18 February 2006

"I'm The Guy Who Pulled The Trigger"

ReddHedd's doing the play by play of the Fox interview with Cheney. He keeps saying it was the worst day of his life. He'll never foreget it, blah, blah, blah. Very touching, I'm sure.

In fact he was so upset that he went back to the ranch and sat down for dinner.

But he was very worried while he ate so that's ok. In fact, he was so busy worrying and eating that he couldn't even make some calls to DC to have his press office inform the public.

Digby: Leaders Lead

So it looks like the Judiciary Committee is going to do the big el-foldo on the NSA spying scandal and some Democrats in the congress are going to simply vote with the Republicans make the president's illegal program legal and call it a day. Once again their losing strategists have misunderstood why Americans believe that they are weak on national security. Indeed, if they capitulate on this they will have reinforced that image much more than if they oppose it outright.

This article by Walter Shapiro on Salon discusses what is driving some Dems to play down the NSA spying issue:
Typical was my lunch discussion earlier this week with a ranking Democratic Party official. Midway through the meal, I innocently asked how the "Big Brother is listening" issue would play in November. Judging from his pained reaction, I might as well have announced that Barack Obama was resigning from the Senate to sell vacuum cleaners door-to-door. With exasperation dripping from his voice, my companion said, "The whole thing plays to the Republican caricature of Democrats -- that we're weak on defense and weak on security." To underscore his concerns about shrill attacks on Bush, the Democratic operative forwarded to me later that afternoon an e-mail petition from MoveOn.org, which had been inspired by Al Gore's fire-breathing Martin Luther King Day speech excoriating the president's contempt for legal procedures.

Digby: Haters vs Haters

This week, the issue of which side of the political spectrum is more hateful is back and it's all I can do to stop myself from crawling back under the covers and staying there. Alleged apostates Andrew Sullivan and Marshall Wittman both tut-tut the barbaric behavior of the left today, saying that it is actually much worse than the unpleasantness they sometimes hear from the right.

I don't know how many ways you can say this but I'll try again: hatefulness is not confined to any particular political persuasion --- but there is only one side that makes a fucking profit at it.

Digby: Political Religion

Following up on my earlier post, I just realized that Andrew Sullivan entitled his piece "Religious Left" which is very interesting. This latest dialog began with Glenn Greenwald's great post earlier this week in which he proclaimed modern Republicanism a Bush cult. It was widely read and discussed on the right as well as the left blogopshere. I disagreed a little bit with Glenn's analysis and called it a Republican Authoritarian Cult because I can already see beginning to detach from Bush and prepare the ground for whoever the next object of their authoritarian passion turns out to be.

37 million poor hidden in the land of plenty

Americans have always believed that hard work will bring rewards, but vast numbers now cannot meet their bills even with two or three jobs. More than one in 10 citizens live below the poverty line, and the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening

Paul Harris in Kentucky
Sunday February 19, 2006
The Observer


The flickering television in Candy Lumpkins's trailer blared out The Bold and the Beautiful. It was a fantasy daytime soap vision of American life with little relevance to the reality of this impoverished corner of Kentucky.

The Lumpkins live at the definition of the back of beyond, in a hollow at the top of a valley at the end of a long and muddy dirt road. It is strewn with litter. Packs of stray dogs prowl around, barking at strangers. There is no telephone and since their pump broke two weeks ago Candy has collected water from nearby springs. Oblivious to it all, her five-year-old daughter Amy runs barefoot on a wooden porch frozen by a midwinter chill.

Steele Campaign Seen in Disarray

Communications Chief Latest to Quit

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 18, 2006; Page B01

In a matter of weeks, Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele lost his campaign manager, offended an audience of Jewish leaders by comparing stem cell research to Nazi experimentation and then confounded a conservative talk show audience by saying he actually supports embryonic research.

Yesterday came more turmoil, as the Republican with the best chance of winning a U.S. Senate seat from Maryland in two decades lost his communications director, Leonardo Alcivar, who resigned.

Information Is Power

By Terry J. Allen

Sometimes it’s the small abuses scurrying below radar that reveal how profoundly the Bush administration has changed America in the name of national security. Buried within the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 is a regulation that bars most public access to birth and death certificates for 70 to 100 years. In much of the country, these records have long been invaluable tools for activists, lawyers, and reporters to uncover patterns of illness and pollution that officials miss or ignore.

In These Times has obtained a draft of the proposed regulations now causing widespread concern among state officials. It reveals plans to create a vast database of vital records to be centralized in Washington, and details measures that states must implement–and pay millions for—before next year’s scheduled implementation.

Prosecutor Says Libby Seeks to Thwart Criminal Case

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 — A federal prosecutor has said I. Lewis Libby Jr., former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, is trying to sabotage the criminal case against him by insisting through his lawyers that he be given sensitive government documents for his defense.

In a court filing on Thursday night, the prosecutor said requests by Mr. Libby's lawyers for documents, including the daily intelligence briefs given to the president for nearly a year, were "a transparent effort at 'graymail.' "

The prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, said the requests for a large amount of sensitive information beyond what they had been given was unjustified. Mr. Fitzgerald told the federal judge hearing the case that defendants like Mr. Libby had an incentive to derail their trials by asking for sensitive documents that the government might not want discussed openly.

17 February 2006

Juan Cole - 02/17/06


Salon.com has gotten hold of a complete set of images of torture from Abu Ghraib. This is the material that the US government has been declining to release. The pictures are not of new abuse, though it is clear that many of the same sorts of torture as were pictured in 2003 have continued-- including stress positions, hooding, etc.


