The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
Just weeks after spreading “verbal sunshine” across the White House Rose Garden, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi gave a “sobering account” of Iraq’s instability in his first speech before the country’s interim national assembly.
Read moreOn Sept. 30, 2004, the deadline for Congress to act on preserving $1.1 billion in federal funds for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) ? the program which focuses on insuring the kids of the working poor ? was allowed to expire. The money was taken away from the states and returned to the U.S. Treasury.
Read moreIts true. a 21 year old (he might be 22 by now) who interned in Dick Cheney’s office is in charge of the money to spent for security in Iraq…and we’re wondering why there is no security in Iraq.
Read moreTwo weeks ago, President Bush announced, “[The] Taliban no longer is in existence.” He was egregiously mistaken. The Taliban may not be in power in Kabul, but they have been making a steady comeback throughout the countryside.
Read moreIn this month’s New Republic, Jonathan Chait follows the evolution of the “flip-flop” in this year’s presidential campaign. Analyzing 37 Kerry “flip-flops” listed on the Bush campaign website, Chait concludes only six are “legitimate reversals”
Read moreThe most recent report from the Weapons inspector in Iraq takes away every excuse Bush has used for going to war there. Remember, the reasons have changed over time, each time they were discredited.
Read moreNew job numbers are out this morning, and they’re more bad news for a president who has already received a truckload of it this week. The economy added about 96,000 new jobs in September. That’s fewer than analysts expected, fewer than what’s needed to keep up with population growth in the job market, and way fewer than what Bush’s own Council of Economic Advisors projected in December.
Read moreI read a good summary of the Vice Presidential debate on Salon.com. I agree that mainly Cheney managed to continue throwing out information he knows to be inaccurate, but Edwards seemed more concerned with making his talking points that responding to those false statements. Neither hurt each other’s campaign, but Edwards missed some chances to hit some home runs.
Read moreThe secrecy and the closed doors just go on and on with an arrogance that defies explanation. Yet Karl Rove has been able to convince half of America that all this means is that Bush is “working hard” and is “determined.”
Read moreIn 1945, Dr. Percy Spencer, a self-taught engineer with the Raytheon Corporation, was touring a company laboratory that was involved in a radar-related research project . . . and noticed something very unusual when he stopped in front of a magnetron. The chocolate bar in his pocket had begun to melt.
Read moreThe central claim at the heart of the Bush administration’s case for going to war was thoroughly discredited by the New York Times yesterday. Before the war, the Bush administration stated without doubt that Saddam Hussein was rebuilding a nuclear weapons program and, as proof, it pointed to the only physical evidence it could find: Iraq’s attempt to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes. We now know, however, that the smoking gun was a fabrication.
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