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  • Tuesday, January 14, 2003

     

    ...and the school fight song is "Play That Funky Music White Boy"

    Rubber Nun directs us to the website of Trent Lott Middle School.

    You know? The Trent Lott Black Panthers...



    posted by tbogg at 11:22 PM

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    The hard part about making yourself a martyr is getting that third nail in...

    Somebody get Matthew Hoy a band-aid. The delicate flower of rightwing spin is greviously wounded by an off-handed comment by Nicholas Kristof.

    First off, he brings in the Conservative's favorite whipping boy, Paul Krugman for no better reason than to take a cheap shot at the idea of Paul Krugman, with a segue to Kristof:

    New York Times editorial page columnists have, since the inception of President George Bush's administration, taken a certain pride in taking "brave" and "honorable" stands against a popular president -- especially since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

    Everyone's favorite columnist, Paul Krugman, recently told the German newspaper that he is "the solitary voice of the truth in a sea of corruption. Sometimes I think that I land (laugh) a day in one of these cages in Guantanamo Bay. But I can ask always yet in the Federal Republic for asylum. I hope, you take me in the emergency up."

    That's right, an allegedly intelligent man actually seems to think that he is some sort of modern day Cassandra standing alone against the evil tyranny of the Bush administration. Krugman also seems to think that he's got some corner on the "truth."

    Of course, this brings us to Krugman's colleague, Nicholas Kristof

    ...and what follows has nothing to do with Krugman. For that matter, it doesn't have much to do with anything except for a perceived slight to the most oppressed of all religions: Christianity.

    ...like Krugman, Kristof uses any opportunity to take a cheap shot at a class of people he's probably never met

    Ready for the cheap shot? Here it is, in Kristof's own words:

    So how can we undermine North Korean propaganda and totalitarianism? By imposing sanctions and increasing its isolation? Or by engaging it and tying it to the global economy?

    The answer should be obvious, for there is no greater subversive in a Communist country than an American factory manager. People will hear stories from his housemaid's third cousin's neighbor's friend about how he has five pairs of blue jeans (!), a beer belly (!), blows his nose on tissues that he then throws away (!), and reads a Bible (!) and Playboy magazine (!!). Many a Communist will immediately begin dreaming of capitalism.

    Did you catch it? Look again. Got a magnifying glass? Oh, hell...let's let Brother Hoy 'splain it all to you:

    Krugman was one of the first to start it when he popularized the trend of using Attorney General John Ashcroft's name as a synonym for Bigfoot, Big Brother and Josef Stalin all wrapped up in one.

    Now, I don't really count Kristof's little jab as a serious slam against Christianity -- but it's one of those little things that I think is indicative of many in the liberal media. A little jab at the Christians is OK, and maybe even the Jews (those Israelis being so pesky and all), but a similar skewering of blacks, Latinos, gays, women? I seriously doubt would have made it past the Times copy editors -- if doing it had crossed Kristof's mind in the first place.

    Apparently it was Kristof's mention of a Bible that got Hoy's Deuteronomies in a twist. Blue jeans, beer, tissues, BIBLE, Playboy magazine. It used to be that Christians became martyrs by being crucified for their beliefs. These days, one little prick on the finger is all it takes for them to start screaming "Stigmata!".

    You know, they just don't make martyrs like they used to.











    posted by tbogg at 11:00 PM

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    Send money to Tom Toles...

    for this.


    posted by tbogg at 10:40 PM

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    Mo Dowd is starting to take this whole Bush fiasco seriously...finally

    Really. Not one mention of botox or Prada. Just all Bush...all bad...all the time.

    Despite their desire to support their president, many Americans are uncomfortable with the ideological rigidity of the administration — the headlong tax cuts unashamedly benefiting the wealthy; the selection of judges who want to reverse two decades of social policy; the moves to impose new restrictions on abortion, and the deletion of information on a Centers for Disease Control Web site about lifesaving condoms, which are viewed by the religious right as morally wrong


    posted by tbogg at 10:36 PM

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    Three kings...a bunch of peasants..and one jester

    Michael Kelly, who loves war even more than his own children, is getting downright depressed that the Warrior President and his poodle may not start the war on time for Kelly's Armageddon pool at work.

    On Iraq, are things going, as a British prime minister once warned an American president against, wobbly?

    With less than two weeks to go to a Jan. 27 deadline for a report on whether Iraq is complying with the U.N. Security Council resolution that Baghdad fully disclose and dismantle its program of weapons of mass destruction, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, Hans Blix, tells The Post that, as he sees it, the report due that day is just a little old interim sort of thing and will mark "the beginning of the inspection and monitoring process, not the end of it."

    snip

    The current American president's only stalwart, the current British prime minister, stands with his party against him and with only 13 percent of the British public willing to support U.S. and British action against Iraq absent U.N. approval. Secretary of State Colin Powell takes this moment to declare that "to characterize Prime Minister Blair as a poodle is an absolutely absurd and silly charge."

    Then Kelly lets us know what he thinks of the same public opinion that he wants to influence:

    But I don't think this will be of any more consequence than were all the now-forgotten fits and starts that preceded the first war against Hussein.

    Now, as then, only three people really matter as to the outcome: the Iraqi dictator, the American president and the British prime minister

    So what about public opinion regarding a war that the UN won't support? The American public are far from sold on the idea. The British public (13%!) say "no thanks". The Iraqi public don't have a choice, but one would think that they don't want to die while being liberated by American bombs.

    As President George Bush once so eloquently said, "Who cares what you think?"

    As Michael Kelly says, "Let someone else roll...I've got a deadline to meet."










    posted by tbogg at 10:29 PM

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    College diversity to Bush is admitting more Deltas, and fewer Sigmas

    President To Oppose Race-Based Admissions

    President Bush plans to declare his opposition to University of Michigan admissions policies that give preference to black and Hispanic students, injecting the White House into the Supreme Court's most far-reaching affirmative action case in a generation, administration officials said yesterday.

    The officials said Bush, who faces a deadline tomorrow for registering opposition with the high court, plans to pay tribute to the value of racial diversity in higher education. But he plans to argue that Michigan's approach is flawed.

    ...since it helps to admit minorities who can't shoot hoop or run fast.

    Both administration officials and conservative opponents of affirmative action depicted Bush's planned position as a political compromise forged amid intense negotiation. Justice Department lawyers, led by Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson, lobbied the president hard for a brief that would categorically declare that not even diversity can justify the use of race. White House political adviser Karl Rove and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, sensitive to the need to expand the Republican base to include minorities, pushed in the other direction, the officials said

    White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush, who leaves such decisions to the Justice Department in lesser cases, had taken deep personal involvement in preparing the administration position. "It's something the president has continued to focus on," Fleischer said yesterday. "He'll likely focus on it some more, and it remains a question under review."

