Echidne: The Fruits of Bush's Abstinence Policy?

The Guttmacher Institute is viewed as a fairly objective source of abortion-related data in the United States. It has now come out with a new study which found this:

Poor women are getting pregnant unintentionally at considerably higher rates now than in the mid-1990s, and they are giving birth to many more unplanned children and having more abortions.

In contrast, the rate of unplanned pregnancies and resulting abortions for more affluent women declined substantially during the same eight-year period, according to a new study by researchers at the Guttmacher Institute who analyzed federal data.

Digby: That's The Ticket

Laura Rozen raises all the right questions about this Porter Goss snowjob. I too found it a bit hard to swallow that the reason he was forced out was because of his fierce loyalty to the CIA in his turf wars with Negroponte. His rep was just the opposite --- he was a wrecking crew at langley. It's possible that both could be true, but Rozen points out all the reasons for skepticism, and there are a lot of them:

So then he was forced out on very short notice? No notification to the House Intelligence committee? Not a single newspaper report in the past few months about the tension between Goss and Negroponte? (Indeed check out the recent coverage about Congressional raised eyebrows over the empire Negroponte is building, and his alleged visits to a fancy DC club for swim and cigar breaks). On the contrary, can anyone remember a single article about Goss fighting for his folks at the Agency?

Digby: Heckuva Limo

The limousine company run by a convicted felon who ferried the Dukestir to his poker games and inexplicably won 25 million dollars in Homeland Security Department contracts denies ever bringing hookers to the parties. That's a relief.

You have to read this article to believe it:

Shirlington Limousine had financial troubles for years before winning two transportation contracts from the Department of Homeland Security in 2004 and 2005 worth $25 million. Department officials said that Baker's company was not the low bidder on either contract, but that they were awarded for "best value," based on Shirlington Limousine's past performance and technical ability.

Homeland Security officials said they did not know that Shirlington Limousine lost a contract for shuttle bus service with Howard University in 2002 amid charges of poor service. Baker did not cite the university contract on his bid proposal, despite instructions to list recent contracts involving similar services.

Digby: Onward Christian Flyboys

Is there any less appropriate place for religious proselytising and political campaigning than in the active duty military? It boggles my mind that this is going on:

The Air Force is investigating whether a two-star general violated military regulations by urging fellow Air Force Academy graduates to make campaign contributions to a Republican candidate for Congress in Colorado, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

Maj. Gen. Jack J. Catton Jr., who is on active duty at Langley Air Force Base, sent the fundraising appeal on Thursday from his official e-mail account to more than 200 fellow members of the academy's class of 1976, many of whom are also on active duty.

Digby: Good People

So the big kahuna they are talking about to replace Porter Goss is General Michael Hayden. Yes. That General Michael Hayden:

Gen. Michael Hayden refused to answer question about spying on political enemies at National Press Club. At a public appearance, Bush's pointman in the Office of National Intelligence was asked if the NSA was wiretapping Bush's political enemies. When Hayden dodged the question, the questioner repeated, "No, I asked, are you targeting us and people who politically oppose the Bush government, the Bush administration? Not a fishing net, but are you targeting specifically political opponents of the Bush administration?" Hayden looked at the questioner, and after a silence called on a different questioner. (Hayden National Press Club remarks, 1/23/06)

Digby: Porter The Dupe

After Goss's announcement yesterday, Foggo told colleagues that he will resign next week. Last week, the agency confirmed that Foggo attended private poker games with Wilkes at a Washington hotel.

Larry Johnson is saying the Dusty Foggo isn't implicated in the hooker scandal citing a friend's email with a lot of details about Dusty's completely above board poker parties. It sounds like total horseshit to me

Digby: The Real Enemy

Glenn writes about the predictable smearing of Ray McGovern and notes:

Not only is a lopsided majority of Americans (like McGovern) against the war in Iraq, they also believe (like McGovern) that the Bush administration "intentionally misled" the country into war. The fringe, radical, discredited views on the war are not those expressed by McGovern, but are those expressed by Instapundit, LGF and company. And yet those same extremists continue to classify people who oppose the war as "radicals"and "leftists" because they apparently still believe -- even in the face of all that evidence to the contrary -- that it is their pro-war views which represent what mainstream Americans believe.

Digby: Faith Based Iraq

We will succeed in Iraq because Iraqis are determined to fight for their own freedom, and to write their own history. As Prime Minister Allawi said in his speech to Congress last September, "Ordinary Iraqis are anxious to shoulder all the security burdens of our country as quickly as possible." That is the natural desire of an independent nation, and it is also the stated mission of our coalition in Iraq. The new political situation in Iraq opens a new phase of our work in that country.

[...]

It brings a tear to the eye, doesn't it? And who says nobody is reporting the good news:

Human rights groups are particularly concerned that the Sadr and Badr militias, both Shia, have stepped up their attacks on the gay community after a string of religious rulings, since the US-led invasion, calling for the eradication of homosexuals.

Digby: Makin' It

I did not weigh in yesterday on the all time nobel prize for wankerism, Richard Cohen's masturbatory love letter to himself because well ... I just can't write about all the clubby DC insiders having hissy fits these days or I'd do nothing else. Greg Sargent did a great job of analyzing this battle between the blogosphere and the Smart People Who Are Authorized To Have Opinions. Peter Daou is also covering this brewing battle between the unwashed masses and their betters over at the Daou Report. And Robert Parry has written what I think is a valuable analysis of why the Colbert routine confused the poor little kewl kidz.

Digby: Foggo of War

Oh what a bunch of crap. All of CNN is parroting this stoooopid Snow job about Goss resigning with no notice to turf wars between him and Negroponte. Right.

Paul Begala pointed out that if this is true then Goss is unpatriotic for abruptly stomping off in a huff instead of waiting for Bush to find a replacement.

