From Holden: I guess Ahmed is a freedom fighter again. AP Photo/Yuri Gripas “It was a good meeting. They had a wide-ranging discussion,” the spokesman said after the half-hour session in Rice’s office. Chalabi said the meeting went “very well.” He brushed aside questions by reporters on whether he had given misleading information to the Bush administration before the war with Iraq. “It’s more important to look to the future than to the past,” Chalabi said. At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan, announcing Chalabi also would be given a chance to see Vice President Dick Cheney and national security … Continue reading Chalabi at the State Department

From Holden: Yipes! [Former CBS producer Mary Mapes] is disdainful of Moonves, the CBS president who ordered the outside investigation. “He doesn’t know journalism from dirt farming,” Mapes said. In the book, noting that Moonves courted and then married “Early Show” anchor Julie Chen, she writes: “I used to say everything Les knows about journalism had been sexually transmitted. Now I know even that hasn’t taught him much.” Continue reading Rowr!

From Holden: The Inspector General’s report on CIA torture techniques was completed and ready for release in the spring of 2004, but Porter Goss held on to it until a year afte the presidential election. A classified report issued last year by the Central Intelligence Agency’s inspector general warned that interrogation procedures approved by the C.I.A. after the Sept. 11 attacks might violate some provisions of the international Convention Against Torture, current and former intelligence officials say. The previously undisclosed findings from the report, which was completed in the spring of 2004, reflected deep unease within the C.I.A. about the … Continue reading Timely Reporting

Question 1 Veto Gay Rights 357 of 634 precincts – 56 percent Yes, 97,810 – 43 percent x-No, 128,787 – 57 percent 60-40, for human decency, fairness and equality. We the people. All the people. Stand up straight, people of Maine. You did a fine and democratic thing today. A. Continue reading Maine Is For Lovers

And other stuff that makes no sense, from your friendly neighborhood Freepi. A sampling of quotes from tonight’s Corzine victory thread: Another paid for political office by Corzine. The RAT oligopology is alive and well. You’ll be paying for it. It isn’t a sad day. We have to make sure Forrester asks for a recount. You know it. But Bob Grant says “NJ prides itself on voting for the most corrupt people” “They’re proud of it” I think he’s right. It’s difficult being a republican in this state. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I owe you guys more substantive commentary than … Continue reading Oligopology

Everybody was dancing in the moonlight … Kaine had 995,290 votes, or 51.5 percent, to Kilgore’s 894,609 votes, or 46.3 percent, with 99 percent of precincts reporting. In New Jersey, Democratic Sen. Jon Corzine trounced Doug Forrester, with 1,071,905 votes, or 53.5 percent, to 865,485 votes, or 43.2 percent, for the Republican, with 91 percent of precincts reporting. “There’s no way to spin this than anything other than a major defeat for Republicans and for President Bush,” said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato. Bush appeared at a Monday night rally with Kilgore — the first public campaign appearance … Continue reading It Starts Now

From Holden: Check this out as Scottie replies to a question about Dick Cheney’s lobbying on behalf of a CIA exemption to McCain’s anti-torture bill today: Q Did you ask for an exemption on torture? That’s a simple question, yes or no. MR. McCLELLAN: No. And we have not. That’s what I told you at the beginning. That’s an unambiguous no. So was it The Post’s Smith and White who lied, or was it various Republican Senators? The Times’ Schmitt? How about AP’s Espo and Sidoti? Continue reading What is the Truth?

From Holden: Now it’s time to have some fun with the ethics gaggle. Q There were the briefings that began, the ethics briefings that began today. Can you describe in some fashion what the presentation is that White House staffers are hearing for an hour, and what you’re trying to accomplish? [snip] Q Is there underlying concern that the highest ethical standards have not been observed by everyone? MR. McCLELLAN: Well, this was — the President made this decision in light of recent circumstances, that we should take this action. And that’s why he directed the Counsel’s Office to proceed … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Helen Thomas rips Little Scottie yet another new one today in the torture gaggle. Q I’d like you to clear up, once and for all, the ambiguity about torture. Can we get a straight answer? The President says we don’t do torture, but Cheney — MR. McCLELLAN: That’s about as straight as it can be. Q Yes, but Cheney has gone to the Senate and asked for an exemption on — MR. McCLELLAN: No, he has not. Are you claiming he’s asked for an exemption on torture? No, that’s — Q He did not ask for that? MR. … Continue reading All Hail Helen Thomas!

