The thing that is depressing though is what looks likely to be admitted in the trial, including statements made under the influence of, “sleep deprivation, solitary confinement and sexual humiliation”, because these actions could be seen as, “rationally related to good order and discipline.”
Maybe, if the warders in the prison were members of Stalin’s NKVD. Otherwise, this has nothing to do with “good order and discipline”.
But this is the sort of right wing gossip that he’s tied into, and he is reporting that McCain will choose his VP running mate this week.
Normally, this is kept close to the chest until the convention, and if this is not just a tease to the press, it is a mark of McCain’s desperation.
If you look at the list of where the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is making media buys, you learn where they think that they will be competitive, “more than $15 million in buys in North Carolina, New Mexico, Minnesota and Maine, with the buys in Maine and North Carolina exceeding $5 million each.”
They are going hard after Collins in Maine, and Dole in North Carolina, though Dole seems far more secure. Minnesota is definitely in play, and Tom Udall seems comfortably ahead in New Mexico.
Yep, he’s now saying that it’s possible that US combat troops could be out of Iraq in two years.
Flip-flop.
SecDef Robert Gates is said that increasing militarization of foreign policy is something that he has to push back against at a speech a week ago at U.S. Global Leadership Council.
I think that this is an explicit refutation of Rumsfeld, and his attempts to make the Pentagon the decision authority on all levels, particularly in Iraq, where the State Department and other civilian agencies were explicitly cut out of any decision making, or even consultation.
I believe that Gates is right, but I do not believe that he will get much traction on this in this administration, particularly given the given the trajectory of U.S. Africa command (Africom):
Africom is slated to begin operations in September. It marks the Pentagon’s first centralized operation for Africa, like the Defense Dept. now has, for example, Eucom for Europe or Centcom for the Middle East. The Pentagon, though, has envisioned using Africom as more than a military command. It is designed to help build U.S. soft power in Africa, through what it calls “active security” missions — like building schools and digging wells.
(Matt Mahurin) To many African political leaders, this sounds a lot like an imperialist enterprise. They say Africom’s “active security” will result in the construction of military bases across the continent in order to interfere with sovereign political systems — and access the region’s oil reserves. Currently, the Pentagon has only one African base, at Dijbouti in the perpetually unstable, resource-poor Horn of Africa.
Which appears to be moving in exactly the opposite direction.
In the next round of the WTO talks, the EU is offering to cut farm tariffs by 60%, which I count as either an empty gesture, or funny numbers. Farmers have too much power in EU nations, particularly France, for this to happen.
In related news, negotiators are targeting US farm support, though again, I doubt any meaningful movement will be made.
Pity the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague doesn’t have the death penalty
Bosnia’s Serb wartime president, Radovan Karadzic, one of the world’s most wanted war criminals for his part in the massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995, has been arrested, Serbian President Boris Tadic’s office said on Monday.
Amazing how soon it happened after the EU gave the Serbs a reason to catch him. You see, the, “EU has made delivering indicted war criminals to the Hague a precondition for Serbia’s membership.”
Noted aviation reporter Stephen Trimble showed what his favorite swag at Farnborough was:
From Boeing, St. Louis, the home of the C-17 transport
Of course, being a reporter, he corrupts everything he touches:
And it got worse:
Word is now that the moose is under consideration for an editing position at a major aviation publication.
I got a DVD boxed set of Sapphire and Steel from you, and (this is embarrassing), I’m not sure who you are.
The name sounds familiar, but in a search of my email and addy book, nothing comes up, and I’m wondering if I know him through a nym, or if he confused me with a brother.
{on edit}
He’s a DVD vendor, and my bro’ sent this to me, it’s just that there his name wasn’t ion the package….please ignore.
According to Rasmussen Reports™, Democrat Mark Begich is ahead of Ted Stevens 50% to 41%, and he is ahead 52%to 44% when “leaners” are counted.
Buh bye uncle Ted.
The last time Alaska sent a Dem to Congress was 1974.
Michael Mukasey, George Bush’s new bottom at the department of justice is now saying that allowing Gitmo detainees to actually be physically present in court to contest their detention would constitute an “extraordinary risk”, so Congress needs to act to prevent this.