Digby: Every Picture Tells A Story

Today I am breaking down the formidable Chinese Wall of the Hullabaloo Empire to editorially endorse my favorite advertiser, Michael Shaw at BagNewsNotes whose work this week is outstanding.

First,he has a take on Joe Lieberman that is both funny and inspired: Holy Joe as man-boy, which explains why he and Lil' Junior get along so well. (It also explains his fear of sex.)

Digby: Let's Talk About Morals

Man, you go to a dentist's appointment on a Friday morning and all hell breaks loose. Porter Goss, the GOP hack that Bush put in charge of our nations intelligence(!) during a dangerous time for our nation, has abruptly resigned. He was, typically for this administration, a partisan loser who was appointed for purely political reasons. And like the vast majority of elected Republicans, apparently, it looks like he may be a crook. (I realize this has not been confirmed --- but as Peggy Noonan memorably opined, in these troubled times it is irresponsible not to speculate.)

Digby: Anonymous Putz

Joe Klein had an online chat at the Washington Post today. There are many amusing moments, but for me, this one took the cake:

Beeville, Tex: Without meaning offense, how responsible do you yourself feel for contributing to the political environment of canned political discourse? After all, you wrote Anonymous at a time when all political reporting seemed to center on undermining a sitting president.

Joe Klein: I always thought Primary Colors was a tribute to larger than life politicians. As for Bill Clinton, if I've been criticized for anything in my career, it's being too favorable towards him. Primary Colors was a novel. No harm was intended. When Mike Nichols bought the film rights, he said: "There is no villain in this book." Amen to that.

Oh really.

Billmon: The Night Porter Checks Out

I definitely have the feeling that we don't even know one quarter of the story behind Porter Goss's resignation:

"There has been an open conversation for a few weeks, through Negroponte, with the acknowledgment of the president" about replacing Goss, said a senior White House official who discussed the internal deliberations on the condition of anonymity. Another senior White House official said Goss had always been viewed as a "transitional figure" who would leave by year's end. His departure was accelerated when Bush shook up his White House staff in hopes of beginning a political turnaround.

It's not implausible that Goss was fired for incompetence, rather than his involvement in Fornigate -- now that holding people (or at least some people) accountable for their job performance has become the hot new fad in Washington. But trying to spin the dumping of a CIA director in wartime as simply part of Bush's spring cabinet cleaning doesn't pass the smell or the laugh test.

Michael Kinsley: Sign Language

Why does the press hold Bush to one constitutional standard and itself to another?
Updated Friday, May 5, 2006, at 6:21 AM ET

If there is anything scarier than a president who thinks he is above the law, it is a president who thinks that journalists aren't. That is the combined message from two major newspapers this week.

Last Sunday's Boston Globe carried an alarming 4,500-word front-page article about President Bush and the Constitution. It seems that Bush has asserted the right to ignore "vast swaths of laws," simply because he thinks that these laws are unconstitutional. Through the veil of objectivity, it is hard not to detect a note of disapproval here. Four times the article says that Bush has asserted this right "quietly," a word often used in news stories to imply menace. Quoted against Bush are people such as "legal scholars" and "many legal scholars," including "a professor who has studied the executive power claims Bush made during his first term," a "professor who studies executive power" and a "professor who specializes in executive-power issues." Quoted in his defense are "former administration officials" and "[s]ome administration defenders," as well as others who have served in or support the Bush administration.

IRS plan to use private tax collectors runs into snags

By Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY
Thu May 4, 6:47 AM ET

A private debt-collection firm tapped by the IRS to seek repayment from Americans who owe back taxes has been tangled in legal controversy, including a bribery scheme involving a collection contract in Texas and a federal investigation of another collection deal in Louisiana.

Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, an Austin law firm, was one of three firms chosen from among 33 bidders in March for the potentially lucrative IRS contract to attempt collection of an estimated $1.4 billion in tax debts over 10 years.

Colbert & the Courtier Press

By Robert Parry
May 5, 2006

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen has joined the swelling ranks of big-name journalists outraged over comedian Stephen Colbert’s allegedly rude performance, offending George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on April 29.

“Colbert was not just a failure as a comedian but rude,” Cohen wrote. “Rudeness means taking advantage of the other person’s sense of decorum or tradition or civility that keeps that other person from striking back or, worse, rising in a huff and leaving. The other night, that person was George W. Bush.”

CIA Director Goss Abruptly Resigns

I wonder...did the resignation really did have something to do with this?--Dictynna

By Joel Havemann, Times Staff Writer
1:04 PM PDT, May 5, 2006

WASHINGTON -- CIA Director Porter Goss, who was unable to lift the cloud that hung over the agency since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, resigned today.

His resignation brought an unexpected twist to the White House staff shakeups of the past month under new White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten.

Ginsburg: Congress's Watchdog Plan "Scary"

The Associated Press

Tuesday 02 May 2006

Washington - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Tuesday that a Republican proposal in Congress to set up a watchdog over the federal courts is a "really scary idea."

Ginsburg told a gathering of the American Bar Association that lawyers should stick up for judges when they are criticized by congressional leaders.

"My sense now is that the judiciary is under assault in a way that I haven't seen before," she said.

Silence Broken, Pardons Granted 88 Years After Crimes of Sedition

By Jim Robbins
The New York Times

Wednesday 03 May 2006

Helena, Mont. - When Steve Milch found out recently that his great-grandfather, an immigrant from Bavaria, had been convicted of sedition in Montana during World War I, he was taken aback. It was something no one in the family had ever talked about.

For the past 88 years, a lot of secrets have been kept in Montana families, especially those of German descent, about a flurry of wartime sedition prosecutions in 1918, when public sentiment against Germany was at a feverish pitch.

