Macswain

Read "Comments From Left Field"

2007-09-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

I do most of my blogging these days at Comments From Left Field.

I hope you will pop in over there and read not only my posts, but those from a great group of intelligent progressives.

Anab Assesses Hunt for the White Whale

2007-09-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

No surprise from the early reports of Petraeus' expected testimony to Congress. He wants to continue the hunt for the white whale indefinitely.

Here's the first report from the New York Times:

The top American commander in Iraq Gen. David H. Petraeus, has recommended that decisions on the contentious issue of reducing the main body of the American troops in Iraq be put off for six months, American officials said Sunday.

General Petraeus, whose long-awaited testimony before Congress is to begin today at about 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, has informed President Bush that troop cuts may begin in mid-December, with the withdrawal of one of the 20 American combat brigades in Iraq, about 4,000 troops. By August 2008, the American force in Iraq would be down to 15 combat brigades, the force level before Mr. Bush’s troop reinforcement plan.

The precise timing of such reductions, which would leave about 130,000 troops in Iraq, could vary, depending on conditions in the country. But the general has also said that it is too soon to present recommendations on reducing American forces below that level because the situation in Iraq is in flux. He has suggested that he wait until March to outline proposals on that question.

Given the troop drawdown that will happen next Spring as a necessary result of troop rotations, Petraeus is basically asking he be given everything the military has ... well, except for that one brigade that he hopes will fool the American public into thinking he and Bush really want to get troops out of Iraq.

I haven't been able to assess all the press reports yet, but one word I bet you won't be hearing ... Afghanistan. Neither Petraeus nor Bush really seem to care about the critical importance Afghanistan plays in our long-term foreign policy interests. Their white whale is Iraq, plain and simple.

What's clear is that Petraeus and Bush cannot stop themselves and change course for what's in America's best interest. People (especially the media elites) need to stop kidding themselves that these guys are truly analyzing what is the "best of all the worst choices" in the disaster which is Iraq.

Everything You Need to Know About the Next Two Weeks

2007-09-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

From Tom Tomorrow.

Losing the Forgotten War

2007-09-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has this excellent analysis on how the war in Afghanistan is worsening.

Insurgency related deaths and attacks are continuing to increase. With the American and NATO troops we have, we continue to hold the cities but cannot hold the countryside.

I believe we can still win in Afghanistan, but we need to redeploy troops and resources there as soon as possible. Every day we allow the insurgency to gain a new toe hold, we make the work of saving Afghanistan much more difficult.

Petraeus' Numbers Game

2007-09-04T07:17:00.001-07:00

Mikey fired me up with his post below analyzing the recent U.S. fatality numbers. Undoubtedly, the right will try and spin this as a success of the surge.

Is it? Or is it as I suspect part of a spin-plan orchestrated by Petraeus to appear successful while failing to accomplish any political success in Iraq or any greater security success for the Iraqi people.

Let's take a look.

Here are some of the things that helped, in my opinion, to reduce U.S. combat fatalities:

(1) we decreased our presence in Anbar and parts of Northern Iraq. Of course, the Yazidi suffered the loss of more than 500 from a horrific bombing.

(2) We steered clear of of Karbala during a large Shiite pilgrimage knowing such an event was likely to draw extremists. The result was a violent bloodbath between Shiite sects. But hey, no Americans were being killed and if its Shia on Shia, it's not sectarian. If they're preoccupied killing each other, they can't be as effective at killing us. Another Petraeus victory. You also must wonder how many of the Shia fighters are turning to the coming fight in the South with the Brits pulling up their stakes.

(3) In Baghdad, Newsweek has a must-read on the success - not of the surge - but of ethnic cleansing since the start of the surge.

When Gen. David Petraeus goes before Congress next week to report on the progress of the surge, he may cite a decline in insurgent attacks in Baghdad as one marker of success. In fact, part of the reason behind the decline is how far the Shiite militias' cleansing of Baghdad has progressed: they've essentially won.

And in failing to have stopped the Shiite cleansing of Sunni's in Baghdad, we have unfortunately left the appearance of having aided the Shia. We are trading short-term neighborhood-by-neighborhood security for long-term animosity and an ever deeper sectarian divide. We are allowing massive internal displacement for the sake of troop security.

So, in my mind, Petraeus has made a number of strategic decisions that help reduce US troop fatalities in the short run, but which have further damned the prospects of political reconciliation. In fact, I believe Petraeus' actions will ultimately be counterproductive in leading to even longer term violent sectarianism and intra-Shiite hostilities.

Now, Petraeus is a smart guy. He knows he cannot manipulate the number of American fatalities. He has to get those numbers lower to sell the surge in September (after all, does anybody believe a General who created a plan is not going to claim it works? Has that happened? Ever?)

But to get those numbers lower, you need less confrontation, fewer hotspots, etc. But the downside of avoiding a number of fights is that more Iraqis are going to die.

Here's the rub. Petraeus also knows the Iraqi government completely controls the reports of Iraqi civilian deaths. They do not provide breakdowns of those numbers so they are not verifiable.

The American military was busted twice gaming these numbers - post-Golden Mosque bombing and in August '06 during Surge I - because the UN could independently double-check the numbers from all the various morgues and other reporters. That was cut off in October 2006.

So in July, Nouri Al Maliki's government reported 1,753 civilian deaths. Just have to beat that number, right? Except, oops, there were some big high profile civilian death events. The bombing of the Yazidi was yielding independent counts of 500 deaths and the Kerfuffle in Karbala was landing daily body counts in the news. Well, don't oversell,go with a number that looks like an increase but we can claim is a decrease but for some exceptional events.

1,773 is the number the government gave us. And the Righties cheered without any qualifications as to the number's lack of verification.

Until ...

The New York Times received a leak of the real numbers. The figures show a drop in deaths in Baghdad, from 896 in July to 656 in August. But overall, the numbers reveal 2,318 civilians died violently in the country in August, compared with 1,980 in July.

That's right. Civilian deaths didn't just increase by 20, but by 338 or 16%; and that is based only on counts that don't include the many who never pass through a morgue because of the Muslim tradition of burial within 24 hours.

Here's a quote from the NYT piece that let's us in on the obvious:

Colonel Garver acknowledged that as a result of the operations in Baghdad, militias and insurgent groups had been trying to establish networks north of the capital. “You see attacks up north in part because it’s harder to move around Baghdad if you’re a terrorist,” he said. “It’s harder to bring car bombs in.”

Damn, who would've thought the Iraqis could figure out the Wee Willie Killer strategy.

At 160,000 plus troops, I have no doubt we can flood a zone with marginal gains in that zone. We can also manipulate US fatalities downward depending upon when and where we want to take the fight. But please, don't pretend that this is succeeding in making Iraq more secure. Without 600,000 plus troops, the battles will rage largely wherever US troops cannot be.

Craig & Vitter

2007-08-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

Just like U.S. involvement in Iraq shouldn't be analyzed without discussion of Afghanistan, what should happen to Larry Craig should not be discussed without the same question being raised regarding David Vitter.

John McCain and Norm Coleman - both Republicans running campaigns - believe Craig should resign. They don't say a thing and apparently haven't even been asked about David Vitter.

I can only interpret their silence on Vitter as being supportive. If so, they should speak out against the over-the-top prosecution by the US Justice Department of Debra Jean Palfrey.

For the record, I don't believe either should resign for what - in Vitter's case - I believe should be legal and for what - in Craig's case - is a minor legal violation. Their constituencies, though, should be allowed to consider their hypocrisy and the media should fully report on it. I, too, retain the right to mock them for their hypocrisy and genuinely bizarre behavior.

Future Republican Candidate?

2007-08-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

Cutting Corners in Afghanistan

2007-08-24T08:43:00.001-07:00

In my opinion, the biggest cost to our involvement in Iraq continues to be the fact that it prevents us from providing the necessary troops and resources necessary to succeed in Afghanistan.

This problem again became, sadly, clear today with the deaths of three British soldiers from a U.S. airstrike.

Now I know that unintentional deaths of coalition troops (friendly fire) or to the civilian population (collateral damage) are a cost of any military invaision and occupation. However, it is well known that these costs rise greatly the more you rely on an air war against insurgents as opposed to boots on the ground.

These unintentional deaths carry a great cost in the battle for hearts and minds. Every civilian death that results from an errant airstrike increases hostility toward the coalition forces and creates civilian support for the insurgency. The U.S. has been repeatedly condemned by Hamid Karzai and our allies for the damage caused by errant airstrikes. At soome point, the predictably results from these airstrikes no longer are considered accidents.

In my view, any intellectually honest discussion of the surge in Iraq or our continued occupation of that country needs to address the damage our involvement there is having on the international community's ability to succeed in Afghanistan.

Bush clearly avoids any discussion of Afghanistan whenever he discusses Iraq and the media has failed to ask the tough questions of Bush or rightwing hawks or anybody about this issue. It's up to elected Democrats and campaigning Democrats to make this point. Sadly, I haven't been hearing much about it and I fear our ability to succeed in Afghanistan is slowly slipping through our fingers.

Question of the Day: Is Al Anbar a "Success" of the Surge or Withdrawal?

2007-08-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Both in President Bush's speech yesterday and in a number of comments from Democrats (e.g. Hillary), I've heard of declining violence in Al Anbar. Bush, of course, is portraying this as a success of the surge. But isn't this really the result of capitulation to the Sunni warlords in Al Anbar?

Am I right in understanding that we changed our strategy in Al Anbar from one trying to bring the population under the control of the Shia dominated security forces and/or central government to one where we allow them complete local control and governance?

Given the almost complete Sunni make-up of Al Anbar, wasn't the violence there almost entirely against American and Iraqi troops and their civilian supporters?

