Thursday, June 1, 2006

A Los Angeles Times report describes how 'A Town Awoke to Slaughter' in Iraq, while Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are instructed that 'Geneva rules don't apply' to Taliban or al-Qaeda.

As Haditha becomes "synonymous with military disgrace," an AP 'Reporter remembers accused Haditha regiment.'

Media Matters rounds up suggestions by pundits that "the media and Murtha" are trying to "create another" Abu Ghraib "propaganda bonanza" -- but was Haditha 'Aberrant or Endemic?'

'Iraq's prime minister seeks to calm Basra' with an "iron fist," and an official from 'A City In Chaos' tells the New York Times that "As long as we have parties, it's impossible to ensure security," adding that "if you print this, I'll be killed."

As a Republican congressman claims that Iraq is safer than D.C., Tony Snow answers a question about Vice President Cheney's "last throes" comment by asserting that "for a long time, when we talked about insurgency -- that is, 'we,' generally, Americans -- we thought of al Qaeda." (scroll to end) Plus: Dan Froomkin on 'Bush's Lie.'

A Pentagon report of 'Insurgent attacks in Iraq at highest level in 2 years' is called "an ominous sign that, despite three years of combat, the U.S.-led coalition forces haven't significantly weakened the Iraq insurgency," although a Pentagon spokesman says that "Perspective is the thing."

'Where have all the protesters gone?' Sam Graham-Felsen argues that "idealism died in this country because the doctrine of 'There Is No Alternative' killed it."

Dick Meyer of CBS argues that 'Whistleblowing In The Wind' is probably responsible for much of what we know "about Abu Ghraib, the NSA's domestic surveillance, secret prisons in Eastern Europe or possible murders in Haditha."

A U.S. offer to talk is said to be "aimed as much at placating American allies as at wooing Iran," and characterized as a "check off the box" gesture.

A Rolling Stone feature article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which contends that an effort to steal the 2004 presidential election in Ohio "went all the way up to the White House," quotes pollster Lou Harris as saying that "Ohio was as dirty an election as America has ever seen." But it's predicted that "the window won't remain open for long."

"Enron's president" comes out on top when poll asks voters to pick "the worst U.S. President in the last 61 years," and Affective Encryption Analysis is said to predict that Al Gore is "the only Democrat on the scene today who has the ability to defeat the likely Republican challengers" in 2008.

On the first day of hurricane season, as bodies are still being found in New Orleans, a 6,000-plus page report from the Army Corps of Engineers concludes that the Gulf Coast hurricane protection system was "a system in name only."

A North Carolina race riot commission has reportedly concluded that racial violence in 1898, which flipped the city of Wilmington "from a black majority to a white majority," produced "this country's only recorded coup d'etat."

A massive new study of mortgage discrimination finds that racial minorities are "almost a third more likely to get a high-priced loan than white borrowers with the same credit scores.

Haaretz's Gideon Levy recounts the launching of another "targeted strike in Gaza" -- one that "was meant to destroy Mohammed Dahdouh of Islamic Jihad, and in one blow killed off a grandmother, a mother and her small son and mortally wounded two other members of the family, including the little daughter."

USA Today reports that Justice Department officials are asking Internet companies to "keep histories of the activities of Web users for up to two years."

May 31

Friday, June 2, 2006

As Iraq's prime minister denounces "habitual attacks" on civilians by coalition troops who "do not respect the Iraqi people," U.S. marines 'face murder charges in Hamandiya probe,' and video and photographic evidence of another massacre emerges, but the U.S. military has reportedly denied those allegations.

With coalition troops in Iraq set to get training in "core warrior values," one former U.S. soldier claims that 'the sight of U.S. troops kicking the heads of decapitated Iraqis around 'like a soccer ball'" led him to desert to Canada, and the BBC interviews other U.S. Iraq veterans trying to come to grips with civilian killings.

Decrying the tragedy of "TV journalists dying not in search of deeper truths but to send back another picture-rich but patriotically correct story," Danny Schechter points to a belated realization by a CNN reporter as evidence that journalists need to be called "to account for what they do -- and don't do." Plus: 'Soldier gives his Purple Heart to Dozier.'

An Instapundit post responds to Haditha by warning that the "real danger" comes when supporters of the war say "we might as well be taken as wolves," a catalogue of "ethical weaseling" is assembled, and a Newsday article asks: 'When did Bush know?'

As he accuses the "left-wing press" of rejoicing over Haditha, Bill O'Reilly, who recently confessed a desire to "whack" a guest, is caught attempting to minimize Haditha's significance by again confusing victims with perpetrators in an incident from World War II.

The reelection of "an anti-communist hard-liner fighting an insurgency dating back to the Cold War," has provided a platform for criticizing Hugo Chavez and the rest of Latin America, but political violence and drug trafficking are seen to have made little improvement under Colombia's 'Narco-Presidente.'

Five major powers join the U.S. in announcing a "package of incentives intended to resolve the nuclear crisis with Iran" but specifics were not available and sanctions were not included as the elaborate "diplomatic dance" begins and a hardliner reiterates, "no option taken off the table."

