Ronny would have hated this post

I just found out today that a dear friend of mine from Noho died suddenly on Monday. I've talked a little bit about it on Last One Speaks but I'm really off kilter so I'm just going to post some links and call it a night.

I didn't see the speech but Center for American Progress already has the critique and it's not pretty. Read it all for yourself, but here's a key point.

After three years and billions of dollars worth of reconstruction efforts, it is no longer appropriate to lay the blame for Iraq's economic woes on the imprisoned tyrant. The prime cause of current reconstruction woes is the Iraq insurgency, which is not being countered effectively by the president's current military strategy. Stuart Bowen's report noted that "more than a quarter of all reconstruction funds had been spent on security costs to protect contractors, hundreds of whom have died in Iraq." And as long as Bush administration refuses to shift our military strategy, both Iraq's economy and security will suffer.

Meanwhile, a Diebold whistleblower effectively admits the company screwed with election tallies.

Although the source stopped short of directly charging Diebold with fixing elections, Dieb-Throat said that management “felt that if they controlled an election company, they could have great influence over the outcome.”

I have to ask again, why is a private company counting public votes anyway. This is traditionally the purview of citzens.

Via Buzzflash, the must read Maureen Farrell, now on Part III of her series, Modern History You Can't Afford to Ignore. If you haven't read the first two, start with the links at the bottom.

Underreported story of the week. How the White House has failed in homeland security measures. We're paying a ton of tax dollars for pork barrel projects instead of actual security measures. These thugs at 1600 want another terrorist attack because they think it will boost their ratings again. They're all but issuing hand engraved invitations.

I didn't get past page two of this WaPo piece without wanting to vomit. Maybe you'll have better luck.

I mean, what's with the puff piece allowing Luskin to spin Karl as some kind of hero while they're talking about how he's such a good spin doctor? It seems the WaPo can't decide whether they want to live in the administration's pocket or step back out and be a real newspaper again.