    Yup. President My IQ Matches My SAT Score is focused again, and I'm sure it will be a bold and focused decision that will be hailed as bold by journalists who are focused on fat advances from publishers like Regnery Press who have taken the bold step of printing all their books on soft, quilted twin-ply.

    Meanwhile white Legacies with names like Brent, Trevor, and Whitney are breathing a sigh of relief that they won't have to go to, like, Long Beach State or UTEP.




    posted by tbogg at 10:02 PM

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    I've never known a bully who was right.

    A letter from the 1/20 edition of Time magazine:

    Does anyone honestly believe that Saddam is out to conquer the globe or that the rest of the world will love the U.S. if it buries Iraq? Does anyone believe that aggression begets peace? As the skipper of a U.S. Navy warship in the South Pacific, I saw enough war to last a lifetime. In my 86 years, I've never known a bully who was right. I consider George Bush's foreign policy loathsome; and, worse, it's dangerous beyond words.
    THEODORE R. TREADWELL
    Danbury, Conn.


    posted by tbogg at 9:46 PM

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    ...a major coup for the growing field of creation science

    Gill called the discovery "a powerfully compelling refutation" of secular scientists' long-held assertion that dinosaurs lived on Earth millions of years before humans.


    posted by tbogg at 9:26 PM

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    No more blue balls in Georgia

    The Georgia Supreme Court struck down a 170-year-old law that made it a crime for unmarried people to have sex.

    Many of those who have been waiting for over 170 years claimed to not care any more since Matlock entered their lives.




    posted by tbogg at 6:31 PM

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    "But I'm not guilty of all the hate crime things they accused me of."

    Burned a cross on an inter-racial couples front lawn...used racial epithets....

    But Daniel Swan isn't a racist. He's just...stupid, I guess.

    Daniel Swan, the Mississippi cross-burner whose potential prison sentence was reduced by embattled Judge Charles Pickering, says both he and the judge are victims of political intrigue.

    "Politics are hurting a good man like Pickering and have put me in a real bind," he said.

    Swan, 29, of tiny Sandy Hook in south Mississippi, said his life went into free fall soon after President Bush nominated Pickering, a federal district judge in Hattiesburg, for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

    snip

    Swan said he and a group of other young, white men were drinking in the parking lot of the Improve Grocery, whiling away the hours on the night of Jan. 8, 1994, when a car filled with black men drove by.

    "There was a lot of hooting and hollering," Swan said. Then one of his companions, a 17-year-old identified in court papers as "J.B.," came up with the idea of burning a cross on the Polkeys' lawn, Swan said.

    The men already had hoisted a dead skunk on a pole in front of the Improve Grocery and performed other pranks that night. To Swan, the cross-burning was just another game.

    Swan said he, J.B. and a third man, named Mickey Thomas, went to Swan's home, gathered some boards from an old hog pen and hammered a cross together. Swan said he drove the cross and the men in his pickup to the Polkey home, where they propped the gasoline-doused cross on a cedar tree and struck a match.

    "The cross made a big old light and then the gasoline burned off," Swan said.

    "There wasn't even any damage to the cedar tree."

    I think I'll refrain from commenting on the joys of how to wile away an evening in a small southern town.

    J.B., who Swan says was the ringleader of the group, reached a deal with prosecutors that placed him on home detention for six months and one year of probation. Thomas was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial. He received the same deal as J.B.

    Swan was the only one of the three defendants who had faced the possibility of serious prison time. Prosecuted under a federal statute that covers the use of fire in the commission of a felony, he could have received a minimum of seven years in prison.

    Swan said he's grateful Pickering fought to have his potential sentence reduced.

    "He was sworn to be honest and fair when he took office, and that's what he was, honest and fair," Swan said.

    Swan, who was obviously turned down by most of the Ivy League schools, fails to mention that he chose to not accept a plea bargain, which Judge Pickering was well aware of. So, apparently Judge Pickering wasn't exactly being "fair".

    Pickering said he urged prosecutors to lessen Swan's potential sentence because he believed Swan's punishment was unfair based on what the other two defendants received. Pickering called Assistant Attorney General Frank Hunger — a fellow Mississippian and former Vice President Al Gore's brother-in-law — to "express my frustration with the gross disparity in sentence recommended by the government and my inability to get a response from the Justice Department in Washington." Hunger told Pickering he couldn't help him.

    No mention of the plea bargain again...oh, and did he mention it was the Clinton Justice Department's fault? Yer gawldang tootin', it was.

    So. To recap. Swan isn't a racist. Pickering isn't a racist. And the Clinton Justice department should probably be investigated for failure to return a phone call. Indictments, I'm sure, are just around the corner.

    One additional note: I believe that Daniel Swan's may be violating his probation by wearing that shirt. He's certainly violating something...

    (link via Atrios)












    posted by tbogg at 4:08 PM

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    Bad news for Rove...worse news for Saddam.

    Bob Fertik emails me this link and comments:

    Bush's 'Re-Elect' Poll Drops to 36% - That's BELOW Poppy!

    Bush's "approval" rating is down to 58% in the latest Gallup Poll, but that's not the number that matters to political professionals. The important number is his "re-elect", and that stands at a dismal 36%, with 32% "definitely" voting for someone else, and 31% undecided. W's 36% puts him BELOW the 37% of the vote that Poppy got in losing to Bill Clinton in 1992 - the lowest re-election vote in 80 years. W's "re-elect" numbers are dismal, and if it was a Democrat they'd be saying he's "toast." Hey Charlie Cook, Stu Rothenberg, Bill Schneider, etc. - quit hiding Bush's dismal "re-elect" numbers!

    Looks like the military build-up is timed out perfectly for President Inigo Montoya.


    posted by tbogg at 12:55 PM

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    Snow White takes on the Seven Dwarfs in a Pay Per View Smackdown...

    Poor Peggy...apparently the move to Mondays is keeping her from writing a column that is wonderous in it true...Noonan-ness. What she submits to the WSJ has the scent of : "I screwed around all weekend, and now I'm pulling an all-nighter on Sunday night to get the column done...right after Alias is over...".

    So she falls back on her true talent: channeling the thoughts of others. But unlike other times, she takes on all seven Democratic candidates instead of just one.

    a look at the 2004 Dems and the vibes they bring:

    Dr. Dean gives off an interesting attitude. It's as if he thinks his inside-the-Beltway competitors are a bunch of hicks.

