Since my first comment didn't go through (sent about an hour ago), here's my response to Larry.

Posted at March 6, 2008 4:47 PM in response to Obama and His Advisors Not Ready for Prime Time

Is it normal for a comment to take an hour to post?

Posted at March 6, 2008 4:38 PM in response to Obama and His Advisors Not Ready for Prime Time

Larry Johnson is a hack that no one should pay attention to. As proof, see Exhibit A:

First, he tells us that Obama will "do for Africa what George Bush has done for Iraq. Only worse. He is taking sides in a tribal war in Kenya that is on the verge of becoming a Rwanda-like genocide." Sounds scary, right? Well, if you read the rest of the article, there is not one iota of evidence put forth that Obama would commit a single US troop to Kenya. Hack.

Then he links to an article (the link is broken in the original) and implies that one Robert Ethan wrote it. In fact, Robert Ethan is not the author of the article (here's the original) Who is Robert Ethan? Just some guy on the internet. If you skip to the third block quote in Mr. Johnson's article, you'll see the spectacular claim that

Former Clinton aides currently working for Obama were the “mutual acquaintances” who directed Dick Morris to Kenya to advise the Odinga

The rest of the article contains equal parts Red-baiting and half-truths (e.g. the purported agreement between Odinga and the National Muslim Leaders Forum that would bring sharia to Kenya had been revealed as a fake two months prior to Mr.Johnson writing his article).

Posted at March 6, 2008 3:14 PM in response to Obama and His Advisors Not Ready for Prime Time

Color me unimpressed. American Evangelicals have been in bed with conservatives and the Republican party for 30 years; they now see their power waining (both within the Republican party and American politics in general) and are now casting about for a way to hold on to some of that power. Only now, after the majority of Americans realized the abysmal failure of the Evangelical, conservative Bush administration, do we hear talk about "synthesis" between Evangelicals and liberals. Progressives should show no interest in "keep[ing] the tradition[s] alive" that the Religious Right has so honored these past 7 years (e.g. anti-intellectualism, preemptive war, torture, reflexive fear and loathing of Muslims and brown people).

Posted at February 12, 2008 4:10 PM in response to Dynamic Solidarity

If "[t]he CIA has not used waterboarding for almost five years", that means it was last used sometime in the first half of 2003. If, as Hayden's comments seem to imply, it was first used in late 2001 and early 2002, that would mean waterboarding was in use for at least a full year. Does anyone believe that during that year it was only used three times?

Posted at February 5, 2008 2:51 PM in response to CIA Director Confirms Details of Waterboarding