MTP: Sen. John Warner (R-VA); Lance Armstrong
FTN: John & Elizabeth Edwards
This Week: (guest host GOP operative Terry Holt); Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA); Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX); Larry Summers
FNS: Mike Huckabee (R-AR); Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI)
Late Edition: Gov Bill Richardson (D-NM); Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS); ex Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi; Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno; Max Cleland (D-GA)
Voices From The Gulf
Please go visit this site. You will find the stories of thousands upon thousands of people affected by Hurricane Katrina.
These stories have still not been told and they need to be. So please go to the site, listen to their stories and add your own if you have one.
Bush Trait Ratings
8/25/07 Yes Indeed Not So Much Disqualified Idiockery 99% 1% 0% Sadistosity 98% 2% 0%
Lunaticaldom 99% 1% 0% Foolhardience 97% 3% 0%
Illiteracyage 100% 0% 0% Mental Illnessness 90% 1% 9%
Sobrietyarianism 0% 80% 20% Compassionness 0% 100% 0%
Judgmentism 3%% 97% 0%
Communicatorey 1% 98% 1%
Planned Parenthood Ad On Emergency Contrception
Funny ad.
Too bad it didn't reach George H.W. and Barb in time.
"...front-line soldiers grow to resent troops at the bases and come to believe their commanders are out of touch with the realities in the field." -- Counterinsurgency expert Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign RelationsWhy? Because the troops at the bases enjoy basic amenities such as running water, flush toilets, telephones and Internet access, as well as food courts and athletic facilities. Here's what the other guys get:
That should be on a recruiting poster, doncha think?
- Sun-scorched grounds of a former potato-processing plant.
- They use pit latrines and get showers only when there is enough water.
- They jog around a shadeless concrete lot that serves as a helipad and mortar-launching site.
- Their downtime consists of "silently clean[ing] dust from their rifles at a battle position south of the capital" while a "fiery wind blast[s] through the small base, an abandoned home surrounded by sandbags and razor wire."
Other troops in this area have far less comfortable surroundings. Army Maj. Rob Griggs believes rough conditions are good for the mission. Without comforting distractions, troops are more driven to complete their jobs, said Griggs..."Comforting distractions"?? Griggs has been out in the 140-degree heat too long.
...the disparities in living and working conditions among soldiers heighten resentments, chipping away at morale. So does the feeling that the mission is futile, a belief fueled by the Iraqi political stalemate and the unreliability of Iraqi forces.But didn't Commander Guy say morale was high? Ohhh, he meant he was high. My bad.
Most thought their job was finished after Saddam Hussein was ousted. Instead, they found themselves directing traffic in Baghdad's chaotic streets. Four years later, they still are policing and doing community work they did not anticipate.We anticipated problems, but most of us couldn't anticipate all of this.
"You couple that with getting blown up and shot at, and it definitely makes it harder to deliver service with a smile," said Staff Sgt. Kevin Littrell, whose plan to leave the Army in May was thwarted when his unit's tour was extended.What, you're not grinning and thanking the Sociopath in Chief as your leg gets blown off? That's okay. "Service with a smile" went out with full-service gas stations in the 1950s.
Lynch told him: "You're making history here while those back home are watching it on TV."If that doesn't boost his morale, nothing will.
Good stuff from the Bill Maher Show....
Having a relative teaching in the Cleveland School District, all I can say to this is amen.
Study Shows No Child Left Behind Failing Students
Nearly half the students in four of Ohio’s big city public school districts are attending failing schools that rate a D or F on the state’s latest report card, according to an analysis by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
Further, relatively low percentages of both charter and district schools in the state’s eight-largest cities fared well in state and federal accountability systems. Only 38 percent of the district schools met the federal standard for adequate yearly progress, compared with 28 percent of urban charter schools.
The four-city analysis found 46 percent of 183,000 public and charter school students in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton attend schools rated either in academic watch or academic emergency, the two lowest categories in the state’s rating system.
Lookee here!! Cliff's BFF Brad Blakeman is babbling!!!
Seems someone doesn't want to "debate" anymore..... hmmm, wonder why?
Wow, what a lame answer about why he won't debate. Check it out.
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Coward) Chickens Out Of Public Town Hall Meeting On Iraq
It's kind of funny a guy named Wolf is a such a chicken$&!t. While sending other people's children to die in an Ameica-weakening war based on lies.
But he'll have plenty of time to get that killer instinct of a real wolf back when he's retired in 2008.
Justin Frank, Author of "Bush on the Couch:" On The Possibility Of A Bush Attack On Iran
He named this piece, Dangers Of A Cornered Bush (get your mind out of the gutter Gottalaff) and this part, indeed, is frightening:
"We are left with a president who cannot actually govern, because he is incapable of reasoned thought in coping with events outside his control, like those in the Middle East."
"This makes it a monumental challenge - as urgent as it is difficult - not only to get him to stop the carnage in the Middle East, but also to prevent him from undertaking a new, perhaps even more disastrous adventure - like going to war with Iran, in order to embellish the image he so proudly created for himself after 9/11 as the commander in chief of 'the first war of the 21st century.'"
I counted 23,670,289 items in that story that made me want to stick a fork into my leg. Did I miss any?
- President Bush will return to the Gulf Coast next week, where hard times and resentment linger two years after Hurricane Katrina's massive strike.
- Bush will fly into New Orleans on Tuesday after giving a speech about the Iraq war...
- Neighborhoods are in ruins. Crime, inadequate health care and faulty infrastructure are pervasive.
- The Bush administration is still dogged by charges of an inadequate response - first, for the way it handled the crisis, and more recently, for not spending more time on it.
- [This is] only his second since he visited during the one-year anniversary last August.
- The Gulf Coast's plight did not even get a mention in his State of the Union address this year.
- The White House says criticisms of its efforts are wrong.
- ``The president continues to follow through on his commitment to help local citizens rebuild their lives and communities on the Gulf Coast,'' [Bush spokesman Gordon] Johndroe said.
- Bush himself emphasized to Gulf Coast residents that the government has not forgotten them when he last toured the area - a sign of how common that perception is.
- "...Congress and Bush should come together and ensure that federal dollars are no longer ensnared in red tape ``that has continually inhibited our recovery.'' --Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu
- Meanwhile, Bush is nearing the end of a vacation at his ranch in central Texas, where's he been biking and clearing brush in the searing heat.
- The White House is billing his speech Tuesday to the American Legion as part of a new effort to frame the Iraq war in historical context.
PITY PITCH: McCain finance chairman Bob Mosbacher says “people feel badly” for the Arizona senator after campaign meltdown, boosting online fund raising. “It’s doing very well,” he says. Cindy McCain asks supporters to sign an e-card for her husband’s birthday on Wednesday — and donate $142, two dollars a year.How about offering Sanjaya Malakar a lead in La Traviata? Or nominating Bernie Kerik for Chief Justice? If pity inspires support, then the Republicans win in 2008, because there's never been a sorrier bunch.
Outsourcing Intelligence Gathering ?!?
Does this seem like a bad idea to anyone else besides me?
