Something Up?

The first postponement. AP (11.29.06):

“President Bush’s high-stakes summit with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was put off Wednesday amid political unrest in Baghdad and public disclosure of U.S. doubts about the Iraqi leader’s capacity to control sectarian warfare.

The White House said Bush and al-Maliki would meet on Thursday.”

U.S.-Iraq Summit Put Off Until Thursday

Shiites walk out of Parliament. Washington Post (11.29.06):

“The plan change also came as a bloc of Iraqi lawmakers and cabinet ministers allied with militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr launched a boycott of their governmental duties to protest al-Maliki’s decision to attend the summit in Jordan with Bush.”

Bush-Maliki Summit Put on Hold

Dinner’s off now, too. ABCNews (11.29.06):

“Prospects for the already-delayed meeting were put into further doubt when al-Maliki canceled a presummit dinner with Bush.”

Is There a Way Out of Iraq?

Troops are on the move. Reuters says the US is “likely to move more than 1,000 troops into Baghdad from elsewhere in Iraq”, while CNN is reporting it could be as many as 2,700.

In the meantime, all hell has broken out northeast of Baghdad. Washington Post (11.29.06):

“Fierce fighting Wednesday between coalition forces and insurgents shut down the Iraqi city of Baqouba, which has been roiled by violence in recent days, killing scores of militants and civilians.”

Deadly Fighting Shuts Down City in Iraq

Man, if something’s gonna blow over there, this sure feels like it might be the time.

iHurt: Definitely Not By Apple

Weapons Blog (11.27.06), via DefenseTech:

“iHurt is .17 Caliber Mini-Browning that can easily be recognized the world’s smallest automatic machine gun ever, which is about a foot long in size. Though, the gun is apparently small in size, it can hit with immense force.”

iHurt: Ever smallest machine gun packs a knockout punch

The picture is worth a thousand words.

The video is even cooler.

Guess This’ll Show Him

How stupid is this? Like he’s gonna have trouble getting this stuff somewhere else. AP (11.29.06):

“The Bush administration wants North Korea’s attention, so like a scolding parent it’s trying to make it tougher for that country’s eccentric leader to buy iPods, plasma televisions and Segway electric scooters.

The U.S. government’s first-ever effort to use trade sanctions to personally aggravate a foreign president expressly targets items believed to be favored by Kim Jong Il or presented by him as gifts to the roughly 600 loyalist families who run the communist government.”

U.S. Bans Sale of iPods to North Korea

Kim should get an iPod, have it personally engraved, then send it to George for Christmas.

President Dickhead

Jim Webb, who beat Republican George Allen for a Senate seat in Virginia earlier this month, went to a private reception the President was hosting for incoming members of Congress. “Webb, a decorated former Marine officer, hammered Allen and Bush over the unpopular war in Iraq while wearing his son’s old combat boots on the campaign trail.” The Hill (11.29.06), via Josh Marshall:

“[At the reception], Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.

Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.”

Son also rises in testy Webb-Bush exchange

“‘I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,’ Bush retorted, according to the source.”

Webb later admitted that after this punk-ass crack, he entertained thoughts of punching little George’s lights out, but restrained himself.

“A White House spokeswoman declined to give Bush’s version of the conversation.”

Ha!! George. What a puss.

Look Who’s Yanking The Chain

Oh my. The Saudis say jump, and Dick asks, “How high?” Washington Post (11.28.06), via The Washington Monthly:

“Saudi Arabia is so concerned about the damage that the conflict in Iraq is doing across the region that it basically summoned Vice President Cheney for talks over the weekend, according to U.S. officials and foreign diplomats. The visit was originally portrayed as U.S. outreach to its oil-rich Arab ally.”

Civil War in Iraq Near, Annan Says

After everything, this is what it’s all come to?

How nice.

Gonna Kick Some Ass; Take Some Names

Harry ain’t kidding around. How refreshing is this to hear? NYTimes (11.28.06), via AmericaBlog:

“Ethics reform, a higher minimum wage and more money for stem cell research are the top items on the Senate agenda next year, incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press.

Reid said he will tackle those priorities after cleaning up the ‘financial mess’ that the outgoing Republican leadership has left.”

Sen. Reid: Ethics, Stem Cells Top Agenda

“He was referring to nine long overdue appropriations bills covering 13 Cabinet departments for the budget year that began Oct. 1.”

“‘They’re just leaving town, it appears,’ Reid said from his office in the Capitol. ‘We hope that’s not the case, but it appears that’s what they are going to do. And so we’re going to have to find a way to fund the government for the next year.'”

“Reid also said he’s doing away with the ‘do-nothing Congress’ that Democrats campaigned against this year as they ousted the Republican majority in both chambers of Congress.”

