So gross: • You’ll also find that your inbox is busier in the morning than in the afternoon. That’s not because NPR’s Morning Edition upsets listeners more than Day to Day or All Things Considered. I think it’s because listeners on their way to work, arrive at the office and fire off an e-mail to let me know their displeasure. Going home, listeners may be similarly miffed, but rather than sending an e-mail they might also have access to a sustaining cocktail. I know I do. • You will note there are always a few listeners who will start the … Continue reading Dvorkin Can’t Even Quit Without Wanking

From Scout: After reading this which points to another of the “don’t rebuild New Orleans” screeds (albeit the most inflammatory I’ve seen)…. I address a question to those who say forget New Orleans, will you say the same when it is…. Southern Florida? Wasn’t it just this week that a Florida-based commenter to this section snickered at the fate of New Orleans? Wednesday’s Washington Post reveals an ominous report about the state of the dike that protects southern Florida from the waters of Lake Okeechobee. See how much of this sounds familiar: the report, by a team of independent engineers, … Continue reading Cut N Run in America

For serious: Thirdly, you will please read again what is written above about the blessed diversity of our patrons and our city before you even THINK of opening your mouth to ask me if I consider this a “family atmosphere.” I am sorry you do not like my answer, Mom and Dad, which was: “No, not really,” and which I gave to you in the manner in which you asked, that manner being snide, confrontational, and accusatory. I am sorry that you do not like the music that is being played this morning, since it is “not appropriate” for little … Continue reading My Love for Craigslist Continues

Sweet Jesus. The pro-terrorist 19: Wayne Allard of Colorado Kit Bond of Missouri Jim Bunning of Kentucky Conrad Burns of Montana Tom Coburn of Oklahoma Thad Cochran of Mississippi John Cornyn of Texas Jim DeMint of South Carolina Mike Enzi of Wyoming Lindsey Graham of South Carolina Chuck Hagel of Nebraska Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma Jon Kyl (R-AZ) Trent Lott of Mississippi John McCain of Arizona Jeff Sessions of Alabama Ted Stevens of Alaska Craig Thomas of Wyoming John Warner of Virginia I … I … I want billboards. I want radio ads, I want TV commercials, I don’t have … Continue reading The National Security Attack

But do Republicans really agree on everything? Sensitive to talk of a divided party, Democratic aides circulated a memo from a Democratic pollster suggesting that Republicans will pay a price in November for standing with the president’s war policies. But Republicans dismissed that notion. Democrats also played down concerns, voiced privately by some party strategists, that the Kerry-Feingold call for a “hard-and-fast” deadline is hindering the party’s efforts to project a unified position on Iraq for the fall. There are pro-choice Republicans, Republicans who voted against the decision to go to war (okay, one Republican, kind of), Republicans who’ve broken … Continue reading Not For Nothing

Look. I don’t want want to waste the whole day on meta while there’s, you know, people starving and killing each other and shit. If there’s one thing that annoys the shit out of me about the present blogosphere it’s our tendency to turn inward and solve our own little internal problems because hey, if we just fight about the color of the brochure, man, then we don’t have to fight the big fights. This New Republic/Kos fight. I’ve read the post a dozen times and I can’t find anywhere any kind of evidence that Kos did anything other than … Continue reading I Found Me a Whore With a Face Just Like Yours

From Scout: Santorum announced today that we found WMD’s in Iraq only to have the Defense Department debunk the claim. I’m wondering where does he go from here? (I mean after that crying-in-the-corner-meltdown) How do you top this one? I’m at a loss so I’m throwing it out to you…. What will be the next big Santorum announcement? Continue reading Desperate Times and all

From Scout: If you missed Frontline’s The Dark Side you can view it online beginning tomorrow. For now you can see a video clip of “One of the primary authors of the “white paper,” former CIA staffer Paul Pillar” at Think Progress. Pillar expressed regret in having been a part of authoring the NEI. As I watched the program last night, I couldn’t help thinking how many good civil servents who gave years of service to their country must now live with terrible regret due to Cheney’s and Company’s dark side. Continue reading Cheney the Dark Side

From Scout: Michelle Malkin (I’m not helping with link) weighs in on the National Guard going to NOLA… What I find interesting is the total silence of civil liberties Chicken Littles who would be screaming “police state!” if Nagin were white and he and Blanco were Republicans sending convoys of armed military police officers into any other city in the country. Just saying. That paragraph is so-many-ways-stupid, where to begin? I’ll just cut to the chase. Malkin never misses an opportunity to paint libruls as “unhinged” even when they are not. Nice trick. Lack of evidence becomes evidence for Malkin. … Continue reading Just saying

From Holden: AP Photo/Austrian EU Presidency/Bernhard J. Holzner Watertiger’s take here. Continue reading ”No, ees not ‘clip-on’.”

From Holden: AP Photo/Austrian EU Presidency/Bernhard J. Holzner Watertiger’s take here. Continue reading “No, ees not ‘clip-on’.”

