Thursday’s Mini-Report

March 20, 2008

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* I think we can pretty much forget about the Michigan re-vote: “Michigan’s State Senate adjourned Thursday without reaching an agreement to schedule a new Democratic primary on June 3. The Legislature is now on recess for two weeks, and by the time lawmakers return, it will likely be too late to approve and organize a new vote.”

* By any reasonable measure, this is the broadest challenge to Chinese rule in quite some time: “China sent additional troops into restive areas and made more arrests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in an effort to suppress anti-government protests even as the Dalai Lama offered face-to-face negotiations with Chinese leaders. Government officials acknowledged for the first time that protests against Chinese rule of Tibet have spread to Tibetan communities in other provinces after sweeping through Lhasa last week.”

* Yesterday, confronted with the fact that two-thirds of Americans oppose the president’s Iraq policy, Dick Cheney said, “So?” Today, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was asked about this and responded, “We are all Americans. We care deeply about what people think.” So, which is it?

* Scooter Libby was disbarred today. No, the president can’t intervene to save his butt on this one.

* A John McCain aide helped disseminate a vile, racially-charged video attacking Barack Obama this week. Today, the aide was suspended from the campaign.

* A Pentagon divided against itself: “[I]nside the Pentagon, turmoil over the war has increased…. In one camp are the ground commanders, including Gen. David H. Petraeus, who have pushed to keep a large troop presence in Iraq, worried that withdrawing too quickly will allow violence to flare. In the other are the military service chiefs who fear that long tours and high troop levels will drive away mid-level service members, leaving the Army and Marine Corps hollowed out and weakened.”

* The WaPo editorial board’s credibility is at its lowest ebb while addressing Iraq policy.

* Can someone please make U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Mario Ramos-Villalta a U.S. citizen?

* Can someone please get Geraldine Ferraro to stop talking?

* Tim Noah asks the provocative question: “Why should you waste your time, at this late date, ingesting the opinions of people who were wrong about Iraq? Wouldn’t you benefit more from considering the views of people who were right?”

* This one’s getting more and more interesting: “Earlier this week, we reported on the decision by U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles Thomas O’Brien to disband the office’s public corruption unit. The official line from O’Brien was that disbanding the 17-lawyer unit would actually boost the number of public corruption investigations, because other units would now have the opportunity to take on such cases. The was a line of reasoning with which a former prosecutor from that office disagreed. And not surprisingly, the current lawyers there don’t think much of that either. But, reports The Los Angeles Times, O’Brien warned them not to dispute that publicly.”

* I’m trying to imagine what 100,000% inflation would look like. I’m having trouble wrapping my head around it.

* Encouraging news for the Flight 93 Memorial.

* One reason reporters are so bad at fact-checking McCain is that too many reporters don’t have the facts to begin with.

* The Onion on Obama: “Those who encountered the black man Tuesday said he engaged in erratic behavior, including pointing at random people in the crowd and desperately saying he needs their help, going up to complete strangers and hugging them, and angrily claiming that he is not looking for just a little bit of change, but rather a great deal of change, and that he wants it ‘right now.'”

* There’s no way I want a guy this confused answering the White House crisis line at 3 a.m.: “When McCain made a foreign policy gaffe in Jordan on Tuesday, it was Sen. Joe Lieberman who quietly pointed out the mistake, giving McCain an opportunity to correct himself in front of the international press corps. In Israel yesterday, NBC’s Lauren Appelbaum reports, Lieberman once again intervened when McCain made an incorrect reference about the Jewish holiday Purim — by calling the holiday ‘their version of Halloween here.'”

Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

Hey has anyone seen that freedom agenda lately, you know the one Bush wanted so badly for the Iraqis? I think the Tibetans are looking for some freedom themselves. Someone should remind Mr. Bush that people in countries that don’t have oil want to vote, and get rid of oppression and occupation too.

Do the Bushies actually care deeply about what Americans think? Yeah, about 6 feet deeply. Thanks for teeing that one up Dana.

Just so you know, when John McCain made his public faux pas about the Iranians and al Qaeda, it was 3am somewhere in the world.

“Why should you waste your time, at this late date, ingesting the opinions of people who were wrong about Iraq? Wouldn’t you benefit more from considering the views of people who were right?” Unfortunately that guy is the Republican presidential nominee and the media loves covering him.

