Home / crooksandliars.com rss archive / August-26-2007


Open Thread
How many Bush administration officials does it take to change a light bulb? Zaius Nation says seven….

C&Ls Late Nite Music Club with Stravinsky
In 1913 the Paris premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s revolutionary score for Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes caused a riot (literally). Stravinsky’s shockingly brutal yet rivetingly beautiful score changed the course of 20th-century Western music. Today Ken over at Down With Tyranny has the fascinating story of howAmerica [...]

Iraq Body Count May Double 2006 Numbers
AP Via Yahoo:This year’s U.S. troop buildup has succeeded in bringing violence in Baghdad down from peak levels, but the death toll from sectarian attacks around the country is running nearly double the pace from a year ago.The AP tracking includes Iraqi civilians, government officials, police and security forces killed in attacks such as [...]

Countdown On NBC: Worst Person In The World - Comedian Rush Limbaugh
Keith Olbermann made the most of the nationwide, broadcast debut of “Countdown.” Thankfully, NBC chose not to water down the show for the masses and let Keith be Keith. Tonight’s Worst Person In The World winners were as follows: Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell gets the worse award, Bill O’Reilly of Fixed [...]

Bangor, Maine Newspapers Conflict of Interest?
From Senate 2008 Guru:Not only is a Bangor office staffer of Susan Collins married to the executive editor of the Bangor Daily News (without so much as a disclaimer attached to articles run by the BDN on Collins), but the executive editor himself, Mark Woodward, was once Collins’ press secretary! I’m sure Susan Collins is [...]

FOX Propaganda Channel: Allegedly Unbiased
In a “Beat the Press” segment on MSNBC, Dan Abrams pinpoints exactly why the FISA debate is so distorted and misunderstood. Download (3571) | Play (4114)  Download (1453) | Play (2078)HUME: The Senate Judiciary Committee’s latest deadline for the WH to comply with it’s subpoena for documents relating to warrantless…allegedly warrantless…wiretaps has come and gone…ABRAMS: Allegedly! Allegedly! [...]

Massachusetts Is Full Of Libs, Allows Gay Marriage - Has Lowest Divorce Rate In America
Via The New York Times: If blue states care less about moral values, why are divorce rates so low in the bluest of the blue states? It’s a question that intrigues conservatives, as much as it emboldens liberals. As researchers have noted, the areas of the country where divorce rates are highest are [...]

From Pyrrhus to Petraeus
Right wing spokespersons are dutifully picking up Bushs Iraq is Vietnam theme and trudging along with it. There are a couple of examples at the Corner. Here is the reliably inane Jonah Goldberg:The mainstream media and a lot of liberal-leaning analysts seem to think its politically foolish or reckless for Bush to compare Vietnam to [...]

Blue Americas Darcy Burner
Darcy Burner was one of the first new Blue America candidates we endorsed for 2008. John, Jane and I think really highly of her, not only as an effective and extraordinarily intelligent leader but also as someone who speaks her mind in plain English. Darcy Burner says what she means– in a way that anyone [...]

Prominent Psychologist Returns APA Presidential Citation - Cites Groups Support For Torture
Via Daily Kos:In addition to newspaper condemnations of APA’s pathetic resolution, prominent psychologists are responding as well. Well-known psychologist and author Mary Pipher, of Reviving Ophelia fame, has taken up the cause. She has chosen to return an APA Presidential Citation she received in 2006 from then-APA president Gerald Koocher. Koocher has been a big [...]

National Intelligence Director Reveals Previously Classified FISA Details - Confirms Private Companies Aided Illegal Spying
AP Via Yahoo:National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell pulled the curtain back on previously classified details of government surveillance and of a secretive court whose recent rulings created new hurdles for the Bush administration as it tries to prevent terrorism.McConnell’s comments made in an interview with the El Paso Times last week and posted as [...]

Justice, Guantanamo Style
Yesterday the Petitioners in the Al Odah case submitted their brief to the Supreme Court. At issue in the case is whether detainees at Guantanamo Bay have constitutionally protected rights to habeas corpus and due process. In February, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the elimination of habeas corpus rights for Guantanamo detainees [...]

Daily Show: Rob Riggle Writes Home From Iraq
Daily Show Senior Baghdad Correspondent Rob Riggle puts together a video montage of his time in Iraq. Secretary Rumsfeld was right: The entire country isn’t on fire; just most of it… Download (3689) | Play (3901)  Download (1800) | Play (2168)

Tim Robbins tells Stephen Hayes to apologize to America for linking al-Qaeda and Iraq
ON the premiere of Real Time with Bill Maher, Tim Robbins told Cheney’s new BFF, Stephen Hayes to apologize for writing a book that tried to link al-Qaeda and Saddam so that it would appear he was in on the 9/11 attacks. And as C&L and many other blogs have been arguing is why are [...]

