From Holden: Maybe we should think first before we try to overthrow a democratically-elected leader of a sovereign nation. Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez pelted the U.S. ambassador’s car with fruit, vegetables and eggs Friday, and a group of motorcyclists chased his convoy for miles, at times pounding on the cars, a U.S. Embassy official said. No one was hurt. [snip] [Embassy spokesman Brian] Penn said the barrage of fruits, vegetables and eggs began when the convoy pulled out and drove through an adjacent market. “Our car is stained all over,” Penn said. “They were pounding on the cars, … Continue reading Think Next Time

From Holden: Found at CSPAN.org. Republican Legal Issues Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove will give the keynote address at the annual conference of the Republican National Lawyers Association. He is expected to remark on the current, significant political and legal issues. Continue reading Listen To The Expert

From Holden: Senator Burns, you have a problem. A wealthy Indian tribe once represented by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff said yesterday that it has decided to return a $3 million federal school-construction grant it received as a result of pressure exerted on Interior Department officials by Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.). [snip] A federal task force investigating congressional corruption is looking into actions by Burns and members of his staff in obtaining the grant, according to people involved in the probe. Burns, who oversees the budget of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, pressed for the funding over the objections of Interior … Continue reading Abramoffal

From Holden: Lend an ear to Junior Dionne. The day after the 2004 elections, Tom DeLay was ebullient. “The Republican Party is a permanent majority for the future of this country,” he declared. “We’re going to be able to lead this country in the direction we’ve been dreaming of for years.” Whatever DeLay’s conservative Republican allies were dreaming of, the current dead end can’t be where they hoped to arrive. Continue reading The Dead Enders

From Holden: It occurs to me that Chimpy & Co. might respond to Irving L. Libby’s sworn testimony that the President, working through the Vice President, ordered Libby to leak classified information to Judith Miller in order to smear a political opponent by pointing out that Libby is an accused perjurer and therefore a liar. So let’s recall what they said about Libby when he resigned in disgrace. Cheney: Scooter Libby is one of the most capable and talented individuals I have ever known. He has given many years of his life to public service and has served our nation … Continue reading Before They Smear Scooter

From Holden: First, the good news. The US economy generated 211,000 jobs in March, surpassing analysts expectations and adding to confidence that economic growth has remained robust. Now, the bad. Average hourly earnings for production and non-supervisory workers -around 80 per cent of the labour force – rose by just 0.2 per cent over the month. Over the year this was a 3.4 per cent rise. Wages are still struggling to keep pace with the rising cost of living. Employment in the manufacturing sector fell by 5,000 – continuing a downward drift in this politically sensitive sector. There was also … Continue reading Good News and Bad

You’re our 2 millionth visitor! A. Continue reading Hey, you!

Yeah, this is pretty much all the sense you’re gonna get out of me until the Saturday championship game is over.

Let me explain something about Wisconsin hockey. And let me do it using the words of John Powers and Arthur C. Kaminsky. From their book One Goal:

Wisconsin fell four goals behind Cornell in their semifinal, stormed back to tie the game with five seconds on the clock, then won it in overtime. Then they brought down Denver the next night for the championship.

Badgermania really took told that year. Nearly 4,000 fans went with the varsity to Boston, garbed in red and white from scalp to socks. And when the Badgers trailed Cornell by four, the fans hung in, their frenzy and volume increasing. They held Wisconsin in a game that should have been conceded by that point; they simply wouldn’t let their team die.

My dad was at that game, the Cornell game, in ’73.

More after the jump.

Continue reading “Purity of the heart is to will one thing”

I’ll be the girl way the hell up in the last row in the highest point of the Bradley Center, head to toe in Badger Red, screaming my damn fool head off, swinging a rubber chicken around. Maybe you’ll see me on TV. Oh, and confidential to the Gopher fan who came around about a month ago talking trash about the WCHA tournament: Damn, I can’t wait to see you guys in the Frozen … wait, never mind. Well, at least you won the WCHA champion … ah, forget I said that. At the very least, you beat Wisconsin for … Continue reading Thursday Night TV Rec: Frozen Four, Bitches!

