Saudi Police Assisted in Beheaded Captive Robert Johnson's Abduction

Read this and weep. Then remind yourself how close we know the Bush people are to the Saudi ruling family who controls everything in Saudi Arabia, including the security forces.

Shameless Plug

While I tend to keep my hats I wear fairly separate, I can't resist mentioning that my latest book, this one from Microsoft Press, is now available. It's a PC hardware primer aimed at both consumers who want to know as well as those training to become A+ certified technicians. You can find it through all the online bookstores, of course, as well as directly from Microsoft Press, but I tend to encourage folks to shop locally.
Don't ask me why there's a pipewrench on the cover. ;->

Another Sy Hersh Shocker: Israeli Agents Working in Iraq

This sounds bad, very bad. I missed it, however, until I caught (am catching?) Sy Hersh on Wolf Blitzer on CNN. I do not, however, see a link to it yet in the New Yorker's site.

But if you haven't caught it already, I'd encourage you to read the May piece from Jeff Goldberg on Israeli settlers and whether they're creating much of Israel's insecurity and bloodshed. A link to a discussion about it can be found here.

Solstice, Too

Today's also the day when we make the actual transit from spring to summer.

Even with my fever and screaming lung, I couldn't resist firing up the grill last night on the final Saturday evening of spring (resulting in my dog losing 15 lbs in body weight from drool) so we could feast on chipotle chicken with a Caesar salad while we watched "Shattered Glass", the one about the New Republic reporter who cooked so many of his stories. The latter isn't the best movie, but I was amazed they even made it into a movie because it looks at mundane - although highly important issues - like ethics, telling the truth, getting it right, and so on.

I'd also recommend the movie, "Fog of War", which looks at Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin matter through discussions with then secretary of Defense (and Rumsfeld's former boss), Robert McNamara. Buzzflash has it for sale. NetFlix has it for rental.

Happy Faddah's Day

Have a good one.

For those of you without a father to appreciate (and appreciating them in other than Hallmark and Wal-Mart ways is PERFECTLY fine), might I suggest you check out the Project Apollonia link at the top right of the blog screen?

I can't think of a better gift to say thanks to the a father who has passed than to share a book with a young person. Many of us were lucky enough to have their fathers bring a favored book into our lives (mine, believe it or not, gave me a dictionary before age 5, and that meant everything to me). Share the love, as they say.

Report ALL Drug Study Results, Not Just the Favorable Ones

Also from The Times:

Pharmaceutical companies would no longer be able to hide the results of clinical trials that reflect badly on their products under a long overdue reform that gained momentum last week. The nation's largest doctors' group, some prominent medical editors and a leading drug company all threw their weight behind proposals to create a public database that would include the results of all drug trials — not just the ones the manufacturers wanted to brag about.

Their voices are a welcome addition to the legal pressure brought by Eliot Spitzer, New York's attorney general, who has filed fraud charges against GlaxoSmithKline for concealing negative information about some of the trials it conducted on a drug used to fight depression.

In last week's action, the American Medical Association urged the federal government to set up a public registry of trial results. That is an obvious beginning, but even more needs to be done to make sure the pharmaceutical companies cooperate. The editors of some of the world's most prestigious medical journals are considering one way to prod cooperation — requiring drug companies to register their trials as a prerequisite to publication. In reaction to these moves, Merck said it would support a government-run database, while GlaxoSmithKline said it would publish trial results on its own Web site.

Reporting all trial results should be made mandatory by law. That would ensure that researchers, doctors and their patients can understand how well drugs actually work, as opposed to how well drug commercials imply that they work.

Times' on Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 911

From Philip Shenon, the promised fact-checking piece on Moore and his new film:

After a year spent covering the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, I was recently allowed to attend a Hollywood screening. Based on that single viewing, and after separating out what is clearly presented as Mr. Moore's opinion from what is stated as fact, it seems safe to say that central assertions of fact in "Fahrenheit 9/11" are supported by the public record (indeed, many of them will be familiar to those who have closely followed Mr. Bush's political career).