Seventy-nine Montanans were convicted under the state law, considered among the harshest in the country, for speaking out in ways deemed critical of the United States. In one instance, a traveling wine and brandy salesman was sentenced to 7 to 20 years in prison for calling wartime food regulations a "big joke."

Decoding the McCaffrey Memo

If this is the cost of victory in Iraq, is America willing to pay it?

By Fred Kaplan
Updated Wednesday, May 3, 2006, at 6:12 PM ET

Good news and bad news on the war in Iraq: The good news is that victory is possible, our troops are the best ever, the Iraqi army is getting bigger and better, and most Iraqi people want a pluralistic government. The bad news is that it will take 10 more years to accomplish these successes—at least three years just to get the Iraqi military into shape.

This is the prognosis of a private seven-page memo that retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey wrote to the heads of the social science department at West Point, where he now teaches international relations. He wrote the memo—which has started to circulate on the Internet—after a weeklong fact-finding tour of Iraq and Kuwait, where he talked with more than a dozen top generals and received two dozen briefings at all levels, from ambassadors and commanders to grunts.

White House denies reports that U.S. employs terror groups for special ops in Iran

RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday May 3, 2006

Earlier today at the White House Press Briefing, Scott McClellan, the outgoing press secretary, denied reports that the U.S. is employing terrorist groups for special operations in Iran, RAW STORY

has found.

When asked if U.S. policy has been changed with respect to three different terrorist organizations that have reportedly been active recently against Iran "based on the notion that an enemy of our enemy is our friend," McClellan insisted that it hadn't.

Arianna Huffington: "Net Neutrality": Why are the Bad Guys So Much Better at Naming Things?

Why are the bad guys so much better at naming things? Especially legislation. Especially bad legislation.

No Child Left Behind. Healthy Forests. Clear Skies. The PATRIOT Act.

They have a special gift for coming up with monikers that are easy to remember and easy to get behind. Sure, they're deceptive, but they're also very effective.

The same can't be said for the utterly befuddling "Net Neutrality" -- the critically-important push to ensure that the Internet stays democratic and uncontrolled by the telecom giants that want to become its gatekeepers. (For those not fully up to speed on this vital issue -- and that's most everyone I've talked to -- check out savetheinternet.com, and posts by Rep. Ed Markey, Adam Green, Josh Silver, and Matt Stoller). Now, I understand that "Net Neutrality" is a technical term used to describe the separation of content and network operations, but what political genius decided to run with such a clunky name? The marketing mavens behind the Kerry '04 campaign?

Secrecy breach by US officials steals thunder of climate change report

· Draft findings posted on internet months early
· Action on global warming undermined, experts fear

David Adam, environment correspondent
Thursday May 4, 2006
The Guardian

A confidential draft of a high-level international report on the state of climate change has been posted on the internet by US officials months before it was due to be made public. The move to effectively publish the findings of the influential Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has surprised experts, who say it could undermine the final report when it is released in February.

The IPCC's fourth report draws together research over the last five years to predict the likely course of global warming. The draft was sent to governments for comment last month.

Oppose S. 1955

As the nation focuses on ways to improve our health care system during National Cover the Uninsured Week, a bill that could gut your health insurance is making its way through the U.S. Senate.

The bill, S. 1955, would allow health insurers to bypass state requirements for minimum benefits. That means it could eliminate key benefits in your coverage, including cancer screenings, contraception, emergency services, mental health care and diabetic supplies. Stop S. 1955 from gutting your health insurance. Tell your senators to oppose the bill.

Court says sharing religion not an employee's right

By Claire Cooper -- Bee Legal Affairs Writer
Published 7:46 pm PDT Monday, May 1, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO - A county social services department cannot be required to accommodate the belief of an evangelical Christian employee that he must share his faith with clients and others on the job, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

On balance, said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the constitutional duty of the Tehama County agency to avoid entangling itself in religion outweighs the constitutional right of Daniel M. Berry to promote his religious views.

The decision upheld one by U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton in Sacramento.

U.S. Urges Mexico to Rethink Drug Law

By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer
Wed May 3, 7:05 PM ET

The United States urged Mexico Wednesday to rethink a proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs, and the Mexican government appeared to be stepping back from the measure.

Mexico's top police official said Tuesday that the bill would have to be "analyzed" and "considered" because Congress had strayed from the intent of an original proposal by President Vicente Fox. A Fox spokesman had said earlier in the day that the president would sign the measure.

Weighing in, the U.S. government Wednesday expressed a rare public objection to an internal Mexican political development, saying anyone caught with illegal drugs in Mexico should be prosecuted or given mandatory drug treatment.

"U.S. officials ... urged Mexican representatives to review the legislation urgently, to avoid the perception that drug use would be tolerated in Mexico, and to prevent drug tourism," U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Judith Bryan said.

Where the money is

May 3, 2006

The report from the Social Security trustees this week contains little new. The real story is that the Bush administration and its allies in Congress continue to botch an opportunity to devise a bipartisan solution for both Social Security and Medicare.

The accompanying chart shows why: Any serious proposal has to retain revenue that would be lost if the tax cuts proposed by the administration and passed by Congress are made permanent. Retention of this money was a precondition for the preliminary Social Security rescue plans that President Clinton and economist Martin Feldstein proposed in the late 1990s. Nearly a decade has been wasted, and revenues have gone to tax cuts that could have shored up the retirement system.

President Bush diverted attention from a consensus solution by trying to partially privatize Social Security last year. In an insecure economy, the monthly Social Security check is the only source of guaranteed income available to almost all retirees. Americans have no appetite for diverting some of their Social Security taxes into risky stock-market accounts.

