Tuesday, July 19, 2005
The list
Jami has a list of probable SCOTUS nominees, a short bio of each, and their qualifications. In depth, great research.
Cool
Since it's hot and humid in New York (and elsewhere), a little nostalgia.
My backyard a few short months ago.
My backyard a few short months ago.
Rove-Bush Conspiracy Noose Tightens
I just love that title! I get all goose-pimply thinking about it! From the ConsortiumNews:
Damn good point. I bet Fitzgerald is on it like stink on shit. Much, much more in the article. Go read. The last paragraph is good:
It's expanding like the Universe. When it collapses around their ears, I hope they get a Big Bang out of it!
A key Republican defense of Rove has been that the White House deputy chief of staff only recycled rumors from reporters in 2003 when he told other reporters about Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, and her covert identity as a CIA officer who worked on issues related to weapons of mass destruction.
But two new facts contradict that assertion and show that Rove was coordinating his leaks about Plame with officials in Bush's National Security Council and Vice President Dick Cheney's office.
The first new piece of evidence is a little-noticed part of Time magazine correspondent Matthew Cooper's testimony last week before a federal grand jury in Washington.
Some news articles have noted Cooper's statement that Rove brought up Wilson's wife during an interview on July 11, 2003, and that Rove volunteered that she worked for "the agency" on WMD issues. Cooper said Rove cited these facts in claiming that Plame was responsible for Wilson's trip to Africa in February 2002 to investigate whether Iraq was trying to obtain yellowcake uranium from Niger.
What's been overlooked, however, is another part of Cooper's account. Cooper said his notes reveal that Rove then added that "material was going to be declassified in the coming days that would cast doubt on Wilson's mission and his findings." In ending the conversation, Rove said, "I've already said too much," according to Cooper. [Time, July 25, 2005, issue]
Rove's assertion that he knew about plans to declassify material on Wilson indicates that Rove was not just a loose-lipped talker repeating stuff he'd heard from reporters, but he was a participant in internal White House discussions about how to counteract Wilson's criticisms by releasing then-secret information.
Damn good point. I bet Fitzgerald is on it like stink on shit. Much, much more in the article. Go read. The last paragraph is good:
But that has not stopped the RNC and the conservative news media from continuing the P.R. war against Wilson. The Bush administration and its allies seem to believe that the best way to prevent a conspiracy from collapsing is to expand it.
It's expanding like the Universe. When it collapses around their ears, I hope they get a Big Bang out of it!
Sleight of hand
Via Rook from Liberal Oasis:
They're hoping the announcement tonight raises enough of a dust storm to obscure Rove's problems. Not here, bitches.
Keep An Eye Out...
...for a[n] accelerated announcement of a Supreme Court nominee, in order to change the subject.
They're hoping the announcement tonight raises enough of a dust storm to obscure Rove's problems. Not here, bitches.
Pick me, pick me!
My hero, the Rude One:
[. . .]
What's happening here, with polls showing that very few Americans believe the Bush administration on the whole issue, is the American public, having been fed years of propagandistic books, films, and television shows, since the Cold War, about how magnificent the CIA is in protecting our freedom (despite, you know, having often done quite the opposite), feels as if it's looking out for Jack Ryan. You know Jack Ryan, Tom Clancy's CIA agent, played by AlecBaldwinHarrisonFordBenAffleck in the movies. By this point in a Clancy novel or film, Jack Ryan (or someone) would have grabbed the tweedy, bespectacled, fat, balding asshole politico, who thought a CIA agent's identity was just more political capital to be spent when expedient, and beaten the shit out of him, leaving him bleeding, glasses broken, pissing himself on the floor of the Oval Office. Hell, where do you wanna go with this? Jason Bourne? Sydney Bristow? Bill Cosby on I Spy? George Smiley? James fuckin' Bond? All of the spy glorification in pop culture has made it a cardinal rule: you don't blow someone's cover.
[. . .]
More on Veterans' Funding
Following up on Fixer's post on Veterans' funding, this from the Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune:
It doesn't surprise me even a little bit that my #1 sleazeball and his dancing monkey, neither of them Veterans, had a hand in this scam.
Fellow Republicans warned House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay more than a year ago that the government would come up short - by at least $750 million - for veterans' health care.
The leaders' response: Fire the messengers.
Some lawmakers say the shortfall is a product of the administration's scrimping on veterans' care to reduce the size of federal deficits.
It doesn't surprise me even a little bit that my #1 sleazeball and his dancing monkey, neither of them Veterans, had a hand in this scam.
Molly on PlameGate
Molly Ivins, as usual, nails it.
She has a few words to say about the cabal going after the ACLU as well.
But even that is superseded by what lies at the heart of Plamegate, and that is lying in order to get this country into war. If the Washington press corps had a memory bank longer than 10 minutes, they could have exposed this years ago: the lies so often directly contradict one another. Before the war, the CIA was such a wussy organization it kept trying to downplay weapons of mass destruction in Iraq: After the war, it was all the CIA's fault, they had exaggerated the weapons of mass destruction. And so on and so on.
She has a few words to say about the cabal going after the ACLU as well.
Grime Pays
Grime Pays
Boy makes bad: a Karl Rove chronological tour, making all local stops
If you a little shaky on your Karl Rove history, this article is a great way to brush up on your Rovian facts. Some of these gems include:
1960: At age 10, he becomes a Republican, supporting Nixon in his losing race to John F. Kennedy. A meanie girl who's a Kennedy supporter beats him up.
FALL 1970: Rove pays visit to Chicago campaign headquarters of Alan Dixon, a Democrat running for state treasurer. Disguised as a volunteer, Rove steals official campaign letterhead and sends out 1,000 invitations to people in the city's red-light district and soup kitchens, offering "free beer, free food, girls, and a good time for nothing" at Dixon headquarters. When hundreds of homeless and alcoholic Chicagoans show up at a fancy Dixon reception, Rove succeeds in embarrassing the candidate. Dixon still wins the election.
A brief timeline that gives one a basic introduction on what it is to be Rove.
Boy makes bad: a Karl Rove chronological tour, making all local stops
If you a little shaky on your Karl Rove history, this article is a great way to brush up on your Rovian facts. Some of these gems include:
1960: At age 10, he becomes a Republican, supporting Nixon in his losing race to John F. Kennedy. A meanie girl who's a Kennedy supporter beats him up.
FALL 1970: Rove pays visit to Chicago campaign headquarters of Alan Dixon, a Democrat running for state treasurer. Disguised as a volunteer, Rove steals official campaign letterhead and sends out 1,000 invitations to people in the city's red-light district and soup kitchens, offering "free beer, free food, girls, and a good time for nothing" at Dixon headquarters. When hundreds of homeless and alcoholic Chicagoans show up at a fancy Dixon reception, Rove succeeds in embarrassing the candidate. Dixon still wins the election.
A brief timeline that gives one a basic introduction on what it is to be Rove.
Censorship Alive and Well
Some of you may have missed a post over at Shakespeare's Sister this past Friday. Emails containing the phrase "afterdowningstreet.org" have been filtered as spam by Comcast.net domain.
"Comcast is pointing the finger at Bright Mail, part of Symantec, with whom they have a contract and who, according to Comcast, control the filter. Bright Mail refuses to lift the ban, claiming to have received 46,000 spam messages containing the above cited URL, thought they refuse to show AfterDowningStreet.org a single such message)."
"Comcast is pointing the finger at Bright Mail, part of Symantec, with whom they have a contract and who, according to Comcast, control the filter. Bright Mail refuses to lift the ban, claiming to have received 46,000 spam messages containing the above cited URL, thought they refuse to show AfterDowningStreet.org a single such message)."
See you in Hell
Cathie:
Only the good die young, darlin'.
There are many things written in this article that upset me, but mainly that Westmoreland lived to be 91 when Americans and Vietnamese died by the hundreds of thousands 35 years ago.
[. . .]
Only the good die young, darlin'.
To live and die in polling land
Stolen fully and completely from Kevin Drum:
Exposing the identity of a CIA agent working to halt the proliferation of WMD and the financing of terror cells. In all, thanks to the Plame outing, nearly 100 covert operators, those working for her front company, were rendered useless and probably marked them for execution. In other words, we're only fighting the 'War on Terra' if it's politically and financially expedient for Chimpy Inc.
LIVE BY THE POLLS, DIE BY THE POLLS....Garance Franke-Ruta reports that a new ABC News poll shows plummeting support for the White House's handling of Plamegate. Only 25% of the respondents felt that the administration was cooperating with the investigation - and that was before both Time and Newsweek splashed Karl Rove's picture all over their covers this week. At that level, it means that even some true believers are starting to doubt George Bush's sincerity in the matter.
Why? Probably because a lot of Bush's supporters genuinely believe that exposing the identity of a CIA agent is a bad thing to do even if you're mad at her husband. They might be running out of patience with Bush on this. [my emphasis]
Exposing the identity of a CIA agent working to halt the proliferation of WMD and the financing of terror cells. In all, thanks to the Plame outing, nearly 100 covert operators, those working for her front company, were rendered useless and probably marked them for execution. In other words, we're only fighting the 'War on Terra' if it's politically and financially expedient for Chimpy Inc.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Welcome
I'd like all of our readers to welcome Morrigan (BaltimoreLenore) of Morrigan's Web to regular blogging duties here at the Brain. I think she'll be a good fit with the rest of the team and I'm honored she accepted my invite. Welcome aboard!
I'm moving this up here for the rest of the day because it moved down the page pretty quickly since I posted it. I'm sure some of you were scratching your heads at the new byline. New posts start below this one.
Speechless
This gets me so pissed off I don't have the words:
The way this government treats the people who've sacrificed their minds and bodies for this nation is unconscionable.