Three major bombings in Baghdad and shootings there and elsewhere killed 11 persons in Iraq on Thursday and left 30 wounded.

Bush is seeking another $68 billion for Iraq (and a little for Afghanistan). This thing is costing each American thousands of dollars. And it is certainly making the US less secure over time.
Bush's terrorism incubator in Iraq has already produced an increase in the sophistication of guerrilla attacks in Afghanistan. Now UPI says that the more canny techniques are even showing up among rebels in southern Thailand! The world will be living with the aftermath of Fallujah and Abu Ghraib for decades.

Bush outsources operations of 6 US ports to Arab country with troubling ties to terrorism

by John in DC - 2/17/2006 10:55:00 AM

At this time in our history do we really need to be putting the United Arab Emirates in charge of major US ports, including the ports of New York, New Jersey, Miami and more?

House Republicans Reject Call to Study Budget Bill Disparities

Published: February 17, 2006

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 — House Republicans rejected a call on Thursday for an inquiry into the enactment of a major spending-cut bill that Democrats say is invalid, as a simmering partisan feud over Congressional procedure boiled over.

House members voted 219 to 187 along strict party lines to block a request by Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, for an ethics investigation into how the House and Senate ended up approving slightly different versions of legislation signed by President Bush on Feb. 8.

Professor Wright co-authors new ACM report on voter privacy

Report includes voter registration guidelines to assure privacy and accuracy

Dr. Rebecca Wright, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Stevens Institute of Technology, is one of the authors of a new report, the Electronic Voter Registration Database Study, commissioned and recently issued by the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) US Public Policy Committee (USACM). Wright collaborated with a team of team of computer science and technology experts that recently issued recommendations to ensure that electronic records of information submitted by citizens registering to vote are accurate, private and secure. In the report, state and local election officials now have nearly 100 high-level guidelines designed to help states comply with Federal laws that require computerized statewide electronic databases to be operational by January 1, 2006.

In the Mideast, the Third Way Is a Myth

By Shibley Telhami
Friday, February 17, 2006; Page A19

The reality shown by Hamas's victory in the Palestinian elections is this: If fully free elections were held today in the rest of the Arab world, Islamist parties would win in most states. Even with intensive international efforts to support "civil society" and nongovernmental organizations, elections in five years would probably yield the same results. The notion, popular in Washington over the past few years, that American programs and efforts can help build a third alternative to both current governments and Islamists is simply a delusion.

In Arab politics there are primarily two organized power groups: Islamic organizations, drawing their support from a disenfranchised public mobilized by the mosque, and governing elites. Sure, there are many other organizations, sometimes even ones whose aspirations match those of large segments of the public, but their chances will remain small. This we have ascribed to bad governments always forcing the choice between themselves on the one hand and the Islamists on the other.

Senate Rejects Wiretapping Probe

But Judge Orders Justice Department to Turn Over Documents

By Charles Babington and Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, February 17, 2006; Page A06

The Bush administration helped derail a Senate bid to investigate a warrantless eavesdropping program yesterday after signaling it would reject Congress's request to have former attorney general John D. Ashcroft and other officials testify about the program's legality. The actions underscored a dramatic and possibly permanent drop in momentum for a congressional inquiry, which had seemed likely two months ago.

Senate Democrats said the Republican-led Congress was abdicating its obligations to oversee a controversial program in which the National Security Agency has monitored perhaps thousands of phone calls and e-mails involving U.S. residents and foreign parties without obtaining warrants from a secret court that handles such matters.

Invisible Men

The not-people we're not holding at Guantanamo Bay.
By Dahlia Lithwick
Posted Thursday, Feb. 16, 2006, at 3:22 PM ET

It's an immutable rule of journalism that when you unearth three instances of a phenomenon, you've got a story. So, you might think three major reports on Guantanamo Bay, all released within a span of two weeks, might constitute a big story. But somehow they do not.

Guantanamo Bay currently holds over 400 prisoners. The Bush administration has repeatedly described these men as "the worst of the worst." Ten have been formally charged with crimes and will someday face military tribunals. The rest wait to learn what they have done wrong. Two major studies conclude that most of them have done very little wrong. A third says they are being tortured while they wait.

Michael Kinsley: The Spreadsheet

Numbers don't lie, but sometimes they mislead.
By Michael Kinsley
Posted Friday, Feb. 17, 2006, at 11:47 AM ET

Either the Republicans are getting better or my mathematics is getting worse.

Every year about this time, I celebrate the release of the president's budget and his economic report by pouring a lot of the numbers from these documents into a spreadsheet. My goal is to reach an objective, scientific conclusion about which party governs better. (Look, everybody needs a hobby.) The theory is that over 30 or 50 or 80 years—however many the budget documents choose to record, and it varies—any special circumstances, such as war, will average themselves out. Or if they don't, any general claims about the superiority of one party to another are meaningless, which is also a possibility.

America's Moral Decline and the Rise of False Christianity

Published on Thursday, February 16, 2006, by CommonDreams.org
by Karen Horst Cobb

“This is the year God wants to make you a millionaire.” The visiting evangelist stomped back and forth on the stage of the rented school building. His “hallelujahs” and “praise God” crescendos were followed by jumping up and down. Sweat ran down his face as he proclaimed that the church members would not need to be afraid if the economy collapses and their neighbors houses are foreclosed upon because they are blessed and will have all of their needs met. The service ended with the explanation that the first step to becoming a millionaire is to pledge $200 of “seed faith money” to the church .

