Juan Cole - July 2, 2005

Breaking News: Iraq UN Ambassador Charges Marines with Murder of his Nephew
Suicide Bomber Kills 20 at Police Recruitment Center

Iraq's ambassador to the UN, Samir Sumaidaie, said Saturday that US Marines shot his 21-year-old nephew as he was helping them carry out a search of his residence in Anbar province. The nephew had been asked if there were any weapons in the house and were shown a rifle with no ammunition (most Iraqi families have guns at home). The nephew was arrested by the Marines and then found dead with a bullet in his neck.

European Parliament Committee Calls for UN Command in Iraq
Sistani Aide Killed in Baghdad

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament has called for all foreign troops in Iraq to be replaced by a United Nations-led peace keeping force. It urged a trans-Atlantic (i.e. US and European) sharing of burdens in Iraq. It said that the troops currently in Iraq should gradually be replaced by a UN force. Moreover, it called for many more countries to begin training Iraqi troops, perhaps bringing them to their own countries for that purpose. The proposal will be debated on the floor of the European Parliament in Strasburg next month.

The UN Option for Iraq: Guest Comment by Carl Nyberg

Carl Nyberg, a former UN peacekeeper in Cambodia, writes:

"I'm skeptical of putting much hope into a UN solution for Iraq's security problems.

I was a UN peacekeeper in Cambodia, but don't want to lean too heavily on my personal experience. What I learned from my experience is that it is almost impossible for one person to capture the full story of something as complex as a UN peacekeeping mission.

Digby - July 2, 2005

Everyone Should Hate France

Tom Friedman is right. France is a real hellhole. Ask anyone who spends any time there. Like Richard Perle, neocon France-hater.

I can't understand those fools who think that France has the best definition of the good life. Who would ever think that great food, great weather, great wine, interesting political conversation,great museums, great writers -- long vacations, long meals, light religion, universal health care, laid back sexual attitudes, and beautiful countryside are worth giving up shopping for? They trade money for time to read, think, rest, talk and all those other useless wastes of time.

The Iraq Group

Update: The story originally posted to E&P WAS the story I refer to below from February of 2004. They've since removed it. The Sam Gardiner stuff is still interesting, however, as we contemplate the DSM's --- the other white meat.

Atrios links to this new E&P scoop that says the Plame Grand Jury just subpoenaed documents from the Iraq Group, which set off some bells. It turns out the Grand Jury has asked for documents from this group before and I wrote about it back in February of '04. (Good to know I haven't completely blown all my brain cells.)

Wonkette Knows All

Last night I wondered if the journalistic brotherhood was breaking a silence on what they know about the Plame case now that Matt Cooper has been thrown to the wolves. Back on Wednesday, Wonkette wrote this:

Facing jail, Matt and Judy might talk, or -- worse for He Who Must Not Be Named (Karl Rove) -- they'll go to jail with lips still sealed but outrage on the part of friends and colleagues will shake lose which White House source outed Plame to smear Wilson.

Lead, Follow or Have A Drink

Happy belated Birthday to Martini Republic, a vastly entertaining blog in all respects, and one that is particularly indispensible for astute commentary on LA and California politics. And that's important because something's happening here (what it is ain't exactly clear.) I think I'm seeing the beginnings of a middle class revolt. It's hard to know if it's going to go anywhere or if its roots are deeper than Arnold dissatisfaction, but the face of rebellion in California is the face of a fresh faced, soccer mom school teacher. This is something to keep your eyes on as the debt squeeze and the generational squeeze of kids on one end and grandparents on the other begins to really take its toll on the middle class.

Who Told Rove?

As long as we're enjoying ourselves speculating about frog marching and the like, here's an interesting theory from super-smart commenter Sara:

Has anyone here carefully read Joe Wilson's Book?

He provides plenty of carefully crafted information -- for example see p. 443-445.

The Mahablog - July 2, 2005

More Old Business

There seems to be some further corroboration that Karl Rover was the leaker in the Valerie Plame case. Greg Mitchell writes for Editor & Publisher:

Lawrence O'Donnell, senior MSNBC political analyst, now claims that at least two authoritative sources have confirmed that one name is top White House mastermind Karl Rove.

This afternoon, Newsweek's Michael Isikoff confirmed that Cooper did indeed talk to Rove for his story, but Rove's lawyer denied he was the key leaker in the case.

Old Business

Before plunging into conjecture of which knuckle-dragging troglodyte the President will nominate to replace Justice O'Connor, I'd like to call your attention to a possible breakthrough in the Valerie Plame case. Josh Marshall has the background.

This news is a couple of days old, but I want to be sure it isn't completely crushed under Supreme Court nominee conjecture.

Talkling Points Memo - July 2, 2005

(July 02, 2005 -- 05:39 PM EDT // link // print)

Mike Isikoff's piece on Rove's role in the Plame case is now up on the Newsweek website. But the picture it paints seems a bit murkier than what Lawrence O'Donnel suggested.

(July 02, 2005 -- 02:44 AM EDT // link // print)

I'm told Lawrence O'Donnel said on McLaughlin Group tonight that Matt Cooper's notes will show that Karl Rove was the leaker of the Plame information. That would certainly be an interesting development, if not exactly surprising.

(July 02, 2005 -- 01:27 AM EDT // link // print)

It turns out the use of the word 'raid' for the search on Duke Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe home was well-chosen. According to a piece just out in the North County Times, the feds who showed up at the house broke the locks on the front door to gain entry.

Digby - July 1, 2005

Big Fish

According to Catch, Lawrence O'Donnell named Karl Rove as the guy who fingered Plame to Matt Cooper and said he (O'Donnell) expects to be subpoenaed for saying it.

Interesting, if true. Are some members of the entertainment industrial complex prepared to storm the barricades now that one of their own has been left dangling in the wind?

FYI

Last week Karl Rove appeared on Joe Scarborough. Here is part of what he said:

SCARBOROUGH: Talking about getting—getting things through the United States Congress, let's talk about not so much about John Bolton, but what the problems with Bolton may mean when this summer, the president may be trying to get a Supreme Court nominee through.


Meltdown

I normally hate to predict things in too much detail because, you know, I can't actually tell the future. But, in the case of this Supreme Court fight I honestly think that Brad Plumer and Kevin and some of my commenters to the post below are on the wrong track. I doubt very seriously that Bush is gaming this in this way:

Some lunatic winger will get nominated — maybe even Jance Rogers Brown — the Democrats in the Senate will say, "Oh hell no" and launch a filibuster. So the battle will rage on for a while, Bush's "base" will get riled up and motivated to send in lots and lots of money, conservative judicial activists will blast their opponents with fairly superior firepower, and bobbing heads in the media will start carping on those "obstructionist" Democrats (bonus carping here if the nominee is a woman, minority, and/or Catholic).

