4.30.2004 ''Patriot Act Suppresses News Of Challenge to Patriot Act'' By Dan Eggen - Washington Post Staff Writer Pointer from AlterNet
4.29.2004 A Vision of Power - By PAUL KRUGMAN
"What Mr. Cheney is defending, in other words, is a doctrine that makes the United States a sort of elected dictatorship: a system in which the president, once in office, can do whatever he likes, and isn't obliged to consult or inform either Congress or the public.
Not long ago I would have thought it inconceivable that the Supreme Court would endorse that doctrine. But I would also have thought it inconceivable that a president would propound such a vision in the first place.'' Pointer from AlterNet
4.29.2004 "Justice Dept. Drops Demand for Hospital's Abortion Files" By SUSAN SAULNY - New York Times Pointer from naw
4.29.2004 "White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr., who famously whispered in the president's ear, "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack," has previously said that Bush left the Florida classroom he was sitting in within seconds.
But Paltrow wrote that "uncut videotape of the classroom visit obtained from the local cable-TV station director who shot it, and interviews with the teacher and principal, show that Mr. Bush remained in the classroom not for mere seconds, but for at least seven additional minutes. He followed along for five minutes as children read aloud a story about a pet goat. Then he stayed for at least another two minutes, asking the children questions and explaining to Ms. Rigell that he would have to leave more quickly than planned."
4.29.2004 The Chalabis' kangaroo court. Pointer from Joshua Micah Marshall
4.28.2004 Rebuilding America's Defenses. The Project for the New American Century.
" a 2000 report by the Project for the New American Century, listed 27 people as having attended meetings or contributed papers in preparation of the report. Among them are six who have since assumed key defense and foreign policy positions in the Bush administration. And the report seems to have become a blueprint for Bush's foreign and defense policy."
...
"The 2000 report directly acknowledges its debt to a still earlier document, drafted in 1992 by the Defense Department. That document had also envisioned the United States as a colossus astride the world, imposing its will and keeping world peace through military and economic power. When leaked in final draft form, however, the proposal drew so much criticism that it was hastily withdrawn and repudiated by the first President Bush. "
...
"The defense secretary in 1992 was Richard Cheney; the document was drafted by Wolfowitz, who at the time was defense undersecretary for policy"
By JAY BOOKMAN 29 September 2002.
4.28.2004 "Deaths of scores of mercenaries not reported" - By Robert Fisk and Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad - 13 April 2004. Here.
4.28.2004 "The president keeps telling us -- no, insisting -- that the economy is getting better. Think again. " By Lawrence Mishel
American Prospect online.
"Consider this point in a new ad, titled "Working to Keep America Working," which hypes the Bush administration's record: "Unemployment rate after Bill Clinton's third year, 5.6%. Unemployment rate after G.W. Bush's third year, 5.6%." True, but isn't it gutsy to say this seeing as the unemployment rate was about 4 percent when Bush was elected (therefore it rose 1.6 percentage points to 5.6 percent) and was 7.5 percent when Clinton was elected (therefore it fell almost 2 percentage points to 5.6 percent)?
Another part of the ad makes it seem as if poverty has been reduced by the current administration: "Poverty in Clinton's years, 10.5%; Poverty in G.W. Bush's years, 9.5%." You would never know that the poverty rate was 8.7 percent in Clinton's last year (2000) and rose to 9.6 percent in 2002 (the latest year of available data). In contrast, poverty was 11.9 percent in 1992 when Clinton was first elected and fell to 8.7 percent, a drop of more than 2 percentage points.
...
When the "missing labor force" (those who left or never entered the labor market because of a lack of jobs) is added to assess the true slack in the current economy, the unemployment rate jumps to 7.4 percent.
4.28.2004 "Democrats Want Details on Iraq Spending " ... "The two Democrats also said although the law required the White House to report quarterly on how the $40 billion was being spent, Congress has not received a report since May 2003." - By ALAN FRAM, The Associated Press The Washington Post Pointer from The Carpetbagger Report
4.28.2004 "The White House today announced it will be spending another $18 million of taxpayer money on television ads
4.28.2004 "The president's faith-based initiative is the last remnant of his "compassionate conservatism" -- but its compassion is awfully selective." By Jeffrey Dubner - American Prospect
4.28.2004 This could be ugly; "Canadian lawsuit seeks coordinates of Weblog comment authors" The Volokh Conspiracy
4.28.2004 "Hardly anybody seems to have noticed that John Negroponte is going to be a diplomatic disaster." By Matthew Yglesias -
Amerian Prospect
4.28.2004 "I've Got a Secret - Dick Cheney's absolute right to know and not tell." By Dahlia Lithwick - Slate. Pointer from Howard Bashman
4.28.2004 "Make Peace With Pot" -
By ERIC SCHLOSSER "Starting in the fall, pharmacies in British Columbia will sell marijuana for medicinal purposes, without a prescription, under a pilot project devised by Canada's national health service. The plan follows a 2002 report by a Canadian Senate committee that found there were "clear, though not definitive" benefits for using marijuana in the treatment of chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and other ailments. Both Prime Minister Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, leader of the opposition conservatives, support the decriminalization of marijuana. "
4.28.2004 Well, this explains it; chart. "The unit has often been confused with another Feith operation, called the Office of Special Plans, which Pentagon officials say was involved in prewar planning but not intelligence analysis." Here
Pointer from Joshua Micah Marshall
4.27.2004 "Oil-Slick Jim Moves In" - By Greg Palast, AlterNet
4.27.2004 "Sympathy For The Devil" ... "With the possible exception of Bill Gates, Dick Cheney is the smartest man I've ever met. If you get into a dispute with him, he will take you on a devastatingly brief tour of all the weak points in your argument." ... "Here is the problem I think Dick Cheney is trying to address at the moment: How does one assure global stability in a world where there is only one strong power?" ... "If one takes the view that war is worse than tyranny and that the latter doesn't necessarily beget the former, there is a case to be made for global despotism. That case is unfortunately stronger, in the light of history, than the proposition that nations will coexist peacefully if we all try really, really hard to be nice to each other." ... "Second, they are trying to convince every other nation on the planet that the United States is the Mother of All Rogue States, run by mad thugs in possession of 15,000 nuclear warheads they are willing to use and spending, as they already are, more on death-making capacity than all the other countries on the planet combined. In other words, they want the rest of the world to think that we are the ultimate weaving driver. Not to be trusted, but certainly not to be messed with either."
