PRAWN

Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Network
Rally at City Hall 
 
PRAWN
Blog

Marlene Santoyo's Political Allies Newsletter


Recommended Films
PA Laws Relevant to Protests

How to keep in touch with local media
Chat Registration
Chat LogIn
Guest LogIn


Monique's cards - inspiring messages!
Set 1
Set 2 (More of this series after the Inaugural)
Calendars

PhillyIMC Calendar

Delaware Valley Progressive Calendar  sign-up

Cool YouTube! Prosecute, prosecute!

Hilarious YouTube!
CCR advocates prosecution of Bush officials


IVAW's Open letter to President-Elect Obama


Support Community Media at the Lava Zone


PRAWN Flyer (PDF) Updated 30Apr09

Philadelphians for Impeachment or Indictment of Bush and Cheney
To:  City Councilmembers of Philadelphia
From: World Can't Wait
Event
Flyers:







Congressional Updates-showing the latest actions in Congress.
Congressional contacts 
Next meeting: 
TBA

Proposal for
fundraising/networking party to be held in July.

At Local 47, AFSCME, 1606 Walnut St, 6:30PM-9:00PM
People have asked about parking near where we meet, there is no parking in the immediate vicinity.  Folks can park at nearby Septa stations and take the train or subway in or Larry Petkov at 215-563-6357 can obtain a parking space for you in a nearby parking garage.

Contacting  us:
Sign up for our RiseUp unmoderated discussion/events list serve.  It also has archives sokk you can also check up on discussions.  Non-members can post to this list, but those posts will be moderated.
Or sign up for our Yahoo events-only list serve.   This is also unmoderated, so we depend on discretion being used when posting.
Webmaster & miscellaneous questions.

Our view of the current war in Iraq: 
  1. The Iraqi Government has requested that US troops leave their country.  The Iraqi Government refuses to define shooting at American troops as a "terrorist" action.  Meaning: it's open season on Americans!
  2. Even hard-core Neocons like David Frum (Came up with the term "Axis of Evil" to describe Iraq, Iran & North Korea) realizes that the war is lost and that the US can, at best, return to square one and restore what was lost..
  3. Far from having a national "all-for-one, one-for-all" feeling, the American political leadership is on the attack against domestic political opponents
  4. As the truth about the war trickles out from the front lines, the US all-volunteer military is getting fewer and fewer recruits with even strong supporters of the war refusing to serve.  The general public is also rapidly losing enthusiasm.
  5. US allies aren't providing much help either.
  6. Iraqi have suffered an estimated 655,000 deaths as a direct result of the US invasion. Living standards for Iraqis have dropped sharply from what they were in February 2003
  7. Meanwhile, Big Oil is attempting to lock in highly favorable contracts on the development of new Iraqi fields that would have the effect of robbing the Iraqi public of billions.
  8. The military resistance in Iraq is 95% Iraqi and is a force that's costing America more casualties every month.
  9. The war in Iraq has made the US less secure as jihadists from all over the Mideast have used Iraq as a training ground.
  10. The idea of spreading democracy to a foreign country through an invasion and a military occupation has proven to be sheer wishful thinking.
  . 
It's time to withdraw.  The war was a crime against humanity to begin with and the alternative is to go through what happened in Vietnam in 1975, a panicked helicopter exodus from the rooftops.

PRAWN's mission is to:
  • Network groups, organizations, and individuals to stop the repression caused by "never ending wars" at home and abroad, by the US corporate military state
  • Support organizations having common ground
  • Educate and activate the general public


Local Resource Organizations

National Organizations



Marlene Santoyo's Political Allies Newsletter

10 Jun 09
31 May 09
13 May 09
29 Apr 09
9 Mar 09
28 Feb 09
14 Jan 09
6 Jan 09
26 Oct 08
16 Sep 08
15 Aug 08
31 Jul 08
13 Jul 08
20 Apr 08
23 Mar 08
15 Mar 08
6 Mar 08
28 Feb 08
18 Jan 08
9 Jan 08
17 Dec 07
15 Nov 07
5 Sep 07
30 Aug 07
15 Aug 07
2 Aug 07
24 Jun 07
24 Apr 07
20 Apr 07
15 Apr 07
12 Apr 07
21 Mar 07
16 Mar 07
21 Feb 07
16 Jan 07
8 Jan 07
28 Dec 06
13 Dec 06
8 Dec 06
28 Nov 06
17 Nov 06
10 Nov 06
24 Oct 06
13 Oct 06
7 Oct 06
29 Sep 06
19 Sep 06
13 Sep 06
23 Aug 06
11 Aug 06
1 Aug 06
26 Jul 06
7 Jul 06
2 Jul 06
20 Jun 06
6 Jun 06
1 Jun 06
23 May 06
13 May 06
2 May 06
27 Apr 06
12 Apt 06
22 Mar 06
23 Feb 06
15 Feb 06
2 Feb 06
26 Jan 06
11 Jan 06
5 Jan 06
29 Dec 05
22 Dec 05
15 Dec 05
8 Dec 05


"Political Allies Newsletter" email listserve which is sent out a few times a month. There are actions you may want to support & local, national & international articles, most of which are not printed in the Phila Inquirer or NY Times. Topic titles are listed. You may read any portion, file away for another time or delete any or all.

To subscribe, if in the Philadelphia area: send a blank message to this address.  

To subscribe If OUTSIDE the Philadelphia area then send a blank message to this address.





Webspace provided by 1&1 Internet
Webmaster: Rich Gardner

Upcoming Event



THE VISITOR


JULY 3 - "THE VISITOR", 103 minutes, rated PG - 13 for some profanity, Directed by Thomas McCarthy ("The Station Agent" ) and starring Richard Jenkins and Hiam Abbass. (More)

First Fridays, 7 p.m., at the Peace Center of Delaware County/Springfield Friends Meetinghouse, 1001 Old Sproul Road, Springfield, Delaware County, with light refreshments and after-film discussion.  Co-sponsored by the Brandywine Peace Community. 

