McCain's base goes to work

Could the media employ more suck-ups to the Maverick? It's like Richard Cohen is reporting:

McCain adviser may have struck a nerve
Candidate distances himself from terror comment, but does it ring true?

Ah delightful packaging in Maverick-sized nuggets.

And who writes this d-e-l-i-g-h-t-f-u-l tripe?

Why Anne Korblut and Jonathan Weisman of course!

This Jonathan Weisman on Barack Obama:

He really did not become immersed in black American culture until he left college and went to Chicago. The great irony is that he is much more white than black, beyond skin color.

Oh, how quaint.

And this Anne Korblut

During a June 2006 appearance on Meet the Press, New York Times reporter Anne Kornblut claimed that the Democrats were "bracing incredibly for the Karl Rove cut-and-run accusation."

Of course, that "cut-and-run accusation" came and failed spectacularly, as the American people overwhelmingly disapprove of the Iraq war and the Republicans' handling of it.

Yet Kornblut continues to insist that Democrats must be wary of being given the "cut-and-run" label. During a January 4 appearance on MSNBC's Scarborough Country, she declared, "I think the biggest nightmare for some of the Democrats in the Senate would be a Democratic Party that looks as though it just wants to, from -- the words from 2004 -- 'cut and run.' "

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The President of the United States:

And I reminded the President that I am reminded of the great talent of the -- of our Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House. (Laughter.)

The context and the timing could not be more offensive:

The Philippines was pummeled last week by a typhoon that has devastated coastal areas and flipped a ferry carrying over 800 passengers. Bush couldn't resist beginning the sober meeting with a quip about a Filipino member of his kitchen staff.

SPROING!

Another poll shows Big Bounce for Obama:

Buoyed by enthusiasm among Democrats and public concern over the economy, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has captured a sizable lead over Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) at the opening of the general election campaign for president, the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll has found.

In a two-man race between the major party candidates, registered voters chose Obama over McCain by 49% to 37% in the national poll conducted last weekend.

On a four-man ballot including independent candidate Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr, voters chose Obama over McCain by an even larger margin, 48% to 33%...

Even among voters who say they do plan to vote for McCain, more than half say they are "not enthusiastic" about their chosen candidate; only 45% say they are enthusiastic. By contrast, 81% of Obama voters say they are enthusiastic, and almost half call themselves "very enthusiastic," a level of zeal that only 13% of McCain's supporters display.

"McCain is not capturing the full extent of the conservative base the way President Bush did in 2000 and 2004," said Susan Pinkus, director of the Times Poll. "Among conservatives, evangelicals and voters who identify themselves as part of the religious right, he is polling less than 60%.

"Meanwhile, Obama is doing well among a broad range of voters," she said. "He's running ahead among women, black voters and other minorities. He's running roughly even among white voters and independents."

Nobody could have anticipated, part 4,894

"Inconceivable"

The administration lacks an updated and comprehensive Iraq strategy to move beyond the "surge" of combat troops President Bush launched in January 2007 as an 18-month effort to curtail violence and build Iraqi democracy, government investigators said yesterday.

But things are going swimmingly?

Wow, Charlie Black must be cracking a wry smile this morning:

U.S. officials say four Americans have been killed in an explosion at a local council building in Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City district.

Iraqi police officials say at least six Iraqi civilians also were killed and 10 others wounded in Tuesday's blast, which apparently was targeting Americans visiting the building.

The U.S. military and the embassy say two American soldiers and two American government employees were among the dead.

Iraq is so awesome, how could people NOT want to go there and wait for celebratory fireworks like this?

Thanks George Bush, thanks John McCain, thanks Dickie Cohen!

Worst Columnist in America

AMERICA'S CONCERN TROLL:

A presidential race is only incidentally about issues.

When one looks at all the ways the beltway punditry has consistently betrayed their alleged purpose for their de facto one, let this be one of the Exhibits.

Appropriately manufactured quote of the day:

June 24, 2008:

"Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He's the guy at the country club with the driver in the clubhouse, swinging it freely and beating the staff to death and making everyone else line up against the wall while he lets me make snide comments about everyone and select the loveliest barely post-pubescents to deflower."

-- Karl Rove, Special Assistant to George Bush Robert Mugabe.

Ah, time well spent

Via Instaputz:

John McCain was in town for a big event at the Minneapolis Hilton and a town hall appearance in St. Paul. My wife and I waited for an hour and a half for a photo with the candidate; as so often happens, he was running late. I figured I'd have ten seconds with him, so I wanted to choose my words carefully. I decided to introduce my wife and myself, and say, "Global warming is b***s***." That seemed like the most meaningful message I could convey in the short time available.
- Felecity J. Assrocket, Assquire

Of course you did. I can only imagine why John McCain would want to put off meeting that guy.

Time's Blog of the Year 2006, thanks Luce Legacy.

Did Michael Scherer pick them?

This is Great News For Republicans

...and Democrats, and Independents, and New Yorkers in general.

Bruno to Step Down as New York Senate Majority Leader

It is not clear whether [Bruno] would remain Senate majority leader as the Republicans struggle to hold on to their one-seat majority in the November election....

“His resignation I think will have an effect on their ability to hold onto their majority,’ said Michael Benjamin, a Democratic assemblyman from the South Bronx. “He was the center. And when the center falls, everything falls apart.

Now if we could just get rid of Sheldon Silver.

Hey! We can!

New York politics 2008: never a dull moment.

For R

h/t Eschaton commenter rootless-e

Thanks George!

Thanks for the mind blowing record albums that I had to listen to in the dark basement with my friends that made me rethink where comedy, free speech, political activism, and more met.  My parents may not have thought much of you but you always made me laugh and sometimes made me cry!

While not everyone may get your comedy, your social criticism could not have been sharper.  And yes, I am thinking of those words right now.

Thanks.

The Intellect and the Old Man Yelling at Cloud

You tell me who the individual in touch with reality is:

What do you see as the gravest long-term threat to the U.S. economy?

Obama: If we don't get a handle on our energy policy, it is possible that the kinds of trends we've seen over the last year will just continue. Demand is clearly outstripping supply. It's not a problem we can drill our way out of. It can be a drag on our economy for a very long time unless we take steps to innovate and invest in the research and development that's required to find alternative fuels. I think it's very important for the federal government to have a role in that process.

McCain: Well, I would think that the absolute gravest threat is the struggle that we're in against Islamic extremism, which can affect, if they prevail, our very existence. Another successful attack on the United States of America could have devastating consequences.

Jeebus Fookin' Christ on a Trampoline. John McCain you are a goddamned joke.

One more thing on Kristol

The New York Times tour of shame continues. This line has been nagging at me in particular:

In the United States, individuals can choose to serve in the military or not. The choice not to serve should carry no taint, nor should it be viewed with the least prejudice.

