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Friday, January 30, 2004
Wow.
I just listened to this by her.
This isn't phony American Idol pseudo-soul histrionics.
Wow.
posted by tbogg at 6:21 PM
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Too bad it's not catching....
The gentlemen of the BBC have done the correct thing:
British Broadcasting Corp. reporter Andrew Gilligan, whose story about Iraqi weapons led to a feud with the British government and a judicial inquiry, said Friday he was resigning from the BBC.
In a statement, Gilligan apologized for mistakes in his May 2003 story.
"My departure is at my own initiative," he said. "But the BBC collectively has been the victim of a grave injustice."
The BBC's two top officials resigned and the corporation apologized to the government after senior judge Lord Hutton, appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair to investigate the death of a scientist caught up in the dispute, said the BBC had been wrong when it quoted an anonymous source as saying officials had "sexed up" intelligence to justify war in Iraq.
As of this writing George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and George Tenet are all still drawing a paycheck.
Don't even get me started on our so-called liberal media.
posted by tbogg at 5:54 PM
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Consistency being a hobgoblin and all that...
Eli at Left I watched Dennis Miller on a different night and pretty much saw what I did.
Glad to see Miller is already in reruns after four days.
By the way, people have emailed me to point out that Miller announced on the first night that he was working without an audience in much the same way that Tom Snyder used to, which isn't too surprising since they both laugh at their own jokes. Most times, alone.
posted by tbogg at 5:23 PM
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What once were snarks have become bombs
Go to Google and type "America's Worst Mother".
You know. Google never lies.....
(Thanks to Matt for pointing it out)
posted by tbogg at 1:28 PM
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What the fu---?
Excuse me?
'YOU'RE GOING to have to go on record. The Holocaust happened, right?" Peggy Noonan asks of Mel Gibson in the Reader's Digest for March.
Gibson: "I have friends and parents of friends who have numbers on their arms. The guy who taught me Spanish was a Holocaust survivor. He worked in a concentration camp in France. Yes, of course. Atrocities happened. War is horrible. The Second World War killed tens of millions of people. Some of them were Jews in concentration camps. Many people lost their lives. In the Ukraine, several million starved to death between 1932 and 1933. During the last century, 20 million people died in the Soviet Union." (My emphasis).
Some?
Mel's got some 'splainin to do.
posted by tbogg at 11:01 AM
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Fortunately the children didn't go all Lord of the Flies while Mummy was locked outside
Well it's Friday and that means that we turn to America's Worst Mother™ to see what's cooking with her and her children: Mowgli, Selma, Chignon, and Crinoline-Jean.
Call Child Protective Services, Meghan has locked herself out of the house and left the children inside with the gas stove on:
Ten minutes ago, I was conscientiously trundling bags of newspapers and glass bottles out to the sidewalk for recycling. Nine minutes ago, I was rattling a front door that had uncharacteristically locked itself behind me. Eight minutes ago, my nose and extremities began to freeze. On possibly the coldest day in Washington, ever, I am trapped outside, while inside the house there is a banana-wielding two-year old wearing a tutu. There's also a pot of beef simmering on the gas stove. I do not know which will be the more combustible, if I don't get in soon.
Unfortunately for Meghan, feral daughter Chignon is unfamiliar with the concept of doorknobs and locks meaning Mummy has to talk her down:
"Phone, Mummy!" I wonder what she thinks I'm doing out here.
"I know, sweetheart," I shout soothingly. "Say, Phoebe, can you let Mummy in? Can you open the door?" Even as I say it I realize the impossibility. Not only did our doorbell fatally fry itself months ago, but also lately the knob mechanism has been sticking. Strong men have to struggle violently to get out of the house.
"Darling, try to open the door. Just try. Okay?"
A small hand reaches out, and with ridiculously simple "click," the front door opens. Evidently it, like Excalibur, prefers the gentle touch.
As we can see, the house is still in horrible disrepair, probably because Meghan spends most of her time on the phone ( see last week) gossiping about the neighbors, including another Mother who is scandalously 1960's modern:
"She" is the Capable Mother, an impressive figure at our children's school who arrived last year and immediately set about massing an army of followers. In addition to trouncing other women in the giving of coffee mornings (ahem), the Capable Mother started an afterschool song-and-dance group that has the subversive feel of a cult. She distributes junk-food snacks and plays music that other parents abominate. She puts elementary-school girls in sexy stockings, and urges her charges to gasp with Bob-Fosse-esque satisfaction when they've completed a move. I am told that thong underwear plays a small role in an upcoming production.
Gasp! Because if there is one thing parents should "abominate" more than the sultry jungle rythyms of Fosse-esque music, it's the dreaded "thong". But Meghan is on the case helping out equally flummoxed mothers who just don't know what to do with this saucy trollop of a mom who is turning their precious little darlings into common whores:
"Listen," I say firmly, opening my invisible vial of spine-straightener. Having bottled the genie of erotic jazz dance in our previous school, I am utterly unafraid of seeming ungroovy when it comes to putting children in fishnets. The Capable Mother is what happens when good people do nothing. She is the human equivalent of Nintendo.
"Tell your daughter the main reason mothers exist is to protect children. Tell her you wouldn't be doing your job if you paid for her to spend two hours a week under the influence of someone who makes such Dubious Moral Judgments."
"Dubious morals ? ?" the other mother falters, "I mean, I don't like the club, but I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call ? "
"Well, of course," I concede, spooling back a bit from my scary Day of Reckoning tone, "Then you could say, oh, it's not a nice atmosphere, or "How vulgar!" ? we both laugh ? "Or it's not 'appropriate.'"
"Dubious moral judgments," the mother says wonderingly, her spine audibly straighter. "You know, I might try that. It does sound persuasive."
Meghan, of course, has no fear of being labeled "ungroovy" which is only natural in someone who actually uses the term: ungroovy. On the other hand, "dubious morals'" and "vulgar" are terms that are quite "hip" and "cool" and some might even say "with it".
Meanwhile, while Meghan gabs on the phone about "Capable Mother":
We hang up. My sous-chef climbs up on the kitchen counter, and I lift the lid off the fragrant beef. It's one of those absurdly simple Italian concoctions that is meant to yield a succulent, melting, gorgeous hunk of mouth-feel after a lengthy bout of slow cooking. I check my watch: Only five minutes to go, better give it one last stir ?
" - clonk," goes the wooden spoon. I prod the meat, and look incredulously at my watch. After two hours burbling quietly on the stove, my magnificent, enormous portion of "marbled" beef has turned...to stone.
Oh, sweet irony.....
posted by tbogg at 9:19 AM
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Thursday, January 29, 2004
America is more closed and more secreter than anybody! USA! USA! USA!....
Cover-up Condi is talking about balking:
President Bush (news - web sites)'s national security adviser acknowledged on Thursday there may have been flaws in prewar intelligence about Iraq (news - web sites) but brushed aside calls for an independent investigation into the matter.
"I think that what we have is evidence that there are differences between what we knew going in and what we found on the ground," Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) told CBS.
She added, "That's not surprising in a country that was as closed and secretive as Iraq, a country that was doing everything that it could to deceive the United Nations (news - web sites), to deceive the world."
Yeah. Deceiving the world is our job. The big copycats...
Rice said the Iraq Survey Group, which is continuing to search for weapons in Iraq, should complete its work and that the intelligence community had already launched its own investigation.
Because we know what a bang-up job they did last time. And if they screw this one up.....ooooooo...we're gonna make 'em stay after school and write "I will not abuse the President's trust again" on the chalkboard about eighty kabillion times...
posted by tbogg at 11:33 PM
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Is that a nightstick or are you just glad to see me?
I can't say that this got a lot of play in the local paper:
A San Diego policeman who sold videos of himself masturbating after removing a police uniform was wrongly dismissed from the force, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday.
An officer named in court documents only as John Roe sold the videos on the Internet vendor eBay Inc., where his hobby was discovered by his supervisor. Roe never identified himself as a San Diego police officer in his sales pitch and gave a fictitious address in northern California.
The San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Roe that his dismissal by the San Diego Police Department in 2001 was unjust because his off-duty actions were protected by First Amendment rights to free speech.
I can only imagine the uncomfortable pause when the client offered to shake his attorney's hand after the decision....
posted by tbogg at 11:24 PM
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Hurry. Before Fat Tony Scalia stops the voting
The Koufax Awards await your vote.
By the way, they're a good place to find some blogs you may never have read before.
Go ahead. Kill another hour at work. Pretend it's research......
posted by tbogg at 10:40 PM
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Fair and balanced on Dennis Mill-----Oh, for the love of god, it sucked.
Faced with an evening where I just wanted to watch TV I somehow ended up at the new Dennis Miller Show. Now, I've made it painfully clear that I'm not a big Miller fan. Quite frankly, he hit his peak back in the late eighties and his HBO rants were funny the first, oh, three times, but after that they just became schtick, like watching Gallagher hit a watermelon, ha ha, yeah that's real funny...again. But I thought I give him a chance to check out the new Miller. I swear, I went in giving him the benefit of the doubt. I swear.
It was...awful. And I only watched the first ten minutes before I turned it off because I was embarassed for him.
First, while doing his standard Weekend Update news reading routine, he rushed his jokes. Why did he rush his jokes? Possibly to fill the dead air. I don't know if he has a live audience but someone should have woken them up. All you could hear was some scattered hollow echoey laughter that honestly sounded like it was coming from the crew. It sounded like Flopsweat Night at the Village Grinnery.
Second, the shot of him at the desk was pulled waaay back making the news video monitor behind him look like a 24" TV. Why was the shot pulled back? To get the....chimp sitting on his desk into the shot. That's right. He has a chimp, just like Sean Hannity, only this one is slightly more insightful. Oh. And there was a little buzzer knob on the desk that made the Howard Dean scream everytime the chimp hit it. No. Really. The show is that edgy.
After a merciful commercial break, Miller was back with Newsweek journalist Michael Isikoff to discuss the Kay report and testimony. Bad idea. After Miller couldn't get Isikoff to confirm Miller's assertions about the non-existant WMD being shipped into Syria, Miller fell back into his "well, Saddam was a lunatic" defense that becomes more half-hearted with each repetition. From a humor standpoint the segment was worth it only to see the look on Isikoff's face while Miller tried to frame questions to elicit the answers that he wanted. To his credit Isikoff didn't roll his eyes or smirk, but his answers did have that calm slow-talking patient sound of a father explaining to a not-too-bright son why he shouldn't stick his tongue in the wall socket.
That was about all I could stand.
It would be unfair to judge the possible success of Miller's new show based on only watching ten minutes it, but I'm not going to let that stop me.
The show is awful. Amateurish with low production quality. Not enough red meat for the type of audience that Miller attracts now. CNBC has modest expectations for the show and Miller is meeting those... so far. But unless they do something to juice up his act, I can't see the typical Fox viewer mustering up the energy to push a button on the remote.
To put it the way that even Dennis Miller can understand: It looks like Miller's going to be out of there faster than a fat girl in a dodgeball game.
posted by tbogg at 10:28 PM
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Things to do at NRO when you're dumb
I did my daily stop over at The Corner to see what they were babbling about today, but it seems that they've been given the go ahead to just post emails because, well, it's easier than working, don'cha think? And being the hipsters that they are (South Park Republicans all... except for the Derb and Tim Graham) you would have thought that they would have linked to this.
Maybe they're waiting on Mickey Kaus to post a "sophisticated exegesis" so they would know what the hell is going on.
I did enjoy this letter that Jonah shared with us:
Jonah,
I think that the letter posted at The Corner that describes Bush as the neighbor next door may be onto something.
Please let me share a demonstrative anecdote. I was recently in my local Meijer store, which is a Wal-Mart like mega-store, and walked down the cheap art aisle and was stopped in my tracks by a painting of George W. Bush. It was at least 18x12 in size and portrayed our President on one knee, with an open Bible in his right hand, and a clear and distinct wedding ring on his left. He is wearing a shirt and tie, but has the sleeves rolled up.
It surprised me, in that, even out here in red country, there is still plenty of cynicism about our leaders. I guess I just don't expect our generation to lionize heroes like our parents generation did.
Or maybe this whole NEA thing is a plot to lionize W in velvet like Elvis or James Dean.....
I find this funny in so many ways....
posted by tbogg at 1:11 PM
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"Jonathan? Sweetie? Have you ever seen The Crying Game? ....Why? Oh, no reason...."
We see from World O'Crap that le Skank thinks that John Kerry goes around getting all hitched and stuff to rich ladies.
Coulter: Kerry is like some character in a Balzac novel, an adventurer twirling the end of his mustache and preying on rich women
Now, not to be catty or anything (because that would be wrong), but if I remember correctly, it wasn't to long ago that Ann was out on the town with some hunky rich guy. Hmmmmmmm.... Oh, yeah!:
The blonde in the black micro-mini, cocktail thin, was ANN COULTER, the conservative author. When we saw her at the American Songbook gala at Lincoln Center on Monday night, we asked her about her new book. She told us it was about "liberals." The tone she brought to that one word was one you might use after months of living in a deeply carpeted apartment with a dog that cannot be house-trained. "Top secret, they're no good," Ms. Coulter said. "That's the seminal insight of the book."
She was reluctant to give away the title, so she shared one that didn't make the cut. "My title, much more vicious and vindictive, was "Enemies List: The Coulter Collection."
A few words about our own oeuvre to her date, JONATHAN LEDECKY, who must be an excellent audience since he said barely a word: "Have you ever read their Boldface Names?" Ms. Coulter asked. "Yeah, second page of Metro. It's always about those people who you've never heard of, who no one has ever heard of."
Jonathan Ledecky?
Jonathan J. Ledecky has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Company since June 1998. Mr. Ledecky is currently Vice Chairman of Lincoln Holdings LLC, which owns the Washington Capitals, the Washington Wizards and the Washington Mystics sports teams. Mr. Ledecky founded U.S. Office Products Company in October 1994 and served as its Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer from inception through November 1997 and thereafter as a director until May 1998. In February 1997, Mr. Ledecky founded Building One Services Corp., now Encompass Services Corporation, and served as its Chairman until February 2000 and Chief Executive Officer until June 1999. Mr. Ledecky is also a director of publicly traded Aztec Technology Partners, UniCapital Corporation and School Speciality.
Boy. I bet rich- boy Ledecky never thought he had much in common with Eddie Murphy.
Oh. And lest we forget, Ann used to date a Guccione, but she says she wasn't "arm candy"
Coulter's columnist job coincides with increased rumblings that she plans to run for Congress. The rumors first arose in the Washington Post's Reliable Source column, which noted that Coulter -- whom Reliable Source called former Spin publisher Bob Guccione Jr.'s "one-time arm candy" -- "obviously wants to be taken more seriously" and, though "she won't say so yet, since she wants to keep working as an unaffiliated pundit," would run for Connecticut Republican Rep. Christopher Shays' seat. (Shays, who enjoys wide support from his constituents, ruffled some feathers with his recent vote against impeachment.)
In a letter to the Post, Coulter said, "I must write to correct a few of the many egregious misstatements in your ... Reliable Source column. I am not, and have never been arm candy for Bob Guccione Jr. The Gooch was my arm candy -- my boy toy -- whom I eventually, and regretfully, had to replace with a much younger man."
Yeah. He was a Big Hunk and she was a Chick-o-Stick ...in more ways than one.
posted by tbogg at 9:19 AM
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Two weeks later Billy found his dream job on monster.com....
It's good to know that, during George Bush's jobless recovery, even a poor boy from Louisiana can still find a job that pays slightly over the living wage:
The House's top Democrat, Nancy Pelosi of California, strongly criticized a Republican lawmaker Wednesday for his consideration of a lucrative job offer from the pharmaceutical industry -- an offer that came weeks after he helped to negotiate a sweeping Medicare bill that established a prescription drug benefit for America's seniors.
Pelosi called it "inappropriate" and an "abuse of power" for Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, R-Louisiana, to consider the offer from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturing Association (PhRMA), one of the city's most powerful lobbies, to head up the organization. The job would pay him more than $1 million a year, according to sources.
"Seniors who are wondering why the pharmaceutical companies made out so well in this bill at their expense, need only to look at this example of abuse of power and conflict of interest," Pelosi said at a news conference.
It's a good thing Tauzin read Wendy Gramm's book: The Private Sector Bounce- It's Not Graft If You Wait A Few Weeks.
He's the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee and a big recipient of Enron campaign contributions. She's on Enron's board and audit committee. Together, they are Phil and Wendy Gramm, a Washington power couple entangled like no other in Enron's fall.
By their own accounting, the Gramms lost nearly $700,000 when the company went under. But sympathy may be hard to come by.
Wendy Gramm is named in a suit filed by investors against Enron executives and directors. And Phil Gramm's role in reducing government oversight of energy trading, which helped Enron in its rise to power, is under the microscope as well.
As devoted free-market economists, the Gramms have long espoused a hands-off approach to government regulation. One of their two sons, Marshall, is named after British free-market economist Alfred Marshall. President Reagan liked to call Mrs. Gramm his favorite economist.
The Gramms' economic philosophy jibed perfectly with Enron's business interests. Sen. Gramm collected almost $100,000 in campaign contributions from Enron over the past 12 years, the second-biggest draw in Congress. And Wendy Gramm collected between $915,000 and $1.85 million from Enron in salary, attendance fees, stock options and dividends between 1993 and 2001, according to Public Citizen, a Washington watchdog group.
Wendy Gramm took a seat on Enron's board in 1993, just five weeks after resigning as chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where she pushed through a key regulatory exemption that benefited Enron.
Here's more on Wendy.
posted by tbogg at 8:49 AM
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Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Happy smiley Virgin Ben
His column is a yawn...but he has a new picture.
Buh-bye Brooding Ben.
posted by tbogg at 12:05 AM
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Tuesday, January 27, 2004
So. What do they have to hide?
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks announced on Tuesday that it was seeking an extension of its deadline to complete the investigation until at least July, raising the prospect of a public fight with the White House and a final report delivered in the heat of the presidential campaign.
The White House and Republican Congressional leaders have said they see no need to extend the congressionally mandated deadline, now set for May 27, and a spokesman for Speaker J. Dennis Hastert said Tuesday that Mr. Hastert would oppose any legislation to grant the extension.
But commission officials said there was no way to finish their work on time, a situation they attribute in part to delays by the Bush administration in turning over documents and other evidence.
The commission said Tuesday that it had not yet received a commitment from the administration for public testimony from prominent White House officials, including Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser. The panel said it was still in negotiations over the possibility of testimony from President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
"We are telling the Congress and the president what we need to do the best possible job," said the panel's chairman, Thomas H. Kean, a Republican who was formerly governor of New Jersey, in announcing the panel's decision to seek an extension of at least two months. "Much work remains, and some hard work in finalizing our report."
If the White House uses their button-men, Hastert and DeLay to kill the extension, the DNC needs to run commercials featuring survivors of those who died on 9/11 asking why George W. Bush doesn't want us to know what happened and what is he hiding.
Simple. Effective. Devastating.
posted by tbogg at 10:43 PM
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Gathering threats and the threats that they gather
Boy. That Scott McClellan sure can stay on message, can't he. Knowing that he was going to be hammered with the Kay Report he had his talking point (he only needs one) down.
" Gathering threat(s)"
18 times.
But at the end he wearied and slipped up:
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you're asking questions. But Saddam Hussein was a grave and gathering danger, and he has now been removed from power. The world is safer and better because of the actions that we took.
Q Thank you.
MR. McCLELLAN: Thank you.
No. Thank you.
posted by tbogg at 10:27 PM
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Now hold on there, buckaroo.....
I wonder how many readers of WorldNet Daily (home of David Limbaugh, Rebecca Hagelin, and Les Kinsolving. Publisher of Michael Savage)) had their world spin out of control and everything got all woozy and they felt the need for a cool damp compress and a lie-down in a dark room after reading this letter (you've gotta scroll down a bit):
I am a regular reader of WorldNetDaily, and I find most of your views consistent with my own – save in one area. That area is your attitude toward people whose sexual orientation differs from your own.
Like the married cowboys portrayed by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in "Brokeback Mountain," I too am married, in love with my wife, the father of three children and, with the blessing of my wife, in love with another man. Mine is a common story and it is only attitudes like yours that require most of us to remain hidden, mainly so that our children will not be ostracized.
I admire Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal for having the courage to portray the lives of people like me. There are a lot of us – carpenters, football players, lawyers, doctors, journalists and, yes, even cowboys. We do not appear in most polls, and our numbers are unknown, even to us. You would have no idea whatsoever who we are unless we decided to tell you. And many of us despise the liberal agenda and consider ourselves conservatives.
My children are grown now. My son is in his late twenties and is an associate partner at a large law firm; he and his girlfriend will be getting married next year. My oldest daughter, in her mid-twenties is a first year medical student. My youngest daughter, in her early twenties works in the entertainment industry.
I count my blessings that my wife, early in our marriage, came to understand my dual love nature. Her capacity for love, more than anything, has made it possible for us to become a very happy, close family. Some of my friends have not been so lucky – they feel compelled to hide this aspect of their lives from their wives, which causes a great deal of tension. I would not want to live that way.
By the way, I do not like the term "bisexual," which implies that one is ready to jump anyone's bones. I am, perhaps, "biamorous" – that is, capable of falling in love with a man and a woman simultaneously and capable of maintaining long-term relationships with both.
Too tough for you? Get used to it, pardner. You ain't seen nothing yet.
Name Withheld
Last I heard, Joeseph Farah did not claw his eyeballs from their sockets while screaming, "This is not our demographic! This is not our demographic! la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-lal-a-la...".
(Thanks to Sadly, No for the inadvertent link)
posted by tbogg at 2:16 PM
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It Is As It Sucks
It's an old story. An A-list actor with an 'interesting' background invests a great deal of personal money and time and puts their reputation on the line to bring to the screen a story they think needs to be told.
Unfortunately...they screw it up.
Mel Gibson reportedly put 20 to 30 million dollars into Passion: A Date with Lethal Jesus and has been out generating whatever buzz he can by ginning up fake controversies and paranoid fantasies because...
... his movie blows.
That's spooky. Frank Rich made an interesting point in his New York Times column: that the audiences that have been selected to see this film before the release are all very conservative Christians like the Senate Republican Conference, the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, and Rush Limbaugh -- but it hasn't been shown to critics or Bible scholars or Jewish groups. Do you think Mel knows he has something to worry about, here?
I just don't think it's very well done. I think if someone wants to get into some interesting cinematic treatments, they should go see "The Gospel According to St. Matthew" by Pasolini. Or even the old Hollywood blockbusters. ["The Passion"] reflects a very morbid kind of theology. If the idea is to just provoke, it may do that. I thought it was a lot of dull, unless you like watching protracted torture scenes.
So you didn't feel like it was going to be a tool of great conversion or anything.
No, not at all. It's 100 percent Hollywood trash. There's so many stories that can illumine the meaning of suffering and redemption and forgiveness, and renewal of life, and they're not all in the Bible.
This is Gibson's Battlefield Earth.
posted by tbogg at 12:47 PM
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As a spokeswoman for Trudi's Plus Size Emporium for the Big and Manly.....
It's nice to see that the marvelously androgynous Karen Hughes is back in the fold again:
Mike George, from Washington, DC writes:
Where are the WMD?
Karen Hughes
I think the only answer is that we are trying to find out. The evidence on which we acted was based on 15 years of information and analysis from the intelligence community, gathered during both Democratic and Republican administrations. I saw a recent interview with a senior career CIA employee, who said the information we were given did not suddenly change -- and had been consistently the information given American presidents and the Congress for 15 years.
It was based on the best information and analysis available. In his report, Inspector David Kay found-- and I quote -- evidence of "ongoing weapons of mass destruction activities" and Iraqi deception -- although the media frequently ignores that -- I notice it wasn't mentioned in several newspaper stories this morning. Those "ongoing weapons of mass destruction activities" would be ongoing to this day had we not acted.
We are continuing to seek all the facts, and the President will share them with the American people as we learn them.
Now go play with your XBox while Karl and I work on our plans to blow smoke up America's ass...again.
posted by tbogg at 11:54 AM
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Prayers, good vibes, best wishes... whatever you've got, send it.
Steve Gilliard is pretty darn sick. You should be thinking about him today.
posted by tbogg at 11:32 AM
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You f----d up, you trusted us!
Mickey Kaus thinks that John Kerry isn't suited to be President because the guy who is President lied to Kerry and Kerry believed him so Kerry is out and the guy who lied should probably stay in office.
In case you have missed it, Kerry explains his vote this way:
I voted to give the authority to the president to use force under a set of promises by the president as to how he would do it: build a legitimate international coalition, exhaust the remedies of the United Nations, and go to war as a last resort. He broke every single one of those promises.
And that's why I'm the best candidate to run against him and beat him, because I knew we had to hold Saddam Hussein accountable but I knew how to do it the right way. President Bush did it the wrong way.
Never mind what it says about Kerry's judgment that he trusted the vague promises made by a president he now claims is so unfit for office. (You'd think before such a momentous decision Kerry would have met with Bush in private, to obtain the assurances Bonesman-to-Bonesman--or maybe even gotten them in writing.)
Never loan Mickey any money....
posted by tbogg at 11:19 AM
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Let's not forget the herpes.....
AP is covering Neil Bush and doing it badly.
