Thursday, November 30, 2006

Update on Louisiana-2 (3:44 pm)

Tim Tagaris at MyDD has a campaign update, in the runoff election between Democratic challenger Karen Carter, and incumbent Dem (and likely to be indicted) William Jefferson.

Carter is enjoying an increase in campaign cash. Jefferson has now run afoul of campaign advertising regulations. The election is in nine days.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

The Bible Says God Hates Right Winger Dennis Prager (1:34 pm)

Think Progress reports

Right-wing radio host Dennis Prager wrote a column earlier this week claiming that Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim elected to Congress, had “announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.” Prager claimed this “act undermines American civilization,” and compared it to being sworn in with a copy of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”
(…)
But Prager’s column is based on one other glaring error: the swearing-in ceremony for the House of Representatives never includes a religious book. The Office of the House Clerk confirmed to ThinkProgress that the swearing-in ceremony consists only of the Members raising their right hands and swearing to uphold the Constitution. The Clerk spokesperson said neither the Christian Bible, nor any other religious text, had ever been used in an official capacity during the ceremony.

Let’s go directly to the Official Scorekeeper’s Guide, the Bible, and see how Referee God calls the play. Proverbs 6:16-19 (King James Version)

16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

So it looks like Prager scores a solid 5 out of 7 on “Things the Lord Doth Hate” test!!

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Mr. Prissy Hearts President Pissy (9:31 am)

Greg Sargent busts the reliably dishonest George Will for the transparency of his distortions to smear Jim Webb, and the slobbery wet kisses he slathers all over George Bush’s lap. Other blog folk pile on, here, here, here, and here.

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Baker’s Iraq Study Group To Recommend Troop Withdrawals (12:09 am)

David Sanger and David Cloud for the NY Times report:

The bipartisan Iraq Study Group reached a consensus on Wednesday on a final report that will call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq but stop short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal, according to people familiar with the panel’s deliberations.

The report, unanimously approved by the 10-member panel, led by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, is to be delivered to President Bush next week. It is a compromise between distinct paths that the group has debated since March, avoiding a specific timetable, which has been opposed by Mr. Bush, but making it clear that the American troop commitment should not be open-ended. The recommendations of the group, formed at the request of members of Congress, are nonbinding.

I suspect the only way withdrawals will ever happen is if Democrats can get creative, and orchestrate domestic political conditions which compel Bush to choose between troop withdrawal and something worse, from his sociopath’s perspective.

posted by Brian Zick | 3 comments

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Potential Future for Iraq: Saudi Arabia v Iran (6:55 pm)

Nawaf Obaid, identified as “an adviser to the Saudi government” and “managing director of the Saudi National Security Assessment Project in Riyadh,” wrote an op-ed in today’s WaPo, wherein he says:

In February 2003, a month before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, warned President Bush that he would be “solving one problem and creating five more” if he removed Saddam Hussein by force. Had Bush heeded his advice, Iraq would not now be on the brink of full-blown civil war and disintegration.
(…)
Just a few months ago it was unthinkable that President Bush would prematurely withdraw a significant number of American troops from Iraq. But it seems possible today, and therefore the Saudi leadership is preparing to substantially revise its Iraq policy. Options now include providing Sunni military leaders (primarily ex-Baathist members of the former Iraqi officer corps, who make up the backbone of the insurgency) with the same types of assistance — funding, arms and logistical support — that Iran has been giving to Shiite armed groups for years.

Another possibility includes the establishment of new Sunni brigades to combat the Iranian-backed militias. Finally, Abdullah may decide to strangle Iranian funding of the militias through oil policy. If Saudi Arabia boosted production and cut the price of oil in half, the kingdom could still finance its current spending. But it would be devastating to Iran, which is facing economic difficulties even with today’s high prices. The result would be to limit... read more

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As If There Was Ever Any Doubt (4:15 pm)

Andy Bromage for the New Haven Advocate reports on a study by Christopher Lohse, a social work master’s student at Southern Connecticut State University.

[He] has proven what many progressives have probably suspected for years: a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush.
(…)
The thesis draws on a survey of 69 psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 presidential election. Lohse’s study, backed by SCSU Psychology professor Jaak Rakfeldt and statistician Misty Ginacola, found a correlation between the severity of a person’s psychosis and their preferences for president: The more psychotic the voter, the more likely they were to vote for Bush.
(…)
The study used Modified General Assessment Functioning, or MGAF, a 100-point scale that measures the functioning of disabled patients. A second scale, developed by Rakfeldt, was also used. Knowledge of current issues, government and politics were assessed on a 12-item scale devised by the study authors.

“Bush supporters had significantly less knowledge about current issues, government and politics than those who supported Kerry,” the study says.

Lohse says the trend isn’t unique to Bush: A 1977 study by Frumkin & Ibrahim found psychiatric patients preferred Nixon over McGovern in the 1972 election.

via Tom Tomorrow via Hunter at dailykos

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Biden Will Hold Hearings On Iraq “Policy” (9:22 am)

Michael Hirsh for Newsweek interviewd Joe Biden, who will become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the new Congress.

NEWSWEEK: I understand you’re planning to hold hearings on Iraq in January as your first act as chairman.
Joseph Biden: I am. We’re putting it together now. It will probably amount to six weeks of hearings. We’ll have experts who are left, right and center, neocons, internationalists and isolationists, to come in and dissect the various elements of our Iraq policy. For example, the never-examined premise upon which we say we’re going to stand up Iraqis and stand down ourselves. It’s not a question of getting them to stand up; it’s getting them to stand together … I’ve gone back and looked at hearings from the past to get some sense of how this is done from a historical perspective. We’re going to try to do something that is sound.

Will the hearings examine the report of the Iraq Study Group being co-chaired by former secretary of State James Baker and former House member Lee Hamilton, which is expected to be out by then?
I think that’s only part of it. It depends on whether Baker and Hamilton remain relevant. I’ve asked Baker and Hamilton to appear, along with former secretaries of State and Defense and other officials.

Will you produce your own, separate report with a set of recommendations?
That’s one of the things we’re considering.

Via Steve Soto, who headlines the story “Biden Isn’t Going To Wait For President Bystander To Fumble Again.”

posted by Brian Zick | 1 comment

European Parliament Report On CIA Outsourcing Torture (12:41 am)

Brian Knowlton for the NY Times reports

A new report by the European Parliament bluntly rejected the assertions by several European countries that they were unaware of a C.I.A. program to secretly abduct, transport and detain terrorist suspects.

“Many governments cooperated passively or actively” with the Central Intelligence Agency, said Giovanni Claudio Fava, who led a special inquiry. “They knew.” The report said that 11 European countries, including Britain, Italy and Germany, knew of the agency’s activities.

The report, issued Tuesday in Brussels, offered new confirmation of the United States’ practice of so-called extraordinary renditions, in which suspects were abducted, then transported, with European complicity, to third countries where they might face harsh interrogation methods.
(…)
Mr. Fava asserted that his committee had obtained, from a confidential source, records of an informal meeting of European Union and NATO foreign ministers on Dec. 7, 2005, “confirming that member states had knowledge of the program of extraordinary rendition and secret prisons.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was among the participants, it said.