How they see us ...

Shorter Digby: We're the pissed off townspeople with the torches, pitchforks, and the noose.

...

People in Washington need to wrap their minds around the fact that this stuff really is bubbling up from below and it's real. Bloggers are merely in the vanguard of a rising leftwing populist sentiment around the country. It is a predictable reaction when a party ceases to be responsive to its voters. Liberalism has been moribund for some time now. This is a chance to at least begin the process of resuscitation and could be used by the political establishment as a useful counter-weight to help drag the country back from the brink of rightwing extremism.(If that's what they want, that is.) Smart politicians will accept this and find a way to use its strength strategically, not fight it.

...

In the words of my 10th grade science teacher, "Nature abhors a vacuum" and there has been a vacuum of leadership on the left, and in the nation in general, for a long time. Bloggers are filling that vacuum. A great post rebutting the 'whiny Dems' who are afraid their country club is about to go public.

Morons

Go here and follow the directions.

A sad day ...

My tears haven't stopped since I read their email. Our dear friends M and T from Adgita Diaries have lost their dog/baby Harry Hound suddenly thanks to a heartless, inhumane driver who didn't even have the courtesy to stop. I take from their email:

... Harry came to us at six weeks and for 6 years and participated in every second of every day of our lives. It was Harry who was light, pure joy, loyalty and in himself the best of the two of us. It has ripped our hearts apart and changed everything. The gardens are gray, the house haunted by his every move and we weep bitterly. ...

All I can say is, you know he'll be waiting.

All our condolences and prayers be with you, guys. Now I have to break the news to Shayna.

War Crimes

You wanna talk war crimes?

A Nuremberg chief prosecutor says there is a case for trying Bush for the 'supreme crime against humanity, an illegal war of aggression against a sovereign nation.'

...

I'll give you war crimes. I need a shower, I'll be back.

Tip o' the Brain to Maru.

Interrogate Quiz 'em

50 Easy Questions to Ask Any Republican

Keep Your Jesus Off My Penis

I gleefully stole this video from Shakey's Sis. Note: if you insist on drinking anything during this, save yourself time and just pour it on your keyboard now.

Afternoons with Bruce, Colin, Jane, and Ralph

Go listen to Bruce and Colin interview Jane from Firedoglake, and others, about Lieberman on WTIC.

War veterans denied GI Bill benefits

The Oxford Press

An Army reservist since high school, Rowe, 27, planned to serve out the remaining four months of his military obligation in the inactive Reserve, get his honorable discharge and then use his GI Bill education benefits to go to college, just as his father did more than 30 years ago.

But Rowe soon realized that, despite his time in a combat zone, he didn't qualify for those education benefits unless he remained in the Reserves or Guard.

It's the same for tens of thousands of National Guard and Army Reserve troops mobilized since 9/11 - the largest deployment of reservists since World War II.

When military benefits were updated in 1984 through a law called the Montgomery GI Bill, members of Congress and even the military did not envision reservists being called into active duty as frequently as they are today. The law did not extend full college benefits to citizen soldiers and terminated them once they left the Guard or Reserve.

But since 2001, more than 500,000 reservists and Guard troops have been deployed for homeland security duties or sent to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet when they get home, they don't get the same benefits as those who were active-duty service members.

"Under the law, [reservists and Guard troops] are veterans for every single benefit except the education benefits," Norton said.

Primary opposition to changing the education benefit for reservists and Guard troops - those on duty one weekend a month and two weeks in summer unless they are called to active duty - is coming from the Pentagon's Office of Reserve Affairs. Pentagon officials fear changes could hurt attracting and keeping men and women who sign up for the Guard or Reserve.

"It has proven to be a very attractive recruiting tool, and its effectiveness as a retention tool is certainly equally important to the Reserve components," Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs Thomas Hall testified in March before the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

This is unconscionable, despicable, and unfair. If a troop's ass gets put in a combat zone it's got the same chance of getting blown off as anyone else's. The benefits should be - must be - the same for all of 'em. Period.

Why does Congress hate Reservists and Guardsmen? They better even up this benefits discrepancy right fuckin' quick.

"Liberal inquisition" my ass...

The lovely and talented Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation skewers both David Brooks and Joe Lieberman with one thrust, kinda like the thrifty hunter who waits to catch two ducks fucking so he can get 'em both with one shot*. Via Common Dreams.

David Brooks had a laughable column in Sunday's New York Times. (See also Jenny's take - G)

"What's happening to Lieberman can only be described as a liberal inquisition," Brooks proclaims. What Brooks characterizes as an "inquisition" -- an effort, as he puts it, "to expel Joe Lieberman from modern liberalism"-- is simply a spirited effort to elect a Senator who better represents the values of Connecticut's citizens. That's not ideological purity. It's about organized people holding accountable a legislator who has acted as an unflinching supporter of this disastrous war.

But it's not just about the war--as Brooks and other Lieberman supporters would have you believe. It's also about Lieberman's uncanny willingness to go out of his way to give Bush and the Republicans political cover in their attempts to define the Democratic Party as weak or incapable of governing. Instead of fighting back, Lieberman legitimizes these attacks. For example, when asked about Democrats who vocally oppose the President at a time of war, Lieberman said, "in matters of war we undermine Presidential credibility at our nation's peril."

And, at the end of June, when Republicans scheduled Senate votes aimed at depicting Democrats in an election year as "cut and run" cowards, Lieberman was the first to speak during the Republicans' time. What did the Democratic Senator from Connecticut do? Lieberman dumped on the Democrats, showing that he was willing to be used to depict his fellow Democrats as weak.

Nor did Lieberman stand with his party in vigorously opposing Bush's Social Security privatization plan. As Josh Marshall's TalkingPointsmemo.com has reported, when Bush announced his privatization plan Lieberman said in February 2005 that he was undecided, and announced that he wanted to study the president's idea. The result: Lieberman helped Bush make privatization a legitimate subject of debate – when it should have been cast off as extreme.

Lieberman has also been the Democratic Party's point person on defending off-the-books, short term stock options for CEOs. This invitation to thievery resulted, as was predicted, in the plundering of corporations--to the detriment of employees and small investors. But, even after the worst corporate crime scandals since the Gilded Age, Lieberman defended these practices and continued to collect big time campaign contributions from executives in Silicon Valley and elsewhere who were cleaning up.

What David Brooks fails to recognize is that millions of Connecticut citizens have decided they want a Senator whose values accord with theirs. That has little to do, as Brooks would have you believe, with the oft-maligned netroots seeking "to purge what's left of the Scoop Jackson Democrats." It's about a renewed recognition that people can make a difference and choose leaders who actually represent them. Ned Lamont--imperfections and all (have you ever met a perfect politician?) -- is mounting a very strong challenge and deserves credit for helping to lead that charge. So do thousands of students, activists, principled citizens--including former Lieberman supporters--who have had enough.

I'm amazed that some of Holy Joe's fellow Dems are still backing him given the fact that he won't back them, in fact does his damndest to undermine them. Party unity seems to be a one-way street as far as he's concerned: "You back me, and the Hell with you."

Very Republican of him. Hey, if it walks like a duck...

*Just try and get the visual of love-locked-with-a-reach-around aviating webfeet Brooks and Joe out of yer brain! Ha!

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

Juan Valdez Angers Bush Administration
Offers free Colombian coffee to America's poor.

Report: Trident Nuclear Warheads Could Detonate in Road Crash
Public advised not to tailgate.

International Space Station Welcomes First Illegal Alien
Brought by space shuttle to do jobs astronauts unwilling to do.

Dozens of New Species Discovered In Indonesian Jungle
Pictures, descriptions included in new cookbook.

There's also a picture of Paris Hilton's butt if you're really hard up.

Quote of the Day

Scout Prime:

Of course as they say, no decision is a decision and Bush "The Decider" has once again decided to ignore (neglect, slap in the face, stick it to, say fuck you) to Louisiana.

Be happy!

Go see Creature.

Now shut up

I didn't blog about it because Skippy said it most eloquently and quite well, and it deserved as much attention on our side as it actually got.

just when we had resolved ourselves to obeying kos as the leader of blogofascism, it turns out that deb frisch is really the spokesperson of lefty blogtopia (y!wctp!).

who is deb frisch, you ask? funny, that's what we asked.

...

the hardly-ever-right wing is all a'twitter that the rest of us haven't risen up in an uncontrolled rage over the disgusting and evil child molesting that deb's comments invoke. most of the right wing have decided that deb is indicative of the left, and since we've not condemned her en masse, we, by default, agree with her.

...

Since Skippy was about the only person (or roo, as it were) from Left Blogtopia (y!sctp!) to mention it, the wingnuts ended up there. To wit, Skippy had to spend more time on it than it warrants.

the all seeing eye, over at the jawa report, in his disgust that the lefty blogs aren't talking as if deb frisch and jeff goldstein mean anything, linked to our humble site wherein we opined that not only was deb a wacko, she was pretty much a wacko nobody ever heard of or paid attention to.

