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Thursday Open Thread

I'm off to Las Vegas today for the BlogWorld expo where I'll be speaking on a couple of panels. I doubt I'll be back at the computer until late Thursday night, and I won't be back home until Friday night.

In the meantime, here's a place to discuss what's in the news, and anything else you feel like talking about.

Watch for news about Bernie Kerik's indictment. ABC News is reporting it may come down today, with Bernie scheduled to appear in court on Friday.

< O.J. Preliminary Hearing Begins Today | Dodd Leads On Telco Amnesty >
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    If water boarding is NOT torture (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by Jlvngstn on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 08:31:37 AM EST
    How long before we can use it in standard police interrogations?  After all, it is not torture correct?

    When it comes to child molesters for example, I can see the right arguing that we should know all of the victims not just the one they were caught with.  What better way to make sure they are prosecuted for every crime they committed than to extract the name of every victim?  After all, it is not torture, and you are protecting children.  If the molester is only convicted of one assault, he/she will be released in a couple of years and every child in their proximity is at risk.  In order to protect our children we should make sure we interrogate as progressively as possible without torture and if water boarding is not torture.....

    So Mr. President, are you willing to do everything in your power to protect our children and define water boarding today as non-tortuous (sp) or are you going to be a weak kneed pansy ass liberal and call saving children "inhumane."

    don't forget (5.00 / 2) (#4)
    by Jen M on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 10:11:20 AM EST
    we also need to know who else he knows that is a child molester.

    Parent
    Why stop there.... (5.00 / 2) (#5)
    by kdog on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 10:13:57 AM EST
    we can waterboard drivers on the side of the road...everybody says they just had one drink, lets see if the story changes after some simulated drowning.

    Since its not torture....

    Parent

    And don't leave out (5.00 / 2) (#6)
    by Edger on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 10:34:21 AM EST
    waterboarding anyone who thinks waterboarding is not torture. Lets see if the story changes after some simulated drowning.

    Parent
    Mission accomplished... (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by desertswine on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 09:52:30 AM EST
    SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The American Automobile Association of California says some drivers are now paying $4 a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline.

    Crude oil prices hit an all-time high Wednesday, above $98 a barrel and analysts say with worldwide oil demand rising -- it is still not clear just how high prices will go.

    In Salinas, AAA recorded an average of $3.39 per gallon. Santa Cruz is at an average of $3.37 per gallon.

    KSBW checked and found gas in Gorda, south of Big Sur, is even higher. Drivers there are paying $5 for gas.



    From Wall Street Journal (5.00 / 2) (#7)
    by Jen M on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 10:35:57 AM EST
    WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration blocked a Marine Corps lawyer from testifying before Congress today that severe techniques employed by U.S. interrogators derailed his prosecution of a suspected al Qaeda terrorist.

    Link

    Good find, Jen. (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by Edger on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 11:01:38 AM EST
    Steve Benin, The Carpetbagger report, has more on this today:
    There's been ample discussion about the moral depravity of torture. And the illegalities of torture. And the impractical nature of acquiring information by way of torture.
    ...Lt. Col. V. Stuart Couch, a former Guantanamo Bay prosecutor, was set to testify regarding another concern that has long troubled uniformed lawyers: Regardless of their accuracy, statements obtained under torture or certain other forms of duress are inadmissible in legal proceedings. Because most evidence against Guantanamo prisoners comes from detainee statements, convictions hinge on whether they can be used in court.

    Asked last week to appear before the panel, Col. Couch says he informed his superiors and that none had any objection.

    That was before the Bush gang caught wind of Couch's intention to inform lawmakers (who have oversight authority) about the problem. William J. Haynes, the Bush-appointed Pentagon general counsel, yesterday told Couch via email that "it is improper for you to testify about matters still pending in the military court system, and you are not to appear before the Committee to testify tomorrow."

    How predictable.

    I'm curious: if the United States "does not torture," then what could Couch say that would be damaging?



    Parent
    West Memphis Three (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by Jgarza on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 11:26:48 AM EST
    So after Jena, I guess CNN has decided that unfairly convicted young people sells. So they are moving on to this.

    IMO opinion this obsession is far more interesting than missing white girls.

