Pentagon: No More Bible Quotes In Briefings

It’s remarkable that the Pentagon even has to make such a statement, but it now says it will no longer send the White House intelligence briefings adorned with quotes from the Bible.  This, of course, is in response to the GQ story that former SecDef Donald Rumsfeld (r), did just that.

The Bible quotes apparently aimed to support Bush at a time when soldiers’ deaths in Iraq were on the rise, according to the June issue of GQ magazine. But they offended at least one Muslim analyst at the Pentagon and worried other employees that the passages were inappropriate.…

GOP Losing Voters Across the Board

A new Gallup Poll shows that the Republican Party is losing in all demographic groups.

The group where Republicans suffered the biggest erosion – 10 percent between 2001 and 2009 – was college graduates. There were nine point drops in leaned identification for those 18-to-29 years old, Midwest residents, people with less than $30,000 a year in income, people in the $30,000 to $75,000 a year bracket, moderates, and those who seldom or never attend church.

The GOP held its own with those over 65 and with those who are weekly church goers. They also lost little among blacks …

Sorry, Single-Issue Voters, It’s Not Just About Abortion

A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows the abortion issue doesn’t affect how the country sees the president, and there is no difference between practicing Catholics and those who don’t attend church.

Sixty-two percent of Americans polled approve of Obama’s performance, and 35 percent do not approve. Among Catholics, the poll suggests 65 percent have a positive view of the job the president is doing, and 33 percent do not. The sampling error on that question is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the general population, and plus or minus 6.5 percentage points for Catholics.

And much as …

On Monday’s Radio Show…

• Coalition of the Just?  Kevin Zeese, Executive Director of Voters for Peace, discusses the recently filed petition that calls for the disbarment of the Bush Administration attorneys who are linked to the now infamous “Terror Memos.”
• Ventura bodyslams Hasselbeck! Former Navy Seal and Minnesota Governor Jesse “The Body” Ventura joins Alan to share his own personal experience with waterboarding and how it helped shape his view that the practice is indeed torture.
• Alexander A. Reinert, attorney for Javid Iqbala Pakistani, who was detained in a Brooklyn Detention Center following the attacks of 9/11, explains to …

Jesse Ventura Vs. Elizabeth Hasselbeck On Waterboarding

Jesse:

“We only seem to waterboard Muslims.”

“They want Pelosi out because she lied?  Why didn’t they ask for Bush and Cheney to go out when they lied about Iraq?”

“I would prosecute the people who did it; I would prosecute the people who ordered it, and they would all go to jail.”

“Look how outraged we were when waterboarding was done to our vets in Vietnam.  Where do you think we learned it from?”

“I’m ashamed of my country.”

“You give me a waterboard, one hour and Dick Cheney and I’ll have him confessing to the Sharon Tate …

Will The Velvet Revolution Protect American Values?

They’re calling it the “Velvet Revolution” It’s an attempt by advocacy groups to disbar BushCo lawyers who were complicit in allowing torture.  Targeted among the 12 attorneys are three US attorneys general.  The argument is that they violated a professional code of conduct by authorizing torture techniques, violating the Geneva Conventions, the Convention Against Torture and American law.

The filing comes as the Justice Department’s ethics office, the Office of Professional Responsibility, completes a report on the department lawyers who wrote opinions authorizing harsh interrogations. The report, in the works for nearly five years and expected to be …

SCOTUS: Detainee Can’t Sue US Officials For Abuse (UPDATED)

A  Pakistani man claiming abuse while in a New York prison has been denied permission to sue former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller.  The Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling in a case brought by Javid Iqbal who was in jail for more than a year after 9/11.

Iqbal, a Muslim, said in the lawsuit that he had suffered verbal and physical abuse, including unnecessary strip searches and brutal beatings by guards. He said he had been singled out because of unlawful ethnic and religious discrimination.

Iqbal’s was accused of providing material support to …

WH Acknowledges Heckler In Official Notre Dame Transcript

Rather than sweep under the rug the rude interruptions when President Obama spoke at Notre Dame Sunday, the White House included them in the transcript of the event.

While the numbers of protests were small compared to the attention they received, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs noted on Friday that the President would acknowledge the controversy in his speech. The President did so by calling for common ground on the issue of abortion. He also asked that people “do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.”

The heckler was heckled back with shouts of “Yes We …

Repubs Ready To Attack Obama SCOTUS Nominee No Matter What

It doesn’t matter to the GOP who Obama nominates for the Supreme Court.  They have a plan of attack regardless of who it is.

Ten research …

Rummy Used Bibilical Quotes To Let Bush Know How Well War Was Going

Robert Draper has the GQ story out Sunday about how then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sent George W. Bush daily briefings featuring triumphant color war photos and biblical quotations, knowing this would be an effective way to manipulate a God-focused president.

The briefing’s cover sheet generally featured triumphant, color images from the previous days’ war efforts: On this particular morning, it showed the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down in Firdos Square, a grateful Iraqi child kissing an American soldier, and jubilant crowds thronging the streets of newly liberated Baghdad. And above these images, and just below the headline SECRETARY …

SONY CEO Hates The Internet

Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, spoke at Syracuse University Thursday:

“I’m a guy who doesn’t see anything good having come from the Internet…(The Internet) created this notion that anyone can have whatever they want at any given time. It’s as if the stores on Madison Avenue were open 24 hours a day. They feel entitled. They say, ‘Give it to me now,’ and if you don’t give it to them for free, they’ll steal it.”

Maybe when Sony tries to figure out why it lost $1 billion last year, it should examine this mindset.…