For more information or directions, www.delcopeacecenter.org, or  call 610.544.1818


Panel discussion


CONSPIRING FOR CHANGE: the politics of protest in the post 9-11 world

Friday 6:30pm 10 July

details

For more info on the cases check out:

www.rnc8.org

www.freethesf8.org

for more info on the event contact neRNC8support@riseup.net




2009 Summer Film Series

19 May - 11 Sep
7:00pm or dusk

Calvary Church @ 48th St & Baltimore Ave
Clark Park @ 45th St & Regent St


Tuesday 19 May
CC American Ruling Class
Tuesday 26 May
CC
Romero
Friday 12 June
CP
Taxi to the Dark Side
Friday 26 June
CP
Slingshot Hip Hop
Friday 10 July
CP
Flow
Friday 24 July
CP
Cadillac Records
Friday 7 August
CP
Taking Root
Friday 21 August
CP
Salt of This Sea
Friday 11  September
CC
Machuca




Showings are free
International Action Center (IAC)
email or 215-724-1618



very scary chart

Speaker Pelosi explains meaning of chart. A look at various predictions. Republican arguments demonstrate that they don't have a clue as to what they're talking about. Paul Krugman says the stimulus isn't big enough.

bit of an improvement

Bit of an improvent. The beginning of the end? We can only hope!


Study of Iraqi demographics 

five years after the US invasion

Juan Cole comments (near end of post)


The Reagan Question: Are You Better Off Now Than You Were Eight Years Ago?

Economics comparison of 2000 and 2007

The "burn rate" for the money the US is spending per month in Iraq was nearly $5 billion a month in 2003 and has steadily grown to where, in 2007, it had reached about $11 billion per month. According to Barack Obama during a presidential debate, the price has dropped to $10 billion a month.


The Strange Bedfellows coalition has put an ad into the WaPo about the FISA cave-in. (PDF 1 & 2) They're collecting money to shame the enabling Washington DC press corps and their corporate sponsors.


Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) did a study of the Iraq War (60 page PDF), concluding that it is a “major debacle,” a “classic case of failure,” and a conflict that may not be winnable."  Update:  Contains lots of points of agreement with Bush Administration (i.e., that Saddam Hussein attempted to assassinate the elder George Bush, among many others) but these can be seen as tactical agreements, made so that other points have more credibility (i.e., "This is not a DFH screed!").




A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq - Click here to add your support


Quickly, Carefully & Generously - A Responsible Plan for Withdrawing from Iraq - a Committee headed by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA)

Executive Summary (6 pages) PDF

Full version (34 pages) PDF

Question: How to withdraw American troops from Iraq without sustaining needless casualties?

top 1% share of income
Remind me again, just why did the Depression occur?

400 richest Americans’ incomes doubled under Bush



Database of 935 Bush Administration lies that preceded the Iraq War


coverage of iraq war

Not many people are even aware of death toll.

The Senate Intelligence Committee Phase II report (PDF)
Part I
Part II
on the lies that the Bush Administration told the American People in order to drag us into the Iraq War.

casualties climbing back up

Post-"Surge," casualties in Iraq start climbing back up
Icasualties "Casualty Trends" shows that US military fatalities reached an average of 30 per week in Jun 07, declined to around 5 a week by Jan 08, but have remained consistent at around 8 per week since then.
Update: Apr 08 is the deadliest month on record since Sep 07.


Supreme Court dominance
To mention another issue, consider conservatives (red) vs liberals (blue) and how Republicans would like to shift that balance even further.


YouTube video produced by local Gold Star family

Boston IndyMedia story


wishful thinking
Seems the plans made for the Iraq War fall into the category of what we call "wishful thinking."  The idea here was that the occupation force in Iraq was going to fall to 5000 by December 2006.  Oops! 

Cool Protest Idea!!
Obtain toy plastic soldier, add a label "Bring me home!",
leave in bookstores, libraries, coffee shops, etc.
and
The Freeway Blogger strikes again!


Media Tank says FCC is considering
reviewing rules for media ownership

This may pave the way for further concentration of the already-overconcentrated media

Media Tank and other Philadelphia groups ran a public hearing with FCC Commissioner Michael Copps here in Philadelphia on January 18th, 2007. Archive of presentation.
PhillyIMC story

Status of Public Access TV

Philadelphia is about America's only major city without public access TV.  This means that noncommercial groups can't get airtime to explain their point of view on any issue.  They must depend on commercial media to do that and we have seen with the United Church of Christ ads how willing they are to do that
Thanks to the Adelphia company no longer being a player (PDF on Adelphia's sale of its assets.) in the cable TV business, Time-Warner and Comcast are now divvying up its assets.  Adelphia used to own a substantial chunk of Philly's cable TV market and those assets are now slated for Comcast, which currently owns the other three-quarters of the city.   Comcast has been legally obligated to provide free access to community groups since 1983 and the reason it has not done so is the subject of a long-running feud between the cable giant and the city.  PCAC opposes allowing Comcast to swallow up that last portion "until Comcast make a public commitment to fully fund public access."  The Philadelphia Grassroots Cable Coalition also points out that "Cable rates have risen more than three times the rate of inflation, with rate hikes in Philadelphia of 5% or more annually." 
PCAC has a series of action recommendations
PGCC has a series of links to other groups.

Also important news on low-power Community FM radio!


Especially noteworthy

To order Cindy Sheehan's groundbreaking and thought-provoking new book: Myth America, 10 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and a Case for Revolution, go to www.CindySheehansSoapbox.com and make a minimum $10 donation and Cindy will e-mail you the PDF of the e-Booklet.


Letters from Palestine Fabrizio Galimberti says: "I have spent many summers working in a refugee camp (Aida Camp in Bethlehem) in the West Bank, and I used to send emails to my children describing my experience. These emails slowly acquired a life of their own, mixing chronicles and reflections, and the heart-rending humiliations inflicted on the Palestinian people by Israel’s ruthless occupation of their homeland were brought into sharp relief."
PDF

Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think: Book Review Essay. A relatively thin book (135 pages) that covers many issues with Muslims and how the West deals with them. No, there is no "clash of civilizations." What most Muslims hate about the US is the failure of the neoconservative movement to live up to the best ideals of our forefathers. They hate the fact that the neocons appear to have dragged the rest of America down into the sewer with them.

The fellows behind Media Matters write Free Ride: John McCain and the Media, which examines how the media just loves John McCain and how they cover for him at every opportunity. Firedoglake discussed this book on March 29th. McCain had 135 appearances on high-profile talk shows between 1997 and 2006. One of his more infamous appearances (But that indicts the media more than it does McCain) was his November 12th appearance on Meet the Press. That's right, he appeared shortly after the Democratic sweep of the House & Senate to deliver an anti-Democratic message!

