Power Line: February 2005 Archives The ABC guys would critique one another s shots, often hilariously. But weas a healthy democracy need to know the good, the bad and the ugly. http://powerlineblog.com/archives/2005_02.php
Extractions: About Us Print Version XML Feed PDA ... Main var zflag_nid="305"; var zflag_cid="169/1"; var zflag_sid="104"; var zflag_width="300"; var zflag_height="250"; var zflag_sz="9"; February 28, 2005 Let the Democrats be Democrats We're big fans of Andrew McCarthy . However, I'm unable to find any merit in his suggestion in today's NRO that the Bush administration consider conferring with a "bipartisan" group of Senators about judicial nominations. McCarthy notes that Senator Charles Schumer has proposed the creation of a "small, bipartisan group" of senators that "should meet with the president sometime in the next few weeks and eventually even make joint recommendations to the president of nominees that are highly qualified and could get broad, bipartisan support in the Senate." McCarthy states that this suggestion should not be dismissed out-of-hand. I believe that it should be. There are two possible outcomes to Schumer's approach, neither good: (1) President Bush nominates fewer conservatives than he otherwise would and (2) President Bush ultimately sticks to his guns, but from a weaker position. In the second scenario, the adminstration's position would be weaker because there would be identifiable moderate alteratives to Bush's conservative nominees who will have been blessed by a "bipartisan" committee. Bipartisan recommendations always take on a special status that bears no relation to their merit. Think of the 9/11 commission's recommendations. Had the president been sending nothing but conservative nominees to the Senate, a conciliatory position might have more to recommend it. However, the truth is that Bush at times has sent the Senate slates of nominees containing a mixture of moderates and conservatives. Early on, he proposed such a slate and, in a gesture of good will, even included Roger Gregory, an African-American Clinton recess appointee to the Fourth Circuit. Later he
Asymmetrical Information: Stryker On Prisoner Abuse bad guys . the main thing is, now the world knows that americans are like (by the way, the most famous prisoner abuse in history occurred about 2000 http://www.janegalt.net/blog/archives/004719.html
Extractions: The first rule of a coward, when caught, is to play stupid. The second is to blame someone else. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I don't need a superior to tell me that attaching wires to someone's genitals or beating the living shit out of them is unacceptable. What are you, a fucking idiot? This guy's supposed to be a correctional officer at a Virginia prison, but apparently when it comes to performing his job outside the confines of the Commonwealth, he turns into Sergeant Stupid. "Duh, What do I do? What do I do? Wow, that translator's raping a prisoner and that soldier over there's taking pictures. I don't know what to do! Help, help, I need an officer!" He says that he and the others received no formal Geneva Convention training, which would've instructed them that stacking a bunch of naked men in a pyramid and posing for a trophy picture are inappropriate. I mean, until I was trained in LOAC, I thought I could just walk around shooting people at random if the whim caught me. Without that invaluable training, I'd have no idea that there indeed exist basic standards of human decency. Who knew?
Extractions: Archive Main It seems most advocates of phasing out Social Security let out a squeal worthy of Deliverance when you insist they own up to naming their plan for what it does: namely, end Social Security. Yes, I know, many of them only want to 'partially' Advertisement end the program. But anybody with the fiscal roadmap in front of them and a decent handle on policy geography can see that the 'partial' pretty quickly leads to the total. But back to the main question again. Let's take a hypothetical and see if we can clarify matters. We'll call it 401k reform. And it's a good one since so many folks have a 401k. Under my hypothetical 401k reform we change all the stuff about different companies deciding how much or how little they want to contribute. And we also change the part about your having a choice about how much or whether you contribute; now, it's all mandatory. There's also a change in the part about your choosing which sort of investments you want to place your funds into. Under the reformed 401k everybody's money goes into government bonds in one lump sum pool. When you retire you can get your money, or rather, your slice of the pie back, with a few adjustments depending on how much you really need the money after all. Other folks may need it more. And one final thing: the income now gets taxed when you earn it, not at retirement.
