The Gulag of our time

Gary looks at the Amnesty International report and the demands for access at Gitmo.

Yeah, whatever

Steve Soto on that eight page steaming load of crap the New York Times unloaded on us. I lost interest a page in.

Hat tip: Wolcott

Update:

Susie has reaction from around Left Blogtopia (y!sctp!) along with a few of her own.

I'm on it

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Oct. 14 - Advocates for medical marijuana can take heart over the findings of two Canadian research teams.

A synthetic cannabinoid -- similar to the compounds found in marijuana, but substantially stronger -- causes the growth of new neurons and reduces anxiety and depression, investigators at the University of Saskatchewan here reported. [my em]

[. . .]

I expect to hear from Harvard or Yale presently. I think a nice Professor Emeritus of Weedology would be an acceptable position.

Great thanks to hairy fish nuts.

Resources

Cruising through Spudnik's site, I'm reminded* I wanted to blog about this. There's an aggregator called unpartisan.com who collects blog posts from both sides. (They reference us a lot.) I use it to see how the Freepers react to certain subjects as opposed to what we (the Left) do without having to actually surf through the wingnut sites themselves.

*Short term memory loss

Ha!

Neil Shakespeare:

...

"Dear Karl,

Enclosed find your target. Please turn around and pin this on your ass.

Love, Pat."

...

Wait until next year

I gotta do this. I'm pretty sure I could build a far better artillery piece than this clown. I wonder if they'd let me pack the pumpkins with a little black powder and a detonator? It'd be easier to see where they end up downrange. Heh. Now to con pursuade the Mrs to let me build one. She's got a problem with me having firearms.

Broken

I wrote about this the other day and Billmon takes up the cause:

[. . .]

But in addition to the Miers nomination, it also reminded me of one of the great ironies of Shrub's presidency: an administration that came to power determined to win maximum freedom of action in foreign policy by going it alone (or recruiting ad hoc coalitions that would submissively follow Washington's lead) has ended up virtually paralyzed by the consequences of its own hubris.

[. . .]

Conspiracy theories

I think Lambert puts his finger directly on it:

[. . .]

The Times hasn't mentioned the [White House Iraq Group] W.H.I.G. because they were part of the W.H.I.G. disinformation campaign. In Traitorgate, Valerie Plame was outed to protect that operation, because the Niger uranium story was one of the stories that W.H.I.G. planted. (Remember the crude forgery of mysterious provenance that the yellowcake story was based on?)

And the reason it seems like they were all in on it, is that they were all in on it. All the Kewl Kidz, and all the media whores. The whole Beltway 500 crowd is dirty. (Not you, Dan Froomkin, and not you, Walter Pincus.)

[. . .]

This is the most plausible explanation so far of why the press caved when it came to anything the Chimp did.

Update:

ReddHedd at Jane's also looks at the WHIG relating to the Agency. I touched on this the other day too.

Update:

Stolen from Atrios:

Reading Reddhead's walk down the yellowcake road I'm struck by something - exactly why was it so necessary to "get" Wilson? It can't simply be the simply be about the "sixteen words" in the SOTU speech. It must be what all that pointed to - where those obviously forged documents came from... [my em]

It's all coming together beautifully. (sniff)

Doing something

Something you might want to look into for your area. The local rock & roll station is trying to keep home heating oil prices down. Call it OPEC of Long Island.

Let's face it, home heating oil is going to take a toll on our finances this winter. Wouldn't it be great if you could get the cheapest rate on Long Island? Well that's what the Roger and JP Oil Cartel is trying to accomplish.

If you know someone who works, manages or owns an oil company big or small, that can give Long Islanders the lowest home heating oil price for the entire winter, we want to hear from you!

The oil company that can meet this goal, will become the official oil company of the Rock and Roll Morning Show, getting daily mentions on Roger and JP, potentially doubling your current customer base.

Think you can help us help you? Contact Roger and JP Oil Cartel here:

Roger@wbab.com

JP@wbab.com

Check the current price of home heating oil here.

