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Friday, April 29, 2005
Friday Random Ten
It's ten thirty, the Padres have banged out 17 hits and it's still tied 4-4 in the eleventh. Jeebus. Of course it didn't help when Hoffman blew (another) save with a 4-3 lead in the top of the ninth. Here's the Random Ten while I wait for the frigging game to get over.
Black Cadillacs - Modest Mouse
Evil Ways - Santana
Citadel - Anna Nalick
The Wind That Shakes The Barley - Dead Can Dance
Glorious Day - Weezer
Rowboat - Johnny Cash
Velvet Pants - Propellerheads
Tin Drum- Toni Childs
Biko - Peter Gabriel
Rags To Rags - Eels
Bonus eleventh song since it's the eleventh inning: Sour Times - Portishead
(Added): Fifteen innings...Padres win 5-4. G'nite.
posted by tbogg at 10:27 PM
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Thursday, April 28, 2005
Drip.Drip.Drip.Another day, another revelation about Bolton...from members of Republican administrations: A former senior intelligence official, who was responsible for coordinating American intelligence assessments, directed his staff in 2003 to strongly resist assertions that John R. Bolton sought to make about Syria's weapons programs in Congressional testimony, the official, Robert L. Hutchings, said in an interview on Wednesday.
Mr. Hutchings, now assistant dean of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, was at that time the chairman of the National Intelligence Council, whose members clashed with Mr. Bolton, the under secretary of state for arms control, over what the intelligence officials regarded as his inflated assessment of the Syrian threat.
[...]
On Thursday, John C. Whitehead, who was deputy secretary of state under President Reagan, said in an interview that he had urged Republican senators to oppose Mr. Bolton's nomination on the ground that Mr. Bolton was "a difficult person to work with" who would not command respect at the United Nations.
"I think good Republicans, which I like to feel I am, don't like to disagree with the president publicly, and so have been reluctant to speak out against him," Mr. Whitehead said of Mr. Bolton. "But there are other people, in addition to those who have come forth, who would like to see a change made. I don't like to see the president suffer a loss, and I've been hoping that Mr. Bolton would withdraw, having seen the opposition out there."We expect that the boys over at Power Line will soon be pointing out that Hutchings and Whitehead were once seen having lunch with a Democratic senator and therefore are probably traitors and America haters....
posted by tbogg at 11:00 PM
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DevolutionIf there is a God (and I'm not betting the pink slip) let us hope that he won't let these people breed: Love is likely to thank for Paris' newly angelic demeanor. She was joined at the W Hotel after-party by her new beau, Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis.
"He's definitely the one," she said, explaining that Paris Un et Paris Deux met way back in 1997 in a Hilton-owned Monaco club called Jimmy's.
"Paris and I met when he was 14 and I was 16," she said. "I had this fake tattoo on my back, and he came up and was like, 'Is that real?' and I totally lied and said, 'Yeah.' He's like, 'That's hot,' and I'm like, 'I know.' Then he said, 'My name's Paris,' and I said, 'My name's Paris.' Then we danced all night."If ever there was a case for the inheritance tax.... And, speaking of retrograde lumpen-spawn, I promise new Jonah fiction by Sunday night. And you can take that to the bank. Why you would do that, I don't know....
posted by tbogg at 10:41 PM
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Well if San Diego didn't tip her off...Local radio racist Roger Hedgecock takes his local band of slackjawed rubes listeners to DC where concerned congressmen will nod their heads as if they care never letting on that they are really thinking about where their next lobbyist check will be coming from: LaVerne Hidden no longer wanders her Dulzura property without a gun. A.D. McFarlane wants to ensure that his six grandchildren can find jobs. And a Chula Vista woman who goes only by "Mary" is annoyed when she hears store clerks speaking Spanish.
[...]
Mary, who would only give her first name, lives in Chula Vista and seethes when store clerks speak a language – usually Spanish, she says – that she can't understand.
"This is the United States, and we speak English," she said. Chula Vista is a stones throw from Tijuana. If you don't want to hear people speaking in Spanish...don't live by the freaking border.
posted by tbogg at 10:11 PM
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Let's start up a news service! We can use the barn and Hugh Hewitt can make the costumes..!No. This isn't a joke: Charles Johnson, Marc Danziger and I have been sneaking around over the last few months, trying to turn blogs into a business. We have enlisted some others with names familiar to you with the intention of working in two areas - aggregating blogs to increase corporate advertising and creating our own professional news service.
With respect to advertising, we do not wish to go into competition with Henry Copeland's BlogAds, which we fully support. (Some of us even have them!) We are working on another model that will sell ads en masse, not blog-by-blog. We expect this model to go live within a few weeks.
As for the Blog News Service, a lot of work needs to be done and a lot of questions answered. An editorial board consisting of Glenn Reynolds, PowerLine, Lawrence Kudlow, Hugh Hewitt, Marc Cooper, Wretchard of the Belmont Club and Tim Blair, as well as the founders, is already in place with other bloggers in many countries having signed on as contributors.
This is no way meant to be exclusive. We invite you all to join us. On the advertising end, any blogger -- whether political or not -- is welcome. We would be delighted to place ads on your blog and pay you for them. You may find out more and, we hope, join by simply emailing us at join@pajamasmedia.com.
If you are an advertiser, you may contact us at advertisers@pajamasmedia.com.Yes. This would be a "news service" if by "news service" you mean a loosely confederated group of individuals who don't necessarily go out and cover events so much as read the traditional news sources about them and then they...retype it. God knows you can't find that on the internets. Of course, check out that editorial board and the advertisers are sure to come a'running. "...Glenn Reynolds, PowerLine, Lawrence Kudlow, Hugh Hewitt, Marc Cooper, Wretchard of the Belmont Club and Tim Blair, as well as the foundersLevitra, Cialis, Rogaine, Opus Dei, Vigorelle, and some of your finer Japanese Schoolgirl porn sites come to mind. Personally I'm hoping that they select Hindrocket as their ombudsman just to read his reponses: Dear Pajama Newsservice Ombudsman-
I was surprised and perplexed to see Charles Johnson actually defend the President over holding hands with that Arab guy. Doesn't he know that Islamofascism can be spread by casual contact? I hope you'l have a word with him.
- A Loyal reader.
Dear Loyal Reader-
Who the fuck do you think you are writing to me, you mewling half-witted dumbass? I could be watching the Miss Butternut Squash beauty competition right now rather than reading over your pathetic undercooked opinions, if you could call them that. Fucking retard! I have half a mind to track you down and beat you senseless with my Time Blogger award, but you your brain is so fucking atrophied it would be a week before you'd realized you'd had a total Power Line beatdown. Godammit I wish we both lived in Florida so I could shoot you right between the eyes for aggravating the piss out of me. Don't ever write me again, fuckbait, or I'll get a restraining order so fast it will make your puny mortal head spin so hard you'll be shooting that congealed mass of cow shit that you call your brain out of your ears. Fucking asswipe.
-Regards, John.
posted by tbogg at 8:37 PM
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Firing up the baseI didn't watch the press conference. That would have required going upstairs and turning on the TV and...well, really, was there anything that he was going to say that would have surprised me (other than telling David Gregory that he had "a purty mouth")? But you would think that he could hold the true believers spellbound with his grasp of policy and nuance, right? Eh. Not really: I'M REALLY ONLY CASUALLY PAYING ATTENTION TO THE PRESS CONFERENCE [K. J. Lopez]
Seemed like SS beggining is what you would have expected (good). Iraq was good. Judges left something to be desired (The inherent unfairness of the obstruction wasn't well elucidated....)... And he looks comfortable, which always goes a long way.
Posted at 08:23 PM
SEEMS A PRETTY STRONG... [Rich Lowry]
...start to me. But sometimes he gets tired as he goes and gets more ragged. We'll see...
Posted at 08:20 PM
JUST POINTING OUT... [K. J. Lopez]
It's baseball season. The Yankees (And Angels) are up against W. Won't be among the most watched presidential pressers...
Posted at 08:12 PM
A JET [K. J. Lopez]
Yes. Just what the suits planned to use the Atlanta fundraising money for. (NOT--it all about making NR/NRO better reads for you.)
Posted at 06:25 PM
I'VE GOT IT [Jonah Goldberg]
NRO needs a jet.
