tuesday reads

The Pentagon military analyst program unveiled in last week's exposé by David Barstow in the New York Times was not just unethical but illegal. It violates, for starters, specific restrictions that Congress has been placing in its annual appropriation bills every year since 1951. According to those restrictions, "No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by the Congress."


Party of the Damned

As the Bush presidency staggers to an end, it's hard to say who has less to brag about: the president or the journalists who cover him. So it's fitting that the last White House Correspondents' Association dinner of the Bush era -- the ultimate celebration of chumminess between the most powerful people in the world and those who are supposed to hold them accountable -- was a dispiriting, mostly humorless affair.

[snip]

In the audience at the dinner and at its endless pre- and post-parties, a fin-de-siecle degeneracy was on full display. Throngs surrounded aging professional floozy Pamela Anderson, a guest of Bloomberg, who happily posed for countless photos in a dress that exposed the preponderance of her two most outstanding achievements. Key members of the White House's torture-management team-- Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former secretary of state Colin Powell -- along with leading torture apologists -- Attorney General Michael Mukasey, CIA Director Michael Hayden, former White House spokesman Tony Snow and current spokeswoman Dana Perino -- were fawned over as honored guests.

In one of his few winning lines, Bush made this astute observation: "Pamela Anderson and Mitt Romney in the same room? Isn't that one of the signs of the apocalypse?" At the end of his speech, the man who waged war against the press received a standing ovation from the conquered.

The Supreme Court, voting 6-3, on Monday rejected a constitutional challenge to Indiana’s law requiring voters to show a government-issued photo ID before they may cast a ballot.


A video shot by the father of an 82nd Airborne Division soldier that shows poor conditions such as mold in a barracks at Fort Bragg caught the attention Friday of a U.S. senator and high-ranking Army officials.


Glenn Greenwald: Brian Williams nominates Peggy Noonan for a Pulitzer Prize


Grits for Breakfast on Eldorado:

This case just gets stranger and stranger. There's still no complaining victim. The allegations spawning the raid were a hoax. The agency can't figure out how many kids its seized from day to day. And none of the crime victims agree with the state's allegations, which differ wildly in the media from what DFPS said in court. Just bizarre.

Errol Morris Gets to the Truth Behind the Abu Ghraib Photographs


Consumer confidence index at 5-year low. Higher oil and gas prices helped Royal Dutch Shell and BP report record first-quarter profits. MasterCard profit more than double.


Today is Free Cone Day!!!. My local Ben & Jerry's partnership Scoop Shop is run by LifeWorks. (h/t skippy)

You Are Dublin Mudslide Ice Cream

You won't remember any of this in the morning

What Flavor Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Are You?