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Thursday’s Mini-Report

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Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Prosecutors wanted 30-to-life; they got 66 months: “A military jury sentenced Osama bin Laden’s former driver to 5 1/2 years in prison for aiding terrorism, making him eligible for release in six months. Salim Hamdan was acquitted of conspiracy in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial. The sentence was delivered by the same six jurors who convicted Hamdan on Wednesday in the war crimes tribunal authorized by the Bush administration to try non-U.S. captives on terrorism charges outside the regular civilian and military courts.”

* Remember, it’s a horizon, not a timeline: “The U.S. and Iraq are close to a deal under which all American combat troops would leave by October 2010 with remaining U.S. forces gone about three years later, two Iraqi officials said Thursday…. A timetable is part of a security agreement being negotiated by U.S. and Iraqi officials. Both sides stress the deal is not final and could fall apart over the issue of legal immunity for American troops.”

* On a related note, Iraqi political progress remains elusive: “After weeks of late-night negotiations and under intense U.S. pressure, Iraqi lawmakers failed to pass a much-debated provincial elections law Wednesday before adjourning for the month. The failure to pass the law, which would govern elections in provinces across the country, may push the elections into next year. If elections don’t happen by the end of this year, it could be July before the balloting could be carried out, U.N. spokesman Said Arikat said… The latest move by parliament underscores the great divide between security and political progress in Iraq.”

* There was no way this was going to be easy: “The Justice Department, on behalf of Harriet Miers and Joshua Bolten, filed its request for appeal today in the July 31 ruling in House Judiciary Committee v. Miers et al. While the appeal is resolved, however, the DOJ also requested that the judge grant a stay on the subpoenas, allowing Miers and Bolten to continue to evade the House Judiciary Committee.”

* Barack Obama weighed in this afternoon on the disgusting attacks in the Democratic primary in Tennessee’s 9th congressional district: “These incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics, and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee. It’s time to turn the page on a politics driven by negativity and division so that we can come together to lift up our communities and our country.”

* Chinese officials have been battling smog in advance of the Olympics. It’s a fight they’ve lost.

* Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-Alaska) new defense is that the criminal charges against him aren’t particularly important: “This is an indictment for failure to disclose gifts that are controversial in terms of whether they were or were not gifts. It’s not bribery; it’s not some corruption; it’s not some extreme felony.”

* Musharraf’s political future is in doubt: “Pakistan’s ruling coalition parties agreed Thursday to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, setting up a major showdown between the former military chief and the newly elected civilian government. Leaders of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N faction called for a no-confidence vote in Parliament against Musharraf and said they could begin official impeachment proceedings in the next few days.”

* Kilpatrick’s political future looks even worse: “A judge Thursday ordered Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick jailed after determining he violated terms of his bond by taking an unauthorized trip to Canada last month. Kilpatrick, who is facing felony charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct of office, has been free on $75,000 bond.”

* When it comes to McCain, New York Times political writer and CNBC chief Washington correspondent John Harwood seems to have some kind of “maverick” Tourette’s.

* The Energy Information Administration says whatever Karl Rove says it says, even when it says the exact opposite.

* That Bob Casey myth from ’92 has been debunked repeatedly, but reporters still repeat it as if it were true.

* I get the sense David Gergen, a Republican, doesn’t think highly of the McCain campaign’s character assassination of Obama.

* The Politico asked Condoleezza Rice about her “Hollywood crush,” to which she replied, “Oh, I’ve got lots of them. I mean, doesn’t everybody love Denzel Washington?” Here’s my question: would the Politico have asked this of Defense Secretary Robert Gates? Or Attorney General Michael Mukasey? Or Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson? If not, then the Politico shouldn’t have asked it of Rice.

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

Comments

  • gg

    says:

    “Chinese officials have been battling smog in advance of the Olympics. It’s a fight they’ve lost.”

