And Now with Pictures...

(to the tune of "Ballad of the Green Berets")


Flying fingers on PC or macs
Never served, but who needs facts?
Men who blog just what Dubya Orders
Flacid men, the 101st Keyboarders


Cheeto Dust upon their clothes
Most are men, but all are hos.
A Hundred-One Keys upon their lap
But only one, can be InstaCrap


Have to live, in Efficiencies
Fought no wars, 'cept accountancy
Men who blog, by night and day
Courage peaks as they type away


Porno Tapes upon the screen
They pound away, use words like meme
Men who blog, but never served
Just repeat Rush, like that takes nerve


Time to go home, inflatable wife awaits
keyboardin' man, accepts his fate
He has cried, his soul repressed
Never to touch a woman's breast


"Mom, put extra bleach on my underwear
Use softener too and have a care"
I'll be wedgied soon by Kerry voters
But I'll blog on, a 101st Keyboarder.


The new Crusade, it is so keen
Torture pics, just blowin' off steam
We who blog, upon the Corner
We souless creeps, 101st Keyboarders



*Apparently sloshed Jonah courtesy of High Desert Skeptic.

Well, that sucks

Here I was, ready to submit my book, "In the Original German: The Pat Buchanan Story -- How a right wing nut job managed to be Deep Throat, Undermine Vatican II and kill the crew of Apollo One" when this happens!

How much do you think I can get on e-bay?

More captions

You can literally seen the squirrel-powered gears working to tell him how to go down stairs.


Overcompensate much?


"I got a grip on Frist's sack with my left and Hatch's with my right."


"Ow, not so tight."


"And then when they beg I loosen the grip."


"And when they relax, I squeeze 'em harder than ever!"


"The worst part of chemo? I'd have to say the President's desire to rub my head."

It's like a deadlier version of the Drew Carey Show

Josh Marshall informs us that apparently everyone's least favorite reality show (after "Fear Factor) will last until at least 2009.

Apparently, at that time the new administration will have to decide whether or not to exercise its option.

I feel like such a Dope

Wait a minute, Pope, Dope? Didn't Ali pull that on Foreman?

Anyhoo, I've been writing the Pope emails for several weeks now without response.

Little did I know, Dude has a blog!

I can hardly wait for "Friday Sinner Blogging!"

The Weekend in Captions

World's Lamest 'Altamont' Reenactment -- Sympathy for the Devil indeed.


Unused still from Ken Burn's the Civil War, as David McCullough discusses Jeb Stewart's Special Hog Cavalry Charge at Cold Harbor.


Will someone please fold Dick Myers into a triangular figure?


We all remember Myers jumping the fountains at Ceasar's Palace right?


"BORN to be something that doesn't rhyme with Wiiiiiiiild!"

Tasteful

Over at Yahoo News, we get this headline -- and a bit of the story -- but dig the picture they put with it. Undoubtedly accurate.

President Bush Pays Tribute to War Dead

ARLINGTON, Va. - President Bush honored the war dead Monday, paying tribute equally to those fighting in today's era of terrorist threats and heroes from wars of yesteryear, including those buried at Arlington National Cemetery or still missing in action.

And the picture?

"Suckers!"

Remember that adding "BAG" to the end of DOUCHE is still only worth 6 points more

Life is a game of scrabble according to the wispy Bobo impersonator.

Look Tierney, I've lived under five years of BushCo. Life is a game of Russian Roulette.

Dick Cheney, Big-time Clymer

TBogg has the update on Crashcart's appearance on Larry King. I'm guessing the combined mothball smell in that studio must have been overwhelming. I just hope Larry was able to get a few statements in about how hot his latest wife is.

Memorial Day

From Last Memorial Day, with modifications -- similar to DeDurkheim below:

The day in which we remember the heroism and sacrifice of those individuals of commonality called upon to do great and noble things, i.e. the American Soldier, it is good to remember their heroism.

But it is also right to remember that not always has their sacrifice been done under the auspices of heroic leadership.

Oh, it often has...for example we approach the sixtieth anniversary of a Kansas small-town boy looking across the English Channel at sketchy weather reports when the destiny of the war was in his hands and made the call by saying "OK, we'll go".

But even the great leadership of an Eisenhower, still, as he would be the first to admit, ultimately comes down to the heroic efforts of the everyday soldier.

But let us also remember that like all soldiers throughout history American Troops have also been led by men who were outclassed, or out of their depth as commanders.

