The LA Time reports U.S. drone attacks said to kill 17 at Taliban outposts in Pakistan. Missile strikes allegedly launched by U.S. drone aircraft hit a suspected Taliban training center and communications base in South Waziristan supposedly run by Baitullah Mahsud, “one of Pakistan’s most wanted militant leaders, killing 17 people and injuring 27 others.”
Elsewhere in Pakistan, the NY Times reports a Pakistani army helicopter crash kills 26 soldiers. “The military said the helicopter had technical problems, but Dawn TV reported that local officials said insurgents had shot it down.”
Four at Four continues with Afghanistan update, climate change deal in Moscow, and an update on CIA torture and secret prisons.
Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the Governor’s Picnic at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks on Saturday, July 25, Palin said.
There was no immediate word as to why she will resign, though speculation has been rampant that the former vice presidential candidate is gearing up for a run at the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
Happy Friday and welcome to the 10th in the Dog’s First Amendment Friday series. This series is following the syllabus for the class called The First Amendment and taught at Yale Law School by Professor Jack M. Balkin. As with the Friday Constitutional series this is a layman’s look at the Law, specifically the Supreme Court opinions which have shaped the boundaries of our 1st Amendment Protections. If you are interested in the previous installments you can find them at the links below:
With the further suppression of the CIA IG Report, now seeming to move its release in a meaningful and timely fashion into the mythical realm of the return of Pterosaurs to Capistrano….
The Justice Department is declining to release Dick Cheney’s interview with federal investigators looking into the Valerie Plame leak, arguing — as it did under President Bush — that doing so would discourage future high-level officials from cooperating with criminal investigations.
The good-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington had filed a lawsuit seeking to have the interview released.
CREW points out in a press release that Cheney was never promised confidentiality in the investigation. And its executive director, Melanie Sloan, notes:
It is astonishing that a top Department of Justice political appointee is suggesting other high-level appointees are unlikely to cooperate with legitimate law enforcement investigations. What is wrong with this picture?
Apparently, Rush Limbaugh just could not let Michael Sheuer win the worst person of the week award.
” If we had any good luck, Honduras would send some people here and help us get our government back. ”
Why yes, wouldn’t we be lucky if a coup overthrew the American government, disrupting millions of lives and the important issues facing our nation.
Gee, wouldn’t that be just swell.
That way, Conservatives who are so unappealing they can not get elected can get their Government back. What were we the people thinking? Didn’t we know that this is a center-right nation?
I guess the only thing that can even compete with ” The only thing that can save America is a massive attack by al Qaeda. ” is hoping for a coup.
And what kind of coup would please Herr Limbaugh? A military coup? A bloodless coup? A violent coup? Would it be okay if we deport the President like they did in Honduras? Or maybe we need something a little more drastic?
When did ” I hope he fails ” become ” I hope he is overthrown ? ”
And I wonder who would replace Barack Obama as President?
I’m sure Rush has an idea.
So, according to Rush, we Americans would be “lucky” if a coup overthrew our Democratically elected Government, throwing our nation into havoc and harming our recovery from the clusterfuck left behind by, that’s right, the Conservatives.
Is it fuck patriotism week and nobody told me?
What a way to celebrate our nation’s independance.
“Greed is a fat demon with a small mouth and whatever you feed it is never enough.”
– Jan Willem Van De Wetering
The battle has now been joined by the Great Satan (aka Goldman Sachs) as the brilliant Matt Taibbi piece has fortunatly gone viral thanks to bloggers. When the pigs on Wall Street, their legal armies and on call public relations propagandists turn into pirannhas as they are with this piece the fuckers are on the run. The seige on CNBC’s drooling house baboon Jim ‘Mad Money’ Cramer that was kicked off by comedian Jon Stewart was beaten back with a disinformation laden blitzkrieg and the money changers regained control of the temple. It’s all been the hogwash of the GREEN SHOOTS ever since. And despite the dismal news contained in yesterday’s jobs report the long weekend couldn’t come at a more fortuitous time as the four flushing,gold plated cocksuckers will regroup once again and launch a saturation bombing campaign of more goddammed lies.
Three years ago, U.S. Department of Agriculture employees determined that synthetic additives in organic baby formula violated federal standards and should be banned from a product carrying the federal organic label. Today the same additives, purported to boost brainpower and vision, can be found in 90 percent of organic baby formula.
The government’s turnaround, from prohibition to permission, came after a USDA program manager was lobbied by the formula makers and overruled her staff. That decision and others by a handful of USDA employees, along with an advisory board’s approval of a growing list of non-organic ingredients, have helped numerous companies win a coveted green-and-white “USDA Organic” seal on an array of products.
Head Scarf Emerges as Indonesia Political Symbol
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: July 2, 2009
JAKARTA, Indonesia – The three parties competing in Indonesia’s presidential election next week have plastered this city with campaign billboards and posters depicting, predictably, their presidential and vice presidential choices looking self-confident.
But one party, Golkar, has also put up posters of the candidates’ wives next to their husbands, posing demurely and wearing Muslim head scarves known here as jilbabs. The wives recently went on a jilbab shopping spree in one of Jakarta’s largest markets, and published a book together titled “Devout Wives of Future Leaders.”
Most polls suggest that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of the Democratic Party will be re-elected in next Wednesday’s vote, after running a smooth campaign based on his economic policies and a popular anticorruption drive.
USA
U.S. Shifts Strategy on Illicit Work by Immigrants
By JULIA PRESTON
Published: July 2, 2009
Immigration authorities had bad news this week for American Apparel, the T-shirt maker based in downtown Los Angeles: About 1,800 of its employees appeared to be illegal immigrants not authorized to work in the United States.
But in contrast to the high-profile raids that marked the enforcement approach of the Bush administration, no federal agents with criminal warrants stormed the company’s factories and rounded up employees. Instead, the federal immigration agency sent American Apparel a written notice that it faced civil fines and would have to fire any workers confirmed to be unauthorized.
U.S. Marines marked the start of a new offensive in Afghanistan Thursday, as part of the Obama administration’s efforts to stabilize the Afghan-Pakistan border region. A Washington Post reporter embedded in the Helmand province provides an update
