tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89919582011-08-10T19:16:04.786-04:00Poorly informed, inexpert, derivativealbany laymannoreply@blogger.comBlogger5011100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-9725228855665092302007-10-18T11:03:00.000-04:002007-10-18T11:05:42.669-04:00

Nothing new to see here. I'm probably reading one of the fine blogs from the list over to the right, or possibly wasting space in their comments threads. Current faves are Democracy in Albany for local stuff, and Sadly, No! for mockery of obscure right-wing writers.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-18667810138219621612007-09-19T12:10:00.000-04:002007-09-19T12:15:32.421-04:00

Warrantless Wiretaps Not Used, Official Says[Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence] also pushed for a provision that would grant legal immunity to the telecommunications companies that secretly cooperated with the N.S.A. on the warrantless program. Those companies, now facing lawsuits, have never been officially identified.Democratic Congressional aides say they believe that a

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-82787086599273685642007-09-17T08:44:00.000-04:002007-09-17T08:46:02.355-04:00

Veto Risk Seen in Compromise on Child HealthSenate and House negotiators said Sunday that they had agreed on a framework for a compromise bill that would provide health insurance to four million uninsured children while relaxing some of the limits on eligibility imposed by the Bush administration.The compromise, which resembles a bill passed by the Senate with bipartisan support, sets the stage

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-88167847127744299792007-09-10T08:54:00.000-04:002007-09-10T08:55:02.741-04:00

Depressing.Americans Feel Military Is Best at Ending the WarAmericans trust military commanders far more than the Bush administration or Congress to bring the war in Iraq to a successful end [...]Asked to choose among the administration, Congress and military commanders, 21 percent said they would most trust Congress and 68 percent expressed most trust in military commanders.Dear American people.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-88380217311311562732007-09-07T08:54:00.000-04:002007-09-07T08:56:01.103-04:00

Judge Voids F.B.I. Tool Granted by Patriot ActA federal judge yesterday struck down the parts of the recently revised USA Patriot Act that authorized the Federal Bureau of Investigation to use informal secret demands called national security letters to compel companies to provide customer records.[...]According to a report from the Justice Department’s inspector general in March, the F.B.I.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-66986594794935191432007-08-29T08:51:00.000-04:002007-08-29T08:52:27.844-04:00

Botox Appointments Faster Than for Moles, Study FindsPatients seeking an appointment with a dermatologist to ask about a potentially cancerous mole have to wait substantially longer than those seeking Botox for wrinkles, a study published online yesterday by The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology said. Researchers reported that dermatologists in 12 cities offered a typical wait of

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-14454873325587597892007-08-23T10:07:00.001-04:002007-08-23T10:09:18.024-04:00

Serendipity:

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-26134429338390757672007-08-21T09:36:00.001-04:002007-08-21T09:36:59.582-04:00

Rules May Limit Health Program Aiding ChildrenThe Bush administration, continuing its fight to stop states from expanding the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families.There is something seriously wrong with these people. Problem: lots

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-68132886921696881682007-08-16T09:25:00.000-04:002007-08-16T09:27:30.396-04:00

U.S. Defends Surveillance to 3 Skeptical JudgesLawyers in the two cases that were argued Wednesday say they have such proof. In the AT&T case, the plaintiffs submitted a sworn statement from a former technician for the company who disclosed technical documents about the installation of monitoring equipment at an AT&T Internet switching center in San Francisco. Mr. Garre, representing the

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-35390755512551524042007-08-07T08:25:00.000-04:002007-08-07T08:31:27.484-04:00

Bush Still Wields the Threat of TerrorismLike many people, I have been trying to figure out why the Democrats did not tell the loser President to take his security state and shove it where the Constitution don't shine. Perhaps this explains it:In any case, Democrats said they had been left in an untenable position. They could either allow for a vote on the broader Republican proposals that were

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-79103403058600679782007-07-20T08:43:00.000-04:002007-07-20T08:44:25.656-04:00

Fluffer to the Bush Administration, David B. Rifkin: "U.S. attorneys are emanations of a president's will."vs."The oath of office is taken by the by all executive and judicial officers, as well as all Federal government employees. It reads as follows: I (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-32898310417388280732007-07-15T09:41:00.000-04:002007-07-15T09:49:51.165-04:00

I'm no economist, so I probably don't have any business commenting on this. Of course, I'm going to anyway. The NYT has an article on the "new tycoons of a new Gilded age." As you might expect, there are some wealthy types who believe that incomes should be made more equitable through higher taxes. And then of course there are others who say "uh, not so fast, comrade."But I enjoyed the quotes

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-54723315531868158242007-07-13T09:15:00.001-04:002007-07-13T09:15:54.693-04:00

Greenwald writes:As frustrating as it can be, this sort of day-to-day pressure on individual journalists and political figures is the most effective weapon possessed by blogs, websites and other organizations devoted to forcing into our public discourse various perspectives and narratives which are otherwise excluded. [...]The point here is that changing our public discourse is a slow, grinding,

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-57889792314226146522007-07-09T08:57:00.000-04:002007-07-09T08:59:35.552-04:00

