Doing Something Right

Indeed.  Keith Olbermann MUST be doing something right, if everybody ON the right feels the need to attack him!  As a former boss of mine was often heard to say – "All publicity is good publicity.  As long as they spell your name right".

Beck Falsely Claims Olbermann Will ‘Never Admit He’s A Liberal’

Last month, CNN’s Glenn Beck attacked MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, calling him an “intolerant ideologue” whose ideas “smack of the same McCarthyism [Edward R.] Murrow fought so valiantly against.” Yesterday on CNN’s Reliable Sources, Beck once again went after Olbermann: “I’m in the hot seat almost constantly because I’m doing an opinion show — but I [...]

Tags: Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann, Edward R. Murrow

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Bush Celebrates The Anniversary

The White House spin continues, in spite of the evidence.  Did you catch the President’s speech this morning?

Bush Invokes 9/11 as Year Five Begins

There he goes again, invoking 9/11. I guess there is one consolation. Our president did actually say we "can" win, not that the mission was accomplished. Small step. Little consolation. Bush can spin all he wants, but Iraq by the numbers says it all. Still, Bush rambles on that Iraq will take months, not weeks. If you’re talking about getting out, that is true. If you’re talking about some mythical "victory," well, that was flushed in Abu Ghraib. However, nothing is as insulting as [...]

Tags: George W. Bush, 9/11, Iraq War Anniversary, Abu Ghraib

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Slipped By

This one slipped by me in my Sunday reading.  Such as it was, given our travel schedule this weekend!  I could have used this as ammunition in a rather lengthy debate I had on the phone with a family member who thinks the U.S. Attorney Purge is much ado about nothing.

On March 14th,…

On March 14th, we noted the major events in Carol Lam’s expanding Cunningham probe that came just before a key White House email pressing for her dismissal. Now this from McClatchy … Fired San Diego U.S. attorney Carol Lam notified the Justice Department that she intended to execute search warrants on a high-ranking CIA official as part of a corruption probe the day before a Justice [...]

Tags: U.S. Attorneys, Attorney Purge, Carol Lam

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Playing By The Rules

You know, you’re supposed to play by the rules, even when you’re officially in charge.  No, let’s rephrase that.  ESPECIALLY when you’re officially in charge. There appear to be some top dogs in DC who didn’t learn that on the playground of life.

Against the Law

Adam Cohen writes in the New York Times about possible criminal prosecutions stemming from the U.S. attorney purge. These are: 1. Misrepresentations to Congress. The relevant provision, 18 U.S.C. § 1505, is very broad. It is illegal to lie to Congress, and also to “impede” it in getting information. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty indicated [...]

Tags: Attorney Purge, Criminal Prosecution, Bush Administration, Alberto Gonzales

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Walter Reed – The Next Chapter

Unbelievable. And enough to turn your stomach and bring tears to your eyes.  Aaaaaaargh!

VIP Ward at Walter Reed Comes Under Scrutiny

This is a joke, right? USA Today: Disclosures of substandard housing for troops treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are prompting Congress to investigate whether the Army is running a plush ward at the complex for VIPs at the expense of ordinary war casualties. House investigators are asking "if the allocations of resources is in any [...]

Tags: Walter Reed, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, VIP Ward

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Will They? Or Won’t They?

It’s time to put up or shut up.  Time to let Karl Rove testify or time to go nose-to-nose with Congress and see who blinks first.

End game

We haven’t quite reached the impasse, but as Roll Call reports today (sub. only) it’s clearly coming right around the bend. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s effort to land presidential adviser Karl Rove as a witness runs headlong into the Bush White House’s well-established reluctance to subject high-level staffers or internal documents to Congressional scrutiny. But intense [...]

Tags: Senate Judiciary Committee, Karl Rove, White House

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The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Life (as it is) in Iraq.

Well, that’s awfully convenient — a poll of Iraqi…

Well, that’s awfully convenient — a poll of Iraqis suggests (at least according to spin in a Rupert Murdoch paper) that there’s a surprising amount of optimism in the populace — and the poll appears one day before this poll sponsored by several major global news organizations is released:  "A new national survey paints a devastating portrait of life in Iraq: widespread violence, torn lives, displaced families, emotional damage, collapsing services, an ever starker sectarian chasm — and a draining away of the underlying optimism that once [...]

Meanwhile, back here at home, a poll of our own –

Support for Iraq War Plummets

A new CNN/Opinion Research poll finds support for the Iraq war has dropped by 40 points in the last four years, while the number of Americans who say they strongly oppose the war has more than doubled. Just after the war began four years ago [...]

