Monday, October 23, 2006
Tinfoil coal-scuttle helmet time
From Wonkette, who has many links and a picture of Gregory Peck in The Boys From Brazil. Heh.
Could they be seeing an all-expense-paid one-way trip to The Hague in the handwriting on the wall? Hmmmm...
Go read the rest. It's fun.
And from Telugu Portal:
Lemme see, UNICEF has to do with children, doesn't it? Could her sudden interest be in gaining access to youthful, if reluctant, organ donors...? 41 is over 80, after all...
Mrs. G tells me that the other bimbo twin, Not Jenna, is studying medicine. Could her interest possibly lie in the organ transplant or identity-obscuring plastic surgery fields? Hmmmm....
Must go now. Thunderstorm approaching...must remove hat...
We Hate To Bring Up the Nazis, But They Fled To South America, Too
Our paranoid friends over at Bring It On have put together a story that hasn't exactly made Washington Whispers. It's real short and real simple:
* The Cuban news service reports that George W. Bush has purchased 98,840 acres in Paraguay, near the Bolivian/Brazilian border.
* Jenna Bush paid a secret diplomatic visit to Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte and U.S. Ambassador James Cason. There were no press conferences, no public sightings and no official confirmation of her 10-day trip which apparently ended this week.
* The Paraguayan Senate voted last summer to "grant U.S. troops immunity from national and International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction."
* Immediately afterwards, 500 heavily armed U.S. troops arrived with various planes, choppers and land vehicles at Mariscal Estigarribia air base, which happens to be at the northern tip of Paraguay near the Bolivian/Brazilian border. More have reportedly arrived since then.
What the hell, after the jump. Plus a BREAKING UPDATE involving, of course, The Moonies!
Here's a fun question for Tony Snow: Why might the president and his family need a 98,840-acre ranch in Paraguay protected by a semi-secret U.S. military base manned by American troops who have been exempted from war-crimes prosecution by the Paraguyan government?
Could they be seeing an all-expense-paid one-way trip to The Hague in the handwriting on the wall? Hmmmm...
Go read the rest. It's fun.
And from Telugu Portal:
Jenna Bush, daughter of US President George W. Bush, is recently into a lot of humanitarian work.
According to pagesix.com, Jenna, who has been seen less at social gatherings and parties, was recently in Paraguay on a 10-day UNICEF trip as a volunteer. Currently, she is in Panama doing her internship with the organisation.
Lemme see, UNICEF has to do with children, doesn't it? Could her sudden interest be in gaining access to youthful, if reluctant, organ donors...? 41 is over 80, after all...
Mrs. G tells me that the other bimbo twin, Not Jenna, is studying medicine. Could her interest possibly lie in the organ transplant or identity-obscuring plastic surgery fields? Hmmmm....
Must go now. Thunderstorm approaching...must remove hat...
The "new" Nixon
Heh ... Digby:
...
"I want peace as much as you do." - Richard Nixon, 11/3/69
"No one wants to end the war in Iraq more than I do." - Joe Lieberman,
10/18/06
"Many others -- I among them -- have been strongly critical of the way
the war has been conducted." - Richard Nixon, 11/3/69
"I have been very critical of a lot of the mistakes the Bush
administration has made in Iraq." - Joe Lieberman, 10/18/06
...
You know, now that I think of it there is a lot about Joe's smarmy, self-righteousness that reminds me of Dick Nixon.
...
"Make nice", shit. Stomp 'em!
Paul Krugman via Donkey O.D.
I think it could be done after a beer party followed by a group piss at the Repugs' graveside service.
Please go read the rest.
Now that the Democrats are strongly favored to capture at least one house of Congress, they're getting a lot of unsolicited advice, with many people urging them to walk and talk softly if they win.
I hope the Democrats don't follow this advice - because it's bad for their party and, more important, bad for the country. In the long run, it's even bad for the cause of bipartisanship.
There are those who say that a confrontational stance will backfire politically on the Democrats. These are by and large the same people who told Democrats that attacking the Bush administration over Iraq would backfire in the midterm elections. Enough said.
What the make-nice crowd wants most of all is for the Democrats to forswear any investigations into the origins of the Iraq war and the cronyism and corruption that undermined it. But it's very much in the national interest to find out what led to the greatest strategic blunder in American history, so that it won't happen again.
