Help Free Paul Minor, Another GOP Political Prisoner

by Larisa Alexandrovna, AlterNet - 12:55 AM

Obama Needs to Change His Afghanistan Policy

by Laura Flanders, Firedoglake - 5:10 PM

New York Times Spares McCain Embarrassment By Rejecting Op-Ed

by Jason Linkins, Huffington Post - 4:03 PM

O'Reilly Uses Offensive Hate-Speech While Smearing Progressives

by Matt, Think Progress - 2:58 PM

Anatomy of the Right Wing Noise Machine: Maliki and Withdrawal

by dday, Hullabaloo - 2:05 PM

Is The Religious Right Losing Its Edge?

by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report -

Maliki's Walk Forward
Matthew Yglesias
July 21, 2008 | web only


Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's endorsement of Barack Obama's plan for U.S. troop withdrawal shows us the real shape of the debate to come.

From the archives: Ann Friedman on listening to the Iraqi people and Spencer Ackerman on the formation of Barack Obama's foreign policy.

The group blog of The American Prospect
The exclusionary rule in comparative perspective.[/color]
Posted at 4:56 p.m.



A respectable liberal blog
More on the Iranian "interests section."
Posted at 4:49 p.m.


Dean Baker's economic commentary
[color="#800000"]Should we fear plunges in stock prices?

Big Media Puts Its Money Where Its Mouth Is

To prove bias in the media, just use an old journalistic canon -- although one rarely used for this purpose. Follow the money. More

The McCain Administration
Randall Hoven
What can John McCain do to get conservatives to vote for him, enthusiastically and in numbers, while maybe even gaining votes from independents and sane liberals? I think I have a way. More

Breeding Evil: Hezb'allah's Children
Lance Fairchok
Whole generations have come of age without education, indoctrinated in an ideology of Islamic fanaticism and blind hatred, kept destitute and embittered, the most efficient way to breed terrorists. More

What the Old News Media Risks From Its Bias
July 21, 2008
Somewhere during this campaign the old news media reached the tipping point and their bias meter slid into the red zone. More

The bias gets even more blatant
July 21, 2008
The Drudge Report and Fox News are reporting today that the New York Times has denied an opinion piece from Senator John McCain after publishing Senator Barack Obama's op-ed last week. More

Hillary's disappearing Obama criticism
July 21, 2008
Steve Gilbert reminds us what Hillary said about Obama and Afghanistan. Strangely enough, the public record is hard to find. More

Obama Meets a Grateful Planet
July 21, 2008
The candidate says he "never" has doubts about his foreign policy experience. This startling admission is worth pondering. More

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Christopher Dodd
July 21, 2008
With the practical collapse of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac upon us, a good measure of the political bias of the media is who they're claiming is responsible. More

Iraqi Government Wants US out by 2010
July 21, 2008
Maliki continues to stir the pot in this country. More

Another disaster for 'compassionate' liberalism
July 21, 2008
It seemed like such a good idea to the liberals in Seattle.... More

Obama Campaign issues Dress Code for Female Reporters
July 21, 2008
It appears that Team Obama didn't want to offend any Muslim sensibilities on his trip to the Middle East. More

Ignore The Media: Al-Maliki Did Not Embrace Obama's Withdrawal Plan
July 21, 2008
The media has gone from being merely biased to advancing false propaganda on behalf of the Obama campaign. More

Obama Wants to be President '8-10 Years'
July 21, 2008
Obama and the "Butterfly Effect" More

Sen Lieberman on Obama's trip to Iraq (updated)
July 21, 2008
Sometimes a comment on TV rises to the level of an aphorism. More

Swan Song for Fannie
Eulogy for the "Ownership Society"

by Mike Whitney / July 21st, 2008

The Fed’s emergency rescue plan for the financial markets is hopelessly flawed. It’s a scattershot approach that doesn’t address the real source of the problem; an unregulated, unsustainable structured finance system that emerged in full force after 2000 and spawned a shadow banking system that creates trillions of dollars of credit without sufficient capital reserves. This is the heart of the problem and it needs to be debated openly. The present system doesn’t work; it’s as simple as that. It makes no sense to provide trillions of dollars of taxpayer money to shore up a system that is essentially dysfunctional. …

(Full article …)

Inflation and the Spectre of World Revolution
by James Petras / July 20th, 2008

Inflation is here big time.

– Charles Holliday CEO, Du Pont. June 24, 2008

The sustained rise in the price of oil and commodities has hammered industries… and deepened fears of global inflationary spiral — which has already provoked riots across Asia — as producers pass on higher costs to manufacturers and consumers.”

– Financial Times, June 25, 2008, page 1

Introduction

Inflation and all of its repercussions for wage and salaried workers, fixed income middle classes, as well as manufacturers and transport industries is splashed …

(Full article …)

PETE HEGSETH: Now that the Democratic candidate has visited post-surge Iraq, will his head remain in the sand? “Obama’s Head in the Sand” 07/22 9:00 AM

THE EDITORS: Europe will be impressed by Obama. Will Americans? “President-Elect Obama” 07/22 6:30 AM

JOHN F. CULLINAN: We’re a people in need of a reality check. “Euro-Disney in Madrid and Berlin” 07/22 6:30 AM

ERIC EGLAND: John McCain is far better suited to lead a surge in Operation Enduring Freedom. “Back to Afghanistan” 07/21 11:20 AM

BYRON YORK: Maliki delivers a body-blow to McCain. “Obama, Maliki, and McCain” 07/21 8:30 AM