“‘We’re going to put in some hours here that haven’t been put in in a long time,’ Reid said. That means ‘being here more days in the week and we start off this year with seven weeks without a break. That hasn’t been done in many, many years here.'”

Well the White House will cooperate, right? “Reid said he hopes that President Bush is willing to work with the Democratic congressional leadership, but the early signs have not been encouraging. He said the White House has not reached out to him since his meeting with Bush in the Oval Office on Nov. 10. ‘Sorry to say,’ Reid said.”

And You Just Thought They Were Nuts

Nope. They really are psychos, and they appear to prefer the comforting hand of a sterner discipline. New Haven Advocate (11.23.06), via TomTomorrow, by way of Carpetbagger:

“Lohse, a social work master’s student at Southern Connecticut State University, says he has proven what many progressives have probably suspected for years: a direct link between mental illness and support for President Bush.”

Are George W. Bush lovers certifiable?

“Lohse says his study is no joke. The thesis draws on a survey of 69 psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 presidential election. Lohse’s study, backed by SCSU Psychology professor Jaak Rakfeldt and statistician Misty Ginacola, found a correlation between the severity of a person’s psychosis and their preferences for president: The more psychotic the voter, the more likely they were to vote for Bush.”

“‘Our study shows that psychotic patients prefer an authoritative leader,’ Lohse says. ‘If your world is very mixed up, there’s something very comforting about someone telling you, ‘This is how it’s going to be.””

While noting that this study was released in late October, this blogger observed that “(u)nfortunately Lohse does not reveal the diagnoses of the 69 outpatients.”

To which Christopher responded:

“While these 69 subjects suffered from a wide variety of specific diagnoses, they could all be characterized by the broad descriptor ‘severe and persistant mental illness.’ All have had multiple psychiatric hospitalizations. Particularly when not taking psychiatric medication, they see and hear hallucinations and they may also have depression, mania, drug, and/or alcohol problems. In sum, these people have disabling psychiatric disorders.”

The Stamping Of A Little Foot

Bound and determined to be petulantly obstinate, no matter how many people die. What a son of a bitch. Reuters (11.28.06):

“The United States will not withdraw its forces from Iraq before its mission of building a stable democracy is complete, President George W. Bush said on Tuesday.”

U.S. won’t leave Iraq till mission complete

Which means we’re never getting out until we get our asses kicked out. And that, friends, is exactly what’s happening. Washington Post (11.28.06):

“The U.S. military is no longer able to defeat a bloody insurgency in western Iraq or counter al-Qaeda’s rising popularity there, according to newly disclosed details from a classified Marine Corps intelligence report that set off debate in recent months about the military’s mission in Anbar province.

The Marines recently filed an updated version of that assessment that stood by its conclusions and stated that, as of mid-November, the problems in troubled Anbar province have not improved, a senior U.S. intelligence official said yesterday.

Anbar Picture Grows Clearer, and Bleaker

“‘The fundamental questions of lack of control, growth of the insurgency and criminality’ remain the same, the official said.”

The report goes on to say that “‘(d)espite the success of the December elections, nearly all government institutions from the village to provincial levels have disintegrated or have been thoroughly corrupted and infiltrated by Al Qaeda in Iraq,” or a smattering of other insurgent groups….”

Ezra vs. Mort

Mort sez that the “reason that V.A. prices are lower is, it’s basically a socialized medical system. You go to a V.A. doctor, you go to a V.A. hospital, you go to a V.A. pharmacy and the V.A. pharmacies only have 25 percent of the drugs that seniors actually use all the time. So, you know, it doesn’t work.”

Ezra begs to differ (11.27.06) (italics, links in original):

“There is an implicit contract between pundits and their audiences. The audiences, whose attention pays our salaries, are working off the assumed information that the networks and publications elevate only those who take the time to accurately comprehend the issues they’re speaking about. And we, as our part of the deal, are supposed to take ten minutes and figure out what we’re talking about.”

Kondracke vs. the Facts

Unlike Mort, Ezra does a little legwork, and finds out that the “VA, just like the Medicare prescription drug plans, uses a formulary of drugs on which they negotiate discounts. That formulary contains drugs for every condition, but mostly eschews the copycats and useless medications that clutter up the market. Your pharmacy, remarkably enough, does the same thing. Now, VA users still have coverage for drugs off the formulary, they just don’t get the bargained discounts on them. And here’s the kicker: The VA has the best outcomes, for the lowest cost.”

Ezra points Mort to a piece by Phil Longman. Amble on over and read ‘er through. When you’re done, you’ll know a helluva lot more about the VA hospital system than Kondracke does.