Naomi Klein writes The Shock Doctrine. The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, that presents a very frightening picture of how modern capitalism makes profits off of disasters.  It's a story of privatization via shock therapy run amuck.  Klein's theory is discussed in the context of the California wildfires of late October 2007 and Grover Norquist's expressed desire to annihilate government's role in society.

Susan Faludi writes The Terror Dream. Fear And Fantasy in Post-9/11 America, about how gender roles were shaped and twisted and bent to serve political ends.  Faludi probably pays more attention to what the right wing was saying at the time than most folks were aware of, which may explain why some consider the book overheated.  Faludi talks about how the "cult of the codpiece" was going to save us all from the "Islamofacist Menace" in the "War On Terror."

Naom Wolf's book The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot has been very enthusiastically reviewed by a member of PRAWN.  Author Naomi Wolf wrote Fascist America in 10 easy steps for The (UK) Guardian and has also written extensively on Blackwater, doing two blog posts for firedoglake. YouTube speech by Naom Wolf on her book.

Juan Cole's book Napoleon’s Egypt: Invading the Middle East is a look at how a former would-be conqueror of the Middle East fared.  Answer: Not so hot and not as many differences as one would like to see between 1798-1800 and the younger George Bush's Iraq War 2003-?
Update: Kewl marketing scheme for the book which doubles as a way to make important documents of the time available: The Napoleon's Egypt Blog

Buzzflash is offering preview copies (3 DVD set) of Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke" for a minimum donation of $35.

Lawyer & blogger Glenn Greenwald's book,
How Would a Patriot Act? hasn't been reviewed by many people, hasn't gotten any big buzz outside the blogs and it's already going to hit number 11 on the NY Times bestseller list!

The News Blog reviews James Risen's book (The book that allegedly prompted the NY Times to reveal their knowledge of the NSA spying case.)  Smirking Chimp reprints an NYRB review of Risen's book.
Book is available from Powells and from Buzzflash (Which also includes another review.)

Copied the PDF of the Congressional Research Service's examination of whether it was legal for Bush to have the NSA spying for him without FISA warrants. 
Short answer: NO!  DailyKos describes it as a subtle, polite, well-worded "smackdown".

Also, letter sent by "14 law professors and former federal government officials. [in which they] critique the Department of Justice's legal argument in support of the lawfulness of the secret NSA surveillance program." 

Other meetings/protests

In front of the Recruiting Office at Broad & Cherry Streets last Friday of each month from 5:00pm to 6:00pm.  September 07

The Northwest Peace Coalition has been holding weekly candlelight vigils at 7:30 pm each Wednesday at the intersection of Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike (near Borders Books) in Chestnut Hill.

Northwest Peace and Justice Movement and the Unitarian Society of Germantown will begin on December 8 to hold a peace vigil every Wednesday at 5:00 pm, outside the Unitarian Society, 6511 Lincoln Drive (just north of Wayne

DelCo Drinkng Liberally meets at John Harvard's Brew House, 1001 Baltimore Pike #1B (Springfield Square South) (map) monthly starting February 5th 6:30pm-8:30pm

Archive of Action Items


Oh, and just how DO Iraqis feel about the "liberation" of their country?

from Angry Arab
From The Angry Arab News Service


memorial
Remembering the life of Dr George Tiller

band
Health Care rally in support of HR 676, the Single Payer option


t-shirts

Young woman passes in front of t-shirts set up to commemorate 300-plus victims of gun violence in the Philadelphia area. The members of Heeding God's Call were on trial nearby.

protest at AEC

Protest at the Army Experience Center, a US Government experiment in hi-tech recruiting.

teaching

Witness For Peace retreat 3-5 April 2009. We discussed ways to energize and expand the peace movement along with local actions we could take.


Sixth Anniversary of the start of the Iraq War
Pictures from demonstration at City Hall
Oh, and if you ever hear anybody talking about the "honeymoon" between Obama and the press corps ever ending? There never was any such thing.

arrest bush march
Cover of Nation Magazine, video of pre-inauguration "Arrest Bush" protest, video of inauguration (Final scene includes new President walking by) and photos from the Boston Globe.

17Jan09
To remind our new president that we're still here and still active


Israel-Gaza war Jan 09
Israel attacks Gaza hours after above rally/march completed.

Photo-essay. Cynthia McKinney's boat attacked outside Gaza.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution piece on attack. Update on McKinney. How the residents of Sderot (An Israeli town bordering Gaza and the target for Hamas' missile attacks) feel about the invasion of Gaza and visuals as to what the "Qassams" (missiles) look like.

And just how do Americans feel about the election of 
Barack Obama as our 44th President?

File is a PPT slideshow, which can be viewed with either 
Microsoft Office Powerpoint no-cost viewer or
with Open Office no-cost office suite.


Rally at City Hall

Philly Against War stages a rally at City Hall

victory?
Did we gain a victory? Did the Armed Forces Recruiting Station move away because we were protesting in front of it once a month? Hey, ya never know!

4000th death
Photos from demonstration observing 4,000th US serviceperson's death in Iraq. YouTube of Celeste Zappala interview. Brandywine Peace Community describes the event. Activists are proposing Iraq Town hall meetings in response.

IVAW Winter Soldier event

IVAW Winter Soldier event, A 25-mile march from the Constitution Center to Valley Forge.
Photos of beginning of march Lots more photos
Video of march     part II London Times story on march
Video of IVAW "Ruck March" MainLineTimes piece



Sestak
March on Congressman Joe Sestak's office


Human Chain Event

Human Chain Event - took place in coordination with 10 other American cities all on the same day.  Other demonstrations.

