From Holden: Via The Raw Story, here’s the text of a letter Sen. Dick Durbin is circulating among his colleagues, requesting that the president investigate James D. “J.D.” “Jeff Gannon” Guckert’s access to the White House press room. Contact your senator and tell him/her to sign Durbin’s letter. Dear Mr. President, At a press conference in the White House on January 26, you stated that “there needs to be a nice, independent relationship between the White House and the press.” In that same press conference, you called on a reporter then known as Jeff Gannon, who worked for an organization … Continue reading Durbin Calls for Investigation of Prostitute/Reporter

From Holden: Multiple rape investigations? Rummy has no idea. The Pentagon said Tuesday that the U.S. military is investigating allegations that a U.S. soldier raped a female Iraqi prisoner, the Cable News Network reported. The army didn’t disclose when the alleged incident took place, CNN said. These developments come a week after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked by U.S. lawmakers whether any Iraqi women had been abused or raped by U.S. military personnel. At the time, Rumsfeld told the Senate Appropriations Committee that he didn’t know if a rape occurred, but added that he would get an answer, CNN … Continue reading Freedom On The March

From Holden: This should send a few winger heads a-whirling. At the dinner for Chirac, hosted by the Americans, there was a side dish of potatoes and Bush reportedly went out of his way to call them “French fries.” During the height of the administration’s francophobia, they had been renamed “freedom fries” when they appeared on the Air Force One menu. Continue reading Kissing France’s Ass

From Holden: And finally, this notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table. Link. Continue reading Your Quote of the Day

From Holden: The Bank of Korea is dumping its dollars in favor of the euro, as well as Australian and Canadian currencies, sending My Bush Boom down South America way. The dollar fell sharply in the foreign-exchange markets today after the Bank of Korea disclosed plans to step up its purchases of securities denominated in other currencies. The steep decline highlighted the continued weakness of the dollar, which stabilized early this year after hitting a record low of $1.3666 against the euro on Dec. 30 and raised the possibility that the American currency could fall further at any time. “The … Continue reading Don’t Cry For My Bush Boom, Argentina

From Holden: Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is an American citizen and Virginia high school valedictorian who attended universtiy in Saudi Arabia. In June 2003 he was arrested without charges by Saudi authorities. Protective of their son’s rights and fearing he might be tortured by the Saudis, Abu Ali’s parents turned to the U.S. Embassy only to learn that his arrest had been orchestrated by the United States. Within days of the arrest, they claim, FBI agents were attending Abu Ali’s interrogations, and within a week, another group of agents had raided their home in Virginia, seeking evidence of a terrorist … Continue reading American Justice, Bush Style

Today’s Action comes from Seraphiel via Eschaton: Find a�postcard of Guernica and write on it (or print a copy of the picuture out from the web and write on it)� “From the Citizens of Honduras.”��Then send it to�Mr. Negroponte, c/o The White House, 1600 Pennylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. You might also want to send a copy to your Senators along with the message: Don’t confirm Negroponte. Thanks for taking today’s action! Continue reading Action Alert – Tuesday, February 22

From Holden: When Scott Ritter says that Georgie has already signed off on plans to attack Iran in June 2005, how can anyone doubt him? The principal theme of Scott Ritter’s talk was Americans’ duty to protect the U.S. Constitution by taking action to bring an end to the illegal war in Iraq. But in passing, the former UNSCOM weapons inspector stunned his listeners with two pronouncements. Ritter said plans for a June attack on Iran have been submitted to President George W. Bush, and that the president has approved them. He also asserted that knowledgeable sources say U.S. officials … Continue reading The Bombs of June

From Holden: In Afghanistan. In a new report examining Afghans’ security, welfare and ability to control their own lives, the world body ranked the country 173rd out of 178 surveyed, with only five states in sub-Saharan Africa faring worse. Continue reading Freedom On The March

I heart Newton South High School! Nine students pepper their principal with questions. Why is the school construction project taking so long? Why will students get gym credit for taking sex ed? Any thoughts about the upcoming trial of a driver’s education teacher accused of assaulting a student? Some carry reporter’s notebooks and tape recorders. Others scribble notes into their three-ring binders. The student journalists sit in two groups. On one side are reporters from The Lion’s Roar, a tabloid that frequently tests the limits of high school journalism. On the other are reporters from Denebola, a broadsheet that calls … Continue reading Competition, Bitches!

