Two pictures worth 1,000 words: As glad I am that these animals were saved, the comparison to how humans were treated in the aftermath of Katrina tells a shocking story.

by TChris

Raw Story has an advance copy of a speech that John Kerry will deliver today at Brown University. If only he had been this forcefully critical of President Bush during his campaign, he might be president today.

I know the President went on national television last week and accepted responsibility for Washington's poor response to Katrina. That's admirable. And it's a first. As they say, the first step towards recovery is to get out of denial. But don't hold your breath hoping acceptance of responsibility will become a habit for this administration. On the other hand, if they are up to another "accountability moment" they ought to start by admitting one or two of the countless mistakes in conceiving, "selling", planning and executing their war of choice in Iraq.

Via Daily Kos: Right now with 5,000 votes it would be a Clark-Feingold ticket.

Update: Final poll results are here.

Via Making Light:

From another book George didn’t read at Yale:

When resources are exhausted, then levies are made under pressure. When power and resources are exhausted, then the homeland is drained. The common people are deprived of seventy percent of their budget, while the government’s expenses for equipment amount to sixty percent of the budget.

— Sun Tzu
The Art of War

What kind of military "medical test" confirms one is telling the truth? Did they inject the bomber with scopolamine? Or is a lie dector now a "medical test?" If the military used scopolamine, did the bomber consent or was he given a choice?

A suicide bomber captured before he could blow himself up in a Shiite mosque claimed he was kidnapped, beaten and drugged by insurgents who forced him to take on the mission. The U.S. military said its medical tests indicated the man was telling the truth.

Eric Alterman: "Nope, Nothing at all like Vietnam."

Using enemy body counts as a benchmark, the U.S. military claimed gains against Abu Musab Zarqawi's foreign-led fighters last week even as they mounted their deadliest attacks on Iraq's capital.

But by many standards, including increasingly high death tolls in insurgent strikes, Zarqawi's group, al Qaeda in Iraq, could claim to be the side that's gaining after 2 1/2 years of war. August was the third-deadliest month of the war for U.S. troops.

Bump and Update: Jury selection is underway. Six jurors have been dismissed and opening arguments likely will begin Thursday.

********
Original Post (9/18)

Former Illinois Governor George Ryan's federal corruption trial begins Monday.

Accused of doling out big-money state contracts and leases to political insiders, the 71-year-old veteran politician is scheduled to go to trial Monday, charged in a 22-count indictment with racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, lying to the FBI and tax fraud.

It's another case of purchased testimony, testimony bought with promises of leniency. Freedom is a far more precious commodity than money. How's it looking for Gov. Ryan?

by TChris

Conservative critics of the Supreme Court have derided its occasional citation of cases from foreign courts to make a point about the law of the United States. "Who cares what the rest of the world thinks?" they ask mockingly. "Our law is ours alone."

Law Prof. Ann Althouse points out in a NY Times op-ed piece that the dispute is much ado about nothing. Careful thinking can be guided by a variety of sources, not all of which are precedents from American courts:

by Last Night in Little Rock

In what was described by Iraqi officials as the largest theft in history, the UK Independent reports that $1B has disappeared from the Iraq Defense Ministry, compromising Iraq's ability to defend itself against insurgents.

One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq's defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country's army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons.

The money, intended to train and equip an Iraqi army capable of bringing security to a country shattered by the US-led invasion and prolonged rebellion, was instead siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared.

by TChris

This proposition is so sensible that we can expect the right wing to ridicule it:

"We should have an electoral system," the [Commission on Federal Election Reform] declared, "where registering to vote is convenient, voting is efficient and pleasant, voting machines work properly, fraud is deterred and disputes are handled fairly and expeditiously."

In a report that will be delivered to Congress today, a commission chaired by Jimmy Carter and James A. Baker III recommends a number of election reforms. The most important recommendation is this:

by TChris

No level of government did an adequate job of helping hospitals and nursing homes that failed to carry out their responsibility to evacuate patients from New Orleans. The consequences of those failures were often fatal.

Of the dead collected so far in the New Orleans area, more than a quarter of them, or at least 154, were patients, mostly elderly, who died in hospitals or nursing homes, according to interviews with officials from 8 area hospitals and 26 nursing homes. By the scores, people without choice of whether to leave or stay perished in New Orleans, trapped in health care facilities and in many cases abandoned by their would-be government rescuers.

The Minnesota Daily has an editorial today on the hunger strike at Guantanamo:

About a quarter of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay are engaged in a hunger strike, and 18 prisoners are being force-fed through tubes or intravenously after about a month of not eating. The prisoners are protesting the frightening reality that detainees have gone three years without trials.

....While morality and ethics are abstract ideas, justice is more concrete, hence why there are laws. Guantanamo and the actions that have been taken by our government against the detainees violate the Geneva convention, the Bill of Rights, and our Constitution. Justice is not merely a conditional idea.

The conclusion, which undoubtedly will fall on deaf ears: