Senate Intel Chair: Pentagon Office DID Break The
Law

post from TPMmuckraker on 08 February 2007 06:14:32 PM. © TPMmuckraker

As vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) was often outmaneuvered by GOP chair Pat Roberts (R-KS), when it came to prewar intelligence. In response to the Pentagon inspector general's report on the Office of...

Read The Full Article:
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002515.php

Digg this

Homophobia Vs. Terrorists

post from Crooks and Liars on 08 February 2007 06:09:38 PM. © Crooks and Liars

AlterNet :NY Congressman Gary Ackerman, confronting Condoleezza Rice on the military's firing of 300+ Arabic and Farsi translators, asked whether the State Dept. wouldn't be interested in them.Or does the State Dept have a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy like the military?Rice had repeatedly talked up the importance of hiring translators.According to The Frontlines, speaking [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/02/08/homophobia-vs-terrorists/

Digg this

UPDATE: Edwards campaign responds!

post from Capitol Talk - Front Page on 08 February 2007 06:05:22 PM. © Capitol Talk - Front Page

Official statement from John Edwards' blog:

The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte's and Melissa McEwan's posts personally offended me. It's not how I talk to people, and it's not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign, whether it's intended as satire, humor, or anything else. But I also believe in giving everyone a fair shake. I've talked to Amanda and Melissa; they have both assured me that it was never their intention to malign anyone's faith, and I take them at their word. We're beginning a great debate about the future of our country, and we can't let it be hijacked. It will take discipline, focus, and courage to build the America we believe in.

Read the response from Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen below the fold.
Via My DD, here are the responses from the two bloggers at the center of the "controversy."

Amanda Marcotte:

"My writings on my personal blog, Pandagon on the issue of religion are generally satirical in nature and always intended strictly as a criticism of public policies and politics. My intention is never to offend anyone for his or her personal beliefs, and I am sorry if anyone was personally offended by writings meant only as criticisms of public politics. Freedom of religion and freedom of expression are central rights, and the sum of my personal writings is a testament to this fact."

Melissa McEwen:

"Shakespeare's Sister is my personal blog, and I certainly don't expect Senator Edwards to agree with everything I've posted. We do, however, share many views - including an unwavering support of religious freedom and a deep respect for diverse beliefs. It has never been my intention to disparage people's individual faith, and I'm sorry if my words were taken in that way."

So uh, are they fired or not? I'll do some research and post later if I find anything.

[Hat tip Pam's House Blend!]

Developing...

|

Read The Full Article:
http://www.capitoltalk.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=90

Digg this

Loyalty to the Inexperienced is Not a Virtue

post from Francis L. Holland Blog on 08 February 2007 06:01:09 PM. © Francis L. Holland Blog

.

John Edwards' Hiring Decisions Raise Doubts about his Judgment.

Cross-posted at MyDD.

John Edwards hired some bloggers (who may or may not have professional experience on national campaigns) to help with his blogosphere campaign, apparently without reviewing those bloggers' past publications to determine whether they would be embarrassing to the Edwards campaign. When I last looked, one of the bloggers had a graphic about "auto-fellatio" on the "Bios" page of her site. There, it says, "Amanda settled for selling her soul to blogging when Satan confessed that even he had not the powers to turn her into the second coming of Diana Ross . . . [Amanda] does accept bribes." http://pandagon.net/bios/ http://farm1.static.flickr.com/82/250066 490_b00a21c263_m.jpg This might be funny to Amanda and a lot of other people, but it is not helpful in a presidential campaign that has to round up votes from people who are like us and people who are more conservative than we are.

The issue is not whether these self-reported things are true or not (I don't think they are), but rather whether these very public statements and others like them will help Presidential candidate John Edwards to avoid scandal and win votes over the next 18 months. This is not the stuff of professional national presidential campaigns, in my opinion. For how many additional days between now and 2008 will this be the topic of articles in the New York Times? http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Ed wards-Bloggers-2008.html

Now, like President Bush, Edwards' decision to retain these particular bloggers in spite of their inappropriateness for high- profile campaign roles proves that when Edwards retains people who are inexperienced and inappropriate for the jobs for which they have been hired, Edwards sticks by those hires no matter how much embarrassment and genuine damage their inexperience for this particular job may cause now and in the future.

This is not a good sign for the Edwards campaign any more than Bush sticking by Rumsfeld was a good sign for the future of Iraq. But, this is just my personal opinion and only time will tell.

Cross posted at http://francislholland.blogspot.com/

francislholland@yahoo.com

Read The Full Article:
http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2007/02/loyalty-to-inexperienced-is-not-virtu
e.html

Digg this

BELTWAY REPUGS SEEK TO DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM
GARY MILLER AS INDICTMENT NEARS

post from DownWithTyranny! on 08 February 2007 06:01:00 PM. © DownWithTyranny!