Posted at 05:40 PMThere you have it from the NRO Algonquin Round Table at Chuck E. Cheese. (Added): On the other hand, Norbizness wraps it all up nicely.
posted by tbogg at 8:13 PM
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Thursday Night Basset Blogging Warm. Must be warm.  Each morning before we leave the house we make the bed. Each evening when we get home we find Satchmo either inside of it or the bed is entirely destroyed. It doesn't matter how tightly you tuck everything in...he has infinite patience. Keep in mind, we live in San Diego. It's not like we wake up to snow every morning. He just likes to be warm.
posted by tbogg at 7:49 PM
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Besides, khaki makes my ass look bigA smart man picks his enemies. John Bolton passed up a chance to fight the enemy because he had smaller fish (analysts and staffers) to fry: "I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy," Bolton wrote of his decision in the 25th reunion book. "I considered the war in Vietnam already lost."
posted by tbogg at 12:20 PM
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So I guess the Bravo channel is out too, huh?.Why Johnny can't accessorize: Police arrested a Lexington father who refused to leave the Joseph Estabrook School yesterday after school officials rejected his demands that his 6-year-old son be shielded from any discussions about gay households.
David Parker, 42, confronted officials after his son brought home ``Who's in a Family,'' a storybook that includes characters who are gay parents.
Yesterday, Parker refused to leave a meeting after Lexington Superintendent Bill Hurley rejected his demand that he be notified when his son is exposed to any discussion about same-sex households as part of classroom instruction.
``Our parental requests for our own child were flat-out denied,'' Parker said in a statement.
Parker also asked that the boy be pulled from similar discussions that arise spontaneously, said Brian Camenker, director of the Article 8 Alliance, which supports the ouster of four pro-gay marriage judges on the state's Supreme Judicial Court.You gotta love the Red States. No really, you gotta. The DLC says so.Holy Jesus Frist in a tubetop. This is in Massachusetts? I guess that would explain Mitt Romney.
posted by tbogg at 11:10 AM
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GoosebumpyI was reading a list of the "hot" movies that are scheduled for release this summer and, eh, for the most part, I'll pass. Bewitched?. No, I'm not. War of the Worlds has Tom Cruise in it which means I'll be absolutely exhausted after two hours of suspending disbelief, but the trailer (with it's 9/11 boogeyman voice-over echoes) is fairly compelling if you go for smart 'sploding things, as opposed to dumbass 'sploding things (see: Bay, Michael). For the most part the list was pretty USA-centric which is why it didn't mention this one. Okay. Now that looks pretty damn cool.
posted by tbogg at 10:49 AM
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I Love You But I've Chosen DarknessIf there was one moment when it should have become apparent to everyone that the Great Iraqi Democracy Crusade and Country Bear Jamboree was a boondoggle of EuroDisney proportions it probably came on this day, this morning, this moment when the Iraqi governing council selected convicted embezzler Ahmad Chalabi as it's " Oil Minister". Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, whose government list was approved by parliament on Thursday, has vowed to make permanent appointments swiftly to several ministries for which he tapped acting ministers, such as oil and defense.
But Western and Iraqi oil executives said Chalabi, once tipped to be a leader in Iraq before he fell out with his U.S. backers, might take precious little time to try and make his mark on the oil sector, home to 115 billion barrels of reserves.
Chalabi’s aides believe the former financier could head the ministry indefinitely in the absence of consensus over a permanent replacement.
“Dr. Ahmad may remain oil minister for weeks or months. It depends on reaching a political agreement,” Nabil al-Moussawi, a senior Chalabi aide told Reuters.We would expect the All American Oil-For-Food Boys Choir and He-Man's Club to be in full-throated ululation over this...but so far it's just been the sound of crickets and a train in the distance. (Note: Heading is the name of a very good band. I thought it was perfect here)
posted by tbogg at 10:12 AM
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Petrosexual That sound you hear is Karl Rove's ass clenching...
posted by tbogg at 1:02 AM
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And now...a completely gratuitous cheapshot You gotta admit. Marriage has given Camilla Parker Bowles a special hard-to-put-your-finger-on-it glow... Ooooo. I suddenly feel all norbizzy...
posted by tbogg at 12:24 AM
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Shorter Peggy Noonan"John Bolton is the kind of man who, if he were to marry me, would immediately tell me that he doesn't really love me and that I need a boob job. I find that refreshing."
posted by tbogg at 12:16 AM
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Wednesday, April 27, 2005
So good I had to copy it here...James Wolcott: Bush's privatization scheme is dead and too dumb to fall over, to borrow a line from Rita Mae Brown. Today in the NY Times, Congressman Charlie Rangel recounts a conversation with Bush over private accounts. Listen closely and you can hear the steel in Bush's spine stiffening as he postures for posterity. Rangel urges Bush to take private accounts off the table, and Bush replies:
"Congressman, I am the president. [As if Rangel needed reminding which office Bush held.] And private accounts are not coming off the table even if it's the last day I spend in the presidency."
Oooh, so last man at the Alamo.You know, I had intended to go the LA Book Festival on Sunday to worship at Wolcott's feet, but parental soccer duties detoured me away from UCLA. I am so not happy about that.
posted by tbogg at 11:54 PM
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The tangible and the ephemeralJeebus. I can't believe we're still having this discussion. The 101st Fighting Keyboarders™ would like us to believe that the American people were whipped into a war frenzy by the grand notion of bringing democracy to Iraq even if it was going to cost $300 billion (and counting), 1573 American lives (and counting), and thousands of other soldiers horribly injured or crippled, and that the WMD's that were supposed to be there ( but weren't) were just a bonus like a prize in a Crackerjack box. Does anyone really believe that the NeoCons could have convinced anyone to attack Iraq without the trumped up WMD story with a side-order of vague Iraqi 9/11 complicity? "Hey America. We're going to deploy an overextended portion of our fighting forces to Iraq, supplemented by thousands of under-prepared National Guard troops that we will pull from their families and workaday lives, and then we're going to spend $9 billion a month (with no idea for how long) to wage a war against a country that represents absolutely no threat to the United States because we're all about freedom and democracy."As stupid as I think most Americans are (and that is pretty freaking stupid. I'm in marketing, remember...), even I don't think the rubes would have fallen for that pitch. Face it. We're selfish. We're all about us and if it doesn't put a new XBox in Cody & Dakota's room or fill up the gas tank of our 12-mile a gallon TerraCrusher XLT, we don't want any part of it. Freedom for the other guys? That's their problem; when is X-Men III coming out? But threaten our "way of life" (which is more about a plentitude of internet porn, the ability to buy a 64 oz. BladderBuster™ of Mountain Dew for eighty-nine cents, and Calvin pissing-on-something car window stickers than it is about Jeffersonian democracy) and we're shipping the few, the proud, the aren't-a-legacy-at-Yale off to a country that most Americans couldn't find on a map if you spotted them the continent. Hence we get overblown Think Tank crusades like the Domino Theory and now the War on Terror which has given cover to all kinds of anti-democratic hijinks that are just fine and dandy with a populace that has been driven so eye-rollingly panicky by the powers-that-wanna-stay-powerful that they can't remember if they're supposed to be mooing or bleating in fear. Sure, give us a tragedy like the recent tidal wave or an occasional "We Are the World" moment and we'll write a karma check for twenty bucks and it would have been more except the Dawson Creek Season Three DVD set just came out and that was the "really good" season, but grand philosophical crusades aren't our cup of somebody else's blood anymore. And when someone does make a very real sacrifice, well, this is the kind of treatment they get from the war-fluffers. Now go away. We've got cheap dreams to fulfill and unpleasant realities to ignore.
posted by tbogg at 9:25 PM
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Going to the dogsJane at Firedoglake has a nice post up on the humanity of dogs and our occasional inhumanity towards them. For the record, I prefer dogs to people. And that includes Beckham. The little bastard.
posted by tbogg at 12:16 AM
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SnapRoger Ailes, the Good Witch of the Left, pulls off the line of the day.
posted by tbogg at 12:07 AM
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Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Add it to the list.Remember the the post about childhood injuries from last week? For those keeping score at home you may add a broken toe suffered on the stairs last night. How broken? If you point her left foot north, her little toe faces west. Bone completely snapped right above the joint. Soft-booted. Out for three to four weeks. Track season? Over. I should just wrap her in bubblewrap until we ship her off to college.
posted by tbogg at 11:59 PM
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Not so good with the numbers but I tell a good lieJohn Hinderaker (WASPy Midwestern lawyer, potty-mouth, proof that there must be another not-so-good Harvard Law...that guy) well, he's more of a words kind-of guy as opposed to being a numbers man. That must be why he makes shit up: Of course those children would be better off saving than hoping to someday receive government checks. But the Social Security program makes it impossible for many millions of Americans to save, by sucking up the 15% of their incomes that otherwise could be available for saving. By making saving impossible, it relegates millions of Americans to retirement on the dole, at the whim of Congress.(my emphasis) 15%? Really?: Social Security tax You pay 6.2% Your employer pays 6.2%. Now I'm sure John believes that your employer, if not compelled to pay that additional 6.2 percent to the government, would be more than happy to fork it over to you in your paycheck. And he is entitled to believe that just like he believes that people don't laugh at him behind his back, but even if your employer did, well, lets break out the calculator...hmmmmm...6.2 + 6.2....carry the one...hmmm. We come out with 12.4 or, as John might put it eleventy-fourteenish. Which, if I remember my math isn't exactly 15% unless you use that new math which eliminated 13 and 14 just to speed things along. Either way, we hope that Mr. Hinderaker's clients are checking his billings because he's taken 'rounding up' to a whole new level.
posted by tbogg at 11:09 PM
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Civilty vs. trenchant analysisThe delightfully tousled Byron York: DEPT. OF CIVILITY [Byron York]
The cover of the new American Prospect magazine:
Tom DeLay
Corrupt.
