Month: April 2008

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood, War in Iraq5 Comments

“He is Iraq’s Katrina itself”

From Juan Cole: So Congress abdicated to Bush. Bush has abdicated to the generals in the field.  That is not a Republic. That is a military dictatorship achieved not by coup but by moral laziness. Ironically, what officers like Petraeus need from Bush is not deference but vigorous leadership in the political realm. Bush needs to intervene to work for political reconciliation in Iraq if Petraeus’s military achievements are to bear fruit. But Bush seems incapable of actually conducting policy, as opposed to starting wars. Bush happened to Iraq just as he happened to New Orleans. He cannot do the … Continue reading “He is Iraq’s Katrina itself”

Economy2 Comments

Heckuva

Job, Chimpy! U.S. consumer confidence fell to its lowest in more than a quarter century in early April, diving deeper into recessionary territory on heightened worries over inflation and jobs, a survey showed on Friday. The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its preliminary index of confidence fell to 63.2 in April from 69.5 in March, well below economists’ median expectation of a slight fall to 69.0, according to a Reuters poll. The April result is the lowest since March 1982’s level of 62.0, when the “stagflationary” period of low growth and high inflation was still fresh in the … Continue reading Heckuva

Economy3 Comments

Welfare Queens

Boy, am I glad we bailed out the fuckin’ airlines: American Airlines canceled more than 900 flights Thursday to fix faulty wiring in hundreds of jets, marking the third straight day of mass groundings as company executives offered profuse apologies and travel vouchers to calm angry customers. Other carriers operating similar aircraft also left passengers scrambling for alternatives as they too canceled flights to inspect the wire bundles at the heart of a renewed safety crackdown by the Federal Aviation Administration. Flashback: AMR Corp.’s American Airlines Airline analyst Glenn Engel of Goldman Sachs says he sees the largest U.S. commercial … Continue reading Welfare Queens

Diary11 Comments

Friday Ferretblogging: Mom’s Gone Edition

I’ll be on the road for the next three days (don’t worry, there will be a Galactica open thread posted tonight after the show so you can chat before I get home Sunday and get my recap up) and so in my absence you’ll have the guestblogging stylings of Riot: His posts may contain high-minded foreign policy criticism, or just requests for treats and increasingly drunk renditions of Freebird. Depends on his mood. A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging: Mom’s Gone Edition

Of Interest7 Comments

Dear Wingnuts: Cheese Curds and Chee-tos Are NOT the Same Thing

≠Not the same. Got it? I’m not sure why, but lately a whole passel of wingnuts has come through Madison, WI. A little while ago, David Horowitz was here to tell us all why he’s such an asshole. Within the last week, both Michelle “I hate brown people so keep that goddamn mirror away from me” Malkin AND Jonah “Behold my Chee-to eating prowess” Goldberg came to town. Tonight, Jenna Bush is here. I realize that Jenna Bush isn’t a columnist for the illustrious Pajamas Media, but she is related to the miserable failure formerly known as the Savior of … Continue reading Dear Wingnuts: Cheese Curds and Chee-tos Are NOT the Same Thing

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood

Mississippi diverts Katrina funds to patch state budget

From theClarion Ledger: House and Senate leaders have agreed on a budget that again relies on one-time money, including funding received from the federal government after Hurricane Katrina hit the state. Money from the state’s “hurricane relief” fund will be used to fill the “rainy day” fund and help pay for Medicaid services in the next fiscal year that begins July 1. Mostly general fund money will be used to pay for a $99 million shortfall Medicaid faces this fiscal year. House Medicaid Committee Chairman Dirk Dedeaux said he’s “very disappointed” in the use of Katrina money. Dedeaux, D-Perkinston, and … Continue reading Mississippi diverts Katrina funds to patch state budget

