Smear

Reading The Pictures: Crippling John Edwards
Posted June 15, 2007 09:44 AM (EST)
Maybe democracy will have the last say. Given the power of impressions, however, the media has effectively "taken Edwards apart" in two pictures. (This should not be surprising, though, as any candidate that trends left and threatens to play outside the establishment rules is probably doomed to the same fate.)
On first go around, Edwards was feminized and sissified. On a slow simmer for years, that stage really got hot in early March after Ann Coulter publicly called Edwards a "faggot." It culminated in late April, however, when Adam Nagourney, Maureen Dowd (viewable via johnedwards.com) and Howard Kurtz, within the same week, not only jumped all over JE's pricey Beverly Hills haircut, but seemed to relished the opportunity to revive what Nagourney termed the "Breck Girl sobriquet" with all three journalists plugging (read: blessing) the infamous, Edwards-slandering "I Feel Pretty" You Tube video.
Hence, picture #1.
Phase two crystallized this past weekend with the publication of the NYT Magazine, above.
In the cover story, Matt Bai spends an impressive 7,827 words intimating that John Edwards is a filthy-rich hypocrite who is playing the poverty issue for political advantage. "Writes Bai: "Whenever you wrap yourself in the mantle of morality and conviction ... even the smallest hypocrisy can leave an indelible stain."
Bai goes to work constructing a "glass house" for the candidate. For example, he pushes hard on the fact that Edwards worked for a hedge fund company (those outfits "preying on the poor") after the 2004 election. Bai then almost literally guides a rock through the window, hitting Edwards for building "the largest home in the county" (which, if you don't look carefully, reads like "country.") And, leaving no stone unturned, he also rehashes the haircut business, emphasizing the clip took place in the uppercrust bastion of a hotel room. Mostly telegraphing his own enmity, Bai notes: "... Edwards tries so hard to establish his affinity for the common man that it makes you wince."
But what really hangs the frame around Edwards, and his concern over poverty, is that cover -- our picture #2.
There is Johnny boy, backlit in the color of Benjamins, posed with his hands at his sides like an Everyman, but somehow a bit suspect, a little too tight perhaps. The expression may well be explainable, however, not just by the writer/interviewer's long knife, but the way the cover -- banishing the candidate's name -- makes Edwards less a spokesman for the income gap, then its poster boy.
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Peak Oil

Michael T. Klare
June 15, 2007
Michael T. Klare, professor of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College, is the author of Blood and Oil.
Sixteen gallons of oil. That's how much the average American soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan consumes on a daily basis—either directly, through the use of Humvees, tanks, trucks, and helicopters, or indirectly, by calling in air strikes. Multiply this figure by 162,000 soldiers in Iraq, 24,000 in Afghanistan, and 30,000 in the surrounding region (including sailors aboard U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf) and you arrive at approximately 3.5 million gallons of oil: the daily petroleum tab for U.S. combat operations in the Middle East war zone.
Multiply that daily tab by 365 and you get 1.3 billion gallons: the estimated annual oil expenditure for U.S. combat operations in Southwest Asia. That's greater than the total annual oil usage of Bangladesh, population 150 million—and yet it's a gross underestimate of the Pentagon's wartime consumption.
Such numbers cannot do full justice to the extraordinary gas-guzzling expense of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. After all, for every soldier stationed "in theater," there are two more in transit, in training, or otherwise in line for eventual deployment to the war zone—soldiers who also consume enormous amounts of oil, even if less than their compatriots overseas. Moreover, to sustain an "expeditionary" army located halfway around the world, the Department of Defense must move millions of tons of arms, ammunition, food, fuel, and equipment every year by plane or ship, consuming additional tanker-loads of petroleum. Add this to the tally and the Pentagon's war-related oil budget jumps appreciably, though exactly how much we have no real way of knowing.
And foreign wars, sad to say, account for but a small fraction of the Pentagon's total petroleum consumption. Possessing the world's largest fleet of modern aircraft, helicopters, ships, tanks, armored vehicles, and support systems—virtually all powered by oil—the Department of Defense (DoD) is, in fact, the world's leading consumer of petroleum. It can be difficult to obtain precise details on the DoD's daily oil hit, but an April 2007 report by a defense contractor, LMI Government Consulting, suggests that the Pentagon might consume as much as 340,000 barrels (14 million gallons) every day. This is greater than the total national consumption of Sweden or Switzerland.
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If Kristol says so…
By: Steve Benen @ 5:08 AM - PDT
Jonathan Chait found a disconcerting catch about the junior senator from Connecticut.
Perusing the Weekly Standard’s promotional package (which isn’t online), I came across this testimonial from Joe Lieberman:
"If Kristol says what I’m doing is right, it must be right."
I don’t think any more needs to be said about Joe Lieberman.
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June 15th, 2007
National Guardsmen Accused of Smuggling Illegal Immigrants
By: Nicole Belle @ 9:02 AM - PDT
KNBC:
Three National Guardsmen assigned to stop illegal immigration were arraigned Monday on charges they ran a border smuggling ring.[..]
Pfc. Jose Rodrigo Torres and Sgt. Julio Cesar Pacheco — both of Laredo — and Sgt. Clarence Hodge Jr., of Fort Worth, Texas, were arrested last week.
Authorities found 24 illegal immigrants in a National Guard-rented van Torres was driving — while in uniform. Prosecutors allege Hodge helped Torres pass through a checkpoint.
Pacheco is accused of recruiting soldiers to transport the migrants for up to $3,500 per trip.
National Guardsmen assigned to stopping illegal border crossings were actually facilitating it? Ever feel like this whole country has entered the Twilight Zone