curry favor with right-wing Cuban exile groups

* amy :

"GAO Audit Finds Cuba “Democracy” Spending Rife With Waste
And finally, an internal governmental audit has found that nearly all the money earmarked for “democracy promotion” in Cuba over the last decade has been spent without proper oversight. The Government Accountability Office says some seventy-four million dollars in contracts from the U.S. Agency for International Development have been prone to waste and fraud. In one case, a Miami-based group that won a contract to provide humanitarian assistance to Cuba spent the money on goods including video games, cashmere sweaters and a gas chainsaw. Arizona Republican Congressmember Jeff Flake, who backed the audit, said the findings suggest the Bush and Clinton administrations used the programs to curry favor with right-wing Cuban exile groups."

* amy :

Report: Bush Admin Plans “Last Big Push” in Iraq
The Guardian of London is reporting the Bush administration is planning what sources call a “last big push” to win the war in Iraq. Rather than face growing calls for a phased withdrawal, the administration is considering adding up to 20,000 new US troops on the ground. The White House plan is said to be affecting how the Iraq Study Group is conducting its own deliberations on how to advise the President. A former senior administration official said President Bush believes achieving US goals in Iraq is “a matter of political will.” The official added the Iraq Study Group and “last push” strategy are intended to give Republicans “political time and space” to recover from their election loss in time for the 2008 presidential race. The official concluded: “What they're going to say is: lower the goals, forget about the democracy crap, put more resources in, do it.”

* atrios:

"We also didn't bury the Iran-Contra nuts. Richard Cohen wrote nice things about that nice Cap Weinberger who, whatever his involvement, could've at least helped put the Iran Contra nuts away.

So, we had more crazy illegal foreign policy. Another disastrous war. Hundreds of thousands killed, with Fred Hiatt cheering it on.

So, yes, we're going through it three decades later. And we'll go through it again, because the Establishment gets it wrong every time."

* atrios:

"If being right meant anything in our contemporary discourse, "Some Guy With a Sign" and "Dirty Fucking Hippie" would have their own TV show."

* richard dawkins was on colbert - 6min. meanwhile, damien and i discuss god and atheists here. dawkins subscribes to my definition of atheism :-)