Monday, October 31, 2005

A Special Message to Judge Alito & Ernest T. Bass, ESQ

A fine brow beating from Athenae of which I am only going to quote my favorite part...

You know what I'd like? A law dictating that before a husband stuck his dick in his secretary, he had to notify his wife and ask permission. I'd like the state to mandate that before a guy told a woman he'd love her til death did them part and then dumped her while she was pregnant because the spark was just gone, he had to get her written okay. I'd like a law requiring the sick fuck who beats his wife to seek her permission before every blow. I'd like a law to force men who've forced women to bear 13 babies to just get it snipped at that point, because their wives are just downright exhausted.


Go read the rest of it, it is tremendous!

As I was saying earlier...

The DoD has estimated 26,000 deaths -- "due to insurgents" buried in a report. However, I raised questions about just which deaths were actually being reported, and pointed out that the United States had a habit of using disproportionate overwhelming force.

Well, it did not take long for the latest exhibit of this practice to raise its head:

Germany's dpa news agency, quoting hospital officials in the western Iraqi city of Qaim, says at least 26 Iraqi civilians -- including women and children were killed in those strikes. Those figures could not be independently confirmed.


I understand the theory behind "overwhelming force" but I cannot for the life of me, understand its beneficial uses in fighting an insurgency. I cannot imagine anything more counterproductive to trying to win "hearts & minds". Nevertheless it has been used and relied upon repeatedly.

Nino & Sam

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

What I'm waiting for the media to point out on this Report of 26,000 Iraqi Casualties

CNN did a good "half" job of reporting that the Pentagon hid within a report an estimate of the number of Iraqi civilians killed or wounded in Iraq at 26,000. But note the way in which the estimate is laid out:

In a rare look at how the Defense Department tracks non-U.S. casualties in the war in Iraq, the Pentagon is estimating that 26,000 Iraqis have been killed or wounded by insurgents since Jan. 1, 2004.


What's missing from that statement?

First, of course, the casualties from March 2003 through the end of that year.

Second, the estimate is of "Iraqis killed or wounded by INSURGENTS"

It is no secret that often when American troops respond to threats they respond with overwhelming force. There are reasons for this, of course, but one cannot pretend that in such circumstances that many are killed or wounded on account of simply being unfortunately nearby.

For example, there have been several occasions where we have received detailed reports of wedding parties or the like being hit by armament (often bombs) that leave scores dead, including children. Thanks to American bombardment asserting they were attacking insurgents.

Is the military in their estimating including those casualties and claiming they are caused BY insurgents?

Or, are they, in fact, not counting them at all?

It's possible, of course, the report itself makes this distinction.

The report on CNN, and the report in the newspaper do not seem to consider this question, but I wish someone besides some smartass in Iowa would.

Spikey

Jane Hamsher laid the wood to Isikoff yesterday and deservedly so -- for essentially swallowing whole and uncritically the choad that Rove's lawyer Robert "For Godsakes I don't even know a Donald" Luskin.

Now, Swopa adds more reasons for being critical.

I Love you Paul Krugman,

I want to bear your children!*

So the Bush administration has lost the myths that sustained its mojo, and with them much of its power to do harm. But the nightmare won't be fully over until two things happen.

First, politicians will have to admit that they were misled. Second, the news media will have to face up to their role in allowing incompetents to pose as leaders and political apparatchiks to pose as patriots.

It's a sad commentary on the timidity of most Democrats that even now, with Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff, telling us how policy was "hijacked" by the Cheney-Rumsfeld "cabal," it's hard to get leading figures to admit that they were misled into supporting the Iraq war. Kudos to John Kerry for finally saying just that last week.

And as for the media: these days, there is much harsh, justified criticism of the failure of major news organizations, this one included, to exert due diligence on rationales for the war. But the failures that made the long nightmare possible began much earlier, during the weeks after 9/11, when the media eagerly helped our political leaders build up a completely false picture of who they were.

So the long nightmare won't really be over until journalists ask themselves: what did we know, when did we know it, and why didn't we tell the public?


Digby makes a point that I've made before -- and others as well...

It's hard to believe how isolated a voice Krugman was from, say, about Spring 2000 to about January, 2004. There was all but nowhere else in the mainstream press where Bush's total absence of presidential qualifications, his incompetence, and his lack of personal integrity were being honestly discussed.

And no one believed him. He was ignored and ridiculed by fellow journalists as shrill, he went mostly unread by mainstream politicians. He was disbelieved by ordinary readers including literally all of my milieu, who seemed desperate to believe that Bush - whose negligence and incompetence were crystal clear to me even when the towers were still smoking and the networks were overwhelmed with ominous reports and rumours - would actually save and protect us from the horrible fate that befell our fellow New Yorkers.

So now, if Krugman wants to tell the country and especially his colleagues, "I told you so," he deserves to. He told us exactly so. When no one else dared.


Andrew Sullivan and the intersection of "Uncritically Posting Cliff May Street & Kathryn Lopez Frothing Undergarments Avenue" owe Krugman an apology. I think Sullivan may some day own up to it ... National Review still hasn't apologized for supporting segregation so I'm not holding my breath on it.



*I'm guessing if Mr. Krugman shows up and the next Escha-Con along with me, he'll keep a clear distance from me.