Rex John, who has known Neil Bush since his Denver days, said he has never known Neil Bush to use his family connections to obtain business opportunities.
"I'm sure it has opened many doors for him, but it wasn't Neil out there trying to get them open," John said. "Neil would never do anything like that. That's not his style."
Oh really?
Neil Bush, most famous for the scandal surrounding the corrupt practices of Colorado's Silverado Savings & Loan, where he served as a director during the 1980s, also picked plums from Persian Gulf orchards. In 1993, after his father left the White House, Neil went to Kuwait with his parents, brother Marvin and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III. When his father left, Neil stayed to lobby for business contracts, and after returning home evolved a set of lucrative relationships with Syrian-American businessman Jamal Daniel. One of their ventures, Ignite!, an educational software company, also included representatives of at least three ruling Persian Gulf families.
AP also states:
It is not the first time Neil Bush has caused his family some trouble. At the end of his father's presidency, Neil was among a group of defendants who agreed to pay $49.5 million to settle a negligence lawsuit over the $1 billion collapse of the savings and loan he directed in Colorado.
Bush denied wrongdoing and was not charged in the grand jury investigation, but the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision found Bush's conduct "involved significant conflicts of interest and constituted multiple breaches" of his fiduciary duties.
Oh really?
In 1990, Bush paid a $50,000 fine and was banned from banking activities for his role in taking down Silverado, which actually cost taxpayers $1.3 billion. A Resolution Trust Corporation Suit against Bush and other officers of Silverado was settled in 1991 for $26.5 million. And the fine wasn't exactly paid by Neil Bush. A Republican fundraiser set up a fund to help defer costs Neil incurred in his S&L dealings. Friends and relatives contributed -- but not then-President and Barbara Bush, which would have been unseemly. Since then, the Bush political combine has done such a remarkable job keeping Neil in the background that what seemed like a 10-year news blackout didn't end until mid-February, when the Austin Business Journal reported that Bush "quietly is heading a local start-up that's raising at least $10 million in second-round funding." According to the business newsweekly, Bush has already raised $7.1 million from 53 investors underwriting Ignite! Inc., an educational software company. After being banned from banking and all but airbrushed out of the family portrait -- or at least the family news profile -- Neil Bush is back.
Bush wasn't just an average S&L exec drawing a big salary and recklessly pushing a federally insured institution beyond its lending limits. As a director of a failing thrift in Denver, Bush voted to approve $100 million in what were ultimately bad loans to two of his business partners. And in voting for the loans, he failed to inform fellow board members at Silverado Savings & Loan that the loan applicants were his business partners. Federal banking regulators later followed the trail of defaulted loans to Neil Bush oil ventures, in particular JNB International, an oil and gas exploration company awarded drilling concessions in Argentina -- despite its complete lack of experience in international oil and gas drilling. It probably helped that the Bush family had cultivated close ties with the fabulously corrupt Carlos Menem, former president of Argentina.
When JNB's rights and obligations were assumed by other investors, Neil tried to persuade another American oil and gas exploration company, Plains Resources, to invest in Argentina. Plains wasn't buying. But it was hiring, and picked up Neil as a consultant for its Argentine market -- because, as Plains executive Carlos Garibaldi told The New York Times' Jeff Gerth in 1992, Neil had "traveled [in Argentina] and played tennis with President Menem." Plains President J. Patrick Collins told Gerth at the time that Neil Bush "bent over backwards not to trade on his name."
That claim was hard to make in 1993, when Neil, Marvin, James Baker III, John Sununu, and Thomas Kelly (who had served as director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War) joined President Bush on a trip to Kuwait. Three months out of office, the elder Bush was traveling on a Kuwait Airlines flight to accept an honorary degree from the country's university and its highest honor from its leader: Emir Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Sabah. The rest of the Bush entourage was following along to exploit the market in a country that considered the ex-president its savior. Former Secretary of State Baker was doing deals for Enron (the Houston-based energy-related company and contributor to Bush the Elder and later a $525,000 donor to George W. Bush's two gubernatorial races in Texas). Marvin was representing U.S. defense firms selling electronic fences to the Kuwaiti Defense Ministry. And Neil was selling anti-pollution equipment to Kuwaiti oil contractors.
There is "no conflict of interest. ... We're just capitalizing on whatever good feelings exist," an executive from the company Neil Bush represented later told Seymour Hersh, who laid out the embarrassing story on the pages of The New Yorker in September 1993. Neil, according to Hersh, later returned to Kuwait and set up shop in the International Hotel in Kuwait City, where he tried to secure a management contract with Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity and Water. Neil's deal included foreign and Kuwaiti members of the Enron consortium, and would have had the Kuwaiti government paying a management fee to a Kuwaiti company that was owned in part by a private company set up in the Caribbean or some other tax haven. "The offshore firm would have various owners, in Europe and elsewhere, one of which would be a company in which Neil Bush had an interest," The New Yorker reported. The scheme was ingenious, a financial analyst told Hersh."If you looked at one of the contracts, how in the hell would you know that Bush was in it?" The whole deal was as unsavory and unpardonable as a round of golf with Hillary Clinton sibling Huey Rodham.
Nice to see that AP did their homework...they just failed to turn it in. I give them a C-.
Next time, show work.
posted by tbogg at 10:05 AM
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Dennis Miller watch...or 'not watch' as the case may be with most of America
Dennis Miller (scruffy beard, high-pitched annoying laugh, Republican lamprey. Yeah that guy) had Arnold Schwartzengroper on, I guess, and Wonkette watched it so that you didn't have to, not that you were going to because it was on at the same time as that re-run of Everybody Loves Raymond where Raymond makes fun of his brother for being stupid and Peter Boyle is mean to Doris Roberts.
Anyway, it looks like Miller was as predictable as Raymond, as in: neither one of them is funny, so the whole night wasn't a total loss.
Oh. And Arnold broke the law too.
I don't think Dennis mentioned it though.
posted by tbogg at 9:08 AM
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Cuz the dolphins tell me so....
Peggy Noonan says that Wesley Clark is a:
first class strange-o
That he is:
arrogant and opportunistic
pompous
a man who has no real beliefs save one: Wes Clark should be president
temperamental and unpredictable and strange
...and then adds;
We can't afford flip-outs, or people who are too obviously creepy.
Along the way she lies:
He is passionately for the war until he announces for the Democratic nomination facing an antiwar base, at which point he becomes passionately antiwar. He thanks God that George Bush and his aides are in the White House, then he says they're the worst leaders ever. Anyone can change his mind; but this is not a change, it's a swerve, and without a convincing rationale.
and shows that she doesn't get out much:
It is not terrible that he was introduced the other day in New Hampshire by a bilious activist, Michael Moore, who called the president a "deserter." Gen. Clark didn't address the charge when he took the stage. He could have been distracted, and it certainly would have been ungracious to say, "Thanks for that introduction, which I must disavow because it suggests a grassy knoll extremism with which I cannot associate myself." But in the days afterward Gen. Clark was repeatedly questioned about Mr. Moore's charge. He dug the hole deeper by leaving open the possibility that it was true.
Even though it is true.
Which is probably why Republican Peggy starts this whole mess with:
Let me assert something that I cannot prove with a poll but that is based on serious conversations the past few months with Republicans and also normal people
I think she made her case.
posted by tbogg at 8:49 AM
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Monday, January 26, 2004
When you ask if women can have it 'all', well, please define 'all'. Because I came in here thinking 'all' meant, you know, stuff you actually wanted to have...
Naturally after obtaining that picture of America's Worst Mom™ (see below) I had to go check out the source, which is something called America's Future Foundation which is some kind of foundation for the socially awkward where they try to make them feel like society isn't sniggering behind their backs, and if they are, well they're actually laughing with them and not at them. Oh hell, here's how they put it:
America's Future Foundation is an innovative and growing organization that identifies and develops talented young people who will play important roles in the movement for freedom and in American society. Our entire mission is focused on helping these bright liberty-minded people in their mid-20s and 30s build their social networks and become better at what they do so that they can move up to leadership positions quickly -- whether they work in journalism, policy, business, academia, or the arts.
AFF employs an operating strategy of self-development where participants have an opportunity to help plan and implement our programs directly. At any given time we work closely with our most active and capable members to do everything from preparing events to editing and laying out our magazine. AFF cuts the teeth and harnesses the talent of these likeminded young stars through the following core programs...
Basically it's a Rotary Club for the kind of young people that society has decided must really really remain abstinent for obvious reasons so why not give them a place to hang out so they don't bother attractive desirable people in their 20's and 30's who just want to have a good time and don't want to talk about the dirty parts in Atlas Shrugged.
Among the topics covered at AFF Round Tables are:
Women Can Have It All unless, of course, by 'all' they mean guys who weren't dressed by their moms who are waiting outside in the car with the heater going and a thermos of hot chocolate, in which case a gift certificate to Good Vibrations would be greatly appreciated.
What the Heck Is A NeoCon and do they get some kind of card that lets them buy hair gel by the gallon really cheap?
Same Sex Marriage but not us. Nope... we're straight. Just looking for babes. That's what we're doing. Yup. We're here to score...with babes, of course.
Euthanasia. Guess which one?
and Cloning, which may not be for everyone, if you know what I mean....
All in all, it looks like good clean fun, phallic imagery notwithstanding...
posted by tbogg at 10:41 PM
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If we lower this bar any further, we're going to need a backhoe...
It was with some amusement today that I read this via a link at World O'Crap:
But I feel we must include in the line-up Washington DC’s resident brainy blonde mom, Danielle Crittenden, columnist author of Amanda Bright @ Home and Things Our Mothers Didn’t Tell Us; my lovely friend Meghan Cox Gurdon (another brainy blonde) who has parlayed her experience as a national radio reporter and feature writer into a popular home-life column for the National Review Online..
Meghan Cox Gurdon? "Lovely" and "a brainy blonde"? Have I misjudged her? Could she be some kind of Hot Hausfrau who looks like this?
Nope.
(Thanks to Megan for the picture...I think)
posted by tbogg at 9:59 PM
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First of all, it needs to delete all parishilton.mov files....
NASA's Mars off-roader Spirit is having problems doing its job sending back important pictures of rocks, stones, pebbles, dirt, dust.....
NASA’s Opportunity rover sent back a sweeping color view of its surreal surroundings on Mars, and engineers said Monday that Spirit, its ailing twin, may have suffered computer problems because it was trying to keep track of too many files.
As part of a weeks-long process to nurse the Spirit rover back to health, engineers will tell it to delete hundreds of files that accumulated during the spacecraft's seven-month, 300-million-mile cruise to the Red Planet, mission manager Jennifer Trosper told journalists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
No sign of alien life yet. At least on Mars.
posted by tbogg at 12:59 PM
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No end to the good news...
This ought to piss some people off.
posted by tbogg at 12:40 PM
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AWOL, Deserter. Deserter, AWOL. Let's just admit he skipped...
David at Orcinus has done a terrific job of pulling together all of the threads of the George Bush's lost year of military service as well as links to some laughably beside-the-point defenses of Lt. Chicken Run. Since I'm still the midst of American Dynasty, I thought I would add Kevin Phillip's two cents:
The second intriguing discovery, brought to light in 2000, was that George W. had interrupted the fulfillment of his Air National Guard obligations for almost a year, beginning in May 1972. One reason, journalists suggested, might have been to avoid taking a required air force physical examination that was subject to random drug testing. Senior officers seem to have covered for him; he was not discharged or drafted, as he might have been. Questions have been raised about Bush aides allegedly tampering with the air force files. The substance of the events is not in doubt.
Neither episode proved there had been any cocaine-related arrest, and the exculpatory explanation accepted by the press for George W.'s voluntary service at PULL, the Houston inner-city group, was that George H.W. Bush himself had arranged it after his eldest son had turned up one night after driving while intoxicated. Further pursuit of this issue by the major media was negligible, although pointed coverage did run in the Sunday Times of London. Among U.S. newspapers, the closest attention came in the Boston Globe of May 23, 2000:
Still, the puzzling gap in Bush's military service is likely to heighten speculation about the conspicuous underachievement that marked the period between his 1968 graduation from Yale University and his 1973 entry into Harvard Business School. It is speculation that Bush has helped to fuel: For example, he refused for months last year to say whether he had ever used illegal drugs. Subsequently, however, Bush amended his stance, saying that he had not done so since 1974.
From a broader evidentiary standpoint, cocaine usage was no longer the issue. Had a cover-up been proved--a disposal or tampering with records akin to he cover-ups for which Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton were pursued-- it might have scuttled any plausibility of a Bush-led moral restoration. Clinton and Bush would have become fellow scamps, not dragon and putative Saint George. The extended adolescence of a dauphin or Prince of Wales is benignly tolerated; the politics of moral supremacy requires a stricter standard.
posted by tbogg at 11:54 AM
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It is as it was...when Boogaloo Shrimp walked the Earth
Good to see that Pope is staying on top of popular culture:
In an unusual spectacle at the Vatican, Pope John Paul II presided Sunday over a performance of break-dancers who leaped, flipped and spun their bodies to beats from a tinny boom box.
The 83-year-old pontiff seemed to approve, waving his hand after each dancer completed a move, then applauding for the entire group. He watched the performance from a raised throne.
"For this creative hard work I bless you from my heart," he said.
During the show, one dancer -- part of a Polish group that helps poor and marginalized youths -- planted his head on the inlaid marble floor of the Vatican hall and spun to loud applause from his group and from Vatican officials. Another performer flung his body around in a series of spins and handstands.
"Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it," John Paul said.
You'll notice that he didn't talk like that after he saw Mel Gibson's Pop 'n' Lock Jesus: Electric Messiah, now did he?
posted by tbogg at 10:32 AM
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Sunday, January 25, 2004
Writing one more book than George Bush has read
We see that Bill Clinton, the last elected President of the Former United States, is struggling to finish his book:
With the clock ticking, Clinton is buckling down. Although he is still traveling (this week to the World Economic Forum in Davos), aides are "trying to keep him under house arrest," says one source. He even has "book time" built into his schedule as if it were a meeting or a speech.
But it's still going slowly. In addition to putting pen to yellow pad (he does not use a computer) and relying on the 85 audiotapes he recorded while in office, the former president tapes conversations with his former speechwriter Ted Widmer several times a month. A former aide familiar with the system explains that Clinton likes to "talk out ideas first," and Widmer is his sounding board. Sometimes specific topics are covered; other times Clinton prefers Widmer to ask him questions. Once the inexhaustible Clinton starts, says the aide, "the floodgates open."
One person familiar with the draft describes the book as "really long and searching," an attempt to "pull all the pieces of his life together." It's hard for him to decide what to leave out. And it's also difficult for Clinton to "make final judgments and come to terms with things," says a friend. The writing has been taxing both "physically and psychologically," says another. The book runs from his birth to the present, and will likely include his own account of the Lewinsky scandal. Clinton "sees the book as a big part of his legacy," says an associate.
Although Clinton is still writing, plans are being made for a rollout that will trump that of Hillary Clinton's when "Living History" debuted last year. There will be appearances on morning shows and primetime specials. Although he won't elaborate, lawyer Bob Barnett teases that "in some ways [the rollout] will be unique." Clinton won't avoid weighing in on the presidential contest; according to a source, "there will be enough in there" to keep interviewers occupied with the book, so Clinton will "kind of balance it" with answering the inevitable questions about the race. The book is still untitled. Someone close to Clinton says, "With a person like him, titles don't matter."
Might I suggest titling it, in keeping with this evening's French theme:
Après Moi, Le Dolt
posted by tbogg at 10:36 PM
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Must be why she lets her kids pee on the Proust
Meghan Cox Gurdon wants to be part of KJL's He-Woman French Haters Club. First K-Lo writes:
FROG ALERT [KJL ]
Kerry just practiced his French during the after-rally greet and meet.
Posted at 07:59 PM
Gasp! or should that be: le gasp!
Then Gurdon, who is desperate for any kind of relationship with an adult in an attempt to escape the soul-deadening life she has made for herself by squeezing out Anemone, Claire-Bob, Polyamory, and Ramses in little over six years (causing her obstetrician to suggest a velcro episiotomy) writes to K-Lo:
CHEESE-EATING, SURRENDER MONKEY [KJL]
Meghan Gurdon caught more of Kerry's French moment than I did. She e-mails: ""J'espere" he said, to his froggy well-wishers, who evidently called him M. le President, though it was hard to hear through the roars of enthusiasm."
Posted at 08:08 PM
Because, my God!, we can't have a President who speaks more than one language, or in the case of the current President, slightly more than half of a language. And to speak french, no less....
Later K-Lo wrote back to Meghan to point out that she just discovered that the french don't have a word for ' fellatio', causing Meghan to ask what fellatio is...which would explain all those kids and the reason that Meghan's husband never comes home...
posted by tbogg at 10:05 PM
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Whatever happened to good old-fashioned books about dysfunctional American families headed by strong sensible women who spend every afternoon at 3 watching Oprah?
I'm not really a literary snob in the mold of Meghan Gurdon where I ponder an ancient weather-beaten copy of De Laclos that once belonged to a swashbuckling great-uncle who fought in the Boer War and later died in a drinking contest with Hemingway, but not before he invented the drink coaster and bikini waxing, but I would have thought that Oprah would have learned her lesson with The Corrections.
I'm all for people reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, but... well, expect to find thousands of copies of the Oprah edition at your neighborhood used bookstore in the coming months.
Only the first seventy pages will be 'used'.
(Disclaimer: One Hundred Years of Solitude is my second favorite novel, surpassed only by The Origin of the Brunists)
posted by tbogg at 8:19 PM
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Case in point
Over a week ago I mentioned that George Bush (that would be the unelectable one, not the one we fired) made a pitstop in Atlanta to fulfill every Republican's dream and piss on lay a wreath at Martin Luther King Jr.'s memorial in between fundraising stops. You remember: the Fifteen Minute One Stop Photo-op .
From Kevin Phillip's excellent American Dynasty:
George W. Bush, by contrast, developed the use of minority imagery into a calculated routine. In 1999, as he went from million-dollar fund-raiser to million-dollar fund-raiser, his cavalcade regularly stopped for photo opportunities in black and Hispanic schools and community centers. In the words of New York Times reporter Frank Bruni, "He prayed in black churches. He went to Central High School in Little Rock, site of one of the most famous battles in the South to integrate schools. He embraced no past president as tightly as Abraham Lincoln, who put an end to slavery. The apotheosis of this trend eventually came in the Republican National Convention in late July, where the stage featured as many black performers as the Apollo Theater in a good month.' When visiting cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia, in pivotal states, he would drop in at Hispanic festivals and parties, sometimes joining in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Spanish, sometimes partying with a "Viva Bush" mariachi band flown in from Texas.
Shame on those protestors for disrupting his fifteen minutes of media manipulation.
posted by tbogg at 7:54 PM
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Just like the Golden Globes....
...but without the glitz and glamour and having to pretend that Tom Cruise is a good actor.
The Koufax Awards. (scroll down..you'll find 'em)
posted by tbogg at 7:27 PM
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Friday, January 23, 2004
Like the sister I never had.
Okay. I already have a sister, so she's like another sister that I never had.
Whatever. I just really like Wonkette who, based on her graphic might be Lisa Loeb.
posted by tbogg at 1:13 PM
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If only there was way to make that Law & Order "dunk dunk" noise
Isn't this like the best episode of Law & Order ever:
Prosecutors rejected a proposed deal offered by Rush Limbaugh’s attorney that would have seen the radio commentator enter a court-sponsored drug intervention program rather than face charges, according to records.
Instead, Palm Beach County prosecutors wanted Limbaugh to plead guilty to the third-degree felony of “doctor shopping” — visiting several doctors to receive duplicate prescriptions of a controlled narcotic.
According to records of exchanges between prosecutors and Limbaugh’s attorney, the prosecutors’ offer included three years’ probation, participation in a drug treatment program and random drug testing.
I really hope this goes to trial. Someone over at CourtTV just got major wood.
posted by tbogg at 9:47 AM
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Setting free the Greenspans
Dean is proposing the Alan Greenspan should be told that his services have been appreciated but that the country is thinking about going in a new direction and thanks, here's a watch and don't let the door hit you in your flat ass on the way out.
Well, that's not exactly what he said:
Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean said on Friday that he thought Alan Greenspan had become too political and should be replaced as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
"I think Alan Greenspan has become too political. If he lacks the political courage to criticize the deficits, if he was foolish enough -- and he's not a foolish man -- to support the outrageous tax cuts that George Bush put through, then he has become too political and we need a new chairman of the Federal Reserve," Dean said in response to a question from an audience at a town hall meeting in Londonderry.
He said he thought the Fed had done a "terrific job" and that it was "absolutely critical" to make sure it remained independent.
I's sure the thought of Alan moping around the house watching Dr. Phil, and waiting for her to come home from her job each day has Andrea Mitchell cringing.
By the way, Dean's comments have just officially become the official hot topic of this Sundays blithering pundit shows. You've been warned.
posted by tbogg at 9:31 AM
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"Mummy? Are we pretentious or just banal?"
When we last left America's Worst Mother™, her children, Persephone, Daisy Mae, Arugula, and Oedipus, were foraging for food and trapping feral rabbits in order to survive. The kids, while paging through a copy of Thirty Minute Rabbit Recipes pointed out that the Latin term for rabbit is cuniculus, prompting Meghan to smile inwardly and remember that night in college when she and her roommate Stephanie drank that whole bottle of peppermint schnapps and one thing led to another... and, well, let's just say there were lots of awkward silences for the next three semesters and leave it at that, okay?
Anyway, this week finds the frequently ignored children playing with age-appropriate puzzles amid massive dangerous stacks of dusty books that really need to shelved properly to make those "nosy bitches at Child Protective Services get off Mummy's back...Jesus, do I need another drink".
I am on the phone as Phoebe picks her way towards me through crags and buttes of novels stacked on the floor. She climbs up on to my chair, and sits behind me on another literary pile.
Ten months ago, the movers shoved all our accumulated volumes indifferently on to shelves throughout the house. An hour ago, I conceived a fierce Howard-Dean-like desire to organize them by storm.
Of course, there is a large divide between developing "a fierce Howard-Dean-like desire" to do something, and getting off the phone, even when one of your children is trying to get your attention:
" -- Mummy?" Phoebe inquires behind me.
"Just a minute, darling -- Go on," I say to my English sister-in-law, who is planning an Anglo-Canadian raid this summer on coastal Maine, where I grew up and where our family has for the last two years rented a tiny cottage.
Phoebe taps on my head.
"Sweetie, I'm on the phone. See? I show her the handset and return my attention to London.
Now, for all Meghan knows Arugula could be lying at the bottom of the stairs in a pile of Toynbee and Waugh, but Meghan can't be bothered.
Phoebe is saying something urgently: " -- And go!"
Partly absorbed in the long-distance family logistics, partly aware of Phoebe trying to communicate, I am also thinking of the small weather-beaten, leather-bound copy of Rabelais that 15 minutes ago I actually threw out. No spine, terribly fragile, who's ever going to know what it is when they see it on a shelf, let alone read it? Still, throwing away a book. I think of Fahrenheit 451. I think of Mussolini. With a sick feeling, I retrieve the book with its falling-off front cover and discover that it belonged to my husband's grandfather, a swashbuckling Englishman who flew in the first-ever squadron of the RAF, ran off with a mistress, and died on the Italian Riviera.
" -- Mummy!" Phoebe says desperately.
But to no avail, as Meghan distractedly talks on the phone while making up more dramatic relations in her mind in an effort to fill her empty and unfulfilling life as a mother to four mewling demanding little yard-apes, and why, of why, couldn't she learn to insert that diaphragm correctly, like it was so hard or something? Jesus!
Meanwhile, Arugula has started to bleed from her ears...
I gaze at the heaps of books on the floor. What a mess. I roll my sleeves down absent-mindedly. After an hour of hither-and-yon, the room looks like India after Partition. Abandoned nonfiction books huddle worriedly on shelves that used to be full of their own kind, but which are now packed with pushy newcomer novels. Poetry collections and yellowed lit-crit paperbacks sit in small stacks, some here, some there, because I still don't know where they can be allowed to settle. Meanwhile, the dust is unbelievable, like wind whistling through an ashtray.
"Just a minute," I say, then: "Oh heavens, the Proust!"
A tinny trans-Atlantic laugh comes down the telephone line.
"Sarah, I'll have to call you back, Phoebe's just -- "
"Sorry, Mummy."
We are then relieved that to see that Arugula is fine and that Phoebe (who also goes by Persephone or Busty McBoomboom) has merely used pages 11-14, 17,18 of In Search of Lost Time, Volume 5 : The Captive, The Fugitive for toiletpaper when she knew that it was being saved for company and the kids were supposed to be using Trollope's Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite.
What's a mother to do?
posted by tbogg at 9:09 AM
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Thursday, January 22, 2004
I'm not talking about me, silly!
Former President of Feminists for Life, Rachel MacNair writes:
Psychologists have been aware for decades now that people have a basic need for consistency in their thinking. If they don't have it, they have "cognitive dissonance." This is a form of tension, and to relieve it people will go through all kinds of mental gymnastics. Anyone who has watched people make the case for abortion availability could provide examples.
Like perhaps a woman who identifies herself as a "feminist", in an attempt to establish a bit of credibility, yet would deny another woman the right to make a personal decision about her own body? Those kind of gymastics?