    Here is the gist:

    Defense attorneys for death row inmate Damien Echols say they have uncovered forensic evidence that could spare their client's life and help clear his co-defendants as well.

    3 teenage boys were convicted of murdering three 8 year olds, tying their hands and feet together with a shoelace, and leaving them in a drainage ditch. One teenager was 18 and sentenced to death. They have been in prison since 1993.

    Apparently they were accused of occult rituals, because they listened to "death metal."  Which makes perfect sense to me.  I mean DNA, finger prints, eyewitness accounts, you can keep all that, as everyone knows, nothing predicts guilt like the accused's taste in music.

    The slayings of the three Cub Scouts struck fear deep in the heart of a community, and some people say that fear led to a rush to arrest and convict.

    "It was hysteria. Everyone was concerned. Everyone started bringing their children in," said Ron Lax, who has worked the case as a private investigator for the defense since 1993.

    "They were convinced there were monsters loose, devil worshipers, Satanists," he recalled. "It was like the community was relieved when the arrests were made because the big, bad boogeyman had been caught."

    Is this a description of the mood in the town after the murders, or of the motivation of the right wing? I can't tell the difference.

    Of course once police were able to get the devil's influence out of these teens they got a confession.

    The convictions followed, in part, as a result of statements by Misskelley. The reliability of his words has long been called into question.

    Misskelley, who is "borderline retarded," Lax said, "had a very difficult time keeping the story straight -- even with the help of police."

    Misskelley's father, Jessie Misskelley Sr., maintained police forced his son to make the confession. "My son is innocent," he said.

    As with all murders, the evidence appears to point to someone who knew the 8 year olds.

    "The new DNA evidence is that one hair that was found in the ligature of the shoelaces that bound Michael Moore is consistent with the DNA of Terry Hobbs, who is the father of Stevie Branch," Lax told CNN.

    Oh, and it turns out the devil might now have had such an active roll in this one after all.

     

    Riordan said a team of seven forensic scientists has reviewed the autopsy results, photographs and trial testimony. As part of a 200-plus page filing, the experts concluded there was no evidence of sexual abuse or any type of satanic killing.

    They also found that the injuries on the bodies of the boys -- which prosecutors called mutilation -- actually were caused by animals after the boys were killed.

    Ahh another day in good old fashion American justice.

    How come we are devoid (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by Jlvngstn on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 11:48:45 AM EST
    of any analyses of the significant relevance of this war and its effects on our economy?  We have spent years taking away from other programs to pay for this war and are now seeing the economic consequences.  It is a shame that it is being ignored as well....

    You Must Be Mad (5.00 / 1) (#19)
    by Edger on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 05:04:35 PM EST
    Or You Wouldn't Have Come Here:
    One of the legacies of six years of the George W. Bush Administration is that America has gone "From $20 trillion in fiscal exposures in 2000 to over $50 trillion in only six years? What shall we do for an encore... shoot for $100 trillion?"
    The US is insolvent. There is simply no way for our national bills to be paid under current levels of taxation and promised benefits. Our combined federal deficits now total more than 400% of GDP.

    That is the conclusion of a recent Treasury/OMB report entitled Financial Report of the United States Government that was quietly slipped out on a Friday (12/15/06), deep in the holiday season, with little fanfare. Sometimes I wonder why the Treasury Department doesn't just pay somebody to come in at 4:30 am Christmas morning to release the report. Additionally, I've yet to read a single account of this report in any of the major news media outlets but that is another matter.

    But, hey, I understand. A report is this bad requires all the muffling it can get.



    Parent
    Today is the last day (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by Edger on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 12:01:33 PM EST
    that polls are open for the 2007 Weblog awards, and he still needs your help.

    Alex (Army of Dude) is in second place now with almost 30 percent of votes for Best Military Blog.

    You can vote for Army of Dude here.

    BTD Not Alone (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by squeaky on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 01:32:07 PM EST
    Barack Obama and John Edwards have adopted a risky campaign strategy: Portray Hillary Clinton as no different from President Bush. Yes, it's official: They have gone negative.
    Likening Clinton (D., N.Y.) to Bush -- in particular criticizing her for secrecy about her years as first lady -- is a stretch that could backfire. For starters, Democratic voters might not buy the idea that Clinton shares qualities with Bush. This approach also reinforces Republican talking points, which would be a tactical error.