I have plenty of half-baked thoughts about health insurance. This post, however, is about the politics of health insurance.A Battle Over Expansion of Children’s InsuranceThe fight over a popular health insurance program for children is intensifying, with President Bush now leading efforts to block a major expansion of the program, which is a top priority for Congressional Democrats.The seemingly

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-24944333405437442602007-07-03T09:14:00.000-04:002007-07-03T09:17:07.342-04:00

Bush Spares Libby 30-Month Jail TermPresident Bush spared I. Lewis Libby Jr. from prison Monday, commuting his two-and-a-half-year sentence while leaving intact his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the C.I.A. leak case.There is not much to say about this. This is just one more example of this administration having no respect for anything other than its own power. They have

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-49084083345621940392007-06-27T08:23:00.000-04:002007-06-27T08:29:11.388-04:00

Shorter U.S.: Democracy and liberty for me (with some pesky exceptions) but not for thee.A rare gem among the family jewels: a pair of detailed reports signed by James J. Angleton, the legendary chief of the C.I.A.’s counterintelligence staff from 1954 to 1974. They describe an aspect of a longstanding worldwide American program to create and exploit foreign police forces, internal security

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-34720285563725348672007-06-25T08:52:00.000-04:002007-06-25T09:05:21.216-04:00

TPM: "Side-by-side wing chairs"? I'm reminded of the embarrassing point in 2004 in which the President agreed to talk to the 9/11 Commission, but only if Cheney could sit with Bush, and help answer questions, during the discussion.Old boy in the Beltway hoodLives in a bunker and it is understood.He’s there just to take good care of me,And be the guy who really has the presidency.TPM again: The

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-26427438760583977772007-06-22T08:40:00.000-04:002007-06-22T08:54:28.087-04:00

C.I.A. to Release Documents on Decades-Old Misdeeds"Misdeeds"? More like fighting for your freedoms, mister!The Central Intelligence Agency will make public next week a collection of long-secret documents compiled in 1974 that detail domestic spying, assassination plots and other C.I.A. misdeeds in the 1960s and early 1970s, the agency’s director, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, said yesterday.But if

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-20966441710491444372007-06-21T14:47:00.001-04:002007-06-21T14:47:32.681-04:00

From Froomkin:Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak writes: "On May 31, President Bush met for 35 minutes in the private living quarters of the White House with Cardinal Joseph Zen, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Hong Kong, in an event that was not announced and did not appear on his official schedule. Their meeting did not please the State Department, elements of the Catholic hierarchy and

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-31132221943282708242007-06-14T15:37:00.000-04:002007-06-14T15:38:38.744-04:00

From Froomkin, on the recent bombing of a significant shrine in Iraq:A statement by Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American officials in Iraq, described the attack as a new effort by Al Qaeda to provoke sectarian conflict. Putting a positive construction on an event that appeared to have shaken the Americans more than any event in recent months, the two officials

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-71103577489931579102007-06-07T10:43:00.000-04:002007-06-07T10:44:08.367-04:00

Joseph Galloway on Fear.Throwing a wrench into such misguided machinery isn't all that hard when you have check-writing authority. All it takes is courage and integrity and an absence of fear. Alas, that was lacking on Capitol Hill when the Democratic leadership, or what passes for such, cratered and caved. Their eye is on the 2008 presidential elections, and their fear is that the White House

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-23841470476428904652007-05-31T11:52:00.001-04:002007-05-31T11:52:49.236-04:00

Shorter Lou Dobbs: I may be wrong on the facts, but my critics are the assholes here.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-31026261430077036462007-05-31T08:51:00.000-04:002007-05-31T08:53:38.612-04:00

Imagine the sound of my open hand smacking my forehead.F.D.A. Still Unsettled in Wake of New QuestionsWhen Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach took over the Food and Drug Administration in 2005, the agency had a crisis over drug approvals that had missed or ignored dangerous side effects in Vioxx, antidepressants and other prominent medications.[...]But this month, The New England Journal of Medicine

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-7245737867987331832007-05-30T10:07:00.000-04:002007-05-30T10:08:59.598-04:00

Compassionate conservatismJustices’ Ruling Limits Suits on Pay DisparityThe Supreme Court on Tuesday made it harder for many workers to sue their employers for discrimination in pay, insisting in a 5-to-4 decision on a tight time frame to file such cases. The dissenters said the ruling ignored workplace realities. [...]The court held on Tuesday that employees may not bring suit under the

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-51309933505532764642007-05-22T09:40:00.000-04:002007-05-22T09:41:26.347-04:00

Al Gore Speaks of a Nation in DangerMr. Gore’s central argument is that “reason, logic and truth seem to play a sharply diminished role in the way America now makes important decisions” and that the country’s public discourse has become “less focused and clear, less reasoned.” This “assault on reason,” he suggests, is personified by the way the Bush White House operates. Echoing many reporters

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-75017830185218720062007-05-15T15:58:00.000-04:002007-05-15T15:59:56.791-04:00