Nucular Summer

O'Connor Retires. I'm sure everyone realizes this, but the fact that it's O'Connor means that we are going to have a political bloodbath. If it had been Rehnquist, it would have been no harm no foul if Junior had placated his base with another wingnut. O'Connor is a swing vote, which means that the theocrats and the anti-environmentalists and the corporate whores have a chance to do some real damage. The base is slavering for a chance to overturn Roe vs Wade and Karl needs to give them something for all their trouble.

Ahead: Six Decades of Humiliation

by Ted Rall

NEW YORK--The world hates us more than ever, according to a new Pew Research poll of 16,000 citizens in 15 countries. Most Canadians think Americans are exceptionally rude. The Chinese say we're violent and greedy. Nearly half of Turks--up from 32 percent a year ago--say they dislike Americans as individuals and America as a nation, according to the survey. Muslims have a "quite negative hostility toward America," says Pew president Andrew Kohut. Even among our traditional allies, he says, the United States "remains broadly disliked."

The reason for our declining popularity is no mystery: Bush's unjustified, illegal war against Iraq. But Iraq, Bush's doctrine of preemptive warfare and instances of prisoners being tortured and even murdered aren't completely unprecedented. Cheney's neoconservatives are merely the latest executors of an aggressive foreign policy that has long prompted fear, hatred and resentment among the leaders and citizens of other nations. Beginning with Theodore Roosevelt's brutal suppression of Filipino insurgents at the dawn of the 20^th century, continuing with the holocaust of two million Vietnamese civilians under LBJ and Nixon's carpet bombs and recently exemplified by a series of bullying adventures against such defenseless nations as Grenada, Panama and Afghanistan, the U.S. has become, perhaps to its surprise, the biggest danger to peace and stability on the planet.

Never Say 'Never Again'

By E.J. Graff, Columbia Journalism Review

Posted on July 1, 2005, Printed on July 1, 2005
http://www.alternet.org/story/22275/

In 1986 my favorite bookseller handed me Under A Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941-1968, telling me I must read it. I did, and I've since given copies of it to at least a dozen people and recommended it to dozens more. I can't be alone in this. Originally published by Helen Epstein, who invented Plunkett Lake Press just to deliver this book, Under A Cruel Star became a word-of-mouth success, garnering praise from such luminaries as Anthony Lewis of The New York Times. In 1989, Penguin brought out an edition in the U.S. and U.K. The book has remained in print ever since.

Who's in the Army Now?

Why we can't send more troops to Iraq.
By Fred Kaplan
Posted Thursday, June 30, 2005, at 3:21 PM PT

As we're often told, 1 million men and women serve in the U.S. Army. So, why is it such a strain to keep a mere 150,000 in Iraq? What are the other 850,000 doing? Why can't some of them be sent there, too? And if they really can't be spared from their current tasks, what broader inferences can be drawn about America's military policy? Should we bring back the draft to provide more boots on the ground—or, alternatively, scale back our global ambitions so fewer boots will be needed?

First, let's look at those million soldiers. Who are they? The Web site GlobalSecurity.org has a pie chart breaking them down into categories. It turns out that fewer than 40 percent of them—391,460—are combat soldiers. And fewer than 40 percent of those combat soldiers—149,406—are members of the active armed forces. (The rest are in the National Guard and Army Reserve.)

Intellectually Bankrupt

Big lenders got their consumer bankruptcy bill. Will it deprive them of corporate business?
By Daniel Gross
Posted Friday, July 1, 2005, at 1:40 PM PT

Wouldn't it be ironic if the giant financial services companies, whose trade group gleefully hailed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (which President Bush signed with equal glee in April), found that the tough bill might deprive them of potential corporate business?

A study by Robert Lawless of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and Harvard Law School bankruptcy maven Elizabeth Warren argues that the government vastly underestimated the number of personal bankruptcy filings that were due to small-business failures. Warren, co-author of The Two-Income Trap, was an avowed and stalwart foe of the bill, and she hasn't given up the fight. The study was backed not by a left-leaning advocacy group, but by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a champion of entrepreneurship. The report can be seen in brief here and in full here, and it is well worth reading.

Cursor's Media Patrol - July 1, 2005

A Newsweek report that a radical imam allegedly kidnapped by CIA agents in Italy before the invasion of Iraq, was "a key figure in a jihadi network supplying foreign fighters for Ansar Al-Islam," leads to speculation that "as the Bush administration was leaking its plans for war back in the summer of 2002, planning was equally advanced for a jihadist response..."

With Ahmadinejad predicting that "The wave of the Islamic revolution will soon reach the entire world," Michael Tomasky asks, will John Bolton "be a point man for our next war?"

A Zogby Poll found that 42% of all respondents -- and 25% of Republicans -- said they "would favor impeachment proceedings if it is found the President misled the nation about his reasons for going to war with Iraq."

The Capital Times editorializes that President Bush's Iraq speech "was written and delivered with the intent of deceiving the American people into believing things that were never true," and an Arab News commentary asks: 'Are two shadowy characters holding US hostage in Iraq?'

Knight Ridder reports that June was 'one of the deadliest months for U.S. troops in Iraq,' and Fred Kaplan argues that even with a million service men and women, the U.S. Army isn't big enough to "fulfill the Bush administration's global dreams."

Warning of a "viral asteroid on a collision course with humanity," Mike Davis says all Americans "have been placed in harm's way by the Bush regime's bizarre skewing of public-health priorities." And a Foreign Affairs analysis predicts that if a flu pandemic struck today, "borders would close, the global economy would shut down ... and panic would reign." Time for a Flu Wiki.

Spanish Premier Zapatero's Remarkable Gay Marriage Speech

When the Spanish parliament yesterday took its historic vote legalizing both gay marriage and adoption of children by gay couples, Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (left) -- who put the full prestige of his office and party behind passage of the gay human rights legislation -- made probably the most remarkable speech in favor of full equality for those with same-sex hearts ever delivered by a head of government anywhere, in which he quoted two of the most illustrious gay poets in history. Here are excerpts from Zapatero's speech:

"We are not legislating, honorable members, for people far away and not known by us. We are enlarging the opportunity for happiness to our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends and, our families: at the same time we are making a more decent society, because a decent society is one that does not humiliate its members.

Paul Harvey Foams at the Mouth

Paul Harvey's Tribute to Slavery, Nukes, Genocide
Hateful rant shows Disney's double standard on speech

7/1/05

Disney/ABC radio personality Paul Harvey, one of the most widely listened to commentators in the United States, presented his listeners on June 23 with an endorsement of genocide and racism that would have been right at home on a white supremacist shortwave broadcast.

Harvey's commentary began by lamenting the decline of American wartime aggression. "We're standing there dying, daring to do nothing decisive because we've declared ourselves to be better than our terrorist enemies--more moral, more civilized," he said. Drawing a contrast with what he cast as the praiseworthy nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, Harvey lamented that "we sent men with rifles into Afghanistan and Iraq and kept our best weapons in their silos"--suggesting that America should have used its nuclear arsenal in its invasions of both countries.


