Rock The Vote

The Iraqis are voting! Th-

Hey, hey! Stop it! Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, I said the Iraqis are voting!

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents hit the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad with a rocket Saturday, killing two Americans. Militants also set off explosions that killed eight Iraqis and a U.S. soldier and blasted polling places across the country Saturday as Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's government urged Iraqis to overcome their fear of violence and vote in landmark elections.

The strike in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone was a dramatic sign of guerrillas' ability to hit at the heart of power in Iraq even as the U.S. and Iraqi militaries took some of their strictest security measures ever for the election, imposing a strict lockdown in the capital and large parts of the country.

The rocket hit the embassy's compound after nightfall, near the building itself, an embassy official said. A civilian and a Navy sailor, both assigned to the embassy, died and four Americans were injured.

Slammin Sammy

I'm glad to see that the Orioles have addressed their need for starting pitching and now feel free to explore other options on the free-agent market.

CHICAGO—The Cubs will trade Sammy Sosa to the Baltimore Orioles, reportedly in exchange for INF Jerry Hairston Jr. and prospects, pending approval.

Executives told the Associated Press Friday the Cubs would pay a good portion of Sosa's $17 million salary for the upcoming season. Sosa would then void his salary for 2006, which currently includes an option for $18 million or a buyout for $4.5 million.

Minor leaguers Michael Fontenot and David Crouther are widely speculated to be involved in the trade. Crouther, a right handed pitcher, was the third round pick of the Orioles in 2001. He went 9-9 with a 5.03 ERA in 27 starts for Class Double A Bowie last season. Fontenot, Baltimore's first round pick in '01, hit .279 for Triple A Ottawa in 2004.

An official announcement is expected some time this week. The trade is still awaiting Commissioner Bud Selig's approval, and possibly that of the Players' Association. In turn, Sosa would have to waive his no-trade clause, plus pass a physical.

Straight Dicks

John, over at AMERICAblog, makes a great point regarding a group of College Republicans who plan to hold a "straight pride" parade.

It's funny, but why is it that these "we're not really bigots" events are never held by groups that actually are known not to be bigots. For example, you never see well-adjusted, gay-friendly straight people holding "straight pride" events. It's always Republicans, and it's always people who don't like gays. If the events were unconnected to anti-gay animus then why are there never any people involved who aren't anti-gay? Same thing goes for "white pride" events. If they're not motivated by racism, then why don't any normal non-racist people ever participate - the events are always held by Klansmen and David Duke-types, but we're supposed to believe there's no racial animus involved. Uh huh.

Fried Rice

This is just an excerpt of the blistering commentary made by Sen. Mark Dayton (MN) in opposition to the nomination of Condoleeza Rice for Secretary of State.

Read the whole thing.

THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT. I RISE TODAY TO ALSO OPPOSE THE NOMINATION OF NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER CONDOLEEZZA RICE FOR SECRETARY OF STATE.

I DO SO, BECAUSE SHE MISLED ME ABOUT THE SITUATION IN IRAQ BEFORE AND AFTER THE CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION IN OCTOBER, 2002, AUTHORIZING THAT WAR, A RESOLUTION THAT I OPPOSED. SHE MISLED OTHER MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ABOUT THE SITUATION IN IRAQ, MEMBERS WHO HAVE SAID THAT THEY WOULD HAVE OPPOSED THAT RESOLUTION IF THEY HAD BEEN TOLD THE TRUTH. AND SHE MISLED THE PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA AND AMERICANS EVERYWHERE ABOUT THE SITUATION IN IRAQ, BEFORE AND AFTER THAT WAR BEGAN.

IT IS A WAR IN WHICH 1,372 AMERICAN SOLDIERS HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES AND OVER 10,000 HAVE BEEN WOUNDED, MANY OF THEM MAIMED FOR LIFE. THOUSANDS MORE HAVE BEEN SCARRED EMOTIONALLY AND PHYSICALLY. ALL OF THEIR FAMILIES AND MANY THOUSANDS OF OTHER AMERICAN FAMILIES WHOSE LOVED ONES ARE NOW SERVING IN IRAQ, WHO ARE SUFFERING SERIOUS FINANCIAL AND FAMILY HARDSHIPS, WHO MUST WONDER AND WORRY EVERY DAY AND NIGHT FOR A YEAR OR LONGER WHETHER THEIR HUSBANDS, WIVES, FATHERS, MOTHERS, SONS, AND DAUGHTERS ARE STILL ALIVE, WILL STAY ALIVE, AND WONDER WHEN THEY WILL BE COMING HOME.

