Do as I say

AP:

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AP) - A court-martial was ordered Tuesday for an Air Force officer charged with illegally shipping AK-47 assault rifles, rocket propelled grenade launchers and other souvenirs from Iraq to this Florida Panhandle base.

[. . .]

Corrente:

[. . .]

But Rummy goes free:

We know that Rumsfeld (and other high FBI officials)

1. looted 9/11 relics (back here)
2. which is a Federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in jail (back here)
3. for which ordinary citizens have been indicted, prosecuted, convicted, and punished (back here).
(from deep within the Corrente Time Vault)

Oh, but what am I thinking? Rummy is a High Administration Official! And a Republican! And since we have become a government of men, not laws, that makes everything OK!

Much as I like to think my Air Force boys are the smartest service, this guy's a typical officer.

[. . .]

McMillion was a maintenance officer with the Eglin-based 728th Air Control Squadron in Iraq. Air Force officials said the alleged contraband was found in crates of equipment shipped to Eglin in September 2003 about two months before the ground radar unit returned.

If you're gonna do it, have the shit shipped to your fucking house, nitwit. Enlisted folks wouldn't have gotten caught.

Gloomy Glen

Glen's gettin' a passport:

I think I'm finally going to get a passport. It's generally useful, and I have this fantasy of spending two weeks in Ireland and maybe Wales. (I'm a Celtophile.) But the sudden impulse is simply that I may need to get out of here one day, just long enough to clear my head: my beloved country is really beginning to depress me.

[. . .]

Intelligent design, of course, is re-branded theology, and pre-Thomist at that. (Aquinas at least believed that reason and faith would arrive at the same conclusions, which made them equals; not so this crowd.) The most "scientific" argument ID's defenders can advance is, "Because I'm not able to figure out how it happened, Somebody brighter than I must have done it." I shudder to think of this country ruled and run by the suitably "educated" children of today.

[. . .]

It's getting scary, the traction these Creationists are getting. I can't believe so many people in this country are willing to throw away centuries (sometimes millennia) of scientific observation for this loony crap. The whole ID debate is just another Christo-fascist whitewash to make creationism palatable to the 'fence sitters'. Think 'Clear Skies', 'Healthy Forests', and 'No Child Left Behind'.

This Just In...

I'm sure there'll be more on this later. Joe Trippi, Dean's former campaign manager, came out on Hardball on MSNBC, for Rosenberg for DNC Chair. He says Dean is not all that interested in organizational matters and that Rosenberg is well suited to this position due to his experience. Trippi also said that Dean's forte is speaking out loudly, and that being DNC Chair would stifle him to a large extent. Stay tuned, sports fans.

Disclaimers

Pudentilla:

[. . .]

This conclusion, however, leads us to consider Oliver's campaign to make conservative pundits state whether they have received any funds from Il Ducetto's administration. We believe this is a worthy effort but insufficent. We need to ask the networks, newspapers and syndicators whether they know if any of the pundits who appear on or in their media outlets and/or receive payments from them have received compensation from Il Ducetto's administration or campaign. And if they don't know, we need to ask them why not.

Just a public statement and disclaimer. The Brain will never put its principles or ethics on sale for anyone. The world might not turn on what we say here, but you're getting it the way we see it.

Fox, henhouse, again

Yesterday I brought you Allan Hubbard. Today I bring you Robert Joseph:

WASHINGTON -- The man who insisted that President Bush make the claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium for nuclear weapons in Africa is poised to assume a top State Department job that would make him the lead US arms negotiator with Iran and North Korea, according to administration officials.

Robert G. Joseph, a special assistant for national security to President Bush until a few months ago, is on the short list to become undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, the nation's senior diplomat in charge of negotiating arms control treaties, said the officials, who spoke on the condition they not be named.

[. . .]

Link via Laura Rozen.

The Devil you know

------------------------------------------------------
MSNBC Breaking News
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Bush to name Chertoff as secretary of Homeland Security -
President Bush has selected federal appeals court judge Michael Chertoff to be the new secretary of Homeland Security, officials said Tuesday.

About Chertoff:

[. . .]

Because Chertoff was recently vetted for the federal bench, we assume that he's passed his background check with flying colors, and we won't be hearing about any more World Trade Center love nests, arrest warrants. Mob pals, and all the other things that made the brief Kerik period such a fun time to be a journalist.

That's the "good" news. The bad news is that while Chertoff may lack the whiff of sex scandal that would put the NY tabloids on the case, he's arguably a worse choice than Kerik. In the days after 9/11, Chertoff -- as head of the criminal division under John Ashcroft -- was architect of some of the most regrettable policies of Bush I.

[. . .]

What's more, Chertoff was responsible for the badly botched prosecution of al-Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, who has yet to be brought to any type of justice even though he was arrested three-and-a-half years ago. Under his leadership, the Justice Department pursued a theory that Moussaoui was "the 20th hijacker" -- despite zero evidence to support that claim. However, that argument has been used as an excuse to deny the American public from information that might prove what really happened to Flight 93 on 9/11.

[. . .]

And we thought we dodged a bullet with Kerik. Schumer's already caved, so's Bill Press on MSNBC, and we got snookered again. Just like they did with 'Abu' Gonzales, the Senate Dems are gonna confirm this guy without a fight because he ain't Kerik. The same way Gonzales 'has to be better than Ashcroft'. Fucking idiots.

And then again, maybe not

I don't know if I agree, but Ezra makes a good point:

[. . .]

Dean has baggage. Lots of it. And while I'm confident in his ability to quickly silence the final sniggers at his scream, I'm more concerned about his potential to feed negative storylines. Assume Dean wins the race and, despite our best efforts, we lose seats in 2006. It's damn possible, we've got an unfriendly map and a rash of upcoming retirements. With the Great Liberal Hope occupying the top spot, the newspapers and Third Way'ers will have more than enough ammo rerun -- and even amplify -- the narrative of a fringe Democratic party long separated from the mainstream. That'll give the party's conservative wing more power and further alienate our progressive base. Worse, it increases the likelihood that the Party actually will actually engage in another ill-advised lurch to the right.

[. . .]

And he links to the same Gadflyer post about Rosenberg Gordon did. This is what I like about him[Rosenberg]:

[. . .]

. . . We don't need some old-guard, timid patsy who'll buckle under to the competing complaints of the Party's various constituencies, prima donnas and contract-seeking consultants who are currently paralyzing the Party by trying to please everyone during the campaign at the expense of winning the election.

[. . .]

Testicles.

Shakespeare's Sister weighs in too.

Bubba'n Dubya, Sittin' In A Tree....

MSNBC reports that Clinton and Bush are becoming fast friends.

For two men at opposite ends of the political spectrum, the relationship between the 43rd and 42nd presidents has grown surprisingly warm and personal over the last six months. Clinton endorsed Bush's approach to the tsunami catastrophe, defending him against criticism about his initial response as well as raising cash alongside the president's father. Friends and aides say the two men enjoy each other's company and, as fellow pros, respect each other's political talents.

Jay Leno says Bubba's just trying to get close to the Shrub so he can put the moves on Jenna and Not Jenna. I hope he's setting him up for an internship at his library. Either way, pictures please!

Who The Hell Is Rosenberg?

The Gadflyer supports Simon Rosenberg for DNC Chairman. I never heard of the guy. What do you think?

You Know You're a Republican When...

...You fire someone for supporting the troops. From Boldprint:

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., lost his post as chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs this week for the worst possible reason: He spoke out loudly against cuts in veterans programs at a time when House GOP leaders - and President Bush - were touting the party's wartime support for the troops.

Next time you see someone driving around with a "support the troops" ribbon on their car, let them know what Republicans think of the troops.

And he's a Republican! They're starting to eat their own if they don't follow the party line. Good. Eat hearty, boys.

I hope the VFW, of which I am a Life Member and which is firmly in the Bush camp, takes note of this.

The word of God

From Night Light:

[. . .]

God was asked about Tom Delay’s widely criticized use of quotes from Matthew 7 in a prayer service for victims of the Asian tsunami. “I gave mankind the tools to prevent that tragedy by use of early warning systems, but sadly they weren’t put in place.” He added regretfully, “That was not my choice. Why, I even gave the wealthier countries the money needed to get it done, but they just kept it.” When pressed further about DeLay He said “I forgive all my children, but distorting my words that way was despicable of him. It must be the bug spray.”

[. . .]

It bothers me too

From JRH:

[. . .]

