Life During Wartime

Media Matters: O'Reilly still smearing son of 9/11 Victim

2004-07-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

"From the July 20, 2004, edition of FOX News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: But who is this guy, really? Well, on this program, Glick said President [George W.] Bush and his father [former President George H.W. Bush] were responsible for his [Glick's] father's death.

He said George W. Bush pulled off a coup to get elected. He implied the U.S.A. itself was a terrorist nation. And he called his father's death at the hands of an Al Qaeda 'alleged assassination.' He said America itself was responsible for the 9-11 attack because it is an imperialistic, aggressive nation. Glick was dismissed from The Factor because he was completely off the wall. Security actually had to take the guy out of the building, he was that out of control."

Click here for complete story.

Actually, O'Reilly seems to be backing off the claim he made with Terry Gross on Fresh Air, that Glick had said that both George Bushes were guilty of "orchestrating" the attacks on 9/11. What O'Reilly says here is more of a "spin" than that outright fabrication.

SouthFlorida.com: Michael Jackson story takes a turn for the bizarre

2004-07-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

Us Weekly is vehemently "sticking by" its claim Michael Jackson is to father quadruplets - even though the pop star has denied the allegations.

Yesterday, a statement on Jackson's website Mjjsource.com denied reports an unnamed actress from Florida - who had written to the singer offering her support for his upcoming trial on child molestation charges - had become pregnant with the Thriller star's four children in a surrogacy arrangement.

Click here for complete story.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Ben & Jerry's co-founder inflamed by Bush

2004-07-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

The co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream is on the road, towing a 12-foot-tall effigy of President Bush with fake flames shooting out of the pants.

Ben Cohen believes it is an acceptable way to point out what he calls the president's lies.

Click here for complete story.

Reuters: Linda Rondstadt suddenly hot!

2004-07-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Pretty much beaming under the flood of publicity she'd been getting in the preceding few days, Linda Ronstadt got a big laugh with the first words out of her mouth: "Seen any good movies lately?" she asked the satisfactory thousands who had come out to hear her sing.

This brought her a standing ovation. Everybody knew she was talking about the furor that ensued when she said a few kind words about Michael Moore and his new movie at a show in Las Vegas and was 86'd by the management, not to mention half that audience.

Click here for complete story.

EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY! What was Berger thinking?

2004-07-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not sure I understand this. According to the article I just read in Reuters, one of the few that wasn't nakedly sensationalistic, Sandy Berger's home and office were searched by the justice department earlier this year. Did he know he was under investigation? And if he did, was he really surprised when the story was leaked at a convenient moment for the Republicans, and played up in the right wing press like a Wagner overture? Jeez Louise, this guy was in the Clinton administration! How could he could he be so blindsided by the ruthlessness of the G.O.P.? If Berger knew, he should have stayed away from the Kerry campaign, and if Kerry knew, he should have been a lot more careful.

There are right-wing websites out there that appear to be printing absolute fabrication, weird-ass theory as unquestioned fact. After months of bad news for Bush, these guys are desperate for a Democratic scandal, and they're working overtime to get their version out in the world ahead of the more prosaic official version. In a piece that was deceptively packaged like a straight news story, the World Net Daily called the Berger story "a blockbuster revelation that may prove to be the most shocking scandal of the Clinton administration." Excuse me? Do we still have a Clinton administration? But you know they had to evoke Clinton's name, as if he was somehow behind the whole thing. I'm waiting for them to drag in Vince Foster.

EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY: GOP trots out flag amendment in the nick of time!

2004-07-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

Recently, the American people have been treated to the slightly confusing spectacle of the Director of Homeland Security announcing the clear possibility of a devestating terrorist attack in America during the next few months, while the President has been on the campaign trail, telling Americans how much safer we all are. To some, Bush's stance may seem disingenuous, or even misleading-- but I don't think that's fair. He probably just doesn't know about the recent threat, that's all. Someone probably put something in his Daily Briefing, but he's a busy guy-- and he's already stated how he hates to ruin his "fresh point of view" by reading a newspaper.

Fortunately, the Republicans in Congress are on the case. This week, they're bringing back the amendment to ban flag desecration. This is urgently needed now, before any American flags are damaged in the upcoming terrorist attack.

But it does beg a few questions. First of all, is there really that much flag buring going on? The only footage I can recall of the flag being burned by Americans was obviously Vietnam era. Secondly, how is it "conservative" to be monkeying with the Constitution on a weekly basis? Finally, if the American flag is a symbol of freedom, doesn't lessening what it stands for do more to demean the American flag than any dumb hippie can ever possibly do with a match and a can of lighter fluid?

Media Matters for America: Ann Coulter scary as ever

2004-07-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

In her July 1 column, titled "Saddam In Custody -- Moore, Soros, Dean Still At Large," right-wing pundit Ann Coulter asserted, "[T]he Americanization of Iraq proceeds at an astonishing pace, the Iraqis are taking to freedom like fish to water. ... It's hard to say who's more upset about these developments: the last vestiges of pro-Hussein Baathist resistance in Iraq or John Kerry's campaign manager." Coulter's third paragraph? "The Democrats want Saddam back."

Click here for the complete story.

CNN: Halliburton subpeonaed over Iran ties

2004-07-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Oil field services company Halliburton Co. received a grand jury subpoena earlier this month seeking information about its Cayman Islands unit, which conducts operations in Iran, the company said Monday.

"In July 2004, Halliburton received from an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas a grand jury subpoena requesting the production of documents. We intend to cooperate with the government's investigation," Halliburton said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Click here for complete story.

The Guardian: Brits own up to more bad intelligence

2004-07-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

Downing Street has admitted to The Observer that repeated claims by Tony Blair that 400,000 bodies had been found in Iraqi mass graves' is untrue, and only about 5,000 corpses have so far been uncovered.

The claims by Blair in November and December of last year, were given widespread credence, quoted by MPs and widely published, including in the introduction to a US government pamphlet on Iraq's mass graves.

Let's pause just a moment to remind ourselves that five thousand corpses is not a good thing... On the other hand, neither is being lied to.

Click here for complete story.

Radio Free Europe: US unlikely to Act on reported Iran link

2004-07-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

Speaking with reporters yesterday at the White House, Bush said: "Of course we want to know all the facts. Acting [CIA] Director McLaughlin said there was no direct connection between Iran and the attacks of September the 11th. We will continue to look and see if the Iranians were involved. I have long expressed my concerns about Iran -- after all, it's a totalitarian society."

Bush's statement was one of his toughest remarks on Iran in recent months.

Clike here for complete story.

O'Reilly's Black Box

2004-07-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

Last night I followed a link from the Al Franken Show Blog to an internet poll on Bill O'Reilly's site. The question Bill asks those who visit his site: "Who is the most offensive political pundit in the U.S. Today". The choice are as follows: Michael Moore, Stuart Smalley (usually known as Al Franken to those of who don't live in Bill's sad little world), Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and James Carville.

Now, in my opinion, the most offensive political pundit in America is actually Michael Savage-- who wasn't listed, so I went with O'Reilly. I was immediately taken to a page that instructed me to watch Bill's Show, where he will announce the results.

I've been taking bullshit internet polls for four years now, and every single time I entered my response, I was always immediately taken to a page that instantly displayed the current results, but O'Reilly is keeping the results to himself-- to announce when he sees fit. Fortunately, we can trust Bill not to spin the results. It's not like he would actually lie to us.

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Fox News critique goes directly to living rooms

2004-07-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

"What people have to realize [is] that going to see 'Fahrenheit 9/11' doesn't mean that you've participated in social change," said Don Hazen, executive director of San Francisco-based progressive news site AlterNet, which co- hosted an early screening of "Outfoxed" Friday in San Francisco; Greenwald is a board member of AlterNet's parent organization, the Independent Media Institute.

Click here for complete story.

I so disagree! The dominance of Republican party politics in America is all about the corporate culture, and nothing is going to influence corporate culture in America more directly than the box office. That's why, when Air America Radio came on the air, the right wing attacks focused not on the quality of its content, but on the idea that it was doomed to failure. When employees at Air America were paid one day late during one pay period, the "story" that they were having problems making payroll was repeated all over, and is still reverberating two months later. When A.A.R. stopped payment on a check to an affiliate whom they claim tried to swindle them, that was reported (misleadingly) as "a bounced check", and repeated often enough that eventually it morphed into a plural: "problems with bounced checks to affiliates." When the ratings came back, and Air America was beating Rush Limbaugh's station in New York-- especially among the coveted 18 to 35 demographic-- O'Reilly first claimed that the Arbitron ratings were a lie personally cooked up by Al Franken (whom, in typical "no-spin" fashion, he compared to Goebbels). When that position became untenable, O'Reilly brought an "expert" onto his show to repeat the "bounced checks" stories one more time, and to explain how Air America's success was a "bump" brought about by all the free positive publicity Air America recieved in the liberal media.

Note the contradiction. Even as he insists that the liberal point of view is doomed to failure in the information marketplace, O'Reilly also likes to insist that the information marketplace is dominated by the liberal point of view! In his owm mind, it probably makes some kind of sense.

Believe it or not, it's a lie. Ever since Air America Radio has gone on the air, I've had a Google news alert in place. This means that just about every time Air America Radio is mentioned on a website, I get an email with a link-- and let me tell you, the coverage of Air America radio, especially before the ratings started coming in, has been starkly, relentlessly, almost monolithically negative. For a while, I was beginning to think I was the only person out there who loved it.

Air America Radio, Fahrenheit 9/11 in the cineplex, and the Outfoxed parties in people's homes are breaking the right-wing corporate stranglehold on the media that the Right has used to create the illusion that liberalism is "not mainstream". This is the myth that President Butch likes to evoke at every stump speech. More Americans voted Democratic than Republican in the last three presidential elections. You'd think that being the majority would at least qualify us for a part of the mainstream.

THE DISPATCH: Obscenity charges dropped against Texas housewife

2004-07-19T06:19:00.000-07:00

Webb, a former fifth-grade teacher, started selling erotic toys and other adult products last year. The Passion Parties Inc. consultant hosts what she calls Tupperware-type parties for suburban housewives who feel more comfortable buying marital aids in a private home than at an adult bookstore or on the Internet.

