friday reads

A suicide attack in northern Afghanistan earlier this week killed 59 schoolchildren and wounded 96 others, the education ministry said today.



Mukasey confirmed in late night vote

The Senate confirmed Michael Mukasey as attorney general late Thursday, capping three weeks of heated debate over CIA interrogation tactics and giving President Bush a major political victory on Capitol Hill.

Six Democrats and one independent joined a united Republican caucus in voting to confirm the nominee by a 53-40 vote. Democratic Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Dianne Feinstein of California, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Charles Schumer of New York, Thomas Carper of Delaware and Independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut defied the strong objections of the Democratic base and their party’s leader.

The Senate’s five presidential candidates [Biden (D-DE) , Clinton (D-NY) , Dodd (D-CT), McCain (R-AZ), Obama (D-IL)] were absent for the vote, as were Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Republican John Cornyn of Texas.

[Gutless moral pygmies in bold] Glenn Greenwald has more...



Survey shows 44% of reservists not happy with Labor Department's handling of employment discrimination issues.



Brazil to join Axis of Evil?

A huge offshore oil discovery could raise Brazil's petroleum reserves by a whopping 40 percent and boost this country into the ranks of the world's major exporters, officials said.

Dolchstoßlegende



Digby on the WGA strike: Solidarity



emptywheel: The Constitutional Right to a press Pass

thursday reads

Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday


Photojournalist Ashley Gilbertson's : "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot"


ENDA passes US House 235-184


Why is most U.S. aid to Pakistan in the form of untraceable cash transfers?


Asian markets plummeted today following yesterday’s heavy sell-off in the United States as investors worldwide grew skittish over rising oil prices and the prospect of a substantial economic slowdown in the United States.


The Education Department's inspector general says he will review whether federal money is inappropriately being spent on programs by a company founded by Neil Bush, the president's brother.


Federal prosecutors will ask a grand jury today to indict Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York police commissioner, on charges that include tax fraud, corruption and conspiracy counts, according to people who have been briefed on the case.


United Hollywood

The Presidency Is Now a Criminal Conspiracy

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment

wednesday reads

In what he described as “an emergency mission to help a key ally in the war on terror,” President George W. Bush flew to Islamabad today to give General Pervez Musharraf tips on how to eliminate democracy.


Legal papers filed in federal court Monday in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations disclose that the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued three secret memorandums relating to interrogation practices of detainees -- one more than has been publicly revealed.


FEMA quietly closing New Orleans trailer sites

Neither the city nor FEMA has publicly announced any park closures in New Orleans. But during the past few months, the agency has quietly delivered eviction notices to residents at nearly half the city's parks.

Since August, FEMA has mothballed more than 800 trailers in New Orleans. More than 550 more will be emptied in the current round of eviction notices. But the agency's efforts to phase out the trailer parks, always intended to be temporary housing for hurricane victims, might leave many departing residents in unstable living situations, largely because of the city's steep post-Katrina rents.

Five authors have sued the parent company of Regnery Publishing, a Washington imprint of conservative books, charging that the company deprives its writers of royalties by selling their books at a steep discount to book clubs and other organizations owned by the same parent company.


AlterNet on America's Finest News Source

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

monday morning must read

Naomi Wolf: A “Presidential Coup,” The Continuity Of Government, And Blackwater Watching Midtown Manhattan

sunday reads

Musharraf declares martial law

Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule last night, plunging the nuclear power into crisis and triggering condemnation from leaders around the world.

The action to reassert his flagging authority was, he said, a response to Islamic militancy and to the 'paralysis of government by judicial interference'. He said that his country's sovereignty was at stake.

Judges and lawyers were arrested, troops poured on to city streets and television and radio stations were taken off the air. Musharraf also suspended the constitution and fired the chief justice, Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry, who spearheaded a powerful mass movement against him earlier this year.

"The declaration does not impact our military support for Pakistan," (Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell)

BooMan asks us to Read President Musharraf's Declaration of Martial Law and ask yourself how many of his rationales have been used by leading Republicans to justify the policies of George W. Bush.


Despite President Bush's claims that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons that could trigger "World War III," experts in and out of government say there's no conclusive evidence that Tehran has an active nuclear-weapons program.



Retired JAGs send a letter to Sen. Leahy:

Dear Chairman Leahy,

In the course of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s consideration of President Bush’s nominee for the post of Attorney General, there has been much discussion, but little clarity, about the legality of “waterboarding” under United States and international law. We write Because this issue above all demands clarity: Waterboarding is inhumane, it is torture, and it is illegal.

Naomi Klein: Disaster Response for the Chosen