Again, this strikes me as incredibly self-serving of Kristol (but then, what else is new?). But the reason it is particularly galling is that Kristol just two columns ago wrote this in assailing Obama for giving a commencement address in place of the ill Ted Kennedy:

But there’s one obvious path of service Obama doesn’t recommend — or even mention: military service. He does mention war twice: “At a time of war, we need you to work for peace.” And, we face “big challenges like war and recession.” But there’s nothing about serving your country in uniform.

The intellectual bankruptcy of "opportunism for any bash" for the Uriah Heep of American politics never fails to appall.

A rare

Carlin routine you can watch at work:

And today we see Bill Kristol bash MoveOn

While completely excusing the war mongering of Bill Kristol:

Unless we enter a world without enemies and without war, we will need young men and women willing to risk their lives for our nation. And we’re not entering any such world.

We do, however, live in a free country with a volunteer army. In the United States, individuals can choose to serve in the military or not. The choice not to serve should carry no taint, nor should it be viewed with the least prejudice.

A. Those who volunteered to join the military and got killed because folks like me ginned up a war, so don't blame me for your being foolish enough to believe what I said.

B. And further, don't blame me, just because I'm not big enough sap to believe my own bullshit, I get the big money to lie like this.

I'm sure we're all anxious for Bill to get his Medal of Freedom.

Here's a little something for Bill son of Irving Kristol -- amazing how many other GOP cretins this works for, not least of which is the Chimperor Disgustus:

Well, that sucks

George Carlin dead at 71.

Please say a forbidden word in his memory. One of the truly, truly, great and influential stand up comedians -- and really had balls.

I think that human beings were given great gifts and had great potential and they squandered it all on goods, possession, power, territory and on a superstitious God that watches everything and controls. These things, I think, crippled the human animal to the extend that we never lived up to their potential. The same thing happened in this country. We were given great potential. We were given this great system of self-government, the best one that had been devised so far. And we've given it all up for gizmos, and goods, and toys and possessions, and - in this country - God, overlooking everything and spoiling everything.

...notice he was younger than John McCain.

Where Is Steve Gilliard When You Need Him?

Holy Crap!

We are having the wackiest year ever in New York politics. Every day there is news and every day, I find myself wondering, "What would Gilliard say?"

Anyway, today's twist is that Francis H. Powers, the guy the New York GOP finally convinced to run for disgraced families man Vito Fossella's seat, has died. Powers became the candidate only after a bunch of Republicans declined to run, the NY GOP twisted Powers' arm, and then Powers' son threatened to run against him on the Libertarian line, only to drop out suddenly, depriving us all of what promised to be a laugh-a-minute contest to fill Vito's very big shoes. I don't know who is left for the NY GOP to put up now.

Hey! There's at least one New York Republican who's bored and out of a job. Something tells me his wife won't be satisfied with living on Todt Hill, though.

What's So Horrible About That?

Professor Jonathan Turley explains it all for you:



Accountability.

All via Greenwald

Update: Hey! Professor Turley has a blog. And look what it's called! Do you think he named it after little ole me?

Oh what a lovely neverending war

"These guys are ants. When the time comes, you crush them."
- Admiral William Fallon, giving "perspective" to our occupation of Iraq and in one sentence explaining a mindset that leads to things like Haditha.

How do you explain this? Well you could just decide the people whose country you occupy are unworthy of respect. Over to you Bill Kristol.

HADITHA, Iraq — Khadija Hassan still shrouds her body in black, nearly three years after the deaths of her four sons. They were killed on Nov. 19, 2005, along with 20 other people in the deadliest documented case of U.S. troops killing civilians since the Vietnam War.

Eight Marines were charged in the case, but in the intervening years, criminal charges have been dismissed against six. A seventh Marine was acquitted. The residents of Haditha, after being told they could depend on U.S. justice, feel betrayed.

"We put our hopes in the law and in the courts and one after another they are found innocent," said Yousef Aid Ahmed, the lone surviving brother in the family. "This is an organized crime."

...

One by one, the cases fell apart. American and Iraqi witnesses provided conflicting accounts. The investigation began months after the incident, and many Iraqis who could have testified were unable to travel to the United States. Furthermore, several Marines were granted immunity.

Last week, a judge dismissed charges of dereliction of duty and failure to investigate filed against the highest ranking officer implicated, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. The Marine Corps plans to appeal...

"Right now I feel hatred that will not fade," said Ahmed. "It grows every day." Charges against two Marines who allegedly killed his brothers were dropped in August 2007.

From their perspective, why would they ever forgive us and why wouldn't they forever hate our guts?

Welcome to the world George Bush made and John McCain wants to continue indefinitely.

Some snark speaks for itself

Over at Firedoglake, as I often do, Thers takes advantage of Watertiger's photoshopping skills.

And so it begins

Folks are moving to rail for their transportation needs.  Now personally, I would love to take rail as opposed to driving into work everyday.   I am tired of the guys who want to drive 90+ and the guys for whom 65 is way too fast. (both of whom use the left lane -- can anyone explain this to me?)

I do know its not all fun and games but it would help me keep my budget afloat.  Gas in my area has hit 4.29!  Rail is looking pretty good to me in terms of efficiency and cost.  We need to consider more investment in various forms of public transportation.  To that end, it would also be nice to see more cities adopt the eco-buses as well.  I would happily ride one of those buses (and have).

But I have noticed no discussion of efforts to reinvigorate municipal transportation.  One would expect that under the current climate that a serious discussion of upgrades to public transit would be underway.  But alas, they are not.  Will that change anytime soon?  I am not going to hold my breath waiting for more light rail, how about you?

In a Small Town

Hello RH readers!  This is Dirk D. writing from small town Minnesota (St. Joseph to be precise).  I am here for a conference, yup they have them in out of the way places too.

As I grew up in a small town it is interesting to see how in 2008, they have not changed.  The streets, bumpy roads, people watching you as you drive by -- it has not changed.  Or at least it has not changed from my experience. 

Are any of you from small towns?  What was your experience like?

Anything you want me to do while I am here? (until Tuesday)

Cal sets his cross on fire

Wow, Cal Thomas, on why Michelle Obama is just like "the rest of them". Gee Cal, bigot much?

Thomas: And who are the black women you see on the local news at night in cities all over the country. They’re usually angry about something. They’ve had a son who has been shot in a drive-by shooting. They are angry at Bush. So you don’t really have a profile of non-angry black women.

This will come as quite a shock to Oprah.

10

So yesterday was the summer solstice. I celebrated by picnicking with friends on the Sheep Meadow in Central Park until the park guys kicked us off at dusk. My sibs and I have been talking about the things we need to do or see or hear for it to really feel like summer. We're city kids now, but we grew up in the 'burbs, so a lot of our associations -- the top 10 of which appear below -- are from that period of our lives. We know it's summer when we're doing these things.