See Jane Run for president and then see girls become political

A study published in the current issue of The Journal of Politics asks if the presence of female politicians inspires political interest and activism in young women. The authors find that it does. The more that women politicians are made visible in the media by national news coverage, the more likely young women are to indicate an intention to be politically active. The authors also find that the adolescents' interest is also heightened by viable female candidates campaigning for high-profile offices. It is not a matter of the number of women holding or running for office, but their visibility. "A highly visible woman politician in the future-- perhaps even as the top of a major party presidential ticket-- has the potential to generate significant interest in political activity," the authors state.

New study finds similarities between monkey business and human business

Little attention has been paid to whether systematic economic biases such as risk-aversion are learned behaviors – and thus easily ameliorated through market incentives – or biologically based, arising in novel situations and in spite of experience. In a groundbreaking new study from the Journal of Political Economy, Yale researchers extend this question across species, exploring how a colony of capuchin monkeys responds to economic decisions. They found that monkeys doing business – including trading and gambling – behave in ways that closely mirror our own behavioral inclinations.

Man-Made Climate Change

New study identifies human contribution to atmosphere circulation changes

VIRGINIA KEY, FL (May 3, 2006) — A new study published in this week's issue of Nature is the first to show that human activity is altering the circulation of the tropical atmosphere and ocean through global warming.

Scientists widely agree that the climate has warmed over the past century and that human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, have significantly contributed to this global warming. This study tapped historical records that date back to the mid-19th century as well as simple theory and state-of-the-art computer model simulations to detect and attribute these climate changes. The conclusion was that the principal loop of winds that drives climate and ocean behavior across the tropical Pacific is slowing down and causing the climate to drift towards a more El Niño-like state. This could have important implications for the frequency and intensity of future El Niño events and biological productivity in tropical oceans.

Digby: I Gotcher Bad Taste For Ya Rite-chia

I'm listening to Scarborough dissect Colbert's performance with Ana Marie Cox and Michael Sherer from Salon and I can't believe how vapid it is. They all agree that Colbert is usually hilarious but he wasn't entirely successful at the white house correspondent's dinner because well ... they're not quite sure. Apparently, they don't know that comedians often fail to get laughs in a room full of uncomfortable, angry people who are being skewered by a master satirist who is pulling no punches. Have they ever seen any footage of Lenny Bruce?

Digby: Convenient Conservatism

Both David Neiwert and Glenn Greenwald have written blockbuster posts about the foolish Shelby Steele's stunning call today to divest ourselves of "white guilt" and bomb the hell out of the wogs.

Greenwald looks at the implications of the argument for the GWOT and checks in with the bigotsphere while Neiwert examines this idea in the context of the right's new assumption the racism is dead --- nothing to see here, move along citizen --- even while a fairly large faction of Americans are fulminating daily about how the Mexican vermin are defecating in the streets.

Cursor's Media Patrol - May 3, 2006

The latest in a series of "largely ignored" articles by the Boston Globe's Charlie Savage, detailing President Bush's use of "signing statements" to declare himself unbound by "more than 750 laws enacted since he took office," quotes Sen. Arlen Specter as saying, "There may as well soon not be a Congress."

Bush's claims have "gone well beyond anything to do with national security," Savage said in an appearance on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." Plus: "Has George W. Bush come to believe he's king?"

The New York Times reports that the Taliban are "moving their insurgency into a new phase, flooding ... southern Afghanistan with weapons and men," but evidently, the people who are ridding it of vehicles are not terrorists.

Iraq's entire oil industry is described as 'On the Verge of Collapse,' with the commander of the fleet guarding what "looks like a scene ... from 'Waterworld'" quoted as saying that a successful USS Cole-type attack "would raise the world market price by several dollars within hours."

"The first in a series of 21" government studies reportedly "eliminates a significant area of uncertainty in the debate over global warming, one that the administration has long cited as a rationale for proceeding cautiously."

Mike Davis explores the devastating impact of international economic policies on 'Slum Ecology,' in an essay adapted from his book, "Planet of Slums," in which he sees the "war on terrorism" as "an incipient world war between the American empire and the slum poor." Plus: 'The Lodi Front.'

Billmon: Losing Ugly

Whites in America, and even elsewhere in the West, have achieved a truly remarkable moral transformation. One is forbidden to speak thus, but it is simply true. There are no serious advocates of white supremacy in America today, because whites see this idea as morally repugnant. If there is still the odd white bigot out there surviving past his time, there are millions of whites who only feel goodwill toward minorities.

This is a fact that must be integrated into our public life -- absorbed as new history -- so that America can once again feel the moral authority to seriously tackle its most profound problems. Then, if we decide to go to war, it can be with enough ferocity to win.

Shelby Steele
White Guilt and the Western Past
May 2, 2006

He began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, 'must necessarily appear to them in the nature of supernatural beings -- we approach them with the might as of a deity,' and so on, and so on. 'By the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded,' etc., etc. From that point he soared and took me with him . . . This was the unbounded power of eloquence -- of words -- of burning noble words. There were no practical hints to interrupt the magic current of phrases, unless a kind of note at the foot of the last page, scrawled evidently much later, in an unsteady hand, may be regarded as the exposition of a method. It was very simple, and at the end of that moving appeal to every altruistic sentiment it blazed at you, luminous and terrifying, like a flash of lightning in a serene sky: 'Exterminate all the brutes!'

Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness
1899

Glenn Greenwald has been chewing over Shelby Steele's exceedingly bizarre op-ed in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, in which the conservative scholar declares that Uncle Sam is losing the war in Iraq not because of bad planning or a lack of troops or bad intelligence or a total failure to grasp the social realities of a deeply divided Middle Eastern country, but rather because of white guilt.

