Open thread

The forecast is looking iffy for tomorrow. I've got a nice view of the fireworks at the Washington Monument from my balcony. It's nothing like the view actually at the fireworks - they do a great display in this town. And you always can get a good seat - just walk down until you get south of the White House, everything is a good view from there (well, stick to 17th street, best view in my opinion). Read More......

Snopes debunks religious right lies

You have to be a mighty big liar to make your way on to the pages of Snopes, the Internet's biggest "urban myth"-buster Web site. But the religious right, which wouldn't know Jesus or the Bible from a fat juicy donation to the GOP, specializes in the kind of un-Christian whoppers that make Satan himself blush. These folks think that if it doesn't involve bashing someone or some thing they hate, then it's just not God's work. And we wonder why so many die and have died in the name of religion.

This time, Snopes caught the American Family Association lying about the hate crimes bill. Read More......

2.3 million customer records stolen - and the Democrats still don't care about privacy

From AP:

Fidelity National Information Services, a financial processing company, said Tuesday a worker at one of its subsidiaries stole 2.3 million consumer records containing credit card, bank account and other personal information.

I see the employee has been fired but how about lowering the boom in the boardroom as well because this kind of loss can't be tolerated. If these companies want to make riches from handling this kind of data, they need to accept that it cuts both ways. Why do consumers always get stuck with the negative results because simple alerts are meaningless and have no impact on these organizations who keep losing data without a care in the world. Too bad none of our leaders are taking an interest in the subject either.

NOTE FROM JOHN: I personally raised the issue with Nancy Pelosi. None of our leaders care about privacy. And the sad part is that privacy is interwoven into so many issues Democrats care about. But the Democrats not only don't care about the issue, they don't care that jumping on this issue could help scores of other issues we care about. And they wonder why their approval ratings are so low. Count me in the "disapprove" category. Read More......

Amb. Joe Wilson: Bush officials show "deep disdain" for those who risk lives for their country

CREW, quoting Wilson:

To claim that leaking the identity of a covert operative is simply part of the "Washington culture" suggests a deep disdain for those patriots who risk their lives to protect our national security. [White House spokesman Tony] Snow's comment was insulting not just to Valerie Wilson, but to all covert operatives who believe that in return for their sacrifices, our government will do everything it can to protect them. A genuine and sincere apology from the White House -- not just to Mrs. Wilson, but the entire intelligence community -- is long overdue.

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The Washington Post as allegory

The Washington Post, today, in a lead editorial laments the sharp rightward turn the Supreme Court has taken this term. This, after the Washington Post endorsed the confirmations of both Sameul Alito and John Roberts. The Post now says that the court's "nudge to the right" is "unsurprising and disappointing." Hmmm. If it's unsurprising, then it means the Post expected this from Alito and Roberts. And if they expected this, endorsed the two men anyway, and now are lamenting that Alito and Roberts did exactly what the Post expected, then they're either hypocrites or fools. And the Post's editorial page editor, Fred Hiatt, is no fool.

Which brings us to George Bush, the Republicans and the American people.

The American people are upset that George Bush has bankrupted the country and gotten us stuck in the quagmire that is Iraq. But 51% of the country (or so) voted for Bush, two times. If the first time they didn't know what they were getting, or the election was stolen, they certainly knew the second time. People surely have the right to be disappointed, but surprised by what Bush has done to America? What has he done in his second term that wasn't consistent with his first? And consider Bush's first election - what part of "tax cuts for the rich = massive budget deficit" didn't the Bush-voters understand from past experience with Ronald Reagan's bleeding-red rein in the 1980s? Bush and the Republicans said they were going to cut taxes, and they did. The Democrats said that the deficit would again soar, and it did. Disappointed? Sure. But surprised?

The Republicans definitely stand for something - the same thing they've stood for for decades, regardless of the changing world around them: lower taxes (soaring deficits); strong defense (lots of failed wars); and family values (bashing gays, women, Latinos, blacks, Muslims, and abortion). Now that the GOP has again busted the budget, gotten us into two failed wars with a third on the way, and handed social policy over to bigots like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and the men at the Concerned Women for America, the Washington Post and 51% of America have the right - the duty, I'd argue - to be not just disappointed, but mad as hell. And they should direct that anger at the people who got us into this mess in the first place: the Washington Post and 51% of the American people. Read More......

White House: Bush won't rule out pardoning Libby entirely

These guys really take the cake. Just yesterday Bush said that he respected the jury's verdict, but it was the punishment that he thought was too harsh. Now they're saying that even the verdict may be wrong. But then why not just pardon him, why do it halfway then hint that you may do more later?

Here is Bush yesterday:

I respect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.

My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby. The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged. His wife and young children have also suffered immensely. He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect. The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be long-lasting.

But if you pardon him, you won't be respecting the jury's verdict or leaving in place a harsh punishment. You'll be exonerating him 100%. Or is Bush playing a little game here. Libby will pay the fine, he's already paid the price to his reputation and to his wife and young children. So if Bush pardons him at the end of his term, he won't really be contradicting his statement about the rest of the punishment being valid. As Joe Wilson said yesterday, nothing from these guys surprises me anymore.

And by the way, we've just seen judicial activism, Republican-style, in play once again. Or, rather, the Republicans are afraid that judges will decide cases badly, so they just take the law into their own hands. Perhaps we should call it extra-judicial activism. Read More......

Tony Snow: "In Washington, things get leaked all the time"

Nice. Snow just said this live during a press conference. So after four years of pretending that this case mattered, that this crime mattered, that this leak mattered, the White House is now suggesting that leaking the name of an undercover CIA agent for political gain is business as usual in Washington, DC. Watch the video below, it quickly becomes clear that the White House's new position on this crime is that it wasn't a big deal - and they're not saying that Scooter lying wasn't a big deal, rather, they're now saying that outing a CIA agent wasn't a big deal. That's a new tack for this administration, and it's quite serious and scary. No one in national security circles would think that leaking the name of an undercover CIA agent was no big deal, was business as usual, or was just like what reporters do every day (see Snow's last comment in the video for that gem).

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Editorials livid over Libby

From Editor & Publisher:

From the [New York] Times' Tuesday editorial: "Mr. Bush’s assertion that he respected the verdict but considered the sentence excessive only underscored the way this president is tough on crime when it’s committed by common folk ...

"Within minutes of the Libby announcement, the same Republican commentators who fulminated when Paris Hilton got a few days knocked off her time in a county lockup were parroting Mr. Bush’s contention that a fine, probation and reputation damage were 'harsh punishment' enough for Mr. Libby.

"Presidents have the power to grant clemency and pardons. But in this case, Mr. Bush did not sound like a leader making tough decisions about justice. He sounded like a man worried about what a former loyalist might say when actually staring into a prison cell."

The [Washington] Post, which had often mocked the court case, declares today: "We agree that a pardon would have been inappropriate and that the prison sentence of 30 months was excessive. But reducing the sentence to no prison time at all, as Mr. Bush did -- to probation and a large fine -- is not defensible. ... Mr. Bush, while claiming to 'respect the jury's verdict,' failed to explain why he moved from 'excessive' to zero.

"It's true that the felony conviction that remains in place, the $250,000 fine and the reputational damage are far from trivial. But so is lying to a grand jury. To commute the entire prison sentence sends the wrong message about the seriousness of that offense."

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "President Bush's commutation of a pal's prison sentence counts as a most shocking act of disrespect for the U.S. justice system. It's the latest sign of the huge repairs to American concepts of the rule of law that await the next president."

The Denver Post found that "such big-footing of other branches of government is not unprecedented with this administration. The president's abuse of signing statements show his disrespect for Congress' power to make law. His insistence that terror detainees at Guantanamo Bay be denied Habeas Corpus rights mocks legal tradition. It's a shame that his actions in the Libby affair will add to that list. Libby should be held accountable for his crimes."

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's editorial declares that "mostly this commutation fails on the most basic premise. There was no miscarriage of justice in Libby's conviction or his sentence. The trial amply demonstrated that he stonewalled. Like President Clinton's 11th-hour pardons of an ill-deserving few, this commutation is a travesty."

New York's Daily News: "However misbegotten was the probe by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, the fact is that Libby did commit a federal crime and the fact is also that he was convicted in a court of law. Thankfully, Bush did not pardon Libby outright, but time in the slammer was in order. Sixty days, say, wouldn't have hurt the justice system a bit."

Chicago Tribune believes that "in nixing the prison term, Bush sent a terrible message to citizens and to government officials who are expected to serve the public with integrity. The way for a president to discourage the breaking of federal laws is by letting fairly rendered consequences play out, however uncomfortably for everyone involved. The message to a Scooter Libby ought to be the same as it is for other convicts: You do the crime, you do the time."

