The Magnificent, Marvelous, Mindreading, Mellifluous (not to mention Mentally Engaging and Markedly Stupendous) MissM gives you the link for the David Letterman-Bill O'Reilly Second Round Showdown (ick poo - sometimes the mere mention of his name makes me want to barf).
My previous (as in yesterday) post about this can be found here.
[Ed. Update: It would help if I included the link to the Crooks and Liars video. Sowwy.]
The Magnificent, Marvelous, Mindreading, Mellifluous (not to mention Mentally Engaging and Markedly Stupendous) MissM gives you the link for the David Letterman-Bill O'Reilly Second Round Showdown (ick poo - sometimes the mere mention of his name makes me want to barf).
My previous (as in yesterday) post about this can be found here.
McCain said today the U.S. really needs to send at least 20,000 more troops into Iraq.
BTW, whoever kindly provides his meds: McCain insists on downing his pills with a Bush Kool-Aid chaser.
You get a really bad idea for a Reality TV show. Although, to be honest, all reality TV is pretty damned stupid.
Here:
Big Brother meets Survival on Iraqi TV
Media: Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians under one roof for reality show.
[Ed. Update: That's Iran, not Iraq.]
Seeing how utterly successful the U.S. Republican party has been referring to every non-GOP person as a Nazi, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert has jumped in to insist Iraq is just like Nazi Germany.
Uh... given Israel's actions in the last 40 years and much worse recently, I think they should be very careful about leveling charges of genocide, race bias, the dangers of a radical theocracy at work, etc.
Or... er... they would if they were allowed to speak with a man which they are not thanks to the "increased" freedom the Bushies delivered to Afghanistan - and Iraq - on the business end of depleted uranium and clusterfuck bombs.
From the wires, "Women Under Attack in Afghanistan and Iraq":
Women are facing increasing violence in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, especially when they speak out publicly to defend women's rights, a senior U.N. official told the
U.N. Security Council.
Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women, called on for fresh efforts to ensure the safety of women in countries emerging from conflicts, to provide them with jobs, and ensure that they receive justice, including compensation for rape.
"What UNIFEM is seeing on the ground — in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia — is that public space for women in these situations is shrinking," Heyzer said Thursday. "Women are becoming assassination targets when they dare defend women's rights in public decision-making."Heyzer spoke at a daylong open council meeting on implementation of a 2000 resolution that called for women to be included in decision-making positions at every level of striking and building on peace deals. It also called for the prosecution of crimes against women and increased protection of women and girls during war.
Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno said that, in the past year, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the first woman head of state in Africa, Liberia adopted an anti-rape law, women in Sierra Leone pushed for laws on human trafficking, inheritance and property rights and women in East Timor submitted a draft domestic violence bill to parliament.
I think it was better the previous time, but I appreciate that Letterman didn't even pretend to give him any due.
Well, not to China. Just go to your Web browser. Reader CK reminded me of a Chinese news site I've visited before called Xinhua (China View) - and don't sweat it, they do English - which had a lot of news NOT in our headlines today. I've done a round-up below but feel free to visit yourself.
The U.S and Torture:
UN expert: New U.S. terror law violates international treaties
The new anti-terrorism law approved by the United States earlier this month contains provisions that violate international treaties and contradict the principles of fair trial, a key UN human rights expert said Friday.
North Korea Cites U.S. and South Korea:
DPRK accuses U.S., S Korea of adopting provocative action
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Friday accused the United States and South Korea of preparing for a nuclear war against it.The DPRK conducted its first nuclear test on Oct. 9, sparking a harsh reaction from the int'l community.[DPRK conducts nuclear test] FULL STORY
Israel Violates Lebanese Air Space
Lebanon accuses Israel of violating airspace[Special Report]
The Lebanese Army on Friday accused Israeli warplanes of hovering over southern Lebanese areas and violating the country's airspace.
And then there's this:
Global warming + hurricane = goodbye Coney Island
... perhaps someone could inform George "macaca" Allen that the Vice President's old bag, Lynne Cheney, wrote a much steamier - and far less interesting - book about lesbian lust in 1981. And, as Keith Olbermann pointed out tonight, there was also Scooter Libby's fictional fascination with young prostitutes locked up in ape cages for "training". Jim Webb's stuff, written a few decades ago, I'm told is quite tame.
