When a WMD isn't a WMD: "Watch for the announcement any day now: WMDs found in Iraq!

Never mind that the Iraq Survey Group and others searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq have consistently come up empty. The Bush administration has ways to deal with that problem: Just change the definition of WMD.

That seemed to be happening this week, as Bush's Justice Department announced that it had indicted three men who allegedly cased financial buildings in the United States in a conspiracy to launch a terrorist attack. The indictment says that the men conspired to use 'weapons of mass destruction.'

Now, up until now, 'weapons of mass destruction' has generally been taken to mean more than just hand grenades and roadside bombs; in the popular lexicon, the phrase usually applies to biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. But, as the Los Angeles Times reports, when reporters asked Deputy Attorney General James Comey whether the Justice Department believed that the men were conspiring to use biological, chemical or nuclear weapons, he said: 'We have not alleged that. But . . . a weapon of mass destruction in our world goes beyond that and includes improvised explosive devices.'"

(Via Salon.)

Salon.com Politics: "Another hole today in Tom DeLay's sinking ship: Ten former members of Congress, all Republicans, sent a letter on Friday to the House leadership saying they believed that recent revisions in House ethics rules were an 'obvious action to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay' from investigation. They called for the changes to be reversed 'to restore public confidence in the People's House.'

The 10 former lawmakers who signed the letter have all been out of Congress since the late 1980's; they described themselves as former members 'who served under impeccably honest leaders.' That may be stretching the concept a bit, but their bottom line seems to be that, well, at least a basic appearance of integrity is important."

(Via Salon.)

Salon.com Politics: "It may have seemed something of an overreaction to George W. Bush's reelection last fall, and a bit farfetched. But five months later, a group of Vermonters intent on seceding from the United States continues to soldier on. A new Web site for the cause, Vermont Commons, reminds visitors of the fact that from 1777 to 1791, the citizens of Vermont governed themselves: 'As we enter the 21st century, Vermont Commons is an organization dedicated to the proposition that Vermonters should peaceably secede from the United States and govern themselves as an independent republic once again.'

The peaceable approach may be born of necessity as much as of conscientiousness: Quite a few of the Green Mountain boys are currently unavailable to defend the state's would-be autonomous borders -- serving, as they are, in the Middle East."

(Via Salon.)

Salon.com News | The executioner's swan song: "Last June, New York's highest court struck down a provision of the state's death penalty statute as unconstitutional. The provision required trial courts to instruct jurors in capital cases that if they failed to unanimously agree on a penalty of either life imprisonment or death, the court would set a sentence of life with the possibility of parole. In People vs. Stephen LaValle, the Court of Appeals concluded that jurors might sentence a defendant to die not because they thought he deserved it, but because they feared he might someday go free. It was up to the state Legislature to fix the law in order to reinstate the death penalty. On Tuesday, the Codes Committee of the General Assembly chose not to.

What happened in Albany was historic. At least for this year, New York has unburdened itself of the decision on capital punishment, and opponents of the death penalty hope it signals a nationwide trend. "

(Via Salon.)

Salon.com News | Conservative lawmaker: DeLay should quit : "One of Congress' most conservative members on Friday became the second House Republican to urge Majority Leader Tom DeLay to step aside because of the ethics scrutiny he's facing.

'If the majority leader were to temporarily step aside so that these trumped up charges can be dealt with in a less hostile environment, as they have proven to be an unnecessary distraction, it may be a productive move,' said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo."

(Via Salon.)

Salon.com News | Senate votes to ban video news releases: "The Senate passed a measure Thursday that would stop government agencies from using taxpayer funds to disguise video press releases as real news, putting the brakes on a product Democrats call propaganda. President Bush cautioned that some responsibility for full disclosure rests with news outlets."

(Via Salon.)

Reports: airport security hasn't improved: "'A lot of people will be shocked at the billions of dollars we've spent and the results they're going to see, which confirm previous examinations of the Soviet-style screening system we've put in place,' Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., told The Associated Press on Friday."

(Via Salon.)

Eric Rudolph - 'American terrorist' | csmonitor.com: "Abortion clinics around the US are 'bracing for attacks' after convicted murderer and Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph issued a 'manifesto' justifying attacks against such clinics and their workers. Associated Press reports that federal officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are calling US clinics to make sure their security is up to date.