President Bush touched a nerve among Vietnamese when he invoked the Vietnam War in a speech warning that death and chaos will envelop Iraq if U.S. troops leave too quickly.Pshyeah. Bush draws the wrong conclusions from just about everything. Like his brilliant conclusion that spying on American citizens is a good thing. But I digress.
People in Vietnam, where opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq is strong, said Thursday that Mr. Bush drew the wrong conclusions from the long, bloody Southeast Asian conflict.
"Doesn't he realize that if the U.S. had stayed in Vietnam longer, they would have killed more people?" said Vu Huy Trieu of Hanoi, a veteran of the communist forces that fought American troops in Vietnam. "Nobody regrets that the Vietnam War wasn't prolonged except Bush."Bush wants to prolong anything that hurts. Think about it.
He said U.S. troops could never have prevailed here. "Does he think the U.S. could have won if they had stayed longer? No way," Trieu said.Trieu must be mistaken. Professor Bush is experienced and knowledgeable, and I trust him completely.
Many people in Vietnam said Mr. Bush's comparison was ill-considered.Many people in the world say Mr. Bush is ill. But that's another story.
"The president emphasized the violence in the wake of American withdrawal from Vietnam. But this happened because the United States left too late, not too early," said Steven Simon, a Mideast expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. "It was the expansion of the war that opened the door to (Khmer Rouge leader) Pol Pot and the genocide of the Khmer Rouge. The longer you stay, the worse it gets."In that vein, the longer Bush stays in as president, the worse it gets. Whaddya say we have a policy of early withdrawal of Bush and Cheney from office? Hands?
Stop Republicans From Stealing Electoral Votes In 2008!
The GOP, who as we know doesn't know how to win without cheating--see redistricting in Texas and Georgia mid-decade, impeaching Bill Clinton, stealing Florida in 2000, recalling Gray Davis in California in 2003, jamming phones in New Hampshire in 2002 and about one thousand more examples--is now up to their newest dirty trick in California.
They, under the guise of reform, are trying to get an inititiative on the ballot in California to start awarding their electoral votes proportionally. Notice they have not done this in Texas, for example, a big state where they would lose support.
This is all about winning with a minority of support, which is something Republicans are good at. Don't let them get away with it again. This is urgent, as if this makes the ballot, and is supported, they will steal 20 electoral votes, or another Ohio, in 2008.
Stop them now by signing this petition!
I've got something to say about the following video I found over at Crooks and Liars.
Ted Nugent is a useless, lame, wussy, diarrhea mouth has-been.
Not sure where this whole pseudo patriotic priapic persona of his came from, but it sure as hell isn't from his life. I'm not going to dis the man for doing what he did to get out of going to Viet Nam, to each his own. But it's awful easy to wanker on about war and all the other flag waving slogans when you're a drug booze** addled 58 year old with no career and most of your hearing shot.
Nugent was here in the South Bend area not too long ago, at a very small venue that was not sold out. I'd be hard pressed to say it held 200 people at max. (I was not there, but I've been there for other shows)
He started this crap and people walked out. I heard from a friend who works at the club that there were MAYBE 50 people left after he finished drooling all over himself. And most of those were drinking and trying to pick someone up, not paying any attention to Ted. They walked out even after paying a hefty cover (not ticket) to hear him play.
Oh, and the rant here in South Bend was much more racial, less political.
Nugent: I was in Chicago last week I said—Hey Obama, you might want to suck on one of these you punk? Obama, he’s a piece of shit and I told him to suck on one of my machine guns…Let’s hear it for them. I was in NY and I said hey Hillary—you might want to ride one of these into the sunset you worthless bitch… Since I’m in California, I’m gonna find– she might wanna suck on my machine gun! Hey, Dianne Feinstein, ride one of these you worthless whore. Any questions? Freeeeedom!
I think if you look up the word incompetent in the dictionary, they have a special notation for the Detroit School Superintendants...
Detroit Schools must pay $6 million for illegal alternative programs
The controversial Detroit alternative high schools run by local church and community groups were set up illegally and as a result the Detroit Public Schools has to pay a $6-million fine, according to the Michigan Department of Education.
The programs, called contract schools, operated under contracts between the school district and local groups. Organizations were paid at least $9 million over the past two years to recruit and educate dropouts.
(snip)
A Free Press investigation this year showed that some of the schools were run by groups that had no educational experience and no training from DPS officials on how to comply with local and state educational requirements. Officials also could not confirm attendance numbers to determine whether the schools were being paid for students who didn’t attend. Separate drop-in visits by the Free Press and school officials to sites showed low attendance, and at least two sites had no students present.
Chris Shays Freaks Out At Constituent's Question And Attacks Democrats, Blogs, The Far Left...
Had he gone on any longer I am sure he would have gotten to two-car garages, maple syrup, Will & Grace, alarm clocks and butter.
C-o-o-k-o-o
Shays is most likely losing it because he is the only Republican left in in the House from New England, and somewhere buried in his black heart he knows that mistake will soon be rectified. It's what happens when you support an America-weakening war in Iraq with the same fervor as George W. Bush.
Morning tidbit to chew on....
(WARNING: GET CAFFEINE FIRST)
Rove's Departure Tied to Iran Attack - Ray McGovern
Karl Rove's announced departure from the White House came as a surprise. The architect of the Bush presidency and acclaimed Republican strategist will step down at the end of this month "to spend more time with his family". The timing is interesting and there has been speculation as to his real reasons for leaving.
In a recent piece on Alternet by former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, he writes that one of his associates at VIPS (Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity), Phil Geraldi, believes Rove's resignation has to do with a disagreement over the planned upcoming strike against Iran.In short, it seems possible that Rove, who is no one's dummy and would not want to be required to "spin" an unnecessary war on Iran, may have lost the battle with Cheney over the merits of a military strike on Iran, and only then decided -- or was urged -- to spend more time with his family.
Prety cool. From our friends over at Danger Room.
The folks over at Flight point to a new animated video of Northrop Grumman's Oblique Flying Wing X-plane. The DARPA-funded project is to design and build a tailless, supersonic aircraft that could eventually be a bomber, a surveillance asset or perform other missions.
A draft intelligence report on Iran suggests a change in the Tehran regime appears unlikely any time soon despite growing public anger over the country's economic woes, U.S. officials said Thursday.The report also anticipates little progress in getting Iran to halt its nuclear program or stop supporting militant groups in the region, officials familiar with the draft said on condition of anonymity because the report has not been released.
Just the encouragement President Cheney and Vice President Bush need to amp up the ol' war drums.
The latest in a series of reports from the nation's 16 intelligence agencies, the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran is nearly complete...
Here we go, having to pre-empt more terrorism. Just watch. We have to fight them over there...again.
Because what if this time they can find their way here? You know, the Iranians have a much better sense of direction than say, the Iraqis who bombed us on 9/11. Why, I'll bet they even have maps.
The report is supposed to come out as early as next week. And, okay this is just a wild guess, but I'll take a chance and predict that Bush will stutter and "um, um" through a lot of badly-worded speeches and Cheney will be interviewed by a very accommodating Timmeh.
