The House Will Vote to Eliminate Health Insurance's Anti-Trust Exemption Next Week
I just got off a conference call with Speaker Pelosi. While she had a lot of optimistic things to say about the passage of a Senate plus sidecar bill, the big piece of news is that the House will pass (meaning, I presume she has the votes) a…
The Republican Base Rejects Prop 8 Family Vision, but not Prop 8
Fresh off the Prop 8 trial, I was interested in what Markos' latest poll--of 2003 Republicans--says about equal rights for gay men and women in this country.
First, the poll shows that Republicans think gays should be allowed or not allowed…
The Jobs Bills: The Battle for COBRA
Congress has not yet seen fit to give Americans health care. But there's a new health care battle heating up right in the middle of the jobs bills that will be the next focus of Congress.
The jobs bill the House passed in December extended…
TeaBugger Victimology
Oh, this is rich. Chief TeaBugger, James O'Keefe is preparing to argue that, the whole time he was sitting in jail with the son of the acting US Attorney for Shreveport, the US Attorney for New Orleans was abusing his rights.
Interviewed on…
OPR Report Timeline
In response to the news that David Margolis spiked the misconduct conclusion in the OPR Report on OLC justifications for torture, I wanted to put together a timeline of its construction. Two things stick out. First, the role of Mary Patrice…
What Glenn Greenwald Said On American Terrorism Cowardice
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bmazJust go read it. Because every word Glenn Greenwald wrote in his post today, entitled Nostalgia for Bush/Cheney Radicalism, the gospel truth. It is rare that you will see a post here just pointing you somewhere else because the other source says it all. This is one of those times.
Revisiting the al-Harithi/Derwish Assassination
I wanted to expand on this comment, because the discussion of whether Anwar al-Awlaki is on both the JSOC and CIA kill lists or not has focused new attention on the assassination, on November 3, 2002, of Abu Ali al-Harithi and Kamal Derwish.
Greg…
LAT: The CIA Hasn't Yet Added al-Awlaki to its Kill List
The most interesting thing about Greg Miller's story on whether Anwar al-Awlaki has been added to the CIA's list of assassination targets is how it differs from the two stories already written on this subject. Miller says that al-Awlaki has…
Rahm's Authorization to Use Military Force
Is Rahm planning on using Rove's tactics to get a crappy health insurance reform passed using the urgency of the upcoming election?
OPR Report Altered To Cover Bush DOJ Malfeasance
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bmazThe OPR Report has been leaked, and it looks like the Obama DOJ has watered it down to protect Bush malfeasants.
TeaBugger O'Keefe: Liberate the Tapes!! (No, Not THOSE Tapes!)
There's a real irony in James O'Keefe's latest explanation for why he committed an alleged felony in an attempt to embarrass Mary Landrieu. He is now calling for the FBI to release the tapes that he and his accomplices made while in Landrieu's…
ODNI Funded the Author of the "Penis Monologues" to Try to Interest Women in Spying
As Lindsay reported the other day, the TeaBugger who used to work for a college-based intelligence program, Stan Dai, spoofed the Vagina Monologue in college.
In college, Stan Dai co-wrote a satirical work entitled The Penis Monologues, apparently…
The Poodle's Prevarications
Tony Blair testified today at the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war, and while it sounds like he didn't admit any huge lies, his answers were riddled with inconsistencies. As the Times points out, for example, Blair told Parliament Saddam's…
Fred Hiatt Loves Torture
Well, I don't know that for a fact. But I do know that the publication of Marc Thiessen's propagandistic claims about Pelosi on the WaPo's editorial page says more about the WaPo's editorial page than it does about Pelosi. Let's start with Thiessen's…
Shuster v. Breitbart: The TeaBuggers' Latest Story
Everybody's talking about this slapdown David Shuster had with Andrew Breitbart, the guy who employs chief TeaBugger James O'Keefe.
Aside from all the yelling, what I find notable about this is the way Breitbart succeeds in preventing…
The Word Not Spoken: Foreclosure
I didn't watch the SOTU last night--though I did follow along on Twitter. It seems like those actually watching came away with a renewed belief in American exceptionalism, which I suppose is one important--but not necessarily wise--point of…
An Interesting Few Days for Al-Awlaki
How is it that the government has enough detail to put Anwar al-Awlaki onto the assassination list, but didn't have enough to anticipate at least the Underwear Bomber attempted attack?
TeaBuggerGate, Two: Some Questions and the Simple (But Inadequate) Explanation
Some Questions
One way I'm trying to make sense of TeaBuggerGate is to isolate the details that don't make any sense. Such as:
Why was O'Keefe filming the apparent bugging?
I raised this question in my first post on this. One of Landrieu's…
A Sure Sign Democrats Must Impose a Spending Freeze
Who'd a thunk it? When given a choice, voters are happy to impose higher taxes on those who have been getting rich while everyone else faces higher costs and stagnant wages.
Yesterday Oregon voters delivered a huge victory for progressives…
The List of US Citizens Targeted for Killing (or Capture)
This Dana Priest article is interesting for the way it fleshes out the way the US is working in Yemen (primarily), Pakistan, and Somalia. But note this line, which she kind of buries in there.
As part of the operations, Obama approved a Dec.…