Just on CNN - new Gallup poll has 45% saying country better off if Congress controlled by Dems, and 32% Republicans.
Bill Schneider helpfully pointed out that the last time Republicans had such shitty numbers was during impeachment. [my ems]
Thursday, October 20, 2005
FYI
Stolen fully from Atrios:
Hangings
Da Yelladog:
I want that to be a chapter in our history too. Real soon. His post is about that slime Ralph Reed, who should also be swinging at the end of a rope.
[. . .]
The hangings were carried out during the early morning hours of October 16, 1946 in a small gymnasium erected in the prison's courtyard. Three gallows filled the room - two to be used alternatively as each condemned man was dispatched and the third to act as a spare. The executions were briskly conducted - the entire procedure lasted just over 3 1/2 hours.
I want that to be a chapter in our history too. Real soon. His post is about that slime Ralph Reed, who should also be swinging at the end of a rope.
Gee, whatever happened to....
The American Prospect
And when the courts are done with that, maybe they should look at Republican Senators and Representatives under the RICO act for conspiring to ruin our country.
The Fitzgerald probe reminds us: Whatever happened to Pat Roberts' Phase II intelligence report?
A second problem for Rockefeller: An internal staff memo urging him to call for an independent investigation of the administration's use of Iraq intelligence was leaked to FOX News' Sean Hannity in November 2003. The resulting mini-furor that erupted in the right-wing media has contributed to Rockefeller's reluctance to act.
But the main reason he has been inhibited is that previous public comments he made apparently caused the Pentagon to abruptly stop cooperating with the investigation. At the July 2004 press conference occasioned by the release of the Phase I report, Rockefeller asserted that certain activities of members of the office of then-Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, including a secret Rome meeting with the Iranian arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar, might have been "unlawful." At that point, Feith's office simply stopped cooperating with the investigation, and Roberts hasn't compelled Feith or his staff to comply. "[The Defense Department] got very skittish about volunteering as they had been up to that point," an SSCI staffer told the Prospect. "They got all lawyered up. Roberts' position, and [the Defense Department's], has been either 'show us what you're talking about' or 'withdraw the statement and we'll continue our cooperation with you.' Rockefeller wouldn't do either."
Accountability may yet arrive. With press-time reports that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was homing in on a group of top White House aides for playing a role in outing CIA agent Valerie Plame to the media (in an effort to retaliate against her husband for exposing the White House's hyping of dubious Iraq intelligence) perhaps the courts will take up where Congress has failed.
And when the courts are done with that, maybe they should look at Republican Senators and Representatives under the RICO act for conspiring to ruin our country.
How is this not like Vietnam?
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined on Wednesday to rule out American forces still being needed in Iraq a decade from now. Senators warned that the Bush administration must play it straight with the public or risk losing public support for the war. [my em]
[. . .]
Fuck all those folks who say there's no comparison. The only difference is jungle vis-a-vis desert. Our guys are getting killed, there's no end in sight to the insurgency, and corporate America is getting rich. My dad was a DoD contractor and his best years were during the Vietnam War. Some of the wounds this nation sustained then have not healed and we're reopening the ones that have.
Update:
Mr. H points up another similarity.
Face it, America. You've been punk'd.
Larry C. Johnson at TomPaine.
We've known this for a while. It's good to see it out in public.
It is now quite clear that the outing of Valerie Plame was part of a broader White House effort to mislead and manipulate U.S. public opinion as part of an orchestrated effort to take us to war. The unraveling of the Valerie Plame affair has exposed their scam - and it extends well beyond compromising the identity of a CIA officer. In short, the Bush administration organized and executed a classic "covert action" program against the citizens of the United States.
The attack on Valerie Plame Wilson was not an isolated incident. It was part of a broader pattern of manipulation and deceit. But this was not done for the welfare of U.S. national security. Instead, we find ourselves confronted by an unprecedented level of terrorist attacks and a deteriorating military situation in Iraq. At the same time, we now know that the Bush administration gladly sacrificed an undercover intelligence officer in order to keep up the pretense that the war in Iraq was all about weapons of mass destruction.
Americans have died because of the Bush deceit. The unmasking of Valerie Plame was not an odd occurrence. It was part of a pattern of deliberate manipulation and disinformation. At the end of the day, American men and women have died because of this lie. It is up to the American people to hold the Bush administration accountable for these actions.
We've known this for a while. It's good to see it out in public.
Accuracy in Media
Go see Shakey's Sis. Without one of those it must be easier to get the falafel out of his ass orally. Or put it in.
This warrants your attention...
I've had trouble concentrating this morning due to a large bearded biker gentleman and several other fellows with possible immigration issues tearing the roof off my house. Either that or maybe the bats in my belfry are just unusually active today. Anyway, I've kept active through the din by copying this. I think I've got enough to wallpaper at least one room.
Oh boy
[. . .]
Most critically, a plea bargain process has evidently been opened with Vice President Cheney's lawyer. that does not mean that an indictment is coming. but i've some critical background around the issue. [my em]
[. . .]
Sent here via ReddHedd at Jane's place. Looks like
Update:
Shakes debunks the above. Thank God I put in the qualifier, huh? Heh.
Update:
White House adviser Karl Rove told the grand jury in the CIA leak case that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, may have told him that CIA operative Valerie Plame worked for the intelligence agency before her identity was revealed, a source familiar with Rove's account said yesterday.
Go see Gillard.
How it works
Since I seem to be on a clandestine operations kick this morning, I figured I'd give you an insight as to how shit really works by someone who's been there. I probably used his product when I was in (unbeknownst to either of us). While I was an end-user of intelligence, CAFKIA gathered it and explains about the 'right' and the 'need' to know.
I could pull excerpts all day. Instead I suggest you read his aritcle in full. Informative and in depth.
And while I'm on it, it's time for this to be cleared up too.
Thirty years ago, I was in the United States Navy. I was in a corner of the Navy known as the Naval Security Group. I will not explain it any further than to say that we did stuff that required me to have a high level clearance.
[. . .]
The hard and fast rule in the intelligence community is "Need To Know." What that means is that the mere fact that I had a top-secret clearance did not mean that I could look at anything classified top secret or below. What it meant was that I was allowed access to such information as was necessary to do my job, and no more.
[. . .]
It is also important to note that simply confirming the veracity of a piece of classified information to an unauthorized individual was considered to be essentially the same as disseminating the information. So not being the first source on a bit of information is no defense if you could be considered a confirming source.
[. . .]
I could pull excerpts all day. Instead I suggest you read his aritcle in full. Informative and in depth.
And while I'm on it, it's time for this to be cleared up too.
How it went down
Dr. Cole:
Planting documents is easy if it's done right. Thank the Lord the Bushites are a buncha idiots or this would never have come out. As the old man said below, these guys are like the bunch from F-Troop. Links aplenty at Juan's place.
Justin Raimondo has developed a source in Washington who has named for him three US citizens who were involved in cooking up the forged documents that alleged recent Iraqi purchases of Niger yellowcake uranium. (In fact, the Iraqis had never had the capacity to do anything serious with yellowcake.)
The mystery is still how the forged documents got into the hands of Rocco Martini, a former operative of Italian military intelligence. But after all that wouldn't have been so hard.
[. . .]
Planting documents is easy if it's done right. Thank the Lord the Bushites are a buncha idiots or this would never have come out. As the old man said below, these guys are like the bunch from F-Troop. Links aplenty at Juan's place.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Nah, tell 'em to just keep him...
Got this one from Grumpy Old Man via Shakey's Sis.
A driver is stuck in a traffic jam on the highway. Nothing is moving.
Suddenly a man knocks on the window. The driver rolls down his window and asks, "What happened?"
"Terrorists kidnapped President Bush and are asking for a $10 million ransom. Otherwise they are going to douse him with gasoline and set him on fire. We are going from car to car to take up a collection."
The driver asks, "How much is everyone giving on average?"
"About a gallon."
(Rimshot)
Burnt to a crisp or not, by the time the terrorists get as sick and tired of the Dipshit-in-Chief as we are, they'll be begging to pay us to take his ass back. Ha! Chumps!
A driver is stuck in a traffic jam on the highway. Nothing is moving.
Suddenly a man knocks on the window. The driver rolls down his window and asks, "What happened?"
"Terrorists kidnapped President Bush and are asking for a $10 million ransom. Otherwise they are going to douse him with gasoline and set him on fire. We are going from car to car to take up a collection."
The driver asks, "How much is everyone giving on average?"
"About a gallon."
(Rimshot)
Burnt to a crisp or not, by the time the terrorists get as sick and tired of the Dipshit-in-Chief as we are, they'll be begging to pay us to take his ass back. Ha! Chumps!
Naughty Harry
Maureen Dowd via Uniongrrl, bless her heart.
It looks like the White House skipped the "B team" and went right to "F Troop". It is good to watch these nitwits unravel.
Harriet Miers shared a little secret about herself on her application to be an associate justice: "Earlier this year, I received notice that my dues for the District of Columbia bar were delinquent and as a result, my ability to practice law in D.C. had been suspended."
Now we discover that she could be such a scatterbrain about paperwork that a little tiny thing like being able to legally practice law slipped her mind while she was serving as the lawyer for the leader of the free world?
With Karl Rove on grand jury watch and Dick Cheney snugly tucked into his underground bunker, W. and Andy Card are in control, and the West Wing ineptitude is comic.
It looks like the White House skipped the "B team" and went right to "F Troop". It is good to watch these nitwits unravel.
