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Surprise Surprise -- Thompson to Run

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:33:56 EDT

Fred Thompson is going to announce his candidacy for president on Sept. 6. He will announce with a Web cast at his "I'm with Fred" site. Not exactly a great sense of occasion — but maybe he is a bit used to too much drama.

Audio Tape of Larry Craig's Interrogation

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:05:28 EDT

Re-enactment of Craig's solicitation

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:54:40 EDT

Crooks and Liars has a great video of Keith Olberman's re-enactment Se. Craig's alleged men's room solicitation.

Death Penalty ... for Drivers? The case of Kenneth Foster

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 13:52:05 EDT

The Death Penalty. A concept that many hate yet some feel should be used in the absolute most appalling of crimes. To take a life is a very serious matter, and one that everyone — even proponents of the death penalty — take seriously.

Enter Kenneth Foster. Kenneth was a driver in a robbery. He was sitting 80 feet away in a car when the robbery turned violent, and one of his robbery accomplices shot someone dead. Normally, Kenneth would be serving a possible life sentence, more likely getting released after 30 years. Unfortunately for Kenneth, this all happened in Texas.

The person who pulled the trigger is already dead — executed. As for the Kenneth, he is set to die this Thursday. In Texas, you can get the death penalty for being a co-conspirator to murder. The issue, obviously, is not only that Kenneth might not have anticipated the robbery to escalate to murder — he was the driver — but also this going beyond the "eye for an eye" ideology so commonly voiced by supporters of capital punishment, as the murderer is already dead.

It has also blurred concepts of guilt and innocence. If Mr. Foster is not legally guilty of murder, as his lawyer, Keith S. Hampton, and supporters contend, many find it hard to pronounce him blameless.

"I’d hate to use the word 'innocent,'" said his father, Kenneth Foster Sr., a former heroin addict who told a church audience in Houston on Saturday that he used to take his baby son with him on drug runs and petty crimes. He said his son "should be punished to some degree, but not put to death."

At the heart of the case is Texas' law of parties, under which those conspiring to commit one felony, like a robbery, can all be held responsible for an ensuing crime, like murder, if it "should have been anticipated." NYT

Activists are in uproar over the ensuing execution. All appeals seem exhausted, and there isn't much left to do but hope for a last minute reprieve.

Kenneth did not hold the gun, he did not encourage the murder, it is even admitted by the prosecution that he might not have known it was going to happen. He did, however, participate in a crime that could lead to murder. But, if that is the case, where does the death penalty stop? It is one thing to defend the execution of a person who took someone's life, it is another to support the execution of someone who has never held someone else's life in his or her hands and chose to take it.

Daily Kos discussed Kenneth's case,

Kenneth Foster's case is important not just because he is innocent; not just because the death penalty targets people of color and the poor. Kenneth is also an activist and a leader on death row. He help found the DRIVE Movement which has held numerous hunger strikes and protests on death row. Right now he and Johnny Amador, who is also scheduled to be executed this week, are both on a hunger strike. Neither will go willingly to their death and neither will cooperate with the executioners.

If you want to help the Kenneth's cause, and speak out against his execution, go to www.freekenneth.com .

Whatever your beliefs about the death penalty for murderers, Kenneth's case should make everyone rethink the extension of the death penalty to someone who drives a car — for a robbery.

UPDATE:

LATimes has announced that Governor Perry is releasing Kenneth from the death penalty.

"After carefully considering the facts of this case, along with the recommendations from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just decision is to commute Foster's sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment," Perry said in a statement.

The governor did not address the Texas law that allows an accomplice to be given the death penalty, but said, "I am concerned about Texas law that allows capital-murder defendants to be tried simultaneously, and it is an issue I think the Legislature should examine."

Al Sadr positioning himself to rule

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:36:20 EDT

The most prominent insurgent leader in Iraq, the Shiite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr might be shaping up to be his country’s George Washington. He has taken credit for driving the British out of Basra and called for a U.N. peace-keeping presence to ensure Iraq's security until the country can stand on its own. Thursday, he distributed an order to his followers calling for a six-month unilateral ceasefire:

"Asked if the unexpected order meant no attacks on American troops, as well as a ban on Shia infighting, a senior Sadr aide said: 'All kinds of armed actions are to be frozen, without exception.'"

Ostensibly, the hiatus is to restructure the Madhi army "in a way that helps honur the principles for which it is formed."

Sadr stands to consolidate his power by using U.S. troops to eliminate disloyal and competing Shiite factions. Any Shiites who continue insurgent activity are not loyal to Al Sadr and will be the focus of the undivided attention of U.S. and Iraqi forces. On the other side, Al Sadr should emerge with a rested, loyal, well-organized militia.

Al Sadr goes on to call on the Madhi army to work toward stabilizing Iraq. "We call on all Sadrists to observe self-restraint, to help security forces control the situation and arrest the perpetrators and sedition mongers, and urge them to end all forms of armament in the sacred city."

It remains to be seen how his followers implement the order to "help security forces," but it could translate to significant improvements in the security situation. Such an improvement would improve his standing with Iraq citizens. And the reduction in violence would make it easier, politically, for U.S. troops to leave Iraq. Implicit in all this is the message that the Madhi army will be more ready than ever to attack U.S. troops when the six months is up, if U.S. troops are not already on their way out.

There is a leadership void in Iraq. The current Prime Minister is seen as weak and insufficient to the task of governing. To the contrary, Al Sadr is seen among Shiites as an energetic, capable leader. The British leaving Basra has undoubtedly given him a boost in public opinion. His call for an international rather than U.S. security presence demonstrates a realistic understanding of the situation Iraq is in and is really the only proposal on the table aside from continued U.S. occupation or outright chaos.

If he begins making reconciliatory overtures toward the Sunnis in the coming weeks, it will be very clear that Al Sadr is gearing up to take over leadership of the country. In the same way that the U.S. has allied with former-insurgent tribal sheiks in Anbar province, in a year's time, we might well find ourselves handing over the keys to the country to its most significant insurgent leader.

GAO Says No Progress in Iraq

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:42:41 EDT

The Washington Post got its hands on a draft of the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, report evaluating progress in Iraq and — surprise — it doesn't look good.

According to the report, Iraq has failed to meet all but three of the benchmarks for political and military progress demanded by Congress. And that's quite a different picture than the one presented by the White House.

"The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration," the Post reports.

Moreover, the report also encourages the administration to change the nature of its own assessments, saying it "would be more useful" if they backed up their claims with details and "provided data on broader measures of violence from all relevant U.S. agencies."

That's a direct jab at the upcoming Patraeus report due out in September — that's the White House's own benchmarking report. With 27,662 troops wounded and 3,730 dead, will the WH keep their heads buried in the ground and still try to paint a rosy picture? Or will we finally have a real conversation about Iraq?

Wednesday Interview- Max Blumenthal

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:22:45 EDT

Tuesday, we had a chance to sit down and talk with reporter-blogger Max Blumenthal and his videographer Thomas Shomaker about what the future of journalism, the '08 Election, a "crisis of blackness" and the quiet war on black men, and what the biggest threat to the United States actually is. This is the first in our new installment of Wednesday interviews with journalists, bloggers and anyone else who will sit down with us to talk about what's actually going on in America.

Looking at the ’08 election, what do you think about the candidates? Do you think there’s going to be any "star power" with Thompson and Giuliani?

Max: Fred Thompson is a fresh breath of halitosis. That's pretty much all I have to say about him. Rudy Giuliani is a great example of family values. You know, his daughter calls him a sociopath, his son won't talk to him, won't appear with him in public, he's — what is it? — his third wife? After leaving his second cousin and having an affair with a staffer. So I think the family values wing of the Republican Party, which is the Republican Party, is going to appreciate him a lot. And he's lying about his record left and right. Mitt Romney is going to be the guy. I wish Giuliani were going to be nominee, because I would love to see him systematically dismantled in the general election.

What that guy did to New York deserves some sort of political punishment.

Do you think America's ready to elect a black man?

I don't know the answer to that. My answer to that is that racism is still very real and that particular black man is stuck between a rock and a hard place because he has to be black enough; he has to be authentically black. His blackness has been challenged because he's biracial, at the same time he can't be too black or he'll be pigeon-holed as Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, and he won't win over voters in Iowa. So I just think there's a crisis of blackness in the political arena right now that Barack Obama embodies, and if he is elected, he will redefine America's concept of blackness; it's an interesting issue.

Tom: The question I have about that is, I definitely think there are a large, large number of Americans who would not vote for a black man for president; at the same time, an overwhelming percentage of those probably aren't going to vote Democratic anyway. So I think the real question is how many Americans would be subtly uncomfortable by the idea, people aren't outright racists at all; people who probably have black friends, but they would not in some way feel comfortable with that and they might not even recognize that, but it might sway their support to someone else. I think that's the real question, because I think that's the real racism that really is much more widespread.

Do you think Hillary's going to face the same thing being a woman?

Tom: Absolutely. Absolutely. I actually think it might be harder for Hillary as a woman than for Obama as a black man.

Max: I think Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are really distractions from the real question, which is: Is America willing to embrace women's rights and is America willing to embrace black men on their own terms? Which means talking about issues like abortion, which democrats are scared to talk about, and issues like prison, which Democrats, particularly at the state level; a lot are in the pocket of the prison guard's union. So you have an enormous amount of black males basically warehoused in prisons for non-violent crimes, over 50 percent of the federal prison population is in jail for nonviolent drug offenses, what's basically going on is a war on young black men.

It's a quiet war that everyone's afraid to talk about, and America is not, I don't know if America's ready to resolve this war in a just fashion. And Barack Obama's election isn't going to do it, if anything, it's just going to be a way of papering over what mainstream America's opinions are of black males. And I'm speaking as a white Jew.

Max and Thomas were hired by the Campaign for America to make a video at the Take Back America conference this summer, but they describe the experience as a "disaster." In the end, the video wasn't even shown.

What happened with that?

Max: Before I say that, I want to say, those sons of bitches have not paid me or Thomas yet the meager amount of money they promised. This is the Campaign for America's future, an organization that purports to care about "working class;" I find it really ironic.

Tom: And since we had expenses, we're actually in the red for this project.

Max: They asked us to do a video and I think some of the younger members of the organization wanted something that would be a little bit humorous, and a light-hearted take on a liberal conference. I thought what we produced was light-hearted, it wasn't as hilarious as our other videos, but I thought it was at least adequate. And the older members said of the video that it didn't meet the threshold of dull earnesty that they think defines liberalism. These are the stereotypical humorless liberals, and at the head of this organization of humorless liberals is Robert Borosage, who is directly responsible; he should be held accountable for bringing us onto this project for not paying us. They're refusing to pay us. The whole thing was a disaster; we were almost forcibly removed for asking Sen. Sherrod Brown why he voted for the Military Commissions Act.

So, do you think people just can't take a laugh?

Tom: I'm not sure. I guess they just thought they were overly cautious. They were so afraid to offend anybody there, a donor, or supporter, anybody. Long story short, it was a good working experience, and when the Huffington Post wanted to hire us for two more videos, this time at R\right-wing conferences, we jumped at the chance.

Max: I think Tom has said it all, and what I said was kind of jumbled and fraught with resentment. But I'm pissed off, I want my damn money!
We should have never gone on board with some liberal organization as their flacks or whatever. It was our mistake.

And then there's the video "Rapture Ready: The Christians United for Israel Tour" from the 2007 Washington-Israel Summit, a frightening look at the bizarre politics of Christian evangelicals, Jewish Zionists, Pastor John Hagee, Joe Lieberman and Tom Delay.

What do you think of Joe Lieberman?

Max: Joe Lieberman, I have heard from people in Washington, Joe Lieberman privately told people that he thought the war in Iraq would be good for Israel and that explained part of his support for it. I think Joe Lieberman is a malignant figure in Washington, and in our video, he described Pastor John Hagee, a guy who's made blatantly anti-Semitic statements in his books, which I pointed out in my video; he compared him to Moses; he said he commands a flock that's even greater than the flock Moses commanded. What Pastor Hagee wants to do is plump up the Jews like a Thanksgiving turkey and then shove them in the oven. And Joe Lieberman just embodies the cynicism and desperation of the Jews who are like concentration camp capos who fermented this alliance with people who ultimately want to kill or convert them.

And, you know, Joe Lieberman — our video is the perfect document of Joe Lieberman's malignance.

Tom: Especially also when he decided to commend former Sen. Rick Santorum as a long-time fighter for the American people.

Max:Yeah, and all the good he's done in America; like comparing homosexuality to man on dog sex, for instance. I mean what Rick Santorum is doing? Now that he’s out of the Senate, he's devoted his career to mainstreaming bigotry and islamophobia, and he's producing a film that's going to essentially fan the flames of bigotry by portraying Middle Eastern Muslims as terrorists, and you know he's doing it all as fodder for a unilateral war against Iran, which is just not in the interest of anybody.

So when you guys go someplace like the CPAC conference, how do people respond when they see you? Do they know who you are when you walk in?

Max: In the Generation Chickenhawk video, they recognized who I was from my video at CPAC, and forced us to stay in a corner since they didn't have any excuse to kick us out. They said you couldn't film, which prompted me to entertain myself and others in the general vicinity by invoking the ghost of Jose Limon and doing an interpretive dance, also incorporating Ralph Macchio into the repertoire that I displayed, and I think that they were so jealous of my dance styles that they had to remove me, and Thomas managed somehow to fight through this phalanx of Republican lobotomy patients and film it all. It made great footage.

(Max also told us how he got into journalism in the first place — and it wasn't just growing in the house of well-respected reporter and Clinton aide. After Max finished at Penn, he got involved in the world of hip-hop — sadly, he did not perform for us — he even had a developmental deal with Artemis records. They liked the political themes in his music, and it wasn't long before those were back in his professional life, too.)

Max: I got into journalism sort of as a side job. My girlfriend at the time was really an innovating video artist who went to Juarez, Mexico, to do a video on the serial killings of women, and she said, "You know, your music is cool and all that, but you're really a writer." And she brought a tape recorder against my will, and we would go meet families of victims and she'd break out the tape recorder and say, "you’re going to interview them. You're going to write an article."

And we went on a hunt for dead bodies with these families, looking for their daughters, we went into the maquiladoras where the dead women were all working which sprung up after NAFTA was signed.

I e-mailed David Talbot who was running Salon.com at the time, before John Walsh turned it into a San Francisco culture rag, and he said, "Just give us an article."
And I gave them a a 4000-word article, got like $300 for it, and a year later, it won the online journalism award from the Online News Association-USC Annenberg. And it was a really good moment for my family, because the award ceremony was in Chicago, where my family's from, and my uncle and grandfather had just died.

So it was a good moment for us and it sort of motivated me to do more journalism; more political journalism, and watching the forces that had tried to destroy Bill Clinton and indirectly destroy my father come into power was really illuminating for me. And it illuminated what my parents had always been trying to tell me about what the Right's agenda was and their mode of operation and how anti-democratic they were.

And so, I was there, living in Los Angeles basically renting out an attic with two friends who were essentially apolitical. Most of the people I knew were either in community activism and had very little interest in national politics, and I was just alone writing these articles; but sooner or later, I started to blog and began attracting an audience and making an impact — and that became a full time career. But to support that I had to deliver pizza, I had to teach disturbed kids, I had to do moving jobs, industrial work, anything I could to support that.But I really, really think it's starting to pay off now, and that's sort of my story.

I don't think I've ever told that story before.

Clinton wins first union nomination

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:00:00 EDT

The first union backing for 2008 has been announced, and the award goes to Hillary Clinton.

The United Transportation Union has stated they will be supporting Clinton with their "considerable resources." The UTU "has a long history of picking winners early," said the union president. In the last election, they supported Kerry. Why Hillary? "Hillary will be a president that America's working families can count on," he stated. The union has more than 125,000 members and is capable of monetary donations as well as a strong political presence on the hill.

The UTU also is one of the top political donors in organized labor, contributing $1.3 million in the 2004 federal elections, with 84 percent of the money going to Democratic candidates. The union gave $1.2 million in the 2006 elections, with 89 percent directed to the Democrats in a year in which the party reclaimed the House and Senate from the Republicans. Yahoo

Shortly after the support for Clinton was announced, Chris Dodd gained the backing of the International Association of Fire Fighters. Both endorsements are sure to carry a sharp sting for Edwards, who has been courting the labor vote.

Edwards works to "lift up working families because it's the right thing to do,'' campaign spokeswoman Colleen Murray said in response. Edwards "will continue to fight for universal health care, to raise the minimum wage, make college more affordable, reform our tax code, make sure our trade policies are smart and safe and strengthen labor laws,'' she said. Bloomberg

Why Clinton? Well, a major asset is that she is leading in the polls. The unions stand to gain by supporting the winner, and it seems their bet is on Hillary. Edwards is suffering a huge setback if he was counting on labor to pull him up in the polls. He worked relentlessly in terms of courting the vote, perhaps he just wasn't strong enough to gain their support.

The largest collection of labor — the AFL-CIO — has yet to hand out an endorsement. Instead, they are allowing any of their 55 member unions to endorse individually. The majority of unions are still waiting before they decide where their support lies, and that support really adds up:

In the 2004 elections, organized labor gave $53.6 million to Democratic candidates and party committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That amount increased to $66 million for the 2006 elections and is expected to increase again for 2008. Yahoo

So, while union membership is at a historical low point, they are still incredibly influential. Their ties with Clinton will work to strengthen her image of a "woman for middle class America." Clinton has gained a lot of publicity by winning the first union nomination, not to mention cold, hard cash.

Little Britain

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 11:57:14 EDT

As a Brit, I am a big fan of the show "Little Britain." Someone pointed out this episode to Josh, which I couldn't resist embedding here. Re: Sen. Larry Craig's statement Tuesday.

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Whatever happened to 'Democracy for America'?

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:23:02 EDT

Florida. Why is it always Florida? Recently, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature moved their presidential primaries up to Jan. 29, earlier than the Feb. 5 start date the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, set. As a result, the DNC, as it said it would, will not count the votes of Florida's delegates at next year's nominating convention.

It's a crafty move by the Republicans. By changing the date of primary elections, they have instigated an internal squabble in the Democratic Party, feeding into the talking point that the Democrats are a disorderly party that can't run itself, much less the country, AND driving a wedge between Florida and the eventual Democratic nominee. It's a master stroke, and the Florida State Democratic Party was helpless to stop it.

The DNC is upset because the switch messes up their plan to have early primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. But even that plan is running into problems; South Carolina moved up their primary date, and Michigan is jumping ahead, too. Now, New Hampshire and Iowa have to move their primaries early, raising the very real possibility of a December primary in Iowa. These problems are symptoms of a larger problem with the primary system as a whole, and the jockeying won't stop until the system is changed.

The modern "system" of primaries emerged after the 1968 McGovern Commission recommended new standards for how convention delegates should be selected in the states. The primary system had been developing in the states since the Progressive era in the 1920s as a democratic reform to take presidential nominations out of "smoke-filled back rooms."

Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada combined wield 24 Electoral College votes, three fewer than Florida alone. And yet, these four states are given an earlier, more important role in the selection of the next nominee. By having these four primaries early and stringing the rest out over half a year, the DNC imagines they are making it possible for a candidate without an established national identity to gain momentum and create a national groundswell.

But as it is won't to do, the world has changed since the 1960s. Mass media, cable TV, 24-hour news networks and the Internet have completely remade the face of presidential campaigning. Information about candidates is widely distributed and the field is well known before the first primary begins. In the 2004 campaign, we how the Internet can be harnessed to create a national movement out of a fledgling campaign (Howard Dean) and how a strong campaign in Iowa alone can launch an otherwise mediocre candidate into the lead. Why should one state have so much influence?

The primary system encourages candidates to ignore large swaths of the country in favor of small, idiosyncratic states and their special interests. The primaries have only succeeded in changing the cabal of special interests (from the party leadership to Iowa farmers) that select the nominee; they have not created a democratic process.

The Association of State Secretaries of State, the people responsible for conducting elections, has proposed a rotating primary, where the order of state voting by region would change each election cycle. But they leave in place the stranglehold Iowa and New Hampshire have on the process. It is a half-measure that avoids the root problem: that an asynchronous primary schedule is undemocratic.

The aspiration to make primaries more democratic is just as valid today as it was in 1968. The barriers to the flow of information that have historically justified a prolonged primary season no longer exist. The strung-out primary system is outdated and should be replaced by a true national primary.

My own private Idaho

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:12:24 EDT

Sen. Larry Craig gives a news conference. Someone should have told him not to go with that first line ...

Larry Craig on Mitt Romney

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 12:31:11 EDT

TPMtv have dug up this vid. of Sen. Larry Craig endorsing Mitt Romney. Craig quit the Romney campaign Monday and has been edited out of the campaign videos.

Louisiana Dem Switches Parties

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:56:40 EDT

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., may have a new Republican opponent — her former ally, John Kennedy. Kennedy announced he'd be switching parties and seeking re-election to the State Treasury as a Republican ... with senatorial hopes in his future.

"For the past several years, it has increasingly been the case that those public servants who have embraced my ideas and my philosophy of trying new approaches are primarily Republicans," Kennedy's statement read. If by new approaches, he means unfunded levies and disaster-relief disasters, absolutely.

The most salacious detail in all of this is that, according to Politico, while not busying himself with the DC Madam, David Vitter played a key role in convincing Kennedy to change parties and take another shot at the Senate. Makes you wonder about his powers of persuasion.

Craig, R-Idaho, Innocent after Pleading Guilty? Hardly.

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:48:36 EDT

An innocent man pleading guilty? It happens in cases of torture or interviews that go on for 30 hours, but in a bathroom?

GOP Sen. Larry E. Craig, R-Idaho, pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges of misdemeanor disorderly conduct. What did he do? According to the undercover cop in the airport bathroom with him, he came onto him.

The undercover officer was monitoring the restroom on June 11. A few minutes after noon, Craig entered and sat in the stall next to him. Craig began tapping his right foot, touched his right foot to the left foot of the officer and brushed his hand beneath the partition between them. He was then arrested. WP

Now, Craig says that in hindsight he should have sought the opinion of a council instead of simply pleading guilty (go figure). However, for whatever reason (that he was guilty and ashamed, for instance) he plead guilty and tried to keep the incident to himself.

He had a brilliant strategy:

While he was being interviewed about the incident, Craig gave police a business card showing that he is a U.S. senator. "What do you think about that?" Craig asked the officer, according to the report obtained by Roll Call. WP

It seems what the arresting officer "thought about that" was "I don't give a damn." Maybe in the Congressional halls, this conduct is allowed with young boys, but apparently in airports it is more strictly regulated. Craig has paid $500 in fines and is on probation for a year.

When the news broke yesterday on Capitol Hill, there was quite the uproar. Craig was head of Romney's campaign in Idaho, and within hours, Romney's staff had edited Craig out of all their campaign videos. Craig resigned from the campaign, and seems to be hoping his guilty plea while innocent story will hold up in Congress. The Senate ethics committee has the right to review Craig since he plead guilty. Normally, this one incident would not be cause for a huge ethics review. The thing is, Craig has a past when it comes to this topic.

In 2006, a gay activist said he had spoken with men who had sexual encounters with Craig, including in the restrooms at Union Station. Craig's office told the Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., that the allegations were "completely ridiculous."

The activist, Mike Rogers, who runs the Web site BlogActive.com, has complained about Craig's opposition to same-sex rights. The conservative senator has supported an amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriage and voted for the Defense of Marriage Act in the 1990s. Craig, who served in the National Guard, has also spoken out against homosexuals serving in the military. WP

This brings back memories of John H. Conditt Jr., the FBI agent found guilty of child molestation who had spent his time in the bureau heading the Office of Professional Responsibility and writing pamphlets covering topics such as how police agencies could investigate their own conduct.

It is in the air if Craig will have any good friends to back him up on Capitol Hill, but I would guess not. It is pretty hard to defend someone who has pled guilty on his or her own accord.

Who is Paul Clement?

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:19:08 EDT

The new, acting attorney general of the United States is not one you might know, but for the next 210 days (maximum), or until Bush successfully appoints a permanent replacement, he's going to be filling Gonzo's shoes. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Clement is one of the few in a long line of Bushiticians to actually win support on both sides of the aisle. Pedigreed in all the right ways, Clement went to public school in Wisconsin and made his way through Georgetown, Cambridge and eventually Harvard law; with fabulous grades and a near-sterling reputation.

That's one that has followed him to this day. As TPM reports, a 2004 Legal Times article demonstrated the respect of those he's won over on the left, despite the fact that he, personally, is a conservative. At his Senate confirmation hearing in 2005, when he was appointed to be solicitor general, Russ Feingold, D-Wis., praised his legal work as "superb" and offered that his "professionalism and integrity" were vouchsafe — even on issues where the two disagreed.

Former acting solicitor general and practicing attorney Walter Dellinger agrees. "Whenever I think of an argument from Paul, one word that springs to mind is clarity," Dellinger said. "He has extremely precise and clear intellect. Paul is never murky in thought or expression."

And that's true for the positions he's argued thus far — including the idea that the administration can hold U.S. citizens as enemy combatants without promise of trial. He might be big on executive power and broad war-time powers, but Clement says of his legal work so far, "If you've got a statute to defend, it doesn't much matter how you would have voted on the statute if you were a Congressman," he told Legal Times. "Your job is to marshal the best argument for the defense of the statute or the policy that gets the job done."

