From Holden: Joe Wilson still haunts the White House. Nearly three years after he told the world that the Bush Assministration knew that Iraq had not tried to attain uranium from Niger well before Chimpy uttered those sixteen little words in his 2003 State of the Union address the New York Times obtains documentary evidence that Wilson told the truth. A high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was “unlikely” because of a host of economic, diplomatic and logistical obstacles, according to a secret memo that was … Continue reading The Ghost of Joe Wilson

Nah. Make that “power tool.” Nah. On second thought, appliance. With attachments. Shorter guy writing to Romenesko: Bloggers don’t do reporting, except when they do, but that doesn’t disprove my larger point, which is that they don’t. At least, not all the time. Yeah. Wait, where the hell are my pants? Where did that goat come from? MOM, what are you doing here?! A. Continue reading Tool

Ooh, baby baby. Baby baby. Somebody found all the balls in the whole world and went around reattaching them this week, it seems. Seriously, this is how we do. Enough with this “ooh, they criticized me, I’d better back down.” Screw that. They criticize you, means you struck a nerve. Keep tapping that nerve. Tap it with, you know, an ICE PICK. Because if you don’t cower, they don’t know what to do. If they come back and say you’ve hurt their widdle feelings and you say, “So fucking what? You hurt my country. You hurt the poor. You hurt … Continue reading P-Push It Real Good

From Holden: Scottie must not be sleeping well, as he started today’s gaggle off on the wrong foot. Q Scott, this NSA intercept program, was it effective and did it lead to any kind of progress in the war on terror? Or has it been, as some people have suggested, a program that has flooded the zone so much with intelligence, a lot of which is useless, that — MR. McCLELLAN: Who has suggested that? Q It was suggested in some reporting today. MR. McCLELLAN: Who is it? Anonymous sources, okay. Let’s make that clear. Q Anonymous sources have suggested, … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: On Friday I noticed that Scottie did not want to answer this question. Q Scott, did the administration have concerns about the potential economic impact of the removal of Iranian oil from the world market? Understandably. OPEC power Iran wields a potent weapon — oil — which if fired to ward off international pressure over its nuclear programme could blast prices to record levels last seen during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Emboldened by strong prices and stretched global supplies, Tehran could retaliate by removing all or part of its daily crude sales of 2.4 million barrels from thirsty … Continue reading Embargo

From Holden: During Mr. Bremer’s current book tour has anyone seriously asked him where all of our money went? More than 18 months after the Pentagon disbanded the Coalition Provisional Authority that ran Iraq, neither the Justice Department nor a special inspector general has moved to recover large sums suspected of disappearing through fraud and price gouging in reconstruction. Earlier audits by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction — a post Congress created in late 2004 — found that oversight of contractors by the Authority was so lax that widespread abuse was likely. An audit in April 2005, for … Continue reading Ask Paul Bremer

From Holden: Chimpy only supports the troops that he can use in his propaganda. Army Spec. Jesse Buryj was in the gun turret of a Humvee that night, guarding a traffic circle in Karbala, Iraq. The soldiers were on edge — they had been warned about a car bomb — so when a dump truck came barreling into the intersection, they opened fire from all sides. But the truck kept coming and crashed into Buryj’s armored vehicle, sending the 21-year-old hurtling to the ground. The next day, May 5, 2004, an Army officer notified Buryj’s wife and parents in Canton, … Continue reading Support Our Troops!

From Holden: What a country? Just what is the purpose of capitol punishment anyway? Is it supposed to deter blind, deaf, wheelchair-bound seventy-six-year-olds from committing murder? Or are we simply punishing blind, deaf, wheelchair-bound seventy-six-year-olds who have been on death row for a generation? What’s the point? California executed its oldest death row inmate early Tuesday, minutes after his 76th birthday, despite arguments that putting to death an elderly, blind and wheelchair-bound man was cruel and unusual punishment. [snip] [Clarence Ray] Allen, who was blind and mostly deaf, suffered from diabetes and had a nearly fatal heart attack in September … Continue reading Culture of Life

From Holden: Image courtesy of Alvarez Wax Models. Laura opens her pie hole. “I think the American people expect the United States government and the president to do what they can to make sure there’s not an attack by foreign terrorists,” Mrs. Bush said just before landing here to begin a four-day stay in West Africa. President Bush is concerned that media disclosure of the program will cripple work to foil terrorists, she said. “I think he was worried that it would undermine our efforts by alerting terrorists to what our efforts are,” Mrs. Bush said. [snip] In a 12-minute … Continue reading A Few Words from the Xanax and Vodka Corner

