Uri Avnery on Israel’s self-fulfilling prophecy:

The High Priest of the “We Have No Partner” creed is General (res.) Amos Gilad, who at the crucial time was chief of the research section (and as such the No. 2) of the Army Intelligence Department…The army intelligence man reports directly to the Prime Minister and takes part in cabinet meetings. No minister would dare to question his assessments, which are the guiding star of the entire state. The research chief of the intelligence department is supposed to submit a professional summary of the huge amount of data amassed by the intelligence community. Most ministers are forbidden to read the written report, and even the few others are allowed only to glance at it. Therefore, the oral summary presented by the chief of research to the Prime Minister and the cabinet is of paramount importance. Amos Gilad went even further: he appeared almost daily in the media, commenting on almost every political and security event. He was not only the “national assessor”, but also the “national explainer”, as he was commonly called in the media.

This grave accusation raised a storm in professional circles. Intelligence operatives of undoubted integrity emerged from their anonymity in order to support Malka publicly. They were headed by the man who, at the relevant time, was in charge of the Army Intelligence section for Palestinian affairs, Colonel Ephraim Lavie, who was then responsible for the collection of all intelligence material about the Palestinian leadership…This means, in simple words: there was no intelligence material at all backing the assertion that Arafat is working for the destruction of the State of Israel, that Arafat had broken off the peace process in order to start a terror campaign, that Arafat is not ready for a reasonable compromise…When the debate heated up, the Orientalist Matti Steinberg, a former advisor on Palestinian affairs to the chief of the Shabak, joined the fray. Steinberg not only confirmed that Gilad’s “kontseptsia” was completely false and contradicted the intelligence material assembled by his own people, but he also asserted that Gilad’s conception “fulfilled its own prophecy”.

Colbert King on Kerry and McCain:

That, by the way, was the thinking of Maryland lieutenant governor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend two years ago when she tapped a former Republican, Adm. Charles Larson, to be her running mate. She, too, thought a prominent ex-military officer and longtime Republican on her ticket would appeal to conservative voters who weren’t likely to look her way. It turned out, however, that Larson, a former Naval Academy classmate of McCain and a supporter of McCain’s GOP presidential bid in 2000, was of little help to Townsend at the polls. Her party’s most loyal constituency, African Americans, hurt by her snub of better Democratic candidates and angered by her taking them for granted, failed to turn out on Election Day as she needed.

One more thing. Despite what Kerry may have been told by his handlers and fundraisers, his candidacy is not a sure thing in communities where concerns for justice, civil rights and economic empowerment are live issues. Townsend found that out for herself. Kerry needs to keep that in mind. His dalliance with McCain didn’t win him any points in precincts that can make or break him in November.

A man today told me “I don’t vote for anyone I don’t trust, and I don’t trust either of them.” I’d say the majority of the candidates I’ve voted for have been ones I didn’t trust. But I don’t think he’s the only one making that calculation.

Andy Stern from the SEIU Convention:

People are gathering here in San Francisco for the SEIU convention, and I’m struck by how different it will be from the stereotype of a union convention. No long parade of political speakers saying nice things but making no commitments. No nice sounding resolutions that there is neither the strength nor the will to carry out. Instead, it’s delegates representing 1.6 million members from every part of the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico — meeting to make decisions that matter — to our families, our communities, and all working people.

And joining with thousands of others all across the country tomorrow to bridge the Golden Gate and dozens of sites across the country for affordable, quality health care for all…

Kofi Annan on exempting Americans for International Crimminal Court prosecution:

…blanket exemption is wrong. It is of dubious judicial value, and I don’t think it should be encouraged by the [Security] Council…For the past two years I have spoken quite strongly against the exemption, and I think it would be unfortunate for one to press for such an exemption, given the prisoner abuse in Iraq. I think in this circumstance it would be unwise to press for an exemption, and it would be even more unwise on the part of the Security Council to grant it.

From the Times:

Saudi officials said Saturday that four men killed in a shootout in downtown Riyadh on Friday were top leaders of the vicious cell of Al Qaeda that beheaded an American hostage hours earlier and that is responsible for most of the often lethal attacks on Westerners in the kingdom. But contrary to earlier accounts, the officials said the body of the hostage, Paul M. Johnson Jr., 49, had not been found, though photographs posted on a Web site left no question that he was dead.