Just prior to the introduction of the evangelist the young single minister with spiky hair introduced the beginning of fellowship “life groups," explaining that the “free market” will decide which ones succeed. Recently, Ted Taggard of mega church New Life Fellowship in Colorado Springs explained that Spirituality is a “commodity “ to be bought and sold. The writings of Milton Friedman are recommended for all new converts. This young minister must also be a free market convert . His small group is a satellite of World Harvest Church. The sermon themes of the mega churches are all very similar and reflect the cause of America‘s moral decline. Christianity is getting a makeover using the classic trappings of Money, domination and military aggression.

NYT Editorial: Doing the President's Dirty Work

Is there any aspect of President Bush's miserable record on intelligence that Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is not willing to excuse and help to cover up?

For more than a year, Mr. Roberts has been dragging out an investigation into why Mr. Bush presented old, dubious and just plain wrong intelligence on Iraq as solid new proof that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was in league with Al Qaeda. It was supposed to start after the 2004 election, but Mr. Roberts was letting it die of neglect until the Democrats protested by forcing the Senate into an unusual closed session last November.

Now Mr. Roberts is trying to stop an investigation into Mr. Bush's decision to allow the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans without getting the warrants required by a 27-year-old federal law enacted to stop that sort of abuse.

Editorial: Secrecy over security

Libby revelation puts things in perspective

Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, February 16, 2006

When it comes to keeping secrets, the Bush administration has what might be called a two-handed approach.

On one hand, the administration will do and has done all kinds of gymnastics to avoid giving Congress information about intelligence programs. On the other, the administration is willing to reveal classified information selectively when doing so suits its political aims.

Actions here speak louder than words.

Robert Scheer: Dream On, Condi

AlterNet. Posted February 15, 2006.

The rise of an anti-American like Moqtada al-Sadr shows how wide a defeat pro-Western forces have had in Iraq.

Condoleezza Rice is someone I knew to be a very bright scholar when we were both fellows in Stanford University's arms-control seminar. Yes, we differed on occasion, but I never had cause to doubt her ability to reason. Now, I do.

Confronted by ABC's George Stephanopoulos with the news that fiery Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi militia has twice engaged in fierce armed conflict with U.S. troops since the 2003 invasion, was the kingmaker in the selection of Iraq's next prime minister, Rice replied sanguinely, "Iraq is a complex place, there's a lot of voices."

Leaving a Permanent Mark on Iraq

By Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com. Posted February 17, 2006.

No matter how much the military hems and haws about withdrawing from Iraq, the bases we're installing tell the real story.

We're in a new period in the war in Iraq -- one that brings to mind the Nixonian era of "Vietnamization": A President presiding over an increasingly unpopular war that won't end; an election bearing down; the need to placate a restive American public; and an army under so much strain that it seems to be running off the rails. So it's not surprising that the media is now reporting on administration plans for, or "speculation" about, or "signs of," or "hints" of "major draw-downs" or withdrawals of American troops. The figure regularly cited these days is less than 100,000 troops in Iraq by the end of 2006. With about 136,000 American troops there now, that figure would represent just over one-quarter of all in-country U.S. forces, which means, of course, that the term "major" certainly rests in the eye of the beholder.

Did the Pro-Choice Movement Save America?

By Rachel Fudge, AlterNet. Posted February 17, 2006.

AlterNet speaks with Cristina Page, the author of a controversial new book about the state of sex, morality and abortion rights in America.

In her new book, How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America: Freedom, Politics, and the War on Sex (Basic Books), Cristina Page boldly declares that the pro-choice movement is "doing a better job at what the public understands to be the pro-life agenda than the pro-lifers are": that is, not only dramatically reducing the number of abortions in the United States, but also putting forth (and achieving) a truly pro-family, pro-child vision of life in America.

The rising tide of ocean plagues: How humans are changing the dynamics of disease

A leading group of epidemiologists, veterinarians and ecologists report that humans are affecting the oceans in ways that are changing the dynamics of disease. Previously harmless pathogens are becoming killers when combined with contaminants; "good" parasites that invisibly control the balance of species in an ecosystem are disappearing; and changes in sea surface temperature can trigger cholera outbreaks thousands of miles away.

"Human activities are knocking things out of balance," says Andrew Dobson of Princeton University. "For some pathogens, we're seeing nasty synergistic effects with contaminants, such as PCBs. Paradoxically, diseases also play an important role in healthy ecosystem functioning. These changes tend to slip under the radar screen until they show up in ecological cascades that lead to wildlife and human health problems."

16 February 2006

Cursor's Media Patrol - 02/16/06

With Attorney General Alberto Gonzales 'Withholding Plame Emails' -- citing "executive privilege" and "national security concerns" -- a Cheney claim of "power to declassify" secrets reportedly "could set up a criminal defense" for his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in the CIA leak case.

12 hours of tape recordings obtained by ABC News, in which Saddam Hussein reportedly speaks of how he "warned the United States it could be hit by a terrorist attack ... but not from Iraq," will evidently be released to the public this weekend.

Fifteen months after retaking Samarra, American troops still are battling insurgents in daily skirmishes, and Knight Ridder quotes one U.S. officer as saying that "It's apocalyptic out there."

As he bids 'Farewell to Ground Zero,' Jonathan Schell argues that the Bush administration's project for "a profound transformation of the American state ... had even less to do with 9/11 than did the Iraq War."