Justin Rood digs up a harsh review of an earlier work by the 'Yellow Badge Bamboozler,' whose "stay the course" advice is said to have been the reason he was invited to the White House to give his "honest opinions" as an expert on Iraq.

A reordering of homeland security priorities that put Washington D.C. in "a low-risk category of terrorist attack," and finds New York lacking national monuments or icons, is based on a classified risk assessment that comes to a conclusion opposite to last year's Rand study.

In 'The wiretapping scam,' Saul Landau argues that "little 'vital intelligence' derives from phone monitoring," which is emphasized mainly "to distract the public from the issues and place the incompetent and corrupt Bush Administration in a patriotic light." Plus: 'Federal judge allows lawsuit against NSA.'

The recipe for the Telco lobby's success, which is alleged to have left the U.S. far behind in broadband penetration and growth rates and resulted in significant "price gouging" is found in the old metaphor of boiling a frog.

Although the primary justifications for urging Internet companies to keep long term "records on the Web-surfing activities of their customers" are "child pornography and terrorism," critics charge that the data retained will be used for general law enforcement.

Paul Krugman warns the Treasury Secretary nominee that "if past experience is any guide, you won't be pressured just to spin on the administration's behalf, you'll be pressured to lie."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discusses his Rolling Stone article alleging 2004 election fraud, which one observer finds "turgid and disappointing."

As President Bush prepares to promote a ban on gay marriage and John McCain is accused of "giving lip service to marriage while refusing to protect it," the Guardian reports the administration is joining "many Muslim countries" in blocking a new U.N. package to fight AIDS. Plus: Gay marriage ban a smokescreen for estate tax repeal?

Playwright Christopher Durang cancels his membership in the Human Rights Campaign after it backed Sen. Joseph Lieberman, while failing to acknowledge the existence of Lieberman's primary opponent.

As Louisiana's House passes a symbolic abortion ban, a petition to repeal South Dakota's ban appears to reach critical mass, but the Oglala Sioux tribal council prohibits all abortions on Pine Ridge reservation and suspends President Cecelia Fire Thunder.

June 1

Monday, June 5, 2006

In 'Supporting Our Troops Over a Cliff,' Frank Rich breaks down the Bush administration's PR strategy as attack "the credibility of reporters covering the war and ... clear troubling Iraq images from American TV screens so that popular support might hold until a miracle happens on the ground."

Asking "Could Haditha be just the tip of the mass grave?," Robert Fisk suspects that "part of the problem is that we never really cared about Iraqis."

As 'Rummy Explains Haditha,' retired Army General John Batiste says on CNN that he sees "a direct link between Haditha, the national embarrassment of Abu Ghraib ... with the bad judgment, poor decisions of our secretary of defense back in late 2003 and 2004."

Discussing parallels between Haditha and My Lai, a Pulitzer Prize winning former Toledo Blade reporter and co-author of "Tiger Force," tells Der Spiegel that "I hope the investigation goes up the food chain."

As Iraqis reject the Pentagon's attempt to exonerate itself for the deaths of 11 civilians at Ishaqi, which is said to ignore a wide range of incriminating evidence, it's reported that the Pentagon's new detainee policies omit a Geneva Convention tenet banning "humiliating and degrading treatment."

Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki fails to push through his candidates for the interior and defense ministries on a day of "brutal killing," and Reuters reports that nearly "180,000 Iraqis have now been displaced due to ongoing sectarian violence."

After informing the media that Maliki was misquoted when he denounced the mistreatment of Iraqis by coalition troops, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow couldn't explain what Maliki actually said.

'Muslims in Canada brace for a backlash' following the arrest of terrorist suspects, that was later revealed to have been facilitated by three tons of fertilizer "delivered to the suspects as part of an undercover police sting."

Glenn Greenwald provides a 'Remedial NSA eavesdropping course' for those on the right who seek to use the arrests in Canada as a blanket justification for unrestricted surveillance.

As it's reported that the Bush administration is increasingly invoking the "state secrets privilege" to block lawsuits against the government, the American Bar Association votes to investigate the constitutionality of Bush's expanded use of presidential signing statements.

During 'A Talk at Lunch That Shifted the Stance on Iran,' Secretary of State Rice reportedly asked President Bush "what kind of body language to display at the United Nations meeting."

As the effort to pass 'The Super-Rich Estate Tax' appears to falter, opening up 'a chance for Democrats to pounce,' Paul Krugman reminds that "there's still a clear connection between tax breaks for the rich and failure to help Americans in need."

Finding the details of the Clintons' marriage "newsworthy," the New York Times public editor is accused of failing to recognize the media's "own role in shaping voter perceptions of our political figures," or the imbalance in the coverage of the private lives of Republicans and Democrats.

Some supporters of a gay marriage ban complain that President Bush's widely publicized endorsement is a "ruse," while others seem to think it is "not harsh enough," and an 'old friend' of Bush's tells Newsweek: "I think it was purely political. I don't think he gives a s--t about it."

