Medal of Freedom, Anyone?

via BlondeSense: Did anyone else see Ben Bradlee on Ted Koppel tonight? Koppel asked Bradlee what he thought of Pat Buchanan's comments that Deep Throat Mark Felt was not ...
Bradlee didn't even allow Koppel to finish.
Bradlee said, why should I see Buchanan or Gordon Liddy practically fresh from prison talk about Mark Felt and morality.... Felt couldn't go to Attorney General John Mitchell--who is worse? Mitchell or Gonzalez? Because Mitchell helped plan Watergate with Liddy in his office at the Justice Department. read on

Our Libyan Success No Capital

This is amazing. Libya is the "victory" that Bush has touted so often, asserting that that nation dismantled its nuclear programs in accordance with US demands.

Well, maybe not so much:

Authorities hunting traffickers in nuclear weapons technology recently uncovered an audacious plan to deliver a complete uranium enrichment plant to Libya.

The discovery provides fresh evidence of the reach and sophistication of the Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's global black market in nuclear know-how and equipment. It also exposes a previously undetected South African branch of the Khan network.

Details of the plot began to emerge in September, when police found the elements of a two-storey steel processing system for the enrichment plant in a factory outside Johannesburg. They were packed in 11 freight containers for shipment to Libya.

South African officials will say only that they discovered nuclear components. It appears, however, that the massive system was designed to operate 1000 centrifuges for enriching uranium.

Once assembled in Libya, the plant could have produced enough weapons-grade uranium to manufacture several nuclear bombs a year. Delivery of the plant would have greatly accelerated Libya's efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

abu muqawama: What does the phrase "time horizon" actually mean?

drinking liberally in new milford: The real reason for McCain's Friday night Phil Gramm dump

David Seaton's News Links: Will Afghanistan/Pakistan become be the new Vietnam, or an opportunity
to do something useful?
Kiko's House: David Carr & The Audacity of Dope

The Rude Pundit was ejected from Right Wing blogger's conference hotel! Wonder if there were any "Real Men" there?

The Opinion Mill's Sunday Bookchat: Takin' it to the geeks! Naomi Klein goes onto the Fox "Happy Hour" and turns those smiles upside down! Dave Sirota dismantles a Republican wingbot on television! Barbara Ehrenreich has a new book, a conservative clod has some old candidates, and Grandmaster Flash sounds as fresh on the page as he does on vinyl -- or CD!

Guest roundup by Brad Jacobson of MediaBloodhound

War and Piece: Why is Israel “appeasing” Syria? And the real reason Bush is pissed at NBC.

Hullabaloo: dday digs beneath the surface of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ comment that we’re “stuck” with Gitmo.

David Corn: Addressing upset Hillary supporters, Corn notes they can vote for Obama in November or “vote for a guy who will appoint Supreme Court justices likely to overturn Roe v. Wade.”

After Downing Street: David Lindorff on Bush’s war crimes against children. In addition, of course, to these other war crimes against them.

Booman Tribune: Interesting breakdown of November’s electoral college strategy.

Scholars and Rogues: Hilarious new footage of Bill O’Reilly’s Inside Edition blow-up. And here’s an excellent song to jumpstart your next workout. (Warning: turn down volume if at work.)

Well, that’s all for me, C&L’ers. It’s been fun filling in for Mike. And I’d like to thank him, John and Nicole for the keys. (Final programming note: Hope you can stop by MediaBloodhound this Friday for a fresh satirical dispatch from The Wounded-Courier; it’s about this guy.) Take care, everyone!

The deficit is high, the debt is growing, the war’s financial costs are exorbitant, and the nation is just coming to grips with the need for a sizable investment in the nation’s bridges and infrastructure.

Given this environment, the president has a plan: more tax cuts.

President Bush said yesterday that he is considering a fresh plan to cut tax rates for U.S. corporations to make them more competitive around the world, an initiative that could further inflame a battle with the Democratic Congress over spending and taxes and help define the remainder of his tenure.

Advisers presented Bush with a series of ideas to restructure corporate taxes, possibly eliminating narrowly targeted breaks to pay for a broader, across-the-board rate cut. In an interview with a small group of journalists afterward, Bush said he was “inclined” to send a corporate tax package to Congress, although he expressed uncertainty about its political viability.