What's more, the public wants to know. A large majority of Americans believe both that invading Iraq was a mistake, and that the Bush administration deliberately misled us into war. And according to the Newsweek poll, 58 percent of Americans believe that investigating contracting in Iraq isn't just a good idea, but a high priority; 52 percent believe the same about investigating the origins of the war.
Why, then, should the Democrats hold back? Because, we're told, the country needs less divisiveness. And I, too, would like to see a return to kinder, gentler politics. But that's not something Democrats can achieve with a group hug and a chorus of "Kumbaya."
I think it could be done after a beer party followed by a group piss at the Repugs' graveside service.
Please go read the rest.
Rah! Rah! Rah! Sis! Boom! Bah! Kim's got an A-Bomb! Vote for Us or Die!
Think Progress
Fat chance, sister!
Mr. Cirincione is too kind. I would have put the words "just further" in front of "evidence".
Well, if the administration liked NK's test, they'll get their rocks off when Iran does one, huh?
Go read. Many comments.
REPORT: Bush Officials Were 'Rooting' For North Korea to Test Nuclear Weapon
Senior Bush administration officials wanted North Korea to test a nuclear weapon because it would prove their point that the regime must be overthrown.
This astonishing revelation was buried in the middle of a Washington Post story published yesterday. Glenn Kessler reports from Moscow as he accompanies Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:Before North Korea announced it had detonated a nuclear device, some senior officials even said they were quietly rooting for a test, believing that would finally clarify the debate within the administration.
Until now, no U.S. official in any administration has ever advocated the testing of nuclear weapons by another country, even by allies such as the United Kingdom and France.
One of these officials may have been Rice herself, Kessler hints. Rice, he reports, "has come close to saying the test was a net plus for the United States." Rice has been trying to counter the prevailing view that the test was a failure of the Bush administration's policy.
Fat chance, sister!
The revelation that some officials secretly wanted North Korea to test their nuclear weapons is evidence of how the administration's national security policy has become completely divorced from reality.
Mr. Cirincione is too kind. I would have put the words "just further" in front of "evidence".
Well, if the administration liked NK's test, they'll get their rocks off when Iran does one, huh?
Go read. Many comments.
Bush family member kills cop, skates...
USA Today
Why doesn't that surprise me?
That doesn't surprise me either. Anyone else would have been.
Gee, three "no surprises" in a row!
I guess it's OK if you're a Bush family member for your royal carriage to mow down a peasant. I wonder if they'll bill the officer's family for damage to the SUV?
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - A police officer died Saturday, four days after being struck by a sport-utility vehicle driven by a federal judge, the mayor said.
Officer Dan Picagli, a 17-year veteran of the force, was hit while directing traffic in the rain Tuesday night. He had been wearing a black raincoat and a reflective vest.
The SUV was driven by John M. Walker Jr., a senior judge on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, who maintains court chambers in New Haven. He was leaving work when the accident happened, police said.
No charges have been filed.
Why doesn't that surprise me?
Police Chief Francisco Ortiz said the accident remained under investigation, but officers did not feel it was necessary to test Walker for drugs or alcohol.
That doesn't surprise me either. Anyone else would have been.
Walker, 65, voluntarily stepped down this month as chief judge of the court. He was appointed to the court in 1989 by President George H.W. Bush, who is a cousin of the judge.
Gee, three "no surprises" in a row!
I guess it's OK if you're a Bush family member for your royal carriage to mow down a peasant. I wonder if they'll bill the officer's family for damage to the SUV?
Quote of the Day deux
"The invasion of Iraq was a war crime in and of itself. Once we crossed that line, once the balloon went up, everything else that happens after is also illegal. If you don't get it by now you never will." - Fixer
Oh, the Irony...
Ironic Times
James Baker to Recommend Alternative to "Stay the Course" Or "Cut and Run"
Most likely: "Sit and Spin" or "Shuck and Jive."
Joint Chiefs Chairman General Pace Says "The Good Lord" Tells Rumsfeld What to Do
Even God now going around Bush.
10,000-Year-Old Meteorite Found in Kansas
Rock fell to earth thousands of years before God Created it.
Playing Tag Banned at Some Elementary Schools
Limits also placed on gunplay.