Strong constitutions
Badtux:
Just like Ohio and Florida.
The new Constitution passed with 120% of the vote! Graveyards all over Iraq turned out in record numbers, especially in the province of Ninevah, a majority-Sunni province which, nevertheless, voted 78% in favor of the new Constitution, thanks to a heavy turnout from the majority-Kurdish cemetaries in the city of Mosul.
[. . .]
Just like Ohio and Florida.
What to do
Hesiod has some ideas for the WH Press Corpse:
[. . .]
"Will the President pardon any of the indicted members of his administraion?"
They should hammer Scott McLellan with that question, and every single Bush official who goes on Sunday talk shows, and even Bush himsefl when they get tehir precious few opportunities.
They should never let up until they get a straight "Yes," or "No" answer. It ha sto be definitive. No caveats, or escape hatches.
And, every single member of the Democratic party, and we bloggers, must ask this question every single day OF the news media. Force them to ask the question.
The Democrats show demand that Bush say whether he'd going to pardon anyone every time they go on a talk show, or are interviewed. Period. [my em]
[. . .]
Kommen Sie hier, Wurml*
Heh.
It's amazing how quickly the cowards float to the surface. Can you say impeachment? I thought you could.
[. . .]
Now, those close to the investigation say that a second Cheney aide, David Wurmser, has agreed to provide the prosecution with evidence that the leak was a coordinated effort by Cheney's office to discredit the agent's husband. Her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, was one of the most vocal critics of the Iraq war. [my em]
[. . .]
It's amazing how quickly the cowards float to the surface. Can you say impeachment? I thought you could.
*Come here my little worm. Hat tip: Maru
Bush Knew
New York Daily News
Talking Points Memo (and here)
Get a rope. I think a little old-fashioned Texas justice is appropriate here. Hell, get a mile of rope and cut it in lengths.
An angry President Bush rebuked chief political guru Karl Rove two years ago for his role in the Valerie Plame affair, sources told the Daily News.
A second well-placed source said some recently published reports implying Rove had deceived Bush about his involvement in the Wilson counterattack were incorrect and were leaked by White House aides trying to protect the President.
"Bush did not feel misled so much by Karl and others as believing that they handled it in a ham-handed and bush-league way," the source said.
Talking Points Memo (and here)
Obviously, we have many more questions than answers here. But if President Bush knew about Rove's role from the beginning, then all of these interviews and grand jury appearances and the almost inevitable contradictions between them become real trouble for the White House.
And one more question. For almost two years, Scott McClellan insisted that neither Karl Rove nor Scooter Libby had anything to do with the leaks. He knew because he asked them, he said. He was very categorical.
Now it seems that at least with reference to Rove, the president knew McClellan's statements weren't true. And yet he allowed McClellan to make them. Come to think of it, I guess this one really isn't even a question. It speaks for itself, doesn't it?
But when you read further down into the piece you see that what got the president angry wasn't the leak; it was that they got caught.
Get a rope. I think a little old-fashioned Texas justice is appropriate here. Hell, get a mile of rope and cut it in lengths.
A parting thought
Before I head to the shop. Now that Saddam's trial has begun, how many revelations will come to light about the U.S. involvement in the Iran/Iraq War? We irresponsibly gave WMDs to Saddam and he used them against the Iranians. Personally, I don't believe anything that does come out will make it to the ears of the American citizenry.
Alternate titles
Pauly comes up with alternate titles for Judy Miller's forthcoming (presumably, probably) book. Heh.
How did we get here?
Steve Gillard has a wonderful essay:
As one who's pulled several Agency butts out of the fire, I have to agree. The Plame outing put literally hundreds of lives at risk; not just the spies, but the lives of those who have to go in and extract them. I lost friends in the failed hostage rescue in Iran and I had friends who had to get some of our covert operatives out of Russia during the height of the Cold War. I've pulled folks from 'unfriendly Asian nations' myself. It can get hairy as a motherfucker, something the idiots who live inside the Beltway can't begin to comprehend.
Were I Joe Wilson and someone did to my wife what they did to his, they'd pray for Fitzgerald to indict them; jail would be far more preferable than what my deranged mind could cook up for them. [Keep in mind, her life will never be truly hers. She's probably brought down some people who will want retribution. She will live the rest of her life with a target on her back, thanks to these assholes. - F.] I admire Joe for his restraint in allowing the process to work itself out. He's a far better man than I.
[. . .]
Corruption is not something which happens overnight. It takes time, like water wearing on a rock. The Bush Administration of 2001 is not the Administration of 2005. This doesn't mean the seeds of corruption were not there, but they took time to develop.
[. . .]
Why would Rove and company smear a former ambassador? Because, even after two years, they had no conception that the gulf between Texas statehouse politics could come to harm them. The corrupt pundit class, frightened into compliance by the Beltway Sniper, who scared them a lot more than 9/11, was willing to go along.
[. . .]
The problem here is that Valerie Plame was the rarest of the rare, a non-official cover agent of the CIA. No one knows how many there are, but the guess is that they would not fill too many tables at a dinner. Training one is more expensive than training a fighter pilot or Delta Force trooper. Revealing her name to anyone without a security clearance was a crime. Even while employed at CIA headquarters, people had no idea she was a NOC. Apologists like Bob Somersby and Richard Cohen just don't get it. This was a crime and one with serious consequences.
No need to belabor the point, but I'll put it this way: one of Special Operation Command's mission is to pull agents from dangerous situations. Pulling a NOC is the most dangerous of all. No one knows how many missions had to be run to clean up the mess created by this bit of spitework.
But why would they do it, then cover it up. Surely they understood what had happened?
[. . .]
As one who's pulled several Agency butts out of the fire, I have to agree. The Plame outing put literally hundreds of lives at risk; not just the spies, but the lives of those who have to go in and extract them. I lost friends in the failed hostage rescue in Iran and I had friends who had to get some of our covert operatives out of Russia during the height of the Cold War. I've pulled folks from 'unfriendly Asian nations' myself. It can get hairy as a motherfucker, something the idiots who live inside the Beltway can't begin to comprehend.
[. . .]
Once corruption enters the process, people assume everyone is corrupt. That everyone is as craven and venal as they are. That they work from the same motives. They never got that Wilson and his wife were real patriots, people who had risked their lives for the US and what it stood for. That they were deeply offended by this crap.
[. . .]
Were I Joe Wilson and someone did to my wife what they did to his, they'd pray for Fitzgerald to indict them; jail would be far more preferable than what my deranged mind could cook up for them. [Keep in mind, her life will never be truly hers. She's probably brought down some people who will want retribution. She will live the rest of her life with a target on her back, thanks to these assholes. - F.] I admire Joe for his restraint in allowing the process to work itself out. He's a far better man than I.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Lower still
My pal David of 42:
Ha-ha!
Here in thrown-election Ohio, where I've been sentenced for the rest of the week, Preznit Flabjabbit's job-approval rating is now 37%... [my em]
Ha-ha!
Die, bitch!
Those close to the investigation said in June 2003, Hannah was given orders by higher-ups in Cheney's office to leak Plame's covert status and identity . . .
I'm waiting for Cheney's pacemaker to short-circuit. Zzzzzt!
Update:
Via Maurinsky:
Sparked by today's Washington Post story that suggests Vice President Cheney's office is involved in the Plame-CIA spy link investigation, government officials and advisers passed around rumors that the vice president might step aside and that President Bush would elevate Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. [Link; my em]
The world is in big trouble...
Saw this headline in the Guardian:
Go read who came in fifth. Read the title of the post again...
Chomsky is voted world's top public intellectual
Go read who came in fifth. Read the title of the post again...
Possible election fraud in Ohio Iraq
From the EssEffChron
Iraq's election commission announced Monday that officials were investigating "unusually high" numbers of "yes" votes in about a dozen provinces during Iraq's landmark referendum on a new constitution, raising questions about irregularities in the balloting.
Meanwhile, word of the review came as Sunni Arab leaders repeated accusations of fraud after initial reports from the provinces suggested the constitution had passed. Among the Sunni allegations are that police took ballot boxes from heavily "no" districts, and that some "yes" areas had more votes than registered voters.
"We feel the election was fair and balanced, and representative of Iraq as a hole" said newly-appointed Ministry of Truth And The Word of Allah director of election results, Habib al-Diebold, who until recently held a similar post in Carroll County, Ohio, with great success.
I made the last quote up to see if anybody even notices.
Merle Haggard: "Let's Get Out of Iraq"
I've been a country music fan for almost fifty years. In my musical taste, it's about as close to Rock as I can stand, Classic Rock and Old-Time Rock 'n Roll excepted. Having said that, I'm sick and tired of some of the artists who are exploiting fake patriotism to make a buck. They ain't makin' any off of me, and that's all I can do about it. I do have all the Dixie Chicks' albums. Anyway, it was heartening to see this piece at Counterpunch. It looks like (Don't Fix That Flat Tire) Merle's finally makin' up for his anti-protest songs from the '60s when he was tryin' to make a buck.
Country music ain't the only thing in this country that needs frankness and honesty. The government, the media, and a large percentage of theignoramuses who think they're good citizens for buying the administration's christo-fascist bullshit citizenry should be made to swallow huge doses of it until they come to realize our country is goin' to croak without it and start likin' it.
Thank you, Merle.
That said, there is little doubt that Haggard's achievements will stand as being among the highest in all of popular music history, not just in country music. His new album, Chicago Wind, is a fresh reminder of just why he is so important. And it speaks volumes about him that he was asked this year to open shows for both Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.