The scope of the tragedy

Valerie Plame Wilson:

Fast forward to 2003: Valerie Plame is married to Joe Wilson (the former ambassador's tales of diplomatic exploits checked out), and they are the parents of 3-year-old twins.

Known by her married name, she lives a relatively quiet life in an upscale Washington neighborhood, helps run a support network for women suffering from postpartum depression and professes to work for a Boston-based energy consulting firm.

In truth, she is a covert operative for the CIA and a specialist in weapons of mass destruction, a fact unknown even to close friends and neighbors.

Chris Wolf, the Wilsons' next-door neighbor, remembers backing off when she first identified herself as a consultant. "In Washington, that often means you're unemployed," he explains.

On July 14, 2003, Wolf was sitting on his deck eating breakfast and reading Robert Novak's column in The Washington Post, when something jumped out at him. The column, citing two Bush administration officials, identified Wilson's wife as a CIA "operative on weapons of mass destruction."


Once again, Cliff May you are a first class ass. Where the FUCK is your evidence of "common knowledge" jerk?

And for the Republicans who are out there beating the talking points of "not accused of violating the real crime" does that mean that Alger Hiss is hunky dory to your now?

Tectonic Plates

Josh Marshall is finally comfortable enough to start publishing his information on the Niger Forgeries and its origins.

Ah, the advantage of being a non-news based snarky blog.

I never have to verify sources or anything.

Just like Mike Isikoff.

What a Shock!

But what about the schools?

The US government had “no comprehensive policy or regulatory guidelines” in place for staffing the management of postwar Iraq, according to the top government watchdog overseeing the country’s reconstruction.

The lack of planning has plagued reconstruction since the US-led invasion and has been exacerbated by a “general lack of co-ordination” between US government agencies charged with the rebuilding of Iraq, said Stuart Bowen, inspector-general for Iraq reconstruction.

His 110-page quarterly report, delivered to Congress at the weekend, has underscored how a “reconstruction gap” is emerging that threatens to leave many projects planned by the US on the drawing board.

“Nearly two years ago, the US developed a reconstruction plan that specified a target number of projects that would be executed using the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund. That number was revised downward [last year]. Now it appears that the actual number of projects completed will be even lower,” Mr Bowen says.

Increasing security costs were “the most salient” reason behind the shortfall, he concluded.

While 93 per cent of the nearly $30bn (€25bn, £17bn) the US has appropriated for reconstruction projects has been committed to programmes and projects, more than 25 per cent of the funds have been spent on security costs related to the insurgency.


Don't forget the nearly $9 Billion that just disappeared into the ether either.

The New York Times also chips in.

Sunday, October 30, 2005

"Sign here ma'am and we'll bring your case of Virginia Slims up to your private quarters"

He's morphing into Nixon


The Chimperor Disgustus this week.

Kristof, fewer Douche Pills this morning...

What happened?

Since Mr. Libby is joined at the hip to Mr. Cheney, it's reasonable to ask: What did Mr. Cheney know and when did he know it? Did the vice president have any grasp of the criminal behavior allegedly happening in his office? We shouldn't assume the worst, but Mr. Cheney needs to give us a full account.

Instead, Mr. Cheney said in a written statement: "Because this is a pending legal proceeding, in fairness to all those involved, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the charges or on any facts relating to the proceeding."

Balderdash. If Mr. Cheney can't address the questions about his conduct, if he can't be forthcoming about the activities in his office that gave rise to the investigation, then he should resign. And if he won't resign, Mr. Bush should demand his resignation.


I'll be damned.

Payback

While the GOP tries to spin themselves inside out, the rest of the country (while sadly knowing fuck-all about science) is figuring out what this crew is truly all about.

Well-liked? Harrumph. Time for FoxNews to start figuring a few things out:

The poll, conducted Friday night and yesterday, found that 55 percent of the public believes the Libby case indicates wider problems "with ethical wrongdoing" in the White House, while 41 percent believes it was an "isolated incident." And by a 3 to 1 ratio, 46 percent to 15 percent, Americans say the level of honesty and ethics in the government has declined rather than risen under Bush...

...Bush's overall job approval rating has fallen to 39 percent, the lowest of his presidency in Post-ABC polls. Barely a third of Americans -- 34 percent -- think Bush is doing a good job ensuring high ethics in government, which is slightly lower than President Bill Clinton's standing on this issue when he left office.


That's gotta hurt!

The survey also found that nearly seven in 10 Americans consider the charges against Libby to be serious. A majority -- 55 percent -- said the decision of Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald to bring charges against Libby was based on the facts of the case, while 30 percent said he was motivated by partisan politics.


It's building -- and Bush has no plan, but desperate plans.

...He also plans, I think, on appointing himself a true-blue wingnut to the Bench.

That may make his decrepit base happy, but it isn't going to make those poll ratings go anywhere.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

2,016

The pattern of death in Iraq is sporadic, but the last few days have been particularly bloody. We hit the 2,000 milestone on Wednesday.

Looking at the website we all go to in order to follow this ceaseless and depressing tragedy it is hard to figure out actual patterns. With a few days left to go in October, the United States (and almost solely the United States) is losing nearly 3 military personnel a day.

The disturbing part is, I do not think there has been a particularly bloody day this month, a day when a dozen die in a helicopter crash, or one single incident. It has been pretty much two here and two there. And the bulk of the deaths in October did not come in the run up to the Constitutional vote, but afterwards.