Fanatical.
Un-American.
In Trouble. From the civil-when-he's-not-jacked-up-on-crank Rush Limbaugh: I happen to have the latest story on all of this. This is about the judges and the deal and compromise. The New York Times, let's look at them first today: "Senators May Compromise to End Impasse on Judges." Stand by for brilliant commentary and analysis of this, things you haven't heard anywhere else, folks. I'm serious. Anybody can read the news to you. It's what you do with it that counts. "Senators May Compromise to End Impasse on Judges." There is an interesting line here. This is by Carl Hulse at the New York Times. We need an investigation of Carl Hulse. Someone needs to find out who he is, where he went to school, if he flunked out, what kind of grades he got, if he's ever been drunk, did he get anybody knocked up in high school? Someone needs to do an expose of Carl Hulse, just for the hell of it. Just so he can find out what it's like. Looks like someone is still a little miffed about leaks about his butt-boil, drug problems, and his inability to satisfy a woman.
posted by tbogg at 10:49 PM
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Put your size fourteens on the desk
and just collect your check, girl...Rocket Boy complaining about one of Bolton's accusers: Vreeland concludes with the mantra that so many State Department hands of his generation could never put aside: what America must do, to protect itself against Arab terrorism, is sell out Israel. He concludes:
Americans must act in their own defense. This will require examining what Muslim extremists are complaining about, what arguments Al Qaeda's recruiters are using - and what can de done to destroy their arguments and cut the ground out from under the fundamentalists. Americans must show Arabs and Muslims all over the world that America stands for justice, work and dignity. America's fight against Muslim terrorism must include not only strong security measures but also enlightened actions giving hope for a decent future to the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Israel - and thus to ourselves.
Vreeland thinks that we need to listen to what Muslim extremists are "complaining about." This is precisely the tired, dead-end thinking that the Bush administration has finally put to rest.Boy, is Karen Hughes gonna be pissed when she finds out her new job has been "put to rest": Declaring the United States "must do better job of engaging the Muslim world," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice introduced former presidential adviser Karen Hughes Monday as the Bush administration's choice for a State Department post designed to change Islamic perceptions about America.
[...]
"This will require an aggressive effort to share and communicate America's fundamental values while respecting the cultures and traditions of other nations," Bush said in a statement. "Karen Hughes has been one of my most trusted and closest advisers and she has the experience, expertise and judgment to lead this critical effort."
posted by tbogg at 12:03 AM
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Monday, April 25, 2005
Hot times in San DiegoJust months after a disputed election and a week after being named one of America's Worst Mayors, San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy resigns. I'm sure this has a lot to do with the pension board mess that Murphy is knee-deep in. We've had a lot of bad mayors in San Diego, but Murphy (as bad as he is) is far from the worst. Susan Golding who sold out the city to San Diego Charger's owner Alex Spanos for his support of her stillborn Senate campaign is the hands-down worst, beating out Frank Curran (taxi kickback scandal) and Roger Hedgecock (perjurer). So now we'll probably get a special election and if Donna Frye runs (which I suspect she will) it will be one of the ugliest campaigns ever in San Diego. The business establishment hates Donna Frye. (Disclosure: Donna Frye is an acquaintance of mine. We worked together on getting the Capehart Dog Park in Pacific Beach funded)
posted by tbogg at 10:34 AM
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Before I threaten your career tell me what you're wearingThe good and simple folks at ConfirmBolton.com (formerly imgonnafireyourass.com) provide us with a list of Senators to be contacted about Bolton. You may wish to call also. And please don't provide this list to John Bolton. The last thing these senators need are late-night threatening phone calls...
posted by tbogg at 10:19 AM
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Corruption? Why yes, we have some experience in dealing with that....President Bush (squinty-eyed guy, pre-verbal...that guy) is looking for someone to store his presidential papers which should include all those placemats he colored while Condi and Dick hammered out who they were going to invade at NSA meetings. Since Jeff Gannon's alma mater, the Leadership Institute, operates out of a strip center next to a Fantastic Sams and a dry cleaners, well, they just don't have the room unless they rent one of the storage containers out back, so it looks like a couple of colleges in Texas have stepped up: Insiders say President Bush will be asking Texas colleges this summer for proposals to build his presidential library and museum. Two schools are expected to compete: Southern Methodist University in Dallas and Waco's Baylor University. It'll be a big task: Bush's collection of documents could be the largest ever.Hell. The Halliburton contracts alone would fill the Library of Babel. Then there are all of those copies of Sporting News with assorted marginalia ("Tom Brady... he throws ball good") that the scholars are going to want to pour over. But why Baylor and SMU? Simple. Baylor: One by one, the guilty and innocent walked out of a ninth-floor hotel ballroom, grim looks on most of their faces. Apparently, the first 3 1/2 hours had not been easy.
Baylor's two-day meeting before the NCAA Committee on Infractions began Friday morning behind closed doors, 20 months after the school discovered major NCAA violations in its men's basketball program.
Baylor has to answer for 17 to 20 allegations of major and secondary infractions. Its internal findings showed at least 11 major infractions.
The most serious ones were secret tuition payments for two former Baylor players believed to be on scholarship and the covering up of failed drug tests. In his two-day testimony, former Baylor coach Dave Bliss is expected to bear blame for "most of those allegations that are directed at him," said his attorney, Mike McCue.
Bliss resigned his position in August 2003, two months after the disappearance of Baylor player Patrick Dennehy. Nine weeks later, Dennehy was found murdered. Former teammate Carlton Dotson is accused of shooting him and is scheduled to stand trial this summer. Initial NCAA violations were revealed by Dennehy's surviving friends and family members.
After opening statements Friday morning, the NCAA committee began hearing each allegation separately before discussing them. There is no time limit for discussion of any allegation.
"Slow," Bliss said to describe the first session as he returned from lunch with McCue. "There's a lot to cover."
Bliss has much to answer for. He was secretly recorded by former assistant coach Abar Rouse trying to devise a plan to portray Dennehy to Baylor's investigative committee as a drug dealer. Bliss, who didn't comment further Friday, wanted Baylor to think Dennehy paid his tuition with drug money.SMU: Many schools have been caught violating recruiting rules and are paying the price, and the schools that have yet to be caught will pay the price in the future. Zillgitt expresses, “College football needs a moral and ethical enema.” There needs to be someone who steps up and makes changes in the recruiting process in college football. Stories of high school football stars having wild recruiting trips on college Text Box: campuses have been around forever. College football fans and coaches need to look no further than the 1980’s. Matt Middleton, writer for Sports Illustrated, states in his piece “Life after death penalty difficult for SMU”, “The once-proud football program at Southern Methodist is still trying to rebuild itself from the stiffest penalty in NCAA history, which entirely did away with its football program for a full two years”. Southern Methodist University football was on the rise in the 1980’s. SMU received its first ranking, #20, in 1980, and the next year won their first conference title in 16 years, with a record of 10-1. Football was only getting better for the Mustangs with an 11-0-1 finish in 1982 and a final ranking of #2 (smumustangs.com). The dream and excitement of Mustang football would soon end. SMU was given the “death penalty” by the NCAA, the only school to receive such an outcome after recruiting violations. The reason SMU was investigated was because football players at the university had been receiving enormous payments from boosters that would end up totaling more than $600,000. Twenty-one players allegedly received approximately $61,000 in cash payments, with the assistance of athletics department staff members, from funds provided by a booster. Payments ranged from $50 to $725 per month (espn.com/ncf).Drug use, perjury, smearing dead people to cover up corruption, illegal payments... The GW Bush Library & Minimum Security Esplanade should fit right in at either school.
