Rising Hegemon

Monday, February 18, 2008

Gunga Dim

Oh man -- now Bill Kristol, the worst bargain the NY Times ever made and that's saying something, starts trying to quote Kipling and then goes on to wank about FISA:

But the Democratic House leadership balked — particularly at the notion of protecting from lawsuits companies that had cooperated with the government in surveillance efforts after Sept. 11. Director McConnell repeatedly explained that such private-sector cooperation is critical to antiterror efforts, in surveillance and other areas, and that it requires the assurance of immunity.

National Security concerns so vital they stopped when the Government failed to think it important enough to pay their bill.

Ah, cheering on needless wars, botching them, and continuing them on eternally, truly the extremely white man's burden.

Bill Kristol, may we now beat you and flail you by the awesome wanks that made you?

In case you are wondering...

For Joe Lieberman, "Sense of Freedom follows Career Crisis"

So Lieberman's political career is now pretty much a feminine hygiene commercial.

Mr. Curry had lunch with Mr. Lieberman in December 2005 and warned about the antiwar sentiment sweeping Connecticut. “This is not an argument over the capital gains tax,” Mr. Curry recalled telling him. “This is the biggest foreign policy mistake in the history of the country.”

Mr. Lieberman, who often praised the defense secretary at the time, Donald Rumsfeld, shrugged off this advice. He saw the war as an epic struggle against Islamic terrorism; bombing Iran might not be a bad idea, either.

"Please allow me...

...to patronize."

(AFP/Jim Watson)

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Politics 2008

Let's see, the trends continue:

1. Eloquence is bad.

2. Fear is good.

3. Someone's like Kennedy, that's now bad -- except when it's Kennedy-like in my candidate which is teh awesome.

4. No matter what is said, your candidate is a racist and/or sexist, probably both.

5. Your candidate is too black, or not black enough -- or too manly, or too womanly -- all at the same time.

6. Your candidate's supporters are clearly worse than my candidate's supporters.

7. Your candidate is like McGovern.

8. And also like Nixon.

9. Someone's like FDR, also bad, except for the good parts.

10. Hitler was a good speaker, just like Lincoln and Roosevelt -- you know what that means. Your candidate is just like Hitler, and not like anyone else who ever spoke well.

11. Your candidate has no substance -- and no I will not look at their fucking website, I know what I know, because I can feel it.

12. You're are in a cult.

13. No you are.

Meanwhile,

In that other place Bush's policies have fucked up:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A suicide bombing at an outdoor dog fighting competition killed 80 people and wounded scores more Sunday, a governor said, in what appeared to be the deadliest terror attack in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Officials said the attack apparently targeted a prominent militia commander who had stood up against the Taliban. He died in the attack.

I'm trying to wrap my mind around this

The latest press excuse for McCain is via Nick Kristof...

McCain lies alot and flip-flops for political convenience and is more than willing to compromise his principals.

But even though he does so he's still more principled than every other poltician.

Um, yeah -- real devastating line of logic there Nick. After all, principals are only truly shown when you knowingly go against them.

BTW

DeDurkheim's last post yesterday was the 10,000th post on this blog since July 2004 when we went to a new template.

Overall this is the 10,949th post in three years, 11 months.

We really have to get lives.

I'd just like to say

The turning point was October 2007 when I decided to buy a Toshiba HD-DVD player.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp is planning to give up on its HD DVD format for high definition DVDs, conceding defeat to the competing Blu-Ray technology backed by Sony Corp, a company source said on Saturday.

Happy Birthday

To my mother -- who's going through some difficulties right now -- and absolutely does not read this blog, nor should.

So I guess your birthday wishes would be sort of wasted.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Awkward...

Is this really a good idea?

The Weird Sexism?

According to the NYT, there is an odd gender bias when it comes to the gossip mags and gossip teevee. Apparently, the gossiperati prefer to obsess over female celebrities rather than their male counterparts. Is this a new form of sexism or the same old problems?

Who'd a Thunk It?

When did Jack Johnson become a musical powerhouse? His Sleep through the Static has sold over 375,000 copies, which is quite respectable these days. While his nearest competitor for the week was Sheryl Crow who did not even break 100,000 copies for Detors!

I am not quite sure what to make of this? Maybe it was that Curious George soundtrack he did. Or maybe the music industry is shifting?

