vacation

Back on August 15

More like him, hopefully

Here's a Republican appointed judge,Judge John Coughenour, who says exactly what some of us have thought since 9/11 and the stupefying right wing crazy attack on the Constitution that followed. Bad enough New York gets attacked, but worse when the Constitution goes up in smoke because of it.

The judge's remarks were apparently made during his sentencing of would be bomber Ahmed Ressam. Today these remarks are inspiring. Amazing, since we used to take what he is saying for granted, as a birthright, as a part of the definition of who we are as a people. No more.

Hopefully there are more out there (somewhere) like Judge John Coughenour.

Secondly, though, I would like to convey the message that our system works. We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, or detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant, or deny him the right to counsel, or invoke any proceedings beyond those guaranteed by or contrary to the United States Constitution.

The above quote quoted from Hunter at Kos. There's more here and it is all good.

Visit Ohio in Harper's

Mark Crispin Miller has an article in the current Harper’s about how the 2004 presidential election was stolen in Ohio. There’s an introduction on Harper’s web site, here and a more detailed summary here.

People seem to be so sick of this administration’s ability to get away with outright theft and corruption that they just don’t want to look at it. Corruption, lies and criminal acts by the Bushistas and their supporting media agents is part of the landscape and we should all just get over it, stuff our embarrassment and depression and go quietly about our business like good Germans in the 30's.

I don’t think so. First, check out the links above and then go buy Harper’s and pass it around. Then resolve to challenge them every way you can, even in casual conversations with those that support these crazy pricks.

Resistance begins in your own livingroom and in the corner saloon.

Thanks to the Mahablog and The Sideshow

One more time

Everyone who pays even a half assed attention to political news and has even an occasional ability to think objectively should know by now that the 2000 and 2004 elections were rigged.

That means efforts to win votes are futile if votes are not cast and counted fairly.

One way to fight back against this coup is for candidates to refuse to concede and to exhaust every challenge in every lost election.

In case you need a refresher on what happened in Ohio in 2004, read the paragraphs below and go to Taibi's article and read the rest.

Here's a link to the New York Press article "HIGHLY IRREGULAR The Ohio election story is going to come back," by Matt Taibi.

Here's the thing about Ohio. Until you really look at it, you won't understand its significance, which is this: the techniques used in this particular theft have the capacity to alter elections not by dozens or hundreds or even thousands of votes, but by tens of thousands.

And if we ignore this now, we're putting proven methods for easily ripping off major elections in the hands of the same party that had no qualms whatsoever about lying its way into a war in Iraq. In the hands of a merely corrupt political party, a bad election or two would be no big deal. But these clowns we have in power now imagine themselves to be revolutionaries, and their psychology is a lot like that of the leadership of Enron, pre-meltdown—with each passing day that they get away with it, they become more convinced by a delusion of righteousness.

via the Mahablog

Here we go again

The Pentagon is laying the groundwork for beginning a withdrawal from Iraq, even as it is weighing the risk of moving so quickly that Iraqi security forces collapse without U.S. support.

From The Washington Post

Have we forgotten Vietnam? Remember the stampede when we began to withdraw? People on the embassy rooftop grabbing hold of helicopter struts?

Seems pretty likely we are in for it all over again. We begin to leave and the rate of descent into complete chaos accelerates until it is stabilized by Iran or an Iran friendly, fundamentalist strongman. Is that what we are fighting for? Does that make their=our oil any safer?

Go see Billmon again. He has another great post.

Floridian

Sooner or later Democrats are going to get it through their heads that working to win elections is a pointless effort if the votes are not fairly cast and honestly counted. Until they do we will continue to spin our wheels, burn rubber and go nowhere while Republicans manufacture just enough votes to stay in power.

Here’s the inimitable Billmon on the Schmidt/Hackett "election."

Manchurian president

I don't accuse President Bush of being a foreign agent, but can anyone imagine how a real Manchurian Candidate could have weakened the United States any more effectively?

This is a conclusion that follows a list of reasons (I'm sure you can probably guess most of them) from BuzzFlash, here.

Via The Sideshow

A hard left to the gut

Here's another terrific response to Will Marshall, Republican Lite at the DLC. Read the whole thing, it will make you feel good.

...Will, it's not that I don't sympathize with you on the surface. If all you do is sit around watching Fux News and suck your thumb, you do indeed come to the conclusion that people hate Democrats and think they're traitorous bastards who despise America. If all you do is listen to Rush, if all you do is listen to your asshole Republican brother in law at the family barbecue, if all you do is stand there and let them tell you, day after day, what is wrong with you, I can see coming to the same conclusion you have. It's so hard, isn't it. Everybody's so mean.

But what we have do, Will my love, is not "come to terms" with what our opposition says we are and promise, really promise, the American people we'll change. What we need, Will, is not some national apology session in which we say we regret opposing a war that was in fact wrong and that we did in fact lose. What we need is not some sort of press conference to announce that we're sorry we hurt all those segregationists' feelings all those years ago by opining timidly that perhaps police should not turn hoses on peaceful protestors and that we should all just drink out of the same fountain. Because when you talk about protest culture, Will, that's what you're talking about. That's what they're really mad about....