At age 68, he's just about seen it all and done it all and heard it all, but he still has many things on his mind. Over the years, he's commented on the state of affairs in this country, but he's never been politically predictable. Haggard has always been deeply patriotic, but obviously that does not always mean hewing to a particular political stance or political party. He speaks his mind.
"That's the News," his 2003 song commenting on Iraq, pretty much chastised the government and the media for swallowing the administration's spin that the war was over and won. Now he moves on to the matter of the U.S. being in Iraq, period. "Rebuild America First" is pretty honest and blunt. In part, he sings:
"Yea, men in position but backing away
Freedom is stuck in reverse
Let's get out of Iraq and get back on the track
And let's rebuild America first."
Haggard also comments on the current political and social scene in the song, "Where's All the Freedom?" He describes a country almost paralyzed by uncertainty, a nation where the Ten Commandments can't be displayed, where the grandparent of a soldier in Iraq can't afford to buy gasoline to drive to the grocery store, where individual rights are uncertain anymore.
He concludes: "Are we a nation under God anymore/How long do we cower down/Is this really still our ground/Our country is like a prisoner of war/Where's all the freedom that we're fightin' for."
As a revered country music pioneer -- and as an American citizen -- Haggard has earned the right to speak out. I think it's laudable that he does so when many other country artists feel -- rightly so, unfortunately, in many cases -- that to do so would jeopardize their careers with retail and radio. They're probably right. It would risk harm to their careers. Haggard isn't worried about that anymore. Good for him, agree with him or not. Country music was built on frankness and honesty. It still needs frankness and honesty.
Country music ain't the only thing in this country that needs frankness and honesty. The government, the media, and a large percentage of the
Thank you, Merle.
Are We Going to War With Iran?
From the Guardian:
Are We Going to War With Iran?
The Sunday Telegraph warned last weekend that the UN had a last chance to avert war with Iran and, at a meeting in London last week, the US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, expressed his regret that any failure by the UN security council to deal with Iran would damage the security council's relevance, implying that the US would solve the problem on its own.
Only days before, the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, had dismissed military action as "inconceivable" while both the American president and his secretary of state had insisted war talk was not on the agenda. The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have found that Iran has not, so far, broken its commitments under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, although it has concealed activities before.
It appears that the UK and US have decided to raise the stakes in the confrontation with Iran. The two countries persuaded the IAEA board - including India - to overrule its inspectors, declare Iran in breach of the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and say that Iran's activities could be examined by the UN security council. Critics of this political process point to the fact that India itself has developed nuclear weapons and refused to join the NPT, but has still voted that Iran is acting illegitimately. On the Iranian side there is also much belligerent talk and pop music now proudly speaks of the nuclear contribution to Iranian security.
The timing of the recent allegations about Iranian intervention in Iraq also appears to be significant. Ever since the US refused to control Iraq's borders in April 2003, Iranian backed militia have dominated the south and, with under 10,000 soldiers amongst a population of millions, the British army had little option but to go along. No fuss was made until now. As for the bombings of British soldiers, some sources familiar with the US army engineers report that these supposedly sophisticated devices have been manufactured inside Iraq for many months and do not need to be imported.
But is the war talk for real or is it just sabre rattling? The conventional wisdom is that for both military and political reasons it would be impossible for Israel and the UK/US to attack and that, in any event, after the politically damaging Iraq war, neither Tony Blair nor George Bush would be able to gather political support for another attack.
Quote of the Day
Stolen from Blondsense:
Go check out the rest of his article at Cannonfire.
"Ponder, if you will, the surreal spectacle of a newswoman claiming that she went to jail to protect a source whose name she now cannot recall. Some witnesses ask for amnesty; Judy hopes to be granted amnesia". - Joe Cannon
Go check out the rest of his article at Cannonfire.
Strong-arming
I was gona write this post yesterday afternoon, but consider this my way of counting to 10. I don't like being strong-armed, and I especially don't like it done to me publicly. What am I talking about? Let me explain.
The Dark Wraith is doing this fundraising thing for Shakespeare's Sister, a fine endeavor and I admire the effort. Shakes is a friend, I'd like to consider her a sort of protege back almost a year ago when she got started blogging. I'm proud of her and her success in Blogtopia (y!sctp!). I fully planned to contribute and still do, without being challenged to do so publicly. I don't need to be goaded to help people. I just don't do my philanthropy in public. That's between the Mrs., my accountant, the IRS, and me. I'm not philanthopic for accolades or recognition and I don't broadcast what I give to whom.
Not that it's anybody's business, but I was looking over our tax returns for last year and I see the Mrs. and I donated around $20,000 to causes that are dear to us. We don't need to be challenged to give. We both know what it's like to be on the balls of your ass (we were both unemployed for a year a while back) and we feel it's our duty to give back when we can.
In attempt to avoid embarrassment on anyone's part, I shipped off an email to DW early yesterday morning making an offer and explaining that I don't do my philanthropy publicly. Unfortunately, that fell on deaf ears and I was challenged publicly, hence my reasons for this post. It's also why I'll make the same offer here, today, publicly.
Shakes will get my $50 donation this afternoon that was a given. What I will do to sweeten the pot though (lord knows if this will be an incentive to any of you), is I'm offering up the complete collection of all the novels I've written that are currently in print (8) to the person who gives the Shakes' the largest donation. They'll all be signed as well, commemorating the fact you gave the most to the Shakes' fund. Since DW's challenge is ended on 22 Oct, I'll close this offer then too. Shakes can let me know who donated the most and I'll ship 'em to ya, so go over and contribute.
For future reference. If anybody wants money from me, contact me privately and I'll consider your cause. I don't respond to pressure tactics or public strong-arming. It usually garners the opposite of what you're trying to achieve (Not in Shakes' case of course because we love her). And DW, the way to go is never threaten me with violence, real or figurative (slap-slap), my knee-jerk response is not pretty.
And Shakes, sorry about not running this by you first. Let me know if you're not cool with it and I'll withdraw the offer.
The Dark Wraith is doing this fundraising thing for Shakespeare's Sister, a fine endeavor and I admire the effort. Shakes is a friend, I'd like to consider her a sort of protege back almost a year ago when she got started blogging. I'm proud of her and her success in Blogtopia (y!sctp!). I fully planned to contribute and still do, without being challenged to do so publicly. I don't need to be goaded to help people. I just don't do my philanthropy in public. That's between the Mrs., my accountant, the IRS, and me. I'm not philanthopic for accolades or recognition and I don't broadcast what I give to whom.
Not that it's anybody's business, but I was looking over our tax returns for last year and I see the Mrs. and I donated around $20,000 to causes that are dear to us. We don't need to be challenged to give. We both know what it's like to be on the balls of your ass (we were both unemployed for a year a while back) and we feel it's our duty to give back when we can.
In attempt to avoid embarrassment on anyone's part, I shipped off an email to DW early yesterday morning making an offer and explaining that I don't do my philanthropy publicly. Unfortunately, that fell on deaf ears and I was challenged publicly, hence my reasons for this post. It's also why I'll make the same offer here, today, publicly.
Shakes will get my $50 donation this afternoon that was a given. What I will do to sweeten the pot though (lord knows if this will be an incentive to any of you), is I'm offering up the complete collection of all the novels I've written that are currently in print (8) to the person who gives the Shakes' the largest donation. They'll all be signed as well, commemorating the fact you gave the most to the Shakes' fund. Since DW's challenge is ended on 22 Oct, I'll close this offer then too. Shakes can let me know who donated the most and I'll ship 'em to ya, so go over and contribute.
For future reference. If anybody wants money from me, contact me privately and I'll consider your cause. I don't respond to pressure tactics or public strong-arming. It usually garners the opposite of what you're trying to achieve (Not in Shakes' case of course because we love her). And DW, the way to go is never threaten me with violence, real or figurative (slap-slap), my knee-jerk response is not pretty.
And Shakes, sorry about not running this by you first. Let me know if you're not cool with it and I'll withdraw the offer.
Monday, October 17, 2005
In defense of Al
Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Louis Farrakhan piss me off regularly, but I'm glad we have folks like them on the landscape. Steve Gillard speaks in their defense better than anyone I've heard in a long time.
Damn straight. Those guys are there. They're willing to yell and scream and dodge bullets if they have to. Where are the rest of them? Where are the white Dems when shit happens? Fuck asking where any of the Repubs are. We owe these guys because without them, without their ability to get media exposure, the problems of race and the poor would never be publicized.
[. . .]
When people ask Rev. Jackson for help, he comes. Whether it's North Carolina or New Orleans. He doesn't have to poisition himself or deal with the Democratic leadership.
Where are these hundreds of black leaders? When do they show up? When black children are shot by the police, you don't see Barack Obama with the family, do you? For all the attacks on Sharpton, when people have real crises, he's there. These so-called leaders are not. They seem to be afraid of their own shadows.
You do not gain respect with speeches. You have to confront the system and many of these so-called leaders are more than willing to live in Sharpton's shadow and hand him power. There are many younger leaders here in New York, but Sharpton, who was once one of the young leaders, did what they would not, go in the street and risk their lives. Sharpton was stabbed in Bensonhurst. Even Diddy is more willing to extend himself tham some of our political leaders.
[. . .]
Damn straight. Those guys are there. They're willing to yell and scream and dodge bullets if they have to. Where are the rest of them? Where are the white Dems when shit happens? Fuck asking where any of the Repubs are. We owe these guys because without them, without their ability to get media exposure, the problems of race and the poor would never be publicized.
