Additional resource on Moonie activity. (and other similar abhorent phenomena)

Thanks to John Gorenfeld, for directing me to his weblog. -- See comments from Lunch on the Moon, thread below. -- For further resources, reports, and updates on Moon phases, (and more) visit John's page and add it to your blogroll.

http://www.gorenfeld.net/blog/

Hotlink= John Gorenfeld's weblog

What kind of Constitution are we looking at? Ex-Moonie leader Steve Hassan claims Moon told him they'd amend the U.S. Constitution to enforce sexual purity on penalty of death. For now, he settles for funding Brent Bozell. See: Bush ally strongly resents the U.S. Constitution

John also provides a link to Steve Hassan's cult-watch webpage, which can be found HERE

*

Costumed deceptions: Bush and the fabulous Moonie-loon luncheon.

I realize that most people who visit here are familiar with the following information with respect to the Bush family ties to Sun Myung Moon's fabulous ding-dong chapel. But I couldn't resist revisiting some of this below since I'm currently reading Kevin Phillips's book and because the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign fundraiser gravy train has left the roundhouse and is huffing and puffing its way to a whistlestop near you. And because what follows once more revisits the kind of deceptive, crawly things under the rock - what you see is not always what you get - character of the Bush machine.

Blockquote below from: American Dynasty, by Kevin Phillips.

Four years later, President-elect George W. Bush allowed his onetime religious aide, Doug Wead, to arrange a Moon-sponsored Inaugural Prayer Luncheon on January 19, 2001, a Washington event that drew over 1,700 public officials, ministers, and conservative activists. Some attendees felt deceived by not having been told of Moon's role in the event. One was Morris Chapman, the chief executive of the 18-million-member Southern Baptist Convention. "I was shocked," he said, "to see that Sun Myung Moon was on the program and, in essence, the host. I was even more surprised on the way out to be given a propaganda book on the Unification Church." Chapman added that the event "will serve to remind evangelical Christians that the world increasingly is filled with wolves in sheep's clothing."

That Bush aides would collaborate with a group described as "wolves" by the Southern Baptist Convention worried some conservatives. Steve Hassan, a journalist who followed religious cults, had for years found Moon's Washington acceptance just puzzling: "Here's a man [Moon] who says he wants to take over the world, where all religions will be abolished except Unificationism, all languages will be abolished except Korean, all governments will be abolished except his one-world theocracy, yet he's wined and dined very powerful people and convinced them that he's benign."
*page 234-235, American Dynasty, by Kevin Phillips.

Uh, "felt deceived"...? - No! Are you kidding me? Deceived by BUSHCo pitch-men!? Golly, how can that be? What Would Jesus Do? Has the Chamber of Commerce been notified!? Someone call the Washington Times and alert them to this sly wolfish masquerade! No, wait, not the Washington Times. Don't call the Washinton Times. That would be a bad idea. Rather, try the New York Post! Yes, that's it, the New York Post. Or perhaps Morris Chapman and the little red-state riding hoods of the SBC should ask Kathleen Parker to fully investigate the matter, thresh out all the facts and eviscerate the beast in the public square. That would be sumpin' wouldn't it?

Well, it just goes to show ya, you can fool 18 million members of the SBC most of the time but you can't fool all 18 million members of the SBC all of the time. Especially right after lunch when they're all tanked up on Jesus, shrimp cocktail, cheap cold duck, onion dip, and baby-back ribs. So listen up D. Wead, or whoever you are, best stick with the old reliable prayer breakfast routine. You can usually catch em off-guard at a prayer breakfast since they is still pretty doped up from the previous nights Bible shoutin' or lamb dinner fundraiser frolic. Forget the luncheon. High noon is a bad time for an ambush anyway. Especially if ya got the sun in yer eyes and the moon at yer back. If ya know what I mean.

And speaking of costumed deceptions; come closer - my what pretty eyes you have. Is it possible that incurious George W Bush is truely unaware of the wolf in the bed? Or, is GWB, perhaps, a crafty Moonvine collaborator himself? GASP!

Lets see: apparently, "he's [Moon] wined and dined very powerful people and convinced them that he's [Moon] benign."

Gee, well, I guess if we are to take David Kay seriously, some "very powerful people" will apparently gobble up almost any benign hash spooned onto their glazed buffet plate, now won't they? Uh-huh, poor misleadered fools. Or maybe certain "very powerful people" should go easy on the wine with lunch? Especially if the wine steward is dressed in a bah-lamb costume and babbling about messages from the spirit world and love organs that look like poisonous serpents. Gosh, huh?

Or maybe some "very powerful people" ain't the unsuspecting nursery tale grandmas that they love to pretend to be.

Well, in either case, it sure is reassuring to know that Commander Moon Mission, Master of Stratergery, and Dear Leader of the free market world - and his invisible handmaids too - have their well fed fat little fingers in the next moon launch picnic basket. Or should that be Moon lunch picnic basket? Haha. Whatever.

Anyway, if it's any consolation, I'm sure the cable televison news super-heroes, in their relentless search for truth, justice, and the advertising revenue way, will get right to the bottom of any slop bucket of rotten misconceptions, mixed messages, misleading pretensions, wolves in sheepskin granny nighgowns, and other stealthy bait and switch Moon-loon prayer dinner theatrics that may exist with respect to the Bush dominion's relationship with the True Parents.

Heck. I'll betcha MSGOP's swell new hard hitting personality driven investigative info-tainment hood ornament gal-pal Debbie Norville could get to the bottom of the whole "benign", wine on the Moonie dime, bidness. Yes, I'm sure of it. Or maybe CNN's Paula Zahn (Paula's On!...git it?), will take to the glowing boob-tube screen, flash a little smooth silky leg the cameras way, and ask the important question every concerned citizen voter wants answered...

Has any Democrat, currently running for President, ever wined and dined 1,700 hundred Christians on the moon, and can America really trust a Democrat who doesn't have that kind of prior leadership experience?

That may sound like a stupid question to many, but its not. And it would be irresponsible, deceptive, liberal biased TV "news" journalism, not to at least raise the issue, muddle up any already held misconceptions with an additional layer of rumored concoctions and a cacaphony of speculative psychodynamic behavioral quack-babble, info-tain some additional doubts, smile the showroom dummy smile, flash a little thigh, and slip away to a pharmecutical company commercial for penile erectile dysfunction medication. After all, character matters.

In any event, this is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night, howling at celestial bodies, well into the early moring hours. Especially when the moon is full, chatter from the fabulous world is plentiful, and the wolves are running the sheep in the uplands.

*

David Kay:

"we were almost all wrong — and I certainly include myself here," in believing that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Aux duck pits, citoyens!

From the World's Greatest Newspaper (not!)

The investigation has led to the discovery of a nuclear smuggling network that one official called this week "a hydra-headed monster with its tentacles all over the world."

Page 12 in yesterday's Times (via Bad Attitudes via Atrios

Three years in office, and Bush is just getting around to this? Oh well, nukes only bust cities, and they vote Blue. Fuck 'em.

WaPo here:

A record-high 375,000 jobless workers will exhaust their unemployment insurance this month and an estimated 2 million workers will find themselves in the same predicament during the first half of the year, according to an analysis of Labor Department statistics by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The country has lost more than 2.8 million manufacturing jobs in a steady erosion over the past 41 months.

The center's report said the 375,000 workers who will draw their last jobless check this month is the highest number for January in the three decades that the statistics have been tracked.

Ed Frank, a [Labor Department] spokesman, said in a statement. "Still, the president has said many times that he's not going to rest until every person who wants a job can find one."

Oh, we know what Bush says, but when has that ever meant anything? POTL ....

AP

President Bush's new budget projects the Medicare overhaul he just signed will be one-third more costly than estimated and this year's federal deficit will surge past a half trillion dollars for the first time, administration and congressional officials said Thursday.

But—but—I thought the benefits didn't kick in 'til 2005: after the election! Oh, wait, we're paying Big Pharma and the insurance companies this year; that must be what this is for. Hey, no problem! (Bush must need more compaign contributions really bad.)

Adj. Good on TV.

[I wasn't in New Hampshire, but when I heard Dean speak in Philly, he was this good. Warm, funny, quick, and with a knack for crystallizing the issues in one sentence.]

David Barry of Philly's own City Paper here:

The onstage Dean isn't even remotely like the stiff-necked quasi-zealot I've heard about. This Dean is genial, outgoing and quick to grin. He begins by saying voters are choosing between a change of presidents (dumping Bush for any Democrat) or changing America (dumping Bush for Dean).

He then lists the horrors Bush has visited on America. The destruction of the economy, with additional trillion-dollar tax benefits to the rich coming. The ravaging of health care to benefit the drug companies.

The stance is much like what Kerry and Edwards say, but the record should show Dean said it first. Not only that, but this appearance indicates that he says it much better.

Dean reminds the crowd he takes money only from supporters, like the people in this gym.

"The only people I'm going to owe when I'm elected are you," he says, noting that he's not beholden to insurance or drug companies.

He then reminds everyone that he was the only leading candidate against war in Iraq when Congress passed its resolution.

"I don't think we're going to beat a guy with $200 million in his campaign chest by not standing up for what we believe in," he declares. "[Bush] promises us a trip to Mars, which I think he should take."

Dean gets a huge laugh and ovation but continues without missing a beat. The speech builds, gradually raising passion in the audience. His timing is impeccable; his speaking fluid and convincing. Before long, Dean jokes about his "Iowa scream." After reciting another litany of Bush administration horrors he quietly says, "You know, sometimes when I think about George Bush, I could just scream."

A huge laugh, of course, morphs into a roar of applause before returning to laughter and a smile from Dean, who fares much better in front of an audience than during television interviews.

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

Has anyone noticed that The Times seems to be introducing the phrase "campaign on terror," as opposed to "war [sic] on terror"? Here and here.

Just random-ness, or a blow against Orwellian language by a copy editor of integrity?

Here:

10. If you saw Diane Sawyer's incredible "World News Tonight" show closer last night (and on GMA again this morning) — about how the network tape showing Dean's "I Have a Scream" speech was totally misleading because of Dean's use of a directional mike — you realize how easily a presidential campaign can be done in by the quirks of injustice.

Then again, a savvy campaign handles that kind of detail.

Jen has posted the latest, straight from Steve's mother. The news is good. You can read it for yourselves here.

Cancel our previous suggestion for sending cards or anything to his room at the hospital. He's being moved around too much. Anyone in NY area, don't try and visit him; he's in a sterile environment; only his family can visit, after donning scrubs.

Atrios probably has the best idea; Steve has a wish list at Amazon; he'd come home to find presents to play with during what will probably be a recovery that emphasizes rest.

Here:

"When you are dealing with secretive regimes that want to deceive, you're never going to be able to be positive."

No shit ....

AP:

Osama bin Laden's terror network is seeking a foothold in Iraq as evidenced by the recent arrest of a top al-Qaida operative trying to enter northern Iraq, the commander of coalition forces said Thursday.Osama bin Laden's terror network is seeking a foothold in Iraq as evidenced by the recent arrest of a top al-Qaida operative trying to enter northern Iraq, [Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez] the commander of coalition forces said Thursday.

But, but—Ithought AQ was already... I mean, I thought we fought the war... Oh, the heck with it.

are here (via Pandagon).

The Times gets letters:

To the Editor:

Re "Halliburton Says Worker Participated in Kickbacks" (news article, Jan. 24):

A spokesman for Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, claims that a contract for logistical services for troops in Iraq was awarded two years ago? Not only was our government overcharged for these services, as Halliburton now admits by repaying $6.3 million, but this contract also predates the invasion of Iraq by more than a year. How could a company get a contract for an event that had not yet taken place unless it surely knew that it would?

Paul H. O'Neill, the former Treasury secretary, surely got it right when he claimed that almost from the inauguration the Bush administration was involved in planning to invade Iraq. This is another reason, perhaps, that Vice President Dick Cheney (chairman of Halliburton until 2000) doesn't want the content of his secret meetings with energy companies made public.

SUSAN ADDELSTON
Jackson, N.J., Jan. 24, 2004

Hmmm....

Here:

Democratic leaders expressed relief Wednesday at the emergence of John Kerry as the leader of the party's presidential field ...

And that's what worries me ...

Featured Deployments:

GOP Deploys

On Dec. 18, for instance, Mehlman sought to rouse his troops with a message titled, "Foreign liberal cash used to defeat President Bush!" What followed was an extremely unflattering photograph of a grimacing, hook-nosed George Soros (one of the most significant contributors to the unofficial Democratic voter-mobilization organizations that have arisen in the wake of McCain-Feingold) and a message bemoaning the "billionaire liberals and the flood of foreign money that they're encouraging." Mehlman called on "450,000 AMERICAN grassroots contributors" to counter the sinister attempt by Soros -- a native of Hungary but a naturalized American citizen who has lived in the United States since 1956 -- to provide the Democrats with money from an immigrant. The ad comes close to resurrecting the classic anti-Semitic stereotype of the Jewish cosmopolitan financier undermining a Christian republic.

Dangerous Liberal Ritual Menace

Mass Appeal

The press has been saying for a decade now that the Democrats would clearly fail if they moved to the "left." Now they have, at least on economic issues (and on cultural issues, they're defending their turf in a way they haven't for years). Of course, that message could lose in November. But up to this point it has gotten more people coming to the polls, in both Iowa and New Hampshire, than any message from a Democrat has in recent years. So far, populism doesn't seem like the problem that all those experts spent a decade predicting it would be.

*

Ha!

One of the many great things about the misleader series (check the archives) is that they footnote all of their material. Footnotes are intrinsically democratic, since they empower readers to check sources and information independently. Liberals use footnotes. Republicans rely on rhetoric, anecdote, and analytical smokescreens like "average" ("So Bill Gates walks into a bar ...")

I hate the whole thing, to be honest. Dean is the first and only politician I ever gave money to—and I gave money that I didn't really have. Why? Because I read Dean's famous speech in Los Angeles and thought, "Finally! Someone who is willing to say that The Emperor has no clothes!" Then I took a look at the Dean site, saw universal health insurance, with balanced budgets, a sop to the right on gun control, and what I still insist is a wedge issue for Democrats, civil unions, and I was sold. Not just someone I could think about giving my vote to in a heartfelt way, but a man who had never lost an election. (None of this has changed between then and now, of course—except the part about never losing.) Then I went and saw Dean when I was in Philly, and he was great. My only concern was whether he would look good on TV....

Well, we know a couple of things about the Republicans. One is that they are masters of disinformation (see Machiavelli for the pointers on this). So when Herr Rove fed the media the line that Dean was the opponent he truly, truly wanted to run against we can be sure of one thing: that he was lying like a rug, and that the opposite was true.

We also know that the Republicans are very, very good with media. Heck, they own the outlets, they've booked a lot of the talent, so they ought to get good results, but technically, they are very good as well. Over the fall and into the spring, the Republicans ran with two memes: (1) "hate speech", and (2) "Democratic anger." Any criticism of Bush was called hateful—this after the Clinton saga, Hitlery, and all the rest. And anger was somehow redefined as unseemly, not "nice," something not fit for, well, the public square.

Now, intellectually these are utterly shoddy positions. But I suggest that the Republicans were (as usual) thinking strategically about media. It doesn't matter that the hate and anger thing was junk: what matters is that TV is, as McLuhan famously, a cool medium, and hate and anger are hot emotions. What the Republicans were doing was preparing the media, and the country for a time when Dean, giving a hot speech, would look really bad on a cool medium like TV. Here, I think, the Wellstone funeral was the blueprint. If you there there (hot), you saw and heard one thing; if you saw a TV clip, you saw and heard something else (cool). And the Republicans made use of that, and won a Senate seat.

And, alas, Dean fell into the Republican trap. The Iowa concession speech was far, far too hot, and Dean looked really bad on TV giving it. Never mind that Dean's platform hadn't changed; never mind that Dean had practiced as a doctor for 18 years, and could hardly have kept patients if he were deranged (Seriously, does anyone believe that if there were a hint of a problem with Dean's medical career, that it wouldn't have come to light by now?)

And as a result... Well, I don't think Kerry is a bad man, God knows. (It's a strong field the Democrats have, after all.) But I can make a list of all the abuses the country has suffered from the Bush regime over the past three years, and if I ask "Where was John Kerry?" I don't get a really satisfactory answer. On the war: I don't care that Bush lied to Kerry. What I care is that Kerry somehow imagined Bush might not lie! It isn't as if, by that point, we didn't have plenty of indicators ....

I hope Dean can pick up the pieces and soldier on. After all, the worst that can happen to him has happened, the SCLM has taken its shot, and he is still standing. If the only benefit is to&mdash'finally!—give the Democrats airtime, I want him to soldier on! And if the only benefit is to give the country a better look at Edwards and Clark, ditto....

And I also hope Dean can get the focus back on the issues. Vietnam was a long, long time ago ....

Oh, and Trippi? Aren't campaign managers supposed to prevent things like The Yawp? (Which now, people are saying, ABC News did some actual reportage on, and it couldn't even have been heard across the room .. Yep, a hot medium.)

Here via Orcinus:

John Siegenthaler was interviewing George McGovern.

SIEGENTHALER: just want to talk about Wesley Clark for a second . . . because he had a tough time in some cases in New Hampshire. Some people said his endorsement from Michael Moore where he called President Bush a deserter --- and then Wesley Clark refused to distance himself from Michael Moore was really a difficult time for him. And that he stumbled a couple of times up there in New Hampshire. How do you react to that?

MCGOVERN: Well look, I know he was severely criticized for not rebuking the contention that George W. Bush was a deserter.

But what would you call him?

He avoided the war in Viet Nam by signing up for the Texas National Guard -- and then didn't show up.

He missed half of his time by not showing up for the National Guard training.

Maybe there's some kinder word than deserter. But in my book that's not too far from the truth.

And I think General Clark is a man who never backed away from battle -- who volunteered to be a part of the armed forces of this country -- as I did.

People like that are not going to defend George W. Bush on his military record.

SIEGENTHALER: [Stunned] Issues of war and peace continue to be a controversy -- and a part of this campaign as we head through 2004.

So, Clark's campaign was good for one thing anyhow! It takes a village to stomp a weasel....

Now, about that other character issue....

Trippi out: Kos via Atrios.

And only $5 million left? (via Oliver Willis). That won't buy Dean a new pair of socks!

Nedra Pickler—now that smarts—gives details.

Not a normal one, a grave one. And I'm sure it's a grave danger. The one that's gathering. But if it's still gathering, how grave can it be? And what is it gathering, anyhow, and why? The grave people I know want to be alone, they don't do a lot of gathering. I can get a drink, just one drink, at most gatherings, but that would be dangerous. Wouldn't it. "Gathering grave danger"? Sounds like a cemetary. "And gathering danger grave..." Gathering Lone Ranger? Nick Danger, handwaving? MOM!

Just asking .... Like someone should ask our "President," along with all that stuff about the "End Times." Like our press would do, if they weren't lazy or civil.

Yikes!

Heh heh. The drama of the Democratic primaries is driving the White House off the front pages—with one exception: White House backtracking on the WMD lies.

