Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Asked by ABC News, "what is the plan if the sectarian violence continues? I mean, do the U.S. troops take a larger role? Do they step in more actively to stop the violence?," President Bush began by saying, "No. The troops are chasing down terrorists." Plus: Juan Cole on 'Iraq's worst week -- and Bush's.'

After citing officials at Baghdad's main morgue as saying that more than 1,300 bodies had been brought in, the Washington Post reports that morgue officials "have come under pressure not to investigate the soaring number of apparent cases of execution and torture," according to John Pace, the former U.N. human rights chief for Iraq.

The Post is alone in citing a source in the Interior Ministry's statistics department, whose estimated toll is three times that coming from the prime minister and cabinet, as it's reported that the only new rebuilding money in the State Department's latest budget request for Iraq is $100 million for prisons.

More than a third of U.S. soldiers and Marines are reportedly seeking mental help after serving in Iraq, and John Zogby paraphrases 'A Letter From The Troops.'

Halliburton is said to get the benefit of a 'Pentagon whitewash,' and Joshua Frank profiles the man he calls "the Democrats' Daddy Warbucks."

'Look Out Sudan!' counsels Mike Whitney, in an article saluting "the most promising propagandist on the Times staff, Warren Hoge," and warning of "the re-colonization of Sudan under the rubric of 'humanitarian intervention.'"

A production of "My Name Is Rachel Corrie" has been "postponed indefinitely" in New York, out of a theater company's concern that staging the play "would be seen as us taking a stand in a political conflict, that we didn't want to take."

One day after the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency testified that the 'Taliban Is on the Rise,' President Bush made his first visit to Afghanistan, touching down at Bagram Air Base, en route to India.

"They don't like him anymore?" Chris Matthews reacts to the news that Bush's favorability rating in the latest CBS News poll is only 29%, as CBS defends its methodology, and a newspaper publisher writes of how "Shows like CBS' '48 Hours' take real events and jig them up to titillate viewers."

As 'GOP Unease Spreads,' the Washington Post reports that "much of the dialogue in Washington right now centers on security disputes pitting Republicans against Republicans."

In advance of a Harper's forum asking, "Is There a Case for Impeachment?," Garrison Keillor makes the case, referencing a "blowhard French journalist" who "writes a book about America that is full of arrogant stupidity, and you want to let the air out of him and mail him home flat."

The Hill covers 'The politics of (cheap) petroleum,' arising from the fact that discounted heating oil provider Citgo is owned by the Venezuelan national oil company. Earlier: Alexander Cockburn on "gas guzzling [as] a revolutionary duty."

'Scooter Libby wants your money,' and MSNBC's Tucker Carlson, a frequent on-air critic of Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, isn't talking about his father's role in going after it.

News. Corp. puts money where mouth is, and Rep. Henry Waxman writes to Florida Governor Jeb Bush, that "e-mails from Mr. Brown ... provide the first confirmation of your involvement in the award of this contract and the first details of your contacts with Carnival and FEMA.''

"British Columbia is a buffet" for the mountain pine beetle, which, thanks to 'rapid warming,' "has infested an area three times the size of Maryland." Plus: George Monbiot argues that 'Flying is Dying.'

'Mother swells with pride for Oscar-nominated child,' but the headmaster of the school she attended says that "We don't want to have anything to do with her in relation to that movie."

An all-you-can-drink Martinifest -- organized by Clear Channel Radio -- reportedly turned unruly at the Milwaukee Art Museum, as drunken guests "accosted artworks" and climbed onto a sculpture, "grabbing the boobs, and ... taking pictures with a cell phone," according to one witness.

February 28

Thursday, March 2, 2006

David Gergen finds it "devastating that the president would ask no questions" during an August 28 videoconference. "If he sat there mum in a full briefing ... that will only confirm the suspicions of a lot of opponents." But "missing transcript" of August 29 is said to show Bush "very engaged."

While the tapes are said to 'Speak For Themselves,' journalists and producers are interviewed about why 'Katrina has failed to kindle dialogue on race and class,' and Jon Stewart asks of CNN's Anderson Cooper, "Is he crying again?"

'Bombs vs Bombshells' As the CBS Evening News showed its devotion to Anna Nicole Smith, Fox News asked if "Civil War" in Iraq was 'Made Up By the Media?' Plus: "Something strange certainly happened at the Baghdad morgue... And it's worth figuring out."

Juan Cole analyzes the 'Dump Jaafari' effort, and Robert Fisk says in an interview aired on Australian TV: "The real question I ask myself is: who are these people who are trying to provoke the civil war? ... What is going on in Iraq at the moment is extremely mysterious."

"Unrelenting violence pushing Iraq toward civil war," but 'In Western Iraq, News Travels Slowly.'

Murray Waas reports that 'What Bush Was Told About Iraq' contained "information at odds with his justifications for going to war," including details of a "sharp debate within the government over the aluminum tubes" being publicly cited as "clear evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program."

A Christian Science Monitor article -- 'Evangelized foreign policy?' -- cites one former ambassador's report that "some White House political strategists contend that the Christian right makes up at least one-third of the electorate."

A suicide attack near the U.S. consulate in Karachi killed an American diplomat and three other people, a day before President Bush's scheduled visit with "my buddy and my friend" in Islamabad.

'Four years after fall of Taliban,' Afghan president Hamid Karzai's power 'barely extends beyond the capital,' and "their presence is bigger and more menacing than ever."

One man's account of three years in 'The Pentagon Archipelago' leads Chris Floyd to conclude that "It's no longer a matter of what crimes Americans will swallow; now the great question of the day is: what won't they swallow?" Plus: "Suddenly you're in front of the real deal ..."

Documents cited in a lawsuit by a defunct Islamic charity "may provide the first detailed evidence of U.S. residents being spied upon by President Bush's secret eavesdropping program," reports the Washington Post. And a Bay Area TV station asks: "Did the National Guard spy on 'Raging Grannies?'"

As it's reported that 'Bill Clinton helped Dubai on ports deal,' Rep. Peter King says he was told by U.S. officials that the deal was 'never probed for terror ties,' and a Scripps Howard columnist flags "a 2002 letter in which al Qaeda says that it has infiltrated UAE security and other agencies." Plus: 'U.S. reviewing 2nd Dubai firm.'

To "liberal, conservative and centrist pundits alike," writes Joe Conason, "opponents of the Dubai ports deal ... must be crazed, racist and xenophobic" for their failure to venerate "corporate globalization as the one true faith."

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas claims "signs of an al-Qaeda presence in the West Bank and Gaza," and Arab employees of Al-Jazeera air beefs with international arm that is expected to debut in May.

Andrew Young's new role chairing Working Families for Wal-Mart, viewed in context, suggests to the Black Commentator's Bruce Dixon that "integrity is not what international 'business consultants' do." But 'Why pick on Wal-Mart?'

Mississippi's governor says he'd likely sign a bill to ban most abortions if it's approved by state lawmakers, and a conservative media watchdog takes issue with the attention being paid to a personal letter of thanks sent to Focus on the Family's James Dobson from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

Former assistant commissioner of women's health at the FDA, Susan Wood, says the agency's "reputation as the international gold standard for regulatory agencies ... is being put at risk over adult access to contraception. Why would the administration risk such a reputation over this?"

'Meet the Nativists' The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report profiles three leaders among a "new crop of activists," one of whom "vows to stop the alleged Mexican invasion of Idaho." Plus: Nativism, 1884.

March 1

Friday, March 3, 2006

While still "not naming the 'situation in Iraq,'" the Defense Department is said to have now "defined the nature" of the war on terror, and to have realized that "We in the Pentagon are behind our adversaries in the use of communications -- either to recruit or train."

Proof of the Pentagon's new commitment to "engage bloggers" can be found in a letter from CENTCOM.

As U.S. officials leak intelligence indicating that al-Qaeda in Iraq is plotting a spectacular 'Big Bang,' Dahr Jamail notes the "widespread belief ... that U.S. covert operations were behind the bombing" of the Golden Mosque, and cites an Arab News editorial suggesting that civil war "could be the Bush ticket out of the Iraq debacle."

The director of the Baghdad morgue has fled Iraq in fear for his life, according to the outgoing head of the UN human rights office there, and it's suggested that the "Roots of Iraq Civil War May Be in 'Salvador Option.'"

Bush administration lawyers argue that a Guantanamo detainee cannot use anti-torture legislation drafted by Sen. John McCain because it does not apply to people held there. "Unfortunately, I think the government's right; it's a correct reading of the law," says a Human Rights Watch spokesman. Plus: 'Guantanamo Tribunals: What's Torture?'

A classified document that an Islamic charity says is evidence of illegal government eavesdropping, "was provided in 2004 to a Washington Post reporter, who returned it when the FBI demanded it back," the Post reports, one day after covering a lawsuit filed by the charity. Are you being spied on?

'Bush Heads for Bin Laden Country,' where, writes Tony Karon, "Some Pakistani analysts believe Musharraf is more vulnerable now than at any time since he seized power in a 1999 coup," and where the word is that "Islamabad will be sealed off" for Bush's visit, which a New York Times editorial calls 'pointless.'

A firedoglake take on Murray Waas's 'What Bush was told about Iraq,' concludes that either the president "knew and lied" or "he doesn't bother doing his job," and an NBC report on a court filing raises the question: 'Did Bob Woodward record key Plame case conversation?'

Included among accounts that failed to broach Bush's breach claims, the Washington Post follows up on "10 words" that the president's "staff has spent the past six months trying to take back, modify or explain away."

The Hurricane Center director told NBC of warning "only that the levees might be topped, not breached," and Louisiana's governor is heard speaking of reports "that maybe water is coming over the levees," but a News Hounds commenter parries, "if the water gets in, does it really matter if it went under, over or through the levees?"

With the 'GOP growing increasingly angry, frightened by Bush's missteps,' a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll is the fifth one released within a matter of days that puts his job approval rating in the 30s. Plus: A forum in New York and a 'trial' in New Jersey.

Et tu, Fox? The latest Fox poll finds that "fully 81 percent of Americans think it is likely Iraq will end up in a civil war" and that "more than two-thirds of Republicans" think that, if they were in Bush's shoes, they would personally "be doing a worse job than their party's leader."

As "Bush fatigue" sets in, and even staged military events are said to "look more like Saddam firing his rifle off the balcony of his palace," another conservative bails on Iraq.

