60 dead, 200 wounded in Baghdad today

What was that the Republican Senators told us a couple months back... you don't have any civil rights when you're dead? So can you be liberated when you're dead? Just checking. Read the rest of this post...

Bush sets the tone for dictators of the world

Oh nice. Now Mugabe is steeling a classic one right out of the Bush handbook on ruling. It's so similar it's scary.

Parliament plans to debate proposals next month to empower the secret police to eavesdrop on mail, e-mail and phones without any court approval.

The government denies any sinister intent, saying it is putting its anti-terrorism legislation in line with international practice.

Those in dissent are saying pretty much the same thing as well and they're correct.

The aim "is to monitor and block communications for political reasons and to use information they get to persecute opponents," said Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly, a group critical of repressive laws and actions of Mugabe's government.

Telephoned from neighboring South Africa, he said: "It is part and parcel of the process of controlling dissent and stifling democratic debate."

Read the rest of this post...

"I hate Sony" open thread

It's an open thread, chat about whatever you like, but I need to vent quickly about this piece of crap (that would be "PC") Sony Vaio, the most expensive piece of garbage I have ever bought in my entire life - and I'm not exaggerating, it is literally the biggest lemon I have ever purchased. (It's my blog, I get to vent.)

I haven't used the thing in a few months since I now have a Mac laptop that works perfectly. And when I say perfectly, I mean perfectly. Knock on wood, and all that, but so far it's just like the ads say - it just works.

But, today I had to boot up my Sony desktop because TiVo doesn't work with Mac, and I wanted to transfer a couple of movies to my laptop to watch on the road. So what happens, 45 minutes after booting up my Sony crashes, all on its own, while I'm not even touching it, and reboots all by itself. It's been doing this cute rebooting trick the entire time I've owned the piece of crap, for 18 months now (it's a young computer, had problems from day one). Sony never managed to fix the problem, though they did lie to me, a lot, when I called customer service - again, not exaggerating, I caught the customer service rep quite literally lying to me. Then they lost my repair request, and all sorts of other fun. (The geeks among you will appreciate this: One Sony tech had the nerve to tell me that I clearly had a virus AFTER we replaced the hard drive with a fresh new unformatted hard drive on which we installed Windows from their own CD, yet the same problem occurred again. Still, the bozo is lecturing me about how I obviously still have a virus, so I asked him where, in the RAM?)

Anyway, so I spent an insane amount of money buying a particularly good Sony computer, because Sony has such a great name, and the thing is the biggest, most expensive lemon I have ever owned. The thing is a better coffee table than computer.

I just had to vent because I've had it with this piece of junk. And if I can't get Sony to actually send me a computer that works after buying a $1500 tower, the least I can do is let the world know what a piece of crap their desktop computers are (though in all fairness to Sony, I'm beginning to think all desktops stink). Buy a Mac instead, folks. I've got Joe and Chris both using them now, and no one is looking back. And ironically, it's even easier to switch if you're NOT a computer pro - I think - the more novice you are, the less "weird" the change is in practice.

I feel better now. Chat amongst yourselves. Read the rest of this post...

Iraq's Speaker of the Parliament calls US troops "butchers"

Correction: I'd attributed this quote to the Iraqi Prime Minister when in fact it was the Iraq Speaker of the parliament.

This war is an absolute disaster. Things have gotten so bad that the leader of the Iraqi parliament is now calling us "butchers." That kind of rhetoric will only help fuel the insurgency, and will help fuel the Iraqi people's anger, and mistrust, of American troops, which will make their job even harder. The message the Iraqi Speaker is sending is that the US military is out of control, and out of HIS control. It's a very small step between that kind of implication and his calling us outright occupiers.

“We know there was a corrupt regime in Saddam, but a regime should be removed by surgery, not by butchering. The U.S. occupation is butcher’s work under the slogan of democracy and human rights and justice.”

George Bush has failed. The war in Iraq is over. Bush lost. Prolonging our presence there will only lead to more death, and more hatred, on all sides. Yes, an American withdrawal will be a disaster. But an American commitment to stay in Iraq will also be a disaster.

The patient is terminal. You can either give him massive doses of chemo and radiation that will do nothing to help, and actually will hurt him even more, or you can stop the treatment and call a failure a failure. If you think America is on the right course in Iraq, then please do vote Republican this fall. Read the rest of this post...

Floyd Landis completes the incredible comeback and wins!

Way to go Floyd! He joins two other cycling greats from the US who have won the Tour de France, bringing 10 of the last 21 victories to the US. Floyd's victory this year has made him a legend.

It's amazing the obstacles all three have overcome to win, truly capturing the American spirit. LeMond bounced back after missing 2 prime riding years due to an almost fatal hunting accident, Armstrong defied the odds of cancer (he had a 1% or 2% chance of surviving) and Landis a bad hip that will be surgically replaced soon. Read the rest of this post...

