Bush to Veto Bill Banning Waterboarding

It's official--Bush is a Fascist:

The White House says President Bush will veto legislation on Saturday that would have barred the CIA from using waterboarding - a technique that simulates drowning - and other harsh interrogation methods on terror suspects.

Bush has said the bill would harm the government's ability to prevent future attacks. Supporters of the legislation argue that it preserves the United States' right to collect critical intelligence while boosting the country's moral standing abroad.

"The bill would take away one of the most valuable tools on the war on terror, the CIA program to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives," deputy White House press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday.

Employers Slash Jobs by Most in 5 years

Economic news just keeps getting worse:

Employers slashed jobs by 63,000 in February, the most in five years, the starkest sign yet the country is heading dangerously toward recession or is in one already.

The Labor Department's report, released Friday, also showed that the nation's unemployment rate dipped to 4.8 percent as hundreds of thousands of people — perhaps discouraged by their prospects — left the civilian labor force. The jobless rate was 4.9 percent in January.

The consumer thinks things are bad:

Confidence in the economy dropped to a new low as worries about a possible recession, persistent problems in the housing and credit markets and lofty energy prices put people in a more gloomy mind-set.

According to the RBC Cash Index, confidence sank to a mark of 33.1 in early March, down from 48.5 in February. The new reading was the worst since the index began in 2002 and surpassed the previous low reached in February.

[...]The continued deterioration in confidence comes even as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has signaled that the central bank will keep on cutting a key interest rate to bolster the economy. Congress and the White House, meanwhile, have speedily enacted a relief package that includes tax rebates for people and tax breaks for businesses. Rebates of up to $600 for individuals or $1,200 for married couples should start going out in May.

Over the past year, consumer confidence has fallen sharply, underscoring the toll of the ailing housing market and a credit crunch that has made it more difficult for people to secure financing for big-ticket purchases such as homes and cars. Last March, confidence stood at 92.3. The index is based on results of the international polling firm Ipsos.

House Panel Questions High Pay for CEOs

Corporations make big profits from debt and CEOs get obscene salaries and bonuses. Congress wants to investigate this greed, but they themselves are to blame for the subprime mess:

The heads of three companies implicated in the mortgage crisis have been asked to explain how they collectively received hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation while their companies were losing money.

[...]The committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has held several hearings on the issue of high executive compensation. Last December it looked at large, publicly traded companies that hire compensation consultants who are receiving millions of dollars from corporate executives whose compensation they were supposed to assess.

Republicans on the committee questioned the need for the hearing, saying it falls outside the panel's primary role of investigating waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.

Larry David: "Does Anyone Want this nut Answering the Phone?"

Another Hollywood lefty whose turned on Hillary:

Here's an idea for an Obama ad: a montage of Clinton's Sybillish personalities that have surfaced during the campaign with a solemn voiceover at the end saying, "Does anyone want this nut answering the phone?"

[...]A few weeks ago, I started to feel sorry for her. Oh Christ, let her win already...Who cares...It's not worth it. There's not that much difference between them. She can have it. Anything to avoid watching her descend into madness. So I switched. I started rooting for her. It wasn't that hard. Compromise comes easy to me. I was on board.

And then I saw the ad.

I watched, transfixed, as she took the 3 a.m. call...and I was afraid...very afraid. Suddenly, I realized the last thing this country needs is that woman anywhere near a phone. I don't care if it's 3 a.m. or 10 p.m. or any other time. I don't want her talking to Putin, I don't want her talking to Kim Jong Il, I don't want her talking to my nephew. She needs a long rest. She needs to put on a sarong and some sun block and get away from things for a while, a nice beach somewhere -- somewhere far away, where there are...no phones.

Clinton Campaign Behind Canada-Nafta Scandal

Will the Clinton gang get away with this latest dirty trick that might've cost Barack votes during Tuesday's primaries? It once illustrates how Hillary and her thug campaign workers will do anything to win this election. The press should be all over this story. So far it looks like this major scandal is being given little publicity. It's almost as if the Hillary is being rewarded for dirty tricks. All the talk is about how Barack has to, and has, changed his campaign tactics. No, it should be about how the press could start reporting on dishonest Clinton campaign tactics:

The Hillary Clinton campaign has again denied any communication with Canadian officials indicating her anti-NAFTA statements should be taken with "a grain of salt."

The allegation was made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief of staff Ian Brodie in an informal discussion with journalists in Ottawa in the midst of the Ohio Democratic primary.

"We flatly deny this report," said Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer.

"It didn't happen."

It is at least the third time the Clinton campaign has issued such a denial.

Clinton used a Canadian memo, leaked to The Associated Press, to great advantage in Ohio this week, painting rival Barack Obama as soft on trade because a Canadian diplomat believed the Illinois senator's top economic adviser had told him Obama's anti-NAFTA statements were "political positioning."

The scandal is rocking Canada:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expanding the investigation into the government leaks that rocked the U.S. presidential race, a decision that could put the future of his own senior aide in jeopardy.

Harper announced the broader probe by an internal security team yesterday after The Canadian Press said it was unguarded comments by Ian Brodie, his chief of staff, that set the controversy in motion and eventually undermined presidential hopeful Barack Obama in a key race this week.

"We will investigate this entire matter and take whatever action is deemed to be necessary, based on the facts we are able to discover," the Prime Minister said in the Commons yesterday.

As well, David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, signalled Washington's quiet displeasure at the controversy.

"I guess you could say it shouldn't have happened. It was interference. But again, I don't think it's something the Canadian government did in its official capacity," Wilkins said in an interview with CBC Radio's The House, to be aired tomorrow.

"I think they've expressed their deep regret and, quite frankly, I accepted that," Wilkins said.