Dan Rather to CBS: I'll see you in Court!

Dan Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit Wednesday against CBS, claiming the network made him a "scapegoat" for a discredited story about President Bush's military service.

The 75-year-old Rather, whose final months were clouded by controversy over the report, says the complaint stems from "CBS' intentional mishandling" of the aftermath of the story.

The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, also names CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves, Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone, and former CBS News President Andrew Heyward.

Rather, the former anchorman of the CBS Evening News, is seeking $20 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages.

CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said: "These complaints are old news, and this lawsuit is without merit."

Rather narrated the September 2004 report that claimed President Bush skirted some of his duties during his National Guard service and that a commander felt pressured to sugarcoat Bush's record. He maintains the story was true.

But an independent review for the network determined the story was neither fair nor accurate. CBS fired three news executives and a producer for airing it.

Whatever you do, Vote Blue

I just finished watching the Republican 2008 Presidential Debate and I'm amazed at how much these guys continue to prove to be dunderheaded buffoons. Who could honestly vote for any of these knuckleheads? The guys in the lead, Rudy, McCain and Romney really have nothing to offer. Their best lines are snipes at the Democrats, but even then they have little to offer. They scream "The Democrats have the wrong idea on how to turn the country around" and yet it's the Republicans who've been in control of the country for the past eight, long years.

Ron Paul made a interesting case for himself as the only GOP candidate who wanted to get out of Iraq and stop policing the world. Sadly he's not taken seriously. Mitt Romney spent the 2nd half of the debate rambling on about and I quote, "America is the future! We're the future! Future!" without ever really making a point or elaborating the thought. McCain basically said everything that Bush has done is right. We've terribly mismanaged the war, but let's stick with it as is. It's a shame we have 13 million illegal immigrants, but a quick fix is to just call them legal. John's turned into Bush v.2.0 and finally Rudy has nothing to say outside of: "This is a threat to national security, Hilary Clinton doesn't know what she's talking about". Which is his answer to everything.

Some other amusing notes about the lineup for the 08' race on the RNC side:

Several of the candidates don't believe in evolution. ("You won't make a monkey out of me!")

Huckabee and others declared that their goal in the White House would be to "preserve life" (IE: Outlaw abortion).

NONE of the candidates believe gays should be able to openly serve in the military. (Just keep it a secret, then you can die in our war, but if you admit to it, your a nuisance and can't die in our war.)

No one has a exit strategy for Iraq, their solution, sans Ron Paul, is to just stay there until it works. (Good one guys!)

John McCain supports a bill that won't put a fence on the border, but will grant free admission to the US and citizenship to any and all illegal immigrants. (Hola amigo! Here have my social security!)

Oh and one of them wants to ban LEGAL immigration. (This is our country, you will be assimilated and no one new will come in!)

I see now why Fred Thompson is being heralded as the supposed savior of the Republican 08' race. Unfortunately this is totally on the fact that he hasn't opened his mouth yet. Thompson at this point is just a name and a face, with no real credentials or history, no policies or plans. He's only trumpeted because these other candidates suck so bad. I could be the Republican 08' nominee too if I wasn't actually in the race and making idiotic comments like the current crop of front runners. The GOP is so overcome with the neo-cons, the religious right and the faux-patriotic that true conservatives have no place in the party.

My View on The View

Generally I try to keep my political views to myself. Lately though, it seems like the majority of the American public have moved away from that idea, with a growing number of them expressing their concerns on the internet. Those of us in more fortunate standings, i.e. Hollywood and the Press, have the ability to not only make their opinions known, but also to make them known on a wide scale level. Case in point, The View. I’ve never been a fan of the show, and up until the whole debacle over Starr Jones leaving the show, I had never given it any thought. But when Rosie O’Donnell stepped in and replaced Meredith Viera, I thought to myself “What the hell, I’ll check it out”. Low and behold, the show was still everything I always knew it to be, a hen-house full of cackling broads, each screaming louder than the other trying to make their point known. This past week, the show received a large amount of publicity, over a massive argument between Comedienne Joy Behar, Host Rosie O’Donnell, and former Survivor contestant Elizabeth Hasselbeck. The majority of the argument being fought out by O’Donnell and Hasselbeck.