    Joe Lieberman gives off a kind of canny happiness. He's a happy guy, and shrewd too. He thinks he'd be a good president because he's a good guy.

    John Kerry brings the weight of experience and knowledge. Almost every member of his freshman Senate class has run for president, a fact he mentions. He wears his experience as if it were not a suit or a shield but a kind of gravity that hovers around his head, forcing his face and shoulders down.

    John Edwards doesn't bring gravity. He seems light, smooth and amiable. He has no crags. He seems untouched by life, as a bright boomer lawyer would. But he hasn't been untouched; he's known tragedy,

    Dick Gephardt gives off a vibe of tired niceness. He is nice; it's part of who he is and part what he does. But he's tired of Congress.

    On and on she goes channeling what she thinks all the candidates think, causing you to wonder: When was the last time Peggy managed to have seven men in her in one day, not counting the NYFD Fireman's Ball back in October?

    Then there is this:

    I think the Democrats as a party are still somewhat transfixed by the lesson of 1992. And they're waiting for history to turn on a dime. They don't think George W. Bush is a fool anymore, but they don't think that highly of him. And they know history can turn on a dime, and they know that Bushes ride high and fall far, like cowboys who stand tall in the saddle on the tallest horse and then lose their balance and fall hard.

    Somewhere in Texas, Larry McMurtry is just cringing....



    posted by tbogg at 9:53 AM

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    Enter soon...Enter often

    Roger Ailes (the charming smart one) is having a contest to rename the Kaus Files to something that is a bit more accurate.



    posted by tbogg at 9:29 AM

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    Fear, Ignorance, and Occasional Bigotry...Republicans Unveil Campaign Slogan for 2004

    John Ashcroft is out to help America's poor downtrodden Christians who are being forced to sit at the front of the bus and drink from any damn water fountain they want.

    The Bush administration escalated its campaign today to loosen restrictions on religious charity-providers, with Attorney General John Ashcroft delivering an aggressive attack on the "bigotry" that he said religious groups had faced for decades in the United States.

    "Unfortunately, over the last several decades, the government has discriminated against people of faith who are striving to do good for others," Mr. Ashcroft said in a speech in Denver. "Out of fear, ignorance and occasional bigotry, faith-based groups have been prohibited from competing for federal funding on a level playing field with secular groups."

    It must be extra galling to Ashcroft to see others using "fear, ignorance and occasional bigotry" to discriminate against faith-based (religious) groups since those are the foundation of most religions in America today. How dare they?

    Mr. Ashcroft's outspoken views on God and religion, his prayer breakfasts at the Justice Department and remarks attributed to him comparing Christianity with Islam last year have made him a lightning rod for criticism from civil rights advocates who accuse him of crossing the line into religious advocacy.

    Meanwhile...no sign of the anthrax killer or Eric Robert Rudolph.








    posted by tbogg at 9:23 AM

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    Domain Name Watch

    Two years into the Bush administration and hotcheneyoncheneyaction.com is still available...


    posted by tbogg at 8:59 AM

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    Ruminate This is back

    ...and Lisa has a few things to say.

    We can sit around day and night, moping and moaning privately, but if we don't take every opportunity to voice our discontent publicly, we'll end up as complicit as the ones who brought us to this place. We'll end up deserving whatever we get.


    posted by tbogg at 8:46 AM

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    Hey Larry. Do we have a SPC/SPN for a bedwetting cokehead?

    Democratic Veteran has a job (no!...it's a adventure!) for anyone who wants to find out how Lt. Bush separated from the TANG.



    posted by tbogg at 8:41 AM

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    Gov. Ehrlich's hitman

    Maryland's Gov.-elect Robert Ehrlich has a unique way with dismissing people.

    The first of the letters arrived as early as 9 a.m. yesterday when the man in the dark coat -- promptly dubbed "trench-coat man" by his targets -- showed up at the Annapolis office of the Department of Natural Resources. Assistant Secretary Carolyn Watson said she had just arrived at work when a guard at the front desk asked her to accompany the man to the secretary's office.

    When the two got into the elevator, Watson introduced herself and stuck out her hand. The man shook her hand, "then pulled his away in one fluid motion, dipped into his leather portfolio, whipped out very dramatically this envelope and looks at me and says, 'Sorry.' "

    "It was like being subpoenaed," she said. "It was so absurd, it was funny."




    posted by tbogg at 8:14 AM

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    Iraq, North Korea, Unemployment, Faltering Economy, Assault on the Environment...did I mention Jackass?

    Joe Lieberman certainly has his priorities in order.



    posted by tbogg at 8:04 AM

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    Uncle Ernie update

    Rock legend Pete Townshend has been released on bail by police following his arrest on suspicion of child pornography offences.
    The Who star was arrested after police searched his home following his admission he paid to view child pornography on the internet


    In related news, Michael Jackson is house-shopping in Palm Beach.


    posted by tbogg at 7:54 AM

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    I believe this is Code Red on the Tom Ridge Terror-O-Meter

    President Bush’s job approval has slipped to 58 percent in a new CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll, the first time it has fallen below 60 percent in that poll since before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. While still solid overall, his approval was down 5 points from a week ago.


    posted by tbogg at 7:49 AM

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    Monday, January 13, 2003

     

    Creating a generation of super-smart people

    Digby and Janeane Garofalo should get together and breed.

    Now, Jefferson may have been dead for 40 years when Marx published Das Kapital, but apparently he was a Marxist, being a proponent of "class warfare" and all.

    And old Teddy Roosevelt actually WAS a Marxist, because in 1906 he said, while arguing for a graduated inheritance tax and a progressive income tax:

    "The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the State, because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government."

    Talk about class warfare! My God, didn't he realize that he was cruelly punishing the most productive and hard working members of society who were just trying to keep their hard earned money so they could spend it on antiques and fine art and thus produce jobs for dead people?



    posted by tbogg at 1:27 PM

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    Prof. Reynolds comes clean

    Instapundit finally admits it:

    It's about oil.

    I think that once we win in Iraq, we should take the position that we certainly weren't shedding our blood to provide cheap oil for Germany. And act accordingly.

    Wow. For a minute there, I thought we were doing it because of UN sanctions or democracy or because "he tried to kill my dad".



    posted by tbogg at 1:23 PM

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    The blame game boomerang...

    The Bush administration is perfectly correct to blame a previous administration for the North Korea mess. So I wanna hear some apologies from you, George H.W. Bush.

    The Bush administration appears to be readying a new round of Washington’s oldest game, the blame game, on the North Korea nuclear “situation.” But the public record shows there is a lot of blame to go around ... and if George W. Bush wants to know more about how this fiasco evolved, he might want to pick up the phone and call dear old dad, George H. W. Bush.

