Pys ops

Behind Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand

Watch here how the pentagon spread it's message

I.AM.HERE.2.DEMOCRATIZE.U

The human touch in Iraq

Seeds of Compassion

A 5–day gathering to engage the hearts and minds of our community by highlighting the vision, science, and programs of early social, emotional, and cognitive learning.

It is from APRIL 11–15 and is being Webcast live.

Portishead in Portishead

If you have 35 minutes, and like Portishead, then this is good:

"History will not judge this kindly"

Top Bush Advisors Approved 'Enhanced Interrogation'.

But this is the first time sources have disclosed that a handful of the most senior advisers in the White House explicitly approved the details of the program. According to multiple sources, it was members of the Principals Committee that not only discussed specific plans and specific interrogation methods, but approved them.

The discussions and meetings occurred in an atmosphere of great concern that another terror attack on the nation was imminent. Sources said the extraordinary involvement of the senior advisers in the grim details of exactly how individual interrogations would be conducted showed how seriously officials took the al Qaeda threat.
...
According to a former CIA official involved in the process, CIA headquarters would receive cables from operatives in the field asking for authorization for specific techniques. Agents, worried about overstepping their boundaries, would await guidance in particularly complicated cases dealing with high-value detainees, two CIA sources said.

Highly placed sources said CIA directors Tenet and later Porter Goss along with agency lawyers briefed senior advisers, including Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and Powell, about detainees in CIA custody overseas.

"It kept coming up. CIA wanted us to sign off on each one every time," said one high-ranking official who asked not to be identified. "They'd say, 'We've got so and so. This is the plan.'"

Sources said that at each discussion, all the Principals present approved.

"These discussions weren't adding value," a source said. "Once you make a policy decision to go beyond what you used to do and conclude it's legal, (you should) just tell them to implement it."

Then-Attorney General Ashcroft was troubled by the discussions. He agreed with the general policy decision to allow aggressive tactics and had repeatedly advised that they were legal. But he argued that senior White House advisers should not be involved in the grim details of interrogations, sources said.

According to a top official, Ashcroft asked aloud after one meeting: "Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly."

Less posts from me

Now that I have a 9 to 5...

McCain narrative

This kind of stuff: that "McCain lunged at a congressman" and that he constantly mixes up Sunni and Shiite can nicely be woven into a larger narrative that McCain is a crazy old man. He is turning senile (forgetful and confused) and has always had a temper... do we want someone like that with access to the button?

The Asymmetry of Religious Tolerance

While atheists tolerate religions, it doesn't seem that religions have to tolerate atheists.

The following exchange between atheist activist Rob Sherman of Buffalo Grove and Ill. Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) took place Wednesday afternoon in the General Assembly as Sherman testified before the House State Government Administration Committee.

Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy -- it’s tragic -- when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight. They want to fight prayer in school.

I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?

I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous--

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure that if this matter does go to court---

Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.

That said, Hitchens and Dawkins aren't all that tolerant of religion...

Food riots

Not so funny

Bring your daughter to war day

Army Holds Annual 'Bring Your Daughter To War' Day

Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?

Vanity Fair: The Green Light

As the first anniversary of 9/11 approached, and a prized Guantánamo detainee wouldn’t talk, the Bush administration’s highest-ranking lawyers argued for extreme interrogation techniques, circumventing international law, the Geneva Conventions, and the army’s own Field Manual. The attorneys would even fly to Guantánamo to ratchet up the pressure—then blame abuses on the military. Philippe Sands follows the torture trail, and holds out the possibility of war crimes charges.

The article is very interesting/disturbing. Two interesting snippets:

Ideas arose from other sources. The first year of Fox TV’s dramatic series 24 came to a conclusion in spring 2002, and the second year of the series began that fall. An inescapable message of the program is that torture works. “We saw it on cable,” Beaver recalled. “People had already seen the first series. It was hugely popular.” Jack Bauer had many friends at Guantánamo, Beaver added. “He gave people lots of ideas.”

The brainstorming meetings inspired animated discussion. “Who has the glassy eyes?,” Beaver asked herself as she surveyed the men around the room, 30 or more of them. She was invariably the only woman present—as she saw it, keeping control of the boys. The younger men would get particularly agitated, excited even. “You could almost see their dicks getting hard as they got new ideas,” Beaver recalled, a wan smile flickering on her face. “And I said to myself, You know what? I don’t have a dick to get hard—I can stay detached.”

