8.31.2004 Regaring retired naval Rear Adm. William L. Schachte Jr.: "A Swift Shift in Stories" By Dana Milbank, The Washington Post "According to a March 18 legal filing by Schachte's firm, Blank Rome, Schachte was one of the lobbyists working for FastShip on issues such as the effort to win funding for a new marine cargo terminal. On Feb. 2, Philadelphia-based FastShip announced that it would receive $40 million in federal funding for the project.
In addition, David Norcross, Schachte's colleague in the Washington office of Blank Rome, is chairman of this week's Republican convention in New York. Records also show that Schachte gave $1,000 to Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns."
8.31.2004 "Hollinger's Black `Victimized' Company, Report Says" Bloomberg.com "A special board panel also said the company's audit committee, led by former Illinois Governor James Thompson, was ``ineffective and careless.'' It said another director, Richard Perle, should return $5.4 million in pay after ``putting his own interests above those of Hollinger's shareholders.''
"Sic transit" Josh Marshall
8.31.2004 The GOP platform, What to expect
8.31.2004 "A Party for All of Us" By EDWARD W. BROOKE, The New York Times
8.31.2004 "2d probe at the Pentagon examines actions on Iraq" By Bryan Bender, Boston Globe Staff . "People are concerned about covert action being conducted by a policy office with no legal mandate to do so," said one Democratic official involved in the Judiciary Committee inquiry. "If the Senate and House intelligence committees in their review only look at the Chalabi relationship but don't look at the office's role in what was in effect covert action to explore regime change in the entire arc of the Middle East, then their inquiry will be a joke." ... ""It's pretty nasty, and unfortunately the administration doesn't seem to have it under control," said Perle, calling on the administration to defend Feith more vigorously." ... ""It sounds to me that it is an investigation that was leaked for maximum adverse affect on the office, which has been subjected to a lot of other criticism," said Frank Gaffney, president of the conservative Center for Security Policy and a former assistant defense secretary under President Reagan. "You have people who are controversial. They are taking positions that last time I checked, the president . . . was closely associated with, that are opposed by other people in the bureaucracy."
8.31.2004 Tommy Franks re. Douglas Feith as quoted by Bob Wooward on page 281 as reported by Slate
8.30.2004 Re: Robert Novak: "Columnist Has Ties to Anti-Kerry Book" By JACQUES STEINBERG, The New York Times
8.30.2004 "When asked "Can we win?" the war on terror, Bush said, "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the - those who use terror as a tool are - less acceptable in parts of the world." The Associated Press
8.30.2004 Re: Lawrence A. Franklin: "Pentagon official had been cooperating with the FBI" David Johnston and Eric Schmitt, New York Times
8.29.2004 Regarding Ben Barnes who "recommended George W. Bush for a pilot's position in the Texas Air National Guard at the request of a Bush family friend." ... "Bob Novak would be a much better reporter if he weren't so dishonest." Josh Marshall
8.29.2004 More from Jim Boyd, editor of The Star Tribune: "This is not about who is elected, but about how we allow this campaign to unfold, especially on our pages. I am sick to death of being played for a chump by the likes of Karl Rove. America can definitely do better."
8.29.2004 "Iran-Contra II?"
"Here is the article on the Franklin investigation that I discussed earlier. This is a piece my colleagues and I at the Washington Monthly wrote. It discusses how the Franklin investigation relates to the Ghorbanifar back-channel run out of Doug Feith's office from 2001 to 2003." -- Josh Marshall.
See also Laura Rozen
See also The Iran-Contra Affair.
And this: "FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS"
(Links from KOS, who says, "It's to the point where the old incompetency defense just doesn't cut it anymore.)
See also "Who is Michael Ledeen?" By William O. Beeman, Pacific News Service via AlterNet
8.29.2004 "Council for National Policy to host next week's 'real' convention" Carpetbagger See also this for some history of the group. And this article which says: "In-depth biographies of CNP founders and past/present officers and many members reveal that many are directly affiliated with or part of such organizations as the Knights of Malta, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon, the Church of Scientology, Freemasonry, the CIA, Nazis, the Church Universal & Triumphant, the Ku Klux Klan, Templeton Foundation, Racists and other cults and organizations. This will perhaps explain the ease with which many are seduced into embracing false doctrine and the One World Religion. They don't belong to Jesus Christ. We're told specifically to not join with unbelievers."
8.29.2004 "Good news on the voting front: A Florida judge has ruled that Florida law requires a manual recount under certain circumstances. The touch-screen voting machines currently in use in Florida do not have this capability and thus violate the law. The Florida secretary of state, Glenda Hood, is fighting this ruling. If it is upheld on appeal, the voting procedure will have to be changed in a number of counties. Could this be the first of many Supreme Court cases this year?" electoral-vote.com
8.29.2004 "Corporate Send-Off for Schwarzenegger" By JOHN M. BRODER, "LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25 - The trip to New York by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ofCalifornia to address the Republican National Convention is being financed by a variety of major corporations." The New York Times.
8.28.2004 "A leaked video reveals what Bob Dole really thinks about Bush's tactics." By Chris Suellentrop, Slate.