Via First Drafter snarkey, we find that, much like bloggers, French reporters also have the unpardonable nerve to investigate and expose wrongdoing: PARIS: Finance Minister Herv Gaymard of France, under pressure after a report revealed that he and his family were living in a state-funded apartment off the Champs-Elyses in Paris, said Wednesday that he would give up the luxurious apartment. The debate grew so hot so fast that Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin decided Wednesday night to limit the size of apartments put at the disposal of government ministers. Le Canard Enchain, a weekly newspaper specializing in political exposs, said … Continue reading Scalp Collecting: Francais Edition

From Holden: Active-duty Army recruitment tanks. The active-duty Army is in danger of failing to meet its recruiting goals, and is beginning to suffer from manpower strains like those that have dropped the National Guard and Reserves below full strength, according to Army figures and interviews with senior officers . For the first time since 2001, the Army began the fiscal year in October with only 18.4 percent of the year’s target of 80,000 active-duty recruits already in the pipeline. That amounts to less than half of last year’s figure and falls well below the Army’s goal of 25 percent. … Continue reading Call in the 101st AirbornAgain

Hunter S. Thompson is dead. Atrios has the details I hope Hunter’s afterlife is full of beautiful women who will ride topless in his convertible down all the mountain roads. Continue reading We’ll Miss You

George McGovern, subject of a really, really, really great Washington Post profile today. McGovern, who has been helping university officials with the fundraising for a library to be built in his and Eleanor’s names on the Wesleyan grounds, wants to establish a speech and debate program here. He called the university president just 30 minutes ago, and now he’s headed over to discuss that and the latest news about the library, which is $700,000 shy of the $8.5 million officials say is needed to begin construction. It’s a lovely portrait of a man who, even in the throes of crushing … Continue reading Happy Democrat Photo: Silly Hat Edition

Initial post on the topic here. Note to the sarcasm impaired: The purpose of these posts is to point out that the same actions getting lefty bloggers attacked as “scalp collectors” for “going too far” in investigating Jeff Gannon, a prostitute who gained access to the Bush White House and to classified information that helped build a case for war with Iraq, once were looked at as a requirement of the free press. From watergate.info, the story that just didn’t seem quite right to a pair of obscure Washington Post repoters: 5 Held in Plot to Bug Democrats’ Office Here … Continue reading Scalp Collecting: Disproportionate Attention Edition

David Neiwert posts this letter he received and makes very little comment on it. It does speak for itself, and what is says is pretty damned terrifying and disgusting. Dave, Your blog is entertaining, but your running, one sided debate is mostly with straw men of the kosher conservative variety. The real right doesn’t take Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh seriously, and we know better than to use “exterminationist rhetoric.” The real right is at Stormfront and VNN forum. Anyway, I also wanted to address your whining at the fact that kosher kareer conservatives like Coulter and Limbaugh and Savage/Weiner … Continue reading They get letters

Robert, who I think of these days as the blogosphere’s moral compass, points out a giant elephant in a room full of male escort prostitute reporters: If the attorneys are prosecuted, they can expect, at trial, to be conflated with their clients – just as Stewart was. The prosecution showed an old tape of Osama bin Laden promising revenge if Rahman were not released. In a courtroom only a short distance from Ground Zero, the tape must have meant a great deal. But it related to Rahman, not Stewart. Though Rahman may be a Bin Laden confederate, that does not … Continue reading When The Devil Turns Round On You

From Holden: Little Scottie finds another,less-convincing story about just when “Jeff Gannon” first received a White House press pass and with whom JimJeff was affiliated at the time. NEW YORK Former Talon News reporter James Guckert obtained his first White House press credentials as a representative of the pro-Republican Web site, GOPUSA, not as a Talon News reporter, as previously believed, Press Secretary Scott McClellan told E&P today. McClellan said White House Press Office staffers considered the openly partisan site to be a legitimate news organization when they gave Guckert, a.k.a. Jeff Gannon, the first of numerous day passes in … Continue reading Scott on Jeff (Now That’s a Switch!)