Since "Mission Accomplished" the month of the least deaths for Americans was all the way back in February 2004, when only 23 coalition soldiers were killed (20 American). Even more disturbing, since April of this year, each month has seen more than 50 killed, and four months, including this month, more than 80.

The "Progress" and "Marching" have also essentially been replaced by "staying the course", even in a month where the Constitution was apparently approved.

There seems to be no pattern to the carnage, except to say we are going to likely hit 2,100 around Thanksgiving, and Christmas will see another 170 or so widows and widowers, and a few hundred kids with one less parent.

Iraq is such a slow motion and inevitable tragedy, it is almost worse than a single cataclysmic event. I would say it is the death throes of American Imperialism*, except that is a refrain that has been heard before -- and that would put too much of an optimistic note upon it.



*This is NOT anti-Americanism, though it cannot be summarized in one quick sentence, both the world AND the United States would be better off without our militarism. Far too many on the right get their "rocks off" at the notion of being the bully -- that is the most fucked up notion of Foreign Policy I can think of, and ultimately the most suicidal. Karma in history is more than a bitch, it is inevitable.

I still think this is Dick Cheney...the future...

Leavenworth, 2009



You have no idea how much of a "codpiece" this would give George Bush, one way or the other.

It Ain't Over...

It's funny the bizarre triumphalism of yesterday from both sides of the coin.

First, as a member of the "Progresso-Sphere" there was an indictment -- and a very, very solid one. Read the indictment for yourselves...if this is prosecuted as charged Scooter is spending serious time in a pound-me-in-the-ass prison.

He told the same blatent lie to the Grand Jury, he told to investigators, and then got burned repeatedly by his witnesses. He's screwed. Pardon us if we think a little justice is caused for happiness.

Meanwhile on the right, their was joy it was just Scooter, and not for the original underlying crime.

But don't be too celebratory there, freepi. Andrew Sullivan is, I think, actually correct -- dashing my hopes of a snark-filled Saturday.
From the evidence we now have, it seems crystal clear to me that Libby knew he was out of line when he leaked the Plame name, and perjured himself to protect himself and the real source of the leak, Cheney. He gambled that the reporters wouldn't squeal; and that he could cleverly spin his phone conversations so that the information seemed to come from reporters, not him. The question now is whether he will now turn against his colleagues and master to save his own skin. This story is just beginning. Ultimately, it's about Cheney.


The pressure is now going to be on Scooter to sing, or look at jail. The only way he gets out of this is a pardon. And as craven as Bush is, he cannot survive a pardon in this case.

Sing Scooter Sing!

Hey A-holes get this straight

Scooter Libby is charged, among other things with Obstruction.

What does that mean?

It means when you say, as many people who are either stupid -- or more importantly think YOU are stupid proclaim, "Fitzgerald failed to find their was any original criminal activity" they are not being truthful.

Obstruction means, simply, if Libby hadn't gone out of his way to lie, destroy, or cover up his actions, we could tell you for certain. But rather than allow us to find out whether he broke the law -- he broke the law.

Not really that hard is it?

Well, at least we know all that graft didn't go into a wardrobe


Tom Noe leaves court after posting bond.

Friday, October 28, 2005

So nice of you to have kept your ASSHOLE HATCHET MAN employed for more than 2 years Dick!

After you knew he had done your dirty work.

You are either:

a. A part of the whole matter.
b. Too dangerous to be Vice President.
c. A fool.
d. Evil
e. All of the above.

Slink out of the White House you traitorous prick, Fitz is coming after you next.


Sic Scooter Tyrannus*



*And Secret Service, that's a grandious statement, not a threat.

It's only a matter of time now...



Most of all, I'm happy for my nipples.

The New Bench Mark for Looooooow Productivity

Still about one hour and fifteen minutes from finding out "something" tangible.

But there is other news. Poor Bush, now even Rasmussen hath foresaken him. Holden has enough ponies, but I do believe this entitles him to maybe a Labrador Retriever or some other ubiquitous larger dog.

Bush Job Approval

Strongly Approve 21%
Somewhat Approve 19%
Somewhat Disapprove 15%
Strongly Disapprove 44%


Cliff May...sure seems like a liar

On Wednesday, Larry Johnson on CNN was asked by Wolf Blitzer about Cliff May saying that it was "common knowledge" that Valerie Plame worked at the CIA.

In particular, this is the key statement made by May all the way back in late September 2003:
On July 14, Robert Novak wrote a column in the Post and other newspapers naming Mr. Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, as a CIA operative.

That wasn't news to me. I had been told that — but not by anyone working in the White House. Rather, I learned it from someone who formerly worked in the government and he mentioned it in an offhand manner, leading me to infer it was something that insiders were well aware of.


COMMON KNOWLEDGE that Valerie Plame was a CIA OPERATIVE!!! That was the contention that May made. Not just working for the CIA, not an analyst...An OPERATIVE!

Johnson stated bluntly that May was wrong about this and flatly stated he'd give May $5,000 to demonstrate it was common knowledge.

Because May finally responded yesterday -- by not actually responding. Not once does he actually respond by supporting his statement of September 29, 2003, which is what Johnson stated. I know it is repulsive, but go ahead and try to read it and see if you can fathom how it addresses or supports May's original assertion at all.

Tell us ClifFORD once again who your "buddy" is and how you know Plame's "Operative Status" was COMMON KNOWLEDGE? Your alleged rebuttal does not, nor does it contain an ounce of actually addressing the question.

