Sunday, December 31, 2006

Bush Caught Between His Ego and a Hard Place (10:42 pm)

Michael Abramowitz for WaPo reports “GOP Lawmakers Divided About ‘Surge’ in Troops.” The article lists McCain and Graham as “for” (with Lieberman the solitary “Democrat”); Norm Coleman, Susan Collins, Specter, and Gordon Smith as definite “no way”; and Brownback, Chambliss, Lugar, McConnell, Sununu, Boehner and Peter King as sitting painfully on a very conditional fence. Ed Rogers, identified as “a top GOP lobbyist with ties to the White House and Republican leaders” says “Republicans are scared to death of it politically.” Lugar is quoted from an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” saying “There’s been an election; Republicans lost the election.”

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2006 (8:51 am)

Steve Gilliard recalls a few noteworthy events from the year gone by.

Pachacutec at firedoglake provides a Netroots’ Year in Review.

BarbinMD at dailykos has posted a list of the Top 10 News Stories, as voted by members of the Associated Press.

The Drum Major Institute offers a policy analysis 2006 Year in Review (via Bill Scher at Liberal Oasis).

Rolling Stone presents a “A Nuckin’ Futs Recap of 2006” video.

And via Crooks and Liars:
The Brad Blog has the first two posts of a three-part Year In Review: January through April, and May through August.

Martha Rosenberg for AlterNet reviews The Year in U.S. Scandals.

AlterNet also has The Most Popular Top 10 Lists of 2006.

posted by Brian Zick | 1 comment

The Difference a Day Makes at the Associated Press (8:18 am)

Sat Dec 30, 7:22 PM ET
AP poll: Americans optimistic for 2007

Sun Dec 31, 7:12 AM ET
Poll: Americans see gloom, doom in 2007

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Saturday, December 30, 2006

Florida-13 Update (5:03 pm)

Gary Fineout for the Miami Herald reports that Circuit Judge William Gary ruled that Democratic candidate Christine Jennings does not have a right to inspect proprietary software used in electronic voting machines in Sarasota County, which returned a huge and inexplicable 18,000 undervote in Jenning’s race against Republican Vern Buchanan.

ES&S, the company that makes the voting machines as well as ones used in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, says the machines did not malfunction and that the software is a trade secret.

”It’s shocking that there is more concern for protecting a company’s profits rather than protecting our right to vote,” said Jennings, who said she would appeal the ruling. “The secrecy and question marks surrounding electronic voting is creating a real crisis in confidence among America’s voters, and the only way to resolve this is by conducting a thorough review by outside experts.”

Friday’s ruling came hours after House Democratic leaders in Washington announced that they would allow Republican Vern Buchanan, who beat Jennings by 369 votes, to be seated when Congress reconvenes next week. Despite what happens in the courts, Congress has the ultimate power to decide who can be seated.

A spokesman for incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said seating Buchanan, while officially recognizing the election is contested, is ‘the best way to assure continuous representation for the district while Jennings’ appropriate challenges are running their course.” Spokesman Drew Hammill said Pelosi and the Democratic caucus wouldn’t back a move to refuse to seat Buchanan, as Democratic... read more

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Saturday Art Film (9:42 am)

MADCAP: an animated improvisation
by Phil Denslow

BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM, Fourth L.A. Animation Celebration ‘91
BEST ANIMATED FILM, Ann Arbor Film Festival ‘92
SECOND PRIZE IN DIRECTION, ASIFA East Awards ‘93

more info here

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“So now, what will be the next story they tell us to keep us over here?” (9:11 am)

In a story on Saddam’s execution, Christopher Torchia and Qassim Abdul-Zahra for AP report:

U.S. troops cheered as news of Saddam’s execution appeared on television at the mess hall at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in eastern Baghdad. But some soldiers expressed doubt that Saddam’s death would be a significant turning point for Iraq.

“First it was weapons of mass destruction. Then when there were none, it was that we had to find Saddam. We did that, but then it was that we had to put him on trial,” said Spc. Thomas Sheck, 25, who is on his second tour in Iraq. “So now, what will be the next story they tell us to keep us over here?”

via Atrios

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Where There’s Sentelle There’s Stink (12:17 am)

The foul stench of Right Wing judicial sleaze David Sentelle has permeated yet another high profile court case. This time, Sentelle, in concert with another right wing appellate judge, A. Raymond Randolph, issued an opinion which refused to accept briefs filed by seven retired federal judges who oppose Bush’s torture/anti-habeas corpus law - merely because the authors of the briefs identified themselves in their filing as “judges.”

AP reports

In a 2 to 1 decision yesterday, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said it would not accept the judges’ brief on a legal technicality, saying the title “judge” should not be used to describe former judges in legal proceedings. The court is examining whether “enemy combatants” should be allowed to challenge their detention in U.S. courts.
(…)
The appeals panel’s more conservative judges, David B. Sentelle and A. Raymond Randolph, issued the opinion, with Judge Judith W. Rogers, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, dissenting.

For those unfamiliar, Sentelle led the the three-judge panel which in 1994 appointed Ken Starr to replace Robert B. Fiske in the blatantly Kafkaesque Whitewater fishing expedition. The appointment was made right after Sentelle, and froth-at-the-mouth Clinton haters Jesse Helms and Lauch Faircloth, had a lunch meeting wherein the conversation just “may” - according to Sentelle himself - have happened to include the topic of the upcoming independent counsel appointment.

Before that, in 1990 also with the D.C. Court of Appeals, Sentelle voted to overturn the Iran/contra... read more

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Friday, December 29, 2006

Saddam Has Been Executed (8:13 pm)

Mariam Karouny for AP reports:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -
Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging shortly before 6 a.m. (10:00 p.m. EST) on Saturday, U.S.-backed Iraqi television station Al Hurra and Arabic satellite channel Arabiya said.
(…)
An appeals court upheld the death penalty on Tuesday and the government rushed through the procedures to hang him by the end of the year and before the Eid al-Adha holiday that starts on Saturday, coinciding with the haj pilgrimage to Mecca.
(…)
The Iraqi government had kept details of its plans shrouded in secrecy amid concerns it could spark a violent backlash from his former supporters with Iraq on the brink of civil war.

The execution will delight Iraq’s majority Shi’ites, who faced oppression during Saddam’s three-decade rule, but may anger some in his resentful Sunni minority.

Some Kurdish leaders had sought a delay so they too could see justice for the man they accuse of genocide against them.