The other front page story in the Times this morning was from David Sanger, who gave a reasonably acccurate account of the Bush's ever changing stories to justify the war. He propagates the "bad intelligence" meme, but does give the detail of Bush "interrupting" Daschle, as Daschle talks about the need for an inquiry. (Manners, aWol! What would Babs think?) Meanwhile, in WaPo, the invaluable Walter Pincus quotes David Kay on finding "exculpatory evidence" for Saddam on the WMD issue. Fancy!

YABL, YABL, YABL. I think this one has legs....

WaPo editorializes:

Asked about the most important quality in deciding their vote, 20 percent cited the candidate's ability to defeat the president, second only to the 29 percent who said "he stands up for what he believes."

We shouldn't equate "electability" with travelling straight down that yellow stripe in the middle of the road, though. That's what the Beltway Dems tried to do in 2002, and the result was disaster. Maybe now that we have the personalities straight, we can start talking about the future of the country and how Bush is wrecking it.

As Jack Aubrey said, quoting Nelson: "Never mind manoeuvres, always go at 'em."

Come on. Isn't it crystal clear that Bush was going to have his war, no matter what anyone said? So what does "bad" (or good, or faith-based) intelligence have to do with anything?

UPDATE: Seems like most editorial boards are coming around to this view too, although they used "balanced" language like "probably stretched" the intelligence, "seems overwhelming," etc.

YABL, YABL, YABL....

Our own Inky also has a useful article on Dean's pioneering rhetoric, which all the other candidates have now adopted.

Listen to North Carolina Sen. John Edwards at a rally the other night: "You have the power" - a direct steal of Dean's rally-ending tag line. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said at another New Hampshire event that he wanted to "break the grip of the powerful interests in this country and put the people in charge." Both men bash insiders, Washington politicians and the establishment - even if they themselves are some or all of the above.

Those themes, sometimes the exact words, echo what Dean has been saying for months. Whoever wins the Democratic presidential nomination, to an important degree he will sound like the former Vermont governor. A little plagiarism among friends is par for the course in presidential politics, where the rule is: If a message works, use it.

Sigh.

In our own Inky (cartoon by Auth).

Now, as long as we're doing the character thing, about those frogs.....

Like Kos and Josh Marshall on the spot, and Oliver Willis at the remote dong meta-commentary (nice pictures, though).

Since the SCLM are part of THE PROCESS (back) they don't have a whole lot of credibility any more—certainly not enough to justify their millionaire salaries and the attitudes that come with them. So it's really good to see independent reporting emerge, and leverage technology to make an end run round the MWs. Sure, there aren't blogging reporters yet. But this is only the beginning.

The usually astute Digby picks up on a post over at Charlie's Diary about a Howard Dean speech allegedly calling privacy an "urban myth." To his credit, Digby does not swallow the story whole, but neither does he poke around the links provided, such as to the Register UK link at Charlie's Diary. Guess who's proudly promoting this story? The same guy who promoted the "Al Gore Invented the Internet" hoax, Declan McCallagh:

McCullagh's entry into the 2004 Presidential campaign has been eagerly anticipated. In the 2000 Presidential race his coverage of a claim by Al Gore to have 'invented the Internet' reached national notoriety.

"If it's true that Al Gore created the Internet, then I created the 'Al Gore created the Internet' story," McCullagh boasted. [Note McCullagh's coy conflation of Gore's actual claim with the hoax version, prefaced by the legalistic deployment of "if." These guys don't miss a trick.]

Read Dean's rather anodyne remarks, too, if you can do so without falling asleep. There's nothing scary there. The "urban myth" quote is ripped entirely out of context, and refers if anything, to the illusion of privacy people think they enjoy today, which Dean clearly does not think is good. A few paragraphs later he's assuring listeners that his policies do NOT entail further erosion of privacy.

The meta-story is the story, not the crap peddled by McCallagh. [Note: Digby appears to have updated his post since first publishing it. But you can be sure you haven't seen the last of this one from more credulous sources.]

Dennis the dancing comedy monkey has joined the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign fundraiser carney spin-show, The Fabulous Circ de Mensonges

Unofficial official sources close to an undisclosed junior administration official are reporting that a senior administration ringmaster close to Our Dear Leader has gifted said Leader with a new friend.

Mr. Karl - I mean, a senior Circ de Mensonges administration official - has reportedly arranged a new friendship between our Dear Leader, Commander Skybox Cowboy, and a performing celebrity comedy monkey named Dennis. The excitable comedy monkey, raised by a befuddled miller in a Hollywood fabliau, and trained to tell a ribald tale, will accompany Dear Leader as he makes his rounds of Bush-Cheney 2004 fundraisers, banquets, tent revivals, and corporate special event GOP shareholder meetings.

Dennis the comedy monkey will travel with his own handlers as well as the Dear Leader's brother Neil, two hookers from Hong Kong, and a pretty born again Bible juggler named Steve. Dennis will entertain fans by smashing sour Chilean grapes on his forehead and peeing into the audience while simultaneously dancing to the relentless grinding pulsing hurdy-gurdy rhythm of Mr. Karl's barrel organ.

Dennis will also be available for cable television news interview talk shows, barbequed rib eating engagements, and exclusive private parties in expensive hotel suites, arranged for and catered by Brother Neil, the two hookers from Hong Kong, and a pretty born again Bible juggler named Steve. Which sure beats being strapped to a gurney and having nail polish dripped onto your eyeballs, or being heaved into outter space aboard an Indian spy satellite. Or, maybe not.

Photos: top - Dennis the befuddled miller's comedy monkey.
bottom - Dennis, with handler, entertains visitors and accepts campaign donations at a Bush-Cheney 2004 barnburner near Long Beach, California.

For more information and monkey-show highlights, see: Miller Emerges as New Voice for Bush Re-Election

Steve was scheduled for surgery on that bum heart valve this morning. Serious stuff.

His family is there with him, as are all of our hearts and hopes for his full recovery.

Special thanks to his friend indeed, Jen, who has been keeping all his readers up to date on his blog, so keep checking in there.

According to Jen, you can send him a card at the following address:

Steve Gilliard
c/o Lenox Hill Hospital
100 E. 77th Street
Room 1118
New York, NY 10021

If, as I assume, the outpouring will be voluminous, consider telling him, please don't acknowledge this, just get well.

LA Times:

A Superior Court judge ruled Monday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger violated state election law by using a $4.5-million bank loan to help finance his campaign in last fall's recall race.

Superior Court Judge Loren E. McMaster, saying that such loans could open the way for money laundering of campaign donations, ordered Schwarzenegger to cease raising money to retire the debt, and not use money he has already raised to repay the loan.

McMaster said that if Schwarzenegger raised money to repay the loan, "the public would not learn who financially contributed to the campaign until after the election, when it would be too late."

Granted, The Arnis™ did rely on a bad itnerpretation of the law—but it hardly seems likely they ignored the money laundering aspect, eh?

From the Globe and Mail:

Seeking to recast its reasons for toppling Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, the Bush administration is sending high-ranking officials abroad to justify the war as good for humanity, despite increasing evidence that Baghdad did not possess stockpiles of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

YABL, YABL, YABL...

Our ever-changing stories ....

The headline: "Testosterone may fight Alzheimer's in men".

Naah. This is another joke that just writes itself....

WaPo:

[BUSH]: Talk about shock and awe. Saddam Hussein felt so bad for Governor Dean that he offered him his hole.'

Cute.

Subtext: Democrats are traitors, an inference now licensed by the Republican candidate for President. That slippery little scut ...

Who's the jokewriter? Dennis Miller?

Heck, the guy brought universal heatlh insurance to his state. That would have solved a lot of very immediate problems for me and my family over the last two years.

Granted, The Yawp fits a lot better into the canned narrative THE PROCESS had prepared to bring Dean down ("veins bulging") than does, well, policy (yawn) ....

And granted that The Yawp really is pretty funny ...

Still, do I really care? And why did it take me so long to figure out that universal health insurance was more important than The Yawp? I must be more deeply infected than I thought.

"The cream of America—rich and thick!"

"The elephant in the room is the elephant!"

Well, it's late. Night all. Sorry again about the outage, and if you're a New Hampshire-ite, be sure to vote!

We were down for part of Sunday (though not for all readers) because I edited the blogger template and didn't close a comment properly. For that reason, I'm about to rerun farmer's Sunday political cartoon—in case you missed it.

UPDATE: Readers: If you experienced the outage, will you tell us what browser and OS you're running? I saw no problem with Mozilla 1.3/Linux, or IE5/Windows 2000. Thanks. Just to add to our knowledge base of how to work with Blogger.

If you refuse to let them go, I warn you, I will send a plague of frogs over all your territory. The river will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and into your office and onto your desk, into the house of your minions, too, and your media lackeys, even into your Cabinet and your kneading pols. The frogs will swarm all over you and your liveried footmen and your servants.
~ Book of Exits, 7:27-29


And the moral of the story is this: Please don't blow up the frogs, because they just might be waiting for you on the other side of the Great Pond.

Here at home, this compassionate conservative's lack of human feeling for our poor and unemployed, children and elderly, workers and veterans is evident in his slashing of funding for social programs and his dismantling of regulations that protect workers, human health and the environment from the ravages of Bush's corporate masters. And, just as when young Dubya was blowing up frogs in Texas, the president shows no remorse. ~ [The Roanoke Times (Virginia)] More Via: Bark Bark Woof Woof

Character matters - ribbitt!

Whiney Joe-o-o-e ...

It's time to go-o-o-o-o .....

The headline from New Study Adds to Evidence Modern Humans Not Descended From Neanderthals.

With some exceptions ....

Naah, this is just too easy. Readers, I will leave this as an exercise for you!

The invaluable daily Progress Report from the Center For American Progress today offers the best discussion I've seen yet about CBS's refusal to air MoveOn's ad critical of the Bush deficits by examining what ads CBS views as "Non-Controversial."

To review, the winner of MoveOn's Bush in thirty-seconds contest makes two factually accurate, undeniable statements, that the national debt is paid for by future generations, and that Bush is adding to this burden by the trillions of dollars in deficits he's racking up.

What isn't controversial, according to CBS are ads for WalMart, for instance, that tout the excellent conditions of employment it offers its workers, this in the face of all the material that's become public recently suggesting the exact opposite.

The piece goes on to examine Drug Industry ads, as well as Halliburton.

The great question for us all; how do we start to make this kind of corporate advertising controversial?

Any thoughts?

One more smackdown for bigots. Connie Mabin of AP reports:

Gay and straight unmarried couples can officially register as partners at City Hall [in Cleveland Heights, Ohio] beginning Monday, a procedure advocates cheer as a step toward greater recognition for same-sex unions and opponents fear will one day undermine marriage.

The registry is not marriage and it's not binding on courts, governments or companies. But supporters hope it will make it easier for couples to eventually share employment benefits, inherit property or get hospital visiting rights.

An estimated 100 unmarried couples were expected to show up at City Hall on the registry's opening day, including Doug Braun, 42, and his partner of 14 years, Brian DeWitt, 48.

Domestic registries have been created by councils and state legislatures elsewhere. The Vermont Legislature created the nation's first law recognizing the relationships of same-sex couples, and California created a statewide registry for same-sex couples and gave them some of the legal standing of married spouses.

The Cleveland Heights initiative - passed with 55 percent of the vote in November - was the first through a ballot issue, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Call me crazy (just not Crazy Andy) but I still think that handled properly, and appealing to "the better angels of our nature," this could be a wedge issue for the Democrats. Maybe Cheney's daughter/campaign manager will move to Cleveland Heights!

Hope Chen of AP reports:

Mary Fetchet of Connecticut, who lost her son Brad in the attacks said many family members of those who died in the attacks support moving back the deadline if it ensures a complete and fair accounting of what went wrong and why.

"An extension is imperative," she said. "This commission started up very slowly and hit every roadblock imaginable. This should be a priority."

Why aren't any of the Democrats running for President calling Bush on this? The issue is already "politicized."

Walter Pincus reports:

"We were misled not only in the intelligence but misled in the way that the president took us to war," the Democratic front-runner, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), said when asked on "Fox News Sunday" about Kay's statements. "The president cut off that process [U.N. inspections]. He chose the date to start this war. He said the time for diplomacy is over."

But Kerry also served notice he would focus on Vice President Cheney's role in describing the threat from Hussein during the run-up to the war last spring. He said that Cheney, who took the public lead in describing the threat from Iraq beginning in August 2002, "exaggerated clearly" on several issues. "I know the vice president either misspoke or misled the American people," he said.

All true. The only problem? Why is Kerry saying this now? My issue with Kerry is that he trusted Bush in the first place. After Florida 2000, why on earth would anyone do that? The passive voice—"we were led" shows the problem clearly. Why was Kerry passive then?

Bush had positioned the troops and their materiel far before beginning the political process of securing approval for war. But did anyone seriously think he was going to bring all of it back without going to war?

Why was Kerry passive? A far graver error strategically, politically, and for the country, then any "gaffe."

It may be true, as Kevin Drum infers from the Washington Post, that the Bush Administration is at this point willing to put anything on the table to get the UN involved in Iraq, so long as it gets them out by June. That in turn begs the question, why would the UN go along?

With each passing month before the election, the upside for the UN getting involved verges closer to zero. The Bush Administration's posture in essence is, we'll let you in on a piece of the action now, in return for helping us get a chance to inflict our arrogance and incompetence on you for another four years. Why wouldn't the UN wait?

I think jerking the Bush Adminstration off for several months first before walking away from the table would have a certain poetic justice to it, but that's probably too much to hope for.

At the World's Greatest Newspaper (not!) the reporter writes the story, and an editor writes the headline, and sometimes the twain don't meet.

Take for example Edward Wong's story, where the headline reads "Iraq's Path Hinges on Words of Enigmatic Cleric." Well, in the story it turns out Sistani is so enigmatic that he has a website, www.sistani.org, and if you want his ruling on, say, anal sex, you can go there and get it. (I mention this only because this subject is right up there at the top of the Q&A section, falling as it does under the As. Nothing under S for santorum, though.)

Sigh...

This isn't news to bury on a Friday, it's news to bury on a Sunday! (here)

"What's the difference?" Readers?

I'm tired of using the phrase "war on terror." (See below for this sentiment making its way into the mainstream media). By doing so, I buy into all the Republican's assumptions, including (a) that the war in Iraq and 9/11 are related, (b) that Bush has legitimate wartime powers, (c) that these powers should continue indefinitely (like the "war" on drugs), and (d) that it's treason to oppose Bush and the actions of his administration. All of these assumptions are wrong, and the lazy thinking behind "war on terror" hides how wrong they are.

I remember one blogger (Kos?) making the point that terror is a tactic. The phrase "war on terror" is about as sensible as "war on flanking maneuvers."

We need a new word, and I thought of the "unWar"—has that W right in the middle, and "unWar: is kind of like "undead": it keeps coming at you until you drive a wooden stake through its rotting heart.

Thoughts, anyone?

For some reason, I can't imagine what it might be, yet more Republican thuggery isn't getting any play. Richard Powelson of the Knoxville News reports (via Oliver Willis):

Federal investigators reportedly have seized a staff computer in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office in a probe to find Republican aides who improperly accessed Democrats' memos on opposing judicial nominees.

[Judiciary CommitteeDemocrat's] computer access codes were not set up properly and some Republican staffers knew about the glitch and took advantage of it for two years to view and copy sensitive files relating to the Democratic opposition to some of President Bush's judicial nominees.

Leahy criticized the "cyber theft" of confidential Democratic memoranda.

"This invasion was perpetrated by Republican employees both on and off the committee," he said without naming names. "Members of the Republican staff took things that did not belong to them and passed them around and on to people outside of the Senate. This is no small mistake. It is a serious breach of trust, morals, and possibly the rules and regulations governing the U.S. Senate."

Some kid downloads a song from a filesharing network and a huge corporation sues the kid and the kid's family; Republican operatives steal files from political opponents, and the SCLM yawns...

The story behind the story, though, is this. The Republicans believe they are at war, and are acting that way. After all, theft of the enemy's secrets is a patriotic duty in wartime, yes? The (gutless, feckless) Beltway Dems still think it's business as usual, and are acting that way. As a result, they always end up taking a knife to a gunfight.

We're in two categories:

Best Group Blog

Best New Blog

Remembering that famous story from Tip O'Neill's first (and failed) campaign... I will be so crass as to say, "Vote for us!"

WaPo
Richard Morin has a column on psychopathic bosses. Psychologists Paul Babiak and Robert Hare designed the standard test and wrote Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work due out later this year. Writes Morin: "The workplace test asks the boss's boss, colleagues and subordinates to rate how well certain phrases describe the supervisor. The descriptions include: 'Comes across as smooth, polished and charming.' 'Lies to co-workers, customers, or business associates with a straight face.' 'Has created a power network in the organization and uses it for personal gain.' 'Fakes sincerity with great conviction.'" Sound like anyone we know? Think computer skills and job training are the answer in today's economy? Zeynep Tufekci writes about job training in Texas: "One day, a trainee proudly handed me a flier advertising her services that she had made on the computer. Furthermore, she explained, she now keeps her accounts on a spreadsheet and uses MapQuest.com to get directions to the houses that she cleans on her hands and knees, seven days a week, 12 hours a day, for a pittance." And poor Michael Gelertner is ombudsing onward. This week, he puts a long-overdue bullet into the winger meme that Bush never used the word "imminent," calling it "quibbling". Hanna Rosin reports on New Hampshire. What's right: lots of good detail. What's wrong? She reports this exchange between Edwards and a voter: "[Edwards:] 'People, you know what to do when you see zero percent interest, don't you?" And a woman from the audience yells out, 'Read the fine print.' Rosen then segues into an Inside Baseball-style discussion of campaign mechanics, concluding that the NH primary "places excessive importance on charm," implicitly Edwards'. Which could be true, especially if she quoted other candidates raising the same issue, but in a less charming way, but she doesn't, of course. Finally, in news of the unWar, "Guantanamo Spy Cases Evaporate". Surprise! At the forthrightness of the headline, that is.

LA Times
And speaking of the unWar, William M. Arkin writes about the shared assumptions (the CW) between Republicans and Democrats: "[The Democrats] have not challenged the central premise of the Bush doctrine on national security — the endlessly repeated assertion that the United States is "at war." ... Today, Democrats need to ask themselves: If we are in fact "at war" and facing such high stakes, why would the American public want to risk changing the White House leadership now?" Answers, anyone? "Me too" sure didn't work in 2002. More on the unWar: Despite the assurances of President Musharrafof that Pakistan has cracked down on AQ, Paul Watson and Mubashir Zaidi write AQ organizations flourish openly in Rawalpindi. In domestic news, even Republican state legislators are denouncing No Child Left Behind, Phil Gramm is pushing a "dead peasant" insurance" scam, and the Times editorial board raises questions about Bush first stonewalling the 9/11 commission, then insisting it deliver its report well before the election.