Billmon: All That Glitters

I've been watching the price of gold shoot the moon these past few weeks with a growing sense of nostalgia. It brings back sharp memories of 1979-80 -- bad years for the economy but emotionally rich ones for me. Youth is not always wasted on the young.

Events in general seem to be conspiring to give us all a late 70's flashback: We've got high and rising oil prices, a crisis with Iran, James Earl Bush in the White House and more than enough malaise to go around. It almost makes me feel like putting on a polyester leisure suit and hanging a coke spoon around my neck. If they just bring back Billy Beer we'll be all set.

$5 a gallon!

As oil soars toward $100 a barrel, it's likely, experts say
BY PAUL H.B. SHIN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tight petroleum supplies amid soaring demand could drive crude oil prices above $100 a barrel by this winter, energy experts warned yesterday.

That could translate into gas prices of more than $5 a gallon at the pump and spike home heating oil an additional 30%, analysts said.

Iran's deputy oil minister, Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, fueled the paranoia yesterday by predicting that crude could hit $100 a barrel by the end of the year - $26 above even yesterday's near-record price.

The problem is that Iran, the world's fourth-largest producer of crude, is just one of several hot spots in danger of boiling over, experts said.

Study Reconciles Data in Measuring Climate Change

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 3, 2006; A03

A government study released yesterday undermines one of the key arguments of climate change skeptics, concluding there is no statistically significant conflict between measures of global warming on the earth's surface and in the atmosphere.

For years some global warming critics had pointed to the fact that satellite measurements had recorded very little warming in the lower atmosphere, while surface temperature readings indicated that the earth is heating up. Now the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, an interagency body, has concluded the two data sets match.

"The bottom line is there are no significant discrepancies in the rates of warming," said Thomas R. Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in a telephone call with reporters. Karl said reconciling the two sets of temperature readings is "really a major step forward" in understanding climate change.

Daily Kos: Rove's Unexplained Personal Wealth

by citizendc

Tue May 02, 2006 at 07:17:07 AM PDT

Have you ever wondered how a man who owns a $1,500,000 house in DC, a $1,000,000+ house in Florida and a $48,000 cottage in Texas manages to survive on $161,000 a year federal salary? It's odd.

Would it raise questions that same man had sold a property to a shell company controlled by his former business partners and that man made between $250,000 and $750,000 profit?

Maybe it would raise further questions if those former business partners that bought the property were raking in millions of political dollars from the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, the RNC and multiple other Republican candidates? Would that just be a coincidence? Well, those are a string of coincidences that happened to Karl Rove.

Political Animal: Yes, National Healthcare Really Is The WayTo Go....

Advocates of universal healthcare frequently claim that European-style national healthcare systems, aside from being fairer, are just more efficient than ours. They provide decent healthcare at a lower cost than the jumbled, pseudo-free market system we have in the United States.

But is it true? Do even relatively mediocre, underfunded national healthcare systems like the one in Britain perform as well as American healthcare? A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reaches a pretty unambiguous conclusion.

Investigate Big Dick (Cheney)

By Stephen Pizzo, News for Real. Posted May 3, 2006.

Did Cheney and oil company execs lick their chops over Iraqi oil less than two years before we invaded Iraq? Shouldn't someone find out?

If the US Senate really wants to earn our respect, I have a suggestion for them: Hold bipartisan hearings into Dick Cheney's 2001 Energy Task Force.

If not now, when?

Low-wage working Americans can't afford to drive to their jobs? Already some folks have been forced to pawn personal items just to fill their tank for another week. How bad does it have to get before you guys up there start asking the questions you should have asked years ago -- and this time, demanding real answers.

Digby: Woodpile Full Of Wedges

This is exactly the kind of thing the mainstream media should be interested in playing.

Bush’s highly-scripted 2001 inaugural ceremony actually featured a rendition of the national anthem sung in Spanish by Jon Secada. From Cox News Service, 1/18/01:

From Cox News Service, 1/18/01:

The opening ceremony reflected that sentiment. A racially diverse string of famous and once famous performers entertained Bush, soon-to-be First Lady Laura Bush, Vice President-elect Richard B. Cheney and his wife, Lynne, who watched on stage from a special viewing area.

Pop star Jon Secada sang the national anthem in English and Spanish.

We Weren't Born Yesterday

** Updated below **

Josh Marshall writes about the Washington Press corps' thin-skin today, saying:

There's a lot on the web that it is crude, cruel, coarse, even hateful. And that's without even taking Hugh Hewitt into account.

It's certainly not for the faint of heart.

Molly Ivins: The No-Reform Lobby Reform Bill

Posted on May. 1, 2006

By Molly Ivins

AUSTIN, Texas—Either the so-called “lobby reform bill” is the contemptible, cheesy, shoddy piece of hypocrisy it appears to be ... or the Republicans have a sense of humor.

The “lobby reform” bill does show, one could argue, a sort of cheerful, defiant, flipping-the-bird-at-the-public attitude that could pass for humor. You have to admit that calling this an “ethics bill’ requires brass bravura.

House Republicans returned last week from a two-week recess prepared to vote for “a relatively tepid ethics bill,” as The Washington Post put it, because they said their constituents rarely mentioned the issue.

Cut and Run? You Bet.

By Lt. Gen. William E. Odom

Why America must get out of Iraq now.

Withdraw immediately or stay the present course? That is the key question about the war in Iraq today. American public opinion is now decidedly against the war. From liberal New England, where citizens pass town-hall resolutions calling for withdrawal, to the conservative South and West, where more than half of “red state” citizens oppose the war, Americans want out. That sentiment is understandable.

The prewar dream of a liberal Iraqi democracy friendly to the United States is no longer credible. No Iraqi leader with enough power and legitimacy to control the country will be pro-American. Still, U.S. President George W. Bush says the United States must stay the course. Why? Let’s consider his administration’s most popular arguments for not leaving Iraq.