Harvey concluded:

"We didn't come this far because we're made of sugar candy. Once upon a time, we elbowed our way onto and across this continent by giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans. That was biological warfare. And we used every other weapon we could get our hands on to grab this land from whomever.

"And we grew prosperous. And yes, we greased the skids with the sweat of slaves. So it goes with most great nation-states, which--feeling guilty about their savage pasts--eventually civilize themselves out of business and wind up invaded and ultimately dominated by the lean, hungry up-and-coming who are not made of sugar candy."

Harvey's evident approval of slavery, genocide and nuclear and biological warfare would seem to put him at odds with Disney's family-friendly image.

To Impeach, Or Not To Impeach?

Atrios notes that a new Zobgy poll finds that 42% of Americans believe “if it is found that President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should hold him accountable through impeachment.”

The Left Coaster earlier noted that 52% already do say that Bush “intentionally misled” the public.

Bush administration to keep control of internet's central computers

Gary Younge in New York and agencies
Saturday July 2, 2005
The Guardian

The Bush administration has decided to retain control over the principal computers which control internet traffic in a move likely to prompt global opposition, it was claimed yesterday.

The US had pledged to turn control of the 13 computers known as root servers - which inform web browsers and email programs how to direct internet traffic - over to a private, international body.

A history of ending poverty

Gareth Stedman Jones
Saturday July 2, 2005

Guardian

The idea of "making poverty history" did not begin with Bob Geldof, Bono or the commitment of rich countries to disburse 0.7% of national income in development aid. It goes back to the time of the French and American revolutions towards the end of 18th century and to a transformation in outlook as momentous as that produced by the revolutions themselves. A small group of visionaries, the followers of Tom Paine in England and Antoine-Nicolas de Condorcet in France, ceased to regard poverty as a divine imposition on sinful humanity. It was seen as remediable in principle, since it was man-made in practice.

What this political pamphleteer and aristocratic administrator depicted for the first time was a planned world in which the predictable misfortunes of life no longer plunged people into chronic poverty. This plan was not a utopia. It was a template for a future reality; in the 20th century it came to be known as the welfare state.

Echidne: Social Conservatism and Feminism

James Wolcott called himself a social conservative in a recent post*. Reading this made my stomach turn over as I am an admirer of his writings. In one tiny sentence he sentenced me to the dark side. That is how I interpret "social conservatism": that people like me do not matter very much in the important political battles, that my issues are fringe issues, that my rights are optional. Wolcott doesn't care for me.

Of course that is not what Wolcott really said but that is what I read on the screen. The reason is the fuzzy meaning of "social conservatism". It is one of those terms where the meaning is in the eye of the beholder. One never knows what a speaker means by "social conservatism" or by its brother term "cultural conservatism". But to many on the left these kinds of conservatisms are somehow less important or more trivial to fight than other weighty issues, such as political conservatism or economic conservatism. The social and cultural issues can be condensed to a few soundbites: abortion and same-sex marriage, and these are negotiable issues to many liberals and progressive. Especially to some heterosexual men, even to some heterosexual men who blog.

Billmon: Democracy or Empire?

Tapped takes note of a new op-ed from Larry Diamond, one that reminds us how little we know about the Cheney administration's true motives for invading Iraq -- or what its intentions there are now.

Diamond was a senior political adviser to Bureaucrat Man (aka Jerry Bremer) and the ill-fated Coalition Provisional Authority (aka the RNC branch office on the Tigris) from January to April of 2004, when he quit (in disgust?) to return to his regular gig as a fellow at the right-wing Hoover Institution at Stanford.

Daily Howler - July 1, 2005

NEW WORDS FROM JOHN HARRIS! In an age of slime and hoaxing, John Harris types a new set of words // link // print // previous // next //

FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2005

DEAN MAKES A MESSAGE: Howard Dean made the occasional misstep on Wednesday night’s Hardball. For example, it takes a clumsy spokesman to say the following:

DEAN (6/29/05): There are terrible foreign terrorists over there. They have been drawn to Iraq, where they were not there before because we put our troops there. So, you could debate the wisdom of that.

The other people that are creating the mayhem on the streets of Baghdad are people who are fighting for their country. There are local people who disagree with their occupation.

Aarrgh. No one’s perfect, but only Dean would describe those bomb-throwing Baathists as “people who are fighting for their country.” Whatever the gentleman’s strengths may be, one thing is clear—he’s not slick.

Bush Words Reflect Public Opinion Strategy

By Peter Baker and Dan Balz

Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 30, 2005; Page A01

When President Bush confidently predicts victory in Iraq and admits no mistakes, admirers see steely resolve and critics see exasperating stubbornness. But the president's full-speed-ahead message articulated in this week's prime-time address also reflects a purposeful strategy based on extensive study of public opinion about how to maintain support for a costly and problem-plagued military mission.

The White House recently brought onto its staff one of the nation's top academic experts on public opinion during wartime, whose studies are now helpingBush craft his message two years into a war with no easy end in sight. Behind the president's speech is a conviction among White House officials that the battle for public opinion on Iraq hinges on their success in convincing Americans that, whatever their views of going to war in the first place, the conflict there must and can be won.

Juan Cole - July 1, 2005

US Troops Die at Increased Rate in Iraq
Two PUK Employees Killed in Mosul

USA Today reports that the death rate for US troops in Iraq rose by about a third during the past year over the previous year.

The LA Times reports on the humanitarian implications of US military operations in Anbar province, for the displaced townspeople caught in the fighting.

The Mahablog: Another Reason to Not Support Hillary

This month Senator Clinton will be assuming a "key position" in the Democratic Leadership Council.

The woman really is turning into Exhibit A in "What's Wrong With the Democrats."

At the Nation, Ari Berman writes,

Clearly, Hillary hopes that by identifying herself with an organization devoted to bashing the Democratic base she can solidify her moderate credentials. "A senior Democratic aide suggested Clinton's involvement with the DLC is just another move toward expanding her political appeal as she ponders a presidential bid," Roll Call reports (subscription only). As recently as last March, Hillary was not listed in the DLC'sNew Democratic Directory of elected officials. Now she is.

Deja vu in Iraq

By Derrick Z. Jackson | July 1, 2005

AT FORT BRAGG, in front of soldiers and their generals, the president of the United States said, ''Terrorists can strike and can kill without warning before the forces of order can throw them back. And now he has struck again. At this very hour, a second wave of terrorists is striking the cities. Our forces are ready. I know they will acquit themselves, as they always have, however tough the battle becomes. There has never been a finer fighting force wearing the American uniform than you."

The president reasserted that each soldier represents America's will and commitment at a time that our nation's security and the freedom of an oppressed nation ''is facing a deadly challenge. Men who have never been elected to anything are threatening an elected government and the painfully achieved institutions of democracy."

