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With
enemies like this, who needs friends?
Democrats
Expect Gonzales to Be Confirmed for Justice Post | NYT
"The
president could have picked a polarizing figure," Mr. Leahy
said. "He did not. I applaud him for that."
The
president also could have picked someone who believes in the importance
of upholding our signed treaties with other nations. Someone who hasn't
used his present office to defend torture. Someone who hasn't used
his talents to attempt to put the president above the law.
The
president did not.
Another
issue that Democrats said they wanted to raise with Mr. Gonzales
at his confirmation hearing is a 2002 draft memorandum in which
his office said that the new war on terrorism "renders obsolete
Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and
renders quaint some of its provisions" ...
Mr.
Leahy said that "it was jarring to a lot of Republicans and
Democrats to see the word 'quaint' referring to the Geneva Convention."
He added, "Every one of us who have had a son or daughter in
the military, as I have, you kind of want to make sure that the
Geneva Convention is enforced."
It
is quite reasonable (and hardly news) that Democrats expect Mr. Gonzales
to be confirmed. It is ridiculous that anyone would applaud his appointment.
It
is not necessary to feel it possible to block his appointment to voice
an absolute outrage at the idea of Mr. Gonzales accession. Someone
who doesn't understand the rule of law ought never to be the chief
law enforcement officer of the country. That is worth saying, and
the opposition party ought to have the discipline to say it loudly.
Whether
the man is confirmed or not.
Bush's
ongoing problems with the 'fuzzy math'
Senate
votes to raise federal debt limit | NYT
Federal
debt has ballooned by $1.4 trillion over the past four years, to
$7.4 trillion, and the new ceiling would allow borrowing to reach
$8.2 trillion.
With
no end in sight to the huge annual budget deficits, which hit a
record of $412 billion this year, lawmakers predicted on Wednesday
that the new ceiling would probably have to be raised again in about
a year.
The
news just gets better and better, doesn't it?
Loyalty:
the prerequisite for promotion
Sturdy
loyalty is rewarded | NYT
Hadley
wrote an opinion piece for USA Today in June 2004 arguing that the
administration had been right before the war to link Al Qaeda to
Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq, a claim largely rejected by
the commission studying the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Perhaps most
significantly, he led the National Security Council's planning for
postwar Iraq, which has turned out to be deadlier and far more difficult
than anticipated.
Making
the right call: the prelude to being purged.
The
Great DVD Caper, continued ...
From
Amy:
The
first TV didn't work with the DVD player.
I
injured a large number of freshman while attempting to wheel the giant
cart with the giant second TV down the hall. (Hello, do you not see
the giant black thing coming at you?)
Then
I couldn't figure out how to select things from the menu without the
remote. With that finally solved, I couldn't get the right episode
to come up (I had the wrong DVD in).
Finally
finally, there was no sound (cables in the wrong place).
Pie
chart mania
How
can the same revenue chart have both "miscellaneous" and
"other"? Who gets to decide which a revenue source should
be filed under?
That's
not to mention the piece of the pie labelled "revenue."
Which, considering that the whole pie was revenue, ought to have gone
without saying, ...
Although,
considering Mr. Bush's grasp of that "fuzzy math," perhaps
it is now necessary to distinguish the revenue portion of revenue
(as opposed to, say, the "faith-based" portion of revenue)
on a national basis, so why not for a local nonprofit?
Charlie
to Bexley
And
back again, of course. He had a good visit, though missed out on a
walk on account of the rain.
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Yellow
Wallpaper
Charlotte
Perkins Gilman
Text
No
ethics here
GOP
Pushes Rule Change To Protect DeLay's Post | Washington Post
"House
Republicans proposed changing their rules last night to allow members
indicted by state grand juries to remain in a leadership post, a
move that would benefit Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) in case
he is charged by a Texas grand jury that has indicted three of his
political associates, according to GOP leaders."
Because
it worked so well the last four ...
Moves
Cement Hard-Line Stance On Foreign Policy | Washington Post
"...
in
elevating Rice, Bush is signaling that he is comfortable with the
direction of the past four years and sees little need to dramatically
shift course. Powell has had conversations for six months with Bush
about the need for a "new team" in foreign policy, a senior
State Department official said. But in the end only the key official
who did not mesh well with the others -- Powell -- is leaving."
Purging
reality
CIA
plans to purge its agency: Sources say White House has ordered
new chief to eliminate officers who were disloyal to Bush | Newsday
"The
White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge
the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President
George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about
the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according
to knowledgeable sources."
Via
Josh Marshall, commenting:
"On
every significant point of conflict between the Bush administration
and the country's cadre of intelligence professionals, the Bush
political appointees turned out to be wrong. Often very wrong, and
with disastrous consequences. Sometimes the intel folks were wrong
too; but when that was so, the appointees were always more wrong.
"This is not argumentative or hyperbole or even up for much
serious dispute.
"And
the upshot of all that we've seen, the result of all those struggles
over the last three years is that the 'appointees' are purging the
'professionals'. Another way to put it is that the folks who were
always wrong and often catastrophically wrong are rooting out the
folks who were often right and sometimes somewhat wrong. The answer
to politicized intelligence, it turns out, is a more thorough politicization
of intelligence and the elimination of those who resisted political
pressure.
"If
you think this is just a Washington squabble or political debating
point you'd be mistaken. Because your lives, and those of your families
and friends, may very well be on the line."
Not
much to say about today.
The
End.
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The
great DVD caper
A
borrowed VHS tape of the Simpsons Halloween episode (year 2) which
included a reading of Poe's poem the Raven turned out (horror of horrors)
to be a DVD and not a VHS at all.
Video
stores no longer carry VHS of "anything of that sort" (two
of them said, almost word for word). The computer plays DVDs but connecting
it to a tv requires cables and adapters not likely at hand.
How
can you be sure you purchase the right DVD player if you go to a store
to get one?
If
you borrow Stephanie's DVD player, could you copy the DVD onto a VHS
tape?
In
the end (tomorrow morning, that is), the DVD player existed right
where it needed to be and had been all along, and thus another caper
ended happily ever after (or rather, we hope it will, as it won't
be used until Wednesday).
