from the BBC:
US held youngsters at Abu Ghraib
A US military intelligence officer leads an Iraqi prisoner at Abu Ghraib
The US military says no children suffered abuse at Abu Ghraib
Children as young as 11 years old were held at Abu Ghraib, the Iraqi prison at the centre of the US prisoner abuse scandal, official documents reveal.
Brig Gen Janis Karpinski, formerly in charge of the jail, gave details of young people and women held there.
Her assertion was among documents obtained via legal action by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
3.07.2005
on putting your money where you mouth is....
DAILY GRILL--from today's American Progress Report
"People on both sides of the aisle have called upon the administration to submit a budget that helps meet our obligations of – our goal of reducing the deficit in half over a five-year period, and this budget does just that."
– President Bush, 2/7/05
VERSUS
"Over the 2006-2015 period, the president's proposals would increase the total deficit by an estimated $1.6 trillion."
– Congressional Budget Office, analysis of White House budget, 3/7/05
on more 'hard work' that didn't get done
salon.com's war room summarizes today's NYT article about Bushco's missteps and failures in "supporting our troops"
Failing the troops
Again and again on the presidential campaign trial, George W. Bush railed against John Kerry for voting against an $87 billion supplemental appropriation for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. After Kerry said the matter was "complicated" -- he wanted to finance the $87 billion by rolling back some of Bush's tax cuts -- Bush turned the issue into a centerpiece of his stump speech. To huge applause from his hand-picked audiences, Bush would say, "There is nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat."
Failing the troops
Again and again on the presidential campaign trial, George W. Bush railed against John Kerry for voting against an $87 billion supplemental appropriation for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. After Kerry said the matter was "complicated" -- he wanted to finance the $87 billion by rolling back some of Bush's tax cuts -- Bush turned the issue into a centerpiece of his stump speech. To huge applause from his hand-picked audiences, Bush would say, "There is nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat."
Well, then, how will the president explain the report in this morning's New York Times detailing the administration's bumbling in providing body armor for those troops? While Donald Rumsfeld and others on Bush's team have long insisted that the administration is providing the troops with the best equipment possible just as quickly as possible, the Times' report proves otherwise. A month into the Iraq war -- when the administration was still in deep denial about the insurgency to come -- the Army shut down orders for body armor for many of the troops in Iraq, the Times says.
A month later, the Army reversed course, but the stop-and-start action was only the beginning of the problems in getting body armor to troops. Once the Army began ordering body armor again, the Times reports, it took 167 days "just to start getting the bulletproof vests to soldiers in Iraq." Other countries ordered similar vests from a U.S. supplier and got them to their soldiers in Iraq in just 12 days, the Times says. More than 200 U.S. soldiers were killed between the time the Pentagon shut down orders for body armor and the time that new vests finally started arriving in Iraq again; if any of those soldiers died because they lacked the body armor, the administration plainly bears at least some of the blame.
The Times' investigation reveals any number of other failings in the administration's effort to "support the troops." Among them: The Pentagon contracted with a former employee to manufacture the ceramic plates needed for the body armor even though his company had never successfully manufactured anything -- and ultimately failed to manufacture the ceramic plates, too; the Pentagon created so many delays in the process of contracting for body armor that one manufacturer was forced to lay off employees and shut down its plant for two months while soldiers were waiting for their vests; the Pentagon failed to push U.S. manufacturers to build armor-plating for Humvees at adequate rates; and, at least in the eyes of some troops, the military punished soldiers who spoke out about the problems the delays caused.
It turns out that supporting the troops isn't just complicated -- it's "hard work," too. For all of its yellow-ribbon, bumper-sticker politics, the administration appears not to have done it so well.
