Iraq: Opinion: Dick Cheney's amazing chutzpah on Iraq - by Paul Waldman

You have to hand it to Dick Cheney. How many people, knowing what has happened in Iraq over the last 12 , would dare to write an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal containing this line: "Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many" -- and not be talking about George W. Bush? The man has chutzpah.

The op-ed in question was co-written with Cheney's daughter Liz, former State Department worker and failed Senate candidate. The two are forming a new organization, the Alliance for a Strong America.

Of all the former Bush administration officials who have emerged in the last few days to blame the deteriorating situation in Iraq on Barack Obama, one might think Cheney would be among the last.

It's one thing to turn on your TV and hear that Obama is a dangerous weakling from people like Paul Wolfowitz and William Kristol, the ones who told us that war with Iraq would be cheap and easy, then bring a wave of peace and democracy across the Middle East.

But Cheney?

Cheney was the war's chief propagandist, who told the American public more spectacular falsehoods than anyone, including Bush himself. Cheney was the one who told us in 2002 that "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us."

Read more: Opinion: Dick Cheney's amazing chutzpah on Iraq - CNN.com

Dick Cheney On Torture: 'If I Would Have To Do It All Over Again, I Would'

Former Vice President Dick Cheney revealed he has no regrets about the Bush administration's use of enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding, telling a crowd at American University in Washington, D.C. he would "do it all over again."

“If I would have to do it all over again, I would,” Cheney said, according to American's student newspaper The Eagle. “The results speak for themselves.”

Cheney denied that waterboarding -- an interrogation technique that simulates the experience of drowning as large quantities of water are poured over a person's nose and mouth -- is torture, and said accusations that he's a war criminal for using torture are "not true."

“Some people called it torture. It wasn’t torture,” Cheney told ATV, American University's television station.

Dick Cheney On Torture: 'If I Would Have To Do It All Over Again, I Would'

Former US VP Cheney had heart transplant today

Former vice president Dick Cheney had a heart transplant Saturday and is recovering at a Virginia hospital, his office said. An aide to Cheney disclosed that the 71-year-old, who has had a long history of cardiovascular trouble including numerous heart attacks, had been waiting for a transplant for more than 20 months.

"Although the former vice president and his family do not know the identity of the donor, they will be forever grateful for this lifesaving gift," aide Kara Ahern said in a written statement that was authenticated by several of the Republican politician's close associates.

Cheney was recovering Saturday night at the Intensive Care Unit of Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia after surgery earlier in the day.

Aide: Cheney had heart transplant – USATODAY.com

New Statesman - US Economy : Supply Side Economics - Cooking the books - by Johann Hari

For the complete report from the New Statesman click on this link

World Economy : Supply Side Economics - Cooking the books - by Johann Hari

In the mid-1970s, a group of men who were untrained in economics - and, as it happens, borderline-insane - emerged in Washington DC and invented a whole new approach to economics. In the past, it had been thought that if you wanted to cut taxes, you had to ploddingly pay for it by either cutting spending or increasing borrowing. No more. This new group preached something called "supply-side economics", which claimed that you could cut taxes, increase public spending, and hold down borrowing and inflation, all at the same time. It's easy, they said: if you cut taxes, the economy will grow even faster - and make up the difference.

The story of the supply-siders' strange rise begins when three grey-suited men met in a swish Washington hotel in the gloomy aftermath of Watergate to turn this untested idea into a governing philosophy. They were the economic consultant Arthur Laffer, the journalist Jude Wanniski and Gerald Ford's chief of staff - a man called Dick Cheney. The core principle is that economic performance hinges almost entirely on how much incentive investors and entrepreneurs have to attain more wealth, and this incentive in turn hinges almost entirely on their tax rate." It was an economic recipe for tax cuts for the rich.

Almost everyone else saw the idea as preposterous. George Bush Sr dismissed it as "voodoo economics". But a string of eccentrics, with no serious knowledge of economics, began to preach the gospel - and they were swiftly employed by Ronald Reagan's burgeoning presidential campaign. Most of these men were, it turned out, mad.