July 2008 archive

The House Subcommittee on Commercial and Adminstrative Law of the Judiciary Committee, where Karl Rove was a no show at his subpoened appearance ruled against Rove in a 7 to 1 vote.  All 7 democratic members voted to proceed with actions denying his claim of immunity.  One of the 5 republicans voted “no”; this was the ranking member, Mr. Cannon.

The relevant information is here:

Sanchez & Conyers  

1. I don’t have to write that the G8 ‘leaders’ are out of touch, they shout it themselves from behind their gilded security bubble.

   G8 leaders give middle finger to the world… again

   The NY Times reports G8 global warming talks leave few concrete goals. “The statement issued by the industrialized Group of 8 pledged to ‘move toward a carbon-free society’ by seeking to cut worldwide emissions of heat-trapping gases in half by 2050. But the statement did not say whether that baseline would be emissions at 1990 levels, or the less ambitious baseline of current levels, already 25 percent higher.”

   Even with this fuzzy goal, the G8 ‘leaders’ say the world has 40 years. While many scientists, such as NASA climate scientist, James Hansen, say we have only one year left to act.

   While the LA Times reports the G8 summit largely ignores economic woes. “President Bush and leaders of seven of the other wealthiest nations face a triple whammy of economic woes: a global credit crunch, soaring food prices and spiraling oil costs. But in three days… there was little in the way of fresh initiatives on how to get the world’s economy back on track.” As usual, they wined and dined, while saying ‘Let them eat cake’ to most everyone else.

2. U.S. Troops in Iraq Face A Powerful New Weapon

   The Washington Post reports that suspected Shiite fighters in Iraq opposed to the U.S. occupation are now “using powerful rocket-propelled bombs to attack U.S. military outposts in recent months, broadening the array of weapons used against American troops.”

   U.S. military officials call the devices Improvised Rocket Assisted Munitions, or IRAMs. They are propane tanks packed with hundreds of pounds of explosives and powered by 107mm rockets. They are often fired by remote control from the backs of trucks, sometimes in close succession. Rocket-propelled bombs have killed at least 21 people, including at least three U.S. soldiers, this year…

   U.S. military officials say IRAM attacks, unlike roadside bombings and conventional mortar or rocket attacks, have the potential to kill scores of soldiers at once. IRAMs are fired at close range, unlike most rockets, and create much larger explosions. Most such attacks have occurred in the capital, Baghdad.

   The use of the rocket-propelled bombs reflects militiamen’s ability to use commonly available materials and relatively low-tech weaponry to circumvent security measures that have cost the U.S. military billions of dollars.

   The longer this occupation goes, the more bankrupt the United States will become. For all our technology, the U.S. military is still being defeated by low tech attacks. A July 2008 report, “Actions Needed to Reduce Carryover at Army Depots” (pdf) from the GAO found that the U.S. military cannot repair equipment fast enough in Iraq and Afghanistan to meet the demands of battle. Each day we remain in Iraq and Afghanistan is a day we continue to dig our nation’s grave deeper.

Four at Four continues with America’s failures in Pakistan and a scientist that is harnessing rising oceans to grow a desert crop.

If there was any doubt that George W. Bush was an asshole who couldn’t give a shit about the world, here’s further proof. From The Telegraph, At the G8 Summit, Bush: ‘Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter’

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter.”

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.

Hat tip MsLibrarian.

AP reports that John McCain

…resisted being dragged into a discussion Wednesday about insurance companies that cover Viagra but not birth control products.

“I certainly do not want to discuss that issue,” the presidential candidate said when a reporter asked him about it on his campaign bus, the “Straight Talk Express.”

Learning from his example, I have no comment on the location of McCain’s town meeting in Hudson, Wisconsin on Friday to discuss women’s issues.  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

The meeting will be held at J&L Steel Erectors, a woman-owned business.

Wonder what will come up.

UPDATE:  Link to the Article text on AfterDowningStreet.  

Dennis Kucinich plans to read a single article of Impeachment on the House floor today around 4 PM Eastern.   The Article of Impeachment is titled:  Deceiving Congress with Fabricated Threats of Iraq WMDs to Fraudulently Obtain Support for an Authorization of the Use of Military Force Against Iraq.  

The text of the article will be released at a Press Conference at 2 PM (see above).

Book Review: Ginsberg, Benjamin.  The American Lie: Government by the People and Other Political Fables.  Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2007.

This, part two in a series, will analyze Benjamin Ginsberg’s book The American Lie as a “cynical realist” take on the American political process, suggesting that even though it’s marginally useful to be “cynical,” we still must be against “bad pragmatism” and in favor of politics for the greater good even when confronted with the corrupt system we have today.

Next: either a history of bad pragmatism, or a diary on the latest bad pragmatist outrage.  There WILL be a Bad Pragmatism pt. 3.

(crossposted at Big Orange)