Behind the scenes of the gladiatorial battle that will take place between Paul Wolfowitz and the World Bank Board today are efforts by his lawyer, Robert Bennett, and the Bank staff to negotiate terms of Wolfowitz's departure.
According to some insiders, Wolfowitz wants "some acknowledgment" of the Bank Board's complicity in the messy circumstances surrounding his and Shaha Riza's situation.
Secondly, allegedly on June 1st, Wolfowitz becomes eligible for some large financial bonus -- for performance and time on the job. One estimate puts this figure at about $400,000. Wolfowitz wants to make sure those funds are credited to his private bank account before saying farewell to an institution that has come to despise him.
Both sides have threatened each other with slow, painful, drip-drip approach to the release of damaging information that each side has about the other.
One blast in the battle are revelations that it costs the Bank a whopping $5 million per year to pay for Wolfowitz's security detail.
Wow. $5 million is a lot of cash for security. He must have solid platinum fembot bodyguards who shoot diamond bullets through their nipples, but unfortunately aren't hardwired to have sex with him which is why the State Department has to step in to pay his sex poodle to "lick his comb", if you know what I mean and I'm sure you wish you didn't.
Keep in mind that $400,000 isn't that much in todays dollars. That's like, two years worth of girlfriend payments tops providing she doesn't ask him for another raise.
Actually, we'd rather not think about that...
(Update: Link to "comb action" added for the ick factor)
The New York Times decides it's not going be the White House's dancing monkey anymore:
Tucked inside Frank Rich's Sunday column in the New York Times is indication that the newspaper will no longer play ball with the annual White House Correspondents Association dinners in Washington, which he calls "a crystallization of the press's failures in the post-9/11 era." He writes that the event "illustrates how easily a propaganda-driven White House can enlist the Washington news media in its shows....
"After last weekend's correspondents' dinner, The Times decided to end its participation in such events," wrote Rich. "But even were the dinner to vanish altogether, it remains but a yearly televised snapshot of the overall syndrome. The current White House, weakened as it is, can still establish story lines as fake as 'Mission Accomplished' and get a free pass."
Rich mixed this criticism of the press in with regret over the death of David Halberstam this week, who Rich said it would be hard to imagine "yukking it up with Alberto Gonzales, Paul Wolfowitz and two discarded 'American Idol' contestants" at the dinner. "It's our country's bitter fortune that while David Halberstam is gone, too many Joe Alsops still hold sway," writes Rich, comparing the Pulitzer-winner to the now-forgotten Vietnam War cheerleading columnist.
Which means that Karl Rove's dance card has a few more vacancies on it for the Washington Post to fill.
I bet Fred Hiatt is already out shopping for a new gown.
Peter Suderman accidentally receives a copy of Rolling Stone and discovers that music isn't just nü-metal, post-grunge or that crazy hippity-hop music with the words all spelled kinda funny:
The newest issue has a piece on BattleCry (there’s also a multimedia component here), a Christian youth movement that holds giant rallies complete with a heavy multimedia component and Christian rock of the eardrum-rattling, tattoo-and-spiked-hair punk and metal variety. The group, comprised largely of kids whose aesthetic might best be described as “suburban punk rock,” preaches a militant anti-secularism (against MTV in particular and Hollywood in general), but basically just puts a modern, youthful twist on fairly traditional Christian values—chastity, resistance to drugs and alcohol, personal sacrifice, and foreign missions work.
Sounds innocuous, right? Not at Rolling Stone. The article is more or less a case study in the sort of sneering, condescending portrayals of Christians that inspire groups like BattleCry in the first place. The group’s branding is described as looking as if it were pulled “from Stalin’s archives.” Kids are “seduced into the cause” and adults are “scared” into supporting it. The article is filled with rather unsubtle jabs at the group’s conservative political outlook, and every opportunity is taken to portray the kids as simpletons. Essentially, the piece is designed to make the group look like a kooky cult for kids who’ve been brainwashed into thinking that rock and roll can co-exist with religion. No wonder these kids are suspicious of "secular media"; look how it portrays them
.Ahh, yes. BattleCry, we know them well. Good to see that Ron Luce is still the Bill Graham of the social maladroit set.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, But no lesbians please, because we are straight"Nobody wants to see you two naked together so just give it up, okay?"
When we last left flaming "heterosexual" Kevin McCullough he was waving "lil Kevin" at the lesbians and taunting them because, although he is "heavy with seed", he isn't sharing until they agree to accept the dominion of man. And make him a sandwich while they're at it.
This week, after spending hours pouring through several volumes of People magazine and watching countless hours of E!, he takes up the cause of straight men everywhere by fighting the nubilecinematiclesbofascists that would force us to watch Keira Knightley and Lindsay Lohan have sex while NUDE!!1! in a movie. No. Really:
Another story hit the headlines this week but did not get the graphic portrayal of the Baldwin case on cable, radio, and gossip pages on the internet.
It was a small story about a split between actresses Lindsay Lohan and Keira Knightley. They had been working on a film together in London when Lohan, for unexplained reasons, quit the project. The film was to begin shooting in early May. It was also reported that Knightley's mother Sharman McDonald became furious at Lohan's exit. McDonald - Knightley's mother - had written the screenplay.
The hook that had been used to stir up interest in the project had been the fact that McDonald - Knightley's mother - had written into the script multiple love scenes, nude ones that involved Lohan and Knightley (her daughter.)
With Lohan exiting the scene the project would be delayed and thus it would cost more money to complete and the profit margins for those involved go down.
(We will stop here and point out that the last sentence above didn't say what you thought it said, and that you are a total perv)
But back to our story...
Great Googly Russ Meyers! What kind of movie must this be? Somethong Wicked This Way Comes? or I Know What You Did in the Wet Seal Dressing Room?
Keira Knightley and Lindsay Lohan have fallen out after the 20-year-old American actress pulled out of Keira's new film The Best Time Of Our Lives, a dramatic biopic of Welsh bard Dylan Thomas.
According to sources on set Lohan, right, who has just finished a spell in rehab, quit days before filming was due to start.
Keira, left, whose mother Sharman Macdonald wrote the screenplay, is said to be 'furious' because she was instrumental in getting the Mean Girls star to play Thomas's wife Caitlin MacNamara.
The film tells the story of William Killick, who tried to kill Thomas because he believed he was having an affair with his wife, Vera, played by Keira.
Movie insiders predicted a box office hit because of the lesbian love scenes between Keira and Lindsay, who were also due to film a steamy threesome with the poet, played by Matthew Rhys.
So Knightley's crafty mom is trying to slip a little lass-on-lass action by us under the cover of some psuedo-Merchant/Ivory arthouse porn? That bitch! Well, thank all that is holy that a sensible level-headed lass like Lindsay Lohan has stood up and said, "No! No, I will not be a part of your plot to promote your lesbian agenda in a film about infidelity and art and poetry. And need I point out that poetry is part of the gay agenda? Well it is! And you want me to be part and parcel to this? I think not!"
Then she stormed off in a huff and, sadly, we are left with Sienna Miller to take over Lohan's role Somehow we will find a way to carry on...
I can think of no good excuse for you not to buy this.
"As musical activists in the 1960s civil rights movement, the Staple Singers were powerful voices for equality and change. And more than 40 years after Pops's daughter Mavis spent a night in a West Memphis, Arkansas, jail at the behest of a racist cop, she still remembers the terror of the experience, as well as the counsel of Dr. Martin Luther King. That episode is at the centerpiece of "My Own Eyes," one of the most moving offerings on this collection of songs of racial struggle in the '50s and '60s, produced by guitarist Ry Cooder and featuring backing from the original Freedom Singers and Ladysmith Black Mambazo."
Repairs are made to a school’s perimeter wall. Millions of dollars in Iraqi Relief and Reconstruction Funds are being spent to repair and reconstruct schools throughout Iraq. Most of the work includes repairing and replacing roofs, windows, doors, tile floors, perimeter walls, bathrooms, plumbing, electrical and sanitation systems. The majority of the reconstruction work is being done by local Iraqi companies and workers. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo
In a troubling sign for the American-financed rebuilding program in Iraq, inspectors for a federal oversight agency have found that in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting and expensive equipment that lay idle.
The United States has previously admitted, sometimes under pressure from federal inspectors, that some of its reconstruction projects have been abandoned, delayed or poorly constructed. But this is the first time inspectors have found that projects officially declared a success — in some cases, as little as six months before the latest inspections — were no longer working properly.
Interesting phrasing there, "The United States has previously admitted, sometimes under pressure from federal inspectors" as if they are somehow two different entities. Who is tis mysterious "United States" and why are they lawyering up? Probably because of this:
At the maternity hospital, a rehabilitation project in the northern city of Erbil, an expensive incinerator for medical waste was padlocked — Iraqis at the hospital could not find the key when inspectors asked to see the equipment — and partly as a result, medical waste including syringes, used bandages and empty drug vials were clogging the sewage system and probably contaminating the water system.
The newly built water purification system was not functioning either.
[...]
The new findings come after years of insistence by American officials in Baghdad that too much attention has been paid to the failures in Iraq and not enough to the successes.
Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, commander of the Gulf Region Division of the Army Corps, told a news conference in Baghdad late last month that with so much coverage of violence in Iraq “what you don’t see are the successes in the reconstruction program, how reconstruction is making a difference in the lives of everyday Iraqi people.”
And those declared successes are heavily promoted by the United States government. A 2006 news release by the Army Corps, titled “Erbil Maternity and Pediatric Hospital — not just bricks and mortar!” praises both the new water purification system and the incinerator. The incinerator, the release said, would “keep medical waste from entering into the solid waste and water systems.”
But when Mr. Bowen’s office presented the Army Corps with the finding that neither system was working at the struggling hospital and recommended a training program so that Iraqis could properly operate the equipment, General Walsh tersely disagreed with the recommendation in a letter appended to the report, which also noted that the building had suffered damage because workers used excess amounts of water to clean the floors.
The bureau within the United States Embassy in Baghdad that oversees reconstruction in Iraq was even more dismissive, disagreeing with all four of the inspector general’s recommendations, including those suggesting that the United States should lend advice on disposing of the waste and maintaining the floors.
“Recommendations such as how much water to use in cleaning floors or disposal of medical waste could be deemed as an intrusion on, or attempt to micromanage operations of an Iraqi entity that we have no controlling interest over,” wrote William Lynch, acting director of the embassy bureau, called the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office.
I suggest responding to all recommendations by busybody inspectors by blaming it on "entropy". It always works for me when I have to explain why I haven't fixed that shelf in the laundry room; physics being the first refuge of the lazy...
Randall Tobias, 65, director of U.S. Foreign Assistance gets some "foreign assistance" with his man-parts, resigns, and bloggers become both titillated and engorged...and Michelle blames it on the EmmEssEmm.
Her headline:
The D.C. madam and the scandal-hungry MSM strike
Contents of post:
Link to White House bio
ABC News, The Blotter takes note
State Department Press Release
Link to bloggers at memeorandum (and note to Michelle: it's a blogasm)
Link to Red State
Link to unfunny commenter at Red State
Link to "but-seriously folks" commenter at Red State
Link to Luciane.com which points out really really important paragraph in the Washington Post
Commenter commenting on the above
Link to watch ABC blog for those not John Doeing around the neighborhood spying on brown people
Luciane commenter's comments
Pithy conclusion by Michelle:
And so he has.
Well, it's no "Heh. Indeed." but you have to admit, as a journalist and media critic Michelle makes an excellent cheerleader.
(I have no idea where I found the graphic above. I saved it months ago to use for a special occasion. Whoever made it: thanks. Your ham is in the mail.)