4.26.2004 "But here's some free advice for Kerry.Don't get mixed up on the details. Take this directly to the president. Tell him to turn over a new leaf in life and stop being a coward. If the president wants to attack or question your war record or what you did after the war, tell him to do it himself. No special deals, no hidden help from family retainers, no hiding behind Karen Hughes. Tell him, for once, to fight his own fights." Joshua Micah Marshall
4.26.2004 Re march for women's rights: "What's striking about this march is that women from many other countries are coming to join US women in this effort. Because as a woman in Afghanistan said to me a few months ago, and I was traveling in Kabul, nothing can change for us over here, despite our best efforts, if we don't have a policy in the United States that also supports women's rights." -
Kavita Ramdas of the Global Fund For Women: Via The Daily Kos
4.26.2004 "Thompson refuses to share Medicare estimates with lawmakers" The Carpetbagger. "House Democrats are poised to sue the Bush administration for failing to give them more specific answers on a Medicare scoring controversy that is the focus of a government investigation. " By Bob Cusack - The Hill Pointer from The Carpetbagger Report
4.26.2004 "Secret Service Investigates Teen's Art Project Depicting Bush As Devil" WFTV.com Pointer from Drudge
4.26.2004 "With Vice President Cheney set to attack his opponents Monday for supposedly wanting to cut defense spending in the 1980s, I wanted to pass along this quote from Cheney from the same time period. According to the 12/16/84 Washington Post, as a House leader, Cheney went on record and specifically attacked President Reagan for not cutting defense spending:" Dave Sirota
Pointer from Atrios
4.25.2004 "The Bush administration's strategies in Iraq are failing for many reasons. First, they are being made up as the administration goes along, without benefit of planning, adequate knowledge of the country, or the experience of comparable situations. Second, the administration has been unwilling to sustain a commitment to a particular strategy. But third, the strategies are all based on an idea of an Iraq that does not exist." ... "The best hope for holding Iraq together-and thereby avoiding civil war is to let each of its major constituent communities have, to the extent possible, the system each wants. This, too, suggests the only policy that can get American forces out of Iraq."
"How to Get Out of Iraq" By Peter W. Galbraith
The New York Review of Books Pointer from Atrios
4.25.2004 "And here you have the kernel of the problem with these folks: the combustible mix of poor judgment, a rich ideological fantasy life and pervasive disrespect for the rule of a law. It's a very dangerous combination. Josh Marshall
4.24.2004 Why were Bin laden family members allowed to leave the USA in the days following 9/11? By Craig Unger - Vanity Fair.
4.24.2004 "Open 28 secret pages on Saudis" ... "These are the 28 pages in the December 2002 report of the joint congressional inquiry into intelligence failures before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. They've been blacked out by the Bush White House." By Marie Cocco - Newsday.com Pointer from No More Mister Nice Blog
4.24.2004 "Raids Shutter Online Piracy Sites" ... "There has been a decision on the part of the Department of Justice to make these type of crimes a priority," Sierra said. ... "Congress is considering two bills that would give the Justice Department more power to fight Internet piracy" By David McGuire - washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Pointer from Google News.
4.24.2004 G.H.W. Bush and atheism. Pointer from Atrios, who says: "The issue is not religion - it's religion and politics. As long as religions aren't too coercive of their members, I'm happy for people to do what they want. But, once religion gets involved in politics I have no need to be tolerant or nice about it. I'm can be tolerant of your religion without being tolerant of your politics. That's the issue."
4.23.2004 "The new administration seems to be paying no attention to the problem of terrorism. What they will do is stagger along until there's a major incident and then suddenly say, 'Oh, my God, shouldn't we be organized to deal with this?' That's too bad. They've been given a window of opportunity with very little terrorism now, and they're not taking advantage of it. Maybe the folks in the press ought to be pushing a little bit." Paul Bremer in early 2001 per Atrios.