David Neiwert: The spectrum of hate

Friday, July 01, 2005

It's appearing likely that recent shooting death in Seattle -- a popular tennis coach gunned down by a West Seattle roadside -- was, judging by the Seattle Times report, in fact a black-on-white hate crime:
Two days before Newport High School tennis coach Mike Robb was shot to death while driving in West Seattle, the 18-year-old suspected of killing him was walking around a nearby neighborhood with a shotgun and said that he "wanted to kill a white man," an acquaintance said yesterday.

The Weblog: Adam Kotsko

Thursday, June 23, 2005

(8:11 PM) | Adam Kotsko:

From dissenting speech to undermining speech

There has been some discussion of late in conservative media circles about certain types of "liberal" or "left-wing" speech that cross the line from "dissent" to "undermining." I'd like to set the record straight on this matter.

As a card-carrying member of the ACLU (quite literally card-carrying), I think that I easily qualify as a bomb-throwing leftist for the purposes of this discussion. And I can testify that my friends and I were consistently disappointed that our scathing critiques of the war in Iraq consistently failed to affect the outcome. We had some of the scathingest critiques thinkable by the human mind, to wit:

1. President Bush decided to invade Iraq even before he was elected and shamefully manipulated a grieving and frightened American populace into a war that was completely unconnected to 9/11.
   
2. Every stated reason for the war, by the administration and by members of the mainstream media elite, is false -- in point of fact, it was motivated by a quest for vengeance against the rebellious former client Saddam, combined with a desire to tighten the US stranglehold on Mideast oil reserves in the face of explosive economic growth in China.
   
3. The war proceeded with the most slapdash planning available, ignoring the opinion of those who have spent their career studying and implementing military ventures, in favor of the outlandish fantasies of men whose intellectual nourishment consists of a heady cocktail of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, Leo Strauss, and Tim LaHaye.
   
4. The government deliberately put the troops in harm's way without adequate armor and more importantly, without adequate knowledge of the goals of the occupation, which had to remain a secret, lest it offend the basic human decency of the majority of American citizens.
   
5. The administration promoted brutal and immoral policies of interrogation, characterized by arbitrary indefinite detention and tortue, even of those prisoners believed to be factually innocent of any crime.

Talking Points Memo - July 1, 2005

(July 01, 2005 -- 11:11 AM EDT // link // print)

So there we are. A semi-surprise: O'Connor retires rather than Rehnquist, though considering the fragile state of the Chief Justice's health, it now appears overwhelmingly likely that President Bush will get at least two Supreme Court nominations, possibly more.

(July 01, 2005 -- 01:53 PM EDT // link // print)

Hilarious, even for the pitiful standards of Fox News. Apparently C. Boyden Grey, one of the most pivotal players in the court wars of the last two decades (basically the quarterback on the right), is Fox's Supreme Court Analyst. I guess Ralph Neas should be the CNN analyst, right?

(July 01, 2005 -- 02:33 PM EDT // link // print)

Matt Yglesias and Atrios are right on this one. The end of Roe v. Wade is likely to be the most immediate and conspicuous result of today's resignation. But don't forget the effect in the workplace and the economy at large. The decision on who to appoint is in the hands of those who would turn the US economy back to what it was in the latter part of the 19th century, a world in which state and federal legislative action to insure the common good was hamstrung by court decisions that left everything in the hands of the marketplace.

(July 01, 2005 -- 04:32 PM EDT // link // print)

Feds bust MZM headquarters and Duke Stir.

Duke better make his pleadings now while O'Connor's still on the Court and there's a few criminal rights left ...

(July 01, 2005 -- 05:05 PM EDT // link // print)

TPM Reader mail ...

Atrios is correct that Casey was a 5-4 decision. But what he apparently isn't aware of is that one of the dissenters (Byron White), was subsequently replaced by a pro-Roe/Casey justice. Even without O'Connor, there are still five justices on the court who are on the record as favoring at least some kind of constitutional right to termination a pregnancy. Those five are Ginsberg, Breyer, Stevens, Souter and Kennedy. Sure, Kennedy's vote can't be counted on in the more extreme cases, like partial birth abortion. But unless he flip flops (which seems increasingly unlikely after his decision on sodomy), he's still going to strike down anything that resembles a ban on abortion.

Fuel ethanol cannot alleviate US dependence on petroleum

Public release date: 1-Jul-2005

Contact: Donna Royston
droyston@aibs.org
202-628-1500 x261
American Institute of Biological Sciences

Study using 'ecological footprint' accounting indicates environmental impacts of fuel ethanol outweigh benefits

A new study of the carbon dioxide emissions, cropland area requirements, and other environmental consequences of growing corn and sugarcane to produce fuel ethanol indicates that the "direct and indirect environmental impacts of growing, harvesting, and converting biomass to ethanol far exceed any value in developing this energy resource on a large scale." The study, published in the July 2005 issue of BioScience, the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), uses the "ecological footprint" concept to assess needs for ethanol production from sugarcane, now widespread in Brazil, and from corn, which is increasing in the United States.

Guantanamo Fuels Hatred and Boosts Al Qaeda - Report

By REUTERS

Published: July 1, 2005

Filed at 11:47 a.m. ET

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States must close Guantanamo prison, where its treatment of some 500 terrorism suspects encourages hatred toward the West and bolsters Muslim membership of the al Qaeda network, a new report concludes.

Minnesota Government Shuts Down; 9, 000 Jobless

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: July 1, 2005

Filed at 5:37 p.m. ET

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- More than 9,000 state employees were told to stay home Friday and drivers found highway rest stops closed at the start of the busy Fourth of July weekend as a budget stalemate led to the first government shutdown in Minnesota history.

The Nontaxpaying Affluent Grew by 15% in One Year

By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

Published: July 1, 2005

The number of affluent individuals and married couples who paid no federal income taxes jumped more than 15 percent in 2002, to 5,650, new government data showed yesterday.

The chances of having a large income but not paying taxes on any of it are growing, according to the data, issued in the Internal Revenue Service's annual report to Congress on well-to-do Americans who live tax free. About one in every 436 high-income Americans paid no taxes in 2002, up from one in 531 in 2001 and one in 1,010 in 2000.

British Scientists Say Carbon Dioxide Is Turning the Oceans Acidic

By KENNETH CHANG

Published: July 1, 2005

Whether or not it contributes to global warming, carbon dioxide is turning the oceans acidic, Britain's leading scientific organization warned yesterday.

In a report by a panel of scientists, the organization, the Royal Society, said the growing acidity would be very likely to harm coral reefs and other marine life by the end of the century.

Receiver Ordered for Prison Health System

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: July 1, 2005

SACRAMENTO, June 30 (AP) - A federal judge said on Thursday that he would appoint an independent authority to oversee California's prison health care system, which is so plagued with problems that an inmate a week dies of neglect or maltreatment.

