Legal history has repeated itself: actor Robert Blake, found not guilty of the murder of his wife in a criminal trial, has now lost a civil case — most likely putting on hold for a long time any hopes he had of returning to the show biz mainstream and perhaps the latest person to experience “celebrity justice.” It’s an interesting phenomenon: a high-profile gets acquitted who is the subject of slews of jokes on late night television implying that he’s guilty gets off...

….are also apparently within the U.S. military: WASHINGTON (CNN) — The top U.S. commander in Iraq has submitted a plan to the Pentagon for withdrawing troops in Iraq, according to a senior defense official. Gen. George Casey submitted the plan to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It includes numerous options and recommends that brigades — usually made up of about 2,000 soldiers each — begin pulling out of Iraq early next year. The proposal comes as tension grows in both...

Reuters pretty much confirms what we’ve felt watching the White House and top GOPers turn what polls show is growing widespread across-the-boards disapproval of the war in Iraq into a sheer partisan issue — accusing Democratic critics of being terrorist sympathizers versus the old, out-dated standby, communist sympathizers: WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) – Fighting a decline in public support for the Iraq war and his own leadership, U.S. President George W. Bush and Republican allies...

Administering the military oath. Read SMASH here.

So now the pivotal question becomes: will the dramatic anti-war comments of the top Democrat on military spending — a long-respected, decorated Vietnam veteran — prove to be a turning point in Congressional and public opinion on the Iraq war, or just another rhetorical blip on the media-saturated U.S. screen? At issue are the comments of Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), hardly the kind of person that can be accused of being unpatriotic….although that suggestion came later yesterday...

An intriguing look at a still-simmering crisis that is being derailed in the U.S. media as it turns (as always) to the latest controversy can be found in THIS POST by Donklephant‘s Cicero. A small part of it 4 U: France’s reaction to the unrest in its cites — amounting to more methadone for the addicts — has lead me to conclude that social democracy cannot fundamentally tackle militant Islamicism. It just can’t. Social democracy provides too many loopholes and gotchas...

Talkers Magazine has published a ratings-based list of the top talk show hosts. As expected, at the top of the heap is conservative talker Rush Limbaugh. The top progressive host is Ed Schultz. See the list HERE.

Last week, I posted on the story of the possible use of white phosphorus as a weapon by U.S. forces in Iraq, specifically in Fallujah. Essentially, the story originated with a documentary broadcast by Italy’s RAI TV network. It was then picked up by the BBC, The Independent, and The Christian Science Monitor. That post elicited some excellent comments from readers and I invite you to check it out — see here. Phosphorus may or may not be classified as a chemical weapon, and it may or may...

Vice President Dick Cheney is now so far down in the polls that he should beware of sniffing dogs. But that hasn’t stopped the administration from sending him out as the attack dog to go after Democrats for allegedly “rewriting history” on Iraq: “Some of the most irresponsible comments have, of course, come from politicians who actually voted in favor of authorizing force against Saddam Hussein,” Cheney said in remarks prepared for a GOP fundraiser. Cheney’s attack...

SurveyUSA has released its November polling (accidentally perhaps — you must click each state’s tracking graph to see the new numbers), and once again, the situation looks grim for the President. A majority of voters in only three states — Utah, Idaho and Wyoming — approve of the President, with Bush scoring exactly a 50 percent approval rating in Mississippi. Voters in Nebraska and Oklahoma are divided on the President, a plurality of Alabamans disapprove of President Bush...

A new mini-firestorm is raging over the Los Angeles Times’ decision to show liberal columnist Robert Scheer the door. Here’s part of the newspaper’s explanation: Assessing the merits of a column, like assessing the merits of a movie, is a subjective exercise, so readers can agree to disagree over the wisdom of our decision. It’s inaccurate, however, to ascribe ideological motives to our decision to stop running Scheer’s column. Some readers have complained that The Times...

He’s a good man and, here, he’s absolutely right: Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) strongly criticized yesterday the White House’s new line of attack against critics of its Iraq policy, saying that “the Bush administration must understand that each American has a right to question our policies in Iraq and should not be demonized for disagreeing with them. MORE: To question your government is not unpatriotic — to not question your government is unpatriotic. Who are the real...

From Andrew Sullivan: What strikes me in the numbers is not so much the slightly waning GOP support for Bush and the intense Democratic opposition, but the shift among Independents. Last October, in response to the question: “Please tell me whether you agree or disagree with President Bush on the issues that matter most to you,” 46 percent of Indies agreed with Bush and 50 percent disagreed: a pretty even split. The numbers now are: 28 percent agree, 63 percent disagree. In the end, the...