Another thing that bothers me about this whole thing is that this is what we reserve our outrage for in this country. Hundreds of thousands of people get killed a couple of weeks ago, and it only inspires us to argue over who is charitable and who is not. We are involved in a war, with people (Americans and others) getting killed everyday, but we are largely apathetic about it. We make no demands on our government to do things right, or even to explain why the war isn't a complete waste of human life. But Randy Moss pretends to drop his pants and suddenly we're outraged and we all want to have our say.

[. . .]

American priorities, puh!

Nuremburg revisited

FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - A lawyer for Charles Graner, accused ringleader in the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal, on Monday compared piling naked prisoners into pyramids to cheerleader shows and said leashing inmates was also acceptable prisoner control.

Graner's attorney said piling naked prisoners into pyramids and leading them by a leash were acceptable methods of prisoner control. He compared this to pyramids made by cheerleaders at sports events and parents putting tethers on toddlers.

"Don't cheerleaders all over America form pyramids six to eight times a year. Is that torture?" Guy Womack, Graner's attorney, said in opening arguments to the 10-member U.S. military jury at the reservist's court-martial.

[. . .]

First and foremost, the 'I was just following orders' defense went out the window in 1945. Second, this fucking idiot lawyer should be thrown in jail just for drawing the parallel between what happened in Abu Ghraib and cheerleader competitions. What a fucking asshole.

A kick in the ass

WaPo via Melanie:

D.C. officials said yesterday that the Bush administration is refusing to reimburse the District for most of the costs associated with next week's inauguration, breaking with precedent and forcing the city to divert $11.9 million from homeland security projects.

Federal officials have told the District that it should cover the expenses by using some of the $240 million in federal homeland security grants it has received in the past three years -- money awarded to the city because it is among the places at highest risk of a terrorist attack. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

They say that it will cost close to $12 mil for security for the coronation . . . er, inauguration. It's the most expensive of these shindigs that we've ever held. Ya think they could have sprung for their own security, instead of expecting D.C. to pick up the tab. Is this what D.C.'s Homeland Security funds were earmarked for? Somehow, I don't think so.

Democracy at work

In Palestine. From the Dog:

[. . .]

Sorry. I was actually talking about Palestine, where Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas garnered around 65% of the vote and declared victory in the post-Arafat presidential election. BTW: international observers declared the election pretty clean by international standards, minimal interference from Israel, although there was a low turnout doubtless helped by a Hamas boycott.

[. . .]

Maybe we can learn a thing or two. Ya think?

Additions

To the rogues gallery. Remember this name, Allan Hubbard. From Corrente.

Earth to Captain Video

James Wolcott is at it again. You'll have to read three or four of his posts to find these excerpts. Just my way of making sure you get to read all his good stuff.

It's going to break Norman Podhoretz's peach-pit heart, but it will soon become time to recognize the inevitable and blow the whistle on the World War IV he and the neocons have been so determined to wage. At some point Dick Cheney will place a fatherly paw on Dubya's shoulder and say, "Earth to Captain Video: Time to bug out--I mean, withdraw in an orderly fashion." It's going to be hard breaking the news to the little fella.

As Vanity Fair's "Teen Scene" correspondent, I have a vested interest in the welfare of America's children, especially those in bare midriffs who know how to shake it. It is vital to ensure that no child be left behind, because once left behind, he or she begin to loiter at the mall and drift into a River's Edge lifestyle. Children are the precious hope of this country's doomed future. They will be the ones who will have to replant the ravaged forests and restore America's reputation in the world after the ignorant idler currently pretending to be president returns to Crawford, Texas to fall off his tricyle in retired disgrace.

A little gentler than Norman Mailer, maybe, but still a credit to New York City.

Put Your Drink Down Before You Read This....

Mimus at A Mockingbird's Medley's sister is out of the home again and e-mailing him. Go read.

20 That Might Come In Handy

20 wacky excuses for not going to work. These have actually been used. From MSNBC.

Think carefully, if you're debating calling in sick, here are some of the most unusual excuses workers gave for missing work.

I was sprayed by a skunk.

I tripped over my dog and was knocked unconscious.

My bus broke down and was held up by robbers.

I was arrested as a result of mistaken identity.

I forgot to come back to work after lunch.

I couldn't find my shoes.

I hurt myself bowling.

I was spit on by a venomous snake.

I totaled my wife's jeep in a collision with a cow.

A hitman was looking for me.

My curlers burned my hair and I had to go to the hairdresser.

I eloped.

My brain went to sleep and I couldn't wake it up.

My cat unplugged my alarm clock.

I had to be there for my husband's grand jury trial.

I had to ship my grandmother's bones to India.

I forgot what day of the week it was.

Someone slipped drugs in my drink last night.

A tree fell on my car.

My monkey died.

Those are pretty good. I myself have called in drunk.

My favorite is calling in with "eye trouble". As in, "I can't see coming to work".

Bizarro World

------------------------------------------------------
MSNBC Breaking News
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CBS News ousts four for Bush National Guard story -
Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush's National Guard service.

So, these guys get canned because they got part of a story wrong. Well, okay, so maybe some documents were forgeries. And then I see Scott "Lying Bitch" McClellan standing there, all sanctimonious about 'accountability' (ha!), Les Moonves (CBS CEO) on his knees fellating the White House, blubbering apologies over this, and I can't help thinking that the White House should be thanking them they didn't dig any deeper, that they did use forgeries and didn't get the genuine articles. It's unbelievable, like the world's been stood on its head. John Kerry was a traitor and Bush demands accountability. Go figure.

Womb Of Terror

Un-fucking-believable! Got this from King of Zembla:

Nine women protesting the Food and Drug Administration's position on the emergency contraceptive Plan B were arrested yesterday when they blocked entry to the agency's Rockville headquarters.

The women, part of a noisy protest in favor of making the morning-after pill available without a prescription, were taken away by officers of the Department of Homeland Security and charged with disorderly conduct.

Nine women blocking a doorway at the FDA? And this is a job for Homeland Security? This is the kind of high-profile collar that those elite terror-busters plan to point to when they ask Congress for their next budget increase?

Pardon our mystification, but you see, we couldn't find a single mention of the Department of Homeland Security here --

And he goes on. And on. About perhaps genuine threats about which DHS did absolutely nothing. Go read.

Do I detect a faith-based, or perhaps Big-Pharma-bottom-line-based, bias as to what constitutes a threat to our national security? Jeezus, what a bunch of morons.

Oh Fucking Swell....

From the BostonHerald:

Congress passes `doomsday' plan
By Noelle Straub
Sunday, January 9, 2005

WASHINGTON - With no fanfare, the U.S. House has passed a controversial doomsday provision that would allow a handful of lawmakers to run Congress if a terrorist attack or major disaster killed or incapacitated large numbers of congressmen.

``I think (the new rule) is terrible in a whole host of ways - first, I think it's unconstitutional,'' said Norm Ornstein, a counselor to the independent Continuity of Government Commission, a bipartisan panel created to study the issue. ``It's a very foolish thing to do, I believe, and the way in which it was done was more foolish.''

But supporters say the rule provides a stopgap measure to allow the government to continue functioning at a time of national crisis.

GOP House leaders pushed the provision as part of a larger rules package that drew attention instead for its proposed ethics changes, most of which were dropped.

Usually, 218 lawmakers - a majority of the 435 members of Congress - are required to conduct House business, such as passing laws or declaring war.

But under the new rule, a majority of living congressmen no longer will be needed to do business under ``catastrophic circumstances.''

Instead, a majority of the congressmen able to show up at the House would be enough to conduct business, conceivably a dozen lawmakers or less.

The House speaker would announce the number after a report by the House Sergeant at Arms. Any lawmaker unable to make it to the chamber would effectively not be counted as a congressman.

The circumstances include ``natural disaster, attack, contagion or similar calamity rendering Representatives incapable of attending the proceedings of the House.''

The House could be run by a small number of lawmakers for months, because House vacancies must be filled by special elections. Governors can make temporary appointments to the Senate.

Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.), one of few lawmakers active on the issue, argued the rule change contradicts the U.S. Constitution, which states that ``a majority of each (House) shall constitute a quorum to do business.

``Changing what constitutes a quorum in this way would allow less than a dozen lawmakers to declare war on another nation,'' Baird said.

Actually, it's not such a bad idea. If we could get Congress to get their Constitutional power to declare war back from the moron they bent over and gave it to, twelve guys might make better decisions than the one who got us into the mess we're in now.

Pull Yourself Up By Your Sandal Straps?