For every Washington there is a Gates, for every Sherman a Burnside, the United States had its share of amateur and political generals that caused needless and wasteful deaths.

The rise of the merit system in government, had a side bonus of also improving greatly the class of military leaders, as was amply demonstrated in the Second World War, though this has its shortcomings too, it is a far sight better than having a Dan Sickles commanding troops.

It is the political leadership that determines, as always, whether to spill the blood of our soldiers. The general competency of the military leadership is a given, the causes upon which they are sent, however, remain in doubt. While the United States won in Mexico and in Cuba, the political wisdom remains in question. When political incompetency asks for the impossible, military competency will matter only in minimizing the losses. Such was the case in Vietnam and now such in the case in Iraq.

Further, let's stop with the brain-washing bromide of "giving their lives for our Freedom" or "Freedom isn't Free". The spending of American (and other) lives in Iraq is not making any American more free. The term "giving their lives to preserve our way of life" is probably more appropriate on several levels, given the frequency of the use of the American Military in the post-World War Two era.

So on this Memorial Day, I pay tribute to those soldiers, stationed around the world and who, though afflicted by the faults and short-comings of us all, nonetheless by and large do their duty.

But to those leaders in our history that have asked for the last full measure of their devotion, in the name of faulty and ill-fated quests, I acclaim them not.

Soldiers and Bad Wars

During this Memorial Day we need to do more than mindless salutes, posting flags in our yards, and parrot platitudes about the men and women serving in harms way in this ongoing Iraq war.

First, we need to recognize that the war is an ongoing nightmare that we will never win in some facile sense where we simply train a handful of Iraqis to patrol their own streets while we construct a few permanent military bases in the region and call that victory.

Don't just take my word for it though. Who would know better that the Iraqi war is a faithless and fruitless pursuit better than some of the military that have been there? This memorial day weekend, we highly recommend supporting the efforts of the Iraq Veterans Against the War.

What are the main objectives of Iraq Veterans Against the war?
The main objectives of IVAW are threefold. They are:
1: Bring the troops home now.
2: Support Iraqi reconstruction in whatever way possible.
3: Support our veterans and our troops now and upon their return home.

However, this does not mean that we completely embrace the "support the troops or you're unAmerican" claptrap. Certainly we can agree that some of the military are downright reactionary in their support for the meaningless war efforts of the Bush regime, but in general they are exactly the same people you would see doing any other working class job. If a distinction were to be made about who is responsible for this mess and who is worthy of our disdain, I'd say make it between officers who are involved in creating and perpetuating this war and the civilian higher ups who keep beating the drums of war, not between military folks and enlisted people.

We have a problem in perception. The fact that some leftists and progressives do usually seem to see ALL military people as the enemy, in my own experience, is a large part of the reason that soldiers often don't understand the concerns that progressives have about the military. Calling someone a "baby killer" does not demonstrate what is wrong with the reasons, planning, and action of an unjust war. It just makes the basic soldier on the ground angry and resentful when we want to encourage that soldier to be reflective and thoughtful.

I do understand the history here, but we must recognize that most enlisted people are just kids with a (barely) high school education, who can't figure out any other way to pay for college or get out of their home town and because they've had their woefully deficient education in public high school, they know next to nothing about history themselves. Let alone any kind of experience in directly questioning authority.

The whole history of the Bonus Army, of US military actions in Central America, of the United Fruit Company... all of this would not only be news to them, but if you told them they wouldn't believe it without a heck of a lot of evidence. They don't have a reason to believe it: they watch Fox News and they love what they think their country stands for; even if it's another right-wing lie.

We must focus our criticisms like an illusory star wars defense plan laser. We must be careful to not focus on the enlisted soldier because even if we disagree with their politics these are the people who don't actually have anything to do with making US war policy. If we are mad at Rumsfeld and Bush (and all the many other leaders who have led us down a path to war) then we must aim at these feckless chickenhawk leaders, not some kid from Podunk who saw cable for the first time when he got to basic training.

I'm not absolving any military-affiliated people from any actions that run counter to common decency and ethical behavior. But there are a whole lot of factors that make them shy away from critical civilians like many in the progressive movement, and not many factors that would make them feel any kind of solidarity with progressive causes.

And that is a problem that we can fix.

More on the Downing Street Memo and Your President, War Criminal

Not that any American paper is covering it for you.

From the (London) Times:

THE RAF and US aircraft doubled the rate at which they were dropping bombs on Iraq in 2002 in an attempt to provoke Saddam Hussein into giving the allies an excuse for war, new evidence has shown.

