On Monday, I reported on Ayad Allawi’s assertion that in terms of abuse things are just as bad in Iraq now as they were under Saddam. Well, now there’s more — and it isn’t pretty: Shiite Muslim militia members have infiltrated Iraq’s police force and are carrying out sectarian killings under the color of law, according to documents and scores of interviews. The abuses raise the specter of organized retaliation to attacks by Sunni-led insurgents that have killed thousands...

…I suggest you read the response of the right-wing to recent news. Seems to me that there is enough hypocrisy and hate to go around without flinging accusations of hate against your fellow Americans. Do your own math, but my sums come up that naming and treating those who don’t agree with me as the enemy leads to negative numbers. — Cross-posted to Random Fate.

Should a man be allowed to sit next to an unaccompanied child on a plane? No? Believe it or not, that’s the policy on Qantas and Air New Zealand. Is it political correctness or a sensible policy?

Well…maybe. Find out what killed him (or didn’t kill him) and who said it. And although some on the right would have you believe that the person who said it is possibly leaking military secrets, find out why they’re wrong. And when you find out that they’re wrong, spread this info around and please link to the post over at Donklephant.

I swear you won’t believe this. Or maybe you will.

Reports like this make my toes curl. Do they not realize that actions like these simply create an atmosphere where it’s easier to compare us to Saddam? Couple stuff like this with our torture policy, and you have a recipe for credibility damage. From the LA Times: WASHINGTON — As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq. The...

TMV is travelling today so actual coverage to the Bush speech, etc. will likely be done by co-bloggers, as their schedules permit. TMV’s own posts will resume later tonight.

From the AP: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday defended her vote to authorize war in Iraq amid growing unease among liberal Democrats who could determine the potential 2008 presidential candidate’s future. “I take responsibility for my vote, and I, along with a majority of Americans, expect the president and his administration to take responsibility for the false assurances, faulty evidence and mismanagement of the war,” the New York senator said in a lengthy letter to thousands...

It’s a truism across time and space. But has it gotten worse? And who’s to blame? See here.

Here’s an update to yesterday’s post (check it out for some excellent reader comments). Again from The Globe and Mail: What’s already looking like a long and nasty winter election campaign slid downhill quickly Tuesday with Liberal Leader Paul Martin comparing Stephen Harper to a sinister and ambitious Scrooge and the Conservative Leader describing Mr. Martin as the head of a criminal government that steals tax dollars. Day One of the long campaign — the election date was...

From the Indianapolis Star: The cheers and tears that greeted about 160 Hoosier soldiers who returned from the war in Iraq on Tuesday did more for their morale than any politician could. Members of the Indiana National Guard’s 1438th Transportation Company came back to Indianapolis after serving 11 months in Iraq. Based south of Baghdad, they helped with transportation throughout the country. The soldiers said they were aware of the growing debate over the U.S. role in Iraq, but said the rhetoric...

Cross posted at The Smoking Room All I can say after reading Senator Joe Lieberman’s WSJ piece on keeping troops in Iraq until democracy shines is, Lieberman ‘08! Well, a little more… As high-minded and principled as Lieberman’s article is, it’s clearly a direct attack on the line of thinking flogged by Rep. John Murtha, the isolationist hawk (think Dole circa ‘96) whose call to pull out US troops in six months has emboldened antiwar advocates and an American...

Senator Orrin Hatch’s blooper… It’s something of a Freudian slip: it’s clear there are some similarities now, in terms of public support.

University of Virginia Political Scientist Larry Sabato, in his latest edition of his highly-acclaimed and free Crystal Ball enewsletter, offers a memo of advice to President George W. Bush on how he can rebound. And to sum up, it’s this: adapt, change course on several issues (including the war), admit a big error, shake your administration up with some house-cleaning and new blood…and more. Here’s how he starts out: Things are bad, Mr. President. Really bad. We can tell you already...

Attention President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney: your national polling approval ratings are GREAT — compared to this guy: Gov. Bob Taft’s approval ratings have hit single digits. But Ohio Republicans shouldn’t hit the panic button, a new statewide poll suggests. A Zogby International online survey, conducted a week after the Nov. 8 election and released yesterday, shows just 6.5 percent of Ohio voters view the embattled GOP governor very or somewhat favorably. Barely...

….so let’s create one!”

If it’s required to keep corruption on the political radar, some Dems are willing to offer him as a sacrifice.

….and Whoopi Goldberg will tell you what you’re allowed to laugh at. No joke. You can tell what’s going on: Warner Brothers wanted to release these cartoons but feared PC backlash so this way they can release them with a disclaimer lecture, which allows use of its inventory. Couldn’t they have released them with a one or two line advisory liner note instead? Or a short note in the opening titles? ADVISORY FROM W.G. TO TMV READERS: You are not to take the above statement by...

Especially here.

Visit the Carnival of the Liberated.

It sounds like it’ll happen tomorrow. Read this. SO: Will GOPers who accused Democrats of undercutting troops still insist that announcing a withdrawal timetable way in advance is — as they and administration officials suggested — encouraging the enemy to just hold out and kill as many Americans as possible until the timetable or announced staged withdrawal occurs? Or will the values and priorities expressed with so much passion and rage a few weeks ago by GWB’s defenders...

Seymour Hersh’s latest piece in the New Yorker has stirred lots of controversy (see Michael Sticking’s post below). You can watch Hersh’s interview on NBC’s Today Show via Crooks and Liars here. And, yes, what is most notable, as C&L points out, is that Hersh believes John Murtha’s message was actually bubbling up from within the military itself. Never forget that Murtha enjoys great links with people at the Pentagon. TMV has had his own doubts about some of Hersh’s...

Or, all the lies that are fit to spread.

Not sure what’s going on here: Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman plans to announce he will drop out of the race for the Democratic nomination for governor. A news conference is scheduled for this afternoon to formally announce his withdrawal from the race. Coleman met with his family members over the Thanksgiving holiday and made the decision… Cross-posted at Julien’s List.

Make sure to read Seymour Hersh’s latest at The New Yorker — on Bush, Murtha, and where the Iraq War is headed. As usual, he cuts through all the White House spin and reveals what’s really going on. I’d pick out a few key passages, but it’s all good. Okay, here’s one: “Current and former military and intelligence officials have told me that the President remains convinced that it is his personal mission to bring democracy to Iraq, and that he is impervious...