Snakes may lurk under the US property ladder

By Christopher Swann
Published: June 30 2005 20:38 | Last updated: June 30 2005 20:38

Three years ago Mark and Kristin Carvalho abandoned their lucrative careers in management consultancy to become realtors in the simmering housing market of Phoenix, Arizona.

“Aside from the low cost of setting up as a realtor, the economics in Arizona seemed right,” he says. “You have strong job growth and a lot of migration of people from California, where housing is hugely expensive, and from the Midwest, where the weather is cold.”

The gamble has paid off handsomely the couple are on track to sell $20m (£11m, €17m) of property this year.

Bolton and Iran

Michael Tomasky

July 01, 2005

Michael Tomasky is the executive editor of the American Prospect. This article appeared originally on the American Prospect Online Edition and appears by permission.

The humiliating—to George W. Bush , and to us, the citizens of the United States—prospect of John Bolton becoming ambassador to the United Nations through a recess appointment is reason enough at this point to oppose the man. Such an appointment would signal contempt for both the constitutional advise-and-consent process and for the UN. And while neither of those may matter to officials of this administration, what should matter to them is the weakness it signals about them —the biggest Republican majority in a Senate in a dog’s age and they still can’t get their man through.

But we have to work under the assumption that Bush will indeed make Bolton a recess appointment. There’s nothing in his character to suggest otherwise. Furthermore, we have to assume that, while Bolton would certainly arrive on First Avenue a damaged package under those circumstances, he will go about asserting his prerogative without timidity. There’s nothing in his character to suggest otherwise.

The House Monkey Wrench Gang

Dean Baker

July 01, 2005

Dean Baker is economist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

After President Bush was re-elected , he told the country that he wanted to overhaul Social Security. He said he wanted to make the program fully solvent for the indefinite future. He also complained that the rates of return on Social Security were too low, so he wanted to be able to give workers a higher rate of return by investing their money in the stock market. While some of President Bush claims were inaccurate or misleading, at least he offered a positive vision of a privatized alternative to Social Security. The same cannot be said for the monkey wrench crew in the House Ways and Means Committee who are lined up behind the McCrery Bill.

Interest Groups Mobilize for Court Push

By JESSE J. HOLLAND

The Associated Press
Friday, July 1, 2005; 5:08 PM

WASHINGTON -- Conservative and liberal groups sprang into action with the word of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement, telephoning supporters and firing off e-mails to mobilize help for a high-stakes Senate confirmation battle.

O'Connor was a swing vote on many cases, and interest groups are watching keenly to see whether President Bush replaces her with a more conservative justice to push the high court more to the right.

Bush Says He'll Pick Replacement Quickly

By TERENCE HUNT

The Associated Press
Friday, July 1, 2005; 5:35 PM

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, facing a momentous battle over a Supreme Court vacancy, said Friday he would pick a candidate in a timely manner and urged the Senate to give his nominee "fair treatment, a fair hearing and a fair vote."

The White House said it would be at least a week before he decides. More than a half dozen candidates are under consideration, an administration official said, and Bush will review names during a trip to Europe beginning Tuesday.

Supreme Court Justice O'Connor Resigns

By William Branigin, Fred Barbash and Daniela Deane

Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 1, 2005; 4:27 PM

Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court and a decisive swing vote for a quarter-century on major legal issues, announced her resignation today effective upon the confirmation of her successor.

In a brief letter to President Bush, O'Connor, 75, gave no reason for her decision to leave the court after 24 years as an associate justice, a tenure in which she played a crucial role in decisions on such major issues as abortion and the death penalty. But a Supreme Court spokeswoman later said O'Connor was retiring in part because she "needs to spend time now with her husband," who is reportedly in poor health.

Jilted: The Bush brothers kick Katherine Harris to the curb.

I wonder if she will start talking to revenge herself. This should be encouraged.--Dictynna

By Brian Montopoli
Posted Thursday, June 30, 2005, at 2:16 PM PT

Odds are that you haven't thought about Katherine Harris for a while. When she was Florida secretary of state in 2000, of course, Harris' maneuvering helped George W. Bush carry Florida, and with it the presidency. For her role in the election, she was skewered as nakedly partisan and parodied on Saturday Night Live as an ambitious harpy caked in enough makeup to embarrass a drag queen. But Harris took her lumps, expecting the Republican Party to eventually repay her for her efforts. Instead, the president and his brother Jeb are now trying to sink her.

SUN Editorial: That Old-Time Religion

Scrushy learns from Bush.--Dictynna

THE FEDERAL government's fraud and money-laundering case against Richard M. Scrushy, founder and former CEO of the HealthSouth Corp., appeared solid, if not airtight. His trial was preceded by guilty pleas from 15 other former executives of the nation's largest chain of rehabilitation hospitals and clinics in connection with $2.7 billion worth of accounting fraud. Five of the firm's former finance officers testified against Mr. Scrushy, saying he told them to cook HealthSouth's books to meet Wall Street's expectations. And yet, astonishingly, he was acquitted on all charges.

Pentagon doles out up to $300 million for 'psyops'

THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon awarded three contracts last week, potentially worth up to $300 million over five years, to companies it hopes will inject more creativity into its psychological operations efforts to improve foreign public opinion about the United States, particularly the military.

"We would like to be able to use cutting-edge types of media," said Col. James Treadwell, director of the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element, a part of Tampa-based U.S. Special Operations Command. "If you want to influence someone, you have to touch their emotions."

He said SYColeman Inc. of Arlington, Va., Lincoln Group of Washington, D.C., and Science Applications International Corp. will help develop ideas and prototypes for radio and television spots, documentaries, or even text messages, pop-up ads on the Internet, podcasting, billboards or novelty items.

Treadwell's group was established last year and includes a graphic artist and videographer, he said. It assists "psyops" personnel stationed at military headquarters overseas.

Team Bush paid MILLIONS to Nathan Sproul-and tried to hide it!

A News from Underground Exclusive!
by Mark Crispin Miller and Jared Irmas

A huge expense
In the months before the presidential election, a firm called Sproul & Associates launched voter registration drives in at least eight states, most of them swing states. The group-run by Nathan Sproul, former head of the Arizona Christian Coalition and the Arizona Republican Party-had been hired by the Republican National Committee.

Sproul got into a bit of trouble last fall when, in certain states, it came out that the firm was playing dirty tricks in order to suppress the Democratic vote: concealing their partisan agenda, tricking Democrats into registering as Republicans, surreptitiously re-registering Democrats and Independents as Republicans, and shredding Democratic registration forms.

Baghdad Chief Pays Tribute to Slain Knight Ridder Reporter

By Hannah Allam, Knight Ridder

Published: June 30, 2005 9:20 PM ET
BAGHDAD Yasser Salihee was killed on his day off.

