"Broken Engagement " by Gen. Wesley Clark

Wes Clark brilliance. Check it out here. Here's an excerpt: "During 2002 and early 2003, Bush administration officials put forth a shifting series of arguments for why we needed to invade Iraq. Nearly every one of these has been belied by subsequent events. We have yet to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; assuming that they exist at all, they obviously never presented an imminent threat. Saddam's alleged connections to al Qaeda turned out to be tenuous at best and clearly had nothing to do with September 11. The terrorists now in Iraq have largely arrived because we are there, and Saddam's security forces aren't. And peace between Israel and the Palestinians, which prominent hawks argued could be achieved 'only through Baghdad,' seems further away than ever. "

Zell Miller the wingnut.

According to Zell Miller, what went on at Abu Ghraib is nothing more serious than what goes on in school locker rooms across the country. As Pandagon comments, the school locker room can be an intimidating place, but "since nobody locked the door, put a bag over my head, beat me, sodomized me with broomsticks and light sticks, forced men into sexual acts with other people, threatened my life, and took pictures of the whole thing for their amusement, I never thought to compare it to what happened in Iraq, because it wasn't even in the same galaxy of occurences". Indeed.

Pathetic.

Bush likes to go around visiting factories, (mostly those run by his supporters) and making a big point about just how successful and helpful his tax cuts, etc. are for manufacturers. This is an especially important point in battleground rust belt states like Ohio and Michigan. A visit to Counterspin Central will reveal that a factory in Canton, OH, which Bush visited in 2003, and where he gave a self-congratulatory speech in front of a "Jobs and Growth" banner similar to the now-infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner. Well, that plant's been shut down.

A glimpse

of John Ashcroft's America. Who would have thought that the pride and flag-waving jingoism of 2002 would give way to utter shame and disgust in 2004?

If you didn't already think Bush & Co needed to go...

The GAO investigates and discovers that 28 top (read: executive-level) federal workers sport bogus "diploma-mill" degrees. Including some who work in the TSA, and three managers at the office that handles nuclear weapons safety. Let's not forget about the Abu Ghraib scandal. Could you IMAGINE the headlines and the unbridled venom that would be spewing from the mouths of people like Limbaugh, DeLay, etc. if this had happened under, say, Clinton? Well, there are some new as-yet-unreleased pictures, and the question isn't whether, but when they'll be made public. Apparently, some of the photos depict soldiers having sex with each other. Apparently, other photos depict US troops sodomizing Iraqi prisoners with glow sticks What's also striking is that, all of a sudden the very "black and white" world of conservative punditry has opened itself up to the wonders of moral relativism.

Yaay. My LTE is published

Here's the link. Here's the text: We'd be better off with Kerry at helm 5/5/2004 Recent letters to The News attacking Sen. John Kerry are misguided and ironic. One letter touted Bush's tax cuts, yet criticized Kerry supporters for demanding more government programs, using the old canard that Democrats are tax and spenders. The Bush administration's idea of wealth redistribution involves cutting taxes, while spending the people's money with unbridled enthusiasm. Wealthy individuals and big corporations get huge tax breaks on the backs of middle-class taxpayers. In place of a huge budget surplus, we now have a record deficit. The Republican federal government is all about spending without actually paying the bill. That's not guts. It's irresponsibility. Kerry wants to decrease the federal deficit. He believes that a strong economy can coexist with sound environmental policies. He knows firsthand what war is like, and will not be cavalier when putting our men and women in harm's way. Kerry will make it easier for middle-class kids to get a college education. He will stop giving tax breaks to companies that take their headquarters and jobs overseas. By the way, last year, I was a Republican, too. ALAN BEDENKO Clarence Center

Great new website

Everyone remember David Brock? Back in the early 90s, he was a shill for the conservatives - he was, in fact, their darling. He wrote the "Real Anita Hill", and broke the Clinton "Troopergate" story, among others, working for the ultra-right-wing "American Spectator." Turned out, Brock is gay. Turns out, the ultra-right-wing conservative movement doesn't much care for gays. So, now Brock has changed his ways and is turning his undeniable talents against his former masters on the right. He is the editor of this new website: Media Matters for America. Please go check it out. There's too much good stuff about ..ahem.. lying liars there, and it seems to be updated regularly.