    While the current Bush administration is right to criticize the Clinton presidency for making a bad deal with Kim Jong Il and his father, Kim Il Sung, the Clintonites were faced with a fait accompli when they entered office in 1993. According to the latest CIA assessment of the North Korean nuclear program, sent in November to Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., “the North has one or possibly two weapons using plutonium produced prior to 1992.” In 1992, of course, the president was Bush’s father. So by the time the North was rattling sabers in 1994, the Clinton administration knew they were probably dealing with a nuclear power.

    ...and while you're at it, I want to hear a big apology for knocking up Barb back around October 1945. You did more damage then than any North Korean nuke could ever do....



    posted by tbogg at 1:07 PM

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    Advise and rubberstamp

    According to reader G Harris:

    I listened to Senator Dr Frist on both Meet the Press and Fox Sunday. I paraphrase, but when asked about the nomination he said that he has never met Judge Pickering, or is aware of his judicial history, but he is sure that he is an incredibly qualified candidate for the bench and he will be confirmed. So much for the independent branches of Government, "advise and consent", blah blah.

    Looks like "Kitty Kervorkian*" Bill Frist is going to get on just swell with "Frog Exploding" Georgie Bush.

    * I didn't make this one up...but I love it.


    posted by tbogg at 10:55 AM

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    Why I love Janeane Garofalo

    From Howie "Didn't Win Media Whore of the Year But Not For Lack of Effort" Kurtz's column:

    "'I'm not here as an actor. I'm here as a citizen,' Penn said. To which King replied, 'A citizen wouldn't have been on this show.'

    "But that, activists and actors on the left contend, is exactly the point. At a time when the voices against a war with Iraq that are getting the most attention are those of Penn, Martin Scorsese and Janeane Garofalo, many Bush critics are ceding that the best way to get on the air any dissent against what increasingly seems like an inevitable war might be through celebrities. . . .

    "Garofalo told Salon that she felt the need to speak out publicly because the people who were already speaking out don't get the audience they deserve. 'I wish all the time I was booked on those news programs that they had booked Howard Zinn or members of Veterans for Common Sense,' she says. 'But of course they choose to book myself and a handful of other actors so they can force us to spend the majority of our time on the news defending why anyone should listen to us.'

    "Progressive Hollywood stalwarts such as Susan Sarandon and Martin Sheen have been out front on the issue almost from the start, but it's just in the last month that the rest of the movie industry has become noticeably organized."



    posted by tbogg at 10:51 AM

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    Have the boy bring the drinks out onto the veranda...

    Jeanne D'Arc points out that Dick Cheney and his oily buddies are looking to Africa for their next hit of that sweet black crude.

    This is what happens when you give oil executives copies of the Raj Quartet. Or, in George Bush's case, the Classics Illustrated version.



    posted by tbogg at 10:39 AM

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    Just say "no" to Joe

    Lieberman jumps in the ring. Liberals immediately jump out.

    Lieberman has also been a determined foe of one of the Democratic Party’s most loyal and high-profile pool of donors: Hollywood movie and television studios and their producers.

    In his rhetoric Lieberman has struck a tone of stern condemnation of much of America’s popular culture, from rap music to violent video games.

    He sponsored legislation to pressure the television industry to adopt rules for rating violent and lewd content.

    Lieberman has also denounced day-time TV talk shows hosted by Jerry Springer and others as “demeaning, exploitative, perverted, divisive or, at best, amoral.”

    ...but he has no problem with pre-emptive war.

    Oh, and this:

    Lieberman sponsored legislation in the 1990s to set up experimental voucher programs, letting parents use taxpayer dollars to send their children to the public, private or religious school of their choice. On this issue, Lieberman parted company with the teachers unions who are one of the Democratic Party’s strongest constituencies.

    snip

    Unlike many Democrats, Lieberman has supported a moment of silence in public school classrooms, which students could use for silent prayer.

    Lieberman is a moralistic prig and if we needed one of those we could ask to borrow one from the Republican Party.





    posted by tbogg at 10:08 AM

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    Sunday, January 12, 2003

     

    The peasants are revolting.

    Bob Novack, in back-to-back columns, tells us that Republican Senators, all of whom were actually elected as opposed to appointed, are getting a little tired of the Bushies high-handed ways:

    First there is the tax cuts.

    Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, a deficit hawk who usually supports the Bush administration line, rose during a closed-door conference of Republican senators Wednesday to severely criticize President Bush's tax-cut plan.

    Voinovich was followed by a half dozen other GOP senators also negative about their president's major initiative. None has gone on record against it, fostering hope at the White House that the tax-cut critics can be turned around.

    Then there is "the road to war":

    Republican senators gathering last Wednesday for their session-opening "retreat" should have been happy, blessed with a regained majority and a popular president. They were not. Instead, they complained bitterly of arrogance by the Bush administration, especially the Pentagon, in treatment of Congress along the road to war.

    Two years of growing discontent boiled over during the closed-door meeting at the Library of Congress. White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card was there to hear grievances from President Bush's Senate base that it is ignored and insulted by the administration, particularly Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in preparing war against Iraq. Furthermore, recital of complaints began with Sen. John Warner, a pillar of the Senate GOP establishment.

    This is a disconnected time in Washington. Republican senators appreciate that they have returned to majority status thanks to George W. Bush's bold midterm election strategy and his popularity leading the war against terrorism. Yet their unease about a divided administration on the brink of attacking Iraq is deepened because they are neither consulted nor informed about war plans.

    By criticizing President George W Bush they are only giving aid and comfort to America's enemies. Why do all these Republican Senators hate America?

    heh heh heh




    posted by tbogg at 11:12 PM

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    Viagra for Lawrence Kudlow

    Cancel his order for a Corvette, George Bush's plan to eliminate the dividend tax has give Larry Kudlow the boner of his life.

    President Bush's plan to abolish the double tax on dividends can rescue the stock market and investor wealth, liberate shareholder rights and democratize corporate governance, spark a new economic cycle of expansion and prosperity, and fund the war on terror

    Of course Larry fails to mention the massive deficits the plan will create (or should we say massive-er?) but that could be because all the blood in his body has accumulated in his money-worshipping engorged member, so he's not thinking very clearly at the moment. Then again Larry has never really cared much whether the government accumulated massive debt in the service of making the rich richer. Remember the Reagan deficts and how supply-side didn't work?

    During President Reagan's first term, Mr. Kudlow was the associate director for economics and planning, Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President, where he was engaged in the development of Reagan administration economic and budget policy

    I guess talk of deficits is a touchy subject around the Kudlow household....









    posted by tbogg at 11:01 PM

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    The sky is blue, water is wet, David Horowitz gets all his facts wrong..again.

