Reuters reports that Bush has "privately expressed annoyance to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld" over the issue.

"Privately expressed annoyance"?!! And the Understatement of the Year Award goes to...

Bush knew about these reports since at least Mid-January when the military released a statement which was reported briefly in the media --- BUT WITHOUT PICTURES.

So it was the pictures that disturbs the "President". Not the fact of what actually happened there? Perhaps if our "President" actually read news sources instead of relying on his pals to keep him informed, he would have seen this report from CNN on January 21st of this year, which speaks of:

Or this story from The Nation on March 11, which speaks of the Arab Journalist who was arrested and taken to Abu Ghraib:

But it's best "not to point fingers" and to "express annoyance privately"?

The point here is not there were a few bad apples at Abu Ghraib. If you bother to read the Taguba Report or pay attention to what's actually being said by the people involved the point is that there are not enough resources, not enough personnel, no planning whatsoever at all for what's going on, and no training whatsoever to execute that non-plan!

It goes all the way up the food chain, folks. If you see this as just "an isolated few incidents" or a "few bad apples" you're kidding yourselves. The way the Bushies still seem to be. There is blame and systematic failure enough to go all the way up the food chain. Unless Bush learns how to take accountability for anything --- that means some of his buddies are gonna have to GO --- then this thing is only gonna get much much darker from here.

We all wondered if he learned his lesson after missing the FBI's impossible to decipher memo entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." on August 6th of 2001. I guess we can stop wondering.

If it don't come with pictures, in color, he ain't gonna get it.

Don Rumsfeld: "I think that --- I'm not a lawyer. My impression is that what has been charged thus far is abuse, which I believe technically is different from torture. I don't know if it is correct to say what you just said, that torture has taken place, or that there's been a conviction for torture. And therefore I'm not going to address the torture word."

Meanwhile Josh Marshall points to this, from the Report of Major General Antonio M. Taguba, assigned by the Pentagon to investigate the not-torture of Iraqi prisoners:

Makes the old "it depends on what the meaning of is is" look so quant in reflection.

The Rabid Anti-American March of the Right continues. After censoring last week's Nightline and running Howard Stern off the air, it looks like it's now Academy Award Winning Director and #1 Best-Selling Author Michael Moore's turn. Coulda seen this one coming.

Disney has blocked distribution of Moore's latest documentary "Farenheit 9/11" (his last one won the Oscar) according to an article in today's New York Times citing their right to prevent Miramax (a Disney-owned subsidiary) "from from distributing films under certain circumstances, like an excessive budget or an NC-17 rating."

According to Moore, the reason they are blocking it, is neither of the above. From the Times piece...

It should also be noted that the non-alienating, family friendly movie Pulp Fiction and the charmingly sweet non-alienating family blood-baths Kill Bill Vols 1 & 2 were Miramax projects distributed by Disney.

Are there still any real conservatives out there who actually stand by what is now going on in this country?

If you can't beat 'em, censor 'em, I guess. Unbelievable.

It took a few years since Craig Kilborn left to prove that in fact, it's The Daily Show that rocks. Not Craig Kilborn.

From their "Indecision '04" coverage to their "Mess o' Potamia" updates, "The Daily" offers nightly some of the sharpest Political Satire available anywhere these days. Sharp enough, apparently, that they're now able to attract from the political 'A-List' for most evening's guest segments. Recent heavyweights have included Bob Woodward, Madeleine Albright, Bob Kerrey, Karen Hughes, Bob Dole and Richard Clarke to name just a few.

But, as usual, it's the writing that earns the big bucks.

Consider this exchange from last night's show as Jon Stewart was interviewing "Senior Political Analyst" Rob Corddry about Sinclair Broadcasting's decision to block last Friday's Nightline tribute to "The Fallen" in Iraq.

Stewart asks Corddry if he thought the Nightline show has a biased political agenda as Sinclair suggested:

:-) Good stuff...It's remarkable really that Jon Stewart hasn't yet been added to the Freedom Haters Club along with Michael Moore, Al Franken et al. Probably just a matter of time.

Won't give too much away in case you haven't yet caught last Sunday's episode of The Soprano's - but here's a heads up. After a few on again off again episodes, the latest managed to blow every episode this season outta the water. Top-notch writing and acting in every storyline of the night, plus one shocker that I'd defy any fan to not --- literally --- scream out loud upon viewing. If you didn't catch it yet, do so immediately. A lot went down in this week's superlative episode!

While we try and be Fair & Balanced here at the Brad Blog, occassionally, it's nice to let the Professionals just kick some ass...

"The Senator from Massachusetts has given us ample grounds to doubt the judgment and the attitude he brings to bear on vital issues of national security. "
- Vice-President Dick Cheney, Speech at Westminster College, Fulton, MO, 4/26/2004

FLASHBACK! Previous judgement and attitude brought to bear on vital issues of national security by Cheney and Bush...:

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."
- Vice-President Dick Cheney, Speech to VFW National Convention, 8/26/2002

"The Iraqi regime . . . possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons."
- Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush, Cincinnati, Ohio Speech 10/7/2002

"After eleven years during which we have tried containment, sanctions, inspections, even selected military action, the end result is that Saddam Hussein still has chemical and biological weapons and is increasing his capabilities to make more. And he is moving ever closer to developing a nuclear weapon."
- Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush, Cincinnati, Ohio Speech, 10/7/2002

"In Iraq, a dictator is building and hiding weapons that could enable him to dominate the Middle East and intimidate the civilized world --- and we will not allow it."
- Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush, Speech to the American Enterprise Institute, 2/26/2003

"But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them."
- Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush, Interview with TVP Poland, 5/30/2003

More HERE if you've got the stomach for it...

NEXT WEEK: "It'll be a cakewalk! We'll be greeted as Liberators!"
WEEK AFTER: "We don't need the United Nations!"
WEEK AFTER THAT: "They'll be able to pay for their own reconstruction from oil revenues!"
WEEK AFTER WEEK AFTER THAT: "We can trust Chalabi!"

Even the hardest to the Right seem to now be recognizing what a fine Mess o' Potamia we've gotten ourselves into...

And finally, Eleanor Clift, who still makes my ears bleed, but she got off a good line nonetheless: