Taguba Says Bush Committed War Crimes

Um, did I miss this or was it simply not covered in the news? General Taguba was a key player in the Abu Ghraib scandal, as he is the one who wrote the report on it to begin with.

ABC News Blog (not televised) Taguba: Bush Administration Committed War Crimes

USA Today Blog (not published) Taguba: Bush Administration Committed War Crimes

Here's Taguba's Preface to the report. Where is the coverage of some of this stuff???

More...Taguba Calls on Media to Go after Those Who Authorized Torture.

Watching History As It Happens... Scott McClellan to testify

Could one say that Scott McClellan is this generation's John Dean?

Given Obama Victory, Now Impeachment Makes Sense

I think the political calculus has changed regarding impeachment, what with Obama now the Democratic candidate. His popularity, based on perceived charisma, is immune to the potential blowback from the sensation caused by impeachment proceedings. Also, given McCain is the GOP candidate, that means the GOP presidential campaign will be boxed into a corner: either McCain is consistent with his complaints back in Bush 2003 or he has to defend Bush 2003.

The reason impeachment is so important, EVEN AT THIS LATE STAGE, is that the precedents set by Nixon were never fully addressed in law, because of the resignation and pardon, and so allowed, years later, for the Bush Administration to take huge strides towards secrecy while skirting any legal processes.

In China, Punishment Would Be Capital: CPSC

Two Heads of Product Safety Agency Accepted Trips From Manufacturer Groups

The agency's travel patterns during the Bush administration, detailed in internal agency documents, differ from those of the Clinton era. Ann Brown, who served as chairman from 1994 to 2001, traveled only at the expense of the agency or of media organizations that sponsored appearances where she announced product recalls, according to the documents provided.

For background:
Republicans Kill the Consumer Safety Product Commission

Also, previously on this blog:
Thoughts on the FDA

FEMA Hold Fake News Conference

A SCARY Halloween treat? FEMA Employees Masquerade as Reporters

How We Got Through the Bush Years...

...and kept our sanity.

Now that the final nails in the coffin of the Bush Administration are just about in, I feel like its time for a retrospective, or tribute, to those elements of culture (mostly the web) that got us through the past 7 years.

1. Daily Show with Jon Stewart
(and OnLisasRadar....Lisa Rein kept the best clips available back in the day)
And now its going to be annoying as he takes on the Democrats ever more and more. The knife cuts both ways, alas. But I will always be grateful for Jon Stewart between 2001 and 2007.

2. Get Your War On
www.mnftiu.cc
Frigging brilliant!

3. This Modern World
www.thismodernworld.com
I'm so grateful that Salon kept providing this, as well.

4. The Onion
www.theonion.com
Ok, they got me through stuff even before 2000, but thank God for the stance they took on things afterwords. Note: Personally, I think the writing has taken a dive recently, but either it will be like Saturday Night Live in its lifespan, with cycles of brilliance and failure, or it is the long term consequence of their move to NYC a few years back finally setting in.

5. WhiteHouse.Org
Especially those WWII-esque POSTERS!!
Got me through the first term, especially.

6. Dan Froomkin (originally White House Briefing)
Froomkin on the Washington Post Web
Especially as the years went on and Blogs came to the fore, he was an essential aggregator.