This is like something from a Tom Clancy book:[...] desperate late night efforts by [...] White House [...] to get the Justice Department to approve a secret program -- the warrantless wiretapping program.[...] The events took place in March of 2004, when the program was in need of renewal by the Justice Department. When then-Attorney General John Ashcroft fell ill and was hospitalized, Comey

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-76779544752627434402007-05-04T11:01:00.000-04:002007-05-04T11:03:43.327-04:00

A day of prayer falls short on siteSpitzer move draws criticism from posting that quotes conservative Christian James C. DobsonDobson, upset? That's pretty much his bread and butter, from what I can tell.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-21792539217275250302007-05-01T14:04:00.000-04:002007-05-01T14:19:04.783-04:00

Happy anniversary, Iraq.Here's your present:Glenn Kessler writes in The Washington Post: "The number of terrorism incidents in Iraq -- and resulting deaths, injuries and kidnappings -- skyrocketed from 2005 to 2006, according to statistics released by U.S. counterterrorism officials yesterday."Of the 14,338 reported terrorist attacks worldwide last year, 45 percent took place in Iraq, and 65

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-69808898515777677172007-04-27T12:09:00.000-04:002007-04-27T12:17:16.765-04:00

Tried to post a comment to the Froomkin column from Thursday, but the comment has not been posted. Perhaps I cussed over at the Post site at some point. I wouldn't put it past me.Here is the item from Froomkin's column:Bush Gets a Purple HeartJoyce May writes in the Cove Herald of Copperas Cove, Tex, about a Vietnam veteran named Bill Thomas who decided to give Bush one of the three Purple

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-35299875133118320372007-04-25T08:26:00.000-04:002007-04-25T08:27:44.448-04:00

OSHA Leaves Worker Safety in Hands of IndustrySince George W. Bush became president, OSHA has issued the fewest significant standards in its history, public health experts say. It has imposed only one major safety rule. The only significant health standard it issued was ordered by a federal court.Government serves a purpose. But it can only work if we elect people who are going to see that each

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-12298388081993068542007-04-23T11:41:00.000-04:002007-04-23T11:42:05.872-04:00

Not that this matters, at all, but it's a telling exchange.As Ms. Crow and Ms. David described it on the Huffington Post Web site on Sunday, when Mr. Rove turned toward his table, Ms. Crow touched his arm and “Karl swung around and spat, ‘Don’t touch me.’ ”Both sides agreed that Ms. Crow told him, “You can’t speak to us like that, you work for us,” to which Mr. Rove responded, “I don’t work for

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-56261117717391547192007-04-19T08:35:00.000-04:002007-04-19T08:43:09.900-04:00

Subplot, the John Sweeney StoryF.B.I. Searches Home of California LawmakerF.B.I. agents last week searched the suburban Washington home of Representative John T. Doolittle, Republican of California, and his wife whose activities are being investigated in connection with her ties to the convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Mr. Doolittle’s lawyer acknowledged Wednesday.[...]Mr. Doolittle was elected

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-30773915922443043182007-04-16T08:45:00.000-04:002007-04-16T08:49:53.593-04:00

Here is a rundown of actions that Congress has taken in the past to affect the deployment of the military. In case you are tempted to buy into the "don't tie the hands of the Clown Commander in Chief" rhetoric.Congressional Limitations and Requirements for Military Deployments and Funding

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-72419488879908420292007-04-12T07:48:00.000-04:002007-04-12T07:49:13.075-04:00

A moment of silence, please.Kurt Vonnegut, Novelist Who Caught the Imagination of His Age, Is Dead at 84So it goes.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-16864070738207757122007-04-11T08:47:00.000-04:002007-04-11T08:48:26.195-04:00

Once again, it's not a good idea to elect Republicans to office when they clearly hate the notion of representing the rabble.Panel Said to Alter Finding on Voter FraudA federal panel responsible for conducting election research played down the findings of experts who concluded last year that there was little voter fraud around the nation, according to a review of the original report obtained by

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-38213292241843161072007-04-03T15:43:00.000-04:002007-04-03T15:44:17.532-04:00

From First Draft:Bush Needs to Stop Playing Politics with the Gulf Coast Recovery and Waive the 10% RequirementThe New Orleans City Business recently accused the Bush administration of playing politics with this and it is hard to conclude otherwise given the facts. Here they are:*Under the law Bush is allowed to waive the matching requirement when the per capita cost of a recovery bill exceeds

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-2961348644456470532007-04-01T09:00:00.000-04:002007-04-01T09:01:36.303-04:00

What’s the One Thing Big Business and the Left Have in Common?The struggle to establish universal health insurance, dormant for more than a decade, is back. Should it actually succeed over the next few years, historians may trace that triumph, at least in part, to a news conference on Capitol Hill — and to a most unusual figure who participated in it. The event took place in early December, just

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-6731719063803399742007-03-27T08:44:00.000-04:002007-03-27T08:47:57.782-04:00