The attacks were intensified from May, six months before the United Nations resolution that Tony Blair and Lord Goldsmith, the attorney-general, argued gave the coalition the legal basis for war. By the end of August the raids had become a full air offensive.

The details follow the leak to The Sunday Times of minutes of a key meeting in July 2002 at which Blair and his war cabinet discussed how to make “regime change” in Iraq legal.

Dear Leader, ladies and gentlemen...

The First Chief Executive in our history who is just doing it for the SWAG!"

What are Ya Listening To?

Following in the shadow of our dear friend Atta J. Turk, I thought about his asking us what history we read -- and lately I have been reading Sara Diamond's work on the religious and extremist right, got to prepare you know! -- I thought that I could follow a similar track and ask you folks: What music you are listening to right now? What bands have caught your fancy? What musician-band-artist have you gone to see perform live who found there way into your iPod? Any cool Pod casts?

In an effort at full disclosure I have been listening to Ani DeFranco's Knuckle Down, The Band's Music from Big Pink, U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, Brian Wilson's completed Smile... worth the wait in my opinion, The Killer's Hot Fuss, and I am still listening to Green Day's American Idiot.

I have also been watching the Soundtrack of the Century on PBS which has done a terrific job of discussing the evolution of rock and roll.

So, what are you listening to? What recommendations can you make? This is important because I think we can all agree with Billy Bragg that mixing pop and politics is worthwhile.

Library Jibber-Jabber for a Self-Serving Purpose

In occasional third person.

Kevin Drum (aka "Milquetoast McFancypants" who would not have a nickname at all if "Rising Hegemon" was blogrolled) recently opined on general American History Books and asked for recommendations.

Attaturk, at least, doesn't need "general american histories" recommended to him. I've read enough of those, from Howard Zinn on one end to Paul Johnson on the other.

But, since this is a holiday weekend and the traffic is lighter -- and since I changed the look of the comments page -- I do have one question to posit to our loyal readers. Attaturk has read a lot of history, its my favorite hobby. But there are a lot of histories I haven't read. I'm not going to run down a list of what I have, I have a pretty good sized library of histories for a non-professional, but not all inclusive. For example, I'm pretty weak on Asian or African histories; pretty rich on American and European History.

What should I add to my already near-capacity historical library? I may have some of what you suggest, but what the hell, reveal something about yourselves.

Thanks.

Hey, Indeed

To borrow Professor CrackerBarrel's favorite expression, EJ Dionne laid down the truth in yesterday's WaPo Column:

But this particular anti-press campaign is not about Journalism 101. It is about Power 101. It is a sophisticated effort to demolish the idea of a press independent of political parties by way of discouraging scrutiny of conservative politicians in power. By using bad documents, Dan Rather helped Bush, not John Kerry, because Rather gave Bush's skilled lieutenants the chance to use the CBS mistake to close off an entire line of inquiry about the president. In the case of Guantanamo, the administration, for a while, cast its actions as less important than Newsweek's.

Back when the press was investigating Bill Clinton, conservatives were eager to believe every negative report about the incumbent. Some even pushed totally false claims, including the loony allegation that Clinton aide Vince Foster was somehow murdered by Clinton's apparatchiks when, in fact, Foster committed suicide. Every journalist who went after Clinton was "courageous." Anyone who opposed his impeachment or questioned even false allegations was "an apologist."

The whole post-9/11 era has been one of press pussification and intimidation. Dionne's point doesn't go far enough in pointing out one true fact about the lead up to the war in Iraq. By and large the major media, including the Post, was a group of fawning cheerleaders for what they thought would be "Operation Kickass". A smart bomb here, a smart bomb there, a little drama and wahoo, fun pictures and video for all media. Their sycophantic jingoism, complete with embedded flag digital imagery and the stream of "pictures of those who are serving" along with not showing pictures of those who have died, all pushed this nutjob agenda in the Winter and Spring of 2003.

Few, if any, covered those questioning the necessity for war as being anything more than celebrity diletentes, appeasers, or even worse, French.

That was exactly the image that Bush and the right-wing wanted. To be a good journalist then, you had to clap louder. At the very least now, if you are not gonna clap, then shut the fuck up!

But coming soon is the more "old-school" application of this manipulation method. The moment will come when it is plain for all to see that Iraq is a hopeless cause and death after death has been in vain. The fault will be laid not upon the doorstep of those who started the war, who cheered for it, who pushed false claim after false claim.