Three Doctors sue Yale – New Haven Hospital, charging they were punished for speaking out about cost-cutting moves which threatened patients’ health:

The radiology department at Yale-New Haven Hospital came under new management nearly a decade ago, at a time when the hospital was struggling to cut costs, streamline its emergency room procedures and serve more patients. Three longtime doctors refused to go along. They claimed that the new procedures were flawed and responsible for patients being wrongly diagnosed, sometimes with disastrous results. The radiologists brought their complaints to administrators at both the hospital and university. But Yale responded, they claim, by cutting their pay, disrupting their sabbaticals and trying to destroy their careers.

Families USA issues a new report finding that one in three Americans under 65 went without health insurance for all or part of 2002 to 2003.

The Center for American Progress tracks the White House lies about and in light of the 9/11 Commission’s findings:

Confronted with the 9/11 Commission’s report this week, which stated there was no collaborative relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam, the White House refuses to admit to misleading the public. President Bush said, “This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al Qaeda. We did say there were numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.” But he is playing semantic games which distort undisputable facts. Top officials in the Bush administration – including the president and the vice president – have repeatedly cited a collaborative relationship – not just contacts – between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda as a justification for invading Iraq. Now, after months of careful study, the bi-partisan commission investigating 9/11 says there is no credible evidence to support that claim.

More trouble for Governor Rowland:

A lawyer for the state Legislature urged the state Supreme Court on Friday to compel Gov. John G. Rowland to testify before a panel considering his impeachment. At the opening of the two-hour hearing, Rowland’s lawyer renewed his past objections to a subpoena ordering the governor’s testimony, saying the Legislature was intruding on the separation of powers among branches of government. “The subpoena effectively treats the governor as a subservient officer,” Ross Garber said.

But the Legislature’s lawyer, Cynthia Arato, said courts have already ruled that the judicial branch can subpoena a governor, and she argued the Legislature should receive the same treatment.”We’re all co-equal branches. If a court’s compelling of testimony does not violate the separation of powers, the compelling of testimony by the impeachment committee doesn’t,” Arato said.

Matt Yglesias’ rap on Dick Gephardt for a while has been that his politics are too far right on foreign policy and too far left at home. I’d say he’s got the first half right, and he makes that case pretty compellingly here:

When President Bush put forward his demand for a congressional resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, several moderate Republican Senators, including Dick Lugar, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, initially balked. The president, they felt, simply hadn’t laid the groundwork for an effective military campaign. They began working with Senate Democrats on constructing a compromise resolution that would contemplate the use of force while restricting the president’s power to go to war without a U.N. resolution and broad international support. For a brief moment, it looked like a done deal.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, it was announced that Dick Gephardt, leader of the House Democrats, had cut a deal — a total capitulation to the president’s demands, in fact — with the White House, undermining the negotiating power of Senate Democrats and GOP moderates alike. The result was not only the Iraq War as we know it, but to put many congressional Democrats, John Kerry included, in a rather untenable position. Either vote no and leave yourself open to the charge of thinking that the continued deterioration of the sanctions and inspections in Iraq could simply be ignored, or vote yes and take it as a matter of faith that the president would exercise this broad discretionary power wisely. Thus Kerry and others found themselves voting yes while attaching verbal caveats, rather than voting for a resolution that would have attached actual caveats, and the country’s best hope for a rational Iraq policy was dashed.

Michael Moore on the latest attempt to restrict access to his movie:

On top of all this, the MPAA gave the film an “R” rating. I want all teenagers to see this film. There is nothing in the film in terms of violence that we didn’t see on TV every night at the dinner hour during the Vietnam War. Of course, that’s the point, isn’t it? The media have given the real footage from Iraq a “cleansing” — made it look nice, easy to digest. Mario Cuomo has offered to be our lawyer in appealing this ruling by the MPAA. Frankly, I would like to think the MPAA is saying that the actions by the Bush administration are so abhorrent and revolting, we need to protect our children from seeing what they have done. In that case, the film should be rated NC-17!

However it turns out, I trust all of you teenagers out there will find your way into a theater to see this movie. If the government believes it is OK to send slightly older teenagers to their deaths in Iraq, I think at the very least you should be allowed to see what they are going to draft you for in a couple of years.