'When one of these extremists puts out a call to action, oftentimes others do try to follow in their footsteps,' said Vicki Saporta, head of the National Abortion Federation, which represents 400 US clinics. 'He clearly is speaking to the extremists who believe in justifiable homicide.'

Reuters reported Thursday that Mr. Rudolph pleaded guilty to the bombing of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, as well as to attacks on abortion clinics and a gay nightclub. Rudolph said 'abortion, gay rights and the federal government' motivated him to attack the targets listed above.

AccessNorthGa.com reported that one of the people in the courtroom to see Rudolph's guilty plea was 'Pendergrass Police Officer Richard Jewell, the man wrongly suspected in the Olympic Park bombing for a time.'"

(Via Christian Science Monitor.)

US interrogation centers in Iraq till 2009!: "Rosa Prince of London Daily Mirror has reported that:

THE US Army plans to remain in Iraq until at least 2009, secret documents obtained by the Mirror reveal.

Contract tender forms for civilian workers disclose a huge expansion of interrogation and detention centres in Iraq to remain in place for a minimum four more years.

(Chapeau to Friendly Fire of Today in Iraq for the lead.)

Prince adds that:

According to the documents from the Assistant Chief of Staff, Multi-National Forces, US chiefs plan a £70 million expansion in holding centres for suspects. They will be staffed by 300 civilian recruits aiding intelligence.

In a sign the US has learned from the Abu Ghraib jail scandal, in which prisoners were abused, the civilian interrogators will be trained in the Geneva Convention."

(Via 'Just World News' by Helena Cobban.)

Oil price spike: who suffers?: "

[T]he US appears to have fought a war for oil in the Middle East, and lost it. The consequences of that defeat are now plain for all to see.

Yes, indeed. I was totally gobsmacked when I filled up my mid-sized car yesterday and had to fork over more than $29 for the privilege. The prices seem to be climbing almost by the hour here in central Virginia.

That quote above, btw, above comes from a really excellent letter submitted to the Financial Times by Dr. Ian Rutledge, who describes himself as the author of a recently published book called Addicted to oil. (Memo to self: look for it. And hat-tip to Matt of Today in Iraq for the lead to Rutledge's letter.)

In the letter, Rutledge argued that one of the Bush administration's main motives in launching the invasion of Iraq had been to secure control of the Iraqi oil-fields and thus be able to start pumping an extra 2 million barrels of oil a day out of them to feed the world market (as well as, no doubt, the coffers of the US oil companies who'd be doing the pumping.)

But then,

in the words of another US oil company executive, 'it all turned out a lot more complicated than anyone had expected'. Instead of the anticipated post-invasion rapid expansion of Iraqi production... the continuing violence of the insurgency has prevented Iraqi exports from even recovering to pre-invasion levels.

So now, the price-hike."

(Via 'Just World News' by Helena Cobban.)

scoop du jour: "Here's the scoop of the day on the Oil-For-Food scandal.   The oil company accused of paying bribes to Saddam and his henchmen Saddam  contributed $1,000 to the 1996 Senate campaign of a Republican, Don Nickles, who during the late 90's was battering President Bill Clinton over ... get this ...  being too soft on Saddam by tolerating the 'oil for food' program.

The indicted company, Bayoil, contributed to the Nickles campaign in 1996, along with such luminaries as the National Right to Life Campaign and the Smokeless Tobacco Council, and the Right to Work PAC (all henceforth to be referred to as 'Saddam's henchmen'). "

(Via Night Light.)

Competent Intelligence Urged by Rumsfeld : "Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is afraid that the new Shiite religious government in Iraq will purge ex-Baathists placed in the army and intelligence services by US ally Iyad Allawi, a long-term CIA asset. Rumsfeld said that competent persons should be retained. This is the same Rumsfeld whose own deputy, Douglas Feith, set up a grossly incompetent cell in the Pentagon to cherry-pick intelligence and produce a false image of Iraq as bristling with weapons of mass destruction and in league with al-Qaeda.

Halliburton, Dick Cheney's old firm, has been accused of doing shoddy work on the oil facilities in southern Iraq. After yesterday's admission by Bechtel that its work on energy and water facilities was now falling apart, this report raises the question of whether US reconstruction billions tossed to the private sector have bought anything useful at all for Iraq."

