge is what brings us together today.

Thump and Whip: Glenn Beck doesn't identify as white, or speak for "white America" – except when he does.

James Wolcott: It takes more than a market rally to pull the wool over Bolton's mustache.

Guest post by Batocchio. Mike is back tomorrow. Send tips to Finnsagain AT aol DOT com.

It looks like we found where Saddam hid those weapons of mass destruction...or do you suppose John Bolton was planning on taking out those ten stories he scoffed at?

CNN:

Workers found vials believed to contain the poison gas phosgene at a U.N. office building in New York Thursday.

U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said U.N. chemical weapons experts quickly secured the toxic material.

U.N. archivists for UNMOVIC, the U.N. chemical weapons agency, unexpectedly turned up samples of material from an Iraqi chemical weapons plant in old files.

The samples were in weapons inspectors' files dating back to the 1990s, but the substance is not believed to pose any immediate danger, U.N. officials said Thursday.

The building where the samples turned up is several blocks away from main U.N. Secretariat building along New York's East River. Tests found no toxic vapors in the offices, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. [..]

The material was taken from al-Muthanna chemical weapons plant north of Baghdad. The samples are sealed and have been there since 1996.

The samples were in containers that ranged in size "from small vials to tubes the length of a pen," Okabe said.

Ewan Buchanan, a spokesman for UNMOVIC, said the substances are in a sealed metal box and wrapped in a plastic bag, "so there is no immediate danger."

Kim Jong-il thanks you.

Because of a weapons program that may not even have existed (and no one ever thought was far advanced) the White House got the North Koreans to restart their plutonium program and then sat by while they produced a half dozen or a dozen real nuclear weapons -- not the Doug Feith/John Bolton kind, but the real thing. It's a screw-up that staggers the mind.

Hilzoy has more...

And then we have the tiny bank in Macau.

Barbar at Mahablog : Unfortunately, thanks to the Bushies, North Korea’s plutonium weapons capabilities went from low to high. Very high.

Defining Brutality Downwards...next they'll come for the Americans...and outsource the torture. BTW, this is what waterboarding looks like

The National Interest : Michael Scheuer, the former head of the bin Laden desk at the CIA, interprets the National Intelligence Estimate document on the global terrorist threat

The Aristocrats: What's wrong with Washington is right here...

Looking for Someone to Lie to Me: Like a monster that can't be killed, Bolton may yet be back

American Prospect Online: Iran/Contra--era fabricator and his associate appear to have opened a new channel to Washington.

The Satirical Political Report : A letter from Jesus camp...

The Recovering Liberal was hacked early Thursday and will be down a few days. Give 'em some support next week...

BAGnewsNotes: "An Inconvenient Truth," a film hosted by Al Gore, is like a global warming nightmare roller coaster ride.

AlterNet: WTF!!?? Crouching crackpot, hidden deviant...Rev. Moon's conjugal visitations (thnx to reader Dabobbo)

House of the Rising Sons: Reconsidering Judas. Could be a hard sell in view of the fact that yesterday's MSNBC poll found that 35% of Americans believe that EVERY DETAIL OF THE BIBLE IS TRUE. Even though the Bible contradicts itself in places, and the English translations sometimes warps and distorts the original meanings.

Atlantic Review: Marla Ruzica and civilian victims of war

The WitList: Reflecting the White House's newly aggressive stance toward the media, Bolton announced that Scott McClellan would be replaced by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, effectively immediately. Steve. Even though the Bible contradicts itself in places, and the English translations sometimes warps and distorts the original meanings.

Atlantic Review: Marla Ruzica and civilian victims of war

The WitList: Reflecting the White House's newly aggressive stance toward the media, Bolton announced that Scott McClellan would be replaced by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, effectively immediately. Steve, Newsie and Jed all debunk the "shakeup" meme and liken the move to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Democrats.com: Bush proclaims National Park Week, cuts funding
Newsie and Jed all debunk the "shakeup" meme and liken the move to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Democrats.com: Bush proclaims National Park Week, cuts funding

Some things you just can't make up.

Remember the Bolton Scream? (video)

Back in '05, Joe was featured in an ad promoting the appointment of John Bolton by Move AmericaForward, a highly partisan right wing group. At the time he was only one of two Democrats that were undecided on Bolton's nomination.

Meanwhile:

"Two prominent Republican lobbyists, Craig Fuller and H.P. Goldfield, hosted a fund-raising dinner Thursday evening at Goldfield's Washington home for Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman, seeking re-election in Connecticut this year....read on"

Just another reason to support Ned Lamont.

"I think it is inappropriate and illegitimate for an international civil servant to second-guess the conduct that we're engaged in in the war on terror, with nothing more as evidence than what she reads in the newspapers." - John Bolton, our U.N. ambassador."

Read Sullivan's comments.

Bolton is another (dangerous) laughing stock in a long line of Bush cronies.