And for the next few weeks, Clement will be doing just that for Bush and co. And for the first time in years, Washington's legal reporters will be bored. They'll no longer have murky declarations and nebulous legal objections to work through. At least not until the next appointee. Is this the end of Texasopoloy?

Many rumored the permanent replacement will be Chertoff, but conservative Human Events offers Fran Fragos Townsend as a second choice. Not a bad idea, given how hard Chertoff will be to push through Congress after the heckuva-good-job with Katrina. But therein lies the heart of the new problem: How will Bush get anyone through Congress? The Dems will bring up that person's (legitimate) failings, the Republicans will say stop whining, and Capitol Mayhem will ensue as it always does when W walks up to the Hill.

As reader Amanda Phelps commented on this site earlier, now the Republicans have a perfect, pre-election opportunity to point their fingers at the Democrats, wiggle them, and say, see, they won't approve him or her, they just want to argue; they don't get anything done.

Because that looks just great to voters.

A glimmer of hope for Iraq?

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:10:58 EDT

Elected leaders on Sunday representing the main factions in Iraq announced they had reached a deal on some of the most contentious issues facing the government. The compromise must be approved by the parliament, but that it enjoys the support of leaders in all three factions — especially the Sunni Islamic Party — is a hopeful sign.

The proposed de-Baathification process would allow greater participation by former Baathists, paving the way for a government more inclusive of Sunnis. Likewise, the release of uncharged Sunni detainees and holding provincial elections are overtures to the Sunnis to encourage their participation in government. And talks are continuing on constitutional reforms that would further address the balance of Sunnis, Kurds and Shia in the government. The proposed oil law would provide for oil wealth to be distributed across the country, bolstering the national and regional governments, and encourage foreign investment. As oil is possibly the most contentious issue in Iraq, agreement on an oil law would be a major demonstration of effective governance.

These reforms are overshadowed by the security situation and the larger issue of the continuing insurgency. While General Patraeus' surge strategy has seen some success, its potential is limited in scope and duration. Neutralizing insurgents is traditionally a brutal and bloody task; examples include the U.S. in the Philippines around 1900, Russia against the Chechens in 1999 or Saddam against the Shiites and Kurds in 1993. In Iraq, the U.S. task is complicated by the quite proper need to defeat the insurgency without widespread torture, carpet-bombing, mass executions or other tactics of excessive brutality which might effectively demoralize surviving insurgents (not to mention echo the regime we overthrew).

The progress made in the Anbar province is a best-case scenario of successful counter insurgency. By decentralizing troop deployments, building relationships with tribal sheiks and displaying an overriding interest in security, U.S. troops have won the support of some insurgents and are seeing a visibly-improved security situation. But we lack the manpower and will to completely conquer the insurgency nationwide, and as our occupation persists beyond what our new allies expected, they will begin to return to their insurgent ways. Despite its moderate success, the surge is not enough to win the war.

In an exciting turn of events, last week, enigmatic Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for a United Nations peacekeeping force in Iraq. "I would support the U.N. here in Iraq if it comes and replaces the American and British occupiers." This revealed a significant opportunity to co-opt the wider Shiite insurgency as part of a larger, national-security apparatus, much as tribal insurgents in Anbar have partnered with U.S. troops there.

The new French administration has indicated a willingness to mediate in Iraq, help the Iraqi police and a desire for a greater international role in the country. Editorials supportive of an international role in Iraq are appearing in Arab media. The U.N Secretary General has indicated he is expanding the organization's role in rebuilding the nation. The stars are aligning for Iraq; this fall would be a good time for President Bush to follow in the footsteps of his father and start laying the groundwork for a robust international presence in Iraq, to smooth the transition from U.S. occupation to complete Iraqi independence. An agreement to draw down U.S. troops while bringing in U.N. peacekeepers would signal a paradigm shift in internal Iraqi politics, take the wind out of the insurgents' sails, and send a message to the Shiite insurgents and boycotting Sunnis that the time is indeed at hand to start thinking about Iraq after the occupation.

The past few weeks have held good news for Iraq, though there remains much to be done, with many opportunities for success or failure undoubtedly to come. But the elements necessary to create a functioning nation from the chaos of insurgency are slowly emerging. The military and political progress seen recently is a sign of hope that we might not have to leave Iraq a shattered hull of a nation.

Viewer Vid.

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:28:47 EDT

Thanks Faster Democrat Kill Kill (What's up with that name?) for submitting this vid of bad, old Republicans to us. Great editing. I guess Gonzo missed the cut?

Troops Cheer for Withdrawl from Iraq

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:05:44 EDT

More than 4,000 National Guardsmen cheered in standing ovation Saturday when Puerto Rico's governor called for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Speaking at the 129th National Guard Association general conference, Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila told the audience that the U.S. administration has "no new strategy and no signs of success." Moreover, he said that prolonging the war further will only succeed in putting more troops in harm's way.

Acevedo has called on Washington to withdraw troops before, but he has never been this vocal a critic, CBS News reports.

"By increasing the number of National Guard and reserve troops, we put our soldiers in danger for the umpteenth time since the beginning of the global war on terrorism," the governor said, adding that there needs to be troops at home in the event of national disaster or domestic disturbance.

"The daily death toll of Americans and their allies has caused irreparable anguish here in Puerto Rico, and throughout the country," Acevedo concluded "The same could be said for the people of Iraq."

CBS reported the story with the help of Col. David Carrion Baralt, the Guard's top official in the territory. We've contacted the Guard's press office for details, and we're looking for a transcript of the speech.

Petraeus vs. Pace: More or less in Iraq?

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 13:33:06 EDT

General Petraeus is leading much of the discussion on Iraq, and recently, there has been disappointment that his analysis on the state of Iraq will be written by the White House. It seemed no real analysis would emerge to give American voters an honest assessment of the war. Then, Marine Gen. Peter Pace spoke up.

Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will advise President Bush of the need to reduce U.S. forces in Iraq. He wants to cut the number of active troops in Iraq in half, something that is obviously going to cause a rift in White House policy.

Petraeus is expected to support a White House view that the absence of widespread political progress in Iraq requires several more months of the U.S. troop build-up before force levels are decreased to their pre-build-up numbers sometime next year ... According to administration and military officials, the Joint Chiefs believe it is of crucial strategic importance to reduce the size of the U.S. force in Iraq in order to bolster the military's ability to respond to other threats, a view that is shared by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. LA Times

Pace will not be issuing a formal report, instead opting to discuss the matter privately with Bush. There is an obvious conflict of opinion, and Bush will have a hard time publicly discrediting advisers that he, until this point, always claimed to rely heavily on for correct information.

What started as a question of "Do I stay or do I go?" has become "More or Less?" At least the realization that we are not making great strides in Iraq has set in, and the focus can now turn to the proper action. With such high officials offering opposing opinions, the elections are sure to get even more confrontational.

As the top American combat general, Petraeus wields wide authority and commands considerable attention in Washington. But U.S. law gives the Joint Chiefs responsibility to ensure the long-term well being of the military and makes their chairman the president's principal military adviser.

"Petraeus and [Ambassador to Iraq Ryan] Crocker are coming to testify, but this is the president's decision," said a senior military official in the Pentagon. "As the chairman, Gen. Pace, by law, has a big role in that, and he will provide his advice to the president." LA Times

This might be the last time the president is in a room with serious dissenting discussion — Bush did not nominate Pace for a second term so Pace will be leaving in September. His replacement will be Navy chief Michael Mullen, who has been voicing many of the same concerns as Pace. Only time will tell if he will remain a critic of the administration after his appointment.

Petraeus and Pace will face off with Bush, and one can only hope that the discourse will result in intelligent actions in Iraq — whatever that might be.

Gonzo's Statement

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:02:12 EDT

Gonzo's Greatest Hits

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 10:54:27 EDT

Paul Kiel at our sister site TPM Muckraker has compiled an impressive and painstaking list of Gonzales' fabrications. Kiel writes

"To do this, we were forced to constrain the endeavor. Gonzales' amazingly faulty memory is clearly cause for strong suspicion — but his countless "I don't recall's have not yet been proven to be dishonest. And there have been a stream of dubious statements — such as that he'd never fire a U.S. attorney for political reasons or his insistence that they were fired for "performance" reasons — countered by weighty circumstantial evidence. But we've set a high bar. Certainly we expect our little list to lengthen in the future as more evidence is produced — and as Gonzales continues to speak publicly.

We arrived at the six statements below. Some can be judiciously described as lies, i.e. apparently consciously false statements made with the intent to deceive. Some are better described as "wily" prevarications, or as literally true statements made with the intent to deceive or cover up."

See the full list here.

It's Official: He's Out

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 09:34:22 EDT

It's official. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the long-time friend of W accused of politicizing the U.S. Justice Department and misleading Congress, is stepping down. Requesting anonymity, Bush administration officials have just confirmed the NYT report. Gonzo will be holding a news conference at 10:30 a.m. — look for more after that.

Update: Dean on Resignation:

"It's about time ... Gonzales now joins a long list of Republican officials resigning under a cloud of scandal, but these resignations cannot purge the Bush administration of its problems. The true problem rests with the Bush White House itself, which continues to put what's best for the Republican Party ahead of what's best for America."

(C/O of Kos)

Gonzo Resigns

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 08:14:52 EDT

The NY Times is reporting Alberto Gonzales has resigned. Word is that Gonzo called the president on Friday to offer his resignation.

Interesting why is this coming out on a Monday? Most resignations are saved for the Fridays of the dog days of summer, but along with Rove, this administration has been losing people on Mondays.

Did he walk or was he pushed? For the past six months, he seemed as if he was untouchable, never going to go despite hearing after hearing that made C-Span hearings look like watching a baby seal getting clubbed to death -- but then, if he was going to leave, why let it get to this point?

Possibly to prevent the White House fulfilling subpoenas from the Judiciary Committee, but why won't those still be enforced? Part of a deal? Or is Bush just getting further pushed by GOP members who are tired of it all ... ?

A few weeks ago, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten told administration members that if they were thinking about resignation, they should do it before Labor Day or stay until January 2009.

Replacement? Watch out for former federal judge, prosecutor and Katrina veteran Michael Chertoff.

Gonzo press conference scheduled for 10.30am EST.

Monday's Must Reads

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 05:52:34 EDT

Round up from the weekend's papers: all the things you need to know as we head into the week.

Losing Sight of the Constitution [Sacramento Bee]    Should House Speaker Nancy Pelosi take impeachment off the table? Pelosi is proving to be the surprise O. Henry ending to last November's elections. The American voters gave Democrats clear control of Congress, rebuked President Bush and voiced an unequivocal public craving to trade in customary narrow-minded politics for something more inspiring.

Is Our Generals Cognitively Disabled? [DailyKos]     A few of you who know me well might remember that I’ve been working on a project for the last year about Operation Anaconda. Anaconda was the largest mission in the Afghanistan war to date and was the first incident in the "War on Terror" when U.S. troops were deployed to fight against a force with superior numbers and tactical superiority, in defiance of multiple U.S. military doctrines and both signals and human intelligence reports.

Hey, Dems: Run against Bush -- and toughen up -- or lose in '08 [Salon]     Drew Westen, author of "The Political Brain," evaluates the Democratic presidential candidates' ads and the party's messaging in general. Short version: More Jim Webb, less John Kerry. Fifteen months before the 2008 election, the Democrats are odds-on favorites to put one of their own into the White House. A solid majority of the country rejects the Bush administration and the war in Iraq he initiated. But psychologist Drew Westen says Democrats could lose yet again if they don't learn how to stand up for themselves and connect with voters emotionally.

Economic Desperation Drives Terrorism [TPMCafe]     For six years, many have told us that global economic inequality and poverty was irrelevant to the rise of terrorism, so that military means, not social change, was the key to taking on extremist Islam. But now, military leaders in Iraq are admitting that economic desperation is the key factor driving terrorist recruitment there.

Bloomberg And Hagel For 2008? [WaPo Op-Ed]      Chuck Hagel, the senator from Nebraska, describes himself as a "tidal" politician, one who believes that larger forces in society shape careers more than the ambitions of individuals. "The only mistakes I've made," he told me in an interview last week, "were when I tried to go against the tide." Today, that tide might be carrying him away from his Republican Party and toward a third-party or independent ticket with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- a development that could reshape the dynamics of the 2008 presidential race.

GOP Activists Root for Clinton to Win [Politico]     He might be on his way out the door at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in coming days, but the party Karl Rove has labored to build over the past eight years seems to have picked up his talking points on next year’s presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton is going to be the Democratic nominee and that could be the GOP's saving grace in an otherwise uphill battle.

The CIA's Open Secrets [NYT Op-Ed]      When a federal judge dismissed Valerie Plame's lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency earlier this month, she ruled that the agency was entitled to stop Ms. Plame from publishing the dates of her agency service, even though these dates had been supplied to Congress in an unclassified letter from the C.I.A. and had been published in The Congressional Record. Ms. Plame is just one in a long line of ex-C.I.A. employees to lose similar suits, in which the agency successfully defended the position that information in the public domain was classified.

Family Week at the Times

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 22:56:54 EDT

From diapers to dedicated wives, the Times staff has analyzed every facet of family life on the campaign trail in this Sunday’s paper.

"They stand by their men, loudly," the NYT reports of the bevy of potential first ladies. All except Clinton, of course, whose role as the supportive wife after Monica is feminism's double-edged sword -– the one Michelle Obama has lately been swinging in Hil's general direction.

Mrs. Obama, on the record:
"One of the most important things we need to know about the next president of the United States is, is he somebody that shares our values? Is he somebody that respects family? Is he a good and decent person? Our view was that, if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House."

One might argue that Bill did pretty well at the presidential helm even if his marriage was run aground. And one might push a little further, noting that not only did his misses run a home in which their daughter ended up wildly successful despite the media's Ugly Duckling fetish, but one where formidable mistakes can be overcome and new history made. The house that's seen hardship and come through it might be the most successful of all.

Arguing about a marriage we will never see the inside of -– and that holds true for the Obamas as well -– is a distraction from what this conversation is really about: the shattering reality that right now, on the Left -- the home of that progressive, liberal mindset -- we're actually judging these women on how good a wife they are. Talk about conservative politics.

"If the wife comes through as being too strong and too intelligent," Nixon remarked, "it makes the husband look like a wimp."

15 years later, the assumption appears to hold.

But the Times didn't just focus its Sunday coverage on good housekeeping, it also dealt with the problem of the under-10 set on the campaign trail. Five presidential candidates have children 9-years-old and younger, and what to do with them while Daddy's campaigning is the new trail challenge.

"I don’t want to do this," Jack Edwards protested to his father. "I don’t care whether you want to," John Edwards replied, followed by that perennial parental line, "Mr. Jack, do we need to go in the back and have a conversation?" -- The back of the campaign bus, that is, where Jack and his sister had built themselves a tent on presidential wheels.

With so many young'uns running around, what the candidates are doing with their children is apparently just as critical to their future as presidents as how their wives (or husbands) are behaving. And most of the kids, like the Edwards' two children, are accompanying their parents on the road to the White House. All except the Obama girls, it seems, who are staying home in Chicago with their mother (when she's not out making history with hubby) and grandmother.

Granted, the excitement of seeing famous butter cows at the Iowa State Fair might have been too much for the little ones (who can resist bovines in butter?), but what importance does this really bare on the candidates? When did family values become the subject of the Times, the mantra of the Left, and, most critically, the battle ground of the party? I love the cute shots Grace Dodd as much as the next person, but if my vote were measured by a candidate's family values, I'd be opting for one that's home for supper and steers clear of politics in the first place.

Kids in the Ballot Box?

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 22:33:25 EDT

To vote or not to vote? That is the question –- or, at least it may be for Americans as young as 16 if politicians like NYC Councilwoman Gale Brewer have their way. Nine states already allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries if they’ll reach the age of majority by the general election, and vote-at-16 proposals have made their way through NYC, Baltimore, Minnesota, Texas, Maine and California, the NYT reports.

And last month, Austria became the first country in the EU to open its doors to the Sweet Sixteen set. They're part of a growing international crowd that entrusts its youth with differentiating the issues posed by "Pretty in Pink" and those in politics when they get to the ballot box. Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, the Isle of Man and Germany already do –- and a recent proposition by British PM Gordon Brown indicates he might be interested in the MySpace generation also.

But in America, the proposals haven’t gotten very far, despite the fact that 17-year-olds can now enlist in the Army. [What the Times didn’t say –- they implied, but it should have been said -- is that if we’re willing to send our high schoolers to wage a war at Congressional behest, shouldn’t they have some say in how it’s run? To dream, perchance, to vote?]

Supporters of the change argue that "adolescents are not only competent to cast ballots, but would focus old fogies' attention on issues relevant to children's health care, education and the environment, perhaps even a moratorium on Lindsay Lohan's changing hair color.”

Moreover, they hope once they start voting, they won’t stop. "These advocates say that if adolescents get bitten by the civic bug, they will be less likely to kick the habit as they grow up."

Critics argue that hopes for voting 16-year-olds are made irrelevant by statistics that show they are the least likely to get to the polls. And then there’s that whole maturity thing. Curtis Gans, director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University, said that adolescents aren't "mature enough to make voting judgments because they don't have any historical perspective and they don't have any comparable civic responsibility." He obviously missed Max Blumenthal's fabulous, but slightly frightening, video from the College Republican Convention.

Really what this comes down to is that we'll let 17-year-olds fight, we'll let 16-year-olds drive, but we won't let them make their own political peace. Essentially, they'll get the benefits, but none of the responsibility.

I come from a big, modern American family (more divorces than you can count and almost enough kids to make our own soccer team), and my younger siblings, stellar though they are in my eyes, are pretty average kids. The idea of my 17-year-old brother driving makes me cringe (he's actually an excellent driver), but he's arguably the most politically aware person I know. [Family rumor has it that in the last election, he even compelled our father to vote left.] And my stepsister, very much the Sweet Sixteen, is just as savvy is he is.

It might shatter a little self-esteem in the Beltway, but they're just as ready to vote as every 20-something I know. And they've got the benefit of Am Civ classrooms to test out, battle and transform their ideas around others.

So what it really comes down to is this: Are we willing to let the kids take their lives (and ours) into their hands on the road and taste the freedom of the lost highway without a dose of responsibility to go with it? If they can get to the DMV to get their license, if they can plot their way through the college admissions process and especially if they can make their way to Iraq on our military planes, they can probably chose a candidate for fairly legitimate reasons. And all before rehearsal for "High School Musical 2."

FOX Ranks the Dems: Clinton, Obama, Richardson?

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 11:06:29 EDT

When you're Fox, and there's a candidate you hate that just won't go away, what do you do? Declare him null and void! That's just what Fox & Friends have done to John Edwards. Although he ranks third in all major polls, "You Decide" segment's Jason Wright told Fox viewers that Edwards doesn't have any footing, and that really, Richardson's the third-runner. Actually, he said we should "inject a little spice, a little Southwest flavor," but Richardson is more Beltway boxer than Tex Mex hot sauce. Newshounds has a full round-up of Fox's Democratic Candidate Review.

Warner Defects from Bush's Camp

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 14:51:45 EDT

Sen. John Warner called point-blank Thursday for a partial withdrawl of troops from Iraq, saying that 5,000 soldiers should be home by Christmas.

Just as media coverage began to shift momentum back to Bush's stay-the-course position, the senator spoke out. Viewed as "the most influential Republican senator on military affairs," his message was sharp and clear ... and might be a welcomed relief to more vulnerable Republicans who have been searching for some middle ground. "The senator from Virginia may have just given them political cover," Politico reports.

"This is not a timetable," he said, but it is a voice of reason. According to the WaPo, "Democratic and Republican leadership aides said that Warner's new stance" -- and the new intelligence assessment on Iraq -- "may have stalled any political momentum Bush seemed to have been building in recent days."

Warner says he's been thinking about it for months, so his statement wasn't meant to surprise people, but the NBC Nightly News reported it as a "major defector from Bush's camp."

Anyone want to play follow the leader?

Friday Cartoon

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:00:50 EDT

McConnell Under Fire

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:40:44 EDT

National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell drew sharp criticism on Capitol Hill Thursday after an interview with the El Paso Times in which he disclosed formerly classified material about the warrantless wiretapping program.

Among the revelations were that fewer than 100 people in the United States were actually under NSA surveillance at any time (versus thousands overseas), but he also confirmed for the first time that the private sector complied with the government carrying out the program. AT&T, Verizon and other telecom companies that were implicated are now being sued for their involvement. "Now if you play out the suits at the value they're claimed, it would bankrupt these companies," McConnell told the paper. He believes they deserve immunity for their help, MSNBC reports.

But he also disclosed details about a previously classified decision from a special intelligence court that ruled the program was, actually, illegal. Court deliberations are usually kept secret, but McConell revealed that as of May 31, the government is required to get court warrants to monitor communications between two foreigners who come across telecom lines in the United States. Because of the "robust" nature of the telecom system, that's millions of calls each day, all potentially up for review. The LATimes has more.

The Hill's furious. The debate isn't even that the information was revealed, so much as how. "I'm shocked," said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., chairwoman of an intelligence panel on the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security. "It's stunning to me to read that he has decided to share these details with a small-town newspaper." Harman added that she thought the numbers of people under surveillance were as classified as any other part of the tough-to-crack program. What she meant to say: If you can tell us THAT, why can't you tell us what we've wanted to know?

Read the El Paso transcript in full.

Campaign Ads that Work?

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 03:18:35 EDT

Lefty blog Firedoglake asked a great question Thursday: When it comes to the battle-ground states, which campaign ads actually have impact? Their choices:

1. Ari Fleischer's "Freedom Watch" above

2. VoteVets

3. Americans United for Change

What do you think? And how will the other side respond?

Al-Jazeera English on Iraq War

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:09:36 EDT

AJE offers an interesting look at international opinions on the quagmire in Iraq.

Iraq government going down?

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:56:54 EDT

A national intelligence report says that the Iraqi government's position will become more precarious over the next six months (just the time the surge is supposed to be working?).

The full report can be downloaded at the NY Times site. Meanwhile, John Warner has called for President Bush to begin withdrawing troops by Christmas.

Bush: Okay, So It IS Like Vietnam

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:37:41 EDT

It appears President Bush finally caught the sanity bug … in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, he compared Iraq with Vietnam, something protesters have been doing since … well, since the beginning.

"One unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps,' and 'killing fields," he told the receptive convention.

The speech comes as his administration tries to drum up support for the president's plan for Iraq, especially among Republicans losing faith and Democrats calling for a drawdown in troops.

Senator Ted Kennedy, D-MA, had the best retort: "The president is drawing the wrong lesson from history."

The WaPo has the full story -- along with some great video of Bush suddenly supporting al-Maliki again (maybe it hit him that the failure of the guy he supported so long reflects poorly on him, too).

MTV and MySpace Host Candidate "Chats"

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:51:12 EDT

In apparent attempt to win an audience that can't yet vote, MTV and MySpace have teamed up for a series of live TV and online video chats between young adults and the '08 candidates. The hourlong talks will be at colleges nationwide and will run on mtvU and MySpaceTV. Every major candidate -- Democrat and Republican -- has signed on, they report.

The first "chat" (will there be a fireside? a digital one, at least?) will be with former Sen. John Edwards on Sept. 27 in New Hampshire. The rest of the list: Brownback, Clinton, Dodd, Giuliani, Hunter (major candidates, what?), McCain, Obama, Paul, Richardson and Romney. When Thompson finally declares, maybe they'll just have him on the "Law and Order" set.

"These presidential dialogues will bring individual candidates directly to voters one at a time," says MySpace's Chris DeWolfe. And MTV says their viewers know to come to them for substance, so the match is only natural. "For years, young people have trusted MTV to inform and engage them on the issues that matter most, from politics to sexual health to the environment," reports MTV President Christina Normal. "We're extremely proud to partner with MySpace on our always-evolving, Emmy-winning 'Choose or Lose' campaign as we join forces and empower our audiences to connect with presidential candidates in a much more meaningful way." Next up: Candidates interpret BarelyPolitical's Obama Girl series through their own Sell-Yourself!-TRL-danceathon.

The concept is interesting … we'll see if it ends up any less staged than the debates we already see though. Basically, the most interesting thing about this is that Viacom and News Corp. are behaving well together.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

More on "Skube-gate"

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:45:50 EDT

In the LA Times on Wednesday Jay Rosen wrote a response to Professor Michael Skube. Rosen writes:

"Blowback! That's what you're in for when a great American newspaper runs a Sunday opinion piece as irretrievably lame as "Blogs: All the noise thats fit" by Michael Skube … " The post features Josh's exchange with Skube and an excellent list of bloggers doing original reporting.

McConnell sheds some light on spying.

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:37:07 EDT

Mike McConnell has affirmed that a federal court ruled the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program illegal. Initially, he explained, the wiretapping program was upheld by a federal FISA judge. The second time around, however, a judge decided that the warrantless wiretapping program was definitely not within the realm of the law.

"The second judge looked at the same data and said, 'Well, wait a minute. I interpret the law, which is the FISA law, differently,'" McConnell said. LATimes

How did this judge interpret the law? He said that to wiretap a U.S. citizen, even if he or she is overseas, you need an individual warrant. He further declared that if there are two people overseas whose calls or e-mails pass through the U.S., an individual warrant is needed then as well.