Then the even more accommodating corporate news media will find their drum sets and beat us into some spectacularly well-photographed air strikes. And with any luck, CNN will have a whole new war logo, theme song and catch phrase!
And Congress will wail and protest. But since the Nation of Dick answers to nobody, he'll lumber around and snarl and do whatever the hell he wants.
And what will we do? Hopefully enough to stop him and his ventriloquist's dummy Mortimer Bush from creating a disaster that will be even harder to fix than the present 178,094 one.
"Suffice it to say Republicans have never had a presidential candidate like this — half Woody Allen, half Rambo and 100% cerebral."
Via Juan Cole (Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute):
A rumor is circulating among well-connected and formerly high-level Iraqi bureaucrats in exile in places like Damascus that a military coup is being prepared for Iraq. I received the following from a reliable, knowledgeable contact. There is no certitude that this plan can or will be implemented. That it is being discussed at high levels seems highly likely.Comments on this post include the following:
"There is serious talk of a military commission (majlis `askari) to take over the government. The parties would be banned from holding positions, and all the ministers would be technocrats, so to speak. . .
--Yes and it would allow carte blanche giveaway of oil resources and war on Iran without Iraqi contraints. These coups always worked so well in South Vietnam too, eh? Nothing like American plans for foreign "democracy"!There's more on Juan Cole's site. Whaddya think?
--this is following a dreadfully familiar script. Basically we are going to end up spending a trillion dollars and kill thousands of people in order to swap one strongman for another... who won't even be able to make the trains run on time like Saddam (more or less) did.
--Why would America go along with this? Because the current Iraqi parliament is unlikely to ever pass the oil law as currently written. A dictarship is much easier (and more profitable), as long as we control the dictator.
--even if the new leader/strongman we install is ultimately as ineffectual as Maliki, he will at least serve as a prop for the Bush regime to buy themselves another Friedman Unit or two. (note: a F.U. is a 6-month period, Thomas Friedman's ongoing time allowance for the Iraq mess to continue)
The video below is a little p.s. to the one shown in Cliff's blog earlier today, Republicans For Endless War
Seems the minions can't be trusted to speak directly to their reps, it has to be filtered thru Ari & Pals:
via Kagro X
Breaking: New National Intelligence Estimate Says Things In Iraq Suck
I paraphrase of course. Harry Reid explains our predicament a bit more articulately:
"Today's National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq confirms what most Americans already know: Our troops are mired in an Iraqi civil war and the President's escalation strategy has failed to produce the political results he promised to our troops and the American people.
Our troops have done everything asked of them and more. Unfortunately Iraq's leaders have not. And as today's NIE makes clear, a political solution is extremely unlikely in the near term. Further pursuit of the Administration's flawed escalation strategy is not in our nation's best interests.
Every day that we continue to stick to the President's flawed strategy is a day that America is not as secure as it could be. As the intelligence community reported in another NIE just weeks ago, America's attention is distracted from Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, which has regenerated its capacity to its pre-9/11 levels. That is why it is so essential that this September, Republicans join with Democrats to change course in Iraq and work to restore our nation's security."
###
Republicans For Endless War
That is what a new group of Neocon proto-rejects is calling itself. Their main goal: This advertisement and others attacking Republicans who are wavering on Iraq (that means--gasp--they might not even want to attack Iran!).
See, just for fun, how many lies you can spot in this ad. Classics Like "they attacked us." Really, the Iraqis attacked us? Because I don't remember that. Or "we're making progress." Yup, if by progress you mean the bloodiest summer yet in Iraq.
Let me be the first to thanks these guys for attacking vulnerable Republicans to the tune of $15 million. Celebration party for our mutual success, November 2008, my friends?
And as always, it gets even better. This is just too good to be true. I looked through a list of who is behind this front group of elitist, Chickenhawk, Bush-brown-nosers trying to defend the surge and guess what? An old friend of mine, Brad Blakeman, is running the show.
You mean you don't remember my friend Brad? Ok, here is a little video to jog your memory about this slimeball:
There's a first time for everything.
Ladies and gents, a second DUH Award this week!!!!
U.S. report sees precarious Iraqi government
Intelligence analysts say ‘leaders remain unable to govern effectively’
WASHINGTON - The Iraqi government will become more precarious over the next six to 12 months and its security forces have not improved enough to operate without outside help, intelligence analysts conclude in a new National Intelligence Estimate.
Despite uneven improvements, the analysts concluded that the level of overall violence is high, Iraq's sectarian groups remain unreconciled, and al-Qaida in Iraq is still able to conduct its highly visible attacks.
"Iraqi political leaders remain unable to govern effectively," the 10-page document concludes. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its release Thursday.
Liberals Read More Books Than Conservatives
No way! And in other breaking news, the sky is blue, there were no WMDs in Iraq and Mark Foley watches old episodes of Silver Spoons naked...
Well, look at this!! Karl Rove manipulating "the facts"?
Hard to believe.
Gallup Challenges Rove's Claim in Media That Hillary Has Highest 'Negatives'
By E&P Staff
Published: August 22, 2007 2:15 PM ET
NEW YORK Karl Rove, the former White House aide, made the rounds of weekend talk shows last weekend declaring, among other things, that Sen. Hillary Clinton was a “fatally flawed” candidate for president because she had (he repeated several times) the highest unfavorable ratings of any frontrunner in the history of polling going into the party primaries.
It seemed plausible, and none of the many hosts challenged him on it. There was just one problem: It wasn’t exactly true.
(snip)
Gallup concluded: “A review of Gallup poll data suggests that Hillary Clinton's current high unfavorable ratings are not unprecedented. Other candidates have had similarly high unfavorable ratings at various points in presidential election campaigns in previous years.
Two of these candidates -- George W. Bush in 2004 and Bill Clinton in 1992 -- went on to win the election.
"Additionally, Rove's assumptions that Hillary Clinton's candidacy is 'fatally flawed' run counter to the historical finding that candidates' images often change, sometimes dramatically, as the campaign progresses.
Bill O'Reilly Attacks!...Himself?!?
Yup, showing that Billo has no sense of irony, he shared the following on The Spin Zone, exposing his continuing descent into fairy land as he obsesses over Daily Kos:
On tv, outright lies sometimes go unchallenged.Well, yes Bill, perhaps you've seen Fox Attacks Iran!?
Corruption in the US media is harming this country. There's more propaganda than truth floating around.Why yes again Bill! Wow, it's fun to agree with you.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A woman set fire to her ex-husband's penis as he sat naked watching television and drinking vodka, Moscow police said Wednesday.The couple was divorced. I have a feeling he'll never remarry.
The attack climaxed three years of acrimonious enforced co-habitation. The couple divorced three years ago but continued to share a small flat, something common in Russia where property costs are very high.I did not make the climax joke. They did.
Asked if the man would make a full recovery, a police spokeswoman said it was "difficult to predict."A female officer said that. I wonder whose side she was on.