8.28.2004 "Rumsfeld Denies Abuses Occurred at Interrogations" By ERIC SCHMITT, The New York Times.
8.28.2004 "It is doubtless not the most tactful question to ask on the eve of the Republican convention, but might it not be better for American conservatism if George W. Bush failed to win a second term?" BY NIALL FERGUSON, The Wall Street Journal.
8.27.2004 "A War Without End" By NEIL SHEEHAN, The New York Times "The truth is that atrocities were committed in Vietnam. The worst and most horrendous atrocity was officially sanctioned. The American command coldbloodedly set about to deprive the Communists of the recruits and other assistance the peasantry could provide by emptying the countryside. Peasant hamlets in Communist-dominated areas were deliberately and relentlessly bombed and shelled. Free Fire Zones - anything that moved, human or animal, could be killed - were redlined on military maps.
By 1968, civilian deaths, the great majority from air strikes and artillery, were estimated at about 40,000 a year and seriously wounded at 85,000. The wholesale killing cheapened the value of Vietnamese life in American eyes. It created an atmosphere that fostered the massacre at My Lai hamlet on March 16, 1968, when 347 Vietnamese old men, women, boys, girls and babies were butchered. That same morning another 90 unarmed Vietnamese were slaughtered at a nearby hamlet by a second army unit
In Vietnam, America the exceptional joined the rest of the human race and demonstrated that it could do evil as easily as it could do good. Mr. Kerry undoubtedly said some intemperate things in 1971. That is the way of youth. But he also showed the moral courage to try to persuade his fellow citizens to halt actions that were disgracing their nation.
8.27.2004 "How Torture Came Down From the Top"
By Jackson Diehl, The Washington Post
8.27.2004 "Army's Report Faults General in Prison Abuse" By DOUGLAS JEHL and ERIC SCHMITT, The New York Times.
8.27.2004 "Release of Prisoner 'Imminent,' U.S. Says" By Jerry Markon, Washington Post Staff Writer.
"The (government) filing cited the "extraordinary nature" of Hamdi's case, which is "fraught with complex and thorny issues" that would require the court to balance national security needs with Hamdi's constitutional rights. Bringing Hamdi to a court hearing "would serve no useful purpose given the likelihood of his imminent release and repatriation to Saudi Arabia,'' the papers said."
8.27.2004 "More Dirty Tricks: Anonymous Fake Bulk Orders of Infamous Book" JuliusBlog
8.27.2004 "Redefinition lies at the heart of the world the Bush administration wants to create." ... "And now, more good redefinitional news. Thanks to a set of new federal guidelines on overtime work pushed through by the Bush administration, all sorts of people have automatically gained status in our society and can proudly call themselves "management" or "administration." As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich pointed out, "the rules redefine the term 'executive' to include manual workers who sometimes supervise two or three people. And, he says another one or two million 'team leaders' who don't supervise anyone will lose [overtime] eligibility by being reclassified as 'administrators.'" Of course, as bona fide members of the managing team, they no longer will be paid overtime wages for overtime work. But there's no gain without pain, is there?" TomDispatch.com
8.27.2004 "Imperialism without Empire" By Jonathan Schell, via TomDispatch.com "The President's policies have failed to check the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The entire "axis of evil," consisting, according to the President, of Iraq, Iran and North Korea, continues to defy his administration in one way or another. In Iraq, the Marines are now at war with the Shiite community the United States supposedly came to save. North Korea has allegedly become a nuclear power, and Iran seems to be heading that way. The traditional alliances of the United States have been shaken. After 9/11, editorialists asked, "Why do they hate us?" Whatever the reasons, "they" have multiplied to include most of the world."
8.26.2004 "Beginning in late 2002, the panel said, Mr. Rumsfeld and his staff set the stage for an environment in which abuses later became widespread. They did this first by sowing confusion about what kinds of interrogation techniques would be permitted, then by failing to plan for the intensity of the post-invasion insurgency, and finally by delaying for months in dispatching reinforcements to help the American guards at Abu Ghraib contend with the swelling number of prisoners."
8.26.2004 "Ranks of Poor, Uninsured Rose in 2003" By GENARO C. ARMAS, Associated Press Writer "The number of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3 million last year, while the ranks of the uninsured swelled by 1.4 million, the Census Bureau (news
8.26.2004 "U.S. Report Turns Focus to Greenhouse Gases" By ANDREW C. REVKIN, The New York Times "The last time the administration issued a document suggesting that global warming had a human cause and posed big risks was in June 2002, in a submission to the United Nations under a climate treaty. President Bush distanced himself from it, saying it was something "put out by the bureaucracy."
8.26.2004 "Olympic Chiefs Ask Bush to Pull Election Ad"
8.26.2004 Republican "E-mail to volunteers gets a bit personal" Newsday.com
8.25.2004 "BUSH CAMPAIGN AWASH WITH LIES" By George Will (the Washington Post) Minneapolis Star Tribune, Wed, Aug 26, 1992, p24a: Pointer from Josh Marshall.