From Holden: Oh, my. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger Continue reading There’s Something About Laura

From Holden: Dan Froomkin provided some excerpts of the following somewhat testy exchange between Dear Leader and a couple of European journalists who ask hard kweschuns, but I think it’s interesting to read the entire exchange. Q And if I may, to President Bush, you’ve got Iran’s nuclear program, you’ve got North Korea, yet, most Europeans consider the United States the biggest threat to global stability. Do you have any regrets about that? PRESIDENT BUSH: That’s absurd. The United States is — we’ll defend ourselves, but at the same time, we’re actively working with our partners to spread peace and … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

From Holden: Has Bush said one single solitary word about this? As far as I can tell, he has not. Two US soldiers, missing for three days since their abduction in an insurgent stronghold south of Baghdad, were found dead, a military spokesman said yesterday. An Iraqi official said the Americans had been tortured and killed in a “barbaric” way. [snip] Caldwell said that it was clear the soldiers had died of wounds suffered in captivity, rather than at the site of the attack on the checkpoint, but that the cause of death could not be immediately determined. He declined … Continue reading He Just Does Not Care

From Holden: Saddam’s lawyers, anyway. Gunmen have kidnapped and killed one of Saddam Hussein’s chief defence lawyers and dumped his body in a Baghdad street. The number two on Saddam’s defence team, Khamis al-Obeidi was the third defence lawyer to be killed since the start of the trial of the ousted Iraqi dictator and seven co-accused on charges of crimes against humanity. His death is likely to revive complaints Iraq’s violence is hindering a fair trial. Continue reading First, Kill The Lawyers

From Holden: Two years ago Iraqi dfense forces ambushed and killed two American soldiers who had been training them in the art of war. The US military covered it up until yesterday. A few weeks before he died, a depressed Spc. Patrick Ryan McCaffrey called his father from Iraq and told him that he had just been fired upon by the Iraqi troops he was helping to train. “They were on night patrol, and they had been fired upon by what they thought were 12 insurgents. They killed several of them, and three surrendered,” said Bob McCaffrey on Tuesday in … Continue reading “The Lie of This Whole Situation in Iraq”

From Holden: Two years ago Iraqi dfense forces ambushed and killed two American soldiers who had been training them in the art of war. The US military covered it up until yesterday. A few weeks before he died, a depressed Spc. Patrick Ryan McCaffrey called his father from Iraq and told him that he had just been fired upon by the Iraqi troops he was helping to train. “They were on night patrol, and they had been fired upon by what they thought were 12 insurgents. They killed several of them, and three surrendered,” said Bob McCaffrey on Tuesday in … Continue reading ”The Lie of This Whole Situation in Iraq”

From Holden: The Afghans learned much from their American masters. The war against the Taliban has gone badly these last months, but Afghanistan’s national intelligence agency has devised a secret plan to reverse the tide of bad news. In a coordinated action this week, the intelligence men drove up to TV stations and newspapers in SUVs and dropped off an unsigned letter ordering journalists to report more favorable news about the government. In particular, the letter said, they should avoid “materials which deteriorate people’s morale and cause disappointment to them.” The men from the National Security Directorate would not give … Continue reading America 2.0

From Scout: Yesterday Japan announced it is pulling out of Iraq… TOKYO, June 20 — Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced today that he will withdraw 550 troops from Iraq, ending a landmark mission that became Tokyo’s largest military-related operation since World War II. In today’s Japan Times is the announcement that Japan will lift the ban on US beef. The story included this….. Concerns have also been raised about the political overtones of the deal, which is being viewed as a “gift” from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to U.S. President George W. Bush, who will meet with Koizumi later this … Continue reading Let me make it up to ya?

Seriously. Seriously. SERIOUSLY. You know, certain of you “conservative” bloggers like to pretend you’re above the rest. You’re the new media, after all. You’re the people who brought down Dan Rather. You’re the big new thing that all the hip fresh kids are turned on to. You don’t mix with the rabble of the Internet, the people who believe 9/11 conspiracy theories and hoard guns in their basements (well, maybe you do, but you have GOOD guns) and blither on about last weekend’s Civil War re-enactment. You’re the type that likes to distinguish between the mouthbreathing freepi loons who get … Continue reading Dear Mr. Hinderaker or “Hindrocket”

Isn’t horrible: In Oregon, Tucker’s family grieved in private. They said in a statement they were devastated by the news but heartened by the community support. “Tom has gained a much larger family through this ordeal than he had when he left home to go help to free the Iraqi people and protect his country from the threat of terrorism,” the family said. Menchaca grew up in a close-knit but extended Mexican-American family in Houston. His uncle and cousins remembered a sweet, quiet young man who was proud to be in the military and later wanted to join the U.S. … Continue reading Nothing About This

From Scout: I have a guest post up at Firedoglake. Come on over Just helping a bit while Jane Hamsher is away Continue reading FDL guest post

From Holden:

Today’s gaggle brought both Pony Blow and National Security Advisor Steven Hadley (now identified by the White House as the jaunty Steve) aboard Air Force One en route Vienna, Austria.

So, what about the latest “numbers”, Steve?

Q On the soldiers, the missing soldiers, have we confirmed that they’re, in fact, dead?