The Worst Writer Ever!

TBogg had a summary of Nooner's latest effort that gets right to the point.

But let me just say that the sum total of Peggy Noonan comes down to this:

....A White House is a castle surrounded by a moat, and the moat is called trouble, and the rain will come and the moat will rise. You should buy some boots, do your work, hope for the best.


Oh...my...Gawd!!

In Support of Steve Gilliard

In regard to a current ridiculously contrived tempest in a teapot, I'm supporting Steve...


By showing Hugh Hewitt in "White Face"

Teutonic Tectonics


"I can feel my sutures and scar tissue tearing, must not do this again"




Have Groped, Do Grope, Will Grope

Not to overlook other Scandals

Well 10-penny Ho' Tom Noe was indicted in Ohio yesterday -- a long-time Republican fund raiser, "rare-coin & fraud enthusiast", was apparently indicted in part because he took ill-gotten Ohio money and gave it to the Chimperor Disgustus.

As I wait with baited breath (I ate a minnow) for Fitzmas to come, why not bring you the gift of recycled comedy?

Brother, Do You Wanna Buy a Dime?

For reknowned coin-investor, GOP-Money Man, Thomas Noe:


They used to tell me I was building a dream
Or so I read on the blogs
When there was pol to blow, funds required
I was always there, right there on the job


They used to tell me I was building a dream
With freedom marching boldly ahead
Why should I be accused of crime
When I've spent your bread


Once I built a coin store, I made it run
I made a fund but a crime
Once I built a coin store and now it’s done

Brother do you wanna buy a dime?


Once I give a donation to the son
He promised me it would be worth my time
Once I built a coin store and now it’s done
Brother do you wanna buy a dime?


Once in spiffy suits, gee we looked swell
Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum
Half a million boots went slogging through hell
I had that workers comp fund


Oh say, don’t you remember?
You called me Al
Though it was Tom all the time
Say, don’t you remember? I was your pal
Buddy, can you buy a dime?


Say, don’t you remember?
You called me Al
It was Tom all the time
Say, don’t you remember? I was your pal
Buddy, can you buy a dime?
Buddy, can you buy a dime?

And now a word from Charles Manson

"I decry the criminalization of criminal behavior, JACK!"

"And when the space monkeys man, come down from the sky, they'll take control. Then all of you real criminals who call us criminals -- will be called the criminals then, JACK!"

Tom DeLay apparently agrees...JACK!

Friday Miscellaneous Lifeform Blogging

In September of last year one of our selections was a finger sponge (one that naturally gave me the finger). That picture came from this site (not accredited at the time, whoops), as does the one below. I thought it would be good to revisit there in the wake of the pending indictments of Fitzmas (which may be more akin to eternal Hannukkah) so we can at least look into Karl Rove's soul.


The Wolf Eel


Nah, not dark enough.

Objects in the Mirror may appear smaller than their actual size



(Doug Mills/The New York Times)

Thursday, October 27, 2005

As we embark on what finally may be the real eve of Fitzmas

I'd like to thank those people who gave this blog money on the Paypal. It was very nice of you and we appreciate it.

Atta J. Turk would give each and everyone of you a hearty handshake, if he did not shy away from the thought of actual physical contact and displays of emotion, like a good Minnesotan.

And for those who just read us, thanks to you as well. Please remember that whether you give us money or not, we will suck equally for all of you.

So a Door and a Nob had a child...

And called it K-Lo...even mental masturbation has a point where it passes from the ridiculous to the no-mind.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT PRESIDENT BUSH [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
You know what the relief is this morning? A return to the feeling that this president gets the big things right. There was a detour, but I’m confident we’re going to have good news shortly on SCOTUS, because this president tends to get the big things right. That’s the confidence so many of us have always had in him. And we may have been worried about our assessment for a few weeks there, but there's a renewed confidence this morning.
Posted at 11:40 AM


Oh, jiminy jeebus.

Make of this what you will...

From what has become the indespensible New York Daily News:

While White House staffers were tense, Fitzgerald's team relaxed from their stoic, all-business demeanor. The cheery prosecutors shared an elevator ride with a News reporter and cracked up over a private joke.

Minutemen on the March

Seems as though the beginning of the debate being fomented by those on the far right on immigration is underway. I suppose we can all predict how many times "those people" or "illegal aliens" or other unflattering terms are going to be used. The scientific answer, of course, is a lot. I will avoid using such technical terms in the future, I promise.

Clearly, the anti-immigrant faction -- who remind me of isolationists -- are more truly concerned with some cultural (or racial?) idea about purity and we all know who those fellas are and what they are all really about.

There is some decent reporting but it is few and far between. There are two very interesting reports that you all should check out. Not just for the slant of the reporting but the content. Due to the volume of content associated with these two web sites I'm sending the links only.

This is a major package on the Minutement by CBS television news. The URL for this package includes multiple text and video content. It is here

USA Today has a major story on Minutement in the Pacific Northwest.

The Pustule Behind Homeplate

Over at Kos some rejoicing over the Sox victory (much as Attaturk does here below). I am a Dodger fan but also having fun with the win for the team from the south side of Chicago. The best part though is pointed out by RandyMI.

The big pustule that is Barbara Bush's whitehead was sitting right there the whole damn game. Somebody pop that thing.