Vice President Dick Cheney lectures Americans on 'the peril of debt,' and one American couple's attempt to pay down their credit card debt triggers a terror alert. Plus: 'Am I Headed For the Gulag?'

The Surgeon General declares war on "the terror within," warning that "Unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11."

Read an interview with the director of "Paradise Now" and see the odds on everything. Some Israelis who lost children to suicide bombers want the film disqualified, while its designation as being from "Palestine" reportedly drew "Israeli complaints as the state does not yet exist."

More from Charles Krauthammer, on 'Oscars for Osama,' and a CNN "entertainment correspondent" traveled to Kansas to find out, "Has anybody seen 'Brokeback Mountain?'"

A Nigerian internet scam reportedly succeeded in phishing millions of dollars from a famous psychologist who studied Ronald Reagan's mental deterioration.

March 2

Monday, March 6, 2006

As South Dakota's governor signs legislation banning nearly all abortions in the state, three prospective Republican presidential candidates, including Sen. John McCain, said through spokespeople that they also would have signed the legislation.

To treat 'Iraq's Crisis of Scarred Psyches,' the Washington Post reports that there is currently "one psychiatrist for about every 300,000 Iraqis" -- and not a single child psychiatrist in the country.

A new poll on Iraq shows "a sharp decline in optimism," with 80 percent of Americans calling civil war in Iraq "likely," as Anthony Cordesman reviews 'How Iraq's woes escalated.'

With the U.S. military reportedly moving AC-130s -- named Spectre and Spooky -- to a base in Iraq, Rep. John Murtha asks of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace's assessment that things are "going very, very well" in Iraq: "Why would I believe him?"

Reminding that "the military not only lied to [Pat] Tillman's friends and family ... but also to the press," Greg Mitchell adds that while "the Army is going after soldiers ... There is no evidence that it is looking at its own high-level cover-up." Earlier: "Sounds like an Oliver Stone picture to me."

Dave Zweifel applauds as 'Another Iraq story gets debunked' by Jack Fairweather, who chronicles "How a fake general, a pliant media, and a master manipulator helped lead the United States into war."

While 'Tracing the Trail of Torture' in Iraq, Dahr Jamail cites Alfred McCoy, whose book describes the evolution of "Washington's weapon of choice."

Robert Parry contends that 'Bush Flummoxes Kafka, Orwell,' the Los Angeles Times reviews the newly-released Pentagon documents on Guantanamo detainees, and Eric Umansky asks of released detainees: 'A fate worse than Guantanamo?'

Following the Washington Post's report that the 'White House trains efforts on media leaks,' David Gergen said on "Reliable Sources" that "This administration has engaged in secrecy at a level we have not seen ... since the days of Nixon." Complete transcript here.

A State Department-commissioned poll taken days before the Palestinian elections warned that Hamas was in a position to win, reports Knight Ridder. "Nevertheless, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after the election that they had no advance indication of a major Hamas triumph."

As 'Hamas rejects support of al-Qaida,' Kadima's 'West Bank Pullout' plan would "evacuate thousands of Israelis living in scattered West Bank settlements and move them into larger ones that Israel intends to keep under any final peace agreement." More on the 'broad' pullout plan.

Although it's reported that 'Iran hits bumps in atomic path,' Fox News floats a mushroom cloud, and characterizes a student protest over the suspension of Jay Bennish as, "Students walk out of school after teacher's rant."

Blogger threatened by Bill O'Reilly with "a little visit" from "Fox security," laments that "I'm missing a lot of actionable material. When I'm monitoring O'Reilly, Limbaugh has free reign... So I need some help." Plus: 'Right-wing talkers adjust to prexy's falling numbers.'

"Acts of bigotry are celebrated as bravery," when they are presented as "bold" assaults on "political correctness," argues a Guardian commentary, adding that "Once this straw man has been invented, you need only knock him down to earn your medal of valor."

"Duke" Cunningham goes from 'Pinstripes to jail stripes,' 'Ralph Reed's troubles get considerably worse," and it's reported that the CIA's executive director is under investigation. He's described as "a longtime friend of Brent Wilkes," who it is said "will implicate four more Republicans for possible criminal activity."

As NBC's Lisa Myers is said to amplify the "I didn't realize that a tree falling on the roof could cause a hole in it" defense, Robert Novak argues that "six months of bungling" on Katrina "threatens political catastrophe" for Louisiana Republicans, and FEMA is accused of "creating trailer trash" in Mississippi.

"It would be ironic, to say the least, if DHS were unable to secure its own headquarters," say two U.S. senators, responding to allegations by current and former employees of the private security firm that guards Homeland Security headquarters.

A Los Angeles Times article explains why 'That Good Education Might Not Be Enough' to save American jobs from outsourcing, despite "a mantra embraced by Democrats as well as Republicans," and repeated by President Bush in India.

Although the little town's mayor finds it "deeply boring," 'Muslims ask French to cancel 1741 play by Voltaire.'

After being "bombarded with Oscar propaganda for nearly a month now," Baghdad Burning's Riverbend made her own list of nominees. Plus: 'What Did I Tell You?'

March 3-5

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

The death of a 'Senior Iraqi General' in a "strange incident" in Baghdad "could be a blow that takes a long time to overcome," a U.S. general is quoted as saying.

A Knight Ridder article which describes 'U.S. stuck with few options in Iraq,' quotes Gary Hart as warning that "If all-out civil war breaks out, we could lose our army. If Sunnis and Shiites take to the streets by the thousands, it could literally be impossible to get [the soldiers] out."

Rigorous Intuition dials into 'Iraq's Hutu Radio,' where a false report of "100 headless corpses, children covered in blood" by a "clearly Bush-positive blogger" leads to the observation that "Iraq's Shiites and Sunnis mean as much to this administration as Hutus and Tutsis did to Clinton's."

The "potential is there" for a full-blown civil war, according to the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, as it's said of his predecessor: "there seems to be a new, relaxed John Negroponte. And some close observers think they know why. He's figured out the job."

With word that Attorney General Gonzales may be returning to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, it's 'All hands on deck' in advance of Tuesday's Senate Intelligence Committee vote on investigating President Bush's secret domestic surveillance program.

As it's reported that the Defense Department will investigate allegations of an Army cover-up in the death of Pat Tillman, Pierre Tristam says that it's "the three previous inquiries that should raise alarms about military conduct, because the pattern speaks of delinquencies ... that go beyond the Tillman affair."

One month after Robert Novak revealed a White House plan to arrange for active-duty military to speak at GOP events, an apparent violation of military regulations, a Republican party Web site has scrubbed photos of Rep. Marilyn Musgrave introducing two Marines at a fundraiser this past weekend.

With the star of "The Big Buy" reportedly planning to 'spend election night with lobbyists,' a candidate in need of 45,000-plus signatures is urging Texans to "Save yourself for Kinky."

The ports issue is called an "out-of-control political problem" for Republicans, but Mike Whitney follows Napoleon's injunction to "look at the map" for "the reason that President Bush continues to force the Dubai port plan."

In This Modern World, Republicans concerned about the ports deal will "probably find a way to live with it soon enough."

The Fix Is In A three-year contract to provide a 'Fix For New Orleans' -- awarded to a firm headed by a former commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- is said to be "like hiring Michael Brown to reform FEMA."

As C-SPAN2 airs Harper's forum on impeachment, President Bush's approval rating tops 40 in one poll, and lands at 37 in Indiana, an 18 point drop since March 2005.

Christopher Hitchens asks readers to picture "the landing of Air Force One at Imam Khomeini International Airport," and the New York Times editorializes that rather than take his "spectacularly misconceived trip" to India and Pakistan, "Mr. Bush should have just stayed home."

With an approval rating of less than half that of Spiro Agnew in his final days in office, the current vice president is said to be in 'Veep Doo-Doo,' with one commentator finding it "tough to imagine business as usual for both Cheney and bin Laden by year's end."

An effort to improve Wal-Mart's image reportedly includes feeding stories to bloggers, funneled through a PR exec who also writes for Human Events and Confirm Them, while moonlighting as VP for Public Affairs at CFIF.

Days after declaring that "There are 50,000 professors ... [who] identify with the terrorists," David Horowitz was admonished by an MSNBC host for calling another guest a "communist," "pro-terrorist," and "a menace." Plus: Call-in campaign gives show an edge.

According to a USA Today report, federal politicians and political parties took 2,154 trips on private corporate jets over the past five years, and "two senators turned down for requested trips in 2004 -- McCain and Democrat Barack Obama of Illinois -- have since emerged as spokesmen for sweeping ethics changes."

Doug Ireland bids farewell to Anne Braden, "one of the South's amazing freedom fighters," who demonstrated in Mississippi in 1951, and marched for peace in a wheelchair in 2005.

March 6

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

After Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee blocked an investigation into President Bush's domestic spying program, Sen. Jay Rockefeller told reporters that "The committee is, to put it bluntly, basically under the control of the White House."

A Los Angeles Times op-ed calls 'A break-in to end all break-ins' that occurred 35 years ago today in Media, Pa., "one of the most lastingly consequential (although underemphasized) watersheds of political awareness in recent American history." Plus: 'Planned media gag may save America.'

Describing Al-Qaeda's recent assault on a Saudi oil refinery as a 'Heart Attack,' Alexander Zaitchik cites John Robb of Global Guerrillas, who argues that "while we got lucky in Abqaiq ... the situation in Nigeria is rapidly falling apart."

Although a Prudhoe Bay pipeline spill was said to have leaked 798,000 gallons of crude oil, the AP reports that "state, federal and oil company officials" have "discounted" the report from the whistleblower known as "the Ralph Nader of Alaska's oil industry."

As a group promoting investment in clean energy releases its report on 2006 trends, the Sierra Club's Carl Pope reasons that "If folks won't believe science and our British allies, then maybe they will believe ExxonMobil and Wal-Mart. Watch what they do, not what they say."

The largest union representing defense workers voices "no confidence" in Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, who spoke of media reports, that "all seem to be of a nature to inflame the situation and to give heart to the terrorists and to discourage those who hope for success in Iraq."

As U.S. 'War Spending' increases to $117.6 billion for the current fiscal year, 'Liberals seek $60B in cuts to defense,' and Tom Engelhardt looks forward to the 'Shark and Awe' of "full spectrum dominance." Earlier: 'Baghdad Embassy Bonanza.'

Up to 50 employees of a private security firm were reportedly kidnapped in Baghdad, and the Washington Post reports that "the discovery of executed people -- sometimes from an entire family, often with their hands bound, their mouths gagged and shot in the head -- has become commonplace."

