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Militias on the Rise Across Iraq WaPo — Permalink BASRA, Iraq — Shiite and Kurdish militias, often operating as part of Iraqi government security forces, have carried out a wave of abductions, assassinations and other acts of intimidation, consolidating their control over territory across northern and... | |
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Cernig: Already, the scene is set for more of the same old same old: Shiite and Kurdish militias, often operating as part of... Randall Parker: Also, the continued rise of militias who are partitioning Iraq could lead to larger scale civil war and more attacks on US troops. Steve M.: Washington Post today (The Post article, by Anthony Shadid and Steve Fainaru, concerns militias run amok and deeply... |
Kevin Drum: Militias are running broad swaths of the country and the training of Iraqi security forces is obviously going poorly. Jerome Armstrong: On Iraq, Militias on the Rise Across Iraq paints a dire picture. Gregory Djerejian: But critics have charged that they are wresting control over security forces to claim de facto territory and authority,... |
| Also: Matthew Yglesias, Von @ObsidianWings, Judd @ThinkProgress, Pudentilla, Hilzoy @ObsidianWings | |
Kurds Fault U.S. on Iraqi Charter By / WaPo — Permalink BAGHDAD, Aug. 20 — Kurdish politicians negotiating a draft constitution criticized the U.S. ambassador to Iraq on Saturday for allegedly pushing them to accept too great a role for Islamic law in his drive to complete the charter on time. | |
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Cernig: Yet again we are on Iraqi Constitution watch - and yet again it looks like Iraq's sectarian and ethnic groups remain... Matthew Yglesias: Update [2005-8-21 12:29:52 by yglesias]: See also the US goverment's efforts to enshrine theocracy in the Iraqi constitution. Steve Bainbridge: McCarthy on Iraq — I'm not the only conservative who's worried about Iraq. Over at the Corner, Andy McCarthy writes: [snipped quote] Yep. |
Andy McCarthy: Now, if several reports this weekend are accurate, we see the shocking ultimate destination of the democracy diversion. Glenn Reynolds: UPDATE: More on the Kurds' unhappiness, here. ANOTHER UPDATE: The Sunnis don't like it either. Ivo Daalder: The Iraqi Constitution — From: America Abroad The central role of our ambassador in Iraq in writing the Iraqi... |
GOP Senator Says Iraq Looking Like Vietnam By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - A leading Republican senator and prospective presidential candidate said Sunday that the war in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East and is looking more like the Vietnam conflict from a generation ago. | |
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Richard TPD: What's Going Down — By guest-blogger Other Lisa, cross-posted on the paper tiger... With 60% of Americans now... John @PowerLine: The Associated Press reports: "A leading Republican senator and prospective presidential candidate said Sunday that the... Tim Graham: NOW THAT'S OLD NEWS — I hate to sound snarky on a Sunday, but precisely where is the "news" in this story? |
Leopold Stotch: Vietnam Vet Knows Nothing About Vietnam — GOP Senator Says Iraq Looking Like Vietnam (AP) [snipped quote] He may have... Jerome Armstrong: But from the sound of what Hagel is saying, that's even too long away, Hagel Says Iraq War Looking Like Vietnam: "By any... Jayson @PoliPundit: Brain Dead — Chuck Hagel. |
| Also: Taegan Goddard | |
Peacenik paper fawns over antiwar mom By / LAT — Permalink I CANNOT IMAGINE what it would be like to lose my child the way Cindy Sheehan lost her son, Casey, in Iraq. The bereaved mother, who until Thursday had been camped outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, has every right to protest the war, and her demonstration was certainly news. | |
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Bill Hobbs: Dishonor and Sacrifice — I've barely written about Cindy Sheehan, the rabidly anti-war mom whose son Casey was killed... Captain Ed: He focuses on the coverage provided by the LAT on the Sheehan protest in Crawford, a scolding that applies to more... Patterico: It's titled Peacenik paper fawns over antiwar mom. I don't write the headlines, folks. |
Jeff Jarvis: A clear illustration of that comes when you read Frank Rich in the New York Times alongside Patrick Frey (aka Patterico) in the LA Times. TheAnchoress: Patterico has a few more thoughts on the press' behavior on this story, and the LA Times, to their credit, published them. Roger L. Simon: It's just the same old song... Patrick Frey, who has been doing a yeoman's job of criticizing the Los Angeles Times on... |
| Also: Pejman Yousefzadeh, Spoons, Scott @PowerLine, Dean Esmay, Cori Dauber, Glenn Reynolds | |
Top job fighting extremism for Muslim who praised bomber By / Telegraph — Permalink A Muslim accused of anti-Semitism is to be appointed to a government role in charge of rooting out extremism in the wake of last month's suicide bombings in London. | |
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Jan Haugland: British government woos extremist light — Does this mean the British government still doesn't get it? Damian Penny: Fox, meet henhouse — The British government has appointed a Jew-hating Muslim extremist to a commission responsible... Pejman Yousefzadeh: 'Cause apparently it can get you a job with the British government: [snipped quote] All snark aside, I find this utterly incomprehensible. |
David T: The MCB issued a press release in 2003 that was brutally clear: [snipped quote] Meanwhile, the Telegraph reports on the... Andrew Cochran: Today's Sunday Telegraph reports that "A Muslim accused of anti-Semitism is to be appointed to a government role in... |