No, the fault will be placed, as it was placed in the wake of Vietnam, upon those who had the wisdom and intelligence to see through the bullshit the whole time.

So, dear progressives, it will become your fault that the war you didn't want fought, was fought. Wait for it, it will come.

The Retep Principle

In the Bush Administration, Bizarro World laws apply. Rather than following the dictates of the Peter Principle, people eventually reaching a level of their incompetence, they just keep rising.

Walter Pincus points this out today (on Page 1 again!):

Two Army analysts whose work has been cited as part of a key intelligence failure on Iraq -- the claim that aluminum tubes sought by the Baghdad government were probably meant for a nuclear weapons program rather than for rockets -- have received job performance awards in each of the past three years, officials said.

That's nothing, wait until they get their "Medals of Freedom"!

A Must Read

Hey folks, researcher Frederick Clarkson was recently on NPR's Fresh Air right after our favorite religious right zealot James Dobson. After hearing Clarkson on the show I read his book Eternal Hostility about the religious right and I highly recommend it.

Nice Catch

Sully has been on the side of the Angels on the torture issue and this is a fine catch, via David Corn.

The catch?

Curly Joe Larry Di Rita is a lying sack o' crap.

Memo to the Senate

I just want to take a moment and remind the gentlewomen and men of the U.S. Senate that may be considering the John Bolton nomination that mean people suck!



"I want to say that it is true that mean people suck. Its true God Damn it! Mean peop... Hey, you want me to come down there!?!"

I know I said I would never do this...

I thought that it was time for an open thread of some kind on the Rising Hegemon... and while we approach Memorial Day I decided to make a sign saying that Al Gore was robbed of his rightful presidency to put up in my yard this weekend. Since in so many ways the climb of the religious and nut-job right has me memorializing for things like peace, democracy, and more.

And then I find myself sitting on my back porch doing a lot of thinking about the state of the state of politics and I keep coming back to a similar thought. And that is, what would be talking about and what would be occuring in the country right now if Al Gore had won -- no scratch that, what would be happening in this country if all of the votes for Al Gore had been counted (not just in Florida although that would have been nice) all over the country and he had claimed the job that he actually won.

What would be the state of foreign policy? How would the economy be doing? Imagine if Gore had to replace a couple of supreme court justices... What would our country be like right now, if Al Gore had taken over from Clinton?

What do you folks think?

See George, Diplomacy does Work

Even though our supposedly even tempered and faith-based preznit coo coo hates diplomacy because it does nothing to help the irrational power grab of the religious and nut-wing right, there are examples where careful patient diplomacy can work.

One example of this is the European efforts with Iran to stop their nuclear program.

Of course, this course of foreign relations would mean careful thinking, reflection, and communication. All things that Mr. preznit coo coo for coco puffs simply cannot do. It is easier for him to damn the world with whatever lame brained idea gets in his head like war in Iraq will be good for us.

Besides as Karl Rove once said, "diplomacy is for wimps." Ok, I don't really know if he said that but can't you just imagine him saying something like that. Can't you?

Juan Williams Hearts Condi

I knew the interview would suck because...well...it was Juan Williams, but when he asked her the "secrets of being a really good Presidential scrotum holder and scratcher" and whether "the President likes her to roll his testicles in her hand like marbles"*, well that even surprised me.

Using Fox news analysts on NPR ought to be against the law.




*Satire warning

And Now a Short Statement from Tom Noe

Dear Ohio Resident,

Please be advised that if you indict me, you will lose out on the value of two separate, and solid, investments of your pension dollars.

First, I am only 60% of the way to collecting these amazing, shiny new quarters that bear symbols and information about the various states. I am quite certain that I will have the collection completed within a few years and then, well the skies the limit on their value. It will be as big as the Jefferson Two-Dollar bill and the Sacagawea dollar I assure you.

Second, I have been contacted by the Honorable Qwame Endufoo, who is a close friend of the wife of the former late President of Nigeria and he has access to his funds in a swiss bank account. I am certain that my investment in such an endeavor will bear fruit real soon. Patience please.

Thanks for your support,

Sincerely,


Tom Noe.

Bolton Confirmation Delayed

The Nominee expresses his disappointment.

Creep Out...

Who is creepier?

(a) Benedict XVI?

"Ja, this crucifix is too secular looking!"


(b) The House GOP Leadership?

Compensating for anything boys?


(c) Condoleeza Rice?

"We're fresh out of spys, you guys got any more?"


(d) The GOP Senate?

My GOD, look at Hutchinson, the "eyes of Texas" are checkin' out Frist!