FOR MANY, THE ANSWER IS NOT SOON ENOUGH. I READ IN TODAY'S "WASHINGTON POST" THAT THE ARMY IS PLANNING TO KEEP ITS CURRENT TROOP STRENGTH IN IRAQ AT 120,000 FOR AT LEAST TWO MORE YEARS. I DID NOT LEARN THAT INFORMATION AS A MEMBER OF CONGRESS. I DID NOT LEARN IT AS A MEMBER OF THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE, WHERE I REGULARLY ATTEND PUBLIC HEARINGS, CLASSIFIED MEETINGS, AND TOP SECRET BRIEFINGS. I DID NOT LEARN IT FROM THE U.S. MILITARY COMMAND IN IRAQ, WITH WHOM I MET IN BAGHDAD LAST MONTH. I READ IT IN "THE WASHINGTON POST". JUST AS I READ LAST WEEKEND THAT THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE HAS CREATED HIS OWN NEW ESPIONAGE ARM BY -- QUOTE -- "REINTERPRETING AN EXISTING LAW." WITHOUT INFORMING MOST, IF ANY, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND BY REPORTEDLY -- QUOTE -- "REPROGRAMMING FUNDS APPROPRIATED FOR OTHER PURPOSES."

JUST AS I LEARNED LAST WEEKEND BY READING "THE NEW YORK TIMES" THAT SECRET U.S. COMMANDO UNITS ARE OPERATING IN THIS COUNTRY BASED ON THE ADMINISTRATION'S REINTERPRETATION OF ANOTHER LAW. I ALSO LEARNED OF OFFICIAL REPORTS DOCUMENTING HORRIBLE ABUSES OF PRISONERS, INNOCENT CIVILIANS AS WELL AS ENEMY COMBATANTS AT NUMEROUS LOCATIONS IN COUNTRIES BESIDES THE ABU GHRAIB PRISON IN IRAQ, WHICH DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS ASSURANCES WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN REPEATEDLY BY ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS IN THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE.

I MIGHT AS WELL SKIP ALL THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE HEARINGS AND MEETINGS AND TOP SECRET BRIEFINGS AND JUST READ THE PAPERS. AND THANK GOODNESS FOR A FREE AND VIGILANT PRESS TO FERRET OUT THE TRUTH AND TO REPORT THE TRUTH, BECAUSE WE CANNOT GET THE TRUTH FROM THIS ADMINISTRATION.

Again, you really must read the whole thing.

Dressing Down

Dick Cheney -- who apparently thought he was going skiing, rather than attending an event to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz -- receives a week's worth of ass-kicking from Robin Givhan of The Post.

At yesterday's gathering of world leaders in southern Poland to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the United States was represented by Vice President Cheney. The ceremony at the Nazi death camp was outdoors, so those in attendance, such as French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin, were wearing dark, formal overcoats and dress shoes or boots. Because it was cold and snowing, they were also wearing gentlemen's hats. In short, they were dressed for the inclement weather as well as the sobriety and dignity of the event.

The vice president, however, was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower.

Cheney stood out in a sea of black-coated world leaders because he was wearing an olive drab parka with a fur-trimmed hood. It is embroidered with his name. It reminded one of the way in which children's clothes are inscribed with their names before they are sent away to camp. And indeed, the vice president looked like an awkward boy amid the well-dressed adults.

The Payola Doesn't Stop Until We Reach The Top

We're living in a surreal world when The Prez has to order his Cabinet to stop paying for positive coverage.

One day after President Bush ordered his Cabinet secretaries to stop hiring commentators to help promote administration initiatives, and one day after the second high-profile conservative pundit was found to be on the federal payroll, a third embarrassing hire has emerged. Salon has confirmed that Michael McManus, a marriage advocate whose syndicated column, "Ethics & Religion," appears in 50 newspapers, was hired as a subcontractor by the Department of Health and Human Services to foster a Bush-approved marriage initiative. McManus championed the plan in his columns without disclosing to readers he was being paid to help it succeed.

Responding to the latest revelation, Dr. Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at HHS, announced Thursday that HHS would institute a new policy that forbids the agency from hiring any outside expert or consultant who has any working affiliation with the media. "I needed to draw this bright line," Horn tells Salon. "The policy is being implemented and we're moving forward."

...

To date, the Bush administration has paid public relation firms $250 million to help push proposals, according to a report Thursday in USA Today. That's double what the Clinton administration spent on P.R. from 1997 to 2000. Shortly after Williams' contract came to light, the Democrats on the Committee on Government Reform wrote a letter to President Bush demanding that he "immediately provide to us all past and ongoing efforts to engage in covert propaganda, whether through contracts with commentators, the distribution of video news releases, or other means." As of Thursday, a staffer on the committee told Salon, there had been no response.

So Listen Close To What We Say

Because this type of shit happens every day.

Liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America says columnist Charles Krauthammer praised President Bush's Jan. 20 inauguration speech on TV without disclosing his role consulting on the speech.

...

Among Krauthammer's Fox News comments praising Bush's inauguration remarks: "It was a revolutionary speech. ... To speak, essentially, about the abolition of tyranny, which has been a constant in human history for thousands of years, can only be spoken of as radical."

Two days later, on Jan. 22, The Washington Post reported: "The planning of Bush's second inaugural address began a few days after the Nov. 2 election with the president telling advisers he wanted a speech about 'freedom' and 'liberty.' That led to the broadly ambitious speech that has ignited a vigorous debate. The process included consultation with a number of outside experts. ... One meeting ... included military historian Victor Davis Hanson, columnist Charles Krauthammer, and Yale professor John Lewis Gaddis, according to one Republican close to the White House."