So, in other words, isn't any success in Al Anbar actually the result of a partial withdrawal rather than any troop surge?

Drip Drip BOOM!

2007-08-19T23:28:00.001-07:00

Seven NCOs who are finishing their 15 month deployments in Iraq were given high rent space on the NYT editorial page and this is what they wrote.

You'll be hearing a lot about it.

Petraeus' "Pullback" Feint Exposed

2007-08-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

The media is abuzz with this LA Times story in which unnamed officials spin the likelihood of General Petraeus calling for a pullback of troops from areas of "success." Such a proposal would obviously be spun as "the surge is working!"

Many liberal bloggers have rightfully caught the admission contained in the piece that the September report will actually be written by the White House and will not come directly from Petraeus as has widely been reported and perceived. However, another nugget in the piece is being overlooked that exposes the "pullback" claim as unrealistic spin.

The LA Times piece which carries today's date actually appeared on the web yesterday. Given the time for writing and editing the story, it is probable that the statements coming from Petraeus' spinners were made before yesterday's horrific bombings that killed more than 250.

Here's a passage from the LA Times piece on the expected proposal for a pullback:

Petraeus has not told the White House where he might recommend reductions. But military commanders have indicated in recent briefings that Nineveh province in northern Iraq and its capital, Mosul, like Al Anbar in the west, could be an area from which it might be suitable for the U.S. to withdraw.

And yesterday's attacks:

Officials said at least 260 people were killed and 320 wounded Tuesday when suicide truck bombers attacked the villages of Qahtaniya, al-Jazeera and Tal Uzair, in northern Iraq near the border with Syria.

That would be in Ninevah Province.

Talk about bad timing for proposing a pullback in Ninevah.

Jose Padilla Trial: Weak Evidence Vs. Fear

2007-08-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

Closing arguments are done in the Jose Padilla trial.

Padilla is charged with conspiracy to murder, kidnap & maim people overseas. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

I've followed the press reports of the case and, by all accounts, the evidence against Padilla is weak. The case almost completely relies on this (PDF file) "Mujahideen Data Form."

The form, in and of itself, expresses no intent to commit murder, kidnapping or terrorist violence. While Padilla's fingerprints are on the front and back of the form, they are nowhere else on it. His attorney argues Padilla handled it but that there is no evidence he even filled it out. Moreover, there's a handprint by the signature line and the government didn't even bother to test if it was Padilla's (indicating that they know it is not).

There were no witnesses placing Padilla in Afghanistan much less attending a terrorist training camp. A government witness - one of the Lackawana Six - who attended a camp after filling out a similar form, backfired on the government when he testified on cross examination that the camp was a military boot camp and did not engage in terrorist training for acts of violence against civilians. This allowed Padilla's attorney to argue that even if you believe Padilla went to such a camp, there is no evidence that all attendees went with an intent to murder, maim or kidnap civilians.

Of the government's 300,000 wire taps, Padilla only appears on 7, uses no coded language and only says innocuous things consistent with his lawyers claim that he went overseas to study and make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Remember also that the government's "dirty bomb" allegations that were used to demonize Padilla and scare the American public have been dropped from the case.

You can see why the Bush administration never wanted him tried. The evidence shows Padilla was more a PR prop for false alarms of iminent terrorist attacks in America and they knew it. Best to lock him up in solitaire until he goes nuts or their sickening use of him for their personal gain is forgotten.

The prosecutor did get to say Al Qaeda a lot and show the jury a picture of Padilla wearing a checked Arab headdress, so maybe fear will win out. As the saying goes ... the jury's still out.

Kids Sucking Lead

2007-08-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

The toy scandal continues as it is being revealed today that the recall has been expanded to 9 million toys.

On a political note, I believe this is what you get with unchecked Capitalism --- the kind supported by the Bush administration and Republicans. Democrats and progressives prefer that there is some governmental check in place to prevent toys coated with lead-based paint from getting into our kids' mouths. We understand that corporations by their nature are profit driven and, in this modern age, short-term profits in particular. The incentives to cheat are ever present and safety regulations are a necessity.

Interestingly, the CNN report does not refer to any governmental action being taken to determine the actual breadth of the problem.

Overrated: The Iowa Straw Poll

2007-08-13T10:17:00.001-07:00

Doesn't anyone else think its goofy that the 4,400 votes Mitt Romney received to win this weekend's Iowa straw poll gets so much play throughout the media?

Yeah, that's it ... 4,400 votes. My State Rep needs more votes than that to get elected and I'll guaran-damn-tee you he isn't getting front page coverage on the New York Times and headlining every Network and Cable News broadcast.

I'm sure the Daily Kos' presidential polls have far more participants than this poll. Do you think a straw poll held in Harlem or El Paso would get thismuch coverage even if greater numbers participated? I doubt it.

I think some of the same considerations here are at play as with many in the media's - think David Broder - insistence that it is best for Iowa and New Hampshire to go first in the Presidential primaries.

Iowa straw poll voters are made up of Broder's Main Street or Real Americans. Of course, I suspect those voters are largely white and a bit older than the typical American voter ... uhm ... like Broder himself.

But my biggest bitch about the coverage is that it isn't really democratic to give so few voters such a big voice.

The "D" Word

2007-08-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

Remember the War Czar - Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute. Well, his finally popped up for the first time since his confirmation to the post in June. And - uhm - he let slip a doozy:

Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush’s new war adviser said Friday.

“I think it makes sense to certainly consider it,” Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.”

“And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table.

You see, Lute knows and has to actually spend time thinking about the stress multiple and extended deployments have placed upon our military personnel. He also knows the current troop deployment can’t support the surge and de facto troop reductions will occur early next year.

So anyone serious about continuing the surge past early next year must seriously consider a draft.

Yet, for this bit of candor, I suspect it will be quite awhile before we hear from the War Czar again.

"Humanitarian Crisis" Not A Good Excuse For Continued Occupation

2007-08-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

One of the latest tactics of the "stay forever" crowd is to argue that withdrawal will lead to a humanitarian crisis. Thus, they argue, progressives who advocate confronting humanitarian crises around the world - the Darfur, for instance - are hypocritical for wanting to leave Iraq with a pending humanitarian crisis.

There are a number of problems with this argument. First, it ignores that there is already a massive humanitarian crisis taking place in Iraq. The continuing occupation is not alleviating it but, in fact, is perpetuating it. We need look no further than today's headlines for a story as to how our military cannot account for some 190,000 rifles and pistols that have been brought into Iraq. These weapons were dispersed under General Petraeus' watch while he was in charge of training Iraqi security forces. These undoubtedly are being used to kill people. Likewise, we should remember how the ammo dumps were left unprotected - Al Qa Qa being the most memorable - in the immediate aftermath of the initial invaision in 2003. Likewise, our support of a human rights abusing government has been tragic. And let's not forget the fact that, due to the chaos created by the invaision and occupation, human rights aid groups cannot operate in Iraq right now. So, in my opinion, it is an errant assumption to believe the Bush administration is competent to confront a humanitarian crisis and, indeed, will continue to exaccerbate the existing one. Simply, the best approach toward the humanitarian crisis isn't staying the course with Bush.

Second, the conservatives are disingenuous in conflating support for a continued occupation as the only legitimate response to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Progressives did not push for or support a full-scale invaision and occupation of Bosnia or Kosovo to alleviate those crises. Nor was one needed when Bush belatedly acted in Liberia. Likewise, in the Darfur, progressives are pushing for a real peace keeping force for that specific region (not all of Sudan) and increased diplomatice efforts with consequential threats on the national government; not an overthrow of the government in Khartoum.

Third, ending the occupation does not mean turning a blind eye to the human rights crisis that exists today and will continue for sometime - regardless of the US's continued occupation. Mark my words. It will be the progressives who will continue to fight for spending on pragmatic, humanitarian assistance to Iraq. Once the occupation ends, it will be the conservatives who abandon the Iraqis.

I don't believe conservatives are being intellectually honest in voicing concerns about a pending humanitarian crisis. It is just another part of their "say anything" strategy that allows them to continue in their self-denial that "victory is just around the corner" and deviating from the course will be the only thing that can cause us to lose.

This Is Not Your Sixties Anti-War Movement

2007-08-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

Kevin Drum, using a great quote from Hendrik Hertzberg, posts this insightful post on how moderate, and dare I add "mainstream," the anti-war movement, as represented at YearlyKos, truly is.

Drum ends with this dead-on zinger:

I think a lot of journalists (though I don't mean to include Hertzberg here) don't quite get this because they haven't internalized just how far off the rails the modern Republican Party has gone. Until they do, they're going to continue to misunderstand what's happening.

The "Made in China" Poisoning Continues - This Time Its Our Kids

2007-08-01T22:58:00.000-07:00

Every couple of weeks we seem to be getting a new story of some product made cheaply in China (so as to increase the profits of Multi-National corporations) that has been dispersed widely in America that puts our health and safety at risk. Most notorious may be the tainted pet food that has killed and sickened many of our cats and dogs.

That pales in comparison by the latest scandal - the lead poisoning of our children. It turns out one of our biggest toy manufacturers - Mattel/Fisher Price - has been using a Chinese contractor to put decorative paint on their toys and that contractor used lead based paint.

A recall of a million toys sold between May and August 2007 is underway. But listen to this:

Fisher-Price and the government had wanted to withhold details of the recall from the public until Thursday to give stores time to get suspect toys off the shelves and Fisher-Price time to get its recall hotline running, but some news organizations broke the embargo and posted news of the recall online.

I'm pissed. I'm fucking pissed. My son just had his second birthday and got one of these toys as a gift. He has been playing with it for 4 days now and these motherfuckers, with the government's acquiescence, wanted to delay the public notice to get their PR operation in place. How long have they known? How many kids - and these are toys largely sold for babies and toddlers - put these fucking things in their mouth as they plotted their PR strategies? Where was our government in protecting our kids from this danger? Don't we now have to go back and test all of the toys Mattel/Fisher Price sold us over the past few years?

