Author: idredit

It must be Friday or the dog days of summer because you just can’t make this stuff up, as hard as you try.

These blurbs need a proper due…um headline, caption, chuckle or comment:

Senators David Vitter (R-LA)and Larry Craig (R-Idaho) join in sponsoring, re-introducing the Federal Marriage Ammendment to the Constitution to protect the institution of marriage (HT: Carpetbagger Report)

OKaay what’s your definition of family values?

Tough to do, indeed: Photographer documents secret satellites – all 189 of them, then puts on a display at UoC, Berkeley Art Museum

The City North Oaks, Minnesota has a legal tiff with Google: Remove our city from your maps

Why did the ATF raid Blackwater’s armory in NC? Turns out the Company was caught selling Romanian AK-47s Under the table

“The private military company Blackwater has found an unusual way to skirt federal laws that prohibit private parties from buying automatic weapons. Blackwater bought 17 Romanian AK-47s and 17 Bushmasters, gave ownership of the guns to the Camden County sheriff and keeps most of the guns at Blackwater’s armory in Moyock.

Greed floweth but where’s our cut? The U.S. government-funded Al Hurra Arabic news channel paid former White House Aides, Washington journalists to appear as commentators

A number of payments went to people tied to the White House and the Republican Party. Chad Kolton, a former spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence and Federal Emergency Management Agency; Trent Duffy, President Bush’s former deputy press secretary; Jennifer Millerwise Dyck, a former aid to Vice President Cheney and former CIA spokeswoman, and Terry Holt, the spokesman for Bush-Cheney 2004, were among those paid to appear.

Morton Kondracke, the conservative commentator and executive editor of Roll Call; David Corn, the Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones, and Washington Times reporters Bill Gertz and Joseph Curl also made paid appearances on Alhurra in the last six months.

Alhurra, a 24-hour satellite station, was founded by the Bush administration four years ago to project a positive image of the United States to Middle East viewers. Despite lagging ratings, management shake-ups and incomplete financial records, Alhurra’s budget has nearly doubled to $112 million since it went on air in 2004.

A welcome development. The angst has bubbled over on turncoat Joe. Check this out:

LiebermanMustGo.com is launched.  Over 20,000 signers to the petition so far.

Demand the Steering Committee remove Joe Lieberman’s position within the Democratic Caucus.

We CANNOT tolerate a leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus who supports George Bush and McCain’s War in Iraq. We CANNOT tolerate a Democratic chairman of the
Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee who endorses and stumps for McCain. We call on the Senate Democratic Steering Committee to strip Joe Lieberman of his chairmanship and his leadership role.

Yes, turncoat Joe must GO.  I’m reminded that we’ll need to wait until after the general election so it’ll be  January 2009. Others don’t buy the argument of Senate margins.

This speculation on an inevitable or imminent attack on Iran either by the U.S or Israel has been on and off, viewed as saber-rattling.  Recent reports however heightens the nervousness that we may be drawing close to the strike hour. What we do not need is another war in the Middle East.

I’m no military expert or analyst; just an average citizen, a member of the struggling middle class. This is scary. Every talk of attacks drains my bank account.

From NYTimes/IHT: U.S. says exercise by Israel seemed directed at Iran

WASHINGTON: Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that American officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Several American officials said the Israeli exercise appeared to be an effort to develop the military’s capacity to carry out long-range strikes and to demonstrate the seriousness with which Israel views Iran’s nuclear program.

More than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters participated in the maneuvers, which were carried out over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece during the first week of June, American officials said.[.]

The exercise also included Israeli helicopters that could be used to rescue downed pilots. The helicopters and refueling tankers flew more than 900 miles, which is about the same distance between Israel and Iran’s uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, American officials said.

Israeli officials declined to discuss the details of the exercise. A spokesman for the Israeli military would say only that the country’s air force “regularly trains for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats facing Israel.”[.]

