From HuffPo's Markus Baram:
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, in an email to Huffington Post, admits that a paragraph in her Sunday column was lifted from Talking Points Memo editor Josh Marshall's blog last Thursday.
Dowd claims that she never read his blog last week but was told the line by a friend of hers. In a follow-up email, she forwarded her desire to apologize to Marshall, writing that had she known, she would have gladly credited Marshall.
josh is right. I didn't read his blog last week, and didn't have any idea he had made that point until you informed me just now. i was talking to a friend of mine Friday about what I was writing who suggested I make this point, expressing it in a cogent -- and I assumed spontaneous -- way and I wanted to weave the idea into my column. but, clearly, my friend must have read josh marshall without mentioning that to me. we're fixing it on the web, to give josh credit, and will include a note, as well as a formal correction tomorrow.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
NY Times' Maureen Dowd Plagiarizes TPM's Josh Marshall
From Joshua Blog | TPM
May 17, 2009, 3:57PM
Maureen Dowd in today's NY Times wrote:
"More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when the Bush crowd was looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq."
TPM's Josh Marshall on Thurs wrote:
"More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when we were looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq."
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/05/bubbling.php
All Dowd did was change "we were" to "the Bush crowd was".
Click here to read Joshua Blog's entire post on TPM.
Click here to go to thejoshuablog.
May 17, 2009, 3:57PM
Maureen Dowd in today's NY Times wrote:"More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when the Bush crowd was looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq."
TPM's Josh Marshall on Thurs wrote:
"More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when we were looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq."
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/05/bubbling.php
All Dowd did was change "we were" to "the Bush crowd was".
Click here to read Joshua Blog's entire post on TPM.
Click here to go to thejoshuablog.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
When PTSD Comes Marching Home
by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Columnist
There is disconnection between everything human and what has to be done in combat. Imagine being in an unimaginable situation and having to do the unthinkable. How can this be done? A detachment between everything human and having to do the inconceivable resounds in combat.
PTSD: A Soldier's Perspective
Two men, ages 21 and 23, attempted to rob an Iowa farm. When two farmers, both 52, caught the two young men in the act, the farmers were savagely beaten and tied to a fence. The injuries incurred by the two farmers included skull fractures, facial fractures and a broken arm. The two men were arrested.
A 25-year-old man kidnapped his girlfriend at gunpoint in Tennessee. He forced her to drive to an ATM machine, took the money, drove her back to her home and then raped her. The man was later arrested.
A man in Massachusetts got into a fight with his wife and began drinking. Later that evening, he opened fire on a man and a woman outside a crowded nightclub. No injuries were reported. The man was later arrested.
A 35-year-old man in Colorado shot his wife five times in the head and neck and then shot himself. His wife was pregnant.
A 20-year-old man went on a beer run in Las Vegas at 1:00 AM, wearing a long black coat with an assault rifle tucked underneath. He was spotted by another man and a woman in an alley and told to leave. He opened fire on the man and woman, and returned to his apartment to get more ammunition. He was later arrested. The man and the woman were killed.
A 20-year-old man in Washington shot his 18-year-old girlfriend in the back of the head before turning the gun on himself.
A 19-year-old man in Washington stabbed his 18-year-old wife to death. He was later arrested.
A 37-year-old man in Virginia hanged himself with a bed sheet in his jail cell after being arrested for beating his wife.
A man from Portland, Oregon, was arrested after the body of his wife was found in a van. She had been shot through the throat.
A 31-year-old man in Washington was placed under a restraining order by his wife after he pushed her and threatened her. Two days later, the man drowned his wife in their bathtub.
A 36-year-old man in Colorado savagely beat his wife and threatened to kill her with a .357 Magnum. When police arrived on the scene, the man put the gun to his head and fired, killing himself.
A 25-year-old man in St. Louis hanged himself in his residence after he had been arrested for a domestic disturbance involving his wife.
There are thousands of stories just like this that have been taking place all over America.
Most people have not heard about them, but by now just about everyone has heard about this one: A 44-year-old man was arrested after killing five men inside a counseling center. This horrifying act happened at Camp Liberty, a massive US base in Iraq, and has been much in the news ever since.
All the other stories took place in America, but they all share one awful common factor: They were all acts of terrible brutality and violence committed by US soldiers, who had served either in Iraq or Afghanistan or both.