Transcript for August 21 MSNBC — Permalink MR. DAVID GREGORY: Our issues this Sunday: The war in Iraq. More violence as Iraqis struggle to draft a constitution before their new deadline tomorrow. And at home, war protesters hold vigils across the country as the debate over prolonged U.S. involvement rages. | |
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Arianna Huffington: Over at MTP, we were treated to Trent Lott desperately jumping through hoops in his reason-defying war-defending song and dance. Atrios: On Women — PNAC flunky on MTP: In 1900, women did not have the right to vote. |
Oliver Willis: The "Gut" Primary: Russ Feingold Is Making Sense — The Senator from Wisconsin continues to lay it out on the table MR. GREGORY: Senator, how do you define success in Iraq? Echidne: Now You Know — On Meet the Press, August 21, Reuel Marc Gehrect of the Weekly Standard said this: "In 1900, women did not have the right to vote. |
Bill Frist Backs 'Intelligent Design' By / AP — Permalink NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Echoing similar comments from President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said "intelligent design" should be taught in public schools alongside evolution. "I think today a pluralistic society should have access to a broad range of fact, of science, including faith," Frist said. | |
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DC Media Girl: He's back to his old faith-based tricks: NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Echoing similar comments from President Bush, Senate... |
Jo Fish: UnIntelligent Senators — Frist, a politician who can be swayed by any breeze more than five knots, has managed to make... |
'Peace Mom's' marriage a metaphor for Dems By / Chicago Sun Times — Permalink Cindy Sheehan's son Casey died in Sadr City last year, and that fact is supposed to put her beyond reproach. For as the New York Times' Maureen Dowd informed us: ''The moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute." Really? | |
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Bill Hobbs: Also don't miss: Mark Steyn's column on Cindy Sheehan and the Left's insistence on calling American soldiers serving in Iraq "children." Paul @PowerLine: Today's "must read" piece — Scott is right — please don't miss Mark Steyn's column on Cindy Sheehan. |
Glenn Reynolds: MARK STEYN: "They're not children in Iraq; they're grown-ups who made their own decision to join the military. Scott @PowerLine: And don't miss the Chicago Sun-Times column by Mark Steyn: "'Peace Mom's' marriage a metaphor for Dems." |
Of Minds and Metrics By / US News — Permalink Metrics are hard to come by in the war on terrorism. We can know the number of improvised explosive devices that go off in Iraq and the number of suicide bombers there, but we can only guess at whether these numbers represent the last throes of a terrorist movement or its continuing growth. | |
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Jan Haugland: Metric: support for terror falling in Islamic countries — Very good article by Michael Barone about how to measure success or failure in the war on terror: Of Minds and Metrics. Pejman Yousefzadeh: "OF MINDS AND METRICS" — A very useful—and heartening—report from Michael Barone: "Metrics are hard to come by in the war on terrorism. |
Hugh Hewitt: The Most Important "Metric" — As usual, Michael Barone is far ahead of the pundit pack in penning a crucial column on whether or not the GWOT is being won. |
War protesters sleeping with the enemy By / Chicago Sun Times — Permalink At Cindy Sheehan's side since Aug. 6 when she began her anti-war protest outside President Bush's Texas ranch have been three groups that openly support the Iraqi insurgency against U.S. troops: Code Pink-Women For Peace, United for Peace & Justice, and Veterans For Peace. | |
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Taegan Goddard: McCaskill Likely to Challenge Talent — "Democratic recruitment of star challengers against incumbent Republican... |
Digby: Novak: Black Kettle Edition — War protesters sleeping with the enemy |
Hagel Says Iraq War Looking Like Vietnam By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON (AP) — A leading Republican senator and prospective presidential candidate said Sunday that the war in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East and is looking more like the Vietnam conflict from a generation ago. | |
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Cernig: It's hardly surprising then that more and more veterans and even serving soldiers are concluding, like Chuck Hagel, that "we're not winning". Joe @AmericaBlog: Hagel: Iraq looking like Vietnam and "We're not winning" — More blunt talk from the Republican Senator from Nebraska:... |
Kieran Healy: Chuck Hagel, the Republican U.S. Senator from Nebraska, this morning: Hagel scoffed at the idea that U.S. troops could... |
The Safety Net She Believed In Was Pulled Away When She Fell By / LAT — Permalink Debra Potter made a good living selling disability coverage. But like many working Americans, she learned the hard way that federal law now favors insurers. Until a few years ago, Debra Potter made sure that her family could cruise the Caribbean, watch the NFL on big-screen TV and keep her elderly mother and in-laws at home in comfort. | |
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Susie Madrak: There are plenty of people who play by the rules and still get the shaft, and that's why we need laws (and lawyers) to... |
Kevin Drum: DISABILITY BLUES...Peter Gosselin, who has written an excellent series of stories about increasing income volatility... |
Top general: Army preparing for 4 more years AP — Permalink WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Army is making plans to keep the current number of soldiers in Iraq — well over 100,000 — for four more years, the Army's top general said Saturday. In an Associated Press interview, Gen. Peter Schoomaker said the Army is prepared for the "worst case" in terms of the required level of troops in Iraq. | |
