Fredo's Top 10

Via Josh Marshall ...



I'd laugh if it weren't so objectively terrifying that this guy was our chief law enforcement officer. He gets an honorary chimperorship from me.

Delicious Beer Alert

West Coast IPA from Green Flash Brewing Co. in San Diego is deliciously hoppy. That is all.

Summer Surge Data

Nice job, Kevin Drum.

Violence Metrics

	June/July 2006	June/July 2007	Change
Iraqi Military and Police Killed	349	429	Up 23%
Multiple Fatality Bombings	110	82	Down 25%
# Killed in Mult. Fatality Bombings	885	1,053	Up 19%
Iraqi Civilians Killed (All violent causes)	6,739	5,300	Hard to say1
U.S. Troop Fatalities	104	187	Up 80%
U.S. Troops Wounded	983	1,423	Up 45%
Size of Insurgency	20,000+	~70,0002	Up ~250%
Attacks on Oil and Gas Pipelines	8	143	Up 75%

¹Methodology changed dramatically between 2006 and 2007, so numbers are highly suspect.
²Number is for March 2007.
³Numbers are for June only. No July numbers are available.

Infrastructure Metrics

	June/July 2006	June/July 2007	Change
Diesel Fuel Available	26.7 Ml	20.7 Ml	Down 22%
Kerosene Available	7.08 Ml	6.3 Ml	Down 11%
Gasoline Available	29.4 Ml	22.2 Ml	Down 24%
LPG Available	4,936 tons	4,932 tons	Down 0.1%
Electricity Generated	8,800 Mwatts	8,420 Mwatts	Down 4%
Hours Electricity Per Day	11.7	10.14	Down ~14%

⁴No numbers available for June/July. Figure is extrapolated from May and August numbers.

h/t Yglesias, who adds that

the surge is working if your definition of "working" doesn't require a decrease in violence or an increase in the viability of Iraq's basic infrastructure.

Nicely done.

This is just nuts

Man, shit is totally out of control. I am actually frightened. Just a tidbit from Glenn Greenwald:

McConnell clearly described that in 1978, we enacted a law prohibiting warrantless eavesdropping; the Bush administration broke that law repeatedly; and the telecommunications companies actively participated in that lawbreaking. And now -- as a matter of national security -- the Bush administration is demanding that Congress pass a new law declaring that telecom companies are immune from any and all consequences -- both civil and criminal -- in the event they are found to have violated the law. It is hard to imagine open contempt for the rule of law being expressed more explicitly than this.

Sometimes I am of two minds ...

Legal wiretaps on rise in Colorado

The number of phones secretly wiretapped by Colorado law enforcement hit a 10-year high last year, leading to large drug busts statewide while raising concerns about the privacy of innocent people.

The increase in the court-authorized wiretaps was led by the U.S. Attorney's Office, which used 108 wiretaps in its first year under U.S. Attorney for Colorado Troy Eid. That's four times the number used in the 12 months prior to Eid's August 2006 arrival, according to data from his office.

State prosecutors, meanwhile, got permission to use 43 wiretaps in 2006 - more than in the previous nine years combined, according to an annual report by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

... but actually, I think I'd rather err on the side of civil rights, thank you very much.

Mark My Words

Brandon Marshall is going to be a star receiver in the NFL.

Worried about the Broncos defense, though, I have to admit.

See Dick ... sounding relatively sane

I agreed with this in 1991 and continued to embrace this logic in 2003. So WTF happened to this madman to make him change his (at one time seemingly reasonable) views?

this about sums it up

the administration diverted resources from a country that it had the responsibility to build, and let a genuine threat to American security regroup and regain effective power in large parts of the country, in order to invade a country that posed no security threat whatsoever to the United States. Brilliant!

Scotty, pressuring farls as LGM's foreign policy savant.

This'll kill you, part II

Part II:

This'll kill you

And if it doesn't, you might want to check for a pulse. A dying man giving it his all: So Many Roads, 7/9/95, pt. 1

Unuterrably poignant

Jerry doing Visions of Johanna on 3/18/95, pt. 1

The Republican Field

Josh Marshall makes sense.

One can almost feel for these guys. Having to constantly remind yourself to stay "on-message" when the message is utterly incoherent and repugnant cannot be easy. Of course, only a disgusting, power-hungry, immoral wraith could ever bring him or herself to try such a thing, but oh well.

Uggghhhh

So looks like it'll now be legal for them to listen in on our communications. I like this analysis from Firedoglake.

WTF is wrong with us?