Webb was arrested Nov. 13, about a month after the undercover officers approached her at her husband's business in Burleson, about 10 miles south of Fort Worth, and bought two products. Had she been convicted of violating Texas' obscenity law, she could have been sentenced to a year in jail.

Click here for complete story.

(Texas: It's like a whole 'nother planet!)

Saving the Henhouse of Democracy

2004-07-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw the documentary Outfoxed , a thorough and meticulous deconstruction of how FOX NEWS uses its power to manipulate the news, and deliberately shape the political culture in America. I saw it at one of an estimated 3100 house parties staged across the country by MoveOn.org. I saw most of the movie standing up in a crowded room with no air conditioning, but the party was a great time-- good food, good talk, and people with the good taste to laugh at my Katherine Harris joke. When it was over, I was pleasantly surprised that no one had asked me to make a donation to anything (Other than my time, and my signature to a petition urging legal action against FOX using the sloagan "Fair and Balanced", presumably for false advertising.)

Compared to that other political documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, Outfoxed is certainly less entertaining, but perhaps even more essential. This is a 77 minute seminar in media literacy. Everyone needs to do whatever they have to do to see it. A DVD or VHS copy can be obtained, quite reasonably, here.

The nice thing about owning a copy would be that you could hit the pause button whenever you'd had enough of Bill O'Reilly, or maybe just fast-forward past him if you felt the need. There was a lot of talk last night about boycotts and letter-writing campaigns aimed at the FOX NEWS network-- but if it were up to me, I would have us focus all of our slings and arrows on Bill O'Reilly himself. Outfoxed proves that you can build a persuasive case that Fox News is biased in 77 minutes, but it would only take a minute of film clips to prove conclusively that Bill O'Reilly lies like hell. An organized campaign to pressure FOX NEWS to take O'Reilly off the air by exposing his numerous and well-documented lies could cause Fox a lot embarrassment, because it would force them to defend him, or to not defend him. Would a major news organization actually put itself on record as saying that O'Reilly isn't a habitual liar? It's time to make someone the poster boy for all these shameless blowhards who simply lie at will in the public eye and somehow think that they have impunity because they have the balls to do it. And the best part would be watching him react.

How hard can it be to expose a man who lies outrageously on camera for a living as an outrageous liar? He's Humpty Goddamn Dumpty, and all he needs is a well-timed and well co-ordinated shove.

TIME: 9/11 Commission finds ties between Iran and al Queda

2004-07-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

The senior official also told TIME that the report will note that Iranian officials approached the al-Qaeda leadership after the bombing of the USS Cole and proposed a collaborative relationship in future attacks on the U.S., but the offer was turned down by bin Laden because he did not want to alienate his supporters in Saudi Arabia.

The Iran-al Qaeda contacts were discovered and presented to the Commissioners near the end of the bipartisan panel's more than year-long investigation into the sources and origins of the 9/11 attacks. Much of the new information about Iran came from al-Qaeda detainees interrogated by the U.S. government, including captured Yemeni al-Qaeda operative Waleed Mohammed bin Attash, who organized the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole, and from as many as 100 separate electronic intelligence intercepts culled by analysts at the NSA. The findings were sent to the White House for review only this week. But Commission members have been hinting for weeks that their report would have some Iran surprises. As the 9/11 Commission's chairman, Thomas Kean, said in June, "We believe....that there were a lot more active contacts, frankly, with Iran and with Pakistan than there were with Iraq."

Click here for complete story

Media Matters: O'Reilly still full of "merde"

2004-07-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

This recent assertion marks the third distinct false claim that O'Reilly has made in his attempts to prove that his boycott is making a significant impact on trade between the United States and France. Most recently, in his July 6 letter to the editors of the New York Daily News, O'Reilly wrote, "According to U.S. government figures, in the months following the boycott call, France did $138 million less business with the U.S.A. than it did the previous year." When Media Matters for America debunked this claim, we noted that -- while it was certainly a lie -- it represented a significant retreat from his original April 27 assertion that, as a result of the boycott, France had "lost billions of dollars according to 'The Paris Business Review.'" While using Census trade data to refute that claim, Media Matters for America questioned the existence of any publication called "The Paris Business Review" or something similar. O'Reilly has still declined to address that issue.

Click here for complete story.

AMERIKANA: Michael Moore hates America!

2004-07-17T11:08:00.000-07:00

Coming in Summer 2004! A film by Michael Wilson

"Contrary to its title, Michael Moore Hates America isn’t a hatchet job on the filmmaker. It’s a journey across the nation where we meet celebrities, scholars and average folks alike, and we find out whether the American Dream is still alive! In the process, we’ll look at Michael Moore’s claims about the country, its people, and our way of life."

http://www.michaelmoorehatesamerica.com/

Wow, so he's like... turning the tables? HUH HUH HUH, that's cool, Beavis!

I guess this is supposed to be ironic, but the most ironic thing here is the impression you get that this guy Michael Wilson really wants to be Michael Moore-- except that, presumably, he doesn't hate America. Also, from the picture, he's younger, better looking, and maybe goes to the gym. He sort of looks like Sean Hannity's slightly cooler younger brother. Expect this movie to be as much a slavish imitation as a send-up of Michael Moore's filmmaking.

God told me that this movie is going to suck. He also told me that the critics will lambaste it, and the talking headcases at FOX NEWS will blame its critical failure on the liberal bias of the press. Bill O'Reilly will bring Washington Post film critic Tom Shales onto "The Factor", and then tell him to "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!!" before Shales can get a dozen words out about why he hated the movie. Shales will calmly remove his microphone, walk over to O'Reilly, and coldcock the bellicose little prick, breaking his nose. O'Reilly will be so overcome with shock, pain, and humiliation that he will cry on camera like a little girl. FOX NEWS will try to suppress the footage of the sobbing O'Reilly, but within twenty-four hours of appearing on the internet it will be played back on every network and cable news program. (Due to an error in the control room, the television audience will hear Dan Rather's screams of maniacal laughter while the clip is being aired on The CBS Evening News.) O'Reilly will be too ashamed to ever appear in public again-- confounding his critics, who had always considered him to be without shame. O'Reilly will attempt to sue Tom Shalesfor ten million dollars, but Al Franken will appeal to his listeners to contribute to Shales' defense fund, raising enough money to reunite the entire O.J. Simpson "dream team". O'Reilly will eventually settle for 40 thousand dollars, plus court costs. Tom Shales will become a culture hero, America's most influential film critic, and, eventually, a moderate Republican Senator from Rhode Island.

On the other hand, God told Pat Robertson that George Bush would be re-elected in a landslide-- so you may want to consider the source.

AP: Welcome to the tipping point!

2004-07-17T05:02:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - A majority of Americans now say the United States should have stayed out of Iraq, according to a poll released Friday.

Click here for complete story.

AP: Florida Congresswoman claims 2000 Election "stolen"

2004-07-17T04:45:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - Think the passions from the 2000 presidential election have cooled? Certainly not in the House, which voted Thursday to strike a Florida representative's words from the record after she said Republicans "stole" that closely fought contest.

The verbal battle broke out after Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., proposed a measure barring any federal official from requesting that the United Nations formally observe the U.S. elections on Nov. 2.

"We welcome America to observe the integrity of our electoral process and we do not ask, though, for the United Nations to come as monitors at our polling stations," Buyer said.

"I come from Florida, where you and others participated in what I call the United States coup d'etat. We need to make sure it doesn't happen again," Brown said. "Over and over again after the election when you stole the election, you came back here and said, 'Get over it.' No, we're not going to get over it. And we want verification from the world."

(If you ask me, this is a classic case of burying the lead. The real story here is G.O.P. efforts to prevent U.N. monitoring. The fact that some Democrats think the 2000 election was rigged is hardly news.)

Click here for complete story.

COMPUTERWORLD: E-Voting apologist blames brouhaha on open source zealots

2004-07-17T04:20:00.000-07:00

"It's not about voting machines. It's a religious war about open-source software vs. proprietary software," Miller said in an interview with Computerworld. "If you're a computer scientist and you think that open-source software is the solution to everything because you're a computer scientist and you can spot all flaws, then you hate electronic voting machines. But if you're a person who believes that proprietary software and open-source software can both be reliable, then you don't hate electronic voting machines."

Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, called Miller's characterization "nonsense."

"Every technologist that I have worked with believes that even if we had open-source software, we would still need a paper [audit] trail," said Alexander. "There would be no guarantee that the software that was inspected by the public would be the same software that is running on every machine in every jurisdiction in the country."

Eric Raymond, president of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), a nonprofit organization that promotes standards and criteria for open-source software, said Miller has the issue wrong. "Most [e-voting] critics, including me, aren't focusing on open-source vs. closed-source at all, but rather on the lack of any decent audit trail of votes -- one that can't be corrupted by software. Open-source would be nice for all the real reasons but is less important than the audit trail."

Click here for complete story.

MEDIA MATTERS: John Edwards meets Republican Math

2004-07-17T03:49:00.000-07:00

As Media Matters for America previously noted, although National Journal's 2003 vote ratings of senators placed Edwards fourth, that rating was based on only 40 of Edwards's Senate votes during 2003 and is not representative of his more moderate lifetime Senate voting record. In fact, as National Journal congressional reporter Richard E. Cohen pointed out in a July 9 article, Edwards's average National Journal "liberal score" during his five years in the Senate (1999-2003) is 75.7 percent, "a number that puts him in the moderate wing of his party," and is almost 20 points lower than the 2003 rating that Republicans are touting with the help of the conservative media. National Journal's Cohen also noted that in 1999, Edwards's National Journal "liberal score" placed him as the 31st most liberal senator, in 2000, Edwards ranked 19th, in 2001, he ranked 35th, and in 2002, he ranked as the 40th most liberal among all senators -- 15 to 36 spots lower than "the fourth most liberal senator" label that Republicans and the conservative media are pushing. As Cohen wrote, "From 1999 to 2002, Edwards had ranked among the more conservative Democratic senators. In 2002, only 11 of the 50 Senate Democrats voted more conservatively."

Click here for complete story.