Slime
Publius has more on that piece of shit Ralph Reed.
This guy would pimp his own mother and then bust her for prostitution to make a buck on both ends. There's a special corner in Hell for this asshole, right next to his buddies DeLay, Abramoff, and all the rest.
[. . .]
But the real outrage - and one that should cause social conservatives to tar and feather Reed - is the absolute contempt he had for well-meaning, sincere anti-gambling activists. He exploited and manipulated them to serve the interests of gambling interests - interests they thought they were opposing.
Even before the eLottery scandal, Reed had used social conservatives as patsies in the service of Abramoff's Indian casino clients.
[. . .]
There is more than one level of absurdity here. First, you have Reed taking steps to protect gambling interests because he was paid to do so. Second, Reed's strategy for protecting gambling was to attack opponents who supported an anti-gambling bill as being soft on gambling (thus exploiting sincere opposition to gambling by lying). That's truly amazing - his entire strategy was to lie to anti-gambling activists and assume that they would be completely ignorant about the content of the bill. Third, he was willing to undermine elected (though vulnerable) social conservatives - his supposed comrades-in-arms - in order to protect gamblers. That's truly amazing stuff.
[. . .]
This guy would pimp his own mother and then bust her for prostitution to make a buck on both ends. There's a special corner in Hell for this asshole, right next to his buddies DeLay, Abramoff, and all the rest.
Twofer in Seattle
Uniongrrl posts Paul Krugman and Bob Herbert's Monday columns.
PK writes about the future of the American working class in the wake of the Delphi "bankruptcy", and BH implores the Democrats to get off their ass.
Thank Uniongrrl for saving us all that Select money.
PK writes about the future of the American working class in the wake of the Delphi "bankruptcy", and BH implores the Democrats to get off their ass.
Thank Uniongrrl for saving us all that Select money.
In a nutshell...
William Rivers Pitt on Traitorgate and WHIG:
I'd like to see Dick and Bush scathed big time, but I slightly disagree with Mr. Pitt: If Mr. Fitzgerald had stayed in Chicago we wouldn't have the present probability of indictments of a couple of fairly big fish. If the evidence points higher than that, that's even better, but I'll take what I can get.
If Bush and Cheney go down behind this, Mr. Fitzgerald will be a national hero for having the guts to pursue criminals at that level. Let's hope it happens and sends a message to the lesser administration criminals: Your time is coming.
In a New York Times article published on Sunday, columnist Frank Rich buried the dart right in the center-black. "What matters most in this case," wrote Rich, "is not whether Mr. Rove and Lewis Libby engaged in a petty conspiracy to seek revenge on a whistle-blower, Joseph Wilson, by unmasking his wife, Valerie, a covert C.I.A. officer. What makes Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation compelling, whatever its outcome, is its illumination of a conspiracy that was not at all petty: the one that took us on false premises into a reckless and wasteful war in Iraq. That conspiracy was instigated by Mr. Rove's boss, George W. Bush, and Mr. Libby's boss, Dick Cheney."
George W. Bush declared a national emergency in this Executive Order for one reason: to lock down the oil, and to give total legal cover to Dick Cheney's Halliburton, so they could do whatever they wanted to get their hands on it, and to get paid for it. Here we have Bush's fingerprints, and here is the reason for not only attacking Wilson, but for chucking up a war that was not necessary.
The payout.
The Office of Special Plans to the White House Iraq Group, Cheney to Langley and Bush with his Executive Order, a war to get paid and cash money, honey, for Halliburton and friends. Rove and Libby are small fish. If and when they get fried, the stink may well fill the Oval Office. If George and Dick come out of this unscathed, Mr. Fitzgerald may as well have stayed in Chicago.
I'd like to see Dick and Bush scathed big time, but I slightly disagree with Mr. Pitt: If Mr. Fitzgerald had stayed in Chicago we wouldn't have the present probability of indictments of a couple of fairly big fish. If the evidence points higher than that, that's even better, but I'll take what I can get.
If Bush and Cheney go down behind this, Mr. Fitzgerald will be a national hero for having the guts to pursue criminals at that level. Let's hope it happens and sends a message to the lesser administration criminals: Your time is coming.
Unwarranted faith
I love Kevin Hayden, but either his sarcasm is over my head on this one, or he's putting too much faith in the Dem leadership:
Much as Sen. Reid and Rep. Pelosi have grown some testicles in the past few months, I get the feeling the Miers confirmation will end up just like the Roberts vote went. They're more of the 'Devil you know' mindset and are afraid Bush will put up someone worse if they deny him Miers. There will be no filibuster.
That pretty much settles it. The Democratic filibuster is on.
Much as Sen. Reid and Rep. Pelosi have grown some testicles in the past few months, I get the feeling the Miers confirmation will end up just like the Roberts vote went. They're more of the 'Devil you know' mindset and are afraid Bush will put up someone worse if they deny him Miers. There will be no filibuster.
Causes
As many of you who visit this part of the Blogosphere already know, Shakespeare's Sister lost her job awhile back. She and her husband, Mr. Shakes, have been the beneficiaries of kind and generous donations to tide them through this difficult time in their life together. She is a good woman, and he a good man. They contribute greatly to our stand against a machine of repression, mendacity, and stunning incompetence that has opened the 21st Century on a trajectory as grim as any in American history. It is proper that we who are of like conscience in this time stand together and help each other... - The Dark Wraith
Help if you can.
Normalizing treason
[. . .]
But when a senior aide to the President of the United States endangers the life of an undercover CIA agent, her colleagues and contacts around the world - when he chooses to put at risk our entire effort to undercover weapons of mass destruction before they are used to kill millions in an American city - what response do we get from the Bush White House and the Republican Party? A defensive (offensive) shrug.
The Republican party's gift to the American people, and the Bush administration's legacy, will be the normalization of treason. They are trying to convince Americans that betraying our country during wartime for personal gain is no more serious than running a stop sign or going 60 in a 55 zone. [my em]
[. . .]
A must-read by John at AMERICAblog.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
You ain't gonna believe this...
...but go read this article anyway. Not only will it help you with your Christmas gift shopping, you will be one step closer to being able to say you've heard everything. And, no, I haven't jumped the gun on the legalization of all the mindbenders in my previous post!
Heh . . . see yas!
Three more assholes to get stretched. WaPo via Digby:
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.
[. . .]
Abramoff quietly arranged for eLottery to pay conservative, anti-gambling activists to help in the firm's $2 million pro-gambling campaign, including Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, and the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition. Both kept in close contact with Abramoff about the arrangement, e-mails show. Abramoff also turned to prominent anti-tax conservative Grover Norquist, arranging to route some of eLottery's money for Reed through Norquist's group, Americans for Tax Reform.
[. . .]
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.
Let those dopers be...
Good article in the LATimes by a former Seattle police chief.
I'm with him all the way. He goes into a lot more detail, so go read.
SOMETIMES PEOPLE in law enforcement will hear it whispered that I'm a former cop who favors decriminalization of marijuana laws, and they'll approach me the way they might a traitor or snitch. So let me set the record straight.
Yes, I was a cop for 34 years, the last six of which I spent as chief of Seattle's police department.
But no, I don't favor decriminalization. I favor legalization, and not just of pot but of all drugs, including heroin, cocaine, meth, psychotropics, mushrooms and LSD.
I've never understood why adults shouldn't enjoy the same right to use verboten drugs as they have to suck on a Marlboro or knock back a scotch and water.
Regulated legalization would soon dry up most stockpiles of currently illicit drugs - substances of uneven, often questionable quality (including "bunk," i.e., fakes such as oregano, gypsum, baking powder or even poisons passed off as the genuine article). It would extract from today's drug dealing the obscene profits that attract the needy and the greedy and fuel armed violence. And it would put most of those certifiably frightening crystal meth labs out of business once and for all.
The demand for illicit drugs is as strong as the nation's thirst for bootleg booze during Prohibition. It's a demand that simply will not dwindle or dry up. Whether to find God, heighten sexual arousal, relieve physical pain, drown one's sorrows or simply feel good, people throughout the millenniums have turned to mood- and mind-altering substances.
They're not about to stop, no matter what their government says or does. It's time to accept drug use as a right of adult Americans, treat drug abuse as a public health problem and end the madness of an unwinnable war.
I'm with him all the way. He goes into a lot more detail, so go read.
Casualties
Of the Bush Administration. Over the past 5 years, a boatload of folks with ethics and principle have resigned or been cashiered. TomDispatch has a list.
Hat tip: Melanie
Sunday chores
Finishing the painting (remember the bookshelf project?) that I put on hold during the deluge of the past week (I want my fucking paint to dry.) I'll probably be on later. In progress pics below the fold.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
The Gulag of our time
Gary looks at the Amnesty International report and the demands for access at Gitmo.
Yeah, whatever
Steve Soto on that eight page steaming load of crap the New York Times unloaded on us. I lost interest a page in.
Update:
Susie has reaction from around Left Blogtopia (y!sctp!) along with a few of her own.
Hat tip: Wolcott
Update:
Susie has reaction from around Left Blogtopia (y!sctp!) along with a few of her own.
I'm on it
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Oct. 14 - Advocates for medical marijuana can take heart over the findings of two Canadian research teams.
A synthetic cannabinoid -- similar to the compounds found in marijuana, but substantially stronger -- causes the growth of new neurons and reduces anxiety and depression, investigators at the University of Saskatchewan here reported. [my em]
[. . .]