From Holden: A few quickies from Chimpy’s appearance in North Carolina today. They Is, They Really Is Obviously Osama bin Laden and his sidekick Zawahiri is still at large. We understand that. The Stupid! It Burns! You know, growing up in Midland, Texas, we all felt pretty secure as a kid, mainly because we thought oceans could protect us. Now in my case, we were really far away from oceans, too, but nevertheless, it’s — when you think about it, though, if you’re a baby boomer, like me, you think about what it was like growing up, we knew there … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

From Holden: Somebody slipped through security in North Carolina today. Q You never stop talking about freedom, and I appreciate that. But while I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water and eating safe food. If I were a woman, you’d like to restrict my opportunity to make a choice and decision about whether I can abort a pregnancy on my own behalf. You are — THE PRESIDENT: I’m not … Continue reading Chimpy’s Hard Kweschun

From Holden:

Once again today we get an abbreviated gaggle aboard Air Force One in flight to North Carolina. Scottie is asked about the little dust-up between Rummy and Rice.

Q Scott, Secretary Rumsfeld disputed remarks by Secretary Rice that the United States made tactical errors in Iraq. Who does the President think is correct on that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, actually, I think if you look at what they’ve talked about, everybody has essentially been saying the same thing, which is that the strategic decisions have been the right ones, we have the right strategy in place. But when you are at war, you’re going to have to adapt and adjust to circumstances on the ground. And so all of us — the President, Secretary Rice, Secretary Rumsfeld — have been talking about the lessons that we have learned and how we’ve adapted and adjusted to circumstances on the ground. And I think that’s what everybody is talking about in the remarks.

I know Secretary Rice talked about how she was speaking figuratively, not literally, in some of the remarks that she made. But if you look at Secretary Rumsfeld’s whole transcript, he talked about how the enemy is constantly adapting, and that’s the nature of warfare, and we have to be able to adapt and adjust to circumstances on the ground, as well. And the President has talked at length about some of the difficulties we face and how we’ve had to learn from experience and then apply those lessons as we move forward. Reconstruction is a great example.

Some of our initial reconstruction efforts focused on larger projects, when we realized that we needed to move to some of the smaller projects, it would have a more immediate impact on people’s lives. And that’s what we’ve done. He’s talked about how we’ve — the President has talked about how we’ve adjusted the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces and in the political arena, as well.

Q So you don’t see this as a disagreement between the two?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think if you look at what both were talking about, they were talking about how we’ve had to adapt and adjust to circumstances on the ground. And the President has talked about that at length in his remarks, particularly over the last few months.

So Scottie urges us to “look at Secretary Rumsfeld’s whole transcript”, meaning the trascript of his interview on WDAY radio of Fargo, N.D. (interviewer Scott Hennen). Here is the Department of Defense’s transcript, and I have excerpted the relevant exchange in the extended section of this post. Click Read More and tell me if it sounds like Rummy and Rice are in agreement.

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

From Holden:

What I Told Scottie To Say

By Irving L. Libby

People have made too much of the difference in How I described Karl and Libby I’ve talked to Libby I said it was ridiculous about Karl And it is ridiculous about Libby Libby was not the source of the Novak story And he did not leak classified information

Click Read More for context.