Why You Should Care About Network Neutrality

The future of the Internet depends on it!
By Tim Wu
Posted Monday, May 1, 2006, at 4:35 PM ET

The Internet is largely meritocratic in its design. If people like instapundit.com better than cnn.com, that's where they'll go. If they like the search engine A9 better than Google, they vote with their clicks. Is it a problem, then, if the gatekeepers of the Internet (in most places, a duopoly of the local phone and cable companies) discriminate between favored and disfavored uses of the Internet? To take a strong example, would it be a problem if AT&T makes it slower and harder to reach Gmail and quicker and easier to reach Yahoo! mail?

Welcome to the fight over "network neutrality," Washington's current obsession. The debate centers on whether it is more "neutral" to let consumers reach all Internet content equally or to let providers discriminate if they think they'll make more money that way.

Alito May Tilt Vote in Reargued Cases

By Charles Lane

Monday, May 1, 2006; Page A17

The Supreme Court's newest justice, Samuel A. Alito Jr., has yet to write a signed opinion -- majority, concurring or dissenting. His vote has been recorded in only two cases so far.

But it won't be long before Alito makes his mark. There are three cases on the court's docket in which the 56-year-old junior justice will probably have the deciding vote.

Higher ed fears wiretapping law

Oral arguments to be heard this week in ACE vs. FCC petition over CALEA.

By Jim Duffy, Network World, 05/01/06

Institutions of higher education are up in arms over an FCC ruling on wiretapping they say could cost them billions of dollars in upgrades, expose their networks to more attacks, and jeopardize rights to privacy and freedom of speech.

A petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia could determine if higher-education networks - and perhaps private corporate networks - will be required to allow wiretapping by law enforcement agencies as soon as next year.

NYT Editorial: Keeping a Democratic Web

Published: May 2, 2006

"Net neutrality" is a concept that is still unfamiliar to most Americans, but it keeps the Internet democratic. Cable and telephone companies that provide Internet service are talking about creating a two-tiered Internet, in which Web sites that pay them large fees would get priority over everything else. Opponents of these plans are supporting Net-neutrality legislation, which would require all Web sites to be treated equally. Net neutrality recently suffered a setback in the House, but there is growing hope that the Senate will take up the cause.

One of the Internet's great strengths is that a single blogger or a small political group can inexpensively create a Web page that is just as accessible to the world as Microsoft's home page. But this democratic Internet would be in danger if the companies that deliver Internet service changed the rules so that Web sites that pay them money would be easily accessible, while little-guy sites would be harder to access, and slower to navigate. Providers could also block access to sites they do not like.

Jon Stewart Defends Colbert's Dinner Speech

By E&P Staff

Published: May 01, 2006 11:20 PM ET
NEW YORK Probably to no one's surprise, Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's "Daily Show," hailed the performance of his stablemate Stephen Colbert at Saturday night's White House Correspondents dinner. Colbert's lampooning of the president and the press has generated a good deal of praise and criticism.

"It was balls-alicious," Stewart said. "Apparently he was under the impression that they'd hired him to do what he does every night on television" -- that is, make fun of conservatives, public officials, and the press in the guise of an O'Reillyesque talk show host.

"We've never been prouder of him, but HOLY ----," Stewart added.

More species slide to extinction

By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website

The polar bear and hippopotamus are for the first time listed as species threatened with extinction by the world's biodiversity agency.

They are included in the Red List of Threatened Species published by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) which names more than 16,000 at-risk species.

Many sharks, and freshwater fish in Europe and Africa, are newly included.

Digby: No Turkey

Via Buzzflash and A liberal Dose, I see that it's being reported that Turkey has denied the US access to its bases for an air attack on Iran, even though the US promised to provide the Turks with their own nuclear reactor:

Turkey's refusal to comply with the US request was another indication of the growing tension between the two nations, which, according to Gul, have not "seen a single day of positive stability since the Islamic party was elected to power [in 2002]."

Digby: The Way We Make Anti-War

I suspect that this article about the administration's propaganda campaign will get wide circulation. It connects many of the dots we've all been following the blogosphere for years, from the OSI to the Iraq Group and beyond. I urge you to read it.

I first wrote back in March of 2004 about Sam Gardiner's work cataloging 50 false stories that he believed had been planted in the press by the administration. By this time the number of examples are legion.

Digby: May Day Amnesia

Real journalist Eric Boehlert is subbing for Eric Alterman this week and reminds us that Codpiece Day represents more than one embarrassing moment strutting across the deck of an aircraft carrier like a Chippendale's dancer. It was also one year ago today that the Downing Street Memos were published. And, like the speech that shall not be mentioned, it wasn't covered by the mainstream media.

Digby: Constitutional Crisis

President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

[...]

Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional.

MSNBC confirms: Outed CIA agent was working on Iran

RAW STORY
Published: Monday May 1, 2006

On Chris Matthews' Hardball Monday evening, just moments ago, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster confirmed what RAW STORY first reported in February: that outed CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson was working on Iran at the time she was outed.

RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna broke the story earlier this year, which went unnoticed by the mainstream media (Read our full story).

Digby: Quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opere

No, I don't know what the title means.--Dictynna

Oh fewgawd's sake. Last week Joe Klein said:

Klein: And, by the way, we're very much well liked among the young, educated Iranians. But this is not Iraq we're dealing with here. This is an ancient country, a very strong country, and a very proud country. And so, yeah, by all means, we should talk to them, but, on the other hand, we should not take any option, including the use of nuclea-....tactical nuclear weapons off the table.

Stephanopoulos: Keep that on the table?

Klein: It's absolutely stupid not to.

