From Holden: On Monday I did a post on the Army’s chief civilian procurement officer, Bunnatine Greenhouse, blowing the whistle on Halliburton’s no-bid contracts. Now the FBI is picking up the case: The FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded no-bid contracts to Halliburton Co., seeking an interview with a top Army contracting officer and collecting documents from several government offices. The line of inquiry expands an earlier FBI investigation into whether Halliburton overcharged taxpayers for fuel in Iraq, and it elevates to a criminal matter the election-year question of whether the Bush administration showed favoritism to Vice … Continue reading Halliburton Investigation “Elevated to a Criminal Matter”

From Holden: On Monday I did a post on the Army’s chief civilian procurement officer, Bunnatine Greenhouse, blowing the whistle on Halliburton’s no-bid contracts. Now the FBI is picking up the case: The FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded no-bid contracts to Halliburton Co., seeking an interview with a top Army contracting officer and collecting documents from several government offices. The line of inquiry expands an earlier FBI investigation into whether Halliburton overcharged taxpayers for fuel in Iraq, and it elevates to a criminal matter the election-year question of whether the Bush administration showed favoritism to Vice … Continue reading Halliburton Investigation ”Elevated to a Criminal Matter”

From Holden: The International Atomic Energy Agency stepped back into the controversy over missing explosives in Iraq Thursday, insisting that almost 330 tonnes had indeed vanished from a depot in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. It contradicted a claim on US television that the amount was much less. [snip] The ABC news network reported Wednesday that the amount of heavy explosives allegedly missing from the Al-Qaqaa weapons depot south of Baghdad might be be considerably less than the amount reported by Iraqi authorities, possibly as little as three tonnes. In fact a total of 328 and half tonnes … Continue reading The IAEA Corrects ABC News

From Holden: The Boss, the Next President, and their hordes of adoring fans. What more could you ask for? Continue reading Beating Athenae to the Punch Photo of the Day

From Holden: We’ve all read about the CIA Inspector General’s Report assigning blame for the Sep. 11th attacks and how it is being witheld by Porter Goss until after the election. Today we learn of a second CIA report that won’t be delivered until after November 2, this one assessing whether or not Chimpy’s War on Iraq has made us more or less safe. American intelligence agencies are drafting a report that could address whether the Iraq war has increased or decreased the foreign terrorist threat to the United States, but it will not be completed before Election Day, according … Continue reading Another Damning CIA Report Withheld

From Holden: I’ll try to avoid Little Scottie’s pat answer for every question today (“Ooo, that John Kerry – he jumped to conclusions with out the facts!”), but it’s tough. First up, From To Russia, With Love? Nope. Q Scott, can I ask you about The Washington Times story about Bill Gertz reporting that Russian special forces moved these weapons at al Qaqaa before the war began? Has Condi Rice spoken with her Russian counterpart? Is it true? MR. McCLELLAN: I’m not aware of any contact Condi has had as of today [Of course not, she’s too busy campaigning to … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Errol Morris (“The Fog of War”) has a nice collection of people who voted for Bush in 2000 explaining why they won’t vote for him in 2004. Check it out. Continue reading Republican Bush-Haters

From Holden: George W. Bush is responsible for 100,000 civilian deaths in Iraq. Deaths of Iraqis have soared by 100,000 since the start of the Iraq war and many of the victims have been women and children, public health experts from the United States said on Thursday. “Making conservative assumptions, we think that about 100,000 excess deaths, or more have happened since the 2003 invasion of Iraq,” researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland said in a report published online by The Lancet medical journal. Continue reading 100,000 Iraqis Who Would Have Been Better Off Under Saddam

From Holden: You can smell the panic over in Freeperland over KSTP’s video of the missing explosives. A sample: Being as this is an ABC affiliate, I have trouble believing it before I even read it! **************************** Don’t get me wrong…I don’t believe it either, and I don’t think the people at that tv station necessarily insist it is proof. They filmed SOMETHING, but no one has determined what it is. On the other hand, for John Kerry, this is Exhibit A in some kind of half-assed criminal prosecution of the President. Can’t you just hear lurch droning on? Now … Continue reading Freeper Heads Goin’ Off Like RDX