As pro-gay marriage billboards go up in Sen. Bill Frist's hometown and James Dobson denounces those fighting for marriage equality as coming "from the forces of hell itself," 'The Rockies Pitch Religion.'

Republican conventioneers make a show of faith in "the holy land," and a fundraising letter from Campus Crusade for Christ leaves one observer with the impression that they are "as exultant as vampires in a blood bank."

After a federal judge ruled against a state financed prison rehabilitation program run by Charles Colson on the grounds that it violates separation of church and state, an appeal to a higher court is expected.

As it's said that 'No Good Science Goes Unpunished,' the Washington Post details how corporate lobbyists use "judicial junkets" to influence judges in important environmental cases, Seed reports on problems caused by a "nationwide decline in scientific interest," and college Republicans organize "global warming beach parties."

Lou Dobbs entertains the notion that immigration threatens 'The end of America,' an article in the Nation argues that "restricted immigration would do little to solve the African-American community's long-term employment problems," and "fiery moats with fire-proof crocodiles" are offered as one solution to border security problems.

June 2-4

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

As Baghdad records its deadliest month since the U.S.-led invasion, a reported drop in the number of Iraqi civilians killed at U.S. checkpoints or shot by U.S. convoys is said to suggest that "hundreds of Iraqi civilians were killed at U.S. checkpoints or on Iraqi highways during the first two years of the war."

The Pentagon's quarterly report to Congress is said to present "a fundamentally false picture" of the situation in Iraq, with claims of Iraqi hopefulness said to be based upon a "nationwide survey" with "no explanation of who was polled and how."

"This Haditha story, this Haditha incident, whatever," predicts Rush Limbaugh, "is going to be a "gang rape" of war supporters.

Exploring the slow development of U.S. media interest in probing reports of wrongdoing by U.S. troops in Iraq, Editor and Publisher's Greg Mitchell cites an AP report in which an Iraqi political scientist is quoted as saying that "What the media says now is only a fraction of what happens every day."

Norman Solomon finds "the terrible compromises" made by Tariq Aziz, "a smooth talker who epitomized the urbanity of evil," to be "more explainable than ones that are routine in U.S. politics."

'Power Trips' An investigation documents nearly $50 million in privately-funded Congressional travel between 2000 and 2005, more of it by aides than by lawmakers, including "at least 200 trips to Paris, 150 to Hawaii and 140 to Italy." Plus: Meet the top corporate junket-giver.

Somali Islamists declared victory in Mogadishu, after routing an alliance of warlords reportedly backed by the U.S.

Apparent defeat in "a little place that becomes important" to al-Qaeda reportedly 'poses questions for U.S.'

John Brown argues that restoration of 'America's Fading Glow' will not be achieved by "laundry lists of recycled Cold War programs," as Anonymous Liberal marks the moment "when America became just another country."

The Supreme Court's decision to rule on whether public school systems can take race into account is called "bad news for desegregation advocates," and reportedly could "spell the end of official efforts to integrate the nation's public schools."

Canadian police are found to have put on a 'good spectacle' for a "receptive" audience at a news conference, but 'Tempers flare at hearing for alleged terrorists,' as public receives assurances.

Gleen Greenwald finds evidence of 'media awakening to Bush lawlessness' as Bush's job rating edges higher.

Republicans hit the hot buttons, hoping "to lure conservatives," as Molly Ivins checks off the short list, while The Vatican warns of an "eclipse" and the White House press secretary promotes "civil rights."

As GOP candidates seek 'Bush's Cash, Not His Company,' it's a different story for the life of the party that is reportedly prepared to argue that "losing is winning" in a key race.

As Salon's Walter Shapiro chronicles "a start-your-engines moment" in New Hampshire, Fox and Brit Hume "don't care what anyone says, we don't think Chris Matthews is a democratic politician."

Although George Bisharat recently argued that "time will tell whether President Bush is a partner in Israel's charade," Alexander Cockburn fears that 'It's All Over' for Palestine.

In New Orleans, piano salesman get "a new job description: grief counselors," residents of "the projects" are 'Clamoring to Come Home,' while a "grandmotherly freshman Republican from North Carolina" introduces her "Louis Vuitton Amendment."

June 5

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

After a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage goes down to defeat, senators are warned that they will have to answer for their positions, and Maureen Dowd will "now speak of famous bogeymen."

A senatorial candidate who has reportedly become "something of a pariah" in the GOP is said to know what to do 'when all else fails.'

A Pew Research poll finds that President Bush's job approval has fallen by 15 percent among conservative Republicans since 2004 -- and that "moderate women stand out for their lack of support for the president" -- while the Hammer comes down on "panic, depression and woe-is-me-ism."

After a "progressive platform" is said to have defeated "the ultimate DC campaign" in the California 50th, CQ Politics reports that "The best that Democrats can argue now is that the outcome represents incremental progress," and Robert Parry explores 'Why Democrats Lose.'