-- Tim Grieve
3.03.2005
"gannons everywhere"
for those of you following the shenanigannons...
salon.com's War Room has this to report:
Gannons everywhere
On Monday, a fake reporter infiltrated the press corps at a question-and-answer session in front of New York's City Hall. Disguised in a fake mustache and hair piece in an obvious spoof of discredited White House reporter "Jeff Gannon," the intruder identified himself as "Dino Ironbody." He got City Council Speaker Gifford Miller's attention and asked: "How do you feel about the president's awesome plan to privatize Social Security?"
salon.com's War Room has this to report:
Gannons everywhere
On Monday, a fake reporter infiltrated the press corps at a question-and-answer session in front of New York's City Hall. Disguised in a fake mustache and hair piece in an obvious spoof of discredited White House reporter "Jeff Gannon," the intruder identified himself as "Dino Ironbody." He got City Council Speaker Gifford Miller's attention and asked: "How do you feel about the president's awesome plan to privatize Social Security?"
Miller caught on right away. "I'm not such a big fan of the president's plan to private Social Security," he answered. "I think Social Security has worked pretty well for generations and we outta stick with something that works."
The reporter was Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry, shooting a segment that will air on Thursday night's show.
-- Julia Scott
3.02.2005
on "hard work"
it seems that "it's hard work!" is quickly becoming a refrain throughout the bush administration--everyone liked it so much when bush used it in his debate performances...
CIA Director Goss amazed at his workload by Ryan Pearson
March 2, 2005 | Simi Valley, Calif. -- In a rare public appearance Wednesday, CIA Director Porter Goss said he is overwhelmed by the many duties of his job, including devoting five hours out of every day to prepare for and deliver intelligence briefings to President Bush.
CIA Director Goss amazed at his workload by Ryan Pearson
March 2, 2005 | Simi Valley, Calif. -- In a rare public appearance Wednesday, CIA Director Porter Goss said he is overwhelmed by the many duties of his job, including devoting five hours out of every day to prepare for and deliver intelligence briefings to President Bush.
"The jobs I'm being asked to do, the five hats that I wear, are too much for this mortal," Goss said. "I'm a little amazed at the workload."
2.23.2005
bill moyers on the rapture, the environment
from alternet.org
"One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a world view despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always blind. And there is the danger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to the facts...
read more
"One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a world view despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always blind. And there is the danger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to the facts...
read more
2.17.2005
on calculating your losses
so, try out this nifty device to calculate what YOU will lose under Bush's social security privatization
2.16.2005
on lovin' that josh marshall guy...
From yesterday's Talking Points Memo, by Joshua Micah Marshall, where he discusses Bush's repeated reluctance to spell out what he plans to do with Social Security, such as in statements like this: "The tendency in Washington is, ‘OK, Mr. President, you play your cards now and we’ll decide if we’re going to play ours. I’m not going to do that. I’m keeping them close to the vest."
Marshall replies: "Sure, yes, there's legislative politicking and making the first move and all that. But this goes a bit beyond that. The president is pushing this. This is all about him. Absent initiative from him, replacing Social Security with private accounts wouldn't even be on the agenda. Though the policy has some ardent Republican supporters, the impetus all comes from him.
Marshall replies: "Sure, yes, there's legislative politicking and making the first move and all that. But this goes a bit beyond that. The president is pushing this. This is all about him. Absent initiative from him, replacing Social Security with private accounts wouldn't even be on the agenda. Though the policy has some ardent Republican supporters, the impetus all comes from him.
When you brush away all the legislative gobbledygook and beltway jockeying, you have a president who wants to put what is probably the most popular government program in American history under the knife and he won't even say what he wants to do to it.
Shouldn't his critics just be saying over and over: level with the public? Tell them what you want to do to Social Security."
2.15.2005
on being good accountants... LOL
from today's War Room, Salon.com
"Where did the money go?
As members of Congress consider the Bush administration's request for another $82 billion in military funding -- most of which will go to a war that was supposed to have cost about $50 billion total -- they might think about how the administration has handled finances in Iraq so far.
"Where did the money go?
As members of Congress consider the Bush administration's request for another $82 billion in military funding -- most of which will go to a war that was supposed to have cost about $50 billion total -- they might think about how the administration has handled finances in Iraq so far.
As we noted last month, the inspector general assigned to audit reconstruction efforts says there's no way to know what became of $8.8 billion that was once in the hands of the Coalition Provisional Authority. A hearing before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee brought forth more news on that front Monday. At the hearing -- called by Democrats who lack the numbers to hold actual congressional investigations -- a lawyer for two whistleblowers said that the Coalition Provisional Authority paid the Republican-friendly security firm Custer Battles $15 million to provide security for civilian flights at Baghdad International Airport.