8.25.2004 "So Much for Free Speech" ... "We've arrived at this juncture because it's logically impossible both to honor the First Amendment and to regulate campaign finance effectively. We can do one or the other -- but not both." By Robert J. Samuelson, The Washington Post .
8.25.2004 "Not much doubt who the media wants to win" By Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe Columnist ``We got anonymous answers from 153 journalists, about a third of them based in Washington,'' he wrote on Aug. 1. ``When asked who would be a better president, the journalists from outside the Beltway picked Mr. Kerry 3 to 1, and the ones from Washington favored him 12 to 1. Those results jibe with previous surveys over the past two decades showing that journalists tend to be Democrats, especially the ones based in Washington. Some surveys have found that more than 80 percent of the Beltway press corps votes Democratic.'' Maybe they know something.
8.25.2004 The Dailey Show on he said-she said reporting. via Atrios
8.25.2004 "Tales of Big Brother" By Matthew Rothschild , The Progressive
8.25.2004 "Abu Ghraib scandal calls for independent probe" By Reed Brody SFGate.com
8.25.2004 "The Truth on Yucca Mountain"
8.25.2004 "Cheney breaks rank on same-sex marriage -- Vice president refers to daughter as lesbian publicly for 1st time" Marc Kaufman, Mike Allen, Washington Post via SFGate.com
8.25.004 Ralph Peters, retired Army officer New York Post "I wish Kerry were better. The truth is that I'm appalled by Bush's domestic policies. I believe that the Cheney-Halliburton connection stinks to high heaven. And I'm convinced that Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld & Co. have done colossal damage to our military and to our foreign policy."
8.24.2004 The Plame investigation: "In a statement Tuesday, Time said reporter Matthew Cooper agreed to give a deposition after Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney (news
8.24.2004 Dick Cavett: "And I think the most infuriating fact for me then and now is: 'How dare you criticize? It helps the enemy.' Well, it also helps the enemy to be-I can't even-my anger has fuzzed me up."
8.24.2004 "The "Christmas Eve" attack on Kerry is cheap and almost certainly wrong." By Fred Kaplan, Slate
8.24.2004 "Who is Steve Gardner? Swift Boat Vet "eyewitness" was not present for events leading to Kerry's medals or Purple Hearts" Media Matters
8.24.2004 "These Charges Are False ...It's one thing for the presidential campaign to get nasty but quite another for it to engage in fabrication" ... "There is an important difference, though, between the side campaign being run for Kerry and the one for Bush. The pro-Kerry campaign is nasty and personal. The pro-Bush campaign is nasty, personal and false." LA Times.
8.24.2004 Paul Krugman: "Almost a year ago, on the second anniversary of 9/11, I predicted "an ugly, bitter campaign - probably the nastiest of modern American history." The reasons I gave then still apply. President Bush has no positive achievements to run on. Yet his inner circle cannot afford to see him lose: if he does, the shroud of secrecy will be lifted, and the public will learn the truth about cooked intelligence, profiteering, politicization of homeland security and more."
8.24.2004 "Tests of a Smear Campaign" By E. J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post. "The media have to do more than "he said/he said" reporting. If the charges don't hold up, they don't hold up." ... "This is also a test of John McCain. When he ran against Bush four years ago, McCain was smeared mercilessly. When McCain protested to Bush about the attacks at one of their debates during the 2000 primaries, Bush brushed him off. "John," Bush said, "it's politics."
8.23.2004 "Writing on wall for another one-term Bush" By Andrew Sullivan
8.23.2004 "Vietnam Vet Says Has No Proof for Claim Kerry Lied" ... "The Bush campaign has acknowledged that Ken Cordier, a Vietnam veteran who appeared in a Swift Boat Veterans for Truth commercial, had been working with the campaign but said he had resigned." Yahoo!
8.23.2004 Editor fact checks Op-Ed in his own newspaper: "As the old saying goes, "Politics ain't beanbag," but this Republican crew, including Hinderaker and Johnson, take the art of slime-throwing to levels of immorality seldom seen. Voters need to awaken to this tactic, and realize how much contempt it shows for the workings of democracy and for the intelligence they bring to the task of choosing this nation's leaders." By Jim Boyd, Star Tribune
8.23.2004 "NBC: BUSH 'NOT WELCOME' SIGHT FOR OLYMPIC SECURITY PLANNERS -- ON-AIR REPORT DURING OLYMPIC COVERAGE ABOUT POSSIBLE BUSH TRIP" ... "Said one Iraqi mid fielder, "Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign. He can find another way to advertise himself." Drudge
8.22.2004 "WASHINGTON - It's easy for the Bushes to stay gallant. They delegate the gutter. There are always third-party political assassins, ostensibly independent, to do the dynasty wet work." ... It makes sense for W. to use surrogates to do his fighting, just as he did when he slid out of Vietnam and just as he did when he sent our troops to fight his administration's misbegotten vanity war in Iraq." Maureen Dowd
8.22.2004 "JOHN KERRY'S WAR RECORD -- Swift boat skipper: Kerry critics wrong. Tribune editor breaks long silence on Kerry record; fought in disputed battle" By Tim Jones, Chicago Tribune national correspondent See also: 'Hardball with Chris Matthews' for August 19 and "Swift Boat Veterans for "Truth" v. The Truth" which points to "Smear Boat Veterans for Bush
"the "swift boat" veterans attacking John Kerry's war record are led by veteran right-wing operatives using the same vicious techniques they used against John McCain four years ago." By Joe Conason, Salon (subscription, but they have a freebie deal)
8.22.2004 "US court: Software can't commit piracy" (9th Circuit, in Los Angeles)
8.20.2004 "Lift the family planning gag" By Marty Meehan and Gloria Feldt, The Boston Globe.
