Friday

David Vest: So You Thought They'd End the War

David Vest: So You Thought They'd End the War: "What's really evil is being forced to choose between people on the one hand who support the war, and accuse anyone who questions it of 'helping the terrorists' -- and people on the other who oppose the war, criticize the war, pledge to the end the war, and then vote to keep it going."

Evelyn Pringle: Congress Gives War Profiteers Another $100 Billion

Evelyn Pringle: Congress Gives War Profiteers Another $100 Billion: "Congress has demonstrated its unconditional love for the Bush administration by handing the war profiteers another $100 billion worth of good reasons to keep the war in Iraq rolling along at full-throttle."

Mexico taps U.S. funds to boost its intercepting of data - Los Angeles Times

Mexico taps U.S. funds to boost its intercepting of data - Los Angeles Times

Democracy Now! | Rep. Dennis Kucinich: Democratic Leadership Failing U.S. Citizenry on War

Democracy Now! | Rep. Dennis Kucinich: Democratic Leadership Failing U.S. Citizenry on War

McClatchy's D.C. Bureau Claims It's Barred From Defense Secretary Plane

McClatchy's D.C. Bureau Claims It's Barred From Defense Secretary Plane

The entire government has failed us on Iraq - Countdown with Keith Olbermann - MSNBC.com

The entire government has failed us on Iraq - Countdown with Keith Olbermann - MSNBC.com

Thursday

Collateral Damage - The Center for Public Integrity

Collateral Damage - The Center for Public Integrity

European Growth Could Exceed U.S. in '07: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

European Growth Could Exceed U.S. in '07: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: "The recovery in Europe has been stronger than we expected,' OECD Chief Economist Jean-Philippe Cotis said at a news conference. 'The slowdown in the U.S. has been more robust than we anticipated."

Tuesday

The Blotter

The Blotter: "Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran"

Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold On the Iraq Supplemental Conference Report

Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold On the Iraq Supplemental Conference Report: "Under the President’s Iraq policies, our military has been over-burdened, our national security has been jeopardized, and thousands of Americans have been killed or injured. Despite these realities, and the support of a majority of Americans for ending the President’s open-ended mission in Iraq, congressional leaders now propose a supplemental appropriations bill that does nothing to end this disastrous war."

Campaigns & Elections

Campaigns & Elections WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 22) - Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) gave the following speech on the floor of the House of Representatives today:

"The Associated Press reports that the latest Iraq Supplemental funding plan, incredibly, will tie an increase in the minimum wage to funding the war through October.

"If this is true, and I hope it is not, it tells American workers that the only way they will get an increase in wages is to continue to support funding the war which is taking the lives of their sons and daughters.

"First blood for oil. Now a minimum wage for maximum blood. Aren't the American people giving enough blood for this war without having to give more to have a wage increase?

"What's happened to our country? We are losing our moral compass. We're losing our sense of justice. We're losing touch with the difference between right and wrong.

"We do not have to fund this war. We must leave Iraq now. Support our troops and bring them home. HR 1234 is a plan to end the war and stabilize Iraq and give Iraqis control of their oil.

"We must take a new path. We must take a path of truth and justice."

Sunday

Nation & World | Iraq a "big moneymaker" for al-Qaida, says CIA | Seattle Times Newspaper Our tax dollars at work.

Foreclosure crisis looms, housing analysts say: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Foreclosure crisis looms, housing analysts say: South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "As the housing meltdown continues, analysts predict a surge in foreclosures this year and next that will add to the glut of homes already for sale and further depress property values"

Tuesday

Monday

Israel marks 40 year rule of Arab east Jerusalem - Yahoo! News

Israel marks 40 year rule of Arab east Jerusalem - Yahoo! News: "'The last 40 years were only the beginning,' Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a special parliamentary session marking the anniversary according to the Hebrew calendar.

'I believe, I hope and I pray that we will continue to work together to reinforce Jerusalem in order to extend its boundaries.'"

Wednesday

Jury selected for Padilla trial - Los Angeles Times

Jury selected for Padilla trial - Los Angeles Times: "the only practicing Muslim brought before the lawyers Tuesday was dismissed by the prosecution. Assistant U.S. Atty. John C. Shipley told Cooke the government objected to her service because she had read publications from Yemen, Syria and Iran."

Tuesday

Judge drops charges against Posada - 05/08/2007 - MiamiHerald.com

Judge drops charges against Posada - 05/08/2007 - MiamiHerald.com: "Posada was in El Paso with his lawyer, Arturo Hernandez, celebrating the surprise move by the Bush-appointed judge."

Adam's World: Russell Simmons On "Doing You"

Adam's World: Russell Simmons On "Doing You": "Russell Simmons: I like Dennis Kucinich, how bout that?"

Monday

George Tenet cashes in on Iraq | Salon News

George Tenet cashes in on Iraq | Salon News: "The former CIA chief is earning big money from corporations profiting off the war -- a fact not mentioned in his combative new book or heard on his publicity blitz."