Apropos of nothing at all, go see this cartoon.

Funnier'n (Expletive Deleted)

If you're a George Carlin fan, as I am, go read Al Martinez' column in the LATimes.

Part Lenny Bruce, part Howard Stern, part Paul Krassner and part flushing toilet to those offended by his cobalt-tinted monologues, Carlin has been an outsider since he dropped out of high school and discovered marijuana.

Carlin cuts through the shit. We need more "outsiders" like him.

The Scent Of Fear

Bob Herbert in the NYTimes has a few things to say about Bush's War and the way it's going:

With the insurgency becoming both stronger and bolder, and the chances of conducting a legitimate election growing grimmer by the day, a genuine sense of alarm can actually be detected in the reality-resistant hierarchy of the Bush administration.

Brig. Gen. David Rodriguez told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday of an ominous new development in Iraq. "We've noticed in the recent couple of weeks," he said, "that the I.E.D.'s [improvised explosive devices] are all being built more powerfully, with more explosive effort in a smaller number of I.E.D.'s."

I can't find a link to the post[Here, here, here, here, and here. - The F-man.], but we predicted the missing 300+ tons of high explosives would be turning up, and that our soldiers would die. Sounds like we were right. Sometimes I hate being right. [Looks like we were right a lot, partner - the F-man]

Mr. Bush's so-called pre-emptive war, which has already cost so many lives, is being enveloped by the foul and unmistakable odor of failure. That's why the Pentagon is dispatching a retired four-star general, Gary Luck, to Iraq to assess the entire wretched operation. The hope in Washington is that he will pull a rabbit out of a hat. His mission is to review the military's entire Iraq policy, and do it quickly.

I hope, as he is touring the regions in which the U.S. is still using conventional tactics against a guerrilla foe, that he keeps in mind how difficult it is to defeat local insurgencies, and other indigenous forces, as exemplified by such widely varying historical examples as the French experiences in Indochina and Algeria, the American experience in Vietnam, the Israeli experience in Lebanon, and so on.

With the war draining the military of the troops needed for commitments worldwide, the Pentagon is being forced to take extraordinary steps to maintain adequate troop strength. A temporary increase of 30,000 soldiers for the Army, already approved by Congress, will most likely be made permanent. The Pentagon is also considering plans to further change the rules about mobilizing members of the National Guard and Reserve. Right now they cannot be called up for more than 24 months of active service. That limit would be scrapped, which would permit the Army to call them up as frequently as required.

That's not a back-door draft. It's a brutal, in-your-face draft that's unfairly limited to a small segment of the population. It would make a mockery of the idea of an all-volunteer Army.

Something's got to give. The nation's locked in a war that's going badly. The military is strained to the breaking point. And it's looking more and more like the amateur hour in the places that are supposed to provide leadership in perilous times - the Pentagon and the White House.

And our so-called "leader" doesn't want to hear about it.

I found God!

Bear with the little heathen boy for a minute and follow my logic.

Do you know the expression, 'all dogs go to Heaven', right? I mean, the wisdom is that because they're loyal, and innocent, and loving, and all that other good stuff so they automatically get a free pass. What if they're the ones who judge us as we enter the afterlife? Who better qualified? A panel of dogs, maybe one with all your former dogs on it. Maybe, if you lived a life that would impress a dog, you'd be qualified to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. How's that? Would you pass muster against a dog's standards of love and loyalty and goodness?

Yeah, what she said

I know it seems like Shakespeare's Sister and I have been having a bloggy love fest lately, but we've sunk our teeth into something we're both passionate about, namely leadership of the Democratic Party in the wake of what happened in November. She comments on my post yesterday and elaborates on her blog too:

[. . .]

The disdain they [the Dem leadership] show for their blogging rank-and-file betrays a deep lack of understanding about who we are. We don’t blog because we like to hear our own voices—we blog in the increasingly futile hope that they will hear our collective voice and conduct themselves in a manner befitting representatives who are actually listening.

Dammit, we’re your base, and we’re worth listening to.

Go read the whole post. So, if your Dem House and/or Senate member is wishy washy on Social Security, or Iraq, or shows signs of embracing the Dark Side, voice your disagreement and make them aware they will face a challenge in the next primary. Hel-lo to my neighbors in Connecticut, Joe "Zell" Lieberman's term is up next year. Find a replacement.

Update: 06:00:

Armando at Kos:

. . . "The president's idea of bipartisanship is, 'Here's what I want to do, join me,' " said Rep. Robert Menendez (N.J.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. "It isn't about negotiating. It isn't about compromise. It's almost this belief that they have the monopoly on what's best for the country." . . .

Maybe some hope?

Party time

Melanie:

This will be the most expensive inaugural in history as W celebrates himself while the rest of the world looks on in disgust.

White Trash Barbie

Believe it or don't, I got this from a James Wolcott post about "Uncle Tom" Williams.

Victory Is Ours, Lieth The King

If you get the feeling I'm mildly obssessed with Maureen Dowd, well, you're right. But only because of her biting insight and way with words. From today's NYTimes:

The president prides himself on being a pig-headed guy. He is determined to win in Iraq even if he is not winning in Iraq.

Even for a White House steeped in hooey, it's a challenge. President Bush will have to emulate the parsing and prevaricating he disdained in his predecessor: It depends on what the meaning of the word "win" is.

The president's still got a paper bag over his head, claiming that the daily horrors out of Iraq reflect just a few soreheads standing in the way of a glorious democracy, even though his commander of ground forces there concedes that the areas where more than half of Iraqis live are not secure enough for them to vote - an acknowledgment that the insurgency is resilient and growing. It's like saying Montana and North Dakota are safe to vote, but New York, Philadelphia and L.A. are not. What's a little disenfranchisement among friends?

"It's going to be ugly," Joe Biden told Charlie Rose about the election.

The arrogant Bush war council never admits a mistake. Paul Wolfowitz, a walking mistake, said on Friday he's been asked to remain in the administration. But the "idealists," as the myopic dunderheads think of themselves, are obviously worried enough, now that Mr. Bush is safely re-elected, to let a little reality seep in. Rummy tapped a respected retired four-star general to go to Iraq this week for an open-ended review of the entire military meshugas.

Mr. Wolfowitz, who devised the debacle in Iraq, is kept on, while Brent Scowcroft, Poppy Bush's lieutenant who warned Junior not to go into Iraq, is pushed out as chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. That's the backward nature of this beast: Deceive, you're golden; tell the truth, you're gone.

Mr. Scowcroft was not deterred. Like Banquo's ghost, he clanked around last week, disputing the president's absurdly sunny forecasts for Iraq, and noting dryly that this administration had turned the word "realist" into a "pejorative." He predicted that the elections "have the great potential for deepening the conflict" by exacerbating the divisions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. He worried that there would be "an incipient civil war," and said the best chance for the U.S. to avoid anarchy was to turn over the operation to the less inflammatory U.N. or NATO.

The Iraqi election that was meant to be the solution to the problem - like the installation of a new Iraqi government and the transfer of sovereignty and all the other steps that were supposed to make things better - may actually be making things worse. The election is going to expand the control of the Shiite theocrats, even beyond what their numbers would entitle them to have, because of the way the Bush team has set it up and the danger that if you're a Sunni, the vote you cast may be your last.

It is a lesson never learned: Matters of state and the heart that start with a lie rarely end well.

People will keep dying in Iraq that didn't have to. Bush will clear brush in Crawford and think he's a big hero. He's not. In his quest for glory, he's managed to divide both the United States and Iraq, and put both countries in the shitter for many years to come. And that was in his first four years. I wonder how much damage he'll do in the next four now that he's got the hang of it.

Leave it to a Democrat

NM Governor Bill Richardson supports our troops:

SANTA FE -- The state would pay for a $250,000 life insurance policy for members of the New Mexico Army and Air National Guard under a proposal announced Tuesday by Gov. Bill Richardson.

The proposal is part of a package of military benefits that Richardson will ask the Legislature to approve when it convenes in two weeks for a 60-day session.

[. . .]

This program should be adopted military-wide for Regulars, Reservists, and Guardsmen. Being they only get something like $12-$15 grand in death benefits. Chislin' bastids. Tell Governor Richardson you appreciate his efforts on behalf of New Mexico's citizen soldiers.

Go away

The best quote I heard in a long time:

"We don't need the Americans' intervention. We know who to elect. Not like them -- they elected a moron."

A Palestinian on the upcoming elections to replace Arafat. Via Morrigan.