posted by tbogg at 9:40 AM
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The lonely dissonance of David Horowitz
David Horowitz: The reception at the Political Science Department had been scheduled for earlier in the afternoon. At the appointed time, Jamie, who is a soft spoken well-mannered young man, brought me to the Political Science Department outer office. The first thing I noticed was that the Chairman's office door was adorned with a large Anti-Iraq War poster. I have made a personal campaign against such political statements on professorial offices. Students go to theste(sic) offices for counseling. Such partisan statements create a wall between the professor and the student who it is his or her professional responsibility to help. They serve no purpose but to vent the spleen of these tenured individuals who are apparently so frustrated as to be unable to maintain minimal self-discipline in the presence of a captive audience students who -- if they disagree with the statements -- have no choice but to suffer them. I asked Jamie, who is a senior and whose father served this country in the military, if he had ever taken a course with Professor Hiller. When he said no, I asked him why. He pointed at the sign. (my emphasis) David Horowitz (in the same column): I didn't let Professor Hiller suffer in his quandary long but went right up to him, gave him a reasonably warm smile and said "I'm David Horowitz," and was about to put out my hand when he retorted, "I'm one of the liberals on your list." What he meant was my McCarthy list. The left was at first non-plussed with having to oppose a campaign for academic freedom, but has recovered itself to put on its accustomed mantle of victimhood and claim that the attempt to defend students from political harassment is actually a witch-hunt against their political views. Not very clever, but effective nonetheless.
Of course the Academic Bill of Rights begins with a defense of their right to their political views, but facts are no obstacle when you are the educational establishment and media is accustomed to being your echo chamber.(my emphasis...again) And consistency is no obstacle if you're David Horowiz.
posted by tbogg at 12:19 AM
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Sunday, April 24, 2005
Oh God! She's using the look... Okay. I'm going to sit right here in this chair and stare at you just like this until you form a government. Condi and Dick demand puppets work faster! faster!: Worried about a political deadlock in Iraq and a spike in mayhem from an emboldened insurgency, the Bush administration has pressed Iraqi leaders in recent days to end their stalemate over forming a new government, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney personally exhorting top Kurdish and Shiite politicians to come together.
[...]
Washington's approach to the political negotiations had emphasized that the Iraqis needed to form their own government without interference. But American and Iraqi officials have increasingly blamed the delay for a rise in violence in recent weeks that has killed more than a hundred Iraqis and threatens to destroy what remains of the political and security momentum that followed the successful Jan. 30 elections.
Ms. Rice on Friday telephoned Iraq's new president, Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, to urge him to complete the government "as soon as they could" and "to get a status of where things were," a senior State Department official in Washington said Sunday. The official stressed that Ms. Rice did not tell Mr. Talabani how to form a government, just that the process needed to be concluded.
[...]
The impact of the White House pressure was unclear. On Sunday, Shiite leaders once again predicted they were on the verge of announcing their new government, perhaps as soon as Monday. Similar predictions have been proved wrong several times in recent weeks.
But the Shiites added a new twist on Sunday, declaring they would no longer hold out for a deal with Ayad Allawi, the outgoing prime minister. Dr. Allawi, a secular Shiite who is not liked by the main Shiite political alliance, had demanded several key posts for his party, including either defense or interior minister, oil or finance minister, and deputy prime minister.
In an interview Sunday, Ali al-Adeeb - a Shiite member of the National Assembly and a leader in Dawa, the party of the newly appointed prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari - said, "Allawi is out of the cabinet. We don't need any delay because of this issue." Many Shiites believe Dr. Allawi is too sympathetic to Sunnis, while many Kurdish officials fear Dr. Jaafari is too Islamist.
Late Sunday, another Shiite alliance adviser cautioned that while the "current discussions" do not include Dr. Allawi, it was unfair to say he has been ruled out of the cabinet "because there is no government yet." He predicted that the Shiites would not be able to announce a cabinet on Monday. A senior Allawi aide, Rasim al-Awadi, said Sunday afternoon that "we've heard nothing yet from" the Shiites about Dr. Allawi's demands for cabinet posts.Oh yeah. This is going well. Maybe we should send Bolton over there to kick some ass. He'd like that... (Added): I was having a problem with both the shape of Condi's head, because it's just so oblong, as well as her look. Then I remembered that she is the love-child of Eartha Kitt and spaceman Kif and now I feel better and I can go to bed.
posted by tbogg at 10:26 PM
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If the conclave still had the bathing-suit competition that guy from Brazil would have wonLet's face it, in a world of instantaneous images, shouldn't the new Pope have a face that doesn't scare babies...or me? Here's the old Pope. He looks like a nice guy. Warm, caring, open, benevolent. The kind of guy that you would meet in a bar and strike up a conversation about sports or politics or what you'd like to do to that waitress over there, you know, the one with the legs. Okay. He wouldn't have much to add to that last topic, but you get the idea. Here's the new Pope (compliments of Norbizness). Here he is again. Then there is this one (my compliments to Minolta for the brilliant product placement). Here he is showing off his World Series ring that he received playing for the Florida Marlins in 1997 (7I.P 8H 1R 1ER 5S.O. 1.39 ERA). Here he is rubbing it in the face of his brother ("Nyah. Nyah. The Virgin Mary always liked me best") And here he is making a deal with Satan's older brother. Smart move by Jeb! Bush. He locks up the Pope-vote while Bill Frist does the Truman Show for the Crackers of Faith. Meanwhile Skippy sees the Pope a whole different way. Pope Fester the Second. That's got a nice ring to it...
posted by tbogg at 9:23 PM
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Get the white flags out and start ironing themLooks like ConfirmBolton.com is going to have the shelf life of a bowl of potato salad left in a hot car: The reason the White House is so worried about pushing the confirmation hearing back to May 12th is that they must believe that the Dems want to defeat Bolton more than the White House wants him confirmed. While it’s encouraging to see Cheney — a bona fide Bolton backer — speaking publicly, his remarks were fairly tepid, especially when compared to the VP’s repeated savaging last fall of Kedwards. All Cheney could muster was saying that there’s no evidence to substantiate the Dems’ claims; a better way to put it would have been the most honest: the Dems are lying. What the White House must do is launch a counteroffensive every bit as aggressive — and loud — as the Dems’ smear campaign. But in order for that to happen, the White House has to want Bolton confirmed more than the Dems want him sunk. Do they? A week from now the ConfirmBolton people will be talking about how Bolton didn't really want the job anyway...
posted by tbogg at 9:07 PM
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Pygoscelis adeliae of destructionMichelle Malkin, who based her career on the fact that we don't profile enough swarthy types ( before we put them in internment camps), complains that others aren't being inconvenienced like she is: Two Seaworld penguins walked into an airport...
My question: Why is it that TSA is allowed to use its metal detectors for a little photo-op fun, but the rest of us are subject to criminal penalties for making inappropriate jokes in an airport?Okay. Here's a little test in order to get a job with the TSA. Two passengers are getting onto a cross-country flight, both with one-way tickets. Neither has any luggage. Do you have a bad feeling about: Passenger Aor Passenger B....Okay. Put down your pencils and close your books. (Thanks to 100 Monkeys Typing for the image...again)
posted by tbogg at 1:02 PM
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Republican Gay Male Escort...coming to the comics pages near you. We assume that JimmyJeff will be suing GB Trudeau for this outrageous slander. ...or maybe not.
posted by tbogg at 11:11 AM
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Saturday, April 23, 2005
It's all fun and games until the spout of arterial bloodToo a certain degree, I agree with some of the things that America's Worst Mother™ has to say about our ability to destroy children's (in her case: Pharisee Jean, Leitmotif, Abbazabba, and Speculum Bob's) fun and freedom in the pursuit of absolute and perfect safety. Recently I made Casey wear her Full 90 headgear (which she hates) in a tournament after receiving her second concussion in the past three years. That has gone along with the separated shoulder, the broken finger, the cracked rib, and tearing her right hamstring twice... all within the last three years. As it is, she goes to a physical therapy rehab once a week and sees a chiropractor once a month. I mention all of this because it is easy to say that we want our kids to have the freedom to run, jump, fall and possibly even hurt themselves because that's a part of what being a kid is. We all say this...but that's before we spend the evening in emergency after a certain child smacks her head (crack!) on the basketball court floor after fighting for a rebound. Then, after the bad thing happens, you start thinking about your kid and maybe, just maybe, you want them to dial it back a bit. Which brings us back to Meghan Cox Gurdon. This week she writes: I don’t want to sound unpatriotic, and I realize that this is not a wildly original point, but there is something creepy about how risk aversion has become a kind of unofficial American creed.