(e) James Dobson?

This may be the equivalent of a thumb on the scale to use this picture.


I know you'd all like an "all of the above option"

I've always been kind of opposed

To Hillary Clinton, Presidential Candidate, but that's dissipated to the point that I really don't care anymore.

I think it is for a few reasons.

First, I miss Bubba.

Second, I thought that during her husband's years, especially the first term, she had some poor political judgement, but I think she has learned, and its pretty apparent the media just takes off the gloves for Democrats and sticks their thumbs up their asses for Republicans.

Third, after watching what they did to Kerry last year, I realized the right-wing will play incredibly dirty no matter who the candidate is, and frankly the stuff on Hillary has all been run through. I think they drug her through the mud so much, she's virtually unaffected by their screams.

There are still other candidates I would prefer over her, but I think it is pretty evident that she is not a sure loser and polarizing figure anymore. This poll from yesterday's USA Today backs this notion up.

For the first time, a majority of Americans say they are likely to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton if she runs for president in 2008, according to a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday.

Friday Miscellaneous Lifeform Blogging

Some lifeforms are mysterious and rarely photographed, for example;


OR



OR



But today, I'll salute another rather shy creature that is extremely rare, in fact, it is the MOST endangered mammal species on earth, with only 4 known to live in captivity upon the Yangtze River in China.


The Baiji or Yangze River Dolphin

New from the Franklin Mint...

The George W. Bush Republican Scandal Chess Set. See the key Republican stooges, in White, of course, as they go off against a variety of secular humanists.


King George W. Bush

Queen


Bishop1


Bishop2


And so forth. It makes a wonderful investment.


"I'd invest in it, hell I'm already in for $10 million."

Springsteen's Devils and Dust

A couple weeks ago I heard Bruce Springsteen's two part interview on NPR. The short synopsis of his views regarding the current political climate: the guy gets it.

I saw him four times on The Rising Tour and loved all the shows (St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Paul, and Milwaukee). Anyone out there seen the recent tour or want to offer their thoughts on the recent recording?

A real-life legend who would have been a better candidate for President than Kerry. But what good does it to look backward? C'est la vie.

Logic Bomb

Well Sully was trying there for a while, but how folks can avoid the elephant in the room of this piece of logic is beyond me:

[Bush's] right to veto federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. There is a very clear principle here: do you take life to save lives? My conviction is that you don't, and that the human life in embryonic form is still human life.

...Meanwhile, $200 BILLION and counting in tax payer funded killing of as many as 100,000 innocent civilians interspersed with alleged terrorists and nearly 1,700 American Soldiers, as well as hundreds of others all for the purpose, allegedly, "of keeping us safer", i.e. supposedly talking life to save life.

Coulterkampf

Like Jesse and JL Roberson I have no idea what the hell Anthrax is talking about now, but I'm sure there's a slur there somewhere and it sounds better when your on the nose candy:

...she actually said that conservative media had made only "tiny little inroads"compared to the vast liberal networks. Complaining about the critics of Fox News, Coulter made a point to say that Hannity & Colmes was the #1 cable talk show but still the numbers were small compared to "Fake News on CBS." Making one of her bizarre analogies she said,"It's like 1930's Germany and Bill Moyers is the Jew."

Reading the Senate through Star Wars

It has happened! The Dark side in the senate has won. Darth Owen has been confirmed by the Senate. I can only quote that great writer George Lucas:

"So, this is how liberty dies... with applause."

Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen won Senate confirmation as a federal appeals judge Wednesday after a ferocious four-year battle, a personal triumph that also marked a victory for President Bush in his drive to install conservatives on the nation's highest courts.

And more to the point:

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

The 55-43 vote was largely along party lines, and made the 50-year-old jurist the first of Bush's long-blocked nominees to win approval under a newly minted agreement by Senate centrists meant to end years of partisan gridlock.

Following his assumption of power, Lord MustkeeppushingbecauseReligiousRightisWatching (played by Bill Frist) whispered sweet nothing to the fanatics and corpratists that make up the Republican base:

We cannot stop with this single step," Majority Leader Bill Frist said in a written statement soon after the vote. The Tennessee Republican resurrected a threat to strip Democrats of their right to filibuster Bush's picks for the nation's highest courts if they violate the 2-day-old accord.

"We must give fair up-or-down votes to other previously blocked nominees," he said. "It is the only way to close this miserable and unprecedented chapter in Senate history."