TalkLeft: Slavery In American History To have a real understanding of America its history and its values, its economicgrowth and Yes, 450000 white guys/18000 black guys died to end it. http://talkleft.com/new_archives/009611.html
Extractions: Main Sunday :: February 06, 2005 Slavery in American History by TChris During February, PBS will air Slavery and the Making of America , a four-part series "documenting the history of American slavery from its beginnings in the British colonies to its end in the Southern states and the years of post-Civil War Reconstruction." As one reviewer notes , it's worth reflecting on the disgrace of our past to better comprehend the present. To have a real understanding of America its history and its values, its economic growth and social order it's important to know more about slavery in America and its development and dimensions. In the words of James Oliver Horton, a professor at George Washington University, "Slavery was no side show in American history it was the main event." Civil Liberties
Unintended Consequences Round two to the good guys. Not so fast since cars were extremely difficult to Round three to the bad guys, and once again we see how security http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/293
Extractions: The law of unintended consequences shows us how many innocent innovations like email, anti-virus and DRM can become something far worse than the inventors had ever imagined. Back in the 1970s, long before the revolution that would eventually topple him from power, the Shah of Iran was one of America's best friends (he was a dictator who brutally repressed his people , but he was anti-communist, and that made him OK in our book). Wanting to help out a good friend, the United States government agreed to sell Iran the very same intaglio presses used to print American currency so that the Shah could print his own high quality money for his country. Soon enough, the Shah was the proud owner of some of the best money printing machines in the world, and beautiful Iranian Rials proceeded to flow off the presses. All things must come to an end, and the Shah was forced to flee Iran in 1979 when the Ayatollah Khomeini's rebellion brought theocratic rule to Iran. Everyone reading this undoubtedly knows the terrible events that followed: students took American embassy workers hostage for over a year as Iran declared America to be the "Great Satan," while evidence of
Extractions: Main Help me figure this out.... According to the Senator from WA, the reason Osama is loved is because he does all sorts of good works. And if we were more like him, they'd love us to. Does that about cover it? Okay, so how come three doctors, Americans, doing good works for the poor in Yemen were slaughtered? According to Patty Murray, being nice to the poor deranged Islamofascists is the key, and yet, those same people murdered three American doctors. I'm so confused! Maybe Senator Murray can explain it to me.... Posted by Ith at 02:59 PM Comments (3) The latest from VDH: Iraqi Aftershocks .... How strange that increasingly Russians, Indians, and eastern Europeans not our more natural allies, Frenchmen or Germans are now more popular with us. Indeed, for all the grand idealism of Kyoto, Durban, and the ICC, Americans accept that in the past western Europeans would have cold-heartedly sold out Taiwan, Israel, or South Korea in any major confrontation in which democracy and sacrifice on the one side were pitted against autocracy, profit, and appeasement on the other. So Iraq is not merely a referendum on European-American relations, but rather a litmus test of the moral status of Europe itself, and of what side of history it wishes to be on. Let us hope it awakens from its ethical coma to take its rightful place at the vanguard of the war against barbarity. The American left has missed yet another train as it was leaving. Currently it is reeling from an array of staggering developments that in the post-Cold War era threaten to leave it as discredited as segregationist Republicans were during the civil-rights movement. Anti-Semitism is suddenly more commonly a phenomenon of the academic Left than of the old, white, Neanderthal Right. Multiculturalism and cultural equivalence have been refuted by the ghoulish nature of the Taliban; the more the world learns about the "alternative" universe of Saddam Hussein and kindred Middle Eastern regimes, the more it shudders in horror.
Jill Cohen Walker -- A Personal Note On Corporate America I keep hoping its all a bad dream and that american corporations havent Well, either the nice guys arent all that nice (which I dont believe) or the http://www.newswithviews.com/Walker/jill10.htm
Extractions: NewsWithViews.com I keep hoping its all a bad dream and that American corporations havent sold their souls to some evil higher power, but I know Im wrong. Within those austere and mighty champions of business are folks whove honed the kind of survival skills that will cost them in the end. They know how to cheat, manipulate, and deceive others. Its beyond selfish behavior. Its a way of life for those who embrace the sub-arts of manipulation and con-artistry. Many of us have been there, done that, repented big time . . . and were forgiven; others have never done it or never repented . . . and never will. Such behaviors could be genetic, but most likely they stem from what I know as the sin nature of man. Either way, the tools of the not-so-honest crowd have become more and more prevalent in modern America as godly values and morals slip down the drain into antiquity. Its also something that has sent me into a personal and somewhat emotional tailspin for the past two weeks . . . so much so that I digressed from working on two different series to write this piece. Not for my sake, although it does purify the soul to confess ones frustrations, but out of respect for one woman who has more fortitude and courage in her little pinkie than most people could ever hope to amass in a lifetimeeven in the face of personal disaster and professional hijacking. Her professional ethics are nothing short of admirable.