Not everyone at Guantánamo was enthusiastic. The F.B.I. and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service refused to be associated with aggressive interrogation. They opposed the techniques. One of the N.C.I.S. psychologists, Mike Gelles, knew about the brainstorming sessions but stayed away. He was dismissive of the administration’s contention that the techniques trickled up on their own from Guantánamo. “That’s not accurate,” he said flatly. “This was not done by a bunch of people down in Gitmo—no way.”

...

Those responsible for the interrogation of Detainee 063 face a real risk of investigation if they set foot outside the United States. Article 4 of the torture convention criminalizes “complicity” or “participation” in torture, and the same principle governs violations of Common Article 3.

It would be wrong to consider the prospect of legal jeopardy unlikely. I remember sitting in the House of Lords during the landmark Pinochet case, back in 1999—in which a prosecutor was seeking the extradition to Spain of the former Chilean head of state for torture and other international crimes—and being told by one of his key advisers that they had never expected the torture convention to lead to the former president of Chile’s loss of legal immunity. In my efforts to get to the heart of this story, and its possible consequences, I visited a judge and a prosecutor in a major European city, and guided them through all the materials pertaining to the Guantánamo case. The judge and prosecutor were particularly struck by the immunity from prosecution provided by the Military Commissions Act. “That is very stupid,” said the prosecutor, explaining that it would make it much easier for investigators outside the United States to argue that possible war crimes would never be addressed by the justice system in the home country—one of the trip wires enabling foreign courts to intervene. For some of those involved in the Guantánamo decisions, prudence may well dictate a more cautious approach to international travel. And for some the future may hold a tap on the shoulder.

“It’s a matter of time,” the judge observed. “These things take time.” As I gathered my papers, he looked up and said, “And then something unexpected happens, when one of these lawyers travels to the wrong place.”

How DO they do it?

Krugman wants to know exactly how this could occur:

The GOP seems to systematically preside over slower growth and rising inequality.

He doesn't want to believe it until he understands a plausible mechanisms... So the question is - how does this happen? Check out the graph, its amazing.

Not going quietly into the night

New Signs of Mugabe Crackdown in Zimbabwe

It looks like it will get worse before it gets better.

Mugabe out?

Finally, Mugabe concedes defeat - in private, at least. It only took 28 years. Apparently, his policies in the last 10 years have been especially catastrophic for the economy and when he started to really crack down.

So, you want to be a McCain Democrat?

Look before you jump

The Gravel Trip

Enhancing willpower

Tighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind

In psychological studies, even something as simple as using your nondominant hand to brush your teeth for two weeks can increase willpower capacity. People who stick to an exercise program for two months report reducing their impulsive spending, junk food intake, alcohol use and smoking. They also study more, watch less television and do more housework. Other forms of willpower training, like money-management classes, work as well.

I O Yoo

Torture as self-defense

Yoo's infamous 2003 torture justification memo is now out.

The Justice Department sent a legal memorandum to the Pentagon in 2003 asserting that federal laws prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes did not apply to military interrogators who questioned al-Qaeda captives because the president's ultimate authority as commander in chief overrode such statutes.

The 81-page memo, which was declassified and released publicly yesterday, argues that poking, slapping or shoving detainees would not give rise to criminal liability. The document also appears to defend the use of mind-altering drugs that do not produce "an extreme effect" calculated to "cause a profound disruption of the senses or personality."
...
"If a government defendant were to harm an enemy combatant during an interrogation in a manner that might arguably violate a criminal prohibition, he would be doing so in order to prevent further attacks on the United States by the al Qaeda terrorist network," Yoo wrote. "In that case, we believe that he could argue that the executive branch's constitutional authority to protect the nation from attack justified his actions."

Interrogators who harmed a prisoner would be protected by a "national and international version of the right to self-defense," Yoo wrote. He also articulated a definition of illegal conduct in interrogations -- that it must "shock the conscience" -- that the Bush administration advocated for years.

"Whether conduct is conscience-shocking turns in part on whether it is without any justification," Yoo wrote, explaining, for example, that it would have to be inspired by malice or sadism before it could be prosecuted.

If Nick had a cat

Finally...

Clinton tells Democrats: Don’t vote for McCain

Good for her, although it is about time she did.