With odds set on a U.S. or Israeli airstrike on Iran, Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria calls Vice President Cheney's warning delivered at the AIPAC conference, an act of "supreme brinksmanship," saying that in recent years, "what we've done is turn the United States into a kind of international pariah..."

Cheney didn't mention the name Katherine Harris while campaigning in Florida, but "it seems the press corps have spoken." And, "Who ever thought Dick Cheney and Mamie Van Doren would have so much in common?"

Greg Mitchell takes questions during Editor & Publisher's first online chat, including: "What do you think of the Washington Post's refusal to conduct public opinion polls on the topic of whether the president should be impeached?"

"If Bush were running today against Bill Clinton, I'd vote for Clinton," said former Reagan aide Bruce Bartlett, who was one of two members of a "tag team" at a 'Conservative Forum on Bush,' "where just a single questioner offered even a tepid defense of the president."

Will Bunch has a 'Good night and get lost!' moment, leading him to ask, when did the brother of "Lynn Swann's running mate" in the Pennsylvania GOP primary start "channeling Ann Coulter?"

As computer 'glitches' are blamed for delaying results in the race between Rep. Henry Cuellar and Ciro Rodriguez, an indictee and a talk-show host win Republican primaries, but a gay ex-prostitute goes down.

Wayne Besen calculates that, if the numbers provided by an "ex-gay" movement leader continue to escalate, "by 2008 -- a presidential election year -- there will be millions of former homosexuals and most will vote Republican." Plus: Millions of 'Brokeback Marriages.'

Enron's former CFO Andrew Fastow told a Houston jury that Ken Lay had been informed that the company "had $5-to-$7 billion of embedded problems," before he 'lied to investors as Enron unraveled.'

A provision of the renewed Patriot Act is said to "take aim at the meth trade's weakest point," and "leave meth producers nowhere to run but out of the country." Plus: 'Immigrant bill sends chill through rally.'

An Executive Order of the president creates "within the Department of Homeland Security ... a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives."

March 7

Thursday, March 9, 2006

Article on poll finding 'Negative perception of Islam increasing,' quotes Juan Cole as saying Americans "have been given the message to respond this way by the American political elite, mass media and by select special interests." Plus: U.S. is only country of nine surveyed where majority say death to a convicted Saddam.

As Pat Buchanan denounces 'Cultural Warmongers' for "picking a fight with a faith 1.3 billion strong," Robert Parry asks whether U.S. officials who attended an AIPAC conference where Muslim leaders were "publicly insulted" were 'Fighting Terror or Pushing Bigotry?'

Bush is "open to compromise" after losing a House Appropriations Committee vote on the Dubai Ports deal, and a State Department human rights report lands with "near-perfect bad timing" -- and one "glaring omission" -- as Dubai threatens to 'hit back.'

In a sign that "the business community's public response is growing," leaders of both the Business Rountable and the transportation industry denounce "'crazy' protectionist forces unleashed by DP World takeover controversy."

CEO of Dubai Ports World now says company will transfer U.S. operations "to a United States entity."

As bombs kill 11, Iraq hangs 13, while Molly Ivins untangles 'The Progress Myth in Iraq.'

The State Department report cited above also provoked Left I on the News to wonder "how much more of that 'major progress for democracy, democratic rights and freedom' ... those Iraqis can stand."

A representative of the Shiite SCIRI party "ordered that government hospitals and morgues catalogue deaths caused by bombings or clashes with insurgents, but not by execution-style shootings," reports the Washington Post, citing a Health ministry official. Earlier: 'Rumsfeld says media exaggerating Iraqi civilian deaths.'

In an interview in which he complained that "people don't study history any more," Rumsfeld said that during World War II, "Franklin Roosevelt was one of the most hated people in the country."

"Hardball's" Chris Matthews says that a source told him "the first thing Cheney wanted when he got the vice presidency ... was not a briefing on the world, all he wanted to know about, where do we stand in Iraq?" And retired Gen. and former NSA head, William E. Odom, looks at 'Iraq through the prism of Vietnam.'

'Karmilowicz's Story,' as presented by Alexander Cockburn, contends that "the 9/11 Commission and the U.S. government deliberately withheld information ... that linked Al Qaeda operatives to persons who had close ties to Pakistani government officials."

Iranian lawmakers reportedly chorused "Death to America," one day after the country's ambassador to the IAEA said the U.S. "has the power to cause harm and pain, but the United States is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if that is the path that the U.S. wishes to choose, let the ball roll out."

In an interview with Vanity Fair, pdf, Jack Abramoff says that President Bush once called him a "buff guy," speaks of "a big kumbaya of hatred for me," is said to be "especially vicious in his treatment of Newt Gingrich," and claims that his firm got "every appropriation we wanted" from Sen. Conrad Burns' committee.

"Abramoff Splits the Christian Right," with Max Blumenthal predicting the "rift will deepen in the coming weeks as the mainstream press wakes up to its importance." Blumenthal chats Friday at the Web site of a group that has launched a campaign tying Ralph Reed, James Dobson and the Rev. Lou Sheldon to Abramoff.

As a Gallup poll finds that 57 percent of Americans agree with the statement, "God created man exactly how Bible describes it," abortion rights supporters push back against South Dakota's new law, which the state's governor says, "isn't my bill."

With nine church burnings in Alabama attributed to a joke that got out of hand, the president of the college attended by three students now under arrest, blamed "a culture of personal license." Plus: Expungees.

Two country music stars reportedly blasted "someone who's supposed to be the leader of the free world" when "the subject of Katrina" came up.

At an awards ceremony that offered up "a reminder of the long reach of image manipulation," the talk was of "on-message self-sufficiency, and many of the people participating were one-time students or practitioners of journalism who had crossed over..." Plus: "I {heart} WAL*OCAUST"

As the Chief Pleas of Sark vote to trade feudalism for democracy, Palestinians urge Roger Waters to cancel a concert in Israel, and Sharon Stone says she "would kiss just about anybody for peace in the Middle East."

March 8

Friday, March 10, 2006

As Interior Secretary Gale Norton resigns, President Bush's approval rating falls to a new low for an AP-Ipsos poll, and in GOP circles "the biggest losses were among white males."

Claude Allen, Bush's former principal domestic policy advisor who abruptly resigned in early February, has been charged with practicing a form of shoplifting called "refund fraud." Doug Ireland was interviewed on "Democracy Now!" about his profile of Allen.

In a recent speech to AIPAC, Vice President Cheney approvingly quoted a Middle Eastern leader who once called Paul Wolfowitz a "virus," and whose militia once reportedly "murdered up to 1,000 Christians" in Lebanon.

Following an "almost unprecedented" U.N. vote where the 'U.S. Aligned With Iran in Anti-Gay Vote,' the Bush administration is said to be 'Exporting Homophobia,' and "waging a quiet war on homosexuals abroad in the name of Christianity." Plus: Andrew Sullivan on 'The Party of Death.'

Conservative think tanker Norman Ornstein said on the "NewsHour" that in a discussion of which firm DP World might transfer operation of its U.S. ports to, "Halliburton was a name that came up," as it's argued that "Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, and the hawks have done it again."

As critics question a bill by GOP senators designed to allow warrantless surveillance information into court, e-mails show that the Justice Department's head of national security matters from 2000 to 2003, recently called the department's justification for the spy program "weak." Plus: 'Big Brother Is Listening.'

Wired reports that seventeen million online porn customers have had their "names, phone numbers, addresses, e-mail addresses and internet IP addresses" exposed on the internet, to be "bought and sold" -- but "credit-card fraud is one of data mining's success stories," although 'Naked came the blogger.'

In the strange, powerless state that is Iraq, "irrelevance" is said to be "the single enduring, probably irremediable feature" of 'A Government with No Military and No Territory.'

An Iraq hand tells Der Spiegel: "A government that takes over five months to form is not a government that is going to have very much legitimacy in the end. The country has already collapsed. Now the challenge is figuring out a way to deal with this fact."

Responding to a well-traveled column headlined, 'Dude, Where's My Civil War?,' Christopher Allbritton writes: "Let me try to paint the picture a little more clearly, Mr. Peters."

"There is an orgy of greed among contractors in Iraq, and the Bush administration is for all practical purposes participating in it," claimed the lawyer for whistle-blowers who filed the case against Custer Battles, found responsible for 37 separate fraudulent acts by a federal jury.

The Nation's Ari Berman surveys top Democrats and finds them 'Still Ducking' on Iraq, while an interview with an antiwar Congressional candidate in Pennsylvania sheds light on 'How the Green Party Slays Their Own.'

A Marine Corps' spokeswoman avoids citing policy in claiming that it's okay for active duty military to appear in uniform at partisan political events, and a 28-year-old former White House staffer with no management experience is named executive director of the Homeland Security Advisory Committees.

"Better late than never," says Paul Krugman, but "The truth is that everything the new wave of Bush critics has to say was obvious long ago to any commentator who was willing to look at the facts."

As 'K Street Project moves to Heritage Foundation,' "at least three lobbyists" are reportedly involved in Operation Good Neighbor.

"Twilight Zone v. Leave It To Beaver" is the title of a campaign spot by North Carolina Republican Congressional candidate, Vernon Robinson, who has been dubbed "the black Jesse Helms," and described as 'Bad For Bush.'

Big Pimpin' Democrats counter depiction of Rep. Harold Ford as "Fancy Ford" with "Fancy Frist."

As 'Prosecutors Call for Berlusconi Indictment,' an Italian TV commentator is quoted as saying, "I think the amateur hour is finished."

World adds 102 new billionaires, as Walton family slips from top 10, but avoids fate of drop offs.

"I think it's easier now than ever before. There are more ways to do it," said the world's 278th richest person, before appearing on "Larry King Live," where he lauded the UAE for its "amazing gesture," and spoke of his Dubai development partnership, which represents an "unprecedented mega-opportunity."

March 9

Monday, March 13, 2006

Citing "the second significant error of the government affecting the constitutional rights of this defendant," the judge in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui said that "I do not want to act precipitously," but it is "very difficult for this case to go forward."

With 'No let up in Iraqi bloodshed,' after 'A massacre in Moqtada's back yard,' Knight Ridder reports that officials have confirmed that 'Death squads operated from inside Iraqi government.'

In an excerpt from their forthcoming book, Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor review how 'As war began, U.S. generals feuded,' while Michael Schwartz writes that "For all its failures ... the occupation has succeeded in one endeavor. It has managed to undermine all efforts by other parties to establish their own legitimacy."