A manuscript of an unpublished Orwell novel was recently found. Here are the opening sentences:The plea by Mr. Hicks came after an extraordinary day in a pristine red, white and blue courtroom here. Earlier the military judge had surprised the courtroom with unexpected rulings that two of Mr. Hicks’s three lawyers would not be permitted to participate in the proceedings, leaving only Maj.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-49508193256583909612007-03-16T09:29:00.000-04:002007-03-16T09:31:23.675-04:00

Talking Points Memo has a timeline of the story of the "Canned US Attorney[s]."It's long and might be confusing if you haven't already followed the story. But the timeline format is so useful in getting past the rhetoric and spin that's out there.My own "elevator version" of this story is: these US Attorneys were not acting as prosecutor-hitmen for the White House and the GOP, and they were

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-84567656525984862772007-03-13T12:10:00.001-04:002007-03-13T12:11:00.331-04:00

The NYT does an "objective, balanced" news piece about certain individuals' opinions of the "Inconvenient Truth" phenomenon. And look who takes notice and starts hollering.How many of these clowns actually read the article, I wonder.Here are some actual science guys responding to the NYT article.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-20641250790480719392007-03-09T23:07:00.001-05:002007-03-09T23:07:26.712-05:00

The rest of the internets suck.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-55318554277432088622007-03-02T09:05:00.000-05:002007-03-02T09:08:21.442-05:00

Call to Expand Union Rights Could Derail Antiterror BillWhite House officials made clear on Tuesday that President Bush was prepared to veto a bill that enacted recommendations of the Sept. 11 Commission if the provision granting Transportation Security Administration workers collective bargaining rights was not removed.andStatement of U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao Regarding Today's Vote

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-16491646901648807632007-03-01T12:55:00.000-05:002007-03-01T13:47:30.845-05:00

When I read thisOur study yields one resounding finding: The rate of terrorist attacks around the world by jihadist groups and the rate of fatalities in those attacks increased dramatically after the invasion of Iraq. Globally there was a 607 percent rise in the average yearly incidence of attacks (28.3 attacks per year before and 199.8 after) and a 237 percent rise in the average fatality rate (

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-18999797176369929092007-03-01T09:14:00.000-05:002007-03-01T09:17:52.512-05:00

Group Reaches Settlement With F.E.C. Over 2004 Campaign Advertising[The Progress for America Voter Fund] agreed to pay a $750,000 penalty as part of a settlement with the Federal Election Commission, which found that the group violated campaign finance laws by spending more than $30 million on advertisements and mailings supporting President Bush’s re-election. [...]It spent $26.4 million alone

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-19628915832531191172007-02-27T11:38:00.000-05:002007-02-27T11:39:14.266-05:00

Child Health Care Splits White House and StatesGovernors clashed with the White House on Monday over the future of the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program [...]Having successfully expanded the health insurance programs in their states, some governors now suggest that the Bush administration is pulling the safety net out from under many children. [...]States would need substantially more

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-59543256780518731542007-02-27T09:54:00.000-05:002007-02-27T14:21:25.658-05:00

U.S. Displays Bomb Parts Said to Be Made in IranFor the second day in a row, the NYT quotes this guy:[...] Maj. Marty Weber, a master explosives ordnance technician [...]I'm not questioning Maj. Weber's qualifications.But I find it very odd that the NYT is not mentioning that Maj. Weber is an aide to the head flack for the U.S. military in Iraq. He is on the PR team.Shouldn't the NYT, to fully

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-50015691199983766862007-02-23T09:45:00.001-05:002007-02-23T09:45:35.913-05:00

Long Iraq Tours Can Make Home a Trying FrontThen, in November, his machine gun malfunctioned during a firefight, wounding him in the groin and ravaging his left leg. When his wife reached him by phone after an operation in Germany, Corporal Callahan could barely hear her. Her boyfriend was shouting too loudly in the background.“Haven’t you told him it’s over?” Corporal Callahan, 42, recalled the

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-79999732478016631022007-02-22T10:11:00.000-05:002007-02-22T10:13:00.772-05:00

Iraq Insurgents Employ Chlorine in Bomb AttacksColonel Garver said that the chemical attacks could soon appear again. “It’s no surprise that anti-Iraqi forces or terrorists or whoever is doing this are trying to replicate this kind of attack,” he said. “They perceive that it’s working.”Emphasis added.What are we doing there? Who is the enemy? Why does our policy in Iraq involve only the

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-58023344530598359162007-02-15T10:42:00.000-05:002007-02-15T10:43:40.384-05:00

Bush Declares Iran’s Arms Role in Iraq Is Certain"I can say with certainty that the Quds Force, a part of the Iranian government, has provided these sophisticated I.E.D.’s that have harmed our troops,” Mr. Bush said, using the abbreviation for improvised explosive device. “And I’d like to repeat, I do not know whether or not the Quds Force was ordered from the top echelons of the government. But

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-40715663030015649782007-02-12T09:21:00.000-05:002007-02-09T13:22:11.354-05:00

Over the weekend, the NYT published on their front page a Valentine's message from reporter Michael Gordon to Judy Miller. It was titled Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is Made by Iran, U.S. Says.Some anti-romance types criticized the substance of this love letter. Somehow, this anti-love Schwarz fellow does not understand that candies and flowers are nothing compared to the gift of military actions