Weekend reading

Chapter 7 of Empires is up at creativity . . .

And a note. It's good to see KR back from the holiday in one piece.

And another note. I'm sure that by now you've all heard about the Koufax Awards over at Wampum. Just to get it out there, I'm abstaining from voting. How do I choose between Skippy, TBogg, and World O'Crap, for example? So I'm gonna leave off, because I can't, in good conscience, vote for one great blog over another. Maybe one year (if we are around so long), if we're nominated, I'll vote for The Brain. It is my favorite after all.

And one more note. I don't trust this guy Tim Roemer [DNC Chair hopeful] as far as I can piss into a force nine gale. I'm watching him on Little George and he's a shifty bastard. Any asshole who says the Democrats have to be more inclusive is a complete fucking idiot or a lying bastid. Tell your congressweasels to support Howard Dean for DNC Chairman.

More Gillard

I like him even more after this 'racist' bullshit with NRO:

[. . .]

I want conservatives to read this site and come away steaming. I don't want them to think they will like a word I will say here. I don't want them to think I will consider their opinions or viewpoints. I want them to think: boy he doesn't like conservatives and really, really doesn't care what we say.

I'm tired of people acting like these people can be reasoned with or talked to. They don't want to talk, they want to drive us away into a corner and ridicule our ideas.

I'm not writing to make conservatives happy. I want them to hate my opinions. I'm not interested in debating them. I want to stop them.

[. . .]

Connecting the dots

Shakespeare's Sister has been on this:

[. . .]

Meanwhile, if the Democrats don’t pull this troubling story together with the Armstrong Williams debacle, and use them to point out loudly and repeatedly how corrupt and morally bankrupt this administration actually is, then they truly are a useless bunch of wankers.

So has Oliver Willis:

[. . .]

More Americans want answers:

Ralph G. Neas president of People For the American Way today called on the White House to immediately ask all federal agencies to disclose any public relations contracts with news commentators, and any programs that seek to disguise the release of agency information as real news stories put out by independent news organizations.

Armstrong Williams is just the tip of the iceberg. [my emphasis]

So has my partner Gordon:

[. . .]

Lemme see if I 'm getting this right: They steal public money to mis-inform and dupe the public so they can keep doing what they're doing, even though it's wrong, and get the duped public to agree with it? Is that pretty close?

[. . .]

And Dave Johnson:

[. . .]

So it seems like a good time to remind readers of this story. The Bushies awarded the contract to supply oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to one of the core funders of the Right. What a coincidence! At a time when oil prices are higher than ever, many have questioned why the government wouldn't at least put a hold on oil purchases -- not to mention pumping some oil OUT of the reserves to lower demand. But that would mean that Koch gets less of our money to put to use funding the Right! Well, it isn't about the interests of the people of the country, it's about the interests of The Party.

And everyone asks the question, 'why is it just us?' Is it just the bloggers who are ranting and raving about this? Where is the Democratic leadership? Where are Kerry, Pelosi, Ried, Edwards, Kennedy, Leahy, and yes, even Dean, and the rest of them? I mean shit, bloggers connected the dots for 'em as early as '03 (long before I even dreamed of having a blog).

We would have won the election this past November had any of the contenders, any of the leadership, come out and called a spade a spade. And I'm not talking about "Rainman" Kucinich. Bush and his entourage are a bunch of liars, cheats, and theives. All this flowery fucking language in passive voice from the Dems, puh! 'Oh, the President was misinformed about Iraq's WMD.' 'Oh, the President got bad advice'. Bullshit. He makes the final decision. Remember Harry Truman? The buck stops here? It would be something if Bush fired the ones who 'misinformed' him, but instead he gave them medals. What is this, a banana republic in South America where sergeants walk around with more tin on 'em than our generals?

This administration is crooked, period. That's what we needed to hear, but instead we got platitudes. We got 'nuance'. I got a problem with spineless people. Instead of calling for 'bipartisanship' (which went the way of the dinosaurs in '94 and hasn't been seen since), the Democratic leadership should have been calling for indictments. Are you actually scared of the Republican majority? If you are, then you have no place in Congress. Are you scared of upsetting the apple cart when it comes to appropriations for your district? If you are, you're just as morally challenged as the Repubs. You're selling out your constituents to get yourself reelected and you should be on the unemployment lines. Note to Dem leadership, selling out in the name of your constituents is not the same as bipartisan compromise. As I said, bipartisanship went out the door in '94.

Time to take the gloves off, Mr. Ried, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Leahy. Start eating what Ms. Boxer does, because she gave you a valuable lesson in principle this past week. Hopefully, you all learned something about solidarity and intestinal fortitude. Time for you to step up and speak directly to the American people. Call for impeachment, don't just leave it to the bloggers and the 'pundits' on TV. We need big voices to say this, not the B-team.

We have an issue here, people. The bloggers are on it. Remember, a simple burglary begat Watergate, when another Republican crook left the White House in shame. Time to do the same thing to this one.

Update: 07:30:

And why aren't the leaders listening to the bloggers? We are the voice of your base, you idiots. If you stand up, we got your back.

Boot Joe

Legal Fiction:

[. . .]

We should probably try to boot him out anyway. But I'm willing to make Social Security the last straw on whether I would support him in a primary. In general, I think the party needs to make it clear that anyone who supports the Bush Social Security phase-out should expect a fierce battle in the primary.

I've had it with Lieberman. I've been saying this since before the elections, but he's getting about as useless as tits on a bull. The post-lobotomy act is one thing, but I think he's come down with zellmilleritis. He's been supporting Bush in Iraq and on this Social Security smoke show. Like we say in NY, don't let the door hit ya in the ass.

April Fool's Day?

When I read this article, I had to check the calendar. I could swear that January had just arrived, but somehow we had fast-forwarded to April 1, because only on April Fool's Day could such a ridiculous article--and ridiculous idea--be put to print. But no, it's January 8, all right.

However, in the Bizarro World our country has become, where a majority of people are hypnotized by some kind of Rovian Jedi mind trick, the possibility of Newt Gingrich running for president doesn't seem as laughable as it used to. For him to think he even has a chance scares me, because he probably does. John Kerry forgets where he spent Christmas Eve one year during the war, and that's an unforgiveable offense to Republicans and their supporters. Shrub snorts coke, lies to the American people, invades a sovereign nation, and sends thousands of our young people to their deaths, but hey, that's forgiveable. He's god's right-hand man. So I'm sure that Newt's past offenses will be swept under the big GOP, god-woven rug, and we can look forward to seeing his smirky face at the 2008 Republican National Convention.

Anyone have the telephone number of a good immigration lawyer?

Wolfie's stayin'

Does it surprise anyone?

Illegal Videos

This article in yesterday's NYTimes:

Bush's Drug Videos Broke Law, Accountability Office Decides

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 - The Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said on Thursday that the Bush administration violated federal law by producing and distributing television news segments about the effects of drug use among young people.

The accountability office said the videos "constitute covert propaganda" because the government was not identified as the source of the materials, which were distributed by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. They were broadcast by nearly 300 television stations and reached 22 million households, the office said.

The accountability office does not have law enforcement powers, but its decisions on federal spending are usually considered authoritative.

In May the office found that the Bush administration had violated the same law by producing television news segments that portrayed the new Medicare law as a boon to the elderly.

The accountability office was not critical of the content of the video segments from the White House drug office, but found that the format - a made-for-television "story package" - violated the prohibition on using taxpayer money for propaganda.

Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the senior Democrat on the Government Reform Committee, who requested the review, said the use of the mock news segments broke "a fundamental principle of open government."

A spokesman for the drug policy office said the review's conclusions made a "mountain out of a molehill."

A "mountain out of a molehill", huh? Gotta start somewhere. My dream is to release all the non-violent political (read "Racist War On Drugs") prisoners from our nation's jails and replace 'em with administration thieves.

The drug policy office told investigators that it would have been difficult for "a reasonable broadcaster" to mistake the videos for independent news reports.

But the G.A.O. said the drug policy office "made it impossible for the targeted viewing audience to ascertain that these stories were produced by the government."

Federal law prohibits the use of federal money for "publicity or propaganda purposes" not authorized by Congress. The accountability office has found that federal agencies violated this restriction when they distributed editorials and newspaper articles written by government officials without identifying them.

The accountability office said the administration's misuse of federal money "also constitutes a violation of the Antideficiency Act," which prohibits spending in excess of appropriations.