• Dennis Prager : Will Israel Attack Iran?
• Chuck Norris : What the Bleep?!
• Patrick J. Buchanan : Where the Ducks Are
• Ed Feulner : Constitutional Confusion
• David Limbaugh : Obama: Milking His Failures
• Cal Thomas : An Innocent Abroad
• Thomas Sowell : Bankrupt "Exploiters"
• William Rusher : We Must Break Our Dependence on Oil
• Dan Stein : Presidential Hopefuls Ignore Public's Desire for Real Immigration Reform
• Karin Agness : The Villains of Victimhood
• Rebecca Love Kourlis : Understanding E-Discovery
• Rich Lowry : An Anti-Speculative Bubble
• Bill Steigerwald : Our Sorry Economy: An Interview
• Paul Weyrich : A Persistent Threat to Second Amendment Rights
• Carrie Lukas : Connecting the Dots on Energy Policy
• John McCaslin : Mary's Take
• Chuck Colson : What's the Matter With Canada?
• Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. : Energy Freedom
• Bob Burney : Looking For Rain
• Guy Benson : When Obama Attacks
• Harry R. Jackson, Jr. : Stop the War on the Poor

There's More to the Economy Than Taxes truthdig.com — The United States needs nothing less than a new social compact that recognizes what most workers already know: that employers no longer are a reliable source for health insurance or pensions; that workers lack the bargaining power once provided by strong unions and nothing has replaced it.

FELIX ROHATYN AND EVERETT EHRLICH
How to Avoid the Worst Recession in 30 Years ft.com — We should learn from our mistakes and act pragmatically to regulate markets as they exist in fact, not theory.

JOSEPH ROMM
Reframing the Energy Debate gristmill.grist.org — Progressives should stop using the phrase "renewable energy." It is lazy and fits into the conservative frame of renewable energy sources as individually insignificant. We should go out of our way to specify them, since several of them have come of age.

CARL POPE
When a Trillion Dollars Looks Like a Bargain huffingtonpost.com — A trillion dollars. That's the cost former Vice-President Gore attached to his proposed national effort to solve global warming. But the price tag is actually a bargain — because every year we currently spend $700 billion importing oil, and we will shortly hit the trillion-dollar-a-year mark for that one fossil fuel alone.

EUGENE ROBINSON
Bush's Semantic Withdrawal truthdig.com — His new "time horizon" formulation is just smoke, intended to obfuscate and stall. In six months, Iraq becomes somebody else's problem.

MATTHEW YGLESIAS
Maliki's Walk Forward prospect.org — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's endorsement of Barack Obama's plan for U.S. troop withdrawal shows us the real shape of the debate to come. LUIS

CARLOS MONTALVAN
Promoting Incompetence in Iraq inthesetimes.com — How could the commanders of the greatest Army in the world send soldiers into battle without the weapons and resources to accomplish their mission?

WILLIAM J. ASTORE
Having the "Best Military" Is Not Always a Good Thing tomdispatch.com — A small but meaningful act against the creeping militarism of the Bush years would be to collectively repudiate our "world's best warfighter" rhetoric and re-embrace instead a tradition of reluctant but resolute citizen-soldiers.

ISAIAH J. POOLE
Crash the Insurance Lobby's Party The health insurance lobby calls its new publicity effort "Campaign for an American Solution." It is as bald-faced in its advocacy of corporate-profits-first health care as it is blatant in its jingoism.

ENERGY
We Can Solve It
Today, Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens will testify on "Energy Security" before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. A lifelong oilman, Pickens is in the process of building the world's largest wind farm in Texas, "a $10 billion behemoth that could power a small city by itself." The power from the 4,000 megawatt farm is set to go online by 2011, just three years from now. (By contrast, oil produced through new offshore drilling -- conservatives' panacea to the energy crisis -- would take close to 10 years to reach the market.) "I have the same feelings about wind, as I had about the best oil field I ever found," Pickens told the New York Times. Earlier this month, Pickens released the "Pickens Plan," which advocates expanding wind power and the use of natural gas. "It's our crisis," Pickens says at the end of his first TV spot promoting his plan, "and we can solve it." John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, praised Pickens' plan: "It is time to believe in America's ability to solve problems again. With clean energy, we can finally break our dependence on oil."

GORE'S GOAL: Pickens' message echoes the themes of former vice president Al Gore's WeCanSolveIt campaign, launched earlier this spring. Speaking in Washington, D.C. last Thursday, Gore warned, "The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk." He called for a new, ambitious goal to derive 100 percent of all American electricity from clean, renewable sources, such as wind, solar, and geothermal power. Calling the goal "achievable, affordable and transformative," Gore declared that the science of global warming requires immediate action. In fact, he explained, the entire North polar ice cap is likely to melt completely in the summer months within five years. "The leading experts predict that we have less than 10 years to make dramatic changes in our global warming pollution lest we lose our ability to ever recover from this environmental crisis," he said. On NBC's Meet the Press Sunday, Gore emphasized the emergency the world is facing. "This climate crisis is threatening our country, threatening all of human civilization," he said. "I know that sounds shrill, and I know people don't like to hear phrases like that, but it is the reality. We have to awaken to it, and we have to mobilize to confront it."