New York Times
MoDo, of course, is beyond redemption (back). Katherine Seelye, however, did some actual reportage on Howard Dean, by viewing a lot of tapes from the Vermon regional government-access cable channel. And you know what? "The tapes show Dr. Dean as a no-nonsense decision maker grappling with the stuff of governing ... "I'll tell you something... " Dr. Dean said. "No matter what happens, [Vermont] will always be home." He was suddenly choked up with emotion and tears welled in his eyes. "And I'm going to quit there," he said, hurrying out of the room." Funny the Times is only getting round to this now (Times Ombudsman). Oddly, Times ombudsman Okrent's contact information is missing this week: too much to handle? Here it is, for the convenience of our readers: "The public editor, who serves as the readers' representative, may be reached by e-mail: public@nytimes.com. Telephone messages: (212) 556-7652." Robert Pear reports that tax credits for health insurance are in disarray. 8,374 workers out of 500,000 eligible are on the plan. Why? Because it's a tax credit: first you lay out the money, and next year you get the money back. And the Republicans want to make this a model for making health care accessible to the 43 million citizens without insurance. Tamar Lewis reports that even the advocates of marriage education have no proof that it works. Wingers with integrity are concerned with the Bush administration's approach to civil liberties. Elizabeth Bumiller, analyzing the religiosity of the SOTU address , finds that the Ministry of Fear is alive and fully active in Bush's election bid. And the editorial board weighs in with the view that Scalia should recuse himself from the pending case on Cheney's secretive energy task force, after going duck-hunting with Cheney.

You know, I'm putting the Times last, because it's less interesting to read than the other two, and I never thought I would end up saying that about the LA TImes. But it's true. I think the Times is a paper that has lost its way. The Sunday Times sure does weigh a lot, and there's a lot in it, but it never coheres, and the closer the stories get to real time, the worse the reporting gets. That's why the emergence of real-time, DIY blogging and reporting is potentially so interesting. Mammals against the dinosaurs, with THE PROCESSs coup (back) as the meteor that brought the SCLM down...

Give 'em a tax cut!

MoDo gets all snippy with Dr. Bean and his bife.

This is what passes for political commentary these days... Guess the good Doctor shouldn't have stood her up....

Heck, here's another one. These guys make it so easy!

$900,000,000
What Bush spent looking for WMDs in Iraq after the war. [Source]

Zero (0)
Number of WMDs actually found. [Source]

Readers: Again, any figures you think should be in the Corrente Index? (Be sure to include sources, that's part of the fun!)

$1,000,000
What taxpayers spent to train 1st Lt. George W. Bush in a highly complex supersonic aircraft during his Texas Air National Guard (TANG) service. [Source]

2/3
Time actually served by 1st Lt. George W. Bush in TANG, expressed as a percentage of time obligated to serve, as shown by documents obtained under FOIA. [Source]

Zero (0)
Chances that Bush will release his complete military records, voluntarily.

Any takers on that last one?

NOTE: The Corrente index was Leah's idea, but I was blogging tonight, so...

Readers: Any figures you think should be in the Corrente Index? (Be sure to include sources, that's part of the fun!)

Good stuff from The Misleader here.

Gimme an A!
    A!
Gimme an W!
    W!
Gimme an O!
    O!
Gimme an L!
    L!
What's that spell?
    aWol!
What's that spell?
    aWol!!!!
What's that spell?
    aWol!!!!!!!!
[cheers]

Just a little practice for the great Rethuglican in-gathering in Manhattan....

Say, we don't hear much about the flypaper theory anymore, do we? I wonder why.

More proof that we're winning: five killed.

Still-fresh Gina Kolata seems to think that because FDA commisioner Mark McClellan (a) banned ephedra and (b) threatened people who import prescription drugs from Canada with prosecution, he's somehow made "bold" moves that signal a fresh, new activism.
The headline here from the World's Greatest Newspaper (not!):

"Many Surprised by Bold [sic] Moves at the F.DA"

Why are Bush moves always bold and never bold italic?

In fact, this move my McClellan is right out of the Republican playbook: a classic Follow the money maneuver, where THE PROCESS (back) puts $5 in your front pocket, by regulating a not-very-serious herbal remedy, then takes $10 out of your back pocket, by keeping the costs of life-saving and expensive prescription drugs artificially high.

More, McClellan carries Big Pharma's water on both issues, since you can imagine what the corporate types think about competing with herbal remedies.

Then get a load of this beauty:

"McClellan is so personable and comes across as a person of such great integrity that it's hard to find somebody who says something negative," said Wayne Pines, who was the agency's associate commissioner for public affairs under Dr. David A. Kessler, who is now a consultant to companies dealing with the F.D.A.

The same cannot be said of Dr. Kessler, who served under President Bill Clinton and the first President Bush and angered industry officials by halting the sale of silicone breast implants and seeking to regulate tobacco as a drug.

Great stuff, Gina! "Anger[ing] industry officials" somehow equates to "lack of integrity"!

Over the past few weeks the Mighty Wurlitzer has been concerned to debunk various memes that have emerged from the Democratic blogosphere:
Four memes

1. Bush's desertion from his cushy spot in the Texas Air National Guard


2. The role of the PNAC in preparing America for a state of permanent war, including the militarization of space


3. The possiblity of an emergent form of home-grown fascism in this country


4. The fact that electronic voting machines enable large-scale election theft

My nameserver seems to be doing weird things, so this post will be short of links, but I wanted to tie all these things together now, since I think they're remarkable. First I'm going to talk about the memes, then about the reaction to them, and finally suggest what we need to keep doing.

State of play of the four memes
First, none of these memes are new to us. We've been honing them since election 2000. On desertion, we call Bush aWol (appropriating his famous "W") for a very good reason (see the entry in the linked Lexicon entry for citations).[0] We look to the out-in-plain-sight PNAC for a very good reason: it has predictive value. Heck, the guys ruling us wrote it, and now they're applying it. (See here for the PNAC's plan to militarize space, for which the Moon/Mars thing is an obvious cover). On home-grown fascism, we just have to follow the scholarly work of Orcinus to connect the dots. And electronic vote fraud has reached the mainstream, with Democrats introducing bills in Congress, many scientists speaking out, and a nationwide movement at the state and local level.

So that's the state of play for these memes in the Democratic blogosphere, which has, in some ways, served the same argument-honing and rhetoric-testing function for Democrats that funded institutions have for wingers.

"The Process"
And the reaction.... Well, I don't really have the right word for it. Right now, the country is being ruled, though not governed, by a constellation of forces (examples in parentheses), including:

• the Republican party (Ed, Karl)


• paid operatives and vendors of the Republican party (pollsters, "fellows" at think tanks, lawyers, and the like)


• MWs in the SCLM (Brooks, Will, and their editors. The Mighty Wurlitzer; the echo chamber)


• SIC theocrats (Reed)


• Winger billionairs who fund the Republicans, their operatives, the MWs, and the theocrats (Scaife, Rushdooney, etc.)[1]
  

In the aggregate, these guys—the operatives, lawyers, journalists, officials, and funders—devised and executed a slow-moving, media-fuelled right-wing coup. They started with the assault on Clinton, they continued through the impeachment, seized power in Florida 2000 (remember the bourgeois riot?), and now they're are ruling the country.

And we don't have a name for these guys. And without naming them, we can't talk about what they do. I've though of just saying "Bush," since after all he's the front man. I've thought of "Republicans," but although most are complicit, the moderate, truly conservative, and libertarian Republicans tend to retain some integrity. The closest I've seen is the "Bush Gang," which has the right aura of criminality, but it's too restrictive: it doesn't include the billionaire funders, and they're an essential part of the mix. My suggestion:

"THE PROCESS" (yes, in all caps, so it looks like a logo).

remembering Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing Las Vegas: "Kid, you'd have to be crazy to mention The Process in this town."

NOTE: My runner-up was "The Blob". Would that be better?

Reaction from The Process
If you poke THE PROCESS with a sharp stick, it reacts. In fact, a reaction is the only way to know that you've poked it! And the reactions we've gotten are interesting. The RNC fax-blasters gave the SCLM their marching orders by classifying all criticism of THE PROCESS as "hate speech." Which is a good move—and these guys are good—since to some people, anger looks like hate, or they can imagine no other reason to be angry than hatred.

1. Desertion: Jennings baits Clark


2. PNAC: Brooks writes "tinfoil hat" column


3. Home-grown fascism: Miller invokes Godwin's law


4. Electronic vote fraud: silence

What's remarkable (ha) about these reactions is how shoddy they are. Taking our memes in reverse order: The silence on electronic voting fraud is deafening. It's "the dog that didn't bark in the night." And what THE PROCESS is silent on, it's probably doing. (Bush emplaced all the supplies and most of the troops for the war before Rove marketed it.) Miller distorts the home-grown fascism meme, which at least in some hands (Orcinus) is a serious analytical tool that explains the purposes and techniques of THE PROCESS, into a "Bush is Hitler" straw man. Where, pray tell, was Miller when The Oxycontin Kid was calling the first lady "Hitlery"? Oh well.[2] Brooks uses the same straw man trick as Miller: first distort the analysis (it's a "conspiracy theory"), then debunk the analysts ("tinfoil hat types"). [3]. The Howler nails Jennings on desertion. (Clark issued a sensible and elegant non-denial denial.)

Yes, shoddy reactions, even at the level of pure professional technique. Setting up straw men is the laziest and cheapest kind of argumentation to do. And that's all THE PROCESS is doing, so far. (Though doubtless Rove is buying a witness to deal with the charge of Bush's desertion; he's got $130 million, after all. The electronic vote fraud meme will be harder to defeat, I think, given that 40% of Blue state votes think election 2000 was stolen). Of course, for some reason, the cheapest argument made by THE PROCESS gets picked up by the Mighty Wurlitzer and pounded 'til the echo chamber rings, and the most serious meme introduced by a democrat (small "d" deliberate) is silently dropped. So, we have to make THE PROCESS work harder. What do we do?

Making The Process work harder
In fact, I have confidence in the good sense of the American people. During the worst of the Clinton impeachment, his polls were never higher, and the numbers transcended the polarization of the country we're seeing today. The American people really aren't stupid. And we have the truth on our side. That's why the Republicans rely on anecdotes, and try to cook the numbers, and we rely on citations, and try to keep statistics apolitical. So what do we have to do?

Hammer our four memes. The fact that THE PROCESS is working on them shows they've got power. The strength of blogging is also its weakness: A blogger's voice speaks in the present. The focus on the writer could mean that we miss opportunities to propagate strong memes: after all, we all know the issues of aWol's desertion, and what writer wants to rehash what his readership already knows? So with the focus on the present: it's easy to react right away, it's harder to show patterns over time, and it's even harder to name those patterns, and show how they work in the present. (That's what I'm trying to do by naming THE PROCESS.) We've worked for years to hone these memes, they've survived a Darwinian process, and now, just when they're making the mainstream, is not the time to stop pushing them.

Propagate new memes. I can think of a few:

1. Bush the bully and killer (see below)


2. Do the math (tax cuts, Medicare)


3. Gays are your children, nieces, nephews and neighbors (Cheney's daughter)


4. True religion


5. Constitutional government


6. Follow the money

On Bush the killer, I've said enough elsewhere. It's important to take away the idea that Bush is a nice guy; he isn't. The candidates can't say anything about this, of course; but there's no reason some of us can't take the low road. (In a nice way, of course, and using the Democratic tools of analysis and citation.) Do the math looks like it might be getting traction. Partly, people (including true conservatives who aren't part of THE PROCESS) are wised up to the fact that THE PROCESS can't handle money—more precisely, their money. And the idea's taking hold that the when Republicans put $5 into your front pocket (through tax cuts) they take $10 out of your back pocket (through higher property and payroll taxes, higher fees, and corporate giveaways, as in Prescription drugs). On gays are your children I really believe that "the wedge edge" here is for the Democrats, if they are clever and ruthless enough (well...). Cheney's daughter, after all, is both a lesbian and his campaign chair. I'm hoping that the last decades of "coming out" have shown enough people the bigotry THE PROCESS is propagating is hurtful to people they love. (And separating "civil union" from "marriage" is a great way to argue for the separation of church and state. Does the country really want the government defining sanctity?) Bringing me to true religion. We really have to get traction on this one, and I can't see why it's not possible. (It's really, really unfortunate that Dean said—assuming I can trust the reporting—that the Book of Job was in the New Testament. Even a recovering Episcopalian like me knows it's in the Old Testament. This was a far greater "gaffe" than the Iowa speech, and its doubtless a card THE PROCESS plans to play later, which is why they're not saying anything about it.) It's possible because any Bible reader knows that THE PROCESS, and its personal representative here on Earth, Bush, is about the farthest thing from being that Christian it's possible to be. The hypocrites and Pharisees of THE PROCESS are exactly the people Jesus threw out of the temple. Ditto the people who use their religion to get votes. “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6: 1 – 18) The Dems should own this issue; why don't they claim it? constitutional government and follow the money I'll leave as exercises for reader.

Thoughts, anyone?

Notes
[0]BTW, I like the idea of "defenders" (let's not call them protesters, they're defending democracy") chanting "A-W-O-L" at the Thug in-gathering in Manhattan...
[1]I leave out the big corporations bribing our money into their pockets with campaign contributions. That's much more business as usual. Much like German industrialists in the '30s, who thought they had matters under control.
[2]Of course, everyone knows Bush isn't Hitler: for one thing, Bush has no talent as a graphic artist. The Bush dynasty is comfortable doing business with Nazis, however, as recovering Republican Kevin Philllips points out in his new book).
[3]This was the column in which Brooks also accused anyone who criticized the neo-cons of being anti-Semites. This created a furor, as Brooks surely designed it to do. The Democratic blogosphere focused on the anit-Semitism charge, while ignoring Brook's disinformation on the PNAC. In this way, Brooks introduced the PNAC meme into the mainstream under conditions not favorable to its propagation.

Here.

You know, if I had to sit down next to someone and have a beer with them, I'd rather sit down with someone who gets angry at the right things, than some glad-handing creep who blew up frogs with firecrackers as a child like Bush did.

Incidentally, I can't understand (ha) why Kristof's story (as above) on Bush torturing small animals as a child didn't get more traction, or any traction. It seems like one of those "character" issues the SCLM is so fond of. And Kristof is in the heart of the SCLM, and the Times is at the heart of CW. And Kristof goes to a childhood friend of Bush's, who casually mentions in the course of the interview that he and Bush used to blow up frogs with firecrackers. And then the story just dies.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I caught my neighbor's child torturing an animal, I'd try to get help for the child, and I'd really wonder about that child's family, since torturing small animals (like setting fires) is a sign of deep, deep emotional and psychological distress—way beyond anger.

So here we have our SCLM wringing their hands about Dean's temperament, when all the time, right out in the open, printed in their very own pages, we have a good indicator that Bush is... well, crazier than a bedbug, and not in a good way. (See previous posts).

No wonder they're afraid of him...

Naturally the thieving rich and millionaire pundits who massage Bush's base for him aren't angry—why would they be? They're sitting pretty, living large, they've made it and now they're pulling the ladder up after them.

And if you're angry at that, above all, don't express it!

Oh, come on.

The man's a doctor, for heaven's sake. Do his patients think he's crazy?

Can you imagine that if there were anything in his career that suggested Dean was crazy, that the Republicans wouldn't have spread the word by now?

Here's what makes Dean crazy:

• Universal health insurance
  
• Civil unions


• Calling it right on the war, and saying so


• Making an endrun round the Beltway Dems


• Ending his speeches with "You have the power"!

Yep, to the Republicans, the MWs, the Heathers, and the millionaire reporters of the SCLM, all these ideas are "crazy."

Especially the last one.

This reminds me of nothing so much as the state of psychiatry under the Soviet Union, where dissidents were locked up in the psychiatric wards. Anyone who dared to suggest that the Emperor has no clothes: They must be crazy! And so with our own state-run media.

Sorry, I still can't get over the fact that in giving Bush the authority to wage war, Kerry trusted Bush.

How could Kerry possibly do that, after Florida 2000?

Like the rest of the Beltway Dems, Kerry was playing a game, while the Republicans were fighting a war. We saw the evidence—and Republican success—in election 2002.

One of the reasons a Presidential race really is a good proxy for Presidential qualities is that it tests the ability of a candidate (and their team) to think strategically. Like it or not, Bush and Rove have that ability. "The proof is in the pudding," as Marx would say.

Looks to me like the rest of the Beltway Dems, and Kerry, were "miserable failures" strategically. It doesn't do any good to say the right things now; where where you then?

Krugman really nails it on voting machines. No detail that is new to us, but its good to see it put together in the mainstream, by a commentator as lucid as Krugman.
To combine what we've been saying over the past few days:

So we have a "democracy" where:

• Large (ie, Blue) states are systematically underrepresented in Congress


• The census data for redistricting is systematically skewed Red, first through undercounting in cities, and now by associating the census gathering process with civil liberties violations


• Voting itself, where electronic, is controlled by hard right Republicans, and election problems are not detectable


• This is true for the military and international voters, as well as domestically


• We have no recourse in the courts, as Bush v. Gore showed

And let me add another one:

• The voting roles are systematically scrubbed of likely Democratic voters, as again was shown in Florida 2000


• Exit polling isn't done any more, so there are no independent checks on the results whatever.
  

People, the horse is already out of the barn. Elvis has already left the building. The fat lady has already sung. There is simply no reason to accept the electoral legitimacy (absent a landslide) of Bush in 2004.

WaPo.
First the serialbreaking part. Did I mention Janklow was a Republican?

With his own freedom on the line, though, [former Representative] Janklow struck a different note Thursday in a jammed courtroom at the Moody County Courthouse. "While I was governor, I drove fast, really fast," he told the judge in an emotional but meandering declaration. "I drove thousands and thousands of miles, and nobody complained about my driving."

Actually, Janklow's driving habits have become the subject of loud complaints in this state.

Testimony last month demonstrated that local police and state troopers had repeatedly seen the then-governor driving 30 mph or more above the speed limit and let him go without penalty. The current governor, Mike Rounds (R), says he ordered a formal study of police laxity toward Janklow but so far has not made the results public.

From 1986 to 1994, Janklow received at least 12 speeding tickets -- when he was not governor. After winning the governor's seat in 1995, he continued to drive himself everywhere but was never ticketed again until the fatal accident last August.

Now for the impunity part. Did I mention Janklow was a Republican?

A state judge sent him to jail for at least 100 days for causing a fatal traffic accident at a rural intersection last August.

Janklow pleaded for leniency in court: "My political career is wrecked," he said, his voice choking. "I can't be punished ny more than I've punished myself."

Really. I like to see a Republican weeping, but I don't really think feeling bad is the same as jail time. 100 days. Fancy!

Anyhow, with (1) the Plame Affair, (2) Republican theft of Democratic files on the Hill, and (3) now this, all that Republican piffle we heard during the impeachment phase of the Republican coup is starting to wear awful thin, isn't it?

Good thing the SCLM is all over this one, the way they were with Gary Condit. Oh, they aren't?

Say, did I mention that Janklow is a Republican?

IOKIYAR!

Freeway Blogger has some photo updates.

But, if you have never read FB's Fun With Hate Radio call-in transcripts, you should do so. A must read, as they say.

Here are some brief summaries - Freeway Blogger calls:

1 - The Drudge Report ~ FB calls Drudge to discuss the Bush family.
2 - Fox News Live with Alan Colmes ~ "Just War" - or - just a war? This one really ain't funny a'tal when ya git right down to it.
3 - The Stacy Taylor Show ~ Bald Iggles is snatchin' ours youngn's from their cribs!
4 - The Savage Nation ~ FB drives Michael Savage over the brink.