The catch, according to today's Washington Post: No planes actually flew during the contract term.
-- Tim Grieve
2.14.2005
on supporting progressive action
with Dean now the new DNC chair, we've got a chance to 'act blue'--that is, start standing up for what we believe.
Dean said this, when asked about Bush's budget: "As far as I'm concerned, this budget does two things. It brings Enron-style accounting to the nation's capital, and it demonstrates once what all Americans are beginning to see: You cannot trust Republicans with your money."
I love it!!! So...here's the deal. If we want change to happen, we gotta support it. A slew of progressive groups have joined together to form ActBlue, a collective fundraising and campaign organization to push forward progressive politics.
As DailyKos writes, let's get Dean's back. In just a day and a half, they've raised more than 100,000k. From just 2000 people. So give a little...it will help a lot.
Dean said this, when asked about Bush's budget: "As far as I'm concerned, this budget does two things. It brings Enron-style accounting to the nation's capital, and it demonstrates once what all Americans are beginning to see: You cannot trust Republicans with your money."
I love it!!! So...here's the deal. If we want change to happen, we gotta support it. A slew of progressive groups have joined together to form ActBlue, a collective fundraising and campaign organization to push forward progressive politics.
As DailyKos writes, let's get Dean's back. In just a day and a half, they've raised more than 100,000k. From just 2000 people. So give a little...it will help a lot.
on being combat-ready
Police and army numbers falling far short of projections as post-election violence surges and wait for results drags on
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington, Kim Sengupta in Basra, and Raymond Whitaker in London, 13 February 2005
"Training of Iraq's security forces, crucial to any exit strategy for Britain and the US, is going so badly that the Pentagon has stopped giving figures for the number of combat-ready indigenous troops, The Independent on Sunday has learned.
"Instead, only figures for troops "on hand" are issued. The small number of soldiers, national guardsmen and police capable of operating against the country's bloody insurgency is concealed in an overall total of Iraqis in uniform, which includes raw recruits and police who have gone on duty after as little as three weeks' training. In some cases they have no weapons, body armour or even documents to show they are in the police.
"The resulting confusion over numbers has allowed the US administration to claim that it is half-way to meeting the target of training almost 270,000 Iraqi forces, including around 52,000 troops and 135,000 Iraqi policemen. The reality, according to experts, is that there may be as few as 5,000 troops who could be considered combat ready."
press catching on to Gannon propaganda, finally
from Houston Chronicle:
Fake reporter's questioning of the president fits into the administration's widening pattern of manufactured journalism.
"The unmasking of an alleged journalist who used a pseudonym to gain access to White House briefings and news conferences raises more questions about the Bush administration's tactics for securing favorable news. James Guckert, who used the Talon News byline "Jeff Gannon," managed to get access to the White House on a daily basis for two years.
"Guckert questioned President Bush at a January news conference last month, tossing a softball query that ridiculed Democrats for "being divorced from reality." The organization Guckert worked for turned out to be an arm of a partisan group, GOPUSA, a conservative Web site based in Houston and dedicated to "spreading the conservative message throughout America." It turns out Talon News was created only a few days before Guckert first applied for a White House daily pass. . . .
"The practice of buying ostensibly independent reporters and writers to shill for politicians deceives the public and corrupts the free media. Allowing fake reporters to compete with credentialed journalists for sparse press conference time with the leader of the free world demeans the whole process."
2.13.2005
on great finds...
beautiful art, commentary and music reviews blog: Sasha Frere Jones
http://www.sashafrerejones.com/
http://www.sashafrerejones.com/
2.12.2005
on taking a new direction
i've been following the rise of Howard Dean to DNC Chair. it's been pretty exciting, i have to say. the grassroots and the blogosphere really were able to make this happen, and it give me a lot of hope.
here's what Dean said just recently (cut and pasted from Salon.com's War Room):
...Dean said that Democrats can't make progress in more conservative states until they start talking to voters one-on-one. "It is going to take a lot of work, and I'm going to be asking for a lot from all of you," Dean told Democrats in his acceptance speech. "We can't run 18-state presidential campaigns and expect to win. We have a strategy for every state and territory, and it's very simple: Show up. People will vote for Democrats in Texas and Utah and West Virginia if we knock on their doors, introduce ourselves, and tell them what we believe. That's what organization allows us to do."