A GORE-PICKENS PLAN: Pickens and Gore approach the issue from two perspectives. Pickens believes that oil production has reached maximum capacity, while Gore is concerned about the pressing disaster of global warming. Yet both problems point to the need for real energy solutions through the implementation of clean, renewable sources. Though Gore notes that his recent speech laid out a goal, not a prescription, there are clear paths towards achieving it. "The United States is the Saudi Arabia of wind power," the Pickens Plan website says. "Building wind facilities in the corridor that stretches from the Texas panhandle to North Dakota could produce 20% of the electricity for the United States at a cost of $1 trillion" -- which would allow for the production of a free, inexhaustible power source and is a bargain compared to the $700 billion the United States spends on foreign oil every year. What's clear to both Pickens and Gore is what is not the answer: drilling for more oil. "This is one emergency we can't drill our way out of," Pickens declares in the plan's first TV spot. Speaking at the Netroots Nation convention this Saturday, Gore commented on the absurdity of increased drilling to address global warming, comparing it to an old remedy for a hangover: "the hair of the dog that bit you." "They'd recommend just going in and having another drink in the morning. That's sort of what that reminds me of," said Gore. "When you're in a hole, stop digging."

CONSERVATIVES STONEWALL: On Meet the Press, Gore remarked, "The only limiting factor here is political will." Achieving Gore's goal or enacting the Pickens Plan won't be easy. Last December, conservatives led by President Bush successfully stripped a measure from the 2007 energy bill requiring a mere 15 percent of American electricity to be generated from renewable sources -- a far cry from Gore's 100 percent goal. Conservatives have attached themselves to former Speaker Newt Gingrich's plan to "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less," despite the fact that expanding domestic drilling "would not have a significant impact" on oil production or gas prices "before 2030," according to the Energy Information Agency. Conservatives still like to mock renewable power. "I'm not entirely convinced," said Rep. John E. Peterson (R-PA) said of Pickens's push for wind power. Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) said disparagingly, "You can't run the most heavily industrialized nation in the world on windmills." Last week, Rush Limbaugh claimed it was "very, very sad" that Americans "have bought into this whole notion that alternatives are somehow pristine, clean and pure." These conservatives ignore the fact that, as Gore pointed out, "enough wind power blows through the Midwest corridor every day to...meet 100 percent of US electricity demand."

JUSTICE -- MUKASEY ATTEMPTS TO GUT IMPACT OF SUPREME COURT RULING PROTECTING DETAINEE RIGHTS: In a landmark decision issued last month, the Supreme Court ruled that habeas corpus protections apply to detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. Speaking at the conservative American Enterprise Institute yesterday, however, Attorney General Michael Mukasey called on Congress -- not the courts -- to set the rules by which detainees challenge their detention in civilian courts, an attempt to "limit the impact of the ruling." Mukasey said Congress should pass legislation barring federal judges from releasing any of the detainees, who he claimed "pose an extraordinary threat to Americans." Under Mukasey's plan, the government could detain prisoners indefinitely as long as the conflict against al Qaeda persisted. Mukasey added that only after the trials are completed should prisoners be able to file habeas petitions to appeal their detentions in civilian courts. "What Mukasey is doing is a shocking attempt to drag us into years of further legal challenges and delays," observed Vincent Warren of the Center for Constitutional Rights. "The Supreme Court has definitively spoken, and there is no need for congressional intervention," Warren added. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) called the speech "an attempt to create an election-year security issue where there isn't one."

WOMEN'S RIGHTS -- OVER 100 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS DECLARE OPPOSITION TO BUSH'S 'RADICAL' CONTRACEPTION STANCE: More than 100 members of Congress signed a letter to President Bush yesterday urging an end to a Health and Human Services (HHS) draft proposal that would reclassify contraception as abortion. The letter warns that the proposal would "have a disastrous effect upon access to safe and effective birth control for millions of women" and create a "radical reversal of decades of public health work." The HHS proposal would require hospitals receiving federal funds to pledge that they would not discriminate against people who refuse to provide forms of contraception due to religious beliefs in hiring positions. In the letter, 104 representatives wrote that the move "would allow any provider, who wants to deny a woman emergency contraception or even birth control pills, to claim protection based on a personal belief that such pills fit the regulatory definition." At a press conference, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) said, "We will not put up with this radical, ideological agenda to turn the clock back on women's rights." The Bush administration has a history of hostility to birth control, from viewing contraceptives as part of the "culture of death" to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt's assertion that health care providers with moral objections to abortion have no obligation to refer patients to other providers.

CONGRESS -- REID MOVING 'COBURN OMNIBUS' TO SENATE FLOOR: Roll Call reported yesterday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "will begin the process of moving the 'Coburn Omnibus,' a set of bills that have broad bipartisan support but have been held up" because of Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) objections. Coburn has earned the reputation of "a fly in the soup," abusing the Senate's hold privilege -- a technique which allows senators to "object to bringing a bill or nomination to the floor for consideration" -- to prevent the leadership from bringing matters to a vote. Some of these measures include funding for stroke prevention legislation, lateral sclerosis legislation, the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Act, the Emmitt Till Unsolved Crimes Act, and the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment Act. Currently, Coburn has a hold on nearly 100 non-controversial and bipartisan bills simply because they are "bills that he just doesn't like." Roll Call notes, "Debate on the bill could begin Friday, and Coburn has raised the possibility of using the chamber's arcane rules to grind the Senate to a halt."

A military judge ruled yesterday that prosecutors in the trial of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's former driver, "cannot use as evidence some statements the defendant gave interrogators because they were obtained under 'highly coercive' conditions." Hamdan's "allegedly incriminating admissions made up a key part of the prosecution’s case against him."

The current economic expansion "is the first in 60 years that may end before many Americans have recovered from the last slowdown. Annual family incomes adjusted for inflation have grown just 0.8 percent since the end of 2001." Median U.S. family incomes, adjusted for inflation, dropped from $59,398 in 2000 to $58,407 in 2006.