I expect to hear from Harvard or Yale presently. I think a nice Professor Emeritus of Weedology would be an acceptable position.
Great thanks to hairy fish nuts.
Resources
Cruising through Spudnik's site, I'm reminded* I wanted to blog about this. There's an aggregator called unpartisan.com who collects blog posts from both sides. (They reference us a lot.) I use it to see how the Freepers react to certain subjects as opposed to what we (the Left) do without having to actually surf through the wingnut sites themselves.
*Short term memory loss
Ha!
Neil Shakespeare:
...
"Dear Karl,
Enclosed find your target. Please turn around and pin this on your ass.
Love, Pat."
...
Wait until next year
I gotta do this. I'm pretty sure I could build a far better artillery piece than this clown. I wonder if they'd let me pack the pumpkins with a little black powder and a detonator? It'd be easier to see where they end up downrange. Heh. Now to con pursuade the Mrs to let me build one. She's got a problem with me having firearms.
Broken
I wrote about this the other day and Billmon takes up the cause:
[. . .]
But in addition to the Miers nomination, it also reminded me of one of the great ironies of Shrub's presidency: an administration that came to power determined to win maximum freedom of action in foreign policy by going it alone (or recruiting ad hoc coalitions that would submissively follow Washington's lead) has ended up virtually paralyzed by the consequences of its own hubris.
[. . .]
Conspiracy theories
I think Lambert puts his finger directly on it:
This is the most plausible explanation so far of why the press caved when it came to anything the Chimp did.
Update:
ReddHedd at Jane's also looks at the WHIG relating to the Agency. I touched on this the other day too.
Update:
Stolen from Atrios:
It's all coming together beautifully. (sniff)
[. . .]
The Times hasn't mentioned the [White House Iraq Group] W.H.I.G. because they were part of the W.H.I.G. disinformation campaign. In Traitorgate, Valerie Plame was outed to protect that operation, because the Niger uranium story was one of the stories that W.H.I.G. planted. (Remember the crude forgery of mysterious provenance that the yellowcake story was based on?)
And the reason it seems like they were all in on it, is that they were all in on it. All the Kewl Kidz, and all the media whores. The whole Beltway 500 crowd is dirty. (Not you, Dan Froomkin, and not you, Walter Pincus.)
[. . .]
This is the most plausible explanation so far of why the press caved when it came to anything the Chimp did.
Update:
ReddHedd at Jane's also looks at the WHIG relating to the Agency. I touched on this the other day too.
Update:
Stolen from Atrios:
Reading Reddhead's walk down the yellowcake road I'm struck by something - exactly why was it so necessary to "get" Wilson? It can't simply be the simply be about the "sixteen words" in the SOTU speech. It must be what all that pointed to - where those obviously forged documents came from... [my em]
It's all coming together beautifully. (sniff)
Friday, October 14, 2005
Doing something
Something you might want to look into for your area. The local rock & roll station is trying to keep home heating oil prices down. Call it OPEC of Long Island.
Let's face it, home heating oil is going to take a toll on our finances this winter. Wouldn't it be great if you could get the cheapest rate on Long Island? Well that's what the Roger and JP Oil Cartel is trying to accomplish.
If you know someone who works, manages or owns an oil company big or small, that can give Long Islanders the lowest home heating oil price for the entire winter, we want to hear from you!
The oil company that can meet this goal, will become the official oil company of the Rock and Roll Morning Show, getting daily mentions on Roger and JP, potentially doubling your current customer base.Think you can help us help you? Contact Roger and JP Oil Cartel here:
Roger@wbab.com JP@wbab.com Check the current price of home heating oil here.
Roger and JP Oil Cartel Motto
Hey, If we're gonna get screwed, let's get screwed a little less.
Arm twisting
WASHINGTON - The White House is seeking the help of Republican activists in Iowa and New Hampshire to pressure GOP senators with presidential hopes to support Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers.
[. . .]
Remember the heady days when Repubs could run the Dems over with legislation? Heh, now they have to pressure their own people to support a nomination. How's it feel, bitches?
Great thanks: Maru
Now that it's safe, the media gets brave...
Paul Krugman at True Blue Liberal.
I love Krugman. He's one of the few who have called it like they see it from the git-go. The other two brave ones are Maureen Dowd and Molly Ivins.
It's easy to be fearless when there's no danger. It's the old "You get him down and I'll jump in" syndrome.
The media seems to be doing OK right now, but they have a lot to make up for.
George W. Bush, I once wrote, "values loyalty above expertise" and may have "a preference for advisers whose personal fortunes are almost entirely bound up with his own." And he likes to surround himself with "obsequious courtiers."
Lots of people are saying things like that these days. But those quotes are from a column published on Nov. 19, 2000.
Right now, with the Bush administration in meltdown on multiple issues, we're hearing a lot about President Bush's personal failings. But what happened to the commanding figure of yore, the heroic leader in the war on terror? The answer, of course, is that the commanding figure never existed: Mr. Bush is the same man he always was. All the character flaws that are now fodder for late-night humor were fully visible, for those willing to see them, during the 2000 campaign.
And President Bush the great leader is far from the only fictional character, bearing no resemblance to the real man, created by media images.
And that makes it all too easy for coverage to be shaped by what reporters feel they can safely say, rather than what they actually think or know. Now that Mr. Bush's approval ratings are in the 30's, we're hearing about his coldness and bad temper, about how aides are afraid to tell him bad news. Does anyone think that journalists have only just discovered these personal characteristics?
Let's be frank: the Bush administration has made brilliant use of journalistic careerism. Those who wrote puff pieces about Mr. Bush and those around him have been rewarded with career-boosting access. Those who raised questions about his character found themselves under personal attack from the administration's proxies. (Yes, I'm speaking in part from experience.) Only now, with Mr. Bush in desperate trouble, has the structure of rewards shifted.
What we really need is political journalism based less on perceptions of personalities and more on actual facts. Schadenfreude aside, we should not be happy that stories about Mr. Bush's boldness have given way to stories analyzing his facial tics. Think, instead, about how different the world would be today if, during the 2000 campaign, reporting had focused on the candidates' fiscal policies instead of their wardrobes.
I love Krugman. He's one of the few who have called it like they see it from the git-go. The other two brave ones are Maureen Dowd and Molly Ivins.
It's easy to be fearless when there's no danger. It's the old "You get him down and I'll jump in" syndrome.
The media seems to be doing OK right now, but they have a lot to make up for.
Lubrication
As a mechanic, it's a subject near and dear to my heart. Proper lubrication is paramount. Or, as Frank Zappa says, 'keep it greasy so it go down easy'.
Outsourcing
Sort of:
This is just another way for Halliburton to make a bigger profit. It's also a dry run for what they have planned for this country. Cheap labor, low (or no) benifits, and a greater profit margin for the robber barons.
[. . .]
Called "third country nationals" (TCN) in contractor's parlance, they hail largely from impoverished Asian countries such as the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Pakistan, as well as from Turkey and countries in the Middle East. Once in Iraq, TCNs earn monthly salaries between $200 to $1,000 as truck drivers, construction workers, carpenters, warehousemen, laundry workers, cooks, accountants, beauticians, and similar blue-collar jobs.
[. . .]
Invisible Army of Cheap Labor
Tens of thousands of such TNC laborers have helped set new records for the largest civilian workforce ever hired in support of a U.S. war. They are employed through complex layers of companies working in Iraq. At the top of the pyramid-shaped system is the U.S. government which assigned over $24 billion in contracts over the last two years. Just below that layer are the prime contractors like Halliburton and Bechtel. Below them are dozens of smaller subcontracting companies-- largely based in the Middle East --including PPI, First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting and Alargan Trading of Kuwait, Gulf Catering, Saudi Trading & Construction Company of Saudi Arabia. Such companies, which recruit and employ the bulk of the foreign workers in Iraq, have experienced explosive growth since the invasion of Iraq by providing labor and services to the more high-profile prime contractors.
This layered system not only cuts costs for the prime contractors, but also creates an untraceable trail of contracts that clouds the liability of companies and hinders comprehensive oversight by U.S. contract auditors. In April, the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of the U.S. Congress concluded that it is impossible to accurately estimate the total number of U.S. or foreign nationals working in Iraq.
[. . .]
This is just another way for Halliburton to make a bigger profit. It's also a dry run for what they have planned for this country. Cheap labor, low (or no) benifits, and a greater profit margin for the robber barons.
Hat tip: Thomas Leavitt at STF.
Reputations
How long will the Times stake theirs on Judy 'Da Fluffa' Miller? Steve Gillard has an excellent treatise on what is happening, and will undoubtedly happen, to the Gray Lady's rep.
[. . .]
The staff of the New York Times is so frustrated at Miller and her bosses defense of her, they ran to Howie Kurtz to rat her out. At their rival newspaper. Normally, people would have closed ranks. Her collegues are after like she's fucking Frankenstein and they have torch and pitchfork licenses.
[. . .]
Et tu, Maggie?
[. . .]
Although Lady Thatcher remains a strong supporter of the decision to topple Saddam by invading Iraq, it is the first time she has questioned the basis for the war. Yesterday's Washington Post reported that when asked whether she would have invaded Iraq given the intelligence at the time, Lady Thatcher replied: "I was a scientist before I was a politician. And as a scientist I know you need facts, evidence and proof - and then you check, recheck and check again." [my em; Link]
[. . .]
In other words, 'how can you be so fucking stupid not to cover your tracks, you idiots'? I also think it was a slap at the unIntelligent Design idiots in the States.