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McQ: It's a plan, not a promise — Before the screech owls of the anti-war left get up to full volume, let's take a look at... James Joyner: Army Planning for Four More Years in Iraq [snipped quote] See also "Top general: Army preparing for 4 more years" Given... Damon McCullar: The story is also being carried by CNN (that where I heard about it)That's seven years in Iraq if they get out in four more years. |
Pejman Yousefzadeh: That is why this story is reassuring: [snipped quote] Now again, it is entirely possible that we will see a faster... Natasha @PacificViews: Four More Years — It's not just a campaign slogan for a president's re-election campaign, now it's a battle plan |
Bronze Stars go to Guard medics By / Seattle Times — Permalink The day before Carlos Lazo was awarded a Bronze Star for his actions as a combat medic in Fallujah, he made one of his regular phone calls to Cuba. He told his two sons, 16 and 19, who live in Cuba, that he would be thinking of them when U.S. Rep. Jim... | |
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Tbogg: Tour de Poulet — Via NRO's K-Low: BAGDAD JIM [Kathryn Jean Lopez] pins bronze stars. |
Kathryn Jean Lopez: BAGDAD JIM pins bronze stars. |
U.S. "concession" on Islam said to turn Iraq talks Reuters — Permalink BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. concessions to Islamists on the role of religion in Iraqi law marked a turn in talks on a constitution, negotiators said on Saturday as they raced to meet a 48-hour deadline under intense U.S. pressure to clinch a deal. | |
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John Cole: Iraq Round-Up Once again, we have hosed the Kurds and appear to be tactily endorsing enshrining Sharia in the... Gateway Pundit: (AFP) About a dozen senior leaders, representing the Shi'ite Islamist-led interim government, secular Shi'ite former... Echidne: Only the Kurds Stand for Secular Democracy Now — Read this lovely quote on what Bush and his boots of freedom marching... |
Pejman Yousefzadeh: SHAPING THE IRAQI CONSTITUTION — There is a great deal of talk about how the U.S. is tacitly endorsing a greater role for Islam in the Iraqi constitution. Hilzoy @ObsidianWings: As one Kurdish politician put it: [quote] "We understand the Americans have sided with the Shi'ites," he said. "It's shocking.[end quote] |
Another insult to America's heritage at Freedom Center By / NY Daily News — Permalink A global network of human rights museums is urging the International Freedom Center to downplay America in its exhibits and programs at Ground Zero, the Daily News has learned. | |
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Jeff Jarvis: The News says the IFC had… …"drawn inspiration" and received "important practical advice" from the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience. |
Scott @PowerLine: Abomination at Ground Zero — Today's New York Daily News reports: "Another insult to America's heritage at Freedom Center." |
Making a mockery of Ground Zero NY Daily News — Permalink The International Freedom Center, which proposes to run a museum at Ground Zero, announced in April that it has "drawn inspiration and received some important practical advice" from a group of so-called museums of conscience around the world. | |
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Jeff Jarvis: He didn't return calls. The News also editorializes against this offensive insanity. |
Scott @PowerLine: The Daily News comments in an editorial: "Making a mockery of Ground Zero." |
Mr. Barone's analysis Washington Times — Permalink Dating to Ronald Reagan's 1980 election to the presidency, political essayist Michael Barone has been writing arguably the most trenchant, thought-provoking analyses of American electoral politics. | |
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Adam C: Yesterday, the WashingtonTimes scored some points with me by publishing a summary of Mr. Barone's 2006 biennial Almanac of American Politics. PoliPundit: How the Voting Rights Act helps Republicans — Michael Barone: "On the House side, where Republicans control 232 (53... |
Paul @PowerLine: "In the public interest," the Washington Times editorial board treats us to the highlights of Michael Barone's... |
Steal This Book. Or at Least Download It Free. By / NYT — Permalink TALK to Warren Adler, and watch some favorite clichés crumble. Remember "The War of the Roses," the novel - and later, the movie - about a brutal divorce? Mr. Adler wrote the book and the screenplay, even though he has been married (happily, he says) to the same woman for 54 years. | |
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Tyler Cowen: Addendum: Here is a good story on the marketing of ebooks, and one entrepreneurs who thinks the days of paper books are over. |
Jeff Jarvis: The exploding book, continued Warren Adler is giving away his 28th book. Add this to prior evidence of the exploding book. |
Four GIs Killed by Bomb in Afghanistan By / AP — Permalink KABUL, Afghanistan - A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers and wounded three Sunday as they were patrolling in southern Afghanistan, the deadliest attack on American forces here in nearly two months, the U.S. military said. | |
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Norbizness: Today: The blasts [injuring two U.S. Embassy workers] come amid rising attacks by a Taliban-led insurgency that has... |
Steve M.: Seven U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan over the past four days... Some 187 U.S. service members have been... |
Sifting Old, New Writings For Roberts's Philosophy WaPo — Permalink John G. Roberts Jr. was keen to correct a proposed letter for President Ronald Reagan's signature that said the federal courts have "earned and enjoyed the confidence of the American people . . . for [their] impartiality, independence, and fairness." | |