  • Was McCain’t trying to be slick and make a connection with the celebration of Purim :celebrating the Jewish people being freed from ancient Persia and its modern-day equivalent: Iraq & Iran.

  • McDumbass:

    “The situation has improved dramatically over the last year. The Iraqi people are going about their normal lives. The fact is al Qaeda is on the run. We are not defeated,” he said.

    “normal lives” of course, means getting killed, kidnapped, and/or chased out of your home, which only got a few hours of power each day and had water with worms in it.

    In the worst attack of the day in Iraq, at least 40 people were killed and 65 injured in the holy Shiite city of Karbala when a suicide bomber detonated herself at a crowded cafe near the city’s Imam Hussein shrine.

    A roadside bombing north of Baghdad killed two American soldiers, the U.S. military said, bringing the number of troops killed in the war so far to 3,990. In addition, five people died when a mortar shell exploded in a soccer field in Baghdad, and three people were injured by a car bomb, which reverberated around the city shortly after Cheney arrived with his wife and daughter.

  • 100,000% inflation?

    10 and 20 kg packages of mealie meal were sold to supporters who reportedly ‘were asked to submit [their] names to local ZANU PF branch leaders’ the week before. Proof of eligibility was a ZANU party card. The Kuwadzana by-election was held in March 2003. There, ZANU PF candidate, David Mutasa was widely accused of providing GMB maize to people with ZANU PF cards. (…)

    Get your Gooper Club Card if you want to eat in the upcoming years.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BiVP1JVCGU&eurl=http://www.crooksandliars.com/

    It’s starting…and this is just the beginning.

  • A friend of mine was from Iraq. He’s a doctor living in Asia now. His brother was kidnapped and his family had to pay $30,000 to get him back. They did. Tell him about normal.

    From what he tells me, Iraqis HATE AQ and will never let them take over anything.

    He is Sunni and is very afraid of the US leaving Iraq because of all the ethnic cleansing.

    GW Botch has done a heckova job making life a misery for millions.

  • As we all wait for the Clintons to tell us who donated millions of dollars to them, we can consider why they held back her schedules until after her lies about her NAFTA position fooled enough people in Ohio.

    The facts are clear: The Clinton machine joined with K Street to manufacture the very international economic policies that are destroying the economy. And yet, this same machine now claims to have had nothing to do with those economic policies — at the very moment, the machine is pushing a NAFTA-style Colombia Free Trade Agreement in Congress. We are, in short, experiencing the renaissance of “Clintonism” — an ideology that treats Americans like we are stupid and treats basic undebatable facts as commodities to be manipulated and perverted for personal gain…

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/papers-expose-lies-of-cli_b_92546.html

  • Scooter Libby was disbarred today. No, the president can’t intervene to save his butt on this one.

    It’s about freakin’ time. Why hasn’t Aboo Gonzalez been disbarred yet? And Mr. “I Heart Torture” Yoo?

    Not that it’s the ultimate punishment, but I’ll take whatever punitive measures are available against the GOP Legal Freakshow.

  • Ms Joanne (6)He is Sunni and is very afraid of the US leaving Iraq because of all the ethnic cleansing.

    Meanwhile, CNN did an interview with Iraqis on the street a couple days ago in which people were hoping Hillary Clinton can write them a book about how to run a democracy. How sad is that?

  • Libby’s license will be reinstated after Bush pardons him on his last day in office. So, yes, the president will rescue him once again.

  • Danp, people take their hope in whatever flavor.

    I know that right now, I am losing hope daily, I am afraid for myself, my family, my friends. I am afraid that we all won’t have a place to live or food to eat. I fear for what the republicans have put in place for over 30 years that is now becoming the undoing of a once great nation.

    It is a shame that the people suffer for the idiots in charge.

    Let them eat cake! Unless there is none.

  • I don’t want John McCain to be the one answering the phone at 3 a.m. either, but for only one of the two reasons given in this post. I’m not particularly fearful of the consequences of John McCain being called at 3 a.m. to be asked about a Jewish holiday, even if McCain does give the wrong answer. McCain’s ignorance about Iraq is far more alarming than the latest gaffe.

  • Freethinker, that is the 2nd time I have read that today. Wasn’t Libby pardoned already?

    And how about disbarring Harriet Miers for ignoring a subpoena??

  • MsJoanne – hi, Mr. Shrub II commuted his sentence. So Libby didn’t have to be in jail for 30 months. Currently the conviction still stands….