Roger and JP Oil Cartel Motto
Hey, If we're gonna get screwed, let's get screwed a little less.

Arm twisting

WASHINGTON - The White House is seeking the help of Republican activists in Iowa and New Hampshire to pressure GOP senators with presidential hopes to support Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers.

[. . .]

Remember the heady days when Repubs could run the Dems over with legislation? Heh, now they have to pressure their own people to support a nomination. How's it feel, bitches?

Great thanks: Maru

They get letters

Operation Yellow Elephant.

Now that it's safe, the media gets brave...

Paul Krugman at True Blue Liberal.

George W. Bush, I once wrote, "values loyalty above expertise" and may have "a preference for advisers whose personal fortunes are almost entirely bound up with his own." And he likes to surround himself with "obsequious courtiers."

Lots of people are saying things like that these days. But those quotes are from a column published on Nov. 19, 2000.

Right now, with the Bush administration in meltdown on multiple issues, we're hearing a lot about President Bush's personal failings. But what happened to the commanding figure of yore, the heroic leader in the war on terror? The answer, of course, is that the commanding figure never existed: Mr. Bush is the same man he always was. All the character flaws that are now fodder for late-night humor were fully visible, for those willing to see them, during the 2000 campaign.

And President Bush the great leader is far from the only fictional character, bearing no resemblance to the real man, created by media images.

And that makes it all too easy for coverage to be shaped by what reporters feel they can safely say, rather than what they actually think or know. Now that Mr. Bush's approval ratings are in the 30's, we're hearing about his coldness and bad temper, about how aides are afraid to tell him bad news. Does anyone think that journalists have only just discovered these personal characteristics?

Let's be frank: the Bush administration has made brilliant use of journalistic careerism. Those who wrote puff pieces about Mr. Bush and those around him have been rewarded with career-boosting access. Those who raised questions about his character found themselves under personal attack from the administration's proxies. (Yes, I'm speaking in part from experience.) Only now, with Mr. Bush in desperate trouble, has the structure of rewards shifted.

What we really need is political journalism based less on perceptions of personalities and more on actual facts. Schadenfreude aside, we should not be happy that stories about Mr. Bush's boldness have given way to stories analyzing his facial tics. Think, instead, about how different the world would be today if, during the 2000 campaign, reporting had focused on the candidates' fiscal policies instead of their wardrobes.

I love Krugman. He's one of the few who have called it like they see it from the git-go. The other two brave ones are Maureen Dowd and Molly Ivins.

It's easy to be fearless when there's no danger. It's the old "You get him down and I'll jump in" syndrome.

The media seems to be doing OK right now, but they have a lot to make up for.

Lubrication

As a mechanic, it's a subject near and dear to my heart. Proper lubrication is paramount. Or, as Frank Zappa says, 'keep it greasy so it go down easy'.

Outsourcing

Sort of:

[. . .]

Called "third country nationals" (TCN) in contractor's parlance, they hail largely from impoverished Asian countries such as the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Pakistan, as well as from Turkey and countries in the Middle East. Once in Iraq, TCNs earn monthly salaries between $200 to $1,000 as truck drivers, construction workers, carpenters, warehousemen, laundry workers, cooks, accountants, beauticians, and similar blue-collar jobs.

[. . .]

Invisible Army of Cheap Labor

Tens of thousands of such TNC laborers have helped set new records for the largest civilian workforce ever hired in support of a U.S. war. They are employed through complex layers of companies working in Iraq. At the top of the pyramid-shaped system is the U.S. government which assigned over $24 billion in contracts over the last two years. Just below that layer are the prime contractors like Halliburton and Bechtel. Below them are dozens of smaller subcontracting companies-- largely based in the Middle East --including PPI, First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting and Alargan Trading of Kuwait, Gulf Catering, Saudi Trading & Construction Company of Saudi Arabia. Such companies, which recruit and employ the bulk of the foreign workers in Iraq, have experienced explosive growth since the invasion of Iraq by providing labor and services to the more high-profile prime contractors.