Here's a list of the tainted toys. And looking at the list, I'm willing to bet that the estimate of a million with only a third of those getting to the public is way low.

Knockin' on Heaven's Door

2007-07-30T23:23:00.000-07:00

If you are not watching the best show on TV - HBO's Big Love - you should be.

Success By Silence

2007-07-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

First, it was keeping the Iraqi civilian death numbers from the media and free from transparency and verification.

Now we get this from the LA Times:

As the Bush administration struggles to convince lawmakers that its Iraq war strategy is working, it has stopped reporting to Congress a key quality-of-life indicator in Baghdad: how long the power stays on.

These people are truly depraved in the lengths they will go to to continue their horrible charade in Iraq.

Another American Terrorist You Won't Hear About

2007-07-26T22:29:00.000-07:00

ABC News has the report on the murder of a gay man named Kenneth Cummings in Texas. Terry Mangum stabbed Cummings to death and then burned his body.

"I believe with all my heart that I was doing the right thing," Mangum told the Houston Chronicle. "I planned on sending him to hell."

Mangum, who described himself as "definitely not a homosexual," said in the interview that he'd been called by God to "carry out a code of retribution" against a gay man because "sexual perversion" is the "worst sin."

Why doesn't ABC call this act terrorism? It sure meets the definition of an act of violence committed for an ideological goal. Maybe there too busy doing stories on eco-terrorists to worry about radical righties who kill.

And when Bush next claims no acts of terrorism in America since 9/11, don't expect the press to point out this murder, or sniper, or the recent attempted arson at a church by religious fanatics of another denomination, or the recent discovery of a bomb by a women's health clinic, etc, etc. Hell, the media can't even remember the Anthrax killer.

Something Light for a Saturday Night - Barely Still Saturady on the West Coast Version

2007-07-21T23:47:00.001-07:00

Dig by Incubus is one of my favorites from the first half on '07.

What Makes Sane People Do Insane Things?

2007-07-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

CNN reports that Corporal Trent Thomas was convicted today of kidnapping and conspiring to kill Hashim Ibrahim Awad in Hamdaniya, Iraq. After failing to capture a suspected insurgent, Awad was dragged out of his home by soldiers, gunned down in a ditch and hand an AK-47 planted near him.

While exceptional, I believe these type of occurrences are predictable given the Catch-22 in which our soldiers have been placed.

I'm short on time right now, but will update this the next moment I get.

Refocus

2007-07-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

Spencer Ackerman at TPM Muckraker has this must read piece on how Pakistan is going to hell in a hand basket.

Unfortunately, we've placed 11 of our dozen eggs in Iraq when we should have been mainly focused on Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan to defeat he-who-must-not-be-named and core Al Qaeda.

Things are slipping through our fingers in Afghanistan but, in my opinion, it's still not to late. As opposed to a shill for certain sectarian factions, Afghanistan has a credible leader for a unified nation in Hamid Karzai. We need a massive redeployment to Afghanistan accompanied by a push to reenergize the International community that has long supported the effort to build-up and modernize Afghanistan.

Death By A Thousand Cuts

2007-07-15T23:23:00.000-07:00

O Dub has fired another shot in his personal battle to take down Osama Bin Laden. He's been putting together a JustHottie Army to fight the Jihadis. Today, he posted this picture of Osama's niece, Wafah Dufour:

No doubt, that left a mark on the stanky, lanky one. Thankfully, somebody's finally being proactive in going after the guy we all wanted to get after 9/11.

Something Light for a Saturday Night - Late Night, West Coast Version

2007-07-14T23:04:00.000-07:00

Hard to top M's Bloodhound Gang double header posted below. But here's Iggy Pop & Sum 41 with a great tune which contains a lyrical reference to what I feel is the bedrock principle of liberalism - the Golden Rule. Know what I mean?

Georgia DA McDade Should Be Prosecuted for Distribution of Child Pornography

2007-07-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

David McDade is the overzealous DA of Douglas County, Georgia, who pursued a felony conviction and 10 year sentence against Genarlow Wilson for doing what about half of America has done - having sex as a minor with another minor.

A subsequent ruling by a sensible court, presumably on a State Habeas petition, held that the sentence is unconstitutionally excessive. Oddly, this sensible ruling has driven wild-eyed McDade bat shit insane. In his continuing campaign to justify the unjustifiable 10 year sentence, McDade has taken it upon himself to release the video of the 17 year old Wilson having sex with the minor girls.

Unlike Wilson, McDade did not have the consent of the minor girls or Wilson who was also a minor at the time of the video.

Does distribution of this material violate federal child pornography laws? You bet. McDade is betting that the Righty US Attorney in Georgia will simply ignore his crime. Hell, its only black people he's victimizing. Think of the furor if the video was of a white minor, say Elizabeth Smart.

More disingenuously, McDade claims the release was mandated by Georgia's Open Records Act; something virtually every state has.

Does that law mandate the violation of federal child pornography laws? Of course not. Every Open Court and Records law is subject to common sense exceptions - whether created specifically by the statute, federal law or even Judge-made common law. McDade certainly knew such a video would easily be protected by a request for a protective order. Instead of requesting one from the Court, placing the issue where it should have been, he took it on himself, without prior notice to all interested parties, to victimize the minors in the video in an attempt to show Wilson having - eww, yuckey - sex.

If the girls are victims as McDade claims, his act in releasing the video without their consents has victimized them worse than anything Wilson did. McDade deserves a prison sentence in excess of anything Wilson received.

Republicans Filibuster Return of Equal Time Requirements for Troops

2007-07-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

By a vote of 56-41, Republican Senators blocked an up-or-down vote on a bill sponsored by Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel, both combat veterans, that would have required troops be given the same amount of time at home following any deployment overseas. This would have reversed the disastorous policy recently created whereby troops are kept in a combat zone for 15 months and then redeployed after only 12 months at home. The previous policy and what the bill sought was the long-standing standard of equal time - e.g. 12 months at home for 12 months in combat or 15 and 15. The Army Times wrote in article in support of the legislation and, at least, 56 Senators support the proposal to remove the undue burden being placed on our troops.

Nonetheless, the 41 votes ruled the day as the Republicans once again filibustered legislation despite their calls in recent years that morally bills deserve up-or-down votes except in the most extraordinary circumstances. The need to screw the troops must be something Republicans believe requires extraordinary effort these days.

Josh takes the New York Times to task for falling to call the Republican ploy by its name - a filibuster and its misleading report. On the rare occasion the Democrats used the filibuster, they were called obstructionists. Now that Republicans use it as standard operating procedure, the ploy is ignored for goofy headlines like "Senate Narrowly Backs Bush in Rejecting Debate on Increasing Time Between Deployments." The headline is almost painful to read given how far the headline writer had to bend over backward to come up with something Bush friendly.

Delusional Bush: 'Perhaps Somebody in the Administration' Outed CIA Operative Valerie Plame

2007-07-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

President Bush acknowledged in his press conference today that 'perhaps somebody in the administration' Outed CIA Operative Valerie Plame.

There's no "perhaps" or "somebody" about it. It is established fact that four people leaked Plame's identity to the press. They are:

Richard Armitage
Ari Fleischer
Scooter Libbey
Karl Rove

While the criminal standard for "intentionality" may be to difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, there can be little argument that these folks employer - the President - could have and should have fired every single one of them the minute he learned they leaked the identity of a covert CIA operative. Even negligence or recklessness with this kind of information is unacceptable. The fact Plame's identity was outed for political reasons makes it worse.

Bush says we should just "move on." Yet, with Scooter's commutation, and Bush's failure to impose any accountability as to any of these people shows that these weren't mere missteps, but part of an approved method of operation from from the President himself.

Vitter Castration Watch

2007-07-10T23:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a quote from David Vitter's wife in 2000:

“I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary,” Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News. “If he does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me.”

Vittered!!!

2007-07-09T23:02:00.001-07:00

Another Louisiana Republican is exposed as a phony hypocrite.

This time its Senator David Vitter. You see, his phone number just happened to show up in the DC Madam's logs. But don't expect charges ... the Bush DOJ is only throwing the book at the Madam. Johns - especially Republican ones - get "forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling." And that's where it ends for them.

Oh yeah ... and the pic isn't of Vitter. It's of Christian Bale from a movie with a scene that says a whole lot more about what this is really about then I can fully describe in words.

Thw Wee Willie Keelers of Iraq

2007-07-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

USA Today has an interesting piece on the Iraqi insurgents "Hit 'em Where They Ain't" strategy.

Attacks against supply convoys tripled from one year to the next as we've replaced troops with private contractors to protect the convoys.

When will the righties realize that this grand venture simply cannot be done with the numbers they are using?

The Filibuster Double Standard

2007-07-09T10:28:00.001-07:00

Kevin Drum is concerned about filibusters today:

I wonder how many Americans understand that you can't pass legislation in America with 50% of the votes in Congress? How many of them understand that, outside of budget resolutions, you need 60 votes in the Senate? That a filibuster isn't a matter of Jimmy Stewart talking himself ragged for hours on end, but of merely declaring an intention to filibuster? And that this is done for all but the most routine matters? With the result that the 60-vote minimum is no longer reserved for occasional high-profile issues, but has been institutionalized for virtually all legislation of any consequence?

But he misses the point. When Republicans controlled Congress and Democrats would vote against cloture, the media was none to ready to marshall voices, mostly pundits, to denounce the tactic as obstructionist and to claim the tactic should only be used under extreme circumstances. Now the Republicans are in the minority in Congress and are using votes against cloture on virtually everything (13 cloture votes in first session of 110th Congress versus only 4 in first sessions of 108th and 109th combined), the media seems not so worried and willing to accept 60 votes as the standard for passing legislation.

