Archive for August, 2004

The future of Iraq

August 31st, 2004 – 9:15 pm
Tagged as: Uncategorized

Paul Krugman, who is in my opinion the best columnist at the NYT, has a good idea about one way to deal with the future of Iraq: Now, serious security analysts have begun to admit that the goal of a democratic, pro-American Iraq has receded out of reach. Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic […]

Diebold vote count vulnerability

August 31st, 2004 – 8:52 pm
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With Bush out there still acting like a buffoon, and the only strategy of the Republican party apparently being to present a completely false picture of itself during the convention, you knew there had to be a backup plan (in case the whole Swift Boat Liars for Bush thing doesn’t work out either): Manipulation technique […]

Protecting us from the words of that pesky Supreme Court

August 29th, 2004 – 8:56 pm
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There is now apparently proof that the U.S. government, this time the Justice Department, sometimes chooses to redact portions of documents not to protect “national security,” but because they simply don’t like what those portions say. In this particular case, what they redacted out was a quote from a Supreme Court decision: “The danger to […]

Know Your Rights

August 25th, 2004 – 9:33 pm
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In case you’re going to be protesting at the Republican National Convention next week, or even just wandering the streets of NYC minding your own business, here’s a handy ‘Know Your Rights’ factsheet that’ll prove useful during any confrontation with the vast array of security forces that’ll be there to protect the Republicans from pesky […]

Pressuring protesters

August 16th, 2004 – 7:57 pm
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Planning on heading to New York to protest during the Republican National Convention? The FBI would like to have a word with you. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been questioning political demonstrators across the country, and in rare cases even subpoenaing them, in an aggressive effort to forestall what officials say could be violent […]

Harkin on Cheney

August 15th, 2004 – 12:50 pm
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Senator Tom Harkin takes it to Cheney: “When I hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil,” Harkin said. “Those of us who served and those of us who went in the military don’t like it when someone like a […]

PBS apparently thinks we need even more right-wing talk shows

August 14th, 2004 – 10:35 pm
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In what some claim is an effort to add “balance,” PBS is going to start broadcasting a show called Journal Editorial Report, which will serve as a platform for the right-wing views of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. In case, you know, the right-wing views that dominate the cable news channels and […]

And you thought invading Iraq was dumb way to fight terror….

August 8th, 2004 – 8:57 pm
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Why just have an unnecessarily alarming terror alert for political reasons when you can also burn a double agent in al-Queda too? Why in the world would Bush administration officials out a double agent working for Pakistan and the US against al-Qaeda? In a way, the motivation does not matter. If the Reuters story is […]

Crying wolf

August 3rd, 2004 – 10:11 pm
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On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge included this little gem in the press conference he used to announce the latest terror threats. But we must understand that the kind of information available to us today is the result of the president’s leadership in the war against terror, the reports that have led to this […]