Back when this decision was made, a court gave the government a temporary stay so that it could continue to trace e-mails and calls without individual warrants until May 31. McConnell then began a push on Capitol Hill to reform the now-crippled counter-terrorism bill.

Those warnings fueled a frantic, end-of-summer push in Congress to rewrite laws passed three decades ago, after U.S. intelligence agencies had been caught spying on student groups and other domestic targets. The emergency legislation, which is set to expire in six months, allowed the government to resume its eavesdropping operations without individual warrants. LATimes

While many are upset over the continuation of the spying deemed illegal without an individual warrant, McConnell tried to remove doubts by assuring the American public that fewer than 100 U.S. citizens are being monitored. He claimed that for every U.S citizen being monitored, an individual warrant was obtained. He continued to say that as far as the "foreign side," the surveillance was in the thousands.

This is the first time the administration has publicly put a number on citizens under surveillance, and fewer than 100 is a very comforting number, especially if there were warrants in each case. In this sense, McConnell seems to have made a rational decision in discussing the program with the public. Unfortunately, he took a turn for the radical at the end of the interview, stating:

"The fact that we're doing it this way means that some Americans are going to die," he said. But because of the "claim, counterclaim, mistrust, suspicion" surrounding the program, he said, "the only way you could make any progress was to have this debate in an open way."

I am having a hard time seeing how releasing the estimated number of those under surveillance will directly cause American deaths, especially with his claim that "foreign side" surveillance is in the thousands. If his main concern is that 'doing it this way' means getting individual warrants to conduct surveillance on any e-mails or calls that pass through U.S. servers -- even if both parties are abroad -- then the FISA process should be reviewed.

McConnell is concerned with the time frame if the government is required to obtain individual warrants, saying a warrant for one phone number can take more than 200 man hours. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, allows surveillance without a warrant if a warrant is filed within 72 hours of the start of surveillance, and until this point, most assessments had found the FISA courts very quick and almost always granting the needed warrant. If McConnell's statement is true, then maybe there needs to be changes to the warrant program -- not an avoidance of it.

Elizabeth Edwards: First Lady or VP?

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 08:17:01 EDT

WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show just did an excellent segment on John Edwards' wife. She gives her scoop on the latest developments in Iraq, the CIA inspector general's calls for a George Tenet rebuke, and the ever-expanding primary campaign. Elizabeth Edwards, they ask: Candidate for First Lady or VP?

Party-Free Political Advertising?

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 23:05:46 EDT

Democratic candidate Steve Beshear is running for Governor in Kentucky... in theory, on his own merit. The man's been the state's attorney general, lieutenant governor, and served on the state House of Representatives, and no where in his ad does the Democratic party come up - not once.

Does he present an opportunity to leave party politics behind, or is he just sweeping the dust under the table?

Britain's Army Stretched Too Thin

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:45:36 EDT

From Al-Jazeera English, what once were cracks in the coalition of the willing are now becoming very wide gaps. The head of the British army says he has no fresh soldiers for battle, and with new leadership on Downing Street, British troops may soon be leaving Iraq. The US may have lost its "special friend" - and the Pentagon would be wise to pay attention.

Would the Clergy Support Martial Law?

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:32:21 EDT

Could martial law ever become a reality in America? And if so, how would the clergy - proprietors of the only property protected from the U.S. government - react? KSLA-TV out of Shreveport, LA, reveals that some would actually see it as their God-given moral right to uphold martial law and aid in its institution.

Reporter Jeff Ferrell spoke with Dr. Durell Tuberville, chaplain for the Shreveport Fire Department and the Caddo, LA, Sheriff's Office, about the clergy's role in the institution of martial law because of the role the they played during Katrina. There was - did you know this? - a 'Clergy Response Team' during Katrina, and Tuberville says that the Clergy's position therein described is, "let's cooperate and get this thing over with and then we'll settle the differences once the crisis is over." This is what they did for gun confiscation and forced relocation in the wake of Katrina - in other words, action now, thought later.

Clergy play an integral role in communities across America; the enjoy the trust and confidence of many citizens with their most private and troubling problems. That's an obvious plug for any government official looking for help in the midst of political tumult - but where does the clergy's responsibility towards their own flocks sit if they act with the government before consulting with their community?

Tubberville cites Romans 13 as the reason the clergy must support the government:

1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

It seems more than a little ironic that when the church tries so hard to keep government fingers out of their pot, they're so quick to defend big brother.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Bush on Frustrations with Iraq

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 07:25:18 EDT

Great video from TPMtv of Bush on Iraq. He asks, the government of Iraq reflect the demands of the people? We ask, will ours?

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Bush Distancing Himself from Maliki

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 07:16:11 EDT

As politics become increasingly volatile in Iraq, frustration is flaring with the once-beloved prime minister, Nuri Kamal Al-Maliki. Last November, President Bush stood side by side with him, declaring that he was "the right guy for Iraq," but by Tuesday, that support had dissipated almost entirely. At a meeting of North American leaders in Canada, W all about admitted that his choice has been a failure...

"Instead, Mr. Bush acknowledged "a certain level of frustration" with the Iraqi government's failure to unify its warring ethnic factions. His comments at a meeting of North American leaders in Canada came just hours after the top American diplomat in Baghdad, American Ryan C. Crocker, called political progress in Iraq "extremely disappointing" and warned that United States support for the Maliki government did not come with a "blank check" the NYT reports.

It's no coincidence that he's trying to distance himself from the Maliki administration before September - when GenP's report will induce inevitable chagrin on Capitol Hill - so prepare yourselves. We're about to hear more "it's not us, it's them," than we have before.

To wit:

According to excerpts of a speech for a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansis City, Mo., we have a taste of what's to come... "Our troops are seeing progress on the ground. And as they take the initiative from the enemy, they have a question. Will their elected leaders in Washington pull the rug out from under them just as they are gaining momentum and changing the dynamic on the ground in Iraq?"

Or, we could acknowledge the whole thing's a mess.

“It strikes me that this is more throwing up his hands in exasperation than washing his hands in disgust,” Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a research organization in Washington, told the Times. “I don’t think the decision has been made to move beyond Maliki, but it seems to me that the president has to put himself back in the center of the Iraq debate.”

But from an administration that will acknowledge "mistakes were made," instead of saying "oh, and I made them," that's just not likely.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

CIA Made Mistakes

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:55:19 EDT

The CIA released a report today admitting that they did not do enough to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks. It may have taken six years and a new CIA director to own up to the failings of George Tenet and Co., but that they are doing so at all in this administration is nothing short of an administrative miracle... thanks to Congress.

In a news release that was paired with the agency's 9/11 post-mortem document, CIA chief Gen. Michael Hayden urged Congress to keep the document secret, insisting "that we keep our focus on the present and the future." But in a bow to transparency if not sanity, last month, Congress ordered him to release the report.

Bottom line: No officers broke the law, none faced formal review, but some of the work was definitely sub-par.

"The CIA's top leaders failed to use their available powers, never developed a comprehensive plan to stop al-Qaida and missed crucial opportunities to thwart two hijackers in the run-up to Sept. 11," reports the AP. And according to the document, they didn't even play nice. "The agency and its officers... did not always work effectively and cooperatively," according to the report, which you can download in full here. George Tenet's 2005 statement on the CIA's report can be found here; he says it's flat wrong.

It's great that we're finally admitting to some failure - although there was no "silver bullet" of fault - and not just pointing fingers at different administrations, but what use is all of this unless we actually do something with it? How are we ever going to get through Iraq if we can't even communicate amongst our own, tax-payer funded officials? Not to belittle what Congress did - this absolutely should be made public - but it is beginning to seem like they're just passing the buck, too.

Leahy on the White House Subpoenas

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:52:29 EDT

Yesterday Pat. Leahy declared that "Time was up" with regard to the White House complying with subpoenas to testify on the US wiretapping program. Time will see what teeth the Senator is actually prepared to use to get compliance.

Where are the real journalists?

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 10:36:49 EDT

For those of you who haven't been following it- our man Josh Marshall was mentioned in an LA Times opinion piece on Sunday by Michael Skube, a journalism professor at Elon University, about how the blogosphere lacks real journalists and needs to provide better researched infomation. On Josh's investigation, Prof. Skube admitted that he had never actually read TPM or many of the sites he mentions in his column, and that they were added by an editor. Quite amazing that a published criticism of the level of journalism online would fail to contain some basic journalistic research.

Skube wrote:

In our time, the Washington Post's reporting, in late 2005, of the CIA's secret overseas prisons and its painstaking reports this year on problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center -- both of which won Pulitzer Prizes -- were not exercises in armchair commentary. The disgrace at Walter Reed, true enough, was first mentioned in a blog, but the full scope of that story could not have been undertaken by a blogger or, for that matter, an Op-Ed columnist, whose interest is in expressing an opinion quickly and pungently. Such a story demanded time, thorough fact-checking and verification and, most of all, perseverance. It's not something one does as a hobby.

This seems to show a remarkable lack of knowledge, not least of Josh's coverage of Trent Lott's comments about Strom Thurmond, the outing of Valerie Plame and the Gonzales attorney general firings. Josh's dogged perseverance had prompted some of the leading political stories and scoops of the last 5 years. Not to mention his consistent coverage of Rep. Don Young in Alaska.

The internet is proving to be an exceptional watchdog of both politicians and journalists. It was the blogosphere that in 2004 showed the documents alleging George W. Bush avoided military service were false. One only needs to look at the old videos of candidates comments from the past popping up all over YouTube (and this site) to see that candidates can no longer easily shift position to suit the latest polls. That doesn't mean candidates can't ever change position, but now they sure as hell will have to explain it.

Click here to read Josh's response in full.

FOX Is On The Money; the Experts Are All Wrong

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 08:42:01 EDT

FOX Business Panel Denigrates Market Expert Whose Pessimistic View Conflicts with the FOX "Smiley Face" Brand of Business Analysis
Reported by Marie Therese; from the good folks at Newshounds:

On Saturday August 18, 2007, in a rare departure, Neil Cavuto invited a guest to appear on his weekly financial show, Cavuto on Business, who had some very serious, very negative things to say about the recent volatility in the markets and America's role in the mess. Charles Payne angrily called guest Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, "anti-American" merely for suggesting that all is not rosy in the American economy. Other panelists told him he that he didn't know what he was talking about. He was shouted down and not allowed to speak. The "fair and balanced" business experts obviously didn't really want the FOX viewers to hear what Schiff had to say, even though a year ago, Schiff accurately predicted the collapse of the housing market.

Cavuto's disdain for his guest was evident and was, once again, a reminder that the new FOX Business Network is going to be populated by analysts who are more like toothy, glad-handing used car salesmen than in-depth financial experts.

The day before this farce, Peter Schiff appeared on CNBC, a real business news channel and while host and the other guests clearly did not agree with his "apocalyptic" economic predictions, he was allowed to finish sentences and complete thoughts. Wow! Now there's a thought!

Schiff's essential contention is that America is on the brink of a deep recession, one that will be generally limited to this country and, after an initial bumpy patch, will not appreciably be felt in Asian and European markets as they reach out to market their goods to each other.

You can view the CNBC video here.

Ron Paul Plays Not My Job

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 12:57:31 EDT

While all serious journalists busied themselves this weekend writing about the presidential candidates, NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me enjoyed ten minutes of pure surrealism and actually TALKED to them. Well, to Ron Paul at least, as he played their weekly Not My Job game, this week dubbed, "unlike you, none of these guys had a meatball's chance in a dog pound." In other words, fringe candidates.

Question 1:
The preeminate fringe candidate of modern times in the US in Lyndon LaRouche. he's run for president many times, once from prison. His political platform is a strange mixture of conspiracy theories, including which of these:

a. That rupert murdoch is a soviet sleeper agent devoted to recreating the communist paradise in Florida
b. That the power behind the white house is NOT dick cheney, but his wife, Lynn Cheney
c. That the powder drink crystal lite is a chemical weapon intented to sap our vital life forces

His answer?
Number two, obviously! We've known that for years...

Peter Sagal, Tom Bodette, Mo Rocca, Amy Dickenson, and Ron... between no-drug-laws hippies and no-gun-laws nra members, hilarity insues. Make sure you listen - best laugh on a Monday.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth

It's Their Fault!

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 19:49:18 EDT

Over half a decade of reign and resignation around the corner, Rove says the mess in the beltway isn't his fault. It's theirs.

"The dividers, over the last six years," he told theNYT, "have been the Democrats, who have routinely said he was not elected, he's illegitimate, he's a liar, he deliberately misled the country." Before taking another sip of joe, Rove was sure to straighten his halo back up and move on. He, of course, could never do anything wrong.

Not him, not Rove, not the "facilitator," he said from an IHOP outside Waco, where the Times reporter was lucky enough to get a heapin' spoonful of sweet maple syrup and sour republican maestro with breakfast.

"He strenuously argued with the dominant characterization of him as the Oz — or, with Vice President Dick Cheney, the co-Oz — behind the curtain of Mr. Bush’s White House and presidency," Jim Rutenberg reports. Rove declared instead, “I’m the facilitator,” ... one who has merely "helped" Mr. Bush as he has sought to shape his own views.

And, apparently, his history. Someone should clue Rove into the chronology of revisionist history - it usually happens after he's left office. Jim Freeman, the Political Crank, hit the nail on the head when he said that Rove is "finally where he can do no harm, at the International House of Pancakes."

Is there a hostess job opening up? I think we know someone who can fill it.
- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

FOX Says Economy's Just Fine (with examples)

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 10:18:30 EDT

As only FOX could report it, the economy ain't so bad. Just look at them strippers.

JC Penney's back to school sales in the same mouthful as strippers?
Thanks to Newshounds for the great video.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

The Sunday Morning Lineup

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 10:06:03 EDT

If Rove's Adieu America tour across the Sunday talk shows doesn't hold your attention for very long, fear not: everyone may be fleeing Washington, but most are stopping to gab on their way out.

Namely: the Dems, clammoring for candidateship, will participate in a 90-minute debate on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanpolous. (With George? Democrats? That's basically like asking your best friend from grammar school to ask you the "tough" questions, knowing full well the only "tough" thing will be a recitation of your talking points that doesn't seem tragically rehearsed.)

Appearing live at the Drake University Display of Democratic-ness: Biden, Clinton, Obama, Dodd, Edwards, Kucinich, Richardson, and everyone's favorite walking political cartoon, good ole Gravel. Live and unedited -- and maybe they'll finally show us the famous butter cow up close.

If high-lactose bovines and bickering bleeding hearts don't do it for you, look no further than the clicker:

Also on “Face the Nation” Sunday is Arizona Sen. John McCain, who is eager to rebound from a spate of negative stories about his sluggish campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

“Meet the Press” also features a political roundtable with Ron Brownstein of The Los Angeles Times, Matt Cooper of Conde Nast Portfolio, John Harwood of The Wall Street Journal and Kate O’Beirne of National Review.

CNN’s “Late Edition” leads with a congressional debate over the war in Iraq between Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.).

“Late Edition” also interviews Iraqi Parliament member Mahmoud Othman and Stephen Moore, the former president of the Club for Growth.

C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” interview is with Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He’ll face questions on the bridge collapse in his home state from reporters Kevin Diaz of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and John Hughes of Bloomberg.

Roundup from Politico.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

No Hearts to Spare

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 02:46:04 EDT

We're running high on news in the Unbelievable Department today. But this tops them all:

Korean War veteran Nyles Reed, 75, opened an envelope last week to learn a Purple Heart had been approved for injuries he sustained as a Marine on June 22, 1952.

But there was no medal. Just a certificate and a form stating that the medal was "out of stock."

"I can imagine, of course, with what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, there's a big shortage," Reed said. "At least, I would imagine so."

The form letter from the Navy Personnel Command told Reed he could wait 90 days and resubmit an application, or buy his own medal.

After waiting 55 years, however, Reed decided to pay $42 for his own Purple Heart and accompanying ribbon — plus state sales taxes — at a military surplus store.

I like the Jenna Pregnant story better. This is just depressing.

Original story from the Houston Chronicle, great feedback at DailyKos.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

CNN picks up TPMtv scoop

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 23:27:44 EDT

This afternoon CNN picked up our video of Giuliani's remarks on immigration and his waffling -- or is it flip-flopping? -- on whether illegal immigration is a problem that can be solved. Internet reporter Abbi Tatton argues that video like this is just another example of how the YouTube and the Internet are shaping the '08 Elections. (This is what "popular election" means in Web 2.0, Abbi!) Note the big screen shot of Veracifier and the shout out to TPM.

... Then Comes the Baby in the Baby Carriage

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 22:38:25 EDT

As if we could be any more surprised that Jenna Bush is getting hitched (and it's not to a UT bartender... or cop), the ever-reliable Wonkette is reporting that she is pregnant. While I'm sure that's patently untrue, they do have a no-abortion clause in the family code of conduct and there is a quizzically realistic photo-calender detailing her bump-growth. (Unlike Nicole Ritchie, she actually has one.) Not to muckrake per se... but it was too delicious to skip.

Sorry, Jen, I blame the return of the mumu into popular fashion.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Fred Goes to the Fair

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:45:12 EDT

Fred Thompson made the requisite candidate appearance at the Iowa Fair today... except that he's still not a candidate. So he traipsed around the butter cows without supporters but with hundreds of fans who said, "I'm with Fred," talking about politics without stumping, and not "behaving like a candidate" but, well, acting just like one anyway.

"I am unabashadly pro-life," he told the bumper-sticker free crowd. "I am pro-Second Amendment and I don't apologize for the United States." And with that, the crowd roared.

The Law and Order star (also former Tennessee senator) is expected to announce his candidacy in the next two weeks, after what the AP calls "a less-than-stellar summer marked by a campaign staff shake-up, reports of lobbying for a family planning group and fundraising that failed to meet expectations."

Well, he's not actually a candidate yet, so his real candlepower may yet come -- and looking at the polling, the GOP's should expect some feathers ruffled.

"I wasn't around when they made those rules and I'm not abiding by them," he said. "We've got plenty of time."
But you can almost hear the L+O jingle, can't you? Dum dum...
Read the full story from the NYT.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

FBI, CIA and Fox busted by Wikipedia

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:55:48 EDT

The idea of an encyclopedia that anyone could edit has always had its critics, but no one ever though so many people would be caught red handed making propaganda.

Today the Huffington Post announced that people were editing Wikipedia from CIA and FBI computers. Main topics: Iraq War and Guantanamo. The site was upset when they tracked these changes, noting the obvious violation of conflict of interest guidelines.

Then Daily Kos made an even more humorous revelation: Fox is in on it to! Here is the list of Fox's edits from an IP trace. Daily Kos does a blog entry reviewing the edits made by Fox. My favorite? The page dealing with Journalistic Fraud.

One of Fox's edits was directed to rival Keith Olbermann:

'Some conservatives feel that Olbermann's reporting carries a liberal bias.'
was changed to
'Conservatives feel that Olbermann's reporting carries a liberal bias.'

Another edit removed references to O'Reilly's involvement in a sexual lawsuit, while at the same time increasing the reported ratings for the show.

Crooks and Liars posted a link to a story run on Fox making light hearted discussion of the Wikipedia editing affair, pointing fingers to other corporations and papers for their similar involvement. The problem, as I see it, is not that people edit within company walls, but that there are specific articles targetted by Fox, the FBI, and the CIA. It is one thing to edit the details of your corporation, it is another to edit the details of a war taking lives everyday.

Props to Wikipedia for investigating conflicts of interest in editors, and shame on our government for paying people to make propaganda. But hey, they don't mind paying $998,798 to ship two 19-cent washers.

The video Fox ran:

Friday Cartoon

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:24:25 EDT

Pander, Pander, Pander

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 16:38:51 EDT

Giuliani talks about immigration. We can definitely solve it. Oh wait, nevermind. We never can. I think.

Wedding Bells at the White House

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 16:34:41 EDT

After all those party days at UT, Jenna Bush has ditched the high-jinx in favor of serious-girldom and, if nothing else, something sparkly. First, she joined UNICEF, then she penned a non-fiction book about a 17-year-old single mother in Panama living with HIV, and now, she's gone and gotten engaged. It's been so long since we've seen pictures of the First Twins Gone Wild... Daddy's little girl growing up so fast.

The lucky man is - you can breathe a sigh of relief - an ardent republican. After finishing Wake, Henry Hager enrolled in UVA's business school, pleasing his daddy - chair of the Republican Party of Virginia - to no end. And pleasing is what this one likes to do. The boy's been working for years to seal the deal and now he can finally go home to Richmond and sing to mama that they're movin' on up. No date's been set for the wedding, but I, for one, am waiting with bated breath for the assuredly ladylike pictures the Bachelorette Party will bring.

Do we hear wedding bells at the White House? (Or more handcuffs in Austin.)

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Required Reading: Reverse Shot

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:32:42 EDT

Not too long ago I was fortunate to discover Reverse Shot, an independently published film quarterly and blog. Like most film publications, the latest crop of indy features are reviewed and their filmmakers are interviewed by an expansive list of contributors. What makes Reverse Shot stand out is the way its articles also discuss a flick’s aesthetic value by examining shot choices, editing, etc. at length as well as comparisons to other films, both past and present.

So it’s with interest that I read through the results of the Take Two symposium, the second edition of a series of pieces aimed at examining the fundamentals of film. Last year’s Take One explored a single shot from a movie and how it could be used to reconsider that film and/or its filmmaker from a different angle. Take Two, on the other hand, asked writers to discuss “the cut”, the “edit between two images” that is “exclusive domain of cinema.” What we most often think of as an unimportant scene transition was explored through such disparate classics as The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Last Temptation of Christ, Bowling for Columbine and Raiders of the Lost Ark with rather thought-provoking results. I highly suggest giving it a read through for a different take on film review.

Padilla Found Guilty

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:09:03 EDT

Jose Padilla was convicted of federal terrorism on all counts Thursday when his three and a half year legal battle came to an end. Padilla, a U.S. citizen from Chicago, was accused of being an al-Qaida operative who plotted to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" someplace in the United States. --- Those charges, however, we not part of his trial. In fact, his original charges were far more severe than those dealt today in Florida, but they could not be held against him since, as an enemy combantant, he interrogated and held at Guantanamo without ever being read his Miranda rights, a legal promise always afforded to U.S. citizens. He was actually convicted of a "conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim people overseas" along with co-defendants Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, all of whom will spend the remainder of their lives in jail. (Though no longer at Gitmo.)

The jury came back to the Miami civil court with the guilty verdict after a month of deliberation.

"We commend the jury for its work in this trail and think ot for upholding a core American principle of impartial justice for all," NSC spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "Jose Padilla received a fair and just trial."

While the White House found it "just," Padilla's mother, Estela Lebron, expressed her disappointment. "I don't know how they found Jose guilty," she said. "There was no evidence he was speaking in code." But the prosecutors argue that he was. According to the NYT, some 300,000 FBI wiretap intercepts on Padilla were collected from 1993 to 2001, mainly involving Padilla's co-defendants Hassoun and Jayyousi and others. Most of the conversations were in Arabic and purportedly used code such as ''tourism'' and ''football'' for violent jihad or ''zucchini'' and ''eggplant'' instead of military weapons or ammunition. Padilla's lawyer maintains his innocence (and apparent affection for root vegetables); they plan to appeal the verdict.

Get the timeline of events from the Herald-Tribune, accusations of torture from VOA, and more from the BBC.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Warrants? Walls? 'Nonsense!' says the government

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:34:56 EDT

Long gone are the days of warrants to search your house or privacy behind your four walls. The government is releasing access to its military level satellites to civilian agencies. I am not kidding.

These are not your Google Maps satellites, these guys have capabilities most people didn't even know existed:

A statement issued yesterday by the Department of Homeland Security said that officials envision "more robust access" not only to imagery but also to "the collection, analysis and production skills and capabilities of the intelligence community."
...
Other nonvisual capabilities can be provided by aircraft-based sensors, which include ground-penetrating radar and highly sensitive detectors that can sense electromagnetic activity, radioactivity or traces of chemicals, military experts said. Such radar can be used to find objects hidden in buildings or bunkers. WP

I realize now is the time to make an Orwell joke, and I will lend credit to the nonprofit Center for National Security Studies for dubbing it 'Big Brother in the Sky.' Apparently this program has been in the works since May, when Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell wrote a memo to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. For the past months the specifics have been laid out, and come this Fall access will be granted to a local police station near you.

Naturally, civil liberties groups are in a complete uproar. They still retain comprehension of the concept of privacy, a word that to our government has some elusive meaning that is gone into decades past. The groups are pointing out the all too familiar pattern that national spying techniques originally built for overseas research are now being turned on Americans. The government has countered with the concept of 'prevention':

Hall's group cited an "urgent need" for expanding sharing of remote sensing data to domestic groups other than scientific researchers. "Opportunities to better protect the nation are being missed," the report said. WP

I prefer to see it as opportunities to respect personal privacy are being upheld. There are many opportunities the government can create, and many I hope we miss out on. Warrantless wiretapping was one of them, but we failed there. It is ridiculous to hand such extensive intelligence gathering capabilities to the local police chiefs. The Wall Street Journal claims the government is 'crossing a well-established line against the use of military assets in domestic law enforcement.

