things fall apart

2005-05-18T08:54:00.000-04:00

Burning Man

British Parliament-member George Galloway arrived in America yesterday to face allegations from Senate Republicans that he profited during the Iraq oil-for-food scandal.

The good folks at Daily Kos have found the transcript of Galloway's testimony from the Senate floor; here's a sampling (Be careful, this one's a scorcher!):

I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims did not have weapons of mass destruction.

I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda.

I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001.

I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.

Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies.

Galloway went on to add:

Mr. Senator, your comments on Iraq rank among the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point during your rambling, incoherent allegations were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

2005-05-18T08:31:00.000-04:00

Lucas, You Magnificent Bastard

According to the early reviews, not only is Episode III a quality film, i's also chock-full of Bush-bashing goodness!

From The Chicago Tribune:

In "Revenge of the Sith," Chancellor Palpatine exploits war fears to turn the Republic into an Empire ruled by him alone. As Senator Padme, played by Natalie Portman, watches Palpatine consolidate his power amid a rapturous senate, she comments disgustedly, "This is how liberty dies: with thundering applause."

"I didn't expect that to be true," Lucas said, then laughed. "It gets truer every day, unfortunately."

Lucas said he wrote that line and the screenplay's other politically pointed elements before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the subsequent war on terror. So when Palpatine announces that he intends to remain at war until a certain General Grievous is captured, no parallels to the hunt for Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein were intended.

"First of all we never thought of Bush ever becoming president," "Star Wars" producer Rick McCallum said, "or then 9/11, the Patriot Act, war, weapons of mass destruction. Then suddenly you realize, `Oh, my God, there's something happening that looks like we're almost prescient.' And then we thought, `Well, yeah, but he'll never make it to the second term, so we'll look like we just made some wacky political parody of a guy that everybody's forgotten.'"

...

McCallum was willing to make one prediction: "There's no question that the French are going to love the movie. We are definitely going to get the Golden Freedom Fry Award for best movie of the year, because they'll see it exactly the way they see their relationship with us now."

2005-05-18T07:36:00.000-04:00

Blame A Fool

Via AMERICAblog, The New York Times gives a pretty thorough account of the Newsweek caper. This is a long excerpt, but the piece is well worth reading, and much lengthier, in its entirety.

Mr. McClellan and other administration officials blamed the Newsweek article for setting off the anti-American violence that swept Afghanistan and Pakistan. "The report had real consequences," Mr. McClellan said. "People have lost their lives. Our image abroad has been damaged."

But only a few days earlier, in a briefing on Thursday, Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had said that the senior commander in Afghanistan believed the protests had stemmed from that country's reconciliation process.

"He thought it was not at all tied to the article in the magazine," General Myers said.

In the interview, Mr. Whitaker expressed frustration at the Pentagon for not informing the magazine of questions about the accuracy of the original account until about 10 days after it was published. He added that the magazine was continuing to report on the underlying accusations of Koran desecration.

An article in the current Newsweek said the original report, written by a veteran investigative reporter, Michael Isikoff, and the magazine's national security correspondent, John Barry, relied on a "longtime reliable source" who told Mr. Isikoff that a new report on prisoner abuses at Guantánamo would include a mention of a Koran being flushed down a toilet. The magazine said it showed the original article to a Pentagon official who challenged one aspect of the story but not the report about the desecration of the Koran.

Because of other reports about prisoner abuses there, the magazine said, the toilet incident "seemed shocking but not incredible."

In fact, complaints from released inmates that the Koran had been thrown into a toilet go back at least two years.

Among the more detailed accounts of United States soldiers mishandling copies of the Koran were depositions from three Britons who were released from Guantánamo in the summer of 2004. Asif Iqbal, one of the men, who were from Tipton, England, and had been captured in Afghanistan, said that guards "would kick the Koran, throw it in the toilet and generally disrespect it."

Military officials dismissed the complaints as commanders at Guantánamo conducted media tours of the facility during which they emphasized steps taken to demonstrate respect for Islam. Inmates, they noted, were given copies of the Koran along with a cloth surgical mask, which they used as a kind of sling to suspend the book from the wire mesh walls to ensure it did not touch the floor.

The official accounts of Guantánamo began fraying in later months, as the International Committee of the Red Cross charged in a confidential report in November that the procedures at Guantánamo amounted to torture, and F.B.I. memorandums disclosed in December portrayed harsh and abusive treatment by interrogators. The F.B.I. memorandums, disclosed in a lawsuit, did not mention any mishandling of the Koran.

Last month, a former American interrogator confirmed to The New York Times an account given in an interview by a former Kuwaiti detainee, Nasser Nijer Naser al-Mutairi, who said that mishandling of the Koran once led to a major hunger strike. The strike ended only after a senior officer expressed regret over the camp's loudspeaker system, which was simultaneously translated by linguists at the end of each cell block, the former interrogator said.

In that case, the accusations were of copies of the Koran being tossed on the floor in a pile and treated roughly, but there was no assertion that any had been put in the toilet.

Erik Saar, a co-author of the book "Inside the Wire" and an Arabic language translator at Guantánamo from January to June 2003, said in an interview Monday that while he "never saw anything along the lines of a Koran being flushed down a toilet," the issue of how guards and interrogators handled the book was a chronic problem.

"It was one of the things that kept resurfacing because guards had to inspect the cells occasionally for contraband," Mr. Saar said. He said that commanders tried to deal with detainees' sensitivity about the Koran in several ways, including enlisting some of the Muslims working for the military as translators to handle the books during inspections, so that nonbelievers would not touch the books. But that was not always done, he said, and there was no regular policy. The issue "created friction and problems all the time," he said.

2005-05-18T07:17:00.000-04:00

Capital Gains (And Losses)

Via all over the place, the latest Pew survey sez President Mandate is sinking.

Bush Approval Ratings

Approve 43 (49)
Disapprove 50 (46)

And he's taking his cronies with him.

Congressional Republicans

Approve 35 (39)
Disapprove 50 (44)

Congressional Democrats

Approve 39 (37)
Disapprove 41 (44)

What happened to all that political capital?

"I spents it all on this cool fog machine. Look Ma!
I'm in heaven!"

2005-05-17T22:11:00.000-04:00

Are You Ready To Begins?

With just under a month to go (are you feeling it? is that a yes?), Warner Bros. has released a pair of new Batman Begins trailers. This link to The Movie Box features every single piece of Begins-related video available, including the fresh stuff (the new additions are the international trailer and TV spot #5).

2005-05-17T21:54:00.000-04:00

Of Pots And Kettles

So now Newsweek has bowed to White House pressure and retracted the Quran desecration story. The problem? Their source is unsure of the document in which the allegations were reported.

The real problem? With a complete lack of irony, White House Press Secretary continues to make statements like this:

"The report had real consequences," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Monday. "People have lost their lives. Our image abroad has been damaged. There are some who are opposed to the United States and what we stand for who have sought to exploit this allegation. It will take work to undo what can be undone."

This man is an embarrassment to our country. From the editorial board at The Oregonian:

There's no question Newsweek damaged its credibility and worsened global disgust with the United States by publishing such a poorly sourced news item. But it isn't true, as White House spokesman Scott McClellan said at a briefing Tuesday, that "there is lasting damage to (the nation's) image because of this report."

The lasting damage to the nation's image has come from years of reports of prisoner abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo, some unsubstantiated and some chillingly documented. A few of the incidents involved the reservist found guilty this week of abusing detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Despite such incidents, the White House seems offended that anyone might suspect further problems.

Newsweek's report of Quran abuse may have inflamed deadly riots in the Muslim world, though accounts differ on the riots' causes. Ironically, Newsweek may be proven right: A Pentagon spokesman said in a briefing Tuesday that there may have been "inadvertent mishandlings of the Quran." [italics added]

As Abu Ghraib showed, anything is possible. And there is plenty of blame to go around.

2005-05-16T13:31:00.000-04:00

What The Hell Is Going On Here?

Today's special:

The Pentagon has attacked as "irresponsible" an article in Newsweek magazine alleging that U.S. military interrogators desecrated copies of the Quran, and accused the magazine of "hiding behind" anonymous sources. Bryan Whitman, a spokesman for the Pentagon, claimed the report, published in last week's issue, was "demonstrably false," adding that it had had "significant consequences that reverberated throughout Muslim communities around the world."

...

The magazine has apologized for the story, in which it alleged interrogators at Guantánamo Bay had flushed a copy of the Quran down a toilet. "We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst," the apology read.

Which is all fine and good, except that a) this isn't the first time American interrogators have been accused of defacing the Quran, and b) despite the Pentagon's best efforts, Newsweek hasn't actually backed off the story.

On Saturday, Isikoff spoke to his original source, the senior government official, who said that he clearly recalled reading investigative reports about mishandling the Qur'an, including a toilet incident. But the official, still speaking anonymously, could no longer be sure that these concerns had surfaced in the SouthCom report.

Juan Cole has plenty more.

2005-05-16T13:21:00.000-04:00

My Pending Nuptials Are Driving Me Insane

Or something like that. To make a very long story very short, I've had to move and prepare for my wedding (this Saturday) over the past month, so after Blogger was on the outs for a week or so, I just gave up. But anyway, I should be back now.

At least until the honeymoon.

2005-04-04T06:44:00.000-04:00

Site Maintainence

Jesus Christ on a raft, this thing is barely functioning better than when I got frustrated with it last week and gave up for a while. Anyway, I think you should see most of the old stuff pop up at some point today.

2005-03-28T23:56:00.000-05:00

Michael Moore Is Fat

He may have been right about Saudis fleeing the country after 9-11, but he's still fat. So, you know, don't listen to him or anything...

The FBI played an active role in arranging chartered flights for dozens of well-connected Saudi nationals -- including relatives of Osama bin Laden -- after the 9/11 terror attacks.

The New York Times reported that the documents show Federal Bureau of Investigation agents gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi families who fled the United States, while several other Saudis were allowed to leave the country without first being interviewed, citing newly-released US government records.

The Saudi families, in Los Angeles and Orlando, had requested the FBI escorts out of concern for their personal safety in the wake of the attacks.

The documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Justice Department by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, which provided copies to the Times.

FBI officials contacted by the daily reacted angrily to the allegation of preferential treatment for the Saudis.

One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, when queried by the Times about the airport escorts said "we'd do that for anybody if they felt they were threatened -- we wouldn't characterize that as special treatment."

The Saudis' chartered flights -- arranged in the days after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks when most aircraft were still grounded -- long have been a topic of allegations related to close family ties and associates of US President George W. Bush and the Saudi royal family.

2005-03-28T23:38:00.000-05:00

Where No Professor Has Gone Before

This must be read to believed, as presidential bioethics-advisor Diana Schaub explains that her opposition to stem-cell research is based on her strong view of immortality, gleamed at least partially from Star Trek... The old one.

Diana Schaub, a Loyola College professor and adviser to President Bush, is convinced that cloning and embryonic stem cell research are evil. She says this belief was formed, in part, by watching Star Trek.

The show has "left me receptive to the view that mortality is, if not precisely a good thing, then at least the necessary foundation of other very good things," she wrote in an article last year. "There is something misguided about the attempt to overcome mortality."