As Kevin Drum put it, "He really is like a windup doll, isn't he? No matter what's going on in the outside world, no matter what problems we're facing, no matter what the political situation is, you pull the cord and he says 'Tax cuts!' It's like he's the Manchurian President."

I think I might have to write a diet book based on blogging about Republicans, because this story has sure sickened me to the point of not eating again. Dear God, what would you say to the children of the victims of 9/11? "Daddy loved you very much and you can think of him every time we drive on West 64th to Amsterdam Drive"? It's just sickening.

Kansas City Star: (h/t Sisyphus Shrugged)

The pulverized remains of bodies from the World Trade Center disaster site were used by city workers to fill ruts and potholes, a city contractor says in a sworn affidavit filed Friday in Manhattan Federal Court.

Eric Beck says debris powders - known as fines - were put in a pothole-fill mixture by crews at the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, N.Y., where more than 1.65 million tons of World Trade Center debris were deposited after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I observed the New York City Department of Sanitation taking these fines from the conveyor belts of our machines, loading it onto tractors and using it to pave roads and fill in potholes, dips and ruts," Eric Beck said.

Beck was the senior supervisor for Taylor Recycling, a private contractor hired to sift through debris trucked to Fresh Kills after the trade center attacks. Before the arrival of Taylor's equipment at Fresh Kills in October 2001, the debris was sifted manually by workers using rakes and shovels.

Beck's affidavit was filed by lawyers for the families of Sept. 11 victims who are suing the city in hopes of creating a formal burial place for debris that they say contains human remains.

"It's devastating," Norman Siegel, an attorney representing the families, said of Beck's statement. "When the 9/11 families found about this, they were wiped out."

No wonder the FDNY wasn't too happy with Giuliani. What a way to honor our fallen heroes.

Morning, C&L junkies -- great to be over here saying hello again. Promised the ever-wonderful John Amato that I would give you all a heads up on the Sunday gabfests. It's that time of day. Fresh cuppa coffee. A read through of the latest in news and blogs. And the excited anticipation of who will be on what Sunday morning news show.

Or not. Just in case, though, the Sunday Talking Head line-up is up for your perusal here.

There are some surprises on the line-up listings this morning. The most surprising thing? Actual, honest-to-goodness liberals are booked for this morning. The fact that Carl Levin and Jimmy Carter and John Edwards are all on programs today? It sure looks like the booking folks have realized that Democrats are good for business these days. Must be those rising ratings for Olbermann.

Also, if you have a few good thoughts to spare, Steve Gilliard could use them. Get well soon, Steve! And now, another cuppa coffee...

The AP:

Three U.S. airmen died Sunday in a car bombing in Baghdad — among at least 17 people killed in violence across Iraq as Iraqi troops launched a fresh battle to oust militias and pacify the capital.

Will this report be denied by Malkin and Charles Johnson too?

This has always been the most ludicrous talking point to me. For every Barbra Streisand and Michael Moore that the right loves to demonize--and Lord knows they do, every chance they get--the left could more credibly point out Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Charlton Heston--in positions to actually make a difference--as "Hollywood Values". However, this story demonstrates quite well why Hollywood values are nothing to scoff at.

Reuters AlertNet :

The rich and famous in the West are getting into Africa in a big way these days, and we're not just talking about adopting babies.

The latest trend for Hollywood players fresh from filming in Africa is setting up funds and trusts to give something back to the communities where they've been working, Christian Science Monitor reports. The Constant Gardener Trust is the brainchild of the makers of "The Constant Gardener", filmed in Nairobi's Kibera slum. The trust has already done some work in Kibera - one of the biggest slums in the world - building a few new sanitation facilities with toilets and showers. It may not sound very generous from a group awash with money, but in a place where "flying toilets" - plastic bags in which people defecate and then dump in the ditches - are the norm, new facilities are a welcome change. Other projects, including mobile clinics, are in the pipeline. Read on...

And then, just as I finished up this post, I get a tip from reader GM with the searing question: Who Would Jesus Give A Cauliflower Ear To? So maybe we should scoff, just a little.

I just paused my Tivo, while watching Condi Rice give a long winded explanation about the recent terrorist alerts on Meet the Press. Wouldn't it be a breath of fresh air to hear a politician say, " Gee Tim... I wish I knew. Or.." Did I really say that?." or laughingly "You got me there Tim." After a while I forgot the question that Tim just asked.