abramoff in Marianas

* wolcott: "As Robert Fisk wrote yesterday, Bin Laden's task is mostly done, his legacy unleashed. "The irony, of course, is that Bin Laden is now partly irrelevant. He has created al-Qa'ida. His achievement - that word should be seen in context - is complete. Why bother hunting for him now? It's a bit like arresting the world's nuclear scientists after the invention of the atom bomb. The monster has been born. It's al-Qa'ida we have to deal with.""

* "Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and law professor Jonathan Turley both argued strenuously that the President's alleged crimes and misdemeanors may be impeachable offenses." (link)

* david corn went to a speech by General Odom - 2 quotes (link) :
a) "The enemies of free enterprise are businessmen [not labor]. They are out to rig the market. I'm on a corporate board. And we talk about how we can rig the market."
b) "Who is the big threat in the world," he remarked. "China?" No, he didn't think so. "Is there a big threat to this empire? Yes, incompetent US leadership.""

* "U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., met with a Marianas official who had close ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in the weeks before Burns received an Abramoff-related $5,000 contribution from the Marianas and reversed his earlier position on a bill about the islands." (link)

* glenn: "For the first time in my lifetime, many people immediately disregard -- not subject to scepticism, but outright disregard -- statements of purported fact which they hear from the Government. Many Americans generally, as well as our traditional allies, have arrived at the sad and counter-productive point where they simply don’t trust what the Administration says. Given the history of its statements and conduct (which, regardless of the reason why, have proven over and over to be inaccurate), any rational person would do the same." (link)

glenn makes a good point, as always. i'll discuss this issue in another post.