Glenn eviscerates Think Progress for trumpeting Obama's bogus "successes"

god bless 'im... glenn goes where most progressives and rational thinkers fear to tread... i'm afraid i can't even capsulize this excellent post... you need to go read it for yourself...

a quick teaser [emphasis added]...

[T]he list of foreign policy “successes” compiled by Think Progress — echoed in many progressive precincts — is grounded in little more than the premise that “success” is defined as: that which Barack Obama does, even when what he does prompted years of progressive anger when done by George Bush.

god i'm glad there's someone like glenn out there...

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The Israeli-occupied West Bank

they say a picture is worth a thousand words... well, this one is worth about a million...


(click on image for interactive version)

The map lays out the presence of thousands of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, each of which is connected to each other by Israeli-only roads guarded by numerous Israeli military battalions and many more checkpoints. In the [above] map, each blue house represents an Israeli settlement.

(thanks to americans for peace now - apn - via think progress...)

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Are our so-called liberal-progressive friends starting to wake up to the Obama bait-and-switch...?

from the progress report...

For all of the administration's promising early steps to restore transparency and accountability, however recent developments are less encouraging. Some of these stumbling points have been simple failures of implementation; many of the administration's budget transparency websites, for example, publish inconsistent numbers. Other transparency failures, however, suggest a more disturbing trend. Despite promises to end "secret meetings" and restore the White House as the "people's house," the administration has refused to disclose the names of individuals who have visited the White House since Obama took office, while echoing similar excuses by Bush administration officials who wanted to hide secret meetings with energy industry executives. But most disturbing are recent, tenuous invocations of "national security" to cast a shade over government transparency. After the Environmental Protection Agency uncovered nearly four dozen toxic coal ash sites in Tennessee that "could cause death and significant property damage if an event such as a storm, a terrorist attack or a structural failure caused them to spill into surrounding communities," the administration choose to keep the locations of the toxic sites secret from Tennessee residents because of fears that such disclosure could present a "security risk." Similarly, despite earlier disclosure of the infamous torture memos, the Obama CIA has thus far successfully kept secret a comprehensive account of that agency's interrogation practices. Although a heavily redacted version of the report was uncovered by the ACLU, the administration insists that disclosing the full report would endanger national security. Even more alarming, however, is the Obama administration's adoption of Bush's "state secrets" claim in court cases dealing with issues ranging from extraordinary rendition to warrantless wiretapping. The "state secrets" privilege allows the administration to withhold information in a lawsuit or even dismiss the suit altogether if the subject matter of the suit could potentially reveal information that puts national security at risk. In one suit, brought by an Islamic charity challenging the previous administration's warrantless wiretapping program, a federal judge finally threatened sanctions against the Justice Department if it did not comply with an order to turn over a document to the plaintiff's attorneys. Incidents such as these led the New York Times to lament that Obama has "backtracked, in substantial if often nuanced ways, from the approach to national security that he preached as a candidate, and even from his first days in the Oval Office."

the center for american progress, the publisher of this e-newsletter and the weblog, think progress, has lost a great deal of credibility with me over the past few years... i became a regular reader when i saw that they often got the goods on the multiple abuses and outright crimes of the bush administration ahead of the rest of the baying blogosphere... then it started to dawn on me that they too often played the fawning sycophant to anyone and everyone aligned with the democratic party, frequently turning a blind eye to the fact that we have been and are continuing to be just as thoroughly screwed by the democrats as we are by the republicans, the only difference being that, with the dems, there's no sand in the vaseline...

since obama's election and inauguration, they've taken a turn for the worse, spending WAY too much time, imho, vilifying the likes of bill kristol, bill o'reilly, glenn beck, rush limbaugh, karl rove, and the like, a tactic that only serves to give those despicable characters even more air time and exposure than they already have and thus reinforcing their loathsome presence on the american scene... the best strategy in dealing with such obvious dark forces is to not give them the energy of even recognizing them... the dark feeds on attention whether it be positive or negative, and these guys don't deserve to be fed...

so, now our center for american progress friends seem to be waking up to the fact that our dear sunshine-is-the-best-disinfectant president may well be just another stooge - albeit a very well-spoken, intelligent and polished one - for those who so blithely and heedlessly pull our strings along with the strings of most of the rest of the world...

speaking for myself, i believe obama has a good heart and i would prefer to believe that some of what's going on is the result of his bowing to his handlers... otoh, if he IS a good soul, he'd better start showing it or i will be permanently checking out of the hope hotel...