"It was monstrously painful," the wounded ex-husband told Tvoi Den newspaper. "I was burning like a torch. I don't know what I did to deserve this."Apparently he isn't aware of his shortcomings.
Okay okay, I'm not with the "Loose Change" people, but you've got to admit this is weird.
I watched "The Lone Gunmen" alot but didn't remember this.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has finally surpassed New York Senator Hillary Clinton in the polls. Unfortunately for Romney, it's a poll measuring the number of people committing to vote against him.Numbers! Gimme numbers!
The Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 44% of Likely Voters would definitely vote against Romney if he's on the ballot in 2008. That's a point higher than the 43% who would definitely vote against Clinton. Only one other possible candidate surpassed Clinton in this category all year (former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who is not considered a candidate at this time).It's only one poll, and only 1%, but I'm in a negative numbers mood.
In terms of partisan reaction, it's interesting to note that 25% of Republicans say they would definitely vote against Romney while 22% of Democrats would vote against Edwards.Enough poll talk. 'K, bye.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said [Roger] Stone was still asked to resign and sever connections with the state Senate Republican Campaign Committee because the allegations could "only serve as a distraction from the real issues."Stone claims he was set up by Eliot Spitzer. Uh huh. A comment by reader Oxycon on the original post:
Political spats, petty vandalism, cleft chins and Rep. Rahm Emanuel’s (fictional) death by shark attack — Wikipedia users on House computers clearly have a lot of time on their hands.So that's what they're doing during Bush speeches.
There are thousands of individual edits originating from computer users on the House of Representatives network. While most of the changes are nothing more than regular Wikipedia interactions on non-government topics, a hefty number include edits to lawmakers’ entries — and some House Wikipedians might not be entirely pleased to see their handiwork exposed.Some House members have already been more exposed than they'd have preferred... "members" being the key word here. Mark Foley much?
An 81-year-old houseguest suffered a fatal heart attack at the summer home of former President George H.W. Bush.I'm sorry for the Jansing family. I am. Did you notice I've kept my snark to a minimum?
John C. Jansing, the husband of Bush's cousin Shelley Bush Jansing, was taken by paramedics late Tuesday to the emergency room at Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.Bush 43 was informed later. Pop and Junior have something else in common now, since GW has had, if he's even noticed, 3,772 drop dead under his watch.
Al Franken Talks About The Bush-"Midnight Toker" Coleman Team 
Toker Coleman has invited Bush in to raise funds to try and raise his dismal poll numbers. One problem: He has to be seen in public with the biggest idiot to ever sit in the Oval Office.
So the real question is: Will Norm show those shiny teeth for all to see or hide them from the cameras? I would guess the latter.
Here is Al Franken's take on Lieberman-like Bush/Coleman embrace:
I usually leave the sewer-diving for masters like Sadly No! or Tbogg, but this headline lept out at me.....
David Klinghoffer explains why John Edwards needs the Ten Commandments.
It's basically just blather about how 'Murkins need more Jaysus in their lives etc, but here is the nut graph in Ms. Lopez's incisive interviewing...
Lopez: John Edwards?
Klinghoffer: He should review the Tenth Commandment, “You shall not covet.” The speech he’s best known for, the “Two Americas” oration — “One America that does the work, another America that reaps the rewards,” etc. — is nothing more than a piece of incitement to coveting.
I got her trained just right. She brings me a steady supply of cold Bud Lights while I chill on the La-Z-Boy watching the Nationals game on the plasma. Here's a funny: After any home run, I'll down whatever's left of my beer and suck in a big mouthful of air and then belch her name really, really slowly and blow it right in her face. "Oh my God that is so gross!" she squeals, and then totally cracks up and makes that funny snorting noise and goes to get us both another beer. Man, I love being married.And that was just the honeymoon night. No, no, I kid the royal couple.
Grandpa Bush pumps my hand in greeting and keeps winking at me and won't let go for like, two minutes solid. So weird. Grandma Barb always wearing that massive teal muumuu -- looks like a cross between Bea Arthur and Dame Edna and a giant leather ottoman. "You keep an eye on our little Jen, she can be a handful!" Like I don't know.
...Bush 41 always griping about how badly his kid screwed it up, makes Bush 43 mope and whine until Grandma B smacks him with a rolled up Wall Street Journal and tells him to "shape up." Sorta pathetic. JB just rolls her eyes, sneaks off to swipe more tiny bottles of Tanqueray from the pantry.Okay, okay, one more. But just one...
...I'm telling Laura about Jen's new Brazilian wax job that spells out "Obama '08." Except she misspelled it as "Osama." Whoops.Go. Read. NOW! It's soooo good!!!!
Under pressure from the White House and Congress to deliver a long-delayed plan last year, officials at the Department of Homeland Security's counter-narcotics office took a shortcut that has become common at federal agencies: They hired help through a no-bid contract.
And the firm they hired showed them how to do it.
The government--surprise!--is relying less on competition for good deals for products and services. Federal spending on contracts without "full and open" competition has tripled.
Think...think real hard...what happens as a result:
Government auditors say the result is often higher prices for taxpayers and an undue reliance on a limited number of contractors.
So open competition is now the exception, not the rule. It almost seems like these guys are, oh I dunno, kinda cliquey. I could be wrong.
Keith Ashdown, chief investigator at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said that in many cases, officials are simply choosing favored contractors as part of a "club mentality."
Well, I wanted to be wrong. Go read the article for the gory details.
Some Interesting Tidbits
1) Yup, as you noticed, we're still here. Switch overs never go as planned. Well, at least not when I'm involved. We will be inhabiting our new online Brave New Films digs soon, but it may take the next few days to accomplish. Look for us here first. We'll tell you where to find us.
2) The "My Bad Boss" contest, held by Working America (where I am a fellow, just to remind), hit the media big time the the past few days. Today, Robert Fox, one of the top dogs there was on MSNBC. He talked about the winning story which will send someone on a free vacation, and many other ridiculous stories about crappy bosses which people provided at the site. Go check them out.
3) Fox Attacks Iran (and yes, I am paid by Brave New Films too--soon it will be nice when that is an obvious part of the site, like, part of its name). Go to the site. Watch the video. Sign the letter. Stop another senseless war.
4) My house is not under water for those who have been so kind to send emails and inquire. Sadly for those in Shelby, Ohio, the same cannot be said. I am sure the Bush Administration has a plan to help these people get back on their feet--and knowing that what I just said if of course 100% sarcastic, whenever a fund is set up to help these poor people, be generous.
5) Finally, an interesting story. Perhaps. I was at a birthday party this weekend for the little and very cute daughter of my wife's college roommate. We were in a small town between Columbus and Cincinnati. I was swinging Dougie (he'd be my little bundle of joy) in a swing on the tree. A group of guys were playing cornhole nearby (if you don't know what that is, think horseshoes with sandbags and platforms with holes in them). Toby Keith was on the radio singing about Iraq.
I suddenly looked around, a guy born and raised in Downtown Manhattan in an apartment building, with a father obsessed with classical music and the presence of too many trees nearby considered "suspicious." I went to college inside Philadelphia. Lived in Washington, D.C. for a bunch of years.
