Pelosi denies knowing waterboarding would be used
by Stephen C. Webster and David Edwards
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is on the defensive after her Republican counterpart John Boehner (R-OH) claimed that top Democrats knew well the details of the Bush administration's torture program but did nothing to stop it.In a Thursday press briefing, Pelosi flatly denied that she was ever told waterboarding would be used. |
Murphy expands lead to 365 votes
by Josh Kraushaar
Democrat Scott Murphy has expanded his lead over Republican Jim Tedisco to 365 votes as previously contested ballots have been added to the count in the still-contested New York special election.The updated total from the New York Board of Elections has Murphy with 79,951 votes, and Tedisco with 79,586 votes. |
AP IMPACT: Secret tally has 87,215 Iraqis dead
by Kim Gamel
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraq's government has recorded 87,215 of its citizens killed since 2005 in violence ranging from catastrophic bombings to execution-style slayings, according to government statistics obtained by The Associated Press that break open one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war. |
Sen. Webb puts marijuana legalization 'on the table'
by David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster
Speaking to CNN on Thursday morning in an effort to whip up political support for his prison reform proposals, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) insisted that marijuana legalization should be "on the table."His bill, introduced late March, aims to establish a presidential commission to study prison reforms and drug criminalization and make recommendations to Congress after 18 months. |
Meghan McCain to Cheney: ‘You had your 8 years. Go away.’
by David Edwards
Meghan McCain to Cheney: ‘You had your 8 years. Go away.’Meghan McCain expressed dissatisfaction with some former Bush officials who have criticized Obama during his first 100 days. “It’s hard for me — it’s very unprecedented for someone like karl rove or dick cheney to be criticizing the president. i just — my criticism is just, you know, you had your eight years, go away,” McCain told hosts of ABC’s The View. |
Premiere To Syndicate Randi Rhodes
by NTS MediaOnline
BREAKING NEWS: NTS MediaOnline has learned that liberal talker Randi Rhodes – who’s been off the air since her deal with Sheldon and Anita Drobny’s Nova Media cratered several weeks ago — will return to national syndication on May 11th via Premiere Radio Networks. Look for more details on the deal in tomorrow’s (4/24) edition of NTS Media Online Today. |
Forgive and Forget
by Gail Collins
Should we forgive Eliot Spitzer? New York’s most prominent disgraced public official is on a rehabilitation tour. Doing TV interviews, writing for Slate, confessing his sins on the cover of Newsweek.And as a New Yorker, I am rather proud of the way this is going. You don’t see Eliot volunteering to appear on “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” like some other ex-governors I could mention. |
Obama Plays Hamlet; Shredders Hum
by Ray McGovern
Well, well. The New York Times has finally put a story together on the key role played by two faux psychologists in helping the Bush administration devise ways to torture people. We should, I suppose, be thankful for small favors.Apparently, a NY Times exposé requires a 21-month gestation period. The substance of the Wednesday's lead story on torture had already appeared in an article in the July 2007 issue of Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/07/torture200707 |
Dozens of Prisoners Held by CIA Still Missing, Fates Unknown
by Dafna Linzer
Last week, we pointed out that one of the newly released Bush-era memos inadvertently confirmed that the CIA held an al-Qaeda suspect [1] named Hassan Ghul in a secret prison and subjected him to what Bush administration lawyers called "enhanced interrogation techniques." The CIA has never acknowledged holding Ghul, and his whereabouts today are secret. |
Senate Report: Rice, Cheney OK'd CIA Use of Waterboarding
by Cable News Network
WASHINGTON - Top Bush administration officials gave the CIA approval to use waterboarding, a controversial interrogation technique, as early as 2002, a Senate intelligence report shows.On July 17, 2002, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, who later became secretary of state, said the CIA could proceed with "alternative interrogation methods," including waterboarding, when questioning suspected al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah. |
Pirates of the Somali Main
by Eric Margolis
On 8 April, a gang of Somali teenagers with more nerve than brains challenged the might of the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet by kidnapping and holding for ransom the captain of the American container vessel, `Maersk Alabama.'The pirates were shot dead in a rescue operation by US Navy Seals. This veteran war correspondent suspects the official Pentagon version of the rescue has obscured many of the more interesting details of this successful mission. |
Yes, Senator, it is like a banana republic
by Mary Shaw
But not for the reasons that Senator Specter would think.The Senate Armed Services Committee has released a newly declassified report that details the history of the Bush administration's torture policy.The first page contains three very good points: (U) The collection of timely and accurate intelligence is critical to the safety of U.S. personnel deployed abroad and to the security of the American people here at home. The methods by which we elicit intelligence information from detainees in our custody affect not only the reliability of that information, but our broader efforts to win hearts and minds and attract allies to our side. |
Harman's Wiretap Woes and the AIPAC Cabal
by Marcy Winograd
How ironic that I made my decision to challenge Jane Harman in 2006 after watching her Meet the Press interview in which she lambasted the New York Times for breaking the story about the Bush administration's massive illegal wiretapping. "Oh my God," I told my husband, who was doing Sunday sit-ups in front of the television set, "this woman needs to be challenged -- on the wiretaps, on the war, and on her collusion with the Bush mob." |
Wall of Fear
by Robert C. Koehler
"Frankly, this does look a lot like Jimmy Carter. Carter tried weakness, and the world got tougher and tougher, because the predators, the aggressors, the anti-Americans, the dictators -- when they sense weakness, they all start pushing ahead."The chicken hawks still have a mega-forum. This was Newt Gingrich the other day, discussing "the handshake" on "Fox and Friends," and having his words -- no matter how simplistic they were, no matter the moral cowardice they masked -- widely and uncritically quoted throughout the media afterward. |
CNN Clip: Tapping Into Tea Party Anger While Debunking Right-Wing Myths
by David Sirota
This past weekend, I appeared on CNN to discuss the tea party protests of April 15th. You can watch the full clip here.As I've said before, I think these specific demonstrations were worthy of criticism, considering they are trying to champion the very conservative ideological agenda (tax cuts/deregulation/corporate welfare/huge deficits) that created the problems (bailouts/economic collapse/huge deficits) allegedly being protested. |
Fox anchor: 'This is America! We do not fucking torture'
by David Edwards and John Byrne
Fox News' Shepard Smith is pissed.Speaking on Fox News' online webcast, The Strategy Room, the Fox anchor responded brashly to the question of whether the United States should use torture in interrogating detainees."We are America! I don't give a rat's ass if it helps," Smith declared. "We are America! We do not fucking torture!" |
Rice gave early 'waterboarding green light'
by Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The CIA first sought in May 2002 to use harsh interrogation techniques including waterboarding on terror suspects, and was given key early approval by then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, a US Senate intelligence document said. |