Patriot Act Moves Closer to Renewal

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer 29 minutes ago

The Senate overwhelmingly rejected an effort Thursday to block renewing the Patriot Act, the 2001 law passed weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks to help the government hunt down terrorists.

The 96-3 vote was no suprise to Sen. Russell Feingold, the Wisconsin Democrat who was the lone senator to oppose the law four and a half years ago and is the chief obstacle to extending 16 provisions now due to expire March 10.

Feingold, who is exploring seeking his party's presidential nomination in 2008, plans to make the Senate spend several more days on the bill and complained that Majority Leader Bill Frist had used procedural maneuvers to prevent him from trying to amend the bill.

"We still have not addressed some of the most significant problems with the Patriot Act," Feingold said.

Cheney Says He Can Declassify Secrets

"Cheney Invokes Monarchal Powers, Claims That He Can Unilaterally Declassify Information. This is to Protect Him from Libby's Claim that Cheney Authorized Him to Use Classified Information to Go After Joe Wilson with a Chainsaw."--BUZZFLASH

By PETE YOST, Associated Press WriterThu Feb 16, 8:36 AM ET

Vice President Dick Cheney says he has the power to declassify government secrets, raising the possibility that he authorized his former chief of staff to pass along sensitive prewar data on Iraq to reporters.

Cheney coupled his statement in a TV interview Wednesday with an endorsement of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, his ex-aide. Libby is under indictment on charges of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI about disclosing the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.

"Scooter is entitled to the presumption of innocence," Cheney told Fox News Channel. "He is a great guy. I worked with him for a long time. I have tremendous regard for him. I may well be called as a witness at some point in the case, and it is therefore inappropriate for me to comment on any facet of the case."

Gender practices inhibit men from being better dads

A study published in the current issue of Family Process provides an in-depth look at fathering in families with young children and finds that the most involved fathers live outside traditional gendered roles. Responsive fathers shucked the old model of fatherhood in which the man is the breadwinner and more valued than his child-rearing wife. The least interactive fathers frequently held strong traditional beliefs. These fathers often held the perception that their wives had a better deal, whether or not she worked outside of the home. "Mothers' contributions (i.e. financial, childcare, or housework) were expected, and not viewed as worthy of notice," the authors state. On the contrary, highly responsive fathers tended not to operate from a set of assumptions that viewed women as homemakers and men as providers/protectors. Instead it was equal power between the spouses.

15 February 2006

Asbestos Bill Is Sidelined by the Senate

By STEPHEN LABATON
Published: February 15, 2006

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 — The Senate decided on Tuesday night to all but kill legislation to create a $140 billion fund to compensate victims of asbestos poisoning.

Supporters of the measure, led by Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, fell just short of the 60 votes needed to waive a budget objection raised about the legislation. The final vote was 58 to 41, and with powerful interests on both sides it did not break down along party lines.

Alito Picks Uber-Right Law Clerk

Justice Sam Alito has chosen his five law clerks. The latest pick is not someone just out of law school, but a former Justice Department lawyer who was a close confidant of John Ashcroft:

Adam G. Ciongoli, 37, a senior vice president at Time Warner Inc., served as counselor to Ashcroft from 2001 to 2003. He attended Georgetown University Law Center, clerked for Alito at the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit from 1995 to 1996, and helped prepare the justice for his recent confirmation hearings.

'Beer quote' pulled from MSNBC Cheney hunting party article

Ron Brynaert
Published: February 15, 2006

An article at MSNBC's Website was edited to remove references to alcohol, that may have been available at a picnic, which preceded the accidental shooting of a 78-year-old lawyer by Vice President Cheney last Saturday, RAW STORY has learned.

The change to the article was quickly noticed by a number of liberal bloggers, and their readers, many of whom have been following this much discussed story very closely for the last few days.

Medicare Plan Benefits Industry, Not Seniors

By Erin Cassin, The NewStandard. Posted February 15, 2006.

Although the new Medicare drug plan can cut costs to beneficiaries who navigate its bureaucratic maze, critics say it's costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.

Recent research into the new Medicare Part D prescription-drug benefit program shows the pharmaceutical industry poised to reap billions in taxpayer funds under the new plan. The data lends new fuel to the fight led by seniors and their advocates to overhaul the program, which took effect January 1.

Under the design of the current scheme, private insurers -- not the Medicare administration -- provide coverage to enrollees, some of who previously received coverage under Medicaid and others who never had government-subsidized prescription drug coverage.

14 February 2006

In a Lonely Place

by MARTHA NUSSBAUM

[from the February 27, 2006 issue]

In 1840 the young Elizabeth Cady Stanton attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London with her new husband, abolitionist politician Henry Stanton. At least she tried to attend it. On her arrival at the convention site, the people in charge refused to seat her because she was a woman. All the women were required to withdraw to the periphery, where, Vivian Gornick writes in her new book on Stanton, The Solitude of Self, "they could see but not be seen, hear but not be heard." Most of the men, including her husband, went along with this arrangement, unwilling to complicate discussion of the all-important antislavery issue. Only a few, notably William Lloyd Garrison, refused to participate on terms that excluded women. Stanton recalled later that it was on this day that she realized for the first time that "in the eyes of the world I was not as I was in my own eyes, I was only a woman."

