Despite the pie-in-the-sky propagandistic high-fives of those in the non-reality-based community, it seems that things in Iraq aren’t going that well: In interviews and briefings this week, some of the generals pulled back from recent suggestions, some by the same officers, that positive trends in Iraq could allow a major drawdown in the 138,000 American troops late this year or … Read More
Tolerance For Terrorism?
A guy plants a bomb on a plane, and it blows up, killing all the men, women and children civilians on board. That’s a terrorist act, right? And if were up to Bush—the architect of the “war on terrorism”—that guy would be captured, killed, prosecuted, tortured, etc., right? Right? Well, Daddy Bush picked up the bat on this issue once, … Read More
Frist Chokes Bigtime
Shorter Frist: Single judicial filibusters are constitutional, but judicial filibusters of more-than-one judge is not. This morning on the floor of the Senate, Sen. Chuck Schumer asked Majority Leader Bill Frist a simple question: SEN. SCHUMER: Isn’t it correct that on March 8, 2000, my colleague [Sen. Frist] voted to uphold the filibuster of Judge Richard Paez? Here was Frist’s … Read More
Bill Moyers Explains It All
More like this please. Unfortunately, Bill Moyer’s speech on the failure of journalism and the independence of public television is far too long to reproduce here, even for an extended post. I therefore encourage everyone to read it all. Choice excerpts are below the fold. On “radical right-wingers”: Who are they? I mean the people obsessed with control, using the … Read More
Pentagon Kettle Meets Newsweek Pot
Pentagon spokesman Larry Dirita today announces some uncorroborated and unverified “facts” to the world: We’ve found nothing that would substantiate anything that you just said about the treatment of a Koran. We have, other than what we’ve seen – that it’s possible detainees themselves have done with pages of the Koran. And I don’t want to overstate that, either, because … Read More
Hiding From The Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Trall
Uses for a towel: “wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Trall (a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you–daft as a brush, but very very ravenous).”—from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Apparently, HGTG is a book read by … Read More
Conyer’s Letter
Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) has just issued a sharply worded letter to White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan over the Administration’s response to a Newsweek article. Full text below the fold.
GOP Titanic Sinking — Repubs Blame Newsweek
Poll taken 5/11-15. Margin of Error=4%. (March 2005 results in parentheses) Bush approval ratings Approve 43 (49) Disapprove 50 (46) Congressional Republicans Approve 35 (39) Disapprove 50 (44) Congressional Democrats Approve 39 (37) Disapprove 41 (44) Latest Pew Poll From social security bamboozlement to Schiavo to “nuclear options” to Delay to hyperkinetic ‘blame the media” fits, the American public knows … Read More
Oil-For-Food Kickback Scheme and U.S. Fingerprints
I think I know why the White House is screaming about Newsweek. It’s diversionary. They knew another story was about to break, and break it has: The United States administration turned a blind eye to extensive sanctions-busting in the prewar sale of Iraqi oil, according to a new Senate investigation. A report released last night by Democratic staff on a … Read More
Red State Morality
Tennessee has a law on its books which makes it legal for a husband to rape his wife. In other words, Tennessee outlaws rape, but it carves an exception for spousal rape. In an attempt to enter the 21st century, some Tennessee legislators introduced a bill to make spousal rape illegal, just like any other kind of rape. Would you … Read More
Newsweek/Qur’an
There is a lot of stupidity and hyperbole surrounding this story about a story. It’s been tough to pick out the most outrageously over-reactive response. But the White House tipped the scales of stupidity: The White House said on Monday an inaccurate Newsweek report based on an anonymous source had damaged the U.S. image overseas by claiming U.S. interrogators desecrated … Read More
The Downing Street Memo
Since the press isn’t going to report it, it is a good thing that bloggers are doing the analysis. Here’s a nice summary table from downingstreetmemo.com: Facts of the Memo:July 23, 2002 Words of theBush Administrationleading up to War in Iraq “There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, … Read More
Is Real ID A Good I.D.-a?
Congress is attempting to pass the Real ID Act (text of the bill and the Congressional Research Services analysis of the bill), which would establish uniform standards for state driver’s licenses, effectively creating a national ID card. A number of criticisms of the idea have made their way around the blogosphere. For example, the Real ID Act requires driver’s licenses … Read More
They Have Girlfriends In Canada, I Bet
Three guys — proud virgins all — who couldn’t get laid on their best day. Three guys who are socially inept because they were homeschooled and don’t know how to talk to women, even if they got within the vicinity of one. These are the poster boys for the conservative youth movement on college campuses. Ezra puts the spotlight on … Read More
Takes One To Know One?
Directly below is a post about several on the homo-obsessed Religious Reich who won’t rest until Jesus’ work is done by eradicating and condemning to hell anyone with an alternate lifestyle. You may wonder, as I did, how these homophobes got to be so supposedly knowledgeable about perverted sex. Meet Neil Horsley, America’s leading anti-abortion webmaster, is the profane voice … Read More