    As has been well documented, well, just about everywhere, Charles Pickering is not the man the Lott Republicans would have us believe. But that won't stop David Horowitz from spewing out the same discredited talking points. Sure beats doing a little research.

    The Democrats have started the new congressional session by launching a lynching party. (How embarrassing is it these days to be a Democrat?) In fact this is the second lynch party organized by the Democrats for the same victim, Judge Charles Pickering whom the Preisdent (sic) has nominated to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Last session, after smearing Pickering in a manner that would make Joe McCarthy blush, the Democrats voted in lock step to keep his nomination from coming to the Senate floor. Leading the lynch party was New York Senator Charles Schumer who has promised to filibuster the Pickering nomination and who said, "To renominate Charles Pickering Sr. who...is probably best known for intervening on behalf of a convicted cross-burner, shows unfortunately that Richard Nixon's Southern strategy is still alive and well in the White House."


    Did he mention is was a "lynching party"? And if the Democrats really do intend on lynching Charles Pickering will it be in DC or down in Mississippi, where they know how to do it right?

    Southern trees bear a strange fruit
    Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
    Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
    Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

    Pastoral scene of the gallant south
    The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
    Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
    Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.


    Here is a fruit for the crow to pluck
    For the rain to wither, for the wind to suck
    For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop
    Here is a strange and bitter crop

    -Lyrics by: Lewis Allan



    posted by tbogg at 10:44 PM

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    Frist is fine with the Pickering Plantation

    On the subject of U.S. District Judge Charles W. Pickering, a nominee for appellate judge who is the most controversial choice on a list of conservative Bush judicial picks, Frist said, "I receive his nomination gladly." He added, "I plan on supporting Pickering."

    snip

    Frist defended his own civil rights record, which has been criticized by civil rights organizations. He said studies of his votes ignore actions such as "the fact I go to Africa once a year or twice a year to work with the African American community."

    ...and some of his best friends are...oh, hell, what did we expect?






    posted by tbogg at 10:32 PM

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    Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

    Fat Tony Scalia, the Supreme Court's Theocratic thug thinks it's okay to cram religion down non-believer's throats as long as the majority approves.

    The rally-style event drew a lone protester, who silently held a sign promoting the separation of church and state.

    "The sign back here which says `Get religion out of government,' can be imposed on the whole country," Justice Scalia said. "I have no problem with that philosophy being adopted democratically.

    "If the gentleman holding the sign would persuade all of you of that, then we could eliminate `under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance. That could be democratically done."

    snip

    Justice Scalia used the event to repeat criticisms that the Constitution is being interpreted liberally. "It is a Constitution that morphs while you look at it like Plasticman," he said.

    In other news, Scalia failed again to explain Bush v. Gore and why it could not be used as a precedent in future cases....








    posted by tbogg at 10:01 PM

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    Compassionate CONservatism.

    Jeff Danziger


    posted by tbogg at 8:13 PM

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    The reason God is making an appointment with Mr. Rope and Mr. Stout Overhead Beam.

    I think the fact that this woman chooses to honor God this way is proof that he doesn't exist.


    posted by tbogg at 7:02 PM

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    I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV..Oh hell, let's face it. I'm an idiot.

    Apparently besides being restaurateur and a washed-up football coach, Mike Ditka is also a cancer researcher as well as a political scientist:

    Secondhand smoke "might make your hair smell," but it's not a proven health risk, Bears-coach-turned-restaurant-owner Mike Ditka said Thursday, leading the charge against a proposed restaurant smoking ban in Chicago.

    With a cigar in one hand and a drink in the other, Ditka said his steelworker father was living proof that it's baloney for medical experts to claim that exposing a restaurant employee to an eight-hour shift's worth of secondhand smoke is the equivalent of smoking a half a pack of cigarettes

    and

    Reminded that smoking has been banned for years in California restaurants and bars, Ditka said: "That's fruits and nuts. That's what they are. A lot of liberals. . .. All the do-gooders in the world. The people in California who abolished smoking are the same people who want to legalize marijuana. Come on. Give me a break."







    posted by tbogg at 6:52 PM

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    Roses are red, violets are blue, if you don't love Jesus, you'll be cast into the fiery pits of hell where your blackened soul will writhe in excruciating torment for an eternity, you vile ejaculate of Satan. Merry Christmas. Love- Danny

    Students Face Discipline For Passing Out Candy With Religious Note

    The Rutherford Institute, a group that often assists students in religious-related disputes, came to the aid of Daniel Walz and his mother Dana after an April 1998 incident when Daniel was told he could not pass out pencils with the religious message "Jesus loves the little children" attached.



    posted by tbogg at 1:12 AM

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    Better than any Sunday editorial in any paper his week...and probably next week too

    Jeez, I'm glad Digby started his own blog. This is terrific. Email it to your friends.

    (By the way, if you don't know how to link to a particular Blogger post, just click on the time after the posters name and you'll get the specific URL...you probably knew that, but I'm just trying to be helpful.)


    posted by tbogg at 12:54 AM

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    Place your hand on the Bible...and never take it off.

    This has the Federalist Society's fingerprints all over it.

    A special Justice Department recruitment program long overseen by career employees has been moved firmly under the control of Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and his senior aides, prompting complaints that the effort is being politicized, according to current and former department officials.

    Ashcroft decided last year that the Attorney General's Honors Program, which offers new law school graduates full-time positions within Justice and its component agencies, would benefit from more direct participation by him and other political appointees, officials said.

    So Attorney General Can't Beat A Dead Man gets to be "involved". What does that mean?

    Philip Heymann, who also was a deputy attorney general during the Clinton years, said that giving political appointees control of the honors program is likely to result in an ideologically slanted group of candidates.

    "This would just eliminate everybody who's a Democrat or not a conservative Republican," said Heymann, a Harvard University law professor. "If they're seen as Democrats, they'll be out of the running."

    But Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo and other Ashcroft aides dismiss such complaints, saying that the program's previous structure was tilted in favor of Ivy League schools and sometimes served as an exclusive buddy system. Corallo said the roster of law schools with candidates in the program has expanded dramatically, now including institutions such as Georgia State University, Temple University, the University of Kansas and other smaller schools.

    Politics, they said, is not a consideration.

    "We don't ask people what their party affiliation is," Corallo said. "The grumblings that are out there are from people who think we shouldn't bring in conservatives but should only bring in liberals. . . . We're doing both. What we're not doing is disqualifying people based on their politics."