It’s creepy in the way that it has crept stealthily into our national life, and creepier still in its sinister, innumerate, fear-fanning, joy-squashing effects. There have been days lately when I have caught myself wondering aloud, “Can we really be the people who settled the Great Plains?”
Spend a few hours at the park and you’ll hear the endless gull-like cries of fretful parents and nannies: “Don’t climb so high! Watch out with that stick! No running! No pushing! Don’t get on the slide until everyone’s off it!” Of course children can get hurt, but really, they usually bounce. Go to a swimming pool and it’s all, “No running! No diving! No jumping! Stop splashing!”
[...]
It seems a no-fun approach to life to me, but then I come from a generation that knew not the steel-reinforced child car seat, the bicycle helmet, or that antibiotic gel that conscientious mothers rub on their toddlers’ hands when they’ve been playing in a sandbox.Hmmmm. It seems like only yesterday.... (cue wavey lines): "Aagh! Mummy!"
I am not quick to leap out of my seat. People are constantly yelling, "aagh, Mummy!" around me, and usually they have stubbed their toe. But when Paris' voice rises sharply, so do I.
"Aaaagh! Mummy!"
Paris is standing atop a little earthen hut in the children's garden. He is flapping his hands and something dark is spraying and spattering across his white shirt and bare arms. I race to grab a handful of napkins from our picnic and run to him, aware that I too am flapping my hands, with the same expression out of Edvard Munch.
"Oh, God, sweetheart, oh, no, what's happened? Here, clamp this over — " The expanse of white napkin blooms bright red, and I tighten my hands over it. Paris looks up at me, his face white under streaks of dirt and tears.
"I forgot. I cut towards — "
Later, in the car, as we speed along an unfamiliar road following those large blue "H" signs that you never notice when you are not desperate for an emergency room, I find myself babbling to Paris how sorry I am that this happened, and how brave he is, when he interrupts me.
"No, Mummy, I'm sorry," he says, "For interrupting everyone's day."
The emergency room, when we reach it, is apparently staffed by lotus-eaters. Let a blood-spattered mother and son step through the automatic doors, and the indifference is so thick you can cut it with a pocket knife. Indifference is an exaggeration; it is as though we are not there.We need to let the kids play, but sometimes a spoonful of caution keeps us from becoming an Edvard Munch painting in a hospital waiting room. No matter how bold we try to act when the bloods not a-spurtin'
posted by tbogg at 10:48 PM
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The shit has hit the fanIf pressed, I'm sure Tom DeLay's attorney will eventually use the Chewbacca Defense. But, for the time being, it looks like he's sticking with the Warren Zevon Defense: Yesterday, DeLay's lawyer, Bobby R. Burchfield, said that DeLay's staff was aware that Preston Gates was trying to arrange meetings and hotels for the trip but that DeLay was unaware of the "logistics" of bill payments, and that DeLay "continues to understand his expenses" were properly paid by the nonprofit organization, the National Center for Public Policy Research.Okay...everybody sing: Well I went golfing with Abramoff
The way I always do.
How was I to know
He was with the Russians too...
posted by tbogg at 10:18 PM
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No. No we're not... What do you mean "we", desk-bound boy? US Troops stay bunkered down in the Green Zone while the country burns, and Rich Lowry thinks it's a pep rally bonfire. It's not: Violence is escalating sharply in Iraq after a period of relative calm that followed the January elections. Bombings, ambushes and kidnappings targeting Iraqis and foreigners, both troops and civilians, have surged this month while the new Iraqi government is caught up in power struggles over cabinet positions.
Many attacks have gone unchallenged by Iraqi forces in large areas of the country dominated by insurgents, according to the U.S. military, Iraqi officials and civilians and visits by Washington Post correspondents. More than 100 Iraqis and foreigners have died in the last week.
"Definitely, violence is getting worse," said a U.S. official in Baghdad, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "My strong sense is that a lot of the political momentum that was generated out of the successful election, which was sort of like a punch in the gut to the insurgents, has worn off." The political stalemate "has given the insurgents new hope," the official added, repeating a message Americans say they are increasingly giving Iraqi leaders.
This week, at a checkpoint bunker in Tarmiya where insurgents downed a helicopter, a teenager in sunglasses clutching an AK-47 marked the limits of the Iraqi army's authority. "I wouldn't advise going there," the young Shiite Muslim recruit said, referring to Tarmiya, a Tigris River town a few hundred yards up the road that is dominated by Sunni Muslim landowners who were loyal to Saddam Hussein. "Those are some bad people there."
Up the road, insurgents run relatively free, and last week they appeared to have used a hilltop outside of town to fire what they later said was a shoulder-launched, heat-seeking missile. The missile hit a chartered Russian-made helicopter Thursday, killing six Americans and five other foreigners, including a survivor executed by the guerrillas afterward.
The U.S. official said this week that overall attacks had increased since the end of March. Roadside bombings and attacks on military targets are up by as much as 40 percent in parts of the country over the same period, according to estimates from private security outfits.I'd hate to see what it would look like if the country was turning to shit...
posted by tbogg at 9:58 PM
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A cluck of chickenhawksCall them the B-Team Players. The "movers and shakers" that are going to put serial abuser John "Anger Management" Bolton over the top: Michael Ledeen
Joel Mowbray
Frank Gaffney
David Frum
Anne Bayefsky
David Keene
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
Cliff May
Andrew Cochran
Gary BauerIf Bolton is dying from "death by a thousand cuts" you would think that even the folks in the clown car that is confirmbolton.com would recognize that they are self-administered. But then, anyone who would bat Joel Mowbray second isn't planning on scoring a whole lot of runs. If I were Bolton, I wouldn't be making any cleaning deposits on an apartment in New York.
posted by tbogg at 9:30 PM
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Friday, April 22, 2005
Friday Random TenCherry Blossom Girl - Air Friend of the Devil - Ministry (The Bridge School Concert) Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard Night Falls On Hoboken - Yo La Tengo East of the Sun (West of the Moon) - Diana Krall All The Young Dudes - David Bowie Brick House - Commodores Nothing Is Good Enough - Aimee Mann One More Time - The Clash All In A Day _ Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros As you can see from #3 I don't skip the cringe-worthy ones
posted by tbogg at 5:33 PM
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Pope Tracy Flick the FirstI guess I shouldn't be too surprised but I never really thought that some of the Cardinals would actually campaign to be Pope, them being humble servants and all: Although the cardinals swore an oath of perpetual secrecy about what occurred in the conclave, many began to talk about it on Wednesday. Some said they had long been convinced that Ratzinger was the right man. Others said his performance at John Paul's funeral and other rituals in recent days had made a deeply favorable impression.
In any case, the 78-year-old German cardinal steadily built support before and during the two-day conclave, according to these accounts. He ate breakfast with African and Asian cardinals. He assured U.S. prelates that he was in tune with their efforts to deal with child sexual abuse by priests. He sought to allay fears that he would set back attempts at interfaith dialogue. One imagines Ratzinger sitting up late at night making construction paper Vote for Me signs (with appropriate latin campaign slogans) and the taping them up in the Vatican's halls. Then the hush spread to the 114 other cardinals as they awaited the new pope's Accepto, his formal acceptance. In a low voice roughened by a cold, Ratzinger told them he would like to be known as Benedict XVI, honoring Saint Benedict, the patron saint of Europe, and Benedict XV, the pope who tried to stop the First World War.Later, in the privacy of his Pope pied-a-terre he pumped his fists, let out a Napoleon Dynamite ' yessss...." and did the Pope victory dance.
posted by tbogg at 2:55 PM
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Baby got gunI wonder how many people have ordered this because it accurately reflected their views? Link via So May It Secretly Begin
posted by tbogg at 2:28 PM
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Pops'I just discovered this blog today. How could you not like comments like this about a wedding: Then I got to drive my boy back home after the ceremony. (Alhambra! San Gabriel! El Monte!...) Then I got to drive back to the reception (Corona! Anaheim Hills! Yorba Linda!...), do My Thing at the reception (in case you're curious, my thing is Not Dancing. I Not Danced through 4 straight hours of songs. I did join my wife for the Slow Circle Foot-Trampling dance during an odd playing of Depeche Mode's creepy "Somebody") and then drive home.Funny funny guy.