One Israeli goal, the Pentagon official said, was to practice flight tactics, aerial refueling and all other details of a possible strike against Iran’s nuclear installations and its long-range conventional missiles

A second, the official said, was to send a clear message to the United States and other countries that Israel was prepared to act militarily if diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from producing bomb-grade uranium continued to falter.

[.]Iran has shown signs that it is taking the Israeli warnings seriously, by beefing up its air defenses in recent weeks, including increasing air patrols. In one instance, Iran scrambled F-4 jets to double-check an Iraqi civilian flight from Baghdad to Tehran.

“They are clearly nervous about this and have their air defense on guard,” a Bush administration official said of the Iranians.[.]

Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, said in February that Iran was close to acquiring Russian-produced SA-20 surface-to-air missiles. American military officials said that the deployment of such systems would hamper Israel’s attack planning, putting pressure on Israel to act before the missiles are fielded[.]

It has been posited that Israel needs to show military strength – that they are serious.  Olmert’s popularity is at low single digit – his own ministers calling for him to step aside. Olmert needs to strut his muscles.

Will the U.S. permit an Israeli overfly of Iraq’s airspace for an attack on Iran?

Smart Money people are betting on a “70 percent probability of an attack on Iran by October 2008 confirmed.” An October window with all the implications attached. Oil at $300 per barrel and gas at $15. How about the general elections? Martial law a distinct possibility.

Russian has issued a warning against any attack on Iran

Will the Russians sit on their hands?  Not likely.

MOSCOW – Russia’s foreign minister on Friday warned against the use of force on Iran, saying there is no proof it is trying to build nuclear weapons

Sergey Lavrov said Iran should be engaged in dialogue and encouraged to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency.

Lavrov made the statement when asked to comment on an Israeli Cabinet member’s statement earlier this month that Israel could attack Iran if it does not halt its nuclear program.

“I hope the actual actions would be based on international law,” Lavrov said. “And international law clearly protects Iran’s and anyone else’s territorial integrity.”

 Lavrov said Russia had asked both the United States and Israel to provide factual information to back their claims that Iran was working to build atomic weapons. “So far we have seen none, and the same conclusion was made by the International Atomic Energy Agency,” he said.

“It’s absolutely not right to speak matter-of-factly that Iran continues building nuclear weapons,” Lavrov added.

All this Iran attack talk helps to maintain high oil prices. The War-for-Oil profits powers that be are laughing at our bare feet – us having to choose filling our empty gas tanks or stomachs. Some of us can’t afford to get to work!

Bush, Cheney and Hal are eating cake, drinking champagne and JD.

Prepare for madness, tougher times and higher prices. Tune up the bikes.

A Travel Advisory Alert is sounded as Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) weighs introducing more articles of impeachment, 25 more:

“The minute the leadership said `this is dead on arrival’ I said that I hope they believe in life after death; because I’m coming back with it,” Kucinich vowed in an interview with the Sleuth this week. “It’s not gonna die. Because I’ll come back with more articles. Not 35, but perhaps 60 articles.”

Wow, that’s one busy courageous guy. The House may not impeach but Kucinich can be comforted. War Crimes charges are being readied. No, not on American soil – look east, to Europe.

Prosecutor’s Exhibit A-1

Ret. Army Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, the general who probed Abu Ghraib wrote:

McClatchy

‘The current Bush administration has committed war crimes’ and needs to be held to account

WASHINGTON — The Army general who led the investigation into prisoner abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison accused the Bush administration Wednesday of committing “war crimes” and called for those responsible to be held to account.

The remarks by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who’s now retired, came in a new report that found that U.S. personnel tortured and abused detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, using beatings, electrical shocks, sexual humiliation and other cruel practices.

“After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes,” Taguba wrote. “The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”

Well, except for Rep. Kucinich, our supine Congress does not have the stomach for even a slap on the wrist – a requisite for others to charge. It leaves open the only other option, meaning if we won’t do the right thing and bring them to account, others will step forward.

