Nearly Half of America, Bigots AP Wire | 12/18/2004 | Nearly Half in U.S. Say Restrict Muslims:

"Nearly half of all Americans believe the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim Americans, according to a nationwide poll.

The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious."

Sick Sick Sick. But is anyone surprised?  ¶
- david | 4:44 PM 0 comments

  Top Iraq official shot and killed BBC NEWS:

Gunmen have killed a senior official in Iraq's communication ministry as he was driving to work in central Baghdad.

Kassim Imhawi was hit by gunmen who pulled up beside him as he travelled into the city from a western suburb.

Mr Imhawi was director-general of the ministry and a senior adviser to the interim Iraqi government.

The killing comes days after interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi warned that insurgents were expected to increase attacks ahead of elections in January.

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- david | 1:04 AM 0 comments

  The Onion, Ever The Paragon of Truth, Virtue, and Honor The Onion:

"'Man, all the troops do these days is bitch, bitch, die unnecessarily, and bitch.'"

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- david | 2:27 PM 0 comments

  Neo-Cons Say the Darnedest Things! Rumsfeld:

"'As you know, you go to war with the Army you have ... not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time.'"

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- david | 6:05 PM 0 comments

  Yahoo! News - New York Art Shuttered After Bush Monkey Portrait Oh, good. Censorship. I love it.

A portrait of President Bush (news - web sites) using monkeys to form his image led to the closure of a New York art exhibition over the weekend and anguished protests on Monday over freedom of expression.

"Bush Monkeys," a small acrylic on canvas by Chris Savido, created the stir at the Chelsea Market public space, leading the market's managers to close down the 60-piece show that was scheduled to stay up for the next month.

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- david | 2:37 PM 0 comments

  Osama Redux

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that Osama bin Laden is 'definitely' in the region and eventually will be caught, even though American and Pakistani generals admit the trail is cold."

I don't know... Correct me if I'm wrong, but we've been saying this for, like, ever. And we still haven't caught him, dead or alive. I'd like to see him in jail just as much as the next reasonable liberal, but he's starting to lose his appeal. Maybe the mainstream media should bring him up a little more often and, you know, scare me a little bit again.

From Daily Kos:

Apparently one of the biggest problems we have in battling al Qaida and capturing Osama bin Laden is the strained relationship the U.S. has with Pakistani security forces:

Hunting for Osama bin Laden, the C.I.A. established a series of small, covert bases in the rugged mountain frontier of northwest Pakistan in late 2003. Mr. bin Laden, the terrorist leader, was being sheltered there by local tribesmen and foreign militants, the agency had concluded, and controlled a group of handpicked operatives dedicated to attacking the United States.

But since the bases opened, the C.I.A. officers stationed there have been strictly supervised by Pakistani officials, who have limited their ability to operate and have escorted them wherever they travel in the Pakistani border region. As a result, it has been virtually impossible for the Americans to gather intelligence effectively, say several officials familiar with the operation who would only speak anonymously.

I don't know. What makes everyone so sure he'll be caught? We had our chance, maybe it's time to move on. Even if we were to catch him, it's not like that would really damage Al Qaeda. They've got quite the powerful infrastructure, and enough fact-based propaganda to publish recruiting materials for years to come. Why don't we go after more dangerous targets? Taking out Osama bin Laden would be like taking out the Queen of England... Sad as hell for the people that loved him, but essentially meaningless to the organization or effectiveness of the whole. In fact, it seems to me that there would be a really powerful backlash, one we don't necessarily want to provoke, even if it means we've got bin Laden's head.  ¶
- david | 11:07 PM 0 comments

  Dems got dem dollas

"Tax-exempt pro-Democratic groups raising big checks for this year's election collected almost twice as much money as their Republican rivals in the presidential race, a study shows. The financial advantage comes in addition to record fund raising by Kerry and the Democratic Party.

In all, the nonparty political groups, known as 527s because of the tax code section that covers them, raised about $534 million and spent roughly $544 million in the 2003-04 election cycle, the analysis by the nonpartisan Political Money Line campaign finance tracking service found."

