Unhealthy enemas put tourists in hospital

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russians visiting a health resort received a rude shock when a nurse used hydrogen peroxide instead of water to give them enemas.

Itar-Tass news agency reported Thursday that 17 tourists in the Caucasus spa town of Yessentuki had to be treated in hospital after the mix-up.

Sources at the sanatorium said the mistake was explained by water and hydrogen peroxide looking the same. Hydrogen peroxide, which can be used to bleach hair, is used as a disinfectant but should not be ingested.

Rocky Anderson takes down Billo

Fratto’s FISA Fearmongering: In 3 Weeks, Terrorists ‘Can Be Free’ To Make Calls Without Surveillance

On Feb. 1, the Bush administration’s broad expansion of its surveillance powers in the hastily-passed Protect America Act are set to expire. Facing a confrontation in the Senate over the inclusion of retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said he “is likely to push for a one-month extension of the existing law to give Congress and the White House time to work out a compromise.”

But the White House is balking at Reid’s approach, stoking fears of a terrorist attack if it does not get everything they want on a permanent basis. Spokesman Tony Fratto told Congressional Quarterly yesterday that without the immediate passage of legislation, “terrorists” will soon “be free to make phone calls without fear of being surveilled“:

“We’re exactly three weeks away,” he said, “from the date when terrorists can be free to make phone calls without fear of being surveilled by U.S. intelligence agencies”.

Fratto’s contention is flat-out misleading. As CQ’s Keith Perine notes, “intelligence agents would not be instantly hobbled if the law were to expire Feb. 1.” In fact, surveillance authorizations would still “remain in effect until a year after they were issued”:

The existing law allows the National Intelligence director and the attorney general to authorize surveillance aimed at people outside the United States — even if they are communicating with people inside the country — for up to one year, subject to some conditions.

Even after Feb. 1, any such surveillance authorizations would remain in effect until a year after they were issued.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who favors denying retroactive immunity, says the White House is creating a “false choice” by claiming that “if you want to give all the power to the president, you’re in favor of America” and if not, you’re “in favor of the terrorists.”

dumb fuck billo at it again

billo...fair? Bullshit

O'Reilly unhinged

dumb fuck billo at it again

Dumbass Billo' Fucking Fascist

Chris Matthews' Vampire Imitations

This soo funny!

Townsend: fear of subpoenas ‘crippling’ White House.

In an interview with the NY Times, President Bush’s outgoing homeland security aide Francis Fragos Townsend said she was concerned about “the acrimony” that hangs over Bush’s last year in office. “I find it both offensive and crippling,” she said. “When both career people and political people are worried about getting subpoenaed, it’s hard to get a lot accomplished.” Steve Benen responds, “Oh, those poor, poor White House officials. If only Congress would go back to ignoring the administration’s scandalous, sometimes criminal, behavior, the president and his aides would find it much easier to go about their business without the fear of accountability.”

Snow: Situation In Iraq Was ‘Sour’ For Only ‘15 Months’

In a new interview with Reason magazine, former White House press secretary Tony Snow attempts to whitewash the failures of the Bush administration in Iraq, claiming that the only time the situation was “sour” was for 15 months, between Feb. 2006 and early 2007:

Reason: There’s a strong sense, borne out by action or the lack thereof, that the president is impervious to his critics. So for a long time, people had been telling him that the Iraq war wasn’t going well, but he was not listening.

Snow: The critics quite often have criticisms but they don’t have recommendations. The new narrative is that somehow the Iraq war has been a failure for a long time and that everybody knows that it’s been a failure for a long time. The period when Iraq went sour was from the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samara in February 2006 until really the surge in 2007. Fifteen months, maybe?

Even out of the administration, Snow is still repeating the talking point that the Feb. 2006 bombing was the start of Iraq’s deteriorating security situation. In January, Snow also claimed that no one anticipated the “eruption of sectarian violence.” While such fighting did escalate after the bombing, it wasn’t calm before that point. A look at the pre-Samara situation one more time for Snow:

– “The numbers of car bombs, suicide car bombs and roadside bombs all doubled from 2004 to 2005.”

– In 2005, there were more U.S. casualties in Iraq (846) than there were in 2006 (821).

– On Feb. 27, 2005, Knight Ridder quoted then-Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim warning about sectarian violence, “It’s the beginning, and we could go down the slippery slope very quickly. … Both sides are sharpening their knives.”

– On Sept. 26, 2005, CBS News reported that “there is an undeclared civil war already underway in Iraq, between the Sunni minority who ruled this country under Saddam and the Shiite majority.”

Furthermore, it’s premature to declare victory in Iraq. Military commanders and other Iraq experts have warned that the “positive” momentum is “not yet irreversible” and Iraq is “going nowhere” in “political terms.