Happy Independence Day, America, next update July 7.

'Through the Looking Glass' The case of Huzaifa Parhat, one of the 'Uighurs at Guantanamo,' is said to offer "a peek down the rabbit hole of capricious irrationality that underlies George W. Bush's 'war on terror.'"

As new details are reported on how 'China Inspired Interrogations at Guantanamo,' Phillipe Sands writes to John Yoo about his claim that Sands lied to a House subcommittee, and a former CIAer predicts that while "The highest level U.S. officials may dodge the bullets, at least initially ... the next level down should be worried -- very worried."

With President Bush's "bubble" said to be "as impenetrable as ever," Andrew Bacevich's op-ed on 'What Bush hath wrought,' prompts an observation that even with an Obama presidency, "don't hold your breath for radical change on the core assumptions of the Bush legacy." Plus: 'Surveillance protest group tops Obama website.'

As Obama courts evangelicals and proposes an expansion of faith-based programs, the Rev. Barry Lynn says, "Why not just go back to the way it was before this president's faith-based initiative, which is nothin' more than a kind of 21st century version of walkin' round money."

Going 'Inside Obama's Christian Crusade,' Max Blumenthal describes a meeting with some thirty evangelical leaders, during which "differences reached a crescendo when the Rev. Franklin Graham directly confronted Obama about his supposedly Muslim background and Christian authenticity."

While there's "No peace for Obama on Israel,' a poll finds that an overwhelming percentage of Americans oppose the U.S. taking sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a Palestinian journalist's claim that Israeli security officials "broke his ribs," is downgraded to "injured" for U.S. consumption.

With 'Israeli threats to Iran seen as bluff -- for now,' Vice President Cheney is said to have an America first policy on attacking Iran, which is reported to be "seriously considering a new offer from six world powers to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program."

An essay on the first English translation of a controversial novella that "raises uncomfortable questions" about Israel's 1948 War of Independence, quotes an Israeli novelist as saying, "There was no scandal" when it was first published in 1949, "because the society felt itself so just that it could absorb a critic."

While 'Alcohol is flowing again in Baghdad,' there are 'Particularly long gas lines,' and with an 'Epic struggle for Iraqi oil,' a Stratfor analyst tells NPR that a U.S. oil well produces an average of 10 barrels of crude per day, but in Iraq, that number is 10,000.

Sen. Claire McCaskill blames the Iraq war for high gas prices, and as 'Oil prices squeeze Pentagon's budget,' to the tune of $400 million per month, Michael Klare says that "The military is coming late to an appreciation of their vulnerability to reliance on petroleum."

It's reported that 'Raw nerves remain,' following last month's immigration raid on a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville Iowa, which is said to have left the community "absolutely shattered," and the senior editor of the Cedar Rapids Gazette is interviewed about the paper's series on prostitution and human trafficking in Iowa, "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree."

As 'CREW files complaint about Sen. Norm Coleman's cheap rent,' Jesse Ventura has two weeks to decide if he'll enter Minnesota's U.S. Senate race, with a recent poll finding that he would hurt Al Franken more than Coleman. Plus: Ventura's Senate soulmate?

An argument that the U.S. is 'Not winning the war on drugs,' coincides with a study finding that Americans lead the world in the consumption of cannabis and cocaine, while a 'Psilocybin study hints at rebirth of hallucinogen research.'

Magazine legend Clay Felker, who died on Tuesday, is remembered as "the man who made magazines matter again," for having "Almost single-handedly ... made journalism a subject of popular interest, and, for offering one writer, 'The best interview advice I ever got.'

The New Yorker's Alex Ross reports that in China, "Western classical music is big business, or, at least, official business," and Joe Henry, describing how literature influenced his music, writes that "Flannery O'Connor was as important to me as Randy Newman."

July 1

Seymour Hersh goes on Al-Jazeera, "Democracy Now!" and "Fresh Air" to discuss 'Preparing the Battlefield,' and in an interview with Scott Horton, the first question concerns Defense Secretary Gates' warning about the U.S. attacking Iran.

With senior Pentagon officials reportedly "concerned that Israel could carry out an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of the year," Mother Jones asks a variety of observers: 'How likely is a scenario in which the U.S. or Israel strikes Iran before Bush leaves office?' Plus: 'Hawks belie Iran's "existential threat" to Israel.'

An 'Ex-agent says CIA ignored Iran facts,' and as 'Word of Bush's alleged covert war hits Tehran,' it's suggested that 'Iran should carefully consider if its nuclear energy programme is worth the effort,' and Jim Lobe asks: 'Does Iran have Bush over a barrel?'

'Iraq fails to ink deals with global oil majors,' but does sue dozens of companies over oil-for-food kickbacks, including Chevron, as 'Abu Ghraib inmates sue contractors, claim torture.'

