Fred Thompson, still clueless

C&L:
From what I hear, Fred Thompson, the actor-lobbyist-presidential candidate, has been having a little trouble raising money for his campaign. Perhaps, out of the goodness of our hearts, we could chip in and buy him a newspaper subscription.

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson said Thursday he was unaware that a federal judge had ruled last week that lethal injection procedures in his home state were unconstitutional.

Thompson also told reporters he was unaware that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to consider a Kentucky case about whether lethal injection violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Thompson’s support for the death penalty was a major part of his campaign platform when he first ran for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee in 1994. Asked for his response to the recent Tennessee and Kentucky cases, Thompson responded, “I hadn’t heard that. I didn’t know.”

Unfortunately, Thompson says that all the time, about a lot of issues.

Shuster to Rep. Blackburn: “When was the last time a New York Times ad ever killed somebody?”

C&L:
Tucker substitute host David Shuster confronts Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) about the blatant hypocrisy of the Republican party when he asks about Rush Limbaugh’s Senator Betrayus smear against Senator Chuck Hagel and all Blackburn wants to do is rehash tired slams against the New York Times over the MoveOn ad.
As Blackburn prattles on about the NYT betraying the public trust and making sweetheart deals, Shuster turns the tables on her and asks her to name the last soldier from her district who was killed in Iraq — and what do you know? She had no idea what his name was, or even why she didn’t know. Watch Blackburn stutter and get backed into a corner, with Shuster proving she cared more about making partisan hits than she did about the dead soldiers from her own district.
MSNBC, get that man his own show!

Shuster: “Let’s talk about the public trust. You represent, of course, a district in western Tennessee. What was the name of the last solider from your district who was killed in Iraq?”

Blackburn:”The name of the last soldier killed in Iraq uh - from my district I - I do not know his name -”

Shuster: “Ok, his name was Jeremy Bohannon, he was killed August the 9th, 2007. How come you didn’t know the name?”

Blackburn: “I - I, you know, I - I do not know why I did not know the name…” [Snip]

Shuster: “But you weren’t appreciative enough to know the name of this young man, he was 18 years old who was killed, and yet you can say chapter and verse about what’s going on with the New York Times and Move On.org.” [Snip]

Shuster: “But don’t you understand, the problems that a lot of people would have, that you’re so focused on an ad — when was the last time a New York Times ad ever killed somebody? I mean, here we have a war that took the life of an 18 year old kid, Jeremy Bohannon from your district, and you didn’t even know his name.”

To watch the video, click the C&L link.

More than 20 retired generals speak out against Iraq war.

ThinkProgress:
“In op-ed pieces, interviews and TV ads, more than 20 retired U.S. generals have broken ranks with the culture of salute and keep it in the family. Instead, they are criticizing the commander in chief and other top civilian leaders who led the nation into what the generals believe is a misbegotten and tragic war.” Most “were political conservatives who had voted for George W. Bush,” but “they felt betrayed by Bush and his advisers.”

Dan Rather: Democracy May Not Survive

Dan Rather : 'Somebody's got to take a stand and say democracy cannot survive... with government interference in news'
Rawstory:
"They sacrificed support for independent journalism for corporate financial gain, and in so doing, I think they undermined a lot at CBS News," he said. (cont. video at the link)

How George Bush became the new Saddam

Patrick Graham paints an incredibly complex picture of Iraq with alliances now blurring. A must read from the Canadian press.

McLeans:
It was embarrassing putting my flak jacket on backwards and sideways, but in the darkness of the Baghdad airport car park I couldn’t see anything. “Peterik, put the flak jacket on,” the South African security contractor was saying politely, impatiently. “You know the procedure if we are attacked.”

I didn’t. He explained. One of the chase vehicles would pull up beside us and someone would drag me out of the armoured car, away from the firing. If both drivers were unconscious—nice euphemism—he said I should try to run to the nearest army checkpoint. If the checkpoint was American, things might work out if they didn’t shoot first. If it was Iraqi . . . he didn’t elaborate.

The Age of Irresponsibility

Newsweek:
How Bush has created a moral vacuum in Iraq in which Americans can kill for free.

Imagine a universe where a man can gun down women and children anytime he pleases, knowing he will never be brought to justice. A place where morality is null and void, and arbitrary killing is the rule. A place that has been imagined hitherto only in nightmarish dystopian fiction, like “1984,” or in fevered passages from Dostoevsky—or which existed during the Holocaust and Stalinist purges and the Dark Ages. Well, that universe exists today. It is called Iraq. And the man who made it possible is George W. Bush.