MacNair, who is a psychologist much like Charles Krauthammer, also lies, much like Charles Krauthammer:
Experience shows that women are often pressured into abortions (so much for increasing their freedom to choose), and that the aftermath of an abortion can be devastating to women. Researchers have found a link between abortion and increased risk of breast cancer. There has been an upsurge rather than a decrease in child abuse. (My emphasis)
Breast cancer from abortion? I don't think so:
In 2002, spurred on by the Coalition, 28 members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson requesting that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) review its fact sheet on abortion and breast cancer.
As a result, the fact sheet was pulled from the NCI website in July, and a workshop on Early Reproductive Events and Breast Cancer was held on February 24-26, 2003. After reviewing the literature, the workshop attendees, who were all experts in breast cancer research, concluded that there was no link between abortion and breast cancer.
On March 24, the NCI posted on its website the summary report from this workshop. You can read the summary report here
How the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer will respond to this report remains to be seen. Over the past two years, the Coalition was working to push states to require that doctors inform women that abortion may increase their breast cancer risk. Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Montana were four of the states that responded by implementing what is referred to as "Women's Right to Know/Informed Consent for Abortion" requirements. It is not yet known whether these states will amend their requirements in light of the NCI expert panels' findings.
Should you be concerned? Yes. Not about breast cancer risk, but about the way in which anti-abortion groups are exploiting women's fear of breast cancer. These statutes and lawsuits are being pushed forward despite the fact that the research does not show a link between abortion and increased breast cancer risk. Groups such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the American Cancer Society (ACS), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Women's Health Network, and the National Breast Cancer Coalition support this position.
The WHO, ACS, NCI and others agree that a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1997 should be viewed as the definitive answer to the question of whether a link between abortion and breast cancer risk exists. That study, based on information on 1.5 million women in Denmark's national abortion and breast cancer registers, concluded: "Induced abortion has no overall effect on the risk of breast cancer."
And there has been no study establishing a link between the increase of legal abortions with a concurrent increase in reported child abuse cases. None.
Don't they have fact checkers at NRO?
posted by tbogg at 11:43 PM
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I Don't Like The Drugs But The Drugs Like Me: The Passion of Rush
When Marta "Whalerider" Limbaugh holds out on Rusty, well, it shows in his commentary:
“I believe we're born with certain behavioral traits, and women have certain ones and men have certain ones, and it was those natural human nature traits that the feminists didn't like and tried to change. They succeeded for a time and everybody was all screwed up not knowing who they were supposed to be, when, how, or with whom, and it was just a mess.”
Yeah. Some men are whiners and have addictive personalities and have certain urges that can lead to a build-up of bodily fluids and...
“I think the real damage the feminist movement did is with interpersonal relationships.”
...said the thrice-married Rush as he pondered what kind of buzz he might get off of Marta's unused birth control pills.
posted by tbogg at 10:59 PM
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We are so very very sorry
Tony Hendra over at TAP:
George W. Bush cannot be, as we've screamed till we're blue in the face, the cretinous finger puppet of an incalculably cynical and malevolent cabal and a ruthless neo-Confederate, bent on creating a plutocratic ruling class at home and a rapacious corporate imperium abroad. He's one or the other. We cannot have it both ways. We see that now.
Similarly, we can hardly denigrate Rupert Murdoch and his "gutter press" while at the same time carping that without him the right would be a marginalized mob of obscurantist paranoids kept on life support by retrograde trust-fund nut jobs. Mr. Murdoch is a great populist. Lowest-common-denominator programming is an honorable tradition in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Taking such programming to China, where he is equally solicitous of a proto superpower whose interests are frequently inimical to ours, does not mean that Mr. Murdoch is giving aid and comfort to the enemy, or that NewsCorp's money is somehow "tainted." It's despicable of us to suggest that all those hardworking journalists -- from Bill O'Reilly to William Kristol -- who take his supposedly dirty money are likewise tainted! We see that now.
The whole thing is friggin' brilliant. Email it around.
For you oldsters, you may remember Hendra from his work with National Lampoon.
...and for you young punks, he's Spinal Tap band manager Ian Faith, famous for this bit of dialogue:
Ian: Oh there's uhh...the other thing is that the uh...the Boston gig has been cancelled.
Nigel: What?
Ian: Yeah. I wouldn't worry about it though, it's not a big college town.
Bonus fun!: Deteriorata
posted by tbogg at 9:29 PM
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Please let it be in a slow-motion Bonnie & Clyde-like hail of bullets....
Finally. A reason to see a J-Lo movie:
The on-again, off-again relationship between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez is off. Again.
[snip]
She also famously dated Sean “P. Diddy” Combs — back when he was still “Puffy” — for two years before the couple broke up in February 2001.
Now the former couple will appear on screen together again in “Jersey Girl,” due out March 19.
Lopez plays Affleck’s wife, but she dies 12 minutes into the movie.
posted by tbogg at 4:31 PM
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Fortunately she was tapped for Beer & A Shot as the supersecret Gin & Tonic Society was already full
Barbara is letting down the Bush dynasty:
YALIE Barbara Bush has broken a family tradition. Barbara, 22 and a senior, has not been "tapped" to join the exclusive and secret Skull & Bones society. "It's particularly galling for Barbara, because both her father and grandfather were members of the Skull & Bones, as was her great-grandfather, Prescott," reports the London Telegraph. "Sadly, her contribution to campus life has been lacking." As an alternative, she'll join the Yale Potato Sack Relay Team, but the Telegraph said, "it's almost considered better not to get 'tapped' for anywhere at all."
Well, it is the Potato Sack Relay Team's gain...
(Thanks to Nina)
posted by tbogg at 1:53 PM
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Mr. Purdum? There's a woman named Peggy hyperventilating on the phone for you...
Reader Michael writes in to point out that the New York Times' Todd Purdum went a little Leni Riefenstahl on the SOTU:
Above all, in the splendor of the Capitol, Mr. Bush portrayed himself as the best defender of American interests, from tax cuts at home to terrorism abroad. And he reminded his listeners, and his Democratic rivals, that he begins this election year conspicuously atop the political equivalent of Everest, while the men who would replace him are scrambling in the foothills of the White Mountains. Mr. Bush spoke like a man who is headed to the Moon and Mars, while the Democrats are headed to Manchester, N.H.
In fairness to Todd, the rest of his analysis doesn't read like this, but lesser words have moistened Peggy Noonan's thong in the past....
posted by tbogg at 1:45 PM
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Mel Gibson Thinks Children Should See R-Rated Movies!!!
Developing....
Sorry. I was feeling a little Drudge-y at work today and that just spilled out.
But here's Mel offering up a bit more hype swaddled in paranoia about his new movie which, although it's about some Jewish guy, well, Mel won't let any Jews see it.
The controversy that has followed Mel Gibson's film about the death of Christ could be persecution or just inspired publicity, but the film-maker himself predicted "the worst is yet to come" on Wednesday at a meeting with 4,500 evangelical Christian pastors.
A day after reports that a high Vatican official denied that Pope John Paul gave a thumbs up to his film, "The Passion of the Christ," Gibson prepared to show it to another hand-picked audience, this time the Global Pastors Network conference meeting in Orlando.
As with past screenings, media were barred, as were Jewish groups worried that the film could incite anti-Semitism if it suggests Jewish authorities in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago were largely responsible for the crucifixion of the man Christians worship as the incarnation of God.
On Tuesday, an aide to the pope denied media reports that the pontiff had praised the film's Biblical accuracy, saying, "The Holy Father told no one of his opinion of this film."
Gibson did not mention the Vatican denial when he addressed the pastors. He thanked them for their prayers, but warned, somewhat ominously, "I anticipate the worst is yet to come. I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong."
Is that a chill I feel up my spine? Is that portentous music I hear in the background?
Nope. Someone just opened up a window and turned on a radio..
Anyway, Mel wants the kiddies to see Jesus Christ, Superhype. Particularly kids that already speak Aramaic.:
While Gibson thanked the pastors for their support, his publicity director, Paul Lauer, urged them to send youth groups to the R-rated flick when it opens on February 25 on 2,000 screens in the United States.
The rating, apparently based on the graphic depiction of the crucifixion, means those under age 17 must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.
Lauer predicted that if the film posts good numbers on its opening weekend, "I think there'll be a lot of powerful people in Hollywood saying, 'Somebody get me a Jesus picture.' "
Because nothing says Date Night USA! like "Jesus picture".
Oh, and parents? Make sure you keep the kiddies through the credits for the hilarious outtakes like the scene where Jesus ( Jim Caviezel) is on the cross and he says: ""My God, my God, why hast thou ---....sorry, sorry.... line please. Sorry, I'll get it this time..." and you can hear the crew crack up.
I laughed, I cried, I stigmata-ed...
(By the way, I really like how imdb lists Caviezel's role as: Jesus, the Christ . Because, you know, we might confuse him with Jesus, the actuary in a movie called The Passion of Christ.)
posted by tbogg at 1:28 PM
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Eeek! A conundrum!!!
Poor Andy. He's so dizzy, his head is spinning. Like a whilrpool, it never ends:
WOBBLY ON BUSH? Well, I've never tried to please everyone with this blog but the torrent of abuse and mockery yesterday because of my criticisms of the SOTU caused me a little grief. According to many Republicans, I'm selling out to the "hard left." According to some Democrats, I've finally seen the light, ha, ha, ha. How about applying principles to changing events and circumstances? It says something about what has happened to the Republican party that supporting fiscal responsibility is now the position of the "hard left." And it says something about some Democrats that you either have to hate this president or love him unconditionally. Why can't a grown-up have a complicated position?
[snip]
So I'm stuck, and trying to figure things out as I go along. Hence my attempt to look at the Democratic candidates as possible presidents and subject my support for Bush to further scrutiny. Why is that such a crime? Isn't part of what's wrong with our politics that this kind of weighing of options has become so taboo?
So, does this mean that, say a Senator who's runing for the highest office in the land (no, not Rush's job), gets a pass when they say that they voted for the War Resolution, but now says that it was a mistake and that they were lied to?
And does this mean that a politician can have a complicated position on an issue that won't fit into a Drudge headline and Andy won't jump on it like a duck on a June bug?
Not likely...
posted by tbogg at 10:04 AM
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Another brick in the wall
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday he had no intention of resigning after prosecutors announced they were considering whether to indict him in connection with a corruption case.
"I am not about to resign. I stress -- I am not about to resign," Sharon was quoted as saying by the Yedioth Aharonoth daily. "If the question is whether recent developments are liable to bring about my resignation, the answer is no."
Wednesday, a Tel Aviv court charged a property developer linked to the ruling Likud party with trying to bribe Sharon when he held lower government posts in the 1990s.
Sharon should held out for a hot tub. Instead, all he got was a lousy wall.
posted by tbogg at 9:32 AM
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More lying
Jeebus. They just can't stop:
Ahead of a five-day trip to Europe, Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday that the administration has not given up on the so far fruitless search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The “jury is still out,” he said.
“It’s going to take some additional, considerable period of time in order to look in all the cubby holes and the ammo dumps and all the places in Iraq where you might expect to find something like that,” Cheney said in an interview with National Public Radio. “It doesn’t take a large storage space to store deadly toxins, or even just the capacity to produce it.”
Cheney also said that he’s confident that there was a relationship between al-Qaida and ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The Bush administration, however, has said in the past that there is no evidence that Saddam was behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“I continue to believe — I think there’s overwhelming evidence that there was a connection between al-Qaida and the Iraqi government,” Cheney said. “I’m very confident that there was an established relationship there.”
The Administration says that there is no evidence. Dick Cheney thinks there is "overwhelming" evidence.
Unbelievable.
posted by tbogg at 9:23 AM
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The administration misled the American people
It looks like it's Lyin' Thursday (see below). Richard Cohen reflects on the SOTU:
But within the Bush White House lies an ugly beast that never gets acknowledged: The administration misled the American people, either purposely or out of incompetence. This is not a minor matter, because war, with all its unforeseen consequences, is not itself a minor matter -- nor is the loss of some 500 American lives. Hussein is gone, and that is all well and good, but gone too is the confidence of the American people that this administration levels with them. Bush certainly did not do that Tuesday night.
This State of the Union address was as rhetorically flat as it was intellectually dishonest -- a political pitch designed to obscure uncomfortable facts and to solidify the conservative Republican base. Thus we got Bush's pledge to support the institution of marriage (think Britney Spears) and to ban gays from enjoying it (think Britney Spears again) and the promise to trifle with the Constitution so that love will not, as we are told, triumph.
posted by tbogg at 9:06 AM
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Men. They lie.
Poor Peggy Noonan. It looks like she got spun like a top/ taken to the cleaners/ sold a load of poles (choose one) about the Pope and his reaction to Lethal Jesus: 2 Fast 2 Jewish:
My Dec. 17 column reported that Pope John Paul II had seen Mel Gibson's movie on the crucifixion of Christ, "The Passion," and had offered a judgment on it: "It is as it was." The quote came from the film's producer, Steve McEveety, who told me that it was given to him by the pope's longtime private secretary, Archbishop Stanislau Dziwisz.
At almost the same moment my piece ran, the National Catholic Reporter ran a piece by Rome correspondent John L. Allen Jr., saying the Vatican had given a "thumbs up" to Mel Gibson's film. It quoted a senior Vatican official who spoke on condition of anonymity: "The Holy Father watched and enjoyed the film. His comment afterwards was, 'It is as it was.' "
The next day Reuters reported in a dispatch with a Vatican dateline that it had a Vatican source who said the pope had seen the film, was "moved" by it, and afterward said, "It is as it was."
A week later, on Dec. 24, reporter Cindy Wooden of the Catholic News Service wrote a piece saying that "a senior Vatican official close to the pope," who insisted that his name not be used, had denied that the pope said what he was quoted as saying. "The Holy Father does not comment, does not give judgments on art," Ms. Wooden quoted the official as saying. "I repeat: There was no declaration, no judgment from the pope." She quoted another Vatican official saying, "The Holy Father saw this film, but did not express any opinion on it."
[snip]
Which brings us to this week.
On Sunday Frank Rich of the New York Times, in a column attacking the marketing of the film and those who have supported it, reported that he contacted the Italian translator in the McEveety-Dziwisz meeting. The translator backed the quote up--Archbishop Dziwisz had quoted the pope saying "It is as it was"--and added that the archbishop had also used the word "incredible" to describe the film.
The day after Mr. Rich's piece ran, Cindy Wooden of CNS returned to the story--with a blockbuster. Archbishop Dziwisz--the man quoted as the source of the papal quote--denied that the pope had told anyone his opinion of the film. "I said clearly to McEveety . . . that the Holy Father made no declaration," he said.
What gives?
Okay, Peggy.
Remember when you were in high school and that guy said that if you let him touch "them", he wouldn't tell his friends? He lied.
Remember when you were in college and that guy told you the next morning that he would call...and then he didn't? He lied.
Remember when that guy said he would tell you when he was going to c-, well you know.... and then he did, and he didn't? I'm sure you're aware by now: he lied.
Remember when President Ronnie said you would always be his little girl? You aren't. He lied.
Remember your marriage ceremony when you both said "Till death do you part"? Well, you both lied on that one.
Remember when he said they had Weapons of Mass Destruction? Yeah, he lied, although it appears that they have "weapons of mass destruction-related program activities" but that's not the same...so it remains: he lied.
So when a Hollywood producer that is out promoting a movie that the major studios won't touch with a ten foot cross, and he calls and tells you that the Pope gave it two thumbs and five Pope Hats up, what do you think happened?
You get two guesses.
posted by tbogg at 8:38 AM
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Wednesday, January 21, 2004
I mean, it will at least take until after....when is election day again?
Looks like we're a couple of years away from really really understanding those weapons of mass destruction-related program activities:
It could take years before investigators are able to uncover the details of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs under Saddam Hussein, according to the House Intelligence Committee's chairman.
"Every day is a new day for the intelligence people," said Rep. Porter Goss, R-Florida. "I would say that we are probably a couple of years away from getting through all the material and talking to all the people we need to talk to about exactly what was going on, not only with the Saddam Hussein regime but with some of the Taliban and some of the things that have been going on in North Korea, Libya, Iran and other places."
[snip]
In his State of the Union address Tuesday night to Congress and the American people, President Bush cited the Kay report as support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
"Had we failed to act, [Saddam's] weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day," Bush said.
Well, the activities would have continued meaning daily calisthentics, weekend yoga retreats, and that trip to Disney World for Islamofascism Day. But weapons programs....?
Meanwhile: Good poodle! Good boy!
posted by tbogg at 1:15 PM
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All the best pundits have Oxycontin eyes...
When we last left I Don't Like The Drugs But The Drugs Like Me Theatre, a suddenly-sober Rush Limbaugh had discovered that the ACLU wasn't picky about who they're seen with in public, his fans didn't know about his other " medication" needs, and that while he was drying out at Rancho Stoned & Dethroned, Howard Dean had somehow become the Democratic frontrunner. Although he only has misty watercolored memories from that nothing-he-can-hang-himself-with-in-his-room period, Rush is taking the blame for Dean because he's a big guy and big guys step up to the plate when something needs to done, unless, of course the big guy has a cyst in an embarassing place, and then they just sit (gingerly) in a warm bath and eat Ding Dongs and think about how cool it would be if they had found that genie bottle from I Dream Of Jeanie and Barbara Eden were to suddenly appear in the bathroom and then she...well, you probably don't want to hear the rest because, even if it did happen in a tub, it's still pretty darn icky.
Anyway, here's what Rush had to say yesterday, right before his Snapple colonic:
“Here's the theory: the mainstream media never took Dean seriously, but I was making such a big to-do about him that the mainstream press finally started paying attention and had to take him out.”
“Everyone is blaming me for Dean's loss. If I just kept quiet about Howard Dean the mainstream media wouldn't have gotten onto him. If I had just shut up and been promoting Kerry or any of these other guys, we'd be sitting tight today.”
Wait a minute. Isn't "sitting tight" some of that street slang used by tweakers?
posted by tbogg at 11:54 AM
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Sincerely stupid
Margaret Cho has some fun with an emailer who just wants to get along. But then he doesn't know when to stop and all the ignorance starts spilling out and he can't stop it and omigod! someone get a muzzle...or a bucket. Sample quote:
I pay more taxes than I would if I were black, Asian, female, etc.
Yeah. I hate paying the White Male Tax.
posted by tbogg at 10:45 AM
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Leave it to the pros
The bloggers have had their say about last nights speech which, in my mind, has slowly merged into something about a steroid-pumped Ashley Pearson being involved in weapons of mass destruction-related program activities like wallet making and dodgeball but not gay marriage... at least until she turns ten or two, whichever comes first. Here's the best of what Professional TV Watcher Tom Shales had to say:
We like a confident president, but we don't like a cocky president, and George W. Bush had too many moments of cockiness last night as he delivered his third State of the Union address to both houses of Congress and the viewing nation. Often the words of the speech were written to sound lofty, but Bush had such a big Christmas-morning grin on his face that they came out sounding like taunts -- taunts to the rest of the world or taunts to Democrats in the hall.
[snip]
Dan Rather of CBS News, who sometimes goes out of his way not to upset the Bush people -- since they are all ready to pounce on him for what they perceive (or claim to perceive) as a bias against their exalted glorious potentate -- said afterward that Bush's was "a strong speech, strongly delivered." It was one of the few times Rather sounded less than astute.
Over on the Fox News Channel, Fred Barnes, sounding as if he had walking pneumonia, allowed as how he'd heard George W. Bush deliver many an important and eloquent speech over the years, "and this was not one of them." It takes courage to say something like that on the Fox News Channel, normally a Bush cheering section.
[snip]
And so Bush had, among others in the audience, representatives of U.S. troops plus Adnan Pachachi, president of the Iraqi Governing Council, who got that prime gallery seat right next to Laura Bush, who was looking slightly hypnotized as usual.
[snip]
One of the bigger surprises of the night was instantly evident, even as Bush made his tedious way down an aisle before delivering the speech. Though he's favored blue ties (sometimes baby blue) throughout his presidency, Bush wore a red necktie last night. Could this signify a change in terrorism alert status? Or maybe just the fact that Bush is now in full ramming mode, not merely a president but a politician again, up to his collar in the rigors of an election year?
It was obviously the latter, and the fact that Bush appeared to be so happy, so elated, so giddily primed for another political slugfest was a little bit disheartening, and even a little bit scary.
posted by tbogg at 9:30 AM
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The Slip and Fall To Your Death On The Sidewalk Diet didn't focus group as well
Well, I thought this was funny:
Mayor Mike obviously thought the other mike in the room was turned off.
In a rare moment of candor, picked up by a New York 1 News camera, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday described the slip-and-fall death of Dr. Robert Atkins last April as "bull----" - and called the diet guru "fat."
While chowing down on bow-tied pasta and chicken at a Brooklyn firehouse yesterday, Hizzoner opined, "Atkins is dead. I don't believe that bull---- that he dropped dead slipping on a sidewalk. Yeah, right."
"I actually went to his house out in Southampton for a Pataki fund-raiser two years ago," Bloomberg added. "The guy was fat — big guy — but heavy. And the food was inedible. I took one appetizer and I had to spit it into my napkin. It was just terrible."
Atkins, the cardiologist who devised a controversial diet that favors steak and eggs over pasta and other carbohydrates, died at age 72 last year after slipping on the sidewalk outside his E. 55th St. office during a snowstorm.
Bloomberg apparently believed the microphones were turned off yesterday when cameras were let into the dining area of Engine 282, Ladder 148 in Borough Park for what was billed as a photo opportunity.
"It was a joke told at an off-the-record photo op," said Bloomberg spokesman Jordan Barowitz. "We congratulate New York 1 for their willingness to dispense with journalistic ethics in order to run a cheap story."
Boy. Republicans really have a problem with their " potty mouths" when they think that the mike is off.
(Thanks to Anna)
posted by tbogg at 9:01 AM
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Pork for Chuck
Chuck Colson, the man who once said he would "...walk over my grandmother if necessary to assure the President's reelection.", is pretty darn happy with the speech last night from Ashley Pearson's newest, best-est friend:
The president's speech last night was inspiring for the nation, and part of it was particularly thrilling for me. The president made a strong appeal to help prisoners transition from prison back into society.
And Chuck should be excited. After all, President Compassionate to Prisoners When I'm Not Killing Them said:
This year, some 600,000 inmates will be released from prison back into society. We know from long experience that if they can't find work, or a home, or help, they are much more likely to commit crime and return to prison. So tonight, I propose a four-year, $300 million prisoner re-entry initiative to expand job training and placement services, to provide transitional housing, and to help newly released prisoners get mentoring, including from faith-based groups. (Applause.)
...and we all know that Chuck is the Chairman of Prison Fellowship Ministries which means more money in the pocket of his organization and presumably Chuck. Sounds like a win-win for Chuck and the Ministries. Oh yeah, and Jesus too.
Of course there are some benefits to the prisoners if they give their life over, or just pretend to give their life over, to Jeebus:
Most inmates at Iowa's Newton Correctional Facility live three to a cell and have no privacy, even when they use the toilet. But if they agree to immerse themselves in Bible study and "the transforming love of Jesus Christ," according to two lawsuits filed yesterday, they are given keys to their cell doors, private bathrooms, free phone calls -- even access to big-screen TVs.
The lawsuits, filed by the Washington-based advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, challenge the constitutionality of a prison ministry program that President Bush has promoted as a model for his effort to allow religious groups to compete for public funds to provide social services.
[snip]
InnerChange runs programs that combine Bible study with job training at prisons in Iowa, Texas, Minnesota and Kansas. The lawsuits challenge only the Iowa program. But experts said a ruling against the program could lead to similar challenges in the other states, an appeal to the Supreme Court or both.
To ensure its legal standing to sue, Americans United filed one lawsuit on behalf of Jerry D. Ashburn, 44, who is serving a life sentence for murder, and the second on behalf of families of three other inmates.
According to the suits, about 200 Iowa prisoners pray and memorize Bible verses under the guidance of Christian staff in prison rooms lined with displays of scripture passages. In return, they live in an "honor" unit where they are housed two to a cell, permitted to leave their cells at night and granted many other privileges.
The program is funded, in part, with revenue from phone charges on the general inmate population. Iowa Department of Corrections spokesman Fred Scaletta said, "No state dollars, including telephone monies, are used in the religious component of the program." But the lawsuits contend that it is impossible to separate the religious and secular portions of a program that describes itself as "Christ-centered" 24 hours a day.
The suits also say the privileges given to InnerChange participants amount to incentives to convert to fundamentalist Christianity.
Eugene Volokh, a law professor at UCLA who generally takes a supportive view of faith-based programs, said that if the courts accept the description of the program in the lawsuits, it is likely to be struck down. Even setting aside the issue of state funding, he said, "the offer of various benefits that are unavailable to others is an indirect form of coercion that is clearly impermissible."
Imagine that....
(Added): Seb at Sadly, No emailed me to point out this article by Mark Kleiman that points out that Colson is a little sloppy...okay, he lies about his numbers.
posted by tbogg at 8:42 AM
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Tuesday, January 20, 2004
In other news, the management at RJ Reynolds thinks that smoking is "really cool"
It really takes a special kind of balls to write this:
It's an age-old question in representative democracies: Should leaders vote for what their constituents want or for what they think is right?
