Unfathomable

post from Eschaton on 19 September 2007 09:10:00 AM. © Eschaton

Thus, the very idea that the Bush White House would be able to force enactment of FISA legislation once Democrats controlled the Congress would have seemed unfathomable, at least to many people. But after watching the Democrats meekly sit by and allow abolition of habeas corpus and then, when in control of Congress, grant the President vast new surveillance powers without receiving anything in exchange, it is inescapably clear that there are no limits on the willingness of Congressional Democrats to enable the President's worst excesses. If this NYT story is accurate and they really do intend to provide this retroactive immunity, their joint responsibility for most of the excesses of the Bush administration will be virtually complete.

Indeed.

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Jim Ridout: George Bush Feigning Success in Iraq

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 19 September 2007 09:02:28 AM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Jim Ridout

There has been a lot of talk this past week regarding the feigning policy of George Bush and the report given by General Petreaus. It has rallied the right. Freedom March has begun to run ads that are pro-war, which I believe are a first. Sort of a record breaker for them, to prey upon the misery and loss of families who have lost loved ones to assure them theirs that have departed this earth will be followed by many others if they have their way.

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Technorati Tags: Reader Contribution Jim Ridout Iraq General Petraeus General Betray us George W. Bush surge John Kennedy

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Crunch Time

post from Firedoglake on 19 September 2007 09:01:17 AM. © Firedoglake

Video of Sen. Jim Webb explaining the importance of the Webb Amendment.The cloture vote on the Habeas Restoration amendment is scheduled for 10:30 am ET this morning. Please take some time and call your Senators and encourage them to vote for cloture on[...]

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ThinkFast: September 19, 2007

post from Think Progress on 19 September 2007 09:00:00 AM. © Think Progress

NOTE: ThinkProgress introduced a new commenting system last night. Learn more details about it here. You can register either through the comments section or by clicking on “register” at the top right hand side of the sidebar.

“Unable to garner enough Republican support, Senate Democratic leaders said yesterday that they are abandoning a bipartisan effort to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq by next spring.” Instead, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is expected to push for a firm deadline, this time June 2008. “It’s all definite timelines,” Reid said.

Sen. John Warner (R-VA) suggested yesterday that he may pull his support for Sen. Jim Webb’s (D-VA) measure to give the overstretched armed forces more rest. Warner voted for the measure last July, but he now claims to be appeased by the administration’s token withdrawal. Call your Senators and demand their support for Webb’s pro-troop amendment.

29: President Bush’s approval rating in the latest Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday, which is “below his worst Zogby poll mark of 30 percent in March.”

“A preliminary Iraqi report on a shooting involving” private security firm Blackwater USA says the company’s employees “were not ambushed, as the company reported, but instead fired at a car when it did not heed a policeman’s call to stop, killing a couple and their infant.” The Iraqi Interior Ministry says it has revoked Blackwater’s license over the incident.

The U.S. military has introduced “religious enlightenment” programs for Iraqi detainees. The commander of U.S. detention facilities said the effort is intended to “bend them back to our will.” It is also an effort to identify “irreconcilables” and “put them away” in permanent detention facilities.

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Secret History of the Taser

post from My Left Wing - Front Page on 19 September 2007 08:57:14 AM. © My Left Wing - Front Page

Crossposted from Town Called Dobson

click to enlarge

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Don't Dare Question The General

post from Eschaton on 19 September 2007 08:55:00 AM. © Eschaton

Joe Klein told me that Petraeus was honorable, so I know this can't be true either.

Sept. 14, 2007 - In endorsing Gen. David Petraeus's recommendations on Iraq, President George W. Bush said Thursday night that at least 21,500 U.S. combat forces, plus support troops, could leave Iraq and come home by next July. Curiously, the first military unit designated by Petraeus to return is the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit based at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif., north of San Diego.