With Republicans getting nervous about Gary Miller's corruption being in the newspapers everyday, the extreme right-wing congressman has been coming under more and more pressure to resign. Today's Hill says he's still putting up a brave front and pleading-- as they all do-- innocence. He blames the media and the Democrats for the FBI and IRS investigations into the millions of dollars he managed to "acquire" through questionable real estate manipulations and by not paying any taxes on his huge profits.

Before Miller wad dragged in front of a closed GOP caucus meeting to defend his behavior, Boehner (R-OH) warned that the GOP will never win back the majority if people just continue seeing them as the party of corruption and that they need "an ethics strategy." He said members need to hold each other accountable. He mentioned that aside from Miller, two other egregiously corrupt Republicans from California, Jerry Lewis and John Doolittle, were also on the FBI's short list of possible indictees. Although he said that Lewis and maybe even Doolittle should be presumed innocent until proven guilty, he couldn't with a straight face make the same asserts about Miller. He wants to get Miller out of his position as ranking member on the Finance Committee?s Oversight and Investigations panel, which some Republicans-- especially the ones on the extreme fringe of the party (Miller's ideological home base)-- see as unfair because when the far right loons complained about Lewis retaining his status as ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Boehner let it slide. Miller is unlikely to run again, although several members of the OC GOP say they're still behind him no matter what he's done.

Read The Full Article:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2007/02/beltway-repugs-seek-to-distance.html

Digg this

Tony Snow, House Sergeant At Arms Rebut
Right-Wing Attacks On Pelosi

post from Think Progress on 08 February 2007 06:00:00 PM. © Think Progress

You know the right wing has gone off the ledge when even Tony Snow can’t stand by their attacks. During today’s White House press briefing, Snow beat back the false claim that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wants to misuse government resources. Snow called the conservative attacks a “silly story,” arguing that it is “important [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/08/pelosi-snow-livingood/

Digg this

The Narrowing Path Of Discourse

post from Gun Toting Liberal ? on 08 February 2007 05:59:00 PM. © Gun Toting Liberal ?

For some time now I’ve been writing about matters political. It has been stimulating. But then, jumping from an airplane without a parachute is stimulating, too.One aspect of political writing, as least these days, is that it involves a critical position with the expectation of a critical response. This might be [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://guntotingliberal.com/archives/723

Digg this

Gore to launch global warming concert series.

post from Think Progress on 08 February 2007 05:58:00 PM. © Think Progress

Al Gore is set to launch a series of concerts “bigger than Live Aid” planned for July “in a bid to put the subject of climate change before an audience of a global audience of 2bn. The event, scheduled for July 7, will feature co-ordinated film, music and television events in seven cities including London, [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/08/gore-to-launch-global-warming-concert-series/

Digg this

Russert thought Plame leak was "really big"

Tim Russert, who blabbed to the FBI about his conversation with Scooter Libby, thought the Valerie Plame leak was "really big." Funny how no one at NBC bothered to share the "really big" leak with their viewers. A "really big" story that they never told:

Mr. Russert, who limped into the courtroom Wednesday using a crutch because of a broken ankle, recalled that conversation for Mr. Fitzgerald, who took less than nine minutes to draw out the account, in which Mr. Russert said that Mr. Libby was ?agitated? about Mr. Matthews.

Asked how he could tell Mr. Libby was agitated, Mr. Russert replied: ?He said, ?What the hell?s going on with Hardball. Dammit, I?m tired of hearing my name over and over again.? ?

Mr. Russert insisted that it ?would be impossible? for him to have told Mr. Libby about Ms. Wilson in their conversation on July 10 or 11, 2003, ?because I didn?t know who that person was until I read the Bob Novak column.? He said that, when he read it on July 14, he said to himself, ?Wow, this is really big.?

You said it to yourself? You run the Washington bureau of NBC News. Your news team repeated the White House denials for years. You knew the White House was lying. Now, that's a "really big" story. Tim Russert, like most of the Washington press corps, blew it.

But, hey, Nancy Pelosi is going to get an Air Force plane to transport her (just like her predecessor did). That non-story came via the Moonie-owned Washington Times, so the Washington press corps is all over it.

The media's standards: Lying, leaking White House, not a story. Pelosi plane, big story. Idiots.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/88242176/russert-thought-plame-leak
-was-really.html

Digg this

Shirley Smith: And McCain Thinks He Is a
Representation of Today's Military

post from BuzzFlash - Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 08 February 2007 05:56:50 PM. © BuzzFlash - Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

MS. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON

BuzzFlash,

And, I suppose McCain thinks he is a representative of the US military today? This Bush criminal regime has done everything they can to shut up any voices in the military, and they don't even respect them enough to attend the funerals. We've seen one dead soldier brought home alone and with cargo as his companion and he gave all he had to give to this country and that is the respect our dead get from this treasonous regime.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/smith/139

Digg this