Pig Out for Chanukah

Liquid Alert!

This was REALLY not kosher. A grocery store in Manhattan made a food faux pas, advertising hams as "Delicious for Chanukah."

A woman who saw the mistake over the weekend at the Balducci's store on 14th Street took pictures of the signs and posted them on her blog.

Jennifer Barton, director of marketing, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the signs were changed as soon as the error was noted.

She issued an apology on the company Web site, saying the company would be reviewing its employee training.

Boy, I'd like to be there for that!

Thanks to Fixer, I learned a new word for our Italian friends, and now I understand its etymology: Ginzo = Guinea + Bozo.

And by the way, I mean no offense to any ethnic group except Republicans.

OMG!

Late for work but I had to post this. I can't remember the last time I agreed with Andy Sullivan (mostly) so I had to post this:

...

This administration commits war-crimes, hides the evidence from federal law officers and the 9/11 Commission and then destroys the evidence completely. Give that some time to sink in.

Off to the shop ...

Dear Mitt,

Fuck you very much.

Fixer

"Bumper Sticker Politics"

Stolen from Sarah @ Corrente.

Update:

Montag has more good stuff.

Psychic Dog

Got this by e-mail from my old school pal Barb:

[A South Carolina farm wife called the local phone company to report her telephone failed to ring when her friends called--and that on the few occasions when it did ring, her dog always moaned right before the phone rang.

The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog and/or senile lady. He climbed a telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned and the telephone began to ring.

Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:
1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire with a steel chain and collar.
2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.
3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the number was called.
4. After a couple of jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate.
5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.

Which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by pissing and moaning. Just Thought you'd like to know.]

"...an oddly familiar pattern of deception"

Froomkin

President Bush changed the way he talked about Iran in August: He stopped making explicit assertions about the existence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program.

Bush yesterday said he was only briefed about the new estimate last week.

But a close examination of his word choice over the past year suggests that he learned something around August that got him to stop making claims that were apparently no longer supported by American intelligence.

Instead of directly condemning Iranian leaders for pursuing nuclear weapons, he started more vaguely accusing them of seeking the knowledge necessary to make such a weapon.

As he did that, he and the vice president accelerated their rhetorical efforts to persuade the public that the nuclear threat posed by Iran was grave and urgent. Bush even went so far in late August and October as to warn of the potential for a nuclear holocaust.

Indeed, a careful parsing of Bush's words indicates that, while not saying anything that could later prove to be demonstrably false, Bush left his listeners with what he likely knew was a fundamentally false impression. And he did so in the pursuit of a more muscular and possibly even military approach to a Middle Eastern country.

It's an oddly familiar pattern of deception.

Blogger Josh Marshall examines Bush's wording at that press conference and notes: "It's no longer the need to prevent the Iranians from getting the bomb. Now it's the necessity of 'preventing them from hav[ing] the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.'

"That's the tell.

"That change is no accident. He wants claims that will survive the eventual revelation of this new intelligence -- while also continuing to hype the imminence of the Iranian nuclear threat that his spy chiefs are telling him likely does not exist."

Much, much more. Please go read. Froomkin manages to nicely cram ten pounds of Bush's lies into a five-pound sack.

Check out the cartoon links at the bottom, too.

Outrage of the Day

Guardian UK

Arab-American paratrooper faces deportation after Afghan service

A highly decorated Arab-American sergeant in the US army, who is currently serving as a paratrooper in Afghanistan, faces deportation on his return to the United States because of an irregularity in his immigration papers.

Benkabbou came to the US from his native Morocco in 1987, and was granted permanent residency four years ago. But when he applied to become a naturalised US citizen in 2005 - by which time he was already serving in the army - immigration officials discovered that he had failed to register his first marriage and alleged that the ceremony had been arranged fraudulently to get him into the country.

The aggressive prosecution of the case has surprised immigration lawyers who point to a directive that advises officials against pressing to deport acting military personnel unless they have been involved in drug trafficking, crimes against children or violence, or unless they pose a danger to the public.