Scott Horton, a New York attorney, writes at TNR that a travel advisory note is in order: A Pinochet Moment ahead for Bush’s top officials and dare we hope, the two biggies – Bush and Cheney. Bush did admit to impeachable offenses.

Travel Advisory

The U.S. isn’t likely to try Bush administration officials for war crimes–but it’s likely that a European country will.

Tuesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing provided the latest evidence that top Bush administration officials directed the use of torture techniques on detained suspected terrorists. Three panels of witnesses traced the use of highly coercive techniques back to the high echelons of the administration. The day ended with the grilling of William J. Haynes II, the former general counsel of the Department of Defense and a protégé of Cheney’s chief of staff David Addington, who is now widely viewed as the “station master” of the administration’s torture policy. And in April, ABC News reported that officials including Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, and Donald Rumsfeld had held a series of meetings to discuss the use of specific torture techniques on detained suspect terrorists. The ABC report amplified earlier stories which said the decision to destroy videotapes of interrogations of suspects in CIA captivity involved four senior White House lawyers and other senior figures.

At the same time, Philippe Sands’s new book The Torture Team reveals the falsity of White House claims that the push to introduce torture techniques came from interrogators in the field. Sands demonstrates that the decision to use techniques like waterboarding came from the top, and tracks the elaborate scheme to make it appear that the practices began with a request from Guantánamo.

[.]In other hearings, witnesses have treaded lightly and experienced frequent failures of recollection, perhaps driven by a concern over self-incrimination.

And, indeed, in what may be a sign of things to come, 26 American civil servants are being tried in absentia by an Italian court in Milan for their involvement in the rendition of a radical Muslim cleric to Egypt. So, is it really feasible for Bush administration officials to be tried for war crimes?

[.]

So, yes, there are ample theoretical grounds for a war-crimes prosecution. But the action requires political will, which makes it quite unlikely to happen in the United States. First, the Bush administration has, under the legal stewardship of Addington, Alberto Gonzales, and John Ashcroft, taken a number of clever steps designed to make it difficult for any future prosecutor to charge them for war crimes. In fact, the administration’s legal architects recognized from the outset that their dismissive attitude toward the law of war was not widely shared. Some of the earliest legal policy documents crafted by the administration were focused on avoiding or obstructing just such action by future prosecutors. The entire controversy surrounding the Office of Legal Counsel and the Jay Bybee-John Yoo opinions turns on just this point.

[.]

Is it likely that prosecutions will be brought overseas? Yes. It is reasonably likely. Sands’s book contains an interview with an investigating magistrate in a European nation, which he describes as a NATO nation with a solidly pro-American orientation which supported U.S. engagement in Iraq with its own soldiers. The magistrate makes clear that he is already assembling a case, and is focused on American policymakers. I read these remarks and they seemed very familiar to me.

In the past two years, I have spoken with two investigating magistrates in two different European nations, both pro-Iraq war NATO allies. Both were assembling war crimes charges against a small group of Bush administration officials. “You can rest assured that no charges will be brought before January 20, 2009,” one told me. And after that? “It depends. We don’t expect extradition. But if one of the targets lands on our territory or on the territory of one of our cooperating jurisdictions, then we’ll be prepared to act.”

[.]

Colin Powell’s chief of staff, Colonel Larry Wilkerson, nails it: “Haynes, Feith, Yoo, Bybee, Gonzales and–at the apex–Addington, should never travel outside the U.S., except perhaps to Saudi Arabia and Israel. They broke the law; they violated their professional ethical code. In the future, some government may build the case necessary to prosecute them in a foreign court, or in an international court.” Augusto Pinochet made a trip to London, and his life was never the same afterwards.

(emphasis where added are mine)

I may have to swim the Atlantic to secure a front seat. Just saying, I’m keeping my passport valid.

Only weeks ago Barack Obama, the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, proposed he is prepared to engage, communicate with ‘rogue’ states. Overlooking the Libya embrace, Obama was heavily criticized by Bush and McBush as an appeaser.  