Unlike electronic eavesdropping, which is subject to legislative and some judicial control, this use of spy satellites is largely uncharted territory. Although the courts have permitted warrantless aerial searches of private property by law-enforcement aircraft, there are no cases involving the use of satellite technology.

In recent years, some military experts have questioned whether domestic use of such satellites would violate the Posse Comitatus Act. The act bars the military from engaging in law-enforcement activity inside the U.S., and the satellites were predominantly built for and owned by the Defense Department.

At a local level we handle local problems, there does not need to be a fully stocked army intelligence unit managing every city and town across the United States. The government is promising it will be focused on things like illegal drug trafficking, but honestly, do we credit them with any form of self restraint?

Oversight of the department's use of the overhead imagery data would come from officials in the Department of Homeland Security and from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and would consist of reviews by agency inspectors general, lawyers and privacy officers. "We can give total assurance" that Americans' civil liberties will be protected, Allen said. "Americans shouldn't have any concerns about it." WP

No concerns is exactly what they hope we will have, but I would like to think we will prove them wrong this time.

Unions don't need no damn democracy

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:59:15 EDT

Union power has undoubtedly increased over the years, reaching ends far from their 'poor endangered worker' roots. Many unions have become some of the strongest lobbying powers in Congress. Unfortunately, the American conscience still has a large spot for the underpaid union worker of decades past.

The current standing method of union involvement is thus:

To join a traditional labor union, workers must either:

* be given voluntary recognition from their employer or
* have a majority of workers in a "bargaining unit" vote for union representation.

Once the union has won the support of a majority of the bargaining unit and is certified in a workplace, it has the sole authority to negotiate the conditions of employment. However, under the NLRA, if a minority of employees voted for a union, those employees can then form a union which represents the rights of only those members who voted for the union. This minority model was once widely used, but was discarded when unions began to consistently win majority support.

The NY Times today reported that all this might take a very significant change. Seven US labor unions have appealed to the National Labor Relations Board to require employers to bargain with the unions, even if they only represent a minority of those employed.

The union's appeal is undoubtedly in response to the decline in union membership over the past decades, a result many contribute to the shift away from a mainly industrial economy. Others feels that the workers are realizing the unions have become another group of bureaucrats without their best interests at heart.

The unions involved in the bid, including the United Steelworkers and the United Auto Workers, say the labor board should return to a largely forgotten practice, prevalent in the 1930s, in which companies often bargained with unions representing only a minority of workers who had joined them. NYT

The issue with that mindset is that in the 1930s many unions had small membership due to the incredible threats and consequences of joining a union. It was not until the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act) that employees began to feel a sense of safety in unions. Now, unions and their members have extreme amounts of protection and no real reason to explain their failure to recruit majorities in the workplace.

Daniel Halem, a lawyer with Proskauer Rose, which represents many employers, called the unions’ argument “a radical concept.” He said it conflicted with the premise of the National Labor Relations Act “that unions must have the support of a majority of employees.”

“This concept is totally at odds with that,” Mr. Halem said. “For that reason, this petition is going nowhere.”

Patricia Gilbert, a spokeswoman for the labor board, declined to comment.

On top of trying to require bargaining with minority member unions, the unions are attempting to remove the long practice of a 'formal vote' that needs to take place for a workplace to be considered in support of a union. Now, they are trying to reform the law so that once a majority signs union cards (card-check campaign), the union can take over all bargaining. Many feel that is a step in the wrong direction. In an article titled 'Labor's Bad Idea,' Steve Bailey discusses how the secret ballot is the heart of America, and circumventing that is never beneficial. The union is sure to become even more corrupt as it recruits members secretly and one by one instead of accounting to all workers at once and falling to a vote. After discussing the horrifying details of the bills titled such cheery things as 'Employee Free Choice Act,' Bailey finishes his piece by saying:

It gets worse. The House also refused to require that all employees and the employer be notified when a card-check campaign begins. So under labor's bill a union could secure signatures from 50 percent of the workers -- plus one -- and the other 49.9 percent of the workers would have nothing to say about it. Until, of course, it comes time to pay the dues.

Democracy is messy, but as my ninth-grade civics teacher told me long ago, no one has yet devised a better way.

Labor's recent movements need to be watched, and we cannot assume the title labor still refers to the quaint, underpaid and endangered steel worker of 1938. We need to realize the truth behind labor's lobby before we get notified by our employer that our benefits are changing in accordance with the new union regulations. 'What union?' we might ask. 'The union some workers joined behind your back to represent you,' he would respond, then add as he walked off, 'Oh, and you owe $120 in dues.'

Iran's Army Labeled Terrorist Group

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 09:17:39 EDT

In preparation for Rove's grand departure, the White House is busy making waves. Wednesday: Adding a national army to their list of terrorist groups. [Because that's just great for international relations.]

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps and all its 125,000 specially-trained troops are now deemed a "specially designtated global terrorist," achieving two main goals: scaring the life out of Americans back home and royally offending every nation in the Middle East. Especially the one exploring its nuclear capabilities.

"The move reflects escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran over issues including Iraq and Iran's nuclear ambitions," the WaPo reports. Well, that and the fact that while the US has mucked around in Iraq, Iran has only reaffirmed itself as the regional superpower - and one that doesn't roll over and play lap dog to the U.S.

This is the first time the United States has added the military forces of any soverign government to its list of terrorist organizations, the NYT reports. Condoleeze Rice argues that since the UN refused to approve further sactions on Iran, it left the White House with no choice but "unilateral action."

And what that means has left the White House in heated debate. While Condy usually runs the more diplomatic route - it is her job, after all - not everyone is so on board. Cheney wants a stronger military hand just as - coincidentally - we start pulling a handful of troops out of Iraq. In a press conference last week, Bush warned of the heightened tension. "When we catch you playing a nonconstructive role, there will be a price to pay," he said, and while the Guard has reputedly played a large role in helping Shiite terrorists in Iraq fight back, it also has its hands in a few more interesting pots.

"They are heavily involved in everything from pharmaceuticals to telecommunications and pipelines - even the new Imam Khomeini Airport and a great deal of smuggling," Ray Takeyh from the Council of Foreign Relations said of the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force wing, which is apparently particularly prone to terror.

NB: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rose to power through the Corps.

In addition to really ticking of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, this means the US. can now garner its financial resources and business operations at will. The exact meaning of "business operations" remains a little fuzzy, but it can't be long before those great political thinkers on Penn make the next obvious step and garner not only their finances, but the economies that supply all that terrorist bankrolling cash: like Iran's large reserves of petroleum and natural gas.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Olbermann Wishes Rove Adieu

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:34:04 EDT

Cheney says Iraq is a Quagmire

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:34:21 EDT

"Grand Theft Country" have posted a clip from 1994 of Dick Cheney explaining why the US shouldn't invade Iraq. Lots of sound reasoning...if only YouTube was around in 2003...

Vlad the Impaler

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 12:02:49 EDT

The Guardian has posted pictures of Vladimir Putin on a fun filled fishing trip in Siberia. If you ever doubted the Russian Premiere was not as warm and fuzzy as you may have first thought, these pic underline that he can probably kill a man with his pinky finger.

Gonzales Handed the Power of God

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:46:26 EDT

With all the criticism flying over Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, one might conclude he wasn't going to get any new powers anytime soon, but then your conclusion would be wrong. The LATimes reports:

The Justice Department is putting the final touches on regulations that could give Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales important new sway over death penalty cases in California and other states, including the power to shorten the time that death row inmates have to appeal convictions to federal courts.

The power was granted to Gonzales in the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. It changed the power from federal judges to ours truly, Mr. Gonzales. It is another case of 'Did ANYONE read that thing?!'

The rules implement a little-noticed provision in last year's reauthorization of the Patriot Act that gives the attorney general the power to decide whether individual states are providing adequate counsel for defendants in death penalty cases. The authority has been held by federal judges.

Under the rules now being prepared, if a state requested it and Gonzales agreed, prosecutors could use "fast track" procedures that could shave years off the time that a death row inmate has to appeal to the federal courts after conviction in a state court.

The concern over the death penalty's existence has been tempered, for many, by the reassurance of the appeal process. This will change that perception, and add more reasons to others who despise the death penalty. The only people who could possibly be delighted about this development are the hardcore tax counters, who are thrilled they won't have to feed those mouths for their few extra months (or years if they won that appeal) on Earth.

This news report comes shortly after the reports in the NYTimes about botched executions. While some states seem to be wanting a massive overhaul of their faulty systems, some are passing laws protecting the identity (and public review) of people such as this man:

One truly disturbing example, recounted by Adam Liptak in The Times, involves Missouri, where a doctor was revealed as an unqualified bumbler who admitted having confused the drug dosages in some of the more than 50 executions he had supervised. ''It's not unusual for me to make mistakes,'' he said, blaming dyslexia.

The death penalty arguments usually focus on the moral conflicts. These new developments, however, should focus the discussions on the basic questions of competence when dealing with a human life. Alberto Gonzales hardly seems fit to decide the life span of others, being as how he can't even keep his basic facts straight. And if it is determined through the proper law proceedings that someone's life must be ended, it is not too much to ask that this be done in a humane way. Secrecy of doctors and sped up appeal processes are not conductive to the benefit of those on trial, many of whom are found to be innocent when new developments are made. It is in those moments we remember the importance of proper proceedings. Update: Check out Gonzo discussing a death penalty case on July 24th, clearly these are things he gives a lot of time and thought to.

Classic Rove...

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:43:31 EDT

I honor of his resignation, I couldn't resist posting this again. Classic.

Rove's Runnin' to the Ranch

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:05:32 EDT

He can run, but he can't hide - Hill Democrats report that they won't let the ranch get in the way of their investigation into the infamous firings of U.S. attorneys. Rove was subpoenaed by the Senate Judiciary Committee in July, and just because he's leaving office doesn't mean they are willing to give up. They want to know what he knew about the "prosecutor purge" and when he knew it.

"Karl Rove's resignation will not stop our inquiry into the firings of U.S. attorneys. He has ever bit as much of a legal obligation to reveal the truth once he steps down as he does today," Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) told WaPo. But legal expert Stanley Brand, also former White House council, says Rove will never talk. "He's too close to the king," Brand said. "This is the guy who's the king alter ego."

But his argument for silence doesn't hold up as well out of office. Oliver North refused to testify in '86 when he was still on ~~Raegan's~~ Reagan's National Security Council, but just one year later appeared in hearings that were aired on national T.V. Once he has resigned, testifying about what he knows will no longer interfere with his ability to give the president good advice, says constitutional scholar Charles Tiefer. "He can no longer say that an appearance would compromise his ongoing White House duties. It becomes more and more untenable for him to refuse to show up."

It's still highly doubtful Rove will show up, and White House spokesman Tony Fratto affirmed Monday his silence under executive privilege to the NYT. "The privilege assertions remain intact."

With the hot water boiling over, the irony of his resignation is not lost on Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Senate committee. "The list of senior White House and Justice Department officials who have resigned during the course of these Congressional investigations continues to grow," Mr. Leahy said, "and today, Mr. Rove added his name to that list."

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Richardson on Gay Rights

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 23:56:04 EDT

Richardson spoke at the LOGO Gay + Lesbian Democratic Forum last week, arguing for gay and lesbian rights He said that as president, he'll push for civil unions, abolish Don't Ask Don't Tell, and redress diversity education gaps in No Child Left Behind. "When you have an America that's asking men and women to fight and die, the last thing you need to do is give them a lecture on sexual orientation," he told the small audience. "Look at my actions, not words." But talk aside, his history isn't as golden as he'd like - remember, he voted for DOMA - something he now says he regrets.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

FOX Grabs the Apron Strings

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 21:49:30 EDT

Looks like Condy's gonna have to find a new job -- the neocons have a new tactic against Hillary. Woman, get thee to a nunnery! Turns out that fair and balanced conversation means arguing that women actually shouldn't work. It's the Christian thing to do. Or not do. We'll ignore the fact that a (Christian) reporter, Alisyn Camerota, hosted the segment and go straight to the next logical conclusion: the Bill O'Reilly Messenger of Faith doll. Or maybe Fox will opt for a Bill O'Reilly v. Nancy Pelosi Tales of Glory smackdown figurine set, featuring Pelosi with her gavel, O'Reilly bearing only the Ten Commandments, and a faux public school wall where he fights to hang them. (Winning nobly, of course.) This isn't a far stretch from the Moses and the Ten Plagues set - and that features a bush covered in locusts. All the rage at Wally Worlds the Bible Belt through, where you now can find a pliable Jesus (no bobblehead) right next to a spice'n'sassy Bratz doll and the billion-career Barbie. Now there's a woman who's done more in one lifetime than many women can dream; FOX may have to start it's no-work campaign with her.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

The Architect Leaves the (burning) Building

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:57:21 EDT

"I just think it's time," Rove told the Wall Street Journal, explaining his impending resignation. As of Labor Day, Bush's Brain will take his leave to enjoy more time with his family. "There's always something that can keep you here," he explained, "and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family."

And then there's that whole scandal thing. Scandals, really. There was Katrina, the Plame affair, the firings of U.S. Attorneys, the ensuing email scandal, the investigation by the Office of Special Council, the ignored subpoena, the Siegelman conviction... and then that whole White House Iraq Group thing.

But the BBC reports that scandal has been a life-long problem for the departing vizier.
"Mr. Rove has been accused of underhand political tactics since his teenage years. As a student, he invited Chicago vagrants to turn up for free beer at a plus reception for a Democrat state candidate - an incident he later described as a 'youthful prank' he regretted."
Only controversy and obloquy have followed him ever since.

Despite the maelstrom of ado that has plagued his presence on Pennsylvania Ave., the White House has stood by Rove since the beginning. It now finds itself the forgotten date stood-up at a late night diner. "Obviously it's a big loss to us," WH press deputy press secretary Dana Perino told the AP. "He's a great colleague, a good friend, and a brilliant mind. He will be greatly missed." Obviously, this blow hits Bush the hardest. Not only is the list of cranial organ donors inside the beltway threateningly low, but W's bridegroom, his favored 'turd blossom', has left him for the greener pastures of the Lone Star State, where he'll surely return to his favorite hobbies, felling both trees and bystanders alike.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Rove Resigns!

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 12:59:09 EDT

Associated Press
Reaction to Karl Rove Resignation
By The Associated Press 08.13.07, 12:08 PM ET

Reaction to Karl Rove's announcement Monday that he is resigning as President Bush's top political strategist:

Karl Rove was an architect of a political strategy that has left the country more divided, the special interests more powerful, and the American people more shut out from their government than any time in memory. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

We worked together so we could be in a position to serve this country. And so I thank my friend. I'll be on the road behind you here in a little bit. - President Bush.

Mr. Roves apparent attempts to manipulate elections and push out prosecutors citing bogus claims of voter fraud shows corruption of federal law enforcement for partisan political purposes, and the Senate Judiciary Committee will continue its investigation into this serious issue. The list of senior White House and Justice Department officials who have resigned during the course of these congressional investigations continues to grow ... There is a cloud over this White House, and a gathering storm. - Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Senate Judiciary Committee chairman.

Karl Rove has made an enormous contribution to our country and our party. - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Karl Rove's resignation signals the final chapter in the Bush administration's betrayal of the identity of a covert CIA officer. When this breach of national security occurred, te president promised the American people that anybody in his administration responsible for the leak would be removed. Rove, identified by the prosecutors as one of the leakers, not only was not summarily dismissed, but has been allowed to leave on his own terms, to praise from the president. - Former Ambassdor Joseph Wilson, whose wife, Valerie Plame, was the CIA officer whose name was disclosed by Rove and others. ___

He is brilliant, he is funny and he is a passionate advocate for the president and his policies and I know that he will continue to play that role outside of the administration ... He was always upbeat. I don't recall ever seeing him down. - Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes.

It's a tragedy that an administration that promised to unite Americans has instead left us more divided than ever before. Without doubt the architect of that political strategy was Karl Rove, who proved the politics of division may win some elections but cannot govern America. - Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

Karl Roves resignation signals the final chapter in the Bush administration's betrayal of the identity of a covert CIA officer. When this breach of national security occurred, the president promised the American people that anybody in his administration responsible for the leak would be removed. Rove, identified by the prosecutors as one of the leakers, not only was not summarily dismissed, but has been allowed to leave on his own terms, to praise from the president. - Former Ambassdor Joseph Wilson, whose wife, Valerie Plame, was the CIA officer whose name was disclosed by Rove and others.

Its a tragedy that an administration that promised to unite Americans has instead left us more divided than ever before. Without doubt the architect of that political strategy was Karl Rove, who proved the politics of division may win some elections but cannot govern America. - Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

Idealistic Interventions vs. Reality

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 12:04:35 EDT

The NY Times on Friday discussed one of the main ironies in America: promoting democracy in the Middle East.

"It's the kiss of death," said Turki al-Rasheed, a Saudi reformer who watched last Sunday's elections closely. "The minute you are counted on or backed by the Americans, kiss it goodbye, you will never win."

The paradox of American policy in the Middle East -- promoting democracy on the assumption it will bring countries closer to the West -- is that almost everywhere there are free elections, the American-backed side tends to lose. NYT

This has been a sad reality for a long time. Americans have always loved the idea of free elections, but then things happen like the election of Allende and the CIA gets sent in to perform a coup and install a person like Pinochet. That is just one example of a long history of "you can have a voice ... if it is our voice."

The problem has three parts. The first is that elections are a wonderful opportunity to claim power if you can scam the election system. As we have seen time and again in other countries (hell, or even ours), there are elections with more than questionable counting methods if not outright fraud.

The second part of the problem is that (a surprise to some) not everyone has the same values. This is how we end up with "liberated" countries electing people who are the equivalent of a dictator or (worse to the U.S.) a socialist. In the past, the CIA has proved incredibly effective at swapping governments around to our liking, but that leads to problem three.

America stands for democracy, and right now, people do not like America. Referred to in the NY Times as the "kiss of death," people allying with Americans seem cursed to lose. While it seems many can appreciate the opportunities of democracy, the problems of election fraud, cultural differences and American puppet regimes have left a bad taste.

The idea of tearing down the statue of Hussein and putting up voting booths and welcoming Iraq into the ways of the West has been smashed over the past years of fighting. This is, unfortunately, an infinitely complex situation. The question of "should I stay or should I go?" has been thrown around in the presidential debates, but the complexities of democracy seem to elude the discussion.

From the NY Times discussing Lebanon:

"'In 1958 when the U.S. interfered militarily in Lebanon, it said it was to help Lebanon regain stability,' he said, speaking of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's decision to deploy 14,000 men to shore up the government of President Camille Chamoun and open the way for his successor, Gen. Fuad Chehab. The intervention is credited with preventing the Syrian and Egyptian governments from destabilizing the country.

"Chehab was soon after elected, and no one protested their presence here; a few months later they withdrew," Mr. Nassif said of the American forces. "In 1982, they interfered militarily again and it ended in a disaster. They supported Israel and Gemayel against the Palestinians, who were supported by Lebanese parties."

Mr. Nassif added, "Since then, every time the Americans interfere, it ends in a war or in their expulsion." NYT

Where does that leave countries like Iraq? What does an election mean to those who cannot vote? To those who have no candidate representative of their concerns? To those who feel votes are shuffled by the powerful to elect themselves?

It leaves Iraq the same way it leaves us in many respects -- asking many of the same questions. Democracy is something the U.S. pushes to new extremes world-wide, daily, yet we suffer the issues of democracy ourselves. The ideas of freedom, independence and hope are something that unite millions. Unfortunately, too many simplify those ideas into democracy and do not realize the complications faced implementing such a system. The problems in Iraq are forcing many to ask, again, if democracy can work there. And the answer by some of the candidates is 'who cares?' once we get out.

Both candidates [Obama and Clinton], in interviews or debates, have said that they would not support intervening in a genocidal war should the majority Shiites slaughter Sunnis -- and Sunnis retaliate -- on a much greater scale than now takes place. NYT

I never wanted to go in, but I can say the above answers are not comforting for me. Maybe they are the reality we have created and must endure for this all to end, but it seems the years of this war have unlocked the worst in us and them. Hopefully, if nothing else, the flag of democracy will carry tatters and stains to remind us of the reality of its adoption.

Iowa Diebold Debacle

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 11:10:46 EDT

That modern vilain to hi-tech elections strikes again! Reports from the Iowa Straw Poll are still pouring in of malfunctions in those not-so-vouchesafe Diebold machines that are being rolled out across the country. More than 1,500 ballots had to be recounted one-by-one, by hand, after one Diebold machine boldly... died. These are the same machines that Florida is preparing to roll out statewide and have already been used in 25 vote-troubled counties, despite concerns about hacking and missing paper trails.

Still, there is no reason for alarm, reports Kurt Browning, the FL Secretary of State. "It's not completely hacker-proof becuase you never say never," he announced. "But our systems are much more secure now than a month ago."

No wonder California's Secretary of State decertified all the machines in San Diego. More secure than a month ago... words to live by.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Iowa Straw Poll: Who Will Be the First to Go?

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 22:20:17 EDT

The results from the Iowa Straw Poll are in... and it's no surprise that Romney won. But the Straw Poll isn't about the winners, it's all about the losers, and steering the caboose were McCain and Giuliani. While neither actively took part in the race, their names were still listed in the ballot -- and their place at the end still firm. Ron Paul, meanwhile, pulled in close to ten percent... Stay tuned for more on what this means for the GOP field.

The numbers:
1. Mitt Romney –32 percent
2. Mike Huckabee – 18 percent
3. Sam Brownback – 15 percent
4. Tom Tancredo – 14 percent
5. Ron Paul – 9 percent
6. Tommy Thompson — 7 percent
7. Fred Thompson – 1 percent
8. Rudolph W. Giuliani – 1 percent
9. Duncan Hunter – 1 percent
10. John McCain (less than 1 percent)
11. John Cox (less than 1 percent)

The vote totals for the top three: Mr. Romney — 4,516 votes; Mr. Huckabee — 2,587; Mr. Brownback – 2,192.

And more from the NYT.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

FOX and Edwards: A Tragic Love Story

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:57:51 EDT

I would love to see Bill O'Reilly's make-up routine before he goes live on air.

Iowa Straw Poll Picks the GOP's Losers

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:43:14 EDT

It's Straw Poll in Iowa today - part summer festival, part fundraising extravaganza, but mostly an early glimpse at how this big time primary state will fall on the GOP candidates. This isn't an event that shows us who's in the lead, but rather who's going to be the first to exit the race, reports Bloomberg. "It's a peasant-maker, not a king-maker," Georgetown professor Chris Hull said.

And though they've been out there with the people at the Iowa Fair, Brownback and Huckabee may not like the results. All those fried Oreos for nothing. But Romney's zooming ahead in his newly-minted Mittmobile while Giuliani's absent entirely, complaining that it's a waste of time and money. We know he was just afraid of the life-sized butter cow sculpture, but we'll see how his absence goes over with Iowa voters.

CBS reports that Romeny is a sure-fire win, but when the last straw is drawn, we'll see who Iowa's willing to lose.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Obama's "What If" Ad

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:31:08 EDT

Giuliani Really Wants to Be "One of Them"

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:18:51 EDT

Giuliani's had a rough week. First, his daughter openly supports one of his many rivals on Facebook, then Romney lit into him about illegal immigrants just days before the Iowa Straw Poll. And now his foot is stuck in his mouth.

"I was at ground zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers," Giuliani told the press. "I was there working with them. I was there guiding things. I was there bringing people there. But I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I'm one of them."

Except that the firefighters don't think so. Earlier this summer, in fact, the president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, the NY firefighter union, vowed to make the Swiftboaters look sweet and truly sink the Giuliani campaign. The UFA "will never be with Rudy Giuliani," UFA head Steve Cassidy proclaimed on TPM in July. "We will make it known that he is not qualified to lead. For someone running for the highest office in the country claiming to be a leader on terrorism, Giuliani's track record stinks."

Moreover, the men on the ground agreed with Cassidy. Ironworker Jonathan Sferazo, 52, spent a month working on Ground Zero and is now disabled. He runs a worker advocacy group and told the Post that Giuliani's comments "severely" out of line.

"He's not one of us. He never has been and he never will be. He never served in a capacity where he was a responder," Sferazo said.

America's mayor seems to feel a little left out. And with the race for the Republican bid on, he's going to be in trouble trying to get anywhere until he's removed that foot from his mouth.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Iowa, NH spinning from SC Primary Announcement

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:38:19 EDT

New Hampshire and Iowa are taking it to the mattresses. Or to the toolshed, as Iowa Governor Chet Culver intoned today. "We'll do whatever it takes to keep Iowa first and keep the caucuses in January," he said. "We have a lot of tools in the toolbox and a good relationship with [New Hampshire.]" But whatever political Home Depot Culver intends to employ in the battle to keep the primaries in '08 will test the strength of that relationship with NH and its governor, John Lynch.

By law, Iowa holds its primaries eight days before New Hampshire. By tradition, New Hampshire holds its primaries on a Tuesday. By an all-consuming drive to actually matter, South Carolina announced Thursday that it will holds its primaries on January 17.

That's a problem for everyone who isn't South Carolina.

And just to drive it home - they made the announcement in New Hamsphire. Real sweet, boys.

But the announcement means that New Hampshire will have to push its primaries up - and everyone else is leapfrogging after. Iowa, however, still wants to be first. "Iowa is now faced with a choice here between two dates — one that could make it irrelevant and another that could make it less irrelevant," the Times reports. "But no one is sure which is which."