Evening with the Ledeens -- Episode III -- An "AWESOME" Resume

On the riveting and barely read Episode II of "Evening with the Ledeens" Simone laid out to her father Michael that she wished to be the next nominee for the United States Supreme Court. But Simone lacked one key and important item, a Law Degree. As we join tonight's episode Simone and Michael have taken steps to correct this problem. We join the Ledeen's as they wait in the reception area of the office of White House office of Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

Simone: (whispering) Gee Dad, that was strange how you got us into the White House so quickly, without a long hastle and all.

Michael: (also whispering) AIPAC hand signal Simone, good in all places involving high-level National Security Matters be it Washington or Tel Aviv. Trust me though, not so handy in Damascus.

Simone: It looked familiar.

Michael: Yes, same hand signal as the Vulcan live long an prosper deal on Star Trek. We're all big fans. Man you should have seen Larry Franklin dressed up as an Andorian ambassador; you haven't seen sexy until you see Karen Hughes dressed up as a sexy green alien; and Condi, ah, hell every damn day she dresses up as the Romulan Envoy to the Federation.

Simone: Wow, I had no idea.

Michael: Yes. And you should have seen Doug Feith. Every damn year we made him wear the red shirt. What a piece of work that guy is.

Simone: Um, Dad?

Michael: Yes, dear?

Simone: Do you think that this law school diploma and resume will pass for real?

Michael: Of course, my good friend Antonio Nucera said it was about the best work she'd ever seen done. Set me back $20 too. Why that's more than those Niger documents.

Simone: But I wanted it to be from Harvard, and instead it claims I graduated, um, "Summa Kinda Lotta" from Yale?

Michael: Trust me, the President went to Yale on occasion, like his father. Skull & Bones and all that stuff. It will count.

Simone: Yes, but I thought Yale was spelled "Y-A-L-E", and this one spells it "Y-A-I-L".

Michael: Believe me, Simone, Andy won't even notice.

Simone: And it says I was in "S-K-U-L" and "B-O-N-Z".

Michael: Relax, sweetheart, Andy Card is not exactly swift on the uptake.

Simone: And isn't Yale's symbol a "Bulldog"?

Michael: I don't really remember.

Simone: Because the watermark on my transcript and my diploma is each a different animal. On one, it looks like...a giraffe and on the other, um, I think that is a Dachshund.

Michael: Simone, you are worrying for nothing.

Secretary: Mr. Ledeen, Mr. Card will see you now.

Michael: Great, come on Simone.

(the Ledeens open the door and enter Card's office. Card stands up from behind his desk and Michael holds up his hand with his fingers together, except for a spread in the middle)

Michael: Andy, Live Long and Conquer!

(Andy smiles and does the same with his hand)

Andy: Michael, War and Long Strife!

(both laugh uproariously)

Coming up in "Evening with the Ledeens, Episode IV, "So you want to be a Supreme Court Justice?"

Read Episode One "The Phantom Menace"
Read Episode Two "Simone's New Career"

Putin' on da Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitz!!!


No, it's not really Peter Boyle. Just John Snow recreating the last moments before the events that led to a nasty sex harassment suit.

The Swift-Boating Strategy

With the news that Mr. Fitzgerald will be taking up a new Washington business address it appears that a long period of siege warfare will be ensuing as Justice battles Wankery.

And the minions of the Chimperor Disgustus will be out in full-force douchiness...i.e. "The Victoria Toensing Sexperience!" (which by the way will be the show coming to Rising Hegemon following that huge lead-in it gets from "An Evening with the Ledeens"):

The prosecutor hasn't announced any indictments, but President Bush's aides and their allies in Congress are working on strategies to counter the blow if White House officials are accused of crimes.

The basic plan is familiar to anyone who has watched earlier presidents contend with scandal: Keep the problem at arm's length, let allies outside the White House do the talking, and try to change the subject to something — anything — else.


If I were a gay person, or a person who supports, oh, SCIENCE, ... I'd be very scared.

Coming soon from the Bush Administration,

GOD INTELLIGENTLY DESIGNED GAY PEOPLE TO BE FORCED TO WORK AT NEW OIL REFINERIES...WE SHALL START WITH SHERYL SWOOPES!

Why things were BIGGER in my day...

Something tells me that during Watergate there was some old fart gumming out that the "current scandal is no Teapot Dome".

David Gergen, Mr. Beltway Insider, has been going about saying "oh this scandal is likely to be bad, but its not as bad as Watergate or Iran Contra even".

"NOW IN MY DAY, WE HAD SOME SCANDALS, "you should have seen Nixon hangin' out in panties and a coconut shell bra saying, 'Where's Gilligan? Where's my little Buddy. Sock it to meeeeeee?"



Now, I know that many of us progressive bloggers are hardly able to contain our figurative chubbies over the potential of what Fitzpatrick is doing (not to mention what it is doing to our nipples), but how the fuck does David Gergen know this isn't as bad as those scandals?

Watergate, as many people may forget did lead to a broader examination of some of Nixon's actions as Commander-in-Chief, most particularly the illegal bombing of Cambodia (you should have seen Kissinger's boner over that one!) along with violations of the privacy of war opponents (see, Daniel Elsberg); Iran-Contra had to do with a bizarre illegal act of funding central american counter-revolutionaries by selling weapons to islamic theocrats (boy that was a great idea huh?).