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-11873990888079111502007-02-09T13:19:00.000-05:002007-02-09T13:20:42.907-05:00

Epilogue 3, the John Sweeney storyPlea to Congress to End Sexual Bondage in U.S. IslandsBut Ogumoro [a social worker in Saipan] says she saw 30 cases last year of women trafficked into the CNMI [Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands] from the Philippines, China and elsewhere in Asia, who were then sold into virtual bondage as housekeepers, working 21 hours a day, physically and mentally

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-59114443532130969462007-02-08T13:55:00.000-05:002007-02-08T13:58:55.799-05:00

H. CON. RES. 33. The "Bush, don't bomb Iran" resolution.Via A Tiny Revolution, it appears that McNulty has co-sponsored a resolution saying that Bush can't make war on Iran without going to Congress.I just sent a note of thanks to McNulty, and I encourage you to do the same.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-2877181481480757312007-02-07T12:11:00.000-05:002007-02-07T12:14:54.888-05:00

Wal-Mart and a Union Unite, at Least on Health Policy[...] this morning, in an extraordinary meeting in Washington, the chiefs of Wal-Mart Stores and the Service Employees International Union will stand together and agree on a series of goals for achieving universal health coverage, according to people briefed on the matter.This is an important step. If Big Business gets behind universal

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-32280380757391219832007-02-06T08:42:00.000-05:002007-02-06T08:57:14.116-05:00

G.O.P. Senators Block Debate on Iraq PolicyRepublicans on Monday blocked Senate debate on a bipartisan resolution opposing President Bush’s troop buildup in Iraq, leaving in doubt whether the Senate would render a judgment on what lawmakers of both parties described as the paramount issue of the day.If the parties were reversed, I wonder if we would be hearing talk of "the nuclear option" in the

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-4578255692982979342007-02-02T10:39:00.000-05:002007-02-02T10:41:46.468-05:00

One of many reasons it sucks we have had two terms of the Bubble Boy administration, instead of at least one term of Gore. We could have started to address this problem.Climate Panel Issues Urgent WarningThe world is already committed to centuries of warming, shifting weather patterns and rising seas from the atmospheric buildup of gases that trap heat, but the warming can be substantially

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-57518116656817499502007-01-31T13:04:00.000-05:002007-01-31T13:06:46.841-05:00

Made me laugh:The truth is, what [click the link to find out who!] did during his eloquent and passionate critique of the war last Wednesday was what our Founding Fathers hoped U.S. senators would use the chamber for: to speak in depth about the difficult issues facing the day. What the press was doing, I have no idea.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-17633281642736912792007-01-31T12:37:00.001-05:002007-01-31T12:37:54.926-05:00

One of many reasons to be pleased that there is a Democratic-majority Congress.Under its new Democratic chairman, Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform took on the Bush administration’s handling of climate change science yesterday, and even the Republicans on the panel had little good to say about the administration’s actions. The

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-7366925209788112352007-01-30T10:11:00.001-05:002007-01-30T10:11:41.661-05:00

Bush Directive Increases Sway on RegulationIn an executive order published last week in the Federal Register, Mr. Bush said that each agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee, to supervise the development of rules and documents providing guidance to regulated industries. The White House will thus have a gatekeeper in each agency to analyze the costs and the

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-89587598101023055542007-01-26T10:09:00.000-05:002007-01-26T10:16:55.483-05:00

Dec. 4, President Bubble-Boy:I told him that we're not satisfied with the pace of progress in Iraq, and that we want to continue to work with the sovereign government of Iraq to accomplish our mutual objectives, which is a free country that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself; a free country which will serve as an ally in the war against the extremists and radicals and

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-26746012509695473642007-01-26T08:28:00.001-05:002007-01-26T08:30:11.613-05:00

Read the play-by-play coverage of the Libby trail at firedoglake.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-81504799394485173412007-01-18T10:42:00.000-05:002007-01-18T10:43:11.908-05:00

A minor, minor point, but:Last year, the president said, “America is addicted to oil,” and stimulated a debate over dependence on foreign oil that has overlapped with environmental groups’ calls for cleaner-burning domestic fuels.In what circles did the president "stimulate a debate"? All I recall is that he stimulated mockery, because he's a former oil guy and also full of crap. No, wait. Was

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-16505338250920300202007-01-17T10:13:00.000-05:002007-01-17T10:14:30.760-05:00

What $1.2 Trillion Can BuyThe human mind isn’t very well equipped to make sense of a figure like $1.2 trillion. [...]For starters, $1.2 trillion would pay for an unprecedented public health campaign — a doubling of cancer research funding, treatment for every American whose diabetes or heart disease is now going unmanaged and a global immunization campaign to save millions of children’s

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-892586799822380832007-01-13T19:00:00.000-05:002007-01-13T19:02:27.046-05:00