Quote of the Day
TRex:
... Gay Republicans are as bad as Nazi collaborators. They are working with the people who would outlaw and exterminate their own kind. ...
You don't know ...
How many times I hear "we shoulda gone into Iraq and killed 'em all. We wouldn't have the problems over there we do now".
And I say "yes, instead of just attacking a sovereign nation and occupying it, we should have just gone there and committed genocide." Though that's what it's amounted to at this point, close to four years down the line.
I can't believe how many people think invading a nation that posed us no threat is justified. I can't believe that people are not angry about the invasion in itself, just the fact we fucked it up so badly. Do they think the Middle East is our private gunnery range? Do they think the guy in Iraq, who's doing nothing more than his counterpart here, trying to keep his job and put food on the table for his family, has any less of a right to live in peace than we do? Is the average Iraqi's life worth any less than an American one? If you don't understand why invading Iraq was wrong, I don't know what I can say to make you understand.
I think that's what bugs me the most. That people believe we have the right to do anything we want, destroy as many lives as we want, as long as we do it somewhere else.
Listen to me: The invasion of Iraq was a war crime in and of itself. Once we crossed that line, once the balloon went up, everything else that happens after is also illegal. If you don't get it by now you never will.
Personally, I don't give a shit about peoples' reasons for their animosity toward this President and Congress as long as they vote the corrupt bunch out on Election Day. It just gets me that people can disregard real American values so long as the shit doesn't splatter them. Most people in Germany didn't give a shit when they started dragging the Jews away either. Look what it got 'em.
And I say "yes, instead of just attacking a sovereign nation and occupying it, we should have just gone there and committed genocide." Though that's what it's amounted to at this point, close to four years down the line.
I can't believe how many people think invading a nation that posed us no threat is justified. I can't believe that people are not angry about the invasion in itself, just the fact we fucked it up so badly. Do they think the Middle East is our private gunnery range? Do they think the guy in Iraq, who's doing nothing more than his counterpart here, trying to keep his job and put food on the table for his family, has any less of a right to live in peace than we do? Is the average Iraqi's life worth any less than an American one? If you don't understand why invading Iraq was wrong, I don't know what I can say to make you understand.
I think that's what bugs me the most. That people believe we have the right to do anything we want, destroy as many lives as we want, as long as we do it somewhere else.
Listen to me: The invasion of Iraq was a war crime in and of itself. Once we crossed that line, once the balloon went up, everything else that happens after is also illegal. If you don't get it by now you never will.
Personally, I don't give a shit about peoples' reasons for their animosity toward this President and Congress as long as they vote the corrupt bunch out on Election Day. It just gets me that people can disregard real American values so long as the shit doesn't splatter them. Most people in Germany didn't give a shit when they started dragging the Jews away either. Look what it got 'em.
Hat tip to Atrios.
Bush is a lyin' sack o' shit. Duh.
Crooks and Liars
Go watch the video of that lyin' sonofabitch Bush tell George Stephanopoulos "We've never been about 'stay the course'". Also see him try and get us to think 'strategy' and 'tactics' are the same thing. What an asshole.
Go watch the video of that lyin' sonofabitch Bush tell George Stephanopoulos "We've never been about 'stay the course'". Also see him try and get us to think 'strategy' and 'tactics' are the same thing. What an asshole.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Baseball, apple pie ...
If you watched a sporting event this weekend you probably saw this Chevrolet commercial. Nothing I need to add to the Chemist's observations.
The George W. Bush Presidential Library
No, not the magazine shelf in the White House bathroom.
...
Such libraries typically begin with the early career -- in this case The Foggy Years, the heroic service in the Air National Guard, and the falling upward economically. A gallery could commemorate all the Texas businessmen who helped young George turn business blunders into windfalls.
...
Tip o' the Brain to Montag.
Christians are tired of being Repugs' bitches
From that commie pinko godless Librul mob of bolshevik bomb-throwers at Bloomberg:
D'ya suppose the christians have figured out that Dobson et al are lying to them?
And by the way, just what was Jesus' position on the Estate Tax?
If Republicans lose control of the U.S. Congress, the Supreme Court will be packed with abortion-backing liberals, tax dollars will pay for research on cloning to create "little human beings" for organ farming, and elementary-school teachers will be forced to promote homosexuality to their students.
