Roy Temple's blog

The NY Times has a major story today in which it spells out the flawed internal decision-making process early in the Iraq War.

The story makes very clear that the problems we have in Iraq today are the result of decisions made by Bush's team very early on. 

Shorter version:  Franks and Rumsfeld didn't need any advice because they thought they already had all the answers.  

 Shorterst version: Disaster.
 

In a prelude to the 2008 Presidential race, the Washington Post blog is reporting that Senator Evan Bayh has hired Marc Farinella to take over the helm of his PAC.

Farinella engineered Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan's victory over Senator John Ashcroft in 2000.  He's also the smartest political operative that I know.

[X-posted at Fired Up! Missouri]

Barbara Bonfiglio is treasurer to the GOP stars,  or at least she was.

TPM Muckraker reports that she is leaving lobbying powerhouse Williams & Jensen.   That's also the firm where DeLay's former Chief of Staff Susan Hirschmann hangs her hat.

TPM mentions that Bonfiglio was treasurer for Tom DeLay, Rick Santorum's charity, Richard Pombo and Duke Cunningham.

A casual review of FEC records indicates that Bonfiglio is, or was until very recently, also treasurer, deputy treasurer, or custodian of records for many other GOP luminaries.

Wal-Mart like to brag about its extensive oversears factory inspection program.  But Fast Company questions whether the whole thing is just a vast PR effort.

From Fast Company: 

But if you look closely at Wal-Mart's own 44-page report of its performance (issued last June), Wal-Mart's factory inspection program begins to look like an energetic PR effort, more than a serious effort to protect factory workers.

Of the 12,500 inspections in 2004, only 8 percent were surprise inspections. That means 92 percent of Wal-Mart's inspections of factories in Bangladesh and Nicaragua and China were announced in advance -- the Wal-Mart inspectors made an appointment to come see how the factory was run.

Here's an advance copy of the Vanity Fair interview with Jack Abramoff.

It has been previewed by TPM Muckraker, Hotline Blog and ThinkProgress. 

The Billings Gazette has a blockbuster story today on Senator Conrad Burns and his ties to lobbyist Leo Giacometto.

From 1995 to 1998, former Alzada rancher Leo Giacometto worked as Sen. Conrad Burns' chief of staff in Washington, D.C. Six years later, after Giacometto had quit to work as a lobbyist, Burns called on him again.

In a move that Burns' office describes as innocuous and at least one observer described as ethically problematic, Burns proposed forming a nonprofit group with Giacometto in 2003. The group, started with $100 from Giacometto's personal bank account and run out of his D.C. lobbying firm, is called the U.S.-Asia Network and Burns, its chairman, has described the outfit as one of his top priorities.

Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, said Burns' involvement with the group is unusual.

"It presents some problems because Burns is aligning himself with what is essentially a trade association run by lobbyists," he said.

Neither of the other members of Montana's congressional delegation has ever started a nonprofit group with lobbyists, according to representatives of Democrat Sen. Max Baucus and Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg.

The group was formed to promote international trade with an emphasis on high tech and telecommunications, according to a Burns newsletter. Giacometto's lobbying clients include communications companies such as Nextel and AT&T. Burns sits on the Commerce Committee and through 2004 chaired its Communications Subcommittee, with jurisdiction over telecommunications law.

AT&T (formerly SBC) has announced its intention to buy BellSouth for $67 billion.  This will effectively bring to an end the experiment in regulating the telecommunications industry.

AT&T Chairman Ed Whitacre has a priceless quote in the NY Times story:

"We literally have hundreds of competitors coming in every day; it's nothing like the old days," said Edward E. Whitacre, Jr., the chairman and chief executive of AT&T, the country's largest phone company. "If we're going to have the strength to compete, we better get our companies together."

Wal-Mart announced that they will now carry Emergency Contraception in their stores, but will allow their pharmacies to refuse to dispense it.  Here's the NY Times story, and here's the LA Times piece.

Research by the Kasier Family Foundation indicates that more widespread availability of Emergency Contraception might reduce abortions by as many as 700,000 each year.

Former Rep. Duke Cunningham was sentenced to 100 months in prison for taking bribes from defense contractors.

Former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham was taken into custody Friday after being sentenced to eight years and four months in federal prison and ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution for accepting bribes from defense contractors.

Prosecutors had sought a 10-year sentence for Cunningham, the maximum available under his plea agreement. His lawyers asked for six years.