When Democrats start those conversations, Dean said, they'll begin the work of framing the political debate on their own terms. "We frame the issues," Dean said. "The Republicans will not tell America what the Democratic agenda is. We will do that."
and on Bush's budget...? Dean:
So...here's the deal. If we want change to happen, we gotta support it. A slew of progressive groups have joined together to form ActBlue, a collective fundraising and campaign organization to push forward progressive politics.
As DailyKos writes, let's get Dean's back. In just three hours, they've raised more than 30k. From just 650 people. So give a little...it will help a lot.
here's what Dean said just recently (cut and pasted from Salon.com's War Room):
...Dean said that Democrats can't make progress in more conservative states until they start talking to voters one-on-one. "It is going to take a lot of work, and I'm going to be asking for a lot from all of you," Dean told Democrats in his acceptance speech. "We can't run 18-state presidential campaigns and expect to win. We have a strategy for every state and territory, and it's very simple: Show up. People will vote for Democrats in Texas and Utah and West Virginia if we knock on their doors, introduce ourselves, and tell them what we believe. That's what organization allows us to do."
When Democrats start those conversations, Dean said, they'll begin the work of framing the political debate on their own terms. "We frame the issues," Dean said. "The Republicans will not tell America what the Democratic agenda is. We will do that."
and on Bush's budget...? Dean:
"As far as I'm concerned, this budget does two things," Dean said. "It brings Enron-style accounting to the nation's capital, and it demonstrates once what all Americans are beginning to see: You cannot trust Republicans with your money."
So...here's the deal. If we want change to happen, we gotta support it. A slew of progressive groups have joined together to form ActBlue, a collective fundraising and campaign organization to push forward progressive politics.
As DailyKos writes, let's get Dean's back. In just three hours, they've raised more than 30k. From just 650 people. So give a little...it will help a lot.
2.09.2005
talon news scrubs gannon himself from their website
too weird. i will be outraged if the mainstream media does not pick this up.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/9/12058/65036
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/9/12058/65036
on PropaGannon (Jeff Gannon, GOP media mole)
there has been a flurry of activity about "Jeff Gannon" (alias), a GOP flunky posing as a journalist who is regularly called upon in White House Press Conferences. The good people at dailykos.com have been doing a lot of searching to figure out who this guy is and who's paying him to shill for the White House. It looks like, at best, he is a shill, and at worst, he was the central link in the exposure of Valerie Plame, CIA agent, wife of Joe Wilson, who called the White House on the false claims about the Niger yellowcake.
Looks like the hard work has paid off. Rep. Slaughter is calling for a Congressional investigation into this matter. Check it out! (for background, here)
My favorite part of her letter to Bush, a great summary:
"According to several credible reports, "Mr. Gannon" has been repeatedly credentialed as a member of the White House press corps by your office and has been regularly called upon in White House press briefings by your Press Secretary Scott McClellan, despite the fact evidence shows that "Mr. Gannon" is a Republican political operative, uses a false name, has phony or questionable journalistic credentials, is known for plagiarizing much of the "news" he reports, and according to several web reports, may have ties to the promotion of the prostitution of military personnel."
Looks like the hard work has paid off. Rep. Slaughter is calling for a Congressional investigation into this matter. Check it out! (for background, here)
My favorite part of her letter to Bush, a great summary:
"According to several credible reports, "Mr. Gannon" has been repeatedly credentialed as a member of the White House press corps by your office and has been regularly called upon in White House press briefings by your Press Secretary Scott McClellan, despite the fact evidence shows that "Mr. Gannon" is a Republican political operative, uses a false name, has phony or questionable journalistic credentials, is known for plagiarizing much of the "news" he reports, and according to several web reports, may have ties to the promotion of the prostitution of military personnel."
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