One Thousand Reasons

State Department Inspector to Investigate Texas Oil Company�s Deal in Kurdistan

RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr., New York Times

BAGHDAD � The State Department�s internal watchdog division will investigate allegations that department officials did nothing to prevent a Texas oil company with close ties to President Bush from concluding an oil deal with the Kurdistan regional government that undermined both American policy and the Iraqi central government. more. . .

Posted Today at 7:28 AM | Corruption | 5

If You Must Impeach, Please Do It Politely

Molly K. Hooper, CQ Politics

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich may have to hold his tongue when he argues in favor of impeaching President Bush on Friday morning.

The Ohio Democrat, like every other witness scheduled to testify before the Judiciary Committee, has been put on notice by the committee�s Democratic staff. more. . .

Posted Today at 7:36 AM | Impeachment | 2

Documents Laid Out Interrogation Procedures

SCOTT SHANE, New York Times

WASHINGTON � When Central Intelligence Agency interrogators used waterboarding and other harsh techniques on Qaeda suspects, agency rules required detailed records of each method used, its duration and the names of everyone present, according to one of three heavily redacted government documents made public on Thursday. more. . .

Posted Today at 7:25 AM | Torture | 3

McCain's blind spot on Iraq, Vietnam

Ellen Goodman, Boston Globe

IS IT ANY wonder that John McCain was feeling a tad neglected? There was Barack Obama on a nine-day trip through eight countries with three network anchors, and all John got was a lousy T-shirt. Or to be more exact, all he got was a ride in George H.W. Bush's golf cart and a rejection slip from a New York Times op-ed editor. more. . .

Posted Today at 7:31 AM | Election 2008 | 0

The Oil Man Cometh

TIMOTHY EGAN, New York Times

There he is, the sound of money in a wizened Texas drawl, the tired realist looking a bit like the John Huston character from �Chinatown� as he warns in national television ads that we should just listen here and do as he says.

And what the 80-year-old T. Boone Pickens says, in a $58 million campaign, is that we can�t drill our way to lower gas prices. By implication, anybody who tells you otherwise � including the fellow Texan he helped put in the White House � is a fraud. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:45 AM | Energy | 180

A Social History of the Surge

Juan Cole, Informed Comment

I want to weigh in as a social historian of Iraq on the controversy over whether the "surge" "worked." The NYT notes:

'Mr. McCain bristled in an interview with the �CBS Evening News� on Tuesday when asked about Mr. Obama�s contention that while the added troops had helped reduce violence in Iraq, other factors had helped, including the Sunni Awakening movement, in which thousands of Sunnis were enlisted to patrol neighborhoods and fight the insurgency, and the Iraqi government�s crackdown on Shiite militias. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:46 AM | Iraq | 130

Berlin Cheers Obama's America

ARI BERMAN, The Nation

When George W. Bush talks about "freedom," Europe groans. When Barack Obama invokes the same word, Berlin cheers. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 3:32 PM | International | 54

Previously secret torture memo released

CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration told the CIA in 2002 that its interrogators working abroad would not violate U.S. prohibitions against torture unless they "have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering," according to a previously secret Justice Department memo released Thursday. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 6:11 PM | Torture | 36

Repossessions flower as economy withers

Lorenzo Perez, McClatchy Newspapers

In the middle of the night, the diesel rumble of Steve Mozingo and Brandon Taylor's trucks prompts excuses for why the car payment is past due and driveway pleas for more time. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 8:10 AM | Economy | 51

Perfecting McCain's op-ed pitch

Peter Funt, Boston Globe

DEAR Senator McCain:

Sorry to hear that your op-ed column about Iraq was rejected by The New York Times less than a week after the paper printed an op-ed by Barack Obama on the same topic.

Apparently one of the editors, David Shipley, told you, "I'm not going to be able to accept this piece as currently written," and said you should submit another draft. Go for it! more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:29 AM | Humor | 45

ACLU Obtains Key Memos Authorizing CIA Torture Methods

ACLU

NEW YORK � The American Civil Liberties Union today obtained three redacted documents related to the Bush administration's brutal interrogation policies, including a previously withheld Justice Department memo authorizing the CIA's use of torture. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 3:33 PM | Torture | 28

The biggest oil guzzler?: The Pentagon

JEN DIMASCIO, Politico

So, you think you�ve got the gas prices blues. Just consider Al Shaffer, the man in charge of drafting an energy strategy for the gas- guzzling Pentagon.

With wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and troops spread around the world, the Department of Defense is the nation�s biggest oil consumer, burning 395,000 barrels per day � about as much as Greece. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 8:08 AM | Military | 37

Bush Seeks $12 Billion to Waste on Obsolete Missile Defense

Joseph Cirincione, AlterNet

If President George W. Bush's budget requests are met, the United States will spend more this year than it ever has on antiballistic missile defense -- some $12 billion, or nearly three times what the United States spent on antimissile systems during any year of the Cold War. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:55 AM | Military | 30

EPA document White House squelched called for emission limits now

Renee Schoof , McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON � The head of the Environmental Protection Agency told the Bush administration in December that high levels of man-made heat-trapping gases are causing global warming and endanger the American people, Sen. Barbara Boxer said Wednesday after she reviewed the EPA finding, which has not been made public. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 2:52 PM | Environment | 19

Suspicion, terrain foes for U.S. in Afghan surge

MSNBC

KABUL, Afghanistan - As violence in Afghanistan escalates, the U.S. is responding by scrambling to get in more troops. But it's far from clear how the strategy will work in a vast, rugged land where hiding places are many and suspicion of foreign forces is deep. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:18 AM | Afghanistan | 26

Some Reality, Please

EDITORIAL, New York Times

If the Senate could summon some wisdom, it would interrupt its mud wrestling over partisan placebos for the gas crisis long enough to debate something real: emergency help for the nation�s poorest families who face skyrocketing home heating costs this winter. more. . .

Posted Today at 7:33 AM | Energy | 3

Hey, Obama: There�s Bratwurst in Ohio, Too (but No Cheering Masses)

ELISABETH BUMILLER, New York Times

COLUMBUS, Ohio � Senator John McCain�s presidential campaign recovered from a near-death experience almost exactly a year ago, and political candidates stumble in and out of troughs all the time. But it is safe to say that Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is not having a spectacular week. more. . .

Posted Today at 7:26 AM | Election 2008 | 4

Making His Own Luck

Eugene Robinson, Washington Post

It was as if the fates had conspired to give Barack Obama the kind of foreign affairs photo op that a campaign manager would see only in his wildest dreams. Damp, gray Berlin was alive with bright sunshine. A crowd that police estimated at more than 200,000 filled the heart of the city. They cheered not only when Obama talked about global warming or called for a world without nuclear weapons but also when he spoke of the fight against terrorism and the need for Europe to remain engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq. more. . .

Posted Today at 7:30 AM | Election 2008 | 1

Civilian Airstrike Deaths Probed

Candace Rondeaux, Washington Post

KABUL -- U.S. and NATO military officials in Afghanistan have launched investigations into three separate U.S.-led airstrikes that Afghan officials say killed at least 78 civilians this month. more. . .

Posted Today at 7:29 AM | War | 0

Fox News Attacked by Rapper, Blackroots & Colbert

ARI MELBER, The Nation

It might be Fox News' worst nightmare: liberal bloggers and black hip hop.

The rapper with the #1 album in the country is waging war on Fox News, in a new campaign backed by black activists at ColorOfChange.org, liberal bloggers and even Bill O'Reilly's alter-ego, Stephen Colbert. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:19 AM | Media | 171

McCain Makes Historic First Visit to Internet

Borowitz Report

In a daring bid to wrench attention from his Democratic rival in the 2008 presidential race, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) today embarked on an historic first-ever visit to the Internet. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 2:53 PM | Humor | 69

McCain's Foreign Policy Frustration

JOE KLEIN, Time

"I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war," John McCain said during a Rochester, N.H., town meeting on July 22. "It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign." It was a remarkable statement, as intemperate a personal attack as I've ever heard a major-party candidate make in a presidential campaign, the sort of thing that no potential President of the United States should ever be caught saying. (A prudent candidate has aides sling that sort of mud.) It was also inevitable. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:47 AM | Election 2008 | 78

GOP losing the new-media war

Politico

Republicans have no lack of would-be George F. Wills.

But what they really need are some more Robert D. Novaks.

