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By Teh Nutroots | We've already read and enjoyed Juan Cole's top 10 myths for 2007. Now in Slate, Dahlia Lithwick (Legal Fictions) gives us the Bush Administration's top 10 dumbest legal arguments. It's a must-read for anyone who has lost count of the Bush Administration's many attempts to extend its reach into the everyday personal affairs of average American citizens....for our own good, of course.
The Bush administration continues to limit our basic freedoms, conceal
its own worst behavior, and insist that it does all this in order to
make us more free. In that spirit, it seemed an opportune moment to
commemorate the administration's worst legal justifications and
arguments of the year. (Slate)
by Damozel | Here's Paul Krugman in The New York Times, still trying to convince me that a presidency which strives to govern to the center and achieve bipartisan goals is the impossible dream:
Yesterday The Times published a highly informative chart laying out the
positions of the presidential candidates on major issues. It was, I'd
argue, a useful reality check for those who believe that the next
president can somehow usher in a new era of bipartisan cooperation.
For what the chart made clear was the extent to which Democrats and
Republicans live in separate moral and intellectual universes.(The New York Times)
by D. Cupples | The Associated Press reported that 2007 was the U.S. Military's "deadliest year" in Iraq: as of Sunday, 899 U.S. troops have died -- the highest number since 2003. The next highest was in 2004, when 850 died. This year, U.S. troop deaths peaked in May, at 126.
It was also a deadly year for Iraqi civilians, with 18,610 killed in 2007, up from 13,813 in 2006. This came amid reports that some analysts believe our war effort has been successful: that violence in Iraq declined in the second half of 2007. The AP reports:
Posted by D. Cupples | As Damozel pointed out at Versus/Reversus, House Judiciary Committee members Robert Wexler (D-Fla), Luis Gutierrez
(D-Ill.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis) ran an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer last Thursday, arguing that there is now "credible evidence"
supporting the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney (Cheney photo from Whitehouse.gov).
by D. Cupples | It's hard to believe that, say, 1,000 people's answers to survey questions truly reflect the answers that un-surveyed millions would give. Increasing those doubts is that different pollsters can come up with different numbers.
Confusion is intensified by the way that some media outlets report on polling data. To illustrate, I've listed below a few poll results and headlines.
by D. Cupples| According to the Washington Post, the National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence (NDCEE), which is now run by a private firm called Concurrent Technologies, has received $670 million in contracts and
earmarks since 1991 to create technologies for the Defense Department's use. The Defense Department, however, has made little use of the NDCEE's
work.
The Project on Government Oversight's executive director reasonably commented:
"Something is
very wrong here. Why is the government pouring hundreds of millions of dollars
into a contractor whose work it isn't using?"
by Damozel | You know how certain people were saying that Fred Thompson couldn't care less whether he wins or doesn't and really isn't into it and is just dialing it in, and how Thompson's defenders defended him? It turns out that Fred Thompson really couldn't care less whether he wins or doesn't and really isn't into it. He's "offering himself up" because we need another actor in the White House. And to be fair, Thompson is every bit as good an actor as Ronald Reagan was, except of course with respect to playing the role of an actor who wants to be president. He suggested that it is probably a good thing, the state of the world being what it is, to have a president without "too much fire in his belly." (USA Today)
What a zen approach. It's like a koan---or like a verse from the Tao Te Ching: "The fire that burns bright soon consumes itself and all around it; the fire that burns low, though it provide but faint light, gives warmth to the whole world." Here's what USA Today says he said:
Politicians are often the blank slates on which we
project our own madness. A recent article by the New York Times
Company was so filled with resentment against Benazir Bhutto that I
feel compelled to protest. The piece, which can still be read in the IHT, was a very personal attack against Bhutto as a woman and a Muslim. ..
The worst instance was the choice of the phrase “the dance of the seven veils”
to characterize Bhutto’s management of Pakistani political matters. The
Dance of the Seven Veils is a well-known metaphor for sexual seduction,
being associated with the dance Salome performed for Herod to get him to agree to murder John the Baptist.
by D. Cupples (photo from Senate.gov) | The remains of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated on Thursday, were placed in a family mausoleum yesterday. Reuters reported that the assassination has "triggered violent protests."
Senator Hillary Clinton has demanded an independent, international investigation of the assassination, stating:
"I don't think the Pakistani government at this time under President (Pervez) Musharraf has any
credibility at all. They have disbanded an independent judiciary, they oppressed a free press."
(Agence France Presse)
Another troubling aspect: explanations of Bhutto's death seem to conflict.
by D. Cupples| An activist group is pushing for a town policy that would subject President Bush and Vice President Cheney to indictment for "crimes against our constitution" if they set foot in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Not all Vermonters think of our president as a criminal. At the same time, the perception of him as a criminal doesn't seem restricted to Vermont. When I was in London, for example, someone had left a poster near Parliament that included a picture of President Bush and the words "war criminal." About the Vermont situation, CNN reports:
by D. Cupples | President Bush has attempted to use a pocket veto to reject the Defense Authorization Act, which includes not only $800+ billion in funding but also better oversight of contractors and a higher pay raise for our troops than they had been scheduled to get.
Why is the Commander in Chief willing to deny our troops their additional raise and clamp down on contractors? The Associated Press reports:
by D. Cupples | Buying a new car would have long-term impacts on most Americans' household finances. Similarly, spending $200 billion on international programs or wars has long-term impacts on our nation's finances. Many Americans grasp this simple principle, and federal government officials should be among them. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report states:
"The federal government's financial condition and
fiscal outlook have deteriorated dramatically since 2000."
