Pat Buchanan and the Long Goodbye

By GottaLaff

Your Daily Dose of BuzzFlash via my pal, Mark Karlin:

In retropsect, it was an iconic showdown: a lesbian new media superstar smacks down the open racism and gender bias of one of the most enduring and brazen defenders of white male entitlement.

So it was when Rachel Maddow -- pushed to the limits of her cordiality -- swatted down Buchanan's pugilistic assertions of white male mental superiority for the Supreme Court.

It's the Alamo for white male affirmative action, and Buchanan (and his media counterparts such as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity) know that if they don't start a rebellion of white guys (who will be even more armed thanks to the NRA soon), the sheer demographics of America are facilitating a long goodbye to white males having absolute power over the destiny of the nation. [...]

Pat Buchanan, like Ann Coulter, knows that controversy gets publicity (and don't kid yourself: MSNBC is delighted to get all the attention the Maddow-Buchanan dust-up received, although it was clear Maddow was sincerely offended and somewhat taken aback that her periodic "acceptable" insider D.C. spokesman for the "Aryan Nation" had crossed the line). [...]

But then the psychic crack-up happened: an African-American male was elected to the highest office in the land by a landslide. [...]

As for why Buchanan continues to draw a salary from the MSM media and has an ongoing presence on television, remember that most of the television corporations are run by white guys. And GE owns MSNBC. Don't forget that.

As for seeing anymore of Buchanan on TV, yes there is a First Amendment, but there is also a question of civilized standards.

Please go read the whole thing here.

LOL VIDEO: Comedian visits torture memo author John Yoo at U.C. Berkeley

By GottaLaff

I don't need to add a thing:

‘The Cause of My Life’: Universal health care, by Ted Kennedy

By GottaLaff

I tear up every time I think of Ted Kennedy and what he must be going through. Yet, he still puts up a fight, whether it's for his own health, or the health care he dreams of for all Americans:

In 1964, I was flying with several companions to the Massachusetts Democratic Convention when our small plane crashed and burned short of the runway. [...] I knew the [hospital] care was expensive, but I didn't have to worry about that. I needed the care and I got it.

Now I face another medical challenge. Last year, I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. [...] Again, I have enjoyed the best medical care money (and a good insurance policy) can buy.

But quality care shouldn't depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to.

This is the cause of my life. It is a key reason that I defied my illness last summer to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver—to support Barack Obama, but also to make sure, as I said, "that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American…will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege." [...]

Now the issue has more meaning for me—and more urgency—than ever before. But it's always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years. [...]

Our family had the necessary resources as well as excellent insurance coverage. But other heartbroken parents pleaded with the doctors: What chance does my child have if I can only afford half of the prescribed treatments? Or two thirds? I've sold everything. I've mortgaged as much as possible. No parent should suffer that torment. Not in this country. Not in the richest country in the world. [...]

In 1912, when Theodore Roosevelt ran for a third term as president, the platform of his newly created Progressive Party called for national health insurance. Harry Truman proposed it again more than 30 years after Roosevelt was defeated. The plan was attacked, not for the last time, as "socialized medicine," and members of Truman's White House staff were branded "followers of the Moscow party line." [...]

[O]ne of the most controversial features of reform is one of the most vital. It's been called the "public plan." Despite what its detractors allege, it's not "socialism." It could take a number of different forms. Our bill favors a "community health-insurance option." In short, this means that the federal government would negotiate rates—in keeping with local economic conditions—for a plan that would be offered alongside private insurance options. This will foster competition in pricing and services. It will be a safety net, giving Americans a place to go when they can't find or afford private insurance, and it's critical to holding costs down for everyone. [...]

Social justice is often the best economics. [...]

Another cardinal principle of reform: we have to make certain that people can keep the coverage they already have. [...]

We need to prevent disease and not just cure it. [...]

I've heard the critics complain about the costs of change. I'm confident that at the end of the process, the change will be paid for—fairly, responsibly, and without adding to the federal deficit. It doesn't make sense to negotiate in the pages of NEWSWEEK, but I will say that I'm open to many options, including a surtax on the wealthy, as long as it meets the principle laid down by President Obama: that there will be no tax increases on anyone making less than $250,000 a year. What I haven't heard the critics discuss is the cost of inaction. If we don't reform the system, if we leave things as they are, health-care inflation will cost far more over the next decade than health-care reform. We will pay far more for far less—with millions more Americans uninsured or underinsured. [...]