The Bush administration was unprepared to meet the needs of military veterans returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. One scheme they've come up with to make up the cost of health care and other services for this new cadre of U.S. veterans is to shortchange some of this country's most vulnerable older veterans.
[. . .]
Those standards would render 85 percent -- 85 percent! -- of the veterans in Washington's three veterans homes ineligible to stay there, according to Alfie Alvarado, assistant director of the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs. At that rate, she says, the state's veterans homes would "not be able to operate." [my emphasis]
[. . .]
The way this government treats the people who've sacrificed their minds and bodies for this nation is unconscionable.
I owe somebody credit for the link, but I'll be damned if I can remember who. Update: Thanks to Jillian at Skippy's.
But . . . but . . . but . . .
Raisins? Raisins??? RAISINS????!!!!!
Surprise!!!!! Heh.
Hat tip: Church of the Front Porch.
[. . .]
But Manji says recent research shows all that virgin stuff was based on an erroneous translation of the Koran: what awaits in heaven are 72 raisins. What? Could 54 people really have been blown up for a bag of raisins? "Well in 7th century Arabia raisins were so exalted as to be promoted to paradise."
[. . .]
Surprise!!!!! Heh.
Hat tip: Church of the Front Porch.
Boston writer takes time off from man-on-dog action to thank Senator
Michael Blanding replies to Santorum for outing Boston as the modern-day Gomorrah that it is. Via Alternet.
Go read. I've been to Boston. Kinda like a little New York City on steroids. Remind me to tell you a story sometime about my experiences in the now-defunct "Combat Zone". I like Boston.
We, the depraved citizens of Boston, would like to thank Sen. Santorum for recognizing our city as the modern-day Gomorrah that it is, and pointing out all the ways that Boston has led to the moral decline of the nation.
With all due respect, however, I don't think you've really considered how far the wrong way Boston has taken them. Truth be told, our sick culture of sexual depravity goes back a lot further than gay marriage and Catholic priest abuse. Take the Puritans. I mean, talk about alternative lifestyles! The constrictive clothing, the stocks and irons, the public hangings, the dunking tanks, the flamboyant letters pinned to their breasts ... Massachusetts Bay Colony was like an S&M dungeon waiting to happen. And those were the same folks who founded Harvard University, spouting some crap about the need to train a literate clergy. Whereas we all know that literacy just gets in the way of the quick snap judgments and moral superiority that right-wing clergy (and for that matter, certain senators) really need to do their job.
Go read. I've been to Boston. Kinda like a little New York City on steroids. Remind me to tell you a story sometime about my experiences in the now-defunct "Combat Zone". I like Boston.
'Special rights'
Heaven forbid we give homosexuals those 'special rights' . . . like equality under the law. The esteemed Eponymous takes a look at the latest bug up the Winghuts' asses.
[. . .]
Uh huh. You know, I didn't think it was possible, but those mooks at the AFA are becoming stupider as time progresses. I've always found it interesting the way the AmTaliban frames this debate in terms of "special" rights. As if homosexuals, simply by "choosing" to be gay (you know, like a Christian chooses to be so) should be entitled to fewer rights since their choice involves simply not conforming to socially acceptable sexual norms. "Special treatment" for homosexuals is apparently "equal rights" for the rest of us.
[. . .]
Panic
The Guardian:
Yes indeed. Why does the Bush Administration hate America? Why have they committed treason? What did the Chimp know and when did he know it? Can you say 'impeachment', boys and girls? I thought you could.
It was a question the White House press corps once believed unthinkable. Has President George W Bush lost confidence in his political guru, Karl Rove? If simply posing the question was a surprise last week, the answer - or, more accurately, the lack of one - was an even greater shock.
[. . .]
That has put Bush in an awkward position. He has previously promised to fire anyone revealed to be involved in the Plame leak, though the White House is now refusing to repeat that statement. McClellan is an even worse spot. He once told reporters that it was 'totally ridiculous' to suggest Rove had been involved.
[. . .]
If the legal case against Rove has holes in it, the political case is more damning. For the first time in years the Democrats can exploit a scandal that is easy to understand. While the details are confusing, the narrative is simple: the White House exposed a CIA agent working to protect America. 'People are angry. The press corps is angry. The Democrats just have to keep feeding the beast,' said Haas. [my emphases]
[. . .]
Yes indeed. Why does the Bush Administration hate America? Why have they committed treason? What did the Chimp know and when did he know it? Can you say 'impeachment', boys and girls? I thought you could.
Thanks to Maru for the link.
The Return of J. Edgar Hoover's Ghost
Via Pam's House Blend:
In an effort to fight the "War on Terror", the FBI has been monitoring the ACLU and other groups such as Greenpeace.
"I know for an absolute fact that we have not been involved in anything related to promoting terrorism and yet the government has collected almost 1,200 pages on our activities," Romero said. [Anthony Romero is the ACLU's executive director] "Why is the ACLU now the subject of scrutiny from the FBI?"
John Passacantando, Greenpeace's U.S. executive director, said his group is a forceful, but peaceful, critic of the Bush administration's war and environmental policies.
"This administration has a history of using its powers against its peaceful critics. If, in fact, the FBI has been deployed to help in that effort, that would be quite shocking," Passacantando said.
No, it's not shocking at all. I'm starting to feel that the FBI is this administration's Gestapo in the making.
In an effort to fight the "War on Terror", the FBI has been monitoring the ACLU and other groups such as Greenpeace.
"I know for an absolute fact that we have not been involved in anything related to promoting terrorism and yet the government has collected almost 1,200 pages on our activities," Romero said. [Anthony Romero is the ACLU's executive director] "Why is the ACLU now the subject of scrutiny from the FBI?"
John Passacantando, Greenpeace's U.S. executive director, said his group is a forceful, but peaceful, critic of the Bush administration's war and environmental policies.
"This administration has a history of using its powers against its peaceful critics. If, in fact, the FBI has been deployed to help in that effort, that would be quite shocking," Passacantando said.
No, it's not shocking at all. I'm starting to feel that the FBI is this administration's Gestapo in the making.
Insight
Lambert comes up with some:
I think this is exactly the way it went down.
[. . .]
You know, this whole thing reminds of that great old Agatha Christie novel, Murder on the Orient Express. The whodunnit is totally confusing, clues pointing every which way and cancelling each other out, until Hercule Poirot figures out that the reason the clues could only make sense if they were all in on it, is that, indeed, they were all in on it.
[. . .]
I think this is exactly the way it went down.
Doing my part
To keep the Republicans on their toes. I wrote this over at TF&G the other day, about the assorted nuts who hang around the shop. One I thought my Brain readers might like:
[. . .]
Kommissar John: The New York State legislator for our district. Republican, spitting image of former Connecticut governor (now convict) John Rowland. An asshole extraordinaire and I tell him every chance I get. He usually checks to see if my car is in the lot before he shows up. Tries to avoid me like the plague but his local office is line-of-sight from our door. Try to guess how many times I've mooned him. Yes, the locals are used to driving by the shop and seeing me in the lot, mooning somebody up the block.
[. . .]
Sunday, July 17, 2005
An Iraq Picture Show, 2004
Ginmar got to enjoy her time in the military over in Iraq last year. Now she's sharing some of her pictures. The captions really make this post great.
Former Vietnam Combat and commercial Pilot Says 'No Way' Could a Novice Fly the 'Big Birds' He Knew So Well
Via the 9/11 Blogger:
More holes being poked into the official version of the events surrounding 9/11. This article hits home to me as I have relatives in the aviation industry. One quote I find particularily chilling:
"Knowing the flight characteristics of the "big birds" like the back of his hand, Wittenberg convincingly argued there was absolutely no possibility that Flight 77could have "descended 7,000 feet in two minutes, all the while performing a steep 270 degree banked turn before crashing into the Pentagon's first floor wall without touching the lawn."
Wittenberg claimed the high speed maneuver would have surely stalled the jetliner sending it into a nose dive, adding it was "totally impossible for an amateur who couldn't even fly a Cessna to maneuver the jetliner in such a highly professional manner, something Wittenberg said he couldn't do with 35 years of commercial jetliner experience.
"For a guy to just jump into the cockpit and fly like an ace is impossible - there is not one chance in a thousand," said Wittenberg, recalling that when he made the jump from Boeing 727's to the highly sophisticated computerized characteristics of the 737's through 767's it took him considerable time to feel comfortable flying."
Disturbing food for thought.
More holes being poked into the official version of the events surrounding 9/11. This article hits home to me as I have relatives in the aviation industry. One quote I find particularily chilling:
"Knowing the flight characteristics of the "big birds" like the back of his hand, Wittenberg convincingly argued there was absolutely no possibility that Flight 77could have "descended 7,000 feet in two minutes, all the while performing a steep 270 degree banked turn before crashing into the Pentagon's first floor wall without touching the lawn."
Wittenberg claimed the high speed maneuver would have surely stalled the jetliner sending it into a nose dive, adding it was "totally impossible for an amateur who couldn't even fly a Cessna to maneuver the jetliner in such a highly professional manner, something Wittenberg said he couldn't do with 35 years of commercial jetliner experience.
"For a guy to just jump into the cockpit and fly like an ace is impossible - there is not one chance in a thousand," said Wittenberg, recalling that when he made the jump from Boeing 727's to the highly sophisticated computerized characteristics of the 737's through 767's it took him considerable time to feel comfortable flying."
Disturbing food for thought.
Army Further Damages it's Credibility
Given that the Army has missed it's recruitment goals, it's not surprising that an Army recruiting officer who threatened a young man with jail time has been transfered from one recruitment office to another and promoted to supervisor.