posted by tbogg at 10:31 AM
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Swift Boat Editors for Eating Their OwnIt's not enough that Voinovich is being pilloried for not being a good soldier and lockstepping for Bolton, now they are questioning the fighting spirit of Chuck Hagel: That some Republicans are willing to take at face value the Democrats' personal attacks on Bolton is shameful. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R., Furrowed Brow) pronounces himself troubled by the allegations. But he supported John McCain for president in 2000 — since when is a docile temperament his test of whether someone can be an important public servant? Hagel is a fairly reliable conservative vote on routine matters. It's just when the chips are down that you can't count on him.That would be this Chuck Hagel: Hagel served in Vietnam with his brother Tom in 1968. They served side by side as infantry squad leaders with the U.S. Army’s 9th Infantry Division. Hagel earned many military decorations and honors, including two Purple Hearts.John Kerry. Max Cleland. John McCain. Now Chuck Hagel. It seems the only person that they like in government who had anything to do with Viet Nam is the one who went AWOL. I think there is a lesson here....
posted by tbogg at 12:14 AM
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Thursday, April 21, 2005
Irritable ColinColin Powell who was used like a tissue by the Bush Administration is oh-so-subtley screwing over John "You Want A Piece of Me!!!!" Bolton: Former secretary of state Colin L. Powell is emerging as a behind-the-scenes player in the battle over John R. Bolton's nomination as ambassador to the United Nations, privately telling at least two key Republican lawmaker that Bolton is a smart but very problematic government official, according to Republican sources.
[...]
A spokesman for Chafee confirmed that at least two conversations took place. Bolton served under Powell as his undersecretary of state for arms control, and the two were known to have serious clashes.
Powell's tenure as secretary of state was often marked by friction with the White House on a range of foreign policy issues, disagreements that both sides worked to keep from surfacing. It is not Powell's style to weigh in strongly against a former colleague, but rather to direct people to what he sees as flaws and potential problems, former associates say. Powell's views are highly influential with many Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Those who know Powell best said two recent events provide insight into his thinking. Powell did not sign a letter from seven other former U.S. secretaries of state or defense supporting Bolton, and his former chief of staff, Lawrence B. Wilkerson, recently told the New York Times that Bolton would be an "abysmal ambassador."
"On two occasions, he has let it be known that the Bolton nomination is a bad one, to put it mildly," a Democratic congressional aide said. "It would be great to have Powell on the record speaking for himself, but he's unlikely to do it." This is one of those 'revenge is a dish best served cold' moments. And for those wondering why the Administration is so all-fired in-a-hurry to get Bolton confirmed, keep in mind that we're only about six weeks away from the June attack on Iran and they want Bolton in place to tell the UN, "Well? What are you gonna do about it pussies?" Let's face it: the economy is going south, oil prices will be higher as we go into the summer travel season, Social Security privatization is deader than Bob Dole's dick, and George Bush's 2004 mandate fantasy is about to pass it's "best if used by" date. The only way to keep the yokels from realizing that they've been buying fake music lessons and band uniforms for the kids from Professor Bush is to start another Democracy Now! movement in Iran. As Karl Rove, remembering the great words of Blazing Saddles might put it: "We've gotta protect our phoney-baloney jobs, gentlemen, we must do something about this immediately!"So pencil them in for June....
posted by tbogg at 11:35 PM
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Thursday Night Anybody Want A Used Basset? Blogging Satchmo the Good I just got back from the Padres/Dodgers game (Padres win 6-1. Yay) to find that Beckham has eaten my glasses. That would be the second pair in the past three months leaving me now with one pair. Because of that, he doesn't deserve to be in Thursday night basset blogging. The little bastard. For those keeping score at home, that's: two pairs of optical glasses, two pairs of sunglasses, eleven CD's and nine books. Did I mention the $5000 we spent on treatments for him when he was a puppy and developed pneumonia? We're going on a cruise in June and it's going to cost about $180 to board him. Frankly I think we'd be better off selling him by the pound. I hear they taste like chicken. (Added):For the record: The glasses were on my desk but not pushed back far enough. As it is, we pull the chair out so he doesn't get up as well as pushing everything on the desk back. Although short, basset's are long and have quite a reach. He's the first one that we have had that is so destructive, although Satchmo used to have a thing for shoes...ask my wife. It's pretty obvious Beckham is frustrated and acting out. We blame Bush...
posted by tbogg at 11:02 PM
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Yeah. I'm an intellectual. Can't you tell?The Artist Formerly Known as The Big Trunk writes: My favorite magazine is the Claremont Review of Books. It is a quarterly that is the flagship publication of the Claremont Institute, the think tank whose mission is to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. Each issue of the CRB is full of essays and book reviews by outstanding scholars and intellectuals who are sympathetic to the institute's mission. (Subscriptions are only $19.95; subscribe online here.)From Trunk Boy's bio: Scott W. Johnson is a Minneapolis attorney. For more than ten years Johnson has written with his former law partner John H. Hinderaker on public policy issues including income inequality, income taxes, campaign finance reform, affirmative action, welfare reform, and race in the criminal justice system. Both Johnson and Hinderaker are fellows of the Claremont Institute. Their articles have appeared in National Review, The American Enterprise, American Experiment Quarterly, and newspapers from Florida to California. The Claremont Institute has archived many of their articles here.Odd that he didn't mention that.
posted by tbogg at 11:39 AM
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The Loon in the BubbleOur Lady of the Dolphins points out that "the new pope speaks to the inner adult in all of us" and we wonder how she knows his voice from all the other voices in her head. Must be the German accent. Anyway, in describing how John Paul the Great saw the end she writes: It is an age of miracles and wonders, of sightings of Mary and warnings, of prophecy, graces and gifts.Which echoes the words of the Great Pope Paul Simon the Jewish who once said: These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry Then Peggy the Divorced Therefore Going To Hell writes: The choosing of Benedict XVI, a man who is serious, deep and brave, is a gift. He has many enemies. They imagine themselves courageous and oppressed. What they are is agitated, aggressive, and well-connected.
They want to make sure his papacy begins with a battle. They want to make sure no one gets a chance to love him. Which is too bad because even his foes admit he is thoughtful, eager for dialogue, sensitive, honest.
They want to make sure that when he speaks and writes, the people of the world won't come running. No we're just a little bit leery of a eurocentric authoritarian German who has gained the big stage. We had one once before and we didn't care for his work...
posted by tbogg at 10:39 AM
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Firefox issues...againDid Microsoft buy Firefox and not tell anyone? Some people have noted that you can't get to certain blogs on Blogger with Firefox which takes you to the Blogger home page instead. Just go to tools> options> cache> clear. That should fix it. It did for me.
posted by tbogg at 10:19 AM
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Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Shorter David BrooksIt is upsetting to me that a woman's body won't submit
to the dominion of the body politic.
posted by tbogg at 11:31 PM
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Coulter is lateNo. Not that kind of late. It seems that covergirl ( Skanky Times, Field & Skank, Skanks Illustrated, and Skanking Today) Ann Coulter failed to appear in court to face her Pie Assassins. Oh, and then she lied about it: Right-wing pundit Ann Coulter falsely accused an Arizona county attorney of anti-conservative bias for dismissing charges against two men who allegedly threw pies at her during an October 2004 speech. In fact, the blame lies with Coulter herself; the charges were dropped becuase neither she nor the arresting officer appeared for the scheduled trial.
Coulter attacked Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall for allowing the charges against her alleged attackers to be dropped, claiming that LaWall did so because the accused men were liberals.
From Coulter's April 14 nationally syndicated column:
Then on March 19, all charges were dismissed against the "Deliverance" boys -- including a felony charge for $3,000 worth of damage to school property. Inexplicably, this outcome did not instantly lead to widespread rioting and looting in South Central Los Angeles.