The New York Times reports that "for the first time since the women's movement came to life, an economic recovery has come and gone, and the percentage of women at work has fallen, not risen. ... After moving into virtually every occupation, women are being afflicted on a large scale by the same troubles as men: downturns, layoffs, outsourcing, stagnant wages or the discouraging prospect of an outright pay cut."

Though Big Oil companies "insist they're trying to find new oil" to help bring down gas prices, more than half of the money from their record profits is being spent on stock buybacks and dividends rather than exploration. While spending on stock buybacks and dividends has increased 25 percent since 2000, the percentage spent to find new deposits of fossil fuels "has remained flat for years, in the mid-single digits."

FEMA reported yesterday that federal officials vastly overestimated the value of hurricane relief supplies given away earlier this year. According to the report, the General Services Administration (GSA) mistakenly counted "a single item as being worth as much as multiple items contained in a package of goods. The original GSA estimate of $85 million should have been $18.5 million."

"Members of Congress appropriated more than $18 million in Defense Department earmarks in fiscal 2007 for projects that either were not needed or failed to support the Pentagon’s mission," according to a Pentagson inspector general report.

Radovan Karadzic, "the wartime leader of Bosnian Serbs, was arrested Monday night" and is being extradited to The Hague where he will be tried by the U.N. war crimes tribunal. Karadzic "faces 11 counts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities committed between 1992 to 1996."

And finally: Sen. Patrick Leahy's (D-VT) guest appearance in the new movie, "The Dark Knight," has been getting quite a bit attention on national blogs. Leahy, a huge Batman fan, appears in the movie "as a brave older gentleman who confronts the Joker after the evildoer crashes a swank party." Writing on The Hill's blog yesterday, Leahy expounded further on why he likes the film: "This, more than any earlier film, explores the psychotic nature of the Joker, but also the psychological conflicts in the Batman." He also pays tribute to late actor Heath Ledger, who played the Joker.

McCain Was Right on Surge, But Story Has Shifted - Tom Friedman, NYT
Behind Maliki's Games - Max Boot, Washington Post
McCain's Failing Attacks - John Dickerson, Slate
The Media Gets a Tingling Up Its Leg - John Kass, Chicago Tribune
Obama: Cocky or Commander in Chiefly? - Maureen Dowd, New York Times
The GQ Statesman - Tony Blankley, Washington Times
Baghdad is Berlin 60 Years Later - Ruth Marcus, Washington Post
Winning the War of Ideas - James Glassman, New York Sun
The Democrats & National Security - Samantha Power, NY Review of Books
What Obama Could Learn on Vacation - David Harsanyi, Denver Post
Israel Has No Reason to Fear Obama - Jack Rosen, Jerusalem Post
Is Jindal the One Republicans Are Waiting For? - Kathleen Parker, RCP
Romney: A Mistake for McCain - Dick Morris, The Hill
Bosnia's Face of Evil - Richard Holbrooke, Washington Post
The Fannie Mae Gang - Paul Gigot, Wall Street Journal
The Depression Specter - Robert Samuelson, Newsweek
Why Jesse Jackson Hates Obama - Shelby Steele, Wall Street Journal

Editorials
Mr. Obama in Iraq - Washington Post
In Balkans, a Blow for Justice - Boston Globe
Candidates' Positions on Iraq Differ Less Than You'd Think - USA Today
Maliki's Bet - New York Sun

Political News & Analysis
Iraq Schedule Close to Obama's - Los Angeles Times
Israeils, Palestinians Have Hope, Skepticism about Obama - McClatchy
Cindy McCain Plays Her Supporting Role - Washington Post
McCain Gets Bush Blessing, Attacks Obama - Boston Globe

Transcripts & Speeches


Interview with Barack Obama - CBS News
Interview with John McCain - CBS News
Roundtable on Obama in Iraq - Special Report w/Brit Hume
McCain, Obama Foreign Policy Advisors Debate - The NewsHour
Interview with Sen. Lindsey Graham - CNN

Best of the Blogs
McCain Turns Contempt into an Ad Strategy - Jason Zengerle, The Plank
The Media's Anti-Substance Bias - Lisa Schiffren, The Corner
Starbucks Democrats - Jaime Sneider, Weekly Standard Blog
Progressivism Goes Mainstream? - Donald Douglas, American Power
It's Not About Maliki - Ezra Klein, TAP

The Double Life of Karadzic - Graham Bowley, Int'l Herald Tribune
Recalling the Face of Evil - Richard Holbrooke, Washington Post
A Long Overdue Cross-Strait Visit - Xiong Lei, China Daily
Zimbabwe Needs Real Mediation - Chris Kabwato, Mail & Guardian
The Good News on Basra - Barney White-Spunner, Times of London

How Scores of Black Men Were Tortured Into Giving False Confessions by Chicago Police

Jessica Pupovac, AlterNet

Rights and Liberties: More than 20 years after being tortured into giving confessions by Chicago police officers, dozens of black men remain behind bars.


U.S. Ranks #1 in Consumption of Pot, Cocaine, Smokes

Jordan Smith, Austin Chronicle

DrugReporter: Just in time for the Olympics, the U.S. takes the gold medal in several drug use categories, according to a recent WHO report.


America's Got Water Problems, and No Plan to Fix Them

Elizabeth de la Vega, Tomdispatch.com

Water: The lives and income of millions have been upended by government mismanagement of water issues.

Obama's Huge Coup on Iraq: McCain Was Asking for It

Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch

War on Iraq: John McCain and the White House have been clearly dismayed and embarrassed by Iraqi govt. support for Obama's withdrawal plan.