Everybody has their favorite Joni Mitchell songs. Okay, not everybody, but stick with me here. For me those songs would include Amelia, A Case of You (but of course), Chinese Cafe, and The Fiddle and the Drum a song from 1969 with lyrics that sound as if they were written in the past few years :
And so once again Oh, America my friend And so once again You are fighting us all And when we ask you why You raise your sticks and cry and we fall Oh, my friend How did you come To trade the fiddle for the drum
You say we have turned Like the enemies you've earned But we can remember All the good things you are And so we ask you please Can we help you find the peace and the star Oh my friend We have all come To fear the beating of your drum
I was an unmarried girl I'd just turned twenty-seven When they sent me to the sisters For the way men looked at me Branded as a jezebel I knew I was not bound for Heaven I'd be cast in shame Into the Magdalene laundries
Most girls come here pregnant Some by their own fathers Bridget got that belly By her parish priest We're trying to get things white as snow All of us woe-begotten-daughters In the steaming stains Of the Magdalene laundries
Prostitutes and destitutes And temptresses like me Fallen women Sentenced into dreamless drudgery Why do they call this heartless place Our Lady of Charity? Oh charity!
These bloodless brides of Jesus If they had just once glimpsed their groom Then they'd know and they'd drop the stones Concealed behind their rosaries They wilt the grass they walk upon They leech the light out of a room They'd like to drive us down the drain At the Magdalene laundries
Peg O'Connell died today She was a cheeky girl A flirt They just stuffed her in a hole! Surely to God you'd think at least some bells should ring! One day I'm going to die here too And they'll plant me in the dirt Like some lame bulb That never blooms come any spring Not any spring No, not any spring Not any spring
And who knew that a "cheeky girl" of 26 would write a sad love song that would, thirty-one years later, become an elegy in live performance?
As Joni sang at the end of Chinese Cafe, after segueing into Unchained Melody:
Time goes - where does the time go I wonder where the time goes
Since a few people picked up on the Rasputina reference below, I tought I'd share a little Rasputina covering Pink Floyd. I guess we can do it in honor of Rostropovich.
I have a friend who feels that it is blasphemy for anyone to cover Pink Floyd (or any of the lesser rock g-ds for that matter), so I like to play the Easy All-Stars' Dub Side of the Moon whenever he is around.
The first Democratic presidential debate was a huge success because few Americans actually saw the 8 candidates who showed up. The Democrats cleverly chose the least-watched cable TV news station — MSNBC, which hoped to use the debate to double its audience so that it could finally draw half of Shep Smith’s audience.
I was among the estimated 299.6 million Americans who did not watch the debate.
That of course does not stop me from blogging about it.
I didn’t catch much of the debate last night. Being that it was on that cable channel, no, don’t tell me, oh, what, oh yeah, MSNBC, I don’t think many others did either.
The fact that they avoided it and still felt compelled to comment on it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. They've been practicing for four years using the war...
Then again, there is someone who watched it, possibly after a few drinks and more than likely believing it was American Idol:
Laugh about it, shout about it, when you've got to choose, every way you look at this you lose.
Ooh, I've still got the song "Mrs. Robinson" running through my head. It was playing on the radio as I drove off to work today. But now it's evening and I'm -- as Paul Simon wrote -- "going to the candidate's debate." Not going, really. Watching on TV. I said I'd "simulblog," but, truth be known, this is just a TiVo-blog, and I may just fast forward through some of the candidates. And I'm starting on delay. I don't want to deceive you, my friends. Let's start now.
FIRST ADDITION. Mike Gravel? The hell? I was trying to count up who the 8 were. I'd forgotten Dodd. Gravel... that's news to me. I didn't even know he was still alive!
We're told they will be limited to 60 second answers. Cool!
As the level in the wine box lowers, so does discourse, but she gets major credit for prefacing her post with the totally un-ironic reference to Mrs. Robinson.
Pop star Gwen Stefani and the Less Spastic Malkinettes
Serious-ass political pundette and the world's worst Harajuku girl, Michelle Malkin, has a bitchin' idea on how to show those defeatosurrenderquitterocrats a thing or two about stick-to-it-tiveness; like that week she spent in Iraq yelling "olly-olly-oxen-free, come out come out wherever you are, Jamil Hussein" and he totally didn't come out, so, like, he's not real and stuff.
Malkin's latest braindrizzle is...well, let her and her reader who can type 'splain it all to you:
Send 'em a white feather By Michelle Malkin · April 26, 2007 05:09 PM
Reader and Vietnam Vet Jack Haley e-mails:
The White Feather has been a symbol for cowardice. I suggest that white feathers be sent to the leaders of the Senate and House for the cowardly vote that abandons our soldiers around the world.
[...]
You can buy 'em online here individually or in bulk.
Laura Lee Donoho was on the same wavelength in January:
I think in addition to the pledge, we need to start a white feather campaign because it’s becoming quite apparent that we have a multitude of Cut and Runners in our Congress. The book and movie, The Four Feathers tells a story of cowardice and redemption. I see nothing but cowardice so far in many Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and House but for the sake of our troops and our country I’m hoping that at least some Republicans redeem themselves.
I’m not holding my breath.
Oooooo! Snap!!1! Take that Demosurrenderfraidycrats! Now who's your daddy? Hunh? Hunh? Not such a big man without George Soros around to screen your mail for feathers and to wipe your baby tears with his Nazi million dollar bills, are you? Cowards! Treasonous cowar---
Wha?
Oh. Michelle has an update:
Update: Several readers note that legendary Marine Corps sniper Carlos Hathcock wore a white feather in his hat band. Reader M.A. says his feather will have a dual message--"symbolizing the cowardice of the surrendercrats and also serving as a reminder to Reid and company of what true grit was."
So, um, now it's a symbol of cowardice and a symbol of a legendary Marine Corp sniper war hero, so the feather is like one of those mints that's both a breath mint and a candy mint but it's a mint nonetheless...except it's a feather.
