Pardon me if this is diaried elsewhere; I did a search and didn't see it.

I called Sen. Boxer's office yesterday to urge her to vote no.  Today she e-mailed constituents outlining her opposition and providing links to video and a transcript.  A few highlights:

41 years ago a tragedy occurred. During Israeli's Six-Day War, the USS Liberty was attacked and 32 U.S. sailors were killed. Did Israel know it was a U.S. ship before they attacked? Did John McCain and his father among others help cover it up? The truth may shock you.

Forgive me if someone else has posted this today, but I have a slightly different perspective: When the report was released I was a taping a segment for tomorrow's "Bill Moyers Journal" with two of the few "heroes" of the early Iraq coverage, John Walcott and Jonathan Landay of McClatchy (formerly Knight Ridder).  It was exciting to watch them go through the report, as it was handed to them in bunches as it was printed, in the Green Room as they noted how it confirmed so much of their very presicent reporting up to six years ago.

If you haven't heard, the devastating report featured Republicans Chuck Hagel and Olympia Snowe joining the Democrats.    Sen. Jay Rockefeller declared, "Sadly, the Bush Administration led the nation into war under false pretenses."

My full wrapup follows.

Okay, I had pretty much promised to cool it with the Hillary-bashing. I mean, it's just making us all sad. But this one...wow, I just couldn't let this one go by. According to Bill, Hillary could still win this race, but the media (or somebody) is covering it up, and the fact that she can still win is a "little secret."

I'd like to reiterate that, as a mental health professional, I am truly concerned about his/their mental health status at this point. This is just really getting outrageous.

SOURCE: Bill cries "cover-up."

This massacre was a big turning point in the American people's experience of the Vietnam War.   In "My Lai marks 40th massacre anniversary". Ben Stocking of the AP tells us about it:

To the villagers who survived the My Lai massacre and many of the Americans who fought in the Vietnam War, all the anniversaries of the atrocity are important.
But Sunday's anniversary — the 40th — seems especially urgent to some of the Americans who have come to commemorate it.
In My Lai, members of the Charlie Company slaughtered as many as 504 villagers, including unarmed women, children and elderly.
Frustrated U.S. troops came to My Lai on a "search and destroy" mission, looking for elusive Vietcong guerrillas. Although there were no reports of enemy fire, the U.S. troops began mowing down villagers and setting fire to their homes.
The incident shocked Americans and undermined support for the war.

 Those of us who lived during that sad time will never forget what we learned.  Some choose to remember and repeat, but they will never forget.  One who seems to fit that category is Colin Powell, then a 31-year-old Army Major.  Come look below the fold and learn more about his involvement.

The Swift Boat is poised to leave the dock, with Republicans like former Rep. "B-1 Bob" Dornan (R-CA) and Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) among those signed on with the crew.

To hear his critics tell it, John "Maverick" McCain enjoyed a George Bushian existence in the U.S. Navy: "The spoiled son of military privilege got a free ride throughout his military career despite repeated instances of sex scandals and screw-ups."  He was fifth from the bottom of his class, and managed to crash both five planes and every party in sight.  "[N]o doubt because of the influence of his family of famous Admirals, McCain was leap-frogged ahead of more qualified applicants and granted a coveted slot to be trained as a navy pilot."  But things really went south in 'Nam, as the videos below the fold explain:

It is time for a quick break from our Primary Wars.

The results tonight mean that this will go on for many more days and the process may tear our unity apart. We are on a path to a hard fracturing of the Democratic Party as various campaigns go all out for the kill.

This will create an opening for the Republican Party to hold onto the White House.

We should be careful.

One of the Republicans who could win as we fail to unite is John McCain.

Over the last few days he has been using his work on the Jack Abramoff scandal as a reason to support him.

And what did McCain do?

Why, he led the McCain/Bush Corruption Cover-Up of the Abramoff scandal.

We need to hit this meme hard in the coming months.

To the jump...

WARNING: Graphic image / video shown below.

Two very interesting developments to this tragic story became newsworthy for me today.  The first item was the newest amateur video evidence that clearly shows Bhutto being hit (or at least grazed) by a bullet in the back of her head / neck area on the left side.  The other item has to do with some fanciful editing by the BBC of an interview Bhutto gave right after the earlier assassination attempt this year.

What this means in the grand scheme of things is for you to ponder.

WARNING: Graphic image / video shown below.

Strong governance requires strong management. Strong criticism is part of the process.
Back near 30 years ago opposition to incompetence acquired definite, effective forms. For one, the Op Ed forums at the top newspapers became critical.
Here's a solid example.

The world faced a rather odd disaster.
It was 1979 and a U.S. Space Station was hurtling back to earth. Skylab was "decaying" out of its orbit.
Unfortunately, NASA bureaucrats played the game to cover up, to minimize public information.

Changing this blunder required a killer WaPo Op Ed.
We worked with an Agency-That-Can-Not-Be-Named, so's to deliver a solid body punch to the NASA screw-ups.
A prime example of high level in-fighting.

This Op Ed piece was printed on a Saturday. It worked perfectly.
NASA reversed course and had a new "Skylab Center" in place 8:00 A.M. Monday.
Competent warnings ensued.