Continue reading “The Poetic Stylings of Scooter Libby”

From Scout: We hate to risk confusion but given the seriousness of what occurred yesterday we must. The Army Corps of Engineers finally admitted to Congress yesterday that it was their design failure that caused the 17th Street Canal levee break. Therefore we are suggesting a different message to George in the Beads to Bush campaign….Take Responsibility and Set Aside the Necessary Funds for Levee Construction. Here is why. First the Corps belated confessions….. WASHINGTON — In the closest thing yet to a mea culpa, the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acknowledged Wednesday that a “design failure” … Continue reading Army Corps Admits their Failure….Beads to Bush Message Changes

From Holden: Tepid. Retail sales are tepid. A moderating economy and cooler weather gave consumers little incentive to shop in March and left retailers with tepid sales for the second month in a row. The later arrival of Easter this year also hurt business. [snip] ”We are seeing the economy slowing down, and that is affecting same-store sales,” said Jharonne Martis, an analyst at Thomson Financial. [snip] The International Council of Shopping Centers-UBS sales tally of 60 retailers rose a slim 1.9 percent in March, less than the 3.0 percent gain originally expected for the month. It marked the weakest … Continue reading Shopping For My Bush Boom

From Holden: Wow. Brian Doyle, the Department of Homeland Security Deputy Press Secretary accused of being a predatory pedophile, sure did generate a large body of work during his 26 years at Time magazine. How is it nobody has referred to Mr. Doyle as a journalist during the coverage of his arrest? UPDATE: Eschaton readers — here is the post you should read first. Continue reading Brian Doyle: Alleged Predatory Pedophile, Journalist

From Holden:

The Hartford Courant reviews yesterday’s presidential sideshow in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

With control of Congress on the line and all three of Connecticut’s incumbent Republicans facing determined challengers, President Bush appeared here Wednesday in a visit that seemed resolutely apolitical.

He flew in on Air Force One, pitched 150 executives in a tiny theater on the virtues of health savings accounts, then headed back to Washington. By contrast, in a 2002 trip here Bush delivered a policy address to a crowd of 1,200, then made time for a $750,000 congressional campaign fundraiser.

With Bush’s approval rating sinking toward 30 percent, the state GOP seems uncertain how to use the president to help re-elect its incumbents, all of whom are on Democratic target lists.

The closest the president came to politicking was a few kind words about Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the hometown congressman, Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District. Neither appeared on stage with Bush.

Read on, click Read More…

Continue reading “Hot Times in Bridgeport”

From Holden: I found this tidbit buried in today’s NYTimes article about accused internet pedophile/Homeland Security press flack Brian Doyle. Mr. Doyle, 55, who has no prior criminal record, according to the Maryland law enforcement authorities, joined the department last year after working several years for the Transportation Security Administration. From 1975 to 2001, he worked on the Washington news desk for Time magazine. Wow. Twenty-six years on the Washington news desk at Time. Yo, Joe Klein — Karen Tumulty — do you know this guy? Continue reading The So-Called Pedophile Media

From Holden: This cannot be good. A car bomb exploded Thursday near a sacred shrine in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, killing at least four people and injuring about 30, police and health officials said. The blast occurred about 300 yards from the Imam Ali shrine, police chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Miadal said. The shrine is among the world’s most sacred sites for Shiite Muslims and contains the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law, Imam Ali. [snip] Such attacks are rare in Najaf, which is tightly controlled by police and Shiite security guards. Iraqi Shiites consider any attacks within … Continue reading More Progress

That you don’t turn your guns on your friends, you turn them on your enemies:

I applaud Senator Kerry’s call today for our combat forces to be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of this year. Senator Kerry has been a strong leader in calling for a clear, coherent strategy to complete our military mission in Iraq while engaging Iraq’s leaders with genuine diplomacy. Having just visited Iraq last month, I witnessed the desperate need for Iraqi politicians to form a unity government to prevent the country from falling deeper into violence. Senator Kerry is absolutely right to say that the end of this year is a reasonable target date for redeploying our troops in Iraq.