Picking up on July 12 where substitute host Mike Gallagher left off on July 8, FOX News Channel co-host Sean Hannity ignored the majority of recent polls when he asserted that "there's no Edwards bounce in the polls." While the majority of recent national polls show Kerry-Edwards '04 leading Bush-Cheney '04 (e.g., a NBC poll, a CBS poll, a Rasmussen Reports poll, a Zogby International poll, and a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll), Hannity cited the only major national poll (Associated Press-Ipsos poll) that placed the Bush-Cheney ticket ahead of Kerry-Edwards.

Click here for complete story.

TRAPROCK PEACE CENTER: Children abused in Iraqi Prisons

2004-07-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a transcript of a German documentary alleging some horrible things about American military prisons in Iraq. I have a hard time beliving it, but people who have seen the documentary in Germany and in other countries are reportedly more convincved. I heard Lizz Winstead say something on "Unfiltered" this morning to the effect of "If this is true, Bush's goose is offically cooked."

And yet, I hope that it isn't true.

Click here.

THE INDEPENDENT: 'Secret Film Shows Iraq Prisoners Sodomized'

2004-07-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

Young male prisoners were filmed being sodomized by American soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, according to the journalist who first revealed the abuses there.

Seymour Hersh, who reported on the torture of the prisoners in New Yorker magazine in May, told an audience in San Francisco that "it's worse". But he added that he would reveal the extent of the abuses: "I'm not done reporting on all this," he told a meeting of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Click here for complete story.

LIFE IMITATES BULLSHIT, PART II

2004-07-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it looks like The Paris Business Review really exists! Or does it? I suspect that someone else is taking the same joke in a different direction-- only these guys can afford to register a domain-- and they even know French!

"PBR April 31, 2004: We are proud to have been mentioned recently by a misguided American entertainer named Bill O'Reilly, who apparently hosts a television program on a fledgling network called "The Fox News Channel" in the United States. He referenced a recent Paris Business Review article that said France has "lost billions of dollars" because of an American boycott of French products. Of course, that article was meant in jest."

I haven't decided whether to drop the name yet, in spite of the fact that no one else seems to think it's funny. Since no one is actually reading this, that doesn't really matter. A lot depends on whether the "original" Paris Business Review is kept alive by further updates. It may not be a joke after all. I notice that they refer to Bill O'Reilly as "misguided". That kind of understatement strikes me as authentically European.

Anyway, just in case, a hearty bonjour-- and congratulations to our friends accross the ocean at the Paris Business Review. A lot of Americans seem to think that La Belle France is not our true friend, because she opposed the war in Iraq-- but here in the U.S., we have a saying: "Friends don't let friends drive drunk." (I'll bet it sounds better in French.)

I will always think of France as the concerned hostess who tried to take our keys, after we'd had a little too much to drink at the big Globalization Christmas Party, and got an earful of drunken abuse for her troubles. She did it for our own good, and hopefully, we'll appreciate that some day.

REUTERS: Cheney rumors persist

2004-07-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

The only Republican of stature to publicly called on Cheney to be dropped was former New York Sen. Alfonse D'Amato who said Bush should use Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain or Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Still, Cheney remains a popular figure to the conservative base, which Bush is counting on to help carry him to victory on Nov. 2.

That has not stopped the whispering, however. The New York Times published a speculative report that Cheney dismissed his personal doctor recently so that he could see a new one who would conveniently tell him in August that his heart problems make him unfit to run.

Click here for complete story.

INDYSTAR: Congressional Dems want U.N. to monitor election

2004-07-16T04:45:00.000-07:00

"We are deeply concerned that the right of U.S. citizens to vote in free and fair elections is again in jeopardy," the lawmakers wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

While the request might evoke images of blue-helmeted peacekeepers outside the local library, it won't be granted.

"Generally, the United Nations does not intervene in electoral affairs unless the request comes from a national government or an electoral authority -- not the legislative branch," said U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe

Click here for complete story.

This article is twelve days old; it was originally posted on July 4th.

THE AL FRANKEN SHOW: Sort of like the young Bill Clinton meeting President Kennedy, only in reverse

2004-07-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

The following was painstakingly transcribed by me from the mp3 archives of The Al Franken Show, originally broadcast July 14. The archive can be found at Air America Place. The participants are talk show host Al Franken, his co-host Katherine Lanpher, and two kids from East Lampeter, PA.

Al Franken
And now we're gonna go to East Lampeter, Pennsylvania. We're gonna talk to Ian Long, Adam Stanley, and Brendon McNamara, who are politically active recent high school grads from East Lampeter, and they claim they got a special salute from President Bush, as they held up a protest banner that read "More Trees, Less Bush". Hi guys!

Ian
Ah hey, how's it goin?

Al Franken
Very good. Tell us your story.

Ian
All right, um... we were standing there on the side of the road.

Al Franken
Yes?

Ian
We've got our banner... Adam and I were holding the banner that says "More trees, less Bush".

Al Franken
This is Ian talking?

Ian
Yes, this is Ian... and Brendan's off to the side, and he's got the camera...

Al Franken
Uh-huh.

Ian
And we see the motorcade rollin' through, and we know he was on the second bus, cause we saw him earlier... cause this was on his departure, his way out of where he was campaigning...

Al Franken
Right.

Adam
We were there when he came in, too.

Al Franken
Okay. Gotcha.

Ian
So we knew he was on the second bus, and we're lookin for him, and we see him, and we're all kind of frozen for a second cause, you know, it's the man himself, it's the "W" right there!

Al Franken
Right! (laughs.)

Ian
So he's waving to the people on the other side, it's a lumber company or something, and there's a recognition... like... he sees our banner, and he extends his arm... I thought it was going to be a wave or something, but he instead, gave us the finger.

Al Franken
Flipped you the bird, eh?

Katherine Lanpher (skeptical)
How sure are you?

Al Franken
There was an eyewitness there, right?

Ian
Yeah, we had a guy behind us that saw it.

Al Franken
And he said to you?

Ian
He was like: "I believe you boys just got flipped off by the President of the United States."

Al Franken (Impressed)
What a great... isn't this... this has got to be the biggest event of your life!

Ian
Oh, yeah, so far!

Adam
We were jumpin up and down like freakin football players!

Al Franken
And so, uh, how long did you laugh? Did you laugh for... what?

Ian
Days!

Franken laughs.

Adam
We're still laughing!

Ian
We're still laughing! It was goofy enough to just see him, I mean... seriously! He..

Al Franken
Did he smirk?

Adam
He's there with his little shoulder shake, wavin to the people, all happy... and then he sees our sign!

Ian
He's got that little, that little half smile that he does, so you're not sure what's going on.

Al Franken
So it was more of a confused smile than a smirk?

Ian
I dunno.

Al Franken
A little hard to read?

Ian
It was hard to gauge.

Katherine Lanpher
Do you think this will inspire anyone around you to go out and register?

Ian
It think we're hopin it's swayin some people. Everyone's really excited about it, they think it's really cool that something actually happened in the area.

(And so, a great moment in East Lampeter local history is noted. If anyone wants to take up a collection to erect a statue commemorating the event, be sure and put me down for ten dollars.)

REUTERS: Gitmo detainee alleges torture

2004-07-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

"They put me in the interrogation room and used it as a refrigerator. They set the temperature to minus degrees so it was terribly cold and one had to freeze there for many hours -- 12 to 14 hours one had to sit there, chained," he said, adding that he had partially lost the feeling in one foot since then.

Ghezali said he was also deprived of sleep, chained for long periods in painful positions, and exposed to bright flashes of light in a darkened room and loud music and noise.

"They forced me down with chained feet. Then they took away the chains from the hands, pulled the arms under the legs and chained them hard again. I could not move," he said.

After several hours his feet were swollen and his whole body was aching. "The worst was in the back and the legs," he said.

Click here for complete story.

NEW YORK TIMES: Acting intelligence chief says: Don't blame CIA for war

2004-07-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

The Senate panel dissected the intelligence behind a National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002. That document included flat assertions that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons and was reconstituting its nuclear program, statements that the Senate committee called unfounded and unreasonable.

But to treat the document as a pivotal element in the march to war would be "an oversimplification of the situation,'' Mr. McLaughlin said on CNN, in one of a series of interviews intended to counter the sharp criticism of the agency, adding, "If there wasn't sufficient debate about these issues, it wasn't the fault of the people who prepared this estimate.''

Click here for complete story.

Okay, so lets recap: in Britain and in the U.S., they're trying to figure out who is to blame for the war, although Bush and Blair are insisting that the war was a good idea. Our government is warning of a huge domestic terror attack that may be brewing, even as Bush is on the campaign trail telling us that we're safer now. After all, the number of terror attacks are down in the world. Oh, wait... they're up! The oversight wasn't intentional. We're just not good at math; we were all English majors in college. Bush's poll numbers just went up in the area of the candidate best able to handle the terrorist threat, no doubt because the subtext of Osama's fiendish plan to disrupt our elections is an implied endorsement for Kerry.

We really have passed through the looking glass. Any day now, the Cheshire Cat's head will be seen floating over Washington.

CHARLESTON GAZETTE: Couple arrested by T-Shirt Police

2004-07-15T04:05:00.000-07:00

Police took Nicole and Jeff Rank away in handcuffs from the event, which was billed as a presidential appearance, not a campaign rally. They were wearing T-shirts that read, “Love America, Hate Bush.”

Spectators who wore pro-Bush T-shirts and Bush-Cheney campaign buttons were allowed to stay.

“We weren’t doing anything wrong,” said Jeff Rank. The couple, who said they had tickets just like everybody else, said they simply stood around the Capitol steps with the rest of the spectators.

“We sang the national anthem,” Rank said.

Click here for complete story.

REUTERS: Gay Marriage Amendment defeated in procedural vote: Civilization promptly collapses.

2004-07-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

"We all know what this issue is about," declared Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat. "It's not about how to protect the sanctity of marriage. It's about politics -- an attempt to drive a wedge between one group of citizens and the rest of the country, solely for partisan advantage."

Click here for complete story.

Bush Allegedly Flips off Kids from Campaign Bus!

