in the long term we're all dead

* " Voinovich said Friday he has had second thoughts about not voting Bolton down in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this spring. " LINK

* steve clemons does a good wrap on the bolton story so far. again. he ends thusly: "I think that there is something big here -- not just for Democrats but also for moderate Republicans who want to guide this nation and their party back towards enlightened and principled, problem-solving, empirically-informed engagement in world affairs." LINK

* this one is fun, if u havent seen it overheardinnewyork.com - im not sure if its as honest as it used to be. the price of fame.

* arianna, 7/7: "Odds are we probably won’t be hearing for a while the Bush mantra that the reason we're fighting them over in Iraq is so we don't have to fight them here at home." and ""If Iraq is like flypaper, it unfortunately looks like we’re the ones who are stuck there. Any predictions of what Bush’s rewrite boys will come up with next?"" LINK

* u'd think arianna's bet would be pretty safe, right? right? wrong.
heres blinky, 7/8: "We will stay on the offense, fighting the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them at home," LINK
the rewrite boys must still be on holidays. or the reprogramming didnt work. or something.
ari2 has a shot at it tho: "(blinky will) talk about (how) in the short term, it's taking the fight to the enemy abroad and in the long term it's spreading freedom and democracy to defeat the extremist ideology of hatred and oppression." "

* "U.S. counterterrorism experts believe European-born militants recruited by Zarqawi for Iraq's insurgency could be behind the bombings.
"We are concerned about the possible involvement of Zarqawi's network," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the investigation in London." LINK
kerching! btw - i love the headline: "US official sees Zarqawi spectre in London attacks" - i hope the irony is intended.
the good news is that if they are blaming zarq, then they are unlikely to blame syria or iran.

* "But senior British and American investigators said the morning rush-hour attacks in central London appeared to have been a low-tech operation, less expertly conceived than the cellphone-detonated train bombings in Madrid on March 11, 2004, which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800.
Officials said at least 49 people had been killed and 700 wounded in the London bombings.
But they said the death toll might have been much higher had the attack been carried out by experts - given the large numbers of commuters crowded into the transit system. " LINK

* ""Part of their thinking is the cell chose a predominantly Muslim neighborhood to launch these attacks," the official added. "The bombers might have thought it would make it easier for them to leave the stations and blend in."" LINK
certifiable nonsense.

* the other day i mentioned the radministrations odd behaviour wrt the bolton nomination in the context of the london attacks. here's the WSJ: "What happened yesterday in London was an attack on the modern world by pre-modernists. Tony Blair said, “Our values will outlive theirs.” Maybe. Ours might not, though, if against theirs of wanton murder, our answer is “close Guantanamo.” But there is a better example of the fundamental inability of our politics to sustain seriousness against such a threat: the Bolton nomination to the U.N...
If the U.S. Senate wanted to send a signal of resolve and seriousness to whoever bombed London, Democrats would join with Republicans their first day back to dispatch proven anti-terror warrior John Bolton straight to the U.N. They won't. They'll keep playing political fiddles while London burns." LINK
(via arthur, who has much more)

* "A leaked document from Britain's Defense Ministry says the British and U.S. governments are planning to reduce their troop levels in Iraq by more than half by mid-2006... The memo said Washington planned to cut its forces to 66,000 from about 140,000 by early 2006." LINK

* the thune scandal hits the tv LINK

* santorum is batshit crazy

* "Netanyahu, in London to address a conference, said concerted action was required to rein in Iran, not least because of its links with Islamic terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. He said he wanted the shipment of Russian nuclear equipment and nuclear fuel to a plant under construction at Bushehr to be stopped.
Asked whether there would ultimately have to be a military solution to the problem — perhaps involving a repetition of Israel’s pre-emptive strike on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in June 1981 — Netanyahu replied: “I don’t know.” He added: “I am not aware of any plans, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist, for example in America.”" LINK