Sometimes this question poses a real dilemma, especially on those rare occasions when voters are taken in momentarily by a notion that is both popular and wrong. This is not a problem when it comes to missile defense. Protecting the American people from missile attack is clearly the right thing to do, and not surprisingly, the American people want to be defended. In this case, doing the right thing is popular.
A recent poll conducted in New Hampshire by the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance confirms the popularity of missile defense. When asked whether the United States should have a missile defense, 75 percent of 600 registered New Hampshire voters said it should (63 percent felt strongly about it). Only 21 percent opposed such a defense. (my emphasis)
If you continue reading anything past that, you have way too much time on your hands.
posted by tbogg at 10:58 PM
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This and that from the SOTU:
---I thought it was the most belligerent State of the Union that I have ever seen. It was the return of President Bring 'Em On featuring one narrowed eye, the smirk, and an occasional glare towards the Democrats, particularly when they applauded at this:
Key provisions of the Patriot Act are set to expire next year. (Applause.)
...throwing the boy off his rhythm. It was scattershot and bizarre (steroids? WTF?). Usually a SOTU has a memorable line for the headline writers. This one has bupkus. Spin as Fineman and Noonan might, it was a pretty weak speech.
--- Ashley Pearson is aged ten...or two (which is cleaned up in the official transcript. Republican math, don'cha know.
---Somewhere in DC there is an African-American soldier being hustled onto a transport bound for Iraq for insufficient enthusiasm for the CIC and for yawning. Maybe Bush should have broken out the flightsuit.
---Although I enjoyed Ted Kennedy and his head-shaking, I think making jerk-off motions with his fist while rolling his eyes would have been more effective.
---Central casting sent over a very cute African-American girl for Bush to hoist for the cameras. Karl Rove should be commended. Unfortunately she blew her incentive bonus by falling asleep on camera. She'll never work in this town again!
---Rick Santorum is a bigger dink than I ever imagined. Seeing him makes me wonder why we allow heteros to get married.
---I like Chuck Hagel and wish he was a Democrat. I don't know what he's like as a Senator for Nebraska on a daily basis, but he sure seems like a straightshooter. I could be wrong. He is a Republican, after all.
---Laura looked almost lifelike, don'cha think?
---Has Mitch McConnell ever had a chin? He looks like someone stuck a mouth in his neck.
More snark below...
posted by tbogg at 10:04 PM
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From the peanut gallery...
Daughter coming upstairs mid-SOTU: "Did he say nuku-lar yet?"
Within a minute he says it.
Daughter: "What a moron"
Wife coming in from work as Bush wraps up. She stands there saying nothing...and then: I have never been so glad that we have Presidential term limits
That the word from our house, Chris. Let's see what Frank Luntz has to say....
posted by tbogg at 9:26 PM
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Playing Twister with the Words of Whistleass
That screaming you hear from P-Town is just Andy trying to contort himself into an assortment of positions that would have gotten him a lot of dates back when he was young and virile:
...It's a nice sentiment, and I'm sure the president means well. But if the president really meant it he could have said something else: "The same moral tradition that defines marriage also teaches that each individual - whether gay or straight - has dignity and value in God's sight." But the president wants the credit of being tolerant without talking the real talk, let alone walking the real walk. If gay people have dignity and value in God's sight, why are we unmentionable? Why are we talked about as if we are some kind of untouchable? Why in three years has this president not even been able to say the word 'gay' or 'homosexual'? The reason: because Bush will not confront bigotry outright. He wants to benefit from it while finding a formula to distance himself from it. That's not a moral stand. It's moral avoidance. Still, the good and important news is that the president hasn't endorsed the Federal Marriage Amendment. The Family Research Council is mad as hell.
Remember, Andy. They're punches of love....
posted by tbogg at 9:15 PM
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Sorry. We couldn't find any WMD's. Can I interest you in a euphemism?
January 2003
Almost three months ago, the United Nations Security Council gave Saddam Hussein his final chance to disarm. He has shown instead utter contempt for the United Nations, and for the opinion of the world. The 108 U.N. inspectors were sent to conduct -- were not sent to conduct a scavenger hunt for hidden materials across a country the size of California. The job of the inspectors is to verify that Iraq's regime is disarming. It is up to Iraq to show exactly where it is hiding its banned weapons, lay those weapons out for the world to see, and destroy them as directed. Nothing like this has happened.
The United Nations concluded in 1999 that Saddam Hussein had biological weapons sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses to kill several million people. He hasn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it.
The United Nations concluded that Saddam Hussein had materials sufficient to produce more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin -- enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure. He hadn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it.
Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.
U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors recently turned up 16 of them -- despite Iraq's recent declaration denying their existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the remaining 29,984 of these prohibited munitions. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.
From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb. The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.
The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary; he is deceiving. From intelligence sources we know, for instance, that thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding documents and materials from the U.N. inspectors, sanitizing inspection sites and monitoring the inspectors themselves. Iraqi officials accompany the inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses.
Iraq is blocking U-2 surveillance flights requested by the United Nations. Iraqi intelligence officers are posing as the scientists inspectors are supposed to interview. Real scientists have been coached by Iraqi officials on what to say. Intelligence sources indicate that Saddam Hussein has ordered that scientists who cooperate with U.N. inspectors in disarming Iraq will be killed, along with their families.
Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction. But why? The only possible explanation, the only possible use he could have for those weapons, is to dominate, intimidate, or attack.
With nuclear arms or a full arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, Saddam Hussein could resume his ambitions of conquest in the Middle East and create deadly havoc in that region. And this Congress and the America people must recognize another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda. Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own.
Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein could be contained. But chemical agents, lethal viruses and shadowy terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known. We will do everything in our power to make sure that that day never comes. (Applause.)
Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option. (Applause.)
January 2004:
Some in this chamber, and in our country, did not support the liberation of Iraq. Objections to war often come from principled motives. But let us be candid about the consequences of leaving Saddam Hussein in power. We're seeking all the facts. Already, the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations. Had we failed to act, the dictatator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day. Had we failed to act, Security Council resolutions on Iraq would have been revealed as empty threats, weakening the United Nations and encouraging defiance by dictators around the world. Iraq's torture chambers would still be filled with victims, terrified and innocent. The killing fields of Iraq -- where hundreds of thousands of men and women and children vanished into the sands -- would still be known only to the killers. For all who love freedom and peace, the world without Saddam Hussein's regime is a better and safer place. (Applause.)
I'm sure this some consolation to Ali Abbas:
The plight of Ali Ismail Abbas, who lost 15 relatives and both his arms when an US missile hit his home in the suburbs of Baghdad three weeks ago, has become the human-interest story of the war. Two days after foreign journalists found him in a Baghdad hospital bed, the young Iraqi was hailed worldwide as a living example of "collateral damage".
"The despairing face of Ali has become a symbol around the world of the casualties of the Iraq war," wrote Bronwen Maddox in the Times ."The picture that will stay with us... the image that refuses to leave the retina no matter how many times you blink, is of 12-year-old Ali," agreed Allison Pearson in the London Evening Standard, which, along with many papers, launched an appeal to help young victims of the war.
Reporters and photographers did not spare readers and viewers the horrific extent of Ali's injuries. "The child's legs were smooth, but his entire torso was black, and his arms were horribly burnt," said Jon Lee Anderson, a correspondent for the New Yorker. "At about the biceps, the flesh of both arms became charred, black grotesqueries. One of his hands was a twisted, melted claw. His other arm had apparently been burned off at the elbow, and two long bones were sticking out of it. It looked like something that might be found in a barbecue pit."
However, it was not just Ali's physical suffering that fascinated and appalled - it was his ability to articulate what he had experienced. "I wanted to be an army officer when I grow up but not any more," he told journalists. "Now I want to be a doctor - but how can I?"
"If I had hands, I would shake your hand," Ali said on meeting the Independent's Kim Sengupta. "They cut them off after the bomb. I want my hands."
Suck it up, kid. There's an election to be won...
posted by tbogg at 9:07 PM
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One good reason to root for the Panthers
Tom Brady
...and yes, steroids in sports is worth a mention in a SOTU after Whistle Ass has pushed for Constitutional amendments lowering the pitcher's mound two inches, making NBA officials start calling traveling again, and eliminating the metric system when it comes to quarterback ratings.
posted by tbogg at 8:42 PM
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Thanks for the memories
Our man in Iraq.
(warning: sound)
posted by tbogg at 3:54 PM
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Your vote
Somehow this reads a lot like "Emperor" Misha...but it's a bit more eloquent.
posted by tbogg at 2:43 PM
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...and now a word from:
I'll be back tonight, right after My Big Fat Lying State of the Union Address.
Aren't you all excited over those job-training grants that will get out-of-work people prepared for jobs that don't exist?
With any luck, Noonan will be on with Chris Matthews.
(Added): Smirk
posted by tbogg at 12:40 PM
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Heavy lifting
Well, I'm still ass-deep in work, so this is going to be short today.
One. I don't know what happened in Iowa since I didn't pay any attention to it. C'mon, it's Iowa. Having said that, any post-mortem comment I could make on what happened would probably be about as accurate as anything that Tim Russert or the gang at the Corner could come up with. And remember, it's Iowa. They're like something that we keep in the closet and take out every four years only to put it away again thinking we might have a use for it someday.
World O'Crap had a mess o'time and did a bunch o'research on America's Worst Mom, Meghan Cox Gurdon, and discovered that Mr. Gurdon is real big on online sex sites, which would probably explain why his kids are named Amber, Bambi, Skye, and Johnny Wadd.
There's an outpouring of posts over at Rittenhouse.
Hesiod on Democrats keeping their eye on the ball.
...and President 9/11 Happened On My Watch is watching his polls slip on domestic issues. Time to ramp up another war, Karl. Hmmmm... Belize has been acting uppity lately.
posted by tbogg at 8:53 AM
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Monday, January 19, 2004
Busy, busy, busy
I'm swamped with work so blogging has been out of the question. But I would like to draw your attention to a post over at Rittenhouse on...work.
Or the lack of it...
posted by tbogg at 7:17 PM
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Can't win for losing....
It took a a "war of choice" to remind us of The Law of Unintended Consequences:
"I don't know what kind of Iraqi could do something like this against other Iraqis, exactly at the time when the checkpost would be most crowded," said Daud, 26, his voice shaking with bewildered rage as he described what he had seen: a pickup truck exploding a few yards away from him as dozens of people filed in to work, women screaming, men rushing to help the wounded, bodies falling, a girl with her feet blown off.
Daud speculated that the suicide bombers must have come from somewhere else, "from Palestine, or from Osama" bin Laden, he said with disgust, "who thinks he is the new Islamic prophet."
Then the wounded man's anger took another turn. "It's all the Americans' fault," he said. "They should help us as they promised they would."
All day, on streets near the main U.S. compound entrance and in hospital rooms filled with bloodied patients and weeping relatives, victims and witnesses expressed impotent rage at the attackers and disbelief that Iraqi bombers could have deliberately targeted their fellow citizens.
Some also voiced frustration and bitterness at the massive U.S. military presence in Iraq, which they said had brought on the calamity and failed to protect them. Many Iraqis pointed out that almost all the wounded and dead were Iraqis, and they said that the attackers' motive was to punish or intimidate Iraqis for working with the Americans.
At Yarmouk Hospital, Riadh Jamal Haider, 26, lay recovering from a chest wound with tubes crisscrossing his body. He described how he had been waiting at the checkpost when the bomb exploded and his chest began gushing blood "like water from a faucet," before he fell and lost consciousness. Haider's brother, hovering beside his bed, suddenly pushed several news photographers away, his voice erupting in anger.
"This incident was not against the Americans. They were very far away. This was against the Iraqis because they were working inside" the U.S. compound, he said. "Please tell me exactly what the Americans are doing here. They ruined everything, and now they are just standing here, unable to do anything. All these civilians are dying, and young people have no support -- that's why they work at these jobs. If the Americans can't do anything, let them leave this country."
Some Iraqis who were wounded, or whose cars were damaged in the blast, expressed bitterness that they had suffered while the Americans, including officials sheltered inside the compound and soldiers guarding it, had emerged mostly unscathed. Iraqi civilian employees, police and passersby bore the brunt of the morning rush-hour devastation, which left at least 24 people dead and wounded more than 60.
This is what happens when the dog finally catches the car.
He doesn't know what to do with it.
posted by tbogg at 10:10 AM
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Echo chamber
Not that we expected anything different:
When conservative comic Dennis Miller launches his CNBC talk show next week, his high-profile guests will include Arnold Schwarzenegger, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani.
What, no Democrats? "Maybe they'll be a little reticent to come on," Miller says.
The bagging of the California governor and Arizona senator is the handiwork of former Schwarzenegger and McCain strategist Mike Murphy, who now has a place in the Hollywood hills and is Miller's consulting producer. Plus, Miller did some speaking for Ahnuld.
Miller says he'll deal with issues and "try to be civil to people on the left," while reviving "the rant I used to do in my former lives" as a nightclub comic and HBO host. "I don't have any pretension to journalistic chops," he says.
How quickly prime time television has moved from the first gay kiss to a whole week of on-air sloppy blow jobs.
We live in amazing times.
posted by tbogg at 9:59 AM
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Sunday, January 18, 2004
...and I am assured by Bridgette, my policy director, that American Killer Satellites would be "soooo bitchin'."
Digby has Tom Feeney (R- Hires Hooter's Waitresses) on space and how we have to grab it before the evildoers can and they start to build giant evil satellites like in the James Bond movies except these be armed with box cutters and exploding shoes causing us to be enslaved and unable to get Hooter's Buffalo Wings in the convenient 50-wing bucket.
That would be bad.
posted by tbogg at 10:20 PM
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Danziger
Karl Rove's nightmare
posted by tbogg at 10:05 PM
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You had me at the preface
I honestly intended to do some blogging over the weekend (and tonight for that matter) but my copy of American Dynasty showed up on Friday and, well, it's pretty damn fascinating. Obviously I haven't finished it yet, but I can already strongly recommend it.
I hope to post some excerpts from it this week. This comes from the preface:
Unfortunately, in examining two Bush presidencies and the family's four-generation pursuit of national prominence and power- and in doing so through a lens that highlighted elite associations, dynastic ambitions, and recurring financial and business practices- I found a greater basis for dismay and disillusionment than I had imagined. The result is an unusual and unflattering portrait of a great family (great in power, not morality) that has built a base over the course of the twentieth century in the back corridors of the new military-industrial complex, and in close association with the growing intelligence and national security establishments. In doing so, the Bushes have threaded their way through damning political, banking, and armaments scandals and, since the 1980s, controversies like the October Surprise, Iran-Contra, and Iraqgate imbroglios, which in another climate or a different time might have led to impeachment.
I am not talking about ordinary lack of business ethics or financial corruption. During the late twentieth century, several other presidents and their families displayed these shortcomings, and the public has become understandably blas?. Four generations of building toward dynasty, however, have infused the Bush family's hunger for power and practices of crony capitalism with a moral arrogance and backstage disregard of the democratic and republican traditions of the U.S. government. As we will see, four generations of involvement with clandestine arms deals and European and Middle Eastern rogue banks will do that.
Good stuff.
Also...Chalmers Johnson, author of the prescient Blowback ,also has a new book out: The Sorrows of Empire.
It looks like a good Spring for reading.
posted by tbogg at 9:55 PM
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Hey! That's pretty good...
Tim Graham, one of the lesser lights over at intellectual black hole that is The Corner posts this:
Jonah, your correspondent's joke about Bush being described as Hitler with a better haircut reminds me of CNN on Tuesday, where "Crossfire" host Paul Begala declared after reading the quite possibly ersatz Bush boast-quote:
"The Bush White House, face it, it's kind of become a little like North Korea, where the addled son of the former leader suffers delusions of grandeur while sycophantic toadies tell him he's infallible and then viciously attack those who criticize him. George W. Bush is Kim Jong Il with better hair."
Thanks Tim. That's a keeper.
posted by tbogg at 8:49 PM
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Friday, January 16, 2004
Soccer game calls
Okay. I'm out of here until, well, probably tomorrow. I'm thinking about doing a little light blogging on the weekend even though my life is full of adventure and wacky hijinks and bar-hopping with leggy supermodels. In the meantime, here is your weekend thought:
Discovery.
posted by tbogg at 12:55 PM
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Friday's atrocity
Recess appointment:
President Bush installed Charles Pickering on a federal appeals court Friday, bypassing Democrats who had stalled his nomination for more than two years, sources said.
Bush appointed Pickering by a recess appointment which avoids the confirmation process. Such appointments are valid until the next Congress takes office, in this case in January 2005.
Pickering, a federal trial judge who Bush nominated for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, has been waiting for a confirmation vote in the Senate.
Democrats have accused him of supporting segregation as a young man, and pushing anti-abortion and anti-voting rights views as a state lawmaker.
They also have said they wouldn't be able to trust Pickering to keep his conservative opinions out of his work on the federal appeals court.
And just the day after his MLK photo-op in Atlanta.
That ought to make this guy happy.
(Added): I just want to be clear about the Bush visit. George Bush slipped his uninvited visit to the MLK Jr. memorial between two fundraisers. His time spent "honoring" the Rev. King: 15 minutes.
To not see the whole visit as a case of political opportunism, one has to be an incredible tool. To disparage the protestors is beneath contempt.
posted by tbogg at 12:39 PM
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Picture of the year
Tim at Notes from Atlanta is on a roll. He just sent me the linked picture (below).
Check out the picture and read the little tiny sign the older woman is holding.
...and Gabe sends me the quote of the day from some shrill economist:
Indeed, George Bush's handlers have already made it clear that they intend to make his "optimism" — as opposed to the negativism of his angry opponents — a campaign theme. (Money-saving suggestion: let's cut directly to the scene where Mr. Bush dresses up as an astronaut, and skip the rest of his expensive, pointless — but optimistic! — Moon-base program.)
Is this a great country or what?
posted by tbogg at 11:37 AM
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Twitchy grows fatter and more nervous as Easter approaches
Today we join America's Worst Mom, Meghan Cox Gurdon, and find that her children (Parsifal, Minerva, Ebonette, and Mothra) did not get the Talking Ann Coulter dolls that they asked for at Christmas, and have taken to playing with butter knives which, being thin, inflexible, and dull, have many Coulter-like qualities.
Later the kids are caught hiding food in their rooms for fear that a stressed-out Mommy, now confronted with a house that is falling down around their ears and a car that 's up on blocks in the front yard, will take a handful of her special " M&M's" and sit down to watch the Who's the Boss marathon on Nick at Nite forcing the kids to eat dry oatmeal out of the box and drink water from the overflowing "lavatory".
Additionally Twitchy the amphetamine-fuled rabbit sees the writing on the wall, makes a break for it but is tracked down by a very manly Parsifal which causes Meghan to have a Jocasta moment but she shakes it off and everyone goes back inside and fights over pie.
Meanwhile, no mention of Mr. Gurdon who was last seen shacking up with his stripper girlfriend, Raylene.
Really. That's what's in her column.
What? You don't believe me?
posted by tbogg at 11:04 AM
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Just think how much they could save if they dropped Sullivan? Okay, they'd only blow it on a latte, but still...
Salon gets another reprieve:
San Francisco's Salon Media Group, which publishes the innovative but money-losing Internet magazine Salon.com, on Thursday said it has secured $800,000 in new financing from Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner and Adobe Systems founder and co-chairman John Warnock.
Here's the better news:
Wenner invested $200,000, and will join Salon's board. The two publications will collaborate on six investigative pieces about the 2004 presidential campaign and the Bush administration. The first piece will appear simultaneously in print and on the Web within the next month, according to David Talbot, Salon founder, editor in chief and chief executive officer.
posted by tbogg at 10:28 AM
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Cho's revenge
Looks like some of Bush's base who wrote to Margaret Cho are regretting that they ever picked up a keyboard:
I am gloating. People be trying to beg us to take their email addresses off the site because they have been deluged with mail in response to their hate mails to me. I want to say, "You reap what you sow," but now I have all kind of love for them because it is out of my hands.
I'm sure that Jack Weaver at JWeaver@dot.wv.us sure regrets doing it from his goverment office. So do his fellow employees.
Kind of gives you a warm feeling, doesn't it?
posted by tbogg at 10:21 AM
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The stiff steely shaft of Bubba love
Reader Anna points out that Peggy Noonan is starting to subtext* her sexual frustration again:
The last time a viable Democrat rose, in 1992, the columnists for the newsmagazines and profile writers for the newspapers loved Bill Clinton with a throbbing love. None of those columns are being written now. They don't love Mr. Dean. (my emphasis...obviously)
So far, not one Democratic candidate has moistened her thong. Maybe a flightsuit is in order.....
*As of today, I am officially using 'subtext' as a verb. If people can use 'party' as a verb, I can use subtext. So there.
posted by tbogg at 9:55 AM
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Shake it more than twice and you're playing with it.
Here we see President Bush doing to Martin Luther Kings memorial what he's been doing to MLK's legacy.
Thanks to Tim at Notes From Atlanta for the link.
posted by tbogg at 9:36 AM
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You gonna eat that?
Go here to read Heather Yarborough's tale of working for Halliburton in Iraq and why you may not want to eat that sandwich.
Link via Cursor.
posted by tbogg at 9:22 AM
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Thursday, January 15, 2004
Using Coulter as a source is an automatic admission of defeat.
All Glenn Reynolds had to say was that he wasn't familiar with the actual military terminology and concede his error. But no, we got this:
That's rather implausible, to put it mildly. People don't generally get asked to retire early because they're doing a great job. I don't necessarily endorse Ann Coulter's version above, as I thought I made clear, but Clark did something that got him booted, and I'm still not clear on what. It seems to me that we ought to be clear on it, since he's running for President.
Here's a modest suggestion: remember in law school when they taught you that thing where you looked stuff up and you took notes and you built your argument? You should maybe try that before you post. Couldn't hurt.
You know, I actually like Reynolds. I think deep down he's a pretty good guy. But this is embarassing....
Mark Kleiman has the last word. Thankfully.
posted by tbogg at 11:33 PM
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How very bigot of Pat
David at Orcinus on Pat Buchanan who singlehandedly keeps our National Stupidity Reserves at record levels.
posted by tbogg at 11:03 PM
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Run, Katherine, run!
According to the Miami Herald:
U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, a central figure in the 2000 Florida presidential recount, will announce her decision Friday on whether to seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, officials said.
Harris, who oversaw the disputed count that gave George W. Bush a crucial 537-vote victory over Al Gore in Florida, will hold a news conference in her hometown of Sarasota to discuss her future. Her decision has led to wide speculation, with polls showing her as the immediate front-runner in the GOP primary if she enters the race.
"I am grateful for all the encouragement, energized about tomorrow and at peace with my decision," Harris said in a statement.
Harris is seen here at a recent fundraiser with, oddly enough, Rosie O'Donnell.
Thanks. I'll be here all week.
posted by tbogg at 10:38 PM
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The photo-op President
Atlanta's own Mike Luckovich.
posted by tbogg at 9:20 PM
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I claim this lifeless rock in the name of his Majesty, King George the Lesser..or Halliburton. Whatever.
Quentin at Like Father, Like Sun points out that neo-con money black hole, The New York Sun, wants the US to claim the moon as ours, all ours. I'm sure that fact that it reminds them of Texas, but a little bit more livable had something to do with it.
Meanwhile President Moonbeam's corporate overlords are lining up at the trough waiting for some more of that taxpayer gravy.
Industry officials said yesterday that they see a huge boon to business in Bush's "renewed spirit of discovery," which set a mission to Mars as a long-range goal after astronauts build a science base on the moon. Among the companies that could profit from the plan are Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp., the Boeing Co. and the Halliburton Co., which Vice President Cheney headed before he joined Bush's ticket.
One stream of income, good. Two streams of income, better.
(credit for 'President Moonbeam' to about three people...thanks)
posted by tbogg at 9:10 PM
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Well, I guess if you patted his shoulder that made it okay...
I tend to lean against capital punishment and it's things like this that almost make me topple over and start to spin:
A murderer whose claims of mental retardation were rejected in court was executed Wednesday after struggling with guards and pleading for his life until the last moment.
Lewis Williams, 45, was put to death by injection for fatally shooting a 76-year-old woman during a robbery at her Cleveland home in 1983. Four guards were needed to lift the 117-pound Williams from his knees and pry his hand off the edge of a table before carrying him into the death chamber. As he was strapped to the execution table, he cried, "I'm not guilty. God, help me."
At least nine guards restrained him as they prepared his arms and inserted needles. One guard standing at his head alternately restrained him and patted his right shoulder to comfort him.
Williams kept pleading even as the warden pulled the microphone away after his final official statement: "God, please help me. God, please hear my cry." He was pronounced dead at 10:15 a.m.
Here's Amnesty International on the late Lewis Williams.
...one of the three judges on the Sixth Circuit issued a strong dissent on the Williams case. She wrote that his trial lawyers' preparation for the sentencing phase had been "wholly inadequate", and that if they had "simply discussed Williams's life with core family members" they would likely have discovered mitigating evidence of his dysfunctional and abusive family background. This included the sexual molestation by a cousin at the age of five; physical abuse – whippings three to four times a week, including with extension cords – that Williams was subjected to as a child by his father; his witnessing of the physical abuse of his mother by his stepfather; his father's drug abuse and Lewis Williams's own resort to illegal drugs, including cocaine, by the age of 13, and Lewis Williams's low IQ (at the age of 11, his IQ was assessed as 76, indicating possible borderline mental retardation).