The link may load a little slowly because Atrios also posted a link and very likely the hordes that visit Eschaton are crowding the doorway.

One big union

Instead of watching passively as unions drive the final nails into their coffins, maybe we should all get together in a single union for all workers.

Iran is winning the Iraq war

In case you're feeling good about things this Monday morning you can bring yourself down, way down, by reading Billmon's very smart post on the situation in Iraq.

Spreading freedom

Most likely you are not wondering what happened to the release of the additional Abu Ghraib torture photos and videos but if you are then follow these links to Kos for an explanation and some sickening descriptions of what they contain. Here and here.

Legal lynching

Keeping religion out of politics is always a good idea. Too bad it’s an idea that may not be realized much longer.

In Iran, where politics and religion are the same, they hung two boys for homosexual acts. Go to this post at Talk Left and follow the links.

Miller blast from the past

For those who missed it or forgot it and for those who think Judy Miller is a journalist here's a link to Ed Said's review of her book:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=19960812&s=said

From a few paragraphs into the review:

...Writing about any other part of the world, Miller would be considered woefully unqualified. She tells us that she has been involved with the Middle East for twenty-five years, yet she has little knowledge of either Arabic or Persian. It would be impossible to be taken seriously as a reporter or expert on Russia, France, Germany or Latin America, perhaps even China or Japan, without knowing the requisite languages, but for "Islam," linguistic knowledge is unnecessary since what one is dealing with is considered to be a psychological deformation, not a "real" culture or religion.

What of her political and historical information? Each of the ten country chapters (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan) begins with an anecdote and moves immediately to a potted history that reflects not much more than the work of a name-dropping college sophomore. Cobbled up out of various, not always reliable authorities (her pages of footnotes are tainted by her ignorance, whether because she can only cite the sources she already knows she wants in English, or because she quotes only authorities whose views correspond to hers, thereby closing out an entire library by Muslims, Arabs and non-Orientalist scholars), these histories are meant principally to display her command of the material, but actually expose her lamentable prejudices and failures of comprehension. ...

Roberts

Roberts is a great litmus test. Show people one of the photos of Roberts being posted around and if they say “looks like a bigoted, right wing, hypocritical nutcase to me” you know they’ve got their perceptions and politics in correct alignment. If they say “what a fine looking, clean cut man” clam up immediately, excuse yourself and slip out the door.

Cheney/Miller

The more Rovegate unfolds the more it looks like a smaller piece in the puzzle than the more important Cheney/Miller connection. Check out Talk Left's exploration of the winding paths from Cheney/Miller to the headlines the Plame leak may have taken.

It could be that Rove and Novak have concocted a story that will pretty well cover Rove. If Rove is covered it makes perfect sense that Cheney and his hoods are delighted to let him divert attention from Cheney. The real shit storm could be unleashed if Miller ever testifies to what actually occurred. Of course she will not give it up because her story probably goes right to the VP and because her shameful story reveals her to be more Republican operative than journalist.

It's back to Gannon

At the least it’s entertaining that Rove Gate comes all the way around to Judy Miller's fellow journalist and teammate Jeff Gannon. After reading Josh Marshall it becomes easier to understand why Gannon got so much preferential treatment. He could bring house down.

Krugman

If you read only one column a day, or in your life, read today's New York Times column by Paul Krugman.

The gang can't shoot straight

"Bush admin may be responsible for botching effort to thwart London bombing"

One of the great fake auras that cling to Cheney, Bush and the other right wing coup leaders is the myth of competence. This mass delusion is so powerful it withstands every fuck up from drunken stumbles to the disastrous Iraq war. If you are on the right and you scare the shit out of people, wear a suit, have a deep voice, a snarl and grab bag full of lies, people think you know what you’re doing.

It isn’t so. For the details on one fuck up that resulted in the London bombs go to Americablog.com and read the linked post.

These asses will do anything for a little political leverage.

update: Visit Juan Cole for more.

Where's Dick?

We’ve been wondering what Cheney’s role in Rove Gate was and found some of the questions are cleared up here. Questions, of course, that lead to more questions. Could it be that Cheney is the real target of the Fitzgerald investigation?

Cheney is the real power. Bush is an empty suit dancing on a short leash, allowed to shoot off his mouth, strut, bully and act out within the strict confines of a script written elsewhere. The viciousness of the Plame outing suggests both Cheney and Rove and my guess is that the junta is delighted that Rove is getting all the attention and Cheney, so far, is skating.

Check out the link here and above to Talk Left for a masterful assembling of information that points to Cheney’s involvement.

Pa opens a door

If you're considering elective surgery here's something to think about.

More than 11,600 patients contracted infections during hospital stays in Pennsylvania last year _ and nearly 1,800 of them died, according to a new report by a state agency that tracks health care trends.

Pennsylvania is one of at least a half-dozen states that require hospitals to report information on infections, and it is the first state to publicize its findings....

Since hospitals are not anxious to report this information unless required to do so and apparently the states are even less likely to release the information, we could use more requirements. It's the kind of information you like to have when picking a hospital.

Congratulations to Pennsylvania.