The Wall Street Journal reports that last weekend's arrests of 17 members of a "terrorist coffee klatch" in Toronto developed from the October arrest of a "Generation X" Londoner who styled himself "Terrorist 007."

The WSWS examines the role of the Canadian government, and saturation media coverage, in using an alleged terrorist plot to 'push right-wing agenda.' Plus: 'The Paintball 17.'

"The full extent of European collusion" with CIA torture rendition flights is reportedly "laid bare" in a Council of Europe report.

As the U.S. military is accused of hiding 'Many More Hadithas,' Mike Whitney retraces 'The Media's Bloody Footprints' "from Haditha ... straight to ... corporate headquarters."

Reviewing official "Haditha Talking Points," Tom Engelhardt argues that "Those 24 dead noncombatants are ... the essence of this war. From the beginning, the continual slaughter of civilians ... has been the modus operandi of the American invasion and occupation of Iraq."

"It's like opening a can of worms," one expert tells USA Today, regarding the Pentagon's reluctance to track the number of concussions troops suffer in Iraq and Afghanistan, where brain injury is a "signature wound" of the wars.

A media consultant's recommendations for programming changes on military radio reportedly include dropping the Tom Joiner show, "despite its popularity among minority troops," because "several white respondents complained about the show."

An anonymous "American friend" writes David Ignatius to say that "While the new government, all of the ministries, the coalition and the bloated embassy bureaucracy all sit frozen in the Green Zone, this civil war rages on just outside the wire and concrete barriers," while Dave Lindorff follows the money.

In "the latest in a series of revisions," Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson now says that 2.2 million active-duty troops were among the 26.5 million military personnel whose personal data was stolen from a VA employee.

The CIA is said to have "failed to lift a finger" after learning the whereabouts of Adolf Eichmann in 1958, and to have 'covered up Nazi war crimes.'

The Hill reports that "some came away" from a meeting between Newt Gingrich, a top administration official and GOP Congressional investigators, "believing there was an implied, unstated message: Ease up on oversight this election year."

As progressives are urged to demand that "An Inconvenient Truth" be shown in their communities, Joshua Frank takes a look back at the record of 'Al Gore the Environmental Titan.'

Robert Jensen discusses 'Why White People Are Afraid,' in an excerpt from his new book, "The Heart of Whiteness."

While "Coulter the Cruel" is denounced in some quarters, one columnist just wants to thank her.

June 6

Thursday, June 8, 2006

Announcement of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was reportedly met by "celebratory gunfire," "a giddy session of parliament," news of 'Oil down, dollar up,' and a bomb that killed at least 19 people, but 'For the women of Iraq, the war is just beginning.'

Juan Cole argues that the connection between Zarqawi's group and "the real al-Qaeda" was little more than "a sort of branding that suited everyone, including the U.S."

The Atlantic chronicles 'The Short, Violent Life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,' described recently as "a terrible writer," who "even to this day ... cannot write a fatwa."

Just as the Pro-war Right partisans "run out of approved talking points and are forced to improvise," did a 'Timely Death' entail further "complications"?

In two new Black Commentator articles, The 'Baby Killers at Haditha' serve to remind that "Massacre is an acquired taste" and that "'American' values are the problem."

Refusing an order to participate in "the wholesale slaughter and mistreatment of the Iraqi people," a U.S. Army officer says he's 'Not going, and not going quietly.'

Reporting that President Bush rebuffed a secret campaign by his father to replace Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Sidney Blumenthal describes Bush's "conviction that the critics lack his deeper understanding of Iraq that allows him to see through the fog of war to the Green Zone as a city on a hill."

Craig Unger's Vanity Fair article, 'The War They Wanted, The Lies They Needed,' is called "as good a summary of the Nigergate Forgeries as has appeared to date."

U.S. government officials tell the New York Times that CIA funding of Somali warlords has "thwarted counterterrorism efforts ... and empowered the same Islamic groups it was intended to marginalize," with one non-governmental expert quoted as saying that "This has blown up in our face, frankly."

As the Los Angeles Times reports that a stepdaughter of House Appropriations chairman Jerry Lewis was paid more than $42,000 by a defense contractor's PAC, NBC interviews another contractor who says that Rep. Lewis invited him to write his own appropriations bill.

Agent Green In These Times reports that a bill passed by the house would mandate fighting drugs in Colombia by spraying crops with an 'Eye-Eating Fungus.'

As Inside Higher Ed hails 'Bipartisan Backing for Science,' the war on meth is said to be 'making a federal case' out of 'a rite of passage for geeky kids.'

After Rep. Tom DeLay went behind closed doors to deliver some farewell remarks, House Speaker Dennis Hastert reportedly joked, "He's leaving. He's not dead."

Urging action to "reinstate net neutrality and keep the Internet free," a Washington Post op-ed warns that "The smell of windfall profits is in the air in Washington."

Although Alaska's Gov. Frank Murkowski is polling a distant third in the GOP primary, and facing a big number, "don't count him out yet," says a pollster, while California Gov. Arnold prepares to do battle with "a walking Achilles heel" who "won't know what hit him."