Except Culver, who is convinced he can sandwich New Hampshire directly between Iowa and the new folks down in Dixie. Let the wild rumpus begin.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Janet Reno: Future Clinton Girl?

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:43:02 EDT

In light of the new Obama Girl video ...and the debut of the Romney Girls... Veracifier is dying to catch a glimpse of the future Hillary Girl. The competition is steep, we know: Madeleine Albright is surely dying for an in, maybe even Ruth Bader Ginsberg - although I'm not sure those classy Supreme Court robes are cut for the notoriously-OG salacious pillow fights. But one dance-pundit leaves them all in the dust: the Waco Warble herself, Janet Reno. Just wait for the Clinton-McCain Girls mash up.

Her first tune: "I am still mad you called me her Daddy, Chelsea came out far too cute - but don't quit your day job, ladies, John's budget will give you the boot."

A voter can only hope. So with no further adieu, the new Obama Girl video: a send up of every campaign aid you'll ever remember.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Friday Cartoon

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:47:09 EDT

W Explores "Accountability"

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:32:10 EDT

Only slightly more frightening than W's approach to "accountability" is the fact that he grimaces when he hears the word. Grimaces. At today's presidential news conference, one intrepid journalist dared ask the Great Decider just exactly what in his presidency exemplifies that noble word, and his reply? "Louis Libby was held accountable!" If you, wise reader, noticed that he did not offer any singular example of his own accountability, you would be sage enough to also guess he might have had a screw just a bit loose when he later added about Gonzales: "You suggested holding the Attorney General accountable for something he did wrong!"

How unjust that would be.

But listening to Bush on accountability, one wonders exactly how his autobiography is going to read. I bet he's sitting there in the Oval Office as we speak, using a White House-logo emblazoned pen to play fetch with Barney and Mrs. Beazly, thumbing through his ideas for titles... "What It Takes: Greatness is a Mandate," or maybe "International Politics by W. It's just like Texas Baseball." Or, if he's really feeling the muse, perhaps, "Stay the Course! Declare Victory and It Will Be Yours." Of course, that'll be the self-help version. It'll be there at Barnes and Noble during the Holiday rush, with a glossy picture of the American flag and His Highness on it, in that "Famous People Wrote These Books You Would Never Otherwise Read" section that alwasy seems to appear during the gift-giving season. And, except when referencing Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or Americans talking to suspicious-sounding foreigners on their cell phones or computers, the word "accountability" will be conspicuously absent.

Unless we give MauDo her dying wish: to ghost write it. Of course, she wants to do that for both Bush and Cheney, which is asking alot, but after this shining, presidential moment of verbal prowess, I think we should give her a shot. From her op-ed at the NYT:

''How I Look on My Mistakes,'' by George W. Bush

The people trusted me with an important position. I didn't live up to expectations. I let Dick supersize the executive branch and cast Democrats as whiners and traitors. Why did I not suspect that Dick might be power-hungry when he appointed himself vice president? Why did I let him take over my presidency and fill it up with warmongers? I was so afraid to be called a wimp, as my father once was, I allowed Dick and Rummy to turn me into a wimp. I should never have allowed Dick to conspire with energy lobbyists and steer contracts to Halliburton. A tip-off should have been when Dick kept giving himself all the same powers that I had. Or when he outed that pretty lady spy.

If only I had kept my promise to go after the thugs who attacked us on 9/11, because now I've made Osama and Al Qaeda stronger. I know my false claim about Al Qaeda's ties with Iraq led to Iraq's being tied down by Al Qaeda. I see now that my bungled war on terror has created more terror, empowered Iran and made America less secure. Oh, yeah, and I'm sorry I broke the military.

I stained the family honor when I ignored the elders of the Iraq Study Group. I should not have worried that I would be seen as kowtowing to my dad's friends. The Oval Office is not the right place for a teenage rebellion.

I should not have picked that dimwit Brownie, and I should have trusted the gut of anyone besides that goof-off Chertoff to keep the nation safe. And what was I thinking when I said Harriet Miers should be a Supreme Court justice? That was loony. I'm sorry I made the surgeon general mention my name three times on every page of his speeches. That was childish.

How could I have let Dick bring in his best friend, Rummy, my dad's old nemesis? Dummy Rummy let Osama escape at Tora Bora, messed up the Iraq occupation and aborted a mission to wipe out top Al Qaeda leaders because he was protecting Musharraf, who was protecting Al Qaeda in the tribal areas. Even though I promised to get rid of dictators who helped terrorists, I ended up embracing a Pakistani dictator who helps terrorists.

I'm embarrassed that the Iraqi Parliament is taking a monthlong vacation in the middle of my surge. Could I have set a bad example when I rode my bike in Crawford while New Orleans drowned?

I'm sorry I keep pretending Iraq will get better if we stay longer. It wasn't very nice of me to push the surge when I knew it couldn't work. I just wanted to dump the defeat on my successor. I wish Hillary the best of luck.

If I had left the gym long enough to read about Algeria or even one of T. E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, then I might have not gotten bogged down in Iraq and let North Korea, China and Russia slide.

Being the Decider is so confusing. I regret stealing the presidency and wish I could give it back.

''How I Look on My Mistakes,'' by Dick Cheney

Buzz off.

I think she's on to something.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Google announces new way of news reporting.

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:26:02 EDT

Discussion of media is often surrounded by questions of accountability. It only takes a few minutes on Fox News before you are either ready to donate all your funds to the Republican Party or realize that the "news" is often a self-named joke.

In more ways than ever thought possible, the rise of the blogosphere changed the dynamic of news reporting. It upped the accountability. Now, the news often reports on what blogs are saying about the news. It all became some huge horror story for the main organizations when bloggers made many of the same ties and relationships in government that they thought were sacred to them for so long.

Google, as Google often does, is changing the dynamic of things even further. The Washington Post reported that Google is now going to only allow comments on news reports by those spoken of or quoted in the report.

In a blog entry, the Google News team wrote, "We're hoping that by adding this feature, we can help enhance the news experience for readers, testing the hypothesis that -- whether they're penguin researchers or presidential candidates-- a personal view can sometimes add a whole new dimension to the story."

A personal view is exactly what is lost in many of the front page stories of major papers. Often, the rebuttals are far distanced on other blogs or as back-page editorials in other papers. What Google is doing is bringing the discussion -- and sure to be the most interesting "other" facts of the story -- right into the view of the common reader. What those mentioned in the story say will become as interesting as what they do not say. Now that they have the opportunity, what would it mean if they refrained from rebutting against negative charges?

Google announced its plan in an entry titled "Perspectives about the news by people in the news." The current idea is this:

We're beginning this only in the U.S. and then, based on how things go, we'll work to expand it to other languages and editions. We're excited about the possibilities of this new feature and we hope you are, too, so if you've been covered in a news article please send us your comments and we'll work with you to post it on Google News.

Maybe we will even get to see Mrs. Edwards going off on more liars.

Mike Huckabee sounds like a democrat?

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 11:18:32 EDT

Mike Huckabee sounded a bit like a Dem on "Hardball" last night ... (he did have attack obesity with Clinton) Seemed to sending a little jab at the fiscal conservatives in the Republican camp.

Candidates Fight Over Lobbyists

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:12:48 EDT

They're not all nurses, Hil ...

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Edwards's 'Spade Work' at the AFL-CIO Presidential Forum

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 16:27:03 EDT

In the carnival of pre-presidential debates, there are only a handful of moments that matter. But when an honest question transforms a candidate into a potential president, the audience knows it's seeing something that doesn't happen everyday. And at the AFL-CIO Presidential Forum in Chicago on Tuesday, the '08 candidates found themselves in the most gripping one yet.

"Every day of my life, I sit across the kitchen table from the woman who devoted 32 years of her life to my family, and I can't afford to pay for her health care," one union member choked through tears. A few years ago, he had to retire with disability. But when his company later went under, he lost one-third of his pension -- cash he did not have to spare. "What's wrong with America," he asked. "And what will you do to change it?"

This is what happens at a labor forum. You won't see this at Millionaires for Bush or the high-roller campaign stops in Manhattan and Hollywood; these are the kind of questions you only get from real people -- the sort who have spent every day of their lives working their fingers to the bone, pinching pennies, cutting coupons and shopping the sale rack at the discount store. In other words, these are the questions you get from the majority of Americans.

This puts the candidates a little out of their element.

But as the self-fashioned man of the people (particularly the poor people), we shouldn't be surprised that when the whole audience stood in his support of this worker, John Edwards was the first candidate to clap in his honor.

In the 2004 election, organized labor gave $53.6 million to the Democratic Party, and the '08 candidates haven't forgotten. Edwards has a long history with labor, and a key part of his platform is the support and growth of that dying archetype of American life: the middle class. He wants the freedom to unionize, the support of a living minimum wage and health care for every worker that matches that of a CEO. So do the other candidates, of course, but Edwards is actually running on it.

"He has done more than any elected official or public persona to support our union efforts to organize ... since he left office," said Chris Chafe, Unite Here's chief of staff.

That's priceless to any candidate, and it's just what Edwards reminded the audience at Chicago's Soldier Field. It's fine to give a polished speech at an organized debate, Edwards told the retiree, but the buck doesn't stop there.

"Who's been with you in the crunch?," he asked the crowd. "In the past two years, 200 times I have walked picket lines." When Keith Olberman tried to reign him in, Edwards cut back. "Let me finish this," he said. "Who will stand you with when it really matters?"

The support of organized labor has long been the trump card for a Democratic candidate. And if there's anything the forum last night proved, it's that the fight is on. But Edwards has the running lead, and he's hoping that'll count for something. "Edwards' spade work has established him as the buzz candidate in the labor community," reports The Fix. So we'll see if they'll stand with him in the crunch.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Colbert on YearlyKos

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:39:58 EDT

"The Colbert Report" on the YearlyKos: Can you tell the Nazis from the bloggers? Admittedly, the mustache does make it a little harder. Poor Bill; I'd be confused too.

Brown is no Scared Blair

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:16:17 EDT

The time has finally come: The Prime Minister of Britain has his own thought process.

While many commended Tony Blair in 2005 for gaining the release of nine British citizens held in Guantanamo, the question still lingered as to whether aid would be sought for British residents held in the camp. The Blair administration contended that they had no right under international law to seek the release of the remaining British residents, as they were not British citizens. The obvious rebuttal, of course, was that the Bush administration had no right under international law to hold them there without a trial. Many British, including those released from Guantanamo in 2005, joined organizations like Amnesty International to push for the release of the remaining prisoners.

Whereas Blair is known for his habit of covering his ears with his hands and humming whenever Guantanamo came into discussion, it seems Gordon Brown is taking a different path. Today, Foreign Secretary David Miliband wrote Condoleezza Rice requesting the release of the five British residents held in Guantanamo.

"We see this as a major change on the government's position. Prior to this, they were not calling for the release of the British residents," said Moazzam Begg, a Briton who was detained at Guantanamo Bay for two years before being released in 2005.

"It's taken us 5 1/2 years to get to this point," he said. "There are children that have never seen their fathers. There are parents who died while their children have been locked away. But finally there seems to be some light at the end of a very long tunnel." Yahoo

There is a lot of celebration among Britons and civil-rights activists, all hoping this is a signal Brown has no issue stepping up to Bush. Guantanamo, while downsized from the 770 when the camp opened, still holds 370 inmates.

Brown's request is assumed to be welcomed by Bush. Not for it's moral stance, but for the fact that the Bush administration has been trying to reduce the number in Guantanamo and this would be a great PR moment to do so.

The Bush administration wants to demand intense surveillance of anyone in Guantanamo upon their return, whereas the British laugh at the possibility.

Mr. Stafford Smith said that the British government was not imposing any restrictions on the men. He quickly added, "But we are prepared to give the British people two assurances. One, these men are not terrorists. And two, if anyone still has any concerns, we’d be willing to submit to any reasonable restrictions." NYT

The outright proclamation that "these men are not terrorists" rings too true. While it is beyond commendable that Brown is stepping up to Bush, it is shameful Blair never stood up for men his country knew were guilty of no crime.

One man has already been cleared by the U.S. government for release, and the other four are expected to gain clearance shortly.

Thank you, Mr. Brown, for not being a total lapdog and caring the slightest bit about human rights. But please, do not let this be the extent of your concern. Who will stand up for the rest?

Daddy's daughter?

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 09:51:54 EDT

Interesting news -- Rudy's daughter is an Obama Girl? In 17-year-old Caroline's Facebook entry, she described herself as a "Liberal" and is a member of the "One million strong for Obama" group. Slate grabbed a screen shot before the Facebook entry was suddenly locked. Interestingly, no one seems to have noted that Caroline is interested in "random play" and "whatever she can get." Perhaps not so different from her father after all? In March, Giuliani's son Andrew, who is a junior at Duke, told the New York Times that he and his father had been estranged for some time, and he has spoken candidly about his objections to Giuliani's marriage to Judith Nathan.

Ron Paul at GOP Debates

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 16:46:05 EDT

... you're right. It's not all duck soup, Mr. Paul.

Gonzales now Sheriff, Judge, and Jury

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:40:16 EDT

Euro News says it "creates a broad net in which law-abiding American citizens will be easily caught," but the president signed into law on Sunday the Republican plan to temporarily overhaul national-surveillance laws. The bill was pushed through Congress on Friday as the Senate caved under pressure from Pennsylvania Ave. Democrats are furious; not only does the new law essentially legitamize the oft-condemned warrantless wiretapping program, it also undermines the mediating work they tried to achieve with the Republicans over the bill.

But U.S. intelligence czar Mike McConnell said he rejected the Democratic alternatives because they contained too much "uncertainty," but the Left remains leery. "This bill makes Alberto Gonzales the sheriff, the judge, and the jury," said David Wu, D-Ore. And given the current administration's track record, that's enough to make anybody skeptical.

While every point of the program leaves room for heavy criticism, the most terrifying aspect of the law is the surveillance of domestic activity without court approval under the auspices of catching someone abroad. Until now, the already-loosened Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, restrictions merely demanded that the foreigner with whom the American was corresponding with have some link (however loose) to Al-Qaida. But the new bill gives the NSA the right to collect all electronic communications in the future without a warrant, without court approval and only with the discretion of the ever-reliable attorney general and director of national intelligence.

Tony Fratto, White House spokesman, told the NYT that the purpose of the law is to allow for greater flexibility in focusing on foreign suspects, not actual Americans. "It's foreign, that's the point," he said. "What you want to make sure is that you're getting the foreign target."

But that part of the law has already accrued heated scrutiny, reported Forbes.com. "The administration said the measure is needed to speed the National Security Agency's ability to intercept phone calls, e-mails and other communications involving foreign nationals 'reasonably believed to be outside the United States.' Civil-liberties groups and many Democrats say it goes too far, possibly enabling the government to wiretap U.S. residents communicating with overseas parties without adequate oversight from courts or Congress."

And therein lies the potential problem. If the surveillance exists purely to spy on the foreigner, what happens if an American says something incriminating or material? Even with an innocent correspondence, the law only requires that Americans' private information be deleted from records if it's deemed irrelevant to the investigation.

Pelosi and Conyers are on the defense. Almost immediately, they laid out revisions to the law, calling for Congress to reconvene to address the major failings of the new bill. Think Progress has the reaction -- but we'll see what actually happens in September.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

YearlyKos: Chris Dodd

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 17:02:26 EDT

YearlyKos: Max Blumenthal

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 15:11:34 EDT

TPMtv brings us Max Blumenthal on "blogofascists," Joe Klein's absence from the Time magazine party, and liberal stereotypes (replete with Jesse Jackson impersonation).

YearlyKos: NYT's Matt Bai

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 14:16:36 EDT

"I really don't like you, but I thought you did a good job," one audience member told the NYT's Matt Bai. Here, Bai tells us mattered to him at YearlyKos -- most particularly, the conversation between the candidates on Iraq. Read more about what Bai thinks: on bloggers and the '08 Election.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

YearlyKos: Getting down in the Swampland

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 13:11:56 EDT

TPMtv takes us to the Swampland "Tell it to Our Faces" party … Read Swampland recently?
See what Ana Marie Cox and Co. have been up to.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

YearlyKos: TIME's Jay Carney

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:44:17 EDT

Does the blogosphere like Time magazine? Jay Carney says tell it to our faces … and he'll say it to yours.

"It's a lot less hostile in person than online when hiding behind handles and names and not-real identities. It's a lot easier to deliver ad homonym and vitriolic and mean-spirited and personal attacks when you're not saying who you are and where you are."

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

YearlyKos: Gravel!

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:42:04 EDT

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

YearlyKos: AP's Ron Fournier

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:40:49 EDT

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

YearlyKos: Dodd and Richardson

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 08:34:50 EDT

Straight from the Presidential Leadership Forum.

Dodd (cheers) -

Richardson (boos) -

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

YearlyKos: Here Comes The Heat … Candidates on Lobbyists

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 20:40:31 EDT

The heat was ratcheted way up at today's discussion with the '08 candidates -- and all applause, boos and laughter ensued:

Edwards: I think my party, the Democratic party, the party of the people ought to say from this day forward, we will never take a dime from a Washington lobbyist, we do not do business with these deciders.

Clinton (who finally showed up) replied: Like it or not, a lot of those lobbyists represent real Americans. They actually do, they represent nurses, social workers; yes they represent corporations that employ a lot of people. The idea that somehow a contribution is going to influence you …

Obama: What I will say is I disagree with the notion that lobbyists don't have disproportionate influence. Look, the insurance and drug companies spent $1 billion to lobby over the last ten years. And Hillary, you were talking about those efforts you made in '93. Well, you can't tell me that money didn't make a difference. They are not spending that just because they are contributing to the public interest, they have an agenda.

How simple is change? And what can the grassroots movements do? Is public financing the answer?

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Stay tuned to Veracifier all weekend for updates and interviews from the floor of the YearlyKos.

YearlyKos: Sirota on Local Netroots Effort

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 12:55:34 EDT

Consultant, blogger and journalist David Sirota is at YearlyKos reporting for the last chapter of his new book, "The Uprising." He's also blogging from the convention for Working for Change. In addition, he's serving on a few panels -- including those on rural issues and the progressive-stakes networks. He hopes to get the netroots campaign going at the state level, and the buzz at YK is of the power of local blogging.

"I think that there's a huge amount of progress politically," he said of the local netroots effort. "We've taken back one chamber in Montana, took back the legislature and governership in Colorado, various governers throughout the West … and so we've made political progress. The only question is how we make legislative progress. How do we pass legislation to change the law with the power we now have. I think that's what we're trying, the progressive stakes network, are trying to do." So how does the netroots campaign affect this kind of change? "It's just a matter of getting engaged," he argues. At the local level, even the media recognizes that, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. At the national level? See what WaPo says.

Sirota started out in 2005 as a contributing blogger for HuffPo and was an Al Franken regular. He's done columns for The Nation and his clips include The American Prospect, WaPo, LA Times, Baltimore Sun, and The San Francisco Chronicle. His 2006 "Hostile Takeover" was a New York Times bestseller. In addition to his work with Open Left, he will have a new column with Creators Syndicate starting this fall, in the stead of the late great Molly Ivans.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

YearlyKos: NPI on the Political Future

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 09:10:58 EDT

Peter Leyden has been big in the Kos world since the beginning -- his organization, the New Politics Institute, was in fact cofounded by Zach Kos. They call themselves a "think tank for politics," and so far, they have some really interesting ideas, most notably among them the "New Tools Campaign." It's essentially a step-by-step guide for organizations (and politicians to reach out to the so-called Millenium generation: using blogs, leveraging social networks, going mobile, etc. Doing, essentially, what everyone at YearlyKos is doing. And NPI is doing it well: Learn about their take on progressive politics and the world of videos in politics.

But despite the new day job, Leyden remains a blogger at heart. Read his most recent posts at NDN: Beyond YouTube: The Explosion of Bottom-Up Video and Tracking the Conservatives' Mastery of Niche Marketing. Let us know what you think.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Stay tuned to Veracifier all weekend for updates and interviews from the floor of the YearlyKos.

Yearly Kos: Juan Cole, Bloggers on YK07

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 22:47:12 EDT

Juan Cole of Informed Comment tells us about his experience at YearlyKos.

His postings about the event so far:

The Yearly Kos netroots convention is celebrating grassroots democratic activism.

The Chicago Sun-Times covers the events Thursday evening. Howard Dean spoke with perceptiveness and passion about democracy and the Internet.

I was even impressed by Sen. Dick Durbin's, D-Ill., appearance by video (he was leaving for Iraq and Afghanistan). He was on top of Internet issues and also avoided the robot-speak so common among Washington politicians. He came across as a genuine human being.

Sen. Clinton won't stay for a smaller breakout session after an appearance on Saturday afternoon, unlike the other candidates. This appears to be an innocent mix-up between her staff and that of Yearly Kos, but the bloggers are deeply disappointed and I think Clinton missed an important opportunity.

Also, input from Ramona Oliver of Emily's List:

and famed blogger Matt Yglesias of The American Prospect:

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Stay tuned to Veracifier all weekend for updates and interviews from the floor of the Yearly Kos.

YearlyKos: Welsey Clark Shows Bush What's Up

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:47:37 EDT

"History doesn't end when the last soldier takes the road to Basra," Clark said in his speech today. He focused largely on foreign policy, even calling for a solution between Israel and Palestine, but concentrated his efforts on addressing the problems in Iraq. And there, he says, the dilemma is clear. ""We are not questioning the generals. Mr. President, we are questioning you! Stop hiding behind Dave Petraeus." In an interview with TPMtv, Clarke explains his position and affirms his conviction to hold the president -- and the administration -- on the hook.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Stay tuned to Veracifier all weekend for updates and interviews from the floor of the Yearly Kos.

YearlyKos: Quiz Bowl

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:44:24 EDT

Hardest Quiz Bowl ever … and some Wesley Clark. Stay tuned for an interview with the general.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

YearlyKos: Howard Dean's Opening Address

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 13:44:57 EDT

"What you have done in the last six years," Dean told the audience, "is to set this country on the path of restoring the democracy that George Bush and the Republicans have tried to undermine." In his address, Dean focused on the enormous shift in power the Internet has borne -- from blogging to the YouTube debates to the need for verifiable vote counts to avoid another Ohio or Florida. "It got things changed from outside the cozy realm of the Beltway and put it out in the realm of the rest of the world," he said.

In other words, there is reason to hope: The times, they are a-changin'.

HuffPo's Rick Jacobs correlates the grassroots, blogging electorate symbolized by the success of Yearly Kos and the age-old practice of Republican politics. "People want to build from the ground up, taking the best of ideas, research and activism to lead on local and state issues. That's what the Right Wing did for decades. They worked slowly but inexorably on issues." And that, he concludes, is what the Internet is doing for politics today.

The boom in political power Internet users now wield is the most important change to the process "since the invention of the printing press," Dean told the audience. "It has redemocratized America. There has been a tremendous shift in power."

For old media outlets, that's bad news. The Chicago Sun-Times is one of the old boys not clenching their newspapers and hiding from what's happening right now in the Windy City. "Such is the clout of these Internet-savvy bloggers holding their annual convention in Chicago that all of the current major Democratic candidates for president will address them Saturday," writes Abdon M. Pallasch. "The message will reverberate exponentially as the bloggers post selections online."

And that's just what Dean hopes. As he laid out his new Election Protection Plan, he focused on tackling hackneyed systems and replacing them with user-friendly, accountable technologies for one purpose alone: "The goal of this unprecedented project is to protect and ensure our voting rights, by working now to identify and attempt to resolve election-administration issues that threaten to deprive citizens of the right to register, vote and have their vote counted."

And that's what Yearly Kos is all about: getting counted.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

YearlyKos: Talking with John Dean

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:41:09 EDT

John Dean, former White House Counsel to Richard Nixon, talks about being at YearlyKos and the panel he will be doing with Arianna Huffington and other former Right-Wingers. "I still in many ways think of myself as a Goldwater conservative," he said. "But that actually puts me pretty left of center today."

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Stay tuned to Veracifier all weekend for updates and interviews from the floor of the Yearly Kos.

Farming Ain't What it Used to Be

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 09:37:20 EDT

In his editorial in the NYTimes today Nicholas Kristof announces that he, a very successful journalist in New York, receives $588 a year not to farm land he owns in Oregon. The article, aptly titled, "I'm Ripping You Off," continues into a complete denouncement of the farm-subsidies system in America.

The farm-subsidy system is always, it seems, the center of a heated debate behind the scenes of the more publicized issues such as the war or National Security Agency, or NSA. While many defend the idolized farmer often depicted as a poor Dust Bowl survivor, a few statistics can offer no real defense.

The Government Accountability Office last month found that the government had handed out $1.1 billion over seven years to dead farmers. In one case, payments were made continually to a farmer who had died in 1973.

While many (see the comments on Kristof's blog) defend the payments to current farmers, anyone is hard pressed to explain why it is OK for the government to remove money out of the average American family's funds for health care or school and deposit it into the bank account of someone who is no longer breathing.

The majority of payments go to commercial farmers who earn more than $200,000 annually, while 95 percent of farmers get little or no benefit from the farm bill. That’s why my friends from my F.F.A. days speak contemptuously about those who make a living “farming the government.”