Toxic apple fat

Study Links Middle-Age Belly Fat to Dementia

People who have big bellies in their 40s are much more likely to get Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia in their 70s, according to new research that links the middle-aged spread to a fading mind for the first time.

The study of more than 6,000 people found that the more fat they had in their guts in their early to mid-40s, the greater their chances of becoming forgetful and confused and showing other signs of senility as they aged. Those who had the most expansive midsections faced more than twice the risk of the leanest.

The potential mechanism? Toxic Fat

The research is the latest evidence that fat in the abdomen is the most dangerous kind. Previous studies have linked an apple-shaped physique to a greater propensity for diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Researchers suspect that belly fat cells are the worst because of their proximity to major organs. They ooze noxious chemicals, stoking inflammation, constricting blood vessels and triggering other processes that may also damage brain cells.

"There is a lot of work out there that suggests that the fat wrapped around your inner organs is much more metabolically active than other types of fat right under the skin," Whitmer said. "It's pumping out toxic substances. It's very potent toxic fat."

This fits with what I learned way back that pear-shaped body is healthier than an apple-shape.

The other side of the story

Some discussion here

Maybe Nick is right

If McCain vs. Obama, 28% of Clinton Backers Go for McCain

Time to move to Canada.

Chunk of Antarctic ice shelf collapses, putting larger area at risk

Rapid melting on Wilkins Shelf is attributed to global warming.

The Evil Penguin

Bush 2.0

"We're succeeding. I don't care what anybody says. I've seen the facts on the ground," the Arizona senator insisted a day after a roadside bomb in Baghdad killed four U.S. soldiers and rockets pounded the U.S.-protected Green Zone there, and a wave of attacks left at least 61 Iraqis dead nationwide.

And this is well timed:

Check out the Media Myths of McCain

killer war-bots are here, almost

On GDP and beyond

Robert Kennedy was ahead of his time.

Jim Rogers on FED money injection - PART 1

The Speech

The Road to Guantanamo

Wow. This is a road trip gone really bad. From here.

A good cup of good coffee

Bill Moyers Journal

On government oversight

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Thanks to Andy

NSA's Domestic Spying Grows As Agency Sweeps Up Data

Who knew the government was into social networks? This sounds like the Total Information Awareness program that the Congress defunded a few years back. This kind of think is in some ways the natural extension of power through a combo of AI techniques and ICT s - and, it would seem to me, is a difficult genie to put back in the bottle. There needs to be a new set of protections (like the 4th amendment) but for personal information and internet use...

While the Fourth Amendment guarantees "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures," the legality of data-sweeping relies on the government's interpretation of a 1979 Supreme Court ruling allowing records of phone calls -- but not actual conversations -- to be collected without a warrant.

Times are a changin'.

Poo

House oversight

House Creates New Panel On Ethics

The House last night approved one of the most significant changes to its ethics rules in decades, creating for the first time an independent panel empowered to initiate investigations of alleged misconduct by members of the chamber.

An independent panel, sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

"If you have a single ounce of self-preservation, you'll vote no," implored Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) last night.

Ferraro defends controversial comments on Barack Obama

Ferraro defends controversial comments on Barack Obama

"Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"

She's way off base, she being attacked for being an uppity woman. She needs to learn her place.

Proving a negative

While it is not possible 100%, this sure seems like enough warrant to believe that we can finally dispel any lingering convictions that Sadaam had links to al Qaida.

WASHINGTON — An exhaustive review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents that were captured after the 2003 U.S. invasion has found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network.

The Pentagon-sponsored study, scheduled for release later this week, did confirm that Saddam's regime provided some support to other terrorist groups, particularly in the Middle East, U.S. officials told McClatchy. However, his security services were directed primarily against Iraqi exiles, Shiite Muslims, Kurds and others he considered enemies of his regime.

Chemical brain controls nanobots

A tiny chemical "brain" which could one day act as a remote control for swarms of nano-machines has been invented.

Perhaps I'm a fuddy-duddy, but all this stuff actually scares me at a visceral level. That said, why worry? Its not like humans haven't already invented enough horrific weapons...

Run baby run

Paul leaves open door to third-party bid, unlikely to support McCain

MSNBC giving Tucker Carlson

the axe

I never really liked the guy too much...

here is an example of his lovely arrogance. Damn he is an ass, and thats my vulgarity on the record.

