another must-read by glenn greenwald

* "Mark Ensalaco, an international terrorism expert at the University of Dayton, Ohio, said the (Zawahri) tape's release may have been timed to come before Bush's State of Union address. ``Al-Qaida is very conscious of such things,'' he said." (link)
hmmm - just like UBL's pre-election video last year.

* "There have been so many prominent bloggers who advocate attacking or purging the party of these deadweight opportunists (Kerry, Sen. Clinton, Lieberman). I don't disagree at all. But we can't fix the country properly until we overcome the system that elected these compromised individuals - and we need more than a plan to attack the old school for us to get to the tipping point where we can make real reform." (link)

* "Housing is the engine of the current US expansion. Merrill Lynch’s analysis of the current expansion credits housing with 50% of total GDP growth. According to Paul Krugman, housing related employment is responsible for 40% of this expansion’s job creation." (link)

* another must-read by glenn greenwald:

"One's views of warrantless eavesdropping ought to have nothing to do with one's views of the President's false and misleading statements on this issue. Bill Clinton was impeached ostensibly for lying about a much less serious matter, and yet here is George Bush lying to the country by falsely assuring us that all eavesdropping conducted by the Government is done only with judicial approval. What possible justification is there for George Bush to be able to make false statements of this sort?

[snip]

Most presidential law-breaking scandals in our nation’s history have two components – the law-breaking itself, followed by the deceit and lies designed to conceal the law-breaking. The Administration’s law-breaking has been the subject of significant attention. Its pattern of deliberate deceit deserves a lot more attention." (link)