Today's Clip-and-Yupping

Note: In a debate on Crooked Timber about gender and blogging, someone complained that far too many blogs are just people who clip from other blogs and say "yup". I pointed out in a comment of my own, that some of us small-readership blogs, on the edge of the blogosphere, are reaching readers who are not themselves very plugged-in to blog-news-frenzy action. Bloggers who clip-and-yup are serving up stuff to those readers that they may otherwise never see. Not everyone uses news aggregators, or has high-speed access, or knows who Atrios and Digby are.

Anyway, I don't have much interesting myself to say right now, so here are my clip-and-yups for the day:

Gonzales, Torture

• Nothing New Under The Sun's daily roundup on Legal Torture
• Glenn On TortureHere's a remarkable piece of reasoning:

  I think the effort to turn this into an anti-Bush political issue is a serious mistake, and the most likely outcome will be, in essence, the ratification of torture (with today's hype becoming tomorrow's reality) and a political defeat for the Democrats. And the highly politicized way in which the issue is raised is likely to ensure that there's no useful discussion of exactly how, in terms of incarceration, etc., we should treat potentially very dangerous people who do not fall readily within the laws of war.

  Run that by me again. The point is not "an anti-Bush political issue." It's about whether the United States condones torture of prisoners (many of whom have turned out to be innocent) in its care. Since president Bush shifted U.S. policy to one which allows what any sane person would call torture, any criticism of the policy, by its very nature, has to be "anti-Bush." And when the president responds to his egregious error - which has undermined the war - by rewarding those who helped him make it, like Gonzales and Bybee, are we all supposed to roll over? Is all legitimate criticism of the administration now reducible to this kind of inane partisanship? Glenn's deeper point is that if you ask for torture to be stopped, the majority of Americans will respond by saying: ramp it up. But that amounts to complete capitulation to something no civilized person should tolerate, and no grown-up military officer would approve. Glenn cannot pretend to be anti-torture, while eschewing any serious attempts to stop it through the political process.If you won't stand up to the Bush administration on torture, is there anything you won't acquiesce to? And it's not "hype." Read the reports.
  [Andrew Sullivan]
• Points of contention
  Alberto Gonzales has said that the controversial Justice Department memo from 2002 which laid out presidential authority to allow torture of terrorism suspects was in response to "questions." Well, it turns out, those questions were his. The New York Times reports: "Until now, administration officials have been unwilling to provide details about the role Mr. Gonzales had in the production of the memorandum by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Mr. Gonzales has spoken of the memorandum as a response to questions, without saying that most of the questions were his." [salon]
• As retired military officers and...
  As retired military officers and religious leaders express concerns over the nomination of Alberto Gonzalez as attorney general, an ad opposing his nomination is headlined, "You may not know Alberto Gonzalez, but we're sure you'll recognize his work." Plus: 'Does the Right Remember Abu Ghraib?' [Cursor.org]
• Digby says:I have long defended the Democrats from charges that they are "spineless" and "cowardly." I think that character attacks on our own side mainly helps the Borg convince people that we aren't worth voting for. But, I have no compunction about calling out our representatives when they are making a mistake. Capitulating on Gonzales is not only wrong it is entirely counterproductive to our cause.
  
  If we are going to be fighting about "values" and "morals" over the next couple of election cycles (as the right seems determined to do) we need to throw down the gauntlet right here, right now. Torture is immoral and even the most craven right wing racist knows that he's playing with fire to endorse it publicly. They don't want to have this argument because they know they are wrong.
  
  Torture is not an American value and it's certainly not a religious value. If they are determined to elevate the architect of Bush's illegal and immoral torture and detention schemes to the highest law enforcement office in the land then they are begging for a fight. It's a fight we should be more than willing to wage because there is absolutely no doubt who has the moral high ground.

Iraq War

• As Iraqi insurgents gun down the...
  As Iraqi insurgents gun down the governor of Baghdad province and six of his bodyguards, a wave of bombing has reportedly prompted Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to phone President Bush to discuss election obstacles. [Cursor.org]
• Doctors in Fallujah tell a U.N. news...
  Doctors in Fallujah tell a U.N. news service that with two-thirds of the city's neighborhoods yet to be searched, more than 700 bodies have been recovered, and "more than 550 were women and children," and a resident sheik says that "even when some journalists are here they are being followed by the Marines." [Cursor.org]
• A report that that the resistance in...
  A report that that the resistance in Iraq numbers "more than 200,000 people," according to the country's national intelligence head, gets little play in the U.S., and a Chicago Tribune op-ed argues that it's time to break the Pottery Barn rule. [Cursor.org]
• Carpetbagger finds Bush's Inaugural committee chair...
  Carpetbagger finds Bush's Inaugural committee chair "unusually helpful" in "effectively admitting" that the upcoming inauguration won't actually honor U.S. troops but will instead "acknowledge their sacrifices by making them the theme of the festivities." [Cursor.org]
• A "broken" force
  At a time when too few are willing or able to speak openly and with candor about the harmful impact of this administration's policies, it is refreshing -- if disturbing -- to hear what Lt. Gen. James R. "Ron" Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve, has to say. The Baltimore Sun reports today on a memo Helmly wrote to senior Army leaders about the health of his command, which "is rapidly degenerating into a 'broken' force," in his view. The draining demands of overseas commitments, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the unwillingness of Army and Pentagon officials to change "dysfunctional" policies are exacerbating the problem, he wrote, and the Reserve is in "grave danger" of being unable to undertake any other missions. [salon]
• More Than 10,000 US Troops Wounded in Iraq [Common Dreams]

Crooked Republicans and Voter Fraud

• DeLay DeLight
  Shorter Tom Delay:
  

  
  "Thank God For 150,000 Dead!"

  
  
  Longer Tom DeLay, from this morning's prayer breakfast.[Eschaton]


• The Center for American Progress reports that...
  The Center for American Progress reports that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist filibustered a Clinton judicial nominee in 2000, then lied about it on "Face the Nation" this past November while "preaching about the evils of judicial filibusters." [Cursor.org]


• Raw Story publishes a fund-raising letter...
  Raw Story publishes a fund-raising letter from Ohio's Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, in which he boasts of helping to "deliver" Ohio for President Bush, and a spokesman for Sen. Barbara Boxer says "she is considering" signing an objection to the counting of Ohio's electoral votes, when Congress meets on Thursday to formally tally the vote. [Cursor.org]


• After Retreat, G.O.P. Changes House Ethics Rule
  The House enacted a change that would effectively dismiss a complaint in the event of a deadlock in the ethics committee. [The New York Times > National]

Misc Links

• Digby on a new 'Museum of Creation' to open in Kentucky


• Digby on getting some Democratic leaders


• Orcinus has a new post on the state of fascism in the country today