Winter wonderland

The view of the driveway out the garage this morning (after shoveling it twice yesterday)

Canada is being punished

Southern, eastern Ontario brace for another storm

Probably payback for tampering with the US elections.

Oh, and did I mention that it is already Ottawa's 2nd heaviest snowfall on record (351 centimeters so far, that's 11 1/2 feet of snow)? And this storm is potentially the biggest one this year bringing between 30 and 50 centimeters...

And proof that it is payback - just ask where this storm originated... Texas!

'NAFTAgate' began with remark from Harper's chief of staff

and it looks like original report was mostly about Hillary reassuring the Canadians after she spent all that time hitting Obama over it and, possibly, to good affect in Ohio.

Was Moses high on Mount Sinai?

Study suggests Israelites may have eaten hallucinogens, but scholars scoff

Winter storm blasts through northwestern Ontario

The snow keeps coming. Here is an interesting dilemma - with the emphasis on city density, where do we put it all?

Genius

TPMtv: Texas / Ohio Preview

Simbabwe

A Zimbabwe simulation game - only for Mac OS X.

Welcome to Simbabwe, where the property is already owned and the houses built and you compete to burn and dispossess them. Bounce around the map plundering farms, denying grain silos to opposition supporters and robbing the community chest.

Easy to play but hard to escape from, Simbabwe is a richly detailed, evolved board game with unscrupulous AI and editorial cartoon graphics.

Rig elections, gaol opponents and taunt the Commonwealth as you use intimidation and stooges to create a mugaboly on power.

Compete with Robert Mugabe, Canaan Banana, Cecil Rhodes and Sir Godfrey Huggins to earn a place on the all-time EU travel ban list!

Fall Back, Winter forward

Spring is 3 weeks away and we move the clock forward this weekend. Apparently an energy saving measured introduced in the American Energy Policy for Patriots and Kittens Act.

Can't come soon enough, my back hurts... Apparently we are approaching the second snowiest winter in 50 odd years.

Ad wars

The salvo:


and the response:

spoof of larry sinclair video

A glaring double standard

For every 'presidential' and 'charismatic' bestowed on Barack Obama, there are 10 adjectives commentators have used to put down the way Hillary Clinton dresses, talks and emotes. Call this what it is – blatant sexism.

Don Siegelman

Part I:


Part II:

Obamentum

(by Steve Brodner in the current issue of The New Yorker)

CNN Poll: Obama and Hilary in statistical tie in Texas

We are saved!

Nader to run for President

Ralph goes probing for support.

Trying to change the dynamic

Fear is the only option

America is at risk!. GO watch what the GOP has up on their GOP.gov page.

And some video responses:

Ethanol is not the answer

Higher food prices and more CO2

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. plans to replace 15 percent of gasoline consumption with crop-based fuels including ethanol are already leading to some unintended consequences as food prices and fertilizer costs increase.

About 33 percent of U.S. corn will be used for fuel during the next decade, up from 11 percent in 2002, the Agriculture Department estimates. Corn rose 20 percent to a record on the Chicago Board of Trade since Dec. 19, the day President George W. Bush signed a law requiring a fivefold jump in renewable fuels by 2022.

Increased demand for the grain helped boost food prices by 4.9 percent last year, the most since 1990, and will reduce global inventories of corn to the lowest in 24 years, government data show. While advocates say ethanol is cleaner than gasoline, a Princeton University study this month said it causes more environmental harm than fossil fuels.

...

Researchers led by Timothy Searchinger at Princeton University said their study showed greenhouse-gas emissions will rise with ethanol demand. U.S. farmers will use more land for fuel, forcing poorer countries to cut down rainforests and use other undeveloped land for farms, the study said.

The Anti-Lobbyist, Advised by Lobbyists

This take will probably be more harmful to McCain than the NYTs piece on his alleged affair, or whatever. He says that he doesn't take money from anyone, and yet...

McCain's relationship with lobbyists became an issue this week after it was reported that his aides asked Vicki Iseman, a telecom lobbyist, to distance herself from his 2000 presidential campaign because it would threaten McCain's reputation for independence. An angry and defiant McCain denounced the stories yesterday, declaring: "At no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust."

