In politics, as in life, when one is in a hole, he or she should stop digging. This advice was not heeded by John McCain's campaign today. Both the Senator and his aides sought to brush away his factually inaccurate statement that American troops in Iraq were down to pre-surge levels. In the process, they made the hole even bigger.

Reminded that troops in Iraq currently number 155,000, well above the pre-surge level of 130,000, McCain refused to acknowledge on Friday that he had misspoke.
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The problem, however, was that this was not McCain's only gaffe. During the same Thursday conference when he misstated troop levels, he also argued that conditions were "quiet" in Mosul. That same day, three suicide bombers killed 30 in the city.
Sam Stein:HuffPo

5.30.08 David Corn: Foreclosure Phil

Who's to blame for the biggest financial catastrophe of our time? There are plenty of culprits, but one candidate for lead perp is former Sen. Phil Gramm. Eight years ago, as part of a decades-long anti-regulatory crusade, Gramm pulled a sly legislative maneuver that greased the way to the multibillion-dollar subprime meltdown. Yet has Gramm been banished from the corridors of power? Reviled as the villain who bankrupted Middle America? Hardly. Now a well-paid executive at a Swiss bank, Gramm cochairs Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign and advises the Republican candidate on economic matters. He's been mentioned as a possible Treasury secretary should McCain win. That's right: A guy who helped screw up the global financial system could end up in charge of US economic policy. Talk about a market failure.
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But the Enron loophole was small potatoes compared to the devastation that unregulated swaps would unleash. Credit default swaps are essentially insurance policies covering the losses on securities in the event of a default. Financial institutions buy them to protect themselves if an investment they hold goes south. It's like bookies trading bets, with banks and hedge funds gambling on whether an investment (say, a pile of subprime mortgages bundled into a security) will succeed or fail. Because of the swap-related provisions of Gramm's bill—which were supported by Fed chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury secretary Larry Summers—a $62 trillion market (nearly four times the size of the entire US stock market) remained utterly unregulated, meaning no one made sure the banks and hedge funds had the assets to cover the losses they guaranteed.

In essence, Wall Street's biggest players (which, thanks to Gramm's earlier banking deregulation efforts, now incorporated everything from your checking account to your pension fund) ran a secret casino. "Tens of trillions of dollars of transactions were done in the dark," says University of San Diego law professor Frank Partnoy, an expert on financial markets and derivatives. "No one had a picture of where the risks were flowing." Betting on the risk of any given transaction became more important—and more lucrative—than the transactions themselves, Partnoy notes: "So there was more betting on the riskiest subprime mortgages than there were actual mortgages." Banks and hedge funds, notes Michael Greenberger, who directed the cftc's division of trading and markets in the late 1990s, "were betting the subprimes would pay off and they would not need the capital to support their bets."
Mother Jones via NewsTrust.net

At this point I return to the Keeling graph, which demonstrates the strong coupling between atmosphere and plants. The wiggles in the graph show us that every carbon dioxide molecule in the atmosphere is incorporated in a plant within a time of the order of twelve years. Therefore, if we can control what the plants do with the carbon, the fate of the carbon in the atmosphere is in our hands. That is what Nordhaus meant when he mentioned "genetically engineered carbon-eating trees" as a low-cost backstop to global warming.

Senators Joseph I. Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, prominent surrogates for Senator John McCain's presidential campaign, stepped down Wednesday from their positions with an independent group that released a pair of Internet advertisements attacking Senator Barack Obama on Iraq.
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The senators' positions with the group, which describes itself as a grass-roots advocacy organization pushing for victory in Iraq and Afghanistan, seemed to place them in contravention of new conflict-of-interest rules released by Mr. McCain's campaign that specifically prohibit anyone "with a McCain campaign title or position" from participating in a "527 or other independent entity that makes public communications that support or oppose any presidential candidate."
HuffPo

On Wednesday night, CNN's Jessica Yellin talked to Anderson Cooper about Scott McClellan's tell-all memoir and agreed with the former press secretary that White House reporters "dropped the ball" during the run-up to war.

