Immigration

Stolen from Michael Stickings:

So long, Snotty

Seems Snot and Snow are out. PSoTD called it:

...Presidential press secretary Scott McClellan and Treasury Secretary John Snow could be next in a shake-up in the Bush administration, according to White House and GOP sources...

Just like Andy Card, it won't make a difference, 'cept we might get a better liar at the daily press briefings. Swapping a couple yes-men for two more won't change anything.

Livin' large

Via Holden. What's worse than a 'tax and spend Democrat'?

WASHINGTON - Federal spending is outstripping economic growth at a rate unseen in more than half a century, provoking some conservatives to complain that government under Republican control has gotten too big.

The federal government is currently spending 20.8 cents of every $1 the economy generates, up from 18.5 cents in 2001, White House budget documents show. That's the most rapid growth during one administration since Franklin Roosevelt.

...

John and Jerry

Paul Krugman on McCain and Falwell, via Peking Duck:

Just to be clear: this is a free country, and Mr. Falwell has a right to say what he thinks, even if his views include the belief that other people, by saying what they think, brought down God's wrath on America. By the same token, any political party has a right to include Mr. Falwell and his supporters, just as any politician has a right to make a political alliance with Mr. Falwell.

But if you choose to make common cause with religious extremists, you are accepting some responsibility for their extremism. By welcoming Mr. Falwell and people like him as members of their party, Republicans are saying that it's O.K. - not necessarily correct, but O.K. - to declare that 9/11 was America's punishment for its tolerance of abortion and homosexuality, that Islam is a terrorist religion, and that Jews can't go to heaven. And voters should judge the Republican Party accordingly.

No shit.

Time to bail, but...

Juan Cole on the deteriorating situation in Iraq.

Spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Immigration Sattar Nawruz maintains that 1,000 Iraqis are being displaced from their homes every day, and that 40,000 have been displaced since the bombing of the Askariyah Shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22. That is a rate of 365,000 a year, or a million persons displaced over three years if it is kept up. I initially greeted these enormous figures with some skepticism, but I'm beginning to think that there is something to them, and that a sea change has occurred in Iraq, which has moved further toward full-scale civil war.

Just what we need in this situation -- more Iraqis than ever are packing heat. And, , the FT reprints an LA Times piece by Megan Stack saying, they are forming ever more neighborhood militias to counter the Shiite ones. I saw this sort of thing happen in Lebanon in the mid-1970s. The subsequent fighting went on for a decade and a half.

Peter N. Kirstein argues for a complete and total and immediate US withdrawal from Iraq. That would be fine with me, but only if somebody can help provice stability to the place. It isn't just going to be all right. Iraq is not Vietnam, where there was a clear nationalist-Communist force that was relatively popular and could take over everywhere. It is more like Lebanon or the Balkans. Nor is it like Vietnam in the sense that its falling apart would have few international consequences. The neighbors could be drawn into a new regional war (a proxy war between Wahhabi Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran is possible). And if the oil installations and pipelines in the Gulf started being bombed, the world economy could go into a tailspin. I do agree with Kirstein that Cheney's nightmare of a terrorist al-Qaeda mini-state in Anbar province is impossible. Iran, Turkey, Syria and Jordan would not put up with it, and they are powerful enough to put paid to any such thing in their neighborhood

Much more and many good comments.

It gives me a great idea! If we can re-direct all our illegal immigrants to Iraq...Win-win!

Jill Carroll

I wasn't going to say anything (because everyone else has) but the Rude One bears repeating:

You know what's fuckin' funny? Thinking about what, say, Jonah Goldberg would have done with a gun in his face after being kidnapped from the streets of Baghdad after he just saw his translator shot dead. That pissant little bitch would have shit himself and begged to be filmed blowing the lead kidnapper, pausing only to shout into the camera, "I loves me some mujahideen cock; now please rape my Jew ass, Osama." For, indeed, it seems that for Goldberg, John Podhoretz, and other scumsucking reactionaries, Carroll would not be a traitor to America only if she had ripped off her veil and yelled, "Lick my clit, you stinky Allah-fuckers" before she was wasted. Then she'd've been a hero and we could make up wonderful, splendiferous lies about her.

...

That's about right.

"We'll get some lions and feed them..."

Bill Maher goes off on Scapegoats and the "War on Christianity" at C & L. I might have to get HBO!

Heh...

Telegraph (UK)

He said it. Jack Straw really did say it.

There he was standing before some 200 dignitaries in Blackburn, the cameras were rolling and Condoleezza "Condi" Rice was listening attentively.

As he introduced his guest, the Foreign Secretary held up a copy of a local newspaper and read out the headline: "Condom...er, Condi Comes to the Centre of the World".

Careful - wouldn't wanta 'rubber' the wrong way!

Where's that 'good news'?