Epilogue 2, the John Sweeney storyVia TPMMuckrakerAfter narrowly winning reelection in his very conservative district, Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) says he's reformed, but it sure doesn't look like he's really got religion.He's firing his wife as his campaign fundraiser, he announced yesterday -- no longer will she, and by extension Doolittle himself, get a 15% cut of every contribution to his

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-48436711705998250782007-01-13T18:16:00.000-05:002007-01-13T18:21:06.344-05:00

I guess I should know better than to read the news on a Saturday. Who needs the outrage on a weekend? A weekend during the NFL playoffs no less.Military Expands Intelligence Role in U.S.The Pentagon has been using a little-known power to obtain banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage inside the United States, part of an aggressive

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-64124234691830677472007-01-12T15:27:00.000-05:002007-01-12T15:29:08.107-05:00

Dumbest thing I will read today:"White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told CNN that Bush's condemnation of what she called 'Iran's meddlesomeness' was an important signal to the region."'Surely the United States is not the one being threatening,' she said. 'We are not the ones being meddlesome and troublesome in Iraq.'""Remember," she added, "the Iraqi people asked us to invade and occupy. They

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-87778134659648965072007-01-12T10:40:00.001-05:002007-01-12T10:40:49.593-05:00

If corporations are not paying what they owe in taxes, guess who gets to pick up the slack?Agents Say Fast Audits Hurt I.R.S.Top officials at the Internal Revenue Service are pushing agents to prematurely close audits of big companies with agreements to have them pay only a fraction of the additional taxes that could be collected, according to dozens of I.R.S. employees who say that the policy is

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-28704699750829540742007-01-11T13:45:00.000-05:002007-01-11T13:54:25.239-05:00

Haven't we fucked up enough by invading and occupying Iraq?Why are we now picking a fight with Iran?5 Iranians Detained at Consular OfficeAmerican forces backed by helicopters raided the Iranian consulate in the mainly Kurdish city of Erbil in northern Iraq before dawn today, detaining at least five Iranian employees in the building and seizing some property, according to Iraqi and Iranian

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-85859977049028122562007-01-10T08:58:00.000-05:002007-01-10T09:01:18.605-05:00

The PR Presidency:The Senate vote is expected as early as next week, after an initial round of committee hearings on the plan Mr. Bush will lay out for the nation Wednesday night in a televised address delivered from the White House library, a setting chosen because it will provide a fresh backdrop for a presidential message.Thank goodness. Iraq may still be a hell on earth, people are dying,

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-3980394624306841872007-01-09T15:42:00.000-05:002007-01-09T15:46:16.188-05:00

Shorter Howard Kurtz: Fuck off, rabble. I'll decide the appropriate questions for media figures.Stop Him Before He Comments Again!Should pundits be punished over Iraq?Put another way, why should we listen to those who were wrong about the war?I would suggest that a little humility is in order here. Lots of media people, liberal as well as conservative, were wrong about the war, just as they've

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-90360792601025620552007-01-04T22:53:00.001-05:002007-01-04T23:06:36.725-05:00

Maybe NYS should just leave that federal HAVA money on the table.U.S. Bars Lab From Testing Electronic VotingA laboratory that has tested most of the nation’s electronic voting systems has been temporarily barred from approving new machines after federal officials found that it was not following its quality-control procedures and could not document that it was conducting all the required

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-45377308045586322982007-01-03T12:00:00.000-05:002007-01-03T12:07:06.141-05:00

Epilogue I, the John Sweeney storyVia TPMMuckraker.Wage Bill To Undo Abramoff-Era Mariana Islands Loophole [...] Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) [...] plans to include language raising wages in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in a broader bill increasing the U.S. minimum wage.[...] The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-62289932783487596182006-12-29T10:06:00.000-05:002006-12-29T10:17:27.867-05:00

Ice mass snaps free from Canada's ArcticA giant ice shelf has snapped free from an island south of the North Pole, scientists said Thursday, citing climate change as a "major" reason for the event."Climate change," pffft. Ask Michael Crichton, he'll tell you it wuz terrorists with underwater bombs who are trying to make it look like global warming, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a pussyass

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-55010584187578570412006-12-26T10:18:00.001-05:002006-12-26T10:18:38.325-05:00

Juan Cole discusses the top ten myths about the situation in Iraq.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-42455337187314392712006-12-21T10:17:00.000-05:002006-12-21T10:18:36.596-05:00

Allow me to indulge my cynicism.U.S. to Declassify Secrets at Age 25Secret documents 25 years old or older will lose their classified status without so much as the stroke of a pen, unless agencies have sought exemptions on the ground that the material remains secret.Historians say the deadline, created in the Clinton administration but enforced, to the surprise of some scholars, by the

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-18200869104463875272006-12-20T16:23:00.001-05:002006-12-20T16:23:38.600-05:00

How about this for a bit of political theater? Instead of swearing in with a Bible, how about if a Congresscritter swears in with a phone book from her home district?Because, you know, she is representing those people. As opposed to God.Context here.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-78983439485447879012006-12-13T08:30:00.000-05:002006-12-13T08:31:42.962-05:00