    I was in Shanghai last year. Driving on the highways over the city, I found it amazing how the high-rise buildings just go on forever, until they are lost in the fog. It took me a few days to realize that it wasn’t fog that was obscuring the view.

  • gg

    says:

    “The Politico asked Condoleezza Rice about her “Hollywood crush…” Here’s my question: would the Politico have asked this of Defense Secretary Robert Gates? Or Attorney General Michael Mukasey?”

    The only difference I can see is that Rice can answer the question without sounding like a creepy stalker, something no male Republican can get away with. (Imagine Cheney describing who he has the hots for in Hollywood… eeew.) Oh, and an astonishing number of R’s would probably answer something to the effect of, “I refuse to answer on the grounds that I may incriminate myself.”

  • james k. sayre

    says:

    Smog in Beijing, China for the Summer Olympics? Well, most of the thanks should go to the American consumers who relish all the low-priced goods that are currently being “Made In China” just for them… It is truly pathetic: we can’t even make our own shoes and socks anymore. If the Chinese want to bring down America, all they have to do is to stop exporting shoes, socks, surgical masks and a vast list of other necessities that they make, and which we are apparently incapable of making ourselves…

    I prefer to buy American made goods. Whatever happened to the “Made in USA” label that used to be seen on practically everything? Thanks to corporate greed, enhanced by traitorous corporate Democrats and Republicans in Congress and the White House…

  • Megalomania

    says:

    Bush was at his best delivering a speech in Thailand condemning China’s human rights violations. Wow, all the while the world watches America handle Gitmo and Bush’s torture policies. I say this very laughingly because America does looks like one of the worlds most hypocritical ambitious freak shows that have ever been preaching to spread freedom and Democracy all the while pipelining oil.

    I could see the world saying to Bush “Ya an’t foolin us but ya sure are foolin your electorate”. Isn’t it incredible.

    Notice how MSNBC, CNN, Fox has ranted for weeks about Hillary Clinton and the Obama camp are at odds and have very hard feelings. I have. Always digging talking about what is going to hurt Hillary, what is going to hurt Obama.

    Have you noticed hate radio ranting about Pelosi? I have. They say the democrats are loosing, there is in fighting, there is division.

    Here, what is really funny, don’t you think out of 18 million voters and supporters in the primary for Hillary Clinton might very well have a highly charged collation of delegates and supporter that out of Hillary’s control who now see and know that since Obama has not pulled away in popularity poles, will rally for her.

    Here America is in a perfect rational Democratic operation or internal inspiration and plain old good feelings in the party that the media is smearing and describing as polarizing unforgiving and will not recognize as something successful but as something, rant with cheap shots on, on, on that Hillary Clinton can’t get over that she lost.

    No one won the nomination yet, how could she loose?

    What the media doesn’t tell America is the overwhelming latent support Hillary Clinton has compared to any Republican counter part. It’s actually embarrassing. Even a guy like Mike Todd of MSNBC will recognize this but will he report it so, I don’t think so. It would establish Hillary as the real likely nominee.

  • MsMuddled

    says:

    making him eligible for release in six months

    And then what? After being tortured and treated like an animal for years, he’ll become a wonderful productive citizen and never bother America again? If this is the best they can do with the Gitmo Gang can you imagine what’ll happen when they’re all released?

  • doubtful

    says:

    Here’s my question: would the Politico have asked this of Defense Secretary Robert Gates?

    Oh boy, I sure hope so! I’ve wanted to know this for so long! I hope they manage to get the boxers or briefs question in, too. Inquiring minds!

  • Ramki

    says:

    Not to deny a patronizing difference in the way media covers politicians according to their gender, I think you are missing an important difference between Gates, Mukasey are married men, and it would be unseemly to ask about their secret crushes. Sec.Rice is single.

  • stevem

    says:

    The Politico asked Condoleezza Rice about her “Hollywood crush,” to which she replied, “Oh, I’ve got lots of them. I mean, doesn’t everybody love Denzel Washington?” Here’s my question: would the Politico have asked this of Defense Secretary Robert Gates? Or Attorney General Michael Mukasey? Or Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson? If not, then the Politico shouldn’t have asked it of Rice.