Nine Senators, Including Obama, Introduce Bill to Help Vets Register to Vote

Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet

Democracy and Elections: At issue is whether injured vets living at VA facilities will be helped to vote for president in 2008.


News You Might Have Missed: Court Confirms President's Dictatorial Powers

Andy Worthington, Andy Worthington's Blog

Rights and Liberties: A 5 to 4 ruling in the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri legitimizes the president's right to indefinitely imprison "enemy combatants."

John McCain's Disaster Economics

Frank Rich, The New York Times

Election 2008: If voters got a fair presentation of John McCain's economic plan, the idea of him winning the White House would cause mass panic.


Nightmare on Wall Street: Washington Can't Bail out the Sea of Red Ink

Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Author Bill Greider explains to Moyers that the magic of the "free market" is coming to a close.

Almost Perfect Wingnuttery: Global Warming's the Ultimate Liberal Conspiracy

by PZ Myers, Pharyngula - 4:10 AM

Offshoring, Downsizing, Rightsizing -- Job Losses Hitting Women Hard

by Todd Tucker, Eyes on Trade - 3:52 AM

MoveOn.org, ColorOfChange.org and NAS to Protest FOX's Racism in NYC

by AlterNet Staff, AlterNet - 5:02 PM

A Laughing Liberally Look at Netroots Nation

by Katie Halper, KatieHalper.com - 3:53 PM

One Good Thing about Turn-Coat Dems: They're Inept!

by Steve M., No More Mister Nice Blog - 3:05 PM

Pay-to-Play: Karl Rove Taking Lead on George W. Bush Presidential Library

by Lindsay Beyerstein, Majikthise - 1:50 PM

Shorts and Fannies: A Brief History
Robert Kuttner
July 22, 2008 | web only
Scratching your head trying to understand just what short-selling is and why it threatens banks; or what exactly Fannie Mae is, and how it might be dragging down a housing sector? Founding Editor Robert Kuttner explains.

Related: Read Dean Baker's weekly column on the economic collapse, The Meltdown Lowdown.

The group blog of The American Prospect
Not the only Bush foreign policy disaster.[/color]
Posted at 5:15 p.m.



A respectable liberal blog
Of caviar and chemo.
Posted at 5:36 p.m.


Dean Baker's economic commentary
[color="#800000"]McCain wants to drill in your toilet.

The Complex Success of the Surge
Randall Hoven
The "surge" in Iraq sure appears to have worked. But before we give all the credit to the "more boots on the ground" stompers and all the blame to Rumsfeld and the neo-cons, let's take a second look More

Obama's Berlin Moment
James Lewis
Obama's Premature Inauguration Syndrome is still giving him trouble, witness the mass Obama rally scheduled for Berlin's SiegessSaeule or Victory Column More

Eliminate the Middleman
William Shepherd
Once again villainous speculators have emerged as a scapegoat. There's a lot of history to this practice. More

The Trip that Did Not Deliver
July 22, 2008
With the major media in full swoon mode -- every network anchor covering the Obama trip, and only one reporter following John McCain to New Hampshire Monday night, the polls should be moving strongly for Obama. More

Michael Totten on The Rick Moran Show
July 22, 2008
"The World's Most Interesting Man" on with AT's Rick Moran tonight. More

Uday's Rolls Royces
July 22, 2008
Guess where 5 luxury cars were stashed? Isn't this a big clue about WMD? More

Unrepentant APS softens but doesn't remove offensive Monckton disclaimer
July 22, 2008
A controversial disclaimer the American Physical Society added days after publication to a scientific paper they had solicited from Christopher Monckton was toned down sometime yesterday. More

Obama to seek "victory" in Iraq
July 22, 2008
Barack Obama has now gone where no Democrat has gone before. More

American flag disappears from the Obama campaign plane's tail
July 22, 2008
Nobody's saying he's unpatriotic, but what kind of man uses his own symbol instead of the flag on the tail of his official campaign plane? More

New York Times and its plans
July 22, 2008
Advertising Age profiles the New York Times today and reveals that the newspaper is planning to beef up its business coverage More

Michelle 'O' - Elect Obama! Save the Children!
July 22, 2008
Maybe Obama should keep his wife under lock and key until the election. More

Obama's Strategy:A cultural, Not a Political, Campaign
July 22, 2008
The fine mind of Shelby Steele explains why Jesse Jackson hates Barack Obama. It is a must-read. More

Fawning, groveling, Euro-lickspittle Press for Obama
July 22, 2008
Politico is reporting this but I'm not believing it. More

Why the Times rejected McCain's Op Ed
July 22, 2008
NY Times political blogger Kate Phillips reports on the behind the scenes arrogant thinking of the NY Times' editors who rejected Senator John McCain's potential Op-Ed. More

Supreme Court error now formally raised in new filing
July 22, 2008
Will the Supreme Court admit it made an error in a major case? The state of Louisiana has filed a motion for rehearing that will test the question. More

ISRAEL FEARS SCATHING US REPORT ON WEST BANK POLICIES
HAMDAN SHOW TRIAL
'CONTRAVENES INTL. STANDARDS'

GERAGHTY: Oil prices drop $21 a barrel in two weeks. No, really.


HANSON: Even biased reporters are chaffing at the new gospels of Obamism.


LOPEZ: Me-too McCain.


BOYLES: It’s huge. Think of Walt Disney arriving in Berlin, with mouse, duck, and dog.


GOLDBERG: Re-arguing the surge is almost as counterproductive as re-arguing the war itself. Elections are about the future.