Lemme see if I 'm getting this right: They steal public money to mis-inform and dupe the public so they can keep doing what they're doing, even though it's wrong, and get the duped public to agree with it? Is that pretty close?

It's about what I've come to expect from these Goebbels wannabes. Thank you, GAO. Now, start indicting them.

Putting Christ back in Christianity

According to Blondie:

[. . .]

I always believed that Christians would use the Gospels as their foundation for living good lives and being good to others, not only to please the creator, but to just make living on earth a little bit better. These maniacs have stolen Christianity from Christians and we had better do something about it even if you don't have a religion or are of a different religious persuasion. These are dangerous people and have turned Christianity once again into a religion of oppression. God help us.

Cycles. The American Taliban . . . er, Christians have become the Emperor Popes of the day.

Racist?

I was over at The Corner (don't ask, I was over there looking over something another Reality-based blogger linked to) when this caught my eye. From that nitwit Jonah Goldberg:

CALL ME CRAZY .... [Jonah Goldberg ]

But I think this guy's post about Armstrong Williams is flat-out racist, and it's not like I throw that around lightly.

I found it while searching Technorati for what the blogosphere was saying about Armstrong Williams. I don't know much about Steve Gillard. Okay I don't know anything execpt I've come across the name in searches before and Technorati says it's fairly well-known.

Anyway, I find the Williams thing to be a total trainwreck, but I don't think it warrants lame slave jokes and the like. Then again, I don't think anything warrants even non-lame slave jokes. Shame on this guy whoever he is.

Crazy? No, you're a fucking idiot, but less of one than the rest of the assholes at NRO. He links to Steve Gillard's post:

[. . .]

Of course it's totally unethical and illegal, but hey, he's already sold his soul to massa, why not sell it some more. Massa George wanted him to do somethin' so he did it. And got paid well for it.

On top of Clarence Thoams begging his white patrons for money, this ought to expose the character of the negro conservative. They have no soul and no morals. They can be bought by their white overlords because they apsire to their status, but think themselves unworthy to be treated as the same. Now, I'll freely admit both Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have used their position to gain personally. But this kind of craven greed is a feature of the negro conservative. He shuffles and bucks along for his master, losing his soul and dignity in the process.

[. . .]

Now, I love Gillard. I like people who call 'em as they see 'em. Steve's also a brother, but he could be as white as my ass, because he's absolutely right. Calling yourself a Black Republican is to call yourself an Uncle Tom steppanfetchit. How can any black person support people who would have them around only to hold up as tokens? If it were up to the Repubs, Armstrong Williams, Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Rod Paige, and the rest of the tokens, would be in the fields picking cotton. Goldberg and his ilk have the utmost of gall to let the word racist cross their lips, especially trying to brand Gillard as a self-hating nigga. Steve wrote a reply to Goldberg here:

[. . .]

I normally don't visit that sewer of a site of yours, but calling me racist while working for NRO is, at best a joke. How could you tell the difference? I mean, don't you work with a company full of anti-black bigots like Rich Lowry? Didn't William Buckley defend segregation?

I did notice, however, you were first in line to toss Williams to the wolves. Couldn't wait, could you?

[. . .]

Heh.

Update: 06:00:

That Colored Fella has more.

Update: 10:10:

While I'm on the subject of Steve Gillard. He goes on this morning about dealing with idiots like Jonah Goldberg and other racist assholes.

[. . .]

The thing about blogging that has been reenforced over the year is the futility of appeasing the right. They're gonna come after you anyway, no matter what you say or do, so standing up to them is the rule of the day. Those people only mean me ill. Pretending that there is a common ground is futile.

Congress can't act like that because they have to do things. But what the fuck are Rich Lowry and Jonah Goldberg gonna do for me? Not one fucking thing. I won't play tit for tat with them. I consider them little better than racist scum and I don't really consider their opinions/ They're just clowns to me. I know some people want to debate them and exchange ideas. I don't. I have more readers than that racist rag of a magazine does.

[. . .]

Update: 14:50:

Not only did Ol' Armstrong sell out his ethics, his race, and his soul, he also sold out his sexual orientation. I look at gay Republicans the same way I do black Republicans. Wouldn't piss on 'em if they were on fire. A gay, black Republican, a waste of my good air.

Saturday Cattle Dog Blogging

Shayna the Princess.

Plain Truth

The way that normal, non-hallucinating people of any political persuasion can help the soldiers in the field, the people of Iraq, and, not least of all, themselves, is to appreciate the true situation as best they can, and to demand accountability from our political leaders when the situation is not handled effectively. The true situation is that there is a large and popular insurgency in Iraq, made up of disparate interests, but all drawing their strength from the long-standing popular discontent with the American and coalition occupation, a discontent based on a very understandable dislike of foreign armies, and fueled by the thousands of Iraqis we have killed, intentionally or not, to say nothing of Abu Ghraib - here, 6 months later, almost completely forgotten. This is the reality that was apparent to journalists well outside the "Sunni triangle" last March, as well as to the Marines who first "liberated" Baghdad. True, many soldiers in Iraq have been in places where people were nice and glad to have them, which is great, but misses the main point. Kennedy was shot on a sunny day, but most newspapers didn’t lead with the nice weather.

[. . .]

And if you really want to help the American war effort, you can join the fucking armed forces and go to Iraq like thousands of others have, and then you can do the best job you can to show them that Americans care about them and want, above all else, for all of our futures to be better and more peaceful than the past, and get paid shit. You will then be my personal hero, really, and I hope you don't get killed or maimed or see or do something that makes you hate everything for the rest of your life, which is a very real possibility. If you, like me, are too much of a coward to risk your life and health on a mission like that, then you can donate to charities which help soldiers (although it is worth looking into where and what kind of help is needed – some places don’t need it as much as others). But the easiest thing you can do is influence the politicians who create the policies – and in some cases the military strategies - which are being carried out in Iraq, but to do this in a useful way you first have to make some contact with reality. Reality is that the situation in Iraq is horrible, the outlook for any lasting peace is grim, and that this has nothing to do with a nebulous, malignant, all-powerful “Left”, and everything to do with the people in power who make bad and stupid policies. You can pull your head out of your ass, stop dreaming up stupid conspiracy theories about how everyone around the world you don’t like is working together to destroy Freedom, and tell them that they need to do a better job. And if they won’t do a better job, the solution is not to get upset at people who aren’t waving their pom-poms or denouncing Saddam single-mindedly enough for you, it is to fire the fuck-ups so we can maybe have some chance at salvaging something from this fiasco. [my emphasis]

[. . .]

The Poor Man via Corrente. And this from Kos:

[. . .]

It is my view that those of us who vehemently opposed this war can and should still support the soldiers and their families. Their sacrifice is no less a sacrifice because the action they are engaged in is a tragically wrong headed blunder. That's on BushCo, not our soldiers.

The troops need our support, regardless of the policies that put them in this situation. But the most support we can give them is to pressure our elected representatives to put pressure on the White House to impement an endgame plan and stick to it. While the Poor Man doesn't have any ideas about what we should do there, I do.

The way I see it, we got two choices. One, flood the country with American troops, more than double what are there now. Seal the borders, hunt down and kill the insurgents (the right way), and keep the place safe and orderly until the Iraqis can rebuild the infrastructure and their government institutions.

Two, begin the withdrawal right after the elections in a couple weeks and be out by autumn. Let Iraq find its own level, so to speak. It would probably end up in civil war, but they probably wouldn't be any worse off than they are now.

Maybe, once the Americans left, they'd settle down within ethnic borders. Maybe the Shi'a and Kurds might kill all the Sunni (memories are long in that part of the world), but the absence of American soldiers might do more to calm the place down than Bradleys and Warthogs.

As I've said many times before, Iraq would be far better off broken into 3 states (Shi'astan, Sunnistan, and Kurdistan) under a loose central government in Baghdad. This should have been the plan from the beginning, but then all they thought about was 'on to Baghdad'.

Is this legal?

Seeking to build support among black families for its education reform law, the Bush administration paid a prominent black pundit $240,000 to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same.

[. . .]

Story.

I don't know, I'm asking.

[. . .]

The top Democrat on the House Education Committee, Rep. George Miller of California, called the contract "a very questionable use of taxpayers' money" that is "probably illegal." He said he will ask his Republican counterpart to join him in requesting an investigation.

[. . .]

If it is, could this be the beginning of 'Watergate II'? I mean, that began as a simple burglary, didn't it? Or are we gonna change the ethics rules to allow the (p)resident to get away with it? Or, with a 49% approval rating, isn't he worth the 'capital'?