Sep 29 protest

29 Sep protest blog





NW Greens collect articles on ANSWER's 15 Sep march in Wash DC


Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan visits Philly as part of her campaign to push the Democrats harder to end the war.
group of us

NIM conducts 18th annual assembly - awards two DVVFA/PRAWN members 

Parade for Peace - Chestnut Hill/Mt Airy/Germantown
Concerned both violence here at home and violence abroad in Iraq
Photos by Hal Sawyer
PhillyIMC article
Photos & story by Sandy
Monique's photos of vigil in West Philly
addressing the crowd


March in Washington DC 27 Jan 07
Video from PhillyIMC



Link to PhillyIMC article (Which has links to lots of pieces)
UFPJ banner

Active duty soldiers deliver Appeal for Redress

Appeal for Redress

"Last Friday" Protest  Photos covering March & April 07
Story by Del Val Vets and by PRAWN

Celeste Zappala & family

The Granny Peace Brigade - a related group to PRAWN
Granny Peace Brigade

Yet another Tombstones display! 
looking out over the tombstones
Celeste Zappala with Iraq War vets behind her
Celeste Zappala

We decided to start up yet another regular monthly protest!  Sept07
Broad & Cherry
City Hall in background

We were concerned that we might have a sparse demonstration in August.  Code Pink saved us by showing up at our monthly rally near Senator Specter's home!!

code pink people
others side

Declaration of Peace rally in Philly
Declaration of Peace

two prawn members

One of the Grannies for Peace outside the recruiting station on June 28th.
granny for peace

Combination of pictures from Rich and Monique
during march in NYC on 29 April 06

Vets for Peace

Distinguished young gentleman

Cindy Sheean & others

crowds

long line

Easter Peace Event
Easter1

Easter2

Easter3

Protest - Break the Silence
Break the Silence

marching on City Hall

on the steps

Observing third anniversary of beginning of Iraq War by picketing near Senator Specter's home.

Within 50 yards of house

still more folks

no end to them!

Cindy Sheehan, Monique Frugier, Bill Perry

Cindy Sheehan, Monique Frugier, Bill Perry

Winter Solstice Event near Senator Specter's house
Photos by Monique

The essential question
The main, serious, essential question

long-time PRAWN members

Our featured speaker

Bush comes to speak in Philadelphia
protest at Bush speech
These five pictures by Monique
more signs

good sign

Gold Star Mom Celeste Zappala
Gold Star Mother Celeste Zappala
Celeste again


Info, articles, etc.


I just have to thank the good Lord above that Republicans are no longer in charge. Bill Kristol advocates intervening in Iran on the side of the protesters. As much as I have sympathy for them (Here are some tips to help them, citizen to citizen), that's an awful idea. The Iranian government certifies that Ahmadinejad won fair and square. Er, um, OK. Demonstration violently broken up.

Republican commenters think Governor Sanford's (R-SC) going AWOL at government expense to meet up with a lover in South America is just so cute and darling and romantic. The appropriate military term is "Dereliction of Duty." The guy should have been relieved of his duties several days ago as he obviously has no interest in putting his job ahead of his personal desires. The Wall St Journal is maintaining a deafening silence over whether Sanford should be impeached.  It's also very, very interesting to see just how a South Carolina newspaper handled the news on Sanford back in December!!!!

Update on the HuffPo question at the press conference: The replacemet for Tim Russert, David Gregory asks:

"If President Bush had done that, don't you think Democrats would have said that's outrageous?"

"If?" Is Gregory serious!?!?! This is not a hypothetical. Jeff Gannon was brought on to provide Bush with softball questions. Press conferencs have become awash in trivia. Update on Dana Milbank's attitude towards Gannon back in 2005. And yes, news shows coordinate topics with guests.

Republicans think it's just awful how progressives are, pointing out that the very same Republicans who decry the collapse of our moral standards are the very same ones who are running around having extramarital affairs. Erm, it's called having standards, it's not a case of double standards. Democrats don't run around talking about how morally superior they are, so when they have extramarital affairs, no, it's not really the same thing.

Aaugh! Shriek! The economy isn't fixed yet! We still aren't back at full employment! Well, erm, sorry, but it HAS only been a short while since money from the $787 billion stimulus bill began flowing into the economy. These things take a little time.

Grand, hollow, meaningless, empty words on torture.

Some people just have way too much imagination to be making political speeches.

Images and how they effect political debate.

Amazingly, reporters are still upset that a blogger was able to transmit the question of an ordinary Iranian citizen to the President! Dudes, get over yourselves!!!!

We can add Joe Lieberman to the list of people who had no trouble advocating the wanton slaughter of millions of Iranians who is now suggesting that Obama's manhood can be questioned because he won't go to war to support Iranian protesters.

Oh good grief! I've heard of some really, really sto-o-o-pid, moronically idiotic conspiracy theories, but this one really takes the cake. Unlike with the whole Jimmy/Jeff Gannon/Guckert story, both President Obama and the Huffington Post reporter were quite open and explicit about what they were doing. Obama wanted to take a question from an Iranian via the HuffPo.

I left an Oxdown diary that asked about a piece on the Global Security site suggesting that the CIA was manipulating events in Iran. Response was generally skeptical. Another fellow picked up the idea and posted another diary. I'd certainly prefer not to believe it.
Update: This is what we call dispositive proof that the Iranian protest movement is for real and that they have a very real and serious grievance with their government. Doesn't mean the CIA isn't trying to influence events, but it seems pretty doubtful that they're really having all that much of an effect.

Interesting piece on how Iran has been dealing with the Internet and political dissent. Natcherly, Western corporations are deeply involved!

An Iranian brings up 1991 and the elder George Bush and how the Iranian leadership is hoping Obama will repeat that mistake. Nobody blamed Saddam Hussein for slaughtering Kurds & Shiites, they blamed Bush for giving Hussein such an easy target.

Neda Agha Soltan becoms martyr to rebellion.

Are we coming up on a Tiananmen Square-style massacre in Iran's capital of Tehran? Sure hope not, but it's not at all clear what the US could do in response, nor does it appear a good idea to raise hopes that can't be fulfilled.  Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Khameni weighs in with his version of what's going on.

Paul Krugman weighs in on the firing of Dan Froomkin.

Heh! Fox News "neglected" to cover the scandal of a Republican presidential contender. Ri-i-i-ght!

It's very, very sad that the WaPo couldn't stand the idea of their best columnist whacking away at President Obama from the left. Dan Froomkin will not be missed, as he's sure to keep writing  from a different post, but the WaPo is now left with delusional people like Charles Krauthammer, who obviously never got the memo that the great neocon project to re-design the Middle East is now lying in the dust, with a broken neck in an advanced state of decay.

An on-scene descrition of what's going on in Iran. Upon Ayatollahs & Grand Ayatollahs. No, we can't credit Bush with anything that's going on in Iran. Anyone who thinks the US can rescue the situation in Iran by galloping in guns blazing, doesn't have a clue.