That statistic seems to fluster the idea of the poor Dust Bowl survivor, barely able to make it by plowing the ground day-in and day-out. Kristof is quick to point out the irony that our government is threatening to veto a bill for children's health care for poor families, yet we pay people subsidies who make more than $200,000 annually. However, in a turn of the normal villain role, it is Bush who set a goal to cap farm-subsidy payments at $200,000 per person. The Democrats have led the movement to up the amount allowed to $1 million per person, $2 million per couple.

Kristof's blog erupted with comments, from the farmers who receive subsidies announcing how they are being paid to ruin land to environmentally wary readers who feel Kristof cares nothing about preserving forests. One persistent opinion arose dealing with this statistic cited in his article:

The average American family pays $320 a year in farm subsidies, through higher taxes and food prices, according to a recent study by the Heritage Foundation.

The common feeling towards that statement was not outrage, but a persistent statement that 'that is nothing compared to what I am having to pay for Iraq.' I found this an interesting thought process, the proclamation that 'I would rather have my hard earned money go to a farmer than to murdering Iraqis.' I think the point of Kristof's article is that the money would be best served never leaving the wallet of the original holder in the first place. To refuse to analyze a program, because it does not seem as outrageously villianized as the Iraqi war, is to allow dead men to receive your hard-earned money for another 40 years.

YearlyKos: McJoan Explains the Program

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 08:16:34 EDT

With 1,500 people converging on Chicago for a sold-out YearlyKos, TPM's Andrew Golis and Ben Craw talk with Joan McCarter, "McJoan," about the lineup for the weekend.

On the docket: the swampland party ("if we're going to trash talk, let's do it in person," says McJoan), the arrival of Democratic leadership on Saturday, conversations and debates with the '08 candidates … all substance and opinions, she says, and absolutely no talk of haircuts.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Stay tuned to Veracifier all weekend for updates and interviews from the floor of the Yearly Kos.

Oklahoma OK?

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:22:33 EDT

Yes, this is an official Oklahoma state license plate. Scaremongering is one thing, but this is just so very tacky.

Rove, School-Yard Bully

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:02:14 EDT

The playground report is in: Karl Rove sends little kids to do his dirty work.

The Senate Judiciary Committee met today to grill a 29-year-old aide to Bush's vizier in the absence of the big man himself -- much to their chagrin. Their day with J. Scott Jennings was one of consternation, abject boredom and, at it's most interesting, an impassioned conversation about blackberries.

"Sadly, our efforts to follow the evidence where it leads has been met with Nixonian stonewalling," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told the NYTimes.

Even Arlen Specter caught the enough-is-enough bug. "We may well see the end of the tenure of Attorney General Gonzales," adding that it's fine by him if the "wily witness" is sent packing.

But Leahy's giving him one more chance: Gonzales now has until Friday to resolve the discrepancies in his testimony about divisions within the Justice Department over the warrantless wiretapping program. This is after Gonzales sent a letter Wednesday saying that he was "deeply concerned with suggestions that my testimony was misleading and am determined to address any such impression."

He went on to explain:

"I recognize that my use of the term 'Terrorist Surveillance Program' and my shorthand reference to the 'program' publicly 'described by the president' may have created confusion," he continued, "particularly for those who are knowledgeable about the NSA activities authorized in the presidential order described by the DNI, and who may be accustomed to thinking of them or referring to them together as a single NSA 'program.'" [The Hill]

If you got turned around in that absolutely clarifying statement, you're not alone: Leahy has been given such a slippery circle of comments, he's finally asking the big question:

"We are quickly reaching a point where," he said, "given the claim of executive privilege, the logical question is what did the president know and when did he know it?"

But that's not all. He even took the next step.

"By his claim of executive privilege, is President Bush now taking responsibility for the firing of such well-regarded and well-performing U.S. attorneys?"

If someone over on Pennsylvania Ave. isn't reeling, they should be.

Note to self: When trying to hide big, bad secrets, do not scream, "we do not have secrets!" before anyone's even asked. And when they do, roundabout conversations about blackberry ownership and Republican National Committee email accounts do not work as a fake-out. There go my plans for world domination.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

The Op-Ed Everyone's Talking About

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:13:09 EDT

It was surprising enough to hear five liberal pundits on Chris Matthews arguing to stay in Iraq Sunday, but with Monday's NYT op-ed came the double whammy that still has American reeling:

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.

Authors Michael O'Hanlon and Ken Pollack, both of the Brookings Institute, report that things in Iraq are not only on the mend, but moreover, this new success is a sign of the times: we shouldn't pull out.

How much longer should American troops keep fighting and dying to build a new Iraq while Iraqi leaders fail to do their part? And how much longer can we wear down our forces in this mission? These haunting questions underscore the reality that the surge cannot go on forever. But there is enough good happening on the battlefields of Iraq today that Congress should plan on sustaining the effort at least into 2008. Full Text

... in the New York Times. But Hell hasn't actually frozen over (yet) and, proverbial guns raised, the battle is just beginning. Retorts are still pouring in from every end of the media world.

"Often wrong, but never in doubt," reported Think Progress. They said O'Hanlon and Pollack were doing trifle more than embarking on a stay-the-course public relations tour.

Rep. John Murtha told the AFP that it was "rhetoric," calling it "over-optimist" and an "illusion." He concluded that they were simply wrong. "I don't know what they were saying. I don't know what they saw. But I know this, it's not getting any better."

On CNN, Diyala province correspondent Michael Ware told Anderson Cooper that "these guys were only in the country for eight days and they point to a success story of a neighborhood in Baghdad... they say it's so peaceful we can walk around the Sunni area. Yes, that's because it's divided, the Iraq army troops won't let the Shia in."

Joe Biden told NBC's Today Show, "The operative point Pollack and O'Hanlon make... is that there's military success, but there's not any political success. Once we leave, it explodes."

Pollack and O'Hanlon may have glossed over that point, but Blogosphere to the rescue. Newsbusters is rife with suggestions of an NYT conspiracy - saying it's easy to win now so that whoever becomes President could make a clear assertion of success - while others remind the readers that violence and politics are vastly different issues, particularly in such a diverse country as Iraq. Still others argue that the military side of the war isn't nearly as rosy as the op-ed would lead us to believe.

Free Republic's readers say we've entered the twilight zone.

At Board Reader, one blogger reminds us that it's awfully hard to say the war can be won now when Victory!, after all, was declared back in 2003.

Politico reported the bloggers' response in full and followed up with Pollack and O'Hanlon. O'Hanlon said to them by email that he and his co-author were espousing "just temporary optimism," news to their readers, no doubt. There was none of what The New Yorker's George Packer calls "necessary humility" in their op-ed, especially striking given their ideological history. Despite their employment, the two aren't nearly as left-leaning as the Dick Cheney would have you believe: they supported the war and the surge.

But watch TPMtv's Lying Liars: Dick Cheney episode. The White House has been desperately searching for support of any kind, and Pollack and O'Hanlon's little romp through Iraq proved just the thing. Veracifier's amazed. Though it's always been left-leaning, the Times just made itself every part the donkey.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Everybody Loves a Secret

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:21:11 EDT

As if this is a surprise to anyone, the government surveillance program that originally was outed as warrantless wiretapping is now being considered a much larger and more invasive program.

Amidst the accusations that Alberto Gonzales committed perjury rises National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell.

In a letter to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), McConnell wrote that the executive order following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks included "a number of . . . intelligence activities" and that a name routinely used by the administration -- the Terrorist Surveillance Program -- applied only to "one particular aspect of these activities, and nothing more."

"This is the only aspect of the NSA activities that can be discussed publicly, because it is the only aspect of those various activities whose existence has been officially acknowledged," McConnell said. WP

You can find the entire letter of McConnell over at TPMmuckracker.

The point of this letter, explains the Washington Post, was to defend Gonzales from claims of perjury when he told Congress there were no legal objections about the TSP. The side effect of McConnell's letter, of course, is recognition that there is still much we do not know about the NSA's activities.

Many are finding the technical name for a specific program no reason to forgive Gonzales for his testimony before Congress, being as how they all originated from the same executive order. The term 'weasel words' has been used to describe McConnell's defense for Gonzales, and there is definitely a question over clarifying terminology that seems oddly familiar (I did not have sexual relations with that woman!)

Others seem to be waiting for more information, hoping that through the defense of perjury they can gain the information they were trying to get in the first place - knowledge of what, exactly, our government is doing. There has only been official acknowledgment of warrantless surveillance of phone calls and e-mails by Bush in 2006, making McConnell's statement the first official acknowledgment there is more to the NSA's activities. The official response to McConnell seems to be 'no comment' thus far.

Kate Martin, executive director of the Center for National Security Studies, said what many are feeling:

"They have repeatedly tried to give the false impression that the surveillance was narrow and justified," Martin said. "Why did it take accusations of perjury before the DNI disclosed that there is indeed other, presumably broader and more questionable, surveillance?"

There is an irony in that the best way to get information seems to be accusing someone of perjury, as bringing them on the stand and swearing them in just doesn't do the trick anymore. But hey, why should the Attorney General have respect for the law?

- Kristin Linder

Edwards at BlogHer07, Candidates in the Googlesphere

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 11:38:09 EDT

Internet regulation is starting to take off as a hot-button issue in Campaign '08. And this weekend, Elizabeth Edwards - the outspoken, blogging, might-be First Lady - served as the keynote speaker at the BlogHer07 Conference. Interviewed by HuffPo's Jennifer Pozner and the Women Who Blog community at large, Edwards brought Net Neutrality to the forefront of her husband's campaign.

"It's been very bad for democracy for precisely the reasons you've suggested, which has made your jobs even more important because you're not subject to the same consolidations, which is another reason why net neutrality is so important," she told the bloggers.

It's also important to big donors. Particularly those located in the Googlesphere, where a nod from Google and approval on the left are becoming synonymous, a political You-Must-Be-This-High-to-Enjoy-The-Ride poster, pointy finger and all. "A visit to Google, in a way, is like stopping by the Internet of today," Fred Turner, author of "From Counterculture to Cyberculture" and Stanford professor, told WaPo. "When you visit Google, you're respecting that sensibility and showing your alliance with it."

So on their requisite Tour Du Google, candidates try to be on their best behavior - but they frequently get in their own way. Ron Paul stumbled and said, "I tend to think it's overblown, global warming."

Edwards was blindsided by the company's agreement to censor searchers in China, recanting to a reporter later, "I would be engaged with the Chinese in a very tough way to make sure they're aware of where we see abuses occur."

Clinton has had the most shining visit yet. "I want you all to imagine with me what our country would look like in 10 years... which would be the end of my second term," she told the Googlers.

Clinton's strong reception is no real surprise, particularly given her co-sponsorship of the Dorgan and Snowe Internet neutrality law. The Dems fall in line - Obama is known for his equally strong stance in favor of neutrality - but the rest of the political landscape isn't as clear. Especially while McCain continues to rail against it with his whole political might (or whatever's left of it).

But how the bill - and the future of Net Neutrality - will fair with the FCC remains to be seen. According to The Nation, legislators will be best served by ignoring the old media conglomerates in favor of popular opinion. "Internet users want competitive and affordable services," Timothy Karr, campaign director for Free Press, "They don't want phone and cable companies to manipulate the free flow of information and distort the Web's level playing field. Now, the FCC must heed demands from people of every walk of life and enforce full Net Neutrality." The FCC, and the candidates.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Look to Veracifier for more on the latest issues like Net Neutrality starting on Thursday as we bring you all the news from the Yearly Kos - video, commentary, we'll have it all. Stay tuned.

The Schip Hits the Fan

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:51:40 EDT

Bush has targeted many enemies during his term: Hussein, Al Qaeda, Michael Moore. His newest opponent, however, is an interesting selection: poor children.

Thursday the Senate Finance Committee approved the renewal and expansion of SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Originally instated in 1997, SCHIP was the largest health care expansion since Medicaid in the 60s. The purpose of the program is to aid children in families that are caught in the gap between Medicare/aid and the costs of private insurance. Currently, the program covers 6.9 million children.

SCHIP comes for renewal in September, and the Senate Finance Committee has approved a bill to increase the coverage to an additional 3.2 million children.

"Bill supporters said the measure, approved 17–4, would expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover nearly 10 million uninsured children. The reauthorization would cover children in households with incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line.

The five-year, $60 billion bill would be funded by a 61-cent-a-pack increase in the federal tax on cigarettes and increased taxes on other tobacco products. The increase would bring the federal cigarette tax to $1 per pack." CWF

The House version of the bill is even more ambitious, wanting to add 5.1 million children to the current coverage, planning to pay for the increase in costs by reducing subsidies to Medicare Advantage.

The Senate bill has garnered bipartisan support, yet the White House has voiced that the veto pen is ready. The Senate bill would increase spending an additional $35 billion over the next five years, while the House bill will cost an additional $50 billion. Bush has declared he only approves an increase of $5 billion, and that he would consider a higher figure but does not support the expansion of the program to new participants.

"...President Bush says that access to care is no problem — “After all, you just go to an emergency room” — and, with the support of the Republican Congressional leadership, he’s declared that he’ll veto any Schip expansion on “philosophical” grounds." NYT

Paul Krugman argues Bush is afraid the program would show the American public the government is, indeed, capable of providing good healthcare.

It is an interesting fight for Bush to pick given the enormous support for the program. Krugman cited a recent poll by Georgetown University that "9 in 10 Americans — including 83 percent of self-identified Republicans — support an expansion of the children’s health insurance program."

In the Washington Post David Brooks made his prediction:

"What will probably happen is that Congress will pass a bill that will draw a veto -- and then the serious bargaining will begin. The current authorization expires Sept. 30, and no one wants to see the program end.

But if and when a compromise is reached, the larger issues of health care will remain. And that is why it is important that the presidential candidates in both parties take advantage of the opportunity being offered by a series of health-care forums this fall."

SCHIP is just one program in the debate over healthcare, but it is making a lot of noise and pitting Bush against massive public support (not that he ever cares). The benefit of the battle is increased exposure to the problems of the healthcare system. Hopefully, with more serious discussions of policy the healthcare system will get a much needed reworking.

Thankfully, some serious discussions are already being planned. The Federation of American Hospitals and Families USA are planning a forum to analyze the healthcare plans of presidential candidates. Each hour interview will put one presidential candidate before a four person panel to discuss their health care plans. The panel is a serious collection, with Laurie McGinley of the Wall Street Journal, Susan Dentzer of PBS's "NewsHour," Timothy Johnson of ABC News and Julie Rovner of National Public Radio. Current commitments include Hillary Clinton on Sept. 19 and John Edwards on the 24. Hopefully we will be enlightened with plans that reach beyond, "After all, you just go to an emergency room."

You've got a friend in me...

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:25:39 EDT

Today's TPMtv shows that no one is ever alone. Even Alberto Gonzales has a friend- Orin Hatch. When seemingly no one was prepared to come forward to defend the Attorney General, Sen. Hatch stepped up to the plate. Perhaps this selfless defense (and lets face it, self sacrifice of his dignity) is a reflection of his strong Utah values, or maybe a deeper sense of friendship? Here are some of the lyrics Sen. Hatch wrote to “Little Angel of Mine,” from the movie “Stuart Little 2”:

My arms will be around you
Kiss your tears away
I’ll comfort and protect you
Never be afraid
Close your eyes, go to sleep
Little angel of mine

Sounds like just what AG needs at the moment.

For more of the Senator's music check out http://www.hatchmusic.com/songs.html

--Marc

Financial Times profiles TPM

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 21:00:34 EDT

The Financial Times has done an in depth profile of Josh Marshall and Talking Points Media. It underscores the excellent original behind the headlines Josh does everyday. Here are some quotes from the article:

"Marshall almost single-handidly kept the attorney purge story alive," says Eric Boehlert, a senior fellow at the progressive media watchdog organisation Media Matters for America. "He pulled off a textbook example of what new media and online media can do."

"I'd say he's a progressive Matt Drudge in the ascendancy, but Josh actually does the journalistic spadework, information isn't spoon- fed to him," says John Kerry

"I think Marshall's a special case if not truly unique in that he's a serious intellectual journalist who has decided to become a serious activist," Jonah Goldberg

Frank Rich, one of Marshall's regular readers: "It's just good journalistic writing. It would be true if it was published in a paper or on the internet."

NY Times suggests impeachment...

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:02:34 EDT

Today in an editorial the New York Times has said that if Solicitor General Paul Clement does not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Alberto Gonzales' running of the Justice Department, Congress should impeach the Attorney General.

Tony Snow on Mueller

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:10:10 EDT

In the highfalutin new WH press room, Tony Snow told journalists, "notice, yesterday the director of the FBI never once used 'Terrorist Surveillance Program.'" Watch today's footage and note: "TSA" comes up plain and clear. Perhaps we should send Snow a dictionary, seemingly the only piece of technology the press room lacks.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Mueller v. Gonzales ... liar!

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:53:31 EDT

Gonzales... a liar? That's the word on the streets in Washington today, where FBI Director Robert Mueller contradicted the sworn testimony of his boss, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Despite Gonzales' repeated affirmation to the House Judiciary Committee that the warrantless surveillance program caused no internal debates on Pennsylvania Avenue, it seems there might have been some talk after all. According to Mueller, the program was a topic of heated debate.

This latest blow to Gonzales casts further doubt on his credibility, and seemingly marks the first public confirmation from a Bush administration official that the NSA's program was a factor in that infamous bedside hospital visit with then Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Inside the Beltway, they're circling the wagons. "He tells the half-truth, the partial truth, and anything but the truth,' said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), whose longstanding battle with Gonzales is no secret. But the White House is siding with Gonzales. Read more about Mueller's testimony from VOA, the fallout from the Tribune, Senate response from NYT, and UPI's short, sweet, and digged version.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Fox Attacks Bloggers

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:30:00 EDT

Robert Greenwald has released a video of recent Fox attacks on left wing bloggers:

Bill O'Reilly particularly went after Jet Blue's sponsorship of the Yearly Kos. I hope you all saw the Colbert Report's excellent coverage:

TPMtv will be coming to you throughout the Yearly Kos with updates posted every few hours on Veracifier and TPM.

--Marc

A Lesson in Critiquing the Government: Proceed with Caution

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:51:12 EDT

Michael Moore has been served with a subpoena by the Bush administration over his recent trip to Cuba for the filming of Sicko. "The Oscar-winning filmmaker, who appeared Thursday on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," said he was notified about the subpoena at the network's studios in Burbank, Calif. "I haven't even told my own family yet," Moore said. "I was just informed when I was back there with Jay that the Bush administration has now issued a subpoena for me." " Moore has yet to comment on his blogs, but my guess is he will be making a YouTube appearance shortly. One would think the Bush administration would know better than to subpoena one of their loudest critics. Moore will surely be heard from quickly, and loudly. - Kristin Linder

John Edwards: Robbin' tha Hood

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 11:46:18 EDT

John Edwards had found the best way to get attention off his head and onto the presidential race: become the modern day Robin Hood.

Edwards made an announcement late Thursday night that he would "rewrite our tax code to make sure it is fair." While most politicians, policy makers, tax experts, and lawyers have struggled to define what — exactly — a fair tax code is, it appears Edwards has come to some dramatic conclusion; a conclusion that seems to have eluded everyone else. Fair, for Edwards, is to increase the tax rate on capital gains from the current 15 percent to 28 percent on those who earn over $250,000. If you stand only to make $249,000, do not fear — you are not actually rich and only will be forced to give away 15 percent. Further:

Mr. Edwards repeated his calls to repeal the Bush tax cuts for families with incomes over $200,000 and to raise taxes on hedge fund and private equity managers. And he said he would “declare war” on off-shore tax shelters and put limits on executive compensation.

His goal is ~~to win support by advertising programs he couldn't instate~~ to make income to fund the other programs he has in mind.

Mr. Edwards said the revenue gained from these tax increases would pay for a variety of tax cuts aimed at middle- and lower-income people, including exempting the first $250 of investment income from capital gains taxes, expanding the earned-income and child and dependent care tax credits, setting up special tax-free savings accounts of up to $500 a year and a program where the government would match the first $500 in savings.
Mr. Edwards would eliminate taxes on estates less than $4 million. Republicans are pressing for a permanent total elimination of the federal estate tax. Under current law, estates valued at less than $2 million per couple are exempt from taxation. The exemption gradually increases to 2010, when it is eliminated. But unless the Bush tax cuts are extended by a future Congress and president, the estate tax would be reinstated in 2011.

Why haven't the other presidential nominees considered such a sure-to-be-popular program? Aside from Edwards' dubious definition of "fair," there is justified concern amongst policy analysts that his program is, well, not possible. His calculations for profit assume that the next Congress will maintain the Bush tax cuts on families with incomes under $200,000.

Unfortunately, that assumption is not shared by other analysts:

Robert S. McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice, a labor-backed group whose calculations are widely respected by tax experts, said that if the cost of extending tax cuts for people earning less than $200,000 was added to the calculation, the plan would create a $35 billion revenue shortfall instead of the extra $50 billion predicted by the Edwards campaign.

“John Edwards is trying to do something nice for low-income people,” Mr. McIntyre said. “The question is whether he has a way to pay for it. He is repealing tax cuts on the rich that really do not exist and the only part of substance is that he is expanding the Bush tax cuts to everyone else, but doesn’t count it. I don’t want to go overboard in the criticism, but this is very deceptive.” "

Edwards is struggling, and the Robin Hood concept is an easy out. Unfortunately for voters, he will have to do a little more work to define "fair tax code" and come up with a program with true potential.

-Kristin Linder

Friday Cartoon

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 10:27:57 EDT

Our Friday cartoon from Mikhaela:

No GOP YouTube debates?

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 10:24:11 EDT

Marc Ambinder reports that it looks like Rudy Gulliani is ducking out of the You Tube debates. Mitt Romney may be soon to follow. Andy Sullivan speculates that after the Dems did so well, the GOP candidates are looking a little out of touch with the culture and with democracy. So what about all the people who sent in questions...?

Supply: Another Ugly Side of Healthcare

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:15:37 EDT

Sixty years ago today President Truman signed the National Security Act, thereby creating the Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and National Security Council. It seems that ever since, national security has ruled the debates and policy discussion. But isn't that to be expected? What could possibly be more interesting to watch on the nightly news than the scandals of outed CIA agents and hidden trips to Nigeria and debates on whether humans deserve more respect in the rest of the world than in the walls of Abu Ghraib?

Well, a lot of things, actually. The best tactic of anyone, be it a politician or a poacher, is diversion. With the extremity of events in the past 60 years, it seems one can't help but be diverted. The concept of living in the America where the President had fireside chats and JFK wasn't murdered is a little too far fetched for us. That is no excuse. The horror of realities abroad cannot divert us to the point of blindness at home. Sometimes, the events unfolding within our borders are much more disturbing because, well, they are in our borders.

Healthcare. Everyone has their eyes on healthcare, finally, but I find it to be a very one-sided stare. Yes, the wait is too long and the access too low. However, is having money available for everyone the answer to a system with other problems?

A discussion on health care recently took place the economics blog Marginal Revolution. Whereas the debate in the media focuses on demand, and the inability of our system to meet that demand — presumably because of prices — this discussion shifted to supply. With input ranging from medical students to ambulance drivers, the discussion became "Wouldn't more doctors make this whole thing easier?" The answer , quite simply, is yes.

The American Medical Association has what many consider a monopoly on medical care in the US. One can only be a doctor if one goes to an AMA certified school. The AMA keeps admissions down, supply low, and prices high. One of the commenters ventured to the theory that, out of the US's 302,441,741 people, we simply don't have enough with the brain power to be doctors. That was quickly shot down by another commenter:

Anyone who thinks there are not enough people willing to be doctors has never applied to medical school. The acceptance rates for U.S. med schools range from around 4% at the most prestigious schools down to maybe 15% for a less prestigious school. Plenty of intelligent and qualified people are turned away each year; some apply a second or third time and are successful, others leave the country or go on to some other field. Alejandro is right on that it's the American Medical Association controlling the supply of doctors overall, and that financial incentives lead to the imbalance of specialists over generalists.

It is impressive how much the AMA has avoided the spotlight being blasted over the healthcare system. One would almost think they were the most powerful lobby in Congress. Oh, wait, let's flashback 60 years to the the New York Times, June 15, 1952, we read:

Some rather expert observations of the art of lobbying as practiced in Washington assert that the A. M. A. is the only organization in the country that could marshal 140 votes in Congress between sundown Friday night and noon on Monday. Performances of this sort have led some to describe the A. M. A. lobby as the most powerful in the country.

And how are they standing now? Well, some things never change:

"The health care battle pits some of Washington's most powerful and well-heeled lobbies against each other ‐ the American Medical Association vs. the managed care industry on patients' rights, for example." WP

That quote was from '99. Where are the quotes now? Where has the AMA drifted to? Are they like the CIA created 60 years ago, lurking in dark corners and snatching senators into vans? Possibly, but as long as we spend all of our focus staring at diversions and snapping our heads everywhere they point their fingers, we will never solve any problems.

- Kristin Linder

Blumenthal at it again

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:23:04 EDT

Max Blumenthal has posted another hilarious, and somewhat terifying video doc. from the Christians United for Israel annual summit. It is incredible the degree to which religion plays a role not just in politics in this country, but also in Foreign policy. Is US Foreign policy dictacted by people trying to use it to instigate the second coming of Christ? It seems so...

Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour from huffpost and Vimeo.