(Via Informed Comment.)

Yahoo! News - Art Exhibit Featuring Bush Stamp Probed: "Two federal agents arrived at the exhibit's opening night Thursday, took photos of some of the works and asked for the artists' contact information, said CarolAnn Brown, the gallery's director.

Brown said the agents were most interested in Chicago artist Al Brandtner's work titled 'Patriot Act,' which depicted a sheet of mock 37-cent red, white and blue stamps showing a revolver pointed at Bush's head.

Brandtner did not return a call to his design studio Tuesday.

The exhibit's curator, Michael Hernandez de Luna, said the inquiry 'frightens' him.

'It starts questioning all rights, not only my rights or the artists' rights in this room, but questioning the rights of any artist who creates — any writer, any visual artist, any performance artist. It seems like we're being watched,' he said.

Last spring, Secret Service agents in Washington state questioned a high school student about anti-war drawings he did for an art class, one of which depicted Bush's head on a stick."

(Via LewRockwell.com Blog.)

Further Thoughts on Our Resources by George Crispin: "His book sets forth some truly wild and far out theories. First, it proposes that Earth supports a subterranean organic domain of natural gas and petroleum that is larger than the biosphere that we occupy on the surface, then it suggests that this domain is full of heat loving bacteria that live on the natural gas and petroleum. And thirdly and most importantly for us it puts forth the idea the idea that most hydrocarbons on Earth are not 'fossil fuels' but part of the primordial 'stuff' from which Earth itself was formed some 4.5 billion years ago. The Deep Hot Biosphere may seem far out and hard to accept when first read, but a growing body of evidence based on the indisputable stature and seriousness of Thomas Gold as a scientist supports its theories. In this book he comes across as a brilliant and boldly original thinker, increasingly a rarity in modern science, as he develops revolutionary conclusions about the fundamental workings of our planet, the origins of life on Earth, the nature of earthquakes, and even the likelihood of life on other planets."

(Via Lew Rockwell.)

Right Wing “Christian” speaker at conference urges Stalinist purge of Judges: "Speaking at the so-called 'Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration' conservative Edwin Vieira had this to say about Justice Anthony Kennedy:

Lawyer-author Edwin Vieira told the gathering Kennedy should be impeached because his philosophy, evidenced in his opinion striking down an anti-sodomy statute, 'upholds Marxist, Leninist, satanic principles drawn from foreign law.'

Vieira said his 'bottom line' for dealing with the Supreme Court comes from Joseph Stalin. 'He had a slogan, and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty: 'No man, no problem,' ' Vieira said.

Of course, the full quote from Stalin is 'Death solves all problems: No man, no problem.'"

(Via Martini Republic.)

Don't Say He Didn't Warn You by Gary North:

"I don't know whether change will come with a bang or a whimper, whether sooner or later. But as things stand, it is more likely than not that it will be financial crises rather than policy foresight that will force.

This is an important prediction. A financial crisis, unlike a policy change, is not debated publicly. It hits without warning.

There is a wide area of agreement among establishment economists about a textbook pretty picture: China and other continental Asian economies should permit and encourage a substantial exchange rate appreciation against the dollar. Japan and Europe should work promptly and aggressively toward domestic stimulus and deal more effectively and speedily with structural obstacles to growth. And the United States, by some combination of measures, should forcibly increase its rate of internal saving, thereby reducing its import demand.

The fact that he would refer to 'establishment economists' is revealing. This is the terminology of a dissenter. But Volcker is not an obscure newsletter writer. At one point, he was the most powerful economic decision-maker on earth."

(Via Lew Rockwell.)

Apr 14, 2005: A Democratic policy success story: "The rate of teen pregnancy dropped 30 percent between 1991 and 2002, reducing by nearly a half million the number of children living in poverty. And what were the reasons for the enormous drop?

'During the economic boom of the 1990s, there was more opportunity for teens and others to improve their economic situation through employment,' said Deborah Cutler-Ortiz, director of the family income division at the Children's Defense Fund. Additionally, government initiatives such as job training, tax credits and health care helped lift some families out of poverty during the period, she said. [Emphasis added.]

President Clinton's economic successes and pro-family initiatives led directly to a result that every American supports: fewer teen pregnancies."