2004-07-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

I love this story! Heard two of the kids interviewed today on the Franken show, When the archives become available later, I'll transcribe and post an excerpt. There's a rather indistinct photo posted on Wonkette. Unfortunately, it proves nothing.

There's nothing at all about this that is out of character for Bush. I say if three witnesses saw the Prez give the finger to two kids holding up a "MORE TREES, LESS BUSH", sign, that's almost certainly what happened.

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, TONE IT DOWN A LITTLE, DUDES!

2004-07-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

Frequent listeners to Air America Radio will probably know what I mean when I say that nothing sends me lunging for the volume control knob faster than one of those syrupy ads for internet dating service eHarmony.com.

"Before I saw him, I knew he was perfect for me... because of his heart! He loves me... unconditionally! Not only is her heart beautiful... but her outside is beautiful, too!

Congratulations. Really, I'm happy for you. I mean it. I know it's hard to talk about the one you love without resorting to brain-freezing cliches, but if you're aiming at lonely people, you should be aware that at least some of us would rather be led around on a leash by Lynndie English than to be subjected to this kind of discourse, stuff that makes Hallmark look like Mickey Spillane. These ads don't make me want to find "my soulmate". They make me want to slice off my manhood and feed it to the cats.

CNN: McCain calls Same Sex Marriage Amendment "Unrepublican"

2004-07-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

"The constitutional amendment we're debating today strikes me as antithetical in every way to the core philosophy of Republicans," McCain said. "It usurps from the states a fundamental authority they have always possessed and imposes a federal remedy for a problem that most states do not believe confronts them."

Click here for complete story.

I think you could look at this one of two ways. Either McCain is courageously breaking with his party's leadership OR this is part of a co-ordinated GOP campaign to get the Constitutional amendment onto the Senate floor, voted down, and forgotten, ASAP. It's similar statements by Lynne Cheney that make me suspect the latter. It seems to me that a favorite way to soften a GOP candidate's position is to have the candidate's wife publically disagree. Hence, you have Laura Bush describing herself as pro-choice, and back in 2000, Phil Gramm's wife going out on a limb by supporting abortion in cases of rape and incest. You don't think these things happen by accident, do you?

Polls indicate that the constitutional amendment scheme-- while great for energizing Bush's cultural conservative base-- is a big fat loser among the rest of Americans, even those who are uncomfortable with the idea of same-sex marriage. Most significantly, I heard Adam Clymer (the object of Bush's immortal "major league asshole" gaffe, if memory serves) on NPR talking about one poll in particular-- which says that, as a group, swing voters are particularly against the amendment. This puts the R's in a quandry. They can't be seen as backing away from this crazy idea, lest the faithful suspect them of being ideologically impure flip-floppers-- but they also need to get the issue off the table, and fast. And so, even as Osama is said to be planning his next big move, our national attention is focused on a parade of GOP senators playing passionately to the cameras, browbeating us about "the basis of our civilization", which-- for purposes of this discussion-- is marriage, not the constitution. It's going to fail, of course, probably sooner rather than later. I think that's how they're setting it up. After it's over, I don't think you're going to see Bush talking very much at all about The Basis Of Our Civilization.

Belfast Telegraph: Celebrity Cat Fight: Michael Moore vs. Pete Townshend

2004-07-14T06:54:00.000-07:00

Moore had wanted to use Townshend's song, 'Won't Get Fooled Again', on the soundtrack to his film which opened in Ireland last weekend. When Townshend refused, Moore accused him of being in favour of the war.

Townshend responds: "I greatly resent being bullied and slurred by him because he didn't get what he wanted from me. It seems that this aspect of his nature is not unlike that of the wilful man at the centre of his documentary."

(Accusing him of being a pedophile is one thing. When you accuse him of being a Bush supporter, you've gone too far!)

Click here for complete story

Amerikana: W Ketchup

2004-07-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

We're fighting to avoid the obvious "freedom fries" reference. Oops, should have fought harder.

"Choose Heinz and you're supporting Teresa and her husband’s Gulfstream Jet, and liberal causes such as Kerry for President.

When you choose W Ketchup, you also support the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to the children of our brave heroes who have fallen in battle."

Oh, and then we cut combat pay and Veteran's health benefits... Coming soon; Dick Cheney's Dill pickles. Don't like the tart, tangy taste? Well, why don't you just sit on it and rotate?

The website also features a tribute to Ronald Reagan, without mentioning that this was the man who elevated ketchup to its rightful place as a vegetable.

wketchup.com

USA TODAY: Car bomb kills at least eleven near Baghdad

2004-07-14T06:30:00.000-07:00

It was the worst attack in the capital since the United States transferred sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government on June 28.

Hours earlier, the Philippines said it had begun withdrawing its troops from Iraq, an apparent bid to placate militants who threatened to kill a Filipino hostage if the tiny contingent was not out by July 20.

Click here for complete story.

LIFE IMITATES BULLSHIT!

2004-07-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

We totally steal from Bill O'Reilly... will he sue?

Today we heard the following segment from Bill O'Reilly's show on the Al Franken Show, transcibed here by Media matters for America The date was April 27, the discussion was with a Canadian reporter, about two American military deserters whom the Canadians were harboring:

O'REILLY: Now if the [Canadian] government -- if your government harbors these two deserter [sic], doesn't send them back ... there will be a boycott of your country which will hurt your country enormously. France is now feeling that sting.

MALLICK: I don't think for a moment such a boycott would take place because we are your biggest trading partners.

O'REILLY: No, it will take place, madam. In France ...

MALLICK: I don't think that your French boycott has done too well ...

O'REILLY: ...they've lost billions of dollars in France according to "The Paris Business Review."

MALLICK: I think that's nonsense.

Nonsense? Well, that may be a little harsh. Sure, it isn't true, but it's much too gorgeous a lie to dismiss so callously. The punchline, of course, is that "The Paris Business Review" doesn't seem to exist. To quote mediamatters.org:

Media Matters for America found no evidence of a publication named "The Paris Business Review." A Google.com search revealed no mentions of "Paris Business Review," "Revue des Affaires de Paris," or any similar French name. A LexisNexis search for "Paris," "France," or "French" within five words of "business review" produced no relevant results. There is a journal called "European Business Review," which is published in England; however, over the past two years, "European Business Review" has not mentioned an American boycott of France.

(Click on either link above, if you want to read about how imports from France are actually up from a couple of years ago.)

Yes, it was total off-the-cuff right-wing pundit bullshit-- but it was elegant bullshit. Like Bill O'Reilly himself, the name "Paris Business Review" combines gravitasse and absurdity in a way that commands attention. Everybody talks about how Rush Limbaugh is a shameless liar-- and, of course, he is-- but could Rush Limbaugh lie with this kind of inventive panache, such style? I don't think so. Rush, you'd better watch your back!

It was just too artistic a whopper to let die-- and this blog needed a new name, preferably something ponderous and absurd. And so, here at the publication formerly known as "Life During Wartime", we (and by "we", I mean "I") decided to cast our scruples to the wind, avail ourselves of Mr. O'Reilly's genius, and adopt the name Paris Business Review for "ourselves"... by which I mean "ME".

Thanks, Bill. You're the man.

The Paris Business Review originates from Binghamton N.Y. No, we've never been to Paris. But we kinda like the music.

SEATTLE TIMES: Government backs away from election delay plans

2004-07-13T05:02:00.000-07:00

National-security adviser Condoleezza Rice was even more emphatic. "We've had elections in this country when we were at war, even when we were in civil war. And we should have the elections on time. That's the view of the president; that's the view of the administration," Rice told CNN yesterday.

Click here for complete story.

The "Bush is my Homie" T-shirt-- I didn't make this up.

2004-07-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

LIVE From InstantFM.com, The Internet's Premier Radio Network has unveiled the ultimate patriotic T-Shirt, "Bush Is My Homie!" All the hippest Republicans will be sporting this stylish 100% Cotton Heavyweight T-Shirt. A Shirt That Is Fit For The Heavyweight Champion of The Free World, Our President George Bush! Each Black T-Shirt has "Bush Is My Homie" professionally screen printed on the front in RED, WHITE and BLUE and The Official InstantFM.com logo on the back.

How very very lame! Why not a shirt that says: "Bush is DA BOMB!"?
Click here if you want to buy this fabulous piece of... Americana!

USA TODAY: Holy fucking shit! Government seeking authority to postpone elections!

2004-07-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

If we didn't see this coming, we should have.

Newsweek said DeForest Soaries, chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, wants Ridge to ask Congress to pass legislation giving the government power to cancel or reschedule a federal election. Soaries said New York suspended primary elections on the day of the Sept. 11 attacks, but the federal government does not appear to have that authority.

The disclosure comes only a few days after U.S. authorities said they believe that al-Qaeda is planning a "large-scale" attack in the USA aimed at disrupting the presidential campaign and November elections.

Meanwhile, our nation debates gay marriage.

Click here for complete story.

NEW YORK TIMES: 9/11 Panelists contradict Cheney, whose office apparently doesn't understand.

2004-07-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

In a one-sentence statement, the panel's chairman and vice chairman said that "after examining available transcripts of the vice president's public remarks, the 9/11 commission believes it has access to the same information the vice president has seen regarding contacts between Al Qaeda and Iraq prior to the 9/11 attacks."

.......

A spokesman for Mr. Cheney, Kevin Kellems, said on Tuesday that the White House welcomed the statement, calling it proof that the White House had fully cooperated in providing the panel all available intelligence relevant to its work.

"We are pleased with today's statement from the 9/11 commission, which puts to rest a nonstory," he said. "As we have said all along, the administration provided the commission with unprecedented access to sensitive information so they could perform their mission. The vice president criticized some press coverage of the draft staff report. He did not criticize the commission's work."

Click here for complete story.

CNN: Bush sticks to his story

2004-07-10T05:50:00.000-07:00

Bush said the United States was "right to go into Iraq. America is safer today because we did," he told a cheering crowd of supporters in Pennsylvania.

"We removed a declared enemy of America, who had the capability of producing weapons of mass destruction, and could have passed that capability to terrorists bent on acquiring them."

Click here for complete story.