Democrat Barbara LaWall is the Pima County attorney who allowed the liberal debate champions to walk. LaWall brags on her website about "holding criminals accountable." She didn't say anything about liberals, however. Be forewarned, conservatives: Do not expect the law to protect you in Pima County.Wow. Coulter lied. We'd tell John Cloud but he's really busy practicing writing his name on his homeroom binder: Mr. John Cloud Coulter
Mr. John Cloud Coulter
Mr. John Cloud Coulter
Mr. John Cloud CoulterToo bad there's no "i" to be dotted so he could work on his hearts because that would be sooooo bitchin'
posted by tbogg at 4:05 PM
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He's really going to hate it when 3-D cable comes to his neighborhoodRoger Ailes (not the Satan's poolboy one) catches Mickey Kaus tightening up his sphincter at the idea of Logo TV...Kaus really tips his hand with this explanatory comment, added after the original post: "Gay characters and gay Showtime dramas are one thing. An entire network celebrating and validating homosexuality pumped into every home with basic cable service might be too much for many people to tolerate."One would think that a gayer world would be a welcome one to the Mickster since it would double his chances of getting a date. Okay. Maybe not....
posted by tbogg at 11:41 AM
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Call 1-900-HOT-LESBODennis Prager turned in his expense report to Townhall last week and, in an effort to explain away some 1-900 calls, he made up a conversation with a woman who was made Full Metal Mary Cheney by higher education (it's true! it can really happen!): Perhaps the most important argument against same-sex marriage is that once society honors same-sex sex as it does man-woman sex, there will inevitably be a major increase in same-sex sex. People do sexually (as in other areas) what society allows and especially what it honors.This would be the " if everyone jumped off a roof while having buttsex, would you do it too?" talk that your mom or dad had with you when you were a kid. You remember... Anyway, onward to the lesbian: One excellent example illustrating this is an article recently written in the McGill University newspaper by McGill student Anna Montrose. In it, she wrote:
It's hard to go through four years of a Humanities B.A. reading Foucault and Butler and watching 'The L Word' and keep your rigid heterosexuality intact. I don't know when it happened exactly, but it seems I no longer have the easy certainty of pinning my sexual desire to one gender and never the other.
(Michel Foucault is a major French "postmodern" philosopher; Judith Butler is a prominent "gender theorist" at UC Berkeley; and "The L-Word" is a popular TV drama about glamorous lesbians.)
I interviewed Anna Montrose, a bright and articulate 22-year-old woman, on my syndicated radio show. She is a fine example of the type of thinking and behavior a homosexuality-celebrating culture -- such as that at our universities -- produces.
The following are selected excerpts, edited for reasons of space, from that interview. The full transcript, the audio and her original article are all available on my website, www.dennisprager.com.
DP: Prior to attending university you had your 'rigid heterosexuality' intact. Is that correct?
AM: I think that that's pretty fair to say. Whoa. What exactly does Dennis (DP) mean by "rigid heterosexuality". Is he flirting? And let's not even get into what "DP" means. Sorry. Here's more: DP: You didn't know you were sexually attracted to women until you went to university? You had lived 18 years and thought you were only sexually attracted to males.
AM: That's true, but I also had never had a boyfriend either. I didn't date --
DP: Whether one has a boyfriend or girlfriend is very different from what one wants to have and where one's sexual fantasies lie.
AM: Yeah, that's completely true.
DP: All I'm saying about sexual choices is that society has a deep impact on sexual choices including whether it's same sex or opposite sex. So my whole position is: Thousands of years of Western civilization preferring male-female bonding leading to marriage and family is a good thing, and Anna feels that it's a bad thing. Is that totally fair? Or am I putting words in your mouth?There he goes again. Looks like Dennis is trying to lure her back from the Dark Side. Then he starts trying to get her to tell him about, you know, 'doing it' with a chick: DP: Have you acted upon your new revelation of not being a rigid heterosexual?
AM: What do you mean 'acted on'?
DP: Well, had sexual contact with females.
AM: I guess I have, yeah.
DP: Have you had with a male?
AM: I had. I had a boyfriend for a year.
DP: Is there any difference or are they both equally meaningful to you?
AM: Well, there is definitely a difference, but they are also both meaningful.
DP: Well, when you had sexual contact with a girl, were you naked? (sound of a zipper)
AM: Um. Yeah. Sure. We were naked.
DP: Cool. So, like, what did you do, you know, with her? Was she hot? (fumbling noises...creepy wet squicky sound)
AM: Look, I really have to go. I have midterms...
DP: No! Wait wait I'm almost done with the, uh, interview....So what are you wearing? (moaning)
AM: I'm going to hang up now.
DP: I'll bet you're blond and the other girl had like black hair and was totally into it and then the two of you started rubbing your---
AM: Jesus. You sick bastard---(click...dial tone)
DP: Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh gawd! Mommy! Unh unh. Mommeeeeee----(whimpering...sound of a cigarette being lit)Okay. I made part of that up. But it was higher education that made me do it....
posted by tbogg at 9:14 AM
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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
The Five Stages of Tom DeLayDenialU.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay blames the ethics controversy swirling around him on Democrats, liberal groups and "Democrat-friendly press," The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
In a message sent to supporters in his home state, Texas, and obtained by the newspaper, the Republican broadly denies any ethics violations and lays out what he calls "the real story" behind the rise in allegations against him.
"It is abundantly clear that their fundamental strategy revolves around attacking me and working to tear down Republican leaders," the email message obtained by the newspaper said, according to the Post AngerHouse Majority Leader Tom DeLay intensified his criticism of the federal courts on Tuesday, singling out Supreme Court Justice
Anthony Kennedy's work from the bench as "incredibly outrageous" because he has relied on international law and done research on the Internet.
[...]
The No. 2 Republican in the House has openly criticized the federal courts since they refused to order the reinsertion of
Terry Schiavo's feeding tube. And he pointed to Kennedy as an example of Republican members of the Supreme Court who were activist and isolated.
"Absolutely. We've got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States? That's just outrageous," DeLay told Fox News Radio. "And not only that, but he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet? That is just incredibly outrageous."Coming up: Bargaining Depression Acceptance and maybe chewing his leg off to escape.
posted by tbogg at 10:35 PM
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Beating Leno to the punchNetwork News Dead, says Sam DonaldsonSo is the thing on your head. (rimshot) Thanks. I'll be here all week....
posted by tbogg at 10:32 PM
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NotJenna waves from the fringes trying to get some attention. Any attention.In our continuing series on the nurturing humanitarian efforts drunken carousing of Jenna "I'm the Pretty Twin" Bush, we find her acting like a Bush in a china shop: SPEAKING of glamorous blondes. At the W Hotel, 49th and Lex, they're still talking about the recent Jenna Bush drop-in. They're talking it was, like, 2:45 in the morning. She wore a black dress and Michael Jackson-type cover-up scarf as sort of an attempt to hide that famous beautiful face, as in sort of hoping the crowd maybe wouldn't notice her. Yeah, sure. Especially with that clutch of Secret Serviceniks trying to blend in. A late, late, late night, boozy, happening "in" place and dudes in trench coats with dark glasses, dark suits, earpieces, lapel buttons burbling into their cuffs are going to blend in. Yeah, sure.
Jenna sat to chat with a ladyfriend. Maybe 15 minutes. Then this First Twin got up and knocked over the glassware. It came crashing down whereupon the Secret Service came crashing over.
Like nobody noticed her, right? Nobody but the whole room.Well. Cindy Adams sure seems smitten but managed to draw the line at mentioning Jenna's pillowy lips and inviting decolletage (that's French for the upper-boobal area). Meanwhile no mention of Jenna's post-college career working with disadvantaged minority otherwise-abled children, or was it teenaged-lesbian-vampire-ninjas? It's been so long I forgot which ones.
posted by tbogg at 1:01 PM
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PopeI had a post up on the new Pope that I have deleted because I want to think about this some more. Needless to say, I've fallen so far away from the Catholic church that I can't even see it on the horizon. I will say that, as the Vatican's enforcer, Ratzinger obviously did a piss-poor job regarding the sex scandals. And for this he gets to be Pope. It looks like incompetence isn't only the domain of the Bush administration.
posted by tbogg at 10:38 AM
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Monday, April 18, 2005
Nothing sells like controversy or, in the case of People magazine, a dead Princess Diana...Honestly. I have no idea exactly why TIME magazine thought it was a good idea to run Ann Coulter on the cover of this weeks edition. I mean, doesn't Steven Speilberg have a movie coming out or something? And it's not as if Coulter is really that well known. Sure, if you're one of those who watch Fox News you may recognize her but it's not like you're going to purchase TIME which would require basic reading skills, some form of ambulatory ability to go get it, the social skills to ask for it, as well as the ability to make change in order to purchase it... so that demographic is out. She is fringe at best, known mainly to political junkies. So what was the point? I guess it was a need for buzz. To choose something that was so off the wall that people would ask "What the hell is that?" (and if Ann had a nickel for every time she has heard that...). Maybe they were just trying to be (oooooo) "controversial" and figured they would get more attention with Coulter on the cover than they would with some of the other cover stories they are currently working on: "Jesus: How Gay Was He?"