Mr. Moore is on firm ground in arguing that the Bushes, like many prominent Texas families with oil interests, have profited handsomely from their relationships with prominent Saudis, including members of the royal family and of the large and fabulously wealthy bin Laden clan, which has insisted it long ago disowned Osama. Mr. Moore spends several minutes in the film documenting ties between the president and James R. Bath, a financial advisor to a prominent member of the bin Laden family who was an original investor in Mr. Bush's Arbusto energy company and who served with the future president in the Air National Guard in the early 1970's. The Bath friendship, which indirectly links Mr. Bush to the family of the world's most notorious terrorist, has received less attention from national news organization than it has from reporters in Texas, but it has been well documented.

Mr. Moore charges that President Bush and his aides paid too little attention to warnings in the summer of 2001 that Al Qaeda was about to attack, including a detailed Aug. 6, 2001, C.I.A. briefing that warned of terrorism within the country's borders. In its final report next month, the Sept. 11 commission can be expected to offer support to this assertion. Mr. Moore says that instead of focusing on Al Qaeda, the president spent 42 percent of his first eight months in office on vacation; the figure came not from a conspiracy-hungry Web site but from a calculation by The Washington Post.

"Jesus Christ, Superstar"

That's the title of this piece by Amy Sullivan in this month's Washington Monthly, and raises some important points about - but not limited to - the way ultra conservative, ultra-Bible as unerring word of God born agains have rushed into to become the identifiable portrait of Christians while the rest of us have debated the role of God in our lives.

Indeed, the sometimes lunatic fringe of the pentecostals accounts for a sizeable amount of the US population, and one of the strongest religion-affiliated political organizations of all. They see public school as an evil, and often opt to home school their children. They see lots of things differently than most of us do, Christian and non-Christian alike. Most of us, for example, would not say comfortably that the Bible or the Torah or the Q'oran or any other book is an unerring representation of what our maker thinks and says. Most of us understand that there is a divide between real science and the Bible (women were not, after all, taken from the spare rib of Adam).

But while we can stereotype them, ridicule them, and try to disenfranchise them, Christians who take "an eye for an eye" all too literally and believe that the woman is supposed to be subject to her man are with us and they're very powerful. Especially powerful with the Bush White House in place.

Losing the War on Terror One Bushie at a Time

Posted at Washington Monthly:

An anonymous intelligence officer is about to release a book saying that Bush is losing the war on terror:

Imperial Hubris is the latest in a relentless stream of books attacking the administration in election year. Most of the earlier ones, however, were written by embittered former officials. This one is unprecedented in being the work of a serving official with nearly 20 years experience in counter-terrorism who is still part of the intelligence establishment.

The fact that he has been allowed to publish, albeit anonymously and without naming which agency he works for, may reflect the increasing frustration of senior intelligence officials at the course the administration has taken.

This is the second book written by this guy, but apparently he takes his criticism of Bush far beyond anything he's published before. Among other things, Anonymous say that (a) we probably aren't close to capturing bin Laden, (b) Bush and Tommy Franks screwed up big time by not going after him with massive firepower at Tora Bora in 2002, and (c) al-Qaeda is probably stronger than ever right now. And then there's this:

Anonymous, who published an analysis of al-Qaida last year called Through Our Enemies' Eyes, thinks it quite possible that another devastating strike against the US could come during the election campaign, not with the intention of changing the administration, as was the case in the Madrid bombing, but of keeping the same one in place.

"I'm very sure they can't have a better administration for them than the one they have now," he said.

"One way to keep the Republicans in power is to mount an attack that would rally the country around the president."

Homeland Security: A Joke Held Together by Duct Tape

While this story rarely played outside of DC, an event last week sent all of Capitol Hill running for safety believing that an incoming plane was about to target one of the buildings during Reagan's funeral. People who fell were run over by others.