Statistically speaking, I suspect some of the worst perverts, molesters, and creeps may all be card-carrying Republicans (not that there aren't very normal, compassionate GOP members). Puritans who want to shake their fingers and punish others are often the worst offenders in any area.
[Ed. note: You also want to read Glenn's coverage of The Dick Cheney interview where he seems gleeful about U.S. torture and waterboarding specifically.]
Constitutional legal expert Glenn Greenwald is always an informative read and tonight is no exception.
First he tackles the latest so-called liberal media bias (cackle!) with NBC's decision not to air something perhaps "unflattering" against President Bush related to the Dixie Chicks ("Shut Up and Sing"). Then there's the Bushies demanding military escalation in Iraq (oh, that'll be good), followed by "rank ignorance" masquerading as expertise.
Dixie Chicks:
The new documentary, Shut Up & Sing, chronicles the hostile and sometimes threatening conduct directed towards The Dixie Chicks after one of the group's members criticized the Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush, during a 2003 concert. The documentary is being distributed by Harvey Weinstein's film company, and a preview for the film can be seen here.
According to Matt Drudge (a phrase that does not roll out of one's mouth easily), both NBC and the CW Television Network (the joint venture of CBS and Warner Brothers that combines the WB and UPN Networks) are refusing to air ads promoting Shut Up & Sing on the ground that the ads are "disparaging" to our President...
The very idea that it is in the "public interest" to prohibit ads that criticize the Leader is ludicrous on its face. The President is constantly given free airtime to argue his views and propagandize on virtually every issue, and the networks endlessly offer forums for his followers and surrogates to defend him. And the networks' argument is particularly absurd now, given that networks are awash with cash from offensive, obnoxious, and repugnant political ads of every kind.
What possible justification is there for a network to prohibit the promotion of films which are critical of the nation's political leaders? Worse, the networks' recent history of ostensible avoidance of "controversial" political material seems extremely selective and one-sided. "Controversial" in this context seems actually to mean "likely to trigger displeasure among the Leader and his supporters."
Bushies Demand More War (as in more aggressive) in Iraq:
Bush followers have finally been forced to accept as fact that the Iraq War has become widely unpopular among Americans. But a consensus among them has emerged that the war's unpopularity is not a repudiation of the war itself, but instead, is reflective of a belief that the war must be prosecuted more aggressively, with more resources, and with less restraint and caution. In their view, the problem isn't that Americans have realized that the war isn't worth the costs or is based on false pretenses, but instead, it's that Americans believe that victory is so urgent in Iraq that they're angry that we're not doing enough to achieve it.
Yesterday, the President -- as he has been doing regularly over the past couple months -- met with eight Bush followers who masquerade as "journalists," including Tony Blankley of the Washington Times, Charles Krauthammer, Mark Steyn and Michael Barone. As Byron York (who was also there) reported, one of the principal themes was that Americans are dissatisfied with the war in Iraq because we aren't going all out to win (emphasis added):The frustration in the room stemmed not so much from internal divisions and paralysis in the Iraqi government, or lagging indicators like oil and energy production. Rather, it came from the fact that American forces simply do not seem to be winning the war — on anyone’s terms — and that most Americans are disinclined to leave the troops in Iraq without some clear movement toward victory.
“The American people were solidly behind this when you went in and you toppled the Taliban, when you go in and you topple Saddam,” columnist Mark Steyn said to the president. “But when it just seems to be a kind of thankless, semi-colonial, policing, defensive operation, with no end — I mean, where is the offense in this?”
Rank ignorance posing as expertise
It should surprise nobody that armies of "conservatives" have become overnight experts in New Jersey Constitutional law and have pronounced the 66-page decision (.pdf) from the New Jersey Supreme Court to be a tyrannical embodiment of judicial activism. But in issuing these condemnations, none of them mentions a single provision of the New Jersey State Constitution or any precedent applying it that supports their righteous conviction that the decision was legally erroneous; they just know intuitively, deep in their soul, that it is.
The good folks at Talking Points Memo have supplied just such a scorecard to help you keep track of all those Republican/GOP scandals.
Thanks to Doug at All Things Democrat for the pointer.
You may not recognize the name, but anyone who watched slightly more intelligent TV programs no doubt saw him in countless shows, including "Owen Marshall, Attorney at Law", in TV movies and mini-series, as well as in the Michael Crichton movie, "Andromeda Strain." He was a true actor rather than a "TV star".