Even before McCain finished his news conference, uber-lobbyist Black made the rounds of television networks to defend McCain against charges that he has been tainted by his relationship with a lobbyist. Black's current clients include General Motors, United Technologies, JPMorgan and AT&T.

Viva Obama

Broadcast Him

GodTube.com

Change Congress (Lawrence Lessig)

From here

19% !?

Concerns over Economy Push George W. Bush's Overall Job Approval to New Low

George W. Bush's overall job approval rating has dropped to a new low in American Research Group polling as 78% of Americans say that the national economy is getting worse according to the latest survey from the American Research Group.

Among all Americans, 19% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 77% disapprove. When it comes to Bush's handling of the economy, 14% approve and 79% disapprove.

Now that is getting low, lower than I thought possible.

Fall

Pakistan Opposition Wins Nationwide Vote as Musharraf Rejected

Pakistan's opposition parties won national parliamentary elections yesterday as voters sought an end to President Pervez Musharraf's eight years of military rule.
...

Former prime minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif said he will work with the late Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party and other victorious parties to end ``dictatorship forever'' in Pakistan. The two main political groups will need to woo allies and independent candidates to secure the two-thirds of seats needed to reverse constitutional changes that have kept Musharraf in power since a 1999 military coup.

``There has been an anti-incumbency swing, and it looks like it's of a big magnitude,'' said Haris Gazdar, a Pakistani political and economic researcher at the London School of Economics.

...

With 258 of 268 constituencies reported, Bhutto's party moved into the lead with 87 seats and Sharif's group won 66, according to the independent GEO Television's Web site. Four constituencies postponed the election because of violence or the deaths of candidates.

The pro-Musharraf party won in 38 constituencies, Geo said. The official Election Commission tally showed Bhutto's party with 72 seats, Sharif's party with 57 seats and Musharraf's backers with 26 victories out of 212 parliamentary seats.

Sharif said the decision to seek Musharraf's removal or impeach him will be decided in consultation with other parties.

End of an era

Fidel Castro to resign as Cuba s head of state

Bush said, while in Rwanda, that he hopes that this begins a democratic transition:

"Eventually this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections, and I mean free and I mean fair," Bush said.

And if not, he continued, the US will give them a good Democratizing.

Kosovo

To the amazement of Serbians and Kosovars, Miloijkslav the Kosovarian ManHog emerged from his winter slumber in a car boot and saw his shadow thus declaring independence for the State of Kosovo. Many think that global warming caused him to emerge early while the car was still driving to the underground car park where the Serbian government usually honors Miloijkslav's yearly emergence in early March. Meanwhile, Bush recognized Kosovar's independence, immediately causing many Kosovars to reconsider the soundness of Miloijkslav's judgment.

A Q&A on Kosovo's future

Downer Cows

USDA orders nation's largest beef recall. Hidden video shows sick cows being abused at plant that reportedly supplies meat to US schools.

Fortunately for me I couldn't get the video to work.

Top Democratic Contenders

From Pollster.com

Tasering kids

Now legal in the UK

While I disagree, I must say that I have encountered some of the most unruly kids I've ever met in the UK, so on some level I can sympathize. But not really, because this, I think, is really bad social policy. Putting tasers in the hands of police crowds out the possibility of other, non-violent, techniques to bring order.

Calling the GOPs bluff

Countdown Special Comment on FISA: President Bush Is A Liar And A Fascist

Good for the Democrats - they showed some spine. Nice! I hope it gives them a good shot of endorphins and they get addicted to it.

TPMtv: '08 Roundup: Episode #12

Comtempt

FINALLY, the House Passes Contempt Resolution against White House Officials

Well, after all that -- after seven months, it's done. The House passed the contempt resolution against White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers, 223-32. Most Republicans, having staged their walk out, did not vote.

So now the ball's in Attorney General Michael Mukasey's court. He's expected to decline to enforce the citation of contempt, since both Bolten and Miers declined to testify as a result of an assertion of executive privilege.

The resolution included both a criminal contempt citation and the authorization for the House Judiciary Committee to sue the White House if Mukasey refuses to enforce the citation. You can read those here.

Obama: McCain 'Traded Principles for his Party’s Nomination'

These aren't bad barbs

I do think that now the economy is just as important in peoples minds as the war.