Great thanks to TBogg for the link.
Friday Cattle Dog Blogging
Princess Shayna says she's tired of the rain that's been inundating the NY Metro Area for the past week. "This weather isn't fit for a dog," she was heard to say.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Quote of the Day
Spudnik:
Again, I say Wow. Bush is crumbling like a slice of Apple Brown Betty.
Enjoy the crash, Republicans. Bed. Made. Lie.
Talk dirty to me...
MSNBC
Hopefully, this will turn up some good conspiratorialdirt evidence against DeLay, but the dirty-ol'-man side of me wants to know about the 900 numbers.
Like the popular country song says, "He drinks tequila, and she talks dirty in Spanish". If only!
A Texas prosecutor subpoenaed telephone records for the home phone of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and his political campaign Thursday.
The subpoenas list telephone numbers, but not whom they belong to. They ask for information about the calls, voice mail service at the numbers and long distance calls made from or charged to the numbers.
Hopefully, this will turn up some good conspiratorial
Like the popular country song says, "He drinks tequila, and she talks dirty in Spanish". If only!
How the Republicans Let It Slip Away
Another in today's "Republicans are going down the shitter" series, by David Ignatius.
Note to Republicans: If you really want to enter the "Post-Bush" era, GET RID OF THE SON OF A BITCH. You can come up later with some verbiage that'll make you out to be the fuckin' heroes that saved America. We'll believe you. Yeah, right.
What's interesting is that most of these wounds are self-inflicted. They draw a picture of a party that, for all its seeming dominance, isn't prepared to be the nation's governing party. The hard right, which is the soul of the modern GOP, would rather be ideologically pure than successful. Governing requires making compromises and getting your hands dirty, but the conservative purists disdain those qualities. They swim for that beach with a fiercely misguided determination, and they demand that the other whales accompany them.
What you sense now, as conservative and moderate Republicans alike take potshots at their president, is that the GOP is entering the post-Bush era. A war of succession has begun, cloaked in a war of principles. The cruelest aspect of Bush's predicament is that the conservatives are treating him with the same disdain they showed his father. What a denouement to the West Wing Oedipal drama: A son who did everything he could to avoid his father's humiliation by the conservative wing of the party is now under attack by the right himself.
Principles are a fine thing, but a narrow, partisan definition of principle has led the Republicans to a dead end. Their inability to transcend their base and speak to the country as a whole is now painfully obvious. Like the Democrats in their years of decline, they are screaming at each other -- not realizing how far they have drifted from the mid-channel markers that have always led to open waters and defined success in American politics.
Note to Republicans: If you really want to enter the "Post-Bush" era, GET RID OF THE SON OF A BITCH. You can come up later with some verbiage that'll make you out to be the fuckin' heroes that saved America. We'll believe you. Yeah, right.
In the dumper
Heh, the Chimp's approval ratings are down to 39%. From the Alternate Brain Mailbag, Think Progress has another statistic:
What I wanna know is how all these black preachers who sold their souls to Bush can face their congregations now?
Update:
Pam elaborates on this as well.
...A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finds that just 2 percent of African-Americans approve of his leadership...
What I wanna know is how all these black preachers who sold their souls to Bush can face their congregations now?
Update:
Pam elaborates on this as well.
Conservative Crackup
Howard Fineman
'Bout fuckin' time, too. Go read the rest. Trust me (where have I heard that before?), you'll like it.
President George W. Bush may have no military exit strategy for Iraq, but the "necons" who convinced him to go to war there have developed one of their own - a political one: Blame the Administration.
Their neo-Wilsonian theory is correct, they insist, but the execution was botched by a Bush team that has turned out to be incompetent, crony-filled, corrupt, unimaginative and weak over a wide range of issues.
The flight of the neocons - just read a recent Weekly Standard to see what I am talking about - is one of only many indications that the long-predicted "conservative crackup" is at hand.
The "movement" - that began 50 years ago with the founding of Bill Buckley's National Review; that had its coming of age in the Reagan Years; that reached its zenith with Bush's victory in 2000 - is falling apart at the seams.
'Bout fuckin' time, too. Go read the rest. Trust me (where have I heard that before?), you'll like it.
10 Pledges to Demand from Democrats
I'm more than a little leery about anything that even sounds like it resembles a "Contract with America" after the last time, given that politicians will sign anything that sounds good even though they know nobody will hold them accountable so they don't have to live up to it. This one from AlterNet sounds good anyway.
Read the rest Below the Fold.
You hear it every day in Washington: "Democrats have no ideas, no programs, no deeply held beliefs, no lines in the sand they will not cross." The only discernible passion Democrats display is a passion to be in power again. But in power to do what? You tell me. I have no friggin idea, and I deeply suspect neither do they.
That's why we need to force them to sign a contract with us this time. To put it bluntly, we don't trust them any longer. They've double-crossed at every major moment -- on war, on taxes, on the environment, on health care. They took or votes and our hopes and bargained them away to the enemy for the political equivalent of nylons, smokes and chocolate bars.
So I took the points Bob listed in his article, "embellished" them and put them into the form of 10 contractual pledges Democrat candidates can and should embrace.
Read the rest Below the Fold.
What more to say?
Norbizness:
All I can add is, in the future I hope people will use the 'Bush Era' as a lesson about how bad things can get when incompetents and crooks rule the roost. Unfortunately, I think it will get worse before it gets better. Desperate men resort to desperate measures, and I'm getting a whiff of desperation on the wind blowing north from D.C.
[. . .]
Reading this account of a conference call with rat-faced, chinless GOP shill Ken Mehlman, it occurs to me that a miraculous thing has happened: apparently, not nominating a firebreathing lunatic who explicitly vows to overturn Roe v. Wade and roll back most New Deal legislation has caused rank-and-file conservatives to begin to doubt the word and/or judgment of the President (by the way, have fun battling the crazies like James Dobson and Pat Robertson on this one).
Congratulations, it only took y'all about 4.75 years of wanton fiscal management, cronyism, broken promises, infantile happy-talk about foreign policy, multiple scandals involving members of the White House and Republican leadership, failure to utilize the veto, deepening debt, rampant corporate welfare, and unfulfilling lip service to your pet prejudices to drive that particular point home. Sorry you're abandoning a rotten, derelict ship of state at such a late point in time; most of us abandoned any hope of a financially sound country operating in any sane manner years ago.
[. . .]
All I can add is, in the future I hope people will use the 'Bush Era' as a lesson about how bad things can get when incompetents and crooks rule the roost. Unfortunately, I think it will get worse before it gets better. Desperate men resort to desperate measures, and I'm getting a whiff of desperation on the wind blowing north from D.C.
Statistics
WASHINGTON - The National Guard and Reserves are suffering a strikingly higher share of U.S. casualties in Iraq, their portion of total American military deaths nearly doubling since last year.
[. . .]
At least when I was in, everybody acknowleged the Guard and Reserves were the red-headed stepchildren of the active-duty military. They get hand me down equipment from the regulars and less training. Not taking anything away from them at all.
I remember, a little over 20 years ago, the Air Force ran airfield security excercises for their Security Police and Mobile Aerial Port people. 11th Special Forces (U.S. Army) was the OPFOR (opposing force). I was attached to 59th APS at the time. A bunch of Reservists, 11th had us chasing them for a week, always a step ahead of us. They inflicted quite a bit of 'damage' on our position too. (Mostly our commander's fault in the way he deployed his assets.) Great troops. I'll never say anything bad about part-time soldiers.
But isn't it the time, since we're using them in the same capacity as active duty troops, to give them front-line equipment and training? Whether the Pentagon admits it or not, the Guard and Reserves are still being shortchanged and it's showing up in their increased casualty count.
Were the leadership not so incompetent, disregarding for a minute the fallacy of the war in Iraq to begin with, they would realize active duty troops and part-time soldiers are not interchangable and would not use them as game pieces of equal value. It is one of the underlying fundamental problems with our straetgy in Iraq.
Jo Fish, from whom I stole the link, has more to say on the subject as well.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Pushing back
Never fuck with the Agency:
Out one of our operators? Blame us for the WMD bullshit in Iraq? Oh no, fuck you!
WASHINGTON - A newly released report published by the CIA rebukes the Bush administration for not paying enough attention to prewar intelligence that predicted the factional rivalries now threatening to split Iraq.
Policymakers worried more about making the case for the war, particularly the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, than planning for the aftermath, the report says. The report was written by a team of four former CIA analysts led by former deputy CIA director Richard Kerr.
[. . .]
Out one of our operators? Blame us for the WMD bullshit in Iraq? Oh no, fuck you!
Hat tip: Chris T
A little military humor
After reading Fixer's post about Air Force Weenies and some lively comments thereon, I saw this in a book I'm reading, "Ambush Alley", about the 1stBn,2d Marines' fight in Nasiriya on the heels of Pvt. Lynch's capture.
In the ever-friendly spirit of Inter-service Rivalry, here goes:
"Three high-school friends meet up for a camping holiday a few months after they have joined up. The one who was in the Air Force says:
"Boot Camp was horrible. They ran out of Diet Coke in the soda fountain.
"The one from the Army says:
"That's nothing. They made me sleep outside and it rained on me.
"The one from the Marine Corps says nothing. He carries on lighting the fire with nothing but his dick."
If the Marine Corps taught me nothing else, to this day I know how to ring a doorbell with my arms full!