CNN: American vigilantes maintained "private prison" in Afghanistan

2004-07-10T05:41:00.000-07:00

Idema and his colleagues told Afghan authorities they were operating the prison because they wanted "to take part in the war on terror," the Afghan official said.

The Americans did not torture their prisoners, but did administer "some beatings," the official added.

Click here for complete story.

NEW REPUBLIC: Bush administration pressuring Pakistan for a well-timed capture

2004-07-10T05:22:00.000-07:00

This public pressure would be appropriate, even laudable, had it not been accompanied by an unseemly private insistence that the Pakistanis deliver these high-value targets (HVTs) before Americans go to the polls in November. The Bush administration denies it has geared the war on terrorism to the electoral calendar. "Our attitude and actions have been the same since September 11 in terms of getting high-value targets off the street, and that doesn't change because of an election," says National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack. But The New Republic has learned that Pakistani security officials have been told they must produce HVTs by the election. According to one source in Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), "The Pakistani government is really desperate and wants to flush out bin Laden and his associates after the latest pressures from the U.S. administration to deliver before the [upcoming] U.S. elections."

Click here for complete story.

NEW YORK TIMES: Pentagon says Bush's military service records were inadvertantly destroyed

2004-07-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

The destroyed records cover three months of a period in 1972 and 1973 when Mr. Bush's claims of service in Alabama are in question.

The disclosure appeared to catch some experts, both pro-Bush and con, by surprise. Even the retired lieutenant colonel who studied Mr. Bush's records for the White House, Albert C. Lloyd of Austin, said it came as news to him.

Click here for complete story; registration required.

AMERICAN PROSPECT: Ashcroft's involvement in Valerie Plame case questioned

2004-07-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

The briefings raise questions about the appropriateness of Ashcroft's involvement in the investigation, especially given his longstanding ties to Rove. Senior federal law-enforcement officials have expressed serious concerns among themselves that Ashcroft spent months overseeing the probe and receiving regular briefings regarding a criminal investigation in which the stakes were so high for the Attorney General's personal friends, political allies, and political party. One told me, "Attorneys General and U.S. Attorneys in the past traditionally recused for far less than this."

Rove's interview with the FBI was highly significant, sources said, in that although Rove adamantly denied having leaked the name of CIA officer Valerie Plame, he admitted to having disseminated the information -- after it appeared in the news media -- to journalists, political activists, and other administration officials in an attempt to discredit Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. At the time, Wilson was raising questions about the veracity of intelligence information used by President Bush in making the case to go to war with Iraq. Rove, through an assistant, declined to comment for this story.

Click here for complete story.

NEW YORK TIMES: CIA held back arms data on Iraq

2004-07-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON, July 5 — The Central Intelligence Agency was told by relatives of Iraqi scientists before the war that Baghdad's programs to develop unconventional weapons had been abandoned, but the C.I.A. failed to give that information to President Bush, even as he publicly warned of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's illicit weapons, according to government officials.

The existence of a secret prewar C.I.A. operation to debrief relatives of Iraqi scientists — and the agency's failure to give their statements to the president and other policymakers — has been uncovered by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The panel has been investigating the government's handling of prewar intelligence on Iraq's unconventional weapons and plans to release a wide-ranging report this week on the first phase of its inquiry. The report is expected to contain a scathing indictment of the C.I.A. and its leaders for failing to recognize that the evidence they had collected did not justify their assessment that Mr. Hussein had illicit weapons.

Click here for complete story; registration required.

CNN: Ridge announces elevation of terror alert level from "YELLOW" to "YELLOW"

2004-07-08T08:17:00.000-07:00

Because there is no plan to raise the threat level and only general information, some Democrats privately have questioned whether the timing of the announcement is politically motivated.

A senior administration official said accusations of scaremongering are to be expected. But the official, who has read Ridge's prepared remarks, added, "This is one of those damned if you do and damned if you don'ts, and our default is 'do.'"

Click here for complete story.

AFTENPOSTEN: Norway protests alleged child abuse in Iraq

2004-07-08T06:36:00.000-07:00

Norwegian authorities reacted with shock and disgust Tuesday to a documentary on German TV that American soldiers allegedly have been holding children in prisons in Iraq, and abusing them as well. The Norwegians joined the Red Cross and Amnesty International in calling for an immediate end to the abuse, and release of the underage prisoners, some of whom are as young as 12 years.

In one case, a girl around age 15 was said to have been shoved up against a wall by a group of male soldiers who proceeded to manhandle her. They then started ripping off her clothes, and she was half-naked before military police broke in.

In another case, a boy aged 15 or 16 was stripped naked and sprayed with water before being placed in an open truck and driven around in the cold night air last winter. He then was covered with mud.

What the fuck? These stories must be circulating all over Europe; has anyone in the U.S. heard anything about these allegations? After seeing the pictures of Lynndie England and her pet Iraqi, is there anything too lurid and horrific to be considered at least potentially credible?

Click here for complete story.

AP: FBI whistleblower's suit dismissed out of hand

2004-07-08T06:28:00.000-07:00

Edmonds, a former contract linguist for the FBI, said she will appeal the ruling. She alleged in her lawsuit that she was fired in March 2002 after she complained to FBI managers about shoddy wiretap translations and told them an interpreter with a relative at a foreign embassy might have compromised national security.

Edmonds said the judge dismissed her lawsuit without hearing evidence from her lawyers, although the government's lawyers met with Walton at least twice privately. She noted that Walton, the judge, was appointed by President Bush.

"This shows how the separation of power has basically disappeared," Edmonds said in a telephone interview. "The judge ruled on this case without actually this ever being a case."

Click here for complete story.

COMPUTERWORLD: California ban on touchscreen voting upheld

2004-07-08T06:18:00.000-07:00

The decision arose from a lawsuit, Benavidez v. Shelley, brought by disability rights advocates and four California counties -- Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern and Plumas -- that oppose Shelley's VVPAT requirement and decertification orders for direct-recording equipment (DRE) voting systems.

The plaintiffs argued that banning the systems would disenfranchise visually or physically impaired voters.

Click here for complete story.

THE GUARDIAN: Pentagon creates Guantanamo prisoner review proceedure; Critics unimpressed.

2004-07-08T06:07:00.000-07:00

"Essentially, what we did today was we announced how the department of defence is going to comply with the supreme court ruling," a Pentagon official said. He said the Combat Status Review Tribunals would go into immediate effect.

Detainees will be allowed to testify at their own hearing and - in theory - to call witnesses. However, the prisoners will not be represented by lawyers, and hearings will not be open to the public, a Pentagon official said.

"It will not necessarily be anyone with legal knowledge. The person is not serving as a legal representative," he said. Instead, each prisoner will be assigned a military officer - of lesser rank than the three officers on the review panel - to advise them on the proceedings.

Click here for complete story.

By the way, it's Dubya's birthday!

2004-07-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

We're sending him a five-pound tin of low-carb gourmet pretzels.

BALTIMORE SUN: U.S. accused of depleting Iraq development fund

2004-07-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials in charge of the Development Fund for Iraq drained all but $900 million from the $20 billion fund by late last month in what a watchdog group has called an "11th-hour splurge."

Note: Does Halliburton's name get mentioned? Does the Pope wear a funny hat?

U.S. authorities have not identified all the contractors hired. But they have told international monitors that some of the contracts were awarded without competitive bidding to Halliburton, the Texas-based company formerly led by Vice President Dick Cheney. Halliburton has been at the center of Pentagon and congressional inquiries.

Some critics have suggested that American authorities tapped the Iraqi money to avoid the stricter controls Congress demanded on the spending of U.S. tax dollars, after reports last year of overcharges by Pentagon contractors.

Click here for complete story.

LONDON TELEGRAPH: Lynndie England hopes her fifteen minutes are just about up

2004-07-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

"I get a lot of people that come up and shake my hand and thank me. And it's really weird," England tells the interviewer, Daphne Barak. "They love me. They just think I'm great, I'm the heroine of Baghdad." Does she feel that way? asks Barak. "Not really," England replies.

Click here for complete story.

LONDON TELEGRAPH: Karpinski fingers Rumsfeld

2004-07-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

Brig-Gen Janis Karpinski, who commanded the 800th Military Police Brigade, which is at the centre of the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal, said that documents yet to be released by the Pentagon would show that Mr Rumsfeld personally approved the introduction of harsher conditions of detention in Iraq.

Click here for complete story.

BLOOMBERG: Kerry chooses Gephardt, New York Post reports

2004-07-06T06:20:00.001-07:00

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry will name Richard Gephardt, a congressman for Missouri, as his vice presidential running mate, the New York Post reported on its Web site, without saying how it obtained the information.

Gephardt, 63, has been a member of the House of Representatives for 28 years, the newspaper said, adding that he may be named as Kerry's vice-presidential candidate today.

Click here for complete story.

And you thought the Post wasn't on top of things!

WASHINGTON POST: Lastest tantrum by O'Reilly cut from show

2004-07-05T07:09:00.000-07:00

What viewers saw was a lively debate among O'Reilly, Cole and Mark Jacobson, an Ohio State instructor who helped shape the Pentagon's policy on Guantanamo Bay prisoners. The only clue that there was a blowup at the end of the interview -- when Cole was asked to leave -- is that O'Reilly didn't thank his guests, ending the segment instead with a closing comment.

Click here for complete story (registration required).

The Wisdom of the Market: Why Fahrenheit 9/11 Matters

2004-07-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

by Victor George

Today I found a piece in Slate called The Lies of Michael Moore By Christopher Hitchens. I sort of recommend it. It's preachy, overblown, and way too filled with personal attacks. This guy Hitchens seems to really dislike Michael Moore, as if Moore had slept with his wife or something. However, at least he gets down to brass tacks in examining the arguments in Fahrenheit 9/11 and where they may lack substance. Too much of the right-wing and mainstream media have been vague and downright incorrect, often accusing Moore of saying things that he simply didn't say. Last week, Al Franken quoted a Fox News reporter (At least, I think it was Fox; I'm quoting from memory) who took an indignant potshot at Moore for claiming that there were no members of congress with children in Iraq, when in fact there is a Democratic Senator with a son in Iraq. However, in the film, Moore does in fact say "no members of congress except one" have children serving in Iraq. If there really are contradictions and inaccuracies in F9/11, and yet so many right-wing pundits find it more convenient to level vague charges and simply make things up, it's just more evidence that, intellectually, many of these guys have been shooting blanks all along.