    Ashcroft aides also said the changes have resulted in a higher caliber of candidates during interviews that began in the fall. The prospective hires were able to interact with senior Justice attorneys, sometimes including Deputy Attorney General Larry D. Thompson or Ashcroft himself, officials said.

    "It was the attorney general's idea to implement changes that make the program more accountable," Corallo said. "He decided that if it's the Attorney General's Honors Program, it ought to actually be the attorney general's program. . . . The quality of the candidates has by any standard risen significantly. It has been made a real priority as opposed to years past."

    As we all know, the real legal minds first apply to Eastern Mississippi-Gulfport Baptist Law School and Clown College before they even think about, oh say, Harvard or Yale. So it is completely understandable that the "standard has risen".

    A half-dozen school placement officers said they had noticed a marked shift to the right in the political makeup of students who were approached for interviews this year.

    At Columbia University Law School, for example, the head of the campus Federalist Society chapter set a school record by winning interviews at five separate Justice Department divisions, according to public interest law dean Ellen Chapnick. The Federalist Society is a conservative legal group whose membership includes some of the Justice Department's top officials.

    Well, slap me on the ass and call me Clarence! What a complete suprise. But here is the best part:

    But Corallo, the Justice spokesman, said the department's overarching goal is to attract the best new lawyers from a wide constellation of law schools, without regard to politics.

    "Essentially, we are setting out to create a world-class law firm without the six-figure salaries and prestige," he said. "We're offering them low pay and long hours, but we are also offering them the chance to serve their country, particularly now in the war on terrorism. This is an historic time for the Justice Department."

    Terrorists and tax cuts, the excuse for every Bush atrocity....













    posted by tbogg at 12:37 AM

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    More "gonadal politics"...

    The War Against Women

    ...two years into the Bush presidency, it is apparent that reversing or otherwise eviscerating the Supreme Court's momentous 1973 ruling that recognized a woman's fundamental right to make her own childbearing decisions is indeed Mr. Bush's mission. The lengthening string of anti-choice executive orders, regulations, legal briefs, legislative maneuvers and key appointments emanating from his administration suggests that undermining the reproductive freedom essential to women's health, privacy and equality is a major preoccupation of his administration — second only, perhaps, to the war on terrorism.

    I can't say this enough:

    Thanks Ralph.




    posted by tbogg at 12:20 AM

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    Ted Rall


    posted by tbogg at 12:16 AM

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    Friday, January 10, 2003

     

    They're not too big on "dead baby" jokes either...

    Sarcasm not funny to most children

    There goes half my demographic. Thank god for the MILF's.


    posted by tbogg at 9:32 PM

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    Welcome to

    Democratic Veteran to the Hot Links.


    posted by tbogg at 9:29 PM

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    Weekend note.

    With multiple soccer games to be played this weekend (tune into ESPN this Sunday to see the US Women's National team play Japan, featuring a cameo appearance by my daughter as "The Perky Yet Serious Ball Girl") I probably won't be posting anything until Sunday night, for your Monday morning amusement.

    Additionally we also will not be seeing LOTR: The Two Towers this weekend, which is keeping me from drawing any geopolitical analogies or making any pop cultural references, particularly since I have never read the books, and have no intention of doing so. Our family hopes to correct this deficiency within the next two weeks so that we will no longer be shunned by the really cool people who have seen it, like, four times already.

    Enjoy the weekend NFL playoff games, and if you are watching alone, remember: Never eat pretzels unless you have a pretzel-buddy standing by.


    posted by tbogg at 3:40 PM

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    If we can't steal the money...let's steal the credit for nor stealing the money.

    The Republicans are mighty proud of themselves for rolling back the Great Eli Lily Handout Act of 2002.

    Republicans said Friday they would reverse a much-criticized provision in the Homeland Security bill that would limit lawsuits against vaccine makers

    SENATE MAJORITY Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who supported the original vaccine provision and said he still hopes to take up the issue later this year in more comprehensive legislation, said he would include the change in a fiscal 2003 spending bill the Senate will take up this month.

    You have to go to the third paragraph to find out that the Democrats took the lead in this.

    Next Monday Republicans are expected to pat themselves on the back for not raping all of the environment and for not crowning George Bush, Most Powerful Potentate and Warrior God of All The World.....at least not yet


    posted by tbogg at 3:22 PM

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    The economics game

    Faced with a budget deficit, Gov. Davis of California is calling for cuts in spending as well as new taxes to cover shortfalls. The state does not allow itself to run deficits, so Davis has made a balanced but important decision on what to do. After all, he's a grownup.

    Faced with budget deficits as far as the eye can see, according to the Washington Post, VP Dick Cheney is calling for a massive giveaway to the rich. After all, if you have big bills that are going to come due, the best thing you can do is shrink your income. And if we don't give all this money away to the rich? Well the economy is going to go in the tank...the same way it has been going since Bush & Cheney were handed the keys to the car.

    So you know what that means?

    (Okay...so I broke my rule...kinda.)



    posted by tbogg at 1:52 PM

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    Mega-Ditto

    A letter posted on Media Whores Online

    Horse,

    I am a lifelong liberal and Democrat. No, really... back away from the "delete" key! As you know from my many fan emails to Media Whores Online, I'm not one of those crazy Freeper poseurs. No one despises the GOP and their Whore enablers more than I.

    That being said, I want to state something here to everyone in the Democratic party who might happen to read it. This is a pledge and I will stick with it, though I hope to God that I don't have to:

    If the Democratic party nominates that spineless, gutless, fence-straddling GOP waterboy Joe Leiberman as their 2004 presidential candidate, I will walk into the booth, plug my nose and vote Republican across the whole f**ing board.

    As I said, I pray that it doesn't have to come to this. But hey, at least I won't be voting Green.

    Steve in Denver


    posted by tbogg at 12:20 PM

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    Cleaning up after the Republicans....

    After 12 years of Reagan-Bush deficits and high unemployment, it took Bill Clinton to get the economy going again and give us a surplus. So it shouldn't suprise anyone that Democrat Bill Richardson should be called in to help out President Axis Of Stupidity with his North Korea problem.

    If they sent Dick Cheney in, Tokyo would probably be a smoldering ashpile right now.


    posted by tbogg at 12:04 PM

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    A sports note

    Allen Barra at Salon and Rick Reilly at Sport Illustrated have been dumping on referee Terry Porter for the call he made during the Ohio State-Miami National Championship game. They mostly seem aggravated by the time it took Porter to throw his flag, while giving a cursory look at the play itself. The fact is, that Glenn Sharpe of Miami did interfer with OSU's Chris Gamble from the moment he came off the line until the ball was thrown.

