Toil and Trouble
by Maureen Dowd
Maybe it was because I was sitting in the back of the Senate chamber with three war protesters — grim-faced, chanting women dressed in black hooded cloaks, white makeup and blood-red hands — that I felt as though I were watching a production of “Macbeth” rather than a hearing on Iraq. |
Secret US Plan For Military Future In Iraq
by Seumas Milne
A confidential draft agreement covering the future of US forces in Iraq, passed to the Guardian, shows that provision is being made for an open-ended military presence in the country.0408 03The draft strategic framework agreement between the US and Iraqi governments, dated March 7 and marked “secret” and “sensitive”, is intended to replace the existing UN mandate and authorises the US to “conduct military operations in Iraq and to detain individuals when necessary for imperative reasons of security” without time limit. |
Petraeus for President
by Brent Budowsky
Let's make it official. The purported president of the United States, who like John McCain has trouble getting his Sunnis and Shiites exactly right, the former before we began this war, the latter while he would continue it indefinitely, have gotten America into a war without end. |
John McCain Accuses Me Of "Trash Journalism" While He Engages In "Trash" Propaganda
by Cliff Schecter
Apparently, some of the straight-talk released from The Real McCain yesterday got Rambo a bit peeved. So I'm glad I'm nowhere in his vicinity, because we know what happens to people when McCain gets a bit peeved at them.He responded to the factual piece in my book about his calling his wife that four-letter c-word that wives so love to here from their spouses, with this, according to today's New York Daily News: |
First 100 Days
by David Swanson
A friend is drafting a proposal for the first 100 days of a new administration. I sketched out a dream scenario below. What do you think?Day 1: Renounce wars of aggression and apologize to the world for those in the past. Anounce the complete withdrawal from Iraq over the next 6 months. |
Separate And Unequal: U.S. Health Care and the Republican Response
by RJ Eskow
The nation commemorated the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's death last week. Here's a quote from him that didn't get much play in the testimonials: "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." Two recent studies highlights the lack of progress we've made in four decades, and proposals from John McCain and the Florida State Senate show how little resonance Dr. King's words have in some corners of public life. |
Ex-protégé accuses Huizenga of insider trading
by Patrick Danner
As H. Wayne Huizenga built company after company, Richard C. Rochon was his right-hand man. When Rochon struck out on his own after 17 years, Huizenga said he was sorry to see him go.Now the former mentor and protégé have locked horns in increasingly nasty litigation over money that billionaire Huizenga advanced to Rochon. After Huizenga sued Rochon to get back more than $10 million, Rochon accused Huizenga and his son of insider trading. |
Maybe it's not worth it
by Doug Thompson
It's dark outside when I make the first pot of coffee for the day and venture into the den to start work on each day's "edition" of Capitol Hill Blue.Yeah, I know, this is the Internet, where news is a 24/7 cycle and we are supposed to be updating things around the clock. |
Report: Right-wing operative outed Clinton aide's trade talks
by Nick Juliano
Legendary right-wing hit man Roger Stone may have another Democratic pelt to hang on his wall, according to a new report indicating he was the catalyst behind reports last week that Hillary Clinton's top strategist was working with the Colombian government on a trade deal the Democratic candidate opposes. |
Painful Performance
by Robert Scheer
General Betray Us? Of course he has. MoveOn.org can hardly be expected to recycle its slogan from last September, when General David Petraeus testified in support of escalating the US war in Iraq, given the hysterical denunciations that worthy group received at the time. But it was right then--as it would be to repeat the charge now. |
States fear plant could become next marijuana
by Jessica Gresko
On Web sites touting the mind-blowing powers of Salvia divinorum, come-ons to buy the hallucinogenic herb are accompanied by warnings: "Time is running out!" and "stock up while you still can."That's because this species of salvia is being targeted by lawmakers concerned that the inexpensive and easy-to-obtain plant could become the next marijuana. Eight states including Illinois have placed restrictions on Salvia divinorum, and 16 others are considering a ban or have previously. |
Poll shows Obama gaining in Pa. race
by AP
A new poll suggests Barack Obama is gaining ground in Pennsylvania.Two weeks before the Keystone State primary, the Quinnipiac University poll shows Hillary Rodham Clinton still out front among Democratic voters there. Fifty percent of those surveyed favored Clinton, while 44 percent said they were backing Obama. |
Gas Prices Slip, but Could Hit $4
by John Wilen
Retail gasoline prices pulled back slightly from record levels Tuesday and gave some consumers a small break, but a new government forecast said gas could reach as high as $4 a gallon during the summer driving season.Oil futures prices, meanwhile, fell as the dollar stabilized, giving investors an opportunity to lock in profits from crude's recent rally. Limiting the declines were developments in Iran, which announced plans to expand its uranium enrichment program and said it has tested key equipment, a move that raised the market's concerns about political conflict that could affect the country's oil exports. |
Another KBR Rape Case
by Karen Houppert
It was an early January morning in 2008 when 42-year-old Dawn Leamon, a paramedic for a defense contractor in southern Iraq, woke up to find her entire room shaking. The shipping container that served as her living quarters was reverberating from nearby rocket attacks, and she was jolted awake to discover an awful reality. "Right then my whole life was turned upside down," she says. |
