I've largely refrained from posting about the Bush White House ever since Obama became president, but sometimes my self-imposed ban is hard to maintain. Now that Bush is out of office, we're finding that the actual illegalities are just as bad, if not worse, than imagined. The firings of the U.S. attorneys, for example, were politically motivated and were orchestrated … Read More
Welcome Home
Laura Ling's touching and emotional press conference on the tarmac after returning to America following President Clinton's intervention with the North Koreans: It should be noted that these Americans were freed, we didn't have to give up anything, and no shots were fired. This, of course, has the rightwingers pissed, apparently because they weren't rescued by Chuck Norris using laser … Read More
Yet Another Reason Why John Bolton Should Shut Up
So you may have heard that former President Bill Clinton went to North Korea today to negotiate the release of two American journalists being held by the North Koreans. Arch-conservative and former U.N. Ambassador under Bush, John Bolton, wrote this morning: Clinton’s Unwise Trip to North Korea […] The point to be made on the Clinton visit is that the knee-jerk … Read More
CIA Admits It Lied To Congress For Years
Dog Bites Man story: WASHINGTON — The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon E. Panetta, has told the House Intelligence Committee in closed-door testimony that the C.I.A. concealed “significant actions” from Congress from 2001 until late last month, seven Democratic committee members said. In a June 26 letter to Mr. Panetta discussing his testimony, Democrats said that the agency … Read More
A Nobel Peace Prize For….. Twitter?
There's some serious discussion about it, mostly because of the role it played in involving the world in the Iranian revolt. Of course, what did Twitter actually do? It provided the platform. It was the people using Twitter that really "done good". So giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Twitter is kind of like Time magazine making "you" the Person … Read More
Keeping Secrets
It's kind of amazing that nobody knew that New York Times reporter David Rohde had been kidnapped by the Taliban on November 10, and remained in their custody for several months. Well, the New York Times and the government knew of course, but they (rightly) decided to keep the information quiet. They figured that publicity would add to Rohde's value … Read More
Who Do Americans Trust To Handle Terrorism?
For decades, the American people believed that the Republican Party, despite whatever else they may lack, was the go-to party on issues involving national security and terrorism. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll from 2002 said that 57% of Americans felt Republicans were better on handling terrorism (only 22% favored Democrats). An NBC/WSJ poll from 2002 said that 49% of registered voters preferred Republicans to deal with terrorism (compared to 13% … Read More
The Actor And The “Bullet Fee”
If you were following the situation in Iran this weekend, you no doubt already know about Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman shot and killed in Iran on Saturday, who has since become an international symbol from the time the gruesome video of her death went online. [I won't post the Neda video here — too disturbing even for me — but you can … Read More
More Right Wing Terrorism
Shawna Forde is part of the rightwing anti-immigration crusade. Via Crook and Liars, we can see her in this local TV panel show discussing her views on illegal immigration: The clip concludes with this: Forde: I'd like to see two things on there. Not just about the people who came here legally, and are here legally, but how about the … Read More
On Obama’s Silence on Iran
This is typical of the rightwing reaction to what's happening in Iran — Bill Kristol: This isn’t September 1939. But the developments in Tehran are a potentially big moment, signaling the possible transformation or at least reformation of the Iranian regime. American principles and American interests argue for support of the Iranian people in this crisis. And where is the … Read More
Iranian Election Tragedy
It's all a little hard to digest, so I don't have much to say. One really hoped for a non-fraudulent election there, with the popular pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi emerging victorious, but it really looks like something odd and unsavory occurred. (For example, Mousavi was leading Ahmadinejad by 2 to 1 in Tehran in a poll last week, but … Read More
Surrendermonkeys
Glenn Beck, via Salon, via Steve Benen: On his show Wednesday, Beck tried to puzzle out the political meaning of the attack on the U.S. Holocaust Museum. Alleged shooter James Von Brunn, Beck said, is "a lone gunman nutjob." Fair enough. "You're going to see a lot of nutjobs coming out of the woodwork now." Uh-oh. Scarier still, all of … Read More
The Dumbest Thing Written (So Far) About The Holocaust Museum Shooting
From Debbie Schlussel, in a post entitled "So What If The Holocaust Museum Shooter Is A White Christian…..?": Make no mistake. Muslims created this atmosphere where hatred of the Jews is okay and must be "tolerated" as a legitimate point of view. The shooting today is just yet another manifestation emanating from that viewpoint–another manifestation of the welcome mat that … Read More
Holocaust Museum Shooting
It's all unfolding now. Two people (perhaps 3) shot by a gunman in the Holocaust Musuem in D.C.. The gunman was also apparently shot and is in custody. Too early, of course, to determine the motive, but since it was at the Holocaust Museum, one can surmise that the shooter was anti-Jew. From there, it's not a far leap to suppose … Read More
Anti-Abortion Terrorist Cell
He could be crazy, but it's hard not to think that the murderer of Dr. George Tiller was not acting as a lone wolf, especially when he says things like this: "I know there are many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal," Roeder said. When asked by the AP what he meant and … Read More