Last night President Bush vetoed the Iraq war spending bill, which would have sent $124 billion to American troops and help fund other emergency projects (Katrina, homeland security spending) that the previous Republican Congress never got around to funding. There’s a lot I’d write in response that would go far beyond being irreverent and would […]

Senators Chris Dodd, John Kerry and Bob Casey Jr write to the Government Accountability Office regarding President Bush’s recess appointment of Sam Fox as US ambassador to Belgium.
The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General
Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20548
Dear Mr. Walker:
We write to request that the Government Accountability Office examine a particular aspect […]

This is truly unconscionable abuse of executive power. President Bush has used a recess appointment to make Swift Boat funder Sam Fox US ambassador to Belgium. Bush had withdrawn Fox’s name from consideration after it became clear that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, under the leadership of Chris Dodd and John Kerry, would not have […]

The Connecticut Post’s Andrew Brophy has a fair, sober article on yesterday’s peace vigil in Fairfield. He repeatedly makes clear that the people who attended the vigil were there to honor the troops on the four year anniversary of the war in Iraq and doesn’t once fall into Republican framing on protesting undermining the troops […]

Fire Gonzales. Nominate Fitzgerald.
He’s a US attorney. He has the credibility to return the DoJ to its pre-politics transformation. His nomination would tell the country that the Bush White House understands what the Libby trial was all about: Libby’s guilt and the Administration’s conduct.
Wouldn’t it be nice to trust a member of the Administration […]

Geoffrey Stone, guest blogging chez ACS:
The Justice Department’s audit of the NSL program reveals, once again, the profound difference between government by executive decree and government by checks and balances. From 2003 to 2005, the FBI issued more than 140,000 NSLs. Although the FBI is required by law to report its use of this authority […]

Updated with an edit below

I recently finished reading Joe Conason’s new book, It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril In The Age of Bush. I, like many bloggers and blog readers, read pretty much every book I can get my hands on that offers to explain our current political epoch and place daily events in the […]

Word on the street is that Ron Paul’s speech on the Iraq war blasted Bush unlike no other. Paul is supporting the non-binding resolution to support the troops and oppose the escalation of the Iraq war. Beyond that, Paul is in favor of ending the Iraq war now.
Here’s the text of the speech. Video of […]

Wow, before I go and join a Draft Jim Webb campaign (for this cycle), I wanted to let you know about another really solid responses to Bush’s state of the union. As you guys know, I’m a big fan of the Drum Major Institute, a liberal think tank that focuses on the middle class and […]

In case you don’t want to spend an hour listening to President Bush deliver his State of the Union address tonight, I’ve received an advanced copy of the text and boiled down the key elements of it to a mere three paragraphs. Here’s a shorter version of what President Bush will say tonight so you […]