PETE HEGSETH: Now that the Democratic candidate has visited post-surge Iraq, will his head remain in the sand? “Obama’s Head in the Sand” 07/22 9:00 AM

THE EDITORS: Europe will be impressed by Obama. Will Americans? “President-Elect Obama” 07/22 6:30 AM

On Iraq: Wiping Out the Legend

by: Maya Schenwar, t r u t h o u t | Book Review

OPINION



Obama on the Brink

by: Robert Scheer, Truthdig.com

OPINION



Madness and Shame

by: Bob Herbert, The New York Times

OPINION



Fannie and Freddie

by: Serge Truffaut, Le Devoir

OPINION



Election Fraud and Tyranny: Part 1

by: Michael Collins, Scoop News

OPINION



Bad Days for Newsrooms - and Democracy

by: Chris Hedges, Truthdig.com

OPINION



Drilling Without Oil, Tax Cuts Without Growth

by: Dean Baker, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

OPINION



The Taliban Strikes Back

by: Gary Brecher, AlterNet

OPINION



US-Africa Relations to Militarize?

by: Matthew Blake, The Washington Independent

OPINION



Black. Female. Accomplished. Attacked.

by: Sophia A. Nelson, The Washington Post

• Michael Medved : A Long Tradition of Fringe Parties and Paranoia
• Thomas Sowell : Bankrupt "Exploiters": Part II
• Walter E. Williams : Black Education
• Kathleen Parker : Is Bobby Jindal the One Republicans Have Been Waiting For?
• Donald Lambro : Foreign Tour Highlights Obama's Inexperience
• John Stossel : Sex Police
• Jacob Sullum : Excuse Me While I Get My Gun
• Michael Gerson : Cindy McCain and the Smell of Death
• Maggie Gallagher : Obama Faking It
• Michelle Malkin : The Man Who Could Topple Jack Murtha
• Austin Bay : Iraqi Victory, Defeat for McCain?
• Tony Blankley : The GQ Statesman
• Terence Jeffrey : How Big Can Government Get?
• Paul Greenberg : Academe Then and Now
• Jonah Goldberg : For McCain, Surge is a Losing Strategy
• Dick Morris and Eileen McGann : Illegal Rx? Barack Objects and Dick Answers
• Paul Driessen : Blowing Hot Air Up Our Shorts
• Terry Paulson : Time for Governmentaholics Anonymous
• Phil Harris : The Hand of Man and Delusions of Grandeur
• Paul Weyrich : Senator Harry M. Reid Wants to Change the Rules
• John McCaslin : Obamamania

Asking And Telling
Fifteen years ago yesterday, President Clinton announced the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy, which was meant to relax the long-standing ban on gay men and women serving in the military. The government would no longer ask recruits whether they were gay, and in turn, servicemembers would be able to remain in the military as long as they didn't reveal their sexual orientations. This policy is outdated, discriminatory, and impeding the military's progress. Since 1993, the military has booted 12,300 servicemembers under DADT, including at least 58 valuable Arabic language specialists. Today, the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel will be holding the first congressional hearings on DADT in 15 years. They come at a time that support for repealing the ban is increasing. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 75 percent of Americans believe "gay people who are open about their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military" -- a dramatic rise from the 61 percent who supported the notion in 2001. Human Rights Campaign has organized a campaign telling Congress to repeal DADT here.

PENTAGON NO-SHOW: No Pentagon officials will be testifying at today's hearings. Subcommittee chairwoman Susan Davis (D-CA) said that she put in a request to the Defense Department, "but at this particular time...they're really not quite willing to come forward." Gay rights activists are disappointed at this no-show. "At a time when the military is relaxing every possible standard to attract new recruits...one would hope and expect that Defense Department leaders would be first in line to call on Congress to repeal the law," said Steve Ralls of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. One of the people testifying today is Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, who is gay and was the first U.S. soldier wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom. "We're allowing our prejudice to be put into action by allowing this discriminatory policy of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' to still exist, even in this day and age," he told the Washington Blade. In 2006, Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) introduced the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would overturn DADT. The legislation now has 133 co-sponsors, including five Republicans, although President Bush is expected to veto it if it ever passes.

OUTDATED AND IMPRACTICAL: DADT makes no sense, especially at at time when the military is struggling to recruit and retain soldiers. A 2005 study by the Williams Project at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, found that as many as 41,000 new recruits could be found if the ban were repealed, "enough people to entirely staff half a dozen aircraft carriers." Additionally, gay servicemembers pose no risk to the unity or effectiveness of the armed forces; there is increasing evidence that many soldiers are already aware of their colleagues' sexual orientation. CBS's "60 Minutes" recently did a segment on whether commanders were becoming less strict in enforcing the ban on openly gay servicemembers. During the segment, correspondent Lesley Stahl spoke with Army Sgt. Darren Manzella, who said he was very open about his homosexuality and even introduced his fellow soldiers to his boyfriend. The Army was forced to open an investigation, but Manzella was eventually cleared to go back to work. He said he was basically told by his commanders, "I don't care if you're gay or not." Only after the CBS story was Manzella discharged. "My sexual orientation certainly didn't make a difference when I treated injuries and saved lives in the streets of Baghdad," said Manzella. "It shouldn't be a factor in allowing me to continue to serve." Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is aware of more than 500 U.S. soldiers who are "out" to their colleagues and continue to serve.