"The Army says he's the perfect person to be in charge of other recruiters since he experienced first hand what happens when ethics rules are broken."
Oh yeah, I bet he is.
"The Army says he's the perfect person to be in charge of other recruiters since he experienced first hand what happens when ethics rules are broken."
Oh yeah, I bet he is.
If Rove were a Democrat, he'd be shot
The truth via Skippy:
I'm certainly happy that George W. Bush and Karl Rove are not Democrats. If they were, just imagine the mess this country would be in right now, even worse than the mess it is in.
First, there would be cries of "treason" directed at Mr. Rove from the Republican ranks. Some of the more overheated members of Congress would demand that he be taken immediately out back of the Capitol and shot by a firing squad.
[. . .]
Story with a moral
From my brother-in-law who gets the best stuff:
The teacher gave her fifth grade class an assignment: Get their parents to tell them a story with a moral at the end of it. The next day the kids came back and one by one began to tell their stories. "Johnny, do you have a story to share?"
"Yes ma'am. My daddy told a story about my Aunt Karen. She was a pilot in Desert Storm and her plane got hit. She had to bail out over enemy territory and all she had was a small flask of whiskey, a pistol and a survival knife. She drank the whiskey on the way down so it wouldn't break and then her parachute landed right in the middle of twenty enemy troops. She shot fifteen of them with the gun until she ran out of bullets, killed four more with the knife, till the blade broke, and then she killed the last Iraqi with her bare hands."
"Good Heaven" said the horrified teacher. "What kind of moral did your daddy tell you from this horrible story?"
"Stay the fuck away from Aunt Karen when she's drinking."
"Fly! Be free!" - Mork, to an egg
Take the quiz: "What Kind of Soul Do You Retain?"
Free
You have an open heart and open mind and you chose not to let anyone get to you and the way you want to live.
There were no good answers to most of their questions. I'm surprised the result came out as close to the mark as it did. The picture looks just like me, too.
Thanks, Granny.
Free
You have an open heart and open mind and you chose not to let anyone get to you and the way you want to live.
There were no good answers to most of their questions. I'm surprised the result came out as close to the mark as it did. The picture looks just like me, too.
Thanks, Granny.
Keep your eye on the ball
This is the best op-ed of the weekend, in my not-so-humble opinion. Frank Rich in the NYTimes. He goes into the steam calliope (makes a lot of loud noise, exhausts a lot of wet hot air) of the Republican slime/noise/spin machine in the Rove deal and then refocuses the real thing:
I think that when Rove's head deflates enough to realize he's not getting out of this one, his desperation will crank up the noise machine to where it will be obvious to even the most casual observer that his house of cards is about to fall, and deservedly so. To make the Bush archway fall, remove the Rove keystone.
This case is about Iraq, not Niger. The real victims are the American people, not the Wilsons. The real culprit - the big enchilada, to borrow a 1973 John Ehrlichman phrase from the Nixon tapes - is not Mr. Rove but the gang that sent American sons and daughters to war on trumped-up grounds and in so doing diverted finite resources, human and otherwise, from fighting the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. That's why the stakes are so high: this scandal is about the unmasking of an ill-conceived war, not the unmasking of a C.I.A. operative who posed for Vanity Fair.
Once we were locked into the war, and no W.M.D.'s could be found, the original plot line was dropped with an alacrity that recalled the "Never mind!" with which Gilda Radner's Emily Litella used to end her misinformed Weekend Update commentaries on "Saturday Night Live." The administration began its dog-ate-my-homework cover-up, asserting that the various warning signs about the uranium claims were lost "in the bowels" of the bureaucracy or that it was all the C.I.A.'s fault or that it didn't matter anyway, because there were new, retroactive rationales to justify the war. But the administration knows how guilty it is. That's why it has so quickly trashed any insider who contradicts its story line about how we got to Iraq, starting with the former Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill and the former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke.
Seasoned audiences of presidential scandal know that there's only one certainty ahead: the timing of a Karl Rove resignation. As always in this genre, the knight takes the fall at exactly that moment when it's essential to protect the king.
I think that when Rove's head deflates enough to realize he's not getting out of this one, his desperation will crank up the noise machine to where it will be obvious to even the most casual observer that his house of cards is about to fall, and deservedly so. To make the Bush archway fall, remove the Rove keystone.
Yeesh
More 'creative naming' from our friends at 1600. You remember 'Clear Skies', 'Healthy Forests' and 'No Child Left Behind'. Farnsworth:
As if the greedy pig motherfuckers at Halliburton weren't already fattening themselves enough at the public slop trough, a little-noticed bill is worming its nasty way through the greased machinery of the Repugnican senate.
It's called the FAIR Act, for Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution -- yet another in a long line of Orwellian naming conventions -- that would establish a $140 billion trust fund to be drawn down by sufferers from one or more of the many asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma.
[. . .]
Sunday funnies
For those who see MTP later, John Podesta (Clinton's former Chief of Staff) gives Ken Mehlman (RNC Chair/Closet Queen) a weenie-whacking on the Plamegate deal. Even Russert inflated his raisins and asked some tough questions. All Mehlman could do was recite talking points.
Two of my favorite girls were on McLaugh-In. Eleanor Clift per usual and Raghida Dergham of Al-Hayat whom I just adore (I based a character on her in my book The Fourth Estate). She proved, at that fat bastid Tony Blankley's expense, that Blankley is a moron and an RNC shill.
And will Joe Biden (D-MBNA) just shut the fuck up and go away, please? He's shown himself for the whore he is. Time to give him a primary fight. Orrin Hatch (R-Mormon) is a bleeding asshole.
Two of my favorite girls were on McLaugh-In. Eleanor Clift per usual and Raghida Dergham of Al-Hayat whom I just adore (I based a character on her in my book The Fourth Estate). She proved, at that fat bastid Tony Blankley's expense, that Blankley is a moron and an RNC shill.
And will Joe Biden (D-MBNA) just shut the fuck up and go away, please? He's shown himself for the whore he is. Time to give him a primary fight. Orrin Hatch (R-Mormon) is a bleeding asshole.
Movie reviews
I don't like reviewers. I got a problem with people making money giving opinions on artists' work. Bottom-feeders, I put 'em in the same category as plaintiff attorneys. But Digby has the best movie review I ever saw. Well, it's a review of reviews that shows how the 101st Hiding Cowards are actually terrorists.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Bush Family Tradition: Ducking Scandal
For some light weekend reading, I offer this from Consortiumnews:
Lotsa stuff about Rove, Neo-con strategy, Iran-Contra, and Bush family Nazi involvement.
Then more about Iraq, Novak, and Rove. Read. Enjoy. Seethe a little. One hopeful note:
If there is one trait that has followed the Bush family through generations of privilege, it is the ability to escape scandal - a skill that will be put to the test again over the leaking of the identity of an undercover CIA officer, apparently to get back at her husband for criticizing George W. Bush's case for invading Iraq.
Lotsa stuff about Rove, Neo-con strategy, Iran-Contra, and Bush family Nazi involvement.
But the quick dissipation of the Nazi financial scandal was only a portent of the Bush family's future. Unlike politicians of lower classes, the Bushes seemed to operate in a bubble impervious to accusations of impropriety.
That protective bubble has grown thicker over the decades with the emergence of a strong conservative news media that can be counted on to defend George W. Bush's interests regardless of the merits of his position.
Then more about Iraq, Novak, and Rove. Read. Enjoy. Seethe a little. One hopeful note:
Still, whether George W. Bush can match his father and grandfather in turning aside scandal is yet to be decided.
A sorry replacement
Pacific Views takes a look at that putz, Sen Norm Coleman (R-Suckboy), who filled Paul Wellstone's seat.
Hat tip: Avedon Carol
Hat tip: Avedon Carol
Free Haiti
I have been delinquent and remiss in not pointing you here earlier; CN Todd has been posting an excellent series on our doings in Haiti.
[. . .]
But why should we care? Because H.R. 611 would send millions of dollars in taxpayer money into the pocket of the regime of Gerard Latortue, the man who assumed the title of "Interim President" after Bush helped orchestrate the kidnapping and removal of Aristide in February 2004. And even now, Latortue's police force is carrying out a reign of terror in many of Haiti's poorest neighborhoods, working to eliminate many of Aristide's most loyal supporters.
No doubt, American's will want to know that their Congressmen want to send their tax dollars to help prop up this guy.
[. . .]
Role models
From USAToady via the Operation Yellow Elephant blog:
If the First Fluffers aren't soldier material, why doesn't Chimpy at least have them working for the USO?
[. . .]
There's one more option that might make a difference, particularly among middle and upper-income Americans: Strong and sustained calls to service from the nation's political leaders, up to and including the commander-in-chief.
Last fall, Charles Moskos of Northwestern University, a prominent expert on military manpower, asked a group of recruiters what would most help them: tripling bonuses or enlisting presidential daughter Jenna Bush.
The recruiters' choice was unanimous: Jenna Bush.
[. . .]
If the First Fluffers aren't soldier material, why doesn't Chimpy at least have them working for the USO?
Friday, July 15, 2005
Go fuck yourselves
That's basically what the Department of Homeland Security told all of us who live in big cities yesterday. You're granted an audience with the King.
Diplomacy in action
Via Pudentilla blogging at Skippy's:
Good thing Condi went over there, huh? Idiots. The Chinese don't have to threaten us with nukes, they can just cash in all the paper they're holding.
Update: 14:50:
My man Dave Johnson is on this today too.
BEIJING, Friday, July 15 - China should use nuclear weapons against the United States if the American military intervenes in any conflict over Taiwan, a senior Chinese military official said Thursday.
