The President does not believe we should be using taxpayer dollars for — or to support the further destruction of human life.
- Today’s White House press briefing, Scott McClellan.

Unless you’re an Iraqi civilian or some poor schmuck who got sent there to give the Preznit a photo op. Then it’s different. It’s about freedom.
I no […]

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Federal prosecutors have declined to press charges of impersonating a Secret Service agent against a White House volunteer who forcibly ousted three people from a speech by President George W. Bush in Denver on March 21. The announcement was made without explanation Friday in a letter from the Secret Service to Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar […]

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My God, these “journalists” have no shame. I guess it’s time for another conference on ethics in blogging. Via Daily Kos, we discover that reporters get “exclusives” from the GOP - if they promise not to call any Democrats for comment:
The piece is subscription only so most of you can’t read it. But if you […]

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I had to leave the house at 6:45 this morning to attend a seminar at my new job. “But Suze, how did you post while you were on the road?” you may ask. Well, that’s because through the magic of WordPress, I can actually write posts in advance and schedule them to appear!
But I’m writing […]

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I kept forgetting to mention this other excellent article from the August Harper’s, because it goes into depth about something I say all the time: These fundies and assorted other people trying to run the country aren’t real Christians.
This is only an excerpt, you’ll have to buy the mag. But it points out what I’ve […]

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And they wonder why readers prefer bloggers to their “professionals”:
A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller - imprisoned for civil contempt for refusing to name a confidential source - and called for her release. Paul Steiger, CPJ chairman and managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, […]

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See how the free market is keeping us safe?
LAS VEGAS — A bug discovered in an operating system that runs the majority of the world’s computer networks would, if exploited, allow an attacker to bring down the nation’s critical infrastructure, a computer security researcher said Wednesday against threat of a lawsuit.
Michael Lynn, a former […]

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I’ve really cut back on eating beef, and stories like this help me remember why:
The USDA is now investigating a possible third U.S. case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), in an animal at least 12 years old.
A brain sample from the suspect cow was taken by a local veterinarian in April […]

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Johnny Bolton makes it right:
John Bolton, the nominee for U.N. ambassador, inaccurately told Congress he had not been interviewed or testified in any investigation over the past five years, the State Department said Thursday, responding to a Democratic critic.
Bolton was interviewed by the State Department inspector general as part of a joint investigation with the […]

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Now I know why wingnut favorite Powerline is the “Blog of the Year”:
It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one […]

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Billmon on the CAFTA bazaar:
The thing that really alarms me about all this is the utter brazeness with which the loot is being divvied up now. The Dixiepublicans are acting as if there is simply no chance they will ever be held accountable for their sins anywhere short of the pearly gates. (And DeLay’s probably […]

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Don’t fuck with the little old ladies:
Seeking to redress decades-old Constitutional defects in the way Ohio conducts federal elections, the League of Women Voters of Ohio, the League of Women Voters of Toledo-Lucas County, and more than a dozen Ohio citizens today filed a historic, non-partisan lawsuit against the State of Ohio.
The lawsuit alleges […]

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Let’s give credit where credit is due. Thanks to the neocons, life will be even more of a struggle for these soldiers:
WASHINGTON - Thirty percent of U.S. troops returning from the Iraq war have developed stress-related mental health problems three to four months after coming home, the Army’s surgeon general said Thursday.
The problems include […]

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Krugman:
I’ve been looking at a new study of international differences in working hours by Alberto Alesina and Edward Glaeser, at Harvard, and Bruce Sacerdote, at Dartmouth. The study’s main point is that differences in government regulations, rather than culture (or taxes), explain why Europeans work less than Americans.
But the study also suggests that in this […]

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Score another one for the “personal responsibility for thee but not for corporate me” crowd:
The nation’s gun lobby is close to realizing a long-sought goal of protecting firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held legally responsible for violent crimes committed with their handguns and automatic weapons.
Supporters believe they have the votes in the Senate to […]

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Some headaches are worthier than others [via PageOneQ]:
NGLCC co-founder Justin Nelson put the religious right on notice that the recent uproar surrounding the marketing of Tylenol PM to the LGBT community would backfire and that religious conservative interest groups have reached a new level of ignorance and intolerance. “I didn’t know headaches were only a […]

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Did you know an airplane crashed into a New York City skyscraper before?
It was 1945, and it was the Empire State Building.

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Remember the day after the presidential election, when I was the designated blogger/whipping girl for the local PBS outlet over blogs posting the exit polls?
“Now that you know the polls were wrong, don’t you feel like a fucking moron?” the hostess said. (Perhaps these are only words to that effect. After all, this was PBS. […]

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Via Chris Bowers at MyDD:
A disgusting development on the CAFTA vote is that it appears the vote was actually 217-217, which would have resulted in its defeat. However, apparently, the clerk did not record one or two of the “no” votes, thus stealing passage of the legislation. If we can prove this, it is is […]

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Via Julia, this comprehensive look at the absurd hurdles doctors and patients face in prescribing or getting adequate pain medication. Lots and lots of useful links.

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Sam Rosenfeld dissects the tactics that worked for the Republicans last night:
Where to begin on last night’s CAFTA vote? The Washington Post’s write-up provides some of the juicier details of the Republican leadership’s strong-arm shenanigans:
The 217 to 215 vote came just after midnight, in a dramatic finish that highlighted the intensity brought by both […]

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I do love me some Rick Perlstein, and he really hones in on what Democrats need to do:
I won’t belabor the point that I believe that the Democrats pay a huge long-term price for those Democrats who let that bankruptcy bill go through. The Republicans understand us better than we understand ourselves. When we […]

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I wish I could toss this off with a snide remark but it’s such a damned disgrace:
FORT WORTH, Texas — Several explosions are occurring and flames are shooting hundreds of feet into the air from a chemical plant in the industrial section of north Fort Worth.
The 4-alarm fire has engulfed the Valley Solvents and Chemicals […]

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In that ADD way I have, I’ve been sort of ignoring some pertinent life logistics. But last night I finally sat down and added up the numbers: I don’t have enough money to 1) pay my rent 2) pay gas and tolls to get to my new job for the next two weeks or […]

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You read it here first.
March 6, 2004 - Suburban Guerrilla:
I was looking through my referral log this afternoon, and I happened to spot this: Someone from the Department of Justice was Googling “john hannah” “judith miller” and got me.
Gee, I wonder if she’s one of the people who got a subpoena in the CIA […]

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