I've been recently very depressed and had considered moving into a cabin along the Great Rattling Brook near Mt. Cormack in Newfoundland. But the Freeway Blogger cheered me up. And anyone who can live around all those freeways and still maintain a sense of humor and keep their wits about em' has my full support and gratitude. Thanks to the Freeway Blogger I plan to remain where I am, for now, on a small houseboat in the middle of a cranberry bog.

Here:

A group of computer scientists is urging the Defense Department to abandon a plan to let overseas personnel cast absentee ballots over the Internet.

The system, called Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE), will be implemented in time for November's election, said DOD spokesman Glenn Flood.

The analysts include Avi Rubin, the Johns Hopkins University professor who publicized potential security hazards last year in electronic voting machines. They concluded that because SERVE uses Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system and standard Internet technologies, there is no way to make it secure.

Although security analysts who studied the system believe it could be vulnerable to hacking and alteration of results, DOD officials do not intend to change their plans.

"We have confidence that it will be safe and secure for the general election in November," he said. "We respect the work the team did, but these are issues we knew about."

Hmm.... "These are issues we knew about."

I'll bet.

After all, Bush needed those military votes in Florida, didn't he? The ones that came in a little late...

Add this to the list of reasons to question the legitimacy of of this or any Bush regime (back).

-Gate is obsolete, now—used too often and corrupted by MWs.

How about -Thuggery?

FileThuggery ....

PlameThuggery ....

911Thuggery ...

Kinda works for me... If you like it, start spreadin' the news. Thoughts?

The Times:

A group of former intelligence officers is pressing Congressional leaders to open an immediate inquiry into the disclosure last summer of the name of an undercover C.I.A. officer, Valerie Plame.

In a telephone interview, [one of the group, Mr. Larry] Johnson, who described himself as a registered Republican who voted for President Bush, said he and other former intelligence officers had been discussing the idea of a letter for months and decided to go forward with it because of a lack of evidence of progress in the Justice Department investigation.

"For this administration to run on a security platform and allow people in the administration to compromise the security of intelligence assets, I think is unconscionable", Mr. Johnson said.

Ms. Harman, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, said in a separate interview that Justice Department investigators "should be given time to complete their work" and that Congress should "not meddle in the investigation." But she said she would consider joining the call for a Congressional inquiry if the leaker was not identified by next month.

Hope the Dems are keeping the files on this one under lock and key, encrypted, and preferably off-site. Since otherwise the Republicans will steal them.

UPDATE: Oops! Just added the source.

1. Republican theft of Democratic files on the Hill;

2. The Plame Affair

3. The 9/11 investigation.

So far, Bush has successfully stonewalled them all, with the help of his MWs and the lapdog media. (Interestingly, Bob Noval central figure in both 1 and 2.

How long will Bush be able to keep the lid on?

Read this post. It's a good one.

Via: Echidne Of The Snakes | Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Liberal Anger

I believe, on balance, that the new liberal anger can be a great opportunity when carefully handled. It isn't even that new, historically speaking. What could be more liberal than the righteous anger one feels when injustices are committed? That, my friends, lies at the very heart of liberalism.

...continue reading

Welcome the Back Yard League. Check this site out. It's really nicely done. And don't miss the Glossary page. I really like the Glossary. I will be spending time there myself. Doing some reading. I'll be the guy in the worn out Carhartt overalls and the baseball hat that says "Kill Ugly Right Wing Radio" across the front. So don't annoy me unless you know what's good for ya. = :-))

*

Charlie Savage of the Boston Blog writes

From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight -- and with what tactics.

Many reactions:

1. Yawn. We always knew they were crooks and thieves— and now we really know. Great to see the SCLM all over this one! Oh, wait... The headine is good, too: "Infiltration of files seen as extensive." I like "infiltration" as opposed to "theft." And it's good they don't put "GOP" or "Republican" in the headline, just in the subhead. That shows balance ...

2. I wonder if Karl Rove is going to look like such a good strategist when he doesn't have intelligence of all the Dems moves?

3. Why on earth did the (gutless, feckless) Beltway Dems not assume the Republicans wouldn't steal data from their system? They stole an election, and they're not going to steal some files?

4. I hope all the Democratic candidates are being very, very careful. In particular, I hope they are encrypting all of their email, as well as their files, and their cell phone traffic and wifi. Anything that could be intercepted by Echelon. Meanwhile, the Democrats should consider setting up a secure system off the Hill. Put it in a trailer outside the Capital and surround it with barbed wire. Can't we get a little political theatre going on this one?

Of course, the chances that Bush would abuse the national security apparatus for partisan purposes are admittedly slim... Oh, wait, didn't Rove already do that during Texas redistricting? Use the Department of "Homeland" Security to track down Democratic state legislators?

UPDATE: Alert reader Gabe points out that slashdot has picked up on this one.

Lots of interesting stuff, including the question of whether the Republicans are guilty of violating the DMCA. I mean, isn't it weird that some 15-year-old kid gets sued for downloading a song, and no Republicans get sued for stealing hundreds of memos?

And Then blogging from Manchester NH, observes the mood of journalism in the Purple Lilac State.

...the Union Leader vs the New Hampshire Gazette

Seriously, you know the newspaper that has pictures of Space Aliens with Bill Clinton? Imagine if it was published by Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp, and you have a pretty close estimation of what the Union Leader is. So, congratulations to Joe Lieberman.

"I grew up in New Hampshire, and over the years learned what a ridiculous newspaper the Union Leader is. For example, the late publisher, William Loeb, editorialized in the 1970s that the miniseries "Roots" was part of a communist conspiracy. Similarly, the civil rights movement was also apparently directed from the Kremlin, according to a 1964 editorial. Jim Carville tells this story in the film "The War Room:" They were on the campaign bus in New Hampshire and were driving past a mud puddle with two big hogs wallowing in it. Someone threw a copy of the Union Leader out the window into the mud, and the hogs got up and left." [via: reader comment Turn Left.com]

There's another paper that is much more newsworthy, a sort of anti-Union Leader- a Liberal Libertarian, fiscally conservative, liberty-embracing, hardcore transparent Democracy demanding newspaper run by former Veterans. It's called the New Hampshire Gazette, and it's the oldest newspaper in the country. This weeks front page has this paragraph, written by a guy who used to work for Nixon:

"George HW Bush was the first CIA director to come from the oil industry. He went on and became the first vice president - and then the first president- to have either an oil or a CIA background. This helps explain his persistent bent towards the Middle East [...] In each of the government agencies he held, he encouraged CIA involvement in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries, and he pursued policies that helped make the Middle East into the world's primary destination for arms shipments."

*

To deal with the anguish this President has told us more than once he endures at the thought of even a single American who wants to work not being able to find a job, i.e., to advance his bold vision of an America where there is full employment, the President proposed, last night, a program of grants for community colleges to help them develop programs aimed at retraining workers who don't have the skills to get the new jobs that will be replacing their old ones.

One of Atrios' commentators, P. Clodius, had this mordant observation about that: "Whole new career opportunity for people who can teach Hindi."

But let us try and take this President's words seriously, on their face. Let us not be mindlessly partisan. After all, it was one of President Clinton's major themes way back in '92 that the nature of employment had changed; that globilization meant workers would find themselves changing jobs and skill sets twice, and even three times in the course of their working lives. And under President Clinton's aegis, we saw an unprecedented expansion of a variety of programs aimed at expanding educational opportunities across the board to give Americans access to the tools to navigate the implications of globilization. (BTW, I'm not suggesting that Clinton's response to the entire package of issues a globilized economy presents was entirely adequate.)

To show that he means business, President Bush flew today to Ohio, where he acknowledged "there are still troubled times," and spoke at Owens Community College to highlight his "$250 million proposal" for new job-training grants channeled through community colleges. That's a whole lot of money. Isn't it?

Okay, it's not as much as the $200 billion plus earmarked for a missile defense system, which, not having ever successfully shown it can actually hit an incoming missile, will not be subjected to further testing before being deployed. But, what the hell, don't you feel safer already just knowing that we're working on it? And it's probably cheaper than confiscating every set of box cutters that exist anywhere in the world.

Okay, okay, it's not as much as the $l.5 billion the President wants for his promotion of marriage initiative. And yes, one could argue that making sure that jobs are available to the chronically underemployed men who are so often the unmarried fathers whom the marriage initiative seeks to help might be a more efficient way to go about it, but doubtless the Olasky-trained Bush would counter by questioning what's been keeping them from finding a job all along; it's not as if external circumstances could ever explain this persistant pattern of laziness unemployability and indifference to the charms of family life, in contrast to the lure of living large as a "young buck," the term President Reagan once used to describe young bla male misusers of food stamps.

Okay, okay, okay, extending unemployment benefits to workers who've been out of work for over six months would seem to be an indispensable corollary of the President's dreams for an America where everyone marries well, and everyone has a job; unemployment benefits aren't a lot, but they do limit the devastating effects lack of income can have on family life, and not having a job for a long time can have on the employability of even workers with long, active work histories. But acknowledging that point, aren't we left with a vision of an American President willing to see thousands of hard-working Americans disappear into the ranks of those we call "discouraged workers," where they will not show up on unemployment statistics, while with perfect piety he proposes a program claiming to be the answer to the problems of precisely those same workers?

Frankly, I hesitate to go there, not out of either affection for or trust in this President, but, as mentioned below, because that kind of attack is exactly what Bush/Rove & Co want to provoke.

Karl Rove understands that its the really big lies that are the hardest to counter. (See any standard text on the history of 20th century propoganda).

Somtimes, though, even a Rove can over reach, and the Center For American Progress, bless them, has caught the White House's resident political genuis and his pResident right in the act (scroll down to "Job Training Proposal".

In the last three years, Bush has proposed almost $1 billion in cuts to job training and vocational education – meaning the President's "new" proposal really is simply a push to restore a fraction of his own massive cuts.

All the gory details are available here.

I'm left wondering if this President is even aware of this massive contradiction, which some might even be tempted to call a lie.

Just asking....

In fact, why are they "visions" at all, instead of "proposals" or "schemes" or "really bad ideas"?

I can think of plenty of other four-letter words for lazy headline writers to use ....

It bothered me that the Moonie Times, a winger organ, would break the news that Bush is violating his oath of office again by violating the privacy of census data.

Why would they publicize this instead of trying to hide it? Duh, because it's to their advantage.

Redistricting is based on census data. Who are the people who would tend to no longer respond to Census questions because they fear the direction the Republicans are taking the country? Not the Republican base, that's for sure.

So we have a "democracy" where:

• Large (ie, Blue) states are systematically underrepresented in Congress


• The census data for redistricting is systematically skewed Red, first through undercounting in cities, and now by associating the census gathering process with civil liberties violations


• Voting itself, where electronic, is controlled by hard right Republicans, and election problems are not detectable


• We have no recourse in the courts, as Bush v. Gore showed

So tell me again why I should regard the Bush regime as a legitimate government? This isn't tinfoil hat stuff—you only have to read the papers to see it all happening.

This unsigned piece in the Telegraph asks, "how does Bush's first term add up," and then answers by looking at a series of juxtaposed numbers that don't add up to the same picture the President presented tonight.

232: Number of American combat deaths in Iraq between May 2003 and January 2004

501: Number of American servicemen to die in Iraq from the beginning of the war - so far

0: Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender to the Allies in May 1945

0: Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed

0: Number of funerals or memorials that President Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq

100: Number of fund-raisers attended by Bush or Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2003

(edit)

$100 billion: Estimated cost of the war in Iraq to American citizens by the end of 2003

$13 billion: Amount other countries have committed towards rebuilding Iraq (much of it in loans) as of 24 October

36%: Increase in the number of desertions from the US army since 1999

92%: Percentage of Iraq's urban areas that had access to drinkable water a year ago

60%: Percentage of Iraq's urban areas that have access to drinkable water today

32%: Percentage of the bombs dropped on Iraq this year that were not precision-guided

1983: The year in which Donald Rumsfeld gave Saddam Hussein a pair of golden spurs

There's more.

And more numbers to be added. A project well worth underaking. A portrait of Bush, painted by numbers. To be kept in the pocket of everyone who reads left of center blogs and who thinks that four years of this madness has been more than enough. Ready to be shared with fence-sitting friends and relatives.

I'm serious.

One of the most difficult rhetorical tasks ahead for all of us is how to deal with President Bush's tenuous relationship with facts without having to call him a liar. And why not just call him that? Because a huge number of Americans, often the very ones we wish to sway to our side, just don't like that kind political rhetoric. But the chasm between what Bush says and what he does, between what he presents as "reality," and what the "reality" factually is, are among his most serious faults as a President. How to broach the subject and yet not turn off the very people we're trying to persuade.

Let the numbers tell the story? Tell us what you think.

UPDATE: alert reader, swarty, points out that I'm actually linking here to a story that appeared in the Independent, and would have been an unlikely candidate for the pages of the rightwing Telegraph. Too true; weirdly I was staring right at the "Independent" website and url even while I typed "Telegraph," and even almost commented on the oddness of the piece appearing there. Apparently, I'd lost my mind while listening to last night's SOTU.

I speak of the divine Ms. Ivins, of course.

First she reminds us of this:

When Bush took office, the national debt was $5.7 trillion and his first budget proposed to reduce it by $2 trillion over the next decade. Today, the debt is $7 trillion.

And then this:

Last year, Bush predicted a deficit of $262 billion. According of the CBO, the deficit is currently $480 billion.

Which leads her to ponder, in her typically well-mannered, decidedly non-hate speecifying way, this perfectly reasonable question:

It is unclear to me why anyone would believe anything the president says about our fiscal situation. Keep in mind, this is a man who took three Texas oil companies into bankruptcy.

I anticipate a painful skewing of the statistics on jobs, but there's not much even the finest spinners can do with the basic problem. Under Bill Clinton, the economy gained an average of 236,000 jobs every month. Under George W. Bush, the economy has lost an average of 66,000 jobs a month. Nor is the news getting better. Last month, the economy, supposedly in full recovery, added 1,000 jobs. The economy needs to generate 150,000 jobs a month just to absorb new workers.

This stark picture was part of what I thought was a pretty effective Democratic answer to the President's SOTU address. Molly may be right that these numbers are almost spin proof, but when the transcript from last night's Hardball becomes available, I'll tell you how Chris, and Howard and Peggy found a way to skin that pesky camel inching it's nose under that tented catered Washington party of theirs.

Well, while Lambert will be paying attention to the state of his own sanity, celebrating, with exquisite irony, La Vie Boheme, instead of listening to the roundup of his own achievements by that scrubbrush rangling adopted son of all that's wrong with Texas, some of us will be tuned in to what no one is embarrassed to call Rove's masterplan for the coming campaign; that is what is meant by the "themes the President will touch on," right?

I have no drinking games to offer, but both TomPaine. com and The Center For American Progress have put together nifty score cards for you to use to channel your rage into something more productive than gastric internal bleeding.

Here's where to go to read what the folks at TomPaine have in mind; the scorecard itself is only downloadable in PDF format.

The Center has a whole bunch of stuff for you, a dictionary, a checklist, and to help you feel less alone, links to all kinds of good things to read on specific topics the President is likely to address. Click here and have a ball.

Then, let's discuss. And, yes, there will be a quiz.

Calpundit via Atrios here. From the Moonie Times?

WTF???

my friend Phil is treating me to a fine French dinner at La Boheme, so I won't have to listen to that slippery little scut lie his way SOTU. Better for my digestion and my sanity.

Anyone remember that great old Flannery O'Connor story, Good Country People? The one where the Bible salesman steals a woman's wooden leg? The Machiavellis in the White House remind me of that Bible salesman....

Dean: Portsmouth NH, 2AM
Tuesday, January 20, 2004

And Then blogging on the ground in the Granite State, covers Dean's arrival in New Hamshire.

Pease Tradeport is an old Air Force Base. It's still home to Air Force One whenever the Spectacle descends to show his Dad what new country he got that week. The place is designed to deter a ground invasion of any kind, and tonight that included the army of Deaniacs that invaded at 2AM. I got turned away by an official Pease pickup truck with giant Dean signs in the back. I followed the fucking media like any typical American voter and got stuck driving in circles behind a giant satellite dish. There was a convoy of 7 cars or so, driving in circles, hitting dead ends, turning around and guessing which direction to go. But finally, we arrive at our destination, and a guy calling himself Bazooka Joe is shredding his axe to a rock and roll cover of "Play That Funky Music White Boy."

continue reading....

*

Coverage on the ground by Kos volunteers was far more timely, detailed, and revealing than reportage by major media (not that this would be hard).

The Times print edition summed up the whole sick SCLM thing for me with a big diagram of which MW sat where in some Des Moines steakhouse. I mean, I'm happy for all the business a local enterprise got, but other than than, who gives a shit? Except the MWs themselves, of course.

A little more work, a simdgeon of funding, and there could be real-time, DYI, trustworhty coverage of, say, the Repubican invasion of Manhattan in the fall...

Oh man. The latest. At least he isn't shrill, heh heh, this time—calling critics of the neo-cons anti-semites must not have gone over that well with his masters. Anyhow, this time Brooks has adopted a sunny, optimistic tone. The Iowa results have given Dave new confidence that democracy is healthy in America, and he has constructed a typical Democratic voter for us:

If you had to pick a quintessential figure to represent the Iowa Democratic voters who have been showing up at rallies over the past few days, it would be a 55-year-old teacher. She is a moderate, optimistic, progressive educator who wants to believe in politics again. She wants to believe that big changes can still be made in this country, and that big challenges like poverty and the uninsured can still be addressed.

Of course, Brooks winger masters want to destroy this woman's life and everything she's worked for. They want to privatize education and destroy the public schools; they want to hand over her pension to thieves on Wall Street; and they want to destroy the political system she wants to believe in through gerrymandering and tampered election results. I always like it when Republican MWs give the Democrats advice on how to win, or be competitive, or compliment them. It's cute, and it doesn't cause any harm, as long as readers understand it's totally disinformative.

I wish Brooks could figure out from week to week if he wants to be an attack dog or smarmy. It's confusing the readership.

Oh, and Brooks also is relieved to hear that most Democrats are "not haters." They never were, Dave, they never were.

Maureen Dowd is filing from Des Moines, these days, unsurprisingly, being primarily a political columnist, although reading her first two from there, one could be forgiven for being surprised she's chosen to be primarily a political columnist, or that anyone is willing to pay her to write primarily political commentary. Then again, maybe not.

Both columns are vintage MoDo, the same tripe she’s been peddling for years, cunt-ish, clever, and ultimately clueless in its unstated insistence that all political targets are equal because all things political are either substanceless matters of style, or substantive matters so tawdry with compromise, so gooey and gummy from the press of sticky fingers that even her lordly contempt can't redeem them.

Okay, time out. How dare I use a gender-charged cliche like "cunt" to attack a female columnist? Am I really saying that MoDo's "ideas" arise from her vagina? Would I ever use that word in reference to a male columnist, even one who is as corrupted by cynicism as she is?