The federal judge also wrote that if the trial lawyers "had taken the time to obtain Williams's school, juvenile, and treatment records", they would have discovered that his mother had sought psychological treatment for him at the age of 11. The boy had begun running away from home around the age of eight or nine. The jury heard extensive evidence that Williams had been in trouble with the law as a juvenile, but were given none of the mitigating background that could help to explain it. The Sixth Circuit judge wrote that if the trial lawyers had investigated fully, they would have found evidence that the juvenile justice system had failed to meet his psychological and emotional needs.
The judge concluded that a description of Lewis Williams's background "might well have influenced the jury's appraisal of Williams's moral culpability…
(thanks to Bonnie for the link)
posted by tbogg at 3:12 PM
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The Stacy Q of conservative punditry....
Anyone else notice that nobody, and I mean nobody, is blogging or talking about le Skank anymore.
Even Gallagher had more than one joke...
posted by tbogg at 2:00 PM
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The postman always shoots twice
While wild-eyed, really really angry, Saddam-loving, America haters are comparing George Bush to Hitler, calm, eminently sensible commentators like Cal Thomas are comparing Paul O'Neill to workplace NRA show-offs:
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill reminds me of a disgruntled former employee who returns to his old workplace and starts shooting to avenge his perceived mistreatment.
Thomas (who favors those weird white-collared dress-shirts and Clairol's Stygian Midnight hair color) also writes:
O'Neill says he never got much out of the president, who mostly sat and listened to him and did not respond. A former Bush advisor who remains close to the White House tells me that O'Neill is apparently unaware that when the president sits silent at a meeting it is because he doesn't "know, trust or like the person ... all of those have to be earned."
...which just makes President Grumpypants the Little Emperor now, doesn't it?
Thomas goes on and cites neo-con conspiracy boy-toy Laurie Mylroie:
Credit to Laurie Mylroie, Ph.D, author of two books on Saddam Hussein and consultant to the Pentagon and Adjunct Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, for digging out this information and for e-mailing "60 Minutes" that Suskind's claim is incorrect. While the map is of "potential areas for exploration," says Mylroie, O'Neill and Suskind don't mention that the same set of documents, which contain the map of Iraq and the list of Iraqi oil projects, also have maps and similar lists of projects for the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Do Suskind and O'Neill think President Bush was about to invade these nations, too?
I think it's best to not answer that last question at this time since we are reserving judgment until Karl Rove gets back with the latest focus group numbers, so for the time being we'll just assume that Thomas was asking a rhetorical question and leave it at that.
We wouldn't want to upset anyone with a grudge...
posted by tbogg at 12:39 PM
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Get your freak on...
at The Road to Surfdom
posted by tbogg at 11:12 AM
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Here we are now, entertain us....
The cowardly Mr. Lileks pokes his head out and sees something that's shiny and semi-new and will get our minds off of the cultural detritus that he finds appalling because its not the cultural detritus from the 50's which is actually swell:
Fact: In the middle of a war against medieval-minded foes, we decided that we should also head back into space. We’re not going to close the borders, curl up under the covers. The right hand holds the sword, the left hand holds the sextant. If you’d asked me on 9/12/01 what headline I thought I’d see on 01/14/03, I would have said something depressing like “Seattle relies on Israeli experts for help in nuke damage” or some such apocalyptic concept. Back then it all seemed ready to tumble into the deep black pit. I would have been cheered to learn that attacks on our troops in Iraq were down 22 percent. I would have been gobsmacked to learn we had decided to return to the moon as well. That's the sort of news that transcends today and defines tomorrow.
And makes people blurt out silly rhetorical curlicues like the one above. Okay, let's have some more:I have a dream. I believe that this nation should put a man on the moon by the end of this decade and keep him there. Not because it is easy, but because it is hard and expensive and boring and lethal and just might – might – give people something to watch that’s more important than Paris Hilton pitching a fit because she chipped a nail.
And I forget
Just what it takes
And yet I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard
Its hard to find
Oh well, whatever, nevermind
posted by tbogg at 10:30 AM
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Birds of a feather schtick together
Can't say that this suprises me too much.
Or this.
The Axis of Opportunism.
posted by tbogg at 10:12 AM
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Margaret Cho gets monkey mail too....
Looks like the Shortbus-Americans who make up freerepublic have been busy:
Because Matt Drudge posted an incomplete and edited "transcript" of Margaret Cho's set (about 2 mins. of the 20 min. set) at the MoveOn.org show Monday night, I have received non stop hateful emails (I have over 100 and they're coming in at the rate of 1/minute). I believe that many people who read the "transcript" didn't even realize she is a comedian because they mentioned her "speech." Most of my traffic has come directly from a site called freerepublic.com, which posted the transcript from Drudge.
Although people were offended by and commented on different parts of the "transcript," it seems that Margaret's biggest crimes are being fat, Asian-American, GLBT supportive, and female. I put a few of them on this page but will forward many more, if asked. I'm sorry in advance if the crudeness offends you. Please know that I am sensitive to that but I think you should know what kind of vitriol is being thrown at Margaret and the kind of racism, homophobia, and misogyny we're up against in the coming election.
Here's a sample:
----- Original Message -----
From: Sam Yates (yatesfam@sigecom.net)
To: margaret@margaretcho.com
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 5:01 PM
Subject: a big fan!
I read a transcript of your remarks about President Bush.
Why don't take your slant-eyed ass back to the orient if you don't like it here, you worthless troll.
***
From: Dave Mauro (davemauro@comcast.net)
To: margaret@margaretcho.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 4:19 PM
Subject: Comments about Bush
Given your recent comments about President Bush at the MoveOn.org awards, you obviously have no problems with personal attacks.
Therefore I thought I'd take a moment to let you know that most people think you are a no talent, fat, washed up a-hole.
***
----- Original Message -----
From: sjoyce327@comcast.net
To: margaret@margaretcho.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 9:40 AM
Subject: Move on.org comments
Just a quick note to let you know that after reading your comments from the move on . org awards I was disgusted. Your comments were totally uncalled for. Why don't you you take your fat slant eyed head and go back to China.
F__k You
***
----- Original Message -----
From: David Benson (carolsboy@yahoo.com)
To: margaret@margaretcho.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 9:28 AM
Subject: Bush Bashing
You are a f'n loser... I am hoping you develop breast cancer or contract a flesh-eating disease and pass it on to your whole f'n family... you bitch.
It is liberal democrats that are f'n up the world. Women have had over 40,000,000 abortions in 30 years, that more lives killed then men in this country have killed in all the wars we have fought in combined. At least men can claim they did it in the name of LIBERTY and FREEDOM, women claim they kill in the name of CHOICE?
Lovely. And those are the nice ones. Go check out the Bush supporters and then come back and we'll talk about how offensive it is to compare George W. Bush to Hitler.
(Added): I've just added Cho to the Hot Links. She's too good to miss.
posted by tbogg at 8:42 AM
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Cuddlenumpkin's praetorian guard
After reading about J-Lo, Ben-Af, and P-Did, make sure you read the latest about Karl-Ro and his very sensitive and got-nothing-better-to-do Secret Service detail:
A Brooklyn woman who created a Web site proclaiming her love for White House political adviser Karl Rove has been questioned by the Secret Service.
The presidential protectors contacted Kat Kinsman, a 31-year-old writer and Webmaster who has been carrying on a tongue-in-cheek imaginary affair with the 53-year-old Republican on her site, ilovekarlrove.com.
Kinsman has posted descriptions of steamy sessions with the portly politico, calling him her "cuddlenumpkins."
But Kinsman is actually a volunteer for Howard Dean's campaign, and she means it all in good fun. To its credit, the Secret Service got the joke.
"It was clearly a political parody," Kinsman told us. "They had no problem with the content."
You would have thought that the idea of "steamy seesions with... this, would have been a tipoff.
(Thanks to anna for the link)
posted by tbogg at 8:33 AM
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Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Awwwwwww...
San Diego baby Panda stuff.
posted by tbogg at 11:37 PM
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Computers make our lives better except when they don't
Jeebus. Somehow Lycos Sidesearch took over my laptop browser so I downloaded Spyhunter to clean it and a few other spyware/scumware parasites out of both of my computers (I haven't even started on my daughter's laptop and PC).
It worked great on my PC, but now the laptop can't find the wireless router.
...and that is how I spent my evening.
No luck.
Argh.
posted by tbogg at 11:17 PM
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Far from the madding campus
For the record, Peggy Noonan was once an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University. From her latest, you too can learn how to write gooder.
Opening paragraph: One way to look at life is that we're all waiting. You're born, you grow into the autonomy of adulthood, and then you have to find a way to pass your time until a) you enter your real life, the one that never ends and is full of joy, or b) you enter the meaningless black void that is death and the silence of the tomb. The trick lies in finding a way to spend your time that is pleasurable, satisfying and honorable. What does this have to do with political prognostication? I really don't know. I just know that political pundits have chosen, as their way to spend the heart of their adult years, gathering the latest facts on and trying to explain politics.
Closing paragraph: Mr. Dean's people are proudly antiestablishment. For them it's the Pussyfooting Party Powers versus an Unformed But Rising Mass. If the Democratic establishment reasserts itself in Iowa, many pundits--including me--will have to eat the words they've been speaking the past few months. Dean was not inevitable. In my case, never will words be eaten so happily.
I believe the style is called English Grotesque.
posted by tbogg at 11:00 PM
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Monkeys in space
I think that Kevin Drum pretty much nails Commander Moonshot's latest underfunded Most Excellent Adventure.
posted by tbogg at 10:39 PM
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Rank opportunism becomes schtick
Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying to make a buck when his career is in a death-spiral and the best thing he's got going is as third alternate on Celebrity Mole Branson, which must mean that we're talking about Dennis Miller. The former "funnyman" who has lately been relegated to commentaries on Fox that make Neil Cavuto look like Dorothy Parker on steroids (see? anyone can do Miller esoterica) gets yet one more chance with his new show (breaking Tony Danza's record) on CNBC starting later this month:
"People say I've slid to the right," Mr. Miller said in his office at the NBC Studios in Burbank, speaking in his rat-a-tat-tat style. "Well, can you blame me? One of the biggest malfeasances of the left right now is the mislabeling of Hitler. Quit saying this guy is Hitler," he said, referring to Mr. Bush. "Hitler is Hitler. That's the quintessential evil in the history of the universe, and we're throwing it around on MoveOn.org to win a contest. That's grotesque to me."
Mr. Miller, who was speaking about television advertisements submitted to a competition held by MoveOn.org Voter Fund, a liberal political group, was just getting started.
"Did you see the Democratic debate the other night?" he asked. "To me Dennis Kucinich's politics are more scrambled than Rod Steiger's dream journal. And Clark? He's a wizard in many ways, but when I hear him speak, it's almost like he's slumming. There's a mensch discrepancy there. At least John Edwards, who to me is a reasonably shallow guy, at least he can dog-paddle around in that park and not look out of place."
Keep in mind that CNBC is actually paying him for...well, whatever that was. I guess CNBC is going for that South Park Republican demographic. You know, the conservative youngsters who watch cartoons and listen to rap and are all cool and edgy and stuff.
Too bad they don't exist.
posted by tbogg at 10:26 PM
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Meanwhile, back on Planet 4 of the 892 System...
The Commander of the good ship Clueless writes:
Rule number one for all reporters in Iraq and their editors back home:
Thou shalt not report any good news without also including bad news. Thus shalt thou maintain balance. (However, reporting bad news without any offsetting good news is perfectly acceptable.)
Case in point: a report to the effect that the rate of insurgent attacks against our troops has declined by half in the month since Saddam was captured. That's really important, don't you think? Tends to suggest "success", maybe, just a little bit?
And that's the problem. It's impermissible to write a news article that suggests that things might be going well. It might give people the impression that Iraq isn't a quagmire; can't have that, can we?
So this article mentions the reduction in the rate of attacks in its first sentence, and never mentions it again. The entire rest of the article drags in as many other things as it can which suggest that everything is going to hell in a hand-basket, even though they have nothing whatever to do with the reduction.
And even the good news in the first sentence isn't reported quite straight.
The Pentagon says the reduction in individual attacks against Americans is dramatic - down by 50 percent since the capture of Saddam Hussein.
See, it isn't that the number of attacks is down, it's that the Pentagon claims that the number of attacks is down. One can almost see the exchange of knowing looks between the reporter and her non-stupid readers: We all know that the Pentagon is probably lying about this, right? Wink-wink, nudge-nudge?
Actually the way we read the first line is as follows:
The Pentagon says the reduction in individual attacks against Americans is dramatic - down by 50 percent since the capture of Saddam Hussein.
Not
The Pentagon claims the reduction in individual attacks against Americans is dramatic - down by 50 percent since the capture of Saddam Hussein
...which kind of blows Steven's little origami boat right out of the gutter meaning that you don't have to read about how he once took a journalism class in college and how he learned to write "straight news reports" but those rules don't apply when you're blogging and trying to make a point that doesn't exist.
Of course the part that really harshes Steven's mellow is the fact that Martha Raddatz is reporting that, although the number of attacks are down, the number of casualties is staying about the same mainly because the attacks are being directed towards US aircraft that are apparently not using their Cloak of Invisibility, Deflector Shields, or Tractor Beams as they bring peace and the good wishes of the Federation to the good people of Eminiar VII.
Or something like that....
posted by tbogg at 2:17 PM
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"...big, distracting talk from a small, impulsive man. "
From le Dick (see below) to le Prick.
posted by tbogg at 1:09 PM
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Another day, another blind alley...
Yet another warblogger wet dream fades away in the cold light of morning:
Mortar shells found in southern Iraq by the Danish military do not appear to contain chemical weapon agents as originally suspected, Fox News has learned.
After a 16-man team from the Iraqi Survey Group (search) was sent to the scene to examine the mortar shells, tests of five of them yielded no traces of chemical agent, a Danish military official told Fox on Wednesday.
Once again the 101st Fighting Keyboarders have to fold up their "See! See! I told'ja!" posts and put them back in their wallets next to that three year-old condom....
posted by tbogg at 11:47 AM
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J'accuse le Dick!
Hesiod has the story about a French investigation into bribery involving Halliburton when it was run by a certain pasty white guy with a bad heart.
posted by tbogg at 10:22 AM
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Why don't they want to talk about the good cows instead of the ones that can kill people which, by the way, is a bad thing.
America's Dumbest Congressman (no, not JD Hayworth. He's America's Stupidest Congressman) George Nethercutt thinks "downer cows" is mighty tasty:
Ranchers want legislation to require that beef be labeled with its country of origin, and a national ban on sales of so-called "downer" cows, cattlemen told a congressman who has opposed both measures.
Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., got an earful from cattlemen Monday as he toured Eastern Washington to hear from ranchers buffeted by the discovery in the state of a dairy cow infected with mad cow disease.
Cattlemen told Nethercutt, who is seeking the GOP nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, that they are willing to trust their livelihood to the choices made by informed American consumers.
"Consumers deserve to be able to make an educated choice," Medical Lake rancher Craig Grub told Nethercutt. "They should have done it years ago."
The Spokane County Cattle Association backs country-of-origin labeling. But Nethercutt, who in the past has opposed such labeling, said they should be careful what they wish for.
"You let government mandate it for you, and it may not be what you want," Nethercutt told the ranchers. "If you were sitting in my chair, you may feel differently about it."
The cattlemen said a national ban on the sale of downer cows - animals too sick to enter slaughterhouses on their own feet - should have been adopted long before the Holstein with mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, was discovered last month in a Mabton dairy herd.
A week after she announced the cow's discovery, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman banned the use of downer cows by meatpackers.
[snip]
But cattlemen said the issue is important as they seek to assure consumers that the food supply is safe.
"I think the downer cattle issue has hurt us more than BSE," Nespelem cattleman Don McClure said.
Nethercutt told the cattlemen gathered at the Spokane County Extension office that a ban would result in them losing all income from downer cattle.
At least two cattlemen said they were willing to take that loss and wouldn't sell beef they wouldn't let their own children eat.
Did I mention that George wants to be a Senator?
(Thanks to Susan for the link)
posted by tbogg at 9:15 AM
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Maybe if they gave him a placemat to color and some crayons....
Lack of naptime makes for a very cranky Leader of the Free World:
Besides exercising, Bush's biggest release from his job is chain sawing branches into huge piles in the summer, with Secret Service agents hovering nearby to protect him from falling limbs as he trims. In the winter, Bush and his heartiest alpha aides burn the towering pyramids of cedar.
That may sound like a chore, but Bush would certainly rather be there than here. The early-rising president can get crabby and punchy if he doesn't hit the pillow by 10 or so at night. On Monday, Bush was not scheduled even to arrive at a dinner hosted by Mexican President Vicente Fox until 9:10 p.m. local time (10:10 Eastern).
Bush, who returned to the White House on Tuesday night, sounded tired and bored at the few public appearances during his 28-hour visit. His remarks had unusually long pauses. Cutaway television shots captured Bush glowering into space as other heads of state talked about "economic growth with equity to reduce poverty," "investing in people" and "democratic governance."
One of the million great things about being president is that you rarely have to listen to people who bore you. Dignitaries who introduce Bush are asked to limit their remarks to one minute. Bush praises those who are quicker, and his aides have been known to scold those who run over.
[snip]
One of the first signs that Bush was already over the summit came Monday night, when he was scheduled to pose for pictures and take a few questions from reporters toward the end of his 20-minute meeting with one of his most vociferous critics at the summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The meeting ran late and the media session turned into a handshake and a back pat for Lula. The whole thing lasted less than 20 seconds. Then Bush's staff began shooing the press corps out of the room.
White House regulars know that when the young aide barks "Lights! Thank you all!" that's the cue to scram or else incur the wrath of Bush and his palace guard. The foreign reporters, though, took some cajoling.
"Okay!" various Bushies shouted. "Thank you. Let's go. Back out the same door. Let's go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Let's go. Thank you. We're moving. Thank you. Sir, we're done! Thank you. Thank you. Let's go, sir -- we're done! Thank you. Let's go."
It's nice to hear that the American Press is so well trained.
Good doggies! Goooood doggies. Roll over! Roll over.....
posted by tbogg at 9:00 AM
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Party crasher
President B-Rad needs to pump up his street cred so he's bum rushing the par-tay.
President Bush's visit on Thursday to observe what would have been the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 75th birthday isn't sitting well with area tribute organizers.
They say Bush invited himself to their party and will potentially force the cancellation of some events due to security concerns. What's more, they say, Bush will profit from a fund-raiser he will piggyback with his visit to Atlanta.
About 3:45 p.m., the president will lay a wreath at the late civil rights leader's crypt at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. The president announced his visit on Friday.
But the MLK March Committee, a group of area civil rights activists who worked with King, say they have worked for months on a program to honor the civil rights leader at Ebenezer Baptist Church, across the street.
"They told us that the Secret Service wanted us out of there by 2 p.m.," said the Rev. James Orange. "We are not leaving the church." The Ebenezer program from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. focuses on human rights.
If the folks from the Ebeneezer Baptist Church aren't available, the RNC will have to transport their special Elite Republican Negro Action Team in to provide a suitable dusky background for the President. As of this morning only three of the five available black Republicans had confirmed their availability.
Link via Notes from Atlanta...who also has a few things to say about Zell Miller ( D R-GA).
posted by tbogg at 8:41 AM
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Try the Fisherman's Salmonella Feast. It's OMB approved...
Imagine the White House Office of Management and Budget being responsible for notifying the public of, say, an e coli outbreak.
Under a new proposal, the White House would decide what and when the public would be told about an outbreak of mad cow disease, an anthrax release, a nuclear plant accident or any other crisis.
The White House Office of Management and Budget is trying to gain final control over release of emergency declarations from the federal agencies responsible for public health, safety and the environment....
[snip]
On Friday, a nonpartisan group of 20 former top agency officials sent a letter to the OMB asking the White House watchdog agency to withdraw its proposal, saying it "could damage the federal system for protecting public health and the environment."
One of the signers, David Michaels, said: "It goes beyond just having the White House involved in picking industry favorites to evaluate government science. Under this proposal, the carefully crafted process used by the government to notify the public of an imminent danger is going to first have to be signed off by someone weighing the political hazards."
Yeah.
"Sorry. After a thorough cost/benefit analysis we decided that the death of a few children wasn't as statistically important as keeping Red Lobster open and employing people. Besides, you can always have another kid. "
posted by tbogg at 8:24 AM
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Endorsements
Just about all you need to know.
posted by tbogg at 8:10 AM
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Tuesday, January 13, 2004
I'm sorry. This is the line for hetero handouts. Your line is, well, actually you don't have one...
Okay. As near as I can figure this article out, the Bush administration wants to spend $1.5 billion teaching "interpersonal skills" that "will sustain healthy marriages" because, apparently, having poor interpersonal skills leads people to get divorced and go the gay way.
Ronald T. Haskins, a Republican who has previously worked on Capitol Hill and at the White House under Mr. Bush, said, "A lot of conservatives are very pleased with the healthy marriage initiative."
The proposal is the type of relatively inexpensive but politically potent initiative that appeals to White House officials at a time when they are squeezed by growing federal budget deficits.
It also plays to Mr. Bush's desire to be viewed as a "compassionate conservative," an image he sought to cultivate in his 2000 campaign. This year, administration officials said, Mr. Bush will probably visit programs trying to raise marriage rates in poor neighborhoods.
"The president loves to do that sort of thing in the inner city with black churches, and he's very good at it," a White House aide said.
Approximately $1 billion is currently slated for Kellogg Brown Root & Yenta, a subsidiary of Halliburton Industries.
Of course, not everyone qualifies for this compassionate program:
A major purpose, he said, is to help people "communicate about money, sex, child-raising and other difficult issues that come up in their relationships."
Dr. Horn said that federal money for marriage promotion would be available only to heterosexual couples. As a federal official, he said, he is bound by a 1996 statute, the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage for any program established by Congress. The law states, "The word `marriage' means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife."
But Dr. Horn said: "I don't have any problem with the government providing support services to gay couples under other programs. If a gay couple had a child and they were poor, they might be eligible for food stamps or cash assistance."
Thanks Dr. Horn. Don't let your compassion hit you in the ass on the way out...
posted by tbogg at 10:41 PM
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Chainsaws don't cut off legs, people with chainsaws cut of---... oh, never mind.
Looks like Ted is having problems surviving himself:
Ted Nugent (news) was injured on the Texas set of his reality show when a chain saw cut through his leg.
The outspoken rocker, outdoors enthusiast and star of the VH1 series "Surviving Nugent: The Ted Commandments," required 40 stitches to close the gash in his leg on Sunday, Michelle Clark, a spokeswoman for the cable music channel, said Tuesday.
Nugent didn't miss any time on the series, which is taping through Sunday and is scheduled to air in April. The 55-year-old rocker is wearing a brace on his leg.
posted by tbogg at 10:22 PM
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The anti-Nedra
If Martin Sieff keeps this up, he's never going to land a job at AP.
On Sunday, the president's own former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, one of the most senior figures to serve in his administration, appeared on CBS's "60 Minutes" to blast Bush as determined to invade Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein from as soon as he entered office, regardless of the lack of evidence that Iraq possessed any weapons of mass destruction.
The administration responded with alacrity. Only a day later it called for a probe into how government documents labeled "secret" could be aired on the O'Neill interview on national network TV in prime time.
But this response contrasted strikingly with the far slower response the White House had in approving a probe on who leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak last July. The issue flared again last week when Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York claimed the White House had so far only "partially cooperated" with a Justice Department probe into the affair.
The O'Neill embarrassment Sunday was followed the very next day with reports about a major 56-page Army War College study completed last month that scathingly described the invasion and conquest of Iraq as "a strategic error of the first order."
The report, written for the Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute in Carlisle, Pa., by veteran defense expert Jeffrey Record, described the three-week campaign in March and April that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein as "an unnecessary preventive war of choice against a deterred Iraq" and said it had only succeeded in creating "a new front in the Middle East for Islamic terrorism and diverted attention and resources away from securing the American homeland against further assault by an undeterrable al-Qaida."
posted by tbogg at 2:51 PM
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Strange bedfellows
Actually the thought of Rush Limabaugh in bed with anything that lives or breathes or has the gift of sight or isn't made out of rubber and horse-hair, always calls to mind the expression "strange bedfellows". Keith Olbermann does a bloggers job of catching Rush in odd sexual congress:
Of Limbaugh’s many targets, it is hard to pick a favorite. But if you enter “Rush Limbaugh” and “American Civil Liberties Union” or ACLU into an Internet search engine, you’ll get 8600 results.
Sample items taken from Mr. Limbaugh’s own website:
September 12th, 2003:
“If this guy had burned that flag,” Limbaugh said, “the ACLU and countless other groups would be down there supporting this guy’s right to desecrate old glory. But because he’s flying the American flag respectfully, none of the so-called civil libertarians makes a peep.”
September 23rd, 2003:
“The ACLU has decided they’re not going to appeal the Ninth Circuit’s decision to reinstate the California re-call election... They must not really care all that much about you stupid minorities and poor people.”
December 23rd, 2003:
“Where have all these so-called civil libertarians gone, the ACLU and the rest of them, claiming our government is overreaching?”