"My beard is engaging in a misguided
attempt to overcome my face."

Via Amygdala and Matthew Yglesisas.

2005-03-27T22:58:00.000-05:00

March Madness

With all the talk about this being the best "madness" in history, I thought I should remind everyone -- three overtime games or not -- to keep things in perspective.

Still the champ, brother.

2005-03-27T22:53:00.000-05:00

Aim And Shoot

I think angry-Atrios is filling in while regular-Atrios celebrates Easter.

And, look, I agree with those who say that Democrats have an image problem on foreign policy. And, I agree with those who think that this image problem is to some degree based on an actual lack of foreign policy substance.

But, on foreign policy as with everything else, the "me too!" position gets you nowhere.

The Democrats who made it impossible for Democrats to have an articulate distinct position on foreign policy are the ones who pushed the party into supporting the Iraq war.

I don't actually disagree with the general proposition that the Democrats need a bit of piss and vinegar in their foreign policy, but they have to figure out where to aim that piss. Peter Beinart and Joe Biden and the rest of the gang didn't aim their piss, they let George Bush grab their dicks and point them towards Baghdad. And, now, two years later, they want to lecture the rest of us on how to be perceived as "strong."

The way to be perceived as strong isn't to let George W. Bush tell you where to point your dick.

2005-03-25T23:52:00.000-05:00

Release The Hounds!

From Josh Marshall, we learn that Jeb has already tried to send in the goon squad.

Hours after a judge ordered that Terri Schiavo was not to be removed from her hospice, a team of state agents were en route to seize her and have her feeding tube reinserted -- but they stopped short when local police told them they would enforce the judge's order, The Herald has learned.

Agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told police in Pinellas Park, the small town where Schiavo lies at Hospice Woodside, on Thursday that they were on the way to take her to a hospital to resume her feeding.

For a brief period, local police, who have officers at the hospice to keep protesters out, prepared for what sources called "a showdown."

In the end, the squad from the FDLE and the Department of Children & Families backed down, apparently concerned about confronting local police outside the hospice.

"We told them that unless they had the judge with them when they came, they were not going to get in," said a source with the local police.

2005-03-25T22:08:00.000-05:00

Scienticians

Via Oliver Willis, Scientific American is shrill.

In retrospect, this magazine's coverage of socalled evolution has been hideously one-sided. For decades, we published articles in every issue that endorsed the ideas of Charles Darwin and his cronies. True, the theory of common descent through natural selection has been called the unifying concept for all of biology and one of the greatest scientific ideas of all time, but that was no excuse to be fanatics about it.

Where were the answering articles presenting the powerful case for scientific creationism? Why were we so unwilling to suggest that dinosaurs lived 6,000 years ago or that a cataclysmic flood carved the Grand Canyon? Blame the scientists. They dazzled us with their fancy fossils, their radiocarbon dating and their tens of thousands of peer-reviewed journal articles. As editors, we had no business being persuaded by mountains of evidence.

Moreover, we shamefully mistreated the Intelligent Design (ID) theorists by lumping them in with creationists. Creationists believe that God designed all life, and that's a somewhat religious idea. But ID theorists think that at unspecified times some unnamed superpowerful entity designed life, or maybe just some species, or maybe just some of the stuff in cells. That's what makes ID a superior scientific theory: it doesn't get bogged down in details.

Good journalism values balance above all else. We owe it to our readers to present everybody's ideas equally and not to ignore or discredit theories simply because they lack scientifically credible arguments or facts. Nor should we succumb to the easy mistake of thinking that scientists understand their fields better than, say, U.S. senators or best-selling novelists do. Indeed, if politicians or special-interest groups say things that seem untrue or misleading, our duty as journalists is to quote them without comment or contradiction. To do otherwise would be elitist and therefore wrong. In that spirit, we will end the practice of expressing our own views in this space: an editorial page is no place for opinions.

Get ready for a new Scientific American. No more discussions of how science should inform policy. If the government commits blindly to building an anti-ICBM defense system that can't work as promised, that will waste tens of billions of taxpayers' dollars and imperil national security, you won't hear about it from us. If studies suggest that the administration's antipollution measures would actually increase the dangerous particulates that people breathe during the next two decades, that's not our concern. No more discussions of how policies affect science eitherâ€”so what if the budget for the National Science Foundation is slashed? This magazine will be dedicated purely to science, fair and balanced science, and not just the science that scientists say is science. And it will start on April Fools' Day.

Okay, We Give Up
MATT COLLINS
THE EDITORS editors@sciam.com
COPYRIGHT 2005 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC.

2005-03-24T22:50:00.000-05:00

Jesus Is Just Alright With Me

The Editors, on the fact that many self-professed libertarians/"classic" conservatives are suddenly coming to the realization that they helped to elect a theocracy.

It’s also funny watching the Jingosphere try to deal with this. It’s been a trying few years, what with the “Global War on Terror” revealing itself to be not so much World War Two 2: Against the Sand Nazis, and a little too much The Gang Who Couldn’t Crusade Straight. Pretending that the Republican victory in the 2004 elections was some kind of popular vindication Republican foreign policy (the masterful and infinitely subtle geopolitical strategem concocted and administered by a C-student who couldn’t have found Afghanistan on a map two years ago), rather than a referendum on fag-hating, has probably taken its toll (although there were plenty of liberals willing to go along with the fiction as well), as have the record deficits racked up by the stauch fiscal conservatives, the manifold corruptions and abuses of power, the mountainous evidence that torture sans trial is the avowed policy of the unaccountable Imperial Executive, and so on. Sure, you can always excuse it with the undisproveable claim that “the Democrats” would have done the same/worse, but sometimes, after using this 10-12 times a day, it’s got to start sounding like, well, an excuse. Again, I don’t mean “ha-ha” funny, but more like “I-have-just been-diagnosed-with-incureable-Ebola” funny.

2005-03-24T22:31:00.000-05:00

Phone Tag

It's always frustrating to communicate via voice-mail, especially when you're a hammered celebrity, like Pat O'Brien.

O'Brien, who entered alcohol-rehab on Sunday, allegedly left a series of messages for a female acquaintance last week that described, in detail, his plans for a Keith Richards-like "get together" involving her and another woman.

"Let's just [bleeping] have sex and fun and drugs and go crazy," says a male voice.

Yesterday reps for "The Insider" would not comment on widespread attribution of the voice to O'Brien.

The tape describes in graphic detail just how "badly" the caller wants various activities that involve, gosh, all parts of the woman's body.

"I'm so into you, Betsy is so f——ing jealous," the voice claims in one message. "I know you want me, but you have to be with Betsy, too."

"The Insider" host has one child with his wife, Linda.

Sadly, by the final message, Betsy seems to have pulled out of the threesome.

Says the caller: "Get another woman up, hire a hooker, let's get crazy, get some coke and if you get this message, if you agree with this, just look at me and say yes."

2005-03-23T23:07:00.000-05:00

Parental Advisory

God forbid anyone ever question the method or motives of those working in "His" name.

Wolcott:

Today I happened to hear Bob Franken "reporting" on the scene of the solemn procession in front of the hospice where demonstrators were attempting to bring Schiavo a cup of water, intending to be arrested. Franken, as hush-voiced as a golf commentator on the 18th hole awaiting a crucial putt, described one of the scenes of demonstrators stepping forward and being led away by sun-glassed police as "poignant."

The scene? A father being arrested with three of his children. Another child, age three, was spared, left to the custody of her mother. The father and three children--all three under the age of sixteen--were gently handcuffed and taken away in squad cars.

There was nothing "poignant" about this moment of togetherness. It was idiotic and irresponsible. If Dad wants to get arrested and spend the night behind bars with Otis the Town Drunk, fine, but don't drag the kids into it, particularly children that young. Let them stay home with gran'ma as Dad and Mom enjoy a second honeymoon in handcuffs. Franken's sentimentalizing of this pious photo-op is more proof that the so-called MSM is so cautious about being respectful of religion that it refuses to recognize the raw face of fanaticism even when it's filling the camera lens. Practically nothing is said about the backgrounds of the nutjob organizers of these sickly pseudo-events, leaving the impression that is simply People of Conscience converging on Florida to bear witness and catch some rays.

Digby has more.

2005-03-23T22:55:00.000-05:00

Get Louder

This is, unfortunately, true (via AMERICAblog).

Sirota:

Democratic strategist David Sirota said the Schiavo case creates three impressions. "Firstly, Republicans are zealots," he said. "Secondly, where the hell are the Democrats? And thirdly, well, at least the zealots believe in something strongly. And that's the problem for Democrats right now on this issue, and a whole host of others. The party seems unwilling to stand up for anything controversial."

"The calculus by Democrats is that they don't want to offend anyone," Sirota said. "But in trying not to offend anyone, they lose support from everyone. What many Democrats haven't yet learned from Republicans is that it is better to be loved by some, and hated by others, than try to be liked by everyone. Because when you do that, you are liked by no one."

The Democrats have public opinion on their side, though you'd never know it from watching television, it's time for a major Dem to stand up and say this is wrong.

Maybe they could take a cue from Rep. Christopher Shays, New York (R):

This Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy.

Touche.

2005-03-22T23:02:00.000-05:00

"I Love Duke"

"I'm sorry I promised both of you to Shavlick Randolph but there's
nothing I can do at this point. I never thought he could eat that entire cake."

2005-03-22T22:35:00.000-05:00

Seafood Diet 2.0

The new diet craze is that, rather eating seafood, one just sucks the mercury out of a thermometer. It has all the same effects, but no messy weight gain!

When the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a rule last week to limit mercury emissions from U.S. power plants, officials emphasized that the controls could not be more aggressive because the cost to industry already far exceeded the public health payoff.

What they did not reveal is that a Harvard University study paid for by the EPA, co-authored by an EPA scientist and peer-reviewed by two other EPA scientists had reached the opposite conclusion.

That analysis estimated health benefits 100 times as great as the EPA did, but top agency officials ordered the finding stripped from public documents, said a staff member who helped develop the rule. Acknowledging the Harvard study would have forced the agency to consider more stringent controls, said environmentalists and the study's author.

...

Asked about the Harvard analysis, Al McGartland, director of the EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics, said it was submitted too late to be factored into the agency's calculations. He added that crucial elements of the analysis were flawed.

Interviews and documents, however, show that the EPA received the study results by the Jan. 3 deadline, and that officials had been briefed about its methodology as early as last August. EPA officials referred to some aspects of the Harvard study in a briefing for The Washington Post on Feb. 2.

The Harvard study concluded that mercury controls similar to those the EPA proposed could save nearly $5 billion a year through reduced neurological and cardiac harm. Last Tuesday, however, officials said the health benefits were worth no more than $50 million a year while the cost to industry would be $750 million a year.

2005-03-20T23:14:00.000-05:00

I Love The 80's

For anyone who grew up around roughly the same time as me, the 80's and early 90's, this is the single greatest thing ever: an archive of 80's toy/cartoon/breakfast cereal commercials.

If McDonalds was awesome, which they're not, they'd drop the "I'm lovin' it" crap and bring back the talking Chicken McNuggets.

