tuesday reads

McClatchey

President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan, which he said is intended to curb Islamic extremism, could actually aid the growing insurgency by militants allied with al Qaida and the Taliban, U.S. officials and experts warned Monday.

Musharraf's brutal suppression and arrests Monday of thousands of opposition protesters also could endanger U.S. congressional approval of a $750 million plan to help curb the insurgency, they said.

Preznit bu$h praised General Musharraf as a “strong fighter against extremists and radicals.”



Brent Wilkes was convicted Monday of 13 felonies for bribing former congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham with expensive meals, trips, a yacht and mortgage payments for his Rancho Santa Fe mansion in exchange for lucrative government defense contracts.



The ninth times the charm

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) filed a report today holding that two White House officials are in contempt of Congress for their continued refusal to honor subpoenas in connection with the controversial firing of US attorneys last year -- but he's offering one last chance to make a deal.

In a Monday letter to White House Counsel Fred Fielding, Conyers wrote that he would be officially filing submitting the contempt report, a move which would allow the full House to later vote on the measure, but would stop the contempt process there if the White House would agree to a final compromise offer.

“I have written to you on eight previous occasions attempting to reach agreement on this matter,” Conyers says in the letter. “As we submit the Committee’s contempt report to the full House, I am writing one more time to seek to resolve this issue on a cooperative basis.”

AlterNet talks to Susan Faludi about her new Book The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America.



Why Kucinich Should Concede Nothing