Closing the Circle
Thanks to Rush Limbaugh, we now know that Gov. Mark Sanford committed adultery because he was in despair over Pres. Obama’s handling of the economic crisis. But what we did not know until today was the answer to this question: What caused the economic crisis?
Minnesota Senate Race: It’s All Over
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Al Franken’s favor — and Norm Coleman has conceded:
Ricci Reversal Only Vindicates Judge Sotomayor
As Glenn Greenwald put it, in the first of four points about the ruling:
The Honduran Coup: Putting the Lie to the Right’s “Support” of Democracy
Over the weekend the democratically-elected President of Honduras was ousted by a coup. The ousted President was a leftist friendly with the likes of Hugo Chavez and the Castro regime in Cuba.
So what’s a righty to do when they claim to support democracy but love the result of the Honduran coup? Well, many of these righties – see here and here – support a coup over a democratically-elected leftist.
Unprincipled as ever.
Bats in the Belfry
A crazy person lives at The American Thinker.
Within days of my going public last September with the speculation that terrorist emeritus Bill Ayers helped Barack Obama write his acclaimed memoir, Dreams From My Father, I learned that I was not alone in that intuition.
Since then, I have received helpful contributions from serious people in at least five countries and any number of states and have integrated many of their observations into my ongoing narrative, summarized here. If you are unfamiliar with this research, please read this before going forward.
About a week ago, however, I heard from a new contributor. I will refer to him as “Mr. West.” Like most contributors, he prefers to remain anonymous. The media punishment that Joe the Plumber received has much to do with this nearly universal reticence.
A week before that, I heard from another excellent contributor, Mr. Midwest. Their collective contribution should dispel the doubts of all but the willfully blind that Ayers played a substantial role, likely the primary role, in the writing of Dreams.
Tom Maguire provides some common sense. His readers, not so much.
Even Jonah Goldberg isn’t buying it.
If you are not as accomplished as the gloating Jack Cashill, do not worry. At least you are not batshit insane.
Obama Preparing Executive Order to Allow Preventive Detention
The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, is drafting an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations.
[...]
White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said there is no executive order and that the administration has not decided whether to issue one. But one administration official suggested that the White House was already trying to build support.
Remember that meeting last month between civil liberties and human rights activists and Pres. Obama right before his big national security speech? The one where he was trying to get their support for his Guantanamo plans?
I’m hearing spinning noises coming from the White House:
“Civil liberties groups have encouraged the administration, that if a prolonged detention system were to be sought, to do it through executive order,” the official said. Such an order could be rescinded and would not block later efforts to write legislation, but civil liberties groups generally oppose long-term detention, arguing that detainees should be prosecuted or released.
I’m not the only one wondering what’s the game here:
What? What civil liberties organization actually encouraged the administration to set up a system of “prolonged detention” — the less euphemistic term would be indefinite detention — in the first place; let alone urged the administration to do it without congressional approval?
Aha!
Update: Zach Roth at TPM reports that the Center for Constitutional Rights certainly doesn’t approve of the idea.
Update 2: CCR representatives say that in a recent White House meeting, they conveyed to administration officials that “any prolonged detention scheme was unacceptable, no matter how it was dressed.”
Regarding comparisons between the White House plan for preventive detention described by Linzer and Finn in the WaPo piece, and the one laid out by Benjamin Wittes of the Brookings Institution, see smintheus at unbossed.com and Mytwords at Corrente.
Dan Froomkin’s Last Column
I started my column in January 2004, and one dominant theme quickly emerged: That George W. Bush was truly the proverbial emperor with no clothes. In the days and weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks, the nation, including the media, vested him with abilities he didn’t have and credibility he didn’t deserve. As it happens, it was on the day of my very first column that we also got the first insider look at the Bush White House, via Ron Suskind’s book, The Price of Loyalty. In it, former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill described a disengaged president “like a blind man in a room full of deaf people”, encircled by “a Praetorian guard,” intently looking for a way to overthrow Saddam Hussein long before 9/11. The ensuing five years and 1,088 columns really just fleshed out that portrait, describing a president who was oblivious, embubbled and untrustworthy.