Contempt!

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:57:49 EDT

The votes are in: 22-17, the Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee voted to cite Bush's former top aide and counsel for contempt of Congress after their refusal to cooperate with subpoenas in the ongoing investigation into the firings of nine U.S. attorneys. After the President wielded executive privilege to keep them from testifying before Congress, Joshua Bolton and Harriet Miers are now in the hands of the full House, which will have to approve the citations. As the battle between the White House and Congress continues to escalate, John Conyers, the panel chairman, explained his decision to push for contempt. "This is not a confrontation we have sought and is one we are still hoping to avoid," he told Bloomberg, saying the White House made "take-it-or-leave-it offer which would not allow us the access to the information we need. This is the only proposal we have received." NYT has full coverage of the Democratic Response.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Concerning Terrorism, Myspace and Facebook

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:18:02 EDT

The internet seems to be a constant threat, to just about everyone. From governments to children, the headlines today were covered in the risks of partaking in the online world.

China isn't the only government locking away bloggers.

As the BBC reports:

"The Malaysian government has warned it could use tough anti-terrorism laws against bloggers who insult Islam or the country's king."

But have no fear: "...officials insist the law is not intended to strangle internet freedom."

What, exactly, is the point of the laws then? The article mentioned a blogger who was recently arrested, and upon some research it became clear how exactly they will implement these laws.

I tried to link to Malaysia Today, the blog of Raja Petra Kamarudin, but it has already been removed after he turned himself in on charges of mocking Islam and threatening racial harmony. Malaysia has set a precedent (or was that the US?) that those arrested for terrorism are not allowed a trial and can be held indefinitely. "Malaysia Today is believed to attract around a quarter of a million visitors a day, giving it more readers than most Malaysian newspapers." Well, back to the newspapers, they are much safer (read: easily screened).

Of course, the options for citizens to fight this censorship are pretty nonexistent. Any Malaysian encouraging a stand against these policies would be arrested for terrorism himself, his blog deleted, and never heard from again.

Back stateside, things are getting worse as well. Myspace just knocked out a whooping 29,000 sex offenders who were holding accounts (and presumably hunting prey). And in case you were wondering - this isn't the first MySpace cleansing. These numbers are merely those who have joined since May - meaning roughly 350 join a day. With these stats, I think Myspace is worse than every mall parking lot, candy store, and park bathroom in the US combined.

Another social networking site, Facebook, is under fire as its owner is brought to court. Zuckerberg is accused by other Harvard kids of having stolen their idea when he was asked to finish some coding for them. It seems tragic, kids with such opportunity having it ripped from their callouss covered paws after years of slaving away in hopes of that one chance. The defense? "Only one of them had an idea significant enough to build a great company. That one person was Mark Zuckerberg."

- Kristin Linder

Bush Explores Simple Math: Al Qaeda, Iraq, Al Qaeda in Iraq

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:33:31 EDT

Sometimes, Bush is so smart I'm convinced that feeling of hyper-anxious butterflies in my stomach is not, in fact, well-earned trepidation, but rather some manifestation of absolute awe for the man's heretofore unwitnessed acumen. When genius is in front of you, you can only listen, right?

That's just what they were doing in South Carolina Tuesday. With his most sparkling brilliance yet, Bush explained ever so eloquently to a crowd in Charleston that the critics are wrong, the tie between Al Qaeda and Iraq is as solid as those WMD's. But he did so with such verbal prowess my high school debate teacher must be standing up in applause:

"Al Qaeda in Iraq is a group founded by foreign terrorists, led largely by foreign terrorists, and loyal to a foreign terrorist leader - Osama bin Laden. They know they're al Qaeda. The Iraqi people know they are al Qaeda. People across the Muslim world know they're al Qaeda. And there's a good reason they're called al Qaeda in Iraq: They are al Qaeda ... in ... Iraq." [Ellipses not mine; those are actually printed in the formal speech from the White House.]

Well, that clears up a lot of confusion. I wonder if he can explain to me now why it's called Kentucky Fried Chicken? Oh well, I guess we can save those tough questions for later, because it seems the media is still pretty up in arms about this.

And for good reason. While it is election season and We The People tend to tolerate more vitriol and mindless drivel now than usual, it by no means gives the Commander in Chief the mandate to take us back to remedial education with him. I actually finished kindergarten, and if you lined up Bush with our last three presidents, I could very easily point and tell you which one of these things is not like the other, one of these things doesn't belong.

But should I forget, he's here to remind us. And this moment of presidential genius falls on the heels of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, which came out last week and named al Qaeda "the most serious threat" to the U.S. homeland, adding that al Qaeda in Iraq was the group's "most visible and capable affiliate." (Perhaps we should make sure that in the next issue of Presidency for Dummies, we explain the difference between "affiliate" and "one and the same.")

John Kerry must have been thinking the same thing. Calling the Al Qaeda - Iraq connection "a phony argument," he told the LAT that "the principal threat" in Iraq is not al Qaeda but a civil war that pits Sunni against Shiite and an Iraqi government that is not joining the fight.

Still others say the problem isn't even Iraq. On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) said, "Iraq is not the central front in the war on terror. As the National Intelligence Estimate indicates, it's Pakistan and Afghanistan. We've got to finish the job in Afghanistan. We were attacked from there. And Pakistan is where the al Qaeda leadership is reconstituting itself today."

But the administration won't be quick to fight Pakistan, who they deem a key ally in the area. Instead, they've employed one of their most favored tactics to combat the wave of criticism on the homefront: another surge, reports the NYT.

Kevin Sullivan, the White House communications director, said the speech was devised as a "surge of facts" meant to rebut critics who say Mr. Bush is trying to rebuild support for the war by linking the Iraq group and the one led by Mr. bin Laden.

But Democratic lawmakers accused Mr. Bush of overstating those ties to provide a basis for continuing the American presence in Iraq. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid (D) of Nevada, said Mr. Bush was "trying to justify claims that have long ago proven to be misleading."

What? I thought that was what the President's supposed to do.

For full effect, listen to the speech on NPR or watch the video on CNN. As soon as we see it on YouTube, we'll repost it here.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

FBI explained!

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:37:25 EDT

What good is trying to understand your enemy? Let's hire people with no experience! Like a counter-terrorism director who admits to not knowing the difference between Shia and Sunni muslims...
- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Hair

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:49:41 EDT

We just felt we had to embed John Edward's witty response to his 'pretty boy' critics he put on You Tube yesterday.

On FDR

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:07:35 EDT

Amity Shlaes wrote a piece in the LATimes today calling for more politicians like FDR.

During that first euphoric legislative period, Roosevelt managed to rescue the banking system from disaster, assist bankrupted farmers, rewrite the economics of agriculture and the rules for flailing businesses, bring back beer — you name it. Contemporary leaders can't even act on pressing issues such as agriculture and immigration, not to mention Social Security.

Shlaes argues Roosevelt not only had the audacity to implement enormous programs, but he also had the nerve to remove them when they were no longer needed. In this manner, Schlaes is concerned that "lawmakers... honor Rooseveltian edifices more than Roosevelt did himself." The article calls for "Clearing some blank space for new institutions." This is a valid point, being that FDR would've probably scrapped many of his programs by now.

Pelosi invoked his spirit when calling for her "Hundred Hours," and FDR is often considered just the thing we need for now, but I believe this to be a result of selective memory. FDR is the man everyone can't help but love, even if you completely hate his policies — to be fair, he was charismatic. If nothing else, I think what people miss is a likable power abuser. Because as much as we love FDR, we often forget his transgressions.

We complain and are in utter disdain over our privacy (or lack thereof), and yet people want an FDR. The man was notorious for his use of the FBI to go through private mail and investigate opposition, and yet here I sit reading an article calling for his return. If you asked me, he has returned, just not in the way we like to remember him. Yes, it is true FDR was not afraid to remove some of his programs — but that was usually after he had been dragged to Congress and hounded over the programs legality (or lack thereof).

We shake our heads in horror over Guantanamo, yet we call for an FDR. In case anyone has forgotten, FDR was responsible for Japanese Internment. How successful was that program? 110,000 people were sent into camps — two-thirds were American citizens and half were children and infants. Not one person arrested was ever found guilty of espionage. So please, call for a new leader, but do not call for an FDR.

We have to remember people clearly. Schlaes accuses others of following FDR's programs more than his leadership principles, I accuse Schlaes of remembering FDR's leadership in a very selective manner. Very few presidents and political leaders have completely respected the power handed to them. Abuse of power is now commonplace. The answer is not finding a new FDR, the answer is finding a new kind of leader who returns the balance of power; A James Madison — not an FDR.

- Kristin Linder

Debate Round-Up

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:06:00 EDT

The questions were from all corners of curiosity - Iraq to Darfur, sex-ed to their children's schooling - and all walks of life - including a talking snowman.

And Hillary's still on top - or at least that's the news ticked out by copy editors the nation over. "Most observers agreed that none of the candidates debating at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, particularly outshined their rivals, doing nothing more to challenge Sen. Hillary Clinton's position as the Democratic race's front-runner," reported CNN just minutes after the debates concluded.

The National Journal took it one step further, noting that although the front-runners are not happy with the lineups, "a certain senator from New York would not be wise to look a gift horse in the mouth."

And almost everyone agrees:

NYT reports that candidates' efforts to trump the leading lady were largely in vain.
WaPo sites her professional history and diplomatic experience when responding to Obama's pledge to meet with Chavez were he to become president: "I will promise," she stated, "a very vigorous, diplomatic effort because I think it's not that you promise a meeting at that high a level before you know what you're intentions are."

... except Politico. Their winner? The Senator from North Carolina. In addition to his clever personal campaign video, they credit him with the winningest response of the night:

"Do you believe that compromise, triangulation will bring about big change?" he asked. "I don't. I think the people who are powerful in Washington -- big insurance companies, big drug companies, big oil companies -- they are not going to negotiate. They are not going to give away their power! The only way that they are going to give away their power is if we take it from them!"

While Roger Simon continues to praise the Edwards performance, the LATimes reported on the ongoing rivalry between Clinton and Obama:

"Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois delivered one of his sharpest direct jabs of the campaign when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York defended her recent inquiry to the Pentagon on ways to end the war. Unlike Clinton, Obama opposed the U.S. invasion from the start.

Though calling it "terrific" that Clinton asked the Pentagon about its plans, Obama added: 'I also know that the time for us to ask how we were going to get out of Iraq was before we went in, and that is something too many of us failed to do.' The partisan audience burst into applause, as Clinton stared ahead expressionless."

The Hill has more on their perpetuating verbal conflict. Obama, they argue, is selling himself as the Candidate of Change, while Clinton is just the Woman of Washington.

So who will it be?
See the CNN Debate scorecard for their play-by-play rankings, and let us know what you think. Any video of your own? Upload it.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Kids Won't Stop Sexing

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 15:58:36 EDT

The long heralded statistics that teens were saying no to sex are now taking a turn, or a plateau to be exact. The Washington Post reported:

"After decreasing steadily and significantly for more than a decade, the percentage of teenagers having intercourse began to plateau in 2001 and has failed to budge since then..."

This fall corresponds to an increase in the teaching of sexual abstinence. The more you tell the teens to not touch the hot stove, the more seem to be touching it.

In fairness, there is also the opinion that we have reached a saturation point. That through programs we have achieved the lowest sustainable level of sexual activity, and the ones still participating fall to the undeniable "basic human behaviors."

There is growing concern, however, that this is simply the plateau before an upturn in sexual activity, and that abstinence programs should realize their limits.

"A recent study of four separate abstinence programs, conducted for the Department of Health and Human Services by Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan firm, found no evidence that the programs delayed the start of sexual activity among teens, but Unruh [of National Abstinence Clearinghouse] and others said such programs need more time and wider use to counter pervasive messages encouraging teens to have sex..."

The House last week approved a $28 million increase in spending on abstinence programs -- Democratic leaders said it was intended to win Republican support for the annual health and education funding bill — but the Senate is considering a $28 million cut, largely because of concerns about the programs' efficacy."

One would think children's lives are worth more than compromising power.

Abstaining from Comprehensive Sex Education [Harvard Political Review]

- Kristin Linder

Dems Prepare for YouTube Debate

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:08:52 EDT

With Hillary ahead in the polls and holding a steady double-digit lead over top competitor Barack Obama, a chance for movement has rounded the political corner. Tonight, the democratic candidates will line the stage in Charleston, SC for their first official debate hosted by the hotly contested and much maligned harbinger of the modern political era: YouTube.

Candidates, aides, and CNN staffers alike have spent the last few days combing through the nearly 3,000 video submissions in order to prepare for the debates tonight - which will be broadcast not only on CNN, but also on CNN en Espanol.

Is this a moment of popular inclusion? Supporters say yes: like the bilingual broadcast, the YouTube/CNN mashup is the forerunner of the new user generated political atmosphere (A popular solution to the Electoral College?) Morra Owens, of BlogHer.org, says, "these debates are the first real political foray into citizen journalism." Jeff Jarvis told the New York Times that this is a chance for journalists to learn a thing or two from their audience. "Journalists who ask questions at these debates always say to themselves, 'How can I do a gotcha moment?'" The YouTube submissions, however, "bring some human eloquence."

But, at the same time, he and many others criticize YouTube/CNN for their top-down control on which questions will actually be asked of the candidates. "It's our democracy, not yours, CNN," he said. "There is a need for order, but not control." He's not alone in his criticism; it's coming from all corners as CNN is accused of cherry-picking the questions for broadcast. Listen to Jonathan Capehart [WaPo] and Micah Silfry [TechPresident] debate the pitfalls of managing the questions on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show this morning.

It's not all complaints, though - some people are actually trying to help solve the problem. CommunityCounts.us is taking the video submissions and organizing them on their website, enabling all users to vote on which questions they want answered tonight... a real user-generated discussion. Will CNN take note?

Here are some of their top picks:

Lonelygirll15 wants to talk about impeaching Bush:

CIWS needs answers on sustainable energy:

DavisFleetwood questions the Patriot Act:

Candidates too are trying to get around the fray. John Edwards, for one, will be ditching the journalists in the spin room tonight to hold an online chat with the voters immediately following the debates.

So don't let debate fatigue set in. Keep your eyes on Veracifier for more coverage after the debates, but in the meantime, let us know where you stand:

Owner of YouTube, how do you feel about Google being involved in politics?

Will TV affect Hillary by highlighting the gender boundaries in politics?

And, as that now infamous submissions asks, is Schwarzenegger a cyborg?

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

If the Water Didn't Kill Ya, the Formaldehyde Could

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:37:12 EDT

“How many times can the federal government let down the victims of the hurricanes that ravaged the Gulf Coast two years ago?”

That is the question posed by an editorial in the Sunday NYTimes. Everyone is perhaps too aware of the answer. The Gulf Coast is housing 66,000 Katrina victims in FEMA’s huge trailer parks, ironically meant to protect people who lost everything to 175mph winds. The trailers’ inadequacies in the realm of security were just dwarfed by the contents of their walls and air. It has been revealed that the trailers are poisoning inhabitants with formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. The story that no one thought could get worse, just did.

“FEMA, which knew of the problem for more than a year, ignored warnings from its own staff and avoided addressing it because it was worried about being sued.”

FEMA has known about the rising formaldehyde levels (reported as up to 75 times the recommended safety threshold) since March 2006. Less than three months later, a man died of exposure to formaldehyde fumes who had previously filed complaints with FEMA.

A New Orleans news site summarized FEMA head Paulison as saying “the agency could have moved faster and now recognizes there are problems.” The quote is all too familiar, and the question lingers if FEMA manages disasters or amplifies them.

- Kristin Linder

Thanks Woodrow

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:20:03 EDT

Woodrow Wilcox sent us his YouTube vid... Woodrow, thank you for the song. Just the thing for a Monday morning. We hope your question gets asked at the Dem debates tonight.

Friday Cartoon

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:52:55 EDT

Our Friday cartoon from Mikhaela..

Cheney plays President for a Day

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:51:22 EDT

President Bush will undergo a routine colonoscopy Saturday... temporarily handing the presidential reigns to Cheney. See the video at MSNBC. Let's hope it's a very uneventful few hours.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Final Alive in Baghdad Uncut- ABC Video

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 11:29:52 EDT

Today Veracifier airs its final Alive in Baghdad Uncut. We urge all our viewers to keep watching Alive in Baghdad at www.aliveinbaghdad.org. Veracifier has been very proud to be associated with this kind of journalism. It comes at a time when the Guardian's Sean Smith's video footage from being embedded with American troops in Iraq is lighting up the online video. Aired by ABC News on Monday, it shows the kind of raw footage we rarely get to see in America. ABC News admits that it no longer allows its journalists (after Bob Woodruff's injuries) to take such risks. ABC saw the footage on the UK's ITV and picked it up to air in the US. Please watch this, and note the comments by Michael Vassel. It is interesting given Max Blumenthal's excellent report from the College Republican Convention, how few of the young republicans would trade places with the soldiers in Iraq. All of this underlines why the work of Alive in Baghdad is so important.

College Republican National Convention

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 12:39:09 EDT

HuffPo's Max Blumenthal is lighting up the Internet with this excellent vid. of his visit to the national College Republican National Convention. Genius.

Election Spending and Trips to Wal-Mart

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:46:34 EDT

The receipts are in and the '08 candidates will keep 'em coming. Spending early and often, the would-be presidents are captivating political financiers District-wide and beyond. The Hill reports Obama and Clinton are ignoring South Carolina; Bloomberg says the Republicans can flaunt themselves as fiscally conservative all they want, but the Democrats have better spending reports.

But they all have some funny habits:

Romney spent $300 in make-up appointments at Hidden Beauty, a salon outside of LA. Looking his best for the presidential debates of course.

Edwards was the top spender at the Four Seasons: $4,623.62
Biden was the top spender at the Ritz: $4,297.80
Obama was the top spender at the Holiday Inn: $39,218.27
Romney was the top spender at Best Western: $9,333.65

Giuliani staffers get their pizza at Lisa's in Manhattan; the Clinton campaign orders from Papa John's

Dodd spent $650 on carbon offsets.

Obama told the AFL-CIO he would never shop at a Wal-Mart because of their anti-union stance, and the very same day his staff spent $93.92 at a wally-world in NH.
Clinton spent $176.80 at two Wal-Marts in April (remember she once sat on their Board?)

Giuliani holds the lead for golf-related expenses: $74,603 in supplies and country club catering; $53,685 alone at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm. Maybe his next spokesperson will be Tiger Woods or, at least, Ivanka.

The Caucus has more.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

"We have suffered because of global games..."

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:07:23 EDT

Veracifier is very proud of today's episode of TPM. True, we have brought you big names before, like Josh's interview with Senator Kerry, but the clarity of today's interview with the Afghani Ambassador to the United States exemplify the kind of behind the headlines reporting we are trying to achieve. Way to go Josh. Highlights include

Discussion of a 'green zone' for the Taliban existing in Afghanistan, where they can operate in complete safety.

That the real problem is that the government lacks the resources to provide services. (The same exists in Iraq, and we must pray that Afghanistan doesn't fall into a similar situation of chaos.)

That Afghanistan was ignored after the Russians were pushed out, and that neglect must not be repeated now.

5 years after the US invasion, this is a reminder of how important a country this is in the world, and on what a knife edge it remains. Great job everyone at TPM for this interview- and I never knew there was a shoot out at the Afghani embassy in the 1990s...--Marc

Senate Vote Falls Short

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:02:13 EDT

The Senate went "to the mattresses" and came away with little more than sleepover exhuastion.

After being up all night debating the war in Iraq, the Senate has just voted: 52-47.
... Eight votes short of the sixty needed to cut off discussion and bring the Iraq debate to a close with a bill for withdrawl. The Democrats just don't have the votes, but they're close. But people are talking about a possible September surprise: with the political climate hot and troops geting low, will the President have any other choice but a draw-down?

Also, check out Middle East Online's coverage.
- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Vitter shows up

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:47:57 EDT

MIA Senator and Veracifier favorite Dave Vitter showed up at a press conference last night, ready to go back to work in Washington. One question is, if his wife has known about his involvement with a prostitute for all these years, why has he been missing for a week? Vitter railed against those who had invaded his privacy- but check out this excellent editorial by Vitter's home town paper the Times Picayune that asks "Vitter seems to want to treat his misbehavior as a private matter, but he represents not only himself and his family. He represents the people of Louisiana. In this instance, his private behavior intersects with public life. By admitting that his phone number is in the records of an alleged prostitution ring that is under federal investigation, Sen. Vitter has raised the specter of illegality. Louisianians have a right to be concerned that a lawmaker may have broken the law." Here's the vid. Wait for more fun when the 'DC Madame' goes on trial and Vitter is called as a witness..

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:19:31 EDT

Has anyone noticed how the new Bourne Identity posters seemed suspiciously lifted from Veracifier's own...? Maybe Universal owes us a donation... --Marc

Obama Girl v. Giuliani Girl

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 12:54:32 EDT

Just when we thought we'd seen everything election campaigning had to offer - remember that Hillary video - our friends at Barely Political have brought us the new look of elections, because politics and comedy are basically one and the same.

Take note: the '08 campaign trend is here. Dance dance revolution in the District.

Maybe we should skip the next debates in Charleston and have a Who Wants to be President! Dance Off, complete with the requisite all-America txt-voting. Only one candidate per phone, please. Veracifier can hardly wait to watch Mitt macarena.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

The Popularity of Executive Privilege

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:47:43 EDT

Last week, one of the top articles on Digg was a Washington Post article on executive privilege. At first glance, it looked as though jutsice was finally being served: no more wild claims of executive privilege.

"No one, absolutely no one, is above the law," hyped the lead investigator when the president invoked executive privilege to protect conversations with his aides.

For Clinton, that was the truth.

But the article wasn't from today. It wasn't even recent. It was a nearly decade old reference to the last time the words "executive privilege" were in our popular vernacular, and when, it seemed, there were more than two people still on the side of justice.

When Kenneth Starr rebuffed Clinton's request for presidential privacy, U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson followed swiftly behind. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

She ruled that executive privilege could not be used to limit the testimony of White House aides in the Monica Lewinsky case, but when it comes to cases regarding district judges like herself and their widespread termination, privilege seems to be plenty and free for the taking.

For Bush, executive privilege has become the over-played get out of jail free card. It's like the new high school fad, everyone's doing it. Harriet Miers has done it. Sara Taylor has done it.

And the future's wide open.

When Clinton tried to use it, 'Nixon, Nixon, Nixon' was all we heard.

Presidential scholar Charles O. Jones told the Washington Post at the time that invoking executive privilege was essentially equivalent to committing Watergate-style political death. "My judgment," he said, "is that it's damaging because those comparisons are going to be made."

Apparently, that kind of comparison doesn't hold up across part lines though. We are just supposed to be happy Taylor appeared before Congress at all - even if she didn't say anything.

That leaves Leahy and Conyers waving the flags of political justice - or, at least, political equivalence as they take the first steps necessary to hold Miers in contempt for refusing to talk. "The president and vice president feel they are above the law," Leahy said after the White House refused to comply with subpoenas. "In America, no one is above the law." Except, it seems, this president.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

No End in Sight

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 17:51:28 EDT

Check out the trailer for the German documentary "No End in Sight", it won best Doc at Sundance and is out in two weeks.

Thompson Doesn't "Remember" Abortion Lobbying

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:59:24 EDT

Fred Thompson does not remember if he did or didn't once lobby for an abortion rights group. While we recognize that he may have been too busy plotting witty comebacks for Michael Moore to actually remember what he's done, for a Republican to not be entirely clear on his abortion history has all of us at Veracifier scratching our heads. Apparently, the real confusion is in the definition of "lobbying."

If we stick with that traditional definition - trying to influence the action of others - this seems pretty cut and dry. If he can just remember.

Last week, the Los Angeles Times reported that Thompson had "accepted a lobbying assignment" from the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association - you'll remember them as the group that asked the current administration to relax restrictions on federal payments to clinics offering counseling for abortions. Thompson's spokesman flatly denied any involvement, but the Times reports that the organization's 1991 board minutes indicate he was hired that year.

And then, spokesman trackback. It's not that it might not have happened, but rather that Thompson doesn't remember. "He has no recollection of doing any work for this group," said the aide. "And since he was of counsel and not a member of the firm, it was not unusual for the firm's partners to trot their clients in to meet him, get his views and even some advice." Or, perchance, some "lobbying."

All of this highlights how the controversies in Thompson's past will come to life again under the scrutiny of election coverage. I’m certainly not surprised that such a diverse career is being mined by others," Thompson replied in a Power Line column. "As we get further into this political season we will undoubtedly see the further intersection of law, politics and the mainstream media.” Politico and the Times wonder how he'll withstand it, but my money's on his knowing Law and Order D.A. ways. Remember his reply to Moore?

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Coulter: WWDD?

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:02:45 EDT

On Neil Cavuto's The World Thursday, Ann Coulter did her best to outline party lines for the '08 Election. So what are the Republicans going to do? "By and large, the Republican party is not saying get out of Iraq. Maybe fight a little harder. Maybe not 'catch and release.' Maybe not worry so much about civilian casualties." But what would the Democrats do? Put 600 thread-count sheets on every bed in Gitmo, naturally.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

O'Reilly Still Obsessed with Moore

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:35:52 EDT

"For a fat guy, Michael Moore sure has thin skin," said Bernie Goldberg on the O'Reilly Factor Thursday. After a heated debate over facts and accuracy with CNN's Sanjay Gupta earlier this week, Moore is still defending his movie - and himself - all across the networks. O'Reilly has been using the Moore saga daily since it erupted last week, generally attacking him for acting erratically and dodging reports. O'Reilly went so far as to accuse him of the ultimate evil: "Michael Moore and his acolytes will say decent food, housing, and child care are all human rights. The nanny state is the ultimate goal." And O'Reilly's?

