Via Raw Story:

With the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination in 2008 shunning a presidential primary debate sponsored by Fox News and a thinktank associated with the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), and former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel have announced their readiness to stand in a controversial spotlight.[..]

Rep. Kucinich, known primarily for his push to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney and his strong anti-war position, criticized his opponents who were unwilling to show up to the CBC/Fox debate. Read more...

Pretty disappointing to see Kucinich completely missing the point of why others declined to go on the Fox debate. James Rucker explains why Kucinich with his calling out the other candidates undermines black voters and supports Fox.

On Thursday night's "Countdown" VoteVets.org's Jon Soltz had a few things to say about President Bush's 50 year plan, Fort Lewis' decision to stop conducting individual memorial services for their fallen soldiers and of course, Holy Joe's excellent adventure in Baghdad.

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Soltz: "And now you have Joe Lieberman who spent his Viet Nam War years in law school and claims that he's some sort of arbiter of patriotism going to Iraq wearing his fake Oakley sunglasses. And, uh, it's hard for me to know that he actually gets to see the troops because those soldiers, they wanted to talk to Joe Lieberman and they want to tell them the truth. They want to tell him what they saw which was that they're driving around and they're getting shot and they want to know when they're going home."

Cliff Schecter:

The Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday questioned the continuing value of the Central Intelligence Agency's secret interrogation program for terrorism suspects, suggesting that international condemnation and the obstacles it has created to criminal prosecution may outweigh its worth in gathering information.

The committee rejected by one vote a Democratic proposal that would essentially have cut money for the program by banning harsh interrogation techniques except in dire emergencies, a committee report revealed.[..]

The amendment failed when Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, joined all the Republicans in voting no.

If you'd like to share your disappointment with Sen. Nelson over his view that harsh interrogation techniques are something to be funded, here's his Senate contact page.

UPDATE: The Young Turks: Senator Bill Nelson Votes for Torture

AP Via The Huffington Post :

Detailed plans for the new U.S. Embassy under construction in Baghdad appeared online Thursday in a breach of the tight security surrounding the sensitive project.

Computer-generated projections of the soon-to-be completed, heavily fortified compound were posted on the Web site of the Kansas City, Mo.-based architectural firm that was contracted to design the massive facility in the Iraqi capital.

The images were removed by Berger Devine Yaeger Inc. shortly after the company was contacted by the State Department.

"We work very hard to ensure the safety and security of our employees overseas," said Gonzalo Gallegos, a department spokesman. "This kind of information out in the public domain detracts from that effort." Read more...

Oops...

John McCain on a badly edited O'Reilly Factor segment:

O'Reilly: If you're elected President, you're not going to give the Iraqis a free card, we're going to be there forever, are you?

McCain: No, but I will say that this strategy has been, and being for only about four or five months---neighborhoods in Baghdad, I emphasize safer, not safe, and there have been improvements---and by the way I think it'll take past September, I don't know when, but past September...

Hear that, Rahm?

AP Via Yahoo:

Dan Bartlett, one of President Bush's most trusted advisers and his longest-serving aide, said Friday he is resigning to begin a career outside of government.

The move was announced on Bartlett's 36th birthday. He has been with Bush for nearly 14 years, from Bush's first campaign as governor of Texas, through two races for the White House and more than six years of a presidency marked by costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an ongoing battle against terrorism.

As counselor to the president, Bartlett has been at the center of White House decision-making, stepping into the public eye in times of trouble to defend Bush on everything from the unpopular war in Iraq to the government's bungled response to Hurricane Katrina and the Republicans' loss of Congress. Read more...

Here are a few C&L highlights from Dan's career...

Gristmill: Lots of headlines about G-Dub's new climate strategy.  If your immediate reaction is cynicism, well...looks like you learned something over the last seven years.

The Reaction: Another neocon at the World Bank

TBogg: Mourning becomes Peggy Noonan...George Will also exposed his deranged world view 

LiberalOasis: Time for congressional oversight on permanent American bases in Iraq

World-O-Crap: Remember when Commander Codpiece claimed that Jesus changed his heart?  How can we tell?

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: JAZZ from HELL, Watching Those We Chose, The Funny Farm, low culture

"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can change the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits."

The way I would view this, I view this as the beginning of the end of the President's policy on Iraq in this way. It ends the blank check on more troops, more money, more time and more of the same and it begins the notion that we have to have a new direction to Iraq that has accountability, standards, that you can measure progress or not, and the notion that what we've done in the past doesn't work and that you have to find some other way to bring a conclusion to the Iraq war.

Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated “I am the president!” He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny.”

Nov. 30, 2006: (via Atrios)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Thursday that his country's forces would be able to assume security command by June 2007 — which could allow the United States to start withdrawing its troops.

"I cannot answer on behalf of the U.S. administration but I can tell you that from our side our forces will be ready by June 2007," Maliki told ABC television after meeting President Bush on Thursday in Jordan.

Maliki was replying to a question about whether U.S. troops could start withdrawing at that time.

It's June 2007. Time's up.

Jesus' General: All the Wobbly's Guinea Hens