And what was the response of the fighting Jedi leaders in whom the fate of this country's court system was trusted? Obi Wan Waffler (Harry Reid) had this to say:

Democratic leader Harry Reid said he was "ready to put all this behind us and move on."

"I would hope the president would move on," he added later at a news conference in which Democratic leaders urged renewed attention to the economy, health care, defense and other issues.

In a statement the newly crowned emperor said that he was pleased, noting that:

"I urge the Senate to build on this progress and provide my judicial nominees the up or down votes they deserve."

And a great darkness fell upon the land.

I Love You, Repressed Memory Syndrome

The other blogboys and I have thought about developing Rising Hegemon swag to sell, like other blogs have. But we've come up with nothing yet.

But the home base of the intersection of Cheap Skate Street & Bogarted Avenue has stuff and an ad campaign:

JUST 25 DAYS UNTIL [Jack Fowler]
Father’s Day. The bad news: It’ll be here in a heartbeat. The good news: We’ve put together some great gift packages of NR apparel – our classy polos, windshirts, tees, and more, in sizes from M to XXL – that will put a smile on the face of any and every conservative poppa. Don’t delay getting dad a gift that he’ll REALLY like and that will show him you REALLY know and love him for being that big conservative teddy bear. Order your NR Father’s Day gift package (it will be shipped FREE via UPS!) right now, right here.
Posted at 09:46 AM

Sadly, now Golberg and Podhoretz's fathers know their sons love them so much they are giving them cheap swag for Father's Day. But that's what happens when you deprive your children of affection. "Oh gee Jonah," Mr. Goldberg will say, "another National Review Wifebeater, thanks soooooo fucking much."

Vagina Demagogue

Peggy Noonan had a vision last night, at the point of vibrator-induced climax, a vision of Ronnie peeled off from his velvet blacklit poster and told the quivering matron (her head thrust back and lashes quivering -- but that's normal) to write today's crime against syntax column.

I don't know if politicians have ever been modest, but I know they have never seemed so boastful, so full of themselves, and so dizzy with self-love.

By the way, she never mentions Tom DeLay or Frist in that article. As for the portion of that statement, I'm guessing those are the batteries talking.

It is Fleet Week in New York

So which of you patriotic sailors will fall upon the grenade this year?

Only Mr. Peanut knows!

Laura's Secret to Middles East Diplomacy

"Always...smile...hard"


Just like home, allow puppets to look down your shirt and get a gander of the second and third ladies.


Persevere, even when told to "talk to the إشراف, براعة, جانب, خط, سيطرة, شىء كاليد, عامل, عقرب الساعة, كتابة, مؤشر, كف, اّيدى العاملة, يد, "

POWERFUL!

Maddening, sickening.

I've done a few things like this over the time I've had this blog, but few have summed up the Iraqi tragedies of our own making quite like this from Daily Kos diarist Diane. Go read it!

I think about stuff like this everytime I hear Bush talk about his opposition to modifying federal funding on stem cell research because he "won't spend tax payer money to save life by destroying it."

Do I detect a claim of, "Takes one to know one"?

You know it's terrible to see the disappointing issue of already weak troglodyte loins not even have the strength to rebel "just a little" from their parent's politics. The intersection of Inheritance Street & Uriah Heep Avenue is loading up on such individuals with John Podhoretz added to the mix.

Today commenting on new evidence from the Washington Post on Koran v. Toilet, he shows all the subtlety you would expect from such a recessive mind:

These are sociopaths we're talking about here. Andrew Sullivan would do well to remember that. As would the Washington Post. And Newsweek. And Amnesty International.
Posted at 09:01 PM

Yes, since they have been deprived of due process, in some cases, for more than two years now we can just assume they are all Al Qaeda terrorists right? Now, THAT'S AMERICA! At least it is if you are bug-eyed-hyperventalent Nancy Grace or Norm Podhoretz's l'il love sprout.

I liked the old days when terms like sociopath were reserved for people like Stalin, and the phrases a Podhoretz-type (or his "Daddy") would use to refer to other cultures would be the more traditional untermenschen. C'mon John, show some respect for the old man and bring back the good old slurs.

A New Definition of Freedom

Freedom really may be on the march, its just that it is being transmitted by the United States in a new form. A form that looks much like oppression to the untrained eye, such as those belonging to Amnesty International:

But one of the biggest disappointments in the human rights arena was with the United States, Amnesty said, "after evidence came to light that the U.S. administration had sanctioned interrogation techniques that violated the U.N. Convention against Torture."