"If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons," the official, Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, said at an official briefing.
[. . .]
Good thing Condi went over there, huh? Idiots. The Chinese don't have to threaten us with nukes, they can just cash in all the paper they're holding.
Update: 14:50:
My man Dave Johnson is on this today too.
Buggery for renouncing "Southern Strategy"?
This is indeed getting better and better. TeeHee!
From Media Matters:
To which Mehlman, no stranger to bending over and grabbing his ankles, no doubt replied, while glancing back over his shoulder, "And your point is...?"
They're eating their own, and I think they're past the appetizer. Eat hearty, me buckos.
From Media Matters:
Limbaugh blasted Mehlman's renunciation of GOP racial tactics: "Republicans are going to go bend over and grab the ankles"
To which Mehlman, no stranger to bending over and grabbing his ankles, no doubt replied, while glancing back over his shoulder, "And your point is...?"
They're eating their own, and I think they're past the appetizer. Eat hearty, me buckos.
Just to be clear
. . . When Rove confirmed it or commented in any way, he broke the law.
[. . .]
That is the only talking point we need.
Plame Gets the "Gate"
From Editor & Publisher:
I posted some of the funny parts to make ya want to go read it, so go read it. This is just getting better and better!
Today, July 15, 2005, may go down in history as the day when what has previously been known as the "Plame Affair" or "the CIA leak scandal" or even, lately "Miller/Cooper/Rove," finally gets that most coveted of scandal slugs: Plamegate.
And with the blockbuster reports today from The New York Times, the Associated Press, and the Washington Post detailing Karl Rove's conversation with Robert Novak, six days before he wrote his fateful outing column, we are suddenly into "what-did-the-president-know-and-when-did-he-know-it" territory.
Plamegate. It's about time. Think about it: We had a Liddy then and a Libby now. Though we should be happy that in 1972 Democratic headquarters was not located in a different, nearby, Washington, D.C. complex. Then we might have to call it PlameHoJo.
Who knows, we may even be ready for a re-make of one old early 1970s hit under a new title: "The Night They Rove Old Dubya Down."
Then there's this amusing (if plausible) comment by Congressional Quarterly's Craig Crawford today: "So, now we have leakers leaking the leak investigation. Fitzgerald might have to put the whole press corps in jail before it's over with...."
I posted some of the funny parts to make ya want to go read it, so go read it. This is just getting better and better!
$8M from RNC for Vote Fraud
From the Baltimore Chronicle:
And that's just money paid to one outfit in pursuit of re-stealing the White House. Makes Nixon's little burglary to the same ends seem kinda quaint, huh?
Team Bush Paid Millions to Nathan Sproul - and Tried to Hide It
All the payments by the RNC to Sproul add up to a whopping $8,359,161. Where did all that money come from? Why did the RNC suppress their real expenditures? And what exactly did Sproul do for all that pay?
And that's just money paid to one outfit in pursuit of re-stealing the White House. Makes Nixon's little burglary to the same ends seem kinda quaint, huh?
Rove Two-fer
Two articles on the same page at Truthout. Read 'em both.
Daniel Schorr:
An editorial tying Rove to my other favorite sleazebag:
I got a little miffed at the last sentence. I'm certainly not starting to find out anything except details of the depth of their sleaze. Then I realized the writer wasn't talking about me. When all the people who bought their crap (see title of previous post), or from whom they thought they had hidden it, realize what fools the power people think they are, they're gonna be pissed. I've been on a perma-pissoff for years. I'm used to it. The awakening masses aren't. They're liable to react in a way that will not be be pleasing to the pols and their accomplices. Whee!
Daniel Schorr:
Let me remind you that the underlying issue in the Karl Rove controversy is not a leak, but a war and how America was misled into that war.
The role of Rove and associates added up to a small incident in a very large scandal - the effort to delude America into thinking it faced a threat dire enough to justify a war.
An editorial tying Rove to my other favorite sleazebag:
"It's widely known that Karl Rove has been pulling strings all over Washington for years, obviously not just in the case of the Plame leak," said Peter L. Kelley, manager of the Campaign for a Cleaner Congress.
"What is not widely known, however, is his close connection with Jack Abramoff, who is at the center of the lobbying scandal in which Washington is now embroiled. Rove let archconservative operatives like Grover Norquist call shots at the White House. And just this week, a Texas judge ruled that a former Rove lieutenant must face felony charges of money laundering for Tom DeLay's political operation.
"Could party leaders' abrupt about-face on the Plame case have anything to do with the other ethics scandals that have been grabbing headlines for months now?" said Kelley. "It seems there are more than a few bad apples in this barrel, and they don't like it that the public is starting to find out."
I got a little miffed at the last sentence. I'm certainly not starting to find out anything except details of the depth of their sleaze. Then I realized the writer wasn't talking about me. When all the people who bought their crap (see title of previous post), or from whom they thought they had hidden it, realize what fools the power people think they are, they're gonna be pissed. I've been on a perma-pissoff for years. I'm used to it. The awakening masses aren't. They're liable to react in a way that will not be be pleasing to the pols and their accomplices. Whee!
We can rule you just fine as long as your head's in the sand...
Now that the Catholic Church has come out against evolution, Frisco Jon has a few words on the subject of "faith".
Gee, maybe if we have to re-invent the wheel, it'll have a more efficient shape this time.
You'd think, what with the whole sun-going-around-the-Earth thing, the church might be content to leave the details to the experts. But the idea of experts is outmoded. The scientific method is outdated. The new paradigm: Start from the conclusions and work backward. This is the age of faith or, as we called it last time, the Dark Ages (my emphasis).
Like many people, I am astonished by how the Bush administration can get away with this much incompetence for this long. I am surprised that it can continue to be callously indifferent to the needless deaths of soldiers and civilians in Iraq. I am surprised that it can blow the cover of a CIA secret operative and escape the consequences. I have this eerie alternative-universe feeling. I hear the "Twilight Zone" music. Didn't actions used to have consequences? When lies were exposed, didn't something happen?
Not in a little year we like to call -- 721.
Let's look at the upside for a minute. There will be plenty of cool new illuminated manuscripts; there will be exciting advances in distilled beverages; we will all get to own our own sheep. Plus, if there's a crusade, we'll be able to travel to foreign lands. The motto du jour: Our crazy people can beat their crazy people. We have faith.
I really don't care what god or gods people worship. It's the realm of the mysterious and the supernatural; go nuts. The list of great thinkers who were also great believers is long; there is nothing incompatible between the two. That is, until someone announces that all truths are known and all behaviors are judged and you are going to Paradise and you aren't.
Once upon a time, there were two American institutions I believed in: the Supreme Court and the voting process. Now I have serious questions about both because people of faith seem to be taking them over. Faith-based elections: First the results, then the counting. Faith-based judicial decisions: First the verdict, then the facts.
There seems to be a lovely little tea party going on down the block. There's a guy in a big hat, and a rabbit, and please, pay no attention to what the dormouse says. We have enough hallucinations already.
Gee, maybe if we have to re-invent the wheel, it'll have a more efficient shape this time.
The stench of hypocrisy 10
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-Clueless) 11 Dec 1998, at the beginning of the Clinton Impeachment hearings. WaPo:
So, when ya makin' that trip up to 1600, you hypocritical piece of shit? Yeah, thought so.
[Hat tip: Digby]
[. . .]
Should he be impeached? Very quickly; the hardest decision I think I will ever make. Learning that the president lied to the grand jury about sex, I still believe that every president of the United States, regardless of the matter they called to testify about before a grand jury should testify truthfully and if they don't they should be subject to losing their job.
I believe that about Bill Clinton and I'll believe that about the next president. If it had been a Republican, I would have still believed that and I would hope that if a Republican person had done all this that some of us would've went (sic) over and told him, You need to leave office. I understand that the dilemma that all of us are in about that. His fate is in his own hands. [my emphases]
[. . .]
So, when ya makin' that trip up to 1600, you hypocritical piece of shit? Yeah, thought so.
[Hat tip: Digby]
Rove's America
[. . .]
What Mr. Rove understood, long before the rest of us, is that we're not living in the America of the past, where even partisans sometimes changed their views when faced with the facts. Instead, we're living in a country in which there is no longer such a thing as nonpolitical truth. In particular, there are now few, if any, limits to what conservative politicians can get away with: the faithful will follow the twists and turns of the party line with a loyalty that would have pleased the Comintern.
I first realized that we were living in Karl Rove's America during the 2000 presidential campaign, when George W. Bush began saying things about Social Security privatization and tax cuts that were simply false. At first, I thought the Bush campaign was making a big mistake - that these blatant falsehoods would be condemned by prominent Republican politicians and Republican economists, especially those who had spent years building reputations as advocates of fiscal responsibility. In fact, with hardly any exceptions they lined up to praise Mr. Bush's proposals.
But the real demonstration that Mr. Rove understands American politics better than any pundit came after 9/11.
Every time I read a lament for the post-9/11 era of national unity, I wonder what people are talking about. On the issues I was watching, the Republicans' exploitation of the atrocity began while ground zero was still smoldering. [NYT]
[. . .]
I love Krugman because he doesn't care. He doesn't care what his bosses at the NYT think of him, nor anybody else. He calls 'em the way he sees 'em and lets the chips fall where they may.
Pic from Asia Times via Glen.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Repub economics
From Roger Ailes the Good:
A microcosm of the nation's leadership.
That sound coming from Las Vegas is the high-pitched whine of the Cash-Strapped Nevada Chickenhawk:
[. . .]
A microcosm of the nation's leadership.
You may be a redneck . . .