Keith Olbermann tackles the "Sisyphus of morons," to whom gay marriage is "not a big issue."

"In Ann Coulter's world ... Jews are Christians," but the Episcopal Church is "barely even a church," unlike the one she claims to attend in New York, where "we don't really know her."

June 7

Friday, June 9, 2006

The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose body was initially identified by "scars and tattoos," is said to be an occassion for celebration by "various online munchkins," but Nir Rosen predicts that "dynamics of the civil war will continue, regardless of any particular individual."

Joshua Holland reviews the history of 'Milestones and turning points,' as top newspaper Web sites are said to make an exception to their standard practice to put a graphic face on Zarqawi's death, and Bill Bennett mocks a CNN correspondent's acccent, accusing her of trying to "get some bad news"

Nicholas Berg's father 'turns tables' on MSNBC's Randy Meier by rejecting revenge and expressing sympathy for Zarqawi's family, while Jordanian police interrupt a broadcast by Zarqawi's brother-in-law on Al-Jazeera.

As Sen. Biden expresses hope that Zarqawi's death improves President Bush's approval ratings and "emboldens him to take bolder moves in terms of his policy in Iraq," the pro-war right in its 'last throes' is seen to imply "that our policy of trying to discriminate between civilians and terrorists is too restrictive."

In a Washington Post op-ed, the Iraqi prime minister calls for an end to the militias, as the new head of Iraq's interior ministry remarks that his department, "which observers say is infiltrated by Shiite militias and death squads," needs more "justice and professionalism."

Although some Democrats are trying to break out of the pack on Iraq, New York's representatives in Washington are observed to be missing from the debate, and Joshua Frank argues both 'war parties' need to be forced into a debate on the war.

Scott Ritter contends that what happened at Haiditha, Bagram, Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, stems from a standard of indifference established by "waiving American adherence to the rule of law in general, and the law of war in particular," and results in a kind of "Red Dawn" in reverse.

A report by the Council of Europe, which finds strong circumstantial evidence of "a global spider web" of secret detention centers and transfer points woven by the U.S. with the collusion of several European countries, is said to arouse only "a calculated treatment in the American media."

An amendment to close the "School of the Assassins," is debated in the House, as four South American countries refuse to send their military to this "US army-run Spanish-language military academy" which was the alma mater of at least 11 dictators.

The House 'increases indecency fines tenfold,' and passes "the most extensive telecommunications legislation in a decade" without net neutrality provisions, while the Appropriations subcommittee votes to cut $115 million from public broadcasting.

Paul Krugman sums up the legacy of Tom Delay, whose 'Torrid goodbye' was greeted with ovations from Republicans and a noisy walkout by some Democrats, in the principle that "nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes for very, very wealthy people."

Murray Waas explains how John Ashcroft came to recuse himself "more than two months in late 2003 after he learned in extensive briefings that FBI agents suspected ... Karl Rove and I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby of trying to mislead the FBI to conceal their roles in the leak."

Reading the new bill proposed by Arlen Specter to resolve the NSA scandal, Glenn Greenwald finds Congress abdicating its constitutional powers by making eavesdropping warrants optional and offering a blanket amnesty for past transgressions.

Media Matters catalogs some of the "numerous media figures and Republican strategists" who came to Ann Coulter's defense after her attack on the 9/11 widows, as NBC, despite concerns about "civility," refuses to rule out giving her a forum in the future.

As Billmon considers the implications of "the massive propaganda firepower being trained on one mild-mannered Middle East specialist with a blog," a conservative advocacy group founded by Lynn Cheney tries to paint the professoriate as "a beehive of swarming left-wing radicals," using the "metaphor of Ward Churchill."

USA Today headlines the FDA's approval of a vaccine designed to prevent cervical cancer, but concerns over how it will affect "an abstinence-only message" may influence the CDC's "recommendations for how the vaccine should be administered."

In an online interview, George Soros names the source of the George Bush's low approval ratings, while Al Franken compares the president to his favorite philosopher, and a gangsta rap for the administration debuts.

June 8

Monday, June 12, 2006

As the results of an autopsy on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are released, the U.S. Army now says that he did not die immediately during the attack, as was initially reported, but denies "several news reports" that he was abused by U.S. troops before his death, in a 'Story that keeps changing.'

A video reveling in the killing of al-Zarqawi provokes a reflection on the reasons not to celebrate, and Billmon reports the cancellation of a long running reality TV series, and raises the possibility of a sequel, as a successor to al-Zarqawi is named.

Riverbend asks who they will "have to kill to stop the Ministry of Interior death squads, and trigger-happy foreign troops," and Robert Fisk wonders whether events in Iraq "have taken on a life of their own, unstoppable by any political change in Washington or London." Plus: 'Bush Administration developing plans to keep 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq for decades.'