8.20.2004 "Friendly Fire: The Birth of an Anti-Kerry Ad" By KATE ZERNIKE and JIM RUTENBERG, The New York Times
8.20.2004 Helen Thomas: "All administrations are secretive, but this one is more so. I think there's too much secretiveness and arrogance of power. They really walk in lockstep. It's a lockdown administration. This President in particular abhors any leaks. And to me a leak is just the truth that someone wants to get out. Other Presidents have managed to have some dissenting voices or devil's advocates around. But in this administration, there's no tolerance for anyone who has an opposite opinion. We can see what they've done to Colin Powell. You're on board or you're not. You're with us or against us."
8.20.2004 Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI): "Ahead of His Time" By David J. Sirota and Jonathan Baskin , Washington Monthly
8.19.2004 " "Bush's willingness to manipulate churches knows no bounds -- the fallout continues" Carpetbagger
8.19.2004 "Retiring GOP congressman breaks ranks on Iraq -- Nebraska's Bereuter calls war 'a mistake'" From Ted Barrett, CNN Washington Bureau "Left unresolved for now is whether intelligence was intentionally misconstrued to justify military action," Bereuter said. ...
"Now we are immersed in a dangerous, costly mess and there is no easy and quick way to end our responsibilities in Iraq without creating bigger future problems in the region and, in general, in the Muslim world," Bereuter said."
8.19.2004 "Records Counter a Critic of Kerry -- Fellow Skipper's Citation Refers To Enemy Fire" By Michael DobbsWashington Post Staff Writer "In newspaper interviews and a best-selling book, Larry Thurlow, who commanded a Navy Swift boat alongside Kerry in Vietnam, has strongly disputed Kerry's claim that the Massachusetts Democrat's boat came under fire during a mission in Viet Cong-controlled territory on March 13, 1969. Kerry won a Bronze Star for his actions that day.
8.17.2004 Gen. Wesley Clark: "I think they will hold the commander-in-chief increasingly accountable for bad judgment. It was his judgment to go in on, at best, thin evidence, his judgment not to plan for the post-war actions, his judgment to keep the United Nations and our allies from assisting us early on, and his judgment to stand up in front of the world press and say, "Bring 'em on."
8.16.2004 "Bush doesn't need Congress to push a radical agenda" ... "To their credit, the Washington Post and the New York Times ran tremendous, award-worthy items over the weekend about Bush's regulatory power and the ways in which it's being used. I'd strongly recommend reading the articles in their entirety. (The Times ran one lengthy piece on Saturday; the Post is running a three-part series that'll wrap up tomorrow.)" Carpetbagger.
8.16.2004 "Suppress the Vote?" By BOB HERBERT, New York Times "The big story out of Florida over the weekend was the tragic devastation caused by Hurricane Charley. But there's another story from Florida that deserves our attention.
8.16.2004 "F.B.I. Goes Knocking for Political Troublemakers" By ERIC LICHTBLAU, The New York Times
8.16.2004 "Bush's Two Albatrosses" By David S. Broder, The Washington Post "The factors that make President Bush a vulnerable incumbent have almost nothing to do with his opponent, John F. Kerry. They stem directly from two closely linked, high-stakes policy gambles that Bush chose on his own. Neither has worked out as he hoped.
8.15.2004 "It's Official: Gallup Sucks" Gadflyer, Cliff Schecter See also
8.15.2004 "Cannabis chemicals may provide a new way of treating deadly brain cancer, new research suggests."
8.14.2004 "'Fahrenheit 9/11' Interview of CIA Nominee Porter Goss: 'I am not qualified.'" Per Michael Moore
8.14.2004 "Why are Republicans having trouble reaching out to Latinos? I have no idea. (Link opens a radio ad.)" Obsidian Wings
8.14.2004 A Must Read: "Out of Spotlight, Bush Overhauls U.S. Regulations" By JOEL BRINKLEY, The New York Times "Allies and critics of the Bush administration agree that the Sept. 11 attacks, the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq have preoccupied the public, overshadowing an important element of the president's agenda: new regulatory initiatives. Health rules, environmental regulations, energy initiatives, worker-safety standards and product-safety disclosure policies have been modified in ways that often please business and industry leaders while dismaying interest groups representing consumers, workers, drivers, medical patients, the elderly and many others." ...
