Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Intelligence officers implicated in Abu Ghraib Punitive action possible following Pentagon investigation By Jim Miklaszewski Correspondent NBC News Updated: 7:47 p.m. ET Aug. 10, 2004 NBC News has learned a military investigation into prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison now implicates military intelligence officers in addition to military police already charged. Pentagon sources tell NBC News the investigation by Maj. Gen. George Fay recommends punitive action, which could include criminal charges against several military intelligence officers who were at least aware of the abuse. 11:23:50 PM    comment []

The Daily show video archives You must watch the Bush VS Bush Debate http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/thedailyshowwithjonstewart/videos_corr.jhtml?startIndex=25&;p=stewart 9:56:09 PM    comment []

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Terror alerts animated http://www.markfiore.com/animation/fear.swf   9:25:12 PM    comment []

MAKING VOTES COUNT The Shame of New York In this presidential year, the election systems of swing states like Florida are being subjected to considerable scrutiny. Other states' systems, which may be just as troubled but unlikely to produce a crisis in the presidential vote count, are being ignored. New York, in particular, has one of the nation's most dysfunctional, opaque and patronage-ridden structures for running elections. It needs an overhaul, starting with the New York State Board of Elections, which should be dismantled. The State Board of Elections is a case of noble intentions gone terribly awry. In an effort to put elections above politics, it was made bipartisan, with two Republican commissioners and two Democrats. But this has simply led to a constant war to subvert the structure and gain partisan advantage.Gov. George Pataki recently waited eight months before reappointing one Democratic commissioner, a step that should be automatic. In the interim, his party had the upper hand. The board's top two staff positions are supposed to be split by the two parties. But the position of executive director has been kept vacant for a year, allowing the deputy executive director, a Republican, to run the agency. Democrats have not been blameless in this feud. They have tried to take advantage of a peculiar glitch in the law that allows Democratic chairmen of the board to hold their positions more than twice as long as Republicans http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/10/opinion/10tue1.html?ex=1249876800&;en=58e9dd3665287003&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo 9:18:37 PM    comment []

MILITARY – THE DEFERMENT OF THE HAWKS: In the September 2004 Vanity Fair, which hit newsstand shelves yesterday, respected journalist David Halberstam examines the discrepancy between the administration's hawks and their personal military records. "To the new superhawks, an America engaged in a worthy war of self-defense and a new imperial America engaged in a war that is a significant miscalculation of policy are the same thing." Halberstam adds, "Their new poster boy is the vice president himself, a man of great certitude, not just about Vietnam but about Iraq as well – his confidence and certitude hardly born of a life experience." Instead of going to war, "Richard Cheney received five – yes, five – deferments, a record that would make most men modest about speaking out on Vietnam and related subjects." And he's not even the Bush administration's deferment king: That (dis)honor goes to "that singular American patriot, Attorney General John Ashcroft, who got seven. Yes, seven." 8:58:22 AM    comment []

COMMENTARY It's Time to Bench 'Team B' Second-guessing the CIA has led the U.S. astray. By Lawrence Korb The reports of the Sept. 11 commission and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence missed the real problem facing the intelligence community, which is not organization or culture but something known as the "Team B" concept. And the real villains are the hard-liners who created the concept out of an unwillingness to accept the unbiased and balanced judgments of intelligence professionals. The roots of the problem go back to May 6, 1976, when the director of Central Intelligence, George H.W. Bush, created the first Team B to assess a report his agency had done on Soviet strategic objectives http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-korb8aug08,0,2656284.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions 6:59:39 AM    comment []

But What About Novak? Amy Sullivan (6:28PM) link Time magazine reporter (and Washington Monthly alum -- we're proud, Matt) Matt Cooper has been held in contempt by a federal judge for refusing to testify before a grand jury about "alleged conversations...with a specified executive branch official." That's the grand jury looking into how Valerie Plame's name made it into a Robert Novak column and whether Scooter Libby...er, an unnamed executive branch official...had anything to do with it. I have to admit I haven't followed this story terribly closely, mostly because guys like Josh Marshall have been all over every inch of it. But I am surprised that I haven't heard about any repercussions so far for Novak and yet now Matt is at risk of facing jail and/or extensive fines unless he gives up his source. Of course, all of this leaves rather a mystery about why Fitzgerald is picking on Cooper and Russert, while not putting the same screws to Robert Novak -- the man who clearly could give the most salient and probative testimony in this case and who, let's be frank, most deserves to be put in this position. He, after all, is the one who actually chose to report the leak and become the hand-maiden of the bad act. -- Josh Marshall 6:54:19 AM    comment []