Punt.White House to Delay Shift on Iraq Until ’07The White House said Tuesday that President Bush would delay presenting any new strategy for Iraq until early next year, as officials suggested that Mr. Bush’s advisers were locked in internal debates on several fronts about how to proceed.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-53337871810139602492006-12-12T10:23:00.000-05:002006-12-12T10:24:08.526-05:00

Let's not kid ourselves. This upcoming Bubble Boy speech is not to announce a new strategy. The speech is the strategy. A PR move, plain and simple. It's an attempt to claim center stage before the 110th Congress starts up. An attempt to show that all the commissions, and the new Democratic-majority Congress, have to come to him. That he is still The Decider.Will it work? Whatever. For a

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-62333409203907930402006-12-12T09:52:00.000-05:002006-12-12T09:53:01.305-05:00

Reason 1,783 to not watch the teevee news:But, in the case of Obama, he may be walking around with a sartorial time bomb. Ask yourself, is there any other major public figure who dresses the way he does? Why, yes. It is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who, unlike most of his predecessors, seems to have skipped through enough copies of "GQ" to find the jacket-and-no-tie look agreeable.Uh.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-85251637344510627462006-12-08T13:39:00.001-05:002006-12-08T13:42:47.142-05:00

Into the Abyss: Reporting Iraq 2003-2006: An Oral HistoryFor this special forty-fifth anniversary issue of the Columbia Journalism Review we have constructed a different kind of history of the war, an oral history told through the voices of many of the journalists who have covered it.Link here. I just started reading it, but it is pretty illuminating.Via the TU Editors' blog.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-6288504203673578092006-12-06T10:40:00.000-05:002006-12-06T10:42:09.082-05:00

Huh.Bush: "Yeah, I don't think people are -- at least the ones I run into -- look, I had a bunch of our buddies from Texas up here this weekend, and they're kind of -- they look at you, and go, man, how come you're still standing? It's not so much the presidency on the shoals because of difficult decisions I made; it's more, the weightiness of this thing must be impossible for anybody to bear.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-28700214207119185442006-12-06T09:14:00.000-05:002006-12-06T09:16:07.753-05:00

Could the Bubble Boy administration be any more childish and foolish?Publicly, the White House has resisted the idea of widening its own diplomatic channels with Iran and Syria, saying that even opening a regular dialogue would be a concession to two governments suspected of fomenting violence in Iraq. But senior Bush administration officials now say they are working out ways to talk to those

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-22447768653085608722006-12-04T09:07:00.000-05:002006-12-04T09:08:56.652-05:00

Video Is a Window Into a Terror Suspect’s IsolationOne spring day during his three and a half years as an enemy combatant, Jose Padilla experienced a break from the monotony of his solitary confinement in a bare cell in the brig at the Naval Weapons Station in Charleston, S.C.That day, Mr. Padilla, a Brooklyn-born Muslim convert whom the Bush administration had accused of plotting a dirty bomb

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-45399756147548150112006-11-30T14:56:00.000-05:002006-11-30T14:58:03.068-05:00

If the real world were a work of fiction, there would be A. a lightning strikeB. a laugh trackC. an omnipresent narrator saying something like "with no apparent irony"whenever Bubble Boy uses the word "realism.""This business about graceful exit just simply has no realism to it at all," Bush said.Adding, "Because, you see, I've fucked things up good over there. How you gonna exit gracefully from

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-72916089642448761032006-11-30T10:55:00.000-05:002006-11-30T10:56:31.672-05:00

The Bush Administration wanted to snoop on domestic communications, and AT&T became a partner in that effort.Now, we learn that when the Bush Administration wanted to offer captives an all-expense paid tour of the world's torture spots, Boeing was a partner in that effort.How many other areas are there in which the government and corporations have partnered up in order to spy, torture, or

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-28033041960689252662006-11-21T09:14:00.000-05:002006-11-21T09:17:42.411-05:00

Military Documents Hold Tips on Antiwar ActivitiesAn antiterrorist database used by the Defense Department in an effort to prevent attacks against military installations included intelligence tips about antiwar planning meetings held at churches, libraries, college campuses and other locations, newly disclosed documents show.[...]The head of the office that runs the military database, which is

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-56388065857041603682006-11-16T11:51:00.000-05:002006-11-16T11:54:00.496-05:00

It's an explosion, a geyser, a volcano of adjectives in this inside-baseball story about the Dems selecting their man for Majority Leader....showdown...bitterly divided...strong-arm tactics...agressive intervention...baffled and angered many Democrats...misplaced loyalty...long-standing feud with Hoyer...a move that shocked even her staff...unabashedly pushing Murtha...congressman said he was

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-3263707918920475832006-11-15T11:28:00.000-05:002006-11-15T15:04:41.648-05:00

With all the excitement over the conservative Democratic takeover of Congress, let's not forget that the Executive branch and, by extension, the heads of all the government agencies are a bunch of partisan hacks who don't care about actually working for the people of this country.Today's outrage:FEMA homes were destroyed in storageHundreds of modular homes bought by FEMA for victims of last