But Yellin went much further, revealing that news executives--presumably at ABC News, where she'd worked from July 2003 to August 2007--actively pushed her not do hard-hitting pieces on the Bush administration.
Politico

5.27.08 This from Leonard, who cautions that it is just speculation. I think he's right on.

I HAVE CONTINUED TO BE PUZZLED BY THE RECENT ACTIONS OF THE STATE OF TEXAS CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES. THE QUESTION OF WHY, AT THIS TIME, DID THEY BECOME ALARMED FOR THE SAFETY AND WELFARE OF THESE 463 CHILDREN LIVING IN POLYGAMIST FAMILIES?

CONSIDERING THAT GOOD STATE OF TEXAS IS NOT AT THE FOREFRONT OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, PRISON REFORM, SCHOOL FUNDING, SOCIAL PROGRAMS,...... ETC....

ADDED TO THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE LEGAL AND POLITICAL ISSUES AND THE ADDED CONSIDERABLE COSTS OF DOING DNA TESTING, LEGAL EXPENSES, LENGTHY COURT AND LEGAL REPRESENTATION, AND THEIR DETERMINED EFFORTS TO ESTABLISH PATERNITY. WHY AT THIS TIME?? THESE POLYGAMIST FAMILIES HAVE BEEN LIVING THE SAME LIFESTYLE FOR A VERY LONG TIME. WHAT IS THE TEXAS CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES URGENCY ??

ONE POSSIBILITY IS THAT SOMEONE DID A FINANCIAL EXAMINATION OF THE WELFARE $$$ AID TO DEPENDENT CHILDREN, AND THEY REALIZED THE TREMENDOUS ON-GOING FINANCIAL EXPENSE THE STATE WAS INCURRING....... AND IT FINALLY DAWNED ON THEM....LIKE A BOLT OF TEXAS LIGHTNING.... THE STATE HAS HUGE COSTS IN CHILD WELFARE/$$$ AID GOING TO SUPPORT THESE CHILDREN AND THESE POLYGAMIST FAMILIES. CONSIDERING THAT SOME OF THE FATHERS OF THESE CHILDREN OWN HUGE FARMS AND PROPERTY, I CAN ONLY QUESTION WHATEVER THE GOOD AND COMPASSIONATE STATE OF TEXAS IS CONSIDERING.

Data centres consumed 0.6% of the world's electricity in 2000, and 1% in 2005. Globally, they are already responsible for more carbon-dioxide emissions per year than Argentina or the Netherlands, according to a recent study by McKinsey, a consultancy, and the Uptime Institute, a think-tank. If today's trends hold, these emissions will have grown four-fold by 2020, reaching 670m tonnes. By some estimates, the carbon footprint of cloud computing will then be larger than that of aviation.
The Economist

7) Either you are for the ban on nuclear testing or you are not. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is the most studied arms control agreement in history. It has been verifiable since the 1960s. McCain voted against it. To play the "let's study it again" dance is too cute by half. If the president does not support it, it is not going to happen. Also, McCain seems to be suggesting we should re-open the agreement for new modifications. That is the fastest way to kill it. He also talks about limiting testing. We want to ban testing. We have more nuclear expertise than anyone -- why we would want to make the world safe for others to test nuclear weapons is unclear. Obama and Clinton have said they are for the CTBT and plan to fight for its ratification. McCain has not. The rest of the world -- including the states we need on our side to deal with Iran and North Korea -- are embarrassed that we have not ratified it.
Jon Wolfsthal

Now, at the end of the month, the online site Asia Times has fleshed out the story, with a detailed report on the weapons turning up in Iraq. A sample:

Reports by the US command in Iraq over the past 15 months cited only a handful of Iranian weapons out of hundreds counted in caches found in Shi'ite areas. Nearly 700 mortars and rockets were reported by specific caliber size, along with a handful of RPGs, in nearly two dozen caches. Of that total, only four rockets were reported as being of Iranian origin, and another 15 were listed as possibly being Iranian.