From Holden: This would be funny if not for the seriousness of the matter. Ellen Ratner summarizes the morning gaggle: Ethics Briefings: They are taking place now. They are being done alphabetically and beginning with White House Staff with security clearances. Asked if Karl Rove is in today’s briefing, Scott said that it is being done alphabetically so it would not include Rove today. He said that these briefings are “refreshers”. He said there would be no press coverage of the briefings. They are about one hour long. There are 3000 total staffers that relate to the White House. He … Continue reading White House Staff: Ethics Trainees

From Holden: Today is election day in Texas and I urge all you Lone Star Staters to get out and vote. Please vote NO! on all nine proposed constitutional amendments (and if you live in Travis County vote Yes! on the four bond props). The Austin Chronicle explains. Continue reading To My Texas Readers…

From Holden: Rumors have been circulating for months regarding the US military’s use of banned weapons in Iraq. The use of napalm has been well documented, and yesterday an Italian documentary provided strong evidence that US forces used white phosphorus on Iraqi insurgents and civilians in Fallujah last year. Al Jazeera has a photograph of one of the young victims here, while The Independent covers the Italian documentary. Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents … Continue reading Hideous American War Crimes

From Holden: Hmpf. I guess there weren’t enough war criminals in Iraq, so US forces allowed the importation of a few more. Former Serbian “Red Berets” elites forces are now being employed as private security personnel in Baghdad. About 30 former members of the Jedinica za Specijalne Operacije Special Operations Unit, better known as the JSO or Red Berets, have been working for private security contractors in Iraq for $8,000 a month. Vecernje Novosti daily said the men were recruited through a security agency in Sarajevo in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina. A former JSO member based in Belgrade, who currently … Continue reading The Ballad of the Red Berets

From Holden: The New York Times lead editorial comes out from behind the Select wall to lay a smackdown on Chimpy. After President Bush’s disastrous visit to Latin America, it’s unnerving to realize that his presidency still has more than three years to run. An administration with no agenda and no competence would be hard enough to live with on the domestic front. But the rest of the world simply can’t afford an American government this bad for that long. In Argentina, Mr. Bush, who prides himself on his ability to relate to world leaders face to face, could barely … Continue reading Shorter NYT: Worst President Ever

From Holden: Yowsa! In an apparent slip, a top American intelligence official has revealed at a public conference what has long been secret: the amount of money the United States spends on its spy agencies. At an intelligence conference in San Antonio last week, Mary Margaret Graham, a 27-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency and now the deputy director of national intelligence for collection, said the annual intelligence budget was $44 billion. The number was reported Monday in U.S. News and World Report, whose national security reporter, Kevin Whitelaw, was among the hundreds of people in attendance during Ms. … Continue reading Ooops

Christian group provides free legal services for the oppressed. This week, the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group based in Scottsdale, Ariz., announced that its 800 cooperating attorneys have volunteered to handle without fee complaints about “improper attempts to censor the celebration of Christmas in schools and on public property.” In 2004, the second year of its “Christmas Project,” affiliated attorneys sent a detailed memo on ADF’s view of Christmas and constitutional law to 7,000 school districts. The 2005 effort, already under way, adds city officials. A similar information campaign is being waged by Liberty Counsel, another Christian legal … Continue reading Onward Christian Soldiers

From Holden: REUTERS/Jim Young REUTERS/Jim Young Continue reading Throws Right, Whines Right

From Holden: Hey, Little Scottie held a gaggle on Sunday. What will the fundies say? Here’s a wee taste of ye old snark. Q So this is the first Bush presidential visit to Panama since his father was run out of there? MR. McCLELLAN: And, Nedra, I mean, we’re moving forward on an agreement with Panama on trade. I mean, there are a lot of – this is part of moving forward bilaterally, regionally and globally on trade issues and I’ll see if there’s anything more to add to it. Q Is this the first visit of a Bush president … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Continue reading I Don’t Call Her “Karen Huge” For Nothin’

From Holden: Continue reading I Don’t Call Her ”Karen Huge” For Nothin’

First of all, our Happy Democrat, Sen. Jay Rockefeller: Link. At the above MyDD story Chris Bowers characterizes Rockefeller and Kerry and Gephardt (and other Dems who’ve come out and told George to shove his toy war up his ass) thusly: One at a time, the roughly 40% of federally elected Democrats who voted for the war are admitting their mistake. I don’t see the strategy as one of “admitting mistakes” so much as one of saying look, we were lied to just like the American people were lied to, and if they want to say “misled” instead of lied, … Continue reading Happy Democrat Photo: Rockafella