Sen. Russ Feingold follows up on his announcement that he will introduce a resolution to censure President Bush, who is now said to be 'Urging U.S. to shun isolationism.'

Bush embarks on yet "another speaking tour," after "test-marketing his new P.R. campaign in a March 11 radio address."

Craig Crawford argues that Bush is "courting danger" by "taking on the very thing that undermined Richard M. Nixon: the news media," and warns that "It's tough to be a vanguard of democracy when you are putting reporters in jail."

White House chief of staff Andrew Card is described as sounding "like a man about to lose his job," in a White House said to be "physically and emotionally exhausted, battered by scandal and drained by political setbacks."

Most major news outlets steer clear of Sandra Day O'Connor's "spine-chilling opinions," and the Daily Howler provides an example of how "the 'news' gets sifted for you."

As "Sunshine Week" kicks off, the Project for Excellence in Journalism issues its annual "State of the News Media" report, which includes the finding that "Cable puts remarkably little emphasis on summing up or offering what would amount to a definitive account of the day's events..."

After the Knight Ridder board accepted a $4.5 billion offer from McClatchy Co., the new owner will sell twelve Knight Ridder papers, reports Editor & Publisher, including the two Philadelphia papers and the San Jose Mercury News.

Responding to a report of 'Media McCain mania,' firedoglake maintains that "If John McCain is going to be beaten in 2008, cracking open the McCain myth has to start now." Plus: 'GOP product launch' includes 'Rove's Fisher-Price man.'

Commenters pillory Gerald Ford's former press secretary over his Washington Post opinion piece about the Center for American Progress's take on Sen. Pat Roberts. Et two?

Wendy Orent calculates 'The price of cheap chicken,' while Health and Human Services head Michael Leavitt advises Americans to prepare themselves for a bird flu epidemic by "storing canned tuna and powdered milk under their beds."

A 1967 "top secret" memo by the former legal counsel to Israel's Foreign Ministry warned that building settlements across occupied Palestinian territories violated international law, reports the Independent, citing a critically acclaimed book and an op-ed by Israeli historian and journalist, Gershom Gorenberg.

Time reprises correspondent's account of being cross-examined by Slobodan Milosevic, about whom one observer writes, "the truth ... was always a commodity to be manipulated in the single-minded pursuit of power," and, "Having smashed all the furniture [he] blamed everyone else for no longer wanting to sit down with him."

While Christopher Hitchens feels 'No Sympathy for Slobo,' Jeremy Scahill argues that it's Bill Clinton who can "rest easy," now that 'Slobo Can't Talk Any More.'

As 'Italy's Bizarre Election Campaign' unfolds, watch the prime minister storm off a state TV show, after reportedly calling the interviewer an example of someone "who has prejudices and is on the left." Plus: 'Morales' present for Rice seems laced with message.'

Following Keith Olbermann's interview -- video and text -- with "Mick" from Calling All Wingnuts, who spoke of being contacted by "Tony ... from Fox News security," Olbermann was the one fielding questions, from C-SPAN's Brian Lamb.

March 10-12

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

As President Bush hits a new Gallup low, Dana Milbank hears a 'smaller and smaller chorus' for Bush's 'refrain on Iraq,' and the conservative magazine Insight airs complaints that Bush 'focuses only on Iraq, '06 campaign.' Plus: 'A Requiem for Gonzoconservatism.'

The latest Harris poll finds continued low ratings for Bush's key cabinet members, with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's negatives only slightly lower than Bush's, as the Hotline wonders, 'What's Up' with Treasury Secretary John Snow?

"No civil war here," reports Back to Iraq's Chris Allbritton. "Nope. Just a slaughter," as what began as 'An unbelievable mess' descends toward 'Oil anarchy.'

After the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman recently claimed that "there are over 100 battalions in the field," Dahr Jamail set out to discover "how feasible it would be to train 99 Iraqi battalions in less than six months."

Rory O'Connor submits 20 questions to the president of CNN about the network's Iraq war coverage, and CNN's Soledad O'Brien, interviewing Sen. Russ Feingold, calls censure both a "kind of a slap on the wrist" and "something quite serious."

Pondering the fate of Feingold's resolution, David Sirota sees the 2006 election as offering voters a choice between the GOP "culture of corruption" and the Democratic "culture of weakness."

Reuters uncritically reports Scott McClellan's insinuation that there are Democrats "who argue that we shouldn't be listening to al Qaeda communications," and a New York Times article on censure draws censure for "trying extra hard to slip [in] unsubstantiated Republican talking points."

Rigorous Intuition's analysis of the 'Leprosy Treatment' extended to Slobodan Milosevic -- "the sixth war crimes suspect from the Balkans to die at The Hague" -- also refers to a report in Pakistan's Friday Times that lobbyists were paid "tens of thousands of dollars ... to get anti-Pakistan references dropped from the 9/11 inquiry commission report."

As China and Russia reject a U.N. statement on Iran, the Jerusalem Post reports that the Pentagon "is looking into the possibility of Israel launching a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities."

One day after reporting on the Bush administration's plan for "a sustained campaign against the ayatollahs of Tehran," the Washington Post quotes the editor of a new reformist newspaper as saying of the U.S., "Whenever they came and supported an idea publicly, the public has done the opposite."

The Memory Hole unearths reports on the State Department's "almost wholly ignored" Future of Iraq Project, and Raw Story parses National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley's 2005 revisions to a 1997 document spelling out the guidelines for determining access to classified government information.

After being quoted in a Vanity Fair article calling former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, "the likely source" for revealing Valerie Plame's name to Bob Woodward, Ben Bradlee tells the Washington Post, "I don't think I said it."

Abramoffed! Another 'scandal prosecutor' gets kicked upstairs, and Josh Marshall issues a clarification that RNC chairman Ken "Mehlman did not actually kill the appointee ... on Abramoff's behalf or anyone else's."

'NASA puts its weight behind warming signs,' with a study's lead author warning that "the climate warming from greenhouse gases has really just started."

St. Bernard Parish wants to hire DynCorp deputies and the NAACP wants the Justice Department to block the mayoral election in New Orleans, where "at least four of every five businesses ... are still shuttered." A Maine warden who just pulled his cadaver-sniffing dogs, says the city has become "a giant rat factory."

A five-year study funded by pork producers reportedly failed to find affordable alternatives to massive hog waste lagoons in North Carolina, where a 1999 hurricane "literally turned many communities into hog lagoons."

Earl Ofari Hutchinson offers 'No Requiem for a Black Conservative,' as an "evil twin defense" is floated in the case of a former top Bush advisor.

March 13

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Salon publishes 'The Abu Ghraib Files,' as a dog handler stands trial and two senators try to delay the retirement of Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who refused to testify at the trial because, according to his lawyer, "he had already answered questions about Abu Ghraib."

Gen. John Abizaid says 'U.S. may want to keep bases in Iraq,' and three month's after an article by Seymour Hersh "made the new Bush administration policy of relying on air power public," it's reported that 'U.S. military airstrikes significantly increased in Iraq.'

A U.S. raid on a house north of Baghdad reportedly killed 11 people, "mostly women and children."

As 700 'More Troops Head to Iraq,' The National Catholic Reporter calls on the Bush administration to 'Bring the Troops Home.'

A UC Berkeley audience reportedly reacted with "disbelieving guffaws," when Washington Post reporter Jackie Spinner said that "I think we're getting 90 percent of the story."

In 'Baghdad: The Besieged Press,' Orville Schell explains what visitors flying to Iraq experience, after the pilot announces that we'll now be "starting our spiral descent."

Asked during a Pentagon briefing if the U.S. had any proof to back up claims by the president and his defense secretary about Iran meddling in Iraq, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "I do not, sir." And the Los Angeles Times responds to Bush's accusation that it tipped off "the enemy."

The buildup to a possible attack on Iran is said to exemplify the 'Twelve Principles of War Propaganda.'

Colorado papers ignore Wayne Allard's claim that fellow senator Russ Feingold "has time and time again taken on the side of the terrorists that we are dealing with in this conflict," and Feingold says he's "amazed at Democrats, cowering with this president's numbers so low."

As President Bush hits a new low and the same old low, David Gergen tells CNN that "two veterans of Washington each told me individually today they had never seen an administration collapse as completely and as quickly as this one has." Is it 'that time again'?

Dick Morris urges President Bush to "tell his political team to start churning out events ... every day, every week, every month," as Bush launches "another preemptive campaign."

Maureen Dowd finds 'His Empty Suit' better than 'Her Baggage,' but Molly Ivins has "had it with every calculating, equivocating, triangulating, straddling, hair-splitting son of a bitch up there, and that includes Hillary Rodham Clinton."

FBI disputes claim that documents show agency spied on Pittsburgh's Thomas Merton Center. An FBI report from November 2002, said of the group's anti-war pamphleteering, "According to these leaflets, Iraq does not possess weapons of mass destruction..."

An FBI supervisor, who visited a class in Austin, reportedly revealed that Indymedia, the Texas Communist Party, and Food Not Bombs are among the Top Ten on the Central Texas "Terrorist Watch List."

A columnist in western Washington, who questioned why "top-drawer blacks" remain ungrateful for "the pony hidden in slavery," draws a "Dear Mrs. Fergusen" letter. Earlier: Threat to Bainbridge Island exposed.

U.S. officials deny coordination with Israel in attack on a Jericho prison, that came 20 minutes after U.S. and British monitors pulled out. A Guardian editorial calls the Israeli-Palestinian situation "a recipe for disaster that is obvious to most outsiders but seems invisible to those likely to form Israel's next government."

Polls show opposition leader winning Italian debate, during which "the smooth-talking Premier showered viewers with a windfall of vaguely consoling phrases, like, 'We have benefitted from women' and, 'We have given more dignity to technology.'" Plus: 'Ukraine attracting shady candidates.'

As a former California gubernatorial candidate prepares to 'dine with Bush again,' Sean Allen, the Colorado student who taped his geography teacher, returns for his sixth appearance on "Hannity & Colmes," and is told by Sean Hannity: "I am referring to you as Sean Junior..."

March 14

Thursday, March 16, 2006

U.S. forces unleash the largest air assault since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and 'Growing Anxiety Threatens Republicans,' as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking in Australia, says that Iraq's political transition will take "a couple of years."

The U.S. Senate votes to raise the national debt limit, after GOP leaders "put off this vote as long as they could," and a Reuters report asks, "After all, how much is a trillion?"