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

urbi, orbi, w.: "President Bush patronized John Paul II and everything he stood for today when he said that the Holy Father 'didn't like war, and I fully understood that and I appreciated the conversations I had with the Holy Father on the subject.'   That's it.  The Pope's  lifetime of writing and speaking in moral opposition to virtually everything Bush represented was trivialized, mischaracterized, and summarily dismissed in that one condescending phrase.   Not only does Bush refuse to follow John Paul II's moral teachings, but he denies their very existence."

(Via Night Light.)

sorry boss, but god says no can do: "As everyone knows, the Christian Pharmacists organization has taken it upon itself to decide which pills to dispense and which to deny.  They say that dispensing birth control pills violates their beliefs.   What else will we find violates their beliefs -  psychiatric drugs?  Pain medication?   Cancer treatments?   It's either a massive power play, or 'Christian pharmacist' turns out in their case to be an oxymoron - because the pharmacist's job is to give out drugs as prescribed, unless they are aware of medical reasons not to do so.  In other words, their belief prevents them from actually doing the job. 

Refusal to dispense medications is civil disobedience.  Doing so, while at the same time demanding the right to retain that job, is something very different.  It is demanding that the state empower you to impose your moral choices on others.  The state laws that permit pharmacists to take these actions are confusing an act of conscience with the unwillingness to sacrifice (by giving up a job with requirements you consider immoral).   When the state grants a pharmacist's license, it does so on behalf of the whole community - and the laws that represent it.  Daniel Berrigan protested at draft boards, but he didn't ask to become the Director of the Selective Service.  When soldiers are morally incapable of killing, they are given jobs that don't require it.   They're not given a gun and put out on the front line to surrender."

(Via Night Light.)

What We Can Learn From Woodrow Wilson’s Great Blunder by Jim Powell: "The worst American foreign policy disasters of the past century have been consequences of Wilsonian interventionism. Critics have been dismissed as 'isolationists,' but the fact is that Wilsonian interventionism has dragged the United States into pointless wars and ushered in revolution, terror, runaway inflation, dictatorship and mass murder. It’s past time to judge Wilsonian interventionism by its consequences, not the good intentions expressed in political speeches, because they haven’t worked out.

Surely, one of the most important principles of American foreign policy should be to conserve resources for defending the country. President Woodrow Wilson violated this principle by entering World War I which didn’t involve an attack on the United States.

German submarines sunk some foreign ships with American passengers, but they had been warned about the obvious danger of traveling in a war zone. People need to take responsibility for their own decisions and proceed at their own risk. It was unreasonable to expect that because a few adventurers lost their lives, the entire nation had to enter a war in which tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands more people must die.

There never was a serious possibility that Germany might attack the United States during World War I"

(Via Lew Rockwell.)

The Nation | Blog | The Daily Outrage | Young and Arrested | Ari Berman: "These days, arresting sixteen-year-old Muslim girls as would-be suicide bombers passes for homeland security. On March 24, two such girls--one born in Bangladesh, the other in Guinea, and both illegal immigrants who'd lived in New York virtually their entire lives--were detained on immigration violations and shipped to a detention center in Leesport, Pennsylvania. According to a government document obtained by the New York Times, the FBI claims the girls present 'an imminent threat to the security of the United States based upon evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers.'

Following a disturbing post-9/11 trend, no evidence has been offered to prove the bureau's claim. And, judging from law enforcement officials quoted in the New York Post, there probably isn't any: 'The arrests took place after authorities decided it would be better to lock up the girls than wait and see if they decided to become terrorists willing to die for a cause.' Does the Bush Administration's policy of pre-emption now apply domestically as well?"

(Via The Nation Weblogs.)

The Online Beat: "'Im with the Bush-Cheney team, and I'm here to stop the count.'

Those were the words John Bolton yelled as he burst into a Tallahassee library on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2000, where local election workers were recounting ballots cast in Florida's disputed presidential race between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

Bolton was one of the pack of lawyers for the Republican presidential ticket who repeatedly sought to shut down recounts of the ballots from Florida counties before those counts revealed that Gore had actually won the state's electoral votes and the presidency.

The December 9 intervention was Bolton's last and most significant blow against the democratic process."

(Via The Nation Weblogs.)