4.23.2004 "Diebold apologizes for failure" ... "It is an uncommon day when the nation's second-largest provider of voting systems concedes that its flagship products in California have significant security flaws and that it supplied hundreds of poorly designed electronic-voting devices that disenfranchised voters in the March presidential primary." By Ian Hoffman - Oakland Tribune. Pointer from Rick Hasen
4.23.2004 Attorneys warned "Diebold Election Systems Inc., last year that its use of uncertified vote-counting software in Alameda County violated California election law and its $12.7 million contract." By Josh Richman - Oakland Tribune Pointer from Rick Hasen
4.23.2004 What to do with nuclear waste. The Progress Report
4.23.2004 "The $700 Million Question" ... "Lawmakers now face an important choice: They can either investigate the matter or abdicate their responsibilities" - By David J. Sirota The American prospect
4.23.2004 "Do Pregnant Women Have Rights?" - By Lynn M. Paltrow, AlterNet
4.23.2004 "Cronyism and corruption are major factors in Iraq's downward spiral." Paul Krugman - nytimes.com Pointer from Atrios
4.22.2004 "Judge Pulls Feds Off Medical Pot Group " By DAVID KRAVETS
The Associated Press - washingtonpost.com.
Pointer from Drudge
4.22.2004 "Today is Earth Day and millions of Americans will celebrate by doing something to improve the environment - cleaning up trash in a local park, planting a tree, or making their home more energy efficient. Meanwhile, the Bush administration will celebrate Earth Day by inviting oil-industry officials to the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss a plan to relax pollution standards for gasoline." By David Sirota, Christy Harvey and Judd Legum, The Progress Report
via AlterNet
4.22.2004 American University Muslim Chaplin purveys hatred. The Volokh Conspiracy.
4.22.2004 "Bob Woodward caught Bush lying to Congress. It wasn't the first time." Mary Lynn F. Jones, "Repeat Offender", The American Prospect Online
4.22.2004 "Taxpayers unwittingly paying for Republican National Committee's propaganda" From Boingboing Pointer from Joshua Micah Marshall
4.22.2004 "Text of Redacted Memo by U.S. Official in Iraq Posted " Discusses UN and the oil for food program. aan news Pointer from Tom Tomorrow who says this about Woodward's statements about Bush:
4.21.2004 Copies of Kerry's application for duty in Viet Nam and Bush's opt out form. Here Pointer from The Daily Kos
4.21.2004 "Shifty Tax Cuts" By Sean Gonsalves, AlterNet.
4.21.2004 Bush's Legal Obligation to Tell Congress About $700M for Iraq Center for American Progress - Pointer from The Carpetbagger Report
4.21.2004 "Kerry isn't a supporter of terrorism any more than I am, just because we both raised some questions about whether some things in the Patriot Act go too far," said former Rep. Bob Barr, a Georgia Republican who thinks aspects of the law violate personal privacy.
4.21.2004 "Even Republicans see Bush playing politics with Iraq" from The Carpetbagger Report which points to the Washington Post's front page:
4.21.2004 "Primer: Why Bush Secretly Moving $700 Million Violates The Law"
4.21.2004 "Ahmed Chalabi's nephew Salem has now been appointed "general director" of the Iraqi war crimes tribunal which will try, among others, Saddam Hussein.
4.21.2004 The Social Security Game Pointer from Andrew Sullivan.
4.20.2004 "I also worry about the kind of judges Bush might nominate. He's a captive of the far right in these matters. We were told otherwise in 2000; but now we know where he stands. He really is indistinguishable from John Ashcroft on social policy. I didn't believe that before; I do now. And obviously that's worrying." Andrew Sullivan on Perry on Politics.
4.20.2004 Stone Phillips at Dateline NBC asks former EPA official Bruce Buckheit about it: (Article includes a Fact File on president Bush & environmental issues.)
4.20.2004 "Flag-draped coffins are secured inside a cargo plane on April 7 at Kuwait International Airport." photograph:
Seattle Times
4.20.2004 "A Coalition memo reveals that even true believers see the seeds of civil war in the occupation of Iraq - Fables of the Reconstruction" by Jason Vest The Village VoicePointer from Atrios
4.20.2004 "In an administration scarred by scandal
4.19.2004 "Saudi Envoy Promised Lower Oil Price, Woodward Says (Update1)" By Heidi Przybyla - Bloomberg.com
4.19.2004 "Like so much of what's happening in Iraq, using mercenaries has led to unintended consequences, such as running up the cost of the project and draining the special forces that are the foundation of Rumsfeld's "revolution in military affairs."' DHinMI on the Daily Kos. who points to: "Security Companies: Shadow Soldiers in Iraq" By DAVID BARSTOW NYTimes.com
4.19.2004 "Sleeping With The Enemy" Oliver Willis who points to: "Bush Won't Reveal Saudi 9/11 Info" WASHINGTON, July 29, 2003 CBS News.