With the Pentagon resisting orders from the EPA to clean up polluted military bases, the RAND Corporation issues a report on 'Shortcomings in planning for post-combat period in Iraq,' which was shelved for three years, because the U.S. Army blocked its release.

As Sen. Jim Webb responds to President Bush crediting Sen. John McCain for passage of a GI Bill that McCain opposed, 'Wounded Iraqi forces say they've been abandoned.'

With 'Afghanistan deadlier than Iraq,' for the second straight month, 'Criticism grows as Pakistani military pursues limited offensive,' while the country's ambassador to the U.S counters that "There is a complete failure of U.S. public diplomacy in the Muslim world."

In a ruling that "ridiculed Defense Department reasoning as nonsensical, likening it to a 19th century Lewis Carroll poem," a federal appeals court said the U.S. "must present reliable and verifiable evidence to hearing panels that determine whether terrorism suspects should be held indefinitely as 'enemy combatants.'"

As 'Wall St suffers worst June since 1930,' and 'Budget pain hits states,' and even cemeteries, James Galbraith, speculating on a possible 'December Surprise,' asks: 'Is the GOP cooking the books to avoid recession till after Election Day?'

The New York Times puts Obama on the defensive against McCain in a report about his speech on patriotism, and CJR reviews 'What Wesley Clark really said, and how the press missed it,' as did numerous cable and broadcast segments.

As 'Veterans respond to General Clark's comments,' which he's standing by, Jay Bookman, invokes the late James Stockdale to defend 'Wes Clark's "insult" to John McCain,' and recalls "when GOP delegates to the 2004 convention wore fake Purple Hearts to make fun of John Kerry's war wounds."

A 'Newsweek political journalist transcribes McCain campaign spin on energy,' and reviewing Arianna Huffington's "Right Is Wrong," Jack Shafer argues that she "appears to be stuck in 2004 ... oblivious of the right's decline," citing as one example: "The omnipotent Karl Rove has fallen so low he's now working in journalism."

As a rare recording of Gandhi surfaces, some Tibetans are fed up with the Dali Lama's nonviolence, and asked what he thinks about when he meditates, the response from 'Buddhaholic' and Tibetan scholar Robert Thurman, draws this follow-up question: "You mean you fantasize about being breast-fed by Dick Cheney?"

With Obama reportedly set 'to expand Bush's faith-based programs,' the "sexhortations" being encouraged by some churches, are just "another way of becoming the best Christian wife -- to have tons of orgasms so their husbands can go to church the next day and tell people how they really made Jesus proud in the sack," according to the author of "Righteous."

June 30

In a new piece for the New Yorker, Seymour Hersh contends that the Bush administration has been 'preparing the battlefield' (text/audio) in Iran by funding opposition groups and conflating intelligence and military operations in a way that highlights the need for increased Democratic congressional oversight.

With Iran reportedly preparing a field of its own, and floating some other counter-threats, Mother Jones opens a discussion on 'Iran panic,' and Thomas Powers reviews the reasons why an attack on Iran would be irrational but not unthinkable.

A U.S. raid sparks a crisis by killing a relative of Iraq's prime minister in his own hometown, with the local governor charging that the raid was connected with the negotiations for the status of forces agreement, and calling for the U.S. to hand over the soldiers involved.

As the Friedman variation of the 'current fairy tale' about Iraq is dissected, Tom Engelhardt exposes some of the blood and bodies lurking beneath 'the good news in Iraq,' and a new U.S. Army history takes a highly critical view of the service's performance in Iraq.

Oil seeps back into the center of discussions about the Iraq war with revelations that lucrative deals for the oil majors were given a helping hand from the U.S. government, gumming up the benchmarks in Iraq and confirming the long-held suspicions of "some people in America" that that's what it was all about.

The Los Angeles Times' Ned Parker follows 'the rise and fall of a Sons of Iraq warrior' who is facing charges that Parker says "belie the notion of an Iraqi government moving toward reconciliation among its Sunni and Shiite populations."

Seven years on, new Pentagon reports highlight the "fragile" security situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is 'flourishing' and perhaps ready to step up attacks, as a U.N. official notes that civilian deaths are up 62%.

Claims of victory in Pakistan's Khyber offensive are said to be largely 'smoke and mirrors,' "directed against the wrong area and the wrong people," while the New York Times finds that 'amid policy disputes, Qaeda grows in Pakistan.'

Salon's Mark Benjamin reviews documents unearthed during a Senate investigation that suggest 'Bush's top general quashed torture dissent,' while the Washington Post looks at how the lawsuit of a journalist detained at Bagram may make the U.S. prison the next Guantanamo in court.

With FISA on pause, opponents consider strategy, Obama's own network organizes and revolts over spying, and Glenn Greenwald punches holes in the notion that Democrats must "move to the center" to win.

Charlie Savage writes about an internal report obtained by the New York Times outlining a draft agreement between the U.S. and the E.U. facilitating the exchange of information on private citizens that has outraged European privacy advocates, while AT&T markets the lighter side of wiretapping.

