(Guest blogged by Howie Klein) 

Kurt is an LNMC contest winner from Vancouver (WA) who just turned me on to a great new band from the U.K., The Brakes. And although they caused some stir with a song bashing a discredited American political figure and for their anti-war "Porcupine or Pineapple," it's really their music that is making them the hottest commodity in the U.K. music scene.

Here's the Rough Trade video for the U.K. hit "All Night Disco Party."

CONTEST: This isn't the first time Rough Trade has found an underground band and helped make them international stars. Send us a list of your 3 favorite Rough Trade-released hit songs (by 3 different artists). The coolest list gets its creator a cool Sire Records box set (3 CDs plus a DVD), JUST SAY SIRE: THE SIRE RECORDS STORY. Send your list to [email protected].

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The McGovern Amendment–HR 2237–went down in the House by a vote of 253 Nay to 171 Yea (which is more than we expected).  What is more surprising (and highly disappointing) is some of the freshman Dems that voted against it. Howie has more:

To be honest, I hardly expected such a strong show of support– at least not from cowardly members of Congress– for Jim McGovern's H.R. 2237. 171 yes votes was pretty damn impressive. That's the one that would have begun the redeployment of U.S. forces (and mercenaries) from Iraq not later than 90 days after enactment, with the proviso that it be completed within 180 days. This is the legislation supported by the Out of Iraq Caucus, the one all progressives were behind. I've been trying to figure out which Democrats betrayed us and this is the list I've put together so far:  Read on…  

As Jane says, it would be nice if a few more folks on the Hill joined the Reality Based Community.

   Jeffrey Feldman :

One of the principles we hold dear in the United States is freedom of the press--an idea Thomas Jefferson listed in his 1801 Inaugural Address as one of the basic concepts on which this nation was founded[..]

Dick Cheney, apparently, has no time for Jefferson. 

In his press "availability," today–part of his surprise visit to Baghdad–the Vice President let it be known that there are rules he defines and that the press must follow.  In other words, Dick Cheney believes in freedom of the press, so long as they do what he says.

Apparently deaf to the improper tone of the request in the context of a hearing on the firings of the U.S. attorneys, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) encouraged Alberto Gonzales to hurry up and indict Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). The Jefferson case has dragged on for nearly two years and is awaiting the decision of an appeals court on the FBI's seizure of evidence from Jefferson's congressional office.

"I hope that you will tell your prosecutors to wrap this thing up," said Sensenbrenner.

I guess Sensenbrenner doesn't realize that in a hearing over whether the Attorney General's office was politicizing USAs and demanding partisan investigations and indictments, he's…pushing for a partisan indictment.

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Joe Klein uses his Time blog to respond to Glenn Greenwald.  Too bad he didn't understand Glenn's criticism.  Willful ignorance?  You decide.

The Star (h/t NonnyMouse):

An odd-looking Canadian coin with a bright red flower was the culprit behind the U.S. Defence Department's false espionage warning earlier this year, the Associated Press has learned.

The odd-looking - but harmless - "poppy coin" was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. Army contractors travelling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. The worried contractors described the coins as "anomalous" and "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology," according to once-classified U.S. government reports and e-mails obtained by the AP.

The supposed nano-technology actually was a conventional protective coating the Royal Canadian Mint applied to prevent the poppy's red color from rubbing off. The mint produced nearly 30 million such quarters in 2004 commemorating Canada's 117,000 war dead.

It's really a shame that the media is more interested in displaying the irrational fear over a decoration on a Canadian coin then the actual declining value of our own currency. 

  After discussing retired Gen. John Batiste's commercial for VoteVets that is critical of Bush and the Iraq war, (Batiste retired to speak out) O'Reilly veered off into his character assassin mode and said to Clark," I have a bone to pick with you." George Soros donated 75K to WesPAC and Bill just can't stand it. Wesley praises Soros and O'Reilly goes off the deep end again.

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O'Reilly asks him if he'd take David Duke's money. That's how insipid his arguments are. Clark rebukes O'Reilly easily and with class as O'Reilly loses his cool once again. He's been blowing his stack a lot more regularly—have you noticed? As the GOP has sunk—his temper has flared. (rough transcript)

Clark: You're just going after somebody.

O"Reilly: You bet!

Clark: And it's personal and it's wrong.

O"Reilly: It's not personal.

Clark: You outta look at his results.

O"Reilly: …It's who you associate with that people are gonna judge you by.

Clark: Well, I'm associating with you.

O"Reilly: That's because you're getting paid to do it.—He's dangerous…

It is personal with O'Reilly and he knows it. Just read my "George Soros Rules the World," post and you tell me if it isn't personal. Billo throws in MoveOn and Clark defends them. Newshounds has a good post up on this also…

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Here's an example. Under questioning by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), Gonzales cited Kyle Sampson's consultation of then-Deputy Attorney General James Comey in early of 2005 as proof that there had been a process of consulting career Justice Department officials on their views of U.S. attorneys. Of course, Comey testified last week that he had not known that there was any sort of effort to target U.S. attorneys for removal when he offered his views to Sampson (views that Sampson totally ignored).

Gonzales admitted as much: "There were people that were being consulted… they may not have known they were providing information that would then form the basis of some kind of list."

So there you have it: Comey was part of a collaborative review process that he didn't know he was a part of. Read more…

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  Filmmaker Robert Greenwald and author Jeremy Scahill testified before the House Appropriations Committee today about their work dealing with war profiteering and had a very spirited back and forth with Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA). In case you haven't seen it yet, you can watch Greenwald's superb film Iraq for Sale here.

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Robert writes in:

When I was invited to testify in front of the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Defense about my film Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers ( http://iraqforsale.org/ ) I was moved by the prospect of seeing the efforts of everyone involved in the film having an real impact on our lawmakers.

I was thrilled when I was told I could share stories from the film, by screening clips of Iraq for Sale before the committee. However, upon my arrival on Capital Hill yesterday, I was told the clips from the movie which we at Brave New Films ( http://www.bravenewfilms.org/ ) prepared would not be shown at the hearing.

Though I was not able to share clips from the movie with the Committee, I  very much look forward to taking Rep. Kingston (Republican – Georgia)  up on his offer to take a trip with me to speak with U.S. soldiers about the issue of private contractors.

I got the sense from the hearing that I am not his favorite person ….