From yesterday's Washington Post:

The Kentucky State Police aircraft, whose identification transmitter was broken, had properly notified civilian flight controllers of its status throughout its flight. But the FAA's regional control center never relayed the information to a Washington air defense center in Herndon -- formally known as the National Capital Region Coordination Center (NCRCC) -- until after U.S. Capitol Police made the emergency decision at 4:31 p.m. to evacuate the Capitol, according to the "after-action" report.

The order sent hundreds of assembled dignitaries and lawmakers and thousands of staff members running from the Capitol in a frantic exodus...

The episode "raises serious concerns about the government's ability to guard not only the U.S. Capitol but the entire region in the event of another airborne attack," Turner said in a statement yesterday. [Rep. Christopher] Cox [R-CA] said that "we want to protect the capital region and to make sure the procedures in place work to do that."

One of the two major supposed terror targets gets completely out of control because of a Kentucky airplane.

Times Reviewer Says Michael Moore's Film Agrees with Facts

That's what this piece in Editor and Publisher says. Can't wait to read the piece in tomorrow's Times.

Saud Authorities Match Grisly Photos with Grisly Photos

The Saudi government has released some really nasty pictures of their own, supposedly of the four men gunned down in connection with the slaying and perhaps subsequent beheading of American contractor Paul Johnson this past week.

Now, however, we hear Johnson's body has not been retrieved, as we were originally told. They're looking for it. First, though, we heard these men were "caught" disposing of Mr. Johnson.

A Coming Indictment Against Ken Lay of Enron? Really?

That seems to be what these folks are saying. Bush might be desperate enough to allow it, although Lay certainly has some bombshells he may be able to lay before Election Day. Thus, I don't expect too much in this department - perhaps an initial hard line followed perhaps by Ken vacationing... er... doing time in a lush resort in Acapulco for 3-6 months.

Bottom line: Lay could tell us a LOT about the energy initiative developed in secret between Cheney and Big Energy, as well as the fall of Gray Davis in California and the suddent rise of The Arnold, along with just how much time Kenny Boy spent at the White House advising our leader. None of these things would sit well with many Americans who paid prices for the collapse of Enron. So Bush is going to dig a nice large hole for Kenny to let him back out of any prison cell Kenny happens to land in.

Bush Plans to Screen EVERYONE for Mental Illness

This (relayed by a friend) isn't good on so many different levels, despite what happy horseshit he attaches to it:

A sweeping mental health initiative will be unveiled by President George W Bush in July. The plan promises to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions," according to a March 2004 progress report entitled New Freedom Initiative (www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom/toc-2004.html). While some praise the plan's goals, others say it protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.

Do we really want the government screening each and every one of us? The government, who gets so much wrong?

Will the indices look for people who might speak out, who might have leadership qualities that would make them organize others to resist some government policies?

Is this a new pre-emptive strike? Identify, label, and tuck people away? This way, the government can pull out a diagnosis on anyone they don't like, and potentially hide a diagnosis on someone they want to promote.

US Companies Place Blame for Hardships on Iraq War

I missed this story in USA Today, but thankfully, Buzzflash made the link available:

Hundreds of companies blame the Iraq war for poor financial results in 2003, many warning that continued U.S. military involvement there could harm this year's performance.

Sad to say, I think they have it right.

Yes, the Iraq War ultimately has done booming business for some companies, specifically defense contractors and infrastructure firms and oil companies. But I've never been convinced - although I freely admit I'm not an economist or biz analyst - that the kind of situation that makes defense contractors happy is good for the country as a whole.

Sure, WWII helped bring the US out of the still-ravaging effects of the Great Depression. But at what costs?

For defense contractors to flourish, there has to be an atmosphere of fear and conflict. We usually have to be willing to give up a whole part of a generation of our young men - and now women - to the fight. WWII was a clearer war certainly than this fog of "War on Terror." WWII was supposed to end some of the ultimate world strife. Instead, this current war - the larger War on Terror and the specific war in Iraq - is open ended, Bush can call any new country into the fray at will, and he's done everything in his power to squelch criticism, up to and including making it seem like anyone who opposes him is in bed with the terrorists.