Norm Coleman admits what's up with his refusal to accept November's election results.  Not sure why he feels that the Republican Party is an entity worth presrving, though.

Definition of "public option" for health insurance begins to recede into distance. Not really sure precisely what it means anymore. What's motivating the opponents of Single-Payer Health Care? That's simple. Greed.

*Sigh!* It was incorrect to call Iranian Prime Minster Ahmadinejad a dictator. Past tense. Having clearly stolen the latest election, it's now okay to call him that.

And you [Bill O'Reilly] routinely attack, you routinely attack, people on the left, Janeane Garofalo, Michael Moore, who you think their rhetoric leads potentially to acts of violence. It never has led to one act of violence. But you've already driven that crazy guy in Knoxville last year who read your writings and then went and shot up a church and shot liberals, that's already happened once, and you don't feel any responsibility at all, now that it's happened a second time, Bill? Talk about blood on your hands.

Joan Walsh smacks Bill O'Reilly around.

The right wing gets bloodier and bloodier. Somehow, the DHS report on right-wing extremism is being held up as part of the problem. Can out-of-control talk radio hysterics lead to murder? Sure looks like it. And why isn't David Neiwert being interviewed on every other talk show?!?!?!
Update: Neiwert was interviewed on Anderson Cooper 's AC360. Bravo!

Hmm, let's see...Karl Rove calls Maureen Dowd a "bitter, twisted, deranged columnist" because she pointed out that Bush slacked off through half of his terms and alowed all sorts of disasters to occur on his watch. Now, I'm not sure I disagree with Rove's description of Dowd, but in any contest of who's correct on Bush's performance in office, Dowd wins hands down!

Allright, this is cute!

Four protests in Philly in a short time period.

So how is Obama's Cairo speech working? Quite well, thank you very much.
Update: Obama wins the Lebanon election, defeating Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Obama is preparing to celebrate Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday. Actually, Reagan was a really crappy president.

The "debate" over Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor has become so detached from reality, the traditional media doesn't feel any obligation to even try to honor basic, fundamental reality.

President Obama tries a whole new approach to the Middle East, one that doesn't rely solely upon force and threats of force. But no, there were no apologies, despite much wringing of hands on that score.

Slight backpedaling on hysterical criticism about Jodge Sotomayor.
Update: Is there any significant distinction between "racist" and Gingrich's new term "racialist"? No.

Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly see no difference between lone, unaffiliated killer who killed a military recruiter and Dr Tiller 's murderer, who acted upon the active, if indirect, advocacy of them and people in their movement.

Right wing attempts to gin up "Dealergate" non-story into a "scandal."

Bill O'Reilly very strenuously defends himself against the charge that he advocated the murder of Dr Tiller.

Michelle Malkin tries to claim that there is the killer of late-abortion provider, Doctor George Tiller and there is the responsible right wing, which is not to blame for his murder. Then again, there's Bill O'Reilly, who never advocated violence against Dr Tiller, but continually referred to him by name and associated him with Nazis and other killers.
[Update: O'Reilly will adddress the charge that he provoked the killing of Dr Tiller]  There is also the DHS report on the violence of right-wing extremists, which many right-wingers interpreted as an attack on themselves.

Looking good for Senator Al Franken of Minnesota to finally take his rightfully-won and richly-deserved seat.

Seriously, Jeffrey Rosen and his defender Jonathan Chait really should just give it up. Rosen's piece on Sotomayor was a despicable smear, a  gossipy hit job and Rosen & Chait inaccurately blame "bloggers" and "blogging" for Rosen's complete lack of morality and decency.

Scribbled a round-up piece because there was just so much news out there.

May

Opinion writer from Daily News writes about a sentence taken from a Sotomayor speech. Talking Points Memo posts YouTube from President Obama (unwisely) saying that she perhaps would have re-worded her speech, but also shows complete context of sentence. Not surprisingly, complete three paragraphs that the sentence came from add a lot of depth to her observation.
A profile of a prominent opponent of Santomayor. 
Summary of wild, insane, outta control right-wing slurs against Sotomayor.
Awful funny about how Antonin Scalia was known for being hot-tempered, but how "temperament" never became an issue with white male SC nominees.

Book on the Iraq resistance.

Newt Gingrich calls Sotomayor a "racist." One would think that sort of comment would raise eyebrows all over the place. Republican Senator denounces Gingrich. Media remain silent.

The official report on Guantanamo "recidivists" ("Terrorists" who were imprisoned at Gitmo and have since "returned to the fight") seems to a very highly dubious, "dodgy" document.

US hesitation to allow Guantanamo prisoners to be held on American soil is , surprise, surprise, making Europe unenthusastic about taking them.

Amazing example of the media ignoring someone's self-serving and highly biased statements. George Will declares that Sonia Sotomayor did not "save baseball." Um, Will is the Director of both the Baltimore Orioles and the San Diego Padres. Ya think he just might be a little biased?!?!

So Second Circuit  Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor is the nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Good! After she was smeared by The New Republic a few weeks back, I'm happy to see that she has an opportunity to get her reputation back. One very foolish attack on her is that "Hey, she & GeeDubya both graduated from ivy league schools, so they're equal in intellect!" Um, no. Bush was a "legacy student," the son of an ivy league graduate and graduated with a "Gentleman's C." Sotomayor "pulled herself up by her bootstraps" (came from an impoverished background) and worked very hard to  graduate summa cum laude. But yeah, other than that, they're just the same.
Scotusblog reviews her appellate decisions.
A "Greatest Hits" compilation of stupid comments about Sotomayor. We're not even into the 2nd 24-hour period yet!!!

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton opines on the Obama Administration's approach to nuclear arms, appears to favor the "special interest" of arms manufacturers as opposed to the interests of the American people.

*Sigh!* Iran fails to come up even to the sorry free-speech standards of G.W. Bush! Tsk, tsk, tsk.

So, it appears that the Republican Party is now split into two factions, the Colin Powell - Meghan McCain branch and the Rush Limbaugh - Dick Cheney - Karl Rove - Newt Gingrich - Fox News - etc., etc., branch.

Good two-parter on the two speeches by President Obama and Dick Cheney.

Aaargh!!! The stupid! It burns!!!

The debate on whether Speaker Pelosi was properly informed of waterboarding back in 2002 is over. Amazingly enough, people are trying to keep the "story" alive.