    The call was correct, and who cares if he took his time to make it. Any sports official will tell you the important thing is to get the call right.

    Additional note...sportswriter Will McDonough passed away yesterday while watching the sports news on TV. I won't say that that is the way he would want to go (I'm thinking it would involve a rotating bed and multiple cheerleaders), but it seems weirdly fitting. He was a pretty good sportswriter and there aren't that many around.

    Okay...back to fighting the bad guys.


    posted by tbogg at 11:46 AM

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    I get great e-mail:

    Good post on the unemployed individuals in NYC. Delay's statements are so blatantly stupid, but I'm very afraid that what we are witnessing in America is the death of altruism and a kind of sadistic, vicious societal stupidity whose antidote may not be good, virtuous, moral liberals attempting change at the polls, but rather pissed-off just-folks, armed by the Republicans through their nutcase NRA laws, taking back their government and doling out rough justice to the Republican Marie Antoinettes. What about a tax revolt at all levels of government which demands a return to moral Liberal government, and I don't mean American Indian costumes on deadbeats tossing tea? Reverse Venezuela-style.

    When do good, virtuous Liberals take back the word "evil" and apply it to Delay? When do good, virtuous, Liberals take back the word "enemy" and go after this corrupt bunch? What would it take for Liberals to appear dangerous, and I mean lots of us.

    The Republicans have successfully recombined the DNA of Ayn Rand with the noxious sperm of the Christian, born-again Right and come up with an indestructible alien with acid for blood, and multiple jaws-within-jaws to savage all opposition. Liberals believe the American people will turn out to be Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), eventually, given the facts, but I have a terrible premonition that the American people, like the Delay-type ideological f****r scientists in the movie, will find the monster fascinating, preserve its many offspring, and clone the hell out of it.

    Well, O.K., the metaphors went a little haywire, but then I learned vicious hate-talk at the feet of Grover Norquist, Rush Limbaugh, add your own names.

    Thanks for listening.

    John

    (tbogg note: I made one little edit to John's letter that I want to explain. There is one word that I don't use on Tbogg and you probably know which one it is. It's not that I'm prudish about it (I use it often and with relish), it's just that if I put it on the blog, my wife can't access it at work at lunchtime to see what I'm up to, because of a filter at her work. So I am F-word free in writing if not at heart--Tom)




    posted by tbogg at 11:26 AM

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    Private First Class Ben Shapiro...yeah, I like the sound of that.

    Looks like our little Ben can't wait to get his war on.

    No it won't. We know they have chemical weapons (which they have had since the last Gulf War). Why should we compromise our intelligence sources to get France's help?

    snip

    This is called a material breach. Which means war.

    So we should expect our little Benny to enlist any day now, right? I mean, he's eighteen, it's an all volunteer Army. It's not like Ben could use the old "I'm a lover...not a fighter" excuse, because we know better. I'm sure they have a spot for a dedicated anti-Islamofacist. Add to that, his comprehensive military knowledge acquired through multiple viewings of The Two Towers, and I think we've got officer material sitting in a dorm room at UCLA.

    But, faced with actually having to fight a war that he so wholeheartedly supports, Ben bashfully demurs.

    And so he sits in his dorm room, frantically altering the title of his memoirs, copy by copy, from:

    I Haven't Got Time To Breed

    to

    I Haven't Got Time To Bleed.


    ...By Chicken Little Hawk Shapiro.


    posted by tbogg at 11:03 AM

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    Got a rocket in your pocket....Keep coolie cool boy

    I don't think the Suzanne Fields column on what is "cool" is going to make people forget about Susan Sontag's Notes on Camp anytime soon. Apparently she was so bedazzled with La Noonan's latest about why "we" like Bush (which she quotes from), she decided that she too could discourse on something that she knows nothing about: coolness.

    George Bush reflects cowboy cool which comes naturally, compared to, say, the Democratic wannabees who want to fill his boots.

    snip

    Ever since George W. shaded Al Gore in the presidential debates, he has been described as a rugged man at home in his body. No beard, no couturier earth tones, no hot tubs, at least not on TV. Unlike Bill Clinton, George W. engages women without an eye for the opportunity to shamelessly exploit. He's seductive with the safe aura of a faithful husband. Is there anything cooler than a guy who knows himself and keeps it to himself?

    Yes. What woman could keep her knickers in place when confronted by the Golfcart Cowboy?

    Here's a simple rule: if you are talking about George Bush, Laura Bush, and Donald Rumsfeld...you aren't talking about cool. They have never been cool (although there is a certain coolness factor in Laura since she is the only First Lady to actually kill someone, but that is negated by...well, she is mousy librarian, secret-lush Laura Bush ), they will never be cool. They weren't even cool in the fifties.

    I did like this line, though:

    Conservative cool comes with a preference for uncomplicated leaders, plain guys who could play linebacker.

    Here's a picture of linebacker George W Bush crushing a receiver on a crossing route.

    Cool.


    posted by tbogg at 10:31 AM

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    I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you....

    CalPundit is losing what little faith he had (and it wasn't much) in the Bush Administration.

    See. It is all about oil.


    posted by tbogg at 9:33 AM

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    Dialectics at a Standstill: A Methodological Inquiry Into the Philosophy of Xander

    I know some bloggers will find this interesting.

    Professors talking about...Buffy.

    I'd go but I'll be at the International Punky Brewster Conference in Oslo that week.


    posted by tbogg at 9:13 AM

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    Parables for stupid people

    Short Bus Sean Hannity

    Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

    Oh. Right. Apparently if we tax those darn rich people too much they will just take their diamond-encrusted ball and go...well, we don't know where they will go...but just you watch.



    posted by tbogg at 9:04 AM

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    Oh, the humanity....

    Spilled Fuel, Ham Combine To Create Mess During I-40 Morning Commute

    Officials said a tractor-trailer went off the side of the road at 1:46 a.m. Thursday taking down the guardrail along westbound I-40 at Aviation Parkway, between Wade Avenue and Interstate 540.

    The truck landed on its side and slid under a bridge abuttment. Officials said the driver told them he fell asleep before the accident occurred. Officials said the driver was not injured and there was no structural damage to the bridge.

    The truck was carrying 40,000 pounds of fresh ham, which crews transferred to another truck. Officials said 250 gallons of fuel, which spilled from the truck, also had to be cleaned up.

    Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham was spotted standing by the side of the road sobbing uncontrollably.


    posted by tbogg at 8:55 AM

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    ...a less than judicial temperament.

    EJ Dionne.

    Moreover, conservatives are increasingly willing to use federal judicial power to achieve political ends. Forget Florida 2000 and consider a redistricting controversy in Mississippi last year. It involved none other than Rep. Charles W. Pickering Jr., a Republican who is Judge Pickering's son.