8.13.2004 "BUSH SPEAKS....HIS ADVISORS SQUIRM....President Bush on Tuesday, talking off the cuff about the idea of a national sales tax: "It's an interesting idea. You know, I'm not exactly sure how big the national sales tax is going to have to be, but it's the kind of interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously." Kevin Drum who says "Being an advisor to George Bush must be sort of like sweeping up after the elephants at the circus."
8.13.2004 "Independence Way --
John Kerry thinks we can innovate our way to energy security. We're closer than he knows."By Sam Jaffe
Pointer from Kevin Drum
8.13.2004 "Rumsfeld and Bush Failed Us on Sept. 11" By Gail Sheehy, LA Times
8.13.2004 "A new Bush campaign ad pushes the theme of an "ownership society," and concludes with President Bush declaring, "I understand if you own something, you have a vital stake in the future of America."
8.13.2004 Florida "Absentee ballot mailed to voters includes obsolete instructions" Palm Beach Post
8.12.2004 Bush and the troops
8.12.2004 "Enormous national events will inevitably be terror targets. So will the president. But before we single out the anarchists and the environmentalists and the puppet-guys for diminished constitutional protections - before we herd them into what are speech-free zones - we might question whether they represent the real danger. If we don't recognize the distinction between passionate political speech and terrorism now, it may be too late to protest later." Dahlia Lithwick The New York Times.
8.12.2004 Howard Kurtz reporting about Washington Post coverage of WMD:"Woodward, for his part, said it was risky for journalists to write anything that might look silly if weapons were ultimately found in Iraq. Alluding to the finding of the Sept. 11 commission of a "groupthink" among intelligence officials, Woodward said of the weapons coverage: "I think I was part of the groupthink." ... "Such decisions coincided with The Post editorial page's strong support for the war, such as its declaration the day after Powell's presentation that "it is hard to imagine how anyone could doubt that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction." These editorials led some readers to conclude that the paper had an agenda, even though there is a church-and-state wall between the newsroom and the opinion pages. Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt, not Downie, runs the opinion side, reporting to Post Co. Chairman Donald Graham." Washington Post
8.12.2004 "New Medicare rules leave seniors wanting " "Republicans went to great lengths to get the Medicare measure passed; they are not about to admit that their bill was a mess." The Republican
8.11.2004 "Young Bush, shows his sense of fair play.
8.11.2004 "Citing concerns about terrorists crossing the nation's borders, the Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday that it planned to give border patrol agents sweeping new powers to deport illegal aliens from the frontiers with Mexico and Canada without providing them the opportunity to make their case before an immigration judge." ... "Homeland security officials said that the training would last for several days and that agents would begin their new duties in Tucson and Laredo, Tex." The New York Times
8.11.2004 Medicare: "Eight in 10 said the law should be changed to allow Americans to import lower-cost drugs from Canada and to allow the federal government to negotiate with drug companies to obtain lower prices." The New York Times
8.10.2004 Correlation of bad news for Bush with terror alerts. Timeline Juliusblog via Tom Englehart who points out ten surprises this administration proved remarkably unprepared for.
8.10.2004 Josh Marshall discusses journalists protecting sources. "Of course, all of this leaves rather a mystery about why Fitzgerald is picking on Cooper and Russert, while not putting the same screws to Robert Novak -- the man who clearly could give the most salient and probative testimony in this case and who, let's be frank, most deserves to be put in this position."
8.10.2004 "Okay, this simply won't fly." ... "Here Rice seems to be implying that things discussed 'on background' aren't for public release and thus that the White House did not in fact release his name." Josh Marshall
8.10.2004 "Only Keyes could manage to bring a flourish to the rather prosaic work of backing out of backing out of a flat promise or turning a flip-flop into something vaguely reminiscent of St. Paul's decision to abandon the teachings of the Pharisees and launch off on foot around the shores of the Mediterranean preaching Christ crucified." Josh Marshall
8.10.2004 "WOOLSEY'S WEB: STRUCTURAL CORRUPTION & IRAQ" Steven Clemons via Josh Marshall.
8.10.2004 "NASA Gives OK to Fix Hubble Telescope" Yess!! Discovery News
8.9.2004 "CIA author gagged on intel reform" By Shaun Waterman, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor, Washington Times "Mike Scheuer, the veteran CIA Osama bin Laden hunter whose anonymously-published, best-selling critique of the war on terror attacked the invasion of Iraq, has been gagged from speaking out against President George W. Bush's proposals for the reform of U.S. intelligence." via Druge
8.9.2004 "The Shield That Failed" ... "There is a class of cases that are simply beyond the ability of the legal system to resolve, both because some truths are ultimately unknowable, and because it isn't "justice" when everyone emerges from a trial so damaged that it hardly matters who won. Colorado v. Bryant is one of those cases." By DAHLIA LITHWICK, The New York Times
8.9.2004 "Alexander's switch could prove costly" By JESSICA BUJOL, Associated Press Writer, NEW ORLEANS. Via Carpetbagger
8.9.2004 Regarding "A Wing and a Prayer" By E.J. Perkins.
8.7.2004 - 8.8.2004 "UNDERCOVER OPERATION BLOWN....What kind of idiots are running our counterterrorism operations?" Kevin Drum
8.8.2004 "Ordered to just walk away ... "BAGHDAD - The national guardsman peering through the long-range scope of his rifle was startled by what he saw unfolding in the walled compound below.