Update: 17:15:

Atrios:

Lautenberg, Kennedy, and Reid write to President Bush.

Excerpt:

In addition to the illegality of these actions taken by your Administration, we believe that the act of bribing journalists to bias their news in favor of government policies undermines the integrity of our democracy. Actions like this were common in the Soviet Union, but until now, thought to be long extinguished in our country.

[. . .]

Bend over and grab your ankles

WaPo via Pudentilla:

Army leaders are considering seeking a change in Pentagon policy that would allow for longer and more frequent call-ups of some reservists to meet the demands of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, a senior Army official said yesterday.

[. . .]

So, we're gonna change the Reserves deployment elegibility from a maximum of 24 months over several deployments, to no more than 24 months on each deployment. The draft is getting closer, folks. They're running short of people and recruitment numbers are falling.

If, as Kevin said, Bush is gonna use the elections to cut and run from Iraq within the year, they'll recover. But if it's as most of the TV generals have said, the need to sustain these troop levels for five to ten years, there is no way around the draft. If anything kills the all-volunteer force, if it's not dead already thanks to Stop-Loss, it'll be the 'breaking' of the Guard and Reserves.

Update: 17:55:

Kevin Drum:

[. . .]

If this happens, it's for all intents and purposes a draft.

On DeLay

From Ezra:

[. . .]

. . . When he appears on my screen it feels like Sean Hannity's blow-dried smugness, George W. Bush's ignorant arrogance, Dick Cheney's intense malevolence and Jerry Falwell's glutton-flavored interpretation of piety have all merged into one man, a veritable Megazord of distasteful qualities . . .

[. . .]

Like he says in his post, he's not adding anything to the discourse, "It's just this visceral loathing." I like the description. I also like what he says about the GOP:

[. . .]

. . . For being considered the party with the most developed ideas and the most coherent morality, they're really just a hollow shell. A bunch of satellite groups offering intellectual legitimacy and policy thought but, in the center, just a bunch of demagogues obsessed with consolidating power . . .

[. . .]

Could '04 Have Been Any Verse?

Due to his strategic location on the Other Rim, Fixer gets up way before I do and is blogging his ass off while I am still deep in the arms of Morpheus. Consequently, I awaken to whatever tone he has set for the day. Kinda like the Plan of the Day that used to be nailed to the wall in the barracks. The difference is I don't have to run with it if I don't want to, but he's got a good handle on things and sometimes that's the thing to do. Due also to the time difference, I find stuff sometimes that comes out later. It all works out.

After reading his post on the song parody The Rumsfeld Rag (or scroll down) and liking it, my poetic muse was up an' runnin', on the prowl for some more. I done found it!

From Counterpunch:

Strutting, Smirking, as if the Mad Plan Was Working
Out Old Year
By FRED GARDNER

Out old year, you weren't pretty
Out with Janet Jackson's titty
Out with Bill O'Reilly's loofah
(Which made miss Macris hit the roofa)

Go get lost, two thousand four
We really cannot take much more
Of Ahnold and Maria Shriver,
Rudolph Giuliani's driver

Paul Bremer's failed mission
Fallujah's demolition
George Bush strutting, smirking
As if the mad plan was working

The coalition of the "willing"
The Passion of Curt Schilling
Ascendant Talibangelists
>From Charleston to Los Angeles

Please already drop the curtain
On Cheney, Dick and Haliburton
Privatizing everything
Down to the Army's dishwashing

His daughter Mary selling beer
His wife Lynn, selling fear
His pseudo-rival Colin Powell
A hawk passing for an owl

And Prissy Condoleeza Rice
Let us make a sacrifice
Of her and Rupert Murdoch
Karl Rove, Kid Rock

David Stern, Donald Trump
(among the very first we'd bump)
Berlesconi, Tony Blair,
Biden with his phony hair

A Bronx cheer and demerits
For Bob Novak, Marty Peretz
Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity
Chip chip chipping at our sanity

Global warming, that don't frighten
Best seller Michael Crichton
Glaciers melting? What me worry
It won't happen in a hurry

And when we die we just grow wings
And leave behind the underlings
Evolution's just a theory
Have some Paxil feel more cheery

Take Cialis, have some sex
Celebrate with Celebrex
You always said you needed "strokes"
Now's your chance step right up, folks

Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck
They all know their drugs don't work
But nothing's standing in their way
Since they bought the FDA

Enough of two thousand four
Take your baggage out the door
Hurricanes and beheadings
Much ado 'bout gay weddings

Your Intifadas and crusades
Pack 'em up and quickly fade
You don't deserve to survive
Make room for two thousand five!

Done before the wave hit
(Now why even save it,
A trivial poem, a silly ode) a
Really catastrophic coda.

Did I mention that my poetic muse is a cynical old fart that loves satiric wit?

A good try

Mr. Furious at Shakespeare's Sister:

Ohio Electoral Objection Fails
The Senate voted 75 - 1 against it.
The House Voted 257 - 33 against it. (still counting)

Democrats voted with Republicans on this because they are scared shitless about losing their jobs. It seems we effectively have a one-party system.

Hope you enjoyed Democracy. It was fun while it lasted.

And I got this from Contest The Vote in an email this morning. It's on their homepage too.

[. . .]

The passion and fire of the members of the House Caucus was truly inspiring. Each one spoke with great sincerity and truth, weakly challenged by the "get over it" statements of those who sought to deny that there are any problems with our Democracy. In addition to acknowledging those brave members of the House of Representatives, we must individually write, phone, and fax OUR Senator Barbara Boxer. Without the support of Senator Boxer, we would have had a repeat of that ugly scene from Fahrenheit 9/11 where President-elect Gore told each Caucus member to sit down and shut up.

NO OTHER SENATOR JOINED SENATOR BOXER! They are still afraid to stand up to the White House Bully for fear of losing some of their own power. In addition, their staff could lose their premium parking spaces, another fact of life in the Democracy of the United States of America. It is now time for us to acknowledge Senator Boxer. (I will no longer refer to her as "Boxer".) Her contact info is below so you can write her your own message of support.

[. . .]

Californians should be very proud of their Senator. Tell her so:

Senator Barbara Boxer's Contact Info:
Phone: 202.224.3553 (DC)
Fax: 202.228.3972 (DC)
Email: http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm

Full Circle

I remember hearing Country Joe and the Fish blasting out of my little, single-speaker, AM-FM (big stuff back then) radio in my '68 Roadrunner. Used to sing my bloody lungs out to this tune. A reader at DemVet updated it. Stolen in full:

The Rumsfeld Rag (With apologies to Country Joe)

Well come on, all of you big strong men,
Uncle Sam's telling lies again,
Figured out that to fight a war
All you have to do is send the poor.
While Georgie and his buddies laugh and feast
They'll send you to the Middle East.

And it's one, two, three, what were you voting for?
Oil profits and endless war?
Did you think there was something more?
And it’s five, six, seven, let the theme reverberate:
“Muslims, gays, and liberal states,
Whoopee! We got lots to hate.”

Come conservatives throughout the land,
Now’s the time to take a stand,
Get it into liberal weenies’ heads
That the only good Iraqi is one who’s dead.
Raze their cities, destroy their lives
And convert ‘em all to Jesus Christ.

And it’s one, two, three, who were you voting for?
One deserter and a chickenhawk?
Who else could win Iraq?
And it’s five, six, seven, let the theme reverberate:
“Muslims, gays, and liberal states,
Whoopee! We got lots to hate.”

On 9/11 the country changed
And some of us became quite deranged.
With fears abounding from out and in
We launched a crusade to battle sin.
We all see something’s going wrong,
It’s about the time to drop a bomb.

And it’s one, two, three, what were you voting for?
Don’t you see or don’t you give a damn
‘Bout the lessons of Vietnam?
And it’s five, six, seven, let the theme reverberate:
“Muslims, gays, and liberal states,
Whoopee! We got lots to hate.”

Posted by Motherlode at January 6, 2005 04:56 PM

Beating a dead horse

In other words, Ronald Reagan.

[. . .]

And the beauty part? It's Freddy Vs. Jason, motherfuckers, Dracula Meets the Wolf Man. It forces the White House to argue with the ghost of Ronald Reagan. It forces them to eat their own or get eaten. They're either going to have to dig up the Gipper and make a soup from his gnarled bones or the Democrats are going to have to use the zombie corpse of Reagan to eat Bush's brain. Either way, it is an engorgement that'll be pure pleasure to our tired hearts.