It is not the failure of the people to understand, but the failure of the media to let the facts be known.

Just another example of the "liberal" media at work.

Missing the Mark

2007-07-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

So Bush set a bunch of benchmarks in Iraq with the January 2007 strategy shift. How are the Iraqis coming on the benchmarks?

Uhm ... not going to meet them.

Here's the lede:

The Iraqi government is unlikely to meet any of the political and security goals or timelines President Bush set for it in January when he announced a major shift in U.S. policy, according to senior administration officials closely involved in the matter.

Something Light for the Fourth of July - Wot!!!

2007-07-04T00:11:00.000-07:00

For the Fourth of July, I get heavy into the Americana. I'll take the family down the road to the small town parade with a big time rodeo that we attend every year. Then it's back home, where I'll barbecue ribs on the back porch with the speakers blaring zydeco, cajun, blues and country. Neighbors and family will bring the sides - homemade potato salad, grilled corn and, of course, thick slices of watermelon, just to name a few.

Anyway, here's a clip from the next concert I'll be attending.

It's the Drive By Truckers with God Damn Lonely Love. Special thanks to the YouTube artist who put together this great slide show of the band.

Obstruction of Justice for Dummies

2007-07-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

Josh breaks it down, so I don't have to:

The real offense here is not so much or not simply that the president has spared Scooter Libby the punishment that anyone else would have gotten for this crime (for what it's worth, I actually find the commutation more outrageous than a full pardon). The deeper offense is that the president has used his pardon power to shortcircuit the investigation of a crime to which he himself was quite likely a party, and to which, his vice president, who controls him, certainly was.

Alternative Headlines

2007-07-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

The Right: Amnesty for Scooter; Jail for Hard Working Immigrants!!!

Bush: Fuck You, Judge Walton!!!

FoxNews: Can Bush Make Paris Serve Libbey's Sentence?

Just Words

2007-07-02T17:11:00.000-07:00

“If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is . . . If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.”

President Bush, September 30, 2003 (via Crooks & Liars)

The Rule of Law: It's Not for Loyal Bushies

2007-07-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

Bush has just commuted Libby's prison sentence to zero.

Libby has been rewarded for his no remorse, take the bullet for the time posture.

The law doesn't mean a fucking thing to the Bushies.

Ace's Lament: "If You Can't Beat 'Em, Ban 'Em"

2007-07-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, I posted a piece ridiculing a post by righty nutter Ace of Spades advocating the construction of an Israeli-style security wall along the entire border between Mexico and the U.S. My post was linked to be Crooks & Liars (thanks to Cernig) and became a high traffic piece.

On Friday, Ace did what some righties do when faced with a strong substantive challenge ... he banned me from his comments section.

This is just further evidence of my theory that for most Righty blogs, this is not an open, intellectual and principled discourse but about being part of - and hopefully getting paid for - being part of a rightwing, PR, spin machine.

Like some many Rethugs, Ace, when confronted with a difficult debate, seeks to limit criticism or different viewpoints.

He now has joined the thin-skinned, scared-of-debate Hall of Shame:

Ace of Spades aka the unsightly man who mocks others' looks

Patterico aka the Blogger Equivalent of Mike Nifong

Rightwingsparkle aka Bubblehead Bushie

Now, I'm off to expose more posers.

"The Surge": No Transparency, No Verification

2007-07-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

The New York Times reports today the claims of Bush-lovin', US "officials" and Maliki-lovin', anonymous Iraqi officials that civilian deaths in Iraq were down in June.

There are two huge caveats. First:

[T]he size of the decline was hard to gauge because death counts in Iraq are highly inaccurate. Some bombing victims’ bodies are never recovered, families often collect their dead before they can be counted by officials, and the dead bodies found around Baghdad, while generally taken to the city morgue, are sometimes taken to hospitals where they may not be counted.

Second, and more astounding, is this nugget:

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government no longer reports civilian mortality statistics and has refused to provide figures to the United Nations. Some officials, however, sometimes make reports available to the news media on a not-for-attribution basis.

In fact, this has been policy since last October. After the U.S. military was embarrassed for giving bogus downward reports of civilian deaths following the Feb 2006 Samarra mosque bombing and during last Summer's "Surge I," Al-Maliki moved to restrict media access to the actual morgue counts as well as prohibiting the media from doing counts themselves. Clearly, when busted giving misinformation, the Maliki government, undoubtedly with US acquiesence if not US insistence, has simply constrained the media's ability to further verify the civilian death numbers.

Given the history of past lies and the lack of transparency and verification, I am not buying any of this stuff. Sadly, the lessons learned from past obfuscations has not been to now be truthful but to spin harder.

Department of Calm Heads vs. Department of Headless Chickens

2007-07-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a bit that deserves to be spread widely. Andrew Sullivan (I know, I know) received and posted the following from one of his readers:

You can't watch the response of UK police authorities in their public statements without being impressed with the careful balance they strike between exorting the public to vigilance and resistance to being stampeded into premature conclusions. And particularly their restraint in talking about those who were arrested. "Out of respect for proper process, we will avoid comment," they say. And indeed, that's exactly what responsible law enforcement in a democratic society should say. It couldn't contrast more sharply with the conduct of the Ashcroft and, still worse, Gonzales Justice Department which engages in hysterical rants, leveling charges that almost never pan out, and screaming "terrorists!" at the top of their lungs - on a manifestly partisan political message. Let's call it department of calm heads vs. department of headless chickens. In any event, our friends in Britain are providing a model on this.

Bye Bye, Scooter

2007-07-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

CNN reports that the DC Circuit just rejected Scooter's bid for release on bail pending appeal.

Only the Supreme Court (not going to happen) or President Bush can save him from serving time; most likely, in one of the lower level, don't-jump-the-hedge, Club feds.

Will Bush burn the lil bit of political capital he has left on Dick's BFF?

Something Light for a Saturday Night - Macswain Version

2007-06-29T23:29:00.000-07:00

Since I'm heading out with the family for a night of camping, my submission is early.

Here's a song and video that takes me back to the days when I was deep into The Specials, The Clash, The Untouchables, The English Beat, etc.

It's Tim Armstrong (of Rancid) teaming with - WTF? - Skye Sweetnam for Into Action.

Mr. M - the night's on you. You better rock the house while I'm gone.

Another Hundred

2007-06-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

For the third straight month, coalition troop deaths have exceeded 100.

Who will be July's 100?

One thing we do know ... none will be related to George Bush or Dick Cheney.

Why Democrats Can't Work With Bush --- He'll Screw Ya Everytime

2007-06-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

Josh posts this video of President Bush decrying the second failure at Immigration Reform legislation on "Congress." Not the Republicans in Congress, not on his failure to muscle any meaningful support from his party but just on "Congress."

He knows full well that with Democrats holding slim majorities in both houses that this criticising just criticizing "Congress" carries with it the misleading notion that the failure on immigratiuon reform is the Democrats' fault - those people who once again reached across the divide to support Bush's compromise legislation that contained a putrid pro-corporation guest worker program that contained no path toward citizenship. They did so because of the more humane treatment the legislation provided for many of the illegal immigrants than exists under the status quo.

Once again, the Democrats got burned by Bush.

Bizarre Nutter Idea of the Day: Build the Israeli Wall on the Mexican Border

2007-06-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

This post has been cross posted at the much better site - Comments From Left Field - where I participate in a group blog. If you like anything on this site, I would encourage you to check out CFLF for more content with greater analysis. Thanks for stopping by.

Rightwing immigration nutter extraordinaire - Ace of Spades - has come up with the nuttiest idea of the day.

He wants to build a wall that would stretch the entire 2,000 mile border between Mexico and the U.S. that would be in the nature of the biggest portions of the wall Israel is building on its border with Palestine.

Here are the details of what the wall would include:

a layer of razor wire, a trench to stop cars, the actual wall (including electronic sensors, radar, etc. so that the army could tell when it was breached), a dirt road that would evidence footprints of would-be crossers, an asphalt road for quick deployment to areas where crossing had been detected, and another layer of barbed wire

Because the Israel Defense Ministry claims it only costs $2 million per kilometer, the nutters estimate that our wall will only cost $6,280,0000,0000. Pocket change to nutters who believing in wasting $100 billion a year on a vanity war.

To bolster his argument, Ace (an unsightly man with an odd attraction to mocking others' looks) posts a graph showing an increase in successful interception of attacks that coincides with "IDF Presence in PA, Fence Construction Begins."

So I decided to engage the nutters and posted this comment:

There are so many twists of logic here it's hard to know where to begin --- Do you really believe American contractors can do this work for that price - presumably without immigrant labor?

Do we really want such a structure with the very few checkpoints Israel allows - it has put a huge constraint on legitimate Palestinian business with Israel? Do we really want a similar constraint on legitimate Mexican business?

But I like the graph. It shows you don't really have to spend all that money as the decrease in attacks coincides with "beginning construction." Thus, I propose an unfunded mandate on all the border States to "begin construction" on a wall.

Oh, what a silly little man.

Let's see how this goes.

UPDATE: I didn't expect the link at Crooks & Liars to this post (thanks, C Dog!). In any event, anyone interested in more detail about how nutty the wall idea is should read this report from the Houston Press. Building a wall isn't just a matter of the cost of construction. As the report makes clear there are tons of other costs - condemnation, accomodations for irrigation from the Rio Grande and the destruction of wildlife habitat, just to name a few. Of course, the nutters have completely failed to account for these costs which makes it as viable as the equally nutty idea of installing a 2,000 mile bug zapper for humans or a Star Wars missile defense shield.