Fast Forward: What a difference a few months makes? Bush’s legacy quest changes everything. He needs to secure a legacy where he is seen as a peace maker.

So let’s talk:

The Telegraph, UK reports –

Israel hints at peace with Hizbollah – it is ready for direct peace.

Israel has indicated that it is ready for direct peace talks with Lebanon, hours after agreeing a landmark truce with Hamas.”-

The government said that there was “no logical reason” why talks could not go ahead following similar negotiations with Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, and the regime in Syria .

“Today we have concurrent peace negotiations with both the Syrians and the Palestinians and there is no logical reason why there should not also be talks with the Lebanese,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert.

Israeli and Lebanese politicians also confirmed a deal is near for the return of two Israeli soldiers captured by the Lebanese Islamist group Hizbollah in July 2006, which kicked off a 34-day summer war.

[.]

The Israeli offer follows last month’s forced takeover of part of Beirut by Hizbollah, which relinquished it only when promised a greater share of power. Hizbollah resistance is presently focused on Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, a tiny territory claimed by Lebanon. Mr Regev said Israel is ready for “direct, bilateral talks” on “all issues” of contention, including Shebaa.

[.]

There is also strong pressure from US President George W Bush for progress on peace in the Middle East before his term in office ends.

(emphasis added)

The Telegraph report is confirmed by Ha’aretz, Israel’s largest daily:

Israel says it’s ready to begin peace talks with Lebanon

Government spokesman Mark Regev said on Wednesday that Israel is interested in direct, bilateral talks with Lebanon in order to reach a peace deal between the two bordering countries.

[.]U.S. pushes for Israel-Lebanon peace talks, deal on Shaba

The United States has begun mediating between Israel and Lebanon in an effort to resolve their dispute over Shaba Farms in the hope they would then start peace talks.

U.S. President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice informed Olmert of this during his visit to Washington two weeks ago, and Rice repeated it during her visit here earlier this week. According to a senior Israeli official, Rice gave Lebanon a message from Olmert on this issue on Monday.

The London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported Tuesday that during her brief visit to Beirut
on Monday, Rice told Lebanese officials that the U.S. was working to obtain an Israeli withdrawal from Shaba. “Our efforts are continuing, and will be stepped up in the coming weeks,” the paper quoted Rice as saying.

[.]

The party of the U.S. charge d’affaires was attacked with stones on Wednesday by Hezbollah supporters during a visit to southern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source said.

[.]

On a visit to Beirut on Monday, Rice said that Washington still considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization, despite the militant group taking part in Lebanon’s new government of national unity.

Bush needs a deal. It’s now expedient to talk with Hizbollah. Spin away but… Hizbollah is part of the Lebanese government, a full partner in the coalition.

There were the rumors.

Shades of 1968. Why?

Guns, pepper weapons and baby powder

Denver police are stocking up on guns that fire a pepper spray-like substance instead of bullets – a less-lethal weapon used to disperse crowds – in advance of the Democratic National Convention.

The department recently ordered 88 Mark IV launchers and projectiles at a cost “in the low six figures,” the company that makes the weapons stated in a news release Monday.

The request was for delivery in advance of the DNC, according to Louisville- based Security With Advanced Technology Inc.

The convention, scheduled for Aug. 25 to 28 at the Pepsi Center, is expected to draw thousands of protesters to sites throughout Denver.

Some organizers of protest groups believe police are buying extended-range Tasers and weapons that incapacitate people with high-intensity sound.

The Mark IV weapons the city ordered recently fire plastic balls filled with powder that’s “like a combination of cayenne pepper and baby powder,” the manufacturer said.

Observation on the marketing feature: baby powder with active ingredient pepper is no longer harmless.

Anyone knows what’s the set up for the GOP?