...

As I said before, this person was largely ignored until the wingnuts pounced on the story and now we're supposedly responsible for her? Listen to me, you lobotomized twits, her books aren't being published by a 'lefty vanity press' (think Regenery) and being bought by the case by wingnut think tanks. She is not given the floor on cable TV and doesn't have a nationally syndicated radio show. When you take responsibility for your hate mongers who have a national forum, we'll take responsibility for a twit with a blog.

Just shut the fuck up and go back to sucking the Chimp's cock.

I thought we won?

I thought Afghanistan was a 'success'?

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, July 10, 2006 - The Taliban were never truly rooted out of Afghanistan's hills and now, five years after the euphoric liberation of the region, they are better armed and organized into large-scale units to fight coalition forces.

...

The Taliban are copying Iraqi insurgents with disturbing success. There were roughly 1,000 roadside bombs in the past year and 40 suicide bombings in the last nine months.

They are getting help from abroad, including al Qaeda bomb-makers and Arab fighters, but what is more worrisome to the coalition troops here is that the Taliban are getting the assistance of Afghans themselves.

...

I might just be an old enlisted man but it just seems to me that when the Russians had a hundred thousand troops in country and still couldn't win after a decade, ten thousand of our guys don't have a chance. Had we thrown the same resources into Afghanistan as we did in Iraq (and killed every last Taliban) we might have a viable nation by now.

With the reemergence of the Taliban and the fact the opium crop is at record levels, we can pretty well assume our Afghan policy is working out the same as our Iraq policy, doomed to end in failure.

Boom

Wasn't me ...

But let me say, everybody's ass in New York puckered a little bit when the news first broke.

Here's your ass, Joe

Oh man, the reports are still coming in right now but it seems like Joe had his ass handed to him in Stamford today.

...

* Lieberman snuck in the back door rather than face the couple of people outside with anti-Joe Message signs (one sign said "Commit or Quit" and the other sign that ripped into Joe over his high approval rating among Republicans. I heard that particular sign really got under team Joementum's skin).

* Only 20-25 people showed up for the event. There were more Lieberyouths there (at least 30) than guests (so sad).

...

So Joe can't even rustle up more attendees than campaign workers. Maybe he should get more Republicans to endorse him. Ralph Reed perhaps? Jerry Falwell maybe?

Tip o' the Brain to Atrios.

Bush Pilot

Just go to Main and Central and click the link! I gotta dry out this keyboard again! I need a waterproof one, or maybe a little umbrella...

Unsolicited Advice For Democratic Losers

By Richard Reeves

Let's begin by stating the obvious: If the Democrats cannot win the 2006 congressional elections, they don't deserve to be a political party. They will survive as losers, of course, but only because American election laws are a contract between the Democratic and Republican parties to preserve each other no matter what happens.

Given failing wars, a failed Republican president and a deliberate betrayal of the America most of us grew up in, or thought we did -- we were taught that Americans went to war only when we were attacked, and we did not endorse torture and the murdering of civilians -- it is hard to imagine how the Democrats can lose.

The losing strategy, I think, would be to stand still in front of forests of American flags and shout: "Iraq! Iraq! Iraq!" Such a campaign would also be punctuated by more hushed mentions of Afghanistan as well.

That's a mug's game, a losing game for the Democrats. Why? If the overwhelming majority of Americans realize by the end of the year that invading Iraq was a mistake, why not round them up like so many cattle? The answer is in the question: Americans already know things went terribly wrong and we are governed by incompetent ideologues who rushed in where angels feared to tread.

The problem for the Democrats on Iraq is that they cannot or will not come up with any credible arguments about what to do next. The Republican response -- "Follow the flag! Stay the course. Support our boys and girls against the ragheads" -- will once again top Democratic mealy-mouthed confusion and political cowardice.

So, politically, I would argue the war will take care of itself. People of all political persuasions already get it. Sooner or late, many Americans will see verbal attacks as anti-American diatribes. Politicians do not always do well by doing good or being right.

The Republicans already have many institutional advantages in the coming elections: the power of incumbency, the ability to raise money, and districts across the country that have been redesigned to concentrate Democratic voters (minorities and the poor) in ways that maximize the chances of Republican candidates in areas that were once marginal. Their final advantage would be an election cast as referendum on war, easily turned into a referendum on patriotism.

My advice, unsolicited, to Democrats would be to wage a campaign on local issues and the overall national governance of Republicans these last six years.President Bush and the Republican Congresses came to power in an American superpower -- military, economic and moral -- with a balanced budget and what seemed unlimited future. Now, we are a debt-ridden country reviled around the world and scorned at home because of conservative positions and performance from stem cell research to New Orleans. The war in Iraq is only a symptom, not the cause, of the decline of the United States -- and that decline should be the Democratic issue of choice in 2006 and perhaps 2008 as well.

This guy is right and wrong at the same time, in my not-so-humble opinion. Bush's War and the Occupation of Iraq is "only" a symptom of our decline in the same way a 300-pound tumor is "only" a symptom that something may be dreadfully wrong with our health. We're not going to fix it by ignoring it while trying to deal with flat feet, body odor, flatulence, and incontinence, although those things need addressing as well.

Of all the evils perpetrated by this administration, Iraq is by far the most serious. I won't bore you with all the others. I know I could list them with one or two for each letter of the alphabet and still miss a bunch of 'em.

Where Mr. Reeves gets it right is this: The Democrats need to put aside their petty internal squabbles and consolidate their message. That's how the Republicans have done it, and they run the joint. Poorly, to be sure, but that's not the point. As stupid, incompetent, closed-minded, anti-everybody but the rich and powerful, and just plain evil as they are, they did it by getting together on one message, sticking together, kickin' ass, and lying.

The Democrats need to get together on one message, namely that the American people have been sold a bunch of snake oil by charlatans and taken for fools in the process at the hideous expense of their future if they don't act now.

They also need a plan as to how they will fix things once they are in, in easily understandable terms. A lot of people don't want to be bothered by the intricacies of dealing with complex problems, they just want the pols to "git 'er done" and leave 'em alone.

If the Dems work out a good way of getting their message across and stick together, they can kick ass by telling the TRUTH. That's the main difference between US and THEM.

'If' is a big word. 'If' Hell had ice water, I'd rather be there than Texas, just for example. While hoping and working for the best outcome this November and beyond, I'd say us reality-based folks better not hold our breath.

Attention Pundits

Good post at The Ham Hock of Liberty (no, I didn't make that up!) on media gasbags, blogs, and Lieberman:

Gentlemen, it has come to my attention that your strings of pearls are being worn thin from clutching, at the intemperate and potty-mouthed "fascism" of liberal blogs. Apparently, you don't like these self-appointed kingmakers "purging" the Democratic party of anyone who doesn't toe the line, as seen most clearly in the current Senatorial primary race in Connecticut. You have picked up the whiff of intolerance and fascism behind the near-unanimous support for Ned Lamont, versus the incumbent Joe Lieberman. You think that the full-court press to elect Mr. Lamont is, apparently, almost a crime against basic human decency. And so you have started several sandbox fights with your arch-enemies, the guys (and girls) with blogs.

As you are so fond of explaining to the rabid pre-teens on the internets what is really good for them, let me explain what's good for all of you: NOT calling the exercise of democracy "fascism" or "purging." Some people with websites do not hold the reins of governmental power. They do not direct party funds. They don't run the military. They have, in other words, no actual power. What they have are opinions and some facts. Sort of like yourselves. When they advocate the election of Ned Lamont, the only ability they have to effect this is to convince people that he is a worthy candidate. Worthy of votes, donations, and word of mouth to Connecticut voters. The voters of Connecticut will decide whether they agree. This is the point you seem to be missing. If enough voters in Connecticut decide that their views will be better represented by Ned Lamont than by Joe Lieberman, he should be elected. Right? This is how democracy works. If you disagree, you are just as free as Markos, or Jane Hamsher, or Atrios, to make your argument why Joe Lieberman is the better choice.

"Lieberman deserves support, because he votes against your beliefs and interests." That's basically what you're saying. Think about it.

That last line hit the nail right on the head. Worth a read.

All The News That's Fit To Bully

Daddy Frank

TWO weeks and counting, and the editor of The New York Times still has not been sentenced to the gas chamber. What a bummer for one California radio talk-show host, Melanie Morgan, who pronounced The Times guilty of treason and expressly endorsed that punishment. She and the rest of the get-the-press lynch mob are growing restless, wondering why newspapers haven't been prosecuted under the Espionage Act. "If Bush believes what he is saying," taunted Pat Buchanan, "why does he not do his duty as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States?"