The LLama Butchers: September 2004 Archives Edwards, a Methodist, said most Americans want a good leader a man who is a Yes, it may well be a bloody fall, either because the bad guys step up the http://llamabutchers.mu.nu/archives/2004_09.php
Extractions: while Kerry sounded like Mrs. Olsen from "little house on the prairie" (heavens, how much is this fighting terrorism costing!) Also, because markets don't lie while MSM pundits do, Bush's reelection contract is on the rise at Tradesports, while the Kerry Election contract is falling. (Up $.70 for Bush to $66.7, Kerry down $.60 to $35.4) (see updates below at least to answer Glenn's question -yes, they are responding) I feel a little like Randolph or Mortimer Duke here watching the Trading Screen.....mmmmmmmmm....Pork bellies, up!.....Frozen orange juice, down!.......Kerry, escargot! Third reason: let me use a tennis analogy. Why did Pete Sampras always win? Because he was steady, consistent, and had the fewest unforced errors. Long-haired pre-Steffi Agassi had the style, the hair, and the moves, but Pete has twice as many Grand Slam trophies in his den. Why? He was more consistent. Bush did what he had to do: no unforced errors, played to his strength, and didn't try to be what he isn't.
Extractions: @import url("/css/master.css"); Home Archive Columnists Blogs ... About Advertisement Help grow the Media Venture Collective Fund , a non-profit venture fund for media ecosystems in the public interest. For more information on the Supreme Court's upcoming "Brand X" case that will "define the future of the internet," read the Center for Digital Democracy's simple description of what's at stake and how it will effect you. Merchants of Crap: A Media Giant Chart
TAPPED: April 2005 Archives There are some older guys and women around there that remember 1982, the Reaganrevolution, These folks vehemently believe the Iraq War was a bad idea, http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2005/04/
Extractions: Continuous commentary from The American Prospect Online Main April 29, 2005 THE BIGGER PICTURE. With all due respect, Kevin Drum is too far quick to reject the significance of the Ken Silverstein piece . Drum seizes upon one sentence concerning a fabled offer by the Sudanese government to turn over Osama bin Laden in 1996 and rejects the story en masse. (For what it's worth, Peter Bergen wrote the best debunking of the "offer" in his review of Richard Miniter 's screed Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror But Silverstein's toss-away line is an insignificant misstep. This is a hugely important story about the Bush administration's degradation of human rights and democracy promotion by forging relationships of political expedience with some of the world's most heinous criminals. Mark Leon Goldberg Posted at 05:37 PM THE HIMMLER IN OUR MIDST. In his explosive piece on the CIAs secret alliance with the genocidal regime in Khartoum, the LA Times Ken Silverstein helps to explain the motivations underlying the Bush administrations assault on the Darfur Accountability Act, which I
Something's Got To Break :: The Time Is Coming On Corporate bad guys Competitively Sourced Government French MilitaryHistory (The Real One) good Resources Holy Crap http://www.spacecityrock.com/2005/06/good-democratic-defense-i-dont-believe.html
Extractions: I don't believe this. Y'know, one of the reasons people like Howard Dean me included is because he speaks his mind, without filtering out what he thinks people don't want to hear and without regard for the repercussions. It's a trait known in the real world as "honesty," although I'd guess a lot of Americans don't see it real often in politics. So I was pretty thrilled when Dean spoke before a group of journalists and politicos and pointed out that the Republican party is "pretty much a white, Christian party." "How dare he?" huffed the commentators. "That's an unfair characterization, that rat-bastard!" Okay, so I'm paraphrasing a bit, but that's the gist of it every pundit in the world suddenly seemed to fall all over themselves to disavow what Dean said. But y'know what? He's right. The Republicans are the party of white Christian males hell, they'd probably agree, if you asked 'em. They've been positioning themselves to appeal to just that slice of the voting market for decades now, and in the past few Presidential elections, at least, they've easily taken the white vote, the male vote, and the Christian vote.