War in Iraq13 Comments

Goblety Gook

What the fuck doesthis mean? A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the administration had abandoned the benchmarks [Congress set for Iraq] as a strict standard of progress because establishing a secure Iraq would also depend on factors other than political and military progress. [snip] Asked for elaboration, the senior administration official said, “It’s a very hard concept to explain publicly because it doesn’t feature a sort of setting of the dial. It features what we call a running assessment.” Continue reading Goblety Gook

Stupid Republican Tricks19 Comments

Reviewing Feith, or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Give Irony A Funeral

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First of all, the look on the bookstore clerk’s face was priceless: “Um,” she said, and put it in the bag as though handling a diseased porcupine. Yeah, I have a copy on hold at the library but theirs isn’t there yet and I didn’t want to wait. My masochism: Let me show you it.

Second, oh, dear Jesus, I don’t know how you write an “insider’s account” of the Pentagon machinations leading up to the war and make it this dull. Bob Woodward, on whom Feith snarks pathetically in talking about “people who write long pages of dialogue from only their notes,” is entertaining, however annoying his mancrush on Bush might be. Woodward puts you in the room. Feith tells you what the room is called, lists who was in it, paraphrases what they said, and then is on to the next room. If you were playing Where’s Post 9/11 Waldo, it would be useful, but a good read it is not.

The book proceeds as a list, which I’ll paraphrase here:

Continue reading “Reviewing Feith, or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Give Irony A Funeral”

Holden's Obsession with the Gaggle7 Comments

Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle

Dana Peroxide Does Not Know That Republikkkan Senators Questioned Patreus’ “Success”

Q Dana, picking back up on the speech again tomorrow, will the President be addressing sort of the bigger-picture questions that were talked a little bit about in the hearings yesterday? Senator Warner raised a question: Are we safer? Is America safer because of this? And Senator Hagel raised some questions about where is the diplomatic surge. Will the President address the nation and those kinds of questions tomorrow?

MS. PERINO: Sure, those are issues, when the President talks about Iraq, that he addresses every time he has a chance to talk about it.

[snip]

Q But those two Republican Senators really seem to be at a loss for understanding progress in Iraq.

MS. PERINO: With all the testimony — I didn’t see the questioning in between those two Senators, but I do think that Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus have done a very good job of providing their very candid and frank assessment about the progress that has been made because of the surge, and the challenges that lie ahead.

Dana Peroxide Is Helenized — Again

Q You said earlier today that it was not possible for the President to pull out of Iraq before he leaves office. And it was so easy for him to go in five years ago; why can’t he pull out now?

MS. PERINO: I don’t think any of that was easy — not the decision and not — and certainly none of the logistics, and especially everything that weighs heavy on him and obviously the families of the loved ones — their loved ones who have died in this fight. But what I was saying, Helen, is that it is, one, the President thinks that it’s way premature to pull out troops now. One, it’s dangerous for our own national security, but also for the innocent Iraqis who are there —

Q Why is it dangerous for our national security? Are the Iraqis a threat to us?

MS. PERINO: Helen, in case you missed it, Osama bin Laden has said that he would like to establish al Qaeda’s roots in the Arab world.

[snip]

Q I understand you do not intend to submit the agreement to Congress — the agreement with the Iraqis.

MS. PERINO: We have said that we will continue to work with Congress, brief them on it fully — that’s what Ambassador Crocker said he would do. It’s not —

Q But not to let —

MS. PERINO: — an executive agreement like this isn’t something that is subject to a yes or no vote by the United States Senate. Other countries, under their constitutions, may have that type of rule, but we don’t. But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to work very closely with Congress.

Q — to make an end run around the authorization —

MS. PERINO: No it’s not, Helen.

Q — that expired, didn’t it?

MS. PERINO: No it’s not, Helen. No.

Q Well, why can’t you submit it to Congress?

MS. PERINO: I just explained why.

Go ahead.

Continue reading “Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle”

Economy2 Comments

Heckuva Job, Chimpy!