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1163012297658122082006-11-08T13:50:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:15:32.943-05:00

Rumsfeld is not getting the boot because of his performance.He is getting the boot to deny the Dems a chance to question him at official Congressional hearings. Now they gotta talk to the new guy.Typical sleazy Bubble Boy move - avoid being accountable for anything, change the subject.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1162993967373811502006-11-08T08:52:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:15:32.849-05:00

I don't normally watch the teevee news, but I needed to obsess over the election results last night. Here are a few things I learned from watching the teevee news:All the Democratic victories last night were by candidates who are "conservative Democrats." As opposed to, presumably, the dirty, stinky, hippie Democratic candidates. Come to think of it, no examples were given of the dirty, stinky

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1162907285633564332006-11-07T08:43:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:15:32.686-05:00

I've heard that the Republican Party is the "party of ideas." One of those GOP ideas is to harass voters over the phone, while making it seem that the harassment is being done by Democratic candidates.If you pull the lever for 'R', that's what you are voting for.

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1162849861210494932006-11-06T16:49:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:15:32.588-05:00

From the point of view of a Congresscritter or wanna-be Congresscritter in a close race for election, it is understandable that he would not want a president with a sub-40% approval rating coming to stump for him.But what about for the President's point of view? He could be vacationing down in Brush-Clearing-Heaven, TX, since the people, they just aren't that into him.But I can't imagine that

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1162566126594028102006-11-03T10:01:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:15:32.434-05:00

Congress Tells Auditor in Iraq to Close OfficeMr. Holly, who is the House Armed Services spokesman as well as a member of Mr. Hunter’s staff, said that politics played no role and that there had been no direction from the administration or lobbying from the companies whose work in Iraq Mr. Bowen’s office has severely critiqued. Three of the companies that have been a particular focus of Mr. Bowen

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1162564448595018732006-11-03T09:29:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:15:31.926-05:00

The Republican Party, the party of solutions.Solutions to problems like, you are too safe and are not facing enough in the way of the danger of a nuclear strike."Hey, let's dump a bunch of documents out there in order to placate a bunch of bloggers and hopefully add some fog to the issue of the missing WMD's! What could go wrong?"

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1162230379452856362006-10-30T12:44:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:15:31.791-05:00

Just in time for Halloween, an update on one of the boogeymen of the wingnuts.Hugh Chavez is trying to corrupt the U.S. elections!Update: Monkeys just flew out of my butt!Update 2: And what about George Soros?! Aaaaah!!Via TPMMuckraker

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1161973046076768832006-10-27T14:12:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:15:31.696-05:00

From Froomkin:Bush reiterated that latter point in the Wednesday interview: "Remember the pictures in the Oval Office, with them sitting over the maps, picking out the targets in Vietnam? That's not happening in this war. The Commander-in-Chief, through the Secretary of Defense, must empower the military people on the ground, and the embassy, to . . . implement the strategy. And if tactics need

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1161782788462653832006-10-25T09:17:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:15:31.545-05:00

The scanner ate my National Intelligence Estimate on the global terror threat and the war in Iraq.Clearly, the shit storm that would rain down from the Cheney/Bush White House if this report had been distributed had nothing to do with anything. No, it was a technical issue with a scanner. There was no partisanship going here, just equipment failures.Why do these Republicans run for office, if

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1161709309006408852006-10-24T13:00:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:15:31.448-05:00

Kurtz actually calls BS on a couple of hacks in his column today.I don't know how this became the new Republican talking point. I mean, I'm all for criticizing the media for, say, overplaying the Foley scandal or running too many polls-say-Democrats-will-win stories. But what journalist even thinks about convincing voters to stay home?Yet there was the star of "Hannity & the Other Guy" on Friday-

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1161636256204870342006-10-23T16:39:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:15:31.345-05:00

From the "other" Congressional race in the area, the one in which they actually (hold on to something) had a debate. McNulty (or McNutty, if you're a fan of The Wire) and Redlich.Even though he's a Republican like Sweeney, Redlich acknowledges he identifies closely with Gillibrand."I think that's a completely baseless reason to avoid a debate," Redlich said of Sweeney's insistence that

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1161360348587418762006-10-20T12:02:00.001-04:002006-11-15T11:15:31.246-05:00

So, in the past however many hours:The Bush DOJ tells the courts to forget about all those habeas corpus petitions, on account of the MCA.The under-investigation head of the House Appropriations committee, Jerry Lewis, fired a whole bunch of investigators.The wingnut head of the House Intelligence Committee, Peter "I found WMD's in my cereal this morning!" Hoekstra, suspended a Democratic staffer

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8991958.post-1161348416345564672006-10-20T08:42:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:15:31.028-05:00

John Sweeney the flip-flopperFrom the Glens Falls Post-Star, yesterday:"I think that the strategy of 'staying the course' is not a strategy at all. It doesn't work. There are going to have to be adjustments in any war if that is the case," Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, said in a speech to the Glens Falls Kiwanis Club.From a Sweeney press release, June 2006:Zarqawi represents the insidious forces that

albany laymannoreply@blogger.com1