Ezra also notes that in 2003, “The New England Journal of Medicine found the ‘socialized’ VA better on all 11 metrics of care than fee-for-service Medicare. The Annal of Internal Medicine found they surpass the commercial managed-care systems on all seven metrics of care for diabates patients. The National Committee for Quality Assurance, the gold-standard, found the VA the best health system in the country, beating out such star performers as John Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic. And an astounding 81% of Vets approve of their care, higher than Medicare, Medicaid, or the private sector.”

Amazing what ten minutes of research can do, eh Mort?

Watch Us Watch You

Some folks are gonna have some ‘splainin’ to do. Washington Post (11.28.06):

“After riding high for five years, government contractors are bracing themselves for increased oversight, tighter budgets and stepped up regulations as Democrats take over on Capitol Hill and vow to keep a closer eye on how companies spend taxpayer dollars.

Every company that does business with the government could feel the impact, but contractors that benefited most from work in Iraq and Afghanistan, from homeland security initiatives or from Hurricane Katrina are especially likely to be under the microscope.”

Contractors Face More Scrutiny, Pinched Purses

“Big-ticket weapons programs are also expected to garner special attention, and it may become more difficult to get a no-bid contract, according to industry observers.”

“Most incoming chairs of congressional committees have not said specifically which contracting areas they intend to scrutinize. But the Government Accountability Office, Congress’s investigative arm, gave Hill leaders some ideas earlier this month.”

“In a 44-page look (ed. – 44 pages?) at areas in need of oversight, GAO investigators focused substantial attention on contractors. The government spent $388 billion on contracts last year, the GAO said, and much of that money is exposed to ‘potential waste and misuse’ because of the way the government buys goods and services.”

Good old POGO’s been “holding seminars for Hill workers of both parties on how to conduct investigations, including sessions on the anatomy of a government contract and skits in which oversight hearings were acted out.”

“Richard Moorhouse, a contracting attorney with Greenberg Traurig, said he is advising clients with high-visibility contracts to be ready to testify on Capitol Hill at a moment’s notice.”

“‘They should be preparing themselves,’ Moorhouse said.”

Your testimony sir. Would that be with or without subpoena?

Turn Left Ahead

Damn them socialist commies and that damn democracy. AP (11.27.06):

“Rafael Correa, the leftist nationalist headed to victory in Ecuador’s presidential race, is already planning radical reforms when he takes office in January.

That is putting him on a fast track to a dangerous confrontation with the country’s opposition-controlled Congress — a body he has called a ‘sewer’ but which he needs to carry out his reforms.”

Correa Looks Toward Reforms in Ecuador

Giving wingnuts up here the vapors, Rafael calls himself a “‘personal friend’ of Hugo Chavez. The money boys are all a’twitter as well. Bloomberg (11.27.06):

“Ecuador surpassed Lebanon as the riskiest country for bondholders after Rafael Correa, who late yesterday declared himself winner of the presidential elections, said the nation may default on $11 billion of debt, according to traders in the credit-default swap market.”

Ecuador Bonds Riskiest, Credit-Default Swaps Indicate

Rafael doesn’t much give a shit. “‘If country risk goes up because of speculators worrying over ability to pay the debt, I don’t care’, [he] said last night in an interview on television network Ecuavisa.”

JP Morgan doesn’t give a shit either. Reuters (11.27.06):

“JP Morgan said on Monday Ecuador is unlikely to default in 2007 despite pledges of a debt restructuring that Rafael Correa, who leads the vote count of Sunday’s presidential elections, made during the campaign.

The bank bucked a wave of negative recommendations on Ecuador’s bonds by telling investors to remain ‘marketweight’ on the country’s debt.”

Ecuador unlikely to default in 2007, says JP Morgan

Rafael beat this guy. AFP (11.23.06):

“A bible-thumping, anti-communist banana magnate and Ecuador’s wealthiest man, Alvaro Noboa, 56, says God picked him to run in the South American country’s presidential election.

The pro-market billionaire, who is running neck-and-neck against a leftist economist in Sunday’s run-off vote, insists he is the best qualified to govern Ecuador.”

Noboa: Bible-thumping banana magnate, presidential hopeful

When asked why he was running a while back, Alvaro said: “‘Because I am one of the poor and I am the candidate of the poor. Because God has told me to be president.'”

Alrighty then.

Send Lawyers, Guns And Money

It’s about to hit the fan. CNN (11.23.06), via Josh Marshall:

“The incoming chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says he will have a ‘cleanup agenda’ ready when Democrats take power in January.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia said the agenda will include reviews of the Bush administration’s warrantless eavesdropping and the CIA’s secret prisons.”

