Bill Clinton = Ava Gardner?

Sounds good to me. Heh ...:

...

*Does this make Bill Clinton Ava Gardner? Strangely, I think it works.

...

"There are no international waters in the Straits of Hormuz"

War In Context on the further misadventures of Bush and The Battle Of Hormuz Strait.

[...] Even so, when Bush says “before its too late” to his Arab friends, most of them are probably taking comfort in completing that line with, “before its too late… for Bush to do anything about it.” He frets about only twelve months left on the clock — the rest of the world can’t wait for his term to end.

Witness the spectacle of an international “incident” that after a few days has devolved into a debate about a Filipino Monkey. The only comfort the White House can take from this drama is that the press never even noticed when the stage upon which it was set, came into question.

Iranian speedboats threatened US warships in international waters in the Straits of Hormuz. So far only one analyst — Kaveh L Afrasiabi, writing in Asia Times — has pointed out the most basic factual error in this account: there are no international waters in the Straits of Hormuz.

Let’s repeat that: there are no international waters in the Straits of Hormuz. The U.S. ships were in Iranian territorial waters exercising the “right of transit passage” afforded to them in international law by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which the United States has signed but which Congress has yet to ratify. This is why in the video of the incident, a U.S. naval officer can be heard saying, “I am engaged in transit passage in accordance with international law.”

Just one more fact about this incident conveniently left out of the public discourse in the administration's desperate longing to start another criminal, unnecessary war, damn Cheney's eyes.

Mitt Romney Defends Himself Against Allegations Of Tolerance

This is new, at least to me. The Onion News Network:


Mitt Romney Defends Himself Against Allegations Of Tolerance

John Edwards is pi$$ing off all the right people

Go read MyDD. Good video as well.

As the primary process continues, amidst the daily barrage of broadsides fired from one campaign onto another, it's worth remembering that John Edwards is still talking about real issues.

John Edwards' campaign isn't about him. It's about us. It's about taking back power from the wealthy elites who want to run this country and putting it in our hands. It's about finally taking on the corporations that dominate more and more of the American economy. It's about challenging the system.

And it's pissing off the all right people.

Hereinafter followeth a list and why they are pi$$ed off. You will recognize the names of many of the usual suspects. Just about everybody with a plutocratic perch to get knocked off of, and their gasbag enablers. Here's my favorite:

David Brooks has disliked John Edwards for a long time.

In 2004, Brooks raged (emphasis added)

The problem is that he talks about poverty in an obsolete way, which suggests he has learned nothing from the past 40 years. ... Edwards talks about poverty in economic terms.

This kind of talk is descended from Marxist theory, which holds that we live in the thrall of economic conditions. What the poor primarily need is more money, the theory goes.

We are moving toward a consensus on how to address the diverse problems that cause poverty. But when you go out on the campaign trail, you find politicians spreading polarizing disinformation. Edwards is right to talk about poverty, but by resorting to crude, populist rhetoric, he is leading in the wrong direction.

Imagine that! Talking about poverty in economic terms! Why, that commie whippersnapper's liable to upset the apple cart talkin' like that!

He's got them scared -- not so much about him personally, but about the ideas he's talking about.

That's why we fight.

You'll enjoy the rest.

Update:

More from Firedoglake:

The Polls You Won’t Hear Much About

2) John Edwards is by far the Democrats' strongest candidate in the general election. He is the only one who is not beaten outright by any Republican candidate: He ties with Giuliani at 44% each, but easily beats McCain, Thompson, Romney, and Huckabee, the latter two by double-digit margins.

The upshot of all this: If Hillary's the Democratic nominee, we could very easily lose to any likely GOP nominee. If Obama's the nominee, he does OK so long as he doesn't face McCain. But if Edwards is the nominee, we're sitting pretty. Which, I suspect, is one reason why Big Media hates John Edwards so much and does everything it can to destroy him. (Speaking of which: KingOneEye at DailyKos pointed out this morning how the NYT is ignoring a key result of its own poll on the race -- namely, that as more people get to know him, Edwards' favorability rating keeps going up.)

Many 'comments' as well.

Think again, oil boy ...