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John Rosenberg: Mining The Roberts Memos For Dirt ... But Finding Gold — Once again, the Washington Post, mining the old Roberts memos... |
Jo Fish: More Justice French Fry, Part Whatever in an inifinite series — Hey, Little Ricky's gotta be likin' this French Fry Guy... |
Muslim leaders 'in denial' claim BBC — Permalink Britain's most powerful Islamic body is "in denial" about the prevalence of extreme views among its members, one of its founders has told the BBC. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) pledged to tackle extremism "head on" after the 7 July attacks in London. | |
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Jan Haugland: It adds up to the feeling of having the world turn upside down when the earlier so tough-on-terror Tony Blair seems to... Marc @USSNeverdock: Britain - Muslim leaders 'in denial' — It is a rare day when I have anything good to day about the BBC and I'm not... |
David T: However, MCBWatch concludes: The problem is that there is a tremendous double-standard here, because at other times the MCB do display a willingness to draw the line. |
For Battle-Scarred, Airborne Backup By / WaPo — Permalink The captain was airborne somewhere between Germany and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Northwest Washington, he was badly injured, and she knew almost nothing about him. | |
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Blackfive: You don't even know if he knows that you are there, but you stay with him anyway... Turns into this: For Battle-Scarred,... |
Glenn Reynolds: SOLDIERS' ANGELS: FROM BLACKFIVE POST to Washington Post article! |
Police foil gas attack on Commons Times of London — Permalink SCOTLAND YARD believes it has thwarted an Al-Qaeda gas attack aimed at ministers and MPs in parliament. The plot, hatched last year, is understood to have been discovered in coded e-mails on computers seized from terror suspects in Britain and Pakistan. | |
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Jan Haugland: Al-Qaeda gas attack on London thwarted British police says they have stopped an plot by al-Qaeda to attack ministers and parliamentarians using chemical weapons. Andrew Cochran: I also have to wonder why the Brits would lower the terror threat level when, as today's Sunday Times reports, Al Qaeda's has attempted a gas attack on Parliament. Steve Bainbridge: {Update: The news that Scotland Yard foiled a gas attack on the House of Commons, for which the Yard deserves mega-kudos, doesn't change my mind. |
Jay Tea: And we so crippled their abilities that their most recent plans involved firing junk missiles at warships that almost... TheAnchoress: Via Hugh Hewitt, it seems that the UK police are claiming to have foiled a major Al Qaeda plot, thanks to codebreaking. Cori Dauber: The Times of London is reporting there was one, involving a dirty chemical bomb, but that the Brits foiled it thanks to... |
| Also: John @PowerLine, Pejman Yousefzadeh, Glenn Reynolds, Jim Lindgren, Hugh Hewitt, Marc @USSNeverdock | |
Sunnis See Iran's Hand in Call for Federalism By / LAT — Permalink BAGHDAD — As the deadline bore down on Iraqi leaders drafting a new constitution, some participants said a deal seemed within reach. Then out of nowhere, they said, came a demand from a key Shiite politician. | |
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Billmon: Some Sunni leaders are claiming this idea also reflects the wishes of SCIRI's Iranian paymasters: "During constitutional... |
Juan Cole: Borzou Daragahi of the LA Times reports that the Sunni Arab delegates believe Iran is behind the recent calls by Shiites... |
Secret film of Zimbabwe 'squalor' BBC — Permalink Amnesty International has released a secretly-shot film from Zimbabwe, showing what it says is the squalid aftermath of Harare's slum clearances. The clearances have left about 700,000 people without their homes or livelihoods, according to UN estimates. | |
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Gateway Pundit: (AP) A smuggled film of the situation in Zimbabwe is now making the international rounds: Amnesty International has... |
Norm Geras: " From a report about a secretly-shot film showing 'the squalid aftermath of Harare's slum clearances': "The human... |
Call It a Day By / WaPo — Permalink The banner decorating the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, when President Bush announced an end to "major combat operations" in Iraq, turns out to have been accurate after all. If only the president himself had taken to heart the banner's proclamation of "Mission Accomplished." | |
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Gregory Djerejian: If we do as Andrew Bacevich advises in today's WaPo and just 'call it a day' (Bacevich: "While avoiding the appearance... Oliver Willis: While some say enough is enough. Wisdom requires that the Bush administration call an end to its misbegotten crusade. |
Jo Fish: Written by a Vietnam Vet who happens to be a professor at Boston University. |
Roberts's Harvard Roots: A Movement Was Stirring By / NYT — Permalink John G. Roberts Jr. arrived at Harvard in the fall of 1973, a nascent conservative from a Catholic boarding school in the Republican Midwest, transplanted to Cambridge, Mass., at a time when campus conservatism seemed to be in hibernation. | |
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Hugh Hewitt: The headline: Roberts's Harvard Roots: A Movement Was Stirring. TheAnchoress: Or, you know, maybe the press is too busy trying to find anything that will stick to John Roberts, or covering itself and carping - defensively. |
Ann Althouse: Underneath Their Robes sifts through the evidence, including that pie picture in the NYT, and concludes that the "Roberts is gay" talk is going nowhere. |