4.19.2004 "Beginning in late December 2001, President Bush met repeatedly with Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks and his war cabinet to plan the U.S. attack on Iraq even as he and administration spokesmen insisted they were pursuing a diplomatic solution, according to a new book on the origins of the war." By William Hamilton, Washington Post Staff Writer Washingtonpost.com
4.19.2004 "In mid-September 2001, at the same time Don Rumsfeld tasked Centcom with drawing up plans for attacking the Taliban, they were also tasked with putting together a plan to seize Iraq's southern oil fields." ...
4.19.2004 A walk on the dark side. From the Wilderness.
4.18.2004 British may leave Iraq. "The moment that Sayid Ali says, 'We don't want the Coalition here', we might as well go home," Brig Carter said." - By Melissa Kite in Washington and Alex Thomson in Basra - news.telegraph.co.uk Pointer from Atrios
4.18.2004 "The Truth About 'the Wall'" - By Jamie S. Gorelick In which she answers John Ascroft's charges against her Washington Post Pointer from Atrios
4.18.2004 "A plane crashes at the dawn of the Cold War, and the government seeks a special legal privilege. Its claim sows the seeds of the Patriot Act." (UNITED STATES VS REYNOLDS, SUPREME COURT) By Barry Siegel, Times Staff Writer This is an excellent, but long article about an old case which is coming to life again. And the Supreme Court refused to hear it. Pointer from Howard Bashman
4.18.2004 "Now Can We Talk About Health Care?" - By HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON NewYork Times. Pointer from The Daily Kos
4.18.2004 When do the Iraqis start fighting for their freedom? Mark A.R. Kleiman
4.17.2004 "These people have no respect for the Constitution. The Congress was misled, it was lied to. At a very minimum, that is a subversion of the Constitution. A pre-emptive war based on what we knew was not a pressing need is not what this country stands for. " (Karen Kwiatkowski) "Soldier for the Truth" - By Marc Cooper - LA Weekly via AlterNet
4.17.2004 "For-Profit Patriotism" By Richard Muhammad, AlterNet
4.17.2004 An answer to the question, "What are those people thinking?" "Below the Campaign Radar, a Values War" By ROBIN TONER NYTimes.com Pointer from AlterNet
4.17.2004 "Stung by the president's pushing a constitutional ban on same-sex weddings, Log Cabin Republicans consider denying endorsement." By Robin Abcarian, Times Staff Writer LATimes. Pointer from The Daily Kos
4.17.2004 "Before Bush's inauguration, Cheney sent word to departing Defense Secretary William S. Cohen that he wanted the traditional briefing given an incoming president to be a serious "discussion about Iraq and different options." ... "The Bush administration funded the projects from a supplemental appropriations bill for the war in Afghanistan ..."
MSNBC Pointer from Google News.
4.16.2004 "Putting Cheney's Halliburton money to good use" The Carpetbagger Report.
4.16.2004 "Kerry's Other War Record, How Bush distorts his opponent's views on terrorism."
By Jonathan Chait Slate.
4.16.2004 Jamie S. Gorelick and John Ashcroft. "House Member Seeks Gorelick's Resignation' By Dan Eggen and Walter Pincus -Washington Post.com
4.15.2004 "After Moussaoui's arrest, Tenet and other top CIA officials received a briefing headed, "Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly."
4.15.2004 "While Bush vacationed, 9/11 warnings went unheard" By Fred Kaplan -
Slate. Pointer from Joshua Micah Marshall
4.14.2004 "And let's can the rhetoric about staying the course. In fact, we desperately need a change in course" Paul Krugman.
4.14.2004 "Trust, Don't Verify. Bush's incredible definition of credibility."
By William Saletan - Slate Pointer from Atrios
4.14.2004 George Tenant did not meet with Bush during the month of August, 2001. New York Times Pointer from Atrios
4.14.2004 In his testimony yesterday, John Ashcroft gave himself full credit for breaking down the walls which separated the criminal investigation side of the FBI from the espionage side. Now we are all "of interest" until proven guilty.
4.14.2004 White House press release 8/7/01
Al Franken got it right. Pointer from The Daily Kos
4.14.2004 Fareed Zakaria's plan for Iraq. It relies upon the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and the U.N.'s Lakhdar Brahimi. via Newsweek.
4.14.2004 "Commission investigators said Dale Watson, the former head of counterterrorism at the FBI, told them "that he almost fell out of his chair" when he saw a May 10, 2001, memo from Ashcroft on Justice Department budget priorities "because it made no mention of counterterrorism."
4.13.2004 "But when hearings resume on April 13, we may learn exactly how tough the commission is prepared to be. This time the stars will be Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI director Robert S. Mueller III, among others. When they testify, especially Mueller, we will see whether or not the commission has the stomach to address what may be the single most egregious security lapse related to the attacks: the evacuation of approximately 140 Saudis just two days after 9/11." by
Craig Unger - Tom Paine.com
4.13.2004 "Rio de Janeiro state plans to wall off slums." By Raymond Colitt in Sao Paulo
FT.com Pro-life meets "just say no" Pointer from Drudge
4.13.2004 "A proposal Gov. Jeb Bush is championing to create a massive electronic tracking system of who is prescribing and who is using prescription drugs is in trouble in the Florida Legislature." ...
