Guest blogged by David Edwards

As we noted earlier, on tonight's broadcast MSNBC's Countdown presented a report called "The Nexus of Politics and Terror".

In a piece which mildly reminds us of the BBC series The Power of Nightmares (video here), Countdown host, Keith Olbermann, provides evidence that politicians may use the fear of terror attacks to accomplish political goals.

Video in Windows Media format...
Streaming Video in Real Media format...
Audio in MP3 format...

Read more at MSNBC's Bloggerman...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Newsday and CNN are reporting that the highly publicized recent subway terror threats in New York were, in fact, a hoax:

CNN Video in Windows Media format...
CNN Video in QuickTime format...

The additional security measures in New York came Friday only hours after President Bush gave a speech which promoted increased terror fears. Police even shut down parts of the subway due to a suspicious unattended Pepsi bottle.

Across the country, other terror threats alarmed citizens. On Friday, the Washington Monument was evacuated due to a bomb threat. A Rolling Stones concert in Virginia was also temporarily interrupted due to another bomb threat the same day.

MSNBC's Countdown plans to investigate the correlation between politics and terror threats on Wednesday night's show. Last night, Countdown's host, Keith Olbermann noted:

Special BRAD BLOG / Velvet Revolution coverage
of the Sep 24-26 Rally in D.C.
Guest blogged by Katrina Wilcox

So long fellow warriors … these last few photos conclude our coverage of the DC rally. It was a privilege and pleasure to share our first protest experience with each of you. It is our sincerest hope that next time we march on Washington each of you will be there to add your voice to ours and the rest of the millions that show up to demand our country back. Our special thanks goes out to Brad for his suggestion that we guest blog our trip, to Winter Patriot and David for their expert help, and to Chris, Charles, Mark, Larisa, Brad, and Stan for adding their voices to our coverage.

As difficult as a leaderless revolution is to get started, once begun it is impossible to stop. There is no leader to destroy through lies, propaganda, or bullets. We are a Rainbow River made up of millions of droplets all flowing towards a common goal. A river that will always flow over or around whatever is put in the way to stop it.

Always remember that en masse we are invincible. Once we all realize that … swirl the sound of that around in our brains and cling to it with all of our collective stubbornness and strength - we will have won. In that one frozen instant of shared realization … we will have won …

(more photos in the "entire story"... )

Guest blogged by David Edwards

I found myself agreeing with Robert Bork on several of his arguments (ie spending, deficit) against bush. I feel so dirty.

Bork says that conservatives consider the nomination of Miers to be "the final straw" for the support of Bush.

Here's the video:

Streaming video in Real Media format...
Video in Windows Media format...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

It has long been the goal of the Republican Party to push the courts to the right by stacking them with radical conservatives. As the right-wing has become fractured over Bush's Miers nomination to the Supreme Court, conservative media sources have been a force in speaking out against the nomination.

The conservative outrage against Bush's nomination has further exposed the right-wing agenda of media sources. As Arianna Huffington points out, Meet the Press featured a debate between two conservatives on this Sunday's show as if right-wing opinions were all that matters with regard to the Miers nomination. Arianna explains:

During this weeks edition of Fox's Fox News Watch, conservative pundit Cal Thomas notes how conservative media were part of the "conservative team" working on a Supreme Court agenda. Fox employee, Jim Pinkerton, added that Fox News and Rush Limbaugh are aligned as part of that "conservative team".

News Hounds sums it up like this:

Watch the video of Fox News pundits admitting their network's bias towards the conservative agenda... Windows Media format or Quicktime format.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Republican House members DeLay, Barton, Hastert and Blunt held the vote open on a controversial energy bill until they were able twist enough arms for the bill to pass.

Although only 5 minutes are allotted for voting, Republicans refused to close the voting for 40 minutes until enough votes had switched to pass the energy bill which will gut environmental standards in favor of building more oil refineries.

Video in Windows Media format...
Video in QuickTime format...

As reported by Reuters:

UPDATE: Jesse from Stakeholder has more, including this quote from Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY):

FURTHER UPDATE: ThinkProgress has more, including the C-SPAN version of the video...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

According to a BBC press release, George W. Bush told Palestinian ministers that God instructed him to go to war with Afghanistan and Iraq:

UPDATE FROM BRAD: UniRealist's comment in this thread poses an eye-opening question:

The answer, sadly, speaks for itself. And volumes about the United States of America on October 6, 2005.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Radar Magazine is reporting a buzz of unconfirmed rumors in D.C. that indictments may be imminent from Fitzgerald's grand jury:

If there is any truth to this rumor, we wonder how the indictments match up with Think Progress' list of 21 Administration Officials Involved In Plame Leak.

Meanwhile, The Raw Story has confirmed that Rove has been missing from White House events and that he may be a target of the probe:

Some are wondering if these rumors could simply be a Rovian stunt to distract from other very real and very damaging news?

...developing...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Marine Captain Josh Rushing has taken a job reporting for an Arab news network which is drawing criticism from some conservatives. He was recently interviewed by NBC's Today Show.

Video in Windows Media format...
Video in QuickTime format...

