"Special Comment" Time

Have at it. Another excellent job by Olbermann.

Special Comment: Keith Blasts Bush Scapegoating: “This is YOUR War.”

Tonight on Countdown, Keith delivered a powerful special comment about the leaked Bush Administration letter that blames Senator Hillary Clinton and all war dissenters for President Bush’s own failures in Iraq.  "This, sir, is your war. Go to Baghdad now and fulfill, finally, your military service obligations. Go there and [...]

UPDATE:  Clinton responds to Pentagon on redeployment.

Earlier this week, Under Secretary of Defense Eric Edelman wrote to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), telling her, “Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda.” Today, Clinton responded to Defense Secretary Robert Gates: Rather than offer to brief the congressional oversight committees on this critical issue, Under Secretary [...]

Tags: Olbermann, Special Comment, Clinton, Iraq War

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This Will Make Families Happy

Isn’t this happening far too frequently?

Pentagon extends Iraq tours for 2,200 Marines

The Pentagon has extended the combat tours of 2,200 Marines in Iraq for 30 days, keeping  the troops on the ground to help stabilize Anbar Province, a Marine [...]

Tags: Marines, Extended Tours

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Gangs

Gangs have, in the past, been a sizable issue here in Arkansas.  We seem to be seeing somewhat of a resurgence today.  If you’re interested in such things, my good friend, Steve Nawojczyk is one of the nation’s top experts on gangs.  His website is a wealth of information. I mention that, in addition to noting a major new national report that came out this week.

Report: Locking Up Gang Members Doesn’t Work

A new report by the Justice Policy Institute confirms that anti-gang legislation that advocates locking up gang members, charging them with status crimes and charging more juveniles as adults doesn’t work. In fact, it adds to the [...]

Tags: Gangs, Gang Violence, Justice Policy Institute

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Time For Visitors

This is somewhat amusing.  Somebody (maybe Representative Murphy’s office?) from the U.S. House of Representatives came calling on this little old blog, looking for posts on the DC Madame and the Senate all-nighter.  Here’s what caught my eye from the log files:

Visitor detail

IP address: 143.231.249.138
Hostname: b249-138.house.gov

Location: Washington, DC, USA

Language: English

Oper. System: Windows

Web browser: Internet Explorer

Resolution: 1024×768

JavaScript: Enabled

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The Plame Case

Not unexpected, certainly.  Still, it’s very troubling to the commenters at Crooks and Liars.  Read ‘em and weep…

BREAKING: Judge Dismisses Plame Civil Suit Against White House

Yahoo: A federal judge on Thursday dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s lawsuit against members of the Bush administration in the CIA leak scandal. U.S. District Judge John D. Bates dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds and said he would not express an opinion on the constitutional arguments. Bates dismissed the case against all defendants: Cheney, [...]

Tags: Valerie Plame, Judge Bates, CIA Leak Scandal

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Push Is Coming To Shove

One of these will work.  Someday.

Senate Dems Corner Bush and Gonzales on Their Attempt to Game Appointments

Oh, this is getting fun. Remember how I pointed out that Steven Bradbury, the guy who wrote the opinion declaring Harriet immune from having to appear before Congress, was not acting with proper authority? Well, Leahy, Durbin, Feingold, [...]

Tags: Miers, Bradbury, Leahy, Durbin, Feingold, Immunity

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Just Go

And read Carpetbagger’s disection of Tony Snow’s editorial in today’s USA Today newspaper. Poor Tony. He’s making himself a pretty easy target these days.

Snow vs. the NIE

Apparently, the White House press secretary we all know and tolerate is making a habit of writing mini-op-eds for USA Today. Two weeks ago, Tony Snow penned a spectacularly wrong piece on the Scooter Libby commutation, and today, he’s back at it, with an item disputing the National Intelligence Estimate and arguing in support of [...]

Tags: Tony Snow, NIE, USA Today

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And The Nominee Is…

Let’s just agree: questionable.

