Today one of the reporters asked Flounder about the G8 agreement on aid to Africa, saying (mostly accurately) it was simply repackaged aid that was already allocated.
Flounder “took exception” to her statement, said “no one has done more than this president for Africa,” blah blah blah.
Lying sack of shit. See how easy that was? No [...]

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My part of the globe, anyway. Jesus, it’s miserable out. I just walked down to the mailbox and it’s so stinking hot and humid after a rather lengthy thunderstorm this morning.
Have I ever mentioned how much I love my mailbox? All the apartment mailboxes are lined up on a shelf, they have little red flags [...]

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This is a pretty courageous thing for her to do:
Actress and activist Jane Fonda says she intends to take a cross-country bus tour to call for an end to U.S. military operations in Iraq.
“I can’t go into any detail except to say that it’s going to be pretty exciting,” she said.
Fonda said her anti-war tour [...]

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From today’s L.A. Times:
The exchange occurred during one of Roberts’ informal discussions with senators last week. According to two people who attended the meeting, Roberts was asked by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) what he would do if the law required a ruling that his church considers immoral. Roberts is a devout Catholic and is married [...]

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As you may have guessed, when I start my new job next week, I will no longer be jumping on every little BushCo tidbit throughout the day. I’ll probably limit myself to one or two lengthier (and more writerly) posts a day.
But at this point, do you really need to read it all? If you’ve [...]

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Hey, we’re all screwed:
NEW YORK — Companies looking to cool their pension problems are freezing benefits for the workers least likely to complain.
This means cutting off new employees, or a combination of new employees and workers of a certain age — often those under 40. Only people ages 40 and over are covered by [...]

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Pretty funny:
In all, I don’t think I would characterize George W. Bush’s presidency as a failure as much as a parade of “success deferments“. Likely, it will be deferred to whoever has the pleasure of cleaning up the mess in 2008.

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With some political risk, Bush has put CAFTA near the top of his legislative agenda, meeting personally with dozens of lawmakers, giving speeches around the country, encouraging support from Hispanic groups and venturing into textile country in North Carolina, where there’s little love for free trade agreements.
“This bill is more than a trade bill,” Bush [...]

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Little Ricky says it’s not relevant that SCOTUS nominee John Roberts’ wife does legal work for anti-abortion group Feminists for Life. He says lots of wives, including his, have different opinions from their husbands and it shouldn’t even be a factor.
Except, of course, if your name’s Hillary. Or Valerie.
Then it’s different.

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I finished reading the new Harper’s, and boy, it’s a good one. I strongly urge you to get it. (UPDATE: Here’s the link. ANOTHER UPDATE: Here’s the audio link to a forum Harper’s hosted on voting rights and the 2004 election.)
“None Dare Call It Stolen” is the cover story and it’s Mark Crispin Miller’s comprehensive [...]

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L.A. Times on our new SCOTUS nominee:
There was another young John in those days too, the one at the Notre Dame Catholic elementary school in Michigan City, Ind., who one day found himself sitting in the principal’s office.
His parents were called in and John was asked to explain how an orange had come to be [...]

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I’m coming in on the tail end, as it were, but I remember wondering about this yesterday. Some of the Freepers were salivating over “the libs getting it wrong again” and looky here, by gosh by golly. We didn’t:
Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. has repeatedly said that he has no memory of belonging [...]

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Krugman:
Modern American politics is dominated by the doctrine that government is the problem, not the solution. In practice, this doctrine translates into policies that make low taxes on the rich the highest priority, even if lack of revenue undermines basic public services. You don’t have to be a liberal to realize that this is wrong-headed. [...]

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I was going through my archives and found this:
RUMPELSTILTSKIN IS MY NAME, STRAW TO GOLD IS MY GAME
Actually, the little man weaving straw into gold is Ed Gillespie, the RNC’s chinless wonder. (Is his and Charles Krauthammer’s rage due simply to the lack of a competent plastic surgeon? Hmm… must give this one some thought.)
Just [...]

