future historians will shake their heads

* tristero:

"The situation is now so godawful, so completely coo-coo, and so totally out of control that future historians will shake their heads in amazement trying to figure out why, by the spring of '07, the US politicians and the public haven't demanded the immediate removal of the Bush administration from office and their incarceration in the Hague to stand trial.

We live in very strange times."

* tristero on the 16words:

"Why were we positive Bush was lying? Because no one who is telling the truth talks like this about such a serious subject. Notice the first five words. It's not that Saddam recently sought significant quantities yadda yadda, but only that "the Briitish government has learned." If there was any real evidence, and if Bush had any real confidence in that evidence, I assure you there would be no qualifications. Nevertheless, the impression created - via context and sentence structure and possibly even verbal emphasis when delivered - was not that the British government reported something the US couldn't confirm despite the obvious importance of doing so, but rather that Saddam was acquiring nuclear bombs. Notice also the utterly superfluous but rhetorically important "significant" - as if the acquisition of even a single grain of uranium by Saddam would be anything less than totally alarming to an American public that had been told to expect the next Sept 11 as a mushroom cloud. No. An honest president with legitimate concerns for America's safety would have begun, "The US government has learned," and then proceeded actually to spend some time describing how and what we learned. The State of the Union is exactly the place to lay out such a case, if there was any legitimacy to it.

Therefore, it was clear that no one in the Bush administration - including Bush himself, or he surely would have approved a stronger statement that was less carefully hedged - believed for a second that Saddam had recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. They just wanted you to believe it, and they were prepared to lie about it. And they did."

* amy:

"Charges Against Ex-CIA Cuban Operative Dismissed
A federal judge has dismissed immigration charges against the anti-Castro Cuban militant and former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone said the US government practiced “fraud, deceit, and trickery” when it interviewed Posada about his case. The Venezuelan and Cuban governments have led international calls arguing Posada should be prosecuted for more serious crimes. He’s linked to a series of deadly attacks, including the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. The Bush administration has refused to extradite him to Cuba or Venezuela. In a statement, the Cuban government said “The terrorist’s release has been concocted by the White House as compensation for Posada Carriles not to reveal what he knows, not to talk about the countless secrets he keeps on his protracted period as an agent of the US special services.”"

* amy:

Anti-Bush Mexican Protesters Released After 2 Months in Jail
In Mexico, eleven protesters arrested during President Bush’s visit to the Yucatan city of Merida have been released after nearly two months in jail. The eleven were released on condition they renounce charges of torture and abuse in police custody. Eight protesters remain behind bars.

* amy:

Florida Indicts 8 Prison Guards on Abuse Charges
In Florida, eight former prison guards have been indicted on charges of abusing prisoners at the Hendry Correctional Institution in the Everglades. Prison officials say the guards beat prisoners and forced them into dehumanizing behavior -- including cleaning toilets with their tongues.

* amy:

Senate Votes Down Importing Cheap Medication
In news from Washington, the Senate has killed an effort that would have allowed consumers to buy imported prescription drugs at significantly lower costs. The Senate voted 49 to 40 to impose safety standards government officials say they cannot meet. Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana said “Once again the big drug companies have proved that they are the most powerful and best financed lobby in Washington.”

* amy:

Student Loan Head Resigns As Marketing Ties Probed
In education news, the top government official overseeing student loans has stepped down amid mounting controversy over her agency’s ties to marketers and lenders. Theresa Shaw’s resignation as head of the Office of Federal Student Aid comes as lawmakers have opened probes into the personal and financial ties between industry, university and government officials. The Education Department admitted last month companies may have improperly mined a national database of student borrowers to obtain marketing information.

* trex on the latest paintball jihadiismists:

"So, expect this to be in heavy rotation in the media cycle over the next couple of weeks. They're going to milk it for every last possible fear-mongering, freedom-squelching, race-baiting drop that they can squeeze out. You're actually going to miss the Anna Nicole frenzy. You think I'm kidding, don't you?

I guess the thing that chaps my ass about the whole thing is that there were two other major domestic terror plots uncovered last week, but what has Wolf Blitzer had to say about that? Nothing. Nil.
[]
And don't expect people like Malkin and Pam Atlas and Debbie Schlussel to give any column inches at all to these Conservaterrorists, let alone open up their ever-present cans of fauxtrage. Those people are their readers, so of course they wouldn't want to alienate their fan-base. Nope, it's going to be all Jersey Jihadi all the time for the foreseeable future."