From Holden: I’ve been out of touch with the Internets for the past three days so I’m now discovering stories you may have already read and discussed. Jason Leopold’s latest on the Plame case is new to me, how about you? In early June 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney met with President Bush and told him that CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson was the wife of Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson and that she was responsible for sending him on a fact-finding mission to Niger to check out reports about Iraq’s attempt to purchase uranium from the African country, according … Continue reading Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One

From Holden: The truth, both stranger and funnier than fiction. From PageOne. Conservative commentator and best-selling author Ann Coulter neglected to answer Question #15 on her Palm Beach County, FL voter registration form, PageOneQ has learned. The question asks the registrant to indicate sex by checking ‘M’ or ‘F’ on the form. [snip] Arthur Anderson, Jr., The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, confirmed to PageOneQ that Question 15 had not been answered on the original form. [snip] “I object,” said a transgender activist who spoke with PageOneQ today, “To the state of Florida expecting its citizens to answer questions … Continue reading Ann Coulter Stands Up For Her Community

From Holden: I was camping in the wilds of Texas on Friday so I missed Salon’s breakthrough piece implicating SecDef Donald Rumsfeld in the toture of a detainee at GITMO, but Reuters did not miss it. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld allowed an “abusive and degrading” interrogation of an al Qaeda detainee in 2002, the online magazine Salon reported on Friday, citing an Army document. In a report a Pentagon spokesman denounced as “fiction,” Salon quoted a December 2005 Army inspector general’s report in which officers told of Rumsfeld’s direct contact with the general overseeing the interrogation at the … Continue reading Rummy Implicated In Torture of Detainee

From Scout: “Nothing is as it should be,” Guay said. “Especially near the levee, you see six or seven houses smashed together. . . . There’s pieces of bodies strewn all over the place.” That is a quote from a March 11 story at MaineToday.com attributed to Sgt. Roger Guay who had just returned from New Orleans. He and Warden Wayde Carter had been there with their search dogs Raider and Buddy as part of the renewed FEMA search for bodies. Guay had been there previously in December and again in March… This time, Guay said, the Federal Emergency Management … Continue reading Requiem….

This is interesting.

Tom Fiedler’s memo on changes at the Herald contains these phrases, which are trotted out in one form or another whenever anyone announces moving additional resources to online: “But we didn’t fall in love with journalism because of ink and paper. We fell in love with it because it had the power to change lives for the better — and we can do that on paper, on the web and over the airwaves with equal devotion.” Can I just say, without being accused of Luddism, that Tom, you don’t know how I feel, and some of us, I think even “many” of us, DID fall in love with journalism because of ink and paper? Because of how it felt when you unwrapped that rolled-up paper on the front steps or at the kitchen table and saw a compendium of what had happened all in one place. Because of how it felt, how it smelled, how it looked. Because of the order and structure a newspaper brought to the random chaos of the world. Because of the romance of printers’ ink and Ben Franklin and Humphrey Bogart saying “It’s the press, baby, the press.” If the future involves less of that or none of that, yes, we can still do our jobs and still make a difference in society. Maybe even do them better. But, all you visionary leaders out there — stop telling me where my heart lies. I wanted to work in the newspaper business, not just “in the field of journalism,” and I am tired of being told I didn’t.

Well, I’m turned on. Don’t know about you.

My own story about love and ink, beyond the mysterious “Read More” link.

Continue reading “Falling In Love”

Joey wants to know if you’d like to come inside the plastic bag with him and play. A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging

The obligatory blogger ethics, blogger ethics battle cry: The News learned that Page Six writer Chris Wilson was treated to a long-weekend junket in California’s Napa Valley last June, courtesy of Jaguar North America. The junket included round-trip airfare, meals, drinks, his hotel stay, and the opportunity to drive vintage Jaguars around the Napa Valley, according to Anne Kleinert, a spokeswoman for Jaguar. You know, not for nothing, but I’d really like somebody to come along and make me an offer to go to Napa with his or her credit card. I command the attention of at least a half … Continue reading First the Meeting, Then the Whores

From Scout: Remember In February when Michael Brown testified before Congress and claimed the Department of Homeland Security was more interested in terrorism than natural disasters …. “If we’d confirmed that a terrorist had blown up the 17th St. Canal levee, then everybody would have jumped all over that and been trying to do everything they could…. But because this was a natural disaster, that has become the stepchild within the Department of Homeland Security. Which Michael Chertoff then strongly denied… “I unequivocally and strongly reject this attempt to drive a wedge between our concerns about terrorism and our concerns … Continue reading DHS says Brownie was right in claim…so Chertoff was wrong