FORT MONROE, Va. — The Iraqi defense minister said Monday that his nation would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able on its own to defend Iraq’s borders from external threat until at least 2018.

...

I'm sorry, but I don't want U.S. troops there now. I certainly will not support a candidate who envisions an American presence in Iraq past 2009. Yes, we owe the Iraqis much for the damage we've done to them, but we'd better figure out another way to 'ensure their security' than with American troops on the ground.

Peace in the Valley

I'm glad both campaigns have decided not to go down this long and dirty road.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Iran Will Buy Advanced Russian Antiaircraft System
Putin thanks the United States.

Declassified Documents Reveal 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident Never Happened
Administration rushes to have documents reclassified.

Michael Bloomberg Named 44th President of the United States
Transaction involves mostly cash, some stock options.

“Celebrity Rehab” a Hit With Viewers
Producers have no trouble selling spinoff, “Off the Wagon.”

I think I actually watched a coupla minutes of that by mistake last night, thinking it was a serious show about people trying to get sober. I changed the channel after the rehab folks took away Mary Carey's dildo! Some entertaining scenes of celebs drunk on their ass, though.

Administration Unveils Plan for National Identity Card
If you've got one (above) you can go anywhere without being hassled.

Have a nice day.

I just couldn't resist...

Click to embiggen

Update:

Actually, the mouseboat is off the starboard bow, not the beam. Mox nix. What does a political humorist landlubber know anyway?

The End of the Road for George W. Bush

Chris Hedges on the Chimp's eight-day Mideast photo-op:

The Gilbert and Sullivan charade of statesmanship played out by George W. Bush and his enabler, Condoleezza Rice, as they wander the Middle East is a fitting end to seven years of misrule. Despots stripped of power are transformed from monsters into buffoons. And this is the metamorphosis that is eating away at the Bush presidency.

Hey, metamorphosis, eat faster, dammit!

He may yet rise again to torment us with an attack on Iran, condemning more innocents to slaughter. He and his cigar-smoking soul mate Ehud Olmert would like to go out with one more flash of mayhem and violence. But even this will not ultimately save him. Bush will soon be reduced to the cipher he once was, left to spend the rest of his life trying to salvage a legacy of shame and deceit. In a just world he would be put on trial, if not by the International Criminal Court of Justice then by the U.S. Congress. He would be forced to face up to his lies and wars of aggression. But the moral rot that infects the nation has seeped into the bowels of the legislative as well as the executive branch.

World leaders, including those whom Bush desperately wants to intimidate, now dismiss him. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a few days ago that relations with the United States are of “no benefit to the Iranian nation. The day such relations are of benefit, I will be the first one to approve of that.”

The agenda of the Bush White House is exposed as irrelevant, myopic and counterproductive. Most Arab countries are in open defiance of Washington and are actively reaching out to Iran.

Nice goin', Georgie. The plus side is, this is one you can claim all the credit for.

It is the end of the road for George Bush. The world takes less and less notice of him. He strutted and swaggered across the stage. He bellowed and raged. He plundered and murdered. And now he wants to be anointed as a peacemaker. His presidency, like his life, has been a tragic waste. But he at least he has a life. There are tens of thousands of mute graves in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan that stand as stark testaments to his true legacy. If he wants to redeem his time in office he should kneel before one and ask for forgiveness.

The phrase "The End Of The Road" has a special meaning out here in California. We have a lot of homeless people in Santa Monica and San Francisco because both cities are literally at "the end of the road". I hope those folks get out of their circumstances somehow, but I hope Bush ends up, and deservedly so, homeless, broke, and drunk and crazy.

Better yet, I'd like to see him at The End Of His Rope.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

All I need to give ya is this headline:

‘Uniformed’ Robber Hauls $325k From DC Bank — Across the Street From FBI HQ

The bank robbers never woulda tried that across the street from a donut shop!

Maybe if the FBI had paid their phone bill, the bank folks coulda called...

On second thought, it ain't all that funny. Mrs. G works for a bank in the same building as the local fuzz shop. Across the hall is closer than across the street, but it gets ya to thinkin'...

While we're fighting amongst ourselves, the enemy may be getting away...

Go read Daddy Frank on Clinton v. Obama.