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An excellent question from Think Progress

Why Are AIG’s Contracts Sacrosanct But Not Union Workers’ Contracts?

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Cutting out the middle-man

brasscheck tv...

Why don't we shoot ourselves?

One of the plans entertained at a meeting presided over by Dick Cheney was for the US to manufacture Iranian gun boats and order Navy SEALs dressed in Iranian military uniforms to attack US ships.

It was rejected because "you can't have Americans killing Americans?"

The New Yorker refused to include this story in its reporting.

As Sy Hersch put it so well: "Editors are mice training to be rats."

yeah, why DON'T we just shoot ourselves...? easier... cheaper... you don't have to go to all the trouble of creating another war as an excuse...

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The progressive blogosphere doesn't walk its talk, Think Progress edition

"d" list bloggers deserve respect too...

Dear Think Progress Colleagues:

I sent in a blog post to Think Progress yesterday regarding the omission of the allegation of perjury on the part of General Ricardo Sanchez in media and blog coverage of his recent speech. I waited the requisite four hours and, since I did not receive a response, put up the post on my own weblog. Imagine my surprise this morning when reading The Progress Report to see that you had decided to call attention to that allegation. Imagine my further surprise when I saw my own words printed verbatim.

The Progress Report

"A memorandum written and signed by Sanchez on Sept. 14, 2003, contained as an enclosure the specific interrogation techniques authorized to be used in Iraq, and also noted that these methods were potentially in contravention of the Geneva Conventions."

And, yes, I DO take it personally

"The memorandum written and signed by General Sanchez on September 14, 2003, contained as an enclosure the specific interrogation techniques authorized to be used in Iraq, and also noted those that were potentially in contravention of Geneva."

I find the lack of the simple courtesy of even sending a private email with a thank-you for the tip to be both disappointing and sadly unprofessional. You can be certain I won't make the same mistake twice.

i take great pains to credit all sources whether they be news media outlets or bloggers... the last thing i want to do is try to pretend that all the stuff i put out here is the product of my own fertile mind and diligent research... i don't think it's too much to ask to expect the same treatment in return...

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When the progressive blogosphere doesn't walk its talk

A recurrent theme in the progressive blogosphere is the lack of context offered by traditional news outlets in their news reporting. It is remarkable, therefore, that, given General Ricardo Sanchez' testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 19, 2004, in which he perjured himself by denying that he authorized enhanced interrogation techniques for use in Iraq, that fact was completely ignored by both progressive bloggers and the traditional news media in the coverage of Sanchez' recent speech decrying the Bush administration debacle that is Iraq.

The memorandum written and signed by General Sanchez on September 14, 2003, contained as an enclosure the specific interrogation techniques authorized to be used in Iraq, and also noted those that were potentially in contravention of Geneva.

General Sanchez was asked if he ordered or approved those techniques by U.S. Senator Jack Reed in testimony given before the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 19, 2004.

On May 19, 2004, General Ricardo Sanchez testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on Iraq Prison Abuse.

U.S. SENATOR JACK REED (D-RI): General Sanchez, today's USA Today, sir, reported that you ordered or approved the use of sleep deprivation, intimidation by guard dogs, excessive noise and inducing fear as an interrogation method for a prisoner in Abu Ghraib prison.

REED: Is that correct?

LIEUTENANT GENERAL RICARDO SANCHEZ, COMMANDER, MULTINATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ : Sir, that may be correct that it's in a news article, but I never approved any of those measures to be used within CJTF-7 at any time in the last year.

General Sanchez' perjury was not mentioned in any of the following weblogs or news outlets.

Think Progress

AMERICAblog (here and here)

Talking Points Memo

Atrios

Daily Kos

Juan Cole

Raw Story

Washington Post

Associated Press

The missing context is crucial information regarding General Sanchez' credibility. Its inclusion would allow readers to potentially draw different conclusions about General Sanchez' purpose in speaking out against the Iraq debacle and the Bush administration. The progressive blogosphere has prided itself on holding public figures and the traditional media to account, and has never hesitated to excoriate the vast noise machine of the right for overlooking inconvenient facts. We should not allow ourselves to fall into the same trap.

Even more interesting is that I have posted comments about General Sanchez' perjury on all of the above weblogs, including the relevant links, and still no mention has been made. Trust me, I'm not looking for recognition here, I just believe that a very important fact regarding this story has been omitted, and WHERE that omission has taken place bothers me greatly.

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Impeachment ... or accept that the United States is no longer a Republic governed by the rule of law

robert parry is singing out of my songbook, or i'm singing out of his, take your pick...