    No, but it might have asked that of Charlie Crist, if you see where I’m going here.

  • stevem

    says:

    (I’m agnostic on that issue, with regard to both Rice and Crist, and it’s only arguably anyone’s business because the two of them happily consort with homophobe fellow Republicans.)

  • wvng

    says:

    Steve, I’m listening to you right now on Maddow’s show. She should have you on more often – you are as sharp off the top of your head as you are in print. Very sharp. Holding your own with Rachel is something few can do. Even if she disagrees with your analysis of where Obama needs to go to win.

    When she gets her TeeVee show, you should expect to see air time.

  • doubtful

    says:

    When she gets her TeeVee show, you should expect to see air time. -wvng

    Seconded on both counts. Rachel needs a TV show, and Steve should be a regular guest/fill-in host.

  • Gail Collins Gets It Wrong

    says:

    NYTimes’ Gail Collins: “Obama was against ending the current ban on offshore drilling, but now he’s sort of open to it, if it’s part of a bigger energy-independence deal. This has upset a number of his supporters who desperately want a president who will adhere firmly to his positions, even when they become totally irrational. ”

    Contrary to Ms. Collins’ assertions,

    1) Obama is still against ending the ban on offshore drilling (no, he has not changed his position),

    2) Offering to compromise is not, in and of itself, a vice…nor is compromising the same as changing, reversing or not “adhering firmly to one’s positions”

    3) The statement that “a number of [Obama’s]supporters…desperately want a president who will adhere firmly to his positions, even when they become totally irrational” makes no fucking sense and certainly doesn’t apply here.

    I’m just sayin’…

  • hark

    says:

    “Chinese officials have been battling smog in advance of the Olympics. It’s a fight they’ve lost.”

    “Dimming Sun,” a Nova episode was first aired in April of 2006, and was repeated Tuesday night. It’s a must see, even though global warming seems to have gone off the radar screen during the campaign, and certainly in the media. Tire gauges have gotten more minutes of coverage in a week than global warming in months. I don’t think anyone even remembers anymore why we need alternatives – we just need to drill for more oil according to most of the American people, because, well, importing oil is bad, although we import everything else and nobody seems concerned about that.

    Anyway, the dimming sun is a very simple theory: there’s a cooling effect from smog, because the tiny particles in the air become surrounded by moisture, which reflects sunlight back into space. The thesis of the hour special is that the effects, which have been recently measured, are much greater than previously suspected. The other side of that coin is that therefore, the opposite phenomenon, global warming, is greater than we thought. So as we clean up smog around the world, which is much easier than combating global warming, and in fact the advanced nations have been pretty successful in their endeavors, global warming will accelerate. Models so far haven’t taken this into account.

    It could be much worse than we thought.

    For those who haven’t seen it, Google it, for a summary of the program.

    I know, I know. Global warming has gone out of fashion, but scientists just seem to have such a good track record that maybe we should listen to them.

  • libra

    says:

    From the article that MsMuddled, @11 linked:

    […] was ordered held at Miami’s downtown detention center without bail […]
    A Secret Service affidavit charges that Geisel made the threat during a training class for bail bondsmen […]

    Nice.

    Quite frankly, I’d sooner see nuts who make open threats, than nuts who, on the surface, seem to be perfectly harmless, but who “explode” without any prior notice. At least, people like Geisel can be stopped (given someone’s quick thinking)… It does pose a question though… Since the guy seems to be nuts and has a history of “nuttery”, how come he was able to acquire a gun?