2005-03-20T23:06:00.000-05:00

Incredible

Via Atrios, we learn that as Texas governor, George Bush signed a law into effect that allows hospitals to remove life-support for concious patients over the wishes of their relatives.

A patient's inability to pay for medical care combined with a prognosis that renders further care futile are two reasons a hospital might suggest cutting off life support, the chief medical officer at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital said Monday.

Dr. David Pate's comments came as the family of Spiro Nikolouzos fights to keep St. Luke's from turning off the ventilator and artificial feedings keeping the 68-year-old grandfather alive.

...

State law allows doctors to remove patients from life support if the hospital's ethics committee agrees, but it requires that the hospital give families 10 days to find another facility.

A similar case is still in the courts. Texas Children's Hospital wants to discontinue life support on 5-month-old Sun Hudson, who was diagnosed shortly after birth with a fatal form of dwarfism. His mother, Wanda Hudson, wants her son's care to continue at the hospital.

On Wednesday, a judge will consider whether Harris County Probate Court judge William McCulloch may remain on the Hudson case. Caballero, who represents Wanda Hudson, filed a motion that McCulloch remove himself from the case after making what Caballero said were biased statements.

Big business knows best.

2005-03-19T23:24:00.000-05:00

Just For The Record

The new Batman Begins one-sheet is bad ass.

2005-03-19T23:11:00.000-05:00

"Smithers, We're At War!"

SMITHERS: I'll begin profiteering, sir.

BURNS: And hoarding. Leave it to the Democrats to let the Spaniards back in the pantry.

Unbeknownst to me Harry Shearer, aka Mr. Burns of The Simpsons, not only has a masters degree in political science from Harvard, but has been posting on Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo for the past few days while Josh gets married.

Seriously.

"Eerie similarity between Mark McGwire at the baseball hearing--"I'm not here to discuss the past"--and Porter Goss before Senate Armed Services on whether interrogation techniques used since 2001 have complied with US anti-torture laws--"I am not able to tell you that". Eerier still, to broaden the focus, is the refusal of American media (and bloggers too) to notice the similarities between what's been happening since the runup to the war in the US, UK and Australia. When we're isolated inside our American bubble, our problem seems as if it's only our problem. But, while "extraordinary rendition" worms its ugly way into the national consciousness here, Britain has simultaneously been having a wrenching debate on the government's proposed non-judicial orders for persons "under suspicion", including house arrest and electronic tagging."

2005-03-17T23:17:00.000-05:00

Gone Drinking

Bah. It's late(r) on St. Patrick's Day and I don't feel like writing anything else. Read these two Digby posts and call me in the morning.

Uno:

What do you suppose would happen if the congress and the media spent as much time on say, torture, as they are on this absurd inquisition on steroids in baseball?

Dos:

I don’t believe in the death penalty because I think that the only justification for killing is self defense and when someone is locked up forever that is protection enough from their depredations. But I’m beginning to wonder if accepting the death penalty as we have presents another problem. So much focus is placed on the feelings of the victim’s families these days that I think we may have lost sight of the fact that there can be no recompense for the loss of a loved one. Therefore, the death penalty can never really be enough to satisfy the need that we are trying to make it satisfy.

2005-03-17T22:39:00.000-05:00

The Boy Who Cried Idiot

To truly grasp the incompetence of Paul Wolfowitz, you have to read the aptly titled "Mr. Magoo Goes To The World Bank," by Salon's Michael Lind.

A taste:

Critics are wrong to portray Wolfowitz as a malevolent genius. In fact, he's friendly, soft-spoken, well meaning and thoughtful. He would be the model of a scholar and a statesman but for one fact: He is completely inept. His three-decade career in U.S. foreign policy can be summed up by the term that President Bush coined to describe the war in Iraq that Wolfowitz promoted and helped to oversee: a "catastrophic success."

Even the greatest statesman makes some mistakes. But Wolfowitz is perfectly incompetent. He is the Mozart of ineptitude, the Einstein of incapacity. To be sure, he has his virtues, the foremost of which is consistency. He has been consistently wrong about foreign policy for 30 years.

2005-03-16T23:07:00.000-05:00

Forgotten But Not Gone

The Editors caught this post from Dr. Cole.

Readers often write in for an update on Fallujah. I am sorry to say that there is no Fallujah to update. The city appears to be in ruins and perhaps uninhabitable in the near future. Of 300,000 residents, only about 9,000 seem to have returned, and apparently some of those are living in tents above the ruins of their homes. The rest of the Fallujans are scattered in refugee camps of hastily erected tents at several sites, including one near Habbaniyyah, or are staying with relatives in other cities, including Baghdad.

The scale of this human tragedy– the dispossession and displacement of 300,000 persons– is hard to imagine. Unlike the victims of the tsunami who were left homeless, moreover, the Fallujans have witnessed no outpouring of world sympathy. While there were undeniably bad characters in the city, most residents had done nothing wrong and did not deserve to be made object lessons–which was the point Rumsfeld was making with this assault.

Jesus...

2005-03-16T22:32:00.000-05:00

The Awesomeness Of True Brilliance

George W. Bush has done some awesome stuff. I mean some really, really awesome stuff. However, in terms of sheer awesomeness, I have to say that it all pales in comparison to his nomination of Paul Wolfowitz as head of World Bank.

As much as anything, Mr. Bush may be giving Mr. Wolfowitz the job to help him rebuild his reputation after the heat he has taken over Iraq, said Rick Barton, a senior adviser at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former top U.S. development official. "In a way it's a better fit than where [Mr. Wolfowitz] has been before," Mr. Barton said. "He's passionate about humanitarian and political development, and that could probably be strengthened at the World Bank."

I think the moment that really defined Wolfowitz as a humanitarian came during a hearing of the House Appropriations subcommittee last year, when he revealed that he had no-fucking-clue-whatsoever as to the total number of American soldiers who had died in Iraq up to that point.

Asked how many American troops have died in Iraq, the Pentagon's No. 2 civilian estimated Thursday the total was about 500 -- more than 200 soldiers short.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was asked about the toll at a hearing of a House Appropriations subcommittee. "It's approximately 500, of which -- I can get the exact numbers -- approximately 350 are combat deaths," he responded.

2005-03-15T23:18:00.000-05:00

1984

When federal laws designed to reduce pollution actually force states to scale back their tougher, already in-place laws, we are truly living in bizzare times.

I believe the proper term for it would be "ungood."

A newly announced federal order to reduce mercury pollution from coal-burning power plants will require weakening more stringent state controls that were enacted in Wisconsin only last year, a state official says.

"It's a little frustrating," said Lloyd Eagan, bureau director for the air management program at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, in a telephone interview Tuesday night.

The Bush administration ordered Tuesday that power plants cut mercury pollution from smokestacks by nearly half within 15 years, but the worst polluters will be able to buy pollution "credits" from plants that give off less mercury than allowed.

By contrast, the state rule, effective last Oct. 1, required the state's four major power plants to cut mercury emissions in two phases - by 40 percent by 2010 and by 75 percent by 2015.

Wouldn't it be awesome if I stole $200 from the 7-11, and then upon being arrested, promptly turned around and bought a "robbery" credit from someone who hadn't yet committed theft?

"Did someone say 1984?"

*Link via AMERICAblog.

2005-03-15T23:10:00.000-05:00

Support Our Troops

Bring them home.

Two years after the shooting began, Americans are deeply conflicted about the costs and benefits of the war with Iraq — and broadly reluctant to enter into any similar military confrontation with either Iran or North Korea.

The public sees some benefits of the war — but more for Iraq than for the United States, and, for many, not enough to justify its costs. Seven in 10 in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll call the level of U.S. casualties in Iraq unacceptable, and 53 percent, on balance, say the war was not worth fighting.

This poll finds a huge comedown from public opinion before, during and just after the main fighting two years ago. President Bush's wartime job approval rating reached 77 percent; it's 50 percent now. His approval specifically on Iraq was 75 percent as the main fighting ended; it's 39 percent now, a career low.

2005-03-14T23:10:00.000-05:00

Steve Gilliard Is The Fucking Man

Learn it. Know it. Live it.

The bankruptcy bill is a fuck up, a fuck up assisted by the party of the rich, which is, of course, bipartisan. And it will be such fodder for good news stories and legal challenges that they will regret passing it. But why did it pass? Because we let it slide and didn't demand a fight. Now we have to get the horse and put it back in the fucking barn. And praise God that Bush has always had a hardon for Social Security. If some dumbasses don't lose their nerve, Bush will ride this puppy to defeat, a brutal asskicking defeat. Stopping Bush is the ultimate validation of liberal idealism and its effectiveness, if people seize that and ram it up against the bullshit free market ideology they never bother to practice themselves., What the fuck does some thinktank asshole know about work. he spends his day bullshitting about ideas he'll never live under. I say give them some field experience. Max Boot thinks the military is so fucking great, well, there's a job in Iraq for his ass and the rest of the warmongering chickenhawk pussies who jerk off to big guns and use the Military channel as their porn. Milton Friedman would have been a communist if he had to live under his own ideology. he spouted that bullshit from a professor's desk in a country which granted generous social protections.

The simple fact is that the America we have today is the result of liberalism. You get to jerk off to Halle Berry and dream about Denzel Washington because of liberals. The idea that liberals are pussies is bullshit, bullshit that we help promote because we let these lunatics define us. Ann Coulter is a fucking nut job, but everyone treats her like she's sane.

And to all the liberals who would say:, we can't be like them, it doesn't matter what we do, I have a simple fucking reply: FUCK YOU.

Let me drop a little history lesson on you: the Blitzkreig was effective when the Germans used it. It was brilliant. But you know the problem, they never had enough equipment or men to do it full out. Having been taught well, guess who did? The Russians. They not only had tanks and planes, but more of them, in more places. They chased the Germans with the venegence of the wronged. The Blitz in German hands got them to Moscow, in Russian hands, it got them to Berlin for 50 years.

We use our tools against the GOP and will split them and win[sic]. The Bible Thumpers will always be with us, and after a while, people get sick of them. They did in the 20's and they will now. The GOP has one fucking thing holding them together, power. In 2007, a lot of fiscal conserrvatives are going to find their nominess for president are a high grade of wacko, like Rick Santorum. People who are too crazy to win, but because the Jesus freaks control the GOP street game, they will have to decide what to do. Just like we listened to Jim Carville four years too long, the GOP will curse the name of Karl Rove for letting the Jesus freaks think the GOP is God's Own Party. Personally, I plan on handing them anvils and watching the fucking bubbles hit the surface.

The best thing? The full-entry is much longer, with additional outrage!

2005-03-14T22:47:00.000-05:00

The Brilliance Of True Awesomeness

From a Washington Post article detailing the right's new offensive on evolution.

Propelled by a polished strategy crafted by activists on America's political right, a battle is intensifying across the nation over how students are taught about the origins of life. Policymakers in 19 states are weighing proposals that question the science of evolution.

The proposals typically stop short of overturning evolution or introducing biblical accounts. Instead, they are calculated pleas to teach what advocates consider gaps in long-accepted Darwinian theory, with many relying on the idea of intelligent design, which posits the central role of a creator.

...