MR. HADLEY: We have not confirmed. We believe that the two remains identified are the soldiers. We believe that’s what’s been announced by MNF-I out of Baghdad. The remains are being shipped home for positive identification, but we can’t confirm it at this point. They’ve announced out of Baghdad that they believe it is the two soldiers, but we can’t be sure.

Q I just wonder what, tactically, you make of that? You know, their abduction and their apparent death. Does it say anything about the tactics of the insurgents and terrorist groups at this point that may be changing in any fashion?

MR. HADLEY: No, I think it’s a reminder that this is a brutal enemy that does not follow any of the rules. It attacks civilians for political gain, it provokes sectarian violence and it really follows no rules of warfare. It’s a very brutal enemy and it’s a reminder to all of us about what we’re up against. And, obviously, any loss of life is a source of great regret.

That’s when Pony, always the optimist, pointed out that the torture killing of American soldiers is a good thing.

MR. SNOW: Let me add one other point, which is, David, as you probably read, in the aftermath of this there had been military activity. So maybe the most significant thing is a considerable amount of actionable intelligence has come out of it. We are seeing evidence that the Iraqi people are also sick of this. You saw it in some of the communications that have been aimed towards Zarqawi.

And you see in the aftermath of an episode like this that the Iraqi people are also stepping forward to try to be of assistance.

Obsession continues, Read More…

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

From Holden: The latest Pew poll. [T]he positive news from Iraq has had a limited effect on Bush’s standing with the public. Bush’s job approval stands at 36%, compared with 33% in April, and since March he has gained modestly on terrorism and the war in Iraq. But on both issues ­ as well as in views of his overall job performance ­ Bush’s ratings remain lower now than they were in February. [snip] Despite prevailing in Friday’s vote affirming current policy in Iraq, Republicans did not gain public support for their handling of the issue. By 34%-28%, more Americans … Continue reading Still in Pony Territory

From Holden: Whew! That was close. President George W. Bush has reassured Saudi Arabia’s king that he will continue to cooperate with the kingdom on energy issues even after his pledge to wean America off Middle East oil, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States said on Tuesday. Bush’s pledge in January to cut U.S. oil imports from the Middle East rankled some kingdom officials, because Saudi Arabia had announced plans to spend $50 billion expanding oil production to meet rising global demand. “When that statement came out we got in touch with the White House,” Saudi Ambassador Prince Turki … Continue reading Handholding Preserved!

From Holden: Hands off of Iraq. World oil prices could triple if the diplomatic standoff over Iran’s nuclear program escalates into a military conflict, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States said on Tuesday. Assuming oil prices were at current levels near $70 a barrel at the time of an attack, “You would see that (oil price) perhaps double or triple as a result of the conflict,” Prince Turki Al-Faisal said at a press conference hosted by the United States Energy Association. “The idea of somebody firing a missile at an installation somewhere will shoot up the price of oil … Continue reading Chimpy’s Hand-Holding Buddies Issue a Warning

From Scout: Why they were told not to talk? Anyone?…. The firefighters said there’s a reason you haven’t heard their story so many months after the storm. The video they shot of the levee breach was used in the recently completed Congressional investigation. And while they testified, they were told to stay quiet about what they saw until it was over. They said what they saw wasn’t what was being reported in those first few months. These firefighters knew the levees didn’t overtop, which was initially thought; and they knew the 9:45 a.m. timeframe of the levee breach was also … Continue reading Secrets

From Holden: Still on the ballot. A federal judge has set a Monday hearing for a Democratic Party lawsuit that attempts to block Republicans from moving ahead to replace former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on the November ballot. Judge Sam Sparks on Monday left in place a temporary restraining order that expires Thursday, though he did not extend it. Sparks is expected to hear evidence and lawyers’ arguments at the hearing. [snip] Though Republicans plan to initiate steps to fill the GOP vacancy on the ballot once the temporary order expires, the process won’t be complete by the time … Continue reading DeLay Update

From Holden: Michiko Kakutani reviews The One Percent Doctrine for the Times. This book augments the portrait of Mr. Bush as an incurious and curiously uninformed executive that Mr. Suskind earlier set out in “The Price of Loyalty” and in a series of magazine articles on the president and key aides. In “The One Percent Doctrine,” he writes that Mr. Cheney’s nickname inside the C.I.A. was Edgar (as in Edgar Bergen), casting Mr. Bush in the puppet role of Charlie McCarthy, and cites one instance after another in which the president was not fully briefed (or had failed to read … Continue reading Willful Ignorance

From Holden: June 8, 2004: Biden told Ashcroft that prohibitions against torture are intended to “protect my son in the military. That’s why we have these treaties. So when Americans are captured, they are not tortured. That’s the reason, in case anybody forgets it.” Ashcroft said he needed no reminder, because his own son has been on active military duty in the Persian Gulf. June 20, 2006: Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Muhammed-Jassim, head of operations at Iraqi Ministry of Defense said the soldiers had been “barbarically” killed and that there were traces of torture on their bodies. He offered no … Continue reading You Don’t Have To Be Flippin’ Joe Biden to Figure This Out