Whoa! Dude! A traditional media source that knows how to read?!?!?! Time Magazine actually reads the source documents concerning Speaker Pelosi and the CIA briefers!!! Sure wish that would happen more often.

Supervillains and supermax prisons, the sheer and utter stupidity of the "We can't hold the Gitmo terrorist suspects in the US, they're too dangerous!1!!1!!&!!"
Update: Excellent point!

Obama's speech - good overview, highs & lows. More. An examination of "preventive detention."
Cheney's speech - utter fail!
More. McClatchy News weighs in.

It's far from clear that drawing Speaker Pelosi into a dispute about torture and what Democrats knew about it, that Republicans are benefiting themselves. They're instead making the idea of a torture commission look pretty good right now.
Update: Vote to investigate just Speaker Pelosi and not the Bush Administration for torture fails by 252 to 172.
Bloggers being parasites on the traditional media. That may have been true at one point. Is it still true? Ehh, not really. Actualy, the story is a good deal more complicated than that now.

*Sigh!* One step forward, one step back. Uruguay decides gays can serve openly in their military, but US Republican Party National Committee Chairman declares that same-sex spouses are a "burden on businesses."

Good two-part series on the Uighurs, 17 men who have been held at Guantanamo since 2001. Why they're still there is a very, very good question.

The evidence that the Bush Administration consciously and deliberately used torture to justify launching a war against Iraq.

Comic relief: RNC Chairman Michael Steele and Representative Michele Bachmann have teamed up to do battle with ACORN. FDL on Bachmann and Steele. DKos on ACORN.

It remains very unclear that either Nancy Pelosi (Minority House Leader at the time) or Jay Rockefeller (Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence then) were briefed in 2002 by the CIA on whether or not the CIA was torturing people. Pelosi apparently learned in 2003 and Rockefeller in 2005.
Update: Speaker Pelosi has given what's referred to as a "plenary answer," i.e., an all-sufficient, comprehensive answer that completely disposes of the question:

Pelosi had an answer that really answers all the questions, a plenary answer you might say: she supports a Truth Commission [...]

That says it all. She wants it all investigated. The whole point of this storm about Pelosi is that her critics want her to be embarrassed and stop supporting a Truth Commission or any sort of examination of what happened. But she's not. She still says there should be an investigation.

Wow!!!!1! G W Bush will appear in Woodward, OK!!! Whatta coup!!! [/snark] Yeah, I'm sure the competition was SO fierce to get the former prez to appear there.
Liz Cheney defends her dad against  the entirely accurate charge that waterboarding is illegal, immoral and useless. 

Iranian-American reporter Roxana Saberi released from Iranian custody where she was held upon the baseless accusation of being a spy. This is absolutely and unambiguously a good thing. It's just a pity that Iran comes off as so much better in how they treat journalists as opposed to how the US treats them.

In the ten years of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law on how the armed services deal with gays and lesbians, the US has spent $190.5 million discharging 13,000 military personnel. Benefits? Well, the US appeased social conservatives. A-a-and, well, that's about it.

A report by the General Accounting Office found that 83 of the largest 100 publicly traded US companies had subsidiaries in tax havens or "financial privacy" jurisdictions, as do 63 of the largest US federal contractors (PDF).

And yet, strangely enough, Republicans and Blue Dogs aren't getting behind Obama's push to close off-shore tax haven loopholes.


CBS golf analyst David Feherty suggests that US soldiers are eager to kill Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and oh yes, Usama bin Laden.
Update: CBS distances themselves from Fenerty.
Further update: Feherty apologises.

Whoof! 2010 Budget document weighs in at 1374 pages and $3.4 trillion. President cuts $17 billion in administrative expenses, Republicans laugh and jeer and boo and hiss. Good news, though,  Abstinence-only sex "education" is zeroed out!
Update: Republicans very displeased that one of their favorite programs is being so disrespected.

Hmm, Senator Specter, who just jumped from the Republican to the Democratic Party, wants an easy primary and then back to his old position. Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) wants to make things difficult for Specter. Go Joe!!! Here's a straw poll where we can encourage Sestak to run.
Democrats strip Specter of his committee chairmanships! Yee-hah!  Sorry, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pathetic on Specter.

Speaker Pelosi accused of approving torture back in 2002-3. Problem: It's really not clear by the documents that she was actually informed of any such thing. Even if she had been informed, it's really not clear what her options for protest were.

Bush administration lawyers committed serious lapses of judgment in writing secret memorandums authorizing brutal interrogations

Disbarment is recommended, but not prosecution.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor smeared by the New Republic in a truly appalling hit piece. Makes one almost wish that journalists had to get certified and approved so we could yank TNR's authorization to write. Sotomayor is not officially on the list for people to replace departing Supreme Court Justice David Souter, but if she was, her reputation has been destroyed anyway.

President Obama has stated that health care is a major priority of his. One would think, then, that the opposition party would have a clear idea of what their own plan was. Wel-l-l-l, not so much, actually.

Traditional media bored by President Obama's 100th-day press conference. Fox News claims that it was right not to cover the press conference as it didn't produce any news.
Erm, since when must a presidential press conference be exciting?!?!? When was this rule adopted? If reporters are bored, I'd suggest they find another line of work.

Wow! What's the weather like in what right-wingers refer to as "reality"? Y'know, in the place where

...George W. Bush tried to change the "tone" and Fox News "makes more of an effort to be balanced than any of the other networks and all the biggest newspapers in America."

Charles Krauthammer writes an insane op-ed where torture can be justified under the standard, usual "ticking time bomb" secnario and under one extremely broad catch-all:

The second exception to the no-torture rule is the extraction of information from a high-value enemy in possession of high-value information likely to save lives.

What in the heck doesn't fit under that exception?!?!? And how on Earth could anyone prove that the torturers didn't have a good-faith belief their victim didn't fall under these guidelines?  

Member of "The Village" interviews Speaker Pelosi about whether she agreed with CIAs torture. Pelosi makes the extremely good point that the CIA did not inform Congress as to what they were doing.

Kathleen Sebelius confirmed as Health & Human Services Secretary!  Despite intense opposition from anti- abortionists and religious conservatives, the vote was 65 to 31 in favor. As America is suffering an H1N1 (Swine flu) emergency at the moment, Republicans picked a spectactularly bad time to oppose an HHS nominee.

Senator Specter (Now a D-PA) switches parties. Kind of annoying that Democrats didn't demand any price for him doing so as he needs the Democrats far more than they need him.