Language Creep

2007-06-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

As of late, the Bushies have been noticeably spinning virtually all military actions in Iraq as being against Al Qaeda and attributing most of the violence to Al Qaeda. The media has dutifully followed along uncritically reporting this spin.

Here's General Batiste on this language creep:

I also believe we cannot attribute all the violence in Iraq to al-Qaeda. There's a tendency now to lump it all together, and call it al-Qaeda. We have to be very careful with that. This is a very complex region. al-Qaeda is certainly a component. But there's larger components. al-Qaeda is a worldwide organization. It recognizes no national boundaries. And it's in areas where we ought to be focused.

The Right's Big Lies About Talk Radio

2007-06-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

Last week's release of The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio, a joint report and statistical analysis prepared by the Center for American Progress and FreePress had the blogs buzzing about the reasons for the massive rightwing bias on the radio.

How bad is the tilt. Here's one key 'graph from the study:

Each weekday, 2,570 hours and 15 minutes of conservative talk is broadcast on these stations compared to 254 hours of progressive talk -- 10 times as much conservative talk as progressive talk.

A separate analysis of all of the news/talk stations in the top ten radio markets reveals that 76 percent of the programming in these markets is conservative, and 24 percent is progressive, although programming is more balanced in markets such as New York and Chicago.

As for the reasons, Conservatives predictably have rallied to claim the disparity is merely the result of the market or, more specifically, public demand.

For a snippet of the debate, Crooks & Liars posted this video clip of a back-and-forth between Michael Smerconish and Ed Schulz.

You can actual boil down the Righty argument to the following formula:

Public Demand (Ratings) = Ad Revenue = Corporate Profits = Show Selection

This simplistic theory is so full of wholes that if a college econ student submitted it as a paper he'd get an "F" at any name college other than the University of Chicago.

The big problem is large group or corporate ownership over radio. Corporations are first and foremost interested in pursuing profits but are not so stupid as to view ad revenue as the sole source of corporate profits from radio. Corporations understand that there are indirect routes toward profits; that's why they give tons of money to political campaigns. As Matt Yglesias pointed out this week, media behemoth GE gave $807,282 to Republicans and just $474,118 to Democrats. Was there a direct profit from this? No. Was it profit motivated? Yes, GE certainly hopes it leads to favorable regulation and legislation empowering it to make greater fortunes.

Once you understand the simple concept that corporations are smart enough to understand that they make greater profits by affecting the regulatory and legislative processes, it is just as easy to understand that they have profit-motivated reasons for affecting public opinion that, like politicians, can impact these processes. Corporations understand, and factor in, the fact that right wing radio with a corporate friendly message makes them more indirect money than progressive radio with a corporate accountability message.

This is not only done through programming decisions by ownership but by corporations through their decisions in spending advertising dollars.

Turning over control of the public airwaves to profit-motivated corporations is problematic for the public. The public airwaves belong to us all and should be distributed in a fashion that more proportionately represents all voices. A return to the Fairness Doctrine and requirements for greater local control and less consolidation of the airwaves in the hands of giant corporations is what is needed.

The Costs of War: Psychological Trauma to the Children

2007-06-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

Violence begets violence.

The Washington Post has a must read on the psychological trauma being exacted on the children of Iraq as a result of the war.

Iraq's conflict is exacting an immense and largely unnoticed psychological toll on children and youth that will have long-term consequences, said social workers, psychiatrists, teachers and aid workers in interviews across Baghdad and in neighboring Jordan.

"With our limited resources, the societal impact is going to be very bad," said Haider Abdul Muhsin, one of the country's few child psychiatrists. "This generation will become a very violent generation, much worse than during Saddam Hussein's regime."

Even when factoring the positive aspect of Saddam's demise, the war as a whole has been a huge human rights catastrophe.

Something Light for a Saturday Night

2007-06-23T23:53:00.000-07:00

Mr. M kicked off our weekly foray with a clip of Jamie Foxx destroying some guy's career (the dude who takes the screwing has to try to be gracious but his expression and body language betray the fact that he's seething) and a second clip of Connor Oberst's great homage to our President.

I'm taking a different tack ... twisted!!! Here's the music video for Fluorescent Adolescent from one of my current faves The Arctic Monkeys. It's extremely violent but hard not to watch all the way through.

Oddly, the clowns remind me of the Baseball Furies.

To redeem myself, I, like M, am following up with a second video. A gem from where you might least expect it. Remember The Cardigans and their sappy and annoying superhit from 1995, Lovefool? I hate that song. Then, in 2005, they released a little noticed album. Yet, one tune on that album with one of the greatest song titles ever gained attention through still growing internet and satellite play. Here's I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need to Be Nicer:

Bush Reaches New Low

2007-06-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

26%

He now only has Richard Nixon's low of 23% to beat.

The 'Eaters Dramatic Comeback Puts Them In Final Four

2007-06-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

Tonight's College Baseball World Series game between powerhouse Arizona State and the upstart Anteaters of UC Irvine was a classic.

The all-pitching, light-hitting 'Eaters rallied for 4 runs in the Eighth inning off of ASU's lights-out closer. They then won the tension-filled game in the bottom of the tenth.

The 'Eaters will next be facing the defending champion Oregon State Beavers.

Rumor has it that one of the writers at Comments From Left Field is an Irvine alum.

Rocky Delgadillo: Nobody's Above the Law (Except My Wife & I)

2007-06-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

THE LA Times has the full story on the scoff law activities of LA's Democratric District Attorney (you know the one who demanded that the book be thrown at Paris Hilton).

Apparently, when his wife damaged a city-owned vehicle while driving with a suspended license, he covered it up and passed on the damages to the taxpayers.

Read all the constant-changing spin and excuses coming from Rocky and his office. It's the kind of stuff a prosecutor would mock from any other defendant.

It should be the kind of stuff that ends this guy's job as District Attorney.

Culture of Corruption Roster

2007-06-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

We've had some recent movement in the culture of corruption roster. Senator Ted Stevens and his son Ben, the former President of the Alaska State Senate, are both under grand jury investigation. J. Steven Griles, a top Bush administration official in the Departmment of Interior, is being sentenced today for obstruction of justice. But as we know, all that should pale in comparison to the story that deserves big headlines every three months, the charges of corruption by DEMOCRAT William Jefferson.

REPUBLICANS

CONVICTED, CHARGED OR INDICTED
J. Steven Griles (Bushie; Dept of Interior) - GUILTY
Scooter Libby (White House) - GUILTY
Rep. Bob Ney - GUILTY
Rep. Duke Cunningham - GUILTY
Gov. John Rowland - GUILTY
Gov. George Ryan - GUILTY
James Tobin - GUILTY
David Safavian (White House) - GUILTY
Jack Abramoff - GUILTY
Ken Lay - GUILTY
Jeff Skilling - GUILTY
Tommy Noe - GUILTY
Michael Scanlon - GUILTY
Neil Volz - GUILTY
Claude Allen (White House) - GUILTY
Adam Kidan - GUILTY
Chuck McGee - GUILTY
Allen Raymond - GUILTY
Tony Rudy - GUILTY
Mitchell Wade - GUILTY
Gov. Ernie Fletcher
Rep. Tom Delay
John Colyandro
Jim Ellis
Shaun Hansen
Warren RoBold
Dusty Foggo
Brent Wilkes

UNDER INVESTIGATION
Sen. Ted Stevens
Alaska State Senator Stevens
Rep. Jerry Lewis
Sen. Conrad Burns
Gov. Bob Taft
Nine Fingers
Ed Buckham

DEMOCRATS

CONVICTED, CHARGED OR INDICTED
Brent Pfeffer - GUILTY
William Jefferson

Winning Hearts

2007-06-18T23:21:00.000-07:00

CBS's Lara Logan has this great story from Baghdad of American troops' discovery and rescue of a bunch of orphaned special-needs kids.

The 24 boys were naked, starving and chained to their beds.

A big hat tip to the good guys and let's hope the publicity of this story gets these placed with those willing to give them care and compassion.

Dana Perino's Big Hands

2007-06-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

One of the big stories today is the House Oversight Committee's Report on the use of political e-mail accounts by White House staff in violation of the Presidential Records Act. Here are some tidbits:

In March 2007, White House spokesperson Dana Perino said that only a “handful of officials” had RNC e-mail accounts. In later statements, her estimate rose to “50 over the course of the administration.” In fact, the Committee has learned from the RNC that at least 88 White House officials had RNC e-mail accounts.

... The RNC has preserved 140,216 e-mails sent or received by Karl Rove. Over half of these e-mails (75,374) were sent to or received from individuals using official “.gov” e-mail accounts. Other heavy users of RNC e-mail accounts include former White House Director of Political Affairs Sara Taylor (66,018 e-mails) and Deputy Director of Political Affairs Scott Jennings (35,198 e-mails). These e-mail accounts were used by White House officials for official purposes, such as communicating with federal agencies about federal appointments and policies.

... There has been extensive destruction of the e-mails of White House officials by the RNC. Of the 88 White House officials who received RNC e-mail accounts, the RNC has preserved no e-mails for 51 officials.

The Bush Administration has put more effort into the War on Transparent Government than it ever did into capturing or killing Osama Bin Laden.

Apparently, they've got a lot to hide.

Peaking Behind the Media's "Paris Hilton "Curtain

2007-06-14T08:36:00.001-07:00

I've refrained from talking about the Paris Hilton saga mainly because it distracts from discussions about the real problems that exist in our criminal justice system, i.e. that the poor often do not receive adequate representation with the result being disproportionate sentences and even innocent people being sent to jail regularly. The Innocence Project has been using DNA evidence to free hundreds of the wrongly convicted. Innocent people convicted on circumstantial or negligible evidence will serve their sentences as virtually all post-conviction resources are directed to death penalty cases.