Maybe I’m over-reaching, but I don’t think Mr. Limbaugh likes the ACLU. And something else he has shown an antipathy to—the right to privacy.
Go read what you just know is coming....
posted by tbogg at 1:34 PM
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Digging in the dirt
Bilmon is suprised at how right he was.
posted by tbogg at 1:29 PM
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Sick of it all
In case you hadn't heard, Steve Gilliard is in the hospital and apparently the jackbooted Medico-facists won't let him use a laptop. Go over and wish him well, and maybe send him a naughty nurse or something else inappropriate.
posted by tbogg at 11:54 AM
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Say no more
For Christmas my wife gave me the Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus DVD set, which is still shrink-wrapped, I might add. I've been busy.
My commitment to you is that, going forward, I will refrain from making any and all obscure Python references in my posts.
Failure to uphold my end of the commitment will result in a severe fish-slapping.
Damn....
posted by tbogg at 11:41 AM
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Yeah. Because what would a doctor know about the health care system in this country?
They're obsessing over Howard Dean's wife over at the Corner. Here's K-Lo:
I’m not sure how it all shakes out if, heaven forbid, Howard Dean became president—would Mrs. Dr. Dean really stay home and practice medicine and pick up the dry cleaning? I doubt it. (And I’m not sure that’s completely desirable—in the context of a man who you'd want to be reasonably well-adjusted considering his job and his family, for one thing, but that’s another conversation.) But, that said, better she stay home than try to create a new health-care system.
You see Judith Steinberg Dean's twenty-odd years as a doctor somehow prevents her from having any opinions on the type of healthcare that Americans deserve. Laura Bush, on the other hand, was a teacher for four years and then spent the next 30 years talking it, which, of course, makes her an expert on education and we really should pay attention and raise our hands if we have any questions, remembering to use our library voices...shhhhhhhh.....
posted by tbogg at 11:05 AM
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Tone deaf
Remember when Bill Clinton told the New York Times that he was going to "tear off Tom DeLay's head and shit down his neck"? Yeah. I don't either. But Jonah Goldberg (pudgy momma's boy..."astute observer of contemporary life"? Yeah, that Jonah) thinks that if the President doesn't say anything, well, he can't be responsible for anything that his people do, and besides Bill Clinton did it, even when he didn't.
I hear Bush's critics saying that President Bush has violated his promise to change the tone in Washington. I agree that the tone hasn't changed too much, and frankly I don't care. But I don't really see how Bush is up for much criticism on this score. Consider his statement yesterday when asked about O'Neill's allegations. He said, "I appreciate former Secretary O'Neill's service to our country. We worked together during some difficult times," Bush said. "We worked together when the country was in recession, and now we're coming out of recession, which is positive news. We worked together when America was attacked on Sept. 11, which changed how I viewed the world." This is hardly the sort of destroy the accuser politics of the previous administration, now is it?
posted by tbogg at 10:44 AM
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Focusing on being forward looking... You have done well, grasshopper...
As we can see from these excerpts, Scott McClellan did indeed snatch the pebble from Ari Fleischer's palm:
Q Does the President consider Paul O'Neill's book an act of disloyalty?
MR. McCLELLAN: Look, people -- one, people have the right to express their views. That's one of the strengths of our democracy. And the President is going -- as I said, the President is going to continue to be forward-looking. He's got plenty to focus on, on behalf of the American people, and he is someone who focuses on getting things done, and focuses on the results that we're achieving.
Q But he's not holding a grudge against Paul O'Neill?
MR. McCLELLAN: Look, that's -- like I said, that's just not the way the President looks at this. The President is someone that is forward-looking.
[snip]
Q Did O'Neill or anyone acting on his behalf make any effort to contact the White House or administration officials in advance of the publication of the book?
MR. McCLELLAN: Look, I understand that there is a media interest in this book. But it's just not something this administration gets caught up in. We are focused on what we are trying to accomplish on behalf of the American people. And that's what we will continue to do.
Q So there was no effort?
MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know what contacts may or may not have been made. But I can tell you what I know speaking for the White House.
Q But he chose O'Neill to be part of his administration. So you may have known him a long time, but why shouldn't the public believe what the former Treasury Secretary of the United States says about the President?
MR. McCLELLAN: And, David, we very much appreciate his service. That's the President's view. We appreciate his service. Again, I think I would say what I said a minute ago, that while I certainly haven't seen the book, I've just seen what you all have seen, but it just appears to be more about trying to justify personal views and opinions than it does about looking at the results we're achieving on behalf of the American people. And that's where the President is going to keep his focus, on the results we're trying to accomplish for the American people.
Okay, thank you, everybody. See you in Monterrey.
...and with that, POOF!, Scott was gone to some mystical land where he could focus on a series of scotch and sodas and look forward to sweet oblivion.
(Added): From Kicking Ass
posted by tbogg at 10:29 AM
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Abbott and Costello meet The Return of I Don't Like The Drugs But The Drugs Like Me
Yesterday, Rush went out of his way to alienate 43% of his audience:
“Not everybody is motivate-able. Not everybody should be motivated. There are some losers out there. There are some people that just absolutely have no chance. Take people living at home with their parents as an example.”
Oh, and yesterday or in the past few days (who knows..who cares) it was Rush's birthday:
“People always ask, ‘Now that you are 53, do you want to be younger?’ I really don't, because you can't take what you know and go back there. I don’t want to relive that garbage.”
Rush then spent a quiet evening at home snorting crushed pig tranquilizers off of Marta's augmentations while she yawned, did her nails and watched Everybody Loves Raymond.
posted by tbogg at 9:44 AM
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Elton's back
We can all breathe a sigh of relief....
posted by tbogg at 9:32 AM
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The Debunking Evolution class was canceled when the students began hooting. And then the feces started to fly...
alicublog wonders why more money isn't going to the kudzu-covered halls of rightwing academia.
Clown colleges deserve endowments too, you know....
posted by tbogg at 9:23 AM
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Then there is that fifth category: Your readers are idiots.
Dennis Prager is patting himself on the back for a column he wrote last week that was apparently so wickedly clever that it fooled those wise souls who hang onto his deathless prose each week. Or something like that:
But to my great surprise, my last column, a parody of President Jimmy Carter's views, elicited so much response, so much of which was confused about what I had written, that I feel I owe it to my readers to analyze what happened.
I made up an interview with former President Jimmy Carter in which he sharply criticized the "Lord of the Rings" films for celebrating the military, war and violence.
As I began the piece with the byline "Prager News Service," I was quite certain that affixing my own name to a news service made it clear at the outset that what was to follow was a spoof. I was also confident that the statements attributed to President Carter seemed sufficiently absurd (such as his attack on "Lord of the Rings" for depicting trees going to war) to further reinforce the satirical nature of the column. And for those who missed those two clues, I wrote at the end: "This story is fictional, but not false."
I was deluged with mail that fell into four categories.
First were those who told me they laughed themselves silly.
Second were admirers of President Carter who were furious with me for attributing to him statements that he never made.
Third were those who took the column literally and thanked me for bringing to light President Carter's attack on "Lord of the Rings."
Fourth were those who didn't understand my last line. "What do you mean it is fiction but not false?" was a typical question. As was "What part of your column was fiction?"
Then Prager launches into a long description of his admiration of William Safire who has been known to make up other people's thoughts in order to confirm his own prejudices and points (although I think Peggy Noonan should have received some credit on this point) and so, you see, he was just fooling around, pretending, much like Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's Apprentice in Fantasia (in keeping with the whole wizard theme) and now there's water everywhere and it's just a big mess and don't you hate it when that happens?
But you have to ask yourself, what kind of person did Dennis fool with this "fiction" that is not "false"? Not surprisingly:
But what is most interesting here is how many people thought the statements I made up really were said by President Carter. Jonah Goldberg, an astute observer of contemporary life, actually excerpted my column, "Jimmy Carter: 'Compassion for Mordor,'" on his National Review Web site. When he later realized it was a spoof, he immediately posted: "UPDATE! I'm an idjit! (sic) Like five e-mailers sent me this with excerpts. I read a ways into and then posted. I didn't read the last line. It is a parody! D'oh! My bad, my apologies."
Yes, Jonah Goldberg who is an "astute observer of contemporary life" (and we know this because Jonah constantly mentions The Simpsons and Star Trek and that Very Special Episode of Blossom). This would also be the same Jonah who still falls for it when Rich Lowry plays "Got'cher Nose!" with him, eliciting all manner of giggles and snorts and burbling.
That Jonah.
posted by tbogg at 9:07 AM
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"Your Honor. I'd like to call your attention to the People vs. Mothra....."
World O'Crap points out that, if you're in Tennessee and you need a lawyer, you might want to pass on the law firm of Glib, Snarky, Nyuk, Nyuk and Reynolds. (Scroll down to Why Everybody is Wrong About O'Neill).
posted by tbogg at 8:38 AM
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Monday, January 12, 2004
Oh, and if you have a layover in Peru, can you pick up a little something for George?
President Helen Keller is sending a delegation down to Guatemala to attend the Inauguration of Oscar Berger Perdomo. Heading up the delegation will be brother Jeb and his wife Columba, who will probably do a little shopping while she's there.
While most family members are expecting souvenir commemorative t-shirts, Bush brother Neil (the " herp-meister") asked Jeb to pick him up a Guatemalan hooker while he's there because "I haven't had one of those yet" and he needs her to complete his Whores of the World™ collection.
posted by tbogg at 12:57 PM
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Back then, if a kid wanted to drown, he had to drown himself...
Townhall's Mike Adams goes all misty-watercolored-memories and vists the old neighborhood only to discover it's been taken over by fundamentalist Christians with unique child-rearing skills, and doctor's wives who've pioneered No-Fault-I'll-Run-Over-You divorce.
Oh. And no one remembers that Mike was a "Little League Champ". No mention of Aunt Bea...
posted by tbogg at 12:33 PM
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Finally.
I see Blogger is letting me post again.
I'd ask for my money back, but it's free.....
posted by tbogg at 11:54 AM
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Cry "No Fair!" and let slip the Bichon Frise of war
No More Mr. Nice Blog points out that they are siccing the big guns on Paul O'Neill. That is, if your idea of a "big gun" is a chinless girlfriend-beater who looks like the night manager at Walgreens.
...and proving that the pup doesn't fall far from the bitch here's one from ankle-biter Jonah:
SCROOGE! [Jonah Goldberg]
If O'Neill had been less of a media darling and more of a movement conservative don't you think this interesting factoid from a reader would have gotten a lot more coverage (assuming it's true):
I worked for a division of Alcoa during O’Neill’s run as CEO. It was his policy to charge people to attend the company Christmas party. If memory serves, it was $40 for an individual or $60 per couple.
Keep up the good work.
[name withheld]
You know... assuming it's true. And here's one from Reagan leg-humper, Peter Robinson:
WHAT JONAH SAYS GOES FOR ME [Peter Robinson]
As it happens, Jonah, I too had an off-the-record encounter with Paul O'Neill. My impression of the man is most succinctly conveyed by quoting yours: "a pompous, self-indulgent prima donna."
posted by tbogg at 11:43 AM
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The election Circle of Life
I think that Non-Sequitur pretty much nails it.
posted by tbogg at 10:25 AM
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Washington grotesque
A must-read article on Grover Norquist at the WaPo. He's quite the....hmmm, what's a good word...social misfit:
And yet Norquist's bachelor townhouse bears evidence of a man whose ideological core is hard. The art in his living room is early Ronald Reagan. His Costco-brand shirts hang in a closet under a picture of former Senate leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) signing a no-tax pledge.
He is often described as an eccentric. For a bedside table, Norquist uses a giant green canister for Kraft parmesan cheese. He displays what he hopes will be the world's largest collection of airsickness bags. At staff meetings, employees say, he holds court while variously sitting on a giant red plastic ball, eating tuna from a can, rubbing his feet against a massager and sniffing hand lotion as he kneads it into his fingers. He excuses himself to go to "the ladies room."
His manner is charming, though bitterness creeps into his voice when he talks about classmates at Harvard, where he attended college ('78) and business school ('81). As a Republican, Norquist felt isolated among the students, whom he calls "Bolsheviks." At a reunion in the early 1990s, he said, he told a classmate: "For 40 years we fought a two-front war against the Soviet Union and state-ism. Now we can turn all our time and energy to crushing you. With the Soviet Union, it was just business. With you, it's personal."
He leaves the impression that perhaps some of the 18 hours a day he devotes to establishing a permanent Republican majority has to do with punishing college tormenters. As for being socially awkward, his mother had advised him when he was growing up in Weston, Mass., to "dance with the wallflowers." If you do, she said, you will be at the center of things.
posted by tbogg at 9:47 AM
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Well, he did free the rich from having to pay taxes...
Lloyd Grove, of all people, takes a slap at The Great Oil Emancipator:
He didn't free the slaves.
He didn't rid the world of Hitler.
He didn't even - like his father - preside over the destruction of the Berlin Wall.
Yet George W. Bush tells New Yorker writer Ken Auletta: "No President has ever done more for human rights than I have."
With stunners like that, no wonder he spends so little time with journalists.
Grove also has this gem:
What are the odds?: Virtues Czar Bill Bennett, who ran into a spot of bother last year over his multimillion-dollar gambling habit, slammed Pete Rose's gambling during a speaking trip to New Hampshire last week.
"I think it's an open question whether any adult should gamble," Bennett told me. "It's an absolutely closed question whether a baseball player should gamble on baseball."
Bennett, the former drug czar who remains a staunch opponent of legalizing recreational substances, was the victim of a practical joke during a speech to college students in Manchester.
Members of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy passed out plastic cups and invited people to send Bennett urine samples. And one, Brian Gralnik, got Bennett to autograph the inside cover of a book titled "Winning Casino Blackjack for the Non-Counter."
Ex-gambler Bennett - whose preferred Las Vegas pastimes were video poker and the slot machines - said he signed several books on the way out of the auditorium and didn't look at the titles.
(Thanks to Anna for the link)
posted by tbogg at 9:34 AM
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Werewolves of blundering
Local columnist James Goldsborough has been thinking about the Condoleeza Rice and her references to the post WWII German "werewolves":
Last August, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, gave her "werewolf" speech. At the time, the Iraq occupation was losing public support because of continued attacks on U.S. troops three months after President Bush declared the war over. Rice sought to calm fears.
Not to worry, she said. The violence in Iraq was "normal" postwar chaos that soon would pass. Just as Hitler's "werewolves" had attacked U.S. occupying forces in Germany in 1945, she said, Iraqi diehards were attacking U.S. forces today. As in Germany, it would come to nothing.
Rice gave her speech the first week of August, when 58 U.S. troops had been killed since Bush declared the war over in May. Today that figure is 356, for a total U.S. Iraq death figure of at least 495.
Rice's reference to Germany surprised me. History barely mentions the werewolves, who never posed a security problem. Antony Beevor, in his "The Fall of Berlin, 1945," mentions werewolves only as a demented idea in the mind of propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels and dying with him in Hitler's bunker on May 1, 1945.
My column on Rice's werewolf speech drew angry responses. Several readers sent me a Reuters dispatch from 1945 to prove I was wrong and demand a retraction. Because I had consulted with several German experts (including Alfons Heck, a German leader of the Hitler Youth in 1945), I declined the correction.
[snip]
I dug out the Reuters dispatch, reread it, and called historian Fritz Stern, professor emeritus at Columbia and an expert on Germany.
Werewolves?
"They didn't amount to much at all," said Stern.
Rice's speech?
"I found it absurd," said Stern.
I read him some of the dispatch.
"It sounds fraudulent," said Stern.
I called Reuters in London. No help.
I called Washington, dateline of the dispatch. Shunted around, I finally came to Bernd Debusmann, news editor at Reuters America.
"Yes, I know about that," he said, "and it isn't ours. We're as puzzled about it as you are, but can't find where it came from. It's been on the Internet for about nine months."
Nine months? That would be April, four months before Rice made her speech. She never identified her source. Could she have used the bogus Reuters story from the Internet?
I called the NSC, and was referred to speech-writer Michael Anton. I left messages asking for Rice's source on werewolves. That's not too tough a request for a public servant.
I'm still waiting for an answer.
posted by tbogg at 9:20 AM
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Take a stroll down...
The American Street
Lot's of the cool kids are there....
posted by tbogg at 8:42 AM
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Sunday, January 11, 2004
The Sixty Minutes bounce
This bounce is going to last more than sixty minutes.
#1 with a bullet, as they say....
posted by tbogg at 11:17 PM
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Saturday, January 10, 2004
Operation Inigo Montoya... WMD... Terrorist Nation... Inigo Montoya
Big suprise:
The Bush Administration began laying plans for an invasion of Iraq, including the use of American troops, within days of President Bush's inauguration in January of 2001 -- not eight months later after the 9/11 attacks as has been previously reported.
That's what former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill says in his first interview about his time as a White House insider. O'Neill talks to Correspondent Lesley Stahl in the interview, to be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
"From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go," he tells Stahl. "For me, the notion of pre-emption, that the U.S. has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do is a really huge leap."
O'Neill, fired by the White House for his disagreement on tax cuts, is the main source for an upcoming book, "The Price of Loyalty," authored by Ron Suskind.
Suskind says O'Neill and other White House insiders he interviewed gave him documents that show that in the first three months of 2001, the administration was looking at military options for removing Saddam Hussein from power and planning for the aftermath of Saddam's downfall -- including post-war contingencies like peacekeeping troops, war crimes tribunals and the future of Iraq's oil.
"There are memos," Suskind tells Stahl, "One of them marked 'secret' says 'Plan for Post-Saddam Iraq.'"
A Pentagon document, says Suskind, titled "Foreign Suitors For Iraqi Oilfield Contracts," outlines areas of oil exploration. "It talks about contractors around the world from...30, 40 countries and which ones have what intentions on oil in Iraq," Suskind says.
But I thought it was about Weapons of Mass Destruction, their connection to al Qaeda and 9/11...oh wait...it was about the rape rooms (which the Bush administration creepily can't seem to mention enough). Apparently everything didn't change after 9/11 except for the fortuitous appearance of a fake rationale.
You would think that Glenn and Andy and Totten and Den Beste and all the other 101st Fighting Keyboarders might have something to say about this. You might think that, but you'd be wrong.
Nope. They're a quiet as a Catholic orgasm.
Now if O'Neill had compared Bush to Hitler....
posted by tbogg at 1:20 PM
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Friday, January 09, 2004
I love Alison Berkley
I found this over at Drudge and it just made my weekend:
An Aspen Times columnist has been fired from her job as a snowboard instructor at Snowmass after mocking her students and their parents in a recent column.
In her Jan. 1 column, Alison Berkley described one student as a ''fat retarded kid'' and ''whale boy,'' and said students' ''ultrawealthy'' parents ''think I'm a miracle worker because their brain-dead kid actually got excited about something besides video games for the first time since the day she turned 13.''
Here's the actual column:
Anyhoo, since I’m so good and can ride switch with one foot out of my binding and one arm tied behind my back, I help the fat retarded kid who can’t stand up on his own by “dancing” with him, holding his hands and riding board to board, guiding him down the rabbit mound so he can get the hang of what it feels like to ride on his snowboard instead of his face.
He’s heavy, so naturally we start to pick up some serious speed. I try the ol', “Lean on your heels! Lean on your heels!” since that never works. Of course whale boy doesn’t get it, so we head straight down Butthole Mountain at Mach 6 and counting. When we finally crash, I generously land beneath him so the edges of his board slice across both my thighs and he has my nice little body to cushion his fall. Brilliant!
I used to teach girls gymnastics back in 1973 when Olga Korbut was all the rage. Everybody wanted their little girl to be Olga.
The horror...the horror....
posted by tbogg at 9:39 PM
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Mr Williams will be appearing at the Guantanamo Holiday Inn Ashcroft Lounge for an open-ended run...
Don Williams hates Bush America:
-Why won't you tell us about those daily briefings you received in the nine months or so leading up to Sept. 11, 2001? Why won't you answer charges by Robert Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor you appointed to investigate 9-11, that your administration had ample warning that terrorists were capable of flying aircraft into buildings and had been discussing such actions for a decade? If you need a refresher, Mr. President, check out the story by CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston located on the CBSNews.com homepage for Dec. 17, 2003. Kean's charges are spelled out there.
-Would you please acknowledge that it was mostly elements in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia - not Iraq - who worked with al-Qaida to bring down the World Trade Center? It's pretty clear that your administration grossly exaggerated claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam Hussein had strong ties to al-Qaida.
I know your war in Iraq is popular now that you've caught Saddam, but the killing goes on. Nearly 500 American soldiers have died now, and about 11,000 are wounded or maimed. Some 10,000 Iraqis have been killed and tens of thousands more wounded.
Maybe you were right to protect Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, where we (especially your family) have many friends and business associates. Maybe you were right to invade Iraq, but you were wrong to lie about the reasons. No Americans should die in a war based on falsehood and exaggeration.
There's more...
posted by tbogg at 1:11 PM
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When non-disclosure agreements fail
Even a stoned Rush Limbaugh knows that the fired help likes to talk:
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill likened President Bush at Cabinet meetings to "a blind man in a room full of deaf people," according to excerpts on Friday from a CBS interview.
O'Neill, who was fired by Bush in December 2002, also said the president did not ask him a single question during their first one-on-one meeting, which lasted an hour.
"As I recall it was just a monologue," he told CBS' "60 Minutes," which will broadcast the entire interview on Sunday.
In making the blind man analogy, O'Neill told CBS his ex-boss did not encourage a free flow of ideas or open debate.
"There is no discernible connection," CBS quoted O'Neill as saying. The president's lack of engagement left his advisers with "little more than hunches about what the president might think," O'Neill said, according to the program.
CBS said much of O'Neill's criticisms of Bush are included in "The Price of Loyalty," an upcoming book by former Wall Street Journal reporter Ron Suskind.
posted by tbogg at 12:24 PM
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Your Diebold check is in the mail. Hey, ever think about writing for Tech Central Station?
Carol Platt Liebau thinks Barbara Boxer is paranoid (registration name: tblogg password: noonan):
Now, a new Democratic conspiracy theory is making the rounds, raising fears that electronic voting machines may lack adequate security - or even be used as a Republican weapon to "hijack" elections.
This was pursued early on by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, the canary in the coal mine for many of the Democrats' most cherished conspiracy theories - primarily because the president of Diebold Elections Systems (one of the biggest manufacturers of the new electronic voting machines) is a major Bush supporter.
Democrats including Dean, Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards have likewise jumped on the issue, murmuring darkly about nefarious forces at work. And theories about a sinister nexus between the manufacturers and Republican forces are thriving on left-wing Web sites.
Not surprisingly, California's own Barbara Boxer, the Barbra Streisand of the Senate, has decided to insert herself into this increasingly contentious issue, proposing legislation which, on its face, seems innocuous enough. Boxer's bill would provide federal (read: taxpayer) money to ensure that states' electronic voting equipment provides receipts to voters. Although California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has announced that such a system must be in place here by 2006, Boxer's initiative would move the deadline forward to 2004 (incidentally, the year of her own reelection) and extend it nationwide.
Yeah. Nothing to worry about here....or here...or here...or here.
The OC Register lists Liebau as a "San Marino-based commentator". One might also call her " Carol Platt Liebau, Political Expert, One-Time Member of "Ashcroft for Senate", " or one could call her "... a senior member of the CaliforniaRepublic.org editorial board. She is an attorney, political analyst and commentator based in San Marino, CA, and has appeared on the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNN, Orange County News Channel, Cox Cable and a variety of radio programs throughout the United States."
Seems like a OC Register disclosure problem if you ask me. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid.
posted by tbogg at 12:02 PM
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So much for that "radical centrist" thing
It's good to see that Jill Stewart, muckraking journalist and Micky Kaus gal-pal has landed a gig over at CaliforniaRepublic with fellow non-partisan commentators David Horowitz, Laura Ingraham, and Carol Platt Liebau (see above).
I guess Jill can scratch "iconoclast" off the old business cards.
posted by tbogg at 11:46 AM
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The return of the son of I Don't Like The Drugs But The Drugs Like Me
Remember, he is a highly paid and heavily medicated professional. Do not try this at home:
“You may hate the cosmetic things, but they matter. You'll need a 14-inch part in your hair to be president or a TV anchor. We're never going to elect a bald guy president - and we're not going to elect some short guy either."
I believe that a fourteen-inch part would look something like this.
I guess I can see his point.
posted by tbogg at 11:09 AM
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Presidential approval ratings up, Ridge changes threat level to "Bush".
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said that the U.S. has lowered the threat level one step to yellow or "elevated" from orange or "high" alert. The threat level had been at the orange level for 19 days over the Christmas and New Year holiday period after intelligence reports of impending attacks. Certain areas and certain private sector industries will maintain higher security, but Ridge refused to identify the specific areas. A yellow alert is in the middle of the five color warning system.
posted by tbogg at 9:40 AM
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On the one hand, it's probably unhealthy. On the other hand, the committee once again wants to point out that we really really like a firm pneumatic rack on a chick...
Like most men, the FDA's thinking gets all fuzzy and confused when it comes to womens breasts:
The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it had decided to defer its decision on whether to allow silicone breast implants back onto the market, citing the need for more information about the implants' safety and rate of failure.