Gas in my neighborhood is up to $2.99 per gallon. A. Continue reading Observation

The Newark Star-Ledger’s chief political correspondent tries out the “can’t trust this bunch to run a pig farm much less a war” narrative: Trouble is, the Bushies don’t seem to know how to orchestrate the mix of diplomatic pressure, economic sanctions, military threats and — but only finally — force. For example, they seem hell-bent on repeating the mistake they made in Iraq of not waiting for the International Atomic Energy Agency to reach a judgment on Iran’s nuclear capacities and intentions. It may be seen as surprising that the voices of reason and restraint in this Iran question, as … Continue reading These Are Not The Right Leaders

From Scout: Last September FEMA awarded 4 large contracts to mulitinational firms which angered those on the Gulf Coast. So FEMA had promised to rebid the contracts giving preferential treatment to local and minority owned businesses. $3.6 billion in contracts for removing FEMA trailers from the Gulf Coast now includes 36 contracts of as much as $100 million each. Locals however believe FEMA ignored the guidelines for preferential treatment and now FEMA is not talking about a process they had been loudly proclaiming in the last few weeks as an aggressive shift toward the inclusion of local, small businesses according … Continue reading More of the Same in Rebid FEMA contracts

From Scout: A FIFTH General has called for Rumsfeld to Resign. I don’t recall such a General revolt ever against a Secretary of Defense. He has to go. Continue reading A General Revolt

From Holden: The Treasury Deparment answers Helen Thomas’ question from today’s gaggle (below). Government spending hit an all-time high for a single month in March, pushing the budget deficit up significantly from the red-ink level of a year ago. In its monthly accounting of the government’s books, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday that federal spending totaled $250 billion last month, up 13.7 percent from March 2005. [snip] The March outlay record of $250 billion surpassed the old mark of $232 billion set in February. Even though the deficit was a record for March, it was below the all-time monthly high … Continue reading It’s Your Children’s Money

From Holden:

Little Scottie skipped over Helen Thomas and let Jassica Yellin of ABC News have the first question in today’s gaggle but as this is my goddamn obsession I can order the questions any way I like.

Start us off, Helen.

Q Does the President think that he can continue to conduct a war without end, without raising taxes, which money — the cost of this war is expected to go up — almost $2 trillion. Guns and butter, you cannot — who is going to pay for this?

MR. McCLELLAN: You bring up a very good point.

Q Future Presidents?

MR. McCLELLAN: You bring up a good point. We are a nation at war, and that’s why it’s important that we keep our — that we make sure we meet our priorities —

Q Who is paying for it?

MR. McCLELLAN: That’s what I’m getting to. It’s important that we meet our most important priorities during this time of war, and it’s also important that we work extra hard to hold the line on spending elsewhere in the budget.

[snip]

Q That will handle the cost of the war?

MR. McCLELLAN: It’s absolutely critical to keeping our economy strong. Our economy is strong. The President talked about that earlier today.

[snip]

Q You can have the guns and butter —

MR. McCLELLAN: — many Democrats want to raise our taxes. And the President has pointed back to what they said a few years ago, when they said that tax cuts would do nothing to create jobs. Well, more than 5.1 million times, they have been proven — they have been proven wrong.

And we are engaged in a global war on terrorism. And the cost of inaction is far higher — we are laying the foundations of peace for generations to come. But we’re going to make sure that our troops and our military has everything they need to complete the mission and do the job when it comes to prevailing in the war on terrorism. And that’s why the President has outlined budgets that meet our most important priorities and hold the line on spending elsewhere.

<Obsession continues, Read More.

Continue reading “Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle”

From Holden: Your president took his Medicare snake-oil show to Annandale, Virginia, yesterday. Sounds Like the Prescription Drug Program Is a Miserable Failure Twenty-nine people have signed up. There are 6 million people who have got a job and they don’t need the Medicare. Several Medium-Sized Words, Actually Okay, so here’s the way this works. You’re the President, you say to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, “Make sure the plan gets implemented.” That’s called “delegation.” He then turns to another guy, who happens to be a Texan named Dr. Mark McClellan. He’s the administrator of the Centers for … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

From Holden:

Damn Little Scottie embargoed the gaggle transcript on me yesterday but that won’t cure my obsession.