8.8.2004 "Abu Ghraib lawyers want Cheney on stand"
8.8.2004 "Doug Feith, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, had an OpEd in Saturday's Washington Post. It is, I think, one of the clearest pieces of evidence for the strategic myopia at the heart of the Bush administration's 'war on terror'. Josh Marshall
8.8.2004 "GOP Star to Skip Convention -- Powell, Following Cabinet Tradition, Will Stay Out of Fray" By Robin Wright, Washington Post Staff Writer
8.8.2004 "Stay calm everyone, there's Prozac in the drinking water" Mark Townsend, The Observer
8.7.2004 "My conclusion: the press is completely failing to fulfill one of its key functions: informing us about the genuine differences between the candidates on issues of enormous importance. And when I read them not just talking about other things, like polls, but actually bemoaning the candidates' supposed lack of policy proposals, it's enough to make me despair." Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings
8.7.2004 Failure of Leadership By BOB HERBERT, The New York Times "The pressure may be getting to Mr. Bush. He came up with a gem of a Freudian slip yesterday. At a signing ceremony for a $417 billion military spending bill, the president said: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
8.7.2004 "Republicans' Dishonorable Charge -- Now even John McCain has condemned the Swift Boat Veterans' outrageous attack on John Kerry's Vietnam record. By Joe Conason, Salon
8.7.2004 More than you want to know about the Council of Economic Advisors -- Billmon
8.6.2004 "The rift that could split McCain and Bush -- and it's not the Swiftboat hacks" Carpetbagger
8.6.2004 The go to page regarding voting and voting technology.
8.4.2004 "Cheney Blames Democrats for Gas Prices " By JAMES JEFFERSON, Associated Press Writer Yahoo
8.5.2004 "$1.9 Billion of Iraq's Money Goes to U.S. Contractors"By Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post Staff Writer. See Blogger comments at Memorandum.
8.5.2004 "U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/27/1090693926903.html?oneclick=true:
8.5.2004 "Is this a hoax? Or is it true that the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church give North Korea the Russian missile submarines from which they have now successfully copied intermediate range ballistic missile launchers?" Mark Kleiman
8.5.2004 "The Terror Alerts" The New York Times urges specific changes.
8.5.2004 "Chords for Change" By BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN The New York Times.
8.4.2004 "Public Nuisance No. 1 ... A bold lawsuit filed last week against five major U.S. energy companies may have the strange side effect of encouraging utilities to ask the feds for mandatory emissions caps" By Amanda Griscom, Grist Magazine, Alternet
8.4.2004 "AMERICA SPENDING $15,000 PER WORKING AGE CITIZEN TO LIBERATE & DEMOCRATIZE IRAQ" Steve Clemons
8.4.2004 "...it strikes me as a bit misleading to construct a chart plotting change in GDP versus time and then discuss it as thought it were a chart of GDP versus time. The way Schultz has done it, the second Clinton administration looks like a period of plateau, albeit at a decent level, whereas mapping the second set of data points would reveal that it was, in fact, an era of rapid improvement in living standards. One could go on..." Yglesias is one smart and observant cookie.
8.4.2004 "Today the Times reports that the the SEC has fined Halliburton $7.5 million for, in effect, defrauding its shareholders." Josh Marshall
8.4.2004 SAVE THE WHALES! Pointer from Aaron. "U.S. backs proposal to allow managed commercial whaling" ... "The move by the U.S., traditionally an antiwhaling country, alarmed some environmentalists. A statement by the Humane Society of the United States, which is a member of an antiwhaling umbrella coalition called Whalewatch, and other organizations called the move "inexplicable."
8.4.2004 "The Secret File of Abu Ghraib -- New classified documents implicate U.S. forces in rape and sodomy of Iraqi prisoners " By OSHA GRAY DAVIDSON, Rolling Stone Pointer from by John Aravosis
8.4.2004 "Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, last year gave President Bush, his family and top aides $128,000 worth of fine jewelry, according to the State Department's annual list of foreign leaders' gifts to top U.S. officials." Washington Post Pointer from Carpetbagger
8.4.2004 "Bush makes the nuclear threat considerably worse" Carpetbagger points to Washington Post article, "In a significant shift in U.S. policy, the Bush administration announced this week that it will oppose provisions for inspections and verification as part of an international treaty that would ban production of nuclear weapons materials."
8.4.2004 "Corporate America moves further away from Bush" Carpetbagger
8.4.2004 "When the Koran Speaks, Will Canadian Law Bend?" By CLIFFORD KRAUSS, The New York Times.
8.4.2004 "Ridge Defends 'Three-Year-Old' Terror Alert" ""We don't do politics in the Department of Homeland Security," he told reporters. "This is not about politics. It's about confidence in government."