The soldier who shot five fellow troops in Iraq did so in a base clinic catering to service members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He had served three tours in Iraq. As with the other soldiers who committed the above-described crimes, he suffered from PTSD, and in the end, his disorder became the catalyst for savagery.
"They didn't tell him they were there for his benefit," said the man's father to a Texas news station, "they were there as a friend to him to find out if he had any psychological problems as a result of his third tour of duty. They didn't want him to come back home and kill his wife or himself and this kind of stuff. That's the worst thing they could have done because they trained him to kill. He had a short fuse when they antagonized him. And I guess he couldn't help himself."
PTSD is defined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs as "A psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experiencing or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, abuse, and violent personal assaults like rape. People who suffer from PTSD often relive the experience through nightmares and flashbacks, have difficulty sleeping, and feel detached or estranged, and these symptoms can be severe enough and last long enough to significantly impair the person's daily life."
Indeed. The military has stated that at least one in five American soldiers who were deployed overseas to Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from some degree of PTSD. According to a recent report by Truthout journalist Dahr Jamail, "The US military has been medicating soldiers before they are redeployed to Iraq, in order to keep enough boots on the ground. An anonymous survey of US troops taken during Fall 2007, used as part of the data in the Army's fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report, found that 12 percent of combat troops in Iraq and 17 percent in Afghanistan were on prescription drugs that were mostly antidepressants or sleeping pills."
"Studies that go back to World War II," continued Jamail, "have found that combat veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide as people in the general population. Other lesser known distressing facts are that nine percent of all unemployment in the United States is attributed to combat exposure, as is 8 percent of all divorce or separation and 21 percent of all spousal or partner abuse. The impact of all this extends to behavioral problems in children, child abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, incarceration and homelessness, all of which have implication that go well beyond the individual and reverberate across generations. As both occupations continue into the indefinite future, we should not be surprised when we hear of more atrocities like what happened Monday in Baghdad, whether they occur in Iraq or in the United States."
How long will Iraq be with us, even after we leave? Evidence strongly suggests that the physical and psychological toll taken upon our soldiers and service members from their extended, savage, deadly and ultimately fruitless deployments to the wars of the Bush administration is enormous, and growing. These soldiers volunteered to serve, and swore to give their lives in that service. In return, they have been torn apart, killed, maimed, and in far too many cases, driven to or past the edge of madness by what they saw and did Over There.
A wise person once said that any nation that cannot properly care for their veterans has no business making new ones. These, our newest generation of scarred soldiers, deserve far better than what they have received from the government and the nation they swore to defend. We sent them over there, and now they are marching home, some of them with Hell itself in their minds and hearts. They can, and must, be helped and healed.
We must get them out of Iraq, get them out of Afghanistan, get them home and get them well. They deserve nothing less from us, and it is the very least we can do for them.
There is disconnection between everything human and what has to be done in combat. Imagine being in an unimaginable situation and having to do the unthinkable. How can this be done? A detachment between everything human and having to do the inconceivable resounds in combat.
PTSD: A Soldier's Perspective
Two men, ages 21 and 23, attempted to rob an Iowa farm. When two farmers, both 52, caught the two young men in the act, the farmers were savagely beaten and tied to a fence. The injuries incurred by the two farmers included skull fractures, facial fractures and a broken arm. The two men were arrested.A 25-year-old man kidnapped his girlfriend at gunpoint in Tennessee. He forced her to drive to an ATM machine, took the money, drove her back to her home and then raped her. The man was later arrested.
A man in Massachusetts got into a fight with his wife and began drinking. Later that evening, he opened fire on a man and a woman outside a crowded nightclub. No injuries were reported. The man was later arrested.
A 35-year-old man in Colorado shot his wife five times in the head and neck and then shot himself. His wife was pregnant.
A 20-year-old man went on a beer run in Las Vegas at 1:00 AM, wearing a long black coat with an assault rifle tucked underneath. He was spotted by another man and a woman in an alley and told to leave. He opened fire on the man and woman, and returned to his apartment to get more ammunition. He was later arrested. The man and the woman were killed.
A 20-year-old man in Washington shot his 18-year-old girlfriend in the back of the head before turning the gun on himself.
A 19-year-old man in Washington stabbed his 18-year-old wife to death. He was later arrested.
A 37-year-old man in Virginia hanged himself with a bed sheet in his jail cell after being arrested for beating his wife.