We're almost there. In the meantime, I will continue what I've been doing—making calls, urging progress. I've had dinner twice recently at my home in Hyannis Port with Senator Dodd, and when President Obama called me during his Rome trip after meeting with the Pope, much of our discussion was about health care. I believe the bill will pass, and we will end the disgrace of America as the only major industrialized nation in the world that doesn't guarantee health care for all of its people. [...]

And I am resolved to see to it this year that we create a system to ensure that someday, when there is a cure for the disease I now have, no American who needs it will be denied it.

I chopped this one to bits because of its length. Please, go read the whole thing. It's well worth it.

H/t: BuzzFlash

Liberal Interpretation: Their headlines, my stories, the sequel

By GottaLaff

It's barren out there, so here's another round:

Liberal Interpretation

Their headlines, my stories

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crashes into Wis. home: The owner was stunned, but managed to ask, "Is that a giant weenie in my bedroom window, or are you just happy to see me?"

NAACP tries to woo the hip-hop generation: Their first action was to ban Michael Steele from the organization.

50 Cent slashes price on Conn. mansion to $10.9M: In a neighborhood across town, 10.9M slashed price on condo to 50 cents.

AP sources: Taliban video shows captive US soldier

By GottaLaff

Heart-wrenching:

The American soldier who went missing June 30 from his base in eastern Afghanistan and was later confirmed captured, appeared on a video posted Saturday to a Web site by the Taliban, two U.S. defense officials confirmed.

The soldier is shown in the 28-minute video with his head shaved and the start of a beard. He is sitting and dressed in a nondescript, gray outfit. Early in the video one of his captors holds the soldier's dog tag up to the camera. His name and ID number are clearly visible. He is shown eating at one point and sitting on a bed. [...]

He is interviewed in English by his captors, and he is asked his views on the war, which he calls extremely hard, his desire to learn more about Islam and the morale of American soldiers, which he said was low.

Asked how he was doing, the soldier said on the video:

"Well I'm scared, scared I won't be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner."

He begins to answer questions in a matter-of-fact and sober voice, occasionally facing the camera, looking down and sometimes looking to the questioner on his left.

He later chokes up when discussing his family and his hope to marry his girlfriend.

"I have my girlfriend, who is hoping to marry," he said. "I have a very very good family that I love back home in America. And I miss them every day when I'm gone. I miss them and I'm afraid that I might not ever see them again and that I'll never be able to tell them that I love them again and I'll never be able to hug them."

He is also prompted his interrogators to give a message to the American people.

"To my fellow Americans who have loved ones over here, who know what it's like to miss them, you have the power to make our government bring them home," he said. "Please, please bring us home so that we can be back where we belong and not over here, wasting our time and our lives and our precious life that we could be using back in our own country. Please bring us home. It is America and American people who have that power."

The ObamAdministration has its hands awfully full. What a time to be president, and what major decisions with major outcomes rest on President Obama's shoulders.

AUDIO: All 3 My Tweet Spots from July 17, Palin impression included

By GottaLaff







There you go. A whole Common Sense Radio show's worth of My Tweet Spots in a single post. These 3 were from yesterday's show.

Did you even know that I do radio segments every Friday? Look at me going all podcasty and stuff!

"My Tweet Spot" is a recap of the week in politics via Tweets from Twitter.

I do three per show every Friday. Podcasts here.

Hope you like 'em!

Liberal Interpretation: Their headlines, my stories

By GottaLaff

It's a slow day, so it's time to dig out one of my golden oldie fallbacks ::drumroll::

Liberal Interpretation

Their headlines, my stories

Arctic Mystery: Identifying the Great Blob of Alaska: After days of head-scratching, scientists identified the myserious green blob as the decaying remnants of the evidence of extramarital affairs had by members of the secret C Street Gang. Bits and pieces of computer hard drives, old love notes, receipts, and dominatrix costumes had apparently been decomposing for months.

Episcopal Church moves toward blessing gay unions: Congregations expressed disappointment, saying they felt excluded. "Who knew the gays were unionized?"one church goer could be heard mumbling as he knelt for prayer, "That explains all the picket signs."