Army Planning for 4 More Years in Iraq By / AP — Permalink WASHINGTON - The Army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of soldiers in Iraq — well over 100,000 — for four more years, the Army's top general said Saturday. He said the number could be adjusted lower if called for by slowing the force rotation or by shortening tours for soldiers. | |
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James Joyner: Army Planning for Four More Years in Iraq — Army Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker told the AP that the Army is doing... Oliver Willis: Theresa Was Right — Four more years of hell The Army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of... |
Joe Gandelman: Top General: Worst Case Scenario Is Four More Years In Iraq — A top general said the worst case scenario is to be... The Farmer: "~ Yahoo news/AP" |
Speak of the Dead By / Weekly Standard — Permalink IN THE FOUR YEARS OR so since September 11, liberals have found a new weapon of preference, and that weapon is martyrdom. They have discovered grief as a tactical weapon. They tend to like grief they can use. | |
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Paul @PowerLine: "The grief-based community" — Noemie Emery in the Weekly Standard condemns the left for its pattern of using grief as a political weapon in the post 9/11 envirnoment. Ed Driscoll: "The Grief-Based Community" Encouters Biteback — In the Weekly Standard, Noemie Emery looks at "the Grief-Based... |
Pejman Yousefzadeh: Be sure to read it. UPDATE: Relatedly, be sure to read this excellent Noemie Emery article as well. |
Minutemen will be armed while patrolling Houston By / Houston Chronicle — Permalink The Minutemen will come to Houston bearing arms. Leaders of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps of Texas had earlier said volunteers observing Houston's day laborers in October would carry nothing but video cameras. | |
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Jack Cluth: Minutemen will be armed while patrolling Houston Gee, armed vigilantes patrolling the streets of Houston, looking to... |
DeDurkheim: And, yeah you have me on the other point too because they have not won any downmanship award but after reading this... |
The Swift Boating of Cindy Sheehan By / NYT — Permalink CINDY SHEEHAN couldn't have picked a more apt date to begin the vigil that ambushed a president: Aug. 6 was the fourth anniversary of that fateful 2001 Crawford vacation day when George W. Bush responded to an intelligence briefing titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States" by going fishing. | |
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Captain Ed: Rich 'Swiftboats' Himself Into Irrelevancy — Rarely does a columnist for a national news outlet publish a piece as... Susie Madrak: 'One Fat-Cat Party Too Far' Frank Rich on the swift-boating of Cindy Sheehan: Mr. Bush's stand-up shtick for the... |
The Poor Man: The Shrilla in Manilla Everyone always talks about Krugman this and Krugman that, but many insiders are now saying... The Farmer: Wingnut Summer of Love psychedelic wIf you're goin' to Smear Boat Harbor, Be sure to toss some flowers in the air; If... |
In New Mexico ... By / LAT — Permalink MASKED MEN KIDNAP three teenage girls. A sniper fires shots at the local sheriff. Property is destroyed at homes and businesses. Mexican cattle suspected of carrying bovine tuberculosis are found on ranches. Seven people reportedly are attacked and robbed at gunpoint. | |
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DeDurkheim: Immigration Wakey Wakey — Published today in the LA Times is an interesting editorial from New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Greg Ransom: Gov. Bill Richardson on the border emergency — It seems Gov. Richardson has had something of a conversion on illegal... |
Steve Bainbridge: Bill Richardson — When the Hispanic governor of New Mexico writes an LAT op-ed explaining why he's declared a state of... |
US concedes ground to Islamists on Iraqi law Reuters — Permalink BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. diplomats have conceded ground to Islamists on the role of religion in Iraq, negotiators said on Saturday as they raced to meet a 48-hour deadline to draft a constitution under intense U.S. pressure. | |
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Von @ObsidianWings: Here's another way to lose in Iraq: If Iraq becomes an Islamic theocracy. Dean Esmay: Now here we are two and a half years later, and the press is, without the least bit of irony, suggesting the Americans... Billmon: And, according to Reuters, that moment now seems to have arrived: "U.S. diplomats have conceded ground to Islamists on... |
Avedon Carol: So here are the few things I've been able to notice in between trying to get enough files and apps in order to post... Steve Bainbridge: And why are we apparently going to allow the Islamists to write a more significant role for Islamic law into the new Iraqi constitution? Dwight Meredith: Update: From Reuters: "U.S. diplomats have conceded ground to Islamists on the role of religion in Iraq, negotiators... |
| Also: Armando @DailyKos | |
Bush invokes Sept 11 to defend Iraq war By / Reuters — Permalink CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush launched a counter-offensive against growing public discontent over Iraq on Saturday, when he defended the war as a way of protecting Americans from another September 11 attack, a message he will reinforce when he takes to the road next week. | |
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Avedon Carol: Well, of course, it's all because of 9/11! Or, as Oliver Willis says, when all else fails, your president will lie (and Theresa Was Right.) Gateway Pundit: Reuters today emphasizes that Bush invokes Sept 11 to defend Iraq war And, this has the liberal's underwear in a knot (on their heads)! Oliver Willis: When All Else Fails — Your president will lie. |
Steve Bainbridge: Meanwhile, Bush continues to insult our intelligence with tripe like this: [quote] "Our troops know that they're fighting in...[end quote] Stefan @MemeFirst: President Bush, meanwhile, is still in denial, of course, continuing to link Iraq to 9/11: [snipped quote] Still, it's... |