1. Hearing cicadas, crickets, and mourning doves
2. Swimming in the ocean
3. Watching a thunderstorm roll in
4. Attending an outdoor concert, a baseball game, and/or street, fireman's, or church fairs
   
5. Seeing lightning bugs
6. Eating watermelon, ice cream, lemon ice, fresh corn, tomatoes from New Jersey, or seafood by the water (oh, for a lobster roll)
   
7. Having a barbecue
8. Picking blueberries and strawberries
   
9. Viewing a summer blockbuster (This was my first.)
   
10. Playing flashlight tag (I think this is a daddy res invention.)

List yours in comments.

Strategy

A cool head prevails on BHO and FISA:

I do know this: [Democrats] would not have made this "compromise" and then brought this to the floor without [Obama's] ok, and probably without his direction. He is the leader of the Democratic Party now, in the middle of a hotly contested presidential campaign. If he didn't come to them and say to get this thing done before the fall, then they came to him and asked his permission. That's just a fact. They aren't going to do anything he doesn't want them to do.

So, it's not really a capitulation. It's a strategy.

I have a feeling that things are going to look a bit different come the end of next week. That said, in the meanwhile, I'm going to either call or drop BHO a line telling him what I think. If you're so inclined, here's his contact info.

Oh, and I'd like to thank my representative, Charles B. Rangel, for doing the right thing re FISA.

Well, that can't be a good sign

Modified from AP Photo/LM Otero

John McCain arrives at fundraiser in Mordor

Fly Fell Beast Air, the drinks are still free*

(AP Photo/LM Otero)



*Less evil than Northwest.

Disappointment

Well Obama certainly threaded the needle...so blatantly...on FISA that we all noticed and dropped a deuce.

But remember, shitty legislation can always be fixed, so we can still try.

And you also have only two realistic choices in November -- Obama, or Bush II, this time it's moist.

Such are the perils of a two-party system. Triangulation isn't pretty (and given recent polling perhaps not even necessary) but it's a time-tested method of winning over independents.

Suck.on.that.

And then vote for the Democrat anyway.

Nobody could have anticipated part 4,429

Amazing, I'm sure it's HIGH QUALITY shit:

The Bush administration wants to rewrite the official evidence against Guantanamo Bay detainees, allowing it to shore up its cases before they come under scrutiny by civilian judges for the first time.

The government has stood behind the evidence for years. Military review boards relied on it to justify holding hundreds of prisoners indefinitely without charge. Justice Department attorneys said it was thoroughly and fairly reviewed.

Now that federal judges are about to review the evidence, however, the government says it needs to make changes.

The decision follows last week's Supreme Court ruling, which held that detainees have the right to challenge their detention in civilian court, not just before secret military panels. At a closed-door meeting with judges and defense attorneys this week, government lawyers said they needed time to add new evidence and make other changes to evidentiary documents known as "factual returns."

Attorneys for the detainees criticized the idea, saying the government is basically asking for a last-minute do-over.

"It's sort of an admission that the original returns were defective," said attorney David Remes, who represents many detainees and attended Wednesday's meeting. "It's also an admission that the government thinks it needs to beef up the evidence."

It's a sham, it's a mockery, it's a shamockery!

Land of the free, home of the brave and all that other bullshit.

Makin' us proud for more than 7 years.

Iowa's Tragedy, just a photo op to "The Maverick"

"I can see my conscience from here!"

(AP Photo/LM Otero)

Here's McBush in Iowa yesterday, apparently wanting to be within hugging-range of Bush in case the "Decider-Signal" went up.

What's wrong with this?

Plenty:

An aide to Gov. Chet Culver said Thursday that Republican presidential candidate John McCain ignored the governor's request to cancel a campaign visit amid a massive flood recovery effort in the state.

McCain toured flood-damaged sites in Iowa on Thursday, including the town of Columbus Junction in the southeast.

Patrick Dillon, Culver's chief of staff, said the governor was concerned that McCain's trip would divert local law enforcement from the flood recovery effort to provide security for McCain.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama canceled a scheduled visit to eastern Iowa last week at the request of state officials.

"As a courtesy — and as we did for Senator Obama — we privately made an effort to make sure that Senator McCain knew that state and local resources were still being deployed to support the flood fight and that now may not be the best time for a campaign trip," Dillon said in a statement.

Oh, and there's a lot else that's wrong:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain opposed legislation last year that included money for flood control in Des Moines, which shows he is wrong to push for reforms to the congressional earmark system, a Democratic lawmaker charged Thursday.

State Sen. Jack Hatch of Des Moines said the earmarked money was needed to relieve water problems on the city's north side, which were magnified over the weekend when a levee break forced an evacuation of the Birdland area and ruined several dozen homes and businesses...

President Bush eventually vetoed the bill, which authorized more than 900 navigation, flood-control and environmental projects across the country. A report on the bill said the Des Moines metropolitan area suffered more than $152 million in flood damage in 1993.

"The Birdland Park and Central Place levees on the Des Moines River failed during the 1993 flood event and do not provide reliable flood protection, placing nearly 200 homes and businesses at risk," the report said.

Every member of the Iowa congressional delegation voted to override Bush's veto, the first override of his presidency.

McCain strongly backed Bush.

The McCain camps galling response?

Hatch chose the wrong time to attack McCain, spokesman Jeff Sadosky added.

"We do not need to play politics with flooding that has brought so much harm and pain throughout the region," he said.

This from the guy who stopped in Iowa for no reason other than to get himself in a photo.

Fuck you.

Via Great Orange Satan diarist Dansac.

Well, if you didn't know Bush visited the scene of a Flood yesterday

He showed the sensitivity he is known for:


REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES)

A Doctrine of Surpassing Purity

res is a bit busy today. Read some Thomas Frank while she sticks it to works for The Man:

Corruption and misgovernment are defined away as properties unique to the left; conservatism, meanwhile, is a doctrine of surpassing purity, accountable for no misdeeds of any kind, standing reliably on the side of principle and freedom and goodness every time. If it didn't deliver those fine things, that's because it never really got the chance.
...

The comfortable course of action for Democrats will be merely to pocket the coming windfall, to burble about how they have lifted the curse of ideology from the land, to replace the current gang of free-marketeers with their own gang of free-marketeers, and to resume the merry triangulations of eight years ago. The ins will give way to the outs, and they will rule happily ever after . . . until the next culture war takes them by surprise and sweeps them again from their contented perch.

Another route is possible, though. If they are willing to go beyond the regal rhetoric of post-partisanship, Democrats might find that they are, for the first time in decades, running against a philosophy of government that has utterly discredited itself. Should they choose to make 2008 a referendum on conservatism itself, they might deliver the knockout blow. They should start with the bad ideas that have delivered such disastrous consequences.