Rush [Limbaugh] counseled Specter to take Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his daughter, Meghan, with him, and then pondered who else in the Senate should make the switch.

Sounds like a deal! We'll take the relatively sensible ones, y'all can take the wingnuts!

President Obama's 100-day mark. MMFA examines the relentless idiocy, triviality and mind-numbing stupidity that the press corps has brought to their looking at the President.
Obama gets an "A" for style. As in foreign policy, it will take at least a year to judge Obama's  performace, that's probably the best he could have done.

Very interesting post on torture. Very important point: it's critically important to know the right questions to ask before you can do the necessary research to answer them.

Republicans lose NY-20 Congressional race!

Back in January, [RNC Chairman Michael] Steele boasted, "That win will send a powerful signal to the rest of the country ... that our game is not up."

D'oh! So-o-o-o, now that "that win" turned out to be a loss, does that mean their game is up? It only took eight weeks to turn a 21-point lead into a hairsbreadth loss.

Meghan McCain speaks the truth that the traditional media dares not speak itself:

It's very unprecedented for someone like Karl Rove or Dick Cheney to be criticizing the president. My big criticism is just, you had your eight years, go away.

Other losers had the decency and propriety to just fade away or, like Al Gore, to wait at least 21 months before speaking out against the new administration. Rove and Cheney didn't even wait until Obama's first 100 days were up.
BTW, Cheney has requested documentation to show that torture works, but the documents he has requested are from 2004-5, a time when the revisioist effort was in full swing.

What torture proponents consider to be not-torture was officially considered torture back in 2002. Oh, and yes, they were fully aware "...that it would produce 'unreliable information.' " Oh, but to insist that the law be enforced would make the US a "banana republic."

Kudos to both Norah O'Donnell and Liz Cheney. To O'Donnell for actually asking tough questions and to Cheney for actually consenting to be interviewed by someone who didn't just praise her as people do her dad. Needless to say, Cheney's answers to O'Donnells' questions are completely delusional.

Yes, there's evidence that Democrats were complicit in torture policies, but

for most of us, we don’t care if the person has a (R) or (D) behind their name when they were instituting a policy of torture.

If Democrats were complict, we have zero problems with punishing them too. Also,

Democrats spent the last several years vehemently complaining about the "politicization of the Justice Department" under Alberto Gonzales.  Yet so many of these same Democrats are now demanding that the Obama DOJ refrain from prosecuting Bush criminals based on purely political grounds:  namely, that those prosecutions will interfere with Obama's political agenda. [emphasis in original]

Unfortunately, Democrats are clearly part of the problem.

President Obama strongly urges Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to release the Iranian-American reporter Roxana Saberi, expressing complete confidence that she is not a spy. Seems to be the two presidents versus Iranian hard-liners as Ahmadinejad appears to genuinely want her released. 
Fox News tries to invent a scandal by analysing the handshake between President Obama and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Meghan McCain finds it "creepy" that Karl Rove is
following her Twitter-feed.

Just how effective were the torture methods used on KSM and Abu Zubaydah? Obviously not very, considering how many sessions were needed to produce garbage.
Fox News of course, remains very enthusiastic about waterboarding.

Further thoughts on the "Teabagger protests" and how various arms of the media work with each other. 

Norm Coleman continues to drag his heels and continues to waste everyone's time by trying to drag out his hopeless quest to be declared the winner of the November 2008 Senatorial race against Al Franken. Even the right-wing blog Powerline is wondering why Coleman is dragging things out.
Here's an idea! Let's use Coleman's stubbornness against him and other Republicans!

Oh good grief! Can we please dispense with this idiotic nonsense about how short-term fluctuations in the stock market tells us anything meaningful about the news of the day?

No-o-o-o!!!1!#1!! Republicans are declaring Sarah Palin's future as leader of the party dead!

Obama DoJ releases Bush torture memos. link goes to President's comments and to PDFs at the ACLU. Memos are very largely unredacted. There are a few blacked-out sections, but not very many at all. Commentary from Greenwald, Digby, Looseheadprop, Ackerman and Emptywheel. Who does a traditional media TV show bring on to discuss the memos? Why, Gordon Liddy, of course! What? Don't we always bring on criminals to discuss criminals?

Unsurprising, predictable news of the day: The NSA, given the authority to undertake wide-ranging wiretapping without judicial supervision, overstepped its authority. What did people expect? It's not at all clear why anybody thought the NSA would properly supervise itself.

With the "Teabagger Party" demonstration in Atlanta, GA being the largest at 7000, total attendance for the parties nationwide is  estimated at around 250,000 (About half of what the Spice Girls' reunion tour drew). Philadelphia, PA only drew 200. Photos. Pretty unimpressive, overall. Fox News contributed some very overheated, extremist rhetoric. Glenn Beck is really amazed that the "Teabaggers" are being identified as "Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin followers" and then proceeds to defend the militia movement as having a point. Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos has some viciously critical things to say about ANSWER, Code Pink and Mumia, but he's also got a lot of sensible things to say about demonstrations in general and the "Teabaggers" versus other lefties over the past several years.
Hmm. Very, very interesting. A report from the Department of Homeland Security details threats from right-wing extremists and conservatives respond as if they've been attacked. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being concernd about the powers of the Federal Government, as right-wingers are now, but where were all these guys during the Bush Administration? Where was all of their touching concern about civil liberties then?!?!

The Republican National Committee has now removed all doubt and has officially endorsed the "Teabagger Parties."

Norm Coleman has absolutely, positively, unequivocally lost the position of Minnesota Senator to Al Franken. Why hasn't Norm conceded? Obviously, because the Republican Party doesn't want Democrats to gain that 59th seat.
Update: Inky uses APs vague, fuzzy description of contest results on  page A5.

Very happy to see the rescue of the Captain of the freighter that was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia. There are times and places where violence is called for. This was one of those. I heard that someone is under the impression that pirates have been romaticized. Uh, no. I enjoyed the movies with Johnny Depp and Kiera Knightley too, but I don't think anybody was seriously confused.
Update: Conservatives are cracking up over the rescue.