The irony is breathtaking, if you knew Yasser and the risks he took to gather scraps of truth in a place filled with deceit and danger. Yasser worked as an Iraqi correspondent for Knight Ridder, relentlessly pursuing stories that put him in harm's way because he wanted to show American readers the realities of life in a war zone.

Army recruits shortfall blamed on Iraq war critics

By Vicki Allen
Thu Jun 30, 5:17 PM ET

Several Senate Republicans denounced other lawmakers and the news media on Thursday for unfavorable depictions of the Iraq war and the Pentagon urged members of Congress to talk up military service to help ease a recruiting shortfall.

Families are discouraging young men and women from enlisting "because of all the negative media that's out there," Sen. James Inhofe (news, bio, voting record), an Oklahoma Republican, said at a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Inhofe also said that other senators' criticism of the war contributed to the propaganda of U.S. enemies. He did not name the senators.

Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker urged members of Congress to use "your considerable influence to explain to the American people and to those that are influencers out there how important it is for our young people to serve this nation at a time like this."

Cursor's Media Patrol - June 30, 2005

Bush reached a 'Career-low' TV audience for Tuesday's speech, and 'Troops' Silence at Fort Bragg Starts a Debate All Its Own,' while the vets at VFW Post 2500 say that "the support is gone. It's gone."

USA Today reports on foreigners in the U.S. armed forces who are "becoming citizens in record numbers" as "military petitioners are moved to the front of the citizenship line." Plus: A sojourn among 'Generation Chickenhawk.'

Knight Ridder journalist killed in Iraq 'likely shot by an American sniper.'

U.S. forces reportedly reached a downed helicopter after "fighting their way toward the crash site" against "a very strong and determined enemy" in an increasingly violent Afghanistan, where the Taliban promised to release a video.

A presidential directive to "consolidate the power" of John Negroponte "will almost certainly be met with reluctance," as the White House endorses 70 of the 74 recommendations made by the WMD Commission, though not the one calling for "accountability of individual intelligence units."

How the Mighty Have Fallen

Bill Berkowitz
June 30, 2005

Ralph Reed, the former Golden Boy of the Christian Coalition, and George Bush’s longtime political adviser, is under investigation in Washington and taking fire at home

Ralph Reed had it all going for him in the 1990s: Boyish good looks, soft-spoken demeanor, and an image as a squeaky-clean spokesperson for the religious right.

As Executive Director of Pat Robertson’s powerful Christian Coalition, Reed offered an articulate and often calming television persona. Reed was smart, media savvy and a remarkable political strategist. Time magazine called him "the right hand of God" in a 1995 cover story.

White House Opposes Terrorism Coverage Law

Friday July 1, 2005 1:46 AM

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER

AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -The Bush administration told Congress on Thursday that it opposes extending a law that provides government support in insuring against losses from terrorist attacks.

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act was passed following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as a way to make sure that large construction projects could get the insurance they needed to proceed. The law is due to expire at year's end.

Bush: Kyoto Would Have 'Wrecked' Economy

Friday July 1, 2005 1:31 AM

By CHRISTIAN WIENBERG

Associated Press Writer

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - President Bush said in a Danish TV interview aired Thursday that adhering to the Kyoto treaty on climate change would have ``wrecked'' the U.S. economy, and he called U.S. dependence on Gulf oil a ``national security problem.''

``I couldn't in good faith have signed Kyoto,'' Bush told the Danish Broadcasting Corp., noting that the treaty did not include other nations - including India and China - that he called ``big polluters.''

Bush sets up domestic spy service

US President George W Bush has ordered the creation of a domestic intelligence service within the FBI, as part of a package of 70 new security measures.

The White House says it is enacting the measures to fight international terrorist groups and prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

The authorities will also be given the power to seize the property of people deemed to be helping the spread of WMD. An independent commission recommended the measures earlier this year.

U.S. changed Iraq policy to begin airstrikes months before war

John Byrne

Did Bush lie to Congress about use of force?

The U.S. quietly shifted policy towards Iraq to allow for surgical, pre-emptive airstrikes months before any attempt to seek UN or Congressional approval for the use of force, RAW STORY can reveal.

The discovery, made by investigative blogger Ron Brynaert, raises questions of whether Britain and the United States violated a UN resolution to provide for the security of Iraqi citizenry in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War.

Billmon: Failure IS an Option

The critical reaction to Bush's speech -- I'm talking here about the "respectable" establishment critics, not the antiwar left and right -- seems to revolve around three points:

• Bush falsely tried to connect Iraq to 9/11.

• He lied when he said we have enough troops in Iraq.

• Failure in Iraq is not an option.

Unfortunately, all three statements are wrong. (Actually the second one, the bit about not having enough troops, is correct but also completely irrelevant. We don't have any more troops to send, and Bush and his establishment critics both know this.)

Robert Parry: Bush's Alternative Speech

June 28, 2005

It is hard to even imagine what George W. Bush would have to say if he were serious about “leveling with the American people” over the Iraq War. Here is a draft that would surely not get past the White House speechwriters:

“My fellow Americans, let me explain to you what really went wrong with the Iraq policy and why so many young Americans have died in what looks like a futile war without end.

“First, you must know that I have long obsessed about getting rid of Saddam Hussein, taking care of some unfinished business from my dad’s presidency. There’s also a lot of oil there and my neoconservative advisers wanted to project American power into the Middle East.

Robert Parry: War or Impeachment

June 28, 2005

In the days ahead, American politicians and pundits will talk a lot about “leveling” with the people by speaking the hard truth about Iraq, meaning an admission that the war is sure to rage for years and require an even heavier sacrifice in money and blood.

But this “leveling” will be just the latest spin. What they won’t tell you are these two other hard truths:

First, whatever lies ahead in the Iraq War, the outcome is almost certain to be far worse for Iraqis and Americans than it would have been if the U.S.-led invasion had never happened. Despite the uplifting political rhetoric about democracy and peace, the smart money is on a staggering death toll, a grisly civil war, possibly even genocide, with Sunnis killing Shiites and Shiites killing Sunnis.

The Daily Howler - June 30, 2005

A WORLD RUN BY HOAXERS! When will liberals express a key point—that we live in a world run by hoaxers? // link // print // previous // next //

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2005

KIDS BEFORE HOAXES: New York City’s fourth graders rocked and rolled on this year’s state proficiency tests. But did the rise in the city’s test scores reflect an actual rise in learning? On Monday evening, a City Hall hearing examined this issue. “Da Man,” Michael Winerip, discussed the meeting in Tuesday’s New York Times.

Juan Cole - June 30, 2005

Samarra' Assaulted by Guerrillas

The LA Times reports that guerrillas launched a major attack in Samarra on Wednesday. Carloads of gunmen came into the city and attacked a building used by security forces with rocket propelled grenades. They then attacked the hospital, until US and Iraqi government forces responded to attacks. When ten carloads of guerrillas can just drive into town and shoot it up, you know no one is really in control of the place. Samarra is an important city north of Baghdad, with a population of nearly 200,000. Its early Islamic monuments make it symbolically important.