The whole thing is here.

A record setting flip-flop

Less than 3 weeks.



via Jed Report.

Depressing...

And ignored, no doubt, by the wise media punditry of Washington who got us into this clusterfuck to begin with by just printing whatever the Administration chose to bullshit them with:



Nicolas Kristof comments on his NY Times blog:

One of the most shameful episodes of the post 9/11 era has been the way the U.S. Government — particularly the Pentagon under Don Rumsfeld — oversaw the torture and abuse of supposed terror suspects, even though there often was little or no serious evidence against them. We’ll remember Guantanamo the way we remember the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

Yet in this disgraceful episode, there have been some people fighting to salvage the nation’s honor. The defense lawyers for the Guantanamo inmates have done superb work, courageously bucking the political tide. The courts haven’t done so badly either. But some of the people I’m most impressed by are the military lawyers and other officers who saw what was happening and were so repulsed that they blew the whistle loudly — offending the Pentagon and sometimes shortening their careers. They went against their cohort, their bosses and to some extent their culture, for the sake of terror suspects of different nationalities and different religion, simply because they thought what was happening was illegal or inhumane.

Physicians for Human Rights, a terrific organization, has a devastating new report just out about Guantanamo. But above all, read the introduction by Major General Taguba; he’s a study in honor.

And here is what the General Taguba, who investigated the torture at Abu Ghraib states:

Through the experiences of these men in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, we can see the full-scope of the damage this illegal and unsound policy has inflicted --both on America's institutions and our nation's founding values, which the military, intelligence services, and our justice system are duty-bound to defend.

"In order for these individuals to suffer the wanton cruelty to which they were subjected, a government policy was promulgated to the field whereby the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice were disregarded. The UN Convention Against Torture was indiscriminately ignored. . . .

"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."

- Maj. General Antonio Taguba (USA-Ret.)

We must be allowed to deduct "the Hajj"

Well, just when you think you may have just ONE day in life where your snark can outdo reality, you find out how absurd the world has been made. And not in a good way:

The private military company Blackwater has cultivated a patriotic reputation, with its staff of retired military and former police officers, and the requirement that most of its workers swear an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution.

Blackwater’s aviation wing recently filed a unique request in federal court, where the widows of three American soldiers are suing the company over a botched flight supporting the U.S. military in Afghanistan.

The company, based in Moyock, doesn’t want the case heard in an American courtroom under American law: it wants the case heard under Shari’a, the Islamic law of Afghanistan.

Don't let too many Republicans know this, but Shari'a law is apparently great for business and bad for the most evil people on earth, not Al Qaeda silly, AMERICAN TRIAL LAWYERS:

The company argued that the lawsuit must be dismissed; legal doctrine holds that soldiers cannot sue the government, and Blackwater’s aviation wing was acting as an agent of the government.

Last year, a series of federal judges dismissed that argument.

In April, Blackwater asked a federal judge in Florida to apply Islamic law, commonly known as Shari’a, to the case. If the judge agreed, the lawsuit would be dismissed. Shari’a law does not hold a company responsible for the actions of employees performed within the course of their work.

If this becomes well-known, the GOP's corporate base will become fundamentalist Muslims faster than you can say Mecca Oil & Gas. James Taranto is wearing a burka already (he's very confused).

Via Talking Points Memo.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Nobody could have ever anticipated

A race and sex discrimination complaint against NASCAR.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Thanks for almost pretending to care:

Bush is expected to arrive in Cedar Rapids in the late morning and meet with local and state officials about the response and recovery effort before touring the flooded corridor by Marine One, the president's helicopter.

From there, he planned to visit Iowa City before departing Iowa. None of Bush's visit is to be open to the public. News media coverage is to be by a limited number of national and local outlets. He is expected to be in Iowa less than three hours.

So Much To Savor

Kos pointed to a couple of interesting polls out today:

Pennsylvania: BHO opens wide lead

Florida: BHO takes the lead

Ohio: another poll, another BHO lead

Those are swing states, by the way. I read the good news and had to return to this Peggy Noonan column which ran in the dark days immediately after the 2004 election, wherein that that particular professional propagandist kicked us when we were down. Here's my favorite passage:

I do not know what the Democratic Party spent, in toto, on the 2004 election, but what they seem to have gotten for it is Barack Obama. Let us savor.

Indeed.

Impressive

This was quite an interview with Lara Logan on the Daily Show last night:



via Think Progress.

Dinosaurs

Another one who needs to move on (dot org).

Saw him on Scarborough this A.M. Like his pal, McBush, another viscious, doddering old fool clinging desperately to the past.

Even his employees thought him pathetic.

"Why don't you go where fashion sits..."

"POOOOO-TIN ON DA WITZZZZ, my friends."

(Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

The value of R-e-g-u-l-a-r-i-t-y

Should not be underestimated.

(AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Good news for Obama...really

This is a pleasant surprise, especially in Florida:

With strong support from women, blacks and younger voters, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the apparent Democratic presidential contender, leads Arizona Sen. John McCain, expected to be the Republican candidate, among likely voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to simultaneous Quinnipiac University Swing State polls released today.

This is the first time Sen. Obama has led in all three states. No one has been elected President since 1960 without taking two of these three largest swing states in the Electoral College. Results from the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University polls show:

* Florida: Obama edges McCain 47 - 43 percent;
* Ohio: Obama tops McCain 48 - 42 percent;
* Pennsylvania: Obama leads McCain 52 - 40 percent.

In the three states, Obama leads McCain 10 to 23 percentage points among women, while men are too close to call. The Democrat trails among white voters in Florida and Ohio, but gets more than 90 percent of black voters in each state. He also has double-digit leads among young voters in each state.

"Finally getting Sen. Hillary Clinton out of the race has been a big boost for Sen. Barack Obama. He now leads in all three of the major swing states, although his margins in Florida and Ohio are small," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"Sen. Obama is certainly not out of the woods, but these results are a good indication that he enters the summer slightly ahead in the race to be the next president."

McCain's flip-flop on drilling off the Florida coast cannot help these numbers.

If Obama wins Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, McCain is toast.

The new "Big O" also is neck and turkey neck with McCain in Virginia & North Carolina as well.

via the Great Orange Satan.

"Giants in the Earth"

Pictures like this always make me think of those Scandinavian and German settlers in the Midwest working their farms in the Spring during the late 1800s when they experience a Midwestern thunderstorm and how intimidating it must be the first time you see one.


(AP Photo/Lori Mehmen)

A huge tornado funnel cloud touches down in Orchard, Iowa, Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 9:04 p.m. The Globe Gazette and Mitchell County Press News reported that Lori Mehmen of Orchard, took the photo from outside her front door. Mehmen said the funnel cloud came near the ground and then went back up into the clouds. Besides tree and crop damage, no human injuries were reported.