Politicized Scholars Put Evolution on the Defensive By / NYT — Permalink SEATTLE - When President Bush plunged into the debate over the teaching of evolution this month, saying, "both sides ought to be properly taught," he seemed to be reading from the playbook of the Discovery Institute, the conservative think tank here that is at the helm of this newly volatile frontier in the nation's culture wars. | |
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Natasha @PacificViews: The following New York Times article by Jodi Wilgoren, et al., may demonstrate that even-the-liberal-Times may not get... Stirling Newberry: The New York Times is Soft on Stupidity — Let's get this straight Miss Wight Wing Bias evolution is not on the defensive. Kevin Drum: DECONSTRUCTING DISCOVERY...Denis Hayes, director of the Bullitt Foundation, describes the Discovery Institute... |
Echidne: Then the New York Times gives us a long article about Intelligent Design and how its proponents are a politically active group of scientists. Ed Cone: Political science — The funding, politics, and strategy of "Intelligent Design." Note the lack of science on that list. Atrios: Shorter Jodi Wilgoren — Shape of the Earth — Views Differ. |
Twin Cities turning deaf ear to political talk radio shows AP — Permalink Twin Cities listeners have been tuning out political talk radio. Locally, conservative-talk icon Rush Limbaugh's show has lost 43 percent of its audience among 25- to 54-year-olds in the past year. Sean Hannity's show is down a whopping 63 percent. | |
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Avedon Carol: Twin Cities turning deaf ear to political talk radio shows, is the headline, and most of the story is about how people... Cernig: I suspect Georgie-boy's audience figures are heading in the same direction as Rush Limbaugh's. Attaturk: Let me be diplomatic... Fat, Fatuous, F**k losing audience share in droves, and so is another major jackass This is one city only, but I would bet it's part of an overall trend. |
Joe Gandelman: Political talk radio is taking it in the teeth in Minnesota's twin cities — but is that just an isolated case, the... Justin Gardner: Let's Tune Out Talk Radio — Is this story from the Star Tribune a sign that people are getting sick of partisan hacks? Jesse Taylor: Because The Market Always Bears Out What People Want To Listen To — I'm sure the Powerline boys already have an answer for this one. |
U.S. concedes ground to Islamists on Iraqi law Reuters — Permalink BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. diplomats have conceded ground to Islamists on the role of religion in Iraq, negotiators said on Saturday as they raced to meet a 48-hour deadline to draft a constitution under intense U.S. pressure. | |
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Jan Haugland: Role of Islam in Iraq's new constitution — This looks like not-good-news from Iraq: U.S. diplomats, who have insisted... Arthur Silber: For this: "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. diplomats have conceded ground to Islamists on the role of religion in Iraq,... |
Stefan @MemeFirst: Reuters quotes a secular Kurdish official, no doubt one of Hitchens' friends: "It's shocking. It doesn't fit American values. |
Krugman's Big Lie American Thinker — Permalink Paul Krugman, the former Enron advisor, New York Times op ed columnist, and presumably in his spare time, "educator" at Princeton, has made a habit of distortion, and half truths in his twice-weekly columns in the "paper of record." | |
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Scott @PowerLine: Yesterday Richard Baehr deconstructed the column at The American Thinker in "Krugman's big lie," and John H. also did so here in "Krugmania." Greg Ransom: "Paul Krugman" + dishonest = 34,700 hits "Paul Krugman" + false = 104,000 hits "Paul Krugman" + liar = 41,400 hits "Paul... |
Betsy Newmark: Richard Baehr has a good, long look at Paul Krugman's claim that two media consortiums found that Gore should have won the 2000 election. |
Roberts's Rules of Decorum By / WaPo — Permalink Now it's getting personal. Last week, researchers found several memos from the summer and fall of 1984 in which future Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, working as a Reagan White House lawyer, argued against sending presidential thank-you notes to Michael Jackson for his charitable works. | |
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Jan Haugland: There is only one Dana Milbank — Supreme Court nominee John Roberts was quite prescient, objecting to Michael Jackson... Betsy Newmark: If you weren't already impressed with John Roberts, this should do it for you. K-Lo: IT MUST BE AUGUST — WPost is just getting around to Michael Jackson and Roberts now? |
Scott @PowerLine: Only one Dana Milbank — Drudge flags Dana Milbank's mocking Washington Post article on John Roberts: "Roberts's rules of decorum." John Cole: Only One James Bond More Judge Roberts memos released, including him (almost obsessively) ripping into Michael... Dean Esmay: Wow by Dean Wow. Just.... wow. I really couldn't care less about Roberts, but wow. |
Falling Costs of Big-Screen TV's to Keep Falling By / NYT — Permalink In consumer electronics, as in much of life, good things happen to those who wait - good things as in plunging prices. The cost of big-screen televisions, which have been steadily dropping by about 25 percent a year, are now expected to fall even more sharply this autumn, according to industry analysts. | |
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John Cole: Hollywood's Nightmare- Mass Production This is the kind of story that makes Hollywood movie execs cringe with fear: ... Chris Lawrence: I want my HDTV — Good news for all those planning to replace a wall with a television screen: prices for large-screen TVs are expected to continue to free-fall. |
