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Saturday, June 18, 2005
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Surely Not
My wife has suspected this
for more than a year: A Bush-watcher website identified as TBRNews.org
is reporting under the byline of "domestic intelligence reporter" Brian
Harring that the Department of Defense is using a cynical tactic to
mislead the public regarding the true death toll for American military
personnel in Iraq. Harring claims he has an internal pdf. file from the
D.O.D. which...
[corrente]
11:03:27 PM 
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The Daily Pulse: Jelly Fingers Edition.
Not much commentary today. I was almost done when the three year old
hit delete. I had to do it over again, and did not have the time, or
the patience, to completely recreate....
[MyDD]
10:11:01 AM
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The Hottest Debt - Explicit And Uncensored!. What is almost certainly one of the most awful political ideas in history just got a little bit worse.
Key Republican lawmakers, scrambling to keep
President Bush's Social Security proposals afloat, plan next week to
embrace an idea that many have avoided thus far: funding personal
retirement accounts with surplus revenue that now pays for other
government programs.
The strategy is controversial because it would create new budget
problems. Either the diverted money would have to be replaced with new
taxes, or Congress would have to slash programs now funded by Social
Security's excess payroll taxes.
Republicans said yesterday that they will address those concerns
later. First, they said, they want to create momentum and enthusiasm
for Bush's proposed private accounts, which are so unpopular with
congressional Democrats and with many Americans that some supporters
privately consider them in deep peril.
The writer doesn't make this clear, but the idea is to use the
surplus Social Security money that's not only keeping a significant
portion of the government afloat, but likely also some of the money
that's keeping Social Security solvent...to destroy Social Security and
push the entire government further into debt.
To be fair, though, they're just making the massive spending that will be required to finance private accounts explicit, which was the goal all along. Right? [Pandagon]
10:07:35 AM
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In case you missed it . Catching up on Consortium News:
Robert Parry says the case against Bush is a slam-dunk:The
latest piece of the puzzle was reported by Charles J. Hanley of the
Associated Press in an article on June 4 describing how Bush's
Undersecretary of State John Bolton orchestrated the ouster of global
arms control official Jose Bustani in early 2002 because Bustani's
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons [OPCW] was making
progress toward getting arms inspectors back into Iraq. There were a lot
of knowledgeable Washington insiders at the time saying that Bush was
trying to set Saddam up for war, but somehow the entire Washington
Press Corps either couldn't hear it or didn't think it was important to
tell us. What's up with that? Someone ask Michael Kinsley.Observing
the behavior of the national news media over the past three years has
been like watching incompetent players in the mystery game "Clue" as
they visit all the rooms and ask about all the suspects and weapons,
but still insist on guessing at combinations that are transparently
incorrect. Parry also notes that Bush's SEC Choice Hyped 'Chinagate'. That's Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA):George
W. Bush's nominee to oversee Wall Street produced a congressional
report in 1999 that laid the principal blame for China's alleged theft
of nuclear secrets on the Clinton administration when the primary
rupture of secrets actually could be traced to the Reagan-Bush
administration of the 1980s. I agree with the content of Pour on the Media! - but I do have a criticism. As
George W. Bush's poll numbers sink to his personal lows and the
mainstream news media finally reports on the Downing Street Memo, what
political factors should get the credit for these changes? And what are
the lessons for the future? He talks about Air America
Radio and the Internet, but I actually felt that at this point he owed
it to us to name a few of those net sources - sources that the AAR
hosts and researchers obviously read voraciously every day in order to
be up to date on not just the news but the background and analysis.