If there are holes in F9/11's arguments, I want to know about them-- but it's not going to stop me from going back to see it again, and from cheering loudly at certain points. For one thing, it's often extraordinary cinema. Moore's handling of the actual attack on the World Trade Center is a brilliant set piece. He deliberately forgoes the familiar images of planes flying into buildings in favor of the sounds of the crashes and the screaming, which the audience experiences for a long harrowing moment in darkness; the screen is completely black. This is followed by a slow-motion montage of the faces of horrified, grieving onlookers, and impressionistic shots of office paperwork scattering among the smoke, evoking the tragic lyricism of the Koyannisquatsi cycle of films. hearing these sounds and watching these images is as close as I ever want to come to the real horror of political mass murder, and it puts the lie to Move America Forward's absurd claim that this is "a recruiting film for al Queda".

There are weaker moments. Moore does his trademark confrontational-performance-art-shtick only twice here, reading the Patriot Act aloud to Congress from the loudspeaker of a passing ice cream truck, and buttonholing members of congress on the street, asking them to "support the war effort" by sending their own sons and daughters into Iraq. This sort of prank played great on "The Awful Truth", Moore's late '90s show on Bravo, but here they just slow things down. If he had left these scenes out entirely, I think it would have made for a better film. Overall, though, Moore's abilities as a filmmaker continue to grow-- right along with his celebrity, and his intuitive genius for self-promotion.

However, let me be completely frank. Whatever F9/11's sins, virtues, strengths and weaknesses, whether as entertainment and as journalism, the truth is that they really don't matter to me all that much. Give me any film that pokes brutal fun at George W. Bush, and I'll show up to see it. I don't care if who directed it, whether it's Mel Brooks, Jerry Bruckheimer, Ed Wood, or Alan Smithee. Give me a mocking slapstic biopic about George Bush with Yahoo Serious in the lead role, and I'll be there a half an hour early. I'm not ashamed to admit that. It's not that I actually hate our President. George Bush is a fellow human being, and I would never wish him harm. Let's just say that he sometimes makes me want to kill my TV.

Am I the only one who feels this way? As Dick Cheney might say, fuck no! The fact that more Americans voted for Al Gore than George Bush doesn't prove that Al Gore really won the election, or that there are more liberals than conservatives in this country-- although a good case could be made for either thesis. What it does prove, beyond any doubt, is that when George Bush chooses to govern as if he had been elected by a landslide, or when the administration acts as if opponents to his radical policies either don't exist or have no honor, he is attempting to marginalize a huge segment of the American mainstream.

And now, President "I'm a uniter, not a divider" is telling us that the legions of Americans who oppose his administration are wild-eyed crazies, malcontents, and "pessimists". "This is no time for anger.", says Bush, even as his Vice President is overheard telling a Democratic Senator to go fuck himself. The parade of insults, outrages, and absurdities goes on and on and on, and the mainstream media has let it all go by without a lot of comment. There are a lot reasons for this kind of passivity. No doubt, there's a certain intersection of the corporate media, corporate culture, and the culture of the Republican Party. There's the legions of dedicated right-wing crazies who are sure to flood the affiliates with enraged emails whenever anyone in the media should dare to point out the obvious. There's the emergence of right-wing talk-shows and cable networks, who routinely trot out the canard of "the liberal media" -- a notion once merely overstated, now absurd, to justify out-and-out partisan shilling, and to intimidate the mainstream into passive "objectivity". There's the fact that newsrooms across the country are continuously cutting back on staff and resources, which makes looking beyond the official version of events a superfluous expense. And, of course, there's the administration's relentless use of September 11 as an all-purpose, get-out-of-jail-free-card.

I am fully convinced, however, that the linchpin that holds all of this passivity into place is the myth, carefully nurtured by the Right, that anything that smacks of liberal politics is guaranteed box office poison. Some parts of the corporate media might be willing to buck the forces listed above if they thought there was money in it. To the right-wing media, the idea that there isn't money in criticizing the right is an article of faith that it does anything it can to reinforce.

Never mind that the idea of a dominant liberal media that controls all information in the marketplace-- and the idea that liberalism is bound to fail in the marketplace-- are pretty much mutually exclusive. It's like the propsition that John Kerry is "the most liberal member of the Senate", while at the same time he's also "an incorrigable flip-flopper". It's hard to imagine how anyone could be the most liberal all the time without maintaining a certain consistency. Logic would seem to dictate that Kerry could hardly be both, but for these people logic dictates that he's whichever works best at the moment.

A good example of the "there's no money in liberalism" school of spin is how the right-wing media has packaged and manipulated the coverage of Air America Radio, the liberal talk radio network that has been broadcasting since late March. Fox News "talking headcase" Bill O'Reilly likes to rage about how the liberal media (This is me, doing the "jerk off" sign) have been giving Air America undue promotion and free publicity-- but believe it or not, O'Reilly may not be exactly telling the truth here.

I've had a Google news alert running on Air America Radio since it started. What that means is that every time an article about Air America appears on the web and is picked up by Google, I get a notification in my email. Let me assure you that the overwhelming majority of articles appearing on the web about Air America are relentlessly negative, either from right wing pundits, or from mainstream pundits who seem to be picking up what the right is putting out. The theme is always the same. Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, and Bill O'Reilly may tell you that Air America is dishonest and boring and not funny-- but only incidentally, to buttress their main point-- which is that Air America is based on "a poor business model" and doomed to failure. Michael Savage wrote an op-ed piece for one of the big city newspapers, breaking down the demographics. The fifty-one million people who voted for Al Gore don't listen to talk radio. They're too busy eating brie, marrying partners of the same sex, and listening to NPR.

Air America certainly has had its share of problems getting started, and they have all been duly reported. When Air America had a dispute with a station owner who tried to swindle them, and (unwisely) responded by stopping payment on a check, that story was picked up, misleadingly, as "a bounced check", and repeated often enough to eventually assume the plural-- as in "problems with bounced checks to affiliates". One day a couple of months ago, there was a problem with transfer of funds, which caused employees at Air America to be paid one day late. The "story" was picked up and repeated all over the media, and still reverberates.

So when the ratings came out, and WLIB, the Air America affiliate in New York City, was found to be beating Rush Limbaugh's New York station during Rush's time slot, particularly among the coveted younger demographic, O'Reilly responded at first by stating on his show that the Arbitron numbers, which had been published in the trade journals and in the New York Times, were simply a lie being personally spread around by O'Reilly's arch-nemesis, Al Franken (whom O'Reilly will only refer to by the name of his old Saturday Night Live character, Stuart Smalley.) "Why don't you just tell people you're six feet four, Stuart?", challenged O'Reilly, proving that he doesn't need to have Franken actually present to engage in a sophmoric shouting match. On a later show, O'Reilly brought on a supposed "expert" to explain how the ratings are really pretty shadowy and unscientific, and that Rush still has hundreds more affiliates, to trot out the "bounced check" stories one more time, to assert that AAR's ratings were "a bump" generated by all that laudatory publicity by the liberal media, and so on. Air America Radio is failing. To assert otherwise is to imply that there is no God, or that Ronald Reagan didn't really win the cold war. O'Reilly and his fellow talking headcases, are going to keep saying it and saying it and saying it... because if people ever get the idea that liberal talk radio can actually attract listeners, the hegemony that the right wing has assumed over the airwaves will start to slip away.

Enter Michael Moore. Like Bowling for Columbine, F9/11 may lack a coherent point, but I think that what it says is going to turn out to be a lot less important than where it says it-- on the screen of your local multiplex, in front of a huge paying crowd. Christopher Hitchens is being sarcastic when he refers to F9/11 as "kick-ass entertainment", but that's exactly what it is, and the real changes in popular culture always take place at the box office. When I saw F9/11, the theater was mostly filled, and that was for a matinee on a Wednesday. When I was coming out, the line for the first evening showing stretched all around the massive theater lobby, and there was a reporter interviewing people coming out of the theater.

Ka-ching! Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who has been fighting attempts to unseat him, may now have to explain to stockholders just why he refused to release last week's top grossing movie, a movie that cost very little to make. Whether F-9/11 will change the outcome of the November election is doubtful--unless, as in 2000, the election is impossibly close-- but it seems like a safe bet that Michael Moore has changed the dynamic of the American media-- and for that, I would gladly kiss his big fat ass. He can even film it if he likes.

The phenomenon that is Fahrenheit 9/11 is all about what conservatives like to call "the wisdom of the market"-- and that, my fellow Americans, is the beauty part. In the Right's relentless drive to manipulate the political culture, it is the favored panacea of conservatives everywhere, THE FREE MARKET, that is reaching out to box its ears, and to force the necessary correction. In essence, Michael Moore is every Republican's hero, the archetypal entrepreneur-- that shrewd, courageous businessman who bucked conventional wisdom, saw an unmet need, and energetically acted to meet that need in the face of opposition from pessimists and small thinkers. Moore knew that millions of ordinary Americans desperately needed to see the president who had made them feel irrelevant roundly criticized, even ridiculed in public. They wanted to see their anger in the mainstream, where it belongs.

And now, what Michael Moore knew, everybody knows. Bill O'Reilly likes to talk loud, but this is still America-- where money talks louder.

SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER: Saddam looks fabulous, thinks he's still in charge

2004-07-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

Sporting a crisp white shirt and a pinstriped suit jacket, Saddam dominated parts of the 26-minute exchange. As the hearing opened, he challenged the judge to identify himself and state his authority.

Click here for complete story.

REUTERS: former Gitmo detainee alleges torture

2004-07-01T04:07:00.000-07:00

Moore's Critics Miss the Mark

2004-06-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

by Victor George

Now that I've seen "Farenheit 911", I can't be certain that everything in it is accurate-- but I feel pretty confident that just about all of the conservative attemmpts to debunk it that I've seen so far are, typically, fanciful and intellectually sloppy.