McCain for torture

Looks like Maverick wants to torture Goose, voting against the Waterboarding Ban (which passed, btw)... or at least appease his base after taking his wild and straight shooting position of anti-torture. What a guy! Bush will of course, veto the bill, but this is a loser I think in the long run for McCain.

How do people poll nationally on torture, anyway? I assume it is about 30/70 (for and against). Hmm, let's google it. Well, in 2004 Americans opposed torturing suspects nearly 2 to 1, and I imagine the fervor has dipped since. According to another poll done in 2006, apparently the Catholics like their torture just a bit more than the rest, I mean, we all saw how successful that Spanish Inquisition was. Actually, that poll shows that of the total public, only 32% say that torture is never justified... Hmm...

And a more recent poll by the ACLU found that most Americans want to end torture and follow the Geneva Conventions (Dems 80%, Independents 87%, Repub 74%)

So I guess McCain really needs his base fired up, but he will lose independents and Obama, assuming he is the candidate, has shown that he can pull independents, so... looks as if McCain is screwed on this one.

Tapping neurophysiology to improve your marriage

Reinventing Date Night for Long-Married Couples - its all about novelty, apparently. Thats why I recommend role-playing :) (and I don't mean D&D)...

Experience versus change

I'm not a fan of Dick Morris, but here is his analysis of Why Hillary Will Lose

Hank Paulson

The Folly of Attacking Iran: Lessons from History

"Broad Search Authority"

US customs agents can examine, copy data from searched laptops

McCain Inspires

Level of education divide

Another angle to discuss on this board is voiced by 'Dr. Retail', who seems to be some kind of alternate persona for David Brooks, who asks "Why would Democratic votes break down so starkly along educational lines?"

My own anecdotal evidence shows this be true in Boston: in Chelsea, the poorest city in MA, 69% of dem voters selected Hillary. Whereas a couple miles away, in Cambridge (Harvard/MIT), 63% of dem voters picked Obama. (I know, this isnt a scientific analysis).

I suppose this is one of the reasons why I think Hillary is more electable, because I think she has greater appeal among the working class. 'Dr. Retail' mentions the 'self-righteousness' of that 'Yes We Can' video, which I cringed at while watching, because your working class couldn't give a rats-ass about those Hollywood types.

Luckily, I don't think the dems have the problem of the two dem candidates fracturing the party the way the republican candidates are fractured, creating open hostility among republicans.

Electability

Here's my pop psychology analysis of the day. Methinks that there are many democrats whose most important criteria for a democratic candidate is that they can win the general election. Depending upon what you think is needed, you might break either for Clinton (knows how to handle the Republican attacks) or Obama (inspirational and draws independents from McCain). For this reason, I think Obama is wise to play up that he beats McCain in the current polls. Also, if Obama takes the lead in delegates after some upcoming causcuses, then that could be a big momentum swing for Obama. People like a winner. In the back of my mind, I always thought that Hilary would win, but I'm not so sure anymore.

In other news, Mitt's exit speech was a real classy act.

Jon Stewart had the appropriate response.

Kenyans agree on joint government

Hopefully this will bring some stability

Kenya's ruling party and opposition have agreed to form a joint government in an effort to end the bloodshed that has engulfed the country since the disputed Dec. 27 presidential election, an opposition lawmaker said Friday.

The two sides were still discussing who would lead the government and what roles each party would play.

"We have finally agreed there is a problem in the country and neither side can proceed on its own," said William Rutto, a lawmaker from the opposition Orange Democractic Movement. "We have agreed to form a joint government. Details of that government, its time and how to share it are under discussions."

Gloves off

The Dem plan to hit McCain

With John McCain poised to win the Republican nomination, Democrats are already gathering ammunition to use against him in the general election.

In more than a few instances, the best fodder has been provided by the candidate himself.

A case in point: As the economy was rising late last year as a major issue for voters, McCain in New Hampshire delivered this grenade, with its pin still in it: "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should," he said. "I've got Greenspan's book."

...

Doug Schoen, a former adviser to President Clinton, says the Democrats must act quickly. "The trick is to get him on the flip-flops and not let him get back to the center where he can be a real force," he said.

The appeal of a flip-flop assault is that it could undermine McCain's reputation for taking tough stands and sticking with them no matter how the political wind blows.

Carter Eskew, a former adviser to Vice President Al Gore, puts it this way: "Go right after his strengths. Take the Straight Talk Express and push it off the rails."

...

