Ray McGovern, the retired CIA veteran who sharply challenged Rumsfeld’s war rationales, angrily swatted away CNN’s Paula Zahn’s questions about McGovern’s motives. This was “not a matter of axes to grind. Its a matter of telling the truth.”
New Yorker staff writer and Berkeley professor Mark Danner has a new book exploring America’s scandalous indifference to the Downing Street Memo—the “smoking gun” that all but proves Bush was set on going to war in Iraq eight months before the actual invasion.
Ray McGovern, a retired 27-year veteran of the CIA, leaves Donald Rumsfeld sputtering as he pulls apart the secretary of defense’s flawed rationale for the Iraq war—on live television.
The Republican senator announced the move in the wake of news that Bush used “signing statements” to assert his supposed right to circumvent more than 750 laws passed over the last five years. Legal scholars say the breadth of Bush’s use of “signing statements” is unprecedented.
In a new book, Salon senior writer Eric Boehlert chronicles “one of the great journalistic collapses of our time”: the media’s failure to sufficiently challenge the president in the run-up to the Iraq war. Check out the extended excerpt.
In a last-minute about-face, the Mexican president will not OK a bill that would have greatly loosened penalties on possession of personal amounts of drugs. It’s apparently the result of U.S. pressure.
House conservatives just passed a lobbying reform bill that the Washington Post called a “sham,” diluted snake oil and an insult to voters. Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., said, “I happen to believe we are losing our moral authority to lead this place.”
Sidney Blumenthal says Stephen Colbert delivered the “most scathing public critique of the Bush presidency and the complicity of a craven press corps,” so it’s not surprising his routine was met by silence by the journalists in the room.
States like Colorado are holding dances in which fathers goad their daughters into pledging to remain virgins until marriage. (Never mind that abstinence pledges actually increase risky sexual activity.) You won’t believe the creepy anti-sex scripts the fathers read.
The Brazilian city becomes the third at least the fourth worldwide (after Mexico City, Tokyo and Cairo) to mandate female-only cars during rush hour—to guard against gropers and harassment. But many consider the law a major step backward for women’s rights.
(thanks to reader Hilary Tate for the correction)
Literary rock star Dave Eggers’ magazine The Believer does a cover story on how 1980s teenage sex comedies “reflect a larger human and cultural failure to ... integrate sexual desire into regular life.”
Amnesty International’s report says the U.S. has failed to eradicate “widespread” torture in its jails in Iraq, Afghanistan and Cuba. Also, no senior U.S. officials have been held accountable for the practices.
The nation’s largest beverage distributors have agreed to remove the sugary drinks from school vending machines and cafeterias. Bill Clinton brokered the deal.
The Mexican president will sign a bill that drastically weakens penalties for possession of personal amounts of drugs like pot, coke, ecstasy and acid. But local judges can still detain or deport those found with the drugs.
Upon the publication of his first book in 14 years, the legendary reporter talks sex, plagiarism and his place in the journalistic pantheon. Check out the exclusive Truthdig interview.
In the wake of even more plagiarism allegations against the Ivy League sophomore, publisher Little, Brown and Co. has canceled her $500,000 two-book deal and permanently pulled copies of her book from store shelves.
The No. 3 man in the spy agency is being probed for his connections to two defense contractors accused of bribing a member of Congress and Pentagon officials, reports ABC News.
The exiled Iraqi who provided faulty intelligence on Iraqi WMDs to the Pentagon and the N.Y. Times is acting as a broker between the U.S. and Iran, according to Raw Story.
Even the House majority leader, a Republican, has rejected the Republican Senate leadership’s idea to send taxpayers a $100 check to cover rising gas prices.
Reactions to Stephen Colbert’s Bush roast largely break down along lines of political affiliations. But there are exceptions. Check ‘em out.
Also, watch Tucker Calson call it an “embarrassing public flop.”
The FDA says there is no medical benefit to marijuana. Tell that to the assistant D.A. in this story, who used to prosecute drug busts but who now smokes pot to build up an appetite ravaged by AIDS.
Why Obama’s Strategy Won’t Succeed
