Undercover agents bring dirty bomb into US undetected

Basically.

So our dangerously incompetent president has left the nation vulnerable to nuclear attack four years after September 11. Will the Republican congress investigate? Fat chance. Until we throw the Republicans out - the Republicans currently control both the US Senate and the House - there will never be anyone to keep a check on this dangerously incompetent president.

Four years, folks, and Bush still can't protect us against terrorists sneaking nuclear material into the US.

Two teams of government investigators using fake documents were able to enter the United States with enough radioactive sources to make two dirty bombs, according to a federal report made available Monday.

The investigators purchased a "small quantity" of radioactive materials from a commercial source, according to a Government Accountability Office report prepared for Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican.

The investigators posed as employees of a fictitious company and brought the materials into the United States through checkpoints on the northern and southern borders, the report stated.

Read More......

Open thread

Late night news of interest? Read More......

Marines tell Rummy to stuff it over uniform regs

I wrote this morning about new regulations, issued by the Secretary of Defense, clarifying that soldiers are not to wear their uniforms at partisan political events. Well, the Marine Corps was interviewed today and said that Rummy's rules are a bunch of crap.

Well, guess the Marines know who's the real secretary of defense, and it isn't Rummy. I've always liked a little banana in my republic. Just don't say the word "coup," I understand it can get you fired.

From the Coloradoan, which kindly gave us credit for breaking the news this morning that Rummy had issued a memo saying do NOT wear the uniforms at political events:

The Marine Corps and the Defense Department appear to be at odds over whether uniformed service members can accept honors at partisan political events such as last month’s Republican Lincoln Day Dinner in Fort Collins.

A memorandum prepared for the No. 2 official at the Pentagon, reported Monday by the Web site Americablog.com, said such appearances are forbidden by military regulation.

“Members of the armed forces may not attend partisan political events in uniform, even if only as ‘honorees.’ A sharply limited exception is made to provide armed forces color guards for national-level political conventions,” said the March 14 memo to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England from David C.S. Chu, the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

A Marine Corps spokesman sharply disagreed Monday, saying it was within regulations for two Marines to attend a Lincoln Day Dinner sponsored by the Larimer County Republican Party last month. The Marines’ presence at the Republican fundraiser was criticized on several liberal blogs and was covered by Army Times and other national publications.

"The Marines were in attendance because they were asked to attend to be honored for their service and not as attendees at a political event,” Marine spokesman Maj. Doug Johnson said. “There is nothing wrong with Marines being asked to appear in public and being honored for their service.”

Well, actually Mr. Marine spokesman, according to the Secretary of Defense you're flat out wrong and in violation of military regulations. And I quote:

"Members of the Armed Forces may not attend partisan political events in uniform, even if only as 'honorees.'"

So, actually, it doesn't matter what you think, the secretary's regs flat out say you can't do this even as an honoree. So, what are you doing to do about it?

Then again, the Marine Corps' conduct unbecoming is hardly a surprise, we're dealing with a military leadership that lets sexual harassers and gay-bashing murderers off the hook, so is it any surprise the Marines are letting off some guy who broke the uniform rules?

Though, those rules are rather important as they define the difference between an apolitical military and the regime of a despot.

This should be very interesting. Read More......

Romney and McCain are in GOP cat fight

It's already starting to get ugly among the GOP presidential candidates. Romney and McCain are taking swipes at each other. This could be fun to watch. They're both hard core right wingers. Let's hope they inflict enormous damage on each other:

In repeated interviews, Romney has questioned the effectiveness of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, arguing it has had "unintended consequences" and "driven money into secret corners."

Romney's staff regularly quips about McCain's age and questions the senator's ability to win over the influential and monied supporters of President Bush after their own rivalry developed during the 2000 presidential race.

By 2009, McCain would be 72, three years older than Ronald Reagan was in 1981 when he became the oldest first-term president.

McCain's staff, speaking privately like Romney's to avoid incurring the boss' wrath, labels Romney a johnny-come-lately to conservative Republican and national security causes. They also question whether a dashing candidate dubbed "Matinee Mitt" has the mettle to endure a rough nominating battle.

Romney pretended he was a moderate to become Governor of Massachusetts. The media often pretends that McCain is a moderate. They're both going to run hard to the right to curry favor with the theocratic wing of the GOP. And both of them belong at the far right end of the political spectrum. Read More......

PoliticsTV - Monday Morning Blogger is up

It's our Monday show, starring me. Watch it or be damned.

