Poll shows most U.S. voters unaffected by Wright
by Adam Nagourney and Marjorie Connelly
A majority of American voters say the furor over the relationship between Senator Barack Obama and his former pastor has not affected their opinion of Obama, but a substantial number say it could influence voters this fall should he be the Democratic presidential nominee, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll. |
The Pentagon vs. America
by Scott Ritter
I recently heard from an anti-war student I met while I was speaking at a college in northern Vermont. The e-mail included the following query:“I told you about how I wanted to build a career around social activism and making a difference. You told me that one of the most important things was to make myself reputable and give people a reason to listen to you. I think this is some of the best advice I’ve received. My issue however is that you mentioned joining the military as a way to do this and mentioned how that is how you fell into it. … We talked extensively about all of our criticisms of the military currently and our foreign policy. … What I don’t understand is, how can you [advise] someone who wants to make a difference with the flawed system, to join that flawed system?” |
Doing the Troops Wrong
by Bob Herbert
At the top of the list of no-brainers in Washington should be Senator Jim Webb’s proposed expansion of education benefits for the men and women who have served in the armed forces since Sept. 11, 2001.It’s awfully hard to make the case that these young people who have sacrificed so much don’t deserve a shot at a better future once their wartime service has ended. |
O'Reilly Does Hillary Interview Then Uses Miller to Trash Her
by Steve Young
Well, I'm guessing the Clinton campaign feels pretty swell getting the Bill O'Reilly fair and balanced treatment during her interview last week.Wonder if Bill happened to mention to her staff that on the same show they would bring on Dennis Miller to eviscerate her (what, wasn't Dick Morris available?), something a caller on Monday's Radio Factor accused Bill of? |
Can We Please Stop Talking About Hillary Clinton's Junk?
by Brady Bonk
Union leader Paul Gibson said she has "testicular fortitude." Now she's not only a hermaphrodite, but man, does Hillary Clinton have some weird genatalia! James Carville said of Clinton on Meat The Press: "If she gave him one of her cojones, they'd both have two." |
Hillary's Bitter Victory: How the Democratic campaign turned into an absurd and acrimonious culture war
by Matt Taibbi
Zero hour, the night of the excruciating Pennsylvania primary. I'm in the ballroom of the Park Hyatt hotel in Philadelphia, site of Hillary Clinton's victory speech. The place is going nuts. The floor is a teeming mass of celebrating Lifetime demographic; I haven't seen this many strong, independent women in one place since [potentially offensive gender-specific content self-censored by writer]. Clinton, who has just kicked Obama's ass all over the state, is onstage spooning out her rap. |
If it ain't broke, it ain't Bushed, yet
by Ed Naha
"Let's not be too rough on our own ignorance. It's what makes America great!"-- Frank Zappa.Roaring Twenties nightclub queen Mary Louise "Texas" Guinan used to greet every new customer with a cheerful "Hello, Sucker!" Today, our political leaders think the same phrase when performing their various shell games on Americans, but they're a lot less cheerful about it. |
The Last War and the Next One: Descending into Madness in Iraq - and Beyond
by Tom Engelhardt
The last war won't end, but in the Pentagon they're already arguing about the next one.Let's start with that "last war" and see if we can get things straight. Just over five years ago, American troops entered Baghdad in battle mode, felling the Sunni-dominated government of dictator Saddam Hussein and declaring Iraq "liberated." In the wake of the city's fall, after widespread looting, the new American administrators dismantled the remains of Saddam's government in its hollowed out, trashed ministries; disassembled the Sunni-dominated Baathist Party which had ruled Iraq since the 1960s, sending its members home with news that there was no coming back; dismantled Saddam's 400,000 man army; and began to denationalize the economy. Soon, an insurgency of outraged Sunnis was raging against the American occupation. |
Wanted: A Few Flat-Earth Scientists To Support Alaskan Oil Drilling
by Tom Kizzia
The state Legislature is looking to hire a few good polar bear scientists. The conclusions have already been agreed upon — researchers just have to fill in the science part.0505 06A $2 million program funded with little debate by the Legislature last month calls for using state money to fund an “academic based” conference that highlights contrarian scientific research on global warming. Legislators hope to undermine the public perception of a widespread consensus among polar bear researchers that warming global temperatures and melting Arctic ice threaten the polar bears’ survival. |
The New Immorality of Iraq War
by James Carroll
Insanity is defined as repeating one mistaken action again and again, each time expecting a better result that never comes. Prime example: the United States in Iraq. Washington perceived a weapons of mass destruction threat from Saddam Hussein, but instead of responding with diplomacy — internationally coordinated weapons inspections — it went to war. When Saddam Hussein was toppled, the initiative should have passed from the Pentagon to a State Department-led program of stabilization and reconstruction, but instead a crudely violent military occupation was begun. Diplomacy was once again rejected. |
McCain is Wrong on Collapsing Bridges and the Mafia's Good Works
by Gerald McEntee
U.S. Senator John McCain has said some pretty crazy things on the campaign trail this year. He's said our troops should stay in Iraq for another hundred years. He's said many Americans who get health insurance from their employers should pay higher taxes. He said the economy was doing well and that the Bush tax cuts for wealthy Americans should remain permanent. |
Journalist released from Gitmo calls it 'most heinous mankind has ever known'
by John Byrne
An Al Jazeera cameraman who returned yesterday to his home of Sudan from Guantánamo Bay and delivered a speech broadcast live on Sudanese television described the US facility as "heinous."His speech was broadcast live on Sudanese television. He was held at Guantanamo for seven years, and was never charged. |
What John McCain Told Me, and What it Says About How Far He's Fallen
by Arianna Huffington
Update: Through a spokesperson with the colorful name Tucker Bounds, McCain has denied telling me he didn't vote for Bush in 2000. "It's not true," Bounds told the Washington Post, "and I ask you to consider the source."My sentiments exactly -- because John McCain has a long history of issuing heartfelt denials of things that were actually true. |
Top US commando says strain of war limits forces elsewhere
by Robert Burns
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are making such heavy use of the nation's Green Berets and other elite warriors that they cannot fulfill their roles in other parts of the world, the military's top commando told The Associated Press."We're going to fewer countries, staying for shorter periods of time, with smaller numbers of people than historically we have done," Adm. Eric T. Olson said Monday in his first interview since becoming commander of U.S. Special Operations Command last July. |