This picture...

Tells you something, graphically, about the flooding in Cedar Rapids.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Well, things are definitely changing

The Bush Administration folks are blaming different people now...the ones that meet George Bush's policy aims:

The death toll from a devastating truck bombing in Baghdad rose to 63 on Wednesday and U.S. forces blamed a rogue Shi'ite militia for the attack...

The U.S. military blamed the attack on a "special groups" cell. This is jargon for Shi'ite militants the U.S. military says are backed by Iran.

The military said it believed the attack was ordered to incite Shi'ite violence against Sunni Arabs. Most major car bombs in Iraq are blamed on Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.

Amazing, they used to just hit the "Al Qaeda" macro, now they hit the "Iran" macro.

Throw the Baby Out While You're At It

This is a joke, right?

Bet You Can't Tell Them Apart

Another great ad from MoveOn. Help them get it out there.



Still like the Cusack one, too. Help them get that one out there, too.

Best News I've Heard (and probably will hear) All Day

Red wine may curb fat cells.

Also, did you catch Joe Scarborough sticking it to failed CEO and McBush economic advisor Carly Fiorina this morning? Yeah, you read that right: Joe Scarborough. Good times!

Who's appeasin' whom?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

On the embarrassing trip abroad that Bush took, before his latest embarrassing trip abroad, George Bush made a point of implying that those who talk to "certain" people are appeasers:

Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along...

Among the specific groups singled out was Hezbollah.

On that day, McCain:

...wholeheartedly endorsed Mr. Bush’s veiled rebuke in the Israeli Knesset of Senator Barack Obama that talking to “terrorists and radicals'’ was no different than appeasing Hitler and the Nazis.

And this agrees with the past statements of McCain and his supporting players:

In the Third Person (how very "Dole")

John McCain's position is clear and has always been clear, the President of the United States should not unconditionally meet with leaders of Iran, Hamas or Hezbollah.

Or this:

McCain Advisor Lawrence Eagleburger, deputy secretary of State under Bush I, tacked to the right of both, saying McCain "will not talk with the Syrians, will not talk with the Iranians, will not talk with Hamas and Hezbollah...He isn't going to push the Israelis."

I'm sure McCain will be absolutely condemning then on this nugget from the Bush Administration:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she welcomes a new power-sharing arrangement in Lebanon, even though it increases the power of Hezbollah militants at the expense of US-backed moderates...

But Hezbollah's ascendancy is a bitter pill for the US, which is worried that Iran's influence is spreading in the Middle East and had spent millions backing the Lebanese government for three years.

Rice's blessing is a sign that the Bush administration has accepted that Western-backed democratic leaders who helped Lebanon throw off three decades of Syrian domination could not govern the country alone.

I'm sure that somehow this is Lyndon Johnson's, Jimmy Carter's, Bill Clinton's, George Soros'

Knowingly Degenerate

[NOTE: This is from the Associated Press -- with full credit to the same, Please DON'T SUE ME! .. (or make me say nice things about Nedra Pickler & Ron Fournier)]

Military psychologists were enlisted to help develop more aggressive interrogation methods, including snarling dogs, forced nudity and long periods of standing, against terrorism suspects, according to a Senate investigation.

Before they were approved by then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, such harsh techniques had drawn warnings from military lawyers that they could be illegal, an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee has found. Officials familiar with the findings discussed them on condition of anonymity because the information has not been formally released.

The psychologists who helped interrogate terror suspects for the CIA were set to testify Tuesday before the Senate committee, which was expected to release details of the investigation.

The hearing is the committee's first look at the origins of the harsher methods used in Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and Abu Ghraib in Iraq and how policy decisions on interrogations were vetted across the Defense Department. Its review fits into a broader picture of the government's handling of detainees, which includes FBI and CIA interrogations in secret prisons.

How awesome that trained mental health professionals got involved...so much for those oaths.

But, also so much for the claim that these were the isolated actions of but a few low-level folks.

The Pentagon's top civilian lawyer at the time, chief counsel William "Jim" Haynes, was expected to testify Tuesday. Also scheduled to be present were Richard Shiffrin, Haynes' former deputy on intelligence matters, as well as legal advisers at the time to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Guantanamo Bay prison.

According to the Senate committee's findings, Haynes became interested in using harsher interrogation methods as early as July 2002 ...

Shortly after requesting more information about harsh techniques, Haynes traveled in September 2002 to Guantanamo Bay with other administration lawyers, including then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief counsel, David Addington.

Get What You Deserve

Let's see if y'all like this video as much as you liked the one from John Cusack/MoveOn.

John McCain & Friends engage in religious outreach

The Company He Keeps

"He", being John McCain, Republican candidate for President, "desperately ambitious ex-heretic," and all-around flip-flopping flim-flam man. No, not just the brain-addled, bloodthirsty, worst President in United States history at left, but also...

Of all the vile, fake, lying-ass, money-grubbing shyster scumbags on the face of this planet, there is perhaps none more loathsome than [Joel] Osteen, a human haircut with plastic baseball-size teeth who has made a fortune selling the appalling only-in-America idea that terrestrial greed is actually a form of Christian devotion. "God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny He has laid out for us," Osteen once wrote. This is the revolting, snake-oil-selling dickhead that John McCain actually chose to pimp as number one on his list of inspirational authors. So much for "go, sell everything you have and give to the poor," and all that other hippie crap from the New Testament.

Read the rest of Matt Taibbi's Full Metal McCain. Portraits of his charming supporters, too.

Free Party

I may have to send this guy a campaign donation.

More background on the crazy House race in Staten Island here.

Happy Father's Day, Vito!

Update: Fuggedaboudit! Commenter Terrible points to this story (which in turn points to TPM) with a late update: the father-son battle won't go down after all. Bummer, man.

List to Replace Russert

So, let us begin the horse race.  No, not that big election spectacular.  The media question of who replaces Russert at NBC?  For the most part, the speculative list mentioned at the NYT does not generate much excitement.  Joe Scarborough would be awful since he is such a partisan.  But someone like Keith Olbermann who is tough on Republicans and Democrats alike, that would be a great choice.

Who would be your pick?

We need to generate our own list.  I will start with Olbermann.  What do you folks think?

Last Best Hope of Earth, etc.

The Bush Administration, shitting on American Goodwill since 1/20/2001 (maybe earlier):

American soldiers herded the detainees into holding pens of razor-sharp concertina wire, the kind that's used to corral livestock.

The guards kicked, kneed and punched many of the men until they collapsed in pain. U.S. troops shackled and dragged other detainees to small isolation rooms, then hung them by their wrists from chains dangling from the wire mesh ceiling.