His proposal:
One hopes that the Dems have some backbone on this, but I doubt it.
Because his statement condemning a withdrawal timetable is right out of the Republican spin machine, and is clearly an attempt to influence the election.
Obama needs to make a clear statement that such a role is inappropriate for an active duty officer, particularly a general.
It ain’t just the Department of Justice that will need to be de-Bushified in 2009.
Sue Jones-Davies, Mayor of Aberystwyth, Wales, is campaigning to remove a ban on the Monty Python movie Life of Brian.
It turns out that the ban was instituted 30 years ago, and then promptly forgotten about.
Her Honor, Ms. Jones-Davies, also played Judith Iscariot in the movie….Yes, it was her naked in that scene.
Funny the way that things come together.
BTW, the article mentions that George Harrison, who bankrolled the film, had a cameo. I must have missed that. Could someone email me with where it is in the film, preferably with a still?
But he says something that I the punditocracy has studiously avoided saying until now:
In private conversations, Clinton has expressed the view that Obama’s emphasis on Iraq — her Senate vote for it, his against it — defeated her.
While this is blinding clear to everyone else in the world, to the pundits, where being wrong on Iraq is a sign of good judgment, acknowledging this fact is the political reality that dare not speak its name.
I will note that he gets one part wrong: Obama wasn’t in the Senate for the vote.
Well, it looks like I just beat the Wall Street Journal by 4½ months.
But they have now discovered Penny Pritzker and Superior Bank.
The bank, closed in 2001, basically created the securitization of subprime loans that is at the core of much, though IMNSHO not a majority, of the credit crunch.
And she is now Obama’s national campaign-finance chairwoman.
Well, we’ll be hearing this 24-7 for a while, if just to ignore the latest McCain flip-flops and screw-ups.
Well, it’s actually the CBS television network that won before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
They ruled that the FCC had, “arbitrarily and capriciously departed from its prior policy”.
Needless to say, the Parent’s Television Council, which gins up 99.8% of all broadcast indecency complaints, was apoplectic.
Ms. Jackson’s nipple was unavailable for comment.
The Leading Economic Indicators have now fallen for the 2nd straight month. It’s down 2.1% year over year, putting it in the 2001 recession category.
In a related matter, it appears that Freddie Mac may be trying to unwind its debt exposure a bit, as we have reports that it will be purchasing less mortgage debt from lenders, making getting a home mortgage more difficult.
Oil is back above $130/bbl, largely on concerns about Iran and Tropical storm Dolly, but gasoline prices continue to fall, it’s now about a nickel down from the record.
The dollar is slightly weaker today, but I think that the delta is more a non-movement than a movement.
For some well predicted hilarity, note that Bank of America profit took a 41% hit, in part because the newest member of their stable, Countrywide Financial, lost $2.3 billion this quarter.
I told you so.
The Communists have said that they will not support the government, because they believe that the deal impinges on Indian sovereignty, and should the vote fail, there would be new elections.
Should be interesting, as it appears to be awfully close.
The New York Times reviewed der Speigel’s tape of the Maliki interview, and has pronounced the original statement endorsing Obama’s plan as accurate:
But the interpreter for the interview works for Mr. Maliki’s office, not the magazine. And in an audio recording of Mr. Maliki’s interview that Der Spiegel provided to The New York Times, Mr. Maliki seemed to state a clear affinity for Mr. Obama’s position, bringing it up on his own in an answer to a general question on troop presence.
(emphasis mine)
What’s more, we now have a statement from Ali al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi government spokesman who walked back the statement under pressure from Bush and His Evil Minions™, that having all troops out in 2010 would be a good thing, so they just endorsed Barack Obama’s position again.
On the bright side, Mugabe and Tsvangerai have signed an agreement to enter into negotiations.
I’m not optimistic about the outcome, as Mugabe is still engaging in retribution, and just threatened to expropriate “unfriendly” firms.
Even more concerning is that Thabo Mbeki appears to still be the only mediator involved in the process, which seems to be a recipe for an “Epic Fail”.
It’s clear that his clear favoritism toward Mugabe has weakened the SADC, the regional governmental organization, with a number of countries, most notably Zambia and Botswana, breaking with Mbeki’s accommodation of Mugabe.