Saturday

CJR Daily: Is This What the Army Thinks of Us?

CJR Daily: Is This What the Army Thinks of Us?: "Under 'traditional domestic threats' we find hackers and militia groups, while 'non-traditional' threats include drug cartels, and -- yes -- the media. Just to put that into some perspective, the foreign 'non-traditional threats' are listed as warlords, and Al Qaeda."

Friday

Potential terror jurors cite 9/11 doubts - 05/03/2007 - MiamiHerald.com

Potential terror jurors cite 9/11 doubts - 05/03/2007 - MiamiHerald.com

Norway Keeps Nest Egg From Some U.S. Companies - New York Times

Norway Keeps Nest Egg From Some U.S. Companies - New York Times
The National Arbor Day Foundation Plant hardiness zones based on 2006 climate, contrasted with 1990 USDA update. The New York Times reports that "[t]he Agriculture Department is in the process of redoing the map itself. But critics have taken issue with the department’s decision to use 30 years of temperature data, saying it will result in cooler averages and fail to reflect the warming climate. The 1990 U.S.D.A. map used 13 years of data; the Arbor Day map used 15 years ending in 2004."

The U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer - New York Times

The U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer - New York Times: "the riskiest job in the Bush administration is being a prosecutor investigating a Republican "

Saturday

Out of America: Going to college? Watch out for Bush's bandits - Independent Online Edition > Americas

Out of America: Going to college? Watch out for Bush's bandits - Independent Online Edition > Americas: "In a way, the US student loan system resembles the over-layered health-care system here. Just as America rejects the single-payer health system embraced by other advanced countries, in the name of choice and a fictional 'efficiency', so it privatises student loans. But like the health insurers, the private lenders are in business to make a profit.

And as these middlemen prosper, college education costs grow faster than any other sector of the family budget (with the exception, of course, of health care). Thus inflation-adjusted student debt is up 60 per cent in a decade, and the US student loan business is now worth $85bn. "

ARMED FORCES JOURNAL - A failure in generalship - May 2007

ARMED FORCES JOURNAL - A failure in generalship - May 2007 Another left-wing whacko chimes in.

The Gavel » Blog Archive » General William Odom Delivers Democratic Radio Address on Iraq

The Gavel » Blog Archive » General William Odom Delivers Democratic Radio Address on Iraq: "Thus, he lets the United States fly further and further into trouble, squandering its influence, money, and blood, facilitating the gains of our enemies. The Congress is the only mechanism we have to fill this vacuum in command judgment.
To put this in a simple army metaphor, the Commander-in-Chief seems to have gone AWOL"

-Lt. General William E. Odom (left wing nutjob)

Thursday

U.S. and Japan sign nuclear power pact - Los Angeles Times: ""Some kind of nuclear nirvana is the driving force behind this," said Victor Gilinsky, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "It has a certain intellectual appeal until you think about how it would work and what it would cost.""

Malpractice Juries Tend to Side More With Doctors, Researcher Finds: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Malpractice Juries Tend to Side More With Doctors, Researcher Finds: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: "juries are several times more likely to depart from the judgment of the [independent medical] reviewers when doing so will exonerate the defendant than they are to disagree when doing so will lead to liability. The repeated finding that juries rule in favor of defendant physicians more often than physician reviewers do is remarkable given the documented reluctance of physicians to label another physician's care as negligent."
Political Briefings At Agencies Disclosed - washingtonpost.com I got one question. Do you feel coerced? Well? Do ya, punk?

UN: Iraqi gov't held casualty figures - Yahoo! News

UN: Iraqi gov't held casualty figures - Yahoo! News

Unidentified witness claims he was offered $100,000 to kill Boulis: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Unidentified witness claims he was offered $100,000 to kill Boulis: South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "Kidan and his former SunCruz partner, fallen super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, are serving 70-month prison sentences for lying "

Sunday

Why do straights hate gays? - Los Angeles Times

Why do straights hate gays? - Los Angeles Times

Kramer is absolutely correct that heterosexism is the last remaining bigotry that's acceptable to express in public in the US, and the only one with no legal recourse whatever in most jurisdictions. (I say "in public" in full awareness of what I finally, a little tipsy, confronted someone with a few weeks back: it's amazing the things people will say when they assume you're white.)

But even more sadly, at this time in history, his more general comments about prejudice could apply to any racial, ethnic, religious, political, body-morphic or sexual minority. When it comes down to it, "[t]here is not a candidate or major public figure who would not sell" ANY of us down the river, and most of them of both major parties have done so more than once in recent memory.

Latest US solution to Iraq's civil war: a three-mile wall | Iraq | Guardian Unlimited

Latest US solution to Iraq's civil war: a three-mile wall | Iraq | Guardian Unlimited Surrealism of walls.