Well, the issue in this matter has to do directly with matters of National Security and War.

What could be bigger?

I guess to an old fart like Gergen who has not fear of being called to serve maybe that seems tangential.

Or perhaps Gergen cannot comprehend just how strategically disastrous this war decision has been -- and it is fucked up. The Iraq invasion is the most fucked up decision of the country's worst President since Warren Harding slipped himself into Nan Briton's honey pot and pronounced it the hight of normalcy. And it was all based on selling "loaded" intelligence to the populace.

For example, here is what the Wall Street Journal (that part untainted by the excrement scented fingers of James Taranto) reports:

It is expected that any indictments will be very detailed and discuss the involvement of other White House officials who aren't being charged. "In this case, an indictment could cause serious reputational damage to unindicted officials by describing their roles, criminal or not, in
what appears to have been an orchestrated effort to unfairly discredit Wilson in order to clear the way for an increasingly unpopular war," said former New York prosecutor David Pitofsky, now in private practice.


That's right, I just made a dirty sex joke that didn't involve the Clenis.

Congratulations to the White Sox

Though I'm a Twins fan and they are a division competitor, I am delighted for the Chicago White Sox, especially their fans.

How can you not root for a team that has been forced to play second fiddle in a town because they don't SUCK enough?

The Cubs and the Red Sox got all that publicity over all those years, when the White Sox were almost as innept as the Cubs, and almost as star crossed as the Red Sox. And their team had a real reason for a curse -- better than a billy goat or trading Babe Ruth, they had the Black Sox.

Well, now the White Sox have something the Cubs still don't have.

A recent World Series win.

Good for them.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Maybe Not Oliver Stone

Maybe not a "conspiracy" in the true sense of the word, but "the Moose" as he like to refer to himself tries too hard to play it down the middle and takes a dump all over this issue:

Agree or disagree with the judgment to go to war, it was not the result of an Oliver Stone-like conspiracy. And it's hard to believe that a CIA operative was all that concerned about her identity being revealed and overseas contacts compromised when she and her husband posed for a photo spread in Vanity Fair.


Boy is the Moose missing the point. The Champollion doesn't know much but the Champollion does know that the "decision" to go to war wasn't just ill-advised, it was pushed on an unsuspecting public with not just plain hyperbole but ginned-up phony baloney "evidence". Maybe not a "conspiracy" but the Champollion thinks Oliver Stone could probably make a decent movie out of this one (though I would prefer Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Michael McKean).

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Chimperor Disgustus


Apparently Fitz has managed to dislodge both the upper and lower (tectonic?) plate.

(photo from the AP)
Thanks to Watertiger for the pic.

Raw Nipples and So Forth

Brother Attaturk was hysterical here today waiting for something to happen with the Fitzgerald grand jury. Me, I had a hell of a day I wouldn't wish on many people. But see, that got me to thinking who I would wish a day like I had on? Hmmm. Let me see. How about the assholes in the post below?

Takes you back to other signings...like this one:



So the way I figure it, these fuckers have it coming and tomorrow it is coming royal flush like.

That's the ticket.

Well, here's a pack of Assholes



President Bush shakes hands with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., after signing The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act that shields the firearms industry from civil lawsuits brought by victims of gun crimes, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House, in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005. From left to right are: Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Frist, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Bush, and acting House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Mo. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)


Meanwhile, the poor continue to get jack...other than the jackboot.

The ultimate Pony

What should be given when the most pro-Bush of all polls, the Rasmussen rolling poll comes out under 40%?

It's getting damn close now.

Bush is at his lower ever rating in that survey with an "oh so close" 41% today, and its tracking down.

Breaking it down, it looks even worse for Chimperor Disgustus:

Strongly Approve 22%
Somewhat Approve 19%
Somewhat Disapprove 15%
Strongly Disapprove 44%


Also of note is this;

Fifty-three percent (53%) of Americans now say that bringing the troops home from Iraq is more important than finishing the mission in that country. This is the first time that a majority of Americans have held that view.

I don't know about you, but today may be known as...

The LEAST productive workday ever!

Shifting Blame

I had a case of Attaturk style insomnia this morning, well long enough to roll over and fall asleep again, but during that time turned on Imus for the first time in about a year to hear some guy named Craig Crawford talk to the cranky one. Crawford apparently is a reporter for Congressional Quarterly. I think I saw him on Hardball the other night where he struck me as one of these guys, kind of like Richard Cohen, that wants to seem above the fray. Only so many people can play Kinky Friedman, know what I mean?

Crawford was trying to sell some nonsense about how this whole question of indictments is just politics as usual, cyclical retribution, payback for Lewinsky and Ken Starr. Here is going to be the real challenge: to hold the collective feet of the MSM to the fire. While a Republican controlled congress drove the Starr investigation and the whole impeachment melodrama, the Fitzgerald investigation is not about politics. The Republicans have absolute control over Washington D.C.

Reveling in the misery of the Bush administration's messy diaper may be politics, it does have to be laundered--the diaper is cloth you know--but that doesn't make the investigation political.

The sound of one hand clapping

Alleged pundit, cum, Sumo wrestler K-Lo "oooooooh-pines" at the Intersection of IraqiNam Street & Charge of the Light Brigade Avenue:

The Today Show this morning is infuriating. They're all over the 2,000 mark. And report it as if 2,000 Americans have died for naught. THE IRAQIS RATIFIED THEIR DEMOCRATICALLY ADOPTED CONSTITUTION YESTERDAY. Should this not be part of the MSM's 2,000 stories on the 2,000th soldier? The media may not be, but the Iraqi people are thankful.