From Holden: Dick is afraid you will read the New Yorker Two years ago, at Abu Ghraib prison, outside Baghdad, an Iraqi prisoner in [CIA officer Mark] Swanner’s custody, Manadel al-Jamadi, died during an interrogation. His head had been covered with a plastic bag, and he was shackled in a crucifixion-like pose that inhibited his ability to breathe; according to forensic pathologists who have examined the case, he asphyxiated. In a subsequent internal investigation, United States government authorities classified Jamadi’s death as a “homicide,” meaning that it resulted from unnatural causes. Swanner has not been charged with a crime and … Continue reading What Cheney Fears

From Holden: Well, almost. He refused to speak abou this promise to restore “dignity” to the White House. Q Back in October of 2000, Mr. President — PRESIDENT BUSH: October of 2000? Q Yes, sir. Back in October of 2000, this is what you said — PRESIDENT BUSH: Okay. Whew. Q “We will ask not only what is legal, but what is right; not what the lawyers allow, but what the public deserves.” In the CIA leak case, has your administration lived up to this campaign promise? PRESIDENT BUSH: In the — pardon my — I didn’t hear you. Q … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

From Holden: Hmmmmm… The meme of the day seems to be that the Department of Defense and the State Department — particularly Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice — are at war with VP Dick Cheney over torture, with Cheney portrayed as the torture-loving bad guy and Rice the savior of the Republic. Is Cheney on his way out? Newsweek: These are tough times for Cheney. He has always been the administration’s most “forward-leaning” force when it came to carrying out the war on terror and the Iraq invasion. Until recently Cheney’s own authority was largely unchallenged in Republican Washington. But … Continue reading The Dump Dick Movement

From Holden: The number of US casualties in Chimpy’s Vanity War stands at 2048 this morning. But it is the Iraqi’s who bear the brunt of this war, at the hands of their “liberators”… “The US troops opened fire at a suspected civilian car on the main road leading to Baghdad International Airport, killing the driver and seriously wounding his wife,” Captain Ahmed Abdullah from Baghdad police told Xinhua. And their fellow Iraqis. The bodies are arriving at the mortuary in Baghdad in such large numbers that the orderlies have run out of places to store them properly. [snip] Last … Continue reading Death, Death and More Death

On the road today. Tell me what to pay attention to this week. A. Continue reading Open Thread

Went to see “Good Night and Good Luck” last night. Hell of a movie. Highly recommended. What I especially liked about it, though, was how focused it was, how it didn’t try to be about more than a moment, when a group of people powerful in their own right decided to stand up to a bully. And that’s the thing, really. It’s not a David and Goliath story. There were fewer media voices back then, so the voices that did exist were more powerful. It’s one thing, and it’s inspiring, to see people stand up to the McCarthys in government, … Continue reading Not In Our Stars

It was really just you whacking the refresh button 2,087,208 times, right? In honor of our 2 millionth and then some hit, some quick maintenance things: 1. When you post, try not to use “free sex webcams” or “beastiality” or “hot asian virgins” anywhere in your comments, okay? Those are the triggers I search for to delete commentspam, along with viagra and blackjack. Or else post about beastiality and free video poker all you want, and just know that every week or so I’ll be going through and deleting it. 2. We don’t tolerate trolls. And yes, you do in … Continue reading Fess Up, Holden

From Holden: John McCain is a bit of a tool but you have to give him credit for the stand he has taken against the Bush Assministration’s torture policy. The U.S. Senate added language barring inhumane treatment of enemy combatants to legislation that sets military policy, the second major defense measure the chamber has amended with this provision. The amendment sponsored by Arizona Republican Senator John McCain passed by a voice vote. It was attached to the Senate’s fiscal 2006 defense spending bill Oct. 6 by a vote of 90-9. That bill is being negotiated with members of the U.S. … Continue reading Anti-Torture Amendment To Be Attached To Every Senate Bill

From Holden: Chimpy can dance, but he’s no Little Scottie. Q Hi, Mr. President. Thank you. Did Karl Rove tell you the truth about his role in the CIA leak case? And do you owe the American people an apology for your administration’s assertations that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby weren’t involved? THE PRESIDENT: We’re going through a very serious investigation. And I will — have told you before that I’m not going to discuss the investigation until it’s completed. And we have got a — my obligation is to set an agenda, and I’ve done that. And the agenda … Continue reading Your President Speaks!