From Holden: On a day when at least five U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq does anyone know just who our allies are? Sometimes it’s hard to know who your friends are – even if they’re helping you fight a war. President Bush, who hopes to coax more Iraq support from European allies next week, used to boast that some 50 nations had joined the United States in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Today, a public listing is nowhere to be found. One thing, though, is clear: The coalition is shrinking. “I expect to see the coalition countries begin paring down … Continue reading What Coalition?

From Holden: Where did U.S. soldiers get the idea that it was OK to shoot the wounded? Several American soldiers are under investigation in the shooting deaths of two Afghan villagers last Friday afternoon outside the United States base here in western Afghanistan, the commander of the base, Lt. Col. Ashton Hayes, said Thursday. Witnesses and local officials said the two villagers were shot as they fled across a field. Two witnesses said in an interview that two American soldiers then approached one of the Afghans, who was wounded, and shot him dead at close range. “They did it on … Continue reading More War Crimes in Afghanistan

From Holden: Twenty-seven year CIA veteran Ray McGovern, writing at TomPaine.com, describes the appointment of John Negroponte to be director of National Intelligence as yet more evidence that Bush is “strengthening his cabinet’s capacity to mislead Congress and trample civil liberties.” But what really worries him is how the President’s Daily Brief will be handled with Negroponte as DNI. The scene visualized by President Bush yesterday for his morning briefing routine, once Negroponte is confirmed, stands my hair on end. I did such morning briefings for the vice president, the secretaries of State and Defense, the chairman of the Joint … Continue reading Ray McGovern’s “Oh, Shit” Moment

From Holden: Twenty-seven year CIA veteran Ray McGovern, writing at TomPaine.com, describes the appointment of John Negroponte to be director of National Intelligence as yet more evidence that Bush is “strengthening his cabinet’s capacity to mislead Congress and trample civil liberties.” But what really worries him is how the President’s Daily Brief will be handled with Negroponte as DNI. The scene visualized by President Bush yesterday for his morning briefing routine, once Negroponte is confirmed, stands my hair on end. I did such morning briefings for the vice president, the secretaries of State and Defense, the chairman of the Joint … Continue reading Ray McGovern’s ”Oh, Shit” Moment

From Holden: The core inflation rate took its biggest jump in six years last month. Wholesale prices rose 0.3 percent in January, driven up by big increases in the cost of new cars, cigarettes and alcohol, a development that could lead the Federal Reserve on a path toward steeper interest-rate increases. [snip] Widespread increases in a number of areas drove the core inflation rate, which excludes food and energy, up by 0.8 percent, the biggest increase in this area in more than six years. [snip] The big 0.8 percent jump in core inflation last month, the largest advance since a … Continue reading Inflating Away My Bush Boom

From Holden: After reading for the umpteenth time that “internet bloggers” “linked the name Jeff Gannon and Talon News back to Gopusa [sic]” shortly after the “presidential news conference on Jan. 26” (this time in the NYTimes) I am compelled to say: No, you are wrong. The first blogger to question Jeff Gannon’s admittance to the White House Press Briefings was Eileen Smith in her blog WebDems. She began asking questions about “Gannon” in her first post on Feb. 18, 2004. I also posted on “Gannon” in Eschaton on July 18, 2004, in this post. With all the backslapping and … Continue reading Enough Already

A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging: King Of My Castle Edition

From Holden: The Houston Chronicle published a quasi-interview with Talon News/GOPUSA founder Robert Eberle yesterday. I say “quasi-interview” because the Chronicle’s Rachel Graves somehow managed to avoid asking many questions that a competent interviewer would have asked. More on that later. What can be dredged from this article is the fact that, as Markos suggested yesterday, Talon News was little more than a front erected to create one degree of separation between Jim “J.D.” Jeff Gannon” Guckert and GOPUSA. Eberle said Talon merits White House credentials because of its large number of readers (he claims 500,000 unpaid subscribers), its regular … Continue reading Robert Eberle Speaks (sort of)

Well now, this is just unseemly. An entire contest revolving around reporters who’ve collected scalps: SHORENSTEIN CENTER ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR THE 2005 GOLDSMITH PRIZE FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING    CAMBRIDGE, MA—Six entries have been chosen as finalists for the 2005 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, awarded each year by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. The winner of the $25,000 prize will be named at an awards ceremony on March 22 at the Kennedy School. The Prize honors journalism which promotes more effective and ethical conduct of government, the making of … Continue reading More Scalp Collecting: Investigative Reporting Contest