To fundamentalist Christians, [Southern Baptist minister Terry]Fox said, the fight to teach God's role in creation is becoming the essential front in America's culture war. The issue is on the agenda at every meeting of pastors he attends. If evolution's boosters can be forced to back down, he said, the Christian right's agenda will advance.

"If you believe God created that baby, it makes it a whole lot harder to get rid of that baby," Fox said. "If you can cause enough doubt on evolution, liberalism will die."

I suppose that until scienticians are able to prove the evolution of every single creature on Earth, Fox and his cronies' cult-like devotion to "theories" formed sometime around the dawn of man will live on. From Skeptical Inquirer magazine:

The "Don't Stop Now - It's Getting Good" Award goes to the Theory of Evolution, which still struggles for popular acceptance while finding stupendous experimental support and utility in science. In 2004, the evolution of irreducibly complex features was documented for flagellum motors and colorful coral proteins; more transitions were found between fish and amphibians (nostrils and fins-to-legs), the handedness of primordial amino acids was better understood, a single gene was found to be capable of giving mice long, bat-like fingers (explaining rapid evolution of bats), the natural history of the Uterus was developed, a gene common in Tibetans was found to improve oxygen intake, and a possible common ancestor of all the great apes, including humans, was found. Not a bad year, except for that "popular" thing....

*Link via No More Mister Nice Blog.

"I ain't come from no monkey. Hey Ma, get of the dang roof!"

2005-03-13T23:54:00.000-05:00

The Sky Is Blue

A PEW study says Fox is the most-biased "news" organization and that war coverage was been fairly even-handed.

One interesting claim the study makes is that, throughout the fall portion of the campaign, Bush recieved more negative coverage than Kerry. I'm sure this is true by whatever factors PEW used to measure tone, but I don't think it takes framing into account. For instance, I doubt stories on the bin Laden tape (the one released the weekend before the election) were considered negative to either Bush or Kerry. However, from that Friday night to Monday morning, you couldn't turn on a TV without hearing a pundit call the election for Bush.

2005-03-13T22:51:00.000-05:00

Ready-Made News

Just add water.

Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.

...

Some reports were produced to support the administration's most cherished policy objectives, like regime change in Iraq or Medicare reform. Others focused on less prominent matters, like the administration's efforts to offer free after-school tutoring, its campaign to curb childhood obesity, its initiatives to preserve forests and wetlands, its plans to fight computer viruses, even its attempts to fight holiday drunken driving. They often feature "interviews" with senior administration officials in which questions are scripted and answers rehearsed. Critics, though, are excluded, as are any hints of mismanagement, waste or controversy.

2005-03-11T23:17:00.000-05:00

Great Minds Think Alike

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against everyform of tyranny over the mind of man."

"So what Jefferson was saying was 'Hey! You know, we left this England place because it was bogus. So if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too.' Yeah?"

2005-03-11T22:04:00.000-05:00

Lunch Room Politics

I think I should just change the name of this blog to "What Digby Said."

All of this is to say that there has long been a campaign to emasculate Democrats. (I suspect that there is a corollary in the defeminization of Democratic women as well.) This is powerful stuff and we'd best admit that it is going on so that we can formulate a response that actually works. Right now, we either try to out-manly them or we laugh it off, neither of which are working. (The worst advice that Paul Begala ever took was when Tucker Carlson told him to laugh when these kind of insults are hurled. He often sounds like a nervous hyena they come so fast and furiously and it has the effect of making him appear slightly unhinged.)

I think this tactic plays into many people's anxiety about changing social and gender roles in our fast moving society. A lot of folks out there are genuinely freaked out by the rapid pace of change and because of it are very susceptible to rigid stereotypes. They just feel more comfortable on the side of the fence where the macho high school boys and the girls who love them are. It's very hard to even get them to peek over and see what's on the other side.

So true. Why run with the smart crowd and take responsibility for our actions as a country, when the cool kidz say that if we just stop thinking so much, we can kick A-rab ass and have tax cuts at the same time?

Welcome back to high school. Did somebody say "hotel party?"

"I don't want your life!"

2005-03-10T23:37:00.000-05:00

Great Moments In Republican History

Tom Delay (R - fuckstick), the smartest man alive.

A delegation of Republican House members including Majority Leader Tom DeLay accepted an expense-paid trip to South Korea in 2001 from a registered foreign agent despite House rules that bar the acceptance of travel expenses from foreign agents, according to government documents and travel reports filed by the House members.

Justice Department documents show that the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, a business-financed entity created with help from a lobbying firm headed by DeLay's former chief of staff, registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act on Aug. 22, 2001. DeLay; his wife, Christine; and two other Republican lawmakers departed on a trip financed by the group on Aug. 25 of that year.

Does anyone remember back in 1994 when the Republicans took control of the House and Senate by promising to clean up the corrupt, intrusive culture created by the Democratic majority?

I'm just saying...

2005-03-10T23:36:00.000-05:00

This Just In

University of Maryland star Nik Caner-Medley has been selected number one in the supplemental college-draft by the Breezewood, PA Wendy's.

Asked why the fastfood giant selected Caner-Medley, a projected starter, over other available stars such as his UM teammate John Gilchrist, Wendy's night manager Ron Goodman replied, "I just think Nik has so much potential. His speed is surprising for a guy of his size, which allows him to play any position on the floor, but he's also just so smart. We're going to start him out on the fryer but with his talent, I think that in no time you could Nik working the register or possibly even making Frosties."

2005-03-09T22:57:00.000-05:00

We Play To Win The Game

Digby has the perfect response to Joe Klein, who towed the inside-the-beltway convential wisdom on Sunday's Meet The Press.

MR. KLEIN: The answer to a radical right challenge isn't a reactionary left response.

Digby:

No the answer is to keep making the same mistakes over and over again, apparently.

This is the essence of the argument within the Democratic Party right now. We either acknowledge the nature of the opposition and gather our courage to fight it with an affirmative defense of our beliefs and a willingness to take the fight to the Republicans or we continue with a constant tweaking of issues and small bore accomodation in the hopes that we can eke out a tiny win election to election, the latter of which I would find a dubious proposition what with the questionable "wins" we keep seeing in states run by Republicans.

Here's the problem. The other side is waging a battle for total political dominance. They are willing to do anything to achieve it from cheating at elections to government propaganda to spending billions on a travelling political spectacle to entertain the folks. We will not defeat them with pocket protector arguments about the information age (although if anyone were qualified to make such an argument it would be Paul Krugman, the quintessential economist geek.) I suspect the fact that Krugman sees the big picture while Klein is still floating on a cloud of Seinfeldian nostalgia speaks more to the fact that Krugman famously does not hob knob with the in crowd while Klein famously lives for it.

As Ari Berman points out in his article in The Nation, the DLC and the allegedly liberal media are one big circle jerk.

At some point, all the Democrats out there wagging their fingers at the "radical" base need to open their eyes and realize we're in the middle of a street fight here.

2005-03-08T18:26:00.000-05:00

Overreacting Always

While I still support the idea of burning down any monument to the traitorous Confederacy -- including making several stops in the state of Virginia where even the individual stalls at rest stops are named for dead Confederate horses -- the always-reliable Steve Gilliard says that Lindsey Graham was not pining for slavery, but instead referencing to the very same burning of Columbia that this blog mentioned in an earlier rant on the Senator, when he said:

“We don’t do Lincoln Day Dinners in South Carolina,” Senator Graham told a Lincoln Day gathering in Tennessee Saturday. “It’s nothing personal, but it takes awhile to get over things.”

2005-03-08T09:14:00.000-05:00

More Duke

According to his official biography, JJ Redick was born on June 24, 1984, which would make him about four months shy of 21 years old.

So can anyone explain to me why this picture of Saint JJ, clutching what appears to be a Natural Light, is posted on the official Duke University website?

2005-03-08T08:59:00.000-05:00

BREAKING NEWS

***EXCLUSIVE!!! MUST CREDIT THINGSFALLAPART!!!***

This just in: Duke is AWESOME!

In the comments section of a previous post, I was reminded of this fact and e-mailed the Duke University Athletic Director for confirmation. Within moments, I recieved a return e-mail stating that the school's official postition on this topic is that they are, indeed, awesome.

"I think the part where I didn't make
any shots in the second half on the UNC
game solidified my position as the best
pure-shooter in college basketball history.
Plus it was totally awesome."

2005-03-07T23:39:00.000-05:00

Super-Terrific Brilliant Hour

From the New York Times:

Dozens of terror suspects on federal watch lists were allowed to buy firearms legally in the United States last year, according to a Congressional investigation that points up major vulnerabilities in federal gun laws.

People suspected of being members of a terrorist group are not automatically barred from legally buying a gun, and the investigation, conducted by the Government Accountability Office, indicated that people with clear links to terrorist groups had regularly taken advantage of this gap.

...

At least 44 times from February 2004 to June, people whom the F.B.I. regards as known or suspected members of terrorist groups sought permission to buy or carry a gun, the investigation found.

In all but nine cases, the F.B.I. or state authorities who handled the requests allowed the applications to proceed because a check of the would-be buyer found no automatic disqualification like being a felon, an illegal immigrant or someone deemed "mentally defective," the report found.

2005-03-07T23:04:00.001-05:00

"I Burned For Her"

Via RAW Story, Senator Lindsey Graham (R - SC) explains how losing the right to hold slaves is kinda like breaking up your with girlfriend.

"We don't do Lincoln Day Dinners in South Carolina, Senator Graham told a Lincoln Day gathering in Tennessee Saturday. It's nothing personal, but it takes awhile to get over things. (my emphasis)

I say, employing gene-altering technology that has been around for years, we resurrect Sherman and burn Columbia to the ground for old time's sake.

"The truth is, the whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak vengeance upon South Carolina. I almost tremble at her fate, but feel she deserves all that seems in store for her."

P.S. Lindsey, it's taking awhile "to get over things" because we kicked your racist Confederate asses all up and down the mid-Atlantic, traitor.

2005-03-05T23:14:00.000-05:00

Cowards

Via Atrios, you really ought to read this whole post from Coldfury. It includes this fantastic bit about Witmer family, who, after one of their three daughters -- all of whom serve -- was killed in Iraq, requested that the other two not be sent back.

That’s what John and Lori Witmer did when their daughter Michelle, 20, was killed in Iraq last year serving in the Wisconsin National Guard. Her sister Rachel, 25, who served with her in the 32nd Military Police Company, and her twin sister, Charity, 21, a medic, did not to return to Iraq after their parents pleaded that they be allowed to remain stateside.

“Common sense would say that one hero per family should be enough,” John Witmer of New Berlin, Wis., said in a telephone interview. “That way, the brothers and sisters wouldn’t have to be put in the position of feeling like they deserted their families if they went back or that they deserted their country if they stayed home.”

Their decision led to death threats and criticism from some who thought the other daughters should return to their units despite their sister’s death, he said. Radio stations held call-in discussions and the family received numerous threatening phone calls.

Instead of making threating phone calls to this poor family, why don't those assholes go to Iraq themselves?

Oh that's right, because they're fucking cowards.

2005-03-05T16:18:00.000-05:00

Casual Friday

When journalist/blogger extraordinare Matt Yglesias writes this:

Hotel staff seems not to appreciate the casual stylishness of my sneakers/ jeans/suit jacket ensemble. Instead, it's all funny looks.