4.13.2004 Regarding Valerie Plame: "Mr. FINEMAN: Who leaked that name? That's getting big behind the scenes, and I think it's going to be a bigger story than we know, because the question now is not just who leaked it but who lied to investigators about the leak." The Chris Mathews Show. Pointer from Atrios
4.13.2004 "Osama info deleted from second memo" by AP calgary-sun.com Pointer from Google News.
4.12.2004 "One of the two civilians killed a couple of weeks ago, who was not a former SEAL or Ranger, was an expert on woman's rights. Many Iraqis who have no love of the resistance may well participate in killing someone who they feel is defiling their culture. Her killers were Iraqi policemen. Anyone dealing in woman's rights is going to be a target in Iraq, regardless of politics." Steve Gilliard.
4.12.2004 Military Options in Iraq Billmon.
4.12.2004 "A Progressive Vision For a Divided Country" By Arianna Huffington, AlterNet
4.12.2004 "It's the Stupidity, Stupid" .... "What didn't the President know, and why didn't he know it?"
By David Sirota LATimes Pointer from The Daily Kos,
4.12.2004 "While Democrats roar, the generals are silent -- in public. Many confide that they will not cast their normal Republican votes on Nov. 2." Robert Novak. Chicago Sun-Times Pointer from Joshua Micah Marshall
p
4.11.2004 "The 9/11 commission should ask who authorized the evacuation of Saudi nationals in the days following the attacks" By Craig Unger Boston.com News Pointer from Atrios
4.11.2004 "Bush Administration Thwarts Access. Excerpt from The Buying of the President 2004 Shows the White House's Propensity for Secrecy. Here.
4.11.2004 "The National Women's Law Center is taking a close look at the progress of women and girls under the Bush Administration's watch as we move into the fourth year of its tenure. Our review reveals the rollback of women's opportunities to succeed in work and in school, their economic security, and their health and reproductive rights." Pointer from AlterNet.org.
4.11.2004 White House "fact sheet" showing that the memo was really not very exciting. Pointer from The Daily Kos
4.11.2004 The August 6 Presidential Briefing Document. And remember, this document is just the outline for an oral briefing which must have occurred. via CNN Pointer from Joshua Micah Marshall
4.11.2004 "Pre-9/11 doings are coming to light" . . . "President George W. Bush got a blunt warning five weeks before 9/11 and he did little or nothing. He even presided over a stand- down in preparations, concentrating on other concerns." James P. Pinkerton - Newsday.com Pointer from Joshua Micah Marshall
4.10.2004 "Define reality and give examples. You may not use anything written by David Brooks or stated by George W Bush without corroboration." by DemFromCT via The Daily Kos
4.10.2004 "Fallujah Bloodbath threatens US-Appointed Iraqi Government with Collapse" Prof. Juan Cole.
4.10.2004 Another stonewall: Marshal Defends Erasure of Scalia Speech. By HOLBROOK MOHR, Associated Press Writer. Pointer from Drudge
4.10.2004 The August 6 Briefing; The Washington Post was all over this story on May 19, 2002. Why was no one fired? "Operation Ignore extended to the press, as well."-Atrios Pointer from Drudge
4.9.2004 "Rice's testimony shows that Bush's pre-9-11 fight against terror was a classic case of the perfect being an enemy of the good." ... "Certainly, there was, as Rice said, "no silver bullet" that could have prevented 9-11. But just as certainly, more could have been done with the garlic chains and crosses available." By Garance Franke-Ruta The American Prospect
4.9.2004 The Clean Air Act goes up in smoke and mirrors. ''Now we've issued new rules that will allow utility companies, like this one right here, to make routine repairs and upgrades without enormous costs and endless disputes,'' the president said. ''We simplified the rules. We made them easy to understand. We trust the people in this plant to make the right decisions.'' The audience applauded." By BRUCE BARCOTT - NYTimes.com
4.9.2004 While Baghdad burned, Bush spent the day at Crawford with "wildlife conversation (sic) leaders" (think NRA) (AP Photo/White House, Eric Draper, HO) via Atrios.
4.9.2004 "Vacation gibes are usually unfair. But with the situation in Iraq so critical, shouldn't the president be at the White House? It's a full-time job, comes with a decent salary." -- Josh Marshall - Talking Points Memo.
4.9.2004 "Frankly, I think Dr. Rice's testimony today ... basically corroborates what I said," Clarke continued. "She said the president received 40 warnings face-to-face from the director of central intelligence that a major Al Qaeda attack was going to take place and she admitted that the president did not have a meeting on the subject, did not convene the cabinet." David Olive - Toronto Star Pointer from Google News.
4.9.2004 "But yesterday's hearings indicate that the 9/11 Commission might issue recommendations that imply the Bush administration still doesn't know how to combat Islamist terrorism three years after the attacks"(CBS) The article from The New Republic was written by Spencer Ackerman. Pointer from Google News.
4.9.2004 "Jimmy Carter explains how the Christian right isn't Christian at all." By Ayelish McGarvey- The American Prospect Online.
4.9.2004 More about the Medicare bait and switch. By David Sirota, Christy Harvey and Judd Legum, The Progress Report
4.9.2004 Ashcroft stopped flying commercial airlines before 9/11. CBSnews.com July 26, 2001. Pointer from Center for American Progress.