North American Affairs Archives | Samizdata.net The always good american blogger Radley Balko, telling it like it is. He caught some guys hauling stuff out of one of their properties on Canal Street, http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/cat_north_american_affairs.html
Extractions: Thursday Houston and Galveston in the cross hairs? Dale Amon (Belfast, Northern Ireland) Aerospace North American affairs We will just have to get used to bigger storms as we head deeper into the upside of the decades long Atlantic storm cycle. Over the next decade nature will be reclaiming land which became saleable during the downside of the cycle. Unfortuneately there are some pretty useful things in threatened areas. One of which is the marvelous Lone Star Flight Museum I hope they are getting their airframes out of Dodge and their exhibits to safety. I would hate to see a repeat of what happened to Kermit Week's collection in Florida about ten years ago. September 19, 2005
Majority Report Radio: Hour One - Monday hey sam,Js out today eh,you guys got some new stations this weekend huh,the up sources b/c the bad guys woulda been tipped off and the good guys (ie http://www.majorityreportradio.com/weblog/archives/002523.php
Extractions: prison rape date rape ass rape rape stories [Read More] Tracked on September 18, 2005 07:32 AM Writing the Media: Get the word out. Posted by: http://giveusourkhalidback.blogspot.com/ at July 18, 2005 07:00 PM Caught the problem faster than I could point it out. Pretty good :) Posted by: Anonymous at July 18, 2005 07:01 PM could a thread be any shorter?
The Washington Monthly I can t think of another President in american history who seemed to actuallyscorn the idea of These guys can t be *that* corrupt, can they? http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_05/003829.php
Extractions: Mitt Romney's Evangelical Problem Everyone wants to believe the Massachusetts governor's Mormonism won't be a problem if he runs in 2008. Think again. By Amy Sullivan Email address Powered by: MessageBot David Segal: At the Gotti Trial, a Mob Scene. Mickey Kaus: The NYT's Premium Discontent. Joseph Nocera: The Union That Can't Throw Straight. ... Gregg Easterbook: Katrina may wreak its worst damage on Detroitthe car industry. From Joshua Micah Marshall's Talking Points Memo: From the National Hurricane Center, 2 AM.... May 3, 2004 OUR CEO PRESIDENT.... Writing about the deteriorating situation in Iraq, neocon Robert Kagan has this to say at the end of a column in the Washington Post Sunday: Bush himself is the great mystery in this mounting debacle. His commitment to stay the course in Iraq seems utterly genuine. Yet he continues to tolerate policymakers, military advisers and a dysfunctional policymaking apparatus that are making the achievement of his goals less and less likely. He does not seem to demand better answers, or any answers, from those who serve him. It's not even clear that he understands how bad the situation in Iraq is or how close he is to losing public support for the war, a support that once lost may be impossible to regain.
Untitled Article They re the bad guys. Hosler was stunned to discover that W K had divided thead world into good guys and bad guys. I said to them, Hosler recalls, http://www.wweek.com/html/cover_story_070997.html
Extractions: the channel when TV commercials come on. Photo: Marc Rosenblatt Also see the sidebar to this story: Millers Man . Josh Feit interviews indie musician Alan Sutherland about his role in the Miller campaign "It's a reality from Beer World. It's part of beeryou get beer breath. It's something Bud would never say." Details Advertising Age . In its June 16 issue, Time identified Wieden & Kennedy as "the most widely recognized" of the "Off-Madison Avenue hot spots." Nearly 50 percent of Spin magazine readers are under 21, according to Business Week Spin Nationally, microbrews make up 2.5 percent of the beer market. In Oregon, microbrew market share is between 9 and 10 percent. The beer market is worth an estimated $50 billion in retail sales, according to Beer Marketer's Insights Negativland's Mark Hosler told Willamette Week "I was sad that Wieden & Kennedy called me. It means that our aesthetic is totally cool to use for a beer commercial. It's just an aesthetic now, and it obviously has nothing to do with my message." Miller isn't the only large company that went looking for a new ad agency. Companies from Bayer aspirin to Domino's Pizza to Taco Bell Corp. to GTE Corp. all changed agencies
William MacDougall: America's In-Bedded Journalism The good news is that America is back. Our military has performed superlatively . with the usual supporting cast of freedom threatening bad guys. http://www.counterpunch.org/macdougall04192003.html
Extractions: home subscribe about us books ... feedback New Print Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively to Subscribers: Labor's Historic No to Bush's War: Joann Wypijewski reports; Who is Barry Rubin? Inside the Israeli Pro-War Lobby; What's Next for the Peace Movement? Elected Greens in Oregon Push for Impeachment; Dirty Bombs: the Legacy of Depleted Uranium. Remember, the CounterPunch website is supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide web audience is soaring, with more than 60,000 visitors a day. This is inspiring news, but the work involved also compels us to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Or Call Toll Free 1-800-840 3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 Recent Stories April 18, 2003 Uri Avnery
