The Hollywood Liberal

Memo To Broder: It Is A Criminal Matter
This morning Glenn Greenwald picked up on yet another atrocity from David Broder, this time from a chat in the WaPo, in which a reader asked him why we shouldn’t be impeaching George W. Bush for using propaganda and false information to induce the country into invading another under false pretenses. His answer was a Village Classic …

This morning Glenn Greenwald picked up on yet another atrocity from David Broder, this time from a chat in the WaPo, in which a reader asked him why we shouldn’t be impeaching George W. Bush for using propaganda and false information to induce the country into invading another under false pretenses. His answer was a Village Classic:

You’ll have to forgive me, but I am reluctant to see every big policy dispute turned into a criminal or impeachable affair.

Of course not. Now, blow jobs, that’s a different matter.

But then, it might be handy to remember — as we’ve pointed out a coupla times — it is in fact very much against the law to engage in such propaganda. Specifically, it not only violates standard provisions of the Appropriations Acts, it violates the Anti-Deficiency Act.

You could argue, perhaps, that those violations alone do not rise to the level of impeachable crimes. But these laws exist for a specific reason — to keep government from turning its propaganda powers against the American public. This is particularly true for military propaganda and psy-ops operations — which historically have been carefully relegated to the target populations of enemy combatants, not the American taxpayers who pay their salaries.

Not so under Bush. And combined with the fact that, as Glenn notes, this propaganda was used in the perpetration of a moral atrocity that cost thousands of lives, the case for impeachment — for Bush and Cheney alike, thank you very much — grows more powerful.

But first we need to establish the case with evidence and facts. Go here to sign a letter urging Congressional leaders to take action with immediate hearings on the propaganda generals.

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Todd Beeton has a report on Chelsea Clinton’s speech to the Texas Democratic Party:

“My mother wanted me to be very clear – we are going to [be] united,” Chelsea told Texas Democrats. Her mother, she noted, will be endorsing her formal rival tomorrow. Hillary Clinton will reaffirm “her life-long commitment to support and elect Democrats and Sen. Obama in November,” the younger Clinton said.

This is an Open Thread.

Indeed
Richard Clarke:

CLARKE: Well, there may be some other kind of remedy. There may be some sort of truth and reconciliation commission process that’s been tried in other countries, South Africa, Salvador and what not, where if you come forward and admit that you were in error or admit that you lied, admit that you did something, then you’re forgiven. Otherwise, you are censured in some way.

Now, I just don’t think we can let these people back into polite society and give them jobs on university boards and corporate boards and just let them pretend that nothing ever happened when there are 4,000 Americans dead and 25,000 Americans grieviously wounded, and they’ll carry those wounds and suffer all the rest of their lives.

Bill Moyers: ‘Journalism in Profound Crisis’ (Video)
The legendary journalist electrifies packed crowd at National Conference for Media Reform.

The Final Event Of Hillary’s 502-Day Presidential Campaign
Hillary will endorse Obama tomorrow at noon, at the National Building Museum, in Washington, D.C. It will almost certainly receive wall-to-wall coverage. The moment will come exactly one year and 137 days since she released this YouTube on January 22,…

Lousy Numbers
Jared Bernstein, on today’s new employment numbers, including the largest one month jump in unemployment since the mid-80s….

The LiberalOasis Radio Show: Fake Pork Edition

Today at 10 AM ET, The LiberalOasis Radio Show was broadcast on WHMP-AM in Western MA. My special guest was Kate Sheppard of Grist Magazine who gave us the low-down on the Lieberman-Warner global warming bill.

The audio podcast for the show is here: (iTunes / XML feed / MP3). Video of the opening monologue, about McCain’s phony pork crusade, is below:

Cuba OKs gender change surgery
Cuba has authorized sex-change operations and will offer them free for qualifying citizens, an official said Friday. The move is the latest in a series of changes implemented by President Raul Castro since he succeeded his elder brother, Fidel, in February. Raul Castro’s daughter, Mariela, heads Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education, which strongly backs the new policy.

Musharraf: Obama must change
Musharraf: Obama must change

NBC?s Engel: Permanent Bases Would Technically Be Iraqi With U.S. ?Tenants? As ?A Face Saving Device?
On Thursday, the UK Independent’s Patrick Cockburn reported on “a secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad” that “would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely.” According to Cockburn, the deal result in American soldiers being stationed on permanent bases in Iraq: Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, […]

On Thursday, the UK Independent’s Patrick Cockburn reported on “a secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad” that “would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely.” According to Cockburn, the deal result in American soldiers being stationed on permanent bases in Iraq:

Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq’s position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country.

On the same day, NPR’s Diane Rehm asked NBC News Middle East correspondent Richard Engel about the report. Engel said that as part of “a face saving device,” the bases would technically be Iraqi and “U.S. troops would reside on them as tenants”:

ENGEL: That’s the question, is it permanent bases or is it not, and the details of this have not been published. The U.S. and Iraqi officials I’ve spoken to say they would not be U.S. permanent bases in Iraq, they would be Iraqi bases and that U.S. troops would reside on them as tenants and may even have to pay some sort of nominal rent, so there would be a face saving device. What’s also trying to be worked out is what’s the exact U.S. mission. Would they be able to conduct independent operations without the advice and consultation of the Iraqi government and that has been a point of contention.

Listen here:

After Cockburn’s report was released, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, tried to quash talk of permanent U.S. bases, telling reporters that “it is not going to be forever.” But Crocker also spoke of a situation that could comport with Engel’s “face saving” description, claiming that “there isn’t going to be an agreement that infringes on Iraqi sovereignty.”

Transcript: (more…)

Hillary Rodham Clinton Suspends Her Presidential Campaign
[*] CLINTON: Thank you very, very much. Well, this isn’t exactly the party I’d planned, but I sure like the company.