US Millions in Iraq Wasted: "'Iraqi officials have crippled scores of water, sewage and electrical plants refurbished with U.S. funds by failing to maintain and operate them properly, wasting millions of American taxpayer dollars, according to interviews and documents.

Hardest hit has been the effort to rebuild Iraq's water and sewage systems, a multibillion-dollar task considered to be among the most crucial components of the effort to improve daily life for Iraqis. Of more than 40 such plants run by the Iraqis, not one is being operated properly, according to the Bechtel Group, the contractor at work on the project.

The power grid faces similar problems."

(Via Informed Comment.)

War Games and War Names: "The National Guard's proposed $6 million purchase of naming rights for a pro baseball stadium in DC isn't surprising -- just shameful"

(Via AlterNet.)

The Negroponte File: Additional Papers Posted on "Special Project": "As John Negroponte faced questioning today about his activities in Honduras during the contra war, the National Security Archive posted additional documents from his chron file as ambassador. The documents, part of a large file of 470 cables obtained by the Washington Post through the FOIA, provide a virtual day-to-day record of Negroponte's unique tenure as ambassador, as he secured Honduran military, logistical and political support for the controversial CIA paramilitary campaign to overthrow the Sandinista government."

(Via The National Security Archives.)

Looking abortion in the face: "My second-trimester baby had a genetic abnormality, and I decided to terminate my pregnancy. I know exactly what I did, I wept for the fetus I killed -- and I have no regrets."

(Via Salon.)

The Negroponte File: John Negroponte's Chron File from Tenure in Honduras Posted: "As the Senate Intelligence Committee convenes to consider the nomination of John Negroponte to be Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Archive today posted hundreds of his cables written from the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa between late 1981 and 1984. The majority of his "chron file" -- cables and memos written during his tenure as Ambassador -- was obtained by the Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act. The documents were actually declassified at Negroponte's request in June 1998, after he had temporarily retired from the Foreign Service.

The 392 cables and memos record Negroponte's daily, and even hourly, activities as the powerful Ambassador to Honduras during the contra war in the early 1980s. They include dozens of cables in which the Ambassador sought to undermine regional peace efforts such as the Contadora initiative that ultimately won Costa Rican president Oscar Arias a Nobel Prize, as well as multiple reports of meetings and conversations with Honduran military officers who were instrumental in providing logistical support and infrastructure for CIA covert operations in support of the contras against Nicaragua -- "our special project" as Negroponte refers to the contra war in the cable traffic. Among the records are special back channel communications with then CIA director William Casey, including a recommendation to increase the number of arms being supplied to the leading contra force, the FDN in mid 1983, and advice on how to rewrite a Presidential finding on covert operations to overthrow the Sandinistas to make it more politically palatable to an increasingly uneasy U.S. Congress.

Conspicuously absent from the cable traffic, however, is reporting on human rights atrocities that were committed by the Honduran military and its secret police unit known as Battalion 316, between 1982 and 1984, under the military leadership of General Gustavo Alvarez, Negroponte's main liaison with the Honduran government."

(Via The National Security Archives.)

Salon.com News | How many have gone to war?: "Three and a half years have passed since U.S. bombs started falling in Afghanistan, and ever since then, the U.S. military has been engaged in combat overseas. What most Americans are probably unaware of, however, is just how many American soldiers have been deployed. Well over 1 million U.S. troops have fought in the wars since Sept. 11, 2001, according to Pentagon data released to Salon. As of Jan. 31, 2005, the exact figure was 1,048,884, approximately one-third the number of troops ever stationed in or around Vietnam during 15 years of that conflict.

More surprising is the number of troops who have gone to war since 9/11, come back home, and then were redeployed to the battle zone. Of all the troops ever sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, one-third have gone more than once, according to the Pentagon. In the regular Army, 63 percent of the soldiers have been to war at least one time, and almost 40 percent of those soldiers have gone back. The highest rate of first-time deployments belongs to the Marine Corps Reserve: Almost 90 percent have fought."

...

The United States drafted nearly 2 million people during the Vietnam War era, according to the Selective Service System, but did not activate military reserves as the military is doing for the Iraq war. But no one in the Bush administration has uttered the "D" word for this war. Under intense pressure from Congress, the Bush administration has agreed to temporarily increase the size of the Army until 2008, but says it does not want to permanently increase ground forces because of cost. But if the government does nothing to alleviate the strain on troops, military analysts worry that Iraq might turn into another Vietnam -- but not in the way most people think of that comparison.