Quick answers: I dared, despite hesitations, because it was the word that came to mind. But possession of an actual vagina should not be considered causal here. As to male columnists, probably not, though many are as deserving of that epithet as she is. It’s a word with a nasty history, I admit, but it conveys with a certain street authenticity the nastiness that Dowd is about (as a columnist, not as a private person, information about which I have none) that a word like "snarky" doesn’t come anywhere near getting at. Okay, enough "cunt" talk.

So why even bother: haven't we established there’s a good MoDo, and a bad one; isn't it enough she's been willing to attack Dubya, and found herself reviled for it?

No. There is only one MoDo; she's the bad twin and there is no other. Even when she takes on the Bush administration, even when her "take" is well-taken, it's outweighed by her underlying contempt for politics, which is to say, democratic governance.

Ask yourself what this column is about. Then tell me. Please. Topics are certainly mentioned, Bush, the moon, Iraq, the Clinton’s transcendentally wacky marriage, but the flow of words and ideas resists being about anything, which, as Larry David has taught us, isn't the same thing as being about nothing. Dowd has no interest in the political quotidian; she abhors the nit and the grit, the nuts and the bolts of a working democracy. Nor is she an astute social observer, except in the sense that she has an unerring eye for what clichés are au courant, and what clichés can be dusted off and made new again.

The first hard evidence most people had that Howard Dean was actually married came with a startling picture of his wife on the front page of Tuesday's Times, accompanying a Jodi Wilgoren profile.

In worn jeans and old sneakers, the shy and retiring Dr. Judith Steinberg Dean looked like a crunchy Vermont hippie, blithely uncoiffed, unadorned, unstyled and unconcerned about not being at her husband's side — the anti-Laura. You could easily imagine the din of Rush Limbaugh and Co. demonizing her as a counterculture fem-lib role model for the blue states.

Uh, I don't know, Mo; shouldn't Howard's many verbal references to "his wife," to one "Judith," and sometimes to a "Judy," (oh dear, hope that doesn't indicate a possible identity crises on the part of either Dean) rate as fairly hard evidence? What’s the issue here; that Howard Dean may have invented a fantasy wife who doesn’t exist, like that wacky, fearful-of-Virginia Wolfe couple, Martha & George with their imaginary child? If so, surely there have been other telltale indications that Judith Steinberg Dean is real; other Vermonters who remember meeting her, like her patients, or her children, or her children's friends and their parents; Vermont must have newspapers; surely their archives could have provided evidence that the Governor’s doctor wife exists? And there's always the AMA.

Crunchy Vermont hippie? A slight refreshening of the utterly stale granola reference; really slight. But in what alternate universe does "hippie" call to mind "worn jeans and old sneakers," "unadorned, unstyled"? Hippies were all about style; their jeans and sneakers were festooned with adornment, not to mention their impulse to use their bodies as a canvas.

I’ll give this to Dowd; her rhetorical sloppiness is of a very high order. And if the very notion of a Doctor who takes seriously the Hippocratic oath she swore to uphold is, as MoDo asserts, easily imaginable fodder for the Limbaugh demonizing machine, does that tell us more about Limbaugh, the lady doctor, or Maureen Dowd, to whom it would never occur to ask such a question?

Bubbling below the surface of this particular brew-haha is this never quite stated gossipy question: since as those in the know (variously referred to as "some women," "many political analyists," "even some who admired," and "one political reporter here,") agree, Howard Dean could use his wife’s help about now, to add "warmth" to his "heat," to vouch for his possession of core values, or just to share his "wild political ride," under which category it is appropriate to include, in the world according to Dowd, "the repatriation ceremony of his brother's remains in Hawaii," which, in fairness MoDo does call "poignant," isn’t there something weirder than weird about his wife's absence, and maybe about the marriage itself?

If Dr. Dean, the wife, has so little passion to see Dr. Dean, the presidential candidate, succeed, shouldn’t voters be asking why?

Perhaps Dowd is as unclear as she is about what she’s really getting at because Tim Noah already beat her to this particular sucker punch.

And if Dr. Dean, the wife, does show up in Iowa, as one would imagine she might for the last couple of days, be assured, the trap is ready to snap shut.

It will be interesting to see, if her husband falters, whether the exigencies of politics will require her to make a house call on his campaign. (emphasis mine)

What Maureen Dowd can be trusted always to report straightforwardly, and with a generous respect, is what's being said at the lunchtable where all the cool kids eat.

Since the frugal, no-frills couple does not subscribe to cable TV, she has not even seen much of the virtual campaign, and has to go into his Vermont campaign headquarters if she wants to watch a debate.

"What will she tell their grandkids?" wondered one political reporter here. "Yeah, Grandpa was once a front-runner for president with crowds all over America cheering him but I was too busy to go see it?"

Only the cool kids could think that keeping track of your husband's campaign by watching C-Span at home on your own cable TV is somehow more real and involving than a wife going down to her husband's campaign office to do so, or that frugality is the only reason for not having "cable." The stunningly silly crack about the grandkids is beneath comment.

For those of you who have come this far with me, I can almost feel your unease at this heavy expenditure of time and energy on someone who could as well be ignored. I wish. I'd like to think I'm wrong. But I don't. I think Maureen Dowd shapes the landscape of our political discourse a lot more than we voters do.

In Part Two, I propose to widen this discussion to include two much better writers, Frank Rich and Michael Chabon, who, nonetheless, sup at that same cool kids lunchtable; my hoped for purpose, to initiate a discussion of what we can actually do about adding a few more landscape shapers to the democratic (small "d," please note) equation, and what self-exmination we may need to submit our own attitutdes toward "politics," and "politicians" to be successful in such an endeavor.

Perhaps taking a cue from the fundie zealots running this country, many Israeli leaders are applauding the country's ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, for the vandalization of a Swedish artwork. The installation, "Snow White and the Madness of Truth," consists of a white boat floating in a pool of red liquid. The sail depicts a female suicide bomber, Hanadi Jaradat, who killed 21 Israelis in Haifa on October 4. The installation, Israeli critics claim, is another manifestation of the vaunted recrudescence of anti-Semitism in Europe.

The problem for Israel's apolgists is that the artist, Dror Feiler, is an expatriate Israeli and former paratrooper in the IDF. That hasn't stopped them from denouncing the exhibit, however, or using it as a pretext for broadbrushing all criticism of Israel's policies in the Territories as little more than race hate. Sample reactions here, here, and here.

Questions of artistic merit aside, it's pretty clear that the work's symbolic obscurity invites a multiplicity of interpretations, which, in a political context almost guarantees that the crudest ones will prevail. (A Palestinian reaction, though laudatory, is even more thick-headed.) To its credit, Ha'aretz actually provides a link to the accompanying text for the installation, which Feiler claims his critics ignore. Hopefully it's less flat-footed sounding in the original Swedish, but it does refute Israel's core complaint. (Ha'aretz also manages the admirable feat of courageously defending Feiler's right to free expression without issuing a ritual denunciation of the work itself.)

This story seems to be attracting little attention here, outside of warbloggers with their usual pet obsessions. And perhaps for good reason.

Moshe Zimmermann, a European history professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said that while Muslims in Europe have adopted some anti-Semitic slogans, "there is no big anti-Semitic wave among the Europeans."

Mr. Zimmermann said complaints about anti-Semitism were meant to cover for "the destructive actions of Israel" in the West Bank and Gaza. "If everyone's an anti-Semite, you don't need to debate them."

Still, one cannot help but imagine the hue and cry here if the roles had been reversed, with an Arab diplomat acting like Ambassdor Mazel.

In any event, if you're going to hurl accusations of anti-Semitism, it helps not to do so while employing a signature brownshirt tactic.

Remember back when they used to just smoke cigars and ride around on tricycles?

Sharia. Where sharing is fundamentalist. I've always thought of Sharia as kind of like having to go through life with a little screeching Louis Sheldon (or some gawd-awful thing like that) tied around your neck. I don't think the Sharia story got that much play in the TV Cable Junk-News media. If any. Several bloggers posted about it, but I don't remember any greater SCLM mention of it. Of course, who really cares? Afterall, I, like many Americans, were pretty busy paying close attention to such grave threats to our democracy and humanity as Howard "the bottle rocket" Dean's weird trajectory through Iowas's midnight sky. Or his snub of Maureen Dowd. How dare he! There should be a televised duel. And, thanks to Insight Magazine, Gen. Wes Clarks ruthless hellborn whiskey soaked slaughter of the Branch Davidians at Waco. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that robotic swimming pool cleaner that they unleashed on Mars and Larry King's big interview with Tom Cruise, in which Tom explained to all America how Scientology can make them fabulously wealthy investing in real estate. And then of course there was all the oooling and more oooling and even more oooling and omnipresent cacaphony of excitable clack valve TV media nooze concerning Michael Jackson. Whoever he is. And on and on. And, oh yeah, there was football too, where a bunch of Volvo driving latte chugging elitists from the Northeast Liberal Occupation Zone beat up on some pantyhose wearing sissy team from the heartland. Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts, I think. It is 1968 again, ain't it?

Whatever. 4 on Sharia in Iraq. From the last week.

1 - From: Thursday, January 15, 2004
Riverbend | Baghdad Burning

Shari'a and Family Law...
On Wednesday our darling Iraqi Puppet Council decided that secular Iraqi family law would no longer be secular- it is now going to be according to Islamic Shari'a. Shari'a is Islamic law, whether from the Quran or quotes of the Prophet or interpretations of modern Islamic law by clerics and people who have dedicated their lives to studying Islam.

The news has barely been covered by Western or even Arab media and Iraqi media certainly aren't covering it. It is too much to ask of Al-Iraqiya to debate or cover a topic like this one- it would obviously conflict with the Egyptian soap operas and songs. This latest decision is going to be catastrophic for females- we're going backwards.

Don't get me wrong- pure Islamic law according to the Quran and the Prophet gives women certain unalterable, nonnegotiable rights. The problem arises when certain clerics decide to do their own interpretations of these laws (and just about *anyone* can make themselves a cleric these days). The bigger problem is that Shari'a may be drastically different from one cleric to another. There are actually fundamental differences in Shari'a between the different Islamic factions or 'methahib'. Even in the same methahib, there are dozens of different clerics who may have opposing opinions. This is going to mean more chaos than we already have to deal with. We've come to expect chaos in the streets… but chaos in the courts and judicial system too?!

2 - Healing Iraq Sharia to replace civil marriage and inheritance laws

I'm so happy about this, now I can marry and divorce in any way I like. Yay! I'm at the moment gathering family members to go to the local cleric so I can divorce my fourth wife which I don't really like anymore, and get myself an 11 year-old virgin. All the other small details will be settled within the family and with the blessings of the Sayid.

Now seriously, this GC decision has created a firestorm and is the most talked about news in Baghdad. There were Iraqi women groups demonstrations lead by Nisrin Barawari, the minister of public works, on Tuesday at Fardus square protesting against this discriminating decision.

So much for secularism. I guess my fears are now warranted especially with thousands of Shi'ites marching yesterday in Basrah shouting "Yes to Sistani" and "Death to America". Who is going to protect and enforce womens rights now? I'm pretty sure our good ole Godfather Sistani is now clapping his hands in glee. There is no way he wasn't involved in this decision.

3 - Via: Juan Cole

So, the response of the Bush administration to the September 11 attack on the United States by a group of radical Islamist extremists has been to abolish secular law for Iraqi women and impose a fundamentalist reading of Islamic law on them. Yes, it all makes perfect sense.

4 - Max Sawicky Oh You Make My Motor Run, My Sharia

This has been trampled over pretty thoroughly, but most people have missed the point. In a similar vein, we would like to remind you of the U.S. Occupation's upholding of Saddamist labor law.

The concession to Islamic supremacy over secularism is not some short-term slip out of pragmatism. It is fundamental to U.S. hegemony in the Middle East, and always has been. Theocracy is one of the U.S.-aligned Oil Cartel's weapons against secularism, nationalism, and democracy. The other one is expansionist Zionism.

Theocracy is synonymous with privatization of oil, for the sake of putting international markets (=foreign customers) first, and Arab national interests last. That's why the U.S. backed Osama and the mujaheddin against the Soviet-friendly Afghani government, why it upholds compliant monarchies, why Israel attacked the PLO before Hamas. It's why the corporatist Right inveighs against people like Saddam Hussein and before him, Nasser, and ignores equally horrendous crimes against human rights in other places.

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Dan Eggin of WaPo writes:

A growing number of commission members had concluded that the panel needs more time to prepare a thorough and credible accounting of missteps leading to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But the White House and leading Republicans have informed the panel that they oppose any delay, which raises the possibility that Sept. 11-related controversies could emerge during the

White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said, "The administration has given them an unprecedented amount of cooperation . . . and we expect they will be able to meet that deadline."

John Feehery, a spokesman for Hastert, said there is little support for a delay in the Republican-controlled Congress. "I can't imagine a situation where they get an extension," Feehery said. "I don't sense a lot of enthusiasm for considering that."

Kristen Breitweiser, whose husband, Ronald, was killed at the World Trade Center, said the interviews underscore a conflict-of-interest problem at the commission and cast serious doubts on the panel's credibility.

"We've had it," said Breitweiser, who met with several commission leaders last week. "It is such a slap in the face of the families of victims. They are dishonoring the dead with their irresponsible behavior."

No surprise. When has the uniquely vicious and irresponsible malAdministration ever exhibited a sense of honor? Anyhow, I like the part best where the White House mouthpiece says Bush's cooperation has been "unprecedented"—which doesn't say, does it, how much cooperation they actually gave ....

And the Post doesn't even put this on the front page?! The Post's ombudsman is here.

Drudge (!). (Via Oliver).

Surprise!

Oh Philly, Philly.

Just an old-fashioned beating.

Which I witnessed, again in the Marriott lounge, in the company of three gracious ladies from West Philly, who had taken the train in specially, and a street person with a terrible case of laryngitis. Until next year!

See below for farmer's coverage of the Sunday blogosphere. And GO IGGLES!!!!!


Indeed, what about Dick? Remarkably, or not, one Marc Liebowitz manages to doublethink his way into writing this sentence—"[Cheney] will never be called a sycophant, schmoozer or self-promoter—and then this one—"George W. Bush asked Cheney to vet prospective running mates in 2000, only to wind up asking . . . what about Dick? `It's the most Machiavellian [expletive] thing I've ever seen,' says Stuart Spencer, a Republican consultant and old friend of Cheney's"—in the very same article. Heading up a task force to select a VP, and selecting yourself, as did Cheney, looks like the essence of self-promotion to me. Strange how revealing the "friends" of Republicans can be, isn't it? Even stranger is what these friends laugh off; Kristof's report of Bush torturing and killing frogs as a child was corroborated by a childhood friend of Bush. Issues with Liebowitz's soft coverage of Cheney will doubtless land on the desk of overworked Post ombudsman Michael Getler (mail), whose column today quotes a good deal of well-reasoned, i.e., liberal criticism of WaPo's role in the state-run media. (Some honorable reporters still haven't gotten the memo on this one, fortunately for us and our democracy). Keep up the good work, folks!

And speaking of ombudsmen, Times "public editor" Daniel Okrent keeps his promise (back) to cover the Times's coverage of Dean. Okrent sums up: "Memo to Dean supporters: If you think it's rough when The Times has you under observation, be prepared to strap on your seat belts if he wins the nomination." (I certainly hope that's not a threat!) The only problem with Okrent's statement: The Times has already issued itself a get-out-of-jail-free card (here) for its fawning "coverage" of Bush in the 2000 campaign, and Whitewater too, if it comes to that. [See the Howler here, and here. Honestly, Mr. Okrent, do you think we don't keep careful records?] So, fool me once (Whitewater), shame on you. Fool me twice ("election" 2000), shame on me. Does Mr. Okrent (mail) give us a reason to reset the Time's lack-of-credibility counter to zero? I don't think so. Third time's not the charm. Mr. Okrent has bravely published his phone number: (212) 556-7652. Meanwhile, the Times does have some actual reportage on Walmart creatively abusing its workers, Microsoft's impunity, and the Bush trashing science in the National Park Service. (Why should my tax dollars go to place a book that claims the Grand Canyon is 6000 years old?)

Alisa Rubin has an interesting story on the difficulties Bush will have triangulating the Shiites, the Kurds, and the Sunnis in time for the Republican Guard's Manhattan in-gathering. Chalmers Johnson has an excellent article on the United States miltary footprint at home and abroad. "According to the American Enterprise Institute, the idea is to create "a global cavalry" that can ride in from "frontier stockades" and shoot up the "bad guys" as soon as we get some intelligence on them." And, on the same platform with Wesley Clark, Michael Moore successfully transmitted the aWol meme into the mainstream media. "Asked later if he shared Moore's view that Bush was a deserter, Clark said: "I've heard those charges. I don't know whether they're established or not. He was never prosecuted for it." How true. It will be interesting to compare and contrast SCLM coverage of Clark's artful non-denial denial with Dean's mere mention of the "Bush knew about 9/11" theories. Anyhow, with $130 million, Unka Karl shouldn't have too much trouble making this one go away. After all, Rove only has to produce one witness showing that Bush did do his service, even though the paperwork seems to be missing. P.S. Please, Korean parents: Don't multilate the tongues of your children so they can speak English without an accent.

Laura Bush raises $5 million for Bush's election.

Judith Steinberg heals the sick.

WWJD?

Maureen? (back)

Liberal Coalition blog-a-round

1 - Steve Gillard is back from vacation, I mean, "the hospital!". Some excerpts:

Saturday, January 17, 2004
I'm back from the hospital, after a week of bad food and having blood drawn daily. [...] A bad drug interaction on top of a viral infection. [...] My face is sunburned, I had to shave off all my facial hair and my lips are now bee-stung. It ain't pretty. [...] ...you will deal with a lot of women. If you like little brunettes, go... [...] It makes my brain hurt to think of the possibilities. Three, be nice. Be nice to the staff because if they hate you, your life there will suck,... [...] Four, the food may suck, but grin and bear it.

Hospital! Sounds to me like SG spent the week at a motel on the outskirts of Ensenada. But so what, really, when ya think about it, whats the difference? Welcome back SG.

2 - Speedkill has a post up (mirroring Juan Cole's post) regarding the growing lucrative kidnapping service industry in Iraq.

Colonel Feisal Ali, a veteran Baghdad policeman, said: "Criminals who used to steal gold and jewellery now specialise in kidnapping because it is easier and more profitable. Some actually maintain their own private prisons."

3 - Keith at the Invisible Library comments on New Zealanders impressions of the US. Also, you can read some of Keith's original fiction here --> The Tragic Circus or Here

4 - edwardpig has a good post up with regards to the: Five Things You Won't Hear in the State of the Union Address.

The group Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity has given Bush more helpful advice. Specifically, they have some suggestions for topics to include in his upcoming State of the Union Address:

5 - Jesse at Gotham City 13 makes the following observation with respect to national security pre 9/11.