There's not a question in my mind that Team Franken, Rachel Maddow's
bunch, and Janeane and Sam are checking out Eschaton, LiberalOasis, and Daily Kos at the very least with more than daily regularity. (And I'm pretty sure someone
who reads this page is passing things on to Janeane - she's repeated
too many Sideshow-originated terms and memes for me to think they all
got there from some other original source.) That's why they always have
plenty to say and are so quick off the mark to spit back at any
right-wing meme that's come around in the course of the latest news
cycle. Credit where it's due, guys.And putting those subjects all together, LMSM, the 'Lying Mainstream Media' looks at the strange excuses that have been appearing in The Washington Post
for why they didn't cover the Downing Street Minutes because they "add
not a single fact to what was previously known about the
administration's prewar deliberations. Not only that: They add nothing
to what was publicly known in July 2002." Says Parry: Oh, really?While
it may be true that some people were alleging what the secret British
memos now confirm, those people were vocal opponents of invading Iraq
and were treated by the Post and other pro-war news outlets as fringe
characters fit only to be ignored. In other news:Josh Marshall wonders how well Kerry would do if an election between him and Bush were held today. The latest NYT poll suggests Bush might not do too well in that situation. "And People Wondered..." says Atrios, "...why I blogged anonymously when I was an academic," linking to this post from Majikthise: Think
about what happened: A CUNY sociologist was tried in the media for an
unsigned polemic he wrote as a private citizen and posted to an obscure
independent website. There were no complaints about Tim Shortell's
scholarship, his service to his department, his teaching, or his
rapport with the CUNY community. By the way, Atrios
has really been cookin' since he came back from his wanderings, and if
you haven't been paying attention over the last week especially, I
recommend that you catch up now. The Stakeholder
has photos of that wild hippie-lefty rabble that Dana Milbank seemed to
be describing at the Conyers-led hearing on the Downing Street Minutes. I sure hope John Aravosis is right about the future. Matt
Taibbi is turning out to be a real firecracker, with some of the
strongest writing around. Check out his piece on Deep Throat in The New York Press, Throat Job. The Official God FAQ (via Biomes Blog).
[The Sideshow]
10:06:41 AM
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Setting Expectations.
In a throwaway line in the middle of a longer post on the influence of
alternative media on politics, Markos mentions this:Now money is
flowing into a VC fund that's looking to create an alternative to Fox
News on the cable dial, while also building out other elements of a
progressive media machine. The idea isn't to recreate what the Right
did, but build a better machine tailored for the 21st century. First of
all, this is a really good idea, and I assume Markos knows what he's
talking about here. He's been hinting around this sort of thing for
several...
[Paperwight's Fair Shot]
6:54:36 AM
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Break a Rule? Go to Jail..
Many apologies for extended absence. I'm back for a bit, with yet
another report about the criminalization of black students in our
public schools. This time, Chicago is in the news:Accusing an
elementary school in Lawndale of "criminalizing" black students...
[two feet in.]
6:53:24 AM
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Update on the Senate's anti-lynching resolution
When the US Senate
apologized for its history of inaction against lynching earlier this
week, 20 Senators were missing from the list of cosponsors. As of this
morning, eight of those Senators have signed on retroactively.
The new cosponsors are:
Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] - 6/14/2005
Sen Conrad, Kent [ND] - 6/14/2005
Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] - 6/15/2005
Sen Hatch, Orrin G. [UT] -
- Professor Kim
[Professor Kim's News Notes]
6:46:55 AM
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Quote Of The Day
One of the saddest lessons
of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to
reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in
finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too
painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we've been so
credulous....
-- Carl Sagan
- canuk
[CanadianPerspective]
6:30:50 AM
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Quote Of The Day
"The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means."......
-- Georges Bernanos
- canuk
[CanadianPerspective]
6:28:52 AM
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Jeb Just Can't Admit He Was Wrong
Not admitting to mistakes
must run in the Bush Family bloodline. Just like his brother King
George, who absolutely refuses to admit to making any mistakes, little
brother Jebby can't or won't either.
Rather than admit he was wrong in interfering in the Terri Schiavo
case, he now wants to extend the matter by finding a prosecutor who
agreed to launch an investigation as to why Terri Schiavo...
- canuk
[CanadianPerspective]
6:28:16 AM
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© Copyright
2005
Michael Mussington.
Last update:
7/1/2005; 6:37:35 AM.
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