I was just out in the yard with the Monster and I noticed something. Looking at my vehicles, you'd think I was a Republican:
Democratic Veterans
Klipper at RUFNKM:
Isn't that just great? I wonder if the Repubs have a political officer aboard each ship like the Soviets used to do? I can see how this happens though. The information about the war comes from the top in a basically insular community. This is related to Gord's post below, where the O-8s and O-9s are 'accentuating the positive' and it's filtering down through the ranks. Keep in mind, the flyboys have a completely different perspective of war than the grunts do. As I've said about many aspects of this 'war', we have a failure of leadership.
[. . .]
I was talking to my cousin yesterday. He's a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy ... flies jets off boats ... lands jets on boats.
He's a college-educated, independent thinking, smart, young man.
[. . .]
He says that a lot of people in the Navy are getting worn out. They think this war has gone on long enough, etc.
Jim asks him if there are any Democrats in his navy. He answers that there's a few but they catch a lot of shit. He tells us how people argue and the people who aren't all about Bush are berated and treated like crap. [my emphasis]
[. . .]
Isn't that just great? I wonder if the Repubs have a political officer aboard each ship like the Soviets used to do? I can see how this happens though. The information about the war comes from the top in a basically insular community. This is related to Gord's post below, where the O-8s and O-9s are 'accentuating the positive' and it's filtering down through the ranks. Keep in mind, the flyboys have a completely different perspective of war than the grunts do. As I've said about many aspects of this 'war', we have a failure of leadership.
And You Never See His Lips Move...
I just love this line from Marshall Wittman via Mark A.R. Kleiman:
Also, go read Kleiman's post about how the Espionage Act may be the law that trips up Rove.
For Bush to get rid of Rove would be like Charlie McCarthy firing Edgar Bergen.
Also, go read Kleiman's post about how the Espionage Act may be the law that trips up Rove.
Honest, Officer, I Just Got A Few Stumps To Get Out...
It seems like there's no shortage of bomb-making ingredients in the U.S. How comforting. From ABC News:
Cheap and easy? A new career for Fixer, perhaps? (wink)
From 2001 to 2004, more than 16,000 pounds of high explosives were stolen from construction sites and demolition companies, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Equally as alarming, more than 60,000 pounds of blasting agents like ammonium nitrate -- the same chemical used in the Oklahoma City bombing -- were stolen, as well.
The New York City Police Department created a special undercover unit to try find out how easy it would be to make a bomb.
"We've been able to go out and purchase the materials for a bomb, do it legally, and put it together and again detonate it," said New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
Building the bomb was easy to do and cheap, he says.
Cheap and easy? A new career for Fixer, perhaps? (wink)
The Fake Optimism of Washington's Warriors
Norman Solomon on the public optimism and private pessimism of the Brass about Iraq. And more comparison to Vietnam.
The last paragraph applies here at home as well, I think. This time, however, the "occupiers" are the Bush administration, the Republican Congress, Big Corpora, and the christo-fascist whackjobs. Their "moral ground" is the lowest ever.
I am proud, but saddened, that this time WE get to be the Viet Cong.
In front of TV cameras, Pentagon officials do their best to make war sound wise and noble. Most of all, they lie.
Sometimes they do it with bold assertions, other times with intentionally tangled syntax. But those who give the orders that consign young soldiers to participation in horror must assure the folks back home that all the carnage is under control. The officials strive to project an aura of calm about the unspeakable; they mumble cliches about grief that cannot touch it.
For the most powerful war-makers in Washington, the most dangerous potential enemies are the citizens of the United States who might insist on an end to taxpayer subsidies for mass slaughter. To forestall such a calamity, officials proclaim endlessly that the war's worst days have passed and the future looks increasingly bright for the ravaged land and for the freedom-loving invaders whose invasion has ravaged it.
These kinds of statements may seem like mere pep talks or, in retrospect, miscalculations. But they're integral to the war-making process - continually speaking of light that's just over the horizon, while corpses pile up in grisly shadows alongside the lies that keep a war going on top of the lies that got it started.
Washington's warriors insist that Iraq is not Vietnam. Any geographer would certainly agree. But imperial wars share similar characteristics - including the profound fact that the people who live in a country are more committed to it than the invaders are. This war can't be won for reasons that have everything to do with why it's wrong. The occupiers are on the lowest moral ground. No amount of fake optimism in Washington can change such realities in Iraq.
The last paragraph applies here at home as well, I think. This time, however, the "occupiers" are the Bush administration, the Republican Congress, Big Corpora, and the christo-fascist whackjobs. Their "moral ground" is the lowest ever.
I am proud, but saddened, that this time WE get to be the Viet Cong.
Rove's War
From Sidney Blumenthal:
This is a pretty good commentary on the whole deal. Go read. Magazine length, so take lunch. Funny how Mehlman and JimmyJeff crop up along with Rove like an unholy troika, ain't it?
Rove is fighting his war as though it will be settled in a court of Washington pundits. Brandishing his formidable political weapons, he seeks to demonstrate his prowess once again. His corps of agents raises a din in which their voices drown out individual dissidents. His frantic massing of forces dominates the capital by winning the communications battle. Indeed, Rove may succeed momentarily in quelling the storm. But the stillness may be illusory. Before the prosecutor, Rove's arsenal is useless.
At one point, on CNN, Wolf Blitzer asked Mehlman if he had attended meetings at the White House on how to deal with Wilson. Suddenly, the voluble Mehlman constricted. "I don't recall those meetings occurring," he said. Has the prosecutor inquired about such meetings and their participants?
The sound and fury of Rove's defenders will soon subside. The last word, the only word that matters, will belong to the prosecutor. So far, he has said very, very little. Unlike the unprofessional, inexperienced and weak Ken Starr, he does not leak illegally to the press. But he has commented publicly on his understanding of the case. "This case," he said, "is not about a whistle-blower. It's about a potential retaliation against a whistle-blower."
This is a pretty good commentary on the whole deal. Go read. Magazine length, so take lunch. Funny how Mehlman and JimmyJeff crop up along with Rove like an unholy troika, ain't it?
Dean vs. Santorum proves media bias
From Sirotablog:
When the inmates are put in charge of the asylum, the sane people are looked at like they're crazy.
Last month when Howard Dean called the GOP a "pretty much a white Christian" party, the Beltway media went absolutely crazy. You couldn't turn on a television without hearing about it in some way, shape or form. Incredibly, though, the same can't be said for revelations that Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) blamed the Catholic church's child molestation scandal on Massachusetts/Boston liberalism.
This is sheer crazy talk from the #3 Republican in the U.S. Senate. And yet, beyond a few stories, it hasn't garnered nearly the same coverage as Dean's comments, which were, frankly, less inflammatory, and rooted in fact.
What we have here, however, is a media double standard. When a Democrat says something that pushes the envelope, it is a scandal. When a top Republican Senator makes an offensive statement worthy of an insane asylum patient, its barely news because the GOP is just expected to make crazy fringe comments like this. That's the media obstacle our side faces these days - and it is surely part of the reason why it is so difficult for Democrats to get their message out.
When the inmates are put in charge of the asylum, the sane people are looked at like they're crazy.
Scott McClellan ponders how to address the Rove investigation
Will Durst got aholt of this tape from McClellan on Bush's answering machine:
Shudder.
"Anyhow, boss: please, please, please tell me we're not going to run that stupid "he never mentioned her name" defense. I mean, c'mon. He did say Joe Wilson's WIFE worked for the CIA. Which unless the guy is the King of Bahrain or an Elder in the Mormon Church or an Eskimo or something sounds pretty definitive even to me. And unh, if you do talk to Mr. Rove about this, could you leave my name out of it? To be honest, the guy kind of gives me the heebie jeebies. Remember that time I spilled coffee on his lap, and everyone laughed? Later on he pushed me into my office and started screaming and all the doors and windows shut on their own and the air got dense and I swear his eyes turned all red and stuff and a bunch of papers on a chair burst into flames. They were just a pile of old Posts so it was no big deal, but still. "And I've been asking around, and I'm not the only one he creeps out. Cheney's chief of staff's head intern told my intern that she walked in on the Vice President and Mr. Rove in that big marble bathroom upstairs dancing around waving dead chicken carcasses and using the decapitated heads as finger puppets. And now she's got warts on her eyes, and I know you don't want to know anything unless you need to know, but this is stuff I think you need to know."
Will Durst truly hopes the President was just kidding about the hot tub thing with Robert Novack.
Shudder.
Pay attention, idiots
The great Michael Hawkins:
The half that identifies with the Republican Party, the half that voted for W not once, but twice... the half that continues to bury its head in the sand, continues to watch Faux News, continues to champion O'Lielly and the Oxycontin Kid... the half that still thinks Saddam ordered the 9/11 attacks....
...it's time for that half of the country to wake up. What's happening with the Rove/Plame story is the tip of the iceburg, folks. For those who've remained purposely blind to the astounding level of corruption in this misAdministration need to read this:
[. . .]
Let's review
The lovely Jane has a review of the Plame case so far, replete with lotsa links. Go take a look. And just a note about the pic on Jane's post, I wish I was part of the ground crew. "What? The brakes released by themselves."
Heh
(CBS) President George W. Bush's approval ratings are now back to where they were before their post-9/11 meteoric increases. His overall approval rating and his rating on handling the economy are near the lowest marks of his presidency, and his rating on handling foreign policy is lower than ever before.
In addition to the declining overall job approval rating, confidence in the President's ability to handle the two major issues dominating his presidency -- the economy and international crises - has fallen, and is now more negative than positive. [my emphasis]
[. . .]
Great poll results on the page also. To wit:
COMPARED TO WHEN GEORGE W. BUSH TOOK OFFICE ...
