Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * A week after Hillary Clinton’s campaign was embarrassed by an Iowa country chair spreading the ridiculous Obama/Muslim email, it’s happened again. “Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Sunday requested the resignation of a second […]
Religious right group exploits tragedy for political gain
On Sunday, in a gruesome tragedy, 24-year-old Matthew Murray killed two people at a Christian missionary center in Arvada, Colo., and then killed two others a Colorado Springs megachurch later that day. Murray apparently intended to kill others before a church security guard shot and killed him Sunday afternoon. Tony Perkins, head of the far-right […]
Get to know Pastor Huckabee — or in this case, don’t
More so than any other presidential candidate in either party, Mike Huckabee is using his Christianity as a campaign tool. In his first TV ad, the viewer is told that the former Arkansas governor is a “CHRISTIAN LEADER” (all-caps in the original). In his first debate, Huckabee rejected modern biology, preferring creationism. In his first […]
The ‘systematic effort to manipulate climate change science’
The evidence has been overwhelming for quite a while that, when it comes to climate-change science, the Bush administration prefers restrictions to revelations. Just two months ago, for example, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was set to testify on the impact of climate change on public health, but […]
Meet John Kiriakou
There have been many, many reports in recent years about Bush administration officials torturing detainees, and using barbaric tactics like waterboarding, but insiders have been reluctant to admit publicly and on the record exactly what we’ve done and to whom. It’s one of several reasons why John Kiriakou’s perspective is of unique significance. A former […]
The torture-tape destruction story doesn’t add up
As of Sunday, the official line on the destruction of the CIA’s torture tapes was that the agency had been warned to preserve the videos. The White House, in particular, was at least tacitly aware of the videos’ existence, and the White House counsel’s office urged the CIA to keep them intact. So, who exactly […]
Monday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Not surprisingly, the Bush gang has become a little shy about the CIA torture tape scandal: “White House lawyers have advised President Bush’s spokeswoman not to answer specific questions about why the CIA destroyed tapes of terror suspects under interrogation, as Congress seeks answers about the matter…. With that […]
Rescuing an American citizen — from her American employer
I realize there are some ambiguities regarding private contractors’ legal status in Iraq, but this truly nauseating scandal, if accurate, should put a whole lot of people behind bars. A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are covering up the incident. Jamie […]
Gore accepts his Nobel prize, casually reignites campaign interest
Al Gore was in Oslo, Norway, this morning to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize. If you have a minute, his acceptance speech is well worth reading. For example, I didn’t realize it, but this week is the seventh anniversary of Gore’s concessions speech after the 2000 race. Seven years ago tomorrow, I read my […]
Crediting the Iraq fiasco for progress in the Middle East
The shift appears to be complete. When the intelligence community concluded recently that Iran halted its nuclear-weapons program, the right’s reflexive reaction was to condemn intelligence agencies, question the accuracy of the report, and raise doubts about officials’ motives. If the NIE didn’t tell conservatives what they wanted to hear, then the NIE had to […]