Okay.... Look, what if we were to build a large wooden rabbit and send one to every Democratic congressman....
Pre-Friday Random TenI said uh I ain't got time to discuss the weather Or how long it's gonna' last And uh I ain't got time To do no studyin' Once I get out of class I tell you I'm just a guy Who has a one track mind And when it comes to thinkin' 'bout anything but my baby I just don't have the time
Menu>scroll>click
Brooklyn Bound - The Black Keys Too Busy Thinking About My Baby - Marvin Gaye Doin' Time - Sublime Starry Eyed Surprise - Paul Oakenfold What Became of the Likely Lads - The Libertines Let's Make Love and Listen To Death From Above - Cansei De Ser Sexy Samson - Regina Spektor Radar Love - Golden Earring Oblivious - Aztec Camera El Torrente - Minus the Bear Bonus #11: Why This Could Never Work Between Us - Bon Savants
Just be thankful that I didn't put up the Cansei De Ser Sexy video...
Heading Right gets off to wonderful start with Rick "The Lesser" Moran (who is all about the civility) mildly pooh-poohing Chris Muir for indulging in black stereotypes by "illustrating" (a term, in Muir's case, used so loosely it may fall apart if anyone breathes on it) Hillary Clinton in blackface. On the road to civility he makes a none too surprising right turn at misogyny:
What does everyone make of Chris Muir’s Day by Day cartoon this morning?
Hillary in black face?
Considering how we conservatives trashed Jane (”you ignorant slut”) Hamsher for photoshopping Lieberman in black face, shouldn’t we police our own and give Mr. Muir a few well chosen jabs for his insensitivity?
As I point out in my blog post, there is more than political correctness at stake here. The Minstrel Show - which is where black face comes from - did more than any other American institution to spread the black stereotypes we’re so familiar with today.
So…am I off base? Am I a politically correct closet case?
Oh, and I obviously can't let the column pass without noting this gem: "When politicians here declare that Iraq is "lost" in reaction to al-Qaeda's terrorist attacks and demand timetables for withdrawal, they are doing exactly what al-Qaeda hopes they will do, although I know that is not their intent." So the Democrats are unwitting dupes of al-Qaeda. And Lieberman, who has steadfastly supported a war that distracted from Afghanistan, de-emphasized the hunt for bin-Laden, re-ignited al-Qaeda's standing in the Middle East, and revealed the limits of America's military might is...what?
I think the answer to that would be: a fucking idiot who would rather see a thousand American soldiers die rather than admit that he was wrong.
Or you could just shorten that down to "a fucking idiot" if you're into that whole brevity thing.
Ralph Nader says he is impressed by his invitation from students at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University to speak on the same day as Vice President Dick Cheney. Nader, the legendary consumer advocate and former third-party presidential candidate, says that development reflects increasing opposition to the war in Iraq.
Nader has accepted an invitation by BYU students to speak Thursday evening after Vice President Dick Cheney addresses graduates. The event's organizers say they oppose the actions of Cheney as part of President's Bush's administration and want to offer an alternative voice on that day.
"It's really quiet encouraging to see BYU students stand tall and assert themselves in ways they will long remember and respect after they graduate," Nader told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "I think it reflects a massive public opposition to a war that was initiated on false pretenses."
He said he plans to talk about government accountability and foreign policy, particularly the war in Iraq.
The speech is open to the public but at least some of his words will be targeted toward students, he said.
The alternative commencement group plans to attend Cheney's speech, then travel down University Parkway to hear from Nader, former U.S. Senate candidate Pete Ashdown and former Amnesty International director Jack Healey, said BYU student and event organizer Eric Bybee.
The students have raised $9,000 to pay for speaking fees, transportation and rental of the McKay Events Center. They said Friday in a press release that they need to raise another $11,000.
Nader lowered his speaking fee to $12,000 from $15,000. He had refused to speak at an outdoor venue, and the alternative commencement group was frustrated in its attempts to find a building in Provo to handle what it hopes will be 2,500 to 5,000 visitors, including busloads of Salt Lakers protesting Cheney's presence on the BYU campus. (my emphasis)
David Broder can't remember what happened and I can't remember why people ever listened to him
I'll leave it to others to discuss "The Dean's" fulminations about uppity Senators who say things that wake him from the extended nap that is the end of his career, but I found this passage interesting:
Nor is this the first time Senate Democrats, who chose Reid as their leader over Chris Dodd of Connecticut, have had to ponder the political fallout from one of Reid's tussles with the language.
Hailed by his staff as "a strong leader who speaks his mind in direct fashion," Reid is assuredly not a man who misses many opportunities to put his foot in his mouth. In 2005, he attacked Alan Greenspan, then chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, as "one of the biggest political hacks we have here in Washington."
The implication being that Democrats clutched their pearls, stifled gasps, and clucked disapprovingly when a discouraging word was uttered about the gnomish political weathervane .
I looked hard, but try as I might, I couldn't find any quotes from Democrats in this article by Dana Milbank and Nell Henderson that were even remotely critical of Harry Reid for slamming Greenspan as a hack. In fact, it looked to me as if the party was rallying around Reid. And yet, here's the lede:
Questioning the wisdom of Alan Greenspan in political Washington is akin to challenging the integrity of the pope in Rome, so figures in both parties agreed yesterday that the top Senate Democrat's description of the Federal Reserve Board chairman as a "political hack" was a blunder.
Naturally, reading this I was very concerned that there were Dems trying to pull the rug out from under Reid (or stab him in the back), so I read the rest with great interest and care to find out who the weasels were.
And guess what? Not a single quote from a Democrat criticizing Reid. It's just not there.Here's what the quoted Dems have to say:
Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.):
who worked with the Fed chairman as a Clinton administration official and in Congress, said Greenspan has been "unbelievably effective" at the Fed but he does not forgive Greenspan for flashing "a green light" to tax cuts that contributed to large deficits. "There's a moat around the Fed that says he doesn't get involved in political discussions," Emanuel said. "He took the moat down."