4.9.2004 "9/11: Internal Government Documents Show How the Bush Administration Reduced Counterterrorism" - Center for American Progress Pointer from Atrios
4.8.2004 "Fighting stem cells, not terror cells" ... "Weeks before 9/11, (August 9, 2001) the president was "consumed" by a pressing policy matter -- but it wasn't al-Qaida." ... "It was just three days after he had read the startling President's Daily Brief titled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.," which warned of airline hijackings planned by al-Qaida."
By Eric Boehlert - Salon.com
4.8.2004 Fact checking Condi. Center for American Progress Pointer from Atrios
4.8.2004 "Questions for Dr. Rice" By PETER BERGEN - NYTimes.com Pointer from Atrios
4.8.2004 "HANNITY'S LIES ABOUT KERRY, DEBUNKED" by Al Franken, with Tim Bradley and Ben Wikler The O'Franken Factor. Pointer from Atrios
4.7.2004 "Compromise May Restrict 'Morning-After' Pill" - By Marc Kaufman - Washingtonpost.com.
4.7.2004 "What To Do When Your Friends E-mail Lies To You." factcheck.org.
4.7.2004 "The Mercury Scandal" - Paul Krugman.
4.7.2004 Money makes the world go around. Talkingpointsmemo.com.
4.7.2004 "The only unequivocally good policy option before the American people is to dump the president who got us into this mess, who had no trouble sending our young people to Iraq but who cannot steel himself to face the Sept. 11 commission alone." By Harold Meyerson - washingtonpost.com Pointer from Atrios
4.7.2004 "Electronic voting source code released" Will Knight - Newscientist.com
4.7.2004 "Diet of worms protects against bowel cancer" yecch. Frank van Kolfshooten -
Newscientist.com Pointer from Google News.
4.7.2004 "This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off a Global Shockwave of Anti-Amerianism" The Onion Pointer from Atrios
4.7.2004 "Appeals court judge is being charged with serious ethical breach" David Hawpe - Courier Journal.com Pointer from Howard Bashman
p
4.7.2004 "the real threat comes to this country in the hold of a ship, the belly of a plane, or smuggled into a city in the middle of the night in a vial in a backpack.
4.6.2004 "Clinton Foundation Throws Generic AIDS Drug Gauntlet at Bush" Common Dreams Progressive Newswire Pointer from Google News.
4.6.2004 "Charlie McCarthy Hearings" ... "We must deny your request that Mr. Cheney bring along a PowerPoint presentation depicting who was in and out of the loop, in accordance with separation-of-PowerPoint principles. The Vice President has decreed that the loop of influence is under the cone of silence." By MAUREEN DOWD NYTimes.com. Pointer from The Daily Howler.
4.6.2004 "Report: Blix Says Iraq Worse Off After War" ... "In the interview, Blix said the war had contributed to a destabilization of the Middle East and a move away from democracy in the region, adding that even though Iraqis had been spared life under a dictator, it was at too high a cost." Reuters Pointer from Drudge.
4.6.2004 Whitehouse vetting could delay 9/11 report until after election. U.S. National AFP - yahoo news Pointer from The Daily Kos
4.6.2004 "Administration wages war on pornography" ... "Ashcroft, a religious man who does not drink alcohol or caffeine, smoke, gamble or dance, and has fought unrelenting criticism that he has trod roughshod on civil liberties in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, is taking on the porn industry at a time when many experts say Americans are wary about government intrusion into their lives." ... "Oosterbaan said the department is employing much the same strategy this time, targeting not only some of the most egregious hard-core porn but also more conventional material, in an effort "to be as effective as possible."" By Laura Sullivan - Baltimoresun.com
Pointer from Howard Bashman
4.6.2004 "Cheney Tax Plan From '86 Would Have Raised Gas Prices" ... "Let us rid ourselves of the fiction that low oil prices are somehow good for the United States," Mr. Cheney, who is now vice president, said shortly after introducing the legislation." ...
"It is hard to explain," Mr. Durbin said, "how they could attack John Kerry for even considering a 50-cent gas tax, which he didn't introduce or vote for, and ignore Cheney's own legislation in 1986 which would have dramatically raised the cost of gasoline. If every vote and every statement made by John Kerry is fair game, the same thing is true of President Bush and the vice president."
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. NYTimes.com Pointer from The Daily Kos
4.6.2004 What were they thinking!? "The Plan for a Postwar Iraq" By Steve Hadley - Washingtonpost.com Pointer from Joshua Micah Marshall
4.6.2004 "A 'Flip-Flop' on Patients' Right to Sue?" By Charles Lane - Washington.com Pointer from Howard Bashman
4.5.2004 "Supreme Court Won't Hear Halliburton Case" ... "lower court ordered Halliburton to pay $98 million to a rival." The Associated Press - The Washington Post Pointer from Howard Bashman
4.5.2004 Bush's job training plan: "the Republican president will outline his plans to generate $300 million for new job training under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, or WIA, by reining in the costs and duplicate services of existing programs."
Reuters - Pointer from Atrios
4.5.2004 Something good for a change: "Ill. Kids Getting Health Care on Campus" Associated Press - Newsday.com Pointer from Google News.