Another Dubious Bush Judicial Nominee

Judge Robert Conrad, Jr., one of the four judges President Bush nominated last week to be federal appeals court judges sounds dangerous. Check out what Sen. Patrick Leahy said (scroll down) about him in 2005 when he was nominated to the District Court: "Listen to what he wrote about Sister Helen Prejean, one of the bravest and most caring people I have ever met. He calls her book, “Dead Man Walking,” “liberal drivel,” and shows nothing but [...]

Tags: Judge Conrad, Leahy, Dead Men Walking, Sister Prejean

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It Was A Test

Only a test.  Good thing, too.

TSA seizes water, lets bombs through

Several people walked into Albany International Airport in Colonie, N.Y., in late June, carry-on bags stuffed full of bomb parts, and strolled to the security checkpoint. Transportation Security Administration screeners seized every bottle of water from [...]

Tags: TSA, Transportation Security Administration

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And The Problems Are…

Substantial enough, it seems to me, that it’s going to take more than a month or so to fix them.  I’m guessing this is what the big pow-wow on Capital Hill was about today, too.  The one with the video-conference hookup with Patraeus. Note, by the way, the source of this report – The Voice of Iraq. Not an American media source.

U.S. top commander meets Iraqi officials on transference of security responsibility

Baghdad, Jul 19, (VOI) – U.S. top commander in Iraq General David Petraeus discussed with a number of Iraqi officials, including the National Security Adviser Mowafaq al-Rubaie, the reasons behind delaying the handover of security responsibilities to the Iraqi forces, [...]

UPDATE: Here’s the full report on what Congress heard today:

Crocker: Look Outside of Baghdad for Political Progress

For a taste of what’s to come from the September Iraq update provided by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, take a look at what Crocker told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee [...]

Tags: Iraq War, Patraeus, al-Rubaie, Security

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Bad Government

Sadly, some things never change…

Katrina: FEMA Is Still Doing A Heckuva Job

Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast while George Bush played the guitar, this administration continues to screw over the victims however and whenever they can: "The Federal Emergency Management Agency has suppressed warnings from its own Gulf coast field workers since the middle of 2006 about suspected health problems that may be linked to [...]

Tags: FEMA, Hurricane Katrina, Formaldehyde

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A New Executive Order

As the blogger says, this DOES seem ripe for abuse.  

US to crack down on “terror bankrolls”

USA Today: The Bush administration announced a new tool Tuesday to freeze financial assets of those who want to destabilize Iraq. President Bush unveiled a new executive order that allows the administration to block bank accounts and any other financial assets that might be found in this country belonging to people, companies or groups that the United [...]

Tags: Executive Order, Terror Bankrolls, Iraq War

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September Prediction

That September Iraq Progress Report?  Much concern tonight that it will be more spin than truth…

Petraeus Loses His Shine

Many people are pointing to Andrew Sullivan’s comments noting that General Petraeus has severely damaged his ability to be seen as a credible impartial voice on Iraq. "If I were eager to maintain a semblance of military independence from the agenda of extremist, Republican partisans, I wouldn’t go on the Hugh Hewitt show, would you? . . . I think such a decision to cater to one party’s propaganda outlet renders [...]

Oh, my.  Hewitt responds!

Hewitt, Petraeus, and Iraq … oh my

This morning, in passing, I suggested Gen. Petraeus’ credibility “suffered a serious blow this week when he appeared on far-right activist Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, and stuck closely to the White House script.” In response, Hewitt responded that I am an “anti-intellectual screamer,” which may very well be the strangest, projection-like insult I’ve ever received. The [...]

And, direct from Mr. Sullivan’s blog, this update:

Petraeus’ Credibility

He has, alas, played the partisan role before – writing an op-ed in 2004 that had the effect of supporting the Bush administration’s re-election effort. A reader notices another unfortunate slip:The most telling aspect of the Petraeus interview was his [...]