Paul Sarbanes (D) Maryland:
said that in 2001 Greenspan had "taken the lid off the punch bowl" by endorsing Bush's tax cuts. "And now we've managed to transpose our economic outlook from this projection of over $5 trillion in surplus to almost $4 trillion in deficits."
Barney Frank (D) Massachusetts:
implicitly scolded Greenspan for exceeding his role, saying "the question of private accounts is an ideological one."
Chris Lehane (D-Scumbag-at-Large):
"It is about time Democrats stopped treating him like he was an untouchable,"
Marshall Wittman (DLC, for Lord's sake):
"The Fed chairman is the closest thing in Washington to a deity. At least with Democrats, he no longer has that deity status. He's now viewed as a partisan figure."
Even when they're referring to unnamed Dems later in the article, they say:
Democrats were further infuriated that, even after the budget went into deficit, Greenspan repeatedly supported making the temporary tax cuts permanent -- one of the Bush administration's top economic policy goals.
If you can find any evidence in this article for Democrats saying Reid's comments about Greenspan were a "blunder," you get the Stone Court Where's Waldo Award for Sharp Eyes... Or maybe the Madeye Moody Award for Ability to See through Walls... Or better yet, the Elwood P. Dowd Award for Seeing the Invisible.
Nowadays we'll just give someone the Look What I Pulled Out Of David Broder's Ass Award.
John Hinderaker suffers from short term memory loss when defending Incompetentleezza Rice:
I don't know much about the ins and outs of executive privilege, but I wouldn't think Rice will agree to testify. Maybe that's the Dems' plan. Still, it's hard not to wish that, just once, a representative of the Bush administration would stand up to the Democrat bullies and make some coherent points.
We take you back to the lazy hazy days of last week.
Now it may be that John doesn't recall these appearances (which brings us back to the question of "how did he ever get through law school" asked of AG Gonzales) but I will join with Mr. Hinderaker Esq. in asking that a representative of the Bush administration stand up and make some coherent points.
It would be a breath of fresh air six years into this administration.
The LA Times Festival of Books is this weekend and they are offering a sneak preview of an eternity spent in writhing agony with no hope of mercy.
Royce Hall
PANEL 2053 2:30 PM Dr. Phil McGraw in Conversation with Mitch Albom Interviewer Mr. Mitch Albom Dr. Phil McGraw Note: Dr. Phil McGraw will only sign hard cover books following this session.
For mere venal sins, you can always attend this, just moment before:
PANEL 2052 12:30 PM Ralph Nader In Conversation with Marc Cooper Interviewer Mr. Marc Cooper Mr. Ralph Nader
As was discussed earlier this week, right-wing bloggers (along with Frank Gaffney) created "The Victory Caucus," artificially pumped up its traffic statistics by collectively and repeatedly linking to it, and then excitedly pointed to that traffic as evidence that they had tapped into latent though powerful pro-war sentiment among Americans which was spawning a new online movement. That ruckus, in turn, caused easily manipulated reporters to write articles and broadcast stories touting this new, exciting, surging Pro-War online Phenomenon.
Last week, Tucker Carlson welcomed as his guest Victory Caucus "Board ofGovernors" member Frank Gaffney, and Carlson began the segment by announcing:
Last week's antiwar resolution in the House saw 17 Republican members vote against the president's position. As with any vote of consequences, there is a political price to pay, in this case, for the GOP congressmen who broke from their party.
A new conservative group, the Victory Caucus, aims to hold politicians accountable for their positions, serving as a counterpoint to organizations like MoveOn.org.
The Politico article also described the Victory Caucus as "designed to counter the anti-war Moveon.org" and included passages like this:
In the meantime, the Victory Caucus hopes to shame Republicans into sticking with their leaders on upcoming votes on defense spending. "This is a means of getting out a message," said [Townhall/Hugh Hewitt blogger] Dean Barnett, a member of the Victory Caucus Board of Governors. "We're letting the political class know there's a huge chunk of people out there that want victory."
I think even Bill Frist would declare this parrot "dead".
Thank the imaginary deity of your choice that the right has a shiny new group blog with yet another stellar cast. Victory is just around the corner / is the light at the end of the tunnel / is in the mail / is buried under the "huge chunk' of ponyshit.
Laura Bush masks the pain with Zoloft™. Ask your doctor..
Kudos to Laura Bush for bearing up so well as the War First Lady. The true test of her indomitable spirit will be in 2009 when she moves back to Rancho Borracho in Crawford and has to hitch a ride into town with a Secret Service man to pick up cigarettes and vodka and still be back in time to rustle up a grilled cheese and a juice box for the Decider's lunch.
I give her seven months before she smothers him with a pillow.
Sorry I'm not home right now I'm walking into spiderwebs So leave a message And I'll call you back A likely story, but leave a message And I'll call you backMagneto is depicted as one of the most powerful mutants in the Marvel Universe, possessing the ability to control magnetism. He is also one of the most morally complex characters in American comic books. A Jewish Holocaust survivor, his actions are driven by the purpose of protecting the mutant race from suffering a similar fate. Characterizations of Magneto have varied through the years, from supervillain to anti-hero to even hero, but he is most often shown as an uncompromising militant and has engaged in acts of terrorism when he felt it was for the benefit of mutantkind. This puts him at odds with his best friend Charles Xavier, whose X-Men seek peaceful coexistence with the rest of humanity.
Debbie Schlussel (gadfly...attorney....looks like Ann Coulter retaining water - a small lake's worth it would appear. That Debbie Schlussel.) takes time out from her busy schedule SCREAMING AT COMMENTERS ON HER BLOG AND TELLING THEM THAT READING IS FUNDAMENTAL!!!1! to warn us that islamocomicbookgoyim are sucking the precious bodily fluids out of our arachnohumanoids and turning them into ...girlie-men:
Just got back from screening "Spiderman 3." And while I'm not allowed to post my complete review now, I will say this:
Spidey is a Girlie-Man. It's a good thing I brought my Spidey-Cry-O-Meter with me to the theater. Because I counted at least FOUR--FOUR!--scenes in which Peter Parker/Spiderman cries. Might have even been five, if you count the scenes in which a tear wells up in his eye, but doesn't stream down on his face.