Official: US may create terror interrogation unit: "Shouldn't be too hard to interrogate terror," one cocky U.S. official said, on the condition of anonymity. "Hell, we had a whole damn war against it for 8 years. Asking it a bunch of questions'll be a piece-o'-cake." As he left the room, his aide whispered,"Do we get to waterboard terror, too? Or are we pretty much over that...?"

Washington Post re-prints misleading photo of Obama at G8

Your liberal media at work. Via Media Matters.

Were Chinese agents at Gitmo?

By GottaLaff

I heard this on Thom Hartmann's show yesterday and couldn't believe my ears. Well, yes I could:

A fight is brewing between Capitol Hill and the Pentagon over allegations that Chinese government agents were allowed to interrogate some detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Jay Alan Liotta, principal director of the Defense Department office responsible for detainee policy, told a House subcommittee on Thursday that he would not publicly comment on whether officials from China or any other nation were granted access to foreign citizens held at the detention facility.

He offered to release that information to the committee during a closed, classified session. Lawmakers weren’t happy about his answer. [...]

Members of Congress have been routinely denied access to the Guantanamo detainees.

“The American people have a right, without compromising national security, to understand what happened at Guantanamo, particularly in this case of the Uighurs,” said Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., chairman of the subcommittee that conducted the hearing. “The answer that it should be in a classified setting is absurd.”

Ranking Republican Dana Rohrabacher of California agreed, saying he recently was denied access to terrorism detainees. [...]

Three former Uighur detainees submitted testimony through legal counsel on Thursday alleging that all 22 detainees of the Chinese Muslim minority group were interrogated by Chinese government officials during a seven- to 10-day visit in 2002.

There is obviously so much more information to come on this subject, but note the recent pace at which it's been released. As it is reported, I promise to pass it along.

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

Obama to appear in Cleveland Thursday to talk health care

In that basketyballing lingo, wouldn't this be called a "full court press"?

CLEVELAND -- President Barack Obama will be in Northeast Ohio Thursday to discuss health care reform, White House officials said Saturday.

They did not yet have a specific time or location for the event.

The appearance comes as Obama's health care plan is in jeopardy of falling apart. Republicans and some Democrats have criticized it as too expensive.

Obama is scheduled to hold a news conference Wednesday to further discuss his health care plan.

Health Care Hypocrisy Watch: Hurry up and wait

By GottaLaff

Stealing from David Kurtz, because it's worth going to Blogosphere Jail for:

Remember this?

President George W. Bush signed into law Thursday the first major piece of legislation of his presidency, a $1.35 trillion tax cut over 10 years.

Of the six senators begging President Obama to slow down health care reform, four of them -- Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Susan Collins (R-ME) -- voted for those huge Bush tax cuts.

Their votes were cast on May 26, 2001. Bush signed the tax cuts into law on June 7, 2001. Here we are in mid-July, eight years later, struggling to get health care reform passed by the end of the year.

So whatever these four foot-draggers are saying about why they want health care reform slowed down (and Nelson, for one, was all over the place yesterday warning against "rushing into this"), it's not really about wanting to be more deliberative or avoid ballooning the deficit. All you have to do is look back to 2001. Their records speak for themselves.

The Internets are a bitch, aren't they...?

Official: US may create terror interrogation unit

By GottaLaff

See that face? That's the face of a man who has been brutally abused and wrongfully imprisoned for nearly 8 years.

And so it goes... and goes...

The Obama administration is considering creating a special unit of professional interrogators to handle high-value terror suspects, focusing on intelligence-gathering rather than building criminal cases for prosecution, a government official said Saturday.

The recommendation is expected from a presidential task force on interrogation methods that plans to send some findings to the White House on Tuesday. [...]

The task force is unsure which agencies should have a role, though the CIA and FBI are expected to be important players, according to the official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the panel's work and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman, said President Barack Obama has not reviewed the task force's recommendations. [...]

The unit's structure would depart significantly from such work under the Bush administration, when the CIA had the lead and sometimes exclusive role in questioning al-Qaida suspects. The task force has not reached a conclusion as to which agency should lead the unit or where it should be based, the official said. [...]