  • * Can someone please make U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Mario Ramos-Villalta a U.S. citizen? — CB

    Oh yeah? And make him eligible to vote, per chance? What if he should decide to vote for a Dem?

    […] McCain made an incorrect reference about the Jewish holiday Purim — by calling the holiday ‘their version of Halloween here.’”

    They dress up and make rude noises. How’s a guy to know the difference?

  • If Hillary Clinton didn’t “back NAFTA” she sure told lots of people back then that she supported it.

    Having people who both report that she supported it and opposed at the same time is actually a good example of the problem with Clinton. She lacks principles and will take whatever stand is politically expedient, even if it means simultaneously being both for or against NAFTA depending upon the audience.

  • I’ve been reading Elizabeth Drew’s On the Edge which is about the first Clinton administration, but published long before Sen Clinton was a Senator or launched a presidential campaign.

    She devotes one sentence to Hillary and NAFTA, saying that Hillary was against it in the WH meetings. However, a little context is in order. At the time of the decision on whether to push NAFTA or not, the administration was faltering. Clinton had spent most of his political capital to get his economic package moving. Congress had gotten the picture that they could get most anything out of him. They had bungled Bosnia twice already. Vince Foster had already killed himself. And Clinton’s poll numbers were down. In fact, Gergen had been brought in to help right the ship.

    After the first Clinton vacation, they sat down to plot their course. There were three things that could be on the agenda: NAFTA, re-inventing government, and health care. Each was championed by its own little fiefdom. There were vigorous “discussions” about which should be pursued, with the consideration that trying to do too much had been one of the problems so far.

    Hillary wasn’t the only one against NAFTA, Stephanopolous hated it and the consultants told the President that it didn’t play well with the unions and blue collar America. What we don’t know is why Hillary was against NAFTA. Was it because she didn’t like NAFTA…the trade agreement? Or did she not like NAFTA because it would diminish the focus on health care…her fiefdom? It may well have been both.

    She is still left with having to say, “Yes, i praised it in public…but i never really liked it.” Or, “See, i was lying to you then, but believe me that i’m not lying to you now.”

  • Ok, a couple of things:

    1) For the record, the “other provinces” the Chinese government so sweetly refer to are the Tibetan provinces of Kham and Amdo which China annexed and renamed after they invaded and took the country by force in 1950. That there are “ethnic Tibetans” there is because they were part of Tibet in the first place, and Tibet wants them back!

    http://www.rangzen.com/

    2) I give McCain credit for suspending the idiot who pushed that vile anti-Obama video, but I can’t help but wonder if part of his reason for doing so is to prevent anyone from doing the same against him about Hagee and that other “spiritual advisor” of his. Just wondering.

    Good night, and good luck.

  • sduffys, AH! I should have remembered that but I suppose, to me, a pass was a pass. And there was no way that Mr. Libby would spend a second in jail because he’d have been singing like a canary in a pet shop window. Couldn’t have any of that now, could we?

    And, of course he will pardon old Scooter. I’d bet my house on that!

    If I thought this could get any sicker, I can’t wait until the last few days to see how much more damage he can inflict…assuming he does give up power, which with all the HD’s and signing statements, I doubt. I think a major catastrophe will befall us before good ol’ GW Botch floats away (well, unless McConfused is elected).

    I just learned that the US pulled out of the ICC (right after the first Gdub infliction, er, election). I hadn’t realized that. Does that mean that the world court cannot touch him or Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al? Am I uselessly saving my frequent flyer miles and Hilton points for a trial that can never take place?

  • No where is the impact of looming recession and the near-meltdown on Wall Street clearer than on the White House web site. Just days ago, the site boasted about President Bush’s glorious stewardship of the U.S. economy. Now, the White House’s economy web page reflects the mad scramble to ward off the twin crises of the housing market and the financial system.

    For the details, see:
    “White House Scrubs Web Site on the Economy.”

  • Apparently, a contractor in the State Department Bureau of Consulary Affairs,decided to peruse Barack Obama’s passport file. This happened in January of this year and the perpetrators (I think it was two contractors) have been fired. Obama people were just notified.

    From what Olbermann said, Bush 1 also did that to Bill Clinton. Like father like son.

    Questions are why it was done, what was the goal, who were these people working for?

    Interesting. Howard Fineman is pretty much having a heart attack over it.

