From the NY Times today comes this news— the federal government at the direction of the Bush administration and at the urging of the Republican Congress put up a website which reveals nuclear bomb-making secrets. The NYT headline sums it up thus:

U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Primer

  So what happened? <!-more-> And what was published?

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.

And how long has this information been available?

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. […] Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials.

And who plays politics with our National Security?

The director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, had resisted setting up the Web site, which some intelligence officials felt implicitly raised questions about the competence and judgment of government analysts. But President Bush approved the site’s creation after Congressional Republicans proposed legislation to force the documents’ release.

  Now we ask you – who’s the real danger in maintaining our national security and combating terrorism?

 

We’ve been cruising the nets today and noticing that there are some mighty fine ads being put out for public consumption on youtube. So we picked some of favorites to share with you. Please post about your favorites.

Joe Sestak’s ad

 
<!-more-> Dan Seal’s ad

John Courage’s ad

Eric Massa’s ad

And because we like them both, here’s 2 from Ned Lamont

Prepared by the JK blog team  

Road Report from Ted Chiodo:

The traveling crew and JK said our goodbyes to the Livestrong summit and headed over to our hotel in Austin. I was able to find a high-speed connection and wall outlet to upload John Kerry’s very moving speech, a huge 722 MB file. I had just finished uploading the still photos and was beginning the process of uploading the video when my phone rang. It was the illustrious Marvin Nicholson on the line, who launched into one of those questions I’ve gotten really wary of:

“Ted, I have a small favor to ask of you sir.”

“Does it involve lawbreaking” I joked.

“…No, No, not this time. JK was just watching the local Austin TV news and saw that the guys from OCC were in town on a bus tour, would you mind heading over there and seeing if Senior, Paulie, Mikey, Vinnie, Rick, and Cody had any free time to say hi to JK if we dropped by to check out the choppers.” <!-more-> Now, for those of you who don’t know, OCC stands for Orange County Choppers. The Teutul family owns and operates OCC, and has its own TV show called “Orange County Choppers” on The Discovery Channel. (Please check out an episode, it’s a fantastic show.) The Teutuls are great people and build the sweetest choppers out there. The TV show is a favorite of JK’s and his traveling staff (Marvin and me).

My personal favorite shows are the one where Paulie and Rick design and fabricate Shelby Cobra-inspired choppers or when Cody and Senior build an old school chopper with twisted steel sissy bars.

Not only does OCC build great bikes but they have a huge heart. These guys are huge supporters of fire fighters (fire fighter bike), cops (police chopper with sidecar), and the military (stealth bike). The reason they were in Austin was to promote a bus tour raising money for wounded vets from Afghanistan and Iraq. The guys from OCC are real Americans making a difference in their communities.

Most of OCC guys were there and couldn’t have been nicer: Senior, Paulie, Mikey, Vinnie, Rick and Cody. I grabbed some pictures as the OCC crew talked to the JK crew. Senior and Paulie were great. JK talked to them about choppers, and their many charitable works. It was a blast to see these guys up close and personal. JK and the guys from OCC exchanged autographs and BSed for a good 20 min. Soon it was time for the guys to go up on stage and for us to head to the airport for a flight to LA. It was one of the coolest experiences I have had in my job so far.

Look for my report from LA and check out the OCC website: they have some kick ass gear!

Mahalo!

 

As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop.

I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended.

It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything but their failed security policy. I don’t want my verbal slip to be a diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning strategy for our troops.

Keith Olbermann weighed in on Countdown last night with some of his inimitable common sense. Take a listen.

As James Carville pointed on CNN’s Situation Room yesterday per Hotline:

“It is much easier to say, I botched a joke, than to say, I botched a war. And he was very frank. ... He gave an explanation. And, as I say, Senator Kerry is one of the great war heroes to ever serve in the Congress. He has about a 100 percent record when it comes to the veterans. So, I don’t understand exactly what the problem is. He didn’t owe anybody an apology. He owed an explanation” (“Situation Room,” CNN, 10/31).