Here's why. [List follows...]

The administration has a more insidious game plan instead: it has manufactured and milked this controversy to reboot its intimidation of the press, hoping journalists will pull punches in an election year. There are momentous stories far more worrisome to the White House than the less-than-shocking Swift program, whether in the chaos of Anbar Province or the ruins of New Orleans. If the press muzzles itself, its under-the-radar self-censorship will be far more valuable than a Nixonesque frontal assault that ends up as a 24/7 hurricane veering toward the Supreme Court.

The trouble is we have plenty to worry about. For all the airy talk about the First Amendment, civil liberties and Thomas Jefferson in the debate over the Swift story and the National Security Agency surveillance story before it, there's an urgent practical matter at stake, too. Now more than ever, after years of false reports of missions accomplished, the voters need to do what Congress has failed to do and hold those who mismanage America's ever-expanding war accountable for their performance in real time.

Much, much more. Go read. That's our Pop!

Lieberman Ad Uses Fake Lamont Sticker

LiberalOasis. Video at Crooks and Liars.

A TV ad, with a message approved by Sen. Joe Lieberman, uses a phony Ned Lamont bumper sticker to falsely claim that all Lamont has to say is "No More Joe."

The ad ran today on Hartford's Fox affiliate WTIC-61, during "Fox News Sunday." (It was also shown during C-Span's airing of the Lieberman-Lamont debate.)

The narrator begins the ad with: "In the battle of the bumper stickers, this one has a simple message: 'No More Joe.' But what else does Lamont really have to say?"

A graphic of a "NO MORE JOE" sticker is shown. The second line of the sticker reads: "Ned Lamont * Democrat for U.S. Senate". In the bottom right corner of the sticker is a URL, www.nomorejoe.com.

Problem is: there is no www.nomorejoe.com.

This means two things are possible.

The Lamont campaign is the dumbest campaign in history, making bumper stickers sending people to dead website that they don't own.

Or the Lieberman campaign, desperate to find an attack line against a strong challenger, has to lie and pretend Lamont has nothing positive to say about his own platform.

So to call out Lieberman's false ad is also a way to remind voters, and reporters, that the Lamont candidacy is a broad-based camapign, not a simplistic, amateurish exercise.

Certainly not as amateurish as that Lieberman ad.

Amateurish? Don't tell Lieberman that! I'm sure he paid big money to the consultant that came up with this one! I'm damn glad Holy Joe got to the guy first!

She was 14

From the Palace, related to my post directly below:

...

Cynics will cluck that such occurences are an unfortunate feature of all wars -- which is, of course, one very persuasive reason why morally cretinous assholes should not, in [the] future, be entrusted with the power to start them on nothing more than a whim.

...

It is long past the time for us to get out.

A dangerous situation

Digby looks at the Neocon mind.

...

This was a very good article until this point. Our failure [in Iraq] is already certain no matter what we do. The fundamental flaw in this entire enterprise is not how we did it, although the massive failures outlined in this article are so obvious that it's imperative to discuss them on their own terms. In fact, I worry that what this failure of execution reveals is a military leadership so lacking in intellectual ability and so wracked with primitive racism that this country cannot count on it to actually defend us in case of a real war. The officer corps are supposed to be smart guys, not a bunch of idiots who would read some piece of trash like "The Arab Mind" and actually believe it --- much less use it as the basis for tactics on the ground. This is a dangerous situation for America. [my ems]

...

Long but very good.

Update:

Wintess the effect of these idiots' decisions on the troops, from Bulldog:

...

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder didn't become commonly diagnosed until the Vietnam War. The Iraq War and the multiple deployments of troops has heightened the awareness of PTSD and its effects on returning soldiers. The episode described above can be classically described as a PTSD-related incident. Unfortunately, many returning troops are being discharged and told to visit the nearest VA Medical Center for any health-related issues they experience instead of being treated by military doctors.

...

Thanks to the asshats in charge, there will be a generation of young men and women who are gonna have (and unfortunately cause) some big problems once they get home.

L'Italia vince!

What a match! Tied 1 - 1 after regulation and overtime, Italy wins by 1 over France in penalty kicks.

Link added.

Update (Monday morning):



No, this is not Rome or Naples or Venice, this is Little Italy in NYC. I love this city.

RCMP*

I was quite taken with Fixer's post about the recent marriage of two of Canada's "brave, decent, and true" Mounties. I got the idea that show tunes figured in this deal somewhere, you know, like from Nelson Eddy/ Jeannette MacDonald movies like Rose Marie (aka Indian Love Call), so I started looking. An idle mind...

...finds some good shit sometimes. Not only did I find several informative and beautifully illustrated pages on The Mountie Films, I hit big-time pay dirt at The Old Corral, a site devoted to B-Westerns, which I love.

Also, who can forget the most comedic use of stereotypes in TV history, Due South?

The show falls somewhere between a cop show and a comedy show. Although superficially following the police drama format, the comedy derives from the outrageous plots, the self-mocking Canadian and American stereotypes, and the occasional fantasy elements (such as the regular visits paid to Fraser by the ghost of his dead father), all played with absolute deadpan by the actors. Much of the comedy, as well as setting much of the tone of the show, was provided by Fraser's supernormal detective ability. For instance, in one episode, Fraser tracks down a suspect by smelling the breath of a rat to detect which brand of cooked ribs it had been eating.

I didn't find any connection between show tunes and the sexual makeup of the Mounties. Hell, there ain't any. I knew it goin' in but I was trying to find some humor in the situation. Instead, I found a gold mine. Please enjoy the links.

*Red-Coated Married Poufters?
Really Campy Movie Posters?
Sorry!

The Little Tramp's Classic Labor Lesson

LATimes

Venezuela's socialist government is using a 1936 Chaplin film to educate workers about their rights. Employers are not applauding.

LOS TEQUES, Venezuela - In his classic 1936 film, "Modern Times," Charlie Chaplin has to work so fast tightening bolts in a steel factory that he finally goes crazy. In a memorable scene that has become a metaphor for labor exploitation, the Little Tramp is run through the factory's enormous gears.

For President Hugo Chavez's socialist government, the film is more than just entertainment: It's become a teaching tool. Since January, in a bid to expose the evils of "savage capitalism," the Labor Ministry has shown the Chaplin film to thousands of workers in places such as this rundown industrial suburb of Caracas.

Metalworker Miguel Moreno also has seen some improvement. "We have more power because we know more," he said. "They've given me earplugs for the noise, at least."

Gee, maybe we should show this Chaplin flick to the Chimp. Hey, if Miguel got some earplugs, maybe Georgie'll move his buttplug to his jibs and shut the fuck up!

So...

If this world was 'designed intelligently' by the Almighty, what the fuck was He smoking when He did this and where can I get some of that cheeb?

"May they name a baby after you!"

I was reading about how a Lieberman mouthpiece is scolding CT Jews for supporting Lamont and got a link to Jewish curses from the first 'comment'. Oy!

Mazeltov!

Gary:

RCMP Constable Jason Tree and Constable David Connors exchanged vows this week in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, before a justice of the peace and a troop of other Mounties.

While same-sex marriage is becoming commonplace across Canada now, this was the first time (that I know of) that two of Canada's finest men, our very own Royal Canadian Mounted Police, took the plunge.

...

So when are the tight asses in this country gonna wake up? Can ya get any more 'manly' than Mounties? It sure as hell wouldn't be an issue if one of these guys came to their rescue, I'm sure.

Yes,We Have no Progressives...In Georgia,USA..and I think I've figured out why.

Ok,that's a terribly broad and sweeping generalization,sorry for that.But I am fed up.

I've been patient.I've been tolerant.I've been civil.Believe it or not,I've even been rather nice to my fellow neighbors and community members who don't share my religion or politics.We're all in this together,aren't we?

Appearently Not.

Yesterday was the tipping point for me. I ran out to get some pool chemicals after dinner and what do I see? Right there in the Lowe's parking lot? A big,black SUV with a"Liberal Hunting License"slapped on the back window(also,see this).And a W sticker.And a Ralph Fucking Reed(and yes,that IS his middle name, for I have decreed it so)bumper sticker.Nice.Yeah,there's your Homeland feeling of Security right there baby.

This right wingnutty hostility is nothing new here in the South,sometimes it's even kind of funny.A guilty pleasure to be sure,because making fun of the impaired isn't really all that difficult or sporting,but sometimes,you just can't not do it.It's either that or go completely insane.I prefer humor over insanity myself,but hey,that's just me.

In the run up to the 2004 election,and to only a slightly lesser degree in 2000,the fear and loathing in the air was so thick around here you could cut it with a chainsaw.Every TV in every public venue(bars,restaurants,even stores that sell TVs)was tuned to Fox news.In line at the store, conversations in parking lots, people at the next table in a restaurant,at the pharmacy,conversations inevitably drifted to war and politics.When people are relaxed and in their comfort zones,their guard is down,and if you pay attention,you hear some amazing things around here.