When I look back on the Bush years, I think of the lies. There were so many. Lies about the war and lies to cover up the lies about the war. Lies about torture and surveillance. Lies about Valerie Plame. Vice President Dick Cheney’s lies, criminally prosecutable but for his chief of staff Scooter Libby’s lies. I also think about the extraordinary and fundamentally cancerous expansion of executive power that led to violations of our laws and our principles.
And while this wasn’t as readily apparent until President Obama took office, it’s now very clear that the Bush years were all about kicking the can down the road – either ignoring problems or, even worse, creating them and not solving them. This was true of a huge range of issues including the economy, energy, health care, global warming – and of course Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is just a small part. Read the rest.
Death of an Icon
Michael Jackson is doing the moonwalk in heaven.
R.I.P.
Why the “Neda Video” Is Important
Because her murder by Iranian government forces would not have sparked the international outrage it has sparked if we had just read about it in the paper.
Obvious?
Maybe.
Sanford: “the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself)”
Egads.
I kid you not … Sanford fell in love with “a girl named Maria” and The State newspaper of South Carolina has emails from Sanford to Maria (that it states were obtained in December … huh?).
Let’s just say we are now delving into bad poetry or … er … porn. Here’s a couple of snippets:
You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light – but hey, that would be going into sexual details …
and:
In the meantime please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul.
Stupid Laws
South Carolina has a law criminalizing adultery. Hopefully nobody has been prosecuted under this archaic law. Now may be a good time to repeal this nonsense.
Sanford Admits to the Argentina Tango of Love
UPDATE NO. 2: The inevitable wave of hypocrisy is now starting to roll in … and, yes, Sanford called for Clinton’s resignation.
UPDATE NO. 1: Kos says:
Few things infuriate me more than philandering politicians dragging out their wives at their apology press conferences (like Spitzer and Vitter). So at the very least, I’ll give Sanford credit for not trying to put his wife through that hell.
I, too, hate having the wives up next to these guys at these mea culpas. I suspect, though, that Mrs. Sanford’s absence was more likely the result of her decision than his.
————————————————
Governor Sanford has admitted to an affair in Argentina. His mea culpa struck me as sincere. As I previously stated, an affair is a personal matter for the family involved and I don’t believe having one requires a resignation. Politicians are humans and our number one factor in choosing a leader should be policy positions. I say this, however, without knowing what Sanford’s public standard was on others’ personal peccadilloes.
His dereliction of duty to the people of South Carolina for not placing an appropriate person in charge during his absence is concerning and something for South Carolinians to address.
For Grassley, Bipartisan Health Care Reform Means Placing Profits Before Health Care
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa laid down a bright line today saying health care reform that provides a public option will not be supported by Republicans. Of course, we’ve long known that Bipartisanship for Republicans means caving in completely to whatever they want.
The Democrats have already walked away from single payer and now the Republicans want them to abandon the public option.
In return, the Republicans will agree to preserve the same shitty health care system which has generated massive profits for private health insurers and provided a health care system that lags inexcusably behind that of many other nations. That is, they will compromise on absolutely nothing of substance.
Theda Skocpol makes a strong argument that the moment of truth is now upon Obama and the Democrats regarding health care reform.
Sanford Was Doing “Something Exotic” in Argentina
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was busted by a reporter getting off a plane from Buenos Aires, Argentina this morning. He’s now peddling the story that he wanted to “do something exotic.” The only event he describes is a long drive on the Coast. According to Josh’s commenters and Amy Sullivan, there’s nothing special, much less exotic, about a drive on the short and dreary coastline of Buenos Aires.
The one true thing I suspect Sanford is saying is that he was doing “something exotic.” Maybe he went down to do a little Tango ….
Pres. Obama’s Press Conference on Iran
WhiteHouse.gov has the transcript of Obama’s opening remarks, in English and in Persian. The accompanying video includes Persian subtitles.
I have not yet read the transcript or listened to Obama’s remarks, but I wanted to get this information up here as soon as possible.
blog advertising is good for you