TIME FOR A CHANGE: Calls to repeal DADT continue to grow, even coming from the law's original architects and supporters. As chairman of the powerful Armed Forces Committee in the 1990s, then-senator Sam Nunn led a series of hearings that helped undermine Clinton's attempt to lift the ban on gays in the military. But last month, Nunn said it is time to re-examine DADT. "I think [when] 15 years go by on any personnel policy, it's appropriate to take another look at it," he said. Last month, Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen also said that the military was ready to accept gay servicemembers if Congress repeals DADT. A December 2006 survey of servicemembers who had served in Iraq or Afghanistan found 73 percent of those polled were "comfortable with lesbians and gays." A new report by four retired senior military officers and sponsored by the Palm Center in California also calls for a repeal of DADT, marking "the first time a Marine Corps general has ever called publicly for an end to the gay ban." The officers concluded that allowing gays to serve openly "is unlikely to pose any significant risk to morale, good order, discipline, or cohesion." In a significant shift, last year, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John M. Shalikashvili said that he no longer supported DADT and said that "if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces."

JUSTICE -- FBI AGENT: GUANTANAMO DETAINEES WERE NOT ADVISED OF RIGHTS: In testimony before the first Guantanamo military tribunal yesterday, FBI Agent Ali Soufan said that interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility were instructed not to advise detainees of their rights against self-incrimination. Soufan said that "the Guantanamo Bay Navy base is the only place in the world where he has not informed suspects of a right against self-incrimination." "The way it was explained to us is Guantanamo Bay is an intelligence collection point," he said. Other FBI agents have also explained that "they were instructed not to advise Guantanamo detainees of rights," but Soufan is the first to provide a reason, according to the Associated Press. Defense lawyers in the trial of Salim Hamdan have asked that all statements made by Hamdan while at Guantanamo be prohibited, but "Judge Keith Allred, a Navy captain, ruled Monday that constitutional protections against self-incrimination do not apply to the man declared an 'enemy combatant.'" Allred has already thrown out some evidence that was obtained from Hamdan in "highly coercive environments and conditions."

ENVIRONMENT -- BUSH CRONIES TRIED TO REDEFINE 'CARBON DIOXCIDE' TO SAVE POWER PLANTS FROM EMISSIONS REGULATIONS: Earlier this month, former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official Jason Burnett wrote to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) with explosive revelations on how the White House has censored and distorted climate change science to protect corporate interests. In a Senate hearing yesterday, Burnett provided further details, revealing that Office of Management and Budget officials sought ways to define carbon dioxide (CO2) from power plants as different from CO2 from automobiles, in order to shield industrial power plants from required by the landmark Supreme Court decision Massacuhussets v. EPA. "I must say that it was sometimes somewhat embarrassing," Burnett admitted, "for me to return to EPA and ask for my colleagues to explain yet again that CO2 is a molecule and there is no scientific way of differentiating between CO2 from car and a power plant." Burnett's revelations are particularly surprising as he is remembered by fellow EPA officials as "an administration loyalist who repeatedly sided with the White House while at the agency and gave no hint he was dissatisfied with Bush's approach to global warming." One anonymous EPA official explained to the Washington Post, "Jason, all of a sudden, has found his voice. ... When he was at EPA he did not have the conscience he's expressing now, this green conscience."

IRAQ -- CONSERVATIVE WRITER MAX BOOT CLAIMS MALIKI DOESN'T REALLY WANT WITHDRAWAL: On Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told German newspaper Der Spiegel that he favored a 16-month troop withdrawal timetable. In a Washington Post op-ed today, conservative writer Max Boot dismissed the statement, declaring on Monday that Maliki "is not really trying to push U.S. troops out by mid-2010" but was simply "playing politics." Boot insisted that Maliki's statement was "ambiguous"; as far as favoring withdrawal, Boot claimed "the Iraqi government is saying no such thing." In fact, the government has been clear. Not only did Maliki approve the statement before Der Spiegel published it, on Monday an Iraqi government spokesman declared -- in English and on camera -- that the government favored a withdrawal of forces by 2010. Poll after poll has shown that the Iraqi people want a U.S. withdrawal. A poll from March revealed that only 4 percent of Iraqis had "a great deal of confidence" in U.S. occupation forces, and that 72 percent strongly or somewhat opposed the presence of Coalition forces in Iraq.

Street got drunk," President Bush said at a private fundraiser last week in Houston. Unaware that he was being recorded, Bush joked about the country's housing crisis and said Wall Street now has "a hangover." (Watch the video here.)

According to IRS data, "the richest 1% of Americans in 2006 garnered the highest share of the nation's adjusted gross income for two decades" and "possibly the highest since 1929.” Meanwhile, "the average tax rate of the wealthiest 1% fell to its lowest level in at least 18 years."

President George H.W. Bush's former national security advisor Brent Scowcroft warned the current president to stop threatening Iran. He said yesterday "that by mentioning that threat, 'we legitimize the use of force...and may tempt the Israelis' to carry out such a mission. He said he thinks that negotiations must continue."

One day before he is to meet with Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), British Prime Minister Gordon Brown outlined a tentative plan "for withdrawing most of Britain's remaining troops from Iraq early in 2009," telling Parliament that Britain planned a "fundamental change of mission." Brown gave no fixed timetable for withdrawal, however.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey "has defended or let stand some of the most controversial policies that he inherited" from his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) said Mukasey "hasn't provided the balance that I had hoped for," and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reportedly called Mukasey's recent performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee "terrible."

Kurdish lawmakers in Iraq "walked out of parliament Tuesday in protest over a vote on conditions for Iraq’s provincial elections that called for ethnic groups to share power" in oil-rich Kirkuk. The walkout "appeared to reduce the chances that the elections would be held this year."