Ho-Hum

Another day, another two GOPerverts snagged by the long arm of the law.

GOP's McKee Resigns After Home is Searched

Robert A. McKee, a long-serving Republican delegate from Western Maryland, announced his resignation yesterday after authorities, who say they are conducting a child pornography investigation, seized two computers, videotapes and printed materials from his Hagerstown home.

...McKee was chairman of the Western Maryland delegation and sponsored legislation to protect minors from sexual predators. McKee, 58, also resigned yesterday from his post as executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County, a child mentorship program where he has worked for 29 years.

Prosecutor, Under Fire, Steps Down in Houston

Besieged by an e-mail scandal and perjury accusations, Texas’s most powerful prosecutor resigned on Friday, saying that a combination of prescription drugs had “caused some impairment in my judgment"...

It was a relief to fellow Republican leaders who last month quashed Mr. Rosenthal’s bid for a third term....

The resignation, announced in a one-page statement, followed by hours the filing of a state suit seeking Mr. Rosenthal’s removal “for intoxication, incompetence or official misconduct.” The action, by a lawyer, Lloyd E. Kelley, whose federal civil rights lawsuit precipitated Mr. Rosenthal’s downfall, was filed two weeks after Mr. Rosenthal admitted in federal court here that he had deleted up to 3,500 personal e-mail messages in violation of two subpoenas and a court order and that in sworn testimony he gave false information on how he came to delete some of them.

Seven weeks ago, hundreds of Mr. Rosenthal’s other e-mail messages were disclosed, including endearments to his executive secretary, sexual and racist jokes and pornographic videos.... Mr. Rosenthal wrote his secretary, Kerry Stevens, last July, “Bet I could make you sleep.” He also forwarded to a friend a mock study of flatulence and a series of jokes making fun of University of Texas football players after several had been arrested on felony charges. Also in his e-mail but not with his name was a photograph titled “Fatal Overdose,” of a black man lying on a sidewalk amid watermelon peels and Kentucky Fried Chicken containers....

Mr. Kelley’s suit said Mr. Rosenthal “should be removed on the grounds of intoxication” and said “he drinks at the office while performing his duties and may be intoxicated when making his decisions as district attorney.” The papers also said he illegally used county facilities for campaigning and had used county computers to receive and send racially derogatory and sexist jokes and to “carry on his affair with his mistress.”

The suit contended that Sheriff Tommy Thomas of Harris County was an ally of Mr. Rosenthal in failing to investigate misconduct by deputies and that the sheriff had accepted illegal benefits for his ranch from county contractors.

Back in the day, when confronted with a Republican my default presumptions were usually, "Doesn't want to pay taxes. Enjoys war." Now, they're straight out of the "Paraphilias and Sexual Disorders" section of the DSM-IV or the sex offenses section of the local penal code. There have been so many examples of this stuff over the last seven years, that witnessing yet another member of the party of "Family Values" ensnared in some web of their own sexual perversity has come to seem banal. That's pathetic if you think about it.

And from the Moonie Times even!

Bush is really going to have to stomp his feet now.

Many intelligence scholars and analysts outside the government say that today's expiration of certain temporary domestic wiretapping laws will have little effect on national security, despite warnings to the contrary by the White House and Capitol Hill Republican leaders...

Timothy Lee, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, said the last time Congress overhauled FISA — after the September 11 terrorist attacks — President Bush praised the action, saying the new law "recognizes the realities and dangers posed by the modern terrorist."

"Those are the rules we'll be living under after the Protect America Act expires this weekend," Mr. Lee added. "There's no reason to think our nation will be in any more danger in 2008 than it was in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, or 2006."

Ben Wittes of the Brookings Institution said because existing warrantless surveillance begun under the temporary laws could continue for up to a year, the "sky is not falling at all."

Well, at least Dick Cheney has a few days alone in his man-safe to plot a terrorist attack he can blame on Nancy Pelosi now.

Florida -- what am I to think?

Am I supposed to be depressed over this?

Or should I be relieved it isn't even worse?

"Oh, I love 'Chunky Monkey'...

Did they name a country after Jerry here too?
REUTERS/Jim Young (BENIN)

Should've known

El Chimperino wants to "shoot down a satellite" because it would be cool -- and it will start a whole new arms race.

As usual the 'splosion is the whole point -- short-term interest in exchange for long-term crap.