There’s been a lot of fretting lately over Barack Obama, the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party – his low poll numbers, the over confidence of his supporters and the wooing of Clinton’s disaffected supporters by the presumptive Republican nominee McCain and his surrogates; Meg Whitman, former Ebay CEO and Carly Fiorina, former HP CEO.

Well here’s a newsflash: McCain’s Opponent won’t be Obama.

Say what?

McCain’s Opponent: It’ll be Himself… on Youtube.

The McCain mini-movie(s)- “Strangled by Video tape”

As will be observed, McCain, the experienced one and ready to be commander-in-chief, has been around as a legislator for some twenty years.

Here’s the problem. Straight-talk McCain has a poor memory. A poor memory within a 24-hour period is beyond being a pattern. Is it age, flip-flopping or taken out of context?

It’s a different era in politics and the McCain gang has a lot of homework to get done. The new media – Youtube and the internet – is dominating and making bare the candidates. In other election cycles we had to gain access to newsrooms’ archives. Now, it’s a snap – point and click.  

The Obama campaign’s ad writers have so many videos from which to select:

The Death of a Candidate – Strangled by video tape

McCain’s Truthiness – Olberman

McCain wholeheartedly agrees with Bush:

Then there’s what some call deceit:

Mr. McJekyll and Mr.McHyde

Here’s the video in which McCain calls himself computer illiterate.

And like Bush, McCain doesn’t know what Google is  

As against a candidate who offers a message of Change, The Carpetbagger Report comments: “McCain is more comfortable in the past”

McCain, Carter, and Google — the salience of the generation gap

My friend Alex Koppelman explained McCain’s problem very well:

Given Bush’s historic unpopularity, the linkage between Bush and McCain is quite damaging for the presumptive Republican nominee. Moreover, Bush’s presidency is fresh in voters’ minds. On the other hand, Carter lost his bid for reelection to the presidency in 1980. That means anyone who was old enough to vote for or against him will be 46 or older by the time this election rolls around.

According to exit polls from 2004, at least 46 percent of the people who voted for president last time around were younger than that. That’s a whole lot of people who might not get the joke as fully as McCain would like.

Or, as Oliver Willis noted, “McCain went from a 19th century comparison to a 20th century comparison. At some point in his campaign I suppose he might join Sen. Obama and the rest of us in the 21st century.”
That would be nice. And if he does join us in the 21st century, maybe he can learn what Google is.

But as the campaign continued to unfold, this may prove to be a more substantive area for debate. I’d argue we need a leader who’s in touch with modern trends and technology. Who knows what email, networks, search engines, and net neutrality are. Who doesn’t look at modern life as something foreign, and the Internet as something scary.

This isn’t just about physical age; plenty of older people are culturally and technologically savvy. It’s about a candidate who seems more comfortable in the past, and lacks a vision for the future.

More comments like these will make Youtube:

“I will veto every single beer”

Pledging on June 9, 2008 to send unlimited troops to Iraq.

“Bringing American troops home is not too important”

You get the drift.

Now, Obama is no knight in shining armor. He’ll have plenty of gaffes. Some serious. On my T-sheet the most grievous is bowing to AIPAC; putting Israel instead of America first. That’s not Change.

Seriously, if Obama keep this up I’ll be reconsidering my efforts on his behalf – his VP pick will be a deal breaker. Paint me in waiver mode.

So what’s the choice?

McCain, a Bush clone who needs to catch up with the 21st century.

Obama, looking less progressive, moving to the right of center.

Bob Barr.

Stay home and miss making a historic vote – whatever the outcome.

Have you ever seen this in any campaign?  Obama deploys his database to rally volunteers.

Over the past week at the Obama official website is this call out.

HELP THE FLOOD VICTIMS

YOUR HELP IS URGENTLY NEEDED FOR VICTIMS of the MIDWEST FLOOD

LEARN MORE

The link takes you here

Several Midwest states were flooded this weekend, forcing families to evacuate their homes and leave their communities.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by the floods.  