My country tis of thee … F.B.I. field agents, who were not told of the domestic surveillance programs, complained they often were given no information about why names or numbers had come under suspicion. A former senior prosecutor, who was familiar with the eavesdropping programs, said intelligence officials turning over the tips “would always say that we had information whose source we can’t share, but it indicates that this person has been communicating with a suspected Al Qaeda operative.” He said, “I would always wonder, what does ‘suspected’ mean?” I am going to be ill. Contrary to what our friends … Continue reading I Was Not Angry Since I Came To France

Marry me, Hecate. A. Continue reading Whole Brick Buildings Right Off The Ground

On MLK day, a bit of advice to all those who say we should hang back and save our ammunition, wait for the “right” fight, give up the gays, give up the women, give up the poor, give up the black, give up the displaced and the drowned in New Orleans, give up on anything and everything that made us liberals, and conserve our principles for a time when we truly need them, as if it’s like a bowl of sugar, as if there’s only so much: We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the … Continue reading Wait

Tammy Duckworth would like to school you about the costs of making you feel good about yourselves. Because of the nature of the combat injuries coming out of Iraq, wounded soldiers are needing long-term care of more than just a month or two. And there was nothing set up for them. We weren’t ready for it.[snip]It’s the very little things, just daily living. For me, it was changing my sheets on my bed. How do you do that if you have no legs? And the reason we weren’t ready for it? Well, I mean, Doug Feith said everything would be … Continue reading Psst. Ass Missile. Pantload. Over Here.

Lean in real close, moppet, so I can be sure you hear me clearly. “I do not see a likelihood of a filibuster,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif. “This might be a man I disagree with, but it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be on the court.” ACTUALLY THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT IT MEANS, YOU USELESS PLASTIC HOOD ORNAMENT. You’re a member of Congress. You’re confirming him. If you disagree with the way he’d do his job, that’s ground for denying it to him. Will somebody please get this woman a copy of that musty old document that … Continue reading Dear Diane

From Tena: Atrios, who has been blogging all day and into the night on a wing and a prayer (blogger is bloggered) has posted this, and I really wanted to repost it here, because like him, I think it’s damned important. Sunday, January 15, 2006 Chimpeachment I have to post this by email and the links are going to get screwed up, but I think this is important so I may have to just post it as a dead link. The country was never behind Clinton’s impeachment but the media begged for it. The country is much more behind Bush … Continue reading I like it, we can do it, let’s get started

Link: Scripps newspapers took in $65 million in November, but the company apparently doesn’t want to waste any of those bucks on phone technology. The Scripps-owned Naples Daily News sent this memo to staffers today: “In an effort to free up more incoming phone lines for customers calling in to start the paper, and placing classified ads, we are asking that ALL employees immediately refrain from using the desk phone (land line) as much as possible. If you must make business calls please use your cell phone.” And people wonder why newspapers unionize. Honestly. Don’t use your desk phone to … Continue reading More Blogger Ethics

With regards to this, I’m just gonna throw some talking points out there and see which ones the cat licks up. Let’s not start another war until we figure out why we started the last one. Let’s not start another war until we finish the last one. Let’s not start another war until we’ve paid for the last one. Let’s not start another war until we’ve armored the Humvees and the soldiers fighting in the last one. Let’s not start another war until we’ve won the last one. Let’s not start another war until we admit we’ve only gotten to … Continue reading So Far Away

If you read nothing else today, read River. A. Continue reading She’s Back

Be warned: my thoughts on this week’s episode consist almost entirely of “holy frack” and then random squealing noises aimed vaguely at the TV.

Continue reading “Suicidal Ideation: Saturday Battlestar Thread”

I swear he got fatter while I was away. Major thanks to Scout for a great job filling in while I was holed up in a library with thirteen boxes of obscure meeting minutes, one very obsessive researcher, and a deadline that gets scarier by the day. Don’t forget to visit Scout on a regular basis over at her blog, which in addition to her sterling blogging, features a cat that’s so cute it should be illegal. A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging: Eat At Joe’s Edition

From Scout: I just want to say thank you to all you wonderful First Draft readers/commenters before I take my leave. You’ve been very kind and I’ve really enjoyed filling in for Athenae. A big Thanks to Holden and Tena for your help and encouragement. And a HUGE Thank You to A. for having given me this opportunity. I must admit I was nervous. Big shoes to try to fill and all. But I think it went ok, heh? So with my best Katie Couric voice I say….. “First Draft ROCKS” OK now I’m out. Peace to everyone and don’t … Continue reading Thank You