This layered system not only cuts costs for the prime contractors, but also creates an untraceable trail of contracts that clouds the liability of companies and hinders comprehensive oversight by U.S. contract auditors. In April, the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of the U.S. Congress concluded that it is impossible to accurately estimate the total number of U.S. or foreign nationals working in Iraq.

[. . .]

This is just another way for Halliburton to make a bigger profit. It's also a dry run for what they have planned for this country. Cheap labor, low (or no) benifits, and a greater profit margin for the robber barons.

Hat tip: Thomas Leavitt at STF.

Reputations

How long will the Times stake theirs on Judy 'Da Fluffa' Miller? Steve Gillard has an excellent treatise on what is happening, and will undoubtedly happen, to the Gray Lady's rep.

[. . .]

The staff of the New York Times is so frustrated at Miller and her bosses defense of her, they ran to Howie Kurtz to rat her out. At their rival newspaper. Normally, people would have closed ranks. Her collegues are after like she's fucking Frankenstein and they have torch and pitchfork licenses.

[. . .]

Et tu, Maggie?

[. . .]

Although Lady Thatcher remains a strong supporter of the decision to topple Saddam by invading Iraq, it is the first time she has questioned the basis for the war. Yesterday's Washington Post reported that when asked whether she would have invaded Iraq given the intelligence at the time, Lady Thatcher replied: "I was a scientist before I was a politician. And as a scientist I know you need facts, evidence and proof - and then you check, recheck and check again." [my em; Link]

[. . .]

In other words, 'how can you be so fucking stupid not to cover your tracks, you idiots'? I also think it was a slap at the unIntelligent Design idiots in the States.

Great thanks to TBogg for the link.

Friday Cattle Dog Blogging

Princess Shayna says she's tired of the rain that's been inundating the NY Metro Area for the past week. "This weather isn't fit for a dog," she was heard to say.

Quote of the Day

Spudnik:

Again, I say Wow. Bush is crumbling like a slice of Apple Brown Betty.

Enjoy the crash, Republicans. Bed. Made. Lie.

Talk dirty to me...

MSNBC

A Texas prosecutor subpoenaed telephone records for the home phone of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and his political campaign Thursday.

The subpoenas list telephone numbers, but not whom they belong to. They ask for information about the calls, voice mail service at the numbers and long distance calls made from or charged to the numbers.

Hopefully, this will turn up some good conspiratorial dirt evidence against DeLay, but the dirty-ol'-man side of me wants to know about the 900 numbers.

Like the popular country song says, "He drinks tequila, and she talks dirty in Spanish". If only!

How the Republicans Let It Slip Away

Another in today's "Republicans are going down the shitter" series, by David Ignatius.

What's interesting is that most of these wounds are self-inflicted. They draw a picture of a party that, for all its seeming dominance, isn't prepared to be the nation's governing party. The hard right, which is the soul of the modern GOP, would rather be ideologically pure than successful. Governing requires making compromises and getting your hands dirty, but the conservative purists disdain those qualities. They swim for that beach with a fiercely misguided determination, and they demand that the other whales accompany them.

What you sense now, as conservative and moderate Republicans alike take potshots at their president, is that the GOP is entering the post-Bush era. A war of succession has begun, cloaked in a war of principles. The cruelest aspect of Bush's predicament is that the conservatives are treating him with the same disdain they showed his father. What a denouement to the West Wing Oedipal drama: A son who did everything he could to avoid his father's humiliation by the conservative wing of the party is now under attack by the right himself.

Principles are a fine thing, but a narrow, partisan definition of principle has led the Republicans to a dead end. Their inability to transcend their base and speak to the country as a whole is now painfully obvious. Like the Democrats in their years of decline, they are screaming at each other -- not realizing how far they have drifted from the mid-channel markers that have always led to open waters and defined success in American politics.

Note to Republicans: If you really want to enter the "Post-Bush" era, GET RID OF THE SON OF A BITCH. You can come up later with some verbiage that'll make you out to be the fuckin' heroes that saved America. We'll believe you. Yeah, right.