Rex Hammock: Time to reflect on the important things in life, like news in the New York Times that the prices of big screen TVs "are pretty much in a free fall." |
Armstrong, Bush Ride 'Tour De Crawford' By / AP — Permalink WACO, Texas (AP) — It's no yellow jersey, but President Bush on Saturday presented Lance Armstrong with another shirt to show off his biking experiences - a red, white and blue T-shirt emblazoned "Tour de Crawford." | |
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Lambert @Corrente: Bush just Republican product placement for Armstrong movie? |
Joe @AmericaBlog: After the ride, Bush presented Armstrong with a "Tour de Crawford" t-shirt. |
Iraq's Kurds May Drop Secession Demand By / AP — Permalink BAGHDAD, Iraq - Talks on Iraq's new constitution have stalled over the role of Islam and the distribution of the country's oil wealth, negotiators said Saturday. The leadership of the country's Kurdish minority said it may drop its contentious demand for the right to secede. | |
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Justin Delabar: Kurds May Drop Secession Demands — Iraqi president Jalal Talabani's PUK is suggesting that the Kurds may drop the... Dr. Steven Taylor: Via the AP: Iraq's Kurds May Drop Secession Demand [snipped quote] Unfortunately, that is the same list they have been... |
Steve M.: IRAQI CONSTITUTION — AP reports on something I didn't know was being seriously considered: Shiite lawmaker Saad Jawad... Justin Gardner: Kurds Dropping Independence Demands? This possible compromise could mean very good news for a free Iraq. |
3 Sunni Activists Killed In Iraq WaPo — Permalink MOSUL, Iraq, Aug. 19 — Gunmen in this northern city Friday abducted and publicly executed three Sunni Arab activists who had been working to draw the disgruntled Sunni minority into Iraq's political mainstream, and then draped their bodies in a get-out-the-vote banner, officials and witnesses said. | |
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Gregory Djerejian: From the Wash Post yesterday: "Gunmen in this northern city Friday abducted and publicly executed three Sunni Arab... LauraW: Bad news/ Good news — Sunnis who support the democratic process are publicly assassinated; then we pick up this tidbit... |
Cori Dauber: We Need More of the Post's Idea of "Tension" — What I described yesterday as a "race" continues today, as the Post describes it. |
Pregnant woman's remains found near Philadelphia AP — Permalink PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) — Police found the remains of a missing 24-year-old pregnant Philadelphia woman and arrested her former boyfriend, authorities announced Saturday. The suspect, Stephen Poaches, is a former boyfriend of 24-year-old LaToyia Figueroa, who has been missing for a month. | |
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Amanda Marcotte: Unfortunately, the search is over as the police found her body in the woods outside of Chester. Her ex-boyfriend has been arrested. |
Tom @ScaredMonkeys: CNN; Pregnant woman's remains found near Philadelphia "The suspect, Stephen Poaches, is a former boyfriend of 24-year-old LaToyia Figueroa, who has been missing for a month. |
Ex-boyfriend taken into custody in case of missing pregnant woman MSNBC — Permalink PHILADELPHIA - Police have recovered the remains of a missing pregnant woman and arrested the father of the unborn child in the death, authorities announced Saturday. The suspect, Stephen Poaches, is a former boyfriend of 24-year-old LaToyia Figueroa, who has been missing for a month. | |
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Leon H: LaToyia Figueroa Story Ends in Tragedy — The search for Latoyia Figueroa, the missing woman whose case was brought to... |
Susie Madrak: Latoyia's Body Found Sad: PHILADELPHIA - The remains of a missing pregnant woman was recovered, and a person has been taken into custody in the case, police said Saturday. |
Costas refuses to host show about Holloway MSNBC — Permalink NEW YORK - While some cable TV hosts are making their living off the Natalee Holloway case this summer, Bob Costas is having none of it. Costas, hired by CNN as an occasional fill-in on "Larry King Live," refused to anchor Thursday's show because it was primarily about the Alabama teenager who went missing in Aruba. | |
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Cori Dauber: It Took a Sport's Guy — You may have heard that Bob Costas, who sits in periodically for Larry King, refused to do a show on the Aruba case. Attaturk: Costas refuses to host show about Holloway [snipped quote] Costas, Olbermann, Lampley amazing how the sports guys don't buy into the bulls**t. |
DC Media Girl: Good for him for refusing to pander: While some cable TV hosts are making their living off the Natalee Holloway case this summer, Bob Costas is having none of it. |
In 1980s, Roberts Criticized The Court He Hopes to Join WaPo — Permalink When John G. Roberts Jr. accepted President Bush's nomination to the Supreme Court last month, he spoke with awe about the high court. He had argued 39 cases before the justices, but he said he "always got a lump in my throat whenever I walked up those marble steps." | |
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Hugh Hewitt: (Duane is assigning the virtual boxes over at Radioblogger.com) The Post's headline baldly states that "In 1980s,... Adam C: Roberts' Documents Paint Good Picture — Each day or two, the Washington Post prints an article trying to knock Roberts down a notch. |
Steve Bainbridge: The WaPo's headline writers are shocked, shocked that SCOTUS nominee John Roberts Criticized The Court He Hopes to Join:... Armando @DailyKos: Roberts: His View of the SCOTUS — From WaPo: [quote] "The federal judiciary today benefits from an insulation from political...[end quote] |
