Tuesday, October 31, 2006
How to cut and run - Los Angeles Times
How to cut and run: "THE UNITED STATES upset the regional balance in the Middle East when it invaded Iraq. Restoring it requires bold initiatives, but 'cutting and running' must precede them all. Only a complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops — within six months and with no preconditions — can break the paralysis that now enfeebles our diplomacy. And the greatest obstacles to cutting and running are the psychological inhibitions of our leaders and the public.
Our leaders do not act because their reputations are at stake. The public does not force them to act because it is blinded by the president's conjured set of illusions: that we are reducing terrorism by fighting in Iraq; creating democracy there; preventing the spread of nuclear weapons; making Israel more secure; not allowing our fallen soldiers to have died in vain; and others."
The Blog | Dave Johnson: A Hog Farm Next Door To Your House | The Huffington Post
Dave Johnson: A Hog Farm Next Door To Your House: "There is a law on the ballot in four states that says if I want to open a hog farm or a chemical plant next door to your house and you don't want me to do that, then YOU have to PAY ME not to -- you have to pay me ALL THE MONEY I MIGHT HAVE MADE.
I am not kidding. This new law says that if you want to stop a corporation from dumping toxic waste into the river from which you get your drinking water, or stop them from venting dangerous chemicals into the air, then YOU have to PAY that company not to. I am NOT kidding!
The far right says that a government stopping a company from dumping waste into a river is 'taking' money from that company. I am not kidding. And you had better take this seriously or YOU will be PAYING companies to not harm you and your families."
Jonathan Schell | The Torture Election
In Baghdad, a Force Under the Militias' Sway - washingtonpost.com
In Baghdad, a Force Under the Militias' Sway: "Seventy percent of the Iraqi police force has been infiltrated by militias, primarily the Mahdi Army, according to Shaw and other military police trainers. Police officers are too terrified to patrol enormous swaths of the capital. And while there are some good cops, many have been assassinated or are considering quitting the force.
'None of the Iraqi police are working to make their country better,' said Brig. Gen. Salah al-Ani, chief of police for the western half of Baghdad. 'They're working for the militias or to put money in their pocket.'"
And the Boston Globe has, Audit faults US training of Iraqis; Security woes hinder work in provinces
Daily Kos: White House Nods (Imperceptibly) at Stern Report
"The devastating Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, released in Britain on Monday, should have gotten hour-long segments on television news and three-inch headlines in the U.S. No surprise that it didn't. If you took the time to drill down in what coverage there was here, you could see exactly what the Bush Regime is not doing."
Monday, October 30, 2006
GOAT - A High Country News Blog » Fossil-fuel filmfest exposes coalbed-methane wreckage
Into the Abyss of Baghdad - Los Angeles Times
"BAGHDAD -- I keep seeing his face. He appears to be in his mid-20s, bespectacled, slightly bearded, and somehow his smile conveys a sense of prosperity to come. Perhaps he is set to marry, or enroll in graduate school, or launch a business — all of these flights of ambition seem possible.
In the next few images he is encased in plastic: His face is frozen in a ghoulish grimace. Blackened lesions blemish his neck.
'Drill holes,' says Col. Khaled Rasheed, an Iraqi commander who is showing me the set of photographs."
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Der Spiegel Interviews Ron Suskind
One hundred suspected terrorists from all over the world are still being held in secret American prisons. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, CIA expert Ron Suskind accuses Washington of "running like a headless chicken" in its war against al-Qaida. He reserves special criticism for the CIA's torture methods, which he argues are unproductive.
Excerpt:
SPIEGEL ONLINE: With all your access to high-level sources, have you come across anyone who still thinks it is a good idea for the US to torture people?
Suskind: No. Most of the folks involved say that we made mistakes at the start. The president wants to keep all options open because he never wants his hands tied in any fashion, as he says, because he doesn't know what's ahead. But those involved in the interrogation protocol, I think are more or less in concert in saying that, in our panic in the early days, we made some mistakes.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Because they could have gotten information through normal interrogations ...
Suskind: ... yes, and without paying this terrific price, namely: America's moral standing. We poured plenteous gasoline on the fires of jihadist recruitment.
Blogged with Flock
Saturday, October 28, 2006
The Incline
Friday, October 27, 2006
The New York Review of Books: A Country Ruled by Faith
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Coal Bed Methane - Orion Magazine
The New Yorker: Alternative Realities
A sign of things to come in November
This is why Karl Rove is confident that the Republicans will hold the Senate and the House. The Repugs will cheat again.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Friday, October 20, 2006
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Chill Wind in Moscow - Anna Politkovskaya - New York Times
"Mr. Putin first treated the event, which was given significant air time on even his state-controlled news, with a three-day silence, as other world leaders expressed condolences.
The Kremlin’s silence seemed to scream. When at last he spoke, having been prodded at a news conference in Germany, Russia’s president used the occasion to insult her. “The level of her influence on political life in Russia was utterly insignificant,” he said."
Keeping it ‘Green’ With Panels and More - New York Times
Using Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in Colorado.