    Oh, and the contractors are more of our outsourcing the government. These people were there to design systems, which, for me creates a whole different layer of questions concerning government moving forward and how much damage Bush could inflict upon those.

  • If your humor is black enough:

    http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=17534&IBLOCK_ID=35&PAGE=1

    “20 Reasons Why We’re Ashamed to Be American”

    #20 Monkey-Country Political Nepotism. Bullshit countries with bullshit currencies elect wives and sons to run their countries simply because the population hasn’t developed beyond medieval monarchy thinking. The Philippines elected the widowed wife of a slain democracy leader. Argentina elected the wife of a former president (and hailed the wife of a former dictator). America came late to the “we’re medieval-brained morons and we’re proud of it!” parade, starting in 2000, when America annointed the recessive-gene-damaged son of a failed one-term president into the White House. It was so great that he was reelected, while in Congress, at least 18 senators, dozens of House members and several administration officials were family legacies, leading the Washington Post to declare that the US government “resembles the court of Louis XIV without the powdered wigs.” This year, Americans are working on electing the wife of the president before the recessive-gene son. She may fail, but Americans are a hard-working lot, so don’t be surprised if by 2020 America finally catches up to the Philippines and Argentina and other third-world shitholes by electing the first ex-leader’s wife to lead them

  • Lex, that is a CRAZY site! Thanks!

    Did you happen to catch my question in 20 above?

  • I’m an atheist myself, so, for me, this is just food for thought, rather than anything profound but I thought it was still interesting enough to share with my favourite blog:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYla5xdPTUg

    MsJoanne, @20,
    Yes, Moses’ interlocutor did pull us, smartly, out of ICC. Probably in anticipation of committing crimes which would qualify him and his cohorts for some spectacular international entertainment, though the official rationale was the usual pride and prejudice (no effing furriner will ever try a ‘Murican citizen, on some trumped up charges.)

    Regarding your frequent flier miles… It all depends on whether the next president will re-join or not My bet is on “not”; sliding out is always easier than getting back in. (Beyond the usual schoolyard jokes, see also: Kyoto, Protocols and Geneva, Conventions). It depends also on whether — and how far afield — the cabal is likely to travel, once out of office; I think there are (or will be) some warrants waiting in different parts of Europe (much as there are in some parts of Vermont ). We know that the Shrub hates travel and will be happy to play a turnip in Crawford for the rest of his natural span, so, short of a rendition, he’s not going to get his just deserts. The others — Cheney, Rummy-tum-tum, et all… Who knows?

    I’d hold onto your frequent flier miles and Hilton points for a wee bit — say 5 yrs — and then go and enjoy Holland (the Netherlands) anyway. The museums are incredible and the people are *the best*. The language is FM K9 (they say it’s not a language but a throat disease), but everyone speaks English. I used to think it was really too bad that I fell in love with an American; Holland was the only country I would not have minded emigrating to…

  • The guy in charge of the office where Obama’s records were broken into is Patrick F Kennedy, Undersecretary of Management at the State Dept. He was “handpicked” earlier by DNI Negroponte to “implement a plan to integrate the 16 agencies” in the intelligence community.

    But here’s a really wierd site I got while googling him. Apparently he was involved in the investigation of the Blackwater shootings in Iraq last year:

    http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/oct/94019.htm

  • Libra, thank you so much for the info on the international court!

    I have been to Holland several times and even visited Den Hague on my last trip. I speak a little Dutch as I have friends in north Holland and I do attempt to be polite when I travel overseas, moreso when I am with friends.

    While I love Holland, Belgium would be the place I want to live. I have been there a few times as well, and just love the people, the country, everything about it.

    These days, I would be happy to just be away from here. My country has been hijacked and no matter what I do, the only thing that it seems I can do is fret. None of the elected officials seem to give two shits about my calls, or any of your calls, come to think about it. It is very sad when I travel overseas and wind up having to say, countless times, I DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM. It is both infuriating and embarrassing.

    In this case, I would be ALL FOR rendition. And I think I will hold on to those FF miles. And even if I decide to blow them, assuming I am still working and not living in a box under some overpass, I will be paying my own way to that trial. I have these pom poms and a few prepared cheers for that final walk to their permanent prison cells.

    Is there a way that a future president could sign onto Kyoto, for example, and create something where a future president couldn’t back out? Short of a law being passed…which in itself is true testimony that we have to write laws to prevent the person of the highest stature in this country from…nevermind. No matter, someone like GW Botch writes his own laws anyway.