Universal health care, anyone?

Instead of talking openly about their problems with universal health care, O'Reilly and team are back to distracting their audience from the debate and fear-mongering their way out of real conversation... or fair and balanced coverage of an important issue. "He wants a liberal government to provide cradle to grave entitlement and have the right to seize personal assets through draconian taxation," complained O'Reilly. "If Michael Moore's plan ever gets action, pray hard you never get sick."

By and large, we already do.

But instead of investigating that; issue (like Moore), leave it to FOX to stop there and start questioning the very nature of journalism. "There's a built in imbalance of power between the guy doing the interview and the person being interviewed," Goldberg concluded. "I've been on some other cable networks where the host was rude, unfair, all the questions came from one direction... not you, Bill." Unlike O'Reilly, Moore is a documentarian, and it's not his job to be "fair and balanced." As a news organization, it is CNN's, so it seems pretty logical to Veracifier that they attempt to fact check what Moore puts out there in the ether for general consumption, wrong and right. As journalists, that's their job. (So what does that make O'Reilly's?)

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Politickr is here

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:07:19 EDT

Veracifier thinks this is pretty cool- Our friends at Personal Democracy Forum have just announced Politickr- it combines official blog
posts, news feeds, photo streams, and video posts from the declared and prospective 2008 presidential candidates (plus some unannounced
wild cards and third-party sites) and presents them side by side.

Not only is Politickr a handy way to view news and posts from the candidates in a single glance, but it also makes it easy to for you to
subscribe to any of those content streams. It also features word frequency clouds that are generated by a content analysis of
candidates' and parties' blogs and news feeds. Some interesting discoveries so far: the word "Dad" is one of Mitt Romney's most
popular; Joe Biden uses the phrase "hawkeye state" about as often as he uses "Joe Biden."

Subscribe now and never go without news from you precious candidates... --Marc

International Association of Firefighters on Giuliani

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 08:21:15 EDT

In this video clip from Hardball, International Association of Firefighters representative Harold Schaitberger discuss a video released by the union which slams Rudy Giuliani with claims of his mayorial inadequacies.

The primary issue raised is that the Giuliani administration allowed firefighters to serve with dysfunctional radios for nearly a decade, despite knowing that the devices were defective. As evidence, he asserts that all of the law enforcement officers in North Tower during 9/11 were able to evacuate because they possessed functional radios and were alerted properly.

Below is the full video released by the IAFF:

Giuliani's camp has responded to the allegations of not caring about firefighters but stating that under his administration, Giuliani:

Secured $10 million of Bunker gear for all firefighters

Purchased thermal-imaging cameras

Purchased personal alarms for all firefighters

Increased funding for FDNY

Update the aging EMS ambulance fleet

Increased staffing from four to five firefighters in 60 engine companies

Schaitberger also claims that efforts to recover the remains of fallen firefighters were abandoned following the recovery of $230 million in gold.

College Call Girls in Congress!

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 08:20:32 EDT

For someone who's always found himself on the moral high ground, David Vitter (R-LA) must be surprised to have landed in so much hot water.

"I'm a conservative who opposes radically redefining marriage, the most important social institution in human history,"Vitter wrote to the New Orleans Times-Picayune last year Vitter's self-styled family man image — see our post with Sophie Vitter's campaign video for daddy — is impressive in theory. Practice has just proved a little more difficult.

Monday morning, Mr. Family Values got a call from his social opposite: Larry Flynt. It turns out that the Hustler publisher got wind of the ABC News report on Deborah Jeane Palfrey's business doings — namely, her role as the "D.C. Madam." Since 1993, she's run Pamela Martin & Associates, an escort service catering to the District's Do-Not-Tells. The company's former website touted it as "Washington's premier adult service."

And Vitter's not the first one to agree. In April, Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias resigned after confirming ABC's Brian Ross that he had patronized Palfrey's shop. The scandalous tie immediately sent Tobias off the political radar, and as DanaMilbank reported Wednesday, the same appears true forVitter . Was he at the Senate vote to confirm a federal judge? Absent. Public Works subcommittee meeting, where he's the ranking Republican? Absent. Katrina rebuilding hearing? Absent. Party lunch with Cheney? Absent.

In fact, the closest Vitter came to being present since this all came out was an emailed press release he sent to the AP and Times-Picayune. The Washington Post has the release in full; it's conveniently missing from Vitter's website. So where has Vitter been?

Making reparations with the Mrs., it seems. And for good reason. Despite their announcement today that they are working together through this grievous sin, in 200, she toldNewhouse News Service that when it comes to her marriage, she brooks no trysts. "I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary," she said. "If he does something like that, I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me."

So we can rest assured that at least one person won't let him off the hook, but Veracifier wonders who else might be on it. Palfrey's been threatening to sell her list of former clients - apparently 10,000 around the Beltway for whom anonymity is still bliss - and thinks they should share in whatever punishment is dolled out for the prostitution scandal.

"Why am I the only person being prosecuted?" she asked TIME over the phone. "Sen.Vitter should be prosecuted."

If the clients face punishment, shouldn't the call girls too? And who are they, anyway?

According to the court, each girl was at least 23 years old. She would have two years of college under her belt and a full time job or class, presumably to keep the conversation — when it was happening — interesting. According to advertisements for the job, her height and weight also had to be proportional. (Palfrey apparently wouldn't be responsible for another Monicagate.)

What's really interesting, though, is where she advertised for these would-be employees: college newspapers, like at the University of Maryland. Read The Diamondback's send up of the whole ordeal here.

Each girl would charge about $300 per session, sending half of the profits back to Palfrey and keeping the rest for herself. In its 13 years of business, Palfrey made about $2 million, which evens out to 6,600 sessions, during which every girl made approximately $150. Palfrey said she kept several hundred girls on staff, so if we estimate she had 500 call girls who worked those jobs fairly evenly over time, they all made, on average, just shy of $2000.

While we're more concerned with the fact that for all their trouble, these girls only made about 18% of tuition at Maryland every year, FOX has found the truly serious problem: since we're not talking about Monica, this is all wildly inappropriate. "This raises an important question about a news organization,"Hannity and Colmes ask. "Should they be outing her clients at all?" Maybe we can send them a dictionary open to the page where "Journalism" sits.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Veracifier on Itunes

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:24:39 EDT

Thanks to Itunes for featuring Veracifier on its main page.

Check out yesterday's episode for Josh's personal instruction.

What will you do after the Surge?

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:46:41 EDT

In a "town hall" meeting in Cleveland today, the President made clear he'll be following General Petraeus to Hell and back again as he outlined his plan for Iraq after the military surge. We'll find out just what that means when Petraeus releases his report on Iraq in September, but until then, we have nothing to worry about. The President promises it will all be okay in the end. "I believe we could be in a different positon... in awhile," he assured the audience. President Bush to the rescue. "I'm going to play it as commander-in-chief," he said. Phew.

In honor of this proud moment in American history, we've compiled a Top Ten Things To Do After the Surge list. Now, we apologize in advance for our lack of creativity: climbing on top of a forklift and playing construction would, clearly, be our number one, but the President actually did that.

Top Ten Things To Do After the Surge

1. Have a cigarette. You owe those guys down in Carolina, after all.

2. Find Petraeus. Where's Petraeus. You're counting on him. Find Petraeus.

3. Take a deep breath, it's time to get ready for the surge at home: the Great TV Heist. TV's are the only reason people know how bad it is out there anyway. Great plan. You're brilliant.

4. Seek advice from top aides on large-scale televisual abduction. Don't worry, you're protected by Executive Privilege! Take that, Congress.

5. Evil laugh. You've been practicing it in front of the bathroom mirror for three months straight and Laura did say it was ready. Go on, do it.

6. Check TV to see how good your empire looks today. Can't find TV, but hands have become suspiciously bloody.

7. Take a shower. You're feeling a little dirty.

8. Wait. Where's Patraeus? Hmm. Light that other cigarette. Go on, you've got good healthcare.

9. Time to find your Commander-in-Chief hat! Ooh, dress up! The best part of the day!

10. All dolled up and ready to go, it's time to leave! Find that different position you've been talking about. We suggest you take your belongings with you.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

New Look TPM!

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:33:24 EDT

Congratulations to Josh and folks at TPM on their new look blog which launches today. It looks fantastic! It will now be easier to watch your favorite episodes of TPMtv on our sister site and to follow Josh's team's excellent behind the headlines reporting.

You're in denial!

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:17:22 EDT

According to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow in press conference today there is little disagreement between the White House and GOP Senator Lugar on the effectiveness of the surge in Iraq. Which Richard Lugar has Mr. Snow been listening to? For a look behind the White House spin watch the video below.

White House Dares Congress with Executive Privilege

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 16:10:06 EDT

After rejecting congressional subpoenas Thursday for Harriet Miers and Sara Taylor, the White House is now employing executive privilege to deny testimony from the two former aides in connection with the firings of 93 federal prosecutors last year.

Responding to their request by letter, White House counsel Fred Fielding told Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and House Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) that their demands are "unreasonable because it presents a substantial incursion in presidential prerogatives," but the chairmen will not be stopped.

Leahy calls it "Nixonian stonewalling." Conyers sites this as another example of the "reckless disrespect this administration has for the rule of law," and has made clear that they won't play nice much longer.

"I hope the White House stops this stonewalling and accepts my offer to negotiate a workable solution," Conyers said as the threat of a congressional contempt citation loomed overhead.

"Contrary to what the White House may believe, it is the Congress and the courts that will decide whether an invocation of executive privilege is valid, not the White House unilaterally." Is the White House daring Congress to take it to court?

In a letter to the chairmen, Solicitor General Paul Clement said, "for the President to perform his constitutional duties, it is imperative that he receive candid and unfettered advice."

Veracifier's confused. We thought the president wasn't even involved in this. So what was that advice? - Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Stupidest thing said yesterday...

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 10:19:35 EDT

In advance of our Sunday show round up, Veracifier gives you the stupidest thing said in the news yesterday. Yes, its from Fox.

Impeachment!

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:11:26 EDT

A new poll from American Research Group shows a startling result: The people are evenly divided on impeachment proceedings against the president, and a majority favor the House beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Cheney.

Do you favor or oppose the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush?

Favor Oppose Undecided

All Adults 45% 46% 9%

Voters 46% 44% 10%

Do you favor or oppose the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney?

Favor Oppose Undecided

All Adults 54% 40% 6%

Voters 50% 44% 6%

Among independents, 50% favor starting impeachment proceedings against President Bush, to only 30% opposed. And 51% of independents are also for starting impeachment proceedings against Dick Cheney, to 29% opposed. --TPM

Friday Cartoon

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 15:41:28 EDT

Another Friday cartoon from our friend Mikhaela.

The madness continues...

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:41:59 EDT

It seems that the national health care system- terrorist breeding ground connection is continuing thanks to the Morning Joe on MSNBC. The suspect doctors are post grads working in the UK- what does this have to do with the health care SYSTEM? Last time I went to a Manhattan doctor there were plenty of scary looking foreign doctors who had just finished their graduate studies at that terrorist hornets nest Johns Hopkins. Clearly we should be shutting the Canadian border- who knows what those Canuck doctors are up to... I think Josh says it best:

"It's one of the features of our age that there's a very fine line separating ideas that are too silly to even take note of and ones that quickly began to have a real effect on the public policy debate. Here we have one that clearly should be in the former category but is more likely in the latter." -- Josh Marshall

Libby pays his fine

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 10:25:23 EDT

Clearly the $250,000 fine was not such a hardship for Scooter Libby as it has taken him all of 3 days to pay his fine.

Libby Poll

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:40:36 EDT

Andy Sullivan highlights this interesting Instapoll- A third of conservatives feel that Libby should serve his full sentence.

National Impeachment Center set up

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 10:47:44 EDT

Peter Thottam and Glenn Hopkins have opened the LA National Impeachment Center yesterday on the 4th of July, with the purpose of petitioning congress to impeach President Bush. I believe this is the first such center ever set up? --Marc

New Dem Ad on Libby

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 10:10:41 EDT

Happy 4th of July from Veracifier!

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:11:50 EDT

Bush comments on Scooter

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:01:24 EDT

President Bush has finally given a statement on why he commuted Scooter Libby's sentence. As you can see, his explanation is clear- he considered the Jury's verdict, and acted accordingly. Veracifier is confused.

Bill and Hill

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:53:54 EDT

She may be ten million down, but Hillary knows her trump card — and she's just played it. For the first time, our 42nd president has joined his wife on the campaign trail. Amidst the hay, corn, and many supporters, Bill Clinton joined Hillary in Iowa, where her campaign is lacking and where he never faired well during the '92 caucus.

"I'd be here tonight, if she asked me, if we weren't married," he told the audience. Before the requisite fireworks at the end of the night, she asked again for their support in the nomination process, nodding to the ex-president that she will "have some good help along the way."

That, and star power.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Tony Snow: We have to respect the Jury System

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 13:53:41 EDT

I guess we don't have to respect a Judge's sentencing. Veracifier is offering odds on Libby getting a full pardon. --Marc

As we saw earlier, the President may be right, jurors had a lot of sympathy for Mr. Libby:

More Coulter fun

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 13:22:48 EDT

I couldn't resist posting this- Yes, I find Anne Coulter very scary. --Marc

Scooter Libby Defense Fund

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 09:54:23 EDT

Veracifier would like to acknowledge the all those who contributed to Scooter Libby's Defense Fund. Thanks to Paul Kiel at TPM for putting together a list of the advisory committee of Libby's trust is made up of developers, investors, publishers, think-tankers. There's former senator Fred Thompson, the "Law & Order" star and Republican presidential aspirant -- who even held a fundraiser for Libby at his McLean home, according to Carlson....

There are former Cabinet-level officials, including Ed Meese, Jack Kemp and Spencer Abraham. There is conservative thinker Bill Bennett and political philosopher Francis Fukuyama. There's Ron Silver, of "West Wing" fame. There's Mary Matalin, a former Cheney adviser, and Nina Rosenwald, chairwoman of the Middle East Media Research Institute. There is Steve Forbes, who knows a thing or two about writing checks.

What happened to the firings..?

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 08:05:58 EDT

Who remembers Bush vowing to fire anyone in his administration who was involved in the outing of Valerie Plame? No firing to date, one presidential pardon. Sigh. It always seemed Scooter was being left out to dry, who remembers jurors asking "where was Cheney? Where was Rove?". Seems we are still asking...

Joe Wilson on Libby's pardon

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 07:55:42 EDT

TPM spoke with Joe Wilson reacting to Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence.

From the interview:

"By commuting [Libby's] sentence, [President Bush] has brought himself and his office into reasonable suspicion of participation in an obstruction of justice. The commutation of (Libby's) sentence in and of itself is participation in obstruction of justice."

-- Paul Kiel, TPM

What Exactly Can $32.5 Million Buy?

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:23:28 EDT

Barack Obama has officially made the grade: with $32.5 million in second quarter campaign contributions, he's not only making history, but he's making the other democratic candidates green with envy. Hillary's pulled in a full $10 million less, and Edwards is following behind with a lowly $9 million. All this money talk makes us here at Veracifier wonder what he could do with all that cash.

If he were the sort of guy who wanted to blow it all in one place, he could invest in the glitzy penthouse at The Tribeca Summit, but he's never been much of a showy guy. So those ten bedrooms and Jersey view probably isn't his cup of tea.

And who would want to spend all that dough in one place anyway? Maybe he wants to be part of history. If so, for a mere $10-to-$20 million, he could get naming rights in honor of our 43rd president at the still unborn George Herbert Walker Bush Library. And that still leaves a good $15 million to play around with.

We all know Obama cares about education, and for $5 million, he could be the proud sponsor of Barack Obama gymnasiums in ten high schools in Wisconsin. And for a few million more, he could throw in some cafeterias, too.

With about $10 million left, it's time to tackle those other campaign issues, like health care. On average, an American spends $7129 on health care each year. There are approximately 9.5 million people in Chicago, and if he wanted to take a crack at fixing the system close to home, he could cover everybody's health care for a day. Let's hope that cough is just a 24 hour bug.

But knowing how hard it is to wrangle an HMO into paying out, after the health care day, there might not be much left. But if he had a few pennies to spare, he could always adopt a polar bear. (Who isn't still scarred by the image of the polar bear in An Inconvenient Truth?)

At the end of the day though, maybe he'd just want to escape all the campaign muckracking. Get a private island, some palm trees and a drink with an umbrella. But inaction has never been Obama's m.o. Maybe he should spend all that cash to get his message out there. I recommend AVIAD Aerial Advertising. At $4,500 a flight, he could hire a plane to sky-write a campaign announcement over America's 800-some-odd cities, nine times each. The only hitch is that the message has to be 30 letters or less.

My suggestion? "I got more money than she did."

-Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Was It Al-Qaeda?

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:05:55 EDT

"The vehicles are clearly linked," Peter Clarke, Britain's senior counterterrorism police official, told reporters of the bombing plots in London and Glasgow this weekend. But are they linked to al-Qaeda?

Lord Stevens, Gordon Brown's new terrorism expert, said that the "trick" of exploding one bomb and another soon after was "textbook al-Qaeda". But the cars, packed with nails and gasoline and seemingly discovered by accident, were too haphazard for many to associate directly with the terrorist network

The bombings were "so incomptent as to almost be laughable," former Scotland Yard detective John O'Conner told CNN about any relationship between the plots and al-Qaeda.

Interestingly, CBS News reports that the bombings were heralded on the web Friday morning before anything happened. Is this the latest example of Islamic extremists using the Internet as an information clearinghouse to spread violent propaganda? In a report just released by Radio Free Europe (and funded by the U.S. Congress), RFE and Radio Liberty regional analysts argue that the Internet has become the decentralized DIY center for insurgent groups. When unassociated terrorists tap into larger networks online, does we change what we define as al-Qaeda?

Edwards vs. Coulter update

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 09:31:09 EDT

Elizabeth Edwards appears on Wolf Blitzer as the back and forth continues...

Mika Brzezinski

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:13:41 EDT

We'll always have Paris? Not for MSNBC's Mika Brzezinksi, who first tried to set fire to her lead story about Paris Hilton's jailhouse exodus and then shredded it — on air — on Joe Scarborough's "Morning Joe" Thursday. Saying it wasn't news, Brzezinski, forced Joe to skip the Paris start and go straight to the second story — the war in Iraq. Finally showing the footage of Hilton's catwalk out of prison, Joe commended the "reformed" it girl while Breziznski shook her head. Hilton may have found Jesus but MSNBC found a journalist.

Can We Have your Vote Back?

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:27:41 EDT

With traditionally strong black support waning over the past few years, Democratic candidates stumbled over themselves at debates Thursday night in an attempt to win the black vote. At the historically black Howard University, the candidates were up to their old tricks: rebuffing recent press, defending their plans one education and urban welfare, and — unlike the last debates — not raising their hands.

Responding to the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that shot down racial integration of America's schools, the candidates were back to the "bread and butter" issues of the Democratic platform, stirring support in the mostly black crowd. But divisions between the candidates flared. Obama talked about his membership in the black community while Hilary flexed her muscles over the spread of AIDS among black women.

The only levity of the night was from the usually polished Joe Biden, whose goof-up comment about Obama getting tested for HIV brought laughs from the audience and glares from Al Sharpton.

Supreme Court to hear case on Guantanamo

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:08:29 EDT

The Supreme court will hear the case of some 375 Guantanamo detainees about whether they have the right to challenge their incarceration in US Federal courts. For the first time the issue of the holding of "enemy combatants" without trial will be held in the highest court in the land. link

Veracifier asks- will Guantanamo still be around when Bush's leaves office in 2008?

Friday Cartoon

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:30:52 EDT

Veracifier is proud to show the political cartoons of our friend Mikhaela Reid every Friday.

Death knell of Immigration bill?

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:31:30 EDT

Despite early morning phone calls to Republican Senators President Bush's battered immigration bill falls short of needed 60 votes to end Senate debate. End of the bill and de-facto Bush's domestic legacy? Update: Bush not happy in below press conference. Does he keep repeating the word "Congress" to imply immigration bill failure was the Democratic Congress' fault, even though it was really brought down by his own party?

Subpoenas Issued to White House and VP's Office

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:26:13 EDT

Issuing subpoenas for both the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's office Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee breathed new life into one of the most contentious battles of the Bush presidency. Looking for more information the warrantless spying program, committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) also named the National Security Council and the Department of Justice in his request.

These are the newest subpoenas in the committee's ongoing investigation. "Over the past 18 months, this Committee has made no fewer than nine formal requests to the Department of Justice and to the White House, seeking information and documents about the authorization of and legal justification for this program," Leahy said in letters to Bush administraton officials included in the subpoenas. "All requests have been rebuffed. Our attempts to obtain information through testimony of Administration witnesses have been met with a consistent pattern of evasion and misdirection."

"We're aware of the committee's action and will respond appropriately," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said, but the White House has not given any signal that it will comply with the committee's request.

Leahy — a fierce Bush critic and civil libertarian — was joined in consultation by Ranking Member Arlen Spector (R-PA) in issuing the subpoena. The committee hopes to learn more about the administration's internal debate over the program's legality, a congressional official told the AP. Elucidating the squabbles that surrounded the program inside the ranks, Leahy hopes to clarify how much influence the White House exerts over the Justice Department and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.

The committee asked for documents related to authorization of the surveillance program, legal analysis and opinions about it, decisions by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, liability agreements between the Executive Branch and telecommunications companies, and any documents related to shutting down the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility.

The deadline the committee gave the administration is July 18.

- Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith

Edwards vs. Coulter

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:32:01 EDT

Elizabeth Edwards pleaded with Ann Coulter to "stop the personal attacks" on Chris Matthew's Hardball Tuesday night. Calling in, she told Coulter to put the vitriol on hold. "It debases the political dialogue," Edwards said. "It drives people away from the process."

Coulter refused.

This latest showdown between Ann Coulter and the Edwards campaign began Monday morning, when Coulter went on Good Morning America and heaved another insult at Edwards. Asked about the March speech in which she referred to the presidential candidate by a gay slur, she responded, "if I'm going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot."

Elizabeth to the rescue? "In the South when someone does something that displeases us," she said, "we want to ask them politely to stop doing it." Edwards said she hadn't consulted her husband before calling in, but the conservative pundit could not be stopped.

"I think we heard all we need to hear," Coulter replied. "The wife of a presidential candidate is asking me to stop speaking."

Sunday on Monday

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:14:03 EDT

Another great round up from the folks at TPMtv. It is interesting how the topics are all the ones Josh has been bringing up and running with over the last couple of weeks, weeks, especially Giuliani and the Iraq Study Group. I'm psyched for the Immigration vote tomorrow- is this Bush's last chance to implement some kind of domestic legacy? Is he a lame duck?

TPMtv Extra: FOX News Mistakes Bill Jefferson

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:47:23 EDT

Josh's catching FOX News confusing African American Congressman John Conyers for African American Congressman Bill Jefferson has continued to create a buzz.

And thanks to PoliticsTV.com for putting us in their top 10

and I hope you all saw Fox's apology:

Shout out to Joe Klein and the folks at TIME

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 13:30:01 EDT

Just wanted to shout out the folks at TIME for Joe Klein's positive mention of Josh in last week's edition, and picking up on our TPMtv report today.

Arabic translators in Iraq

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 10:20:41 EDT

Talking Points Memo posted about the shortage of Arabic translators in Iraq. As someone who learned Arabic and spent some time as an intern at the US Embassy in Bahrain back in 2003 this is an interesting topic for me. Check out this short from Brave New Films. --Marc

Clinton Sopranos Spoof

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:34:20 EDT

Our friends at TPMtv showed us this HRC spoof of the Sopranos final episode. Not bad..

Sunday on Monday

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:33:12 EDT

Yesterday Josh continued his TPM Media round up of the Sunday shows. What do you all think? Feedback on Veracifer posts and YouTube have been pretty positive. Let us know on our comments page. --Marc

Welcome Marc

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:29:44 EDT

Veracifier welcomes Marc Boxser as our new network manager. Sadly Marc is a Brit- he comes to us by way of Charlie Rose, CNN and the non-profit world.. a newsie by trade he also has a strong interest in haberdashery.

The Real Risks of Independent Journalism

Tue, 29 May 2007 11:14:32 EDT

In the most recent Alive in Baghdad: Uncut, Brian Conley and the team provide a rare behind-the-scenes look at the dangers faced by Alive in Baghdad correspondents and other journalists in Iraq. It is a brief look at the difficulties present in creating regular nuanced content about Iraq, particularly on video.

This is our first special episode of AiB:Uncut that spans footage from several previously released episodes from the series, and takes a deeper look at the stories behind the stories. We'd love to know what you think, and what else you'd like to see from AiB: Uncut on Veracifier.

	Favor	Oppose	Undecided
All Adults	45%	46%	9%
Voters	46%	44%	10%