"Your Children Hate You and Have Weapons Under Their Beds"
"Natalists: Popping Out Babies Like A Pez Dispenser"
"You Are So Gonna Get Cancer"
"NAMBLA: But The Little Boys Understand..."and "Josh Groban: Someone Please Fucking Kill Him"I'm gonna buy that one....
posted by tbogg at 11:53 PM
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Ugly on the inside and the outsideThe other day I posted about Charles Johnson of LGF who is the Head Jerkoff of the Little Green Floggers. It seems that Chuck, who has the delicate sensibilities of a thirteen year-old girl (and I do apologize to all thirteen year-old girls), was headed for a lie-down and a dose of laudanum after being offended by "... a revealing demonstration of the mean-spirited, foul-mouthed, debased state of the modern left." Siento para usted a pequeña muchacha... So I was surprised to find that he must not read his own blog (and can you really blame him? I mean, really?). Here's the story: An American founder of a humanitarian group for Iraqi civilian war casualties has been killed in a car bomb blast, a Western official said.
Marla Ruzicka, founder of Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, was traveling Saturday near Baghdad International Airport when a car bomb exploded, killing her and her driver, the official said Sunday.
[...]
Ruzicka, 28, founded Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict in 2003, according to the group's Web site. Its mission is to "mitigate the impact of the conflict and its aftermath on the people of Iraq by ensuring that timely and effective life-saving assistance is provided to those in need."
She began a door-to-door survey of civilian casualties the day after a statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Baghdad in April 2003, the Web site said.
"Marla took her first report to U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, who sponsored legislation to provide U.S. aid to innocent Iraqis who were harmed in the military operations," the site said.
[...]
Nancy Ruzicka said her daughter began working with the human rights organization Global Exchange in high school, taking on assignments in Zimbabwe, the Middle East and Nicaragua.
Global Exchange leaders and former colleagues Kevin Danaher and Medea Benjamin said Ruzicka "loved big challenges, and she took them on with a radiant smile that could melt the coldest heart."
"We are somewhat consoled by the fact that Marla died doing what she really wanted to do: help people less fortunate than herself," Danaher and Benjamin said in a written statement. "Many of us believe that character trait to be the most beautiful quality a human being can possess. And Marla had an abundance of it."Now, for those not clear on the concept: Marla Ruzicka was attempting to help innocent victims of the war that we started supposedly in order to bring the Iraqi people democracy and freedom (which is the current neocon story and they're sticking to it by golly). So what do the Leather Dykes of LGF think about her? Probably nothing " mean-spirited" or " debased". Then again: Lysander 4/17/2005 07:06PM PDT
Couldn't have happened to a nicer tool.
>:)
Lysander
Max Darkside 4/17/2005 07:09PM PDT
#10 Free Speech Is Only For über-Libs
I am trying to muster up some tears - but it just ain't happening.
Ya, my "Give-a-Damn" is busted too.
Ed Mahmoud abu al Qahool Martyr Brigades 4/17/2005 07:10PM PDT
Yahoo story says she first went to Iraq as part of 'Code Pink'.
First class, major league moonbat and 2005 St. Pancake Award Nominee.
MARS Trucker 4/17/2005 07:16PM PDT
I don't give a rats behind about this loser. Can this be the SNDT by any chance? I'm making dinner (ravioli, homemade ofcourse with a little help from mother-in-law..bless her soul) and I'm having a Poor Man's Bloody Mary (two domestic Beers with Clamato, lime, Tobasco, little salt and little pepper) let's hear it Lizardoids!
tats66 4/17/2005 07:23PM PDT
Jeez.....they will do ANYTHING to pad their stats!
BWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
MARS Trucker 4/17/2005 07:25PM PDT
#36 Carolyn
People like her believe that if we just love everyone they just have to love us back.
She is a dead Moonbat okay...'nuff said.
RebTex 4/17/2005 07:29PM PDT
I can guess what color her eyes were!
BLEW!
1 blew this way & the other blew that wayYou get the idea. But somewhere along the line Chuck realized that he needed a veneer of civility (it was a one time thing...it'll pass) so he turned to seventh-tier "media analyst" and war-loving troll, Cori Dauber (that would be Dauber on the left): Let Us Not Speak Ill of the Dead
But let us speak accurately.
Both NBC and CNN produce hagiographic pieces about a young "humanitarian," or young "aid worker" killed today in a suicide bombing. What, precisely, she did of a practical nature in either Afghanistan or Iraq is left somewhat vague, besides caring an enormous amount, and organizing. Were food, or medical supplies, or school supplies, ever actually found, dispursed, distributed? If so, it isn't mentioned. But, boy, did she care, with tireless energy, and she made sure the civilian victims of war knew she was there caring -- and that "we" were sorry.
Well, more power to her, I suppose, and rest in peace. But I think it would have been a better and more complete story if either of these networks had reported more fully on just who this young woman was -- and why it was that both of them knew of this young woman, and themselves cared about her so much. ...and then Dauber (now that she was done sneering and supplying quotes around humanitarian and aide worker) provides links that would seem to show that Marla Ruzicka was quite an effective advocate for victims of war and would seem to qualify as a humanitarian. but then history has shown that Dauber never has been what one might call, bright. One can only imagine what they would grunt if only they were "mean-spirited"....
posted by tbogg at 10:11 PM
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Hyde the salami More time for married nookie.... Henry Hyde hangs it up: U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde, the Illinois Republican who steered the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton and championed government restrictions on abortion funding, announced Monday that he will retire when his term ends in 2006.You remember the impeachment hearings? Adultery. Blow jobs. That stuff. Henry had a secret: Fred Snodgrass, a 76-year-old Florida retiree, says he gets so upset when he watches Rep. Henry Hyde on TV that "I nearly jump out of my chair." Hyde, the Illinois Republican who heads the House Judiciary Committee, is on television often these days. Hyde's committee will decide whether the adulterous affair President Clinton carried on with a White House intern, and his efforts to keep it hidden, should be referred to the House of Representatives for impeachment proceedings. "I watched [Hyde] on TV the other night," said Snodgrass. "These politicians were going on about how he should have been on the Supreme Court, what a great man he is, how we're lucky to have him in Congress in charge of the impeachment case. And all I can think of is here is this man, this hypocrite who broke up my family."
Snodgrass says Hyde carried on a five-year sexual relationship with his then-wife, Cherie, that shattered his family. Hyde admitted to Salon Wednesday that he had been involved with Cherie Snodgrass, and that the relationship ended after Hyde's wife found out about it. At the time of the affair, which lasted from 1965 to 1969, Fred Snodgrass was a furniture salesman in Chicago, and his wife was a beauty stylist. They had three small children, two girls and a boy. Hyde, then 41 years old, was a lawyer and rising star in Republican state politics. In 1966, he was elected for the first time to the Illinois House. Hyde was married and the father of four sons. (His wife, Jeanne Hyde, died of breast cancer in 1992, after a 45-year marriage.)
"Cherie was young and naive at the time," said a Snodgrass family intimate. "She was a glamour queen with three young kids, stuck at home. Then this Prince Charming guy, Hyde, comes along. She was very impressed with him. He was 12 years older, he was a hotshot, he knew everyone downtown. She had nothing, and he comes along, shows her off, she was young and beautiful."I only mention this because, you know, MSNBC seems to have missed it what with Hyde being this really moral guy and all...
posted by tbogg at 9:30 PM
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Sunday, April 17, 2005
Smothering him in his sleep would be an act of mercyThink back on the most mundane boring mind-numbing thing you did this past week. Now thank the imaginary deity of your choice that you're not James Lileks: So I sniffle and hack for a day or two. I’m DONE. Put the car in gear and go.
Where? Why, the postcard show, of course. The Postcard Show! The three most exciting words in the English language, next to “worthwhile Canadian initiative.” Spent a few hours working on the usual collections: pre WW2 New York, post WW2 motels and restaurants, anything Minneapolis and Fargo. Paged through a collection of old corporate correspondence, valued for the quality of the letterhead or the sentimental attachment one might have to the company. They’re always banal: a letter from a branch manager informing a consignee that the regional sub-commander of the northern district of the eastern division has been replaced by Mr. E. W. Functionary, and please make a note of it. Signed, dated April 7, 1951. Price: Seventy five dollars. You could look at the price as proof that someone will pay it; you could look at the fact that it hasn’t been sold as proof that someone won’t. But someone will. Someone who specializes in regional beers, or American gun manufacturers, or Truman era paper stock, or just has the gelt & time & inclination to assemble a collection of pre-computer era corporate correspondence. In a way the documents are records of a particular time, a particular person: you run your finger along the reverse side, feel the impressions made by the typewriter key, a dent in the paper made by a secretary’s finger one spring morning 54 years ago. Is there anything you’ll do today that leaves behind something someone can touch in half a century?
Yes? Good for you.This makes sorting socks look like Bright Lights, Big City.
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