To its critics, "Gitmo" is a concrete-and-steel symbol of an American gulag; to supporters, it is as a critical safeguard against terrorism. [...]

LaBolt said the administration is "making steady progress in reviewing the status of each Guantanamo detainee and in strengthening the military commission system to ensure that the detainees are brought to swift and certain justice."

Then start by getting rid of military commissions that allow coerced/hearsay testimony.

He noted that Bush administration "succeeded in prosecuting only three detainees in more than seven years." [...]

The government hopes to transfer many of the detainees - including up to 100 Yemenis - to other nations for rehabilitation or release. A much smaller number is expected to be brought to trial by the Justice Department, and a separate group will be tried in military commissions.

A final group probably will be held without formal charges, subject to some form of regular judicial review. [...]

Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the legal issues surrounding Guatanamo too often have been pushed aside by politics.

"There's been an ugly, angry backlash in Congress that's based on a mix of fear-mongering and misunderstanding. Obama has pledged to restore the rule of law and abide by the rule of law, and he needs to act out of principle, not political pressure," said Hafetz.

Hafetz argued the administration is subverting its own cause by pressing ahead with what he calls weak cases against particular prisoners. "That's inconsistent with their stated desire to close the prison within a year," he said.

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

GOP rebranding: Throw rocks, hope Dems screw up, or we're toast

By GottaLaff

All rise. The Cantor Council's Rock-Throwing Committee is in session.:

The newest GOP group aimed at re-energizing the troubled party will hold a second event next week, but political observers say a Republican comeback depends more on Democrats screwing up.

“For the out party to come back, the in party has to screw up. That's history,” said John Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College.

At this point, the GOP is history.

The National Council for New America, the group launched in early May by House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (Va.), will host another event on July 22, The Hill reported Thursday.[...]

Cantor is a rising star in the party, and his group is intended to be a GOP think-tank that will help the party come up with the new arguments and ideas to return to power.

But political observers are skeptical of what new ideas will emerge. They also say it might not matter.

“Are there any new ideas in the Republican Party? I don't think so. Does it matter in the short term? Probably not,” said Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report. “They're going to succeed in the short term by throwing rocks and by attacking.”

Will they hit anything? Probably not.

House Lets States Do Single-Payer Healthcare

By GottaLaff

Dennis Kucinich rocks:

[T]he House Committee on Education and Labor, the committee members voted 25 to 19 to pass Congressman Dennis Kucinich's amendment to the healthcare reform bill. This amendment, if it survives the full House, the Senate, the conference, and the President, will not alter the federal legislation except to allow states to create single-payer healthcare systems if they choose to. If this change to the bill makes news, it will pass the Senate, because there is no legitimate argument against it, and the support for it is bipartisan. [...]

There are major campaigns with a good chance of passing single-payer healthcare if Congress permits it in the following states: Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, and Massachusetts.

ROLL CALL ON VOTE TO ALLOW STATES TO CREATE SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE
9:40 a.m. ET, July 17, 2009
House Committee on Education and Labor
Y=Allow states to provide their citizens healthcare if they choose
N=Ban states
PASS= Pass
--= Not present or no response

25 to 19 to 2

Democrats
* George Miller, Chairman (CA-07) N
* Dale E. Kildee (MI-05) N
* Donald M. Payne (NJ-10) PASS, Y
* Robert E. Andrews (NJ-01) N
* Robert C. Scott (VA-03) --, Y
* Lynn C. Woolsey (CA-06) Y
* Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) N
* Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04) N
* John F. Tierney (MA-06) --, --, Y
* Dennis J. Kucinich (OH-10) Y
* David Wu (OR-01) PASS, PASS
* Rush D. Holt (NJ-12) Y
* Susan A. Davis (CA-53) PASS, N
* Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07) Y
* Timothy H. Bishop (NY-01) N
* Joe Sestak (PA-07) N
* Dave Loebsack (IA-02) Y
* Mazie Hirono (HI-02) PASS, N
* Jason Altmire (PA-04) N
* Phil Hare (IL-17) N
* Yvette Clarke (NY-11) --, --
* Joe Courtney (CT-02) N
* Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) --, Y
* Marcia Fudge (OH-11) Y
* Jared Polis (CO-2) PASS, Y
* Paul Tonko (NY-21) --, --, Y
* Pedro Pierluisi (PR) --, --
* Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Northern Mariana Islands) N
* Dina Titus (NV-3) N
* Judy Chu PASS, PASS,