Nation's economy is:
Better
12%Worse
59%Same
26%Yeah, thanks for that tax cut, Dicknose. Where did these people get their MBAs, Enron University? Shit, I'm just the dropout son of a small businessman and I could run a corporation better than these guys and still skim my share of profits off the top. I have a better grasp of economic principle anyway.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Before You Sign that Online Petition...
A few months back, I signed an online petition for the People for the American Way. I think I only put down my e-mail address and perhaps what state I live in, but since then, I've received non-stop e-mails, and tonight one of their phone solicitors called at 8:50 p.m. , wanting a $50 "donation."
If I can ever get them to stop bugging me, I'll think twice about participating in their petitions. Or anyone else's, for that matter.
If I can ever get them to stop bugging me, I'll think twice about participating in their petitions. Or anyone else's, for that matter.
Masterful
The Sister takes apart the Repub talking points about Wilson and Plame:
The woman is excellent, and she provides lotsa links too.
[. . .]
TALKING POINT: Bob Novak used the word "operative" by accident and his sources did not say she was one.
FACT: This is false, after-the-fact spin from Novak.
TALKING POINT: Rove "was discouraging a reporter from writing a false story" based on Joe Wilson's "false premise" (that DCI Tenet or VP Cheney authorized his trip)
FACT: False. Moreover, Joe Wilson did not make such a claim before Rove exposed Valerie Plame's identity.
TALKING POINT: The Senate Intelligence Committee said that Valerie Plame was the one who set up Joe Wilson's trip.
FACT: False and false. (Also see here). (In fact, there is no consensus view that Valerie Plame even suggested that Wilson be sent on the trip.)
[. . .]
The woman is excellent, and she provides lotsa links too.
The Big Lie
From TPMCafe via Are You Effin' Kidding Me:
I hope it's getting hard for the Bush misadministration to keep their lies straight. It's a lot to remember.
The misinformation being spread in the media about the Plame affair is alarming and damaging to the longterm security interests of the United States. Republicans' talking points are trying to savage Joe Wilson and, by implication, his wife, Valerie Plame as liars. That is the truly big lie.
A few of my classmates, and Valerie was one of these, became a non-official cover officer. That meant she agreed to operate overseas without the protection of a diplomatic passport. If caught in that status she would have been executed.
At the end of the day, Joe Wilson was right. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It was the Bush Administration that pushed that lie and because of that lie Americans are dying. Shame on those who continue to slander Joe Wilson while giving Bush and his pack of liars a pass. That's the true outrage.
I hope it's getting hard for the Bush misadministration to keep their lies straight. It's a lot to remember.
5 years ago
[. . .]
I was a congressman when another man of integrity lived in the White House. I saw a president restore America's confidence, and prepare the foundation for victory in the cold war. I saw how one man's will can set the nation on a new course. I learned the meaning of leadership from President Ronald Reagan.
[. . .]
I have been in the company of leaders. I know what it takes. And I see in our nominee the qualities of mind and spirit our nation needs, and our history demands. Big changes are coming to Washington. To serve with this man, in this cause, is a chance I would not miss. This country has given me so much opportunity.
[. . .]
We can restore the ideals of honesty and honor that must be a part of our national life, if our children are to thrive. When I look at the administration now in Washington, I am dismayed by opportunities squandered. Saddened by what might have been, but never was. These have been years of prosperity in our land, but little purpose in the White House. Bill Clinton vowed not long ago to hold onto power "until the last hour of the last day." That is his right. But, my friends, that last hour is coming. That last day is near. The wheel has turned. And it is time. It is time for them to go.
George W. Bush will repair what has been damaged. He is a man without pretense and without cynicism. A man of principle, a man of honor. On the first hour of the first day he will restore decency and integrity to the Oval Office. He will show us that national leaders can be true to their word and that they can get things done by reaching across the partisan aisle, and working with political opponents in good faith and common purpose. I know he'll do these things, because for the last five years I've watched him do them in Texas.
[. . .] - Dick 'Dick' Cheney, August 2, 2000
If they wouldn't have done so much damage, this would actually be funny.
Great thanks to Pauly for the link.
Failing Up From The Best Leak Ever
Man alive, there is so much shit out there today about Rove that I simply couldn't decide what to point you at, so I'm going with my fallback source: The Daily Show. This show will be repeated tonight after today's show in case you missed it. I paraphrase:
"President Bush's biggest problem in this deal is how to sufficiently reward Karl Rove.
"George Tenet manipulated intelligence that allowed Bush us to commit us to a fraudulent war. Bush awarded him the Medal Of Freedom.
"Condileeza Rice missed the point of a memo that flatly stated Osama bin Laden wanted to attack on U.S. soil. Bush promoted her to Secretary of State.
"For this latest bungle, can there be any doubt that we are about to see Chief Justice Karl Rove?"
A note to the Media: Yes, I know you have been frustrated by this administration's lying, dissembling, mis- and dis-information, distractions, diversions, and general all-around malfeasance. No, I don't blame you a bit for climbing their frame now that you finally have a golden opportunity for payback. Keep it up.
My point, however, is that you have allowed, even promoted, the current state of affairs for at least the last five years by fellating the White House and taking their bullshit at face value. What you're doing now is fine, but where were you when we needed you?
Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back for finally doing your job for a little while.
"President Bush's biggest problem in this deal is how to sufficiently reward Karl Rove.
"George Tenet manipulated intelligence that allowed Bush us to commit us to a fraudulent war. Bush awarded him the Medal Of Freedom.
"Condileeza Rice missed the point of a memo that flatly stated Osama bin Laden wanted to attack on U.S. soil. Bush promoted her to Secretary of State.
"For this latest bungle, can there be any doubt that we are about to see Chief Justice Karl Rove?"
A note to the Media: Yes, I know you have been frustrated by this administration's lying, dissembling, mis- and dis-information, distractions, diversions, and general all-around malfeasance. No, I don't blame you a bit for climbing their frame now that you finally have a golden opportunity for payback. Keep it up.
My point, however, is that you have allowed, even promoted, the current state of affairs for at least the last five years by fellating the White House and taking their bullshit at face value. What you're doing now is fine, but where were you when we needed you?
Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back for finally doing your job for a little while.
Willie's Reggae
On the cultural front, from Yahoo! News:
Willie doing Reggae? There must have been enough smoke pouring out of the recording studio that passers-by thought a new Pope had been elected.
I know which version I'm getting. Fuck Wal-Mart.
No, you're not smoking something--the cover of Willie Nelson's new reggae album comes in two separate versions: regular and Wal-Mart.
The cover art of Countryman, released Tuesday, features green marijuana leaves over a red and yellow background and looks similar to a large pack of rolling papers.
However, for those looking to snap up the CD at Wal-Mart's famously rolled back prices, the cover features a palm tree in place of the offending leaves, a change made by Universal Music Group Nashville out of deference to the retailing giant's strict guidelines with regards to lyrics and packaging.
Willie doing Reggae? There must have been enough smoke pouring out of the recording studio that passers-by thought a new Pope had been elected.
I know which version I'm getting. Fuck Wal-Mart.
Legally wrong
. . . Am I alone in regularly being stunned that a group of men who claim such moral clarity must now muddy discussion with terms like "legally wrong?" . . .
No you're not, my friend.
Go read the Heretik.
And by the way, Blogger sucks wet monkey ass today.
Demon seed
Democratic Veteran:
When you boil it down, we have taken a country that was essentially stable and contained and turned it into a Goddamn mess over a little kid's inferiority complex.
[. . .]
All we have done is sow the seeds for one of the longest civil wars in the middle east, whose violence will be exported around the world thanks to the megalomania of Beloved Leader and the Neo-Cons. I wonder if Mommy and Poppy Bush are impressed with Junior yet? . . .
When you boil it down, we have taken a country that was essentially stable and contained and turned it into a Goddamn mess over a little kid's inferiority complex.
Health care . . . socialized 2
Our esteemed colleague and friend David at 42 just had an experience with the German health care system:
We're gonna need something done here soon or none of us will be able to afford to get sick.
. . . So yeah my first experience with socialized medicine was hugely positive. I'm not sure how the German system compares to the rest of western Europe (and I've heard very good things about the French system and not so great ones about the UK's NHS) but next time some ignant asshole bitches to me about how bad a national health care system is he's gonna get a fat lip.
We're gonna need something done here soon or none of us will be able to afford to get sick.
Bon Voyage
The shuttle Discovery takes off today and I wish the astronauts aboard her a safe an productive voyage. As regular readers know, I take time every so often to bash NASA. They need it. It's become a joke.
Now, people who know me know I am one of space exploration's biggest advocates. I believe the future of Humanity lies among the stars. Space to us is like the Atlantic Ocean to Columbus. We stand here on the shore, gazing up at the opportunities that await us, just out of our grasp. The fact we are sending our people up in 35 year old crap spacecraft is equivalent to sending our kids to Iraq in unarmored Humvees.
Yes, folks, the shuttles and their systems were designed over 3 decades ago. We've lost two crews already and it's only a matter of time until we lose another now that we'll begin regular rotations again.
Think about this. We're sending people who are willing to take the risk to explore the most forbidding environment, up in craft that are so delicate, a piece of fucking foam or a stiff wind can damage them critcally. WTF? This is space you idiots. Scrap these fucking things and build something that'll hold together if it gets hit by a fucking bus.
Our astronauts are willing to do the hard, dirty work of giving mankind a presence in the heavens, the least we can do is give them dependable equipment. It's time to redefine NASA's priorities. It's time to streamline their mission so they can devote their time and resources to either manned flight or unmanned probes. It's time to remove the top-heavy management structure of the agency and purge the entrenched bureaucracy.