The Los Angeles Times reports that U.S. troops are massed around the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, home to "a desperate population of 400,000 people trapped in the crossfire between insurgents and U.S. forces," but military officials deny that a "Falluja-style offensive" is underway.

"There is no good news," warns Nir Rosen, "The insurgency is passe, Iraq is about the civil war, chaos, anarchy, random and deliberate violence everywhere. And it is spreading throughout the region."

A U.N. official tells the New York Times that the situation in Afghanistan is "the most unstable and insecure I have seen," and the Toledo Blade questions the provenance of American goods for sale in Pakistani markets.

Hours after the "funeral of the family killed by an Israeli attack as they picnicked on a beach," Palestinian President Abbas called for a referendum that would recognize the state of Israel, a move dismissed by his Israeli counterpart, whose daughter took part in a protest against the killings in Gaza.

The BBC surveys press reaction in the Islamic world to the suicides of three Guantanamo prisoners, and the labeling of their deaths as "asymmetrical warfare," and a "good PR move" by U.S. officials leads to speculation about other forms of "asymmetric tactics" and a possible addition to the dictionary.

As Guantanamo attorneys cite 'desperation and hopelessness' as the reasons the men killed themselves, the U.S. military searches for an explanation of how the suicides were possible.

A former managing editor of the Washington Post contends that "intimidation by classification" is the hallmark of the Bush administration, and challenges the constitutionality of the Attorney General's threats to use the Espionage Act against the press.

As a New York Times reporter confesses to writing about YearlyKos for the paper's Web site in her pajamas, Peter Daou argues that Adam Nagourney and Maureen Dowd fail to recognize that "the blogosphere is a new power base, a stand-alone entity with its own ethos... separate from both the political establishment and the media."

The Guardian takes the list of "power players" who came to the convention, which as Markos Moulitsas emphasized in his keynote speech, was entirely organized by volunteers, as a sign of the increased clout of political bloggers.

Worrying that "the Internet might wind up being little more than a digital phone bank," Marc Cooper sees politicians wanting "more volunteers and more revenue and nothing else, thank you very much."

Appearing on "Meet the Press," Moulitsas argued that "the blogosphere actually is the big tent of the Democratic Party," and told Tim Russert and the National Review's Byron York, that opposition to Sen. Joe Lieberman is about more than just his stance on the war.

In his address to the convention, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said he will propose legislation "to ensure that Americans are not misled again about a national security challenge," and also joined those who support net neutrality.

PZ Myers shares his notes for the YearlyKos science panel, and Chris Mooney recounts that Wesley Clark, "riffed for at least twenty minutes, with impressive eloquence, about the importance of science to the American future."

As George Will casts doubt on the human origin of global warming, and federal funding for climate science is 'on the cutting board,' "inconsistent information policies" are blamed for "the intentional or unintentional suppression or distortion of research findings" in science.

In an obituary for compassionate conservatism, Frank Rich argues that President Bush's stance on gay marriage has again shown him to be "an enabler of bigots," and that if he fails to push for tolerance on immigration, "he will have helped relegate Hispanics to the same second-class status he has encouraged for gay Americans."

The Palm Beach Post suggests that if Ann Coulter "wrote about herself the way she writes about others, she might be an 'elitist shrew who is ignoring state election law to save her own skin,'" while the Rude Pundit raises the possibility of plagiarism and David Letterman attaches a label to the woman he calls "some kind of commentator or political thing."

June 9-11

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Although 'Karl Rove Won't Be Charged in CIA Leak Case,' according to his attorney, Truthout's editor "isn't buying it," and a Firedoglake post reminds that "it's not over until Fitzgerald says it is over." But TalkLeft declares that "It's over, folks. Karl Rove will not be charged with a crime."

Carpetbagger says that "Indictment or no indictment, Karl Rove's stunts are pretty hard to defend," one day after Rove urged midterm GOP candidates to open fire on "cut and run" Democrats. Plus: 'Karl Rove taking bullets?'

President Bush traveled to Baghdad, reportedly wearing no body armor, to participate in a Camp David videoconference, designed to "make war-weary Americans look at Iraq in a more positive light."

After what "was supposed to be a good media week for Iraq," and an argument that "if Haditha spurs outrage, it should be directed in the right place," Eric Umansky calls for an independent prosecutor in the military.

'The Terrorist' The New Yorker's Lawrence Wright reflects that "money -- especially from Saudi Arabia -- that used to go to bin Laden was now going into Zarqawi's treasury," and the Los Angeles Times reports that Jordan "played a key role" in ferreting him out.

As 'corporate media incites public panic' the Toronto 17 are alleged to receive 'Parking Lot Justice,' and John Chuckman has "often wondered where people go to become 'terror experts.'"

Glenn Greenwald finds 'The whole world changed in two weeks,' as a GOP congressman asserts that his wife would be safer in Iraq than in Washington, D.C. Plus: U.S. kids vs. Iraq troops.

Although it's reported that "New Orleans could return to its former notoriety as one of the nation's murder capitals," it was "a surge of killings" in Midwestern cities in 2005 that fueled what the FBI calls the sharpest increase in violent crime in 15 years.