The distinction between the two prominent conservative journalists isn't always obvious, but it's nevertheless important to understand: One almost exclusively writes opinion pieces, while the other offers reportage with a point of view. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:59 AM | Politics | 59

Rethinking Afghanistan

KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL, The Nation

If elected, Senator Barack Obama has the possibility of reengaging with a world that seeks an America which isn't defined by Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo � but by the democratic ideals to which we aspire. His election, allied with smart and humane policies, could help restore this country's global reputation � and turn a page on the reckless and destructive policies of mad men. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 9:24 AM | Afghanistan | 45

ICC, indict Bush, not Sudan

Editorial, Workers World

Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney caught the right spirit when she called for impeaching President George Bush. The real war criminals are at home. And if the International Criminal Court were really independent of the imperialists, it would put Bush on trial�and first. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:39 AM | War Crimes | 44

Obama�s Speech in Berlin

New York Times

The following is the prepared text of Senator Barack Obama in Berlin, Germany, as provided by his presidential campaign.

SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 3:31 PM | Election 2008 | 26

McCain Still Waiting for His Turn at Good Luck

Michael D. Shear, Washington Post

It seemed like a great way to counter Obamamania. Sen. John McCain would board a helicopter in New Orleans today, skim quickly over the Gulf of Mexico and land on an oil rig -- a made-for-TV moment to highlight his call for offshore drilling, an issue that Republicans believe will be a big winner in November.

Then came Hurricane Dolly, a Category 2 storm that made a helicopter ride impossible. And then, improbably, a 600-foot oil tanker collided with a barge on the Mississippi River, creating a 12-mile oil slick and causing diesel fumes to waft over the city's French Quarter. The trip was off.

In this campaign, it seems, McCain just can't catch a break. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:25 AM | Election 2008 | 31

Is Afghanistan a Narco-State?

THOMAS SCHWEICH, New York Times

On March 1, 2006, I met Hamid Karzai for the first time. It was a clear, crisp day in Kabul. The Afghan president joined President and Mrs. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Ambassador Ronald Neumann to dedicate the new United States Embassy. He thanked the American people for all they had done for Afghanistan. I was a senior counternarcotics official recently arrived in a country that supplied 90 percent of the world�s heroin. I took to heart Karzai�s strong statements against the Afghan drug trade. That was my first mistake. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 8:22 AM | Afghanistan | 29

Young Republicans worry about McCain's appeal

Chris Lawrence, CNN

(CNN) -- From cyberspace to college campuses, many young conservatives are worried that Sen. John McCain is not appealing to their generation. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 2:27 PM | Election 2008 | 19

Obama Team Begins Work On Presidential Transition

Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic

With less than six months to go before he would be sworn in as the nation�s 44th president, Sen. Barack Obama has directed his aides to begin planning for the transition. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 2:26 PM | Election 2008 | 17

'Imperial presidency' hearing to feature 13 witnesses

Nick Juliano, Raw Story

The House Judiciary Committee has released a witness list for its hearing to examine "the imperial presidency" of George W. Bush. more. . .

Posted Today at 7:23 AM | Impeachment | 5

New Zealand college students offer reward for arrest of Rice

USA Today

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) � New Zealand students protesting the Iraq war offered a reward to anyone who carries out a citizen's arrest of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to the country Friday. more. . .

Posted Today at 7:27 AM | International | 3

An Opening for the Constitution

JOHN NICHOLS, The Nation

Thirty-four years ago this month, when the House Judiciary Committee was considering strategies for holding a lawbreaking president to account, the most determined advocate for impeachment on the committee was a relatively junior member, 45-year-old Michigan Congressman John Conyers. more. . .

Posted Today at 7:21 AM | Impeachment | 2

No. 44 Has Spoken

Gerhard Sp�rl, Der Spiegel

Anyone who saw Barack Obama at Berlin's Siegess�ule on Thursday could recognize that this man will become the 44th president of the United States. He is more than ambitious -- he wants to lay claim to become the president of the world. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 6:16 PM | Election 2008 | 112

Crimes and Misdemeanors

Emily Bazelon, Kara Hadge, Dahlia Lithwick, and Chris Wilson , Slate

The recent release of Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side revealed that a secret report by the International Committee of the Red Cross determined "categorically" that the CIA used torture, as defined by American and international law, in questioning al-Qaida suspect Abu Zubaydah. The question of criminal liability for Bush-administration officials has since been in the news. It's also getting play because retired Gen. Antonio Taguba, lead Army investigator of the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib, wrote in a recent report, "There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes."

One response to such conclusions is Nuremberg-style war-crime prosecutions. The opposite pole is blanket immunity for all lawbreakers in advance. Somewhere in the middle lies a truth-and-reconciliation commission that would try to ferret out the truth.