By God, ladies and gents, we've been doing this for almost half a century. By now we should have bases on the Moon and Mars, and mining operations in the Asteroid Belt. What are we doing instead? Watching and praying the fucking thing will make it to the Station and back. This is a joke and unconscionable.
Good luck to the crew of STS-114, my heart and my dreams go with you. I pray the people who make the decisions to fly have your best interest, not the political expediency of getting the thing into space, in mind.
Update: 14:00:
Ooops, something else broke. As of 2 PM it's scrubbed. Piece of shit.
Now, people who know me know I am one of space exploration's biggest advocates. I believe the future of Humanity lies among the stars. Space to us is like the Atlantic Ocean to Columbus. We stand here on the shore, gazing up at the opportunities that await us, just out of our grasp. The fact we are sending our people up in 35 year old crap spacecraft is equivalent to sending our kids to Iraq in unarmored Humvees.
Yes, folks, the shuttles and their systems were designed over 3 decades ago. We've lost two crews already and it's only a matter of time until we lose another now that we'll begin regular rotations again.
Think about this. We're sending people who are willing to take the risk to explore the most forbidding environment, up in craft that are so delicate, a piece of fucking foam or a stiff wind can damage them critcally. WTF? This is space you idiots. Scrap these fucking things and build something that'll hold together if it gets hit by a fucking bus.
Our astronauts are willing to do the hard, dirty work of giving mankind a presence in the heavens, the least we can do is give them dependable equipment. It's time to redefine NASA's priorities. It's time to streamline their mission so they can devote their time and resources to either manned flight or unmanned probes. It's time to remove the top-heavy management structure of the agency and purge the entrenched bureaucracy.
By God, ladies and gents, we've been doing this for almost half a century. By now we should have bases on the Moon and Mars, and mining operations in the Asteroid Belt. What are we doing instead? Watching and praying the fucking thing will make it to the Station and back. This is a joke and unconscionable.
Good luck to the crew of STS-114, my heart and my dreams go with you. I pray the people who make the decisions to fly have your best interest, not the political expediency of getting the thing into space, in mind.
Update: 14:00:
------------------------------------------------------
MSNBC Breaking News
------------------------------------------------------
NASA says current weather may delay shuttle launch. More to come... -
Ooops, something else broke. As of 2 PM it's scrubbed. Piece of shit.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Just sad . . .
I saw this at Gillard's yesterday and meant to blog it:
Back when I was hooked on coke I tried some of this shit (anything for a buzz) and I can't describe what it did to my mind and body. This is worse than just about any drug because it's cheap to make and so highly addictive. Aside from giving the finger to the conservatives who always point to New York's junkies as a byproduct of our 'liberal lifestyle of sin', this is mostly a rural problem where treatment centers are farther apart and not as readily available as in big cities. Something has to be done about this before Rural America loses several generations to this insidious chemical.
TULSA, Okla., July 8 - The Laura Dester Shelter here is licensed for 38 children, but at times in the past months it has housed 90, forcing siblings to double up in cots. It is supposed to be a 24-hour stopping point between troubled homes and foster care, but with foster homes backed up, children are staying weeks and sometimes months, making it more orphanage than shelter, a cacophony of need.
[. . .]
This is a problem methamphetamine has made, a scene increasingly familiar across the country as the number of foster children rises rapidly in states hit hard by the drug, the overwhelming number of them, officials say, taken from parents who were using or making methamphetamine.
[. . .]
Back when I was hooked on coke I tried some of this shit (anything for a buzz) and I can't describe what it did to my mind and body. This is worse than just about any drug because it's cheap to make and so highly addictive. Aside from giving the finger to the conservatives who always point to New York's junkies as a byproduct of our 'liberal lifestyle of sin', this is mostly a rural problem where treatment centers are farther apart and not as readily available as in big cities. Something has to be done about this before Rural America loses several generations to this insidious chemical.
This one will piss you off...
Fixer and I have gone on at some length about how poorly our combat troops, and I include every last one of 'em in Iraq as "combat" troops since they're all in needless peril, are treated once they're no longer able to pull a trigger or fix a tank or whatever. The Tacoma News Tribune tells of how they are almost forcibly discharged before their medical needs are met by the regime that put them in harm's way.
Running out of room? "Other things" they have to pay for? WHAT THE FUCK? There ain't a goddam thing more important for the military to provide space for or pay for than properly treating soldiers that were injured in this criminal war.
Please go read this article. If it doesn't blow your blood pressure out your ears, go read it again.
The day before his 22nd birthday, a bomb hanging from a tree along a road near Fallujah exploded above Rory Dunn's Humvee.
Dunn's forehead was crushed from ear to ear, leaving his brain exposed. His right eye was destroyed by shrapnel; the left eye nearly so. His hearing was severely damaged.
Yet, even as Dunn fought to overcome his traumatic brain injury and other wounds, his mother, Cynthia Lefever, fought the Army to ensure her son continued to receive critical care from Army specialists. Lefever said the Army tried to pressure her son into accepting a discharge before he was ready - pressure other severely wounded soldiers say they've experienced, too.
Lefever and other critics say the Army's medical system, particularly Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., has been overwhelmed by the number of wounded returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. They accuse the Army of attempting to discharge wounded soldiers before their essential medical needs are met and transfer them to Veterans Affairs medical facilities.
"The Army tried to get rid of him," Lefever said. "It was immoral and unethical. The Army owes these kids."
Soldiers are discharged if they no longer can "adequately perform" their assigned duties and have received "optimum medical care," Garvey said. The process is subjective and can last months or more than year, he said, but soldiers are informed of their rights and can appeal.
Veterans organizations say they are aware that the military medical system is stretched.
"It's obvious when you go to Walter Reed," said Cathy Wiblemo, the American Legion's deputy director for health care. "They are running out of room."
"The Army's medical bills are going up, and it's encroaching on other things they have to pay for," she said.
Running out of room? "Other things" they have to pay for? WHAT THE FUCK? There ain't a goddam thing more important for the military to provide space for or pay for than properly treating soldiers that were injured in this criminal war.
Please go read this article. If it doesn't blow your blood pressure out your ears, go read it again.
A Parse Too Far
Needlenose has his bayonet-like proboscis stuck right in McLiellan's ass. He has a good all-purpose post on what the WH has said v. what it implied on the Plame case, and how the chickens may be coming home to roost.
I hope the whole WH lie machine ends up with everything a chicken could possibly do all over their face.
Both Sen. Reid and the press are steamrolling right over the Bushites' finely crafted distinction of what Rove et al. were "involved" in -- what the meaning of "this" is, you might say -- defining the term by the misimpression McClellan intended to give instead of the legalistic definition he had hoped to fall back on.
Sweet, isn't it? That game of implying more than they were technically stating worked just fine when Dubya and his hacks were trying to link Iraq and the September 11th terrorist attacks. But it's backfiring now.
I hope the whole WH lie machine ends up with everything a chicken could possibly do all over their face.
Yank it
I said a long time ago that we should yank Zell Miller's party memberhsip card. Today via the lovely Jill (buy her cookies) blogging at Skippy's (remember the million hits by tomorrow):
Miserable, deceitful old bastid. I wish he would have challenged me to a duel instead of that fat moron Matthews.
[. . .]
When this nationally famous figure left the governor's office in 1999, he pocketed more than $60,000 in taxpayer funds earmarked for entertainment and other expenses at the Governor's Mansion, WSB-TV investigative reporter Dale Cardwell revealed last week.
Miller also picked up a check for more than $20,000 for "unused leave"-a sum to which he was not entitled as a constitutional officer, Cardwell also reported.
At first blush, such stuff may sound shockingly sleazy. Bear with us. Miller has an explanation, contained in prepared statements issued through his attorney.
In essence, Miller says that he was technically eligible to take the mansion money as his own because no one said he could not. "When I retired from state government, I received only what I was advised was legal, ethical and traditional," his statement read, citing an attorney general's official opinion from 1969. [Link]
[. . .]
Miserable, deceitful old bastid. I wish he would have challenged me to a duel instead of that fat moron Matthews.
Karl Rove must be destroyed!
The Rude Pundit is starting a series (his time is short today so he's posting in segments) on why the pasty-faced weasel should be DESTROYED!
Heh, go back later to check for updates.
It is time to destroy Karl Rove - that fat fuck must bear the burden of his sins against this nation as surely as a tail-chasing, abusive cocksman must die alone, diseased, and despised. Rove must be dragged out in public and his pants must be yanked down so we can all laugh at the tiny dick and bean-like balls of this so-called fearsome presence. In the old days, they used to draw and quarter fuckers like Rove, who would, for personal vendetta and political expediency, sell out the good of the nation. But, fuck, horses are a burden these days, so let's tie Rove's limbs to four news vans, each driven by a member of the so-long cowed Washington press corps, and let 'er rip. Metaphorically, of course. Of course.
Heh, go back later to check for updates.
Repub Al-Qaeda
Bush: 'You're my base, heh heh.'
Pudentilla: . . . Perhaps Karen Hughes and the Dark Lord have figured out that "the base" (does anyone find it ironic that this translates to "al-quaeda" in Arabic?) secretly thrills to hear such uncouth trash talk in the midst of Britain's travails ("the Brits are fine as allies, but we'll toss them to the sharks if it means we can be safe on our fat keesters at home"). . .[my emphasis]
Just sayin' . . .
Pudentilla: . . . Perhaps Karen Hughes and the Dark Lord have figured out that "the base" (does anyone find it ironic that this translates to "al-quaeda" in Arabic?) secretly thrills to hear such uncouth trash talk in the midst of Britain's travails ("the Brits are fine as allies, but we'll toss them to the sharks if it means we can be safe on our fat keesters at home"). . .[my emphasis]
Just sayin' . . .