Clear Channel's ongoing use of "hate radio" as "a business model" reportedly "resulted in on-air threats of death and references to sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl on one of the New York City's highest-rated urban stations."

As Democrats, facing 'definition time,' prepare to 'roll out action plan,' a former Bush One speechwriter projects 'the Big Winner of 2006.'

A Washington Post article portrays Democrats as forced to choose between a core constituency and a Senate seat in Maryland.

A YearlyKos party featuring a lavish ice sculpture is credited with "increasing the importance" and "the credibility of the blogs."

Although "clearly relishing the attention" paid to YearlyKos, bloggers are urged to "maintain their skeptical posture," and, were "scarily inarticulate questioners" the face of the conference?

Michael J. Smith proffers allegiance to "The Lefty's Pledge," after "lurking incognito" for a glimpse of "the sorry varmints that Kosniks so badly want to elect," while Alan Smithee provides solace for the banned.

As Sen. Sam Brownback throws 'One more log on the culture-war fire,' Tom D'Antoni finds an "upside" to "a quick subcommittee hearing on assisted suicide."

As the season's first tropical storm makes landfall in Florida, Facing South flags a report that "FEMA has no one in charge of Southeast operations."

Alabama reportedly leads the nation as "the most expensive place to run for state Supreme Court."

'Modern Times' Bob Dylan's new album, due August 28 but already heard by "hand-picked journalists," is said to contain "at least three masterpieces."

June 12

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Despite official Israeli denials of responsibility for killing seven members of a Palestinian family in Gaza last Friday, a Human Rights Watch analyst called for an independent investigation after examining 'the shrapnel evidence that points to Israel's guilt.'

"The girl on the beach who sees dead people" has reportedly become a new icon for Palestinians and "an instant symbol of suffering across the Arab world," where officially 'The Palestinians Have No Friends.'

As UN human rights experts demand immediate closure of Gitmo, it's reported that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld has expelled U.S. reporters from Guantanamo, where "it is as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened."

In a Rose Garden press conference, President Bush said, "I'd like to close Guantanamo, but ... we're holding some people that are darn dangerous, and ... we better have a plan to deal with them in our courts ... our military courts." Bush was also asked: "how concerned are you about the U.S. image abroad...?

"The president's sudden appearance" in Baghdad, editorializes the Palm Beach Post, was "about as subtle as posing with the corpse" of Zarqawi, and signaled Bush's decision "to take on an old enemy he knows how to defeat."

According to a pool report on Bush's quick trip to Baghdad, hailed as a "political masterstroke," "Everyone on the helicopters was in body armor except for the White House aides, who wore business suits but no armor."

A private security contractor in Iraq, where "the security business" is said to cost "tens of billions of dollars," tells CNN that "where you've got a military where the assets and the personnel are strained, then private contractors have had to step in and fill the void."

"The turning points" in Iraq, says Billmon, "have all been turned, and Iraq is still a killing field.

With a "top GOP source" quoted as saying that "We've got so much good news popping out these days I don't know where to start," it's recalled that Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said in 2004 that "the stock market is, after all, the final arbiter."

As 'Karl Rove Escapes Prosecution,' after "misleading the public," a member of the Plame panel from YearlyKos argues that "it has become clear that Cheney was the architect of this smear, from start to finish." Plus: 'Finally, we get to the bigger question...'

Finding 'Love For Sale' in Las Vegas, Chris Nolan argues that a prominent blog is "nothing more than a piece of political direct mail," given "what makes ... an internet candidate."

A former Reagan Republican -- and former supporter of his fall opponent for a U.S. Senate seat -- wins a Democratic primary in Virginia, that 'Boiled Down to Electability vs. Allegiance' -- and statewide turnout of "soccer-score proportions."

According to Doug Ireland, the solution to 'The Democrats' Marriage Problem' is to "convince voters that they stand for a real alternative to the Republicans on everything from Bushonomics to Iraq."

Facing South finds GOP outrage over wrongful payments to Katrina victims to be "especially disengenuous given their nonchalance over hundreds of millions in no-bid Katrina contracts known to have been awarded to Halliburton, Bechtel, Blackwater and other companies."

Robert Parry lays out 'The Moon-Bush Cash Conduit,' after the Houston Chronicle's Rick Casey traces a '$1 million Moonie mystery' to the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation at Texas A&M.

A Reuters report on a Harvard study, which predicts a soft landing for the U.S. housing market, fails to mention that the Policy Advisory Board of Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies "reads like a Who's Who of the housing industry."

An American Conservative contributor finds it "appalling" that media reaction to the NSA's 'Reach Out and Tap Someone' program has been "short and relatively mild."

"[N]ice, but dumber than a suitcase of rocks," is how MSNBC's Keith Olbermann reportedly described colleague Rita Cosby, a charter member of 'TV's Aryan Sisterhood.'