"Just like September 11, only with nuclear weapons this time, that's the threat," says U.N. ambassador John Bolton, as Iran is given a new label and top billing in an updated strategy document, about which it's observed: "To have a strategy on preemption and make it central is a huge error."

Ian Williams finds "prejudice masquerading as policy" in 'The Bolton Archipelago,' and Paul Craig Roberts address the concerns of readers who "tell me that another 9/11 event will prepare the ground for a nuclear attack on Iran."

With one group advocating "J.A.I.L. 4 Judges," Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says that she and Sandra Day O'Connor were the targets of an Internet death threat last year for citing foreign law in decisions.

Salon reviews Kevin Phillips' "grim new book," and James Howard Kunstler speculates that "actual conditions in the household may be too far gone for even Mommy to set things right."

As President Bush's 'ratings continue to drop to new lows,' even going south in the South, he's the victim of "a snub that left Republicans dismayed."

Proposal by 'Peculiar Politician' spawns 'Paint-by-numbers reporting,' an article that doesn't add up, and "a story validating something based on absolutely nothing."

Evidence confirming that Halliburton 'Failed to Protect U.S. Troops' Water' in Iraq -- or to even assemble its water purification equipment -- surfaces in an internal company report obtained by the AP.

Publication of an internal memo, revealing the political benefits of a public education "solution" -- once described as "politically delicious" by George Will -- is said to be draining an advocacy group's credibility "faster than a quick lube job on a dirty engine."

When Bush went out to tout his Medicare prescription drug benefits at a retirement home, he reportedly fouled off some nasty "curveballs" thrown by retirees, with remarks said to imply that hospitals shoud be run "like used car lots."

MSNBC head denies reports confirmed to Think Progress of "journalistic buckraking" by "Hardball" host and "Motivational Celebrity Speaker," Chris Matthews, prominently featured in FAIR's look back at the Iraq War's 'Pollyanna pundits.'

Norman Soloman is also concerned that on the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion, "scant recognition will go to the pundits who helped to make it all possible."

As one GOP leader tries to seize control of the border security issue, another claims to have visited the New York-Ohio border, while the U.S. Coast Guard -- reinterpreting The Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1817 -- deploys machine guns on the Great Lakes.

Department of Agriculture officials applaud "low-key world reaction" as 'Newspapers move U.S. mad cow story off front pages,' amid reports of 'Government scaling back mad cow testing.'

Sen. Mike Crapo reportedly "received more than twice as much money in donations from people in the U.S. Virgin Islands than from his home state last year." Earlier: Crapo and endangered species.

The Atlantic Monthly frees up its nominees for the 2006 National Magazine Awards, including David Foster Wallace's profile of a Los Angeles talk-radio host, which Jack Shafer said was "The best article I've ever read about the contemporary cable TV-news business."

Group billing itself as "an organization of hope" offers a sneak peek at the cover of a forthcoming book by self-described "culture warrior," and a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Ohio, gets some attention.

March 15

Friday, March 17, 2006

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter gives a "thumb down" to legislation that would allow warrantless spying, saying he particularly objects to letting the government "do whatever the hell it wants" for 45 days without seeking judicial or congressional approval.

As almost all mainstream media outlets ignore poll on censure, the Pew Research director tells Reuters that Bush's "strong points as a president were being seen as personally credible, as a strong leader. That has all but disappeared."

Reporting on John Ashcroft and his "Ashcroft Group," the New York Times notes that in an hourlong interview, the only former Attorney General to become a lobbyist, "used the word 'integrity' scores of times." Earlier: "Let the dollars soar."

As the stock price of the Pentagon's two largest contractors hits an all-time high, another holding in the "Perpetual War Portfolio" brings former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Gen. Richard Myers, on board for $200,000 a year.

Bob Herbert issues a call to 'Stop Bush's War,' 'pollyanna' bloggers join their pundit brethren, and given the "chance to make up for being wrong on Iraq," Thomas Friedman craps out.

Excoriating the 'Lap Dogs of the Press,' Helen Thomas argues that "if reporters had put the spotlight on the flaws in the Bush Administration's war policies, they could have saved the country the heartache and the losses of American and Iraqi lives."

After U.S. and Iraqi troops encountered no resistance in a 100-square-mile sweep, a U.S. military spokesman said, "We believe we achieved tactical surprise," and a new poll finds that half of Americans surveyed say they have cried because of the war.

'30 minutes and out' for Iraqi parliament, as 'Ordinary Iraqi families' are 'getting ready to fight.'

Kurds in Halabja reportedly observed the 18th anniversary of "the largest-scale chemical weapons attack against a civilian population in modern times," by "beating back government guards to storm and destroy a museum dedicated to the memory of the Halabja attack."

U.S. releases Canadian held for seven days in a military prison after being arrested last week for deserting the Marines in 1968, and after action reports by New York City police describe "proactive arrests" of "demonstrators who were obviously potential rioters," at the 2002 World Economic Forum.

'Poorest Nations Hit Hardest by WTO Agenda,' according to a new study of 'Winners and Losers' which predicts China to be the biggest winner and Sub-Saharan African countries to be the biggest losers.

After President Bush nominated Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne as Interior Secretary, the League of Conservation Voters issued a two-sentence statement: "During his career in Congress, Governor Kempthorne earned a paltry 1% lifetime LCV score. Enough said."

Who Knew? "There is a significant amount of undiscovered oil in northern Afghanistan," said the acting director of the U.S. Geological Survey, after an assessment reportedly found that one area holds "18 times the oil and triple the natural gas resources previously thought."

A Black Commentator op-ed seeks to "identify the white moderates of our time, mainly the Democratic Party," as Margaret Kimberley identifies a 'Civil War in America,' and Robert Parry considers the options.

Marc Cooper lays out 'The Great Immigration Debate,' and Rosa Brooks offers up an idea for a reality TV show called "Aliens," with contestants "drawn from the U.S. Congress."

As Rep. Tom DeLay's primary opponents withhold support, an article suggesting that a '$10 million gamble may not pay off for Harris,' notes that of 59 recent House and Senate candidates who spent $500,000 or more of their own money, only four were elected.

A graphic illustrates a professor's agrument that it's easier to rig an e-voting machine than a Vegas slot, and materials on voter fraud issued by the Texas State Attorney General's office, reportedly list the Dallas Cowboys emblem as an item that should not be worn at the polls.

The U.S. is knocked out of the World Baseball Classic by Mexico, and 'Cuba crashes everybody's party.'

March 16

Monday, March 20, 2006

"Three years on, experts from the left and the right say, the costly Iraq war has barely begun," reports the San Francisco Chronicle, "and if there are to be broad benefits, as the president still promises, they could be years away."

Greg Mitchell finds that anniversary editorials 'Dither While Iraq Burns,' including the Los Angeles Times' "unconscionable call to inaction," and a New York Times offering that expresses a willingness to "leave it to the incompetent gangs in Washington and Baghdad that the editorial has just eviscerated."

An op-ed describes 'The enemy we hardly know,' and "terrorists" garner eight mentions compared to one for the "insurgency" in a Washington Post opinion piece that appears under the name Donald H. Rumsfeld, whose Iraq-Germany analogy is said by Zbigniew Brzezinski to be "really absolutely crazy to anyone who knows history."

As President Bush marks anniversary of war without saying "war," the 'White House disputes Iraq is sinking into civil war' and Vice President Cheney tells "Face the Nation" that his "greeted as liberators" and "last throes" remarks were "basically accurate and reflect reality."

Paul Krugman accuses conservatives of 'Bogus Bush Bashing,' and an AP report details how Bush is 'using straw-man arguments in speeches,' quoting a "specialist in presidential rhetoric" as calling the practice a "bizarre kind of double talk."

In blocking relaxed clean air rules on aging power plants, refineries and factories, a federal appeals court said the EPA's reading of the Clean Air Act was "a Humpty Dumpty world" interpretation.

At Camp Nama, said to stand for "Nasty Ass Military Area," "some soldiers beat prisoners with rifle butts, yelled and spit in their faces and ... used detainees for target practice in a game of jailer paintball," reports the New York Times, which changed its original "attention-getting headline."

"I don't know if you understand how journalism works," said Times' reporter Michael Gordon to Amy Goodman, as she grilled him over the September 8, 2002 article on aluminum tubes that he co-authored with Judith Miller.

As 'Thousands around globe call for end of war' and Venezuela's president says, "The world is opposed to your war, Mr. Danger," the turnout size leaves TalkLeft asking: "Are we beaten down, anesthetized, convinced it is hopeless to protest our Government?"

Hullabaloo's Digby wonders, "How low does a Republican have to sink before we aren't afraid to take him on?," and Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, in a 'three years on' assessment, ask of Sen. Russ Feingold: "Why are you in this party?" Plus: 'Let's Play Strategery.'

A Washington Times article on "a political battle plan" mapped out by Senate Democrats "that calls on lawmakers to stage press events with active duty military personnel," makes no mention of a GOP political event staged with active duty military personnel.

With '1,000 more sailors expected to join ground forces in Iraq,' and a report that 'Some troops headed back to Iraq are mentally ill,' one veteran is left in a 'personal fog of war' and a father 'loses taste for revenge.'

As the Pentagon spies on counter recruiters, a former Justice Department attorney tells U.S.News & World Report, the Justice Department "couldn't make it clearer" that they are" making the case for inherent presidential power to conduct warrantless physical searches."

Story of White House advance men posing as Fox News reporters and Secret Service agents, leads to speculation that "Since the goals and the tactics are consistent across the [multi-year] events, there's a team that's been trained in them."

See what footage Fox News aired during it coverage of "Operation Swarmer," and read how News Corp. synergized "Rick & Bubba" to arrange 'A Marriage Made in Heaven.'

The Palm Beach Post reports that Rep. Katherine Harris said she 'believes God wants her in public service,' speaking at the annual Reclaiming America for Christ conference, which is part of Dr. James Kennedy's 'Christian Crusade.'

A Missouri high school drama teacher who resigned after being told that she wouldn't have her contract renewed, had agreed to substitute "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for "The Crucible," after a handful of church members complained about scenes in the fall production of 'Grease.'

March 17-19

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

With 'Regional vultures circling Iraq' amid a reported casualty shift, 'Iraqis sound angry on invasion anniversary,' with one quoted as saying: "I got nothing from this so-called liberation, just this cell phone and my satellite receiver. But I lost my three daughters."