    And now that he has gotten away with it…slippery slope? No, massive mudslide. I find it difficult to think this country will be able to right itself from future despots.

  • MsJoanne,

    Oh yeah, The Exile is something else. One word of advice, never ever write them a letter…or if you do, hope that they don’t publish it.

    Methinks that libra answered the question @20, and i concur. I also agree with her about visits to Holland. I noticed that even the Dutch speak English to each other (in Amsterdam) until they are sure that the other person is actually Dutch.

    Our extrication from the ICC certainly makes it seem like they knew “going forward” that they were going to break a slew of international laws. And we certainly wouldn’t want any fureners telling us what’s right and what’s wrong, nor do the members of this administration want to go through what Kissinger goes through when he tries to travel abroad, “No, we really can’t land in that country…i’m wanted; no that one’s no good either…yeah, i’m wanted there too. What can i say, so many war crimes, so little time.”

    They probably still will have warrants, but not international warrants. Paraguay, i’m sure, will welcome them with open arms.

  • 30. Comeback Bill said: Someone please tell me where in the general Barack can win

    No one can know that this far out, any more than you can know that he somehow can’t win.
    Obviously, people who support Obama do so in part because they think he is a better candidate in the general election, though usually that is expressed more by saying he has coattails and Hillary’s 20-state strategy doesn’t seem concerned with any candidate other than herself. You obviously think Clinton has a better chance against McCain in the general and you’re entitled to that opinion, just as I am entitled to think that McCain will beat her because her entire argument so far has been experience and she clearly is 2nd best to him in that regard.

  • Can someone please get Geraldine Ferraro to stop talking?

    I have good news and bad news for you.
    Good news: Yes, indeed, someone can. Even better, the someone is (or rather, includes) you. She’ll stop talking when people stop listening to her.
    Bad news: That’s clearly not going to happen for a long long time. *sigh*

    How have people not cottoned to the fact that Ferraro is just a troll, albeit in the mainstream media rather than some obscure online forum? And if there’s one surefire rule on the Net, it’s this: Don’t feed the trolls. They only grow stronger when fed, just like gremlins (the bad kind).

  • Has anyone heard the about some details that have come out about the papers Sen Clinton released??? It seems she may have been in the White House at the same time that Bill was have his extra marital affairs. Did she know but refused to do anything about it or did was she so removed from the marriage she didnt know what was going on???

  • #34, since the WH has wings and several floors, it’s like being in a Hilton hotel rather than mom’s house. I may not love HRC, but it’s impossible to say just because she was there she knew anything was going on.

  • I’m trying to imagine what 100,000% inflation would look like. I’m having trouble wrapping my head around it.
    I experienced 1000% inflation for a couple of years and it was bad enough. You exchange your money for smth valuable (dollars in my case) right away. My guess is that with this kind of inflation money becomes almost useless for many people and the value of food ration cards and similar things increases immensely.

  • Yes it’s incredibly late, (for me to be awake and posting) but CNN International says Gov Bill Richardson is going to endorse Obama today in Oregon.

  • Ms Joanne (36): Thanks for the Blackwater/Scahill article. Fascinating! Obama gave a speech. Clinton offered a bumper sticker.

  • Richardson? Wow, I really didn’t see that coming. I thought he was sitting this out, hoping for a Clinton VP spot in case she pulled it out somehow. If he’s giving up on her, the writing may be on the wall.

    I wonder if the other former candidates will follow suit now. Biden went out of his way to praise Obama’s speech on Tuesday, though Edwards was on Leno last night and refused to take sides, I heard. I’d like to hear from Dodd too.

  • Thanks for the Blackwater link, MsJoanne…

    Sen Clinton is all tactics and no strategy, again. This is the second grand pronouncement on Iraq. It makes sense in that she needs to make people believe that she really is/was against the invasion/occupation. But she’s painting herself into a corner. What is she going to do if she wins the nomination? Sen McCain will be saying “cut and run” until our collective ears bleed.

  • My wife has the Today show on—Matt Lauer just dismissed the Obama passport file hacking as “some knuckleheads doing the equivalent of a Google search” and then moved on to ask the ever iompartial Joe Scarborough about how the Obama race speech went over.

    And all this time, I thought it was Katie Couric who’d probed the depths of her own ass on that show.

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