Instead, military experts said the tempo of the Iraq war will eventually erode the Army and the Marine Corps into a state of disrepair similar to that after Vietnam, when discipline, morale and readiness were considered by some historians to be the worst ever.

(Via Salon.)

Hand-to-hand combat over Bolton: "We can't say whether it's unprecedented, but we can certainly say it's uncommon: A U.S. senator taking out ads in another senator's state to sway a vote on a presidential nominee. That's what John Kerry is doing today. The target is Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee -- and, more directly, John Bolton.

Confirmation hearings begin today for the man George W. Bush has nominated to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Kerry is doing everything he can to get Chafee to join Democrats in opposing Bolton's appointment. The Republicans have the numbers to confirm Bolton if he gets to the Senate floor, but Bolton has to get there first. If Democrats can get one Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to vote against Bolton, his nomination will die in committee."

(Via Salon.)

Martini Republic - Lead, follow, or have a drink.: "Of course, this is from CBS News, so it's probably part of a liberal media conspiracy, like the Pulitzer Award winning felony murder pictures and the fake Schiavo memo:

When Mr. Bush's face appeared on giant screen TVs showing the ceremony, many in the crowds outside St. Peter's Square booed and whistled.

That is pretty damn hated, if you ask me.  They must really hate the guy over there, for a bunch O' Catholics to be booing at the Pope's funeral.   "

(Via Martini Republic.)

Democracy for Virginia: DFA Campaign Training in Charlottesville - Reserve your spot now!: "Democracy for America and Democracy for Virginia are teaming up to sponsor our first  campaign training weekend in Virginia!

Sign up now for April 30 - May 1 training in Charlottesville, Virginia. Local DFA volunteers are opening their homes so that you don't have to  incur hotel charges to participate -- but sign up early to ensure your space.

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/virginiatraining

Training is just $50 for two full days of training by experienced, progressive campaign professionals. The program has been customized by DFA and Latinos for America to address Virginia-specific training needs so this is a terrific opportunity to get ready for the upcoming November elections."

(Via Democracy For Virginia.)

Apr 8, 2005: Don't miss these stories: "Don't miss some important stories coming out of the DNC today:

• Governor Dean announced a huge investment in state parties, beginning with a half million dollars to four states as a pilot program that will go national.
• Dean called on Dennis Hastert to stop protecting the scandal-ridden Tom DeLay and to restore the power of the Ethics Committee to conduct meaningful investigations.
• Americans are growing more and more wary of Republicans, according to three different new polls. President Bush's approval ratings are dropping, and Americans strongly disapprove of the recent behavior of GOP leaders."

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

Apr 9, 2005: A coordinated campaign of judicial intimidation: "Imagine a country where judges can be thrown off the bench simply for handing down decisions that our current political leaders don't like. No more meaningful lifetime appointments. No more independent judiciary. Judges' decisions would be completely subject to political whims, with wisdom and the rule of law thrown out.

Conservative activists aren't just imagining that situation; they're working hard to make it a reality. At a conference this weekend attended by conservative luminaries — including members of Congress — activists fell over each other trying to produce the most virulent anti-judge rhetoric.

They supported the recent thinly veiled threats from Senator John Cornyn and Majority Leader Tom DeLay against federal judges. They called for impeachment for judges who dared to disagree with their extremist ideology."

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

Apr 7, 2005: Political memo on Schiavo linked to GOP: "It was shocking — a memo reportedly from Republicans in the Senate that described how taking on the cause of Terri Schiavo would be a political boon. It clearly laid out what America already suspected: that the efforts of Republicans in Congress to reinsert Schiavo's feeding tube were all politics, and no principle.

The memo was so over the top that Republicans immediately disavowed it, claiming that the memo was a forgery produced in the bowels of the Democratic conspiracy machine. Right wing websites and pundits flooded the airwaves with accusations.

But of course it did come from Republicans, specifically a top adviser to new Senator Mel Martinez. The adviser has been forced to resign over the memo, but the legislators who exploited the Schiavo tragedy will keep their jobs (for now)."

