Category: long story short

There’s no ink on the contract yet but odds are looking very good that starting in July I’ll be joining a consulting firm as chief mumbledymumbledy officer and work with some clients on projects that combine a lot of my interests today: netroots activism, taking back congress, weblogs and webfeeds and wikis oh my, promoting…

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: June 13, 2004 – June 19, 2004 Archives: I and several colleagues have been working on a story that, if and when it comes to fruition – and I’m confident it shall – should shuffle the tectonic plates under that capital city where I normally hang my hat.…

Guantanamo interrogators use tea and ‘mental chess’ -Reuters, 6/14/04. (article) “Building rapport can mean sharing a Big Mac meal from the base McDonald’s…”

Contractor Immunity a Divisive Issue Washington Post, 6/13/04. (Article) In an early test of its imminent sovereignty, Iraq’s new government has been resisting a U.S. demand that thousands of foreign contractors here be granted immunity from Iraqi law…. Extraterritoriality The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001. (Entry) …. privilege of immunity from local law enforcement enjoyed…

Guantanamo Cell Tapes Turned Over to U.S. Officials, Reuters 6/13/04 “The tapes were turned over to the military’s Southern Command in Miami, which has jurisdiction over Guantanamo.” OK, then. The Southern Command in Miami has jurisdiction over Guantanamo. And United States’ law has jurisdication over the Southern Command. Yet United States’ law does not have…

For the first time in 39 days on Friday I wasn’t the bottleneck in the editorial and production flow of my book. Today I had a day off on a weekend for the first time in months. I almost wasn’t sure it was real: the feeling of being able to do nothing, lie in the…

Aide Says President Set Guidelines for Interrogations, Not Specific Techniques, Washington Post, June 9, 2004 McClellan called the memo a historic or scholarly review of laws and conventions concerning torture. “The memo was not prepared to provide advice on specific methods or techniques,” he said. “It was analytical.” OK. Let’s analyze. These are excerpts from…

“The March 6 document about torture provides tightly constructed definitions of torture. For example, if an interrogator ‘knows that severe pain will result from his actions, if causing such harm is not his objective, he lacks the requisite specific intent even though the defendant did not act in good faith,’ the report said. ‘Instead, a…

“Ashcroft said it was not the Justice Department’s policy to define torture. “But he did say the international rules governing treatment of detainees did not apply to groups like al Qaeda since only countries are signatories to the treaty.” (Article) And are they similarly not bound to avoid torturing Americans?

FliG blows the lid of Kerry’s next big scandal, here.

From AARP Bulletin. … Trent Lott of Mississippi, announced he would stop voting against allowing Americans to buy lower-cost prescription drugs from abroad. “I cannot explain to my mother any longer,” he said, “why she should pay twice or two-thirds more than what is paid in Canada or Mexico.” Hmm… .twice or two-thirds more? She…

“Under the earliest prewar plans by the U.S. military, Baghdad’s infrastructure was to be rebuilt by last August, with elections to be held last September and the troops leaving by October.” Toronto Globe and Mail

Article 17 of the Third Convention says, in part, that “No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or…

The problem isn’t what we’re seeing. The problem is that we have eyes. (hat tip to jfern on dailykos for pointing this story out.)

File under the Republicans coming apart at the seams or “at long last, have you no decency?”: AP Wire | 05/19/2004 | Hastert Lectures McCain on War, Sacrifice

kwazy wabbit sings the face-to-face blooz

In the eighth circle of a deadline hell of my own making, for the last time I say to myself for the last time I say this is the last time, this time, this is the last time, this time is the time, this time is the last time, this time is the last time,…

ABC, CNN, MSNBC news sites all lead with the assassination of the head of the Iraqi Governing Council. Their headlines read…. abnews.com: “Shocking Loss.” msnbc.com: “Major Iraq Setback.” cnn.com: “Iraqi Governing Council Chief Sworn in After Killing.” Meanwhile over on foxnews.com the headline trumpets: “Chemical Agents Found in Iraq.” In the immortal words of Stan…

“A strong populace needs a strong leader. When I make a decision, I stick to it!” -Clench, The Steady–Lemming King, rallying his followers in the race to the cliff-edge.

–“The No. 2 general at the Pentagon indicated that interrogation techniques used in Iraq violated the Geneva Conventions and said he did not know who had approved them. “Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was unaware of any U.S. military guidelines for interrogating prisoners that would have…

Here’s an odd coincidence — so Saturday, I post “This was the week Bush lost the election” and even at the time I’m thinking, OK, sure, this is how it feels, but really, this post is a touch overboard. I mean, 6 months out? Clinton was losing to Bush senior like 3 months out. Dukakis…