To enter into the debate, you might ask which Bush administration officials did what and which could actually be prosecuted. Slate has answers. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 8:14 AM | Law | 153

How Much Does John McCain Really Know About Foreign Policy?

Fred Kaplan, Slate

After Barack Obama's opening day in Iraq this week, the New York Times headline read, "For Obama, a First Step Is Not a Misstep." The story, by Richard Oppel Jr. and Jeff Zeleny, noted, "Mr. Obama seemed to have navigated one of the riskiest parts of a weeklong international trip without a noticeable hitch."

That was the big nail-biter: Would Obama, the first-term senator and foreign-policy newbie, utter an irrevocably damaging gaffe? The nightmare scenarios were endless. Maybe he would refer to "the Iraq-Pakistan border," or call the Czech Republic "Czechoslovakia" (three times), or confuse Sunni with Shiite, or say that the U.S. troop surge preceded (and therefore caused) the Sunni Awakening in Anbar province. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:22 AM | Election 2008 | 99

Surge focus is a losing strategy for McCain

Jonah Goldberg, Baltimore Sun

"Senator Obama didn't support the surge, wanted to pull out, said that it would fail. I supported it when it was the toughest thing to do. I believe that my record on national security and keeping this country safe is there. And the American people will examine our records, and I will win."

That's John McCain explaining why he'll win.

He's wrong. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:30 AM | War | 70

Obama's Tour de Force

David S. Broder, Washington Post

It made no sense when Barack Obama left the country on his nine-day overseas tour for some of my fellow columnists to describe it as a high-risk venture.

Foreign leaders, who can read the polls as well as anyone, would go out of their way not to embarrass a man who may, six months from now, be president of the United States. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:27 AM | Election 2008 | 56

Another Peek Inside the Brain of the Electorate

Libby Copeland, Washington Post

So a bunch of academics decides to revisit one of the defining books of modern American politics, a 1960 tome on the electorate. They spend years comparing interviews with voting-age Americans from 2000 and 2004 to what Americans said during elections in the 1950s. The academics' question: How much has the American voter changed over the past 50 years?

Their conclusion -- that the voter is pretty much the same dismally ill-informed creature he was back then -- continues a decades-long debate about whether Americans are as clueless as they sound. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:40 AM | Democracy | 45

100,000 expected for Obama Berlin speech

Elana Schor, Guardian

More than 100,000 people are expected to attend a speech by Barack Obama in Berlin today as he starts the European leg of his foreign tour. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:57 AM | Election 2008 | 43

What White House Staffers Make

Dan Froomkin, Washington Post

President Bush's highest-ranking aides got $4,200 raises this year, bringing their annual salaries to $172,200.

The latest White House staff list is out, and you can browse the whole thing here. There are 447 people on the list, their salaries ranging from $33,400 to $172,200. (Bush makes $400,000 and Vice President Cheney makes $221,200.) more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 2:39 PM | Government | 27

Berlin Rally Is Off-Limits for Embassy Workers

Karen DeYoung, Washington Post

The U.S. Embassy in Berlin has instructed Foreign Service personnel stationed there not to attend Sen. Barack Obama's public rally today, which the State Department this week labeled a "partisan political activity" prohibited under its regulations for those serving overseas. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 7:23 AM | Election 2008 | 31

AIDS and the Myth of the Oversexed Negro

Gbemisola Olujobi, Truthdig

Conventional wisdom insists that habits die hard. Stereotypes die even harder. Ever since journalist/adventurer Henry Stanley Morton�s account of Lord Napier�s 1868 Ethiopian campaign was published by The New York Herald, Africa has remained, in the minds of Americans, an ungovernable jungle where half-naked pygmies, polygamists and pagans roam around, negotiating their existence in the midst of exotic primitive chaos.

And if you think these are tales of bygone years, the Homo ancestralis thesis, which was propounded as recently as 1987 by John and Pat Caldwell, states that Africans are so distinct and different from Eurasians that they need a separate species classification apart from Homo sapiens, which would be Homo ancestralis�the ancestral man for whom life is about ancestors, lineage organization, descent, procreation and, by extension, sex. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 8:19 AM | Race | 28

Court: Student needn't stand for Pledge

NIRVI SHAH, Miami Herald

A federal appeals court upheld the right of a former Palm Beach County high school student to refuse to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance but did not say whether that right should extend to all students. more. . .

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008 2:39 PM | Liberty | 18

One Thousand Reasons

News and Views from the Left