Tags: Iraq, Poll, Iraq Survey

Tags: CNN, Opinion Research

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Four Years In Iraq

And, we’re still counting.  Care for a history lesson?  Excellent work on the Booman Tribune blog.  It’s worth a bookmark, unless you have a lot of time on your hands, at the moment.  It’s a detailed, three-part, piece – but, well-worth your time to read.

4 Years in Iraq – How We Got There (part 3)

This is Part 3 in my weekend series “4 years in Iraq – how we got there”. In case you missed Part 1 and/or Part 2, I have linked them here. I am doing this in response to a “challenge”/request by Dood Abides on Thursday in anticipation of the fourth anniversary of this disaster we created in Iraq. These three parts also happen to make up the first chapter in the book I am writing about this administrations misleading and mishandling its “war on terror”. Part 1 looked at the [...]

And, in case you need more to remind you of the history…

Happy Anniversary…

Don Rumsfeld 2/7/2003: "It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months" George W. Bush 5/1/03: "My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." Dick Cheney 6/20/05: "The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I [...]

Oh, what the heck.  Let’s make this a real collection of Anniverary notes -

Four years later

On the fourth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, it’s hard to know where to start reflecting. The facts are all-too-familiar — the bloodshed, lies, the misjudgments, the exploitation, the deterioration. It’s nothing we haven’t mulled over before. Consider, however, Kadhim al-Jubouri’s perspective. His hands were bleeding and his eyes filled with tears as, [...]

And, finally, one more timeline that says it all -

Four Years

Tags: Iraq War, Anniversary

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High Level Interference

And, for a change, we’re not talking about the U.S. Attorney Purge!

Climate Change Expert To Testify White House Interferes In Research

This is going to be messy. The US’ top climate scientist, Jim Hansen at Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Science, is to testify to Congress today that the White House has interfered at every level in climate change research in an attempt to stop the bad news getting to the public. According to the Guardian, his statement will include the following: "The executive branch seems to be exercising greater control in the functioning of our government, in ways that our forefathers probably did not imagine and almost certainly would not approve. This includes [...]

Tags: Climate, Global Warming, Nasa, Goddar Institute, Jim Hansen

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Explanation, Please

Once again, Al Gore has some ’splainin’ to do.  The bloggers on the right are a tad bit hot over this report.  Perhaps, rightfully so.  We’ll withhold judgement until there is an explanation.  If there is one to be had.

Gore Hypocrisy Watch

Do you lefties really want to keep this man on your side? "CARTHAGE, Tenn. – Al Gore has profited from zinc mining that has released millions of pounds of potentially toxic substances near his farmstead, but there is no evidence [...]

Tags: Al Gore, Environmental Issues

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Touche’

It really makes for great television.  When a reporter gets under Tony Snow’s skin during the daily briefings at the White House.  Seems to me that Mr. Snow has been apologizing frequently to reporters!  think Progress via AmericaBlog…

When asked what their "recipe for success" is in Iraq, White House tells CNN correspondent to "zip it"

Testy much? CNN’s Ed Henry has been quite the aggressive journalist of late, increasingly unwilling to let politicians get away with spouting bs. So has Wolf Blitzer. I think CNN may have told their on-the-air folks to [...]

Tags: Tony Snow, Ed Henry, CNN, Wolf Blitzer

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Doing Something Right

Indeed.  Keith Olbermann MUST be doing something right, if everybody ON the right feels the need to attack him!  As a former boss of mine was often heard to say – "All publicity is good publicity.  As long as they spell your name right".

Beck Falsely Claims Olbermann Will ‘Never Admit He’s A Liberal’

Last month, CNN’s Glenn Beck attacked MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, calling him an “intolerant ideologue” whose ideas “smack of the same McCarthyism [Edward R.] Murrow fought so valiantly against.” Yesterday on CNN’s Reliable Sources, Beck once again went after Olbermann: “I’m in the hot seat almost constantly because I’m doing an opinion show — but I [...]

Tags: Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann, Edward R. Murrow

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Bush Celebrates The Anniversary

The White House spin continues, in spite of the evidence.  Did you catch the President’s speech this morning?

Bush Invokes 9/11 as Year Five Begins

There he goes again, invoking 9/11. I guess there is one consolation. Our president did actually say we "can" win, not that the mission was accomplished. Small step. Little consolation. Bush can spin all he wants, but Iraq by the numbers says it all. Still, Bush rambles on that Iraq will take months, not weeks. If you’re talking about getting out, that is true. If you’re talking about some mythical "victory," well, that was flushed in Abu Ghraib. However, nothing is as insulting as [...]

Tags: George W. Bush, 9/11, Iraq War Anniversary, Abu Ghraib

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Slipped By

This one slipped by me in my Sunday reading.  Such as it was, given our travel schedule this weekend!  I could have used this as ammunition in a rather lengthy debate I had on the phone with a family member who thinks the U.S. Attorney Purge is much ado about nothing.

