News & Comment

Digby does a good job of explaining why the Bush administration shouldn't be trusted on the flu vaccine issue, reminding fellow citizens that back in the day, Cheney advocated universal anthrax innoculations but was stopped by the outcry from the healthcare community.

Body and Soul talking about the looting of Iraqi nuclear facilities, theft that goes far beyond the theft of barrels full of yellowcake. Entire buildings have vanished over the course of the occupation, and no one who knows where they've gone has stepped forward to reassure the public. The lack of ongoing inspections or site monitoring puts lives at risk around the world from better equipped terrorists, and lives at risk in Iraq from possible nuclear contamination.

Bush gets endorsed by Iran.

DailyKos notes that Bush has picked a fight with Pat Robertson, a man whose recent statements could seriously damage the image of the Iraq war in the minds of a key Bush constituency. Oh, the irony.

The Sideshow has great stuff, so read as far down as you can. She also points to something I'd been planning to look for, but now don't need to: Al Gore's recent remarks at Georgetown. Some fine words from the people's choice for president in 2000, go read.

The American Street: Bush turns down Muslim peacekeepers offering to serve in Iraq because... well, damn, I can't even think of a good snarky reason to do a fool thing like that. A report on a Michael Moore rally in Eugene, OR. Our attention is drawn to the online diary of a soldier abroad, as it were, in Iraq. A substantive definition of obscenity. David Neiwert continues with a series on the rise of pseudo fascism.

Prometheus 6 with the very alarming economic news that foreign investors are backing off U.S. bonds, particularly bad since about half of the total bonds outstanding are foreign-held.

MaxSpeak: A collection of letters to the editor in Detroit on the subject of anger in America. How the tax burden gets shared.

Orcinus with a clarification, after the president's debate mention, on the history and nature of the Dred Scott decision.

If you haven't caught it yet, NBC's Meet The Press had a debate this past Sunday between DeMint (R) and Tenenbaum (D), the Senate candidates for South Carolina. There's a good discussion buried in there about DeMint's idea for a national sales tax.

BOPnews: Some quick hits for political junkies. In censorship news today, Walmart has censored The Daily Show book. A very sound and intelligent foreign policy speech by Wes Clark.

Wampum: A shameless promotion of Going Upriver, a movie about John Kerry. A big step up in the jurisdiction of Federal Indian Law. Bush's job approval numbers are anemic, and spell trouble for him, as well as the possibility of a brighter future for the rest of us.

Left Coaster: Democrats are better for the economy. The old guard of the Republican party are lining up against Bush. The results of the latest Gallup polls have been very favorable for Bush, but an examination of the samples they use shows a model that doesn't reflect the voting public.