Mr. Obama’s grudging “You’re likable enough, Hillary” made him look like “an ex-husband that was turning over the alimony check,” [...]

[...] As we reopen the gender wars, let’s not forget that it’s 2008, not 1968. There are actually some men who are offended by sexist male behavior too. Or by the female misogyny exemplified by the South Carolina woman who asked John McCain in November, “How do we beat the bitch?”

And so an exciting and healthy mano-a-mano battle for the Democratic presidential nomination is finally on. (The biggest losers in New Hampshire’s primary, no one need be reminded, were pollsters and the press.) But if Mrs. Clinton prompted many to give her candidacy a fresh look in the New Hampshire stretch, her victory speech was, to skeptics like myself, a step back. When she talked about how “the process” prompted her to find her “own voice,” I had to ask the same question Clinton fans ask of Mr. Obama: where’s the beef? Though her campaign gave Madeleine Albright and Wesley Clark the hook and replaced them with a backdrop of youthful eye candy on Tuesday night, Mrs. Clinton soon retreated into the same old pro forma Clinton talking points, nominally updated from the 1990s.

Pops gave me an awful visual there of Madeleine Albright, whom I adore, flying offstage headfirst with her feet about three feet off the deck. No similar vision of Clark. He wears pants...

In the nightmare scenario for their party, they could both fail or take each other out or self-destruct, inducing the public to settle for a Republican who can somehow persuade voters that he’s the change agent by default. It behooves Democrats to notice that Mr. McCain’s brand as a straight-talking rebel is so strong that even those voters in the New Hampshire G.O.P. primary who don’t like Mr. Bush or the Iraq war gave him most of their votes despite his outspoken support of both.

Isn't there a third fellow in the Democratic race? Oh, I remember now - John Edwards, maybe the only southern white man I could live with as President.

Early Morning Jokes. Jokes. Riiight...

Tony Peyser

President Bush claims Iran threatens global security and the world must join together to confront them before they remain peaceful and ruin his whole friggin' legacy.

...

Blackwater immediately repaired and repainted trucks used in the 2007 Baghdad shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead, making it difficult to determine if enemy gunfire provoked the now infamous attack. Blackwater chief executive Erik Prince said, "The only thing we did wrong was not kill all the eyewitnesses and every relative of the victims. For that, I apologize to all my stockholders."

...

Twins in England who were separated at birth got married without knowing they were brother and sister. In America, there's a name for people like this: Huckabee supporters.

Race is an increasingly big issue now that the campaigns are out of mostly white Iowa and New Hampshire. A recent photo of Hillary in South Carolina had her surrounded by black men. It looked like a scene from "Mandingo: The Later Years."

Jenna Bush visited Peru on behalf of a UN program for children's assistance. Asked by a local reporter what she knew about the South American nation, Jenna admitted, "Only that my Dad used to do a lot of blow from here."

On Saturday, 900 New Yorkers stripped down to their underwear for the 7th Annual No Pants Subway Ride. In related news, GOP Sen. Larry Craig fired three staffers for not telling him in advance about the event.

The God-Given Right of White and Grumbles from the Grave*

Here's some excerpts from the BuzzFlash Editor's Blog about 'race':

As far as race, we wrote an editorial in 2007 entitled "From Little Rock to Baghdad." In it we reflected on a visit to Little Rock, the pernicious legacy of the Confederacy, and how that connected to the war in Iraq.

We then went on to connect the "white male entitlement" mindset of the Confederacy to the War in Iraq and the fierce anti-Clinton hatred among a large contingent of white men:

Why would a white Southern male betray his race and gender and voluntarily abandon "white entitlement"? White male entitlement is the ultimate affirmative action program. In fact the entire system of slavery was an affirmative action society and economy run for the benefit of a white power base. Just look at Bush. The man would be lucky to get a job cleaning out stables if he didn't have the ultimate white male entitlement "pedigree."

And so it is with Cheney, who relentlessly utters the mantra of "victory" and "honor" lying ahead of us in Iraq, because a white man can't "lose" to men and women of color -- and non-Christians to boot.

This is the definition of "victory" in the end for Bush and Cheney: white men -- whatever their personal deficiencies -- can't lose. It is just not allowed.