    Moreover, if the past is a guide to the future, both Edwards (D., N.C.) and Obama (D., Ill.) had better clear up questions about their own pasts before railing on Clinton's.

    John Fout

    Everyone Has Secrets, So Quit Bothering Hillary (1.00 / 1) (#16)
    by Jgarza on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 03:57:39 PM EST
    does he have a three year old that he asked to write the headline.

    The we go to fox news style logic:

    Likening Clinton (D., N.Y.) to Bush -- in particular criticizing her for secrecy about her years as first lady -- is a stretch that could backfire. For starters, Democratic voters might not buy the idea that Clinton shares qualities with Bush.

    Ok here is a point. Dem's don't like it?  Next he is going to have examples, maybe some poll data saying they don't.

    This approach also reinforces Republican talking points, which would be a tactical error.

    No evidence that it is back firing, but he tells you why HE THINKS you should be angry at it.

    It's of course the same tired line that all cult of Hillary's spout.  If your criticize Hill you are being a republican.  

    So yeah BTD not alone.  Other people in the cult of Hillary agree.

    Ohh and I know BTD says he supports Dodd, but read his posts, it's clear he supports Dodd to be Hilalry's VP.

    Parent

    Lieberman, Mukasey, Schumer & Feinstein (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by squeaky on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 02:13:39 PM EST
    Are a disgrace to Judiasm and should be shunned:

    History has shown us time and again that people in positions of power are quite capable of abusing the legal authority granted to them. If we could assume that our leaders and security personnel would always act in accordance with the highest principles, we would not need to supervise them. In the wake of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, we are reminded that the need for such supervision is critical. The protection of society is in the hands of fallible human beings, and we find no grounds upon which we would grant to those human beings the discretion to exert physical abuse upon the prisoners in their charge.

    THEREFORE, the Central Conference of American Rabbis urges that the President and the government of the United States resolve to:

    Denounce and oppose the use of torture and other forms of prisoner coercion in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

    Affirm the continued validity of the Geneva Conventions and the laws of war and the adherence of the United States to the guidelines to which it has committed itself through the ratification of such guidelines;

    Demand from the Department of Justice (or other appropriate body) the full enforcement of United States laws that make torture illegal;

    Uphold, obey, and enforce the Supreme Court ruling that it is unconstitutional to imprison anyone designated as an "enemy combatant" for months without access to lawyers or the right to challenge their detentions in court;

    Reject the practice of "extraordinary rendition," at home and abroad, by which some prisoners are sent to countries that practice extreme torture for interrogation;

    Allow every person in the custody of the U.S. military, military contractors or intelligence officials visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross, in accordance with U.S. obligations under international law, and

    Create an independent commission to investigate and report on the detention and interrogation practices of U.S. military and intelligence agencies deployed in the global "war on terror."

    link

    Pics From Train Illegal? (5.00 / 2) (#15)
    by squeaky on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 03:53:37 PM EST
    This sounds over the top. Sounds like fascism has set in:

    The train is a half hour west of New Haven when the conductor, having finished her original rounds, reappears. She moves down the aisle, looks, stops between our seats, faces the person taking pictures. "Sir, in the interest of national security, we do not allow pictures to be taken of or from this train." He starts, "I......." but, without English, his response trails off into silence. The conductor, speaking louder, forcefully: "Sir, I will confiscate that camera if you don't put it away." Again, little response. "Sir, this is a security matter! We cannot allow pictures." She turns away abruptly and, as she moves down the aisle, calls over her shoulder, in a very loud voice, "Put. It. Away!" He packs his camera.

    Within a minute after our arrival in New Haven, two armed police officers entered the car, approached my neighbor's seat. "Sir, we're removing you from this train." "I....;" "I......" "Sir, you have breached security regulations. We must remove you from this train." "I...," "I....." "Sir, we are not going to delay this train because of you. You will get off, or we will remove you physically." "I....."

    link via MeFi

    Clearly a terrist.... (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by Edger on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 04:55:51 PM EST
    Better bomb Japan. Again.