Apparently, this week's Republican talking points memo alleges that F911 is full of loony conspiracy theories. I haven't seen or heard one conservative commentary on the subject that doesn't contain the phrase "conspiracy theories"-- but the case that Moore makes in citing the factual and well-documented web of relationships between the Bushes, the Bin Ladens, the Saudi Royal Family, Halliburton, and the Carlyle Group-- while compelling, is actually pretty mundane. It's nothing more than old fashioned corruption and conflict of interest, albeit on a global scale. As one of Moore's interview subjects says, in connection with the Carlyle group: "These people aren't about conspiracies to take over the world; they're all about the money." (The irony is that many of the same people who are trying to portray Moore as a paranoid theorist are also pushing vague, shadowy theories about Iraq's supposed link to Al Queda. By the way, Bush recently said that no one in his administration ever said that there was a direct link between Saddam and the 9/11 attacks-- but Moore shows us footage of Condoleeza Rice saying exactly that, in so many words.)

OREGON LIVE: Oregon conservatives trying to get Nader on the ballot

2004-06-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

"We'd like to take a few votes away from John Kerry if it would be possible," said Tim Nashif of the Oregon Family Council, which has been making hundreds of phone calls to members urging them to help get Nader on the ballot.

The Oregon Family Council also puts out a guide for Christian voters and Nashif is a key organizer of the effort to qualify a ballot measure that would prohibit same-sex marriage in the state.

Click here for complete story.

MIAMI HERALD: Limited distribution notwithstanding, Farenheit 9/11 tops weekend box office

2004-06-28T18:22:00.000-07:00

Including its gross from two New York City theaters where the movie opened last Wednesday, two days earlier than in the rest of the country, "Fahrenheit 9/11" had taken in $24.1 million.

That made "Fahrenheit 9/11" the top-grossing documentary ever, aside from concert films and movies made for huge-screen IMAX theaters. It took the previous record-holder, Moore's Academy Award-winning "Bowling for Columbine," nine months to amass its $21.6 million take.

Click here for full story.

CNN: Leahy "questioned integrity" of lying sack of shit Cheney

2004-06-27T11:59:00.000-07:00

In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Cheney said he was "forcefully" expressing his unhappiness with the conduct of the Democratic senator from Vermont -- who Cheney said had publicly questioned his integrity, and then wanted to be friendly when he saw him in person.

Click here for complete story.

From America, with Apologies

2004-06-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

It sounds like an urban legend, but it's apparently true. Today I learned about the Tom Bihn Bag Company in Port Angeles, WA-- who apparently stumbled on a great way to boost sales of their fine, American-made luggage products. They accomplished this by adding a message to those little sewn-in care-instructions labels that consumers the world over have taken to heart. From their website:

The inside label carries instructions on washing and caring for the bags. Because the bags are sold in Canada, the instructions are also printed in French. The French version, however, contains an additional phrase: "NOUS SOMMES DESOLES QUE NOTRE PRESIDENT SOIT UN IDIOT. NOUS N'AVONS PAS VOTE POUR LUI."

Translated to English, the phrase reads, "We are sorry that our President is an idiot. We did not vote for him."

The "secret" message began as an inside joke among seamstresses and staff at the Tom Bihn factory, and was apparently intended to poke fun at company's founder and president, Tom Bihn.

Who are they kidding? Many times, I have made a similar apology, to overseas friends and acquaintances in various chat rooms. Another page on the same site also contains the phone number of the White House, and a link to the Howard Dean campaign.

According to NPR, who carried the story as man-bites-dog filler on this morning's "Sunday Weekend Edition", sales in France have doubled since the introduction of the message. The NPR piece also claimed that some French people think that the message applies to France's own President, Jacques Chirac, but since the label prominently identifies the place of manufacture as "Port Angeles, Washington State, USA" in both French and English, it seems unlikely that such an interpretation could be terribly widespread.

LA CITY BEAT: County official resigns in the midst of e-voting scandal

2004-06-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

RIVERSIDE – Late Monday, word came that Mischelle Townsend, Riverside County’s Registrar of Voters, had abruptly quit her job mid-term. She said she wanted to spend more time with her family, and nurse her father-in-law through his impending knee surgery. Worthy sentiments, for sure. But she didn’t mention anything about a controversial March 2 election for county supervisor that was still being contested, and the recount that had become entangled in problems attributable, in part, to the county’s electronic voting machines. Nor did she mention anything about potentially explosive new details regarding the possible manipulation of those machines. Likewise, no mention of the big list of questions to this effect from Los Angeles CityBeat sitting on her desk since last Saturday.

Click here for complete story.

WASHINGTON POST: Cheney refuses to admit that he fucked up

2004-06-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

Cheney said he "probably" used an obscenity in an argument Tuesday on the Senate floor with Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and added that he had no regrets. "I expressed myself rather forcefully, felt better after I had done it," Cheney told Neil Cavuto of Fox News. The vice president said those who heard the putdown agreed with him. "I think that a lot of my colleagues felt that what I had said badly needed to be said, that it was long overdue."

Click here to read the complete fucking story.

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER: U.S. moves to classify Guantanamo abuse suit documents

2004-06-25T06:12:00.000-07:00

The Department of Defense has moved to classify documents in federal court in Seattle that accuse the government of abusing a prisoner and violating international law at Guantanamo Bay, where those suspected of terrorist ties are being held.

The documents describing the alleged mistreatment of Salim Ahmed Salim Hamdan -- a 34-year-old Yemeni who acknowledges having been a driver for Osama bin Laden -- are part of a lawsuit challenging his detention, the conditions of detention and his prolonged incarceration in solitary confinement. The suit also directly challenges the way President Bush plans to use military tribunals to try Guantanamo detainees accused of terrorist ties.

Click here for complete story.

MSNBC: Bush let Zarqawi go

2004-06-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi’s operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam.

The United States did attack the camp at Kirma at the beginning of the war, but it was too late — Zarqawi and many of his followers were gone. “Here’s a case where they waited, they waited too long and now we’re suffering as a result inside Iraq,” Cressey added.

Originally published March 2, this story chronicles decisions made before the Invasion. With Zarqawi blamed for today's wave of co-ordinated terror attacks in Iraq, and Bush himself calling Zarqawi "the link" to Saddam, it's worth remembering that they could have gotten him a long time ago.

Click here for complete story.

BBC: New book by US intelligence officer critical of Bush "war on terror"

2004-06-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

The author, identified as Anonymous, claims the invasion of Iraq has played into the hands of Osama Bin Laden and has not made America any safer.

He also predicts a new al-Qaeda strike within the US which will be far more damaging than the 11 September attacks. There has been no White House comment yet on the book due out on 4 July.

Click here for complete story.

BOSTON GLOBE: State department doubles 2003 terrorism death toll

2004-06-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

The earlier report, which was released in April, had been used by senior Bush administration officials to show progress in the war on terrorism. Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage declared in April that the report provided "clear evidence that we are prevailing in this fight."

Click here for complete story.

LA TIMES: US allies had links to al-Queda

2004-06-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — The chairman and another member of the Sept. 11 commission said Sunday that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, two key U.S. allies in the war on terrorism, had turned a blind eye to Al Qaeda operations and operatives in their countries for years before the terrorist group struck the United States in 2001.

Republican commissioner John F. Lehman said on the NBC program "Meet the Press" that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had before Sept. 11 "been paying a kind of blackmail by allowing a kind of free operations" to Islamic radicals affiliated with Al Qaeda, which protected the two nations from attacks within their borders.

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KHOU: Conservative talk show host pleads guilty to sex charge

2004-06-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

"The indictment alleges that there was exposure but not contact with the child, hence the difference between what is alleged as third-degree felony indecency with a child by exposure of the genitals," said Healy. "And not second-degree indecency with a child by contact."

Click here for complete story.

CNN: Rumsfeld approved water torture, or not.

2004-06-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon's release of memos Tuesday will show that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld never approved a controversial interrogation technique called "water boarding," according to a source who Monday had told CNN the opposite.

Click here for complete story.

USA TODAY: the truth about Michael Moore

2004-06-21T05:34:00.000-07:00

Moore-basher David Hardy, who created the mooreexposed.com Web site, plans to show how Moore manipulates facts and his editing tricks in the soon-to-be-released book Michael Moore Is a Big Fat Stupid White Man.

"He's the master of the crockumentary, not the documentary," says Hardy, a Tucson-based lawyer with NRA ties. Moore dismisses the book as a quick-hit vendetta against him by publisher ReganBooks, which initially refused to release Stupid White Men in 2001.

Also due out: Michael Moore Hates America, a documentary by Michael Wilson, who says he wants to counter Moore's political agenda. "He's devolved from someone who cared about people to someone who became obsessed with a socialistic viewpoint," Wilson says. "I just don't like what Moore says about my nation."

Click here for complete story.

NEWS 24: al-Queda claims it was aided in kidnap-murder by Saudi police

2004-06-20T18:09:00.000-07:00

Cairo - The al-Qaeda cell that kidnapped and killed American Paul Johnson said in an online periodical on Sunday that sympathisers in the kingdom's security forces supplied it with police uniforms and vehicles to set up fake checkpoints to facilitate last week's abduction.

Click here for complete story.

REUTERS UK: Iraqi officer tied to Al Queda

2004-06-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The commission investigating the September 11 attacks has been told "a very prominent member" of al Qaeda served as an officer in Saddam Hussein's militia, a panel member says.

Republican commissioner John Lehman told NBC's "Meet the Press" program that the new intelligence, if proven true, buttresses claims by the Bush administration of ties between Iraq and the militant network believed responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks on America.

Click here for complete story.

SALON: GOP smear tactics making a comeback

2004-06-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

"I'm a Vietnam veteran," he said. "I served with John Kerry. I'm supporting him for president, I've campaigned for him -- and I want to tell you, they're trying to do the same thing to him that they did to Bill Clinton." He explained that in recent weeks, a private investigator has contacted many of the vets who served on the Navy's swift boats with Kerry. According to him, the investigator asks insinuating and sometimes outlandish questions about the former lieutenant's wounds, decorations and military operations. Exactly who hired the Kerry-bashing detective is not yet clear, but his queries echo accusations promoted by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a Republican-backed band of Kerry-bashing veterans.

Click here for complete story.