Republicans Angered over Bush's threat to Veto Funding Increase for Children's Health

ThinkProgress:
“Republicans reacted angrily yesterday” to Bush’s pledge to veto increased funding for children’s health insurance. “I’m disappointed by the president’s comments,” said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA). “I’m very, very disappointed,” echoed Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR).

89.6 million: The number of Americans under the age of 65 who “had no health insurance for some or all of 2006 and 2007, according to a study released Thursday by Families USA, an advocacy group for the uninsured. The number is “almost double the number of uninsured reported by the Census Bureau for 2006.”

Supreme Court author: Justice Souter wept when he thought of Bush v. Gore

Rawstory:

When Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, appeared on Thursday's Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert grilled him about the meaning of the book's title. "Do they have secret handshakes? Is it like the Da Vinci Code? Are there bizarre sexual rites going on there?"

Toobin had to admit he wasn't aware of any secrets of that kind, but did confide that "Justice Souter was so upset about the result in Bush v. Gore that not only did he almost resign the Court because he was so upset, but there were times when he thought about the case and he wept."

Gold Star Father Who Lost Son In Iraq Allegedly Beaten By Members Of Pro-War Group

C&L:

Via After Downing Street:
Here are photos of members of “Gathering of Eagles” who assaulted gold star father Carlos Arredondo in broad daylight in Washington, D.C., on September 15, 2007, throwing him to the ground and kicking him.

Account of what happened from Arredondo’s wife By Mélida Arredondo:
Carlos Arredondo, 47 year old father of two sons, arrived in the nation’s capitol on Monday, 09/10/07 to share a memorial he has made to honor for his eldest son, Alex. Carlos has visited thirty of the United States with the traveling memorial to his son Alexander. Lcpl. Alexander S. Arredondo, USMC was killed on 08/25/04. He was 20 years and 20 days old. The memorial consists of a casket, poster- size photographs of Alex when he graduated from boot camp, before his second tour in Iraq, lying in state at his wake, and a photo of Alex with his younger brother Brian.

Saturday, September 15, 2007 consisted of first a rally, a march towards the capitol and then a die-in. Carlos pulled the memorial along the march route approaching the rotunda near the capitol building. Several of the marchers requested for him to speak about the memorial where a crowd gathered around him. After finishing, several people walked with Carlos as he pulled the memorial. Several pictures of Alex dressed in his blues were attached to the display.
As Carlos passed counter protesters, one man ripped a picture of Alex from the memorial. Carlos leaped on the man to retrieve the picture. It was at that point that approximately five others all began to attack Carlos by kicking him in the head, legs, stomach and back.

This hateful group has a website, and while I have reservations about linking to them I feel that the depths of their hatred and ignorance must be seen to be believed and it must be beaten back. Please take the time to go look at the comments being made about Carlos at their site. No matter how enraging it may be, they must be exposed for who and what they really are.

U.S.-IRAQ: Fallon Derided Petraeus, Opposed the Surge

IPS:
WASHINGTON, Sep 12 (IPS) - In sharp contrast to the lionisation of Gen. David Petraeus by members of the U.S. Congress during his testimony this week, Petraeus's superior, Admiral William Fallon, chief of the Central Command (CENTCOM), derided Petraeus as a sycophant during their first meeting in Baghdad last March, according to Pentagon sources familiar with reports of the meeting.

Fallon told Petraeus that he considered him to be "an ass-kissing little chickenshit" and added, "I hate people like that", the sources say. That remark reportedly came after Petraeus began the meeting by making remarks that Fallon interpreted as trying to ingratiate himself with a superior.

Study finds left-wing brain, right-wing brain

LA Times:
Even in humdrum nonpolitical decisions, liberals and conservatives literally think differently, researchers show.

Exploring the neurobiology of politics, scientists have found that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives because of how their brains work.In a simple experiment reported today in the journal Nature Neuroscience, scientists at New York University and UCLA show that political orientation is related to differences in how the brain processes information.

Previous psychological studies have found that conservatives tend to be more structured and persistent in their judgments whereas liberals are more open to new experiences. The latest study found those traits are not confined to political situations but also influence everyday decisions.

Report: Thompson's First Wife Filed For Divorce Over "Cruel And Inhumane Treatment"

UK Daily Mail:
Moreover, when Thompson married his first wife, Sarah Lindsey, at Lawrenceburg Methodist Church in 1959, she was already two months pregnant with their first child.