But when you owned a plantation in the days of slavery, you weren't accountable to anyone but yourself -- and if a black slave got uppity, you just lashed or hung him.

A white man never lost. That is the heritage mindset of Cheney and Bush.

Personally, I take it a step further: We're all niggas to those bastards, pawns to be exploited in their evil game, the sources of blood and money in their quest for world domination.

In the same article are some quotes from the dear departed Molly Ivins, whose book "Bill of Wrongs" I'm currently reading.

Which brings us to the late Molly Ivins, who we had the pleasure to interview on BuzzFlash. In 2006, she wrote a column simply entitled: "I Will Not Support Hillary Clinton for President." Here it is:

What kind of courage does it take, for mercy's sake? The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) of the American people favor raising the minimum wage. The majority of the American people (60 percent) favor repealing Bush's tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) wants to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.

The majority (77 percent) thinks we should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) thinks big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

Do it all, go long, go for public campaign financing for Congress. I'm serious as a stroke about this -- that is the only reform that will work, and you know it, as well as everyone else who's ever studied this. Do all the goo-goo stuff everybody has made fun of all these years: embrace redistricting reform, electoral reform, House rules changes, the whole package. Put up, or shut up. Own this issue, or let Jack Abramoff politics continue to run your town.

Bush, Cheney and Co. will continue to play the patriotic bully card just as long as you let them. I've said it before: War brings out the patriotic bullies. In World War I, they went around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that dachshunds were "German dogs." They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds. The MINUTE someone impugns your patriotism for opposing this war, turn on them like a snarling dog (my em) and explain what loving your country really means. That, or you could just piss on them elegantly (or not so elegantly - G), as Rep. John Murtha did. Or eviscerate them with wit (look up Mark Twain on the war in the Philippines). Or point out the latest in the endless "string of bad news."

Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can't get up and fight, we'll find someone who can.

Much more, and I don't have much to add. Molly said it all.

*Apologies to Robert Heinlein.

Royalty of the Seas ...

A cruiser's wet dream. Cunard Line's 3 Queens, Elizabeth 2, Mary 2, and Victoria met off Liberty Island last night. Were it not a work day today, we would have gone to Mrs. F's office last night to watch the festivities. Too bad. That said, we'll be aboard Mary in a couple months, taking you with us to the Panama Canal and back.

Cross-posted at Worlds.

The Social Security 'problem' ...

Repeat after me: There - is - no - Social Security - problem. Dave Johnson explains, even through his questionable spelling ... heh:

...

OK:

1) Social Security and Medicare are not "welfare."
2) Social Security is not the problem. The problemis that the government owe money to Social Security. Reagan and then the Bushes borrowed money from the fund to give tax cuts to the rich, and now the fund wants sime of it back. (Clinton was paying it back.)

...

Remember Al Gore's 'lock box' that everybody had fun with? Yeah, well, if we wouldn't borrow from Peter to pay Paul, we wouldn't be worrying about the 'Social Security problem'. Maybe, if we didn't give everything to the rich and mortgage our future on a war for oil, we could actually overhaul the SSI program to give people enough to actually live on once they retire.

Truthfully, when the Mrs. and I put our retirement plan together about a decade ago, we didn't even factor Social Security into it. We went under the assumption that the politicians would have dismantled the last vestige of the New Deal by the time we were eligible to receive anything.

Just a question. If they do get rid of SSI, will I get a refund of all the money the Mrs. and I paid into it over the years? Just askin'.

Lazy niggaz ...

And 5-man African Roundball. I was wondering when the racist attacks on Obama by supposedly 'mainstream' commentators would begin. True to form, Karl Rove leads off. Amato takes a look:

... What imagery does that conjure up for you? Oh, the days of playing some hoops with his posse and working on his slam dunk ...

... Rove couldn’t help himself and had to bring in the “lazy effect” to describe Obama. Don’t vote for him because he’s soooo “lazy”—just like all minorities. Did he say Obama had a “fence around his heart” somewhere in the op-ed? ...

The GOP of the 21st Century; racists, crooks, thieves, and liars.