8.3.2004 "Saith the Post: "Mr. Bush cast the plan he unveiled yesterday, to create a director of national intelligence and a national counterterrorism center, as embracing the commission's recommendations. In fact the administration's proposals differ in critical respects." ... "What this White House says it's doing and what it's actually doing seldom turn out to be the same thing." Josh Marshall
8.3.2004 "THE COMMITTEE ON THE PRESENT DANGER -- JAMES WOOLSEY IS AT IT AGAIN." Steve Clemons
8.1.2004 Thank you, Josh, for pointing me to Howard Stern, who pointed me to The Case Against George W. Bush "The son of the fortieth president of the United States takes a hard look at the son of the forty-first and does not like what he sees" By Ron Reagan, The Esquire Article.
8.1.2004 "The Book on Terror' Reviewed by David Ignatius " THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT "The Clinton administration gathered a small crisis group at the White House that made sure every agency worked to thwart al Qaeda's planned terrorist attack. The Bush team, in contrast, didn't get serious about bin Laden until those planes hit their targets."
8.1.2004 "NEWSWEEK POLL: DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION 2004 -- Kerry/Edwards Leads Bush/Cheney 52 to 44 Percent; Dems Receive Two-Point Margin Bounce in Two-Way Race, Four-Point Bounce in Three-Way Race
8.1.2004 "Saudi royal family lambasts Michael Moore for twisting the truth in his 9/11 film -- In an exclusive interview, Prince Turki al-Faisal tells Con Coughlin why the US film-maker is so wrong" Telegraph
8.1.2004 "Poletown seizures are ruled unlawful; (Michigan) State Supreme Court restricts government rights to take land"
Howard Bashman
8.1.2004 "The incredible shrinking Rasul decision -- Just one month after the Supreme Court opened the American courts to challenges to the prolonged detention of war on terrorism suspects, the Justice Department's first court filingin response argues that the ruling is of almost no value to any of the foreign nationals being held at the military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. None of the detainees, the new document contends, has any constitutional rights whatsoever, and none is entitled to any remedy at all in a federal habeas corpus proceeding." Lyle Denniston SCOTUSBlog. Pointer from Howard Bashman
HOME -- January, 2004 -- February, 2004 -- March, 2004 -- April, 2004 -- May, 2004 -- June, 2004 -- July, 2004 -- August, 2004
gentle.reader@att.net
It was the third straight annual increase for both categories. While not unexpected, it was a double dose of bad economic news during a tight re-election campaign for President Bush."
That may be harder to do this time. The new report, online at www.climatescience.gov, is accompanied by a letter signed by Mr. Bush's secretaries of energy and commerce and his science adviser."
See also: Jonah Goldberg "The notion that, politically or legally, only some people have the "right" to say something during an election runs completely counter to the core intent of the First Amendment. But, hey, what right do I have to say that?"
8.25.2004 "A Trail of 'Major Failures' Leads to Defense Secretary's Office"
By DOUGLAS JEHL, NYTimes.com"Beginning in late 2002, the panel said, Mr. Rumsfeld and his staff set the stage for an environment in which abuses later became widespread. They did this first by sowing confusion about what kinds of interrogation techniques would be permitted, then by failing to plan for the intensity of the post-invasion insurgency, and finally by delaying for months in dispatching reinforcements to help the American guards at Abu Ghraib contend with the swelling number of prisoners."
Chris Matthews "I don't agree with that argument." ..."if you don't debate a war before it starts and you don't debate a war when it is beginning, when do you debate it? Afterwards? It seems like in a democracy you ought to debate foreign policy or else what the hell is a democracy? That's my view. That's why I have this show."
McCain snapped back, "George, everything isn't politics."
"THEN AND NOW....I've mentioned before that one of the reasons you shouldn't trust the SwiftVets group is that until recently a lot of them said nice things about John Kerry - and then suddenly refreshed their memories early this year. Some of those nice things were said to reporters during the past few years, some were said in official reports 36 years ago, while in other cases official documents directly contradict what they're saying today.
This probably isn't a complete list, but here's a quick recap of why nobody with a brain should trust a word they say:" by Kevin Drum
"Military records support Kerry's account of Vietnam service" BY Joseph L. Galloway, Knight Ridder Newspapers
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A veteran who disputed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's Vietnam war record acknowledged on Sunday he had no proof to back his charge that Kerry fabricated the reports of enemy fire that won him two medals. Reuters
"Kerry In Combat: Setting The Record Straight" By MITCH FRANK, Time.com
... "People always want to believe their President to the very end. I found that true with Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal. It wasn't until his last weeks practically when he was finally forced to say that he had not been credible, had not told the truth, that everything went downhill. But even then he had 23 percent approval. People want to believe their leaders, and that's a good thing." ... "I don't see how you can see what's all around you and not be liberal. You see the poor. You see the hungry. You see the suffering." Via Alternet
But Thurlow's military records, portions of which were released yesterday to The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, contain several references to "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire" directed at "all units" of the five-boat flotilla. Thurlow won his own Bronze Star that day, and the citation praises him for providing assistance to a damaged Swift boat "despite enemy bullets flying about him."
State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd "investigation" that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November." ... "The vile smell of voter suppression is all over this so-called investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement."