Billmon: American Nightmarez

If you want to see the difference between real political satire and the cheap imitation stuff, watch (or read) Stephen Colbert's merciless skewering of the Cheney administration and its media lapdogs, then go fork over your $10 and see the movie American Dreamz, which purports to do the same thing.

I've done both, although in the reverse order, and I found the contrast between the two rather telling, particularly the audience reaction. (In the case of American Dreamz, I'm talking about the reaction of the moviegoing public and the critics, since the theatre where I saw it was basically devoid of life -- as opposed to Colbert's audience at the White House Correspondents Dinner, which was basically devoid of intelligent life.)

Data Show How Patriot Act Used

By Richard B. Schmitt
The Los Angeles Times

Saturday 29 April 2006

The Justice Department for the first time reports on 9,254 FBI subpoenas for monitoring citizens. Some surveillance in the US has been rising.

Washington - The FBI issued thousands of subpoenas to banks, phone companies and Internet providers last year, aggressively using a power enhanced under the Patriot Act to monitor the activities of U.S. citizens, Justice Department data released late Friday showed.

The report given to members of Congress was the first to detail the government's use of a controversial form of administrative subpoena that has drawn fire because it can be issued by investigators without court oversight.

The Justice Department report also disclosed that its use of electronic surveillance and search warrants in national security investigations jumped 15% in 2005.

State government Amway style

Former Amway head Dick DeVos hopes Michigan gubernatorial voters will disregard his company's controversial business model and socially conservative views, and instead buy into his talk of economic revival

In an era where money talks and just about everything else walks, Dick DeVos, the multi-millionaire son of the founder of Amway and the likely Republican Party candidate for governor of Michigan, is hoping to talk his way into the statehouse. As any good political advisor understands, one key to victory is being able to define yourself before your opponents define you, and, define your opponents before they define themselves.

Thus far, DeVos' campaign has spent $2 million on a series of television advertisements that have been blanketing the state's airwaves for several months; it branded current Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm's stewardship over the state as the road to economic ruination.

Shell-shocked insurers retreat from coasts

Katrina losses may push future disaster costs onto taxpayers

By Spencer S. Hsu

Updated: 9:51 p.m. ET April 29, 2006

Alarmed at the sharply rising cost of hurricanes and other disasters, home insurers are pulling back from some U.S. coastal markets, warning of gathering financial storm clouds over how the United States pays for the damage of catastrophe.

The development is yet another legacy of Hurricane Katrina, whose mounting toll of destruction along the Gulf Coast has crystallized a growing industry debate about the combined effect of climate trends and population growth in coastal areas. Some believe the two are creating a risk of losses so large that insurers could be pushed to the breaking point, leaving the government and taxpayers holding the tab for the next disaster.

Dollar starts the big slide against major currencies

DAVID SMITH, ECONOMICS EDITOR

THE dollar has embarked on a big decline that will see it fall against all leading currencies, according to analysts.

The plunge is being prompted by America’s $800 billion (£438 billion) current-account deficit, they say.

The dollar has been under pressure following last weekend’s meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bankers, which emphasised “global imbalances” and said currencies should reflect economic fundamentals. Then China raised its key interest rate to 5.85%, its first hike for months, and Ben Bernanke, the new Federal Reserve chairman, hinted that American rates would pause at 5% after a rise in May.

Frank Rich: Bush of a Thousand Days

The New York Times
April 30, 2006

LIKE the hand that suddenly pops out of the grave at the end of "Carrie," the past keeps coming back to haunt the Bush White House. Last week was no exception. No sooner did the Great Decider introduce the Fox News showman anointed to repackage the same old bad decisions than the spotlight shifted back to Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury room, where Karl Rove testified for a fifth time. Nightfall brought the release of an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll with its record-low numbers for a lame-duck president with a thousand days to go and no way out.

The demons that keep rising up from the past to grab Mr. Bush are the fictional W.M.D. he wielded to take us into Iraq. They stalk him as relentlessly as Banquo's ghost did Macbeth. From that original sin, all else flows. Mr. Rove wouldn't be in jeopardy if the White House hadn't hatched a clumsy plot to cover up its fictions. Mr. Bush's poll numbers wouldn't be in the toilet if American blood was not being spilled daily because of his fictions. By recruiting a practiced Fox News performer to better spin this history, the White House reveals that it has learned nothing. Made-for-TV propaganda propelled the Bush presidency into its quagmire in the first place. At this late date only the truth, the whole and nothing but, can set it free.

Target as Bad as Wal-Mart? You Decide

By Kari Lydersen, CorpWatch. Posted May 1, 2006.

Target may look more upscale -- but when it comes to wages, working conditions, sweatshop-like suppliers, and effects on communities, the two big boxes are eerily similar.

Shopping in a Target store, you know you're not in Wal-Mart. But the differences may be mostly skin deep.

Targets are spaciously laid out and full of attractive displays and promotions. While many people associate Wal-Mart with low-income, rural communities perhaps dominated by a prison or power plant, life-size photos throughout Target stores remind you that their customers are a lively, beautiful cast of multi-cultural hipsters.

Digby: Heavens To Betsy

... I think Stephen Colbert forgot his place.

At last year's White House Correspondent's dinner, you'll remember that when the president joshed and giggled about not finding the weapons of mass destruction, the press laughed and laughed. They just love it when the president makes fun of himself. It reminds them of why they love him --- and why they are better than he is.

I sorry to report that this year, in an alarming lack of decorum, Stephen Colbert went way over the line --- he lampooned the press corps itself in such a way as to make it seem as if they might be partly responsible for why 70% of the nation feels the country is on the wrong track. Making fun of politicians is one thing. They are a slightly lower life form. But the press itself? Implying they are complicit in all this unpleasantness with war and what not? Well, that simply isn't done.