Must all American superheroes be wimpified and transformed into sensitive girlie-men? I can see the Arab Muslim internships at Marvel Studios are already a smashing success.
Whoa there little filly....Arab Muslim Interns are making the Baby Spiderman cry, just like they made a jewish Magento a terrorist? Must be true:
Every year, movie studios are inundated with tens of thousands of college students yearning for a scant few spots as academic interns.
Now, the chance to become an academic intern at Marvel Studios--home to the Spiderman (including the upcoming "Spiderman 3"), The Hulk, X-Men, and Fantastic Four movies--just became impossible for most Americans. . . unless they are Arabs, most likely MUSLIM Arabs, from the United Arab Emirates.
Marvel Studies announced that it will reserve several academic internship spots for Arabs (ie., Muslims) from the United Arab Emirates, in cooperation with the Young Arab Leaders and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai's ruler (Dubai is the largest of the 7 Emirates that make up the UAE).
It's the new affirmative action. Don't be surprised if you see "Super(Peaceful)Muslim" or "Captain Legitimate Resistance" at a theater (and in comic books) near you.
Remember the days when Superman (not a Marvel property) fought the Nazis? Those days are over. Today, Spiderman and the Hulk are embracing the new Nazis.
As the war began to expand in Europe, and Hitler began his conquests of Belgium and France, there were numerous stories featuring foreign spies and cruel dictators, but they were careful not to specifically cite Germany or Italy as the subject country. Siegel was also careful not to name the dictator by any identifiable name (such as Hitler, or even Adolf), either. However, the characters he utilized were little more than thinly veiled parodies of the European dictators. In Superman #10 (May-June 1941), there was a story of the Dukalia-American Sports Festival. In that story, the Dukalian leader, Karl Wolff, gave a speech saying, "You have seen them perform physical feats, which no other human can. Proof, I tell you, that we Dukalians are superior to any other race or nation. Proof that we are entitled to be the masters of America." This was quite obviously inspired by Hitler's speeches prior to the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin, Germany where Hitler claimed that German athletes were superior to those of any other nation... Uber Mensch, or "Super-men". This was a claim quickly shattered by Jesse Owens.
[...]
Obviously, the first thing anyone saw at a newsstand looking for a comic book was the cover. During the early years of comics, the covers did not necessarily have anything to do with any of the stories inside and were used more to attract a person's attention than to advertise the stories inside. Beginning with the cover of Superman #12 (Sept 1941) Superman began a solid propaganda alliance with American soldiers that continued through 1945 and the end of the war. That cover showed Superman walking arm in arm with a soldier and a sailor. From that moment on, Superman was shown sinking battle ships, tying cannon barrels into knots, and riding bombs toward "Japanazi's", a term first coined in Superman #18 (Sept-Oct 1942) to define the unified threat of Japan and German armies.
[...]
Still, no matter how many patriotic covers appeared on the outside of Superman comics; it was actually rare that the action went further than the cover. By and large, the stories inside the comics remained morality plays and confrontations with villains like Luthor, The Prankster, Toyman and the Insect Master, not battles with the German army. Many stories mentioned the war in passing, but the actual number of stories that dealt directly with the war effort was rather small by comparison and initially dealt with petty dictators and terrorists. For example, in Superman #11 (July-August 1941), Superman battled Rolf Zimba, the head of the Gold Badge Organization, which was a group of terrorists determined to seize control of government beginning by blowing up a suburb of Metropolis.
So, while the covers were strong messages in support of the American troops, it may be that the stories inside intentionally avoided the subject of war as a means of escape for a weary nation.
But nevermind that, let's get back to Little Debbie Nutcakes:
For the record, even aside from that, I didn't like Spidey 3. Parker/Spiderman becomes a huge egomaniac--a lot like this latest generation of kids: me! me! me! Ditto for his dull girlfriend, Mary Jane. She's also all about her! her! her!
Debbie Schlussel, 37 years old, supports her pundit habit by practicing commercial law in suburban Detroit. She is among the most proactive B-list pundits. Almost daily, she emails her appearance schedule, availability or sharp-elbowed conservative commentaries to 5,000 people in media and politics.
[...]
To raise her profile, Ms. Schlussel blogs all day long, and works every other angle, too. Whenever she's asked to appear on a show, she sends out "Me On..." email blasts, with subject lines like "Me On Fox News Cavuto."
[...]
So far this year, Ms. Schlussel has appeared on more than 600 radio shows and 35 TV programs, she says. But while Ms. Coulter, America's most-famous blonde pundit, earns millions, the also-blonde Ms. Schlussel has earned well under $10,000 this year from her punditry, she says. Still, Ms. Schlussel feels momentum: Her online fan clubs have grown to 5,496 members.
Poor Debbie. She peddles her shoddy wares shooting for Wonder Woman status and ends up, instead, a distaff Willy Loman screaming: ATTENTION MUST BE PAID!!1!
President Bush, standing firmly against a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, said Tuesday that he will veto the latest war spending bill approved by Congress.
"I'm disappointed that the Democratic leadership has chosen this course," Bush said.
"They chose to make a political statement," he said. "That's their right but it is wrong for our troops and it's wrong for our country. To accept the bill proposed by the Democratic leadership would be to accept a policy that directly contradicts the judgment of our military commanders."
Bush's statement came after Democratic leaders agreed Monday on legislation that requires the first U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by October 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later. The decision assured a historic veto showdown.
"No more will Congress turn a blind eye to the Bush administration's incompetence and dishonesty," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a speech in which he accused the president of living in a state of denial about events in Iraq more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion.
[...]