From Scout: Roll Call is reporting…… Rep. Bob Ney’s days as chairman of the House Administration Committee appear numbered, as Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is considering asking the Republican Conference to oust the Ohioan from his post, GOP sources said Friday. More related to Ney from Roll Call………. Neil Volz, the former chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), who has been named as “Staffer B” in court documents in the Jack Abramoff scandal, has resigned from the law firm Barnes & Thornburg. Continue reading Nay on Ney

From Scout: Did you read Wolcott’s smackdown of Michael Fumento the other day? Good stuff. Well Fumento’s week just got worse….. (via fishbowl DC) Scripps Howard News Service announced Jan. 13 that it’s severing its business relationship with columnist Michael Fumento, who’s also a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute. The move comes after inquiries from BusinessWeek Online about payments Fumento received from agribusiness giant Monsanto (MON ) — a frequent subject of praise in Fumento’s opinion columns and a book. What do ya know….another payola pundit Continue reading Fumento Fired

From Holden: Just a quick obsession today, and let’s kick it off with a question Little Scottie won’t begin to answer. Q Scott, did the administration have concerns about the potential economic impact of the removal of Iranian oil from the world market? MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think, Ken, that right now, what we’re focused on is making sure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. And that’s trying to get us to — it’s an interesting way to come at the question of what action may or may not be taken when the matter is referred to the … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Nearly three years into Chimpy’s vanity war and Out Troops! are still cobbling together Humvee armor to protect themselves. Soldiers exposed to Iraq’s increasingly lethal roadside bombs, which can rip through armored Humvees, are drawing on wartime experience and stateside expertise to protect their vehicles with stronger armor and thermal detection cameras. The upgrades are being done by individual soldiers and units as the Pentagon decides how Humvees should be changed, and follow public criticism of the Bush administration for not armoring all Humvees ahead of the war. Nearly three years after rolling into Iraq in trucks covered … Continue reading Return of the Beverly Hillbillies

From Holden: The hits just keep on coming. Today Chimpy entertained a few questions after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Bush the Court-esean I think the best way for the court system to proceed is through our military tribunals, which is now being adjudicated in our courts of law to determine whether or not this is appropriate path for a country that bases itself on rule of law, to adjudicate those held at Guantanamo. The answer to your question is that Guantanamo is a necessary part of protecting the American people, and so long as the war on terror … Continue reading Your President Speaks! — AGAIN

From Scout: The Federal Emergency Management Agency yesterday increased its count of people displaced from the Gulf Coast by hurricanes Katrina and Rita by nearly a third, to about 2 million people. A FEMA spokeswoman attributed the sharp rise to a reporting error.(my emphasis) Hey what’s a 650,000 error when you’re just counting …PEOPLE’s LIVES! Continue reading Today’s FEMA F#%k Up

From Holden: Interresting. Members of the Pentagon’s Criminal Investigation Task Force balked at the implementation of Rumsfeld’s torture tactics. Members of a Defense Department investigative task force were told not to participate in aggressive interrogation techniques approved for use at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2002 because officers and lawyers believed the tactics violated policy and would not elicit information, according to documents released by the Pentagon. The aggressive techniques, approved by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in late 2002, led to at least one high-value detainee being placed in … Continue reading New Pentagon Torture Documents

From Holden: Blogistically speaking, Chimpy is the gift that keeps on giving. Yesterday he stumbled his way to Mississippi. Maybe He Should Stop Looking in the Mirror My first observation is, it’s good to see — to be able to look in people’s eyes and not see them all bloodshot. Brownie Watch Plus Bonus Grammatical hara-kiri But the truth of the matter is, the person who deserve the biggest compliment, in my judgment, is the man who brought the will of the Mississippi people, the needs of the Mississippi people up to Washington and fashioned one heck of a piece … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

From Scout: Have Nots(all links at end) Ignored…….. WaPo While his motorcade passed little of the devastation in the city, much of New Orleans remains in desperate condition. Times Picayune Bush did not speak publicly or take questions and he did not, as he had on previous trips, tour any of the worst-hit areas of New Orleans. NYT He did not go into the city’s hardest-hit areas or to Jackson Square, where several hundred girls from the Academy of the Sacred Heart staged a protest demanding stronger levees. NYT The president ignored questions about the city’s new rebuilding plan, introduced … Continue reading Bush’s Tour of the Have Nots, Haves and Have Mores