Monday, July 11, 2005
Diamonds and Rhinestones
Perhaps when one is born, we have little settings in our heads. These little settings are capable of holding either diamonds or rhinestones. Which is placed in the settings is one's own determination.
Some are curious and they seek answers. They want to educate themselves and determine what they believe to be right and wrong, fair and unfair. They learn, they read, and they listen. They may follow others' paths, but they come to their own conclusions based on experience and knowledge. These people place as many diamonds in their settings as they possibly can. They are seekers of nothing but the real thing, the diamonds.
[. . .]
An excellent and insightful post by Pissed Off Patricia. Light blogging for me today, work-related injury.
Everything you need to know about blogs
This guy needs: anger management, Xanax, blood pressure monitoring, a dog, and to get laid. Via South Knox Bubba.
He's also a mite full o' hisself. Be sure to click on his home page at the bottom of his rant, or go here.
He's also a mite full o' hisself. Be sure to click on his home page at the bottom of his rant, or go here.
Coincidence, or...?
This is absolutely incredible. Thanks, Granny.
Apparently, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Go read.
A consultancy agency with government and police connections was running an exercise for an unnamed company that revolved around the London Underground being bombed at the exact same times and locations as happened in real life on the morning of July 7th.
Apparently, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Go read.
Boy President in a Failed World?
From TomDispatch (take a lunch):
Engelhardt's a little windy, but he makes good points.
Let's face it. George Bush likes dress-up. What a video game is to a teenager, the Presidency seems to be to this man. It's a free pass to the movies with him playing that brave warrior part. All in all, I'm afraid to say, it must be fun. When he so cavalierly said, "Bring 'em on," he was surely simply carried away by the spirit of the game. What it wasn't, of course, was the statement of a mature human being, an adult.
If you'll excuse another image, it was as if our child leaders had taken off, ridden directly into someone else's neighborhood, seen a wasp's nest, promptly stomped on it, and then stood around praising themselves and waiting to be stung.
The sad thing is that the truth is relatively simple. What people using terror in the fashion of London are quite capable of doing is killing and maiming randomly and in large numbers - and perhaps in the process revealing to us both how fragile and how strong our world actually is. What they are completely incapable of doing, no matter what George Bush says, is taking our liberties and freedoms away. They can't take anything away. Only we can do that (my emphasis).
Engelhardt's a little windy, but he makes good points.
Clinton on Bush
Sentor Clinton nailed Bush pretty good during a speech at the Aspen Ideas Festival (see Whiskey Bar) according to the Grand Junction (CO) Sentinel:
More like Chucky with nuclear weapons, I think.
"I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge in Washington," Clinton said referring to the freckle-faced Mad magazine character. She drew a laugh from crowd when she described Bush's attitude toward tough issues with Neuman's catchphrase: "What, me worry?"
More like Chucky with nuclear weapons, I think.
Unitarian Jihad
Frisco Jon seems to have gotten an e-mail from a new group. They may be on to something.
Go read this one. It's fun.
Greetings to the Imprisoned Citizens of the United States! Too long has your attention been waylaid by the bright baubles of extremist thought. Too long have fundamentalist yahoos of all religions (except Buddhism -- 14-5 vote, no abstentions, fundamentalism subcommittee) made your head hurt. Too long have you been buffeted by angry people who think that God talks to them. You have a right to your moderation! You have the power to be calm! We will use the IED of truth to explode the SUV of dogmatic expression!
We are Unitarian Jihad, and our motto is: "Sincerity is not enough." We have heard from enough sincere people to last a lifetime already. Just because you believe it's true doesn't make it true. Just because your motives are pure doesn't mean you are not doing harm. Get a dog, or comfort someone in a nursing home, or just feed the birds in the park. Play basketball. Lighten up. The world is not out to get you, except in the sense that the world is out to get everyone.
Go read this one. It's fun.
Goodbye, Boy Genius
From Freiheit und Wissen:
I am cautiously optimistic this will finally lead to Chimpy Inc's undoing. The Sister also tells us Rep John Conyers is on the White House over this too:
[. . .]
The fact that it came from the White House proves once again just how vindictive President Bush and company are - given that blowing the CIA cover for Plame was meant as payback for her husband contesting the administration's story that Saddam was trying to buy uranium from Niger. It also fits the overall picture that Bush's administration was hell-bent on going to war at all costs.
[. . .]
I am cautiously optimistic this will finally lead to Chimpy Inc's undoing. The Sister also tells us Rep John Conyers is on the White House over this too:
It's official. I'm announcing my endorsement of Congressman Conyers for the 2008 presidential race.
Because he's the only one who's earning our votes:
[. . .]
Sunday, July 10, 2005
The Bloggers Anonymous badge of honor
"If, as you live your life, you find yourself mentally composing blog entries about it, post this exact same sentence in your weblog."
From a post today at It's Morning Somewhere.
From a post today at It's Morning Somewhere.
WTI? WTF?
Have you heard of the WTI? I hadn't, until a little while ago while I was reading "Lest We Forget; These Were Blair's Bombs" in Truthout, and came across a couple of sentences that perked up my inner ears:
The key words, to me, are "virtually no coverage". I haven't heard a thing about this in the LMSM, which means they are doing their job, as usual: blowing Georgie by filtering out that pesky "rest of the world" stuff that might hurt our woolly little heads and make Fearless Leader look bad. Who cares what everybody else thinks anyway? Nuthin' but a bunch o' damn furriner commies anyhow.
I did a little clickin' around and found out that this WTI has had meetings in about fifteen cities worldwide, including two in New York. New York? Isn't that in the United States? So we're not even hearing about this deal when it's goin' on in Fixer's back yard? Amazing.
I suggest you take a few minutes and go click around the World Tribunal on Iraq site. Bookmark it. It's pretty extensive. Then go read Code Pink's posts.
Let me know what you think.
Over the past two weeks, the contrast between the coverage of the G8, its marches and pop concerts, and another "global" event has been striking. The World Tribunal on Iraq in Istanbul has had virtually no coverage, yet the evidence it has produced, the most damning to date, has been the silent spectre at the Geldoff extravaganzas.
The tribunal is a serious international public inquiry into the invasion and occupation, the kind governments dare not hold. Its expert, eyewitness testimonies, said the author Arundathi Roy, a tribunal jury member, "demonstrate that even those of us who have tried to follow the war closely are not aware of a fraction of the horrors that have been unleashed in Iraq." The most shocking was given by Dahr Jamail, one of the best un-embedded reporters working in Iraq.
The key words, to me, are "virtually no coverage". I haven't heard a thing about this in the LMSM, which means they are doing their job, as usual: blowing Georgie by filtering out that pesky "rest of the world" stuff that might hurt our woolly little heads and make Fearless Leader look bad. Who cares what everybody else thinks anyway? Nuthin' but a bunch o' damn furriner commies anyhow.
I did a little clickin' around and found out that this WTI has had meetings in about fifteen cities worldwide, including two in New York. New York? Isn't that in the United States? So we're not even hearing about this deal when it's goin' on in Fixer's back yard? Amazing.
I suggest you take a few minutes and go click around the World Tribunal on Iraq site. Bookmark it. It's pretty extensive. Then go read Code Pink's posts.
Let me know what you think.
Sick
Oliver Willis:
Go read the whole thing.
[. . .]
On a personal note, I'm sick of these guys. Sick of all of them. Sick of the apologists in government, the media, and among the chattering classes. Sick of these people not giving a damn about dead civilians. Sick of the Republicans crapping on the American people. Sick of George Bush appeasing terrorists and doing nothing - nothing - to prevent terror attacks. Sick of having to wonder if the subway train I'm on is going to blow up, or if some yahoo will smash a plane into the White House a block and a half away from where I work, yet the President, his party and his apologists don't give a damn because they've got a "mandate". A mandate for immorality.
Go read the whole thing.
Exactly right
Froggy:
Opening ANWR won't do shit, nor will clogging up the Gulf of Mexico with offshore platforms. A viable, alternative energy source is the only way to go. As long as we have to kiss OPEC ass (and support the corrupt regimes of the 'Oil Kings') we will never be free of the scourge of terrorism.
A little whoring: I dealt with this subject in Lightning Crashes, purely fiction but something to think about.
You want to fight terrorism? You want to hit the Arab world where it really lives and deliver a crippling blow to terrorism from which it will never, ever recover again?
Start a National Energy Race. Challenge the American people to come up with an alternative to fossil fuels the way Kennedy challenged the American people to fly to the moon. It took less than ten years from the start to the completion of that challenge. If the American people were challenged to come up with a clean energy solution, they could finish that challenge in less than ten years too.
[. . .]
Opening ANWR won't do shit, nor will clogging up the Gulf of Mexico with offshore platforms. A viable, alternative energy source is the only way to go. As long as we have to kiss OPEC ass (and support the corrupt regimes of the 'Oil Kings') we will never be free of the scourge of terrorism.
A little whoring: I dealt with this subject in Lightning Crashes, purely fiction but something to think about.
Short excerpt below the fold . . .
Fucking Supporting the troops
[. . .]
The VA is one the place in the DOD that, for all his overheated rhetoric, Bush has failed to adequately fund, in part thanks to his appointee, VA head James Nicholson, who failed to ask for money he knew the agency needed. In fact, the treatment of returning injured soldiers has been one of the great shameful chapters of the horror novel that has been the Bush administration. Most interesting, Democrats in Congress saw the shortfalls coming this past spring and tried to get additional funding included, which Bush and the Republicans both refused to pass.
[. . .]
Read the rest here and get angry.
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