Thinking about this, I blurted out to my wife, "I think I am as far from where I was born and raised as I could possibly be." She just started laughing. Life is full of strange twists and turns.
Fox Attacks Iran: Our Latest Campaign At Brave New Films
I think this is our best video yet. Which is good, because we are trying to do our little part to help prevent a war the Bush Administration and FoxNews are trying to start.
Watch the video. Go to the site. Sign the letter:
Bush Speech Will Use Vietnam War To Justify Military Effort in Iraq
By John D. McKinnon
OTTAWA, Canada -- In a speech to veterans Wednesday, President Bush will seek to use America's Vietnam war experience as a justification for maintaining the current U.S. military effort, rather than withdrawing.
The president's unusual attempt to directly address the parallels that critics see between Iraq and Vietnam marks a significant ramping up of the administration's rhetoric on the war, in advance of an upcoming report to Congress in September by Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. It also appears to foreshadow a mixed picture of successes and failures ...
When Maribel Heredia's son told her that his first-grade teacher was ``going to college'' and that there would be a substitute in the classroom two days a week, she started asking questions.Only then did she learn that the teacher the Hayward Unified School District labeled ``highly qualified'' was still a student herself.
The loophole is there. A good education is not.
``I didn't know that they let the teachers right from college, let them take a class all by themselves,'' Heredia said. ``So the fact that she was considered highly qualified, that was a shocker to me.''Me too.
Lawyers representing Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s 83-year-old father, Bernard Spitzer, say a prominent political consultant [Roger Stone] who has been working for State Senate Republicans threatened the elder Mr. Spitzer this month in an anonymous, invective-laced phone message.This guy has worked for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George W. You-Know-Who, during the 2000 recount. Nice track record.
[Stone said it was] “the ultimate dirty trick.” He asserted that allies of Governor Spitzer may have gained access to his home phone to make the threatening call. The message, left at the office of Bernard Spitzer just before 10 p.m. on Aug. 6, says that Mr. Spitzer, a wealthy real estate developer, would be “compelled by the Senate sergeant at arms” to testify about “shady campaign loans” he made to his son during his unsuccessful campaign for attorney general in 1994.He allegedly said that if Mr. Spitzer resisted the subpoena, he would be arrested.
“Bernie, your phony loans are about to catch up with you. “You will be forced to tell the truth and the fact that your son’s a pathological liar will be known to all.”Classy guy, well-spoken:
The message also says of Governor Spitzer, “There is not a goddamn thing your phony, psycho, piece-of-shit son can do about it.”Via the elder Spitzer's caller i.d. the call was traced back to Mr. Stone’s wife, Nydia, meaning that the number was "controlled by Roger Stone". Stone denies making the call and is accusing Eliot Spitzer of setting it up:
Mr. Stone said: “They have unfettered access to my apartment. I am on television constantly. As Gore Vidal said, never pass up the chance to have sex or be on television. Putting together a voice tape that sounds like me wouldn’t be hard to do.”Juxtaposing having sex and putting together a voice tape strikes me as odd. But then, as Cliff has shown via his Republican Sexcapades series, Republicans and sex are, and seemingly always will be, the original Odd Couple.
The tabloids claim that Mr. Stone and his wife, Nydia, placed messages on an X-rated Internet site and ads in sex magazines seeking male and female partners. They said photographs of a shirtless Stone and his wife in a sexy black lingerie also appeared in one magazine.See, so as you predicted Gottalaff, where there are Republicans, sexual hypocrisy, deviancy or self-loathing can't be far behind...
--Karl Rove announced he's leaving the White House. Finally, someone in the administration with an "Exit Strategy."Some of you will relate to these. You know who you are:
--Karl's been referred to by the media as "Bush's Brain." Is that a compliment? That's like being called "Paris Hilton's Talent" or "Donald Trump's Hair."
--Mattel is recalling thousands of tainted toys that are made in China. To alert their customers about these dangerous products "Toys R Us" now has two new departments. "Regular" and "Unleaded."
SIGNS YOU'RE GROWING OLD
--When somebody says the words, "coming out" and you automatically check your fly.
--When your Medic-Alert bracelet says, "Continued on the next wrist."
I'm feeling a little cranky, so here's some tidbits to peruse while I prepare a cocktail.
Bush says Iraqi government must do more
That's like me telling my dogs they must poop outside, then locking them in the house.
Scientists Drug-Test Whole Cities
This is a good idea?
Dukakis Working With DNC
Where you fall in poll of U.S. reading habits
There was even some political variety evident, with Democrats and liberals typically reading slightly more books than Republicans and conservatives.
Former CIA Agent Bob Baer: We Will Attack Iran Within Six Months
This is getting serious now. Baer has pretty good contacts in his former agency I would suspect.
He talks about The Bush Administration's not using ground forces, but just bombing, with the expectation that this will be enough for us to defeat the Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Btw, this fits right in with our specifically declaring the IRGC a terrorist group, so that we can hit them and not the rest of Iran, and claim we only attacked terrorists and not a sovereign nation. Ok here is the even more frightening part:
Strengthening the Administration's case for a strike on Iran, there's a belief among neo-cons that the IRGC is the one obstacle to democratic and a friendly Iran. They believe that if we were to get rid of the IRGC, the clerics would fall, and our thirty-years war with Iran over. It's another neo-con delusion, but still it informs White House thinking.So how many problems can you find in these two paragraphs. Let's see:
And what do we do if just the opposite happens - a strike on Iran unifies Iranians behind the regime? An Administration official told me it's not even a consideration. "IRGC IED's are a casus belli for this administration. There will be an attack on Iran."
Ahem. Not to be petty or anything, but I would like to point out that the story about the freaky deaky Center for Security Policy (thems that want a Prez fer Lif3 Boosh) that is now EVERYWHERE on the intertubes (Digby, Kos, C&L, Wonkette amongst many others) was originally brought to the forefront by Gottalaff on August 15th, then picked up by Raw Story and Digg, then flew thru the intertubes shaking things up.
So, all credit and kudos to Gottalaff for being ahead of the curve!!!
Fighting for One America - SCHIP Reauthorization
This is a video of Senator John Edwards defending SCHIP. The Bush Administration not only wants to underfund it, but they want to prevent states from taking their own actions to bolster it.
This is sick, frankly. But what do you expect from those who care deeply about blastocytes and brain-damaged women whose husbands tell them to stay the hell out of his family business, yet are happy to enrich pharmaceutical bosses while kids go without necessary vaccinations.
I won't say what my first instinct is as a parent because with these guys it would probably be an excuse to arrest me. But let's just say the words "knuckle sandwich" and "George Bush" come to mind.
How uttererly heartless. Compassionate conservative my ass.
Court jester who happens to be the worst president and the biggest moron to ever represent this country on the international stage. That's a bit closer to reality. You know, where the rest of us are forced to live.
Potentially deadly nuclear leak hid from public
Tenn. plant’s violations kept secret in the name of national security
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A three-year veil of secrecy in the name of national security was used to keep the public in the dark about the handling of highly enriched uranium at a nuclear fuel processing plant — including a leak that could have caused a deadly, uncontrolled nuclear reaction.
