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Friday, Sep 24, 2004
bubble boys and girls
"This made Philip Gourevitch a poor candidate to cover a presidential campaign. Hanging out with a pack of reporters, where everyone is chasing the same story (but there really is no story)-- that's alien to his experience, not the sort of thing he does at all. On the campaign trail it's always you, and the press, and the thing: nonstop. And your arrival is always anticipated. You are never coming into a situation as first witness for the public, which had been a Gourevitch method.
On contract at the New Yorker, he needed a new assignment, something fresh to do. Maybe another foreign beat? he thought. Bingo. Approached that way, politics had possibilities. The presidential campaign as a foreign country visited by one of its own citizens."
politinker
politinfo.com - political portal
house party
maison neuve - literary magazine alert
voting blights
feel like revisiting the 2000 election?
sour smell of success
i bitched about this on some comment thread after reading ezra kleins neo-lib apologia for his initial support of the war on iraq. ultimately all those fresh faced voices of reason and moderation just couldnt bear the emotional strain of siding with the dirty smelly hippies. (i blame cartman.) michael berube adds some perspective.
Wednesday, Sep 22, 2004
two-step
jon stewart deftly bobs and weaves on the oreilly factor.
Thursday, Sep 16, 2004
leak outlook
"Twelve Examples of Existing Documents That Deserve Unauthorized Disclosure"
Each of these--wrongly withheld up till now--could and should be released almost in their entirety, perhaps with minor deletions for genuine security reasons. (In many cases, official promises to release declassified versions have not been honored.)
1. Reports by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Guantanamo, Abu Ghrab and other prisons (ships, prisons in other countries) that hold prisoners from the "war on terrorism". (These reports have been provided to the US government but have not been made public.)
2. 28 pages redacted from the report of the Joint House-Senate Inquiry on Intelligence Activities before and after 9/11, concerning the ties between the 9/11 terrorists and the government of Saudi Arabia.
3. 800 pages of the United Nations Report on Weapons of Mass Destruction that were taken by the United States during unauthorized Xeroxing and never given to the Security Council members. (The original report was 1200 pages in length but has never been published in its entirety)
4. Membership, advisors, consultants to Vice President Cheney’s Energy Task Force, and any minutes from meetings (January – December, 2001).
5. Documents and photographs concerning/produced by military doctors or medical personnel that document abuses toward prisoners condoned by medical personnel.
6. Documents produced by military lawyers and legal staff that challenge the political policy makers decision to undercut the Geneva Conventions and any other extra-legal procedures.
7. The missing sections of the US Army General Taguba report on prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan.
8. Department of Justice-Inspector General (DOJ-IG) Report: RE: Sibel Edmonds vs. FBI, completed, classified
9. DOJ-IG Report: RE: FBI Translation Department (security breaches, intentional mistranslations, espionage charges), completed, classified
10. DOJ-IG Report: RE:FBI & Foreknowledge of 9/11, completed, classified
11. Full staff backup to General Shinseki’s 2002 estimate that "several hundred thousand troops" would be required for effective occupation of Iraq.
12. The full 2002 State Department studies on requirements for the postwar occupation and restoration of civil government in Iraq.
mini kit-kats
*shorter kitty kelly
*slate assessment
*matt taibbi on...
mour is more
seymour hersh on democracy now.
duty calls
cursor's derelection 2004 - covering the coverage