[. . .]

Short and Sweet

Oliver Willis:

Multimillionaire hollywood liberal Sandra Bullock donates $1 million to tsunami relief

Multimillionaire oil man and President George W. Bush donates... $10,000

Savage On Tsunami Aid

If you're not pissed off enough yet today, or sick to your stomach, go read what MediaMatters picked up from the right-wing asshole Michael Savage and you will be.

During nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage's December 31 broadcast -- his first since the December 26 tsunami resulting from an earthquake in Southeast Asia -- Savage said that the tsumani was "not a tragedy" and that the United States should not be sending any aid to the affected countries because they are "hotbeds of radical Islam." Savage added: "We shouldn't be spending a nickel on this, as far as I'm concerned. ... I am sick of being bled to death by every damn incident on the earth."

We shouldn't be sending as much as we're sending. Bush has a lot of gall writing a check for 135 million dollars. This is more a UNICEF deal, it's a U.N. deal, it's a Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, George Soros, Bill Clinton bleeding-heart-liberal deal. I don't want to send them any money. You know, a few airplanes with some medical supplies and a little lip service would have been fine for me.

Yeah, it's only those 'bleeding heart liberals' that have compassion for their fellow man. Certainly good christians wouldn't subscribe to that commie shit.

Many of the countries and the areas in these countries that were hit by these tidal waves were hotbeds of radical Islam. Why should we be helping them destroy us? ... I think what we're doing is feeding our own demise. ... I truthfully don't believe in foreign aid.

Is it any wonder I hate the right-wing media gasbag motherfuckers?

Twofer on Sleazy

Two good Op-Eds in today's NYTimes:

Maureen Dowd (Down, Woody, I can't reach the keyboard!) chimes in on Sleazy Gonzales:

The Associated Press headline that came over the wire yesterday said it all: "Gonzales Will Follow Non-Torture Policies."

You know how bad the situation is when the president's choice for attorney general has to formally pledge not to support torture anymore.

Before he helped President Bush circumvent the accords and reserve the right to do so "in this or future conflicts," you had to tune in to an old movie with Nazi generals or Vietcong guards if you wanted to see someone sneeringly shrug off the international treaty protecting prisoners from abuse. ("You worthless running dog Chuck Norris! What do we care about your silly Geneva Conventions?")

How are you to believe Mr. Gonzales when he says he's through with torture? His mission is clearly to do whatever he thinks Mr. Bush wants.

It's comforting to start the new year in the hands of a party that cares so much about morals and values.

She's in good form. She also lays into the Commerce Dept., the EPA, "Bugs" DeLay, Rumbo, and Clarence Thomas. Go read.

Mark Danner writes on the same subject. A little more content than MoDo, but he doesn't get me hot:

But what we are unlikely to hear, given the balance of votes in the Senate, are many voices making the obvious argument that with this record, Mr. Gonzales is unfit to serve as attorney general. So let me make it: Mr. Gonzales is unfit because the slow river of litigation is certain to bring before the next attorney general a raft of torture cases that challenge the very policies that he personally helped devise and put into practice. He is unfit because, while the attorney general is charged with upholding the law, the documents show that as White House counsel, Mr. Gonzales, in the matter of torture, helped his client to concoct strategies to circumvent it (my emphasis). And he is unfit, finally, because he has rightly become the symbol of the United States' fateful departure from a body of settled international law and human rights practice for which the country claims to stand.

At present, our government, controlled largely by one party only intermittently harried by a timorous opposition, is unable to mete out punishment or change policy, let alone adequately investigate its own war crimes. And, as administration officials clearly expect, and senators of both parties well understand, most Americans - the Americans who will not read the reports, who will soon forget the photographs and who will be loath to dwell on a repellent subject - are generally content to take the president at his word.

Content. Yeah, why look up while they're grazing? If the wolf don't kill 'em, the shepherd'll screw 'em. Then, it's shearing time (if they're lucky) or the mutton works. Too late to bitch then. Idiots.

By using torture, we Americans transform ourselves into the very caricature our enemies have sought to make of us. True, that miserable man who pulled out his hair as he lay on the floor at Guantánamo may eventually tell his interrogators what he knows, or what they want to hear. But for America, torture is self-defeating; for a strong country it is in the end a strategy of weakness. After Mr. Gonzales is confirmed, the road back - to justice, order and propriety - will be very long. Torture will belong to us all. (my emphases)

That last short sentence says it all.

Mark Danner is the author of "Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib and the War on Terror."

Reminder

If you haven't signed this petition or emailed your Senator about the Gonzales confirmation hearings, please do so this morning. The hearings are starting.

Propaganda

Matt Yglesias:

I missed this the first time around. Same article as discussed below[here], second page. "Seeking to head off unhappiness among Republicans who want Mr. Bush to take the bolder route, White House officials have been emphasizing the importance of unifying behind whatever plan has the best chance of being signed into law." In other words, the White House doesn't actually give a damn what happens, as long as they can replace Social Security with something else. Anything else. The small matter of the multi-trillion dollar difference between the two plans discussed in the article is trivia. As if they had meant to fight weapons proliferation in North Korea and build democracy in Afghanistan, but then decided that invading Iraq focus grouped better and, hey, it's invasions either way so what's the difference. Or maybe that is what they did.

Josh Marshall:

The key passage in the Wehner Memo (the leaked memo written by Karl Rove's deputy, Peter H. Wehner and reported this evening in various news outlets).

Let me tell you first what our plans are in terms of sequencing and political strategy. We will focus on Social Security immediately in this new year. Our strategy will probably include speeches early this month to establish an important premise: the current system is heading for an iceberg. The notion that younger workers will receive anything like the benefits they have been promised is fiction, unless significant reforms are undertaken. We need to establish in the public mind a key fiscal fact: right now we are on an unsustainable course. That reality needs to be seared into the public consciousness; it is the pre-condition to authentic reform.

Remind you of anything?

For all of you uninitiated, this is how the Repubs work, how they have been working since Newt and his 'Contract for America' in '94. Bullshit on top of bullshit until 51% of America believes it as gospel truth. Saddam's a threat, lawsuits are the reason for high medical malpractice insurance rates, the need for a missile defense system, the prescription drug crisis/plan, and Social Security is 'in crisis'. Ol' Joe Goebbels has got to be smiling in his little corner of Hell.

Noises and drafts

A relatively big noise. WaPo:

The head of the Army Reserve has sent a sharply worded memo to other military leaders expressing "deepening concern" about the continued readiness of his troops, who have been used heavily in Iraq and Afghanistan, and warning that his branch of 200,000 soldiers "is rapidly degenerating into a 'broken' force."

In the memo, dated Dec. 20, Lt. Gen. James R. "Ron" Helmly lashed out at what he said were outdated and "dysfunctional" policies on mobilizing and managing the force. He complained that his repeated requests to adjust the policies to current realities have been rebuffed by Pentagon authorities.

[. . .]

"The purpose of this memorandum is to inform you of the Army Reserve's inability . . . to meet mission requirements" associated with Iraq and Afghanistan "and to reset and regenerate its forces for follow-on and future missions," he wrote.

"I do not wish to sound alarmist," he added. "I do wish to send a clear, distinctive signal of deepening concern."

[. . .]

Highlighting the dwindling number of Reserve troops available for future deployments, Helmly included computations showing that only 37,515 remain out of 200,366 soldiers in the Army Reserve.

Well, I wonder when they're gonna force him to retire, just like they have every other general who's spoken up. I've been saying this since they startred calling up Guard and Reserve units in large numbers. For those who would join these units (as opposed to regular military) it is the fact that it is part-time duty. Ain't nobody gonna sign up if they're gonna get sent into a war zone for 2 years.

Thanks to DemVet for the link. As Jo puts it:

Gimmee a "D"
Gimmee an "R"
Gimmee an "A"
Gimmee an "F"
Gimmee a "T"

Update: 05:35:

And, unlike many of us veterans who remember 1968 and see the similarities in 2004, Kevin at Lean Left has a different take:

[. . .]

But even if those fail, I do not think that we will have a draft. I do not expect Bush to remain in Iraq for very much longer. The Shiites party that everyone expects to win is running, essentially, on the US out of Iraq platform. When faced with a growing insurgency, the specter of civil war, and a troop shortage, some of the Bushies will be looking for a way out before the midterm elections. If the new Iraqi government asks them to leave there will be a faction in the White House who will want to take them up on their offer.

[. . .]

