smell the freedom

* josh:

"The whole thing is sad. Establishment conservative commentary has devolved into a what looks like a latter-day Scholasticism focused on finding more and more improbable arguments -- insurgents on the head of a pin -- for why President Bush isn't responsible for the catastrophe that has become of the policy he and his authored, planned and executed, more or less singlehandedly, for going on four years."

* glenn:

"I spent the day yesterday and today reading every Tom Friedman column beginning in mid-2002 through the present regarding Iraq. That body of work is extraordinary. Friedman is truly one of the most frivolous, dishonest, and morally bankrupt public intellectuals burdening this country. Yet he is, of course, still today, one of the most universally revered figures around, despite -- amazingly enough, I think it's more accurate to say "because of" -- his advocacy of the invasion of Iraq, likely the greatest strategic foreign policy disaster in America's history."

* i haven't mentioned much about Brandon Mayfield's payout - i was heavily invested/horrified in his case when he was arrested. Glenn has a rundown of the noise that was emanating from the swamps way back when. And Mayfield was on demnow yesterday.

* amy:

"Iraq Government Vows to Monitor, Prosecute Journalists
In other Iraq news, the Iraqi government has announced it will prosecute journalists who fail to correct stories the Iraqi government decides are incorrect. Iraq’s Interior Ministry has established a new unit to monitor journalists and their news coverage."

smell the freedom

* amy:

"Agency: Electronic Voting “Cannot be Made Secure”
Here in the United States, a government research agency has concluded paperless electronic voting machines jeopardize voting because they “cannot be made secure.” In what the Washington Post calls the most sweeping condemnation of electronic voting by a federal agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology – NIST -- says votes should be counted independently of the software in voting machines used across the United States. Opponents of electronic voting are urging the Election Assistance Commission to adopt NIST’s recommendations."

smell the freedom

* amy:

US Travelers Electronically Analyzed For Terror, Criminal Threat
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has acknowledged the existence of a program that assigns travelers crossing US borders a computerized score rating their risk as terrorists or criminals. The risk assessments are kept on file for forty years. Travelers are not allowed to see their own ratings. The program has affected nearly every traveler crossing US borders in the last four years – including US citizens. David Sobel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said: "It's probably the most invasive system the government has yet deployed in terms of the number of people affected."

smell the freedom. sometimes i wonder if i'll ever get back to the US.