Syd Allan: Who Should We Blame For Iraqi Prisoner Abuse? In my essay about Americabashing I said that the people who have more and give the good guys time to drink a couple of beers while watching the http://www.jagular.com/iraqi-prisoners.shtml
Extractions: Syd Allan: Who Should We Blame For Iraqi Prisoner Abuse? www.jagular.com/iraqi-prisoners.shtml May 2, 2004 I think that Southern Baptists and other American fundamentalist Christians should accept a fair part of the blame for the recent abuse of prisoners in the American military-controlled Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The irony is that most of them undoubtedly believe that the solution to the problem lies in people invoking scripture more often, and not less. The idea that this is an isolated incident caused by a few bad-apple M.P. reservists is ridiculous. The New York Times and NPR and other liberal media outlets will demand that we search up along the chain of command to find the real cause of the problem (and I'm not just talking about the chain that leads to Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, although Section Three of Army Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba's Article 15-6 Investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigage report does make her look pretty incompetent), but the average American will not have the patience for that. The Bush administration, along with Clear Channel and Fox News and the other organizations that pander to the average idiot will treat this situation using the same approach that got us into this mess in the first place: by conducting a witch-hunt to put everyone (in this case, everyone in the U.S. military) into two groups the Bad People, and everyone else. Then they will punish the Bad People in a dramatic way, and wash their hands clean of the whole thing. Then it's back to church to sing about how morally upright they all are.
Stageleft:. Life On The Left Side » 2005 » August when there was a difference between what the good guys did and what the badguys did? Hes actually someone I could imagine having a good chat with. http://www.stageleft.info/2005/08/
Extractions: Aug 26 the Wikipedia for blogs and their authors Posted by stageleft in Featured Aug 31 Posted by stageleft in Iraq/Afghanistan War on Terror Aug 30 a lesson to anyone in particular, I do think it should be considered a significant to everyone Posted by stageleft in Environment Other International Aug 30 CPoC leader Stephen Harper has squandered the stageleft basement bunker point awarded to him just days ago by dismissing potential calls for recalling Parliament as empty rhetoric Posted by stageleft in Canada Aug 28 Posted by stageleft in Iraq/Afghanistan Iran Aug 25 According to the Center for Media and Democracy Posted by stageleft in Iraq/Afghanistan War on Terror Human Rights Aug 24 It looks like the Martin government has finally taken just about all it is prepared to take from the US on the softwood lumber issue and American refusal to live up to its obligations under NAFTA, and is looking at slapping punitive tariffs on things like
The Washington Note Archives They knew they would eat better and be treated better by our guys. regular folkswill be so mad. The Jonah Goldbergs will be out of a job. http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000303.html
Extractions: GUANTANAMO AND DC DINNER PARTIES About eighteen months ago, I was invited to a small dinner at the home of the German Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington, Peter Gottwald , who is a very good guy by the way but not someone who seems to enjoy debate around his dinner table. I don't remember what the occasion was but there were some other alumni of German-American young leaders programs including a person whose name I cannot mention who works in the White House as a close advisor to the President, and in my view, keeping the President out of jail. My friend is non-partisan and a very thoughtful policy guy who really disdains the loaded partisanship that surrounds him. But that night at dinner, Guantanamo came up, and I had just read what the American Civil Liberties Union had compiled in the early days on Guantanamo and it sounded even then like a disaster. One of the other guests brought up the detention facility, and two or three others quickly chimed in that the ACLU and other reports were sensationalizing matters. My friend then said he had been down there, had a look, and was convinced that the detainees were being treated humanely and had somewhat "luxurious" facilities as far as being prisoners went. I am not going to divulge the identity of this person who works in the White House. I'm learning a few things from Hersh. But I know that this individual reads this blog, and I want to remind him of this dinner conversation at Gottwald's home. The whole evening became rather heated (sort of like the comment sections on this blog) because I wouldn't accept at face value the public assurances from the Pentagon that the human rights of detainees were being carefully protected.