Could it possibly be that the administration's conclusions were reached in advance of, or even iin the absence of, supporting facts? And could it be that the major media don't think of this as a significant story?

We've seen the exit polls. We've read the unequivocal quotes. Many women who are avowed Hillary Clinton supporters are declaring they won't vote for Barack Obama in the fall.

I get the anger and the disappointment. But to quote SNL's Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers: Really? You'd rather vote for John McCain, a man who has a 25-year history of voting against a woman's right to choose? A man who over the last eight years that NARAL has released a pro-choice scorecard has received a 0 percent rating (in his time in office, Obama has received a 100 percent rating)? A man whose campaign website says he believes Roe v. Wade "must be overturned"? A man who has vowed that, as president, he will be "a loyal and unswerving friend of the right to life movement"? More

Mukasey accepts (he says) that there may be some value to debating the balance between civil liberties and national security and reviewing events of the past. But if such discussions are conducted irresponsibly, Mukasey argues, it will lead to another "cycle of timidity" and--the suggestion is--potentially another attack.

The implications of this view are disturbing. Mukasey is arguing that, if John Yoo is held responsible for the shitty opinions he wrote, then in the future some OLC hack writing get-out-of-jail-free cards won't be so rambunctious in his opinions. Me, I consider that a good thing. But Mukasey implies it will lead to another terrorist attack.
firedoglake

5.20.2008 The Last Roundup - Is the government compiling a secret list of citizens to detain under martial law?

"We are at the edge of a cliff and we're about to fall off," says constitutional lawyer and former Reagan administration official Bruce Fein. "To a national emergency planner, everybody looks like a danger to stability. There's no doubt that Congress would have the authority to denounce all this—for example, to refuse to appropriate money for the preparation of a list of U.S. citizens to be detained in the event of martial law. But Congress is the invertebrate branch. They say, 'We have to be cautious.' The same old crap you associate with cowards. None of this will change under a Democratic administration, unless you have exceptional statesmanship and the courage to stand up and say, 'You know, democracies accept certain risks that tyrannies do not.'"
Radaronline.com / Christopher Ketcham

McCain Can Run, but Bush Won’t Hide
NYT

5.20.2008 James Risen: Iraq Contractor in Shooting Case Makes Comeback

“We cannot operate without private security firms in Iraq,” said Patrick F. Kennedy, the under secretary of state for management. “If the contractors were removed, we would have to leave Iraq.”
NYT

Ellison, however, wrote in his order Friday that Jones' claims of sexual assault, battery, rape, false imprisonment and others fall beyond the scope of her employment contract.

"The Court does not believe that Plaintiff's bedroom should be considered the workplace, even though her housing was provided by her employer," Ellison wrote.
MADDY SAUER:ABC News

5.6.2008 EPA official fired for doing her job.

5.3.2008 Omid Memarian: "Clinton's 'Obliteration' Remark is Genocidal, Requires Apology"

5.2.2008 mcjoan: FISA Fight: The Real Force Behind Jello Jay

If one thing in the whole amnesty debate wasn't already clear, this information absolutely crystallizes it. This fight has nothing to do with national security. It has everything to do with megacorporations breaking the law and doing everything in their power to get away with it--including getting advice from the Department of Justice about how to do so!
Daily Kos

... And a look at what Mr. McCain says about taxes shows the same combination of irresponsibility and double-talk that, back in 2000, foreshadowed the character of the Bush administration.
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But here’s the thing: the reason the Bush tax cuts are set to expire is that the Bush administration engaged in a game of deception. It put an expiration date on the tax cuts, which it never intended to honor, as a way to hide those tax cuts’ true cost.

The McCain campaign wants us to accept the success of that deception as a fact of life. Mr. Holtz-Eakin is saying, in effect, “We’re not engaged in any new irresponsibility — we’re just perpetuating the Bush administration’s irresponsibility. That doesn’t count.”
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If truth be told, the McCain tax plan doesn’t seem to embody any coherent policy agenda. Instead, it looks like a giant exercise in pandering — an attempt to mollify the G.O.P.’s right wing, and never mind if it makes any sense.
NYT