One Utah

Last night, Bill Moyers interviewed Andrew Bacevich, author of The Limits of Power. It’s worth the time to read the whole transcript. In particular I was struck by this exchange - it began with Moyers reading a quote from Bacevich’s book:
BILL MOYERS: I was in the White House, back in the early 60s, [...]

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come up with a terrific GOP strategy: shut down the government like they did in 1995.
What’s Gingrich mad about now? Congress hasn’t voted to lift a moratorium on new offshore oil drilling, which is a favor owed to the oil companies by the congressmen who took campaign [...]

During the time leading up to the Bejing Olympics, the Chinese government assured the world that the development of human rights would be strengthened. However the Chinese government continues to restrict its citizens’ fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of association, and freedom of religion. Labor rights, Children’s rights, Women’s rights, and access to [...]

The anti-abortion crowd has been, for a very long time, very quietly anti-contraception. Arguments against contraception range from the ludicrous (use of contraception leads to abortion) to the medically inaccurate (chemical contraception is actually a form of chemical abortion). Since 98% of American women will use contraception during their lives, arguing against it [...]

And there is nothing we can do about it, at least in the short run. A sad time for America.

Glenn Greenwald:
The votes in the Senate on various amendments to the FISA “compromise” bill and to the underlying bill itself were originally scheduled for today, but have been postponed until tomorrow (Wednesday, July 9) to [...]

Jesse Helms died at the age of 86. He served 30 years in the US Senate. He was a shrewd manipulator of Senate rules and a fearless champion of racism in its most honest form. Helms was also a rare breed - a truly honest bigot. He didn’t dress up his [...]

According to the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, only 35 percent of Americans believe a terrorist attack somewhere in the United States is likely over the next several weeks. While this level of fear is still way out of proportion with the actual risk, it’s the lowest in a CNN poll since the 9/11 [...]

This morning, 105 Democrats voted for the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, including our own Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) (R-UT). This legislation is unconstitutional and a total capitulation to White House claims of unlimited executive power. It also stymies future efforts to investigate the full extent of the Bush administration’s illegal surveillance activities. [...]

Do we have anything to learn from a 90 year old pandemic?
A first wave influenza swept the world in March 1918. A second, more deadly wave hit in the fall - from September to November. Finally, a third wave hit the world in early 1919. An exact death toll is unknowable but [...]

Via Radar:
According to a senior government official who served with high-level security clearances in five administrations, “There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived ‘enemies of the state’ [...]

The March 20 U.K. Guardian features an Iraq war commentary by former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix that for its trenchant economy could serve as an object lesson for every contributor to this blog.
As Blix says–and he would know–there was NO rational justification for this war EXCEPT the elimination of a brutal [...]

by hilage
Here’s a little recap you can send around to your Republican friends who are hearing what they want to hear from the media.

After five years, 4,000+ US dead , 40,000+ US casualties, and at least 500,000 Iraqi dead and countless wounded – not to mention several million displaced – the current situation is [...]