Where’s the Outrage?

Those famous words were almost never spoken.  As it turns out, and I didn’t know this, Martin Luther King had used that phrase often in his speeches.  His staff were pushing him to ditch it.  A completely different speech was written.  As great orators do, he stopped reading his notes half way thru the speech.  He ad libbed.  Although the civil rights leaders around him had heard that phrase countless times before the rest of the world had not.  Now, people from Russia to Africa to Mississippi know that Martin Luther King had a dream that day.

 

 MLK's dream [5:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Civil Rights, Domestic Issues by ecthompson
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Amazing man who lived an amazing life. Wikipedia has the cold hard facts here. The world will be a little sadder now that Art is gone.

 

 Art Buchwald dies at age 81 [2:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From WaPo:

Art Buchwald, 81, the newspaper humor columnist for more than a half-century who found new comic material in the issues that come up at the end of life, died of kidney failure last night at his son’s home in Washington, his family announced today.

Buchwald, an owlish, cigar-chomping extrovert, zinged the high, mighty and humor-challenged. His column, syndicated to more than 550 newspapers at one point, won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1982. He also published more than 30 books.

Last year didn’t start well for the writer. Kidney and vascular problems forced doctors to amputate one of his legs just below the knee in January, and Buchwald opted to not have dialysis. In February, he entered Washington Home and Community Hospices, which he described as “a place where you go when you want to go.” [Read more →]

Tags: General by ecthompson
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Months ago, before we knew that everything that Bush touched turned into dust, General Eric Shinseki was the first general to tell the truth. Will the President give him a medal of freedom?  He should.  Shinseki, a decorated West Point grad, is a true American hero in my book.  He wasn’t selling books.  He wasn’t a media hog.  He just told the truth and was run out of town for it.

From NYT:

After President Bush told the nation on Wednesday night that he was ordering a rapid increase of American forces in Iraq, Gen. Eric K. Shinseki was not among the retired officers to offer instant analysis on television.

But the president’s new strategy, with its explicit acknowledgment that not enough troops had been sent to Iraq to establish control, was a vindication for General Shinseki, who as Army chief of staff publicly told Congress as much just before the war began in 2003.

First vilified, then marginalized by the Bush administration after those comments, General Shinseki retired and faded away, even as lawmakers, pundits and politicians increasingly cited his prescience. [Read more →]

Tags: Iraq, Military by ecthompson
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This is the first look at the Libby Trial.  I know.  I should have posted this days ago but some folks are busy!! 

 

 HB - First look at Libby trial [2:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Domestic Issues, Hardball, Legal by ecthompson
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What does it say about us when we are so intent on bringing a Western-style democracy to Iraq that we will invade, depose their leader, destroy the infrastructure (with a lot of help from them, admittedly), and generally stir things up so badly that their country falls into a civil war.

But at the same time, we will let practically none of the refugees from that war-torn country come into our bastion of democracy?

According to a story I heard on NPR this morning, since 2003, the United States has only accepted 466 refugees from Iraq. That’s less than ten per month (or maybe it’s 13 per month, if they are counting since the end of 2003). Regardless, it’s pathetic.

But wait, you might say, we wouldn’t want to let just any Iraqi refugees into our country. Some of them could be agents saboteur, intent on bringing havoc to our shores. Well, we aren’t even letting in the Iraqis who have demonstrated their alliance to our troops by serving as interpreters or helping in other crucial roles. The door is equally slammed shut for this category of Iraqis, many of whom are seeking refuge because they’ve been subsequently targeted for reprisal violence.

To date, we’ve issued only 50 visas to people in this category.

I guess we’re not quite the warm, welcoming country that we like to picture ourselves as, are we?

Tags: Immigration, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by desertbug
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What Bush admit a mistake?  Come on.  There is no way that President Bush and Attorney General Gonzales would reverse course on the illegal wiretapping program would they?  I don’t trust this move. Not one bit. 

Of note, Glenn Greenwald points out that Gonzales’ letter is vague.  There is no other evidence that the administration is playing ball.  Put away the party hats until we get more information.

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From CNN.com:

Reversing a position it defended for more than a year, the Bush administration announced Wednesday that it has begun getting court approval before eavesdropping on the communications of suspected terrorists or their associates.

The Justice Department notified Congress that a court set up to specialize in wiretapping would oversee its “terrorist surveillance program,” which the administration has said could operate without judicial review. Critics said that violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which set up a special court to review wiretap applications in intelligence cases.

In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wrote that the administration still believes the program is legal, but that a judge on the court has set rules that preserve “the speed and agility necessary” to battle terrorism.

“The president is committed to using all lawful tools to protect our nation from the terrorist threat, including making maximum use of the authorities provided by FISA and taking full advantage of developments in the law,” Gonzales wrote. (Read Gonzales’ letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee)

Tags: Congress, Domestic Spying by ecthompson
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