Tags: Patraeus, Iraq War, Progress Report, Andrew Sullivan

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College Republicans

They really need a course on how NOT to put their collective foot in their mouth…

Generation Chickenhawk: a look at The College Republicans

A must view video. Here’s the generation that will not sacrifice a damn thing in Dear Leader’s Big Military Misadventures — they want to let the poor do the fighting. These College Republicans have important work to do on the home front. Listen to all of the lame excuses why they just can’t serve (but [...]

Tags: College Republicans, Iraq War, Gay Rights

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Much Ado

About nothing. Let’s argue about something legitimate, shall we?

Barack Obama, sex-ed, and kindergarteners

The media has gone after Democratic presidential candidates for some pretty silly things. John Edwards’ haircuts have drawn more attention than any other campaign-related story this year, and the coverage of his home sale was truly ridiculous. Barack Obama received unwarranted scrutiny on some harmless investments. A story about Hillary Clinton’s charitable family foundation sparked [...]

Let Me Tell You ‘Bout the Birds and the Bees and the Flowers and the Trees

Barack Obama is in trouble for daring to suggest that maybe we don’t need to hide the truth from our children: "Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told Planned Parenthood Tuesday that sex education for kindergarteners, as long as it is “age-appropriate,” is “the right thing to do.” “I remember Alan Keyes . . . I remember him using [...]

Tags: Obama, Sex Education, Edwards, Clinton, 2008 Campaign

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Non-Debate

Take a break.  Go home.  Talk with the people who elected you.  I’m betting members of Congress will get an earful.

Reid: No More Debates For Now

After seeing Senate Republicans talk a good game and then cave once again into supporting Bush’s war without end, Democrats did the right thing and halted debate on any additional amendments that would change the course of the war. Harry Reid announced after getting only 52 votes to shut off debate on the Levin-Reed amendment that there will be no more face-saving amendments or debates on weaker measures. Hopefully, Reid will now not have any further debate on the 2008 Defense budget between now and the summer recess, and will let those Republicans go home and face their constituents for not doing anything to stop this war. Today’s winner for stupid reasoning goes to Washington Post reporters Shailagh Murray and Paul Kane, who did [...]

Tags: Reid, Iraq War, Levin-Reed Ammendment, Defense Appropriation Bill

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Remember

It’s only a rumor…only a rumor…

Condi’s revealing Freudian slip

What Rice reportedly said was this: “As I was telling my husb—” before abruptly breaking off and correcting herself: “As I was telling President Bush.” Jaws dropped, we’re [...]

Tags: Rice, President Bush

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Up, Down and Sideways

That pretty much describes the latest poll numbers…

Bush Approval Stabilizes, Congress Sinks Further

President Bush’s job approval rating now stands at 34% among likely voters nationwide, up slightly but largely stable since the beginning of the year, according to a new Zogby telephone poll. Two–thirds of those surveyed gave him negative marks. However, "while Bush’s job approval rating has stabilized, opinion of the work Congress is doing continues to plummet. The Zogby poll shows just [...]

Tags: Bush Approval, Congress Approval, Zogby

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Big Story Brewing

And it’s right next door in our neighbors to the north…

KC Star Has Blockbuster Story On Blunt’s Misuse of the Highway Patrol

Today’s KC Star story on Governor Blunt’s misuse of the Missouri State Highway Patrol is big, big stuff. Blunt has previously misused the patrol–think forcing them to help coverup wrongdoing by Fred Ferrell–but this stuff with Ameren is a career-ender for several folks, mostly likely including Blunt. This is Missouri’s own version of what the Bush administration has done with [...]

Tags: Missouri, Blunt, Highway Patrol, Kansas City Star

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Changing Tide

I’ve been following snippets of this for the past couple of days.  Jill at "Brilliant at Breakfast" blogs today about the email and follows its track through the blogosphere…

Have conservatives finally had enough of Bush/Cheney?

A circuitous route starting with Shamanic at Newshoggers and winding its way through Andrew Sullivan points us to this comment posted at FrontPage, from a conservative who doesn’t need to continue to prop up this profoundly UN-conservative Administration — and the right-wing press that still insists a pile of dung is a diamond — any longer: [...]

Tags: Bush Administration

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