Political appointees at the Department of Labor are rushing to "push through" a rule before President Bush leaves office that would make it "tougher to regulate workers’ on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins." Workplace-safety advocates, unions and Democrats say that the Bush administration is "working secretly to give industry a parting gift that will help it delay or block safety regulations."

And finally: The Force is with Mike Pence. Following remarks by Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), American Values President Gary Bauer and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol at the third annual Washington Israel Summit last night, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) said that he felt like a sidekick. "That's kind of like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker -- and your final speaker will be R2-D2," Pence joked.

DEAN BAKER
Wanted: Legitimate Reasons to Bail Out Fannie and Freddie Stockholders tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com — Okay, we all know the argument for bailing out Fannie and Freddie bondholders. But, why are we bailing out the stockholders? After all, aren't stockholders supposed to lose their shirts when they invest in a bankrupt company?

JIM SLEEPER
Intellectual Usury Feels Good, at First tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com — Blame the culture. Blame the individual decision makers. Blame both. Step back and remember that the individual and the society are interdependent. This is a shell game on the edge of an abyss.

DAVID MOBERG
Let Them Eat Free Markets inthesetimes.com — The current food crisis ultimately stems from over-reliance on deregulated global markets and increasingly concentrated corporate control of an ecologically unsound world food system. Pushing free-market fundamentalism harder will only intensify the fault lines, setting the stage for even more serious crises in the future.

KATE SHEPPARD
Shale We Dance? gristmill.grist.org — The Bush administration's effort to spur oil shale production won't do much for consumers in short run.

BENJAMIN BREWER, M.D.
Tough Times Prompt Patients to Skip Care online.wsj.com — Rising deductibles, stiff drug co-payments and increasing prices for just about everything are forcing some hard choices about health. Care that doesn't strike patients as critical is getting delayed. As the economy squeezes my patients, they are showing up sicker.

MIKE LUX
A Big, Broad Movement openleft.com — To build a big, powerful, effective, and truly diverse progressive movement — one capable of actually winning — all of us need to do our best to step back and remember some things.

ROBERT BOROSAGE
Your Health Care May Decide The 2008 Election Americans will begin to tune into the election again around the conventions. And in the fall, they'll start to take a closer look at who the candidates are and what they believe. Iraq will be big no doubt; the economy bigger. But health care may just be the pothole that cracks up Sen. John McCain's Straight Talk Express

McSexist: McCain's War on Women

By Kate Sheppard, In These Times

Reproductive Justice and Gender: McCain is ignorant about pay equity, wants to overturn Roe v. Wade and likes to brag about his "sexual conquests" and visits to a strip club.

Bush Seeks $12 Billion to Waste on Obsolete Missile Defense

Joseph Cirincione, Foreign Policy

Bucking the wishes of top Pentagon officials, Bush is pushing one of the largest military buildups in history.


Are You On the Terror Watch List? Good Luck Getting Off It

Ivan Eland, Consortium News

The TSA's "no fly" terrorism watch list contains between 400,000 and 1,000,000 names. If you're on the list by mistake, good luck getting off of it.


Living Without a Car: My New American Responsibility

Andrew Lam, New America Media

Environment: Giving up a car isn't easy -- even amid the gas crisis. But the covetous American way of life has become unsustainable.

Big Pharma Pushes Drugs That Cause Conditions They Are Supposed to Prevent

Martha Rosenberg, AlterNet

Health and Wellness: Yet again, women are the industry's main targets.


The U.S. Economy Is Socialism for the Rich

Michael Leon Guerrero, Movement Vision Lab

Free market capitalism in the United States is by no means "free." It's time we recognize this and move past the destructive neoliberal agenda.


U.S. Soldiers Kill Iraqi Governor's 17-Year Old Son

Ahmad al-Taii, Azzaman

War on Iraq: The provincial authorities in the relatively peaceful region have warned of "immediate measures" to avenge the killing.

Gook: John McCain's Racism and Why It Matters
Video: A new book chronicles McCain's racist views. More »

America's Middle Class Can't Take Much More Punishment

Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Whether we like it or not, America is in the midst of revolutionary economic changes that are crushing the middle class.


How Scores of Black Men Were Tortured Into Giving False Confessions by Chicago Police

Jessica Pupovac, AlterNet

Rights and Liberties: More than 20 years after being tortured into giving confessions by Chicago police officers, dozens of black men remain behind bars.


U.S. Ranks #1 in Consumption of Pot, Cocaine, Smokes

Jordan Smith, Austin Chronicle

DrugReporter: Just in time for the Olympics, the U.S. takes the gold medal in several drug use categories, according to a recent WHO report.


Media Goof Again: Blackwater Isn't Going Anywhere

Jeremy Scahill, Comment Is Free

War on Iraq: Despite reports that the company is leaving the mercenary business, Blackwater's future is secure.


America's Got Water Problems, and No Plan to Fix Them

Elizabeth de la Vega, Tomdispatch.com

Water: The lives and income of millions have been upended by government mismanagement of water issues.


Obama's Huge Coup on Iraq: McCain Was Asking for It

Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch

War on Iraq: John McCain and the White House have been clearly dismayed and embarrassed by Iraqi govt. support for Obama's withdrawal plan.

Dean Baker's economic commentary
Why is the government guaranteeing Fannie and Freddie's stock?
Posted at 5:20 a.m.

Shorts and Fannies: A Brief History
Robert Kuttner
July 22, 2008 | web only
Scratching your head trying to understand just what short-selling is and why it threatens banks; or what exactly Fannie Mae is, and how it might be dragging down a housing sector? Founding Editor Robert Kuttner explains. Related: Read Dean Baker's weekly column on the economic collapse, The Meltdown Lowdown.