This is a good one! Utah wants additional Congressional representation due to its growing population and the GOP is trying to hasten the addition of the seat by promising representation for the people of Washington D.C who have no representation in Congress. But some no likey the idea of DC residents getting representation. Why you ask?

Utah, Using Olive Branch, Tries to Add Seat in House - New York Times

[…]

One Republican who voted no, Representative Julie Fisher, noted the state’s rapid population growth and expectations for the next census.

“We will get our seat anyway in 2010,” Ms. Fisher said, “without selling short our nation’s most revered document.”

There you have it. The idea of democracy and representation (no taxation without representation) would be, you know, selling the constitution short.

[ Link ]

We all remember the Danish cartoon controversy. You remember the one? Where most of the U.S press reported, with barely concealed glee, the horrors of the protests against the cartoons, rather than the cartoons themselves? To be fair they did comment on the cartoons i.e., as a free speech issue, as in the useless freedom to call your mother a whore. Another thing that I do not remember is any mention of the below, in the midst of the criticism of Muslim and Arab nations: It seems that the cartoons were republished in a Muslim country, not as some sort of meaningless statement as some of our press did, but with real consequences and dangers:

BBC | Yemen editor jailed over cartoons

[…]

The editor, Kamal al-Aalafi, said he had reprinted the cartoons to raise awareness, not to insult Muslims.

[…]

It seems two other Yemeni newspapers also published the cartoons.Now, I wonder if our wonderful press, the one that balks at discussing George Bush’s missing years in the military, would publish similar cartoons about say the same George Bush?

[ Link ]

Billmon has a great post (Whiskey Bar: Flunking History) at the Whiskey Bar (what better way to spend your Sunday evening!) that covers U.S mixed history of wars and occupations, Powell and McCain’s spin on them, and ends with a timely assessment of Mr. Straight Talk:

Whiskey Bar: Flunking History

That’s one of the reasons why I tend to regard McCain as the most dangerous man in America — even more so than Cheney and Rumsfeld. Not because he isn’t a “straight shooter” (he’s certainly devious enough about advancing his personal political ambitions) but because when it comes to the cult of self-righteous American power, I think he’s the straightest shooter in the bunch — literally.

Go read the whole thing: [ Link ]

Fitzgerald investigation into national security compromise: $1.4m, 3 years. Ken Starr obsession with blowjob: $71m, 8 years. Barrett interest in Cisneros extramarital affair: $21m, 10 years. Republican faux outrage over Fitzgerald (a Republican)? Priceless!

CIA Leak Probe Relatively Inexpensive - WaPo

Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who investigated whether senior Bush administration officials illegally leaked the name of a CIA operative for political payback, has spent $1.4 million in his probe over the past three years, his office reported yesterday — a figure that establishes him as remarkably frugal in the ranks of recent special investigators.

Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s investigations of President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica S. Lewinsky and his ties to the failed Whitewater land investment cost $71.5 million and took eight years. Independent Counsel David M. Barrett’s examination of Clinton housing secretary Henry G. Cisneros over an extramarital affair and potential illegal payments cost $21 million and lasted 10 years.

[ Link ]

Army says all the horror of war as depicted in a documentary of Iraq war injured might be a bit demoralizing. Perhaps when compared to the much better version of reality presented in the ads with dudes climbing mountains and such? When asked if morale may improve among the troops if they were to be brought back home, rather than just ignoring the brutality of war, a spokesperson responded: That's just crazy talk! [I am kidding of course!]

Army Concerned About HBO War Film - NYT

[…] 

The documentary, titled "Baghdad ER," chronicles two months at the 86th Combat Support Hospital, where filmmakers were given broad access to follow doctors, nurses, medics and others as they treated soldiers wounded by roadside bombs and in combat. As one nurse, Specialist Saidet Lanier, says in the film: "This is hard-core, raw, uncut trauma. Day after day, every day."

The Army officials said that concerns about the documentary — which includes footage of an amputation and of wounded soldiers undergoing surgery and, in some cases, dying — were also raised by the wives of top Army officers who had seen the film.

"Given the subject matter, it's not something you're going to cheer at the end," said one senior Army official.

Richard L. Plepler, an executive vice president at HBO, said the screening would take place as planned on Monday, but he said he expected far fewer people to attend than the 300 or so that Army officials told him to expect after an initial screening at the Pentagon.

"We had discussed a larger degree of participation from senior members of the Army when we first visited the Pentagon in March," Mr. Plepler said. "One retired general who was there told us the film 'captured the soul of the United States Army.' Therefore, we're a little surprised by the change in plans."

[…] 

Sometimes the news media calls out official doublespeak: 

NYT: Fewer Marshes + More Man-made Ponds = Increased Wetlands

WASHINGTON, March 30 — In the bog of the federal regulatory code, a wetland is defined as a marshy area of saturated soils and plants whose roots spend part of their lives immersed in water. In the Interior Department's periodic national surveys, a wetland is defined, more or less, as wet.

Traditional tidal, coastal and upland marshes count, but so do golf course water hazards and other man-made ponds whose surface is less than 20 acres.

And so, even at a time of continued marsh depletion, pond inflation permitted Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns to announce proudly on Thursday the first net increase in wetlands since the Fish and Wildlife Service started measuring them in 1954. Wetlands acreage, measured largely by aerial surveys, totaled 107.7 million acres at the end of 2004, up by 191,800 acres from 1998.

The two cabinet secretaries hailed the apparent reversal in the long trend of wetland losses. "I'm pleased to complete my term as secretary of interior by announcing some good news, said Ms. Norton, who will step down from her job Friday.

Other times, they are happy to play along. Here is a BBC headline:

Norway protects Arctic oil areas

What a bit of good news, you think, given that the US interior is using clever interpretation to hide environmental degradation. At least, there is Norway! Protector of Arctic regions. Well, you may wish to reconsider, based on the rest of the article:

Norway has approved increased oil exploration in its Arctic waters but will limit drilling in some areas until 2010 to protect the environment.

(The thing that is irritating is the choice of headline) 

WaPo (believe it or not!) has a chat with Noam Chomsky online. In the quoted section below, Chomsky, as always, reclaims the use of terms and zeroes in on verbal hoodwinking that should be, but sadly isn't, obvious:

Chat With Chomsky

[…]
Washington, D.C.: Do you believe that Latin America can be successful in developing alternatives to Washington Consensus neoliberal policy and do you believe that Globalization is a real thing as often portrayed by writers like Thomas Friedman?

Noam Chomsky: The term "globalization," like most terms of public discourse, has two meanings: its literal meaning, and a technical sense used for doctrinal purposes. In its literal sense, "globalization" means international integration. Its strongest proponents since its origins have been the workers movements and the left (which is why unions are called "internationals"), and the strongest proponents today are those who meet annually in the World Social Forum and its many regional offshoots. In the technical sense defined by the powerful, they are described as "anti-globalization," which means that they favor globalization directed to the needs and concerns of people, not investors,financial institutions and other sectors of power, with the interests of people incidental. That's "globalization" in the technical doctrinal sense. Latin America is now exploring new and often promising paths in rejecting the doctrinal notions of "globalization," and also in the remarkable growth of popular movements and authentic participation in the political systems. How successful this will be is more a matter for action than for speculation.

 [Via MP]