"Guantanamo has become the gulag of our time," Amnesty Secretary General Irene Khan said as the London-based group issued a 308-page annual report that accused the United States of shirking its responsibility to set the bar for human rights protections.

The use of the term gulag refers to the extensive system of prison camps in the former Soviet Union, many in remote regions of Siberia and specifically designed to hold political prisoners. The Soviets took over the system from the czarist government and expanded it after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Untold thousands of prisoners of the so-called gulags died from hunger, cold, harsh treatment and overwork.

The prison camp at Guantanamo has been in the spotlight over the past year since the FBI cited cases of aggressive interrogation techniques and detainee mistreatment. The U.S. government has also been criticized for not charging or trying prisoners who are classified as enemy combatants, a vague distinction with fewer legal protections than prisoners of war get under the Geneva Conventions.

Some prisoners have challenged their detentions in U.S. courts but their cases are stalled by appeals filed by the U.S. government and subsequent arguments.

"Not a single case from some 500 men has reached the courts," Khan said.

You know that is just because they are too free to have the desire to protest their predicament.

You know also that they are free because Dear Leader's people tell us so, and when have they ever been wrong? Not once that they can think of.

Government Legitimizes Playing DOOM 3!

You know that's the real, untold story here:

The CIA is conducting a secretive war game, dubbed "Silent Horizon," this week to practice defending against an electronic assault on the same scale as the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks.

The three-day exercise, ending Thursday, was meant to test the ability of government and industry to respond to escalating Internet disruptions over many months, according to participants. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the CIA asked them not to disclose details of the sensitive exercise taking place in Charlottesville, Va., about two hours southwest of Washington.

The simulated attacks were carried out five years in the future by a fictional alliance of anti-American organizations, including anti-globalization hackers. The most serious damage was expected to be inflicted in the war game's closing hours.

Frag someone for me kids.

While I've mocked Norm Coleman

So-called GOP Moderate Susan Collins has certainly been derelict in her job as Chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee whose job it would be to review contractor abuses in Iraq.

From Common Cause, Collins has not yet held any kind of hearing on:

*An April 2005 State Department report that found major cost overruns and "poor performance" by Halliburton on a $1.2 billion contract to repair Iraqi oil fields.

*The Defense Department's decision to override its own auditors when it decided in February not to withhold payments from Halliburton until questions about overcharges were answered.

*Allegations by an Army Corps of Engineers whistleblower that Halliburton was unfairly and improperly awarded its no-bid contract with the U.S. government.

*Findings by Pentagon auditors that Halliburton overcharged the government $61 million for gasoline imports in Iraq as well as $27.4 million for troops' meals in Iraq.

*Allegations that Halliburton employees received $6.3 million in kickbacks from Kuwaiti businessmen in exchange for subcontracting deals.

*Allegations that KBR employees abandoned trucks, each costing $85,000, due to flat tires and other repairable problems.

*Revelations by the former Coalition Provisional Authority's inspector general that KBR lost track of more than $18 million in equipment.

And, as the article points out, it is not like the Committe has never met:

Meanwhile, as head of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs panel, Collins has held eight hearings on reform of the U.S. Postal Service since September 2003, two hearings on "diploma mills," one recent hearing on waste, fraud and abuse at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and two hearings on Defense Department employees' improper use of airline tickets.

She may be moderate, but she's still covering Chimperial Chimp's ass.

Wah-wah?

I'm having trouble understanding this post from the intersection of Alice the Goon Street & Peppermint Patty Avenue.

I KNOW THIS IS HELPFUL ANALYSIS [K. J. Lopez]
Wah wah Wah-waa whah whah. Wah whah wah wah wah wah wha waa whah Whah Whah. Wah waaah wha wa whah wa whaaaah, wha wa wah waaaaah waa wa whah waa waa waaaaaah.
Posted at 03:25 PM

Nookular Schmookular

Seems the consensus out there is that the Democrats bested the Republicans on this fight. See, for example (as if you already haven't) here and here. Why I wouldn't make a good politician? Because I fail to see how allowing nutjobs like Janice Rogers Brown to sit on the second highest court on the land is a good thing. But what do I know?

So here is what I'm hoping: that somehow through this mess, Reid gets a chance to prove that he outflanked Fristula and can make him smell his own pile of dung. Then I'd feel okay about it.

Carry on.

News Media

An example of the Future New News Media:

Screen opens to the latest music by 50 cent and seven dancing women doing the latest moves as a winking CBS eye appears superimposed over them. The camera slowly pans over to a young man with obvious plastic surgery and amazingly white teeth who is nodding his head to the movement and smiling at the dancers. He slowly turns to face the camera...