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Fighting for freedom:
BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 24 - A suicide truck bomb exploded at a police station today in the middle of a raging sandstorm in eastern Baghdad, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens of others, Iraqi officials said. The attack came on a day when Sunni Arab leaders involved in drafting the new [...]

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From today’s Seattle Times via Kos:
The Justice Department blocked efforts by its prosecutors in Seattle in 2002 to bring criminal charges against Haroon Aswat, according to federal law-enforcement officials who were involved in the case.
British authorities suspect Aswat of taking part in the July 7 London bombings, which killed 56 and prompted an intense worldwide [...]

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I guess I’m waiting for someone to explain why it would have been okay to summarily execute a suspect if he was connected to the bombings:
LONDON, July 23 - Scotland Yard admitted Saturday that a man police officers gunned down at point-blank range in front of horrified subway passengers on Friday had nothing to do [...]

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I wonder what it takes for people to see what’s going on:
“THIS IS HIGHLY usual,” declared a spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee when asked this week whether the request by committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.) for information from three climate scientists was out of the ordinary. He and his boss are alone [...]

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So it turns out Tubby Tim Russert didn’t testify about what any sources told him - he testified on what he did or did not tell Scooter Libby. From Newsweek:
A deal that special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald cut last year for NBC “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert’s testimony may shed light on the emerging White [...]

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“Supporting the troops” is such very hard work. Between FOIA requests from the ACLU and the rare nosy reporter like Sy Hersh, a president hardly has time to take a month’s vacation to clear brush.
“Supporting the troops” means covering up the fact that tactics like this were ordered from the top (”Welcome to the Hague, [...]

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Informative explanation of Washington leaks in this article from WashPo. Worth the read.

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Will recommends the latest from my fave Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky.
Ronnie deconstructs Little Ricky’s new book, “It Takes A Family”:
Here’s what Santorum wrote about giving financial aid to poor single moms:
“The classic example of the failure of liberal social and economic policy is the Great Society welfare programs… . Aid to Families With [...]

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This story in today’s Daily News illustrates the punitive and idiotic way we dole out “justice” - instead of developing fair and consistent policies.
A legal immigrant - employed in a good job, married, two kids - is going to be deported after he was cleared of a recent high-profile subway rape. Charges against the [...]

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I’m not too clear on this. Is The Guardian saying Fitzpatrick is investigating this, or are they referring to a totally separate investigation by someone else? In either case, real news:
Leaking the identity of an undercover agent is a serious crime under US law, but prosecutors would have to prove that the leaker was aware [...]

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I’m trying to remember Bush ever threatening a veto before. And now, he does it to protect his “right” to torture anybody, anywhere, for any reason. Sure sounds like someone thinking about his future - say, in front of a war crimes tribunal?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday threatened to veto a massive [...]

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Via Raw Story, the L.A. Times uses the “P” word and the “O” word on the front page - for perjury, obstruction of justice and Karl Rove:
The sources also said prosecutors are comparing the various statements to the FBI and the grand jury by Rove, who is a White House deputy chief of staff and [...]

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In the context of the latest info tying Our Girl Judy to John “Manly Mustache Man” Bolton, this Common Ills post from February on the UN Oil for Food “scandal” is all the more intriguing. (I hadn’t realized Judy had been reassigned to the U.N. beat a year ago. Interesting, no?)
While you hear from the [...]

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Here’s the Friday news dump, and this one’s even more of a disgrace than usual:
NEW YORK — Today, July 22, was the day the government was supposed to process and redact photographs and videos relating to the abuse and torture of prisoners held abroad. Raising new arguments on the eve of its deadline, the United [...]

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It always amazes me that so much cancer research seems to ignore environmental toxins:
In the largest study of chemical exposure ever conducted on human beings, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that most American children and adults were carrying in their bodies dozens of pesticides and toxic compounds used in consumer [...]

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Look how well that “flypaper” thing is working:
Explosions in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in the early hours of Saturday morning killed at least 20 people and wounded about 100, a rescue official said.
Police said the explosions were caused by four car bombs in Sharm el-Sheikh and the nearby resort of Naama [...]

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