4.4.2004 Stone wall "Whistleblower Coming In Cold From the F.B.I. " by Gail Sheehy New York Observer.
4.4.2004 "An atheist like Heinlein would have to argue that the behaviors that virtually all human cultures throughout all time have considered immoral are behaviors that hinder the chance of survival for the human species." letters from babylon. New blog of Joshua Davey (of Locke v. Davey fame) Pointer from Howard Bashman
4.4.2004 "Is Justice Served by Ticket Rules?" ... "Ed Turner, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, declined to say which airline Justice Scalia flew. But the two airlines that fly nonstop from New Orleans to Washington are US Airways and United, and United does not the have same policy as its competitors, leaving open the possibility that Justice Scalia didn't skirt any rules." By SUSAN STELLIN New York Times Pointer from Howard Bashman
4.3.2004 "Remarks Via Satellite by the President to the National Association of Evangelicals Convention" Pointer from billmon
4.3.2004 "Release of Energy Records Ordered" By David G. Savage - (discusses three current cases) LATimes.com Pointer from Howard Bashman
4.3.2004 See Talking Points Memo for a discussion of a threat analysis graphic produced by the Pentagon prior to 9/11.
4.3.2004 "Science Not Being Distorted, White House Aide Says" (but examples of the truth are provided) By Rick Weiss - Washington Post. Pointer from Google News.
4.2.2004 "A former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance says she has provided information to the panel investigating the 11 September attacks which proves senior officials knew of al-Qa'ida's plans to attack the US with aircraft months before the strikes happened." Andrew Buncombe - Independent.co.uk. Pointer from The Daily Kos
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4.2.2004 Interesting memo regarding possible criminal liability in the Valerie Plame case. Pointer from Joshua Micah Marshall
4.2.2004 "White House admits keeping Clinton files from 9/11 panel " ""We are providing the commission with access to all the information they need to do their job," McClellan said."
By Philip Shenon and David E. Sanger - New York Times via Indystar.com Pointer from Google News.
4.2.2004 "Haggard says he's unhappy with President Bush" The Associated Press via ajc.com
4.2.2004 "Bush Aides Block Clinton's Papers From 9/11 Panel" By PHILIP SHENON and DAVID E. SANGER Article quotes "The general counsel of Mr. Clinton's presidential foundation, Bruce Lindsey" as saying: "I voiced a concern that the commission was making a judgment on an incomplete record," he said. "I want to know why there is a 75 percent difference between what we were ready to produce and what was being produced to the commission." - The New York Times. Pointer from The Daily Kos
4.2.2004 "In contemporary America, however, it seems forever necessary to repeat the elementary admonition that there is a distinction between religion and morality" . . ."For this reason, American unbelief can perform a great quickening service to American belief. It can shake American religion loose from its cheerful indifference to the inquiry about truth." Leon Wieseltier - The NewRepublic Online. Pointer from Howard Bashman
4.2.2004 International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries, 4 December 1989
Pointer from The Daily Kos
4.2.2004 ''Shooting Stars; U.S. Military Takes First Step Towards Weapons in Space" By Marc Lallanilla - abcNEWS. Pointer from The Daily Kos
4.2.2004 "Prosecutors Are Said to Have Expanded Inquiry Into Leak of C.I.A. Officer's Name" By DAVID JOHNSTON and RICHARD W. STEVENSON - New York Times. Pointer from Atrios
4.2.2004 "House Republicans Defy Bush;
Lawmakers Push Highway Bill Exceeding Ceiling on Spending." By Dan Morgan - Washington Post Pointer from Google News.
4.1.2004 "Bush counsel called 9/11 panelist before Clarke Testified." By Dana Milbank and Dan Eggen - Wasington Post. See letter from Waxman to Gonzales. Pointer from Joshua Micah Marshall
4.1.2004 "Judge Orders Release of Energy Documents "
By ANNE GEARAN,
The Associated Press - The Washington Post. Pointer from Howard Bashman
4.1.2004 Scalia's "Alice-in-Wonderland logic." Edward Lazarus - Findlaw.com.
Pointer from Howard Bashman
4.1.2004 A new blog studies the intersection between federalism and federal criminal laws. It quotes Justice Breyer as saying: "I mean, there might be instances where there's no effect on interstate commerce, a home -- you know, that -- that will be an issue, homegrown marijuana." Pointer from Randy Barnett - The Volokh Conspiracy
4.1.2004 "Top Focus Before 9/11 Wasn't on Terrorism; Rice Speech Cited Missile Defense" Robin Wright - Wasingtonpost.com Pointer from Joshua Micah Marshall
4.1.2004 "Passion" shown uncensored in arab countries. "You can say that we are regaining the spirit of enlightenment, which is essential to the cultural tradition of modern Egypt," Asfour said." Charles Levinson - SFGate.com
Pointer from Google News.