"Damn liberals shouldn't even be allowed to vote.They're lucky we let them,shows how open minded we are."(I shit you not,I heard this while waiting to get my car serviced in early 2004.I could spend a whole post on that one alone,but let's keep going)

"You take God out of the schools,and of course our kids won't be ready for college when they graduate.Those liberals want to ban the Bible too,you just wait and see what happens if one of them gets elected around here.They have to be stopped,by whatever means necessary."(and this woman holds a job and drives a motor vehicle,amazing)

"Democrats are going to STEAL the elections,mark my words."(if true,this proves Democrats are lousy criminals,don'tcha think? I smell a campaign slogan in there someplace.)

"I'm tired of being persecuted for being a Christian.Just the other day some stupid liberal was complaining about the kids praying before their soccer game.We ran him and his wife and that little brat of theirs outta there fast."(never mind the 3 new churches and enormous private Christian school down the street-which has a long waiting list,or the fact that irony is just completely lost on these people.Or how objecting to public prayer qualifies as persecution.Or how the guy just knew for a fact this person was a Liberal.)

You see,I don't think that it's that there are really NO progressives here,it's just that they've been scared and intimidated into silence for the most part.And honestly,who the hell can blame them for being scared of this crap?

I think the time has come to ask these so called "conservatives",many of whom claim to be "Christian"a few questions:

So,if I'm to understand you correctly(because heaven forbid you'd ever be misunderstood)you're actually saying that it's perfectly OK by you for a neighbor to shoot one of your neighbors for being a registered Democrat?

Or perhaps what you really mean is that it's perfectly normal and sane to advocate that Americans arm themselves and go hunt down and kill the American family down the street because they hold liberal beliefs?

Would it be alright with you if,in a random house to house search on your street,liberal families were dragged out of bed in the middle of the night,taken into their front yards and lynched?Would you enjoy seeing those bodies hanging in the trees right next to your kid's school bus stop?

What would you do if I had a "Conservative Hunting License"sticker on my car?Would you be appalled?Outraged?Driven to violence against me?

Look,I know this moron with the hunting license sticker is probably full of shit and couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag.Most of the people in this country who cheer for violence cry when they stub a toe or go home and kick the dog around when someone cuts them off in traffic.It's real easy to run your yap about shit like that and most people are too self centered to do anything that might earn them a bruise or interfere with their TV schedule.But there also comes a time when common sense should be the rule,rather than the exception.Not to mention just being an overall decent human being.

With Freedom of Speech also comes the assumption that most Americans are not complete idiots and understand cause and effect(something that is completely lost on the Party of Moral Responsibility).The idea here being that unpopular,disturbing or perverse ideals and rhetoric would be relagated to the fringes(not shut down or censored),not go on to become a mainstream sensibility.The Founders counted on us not ever forgetting that common sense and at least a basic understanding of integrity would be the keys to a successful democratic republic.Nowadays,being a thug is not only acceptable,it's rewarded(see Rove,Karl),it's a goal to aspire to.

And someone's gonna get hurt or killed eventually as a result,it's only a matter of time.

I hesitate to use Rwanda as a comparison here,but hate speech via hate radio played a HUGE role in the genocide there.That's rather hard to ignore.Inexpensive AM radios were handed out freely,and information was given out over the airwaves as to where"the cockroaches"could be found and exterminated.And we all know how that turned out.

No,we aren't Rwanda,and we should thank our lucky stars we aren't.

However,it does prove that hate speech incites violence if people are fearful and driven to see the "enemy"in anyone that's not exactly like them. And maybe it's past fucking time for this shit to be pushed out of the public discourse,scorned,and made unpopular again.

I keep a Sharpie marker in my glove box.Mostly because I send alot of packages to far away family and friends,and it comes in handy to mark out old delivery bar codes from re-used boxes.Sometimes I'm in a hurry and forget to do it at home,hence the marker in the car.I found a new use for it yesterday.

In bold black letters I wrote on the hunting license sticker:

I AM ANTI AMERICAN.KICK ME.

Quote of the Day

Gilliard:

Washington reporters have been wrong about damn near everything they have reported since Clinton.

Police states 2

Since when is it illegal to wear a t-shirt?

This afternoon, drinking a cup of coffee while sitting in the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago's south side, a Veterans Administration cop walked up to me and said, "OK, you've had your 15 minutes, it's time to go."

"Huh?", I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking about.

"You can't be in here protesting," officer Adkins said, pointing to my Veterans For Peace shirt.

"Well, I'm not protesting, I'm having a cup of coffee," I returned, thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier duties of guarding against serious terrorists.

Flipping his badge open, he said, "No, not with that shirt. You're protesting and you have to go."

...

Personally, I'd have showed the cop a protest he'd never forget. Look, ladies and gentlemen, this shit didn't go on before Bush took office. This is still the United States and as long as you're not disturbing the peace, you can wear whatever the fuck you want to. Note to gung-ho cops who think this 'liberals-are-traitors' mindset that seems to be in fashion lately gives them license to harass innocent citizens: There are some of us out here who aren't cowed by your badge and gun. Fuck around with me like this and you'll get them both shoved up your ass.

Link thanks to Dave Johnson.

Nostalgia

SheaNC brings us back almost 20 years, to those heady conservative days of the Reagan Era.

"And now the liberals want to stop President Reagan from selling chemical warfare agents and military equipment to Saddam Hussein, and why? Because Saddam 'allegedly' gassed a few Kurds in his own country. Mark my words. All of this talk of Saddam Hussein being a 'war criminal' or 'committing crimes against humanity' is the same old thing. LIBERAL HATE SPEECH! And speaking of poison gas... I SAY WE ROUND UP ALL THE DRUG ADDICTS AND GAS THEM." - Rush Limbaugh, Nov. 3, 1988

See, it's still all the liberals' fault.

Shame on me

For not sourcing this properly. Wish it was true but it's not.

...

Although the political intent of the 1 August 2004 Boondocks strip was clear, the context that it was not really a repeat of a strip from 3 November 1988 and did not report something Rush Limbaugh actually said over the airwaves on that date went missing in action, and the text of the strip has since been passed around the Internet as if it were a genuine transcript of a portion of a 1988 Rush Limbaugh broadcast.

Although leave us not forget:

Must be an election year

C&L:

...

"I have learned of some alleged intelligence community activities about which our committee has not been briefed," Mr. Hoesktra wrote. "If these allegations are true, they may represent a breach of responsibility by the administration, a violation of the law, and, just as importantly, a direct affront to me and the members of this committee who have so ardently supported efforts to collect information on our enemies." He added: "The U.S. Congress simply should not have to play Twenty Questions to get the information that it deserves under our Constitution."

...

"Bush who?"

3rd Place

Germany - 3

Portugal - 1

Well, the Mannschaft can hold their heads high in Stuttgart tonight. They are partying in Hauenstein (as if they need an excuse), though knowing my peeps, they never really stopped partying since this thing kicked off a couple weeks ago. Oliver Kahn (the German goalkeeper) played in what could be his last World Cup and performed as if he were fifteen years younger.

France vs. Italy tomorrow.

How they argue

Serious liquid alert. How Conservatives argue.

Tip o' the Brain to Pauly.

The way I feel ...

About Evan Bayh running for the Presidency. Stolen fully and completely from Digby:

Atrios says that Evan Bayh is out campaigning for president and people are comparing him to Harry Truman. Might I suggest that we actually nominate Harry Truman instead? I knows he's been dead for decades, but I feel confident that his mouldering corpse has more charisma than Evan Bayh.

Homeless Heroes With No Name

Some thoughts about homeless Veterans, and a cartoon you absolutely must see. Today's "must read".

The Fourth of July has ended, the fireworks are over, the bands have gone home, the politicians have finished their campaign rounds, the tragedy of homeless American veterans remains unconscionably with us today.

Whether we support or oppose the policy in Iraq, can we agree on this? It is morally and patriotically wrong to have homeless and hungry American veterans in the hundreds of thousands, whom we walk past so casually on the street.

As one of our greatest would say, if he were with us today, sometimes we do things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. So I propose we saythis: We pledge ourselves that by hundredth day after the inaugural of our next President there will not be one homeless or hungry or hurting veteran of any war, from any time, any place in America, and that our real battle only begins on that hundredth day.

The VA has Domiciliary and other programs for homeless Vets, but they need to be greatly expanded. Also, there are outfits like USVets. I'm sure there are many other answers to the problem, but I don't have them.