The American Red Cross is providing relief efforts in Indiana, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and West Virginia. Almost 1,100 workers have been deployed to help out in the Midwest.

Throughout this campaign, we have seen time and again that when ordinary people act together, they can make a difference.

You can help out now by donating or volunteering at a local shelter. Visit the Red Cross’ website for more information on how to help in your town. Let’s rally together to help those who need us now.

Matching their database by address to areas closest to the midwest, the Obama campaign has sent out emails requesting that people either donate to the Red Cross or show up with shovels – be a flood volunteer.

TPM Cafe reader posted this:

This is it. THIS is why I’m proud to support Obama.

I just received this email from the Obama campaign.

    We need your help right now.

In Quincy, Illinois and surrounding areas, the river is expected to crest on Monday or Tuesday.

There are emergency sandbagging operations going on right now and public officials have put out a call for all available volunteers.

Your help is desperately needed.

The widespread flooding in the Midwest has affected millions of people. We have an opportunity to use our grassroots movement to make a real impact at a time of urgent need.

If you can assist, please travel to one of these areas this weekend:

        QUINCY, IL
Oakley-Lindsey Civic Center

South 3rd St. and Kentucky St.

Quincy, IL 62301

Map and Directions

Saturday and Sunday, June 14th – 15th

6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Volunteers are asked to come through the north doors of the
Oakley-Lindsey Center. Everyone will be asked to sign a registration
sheet as they enter and leave so the city can keep track of the volunteer service.

Volunteers are encouraged to bring shovels, gloves and sturdy shoes.

    NIOTA, IL

If you’d like to help sandbag in Niota you can call Hancock County emergency services at 217-357-6004 for more information.

    URSA, IL

Volunteers are still needed in Ursa. The operation is underway at Shaffer Farm, along the Ursa blacktop road, 1/8 mile west of the North Bottoms Road.

Volunteers are also requesting cold bottled water for those who are working.

More information on volunteering in this area:

my.barackobama.com/floodvolunteer*

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by the recent flooding through the Midwest.

If you are not able to make it to Quincy but would like to help, visit the American Red Cross to donate to their relief efforts or find out how to get involved.

Thanks,

Obama for America

I’ve never been asked for anything by any politician besides money.  I’ve never received an email that was about anything but politics – who said what about whom – or policy.

Maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing, but the campaign is using its donor list to get help for folks who really need it right now, and I am so proud to be on that list.  I can’t explain it fully, but…I’m glad this person will be President in a few short months.

After 9/11 our “president” only asked us to shop.  For the first time in my life I’m proud of a leader I elected.[.]

*The my barackobama/floodvolunteer link takes you here

Now that’s a making a difference!

Btw, how’s are the FEMA -(F^^k. Everybody. Mercilessly. Always.)-folks doing with this second major disaster after New Orleans?  

(HT: One Drop, Too Sense for expanding on the acronym)

Exiting on a high are we?  No. No. No.

The Herald Tribune where most articles published in the NYTimes appear has this essay of caution:

Those loyal to the Clintons take note of those who were not

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was gracious in her full-throated endorsement of Senator Barack Obama. But that does not mean all is forgiven by others in the Clinton universe.

For proof, look no further than Doug Band, chief gatekeeper to former President Bill Clinton.

Band keeps close track of the past allies and beneficiaries of the Clintons who supported Obama’s campaign, three Clinton associates and campaign officials said. Indeed, he is widely known as a member of the Clinton inner circle whose memory is particularly acute on the matter of who has been there for the couple — and who has not.

“The Clintons get hundreds of requests for favors every week,” said Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. “Clearly, the people you’re going to do stuff for in the future are the people who have been there for you.”

McAuliffe, who knows of Band’s diligent scorekeeping, emphasized that “revenge is not what the Clintons are about.” The accounting is more about being practical, he said, adding, “You have to keep track of this.”