Another US Helicopter Downed, This Time in Afghanistan
17 Dead

Taliban used some sort of rocket to shoot down a US helicopter in Afghanistan, killing all 17 servicemen aboard.

This is the second US helicopter lost this week. Earlier in the week, Iraqi guerrillas north of Baghdad downed one, killing two US soldiers.

Guest Opinion: Iraq Avalanche Unstoppable: Richards

"The Iraq Avalanche Cannot be Stopped"

by Alan Richards

University of California Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA
June 24, 2005

I have been reading the debate . . . on "What next in Iraq?" ("Unilateral withdrawal? UN forces? Staying the course?") with great interest. There is a way, however, in which I am troubled by what I perceive as a tacit assumption--a very American assumption,--underlying most of the discussion. It seems to me that even "pessimists" are actually "optimists": they assume that there exists in Iraq and the Gulf some "solution", some course of action which can actually lead to an outcome other than widespread, prolonged violence, with devastating economic, political, and social consequences.

Arthur Silber: Of the Castrati — And a Bass

June 29th, 2005

Ray McGovern, 27-year veteran of the CIA, writes about Bush’s speech and the reaction on the part of the New York Times:

Forget that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and his merry men—his co-opted, castrated military brass—have no clue regarding what U.S. forces are up against in Iraq. The president insists that we must stay the course.

Avedon Carol: Uno Mundo

What a coincidence. The Knight Ridder reporter who was killed Friday in Baghdad was killed by a bullet that "appears to have been fired by a U.S. military sniper." I don't think anyone is actually saying it out loud but you know what I'm thinking: There have been an unusually high number of reporters killed in this war and I'm tired of pretending it seems like a coincidence. Via Will Bunch.

Anti - Europeanism Flourishes on U.S. Right

By REUTERS

Published: June 30, 2005

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As President Bush heads to next week's Group of Eight summit in Scotland, one of his main tasks will be to try to mitigate anti-U.S. sentiments in Europe -- but he may also need to look at growing anti-Europeanism in the United States, political and foreign policy analysts say.

US Congress seen paving way for private toll roads

Thu Jun 30, 2005 9:33 AM ET

By Daniel Sorid

SAN FRANCISCO, June 30 (Reuters) - The next road you travel -- and pay a toll to use -- could be privately owned.

Looking for ways to finance highway projects without hitting the public trough, the U.S. Congress appears set to pass a proposal to encourage private ownership of new toll roads.

The provision, part of the highway spending bill now being hammered out by a Senate and House conference committee, would allow private companies to raise up to $15 billion for highway projects with bonds that are exempt from federal income taxes.

Letter: Frist Schiavo diagnosis being reviewed in Tennessee

John Byrne

The Tennessee Department of Health has responded to complaints into Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-TN) 'diagnosis' of Florida's Terri Schiavo by videotape, RAW STORY has learned.

Their letter, written by Tennessee Department of Health Director of Investigations for Health Related Boards Denise Moran, said that the complaint had been received and "was in the process of being reviewed."

The Best Corporate Health Plan

Jonathan Tasini

June 30, 2005

Jonathan Tasini is president of the Economic Future Group and writes his "Working In America" columns for TomPaine.com on an occasional basis.

The imploding health care system is finally making one thing crystal clear: Corporate America is shredding its own global competitiveness because it can’t shake the death grip of an anti-government ideology. This short-sighted ideology leads big business to shun single-payer national health insurance, which could save businesses hundreds of billions of dollars.

Richard Cohen: Echoes of Vietnam

Thursday, June 30, 2005; Page A23

About two years ago I sat down with a colleague and explained why Iraq was not going to be Vietnam. Iraq lacked a long-standing nationalist movement and a single charismatic leader like Ho Chi Minh. The insurgents did not have a sanctuary like North Vietnam, which supplied manpower, materiel and leadership, and the rebel cause in Iraq -- just what is it, exactly? -- was not worth dying for. On Tuesday President Bush proved me wrong. Iraq is beginning to look like Vietnam.

A Subcontractor's Short But Lucrative Existence

By Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Scott Higham

Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 30, 2005; Page A13

The company hired to manage the complex logistics on one of the biggest homeland security contracts since Sept. 11, 2001, came out of nowhere.

Eclipse Events Inc., formed by two women with ties to the travel industry, first incorporated in Carlsbad, Calif., on March 28, 2002 -- two weeks after it received its $1.1 million no-bid subcontract from NCS Pearson Inc. That contract eventually grew to $24 million.

Time Magazine to Cooperate in Plame Case Probe

New York Times Publisher Is 'Deeply Disappointed' by Decision

By Daniela Deane

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 30, 2005; 4:24 PM

Time Inc. announced today it will comply with a court order to hand over the notes of correspondent Matthew Cooper to a prosecutor investigating the leak of an undercover CIA operative's identity, and so avoid jail time for the magazine reporter.

In a statement issued by Time magazine's editor-in-chief Norman Pearlstine, Time Inc. said the delivery of the confidential source documents "certainly removes any justification for incarceration."

The High Cost of a Rush to Security

TSA Lost Control of Over $300 Million Spent by Contractor to Hire Airport Screeners After 9/11

By Scott Higham and Robert O'Harrow Jr.

Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 30, 2005; Page A01

The money was spent in the name of improving security at the nation's airports:

· $526.95 for one phone call from the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago to Iowa City.

Digby: Scariest Thing I've Read All Week

Frances Fragos Townsend, the White House homeland security adviser, said the changes would allow Mr. Negroponte to wield influence and seek information down to the level of each of the F.B.I.'s field offices, though she noted that the attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales, would remain responsible for ensuring that intelligence activities in the United States did not violate American law.

Digby: Thug Life

It's bad enough that that hideous little creep Tom Davis (R-jackboot) drops a horsehead in major league baseball's bed saying that it shouldn't give the DC franchise to an investment group that includes George Soros. The real insult is that he does it so openly to tilt the field to the president's friend, fundraiser and former business partner in the Texas Rangers, Fred "count the Jews" Malek.

The Mahablog - June 30, 2005

Secrets and Lies

Robert Weiner and Alexis Leventhal write in today's Boston Globe:

THERE IS AN assumption that Saddam Hussein's upcoming trial will validate the Iraq war -- but watch out.

The trial -- starting as soon as next month -- may not be great news for the United States. In fact, it may allow the former Iraqi dictator to publicize some obscure but extremely sordid aspects of the US relationship with him and make a very public defense against the validity of the constantly changing reasons for the current Iraq war. The trial could easily backfire and go haywire from the US government's point of view.

George W. Bush Is Soft on Terrorism

David Neiwert at Orcinus writes another excellent post, saying what needs to be said.

One of the cornerstones of the Republican attack on liberals as "weak on terrorism" -- voiced most notoriously by Karl Rove last week, but really a constant and building theme since 9/11 -- is the notion that the Bush administration has been aggressive and "resolute" in tackling this threat.