Note to Vets: There are a lot of folks out here who will help you in big and little ways if they see your need. There are also bums claiming to be Veterans to scam them. Carry your DD214, your VA card, or some means of positively identifying yourself as a Vet. Also, if you look, act, or sound crazy or dangerous, don't expect anything from folks who are scared of you as they'll give you a wide berth. Check in with Vets' outfits wherever you find yourself, like the VFW or American Legion. Better yet, join one if you can. You can be a member-at-large not affiliated with a post, but you will be welcome at any post. The WWII tail-gunner posts that didn't welcome Vietnam Vets are pretty much a thing of the past, and the Viet Vets know what you're going through. They don't scare easy or tolerate crazy bullshit either. They'll do anything for you that they're capable of, a meal, roof, shower, clean clothes, a ride somewhere. They exist to help Vets as well as their communities, and they know how.

Note to bums: Try and scam Viet Vets and they'll take you up to see a nice view of the area and then unscrew the axle nuts on your wheelchair and leave you to get back down the hill on your own. Or maybe something clever. A lot of these guys still have issues about the way they were treated when they got back from war, and believe me, they'd love you to try and pull a con on 'em just for the release of getting to fuck you over!

The problem of homeless and disturbed Vets of Bush's War and the Occupation of Iraq has barely begun. We better start thinking about what to do about it.

While I was researching stuff, I ran across the following:

The number of homeless male and female Vietnam era veterans is greater than the number of service persons who died during that war -- and a small number of Desert Storm veterans are also appearing in the homeless population. Although many homeless veterans served in combat in Vietnam and suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), at this time, epidemiologic studies do not suggest that there is a causal connection between military service, service in Vietnam, or exposure to combat and homelessness among veterans. Family background, access to support from family and friends, and various personal characteristics (rather than military service) seem to be the stronger indicators of risk of homelessness.

Almost all homeless veterans are male (about 3% are female), the vast majority are single, and most come from poor, disadvantaged backgrounds. Homeless veterans tend to be older and more educated than homeless non-veterans. But similar to the general population of homeless adult males, about 45% of homeless veterans suffer from mental illness and (with considerable overlap) slightly more than 70% suffer from alcohol or other drug abuse problems. Roughly 56% are African American or Hispanic.

Many of these Veterans are not currently enrolled in Veterans Administration (VA) or aware they are eligible for services. Resources have been provided by Congress to reach beyond currently enrolled veterans to identify homeless veterans and provide services to them. In FY 2003, VA provided services to approximately 100,000 homeless veterans, the majority through the auspices of its specialized homeless programs. VA specialized homeless services programs include the Health Care for Homeless Veterans program (HCHV) and its components (the Grant and Per Diem [GPD] program, the Supported Housing program, and the and the Housing and Urban Development - Veteran Affairs Supported Housing program [HUD-VASH]; the Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans program [DCHV]; and the Compensated Work Therapy / Transitional Residence program [CWT/TR]).

One of the major goals of the VA's homeless veterans treatment programs is to provide treatment and assistance to homeless veterans who have been living on the streets or in emergency shelters. A primary indicator that support services have been successful is that veterans achieve a stable residence (independent housing or within a treatment setting) following residential treatment. The Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Program is a specially funded program that provides extensive outreach, physical and psychiatric health exams, treatment, referrals, ongoing case management and contractual residential care to homeless veterans with mental health problems including substance abuse. HCHV program staff outreach to large numbers of homeless veterans; a subgroup with substantial psychiatric or substance abuse problems is placed in residential treatment programs provided through, i) local contracts with community based providers, ii) the VA GPD program, or iii) the VA Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans (DCHV) program. This performance measure applies to those veterans who have been placed in residential care within these three programs.

There's stuff out there, and it works. There just needs to be a Hell of a lot more of it. Soon. It ain't gonna happen under Bush and his Republicans as long as there are needy people to steal from to enrich themselves and their accomplices.

A peach of a scandal in Georgia

Garrison Keillor with a few characteristic mild-yet-scathing words about Ralph Reed.

If a preacher secretly accepts a bucket of money from a saloonkeeper to organize a temperance rally at a rival saloon and maybe send in a gang of church ladies to chop up the bar with their little hatchets, this would strike you and me as sleazy, but others are willing to make allowances, and so Ralph Reed's political career is still alive and breathing in Georgia. He has bathed himself in tomato juice and hopes to smile his way through the storm.

For those of you who may not know, tomato juice is used to get rid of skunk smell. Reed must have a vat of the stuff.

Mr. Reed left the Christian Coalition in 1997 as it was sinking, and he was paid by Jack Abramoff to organize opposition to a gambling bill in the Texas legislature, which would have opened the door to competition for Mr. Abramoff's client casinos in Louisiana.

So Mr. Reed got the good Christians of Texas to bombard the legislature with phone calls and letters denouncing gambling, for which Mr. Reed was paid millions of dollars in gambling money, by way of Mr. Abramoff's bagman, Grover Norquist.

Imagine if Ralph Nader had solicited money from Ford and Chrysler when he went after General Motors' Corvair. Or the Southern Baptists raising money from Sony and Universal to condemn movies by MGM.

Mr. Reed also argues that his stopping gambling in Texas and Alabama was a good thing in and of itself, even though he was hired by rival casinos to do it. Using the same reasoning, Lucky Luciano was on solid moral ground when he knocked off Dutch Schultz.

But the chutzpah of Mr. Reed in wheedling money from Mr. Abramoff to snooker Christians into an uproar against gambling is cold-hearted greed. And his work in behalf of the sweatshops and sex factories of the Marianas, arguing that the Chinese women imported there were being given the chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, takes us to yet an entirely new level.

Mr. Reed is a Presbyterian, and the Westminster Confession says, "He that scandelizeth his brother, or the Church of Christ, ought to be willing, by a private or public confession and sorrow for his sin, to declare his repentance to those that are offended; who are thereupon to be reconciled to him, and in love to receive him."

But Mr. Reed is running for office, and that's no time for repentance. Time to hunker down and hope that the prosecutors are occupied with other matters. Smile and shake hands and keep changing the subject. If a reporter mentions Mr. Abramoff, smile and say, "I've said as much as I'm going to about that, and now I want to talk about my plan to strengthen families in Georgia."

Gambling? "I've always been opposed to gambling."

Deceit? Greed? "No charges have been filed. I have been exonerated of wrongdoing."

Will it work? We shall soon see.

I hope enough of the folks in Georgia are smart enough to see through this hypocritical, lying bastard's bullshit and keep him out of office.

Update:

Reeds IRS Filing Comes Back to Haunt Him

Heh.

"Praise Jesus and pass the scotch..."

Good commentary on the remainder of Bush's term by Mark Morford at the EssEffChron.

It is like some sort of virus. It is like some sort of weird and painful rash on your face that makes you embarrassed to walk out the door and so you sit there day after day, waiting for it to go away, slathering on ointment and Bactine and scotch. And yet still it lingers.

He forgot to mention the awful itching in places it's not nice to scratch in public...

Some days the pain is so searing and hot you want to cut off your own head with a nail file. Other days it is numb and pain-free and seemingly OK, to the point where you think it might finally be all gone and you allow yourself a hint of a whisper of a positive feeling, right up until you look in the mirror, and scream.

George W. Bush is just like that.

Which is just another way of saying we are currently stuck. We are swirling around the bottom of the drain, clinging on to anything that might hold us from going under for just a little while longer. We have to let the neocon disease run its course, and just pray that at the end of it all the scarring and the pain and damage will not be so permanent, and so hideous, that we can't be seen in public for a decade.

This is where it stands: Bush can in no way risk alienating the ultra-right-wing bonk-job contingent that put him in office (they are, considering Bush's 32-percent approval rating, the only ones left even remotely supporting him -- even though, according to many estimates, they're starting to abandon him, too), and hence all policy and all agenda items from here on out will be even more vicious and desperate in an attempt to shore up the base. Hence trying to mutilate the Constitution to ban gay marriage. Hence attacking the New York Times and claiming newspapers are endangering American lives.

In other words, Bush's latest nasty, Rove-designed salvos and upcoming attacks to save a sliver of power and pride and sneering GOP control are just the beginning.

However -- praise Jesus and pass the scotch -- they are the beginning of the end.

Those quotes are from the beginning and the end. The meat's in the middle, like a sandwich.

Saturday Cartoons

Bob Geiger.

Montag.

Creature.

Command responsibility

We talk a lot about command responsibility and the Iraq Occupation here at the Brain because, as vets and former enlisted men, we've served under our share of good and bad officers. One, Colonel Bryant (who flew Jolly Greens in Vietnam with a search and rescue squadron), whom I've mentioned here many times, is/was (I haven't heard from him in 20 years) a man I respected. He knew when to let us run and when to use the 'iron hand', and he never let us forget our principles and honor. I've served under others who were little control freaks or lassez faire, either protecting their positions rabidly or not wanting to know anything unless the shit was about to splatter them. Guys who would always look to pin blame on someone else, rather than accept responsibility for those under them.