What "fills us with foreboding," writes Baghdad Burning's Riverbend, is "not the obvious."

As Iraqi police accuse U.S. troops of executing 11 civilians in the aftermath of a raid last week, the AP follows up on a Time magazine report that U.S. Marines killed 15 civilians last November in what local residents call "a massacre."

Quoting an Iraq scholar who says that "If they aren't planning for bases, they ought to say so. I would expect to hear 'No bases,'" the AP reports that "Right now what is heard is the pouring of concrete."

As NBC reports that Iraq's foreign minister provided the CIA with prewar intelligence that was "far more accurate than what they believed," the New York Review of Books publishes Frank Rich's preface to Mark Danner's forthcoming book, "The Secret Way to War."

"All I asked for is what happened to my son," says Pat Tillman's father, "and it has been lie after lie after lie."

A U.S. soldier back from Iraq and Afghanistan tells Le Monde, "There are lots of things about Western society that don't work for me any more," and Washington Post reporter Jackie Spinner says that "I have very serious post-traumatic stress disorder, which is common among people who spend 13 months in a war zone like Iraq."

Stan Cox reminds that retired Gens. Myers, Franks and Powell are 'Surviving the War in Style,' as the former top aide to the latter, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, tells CNN that "as I read the polls now, the American people are beginning to awaken to the fact that they've been lied to by this administration."

As a second poll finds more than 40 percent support for censuring President Bush, Sen. Russ Feingold described the reluctance of fellow Democrats to back his resolution as "Shades of October 2002," during an interview with Charlie Rose. Plus: 'How Would a Patriot Act?'

With Oakland set to finalize payments of more than $2 million to people injured during anti-war protests in April 2003, 51 protesters were arrested Monday as they attempted to deliver a mock coffin to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.

As the UAE takeover of a UK company that makes military equipment at plants in the U.S. is delayed, Halliburton, which for the first time since 1972 will hold its annual shareholders meeting in Duncan, Oklahoma, denies that Houston protests are behind the move.

Kevin Phillips writes about writing his book "American Theocracy," which, according a New York Times review, "may be the most alarming analysis of where we are and where we may be going to have appeared in many years ... and for the most part frighteningly persuasive."

Referring to Phillips' book, a questioner asked President Bush on Monday, "Do you believe .... That the war in Iraq and the rise in terrorism are signs of the apocalypse. And, if not, why not?" And Bush himself had a question for Cleveland.

As Hamas finds common ground with the Bush administration, a "searing attack" on the role and power of 'The Israel Lobby' draws an unwelcome endorsement.

Some "media experts" predict a "tough sell" in the U.S. for Al-Jazeera International, but CNN's Havana Bureau Chief has bought in and will reportedly be stationed in Venezuela, which is said to be attracting a "new brand of revolutionary tourism." Earlier: Watching Alo Presidente.

'Reborn. To Run?' The subject of an American Prospect cover story said on Monday that "I'm not planning to be a candidate again." Plus: 'Cheney at fund-raiser, but not with the candidate.'

As it's speculated that "the publishing industry has ganged up on the New Yorker," Slate profiles an unlikely finalist for six National Magazine Awards, and Jay Rosen argues that "it's not a stretch for any of the ex-Knight-Ridder newspapers to become active agents in their own future."

Bloggers argue about article on 'Bush Using Straw-Man Arguments,' the New York Times interviews a 'Kos Celebre,' and the Peking Duck brings word that a Chinese filmmaker and blogger is being held by China's State Security Bureau.

March 20

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

At a short-notice Q & A session, President Bush declared that the issue of U.S. troop withdrawal "will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq." Plus: 'Clear, Hold, and Build.'

"Bush's brazenness" is said to be "testimony to the fact that his administration confronts no serious opposition from the Democratic Party," while "three years into this atrocity circus, and the already pathetic annual demonstrations against the war are shrinking...."

Addressing what he calls "the president's biggest problem," Craig Crawford argues that "his message is not getting out because the relentless repetition of his rhetoric is sounding like reruns of a television show we have already seen several times."

A scorecard supplied by a self-described Iraq war supporter is said to lay out "one of the most candid salvos against the White House's vision and prosecution of the Iraq War."

Saddam Hussein's former foreign minister calls a report that he spied for the CIA before the invasion of Iraq a "new lie ... aimed at giving a new fake pretext to justify the crime of the century."

To help it "collect data on houses of worship, schools, power plants and other locations" in the U.S., the Pentagon reportedly hired the same contractor who pleaded guilty last month to bribing a congressman. Plus: "What could MZM have done for a measly $300k" at the White House?

'The Mood in Virginia' is said to illustrate the fact that "tetchy crowds confront Republican incumbents wherever they go," while "the charge that the administration is all thumbs is gaining steam and it's not coming from just die-hard Democrats."

In an excerpt from "Grand Theft Pentagon," Jeffrey St. Clair recounts how "one of the most lucrative post-911 security contracts" was awarded to "a certified Alaska Native Corporation," with headquarters located not in Alaska but "just down the road from the Pentagon."

'The Budget and the Damage Done' Rose Aguilar describes the probable impact of Bush's proposed 2007 cuts in basic services to the poor.

As displaced residents of New Orleans East and the Lower Ninth Wards ponder an invitation to rebuild at their own risk, Facing South summarizes the key points of a speech in which Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff referred to "the war against all hazards."

*************

In responding to a 'pressed conference' question from Helen Thomas, Bush insisted that "I didn't want war" and reiterated his claim that Saddam "chose to deny inspectors."

Robert Parry reminds that "Bush has uttered this lie in a variety of forms over more than 2 1/2 years, yet the Washington press corps has never challenged the President directly about the falsehood." Plus: 'Bush gave those straw men a real lashing.'

As the RNC launches a radio ad targeting Sen. Russ Feingold in his home state, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that 'Rural listeners applaud senator's resolution.'

The Oregonian's parent is suing for documents in a lawsuit alleging the Bush administration illegally intercepted international calls between the co-director of an Islamic charity and his lawyers in the U.S., one of whom says he thinks his office was secretly searched.

As an Abu Ghraib dog handler facing eight years in prison regrets not telling himself to "get something in writing," a human rights group calls for "putting the people who were giving the orders on trial."

The New York Times reports that a Pentagon inquiry "found that no legal violations had been committed by the Lincoln Group in planting stories" in Iraqi newspapers, while in Afghanistan, it's 'Pink "iPods" for Democracy!'

After provoking a 'Firestorm' with the launch of its "Red America" blog, the Washington Post responds to questions about the hiring of the blog's author, Regnery Publishing editor Ben Domenech.

As an editor answers Bill O'Reilly's charge that his paper is "friendly to child rapists," a New Yorker profile says O'Reilly's TV show "is, increasingly, not a conservative show but a cop show ... Once, when Howard Stern was asked to explain his success, he said that he owed it to lesbians. O'Reilly owes his to child molesters."

March 21

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Three members of a Christian Peacemaker team are said to be in "reasonable" condition, after being set free in Iraq, where other 'Aid workers remain under threat' and a three-time Nobel nominee plans to return in April.

As President Bush is seen "drawing on his plainspoken manner," Sidney Blumenthal is "almost certain that Cleveland was the first time" that the 'Apocalyptic president' had heard of Kevin Phillips's latest book, which argues that the power and influence of an "American Theocracy" are "widely underestimated."

John Pilger considers 'The War Lovers' -- among them "the BBC's man in America" -- and others who, while "understandably disappointed by the turn of events in Iraq," are now promoting regime change in Iran.

A "loyal soldier" breaks his silence on Iraq reconstruction fraud and incompetence in Newsweek, but "What the piece doesn't touch on is how 'the biggest corruption scandal in history' was allowed to fester because ideology trumped practicality."

A Raleigh News & Observer analysis of newly released "incident reports" leads to the conclusion that "security contractors supporting the U.S. effort in Iraq regularly shoot into civilian cars with little accountability."

"Democracy Now!" spotlights the 'Targeting of Gay Iraqis by Shia Death Squads,' and program guest Doug Ireland writes that "when they ask for help and protection from U.S. occupying authorities in the 'Green Zone,' gay Iraqis are met with indifference and derision."

'Bush administration's own grim Iraq assessment' is said to indicate that "things might be far worse than the press is currently able to report." Plus: A reality check for Canada in Afghanistan.

In her 'Notes for Converts,' Jane Smiley reminds "newly-minted dissenters from Bush's faith-based reality" that "what we have today is the natural and inevitable outcome of ideas and policies you have promoted for the last generation."

Joshua Frank gets between 'The Democrats and the Precipice' to ask, "Can you really oppose the occupation of Iraq and still call yourself a Democrat" -- while 'Waiting for the non-existent NSA investigation' before deciding on censure?

*************

With a study cited by Bob Herbert suggesting that "We're at a trillion dollars, and counting," is it time to say uncle?

Before analyzing coverage of Iraq, Robert Lichter and Michael Massing had at it in an exchange over Massing's article, 'The Press: The Enemy Within,' as Massing cited research that Lichter's media non-profit had received millions from conservative philanthropies.

Claims by a Republican challenger to Sen. Hillary Clinton, that she worked on Reagan's "Star Wars" speech and was the highest-ranking woman at the Reagan Pentagon, "were not entirely accurate," reports the New York Times.

As recess finds one senator going from 'applauded' to 'lauded,' and another said to be 'cracking," the Smoking Gun obtains Vice President Cheney's 'Suite Demands,' which include "All televisions tuned to Fox News."

With the publication of a controversial paper on "The Israeli Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," Ha'aretz editorializes on 'A warning from America,' and War In Context says it's time for the American Left to break its silence.

Following "Sunshine Week" controversies involving a column and a video, the AP is taking heat for its 'Straw Man' article and one headlined 'Israel May Be Next al-Qaida Battleground,' illustrated with a photo of a Palestinian boy hurling stones at Israeli soldiers.

Although only 10 of 34,000 State Department employees are said to be rated fully fluent in Arabic, the Los Angeles Times reports that it's "the fastest-growing spoken language of study at U.S. colleges and universities." Find out what's being spoken in your zip code.

Testimony by Enron's fomer treasurer leads to observation that "Mr. Lay's luck may have run out..." Lay's reported reaction to the testimony was, "I've never heard so many lies in one day in my life. And you can quote me on that!"

Although one reviewer wrote that Steve Earle "could have done a whole program of his angry political songs," Monday's "Bring Em Home Now" concert prompted a call for 'A few good songs.' Plus: Is Christopher Hitchens listening?