I was wrong in ignoring this story because, with the public attention surrounding it, it provides a good vehicle for raising the issues I point out above.

Many of the problems with our criminal justice system are the result of public misperception. That's why I want to applaud the LA Times for its story pointing out what virtually every judge and lawyer in the country already knows --- Paris Hilton will serve more time than the average person would for the same offense. The article notes thata fter 4 days Hilton served more time than 60% of those who committed the same offense and that, after 23 days, she will have served more time than 80% of those who committed the same offense. I am willing to bet that the 20% who serve longer than 23 days have aggravating circumstances that are not present in Paris' case; that is unless you consider being a spoiled brat a punishable, aggravating circumstance. Further, the story notes: "[Hilton] is believed to be the first inmate in years who actually was sent back to jail to serve more of her term." In other words, Paris Hilton is being singled out because of the publicity of her case and is not, as the media created myth has it, being treated just like everyone else.

The injustice to Paris, who after all is undeniably guilty, is slight in my mind compared to the ten year sentence (with two already served) given to Genarlow Wilson for doing what probably half off all Americans have done or to the eleven innocent men who served years in prison as the result of an ultra-aggressive prosecutor from Dallas, Texas, before being cleared by DNA evidence (why isn't the right going after this prosecutor given the zeal they have for going after Mike Nifong for his decision to charge the Duke Lacrossers?)

However, it doesn't take much to know that this story has more angles than the spoiled rich kid who has to serve time for her crime. There is the posturing of Los Angeles Democratic District Attorney who is playing this for political publicity while masking the true problems LA has with prison overcrowding. There is the Judge who certainly knows he is abandoning the normal course because he is either too cowardly to admit publicly what normally occurs with such cases or is intentionally grandstanding to portray himself as a tough law and order judge, probably a bit of both. There are the sadists in the media who love getting pictures of of people dragged about in handcuffs and thrown into jail so that they can whip up ratings or newspaper sales.

California, and virtually every other state, have a problem. The public wants jail or prison sentences imposed on other people for virtually every crime, but doesn't want to pay for the jails or prisons necessary for all these folks. Someone should have the courage to raise these issues honestly with the public.

Build It & They Will Come

2007-06-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

Looks like there is news out of Iraq that the Imam al-Askari mosque in Samarra was attacked and seriously damaged again. Here's the NYT's report.

Progressive America

2007-06-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a report showing what most of us have long understood. When Americans are polled on the issues, they are generally progressive.

Yet, consistently in polls, only about 20% of Americans self-describe themselves as liberals.

To me the answer for this discrepancy is obvious. For years, Republicans have engaged in a PR war against liberals. They have been aided and abetted by the corporate media where it is rare for a liberal voice to be heard (see, for example, Media Matters' latest report on CNN's complete exclusion of liberal voices from its immigration coverage) and that time and again misportrays liberals or appoints representatives for us that really don't represent us.

Romney's Principles: Black Is Red

2007-06-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

Here's the quote of the day on the unprincipled one:

"If someone comes in the door and says, ‘Mitt, black is white,' he'll say, ‘Oh, no, black is black or black is red.'He never takes anything at face value; he can argue any side of a question. And sometimes you think he's like really believing his argument, but he's not. He just flushes the whole thing out and figures out the whole picture."

That quote comes from Mitt's wife Ann. Ouch!!! I guess that's what happens when you have to try and cover flip-flopping as just a matter of playing Devil's Advocate.

Barney Frank has a more direct way of making Ann's point:

"The real Romney is clearly an extraordinarily ambitious man with no perceivable political principle whatsover. He is the most intellectually dishonest human being in the history of politics."

Poland & Romania Hosted CIA Secret Prisons

2007-06-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

TPM Muckraker has the latest on the confirmation that Poland and Romania hosted secret CIA prisons.

Apparently some in Poland and Romania still have fond memories of their days behind the Iron Curtain.

Assault: "It's O.K. If You're A Republican" Version

2007-06-08T10:22:00.001-07:00

Here's the video of Alabama State Senator Charles Bishop assaulting another Senator.

When there's a fight in an NBA game, many Righties love to call for lengthy suspensions or even expulsions of the players involved and that's even when there is a sincere apology.

Let's see what happens when the "thug" involved is a Republican politician. Who much of his pay should he lose? How long should he be suspended from his job?

Back to the Status Quo on Immigration

2007-06-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

The Grand Immigration compromise has gone down to defeat. The result is largely the fault of President Bush to deliver the votes of Republican Senators in Congress - just 7 voted in favor of cloture. He didn't expend any political capital or engage in any of the hardcore arm-twisting he did in the past with legislation to restrict habeas corpus, etc.

I have mixed feelings on the defeat. The legislation provided a road to citizenship - albeit with more hurdles than I favor - for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants curently in the U.S. In that respect, it was a good first step.

The legislation was horrible in not providing a road to citizenship in its guest worker program. People who come here and do some of the hardest work deserve a path to citizenship once they've established a record as a good, law abiding resident.

3,500

2007-06-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

Today, we surpassed 3,500 dead American troops in Iraq.

Who will be June's 100 plus soldiers to pay the cost of Bush's vanity war? Righties need not worry. You won't see their caskets or funerals and you're not likely to hear their stories or the stories of the pain and loss being felt by their families and friends.

Kevin Drum recently warned against focusing on troop deaths as part of the redeployment argument and urged a focus instead on broad national interest. I think understanding the costs of the war are critically important and can and should be considered as one part of the broader discussion against this war that also includes the detrimental impact it is having on our national interests.

Is Mitt Romney Dumb or Just Playing Dumb to Court the Conservative Base?

2007-06-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

Mr. M at Comments from Left Field (where I cross-post) has put up an excellent recap of last night's Republican debate. In it, he notes Romney's awkward dodge on an audience question about the apparent inconsistency of calling for English as the official language while putting out Spanish language campaign ads.

During a debate in which the candidates apparently planted cheering supporters, Romney's dodge was so obvious it apparently brought an uncomfortable silence.

In reviewing the transcript, Romney was even worse in his answer to a question as to whether the Iraq War was a mistake. He said:

Well, the question is, kind of, a non sequitur, if you will. What I mean by that — or a null set — that is that if you're saying let's turn back the clock and Saddam Hussein had opening up his country to IAEA inspectors and they'd come in and they'd found that there were no weapons of mass destruction, had Saddam Hussein therefore not violated United Nations resolutions, we wouldn't be in the conflict we're in. But he didn't do those things, and we knew what we knew at the point we made the decision to get in.

Remember that Bush tried this spin a long time ago and his response was denounced as factually wrong throughout the liberal blogosphere. Did Mitt miss this episode? Worse, does he really not know that the inspectors went to Iraq, found nothing and then were ordered out by Bush?

Kevin Drum beats me to it and adds:

Or does he know it perfectly well and has simply calculated that no one in the media cares enough about this stuff to make a big deal out of a howler like this? In any sane world, this kind of thing would be enough to disqualify a candidate from running for dogcatcher, let alone president of the United States.

But Kevin stops short. If Mitt's being intentionally misleading its not just because the media won't call him on it. It's because he has something to gain. It's because he is speaking to the conservative base - a lot of them whom both Bush & Romney likely believe have bought into this falsehood. A false impression the media has failed to adequately address.

Righties Furious Over Application of Federal Sentencing Guidelines to Libbey

2007-06-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

Libbey got 30 months in prison after the Judge basically followed the federal sentencing guidelines.

The Right is furious over this "remarkable" sentence.

I find the Right's reaction amusing.

The Judge followed the harsh federal sentencing guidelines the right has pimped for years. The Judge didn't exercise discretion to depart downward from the guidelines as the right has argued Judges should be prohibited from doing. In effect, the judge has done exactly what the right demanded judges do during sentencing.

But no one ever accused the Right of having principles. Screw all those poor schleps who have had their lives ruined over the years by these harsh rules. Libbey is a rightwing political operative and in the conservative world he deserves special treatment. Nay ... pardon him ... conservatives should be above the law.

At Fox News, All Blacks Look Alike

2007-06-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Fox News ran a story on voter fraud which used file footage of voters going to the polls. Alll the voters shown just happened to be black.

Yesterday, Fox News ran a story about charges of graft against Democratic Congressman William Jefferson. But in the story, Fox ran video footage of ... John Conyers.

Josh has the must-see video up.

Democratic Debate

2007-06-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

I caught about half of the debate last night.

Here are some quick thoughts:

Hillary is going to surprise a lot of people who have not seen her live. She is now quite comfortable as a public speaker. She handled the tough questions with an ease that speaks well of her ability to handle the smears that will come her way if she gets the nomination.

Joe "Foxholes" Biden also sounded better than I've ever heard him sound. That he bought into the President's line that you only support the troops is by funding them is a bit disturbing. Couldn't Congress have done a separate bill to get the military Hum-Vees with V-shaped hulls that is not tied to Iraq War funding? Of course.

Wolf was a jerk in how he manipulated the debate so that the leading candidates got a lot more time than others. My DD has a great breakdown on this.

The Surge --- Not Working

2007-06-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

Fester at the Newshoggers has a piece of analysis on how Bush's surge strategy is faring in Iraq.

The results are unsurprising. The Iraqi security forces still suck and the insurgents and deathsquads are still responding to strategic shifts from our military with their policy of observe, learn then reinfiltrate.

Something Light for a Saturday Night

2007-06-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to get this song out of my head for about a month now.

Young Folks by Peter, Bjorn & John.

More "Troop Drawdown" Propaganda

2007-06-01T23:10:00.000-07:00

Unnamed "U.S. Officials" are telling the media that the surge is making progress and our Generals in Iraq plan to start drawdowns in February 2008.