With that in mind, our friend Lurch has an excellent take on the need for command responsibility in light of the current situation in Iraq:

...

Preventing this sort of criminality during occupation is the responsibility of the leadership of the Army, from the highest military commander right down to the most junior squad leader. But unless there are strict guidelines, coupled with an energetic program of command guidance, individual lawlessness will occur in the best trained, most motivated army in the world. Violations of the laws of land warfare, atrocities like rape and murder, are more than just a secondary assault on the occupied population. They are an indictment of the military leadership and the civilian control of that leadership. To formulate and maintain the proper and honorable control of soldiers in an occupation requires leaders of principle and compassion.

...

After all that's gone on in Iraq since 'Mission Accomplished', there is no way, now, for us to 'win hearts and minds'. We have destroyed any chance that history will portray us as liberators.

Police states

A Brit tries to make a film in the U.S.

...

This, it turned out, was fine. He'd been told by his superiors to get a number. I'd given him a number. His job was done and so, just an hour or so later, I was on the streets of Los Angeles doing a piece to camera.

Except, of course, I wasn't. Technically you need a permit to film on every street in pretty well every corner of the world. But the only countries where this rule is enforced are Vietnam, Cuba, North Korea and the United States of America.

...

You need a permit to do everything in America. You even need a passport to buy a drink. But interestingly you don't need one if you wish to rent some guns and some bullets. I needed a 50 cal (very big) machinegun. "No problem," said the man at the shop. "But could you just sign this assuring us that the movie you're making is not anti-Bush or anti-war."

...

Anyway, back to the guns. I needed them because I wished to shoot a car in the Mojave desert. But you can't do that without the say-so of the local fire chief who turned up, with his haircut, to say that for reasons he couldn't explain, he had a red flag in his head.

You find this a lot in America. People way down the food chain are given the power to say yes or no to elaborately prepared plans, just so their bosses can't be sued. One expression that simply doesn't translate from English in these days of power without responsibility is "Ooh, I'm sure it'll be fine".

...

Didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Link via Blondie.

Come on ...

Did anybody take this seriously? Nobody in NYC did. I'll be back after a shower.

Link via Maru.

Update:

Our pal, and Brooklynite, Glen has thoughts about this as well:

...

Not that the right kind of bomb placed in one of our tunnels by brighter people couldn't cause death, destruction, panic, and chaos. It would. So, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the administration again for cutting New York's anti-terrorism funding by 40% a few weeks ago.

...

What the Hell Is Barbara Boxer Thinking?

From MFBTGR*

What the hell is Barbara Boxer thinking?

From the run up to Shock and Awe to last month's flurry of thrust-and-parry resolutions on Iraq, the junior senator from California has been one of the most consistent and vocal critics of the war. She voted no on the war in 2002 and co-sponsored the latest Kerry bill calling for our troops to be withdrawn by July 2007.

And she was one of only six Democrats to stand against the ambush vote orchestrated by Mitch McConnell and Bill Frist.

So what is she doing heading up to Connecticut to stump for pro-war Joe Lieberman and against his anti-war challenger Ned Lamont?

Look, I understand the you-scratch-my-primary-run-and-I'll-scratch-yours ethos of sticking up for your fellow Senator -- what Jane Hamsher called "the incumbency protection racket". And this isn't a progressive purity test, accompanied by the expectation of lockstep liberalism. This isn't about Lieberman's GOP-friendly positions on tax cuts, affirmative action, the bankruptcy bill, the energy bill, the privatization of some parts of Social Security, and the right to question the president.

At its core, the Lieberman-Lamont contest is about the war on Iraq. So how can Boxer strap on her Senate buddy blinders and jettison her deeply held beliefs on the defining issue of our time?

Compare Boxer's head-in-the-sands-of-Iraq stance with that of Jack Murtha. I recently called and asked him about Lieberman and whether he would ever campaign for him.

"How could I possibly support him?" Murtha told me. "I'd never campaign for him unless he changed his position on the war."

Period. End of discussion.

We need more Murtha Democrats, those unwilling to sacrifice their principles on the altar of Congressional comity, and fewer like Boxer, who has chosen to put the needs of her fellow member in the World's Most Exclusive Club above the interests of the country.

There is still time for Boxer to rethink her misguided decision to shill for Lieberman and reclaim her principles. If she needs a little nudge in the right direction, she can always call Jack Murtha.

I like Babs, but this time she's screwin' the pooch. Oops, that's a Republican deal, sorry.

These entrenched pols don't like anybody rockin' the boat, i.e. un-electing one of 'em, so they stick together. It's a choice: power v. principle, that each one of 'em has to make.

I think Babs chose poorly this time.

We'll see what she does after Joey loses the primary.

*My Favorite Big-Titted Greek Redhead

Lieberman Mulls Run As Evangelical Christian

The Satirical Political Report

Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, facing a serious primary challenge from Ned Lamont, is considering running not only as an Independent, but as a born-again Christian as well.

Lieberman, an orthodox Jew, has read the polling data indicating that he's pissing off the liberal Jews of Connecticut, and therefore is considering a religious conversion in order to tap into a new base of support.

Already, he has garnered the endorsement of Jews for Jesus, and ironically,the anti-Christ himself, FOX's Sean Hannity.

When asked by his rabbi why he was abandoning the Chosen People, Lieberman replied: "It is time for Jews who distrust Jesus to acknowledge that he will be the Son of God for at least three more Millenia, and that in matters of faith we undermine the Father, Son and Holy Ghost at our peril."

However, Lieberman insists that he'll still retain his cultural identity, by sporting a Gefilte Fish on the back of his station wagon, and taking his Sunday communion wafer with a shmear of cream cheese or chopped liver.

Although Lieberman, unlike Lamont, opposes same-sex marriage, he still has the support of some gay rights organizations, based not only on his infamous kiss from Bush, but on the fact that he seems to enjoy kissing Bush's ass.

Oy!

Fox? Henhouse?

Seth on corporate 'self-regulation'. I gotta go to work.

Transformation

From the world's premier fighting unit into thugs.

A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing militia groups, estimated that the numbers could run into the thousands, citing interviews with Defense Department investigators and reports and postings on racist Web sites and magazines.

"We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad," the group quoted a Defense Department investigator as saying in a report to be posted today on its Web site, www.splcenter.org. "That's a problem."

...

Back in 1985 thereabouts, the Air Force began their 'Quality Force Program'. They instituted mandatory drug testing (my failure of the THC part got me tossed off active duty and into the Reserves, go figure) and started cracking down on the 'mischief' we'd get into (they began to take 'borrowing' vehicles from the motor pool seriously, among other things).

Now, it seems, they'd be happy to have me back. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what happens when you break an army; when you have to settle for who you can get opposed to picking and choosing the best and brightest. You will see more abuses and crimes as time goes on and the standards fall even further. With these idiots in the ranks, the chance of war crimes being committed goes up exponentially. We can only hope Mother Nature and Darwin take a hand in the situation.

Link thanks to the most excellent Scout Prime.

Republicans

Roger Ailes, guesting at Jane's place:

...

Somerby says: It's bad to characterize [Newsweek's supposedly Liberal columnist Joe] Klein as a Republican because he sometimes says things critical of the Republican Party in general or specific Republicans in particular.

I say: When you become a serial purveyor of fraudlent talking points concerning Democrats which are indistingiushable from Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman's Greatest Fundraising Speeches, you deserve ridicule. And that includes the insult you earn from the content of your running commentary: Republican.

...

Note to Bob Somerby and Joe Klein, Joe Lieberman is a registered Democrat too.

Friday Cattle Dog London blogging

After 5 years, New York's pain is still palpable. We send our good wishes to the wonderful people of London a year after the tragedy of July 7.

Get back to work

N.J. lawmakers have a budget deal
Comes hours after Gov. Corzine urged lawmakers to compromise

Now, tell me again that Governor Corzine didn't do the right thing. That is how you get things done. By using the proper incentive.

Note to Bill Bennett: The casinos will be open tomorrow.

Top 50

Remember when the wingnuts gave themselves a sountrack? Well Pauly sat down and thought about it for a while and came up with his own list for us. It's obvious he put a lot more brain power into it than they did.

Even Ol' Gord might recognize one or two. Heh ...

Fort Apache, Iraq

Matt Taibi goes on a run with the 158th Field Artillery. Long article, but good.

To understand the war in Iraq, you first have to understand the people who are fighting it. And the way to do that isn't to burst in with your head in a point, bitching about WMDs and croaking passages from Arab-history books. Jump in the truck and shut your mouth; get on board, literally and figuratively. In America, everyone has an opinion about Iraq, even me -- but if you're going to take the step of actually going there, you've got to give it a chance.