Benkabbou's irregularity over his marriage falls into no such categories.

His lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia, Paul Ford, said the only explanation he could find was that his client was a Muslim, "which sets off all the buzzers. There is no question that Arab-Americans are given a totally different treatment."

Ford said that Benkabbou had been accused of being a terrorist by officials from the immigration enforcement agency, ICE. "In court, ICE lawyers called Morocco a terrorist country, which I found astonishing."

It seems Immigration can't do anything about the alleged 12,000,000 illegal immigrants in this country, but their eagle-eyed pencil-pushers seem to have plenty of time to fuck with a serving US Army Sergeant who has served honorably in a war zone over a little glitch in his papers. Ask him to explain? Nooooo - try him with an eye toward deportation. After all, an ARAB with a supposed anomaly in his paperwork FOR 20 YEARS must be a deep-plant terrorist. Also, I wouldn't doubt that a paratrooper might have knowledge of firearms and explosives. Yep, terrorist.

Those fucking morons.

I'll bet this gets ironed out before it goes to trial. The Immigration idiot who came up with this brain fart is picking the flyshit outta the pepper, but it's indicative of an anti-Arab, anti-Muslim mindset that needs to be dealt with. Maybe some national leadership would help. Yeah, like that'll happen any time soon.

Just as an aside, as I was preparing to do this post, I went to get a cup of coffee and I was gone long enough that my 'My Pictures' screensaver came on. When I got back to my set, there was my favorite paratrooper Lurch grinning at me. It was like "Death From Above" gave me a blessing.

Bonus: Check out Sergeant Benkabbou's Unit History.

Quote of the Day

NZ Herald with one reaction to the NIE:

"People are relieved that World War III is on hold," [...]

I'd be a lot more 'relieved' if The Dick's heart would 'mushroom cloud'.

Let Us Spray

Checkpoint Jerusalem

A little girl with pigtails in a pink dress has an Israeli soldier standing spread-eagle against a wall as she frisks him for weapons.

Down the street, an Israeli soldier has stopped a donkey and is checking his ID.

Nearby, a large rat holding a slingshot looks as if he is prepared to launch a few stones at Israel's towering concrete wall separating Bethlehem from Israel.

Welcome to Santa's Ghetto, a new artistic/political collaboration led by the celebrated/infamous/mysterious British artist known as Banksy.

This year, Banksy returned with an artistic posse and decided to bring Santa's Ghetto to Bethlehem as a way to highlight the political situation.

"If it's safe enough for a bunch of sissy artists then it's safe enough for anyone," he told The Times of London.

Sissy artists indeed!

Go see this. You'll like it.

Evel Redux

Last Saturday Fixer posted the most viewed bad landing in history, with a little blurb on how Evel Knievel inspired him to do foolish things which, thankfully, Fixer survived. Newsweek expands on that a little, including a video of a jump that actually succeeded, like most of them did.

If you're a man of a certain age, then you spent a lot of Sunday afternoons building ramps and wearing capes and trying to be the first on the block to jump over your labrador retriever. Or maybe you spent some time in an emergency room because your banana seat bike--the one with the sparkly flag seat--almost made it from the roof of the garage to the cow pond. When it was all over and the stitches were in place and the arms set, your mom had one man to blame: Robert Craig Knievel, Jr., aka, "Evel Knievel," every 12-year-old boy's man crush, circa 1974.

I'm a little older than that, so I wasn't tempted to do crazy shit like that, but I sure enjoyed the shit out of Evel Knievel.

Evel is now considered the 'father' of extreme sports. One of the big deals these days is the mid-air loop-the-loop on a motorcycle. It takes a pair to do that, sure, but I'd love to see the kids try it on a 650 Triumph or a Harley-Davidson XR750 like Evel jumped. Heh...

Go watch a few minutes of the movie and the poor quality will inspire you to go rent it.

Yeah, why? - Fixer edition

Digby asks:

...