"The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been questioning political demonstrators across the country, and in rare cases even subpoenaing them, in an aggressive effort to forestall what officials say could be violent and disruptive protests at the Republican National Convention in New York." ... "In an internal complaint, an F.B.I. employee charged that the bulletins improperly blurred the line between lawfully protected speech and illegal activity. But the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, in a five-page internal analysis obtained by The New York Times, disagreed.
The office, which also made headlines in June in an opinion - since disavowed - that authorized the use of torture against terrorism suspects in some circumstances, said any First Amendment impact posed by the F.B.I.'s monitoring of the political protests was negligible and constitutional."
The first gamble was the decision to attack Iraq; the second, to avoid paying for the war." ... "If Bush can win reelection despite the failure of his two most consequential -- and truly radical -- decisions, he will truly be a political miracle man. But as his own nominating convention approaches, the odds are against him." Pointer from Josh Marshall with analysis
"Representative Obey said he believed most Americans remained unaware of many of the changes." "Most people are busy just trying to make a living," he said. "And with all the focus on Iraq and bin Laden, it gives the administration an opportunity to take a lot of loot out the back door without anybody noticing."
Call me naïve, but I thought all Americans have a vital stake in the nation's future, regardless of how much property they own. (Should we go back to the days when states, arguing that only men of sufficient substance could be trusted, imposed property qualifications for voting?) Even if Mr. Bush is talking only about the economic future, don't workers have as much stake as property owners in the economy's success?" Paul Krugman
This is the appropriate time to remind everyone that Bush lied about playing varsity rugby, which did not exist." Atrios
"I'm sure we've all read this fascinating little piece on the "side-by-side" military records of prominent Republicans, Democrats and journalists, thanks to Atrios. One part is particularly telling, in a way the writer never intended:" Digby. (Read the whole thing) Digby adds: "... it should be known that while it is true he (Kerry) only spent four months getting shot at and saving lives and winning medals for bravery in swift boats -- he had previously done a full tour onboard the USS Gridley stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin. Swift boat duty was his second tour."
"ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The al-Qaida suspect named by U.S. officials as the source of information that led to this week's terrorist alerts was working undercover, Pakistani intelligence sources said Friday, putting an end to the sting operation and forcing Pakistan to hide the man in a secret location" MSNBC
"In other words, the Bush administration just blew the cover of one of the most important assets inside al-Qaeda that the US has ever had." Juan Cole
"Unmasking of Qaeda Mole a U.S. Security Blunder-Experts" By Peter Graff, LONDON (Reuters)
"Bush Outing of Khan and the Faustian Bargain" Juan Cole
"U.S. Says Man Had Ties to Plot to Disrupt Vote" By DAVID JOHNSTON, The New York Times
"It might have been nice to keep Khan working as a mole for a while so they could catch the guys who were planning more terrorist attacks, don't you think? Why, you'd almost think they didn't want to stop terorist attacks from disrupting the election." Digby
From his post several stories above ground level, he watched as men in plainclothes beat blind folded and bound prisoners in the enclosed grounds of the Iraqi Interior Ministry." MIKE FRANCIS, The Oregonian
"Welcome To Iraq Mr Negroponte, Bet you feel right at home." Digby
..."Does the administration have any real sense of what motivates the nation's enemies? Does it understand the ways in which American policies are empowering its enemies? Does it grasp the crucial importance of international alliances and coordinated intelligence activity in fighting terror? And is it even beginning to think seriously about lessening our debilitating dependence on Middle Eastern oil?"
"McCain urges exclusion of Air Force heads in Boeing deal" BY JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY, Knight Ridder Newspapers
8.4.2004 "I promise not to do this all the time. Fact-checking every speech Dick "Go F--- Yourself" Cheney delivers would be virtually impossible -- it'd require a full-time staff just to chronicle all of his misstatements, better yet correct them.
That said, I think Cheney's comments in Arkansas yesterday about energy policy require special attention because they were so breathtakingly wrong." Carpetbagger
"The war in Iraq was useless, it caused more problems than it solved, and it brought in terrorism." From Carpetbagger.
8.4.2004 "North Korea Has Dozen Subs " "Could threaten us with sea-launched missiles. Where'd Dear Leader get them? It looks like he got them from the guy who writes the paychecks of BillGertz, Tony Blankley, Wes Pruden, Andrew Sullivan, Jonah Goldberg..." From Atrios.
Billmon has the whole story with some background regarding Cheney's involvement.
See also Brad Delong: "Why Oh Why Are We Ruled by These Liars? (Cheney Lies to Shareholders Edition)"
"Two Days Ago, August 1, 2004: "
"But we must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the President's leadership in the war against terror. The reports that have led to this alert are the result of offensive intelligence and military operations overseas, as well as strong partnerships with our allies around the world, such as Pakistan. Such operations and partnerships give us insight into the enemy so we can better target our defensive measures here and away from home." Per Atrios
58 Percent Dissatisfied With Direction of Country; 57 Percent Say War With Iraq Has Not Made U.S. Safer
46 Percent Say Bush Closer to Their View on Gay Marriage -- Yahoo!