A man from Portland, Oregon, was arrested after the body of his wife was found in a van. She had been shot through the throat.
A 31-year-old man in Washington was placed under a restraining order by his wife after he pushed her and threatened her. Two days later, the man drowned his wife in their bathtub.
A 36-year-old man in Colorado savagely beat his wife and threatened to kill her with a .357 Magnum. When police arrived on the scene, the man put the gun to his head and fired, killing himself.
A 25-year-old man in St. Louis hanged himself in his residence after he had been arrested for a domestic disturbance involving his wife.
There are thousands of stories just like this that have been taking place all over America.
Most people have not heard about them, but by now just about everyone has heard about this one: A 44-year-old man was arrested after killing five men inside a counseling center. This horrifying act happened at Camp Liberty, a massive US base in Iraq, and has been much in the news ever since.
All the other stories took place in America, but they all share one awful common factor: They were all acts of terrible brutality and violence committed by US soldiers, who had served either in Iraq or Afghanistan or both.
The soldier who shot five fellow troops in Iraq did so in a base clinic catering to service members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He had served three tours in Iraq. As with the other soldiers who committed the above-described crimes, he suffered from PTSD, and in the end, his disorder became the catalyst for savagery.
"They didn't tell him they were there for his benefit," said the man's father to a Texas news station, "they were there as a friend to him to find out if he had any psychological problems as a result of his third tour of duty. They didn't want him to come back home and kill his wife or himself and this kind of stuff. That's the worst thing they could have done because they trained him to kill. He had a short fuse when they antagonized him. And I guess he couldn't help himself."
PTSD is defined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs as "A psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experiencing or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, abuse, and violent personal assaults like rape. People who suffer from PTSD often relive the experience through nightmares and flashbacks, have difficulty sleeping, and feel detached or estranged, and these symptoms can be severe enough and last long enough to significantly impair the person's daily life."
Indeed. The military has stated that at least one in five American soldiers who were deployed overseas to Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from some degree of PTSD. According to a recent report by Truthout journalist Dahr Jamail, "The US military has been medicating soldiers before they are redeployed to Iraq, in order to keep enough boots on the ground. An anonymous survey of US troops taken during Fall 2007, used as part of the data in the Army's fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report, found that 12 percent of combat troops in Iraq and 17 percent in Afghanistan were on prescription drugs that were mostly antidepressants or sleeping pills."
"Studies that go back to World War II," continued Jamail, "have found that combat veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide as people in the general population. Other lesser known distressing facts are that nine percent of all unemployment in the United States is attributed to combat exposure, as is 8 percent of all divorce or separation and 21 percent of all spousal or partner abuse. The impact of all this extends to behavioral problems in children, child abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, incarceration and homelessness, all of which have implication that go well beyond the individual and reverberate across generations. As both occupations continue into the indefinite future, we should not be surprised when we hear of more atrocities like what happened Monday in Baghdad, whether they occur in Iraq or in the United States."
How long will Iraq be with us, even after we leave? Evidence strongly suggests that the physical and psychological toll taken upon our soldiers and service members from their extended, savage, deadly and ultimately fruitless deployments to the wars of the Bush administration is enormous, and growing. These soldiers volunteered to serve, and swore to give their lives in that service. In return, they have been torn apart, killed, maimed, and in far too many cases, driven to or past the edge of madness by what they saw and did Over There.
A wise person once said that any nation that cannot properly care for their veterans has no business making new ones. These, our newest generation of scarred soldiers, deserve far better than what they have received from the government and the nation they swore to defend. We sent them over there, and now they are marching home, some of them with Hell itself in their minds and hearts. They can, and must, be helped and healed.
We must get them out of Iraq, get them out of Afghanistan, get them home and get them well. They deserve nothing less from us, and it is the very least we can do for them.
Karl Rove: The Latest Torture-Apologist
by Dee Newman
When I was around the age of three, I learned that “two wrongs do not make a right” – that it was useless to try to justify anything I had done by asserting that others had done it, as well.
Obviously, Karl Rove's parents did not teach him that lesson. As the latest torture-apologist for the Bush Administration, Mr. Rove claims that a CIA briefing Nancy Pelosi received way back in 2002, somehow exonerates the Bush Administration’s use of torture.
