“They have to come up with super-human powers for Al Qaeda because they want to use Al Qaeda to justify a super-extreme agenda for the United States of America. If you really, really want to radically transform our government and radically transform who we are as a country; if you want East German style policing, and people informing on their neighbors, and you want to get rid of the Fourth Amendment, and you want endless wars conducted for profit; if you want to completely get rid of the safety net function and the regulatory function of the government; if you […]

Tucked inside the White House’s $196 billion emergency funding request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is an item that has some people wondering whether the administration is preparing for military action against Iran. The item: $88 million to modify B-2 stealth bombers so they can carry a newly developed 30,000-pound bomb called the massive ordnance penetrator, or, in military-speak, the MOP. The MOP is the the military’s largest conventional bomb, a super “bunker-buster” capable of destroying hardened targets deep underground. The one-line explanation for the request said it is in response to “an urgent operational need from theater […]

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 — The State Department official responsible for overseeing Blackwater USA and other private security contractors in Iraq resigned abruptly today. Richard J. Griffin, who has been the director of the department’s diplomatic security bureau since June 2005, faced stiff criticism from Congress over his handling of a Sept. 16 shooting episode involving Blackwater that left 17 Iraqis dead and other acts of violence by the State Department’s security guards. A special panel appointed to investigate the handling of diplomatic security in Iraq found a glaring lack of oversight and accountability that was hindering the American diplomatic and […]

This morning, Stephen Colbert discussed his just-announced candidacy for the President of the United States with Tim Russert on Meet The Press. Crazy like a Fox, Colbert’s southern strategy is to run as a Republican in the South Carolina primary and to lose and lose big. How? By tapping Senator Larry Craig as his running mate, of course. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always the closeted antics of Chuck Noblet — himself no stranger to the coded entreaties of men’s room meet-and-greets, and widely available on DVD — to drive gay-averse Dixiecrats into the arms of the enemy: Russert: […]

KARACHI, Pakistan — A suicide bombing in a crowd welcoming former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed at least 126 people Thursday night, shattering her celebratory procession through Pakistan’s biggest city after eight years in exile. Two explosions went off near a truck carrying Bhutto, but police and officials of her party said she was not injured and was hurried to her house. An Associated Press photo showed a dazed-looking Bhutto being helped away. Officials at six hospitals in Karachi reported 126 dead and 248 wounded. It was believed to be the deadliest bomb attack in Pakistan’s history. Bhutto flew home […]