So began the career of one of America's greatest radicals. Perhaps, however, it really began much earlier. When Stanton, around age 12, heard of a local woman who had suffered outrageous but legally sanctioned injustice at the hands of her dead husband's son, she grabbed a knife and cut the offending passage out of the law book on her father's desk. Her father told her that she could work to change the law but that, in Gornick's words, defacing the book was "not only forbidden...it was also useless." She reflects that at this point it was "already too late: an educated, upright, law-and-order household had spawned a daughter who was going to cut the laws out of the books with a knife."

Political Science

by BRYAN FARRELL

[posted online on February 13, 2006]

New York

When NASA's top climatologist, James E. Hansen, was silenced because his research on global warming was at odds with Bush Administration policies, he became a cause célèbre for browbeaten scientists fed up with the government stranglehold on their research.

It's fitting, then, that he was a last-minute addition to the recent Conference on Politics and Science, hosted by the journal Social Research at the New School, where leading scientists and policy experts discussed the politicization of science and the urgency to address the consequences of global climate change.

Hansen has largely ignored the media for the past fifteen years, slightly less than half his tenure at NASA. But after a presentation in December on global warming to the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco, he began to feel an even greater restraint on the public dissemination of his research.

Europe and the US will become increasingly dependent on the Middle East

Mideast to dominate petroleum products export market

By Carola Hoyos in London
Published: February 13 2006 17:24 | Last updated: February 14 2006 07:51

ImageEurope and the US will become increasingly dependent on the Middle East as an exporter of refined petroleum products over the next 10 years, according to data published on Tuesday.

The figures compiled by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Wood Mackenzie, the oil analysts, show ambitious refinery building plans in the Middle East are expected to propel its refining capacity above that of Russia and the former Soviet republics, where underinvestment has plagued the energy sector.

US attacks China peg for trade deficit

By Andrew Balls and Christopher Swann in Washington
Published: February 13 2006 19:25 | Last updated: February 14 2006 03:25

China’s “tightly managed pegged exchange rate” and “foreign exchange market intervention to limit currency appreciation” are partly to blame for the US’s record trade deficit, the Bush administration says in a flagship economic report.

The 2006 Economic Report of the President said China’s foreign exchange reserves had continued to rise, in spite of the announcement of a new currency regime in July.

The administration used blunt language on China’s exchange rate management, which it said was contributing to imbalances in China and in the global economy. “Saving is encouraged, in effect, because consumption is discouraged by China’s exchange rate policy,” it said.

Riley builds bigger lead over Moore

Sunday, February 12, 2006
By BILL BARROW
Capital Bureau

MONTGOMERY -- Alabama Gov. Bob Riley has opened a 2-to-1 lead over ousted Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore in the race for the Republican Party's gubernatorial nomination later this year, the results of a new statewide poll suggest.

The Mobile Register-University of South Alabama survey of registered likely GOP primary voters showed Riley with 56 percent to Moore's 28 percent, a wider margin than similar Register-USA polls have reflected in the past and the first time the governor has cracked the all-important 50-percent barrier.

Unlocking cell secrets bolsters evolutionists

Biologists are beginning to solve the riddles on which intelligent-design advocates have relied

By Jeremy Manier
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 13, 2006

To advocates of intelligent design, the human sperm's tiny tail bears potent evidence that Charles Darwin was wrong--it is, they say, a molecular machine so complex that only God could have produced it.

But biologists now are starting to piece together how such intricate bits of biochemistry evolved. Although the basic research was not meant as a response to intelligent design, it is unraveling the very riddles that proponents said could not be solved.

In contrast, intelligent design advocates admit they still lack any way of using hard evidence to test their theories, which many biologists find revealing.

Jim Kunstler on Lack of Leadership

Language warning.--Dictynna

February 13, 2006

The failure to lead in this country now includes all the major fields of enterprise and resolves into a general and total failure of authority that threatens to drag us into darkness. Leaders in politics, business, the news media, science, medicine, education, and the organized religions have all failed to prepare the public for the hardships that will attend a global energy crisis supercharged by climate change, disorder in the financial markets, and almost certainly more war.

President Bush's failure to lead was obvious in his state of the union speech, and in actions that followed -- such as signing on with the continued starvation of Amtrak last week. If Mr. Bush doesn't like that crypto-private company, he could start an initiative of his own to reform and reorganize the railroad system we desperately need. So too, by the way, could Hillary Clinton or John Kerry, or any other putative Democratic leader. But they're too busy grubbing around the contribution circuits to fatten their campaign war chests.

MATT TAIBBI: Generation Enron

In George Bush's America, the only crime is being poor

Tuesday morning, January 31st, Houston. I'm in the press listening room of the Enron trial, trying to keep track of prosecutor John Hueston's opening statement. The bespectacled inquisitor is trying, vainly, it seems, to explain to the jury an Enron investment vehicle called Raptor.

"Now imagine that you've driven a brand-new truck worth $30,000 into sort of a big barrel," he says. "The truck drives around in that barrel for a while, then finally crashes and burns and ends up in a heap. Now the truck is only worth $5,000, but Enron is still saying it's worth $30,000. That's Raptor . . ."

U.S. Has Royalty Plan to Give Windfall to Oil Companies

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 — The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years.

New projections, buried in the Interior Department's just-published budget plan, anticipate that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government.

Based on the administration figures, the government will give up more than $7 billion in payments between now and 2011. The companies are expected to get the largess, known as royalty relief, even though the administration assumes that oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel throughout that period.