Shearer said Krauthammer -- who began the year with 143 newspaper clients -- was invited to the White House Jan. 10 along with a group of historians "for informal, off-the-record discussions on American Middle East policy. Charles was included in this group because he is one of the most knowledgeable people on the region, which he has been writing about for nearly 25 years. The discussions, with several below-Cabinet-level officials attending, centered on the United States' standing in the region and what needs to be done to help the peace process. Clearly, these officials were interested in divergent views."

Gary Williams Is Fucking Insane

You have to admit, it was a pretty fucking shrewd move -- allowing yourselves to get blown out at home by NC State just to set up Duke -- but in the end it paid off.

And speaking of Maryland, I'd like to use this opportunity to remind everyone that Nik Caner-Medley's debut album, Songz In Da Key Of Gangsta, drops next Tuesday.

Payola For Everybody!

You knew it wouldn't take long. Media Putz Howie Kurtz makes rare good use of his position at The Post and uncovers another right-wing hack on the administration payroll.

In 2002, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher repeatedly defended President Bush's push for a $300 million initiative encouraging marriage as a way of strengthening families.

"The Bush marriage initiative would emphasize the importance of marriage to poor couples" and "educate teens on the value of delaying childbearing until marriage," she wrote in National Review Online, for example, adding that this could "carry big payoffs down the road for taxpayers and children."

But Gallagher failed to mention that she had a $21,500 contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's proposal. Her work under the contract, which ran from January through October 2002, included drafting a magazine article for the HHS official overseeing the initiative, writing brochures for the program and conducting a briefing for department officials.

Josh Marshall makes the best point.

It seems fair to say that the Gallagher arrangement wasn't as egregious as the Williams one. It's not clear -- at least from Kurtz's piece -- that she was paid to flack the policy, but rather to ghostwrite a few marriage policy articles, write a few brochures and do ... well, it's actually not totally clear what she was paid to do.

Which suggests a point. Were they really worried that Gallagher would come out for free love without the cash incentive? Neither she nor Williams is really known for their independent streak. In Gallagher's case -- and to some degree in Williams' too -- this seems less like a matter of payola than a Bush administration make-work program for third-tier GOP pundits.

No Fucking Way

Our Special Forces have been stretched to the point where they now include the pledge class from "Old School."

Internal Pentagon briefings describe Strategic Support Branch members as experienced intelligence professionals with specialized skills, "military operations backgrounds," and the training to "function in all environments under adverse conditions." But four special operations soldiers who provided information for this article, directly or through intermediaries, said those assigned to work with them included out-of-shape men in their fifties and recent college graduates on their first assignments.

"They arrived with shiny black kneepads and elbow pads, shiny black helmets," said one special forces officer who served with Waldroup's men in Iraq. "They brought M-4 rifles with all the accoutrements, scopes and high-end [satellite equipment] they didn't know how to use." An older member of Waldroup's staff "became an anchor because of his physical conditioning and his lack of knowledge of our tactics, techniques and procedures. The guy actually put us in danger."

Another special forces officer, who served with the augmentation team members in Afghanistan, said some of the intelligence officers deployed with his unit were reluctant to leave their base and spoke only to local residents who ventured inside. "These guys can't set up networks and run agents and recruit tribal elders," he said.

*Link via The Poor Man.

Do You Like Huey Lewis And The News?

This Patrick Bateman action figure may be the greatest thing to hit the collectibles market since chronium-enhanced baseball cards. And to top it off, better news is on the way!

Now for the big news - the 4th and final figure in Series I is the American Psycho, Patrick Bateman. Check out the first teaser image below and check back for more details on Patrick Bateman, his accessories, and news concerning an 18" version with the longest sound chip ever!

Please be this clip. Please be this clip.

Patrick Bateman: Do you like Phil Collins? I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn't understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where Phil Collins' presence became more apparent. I think Invisible Touch was the group's undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Take the lyrics to Land of Confusion. In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. In Too Deep is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I've heard in rock. Phil Collins' solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like In the Air Tonight and Against All Odds. But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist. This is Sussudio, a great, great song, a personal favorite.

TC Means Totally Cool!!!

And there's nothing more TC than hating fags and pushing your beliefs on others!
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Church-going Americans have grown increasingly intolerant in the past four years of politicians making compromises on such hot issues as abortion and gay rights, according to a survey released on Saturday.

At the same time, those polled said they were growing bolder about pushing their beliefs on others -- even at the risk of offending someone.

If these clowns want to put on their little Jesus hats and sing songs about angels to each other, fine; but DON'T TREAD ON ME. How fucking difficult is that to understand?

Worst. Superbowl. EVER.

Not quite, but almost. Any Superbowl which concludes with the Baltimore Ravens winning is the worst Superbowl ever. However, this Superbowl, which places me in the uncomfortable position of possibly being forced to root for the Philadelphia Eagles, comes oh-so-close.


"It was so cool of Seabiscuit to let me borrow his teeth."