At some point, the congressional Democrats may have to face up to the hard choice before them: either put impeachment of Bush and Cheney back “on the table” or accept that the United States has ceased being a constitutional Republic governed by the principle that no man is above the law.

meanwhile...

- skip over to daily kos, a vaunted "progressive," "liberal" site and read posts supporting obama, hillary, and edwards, the latest outrages about supporting or not supporting the troops, mark penn, and blackwater...

- then pop on over to think progress and read about who's including george bush in their prayers, tony snow's appearance on last night's letterman, and a new right wing group being set up by newt gingrich, et al...

- or swing by atrios and read about the u.s. attorney caught in a sex sting, larry craig, and chris matthews...

evidently, the very likely possibility that our country "has ceased being a constitutional Republic governed by the principle that no man is above the law" isn't something worth posting about...

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Ya know what I'm REALLY sick of?

the amount of bandwidth, pixels, column inches and raw verbiage devoted to the likes of rush limbaugh, bill o'reilly, ann coulter, melanie morgan, bill kristol, and their ilk... i ran across a term in another blog a couple of weeks ago - "feeding the trolls..." it doesn't exactly apply to what's going on with those cited above but i think the general idea is right on... why the hell are we paying any attention whatsoever to these worthless people, wringing our hands, and bemoaning their latest outrages, when the fate of our country is at stake...? people who ought to know better like media matters, think progress, americablog and atrios should, imho, stop letting themselves get jerked around by these nitwits... (or maybe i'm overestimating them)... what's even more nauseating is watching our congress, ferchrissake, being sucked right in by submitting motions and resolutions, all while fulminating, weeping and gnashing their teeth... give it a rest, folks... our constitution is being abrogated while we waste time on bill o'reilly...? that's simply not acceptable...

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The propaganda blitz convincing us that the situation in Iraq is improving and even "winnable"

related to my post yesterday on o'hanlon and pollack, think progress offers us this...

Pollack and O’Hanlon have leapt into the open arms of the mainstream media and have been given a forum to present their views largely without opposition. Together, they appeared on at least nine major mainstream media outlets in the past 24 hours.

A list of their media appearances:

	Network	Program
Pollack	CBS	Evening News
	CNN	Newsroom
	CNN	Situation Room
	MSNBC	Tucker
	NPR	Talk of the Nation
O’Hanlon	CBS	Early Show
	CBS	Evening News
	Fox News	Special Report
	MSNBC	Hardball

anyone who has any doubts whatsoever that we are being propagandized by our major media outlets only need look at the pervasiveness of these two in such a condensed period of time… for one thing, you KNOW that number of appearances HAD to be both scheduled AND coordinated WELL IN ADVANCE, and that two guys that have neither the big names nor the position power to command such a slice of media time simply could NOT have done it all by themselves... when are we going to wake up...?

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Don't provide free exposure for this sorry excuse for a human being

once again, think progress posts on bill kristol...

Today, on Fox News Sunday, Kristol argued that the violence in Iraq does not constitute a civil war:

We’re not in a civil war. This is just not true. American troops are attacking al Qaeda. They’re attacking some elements of the Shi’a militias. They’re doing other things, helping with reconciliation. They are not in the middle of a civil war. It’s not true.

i really do wish think progress would cease giving exposure to this sad excuse for a human being... if you go back and count up the number of times think progress has posted on bill kristol, i think you would come up with a surprisingly large number... sure, i suppose an occasional post is warranted, but not to this degree... by focusing so intensely on somebody like this, even though it's in a negative context, they create the impression that he has more influence than he does, and, in fact, may actually GIVE him more influence than he deserves...

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Call to action - post the Iraq Embassy photos all over the goddam blogosphere

i'm feeling more than a little feisty this evening...

from think progress...

On Tuesday, ThinkProgress highlighted photos of the U.S. embassy in Iraq, which is set to open in September. Projected to cost $592 million, the embassy will have a staff of 1,000 people and operating costs will total $1.2 billion a year. The complex will be 104 acres, which is the size of approximately 80 football fields.

[...]

According to news reports, “Some U.S. officials acknowledged that damage may have been done by the postings and used expletives to describe their personal reactions.” But what kind of damage has been done — damage to security or public relations?

ok, goddam it, if that's the game they want to play, i was first in line in the think progress post's comments section to volunteer to post the goddam pictures on this blog...

here ya go... and if i find any more, i'll post them too...


Main building, front entrance

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