Harvard study blasts education policy

By Jason Szep 29 minutes ago

President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind education policy has in some cases benefited white middle-class children over blacks and other minorities in poorer regions, a Harvard University study showed on Tuesday.

Political compromises forged between some states and the federal government have allowed schools in some predominantly white districts to dodge penalties faced by regions with larger ethnic minority populations, the study said.

Bush's 2001 No Child Left Behind Act was meant to introduce national standards to an education system where only two-thirds of teenagers graduate from high school, a proportion that slides to 50 percent for black Americans and Hispanics.

13 February 2006

Digby: Dispatches From The Fever Swamp

Jason Zengerle over at the Plank gives Mickey Kaus props for being wrong and then discusses every Joementum Democrat's favorite new theme: the "fever swamp" of the liberal blogosphere. He quotes Kaus:
Much of Democratic politics seems to now consist of embracing and fanning similarly comforting, but ultimately deceptive, liberal memes. Enron has fatally damaged Bush, Abu Ghraib has fatally damaged Bush, Katrina has fatally damaged Bush, Abramoff has fatally damaged Bush, the Plame investigation will fatally damage Bush--you can catch the latest allegedly devastating issue every day on Huffington Post or Daily Kos (and frequently in the NYT).

Digby: Fallen Statues

Way back in November of 2000, people were chattering online about government overreach, specifically the rubber stamp FISA court:

"Franz Kafka would have judged this to wild to fictionalize. But for us - it's real"

---

"As quietly as possible (although it sometimes breaks out into the open, usually with the sound of gunfire and the death of innocents), a "shadow government" has been set up all around us my friend. It's foundation is not the constitution, but Executive Orders, Presidential Procalamations, Secret Acts, and Emergency Powers.

Digby: Find Me A Watermelon Immediately

We've got some ballistic tests to do. This doesn't pass the smell test:

The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The vice president's office did not disclose the accident until nearly 24 hours after it happened.


OK, folks, I think I got enough information here to tell you about the contents of this fax that I got.

Digby: Edgy New Media

It was awfully good to see Jim Brady finally come forth with the scholarly, meditative disquisition about the effects of blogging on modern media for which we've all been waiting. We were in desperate need of some lucid, unimpassioned analysis of what happened in the Deborah Howell affair.

My career as a nitwitted, emasculated fascist began the afternoon of Jan. 19 when, as executive editor of the Post's Web site, washingtonpost.com, I closed down the comments area of one of our many blogs, one called post.blog. Created primarily to announce new features on the Web site, the blog had become ground zero for angry readers complaining about a column by Post ombudsman Deborah Howell on the newspaper's coverage of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. If I had let them, they would have obliterated any semblance of civil, genuine discussion.

Digby: Sourpuss

The Republicans really hate this shooting story. Hate it. The future ex Mrs Rush Limbaugh looks like she just sucked a lemon as she reported that Cheney went postal over the week-end. It isn't easy being a gargantuan right wing gasbag's girlfriend and having to pretend that you are unbiased. Sometimes it's impossible. She appeared to be barely able to keep her disgust in check contemplating what the comedians are going to say tonight.

So get your jokes on, moonbats. Let's torture us some wingnuts.

CIA chief sacked for opposing torture

Sarah Baxter and Michael Smith, Washington

The CIA’s top counter-terrorism official was fired last week because he opposed detaining Al-Qaeda suspects in secret prisons abroad, sending them to other countries for interrogation and using forms of torture such as “water boarding”, intelligence sources have claimed.

Robert Grenier, head of the CIA counter-terrorism centre, was relieved of his post after a year in the job. One intelligence official said he was “not quite as aggressive as he might have been” in pursuing Al-Qaeda leaders and networks.

Bush Admin. spent over $1.6 Billion on advertising and P.R. since 2003, GAO finds

RAW STORY
Published: February 13, 2006

From a release to RAW STORY:
#

Today Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Rep. George Miller, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, and other senior Democrats released a new Government Accountability Office report finding that the Bush Administration spent more than $1.6 billion in public relations and media contracts in a two and a half year span.

"The government is spending over a billion dollars per year on PR and advertising," said Rep. Waxman. "Careful oversight of this spending is essential given the track record of the Bush Administration, which has used taxpayer dollars to fund covert propaganda within the United States."

Outed CIA officer was working on Iran, intelligence sources say

Larisa Alexandrovna
Published: February 13, 2006

IranThe unmasking of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson by White House officials in 2003 caused significant damage to U.S. national security and its ability to counter nuclear proliferation abroad, RAW STORY has learned.

According to current and former intelligence officials, Plame Wilson, who worked on the clandestine side of the CIA in the Directorate of Operations as a non-official cover (NOC) officer, was part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran.

Why U.S. Intelligence Failed, Redux

By Robert Parry
February 13, 2006

Paul Pillar, the CIA's senior intelligence analyst for the Middle East from 2000 to 2005, has written a critique of the Bush administration's handling of pre-war intelligence on Iraq that, in effect, corroborates the British “Downing Street Memo” in accusing the Bush administration of rigging the evidence to justify the invasion.

The British memo recounted a July 23, 2002, meeting in which Richard Dearlove, chief of the British intelligence agency MI6, told Prime Minister Tony Blair about discussions in Washington with George W. Bush's top national security officials. “Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy,” Dearlove said, according to the minutes.

Blowing Smoke Rings

By George Monbiot, AlterNet. Posted February 13, 2006.

How the tobacco industry duped both academic journals and the media.