Bill Clinton was well out of office and Bush had plenty of time to implement any new security measures that he needed to. Yet the same people, who can somehow blame Clinton for 9/11, overlook the fact that Bush did nothing to prevent the attack, either. If Clinton's approach was so awful, how come Bush didn't change it? [continue reading Keep Turning That Tide at link above]

6 - Trish Wilson gives us a heads up on the publication of her article in the women's news journal Off Our Backs

I have just received word that "off our backs" will be publishing my article about the use of specious medical syndromes against women in custody cases in the Jan/Feb '04 issue. One "syndrome" I discuss at length is Parental Alienation Syndrome.

7 - Oh No! ~ Stradiotto, who knows how to ride even with an arrow through his head, has revealed a top secret confidential DoD photo that I missed! Evil Stradiotto!

He also been working on a biographical photo montage celebrating the life and times of Henry Kissinger. Sneak peak here --> Dr. Henry sacrifices the personal little things in life, to better serve his country's diplomacy.

EXTRA! Thank God and Old Glory The General understands me.

8 Chris "Lefty" Brown gets my vote in the "snappy answers to stupid comments" awards category. See for yerself.

9 LISTEN: Alex at Sooner Thought is an actual real journalist. Or was an actual real journalist, but now does something different. And a real political campaign consultant too. Or was. In any case, hes not some yo-yo out here venting so much viscious blather like myself. Although I do have a real journalist in my family (and no, I'm not going to tell who it is) because then some idiots might send them mean stupid email messages. And I think we all know how charming that can be.

Anyway, for a real journalist, who writes like one..... this is what I'm talking about. Read: Heartless Marriage Plans
Ooops Update: Proof that I'm a yo-yo. Alex didn't write "Heartless Marriage Plans". I missed the NYTimes credit at the bottom of the article. But go read "Heartless Marriage Plans" anyway and then browse around and read some more at Sooner Thought.

10 BlogAmy spends two cents wisely and fairly with respect to the gun ownership debate. And as a side-note to this issue, I also grew up with guns; hunting critters, and so forth. I don't hunt any more but I still own a gun and I know how to use it. Likewise, others in my family still hunt and have been doing so for a long time. Venison really is some good eatin'. But, I don't know anyone who takes hunting seriously (from an eat what you kill perspective) who belongs to the NRA. Not one. All of the hunters I know consider the NRA crowd a group of yahoos. Even worse, the GOA! (Gun Owners of America) The crazies who are/were headed up by that Falangist kook Larry Pratt. Urrggh. Don't get me going on Larry Pratt.

Similarly, the "canned hunt" is considered nothing more than shooting fish in a barrel. And more often than not nothing more than some salable outing for some drip who doesn't want to sit in a tree stand for ten hours in ten degree weather waiting for the object of the hunt to appear, or not. "Canned hunts" are for phonies and posers and dandy boys. If you want to hunt game, learn how to do it. If you want some hot man action story to tell the doods at the office learn how to sharpen chainsaws or go jump off a bridge with a bungee cord coiled around your friggin' ankle. In any case, I'm sure that there are responsible hunters out there who are also NRA members. However, the yahoos that drive the NRA chuckwagon have a different ideological and political agenda which they are driving forward at the expense of those who hunt responsibly and take environmental and wildlife management issues seriously.

Owning a 50mm canon, just so you can destroy a small tool shed during your annual Fourth of July backyard ride-on lawnmower race doesn't have anything to do with hunting, or "freedom," or "patriotism," or the Constitution, or hot manly action, or much of anything else for that matter. It just simply means that you are a jerk who is going to have to buy a new tool shed before the next heavy summer rain rolls over the horizon.

Anyway. In my opinion, the whole gun ownership debate has been hijacked by absolutists from both left and right over the years. And unfortunately the absolutist right, by ricochet, has managed to ring more bells in the "public square"; at the expense of those who take responsible gun ownership issues and legislation seriously.

And finally, this weeks NZ Bear Showcase entry endorsement goes to c h a n d r a s u t r a for the following:

You're soaking in it - One of the most terrifying things I've seen on television in recent months are those ads for disposable cleaning products. I watch in horror as manic, Khaki-pants wearing housewives rush in a state of housebound frenzy, jamming flimsy plastic faux mops into the nooks and crannies of their gigantic and spotless homes. Aside from the obvious Freudian readings, the commercials feature toxic attidues not only towards women (retro 50s values, etc) but to all aspects of our mental and environmental health.

I agree completely. Buy a cotton dish towel, and/or a real mop and bucket, and learn how to use it. Otherwise, learn to live with some dirt. It ain't gonna kill ya. As a matter of fact it's good for you. Most of your food grows in it. So knock off the clean freak routine. Take off your muddy shoes, in the living room, and stay a while.

CODA That's it. I apologize to those LC members who I didn't get to list this round. Just too many for one post, all at one time. All visitors take a gander at the blogroll. LC members are indicated by one of these thingies - } - Go read what they have to say. Go. You won't be sorry.

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One of the super-aware Iowa voters, after commenting that Dean is "handsome," then says:

''I don't want to date him,'' he says, by way of clarification.

MoDo, on the other hand, does:

I decided to use my five minutes to find out if [Dean] has the sunny side Americans love in their leaders. I'd ask him what he'd want to do for fun on a Saturday night if he could play hooky. I'd ask him the last time he did something goofy and what made him really laugh.

While I was waiting for him to call, I grew more and more afraid that he'd get angry at me for wasting his time with piffle. I cowered by the phone, jumping when it rang.

Calling Dr. Freud on those "bulging" neck muscles MoDo writes of... It's really too transparent, isn't it? And it's a shame....

Caught the last half of last week's game, including the 4th and 26th play—take it like a man, you gaseous pill-popping Pharisaic buffoon—in the lobby of the downtown Marriott, where they'd wheeled out the big TVs. A nice mix of business-people, tourists, students, skateboarders, streetpeople, and the random, all very knowdledgeable about football. Very Philly. Guess I'll be back there tomorrow. Indeed, I hope Jim Capazolla can stay here (especially if we find a way to help him, as Farmer and Leah have already said).

What's wrong with this picture?

Andrew Sullivan, among the least generous of writers (in his writing) I can think of, and not a very good one at that, has a pledge month in support of his blog, unpleansantly named The Daily Dish, and raises, so he says, $80,000.

James Capozolla, the generous creator of that elegant, insightful, amusing, and always beautifully written online magazine, The Rittenhouse Review, and its "lighter side" companion, TTR, after a rough patch of some notably rotten luck, finds himself tettering on the brink of having to leave Phildelphia, a city that is home to him now, and which he loves, a dreaded move which will undermine, among other things, his ability to blog to his fullest capacity.

So much is wrong with that picture, one hardly has the time to enumerate, so let's pursue a happier thought.

We can do something about this.

When I first started reading The Rittenhouse Review, Jim had no tip jar; the only solicitations he ever made were on behalf of other worthy bloggers who needed some help when ends refused to meet. Then he had an outside job. Now he doesn't. Then there was no problem for him to offer his magazine to his reader gratis, now there is. Nothing all that complicated here.

(If you are a newcomer to "Rittenhouse," Jim's archives are a garden of delights; just point your mouse, click and enjoy)

Whether you've yet to discover Jim's work, or you are a longtime reader, if your visits to "blogtopia," (thank-you, skippy) have become an important support to your own sanity, if they have enriched your life, you have something to thank Jim for, because he is certainly among those left of center bloggers who have had the most inspiring influence on other bloggers.

Look, when an Alterman, or a Conason, or a Franken write a book, we buy it. A Jim Capazolla gives us years of an on-line magazine, and we're not sure what to do to support it. Jim needs to know if his blogging is feasible. We need to know that Jim will continue to be there, blogging. That seems fairly straightforward to me.

Pay Pal makes it easy; most of us don't have the disposable income to become Peggy Guggenheim type patrons (although, if there are any Peggy wannabes out there, can't imagine a better bet than Jim for future output that'll make you proud, and yes I'm also talking to you secretive MacArthur Foundation people), but that's not what's required to change that picture we drew at the beginning.

If enough of us click on that conveniently positioned icon on Jim's fabulous sidebar (even his sidebar tells you so much about Jim as a man and a writer), even the smallest contribution becomes magnified. Don't not click because you've only got an extra 5 or 10 bucks to contribute. (Do the math: if 1500 readers paid two dollars a month...it all adds up, doesn't it) So don't be shy about reminding friends and family to do their share; for those whom you know who don't yet know about Jim's blog, you'll be giving them a gift.

Susan at the wonderful Suburban Guerrilla, another fine person currently having more than her share of life challenges, has more on the subject.

UPI (such as they are) has detail on the Cheney-driven, secret deliberations leading up to Bush's moondoggle announcement. But, for some reason, getting the program underway won't be a cakewalk. Gwyneth Shaw of the Orlando Sentinel:

President Bush's vision for the space program is aimed at stirring inspiration among Americans. But some, in the wake of his speech last week, are asking a more mundane but pressing question: Why?

Why indeed? Let's review. The moondoggle:

• Gives aWol a bump in the polls; lots of headlines using the words "bold" and "vision"


• Makes a good theme for the SOTU, especially after last year's lie-filled fiasco


• Lots of money promised to Texas ('nuff said) and Florida (Jebbie's swing state)


• Takes the first step in the PNAC's mandate to militarize space

What's not to like?

Quick! Does Rummy know? The Independent reports:

As the United States scrambles to end a dispute with Shia leaders over plans to elect an interim government in Iraq before July, it has emerged that American commanders are seeking to reach out to tribal leaders by relying on a report devised in 1918 by Britain, the country's then ruler.

Lieutenant-Colonel Alan King, head of the Tribal Affairs Bureau set up by the US-led coalition last month, admitted last week that he had been referring to the pages of the British report to fathom Iraq's network of tribal sheikhs - regardless of the fact that it dates back to the First World War.

The revelation is not likely to improve confidence in the ability of the US to sort out the deepening muddle over how it means to relinquish political power to the Iraqi people by this summer.

"Not likely to improve confidence"—I love that British understatement!

Hey, they fired all the gay translators—maybe the map guys were gay too?

But the program is interesting: we need to know where the sheiks are so we can throw money at them:

For Col King the advantages are clear: he receives reports from them on local affairs, a precious commodity since the Iraqi administration fell into decline after the first Gulf War and almost disappeared with the second. His bureau - the Office of Provincial Outreach - was awarded US$900,000 last week to establish "Tribal Democracy Centres", to provide resources to the sheikhs.

Why would we want to give the sheiks money? Could it have anything to do with the elections? Edward Wong of The Times reports:

As they head into a crucial meeting at the United Nations, American officials are struggling to cobble together an electoral process that will favor Iraqi moderates for the handover of sovereignty just five and a half months away.

Moderates being the sheiks, as opposed to the Shiites, I would think. So the first step is to buy them off. Hey, it worked with the warlords in Afghanistan! Didn't it?

We know how vicious and vindictive Bush can be. So these men deserve our praise for standing up for principle on behalf of the Guatanamo detainees who are their clients.

Neil Lewis of the Times reports:

Five uniformed military lawyers assigned to defend detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have filed a brief with the Supreme Court, challenging the basis of President Bush's plan to use military tribunals without civilian court review to try some of the detainees there.

In their 30-page brief, filed late Wednesday, the lawyers assert that President Bush worked to "create a legal black hole" and overstepped his constitutional authority as commander in chief in the way he set up the program for military tribunals.

The government has tried to create a military tribunal system thoroughly insulated from the civilian court system. But in their brief, which civilian and military legal experts consider extraordinary because the defense lawyers are military officers challenging their commander in chief's authority, the lawyers are, in effect, trying to jump over the fence into the civilian system.

"Under this monarchical regime, those who fall into the black hole may not contest the jurisdiction, competency or even the constitutionality of the military tribunals," the defense lawyers wrote. They said they were not taking a position on whether the president may deny habeas corpus to people simply detained at Guantánamo, but once he puts them before a tribunal as the government is contemplating, "he has moved outside his role as commander in chief."

Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, who represents one of two detainees who have been assigned lawyers, said in an interview that though the brief was extraordinary, "It was unavoidable as part of our duty to represent the interests of our clients."

The defense lawyers are, of course, upholding the rule of law and our Constitution—exactly the "soft power" Bush is so eagerly trashing. Meanwhile, the SCLM natters on about sweaters...

From the Drudge Report (and whoever would have told him?):

After scheduling a phone interview with Dowd at her hotel in Des Moines, the candidate never called!

Interesting, and if true, I don't like what it says about Dean's staffwork...

Well, we'll see if Maureen can manage to rise above it all—not!

Brooks burbles:

Dean's vague about what he's for, but he's venomous toward anyone who disagrees with him. If elected [sic], political discourse would sink to new lows.

If who is elected, Dave? "Political discourse"? You? And doesn't the World's Greatest Newspaper (not!) have editors to take care of this short of thing? Oh well, when you're "still on the learning curve" I guess these little glitches will happen...

The thing is, I didn't think Brooks was still on the learning curve for grammar, but with the Republicans and their MWs, no matter how bad you think it is, it's worse.

Meanwhile, the claim, coming from Brooks, that "political discourse would sink to new lows" is a really good operational definition of chutzpah.

Anthony Man and Kathy Bushouse of the Sun-Sentinel report:

Arguing that he's exhausted other options and that time is running out to ensure an accurate 2004 election, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, turned to the courts Friday in his quest to require paper printouts from electronic voting machines.

In a lawsuit against Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood and Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore, Wexler asked a judge to conclude that both officials are violating their duties to ensure votes are counted accurately.

Wexler's desired fix is a printed duplicate of all ballots cast on electronic voting machines used in Broward, Palm Beach and other Florida counties. He said such a paper trail is the only way to guarantee fair elections because it's the only way to conduct an accurate recount in a close race.

Wexler said he's long been concerned about the lack of a paper record for touch-screen machines, and his fears were confirmed by last week's special election for Florida House District 91 in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Ellyn Bogdanoff was declared the winner by 12 votes. Voting machines showed that 137 people who went to the polls that day cast no ballot even though it was the day's only election.

The outcome prompted him to go to court because he's been writing letters to Hood and LePore for months and nothing has happened.

"It is mind-boggling to me because there is nothing partisan about this issue. There is nothing Democratic about it, and there is nothing Republican about it. This is as American as apple pie," he said.

I wonder why the Republicans would oppose this?

I hope I'm not too late here, but go help out Jim Cappozzola at Rittenhouse Review. Especially anyone with some extra $$$ to fling around. Fling some Cappozzola's way. Send him some money. Donate some funding to someone who really deserves it. Support the Jim Cappozzola for Full Time Philadelphia Blogger Campaign. Keep Jim in Philly. Personally, I can't fully understand why he doesn't want to live in the middle of nowhere. I love the middle of "Rustic" nowhere myself, not necessarily unconditionally, but would reccomend it to anyone who finds value in four cords of firewood and a smelly wet dog and doesn't mind buying their pizzas at a friggin' gas station. But, if Jim wants to live in Philly with a bunch of crazy Pennsylvanians I'm all for it. Plus, buying pizzas at a gas station ain't really all it's puffed up to be. Despite what you hear on the Food Channel. Take my word for that. And Philly has good pizza. Take my word for that too. So, if you can, go help Jim Cappozzola stay in Philadelphia where he can do his thing, eat real pizza, and be happy. The guy is an artist for Christ sake. Support the Arts!

And if you think I'm crazy, and I suspect an un-godly number of you do, forget about what I say. Just go HERE

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Stoopid Hippy Morons!

Gad-dang longhair hippie scarfhead war protestors! Whats that sign mean, "Go USA"? We ain't goin' nowhere. Patriots stay right where they is told to stay. And whats with the songbird t-shirt? Probably part of some kind of vegetarian sprout eating atheist cult of enviro-terrist extremiss liberals. Nuke the songbirds! LOL. I'll bet this guy went out picking up under-age dates at some leftist political love-in soons as he was done hating America. Hey you! Hippy! Yer mustache is on fire! Heh heh.... see that's funny because he's probably a homosexual too. Flaming mustache - homosexual - get it?

Flashback Photo: Hippy War demonstrator. Spring, 2003

reductio ad absurdum

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David Savage of the LA Times reports:

Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spent part of last week duck hunting together at a private camp in south Louisiana, just three weeks after the high court agreed to take up the vice president's appeal involving lawsuits over his handling of the administration's energy task force.

While Scalia and Cheney are avid hunters and long-time friends, several experts in legal ethics questioned the timing of their trip.

"The better part of wisdom should have led Justice Scalia to avoid the vice president while this case was pending before the court," said New York University law professor Stephen Gillers.

Federal law says "any justice or judge shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might be questioned."

For nearly three years, Cheney has been fighting demands that he reveal whether he met with energy industry officials, including then-Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay, when he was formulating the president's energy policy.

A lower court ruled that Cheney must turn over documents detailing who met with his task force. However, on Dec. 15, the high court announced that it would hear his appeal. The justices are due to hear arguments in the case in April.

Aux duck pits, citoyens!

Although, to be fair to Scalia, his mind is probably already made up....

Who knew?

Mathew Rosenberg of AP reports:

An aide to Iraq's most prominent Shiite cleric on Friday branded the U.S. formula for transferring power a "hasty agreement" aimed at boosting President Bush's re-election campaign.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, the country's most influential Shiite Muslim leader, has demanded that members of a new provisional legislature be chosen by voters. The Americans want them selected by regional caucuses.

U.S. officials insist al-Sistani's demand for elections is unfeasible given Iraq's security situation. Many Shiites suspect the Americans simply want to manipulate the caucuses to make sure favored Iraqis win seats.

Bush? Manipulate an election? Say, why don't we give the Iraqis electronic voting machines? Yeah, that's the ticket...

Meanwhile, Bush tries to get the UN to pacify Sistani! Here:

The Bush administration hopes Bremer can persuade Annan to dispatch a U.N. delegation to Iraq to convince Sistani there's no time to organize elections. Annan has expressed such reservations himself. The Shiite cleric may be more open to accepting this view if it comes from the United Nations.

So, it turns out the UN has its uses after all... Now we're in step 2 of the Bush Approach to Diplomacy. Step (1): Piss all over them. Step (2) Demand their help. Sigh....

From a classified ad which appeared in the Okfuskee County News, Oklahoma, circa 1926.

I can locate oil, gas or salt water - in fact can honestly predict the outcome of any hole before it is drilled. God being with me.
~ F.M. Casey, Route 2, Okemah.

There ya have it. The Bush administration's entire scientific peer review process (and energy policy too), summed up in twenty six words. And not none of them big funny elitist Volvo driving liberal "junk science" college professor type words neither.

Think I'm kidding? Steve Bates at The Yellow Doggerel Democrat has a scary post up concerning the Bush Errands latest "pig in a poke" policy initiative. Specifically, their attemps to turn the scientific review process into something resembling The Wonders of the Invisible World.

Go read what Steve has written. It's important. It should be in the newspaper. Like, someone should send David Brooks off to paddle a leaky canoe down the Neosho and assign Steve's article to the Brooks timeslot instead.

By the way: The Neosho is a Jewish river that flows from Council Grove Kansas southeast into eastern Oklahoma near Narcissa where it empties into a great winding mystery, a fabulous serpentine inland waterway teeming with golden fishes and talking fossils and nightmarish whirlpools of damned liberals. Graceful ships of stone glide by effortlessly and miraculous healing currents of liquid fire flow unseen past Neodesha - a casual Semantic port town - located on the opposite banks of the Lost City. Knowledgeable premillennialist tour guides appointed by an expert team of seraphim archeologists provide "facts" and answer any questions you may have with respect to natural law and the scientific creation designs of the region's bountiful scenic wonders.