    Parent
    Same here in St. Louis (5.00 / 2) (#32)
    by Aaron on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 01:15:17 PM EST
    You're not allowed to take pictures on the Metrolink trains, tracks, wires etc. apparently for national security reasons, but I can't get the folks at Metrolink to confirm that.  They just say that it's their policy.

    If I were to take pictures and violate this policy, and say post them on the Internet, I believe they could legally bar me from public transportation in the county and perhaps the state.  Maybe one of the lawyers could clarify the dangers involved.

    Parent

    Wetting Themselves (5.00 / 1) (#35)
    by squeaky on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 02:29:12 PM EST
    Maybe one of the lawyers could clarify the dangers involved.

    Too many wet seats on the train.

    Parent

    Here Is A Guide (5.00 / 1) (#36)
    by squeaky on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 03:55:11 PM EST
    For Photographer's Legal Rights. Not black and white but helpful.

    Parent
    From Amtrak (5.00 / 1) (#37)
    by squeaky on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 04:10:08 PM EST
    Response from Media Relations: Photography of trains from public property - not railroad property - is permitted. Persons not holding tickets for trains scheduled for immediate departure may not enter station train platforms, thus non-passengers are prohibited from photography from train platforms. Passengers holding tickets may take photographs from train platforms while waiting to board a specific train for which they hold tickets or immediately after alighting from a train. "Snapshots" or other amateur photography that does not interfere with passengers or crew is permitted on board trains. Any other photography requires permission obtained in advance.


    link

    They just don't like foreigners.

    Parent

    Profiling (5.00 / 1) (#17)
    by squeaky on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 04:47:28 PM EST
    In solving crimes does not work. Malcolm Gladwell makes the case. And that is with lots of evidence. Therefore racial profiling is sucessful in only one thing: it identifies those who use it as racists.

    Arthur Bremer... (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by desertswine on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 05:14:40 PM EST
    35 years ago. (5.00 / 1) (#21)
    by Edger on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 05:24:07 PM EST
    Feels like last week....

    Parent
    Time do fly. (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by desertswine on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 05:28:18 PM EST
    It certainly did that. (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by Edger on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 05:31:42 PM EST
    I remember remarking in the early seventies to a buddy that I'd be 47 in the year 2000, but that it was a thousand years away....

    Parent
    Pakistan, US action? (5.00 / 2) (#24)
    by Aaron on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 05:59:34 AM EST
    Pakistan's Bhutto Detained by Police at Her House in Islamabad

    While the blogs with connections have been strangely quiet on the subject of Pakistan, some of America's leading strategic thinkers have recently rushed to board flights to the region, meeting in places like Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, coincidence perhaps?

    Is something brewing?

    Aaron (5.00 / 1) (#28)
    by Edger on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 09:15:16 AM EST
    Do you have any further info on these meetings, participants, etc?

    Parent
    Sorry nothing concrete (5.00 / 2) (#30)
    by Aaron on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 12:48:21 PM EST
    Just a lot of (CENTCOM) United States Central Command and ISAF(International Security Assistance Force) people like Adm. William J. Fallon flying around the region to different meetings, which on the surface have nothing to do with Pakistan.

      Whenever high-ranking military commanders attend meetings in countries adjacent to a country in crisis like Pakistan, it seems reasonable to assume that the situation is the likely topic of discussion, at least behind closed doors.

    Parent

    Fallon (5.00 / 1) (#33)
    by Edger on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 01:56:41 PM EST
    just met with Musharraf the other day....

    Parent
    Here's a story which hints at what's happening (5.00 / 2) (#31)
    by Aaron on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 01:09:36 PM EST
    Almost feels like the showdown (5.00 / 1) (#34)
    by Edger on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 01:59:03 PM EST
    between Kennedy and Khrushchev all over again...

    Parent
    Bhutto Freed From House Arrest (5.00 / 1) (#38)
    by squeaky on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 04:36:54 PM EST
    But on Thursday he [Musharraf] said elections would be held by February 15, about a month later than they were due.

    He also said he would quit as army chief and be sworn in as a civilian president once new judges appointed to the Supreme Court struck down challenges against his re-election.

    link

    Parent

    Pakistan media under attack (5.00 / 1) (#39)
    by Edger on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 07:18:15 PM EST
    The Guardian:
    "News has become a contraband item," said Imran Aslam, president of Geo, whose four sister stations are off air. "Now it's like the old days when we used to tune into the BBC radio to find out what's happen in our own backyard."