I have to wonder, was he rocking the look more in the spirit of, say, Kanye West, or was it kind of like a Glenn "Sonny Crockett" Reynolds thing? The Professor is rumored to have once claimed at a U-T alumni dinner:

"They laughed at me when I wore jeans with a sportcoat. I was the first wealthy man in America to do that. Now they all do it!!"

We feel you Sonny, we feel you.

2005-03-04T23:10:00.000-05:00

Bring 'Em On

I forgot to congratulate Junior on another milestone achievement yesterday.

The number of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq campaign rose to 1,500 on Thursday, an Associated Press count showed, as the military announced the latest death of one of its troops.

"It's cool! Freedom is on the march, y'all!"

2005-03-04T22:57:00.000-05:00

Little Bill

Exhibiting stunning brillance, Bill O'Reilly's publisher has demanded that the guy who co-produced the Fox News documentary, Outfoxed, remove a link to one of Little Bill's columns from his blog.

This strategery worked out pretty well for O'Reilly last time.

2005-03-03T23:22:00.000-05:00

Bitch-Smacking The Maestro

As documented by this blog in the past, Harry Reid is Wyatt Earp. Ponder his voting record on abortion rights if you must, but face it -- he's the exact kind of badass this party needed to come in and stir things up in the Senate.

"I'm not a big Greenspan fan -- Alan Greenspan fan," Reid said when asked about the Fed chairman's testimony this week urging Congress to deal quickly with the financial problems facing Social Security and Medicare. "I voted against him the last two times. I think he's one of the biggest political hacks we have in Washington."

...

"Why doesn't he respond to the Republicans and tell them the big problem here is the debt that this administration is created?" he said. "We had a $7 trillion-dollar surplus when Bush took office. Now we have a $3 or $4 trillion-dollar deficit. That's, in fact, what Greenspan should be telling people."

The only question now is, if Reid is Wyatt, does that make Howard Dean Doc Holliday?

2005-03-02T23:54:00.000-05:00

Welcome Back

Someone ask Yao Ming how to say "I dropped 31 points on your face" in Chinese.

The Washington Wizards have won eight in a row — with Larry Hughes in the lineup. Hughes, out the last seven weeks with a broken thumb, scored 31 points in Washington's 101-98 win over the Houston Rockets Wednesday night. Hughes, who hit for 21 of his points in the second half, nailed a three-pointer with 3:15 remaining, giving Washington a 93-91 lead it would never relinquish.

As a great man once said, "You've got to harvest your nuts right now, man."

2005-03-02T22:01:00.000-05:00

Privatize This

From Congressional Quarterly, by way of ThinkProgress.org.

Treasury Secretary John W. Snow indicated Wednesday that the White House would accept a Social Security overhaul that does not divert the program’s payroll taxes into personal retirement accounts, a major shift in the administration’s position.

Do you like apples George?

Your plan to destroy Social Security just got shut down, how do you like them apples?

2005-03-01T22:13:00.000-05:00

Dat Liberal Academia

From Aaron Swartz, via Oliver Willis, this is absolutely fucking dead-on brilliant.

A shocking recent study has discovered that only 13% of Stanford professors are Republicans. The authors compare this to the 51% of 2004 voters who selected a Republican for President and argue this is “evidence of discrimination” and that “academic Republicans are being eradicated by academic Democrats”.

Scary as this is, my preliminary research has discovered some even more shocking facts. I have found that only 1% of Stanford professors believe in telepathy (defined as “communication between minds without using the traditional five senses”), compared with 36% of the general population. And less than half a percent believe “people on this earth are sometimes possessed by the devil”, compared with 49% of those outside the ivory tower. And while 25% of Americans believe in astrology (“the position of the stars and planets can affect people’s lives”), I could only find one Stanford professor who would agree.

Isn't it funny? Liberals accept the fact that certain professions tend to attract, or some would say require, those with a more conservative mindset -- you don't hear Democrats whining, "I sent my son into the Marines and now he's being indoctrinated by the right" -- while conservatives continue their thousand-year moan over the liberal nature of college campuses.

Get over it, you fucking cry babies.

2005-03-01T22:07:00.000-05:00

Dat Liberal Media

From Media Matters.

While reporting on the 2004 presidential campaign for The Boston Globe, technology reporter Hiawatha Bray apparently wrote posts for several weblogs in which he declared his support for President Bush, attacked Sen. John Kerry, and bolstered discredited allegations by the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (now Swift Vets and POWs for Truth).

Here's a sampling of Bray's work.

While Bush says scarcely a mumblin' word about Vietnam, Kerry has made his Vietnam service the central issue in his campaign. Until recently, when the true cost of this moronic strategy became apparent, Kerry spoke of little else.

Now if Kerry's Vietnam service had been uncontroversial, this might have worked for him. But now we find that of the hundreds of men who served with him, nearly all hated his guts. The very fact that the SwiftVets backlash took him completely by surprise doesn't speak very well of his skills as a judge of human nature or as a strategic thinker.

Besides, the Swifties raise a bunch of telling and legitimate questions. Did Kerry really earn his medals, or did he wangle [sic] Purple Hearts for trivial injuries to earn himself a quick ticket back home? A look at the medical records would help answer the question, but Kerry won't release them.

I wonder how much time Bray spent in Vietnam? At least as much as our President, right?

2005-02-28T22:57:00.000-05:00

Fore Shame

Oh goodness, that's the best title in weeks.

RAW Story is reporting that the same clown who runs USA Next -- the group claiming AARP is pro-gay marriage and anti-America -- helped illegally fund Tom Delay's Scottish golf extravaganza.

RAW STORY EXCLUSIVE
By John Byrne and Larisa Alexandrovna

The National Center for Public Policy Research, a highly controversial and little-known conservative think tank which has been sending Social Security 'fright mail' for years, paid for two posh trips for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) in 1996 and 2000, each at the cost of at least $64,000.

...

The group's letters target seniors of both parties, aiming to convince them their Social Security benefits are in jeopardy and thereby induce them to donate money. The mailings also encourage seniors to keep the mailing secret from others, perhaps even from family members.

...

NCPPR also picked up a hefty $70,000 tab for trip for DeLay and his aides made in mid-2000 to Europe. DeLay and his staff took a junket where he met with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and took a round of golf with conservative leaders in Scotland.

The ten-day "educational" trip was no small affair: NCPPR paid $28,106 for DeLay and his wife alone, splurging on transportation ($20,266.00), cushy lodging ($3,840.00) and meals ($4,000.00).

DeLay's office did not return RAW STORY calls seeking comment today.

On Saturday, the National Journal reported that DeLay may have violated House ethics rules when a top lobbyist shelled out an additional $13,000 for DeLay's stay at the London Four Seasons hotel during that same trip. House rules stipulate that members or members' employees cannot accept payment from a registered lobbyist to cover travel costs.

The lobbyist in question? Jack Abramoff, an NCPPR director. Abramoff is also on the board of USA Next, a pro-privatization Social Security group that formed as an offshoot of the Swift Boat Vets and recently ran an ad claiming AARP supported gay marriage.

2005-02-26T23:16:00.000-05:00

Against All Odds 2005

How can I just let you walk away, just let you leave without a trace

When I stand here taking every breath with you, ooh

You’re the only one who really knew me at all

How can you just walk away from me,

When all I can do is watch you leave

Cause we’ve shared the laughter

and the pain

and even shared the tears

You’re the only one who really knew me at all

So take a look at me now, oh there’s just an empty space

And there’s nothing left here to remind me,
Just the memory of your face

Ooh take a look at me now, well there’s just an empty space

And you coming back to me is against all odds and that’s what I’ve got to face

I wish I could just make you turn around,

Turn around and see me cry

There’s so much I need to say to you,
So many reasons why
You’re the only one who really knew me at all

So take a look at me now, well there’s just an empty space

And there’s nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face

Now take a look at me now, cause there’s just an empty space

But to wait for you, is all I can do and that’s what I’ve got to face

Take a good look at me now, cause I’ll still be standing here

And you coming back to me is against all odds
It’s the chance I’ve gotta take

Take a look at me now

2005-02-25T23:33:00.000-05:00

They Get Letters

From John Byrne at RAW STORY (no, not that John Byrne); the Senate Dems are getting tough on Gannon.

Remember: WWND?

Democratic senators Durbin, Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg and Reid issued a letter Friday to President Bush calling for a full and transparent investigation into the discredited White House reporter writing under the pseudonym Jeff Gannon, RAW STORY can reveal.

The letter, which was dispatched to the president early this afternoon, cites possibly security breaches and questions whether Gannon was given special access in the context of three other columnists the Bush administration has been secretly paying.

Backed by Senators Reid, Durbin and Kerry, the letter carries the imprimatur of the Senate Democratic leadership. It does not, however, carry the full weight of the caucus.

2005-02-25T22:10:00.000-05:00

"Carnies Built This Country (The Carnival Part Of It Anyway)"

USA Next, the lobbying group for Social Security privatization behind this bizarre anti-AARP ad, is apparently nothing more than a bunch of junk-mail carnies.

It appears that USA Next, the front group for Social Security privatization, was really just a junk mail and spam operation in disguise to benefit Richard Viguerie in the 1990s. It appears that it engaged mostly in scaring up donations from conservative activists before becoming a corporate shell for pharmaceutical industry and energy industry money and lobbying.

- "The United Seniors Association burst onto the political scene full grown from Richard Viguerie's head in 1992 with a piece of "fright mail" headlined "All the Social Security Trust Fund Money Is Gone!" and requesting a donation to support United Senior's efforts to "insure the rights and benefits of America's seniors are protected." It raised millions in its first year of operation, only to plow that money back into Viguerie's direct mail operations, renting mailing lists, paying "letter writers, printers, mailers and other subcontractors, always including Mr. Viguerie himself." Paying for direct mail was literally United Seniors' charitable purpose.

There's plenty more at ThereIsNoCrisis.com.

2005-02-24T22:49:00.000-05:00

Because You Demanded It

Patrick Bateman.

"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."

There’s this girl that’s been on my mind
All the time, sussudio oh oh
Now she don’t even know my name
But I think she likes me just the same
Sussudio oh oh

Oh if she called me I’d be there
I’d come running anywhere
She’s all I need, all my life
I feel so good if I just say the word
Sussudio, just say the word
Oh sussudio

Now I know that I’m too young
My love has just begun
Sussudio oh oh
Ooh give me a chance, give me a sign
I’ll show her anytime
Sussudio oh oh

Ah, I’ve just got to have her, have her now
I’ve got to get closer but I don’t know how
She makes me nervous and makes me scared
But I feel so good if I just say the word
Sussudio just say the word
Oh sussudio, oh

Ah, she’s all I need all of my life
I feel so good if I just say the word
Sussudio I just say the word
Oh sussudio I just say the word
Oh sussudio I’ll say the word
Sussudio oh oh oh
Just say the word

2005-02-23T23:18:00.000-05:00

Release The Hounds!

I want everyone to ask themselves WWND.

Think back about seven years: if Bill Clinton were President, and a gay male prostitute with no journalism training, working for a partisan propaganda machine, had continually been allowed access to the White House Press Room -- WWND?