In the ever-friendly spirit of Inter-service Rivalry, here goes:
"Three high-school friends meet up for a camping holiday a few months after they have joined up. The one who was in the Air Force says:
"Boot Camp was horrible. They ran out of Diet Coke in the soda fountain.
"The one from the Army says:
"That's nothing. They made me sleep outside and it rained on me.
"The one from the Marine Corps says nothing. He carries on lighting the fire with nothing but his dick."
If the Marine Corps taught me nothing else, to this day I know how to ring a doorbell with my arms full!
Raucous laughter
That must be what's happening in Damascus right now:
Yo, Dicknose, you don't have the troops to warn Syria about anything. You're barely keeping Iraq together.
Whatcha gonna do, bleed on me?
Do the Neocons actually believe anyone takes them seriously? Mark my words, if the Chimp goes after Syria, or Iran for that matter, shit's gonna start blowing up over here on a regular basis. Hopefully the scandals and future indictments neuter these assholes so they can't take 'pre-emptive action' anywhere else.
[. . .]
Bush also repeated U.S. warnings to Syria that it should do more to stop foreign fighters from crossing its border into Iraq.
[. . .]
Yo, Dicknose, you don't have the troops to warn Syria about anything. You're barely keeping Iraq together.
[. . .]
Bush underscored warnings given last month to Syria by Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, who said "patience is running out with Syria" for failing to stop foreign fighters from crossing over into Iraq.
[. . .]
Whatcha gonna do, bleed on me?
Do the Neocons actually believe anyone takes them seriously? Mark my words, if the Chimp goes after Syria, or Iran for that matter, shit's gonna start blowing up over here on a regular basis. Hopefully the scandals and future indictments neuter these assholes so they can't take 'pre-emptive action' anywhere else.
Let's hear it for the "I" word...
After Downing Street
Duck-walkin' in chains he should be removed from the White House! With every camera in the world present.
Go read this one. Let's hope this starts something.
Poll: Americans Favor Bush's Impeachment If He Lied about Iraq
The poll was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, the highly-regarded non-partisan polling company. The poll interviewed 1,001 U.S. adults on October 6-9.
The poll found that 50% agreed with the statement:
"If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable by impeaching him."
"The results of this poll are truly astonishing," said AfterDowningStreet.org co-founder Bob Fertik. "Bush's record-low approval ratings tell just half of the story, which is how much Americans oppose Bush's policies on Iraq and other issues. But this poll tells the other half of the story - that a solid plurality of Americans want Congress to consider removing Bush from the White House."
Duck-walkin' in chains he should be removed from the White House! With every camera in the world present.
The strong support for impeachment found in this poll is especially surprising because the views of impeachment supporters are entirely absent from the broadcast and print media, and can only be found on the Internet and in street protests, including the large anti-war rally in Washington on September 24.
Go read this one. Let's hope this starts something.
You da man, Jane!
Imagine my surprise when I saw our gal Jane in a headline on my Yahoo homepage! She and her henchman ReddHedd are burnin' up the wires with their fine analyses of the whole Traitorgate deal over at Firedoglake. I'm damn glad the world is noticing!
Bush's Gusher Finally Came In...
Comedian Harry Shearer said the other day that "Bush spent his whole life drillin' dry holes. Looks like he finally found his gusher in Harriet Miers." I've got way too much class to wonder about how dry her...
Anyway, Uniongrrl asks the burning question, "Is it just me? Or is Maureen Dowd having WAAAAAAY too much fun with the Harriet Miers' nomination?"
MoDo's a hoot! Go read the rest.
Anyway, Uniongrrl asks the burning question, "Is it just me? Or is Maureen Dowd having WAAAAAAY too much fun with the Harriet Miers' nomination?"
Since there is no breathtaking Miers judicial record to pore over, I was eager to read more breathless Miers missives to a president she describes as the most brilliant man she has ever met. How could I get the notes from the White House, given how opposed Mr. Bush is to leaks? I called Scooter and Karl and they sent the secret documents right over.
August 2001 "Thank you so much for letting me bundle up and drag away the brush that you cut down today. And if I might add, Sir, I've never seen a man wield the nippers so judiciously. It was awesome! You are the best brush cutter ever!!"
January 2003 "Just a quick note to say how cool it is that you picked Brownie to head FEMA. There's nothing like having someone you know and trust in a top job. Your gut is the best judge ever!!"
April 2004 "There is no other president who would have had the courage to allow torture, dude! (It's only too bad that Abu Ghraib rules out Alberto's chances of getting on the Supreme Court.) You are the best torturer ever!! xo, H."
October 2005 "How can I thank you, Sir? I never, ever expected the Supreme Court. Phat! I hope Clarence doesn't make me watch 'Debbie Does Dallas' again. That movie is so anti-Texas! I miss you already!!
MoDo's a hoot! Go read the rest.
We're movin' to Jersey
BlueJersey that is:
[. . .]
Over at the LIVE blog and over my radio I hardly believed it. Both candidates were asked about medical marijuana by a caller and both said they were FOR IT!
[. . .]
Perp walks
To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime, it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole. ... If certain acts in violation of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them, and we are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us.
Click for graphic.
Hat tip: The King
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Profits
While war and disaster are bad for most people, they have been a financial windfall for those with ties to Halliburton.
An analysis released today by the Office of Senator Frank R. Lautenberg reveals that Vice President Cheney's Halliburton stock options have increased in value 3,281 percent in one year... [my em; Link*]
I don't know about you, but they didn't even kiss me first. Oh yeah, that was the $300 tax rebate. That will surely pay my heating costs this winter, you motherfuckers.
*From the Alternate Brain mailbag
Cronies
Lafayette debris removal company: Wanted to bid on debris removal, but debris removal contract was put up for bid on a web page only mentioned to Bush cronies.
Go see the guy on the iceberg.
Air Force weenies
This should be good:
I wonder what Abu Ghraib-esque shenanigans will go on after they send these new 'interrogators' out, after what amounts to a crash course at Huachuca, and tell them to "make 'em talk". Knowing the Air Force as I do, they'll probably fuck the prisoners to death
Fucking Rummy's vision. Rummy don't know enough to have a vision or he wouldn't have gotten us into this stupid fucking war to begin with.
Straining to find ground troops to maintain its force levels in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has begun deploying thousands of Air Force personnel to combat zones in new jobs as interrogators, prison sentries and gunners on supply trucks.
[. . .]
Individual branches have spent decades carving out unique roles within the U.S. military, and Air Force officials insist that the redeployment of its personnel is temporary. Nonetheless, the reassignments come as another sign that the Pentagon is struggling to meet the demands of what military officials have begun calling "the long war."
[. . .]
I wonder what Abu Ghraib-esque shenanigans will go on after they send these new 'interrogators' out, after what amounts to a crash course at Huachuca, and tell them to "make 'em talk". Knowing the Air Force as I do, they'll probably fuck the prisoners to death
[. . .]
The changes within the Air Force, even if temporary, run counter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's overall vision of the military as a lighter, faster and more lethal force that relies on technology and efficiency to accomplish national security goals more quickly.
[. . .]
Fucking Rummy's vision. Rummy don't know enough to have a vision or he wouldn't have gotten us into this stupid fucking war to begin with.
Hat tip: Wanker Scott
Starshine...
Via The Hawk comes this delightful prediction of what the Celestial Sphere has in store for the Chimp. Seems to be coming true as we speak.
We're winning
------------------------------------------------------
MSNBC Breaking News
------------------------------------------------------
Taliban rebels ambush police convoy, kill 19 officers, Afghan officials say
Yeah, right. One question. 4 years later, why is there anyone who identifies themselves as 'Taliban' still alive in Afghanistan?
Monday, October 10, 2005
Fixer & Gordon - You're Tagged
Anyone else want to join? Here's mine:
Name five of your idiosyncrasies:
1. I am generally sloppy. By this I mean that if the house doesn't look like it walked out of Better Homes and Gardens - I don't get too bent.
2. I cannot stand clutter. Keeping in mind #1 above, if things get so sloppy that I'm stubbing my toe, navigating around piles of stuff, or slipping on a magazine and ending up on my butt - then I get cranky. So the house may not be perfect - but you will not see any of the aforementioned examples.
3. Books have to be in the bookcase in alphabetical order, period. Or else I get irritated.
4. I don't liked to be talked to when I get home from work. Just give me 3 minutes please - before you start to dump all of the trials and tribulations of the day on me. Three minutes won't hurt - honest.
5. If my night table looks cluttered and sloppy - leave it alone. It's my clutter. It's my slop. Feel free, however, to take the dirty dishes to the kitchen if you feel so inclined.
So that's my little list. Now I'm tagging Hibiscusroto, and The Alternate Brain.
Name five of your idiosyncrasies:
1. I am generally sloppy. By this I mean that if the house doesn't look like it walked out of Better Homes and Gardens - I don't get too bent.
2. I cannot stand clutter. Keeping in mind #1 above, if things get so sloppy that I'm stubbing my toe, navigating around piles of stuff, or slipping on a magazine and ending up on my butt - then I get cranky. So the house may not be perfect - but you will not see any of the aforementioned examples.
3. Books have to be in the bookcase in alphabetical order, period. Or else I get irritated.
4. I don't liked to be talked to when I get home from work. Just give me 3 minutes please - before you start to dump all of the trials and tribulations of the day on me. Three minutes won't hurt - honest.
5. If my night table looks cluttered and sloppy - leave it alone. It's my clutter. It's my slop. Feel free, however, to take the dirty dishes to the kitchen if you feel so inclined.