"I love the president, he's my commander in chief," said one of the sergeants in our convoy. "But sometimes I wish he'd keep his fucking mouth shut."

That's right, motherfuckers, keep those hands up. America is driving by!

At home we deride every American soldier as a potential war criminal, we label them committers of massacres, we call them dumb and when we're really being nice, we say they're just dupes, field hands for the rich frat boys who got high on punch and drove us into this mess. But there's something beautiful about the way you can pluck fifteen American kids from the parking lots of the Midwest, drop them anywhere in the world, and you'll get the same thing every time: dip, dick jokes and 50,000 pounds of finely tuned convoy rumbling at top speed. Our kids may not be the best educated, they may not read many books, but in a fair fight, they will kick your ass.

Those are all off the first page, and there's five more! Enjoy.

Update:

I just had to add this:

[...]As a journalist in Iraq, you can't help but start to feel like what you are, which is a vermin and an outsider. In many ways, being embedded with U.S. troops in the liberal-media/Michael Moore age is sort of like being asked to march into Sunday services in a Lexington, Kentucky, megachurch wearing an assless biker-dominatrix costume: One is conscious of having been the subject of many past sermons. In the Army mind-set, the relative success and failure of the Iraq War is all a matter of perception, and if you follow that calculus far enough, which a certain unmistakable minority of soldiers will, all of the bombings are actually the media's fault.

Any journalist in Iraq who does not regularly feel the urge to puke his guts out from conscience-sickness is probably not in the right line of work, because increasingly, almost anything he does here is a gruesome betrayal of someone or other -- the soldiers and their mission if he tells too much of the truth, himself and the public if he does not.

Check back later. There may be more.

Update #2: My opinion...

...remains unchanged, even strengthened: Our GIs are doing the best they can, which is damn good, but we never had any business in Iraq, still don't, and it's not going to end well for us or the Iraqis. The only chance they have of getting well is if we leave, and it'll be painful for them. Mr. Taibbi makes the case very well.

War Not Lieberman's Only Problem at Home

Following up on Fixer's post, Real Clear Politics sums it up pretty good:

Joe Lieberman may need more than another political party. He may need another state, as well.

The received wisdom is often wrong. Polls showing Lieberman with a commanding lead in the general election were taken at a time when his opponent was called "Ned Lamont who?" The gap continually narrows as voters learn that Lamont is a serious alternative.

The contest has been framed as a vote on the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq war, which Lieberman has slavishly defended -- more than some of his Republican colleagues, notably Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel. And while the war is highly unpopular in Connecticut, that's not Lieberman's only rift with his electorate. On social issues, Lieberman plays to a Bible Belt audience, which his voters are not. That would include many of the state's generally moderate Republicans.

No, Lieberman doesn't have a lock on the Republican and independent voters of Connecticut. An election, after all, boils down to making a choice. The more people see that they have a reasonable alternative in Lamont -- that there's someone they can vote for, not just against -- the worse it will be for Lieberman.

Much more. Go read.

Lamont v. Holy Joe

Here's everything you need to know about tonight's debate.

The real fun will be afterward, and tomorrow when the gasbags have had time for their staffs to analyze it and tell them what to think and say about it!

More on that lefty rag...

Gene Lyons chimes in on the Repub smear of the NYTimes and its larger implications in NWANews, and no, I didn't find this op-ed while looking for hip-hop info.

The New York Times arrogant? Goodness, yes. Condescending, too. During the decade the newspaper devoted to its farcical coverage of the Whitewater hoax, feeding out of Kenneth Starr's soft little hand like a Shetland pony, I experienced that condescension firsthand. Even confronted with dispositive documentary evidence that its Whitewater stories were bunk, its basic response never varied: We're The New York Times and you're not.

But left wing? Well, the Times, along with The Washington Post, led the 2000 "war on Gore" that basically gave Bush the presidency. Then-columnist and now executive editor Bill Keller actually quoted his 3-year-old daughter's opinion that the Democratic nominee was a stiff.

After 9 / 11, the Times, along with the rest of the newspaper consortium, buried its finding that had all the legal votes in Florida been counted in 2000, Al Gore would have been president.

Lest we forget, it was reporter Judith Miller's series of leaked, single-source "exclusives" touting Saddam Hussein's imaginary nuclear weapons accompanied by TV appearances by Condoleezza Rice and Dick Cheney carefully coordinated with Times publication dates that helped stampede the nation to war. Columnist Keller thought invading Iraq was a terrific idea.

Now the Times has its reward. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Jon Carroll thinks he knows why.

"Many members of the president's base consider 'New York' to be a nifty code word for 'Jewish,'" he writes. "It is very nice for the president to be able to campaign against the Jews without (a ) actually saying the word 'Jew' and (b ) without irritating the Israelis."

Actually, that's wishful thinking. Anti-Semitism, as such, is old hat among True Believers on the extreme right. For years, the idea's been percolating through the right's well-organized propaganda apparatus that Democrats aren't loyal Americans.

Regarding Ann Coulter's ludicrous book, "Slander," I once wrote that "the 'liberal' sins [she(?-G) ] caricatures - atheism, cosmopolitanism, sexual license, moral relativism, communism, disloyalty and treason - are basically identical to the crimes of the Jews as Hitler saw them." Michael Savage, Michael Reagan, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh and others peddle the same sterilized American update of an ancient slur. Limbaugh recently called 80 percent of Times subscribers "jihadists." Now the Bush White House, desperate to prevail in 2006 congressional elections, has taken up the cry. Reasonable people never want to believe that extremists believe their own rhetoric. But quit kidding yourselves. This is mass psychosis. The next terrorist strike, should it happen, will be blamed on the enemy within: treasonous "liberals" who dissent from the glorious reign of George W. Bush(my em). Unless confronted, it's through such strategems that democracies fail and constitutional republics become dictatorships.

Let's make sure our "terrorist strike" is at the polls this November.

Quote of the Day

2 today (yes, I know I'm late).

Gordon:

Too many in the media answer to 'Fifi' and not enough to 'Killer'.

Gilliard:

People take TV way too seriously. Way too seriously.

And just a note

Before I run out the door. Remember how I was whining on the 4th about my 'off-the-boat' Italian buddy Nunzio breaking my balls about Germany losing to Italy? He was relentless yesterday. He brought four cars up for inspection and each time he asks 'so what are you doing Sunday?'

Germany plays Portugal for 3rd Place on Saturday.

More Ned

From a very interesting article by Bob Geiger on how Holy Joe's actions affect Dems in the Senate:

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"I want to be clear that I will support the nominee chosen by Connecticut Democrats in their primary," [NY Senator Hillary] Clinton said yesterday. "I believe in the Democratic Party, and I believe we must honor the decisions made by Democratic primary voters."

It would be nice if Lieberman believed the same thing. But with his selfish statement on Monday, Lieberman has sent a clear message to all Connecticut Democrats that their vote on August 8 is meaningless. If they happen to decide that Ned Lamont is a more appropriate Democratic standard bearer for these times, tough luck -- Bush's Boy is going to thumb his nose at them and run anyway.

Meanwhile, Lamont has already said that he will support whomever the voters choose as the Democratic nominee, even if that person is Lieberman. [my em]

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Good on Hillary. Time for the rest of the Dem leadership to take Whiny Joe behind the woodshed.

Ned Lamont.

The stench of hypocrisy 15

Brad Blog:

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He contends (with a suggested measure of inside skinny) that the GOP will use the evidence and arguments of election integrity advocates, such as yours truly and others, in making their case that Electronic Voting Machine fraud may have occurred in certain close elections this November if needed.

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And the Rethugs will do it with straight faces too. I tell ya, it amazes me the way they can do it. I know I couldn't. And just a note: You know this will catch the Dems flat-footed and sputtering.

Link via Dave Johnson.

It's not about the war ...

It's about selling out. Atrios:

Look, people, opposition to Lieberman isn't just about the Iraq war. It's about him "compromising" Democratic principles when he didn't have to, it's about selling out women, it's about thinking "bipartisanship" involves selling our your party so that Tim Russert will pat you on the head for your bravery, it's about dishonesty on things like the Bankruptcy Bill, and now it's about his contempt for the Democratic voters in his own state. And, yes, it's about the fact that the senator has indeed "lost the plot" on the Iraq war.

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Joe Lieberman sold out his party and his constituents to preserve his own power. Joe must go.

CIA: Osama Helped Bush in '04

Duh. This is nothing new. We posted on this several times in October '04 just after OBL's video came out and just before the election. Robert Parry has a recent article at Consortium News that reminds us of the close relationship between OBL's and Bush's families, goals, and ultimate symbiotic success or failure. Today's "must read and imprint on your brain".