Three weeks ago, while looking for something else, I came across one of the most extraordinary documents I have ever read. It relates to an organization called Arise, which stands for Associates for Research into the Science of Enjoyment. Though largely forgotten today, in the 1990s it was one of the world's most influential public health groups. First, I should explain what it claimed to stand for.

Arise was founded in 1988 and seems to have been active until 2004. It described itself as "a worldwide association of eminent scientists who act as independent commentators." Its purpose, these eminent scientists claimed, was to show how "everyday pleasures, such as eating chocolate, smoking, drinking tea, coffee and alcohol, contribute to the quality of life."

12 February 2006

Digby: Testy, testy

Mr Victoria Toensing just had a hissy fit on Wolfie because his co-pundit Richard Ben-Veniste agreed that Cheney didn't break the law but pointed out that it was hypocritical for Cheney to lecture people about leaking when he was authorizing his staff to selectively leak to reporters under cover of anonymity.

Digby: Educational Week-end

I am going to be out most of the day so I want to leave you all with some good reading from around the blogosphere:

This article by Arthur Silber about the inevitability of action in Iran is spot on. We are not dealing with rational actors. And he's not talking about the Iranians.

This post by Pastordan at Street Prophets about heresy in the Evangelical church is quite instructive. As usual the media gets it wrong.

Digby: Wet Dreams

Uhm, would anybody care to speculate about why William Donohue, president of the Catholic league is so obsessed with incest and sodomy? Yesterday he said:
DONOHUE: Well, look, there are people in Hollywood, not all of them, but there are some people who are nothing more than harlots. They will do anything for the buck. They wouldn't care. If you asked them to sodomize their own mother in a movie, they would do so, and they would do it with a smile on their face. You know, it's such a cop-out to talk about freedom of expression.

America's Historic Debt to Haiti

By Robert Parry

February 10, 2006

As Haiti intrudes again on the U.S. consciousness with a new round of troubled elections, Americans see a violent, backward, poverty-stricken country run by descendants of African slaves. There are feelings of condescension mixed with a touch of racism.

But what few Americans know is that they owe this Caribbean nation a profound historical debt. Indeed, perhaps no nation has done more for the United States than Haiti and been treated as badly in return.

Juan Cole - 02/12/06


A bomb rigged to a motorcycle exploded outside a restaurant in Baghdad on Sunday morning, wounding at least 9 persons.

Political assassinations and bombings were carried out by guerrillas on Saturday in Basra, Baghdad, Baquba, Balad and Fallujah, among other places. Army and police figures were the main victims, though guerrillas kidnapped 5 civilians near Balad north of the capital.

Video footage of British soldiers kicking and beating Iraqi teenagers has surfaced. I saw it on Aljazeerah. It was taken by a British corporal who appears to have thought the whole thing a hoot. The teenagers had been demonstrating outside the British barracks, apparently.

Unclaimed Territory: Do Bush followers have a political ideology?

Alexandra von Maltzan at All Things Beautiful has written a long and somewhat personal post expressing her "disappointment" in my blogging and in my political views. Scott "Big Trunk" Johnson at Powerline, in a post entitled "One Beautiful Thing," has announced that he "greatly enjoyed" her "disquisitions" (meaning her post about my blogging and my political views).

Reading Alexandra’s post, I learn that I have "sold out" due to my "blind loyalty to the liberal cause of sabotaging the Administartion (sic) with whatever means available at any given time." I’m "now simply dancing to the tune of the Daily Kos audience, and it is very disappointing to watch." Her primary argument in support of this theory is that I have "attempted to pulverize the talented John Hinderaker and Jonah Goldberg," that I hold "the brilliant Jeff Goldstein" to a "higher moral standard," and that I say unkind things about the "relentlessly talented and courageous Michelle Malkin." Seriously. That's because my "posts have become a barrage of personal attacks on conservative bloggers which were not present pre-love affair with Daily Kos, Atrios, Digby and Crooks and Liars ."

Americablog: Congressional report trashes Bush response to Katrina

by Joe in DC - 2/12/2006 09:07:00 AM

This is the first of several major reports examining Katrina. It won't be officially released until Wednesday but The Post was leaked the executive summary. Tough stuff for the Bush team -- which, of course, they deserve. The amazing thing is that this comes from the current Congress:
The 600-plus-page report lays primary fault with the passive reaction and misjudgments of top Bush aides, singling out Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Operations Center and the White House Homeland Security Council, according to a 60-page summary of the document obtained by The Washington Post.

Rick Warren: The purpose driven man and his "PEACE" mission

Evangelism marches forward with a goatee and Hawaiian shirt

You may have seen him interviewed on CNN's Larry King Show; some well-intentioned person may have given you "The Purpose Driven Life," or "The Purpose Driven Church," books that have sold well over 25 million copies; you may have noted that Time magazine named him one of "15 World Leaders Who Mattered Most in 2004," and in 2005 one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World."

Peter Daou: Scandal Fatigue, Catnip & The 'Angry' Left

A few months ago, Steve Benen, Carpetbagger and DR guest-poster, wrote a fascinating blog entry that chronicled a series of Bush-related scandals .... all of which had occurred in the space of a week. In that regard, glance around this site today. You'll find an over-abundance of stories that undermine the credibility and integrity of our current administration and of the party in power. This coincides with a recent wave of references to the "angry" left, as though anger at the apathy of the media, the political establishment and much of the public in the face of this cavalcade of scandals is somehow in bad taste.