HOME -- January, 2004 -- February, 2004 -- March, 2004 -- April, 2004 -- May, 2004 -- June, 2004 -- July, 2004
gentle.reader@att.net
"Clearly, some recreational drugs are thought to be O.K. Thus it isn't surprising that the Partnership for a Drug-Free America originally received much of its financing from cigarette, alcohol and pharmaceutical companies like Hoffmann-La Roche, Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds and Anheuser-Busch." New York Times. April 26. Pointer from Leonard
... "(There was a minority view of the Pax Romanum, well stated at its height by Tacitus: "To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace." It would be well to keep that admonition in mind now.)" By John Perry Barlow via Calpundit. or here
"To recap: President Strong-on-Terror passed state secrets to the ambassador of a nation known to support terrorism. Said ambassador of foreign power has agreed to manipulate oil prices in an attempt to influence the November election.
Why is Bush not facing impeachment proceedings? It's a hypothetical question, I'm not actually asking for responses, but it's not meant as hyperbole--in any sane universe, these would be impeachable offenses.
"The Fourth Amendment is a nuisance to the administration, but the amendment protects citizens and legal immigrants from the government's monitoring them whenever it wants, without good cause - and if that happens, it's the end of personal liberty," Mr. Barr said.
The Washington Times - Pointer from AlterNet
"Weldon (R-Pa.), vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, charged that the president is playing political games by postponing further funding requests until after the election, to try to avoid reopening debate on the war's cost and future. "
Also see Public Law 107-38 107th Congress "Provided further, That the President shall consult with the chairmen and ranking minority members of the Committees on Appropriations prior to the transfer of these funds:" Pointer from The Carpetbagger Report
Salem, you'll remember, earlier went into the war contracting and lobbying business with the law partner of Undersecretary of Defense Doug Feith, a prime architect of the war, and the Pentagon official in charge of the contracting process.
And, no, I'm not making any of this up." Joshua Micah Marshall
"If there is a trial, Vergès (attorney for Hussein) told Agence France-Presse, he plans to call Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to testify, in addition to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, in order to reveal Washington's past links with Iraq." MSNBC.
Phillips: "Are you saying this administration just doesn't care about air pollution?"
Buckheit: "Yes. I'm saying this administration has decided to put the economic interests of the coal fired power plants ahead of the public interests in reducing air pollution."
Phillips: "That's a pretty serious allegation."
Buckheit: "Well, I was the head of the air enforcement division up until a couple weeks ago and I watched it happen."" Pointer from The Washington Monthly.
4.22.2004 Drudge reports that the photographer lost her job. Seattle Times
"But whether it was formally aimed at regime change or no, within less than two weeks after 9/11, Centcom planners were at work putting in place a plan to make war on Iraq." Josh Marshall
"Afghanistan Freedom Support Act of 2002 " Pointer from Atrios
But the CIA director did not bring it up at a meeting of top administration officials to discuss Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization on Sept. 4, a week before the attacks.
"It wasn't discussed at the principals' meeting since we were having a separate agenda," Tenet said. "All I can tell you is just it wasn't the appropriate place. I just can't take you any farther than that." Reuters Pointer from Drudge
ACLU 11/18/2002 "In First-Ever Ruling, Secret Appeals Court Allows Expanded Government Spying on U.S. Citizens."
Ashcroft: Straight Out of Kafka?
The FiSA Appellate decision.
The day before, Ashcroft had testified at a Capitol Hill budget hearing that terrorism was his top priority." By Cam Simpson - Chicago Tribune. Pointer from Google News.
"Bush warns that if legislators don't approve the monitoring system by July, Florida risks losing nearly $2 million that Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, pledged toward the creation of the database.
The financial offer, with that deadline, was made as part of a 2002 decision by the state attorney general to drop an investigation into the company's marketing of OxyContin."
By Mark Hollis - Sun-Sentinel.com. Pointer from Drudge
... which links to the following article:
From September 27, 2001 story in the LATimes. "U.S. and Italian officials were warned in July that Islamic terrorists might attempt to kill President Bush and other leaders by crashing an airliner into the Genoa summit of industrialized nations, officials said Wednesday."
... and to this article:
"Rice stressed that there was no way anyone could have predicted that terrorists would use hijacked planes as missiles and attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon." Terry Moran, Linda Douglass, Brian Ross and Lisa Sylvester -
ABC News.
"Bush spent the morning watching national security adviser Condoleezza Rice's televised testimony to the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, then toured his ranch with Wayne LaPierre Jr., chief executive of the National Rifle Association, and other leaders of hunting groups ..." By Dana Milbank and Robin Wright Washington Post See! I told you it was the NRA. Pointer from Joshua Micah Marshall
And I ask you, you want to do us damage, are you more likely to send a missile you're not sure can reach us with a biological or chemical weapon because you don't have the throw weight to put a nuclear weapon on it and no one's anticipating that in the near term, with a return address saying, "It came from us, here's where we are?" Or are you more likely to put somebody with a backpack crossing the border from Vancouver down to Seattle, or coming up the New York Harbor with a rusty old ship with an atom bomb sitting in the hull? Which are you more likely to do? And what defense do we have against those other things?" Senator Joe Biden 9/10/01 in a speech opposing the Bush missile defense plans, to be espoused by Condi Rice in a speech on 9/11/01. "The White House has refused to provide the commission with a copy of the speech, ..." Associated Press and Reuters MSNBC