But the 13th MEU, a support unit that has been in Iraq on its current tour for about three months, was already scheduled to return home from Iraq on Nov. 17. Their new date of arrival under the drawdown plan? Still Nov. 17. Other Marine units have been in Iraq as much as three times longer than the 13th MEU, and some active-duty Army soldiers are serving 15-month tours, the longest of the war. Relatives of the 2,000-member 13th MEU, most of whom have known for more than a month that the unit was coming home, are collectively a bit confused by the inclusion of the 13th MEU in the announcement of troop cuts, and some are even angry.

?I think General Petraeus is using normal circumstances and turning them into some kind of big deal,? says Melissa Hurt, 24, wife of a 13th MEU Sgt. Andy Hurt, 24. Originally from Minnesota, the couple has been married for four years and they have a 9-month-old son. ?I don?t understand how this can be called a troop reduction since Andy was already scheduled to come home in November and was not scheduled to return to Iraq. There are guys who?ve been in Iraq for more than a year. They should bring them home first. I know my husband agrees with me.?

Wendy Foulis, whose husband, Gunnery Sgt. Gerald Foulis, is a member of the 13th MEU but was with other units previously and is completing his third tour in Iraq, says she has ?absolutely no idea? why the general singled out her husband?s unit. ?It?s the general?s decision, I won?t presume anything, but we?ve known our guys were coming home for more than a month,? she says. ?This wasn?t a surprise. But since they were part of the surge, and since this unit is not designed for the type of work they did in Iraq, I guess it has something to do with that.?

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Romney wants to act like a Republican

post from The Newshoggers on 19 September 2007 08:47:00 AM. © The Newshoggers

by shamanic

Which he's been doing a fairly good job of this year: anti-gay (unlike in the past), pro-life (unlike in the past), anti-earmark (unlike in the past), anti-immigrant (not sure, but I'm going to guess: unlike in the past).

Really, Romney's latest ad is just classic: "When Republicans act like Democrats, America loses." God forbid the GOP get over its inherent homophobia, its hatred of people of color, its loathing for effective governance, and start acting like Democrats. Watch his lame ad - which I'm sure speaks loudly to the few who continue to be committed to the Republican party - here.

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This Can't Be True

AP:

NEW YORK Gen. David Petraeus' report to Congress and President Bush's nationally televised address have had little impact on Americans' distaste for the Iraq war and their desire to withdraw U.S. troops, polls show.

Fifty-four percent still favor bringing the troops home as soon as possible, a measurement that has not changed in months, according to a poll released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. And despite slight improvements in peoples' views of military progress, more said the U.S. will likely fail in Iraq than succeed by 47 percent to 42 percent, about the same margin as in July.

Nearly half, or 49 percent, said Bush should remove more troops than he announced he would last week, when he said he would withdraw some forces but leave at least 130,000 in Iraq at least until next summer. Thirty-eight percent said Bush's plan goes far enough.

Overall, two out of three said their views on the war had not been changed by presentations last week by Bush and Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

But the liberal New York Times told me:

In a September 15 article, The New York Times asserted that "[t]here were signs on [September 14] that [President] Bush's address might have succeeded in shifting some sentiment."

Oh, wait, the shifting sentiment they were talking about was at the... Washington Post editorial board.

Just kill me.

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Democracy Not If You Live In Washington DC

While the White House and Republicans are more than willing to have thousands American soldiers die for ~~WMD~~ a delusional dream of democracy in Iraq, they aren't willing to extend that same right to the citizens of the District of Columbia.

Republican lawmakers yesterday blocked the Senate from taking up the D.C. vote bill, a potentially fatal setback for the District's most promising effort in years to get a full member of Congress.

The vote was on a motion to simply consider the bill. Fifty-seven senators voted in favor, three short of the 60 needed to proceed. Without enough support to vault the Senate's procedural hurdles, the bill is expected to stall this year and possibly next year.

Of course the only reason the Republicans opposed the bill was because it would have added two more presumably Democratic House seats, although their stated reason was because it was unconstitutional. That's rich. The Party the favors warrantless wiretaps and killed the writ of habeas corpus is suddenly worried about the Constitution?

Update: As pointed out by kovie in the comments, the bill would have added one seat for DC and one for Utah.