Radio ads expected to air Tuesday will attack Reid as treating troops like a "political football," GOP officials said. According to a transcript, an Iraq veteran identified as Capt. Trip Bellard says, "Senator Reid's remarks undercut the morale of our soldiers and undermine our troops on the ground."
Baer, who served with Tillman for more than a year in Iraq and Afghanistan, told one anecdote that took place during the March 2003 invasion as the Rangers moved up through southern Iraq.
“I can see it like a movie screen,” Baer said. “We were outside of (a city in southern Iraq) watching as bombs were dropping on the town. We were at an old air base, me, Kevin and Pat, we weren’t in the fight right then. We were talking. And Pat said, ‘You know, this war is so f— illegal.’ And we all said, ‘Yeah.’ That’s who he was. He totally was against Bush.”
Another soldier in the platoon, who asked not to be identified, said Pat urged him to vote for Bush’s Democratic opponent in the 2004 election, Sen. John Kerry.
Not that this stopped them from using Tillman to promote their war.
Pat Tillman's brother accused the military Tuesday of "intentional falsehoods" and "deliberate and careful misrepresentations" in initially portraying the football star's death in Afghanistan as the result of heroic engagement with the enemy instead of friendly fire.
"We believe this narrative was intended to deceive the family but more importantly the American public," Kevin Tillman told a hearing of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee that was also looking at how the military portrayed the rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch.
"Revealing that Pat's death was a (friendly fire) fratricide would have been yet another political disaster in a month of political disasters ... so the truth needed to be suppressed," said Tillman, who was in a convoy behind his brother when the incident happened three years ago but didn't see it.
If they can't use your living body, they'll use your dead body to prop themselves up...
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning (R) entered the state’s 2008 Senate race as a potential replacement for Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) if the latter were to retire. But now Bruning says he might try to unseat the Iraq war critic in a primary.
He cited Hagel’s recent vote for a troop withdrawal deadline in Iraq and his suggestions that President Bush could be impeached. Bruning said yesterday that he has been given sufficient reason to consider running for the seat even if the two-term senator aims for a third term.
“Senator Hagel voted with the Democratic leadership against President Bush on the most important issue facing our country,” Bruning said, adding, “These are drastic and dramatic shifts away from the Republican Party, our president, and the people of Nebraska.”
Hagel has been mum about his future, but he has suggested that he might run for president and that he might not run for reelection to the Senate regardless of his presidential plans.
In an ambitious move last month, Bruning formed an exploratory committee with the express purpose of laying the groundwork in case Hagel retires.
“Senator Hagel is an outstanding, well-respected public servant and I will not run against him in the primary,” Bruning said at the time, as reported by the Omaha World-Herald.
... 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.
Another quick check, this time on John Bruning , shows that he will only be 38 this weekend which is still young enough to enlist and that as a:
... fifth-generation Nebraskan, he carries a reputation as an aggressive, effective leader in the fight against crime.
Qualities that will serve him well as an officer in Fallujah. Qualities, in fact, inculcated in him at the University of Nebraska where he was a member of the Society of Innocents:
The Innocents Society is the Chancellor's senior honorary society at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, comprising 13 men and women who apply during the spring of their junior year and our selected on the basis of scholarship, leadership and service. Members are known throughout campus, but the society still retains secrecy through rituals and a secret meeting room. Members worked to promote school spirit and create an appreciation among the student body for the greater values for which Nebraska stand
[...]
During the '40s and '50s, the Innocents coordinated freshmen beanie sales and would wear identical jackets one day each week. Like the Missouri bell exchange, at this time an exchange with the University of Colorado was coordinated. The head of a buffalo was mounted for a mere $20 and named 'Mr. Chips'. Mr. Chips was then given to the winner of the annual Nebraska vs. Colorado football game. Unfortunately, in 1962 Mr. Chips somehow got misplaced by members of Colorado's Heart and Dagger Society, and the tradition was not continued. The Innocents of these years were quite the mischievous group, but many of these antics died down during the '70s. The '80s brought renewed spirit to the Innocents, and although the Innocents today no longer coordinate Dandelion Day or choose members of the spirit squad, they still carried on many of the traditions set forth by their founders. The Innocents of 2005-2006 sponsored a fundraiser for a local nonprofit organization, raising some $10,000.
After all, the Society of Innocents prepared former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey to serve in the Navy Seals in Viet Nam where he won a Medal of Honor.
So, c'mon Jon! Here's your chance to pad the old resume and make sure that your daughter will never have to live under shari'a law in Lincoln. Nebraska. The US Senate will still be there, waiting for you, when you get back from your third tour of duty.
Notable scheduled speakers: Presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Chris Dodd and Barack Obama and Rep. Dennis Kucinich on Saturday; former Sen. John Edwards and Gov. Bill Richardson on Sunday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is to speak Saturday.
As you can see, Dennis Kucinich landed the headlining spot on Saturday night after warm-up acts Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, and Barry Obama. Sweet!
A Wizard, A True Star
As you may be aware, I've hitched my wagon to the Kucinich Karavan much like John Hawkins did with Duncan Hunter; the idea being that one of our candidates will get fewer votes in their respective primaries than the other one and the lucky blogger who rides that candidate, like a hellbent-for-leather capuchin monkey on a greyhound, wins!
I did it all for the nookie...and some sweet sweet Soros cash
Ian at Hot Air (he's the Baby Huey-looking one on the right, next to that chick and the bad-ass mofo in the disco shirt) breathlessly relays what Bill O'Reilly said on TV about that Jew bastard George Soros:
Bill O’Reilly went after Media Matters tonight in his Talking Points Memo and in the segment that followed. He named several influential media figures who regurgitate content and talking points from Media Matters uncritically. O’Reilly promises more segments on Media Matters in the future.
The contents of which Ian will regurgitate from Bill O'Reilly uncritically on Hot Air (or possibly to his friends in his Everquest guild where he is a Paladin High Elf Level 65 armed with the Gauntlet of Dragon Slaying, the Baton of Faith, and the Penis of Non-Touching).