Saturday

Wolfowitz's girlfriend problem | Salon.com

Wolfowitz's girlfriend problem | Salon.com: "The person who did work with Riza in her new position was Elizabeth Cheney, then the deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. And Riza's assignment fell under the purview of Karen Hughes, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. But these facts raise more questions than they answer.

The documents released by the World Bank do not include any of the communications with the State Department. How did Elizabeth Cheney come to be involved? Did Wolfowitz speak with Vice President Dick Cheney, for whom he had been a deputy when Cheney was secretary of defense in the elder Bush's administration?

Riza, who is not a U.S. citizen, had to receive a security clearance in order to work at the State Department. Who intervened? "

Wednesday

World Public Opinion

World Public Opinion: "World View of US Role Goes From Bad to Worse"

Service Problems for BlackBerry System - New York Times

Service Problems for BlackBerry System - New York Times Deleting White House staff emails disrupts Blackberry service.

SCOTUSblog

SCOTUSblog: "For the first time since Roe, the Court blesses a prohibition with no exception protecting a woman's health."

U.S. Missile Deals Bypass, and Annoy, European Union - New York Times

U.S. Missile Deals Bypass, and Annoy, European Union - New York Times

Tuesday

POLITICS-U.S.: Wolfowitz Defenders Double Their Standards

POLITICS-U.S.: Wolfowitz Defenders Double Their Standards: "Some of the same neoconservative institutions that are defending World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz against charges that he unethically promoted the career and compensation of his romantic partner were among the most aggressive in attacking former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan for alleged nepotism on behalf of his son."

Greetings from the Red Zone

Greetings from the Red Zone

Monday

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 04/16/2007 | U.S. challenged on action against key bank

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 04/16/2007 | U.S. challenged on action against key bank The headline says "challenged." The story says that the US' freezing North Korean assets in Banco Delta Asia - resulting in North Korea's walking out of nuclear talks in September, 2005 - had "no basis in fact."

Sunday

Special report - newsjournalonline.com

Special report - newsjournalonline.com WMD found in Iraq.

Gone Fission: Firms Weigh Nuclear Option: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Gone Fission: Firms Weigh Nuclear Option: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expecting about 30 applications for new reactors in the next few years....In the past, the approval process could last for years, in part because applicants were required to get two separate licenses for a plant's construction and operation. New rules let applicants get both licenses at the same time..."

Administration Seeks to Expand Surveillance Law - washingtonpost.com

Administration Seeks to Expand Surveillance Law - washingtonpost.com

Friday

State's drivers are pumping less gas - Los Angeles Times: The federal Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. gasoline consumption rose more than 1% in 2006. But since demand slipped in California — the nation's largest gasoline market — some have doubts about the nationwide figure.

Evelyn Pringle: Bush Family War Profiteering

Evelyn Pringle: Bush Family War Profiteering

3 Generals Spurn the Position of War 'Czar' - washingtonpost.com

3 Generals Spurn the Position of War 'Czar' - washingtonpost.com: "The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going"

Thursday

Bank Information Center: Staff Association calls for Wolfowitz's resignation

Bank Information Center: Staff Association calls for Wolfowitz's resignation

SmallGovTimes.com :: Democrats prevent Kucinich from speaking against supplemental

SmallGovTimes.com :: Democrats prevent Kucinich from speaking against supplemental

For Wolfowitz, Slings and Arrows - washingtonpost.com

For Wolfowitz, Slings and Arrows - washingtonpost.com

Strategic Security Blog

Strategic Security Blog: "Iraq's Looted Arms Depots: What the GAO Didn't Mention"

In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud - New York Times

In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud - New York Times

Some W. House e-mails on fired attorneys may be lost - Yahoo! News

Some W. House e-mails on fired attorneys may be lost - Yahoo! News

Secrecy News

Secrecy News: "AIPAC Court Considers 'Silent Witness' ProcedureAIPAC Court Considers 'Silent Witness' Procedure"

Secrecy News

Secrecy News Honey Bee Population Drops Sharply

Democracy Now! | EXCLUSIVE…Two Explosive Books Tell the Inside Story of the Forged Iraq-Niger Docs That Helped Build the Case for War

Democracy Now! | EXCLUSIVE…Two Explosive Books Tell the Inside Story of the Forged Iraq-Niger Docs That Helped Build the Case for War

Rush to Judgment: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com

Rush to Judgment: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com: "talk radio's most imitated showman, conservatism's minister of disinformation, he has injected millions of semi-vacant American skulls with a cream filling of complacency that has helped thrust this country into the forefront of backward leadership"

Thursday

Le Monde.fr Interview with Robert Fisk: "the largest party in the insurrection has communicated to... The Independent... its proposals for a ceasefire in Iraq.... I understand that it is impossible now for M. Bush to disavow M. Maliki, but the declarations I have received show clearly that the insurgents want a negotiated solution, not only a military victory."