On the economy, McCain has tried to distance himself from his self-deprecating comment about his understanding (or lack thereof) of the economy. But his attempts have fallen flat in part because he's made the mistake of alluding to the weakness more than once.

In 2005, he sat down with Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal, and said: "I'm going to be honest; I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."

On the campaign trail, he's also suggested he'd look for a vice presidential running mate with strong economic credentials to balance weaknesses of his own. He tried to take that one back, too.

Those comments, coupled with McCain's relatively thin economic message, could leave him vulnerable to recasting by the opposition.

...

McCain should be honored for his "half a century of service to this country," the 46-year-old Illinois senator said, but he's "not the person who is going to lead this country in a new direction."

Darn

Looks like Mittmentum hit a brick wall: GOP sources: Romney to suspend campaign

Civics lesson

Ok, so I had to learn exactly who super delegates were, as they might determine the outcome of the democratic primaries... so here is a primer:



and, in other interesting news, it looks like Zell Miller, Mr. Vitriol might salvage a positive legacy just yet. Why? Because of him, Lieberman is No Longer a Super Delegate

Lieberman's endorsement of Republican John McCain disqualifies him as a super-delegate to the Democratic National Convention under what is informally known as the Zell Miller rule, according to Democratic State Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo.

Agent of Intolerance On McCain

The movement conservatives are not so pleased with Mr. Straight Talk Express.

A Dem split decision

It looks like Obama, by the narrowest of margins, won last night’s delegate hunt. By our estimates, he picked up 840 to 849 delegates versus 829-838 for Clinton; the Obama camp projects winning by nine delegates (845-836). He also won more states (13 to Clinton’s eight; New Mexico is still outstanding), although she won the most populous ones (California and New York). And Obama’s argument that he might be the most electable Democrat in a general election was bolstered by the fact that he won nine red states versus four for Clinton. Yet with Clinton’s overall superdelegate lead (259-170, based on the lists they've released to us), and when you toss in the 63-48 lead Obama had among pledged delegates going into Super Tuesday, it appears Clinton has about 70 more overall delegates than Obama does (1140-1150 for Clinton versus 1070 to 1080 for Obama).

Against Happiness

Happiness: Enough Already

Wilson, who asserts that "the happy man is a hollow man," is hardly the first scholar to see melancholia as muse. A classical Greek text, possibly written by Aristotle, asks, "Why is it that all those who have become eminent in philosophy or politics or poetry or the arts are clearly melancholic?" Wilson's answer is that "the blues can be a catalyst for a special kind of genius, a genius for exploring dark boundaries between opposites." The ever-restless, the chronically discontent, are dissatisfied with the status quo, be it in art or literature or politics.

Romney Vows to Battle On

You go Mitt!

Aaaaakward

Hilary versus ObamaCare

Krugman explains

But as I’ve tried to explain in previous columns, there really is a big difference between the candidates’ approaches. And new research, just released, confirms what I’ve been saying: the difference between the plans could well be the difference between achieving universal health coverage — a key progressive goal — and falling far short.

Specifically, new estimates say that a plan resembling Mrs. Clinton’s would cover almost twice as many of those now uninsured as a plan resembling Mr. Obama’s — at only slightly higher cost.

...

If you combine the economic analysis with these political realities, here’s what I think it says: If Mrs. Clinton gets the Democratic nomination, there is some chance — nobody knows how big — that we’ll get universal health care in the next administration. If Mr. Obama gets the nomination, it just won’t happen.

I totally knew that N.Y. would win

: Obama, Romney Ahead In California

in the latest Zogby poll, both within the margin of error I believe.

Yes we can.

Imagine a message of hope like this versus McCain. Not even close.

This is better

On the FISA bill

So, after all that, after all the back room offers and counteroffers and fear-mongering and delaying, the Senate has finally struck a deal on the surveillance bill, and everyone has agreed to it, including Sens. Dodd and Feingold, so there should be no filibustering this time around. They'll get to voting on it all on Monday.

Most crucially, the Dodd/Feingold amendment, which would strip retroactive immunity for the telecoms from the bill, will only need 51 votes to pass. The same goes for the related Specter/Whitehouse amendment, which instead of offering immunity to the telecoms, would replace the federal government as the defendant in all the lawsuits.

And look, the whole world didn't come crumbling down! Many props to Dodd.