    Mississippi lost a congressional seat after the 2000 Census, and Pickering's district was merged with that of Rep. Ronnie Shows, a Democrat. A state judge drew district lines favoring Shows. A federal three-judge panel, all Republican appointees, then drew a plan favoring Pickering. The judges said they would impose their plan if the Bush Justice Department did not quickly clear the state plan for civil rights purposes. By dragging its feet, the Justice Department sealed Shows's fate. The final blow came from none other than Justice Scalia -- a friend of the Pickering family who presided over the younger Pickering's first swearing-in as a congressman. Scalia ruled to allow the Republican judges to impose their map. Pickering beat Shows this fall.

    Or consider the ruling of Judge John D. Bates in December declaring that Congress's General Accounting Office -- and thus the public -- had no right to learn the specifics about meetings between Vice President Cheney's famous energy task force and various energy executives and lobbyists. The same John Bates, an appointee of the current president, was an attorney for Ken Starr's Whitewater investigation and pushed hard (and successfully) for the release of various White House documents related to Hillary Rodham Clinton's activities.

    "When that guy was working for Ken Starr, he wanted to go open the dresser drawers of the White House," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. "I guess it's a lot different when it's a Republican vice president." Such suspicions of partisanship in the judiciary are corrosive because, unfortunately, they are now plausible.





    posted by tbogg at 8:34 AM

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    Scenes from a Bush Presidency

    War

    Arms race

    High unemployment

    Massive deficits

    and bad music.









    posted by tbogg at 8:21 AM

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    Jesse does Noonan.....eww.

    Noonan Strikes.


    posted by tbogg at 8:13 AM

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    Thursday, January 09, 2003

     

    There’s nothing so stupid that Sean won’t say it

    The Daily Howler takes on Short Bus Sean Hannity.

    HANNITY: You don’t understand, Gene. When you cut taxes, Gene Sperling, you double revenues, you increase revenues, you spur economic growth.


    posted by tbogg at 1:01 PM

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    The few...the proud...the can't leave yet.

    Everyone planning on leaving the Marines soon, take one step forward....not so fast there, Bunky.

    Preparing for possible war against Iraq, the Marine Corps has taken the unusual step of stopping all Marines from leaving the service for the coming 12 months, officials said Thursday.

    The decision was announced to all Marines in an internal message Tuesday from Gen. James Jones, the Marine Corps commandant. He said it applies to active-duty as well as reserve Marines and is effective Jan. 15 through Jan. 31, 2004.

    It's not just a career, it's a form of involuntary servitude...hoo-yah.




    posted by tbogg at 12:51 PM

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    The employment picture

    Bob Herbert:

    Ms. Escobar is 43 and single, and lives in a small apartment in Queens. She has worked for a number of airlines over the past several years, most recently as a ticket agent for T.W.A. That job vanished with the World Trade Center.

    "We were laid off Oct. 14, 2001," she said. "I haven't been able to find work since then. I've applied everywhere. I've gone back to school to improve my computer skills. I've learned another language. I feel very bad because I want to work so I can pay my bills. I've always worked. But now I can't find a job."

    snip

    Or Joe Bergmann. Mr. Bergmann, who lives in Midtown Manhattan, was a creative director for a firm that did interactive advertising. He was laid off Oct. 2, 2001, and, to his amazement, has been out of work ever since. When I asked if he ever imagined it would be so hard to find a job, he said, "Not at all. There's no way."

    Mr. Bergmann, 54, is married and has two daughters. His wife works, but her employment outlook, even in the short term, is uncertain. The family has had the benefit of some savings and a bonus Mr. Bergmann earned at a previous job. But he does not know what will happen if he doesn't get another job soon.

    snip

    Unemployment benefits for Ms. Escobar and Mr. Bergmann ran out last July. The extension signed by President Bush yesterday does not apply to them.

    Now lets cut to a comment by Tom DeLay:

    In the Senate, newly elected Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., sought passage of a five-month extension as the first order of business when the Senate convened on Tuesday. But by then, Democrats in both houses, noting that unemployment has continued to rise, decided to press for additional benefits for jobless people who have already exhausted their 13 weeks of benefits.

    "Frankly, it's the least they can do," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. "But we can do better."

    But Texas Rep. Tom DeLay, House majority leader, said, "nothing is good enough" for Democrats. "I would venture to guess that they would have unlimited unemployment compensation so somebody could stay out of work for the rest of their lives."

    Now back to Ms. Escobar:

    Ms. Escobar has taken the president's policies somewhat personally. "I'm a Republican and I'm not ashamed to say it," she said. "But I'm very upset that they have done nothing for us."

    I asked if she had voted for Mr. Bush. "I sure did," she said, then added, "I feel very betrayed."















    posted by tbogg at 12:17 PM

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    More bad news for Bush

    From a Salon Premium (no link without membership) article sent in by alert reader Chris:

    Mary Landrieu: "Unfortunately, the president's package is very short on stimulus,"

    From MSNBC:

    Even if you could get an effective enlargement, some women would still like your penis to be bigger and some women would like it smaller. It is simply a matter of taste because, anatomically, a woman’s most sensitive regions are well within reach of even the smallest penis. The clitoris, labia and outer third of the vagina are the most richly innervated areas, while the inner third of the vagina is less sensitive. So if you have 2 inches, you have enough to do the job.

    So. Is his package up to it?

    Actually, don't answer that. This is the love that dare not speak it's name.

    Please...







    posted by tbogg at 11:40 AM

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    Lots...

    of good new stuff over at Media Whores Online.

    Why are you still here? Go!



    posted by tbogg at 11:25 AM

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    Apparently Kissinger wasn't available for this gig either.

    Rep. Christopher Cox, a senior member of the House GOP leadership, will head the newly created homeland security committee.

    You may remember Cox from his work on the China technology issue, back during the Great Presidential Fellatio Crisis. The Cox report was, well, it was a bit over the top when it came to accusations on how the Chinese were able to acquire missle technology, particularly when it came to technologies that were "stolen" during the Clinton administration.

    Reagan...never heard of the guy.

    I'm sure that Rep. Cox will limit his review of what went wrong with "homeland security" to the years 1992-2000. Because that's when all the bad stuff probably happened.



    posted by tbogg at 10:26 AM

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    Proof that the people get the government that they deserve....

    Apparently a major growth industry in Texas is cranking out dumbass Governors. Rob at Get Donkey reports on Gov. Perry who makes the previous guy look like a braniac.

    And we know better...


    posted by tbogg at 10:06 AM