Iraq is becoming a country that America should be ashamed to support, let alone occupy. The nation as a whole is sliding closer to open civil war. In its capital, thugs kidnap and torture innocent civilians with impunity, then murder them for their religious beliefs. The rights of women are evaporating. The head of the government is the ally of a radical anti-American cleric who leads a powerful private militia that is behind much of the sectarian terror.

...

Can you smell the freedom? Can you see the democracy happening?

...

It was chilling to read Edward Wong's interview with the Iraqi prime minister in The Times last week, during which Mr. Jaafari sat in the palace where he now makes his home, complained about the Americans and predicted that the sectarian militias that are currently terrorizing Iraqi civilians could be incorporated into the army and police. The stories about innocent homeowners and storekeepers who are dragged from their screaming families and killed by those same militias are heartbreaking, as is the thought that the United States, in its hubris, helped bring all this to pass.

...

Too bad the Times couldn't put out an editorial like this before the '04 Elections. That damned liberal media.

Good thing we tossed Saddam out though, wasn't it? I mean things are so much better, right? Look at all the shit we're doing over there:

BAGHDAD -- A reconstruction contract for the building of 142 primary health centers across Iraq is running out of money, after two years and roughly $200 million, with no more than 20 clinics now expected to be completed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says.

...

We sure live up to our promises. At this point, how anyone can support what we're doing in Iraq is beyond me.

Great thanks to Maru for the NYT link and memeorandum for the WaPo link.

A little late

For the lightbulb to go on:

Now that the GOP has been transformed by the rise of the South, the trauma of terrorism and George W. Bush's conviction that God wanted him to be president, a deeper conclusion can be drawn: The Republican Party has become the first religious party in U.S. history.

...

I could have told you that close to 15 years ago, when I left the Republican Party for just that reason. That's when 'Newt and the Boys' started talking 'moral and family values', code words for the Jesus freaks, letting them know he's their boy.

...

Over a quarter-century of Bush presidencies and vice presidencies, the Republican Party has slowly become the vehicle of all three interests -- a fusion of petroleum-defined national security; a crusading, simplistic Christianity; and a reckless credit-feeding financial complex. The three are increasingly allied in commitment to Republican politics. On the most important front, I am beginning to think that the Southern-dominated, biblically driven Washington GOP represents a rogue coalition, like the Southern, proslavery politics that controlled Washington until Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860.

...

These guys would bring back slavery now if they could. The GOP is the party of racists and thieves.

The Cleeks Trippon Nippon

Mr. and Mrs. Cleek are in Japan for their tenth anniversary present to themselves. They are posting some excellent photos and descriptions of their trip. It's quite long, with a few more days to go. Don't miss it!!

Gen. Zinni

Zinni: ...I heard the case being built to go to war right away- I was hearing a depiction of the intelligence that didn't fit what I knew. There was no solid proof that I ever saw that Saddam had WMD....

C&L of course.

April Two'll

From The Satirical Political Report

For those of you who may have missed it, the news program "Lou Dobbs Tonight" suddenly went "dark" last week, after the Immigration and Naturalization Service burst into the studio and arrested his cameraman.

Also, as part of the ongoing immigration debate, Congress gave tentative approval to a "Guess? Workers' Program," in recognition of the reality that the Government doesn't have a faith-based prayer of keeping track of who's coming and who's going.

Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney of Georgia charged today that she was asked to take a screening test for Sickle Cell Anemia - just because she's black.

And finally, on Meet The Press today, Tim Russert confronted John McCain with conclusive documentary evidence establishing that the Arizona Senator used to be sane.

Sorry I'm a day late.

Strangle that censure baby...

Inside Rove's Diary:

In short, we've got to win in November (Memo to Self: Be sure to call our friends over at Diebold and Sequoia), which is why we've got to squash Russboy's censure resolution real quick before it gains any traction. Thank God the Demoncrats are such jellyfish, backing away from Feingold as quickly as they can swim. If we can make the public think it's just a few weird liberals and pro-terrorist bloggers behind censure, we're home free.

But if the public fails to take that bait, the Dems' censure ploy might tempt more GOP moderates and conservatives to jump ship, and censure might even lead to impeachment. I say strangle this little sucker right now in its crib; don't even take the risk it might grow up.

But if none of that works, there's no way I'm going into the slammer. Even though it will smell to high heaven, Bushboy will simply have to pardon us pre-emptively and stop the case in its tracks. Poppy Bush did it with Cap Weinberger in Iran-Contra and got away with it, so why not Dim Son?

Sure, the Demoncrats will yell and scream, but what the hell can they do about it if they remain in the minority and the mainstream media remains pretty much in our control? The Dems are quite aware of our political and criminal liability in so many areas, but they don't have the legislative tools, or the balls, to try to stop us.

Go read the rest. It's probably not very far off his actual wording.