Funny, I was just thinking about Hill in the last few days and wondered what became of him since it had been so long since I last saw him appear. The reason, besides age (he was 84), was Alzheimer's, a battle he waged for about 16 years.
Also from AP/WaPo on Dick Cheney's favorite millionaire-made-him Halliburton in Iraq, which follows up this previous post on Kellogg, Brown & Root:
Administrative overhead accounted for more than half the costs that a Halliburton Co. subsidiary passed on to the government under a key contract to restore Iraq's oil industry, a figure that critics said was unusually high.
A report released yesterday by the inspector general's office overseeing Iraq spending found that at least 55 percent, or $163 million, of $296 million in total costs rung up by Halliburton unit KBR went to expenses such as back-office support, transportation and security. That percentage was significantly higher than it was on work by other firms in Iraq, and experts said it is far above what is typically found on a government contract.
The findings are the latest that call into question KBR's work under the deal, which required the company to rehabilitate oil facilities in southern Iraq. Under the contract's terms, KBR is reimbursed for its costs and then receives a percentage for profit on top, an arrangement that critics contend has given the firm an incentive to run up its bills.
According to internal government documents released in March, auditors found that the company had repeatedly overcharged the government by, among other things, billing for work it didn't actually do and paying suppliers more than they were owed. Meanwhile, work schedules slid and company officials balked at requests for accurate cost estimates. At one point, officials threatened to terminate the deal. Instead, KBR -- which has received more money from the Iraq war effort than any other firm -- was allowed to keep the contract and is now winding up work.
Hard to believe that a mega corporation Dick Cheney once called home - Halliburton - could possibly do anything to maximize their profits while hurting our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan directly and American taxpayers in the pocketbook! But here it is in all its infamous glory:
The Halliburton subsidiary that provides food, shelter and other logistics to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan exploited federal regulations to hide details on its contract performance, according to a report released Friday.Uh huh.
The special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction found that Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown & Root Services routinely marked all information it gave to the government as proprietary, whether it was or not. The government promises not to disclose proprietary data so a company's most valuable information is not divulged to its competitors.
By marking all information proprietary _ including such normally releasable data as labor rates _ the company abused federal regulations, the report says.
In effect, Kellogg, Brown & Root turned the regulations "into a mechanism to prevent the government from releasing normally transparent information, thus potentially hindering competition and oversight."
Halliburton spokeswoman Cathy Mann said that since the current contract is being reviewed and may be divided among several contractors, "It is clearly appropriate to mark data as proprietary that could potentially be used for competitive purposes" as would be the case in any new contract.
She said such proprietary markings have been used on a majority of the data for at least the last decade, and the company will work with the military on matters outlined in the interim report as the final audit is completed.
The boards of both Exxon with its 10.4 B(with a b)illion 3Q profit and Chevron which just released a record $5B profit in the same third quarter wish to thank each and every one of you for helping to elect two men from the oil and energy billions as the tyrant and vice-tyral-in-chief!
And that you love gas-guzzling vehicles to boot is just icing on the energy profiteering cake!
[Ed. note: The Washington Post notes what they prefer to cite as a possible misstatement - but which is probably likely nothing like a misstatement - where Vice President Dick Cheney has endorsed waterboarding and such torture as the great American way. Nice. Really nice. Why does the rest of the world hate us? You don't have to struggle to answer that one anymore, folks.]
For George Bush - and his "brain", Karl Rove - lies come as easily as breathing, perhaps moreso.
The other day, he tried to pretend that he has never uttered the phrase, "stay the course", when news outlets like Keith Olbermann's Countdown on MSNBC could easily cite 29 or more public speeches in which he cited this.
Today, I heard Bush say, "The U.S. does not torture. And we won't."
Really?
Tell that to the never-charged detainees after 9/11 who mysteriously died in custody.
Tell that to the Canadian man Bush had shipped to Syria to waterboard and otherwise torture.
Tell that to the untold number of reports out of Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo) that tell us torture is used each and every day.
Tell that to the Abu Ghraib prisoners (those still alive that is) featured in "recreational" photos by U.S. troops.
Tell that to Jose Padilla and the so-called 20th hijacker (a title the Bushies put on at least ten different people with no evidence they were).
And I could go on for at least an hour with just those cases I have read or heard about, where there is evidence from more than one source.
I see Chuck at BushMerika2 has some of the same doubts about how Karl Rove works his black magic on polls and voting machines around election time that I do.
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