$12 billion per month

post from AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth on 09 July 2007 11:50:00 PM. © AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

That's how much the US is paying each month to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with most of that - $10 billion - going to Iraq. The GOP couldn't find money to address the health care crisis nor was it financially possible to take action against global warming but somehow funding a war against Iraq, which had no connection to 9/11, was possible. Worse still, the earlier predictions for spending were not even close.

How many years will this financial burden hover over the economy?

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Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 09 July 2007 11:38:49 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Some of my favorite progressives in the blogosphere have a new address. Welcome to the neighborhood, Open Left.

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/09/open-thread-526/

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Late Nite FDL: Magic Numbers

post from Firedoglake on 09 July 2007 11:26:48 PM. © Firedoglake

Well, the DC Madam story just gets more and more interesting, doesn’t it? Today, the Beltway’s erstwhile doyenne of high-dollar prostitution, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, decided to release her private phone records to the public for our[...]

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http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/07/09/late-nite-fdl-magic-numbers/

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Late Night

post from Eschaton on 09 July 2007 11:17:00 PM. © Eschaton

Biofuels!

Or, read George Eliot.

...adding, a bunch of people have suggested that the Vitter press release is proof that ABC inappropriately sat on info. I don't know if that's the case, but from what I understand ABC only got a few years of the phone records before the judge temporarily stopped it. It's late so I'm too lazy to hunt it up, but from what I remember the "DC Madam" said that only 4 years had been handed over and I believe the years in question wouldn't have included the time period suggested by the Vitter info.

For all I know ABC did sit on stuff we'd consider appropriately newsworthy, but I don't think this revelation demonstrates that point.

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http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_07_08_archive.html#233045121175126925

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In Different Area Codes...

post from Ezra Klein on 09 July 2007 11:15:00 PM. © Ezra Klein

You know, despite thinking prostitution should be fully legal, I've never quite understood the appeal. Maybe I should ask the Republican Senator from Louisiana, David Vitter......[...]

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http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2007/07/in-different-ar.html

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The End of the O'Connor Era

post from Ezra Klein on 09 July 2007 11:13:00 PM. © Ezra Klein

Dahlia's right, the speed and glee with which the Roberts Court has dismantled the legacy of Sandra Day O'Connor is truly impressive. As Dahlia explains, "So far, the court has explicitly minimized?or, more frequently, stepped distastefully[...]

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http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2007/07/the-end-of-the-.html

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Impeachment by Frog-Marching Congressional
Oversight

post from Daily Kos on 09 July 2007 11:11:21 PM. © Daily Kos

[Promoted from the Diaries - Meteor Blades]

Meteor Blades wrote:

Impeachment is the right remedy right now. But transforming it from blog-shriek into reality - if that can be done - will require a fresh approach.

My approach has some fresh footprints to fill with life and energy some existing Congressional oversight powers that have been gathering dust in the closet even though they have the Supreme Court stamp of approval and have been very effective against uncooperative executive branch officials in the past. It is a bold and dramatic approach tailored to counter Bush's obstructionist MO and false bravado. Bush now has a pattern of obstructing justice by refusing to permit witnesses to testify or provide evidence in oversight hearings while he waves his sword of executive privilege. But, Bush's sword is nothing more than pretentious swaggering to scare Congress from exercising its powers or litigating.

It's time for Congress to use its powers in a 3-step plan to get the evidence we need to convince the public and lawmakers that "Impeachment is the right remedy right now."

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http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/132147175/62042

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C&Ls Late Nite Music Club with Bad Religion

post from Crooks and Liars on 09 July 2007 11:08:33 PM. © Crooks and Liars

One of the things for which I am most grateful about being able to contribute here at C&L is the number of really wonderful, progressive bloggers I have come to know. One of those people is SteveAudio, who suggested this LNMC.Sorrow, from their album The Process of BeliefRead what Steve had to say about [...]

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/09/cls-late-nite-music-club-with-bad-religi
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Karl Rove Takes Questions on Iraq and PlameGate

Karl Rove was in Aspen this weekend for the Aspen Ideas Festival. He spoke and answered questions about a range of issues from Iraq to Guantanamo and the leak of former CIA Agent Valerie Plame's identity. His role as Bush's water-carrier continues.

On Gitmo:

"It may not be Gitmo," Rove said about where the prisoners might go. "But it's going to be the brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Or it's going to be the Pitkin County Jail. Or the Florence, Colorado maximum-security facility. We've got to hold them somewhere. These are bad people. These are people who threatened the United States of America."

As Rove tells it, the biggest problem at Guantanamo is weight gain.

On his role in the CIA leak:

"My contribution to this was to say to a reporter, which is a lesson about talking to reporters, the words 'I heard that, too.'"

and

all he told Matt Cooper of Time magazine, in an off-the-record conversation, was to be careful about reporting the Wilson story.

He denies being part of the discussions to commute Scooter Libby's sentence, but defended the decision:

According to Rove,

...the President's statement "hit the right tone" as it was "respectful of the decision" that Libby "was guilty of misleading the grand jury."

So perjury and obstruction of justice are now reduced to "misleading the grand jury?"

Here's what Rove had to say last year at the Festival.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/132144634/61961

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Dead-Enders

Who could these people possibly be?

Cheney is now viewed disapprovingly by 59 percent of Americans, four points less than Quayle's high of 63 percent in July 1992. Meanwhile, Cheney's personal favorability is an astounding 13 percent — an all-time low.

Thirteen percent of America, Lynn, and W. Fine company.