From Holden: The ungrateful new jobless are no help whatsoever: The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week by 20,000, the largest jump in a month, the Labor Department (news – web sites) reported Thursday. The bigger-than-expected increase pushed total new claims to 350,000 last week and provided fresh evidence that the labor market is still under pressure even though the economic recovery is about to celebrate its third anniversary. The increase of 20,000 was sharply higher than the 6,000 gain that many private economists had been expecting and was the biggest one-week rise since … Continue reading I Only Have Five More Days to Find My Bush Boom. Please Help

From Holden: Go check out Attaturk’s post on al Qaqaa. Do it now. He picked up on a comment from Jeff in this thread on Eschaton, and it’s pure gold. Seems that KSTP-TV in Minneapolis had a crew embedded with the 101st Airborne in Iraq in April 2003, and they visited al Qaqaa on April 18. There they witnessed US soldiers breaking into the bunkers to show off the explosives, then leaving the place wide open and unguarded. They also shot video of the munitions [click on the Video link under the headline]. This is HUGE, so spread it around … Continue reading The Last Word on al Qaqaa

From Holden: If you live outside of North America you cannot access the Bush campaign website anymore. I guess they’ve written off the overseas vote, but what about our boys and girls in Iraq and Afghanistan? Don’t they deserve the right to read about our Glorious Leader? The Bush-Cheney reelection campaign has barred people outside the United States from viewing its Web site following an electronic attack that took down the campaign’s Internet address for six hours last week, according to computer security experts. Since midnight on Monday, no one outside the United States except people in Canada could see … Continue reading Bush Campaign Defends the Internets from Furriners

From Holden: A federal judge in Ohio puts the clamps on GOP attempts to challenge tens of thousands of voters before the election. This won’t stop them from trying to suppress the vote on election day, but it means they will have to face down voters at the polls where our side will post observers to make sure everyone gets a chance to vote. A U.S. District Court judge yesterday effectively ended efforts by Republicans in Ohio to challenge the eligibility of tens of thousands of voters in one of the most closely contested states in this year’s presidential race. … Continue reading Good News for Democracy in Ohio

From Holden: You’d think the tiny penis would be enough to drive women away from guys like this: A political argument that apparently took a dangerous turn landed one man in jail and slightly injured his girlfriend, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. Steven Soper, 18, a Marine enlistee and resident of suburban Lake Worth, was charged Wednesday with aggravated assault, false imprisonment and resisting arrest without violence, said PBSO spokesman Paul Miller. The incident occurred outside Soper’s parents’ home in the Lake Charleston development about 6 p.m. Tuesday. The sheriff’s office said the pair was arguing about … Continue reading Like I Need to Give You A Reason Not to Date A Bushite

Revolutions have a terrible arm and a fortunate hand; they strike hard and choose well. Even incomplete, even degenerate and abused, they nearly always retain enough of the light of providence to prevent a fatal fall. Their eclipse is never an abdication.” –Victor Hugo The thing is, they were never supposed to get this far. The curse, the years, the weight of all that history pressing on them, the fans only too ready to believe they’d end up getting their hearts broken … They weren’t supposed to get past the hated Yankees, they weren’t supposed to make it easy. They … Continue reading Congratulations, Boston Red Sox

Some truly lovely music. A. Continue reading A Diversion

From Holden: Zogby shows Bush up by one: Bush 48 (-1) Kerry 47 (+1) Nader 1 (unchanged) While WaPo has Kerry up one: Bush 48 (unchanged) Kerry 49 (-1) Nader 1 (unchanged) But both have Bush under 50%, which is a good thing. Continue reading Tracking Poll Update

From Holden: Treasury Secretary John Snow was proabably a bit too honest for the Bush administration when speaking about the economy today. “Deficits do matter,” said Snow. “They matter because it’s critically important that financial markets have confidence in the fiscal prudence of any government.” “If financial markets lose confidence, then funds are made available, but only at higher interest rates.” [snip] “There can’t be any doubt that these high energy prices are taking some of the wind out of the economy’s sail,” he said. “Current energy prices are too high and they are creating head winds for this economy.” … Continue reading John Snow, Off the Farm