Republicans
* John Kline, Ranking Member (MN-02) Y
* Thomas E. Petri (WI-06) Y
* Howard "Buck" McKeon (CA-25) Y
* Peter Hoekstra (MI-02) PASS, Y
* Michael N. Castle (DE-At Large) PASS, Y
* Mark E. Souder (IN-03) Y
* Vernon J. Ehlers (MI-03) Y
* Judy Biggert (IL-13) Y
* Todd Russell Platts (PA-19) Y
* Joe Wilson (SC-02) Y
* Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05) Y
* Tom Price (GA-06) Y
* Rob Bishop (UT-01) --, --
* Brett Guthrie (KY-2) Y
* Bill Cassidy (LA-6) PASS, N
* Tom McClintock (CA-4) N
* Duncan D. Hunter (CA-52) N
* Phil Roe (TN-1) N
* Glenn "GT" Thompson (PA-05) N

California may be in the toidy, but at least there's a possibility that we could pass this. My family spends $20,000 a year on health insurance... so, yes to this, please.

H/t: Chris

"Will there ever be another Walter Cronkite?": A rant

By GottaLaff

Since last night's news of Walter Cronkite's death, news actor after news actor (I refuse to call them news anchors or newspeople) has asked repeatedly, "Will there ever be another Walter Cronkite?"

No. There won't. There was only one. But let's get past that part and on to the ramifications of the Big Question that these news models feel compelled to ask.

Will there ever be another Cronkite? EVER? Unless there was a secret cloning, then no. But time doesn't stop in the year 2009. Time marches on. There is this thing called "the future". Babies are born, the sun keeps rising and setting, days and nights continue their cycle.

And so, there will be another exceptional news person who will be revered... one day. Because that's the way it is, to borrow from the exceptional news person who gave us that phrase.

The question is, how can that happen with the state of news at it is? When "Uncle Walter" was the go-to news guy, there were only three networks. The news cycle was certainly longer than 24 hours. But most importantly, the news was not yet commercialized.

Today we have sensationalism, not news. We have propaganda, not news. We have salesmanship and performances, not news... with very few exceptions.

Ever listen to the delivery of our news models? They all seem to have gone to the same classes at News Acting for Dummeez U. The cookie-cutter style of most news personalities on the Tee Vee Machine is filled with flourishes, dramatic.... .... ..... pauses, and studied emotional readings, peppered with "off the cuff" giggles and/or Furrowed Brow, Grim-Faced Seriousness.

Walter Cronkite was dedicated, genuine, and therefore, believable. That's why he was referred to as "the most trusted man in America".

Today's news models are deliberately and self-consciously earnest... when they think it's called-for. They're upbeat and cheery when they believe it's appropriate. I don't trust them, nor do I trust their employers. I don't appreciate the news being sold to me. I just want it told to me.

I'll end my rant with Walter Cronkite's own words. He said the role of journalism is not to tell Americans what they want to hear but what they need to know as citizens -- because, he said, "journalism is what we need to make democracy work."

Amen.

Summery Fundraiser with bonus Real Time Video- Mark Sanford's vs Mark Foley's Emails

NSFW

If you are inclined and able, please donate through the above widget or the direct PayPal button at the upper right. Gotta and I really do appreciate it immensely.

We love what we do and want to keep on bringing you the bestest snark, ongoing stories, and breaking news. Any donation from $5 to a trazillion dollars is more than welcome.

If you'd like to contribute by check or money order, feel free to email us at the political carnival at gmail dot com. I want to again mention the fact that we know things are really tough out there and sincerely appreciate even the smallest donation. THANK YOU to all who have contributed!!

Added extra treat- if we make it over the 75% point today I will post the last embarrassing childhood photo of myself, an extra super duper cringe worthy nekkid baby one.

Thanks to Heather for the vid.

Video- President Obama Remembers Walter Cronkite

Obamas going to Martha's Vineyard in August

That's going to be a huge logistical pita. Wonder how long until the first "swimsuit" pics appear?

WASHINGTON (CNN) – It's official: the first family is heading to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts for some vacation next month.