Entertainment is provided nightly and the gift shop is open each day except Sunday. Unless you're a Seventh Day Adventist, in which case the gift shop is also closed on Saturday. The entire rolling pageant eventually, one way or another, empties itself into the shimmering Purple Bay of Intransigent Belief and ultimately the Eternal Ocean of Incomprehensible Nonsense. Just take my word for it. You can learn all about it from the National Park Service. See: The Grand Canyon...Science and Faith and ...Promote Religion, Says Watchdog Group

Ok, where was I? Oh yeah. Seriously now, go read Steve Bates's article titled Replacing Science with Politics: Peer Review Endangered

Excerpt:

Having limited blogging time enforces a new discipline on me: deciding exactly which one of the dozens of frightening things I find in the course of an evening's surfing is most worth posting about. This one meets the criterion, packed full and running over...

[...]

The administration says that policy should be based on scientific truths so well-established as to be beyond question. But there is no scientific truth beyond question; that is the very nature of science. This is not about basing policy on better science; this is about interfering with the decision of what constitutes good science... to the financial advantage of various industries that contribute to Bush's campaign, and to the political advantage of the Bush administration as they throw a bone to their religious "conservative" (read: radical fundamentalist) supporters.

Continue reading Replacing Science with Politics

*

Excellent post from Pandagon (who rips Jonah Goldberg a new one).

Krugman:

Earlier this week, Wesley Clark had some strong words about the state of the nation. "I think we're at risk with our democracy," he said. "I think we're dealing with the most closed, imperialistic, nastiest administration in living memory. They even put Richard Nixon to shame."

In other words, the general gets it: he understands that America is facing what Kevin Phillips, in his remarkable new book, "American Dynasty," calls a "Machiavellian moment." Among other things, this tells us that General Clark and Howard Dean, whatever they may say in the heat of the nomination fight, are on the same side of the great Democratic divide.

Most political reporting on the Democratic race, it seems to me, has gotten it wrong. Some journalists do, of course, insist on trivializing the whole thing: what I dread most, in the event of an upset in Iowa, is the return of reporting about the political significance of John Kerry's hair.

But even those who refrain from turning political reporting into gossip have used the wrong categories. Again and again, one reads that it's about the left wing of the Democratic party versus the centrists; but Mr. Dean was a very centrist governor, and his policy proposals are not obviously more liberal than those of his rivals.

The real division in the race for the Democratic nomination is between those who are willing to question not just the policies but also the honesty and the motives of the people running our country, and those who aren't.

What makes Mr. Dean seem radical aren't his policy positions but his willingness — shared, we now know, by General Clark — to take a hard line against the Bush administration.

Exhibit A: Whiney Joe. BY contrast, John Harris of WaPo gives the Beltway CW:

The question haunting Dean, raised in various ways by all his main rivals in recent days, is whether he stands any chance of exerting appeal beyond core Democrats who share his strong opposition to the Iraq war and his liberal social views, and who raise their fists in agreement with his biting attacks on Bush.

It's "willingness" that is the key in my mind—as in a 12 Step program, there are Dems who have "become willing" to tell the truth about Bush, and those who have not. Since those who unwilling have no chance of winning—since "lie" is a part of "Bush Lite, after all—we had better go those are willing....

Al Gore quoted by Bob Herbert here:

At one point, he told his audience: "In preparing this series of speeches, I have noticed a troubling pattern that characterizes the Bush-Cheney administration's approach to almost all issues. In almost every policy area, the administration's consistent goal has been to eliminate any constraints on their exercise of raw power, whether by law, regulation, alliance or treaty. And in the process, they have in each case caused America to be seen by the other nations of the world as showing disdain for the international community."

Amid cheers, he made it clear that the broad interests of the American public are consistently betrayed by the policies and practices of President Bush and his administration. "They devise their policies with as much secrecy as possible," he said, "and in close cooperation with the most powerful special interests that have a monetary stake in what happens. In each case, the public interest is not only ignored, but actively undermined. In each case, they devote considerable attention to a clever strategy of deception that appears designed to prevent the American people from discerning what it is they are actually doing.

"Indeed, they often use Orwellian language to disguise their true purposes. For example, a policy that opens national forests to destructive logging of old-growth trees is labeled Healthy Forest Initiative. A policy that vastly increases the amount of pollution that can be dumped into the air is called the Clear Skies Initiative."

Truly, POTL (People of The Lie.

Balance? This is balanced!

Looks like the Moran Family Klan has discovered Margaret Cho. Apparently they've managed to work themeselves into quite a state of agitated spittle-froth over her comments made during the Monday night "MoveOn.org fundraiser, and, to emphasize their territorial dominance, decided to gang squat in her email litter-box.


The cats at American Politics Journal have mangaed to isolate some of the more diseased Freeper scat specimens that have been left behind by these so called FreeRepublic protectors of virtue and patriotism and all things mannered. You can examine a collection of these specimens yourself. Poke at 'em with a stick, whatever. They are currently available for closer inspection via APJ's Cro-Mangan Mail Special feature HERE - Take a look. Don't get any on ya.

Below are a few samples I examined myself, from APJ's page, in order to bring them here to show you what they look like. NOTE: According to APJ, "All obscenities, profanities and naughty words have been $#%@&ed for your safety."

Update: Jan. 17, 2003 - Per request via MargaretCho.com the last names of those displayed below have been redacted, or partially redacted.

Note: I thought it important to publish each letter the way it was received as I didn't want to be accused of fabrication. But now, Margaret has asked me to remove everyone's email address and last name. In addition, we are asking that other sites that have reprinted this info do the same and until that time we're also requesting that people refrain from contacting the authors of these horrible letters. They know Margaret is supported. They know they've hurt many people with their words. Some people have even apologized. It's time for healing and tolerance.

ALSO: PLEASE don't email us any more support. We know you're out there (we've gotten twice as many support letters as hate mail) but our inboxes are full. Thank You.

Here's one from some cluck named "chris xxxxx", even though his email address is named "tobyxxxx":

F$@# you you oriental c$%& . you are not even an american. You are soooo stupid. Go f$@# yourself and go back to Asia you slanted eye whore.

Here's an articulate message from some post-hole named "Mark Hxxxx":

What a f$@#in' fat c$%&

Probably took Mark a whole half an hour to string that one together.

Here's one from some chivalrous conservative gent named "Tom Smxxx":

which way does your p?$$y slant, baby? this is important, since you are certainly quite unfunny.

Here's one from "Mike Smxxx", whose relation to "Tom Smith" is undisclosed. However, it appears that "Mike" is more of a conservative Christian gentlemen than "Tom". Lets get with the program "Tom"!

their daughter is an insecure, arrogant, butt-ugly, obnoxious, potty-mouthed, uneducated, fat liberal who makes fun of God and christians all the time.

(funny how that works, ...God has the power to simply SPEAK the entire world into existence, and idiots all over his creation make fun of him, regardless of what he has in store for those who choose NOT to believe.)

Put the cheeseburger down, pull Clinton's d!ck out of your mouth, and wise up. Because the people who adore you have AIDS for a REASON.

Funny how that works isn't it? After ranting and raving about being "obnoxious," "potty-mouthed," and "liberal," and those who make fun of "God and christians", with a small 'c,' Mike concludes with the instruction, "pull Clinton's dick out of your mouth..." - - Well well, What Would Jesus Do? In any case, thats very nice of Mike to offer such friendly Christian advice. "pull Clinton's dick out of your mouth." Hey, come to think of it, weren't those Jesus's exact words when he......oh, no, never mind, I was probably thinking of something I heard on one of those Right-Wing Christian values radio call in shows.

And speaking of getting with the program, the old Bump Monkey Pox Caps-Lock syndrome makes its usual appearence, and the whole Christian Nation goosestep thing too. This one from some squawk named "Spedxxxxxxxx":

IT AINT FUNNY TO DISS HALF THE US POPULATION!!!!
SUGGEST THIS PUPPY GET A CIVICS EXAM OR ELSE TURN IN HER GREEN CARD !!! WE ARE A CHRISTIAN NATION WHO LET HER KIN IN TO HAVE A BETTER LIFE GET WITH THE PROGRAM OR GET OUT

Easy on the methamphetamine for JESUS. "Sped."

Then there's one from some guy who called "David T xxxxx" who blasts off with:

Dear fat g00k:

And from "sjoycexxx":

Just a quick note to let you know that after reading your comments from the move on . org awards I was disgusted. Your comments were totally uncalled for. Why don't you you take your fat slant eyed head and go back to China. F__k You

And then "Sped" is back. Apparently couldn't get enough of hisself, he writes this:

light ring rut here. we grive u new klorian name, u = wan fat ho u arsso Femernazi too. and big blitch [...] SIGNED DENNIS MILLER SAN.

Sped's quite the comedian, eh? I'll bet he becomes famous soon. Maybe the opening act for next years Aryan National Congress. Assuming they can find a campsite they can afford to rent. Apparently "Sped" is also a close friend of Dennis Miller's. Close enough to borrow his name for the evening.

Here's one from some gomer named "SPAULDINGD", in all caps, who apparently believes that his email messages will arrive faster if he yell-mails them.

Thank you for protecting my free speech. I'm sure you had a good time with moveon folks, sucking pimples off the c0ck of Chuck D--like cool. Many babes want that. And, of course, you got to feel the soft d!ck of Al & his pals. There is nothing you could have done to harden them. Keep sucking free air for us.

SPAULDINGD seems to have a thing for sucking. Or, maybe he doesn't!? Heh. Or, maybe SPAULDINGD isn't even a "he"? Gee.

Here's one from "Jim xxxxx", who might like to have a long talk with Rick Santorum. Jim seems to be a little, how shall I say, overly hands-on when it comes animal husbandry. A little to, perhaps, involved, with the social lives of his own pigs. If ya know what I mean.

Gee! Now that it is open season on blogs, how about coming down to my pig farm. You look like some good stock to breed with my pigs. In fact, if I have one that looks exactly like you I can sell more pigs to the Chinatowns across the U.S. It is too bad your such a stupid arrogant idiot who life is full of pampering and stupid left wing ideology. It is just too bad that you give a f$@# less about the people who have been murdered, tortured and raped in Iraq, or the other 100 millions of people that have been killed throughout the last 70 years because of leftist thinkers who support tyrants and dictators like yourself. Too, bad you’re too stupid to understand. What a pity, what a waste of talent.

However, not is all wasted if you come down to my pig farm. In another month it will be breeding season.

Well, there ya have it. There are many more. You can check em out for yourself at the APJ's website feature on the topic, A Very Special Cro-Magnon Mail! or visit Margaret Cho's blog and read her response.

What I can see is that there are really stupid people in this country and then when you point out how stupid they are, they get fucking mad as fuck. ~ Margaret Cho

All of this reminded me of something H.L. Mencken wrote a long time ago.

The caveman is all muscles and mush. Without a woman to rule him and think for him, he is a truly lamentable spectacle: a baby with whiskers, ...a feeble and preposterous caricature of God.
~ HL Mencken, In Defense of Women, 1918

Update: Apparently some of the Freeper cowards out there don't like it when the lights are turned on. Or when they get their own shit tossed right back into their own backyard. Those mean angy liberals!

I am gloating. People be trying to beg us to take their email addresses off the site because they have been deluged with hate mail in response to their hate mails to me. I want to say, "You reap what you sow," but now I have all kind of love for the because it is out of my hands. ~ Margaret Cho

I can't wait until they start howling about their email address private property rights being violated. Freepers. They're all puff and piffle. Children playing with firecrackers. And when their own miss-fired handiwork blows their own fingers off they run crying for sympathy from the target of their torments. Freepers. Find me one, that isn't a few fingers short of ten.

*

I wrote:

Subject: Jason Blair vs. Whitewater coverage

The first: massive introspection, gloom and doom.

The second: complete silence.

The Times will have as much or as little credibility as the Moonie Times (The Washington Times) until it cleans house on Whitewater too.

They responded:

Thank you for your message.

Given the volume of reader comment; given the need to start with a clean slate; and given the difficulty of evaluating the paper's past deeds and alleged misdeeds, Dan Okrent has decided as a matter of policy not to address issues that arose before his tenure began, except insofar as they relate to the paper's actions from December 1 forward. I am sure you will understand that, were we to do this any other fashion, we would disappear into an endless tunnel.

I do not mean to suggest in any way that I am not interested in your concerns about the paper.

If you see specific instances that concern you in the future please send me a message citing examples.

Sincerely,
Arthur Bovino
Office of the Public Editor

Well, we wouldn't want the Times to disappear into an endless tunnel, would we? (Paging Dr. Freud! Paging Dr. Freud!)

Readers: Which Times story would you nominate for Times Misdeed of the Week, and why? Please remember to give the URI. TIA!

Maybe we can try to do this on a weekly basis...

Louise Chu of AP reports:

Kathy Nicholas had planned to pay quiet tribute Thursday at the tomb of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

So did President Bush. The combination was anything but quiet.

Nicholas was among about 700 people who booed, chanted and beat drums near the typically placid grave site, angry that Bush was there on what would have been the slain civil rights leader's 75th birthday.

"When I heard Bush was coming here I couldn't believe it. I was outraged and disgusted, and I just think it's a photo op. It's so transparent," said Nicholas, a flight attendant who brought a sign that read: "Mr. Bush, May Dr. King's spirit rise up n welcome you, touch you n speak to you."

The protesters pushed past Secret Service barricades. They pounded on the sides of three city buses parked on the street in front of King's tomb to block them from the president's motorcade.

As Bush arrived, the crowd booed and chanted "Bush go home!" He placed a wreath on King's grave before heading to a $2,000-a-plate fund-raiser in Atlanta.

FinallyI Bush actually has to hear and see a protester. Generally, the Secret Service keeps him in a bubble—and somehow only the people holding pro-Bush signs get to see the "President," while anyone else is relegated to a "free-speech" zone well away from the cameras.

Congratulations, Kathy, for making it clear that anywhere in America should be a free speech zone. And we hope to see you in Manhattan for the Republican National Convention.

Hmmm...

A Senate committee chairman has written senators seeking their support for a troubled government-wide spending bill and pointedly listing the projects the measure includes for each lawmaker's home state.

"The subcommittees have tried to accommodate your priorities and concerns in this bill," read the Jan. 6 letter by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. "Attached you will find a list of projects that may be of particular interest to you."
(AP)

Sure, pork is what it is, and the Dems aren't exactly Vegans, but aren't the Republicans supposed to be for small government and fiscal responsibility? Fat chance!

Oh year, the "troubled" spending bill is the one the Republicans couldn't manage to pass last October, when the fiscal year began, although they did manage to have a made-for-TV filibuster, and a debate about whether to take FDR's image off the dime. And aren't the Republicans supposed to competent and well-organized?

From Bush seeks friends in Latin America Jan. 14, 2004, the Herald Sun (Australia)

MONTERREY – Latin Americans had a God-given right to freedom, President George W. Bush said yesterday, launching a sharp attack on his rivals in a region where anti-US feeling is rising. [...and...] "Dictatorship has no place in the Americas. We must all work for a rapid, peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba." [...and...] Washington's support for sometimes brutal Latin American governments during the Cold War left many distrusting the US.

Yeah, well, there ya go again. Thats all very reasuring coming from the so called leader of an administration which to this day harbors some of the very same Washington doppelgangers of past "God-given" Cold War brutality that gave Latin America such homicidal lovelies as Augusto Pinochet and the genocidal evangelical lunatic minister/general Rios Montt. You know, Rios Montt, the guy Ronald Reagan pronounced "a man of great personal integrity" and a man who was "getting a bum rap on human rights." Uh-huh. Sure. "Dictatorship has no place in the Americas." I'll bet more than a few "Americans" on both sides of the equator had a good long snicker over that one.

[...and...] He said firm support for democracy "gives hope and strength to those struggling to preserve their God-given rights", and referred to Venezuela and Haiti, which have both clashed with the US.

Bush vs. Gore Presidental debates, Oct 11, 2000
I'll bet this statement below will offer even more "hope and strength to those struggling" for preservation in Latin America. From the Bush vs. Gore debates, Oct 11, 2000. Listen to this beauty: (highlights and bold emphasis below are mine)

MODERATOR: Does that give us -- does our wealth, our good economy, our power, bring with it special obligations to the rest of the world?

BUSH: Yes, it does. Take, for example, Third World debt. I think we ought to be forgiving Third World debt under certain conditions. I think, for example, if we're convinced that a Third World country that's got a lot of debt would reform itself, that the money wouldn't go into the hands of a few but would go to help people, I think it makes sense for us to use our wealth in that way, or to trade debt for valuable rain forest lands, makes that much sense, yes.

Gee. Where do ya start with convoluted gibberish like that? We'll forgive you if you "reform" (whatever exactly that means) yourself - if (?) "that the money wouldn't go into the hands of a few"? Funny hain't it, coming from the guy who has made a quite a name for himself in his own country making sure the money goes into the hands of a few.

But wait. There's always the or factor. As in, we'll squeeze you dry until you agree to "trade" in your natural resources. How's that for a "special" obligation. Hows that for bringing our wealth and power to the rest of the world. Exacting a pound of flesh. Likewise, apparently, those "God-given rights" don't necesssarily include, oh, like say, your countries "God-given" forest lands. Or little stuff like that. What harm is there in a little Third World forest foreclosure when it goes to help, "people."

This woodchuck in the White House isn't a statesman, or a leader, or even a President. He's nothing but a shallow shined up repo-man with a smirk and a sloppy spitter pitch. The entire G.W.Bush&Co operation is nothing more than a well fed puzzle palace inside a Potemkin Village being run by grifters for christ sake. Nothing more than a clan of inbred cheapjack fast talking backdoor preachers and quisling swine.

They need to be run out of town like the rapacious swindlers they are. Before they steal all the goddamned doorknobs and we won't even be able to get into our own house.

Mike Allen of WaPo writes:

Bush... sounded tired and bored at the few public appearances during his 28-hour visit [to Latin America]. His remarks had unusually long pauses. Cutaway television shots captured Bush glowering into space as other heads of state talked about "economic growth with equity to reduce poverty," "investing in people" and "democratic governance."

"Economic growth"... Right. I can see how Bush would glower at that.

Ditto "democratic governance."

Josh Marshall sez of Dean-on-Bosnia:

But I don't think this is much of a contradiction, except possibly on the most superficial level.

No duh, Josh, as the kids would say. You were expecting, maybe, substance? This is your peer group we're talking about. They wouldn't know depth if Nature gave them each 6 eyes.

Today is Eric Alterman's birthday.

I only know because he mentioned it yesterday, at Altercation, as part of an explanation that he'd recently lost a friend from grade school days, who perished with an entire family, including three children, on their way back from a family vacation. Eric wasn't asking for sympathy for himself, or sympathy for people we didn't know, after all. He asked only that we, his readers, honor this devastating loss by standing in for his friend, who will no longer be able to contribute to his own favorite heroes at Doctors Without Borders. In the face of inconsolable loss, prayers are always a good idea, and what better prayer than this?