  • libra

    says:

    Benen’s Gergen story, and the comic book references within, reminded me… Last night, I got an ad from Dover publications, peddling their new books, including a couple of paper doll ones. Do take a look at the covers:
    http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-mccain—obama-paper-dolls.html
    I’m not entirely happy with the Obama one — you can hardly recognize his face and, between the “elongation” and the tuxedo, he looks a bit like a cross between a lounge lizard and a gigolo of the early 20th century. But the McCain one… I’m sorely tempted to get that one; I think it’s priceless. He looks as if someone had picked him up by the shoulders of his suit and hung him out to dry. All you’d have to do is draw a clothes-line through the tabs, which look like clothes pegs…

  • Bruno

    says:

    james.. @ 3 said:….If the Chinese want to bring down America, all they have to do is to stop exporting shoes, etc….

    Then the shoes will be made somewhere else. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that China would want to give up the lucrative deal with America. They are already starting to hurt. The demand for higher wages has forced some of the Chinese factories — get this — outsource production to other countries.

    that’ what global economy does: it’ s very unfortunate in the short run, but it is the great equalizer over a long period of time. The faster the middle class grows in China, the more they will have to start producing for the domestic market (already happening) The upward pressure on wages (good thing) makes it that they are looking for cheaper labor markets (Africa, poorer Asian nations, etc)

    And the quest for progress starts over.

  • MsMuddled

    says:

    libra, I’m sure there’s more out there, they’re sure everywhere on the net. I’ve certainly read some not-so-veiled threat type posts on blogs etc., and the worst seem to be from those who also call themselves Christian.

    The encouraging news was that at least those hearing the threats had the fortitude to call it in.

  • libra

    says:

    A couple of paragraphs The entire daily posting is worth reading, as usual. And it includes links, which I’m unable to “transmit”) from the
    http://www.electoral-vote.com
    pertinent to our earlier discussion regarding polls:

    CQ Politics has a good story on the polling process and its pitfalls, ranging from mobile voters to a potentially unpredictable turnout. Other problems include the 30-40% of the voters who don’t follow the news, hesitation on the part of some voters to admit they would never vote for a black candidate, and undersampling of low-education voters. To top this off, 14% of adults no longer have a landline, and this group is heavily populated by younger people, men, and minorities. Many traditional pollsters turn up their noses at the robopollsters such as Rasmussen and SurveyUSA, but 64% of the polls in our presidential polls data base are from Rasmussen and SurveyUSA. Apparently the news organizations that orer polls have enough faith in them to put their money on the line. Both of these have track records at least as good as the others, but robopolling is a contentious topic in the industry.

    Four new presidential polls today. The most interesting one is Oregon, where Barack Obama has a slim lead over John McCain, 48% to 45%. While this difference is within the margin of error, this is the 12th consecutive poll showing Obama ahead in Oregon. One of the problems with just looking at the margin of error is that a state like this could be written off as a tossup but when 12 polls in a row all year long give the same result, the odds of this happening by chance are much less than 1 in 1000.

    MsMuddled, @20,

    This is something that we’ll have to worry about, every day and night of the next 8 yrs. But we knew it and he knew it and Michelle must have known it too. Yet, he was willing to risk his life and she let him; all to try to turn this country around towards a better future… I think *that* is what sticks in my craw the most — when nutters accuse them of not being patriotic.

    TCG, @21,

    Thanks for the good news about sTinker.

  • MsJoanne

    says:

    TCG, thanks for the 411 on Tinker. This bodes well for the good guys come November. The American people want more than simple-minded bullshit. Let’s hope that the collective ADD hangs tough for a bit longer.

  • Brian

    says:

    “Smog in Beijing, China for the Summer Olympics? Well, most of the thanks should go to the American consumers who relish all the low-priced goods that are currently being “Made In China” just for them… It is truly pathetic: we can’t even make our own shoes and socks anymore. If the Chinese want to bring down America, all they have to do is to stop exporting shoes, socks, surgical masks and a vast list of other necessities that they make, and which we are apparently incapable of making ourselves…”

    I remember learning about an economic theory that says that pollution will get really bad up until a point and then better as countries become richer and thus better able to deal with it. (At least I am pretty sure it was about pollution; if not, it was about hunger.) That doesn’t mean nothing can be done. We should not excuse what is happening now, only try to realize that while some consequences, like pollution, are bad, others, like China being richer, are good.

