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Treason: "Firing Squad" for The New York Times?

The Right Wing has gone hog-ass wild over the New York Times’ “shocking” report that the Bush Administration is actually tracking terrorists’ money transfers. Oh my!
The fruitcakes are in flames! “Stand them in front of a firing squad or put them in prison for the rest of their lives,” says one pinhead on Fox TV.
For what? The stunning news that the government is hunting the source of al-Qaeda’s cash? “Osama! You must stop using your ATM card! Condi Rice is reading our bank statements!
Somehow, I suspect bin Laden already assumes his checkbook is getting perused.

Falluja Arithmetic Lesson

New York Times, page 1:
“American commanders said 38 service members had been killed and 275 wounded in the Falluja assault.”
New York Times, page 11:
“The American military hospital here reported that it had treated 419 American soldiers since the siege of Falluja began.”

Questions for the class:
1. If 275 soldiers were wounded in Falluja and 419 are treated for wounds, how many were shot on the plane ride to Germany?
2. We’re told only 275 soldiers were wounded but 419 treated for wounds; and we’re told that 38 soldiers died. So how many will be buried?
3. How long have these Times reporters been embedded with with military? Bonus question: When will they get out of bed with the military?

Jailing JudyThe Times Calls For Busting Sources not Reporters

William Safire, just before Independence Day, defended the Times’ Judith Miller in the oddest manner. Instead of standing by freedom of the press, he instead offers Big Brother other targets for imprisonment, citing with approval attempts to arrest intelligence whistleblower Philip Agee. Agee is a “turncoat” in the mind of the former Times man, and therefore should take Miller’s place in the dungeon. The implied maxim is: seize the other guy, but leave my colleagues alone.

Palast for Conyers: The OTHER Memos from Downing Street and Pennsylvania Avenue

Greg Palast, unable to attend hearings in Washington Thursday, has submitted the following testimony:
Chairman Conyers,
It’s official: The Downing Street memos, a snooty New York Times “News Analysis” informs us, “are not the Dead Sea Scrolls.” You are warned, Congressman, to ignore the clear evidence of official mendacity and bald-faced fibbing by our two nations’ leaders because the cry for investigation came from the dark and dangerous world of “blogs” and “opponents” of Mr. Blair and Mr. Bush.

New York Times Reports Illegal Vote Purge

The New York Times has uncovered Katherine Harris’ wipe out of thousands of voters … only three years after killing the story exposed by the BBC TV and the Guardian. Here, ‘News Dissector’ Schechter, formerly of ABC’s 20/20, asks how The Times could editorialize on a story they never ran in the first place. And note the Times still can’t bring itself to say that the color of illegally purged voters is … Black.

States Deregulate Energy at Their Peril – from The New York Times

While reporters ogled celebrities at Barbra Streisand’s bungalow during the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles, there was a real display of populism 100 miles to the south in San Diego. There politicians have enrolled two million citizens in a scary economic experiment. This year, San Diego became the first city in California to experience the end of state regulation of electricity prices.