memeorandum: Despite Blackwater, State Officials Get Promotions (The Blotter)

3:40 PM ET, October 25, 2007

Top Items:

Beauchamp and the Rule of Second Chances — October 25, 2007 — Beauchamp and the Rule of Second Chances: Pass it Along — I'd known that General Petraeus was once accidentally shot in the chest, but I first heard the full story this summer in Baqubah, from an eyewitness whose account I wrote about in Second Chances.

Discussion: The Newshoggers, Little Green Footballs and Riehl World View

Greg Sargent / Horses Mouth:

Army Acknowledges Leaking Beauchamp Docs To Drudge, Promises Investigation — Updated below. — There's been a very interesting turn in the saga of The New Republic's "Baghdad Diarist," the American soldier in Iraq who's been accused of fabricating negative stories about U.S. troops and publishing them in the mag.

Discussion: National Review, Hot Air and Confederate Yankee

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

Baghdad Diarist Was On Guard When Questioned by Editors — The soldier whose New Republic article about military cruelty in Iraq was labeled false by Army investigators refused to defend his accusations when questioned by the magazine, even after being told that the editors could no longer support him unless he cooperated.

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Yon: Beauchamp's Honor — Michael Yon dives into the Scott Beauchamp/New Republic fracas with a surprising and intriguing twist. Yon actually has come into contact with Beauchamp's unit, and finds the CO protective of the erstwhile Hemingway, and for good reason.

Glenn Greenwald / Salon: The growing link between the U.S. military and right-wing media and blogs

Docweasel / docweaselblog:

Bobby Caina Calvan Blog : the entire post with comments preserved — UPDATE: Good gracious, blogging since '97 and my first Instalanche. Thank you Mr. Reynolds! Thank you AOSHQ and the lovely and talented Michelle Malkin as well. — The entire site is 404′d, and the comments were the sweetest plum!

Little Green Footballs:
McClatchy Reporter Calvan Created His Own Reality

Discussion: docweaselblog, Hot Air and McClatchy Watch

Helene Cooper / New York Times:

New Steps by U.S. Against Iranians — The Bush administration will announce a long-debated policy of new sanctions against Iran on Thursday, accusing the elite Quds division of the Revolutionary Guard Corps of supporting terrorism, administration officials said Wednesday night.

Glen Johnson / Associated Press:
Romney Open to Iran 'Bombardment'

Discussion: Think Progress

CNN:
U.S. slaps new sanctions on Iran

Discussion: Publius Pundit and Death

Michael Cooper / The Caucus:

In His Words: Giuliani on Torture — DAVENPORT, Iowa — At a town hall meeting here last night, Rudolph W. Giuliani expanded upon his views of torture. Here is a transcript of the exchange. — Linda Gustitus, who is the president of a group called the National Religious Campaign Against Torture …

Discussion: Salon, Washington Monthly, The Plank, The Atlantic Online, The Newshoggers, Think Progress, TalkLeft, The Carpetbagger Report, Spin Cycle, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Heretik and TIME: Swampland

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Post:

House Democrats Set For Vote on New Version Of Children's Health Bill — Just one week after failing to override President Bush's veto, House Democrats will put a new version of their $35 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to a vote today …

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Central Sanity, DownWithTyranny!, The Moderate Voice, New York Times, The American Street, Fact-esque, The Carpetbagger Report, Daily Kos and The Stakeholder

CNN:
GOP cries foul on timing of children's health vote

Discussion: The Hill, Wonkette, Middle Earth Journal, Cliff Schecter, The Rude Pundit, Take Our Country Back, The Politico and michellemalkin.com

John Feehery / The Hill:

Dems Are Out of Touch on Taxes — Earlier this year, The Tax Foundation released a poll about the attitudes that Americans have towards the tax code. It found that a majority of U.S. adults believe the federal tax code is complex, that the federal income taxes they pay are "too high," …

Discussion: The Politico and Blue Crab Boulevard

republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov:
MEMO — FROM: Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Jim McCrery

Discussion: Washington Wire

Little Green Footballs:

Ted Rall: Only Idiots Die in Iraq, US IQ Soars — Here's a look into the squirmy, ugly mind of Ted Rall, whose latest cartoon about US troops in Iraq says: "Only idiots signed up; only idiots died. Back home, the average I.Q. soared." — (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Death and Tim Blair

Andrew Sullivan / The Atlantic Online:

The Ron Paul Wars — RedState defends its decision to bar future posters from supporting Ron Paul: … I don't think I qualify as a Neo-Nazi or a Code Pink activist. Full Wired story here. But here's a simple message to Ron Paul supporters. You're welcome here.

Discussion: Wired News and Eunomia

Cornelia Dean / New York Times:

'55 'Origin of Life' Paper Is Retracted — In January 1955, Homer Jacobson, a chemistry professor at Brooklyn College, published a paper called "Information, Reproduction and the Origin of Life" in American Scientist, the journal of Sigma Xi, the scientific honor society.

Discussion: Pharyngula and DefCon Blog

White House:

Press Briefing by Dana Perino — MS. PERINO: Hello. I have two announcements and then a scheduling update, and then we'll go to questions. First of all, this is a statement by the President that we will release, so this is in his words: The confirmation of Judge Leslie Southwick …

Discussion: Think Progress, First Draft, Wonkette, Where's the Outrage?, Moonbattery and Daily Kos

Washington Post:

Biden Stumbles in Interview — In an interview with The Washington Post's editorial board, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) asserted that he is more prepared to be president than any other candidate, disputed the notion that governors are better suited for the White House than senators and warned …

Discussion: MSNBC, The Carpetbagger Report, Shakespeare's Sister and Wonkette

Michael Rubin / The Corner:

Academic Freedom? — Yesterday, the University of Delaware asked Asaf Romirowsky to step down from an academic panel at the University of Delaware because another panelist, University of Delaware political scientist Muqtedar Khan, didn't want to share the podium with anyone who served in the Israeli Defense Forces.

Roger Cohen / New York Times:

Time for the Bundesmacht — Remember the Wehrmacht? It was a formidable fighting force. The modern German army, the Bundeswehr, is also very effective. Thing is, it is reluctant to fight or even place itself in danger. — Given history, that may seem just fine.

Discussion: Lean Left, TPMCafe blogs, Main and Central and Lawyers, Guns and Money

David Eggert / Associated Press:

Student hounds prof running for Congress — MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - A politically conservative student armed with a video camera and a Web site is trying to force a Democratic congressional candidate out of his teaching job at Central Michigan University. — Dennis Lennox, a 23-year-old junior …

Discussion: UrbanGrounds and BartBlog