Former guards and detainees whom McClatchy interviewed said Bagram was a center of systematic brutality for at least 20 months, starting in late 2001. Yet the soldiers responsible have escaped serious punishment...

Nazar Chaman Gul, an Afghan who was held at Bagram for more than three months in 2003, said he was beaten about every five days. American soldiers would walk into the pen where he slept on the floor and ram their combat boots into his back and stomach, Gul said. "Two or three of them would come in suddenly, tie my hands and beat me," he said.

When the kicking started, Gul said, he'd cry out, "I am not a terrorist," then beg God for mercy. Mercy was slow in coming. He was shipped to Guantanamo around the late summer of 2003 and imprisoned there for more than three years.

"Ah'm really impressed by this here Archie Triumph"

"But I'd like to see the monument you built for Jughead."

(AFP/Saul Loeb)

"Ah was expectin' ya' grabbin' somethin' else"

REUTERS/Jason Reed (FRANCE)

George Bush

He's soaking in it.

Cost by the Byte

File this under Uh Oh!  Once the door is open to charging "the heaviest users," the rest of the Internet will not be far behind.

Hey fella, can we keep the e-commons open?

Must-See TV (for Me)

Just now on Wee George:

Stephanapolous: "What can we do to improve our political coverage?"

John Edwards: (Thoughtful answer about not getting to substantive issues, preferring a brawl over a true debate, etc.)

Good answer, but in my fantasies I prefer:

Stephanapolous: "What can we do to improve our political coverage?"

John Edwards: "Well, we can start by not letting you or Charlie Gibson ever moderate a debate again."

Hey ... Happy Fathers Day to all you dads!

Read this

GITMO and the stain of us all ... but God forbid they get habeas rights, VIA McCLATCHY of course:

The militants crept up behind Mohammed Akhtiar as he squatted at the spigot to wash his hands before evening prayers at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

They shouted "Allahu Akbar" — God is great — as one of them hefted a metal mop squeezer into the air, slammed it into Akhtiar's head and sent thick streams of blood running down his face.

Akhtiar was among the more than 770 terrorism suspects imprisoned at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They are the men the Bush administration described as "the worst of the worst."

But Akhtiar was no terrorist. American troops had dragged him out of his Afghanistan home in 2003 and held him in Guantanamo for three years in the belief that he was an insurgent involved in rocket attacks on U.S. forces. The Islamic radicals in Guantanamo's Camp Four who hissed "infidel" and spat at Akhtiar, however, knew something his captors didn't: The U.S. government had the wrong guy.

"He was not an enemy of the government, he was a friend of the government," a senior Afghan intelligence officer told McClatchy. Akhtiar was imprisoned at Guantanamo on the basis of false information that local anti-government insurgents fed to U.S. troops, he said.

An eight-month McClatchy investigation in 11 countries on three continents has found that Akhtiar was one of dozens of men — and, according to several officials, perhaps hundreds — whom the U.S. has wrongfully imprisoned in Afghanistan, Cuba and elsewhere on the basis of flimsy or fabricated evidence, old personal scores or bounty payments.


McClatchy interviewed 66 released detainees, more than a dozen local officials — primarily in Afghanistan — and U.S. officials with intimate knowledge of the detention program. The investigation also reviewed thousands of pages of U.S. military tribunal documents and other records.

This unprecedented compilation shows that most of the 66 were low-level Taliban grunts, innocent Afghan villagers or ordinary criminals. At least seven had been working for the U.S.-backed Afghan government and had no ties to militants, according to Afghan local officials. In effect, many of the detainees posed no danger to the United States or its allies.

The investigation also found that despite the uncertainty about whom they were holding, U.S. soldiers beat and abused many prisoners.

Prisoner mistreatment became a regular feature in cellblocks and interrogation rooms at Bagram and Kandahar air bases, the two main way stations in Afghanistan en route to Guantanamo.

While he was held at Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base, Akhtiar said, "When I had a dispute with the interrogator, when I asked, 'What is my crime?' the soldiers who took me back to my cell would throw me down the stairs."

The McClatchy reporting also documented how U.S. detention policies fueled support for extremist Islamist groups. For some detainees who went home far more militant than when they arrived, Guantanamo became a school for jihad, or Islamic holy war.

Behold the fucked up world Bush & McCain have given us. Unthinking, beligerent, cruel, unjust, and fostering the kind of hatreds towards us in their victims where nothing previously existed.

BLOWBACK, INC.

Offensive

Some news outlets, and some people, specifically FoxNews, are calling the flooding this week here in my home state, "Iowa's Katrina".

It's true there's flooding.

But let's not trivialize the disaster that was Katrina, with the circumstances in Iowa.

While Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Des Moines are all "cities", they are not exactly the size of New Orleans. And as tragic as it all is, the flooding has to my knowledge been almost exclusively property related. There is hardship, the disaster is nowhere near the magnitude and nature of Katrina.

But there are not more than 2,000 dead and tens of thousands trapped in a hell hole without hope of immediate relief.

It is an insult to Iowans, but most specifically and importantly an insult to the victims of New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf region to proclaim this being anything like Katrina.

Almost made it through

The flood in Des Moines with little damage to the city, but not quite as a levee failed in Birdland, an older area of town filled with mostly working class or lower middle-income folks (i.e. where levees always seem to fail).

Cedar Rapids and Iowa City (home of the University of Iowa) have gotten it much worse.

To help, you can go here.


(REUTERS/Eric Thayer (UNITED STATES))

Just a Reminder: Impeachment

The Bush administration lied about the need for war in Iraq and continue to be dismissive about efforts to stop it (for example: Cheney's "so" among many other statements).  Soldiers keep dying while these cowardly chickenhawks fiddle away the last few months of what will be seen by any unbiased historian as the worst presidency in modern times.  An expression sang by Eric Idle about the FCC comes to mind.

We all must remember the staggering cost of these lies and the reason behind Mr. Kucinich's efforts to start impeachment proceedings:

1.  4,098 U.S. Military Fatalities in Iraq (too many sources to list)

2.  517 U.S. Military Fatalities in Afghanistan (source NYT)

3.  30,333 U.S. Military Maimed in Iraq (source: Dept of Defense Update as of June 8, 2008)

4.  92,067 Iraqis Reported Killed (source: Iraq Body Count)

5.  1,222,013 Iraqis Reported Killed (source: justforeignpolicy.org)

6. Devastating destruction of American policy leadership in the world (source: NYT, WAPO, any sensible interpretation of U.S. Foreign policy for the past 8 years or so)

7.  Add you own items to this list... there are so many reasons.

Think of this as a little friendly public service reminder.  These ARE crimes and several Bush and senior administrators (those Republican war enthusiasts) should be punished for them.  Please remember to call Mr. Kucinich's office and support his efforts to begin impeachment proceedings.  While you are at it, call your Senators and House members and demand they support the need for impeachment!