    Journalists and proprietors complain of threatening calls and emails, some by people claiming to be the Taliban. They are continuing to broadcast, sending stories by satellite and high-speed internet to a minority of wealthy viewers.

    But with satellite dish prices soaring, most Pakistanis are in the dark, blind to the great dramas of the past week - clashes between police and lawyers, human rights activists behind bars, or the sight of their deposed chief justice, Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry, under house arrest in Islamabad.
    ...
    "Gen Musharraf is finally doing what President Putin did for Russia - stop democracy from turning into total chaos," wrote PTV presenter Ahmed Quraishi, who on his website this week blames the CIA for Gen Musharraf's woes.

    Television has become hugely popular and politically influential in Pakistan. Newspapers have a small circulation, selling just 3m copies in a country of 165 million people, but the plethora of new TV stations offering 24-hour news and lively debate reaches tens of millions.



    Parent
    Is something brewing? (5.00 / 1) (#40)
    by Edger on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 07:30:06 PM EST
    Lot's brewing it seems. Tom Englehardt has a great article pulling all the strands together, an none of it is good news.

    Losing The War On Terror -- Everywhere
    The Nation: From Ethiopia To Pakistan, Bush's Foreign Policy Is In A Meltdown

    Russian President Vladimir Putin recently landed in Tehran and brazenly indicated that any U.S. attack on Iran would be considered an attack on Russia. He then convened a local "mini-summit" and formed a regional Caspian Sea-based alliance with Iran and three energy-rich former SSRs of the departed Soviet Union implicitly directed against the United States and its local allies. On the day Secretary of State Rice announced new, tough sanctions against the Iranians, Putin commented pointedly: "Why worsen the situation by threatening sanctions and bring it to a dead end? It's not the best way to resolve the situation by running around like a madman with a razor blade in his hand."

    Meanwhile, one country to the east, the resurgent Taliban has, against all predictions, just captured a third district in Western Afghanistan near the Iranian border -- and, as the most recent devastating suicide bomb indicates, attacks are spreading north. And then, of course, there's the president's greatest ally in the Muslim world, Pakistan's ruler Pervez Musharraf.

    Remember Bush's nightmare scenario, the one that guaranteed a surefire "preventive" attack from his administration: an autocratic and oppressive ruler with weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear ones, presiding over a country that functionally offers a safe haven for terrorists?

    Well, that's now Pakistan, whose security forces are busily jailing hundreds of lawyers, while the Taliban, al Qaeda, and extremist Islamists, well armed and backed by their own radio stations broadcasting calls for jihad, are moving out of safe havens in the tribal areas along the Afghan border and into Pakistan proper to fight. And there's essentially nothing the administration can do, except mouth platitudes and look the other way.

    As Paul Woodward of the War in Context Web site has pointed out: When it comes to nuclear Iran and nuclear Pakistan, we have been living in "a Through-the-Looking-Glass world where nuclear weapons that do exist are less dangerous than those that can be imagined." Now, not much imagination is needed at all.

    Strangely, from Ethiopia to Pakistan, despite all the signs, all the predictions, the Bush administration, as far as we can tell, expected none of the above. How often can it be caught off guard by the consequences of its own decisions and actions? Eternally, it seems. The possible collapse of the president's foreign policy across the entire arc of instability was first written about by the always prescient Juan Cole at Salon.com.



    Parent
    Armoured police vehicles blocked Bhutto's car (5.00 / 1) (#25)
    by Aaron on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 06:23:13 AM EST
    Middle Class Radicalization (5.00 / 1) (#26)
    by squeaky on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 07:48:35 AM EST
    The USG Open Source Center translates an editorial in the Jang newspaper, Pakistan's largest Urdu daily, which is usually moderate and politically neutral. This piece, however, attacks the US presence in Iraq as an brutal occupation, aimed at stealing Iraq's resources and 'showering favors on Israel.' It also defends Iran (Pakistanis are mostly Sunni and have a rivalry with Iran). Jang owns the popular GEO satellite television network that broadcasts from Dubai and has been threatened by Gen. Musharraf. I take it that they are turning anti-American, partially out of disappointment because of US backing of Musharraf, and partially because they can attack the US as an indirect way of attacking Musharraf but without suffering the consequences. I repeat that this sort of strident language about the US had not been characteristic of Jang earlier, and it seems to me a sign of the radicalization of the Pakistani middle classes.