The leak turned out to be one of nine violations or test failures since 2005 at privately owned Nuclear Fuel Services Inc., a longtime supplier of fuel to the U.S. Navy’s nuclear fleet.
The public was never told about the problems when they happened. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission revealed them for the first time last month when it released an order demanding improvements at the company, but no fine.
The public was never told about the problems when they happened.
In 2004, the government became so concerned about releasing nuclear secrets that the commission removed more than 1,740 documents from its public archive — even some that apparently involved basic safety violations at the company, which operates a 65-acre gated complex in tiny Erwin, about 120 miles north of Knoxville.
My Weekly Cliff's Corner Column If You Missed It:
The Week That Was 8/17/07
Another Week. More preposterousness to report.
Run! Run for the hills! That is what several Republican Beltway denizens have chosen to do instead of facing the people--in the form of voters at a ballot box or members of a potential jury pool--with the recent mass exodus from all ranks of that risible, rotten political party once known as "The Party Of Lincoln," which might today more appropriately be called The Party of Lincoln, Nebraska.
Actually they'll probably lose there too.
And how is it that these Coitus Interrupters get to go on their merry way while we continually get screwed like a non-ambulatory hooker within 20 feet of David Vitter? That's the system baby.
Denny Hastert, who when not downing a box of glazed munchkins likes to cover up for pedophiles, Deborah Pryce who happily joined the Tom DeLay's leadership team, which thought of ways to launder cash that would stun Ferdinand Marcos, and now even Rep. Chip Pickering of Mississippi, are now all exiting stage right-wing nutjob.
That was just who we found out about this week. We've known for a while that waste-of-oxygen Wayne Allard was leaving the Senate and were told a few weeks ago about Ray LaHood, whose last name is quite fitting for a party who will soon have more members in the Big House than the Gambino family.
Rumors are abound that many others such as Senator John Warner will find a reason to go fishing. Altough perhaps one individual who hasn't signaled any desire to retire, who should perhaps think about it, is Susan Collins.
She has a blogger on her team whose cerebral infrastructure resembles New York after a rainstorm and she can't stop lying about her positions on Iraq and choice. Oh and sepaking of "infrastructure"--mines in Utah and West Virginia, a bridge in Minnesota, levees in New Orleans. Does anyone still think President Bush and the rest of these GOP morally-inept cockspurs will "protect" us?
These guys would have been on top of the Great Wall of China mocking Genghis Khan. Or spending an hour and a half at Ground Zero between cocktail parties and then insulting those who were sickened because YOU kept them there without the proper protective gear.
Hell, this President can't even protect his daughter from marrying a world-class wanker. Perhaps this would help clarify things.
Time right for Garofalo on "24"
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The political left and the political right will join forces on Fox's "24" this coming season. Janeane Garofalo, an outspoken liberal, is set to co-star on the conservative-leaning real-time drama, whose co-creator/executive producer Joel Surnow jokingly describes himself as a "right-wing nut job."
Garofalo will play a government agent who is part of the team investigating the crisis befalling Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and company in the upcoming season.
The casting will be good news for former President Clinton, who revealed earlier this year that he was a fan of the show "even though an uber right-wing guy writes it."
Garofalo is the second major cast addition to the action drama, which is going through a major revamping coming off a lackluster sixth season. Cherry Jones was tapped last month to play the new president.
24, the popular Fox miniseries, is now officially dead to the nutter right:
(snip)
A woman President and environmental concerns were bad enough. Now they have Michael Moore in a dress on the show. Expect howls of outrage.
24: It's Over - Buy The DVD's
I’ve seen every episode of all 6 seasons of 24. But I’ll never watch another episode again:
Adam Werbach: Wal-Mart's New Fraud Salesman
How do you go from green to red? From the youngest president of the Sierra Club, to a corporate-crony at one of the most polluted money-grubbing machines in the history of mankind?
Just ask Adam Werbach, of Act Now Productions, the progressive DVD club Ironweed and the Apollo Clean Energy Alliance Board. He'd whip out a gun and tell you it's to protect the peace (hmm...maybe in addition to Wal-Mart he can sign up the NRA as a client to "improve things from the inside?").
Werbach has joined the Wal-Mart borg, and is actually trying to convince those with the ability to reason that he will change things from within the company. He is working on their "sustainability" project, which means he is somehow under the impression that there is something Wal-Mart wishes to sustain besides high profits and low wages.
Oh, that's right, they will also be sustaining his bank account with a rumored $400K per year fee that should ensure those late night sweats over environmental degradation don't reach a level that would threaten to tarnish the silver plating on his bed.
Werbach whines that many of his liberal friends no longer talk to him. I wonder why that may be (although sadly I am suspicious he is exaggerating). Could it be, and I am just spitballing here, that the company he once called "a new breed of toxin," is now his employer? Perhaps his old friends know the following about his new friends and financial sponsor:
Five of the 10 richest people in the country are from the founding Walton family. But to help the company offer its proclaimed "Every Day Low Prices," workers are paid an average of $17,530 a year, nearly $2,000 below the poverty level of a family of four. Almost half of the children of those associates are uninsured or on Medicaid. In California alone, that annually costs taxpayers $86 million, according to the New York Times.Score one for progressive corporate governance!
"I think people should be careful what they wish for on China. If China were to revalue its currency, or China is to start making, say, toys that don't have lead in them or food that isn't poisonous, their costs of production are going to go up, and that means prices at Wal-Mart here in the United States are going to go up too."Yes, such is the symbiotic relationship between Wal-Mart and China, that this is apparently the choice we all have to make. Hey, the Waltons may be loaded, but if it'll save a few pennies, they'll let you eat cake--replete with rat poison and a scrumptious lead-based frosting.
Will KY Governor Ernie Fletcher Distance Himself From Las Vegas Casino Industry's Frontman Mitch McConnell?
Now that Ernie Fletcher has decided to launch his TV ad campaign off on Tuesday with an ad against gambling, it will be interesting to see if he publicly distances himself from Mitch McConnell. What may be most interesting is how McConnell will toe the line on the gambling issue during the campaign, after years of fronting for the Las Vegas casino industry.
The Lexington Herald Leader reported that in 1998 and 2000, while Mitch McConnell was chairman of the NRSC, the American Gaming Association’s chief lobbyist Brett Hale gave the NRSC $2 million. Shortly after, Mitch McConnell played a key role in killing John McCain’s bill to outlaw gambling on college sports:
Doris Dixon, who lobbied the Senate for the bill, said McConnell was part of the effort to keep it from getting a floor vote. Dixon was then director of federal relations for the National Collegiate Athletic Association. She said McConnell and his aides refused even to meet with her side.
“Sen. McConnell was instrumental in blocking it from going forward,” Dixon said. “He was talking to other Republican senators about the problems it would pose for him as chairman of their fund-raising committee, which was taking money from Nevada.”