Long O'Reilly bullshit story short, George Soros (seen here in Bill O'Reilly's mind): is trying to take over the US with his Nazi money by funding groups who attack our way of life...and Bill O'Reilly.
Here, maybe this will make it clearer:
Here is how it works: You see, George Soros gives million dollar bills to someone (probably Hillary Clinton) at the mysteriously named Open Society Institute who then goes to the check cashing place and gets them broken down into thousand dollar bills (out of sequence of course) which are then placed in those Hallmark envelopes (with the oval for the dead president face to show through) that grandmothers use to give out five dollar bills on birthdays and mitzvahs. These envelopes are sent to Moveon.org who then 're-gifts' them to Media Matters on minor holidays like Arbor Day, Presidents Day, Bring Down the Government Day, etc. David Brock then uses the money to buy a disposable cell phone with which he calls Andrea Mackris and impersonates Bill's gruff manly voice and asks her about her "spectacular boobs" and "getting your nipples real hard" (in the background behind Brock you can hear Jamison Foser giggling and then you hear Brock tell Foser, "Shut up, you dick!"). O'Reilly, without an alibi, then pays Mackris millions of dollars without even getting to first base. And the terrorists win.
At least that's how it supposedly works. O'Reilly was kind of penciling it out for the Fox graphics department on the back of a Juggs & Ammo magazine and...well, here's his original diagram. I think you'll see where he was going with this:
Oddly enough, there's not very much Slipknot on left-leaning blogs
I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that the coastal leftist elites are biased against the good-hearted salt-of-the-earth folks who live in that part of America that we call Flyoverland
MKH: One of the quotes of the week, which doesn’t even really need attribution at this point is, “The war is lost.” Your thoughts and what you’re hearing on the trail about that?
MR: Well, first of all it shows a remarkable lack of understanding by Harry Reid. The first phase of the war, the war to knock down Saddam Hussein was won by the United States, solidly, handily, decidedly, and Harry Reid is simply wrong. We won the war to take down Saddam Hussein, and to remove a sponsor of terror.
We’re now in a stage of conflict, which is to help the Iraqi people rebuild their own country. That’s a long process. The jury is out on that. But for him to come out and say we lost the war shows a lack of understanding of the fact that we won taking out Saddam Hussein.
And, secondly, it shows that he just doesn’t understand the nature of the conflict, which we currently are engaged in. And, I go back and think about George Washington. Can you imagine how different our nation would have been if, when the troops were having a tough time at Valley Forge, he just said, “well, we’ve lost.” Or, if Winston Churchill, when the British citizens were hiding in subway tubes, if he said, “Well, we’ve lost.” That is not the American way.
I’m afraid there are some Democrats who can’t get the word victory or success out of their lips. They see loss behind every corner, and instead of looking for our successes and our achievements, they’re always looking for the losses.
Shame on Harry Reid for saying something which will be dispiriting for our troops, and used as propaganda and rallying cries for jihadists around the world.
Since we are only midway through Dick Cheney's IslamoWars Part II: The Existential Menace, we're gonna need a bigger army to fight the somethingsomethingsomethingofacists who have sworn a blood oath to make Michelle Malkin pay for that Gwyneth Paltrow youtube video.
This is Tagg. Tagg is 37 and likes spending time with his wife and kids, baseball (go Sox), basketball (go Celtics), waterskiing, horses, travel, snow skiing, movies, trust funds, and not fighting in godforsaken hell-holes in the Middle East. Tagg is an Aries.
This is Matt. Matt is 35 and likes hanging out with family, basketball, Scuba diving, hiking, tennis, the remote control, trying new restaurants, trust funds, and not wearing forty pounds of kevlar in 110 degrees. Matt is a Scorpio.
This is Josh. Josh is 31 and likes surfing, waterskiing, snowskiing, reading, travelling (sic), playing with his three children, trust funds, and not dodging sniper fire in Fallujah. Josh is a Leo.
This is Ben. Ben is 28 and is somewhat private about what he likes, but his hero is his dad who has provided him with a trust fund. Ben is studying to be a doctor, but not one of those doctors who performs triage in Ramadi on soldiers with severe head trauma. Ben is a Gemini.
This is Craig. Craig is 25 and likes longboarding, Baseball, Volleyball, Surfing, Snorkeling, Lacrosse, Music, trust funds, wearing his trucker hat backwards and listening to The Whitest Boy Alive (which kind of goes hand in hand), and not having to wonder if second base is an IED when he plays baseball. Craig is a Taurus.
One might think "at this stage of the conflict" that Willard-Mitt might call his Osmond Bunch together and say, " Boys. I'm going to need one of you to set an example for the country and enlis--- godammit Craig! Would it kill you to turn that fucking hat around and turn off the iPod? Jesus, why can't you be like Ben? Where was I? Oh yeah. Josh, Tagg, you guys are off the hook. The military doesn't like crazy eyes. They've got enough problems with those Marines in Haditha and ... oh fuck it. Craig, you're the one. You're the youngest so we're not as attached to you and quite frankly, you're a pain in the ass. Tell you what, go down to Texas and join the National Guard. I'll get someone to pull some strings and get you sent to Germany or something. Now who's up for some Postum and shooting at rabbits?"
Actually, I don't think that's how he would respond. More like this:
Gov. Mitt Romney, who has comforted the grieving loved ones of soldiers killed in Iraq and promoted National Guard recruitment, yesterday said he has not urged his own sons to enlist - and isn't sure whether they would.
The Herald posed the question as Romney - a potential 2008 White House contender and backer of President Bush's Iraq policy - was honored by the Massachusetts National Guard after he signed a bill extending pay for state workers on active duty.
"No, I have not urged my own children to enlist. I don't know the status of my childrens' potentially enlisting in the Guard and Reserve," Romney said, his voice tinged with anger.
War: It's for poor people without nice smiles... and crazy eyes.