What Would Newt Do?

Two leaders of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee want the federal prosecutor investigating the Valeria Plame case to subpoena a personal journal of controversial White House reporter James Guckert, following Editor & Publisher's disclosure yesterday that Guckert claims he kept the journal for the past two years.

"It is clear that a primary obstacle to the ... investigation is uncovering a precise chronology of when, and to whom, classified information was leaked," Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), one of those seeking the subpoena, told E&P. "The revelation by Editor & Publisher that Mr. Guckert kept contemporaneous records of his 'reporting' activities could well be a major step forward in developing such a chronology."

In addition, E&P has confirmed an online report that Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) is circulating a letter among his colleagues that asks President Bush to launch an investigation into how Guckert, who writes under the byline “Jeff Gannon,” gained access to White House press briefings over two years despite having no journalism background and using a false name.

Both letters are just the latest in a string of inquiries by congressional leaders, which have included a previous request by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) for documents related to Guckert's continued White House access.

2005-02-23T23:02:00.000-05:00

No Town Hall Meeting For You!

Bush, the meeting-Nazi; from Der Spiegel.

During his trip to Germany on Wednesday, the main highlight of George W. Bush's trip was meant to be a "town hall"-style meeting with average Germans. But with the German government unwilling to permit a scripted event with questions approved in advance, the White House has quietly put the event on ice. Was Bush afraid the event might focus on prickly questions about Iraq and Iran rather than the rosy future he's been touting in Europe this week?

The much-touted American-style "town hall" meeting the White House has been planning with "normal Germans" of everyday walks of life will be missing during his visit to the Rhine River hamlet of Mainz this afternoon. A few weeks ago, the Bush administration had declared that the chat -- which could have brought together tradesmen, butchers, bank employees, students and all other types to discuss trans-Atlantic relations -- would be the cornerstone of President George W. Bush's brief trip to Germany.

...

But on Wednesday, that town hall meeting will be nowhere on the agenda -- it's been cancelled. Neither the White House nor the German Foreign Ministry has offered any official explanation, but Foreign Ministry sources say the town hall meeting has been nixed for scheduling reasons -- a typical development for a visit like this with many ideas but very little time. That, at least, is the diplomats' line. Behind the scenes, there appears to be another explanation: the White House got cold feet. Bush's strategists felt an uncontrolled encounter with the German public would be too unpredictable.

2005-02-22T09:08:00.000-05:00

Brilliant

I see no possible way in which this could go catastrophically wrong.

Intent on securing the vulnerable Arizona border from illegal immigrant crossings, U.S. officials are bracing for what they call a potential new threat this spring: the Minutemen. Nearly 500 volunteers have already joined the Minuteman Project, anointing themselves civilian border patrol agents determined to stop the immigration flow that routinely, and easily, seeps past federal authorities.

They plan to patrol a 40-mile stretch of the southeast Arizona border throughout April when the tide of immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border peaks.

"I felt the only way to get something done was to do it yourself," said Jim Gilchrist, a retired accountant and decorated Vietnam War veteran who is helping recruit Minutemen across the country.

"Look Ma, I'ma catch me an Al Qaeda!"

2005-02-22T08:34:00.000-05:00

RIP Raoul Duke

I bet he's blowing shit up in heaven as we speak.

Hunter S. Thompson, whose life and writing, vivid and quirky reflections of each other, made him one of the principal symbols of the American counterculture, shot and killed himself yesterday at his home near Aspen.

Thompson, 67, was celebrated as a practitioner of an outraged form of personal journalism, offering off-beat ideas and observations in a style that was wildly and vividly his own and that brought him cult-like status and widespread recognition.

...

Jonathan Yardley, writing last year in The Washington Post, called him "a genuinely unique figure in American journalism," citing his comic writing and social criticism.

Thompson, often seen wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap and with a cigarette dangling from his lips, showed up frequently as Uncle Duke in "Doonesbury," the Garry Trudeau comic strip.

Part of what created his image of outlaw independence and defiance of norms and conventions was his claim to intimate familiarity with a variety of drugs and mind altering chemicals.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone . . . but they've always worked for me," he once wrote.

And just for the record:

Why exactly did you try to deliver an elk's heart to Jack Nicholson's house?

I thought it would be fun and it's in the spirit of our relationship. A little humor. I don't know, it just came to me tonight. I had a few bombs, you know. We do that pretty frequently, exchange bizarre presents. I couldn't have foreseen the horrible circumstances around it. He had just gotten in from LA. I didn't know it, but he had a stalker. I saw him the afternoon he got in. I said I'd see him later. I figured, shit, I have some presents for the kids. I was supposed to get there a little earlier. I feel a little queasy looking back on the night. Of course it was all in good humor. It went wrong in so many weird ways. I went out there and sort of did my thing and left, feeling rejected sort of. Bear in mind I was pretty much wanked up, in the mood I frequently get in with Jack. He's pretty fast. He's one of the natural aristocrats of our time.

2005-02-22T08:32:00.000-05:00

For The Love Of Christ

I'm finally better.

What an awful week. Anyway, updates to follow.

2005-02-16T23:05:00.001-05:00

Fighting Democrats

While some are wringing their hands over whether or not it was an "invasion" of Jeff Gannon's privacy to uncover pictures of him posted on a public escort site, Digby, along with John from AMERICAblog, set the story straight.

Digby:

This is an issue that threatens the GOP.The cosmopolitan conservatives and libertarians don't have a problem with gays and yet The Christian Right is building a homophobic crusade. A lot of people in the middle don't know what to think. A party with political instincts would exploit that. It's not a new concept I'm advocating here. It's called "divide and conquor." The Right blogosphere sounds like a bunch of San Francisco ACLU liberals when the issue of Gannon comes up and the smart thing for the left to do is ask the Christian right if they agree with their fellow "conservatives." (I believe that Aravosis has already discussed this.)

It wouldn't be nice and wingnuts will call us hypocrites. (It's a good thing hypocrisy was retired from the political dialog somewhere around the time Virtues "Czar" Big Bill Bennett was laying it all on red, Dave Drier was "dating" Doro Bush and Limbaugh was popping a fistfull of hillbilly heroin or we might have something to worry about.) When the wingnuts complain about how we hate gays, just say "No I don't. And clearly, neither do you. But James Dobson does. Let's go have a chat with him, ok?"

It might just force some of these chickenshit libertarians and GOP urbanites to show their true colors and get some GOP parents and siblings of gay people to face up to what they are doing. Can anyone believe that there is no value in showing the country that many of the highest level Republicans in the Bush Administration are actually quite tolerant of gays? Doesn't that move our agenda forward?

I don't believe that we advance the cause of gay rights by allowing the right to have it both ways, which they clearly do. We have a tittilating tabloid story, replete with nude pictures and prostitution, that illustrates the fact that they are merely pandering to the religious right on this issue. It would be too bad if we are too squeamish to pursue it because that is exactly what the other side is counting on.

Finally, the biggest reason to pursue this story is because we are creating a terrible moral hazard if we don't. The Republicans have no incentive to stop the politics of personal destruction if we don't hold them to their own standards and they continue to be rewarded. Pitchers, batters and Republicans understand this instinctively. So should we.

John, taking issue with the hand-wringing at The Hotline:

You've got a lot of nerve, Hotline. The entire GOP and its mainstream media sympathizers have a lot of nerve. We're talking about a hooker getting special access to the White House, the president, and intelligence information, and somehow everyone has suddenly discovered a conscience about homosexuals and hookers. Oh how I wish that conscience were real. But it's not. Bash a fag, bash a whore, and the GOP eats it all up. They throw us to their hateful, bigoted religious right buddies for votes with glee, while Mary Cheney cowers in the corner and Ken Mehlman runs for the shelter of the off-the-record quote.

Well newsflash Washington. The GOP is the one that rose gay-bashing and gay-baiting and sex-baiting to an art, and JeffJimGuckertGannon willingly joined the family values parade in print and in passion. They're trying to ban condoms, pornography, AIDS education. They take children away from gays, and want to make our very lives a crime. GOP Senators compare us to kleptomaniacs, alcoholics, and man-dog sex. And they can't even handle a bronze breast on a statue.

And we're the ones picking a fight over sex.

Spare me your sanctimonious bullshit now that those of us in the gay community and on the left have finally - finally - started to fight fire with fire by simply holding you to the very standards you legislate over us. We are simply giving the GOP the sex-less utopia it's always wanted. How does it feel?

Oh, gee, the Hotline warns, this might establish a precedent. Really? You mean the GOP might respond by using our sex lives against us as a weapon to destroy us and curry votes with bigots?

I don't like this battle, I don't enjoy this battle. I hate this battle. But the battle began years ago, and until now, we sat back and watched and waited and hoped it would go away. Well it's not going away. We have a choice. We can sit back and watch the GOP sex police destroy us. Or we can fight back. And I can think of nothing more poetic, nothing more just, than fighting back by simply holding them to their own standard.

2005-02-16T10:43:00.000-05:00

Theories On Sickness

Still running a slight fever, I am left to ponder why I have been more sick this flu season than in the previous two combined.

The first logical reason would be that, during the flu-shot shortage this fall, I magnanimously declined mine in favor of allowing some poor old person to receive it. That was a mistake.

Additionally, this year I am back among the germ-infested, unclean mass of festering bacteria known as Towson University.

Those two factors have combined to hit me like a brick.

Come on spring, come on.

2005-02-15T22:56:00.000-05:00

Sick Again, Naturally

This is getting ridiculous. Tommorow I will post theories on why I have been more sick this flu season than the last two combined.

2005-02-14T22:53:00.000-05:00

Money, Let Me Introduce You To Toilet

Now, flush.

President Bush's planned ballistic missile shield suffered another setback on Monday when an interceptor missile again failed to launch during a test of the U.S. missile defense system.

...

The interceptor missile, built by Orbital Sciences Corp., had also failed to launch during a Dec. 15 test, which officials later blamed on a "very minor software glitch."

Officials were working "feverishly" to determine the cause of the failed launch, said Chris Taylor, agency spokesman.

On his blog, Chris Taylor then added, "This is the biggest fucking waste of money since abstinence-only sex education."

2005-02-14T22:39:00.000-05:00

Mmm, Unsavory

Salon weighs in with a complete rundown of the whole tawdry Gannon affair.

Last week, Republican activist Bobby Eberle, the man behind the now infamous conservative Web site Talon News, insisted that before hiring "Jeff Gannon" as his White House correspondent, he never looked into Gannon's background. If true, Eberle probably wishes he had. And the same could be said for the White House officials who bent the rules to make way for Gannon in the press briefing room. There's new evidence that the Talon reporter, who lobbed softball questions at Bush during press conferences on behalf of a dubious news operation, recently worked as a male escort.

Gannon, whose real name is James Guckert, made headlines last week when he resigned from Talon after days of intensive scrutiny from bloggers. Online critics first raised questions about Guckert's questionable journalistic methods and his lack of experience (he often cut and pasted White House press releases into his "news" stories), as well as Talon's lack of independence from Eberle's purely partisan GOPUSA Web site. Then questions arose about why the Talon reporter was given access to the White House press room after being turned down for Capitol Hill press credentials. The final straw for Guckert came when bloggers revealed associations that Guckert and his Delaware-based company had with a handful of gay-themed male escort services.