In what it termed a "not approvable letter," the agency notified Inamed of Santa Barbara, Calif., a maker of silicone implants that had an application pending, that it needed to do more studies and provide more information. The surprise move occurred less than three months after the agency's expert panel conducted hearings, attended by vocal opponents and proponents, and then voted 9 to 6 to recommend approval.
posted by tbogg at 9:31 AM
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Richard Perle is all for the apocalypse. But only if he can find a way to profit from it.
Byzantium's Shores notices a certain resemblance between Perle & Frums new book: Evil: Hunh! What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing and a certain line of endtimes action figure books.
posted by tbogg at 9:07 AM
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"Shhhh! Keep the pogoing down...Mummy has another hangover"
America's Worst Mother, Meghan Cox Gurdon is just exhausted, exhausted I tell you, from putting on a Currier & Ives Christmas for her four moppets: Sedgwick, Fionnabhair, Rosacea, and Chaminiqua.
I am experiencing that peculiar bliss associated with the end of what euphemists are, irritatingly, starting to call "Sparkle Season." In the days after Christmas, there is a lull, a kind of rapt stillness, a Nirvana, that signifies one's release from the great crushing Wheel of Festivity. And when I say "one," I mean, of course, "one who is married, female, and probably a mother."
In December, millions of American women develop a kind of mania that by Christmas day will have exhausted both themselves and their family's bank accounts. They rush about buying gifts (first checking what everyone else is "getting," as in, "What are you getting Rickie this year?"), throwing Christmas-themed coffees, assembling costumes for school pageants, and booking exorbitant seats for the Nutcracker Suite. Many otherwise elegant women inexplicably take to wearing chunky red sweaters embroidered with angora Santas and gold-lame reindeer. Children open lunchboxes to find that their mothers have cut their bologna sandwiches into the shape of snowmen.
...and some mothers are single and work two jobs and still manage to put on a Christmas season for their kids without angora Santa sweaters and :
pushing a trolley piled high with ducks, geese, turkeys, cookies, cranberries, marzipan, mince, stollen, plum puddings, sausages for stuffing, sweet potatoes for roasting, nuts, clementines, fruitcake, stilton, cider, and wheels of brie.
...but they don't go on the internet and whine about how hard it is to maintain their status as a stay-at-home faux-upper-class twitlet.
Then my friend remarks, "My sister-in-law is done."
"What, with everything?
"Presents, cards, decorating, the works. She did most of it in September."
"Oh," I scoff obediently, in accordance with the invisible script that women are issued each December, "Well, that's hardly in the spirit, is it?" We laugh, part ways, and silently shoulder our burdens again. I can't remember who was still on my list at that point, was it a godchild? A half-forgotten niece? And come to think of it, am I really supposed to tip the newspaper carrier; what about the garbage men? And the mailman? Oh, and better get more milk —
"Thok...thok...thok...one hundred!"
And then — so long anticipated — Christmas slips towards you — suddenly so quickly! — and rushes past, like water in a stream. And it's over. The fever dies away, and you are left with this delicious lightness of being "done."
Yes, thank the baby Jebus that the holidays are over and the kids are back in school and we can all get back to our usual routine of having that first drink at eleven followed by lunch with Courtney and Whitney and Lauren where we can discuss the latest in Prada handbags and how fabulous it is that the President (who comes from such a good family regardless of that black sheep brother with the herpes and the Thai hookers) is going to let us keep our Guatemalan housekeeper Rosario and won't the kids be thrilled when they hear we won't have to hide her in the laundry room anymore and she can go back to sleeping on the floor in Fionnabhair's room and, why yes, I do think that I'll have another drink before I have to rush off and pick up the kids from their feng shui class.....
That must be...exhausting.
posted by tbogg at 8:56 AM
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Thursday, January 08, 2004
The unbearable lightweightness of Andy.
Andrew Sullivan fresh from taking peoples money and immediately going on vacation with it, now wants to call in sick.
PLANET FLU: Man, this is brutal. I can't remember a worse bout. Now I know what everyone was going on about earlier this winter. I had one of those day-nights when you don't seem to be sleeping but you also don't seem to be awake. In bed, I get drenched every two hours. Out of bed, I get the chills. Thanks for your many emails. Is this a new genre: flu-blogging?
Here we see a hirsute Andy ralphing up his Malt-O-Meal. Not a pretty sight is it?
Eh. It's not much better when he's well.
posted by tbogg at 11:52 PM
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Wasting their money on food and warm blankets....
Kate O'Beirne wants to welcome the illegal aliens into the Lucky Ducky class:
How much money do we figure illegals send home each year? Some estimates have Mexicans sending about $14 billion to benefit the Mexican economy. Being able to do so is one of the main attractions of slipping across the border. If illegals "living in the shadows" have this kind of disposable income, why doesn't some of it go to the local governments that subsidize their security, health care, education, etc Could money wires to Mexico be heavily taxed? Should Vicente rebate a generous portion of this money to the US each year? Making it more difficult/expensive for illegals to subsidize the Mexican economy in no way inhibits their ability to "benefit the US economy" - the purported reason for welcoming their presence.
These people will do the most menial back-breaking jobs and the crippling stoop labor that no one else will do. They will live in a refrigerator box in a canyon, no matter what the weather, if they have to, in order to send money back to their families in Mexico. And Kate thinks that this money is " disposable income", so let's tax it.
Here's an idea Kate. You've been making pretty good money as a talking head pundit, columnist, and editor for years. Why don't you use some of your "disposable income" and get your friggin teeth fixed?
posted by tbogg at 10:57 PM
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A whore of a different color
Glenn Harlan Reynolds (yeah, that guy) has a new column up on pay-for-play Tech Central Station. From an informational standpoint it's pretty much all empty calories with a few lame attempts at humor thrown in to make Glenn seem like a real down-to-Earth guy. From a "what do we know about this Glenn guy and how fair is he?" point of view, it's much more informative.
Ostensibly the column is about how rich is too rich, before Reynolds takes a turn into discussing how too much money might buy political power. Unsurprisingly, when Glenn takes this turn it runs to the right (where he obviously feels right at home). A reasonably fair person with some knowledge of current affairs about how the super-rich try to game the system would probably shine a light on shadowy Lucky Sperm Club winner Richard Mellon Scaife and his secret funding of the Arkansas Project. Now there's a story with spme meat on it (best documented here). But Reynolds isn't interested in something so last millennium. At least not when he has George Soros, who wants to pink slip the guy who has done so much to help pink slip nearly 3 million Americans. Reynolds links to another TCS column (it's kind of vague who paid for this one, maybe Chris Hull will share his pay stub with us)) that contains a thinly veiled threat to Soros that he's getting just a little too big for his wallet. Maybe that's the price of being honest.
I guess the lesson in all of this is that maybe Soros shouldn't be so transparent about how he feels about the mismanagement of America. And instead of tossing $10 million to an above board political proxy, maybe he should have quietly spread it around the whorehouses and crack dens in the great state of Texas just to see what scurries out from under the couch. After all, that's the real American way...
posted by tbogg at 10:38 PM
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Saved for posterity
Axis of evil creator David Frum has written a book with war profiteer Richard Perle and they're making the rounds of the talk show/USA! USA! echo chambers promoting it. I went over to Amazon to see what's up and I found this review:
Astonished!, January 7, 2004
Reviewer: A reader from Tucson, Arizona, USA
I call to your attention that the review by "tibby 666" violates Amazon's "Review Guidelines". I write to you only to request that you remove this reivew from your web page. I am astonished that Amazon would post a review of any book listed in thier catalogue that calls the authors "murderers" and calls for for any person, or people of any political beliefs to be "purged" (read killed)or "lobotomized". Your own guidelines state that reviews are not to contain profanity, obscenities, or spiteful remarks - this contains all of those.
I have never posted a review on Amazon, but I do enjoy reading them, especially when they promote the healthy debate of current affairs. This review is neither a healthy debate nor a book review it is a vitriolic attack on the authors and on those who share their beliefs.....Shame on you Amazon.com, you should know better.
Of course, as expected, that made me go look for tibby666. Here it is:
Simply monstrous., January 5, 2004
Reviewer: tibby666 (see more about me) from New York
Richard Perle and David Frum - a kind of Saruman and Grimtongue for the Neocon set - suggest in their monstrous and ironically-titled new tome that the only way to ensure future global peace is by taking advantage of America's current military superiority to wage neverending war on anybody who even looks at us (or Israel) sideways. Personally, after reading this book, it occurred to me that there had to be a better way to help make the world more peaceful than by crushing thousands of innocent people under a multi-billion-dollar avalanche of all-American WMD. Perhaps, for instance, we could lobotomize Perle and Frum so they can't write any more blueprints for world domination as they've done here, and as Perle has done once before, under the auspices of PNAC. I mean, seriously, how many Blofeld moments are we as a society going to let these neoconservative murderers get away with before we finally get off our asses and DO something about them?! What we really need is a nationwide neoconservative purge on the scale of the anti-communist purges in the early part of the previous century. Sadly, it's probably already too late for that.
Needless to say a review like this only reminded of my early days when I was young and reviewing Bob Cobb's Dittohead Bartender's Guide for Amazon:
I couldn't live without this..., October 29, 2001
Reviewer: A reader from San Diego, Ca. United States
As a college coed whose father happens to be the appointed President of the United States, life can be just one big pressure cooker. That's why I love this book. I try and use at least one recipe every night, and at least a dozen on Saturday night. The best part is, I can make these in my dorm without having to show any ID. I just give a list of ingredients to one of my Secret Service dudes, and they do the rest. Is that cool, or what? When I'm at my parent's summer house in Crawford I like to make up a pitcher of Red Zombie Paralyzing Potion and head off to my special Black Light Freakout Room that my dad had built just for me. Talk about a lost weekend!
My sister, Barbara (she's the one whose not as pretty as me), and I are having a race to see who can get to the very last drink first. She's a little ahead of me now, but that's only because I'm more prone to blackouts than her.
Party on, America...!
Ah. Good times...good times....
posted by tbogg at 12:12 PM
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Dude. I am so much more Armier than you....
Wargame designer and curbside flagwaver Austin Bay writes:
America will be better off when the Democrats have a leader with the national security grit and vision of Harry Truman. I'll reserve judgment on Wes Clark, since he's little more than Hillary Clinton's stalking cavalry horse.
Austin Bay, warrior and leader:
Bay, who has had two commercial wargames published, served for four years as a consultant in wargaming at the Pentagon. He holds the rank of Colonel (Armor) in the U.S. Army Reserve. In 1999 Bay served as deputy commander of a Hurricane Mitch recovery operation in Guatemala.
Bay has a B.A. from Rice University and a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College.
Wesley Clark, guy who actually fought in wars but lacks the post-hurricane broom skills of Colonel Bay:
The decorated war veteran began his military service at the US Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated first in his class in 1966.
Clark studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar from 1966 to 1968, receiving a Masters Degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics.
From 1969 to 1970, Captain Clark served in Vietnam. In February 1970, he was wounded in battle. He suffered gunshot wounds to the right shoulder, right hand, right hip and right leg. For his valor, he earned the Silver Star.
[snip]
From 1971 to 1974, Captain Clark served as an Instructor and Assistant Professor of Social Science at West Point, teaching, among other subjects, political philosophy.
Captain Clark attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas from 1974 to 1975 where he was awarded a Masters of Military Art and Science.
[snip]
From 1976 to 1989, Clark held various posts around the world including commanding battalions and brigades and directing the Battle Command Training Program.
While Clark was serving as an operations officer in Germany for the 3rd Battalion, 35th Armor, 1st Armored Division, Lt. Colonel L.G. Nowak stated Clark was, "the most brilliant and gifted officer I've known. Tough minded, forceful, yet sensitive to soldiers."
Also in 1977, Colonel Charles G. Prather IV stated, "He is unquestionably one in a million. A professional whose perceptions are correct, whose plans are thorough and complete, whose executions are artistic, and whose success is inevitable. I have never been more impressed with an officer's talent and dedication. He should rank with men like Douglas MacArthur, Maxwell Taylor, Creighton Abrams."
While serving as Assistant Executive Officer to the Supreme Allied Commander in Brussels, Belgium in 1978, Brigadier General Clyde W. Spence Jr. called Major Clark, "the most outstanding Major I have ever seen." Spence continued, "Brilliant, innovative, hardworking, and extremely enthusiastic, professional in every respect. I cannot praise him too highly... The fact that General Haig selected him for his personal staff is indicative of his caliber. Further, his gracious wife is a distinct asset to him and to the Army."
Two years later while Clark was the Commander of the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor, 4th Infantry Division in Fort Carson, Colorado, Colonel Lester E. Bennett praised him, "Clark exhibits the best balance of professional ethics of any officer I know. Particularly noteworthy is his demonstrated selfless dedication to his men, his unit, and the Army. He exhibits absolute integrity of word, deed... he establishes and observes scrupulous ethical and moral standards."
Then General Colin Powell in 1982 said, "Wes Clark has been a superb battalion commander and will be a superb brigade commander. He is an officer of the rarest potential and will clearly rise to senior general officer rank. He will be one of the Army's leaders in the 1990's."
Powell's prediction proved true. By 1988, Clark served as director of the Battle Command Training Program. Just before rising to that post, Brigadier General William W. Crouch noted, "Wes Clark has the character and depth to be another Marshall or Eisenhower in time of war."
From 1989 to 1991, Colonel Clark served as Commanding General of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. At Fort Irwin, he developed new training methodologies for Division and Corps level training, helping to train 13 Divisions, and he conducted the first ever Corps level BCTP training exercise.
General Clark served as Commanding General for the 1st Cavalry Division in Fort Hood, Texas, from 1992 to 1994, where he transitioned the Division into a rapidly deployable force and conducted three emergency deployments to Kuwait.
"Professional and moral attributes are impeccable," stated General Edwin Burba, Jr. during this time. "Strong in all areas. Best leader-thinker in the Army... a great leader who takes care of soldiers and families... He has it all and has done it better than anyone else."
General Clark served as Commanding General of the United States Southern Command, in Quarry Heights, Panama from 1996 to 1997, where he commanded all U.S. forces and was responsible for the direction of most U.S. military activities and interests in Latin America and the Caribbean.
General Clark led the military negotiations in 1995 that led to the Dayton Peace Accords at Dayton, Ohio, leading to peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
From 1997 to May 2000, General Clark served as Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. During this assignment, General Clark engaged in high-level diplomacy to lead a multinational force in the 1999 Kosovo Conflict. Through his direction, NATO and the United States were able to halt ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and return 1.5 million ethnic Albanians to their homes. This was accomplished without the loss of a single American life.
Blow it out your ass, Austin.
posted by tbogg at 11:23 AM
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The hell with Why We Fight. I want to know if I should hit on seventeen....
World O'Crap introduces us to a new and more exciting world o'crap called: Young Conservatives, thereby guaranteeing us hours of blogging enjoyment as we observe the wacky hijinks of these spunky virgins while they navigate the highays and byways of our ever-coarsening culture where a mere whisp of a girl can openly talk about her O-R-G-A-S-M-S without fear of being forced to wear a Scarlet 'O' on her bare-midriff wife-beater tank.
Here's some fun for the whole family:
Updates...
Dear fellow young conservatives,
Welcome one welcome all...We have 7 new columns for you to enjoy this week along with a new book review on William J. Bennett's Why We Fight...What's coming next week? More excellence in young conservatism!
If you have any comments or questions feel free to email me at RThompson@yconservatives.com
God bless,
Ryan Thompson
Young Conservatives
Be nice now....
posted by tbogg at 10:54 AM
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Headline writing can be exhausting....
John Derbyshire is a three packs a day kind of guy who gets winded just opening up a bag of Cheetos, so this isn't too suprising:
NOW THE RIGHT HAS CONTROVERSIAL ARTISTS, TOO! [John Derbyshire]
Posted at 11:05 AM
Thanks Derb. Now you better go lie down.....
posted by tbogg at 10:39 AM
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Okay. Maybe It Isn't As It Wasn't, but dammit he liked the movie just fine...
Via Roger Ailes via Pandagon we find out that the Pope (who is definitely not WASPY) maybe didn't like Mel Gibson's The Passion: 2 Fast 2 Jewish as much as were led to believe by Peggy Noonan who heard it from the film's co-producer, Steve McEveety.
Noonan wrote:
Afterwards, Msgr. Dziwisz gave Mr. McEveety the pope's reaction. The pope found it very powerful, and approved of it. Mr. McEveety was delighted. Msgr. Dziwisz added that the pope said to him, as the film neared its end, five words that he wished to pass on: "It is as it was." The film, the Holy Father felt, tells the story the way the story happened. A week later Mr. McEveety was marveling at what he felt was the oracular quality of the statement. "Five words. Eleven letters."
Now we learn:
Although Pope John Paul II watched at least part of Mel Gibson's film, "The Passion of the Christ," he made no comment about the film, said a senior Vatican official close to the pope.
"The Holy Father saw it, but he made no comment. He watched in silence," the official told Catholic News Service Dec. 24.
"The Holy Father does not comment, does not give judgments on art," the official said. "I repeat: There was no declaration, no judgment from the pope."
In refering to Mr. McEveety, Ms Noonan might now write, "Three words, eleven letters: I got screwed"
posted by tbogg at 10:20 AM
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Drudge scoops old media again by reading story in....old media!!!
Big Honking Headline:
KATHERINE HARRIS PLOTS SENATE RUN
Breathless open:
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU JAN 08, 2004 11:04:35 ET XXXXX
KATHERINE HARRIS PLOTS SENATE RUN
Watch your makeup compact, Hillary, Florida's Katherine Harris has her eyes on the United States Senate, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
Old media article found here:
Katherine Harris of Fla. Plans Senate Run
Wed Jan 7, 7:51 PM ET
Developing.....
posted by tbogg at 9:34 AM
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Brent Bozell will be along in a minute to explain that the female orgasm is a myth. His wife will agree, adding "Yup. As far as I know..."
It's a great day in America when Reuters runs an article that starts:
LONDON (Reuters) - Hollywood star Alyson Hannigan (news) has been busy working on her orgasms.
(Insert your own band camp joke here)
posted by tbogg at 9:29 AM
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Working Class Peg and the Not Waspy Enough Candidate
Who else but Peggy from the block, who so wants to be an Uptown Girl, would find Howard Dean lacking because he doesn't have Larchmont lockjaw and call his wife 'Lovey'?
There is a disjunction between Dean's ethnic background and his personal style. His background is eastern WASP--Park Avenue, the Hamptons, boarding school, Yale. But he doesn't seem like a WASP. I know it's not nice to deal in stereotypes, but there seems very little Thurston Howell III, or George Bush the elder for that matter, in Mr. Dean. He seems unpolished, doesn't hide his aggression, is proudly pugnacious. He doesn't look or act the part of the WASP. This may be partly because of his generation. Boomer WASPs didn't really learn How It's Done the way their forebears did. (Boomers of every ethnicity are less ethnic than their forebears.) George W. Bush is a little like this too--less polished, more awkward, than one might expect.
The difference being that Dean studied for twelve years to become a doctor while George W Bush lived like a drunken fratboy for twenty years as he ran company after company into the ground, all of them financed by friends of his dad. Apparently Dean didn't get the memo that hard work and study is for the little folks (see: riffraff, common) and that real American WASP royalty is supposed to glide through life on a smile, a name, a trust fund, and a soupçon of Thai hookers.
Why doesn't Howard Dean act his class?
posted by tbogg at 8:53 AM
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Looking for facts in the rough on the seventh fairway
The Nun has the goods on the GOP indulging in a little drinking, driving, and selling out the country.
Well it's not like they're comparing Bush to Hitler or anything. Now that would be a bad thing.
posted by tbogg at 8:16 AM
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Wednesday, January 07, 2004
We should have killed Hootie when we had the chance.
My wife, well she loves Law & Order, and she watches it almost every night on TNT, but enough with the Hootie and The Blowfish Goodbye Girl-remake music video that I can hear from upstairs every 30 minutes.
...and I like Jeff Daniels as much as the next guy, but...Patricia Heaton?
Oh, shit. It's on again...
posted by tbogg at 9:58 PM
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Welcome to the club. No. Not that kind of club. No. You can't have a drink....
Book: Bush twins see 'themselves as victims of daddy's job'
Yeah. We're not too happy about it either. And you don't even want to know what Ali Ismail Abbas thinks...
posted by tbogg at 9:46 PM
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Holy Fake Controversy, Symbolman!
Matt Drudge hasn't been this verklempt since Bad Santa:
One of the finalists of the MoveOn.org ad contest is responsible for another heinous web video that compares Bush to Hitler, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
An ad by "Take Back the Media" is one of 15 Finalists in MoveOn.org's Bush in 30 Seconds Commercial Contest. Produced by Michael Stinson [SYMBOLMAN], The ARMY OF ONE flash animation has been chosen out of over 1000 submission by nearly 3 million votes online.
But currently streaming on the Take Back site with ARMY OF ONE is another shocking advert produced by Michael Stinson [SYMBOLMAN] -- alleging Bush/Nazi ties!
Wait till he finds out that the guy in the White House is an unelectable, dry drunk, inside-trading, doofus. That oughta crack his egg...
posted by tbogg at 9:28 PM
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Does he offend you because he says he a liberal? No. He offends because he's dishonest.
There is a part of me that wants to put this whole Tottencrat/liberal thing in a box, and then blow up the box. But then I read something that he writes and wonder why anyone would ever pay him for his work. It's not that he's a bad writer, he's...well, okay. But let's face it, Kevin Drum, Jim Capozzola, or Jeanne at Body & Soul could write rings around him on his best day. It's that he's either sloppy (see how many times he has to correct his posts by reading his comment sections) or, well, prone to misrepresentation to make his point. And one would think that someone who manages a grand total of one post everyday would at least take the time to do a bit of research, instead of quoting NewsMax or, worse, a Drudge headline, before shooting off his...keyboard.
Case in point, from his comments section:
Graham,
The problem I have with Wesley Clark is that he says he would let France veto our foreign policy. And since France's foreign policy is to explicity contradict ours (the "hyperpuissance" must be tied down for the sake of the world), Wesley Clark would paint the US into a corner.
Now, he's a smart enough fellow, and I have a feeling he would grow in office and figure out what the French are up to. But, like I said, I only have a feeling this is the case. I can't prove it to myself or anyone else. I could be wrong and giving him too much credit, and so I don't want to chance it.
Posted by: Michael J. Totten at January 7, 2004 06:50 PM
Here is what Gen. Clark said:
CLARK: Well, if I were president right now, I would be doing things that George Bush can’t do right now, because he’s already compromised those international bridges. I would go to Europe and I would build a new Atlantic charter. I would say to the Europeans, you know, we’ve had our differences over the years, but we need you. The real foundation for peace and stability in the world is the transatlantic alliance. And I would say to the Europeans, I pledge to you as the American president that we’ll consult with you first. You get the right of first refusal on the security concerns that we have. We’ll bring you in.
And in return, we want the same right on your security concerns. And that would reinvigorate NATO. We then put the foundation in place to have a real transatlantic agreement. And working with our allies in Europe, we could move the world. We’re 600, 700 million people, we’re three permanent seats on the Security Council, we’re half the world’s GDP. We can do it. Whether it’s dealing with North Korea, the value of Chinese currency, or the problems of nuclear developments in Iran. And so that’s the essential first step. George Bush cannot do it. He’s compromised those ties. It starts with personal respect. He doesn’t have it. He’s forfeited it. I do.
.
The first thing that you will notice is that Gen. Clark doesn't even mention France, but if Totten doesn't play the dump-on-the-French card, well, his little buddies like Glenn Reynolds and Andy Sullivan and all the "heh heh, we hate France, snerk snerk" damaged-chromosome types will go elsewhere for their gallophobia, and then where would he be? After all, if someone makes a post on their blog and none of the 'cool kids' links to it, does it even exist?
The second thing that you'll notice is that Clark said:
"And I would say to the Europeans, I pledge to you as the American president that we’ll consult with you first. You get the right of first refusal on the security concerns that we have. We’ll bring you in.
And in return, we want the same right on your security concerns. And that would reinvigorate NATO. We then put the foundation in place to have a real transatlantic agreement." (my emphasis).
"Right of first refusal" means that you are giving someone first shot at something, not allowing them to veto it. And if they demur, you move on to the next one. If Totten doesn't already know what "right of first refusal" means, then he is facing a long, unfulfilling career as a writer. (For more on "right of first refusal" see Prof. Bainbridge).
Maybe I'm being too hard on Totten. He seems like a nice guy (much like Daniel Drezner who has also been known to occasionally reach beyond his grasp) and it's obvious that he wants to be taken seriously. But when he tosses off little nuggets like his "French veto" comment in order to play to the dumbass crowd, he forfeits the right to be read as a serious writer.
posted by tbogg at 9:08 PM
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I guess I can cancel our weekly squash game
MSNBC takes an early lead for the the No Duh Headline of the Year:
Ailing pope unlikely to maintain rigorous schedule
posted by tbogg at 10:48 AM
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The son of I Don't Like The Drugs But The Drugs Like Me moment...
