Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
by John Cole| 4 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
I don’t know if I ever mentioned this before, but the other day I was having a conversation with one of my platoon buddies from the 11th Cav in the 90’s, and I was reminded that my First Sergeant is now the Sergeant Major of the Army.
No small deal, that. Plus, he is a local, born right near Frostburg.
Sergeant Major of the Army Kenneth O. PrestonPost + Comments (4)
This post is in: Open Threads
This is just what the country needed:
A filmmaker has sued Sen. John Kerry and a one-time campaign aide, saying they defamed him as they sought to block the broadcast of an anti-Kerry documentary during the 2004 presidential election.
The lawsuit, filed this week on behalf of producer Carlton Sherwood and a Vietnam veterans group, is the latest salvo in the battle over the documentary “Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal.”
The film contends that Kerry’s anti-war activities when he returned from Vietnam caused further harm to captured U.S. soldiers.
The Sinclair Broadcast Group, which as of last year owned 62 TV stations that reached a quarter of all U.S. households, canceled plans to air the documentary during the razor-close Bush-Kerry race last fall and instead showed only portions of it as part of a broader program.
The Democratic National Committee had complained that “Stolen Honor” amounted to an illegal in-kind contribution to President Bush’s campaign, and Kerry’s campaign asked for equal time.
Sherwood’s suit alleges that Kerry directed the DNC to issue a statement that falsely said the film was produced and funded by “extreme right-wing activists.”
That is it. I am opposing a moratorium on new news. Wingnuts everywhere, just STOP. Right now. There is too much going on. Oh, and btw, that means you too, Al. No more of the digital brownshirt bit.
*** Update ***
Personally, what we really need is some Cindy Sheehan/George Galloway action. Because there is nothing going on, you know…
This post is in: Excellent Links, Military, Blogospheric Navel-Gazing
This is cool- a bunch of National Guard folks who are working in the Katrina aftermath have started a blog called Camp Katrina.
Check it out.
by John Cole| 24 Comments
This post is in: Excellent Links, Politics
Matt Stinson, who I consider the best kept secret in the right wing of the blogosphere, nails it:
As much as I want to believe Patrick Ruffini’s declaration that Harriet Miers is a true blue conservative and that her confirmation would shift the Court to the right of the O’Connor era, this game of ideological vetting is rendered completely moot by one salient fact: it is not Miers’ lack of conservative bona fides but her lack of legal bona fides that has given conservatives pause…
This is not, lest talking points lead us in that direction, a masterstroke by the President and Karl Rove. (Conservatives must admit that the bloom has been off the Rove for many months now.) This is not leadership. Miers’ appointment has all the markings of a hastily-made decision that bestows a substantial benefit upon a friend of the President and (potentially) a substantial cost upon the Republic.
Read the whole thing. I am consistently amazed that more people do not link to and read Matt on a daily basis. Probably because he is too damned honest and principled.
by John Cole| 6 Comments
This post is in: Excellent Links
Justin Hart at Right Side Redux has created a very subjective Gartner-style quadrant chart to map out responses to the Miers nomination.
It would be interesting if he would include bloggers in a similar chart.
by John Cole| 21 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
I sense a disturbance in the force, Luke.
by John Cole| 32 Comments
This post is in: Excellent Links
The always principled Greg Djerijian has two must read posts, the first of which focusses on Harriet Miers:
Look, it’s not even that this is so transparently placing a loyalist on the court who will be predictably Executive Branch/GWOT-friendly in her opinions (with some evangelical & crude originalist shadings perhaps? ed. note: By crude I mean originalism without the intellectual firepower of a Scalia). It’s not just that it’s a lame diversity play (Bush couldn’t stop talking about all the glass ceilings she had burst through today). It’s not even that she was never a judge, as there have been quite a few private sector attorneys appointed to the bench who served with distinction.
It’s ultimately that she’s just not Supreme Court timber. Harry Reid can cheer-lead her if he wishes, showing major Democrats don’t care a whit about serious constitutional credentials on the bench either, but those of us who are proud of this court must demand better. We should root for her defeat–perhaps by an alliance of thinking Republicans and Democrats. The Achilles heel of this President has become such displays of bovine worship at the altar of some warped conception of loyalty. Be loyal, yes, but demand excellence and competence and, yes, accountability in critical postings dear God! I’m now forced to conclude that Bush, after such a hugely good show with Roberts, is nevertheless willing to be unserious and even reckless, more so than his father, with appointments to the highest court in our land. Look, she might prove a Scalia rubber-stamp, and conservatives will be happy that she votes ‘right’ (the coded message Cheney was peddling today to Limbaugh). But a man of character and vision wouldn’t stoop to such a low threshold of what makes a good SCOTUS pick. He would look for an intellectual leader, a bona fide constitutional thinker.
Preach it.
The second post is more appalling testimonials regarding abuse:
In retrospect what we did was wrong, but at the time we did what we had to do. Everything we did was accepted, everyone turned their heads.
We got to the camp in August [2003] and set up. We started to go out on missions right away. We didn’t start taking PUCs until September. Shit started to go bad right away. On my very first guard shift for my first interrogation that I observed was the first time I saw a PUC pushed to the brink of a stroke or heart attack. At first I was surprised, like, this is what we are allowed to do? This is what we are allowed to get away with? I think the officers knew about it but didn’t want to hear about it. They didn’t want to know it even existed. But they had to.
Read the whole thing. I also like Matt Stinson’s reaction to the Mier’s pick:
Democrats were bound to fight tooth and nail against Bush’s second Supreme Court pick, but is that any reason for the President to waste the nomination on a woman, White House Counsel Harriet Miers, who is apparently neither polished nor profound, and whose main credentials seem to be that she’s a Texas political operator?
I will be back later tonight.
Two Must Reads from The Belgravia DispatchPost + Comments (32)
