Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi with a remarkable piece on the great Iraq war swindle. Warning: after you read it, you’ll most likely want to scream or break something:
Operation Iraqi Freedom, it turns out, was never a war against Saddam ­Hussein’s Iraq. It was an invasion of the federal budget, and no occupying force in history [...]

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Dayna Kurtz live at The Living Room, NYC:

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It was 97 today. Fortunately, Somegirl invited me over to her friend’s pool for the day. It was damned hot. The water was great, though - mostly because it cooled off earlier this week, when the temperature was in the 60s.
I’m one of those people who overthinks things. I edge into the water, I spend [...]

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Fiona Apple w/Elvis and the song from his “Blood and Chocolate” album (I think) that so perfectly captures the taste of bitterness and betrayal:

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Little Bill Kristol.

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Steve Clemons:
I just wrote this piece for Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish.
The zinger — about which I’m withholding judgment but which I think should be in the public domain — is that I have just learned that “A War We Might Just Win” co-author Mike O’Hanlon is under contract with America’s Middle East propaganda network, Alhurra.
O’Hanlon’s [...]

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Being and nothingness.

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Pretty women out walking with gorillas down my street…
Joe Jackson:

There’s a memory involving me drunk on a date, wearing high heels and walking up the very steep carpeted stairs of a club where Joe Jackson was recording a live set… that’s better left buried.

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See? Fucking monkeys.

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Who could ever have imagined such a thing?
WASHINGTON — Top military lawyers have told senators that President Bush’s new rules for CIA interrogations of suspected terrorists could allow abuses that violate the Geneva Conventions, according to Senate and military officials.
The Judge Advocates General of all branches of the military told the senators that a July [...]

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I used to know someone who worked for him, and she once told me this moving James Taylor song was really inspired by the death of his brother Alex (even though it’s about a woman):

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As I noted the other day, there is indeed a connection between the rumblings about “democratically-elected” Prime Minister Maliki and the hiring of a heavyweight PR firm to promote former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Apparently all those purple fingers are meaningless against the power of a major Beltway player!
Glenn Greenwald untangles the whole mess (and [...]

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It’s really Kristen Vigard singing this Elvis Costello tune for Ileana Douglas in this scene from “Grace of My Heart”. The movie is loosely based on the life and career of Carole King, and even though the music is original, it’s all so true to the era, you can’t believe it’s new:

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This makes sense:
The only western journalist to interview al Qaeda’s leader says the US invasion of Iraq “fulfilled Osama bin Laden’s wish.”
In a recent interview with Australian television, Al Quds editor Abdul Bari Atwan claimed that the terror leader had sought to draw US troops into a fight in the Middle East.
“He told me personally [...]

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Apparently it’s bad enough that they’re breaking the rules to keep it under control:
NEW YORK (Fortune) — In a clear sign that the credit crunch is still affecting the nation’s largest financial institutions, the Federal Reserve agreed this week to bend key banking regulations to help out Citigroup (Charts, Fortune 500) and Bank of America [...]

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I do love this Elvis song:

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Those repressed Republicans!
Yet another Republican strategist involved in an apparent “lovers quarrel”, according to police. Of course, since Gonsalez was involved with so many shady characters, there’s probably more to this:
ORLANDO — (AP) — A local Republican political consultant was among the three men found dead in an apparent double-murder and suicide at an Orange [...]

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If only their customer service reps were as friendly to their customers as they are to Big Brother:
The Bush administration acknowledged for the first time that telecommunications companies assisted the government’s warrantless surveillance program and were being sued as a result, an admission some legal experts say could complicate the government’s bid to halt numerous [...]

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It’s evident that Republicans tend to have some pretty colorful ids behind those God-fearing suppressed libidos, and that’s why their leaders continue to play to that base with the usual anti-woman, sex-a-phobic shenanigans:
But for those trained to hear the subtleties, Mr. Romney was acknowledging something more. He implied an opposition to the birth control pill [...]

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Today’s morning commute has been brought to you by Elliott Smith’s “XO” and the White Stripes’ “Get Behind Me Satan.”
White Stripes with “My Doorbell”:

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Josh.

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Kevin Drum’s got ‘em and they don’t look good for the surge.

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Because see, they don’t get the vision:
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to advise President Bush to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost half, potentially creating a rift with top White House officials and other military commanders over the course of the war.
Administration and military [...]

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Duncan.

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Todd live:

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Shelby Lynne with Willie Nelson:

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We read so much bad news everyday, it’s wonderful to read something that lifts you up like this story about a gay union member’s surviving partner:
“When I heard the news that Bill’s union had changed their policy and even made it retroactive to include me, I was stunned,” said Marvin. “Maybe it was me sharing [...]

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John Edwards gave a great (long) speech in New Hampshire today:

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Paul McLeary of the Columbia Journalism Review:
I’ve been enjoying the musings of Steve Shippert—who chimes in on the National Review’s The Tank blog from time to time—for a while now, and have finally decided to share some of his received wisdom with some of those who might not know about him. Yesterday, while writing about [...]

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