Lugar Calls Out Right-Wing Hypocrites

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Some of the leading opponents of the Law of the Sea, ironically, feel very strongly that we should trust the judgments of military personnel on military matters. Jim Inhofe: “I don’t think it’s too much to expect for our leaders in Washington to keep an open mind and get the facts before drawing their conclusions….

Joe Wilson and Hillary’s Vote on Kyl-Lieberman

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Joe Wilson is off in Nevada campaigning for Hillary Clinton. Joe and I think similarly on many national security issues — and we have like-minded disdain for what Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush, John Bolton and others have done to America’s global position.

Dan Rather’s Worthy Crusade

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I’m not in a place to judge the veracity of Dan Rather’s reporting on Bush’s National Guard service, but as usual, Sidney Blumenthal has done an extraordinary job sequencing the bits and pieces of the Rather CBS story and suggests that Rather’s $70 million lawsuit against CBS will animate some much needed truth-telling about Bush’s…

Real Quick on Chris Dodd

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A lot of folks out there think I’m a sucker for good email notes — or very effective, personalized fundraising appeals like Hillary Clinton’s invitation to all of us (including me) to possibly have lunch with her, after she picked up the groceries and with her husband dropping by to say hello.

Buying Out Thugs – A View In Retrospect

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Juan Cole has picked up stories from Reuters and Harpers on a transcript of President Bush’s conversation with Spanish President Aznar that confirms that he had no intention of seriously pursuing UN Security Council support and was exceedingly optimistic over the outcomes of Iraq.

Update on Darfur: Egypt Steps Up as the US Stands Down

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(US Defense Secretary Robert Gates with the Egyptian Military, soon to be deploying troops to Darfur) Arab states have taken numerous hits in the media — some unwarranted, some deserved — for not taking a stronger role in condemning the violence in Darfur and arm-twisting the Sudanese government to allow for peacekeepers or peace talks….

Micro-Finance in a Keystroke

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The first question former President Clinton posed Afghan President Hamid Karzai was one of investment in Afghanistan. While the two touted the foreign investment starting to enter the country, Clinton suggested that everyone could contribute to average Afghans trying to make a living through Kiva.org — an online microfinance network like lendingtree.

John Bellinger’s Hat is White — David Addington’s is Soulless Black

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In the internal White House battles over the Geneva conventions, enemy combatant policies, extraordinary rendition, and torture — which have been viciously waged between various Bush administration officials against other colleagues in the same White House — there are a few heroes who fought the “darkness at noon” solutions advocated by Vice President Cheney’s team….