We're smart

Left-leaning political bloggers to be precise. An excellent post about how well-informed bloggers are, and the gap between the roots (us) and the leadership (our weasel representatives in Washington).

[. . .]

Another example — How many Democratic Senators say they won’t oppose Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General? But us bloggers and blog-readers ALL understand that a vote for Gonzales is a vote for torture.

[. . .]

From Dave Johnson over at the american street.

Note: Just watching Chimpy speaking live about medical tort reform. In his world, no one will be held accountable for any harm they do. How can you limit medical liability judgments to $250,000? Just the way it is in his administration. He's also patting himself on the back about how generous we are to the Tsunami victims. It was his idea, of course. What a fucking lowlife turd.

Update: 18:45:

Kevin Drum:

[. . .]

But none of Bush's proposals would have any effect at all on frivolous malpractice lawsuits. As usual, instead of trying to solve a problem, he's merely using a problem as an excuse to do something else that he wants to do anyway — regardless of whether or not it has any effect. I wonder how long it will take the medical profession to realize that nothing Bush is proposing will actually help them in any way?

Will Congress Back Torture? Will You?

Robert Scheer via Working For Change asks the question: "Is there bipartisan congressional support for torture?"

Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee begins hearings on the confirmation of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales as the next attorney general of the United States. At stake is whether Congress wants to conveniently absolve Gonzales of his clear attempt to have the president subvert U.S. law in order to whitewash barbaric practices performed by U.S. interrogators in the name of national security.

Acting like a sleazy attorney advising a client on how not to be convicted of an ongoing crime, Gonzales was apparently not worried about irrational foreign courts or high-minded jurists in The Hague, but rather U.S. prosecutors who might enforce federal laws that ban torture of foreign prisoners of war. Indeed, Gonzales made the case for a legal end run around the 1996 War Crimes Act, which mandates criminal penalties, including the death sentence, for any U.S. military or other personnel who engage in crimes of torture.

Another positive step would be the withdrawal or rejection of the Gonzales nomination. To make a man with so little respect for both the spirit and the letter of the law the nation's top law enforcement official would be a terrible advertisement for American democracy.

Write your Representative and your Senator. They're only a click away. Tell 'em you don't want a shady lawyer doing bad things in your name. Be nice. SouthKnoxBubba puts it this way, and I agree:

Tell them that in your opinion Gonzales' views on torture and abuse of prisoners are evidence that he is not fit to serve in a position sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and enforce the law of the land.

If Bush gets his way with this one, the Brown Shirts are not far behind. Not far from your front door in the wee hours, either. If you think "it can't happen to me. I haven't done anything wrong", you're seriously missing the point. Murphy's Law, which has never been wrong yet, says "If it can happen, it will happen".

This clown interpreted existing law to allow torture, at the request of this President, after finding evidence that torture had already taken place, in an attempt for all those at the top to avoid prosecution. One of Bush's people (don't make me look it up, please) said, "It's not about what's legal. It's about what we can make legal".

Legislators are supposed to make laws, not lawyers. If Congress gangs up on us with bad laws, OK, we're fucked. We'll live with it. Interpreting the law to allow criminal ends, under direction from the pretender to the highest position in the World, is not what we want.

Sign The Petition

If you agree with Fixer's post (just below this one), and mine (just above this one), and even if you don't, go sign the Declaration Against Torture at Act For Change. I don't know if it will help in keeping Sleazy Gonzales out of the top law enforcement position in our country, but it can't hurt.

Sleazy Gonzales

Via Pudentilla from WaPo:

A dozen high-ranking retired military officers took the unusual step yesterday of signing a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing "deep concern" over the nomination of White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales as attorney general, marking a rare military foray into the debate over a civilian post.

The group includes retired Army Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The officers are one of several groups to separately urge the Senate to sharply question Gonzales during a confirmation hearing Thursday about his role in shaping legal policies on torture and interrogation methods.

[. . .]

The letter signed by the retired officers, compiled by the group Human Rights First and sent to the committee's leadership last night, criticizes Gonzales for his role in reviewing and approving a series of memorandums arguing, among other things, that the United States could lawfully ignore portions of the Geneva Conventions and that some forms of torture "may be justified" in the war on terror.

"Today, it is clear that these operations have fostered greater animosity toward the United States, undermined our intelligence gathering efforts and added to the risks facing our troops serving around the world," the officers wrote, referring to the Bush administration's detention and interrogation policies.

[. . .]

"Repeatedly in our past, the United States has confronted foes that, at the time they emerged, posed threats of a scope or nature unlike any we had previously faced," the letter reads. "But we have been far more steadfast in the past in keeping faith with our national commitment to the rule of law."

[. . .]

The hearings start tomorrow. Make sure your senators get an email making them aware of your feelings on this matter. General Hoar:

[. . .]

I think that the key thing, the thing we are asking the Senate Judiciary Committee, is to ask a series of questions of Mr. Gonzales during his confirmation hearings, that will fully illuminate Mr. Gonzales's role in the development of these policy papers, that had to do with the abrogation of Geneva Accords in the Afghan campaign, and the use of torture for detainees. And I think it's imperative that these issues be fully illuminated at the hearing. And this is what we hope will happen: Is that the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will recommend to the Senate as a whole, whether or not Mr. Gonzales should be confirmed as the Attorney General, really needs to bear down on these issues, and taking the documentary evidence that we have, and connect the dots, to find out what Mr. Gonzales's role has been in these very troubling issues.

[. . .]

This is a great interview and you should read it. (Link via american street.) The good General makes his opinions known on the clusterfuck in Iraq and the leadership at the Pentagon.

Update: 05:05:

Kos has more:

[. . .]

. . . Officials dispute how much senior Justice Department officials knew of the memorandum as it was being prepared. A former official and a current one said that neither Attorney General John Ashcroft nor his deputy, Larry D. Thompson, were aware of the memorandum until it was about to be submitted to the White House.

Can you fucking imagine that? They had to hide it from Ashcroft?!?!?!?

Ads

If you've noticed, I caved in to Google and put ads in the sidebar . . . on the bottom . . . all the way on the bottom. Click on 'em if you want, don't if you don't want to. I give no endorsements and I know nothing about the individual advertisers.

I've been running this blog on Blogger/Google's dime, same with the Haloscan comments. I'm supposed to make money when people click on the ads so I thought I'd use whatever income was generated from them to upgrade the blog. Maybe spring for a Haloscan membership, or actually get some server space on Blogger so it would be easier to post our own pics, shit like that. If it ain't worth it, I'll take the ads down.

The last thing I'm gonna do is compromise whatever respect we have in the Blogosphere (Blogtopia, for skippy). I sure as hell ain't asking for donations . . . ever. If we ever reach the big time in the blog world, and the need for increased bandwidth becomes a factor, we'll make the decisions about how the Brain will be financed. For now, let's see what the ads generate and how we'll use it.

Thank you for your attention. You may now resume your activities.

Ve know who you are

From WTF??:

[. . .]

"The fine print in [the smirking liar's] No Child Left Behind Act is slowly dawning on the parents of high school students across the country as the war in Iraq drags on: military recruiters can blitz youngsters with uninvited phone calls to their homes and on-campus pitches replete with video war games. This is all possible under a little noted part of the law that requires schools to provide the names, addresses (campus addresses, too) and phone numbers of students or risk losing federal aid."

[. . .]

Didja watch Fahrenheit 9/11? Didja see 'em saying that the weasels in Congress don't read bills before they vote on them? Well, now your kid is on some recruiter's list. Guess what? I'll bet you anything that those same lists will be given to Selective Service too. Do ya feel it getting drafty?

Jesus

It's come to this:

[. . .]

"The old man should have read the bilingual notices that American soldiers tack to their rear bumpers in Iraq: 'Keep 50m or deadly force will be applied.' In Ramadi, the capital of central Anbar province, where 17 suicide-bombs struck American forces during the month-long Muslim fast of Ramadan in the autumn, the marines are jumpy. Sometimes, they say, they fire on vehicles encroaching with 30 metres, sometimes they fire at 20 metres: 'If anyone gets too close to us we fucking waste them,' says a bullish lieutenant. 'It's kind of a shame, because it means we've killed a lot of innocent people.'" [my emphasis]

[. . .]

This is no fault of our Marines. Wasn't their choice to be there and they're doing what they have to in order to stay alive while trying to keep some semblance of peace. It's just sad that they have to have the 'kill 'em all and let God sort out the mess' mentality. No, it's criminal, not on the Marines' part, but on the part of the Bush administration.