Out Monday....Get your copy now.

Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib by Seymour Hersh

In Chain of Command, Hersh takes an unflinching look behind the public story of President Bush's "war on terror" and into the lies and obsessions that led America into Iraq. He reveals the connections between early missteps in the hunt for Al Qaeda and disasters on the ground in Iraq. The book includes a new account of Hersh's pursuit of the Abu Ghraib story and of where, he believes, responsibility for the scandal ultimately lies. Hersh draws on sources at the highest levels of the American government and intelligence community, in foreign capitals, and on the battlefield for an unparalleled view of a crucial chapter in America's recent history.

Don't miss the John Kerry interview in this week's Time Magazine. He shows his stuff.

America is not as safe as we ought to be after 9/11. We can do a better job at homeland security. I can fight a more effective war on terror. The standard of living for the average American has gone down. People's incomes have dropped. Five million Americans have lost their health insurance. The deficit is the largest it's been in the history of this country. They're taking money from Social Security and transferring it to the wealthiest people in America to drive us into debt. They're shredding alliances around the world with people we have traditionally been able to rely on. That's what bothers me.

George Bush has made the wrong choices for America. He's leading the country in the wrong direction. John Edwards and I have better choices. We have a health-care plan for all Americans. We're going to stop subsidizing jobs that go overseas and create jobs here in America. We're going to fund education and not leave millions of children behind every day. The trail of broken promises and reversed decisions of this Administration is unlike any I have ever seen at any time that I have been in public life, and I'm going to draw that picture as clear as a bell.

What will Kerry do differently than Bush in Iraq?

Our federal sentencing laws are ridiculously gun-o-phobic. If you possess a gun during a drug crime, even if you never used it, intended to use it or even brandished it, there is a mandatory penalty of five years tacked onto whatever sentence you get for the drug crime for the first offense, and 25 years for subsequent offenses. In the case of 25 year old rap record producer Weldon Angelos, who sold marijuana on three occasions and twice had a gun on him that he never used or even flashed, and then had some guns in his home, the mandatory minimum penalty is 55 years in federal prison. The top end of his sentencing range is 63 years. Federal sentences have no parole. You do 85% of the time.

Mr. Angelos carried a Glock pistol in an ankle holster when he sold marijuana on two occasions, though he did not brandish or use it. More guns were found in a briefcase and a safe at his home. ....[the judge] is required to add five years for the gun in the first deal and 25 years each for the second deal and the guns found at his home.

"It would appear effectively to be a life sentence," the judge, Paul G. Cassell of Federal District Court there, wrote in a request to the prosecution and the defense for advice about whether he has any choice but to send the man to prison forever.

The last 368 Pakistani prisoners who were jailed 3 years ago for aiding the Taliban in its fight against the U.S. have been freed from jail in Afghanistan and returned home. Originally, there were 2,500 of them. They were kept in deplorable conditions. Many died.

Many of the prisoners originally were religious students who were sold by their "mullahs"--spiritual teachers--as
mujahideen (holy warriors) to the Taliban. Here is the story of 22 year old Amir Khan, as told to Reuters:

There was an explosion in North Korea resulting in a mushroom cloud. Agonist has the details--there is concern among some that it might have been a test of a nuclear weapon. A conservative newspaper, The Sankei Shimbun, reports there is speculation that North Korea has built an underground facility in Mount Baekdu near the Korea-China border.

The conservative paper speculated that the underground facility may house missile or nuclear-related installations or emergency military command

Former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik just said on Fox News that al Qaida is as much a threat today as is was on September 10, 2001. So, Bush's terror war has not made us safe--only less free.

1,000 dead in Iraq to bring down Saddam who still has not been shown to be a imminent threat to the U.S. What might another President have accomplished in the past three years in the real war against terror...assuming he, unlike Bush, was not obsessed with Saddam.

If you think we should have pursued Osama, investigated the Saudi connection and other groups with demonstrated ties to al Qaida, you have a chance to do something about it in November. Vote to change our President.

There's a new update to the U.S. News and World Report article we wrote about here on the issues raised by Bush's National Guard Service. Ouch, for President Bush.

A review of the regulations governing Bush's Guard service during the Vietnam War shows that the White House used an inappropriate--and less stringent--Air Force standard in determining that he had fulfilled his duty. Because Bush signed a six-year "military service obligation," he was required to attend at least 44 inactive-duty training drills each fiscal year beginning July 1. But Bush's own records show that he fell short of that requirement, attending only 36 drills in the 1972-73 period, and only 12 in the 1973-74 period. The White House has said that Bush's service should be calculated using 12-month periods beginning on his induction date in May 1968. Using this time frame, however, Bush still fails the Air Force obligation standard.

If you're in the New York area Sunday, head over to the U.N. for a rally to stop racist genocide and slavery in the Sudan.

Black people across Sudan are under threat of annihilation. The mass murder of Blacks in Darfur is the first genocide of the 21st century: 50,000 have been slaughtered, 2 million forced into the desert as refugees, and thousands raped and enslaved. In the South, the Shiluk Kingdom faces extermination. Across Sudan, millions of Blacks forced from their homes - Muslims, Christians, and animists - now live in refugee camps.

This is genocide. One million may die by December at the hands of the radical Islamist regime in Khartoum, led by General Omar Bashir, who took power in a 1989 military coup. For too long, world leaders have stood by and failed to stop the atrocities in Sudan's killing fields. Prominent members of the UN Security Council have oil and military contracts in Sudan.

First up is Jeff at Protein Wisdom, taking issue with TalkLeft and Pandagon.

Jesse Taylor at Pandagon responds.

Jeff Harrell at Shapes of Days has been all over the issue on the opposite side of TL...Kevin Drum is wavering. Mark Gisleson of Norwegianity is skeptical of the skeptics.

Add the blogs whose opinions you've agreed with in the comments section, just be sure to put any urls in html coding so the site doesn't get skewed. Instructions are inside the "post comment" box.

Update: Bill in DC has interviewed Dr. Bouffard who was interviewed by the Boston Globe. Bill says Dr. Bouffard is furious that the Boston Globe misrepresented his comments.

This letter is by one angry mother who checked the certificate of occupancy for Pier 57 in New York (which became known as Little Guantanamo or Guantanamo on the Hudson when it housed the jailed protesters in deplorable conditions) and found it was leased to the RNC. Read her indignation....and description of the conditions the protesters endured.

Two years ago we wrote:

What a day to have a birthday. Not fun, we bet. Both DailyKos and MadKane begin another year of life today, we hope you'll go over and extend good wishes.

Time heals, and I hope the specter of 9/11 is no longer casting a pall on the celebrations of those with 9/11 birthdays. "

Update: 5/21/05. Mary Kay and Vili married today.

Original Post:

Mary Kay Letourneau and her former student, Vili Fualaau, who is also the father of their two children, are still in love. According to Fualaau, they are planning to get married when they get their financial situation straightened out. Last month, after she was released from jail after serving a 7 1/2 year sentence for raping Fualaau, who was 12 at the time they began their sexual relationship, a Judge lifted the no contact order between them.

She did her time. They have two kids together. Let them decide if it's really love and they want to be together, or whether their relationship belongs in the past.

Doubtless some will be offended by this. TalkLeft is not one of them.