The Arizona Republic: "We thought Scooter Libby was going through the criminal justice system. Just like anyone else. Then, President Bush whipped out a get-out-of-jail-free card. This is the wrong game to play on a very public stage."

San Jose Mercury News: "Other presidents have doled out pardons and the like, usually on the way out of office. It's never pretty. But few have placed themselves above the law as Bush, Cheney and friends repeatedly have done by trampling civil liberties and denying due process. Chalk up another point for freedom. Scooter's, at least."

The Sacramento Bee: President Bush, a recent story in the Washington Post tells us, is obsessed with the question of how history will view him. He has done himself no favors on that count by commuting the prison term of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby."

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Intelligence problems persist in Iraq

Pat Lang, a former high-ranking official at the Defense Intelligence Agency and a very legitimate Middle East expert, has a fantastic blog post up about the failures of intelligence in Iraq. If you're interested in why we're having such a difficult time militarily in Iraq, and especially if you like the intel details, go read the whole thing. Lang is occasionally ornery, but the whole site is well worth adding to your RSS, he's an interesting and insightful guy with provocative thoughts.

Commenting on the report that a huge amount of intelligence in Iraq is being done by private contractors, he rightly observes that the article is a little misleading in talking about "intelligence gathering" when what it really means is what he calls "scholarship," what I would simply call analysis. From there, though, he goes into a discussion of *why* intelligence operations in Iraq are going so poorly, and many of his observations are things I personally experienced or observed in Baghdad. He says:

The military command in Iraq has failed and continues to fail to do intelligence collection and analysis adequately in support of the core activities of its combat and counterinsurgency forces in the war . . .

What is the evidence of that failure? We can not find the enemy.

Yeah. That's a pretty significant problem. Read More......

Joe Wilson: Bush has "utterly subverted the rule of law and system of justice" and has role in the cover up

Joe Wilson was on the Today Show this morning -- succinct and tough. He said Bush "short-circuited our system of justice" and guaranteed that Libby will never tell the truth. Wilson knows -- and the media who were complicit in the Plame leak know -- Bush is complicit in the cover-up and obstruction.

Watch the interview. It's worth it:

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread

The outrage over the Scooter Libby pardon is palpable. George Bush is running a criminal syndicate -- and destroying the rule of law. And, it's all over the war he started in Iraq. You can't make this stuff up. If you did, no one would believe it.

All right. Start threading. Read More......

Giuliani thinks illegal immigration is what caused UK terror attacks

What does shutting down the border to illegal immigrants and tamper proof ID cards have to do with the failed attacks in London and Glasgow? Nothing, unless you are Giuliani. Read More......

"Lobster summit" ends with no results

Although it should come as no surprise to anyone, since Bush has told everyone in the past that "he doesn't do nuance", his more recent interest in working with the UN as well as his meetings with Putin have exposed him again for the weak leader that he truly is. He will always talk big, but the results are stunningly less impressive. Even with help from daddy, he can't deliver anything other than more talk about seeing the real Putin ("consistent, transparent and honest"), whatever that's supposed to mean. Read More......

60 Minutes jumps on the French-bashing bandwagon a few years late

I had heard that 60 Minutes had declined, but the hit piece on France and holidays over the weekend really was sad. All of the classic stereotypes were hit, often joined by laughs or Laura Logan's annoying repetition of exactly what the person just said, just in case you are really slow and missed it the first time around. As a South African, where they have legally mandated minimum annual vacation (21 days) plus living in the UK, where they also have minimum days of vacation (20 days), plus attending school in France, I'm not sure how she manages to show shock and surprise during the discussion because the only shocking aspect is that American workers have been bamboozled into taking so little. Especially as US companies trim benefits to employees and executives shower themselves with riches, I wonder when people will wake up and demand some down time with their friends and family.

Across the EU people work hard and they take vacation, much more than in the US, so what's the big deal? Italians average more days of holiday compared to the French and Germans and Scandinavians are no slouches either yet businesses seem to be running just fine. Maybe work schedules need to be tweaked over here, but they need a complete overhaul in the US. I say this as a person who took two days of vacation in the five years before arriving in France but have since seen the light and it sure isn't the light of my laptop on button. Work-life balance is good for everyone. Read More......