Summary of what's going on with Obama Administration and secrecy/Executive privilege issues. As much as we aprove of certain issues, we can't condone or forgive what's happening with warrantless wiretapping, keeping people behind bars without charges, etc.
Veterans of the Second Battle of Fallujah are working with game programmers/ artists to make a video game out of it.
No, the "teabagger" events are not grassroots events where people organized them from the bottom-up. They're controlled, organized and funded from the top-down.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki agrees to let Russia drill for oil in Iraq! This is a fairly big deal as one of the reasons the left concluded that the Iraq War was an imperial war for oil was that France and Russia were both booted out of Iraq as soon as US troops finished occupying the place. For Russia to come back in apparently means that the US has abandoned its imperial project.

Tens of Thousands [of Iraqis] Rally against US on Anniversary of Saddam's Fall

Only US media to pay attention was McClatchey.

Fox News is now trying to claim they have nothing to do with the "teabagger" parties that they're relentlessly advertising and fundraising for.

Oh, and hey, remember all those Republican Governors who didn't want that stimulus money? Wel-l-l-l, it seems their state legislators do and they were pretty darned loud about their preference, too!

Wolf Blitzer: How worried are you that the new government of Israel under Prime Minister Netanyahu will launch a strike to take out Iran's nuclear facilities?

VP Joe Biden: ... I think it would be ill-advised to do that.

*Whew!* Thank you VP Biden!!!!!
Update: Very, very interesting comment on why the US didn't go to war with Iran. Apparently, Europe didn't like the idea!

Harold Koh is being smeared by Republicans who want to protect Dear Leader Bush and his henchman Cheney. At stake is whether or not the US will be run by the Rule of Law or whether it will be run by the political leaders of the moment.

The secrecy/immunity claims of the Obama Administration just go too far. Even Keith Olbermann, who has been an enthusiastic Obama backer, has been criticizing him. There appears to be less and less difference between this president and the last one.

Photo collection of President Obama's European tour.

Yeah, that is a very good question. Why IS Newt Gingrich considered newsworthy?

Apparently, the shooter in Pittsburgh PA, Richard Andrew Poplawski listened to people like Glenn Beck (Fox News) and Wayne LaPierre (NRA). He believed that the US:

was secretly controlled by a cabal that would eradicate freedom of speech, take away his guns and use the military to enslave the citizenry.

Gee, where could he have gotten that idea?!?!?
Update: Beck tries desperately to convince his viewers that he's not to blame. Blames conspiracy theorists for all the negative press he's getting.

Awww! Poor "Joe The Plumber" gets booed in Pennsylvania! Very sad that his bookers don't appear to have realized they were sending him to very liberal, pro-labor areas of the state. At least Bush's bookers knew enough to send him only to places where he'd get welcomed

A McDonald's Quarter-Pounder with cheese clocks in at 510 calories. Rush Limbaugh considers it outrageous that the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine asked that a burger be labeled a "dietary disaster." How many calories is this burger? 4,800!!!

Norm Coleman appears to have hit the end of the road in contesting Al Franken for the title of Minnesota's Senator. 'Bout frakin' time!!!

The sheer and utter barbarism of Glenn Beck's political statements are really getting to the point where we have to ask why Fox News is giving this guy a platform. He's now suggesting that in order to not have to deal with the inconvenience of dealing with the Uighers (Enemies of China, but the US has no grudges against them), the US should simply execute such people "on the battlefield."

March

Looks like the Democrats have won NY-20! This is a special election in a district where Republican voters outnumber Democrats by 70,000. The liberal blogs didn't help the winning candidate because the Democrat is a "Blue Dog" (Not disloyal to America, but disloyal to Democratic principles). Not so much a victory for Democrats, but a crushing loss for Republicans. Senate Minority Leader John Boehner was originally saying that the race was going to be hugely significant. Now, errrr, not so much.
Update: As of 11:00am the next day, there's still no clear winner. Quite sad considering how confident they were just a little while ago.

Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) has taken an unusually sensible and principled stand on our criminal justice system.

We have 5% of the world's population; we have 25% of the world's known prison population.  ...

...either we have the most evil people on earth living in the United States; or we are doing something dramatically wrong...

Interesting thoughts on certainty, righteousness and politics. No, I haven't listened to Rush Limbaugh for any extended period of time, but I have heard and read far more than enough to know that the following claim concerning him:

I have never heard the man utter a single racist, hateful or stupid word.

is just too silly a statement to be taken seriously. The piece is worth a read for what it says about making generalizations about people we don't know.

One of the more moronically idiotic ideas to appear about our President is that he's far too dependent on a teleprompter. Obama proved during the Presidential Debates of 2008 that he is more than capable of thinking on his feet and to sound intelligent and informed while doing so. 

Republicans put out a "budget" proposal that, curiously for a budget proposal, contains almost no numbers.

Hans von Spakovsky, a "loyal Bushie" who contributed to Bush Administration vote suppression schemes, is now finding "politicization" in Donna Brazile's speaking about Women's History. 

The Obama press conference reviewed by two audiences, the American people understood that Obama is on a different, longer-view clock than most of Twittering-class Washingtonians are, but the news media found the conference boring and long and Obama professorial.

Funny thing, AIG executives get million-dollar bonuses, citizens get angry, media just sorta leaves the departed Bush Administration out of the picture. In fact, a poll gets taken, trying to determine who's responsible for the bonus mess and gee, wow, amazingly enough, the Bush Administration is left off of the list of people and institutions that deserve blame.

Bill O'Reilly attacks a blogger at Think Progress with an ambush interview, after which he airs a very highly selective video, leaving out all of his bad behavior. Of course, the blogger was never given the chance to do a proper sit-down interview and was never given a chance  to present her side on the show.

Obama rips Cheney! On 60 Minutes, Obama says he has no use for Cheney's anti-terrorist policies!
Update: Republcans beg Cheney "Please return to your undisclosed location!"

A month ago, in the Republican Party's official response to the State of the Union, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana said he thought spending $140 million for "volcano monitoring" was a waste of money. Well, guess what? A volcano that was being monitored just blew. Had the volcano not been monitored, thousands would have died. Fortunately, monitoring ensured that people living nearby could make a safe getaway.

Ooh! Good news! Harold Hongju Koh, an opponent of torture, is named the State Dept Legal Advisor. Speaking of State, cool piece on how Clinton is using technology to improve outreach and public education.

US relations with Iran are looking pretty good! Bill Kristol of course thinks the new policy amounts to appeasement, but Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is looking for concrete actions as opposed to nice words.    
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