The Biteback Effect NRO — Permalink Do we even have a word to describe the new criticism? Sometimes even the English language is without the right word to describe a commonplace occurrence. We don't, for example, have a term quite like the German schadenfreude: "Taking malicious delight in someone else's misfortune." | |
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Ed Driscoll: But as Victor Davis Hanson recently noted, these days, largely thanks to the Blogosphere and other new media, it comes with a price—"The Biteback Effect" is what Hanson calls it. |
Betsy Newmark: Victor Davis Hanson coins a new term for the phenomenon when someone alleges something terrible and the allegation comes back to bite him. |
Judge berates US failures as 9/11 supporter is convicted By / Times of London — Permalink A GERMAN court yesterday convicted a Moroccan student of belonging to the al-Qaeda cell responsible for the attacks on America of September 11, 2001, but acquitted him of direct involvement in the murder of nearly 3,000 people. | |
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Jeralyn Merritt: German Court Criticizes U.S. for Withholding Evidence — Mounir al-Motassadeq, 31, was convicted yesterday in a German court of being a member of an al-Qaeda cell. |
Susie Madrak: Justice with a Blind Spot Silly man! Isn't justice supposed to be blind? |
3 Sunni Election Workers Seized and Killed in Mosul By / NYT — Permalink BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 19 - Three Sunni election workers were kidnapped while tacking up voting posters in the northern city of Mosul and then killed in front of a crowded mosque on Friday, the latest in a series of violent incidents exposing the rift that has opened up among Iraq's Sunnis over whether to take part in the coming elections. | |
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Mark Kleiman: The U.S. pushes for a theocratic Iraq — So the U.S. ambassador to Iraq is actively pushing secular Iraqis, and in... |
Cori Dauber: A Little More Than A Political Fight — The Times covers the executions of the political activists in Mosul, but look at... |
Roberts Was Not Strictly Conservative LAT — Permalink WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. made it clear in his days as a Reagan administration lawyer that he did not share the traditional conservative fear of the U.S. government creating national identification cards for American citizens. | |
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Hugh Hewitt: The Los Angeles Times is sifting through the documents as well, and found a Roberts memo blasting Bob Jones III for his "petulant paranoia." |
PoliPundit: Roberts on Immigration — Some reassurance on John Roberts: [snipped quote] Now that's my kind of Justice! |
Did the FBI Ignore 9/11 Warnings? Fox News — Permalink This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," August 18, 2005, that has been edited for clarity. ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Welcome back to a special edition of "Hannity & Colmes." I'm Alan Colmes. Sean reporting live tonight from Sunland Park, New Mexico, on the outskirts of El Paso. | |
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Captain Ed: Col. Tony Shaffer's appearance on Hannity and Colmes last night on Fox has people on all sides of the Able Danger thread scratching their heads. |
Tom Maguire: Shaffer Named Terrorists On A No-Name Basis [See UPDATE 2 - the transcript *may* tell a different story] Lt. Col... |
U.S., Taliban bargained over bin Laden, documents show CNN — Permalink WASHINGTON (CNN) — During secret meetings with U.S. officials in 1998, top Taliban officials discussed assassinating or expelling Osama bin Laden in response to al Qaeda's deadly bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa, according to State Department documents. | |
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Gateway Pundit: [quote]They would reject the Taliban if the Taliban took this action" [end quote] CNN is also reporting on the disclosed State Department... |
James Joyner: U.S and Taliban Negotiated over Bin Laden in 1998 — State Department cables newly released to the National Archives... |
Sen. John Kerry Blisters Republicans By / AP — Permalink SEATTLE - Sen. John F. Kerry (news, bio, voting record) told state legislators Friday the Democratic Party doesn't need to undergo an extreme makeover, saying "the last thing America needs is a second Republican Party." | |
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Joe Gandelman: Kerry Blasts GOP And Says Democratic Party Doesn't Need Much Change — John Kerry's latest salvo delivered to state... Marc @USSNeverdock: America - John Kerry Blisters Republicans — That headline leaves no doubt as to AP reporter, David Ammons', bias in this Guardian report. Glenn Reynolds: JOE GANDELMAN thinks that John Kerry is giving bad advice to the Democrats. |
Mcq: Now he figures it out ... well almost — After spending the '04 Presidential campaign essentially saying 'me too, but... Jayson @PoliPundit: Clueless — John Kerry Heinz. P.S. - I could not help but notice that Kerry Heinz made that rant before a confab of state legislator types. |
What Cindy Sheehan Really Wants By / Slate — Permalink When are the bureau chiefs of our newspapers and networks going to snap out of their own vacation-induced trances and send some grown-up correspondents down to Crawford, Texas? For weeks now, Cindy Sheehan has not been asked a single question that is any tougher than "How does it feel?" | |
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Michael J. Totten: Hitchens explains: [snipped quote] UPDATE: There's an argument in the comments about whether the "chickenhawk" brigade... John Cole: Hitchens Throws Another Haymaker This one is going to give the left the vapors: When are the bureau chiefs of our... |
Stefan @MemeFirst: Bush: Making Iraq safe for Islamism — In Slate yesterday, Christopher Hitchens savaged Cindy Sheehan for wanting US forces to capitulate in Iraq. |