CIA Leak: My letter to my Senators
Tue Jul 26, 2005 at 08:44:26 AM PDT
[I figured having my own blog would give me a place to vent. Along with comments here and other blogs, I should have enough places to "get things off my chest". Turns out "No". This morning, after removing a oppossum from my daughter's room, I just had to pen a letter to my Senators. Lucky for me, I am in Maryland, so I like my Senators. Thought I would share...]
Dear Hon Sen Mikulski,
Dear Hon Sen Sarbanes,
I am writing with regard to the Press Release of Jul 25, wherein you, along with 25 other Senators have requested the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to look into the matter of the leaking of Mrs Plame's covert status. I applaud this effort. It is exactly the sort of action that makes me proud to be a Marylander and to have you representing me in the Senate.
[More after the jump...]
O'Connor to Chief Justice post
Fri Jul 15, 2005 at 09:43:42 AM PDT
Sorry for a cut-and-paste diary, but thought people might like to discuss this.
From CNN, Senators urge O'Connor to reconsider retirement
Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-California, Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, urged the 75-year-old jurist to return to the court as the chief justice of the United States to avoid what could be a messy confirmation fight over her successor.
Note: two Senators from each party. Is this what is called a
bi-partisan appeal?
US Atty Patrick J. Fitzgerald
Thu Jul 14, 2005 at 09:17:10 AM PDT
[I thought a little stroll through Fitzgerald's bio might be fun. Read on...]
From the US Dep't of Justice bio:
Patrick J. Fitzgerald began serving as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois on September 1, 2001. Mr. Fitzgerald was...nominated by President G. W. Bush. The Senate confirmed his nomination by unanimous consent on October 23, 2001, and President Bush signed his commission on October 29, 2001.
As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Fitzgerald serves as the district's top federal law enforcement official. He manages of staff of approximately 300 employees, including approximately 150 Assistant U.S. Attorneys.
At the time of his appointment, noone in the Senate or the WH seemed to have any problems with this man. I hope they don't start to once indictments start coming out of his office.
Looking over his past, we can see he doesn't like corruption in public offices.
(continued after the jump...)
100 Years Ago Today
Thu Jun 30, 2005 at 06:00:45 PM PDT
100 years ago today the view mankind had of the world was changed. Before June 30, 1905, the best minds of the time could entertain the view that all we knew was part of a vast absolute Universe. One that was fixed in space; that there was a preferred frame of reference. On this date, in the Journal (still published today) Annalen der Physik, there appeared the article Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper, authored by Albert Einstein. The English translation of the title: On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies. This is the paper that showed us what we now call "Special Relativity."
Bush, the Porn Star and the American Taliban
Wed Jun 15, 2005 at 06:46:31 AM PDT
Last night was the annual President's Dinner. Included on the guest list was porn star Mary Carey. This fact did not go unnoticed by the religious right. After the fold are some press clippings mentioning the event.
Please enjoy my analysis, by way of select highlighting of text.
At least now the GOPs love of money is properly juxtaposed against its true feeling about the "moral climate of this nation."
Sunday Torture/Gitmo Roundup
Sun Jun 05, 2005 at 08:13:09 PM PDT
Hubble mission in the works, w/poll
Sun May 01, 2005 at 10:49:05 AM PDT
Senate Panel Is Widening Its Review of Bolton
Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 10:02:53 PM PDT
Just throwing this up so it can be discussed.
www.nytimes.com :
In a widening of the inquiry into John R. Bolton's nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee intends to conduct formal interviews in the next 10 days with as many as two dozen people, Congressional officials said Tuesday.
In Iraq, things not so quiet after all
Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 07:03:12 PM PDT
From the BBC,
Iraqi insurgency 'undiminished':
The most senior officer in the US armed forces, General Richard Myers, says
Iraqi insurgents have lost none of their capacity to stage attacks.
The chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff said there were 50 to 60 attacks a day, the same level as one year ago.
General Myers said: "I think their capacity stays about the same. And where they are right now is where they were almost a year ago."
Rummy quote and rebuttal after the jump...
Half of all Americans feel deceived about WMDs w/poll
Tue Apr 26, 2005 at 11:18:22 AM PDT
Over at
Editor&Publisher, they report on a recent Gallup poll.
(my graphic)
Half of all Americans, exactly 50%, now say the
Bush administration deliberately misled Americans about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
in late May 2003...31% said the administration deliberately misled Americans. This sentiment has gradually increased over time, to 39% in July 2003, 43% in January/February 2004, and 47% in October 2004.
Bin Laden WAS in Tora Bora, says gov't doc
Wed Mar 23, 2005 at 10:42:46 AM PDT
Now, let's see...I am remembering back to last fall, maybe in October. Kerry was trying to tell people how Bush wasn't really making us any safer. During the debates, he keep bringing up how Bin Laden had been in Tora Bora, but got away. From ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer,
Document: Bin Laden Evaded U.S. Forces (my emphasis)
A terror suspect held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was a commander for Osama bin Lade during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and helped the al-Qaida leader escape his mountain hide-out at Tora Bora in 2001, according to a U.S. government document.
We set up the evil that is Gitmo to get info...
Abe Lincoln quotes and the circular nature of time
Thu Mar 10, 2005 at 12:51:05 PM PDT
[The other day, the first quote below was posted and someone pointed out it was from Lincoln. This got me to researching Lincoln quotes. Here and after the fold are my favorites. I think many apply today. Enjoy]
How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?
Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all.
He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.
On the roads in Iraq, losing a leg
Tue Mar 08, 2005 at 07:37:18 AM PDT
or
And you thought your commute was bad
From Reuters: No One Safe on Baghdad's Roads, Iraqis Say
Jawdat Abd al-Kadhum lost a leg to an American bullet fired from a convoy traveling ahead of him.
"There is no safety on the roads. Everyone should expect anything to happen on these roads. Foreigners, Iraqis we are all exposed to the same risks," said al-Kadhum, his left tracksuit trouser leg tied around the stump of his leg.
Many have a tale to tell of someone they know that has been shot at, killed or harassed by U.S. forces in convoys or at checkpoints dotted across the country.
Read on for more quotes and some thoughtful (ha!) analysis.
"No, you're an Ashcroft!" w/poll
Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 09:57:05 AM PDT
This is just for fun. Saw
this
this morning while reading the WashPost's Style section. Just had to laugh.
You're an Ashcroft! No, you're the Ashcroft!
Imagine hearing that exchange in a movie -- you'd think that Hollywood had come up with a crazy new insult. Well, it turns out that some airline passengers watching the Oscar-nominated film "Sideways" on foreign flights are, in fact, hearing "Ashcroft" as a substitute for a certain seven-letter epithet commonly used to denote a human orifice.
Abu Ghraib on the Hudson
Sun Feb 20, 2005 at 09:22:02 PM PDT
More reports of torture (why do I feel I will get to write this often)
[T]errorism suspects - none of whom were ultimately charged with anything related to terrorism - alleged in sworn affidavits and in interviews with Justice Department officials that correction officers:
Humiliated them by making fun of - and sometimes painfully squeezing - their genitals.
Deprived them of regular sleep for weeks or months.
Shackled their hands and feet before smashing them repeatedly face-first into concrete walls.
Forced them in winter to stand outdoors at dawn while dressed in light cotton prison garb and no shoes, sometimes for hours.
The problem here is this is not a story out of Guantanamo Bay or Iraq or Afghanistan, but took place in New York City.
Citation (and more) after the jump.