Accusing Speaker Pelosi of having a selective memory and of being essentially a hypocrite, he warns her that she is “hip-deep in dangerous waters” that are “rapidly rising,” cautioning the Speaker that any investigation or prosecution of the Bush Administration’s use of torture may eventually lead to her and other Democrats.
Mr. Rove wonders and speculates, “If Mrs. Pelosi considers the enhanced interrogation techniques to be torture, didn't she have a responsibility to complain at the time, introduce legislation to end the practices, or attempt to deny funding for the CIA's use of them? If she knew what was going on and did nothing, does that make her an accessory to a crime of torture, as many Democrats are calling enhanced interrogation?”
Remember, these conjectures are coming from the man George W. Bush affectionately called his “turd-blossom.”
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, a “turd-blossom” is a flower that grows from a pile of cow-dung, or in Rove’s case, a person who has the mendacity to try to make excrement smell sweet while fabricating the truth from lies.
Rove, also, asked those of us who believe ”the Justice Department should investigate and prosecute anyone who violated laws against committing torture” if we are “willing to have Mrs. Pelosi thrown into [our] stew of torture conspirators as an accomplice?”
The answer is, of course we are, that is, if she really was briefed on waterboarding and other so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” (a euphemism for torture) and if she really knew what was going on and did nothing as he and other torture-apologists have asserted.
With each passing day it becomes more and more apparent why an independent investigation or a truth commission (as Speaker Prlosi has advocated) is necessary to determine the facts.
As long as torture and other crimes against humanity continue to be so vehemently defended and justified with such lame excuses from the likes of Karl Rove and the former Vice President of the United States of America, we must remain resolute in our efforts to defend and preserve our precious constitutional democracy.
Otherwise, we will be a nation under the rule of the lawless and not the rule of law.
It is long past time for these morally immature former Bush Administration officials to be taught a few lessons they should have learned way back when they were in kindergarten.
When I was around the age of three, I learned that “two wrongs do not make a right” – that it was useless to try to justify anything I had done by asserting that others had done it, as well.Obviously, Karl Rove's parents did not teach him that lesson. As the latest torture-apologist for the Bush Administration, Mr. Rove claims that a CIA briefing Nancy Pelosi received way back in 2002, somehow exonerates the Bush Administration’s use of torture.
Accusing Speaker Pelosi of having a selective memory and of being essentially a hypocrite, he warns her that she is “hip-deep in dangerous waters” that are “rapidly rising,” cautioning the Speaker that any investigation or prosecution of the Bush Administration’s use of torture may eventually lead to her and other Democrats.
Mr. Rove wonders and speculates, “If Mrs. Pelosi considers the enhanced interrogation techniques to be torture, didn't she have a responsibility to complain at the time, introduce legislation to end the practices, or attempt to deny funding for the CIA's use of them? If she knew what was going on and did nothing, does that make her an accessory to a crime of torture, as many Democrats are calling enhanced interrogation?”
Remember, these conjectures are coming from the man George W. Bush affectionately called his “turd-blossom.”
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, a “turd-blossom” is a flower that grows from a pile of cow-dung, or in Rove’s case, a person who has the mendacity to try to make excrement smell sweet while fabricating the truth from lies.
Rove, also, asked those of us who believe ”the Justice Department should investigate and prosecute anyone who violated laws against committing torture” if we are “willing to have Mrs. Pelosi thrown into [our] stew of torture conspirators as an accomplice?”
The answer is, of course we are, that is, if she really was briefed on waterboarding and other so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” (a euphemism for torture) and if she really knew what was going on and did nothing as he and other torture-apologists have asserted.
With each passing day it becomes more and more apparent why an independent investigation or a truth commission (as Speaker Prlosi has advocated) is necessary to determine the facts.
As long as torture and other crimes against humanity continue to be so vehemently defended and justified with such lame excuses from the likes of Karl Rove and the former Vice President of the United States of America, we must remain resolute in our efforts to defend and preserve our precious constitutional democracy.
Otherwise, we will be a nation under the rule of the lawless and not the rule of law.
It is long past time for these morally immature former Bush Administration officials to be taught a few lessons they should have learned way back when they were in kindergarten.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Cheney Continues to Defend Crimes Against Humanity
by Dee Newman
The former Vice President continues his defense of the indefensible.