A discussion on President Bush and Al Gore turned ugly as O'Donnell and Hasselbeck challenged each other on the war in Iraq. Then the exchange turned to the topic of their friendship and professionally supporting each other in the media. "You are an adult. Defend your own thoughts," Hasselbeck said, to which O'Donnell retorted: "But when I do, it's 'poor Elizabeth' I'm picking on. That's why I'm not going to fight with you anymore." Hasselbeck shot back: "That's why you like to fight with Donald Trump." That's when show producers split the screen to show both women arguing. What resulted was a nine minute long digression between the two, that left my ears on the verge of spewing blood. Being a rather left-leaning liberal, I found Elizabeth to be one of the most ignorant people on the face of the planet. It bewilders me that anyone could possibly take the position she and so many other take when it comes to the current situation in Iraq, as well as here at home. How anyone could possibly support the man in office, leaves me scratching my head. When the last president slept with a woman who was not his wife, thousands called for his blood, and he was nearly impeached from his office…but when this man commits acts Criminal nature, War Crimes even, they just sit back and praise him! Why? What do they have so invested in him? We know why the big oil companies like him…hell, everyone knows that. But this is the same man who has stood by countless officials in his cabinet when they’ve made plunder after plunder. This is the same man who gave a no bid contract to the company owned by his VP! This is the same man, who on 9/11 sat in a classroom reading to school children for SEVEN minutes after the attack on the WTC, with nothing short of a scared look on his face. George W. Bush never in a million years knew what he was getting himself in to, and when someone like Rosie O’Donnell points that out to the masses, people like that little Elizabeth Hasselbeck get their primadonna panties in a wad. God forbid anyone speak the truth about Potentate Bush.

That is until Al Gore finally got his head out of his Globally Warmed Ass. Gore has finally stepped up to the plate, taking a no holds barred shot at Bush, in his new book, entitled: The Assault on Reason. In “The Assault on Reason” Al Gore cuts in to George W. Bush, asserting that the president is “out of touch with reality,” that his administration is so incompetent that it “can’t manage its own way out of a horse show,” that it ignored “clear warnings” about the terrorist threat before 9/11 and that it has made Americans less safe by “stirring up a hornets’ nest in Iraq,” while using “the language and politics of fear” to try to “drive the public agenda without regard to the evidence, the facts or the public interest.”

He argues that the gruesome acts of torture committed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq “were a direct consequence of the culture of impunity — encouraged, authorized and instituted” by President Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. And he writes that the violations of civil liberties committed by the Bush-Cheney administration — including its secret authorization of the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without a court order on calls and e-mail messages between the United States and other countries, and its suspension of the rights of due process for “enemy combatants” — demonstrate “a disrespect for America’s Constitution that has now brought our republic to the brink of a dangerous breach in the fabric of democracy.”
Similar charges have been made by a growing number of historians, political analysts and even former administration insiders, and President Bush’s plummeting approval ratings have further emboldened his critics. But Mr. Gore writes not just as a former vice president and the man who won the popular vote in the 2000 election, but also as a possible future candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 race for the White House, and the vehemence of his language and his arguments make statements about the Bush administration by already announced candidates like Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton seem polite and mild-mannered in contrast.

As Americans we all reserve the right to believe in what we want, who we want, and for whatever reason we have. It's in the Constitution. From my point of view, our President is a War Criminal, and I assure you I am far from being the only one who thinks so. Sure, he's no Hitler or Musselini, but even if he were, would the press tell you the truth? The overwhelming majority of Americans are completely and totally unaware of what's going on around them, and what's even worse, is that a large majority of them are okay with that! Too many people are perfectly fine with being oblivious to the fucked up situation we're all stuck in. To quote Bill Maher "the thing that makes me mad the most, is that enough people aren't mad!" What are we waiting for America? This man has a year+ left in office...we have to make an impact before it's too late. We have to stand up for ourselves, we have rights too! We as Americans need to come together, and speak out. There's nothing illegal or wrong about doing it! Sure, there's going to be people like Elizabeth Hasselbeck or won't agree with us, and who will try to shut us down. But it's okay, let Elizabeth continue her trite banter. In the end, she'll get hers. They always do. The time for change is now, people. Stand up, and fight back. Use your voice. Otherwise...