Tom Watson looks at the subject HERE in a must-read. One small quote 4 U: When we are reduced to defending torture by the standards of our enemies, we fail the grandest of our national ambitions and our arrogance looks weak and pitiful…The terrible irony in this defense of torture by the Bush Administration is that these men came to power through the efforts of a coalition of Christians. And yet our western revulsion of torture — the very reason all of our culture proscribes its use...

There’s a new twist in the Plamegate story. The Washington Post’s Watergate story legend Bob Woodward, it turns out, was told about Valerie Plame’s identity apparently before any other journalist — and he only just informed his editors. No matter what happens, this could tarnish Woodward’s reputation. He has been seemingly downplaying the Plame investigation’s importance on talk shows recently. Plus, he writes great insider books by getting sources to open up...

President George Bush has been sent a pointed message by the GOP-dominated Senate: give us detailed progress reports on Iraq, which include goals and progress so far. In reality, the message sent by the GOPers, in a bipartisan vote, amounted to the GOP leadership “stealing the thunder” of the Democrats who had been pressing for just this — except they also unsuccessfully sought a timetable for withdrawal. Some details from the New York Times: The Senate signaled its growing unease...

One of many thoughts from Stephen Green, aka Vodka Pundit. A tiny taste (read it all yasself): Second-term Presidents usually have their eyes focused on their legacy – although most aren’t crass enough to talk about it as publicly and as constantly as Bill Clinton. If Bush wants a legacy, he’s going to have to do more than give us hawks a little pep talk every few months. He’s going to have to do more than “stay the course” in Iraq. If Bush wants to leave a real...

Here is a link to Tom Toles’ editorial cartoon in the Washington Post: I note a resemblance to Pete Seeger’s famous song, “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy.” How Waist Deep in the Big Muddy Finally Got on Network Television in 1968 (From GIVE PEACE A CHANCE, An 1983 Exhibit at the Peace Museum in Chicago) Pete Seeger Complete Lyrics (copyright 1967 by T.R.O.): It was back in 1941. I was a member of a good platoon. We were on maneuvers in Lou’siana one night By the light...

A MUST-READ POST BY KEVIN DRUM AT POLITICAL ANIMAL: Did the Bush administration mislead the country during the runup to the Iraq war? It’s true that they turned out to be wrong about a great many things, but that doesn’t answer the question. It merely begs it. Were they sincerely wrong, or did they intentionally manipulate the intelligence they presented to the public in order to mask known weaknesses in their case? Kevin provides “a list of five key dissents about administration...

At Majikthise, my fellow Tufts grad Lindsay Beyerstein has a good response to the allegedly sexist criticism of Dowd’s new book, Are Men Necessary? Far from making the personal political, Dowd made the political personal in a particularly self-absorbed way. She chose to set up her experience as if it were universal and to bolster her prejudices with spurious data and cherry-picked quotes. I previously wrote (unfavorably) about Dowd upon her return from summer hiatus — see here. Which...

It’s getting thornier for CIA agents overseas due to some countries prosecuting us for some of the techniques being employed in the war on terror — and this must-read article from Italy’s Corriere Della Sera carried on the great site Watching America is truly dramatic. A small part: The date is January 14, 2003. A man with a long beard wearing a light-colored djellaba [a long loose garment with long sleeves and a hood ] is walking in the street next to the pavement. The man is...

President George W. Bush, undaunted by the controversy over his Veterans’ Day Speech in which he suggested war critics (Democrats) were undercutting the war effort, has again gone on the offensive as a new Gallup poll shows his political stock going south as steadily as Long Island retirees in winter. U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday sought to counter Democratic critics of the Iraq war by turning their own past words of warning about Saddam Hussein against them. “Reasonable people...

The controversy continues to simmer and fester over the Graham Amendment. Note The Hill: Several retired military leaders are urging Congress to reject Senate-passed legislation that would nullify a 2004 Supreme Court ruling that gives detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the right to challenge their imprisonment. The upper chamber last Thursday passed Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) detainee amendment to the defense authorization bill, 49-42. Since the Graham amendment passed, a flurry of...

Questions raised about U.S. handling of detainees aren’t only arising in the United States: they’re being raised and causing inquiries in Spain and elswhere, according to the New York Times: LONDON, Nov. 11 – On the Spanish island of Majorca, the police quietly opened a criminal investigation in March after a local newspaper reported a series of visits to the island’s international airport by planes known to regularly operate for the Central Intelligence Agency. Now, it has...

Press Release: NEW FILM RELEASED — SACRED CHOICES AND ABORTION: TEN NEW THINGS TO THINK ABOUT Milwaukee, Wisconsin November 14, 2005 Contact: Ms. J Clements Outreach Director The Religious Consultation thefilmfarm@earthlink.net (for copies for review) The Religious Consultation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has just released to the religious community the film Sacred Choices And Abortion. This documentary explores the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faith traditions that support a woman’s right...