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Monthly Archives: May 2009

Propaganda for Bush’s eyes only

Sunday, May 17, 2009

This morning Frank Rich mentioned the fact that Donald Rumsfeld had larded his daily secret reports to George Bush with biblical quotes. The information comes from an article in GQ Magazine written by Robert Draper: Draper reports that Rumsfeld’s monomaniacal determination to protect his Pentagon turf led him to hobble and antagonize America’s most willing […]

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A Challenger for Dodd

Sunday, May 17, 2009

It’s hard to decide what to make of this: Merrick posted another video, which he’s since taken down. The old video was here. I’m not sure the two were much different. His website is here. Oddly enough, we have at least two things in common. We both grew up in Hartford with single Moms (at […]

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A loss for Groton

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Now that Barbara Tarbox, Groton’s estimable Town Clerk, has made her intentions to retire official (I’ve known for a while of her intentions), I feel I can pay tribute to her on the pages of this humble blog It is difficult to imagine how poorly the town would operate without a good town clerk. Besides […]

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Friday Night Music-A Tribute to a Fine Institution

Friday, May 15, 2009

A few weeks ago I shared my grief at the prospect of the imminent closing of the Norwich YMCA. Today, the final nail was driven in the coffin as news came that the Hail Mary fundraiser to keep it open feel far short of its goal. So the Y will remain closed, and the pool […]

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Setting the terms of the debate

Friday, May 15, 2009

One of my pet peeves is the fact that even people who favor abortion rights have allowed the anti-abortion crowd to call themselves “pro-life”. Those who favor abortion rights, rather than just insisting on the term “anti-abortion” have simply opted for calling themselves pro-choice. In my own humble opinion, this has meant that the anti-abortion […]

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Ramblings on torture

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Others have written about the fact that Lindsay Graham has his facts wrong about the efficacy of torture, relying as he has on since recanted claims by a person who did not even witness the torture. In the same exchange with the man who actually interrogated Abu Zubaydah-the guy who got valuable information without torture- […]

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Part of the plan

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Via Firedoglake, this quote from Lindsey Graham: Now. I don’t know what Nancy Pelosi knew and when she knew it. And I really don’t think she’s a criminal if she was told about waterboarding and did nothing. But I think it is important to understand that members of Congress, allegedly, were briefed by … about […]

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Re-branding

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Stephen Colbert on Republican rebranding: Speaking of rebranding, not content with making a mess of their own brand, the Republicans are about to pass a resolution demanding that the Democrats re-brand themselves, by changing their name to the “Democrat Socialist” party. (The just can’t get enough of dropping the “ic” on the end of the […]

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Lobbyists dollars at work

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

I have to pass this along because I don’t think I’ve ever seen the sink of corruption that is Washington so blatantly acknowledged. Via Firedoglake, this is language that a Washington bribery lobbyist firm uses to promote its services: The C2 Group, recognizing the increasing reliance and need for campaign funds, has stepped into this […]

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Drip, drip, drip?

Monday, May 11, 2009

The Washington Post reports (via the Washington Monthly blog) that the White House is set to disclose more torture materials, which will probably put the lie to the Cheney induced meme that torture worked, so what’s the problem. Government officials familiar with the CIA’s early interrogations say the most powerful evidence of apparent excesses is […]

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