Digby: Constitutional Crisis

President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

[...]

Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional.

Avedon Carol: Rounding off the Weekend

Colbert must have been channeling Aristophanes!--Dictynna

Everybody's talking about Colbert's complete failure to pretend Bush isn't a complete failure as a president. The right-wingers are sneering at "Colby" and his bad manners. It's just not funny to make fun of The Greatest Man in History. Editor & Publisher says the Little Prince was not amused. C&L has a clip. Atrios has posted his favorite bits from the transcript. Eli says its a "a must-watch speech/comedy piece." Christy praises Colbert for Colbert's command of a most difficult comedy format (and a most important one, too). Joe Gandelman says, contrary to the right-wingers' take, that Colbert did not bomb.

Bush challenges hundreds of laws

President cites powers of his office

By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | April 30, 2006

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.

David Neiwert: Who's accountable?

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

The irreplacable Digby dug up an interesting exchange the other day between a student [edited] and President Bush:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. It's an honor to have you here. I'm a first-year student in South Asia studies. My question is in regards to private military contractors. Uniform Code of Military Justice does not apply to these contractors in Iraq. I asked your Secretary of Defense a couple months ago what law governs their actions.

THE PRESIDENT: I was going to ask him. Go ahead. (Laughter.) Help. (Laughter.)

Q I was hoping your answer might be a little more specific. (Laughter.) Mr. Rumsfeld answered that Iraq has its own domestic laws which he assumed applied to those private military contractors. However, Iraq is clearly not currently capable of enforcing its laws, much less against -- over our American military contractors. I would submit to you that in this case, this is one case that privatization is not a solution. And, Mr. President, how do you propose to bring private military contractors under a system of law?

Increase in Contracting Intelligence Jobs Raises Concerns

This was published in March. [Disclosure: I used to work for Martin Marietta, which became part of Lockheed Martin]--Dictynna

By Walter Pincus

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 20, 2006; Page A03

AllWorld Language Consultants Inc., a Rockville firm, is seeking experienced military interrogators to work in Iraq for $153,500 a year plus bonuses, with proficiency in Arabic "preferred but not required," according to Yahoo's Hot Jobs listings.

The U.S. Army element of the Multi-National Force-Iraq is looking for a private contractor to provide airborne surveillance over that country that will "provide situational awareness of the entire area of operations," according to another Web announcement.

Wampum: The enemy beneath...

Sounds like a slasher flick, doesn't it?

In recent posts, I've mentioned in passing a new website I recently discovered, LobbySense.com. A quick look at its membership is a glance at the underbelly of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, including (but not limited to):

Kerri Houston
Frontiers of Freedom

Jason Wright
Institute for Liberty

Grover Norquist
Americans for Tax Reform

Daniel Clifton
American Shareholders Association

Richard W. Rahn, Ph.D.
Center for Global Economic Growth

Larry Cirignano
CatholicVote.org

Gary Bauer
American Values

[...]

So what burning issue has these bastions of the Far Right all with their knickers in a twist?

Lobbying reform.

Yes, that which leaves most on the Left snoozing, has our counterparts across the political divide so concerned, some are actually willing to crawl out from under their Abramoff-scandal rocks to fight for their livelihood - donor anonymity.

Wampum: A Different "Damages Cap"

Patent law provides drug manufacturers a monopoly on the production and sale of medicines they invent for a period of twenty years. Patent protection provides monopoly profits to the brand name manufacturers as an incentive to invest in the research and development of new products. While the monopoly is supposed to last only twenty years, the drug companies have found ways to extend their period of monopoly profits. One of the ways to retain monopoly profits for periods exceeding 20 years is to file patent infringement suits against generic manufacturers. The mere filing of such a suit provides an automatic 30 month extension (12.5%) of patent rights regardless of whether or not the suit has any merit.

10 States Sue E.P.A. on Emissions

By DANNY HAKIM

Published: April 28, 2006

ALBANY, April 27 — In the latest legal broadside against the Bush administration's policy on global warming, New York, California and eight other states sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday for refusing to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer of New York, the lead plaintiff, said the agency's refusal "continues a sad course of conduct on the part of the Bush administration and reflects a disregard for science, statute and wise policy."

Loss of Competition Is Seen in Health Insurance Industry

By ROBERT PEAR

Published: April 30, 2006

WASHINGTON, April 29 — Federal investigators have found that a handful of companies account for a growing share of the health insurance policies sold to small businesses in most states, leaving consumers with fewer options and higher costs.

The Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said that the largest insurer had 43 percent of the market for small group coverage in a typical state, up from 33 percent in 2002. In nine states, the largest carrier — a Blue Cross and Blue Shield company — has more than 50 percent.

No F.B.I. Intimidation Found at Conventions

By DAMIEN CAVE

Published: April 30, 2006

The Justice Department's inspector general has found no evidence to support claims that the Federal Bureau of Investigation interrogated political demonstrators before the 2004 Democratic and Republican Conventions to keep them from protesting.

The inspector general, Glenn A. Fine, concluded in a 37-page report that federal agents were pursuing 17 credible threats of violence at the conventions when they questioned dozens of protesters and, in a few cases, even subpoenaed them.

John Kenneth Galbraith, 97, Dies; Economist Held a Mirror to Society

By HOLCOMB B. NOBLE and DOUGLAS MARTIN

Published: April 30, 2006

John Kenneth Galbraith, the iconoclastic economist, teacher and diplomat and an unapologetically liberal member of the political and academic establishment that he needled in prolific writings for more than half a century, died yesterday at a hospital in Cambridge, Mass. He was 97.

Mr. Galbraith lived in Cambridge and at an "unfarmed farm" near Newfane, Vt. His death was confirmed by his son J. Alan Galbraith.