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Archive: May 2009

The Worst Writer in America?

From Wonkette: The worst writer in America, Richard Cohen — that thoughtless, valueless, condescending, sociopathic sexist poster-boy for the vapidity of the Washington Post’s opinion section — has written such…

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Laying the Body on Dick Cheney

Jesse Ventura on Larry King: Jesse Ventura: I would prosecute every person who was involved in that torture. I would prosecute the people that did it, I would prosecute the…

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Links

“Previously, some researchers and law-enforcement officials have raised red flags. In a paper published in Nature Biotechnology in 2007, a group of scientists and FBI officials called for better oversight…

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A Convenient Death

On Sunday, the Libyan newspaper Oea reported that Ali Mohamed al-Fakheri, also known as Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, had died in a Libyan prison. The report stated that the death was…

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More on Murtha-Backed Biodefense Facility

I’ve posted several items over the past month on how Congressman John Murtha & friends have been supporting a controversial biodefense facility that would develop and manufacture “vaccines and other…

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The Death of Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi

The Washington Post reports that a “former CIA high-value detainee, who provided bogus information that was cited by the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq war, has died…

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The Times’s Torture Hypocrisy

A couple of weeks back I was interviewed by Brooke Gladstone for NPR’s On the Media. As usual with such things, the interview ran about a half hour and NPR…

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The White House Correspondents Dinner: “This is the real deal”

The description in the headline comes from Christian Slater, which is quite a testament to the multitudes that assembled at the dinner. A Washington Post reader had a different opinion:…

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Weekly Review

An American cattleman. After much bargaining with the largest banks in the United States,Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner announced the results of the Treasury’s “stress tests,” studies that estimate how the…

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Links

From “Sick in the Head: Why America won’t get the health-care system it needs,” by Luke Mitchell, in the February 2009 Harper’s Magazine. From Harper’s: Luke Mitchell on Single-payer Health…

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Defense Plant Doesn’t Want Earmarked Money: But lobby firm gets it anyway

From the Kansas City Star: U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver likes earmarks. His rule: If they come to his district, federal funds are well worth wrangling over, especially for infrastructure repairs…

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Breaking: Left-Wing and Right-Wing Bloggers Both Upset

The Onion has the scoop: “When will the MSM dinosaurs realize that they’re TOTALLY irrelevant?” wrote 39-year-old part-time librarian James Last, commenting on coverage of Obama’s first 100 days in…

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Making Sense of the White House Correspondents Dinner

From Chris Lehmann: How does one make sense, after all, of an event where you can see Ashton Kutcher directly in the path of an onrushing Donald Rumsfeld? Where Michael…

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David Frum’s G.O.P.

The number of Americans who self-identify as Republicans may be reaching a low mark. Arlen Specter may have left the party. Rush Limbaugh may still hold the party faithful in…

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Stolberg/Schubert – Auf dem Wasser zu singen

Mitten im Schimmer der spiegelnden Wellen Gleitet, wie Schwäne, der wankende Kahn: Ach, auf der Freude sanftschimmernden Wellen Gleitet die Seele dahin wie der Kahn; Denn von dem Himmel herab…

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Rousseau—the Savoyard Abbé

Conscience! Conscience! Instinct divin, immortelle et céleste voix; guide assuré d’un être ignorant et borné, mais intelligent et libre; juge infallible du bien et du mal, qui rends l’homme semblable…

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Did Blackwater Contractors Attempt to Hide Evidence of a Massacre in Iraq?

Private security contractor Xe (formerly Blackwater USA) has fallen on hard times. Iraq has yanked its license, forcing Blackwater out of one of its former operations centers. Last December, five…

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It’s Only Torture When They Do It

From Andrew Sullivan: Here we have it in broad daylight: the New York Times’ cowardice in the face of its own government. In an obit today, the editors manage to…

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Links

Noted: Harper’s Contributing Editor Matthew Power’s story “Mississippi Drift”, from the March 2008 issue, has been selected for Best American Travel Writing and Best American Nonrequired Reading for next year.…

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Pelosi and the Torture Briefings

ABC News reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefed on the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” on terrorist suspect Abu Zubaydah in September 2002, according to a report prepared by…

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The League of Extraordinary Egos: Meet the Washington media

Washington is a town of self-indulgence, huge egos, and self-congratulation. A yearly ritual at which such traits are most grandly on display is nearly upon us. Tomorrow night is the…

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As Seen From Space: The global economic collapse

From Foreign Policy: Want to get a sense of just how bad things are? Take a spin on Google Earth. The latest issue of International Economy, edited by FP contributor…

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The View From Iraq

From Tom Ricks: If you haven’t yet reviewed the papers from the Midwest Political Science Conference, here’s a little gem that will tell you more about Iraqi politics than a…

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This is Health Care Reform

“Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said Thursday that so far a breakneck schedule for writing a health care overhaul into law remains on track, with a committee markup scheduled for…

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The Bush Era Torture-Homicides

In a recent television appearance, one of the nation’s foremost retired military leaders, General Barry McCaffrey, said: “We should never, as a policy, maltreat people under our control, detainees. We…

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Links

From Harper’s: Ken Silverstein on the SLPC View a facsimile of “The Church of Morris Dees” from the November 2000 issue, free of charge. From Alexander Cockburn in the The…

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