March 22

Friday, March 24, 2006

Patrick Cockburn is the lead author of an account of how "Rescuers Vie for Credit," after the Christian Peacemaker Team hostages were freed from what is described as a "curiously empty 'Sword of Righteousness Brigade' prop house."

CNN's Jack Cafferty asks, "if somebody came into New York City and blew up St. Patrick's Cathedral and in the resulting days they were finding 50 and 60 dead bodies a day on the streets of New York, you suppose the news media would cover it?"

As 'Battle Looms Over Use Of Prewar Iraq Intelligence,' Jonathan Schwarz finds "barely any references" to a book's claim that former CIA director George Tenet told Bush, Rumsfeld, Powell and O'Neill in May 2001 that "it was still only speculation ... whether Hussein had weapons of mass destruction."

Although "Bolivian authorities appear confused about what they have on their hands" after two hotel bombings, Rigorous Intuition's Jeff Wells asks, "Remember Michael Meiring?" -- for whom CIA reportedly meant "Christ in Action."

A "personal friend" of the president, described as being "largely responsible for Bush's personal wealth," is now said to be "about as worried as a happily married guy with more than $2 billion and a home in Pebble Beach can get," while preparing himself to hit another "slow pitch down the middle."

"Something dramatic is happening" to rapidly rising sea levels, according to one seismologist quoted in a National Geographic News article, which cites a special report published today in Science.

'Who Is Killing New Orleans?" asks Mike Davis, as a "minstrel-show version of the future" attempts to subdue "a remarkable local history of grassroots organization" -- although "the elites may have overlooked the Fats Domino factor."

A Texas GOP congressman interprets the results of a preliminary poll as saying that Houstonians are unhappy with the people he refers to as "the deadbeats from New Orleans."

In an interview with AlterNet's Maria Luisa Tucker, Easy Rawlins creator Walter Mosley expands on an excerpt from his latest book, which is said to argue that "working-class blacks ... have no representatives capable of wielding any actual power on their behalf."

In a Black Commentator "Think Piece," Robert Jensen and Robert Wosnitzer explain why they believe that this year's Academy Award for Best Picture went to a by-no-means racist but nevertheless "white-supremacist movie."

The Post's William Arkin decribes being "dropped from the speaker's list," following his reply to a Marine Corps Brigadier General's question: "Mr. Arkin, do you consider yourself a journalist or an American?"

*************

After a vote on permanent bases went uncovered, it's reported that 'Bush's requests for Iraqi base funding make some wary of extended stay.' A PIPA poll found that while 71% of Americans oppose permanent bases, 51% think the U.S. government has other plans.

"I've avoided predicting the timing," said the 'eccentric old uncle' when asked about U.S.forces completely leaving Iraq. But in February 2003 he expressed "doubt" that any conflict would last six months, retreating from his earlier prediction that "it certainly isn't going to last any longer than" five months.

A U.S. State Department announcement "issued to alert Americans to ongoing security concerns in Italy," prompted the opposition leader to say he was "very taken aback, because a move like that, with elections so close, can bring about a sense of fear and anxiety..."

In a 'Dear John' letter to the secretary of the Treasury, Paul Krugman writes that "it hurts your credibility when you say, as you did ... that soaring pay for top executives reflects their productivity and that we should 'trust the marketplace.'"

A former first lady joins the current one in showing a predilection for earmarks, and, 'Unlike his votes, Duke's booty is a bargain.'

The Washington Post's new blogger issued an apology for calling Coretta Scott King a "communist," before resigning amid allegations of plagiarism.

News outlet described as "a treasure trove for footage of ... adult-oriented entertainers," asks, 'Does Hollywood treat Albinos worse than conservatives?,' and anchors and reporters covering a Chicago primary were reportedly "ordered by their boss to wear flashy clothes -- preferably 'red white and blue.'"

March 23

Monday, March 27, 2006

As an aide to Muqtada al-Sadr charges that "American forces went into the Mustafa mosque at prayers and killed more than 20 worshippers," a U.S. spokesman says that to call the site "a place of prayer ... is frankly a matter of perception." Earlier: "We have entered the 'My Lai' phase."

"Security in Baghdad seems to be deteriorating by the hour, and it is increasingly unclear who is in control," reports Jeffrey Gettleman, who was interviewed last week about his return to Iraq.

After a suicide bomber killed at least 40 at a "recruiting station across from a U.S.-Iraqi military base," many of the wounded were reportedly taken to nearby Tal Afar.

"The U.S. is now caught between the militias and the guerrillas," writes John Robb, "and the situation will deteriorate quickly," while Patrick Cockburn describes "the growing sense among many U.S. soldiers that all Iraqis are their enemies."

The New York Times reviews the memo describing a January 2003 meeting at which President Bush "made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair ... that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons."

Editor & Publisher's Greg Mitchell observes that the memo "gets even more interesting when contrasted with what the two men told the press when they emerged from the closed-door session."

Jonathan Schwarz finds a running total of "eleven internal memos ripped horribly out of context. And in a bizarre coincidence, they tell exactly the same story as a gigantic amount of public information."

As 'Bush shuns Patriot Act requirement,' Sen. Russ Feingold's call for censuring the president, which will be debated on Friday, "is increasing his standing among many Democratic voters," reports the AP. Plus: 'The NSA Scandal in Microcosm.'

Alexander Cockburn offers an explanation of 'Why There's No Strategy to End This War,' and predicts that "Feingold will make a great showing in the early primaries, then get creamed by the Democratic machine. He'll give a powerful speech at the convention, pledging allegiance to the candidate."

The Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in what one observer calls 'A bellwether for the power of a president,' and Newsweek reports on a talk in which Justice Antonin "Scalia dismissed the idea that the detainees have rights under the U.S. Constitution or international conventions." Plus: A special Sicilian blessing.

A Los Angeles Times article on memos showing that the FBI "has spent resources gathering information on antiwar and environmental protesters and on activists who feed vegetarian meals to the homeless," delves into what happens when the 'FBI comes to Class.' And Patriot Act criticism by the head of Common Cause draws visit from FBI.

"I've been in the White House more in the last two weeks than I was in the last two years," confides Grover Norquist to Robert Novak, as Bush allies call for "new blood" in the White house

As the 'Immigration Issue Explodes,' Max Blumenthal writes of having "just returned from the largest, most energized demonstration I have ever witnessed in my life."

Paul Krugman asks of immigration, "What are we going to do about it?" while Bay Buchanan argues that deporting 11 million undocumented workers is "very realistic."

The president of CNN explains to a critic of the network's war coverage that "I'm not here to please the fringes."

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi campaigns against boiling babies, and Judy Harris probes the 'Dark Underbelly' of Italy's impending elections, while a slogan offered by Mussolini's granddaughter attracts scant notice.

"I can't possibly exaggerate just how huge a deal this is," declares Chris Mooney about Time's cover story on global warming, although the author "walks right into a trap ... one that he really should have avoided." And Newsweek finds a skeptic who's peddling "decade-old data to make a political point in 2006."

Nick Miroff salutes "the accidental revolutionary," whose "leadership has fanned a gale-force electoral trend that's sweeping the hemisphere to topple one pro-Washington government after the next," and who is closing in on another unifying figure.

March 24-26

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

TalkLeft asks of Zacharias Moussaoui's claim that he and Richard Reid were going to fly a plane into the White House on 9/11, "Is it the truth or is Moussaoui trying to hand the Government a win so he can die what he believes will be a martyr's death?"

Rounding up coverage of U.S. complaints of "huge misinformation" and protestations that U.S. forces "played mostly an advisory role" at the scene of a prayer hall massacre, Needlenose adds, "so our cover story is that we were drawn into a feud between an Iraqi military unit and a Shiite militia?"

In three separate incidents, gunmen in Baghdad reportedly kidnapped 24 people in 30 minutes, while 'Schools, Kids Becoming Targets in Iraq.'

Fresh from being paired with David Duke, Juan Cole discusses the growing influence of Muqtada al-Sadr, who he describes as both "a kingmaker in Iraqi politics" and "at daggers drawn with the insurgency."

President Bush announces a staff resignation and replacement, as Andrew Card, who "served me ... on a terrible day when America was attacked," will be succeeded as White House chief of staff by budget director Joshua Bolten.

Craig Crawford says, 'Nice try, Mr. President,' while Carpetbagger argues that "Only Bush would see Bolten as the kind of official in need of a promotion."

Rumsfeld Country Following an address at the Army War College, the defense secretary said that "If I were grading I would say we probably deserve a 'D' or a 'D-plus' as a country as to how well we're doing in the battle of ideas that's taking place in the world today."

President Bush has reportedly "been holding off-the-record meetings with White House reporters for the past few days," but the New York Times "has declined this opportunity ... As a matter of policy and practice, we would prefer when possible to conduct on-the-record interviews with public officials."

Robert Parry argues that it's 'Time to Talk War Crimes,' and Kevin Phillips asks whether it's 'Time to Recall Bush?'

"In the world of Sen. Levin," writes Glenn Greenwald, "the new principle is: 'If you think you're doing good, feel free to break the law.' That isn't hyperbole or interpretation. That is really what he's saying."

Marc Cooper hails "a huge and welcome political victory for immigration reform advocates," and in his first show since the weekend's protests, Lou Dobbs wondered why demonstrators "are waving a Mexican flag when they are talking about U.S. rights?"

A Congressional study in which undercover investigators reportedly smuggled radioactive material -- enough to make two dirty bombs -- over the U.S. border, waving licenses downloaded from the Internet, is said to demonstrate "exactly why immigration issues cannot be confounded with homeland security and anti-terror issues."

Asbestos-filled tunnels running under the Capitol are reportedly "so dangerous that the U.S. Capitol Police have been forbidden from patrolling them, leaving a potential security loophole."

Having recently "become good friends" with an "agent of intolerance," Sen. John McCain is slated to make "his first ever appearance at Liberty University," as the commencement speaker on May 13. Also on the bill: "renowned Christian conservative leader Gary Bauer."

A Republican challenger to Sen. Robert Byrd, whose wife of 68 years died on Saturday, has hired the PR firm behind the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" campaign.

Sean Penn tells the New Yorker that he has a 'torture doll' of Ann Coulter, and calls his form of reportage, "tournalism." And Matt Taibbi, who chronicled Penn's tournalistic tour of New Orleans, has just written 'The secret history of the most corrupt man in Washington.'