David Neiwert: Who's weak on terror?

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

One of the cornerstones of the Republican attack on liberals as "weak on terrorism" -- voiced most notoriously by Karl Rove last week, but really a constant and building theme since 9/11 -- is the notion that the Bush administration has been aggressive and "resolute" in tackling this threat.

Like most Republican themes these days, it is unadulterated bullshit. It pretends that the arrogant imposition of a long-planned policy is the same as resolve, and that the careless use of military power is the same as aggressiveness. It also pretends that all of these, somehow, are an adequate substitute for real competence.

The Poor Man: Setting the bar, absolutely

Gregory Djerejian gets comments I can only dream about:

let me put this delicately. some in my circles view your blog as giving aid and comfort to terrorists, which, if treasonous, is not protected under the first amendment… at the very least, you could be shut down, and, in the US at least, I trust you know the consequences of treason if determined by a court of law (other countries have no such compunction… in your travels, I suggest you watch your back).

Leftward Christian Soldiers

A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what: It actually supports Christian values.

By Rob Garver
Web Exclusive: 06.24.05

Deep in the heart of the reddest county in a red state, a new grass-roots movement is taking shape that means to break the religious right’s hold on the rhetoric of Christianity by developing a network of activists on the “Christian left” that can be mobilized to support progressive causes.

Founded by Jacksonville, Florida, businessman Patrick Mrotek, the Christian Alliance for Progress (CAP) says its purpose is the “reclaim” the Christian faith from the extreme religious right.

Talking Points Memo - June 30, 2005

I didn't take that dreadful MZM money, did I?

Unsettling news out of Rhode Island. Chafee back on top in Senate trial heat. (Note to DSCC: if you can't land this one ... Who didn't put the squeeze on Langevin?)

More on the Rhode Island senate race ...

For those of us who are true connoisseurs of the higher Rep. Cunningham (R-Wade) chicanery, this may fall a bit short of the normal standard we like to set for the Duke.

Where does your representative stand on the new flimflam private accounts bill Republicans are trying to push through the House? You know, the one that saves the Trust Fund that doesn't exist by blowing it on private accounts.

In a mass email sent out today, RNC chieftan Ken Mehlman calls out to the faithful: phone Congress and demand phase-out this year!

Insurers Sound the Alarm on Climate Change

By Fiona Harvey, Environment Correspondent
Published: June 28 2005 22:31 | Last updated: June 28 2005 22:31

The cost worldwide of storms, expected to become more frequent owing to climate change, is likely to rise by two-thirds to £15bn ($27bn, €22bn) a year in the next seven decades, the Association of British Insurers will warn on Wednesday.

Nick Starling, the ABI's director of general insurance, urged the leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised nations to take action on greenhouse gas emissions when they meet to discuss climate change next week.

Digby - June 29, 2005

Requiem For Jeff Gerth

I thought it was rather strange that Michael Tomasky wrote a column justifiably skewering Ed Klein for his shoddy journalism and then threw in this bit toward the end:

The problem runs deeper even than Klein. Today, with the explosion of Web sites, all sorts of propagandists and provocateurs who aren't journalists can hide behind the label when it comes to First Amendment protection. Can they write anything they please about public figures, knowing that they can print lies as long as Sullivan is in force?

God Told Him

Kevin writes here about how the administration short-changed the VA budget and says:

It's one more piece of evidence that the Bushies really did expect a cakewalk in Iraq and didn't bother planning for additional casualties.

We have a witness who says that Bush absolutely didn't count on casualties.

Sophisticated

Not wanting to risk remaining in Russia, Vakhitov went to stay with relatives in Tajikistan. Then events became even more fantastic. Vakhitov and his friends were taken hostage by militants from the Islamist “Uzbekistan” movement, and took them to Afghanistan. In Kabul, the hostages were accused of collaborating with the FSB. The tortures and interrogations began anew.

Fight Back

From Liberal Oasis:

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (which has kindly published a few pieces from LiberalOasis) offers an editorial page that, of all the nation’s major dailies, is arguably the most devoted to the truth and the least afraid of the Bush White House.

Inside Knowlege

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A Republican congressman from North Carolina told CNN on Wednesday that the "evidence is clear" that Iraq was involved in the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.

Juan Cole - June 29, 2005

Some Iraqis Criticize Bush's Speech
Looming Health Crisis in Qaim Area

An Iraqi response to Bush's claim that he is fighting terrorism by drawing terrorists to Iraq:

' "Why don't they find another place to fight terrorism?" asked Abdul Ridha al-Hafadhi, 58, head of a humanitarian aid group. "I don't feel comforted by Bush's remarks; there must be a timetable for their departure." '

Arguing with Bush

Bush's speech.

"The terrorists who attacked us and the terrorists we face murder in the name of a totalitarian ideology that hates freedom, rejects tolerance and despises all dissent.

Tel Afar and the North

We have not heard much lately about the US campaign in the northern, largely Turkmen city of Tel Afar. The city has been a perennial security problem. There is evidence of local Turkmen guerrilla groups cooperating with Arab guerrillas, and the city seems to be part of an underground railway for the infiltration of foreign jihadis from Syria.

The Mahablog; The Reviews Are In

President Bush took his magic act on the road last night. Unfortunately, the big finale--where he draws a curtain over September 11, and out pops Iraq--didn't wow everyone.

Also last night the President appealed to young people to join up. "There is no higher calling than service in our Armed Forces," he said. I'm sure this will inspire a generation of young Republicans to write letters to the troops, or at least send postcards, or maybe just think about the troops once in a while. 'Twould be nice.

The Poor Man: Words to Remember

Res Publica has gathered together a handy list of quotes, made by Republicans during the Kosovo campaign. Any Democrat who cannot recite these from memory, forwards and backwards, has no business representing his party to the media. None whatever.

“You can support the troops but not the president”
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

“[The] President…is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation’s armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy.”
-Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)

Arthur Silber - June 29, 2005

Arrogant SOBs

June 29th, 2005

Story:

The House on Tuesday agreed to a $3,100 pay raise for Congress next year—to $165,200—after defeating an effort to roll it back.

In a 263-152 vote, the House blocked a bid by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to force an up-or-down vote on the pay raise. Instead, lawmakers will automatically receive the raise—officially a cost of living adjustment—as provided for in a 1989 law that barred them from pocketing big speaking fees in exchange for an annual COLA.

Matheson was the only one of 434 House members to speak out against the 1.9 percent COLA, which will raise members’ salaries in January.

Hopeful Signs: Conservatives AND Liberals Just Say No
June 29th, 2005

I see some hopeful signs dotting the landscape. There is, of course, the growing disenchantment of the American public with Bush’s catastrophic folly in Iraq. I have further thoughts on that and the subject deserves lengthier treatment, so more on Iraq later.