Rush " Take that bone out of your nose" Limbaugh never disappoints:
"Frankly, the black population in this country cannot point to very much good that has happened to them because of its association with Democratic Party. Can we be honest?"
posted by tbogg at 10:23 AM
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I have been remiss
Lots of good stuff over at whitehouse.org including an e-mail to Neil "Me So Herpe" Bush, Medicare, and Mad Cow, whoops, I mean this one.
posted by tbogg at 10:01 AM
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The Etch-A-Sketch of Mass Destruction
You know, when I look at this link from Jesse on what we have finally turned up as the rationale for invading Iraq, I really wonder what would have happened if Colin Powell had held up these drawings at the UN instead of that little vial full of Rumsfeld dandruff last February.
I think the laughter would have stopped about four days ago.
posted by tbogg at 9:46 AM
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Like the Hilton sisters...but without the class.
If you believe that the actions of children says a lot about their parents...well, you really need to read this:
An aide opens the door, and Mrs. Bush slides her legs carefully out and steps onto the tarmac. By this point, she knows her part well: Pause to smile, wave and let the photographers dutifully record the image. The small press corps knows its part, too, and watches the routine preflight maneuver with no expectations. Suddenly, one leg in worn corduroy, then the other, swings off the smooth leather limo seat. Jenna Bush stands up to follow her mother into the plane for this spring fling, and the reporters go on alert. It's the rowdy twin, the one who has been busted twice in four weeks for underage drinking, who has run her Secret Service detail ragged, who was captured in the National Enquirer falling down, a cigarette in her hand.
The corduroy jeans are ratty at their too-long hems, where Jenna has ground them into the pavement too many times. She is wearing a short black T-shirt, and her exposed tummy pooches out over the low-riding waistband. Flip-flops are on her feet. Her blond hair has been pinned carelessly up with a plastic clip. Sunglasses cover her eyes. Hoisting a backpack, she clomps up the plane stairs and disappears.
She hardly looks appropriately presidential daughterly, but then again, she has time to get herself together before the entourage lands in Paris, where French and American officials will greet Mrs. Bush and hand her flowers. The girl is hardly flying coach: Her mother has a hairdresser and a makeup artist on board the military plane, and there's a lovely wide bed and full shower.
But upon arrival 71/2 hours later, while her ladylike mother smiles and embraces the waiting welcomers, Jenna appears at the plane door looking exactly the same. The flip-flops still on the feet, the belly still exposed, the hair still not brushed. Suddenly, she darts back inside. The twin has spied the telephoto lenses of several French photographers far away, behind a fence. For a few moments, nothing happens, and then the limousine trunk floats open by electronic remote. A White House valet retrieves one of Mrs. Bush's Neiman Marcus garment bags, carefully laid out in the trunk, and he carries it back up the plane's steps. The reporters watch in wonder. While he holds it aloft, Jenna slips behind it, and he walks back down the stairs, shielding the first daughter from the prying eyes of all media, foreign and domestic. Only the top of her blond head, bobbing up and down, and those flip-flops are visible.
Jenna is hiding, literally, behind her mother's skirts.
(Thanks to Anna for the link)
posted by tbogg at 9:30 AM
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It's my party and I'll whine if I want to.
Sigh. Totten is at it again, first with his overly broad and simplistic "You know you're a liberal if...." and then he goes all whiny when someone calls him on his schtick, and schtick it is. Today I think he's an "Independant-Wilsonian-Pragmatical-Liberal-Neo-Conformist-Warblogger-Go-To-Guy" with fruity overtones and just a hint of oak.
Yes. Yes. We get the point. The party left you. You've been branded a "heretic". You've been "purged". Someone left the labels out in the rain.
Didn't anyone ever tell him that self-martyrdom is tough, especially when you're trying to get that third nail in...
posted by tbogg at 9:11 AM
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Sex education?...we're going to have to give him an incomplete. Next time, show work.
The Gropinator has the latest on our action hero Governor including his 50 day report card. No mention of his failure to investigate his own sexual past, possibly because he fears repercussions from his wife and her fearsome Mandibles of Death.
posted by tbogg at 8:25 AM
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Feeling Kevin's pain.
I know how he feels. I finally got my daughters new laptop linked into our wireless network on Monday night, thanks to a nameless fellow blogger who went above and beyond the call of duty to talk me down.
posted by tbogg at 8:16 AM
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$180 million in profit...a good return on it's $6,250 investment in George "Unelectable" Bush.
Bechtel gets the kind of payoff that Bill Bennett can only dream of:
The U.S. Agency for International Development Tuesday announced it had awarded a second lucrative contract to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure to engineering company Bechtel, this one worth $1.8 billion.
The contract will fund projects over the next two years in Iraq ranging from repairing power facilities, water and sanitation systems, to the continued rehabilitation of airport facilities and additional work at the seaport of Umm Qasr.
The contract follows a deal the privately held, San Francisco-based Bechtel signed with USAID last April to rebuild Iraq's shattered infrastructure. So far that contract has clocked up about $1 billion and will run until December.
[snip]
USAID officials declined to discuss the profit margins for Bechtel, but said the maximum profits for such deals typically could not exceed 10 percent of the total contract value.
"Typically". Yeah. I'm convinced....
posted by tbogg at 8:12 AM
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Awards, Awards, Awards
Go here for the Slanties
Here for Media Whore of the Year (this is a tough one)
and here for the Koufax Awards.
All of these awards are much more legitimate than the Golden Globes. Just ask Pia Zadora
posted by tbogg at 8:01 AM
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Tuesday, January 06, 2004
"Labor Department. This is Elaine. How may I help you screw your employees today?"
Why don't they just call it the Department of Management Services and get it over with:
WASHINGTON – The 1.3 million low-wage workers the Labor Department says will be guaranteed overtime pay as part of proposed rule changes may not necessarily see any extra cash.
While touting the $895 million in increased wages it says those workers would be guaranteed from the changes, the Labor Department is suggesting ways employers can keep their payroll costs down.
Among the options: cut workers' hourly wages and add the overtime to equal the original salary, or raise salaries to the new $22,100 annual threshold, making them ineligible.
The department says it is merely listing well-known choices available to employers, even under current law.
"We're not saying anybody should do any of this," said Labor Department spokesman Ed Frank.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday that the employer options were part of "an economic analysis that's required under the rule-making process."
He defended the proposal, saying it would "restore overtime protections that have eroded over five decades to millions of white-collar workers who deserve overtime protection today and are not protected by the current rules."
New overtime regulations were proposed in March after employers complained they were being saddled with costly lawsuits filed by workers who claimed they were unfairly being denied overtime. But the regulations themselves have stirred controversy over how many workers would be stripped of their right to overtime pay.
[snip]
A final rule, revising the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, is expected to be issued in March. The act defines the types of jobs that qualify workers for time-and-a-half if they work more than 40 hours a week.
Overtime pay for the 1.3 million low-income workers has been a selling tool for the Bush administration in trying to ease concerns in Congress about millions of higher-paid workers becoming ineligible.
But the Labor Department, in a summary of its plan published last March, suggests how employers can avoid paying more money to those newly eligible low-income workers.
You've got to love this one:
–Making a "payroll adjustment" that results "in virtually no, or only a minimal increase in labor costs," the department said. Workers' annual pay would be converted to an hourly rate and cut, with overtime added in to equal the former salary.
Essentially, employees would be working more hours for the same pay.
The department does not view the "payroll adjustment" option as a pay cut. Rather, it allows the employer to "maintain the pay at the current level" with the new overtime requirements, said the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division administrator, Tammy McCutchen, an architect of the plan.
Labor unions criticized the employer options.
Mark Wilson, a lawyer for the Communications Workers of America who specializes in overtime issues, said the Bush administration was protecting the interests of employers at the expense of workers.
"This plan speaks volumes about the real motives of this so-called family friendly administration," Wilson said.
He says cutting workers' pay to avoid overtime is illegal, based on a 1945 Supreme Court ruling and a 1986 memo by the Labor Department under President Reagan.
But McCutchen disagreed. If changes were made week to week to avoid overtime, they would be illegal. A one-time change is not, she said.
"We had a lot of lawyers look at this rule. We would not have put that in there if we thought it was illegal," she said.
"Unless you have a contract, there is no legal rule ... prohibiting an employer from either raising your salary or cutting your salary," she said, adding, "We do not anticipate employers will cut people's pay."
Heh. Tammy you funny girl.
By the way, this shouldn't be any suprise.
Oh, and Tammy hates farmworkers too. But don't worry, "centrist" Democrats are going to work really hard for a Democratic Congress while supporting the President because, you know, there's a war on and stuff.
posted by tbogg at 1:58 PM
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Ignorance now officially 62% more blissful
Newsmax:
A Gallup Poll conducted Dec. 11-14 shows that a slight majority (55 percent) of Americans are "very happy" and almost everyone at least "fairly happy," and a bare 4 percent admit to being unhappy, according to Gallup News Service.
When it comes to political affiliation, however, the spread between those who say they are very happy widens between Republican and Democrats. According to the poll, released yesterday, 62 percent of Republicans say they are "very happy," but only 50 percent of Democrats report being blissful.
posted by tbogg at 1:01 PM
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A Prick for Meghan Cox.
Needles on the Beach on (their description), "neo-con Barbie Hausfrau": Meghan Cox Gurdon.
posted by tbogg at 11:56 AM
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About Lileks
The Corner is spending more than their normal amount of time talking about things that don't involve current affairs (which, I suppose, is a good thing). I thought this was fairly amusing:
ABOUT ABOUT SCHMIDT--A READER BEGS TO DIFFER [John Derbyshire]
A reader: "ABOUT SCHMIDT was one of those awful sneering looks at Midwestern American values. Similar in philosophy to AMERICAN BEAUTY, another odious film, it portrays people like the Jack Nicholson character as empty buffoons who don’t get it, who haven't the capacity to get it. Schmidt spent his life doing what most of us do, he worked, married, raised a family, did service to his employer and community, and then found it all coming to a satisfying close toward the end of his life. Except this movie would have you believe that it was all for nothing, that his life was always empty and meaningless and this clod couldn’t even discern its emptiness until the end when he was done with most of it and outside the envelope looking in.
Man. If that doesn't sound like a daily reading of The Bleat.....
posted by tbogg at 11:32 AM
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The return of I Don't Like The Drugs But The Drugs Like Me v.2004
He's back from his vacation: tanned, rested, and still suffering the effects of years of drug abuse:
“We've got one case of mad cow disease - which the cow contracted under Clinton - and the Washington Post has George W. Bush defeated because of it. Unbelievable.”
posted by tbogg at 11:10 AM
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Short term memory loss
David Brooks is hoping to land a role in the sequel to Memento. Late in his latest column he writes:
You get to choose your own reality. You get to believe what makes you feel good. You can ignore inconvenient facts so rigorously that your picture of the world is one big distortion.
And if you can give your foes a collective name — liberals, fundamentalists or neocons — you can rob them of their individual humanity. All inhibitions are removed. You can say anything about them. You get to feed off their villainy and luxuriate in your own contrasting virtue.
A few paragraphs earlier:
The full-mooners fixated on a think tank called the Project for the New American Century, which has a staff of five and issues memos on foreign policy. To hear these people describe it, PNAC is sort of a Yiddish Trilateral Commission, the nexus of the sprawling neocon tentacles.
Okay.
Tom Tomorrow has more on Brooks.
(Added): TPM makes an even more important point about Brooks and the cheapening of the term "anti-Semitism".
posted by tbogg at 8:37 AM
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Monday, January 05, 2004
So. What's up for 2004?
No longer interesting:
Amber Pawlik ...she's pretty well covered now, don't you think?
Joe Sabia...the horror, the hair, the horror, the hair....
Adam Yoshida...no picture, but he's kind of become the kid in the back of the class who eats boogers just to get attention. At least we were able to see what Kim Du Toit was like as a kid.
A reprieve from the Governor:
The Virgin Ben...Hell, I practically created Ben. I definitely named him. I at least have to stick around until he gets laid.
Meghan Cox Gurdon...As America's Worst Mom, Meghan was a late addition this past year and we absolutely must stick around to see how many of her children make to their teens and if son Paris starts showing a flair for window treatments.
Kyle Williams...also known as Chubby McPokemon, the delightfully coiffed Kyle recently dropped out of high school where it appears that "he didn't fit in" thereby averting many tragedies mostly involving the other sex. While many Oklahoma coeds can breathe a sigh of relief, there's a great deal of tension in the barn these past few nights...
George "This Column for Hire" Will...I feel bad for picking on Will, a nice man whom I've met a few times, but someone has to be around to keep track of the only man in America who uses "axiomatic" on a daily basis.
Maggie Gallagher...With gay marriage being the topic du jour, Mags should be a hoot as she continually turns every argument into "But what about the children?". Besides I want to be around when someone points out to her that bangs and a bob aren't necessarily a good look with a round face (see; Wilson, Carney).
Sullivan...Yeah. Like I was going to abandon the greatest straight line ever. Okay, maybe not so "straight".
New kid on the block:
Jeff Jacoby...I've been asked to keep an eye on Jacoby. Piltdown Man wants his jaw back.
posted by tbogg at 11:08 PM
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Der kinderfuehrer has ways of making you nap...
Remember Dr. Laura? Failed TV personality, internet porn queen, and underappreciated Jewess. Yeah, that Dr. Laura. Now she's pissing off the Holocaust scholars:
A leading Holocaust Studies institute is urging radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger to retract her comparison of U.S. day care centers to child-rearing practices in Nazi Germany.
On her Jan. 2, 2004 show, Dr. Schlessinger read a letter from a listener who criticized the lack of one-on-one attention given to children in some day care centers, especially those calling themselves "Child Development Centers." Dr. Schlessinger commented that "it sounds like something out of Nazi Germany."
The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, a research and education institute focusing on America's response to the Holocaust, is urging Dr. Schlessinger to retract her remark.
Wyman Institute director Dr. Rafael Medoff said: "Whatever their flaws, Child Development Centers are not comparable to Nazi Germany, a brutal fascist dictatorship that slaughtered six million Jews. Such analogies trivialize the Holocaust and undermine efforts to educate the public about the real nature of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Dr. Laura often urges her listeners to 'Go do the right thing'; we urge her to go do the right thing -- retract her comparison of day care centers to Nazi Germany."
Comparing Bush to Hitler = Big honking Drudge headline
Comparing Child Care centers to Nazi Germany = Feh, you want I should get excited?
posted by tbogg at 10:03 PM
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And another thing, that other finger doesn't mean "We're #1"...
Professor Cori Dauber is an "expert" in how the media covers the war...but unfortunately not in the native customs of the Middle East. Therefore, we have to take a few (okay, more than a few) of her words of wisdom with a grain of salt when she tries to spin a war that she supports, because, let's face it, without a war, her specialty is about sought after as a merkin maker in Boys Town.
Here's Cori going out on limb and making a grand statement based on a probable misunderstanding:
They come back supporting the mission, that's what. Let me point out a few things about this article that Instapundit doesn't. First, it is probably important to note that the CSM registers this is a big difference between Iraq and Vietnam, where Congressional visits in-country eroded support for the war. But it is also important to note that they point out that during Vietnam members of Congress who visited the combat zone were far freer to roam where they wanted.
Only here's the irony. From their own reporting it is likely that if the members of Congress who visited Iraq were able to roam freely and interact with more Iraqis that they would return even more supportive than they are now.
For Chafee, a telling moment came as an Iraqi passenger in a passing bus gave the military convoy he was riding in a thumbs up. The impromptu gesture struck him. "My head kind of snapped around to see if I saw what I thought I saw, and I did," he says. At another stop, an elderly Iraqi woman signaled the convoy by placing her hand on her heart. "I think it was a gesture of respect," he said.
Hold on there Lincoln, and cool those panties down Prof. Cori, maybe seeing isn't understanding:
Iraqis are giving passing Americans the "thumbs up" sign, which the troops interpret as a symbol of support. But many veteran travelers insist that the gesture is a crass Middle Eastern insult. How should coalition forces take those skyward thumbs?
Depends on how media savvy those Iraqi bystanders may be. It's true that "thumbs up" traditionally translates as the foulest of Iraqi insults—the most straightforward interpretation is "Up yours, pal!" The sign has a similarly pejorative meaning in parts of West Africa, Russia, Australia, Iran, Greece, and Sardinia, according to Roger E. Axtell's book Gestures: The Do's and Taboos of Body Language Around the World. So, it's possible that the ostensibly cheering Iraqis are, in fact, silently voicing their displeasure.
Man. We are really running out of good colleges these days, aren't we?
posted by tbogg at 9:51 PM
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Blogging later today...
I'm a little busy this morning, what with having to get this weekend Vegas wedding thing annulled, and, well, you know....
posted by tbogg at 8:45 AM
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Saturday, January 03, 2004
Kids resolve the darndest things
The local paper ran a collection of New Years resolutions from grade-schoolers today, some of which kind of cracked me up. Here's a sample:
My New Year's resolution is to not bug my brother because I bug him a whole lot and I'm going to try to stop bugging him because he doesn't like it and he wants me to stop so I'm going to try.- Maria Angelina Trevino, 10
My New Year's resolution is to stop people from eating pizza because it makes you fat. Or donuts. They are bad too. I want to stop these people.- Davonte Price, 8
My New Year's resolution are changing my actions. I will like not to be so mean and get angry for everything. Today in the morning someone said to me, "Why are you so mean?" and I said, "I am not mean."- Carlos Clemenz, 11
My New Year's resolution is to stop talking a lot. I think the world would be better if I did.- Luke Evans, 9
This year I really want to try new foods and not back away from the ones that I usually push into the discard pile. Along with trying new foods I want to try my hand at cooking. I am not a very good cook and would like to make something a little more complicated than putting a bagel in the toaster or frozen french fries in the oven. And yes, I have burned Easy-Mac but that doesn't mean that I can't change. I hope 2004 will give me many opportunities to sample new foods with an open mind. I also wish to improve my culinary skills and make a dish that my family will enjoy.- Mary Gianola, 13
In this upcoming year, there are some things that I'd like to improve in my life. Respect for authority is one. I've been a sort of an anarchist in my middle school career, with many referrals and phone calls home. I hope to begin my adventure in high school with a good impression. Another thing I need to work on is my skills in math. I was great in math until somebody put letters in it. And last but not least, I need to improve on saving my money. Every cent of my allowance and any other money I make flies right out of my hands and into some stores profit.- Kenneth Pico, eighth grade.
Then there are a couple that just break your heart:
My 2004 resolution is to take care of my mom and my sister. I want to get straight A's and play baseball like my dad did but then he passed away. That is my 2004 resolution.- James McNutt, 13
There are lots of things I want to accomplish next year. First, I want to stop fighting with my grandmother. I also want to stop being tormented by people. I don't want to be insecure about myself. I don't want to act as though I don't belong anywhere because I'm made fun of all the time. Everyone belongs somewhere and I hope with the New Year I'll fit in somewhere.- Callie, eighth grade.
...and this kid just cuts to the heart of the matter:
I never liked resolutions. I've always thought that just because it's New Year, why should we change our life? Most people don't change their life so they get all depressed and say "this year I'm going to change' then the don't again. It's kiind of a mood killer. A New Year means new joy, and if your life's fine what better joy than that don't fix it if it's OK. And when it breaks then don't wait until a new year.- Chelsi Moreno, eight grade.
posted by tbogg at 3:27 PM
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Friday, January 02, 2004
Listen up
I've been going through all of the end of the year lists for the best music in 2003 for a couple of days and matching them in my mind with what I've heard and what I agree with. One thing I noticed is that much of what I liked this year didn't come from this year. With that in mind, understand that what I'm talking about below isn't necessarily what was the best or worst of 2003, but are instead CD's that I first listened to this past year.
My best guess is that I bought somewhere in the neighborhood of about 120+ cd's this year for my wife, my daughter, and myself. I normally make my purchases at a local used CD store where I can usually pick up what I want for about $7.99 or better. Many times this year I was able to pick up something that was only a day or two removed from its release date for only $8.99. At those prices I'm more inclined to pick up something or two that I'm not too familiar with, sometimes for as low as $1.99 (This year that included Nina Gordon, PM Dawn, My Bloody Valentine, and Dream Theater whose Six Degrees of Turbulence was far and away the worst thing I listened to this year. It might have been the worst this millenium). I guess I should qualify anything I have to say by pointing out that I'll listen to just about anything as long as it doesn't wear a cowboy hat (Lucinda Williams excluded).
For me there were a lot of disappointments this year including Neil Young, A Perfect Circle, and a new Van Morrison that makes me feel like he's just going through the Bonnie Raitt-phase of his career of putting out the same CD year after year. Another disappointment was the much-hyped, got-me-scratching-my-head, what-the-hell?, De-Loused in the Comatorium by Mars Volta. Close but no cigar CD's included releases by Trust Company, Vendetta Red, Rooney, and Disturbed, although none of those should come as any suprise.
So what did I like? There was the classic pop tunesmithing of Fountains of Wayne's Welcome Interstate Managers that proves once again that the songwriting team of Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood belongs in the same breath as Lennon/McCartney, Difford/Tilbrook, and the Posies' Auer & Stringfellow.
Cassandra Wilson's Glamoured was, in a word, gorgeous.
Speakerboxx/The Love Below by Outkast was good dumb fun, if not as groundbreaking as everyone seems to believe.
Guilty pleasures included the Donnas' Spend The Night, Jet's Get Born, Cyndi Lauper's At Last (which is a lot better than you think).
Allison Moorer's live Show is a terrific showcase for her amazing voice and included the added bonus of a DVD of the same concert.
I listened to The Root's Phrenology for about three weeks straight in my car until I replaced it with Musiq's juslisen which I still listen to at least once a week.
It's unfair to include greatest hits CD's, but too bad, I love my copy of Beth Orton's Pass In Time and The Essential Bruce Springsteen, although I could go the rest of my lfe without hearing that crappy Glory Days ever again.
Although his hardcore fans seemed to hate it, Pat Metheny's One Quiet Night is pure gold. I highly recommend it as a companion piece to go with his Charlie Haden collaboration: Beyond the Missouri Sky. If you don't have Missouri Sky, shame on you.
Lastly, my favorite of the year...came from the previous year. I absolutely love Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips. I can't tell you exactly why, but it reminded me of what Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized could have been. It's just sonic heaven.
Maybe these aren't the edgiest or the most "in the know" picks, but as The Refreshments once sang:
"I was never cool enough to get a job at a record store".
Ain't it the truth.
(Added): Just a note that I did not include the new Johnny Cash boxset, Cash Unearthed that I received for Christmas (big holiday...happened last week...that Christmas) since I haven't sat down to listen to it yet. I also never got to listen to the New Pornographers Electric Version, the Pernice Brothers Yours, Mine, and Ours, the Shins Chutes Too Narrow because I have yet to find copies of them.
(Added...again): I can't believe that I forgot to mention Hem's Rabbit Songs which is an absolute revelation. There is no describing the beauty of Sally Ellyson's voice or the spare but perfect arrangements. It's not the easiest CD to find, but you can pick up used copies here. Grab one as soon as possible. Hurry! Hurry!
posted by tbogg at 5:02 PM
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Mercenary Territories
Michael Novak writes in the National Review:
Before the war in Iraq, European, and American critics predicted enormous difficulties, massive casualties, chemical, and biological warfare unleashed, house-to-house fighting, vast destruction of cities and infrastructure. If I had predicted on my visit to Rome last February that in the first nine months of fighting there would be fewer than 300 Americans dead (i.e., by December 16); that virtually no bridges or highways or oil wells would be destroyed; and that not one single city village would be leveled, peaceniks would have scoffed. I remember one cardinal in the Vatican predicting on Vatican Radio that there would be a million deaths in Iraq. Challenged, he repeated it: a million. That didn't happen, not even a tiny fraction of that. There were virtually no refugees — the people of Iraq trusted the Americans and waited in place.
It was one of the quickest, most thorough acts of liberation in history.
Yet there are still people in Europe, not least at the Jesuit monthly Civilta Cattolica, who write that the motive for the U.S. efforts in Afghanistan is not to deny support and bases to terrorists. The motive, they insist, is oil.
One wonders if those who make such accusations know how to do a profit-loss statement. Can't they see that U.S. costs in Iraq alone have gone over $200 billion, whereas the entire annual GDP of Iraq is only $22 billion? At that rate, it would take 20 years for such an investment (which will probably have to increase by a lot over the next few years) even to be recouped. It will never show a profit.
First of all, I'm not sure if Novak meant Afghanistan or Iraq when he cited Civilta Cattolica, but since he mainly seems to be addressing oil and profits, perhaps this may help him understand the profit motive when it comes to Iraqi oil (I'll type slowly for the Novak fans):
The US Government, which is now run by former oilmen, invades Iraq which reportedly has the world's second largest reserves of oil. The US taxpayers pays for the aforementioned invasion, the US Military that is being used as an occupying security force, and the reconstruction of pumping and oil transportation infrastructure. Meanwhile the oil companies work out sweetheart deals with the handpicked (see: Bush Administration) Iraqi Governing council. Any ongoing damage to the pipelines and wells is paid for by...the US taxpayer again out of reconstruction funds.
To recap:
Expenses, liabilities, exposure = US taxpayer
Profits = Oil companies and Halliburton
posted by tbogg at 11:05 AM
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Over 1,000,000 served.
It was pretty nice to wake up this morning and see that I have had over one million visits since starting this thing back in September 2002. Thank you for stopping by, and thanks to the Bush Administration and all of it's syncophants that make this pretty easy to do.
Remember: your visits here keeps me out of gangs and off of drugs.
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