    On the same note, I am not particularly worried about the Chinese making shoes and other products like it. What else are people with few skills supposed to do? And while I have nothing but sympathy for the economic displacement of those in this countries whose specific jobs are lost because of trade, having shoes made here might mean much higher prices and fewer Chinese individuals without jobs. Higher global poverty isn’t good in any sense.

  • Bruno

    says:

    To Brian @ 25

    Not only that, but China has found out now, that because of all the pollution they have a major problem with respiratory diseases and syndromes within their population.

    That results in lower productivity for their country, and higher health care costs. Not to mention lower life expectancy.

    That results in China wanting to do something about it, because it is affecting them economically.

    Economies are pretty much the same everywhere. It doesn’t matter whether they are communist, democratic, dictatorial, etc…

    When it hurts people or countries, or any interested party in the pocket book, hard enough and long enough, the people will scream for changes and the government will take action. Not necessarily agreeable to each other’s time frame and needs.

    Is it any different here in America? Higher gas – people hurt – people want to drill now – republicans hold mock meetings in congress demanding that we drill now – etc…

    The republicans, fit very will with the famous quote from the French revolutionary: “Look there go my people, I must run in front of them, as I am their leader”

  • Turdblossom

    says:

    Paul Krugman gets it:

    Sad to say, the current drill-and-burn campaign is getting some political traction. According to one recent poll, 69 percent of Americans now favor expanded offshore drilling — and 51 percent of them believe that removing restrictions on drilling would reduce gas prices within a year.

    The headway Republicans are making on this issue won’t prevent Democrats from expanding their majority in Congress, but it might limit their gains — and could conceivably swing the presidential election, where the polls show a much closer race.

    You fools! You think the American people have common sense?You think they remember waht was said or done two days ago? Fools!

    We Republicans will define the issues and will define Obama and afetr you lose this Presidential electio you can start the conversation: “Gee, maybe we should have responded to the attacks sooner and stronger.” LOL

  • Tom Cleaver

    says:

    Prosecutors wanted 30-to-life; they got 66 months: “A military jury sentenced Osama bin Laden’s former driver to 5 1/2 years in prison for aiding terrorism, making him eligible for release in six months. Salim Hamdan was acquitted of conspiracy in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial. The sentence was delivered by the same six jurors who convicted Hamdan on Wednesday in the war crimes tribunal authorized by the Bush administration to try non-U.S. captives on terrorism charges outside the regular civilian and military courts.”

  • Jeff

    says:

    The growing haze in China is scary. Keep in mind that the country’s economy is growing at about 12% per year. (verify that number) The haze as an issue is kept quiet by complaints about the U.S. economic state. Most of us have already seen pictures of Chinese bicyclists wearing masks to protect themselves from the smog. Wait a few years until these guys are driving cars.

    Jeff

  • Brandon

    says:

    Maybe I believe people too easily, but I honestly did believe that Bin Laden’s driver was definitely a minor player who probably did not deserve further incarceration. 6 more months is close enough for me. I just hope that the Bush gang does not hold him afterwards as an “enemy combatant” or like I read somewhere else, the trial was just “for show”. At least if that happens, hopefully the next President will have more sound sensibilities.

  • Aaron

    says:

    actually Hark, scientists have a TERRIBLE record on predicting these things. In the 70’s we were on the verge of another Ice Age, remember? They can’t predict the weather 2 days from now, no chance they can predict worldwide climate changes effectively. Plus, humans have always prosepered during eras of warming and declined during stable and cooling periods. In other words, warming is actually good for homo sapiens (although there is probalby an upper boundary on how much warming, for sure).

  • les

    says:

    “In the 70’s we were on the verge of another Ice Age, remember?”

    The stupid never ceases to burn.