Guckert insisted his only involvement with the sex sites was as a software consultant and, he added: "Those sites were never hosted. There's -- nothing ever went up on them," as he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Feb. 10. In an interview posted Feb. 11 with Editor & Publisher magazine, Guckert made the same claim: "They were done through a private company [Bedrock Corp.] I was involved with doing Web site development about five years ago. The sites were never hosted, and nothing was ever posted to the sites." On Monday, John Aravosis posted on his liberal site AmericaBlog.org detailed evidence indicating that not only was Guckert personally involved with the Web sites, but he was also offering his escort services for $200 an hour, or $1,200 a weekend.

And Digby explains why we should care.

I personally have no problems with the Bush White House needing to blow off some consensual adult steam. It's a stressful job. If gay hookers are going to help them relax then who am I to argue? I'm a liberal. I have nothing against gays or hookers.

But for a moment let me think as a Republican would, if the shoe were on the other foot:

So many questions so few answers. Just why did JimJeff get such special treatment? It's not like they didn't already have a bunch of ready made shills to ask softball questions. Les Kinsolving's been throwing partisan bombs for years. They certainly didn't need JimJeff to transcribe RNC talking points when they have the Beltway Boys to do it on national television.

Scotty said that the president called on JimJeff of his own volition. A coincidence? Or did someone request that JimJeff get a special treat that day?

And has it ever been logical that this nobody from a vanity web site would get access to the Plame story? Why him? JimJeff claims that he never actually saw the Plame memo, yet he clearly knew of it. Could it have been pillow talk?

I don't have a clue. But, I do know that if this were 1998, we'd be knee deep in congressional investigations into the gay hooker ring in the White House. Every news crew in the DC area would be camped out on JimJeff's front lawn. A wild-eyed Victoria Toensing and panting Kelly Ann Fitzpatrick would be crawling up on the Hardball desk rending their silk teddies and speaking in tongues while Matthews'exploding head spun around on his shoulders.

2005-02-13T23:01:00.000-05:00

Fuck You J.J.

The Duke fans are right, we're not rivals anymore. They need to win once in a while for this to be a true rivalry.

It took overtime for Maryland to beat down Duke, 99-92, before a sea of red. Not since the 1994-95 season has Duke been swept in a season series. Nothing could be finer for the Terrapins. Or their fans. "A lot of times when you're out to eat, people will say, 'Good luck this year, beat Duke,' " said forward Nik Caner-Medley. The thing they'll end every conversation with is, 'Beat Duke.' "

Maryland (15-7 overall, 6-5 ACC) beat Duke 75-66 in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke has lost just six home games in the last eight years and Maryland owns three of them. That prompted the printing of a T-shirt that reads, "Cameron Indoor Stadium - Home Away From Home."

I hear J.J. Reddick fancies himself an amateur rapper/beat poet. This is a haiku I composed for him.

Drinking his own pee
The sucktitude of JJ
Is effervescent

2005-02-13T22:54:00.000-05:00

Making Mischief

Let's hope Wolcott is right, and the Democrats have finally taken out their Little Bastard Tampering Kits.

I wonder if Dems are learning the wisdom imparted by Bull Moose, that there's mischievous and useful fun to be had in being the opposition party, particularly when the party in power is as flatulent with hubris and corruption as the fiefdom of Tom DeLay. Dems should resist the temptation to be statesmenlike and bail out Bush should he stumble, the way they shamefully rescued Reagan in his second term. Bipartisanship has gotten Democrats nowhere for four years, has earned them nothing more than a fine spittle of contempt falling like a constant drizzle. They should let a smile be their umbrella as they enjoy the spectacle of House and Senate Republicans promoting Social Security privatization as if they'd been ordered by their commander in chief to suck lemons.

2005-02-11T22:26:00.000-05:00

No Spin Zone

Via the Media Citizen blog, this quote from Campaign Desk covers the Gannon situation pretty well.

But this isn't a media bias issue, no matter how hard you spin it. (And there isn't much these days that critics won't try to spin as a media bias issue.) No one, after all, is trying to ban Fox News or Helen Thomas from the briefing room. Gannon asked questions designed not to get information from Bush but to demonstrate his allegiance to him, not to mention his disgust with Democrats and his own ostensible colleagues. Real journalists, the ones who belong in press conferences, know that access to a president is a rare gift, and they know enough not to squander it. Gannon threw away his opportunity in favor of self-aggrandizing partisan spectacle. He put himself and his agenda ahead of the public good, and he did it in a manner so egregious that he left little doubt of his intentions. If both sides of the debate, blinded by partisan zeal, don't realize that's the real reason he had to go, they've missed the point.

2005-02-10T23:47:00.000-05:00

GANNON: The Musical

For those of you unfamiliar with the sordid tale of Jeff Gannon, read here then return.

First, a primer:

The links take you to relevant information about Gannon.

All parts are sung by Jeff Gannon, except:

When the chorus girls sing, it's in bold.

When the chorus girls and Jeff sing, it's in bold italics.

And the "Scottie" in question is White House Press Secretary Scott McLellan.

And now, without further ado, "Friend Like Me," sung to the tune of, uh, "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin.

Well Nixon had his Carl and Bob
And they threw Bill out to the dogs
But Scottie you're in luck, 'cause I'm just the schmuck
To steer you and Dubya through this smog
I can be your guiding light
Your buddy in a pressroom brawl
If Helen gets out of line, just give me the sign
And I'll tell them all,
Ladies-

Mr. Jeff Gannon, sir,
Choose a name or two or three
It's such a rush
To help George Bush
He ain't never had a friend like me
No no no

Scottie, I'm your best friend
Soon enough you'll see
Just don't reveal, my name's not real
You ain't never had a friend like me.

Yes sir, I pride myself on bias
Whether I'm Jeff
J.D. or James
I'll bow to you
Oh yes it's true!
I get all my news from Limbaugh!

Have some of Kerry's gay
Let's throw somethin' at Kennedy
J.D. is in the mood, for army dudes
But you'd never know it from Jeff G.

Can your friends do this?

GANNON AUDIO CLIP: First of all, I hope the grand jury didn't force you to turn over the wedding card I sent to you and your wife. [Laughter.]

Do your friends do that?

GANNON AUDIO CLIP: How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?

Do your friends pull this out their little hat?

GANNON AUDIO CLIP: Harry Reid was talking about soup kitchens!

Can your friends go poof!
Here’s fifty bucks
Now give me my day pass, I passed my J-Class
You ain’t never had a friend like me

So don’t you sit there slack-jawed, Scottie-boy
I know you know the plan
Hit the airwaves, Wilson’s wife is fair game!
Scottie, you’re the man
I got a powerful urge to help you out
We can do this, just you and me
We’ll take on Hillary, and then I’m sure you’ll see
You ain’t never had a friend like me

Mr. Jeff Gannon sir, choose a name or two or three
Show me a transcript, I’ll show you’ll some newsprint
You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend
Bush ain't never had a friend, never had a friend
You ain't never had a friend like me
You ain't never had a friend like me, hah!

2005-02-09T23:19:00.000-05:00

It's Time To Fight

The day of the weak-kneed, cow-towing Democrat is dead.

The virtually certain incoming chairman of the Democratic National Committee rallied hundreds of young supporters, and a few he called “young at heart,” in a campaign-style appearance at a Washington nightspot within view of the Capitol. In his first public appearance since clinching the chairmanship, he gave a glimpse of the kind of uncompromising leadership he plans for the national party.

The Democrats “are a party of the future, while Republicans are the party of the past,” Dean said.

“We need to be proud to be Democrats,” said Dean, recalling the kind of exuberant appearances he made during 2003 when he came close to winning the Democratic presidential nomination before collapsing in early 2004 in Iowa.

“We have to never be afraid to say what we believe,” Dean said, as the crowd roared its approval. “Above all, we need to stand up for a different vision.”

Meanwhile, Wyatt continues daring someone to swing at him.

"We know when he came here, he said he wanted to be a uniter, not a divider," [Senate Minority Leader Harry] Reid told reporters on Capitol Hill, referring to comments Bush made in the 2000 presidential campaign.

"I'm beginning to think that those statements are just absolutely false."

Reid, a Nevada Democrat, made his comments in response to a document -- billed as a "research briefing" -- the Republican National Committee began distributing this week.

The document paints Reid as an "obstructionist" bent on blocking judicial nominees and raising taxes.

...

"I want the boys at the White House, the girls at the White House, the men and women at the White House, everyone to understand, I haven't lost one wink of sleep over the attack yesterday," Reid said.

"They're not going to frighten me. You know, they call me an obstructionist -- they're destructionists."

Reid then added:

From now on I see a red sash, I kill the man wearing it. So run you cur. And tell the other curs the law is coming. You tell 'em I'm coming! And Hell's coming with me you hear! Hell's coming with me!

2005-02-08T17:39:00.000-05:00

Why Does Anne Coulter Hate Our Troops?

On the Monday edition of Scarborough Country, the Banshee Coulter made this statement concerning the mud wrestling scandal (anyone who uses the term "mud wrestling-gate" should sod off.)

From Media Matters:

I would like a United States military capable of winning wars, which will not involve sending girls to do fighting." Coulter concluded: "And, yes, I think it's appalling that these women are mud wrestling, but I think it's appalling that they are in the military."

In response, I would like to first ask again, "why does Anne Coulter hate our troops?" And secondly, does internet mogul, and conservative-firebrand, Professor Glenn Reynolds think this is treason? Given his loose definition of the term -- he recently accused Ted Kennedy of treason for criticizing the war -- I would have to say it's a big yes. By claiming that the US military is less likely to succeed because it includes females, Anne Coulter has made a statement that could likely lower the morale of our troops at war. That, in turn, would aid and comfort our enemies.

Additionally, Anne Coulter demeaned the service of all female soldiers by commenting that mere presence in the military is "appalling." By the Professor's strict standards, that sounds like treason too.

But I bet the liberal media will cover up "Hanoi Anne" just like they do all the other commie traitors.

2005-02-08T10:55:00.000-05:00

Big Fish, Little Fish

Stealing directly from the fabolous PTI, it's time to play Big Fish, Little Fish. Leaving two behind, rank the following seven opening themes from these seminal 80's sitcoms in order of one to five. (You can find listenable versions of all seven here.)

In no particular order:

1) The Hogan Family
2) Full House
3) Who's The Boss
4) Growing Pains
5) Mr. Belvedere
6) Silver Spoons
7) Family Ties

My list:

1) Growing Pains
2) Silver Spoons
3) Family Ties
4) Who's The Boss
5) Mr. Belvedere

It was a tough fight between Growing Pains and Silver Spoons, with GP -- that's what us true fans call it -- ultimately getting the nod because of the Alan Thicke factor. (What input said factor had on the theme itself is for you to decide for yourself. I know what it did for me, baby.)

Who's The Boss lost the number three slot only because at the end of the Family Ties theme, the singers do that ridiculous "Sha-lalalalaaaa" thing. And Mr. Belvedere comes in at five because, like the title character himself, the theme is stately.

The Hogan Family and Full House are good tunes in their own right, but as far as this exercise is concerned, they're shark bait.