I'm not convinced fear and loathing can produce a robust US or world economy. And for America to flourish, the rest of the world cannot starve nor can it leave in fear of us.

We May Have Killed Al Zarqawi...Again!

Depending on the news service you read, we may have killed the "so-called" head of al Qaeda in Iraq, which would amount to the 2nd or 3rd time we've killed him. By the sixth or eighth time, it might even be true. This is CBSNews' account:

U.S. aircraft blasted a residential neighborhood in Fallujah on Saturday, killing at least 16 people and leveling houses there, police and residents said. A U.S. official said the target was a known hideout of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network.

It was the first significant U.S. military action in the city since Marines ended a bloody three-week siege against insurgents. Since the U.S. forces left, residents have said that extremist influence in the Sunni Muslim city, west of Baghdad, has only grown.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, coalition deputy operations chief, said the United States used "precision weapons" to attack the suspected al-Zarqawi hideout and that the blast caused "multiple secondary explosions" of ammunition and roadside bomb materials stored there. There was no way to confirm the U.S. claim that al-Zarqawi's group used the house.

Kimmitt said "significant intelligence" from multiple sources suggested that "a significant number of people in the Zarqawi network were in this house" at the time of the attack. He would not provide further details of the attack and would not say whether it was carried out by aircraft.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was unknown whether al-Zarqawi was there. They said al-Zarqawi's death would be a significant blow to the insurgency but would not bring it to an end. The officials did not dispute Iraqi casualty figures.

CNN's No Room for News

Lessee: we have BushCo cranking up new places we might strike war upon, we have a beheaded American constractor, more al Qaeda warnings, plummeting health care and a nation of people whose "new" jobs pay significantly less (often with few benefits), but CNN for 2 days - in its #2 story position - has told us alternately that Bill Clinton slept on the couch after the disclosure of the Monica Lewinsky matter or that he was "in the doghouse."

Nothing like a 6-year-old story that wasn't a story to start with.

Hate Group to Run Anti-Clinton Ad on CBS

You know CBS, the network that refuses to run advocacy ads UNLESS they're in favor of the Bushies:

CBS is apparently set to run a new TV advertisement attacking former President Bill Clinton that appears to violate the network's stated prohibition on "advocacy" ads that deal with "controversial issues of public importance." Under the headline "Citizens United Launches New Anti-Clinton Ad Campaign to Air during '60 Minutes' Interview," Citizens United (led by David N. Bossie) announced on its website the new ad is to air during Clinton's June 20 appearance on CBS's news program 60 Minutes. The self-described "advocacy" group explained, "Amidst the hype surrounding the release of former President Clinton's new book, 'My Life', Citizens United sets the record straight by exposing the real legacy President Bill Clinton left for America."

The Citizens United ad claims that Clinton is "responsible" for "leaving us vulnerable to terrorists."

CBS's airing of the Citizens United ad would be noteworthy because the network refused to run ads from MoveOn.org and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) during this year's Super Bowl. At the time, CBS explained that it does not run "advocacy advertising"...

Click here to write CBS and explain that THIS AD is advocacy, too.

DNA Checked to Be Sure They Killed Saud Al Qaeda Head in Death of Paul Johnson

My only problem with this is that now, we're being told these men weren't actually found next to Mr. Johnson's body (for one) and that Saudi scientific findings, like ours, I imagine depend on what the ruling person TELLS them to report.

Bush, Our Spiritual Leader Who Rallied Us After 9/11

Let me join Atrios in choking over this phrase in the WaPo today.

Making the decision to go to war, I imagine, is pretty easy for somebody like Bush, who never fought one, who found his cushy fly-boy assignment too tough to show up for in the late 60s/early 70s. It's trying to achieve your objectives without resorting to cluster bombs, MOABs, and uranium-depleted weaponry that would be difficult.

As for Bush as "spiritual leader", I'm reminded of a Frank Zappa song, originally about Pat Robertson: "Jesus thinks you're a jerk!"