White House aides confirmed on Friday night what had been rumored for months but had been kept under wraps for security and other reasons, including the fact that vacation plans are very sensitive in the middle of a painful recession.

The aides said President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia will spend the final week of August together in Martha's Vineyard, a favored vacation spot for then-President Bill Clinton and his family in the '90s.

Pic via.

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via.

Video- Meet the birthers (and their debunkers)

How anyone could think either Keyes or that crazed Orly woman had any credibility is beyond me. Video via Jed.

Video- President Obama's Weekly Address: Health Care Reform Cannot Wait

Overnight and Open Thread

The Pillars of Eagle Castle
Credit & Copyright: Emanuele Colognato & Jim Wood (Backyard Skies) Explanation: What lights up this castle of star formation? The familiar Eagle Nebula glows bright in many colors at once. The above image is a composite of three of these glowing gas colors. Pillars of dark dust nicely outline some of the denser towers of star formation. Energetic light from young massive stars causes the gas to glow and effectively boils away part of the dust and gas from its birth pillar. Many of these stars will explode after several million years, returning most of their elements back to the nebula which formed them.

Click to enlarge, via.

U.S. commanders startled: Iraq restricts American troop activities

By GottaLaff

Iraq seems to be breaking up with us:

The Iraqi government has moved to sharply restrict the movement and activities of U.S. forces in a new reading of a six-month-old U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that has startled American commanders and raised concerns about the safety of their troops.

In a curt missive issued by the Baghdad Operations Command on July 2 -- the day after Iraqis celebrated the withdrawal of U.S. troops to bases outside city centers -- Iraq's top commanders told their U.S. counterparts to "stop all joint patrols" in Baghdad. It said U.S. resupply convoys could travel only at night and ordered the Americans to "notify us immediately of any violations of the agreement."

The strict application of the agreement coincides with what U.S. military officials in Washington say has been an escalation of attacks against their forces by Iranian-backed Shiite extremist groups, to which they have been unable to fully respond.

If extremists realize "some of the limitations that we have, that's a vulnerability they could use against us," a senior U.S. military intelligence official said. "The fact is that some of these are very politically sensitive targets" believed to be close to the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The new guidelines are a reflection of rising tensions between the two governments. Iraqi leaders increasingly see the agreement as an opportunity to show their citizens that they are now unequivocally in charge and that their dependence on the U.S. military is minimal and waning. [...]

The Americans have been taken aback by the new restrictions on their activities. The Iraqi order runs "contrary to the spirit and practice of our last several months of operations," Maj. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger, commander of the Baghdad division, wrote in an e-mail obtained by The Washington Post.

Great. What next...

Statement from President Obama on the passing of Walter Cronkite

By GottaLaff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 17, 2009

STATEMENT FROM THE PRESIDENT ON THE PASSING OF WALTER CRONKITE

For decades, Walter Cronkite was the most trusted voice in America. His rich baritone reached millions of living rooms every night, and in an industry of icons, Walter set the standard by which all others have been judged.

He was there through wars and riots, marches and milestones, calmly telling us what we needed to know. And through it all, he never lost the integrity he gained growing up in the heartland.

But Walter was always more than just an anchor. He was someone we could trust to guide us through the most important issues of the day; a voice of certainty in an uncertain world. He was family. He invited us to believe in him, and he never let us down. This country has lost an icon and a dear friend, and he will be truly missed.

And sadly, that's the way it is.

Top Immigration Group Demands MSNBC Muzzle Pat Buchanan On Race

By GottaLaff

Watch out, MSNBC, things are heating up:

Looks like MSNBC has a bit of a Pat Buchanan problem on its hands.

In the wake of Buchanan’s latest (ahem) racially charged diatribe, in which he described America as a “country built basically by white folks,” a respected immigration reform group is demanding that the network stop granting Buchanan a platform to share what might charitably be termed his ideas on racial issues. [...]

[Paco] Fabian of America’s Voice says his group is putting together a letter to MSNBC, and reaching out to Latino groups as signatories, calling on the network to stop letting Buchanan offer commentary on racial issues, particularly with debate looming on immigration reform.

“This was one of the last straws,” Fabian said. “We’re really concerned that some of the language he has been using is going to come up with immigration.”

I smell a "good riddance" coming...

The last thing MSNBC wants to do is lose its new found viewership (via Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz).

