Current Events

The new liberal radio station, featuring Al Franken and Janeane Garafalo among others, has a streaming audio so you can listen to it even if you aren’t in one of the big cities.

Interesting list of questions that the Associated Press suggests need to be cleared up by Dr. Rice when she testifies before the 9/11 Commission next week.
Those are good, but Salon’s list of questions is much better; it covers more of the White House’s actions surrounding 9/11 and not just contradictions between Clarke’s testimony and what the White House said.

“Sorry we let unsubstantiated claims drive our coverage. Sorry we were dismissive of experts who disputed White House charges against Iraq. Sorry we let a band of self-serving Iraqi defectors make fools of us. Sorry we fell for Colin Powell’s performance at the United Nations. Sorry we couldn’t bring ourselves to hold the administration’s feet to the fire before the war, when it really mattered. Maybe we’ll do a better job next war.”
Columnist Rick Mercier in The Fredericksburg (Va.) Free Lance-Star, making an apology for failing readers.

As Richard Nixon’s White House counsel during the Watergate scandal, John Dean famously warned his boss that there was “a cancer on the presidency” that would bring down the administration unless Nixon came clean. In his new book, “Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush,” Dean warns the country that the Bush administration is even more secretive and authoritarian than Nixon’s — in fact, he writes, it’s “the most secretive presidency of my lifetime.” More in this article from Salon Magazine.

Medicare Chief Tom Scully Threatened to Fire Top Actuary if He Revealed True Cost of the Drug Plan. The Bush Administration relied upon the drug benefit’s $400 billion price tag to win over skeptical conservative Republican allies.

Sibel Edmonds, A former FBI wiretap translator with top-secret security clearance, testified to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States that the FBI had detailed information prior to Sept. 11, 2001, that a terrorist attack involving airplanes was being plotted. But the information she is trying to present is being hidden by the White House.

1. Making sure everyone I know is registered to vote in time for the primary.
Everyone has to be registered by April 5 (postmarked form) to vote in the Indiana primary on May 5th. And if they happen to miss the primary, they have to be registered by October 4 to vote in the general election on November 2nd. You can download a voter registration form here.

The New York Times prints excerpts from letters home of American soldiers who were killed in Iraq.