Now, complete and discuss.

2005-02-07T23:13:00.000-05:00

Thanks For Helping To Kill Our Troops

A conservative activist group whose fuckwaditude knows no boundaries, Citizens United, has decided to play cute and purchase a series of billboards in full view of the Kodak Theatre -- where the Oscars will be held in a few weeks -- "thanking" Hollywood celebs for helping to re-elect The Prez.

Or rather, they decided to purchase a series of billboards somewhere within the vicinity of California and then lie to everyone about the celebs being able to see them on Oscar night.

Cinemocracy wasn’t originally going to mention this, as the story pretty much made the rounds by the time we found it and had already become stale. But we decided to go the extra mile for our readers -- in fact, we went the extra 5.9 miles from our headquarters at Beverly and Olympic to Hollywood and Highland to see the billboards for ourselves.

There was nothing there.

And when I say nothing, I mean not only are the “thank you” signs nowhere to be found, but we are hard pressed to figure out where they are going to go.

See, we counted only four billboards on Hollywood Boulevard near the entrance to the Kodak Theater. Two are not visible from the street where the red carpet will be. A third, currently advertising the sequel to The Ring, is facing the wrong way. And the fourth, the only one that the celebrities might see as they are interviewed, is two blocks away, tiny, and partially obscured.

Way to go, fucksticks.

*Link via Oliver Willis.

2005-02-07T23:07:00.000-05:00

Does It Come In Black?

Did you hear that Batmobile roar baby?

That's crunk baby. That is mother-fucking crunk.

And how about the Scarecrow in that dark and scary mask? (Did he scare you as much as he scared me?)

Watch the preview, again and again and again, here.

2005-02-05T23:06:00.000-05:00

Original Gangsta

Apparently, Laura Bush has been assigned by her husband the task of cleaning up our streets.

President George W. Bush announced a new plan Wednesday to help keep kids out of gangs.

Bush is proposing a three-year, $150 million initiative to battle gangs, and first lady Laura Bush will head up the program, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported.

That sounds about right. Who else would inner-city youth rather hear from than someone who is familiar with their struggle and plight? Namely a nebbish, middle-aged white woman.

"Now, we can handle this like some
gentlemen or we can get into some
gangsta shit."

2005-02-05T22:37:00.000-05:00

Reid To Frist: "I Said Thrown Down, Boy."

From earlier this week in The Post:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has threatened to invoke a rules change in the Senate that would prohibit a filibuster of judicial nominees, a move that has been called the "nuclear option" because of its potential to shatter any remaining bipartisan comity in the Senate. Reid all but dared Frist to try.

"They can threaten the nuclear option," he said. "If they feel that's great for the institution and the country, let them do it." Noting that the only complaint he has heard from fellow Democrats is that not enough of Bush's judicial nominees were blocked in the past four years, Reid said he is prepared "to go behind the pool hall and see who wins this one."

I was against Reid as Senate Minority Leader namely because, after he stated that he would rather "dance" with the opposition than "fight," I was under the impression Reid would handle himself like an even weaker-kneed version of Joe Lieberman. However, that "pool hall" comment was fucking bad ass. Where have I heard it before...

TYLER: For a man that don't go heeled, you run your mouth kinda reckless.

WYATT: Don't need to go heeled to get the bulge on a dub like you.

TYLER: That a fact?

WYATT: Yeah. It's a fact.

TYLER: Well I'm real scared.

WYATT: Damn right you're scared. I can see it in your eyes.

Wyatt steps forward suddenly, eyes cold and hard like a shark. Suddenly realizing he's in way over his head. Tyler shrinks back reflexively, his hand moving toward his gun. The other players scatter. Wyatt nods, his voice calm and steady:

WYATT: Go ahead. Skin it. Skin that smoke wagon and see what happens.

TYLER: Listen Mister, I'm getting' tired-

Wyatt abruptly SLAPS his face, making his teeth clack together.

WYATT: I'm getting tired of your gas. Jerk that pistol and go to work.

Tyler goes pale, all pretense of courage gone. Wyatt slaps him again.

WYATT: I said throw down, boy.

Another slap. Tyler stays frozen, blood dripping down his chin.

WYATT: You gonna do something or just stand there and bleed?

2005-02-04T20:34:00.000-05:00

Bush Cheats, Liberal Media buries Story

Still sick here.

In the meantime, check out this story from FAIR. One would think that when the President cheats in a debate, it would be news.

One would be wrong.

In the weeks leading up to the November 2 election, the New York Times was abuzz with excitement. Besides the election itself, the papers reporters were hard at work on two hot investigative projects, each of which could have a major impact on the outcome of the tight presidential race.

One week before Election Day, the Times (10/25/04) ran a hard-hitting and controversial exposé of the Al-Qaqaa ammunition dump identified by U.N. inspectors before the war as containing 400 tons of special high-density explosives useful for aircraft bombings and as triggers for nuclear devices, but left unguarded and available to insurgents by U.S. forces after the invasion.

On Thursday, just three days after that first exposé, the paper was set to run a second, perhaps more explosive piece, exposing how George W. Bush had worn an electronic cueing device in his ear and probably cheated during the presidential debates.

The so-called Bulgegate story had been getting tremendous attention on the Internet. Stories about it had also run in many mainstream papers, including the New York Times (10/9/04, 10/18/04) and Washington Post (10/9/04), but most of these had been light-hearted. Indeed, the issue had even made it into the comedy circuit, including the monologues of Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jon Stewart and a set of strips by cartoonist Garry Trudeau.

That the story hadn't gotten more serious treatment in the mainstream press was largely thanks to a well-organized media effort by the Bush White House and the Bush/Cheney campaign to label those who attempted to investigate the bulge as "conspiracy buffs" (Washington Post, 10/9/04). In an era of pinched budgets and an equally pinched notion of the role of the Fourth Estate, the fact that the Kerry camp was offering no comment on the matter perhaps for fear of earning a "conspiracy buff" label for the candidate himself may also have made reporters skittish. Jeffrey Klein, a founding editor of Mother Jones magazine, told Mother Jones (online edition, 10/30/04) he had called a number of contacts at leading news organizations across the country, and was told that unless the Kerry campaign raised the issue, they couldn't pursue it.

Link via Oliver Willis.

2005-02-04T20:02:00.000-05:00

Big Time Update

The official Batman Begins site has been updated in a major way.

Go check it out whilst I recover.

2005-02-03T21:44:00.000-05:00

Sick

I'm wicked sick. It all kind of washed over me around 9:00.

Hopefully will check in tommorow.

2005-02-02T23:43:00.000-05:00

Kenny

Because you were forced to sit through an hour-plus of lies and garbage, your reward:

I'd say it was the right time
To walk away
When dreaming takes you nowhere
It's time to play
Bodies working overtime
Your money don't matter
The clock keeps ticking
When someone's on your mind

I'm moving in slow motion
Feels so good
It's a strange anticipation
Knock, knock, knocking on wood
Bodies working overtime
Man against man
And all that ever matters
Is baby who's ahead in the game
Funny but it's always the same

(Chorus)
Playing, playing with the boys
Playing, playing with the boys
After chasing sunsets
One of life's simple joys
Is playing with the boys

Said it was the wrong thing
For me to do
I said it's just a boys' game
Girls play too
My heart is working overtime
In this kind of game
Someone gets hurt
I'm afraid that someone is me
If you want to find me, I'll be
Playing with the boys

(Chorus)
Playing, playing with the boys
Playing, playing with the boys
After chasing sunsets
One of life's simple joys
Is playing with the boys

I don't want to be the moth around your fire
I don't want to be obsessed by your desire
I'm ready, I'm leaving
I've seen enough
I've got to go
You play too rough

(Chorus)
Playing, playing with the boys
Playing, playing with the boys
After chasing sunsets
One of life's simple joys
Is playing with the boys

"Dare I say I'm essentially the
greatest musician in history?"

2005-02-02T23:14:00.000-05:00

Bush VS. The Founders

Bush, State Of The Union.

Because marriage is a sacred institution and the foundation of society, it should not be re-defined by activist judges. For the good of families, children, and society, I support a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage.

The Founders, The Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Get the picture you fucking cultural sloth? All men means everyone, not just the folks that you and your Jesus Friends are comfortable with. We tried cherry-picking who gets rights and who doesn't once -- it was called the two-hundred fucking years prior to the mid-60's and it didn't fucking work out all that well.

Gay people aren't going anywhere. Suck it up and deal with it. Personally, I'm willing to throw caution to the wind and suggest that my May wedding will turn out fine even without a special amendment to protect marriage.

2005-02-01T23:44:00.000-05:00

Living History

When I first saw this on Sunday I thought it was a fake.

Apparently, no.

U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror

by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (1967)-- United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.

According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.

....A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam. The election was the culmination of a constitutional development that began in January, 1966, to which President Johnson gave his personal commitment when he met Premier Ky and General Thieu, the chief of state, in Honolulu in February.

The purpose of the voting was to give legitimacy to the Saigon Government, which has been founded only on coups and power plays since November, 1963, when President Ngo Dinh Deim was overthrown by a military junta.

2005-01-31T23:27:00.000-05:00

Pierce

Stand back.

You do not own their courage.

The people who stood in line Sunday did not stand in line to make Americans feel good about themselves.

You do not own their courage.

They did not stand in line to justify lies about Saddam and al-Qaeda, so you don't own their courage, Stephen Hayes. They did not stand in line to justify lies about weapons of mass destruction, or to justify the artful dodginess of Ahmad Chalabi, so you don't own their courage, Judith Miller. They did not stand in line to provide pretty pictures for vapid suits to fawn over, so you don't own their courage, Howard Fineman, and neither do you, Chris Matthews.

You do not own their courage.

They did not stand in line in order to justify the dereliction of a kept press. They did not stand in line to make right the wrongs born out of laziness, cowardice, and the easy acceptance of casual lying. They did not stand in line for anyone's grand designs. They did not stand in line to play pawns in anyone's great game, so you don't own their courage, you guys in the PNAC gallery.

You do not own their courage.

2005-01-31T23:01:00.000-05:00

Spreading Democracy

Watching the Iraqi people vote over the weekend was an inspirational, powerful moment that has already been cheapened by those with the pomposity to suggest a successful election in Iraq somehow justifies the 22 months of lies and duplicities that preceded it. The democratization of Iraq was never the goal of the invasion, it was seen as the fortuitous by-product of removing Saddam, whom -- we were told -- was an imminent threat. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz listed the rationales for war in a May 2003 interview with Vanity Fair.

There have always been three fundamental concerns. One is weapons of mass destruction, the second is support for terrorism, the third is the criminal treatment of the Iraqi people.

...

The third one by itself, as I think I said earlier, is a reason to help the Iraqis but it's not a reason to put American kids' lives at risk, certainly not on the scale we did it.

2005-01-29T22:38:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-01-29T22:32:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-01-28T23:21:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-01-28T22:32:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-01-27T23:51:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-01-27T23:27:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-01-26T23:47:00.000-05:00

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."

2005-01-26T23:23:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-01-25T23:07:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-01-24T23:37:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-01-24T23:01:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-01-23T23:21:00.000-05:00

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?