Perhaps we need to start asking ourselves not only why so many conservative Republicans are perverts and hypocrites, but why they are so drawn to politics as a profession? I had always thought that a good number of the pedophiles who joined the priesthood did because they knew it was safe. Who would ever suspect the moralistic and sexually conservative church? Is it possible that perverts and hypocrites are joining Republican politics for the same reason?

Digby documents yet another Rethug going to jail for molesting little kids. I tell ya, over the last few years I've lost count of how many of these guys have been busted. Hell, even the term "wide-stance" has made it into the blogger lexicon. WTF? Crooks, racists, and pedophiles; your Republican Party for the 21st Century. Why we haven't deemed the whole damn party a criminal organization by now is beyond me. The Mafia is jealous.

***

And just an unrelated note: My blogging will be iffy from now until next week, I think. We're leaving for Germany next Friday and we're scrambling to tie up a buncha loose ends before we go. I'm almost certain I'll have a connection to the intarweb tubes over there (or I'll steal my nephew's computer) so I should be in contact when I get there. And if you all think I'm fucked up, wait until you meet my family. Heh ...

Quote of the Day

From a piece at Media Matters on the whining, moaning, bitching, complaining, snivelling, and blaming what passes for 'media' of wingnut bloggers about the presidential 'debates':

These GOP bloggers are so afraid of democracy that they spend their days and nights blaming the press for allowing it to take place.

Yeah, the wingnut pansies would get rid of it if they could. News flash: Try as they might, they're not going to pull it off. Period.

Insanity Defense

Folks, between the NIE deal and Rove's outrageous lies, this shit is just too easy. I'm having a great week and I hope you are too. I never thought it would be this much fun watching the whole Repug/neocon/war an' fearmongerin'/lyin' sack o' crap regime come apart at the seams! Heh.

Go ahead and click. Even if he throws that coat open, it won't be any bigger!

Wasn't there a New York Mafioso a few years ago who went around drooling and babbling so the law would think he was crazy and not fuck with him? It didn't work for him and it ain't gonna work for Turdblossom either.

Nice rendering of his Jag, though.

Magic Carpet Ride

Is that a Persian rug? Oh, my...

Never Right

Digby's got a good piece on the NIE and the neocons, sums up good in two quotes:

It's a very useful rule of thumb in foreign affairs to simply assume that the neocons are wrong no matter what, because they are always wrong about everything. [...]

The real question is why anyone ever takes them seriously about anything.

I think the answer to that one lies in the fact that they will call you a traitor if you don't agree with their insanity, and the press & pundits can't take it, so they give them moral equivalence to people whose views should actually count for something, and the attendant pulpit of air time to spread their shit. Cowards. A coupla schoolyard lessons the highly-paid gasbags apparently never learned are a) stand up for your principles (assuming you have any), and b) laugh at a bully and then hit him back harder than he hit you. When you go into a fight never ever worry about what might happen to you. Concentrate entirely on what you are going to do to prevail.

Update:

Scholars & Rogues on Giuliani adviser (proving once and for all that Rudy is out of his fuckin' mind) Podhoretz' views on the intel weenies in the wake of the NIE:

In essence, it seems to me that Mr. Podhoretz sought to lob a very large grenade at those responsible for the NIE. Unfortunately, like a certain cartoon coyote we all know, he seems to have lobbed the pin instead.

Heh. I can just see those huge white eyeballs with their little teeny pupils staring out forlornly from a blackened smoking neocon...

Live Vodka-Blogging

The Rude Pundit breaks out the 'tater squeezins fer the Chimp's press conference:

10:05: First question and it's right into the National Intelligence Estimate on how Iran ain't buildin' nukes. Bush says, "We know that they're still trying to learn how to enrich uranium, we know that enriching uranium is an important step in a country whose desire is to..." Holy Christ, we're down to Iran gaining knowledge as a way of defining their evil evilness? He views the report as a warning signal that they could "restart" the program. Man, he's got no enthusiasm for this Iran discussion. It's like he thrust his hard-on in Laura's face and she just slapped that Vienna sausage out of her way.