    The United States seized the opportunity to take unjust action against its rivals, in particular Muslims, following the disruption of the balance of power, the establishment of a uni-polar system, and upon America becoming the sole superpower of the world. The phrase "the beginning of the crusade" was uttered by President Bush on the eve of the invasion of Afghanistan. Although an attempt was later made to explain that it was just a slip of the tongue, the fact is that the United States and its Western allies have made Islam their target......

    Juan Cole

    It's time for a third party. (5.00 / 2) (#27)
    by Edger on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 08:26:04 AM EST
    A Tarring and Feathering Party.

    Jeff Huber at-Largely this morning:

    In order to regain its status as the respected leader of the world's nations, America must eradicate the neoconservative movement from its body politic, and the only '08 presidential candidates committed to that goal appear to be Democrat Dennis Kucinich and Republican Ron Paul. If you think the neoconservatives packed up shop subsequent to their Mesopotamia mistake, think again. The neocons not only didn't learn anything from Iraq, they're betting large that nobody else did either--and that's a bet they stand a good chance of winning.
    ...
    The top tier candidates from both parties talk of new approaches to the Iraq problem, but none of them--with the possible exception of Barack Obama--offer anything realistic that's substantively different from "stay the course." And though Kucinich and Paul touch on the essential task that lies ahead in setting the course of U.S. foreign policy, the mainstream information gatekeepers continue to treat them like pipsqueaks.

    Is it possible that, under the surface, all of America's national profile politicians have crawled into the neocons' pockets?
    ...
    With the exception of significantly increasing America's defense spending, the neocons' dreams of U.S. global dominance have dashed themselves against the shoals of reality. Today, though we spend more than the rest of the world combined on defense, friends and enemies alike shun us. We have to kiss up to countries like Turkey and Pakistan while the greatest threats to our national security are backwater outfits like Iran and North Korea, all states whose economies and defense budgets are less than five percent of ours and none of whom would amount to a pimple on our posterior if we hadn't let the neocons persuade us to stick said posterior into the crack its in now. Moreover, our security, prosperity and principles are more in peril than they have been since the beginning of World War II, and as recent events in Pakistan illustrate, our efforts to promote political freedom abroad have been dismal failures.
    ...
    If America were still a true republic, the neocons would have been ridden out of town two years ago at the latest; they don't have enough tar, feathers or rails in Washington D.C. to give those characters the kind of send off they deserve. But they're still around and reeking havoc. Dick Cheney still lurks in undisclosed locations in between appearances at GOP fundraising and warmongering functions. Cheney side buoys like David Addington continue to infest the White House. Backyard variety chicken hawks such as John Bolton, Fred Kagan, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and Newt Gingrich hang out in the Scholars and Fellows lounge of the influential neoconservative think tank American Enterprise Institute.



    Why Do Debacles Like Iraq Happen? (5.00 / 1) (#29)
    by Edger on Fri Nov 09, 2007 at 12:32:40 PM EST
    The more you begin to investigate what we think we understand, where we came from, what we think we're doing, the more you begin to see we've been lied to, we've been lied to by every institution...
    Don't mind the men behind the curtain (video)
    For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence -- on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political operations.

    --John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 27 April 1961



    Parent
    so they said this morning. (none / 0) (#1)
    by cpinva on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 07:34:43 AM EST
    how this affects hizzoner's prospects elludes me, we already kind of knew he had pretty horrible judgment, what else is new? unless something new comes out at trial (assuming there actually is a trial), it'll get tossed off by the media. he is, after all, a manly, real republican.

    unfortunately, most dems are not going to raise this in a debate, or anywhere else.

    An industry lawyer type (none / 0) (#14)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Nov 08, 2007 at 03:03:00 PM EST
    outlined his plan for resolving the WGA strike here: Base residuals on budgets.

    It certainly doesn't resolve the fact that the studios don't want to pay any resids at all, but it does help to clean up the question of how much resids to pay, regardless of the medium used to distribute the content.