From Holden: This post won’t clarify a thing, but I think it’s interesting. Andrea Moro of the University of Minnesota has worked up the probabilities that either Bush or Kerry will win next week based on the poll results found at two popular sites, 2.004k.com and RealClearPolitics.com. Each of these sites have their biases (2.004k.com is pro-Kerry, RealClearPolitics.com sucks it for Bush), and those biases shine through in Moro’s simulations. Based on 2.004k.com’s data she he calculates a 70.4% probability that Kerry will win and a 28.1% probability Bush will win and we will all die in pain. Using RealClearPolitics.com … Continue reading Election Simulator

A. Continue reading Happy Kerry Photo: My Preznit Has a Big Goofy Smile Edition

From Holden: Let me guess, you tried to visit Eschaton, Counterspin, skippy, or some other Blogger-based site and failed to find anything new, so you came here. Those folks are posting, but Blogger is messed up today and won’t let you see their new stuff. I’m pleased you are visiting us, but I don’t mind telling you how you can read the current work of the other fine folks out there in skippy’s blogtopia. You have to get in through their archives. Go to your favorite blogger-based crib, click on the Archives link, then scroll to the bottom and select … Continue reading Blogger Bites It

From Holden: Our government has shown no interest in investigating allegations of abuse in Guantanamo. It will take a civil suit like this one to shed any light on the subject. Four British ex-inmates of the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay sued Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others on Wednesday saying they were tortured in violation of U.S. and international law. The four former detainees are seeking $10 million in damages but primarily want Rumsfeld and other defendants to be held accountable for their actions, said Eric Lewis, the lead lawyer in the case. “This is a case about … Continue reading Hit ’em Where it Hurts, Part II

From Holden: Ha! President George W. Bush (news – web sites) may see himself as defender of democracy and compassionate conservatism but film fans have voted him “Movie Villain of the Year”. The American “Axis of Evil” fighter is wooing voters with security pledges ahead of the presidential election next week, but it was Bush’s role in Michael Moore’s anti-war film “Fahrenheit 9/11” that won him the villainous title. In a poll for Total Film magazine, the U.S. leader fought off competition from such well-known baddies as atomic scientist Doctor Octopus from “Spider-Man 2” and fellow Texan Leatherface from “The … Continue reading An Award Winning Preznit

From Holden: Yet another serving of Filet of Scottie today as he desperately tries to explain away the missing 380 tons of Iraqi explosives. The White House spinmeisters seem to have settled on a strategy of criticizing Kerry because his advisors don’t know what happened to the missing munitions. Yet they readily admit that they have no clue either, and they’re the ones in charge. I’d hardly call that playing from a position of strength. Anyway, back to obsession. First, will the presznit directly address this issue? I think you can divine the answer by reading the questions. Q Will … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Catholics for a Free Choice aims for the pocketbook: A Catholic abortion-rights group has asked the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and to stop the archdiocese’s attempts to influence the Nov. 2 election. The complaint says the Roman Catholic archdiocese violated its status as a public charity because such groups are prohibited from acting for or against a certain candidate. The complaint was filed Tuesday by the Washington-based Catholics for a Free Choice. The complaint cites an Oct. 1 pastoral letter by Archbishop Raymond Burke, who forbid Catholics to … Continue reading Hit ’em Where it Hurts

From Holden: The Bush administration is trying to stifle scientific evidence of the dangers of global warming in an effort to keep the public uninformed, a NASA scientist said Tuesday night. “In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it is now,” James E. Hansen told a University of Iowa audience. Hansen is director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and has twice briefed a task force headed by Vice President Dick … Continue reading In Case You Didn’t Know…

From Holden: While scanning Yahoo for today’s caption contest offering I found this photo and caption. The only way I can improve on the AP copy for this image is to add emphasis. Empty seats sit in the union on the campus of Ohio State University where Jenna and Barbara Bush were due to speak while campaigning for their father, President Bush (news – web sites), in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2004. Several rows of the empty seats were removed before the daughters arrived. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch) Continue reading The Bush Twins’ Empty Heads Seats

From Holden: Lefty bloggers have been feeding off of Rummy’s bizarre utterances for nearly four years now. Yesterday’s radio interview in Cincinnati was no exception. “The postwar plan … was designed to see that they were not able to destroy their oil wells, that they were not able to blow up their bridges, that they did not have massive humanitarian crisis with internally displaced people and refugees and food crisis, and that the war was conducted in a speedy way so that it would not run the risk of destabilizing neighboring countries,” Rumsfeld said when asked to comment on the … Continue reading Don Rumsfeld: The Gift That Keeps On Giving