On March 14th,…

On March 14th, we noted the major events in Carol Lam’s expanding Cunningham probe that came just before a key White House email pressing for her dismissal. Now this from McClatchy … Fired San Diego U.S. attorney Carol Lam notified the Justice Department that she intended to execute search warrants on a high-ranking CIA official as part of a corruption probe the day before a Justice [...]

Tags: U.S. Attorneys, Attorney Purge, Carol Lam

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Recovering

Sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend.  14 hours of driving, coupled with a busy out-of-town schedule, pretty much exhausted every ounce of my energy! We’ll try to get back on track later today, in and around the Monday crush of meetings.  Stand by!

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Playing By The Rules

You know, you’re supposed to play by the rules, even when you’re officially in charge.  No, let’s rephrase that.  ESPECIALLY when you’re officially in charge. There appear to be some top dogs in DC who didn’t learn that on the playground of life.

Against the Law

Adam Cohen writes in the New York Times about possible criminal prosecutions stemming from the U.S. attorney purge. These are: 1. Misrepresentations to Congress. The relevant provision, 18 U.S.C. § 1505, is very broad. It is illegal to lie to Congress, and also to “impede” it in getting information. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty indicated [...]

Tags: Attorney Purge, Criminal Prosecution, Bush Administration, Alberto Gonzales

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Thanks for reading!

Walter Reed – The Next Chapter

Unbelievable. And enough to turn your stomach and bring tears to your eyes.  Aaaaaaargh!

VIP Ward at Walter Reed Comes Under Scrutiny

This is a joke, right? USA Today: Disclosures of substandard housing for troops treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are prompting Congress to investigate whether the Army is running a plush ward at the complex for VIPs at the expense of ordinary war casualties. House investigators are asking "if the allocations of resources is in any [...]

Tags: Walter Reed, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, VIP Ward

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Will They? Or Won’t They?

It’s time to put up or shut up.  Time to let Karl Rove testify or time to go nose-to-nose with Congress and see who blinks first.

End game

We haven’t quite reached the impasse, but as Roll Call reports today (sub. only) it’s clearly coming right around the bend. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s effort to land presidential adviser Karl Rove as a witness runs headlong into the Bush White House’s well-established reluctance to subject high-level staffers or internal documents to Congressional scrutiny. But intense [...]

Tags: Senate Judiciary Committee, Karl Rove, White House

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Thanks for reading!

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Life (as it is) in Iraq.

Well, that’s awfully convenient — a poll of Iraqi…

Well, that’s awfully convenient — a poll of Iraqis suggests (at least according to spin in a Rupert Murdoch paper) that there’s a surprising amount of optimism in the populace — and the poll appears one day before this poll sponsored by several major global news organizations is released:  "A new national survey paints a devastating portrait of life in Iraq: widespread violence, torn lives, displaced families, emotional damage, collapsing services, an ever starker sectarian chasm — and a draining away of the underlying optimism that once [...]

Meanwhile, back here at home, a poll of our own –

Support for Iraq War Plummets

A new CNN/Opinion Research poll finds support for the Iraq war has dropped by 40 points in the last four years, while the number of Americans who say they strongly oppose the war has more than doubled. Just after the war began four years ago [...]

Tags: Iraq, Poll, Iraq Survey

Tags: CNN, Opinion Research

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Four Years In Iraq

And, we’re still counting.  Care for a history lesson?  Excellent work on the Booman Tribune blog.  It’s worth a bookmark, unless you have a lot of time on your hands, at the moment.  It’s a detailed, three-part, piece – but, well-worth your time to read.

4 Years in Iraq – How We Got There (part 3)

This is Part 3 in my weekend series “4 years in Iraq – how we got there”. In case you missed Part 1 and/or Part 2, I have linked them here. I am doing this in response to a “challenge”/request by Dood Abides on Thursday in anticipation of the fourth anniversary of this disaster we created in Iraq. These three parts also happen to make up the first chapter in the book I am writing about this administrations misleading and mishandling its “war on terror”. Part 1 looked at the [...]

And, in case you need more to remind you of the history…

Happy Anniversary…

Don Rumsfeld 2/7/2003: "It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months" George W. Bush 5/1/03: "My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." Dick Cheney 6/20/05: "The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I [...]

Oh, what the heck.  Let’s make this a real collection of Anniverary notes -

Four years later

On the fourth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, it’s hard to know where to start reflecting. The facts are all-too-familiar — the bloodshed, lies, the misjudgments, the exploitation, the deterioration. It’s nothing we haven’t mulled over before. Consider, however, Kadhim al-Jubouri’s perspective. His hands were bleeding and his eyes filled with tears as, [...]

And, finally, one more timeline that says it all -

Four Years

Tags: Iraq War, Anniversary

Thanks for reading!