Q Scott, there were reports this morning that in late May of 2003 there were questions raised about whether or not the trailers were bio-weapons — mobile bio-weapons in Iraq. When did the administration come to understand that those trailers were not mobile bio-weapons labs?

MR. McCLELLAN: I don’t think that’s a new issue. I mean, I saw the report. This is nothing more than rehashing an old issue that was resolved long ago. I cannot count how many times the President has said the intelligence was wrong.

[snip]

Now, you bring up an issue that goes back to a time period when the intelligence community had assessed — the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency — that a couple of mobile laboratories that were found in Iraq were for the production of biological weapons. That was the assessment of the intelligence community that stood for some time period.

[snip]

My obsession continues, click Read More.

Continue reading “Today on Holden’s Obsession with [Yesterday’s] Gaggle”

From Scout:

A new LA Times/Bloomberg Poll asks:

“If Iran continues to produce material that can be used to develop nuclear weapons, would you support or oppose the U.S. taking military action against Iran?”

Support…….48%

Oppose…….40%

Unsure……..12%

But given what they know now only 12% think Iran would be “stopped through military action” from getting nuclear weapons. 61% think Iran “will get nuclear weapons anyway.” 15% think Iran will be “stopped through diplomacy.”12% are unsure.

When asked:

“”Generally speaking, do you trust George W. Bush to make the right decision about whether we should go to war with Iran, or not?””

Do Not Trust……… 54%

Trust………………. 42%

Unsure……………….4% .

Finally this question:

“”Has the war in Iraq made you more or less supportive of U.S. military action against Iran?””

More Supportive……..17%

Less Supportive………40%

Has Not influenced…..38%

Unsure………………….5%

So according to this about half would support military action but only 12% think military action will achieve its goal.

(my questions after the cut)

Continue reading “New Poll on Iran –48% would support military action”

All right. I’ve steadfastly not cared about Katie Couric taking over as anchorwoman for CBS News. Katie Couric has no problems you could pay me to care about. If you pressed me, I’d say it was kind of nice that somebody in her position would abandon playing princess to the anthropomorphic penis that is Matt Lauer and try to do a job at which she might actually fail, instead of coasting on her perky legacy until she dies. Other than that, I have little interest in Ms. Navy SEALS Rock. I do, however, have a significant amout of interest in … Continue reading Couric’d

From Scout: Bush has decided on the funding for levees…. Federal recovery Donald Powell said President Bush would ask Congress for another $2.5 billion to improve levees in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and St. Charles which protect 98 percent of the local population. But Plaquemines is considered outside the levee system for the moment. Powell said it is likely that all damaged homes will likely need to be raised 1-3 feet there. But flood insurance is still problematic, and the federal government has not decided whether to allocate $1.5 billion that the Army Corps of Engineers needs to certify the … Continue reading Bush Decides on Levees…FEMA Maps Finally released

When I was taking paleoanthropology courses in college, desperately trying to pretend I could be a scientist, everybody thought I was nuts. Dinosaurs were where the sex was, dinosaurs and the Indiana Jones/Holy Grail type stuff that’s about archaeology the way Baywatch was about aquatic safety. Dead people? What could possibly be fun about that? There was something irresistable to me about human beginnings about finding out how we came to be and literally picking up the pieces of our story from the ground. Lucy, the footprints … These are the closest things we have to witnesses to the oldest … Continue reading Our Beginnings

From Scout: Today on CNN Major General John Batiste called for Rumsfeld’s resignation…… BATISTE: Finally, I believe we need a fresh part in the Pentagon. We need a leader who understands team work, a leader who knows how to build teams, a leader that does it without intimidation. A leader that conforms and practices the letter and the law of the Goldwater-Nichols Act. Conversely, I think we need senior military leaders who understand the principles of war and apply them ruthlessly, and when the time comes, they need to call it like it is. M. O’BRIEN: So, you’re suggesting a … Continue reading General Calls for Rumsfeld to Resign

From Holden: Wow, I think the press corps finally pushed Little Scottie over the edge this morning. Check out TPMMuckraker’s obsession with the gaggle. Continue reading He Done Blowed Up

From Scout:

FEMA agreed to re-bid a number of contracts after controversy and pressure over the no-bid contracts. They had promised that the process would favor small businesses and local Gulf Coast firms. Well it didn’t. The Times Picayune documents that contracts went to out of state firms and questions whether some listed as local are indeed local. The remedy undercuts the intent for rebidding in the first place as one controversial contractor Fluor Corp (large Republican donator) which held a contract that was promised to be re-bid, in fact was awarded another contract through one of its subsidiaries.