For those who haven't seen it yet, this is what Fabian's referring to:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And now a word from our sponsor: Gorilla Glue responds to Zell Miller's Comments

By GottaLaff

Of course they responded. Beats buying commercial space/time:

The press release of the week, from the Gorilla Glue company, subject of a Zell Miller comment that raised some eyebrows this week:

The Gorilla Glue Company Responds to Zell Miller's Recent Comments

We Do Not Advocate Attempting to Glue the Leader of the Free World to His Chair

News Facts

* In response to Zell Miller's recent comments, The Gorilla Glue Company sends letter to President Obama.
* The response was sent today from the desk of Peter Ragland, President, The Gorilla Glue Company.
* The Gorilla Glue Company does not advocate the gluing of President Obama to his chair with their product.
* The quality adhesive products produced by the company are for the toughest building and repair jobs.
* Gorilla brand products are created with strength and toughness as the goal.
* The Gorilla Glue Company is a family owned business located in Cincinnati, Ohio.
* Gorilla Glue represents just the type of growing small business that President Obama mentions as the job creators in our country.
* Gorilla Glue continues to: create new jobs, boast of no lay-offs, provide healthcare for all full-time employees and proudly make all products in the USA.

Quotes

Attributed to Peter Ragland, President, The Gorilla Glue Company:

* Zell Miller's recent comments have thrust our product and company into the limelight.
* While our products are known for being strong and tough we certainly would not advocate attempting to glue the Leader of the free world to his chair.

The preceding post was brought to you by Gorilla Glue! It's the Glue of Champions and guaranteed not to adhere to world leaders or their chairs. Get some today!

ACLU: End indefinite detention, end Gitmo military commissions

By GottaLaff

I get e-mails:

Dear ACLU Supporter,

This week and next, the mammoth Defense Department Authorization bill is on the Senate floor.

This must-pass legislation could easily become a vehicle for amendments to stop the closing of Guantánamo Bay, undermine efforts to hold accountable those responsible for the Bush torture program, and -- most troubling of all -- promote a new system of indefinite detention without charge or trial. In fact, the bill already has language that would allow the Guantánamo military commissions to continue to convict people based on coerced confessions.

Email your senators and tell them not to let the Defense Department Authorization bill become a vehicle for undermining civil liberties.

Your voice and that of hundreds of thousands of other ACLU activists are being heard in Washington. After months and months of pressure and newer, more disturbing revelations, Attorney General Holder is close to appointing a special prosecutor to investigate torture. And we have allies in the White House and in Congress who are committed to cleaning up the mess left by the Bush administration.

There are also some dangerous proposals being considered -- including indefinite detention without charge or trial. That is why it is so critical for you to contact to your senators today and ask them to:

• Support the President's commitment to shutdown Guantánamo by January 2010.
• End Guantánamo military commissions, and charge and try any alleged terrorists in federal criminal courts.
• Totally reject indefinite detention without charge and without trial. Nothing could be more un-American than giving the federal government the power to imprison people indefinitely without charge or trial.

Please help the ACLU create a drumbeat letting Congress and the White House know that Americans want them to move forward. Congress should not codify and expand Bush Administration policies.

Email your senators and tell them not to let the Defense Department Authorization bill become a vehicle for undermining civil liberties.

With critical civil liberties issues about to hit the Senate floor, we have to be as vocal as possible. Please take a moment right now to contact your senators. And please stay alert to fast-moving events in the days ahead.

Sincerely,

Anthony D. Romero Executive Director American Civil Liberties Union

P.S. The news last weekend that Attorney General Eric Holder is actively considering launching a torture investigation is encouraging. It is because of the hard work of ACLU attorneys and advocates and the voices of activists like you that we are at this point. We’ll be counting on you to make sure he follows through -- and to insist that an investigation is as thorough and far-reaching as it needs to be.

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

Walter Cronkite has died

By GottaLaff

Sigh:

Breaking News 8:09 PM ET:

Broadcast Journalist Walter Cronkite Has Died at Age 92, According to His Family

Walter Cronkite, an iconic CBS News journalist who defined the role of anchorman for a generation of television viewers, died Friday at the age of 92, his family said.

