Tom DeLay has all but declared open war on debate:
…House Democrats will get no projects for their home districts in a huge education and health spending bill because none of them voted for an initial version of the measure last summer, majority Republicans say.
Dubya’s battles with intelligence agencies belie a deeper conflict
In a faith-based administration, the greatest enemies appear to be facts. As many have observed, Bush’s team is allergic to any hint of the massive amounts of evidence proving their mendacity. This has been pointed out recently (to devastating effect) by Sidney Blumenthal in an article for the Guardian:…
Some pundits and politicians, even those who may have been skeptical about the war to begin with, now argue that we must “finish the job,” even if it means increasing our commitment of troops or ruling Iraq indefinitely. This is, however, exactly the kind of stubborn and mushy thinking that led us into the hell of the Vietnam War and the deaths of 58,000 Americans and more than 2 million Vietnamese and Cambodians.
MORE We must help the Iraqis rebuild their nation, both financially and politically. There is no question of that. However, the occupation is proving more convincingly with each passing day that a military solution to this problem…is no solution at all.…
Or maybe they’d be better called “mill stones.”
November 2, 2003 — the second deadliest day of this fiasco for American troops. Sixteen dead per the Iraq Casualty Count, topping the 30 deaths on March 23.
May all the gods grant that by next year’s Day of the Dead, we can comfort ourselves in the knowledge that the pointless deaths have stopped. We have no such comfort this year.
(by Morgan, Mon, 3 Nov 2003 12:00 PM)…
Billmon has this to say about the recent brouhaha between The Poor and Stupid Stalker and Atrios:
Luskin’s mouthpiece just sent a letter to Atrios threatening him with all kinds of legal mayhem if he doesn’t remove certain posts from his blog, posts which Luskin — the mentally unbalanced right-wing blogger with a bizarre fetish about Paul Krugman — finds objectionable.
…
The Nation covers a frightening trend in a recent Editor’s Cut column:
…Can America Afford The Price Of Democracy?
…
In Colorado, Governor Bill Owens (R) cancelled the primary on March 5th, saving the state $2.2 million. The Republican-controlled Utah legislature followed suit, cancelling the 2004 primary–a measure supported by their Republican Governor. And in Kansas, Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius cancelled her state’s 2004 primary, saving approximately $1.75 million next year. But critics have pointed out that partisan politics also contributed to these measures because cancellations prevent the field of Democratic candidates from getting much public attention.
As of the 27th, October has the highest hostile casualty count since “major combat operations” ended — 29 to July’s 28. It looks like July will continue to hold the overall post-Lincoln casualties/month record with 46, since October is currently at 38. At least, we can hope and pray.
(by Morgan, Tue, 28 Oct 2003 12:00 PM)…
…The 9/11 Commission is getting better and more complete cooperation from the Government of Pakistan, than from the Bush administration.