What the GOP will do with Bush next year
The Politicos Elizabeth Wilner has a new piece speculating about what the Republican National Convention is going to be like for the outgoing president next year.Twenty-five hundred delegates to the Republican National Convention pause in their exchange of hellos on this opening night and break into warm if not wild applause. Up to the podium [...]

New Greenwald Video: Fox Attacks! Iran
  Another great video from Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films showing how FOX Opinion has been drumming up the propaganda in support for a U.S. invasion of Iran.Robert Greenwald:I remember very clearly the daily fearmongering led by FOX as they cheered for war with Iraq. The 24/7 images, sound effects, yelling and threatening [...]

American Whistleblowers Tortured - Lives And Careers Ruined By Their Own Government
Via Forbes:One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted. Or worse.For daring to report illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and [...]

C&Ls Late Nite Music Club with Woody Shaw
I loved the record “Rosewood,” when it came out in the late ’70’s.

Open Thread: OMG Rush Limbaugh said something stupid.
[click for larger] h/t Make Them Accountable.From Media Matters: On his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh claimed that Democrats “want to get us out of Iraq, but they can’t wait to get us into Darfur.” He continued: “There are two reasons. What color is the skin of the people in Darfur? It’s black. [...]

Sunday Talking Head Thread
(Photo of a tall iced mocha via Cria-cow.)The Sunday talking head line-up is ready for the reading this morning. It’s a mixed line-up, a few interesting possibilities and a whole lot of hot air and excuses otherwise. What’s catching your eye this morning on the blogs or in the news?

Mikes Blog Round Up
Mike Finnigan here. Back layin’ in da cut for the first time in three months. I want to thank the intrepid bloggers who stepped up and took care of the Roundup so spectacularly while I was away:The Vagabond Scholar, Batocchio; Cernig at The Newshoggers; Simbaud of King of Zembla; Joe Ivory Mattingly, The Heretik; Lambert [...]

Senator Warner To Bush On Iraq: Put Some Teeth Behind Your Words
Senator John Warner (R-VA) senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, appeared on “Meet The Press” this morning and reinforced his statement earlier this week urging President Bush to begin withdrawing some troops from Iraq by the end of this year. Warner, who recently returned from Iraq, made it clear he stands behind [...]

Bill Moyers: Surge in Bushco Propaganda Denies reality on the Ground
(C&Ler Bill, sent in this video and post. Anyone can submit a video and post to me. I can’t tell you how many great things the readers have sent in over the years.)Bill Moyers takes a look at the vast differences between Bushco’s Potemkin Iraq PR campaign and what is really going on in [...]

Blowing the search for Bin Laden
When John Kerry talked about Tora Bora heavily, I wondered why the press just kinda shrugged it off. I always felt that the White House wanted Osama alive (at least until after the ‘04 election) so he could be the big bad evil that would keep Americans frightened and confused like the bed-wetters of the [...]

Evidence
Kevin Drum finds that the O’Hanlon’s didn’t supply us with real evidence to support their claims. Frankly, I don’t understand why the media didn’t attack this aspect of their war hawking report when they got the red carpet treatment.I think it’s fair to ask O’Hanlon and Pollack for more evidence of progress than just regurgitation [...]

Mid Day Open Thread
 George W. Bush, Sunday Bloody Sunday:

Will the Media roll out the carpet for Rep. Jan Schakowsky too?
Our media has given up their air time to all the war supporters this month including a huge chunk to Brian Baird. He’s been mentioned in almost every segment on the upcoming Petraeus White House report. However, Rep. Jan Schakowsky went to Iraq and came away with a much different response:The lack of political [...]

Reminder: Keith Olbermann & Countdown On NBC Tonight 7pm EST
Don’t forget to tune in and catch Keith on your local NBC affiliate at 7:00pm EST prior to the NFL preseason game. We’ll be watching and post some highlights for those of you who aren’t able to catch the show.

GI Morale Hurt By Drawn Out Conflict, Deteriorating Conditions
Via LA Times:In the dining hall of a U.S. Army post south of Baghdad, President Bush was on the wide-screen TV, giving a speech about the war in Iraq. The soldiers didn’t look up from their chicken and mashed potatoes.As military and political leaders prepare to deliver a progress report on the conflict to [...]