Intelligence agencies to face ‘cleanup agenda’

“Rockefeller said he wants to correct what he called a ‘lack of oversight’ by the committee that gave free rein to the Bush administration in the war on terror.”

“‘It’s not understandable to me, but the majority party sort of didn’t want to do a lot of oversight,’ Rockefeller said in an interview aired Thursday on CNN Radio.”

Sort of? Ha!

“Rockefeller said the committee, which oversees U.S. intelligence operations, should be ‘holding people accountable, and what I hope to do is be aggressive on that.'”

NYTimes (11.23.06), via DailyKos:

“Seeking information about detention of terrorism suspects, abuse of detainees and government secrecy, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are reviving dozens of demands for classified documents that until now have been rebuffed or ignored by the Justice Department and other agencies.

‘I expect real answers, or we’ll have testimony under oath until we get them,’ Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, who will head the committee beginning in January, said in an interview this week.”

Senate Democrats Revive Demand for Classified Data

“‘We’re entitled to know these answers, and in many instances we don’t get them because people are hiding their mistakes. And that’s no excuse.'”

“Mr. Leahy, who has said little about his plans for the committee, expressed hope for greater cooperation from the Bush administration, which he described as having been ‘obsessively secretive.'”

Greater cooperation from Bush and the boys? Yeah, sure. Get ready to rumble, kids.

Running The Table

Our Middle East foreign policy debacle is complete. LATimes (11.23.06):

“When elections lifted reformers to power in Lebanon early last year, Bush administration officials [ed. – and other media geniuses] hailed it as a showcase example of the ‘Arab spring‘ they saw sweeping through the region.

Now, with the Lebanese government teetering on collapse, U.S. officials are braced for another — and some say final — blow to the administration’s campaign for its vision of reform in the Middle East.”

Lebanon crisis reflects fading U.S. clout

“The assassination Tuesday of Pierre Gemayel, a Cabinet minister and scion of one of the countries’ leading Maronite Catholic families, has renewed fears of civil war and raised suspicion that Syria is again asserting itself in the affairs of its restive neighbor.”

“‘You’re now seeing the last strand’ of failed U.S. policy endeavors, said Nathan Brown, a specialist in Arab politics at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former United Nations consultant.”

“Lebanon’s ‘Cedar Revolution,’ which gave power to anti-Syria forces, was heralded along with the 2005 elections in Iraq, Egypt and the Palestinian territories as part of a new movement that was going to be ‘as important as the fall of the Berlin Wall,’ Brown said.”

“But the changes that followed have dashed U.S. hopes in country after country, he said.”

“Palestinian voters have since granted power to the militant group Hamas, which the administration has yet to recognize. Egypt’s reforms have stalled. And in Iraq, the government has proved unable to run the country amid increasing violence and rising U.S. casualties.”

“Some analysts argue that, rather than the democratic ascendancy Bush foresaw in early 2005, Lebanon represents a trend that will bring instability and spell a sharp decline in U.S. influence in the region.”

“That trend is marked by the rise in influence of Hezbollah and Iran, the increase in the influence of fundamentalist Islam, the growth of sectarian militias, higher oil prices and the stagnation of efforts to find an Israeli-Palestinian peace, said Richard N. Haass, a top State Department official during Bush’s first term and now the president of the Council on Foreign Relations.”

“‘I think we’ve got to be more realistic about the promotion of democracy,’ he said.”

Really? Whatever gave you that idea?

No Longer A Monkey’s Uncle

Just a first cousin once removed. The Independent (11.23.06):

“Scientists have discovered a dramatic variation in the genetic make-up of humans that could lead to a fundamental reappraisal of what causes incurable diseases and could provide a greater understanding of mankind.

The discovery has astonished scientists studying the human genome – the genetic recipe of man.”

Genetic breakthrough that reveals the differences between humans

“Until now it was believed the variation between people was due largely to differences in the sequences of the individual ‘letters’ of the genome.”

“It now appears much of the variation is explained instead by people having multiple copies of some key genes that make up the human genome.”

“Another implication of the finding is that we are more different to our closest living relative, the chimpanzee, than previously assumed from earlier studies. Instead of being 99 per cent similar, we are more likely to be about 96 per cent similar.”

It has to do with CNVs, as in copy number variations. The study is here. It’s a fascinating read, though we’re sure as hell not gonna pretend we understand it.

Impeach George?

God forbid. USNews (11.19.06), via DailyKos:

“Consider why incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scrapped an idea to impeach Bush: ‘Two words: Dick Cheney,’ he says, joking that it would vault the veep into the Oval Office.”

Washington Whispers