On Oct. 29, 2004, just four days before the U.S. presidential election, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden released a videotape denouncing George W. Bush. Some Bush supporters quickly spun the diatribe as "Osama's endorsement of John Kerry." But behind the walls of the CIA, analysts had concluded the opposite: that bin-Laden was trying to help Bush gain a second term.

"At the five o'clock meeting, [deputy CIA director] John McLaughlin opened the issue with the consensus view: 'Bin-Laden certainly did a nice favor today for the President.'"

But the CIA analysts also felt that bin-Laden might have recognized how Bush's policies - including the Guantanamo prison camp, the Abu Ghraib scandal and the endless bloodshed in Iraq - were serving al-Qaeda's strategic goals for recruiting a new generation of jihadists.

By demanding an American surrender, bin-Laden knew U.S. voters would instinctively want to fight. That way bin-Laden helped ensure that George W. Bush would stay in power, would continue his clumsy "war on terror" - and would drive thousands of new recruits into al-Qaeda's welcoming arms.

This is all undeniably so, on one level: that OBL came up with it unaided and on his own.

The level that no one mentions yet is this: what was the degree of contact and co-operation between the Bushes, the Saudis, and the bin-Ladens, and was it before 9/11 as well as after?

Watchdogs vs. Lapdogs

Nicholas Kristof on the administration attack on the press. Via The Unknown Candidate (good site, btw).

Take Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who is head of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Senator Roberts has criticized The Times, but he himself is responsible for an egregious disclosure of classified intelligence. As National Journal reported in April, it was Senator Roberts who stated as the Iraq war began that the U.S. had "human intelligence that indicated the location of Saddam Hussein."

That statement horrified some in our intelligence community by revealing that we had an agent close to Saddam.

No responsible newspaper would risk an agent's life so blithely. And The Times would never have been as cavalier about Valerie Plame Wilson's identity as the White House was. The fact is, journalists regularly hold back information for national security reasons; I recently withheld information at the request of the intelligence community about secret terrorist communications.

More broadly, the one thing worse than a press that is "out of control" is one that is under control. Anybody who has lived in a Communist country knows that. Just consider what would happen if the news media as a whole were as docile to the administration as Fox News or The Wall Street Journal editorial page.

Historically, we in the press have done more damage to our nation by withholding secret information than by publishing it. One example was this newspaper's withholding details of the plans for the Bay of Pigs invasion. President Kennedy himself suggested that the U.S. would have been better served if The Times had published the full story and derailed the invasion.

Then there were the C.I.A. abuses that journalists kept mum about until they spilled over and prompted the Church Committee investigation in the 1970's. And there are secrets we should have found, but didn't: in the run-up to the Iraq war, the press — particularly this newspaper — was too credulous about claims that Iraq possessed large amounts of W.M.D.

In each of these cases, we were too compliant. We failed in our watchdog role, and we failed our country (my em).

So be very wary of Mr. Bush's effort to tame the press. Watchdogs can be mean, dumb and obnoxious, but it would be even more dangerous to trade them in for lap dogs.

Lapdogs get pets and treats and the run of the house, while watchdogs live on a chain, eat scraps, and get beaten when they step out of line. Why? Because they're dangerous.

Too many in the media answer to 'Fifi' and not enough to 'Killer'.

Ken Lay is Dead

Without being ghoulish,or at least trying...

Just heard on the radio that Ken Lay died of a heart attack either last night or this morning. It's on CNN's front page,so I guess it's been confirmed.

Hope he packed some asbestos drawers for the journey.I hear it's hot where he's headed.

Please clarify ...

WASHINGTON - North Korea test-fired a seventh missile Wednesday, South Korean officials said, intensifying the furor ignited when the reclusive regime launched at least six missiles earlier in the day.

...

Why we went into Iraq and are rattling our swords at Iran? Just askin' ...

Happy 4th of July, folks

It's been a lazy day: a few chores, a little yard work, lotsa relaxin'. We're gonna get a pizza, and then the relaxin' part will be over.

As dusk approaches, I will don my WWI 'Tommy'-style helmet and drag my pizza-laden ass up on the roof with a garden hose just in case some drunk fool shoots off fireworks in the middle of this nice dry pine forest! Believe me, it's happened before.

I hope y'all had plenty of beer and BBQ today, and I know you kept in mind what all the celebration was about. See ya tomorrow.

What type-o-dong wazzat, anyway?

It was a fireplug-with-ears lookin' one named Kim Jong Il. Me 'n Mrs. G had on CNN with the sound turned off while we played a new CD, so we got to read about N. Korea shootin' off a buncha missiles. Actually, it's not such a bad way to watch the endless bullshit they spew while they're waiting for the facts.

I got this picture in my little pea brain: Kim shows up in the control room for the big shoot with somethin' goin' on in his mind, namely a meltdown caused by his synapses all firing through a snootful of Dewar's.

I can just see him: "Crazy? You call me crazy?! You wanta see crazy? I'll show you fuckin' crazy!!" as he throws every switch he can find!

I feel for his rocket scientists and control room technicians: between laughin' their asses off and just knowin' they're gonna get stood up against a wall and shot, they don't know whether to shit or go blind.

And when Kim sobers up and finds out he shot off three years worth of rockets, maybe he'll calm down a little

If Bush had any fuckin' class he'd call Kim Jong Il up and thank him for helpin' celebrate our Independence Day by shootin' off all them fireworks!

Bummer

Italy - 2

Germany - 0

An excellent game and the Italian defense was amazing, shutting down almost every German attack. Good on 'em. It's a sad night in Germany.

Note: I'm never gonna shut my buddy Nunzio up tomorrow.

Don't try to get bigger than the Capo...

I was kinda wondering about this. One thing I know about cops, and I'm sure it applies to intelligence agents as well, is that most of 'em couldn't track a muddy puppy across a kitchen floor. They'd never solve anything without snitches. I knew Zarqawi got snitched off, the only question was by whom?

Yahoo! News

Al-Qaida leaders sold out Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to the United States in exchange for a promise to let up in the search for Osama bin Laden, the slain militant's wife claimed in an interview with an Italian newspaper.

The woman, identified by La Repubblica as al-Zarqawi's first wife, said al-Qaida's top leadership reached a deal with U.S. intelligence because al-Zarqawi had become too powerful. She claimed Sunni tribes and Jordanian secret services mediated the deal.

On Monday, an Iraqi legislator said authorities found telephone numbers of senior officials in al-Zarqawi's cell phone after his death. Waiel Abdul-Latif, a member of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party, did not give names of the officials. But he said they included ministry employees and members of parliament.

He called for an investigation, saying Iraqis "cannot have one hand with the government and another with the terrorists."

Oh, but they do, of that I'm certain.

I don't know if the story is true, but it's definitely plausible. It's comforting to know that our intelligence service is working so closely with al-Quaeda in pursuit of common goals.

Update:

NYTimes

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden

It happened last year, but the info just came out. They must have been getting close enough to OBL that the Saudis told Bush to back off. Common goals.

His age is finally gonna be higher than his IQ...

The Chimp is about to become as old as me. Go see some of his birthday cards.

What Really Worries Bush About The NYT SWIFT Revelations

The Internet Weekly Report

"If those pinko, liberal, man-on-dog, flag burning, traitors at the NY Times keep telling people what's really going on inside my administration, the American people, sooner or later, are going to start wondering why we haven't found any that Saudi Arabian money or arrested any of those princes, yet.

The last thing the American people need to be reminded about is:

List follows, with links.

Bookmark alert

Our pal RJ Eskow has started a new blog:

Here's the concept: We're dedicating this summer to freedom itself - and, in particular, to America's freedoms. We're calling it "Freedom Summer 2006." That name honors the brave souls who took part in the civil rights struggle during that first "freedom summer" of 1963.

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But what's cool about it is:

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This website is yours, if you can keep it. Its readers are its creators. The inspiration is "Sorry Everybody," which inspired so many people after the 2004 election.

Here's how it works:

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Go see how it works.

14 Points

Anything sound familiar?

4th of July

Be safe and remember why we commemorate this day.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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And something else from early American history for you to consider today.

Whinery

I'm hearing a lot of whining coming from across the Hudson over this:

(Trenton - WABC, July 3, 2006) - Governor Jon Corzine has ordered state lawmakers to work Tuesday, hoping to break the impasse and come up with a budget. But in the meantime, the government is closed.

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In my book, Governor Corzine is doing the right thing. These state lawmakers are charged with putting a budget forth by a certain time for the Governor to sign. It's called doing your job. Governor Corzine is just providing incentive. As opposed to the situation on this side of the Hudson where we haven't received a budget on time in 25 years (usually we're halfway through the fiscal year before Pataki signs it). Maybe next year, Governor Spitzer (I can't wait) will do the same thing in New York that Gov. Corzine has the stones to do in Jersey.

More detail from my awesome neighbors at Blue Jersey.