Why? Largely because the officials in charge of budgeting over the last six-plus years haven't truly considered future consequences of national spending. The GAO states:
Jon Swift has done the definitive yearly round-up of "best o' the blogs," having had the inspired idea of letting the bloggers decide what their own best and most representative post for the year would be. We here at BN-Politics revere the great and modest satirist, and are therefore modestly thrilled to have been included. Of course, Jon Swift IS Jon Swift, so you'll want to read the Swiftian commentary. Here's a sample to whet your appetite (it's the very first one).
Agitprop "Republican Sex Scandal (U.K. Update)" Blogenfreude
explains Republican sex scandals to readers in the U.K., where they
don't have any sex scandals at all, or even very much sex, as far as I
know.
Read more here. We have included below, in the fullness of our gratitude, a humble tribute to the blogosphere's most reasonable sensible conservative:
By Damozel | At the moment, all that is really known is that she was killed, possibly by a suicide bomber and possibly by gunshot wounds. (CNN) A number of others died as well. (CNN)
Bhutto, 54, was being driven from the rally in her bulletproof vehicle
when she asked that the rooftop hatch be opened so she could bid
supporters farewell, according to several aides, including one who was
sitting next to her.
As she leaned her head through the hatch, between three and five
gunshots rang out, aides said. Bhutto sank back into her seat, just as
a large bomb detonated to the left of her vehicle. Those inside the car
said her face was badly bloodied. It was not clear whether she'd been
hit by bullets or shrapnel from the bombing. She lost consciousness,
aides said, and never regained it.
by D. Cupples | Amid some people's belief that our nation's economy is in a good state, there's more bad news about the housing market. Apparently, the worst is still yet to come. CNN/Money reports:
by Damozel (public domain photograph from Wikipedia Commons) | Texas, which now performs 60% of the executions in the U.S. is not "bucking the trend." Since I live in Florida, I am not in position to feel much moral superiority. But even though we perform our share of executions, at least we don't perform 60% of the country's total. (Cold comfort is better than no comfort at all.) The New York Times reports:
This year’s death penalty bombshells — a de facto national moratorium,
a state abolition and the smallest number of executions in more than a
decade — have masked what may be the most significant and lasting
development. For the first time in the modern history of the death
penalty, more than 60 percent of all American executions took place in Texas.
by Damozel | Is more partisanship just what this country needs? Paul Krugman thinks that progressives need to "take on the movement than brought Bush to power." (Slate via Memeorandum) Though in a way I think this is what we do here at BN-Politics every day, I have never thought of myself as a progressive. I have a progressive agenda, all right, but I don't believe that the way to make lasting changes is to shove it down other people's throats. At the same time, my goal is certainly to do all I can to promote what I'd call progressive values. Which makes me....I don't know what it makes me, even when I read Krugman's definition of these labels.
Everyone seems to have their own definitions; mine involves the
distinction between values and action. If you think every American
should be guaranteed health insurance, you're a liberal; if you're
trying to make universal health care happen, you're a progressive. (Slate)
[by Cockney Robin & Damozel (cross-posted to Versus/Reversus) | Cockney Robin, who is having a jolly holiday in an exotic location, recently turned me on to Brit blog Blood and Treasure. He's now sent me this link. The link came with this note: "Just in case you think Ebenezer Scrooge ain't alive and well on this side of the Atlantic or that we don't still have a homeless problem." "Scrooge with a little added pecksniff" remarks Jamie K. in re: a BBC News article called "Do soup kitchens help the homeless?"
As charities launch their annual drive to help the
homeless at Christmas, Westminster Council in central London is
pursuing plans to ban soup kitchens from its streets. It has won some
surprising support....[A]ccording to Westminster City Council, soup kitchens are drawing former rough sleepers out of hostels and back onto the streets. (BBC)
by D. Cupples | The week before the New Year is all about counting: things like days, calories, credit-card tallies. Author and President of the Global Americana Institute Juan Cole decided to count myths. Below is a sampling of Cole's list of the top 10 myths of 2007 (listed from 10 to 1).
by Damozel | Despite an announced "clampdown" on corporations who hire illegal immigrants, the Bush administration seems to have been able to arrest only 100 or so of the people who did the hiring. )WaPo via Memeorandum) Though the feds have "clamped down" on companies that use illegal workers, only a "tiny fraction" end up with criminal charges filed against them. (WaPo)
Fewer than 100 owners, supervisors or hiring officials were arrested
in fiscal 2007, compared with nearly 4,900 arrests that involved
illegal workers, providers of fake documents and others, the figures
show. Immigration experts say the data illustrate the Bush
administration's limited success at delivering on its rhetoric about
stopping illegal hiring by corporate employers.(WaPo)
By Teh Nutroots | We've already read and enjoyed Juan Cole's top 10 myths for 2007. Now in Slate, Dahlia Lithwick (Legal Fictions) gives us the Bush Administration's top 10 dumbest legal arguments. It's a must-read for anyone who has lost count of the Bush Administration's many attempts to extend its reach into the everyday personal affairs of average American citizens....for our own good, of course. 
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Committee members Robert Wexler (D-Fla), Luis Gutierrez
(D-Ill.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis) ran an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer last Thursday, arguing that there is now "credible evidence"
supporting the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney (
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