By the way, I was trying to be less frenetic on this broadcast, you'll note I talk a bit slower and don't flail around as much. Is this a good thing or a boring thing? Interested in your feedback. Read More......

US loses Shi'ite support, it's over in Iraq

You thought things were bad in Iraq before?

Iraq's ruling Shi'ite Islamist Alliance bloc demanded on Monday that U.S. forces return control of security to the Iraqi government after what it called "cold-blooded" killings by troops of unarmed people in a mosque.

"The Alliance calls for a rapid restoration of (control of) security matters to the Iraqi government," Jawad al-Maliki, a senior Alliance spokesman and ally of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, told a news conference.

I saw a news report the other day that said if the Shi'ites get back in the war - currently, they're sitting it out after brokering a truce with the US - but if the Shi'ites join back in, it will double the size of the insurgent force fighting us.

Time for another news story about the great Iraq school system. No, nothing bad going on here. Move right along. Read More......

Four years after 9/11 and Bush has still left our railroads vulnerable

Dangerous incompetent. Read More......

Just got back from Markos' book signing, GREAT turnout

Markos and Jerome just had a book signing in DC, and the turnout was great. Joe and I went and we were a bit surprised because the coffeeshop, Politics and Prose, is a bit out of the way - we didn't expect people to turn out in an out of the way spot. But that didn't deter the crowd.

I've got photos and some video. I'm putting the photos up now, then more later including video when I get back from a meeting.

You can got to the top of the DailyKos Web site to order the book from various vendors, it's called "Crashing the Gate" and got a very good review in the NYT.


(left to right: Markos Moulitsas, John Aravosis, Jerome Armstrong. Joe in DC was dutifully snapping the photo.) Read More......

Scalia just gave the finger in church yesterday (not kidding)

UPDATE: The Boston Herald is reporting Scalia's movement as "an obscene gesture" and a "flick of the wrist." That still is unclear, it could have been the wrist-under-chin gesture mixed with the middle finger. Either way, it's not really relevant. Scalia gave the "fuck you" to reporters in church right after taking communion. End of discussion.

You gotta be kidding me. This is the family values justice that Bush embraces? I'm not a Christian conservative by any means, I'm a regular old Christian, and the thought of flipping somebody off in church, minutes after receiving the Eucharist, is just, well, beyond shocking, insulting, infuriating. You don't do that kind of thing.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia startled reporters in Boston just minutes after attending a mass, by flipping a middle finger to his critics.

A Boston Herald reporter asked the 70-year-old conservative Roman Catholic if he faces much questioning over impartiality when it comes to issues separating church and state.

"You know what I say to those people?" Scalia replied, making the obscene gesture and explaining "That's Sicilian."

The 20-year veteran of the high court was caught making the gesture by a photographer with The Pilot, the Archdiocese of Boston's newspaper.

"Don't publish that," Scalia told the photographer, the Herald said.

Scalia owes every Christian an apology. If a "gay activist" had done this, it would be the headlines around the world and the gay community would be apologizing for it for the next 20 years.

Scalia owes every Christian an apology. And frankly, in view of his recent public rants about Guantanamo Bay, I'm starting to wonder if Scalia isn't becoming a bit unhinged.

President Bush, is this still your favorite justice?

Religious right, is he still yours?

Or don't you people care about the sanctity of church? Read More......

DOD reissues uniform regs after Rep. Musgrave misuses troops for partisan gain

You'll recall I wrote a few weeks back about how the White House sent out a directive urging Republicans to use our troops for partisan political events.

Well, the Pentagon is apparently not happy about what the the White House is doing, and reissued the rules about troops NOT attending partisan political events in uniform. The document reiterating the rules came from Rummy himself, which is interesting since he's as political as the White House. I suspect General Pace, the Joint Chiefs chair, is the one who flipped out and forced Rummy to do this.

You can read the reissued rules here.

PS The lesson here is that we (well, Josh Marshall was the first to jump on this) just took a political tool away from the White House and the Republicans by simply airing it publicly. It's one small step, but these are the kind of steps that are necessary to to win. Read More......

Reporters covering Iraq rebuke Bush admin. criticism

E&P; has a piece on reporters who cover Iraq:

After the latest round of blaming the media for distorted coverage in Iraq, which emerged this week from top Bush administraton officials, war reporters and editors strongly defended their coverage this weekend in a variety of venues, as violence in the country reached new levels.

Many good insights from the reporters. I was struck by this:

Appearing on NBC, its Baghdad correspondent Richard Engel said, “Most Iraqis I speak to say, ‘Actually most reporters get it wrong--it’s the situation on the ground is actually worse than the images we project on television.’"