The Two Types

There are two types of people.  Those who make lists and then debate them and those who argue about them but don't make them.  As frequent readers to this fine site will know, I make many lists.  And I do not apologize for that tendency.  Not even a little. Lists help us organize our thoughts and that is a bit helpful when battling the wing-nut brigades.

After motoring around the Internet this evening, I stumbled upon this interesting list of the twenty-five music artists who have been the most influential.  While I quibble about some of the names on the list, it does have fairly wide coverage of many genres of music.

It is an interesting list.  What do you all think?  Leaving out bands seems a bit awkward to me.

It seems just like yesterday...

That George Bush had the gall to say this:

Our nations must ensure that Afghanistan is never again a safe haven for terror.

Which might have been possible if we had the troops currently in Iraq because Bush failed to accomplish just that.

And meanwhile,

About 870 prisoners escaped during a Taliban bomb and rocket attack on the main prison in southern Afghanistan that knocked down the front gate and demolished a prison floor, Afghan officials said Saturday. And in western Afghanistan on Saturday, a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military vehicle, killing four Americans in the deadliest attack against U.S. troops in the country this year, officials said.

Let the Beatification begin

Atta J. Turk and I were talking today about the beatification of The Russert which has begun in earnest today.  Therefore it appears that when Cronkite dies we will all have sacrifice our first-borns.  So, what happens when Murrow level reporters pass this mortal coil?  Call me heartless but Peter Jennings was not the lead story on the networks when he passed.

Why?

Because Judi needs another tiara (and a summer house south of Montauk highway, and an apartment at 810 Fifth, and a regular table at Rao's, and every item from Christian Dior's fall 2008 collection, and a place in Vail, and an apartment in London, and a new BMW, and a purebred Sharpei, and a wing at Mount Sinai inscribed with her name, and a horse farm in Kentucky, and a foundation so she can do good works for those who have not).

Comparisons

Livin' like Republicans in microcosm:

Mr. McCain and his wife had at least $225,000 in credit card debt...The bulk of the McCains’ obligations stemmed from a pair of American Express credit cards that are held in Cindy McCain’s name. According to the disclosure reports, which present information on debts in a range rather than providing a precise figure, Mrs. McCain owed $100,000 to $250,000 on each card.

Another charge card, held by what was described as a “dependent child,” had also accumulated debts of $15,000 to $50,000. In addition, a credit card held jointly by the couple was carrying $10,000 to $15,000 in debt, the filing indicated, at a stiff 25.99 percent interest rate.

Meanwhile, the Democrats:

In July invested $100,000 to $250,000 into college savings accounts for each of their two daughters, who are in elementary school. The Obamas have often noted on the campaign trail that they had only recently paid off their own college loans.

WHAAAAA?

R. Kelly acquitted.

It's almost like the prosecutors trumped up a nothing case because the defendant was famous.  Or the case fell apart because the defendant was famous.  Or its like focusing media attention on a case because the defendant was famous.

What IS the pattern here?

Maybe uncool but...

I have to ask... When did Tim Russert become a saint?  The guy was a softball questioner to the Bush administration and spent as much time hawking his book as doing serious interviews. 

When did Russert become politico perfection?  And, one other question, shouldn't the flooding in the American Midwest be the lead story at the top of today's newscasts?

Now while it did seem like Russert did not have a great deal of anger.  His interest in politics seemed like it came from a pure interest rather than having a need to prove he was the big angry reporter.  Still, I have to wonder if all the attention spent on his passing is a bit much.  American news does seem to fixate on the morbid side of life.

Sorry if this seems a bit cold, I just don't think this is the most serious news issue today.  I do, however, send my condolences to his family and friends.   Please accept my sincere thoughts and wishes on your loss.

Dude doesn't know how to use a computer

*Sigh* as the soldier thought

REUTERS/Larry Downing (ITALY)

"1. It's fucking hot.

2. I could have been sent as an honor guard to fucking Euro2008

3. I have to wear this ridiculous fucking outfit and I'm a "Spring".

4. To honor this fucking douchebag.

5. Who just asked if he can have some fucking jiffy pop.

Oh well, could be worse, could be in fucking Iraq."

Tax Plans

Golly, tell me who favors the rich and who favors the rest?

HUGGY BEAR

Booman finds the clip that MUST be emailed to people around the country...repeatedly:

And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I've been totally in agreement and support of President Bush.

I will argue my conservative record voting with anyone's, and I will also submit that my support for President Bush has been active and very impassioned on issues that are important to the American people. And I'm particularly talking about the war on terror, the war in Iraq, national security, national defense, support of men and women in the military, fiscal discipline, a number of other issues. So I strongly disagree with any assertion that I've been more at odds with the president of the United States than I have been in agreement with him.

And even better the Jed Report mixes this in with "Cottage Cheese in the Lime Green Jello" McCain (hey I came up with that one, I'm gonna repeat that sucker until November).

Oh no, not like Bush at all

[Cross-Posted at Firedoglake]

Not a great week for John McCain or FoxNews and it all comes together in one fell swoop to sum it up in one paragraph:

I reported at the top of this hour that the campaign had told us at Fox News that the audience would be made up of Republicans, Democrats, and independents. We have now received a clarification from the campaign and I feel I should pass it along to you. The McCain campaign distributed tickets to supporters, Mayor Bloomberg, who of course is a registered Republican, and other independent groups.

Who else used to pull this trick at so called "Town Meetings"?

Oh yes, his buddy and inspiration, the man who served the first two terms of what McCain hopes will be a third term of the same policies

President Bush will be in Minnesota Friday for his first visit since last year's campaign. Bush will hold what's being billed as a "conversation on Medicare" at the Maple Grove Community Center. Only ticket-holding invited guests will be allowed in. The White House won't tell Minnesota Public Radio whether the Minnesota event is off limits to people who disagree with the president.

Oh, yes, and does this sound familiar from what you have heard of various McCain enabling pundits?

Political analysts say Bush is using town hall forums so much because he comes across best in informal settings. Critics complain the forums offer no public policy debate and instead are crafted exclusively promote Bush proposals.

And what did the self-declared "Mr. Straight-Talk" think of such contrived gatherings before he was running for a third term?

McCAIN CHIDES SCHWARZENEGGER OVER STAGED RALLIES

(Reuters) Sen. John McCain joined Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday to promote the California governor's November ballot initiatives, but afterward chided his carefully staged campaign events.

Flood

Some of you may have heard that we've been having a crapload of bad weather here in the nation's ample midsection this month, especially recently and indeed that is true.

A terrible tornado about 200 northwest of Des Moines killed four boy scouts and injured many others, the town of Parkersburg was leveled two weeks ago, and now the whole of the state is in danger of flooding...and we're not alone.