Biff Hunkerson (BH): "Hi, y'll I'm Biff Hunkerson with the Cool CBS News for all you Newsies out in the fleshworld or Cyberspaces. We have important news that just cannot wait for the commercials."

BH: "Our first report t'nite covers some recent changes at MTV! We go to our MTV Gal Pal, Cindy Cutesy."

Cindy Cutesy (CC): "Giggle... giggle... that's right, my man Biff. Since last year when MTV launched M4 though M16 channels, we just learned that they have changed all of the sets!"

BH: "Wow!"

CC: "That's right Biff. New colors, new designs, even new celebrity hosts. And one of them, I cannot remember which one, actually plays videos."

BH: "Wow!"

CC: "And what's more, they are going to hire Linday Lohan to host TRL 1 thru 16."

BH: "Prez'net Lolo?"

CC: "Yup."

BH: "Cool."

CC: "Yup."

BH: "Well, in honor of this great occasion, we are going to show all of President Lolo's videos including all of her breast sizes, from "Full B" to "Strong D"

CC: "cool."

BH: "Yup."

BH: "That's the newsies for to-night Doggs. And now the Lolo's videos brought to you by CBS MegaCorp." "Later."

Religious Right Compassion

A Baptist minister in Forest City, North Carolina refuses to apologize for a prominent church sign that says that the Quran should be flushed down the toilet. Ah, so now I understand. If we were talking about the Bible this would be wrong because the religious right tells us so. Whereas they hate the Quran and muslims so its fine to flush their holy book down the crapper?

Do I understand correctly?

N.C. pastor stands by sign saying Quran should be flushed

"I believe that it is a statement supporting the word of God and that it (the Bible) is above all and that any other religious book that does not teach Christ as savior and lord as the 66 books of the Bible teaches it, is wrong," said the Rev. Creighton Lovelace of Danieltown Baptist Church. "I knew that whenever we decided to put that sign up that there would be people who wouldn't agree with it, and there would be some that would, and so we just have to stand up for what's right."

Seema Riley, a Muslim born in Pakistan and reared in New York, said she moved to Rutherford County, about 60 miles west of Charlotte, for the "small-town friendly" atmosphere.

The church sign reading, "The Koran needs to be flushed," angered her and made her feel threatened, she said.

"We need a certain degree of tolerance," Riley said. "That sign doesn't really reflect what I think this county is about."

The sign is an apparent reference to a recent Newsweek magazine article that said U.S. investigators found evidence that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay placed copies of Islam's holy book in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk.

The account has been blamed for protests in Afghanistan, where more than a dozen people died and scores were injured in rioting earlier this month, and demonstrations elsewhere in the Muslim world.

Lovelace said he expected the sign in front of his 55-member church to also stir anger in some people.

"If we stand for what is right and for God's word and for Christianity then the world is going to condemn us and so right away when I got a complaint I said, 'Well somebody's mad, somebody's offended, so we must be doing something right,'" Lovelace said.

Danieltown Baptist Church belongs to the Sandy Run Baptist Association. Each church in the association is autonomous, said the Rev. Jim Diehl, the group's director of missions.

"Each church can develop a stance on doctrinal issues and can develop its own stance on moral issues," he said.

Such as what they want to flush, I guess.

Cuckoo Bananas & the Chocolate Factory

Holden already came up with the better headline, but I'll endeavor anyway on this story about Commander Codpiece's Insanity Tour 2005.

Tickets allowing lucky audience members inside to hear the president at the school were colored red, blue or gold. James Bock, 12, of Livonia, Livingston County, and five members of his family learned they had "golden" tickets, which mean they'll sit on stage with the president.

Come with me, and you'll be,

In a world of privitization

Take a look, And you'll see

Into your desperation

We'll begin, With a spin

Traveling in the world of my creation

What we'll see, will defy explanation




And of course, don't forget the Oompa Loompa's,

Oompa Loompa doom-pa-dee-do
I have a perfect puzzle for you
Oompa Loompa doom-pa-dee-dee
If you are wise, you won't listen to me
What do you get when we spend all your cash?
Spending as much as Sailor on Snatch?
What are you doing kissing religious ass?
With that crazy legislation you quickly pass?

I don't like the look of it

Oompa Loompa doom-pa-dee-da
If you are greedy, you will go far
You will live in happiness too
Like the Oompa Loompa doom-pa-dee-do