Mr. Cronkite anchored the “CBS Evening News” from 1962 to 1981, at a time when television became the dominant medium of the United States. He figuratively held the hand of the American public during the civil rights movement, the space race, the Vietnam war, and the impeachment of Richard Nixon. During his tenure, network newscasts were expanded to 30 minutes from 15.

In a review of Mr. Cronkite’s autobiography in 1997, the former New York Times columnist Tom Wicker wrote:

When John F. Kennedy was murdered in Dallas in 1963, Walter Cronkite stayed on the air for the Columbia Broadcasting System for countless hours. His performance that weekend helped pull together a nation stricken with grief and was a signal event in television’s evolution into the national nervous system.

When Mr. Cronkite came back from Vietnam after the Tet offensive of 1968, he concluded on national television that the war had become no better than a stalemate. Hearing that, President Lyndon Johnson told associates, ”If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” And he had. When Mr. Cronkite asked Robert Kennedy, then a senator from New York, whether he would run for President in 1968, Kennedy turned the tables: he proposed that Mr. Cronkite should run for the Senate. Mr. Cronkite refused, but the idea reflected polls showing that a journalist — a television journalist at that — had become the most trusted man in America.

For his exhaustive and enthusiastic coverage of NASA, Mr. Cronkite was sometimes called “the eighth astronaut.” During the first moon landing in 1969, Mr. Cronkite “was on the air for 27 of the 30 hours that Apollo 11 took to complete its mission,” The Museum of Broadcast Communications notes.

Retired general, lt. colonel join reservist's Obama birth certificate lawsuit

By GottaLaff

Original story here.

Good lord. President Obama is a U.S. citizen. Okay? Okay:

A controversial suit brought by a U.S. Army reservist has been joined by a retired Army two-star general and an active reserve Air Force lieutenant colonel.

Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook filed the suit July 8 in federal court here asking for conscientious objector status and a preliminary injunction based upon his belief that President Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and is therefore ineligible to serve as president of the United States and commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. [...]

In a pleading revised after the revocation of Cook’s orders, Taitz argues that the application for preliminary injunction is not moot and that retired Maj. Gen. Carol Dean Childers and active U.S. Air Force reservist Lt. Col. David Earl Graeff have joined the suit “because it is a matter of unparalleled public interest and importance and because it is clearly a matter arising from issues of a recurring nature that will escape review unless the Court exercises its discretionary jurisdiction.”

Health Care Watch: Grassley and Baucus have it al-l-l-l figured out

By GottaLaff

If I may, a copy-and-paste from David Kurtz at TPM:

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) twitters on Obama's White House remarks:

Obama speech on healthCareReform Absolutely nothing new Waste of time saying we are going to get that done Baucus and I know that But doRITE

Worries me that Grassley and Baucus think they have it all figured out.

AUDIO-- Michael Steele: I’m Going To Create ‘A Little Hip-Hop Storm’

By GottaLaff



Oy. First he tries to "uptick the GOP image" by going "beyond cutting edge", now this.

It's painful.

Gang Of Six Centrist Senators Demands Delay On Health Care Reform

By GottaLaff

One word: Grrrr. Another word: Call...

A bipartisan group of centrist and conservative senators sent a letter to the Democratic and Republican leaders on Friday urging delay in consideration of health care reform.

The letter, obtained by the Huffington Post, was drafted by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and is also signed by Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.). Independent Joe Lieberman (Conn.), who caucuses with Democrats, signed on, as did Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins -- moderates heavily courted by President Obama.

The organized effort to slow down the process is a blow to the reform effort. Obama has pushed hard for a final vote before the August recess, arguing that delaying until September could slow momentum and risk missing a historic opportunity.[...]

Read the letter here.

Now.... Contact the gang of obstructionists:

Susan Collins - (R - ME)
413 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2523
http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorCollins.EmailIssue

Mary Landrieu: (D - LA)
328 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5824
http://landrieu.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

Joe Lieberman - (ID - CT)
706 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4041
http://lieberman.senate.gov/contact/

Ben Nelson - (D - NE)
720 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6551
http://bennelson.senate.gov/contact-me.cfm

Olympia Snowe - (R - ME)
154 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5344
http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorSnowe.Email

Ron Wyden - (D - OR)
223 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5244
http://wyden.senate.gov/contact/

H/t: Ellen