Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly.
He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
The House just voted 431-0 to strip members convicted of perjury, bribery, or obstuction of justice of their pensions. Sorry Tom DeLay. No retirement fund for you.
I’ve updated my diary about the court martial of Lt. Ehren Watada. I’ll insert the update below.
Maybe not so rigged after all.
The judge has declared a mistrial. As far as I can understand what the issue is, Watada had signed a statement saying he did not redeploy, and the prosecution was using that as evidence that he confessed. But in court, it emerged that he did not think that admitting that he did not redeploy was a confession of guilt, since he did not think he was obliged to redeploy, since the order was illegal. So the judge threw the signing statement out. What I don’t undertand is why that required a declaration of mistrial. The only thing I can conjecture is that the signing statement was central to the prosecution’s case.
how long before bu$hco/the pentagon go after this judge, or get a higher court involved so they can “properly” punish this guy? this will not be allowed to stand.
The office desk of Joel Surnow–the co-creator and executive producer of “24,” the popular counterterrorism drama on Fox–faces a wall dominated by an American flag in a glass case. A small label reveals that the flag once flew over Baghdad, after the American invasion of Iraq, in 2003. A few years ago, Surnow received it as a gift from an Army regiment stationed in Iraq; the soldiers had shared a collection of “24” DVDs, he told me, until it was destroyed by an enemy bomb. “The military loves our show,” he said recently. Surnow is fifty-two, and has the gangly, coiled energy of an athlete; his hair is close-cropped, and he has a “soul patch”–a smidgen of beard beneath his lower lip. When he was young, he worked as a carpet salesman with his father. The trick to selling anything, he learned, is to carry yourself with confidence and get the customer to like you within the first five minutes. He’s got it down. “People in the Administration love the series, too,” he said. “It’s a patriotic show. They should love it.”
Surnow’s production company, Real Time Entertainment, is in the San Fernando Valley, and occupies a former pencil factory: a bland, two-story industrial building on an abject strip of parking lots and fast-food restaurants. Surnow, a cigar enthusiast, has converted a room down the hall from his office into a salon with burled-wood humidors and a full bar; his friend Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk-radio host, sometimes joins him there for a smoke. (Not long ago, Surnow threw Limbaugh a party and presented him with a custom-made “24” smoking jacket.)
I had fox news on earlier tonight but I wasn’t paying much attention. The show Beltway Boys was on with Fred Barnes and Mort Kondracke. They showed the Booman Tribune site on their show but I don’t know in what context. Anyone know?
New World/Open thread.
Is he selling out?
Will soccer finally “take” in the U.S?
What will the movie starring Victoria Beckham and Paris Hilton be about?
What sidekick will Becks have for his upcoming action movie?
Will U.S teams be able to compete against top level european squads?
yes
no
bending it for Beckham
Borat
no
The House just voted 431-0 to strip members convicted of perjury, bribery, or obstuction of justice of their pensions. Sorry Tom DeLay. No retirement fund for you.
I’ve updated my diary about the court martial of Lt. Ehren Watada. I’ll insert the update below.
Maybe not so rigged after all.
The judge has declared a mistrial. As far as I can understand what the issue is, Watada had signed a statement saying he did not redeploy, and the prosecution was using that as evidence that he confessed. But in court, it emerged that he did not think that admitting that he did not redeploy was a confession of guilt, since he did not think he was obliged to redeploy, since the order was illegal. So the judge threw the signing statement out. What I don’t undertand is why that required a declaration of mistrial. The only thing I can conjecture is that the signing statement was central to the prosecution’s case.
Mistrial declared in war objector court-martial
The whole thing sounds pretty strange to me. Is this the judge’s way to prevent a miscarriage of justice while covering his but?
how long before bu$hco/the pentagon go after this judge, or get a higher court involved so they can “properly” punish this guy? this will not be allowed to stand.
New Yorker:
I had fox news on earlier tonight but I wasn’t paying much attention. The show Beltway Boys was on with Fred Barnes and Mort Kondracke. They showed the Booman Tribune site on their show but I don’t know in what context. Anyone know?