He added: “We’ll see more and more reports coming out by the media explaining how they are covering the war and I think the Bush administration overplayed their hand in trying to blame their problems on the media.”

The only Iraq strategy from the Bush team is a "blame the media" strategy. You know they sat around, polled, strategized and conspired to come up with that plan. Too bad they didn't put as much time in to figuring out what to do on the ground in Iraq. Read More......

Monday Morning Open Thread

Here we go again. Let's see what new horrors unfold this week.... Read More......

Ralph Reed is a hypocrite and a fraud and nobody likes him anymore

Tough times for the former boy wonder of the Christian Coalition who is embroiled in the Abramoff scandal. That mess and Reed's entanglement with gambling issues have gotten him in to big trouble with his base. He is trying to blame the Democrats for his problems, but his biggest problem now is with the right wing. He created this mess himself.

Ralphie is running for Lieutenant Governor in Georgia, which is clearly the first step in his path to become President...but his former allies are not happy with him:

One of the toughest is Marvin Olasky, a close associate of President Bush who helped developed the administration's faith-based initiative and the concept of "compassionate conservatism."

Olasky, a journalism professor at the University of Texas, is editor in chief of World magazine, the mission of which "is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Since Nov. 19, World has run 10 articles and essays describing the $4 million in gambling money Abramoff paid to Reed to lobby against casinos competing with Abramoff's clients. The articles have highlighted incriminating e-mails and other disclosures that have raised doubts about Reed's explanations of his activities.

Reed, Olasky wrote March 4, "has damaged Christian political work by confirming for some the stereotype that evangelicals are easily manipulated and that evangelical leaders use moral issues to line their own pockets."

Ralph is probably shocked that his pals in the evangelical world actually expected him to practice what he preached. Read More......

More Progress in Iraq

Condi was all over the Sunday talk shows yesterday spinning the story of progress in Iraq. Of course, despite all of her efforts, the media is focusing on those pesky negative stories:

A suicide bomber attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi military base in northern Iraq on Monday, killing at least 15 people and wounding as many as 30, the Iraqi military said. At least 21 more bodies were found - many with nooses around their neck - and mortar and bomb attacks killed at least four people.

Then, there's the swirling controversy over a joint US-Iraqi attack in part of Baghdad. The question is whether the attack occurred at a Shiite mosque. People on the ground -- and the AP -- say it looks that way, but the US military says no:

Details of a joint U.S.-Iraqi Special Operations attack in northeast Baghdad late Sunday continued to filter out. The military, in an updated report, said the joint operation "killed 16 insurgents and wounded three others during a house-to-house search on an objective with multiple structures."

"They also detained 18 other individuals, discovered a significant weapons cache and secured the release of an Iraqi being held hostage," the statement said.

AP reporters who visited the scene Monday morning said the site of the attack was clearly a neighborhood Shiite mosque complex, although the American military insisted, "no mosques were entered or damaged during this operation."

Baghdad police said at least 22 were killed in the attack after gunmen fired on the joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol from a position in the neighborhood but not from the mosque. Police and representatives of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who holds great sway among poor Shiites in the eastern section of Baghdad, said all those killed were in the complex for evening prayers and no gunmen were there.

Someone isn't telling the truth. Either way, this is not good. Read More......

A Washington Post blogger opines about the Washington Post ex-blogger

Okay, I will not harp on this issue any longer, or much longer, but it's interesting that another Washington Post blogger is writing about the first blogger fiasco.

And what he writes is quite interesting:

Someone I know who does a fair bit of online work for this paper, whose initials are Gene Weingarten, said this afternoon, "Journalism is journalism, and you need people who have an idea what they are doing, even if they are just fulminating on the web...Doing the chat in real time is a little dangerous and a little terrifying. There's no editing, no lawyering, no time for contemplation, and all of that is coupled with an understood mandate to be as provocative as possible. The thing is instantaneous and haphazard, but not random or thoughtless. You're relying on instincts to save you from a truly terrible blunder. Thirty years of journalism experience is not incidental to this process."

That's absolutely true. And I think the best bloggers have a measuredness to their madness. As do the best writers and activists and best politicians. You have to have something inside of you that says "stop" occasionally, or at least flips your stomach uncomfortably and makes you wonder why. That doesn't mean I do a perfect job, I'm not saying I do. But I do believe that as you get older you get an increasing sense of the value of age for stinky cheese, fine wine, and good decision-making. Read More......

Open thread

Perhaps the last post of the evening... Read More......