Band, who declined to comment, is hardly alone in tallying those considered to have crossed the former candidate or the former president in recent months by supporting Obama. As the Obama bandwagon has swelled, so have the lists of people Clinton loyalists regard as some variation of “ingrate,” “traitor” or “enemy,” according to the associates and campaign officials, who would speak only on condition of anonymity.

[.]

Several names and entities are common among various list makers. The lineup invariably begins with A-list members like Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico; Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, the House Democratic whip; Gregory Craig, Bill Clinton’s lawyer in his impeachment and trial; David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist; Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri; and several Kennedys. Some members of the Democratic Party’s rules committee, the state of Iowa and the caucus system in general are also near the top.

The news media have already focused on some list entries, including the online gossip purveyor Matt Drudge (who had the nerve to show up at Hillary Clinton’s departure speech on Saturday), Todd Purdum of Vanity Fair (the author of a recent profile of Bill Clinton) and the cable network MSNBC (whose hosts Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann are charter list members, Clinton associates said).

The lists are also reported to include lesser-known Obama-supporting members of Congress (for whom the Clintons campaigned), former ambassadors (appointed by Bill Clinton) or Clinton White House officials turned Obama advisers (like Anthony Lake, a former national security adviser, and Susan Rice, a former White House and State Department official).

These are people who should know better than to ask the former president or first lady for a job recommendation for a son-in-law.

[.]

That A-List. I note Gregory Craig is listed – Bill Clinton’s lawyer in his impeachment and trial and now with the Obama camp; but Bill owes Craig a debt of gratitude for a lifetime – a debt that’s immeasurable.

The fact that Craig joined the Obama camp speaks volumes of the Clintons. During an Attorney-client relationship you do get to know each other very, very well.

Yeah just saying, it speaks volumes.

Hmmmmm. So what about the B-List? Is there one?

I’m thinking Bloggers.

It’s good to know McAuliffe, Ickes and Penn won’t be in our face. Shame on McAuliffe that he would be interviewed for this article; giving a stamp to the idea, a fact, of a Clintons’ enemies list being made public. Classless.

Take out your violins and cellos. Pass the facial tissue.

FWIW.

In an  exclusive interview with The Times, UK: (June 11, 2008 edition)

President Bush regrets his legacy as man who wanted war.

President Bush has admitted to The Times that his gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe that he was a “guy really anxious for war” in Iraq. He said that his aim now was to leave his successor a legacy of international diplomacy for tackling Iran.

In an exclusive interview, he expressed regret at the bitter divisions over the war and said that he was troubled about how his country had been misunderstood. “I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric.”

Phrases such as “bring them on” or “dead or alive”, he said, “indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace”. He said that he found it very painful “to put youngsters in harm’s way”. He added: “I try to meet with as many of the families as I can. And I have an obligation to comfort and console as best as I possibly can. I also have an obligation to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain.”

[.]

Mr Bush is concerned that the Democratic nominee Barack Obama might open cracks in the West’s united front towards Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. At the EU-US summit in Slovenia, he pressed for tougher sanctions against Iran unless it agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment programme verifiably: “They can either face isolation, or they can have better relations with all of us.”

Mr Bush told The Times that when his successor arrived and assessed “what will work or what won’t work in dealing with Iran”, he would stick with the current policy.

Shaul Mofaz, a hardline Israeli minister, has suggested that a military strike on Iran is “unavoidable”. But Mr Bush said: “We ought to work together, keep focused. His comments really should be viewed as the need to continue to keep pressuring Iran.”

Sorry?

Do you believe that Bush regrets? We need a sprinkle of salt here:

The President was keen to bind his successor into a continued military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq,..”[.]

Is that why Bush is laying the ground work to perpetuate the Iraq situation indefinitely without the approval of Congress or the Iraqi Parliament?

In case you missed it Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s  35 articles of impeachment against Bush was presented to Congress

What is regretful is this; Kucinich’s drive for impeachment won’t gain any traction.

If there are any karma gods still around, there’ll be a war crimes trial of the BushCheney gang.