Bush is losing it by kos Mon Aug 9th, 2004 at 23:01:12 GMT It's bad enough he has to campaign in Virginia, supposedly solid Red territory. But then, he follows up with yet another "gaffe": Bush also said high taxes on the rich are a failed strategy because "the really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway." Right... Obviously a notion from personal experience. A Kerry guy in Virginia hit this softball out of the park: Asked about that comment, Jonathan Beeton, spokesman for Kerry's campaign in Virginia, said "George Bush can speak with authority about really rich people. ... That's his base, so I'm sure he knows what he's talking about. But that doesn't make it right." 6:49:04 AM    comment []

Funnies Real Time with Bill Maher": "They've been having a lot of trouble over at Illinois finding a Republican candidate to go up against Barack Obama there. People love that guy. Well, they think they've finally found one. He is our old friend, Alan Keyes, the African American firebrand conservative preacher. The only problem is, Keyes lives in Maryland. It's starting to look bad for Republicans. First, they couldn't find Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, then they couldn't find weapons in Iraq. Now they can't find a black person in Chicago!"  "First Lady Laura Bush said that people shouldn't be saying that the benefits from stem cell research are 'right around the corner' because it gives people false hope. Then later her husband said that the economic recovery is 'right around the corner.'" 6:35:41 AM    comment []

On Hardball with Chris Mathews, Ex General Tommy Franks was on with Chris and he was asked if the worst thing happened, that Iraq wouldn't be stable and turn into a breeding ground for new al Queda leaders. Gen. Franks said that would be terrible. New Generation of Leaders Is Emerging for Al Qaeda http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/10/politics/10terror.html?hp 6:21:40 AM    comment []

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Stern's listeners could tip the race, some analysts say Popular 'shock jock' bashes Bush in between jokes, porn star interviews By CHRIS McGANN SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Some analysts predict that syndicated radio host Howard Stern and his legions of listeners, most of whom are young male swing voters, will tip the presidential election in favor of Democratic nominee John Kerry. Stern now squeezes increasingly long anti-Bush tirades into the program that previously had been known mainly for porn star interviews, gross jokes, crank phone calls and scantily clad female guests -- not political critiques. Though he supported Bush after the 9/11 attacks, Stern now blasts the president for his positions on the war in Iraq, stem-cell research, the environment, gay marriage and religion. 5:06:18 AM    comment []

Here's an interesting little ditty, I'll tell you why later FCC Clears 'Buffy,' 'Grace' on Charges of Indecency WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Will & Grace" passed the indecency test at the FCC (news - web sites) on Monday as the agency rejected complaints against the popular TV shows filed by two conservative-leaning interest groups. The complaints filed by the Parent Television Council and Americans for Decency were dismissed in a 5-0 vote because the commission found the shows didn't violate its indecency regulations. Both shows were aired in primetime. The PTC, one of the more active groups on the indecency front run by L. Brent Bozell, complained to the commission about an episode of "Buffy" that aired April 22, 2003, on WDCA, a UPN affiliate in Washington. In the episode, the characters Spike and Buffy fight before having sex, according to the order. "The commission noted that there was no nudity and there was no evidence that the activity depicted was dwelled upon or was used to pander, titillate or shock the audience," the commission said in a release. who is L. Brent Bozell?  As a guest on the August 5 edition of CNN's Crossfire, the founder and president of the conservative Media Research Center, L. Brent Bozell III, said, "[W]hen I think of the people like Whoopi Goldberg and the kind of things they say, I'm reminded that muzzles, dog muzzles, for people's mouths, sometimes are a very good thing."  I 4:59:01 AM    comment []