June 13

Thursday, June 15, 2006

"It's a number." As the U.S. military death toll in Iraq hits 2,500, with 18,490 troops wounded, "military medical experts say the U.S. death toll would be even higher if not for advances ... that keep alive badly wounded troops who would have died in previous wars."

A survey of 100 American foreign-policy analysts finds "surprising consensus" that the war on terror is a failure, while participants in a Foreign Affairs roundtable "all agree that current U.S. strategy in Iraq is unlikely to succeed." Plus: 'It's All "Domestic Terror" Now.'

'The fast-fading luster of the American story' is attributed to mounting resistance to the "soft power" of U.S. culture among "those who once held up America as a model," and it's argued that the real unemployment rate in the U.S. is 13.3 percent.

In a venue described as "unusual for a secretary of state," Condoleezza Rice reportedly received several "standing ovations ... as she tried to link Southern Baptist work ... with the administration's goal of promoting democracy overseas."

Operation Home Base Fox will become the first sports network to embed a reporting team in Iraq, where Olympic hopefuls are being kidnapped.

As CJR Daily traces 'The Birth of a Narrative, Sidney Blumenthal argues that "If Zarqawi's killing was a new version of Saddam Hussein's capture ('We got him!'), Bush's surprise visit to Iraq on Tuesday was 'Mission Accomplished' in a business suit."

A "senior administration official" is quoted in the New York Times as saying that "There is no humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories."

A Knight Ridder review finds that although the number of innocent Palestinian civilians "killed since Israel began pulling out of the Gaza Strip last year surpasses the number of Israelis killed in suicide bombings, ambushes and drive-by shootings ... most of the deaths of the Palestinians received little media attention."

Three large housing projects in New Orleans, that were home to more than 3,000 families before Katrina struck, are slated for destruction, and Chris Rose is building "Nola's Ark."

A Black Commentator contributor recounts what caused Bill Cosby to call and "express his concern that I was undermining his project."

"Emergency medical care in the United States is on the verge of collapse," and "geography determines survival," according to new studies from the Institute of Medicine, as Shakespeare's Sister notes that "six million have been added to the rolls of the uninsured ... since Bush took office."

'Sleepover' In the California 50th, electronic Diebold voting machines were reportedly sent home with poll workers, to be stored in living rooms, cars and garages, before GOP candidate Brian Bilbray's narrow win in a special election to succeed convicted bribe-taker Randall "Duke" Cunningham.

2006 'Looks like a GOP wipeout' to Dick Morris, despite rumors of the mojo man's discovery of "an interesting debate in the Democrat Party," a "dumb idea," and a rumored push to "find bin Laden before November."

The Pledge Protection Act makes an encore appearance, just in time for Flag Day.

'Anti-war Dems' are portrayed as "threatening to disrupt the unified front Democrats have used to frustrate Republicans" in Congress, and Norman Solomon analyzes Sen. Hillary Clinton's big problem with 'Premature Triangulation.'

After some on-the-air remarks by White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, Carpetbagger wonders, "when did the right get together and decide it was time to take down Jimmy Carter?"

A legally blind reporter received an apology but not an answer from President Bush, who had mocked him for wearing dark glasses to a press conference.

June 14

Friday, June 16, 2006

A leaked amnesty proposal for guerrillas who attacked U.S. troops, which prompted the resignation of an Iraqi official, is defended by Republicans during a debate the coiner of "freedom fries" termed "a charade."

Before the House passed a resolution -- 256 to 153 -- rejecting a timetable for pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq and labeling the Iraq war part of the war on terrorism, Speaker Hastert implored Congress to "show the same steely resolve as those men and women on United Flight 93."

With word that the man George Will deemed the "most effective terrorist in history" appears to have been on the brink of demotion, U.S. military officers "put a face on" what Kurt Nimmo calls the 'New al-Qaeda in Iraq Boogieman.'

Documents purportedly discovered in al-Zarqawi's hideout are seen to gain credibility because they outline "the same exact strategy and goal embraced by the Bush administration itself," and War in Context remarks that "most of the action coming out of this intelligence bonanza is happening in front of cameras and microphones."

Nicholas von Hoffman warns that indicators of a possible "Dunkirk in the Desert" are not reaching "TV viewers and ordinary newspaper readers," as Molly Ivins reminds that "leaving a place worse off than Saddam Hussein kept it is not a bragging point."

Although the Pentagon says expectations of "a large-scale offensive in Ramadi," may be somewhat off the mark, it's estimated that "70 per cent of the city's population have fled, as "loudspeakers aimed into the city warn civilians of a 'fierce impending attack,'" and "Iraqis brace themselves for yet another staggeringly high civilian body count."

John Pilger sees the same policy at work in Iraq and Palestine, where "an escalation in violence across the Gaza-Israel boundary" is identified as "only one aspect of what may be the greatest crisis facing the Palestinians since 1948."

As "Operation Mountain Thrust" debuts in southern Afghanistan, where command is being transferred to NATO, one observer is told "the beleaguered Donald Rumsfeld is desperate to bring some American troops home by November's congressional ele