In a much anticipated rebidding of contracts to service travel trailers in Louisiana, the Federal Emergency Management Agency appears poised to dole out more than half the work to out-of-state companies, despite federal assurances that the process would favor local firms, FEMA documents show.

In addition, one of the companies listed by the agency as “an apparently successful offeror” is a joint venture from San Diego that includes a subsidiary of Fluor Corp., a major player in post-storm reconstruction that received one of the multimillion dollar trailer deals FEMA and the Bush administration vowed to rebid.

SNIP

“I don’t believe FEMA is playing straight with me,” said Moshiu Knox of the Knox Group Inc. in Mississippi. “They told us one thing and then went and did something else.”

Knox, who was rejected in the trailer bidding process, pointed to FEMA’s prebid guidelines for the trailer deals laid out in November. In them, FEMA stated, “this procurement is a 100% small business set-aside,” and that “preference will be given to small business firms located in the State of Louisiana.” In the smaller print, the agency offered an even more precise definition: “Local small business contractors are defined as those small businesses who meet the small business size standard ($30 million) and who regularly conducted business in the State of Louisiana prior to the disaster event (August 29, 2005 for Hurricane Katrina),” the language read.

Kenny Edmonds who owns River Parish RV’s Inc., a Louisiana company for more than 20 years was also rejected and angry when he found that 4 of the 8 winning bids went to out of state companies. Worse the Times Picayune looked into those companies and questions if they are even local companies.

Continues after the cut…click Read More)

Continue reading “Freaking FEMA does it again!”

From Holden: Le Corner’s own John Derbyshire, Monday: Who says we can’t deport 12 million interlopers? I bet we could if we set our minds to it. That open border is open in both directions. And today: REFORMED [Jon Derbyshire] A couple of readers to this effect: “Aren’t you a bit embarrassed to be laying in to illegal immigrants, having confessed that you yourself were once an illegal immigrant?” [Derb] No. I look on it as being sort of like the reformed drunk at a temperance meeting… Continue reading Wanking Like A Big Ol’ Wanking Wanker

From Holden:

The e-mail messages of Jack Abramoff and his associates explicitly tie Sen. Conrad Burns and the RNC to bribery and corruption.

When Jack Abramoff’s lobbying team wanted to press Republican leaders for help with a tribal client, they minced no words. The help was deserved because Abramoff’s clients overwhelmingly donated to Republicans.

E-mails that have become important evidence in the Abramoff corruption probe state the lobbyist’s team bluntly discussed with a Republican Party official using large political donations as a way to pressure lawmakers and the administration into securing federal money for the Saginaw Chippewa of Michigan.

Abramoff’s team ultimately prevailed in securing federal school building money for the Saginaw, overcoming opposition from a single Republican congressional aide and a federal agency along the way. And the lawmakers who helped get thousands of dollars in fresh donations.

This post continues, click on Read More.

Continue reading “Take A Trip Down the E-Mail Trail”

From Tena: I keep going back to the Terri Schiavo case. That’s when I think the rightwing carousel began to break down and the painted horses lost their rhythm, pawing the air to no avail. Talk radio and cable news tilted heavily for Schiavo’s parents and against Michael Schiavo, Jeb Bush jowlily postured and interposed himself with shameless zeal, Congressional Republicans stuck their beaks into this private turmoil, Bush broke precedent to interrupt his precious downtime in Crawford to sign a hocked-up bill,–and they all misread the public’s mood. The American public wanted them to butt out. That they could … Continue reading This is schadenfreude

From Holden: Listen up, your president was in Jefferson City, Missouri, today trying to sell his Medicare snakeoil. Jimmy-Jeff Used To Help Him With His Analyzation And so I came to Washington, D.C. and said, are we doing as good a job as possible to provide modern medicine for our seniors? You see, once the government makes a commitment, it ought to be a solid commitment, it ought to be a good commitment. There’s no need to have a health care system for our seniors that doesn’t meet needs. And one of the things I noticed in analyzation of the … Continue reading Your President Speaks!