First Photo of Bush and Abramoff

White House had initially said there was no record of disgraced lobbyist at 2001 meeting

By ADAM ZAGORIN AND MATTHEW COOPER/WASHINGTON

Posted Saturday, Feb. 11, 2006

Just how close was the relationship between the White House and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff? The Bush Administration again faced questions about those ties after an e-mail Abramoff sent a journalist friend surfaced last week in which Abramoff wrote that he had met President Bush almost a dozen times over the past five years, and even received an invitation to the President's Crawford, Texas ranch along with other large political donors. Bush "has one of the best memories of any politician I have ever met," Abramoff mused in the e-mail last month, adding that, He "saw me in almost a dozen settings, and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids." The White House, however, has continued to assert that the President had no recollection of ever meeting Abramoff. When TIME reported in January that it had viewed unpublished photographs of Abramoff with Bush, aides responded that the pictures meant nothing since the President is photographed with thousands of supporters and White House visitors every year.

"Shadow War" : mainstream Protestant denominations under seige

By Bruce WilsonSat Feb 11, 2006 at 01:55:09 PM EST

John Dorhauer's new weekly series on Talk To Action may be unprecedented : Dorhauer's series concerns an over two decade long campaign, by the far-right wing financed Institute For Religion and Democracy and so called "renewal" groups advocating literal interpretations of the Bible and far right social and political views, to destroy mainstream Protestant Christianity in America. Operating from within mainline Protestant denominations "renewal" groups to sow dissension with wedge issues such as gay marriage, incite schisms, and so break apart mainstream and liberal denominations and neutralize them as an effective force in American politics.

Before now this campaign has seldom been discussed so publicly, and with John Dorhauer's series we have an ongoing chronicle from the heart of one embattled denomination, the United Churches of Christ.

White House wants to sell federal forestland

Plan would subsidize schools in timber country, but opponents say it would hurt hunters, anglers, campers, foresters, cattlemen, miners and others

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is proposing to sell up to 307,000 acres of national forestland in 32 states to developers to subsidize schools in timber country.

The U.S. Forest Service hopes to generate $800 million over five years from the sale of isolated parcels that are difficult for foresters to manage, said Mark Rey, undersecretary of Agriculture for natural resources and environment.

NYT Editorial: The Trust Gap

We can't think of a president who has gone to the American people more often than George W. Bush has to ask them to forget about things like democracy, judicial process and the balance of powers — and just trust him. We also can't think of a president who has deserved that trust less.

This has been a central flaw of Mr. Bush's presidency for a long time. But last week produced a flood of evidence that vividly drove home the point.

Porter Goss' Op-ed: 'Ignoturn per Ignotius'!

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION

by Sibel Edmonds (a.k.a. whistleblower)

Dear Mr. Goss, the timing of your recent op-ed in the New York Times interestingly coincides with the upcoming congressional hearing by the House Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats & International Relations on National Security Whistleblowers. Your comments are predictably consistent with the pattern of "preemptive strikes" you and the administration have been keen on maintaining. I do not blame you for your opposition to legislation to protect courageous whistleblowers, which will enable the United States Congress to reclaim some of its authority and oversight that it has given up for the past five years. No sir, you have all the right and reason to be nervous. However, I must take issue with your attempt to mislead the American public - another habit of your heart - by presenting them with false information and misleading statements.

VA Nurse Investigated for 'Sedition' for Criticizing Bush

By Matthew Rothschild
The Progressive

Wednesday 08 February 2006

Laura Berg is a clinical nurse specialist at the VA Medical Center in Albuquerque, where she has worked for 15 years.

Shortly after Katrina, she wrote a letter to the editor of the weekly paper the Alibi criticizing the Bush Administration.

After the paper published the letter in its September 15-21 issue, VA administrators seized her computer, alleged that she had written the letter on that computer, and accused her of "sedition."

New Suspicions about GMO

By Hervé Kempf
Le Monde

Thursday 09 February 2006

Do transgenic plants have a negative effect on health? Ever since their commercialization in 1996, the question has agitated circles of experts and ecologists, without any indisputable proof allowing an affirmative response. Now, several recent studies effected by credible researchers and published in scientific reviews tally with one another to throw doubt on GMOs' complete harmlessness. They don't assert that GMOs generate health problems. But at the very least they suggest that GMOs provoke biological impacts that must be more widely studied. This new questioning arises just as the Council of Ministers adopted a proposed law on GMO Wednesday, February 8, and as the World Trade Organization (WTO) handed over an interim report February 7 to the parties in a conflict that opposes the United States, Canada, and Argentina to the European Union on the issue of transgenic plants.

The Art of Saying Nothing

The New York Times | Editorial

Wednesday 08 February 2006

We thought President Bush's two recent Supreme Court nominees set new lows when it came to giving vague and meaningless answers to legitimate questions, but Attorney General Alberto Gonzales made them look like models of openness when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday about domestic spying. Mr. Gonzales seems to have forgotten the promise he made to the same panel last year when it voted to promote him from White House counsel to attorney general: that he would serve the public interest and stop acting like a hired gun helping a client figure out how to evade the law.

The hearing got off to a bad start when Senator Arlen Specter, the Republican who leads the committee, refused to have Mr. Gonzales testify under oath. Mr. Gonzales repaid this favor with a daylong display of cynical hair-splitting, obfuscation, disinformation and stonewalling. He would not tell the senators how many wiretaps had been conducted without warrants since 2002, when Mr. Bush authorized the program. He would not even say why he was withholding the information.