US Trade Deficit Sets Record For 12th Consecutive Month The U.S. trade deficit widened unexpectedly in February as imports of consumer and other goods set a record and grew faster than exports, which hit a record for the 12th consecutive month, a U.S. government report showed on Thursday. The monthly deficit widened 5.7 percent to $62.3 billion, from an upwardly revised estimate of $59.0 billion for January. Wall Street analysts had expected the gap to narrow to $57.5 billion. Continue reading Heckuva Job, Chimpy!

Pony, Bitches!1 Comment

Pony Up!

Chimpy ties his all-time low job approval rating in the newHarris poll. Three-quarters (75%) of Americans currently think things in the country are on the wrong track while just 15 percent say things are going in the right direction. [snip] Just one-quarter (26%) of Americans give President Bush positive ratings on his job while just under three-quarters (72%) give him negative ratings. This is down from February when 28 percent gave him positive marks and 69 percent have him negative ones. This current rating also ties his lowest ever positive rating which was first reached in July of 2007. Continue reading Pony Up!

Terrorism27 Comments

Circling Like Sparrows

War is a crime: Old hands in the intelligence community remembered vividly how past covert operations, from the Vietnam War-era “Phoenix Program” of assassinations of Viet Cong to the Iran-Contra arms sales of the 1980s were painted as the work of a “rogue agency” out of control. But even after the “Golden Shield” was in place, briefings and meetings in the White House to discuss individual interrogations continued, sources said. Tenet, seeking to protect his agents, regularly sought confirmation from the NSC principals that specific interrogation plans were legal. According to a former CIA official involved in the process, CIA … Continue reading Circling Like Sparrows

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood

No one could have predicted

Damn hard to believe no one sawthis coming… Credit crunch threatens N.O. housing plans Although demolition of the sturdy brick buildings at Lafitte is scheduled to begin this week, developers still have not secured all of the financing to replace the “big four” public housing complexes with mixed-income communities. The rapid decline in financial markets has upset plans developers made last year to remake the public housing developments with a mix of public and private money. Since the City Council voted to demolish the complexes late last year, a spiraling credit crisis has made banks uneasy about making new loans. … Continue reading No one could have predicted

Political Crack10 Comments

Branding

Via an unholy daisy chain of links from about 80 people, we findthis: Watching Obamamania unfold over the last few days, I have gradually come to the realization that we are living through the first Presidential campaign that is being marketed like a high-end consumer brand. The logo itself is a good jumping off point. The typical Presidential campaign logo usually features some variant of the stars and stripes. Beyond patriotism, they have no message. They are pretty much interchangeable between Republicans and Democrats. Obama’s logo rearranges these patriotic elements into an emblem that distills his message to the core: … Continue reading Branding

Stupid Republican Tricks4 Comments

Today on Athenae’s Obsession with the Freepi: They Don’t Like Feith Either

Doug Feith doesn’t understand war. I do! Enough with the hindsight. The fact that thing like this are being published now is further proof that what we are doing now is being successful. Three weeks to overrun and topple a country the size of Iraq isn’t good enough for him? Perhaps he could point to an invasion ever in the history of warfare that has gone better…? Really… even one. War is a series of catastrophes that result in a victory. At least at Agincourt, the French stood and fought. They fought in the wrong place, with the wrong troops, … Continue reading Today on Athenae’s Obsession with the Freepi: They Don’t Like Feith Either

So Called Liberal Media7 Comments

John Morton Nails It Like A Thing That Has Been Nailed

Dear Jesus yes: Newspaper executives point to the Internet as the future of newspapers, arguing that a combination of online and print products will assure newspapers of a profitable future. Yet last year newspaper Internet revenue amounted to only 7 percent or so of total advertising. Moreover, growth in Internet revenue, which in earlier years had been 30 to 40 percent a year, has dropped to about 20 percent. What this portends is that a successful Internet-print future will be a long time coming. And if newspapers embark on this future with lesser journalistic products, less circulation, less standing in … Continue reading John Morton Nails It Like A Thing That Has Been Nailed