BTW: Their engineers subsequently found that Skylab could be steered for rapid reentry. Nice discovery. But yet another dumb manager effed it, overrode the engineers, and hit Western Australia.
(Think: "Challenger.")
This "Coming Home" Op Ed essay is a structured and disciplined model. Used for professional Federal Management courses for decades.

In the latest of a seemingly endless series of shocking revelations about the Bush Administration's attempts to punish anyone who attempts to hold them accountable to the rule of law, it is being reported today that the CIA is investigating its own Inspector General for investigating the CIA for committing acts of torture.

Here's a bit of news to add to the Larry Craig saga that will surprise absolutely nobody here on dkos but still deserves mention: it turns out Republican Senators knew about Craig's homosexuality and his toe-tapping bathroom pecadillos for years, but did nothing about it.  This comes from slimeball Robert Novak, who reported it on Bloomberg Television yesterday.  So, not only do we have a clear-cut, long-time pattern of closeted Republican politicians engaging in gay sex, illicit or otherwise, while they fight against any and all GLBT rights and wave the "family values" wingnut fundie Christian flag, but we have a clear-cut, longtime pattern of other Republicans covering it up or just looking the other way.  

The House Judiciary Committee has a new,  better way to unravel the phone-jamming coverup.

Thats the real news in this letter from Conyers to Attorney General (pdf)--something reporters seem to have missed, so far.

No, Associated Press, the House Judiciary Committee is not headed back to NH in 2002. It will not be re-asking old questions of the old suspects, all of whom seem to have lawyered up and/or lost their memories.

"What did the White House know and when did they know it?"  

That's what we want to know--and it's why Conyers will start from the Washington, DC end of the phone-jamming tangle.

Today is the 150th anniversary of yet another senseless religious massacre of innocents called the Meadow Mountain Massacre. It stands as a blotch on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and is a painful memory for the many families of John D Lee, my great, great great Grandfather, the only convicted perpetrator.

Most of all, it is a painful legacy of secrecy, justice and acknowlegement for the survivors and families of the Baker and Fancher families who lost so much so many years ago.

The lessons of September 11th, 150 years ago should resonate with the lessons of September 11th today. Only the open and honest discussions of truth, justice and restitution should dominate the memorials of these massacres. Their similarities in promoting the influential agendas of the powerful men and institutions that they protect are startling in contrast and similarities.

Mountain Meadows was a massacre of secrecy, cover-up, betrayal of the channels of power and institutional corruption.

It is a sad and painful walk up to the Mountain Meadow Memorial, I am told.

I have never been able to bring myself to make the trip.

My latest diary on the visible crimes of George Bush while in the TXANG, along with the crimes of his superiors (available here: http://www.dailykos.com/... ) got such a good reception I thought I'd try another one.
This story has always fascinated me: its a story of crime and coverup thats gone on for decades--and its the most successfull media scam put over by the Bush administration. Take a bow, KarlRove  and Dan Bartlett, though no one will ever know how (but, evidently,  me and a few Faithful Readers) you got Bush  re-elected with the worst, most disgraceful military record in presidential history. You are superb liars, as are the people you work with.

With the media spotlight shining once again on the mining industry and the dangers of mining, I’d like to revisit a horrific environmental mining disaster that happened on October 11, 2000 in Inez, Kentucky. I received an email from a reader after writing this diary. (Thanks Darcy!) She sent along several different links to stories not just about Bob Murray, but about the coal industry itself and the attempts to silence critics of the industry. Below is the story of one such critic. I'll think you'll recognize some of the names.

If you really want to know what is going on in the mind of Rudy Giuliani take note - it is a dangerous trip to take.
However if you have the skills, to untwist the Bush-hijacked thoughts of Rudy, it will scare the hell out of you.
If you do not have those skills - have no fear the Most Dangerous Blogger in America will tell you what is going on.

If the people of America reject the present regime and elect a democratic government what is going to happen to the War Criminals ?
Are they going to be held responsible for their conspiracy to  start an aggressive war.
Are they going to be allowed to retire gracefully ?
Will they not be held accountable for the genocide ?
The invasion of Iraq was illegal and based upon lies, yes Bush and his cronies are no better than Hitler, Stalin or any mass murdering greed driven filth that ever walked this earth.

As predicted in prior diaries, the confusion over Gonzales' testimony regarding Warrantless Wiretapping originates in the Bush Administration's deceptive selective declassification.

Gonzales' 8/1/07 letter to Senators Specter and Leahy, he discloses that the TSP was a selectively declassified program that conveniently allowed the administration to "talk around" the controversial aspects of the NSA-driven surveillance program, and cover up the controversy and any illegality.

An insightful comment by litigatormom sums it up:

The name "Terrorist Surveillance Program" was meant to replace the MSM's initial use of the term "NSA warrantless domestic spying" by trying to focus attention on the "terrorist" end of the communications.
But in retrospect, it's clear they created it to facilitate the game of Three Card Monte that they've been playing with the American people to hide the true extent of their illegal activities.

Below I predict where this inquiry should be headed.