K-Lo, K-Lo, K-Lo, denial isn't just for Jonah responding to your advances anymore...

Forty-five percent of Iraqis believe attacks on U.S. and British troops are justified, according to a secret poll cited by The Sunday Telegraph and said to have been commissioned by British defense leaders.

Less than 1 percent of those polled believed that the forces were responsible for any improvement in security, according to poll figures.

Eighty-two percent of those polled said they "strongly opposed" the presence of the troops.

The newspaper said the poll, conducted in August by an Iraqi university research team, was commissioned by the British Ministry of Defence.


Sully: Cognative Dissonance or just Stupid?

With posts like this -- maybe a little more introspection is necessary -- or editing:

Two thirds of Americans now disapprove of president Bush's handling of the Iraq war. But there appears to be a stabilizing in discontent: the numbers aren't that much worse now than they were a few months back. Americans are mature enough both to grieve for the U.S. and Iraqi casualties while understanding that wars always mean casualties. As to the future, the public is now evenly split on whether things are going in the right or wrong direction. Count me among the 24 percent who don't know for sure. I certainly hope that the political process will work in the end.



The WAR, still wildly unpopular -- um, hooray?

Priorities People, Stay Aware of the Greater Sins

The lies keep getting nastier. I know it's only about starting a war based on lies -- as opposed to the greatest of God's sins -- the blowjob, but still this does seem kind of bad:

The forged documents were cabled from the U.S. embassy in Rome to Washington after being delivered to embassy officials by Elisabetta Burba, a reporter for Panorama. She had received the papers from an Italian middleman named Rocco Martino. Burba never wrote a story about those documents. Instead her editor, Berlusconi favorite Carlo Rossella, ordered her to bring them immediately to the U.S. embassy.

Although Sismi's involvement in promoting the Niger yellowcake tale to U.S. and British intelligence has been previously reported, the series in La Repubblica includes many new details, including the name of a specific Sismi officer, Antonio Nucera, who helped to set the Niger forgeries hoax in motion.

What may be most significant to American observers, however, is the newspaper's allegation that the Italians sent the bogus intelligence about Niger and Iraq not only through traditional allied channels such as the CIA, but seemingly directly into the White House. That direct White House channel amplifies questions about a now-infamous 16-word reference to the Niger uranium in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address -- which remained in the speech despite warnings from the CIA and the State Department that the allegation was not substantiated.

Was the White House convinced that the Niger yellowcake report was nevertheless true because the National Security Council was getting its information directly from the Italian source?

Following the exposure of the discredited Niger allegations in the summer of 2003 by former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, White House officials at first sought to blame the CIA for the inclusion of the controversial "16 words" in the president's speech. Although then–National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and her deputy Hadley eventually accepted some responsibility for the mistake, the White House undertook a covert campaign to discredit Wilson and exposed the CIA affiliation of his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson.


Oh, sure starting wars with all the killing and maiming is bad, but still, the act of having mouth meet penis -- now that's really a terrible thing.

Although I cannot really be sure. I've never really been desirous of killing or maiming someone. I prefer to aim high for the bigger sins.

The Best Line Yet about Republicans being in Legal Trouble

From Jane at Firedoglake (the place to go for all your Plame-gate Analysis):

Oh please, let it be true. If only to send Victoria Toensing into inchoate rage.

Documented

For those who have a claim against Wal-Mart for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act -- Manna done come down from Heaven:


An internal memo sent to Wal-Mart's board of directors proposes numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer's reputation. Among the recommendations are hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart.

In the memorandum, M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits. The memo voices concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive.

To discourage unhealthy job applicants, Ms. Chambers suggests that Wal-Mart arrange for "all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering)."


Now, you'll still have to prove your underlying claim (and that's tricky, especially for those claiming disability) but if you can, your path to punishing damages -- establishing wilfullness, has now been cleared for you. This could end up costing Wal-Mart big time.

"This one was for you my buddies!"




Even for Big Oil, the numbers have never been as big as this.

When major U.S. energy companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. announce their third-quarter earnings in the next few days, the results are certain to be staggering.

Pumped up by soaring oil, natural gas and gasoline prices in August and September, Exxon Mobil alone is expected to report quarterly profit of about $8.7 billion. That would be more than such titans as Coca-Cola Co., Intel Corp. and Time Warner Inc. earn in an entire year.


In the midst of these dark times, at least there is some news to give Dick the chubbie that Lynne never could (unless his ass was in danger of bein' shipped to 'Nam)

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

NIPPLES....MY NIPPLES...MY PRECIOUS NIPPLES...

FROM RAW STORY...



SOURCES: FITZGERALD DECIDES TO SEEK INDICTMENTS... DEVELOPING...

Levity, it will make you sick.

I post this because, I don't have the class that Watertiger does.


K-Lo gets ready for another "National Review" field trip.

So, who wants to give her beads?

Painful Anniversary

In addition to the sad death of Rosa Parks and the 2,000 American Soldiers to die in Iraq, it is also a sad anniversary for progressives, especially those of us with an affinity to the Gopher State.