This is just another effort to buy more time so that the Republicans and conservative hawks in the military don't have to withdraw our troops and take ownership of the Iraqi failure. They want to dump the mess in the next President's lap regardless of cost in lives and money.

It's not like they haven't promised future drawdowns before and failed to deliver. Hell, Atrios just reminded us yesterday of Nouri Al Maliki's assurance in November 2006 that Iraqi security forces would take over in June 2007. He, of course, was pimping for Bush's forthcoming surge plan then.

The media might serve us better if it pointed out all the bogus prior promises of drawdowns when it reports all the new promises. I guess context and accountability don't count when "strong" rightwing militarists are talking. Why should ABC News give a damn if a hundred troops a month will keep dying for their propaganda? They don't. Worse than that would be providing critical context that might result in some rightwing strong armer placing a call to their boss.

Bush's Big Liar Resigns

2007-06-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Getting out before the getting gets to him, Dan Bartlett, a counselor to Bush for 12 years, announced he is resigning from his post at the White House.

Here's one of my favorite Bartlett quotes:

WOLF BLITZER: But is he an imminent threat to U.S. interests, either in that part of the world or to Americans right here at home?

BARTLETT: Well, of course he is.

Less than a year later, the Bushies would be spinning furiously that they never portrayed Saddam as an imminent threat.

Minnesota US Attorney Targeted for Supporting Voting Rights

2007-05-31T08:37:00.000-07:00

The LA Times has the latest breakdown on the voting rights abuse "pattern" that makes up one big part of the Gonzales DOJ scandals.

It's really not that hard to understand.

Another Bush Victory In Iraq The Media Has Overlooked

2007-05-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has the latest on a conservative, moral values victory that the media has mostly overlooked.

The piece is entitled: Desperate Iraqi Refugees Turn to Sex Trade in Syria.

Who Is Alan Foley?

2007-05-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

Who was the the head of the CIA's Weapons Intelligence Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Center (WINPAC) who is reported to have made the following statement to his staff in December 2002:

"If the president wants to go to war, our job is to find the intelligence to allow him to do so."

If there is any justice, we should be hearing a lot more about this in the near future.

(vis Kevin Drum).

Conservative Christians Victimized Through Media Overrepresentation

2007-05-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know if there is a more annoying rant than that of Conservative Christians claiming to be victims of the media.

Media Matters, however, has done a study that has bore some fruit for this rant.

Among the study's key findings:

* Combining newspapers and television, conservative religious leaders were quoted, mentioned, or interviewed in news stories 2.8 times as often as were progressive religious leaders.
* On television news -- the three major television networks, the three major cable new channels, and PBS -- conservative religious leaders were quoted, mentioned, or interviewed almost 3.8 times as often as progressive leaders.
*

In major newspapers, conservative religious leaders were quoted, mentioned, or interviewed 2.7 times as often as progressive leaders.

Maybe Christian conservatives wouldn't look so bad if the Pat Robertsons and Bill Donohues weren't on the airwaves all the time. Maybe if the media quit referring to conservative Christians by their chosen nick of "morals voters," others wouldn't be so offended by such arrogance.

Are Americans Willing to Accept 100+ Dead Per Month?

2007-05-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

For the second month in a row, troop deaths in Iraq have easily surpassed the 100 mark; with 117 dead last month and 118 dead so far this month. These aren't logs to throw on the fire in the hope of warming Bush's legacy. Each one of these lives touches many others and we lose the contributions each of these valuable individuals would likely make to our society.

My rough calculation is that the surge is increasing troop deaths by approximately 50%.

America doesn't want this war, hates this President and will not stomach these deaths.

Burma's Military Dictatorship Extends Suu Kyi's Confinement

2007-05-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

Every year the military dictatorship that controls Burma (called Myanmar by the dictators) with a brutal iron fist, plays a cruel trick on Aung San Suu Kyi, the last elected leader of Burma and its most prominent pro-Democracy leader. Within days of her release, an order is executed extending her detention for another year. The latest order was just issued. Here's CNN's report.

Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, has now been held in detention 11 of the last 17 years. Others in Burma's pro-democracy movement have been disappeared or killed.

The State Department will certainly throw out some critical words and then Condi will hit the shoe stores. As in the past, I won't hold my breath waiting for them to make this issue a real priority. There are, after all, gas fields just off the coast.

For more on the atrocious human rights record of Burma's military dictatorship, here are links to dozens of reports prepared by Human Rights Watch.

Finally, here's Damien Rice's great tribute to Aung. Maybe John Boehner ought to shed a tear for this one instead of a bogus fumnding victory that will cost hundreds of American soldiers their lives:

CIA Passed on Main Street Common Sense on Post-Saddam Iraq; Bush Ignored It

2007-05-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

A commenter provides this link to a story on MSNBC detailing CIA assessments provided to the White House regarding the specific dangers posed by a Post-Saddam Iraq.

As for some potential scenarios, one report provides:

“The United States will face negative consequences with Iraq, the region and beyond which would include:

* Anarchy and the territorial breakup of Iraq;
* Region-threatening instability in key Arab states;
* A surge of global terrorism against US interests fueled by (militant) Islamism;
* Major oil supply disruptions and severe strains in the Atlantic Alliance.”

Yet, you didn't need a CIA report to understand these dangers. I heard these problems discussed incessantly before the war in water cooler talk, at anti-war marches, at coffee houses & bars, etc. Oddly, these common sense dangers were not discussed as frequently in the media. It was a weird disconnect where we kept hearing about a Post-Saddam Iraq showering us in flowers and sweets.

Burying The Minimum Wage

2007-05-24T23:27:00.000-07:00

An overlooked political boner pulled by the Democrats was tossing the minimum wage increase into the Iraq funding bill. I guess the thinking was that a victory - finally - on a minimum wage increase would appease liberals upset over the funding bill.

Yet, a minimum wage increase was an issue that put Republicans, especially those up for reelection in 2008, in a tough spot. It is popular supported but hated by the Repugs biggest campaign contributors.

Put it in the Iraq funding bill let Republicans off the hook. They can now say that they had to place priority on funding the troops. Plus it put a lot of liberal Democrats to vote against an issue near and dear to them. Indeed, the minimum wage issue is passing through the media like a whisper on a windy night.

The Democrats should have kept pounding away on the minimum wage issue as a stand alone issue. Keep forcing the Republicans to filibuster it. Making them pay at the polls for their unpopular position. Wrapping it into the funding bill was like handing them a get-out-of-jail-free card.

The Cost of Funding ...

2007-05-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

will be 80 plus Coalition troop lives a month.

Not a single soldier would die from defunding but 80 plus a month will die from the continuation of Bush's failed policies in Iraq.

Odd, how any body can take seriously the notion that funding the troops continued presence in Iraq is stabbing them in the back. The Republicans continue to turn the world upside down and the media pretends not to notice.

Criminals & Liars: Goodling Describes Gozales' DOJ

2007-05-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

TPM Muckraker has this great roundup of all the bombs dropped by Monica Goodling in her testimony yesterday. It includes her calling McNutty a liar and admitting to to crimes in taking political affiliation (& religion?) into account for new hires (The Dems amazingly failed to ask who else was involved in this partisan exercise).

Missing from the TPM roundup are the admissions by Goodling of a number of inaccurate statements made by Gonzales. O Dub made the catch on this one and video of that testimony is below:

Bush Finally Has Plan To End Al Qaeda

2007-05-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

From Newsweek:

In a bold move to undermine the international terror network, President George W. Bush today named former deputy defense secretary and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz to be the new president of Al Qaeda.

You can read the rest of Any Borowitz's hunorous piece here.

Proximity Crimes In Iraq

2007-05-23T08:37:00.001-07:00

The New York Times has an interesting article detailing a day in the search for the three missing soldiers. In one day, one soldier is killed by a land mine that also wounds others. A second soldier is killed by a sniper's bullet. The soldiers forge forward with courage and determination.

An interesting tidbit contained in the article involves the arrest of five Iraqis who are in a building near where the land mine took the life of the American soldier. They are checked against a list of suspected insurgents and found not to be listed. They are arrested anyway purportedly for being in the "proximity" of the bombing.

It struck me as an odd tactic likely to net many innocent Iraqis and create animosity toward the Americans and Iraqi security forces in those wrongly jailed as well as their families. On the other hand, proximity arrests probably take a number of actual insurgents into custody.

My question is whether there is any evidence or studies that support this tactic. My initial thought is that it sounds likely to be counterproductive.

Bush's Hostages

2007-05-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

As everyone knows by now, Congress is apparently on the verge of caving to Bush on Iraq war funding. The word on the street - at least where I live - has been that Bush is holding the troops hostage.

It appears that point is starting to seep in. Here's Krugman:

There are two ways to describe the confrontation between Congress and the Bush administration over funding for the Iraq surge. You can pretend that it’s a normal political dispute. Or you can see it for what it really is: a hostage situation, in which a beleaguered President Bush, barricaded in the White House, is threatening dire consequences for innocent bystanders — the troops — if his demands aren’t met.

You can read more of what Krugman wrote at Economist's View.

Hot Tubbing with the Duke

2007-05-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

TPM Muckraker does the legwork and finds this great passage from the new book The Wrong Stuff, a book written by the reporters who exposed the Duke Cunningham corruption wing:

...even Wilkes drew a line on what he would do for the congressman. For one thing, Wilkes was totally disgusted by the hot tub Cunningham put on the boat's deck during the autumn and winter. What repelled Wilkes -- and others invited to the parties -- was both the water Cunningham put in the hot tub and the congressman's penchant for using it while naked, even if everybody else at the party was clothed. Cunningham used water siphoned directly from the polluted Potomac River and never changed it out during the season. "Wilkes thought it was unbelievably dirty and joked if you got in there it would leave a dark water line on your chest," said one person familiar with the parties. "The water was so gross that very few people were willing to get into the hot tub other than Duke and his paramour." That was a reference to Cunningham's most frequently seen girlfriend, a flight attendant who lived in Maryland.