Pentagon says Bush budget cuts and go-it-alone strategy have hurt the war on terror

Great. So George Bush's go-it-alone America-is-above-the-law policies have now jeopardized the war on terror. And I'm not the one saying it, senior US military officials are the ones saying it.

The Bush administration and Congress have slashed millions of dollars of military aid to African nations in recent years, moves that Pentagon officials and senior military commanders say have undermined American efforts to combat terrorist threats in Africa and to counter expanding Chinese influence there.

Since 2003, Washington has shut down Pentagon programs to train and equip militaries in a handful of African nations because they have declined to sign agreements exempting American troops from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague....

Some cite this as a case where the unintended consequences of the go-it-alone approach to foreign policy that Washington took after the Sept. 11 attacks affected the larger American efforts to combat terrorism....

Some military officials also argue that the aid cuts have given China an upper hand in what they describe as a modern Great Game — a battle for influence in Africa between the powers, similar to the 19th-century rivalry in Central Asia between the British and the Russians....

Passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in August 2002, the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act prohibits certain types of military aid to countries that have signed on to the International Criminal Court but have not signed a separate accord with the United States, called an Article 98 agreement....

White House opposition to the court led Congress to severely restrict military and economic aid to countries that have not signed Article 98 agreements.

Bush didn't want international law to apply to Americans, so in order to get his way, he got together with his Republican-controlled Congress and passed legislation that hurt US national interests and the war on terror. All because Bush had a bright idea and the Republicans refused to challenge him on it, or anything else.

And now America is less safe. Read the rest of this post...

Liddy Dole is a disaster for the Senate GOP

Liddy's a disaster at the NRSC. Chuck Schumer is putting her to shame. Her colleagues aren't happy with her. Sounds like the Republicans are already starting the blame game:

In interviews, Republican senators voiced support for Mrs. Dole but made it clear they were nervous about the months ahead.

“I’m going to say it’s going well, because at this point in time, that’s what you need to say,” said Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, who earlier this year publicly criticized Mrs. Dole’s recruiting efforts.

Senator John Thune of South Dakota, who has already made known that he wants to succeed Mrs. Dole when she finishes her term at the end of the year, said senators pressed Mrs. Dole about the committee’s financial situation at a lunch she held for them on Tuesday.

Senator Norm Coleman, the Minnesota Republican whom she defeated by one vote for the job, said: “A lot of people had questions about cash on hand. We have to accelerate that.”

Other Republicans had harsher views.

“Look, we have a lot of Republicans who are on the ropes, this has not been a spectacular year of recruiting, we are way behind in fund-raising,” said Pat Toomey, the president of the Club for Growth, a conservative political action committee. “I don’t see a lot to brag about.”

She's playing the blame game right back:

Her recruiting effort in the Michigan Republican Senate primary has put her at cross-purposes with Ken Mehlman, the Republican National Committee chairman. Mrs. Dole has actively pressed the candidacy of a white candidate, Michael Bouchard, who is in a primary against a black candidate, Keith Butler, to challenge Senator Debbie Stabenow.

“I think Ken might have choked a little bit on that one,” Mrs. Dole said with a soft laugh of her Michigan maneuverings. She said she applauded Mr. Mehlman’s overall effort to improve the party’s appeal to blacks, but argued that it was essential for Republicans to field the strongest possible challenger to Ms. Stabenow, and that Mr. Butler was simply a weaker candidate.

Mrs. Dole said some of her recruiting failures had been out of her hands. Even before the cycle began she was counting on Mike Johanns, then the popular Nebraska governor, to challenge Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat. She was caught by surprise when President Bush nominated Mr. Johanns as secretary of agriculture.

“It was like a dagger to the heart,” she said.

Sounds like the Senate Republicans are starting to freak out. That's a very good sign. And there's plenty of blame to go around. Read the rest of this post...

More of the same in Iraq - over 60 killed, hundreds wounded

Success? Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

War, war, war -- and a lot of spin from the Bush team trying to defend their failed and disastrous foreign policy:

FOX NEWS SUNDAY...: U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton ; House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.); Plácido Domingo , general director of the Washington National Opera.

THIS WEEK (ABC...: Will not air because of British Open golf coverage.

FACE THE NATION (CBS...: Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon ; Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha ; Washington Post columnist David Ignatius .

MEET THE PRESS (NBC...: White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten ; Washington Post staff writer Thomas E. Ricks .

LATE EDITION (CNN), 11 a.m.: Bolton ; Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.); Reps. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and Jane Harman (D-Calif.); Mohamad Bahaa Chatah , senior adviser to the Lebanese prime minister; Israeli Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog ; author Gary Berntsen .

Read the rest of this post...

Another upside to Landis winning the Tour this year

It doesn't sound like he will have any chummy bikes rides with Dear Leader. Nice. Read the rest of this post...

I have a dream

I can't wait for the day. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Bedtime Read the rest of this post...