Fortunately, as ever, I live on a hill so I'm safe, but many don't...and my office is at some risk (but lawyer offices are not exactly like restaurants and the like). But one way or another, I'll be totally fine.

Not everyone will be though. They say that on Sunday (the day has been moving around of late) the Des Moines River will crest close to, and quite possibly above, the level of the "100 Year" flood that was 1993 (when this town lost its water plant for some time). But we're in a new century now, so I guess the "100 Year" meter started over in 2000. The town is much better prepared, but there are many businesses, including those that belong to friends that are at risk. In the last decade, Des Moines has had tremendous urban renewal, the downtown is hopping more than it has in several a few generations. It would be a shame to have it hurt.

And Des Moines, of course is not alone, several other places in Iowa and the Midwest are getting it too (Cedar Rapids, Iowa's Second Largest City for example).

Anyhoo, if you'd like to help, the Obama campaign has a link to help here.

Chutzpah

Only THIS person would be the McCain campaign's person to reach out to women, particularly Clinton supporters:

Carly Fiorina,

Best known for her stint as leader of technology company Hewlett-Packard (as CEO from 1999 to 2005 and chairman of the board from 2000 to 2005). Touted as #1 "most powerful woman in business" by Forbes magazine, she led the company into a controversial merger with rival Compaq in 2002. Fiorina presided over a halving of Hewlett Packard's value during her tenure and heavy job losses. She was fired by HP's board due to dissatisfaction with her performance in February 2005.

That's LEADERSHIP YOU CAN BELIEVE IN... not voting for.

Idiot abroad

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

"Me non la domestica della barra. Questo non Applebees. Siete un fuckface."*


REUTERS/Jason Reed (ITALY)

"Eye-talian sure is a purty language. And ah believe ah'm about to get lucky."



*Feel free to translate here.

"Wow, David Byrne's gotten old. "

"I love your tuneage, it's affected many of mah policies."


(Reuters)

The Unintentional Comedy Continues

Ah, McCain merchandise, is there no unintentional you cannot produce?


The "J"ohn "S"idney "M"cCain nautical lapel pin (on those days you just don't feel patriotic I guess). On sale at his website [and catalog] for $200 smackers.

But as this blogger points out, Nautical symbols have meanings on ships. And this combination means:

J - Juliet -I am on fire and have dangerous cargo on board: keep well clear of me, or I am leaking dangerous cargo.

S - Sierra - My vessel is stopped and making no way through the water.

M - Mike - I Am Stopped

A veritable metaphorical semaphore.

Something for the FoxNews All-Stars

via this Daily Kos diarist.

Two to One

He's thinking of buffing his shoes.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Straight (into the shitter) Talk

McCain, June 2008:

"Senator Obama says that I’m running for [President George W.] Bush's third term, it seems like Barack Obama is running for Jimmy Carter’s second."

Straight-Bullshitter in May 1999:

McCain was asked to opine on the recent occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In his written reply, McCain described Carter as having had "the greatest, the noblest and loftiest intentions of any president, but he never really understood how to use the institution to obtain his goals." In his brief response to the question, McCain also said that while the Iranian hostage crisis "brought him down and conveyed to the people he was a weak president. Whether he was or not, that's [debatable]."

And that's not all:

Sandler describes Wright as one in a line of problematic Obama associates. He pointed to Obama's association with former Carter administration National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, who has long been viewed with suspicion by some backers of Israel.

Except for what John McCain has said in the past, say January 2000:

"I am honored that Zbigniew Brzezinski will join my foreign policy team," McCain said at that time. "As a former national security adviser and a highly respected foreign policy expert, his broad experience makes him an invaluable asset to my team." In describing his key advisers, McCain continued: "I am very honored to have the support and advice of these recognized experts whose years of service to our nation and experience in international affairs have earned them the well-deserved respect of all."

Obama/Lloyd Dobbler '08!

Heh. John Cusack no like McBush.



Help MoveOn air this ad.

Bush-McCain: Bet you can't tell them apart!

Seven Years of College Down the Drain

I'm posting this because I'm sure Attaturk will do something brilliant and tasteless with it (I mean even more tasteless than actually saying something like this). So, who said this:

In a subsequent e-mail to the employee, [he] described himself as "a rub-your-belly, grab-your-balls, give-you-a-hug, slap-your-back, pull-your-dick, squeeze-your-hand, cheek-your-face, and pat-your-thigh kind of guy."

No surprises there.

Bless you Kucinich

I have hesitated to comment on this, hoping for a tidal wave of discussion... where is the intense discussion in the news, on the Internet, in our places of work?

On Monday, Representative Dennis Kucinich made history on the floor of the Congress by reading thirty-five unambiguous and provable Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush!

All I can say is THANK YOU MR. KUCINICH!

Now, where's the discussion?  Where's the debate?  Where's the coverage in the media?

Join with me in calling and signing the petition linked to below.

So Kucinich's heroic efforts will be in vain unless we inundate Congress with emails and calls (202-224-3121) showing our full support for Rep. Kucinich's 35 Articles of Impeachment!

When News Dies

Is anyone listening, reading or watching how newsprint in this country has been taken over by the boardroom?  The recent changes which are in the process of being implemented in the Los Angeles Times Magazine should be seen as a seriously loud wake-up call about the future of news and reporting in this country.

The plan for the magazine was set in motion months ago. A new editor and others were hired, future issues were planned, and mock-up covers were made — all without the knowledge of anyone in the newsroom, including the top editor, Russ Stanton, the executives said. Mr. Stanton and other high-ranking editors learned of the plan last week, they said.

But the executives who described the plan cautioned that it might have changed since last week, after editors raised objections.

They said that Mr. Stanton, after hearing about the move, asked the publisher of The Times, David D. Hiller, and the president of the newspaper, Jack D. Klunder, to change the name of the publication, which is now called Los Angeles Times Magazine. He argued that to keep the name would lend the newsroom’s credibility to a product it did not control.

And it is only going to get worse:

The Los Angeles Times is one of the large metropolitan dailies owned by the Tribune Company, which was bought in December by the real estate developer Samuel Zell. He has articulated an unconventional view of the newspaper business and its future, and recently announced plans to cut back news pages at the papers he owned to create parity with the space allotted for advertisements. (my emphasis)

Forget objective journalism in any form (if it ever really existed in the first place, but at least in the past writers, reporters, and editors were honest about their biases not pretending to be value neutral).  If this business-only model continues to proliferate all our news will be the result of approved ideas that favor business not reporting the truth.  And yes, I know that we have already been traveling this path... it is only going to get worse, much much worse. 

How long before this process is applied to the Internet?  Enjoy those ads folks, they can come with a price.  Haven't large conglomerates already started buying up formerly independent Internet news and opinion sites?