War in Iraq2 Comments

Column: Just Say You’re Sorry, Doug

Link: The key to being really, really, really bad at your job, apparently, is to be so brazenly bad about it that people are too astonished to call you on it. The above sentence is the first entry in a long list of things I learned about life from watching the Bush administration. I’d call it “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” but I understand that title’s taken. Watching former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith on “60 Minutes” Sunday night and reading his new book, I’m struck more than ever by the truth of it. … Continue reading Column: Just Say You’re Sorry, Doug

Your President Speaks1 Comment

Your President Speaks!

Yesterday, at theWhite House, after meeting the provincial governors of Afghanistan. There Is Concerns Secondly, there’s concerns about unemployment, about economic development. People… People Who Remember People… Are The Luckiest People… In The World Some provinces are quiet, and the governor wondered whether or not, because it’s quiet, people remember the people in the province exist. What Other Provinces Have Got Other provinces have got some difficult security problems. That The People Are Being Able And I shared with them our desire to help them succeed, because one of the things that really matters in democracy is that local governance … Continue reading Your President Speaks!

Hurricane Katrina & Federal Flood10 Comments

Tributes

(Image credit:Loki at Humid City) There is so much sadness in the NOLA blogosphere today yet so many have found words to pay tribute toAshley Morris who passed yesterday. If you were to go to any blog listed in our NOLA blogroll in our right hand sidebar you will likely find such a tribute. And that would only be a beginning. We wanted to highlight some of what is being expressed today from our friends in the NOLA blogoshpere. We have all lost a powerful and unique voice in the blogosphere and they have lost one of their family. Our … Continue reading Tributes

Your President Speaks

Your President… Wait For It… SPEAKS!

Today, at theWhite House, after meeting Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore. The Trade Agreement Was Kicked In And I also am so pleased that the trade agreement that we negotiated during our respective times was kicked in. Listen To The People Voices! We spent time on Burma and the need for the military regime there to understand that they shouldn’t fear the voices of people. A Man Who Is Anti-Violence They’ll find — if they ever were to reach out to the Dalai Lama, they’d find him to be a really fine man, a peaceful man, a man … Continue reading Your President… Wait For It… SPEAKS!

Holden's Obsession with the Gaggle2 Comments

Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle

Dana Peroxide Claims Chimpy Will Consult With Congress Before Entering Into A Status Of Forces Agreement With Iraq

Q Dana, there have been a number of questions about the status of forces agreement. And I know you talked about it before, but can you say, if the Iraqi government is going to bring this agreement to the Iraqi parliament, why the administration wouldn’t want to bring and consent with our Congress about this agreement, with a legal framework of setting up the way forward in Iraq?

MS. PERINO: As Ambassador Crocker just said, that the — there are briefings already set up for our members of Congress to hear specifically about the strategic forces agreement. Negotiations are currently underway with the Iraqis. This is to establish a basic framework so that our coalition forces can continue to operate there with a legal framework after the U.N. mandate expires in December.

We’re going to continue to work with Congress. We’ve said that — we’ve been very clear as to what this agreement is and what it is not. And so they’re going to continue to have that. What we have said is that if it reaches the level where it would need Senate ratification as a treaty, then that is the path we would go down. We don’t anticipate that right now.

Q So the Democrats, who are very concerned about this, you believe are mistaken?

MS. PERINO: I do believe they are mistaken, and I think that many of them are playing politics with this issue. And it’s at the expense of our forces. I would assume that they would like our forces to have a legal framework to work under, since all of them have conceded that there are going to be — our troops are going to be in Iraq after this President leaves office. So that is what our aim is.

Dana To Dead American Soldiers: Suck It

Q What effect will the deaths of 11 Americans in Iraq just since this past Sunday have on the immediate future of the U.S. strategy, the President’s thinking about —

MS. PERINO: I don’t know if it would have a change in terms of the overall strategy.