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but true talent instantly recognizes genius. – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Continue reading “Russ Understands”

From Holden: Just a few quickies from today’s health care savings account swindle in Connecticut. They Got The Runs You know what’s an amazing statistic, is there are 1,700 counties in our country that have no OB/GYN. They got run out of business. He Speaks Long-Word Talk And one way to do that is through the advent of health savings accounts, which is, in essence, a health savings account coupled with a high-deductible, catastrophic insurance plan. That’s long-word talk for if you get seek above a certain amount, your insurance pays for it. What, He’s Not From Texas? MR. GLICK: … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

From Holden: From Dan Froomkin: Dave Goldiner writes in the New York Daily News: “A new online poll conducted by Scholastic magazine says more than 80% of kids don’t want to be the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth. “Amazingly, that’s a nearly total flip from 2004, when 75% of the elementary and middle school children did want to rule the roost from the White House. . . . “Scholastic editors say they have no idea why kids’ opinions have changed so dramatically about the nation’s top job. They don’t necessarily believe it is linked to President Bush’s … Continue reading Generation Nyet

From Holden: Scottie was expecting the first question in today’s gaggle to focus on the alleged pedophile at the Department of Homeland Security. Q What does the President think of the Massachusetts bill on health care? MR. McCLELLAN: Well, this is the Department of Homeland — I’m sorry, the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has actually been in close contact with Governor Romney and the state of Massachusetts as they’ve been moving forward on this legislation… Four questions later… Q Any reaction to the DHS arrest? MR. McCLELLAN: Well, it is a … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Where’s Nelson Muntz when you need him? From The Hartford Courant: Democrats are eager for President Bush to appear in Connecticut today, visualizing his embrace with Rep. Christopher Shays as just the picture they need to defeat the veteran congressman. [snip] The very presence of Bush in Connecticut, his first visit to the state since a 2004 re-election fundraiser, is a surprise of sorts. Late last year, moderate Republicans gathered in Washington for a strategy session. They almost all said they would like Arizona Sen. John McCain to campaign for them – but were not even asked if … Continue reading Running Away from the Chimp

From Scout: There was good and bad news for Louisiana coming from the Senate’s work yesterday on the Appropriations bill. They appropriated more money for rebuilding housing on the Gulf Coast. This would apparently give LA the $4.2 billion it has been seeking for the buyout plans. But the bad news…. The bill passed by the committee, however, does not include the $6 billion the Bush administration announced last week is needed to raise the levees in metropolitan New Orleans to meet national flood insurance standards. So the Beads to Bush campaign continues. Here is a blogger with beads who … Continue reading Good News / Bad News for NOLA from the Senate

From Holden: Here’s a fun trick you can try at home. Go over to Google and click on “Advanced Search.” Enter Brian Doyle in the “with the exact phrase” field, then enter http://www.ready.gov in the “return results from the site or domain” field and click the Google Search button. What, no results? Try again, but this time enter http://www.dhs.gov in the “return results from the site or domain” field. One result, in which the accused pedophile is listed as a contact, right? OK, one more search. Go back to the main Google search page and enter “Brian Doyle” homeland and … Continue reading Scrubbed

There’s only so much dumb a girl can take before coffee: “With the swelling influence of the Internet and the blogosphere, the pressure to generate instant commentary is only going to grow more intense,” he writes. “But it is a deeply unhealthy impulse, and commentators — in every medium — should resist it. It’s nice to be first. It’s better to be right.” Dear Jeff, The harshest examples of criticism against Carroll came not from “new media” but from talk radio. Radio, a medium which is how old now? And the attacks that did come online didn’t come from “the … Continue reading It Burns Us

From Holden:

After a year of imprisonment for doing his job a CBS cameraman is freed (almost).

An Iraqi court on Wednesday threw out terrorism charges against a cameraman for U.S. network CBS who has been held in jail for a year, saying there was no evidence against him.

[snip]

[Cameraman Abdul Ameer Younis] Hussein, a 26-year-old Iraqi, was shot by U.S. troops and arrested exactly a year ago, on April 5, as he filmed clashes in the northern city of Mosul.

He was accused of inciting a crowd and of recruiting Iraqis for the anti-U.S. insurgency, but the exact charges were never made public.

Post continues, click Read More….

Continue reading “Freedom of Press A La US Occupation Forces”