If I had a hammer...

Bush spreading freedom and democracy.

McKinney...again

[Note:I was gonna put this in 'comments' on my original post but it got long.]

I wrote yesterday:

...She should have worn proper identification and there would have been no problem. There are 435 members of Congress and the police can't be expected to know them all on sight. If wearing a pin was all that was needed or, in lieu of that, her being asked for ID (which I believe the cop was trying to do), this situation never would have arisen...

Ah, but I have to rebut myself:

In August 1993, during her first term in office, a Capitol Hill police officer tried to prevent her from bypassing a metal detector, as members of Congress are allowed to do. For years afterward, The Hill reports, the Capitol Police pinned a picture of McKinney to an office wall, warning officers to learn her face because she refuses to wear her member's pin. (And because officers are innately suspicious of a black woman with braided hair and gold shoes.) Five years later, she blasted White House security after guards thought her 23-year-old white aide was the congresswoman. [my em]

So, the cops should have known McKinney on sight, probably more than any other Member of Congress. She still shouldn't have whacked the cop, but reading this, it looks like the cop was either stupid or trying to fuck with her (that wouldn't be unheard of).

My bad.

But then it begs the question, why is the DCPD taking particular pleasure in messing with this woman? Because she's black, a woman, a black woman, a Dem, or a pain in the ass who's a bit eccentric? Or was this just a case of a cop not getting the memo (although a 13 year history makes that unlikely)? I don't know but I would like to. I'd like to hear what the cops say about it besides this:

...

Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said only that senior officials have been made aware of the incident and are investigating.

...

Done deal?

The Government is to hold secret talks with defence chiefs tomorrow to discuss possible military strikes against Iran.

A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence at which senior defence chiefs and government officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran.

It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme. [my em]

...

So, Blair and Bush are doing the same things they did before Iraq began. If this comes off, nothing will be safe anymore. 'Endless war' will become a reality and we will see a terrorism problem unequaled previously. How much you wanna bet this happens before Election Day?

Thanks to pessimist for the link.

Friday Sunday Cattle Dog Blogging

Just because I got this pic of my two girls. As you can see, the Mrs. is doing much better.

McKinney

So you've all heard this:

Cynthia McKinney, the Georgia congresswoman who had an altercation with a Capitol Police officer, said yesterday that the officer started the incident by "inappropriately touching and stopping" her after she walked past a security checkpoint.

McKinney, speaking at a news conference where she was joined by singer Harry Belafonte and actor Danny Glover, said she understands that a case against her may be referred for prosecution but declared that she will be exonerated.

...

And I read Aravosis:

...

I'm sorry, but what a pitiful excuse for a Democrat. Yes, let's cry racism and sexism and Democratism, I guess you'd call it, because a cop didn't recognize you and you decided to not even wear your member of Congress pin, or turn around when the cop called out to you while we're at war. Next time, it'll be better if the cop lets strangers without their pins just barge into the halls of Congress, bypass security, and oh blow the hell out of the entire building because they're afraid the person they stop might be - what? - a Democrat?

...

And also John Emerson:

...

John Aravosis of Americablog, normally one of my favorite blogs, just posted an intemperate and unjustified slam at Rep. Cynthia McKinney, NOW, and the NAACP. The issue was McKinney's recent altercation with the capitol police. Aravosis and several commenters went completely out of control, as did Neil Boortz. I don't know enough about the specifics of the case to be sure what I think, but neither did Aravosis.

...

And Pam has Neal Boortz:

...

BOORTZ: No, it's not braided. It just flies away from her head in every conceivable direction. It looks like an explosion in a Brillo pad factory. It's just hideous. To me, that hairstyle just shows contempt for -- no, it's not an Afro. I mean, no, it just shows contempt for the position that she holds and the body that she serves in. And, I'm sorry, there's just no other way to -- it's just a hideous and horrible looking --

...

Number one, Boortz is a simple-minded, racist idiot. That said, I'm going with Aravosis on this. McKinney provoked the confrontation, knowingly or not. She should have worn proper identification and there would have been no problem. There are 435 members of Congress and the police can't be expected to know them all on sight. If wearing a pin was all that was needed or, in lieu of that, her being asked for ID (which I believe the cop was trying to do), this situation never would have arisen. Ask Al Sharpton about a young woman named Tawana Brawley and how playing the race card when it's unjustified affects your credibility. I also think Emerson, much as I like him, went a bit overboard putting Aravosis in the same league as Boortz.

Uh...never mind...

Condi must have read Gord's post last night:

BLACKBURN, England (CNN) -- One day after Condoleezza Rice said the United States made possibly "thousands" of tactical mistakes in the war against Iraq, the secretary of state says she was speaking "figuratively, not literally."

...

How, please tell me how, this woman got a doctorate? She has got to be one of the dumbest things on two legs.