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: April 10, 2005 - April 16, 2005 Archives: "Shays says DeLay's a handful, calls the Majority Leader an 'embarrassment' who won't survive through this term as head of the caucus.

'He is an absolute embarrassment to me and to the Republican Party,' Rep. Christopher Shays (R) of Connecticut told a constituents at a townhall meeting in Greenwich on Saturday.

'Do I think Tom DeLay will be the majority leader by the end of this term? No,' Shays went on to say. 'I don't think Tom DeLay is going to survive.'"

(Via DNC: Kicking Ass.)

LewRockwell.com Blog: The Death Of a Physicist: "I just read an obituary of William Bade, a physicist who had - among his other accomplishments - worked with the Nobel laureate Hans Bethe to develop the Bethe-Bade theory of the x-ray effects generated by nuclear explosions in space. The obituary noted that, as a youngster, Bade had a chemistry lab in his basement where he created explosives."

...

"Today's politically-dominated culture fears such power - limited as it was - in the hands of boys. While occasional school shootings are carried out by teenagers on Prozac or other anti-depressants, the institutional order prefers to find causation in guns. Many teenagers of my era owned guns without school shootings taking place. Of course, they were not on anti-depressants."

(Via LewRockwell.com Blog.)

Oppressive Occupation: "This morning NBC News interviewed an Iraqi man who said, looking right into the camera, 'The Iraqi people were oppressed under Saddam Hussein; now they are oppressed by the occupation.' "

(Via LewRockwell.com Blog.)

republican nuremberg: "The constant drumbeat of extremist rhetoric and radical action by Republican leaders has reached a crescendo in recent weeks with their deliberate falsehoods in the Schiavo case, attempted subversion of constitutional separation of powers, and threatening statements against the lives of Federal judges.  Unnoticed in the din is the thundering sound of silence from so-called 'Republican moderates' like Giuliani, Schwarzenegger, McCain, and Pataki.   They and others like them are active collaborators in this orchestrated coup against the democratic (small 'd') system.   They must right the wrong they've done by speaking out against the leadership they helped put into power.   If they don't,  they will not be able to claim a 'Nuremberg defense' in the judgement of history.   They will be held accountable.

These politicians want to have it both ways.  Thanks to an indifferent media and a disinterested electorate, so far they have.   They actively campaigned for the re-election (or election, if you prefer) of an Administration that has engaged in a series of unlawful acts, and cavorted with bad actors at home and abroad.  They actively support Congressional leadership that is guilty in some cases of profound personal corruption, and in all cases of lying and overthrowing the rules of order.  When these leaders do or say very bad things, the 'moderates' seem to just smile and shrug as if to say 'look at what those characters are doing, but I'm a reasonable person.'   No, you're not.  Not anymore.  You bear responsibility for the people you help put into power."

(Via Night Light.)

Up to 300,000 Demonstrate in Baghdad.: "Edmund Sanders reports that the crowds in downtown Baghdad protesting the US troop presence in the country may have been as large as 300,000. If it were even half that, these would be the largest popular demonstrations in Iraq since 1958! To any extent that they show popular sentiment shifting in Shiite areas to Muqtada al-Sadr's position on the American presence, they would indicate that he is winning politically even though the US defeated his militia militarily. "

(Via Informed Comment.)

Allawi resigns, Joins New Government.: "Iyad Allawi has consented to join the new Iraqi government. He is demanding 4 of 31 cabinet posts for his Iraqiya Party, which only has 40 seats in the 275-member parliament, including at least one important cabinet post.

Allawi has now submitted his resignation as prime minister and is dissolving his government, in accordance with the interim constitution, according to al-Zaman."

(Via Informed Comment.)

join the Christian right or kill yourself: "A coalition of advocacy groups is objecting to 4parents.gov, the government-funded (that is to say, you-funded) website that promotes abstinence as the dominant form of sex education.  It's even worse than tthey're saying:   A quick glance of the website soon leads you to a condom quiz that is all about how they don't work.   In the age of AIDS, your tax dollars are being used to discourage condom use.  What the advocacy groups also failed to mention is that the first recommendation the website makes for avoiding teenaged depression is ... going to church.   Yeah, that's gonna cheer up the little Goth in your life, isn't it?"

(Via Night Light.)