So the hypocrisy of the Kentucky Republican Party continues? Now, Ernie Fletcher (who has already flip-flopped on whether Kentuckians should be allowed to vote on a ballot-measure on casino gaming) must decide whether to condemn Mitch McConnell’s work on behalf of the Las Vegas casino industry.
Ch..Ch..Ch..Ch..Changes
As many people know I am doing online producing these days for Brave New Films. What does that mean. Well, I edit the blog, develop ideas for video campaigns and do some new media and old media pr.
In any case, as I have been blogging more and more at the main Brave New Films site, it has begun to make more sense to move my site over there. So starting tomorrow, if all goes well, you will have the same cast of characters, same irreverent humor about Fred Thompson's manly scent and midgets with penis-in-hoover problems, but we will be hosted by Brave New Films. It is going to tentatively be cliffschecter.bravenewfilms.org, but when you go to the blogger site it will tell you where to go.
I don't expect anything to change, except look of the site to improve and you to get more content overall. So not a bad deal. I hope this goes as smoothly as possible.
In any case, I just want to thank all of you who keep coming around. We broke the 10K barrier in traffic three times last week I believe, and these days it is not all that unusual a feat. So keep on coming by as we transition over to our new location. The best, as they say, is yet to come...
Cliff
A dwarf performer at the Edinburgh fringe festival had to be rushed to hospital after his penis got stuck to a vacuum cleaner during an act that went horribly awry.Oh deah. My word. That sucks. (no pun)
That was his first mistake. One must always allow glue to dry thoroughly before inserting one's Mr. Happy into a vacuum cleaner. What a putz. (no pun)The main part of his act saw him appear on stage with a vacuum cleaner attached to his member through a special attachment.
The attachment broke before the performance and Blackner tried to fix it using extra-strong glue, but unfortunately only let it dry for 20 seconds instead of the 20 minutes required.
He then joined it directly to his organ. The end result? A solid attachment, laughter, mortification and ... hospitalisation.Owies! That little trip must have been hard. (no pun)
"It was the most embarrassing moment of my life when I got wheeled into a packed AE with a vacuum attached to me," Blackner said.And this is your second. The whole world knows about it now. What a weenie! (no pun)
...15% of stories across print, broadcast and online dealt with Iraq-related issues.
That is down from 22% during the first quarter of the year. As in the first quarter, the Fox News Channel devoted roughly half as much coverage to the war (8%) than its rivals, CNN (18%) and MSNBC (15%). [...] (Laffy note: Faux doesn't seem to care about our troops, does it? Tsk, tsk.)The Surge:
"In the derby for 'free media' exposure, Barack Obama overtook fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton, who led in the first three months of the year…Among Republicans, the race for media attention was a tight contest among John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. And one unannounced candidate... Fred Thompson, emerged as a leading recipient of coverage even without formally entering the race." [...] Newspapers gave 44% of coverage to Republicans, with 36% to Democrats.
More than half of top U.S. foreign policy experts oppose President George W. Bush's troop increase as a strategy for stabilizing Baghdad, saying the plan has harmed U.S. national security, according to a new survey. [...] 53 percent of the experts polled by Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for American Progress said they now oppose Bush's troop build-up. That is a 22 percentage point jump since the strategy was announced early this year.The return of Democratic South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson:
Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson’s public visit in Sioux Falls, S.D., later this month will be the first chance for South Dakota voters and potential candidates to evaluate whether Johnson appears fit for a re-election campaign after his brain hemorrhage last December, or whether both parties need to gear up for an open-seat race. [...] “Nobody is really certain the extent of his condition that might impact his ability to campaign or be seen as effectively representing his constituency,” said William D. Richardson, chair of the department of political science at the University of South Dakota. [...] Johnson has given every indication that he intends to run.Global warming watchdog invests in oil, coal, utilities:
The new chair of the California Air Resources Board owns stocks in several oil, coal and utility firms, some of which are likely to be affected by rules the agency implements as part of the state's groundbreaking law to fight global warming...
8:30-9:30 a.m. eastern RACHEL MADDOW
Radio Talk Show Host
www.airamerica.com/maddow
www.rachelmaddow.com
Topic: A look at politics, public affairs, and other issues with some new faces to C-SPAN. Our second guest today is Rachel Maddow, host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Air America.
Environmentalists regard glaciers as key indicators of global warming and the signs are not good: glaciers are shrinking rapidly.Ohhhh, that kind. Well, I wouldn't exactly rule out the other kind either. Apparently, Greenpeace is doing a photo shoot of naked volunteers on Switzerland's Aletsch glacier.
It's not easy getting 600 naked people perfectly positioned on the ice.I wince just sitting on a leather car seat in wintertime...clothed. By the way, tan lines were a problem for the photographer. Tough job. Greenpeace's Marcus Allerman (all emphases theirs):
ALLERMAN: People posing on the glacier, it's like they show their vulnerability, free of any protection, it's actually what happens with our nature, it's free of any protection and it's kind of sick, the glacier is like bleeding out or sweating. It shrunk last year 150 metres.
The Aletsch glacier isn't just one of the world's beauty spots. Water from its ice melt fills Europe's rivers, irrigates crops and cools nuclear power stations. But in fifty years, scientists say the ice could all be gone. No wonder perhaps that Greenpeace and 600 volunteers were ready to go to such lengths.They said "lengths", not me. They did. I know when to stop. I'm mature like that.
According to a recent analysis by the Associated Press (AP) news agency of figures from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Americans are using painkillers more than ever before. Between 1997 and 2007 the volume of five major painkillers sold and distributed in the United States ...has risen by 90 per cent.That seems about right. I have 90% more headaches since early 2001.
The DEA figures show that in the most recent year of complete data, Americans bought in excess of 200,000 pounds of codeine, hydrocodone, meperidine, morphine, and oxycodone.And that's probably just Rush.
Most of the increased sales is in pills that contain oxycodone, the active ingredient in the painkiller OxyContin.Yep, it's Rush.
Nowadays however [oxycodone, the active ingredient in OxyContin) has gained a strong foothold in major cities in states such as Ohio and Florida.Two crucial swing states. Hmmmm.... ::rubs chin thoughtfully::
Oh my.
Giuliani Spent More Time at Yankees Games
The New York Times looked at Rudy Giuliani's claim to have spent more time at Ground Zero than some of the 9/11 rescue workers and finds he spent "a total of 29 hours in those three months, often for short periods or to visit locations adjacent to the rubble. In that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts."
Meanwhile, Salon shows how Giuliani used his time: "By our count, Giuliani spent about 58 hours at Yankees games or flying to them in the 40 days between Sept. 25 and Nov. 4, roughly twice as long as he spent at ground zero in the 60 days between Sept. 17 and Dec. 16. By his own standard, Giuliani was one of the Yankees more than he was one of the rescue workers."
"Why Mommy is a Democrat is a sweet children's tale that reminds us why we are all Democrats. I loved it!" -Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show
"A marvelous and child-friendly introduction to the values of Democrats."-Thom Hartmann, Air America Radio
"I loved this book. It is my favorite book."-Kyleigh Gruhlke (age 5) Shady Shores, TX
"Who wrote this thing?"-Rush Limbaugh, panning Why Mommy is a Democrat, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 9/6/06
Keith Does NETWORK!!!! Whooo HOOO!!!