That's the view and vision of James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, a nationwide, politically active evangelical group allied with the Republican Party. The moral future of America is at stake and "staying home" isn't an option, Dobson told 2,400 followers at an Oct. 16 get-out-the-vote rally at the Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville. "Folks, we cannot afford to do that."
"Rove certainly sees Dobson as the most important and politically influential evangelical leader," said Ryan Sager, author of "The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals and the Battle to Control the Republican Party." "Dobson is someone who the White House works with extremely closely and constantly."
His difficulties mirror the party's. The Nashville rally was almost canceled after organizers failed to sell the 6,000 tickets they needed to fill the city's Municipal Auditorium, forcing them to hold the event in the Two Rivers Church. Similar events in recent weeks in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Pittsburgh also drew smaller-than-anticipated crowds.
"Republicans take advantage of conservative Christian voters," said Lewis Lampley, 60, who attended the rally in Nashville. "They take our votes for granted."
D'ya suppose the christians have figured out that Dobson et al are lying to them?
And by the way, just what was Jesus' position on the Estate Tax?
The real stories
As with any war, it'll take a couple years for the real stories to seep out. Vets returning home relate them to family and friends and the stories make the rounds, of the details of battles too graphic for the news to cover, or those the military classified to avoid embarrassment, or worse. This might be horseshit or it might be one of those stories, the details of which will come out years later, when those responsible for the negligence or dereliction of duty or incompetence can no longer be harmed by them.
And just to add for it might not be obvious to all: If this story is true, the strategic implications for the U.S. are very worrisome, for our policy in the region and throughout the world.
And just to add for it might not be obvious to all: If this story is true, the strategic implications for the U.S. are very worrisome, for our policy in the region and throughout the world.
Thanks to Maru and Blah3 for the link.
100 Hours Redux
Following up on my Oct. 7 post, new polls find that most Americans agree with Nancy Pelosi. From Americablog via Raw Story:
I still think "President Pelosi" has a nice ring to it. So does "Federal Inmates Bush and Cheney".
Two weeks ago, Nancy Pelosi unveiled the Democratic agenda for their first 100 hours in power. Newsweek's latest poll shows strong, bi-partisan support for the Democratic plan:
Most worrisome for the president, should the Democrats retake one or both houses of Congress, the American public supports their proposed "First 100 Hours" agenda. An overwhelming majority says allowing the government to negotiate lower drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies should be a top priority for a Democratic Congress (74 percent, including 70 percent of Republicans); 68 percent want increasing the minimum wage to be a top priority, including 53 percent of Republicans; 62 percent want investigating impropriety by members of Congress to be a top priority; and 58 percent want investigating government contracts in Iraq to be a top priority. Fifty-two percent say investigating why we went to war in Iraq should be a top priority (25 percent say it should a lower priority and 19 percent say it shouldn't be done.)
When Pelosi announced the plan, she said she was going to "drain the swamp." It's looking more likely she'll get that chance. The Newsweek poll showed the generic numbers at 55% - 37% -- a commanding margin for the Democrats.
When the GOP loses, they will get even more ugly and more obstructionist. Clearly, the Democratic agenda resonates with the American people. They've had enough of the Republican agenda that has failed most Americans.
I still think "President Pelosi" has a nice ring to it. So does "Federal Inmates Bush and Cheney".
Wanna stay out of Iraq?
Stop paying your bills*:
... Thousands of U.S. troops are being barred from overseas duty because they are so deep in debt they are considered security risks. "We are seeing an alarming trend in degrading financial health." ...
*Please don't take it I am implying our troops are purposely going deeply into debt to avoid being sent to a war zone. Nor am I advocating anyone purposely should. The sad thing is our troops are getting into these situations because we treat them purely as cannon fodder and deck apes.
Aside from the obvious ...
The disrespect to the families notwithstanding, what bugs me about this is the fact there are some manholes in the Ground Zero area that haven't been opened in over five years. WTF? I mean, in a place so obsessed with security, one would assume every bit of downtown would have been searched ... more than once.
(New York - WABC, October 21, 2006) - There is late word that city officials on site Saturday did remove some material from manholes for further analysis by the city medical examiner.
Construction at Ground Zero continues as New York City officials vow to search parts of the World Trade Center site again for remains of the September 11 dead.
...
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