10:09: David Gregory is going for Bush's nutsack: Are you hyping the Iranian threat? "I was made aware of the NIE last week." Apparently, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell didn't tell Bush what the new information was, just that there was new information. What the fuck? Is he the goddamn President or the low girl on the text message circle about whether or not the new hot boy at school is gay?

10:11: Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge to make a weapon, he reiterates. What the fuck does that even mean? No, really, what the fuck?

10:12: George W. Bush giving advice on how the world can remain peaceful is not unlike a lion with gum disease telling an antelope to slow the fuck down so they can just talk.

10:22: If you're keeping your vodka in the freezer, a handy tip is to make sure that the cap is tight on the bottle. Otherwise, any odors in there will get into the taste. You could also keep your freezer clean.

10:24: Bush is talking about the old days of mortgages like everyone had the power to go to the bank to re-negotiate rates. Which was awesome if you were white and middle class in 1962.

10:28: Disturbing things you never want to hear your President say: "Here's why it's hard."

I gave up vodka a while back. Now I think I'm hooked on bleach...

10:36: Disturbing things you never want to hear your President say, part 2: On the campaign plane, "My friend Candy Crowley passed a virus around."

'Nuther slug o' Clorox...

Whoa, methinks he just stormed off. Angry that the reporters would dare think he's not been working to make sure their families are not nuked by non-existent Iranian weapons. Don't we get it? He's right. Everyone else in the world and in half of his administration and Congress is wrong. And if we can't see his innate rightness, then we can all go fuck ourselves.

Now, someone tell the Rude Pundit why anyone anywhere should trust this man?

Due to not enough bandwith in the Universe to answer that, I'll just assume it was a rhetorical question.

Of course ...

This was gonna happen. Thanks to the lying and obfuscating by this government, the insane Persian nitwit is crowing like a rooster at sunrise:

TEHRAN, Iran - A new U.S. intelligence review concluding Iran stopped developing an atomic weapons program in 2003 is a "declaration of victory" for Iran's nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday.

...

What can we say? Yes, our President is a lying, war-mongering moron? True to form though, this administration pulls something out of its ass:

...

[SECSTATE] Rice declined to respond to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remark, but told reporters in the Ethiopian capital that the public release of the National Intelligence Estimate showed the Bush administration was committed to transparent democracy, while Iran was not.

...

Yup, gotta love that transparent democracy. When was the NIE supposed to be released? February?

Rules of Thumb ...

Digby:

...

It's a very useful rule of thumb in foreign affairs to simply assume that the neocons are wrong no matter what, because they are always wrong about everything.

...

Because now that the NIE is out, they're all screaming it's an anti-Bush plot by the CIA.

I think the pshrinks have a name for this. Paranoid-schizophrenia.

Here's why ...

Cheney didn't want the NIE released:

Oil has fallen below $88 a barrel, losing ground after a US report downplaying Iran's nuclear ambitions had eased geopolitical concerns.

...

As long as the tension remains high, so do oil prices. His portfolio musta taken a hit this week. Heh ...

Yeah, Why?

The Last Chance Democracy Cafe poses the Question Of The Day: why did Bush allow the NIE to be released?

Here’s my best guess: facing open revolt from the Joint Chiefs of Staff against any offensive military move against Iran (because the military is already stretched to the breaking point), Bush found himself in a pickle. For months he’s been pushing the Iran bogeyman. How could he back out now? The NIE was his ticket out.

There are some links and 19 responses so far at the site. The following one is kinda what I was thinking:

Finally, someone was getting ready to leak the truth and the “Administration” had to beat them to the punch or have it look even worse than it does. He wouldn’t care about rebellion behind the scenes, it would just mean more people retiring to “have more family time”.

Their House of Lies is falling in on them and these cockroaches are running for cover.

We may never really know, but it's good that the NIE is out. There's no shame, embarrassment, or admission of mistakes or wrongdoing in this administration, so they'll just spin the shit out of this like they do everything else. Lies upon lies.

Perhaps their plans to deepen the hole they've got us into are slowed a little. Assuming (Ha!) they plan to leave office according to the Law (Ha!), we're playing for time now. Run, clock, run!