Detroit

And I'm not talking about the Rethug primary in Michigan. I guess I got at theme going today, but it's nice to see the big automakers are finally getting the message:

DETROIT - Hybrids, advanced diesels and green alternatives are pushing aside the traditional displays of speed and chrome at this week's Detroit auto show, a nod to a new fuel-efficient reality for car makers.

...

"The No. 1 rule of auto shows is to not get lured in by the hype because a lot of it could be concept cars," said David Friedman, research director at the Union of Concerned Scientists' Clean Vehicle Program.

"But I do think that at least early signs are that this auto show may be different from the past and it may actually be giving a real good glimpse for some of the consumers of what might be out on the road in the next few years," he said. [my em]

People have been seeing the extremes in weather over the past few years (and the dramatic increase in the price of gas, and everything else) and they're screaming for good, fuel-efficient vehicles. Maybe this time the Americans might get in ahead of the curve.

Surfers Threaten 'The American Way'

LATimes

PRINCETON BY THE SEA, CALIF. -- -- Mavericks, a rock-studded, once-secret surf spot named after a dog, looked for all the world Saturday like the Super Bowl of big wave riding as thousands of people streamed to this fishing hamlet to see two dozen surfers challenge one of the world's most dangerous breaks.

The event was broadcast on a large-screen TV at the beach with a ride-by-ride announcer, including instant replays, and at the Giants baseball stadium by the bay in San Francisco.

As the contestants took breathtaking drops and carved long lines across thundering waves, the area just to the south of them looked like McCovey Cove when Giants slugger Barry Bonds was chasing the all-time home run record. In addition to a flotilla of 50 party boats, there were several kayaks, spectator surfboards and a Coast Guard cutter.

Organizers said 250,000 people watched the contest on a Web cast and more than 1,000 paid to view it on the big screen at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

At the end of the day, the contestants chose the experience over money. "The sun was shining; there was no wind and plenty of swell. You could ask for nothing more," said the winner, Greg Long of San Clemente, who received $30,000.

"As we paddled out for the finals and were sitting there, we decided we would take the first through sixth-place money [$57,000] and divide it," he said. "The camaraderie was beyond anything I had experienced."

Not only is $57 large chump change for 1st through 6th place in a competition watched by 300,000 spectators, then the damn commie surfers decide amongst themselves to split the money!

I used to be a surfer, and I understand this sentiment, but the kind of idealism that puts love of the sport over love of money could ruin the runaway greed capitalism of sports, a microcosm of runaway greed all across corporate America!

And the reason that would be a bad idea is.......?

"There will be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office."

We've been party to the widespread conjecture that The Chimp may not honor 20 January 2009 as his last day in office. In this article by Walter C. Uhler there's just the teensiest hint that propels said conjecture forward. A 'recommended read'.

Thus, with blood on his hands and with the need to appear relevant - while Americans flock to the polls to select a candidate, any candidate, to replace their disgraceful butcher of Baghdad - Bush meets with Palestinian Authority President Abbas and predicts: "There will be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office." What an idiot!

Such words, alone, make you realize that Bush's prediction -- "There will be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office." -- is pure bullshit. Bullshit that ranks right up there with "Mission Accomplished," and "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

If Bush follows the law, and he's got a great record on that, about the Constitutional (another great record) limit to his term of office, that would be absolutely true, and I hope it is, Mr. Uhler, but maybe that idiot is hinting that he knows something you don't. If it takes 40 years to get 'a signed peace treaty' and Bush is planning to stay in office until he's a little over a hundred years old, this could turn out to be the case.

Green China

Yes, they're still the biggest polluter but it's a good step forward:

BEIJING - Declaring war on the "white pollution" choking its cities, farms and waterways, China is banning free plastic shopping bags and calling for a return to the cloth bags of old — steps largely welcomed by merchants and shoppers on Wednesday.

...

As Chris (from whom I stole the link) says:

...

I never quite understand the right wing hostility to getting rid of plastic bags. You would think that people were asking them to turn in their best friend or something. Oh right...they're made from oil, I forgot.

And mechanics hate 'em because they get stuck on the exhaust when people run over 'em on the road and turn into a gooey mess. Have some of that shit drip on your skin (sorta like napalm without the fire, you can't get it off before it burns ya) and you'll hate 'em too, trust me.