So that's my little list. Now I'm tagging Hibiscusroto, and The Alternate Brain.
They Eat Their Young, and I'm Laughing My Ass Off
Ann Coulter (who I will not directly link to) says it all:
This is freakin' hilarious.
"I eagerly await the announcement of President Bush's real nominee to the Supreme Court. If the president meant Harriet Miers seriously, I have to assume Bush wants to go back to Crawford and let Dick Cheney run the country.
Unfortunately for Bush, he could nominate his Scottish terrier Barney, and some conservatives would rush to defend him, claiming to be in possession of secret information convincing them that the pooch is a true conservative and listing Barney's many virtues — loyalty, courage, never jumps on the furniture ... "
This is freakin' hilarious.
Not good
Auto parts supplier Delphi Corp became the largest auto firm in US history to declare bankruptcy when it announced it was seeking Chapter 11 protection for its US divisions.
While Delphi and its former parent company, General Motors, insisted that there would be no supply interruptions, the move is certain to reverberate across the industry.
[. . .]
This is not good from where I sit. Even though I bitch about Delphi's (and GM's) quality and their downhill spiral since 1973, this opens the door for even less dependable manufacturers. I'm of the 'Better The Devil You Know' school. Not only that, but GM talks bullshit when they say there'll be no interruptions.
[. . .]
Delphi may be the largest, but it is not the first US supplier to seek bankruptcy protection as a result of stiff competition from abroad and shrinking demand for American cars.
It employs some 185,000 workers, including 35,000 in the United States. [Link]
[. . .]
You know there will be layoffs, and while current year manufacture might not be affected. God help them if they have to retool a part thanks to recall. I remember in '92 (not long after Ford bought control of Mazda) the Probes of that year (built by Mazda) had a bad run of vehicle speed sensors. They started going bad a couple months in (December '91 -January '92) and the recall began shortly after. Some cars were inoperative for months until capacity could catch up with demand.
Also something to ponder, the American taxpayer will probably have to pick up the tab for Delphi's pension commitment.
[. . .]
Delphi, which lost $4.8 billion last year, said that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) could take over the company's pension obligations, but the federal agency might not guarantee the full amount. For a retiree under age 65, the maximum benefit is $1,710.51 per month or $20,526.12 per year, an amount lower than the typical payout to Delphi workers.
[. . .]
This could be the beginning of the end of GM. Look for Buick and Pontiac to go the way of the Oldsmobile shortly, probably within 5 years.
[Cross-posted at TF&G]
Fucking fish
The irrepressable scientist, PZ Myers worries for the wingnuts' health, being so tight-assed and all . . .
[. . .]
Wasn't that beautiful and fun? I suspect my fish are also happier and better adjusted than any gang of repressed Puritans you can find.
[. . .]
It's also a good marker. When my fish stop having sex every day, I know that they are feeling stressed or ill or exhausted or aren't getting their proper nutrition...
Pussies or Tools?
You decide:
There was a time when I respected CBS News. It was a long time ago.
[. . .]
But what is really troubling about this story, aside from the chutzpah of someone like Freeh accusing anyone else of going easy on the Saudis, is the agenda shown by CBS News in going after Clinton on this story, given that they were ready to air this story tonight without a rebuttal and without talking to anyone who was at the meeting in question. You see, CBS News was ready to air this story tonight on Freeh's claims, when it turns out that Freeh himself wasn't even at the meeting wherein he claims that Clinton asked the Saudis for a contribution and went easy on them regarding the Khobar Towers bombing. And worse yet, Mike Wallace was told that there were at least five people who attended the meeting who could dispute Freeh's allegations, and he was also told that Freeh wasn't even at the meeting himself. Yet Wallace, "60 Minutes", and CBS News were ready to put the smear on Clinton tonight anyway. [my em]
[. . .]
There was a time when I respected CBS News. It was a long time ago.
Hat tip: Atrios
Sunday, October 9, 2005
Advice for Dems
Driftglass via the Church:
I wanted to blog about this in the morning, but I had this dull ache at the base of my skull.
[. . .]
And he [NBC's Chris Matthews] signs off crabbing that the Dems aren't offering a better choice. Iraq has been a disaster of Clancy proportions, and is quickly spiraling into the Biblical, and Matthews wants to carp that the Dems aren't stepping up and taking one in the teeth to give the country an alternative.
[. . .]
Now that every quibble has turned out to be the ugly truth, and every Republican tout has turned out to be lies and treason, Quisling Press hacks like Matthews would be well-advised to Shut The Fuck Up about nagging Democrats about what we should and should not do.
[. . .]
I wanted to blog about this in the morning, but I had this dull ache at the base of my skull.
More light reading
E.J. Dionne via the Green Knight:
As Gord said below, maybe some of the Kool-Aid is wearing off.
Now we know: President Bush's supporters are prepared to be thoroughly hypocritical when it comes to religion. They'll play religion up or down, whichever helps them most in a political fight.
[. . .]
Let's be clear: It is pro-administration conservatives, not those terrible liberals, who are making an issue of Miers's evangelical faith. Liberals are not opposing Miers because she is an evangelical. Conservatives are telling their friends to support Miers because she is an evangelical.
There is, however, some good news. A significant number of conservatives are outraged over the administration's look-at-her-faith campaign. I was first tipped off to the White House's pious strategy earlier this week by a prominent conservative who is very sympathetic to people of faith but angry at what he sees as the misuse of religion in the Miers battle. [my em]
[. . .]
As Gord said below, maybe some of the Kool-Aid is wearing off.
A little light Sunday reading...
Frank Rich
I hope what Daddy Frank is gettin' at is that the Kool-aid may be starting to wear off from at least a portion of the folks who voted for the Numbskull-in-Chief. Or maybe it's that there's only so much Denial before people start to realize what they've done and have to puke.
It's not a bad dream, folks. It's real. Very real. It's a weak president presided over by a corporate/criminal organization.
To understand why the right is rebelling against Harriet Miers, don't waste time boning up on her glory days with the Texas Lottery Commission. The real story in this dust-up is not the Supreme Court candidate, but the man who picked her. The Miers nomination, whatever its fate, will be remembered as the flashpoint when the faith-based Bush base finally started to lose faith in our propaganda president and join the apostate American majority.
Like most Bush fictions, the latest are driven less by ideology than by a desire to hide incompetence. But there's a self-destructive impulse at work as well. "The best way to get the news is from objective sources," the president told Brit Hume of Fox News two years ago. "And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what's happening in the world." Thus does the White House compound the sin of substituting propaganda for effective action by falling for the same spin it showers on the public.
Beware of leaders who drink their own Kool-Aid. The most distressing aspect of Mr. Bush's press conference last week was less his lies and half-truths than the abundant evidence that he is as out of touch as Custer was on the way to Little Bighorn. The president seemed genuinely shocked that anyone could doubt his claim that his friend is the best-qualified candidate for the highest court. Mr. Bush also seemed unaware that it was Republicans who were leading the attack on Ms. Miers. "The decision as to whether or not there will be a fight is up to the Democrats," he said, confusing his antagonists this time much as he has Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
The administration's strategy for covering up embarrassing realities with fiction reached its purest expression two weeks ago when both Laura Bush and Karen Hughes were recruited to star in propagandistic television "reality" shows. In the first lady's case, this was literally so: she was dispatched to Biloxi to appear in an episode of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." The thinking seems to be that if Mrs. Bush helps one family on a hit reality series, perhaps no one will notice the reality that no-bid contracts and ineptitude have kept hundreds of thousands of other hurricane victims homeless indefinitely while taxpayers foot the bill for unused trailers and cruise ships.
Ms. Hughes took her act on the road in the Middle East. There she conducted a culturally tone-deaf "listening tour" in which she read her lines from briefing papers and tried to win hearts and minds by posing with little Arab kids as if they were interchangeable with the little black kids in Mr. Bush's "compassionate conservative" photo ops back home. She didn't seem to know that this stunt wouldn't even fly on Fox News anymore, let alone Al Jazeera.
This Saturday is supposed to bring new victories on both these troubled fronts: Oct. 15 is the day that Iraqis vote on their constitution and the day that the president set as a deadline for all hurricane victims to be moved out of shelters. Chances are that the number of Americans who still have faith that the light is at the end of either of these tunnels is identical to the number who believe Harriet Miers is the second coming of Antonin Scalia and that Tom Cruise has found true love.
I hope what Daddy Frank is gettin' at is that the Kool-aid may be starting to wear off from at least a portion of the folks who voted for the Numbskull-in-Chief. Or maybe it's that there's only so much Denial before people start to realize what they've done and have to puke.
It's not a bad dream, folks. It's real. Very real. It's a weak president presided over by a corporate/criminal organization.
Housekeeping
Some of you might notice the shield from 16th Special Operations Squadron has disappeared to be replaced with the AF Combat Control Patch in the right sidebar. I was hotlinking the pic from the Air Force website and they changed their layout. I had a pic of the combat control patch in my files so I uploaded it. No big deal but I know somebody's gonna ask.
Where are they now?
Remember Osama bin Forgotten? I bet you forgot about this guy too, President No WMD.
Yesterday's excuses
Mrs. F and yours truly were at the wedding of our oldest and closest friends' oldest daughter. (Say it a couple times, it works) Needless to say, we had far too much fun. It was wonderful, though I feel a bit old, because I've known these kids all their lives. An excellent coincidence, the wedding was held at the country club that's 2 blocks from my house. The car found its way home by itself.
Pics below the fold.
Pics below the fold.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)