The marriage wasn't to last. Though Thompson tries to portray their 1985 break-up as amicable and his family says Sarah will campaign for him, we can disclose that in her original divorce writ - which until now has never been made public - she accused him of "cruel and inhuman treatment".

Attorneys Call Anti-Terrorism Efforts a Total Failure

C&L:

…we asked 50 defense attorneys who’ve worked on federal terrorism cases since 9/11 their opinions of the legal war on terror. (We also asked 50 prosecutors, but U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Dean Boyd told assistant U.S. attorneys across the country not to participate. He declined to tell us his reason.)

Memo to Mr. Boyd, Esq.: This is the American Bar Association asking you. Remember? The ones who gave a unanimous “well-qualified” rating to Samuel Alito? We’re not talking those commies at the National Lawyer’s Guild, radical journalists at Mother Jones Magazine or some Nazi/KKK blackmailing leftwing blog, heh. What exactly are you afraid of? That attorneys supposedly working FOR you might express the same common sense opinions shown above?

Salon: Former CIA officers report Bush 'didn't give a fuck about intelligence'

Salon:

On Sept. 18, 2002, CIA director George Tenet briefed President Bush in the Oval Office on top-secret intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, according to two former senior CIA officers. Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister, a member of Saddam's inner circle, although it turned out to be accurate in every detail. Tenet never brought it up again.

Nor was the intelligence included in the National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002, which stated categorically that Iraq possessed WMD. No one in Congress was aware of the secret intelligence that Saddam had no WMD as the House of Representatives and the Senate voted, a week after the submission of the NIE, on the Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq. The information, moreover, was not circulated within the CIA among those agents involved in operations to prove whether Saddam had WMD.

Leahy: No New Attorney General Until Gonzales Probe Completed

AP:

WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy said Sunday that finding out whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales lied or otherwise misled Congress will help senators pick a worthy successor.

Leahy, D-Vt., has asked Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine to look into whether Gonzales gave inaccurate testimony about the firings of several U.S. attorneys last year.

"I am very pleased that it's being done, because I think that we should have the answers, and I have a great deal of confidence in the inspector general," Leahy said. "I have told the White House there's a lot of information we need to have before a confirmation hearing."

Leahy said that senators need to know what sort of advice Gonzales gave President Bush to help them ask whether the next prospective attorney general would be different.

Pentagon Draws Up Plans To Hit 1,200 Targets In Three Day Iran Blitz

London Times:

THE Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days, according to a national security expert.

Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center, said last week that US military planners were not preparing for “pinprick strikes” against Iran’s nuclear facilities. “They’re about taking out the entire Iranian military,” he said.

Troops Blast Surge: "We've Out-Stayed Our Welcome"

McClatchy News:
Although the soldiers who since spring have walked and ridden through this volatile area mixed with Sunni and Shiite Muslims have seen some signs of progress, they still face the daily threat of roadside bombs, an unreliable Iraqi police force, the limitations of depending on Iraqis for tips and the ever-elusive enemy.

"Even though we've out-stayed our welcome, in the big picture of whether we've helped or not, I know we have," said Sgt. Christofer Kitto, a 23-year-old sniper from Altamont, N.Y. "But now it's just in a state of quagmire. The U.S. time here has come and gone."

White House Racked with Infighting

Washington Post:
Book Tells Of Dissent In Bush's Inner Circle

Karl Rove told George W. Bush before the 2000 election that it was a bad idea to name Richard B. Cheney as his running mate, and Rove later raised objections to the nomination of Harriet E. Miers to the Supreme Court, according to a new book on the Bush presidency.

In "Dead Certain: The Presidency of George Bush," journalist Robert Draper writes that Rove told Bush he should not tap Cheney for the Republican ticket: "Selecting Daddy's top foreign-policy guru ran counter to message. It was worse than a safe pick -- it was needy." But Bush did not care -- he was comfortable with Cheney and "saw no harm in giving his VP unprecedented run of the place."

Former Reagan aide says Congress must start impeachment inquiry

Rawstory:

A constitutional lawyer who served in Ronald Reagan's administration says President Bush's "apparently criminal" authorization of a warrantless wiretapping program is grounds for the House to begin an impeachment inquiry.

By not beginning such an investigation, impeachment will become a "virtual dead letter," Bruce Fein, former deputy attorney general under Regan, said in a essay published in Slate