NEW YORK TIMES: "Because They Could"

2004-06-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

Opinion by Maureen Dowd

The Clinton alpha instinct on Monica, fueled by a heady cocktail of testosterone and opportunism, was the same one that led W. into his march of folly with Iraq. After 9/11, the president, vice president and secretary of defense wanted to go to the Middle East and knock the stuffing out of somebody bad — because it would feel good, because it would put our enemies on notice, and because it would make the president look strong.

Click here for complete column. (Registration required.)

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER: Cheney vs. the New York Times

2004-06-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

Cheney also claimed "We still don't know" if Iraq had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks. For example, he said, the long-cited claim that chief hijacker Mohamed Atta met an Iraqi intelligence official in Prague in 2001 has "never been refuted." This seemed odd to some observers, since the commission staff had just declared that meeting could not have taken place, citing phone records and other evidence that Atta was in Florida at the same time he was said to be in Czechoslovakia.

Click here for complete story.

WNBC: 9/11 panel seeks evidence from Cheney

2004-06-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON -- Nearing the end of its work, the Sept. 11 commission is inviting Vice President Dick Cheney to provide anyevidence he has that would show links between al-Qaida and Iraqunder Saddam Hussein, a panel member said Saturday.

Click here for complete story.

VOICE OF AMERICA: Rumsfeld admits "ghost detainee"

2004-06-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld admits the U.S. military held a prisoner captured in Iraq for months in secret without notifying the Red Cross. More from VOA Correspondent Alex Belida at the Pentagon on the case of the man dubbed "the ghost detainee."

Click here for complete story.

BBC: Soldier beaten during training exercise

2004-06-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

The US Army has opened an investigation into injuries suffered by a serviceman who was beaten up during A training exercise.

Sean Baker says he received injuries from fellow soldiers while posing as a detainee at the Guantanamo Bay camp for al-Qaeda and Taleban suspects.

He blames officers for the botched exercise, and says he suffers seizures as a result.

Click here for complete story.

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Bipartisan Group of Diplomats and Military Commanders Want Bush Out

2004-06-17T05:37:00.000-07:00

GEN. MERRILL A. "Tony" McPeak, a former Air Force chief of staff, is about as stalwart a Republican as they come. He was the Oregon chairman of Bob Dole's presidential campaign in 1996 and joined Veterans for Bush in 2000.

But he's not volunteering for President Bush in 2004. In fact, he's not even voting for him.

"This administration has gone away from me, not vice versa," McPeak told reporters in Washington yesterday.

Click here for complete story.

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Secret "No-Fly" Lists Not Yet Justified, says Judge

2004-06-17T05:19:00.000-07:00

So far, said U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco, federal officials have offered only general and sometimes flimsy justifications for withholding much of the information sought by two San Francisco peace activists and the American Civil Liberties Union in an April 2003 lawsuit.

Click here for complete story.

CNN: CIA criticized for sending heavily redacted WMD report to Senate

2004-06-17T05:05:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating prewar Iraq intelligence expressed displeasure Tuesday with CIA efforts to keep large parts of the committee's report secret.

Click here for complete story.

WIRED: "Patriot II" Provisions Being Pushed Piecemeal

2004-06-17T04:56:00.000-07:00

"There is no reason for this legislation," said lawyer Chip Pitts, head of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee of Dallas and a former constitutional law professor. "Given the expanse of powers and secrecy already granted in the Patriot Act, and given the unclear security benefits and possible security detriments of that legislation, why do we need a further amendment of the law to grant more powers to the government?"

Click here for complete story.

MSNBC: 9/11 Panel Sees "No Credible Evidence" of Link to Saddam

2004-06-17T04:46:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks reported Wednesday that Osama bin Laden met with a top Iraqi official in 1994 but found “no credible evidence” of a link between Iraq and al-Qaida in attacks against the United States.

Click here for complete story.

MEDIA MATTERS: the Reagan legend vs. the Reagan facts

2004-06-16T04:10:00.000-07:00

In the days since the death of former President Ronald Reagan, many media outlets have falsely credited him with presiding over "the longest economic expansion in history"; in fact, Reagan should be credited with presiding over only the third-longest expansion in American history.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the longest economic expansions in U.S. history are:

March 1991 -- March 2001: 120 months
February 1961 -- December 1969: 106 months
November 1982 -- July 1990: 92 months

Click here for complete story.

SFGate: Karpinski claims she's being made a scapegoat

2004-06-16T04:02:00.000-07:00

In an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio broadcast Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski said Miller told her last autumn that prisoners "are like dogs, and if you allow them to believe at any point that they are more than a dog then you've lost control of them."

Miller was in charge of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and now oversees U.S. prisons in Iraq.

Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a spokesman for detention operations in Iraq, said Karpinski's allegations were "categorically false."

Click here for full story.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Cheney's Office Says VP wasn't briefed on Halliburton Deal

2004-06-16T03:51:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff was told in 2002 that Cheney's former company would receive no-bid work to secretly plan restoration of Iraq's oil facilities, but the information wasn't given to the vice president, a White House official said Tuesday.

Click here for complete story.

AP: Cheney still claiming link between Saddam and 9/11

2004-06-16T03:42:00.000-07:00

ORLANDO, Fla. - Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that Saddam Hussein had ``long-established ties'' with al-Qaeda, an assertion that has been repeatedly challenged by some policy experts and lawmakers.

The vice president offered no details backing up his claim of a link between Saddam and al-Qaeda.

Click here for complete story.

LONDON TELEGRAPH: More Prison Abuse Revelations Coming

2004-06-15T19:02:00.000-07:00

Legal and constitutional experts have expressed astonishment at the judgments made by administration lawyers on interrogation techniques. In one memo, written in January 2002, Mr Gonzalez told President Bush that the nature of the war on terror "renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions".

Scott Silliman, a former US air force lawyer and the director of the Centre for Law Ethics and National Security at Duke University, said: "What you have is a culture of avoidance of law rather than compliance with it."

Click here for complete story.

USA TODAY: Document warns Guantanamo employees not to talk

2004-06-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

The document, obtained by USA TODAY, says that soldiers and interrogators are not required to give defense attorneys statements about the ''personal treatment of detainees'' or any ''failure to report actions of others.'' It also says that refusing to cooperate with defense attorneys ''will not impact your . . . career.''

Click here to read article.

The Stranger Presents RONNIE! The Ronald Reagan State Funeral Drinking Game

2004-06-13T05:09:00.000-07:00

(Humor)

Official Rules:

Whenever someone refers to Reagan's great sense of humor, DRINK!
Whenever someone refers to Reagan's ending of the cold war, DRINK!

Click here for the full article!

Mourning in America

2004-06-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

by Victor George

So did Reagan die? I heard a rumor but I couldn't find anything on the news.

During the funeral, I would like to have thought kindly about Ronald Reagan, and especially about Nancy, who not only suffered through a terrible ordeal over the last ten years, but was always a moderating influence on the Great Man's presidency, but by the time they fianlly planted the guy, the political idolatry had been just too much. Leave it to Reagan to go for one last colossal photo op.

And leave it to Reagan to die during an election year. Politically, the Reagan Mortality Event could hardly have been better timed, just before the convention season. I'm sure that conspiracy theorists are out there speculating about possible euthanasia.

No doubt the GOP will try to get a bounce out of portraying Dubya as the heir to Reagan's legacy, yadda yadda yadda. I think it's a pretty desperate strategy, because comparisons to Reagan do not favor Bush. (Neither do comparisons to Clinton, Nixon, Warren G. Harding, and George III) Over the past week, I have seen Reagan described as a "beloved" president, and a "controversial" president, depending on the source. The truth, I believe, is that the man was a well-beloved man whose politics were controversial. Today, the Bush White House pursues a more extreme, imperial version of the Reagan politics, but without any of the grace and respect for the opposition that made Reagan such a successful politician. Bush has always consciously modeled his image on Reagan's grace and gentleness, but the mean streak keeps showing through. Can you imagine Reagan calling a New York Times reporter a "major league asshole", or arrogantly chiding a reporter for referring to him as "Sir" instead of "Mr. President"? Can you imagine Ronald Reagan mocking Wanda Faye Tucker's plea not to be executed? Sorry, George. We knew Ronald Reagan. We, uh, loved Ronald Reagan. And you're no Ronald Reagan.

Did Ronald Reagan bring down the Soviet Union? "Tear down this wall", was a great moment in Reagan's presidency, and he deserves some credit for that, but I think at least some credit goes to the Soviet citizens, including Boris Yeltsin, who faced down the tanks during the failed coup of 1991. Over the decades, there were thousands of Soviet citizens who put their lives on the line to oppose the brutality of Soviet Communism, and to attribute Reagan with the final victory (or Truman, or Kennedy-- as some liberals have countered) seems pretty arrogant and insulting.

When Ronald Reagan took office, I was 22 years old. For most of those eight years, I resented him with a passion that only the very young can sustain-- and eventually, I had to relent for the sake of my own mental health. When I want to think kindly of our 40th president, I remember those last few months. Thanks largely to Nancy's influence, Reagan capped his presidency with a goodwill tour of the Soviet Union. It was a grand irony, a real heartwarming Hollywood ending. In embracing Gorbachev, Reagan made it possible for me to embrace him, and I think we both grew.

NPR: Tale of the translator

2004-06-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

In a closed session with the 9/11 Commission back in February, a former FBI translator named Sibel Edmonds described intelligence reports that crossed her desk in the summer of 2001. She later told the Independent of London that those reports included warnings that Al Qaeda planned to fly hijacked airplanes into U.S. skyscrapers and included a general time frame for the planned attack. Her allegations were immediately picked up by news outlets around the world, but hardly at all here in the U.S., and the Justice Department is doing its best to keep it that way. It recently blocked Edmonds from testifying in a lawsuit brought by families of 9/11 victims, and this week it took the rare step of retroactively classifying information about her given to Congress almost two years ago.

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NPR: Ashcroft refuses to provide torture memos to Senators.

2004-06-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

In refusing to discuss the contents of the memos before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, Ashcroft said his department's advice to the president must remain confidential. Ashcroft also refused to say whether President Bush has authorized force or other techniques in interrogation.

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