Countdown On NBC
Countdown with Keith Olbermann is getting a tryout on NBC. The NYTimes reports, Countdown will air before NBC's broadcast of this Sunday's pre-season game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Says NBC SVP Phil Griffin, "The world has changed, and I think people have come in line with the smart, focused approach [Keith] has on the show."
In April, NBC announced Olbermann would be joining the roster of NBC's "Football Night in America" pregame show. And Griffin adds, "It may be the first of several times you see Olbermann on the network."
Quote of the Day
"George, I've been standing here for the last 45 minutes praying to God you were going to call on me."
-- Rep. Dennis Kucinich, when asked by moderator George Stephanopoulos about the role of prayer in his life during yesterday's Democratic debate.
17-Aug-2007
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET
16-Aug-2007
US Private 1st Class Willard M. Kerchief III
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET
US NAME NOT RELEASED YET
15-Aug-2007
US Staff Sergeant Robert R. Pirelli
US Sergeant Princess C. Samuels
US Specialist Zandra T. Walker
14-Aug-2007
US Chief Warrant Officer Christopher Johnson
US Chief Warrant Officer Jackie L. McFarlane Jr
US Staff Sergeant Sean P. Fisher
US Staff Sergeant Stanley B. Reynolds
US Specialist Steven R. Jewell
US Private 1st Class Shawn D. Hensel
George Bush likes his sleep. While campaigning for the presidency in 2000 his prize possession was a feather pillow. On the night that Saddam Hussein was executed he went to bed at 9pm with strict orders not to be woken. When the then CIA director, George Tenet, tried to alert him to news of the first night's bombing of Iraq he was sent away. "He is the type of person who sleeps at 9.30pm after watching the domestic news," Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah told Okaz, a Saudi newspaper.Doesn't that sound just like George? He's always fancied his snooze time, then, hasn't he? Pip pip and back to The Guardian Fun House!
Last week Fox News asked the neocon commentator Charles Krauthammer how much time Bush had to promote his agenda. "None," said Krauthammer. "It's over. There is no agenda."Blimey, I hope seeing a quote from one of his own like that in a big English newspaper doesn't upset him. If he reads it, I mean. If he can read at all, I mean.
True, too, that the Iraq war is going badly. But then it has never been going well, and that has never seemed to bother him either. He has described himself as "the decider", but never "the contemplator". This too is his style.This is embarrassingly entertaining.
"Friends who were obnoxious in their praise for him just don't mention him any more," says Rick Holmes from Derry. "He's like the embarrassing uncle you just don't want to talk about."That whole uncle thing was worth repeating.
There is even talk that Republicans might not invite Bush to their convention. "If they're smart, no," the Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio told Newsweek. "Especially if things don't change in Iraq, we'll have the problem the Democrats had in 1968 with Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam. The question becomes: where do we hide the president?"With the WMD?
For the next year and a half he may need more than a feather pillow to get him to sleep.Say good-night, George. Good-night, George.
Wow, this does not sound good.
Late and cramped, the airplane had a familiar face sitting in the rear
By DON FREDERICK and ANDREW MALCOLM
August 19, 2007
Not many folks seemed to notice the other morning as passengers -- vacationers and business people -- clambered on board U.S. Airways Flight 3027, in a people-packing, overhead-bin-stuffing, seatbelt-fastening ritual repeated thousands of times a day across the country.
The flight from Washington to Columbia, S.C. was half an hour late; aren't they all these days? It was cramped in there; aren't they all these days? And there, sitting among everybody else like anybody else was a man who would be leader of the free world, a would-be president of the United States, Republican candidate John McCain. He was beginning yet another two-day campaign swing.
(snip)
McCain is making a virtue out of necessity. He can't afford to buy media. His fundraising is limp. He travels with a lone aide, no more entourage, no more charter jets. His poll numbers have fallen. But not the spirit of the man who survived six years as a POW in Vietnam. "I'm going to be the next president of the United States," he says, "because I can out-campaign any of them."
Chris Dodd Speaks Forcefully On Getting Rid Of The Military Commissions Act
He speaks powerfully on this issue and apologizes for not doing more to filibuster this bill. I am finding Dodd to be quite a breath of fress air at times from some of the half-answers, evasions and bs that is supposed to pass for progressive leadership in these debates.
Interesting write up about Rove's legacy. It's a bit lengthy, but worth the read.
Just a couple choice graphs.
Rove Revisited
Gaining Some Perspective On The Legacy Of 'The Architect'
Rove's brilliance as a campaign operative did not translate to policy successes. This truism has been noted this week, but except for a timely piece in the current issue of the Atlantic Monthly, it has not been examined very deeply. The shorthand version is that the political hack failed at governing because policy prescriptions are more subtle than attack ads. The truth about Rove's failures inside the government is more complicated than that -- and more inexplicable.
(snip)
Rove's partisanship was a costly indulgence even when both chambers of Congress were controlled by Republicans. "Karl is too partisan," a White House aide once told Alexis and me. This aide still reveres Rove, but his partisanship became untenable once Democrats took over the House last year. Forget what the 2006 midterms did to Rove's mystique as a campaign miracle worker; Machiavelli himself couldn't have saved the GOP with the headlines out of Iraq.
"He still knows politics quite well."
Impeach Alberto Gonzales - The New York Times GETS IT!
Or at least Adam Cohen, the "Editorial Observer," does. It is truly the only solution left for this mendacity-machine who is a boil on our very system of equal justice under the law. One that must be lanced, mind you.
As you know my friends at Brave New Films get it too (yup, they actually pay me to work there in case you didn't know) Go sign the petition!
Blue Jersey's "Think Equal" Campaign For Marriage Equality
Based on the PC/Mac ads. It's done extremely well.
But I'm still skeptical.
I mean any sort of gay civil union, ulike say whoring with David Vitter, pedophiling with Mark Foley or multiple-marrying with virtually every top tier GOP presidential candidate threatens the entire institution of marriage, and therefore mine, by extension.
MTP: Karl Rove on his plans and the future of the GOP; roundtable of LATimes' Ron Brownstein, Portfolio's Matt Cooper, WSJ/CNBC's John Harwood, and National Review's Kate O'Beirne on 2008
FTN: Karl Rove; Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
This Week: Dem debate in IA
FNS: Karl Rove
Late Edition: Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) on Iraq; Kurdish Iraqi Parliament Member Mahmoud Othman; Howard Wolfson (Clinton campaign); Chris Kofinis (Edwards campaign); Club for Growth's Stephen Moore; roundtable of Suzanne Malveaux, Jessica Yellin & Mark Preston
That's funny how when Stone gets caught pimping his wife on a Internet gang bang website, he says that even though the sex ad was purchased with his credit card, it was obtained improperly by someone else.
Then when a crime is committed with his telephone he says someone who has "unfettered access to his telephone" is responsible, not him.
Stones your typical Repub.
He'll be getting amnesia real soon.