The Arab language news network Al-Jazeera has plans to begin broadcasting an English-language channel by Spring of 2006. The network already had 30 to 50 million viewers in the Arab-speaking world. The network has been called propagandists, liars and terrorists by many neocons like Donald Rumsfeld and Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly. Even so, Al-Jazeera is almost certain to be a popular news alternative for many English-speaking viewers when it launches.

Guest blogged by David Edwards

In a moment of true clarity on CBS's 60 Minutes, Andy Rooney says what many Americans are thinking about the Iraq war and the threat of the military-industrial complex.

Andy begins his rant asking:

Reading the transcript may help if you find yourself in a state of shock or disbelief after watching this clip.

CBS Streaming Video in Windows Media format...

Video in Windows Media format...
Video in QuickTime format...
Audio in MP3 format...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

In a recent interview on MSNBC's Hardball, Tom DeLay explained how District Attorney Ronnie Earle had duped the grand jury into returning an indictment by saying "Oh sure. You can indict a ham sandwich. This is a ham sandwich without the ham."

DeLay has spun this indictment as a partisan attack by Ronnie Earle. At the same time, he downplays the role of the grand jurors as mere puppets of the prosecutor.

Now, in an interview with News 8 of Austin,the foreman of the grand jury, William Gibson, has stepped forward to defend the indictment:

Windows Media Video...
QuickTime...

Guest blogged by David Edwards

For some reason the right-wingers seem frustrated and angry lately.

Yesterday, Brad was in studio with The Lars Larson Show for two full hours. The first hour was broadcast regionally. The second hour was a national broadcast with a much larger audience.

During the course of the show, Lars' tone seems to change from mature discussion to outright brawling anger. At one point during the second hour, Lars may have been briefly channeling the venomous Bill O'Reilly.

How did Brad handle the assault? Listen to the interviews and let us know what you think.

Lars Larson and Brad Friedman - Hour 1 (MP3)
Lars Larson and Brad Friedman - Hour 2 (MP3)

UPDATE FROM BRAD: Thanks for getting this posted, David! I wanted to toss out a kudos to Lars for being willing to have me on in the first place! Unlike so many of his wingnut brethren whose arguments are so weak, they won't even tolerate hearing an alternate point of view. For what it's worth, Lars is at least willing to do so. And that is to his credit! As well, he and his staff have been exceedingly generous and gracious in welcoming here in Portland. And now, I'll be debating with Ann Coulter in the morning (Ron Insana's National Radio show, 9am PT --- details on the top of the Blog as soon as I can get 'em!)

Guest blogged by David Edwards

The Washington Post is reporting that a no-bid contract awarded to Carnival Cruise lines is the first FEMA contract to garner wide scrutiny. The contract was negotiated to provide housing for displaced Katrina victims. Understandably, many hurricane victims are hesitant to accept housing on the water. It's unclear how exactly how many displaced hurricane victims have accepted housing on the Carnival ships. Assuming that ships have 100% occupancy, FEMA would be paying more than twice the price of individually booked cruises. To critics, the price is exorbitant. If the ships were at capacity, with 7,116 evacuees, for six months, the price per evacuee would total $1,275 a week, according to calculations by aides to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). A seven-day western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston can be had for $599 a person --- and that would include entertainment and the cost of actually making the ship move. "When the federal government would actually save millions of dollars by forgoing the status quo and actually sending evacuees on a luxurious six-month cruise it is time to rethink how we are conducting oversight. A short-term temporary solution has turned into a long-term, grossly overpriced sweetheart deal for a cruise line," said Coburn and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in a joint statement yesterday calling for a chief financial officer to oversee Katrina spending. CNN reported on the Carnival Cruise contract this morning. View the report in Streaming Real Media or Windows Media. If you missed Michael Brown's "testimony of shame" yesterday, Crooks and Liars has a clip. Think Progress has determined that Brown lied under oath while smearing Governor Blanco.

The FEMA/Brownie scandals seem to be business-as-usual for the beleaguered president and Republican leadership. John Conyers wonders if the Wheels are Falling Off the GOP. Reports that DeLay may be indicted soon (AP, Americablog, Austin paper) along with recent revelations that Jack Abramoff may be involved in a gangland style murder must be troubling for the White House.

In addition, Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation is winding down and Administration insiders claim that the White House is sweating. Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post reports:

Special BRAD BLOG / Velvet Revolution coverage
of the Sep 24-26 Rally in D.C.
Guest blogged by David Edwards

Here are just a few of the speakers from this morning's rally protesting the Iraq war in Washington D.C.

Rep. Cynthia McKinney Streaming Real Media Windows Media	Reverend Jesse Jackson Streaming Real Media Windows Media
Cindy Sheehan Streaming Real Media Windows Media	George Galloway Streaming Real Media Windows Media

UPDATE FROM BRAD: From all reports I'm getting, the turnout is absolutely huge! Wall-to-wall people! Nonetheless, the cable channels are ignoring, and C-SPAN was covering the speeches at the elipse, while hundreds of thousands were actually marching on the White House! C-SPAN helped make it look like there were only a couple of hundred there! I'm told cameras are everywhere, but nobody is carrying it live! TruthOut, however, is blogging, apparently via Blackberry, from within the "absolutely massive" march...All of the latest updates on hundreds of thousands gathered in D.C. (which you will not get on any of the cable channels, including C-SPAN) is here...

FURTHER UPDATE: Photos of crowds now here...