One of these parties started at the Capital Grille with Cunningham ordering his usual filet mignon -- very well done -- with iceberg lettuce salad and White Oak. Wilkes used the dinner to update Cunningham on the appropriations he wanted. Cunningham then took the whole group back to the boat where they drank more wine, sitting on white leather sofas while Cunningham told more war stories. Cunningham then took his clothes off and invited all to join him in the polluted hot tub that was hidden from the neighbors by a white tarp. There were no takers.

Repugs to Vote for Guy in Reagan Mask

2007-05-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

In his "Modern World" strip, Tom Tomorrow posts this great 'toon.

"No Man Left Behind" Redux

2007-05-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

The hunt for the three kidnapped American soldiers continues. According to this report the search is taking a toll on our soldiers. There is also a suggestion that the hunt has decreased the number of troops available for Green Zone security and that may explain, in part, today's mortar bombing of the Parliament Building. One fact that seems beyond dispute is that other troops are dying in this search.

Following the "No Man Left Behind" creed is a tricky proposition. I believe strongly that the policy aids troop morale generally. But I am concerned about following it when the chances of saving those are so dire that it seems we are going to lose more soldiers in an effort that is likely in vain. I discussed this issue previously regarding the captured and still missing American soldier, Ahmed Qusai Al-Taie. For him, we started with the creed and abruptly called the search of at the beckoning of Nouri Al-Maliki (acting quite possibly on a call from Al-Sadr). The decision stunk of political expediency, and quite possibly racism, instead of a calm and sober pragmatism.

Here the military leadership has put so much into the search that a pull back will be a blow to morale. On the other hand, we clearly lack the troops to conduct this search, maintain the surge and continue with all the other burdens that have been piled on our soldiers.

The optimist in me prays for the miracle that these troops are found alive. However, the realist in me believes the odds they are alive is too low to justify losing numerous other troops in the ongoing search. The military has made a tremendous effort to recover the three soldiers. An effort that any other soldier can certainly appreciate will be made on his or her sake under similar conditions. But I believe most if not all of the soldiers would not want a search and rescue effort that is becoming self-destructive to continue, even for themselves.

Parliament In Green Zone Breached Again

2007-05-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

ABC News is reporting that a suicide bomber has killed two MPs in Iraq's Parliament Building.

This is the second time in recent weeks that suicide bombers have been able to get into the heavily-guarded Green Zone and kill MPs.

UPDATE: I misread the initial report, today's attack was a mortar bombing that struck the parliament building and resulted in no deaths. The suicide bombing reference was, in fact, a reference to the earlier attack on April 12th.

Blair In Iraq

2007-05-20T00:15:00.001-07:00

Check out the expressions of the guys behind him.

The one on just behind his right ear is about to boot. The one in the upper left can barely contain his disdain. But its the one on the right Blair really ought to be worried about.

Immigration Reform

2007-05-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

Looks like a compromise that virtually no one can fully understand has been reached on immigration reform.

Here is some of the little I know so far. It has an amnesty program fraught with numerous hurdles certain to frustrate more than assist. (Do these Richie Richies know how hard it will be for a working class immigrant to come up with $5,000?)

It has a guest worker program which sounds more employer friendly than worker friendly.

For citizenship, it focuses less on family and more on societal success (standards that don't seem to include having done hard, back breaking work for little pay).

So the question remains for a pro-immigration liberal like myself (and, yes, I'm aware that liberals aren't all on the same page as me on this issue), is it a worthy start that should be supported or does supporting this legislation block the ability to get something better in the future?

One undeniably good thing about it is that its causing a lot of the nutters' heads to explode.

Stoning A 17 Year Old Girl To Death: Is This What Our Troops Are Fighting For?

2007-05-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

Remember that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you saw the video of Damien "Football" Williams slamming a cement block to the head of Reginald Denny during the LA riot of 1992.

Well, CNN has posted a brutal video of an "honor killing" in the mainly Kurdish region of Northern Iraq. Here's a link to CNN's home page where the video is located in "top stories" and "best video."

The 17 year old girl was reportedly stoned to death - in part, with what appears to be a cement clock - for falling in love with a Sunni boy. But this is no singular act of anarchy. This is the rule of law in that locale. You can see the police standing by and a horde of people involved in this murder.

Rudy's Dangerous Demagoguery

2007-05-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today, we get news that two military officers are being relieved of their rank because they failed to properly protect the three American soldiers who were kidnapped and brutally murdered last June in Baghdad. Certainly, the actual murderers deserve primary blame for the death of the three soldiers and it is not appropriate to say the officers "invited" death upon the soldiers, but it is fair to hold the officers to account for the failures even if their role in the deaths of the soldiers was unintentional and passive. Indeed, it would be irresponsible not to look at the situation and determine if there was negligence or recklessness on our part that allowed these soldiers to fail prey to a known danger.

Yet, in Tuesday night's Republican debate, the nutters are cheering on Rudy for an exchange he had with Ron Paul about whether American interventionism held any blame for 9/11. Here's the exchange:

It should be noted that the first person to dumb-down this discussion is the media jackass who attacks Paul with the loaded question of whether he is saying we "invited" 9/11. Rudy then jumps in and says Paul is saying just that (even though Paul never says so) and then condemns Paul's position as absurd and one that should be immediately renounced. In doing so, Rudy is implicitly arguing that no one can decently question the secondary causes of 9/11 beyond condemning the actual perpetrators and planners of the murders. Obviously, it's in Rudy's best interest to have such a limit on talk of 9/11 in place as he can then avoid questions about his failures in placing the emergency command center in the World Trade Center, his failure to correct the manifest communication problems that existed between the New York Fire and Police Departments that appear to have lead to the many deaths and what role he played, if any, in protecting rescue workers from the contaminated air at the Trade Center sites.

Now Paul, of course, was simply restating the old line Republican formulation for noninterventionism (a position I certainly don't agree with). Not really that shocking of a position. But for his part, Paul could have done a much better job of standing up to Rudy by calling him out on twisting his words.

What concerns me the most about this exchange is the willingness of Rudy to use demagoguery to stifle a necessary discussion on how best to stop future threats of terrorist attacks. He exploits 9/11 to conjure up fear and portray himself as the tough guy savior from future 9/11s. The nutters cheer this kind of stuff wildly. But haven't we already seen this approach played out in full by our current President? And to disastrous consequences at that.

Halo 3 Set To Drop On Sept. 25th

2007-05-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

Okay nerds, it's time to get your geek on!

Microsoft anounced today that Halo 3 for the Xbox 360 will be released on September 25th. That should be right about the time you nerds are ready to come out of whatever closet you're hiding in as you secretly play Viva Pinata.

As for me, there's no way I'll be waiting in whatever mile-long, geek-infested line you'll need to stand in to get Halo 3 at its likely midnight release. But don't be surprised when, on Xbox Live, you taste the heat from a Spartan Laser fired by some gamer playing under the Macswain tag. You'll realize then - in your death throes - that I paid some geek to wait in line for me (& mow my lawn).

The Rule of Law: Bush DOJ Style

2007-05-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

TPM Muckraker has this tidbit on how Alberto Gonzales and the DOJ have just blown off a Congressional subpoena for the Karl Rove e-mails.

What will the children think?

Feingold Bill to Cut Funding Iraq War Goes Down

2007-05-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

The bill went down 29-67.

First off, a big thanks to the Democrats - and note that it is Democrats alone - that are willing to stand up to the "stabbed in the back" bullshit being pimped by Bush and the rightwing nutters.

Apparently, however, a number of Dems believe the President will truly hold the troops hostage and leave them in Iraq even without funding. I guess there is evidence of that in that Bush has sent them in without the proper equipment in the first place. Still, the Congress needs to keep pressing Bush on ending this continuing tragedy.

There are no fairy tale endings to this debacle.

The "Stabbed In The Back" Cartoon

2007-05-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

The latest cartoon controversy sweeping the country involves this lame, piece-of-shit by Michael Ramirez that was published in Investors Business Daily:

Kevin Drum believes we should "call off the language police on this one." I'm inclined to agree to the extent people are claiming it rises to the level of hate speech for which one should lose their job (something that may be happening but which I haven't seen). But I disagree to the extent Kevin seems to be tut-tutting those who are responding with a strong voice in rebutting the "stabbed in the back" meme and pointing out the Nazis' use of such propoganda.

Liberals need to stand up and go toe-to-toe against this kind of bullshit.

Just think if, in the cartoon, the word "Bush" had been used instead of the word "Congress." The Right would flip and demand not only the cartoonist's job but also his/her head on a platter 4EVAH!!!

Operation Hide The Truth

2007-05-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

BarbinMD at DK has the latest and the other surge strategy ... the strategy to hide the dead and block the press from reporting bomb attacks.

Why should our troops die for gamed results?

American Media Ignores Freedom & Democracy Protests In Pakistan

2007-05-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

Much like the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon or Orange Revolution in the Ukraine, Pakistanis have been staging larger and larger rallies against the existing government. Here the target is Bush's dictatorial buddy Pervez Musharraf and the populace is up in arms over his heavy handed sacking of the freedom & democracy loving Chief Judge of Pakistan's Supreme Court.

The American media only seems to love freedom and democracy movements that can be exploited by the right for political gain. One that puts Bush in a pickle is ignored despite the massive implications political unrest holds for the world.

Cernig at Newshoggers gives a more complete breakdown on why this ought to be big news here in the States.