'Former defense chief Caspar Weinberger dies at 88,' was called a "true American patriot" when awarded a pre-trial pardon in Iran-Contra, asked in 2003, "How many electoral votes does Niger have anyway?"

March 27

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

'Abramoff gets 5 years, 10 months' in Miami, although supporters argue that their guy "deserves a break," but The Hill reports that the GOP lobbyist 'gets payback in gaming bill.'

As the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in 'Challenge Filed by Detainee,' Slate's Dahlia Lithwick describes "an agonizing exercise in Bush administration doublespeak," during which "there is almost no question for which the government cannot find a circular answer."

Five former FISA judges reportedly "voiced skepticism at a Senate hearing about the president's constitutional authority to order wiretapping on Americans without a court order." Plus: 'D for Danger.'

As a new Gallup poll finds that 'More Americans Now Call Themselves Democrats,' GOP candidates are urged to proclaim themselves "brand W. Republicans."

With Sen. Trent Lott saying that "This is not a change," a "senior Republican" is quoted as saying that the White House needs "a renovation, not just a new front door ... and not just the same group that has gotten him in trouble in the second term."

With Kadima winning the most seats in Israel's parliamentary election, "the night's most stunning defeat was dealt to the once-dominant Likud Party," led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

'Slouching towards Kadima' Writing on the eve of Israel's election, Thomas O'Dwyer argued that, after Ariel Sharon "slipped into a coma ... it seems that the entire Israeli nation has followed his example."

Dahr Jamail marshalls evidence of "a clear connection between events in Gaza and what these generated in Iraq," as CounterPunch probes the saga of 'Special Dispatch No. 1127.'

Leaders of the Iraq's Shiite Alliance are informed that President Bush would prefer someone else for prime minister, and Patrick Cockburn observes that it's the U.S. which has 'the golden ballot.'

More than 25,000 Iraqis have reportedly fled their homes to live in shelters and tent cities, resulting in a Sunni-Shiite "population exchange" since the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra. Plus: "A year of significant transition ..."

Baghdad Burning's Riverbend, who is up for a heavyweight book prize, makes a trip to the morgue after reading a news scroll on Iraqi TV: "The Ministry of Defense requests that civilians do not comply with the orders of the army or police on nightly patrols unless they are accompanied by coalition forces working in that area."

'True or not,' official U.S. explanations of U.S.-Iraqi raid that led to accounts of a "massacre" at a mosque, reportedly "did not wash Tuesday in the angry Ur neighborhood of northeast Baghdad."

A psychoanalyst and psychologist weighs in on a recent report that mentally ill service members are "heading back to Iraq with a cache of antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications" -- where U.S. troops are encouraged to "take the human being out of it and make them into a video game."

Writing about being interviewed by right-wing radio talker Hugh Hewitt, the New Republic's Jonathan Chait describes an "inquisition into whether I had friends or relatives in the military. He asked a version of this question some half-dozen times." Hewitt employed the same gambit during an interview with Joel Stein about his "I don't support our troops" column.

'Brain drain hits Homeland Security,' including "an exodus of top officials who have quit recently," while "the job of cybersecurity chief has been vacant since last summer."

President Bush praised Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo for the re-capture of Charles Taylor, after White House press secretary Scott McClellan "had suggested that Bush might not meet with the Nigerian president" unless Taylor was handed over to Sierra Leone's war crimes tribunal.

A photo inspires bloggers to talk Turkey, after being displayed on the web site of a GOP candidate seeking to fill the shoes of a gone but not forgotten congressman.

'Scalia seeks Justice over gesture,' in a letter to the Boston Herald after having "indulged himself again."

Cursor is seeking an editor/writer/patroller with a strong background in media, politics and "the long war," for between 15 and 25 hours per week. Send a brief introduction and links to writing samples -- no attachments please -- to mediapatrol@cursor.org. Finalists will be contacted the first week in April.

March 28

Thursday, March 30, 2006

American reporter Jill Carroll was 'Released Unharmed' in Baghdad, and quickly had her mental status questioned for saying she was well-treated. The freelance reporter was kidnapped January 7 while on assignment for the Christian Science Monitor.

Iraq's prime minister 'warns U.S. to stop interfering,' after President Bush tells Iraqis that "Americans understand newcomers to the political arena, but pretty soon it's time to shut her down and get governing."

"Underestimating the enemy" kicks off Ivan Eland's list of 'Bush's Top 10 "Vietnam" Mistakes,' which follows the 'Vietnam 2 Preflight Check.'

'Iraqi Army Defeats Terrorism,' reads a sample headline from "the Lincoln version," as the Independent's Andrew Buncombe performs a "reality check" on "examples of newspaper reports the Bush administration want Iraqis to read." Plus: 'Blame The Media' and pass the 'Biscuits.'

Before appearing on Fox News to declare that President Bush is the Republican's "best asset," Hugh Hewitt, interviewing Time's Michael Ware, said he "would prefer that [Ware] not report on the insurgents." Ware was asked by Bill Maher, "if you spend another three years in Iraq, what do you give your odds of surviving?"

As Media Matters finds that "major newspapers have yet to feature articles on the memo, and Fox News has not once mentioned the document," "Lawless World" author Philippe Sands speaks of "another memo."

Murray Waas recounts White House efforts at 'Insulating Bush,' by means of which news that Bush "had been personally warned that a key rationale for going to war had been challenged within the administration ... was kept under wraps until long after Bush's re-election."

Sen. Russell Feingold offers to separate fact from myth over his bill to censure President Bush.

'Army's Opposition to Ink Fading,' as rules on tattoos and "permanent makeup" are relaxed to attract new recruits. "The Army is America," explained a spokesman.

'Iran rejects UN demand' that it halt uranium enrichment, while Frida Berrigan explores "Proliferation's New Meaning" in 'Privatizing the Apocalypse.'

"I don't want to sound glib here," said the head of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, announcing plans to test a 700-ton explosive, "but it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons."

"The freelance photographer who captured the moment has come forward with the picture," telling the Boston Herald that "It's inaccurate and deceptive" of Supreme Court Justice Scalia "to say there was no vulgarity in the moment."

The BBC reports that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will not be visiting "a mosque in Jack Straw's constituency" on Friday, and a "Typically Useless Male Poet," stymied by "strict parliamentary rules [which] prohibit the use of irony," is said to have "no appetite" for an event honoring Rice.

"In New Orleans, seven months after Katrina, senior citizens are living in their cars," a Loyola law professor reports, and many former residents are said to be "unable to afford what has suddenly become a high-rent market in the New Orleans area."

A New York Times profile of a Green Party candidate for Congress in Delaware, whose son was beheaded in Iraq, quotes him as saying that "the Democrats have the money to get the message out, but they have the wrong message."

One of Britain's top symphony orchestras has cancelled a U.S. tour, citing the cost of arranging visas, estimated at 45,000 pounds, and the "mind-blowing palaver" of procedures "to protect the U.S. against terrorists."

Ted Turner reprises his "pervert of the day" slam of cable news, and calls the war in Iraq "a big waste of time," and within one 24-hour news cycle, Josh Marshall finds that mainstream outlets both giveth and taketh away.

March 29

Friday, March 31, 2006

As Sen. Russ Feingold argues 'The GOP's Stake' and Democrats 'Wait for Godot,' Sen. Arlen Specter opens a session on censure, at which John Dean testified, by contending that Feingold's resolution has no merit.

With a "remarkable memo ... getting absolutely no play," mainstream outlets choose to ignore Murray Waas's latest National Journal article, the publication of which prompted Rep. John Conyers to call on President Bush to 'Release the Hadley Memo.'

After reading the results of a new survey by Daniel Yankelovich in Foreign Affairs, Jim Lobe sees ample evidence that the 'Public Continues to Sour on Bush's Crusade,' but Howard Zinn is still asking, "How come so many people were so easily fooled?" Earlier: 'Fool Me Twice.'

Following "thousands" of U.S. errors, Patrick Cockburn reports that "Iraq is splitting into three different parts," while the Guardian's Jonathan Steele finds that 'Iraqis face a more brutal life with each passing month.'

Dave Lindorff argues that 'The Mustafa Mosque Massacre was No Accident or Error,' but part of a strategy.

Upon her release, Jill Carroll was reportedly "shocked to hear of the prayers on her behalf, of the media coverage, of the vigils and balloon releases at the foot of the Eiffel Tower."

Carroll was also said to have been warned against going to the Green Zone before being released by her captors, who told her that the area had been "infiltrated by the mujahedeen."

Two years of U.S. convoys "shooting and pressing on" when attacked, which "gave bad guys the perception that Americans run away," give way to orders to 'stand and fight.'

The AP reports of being told by a key aide to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, that a letter from President Bush "was hand-delivered earlier this week but sits unread and untranslated in the top religious figure's office."

With a report that British Prime Minister Tony Blair's "closest aides feel" that he 'will be gone by Christmas,' it's asked if President Bush has "finally gotten to the point where he sees Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld as a liability, not an asset?" And, Rumsfeld sizes up the competition.

As the U.S. Army 'bans use of privately bought armor,' Blackwater USA declares itself ready for war, with the company's vice chairman saying, "The issue is, who's going to let us play on their team?" It was recently reported that FEMA is paying $950 a day for each Blackwater guard in Louisiana.

In news said to have "shattered the fragile relationship between Washington officials and Louisiana leaders," the cost of rebuilding New Orleans' levees has nearly tripled to $10 billion. And a full recovery for the city could take up to 25 years, according to the Bush administration's Gulf Coast reconstruction czar.

Outgoing White House chief of staff Andrew Card is described as functioning as a "nanny" and "manservant," routinely asked to "perform the duties of a glorified intern."

As President Bush touted his "guest worker" proposal in Mexico, a GOP congressman was quoted as saying, "I wish he'd think about the party and of course I also wish he'd think about the country." Plus: "The Canadian guy was the only one that we could actually sacrifice ..."

Word of an arrest warrant for Rep. Cynthia McKinney, following an "unfortunate confrontation," leads to a report that Capitol Hill police -- and White House security -- have a history of not recognizing McKinney, who once asked Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff to explain why he shouldn't be charged with negligent homicide after Katrina.

A Boston Catholic paper has fired a freelance photographer -- who released a photo of Supreme Court Justice Scalia making an obscene gesture in church -- after using his work for a decade.

Cargo loses its cult, Rolling Stone is 'Silenced in China,' Vanity Fair decides against recycled paper for its environmental issue, and an ad contest attracts a chilling entry.

March 30