Continue reading “Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle”

Political Crack7 Comments

MOAR FEITH

Further Feith thoughts and information atFiredoglake. Thanks to Jane, Dave Neiwert, Thers, Atta and the whole crew over there for making me welcome. You can also check out thisKos diary, which was my first one over there, at least in recent memory. Thanks to everybody who’s linked to this. Leftward blogs need all the help we can get reminding people that long before it was convenient, we were actually right. A. Continue reading MOAR FEITH

Holden's Obsession with the Gaggle2 Comments

Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle

Tony Farto Is Throwing Out The Rose-Colored Glasses

Q Also, how does this latest violence in Iraq and the latest uncertainty about what’s going on color the Petraeus-Crocker testimony this time around? It obviously has changed the equation. I mean, weeks ago it looked like the surge was — you know, had this pretty rosy cast, and now with all this renewed violence, I think it has changed the dynamics. So how has this changed the equation?

MR. FRATTO: Well, I think we’ve thrown out all of the rose-colored glasses in how we look at Iraq, and try to look at it through clear lenses as to what is actually going on in the country. And what is happening there, I think what we are all seeing is that the Iraqi political leadership is trying to take hold of the security for their country. They took a very bold, aggressive action in Basra. It wasn’t a overall success, but it — but we learned a lot about what the capabilities of the Iraqi army are, and we learned a lot — and maybe this is even the most important thing — of what the capabilities and intentions of the Iraqi leadership are to go after criminal elements and illegal militias in their country, and to evenly enforce the rule of law across the country.

Ah, The Two Most Beautiful Words In The English Language: “Yes, Helen”

MR. FRATTO: Yes, Helen.

Q You acted like the President wouldn’t know what Petraeus and Crocker are going to testify. Do you mean he’s going to be surprised tomorrow —

MR. FRATTO: No, I hope I didn’t leave —

Q — when they say the surge is working and all?

MR. FRATTO: No, I hope I didn’t leave that impression.

[snip]

Q But he’s the President, isn’t he calling the policy? I mean, we don’t have President Petraeus, do we? We have President —

MR. FRATTO: No, we don’t. We have commander Petraeus, who is running the operations on the ground in Iraq and he’s closest to the military operations. He knows the capabilities of his forces, the coalition forces, and what the Iraqi security forces can do, and has a good sense of what’s needed to complete his mission. And it’s a mission that he designed. So we want to look forward to his testimony and hear how he thinks it’s going and what the requirements are to complete that mission for the remainder of the year.

Q What is the mission?

MR. FRATTO: Well, it’s pretty clear, says to bring — is to bring —

Q Are you asking — to continue the occupation of Iraq?

MR. FRATTO: — security in Iraq, sufficient security, so that the political leadership can continue to make gains.

[snip]

Now, we know that it’s a — the reduction of violence is fragile and it’s reversible, but we like the trend and we like what the Iraqi political leadership has shown about their ability to take action.

Q And paying off 90,000 Iraqis not to fight?

MR. FRATTO: Kathleen.

Continue reading “Today On Holden’s Obsession With The Gaggle”

Your President Speaks1 Comment

Your President… Wait For It… SPEAKS!

Today, at theWhite House. Who Are Jeff Gannon, Margaret Spellings, Condoleezza Rice, Jeff Gannon (again), and Rod Paige, Alex? We got a meat packer, an apple processor, we’ve got a grinder, a large equipment manufacturer, education man. The Global War On Plurals Continues And that’s important, because in times of economic uncertainty, we want people making investment, so when a person buys an apple press, somebody is going to have to manufacture that press. Gasoline Is Both Toxic And Flammable People have to make a living, and they’re driving their cars and their trucks — and fuel is hurting people. … Continue reading Your President… Wait For It… SPEAKS!