Frank Rich suspects that even 'if terrorists rock the vote," it may not have the impact McCain advisor Charlie Black has suggested, as Grover Norquist test markets a race-baiting epithet.

As Obama fans try out a new middle name, a scholar searches out the first link in an e-mail smear, and a former Pentagon analyst wonders whether Obama is letting himself be set up by Pentagon apparachiks from an earlier era looking to worm their way into a new administration.

A new ad touting McCain's energy policy leaves a key plank off screen, as he confesses that he doesn't know the price of gas, and some of his wife's tax bills turn out to be four years past due.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is now drawing derision even from the DLC, warns of Al Qaeda taking over Iraq and of new presidents facing early testing from terrorists.

Although the GOP attack machine is reportedly running on empty, the right accuses a congressman of egging on Al Qaeda, while the McCain campaign, in defense of the candidate's military record, turns a swiftboater loose on Gen. Wesley Clark and takes great umbrage at blog posts.

June 27-29

Listening to the performance of the 'headmaster and the schoolboy' on Capitol Hill, Dana Milbank takes away the lesson that 'when anonymity fails, be nasty, brutish and short,' and Marty Lederman offers a legal critique but, on the question of torture, it's argued that even bipartisan condemnation may prove too little, too late.

Highlights of the testimony include discussion of the vice-president as barnacle, unanswered questions about the president's power to bury detainees alive, professed ignorance of the unitary executive, and the notion that talk about torture is too dangerous because "al Qaeda may watch C-SPAN."

The Supreme Court issues a 'landmark ruling that enshrines the right to own guns,' perhaps predicated on a new "constitutional right to convenience," but mayors say that it won't stop prevention efforts, and its value as ammunition in the presidential campaign is disputed.

Glenn Greenwald goes after Keith Olbermann over what appears to be an Obama-inspired FISA flip flop -- eliciting a testy response -- and as unions put aside reasonable doubts, 'Obama pays his AIPAC dues -- again,' and 'waffles on School of the Americas.'

The final word on FISA is delayed until after the July 4 recess, while testimony about 'U.S. border agents copying contents of traveler's laptops' prompts a call for investigation.

'You're On Candid Camera' As Newsweek reports on Bush administration designs "to watch you from the sky," Writ looks at the efforts of a Minnesota community to get itself erased from Google Maps, whose expansive vision has raised concerns about privacy in both public and not so public places.

With a deadly bombing casting a shadow over Anbar, and the Iraqi military's hold on Mosul in doubt, questions are raised about whether Iraq is "coming un-surged," even as "unrestricted funding" for the war sails through the Senate.

As the ATF raids Blackwater's armory, and the company gets tangled up in local regulations, a McCain advisor sweetens talk of a 'casino on the Tigris' with visions of "trickle down" for Iraq's poor.

Barron's says 'no war, economy expanding' and the Washington Post sees only a "modest" downturn, but a sense of gloom returns to Wall Street on the heels of sharply falling stock prices and soaring oil.

With 'America over oil's big barrel,' Paul Krugman notes that "conservative faith in free markets somehow evaporates when it comes to oil," and "Democracy Now!" hosts a discussion on the 'new geopolitics of energy' with Michael Klare and Arun Gupta.

Vanity Fair looks at how the one percent are 'summering the Marie Antoinette way,' Spiegel reports on an intrusion into the 'secret lives of the super rich,' and the New York Times intimates that there is plenty of envy to go around in the 'class struggle in the East Village.' Plus: 'Why hasn't competition come to CEO's?'

In the face of a no-ice forecast for the North Pole this year, even Drudge is wowed, while Mike Davis follows up dire warnings from James Hansen with scenes of speculation and desperation as the planet bids 'Farewell to the Holocene.'

Benjamin Barber writes of how the convergence of globalization and consumerism has weakened state sovereignty and thereby democracy, while E.L. Doctorow contemplates how the "Manichaean politics" championed by the Bush administration converts democracy into a luxury, and degrades the truth.

Creationism goes off the rails with the founder of Conservapedia and bipartisan in Louisiana, where no public official has been willing to publicly oppose "stealth-creationist SB 733," now signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is also attracting attention for his castrating reply to a recent Supreme Court decision.

With journalism confronting downsizing, competition from the Onion, and "migration" pressure, a CJR article considers the prospects for outsourced editing, and Will Bunch wonders whether Lara Logan is being 'smeared for her criticism of Iraq war coverage.'

As one leg of the "axis of evil" goes poof, setting off John Bolton, Scott Ritter exposes the 'nuclear expert who never was,' and Mitt Romney explains how nuclear non-proliferation is a "liberal" idea.

The UN's '2008 World Drug Report' tracks a surge in the Afghan opium trade over the past year that has kept Iranian border police on opium patrol busy but, taking a century-long perspective, notes that opium use is down -- in every country except the United States.

June 26

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