Rogue Rove Retires: Everyone knows Karl Rove is leaving the administration in less than two weeks as he makes the media rounds, including Sunday's Meet The Press, Face The Nation and Fox News Sunday. But is his influence leaving as well? Why now? Trouble coming down the pike over the U.S. attorney firings? What legacy does he leave? What is the future of Rovian Republicanism? You must listen to this segment to learn our thoughts and opinons, enriched by Hofstra University political science professor David Michael Green's "Karl Rove and Damage Done", published Friday in
www.counterpunch.org, Bill Moyers' Journal, "Bill Moyers Bids Farewell to Karl Rove" , Frank Rich's Saturday N.Y. Times op-ed, "He Got Out While the Getting Was Good", and Thomas Friedman's Sunday N.Y. Times op-ed. Weighty and thought-provoking, we assure you.
The War: When will we learn? Here we discuss a heartbreakingly detailed letter from seven noncommissioned officers and infantrymen from the 82nd Airborne Division who are scheduled to head back home soon, published in Sunday's New York Times and the International Herald Tribune (perhaps elsewhere as well) urging our involvement to be confined to the margins and let the Iraqis solve their own problems. Is anyone listening? Apparently not. John McCain was asked his opinion about this letter on Sunday's Face the Nation, and his response: "I respectfully disagree". How the hell can a man who is not there day to day possibly disagree, respectfully or not? We also include commentary about information that we learned Sunday about the much-anticipated General Patraeus/U.S. Ambassador Crocker state-of-the-surge progress report, due in September. Don't miss this segment!
Wanna Make Some Serious Bucks With No Oversight? Become a military mercenary and make up to $1,000 per day. And you apparently get to fire at will. That's right. And if you are up to speed, you might soon be able to sign up for training at a Blackwater mercenary training facility in East San Diego County, California. Yessirree, right here in the good old US of A. We kid you not, unfortunately. Our sources? Paul J. Nyden's "Guns for Hire: Secrecy, Torture, Religious Zeal Distinguish Mercenaries", published in the West Virginia Gazette and
www.afterdowningstreet.org, and "Blackwater West", posted in the Huffington Post. Seems the military is far from exempt from outsourcing.
The Joke's On Us: Not technically a joke, but we close the podcast with "Americans are Flocking to a Hi-Tech Creation Museum Where Man and Dinosaurs Frolick Happily Together", published Sunday in the Independent UK. Mind-boggling, we assure you. Makes one wonder where education in general might go.
We've survived another podcast. And so have you. Help us continue by spreading the word, emailing your comments and deciding that you have something to say by emailing us your telephone number for a future guest appearance. A store purchase or two would be great too! We'll be back Thursday August 23 if all goes well.