It was three years ago today that Paul Wellstone and his wife Sheila died in a plane crash.

Words cannot described how much this fiesty, decent fighter for a cause is missed. How he would have contributed to fighting the Bush corruption and the tragic Iraq war is our nation's loss.



Thanks to ISUGRADIA at D.U.

Come on, come on, update already!

I want my Champagne!

The LOOK of a man about to get scratched!

I'd like to thank the people of Reuters for making my job easy.

Rice tries to soothe Canadian fears on Softwood

2,000 Sacrificed for Mendacity

Congratulations, Chimpy McFlightsuit.

Freedom, it's marching right over you, biatch!

From the AP:

At least 21 detainees who died while being held in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan were killed, many during or after interrogations, according to an analysis of Defense Department data by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The analysis, released Monday, looked at 44 deaths described in records obtained by the ACLU. Of those, the group characterized 21 as homicides, and said at least eight resulted from abusive techniques by military or intelligence officers, such as strangulation or "blunt force injuries," as noted in the autopsy reports.


"You go to war with the new craven and sadistic policies you have, not the old cramped human rights policies other people want"

Coming Soon, Dick "Direct Current" Cheney in...

The updated version of T.S. Eliott's "Murder in the Cathedral" --



"Shocking!" -- the New York Times

"Palpatating!" -- the San Francisco Chronicle

"Defibrillating!" -- the Washington Post

"Pie-Chartable!" -- USA Today

"Unindictedly Inspirational" -- Boston Globe

"Not bloody enough" -- New York Post



Inspired by this, from Steve Clemons.

Kicking their ass...

Better late than never, but here is some revealing information from Colin Powell's right-hand man, Col. Larry Wilkerson (only recently having made a damning speech on a similar topic), in today's L.A. Times:

IN PRESIDENT BUSH'S first term, some of the most important decisions about U.S. national security — including vital decisions about postwar Iraq — were made by a secretive, little-known cabal. It was made up of a very small group of people led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld...

...But it's absolutely true. I believe that the decisions of this cabal were sometimes made with the full and witting support of the president and sometimes with something less. More often than not, then-national security advisor Condoleezza Rice was simply steamrolled by this cabal.

Its insular and secret workings were efficient and swift — not unlike the decision-making one would associate more with a dictatorship than a democracy. This furtive process was camouflaged neatly by the dysfunction and inefficiency of the formal decision-making process, where decisions, if they were reached at all, had to wend their way through the bureaucracy, with its dissenters, obstructionists and "guardians of the turf."


You know, it's not paranoia when it turns out to be true!

Making Progress!




"Those are just freedom fireworks"

Jonah Goldberg, the George W. Bush of the Blogosphere

Per TBogg...just go read it.

No favor to My Areolas

With the hideous hell-beast of Judith Miller out of the question, the New York Times may be awaking from its slumber on the Plame matter and making up for lost time.

I approve, my headlights? Not so much:

I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.


B-O-O-M!!!!

Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Cheney runs on direct current, he just will wind down.

Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby's testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said.


Scooter to Dick:

I'm taking you down with me!

The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson's husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration's handling of intelligence about Iraq's nuclear program to justify the war.


As Atrios pointed out, this makes Dick a liar to the American people (perhaps we should add "as we already know"), Jane says it likely makes him a perjurer.

The Times goes out of its way to say that while they have tied Dick & Scooter together, Cheney may not have done anything like "catapulting the truthaganda" (this time), but he is now clearly connected. That is not good for battery boy.

For Cheney to have committed perjury, that would probably be too much for a simple midwestern blogboy to ask. If it meets the Kay Bailey Hutchinson blowjob test this could be really something. Just what have you been doing with Scooter Dick?

Rosa Parks

With the craven warmongerers of the Bush Administration in trouble, let us remember a woman famous for a seemingly small, yet earthshaking act of courage.

Rosa Parks died yesterday, at the age of 92.

When Parks "stood up" to segregation laws, by not sitting in the back of the bus, it came at precisely the right moment to create a firestorm. It not only highlighted the stupidity of such laws, through a series of events it gave voice to Martin Luther King, Jr, who lived in the same town, Montgomery, Alabama.


History's Hero


Compare Ms. Parks mug shot and her nobility to that steaming pile under a cheap rug that is the mug shot of Tom "Smiley" DeLay.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Is my barometer off?

Does "Evening with the Ledeens" need to be cancelled?

Before I work on Episode III.

Here's Episode I

Here's Episode II

The latter hardly got any feedback (might be because of Haloscan's problems)


Should I pull the plug?

Colon Tightening...


Let's see in three years, FoxNews will offer me a contract for...

But on this the eve of the figurative end of the Bush Presidency, let's have a bit of a flashback on what was foreseen by Asstrodamus last year:

June 2005 2009, What will they be Doing?


Public Relations, Virgin Atlantic.


Laurie Mylroie's Cabana Boy.


Laundry Detail, Leavenworth, KS.


Appearances for new book, "Fundamentalist Biker Chicks in Heat"


Vice President:Internet Security, Microsoft Corporation.


Waterboarding neighborhood kids who won't get off his lawn.


Monitoring E-Mail, Clear Channel, Inc.


Apologizing for something.


Last Seen in the Misty Mountains.


Being, Left Behind.


Undisclosed Location, naturally.


Coloring in Finishing Up "Prezinidential Pamphlet Memoirs"