While refusing to confess that it was on his watch that the 9/11 attacks occurred in the first place, allowing 3000 U. S. citizens to be killed, Bush’s former Vice President obstinately proclaims that what kept us safe from further attacks over the last seven years was the Bush Administration’s use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (TORTURE). And, that the Obama Administration is putting American citizens in danger of another 9/11 attack by refusing to use them.
His persistent and intractable defense conveniently fails to recognize that providing al Qaeda convenient and easy targets in their own backyard by attacking Iraq (allowing them to kill another 4000 plus Americans over there, rather than traveling halfway around the world to kill Americans here) was, perhaps, the real reason another 9/11 attack did not occur.
Either Cheney is an idiot (which we all know he isn’t) or his defense of the indefensible is another effort to use FEAR to undermine the Obama Administration, while secretly hoping for another al Qaeda attack on our homeland to try and justify his and Bush’s reprehensible and criminal conduct.
Ironically, Cheney’s unrelenting efforts to conceal the truth clearly points out why an independent investigation and prosecution must be implemented immediately. Otherwise, we will continue to have this man (a former Vice President of the United States of America) superciliously defend and support crimes against humanity.
Watch the Rachel Maddow Show: Cheney's Magical Media Tour
The former Vice President continues his defense of the indefensible.
While refusing to confess that it was on his watch that the 9/11 attacks occurred in the first place, allowing 3000 U. S. citizens to be killed, Bush’s former Vice President obstinately proclaims that what kept us safe from further attacks over the last seven years was the Bush Administration’s use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (TORTURE). And, that the Obama Administration is putting American citizens in danger of another 9/11 attack by refusing to use them.
His persistent and intractable defense conveniently fails to recognize that providing al Qaeda convenient and easy targets in their own backyard by attacking Iraq (allowing them to kill another 4000 plus Americans over there, rather than traveling halfway around the world to kill Americans here) was, perhaps, the real reason another 9/11 attack did not occur.
Either Cheney is an idiot (which we all know he isn’t) or his defense of the indefensible is another effort to use FEAR to undermine the Obama Administration, while secretly hoping for another al Qaeda attack on our homeland to try and justify his and Bush’s reprehensible and criminal conduct.
Ironically, Cheney’s unrelenting efforts to conceal the truth clearly points out why an independent investigation and prosecution must be implemented immediately. Otherwise, we will continue to have this man (a former Vice President of the United States of America) superciliously defend and support crimes against humanity.
Watch the Rachel Maddow Show: Cheney's Magical Media Tour
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Monday, May 11, 2009
From TED: Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of Insight
This is an astonishing story. Brain researcher, Jill Bolte Taylor, had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions – motion, speech, self-awareness – shut down one by one.
To read her full bio click here.
To read her full bio click here.
Eerily Prophetic
by Dee Newman
On November 4, 1999, Senator Byron Dorgan said on the Senate floor: "I want to sound a warning call today about this legislation . . . I think this legislation is just fundamentally terrible."
The legislation was the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act (known as Gramm Leach Bliley). It allowed banks to merge with insurance companies and investment houses. Senator Dorgan was, at the time, one of only eight senators who vote against the Bill, including Senators Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer, Barbara Mikulski, Richard Shelby, Tom Harkin and Richard Bryan.
The late Senator Paul Wellstone also opposed the bill, warning at the time that Congress was "about to repeal the economic stabilizer without putting any comparable safeguard in its place."
Ten years later, these senators have been vindicated. Their warnings that banks would become "too big to fail" have proven basically true in the wake of the current financial crisis.
Senator Dorgan's claim at the time that Congress would "look back ten years time and say we should not have done this" seems eerily prophetic.
On November 4, 1999, Senator Byron Dorgan said on the Senate floor: "I want to sound a warning call today about this legislation . . . I think this legislation is just fundamentally terrible."
The legislation was the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act (known as Gramm Leach Bliley). It allowed banks to merge with insurance companies and investment houses. Senator Dorgan was, at the time, one of only eight senators who vote against the Bill, including Senators Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer, Barbara Mikulski, Richard Shelby, Tom Harkin and Richard Bryan.
The late Senator Paul Wellstone also opposed the bill, warning at the time that Congress was "about to repeal the economic stabilizer without putting any comparable safeguard in its place."
Ten years later, these senators have been vindicated. Their warnings that banks would become "too big to fail" have proven basically true in the wake of the current financial crisis.
Senator Dorgan's claim at the time that Congress would "look back ten years time and say we should not have done this" seems eerily prophetic.
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