Did I hear someone say SkidPAC?  ¶
- david | 3:33 PM 1 comments

  Star Wars Missile Defense Shield... Doesn't Work!

"The first flight test in nearly two years of a planned U.S. missile-defense shield has been scrapped two days in a row this week because of bad weather, the Pentagon said on Friday."

As Oliver Willis so cleverly points out, we may have to delay actual attacks until the weather's nice, as well...  ¶
- david | 1:48 PM 0 comments

  Weather Hampers Effort to Contain Aleutian Oil Spill

"A grounded freighter continues to spill heavy fuel oil into a pristine Alaskan wildlife area as poor weather conditions hurt cleanup efforts. Six people remain missing."

  ¶
- david | 5:08 PM 0 comments

  Kerik Withdraws From Consideration for Homeland Security Secretary Update:

Bernard Kerik apologized to President Bush on Saturday after questions about the immigration status of a housekeeper-nanny he employed led the former New York City police commissioner to withdraw his nomination as homeland security chief.

"WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House says President Bush's choice to be secretary of homeland security -- Bernard Kerik -- has withdrawn his name from consideration.

In a conference call to news organizations, White House spokesman Scott McClellan revealed that Kerik had withdrawn 'for personal reasons.'

McClellan said in a statement that the president respects Kerik's decision and wishes the commissioner and his wife well.

Kerik was the New York City police commissioner during 9-11.

McClellan said the White House will move as quickly as it can to name someone else to fill the nomination."

  ¶
- david | 3:54 PM 0 comments

  William Gibson Brings Us Excerpts From Neo-Confederate Literature

"Slavery as it existed in the South was not an adversarial relationship with pervasive racial animosity. Because of its dominantly patriarchal character, it was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence." p. 24

Oh my god. This is pretty unbelievable. I don't know what the impetus for this is, but apparently this is being taught to children in the South...

Students at one of the area's largest Christian schools are reading a controversial booklet that critics say whitewashes Southern slavery with its view that slaves lived "a life of plenty, of simple pleasures."

Um, I don't know what the hell they think they're doing... and this is no excuse:

"You can have two different sides, a Northern perspective and a Southern perspective," he said.

You really can't. It was something that happened one way. Well, obviously it happened millions of way over hundreds of years, but it was one thing, not two. This is literally making me sick to my stomach, and until someone proves to me that the "Northern" view of slavery is a sham, I will continue to feel sick and sad for my country.  ¶
- david | 1:58 PM 0 comments

  In Hypothetical Matchup, Powell Beats Spitzer This strikes me as an interesting race, although admittedly I know nothing about NY politics.

"Secretary of State Colin Powell (R) beats Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (D) 47 to 42 percent 'in an early look at the 2006 New York governor's race,' according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. However, Powell has given no indication he's interested in the job.

Spitzer handily leads Gov. George Pataki (R) 50 to 38 percent if the two face off.

In a hypothetical Senate matchup, Sen. Clinton (D-NY) and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani are in a statistical tie."

(via Political Wire)  ¶
- david | 8:24 PM 0 comments

  Intelligence Bill Clears Congress (Finally!)

The Senate overwhelmingly approved the intelligence restructuring bill yesterday and sent it to the White House, where President Bush is expected to sign it into law next week, setting in motion the first major changes in the U.S. intelligence community since the CIA was established in 1947.

"We are rebuilding a structure that was designed for a different enemy at a different time, a structure that was designed for the Cold War and has not proved agile enough to deal with the threats of the 21st century," said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee and a prime mover of the measure.

The legislation establishes a new director of national intelligence (DNI) as the president's chief adviser on intelligence, with budgetary and monitoring authority over foreign and domestic intelligence activities. It also creates a national counterterrorism center, where terrorism information will be channeled and whose director will report to the president on counterterrorism planning and operations.

  ¶
- david | 3:13 PM 0 comments