The address for donations is here. Click on “Make a Donation” and I’ll have a happy birthday.

You can let Eric know you did and that no acknowledgement is required in the message box that appears after the current day's entries.

And if you haven't paid Altercation a visit in a day or two, don't miss the bit he has up from the Daily Show (runner up for quote of the day, scroll down to January 12th); a true classic.

COLBERT: Doesn't matter what I've seen, Jon. It's been widey reported. And that makes it fact-esque.”

In fact, I think "fact-esque" is a contender for the Lexicon. Am I right?

Alterman's recent output has been extraordinary, from his Nation column, to his new position at the Center For American progress, to the books, don't miss the new one, right back to Altercation; I can't be the only person who can't get through Friday without my Charles Pierce pickmeup; better than two Margaritas; you just know we can't be that badly off as long as there's someone around who can handle the uncomedy team of Perle & Frum thusly:

For spectacular misuse of the first-person, it’s hard to beat the comedy team of Perle ‘n Frum, now appearing on a panel show in your neighborhood, flogging their latest work entitled, I’m paraphrasing here, “Let’s Kill Everyone Who Isn’t Us.” Take in this slim-but-potent little vial of vicarious testosterone and you find yourself enmeshed in beauties like this one:

”We have offered concrete recommendations equal to the seriousness of the threat, and the softliners have not, because we have wanted to fight, and they have not.”

If you’re keeping score at home, that “We” stuck in there is the single most indecent word yet typed in the 21st century.

We?

Who in the bloody hell is “We”?

And what on earth would liberal bloggers do without that indispensable formulation, the SCLM?

Fast becoming an institution himself, it's easy to overlook just how sharply original Alterman can be at his best. Take a look at today's, Jan 14th, long discussion of what is really going on with Paul O'Neil; lots of people are commenting, Eric pulls it together and offers a compelling portrait of O'Neil as something of an American hero; having just listened to Terry Gross's full hour conversation with O'Neil and Ron Susskind, which you also shouldn't miss, I'm even more persauded that Eric's got it right.

So, Happy Birthday, and thank-you, Dr. Alterman.

I know that Denmark is a small country, and best known for a famously indecisive Prince unable to take action against the something rotten therein, but even so, isn't it interesting to note the differences in reaction to the news on Monday that Danish troops had found mortor rounds that appeared to be "chemical, i.e., blister gass" in nature?

The Danes released the information in a straightforward manner; the possibility was "news," but one could find no hint that whatever the tests showed, it would have much relevance to arguments about American use of pre-war intelligence, especially since even if the rounds showed actual evidence of chemical residue, they would hardly count as WMDs.

In contrast, the Bush administration pretended not even to notice this new "find," in the treasure hunt for Iraqi WMD.

From David Kay's quietest leave-taking in the history of the world (will there even be an annoucement, or will Kay's public image just fade away, like old Generals, or that image of his parents in Marty's snapshots in Back To The Future), to the attempts at refiguring the reason d'etre for the war to Saddam's ties to terrorism and the pure human rights need to free the Iraqi people from Saddam's tyranny, and now this non reaction to the highly credible Danes, isn't it clear that this administration is giving up on the WMD argument?

Good move.

Danish Tests Show Arms Found in Iraq Not Chemical

Anyone embarrassed yet? Not in this administration; they don't "do" embarrasement; to be fair, they do, occasionally, do feigned embarrasement, usually at the outrageous behaviors of other Americans with whom they don't agree.

Perhaps we should start another national quilt-making project, each square immortalizing either an initial headline announcing an initial "find" of evidence of Saddam's clever horading of WMD and/or the matching headline announcing the "turns out not so" followup.

Lest I be accused of "raping dead soldiers,' please note I am not suggesting any of the names be included in the quilt of the young men and women of our Armed Services who have perished, or been wounded in Iraq. Just as every war deserves its own rational, every war deserves it's own memorial, and every American quilt deserves a better creative impulse than that of a preventive war of choice in the face of other options to accomplish the same goals, (which will be the subject of a series of coming posts).

*Just wanted to mention that the book, "How To Make An American Quilt" by Whitney Otto was far superior to the movie; to those who've not yet read it, I recommend the book, to those who didn't manage to miss the movie, I offer my condolences.

Saw the poster at Suburban Station on the train coming in ... It's for "frothy" coffee ....

Well, at least it's not a frothy mix!

Guess those Dunkin' Donut marketers aren't as hip as I thought they were!

and Broder pens a non-attack book on Dean with "no bias I could detect." Of course, the book was written by the Vermont press, but that's probably better than the national press....

Martin Crutsinger of AP reports:

Rumsfeld said the Bush he knew was actively involved in policy debates. "I have just enormous respect for his brain, his engagement, his interest, his probing questions, his constructive and positive approach to issues."

Let me pause to wipe a tear from my eye...

I like the "positive approach to issues" part the best— since everyone knows, from DiIulio, that Bush has no policy shop whatever. Everything goes through Rove, policy having been outsourced to the VRWC.

Robert Pear and David D. Kirkpatrick in WaPo write:

For months, administration officials have worked with conservative groups on the proposal, which would provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain "healthy marriages."

I don't suppose that "healthy" is a code-word for "Christian" and not "not gay".... Naah.

Meanwhile, watch Bush straddle the fence, and rather uncomfortably at that, between pandering to the base and outright bigotry:

[BUSH] "If necessary," he said, "I will support a constitutional amendment which would honor marriage between a man and a woman, codify that, and will — the position of this administration is that whatever legal arrangements people want to make, they're allowed to make, so long as it's embraced by the state, or does start at the state level."

So, which is it, George? Marriage is up to the states, so Vermont and Massachusetts civil unions are OK, or religion should be injected into the constitution by codifying a sacrement because gay people are somehow never going to be right with God?

From General JC Christian I learned about something called the Frontiers of Freedom dot org.

The Frontiers of Freedom (plural) apparently is concerned not so much about the frontiers of spelling as it is about other frontiers-like stuff. They even have a "policy center"! And Ooo-Ooo!, have even managed to spell the word policy correctly. But, hey, they are an "org", so they must be serious. Please see for yourself.

Heres a little bit about Frontiers of Freedom from their own "about" us frontiers guys page.

Leadership means choosing a direction that opens up vast possibilities to bring out the best in others. Our Founding Fathers knew a thing or two about leadership. They knew that the combination of a democratic form of government and a capitalistic economy gave our citizens the opportunity to aim high, chart their own destiny, and realize their version of the American Dream. At a time when our democratic rights and free enterprise system are being chipped away by the proponents of Big Government, Frontiers of Freedom stands tall in our defense of individual liberty and personal responsibility.

Thank the Tall Invisible Hand!

Anyway, the great Founding Fathers of the "FF" have apparently realized part of some sorta version of the American Dream by placing a poll upon their frontier-like webpage of "vast possibilities". So I made a screen print of it and posted it below. It [the poll] includes a Democrat named "Kucinic", and another feller' named "Wesley West". Who as I recall used to be Batman. Didn't he? Apparently? Whatever. We're talking frontiers (plural) of freedom here, so why not?

Here's a pic of the screenshot, which asks - "Which Democrat candidate will drop out of the nomination race first?" (Hee!) Note the frontier TownHall.com link at the bottom.

"Which Democrat candidate will drop out of the nomination race first?" Well. I'm myself am pretty sure it will be that Howard Deen guy. Yes, I'm pretty sure he will give up any day now. Probably cashed in his chips and gassed up the Volvo and headed back to that freak show in Vermont as I wrote this. Although Wesley West is at the bottom of the pile so how much longer can he survive? Nevertheless, I urge everyone to visit the FF webpage and help chart some frontier destinies by informing the FF that you are also pretty sure Howard Deen will fold up like a cheap card table at any moment. Or Dennis Clicinic. Or that Westerly Western guy. Vote as you like. We're talking Frontiers of Freedom afterall.


Also. If you'd like to send the Fronteersmen a nice new saddle or a pint of apple butter or a picture of a hairy Buffalo you can use the information below. They actually live in Fairfax Virginia beside a highway so it shouldn't take too long for the Pony Express to secure the delivery.

Frontiers of Freedom
12011 Lee Jackson Memorial Highway
3rd Floor
Fairfax, Virginia 22033
Ph: (703) 246-0110
Fax: (703) 246-0129
Web Site: http://www.ff.org
E-mail: info@ff.org

Just asking ....

Just asking ....

As Tresy points out (below), the dissection of press bias against Dean by Eric Boehlert is excellent in Salon (get the one-day pass).

Nothing new to regular readers of the essential Howler but good to read it now—months after the damage has been done, instead of years.

In a remarkable poll released Monday, the Pew Research Center found that 29 percent of Democrats think campaign coverage is tilted toward the GOP, up from 19 percent in 2000.

Only 29%?!?!??!

How to drown the world in a bathtub of multi-national voodoo economics.

Following Lambert's recent post below, see: And who owns our government plastic? Asia ....

Maybe there should be some kind of global color coded warning system for this stuff:

The International Monetary Fund published a report warning that the United States' budget and trade deficits threaten to destabilize the entire global economy; Bush Administration officials dismissed the report and said that lots of countries run huge budget deficits. [Harpers]

Elizabeth Becker and Edmund L Andrews [NYTimes] write:

In a paper presented last weekend, Robert E. Rubin, the former secretary of the Treasury, said that the federal budget was "on an unsustainable path" and that the "scale of the nation's projected budgetary imbalance is now so large that the risk of severe adverse consequences must be taken very seriously, although it is impossible to predict when such consequences may occur."

Other economists said they were afraid that this was a replay of the 1980's when the United States went from the world's largest creditor nation to its biggest debtor nation following tax cuts and a large military build-up under President Ronald Reagan.

Full article via Common Dreams: I.M.F. Says Rise in U.S. Debts Is Threat to World's Economy, by Elizabeth Becker and Edmund L Andrews [New York Times]

From Why the WTO Is Going Nowhere, by William Greider - September 4, 2003.

"the flashpoint that sends a wake-up call to world financial markets."

Cassandras (like myself) have argued for some years that America's negative balance sheet--buying more than it produces and borrowing to do so--will eventually force an ugly reckoning. With its ever-swelling trade deficits, the moment of painful adjustment draws closer, but the debt cycle is unlikely to stop until creditor nations conclude that the US debt position is too dangerous and start withholding their capital. Alternately, if China's overheated economy gets mired in financial disorder or inflationary pressures, it might need to bring its capital home--thus pulling the plug on American consumers and the "buyer of last resort" for the global system at large.

Nobody knows when or how this may occur. Morgan Stanley economist Stephen Roach foresees the moment approaching when US gross national savings turns negative, and that could be "the flashpoint that sends a wake-up call to world financial markets." The dollar falls sharply, the US economy sinks into a deep, unambiguous recession and so does the world. [page LINK] [The Nation]

[...]

Above all, the governing elites have to abandon the fiction that what's good for US multinationals is good for the US economy. It ain't necessarily so.

American politics is not ready to face the bad news--neither probably are the American people. And the Bush presidency, founded on false triumphalism, is certainly not going to disturb the myth of America as the supreme economic powerhouse. Perhaps the best we can hope for right now is that a few brave voices, maybe among the Democratic candidates, will begin the hard task of truth-telling. Globalization is papered over with so many fallacies that any politician who describes reality risks ridicule. Nevertheless, the country badly needs to hear the truth. Win or lose, a politician who finds the courage to shatter failed myths is admired in the long run, remembered as a true statesman. [page LINK] [The Nation]

Bush Administration officials dismissed the report...

That report is here.

This is the abstract:

The author examines three features of the war on terrorism as currently defined and conducted: (1) the administration's postulation of the terrorist threat, (2) the scope and feasibility of U.S. war aims, and (3) the war's political, fiscal, and military sustainability. He believes that the war on terrorism--as opposed to the campaign against al-Qaeda--lacks strategic clarity, embraces unrealistic objectives, and may not be sustainable over the long haul. He calls for downsizing the scope of the war on terrorism to reflect concrete U.S. security interests and the limits of American military power.

Ann Gerhart in WaPo says:

When she was 17, Laura Bush sped through a stop sign at 50 mph and slammed into a car coming, with the right-of-way, in the other direction. The other driver, a boy who was a friend of hers in high school, died instantly. The night sky was bright; the road was dry; the sight lines unobstructed. She was never charged or ticketed in the traffic accident, according to the police report. Those I interviewed in Midland regarded this crash as a tragic mistake, as does Mrs. Bush herself. If there was any consideration ever giving to citing the young Laura Welch in any way, I did not learn of it.

How odd. Why not?

Walter Gross opines in WaPo:

[T]he fulcrum of a future creditor-based revolt probably rests in Beijing rather than in New York or Washington.

Because China's monthly trade surplus of $10 billion-plus with the United States implies a $120 billion annual addition to its dollar reserves, there will come a time when its hundreds of billions in holdings of U.S. notes and bonds look a tad too risky. In turn, the hundreds of billions that Japan and other Asian countries have been buying to keep their currencies competitive with the Chinese yuan and the U.S. dollar will be subject to a sanity check as well. At some point our Asian creditors will wake up and smell the coffee. Perhaps there will be dollar or Treasury note sell-offs or a revaluation of the yuan and then the yen. In any event, we pay the price: higher import costs, a cutback in spending on cheap foreign goods, rising inflation, perhaps chaotic financial markets, a lower standard of living.

Pride goeth ...

Fred Barbash of WaPo writes

Former Treasury secretary Paul H. O'Neill said today that the documents he turned over to an author, which are now the subject of a Treasury Department inquiry, were sent to him on a compact disc by the department's own general counsel after O'Neill left the administration last year.

Yawn... More of the same.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said today it has found widespread evidence of mutual funds companies paying brokers additional compensation for steering investors to their fund shares.

Based on their findings, SEC investigators said they are working with the agency's enforcement staff to review the sales practices at dozens of brokers of and mutual funds to see if they had adequately informed customers of the conflicts of interest.

Right... "Working with"... No penalties, no fines, no time served .... Say, is "Kenny Boy" Lay in jail yet? Oh, silly me. I forgot he was Bush's largest contributor!

Bush burbles on about his Moondoggle:

"The spirit is going to be one of continued exploration ... seeking new horizons and investing in a program that ... meets that objective," Bush told reporters Tuesday during a trip to Mexico.

Uh, George? The horizon is "the apparent junction of earth and sky." There is no horizon in space!

You moron.

Last time we looked at David "I'm Writing as Bad as I Can" Brooks, we saw that he wasn't just a purveyor of misinformation—this, we expect—but a transmitter of disinformation. (Last time, his column was about discrediting PNAC critics, just when public exposure of the PNAC's plan to militarize space might have taken some of the bloom of Bush's Moondoggle space plans.)

This time... Well, let's read Brooks with the understanding that he's a fully paid up member of the POTL. Brooks writes:

Yes, the political divides today do look a lot like the ones that split the nation in 2000. But no. When you look beneath the headline data, you see at least one important change. The events of the past three years have brought to the foreground issues that divide Democrats, and pushed to the background issues that divide Republicans.

This is, of course, disinformation. That's what the POTL do. Brooks is saying the Republicans are strong to preempt any attack on them where they are weak. As a fully bought MW and thug operative, his job is to mind-fuck the Democrats, not write commentary.

So if Brooks writes that the Republicans aren't divided, we can assume that not only can they be divided, he's fearful that they might be. And how could the Republicans be divided?

• Republicans who are fiscally responsible versus the credit-card Bush gang


• Republicans who care about civil liberties versus the Constitution trashing Bush gang


• Republicans who care about limited government versus the expansionist Bush gang


• Republicans who care about their own families, gay members included, versus the appeals to hatred of the Bush gang
  
• Republicans who are truly conservative versus the radical, faith-based, Bush gang

We've all read stories about each of these points in the last year. This is not to say that the Democrats will be able to capitalize on these potential splits; I just make the points to show that Brooks is, well, just lying.

As we expect.

UPDATE Pandagon shows how Brooks cherry picks his numbers on Republican dominance. Who knew? Gosh, I'm really losing my faith in The Newspaper of Record (not!), they continue to give this guy space....

For those who somehow missed it until now, Eric Boehlert has written the definitive takedown of the media's attempted Gore-ing of Dean. Frankly if Dean gets the nomination, I think the cult of the soulless is in for a surprise not seen since Custer rode into Little Big Horn. People are ready for this shit this time.

Seth Sutel of AP writes:

They haven't got a name or a launch date yet, but the entrepreneurs who dream of launching a liberal radio network have just landed themselves a lead man: Comedian and best-selling author Al Franken.

In an interview, Franken said the format of the show was still evolving, but he said he was certain that it wouldn't be akin to that used by his rival Rush Limbaugh, which Franken described as "non-guested confrontation."

Putting Franken in the midday time slot of noon to 3 p.m. Eastern time is a direct challenge to Limbaugh, whose hugely successful show occupies the same time slot.

Franken, whose earlier book was called "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot," said he plans to call up his nemesis for advice on his own show since Limbaugh has often said he wonders why new radio hosts don't seek out his counsel.

"I'll ask him advice: how he approaches a show, how he frames an issue. If it doesn't happen it will be - very understandably - because he won't take my call," Franken said.

A big blowout or a slow leak—whatever deflates Limbaugh is good....

Via Cursor.org, Jan. 13, 2004

"Other than accumulating a certain amount of money and achieving a measure of what passes for aristocratic social position in this country, the Bushes have achieved nothing of distinction and appear to believe in nothing except their own interests." ~ Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post[Cursor.org]

Melanie at Bump in the Beltway has more on Yardley's review of American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush, by Kevin Phillips.

It is a gloomy, even frightening picture: "global oil ventures, national security, sophisticated investments, arms deals, the Skull and Bones chic of covert operations, and committed support of established business interests," now compounded by the "religious impulses and motivations" that the born-again George W. brings to the mix. It operates not in the free market its rhetoric prattles about, but in "crony capitalism" that gives every advantage to the cronies with enough capital to buy their way into the game. Crony capitalism has turned the funding of American elections into both a joke and a menace, and has made the public's business a matter of private interest. ~ Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post[Bump in the Beltway]

"They have given us into the hand of new unhappy lords, Lords without anger and honour, who dare not carry their swords. They fight by shuffling papers; they have bright dead alien eyes; They look at our labour and laughter as a tired man looks at flies. And the load of their loveless pity is worse than the ancient wrongs, Their doors are shut in the evening; and they know no songs." ~ GK Chesterton - The Secret People

Do unto others as you would not do unto yourself.
How to rain kooky unpopular experimental privatization scams on your neighbors while remaining high and dry in the comfy of your own playpen.

Via The Nation. GOP Hypocrisy by Rep. George Miller

What is one to make of politicians who embrace radical changes as important reforms as long as they win exemptions for their own constituents?

Three items from the Harper's Index. Dec. 2003.

Percentage change since 2001 in the number of U.S. families in poverty:
+6 [U.S. Department of Commerce]

Percentage change in the price of a share of Edison Schools stock since February 2001: -95 [Edison Schools (N.Y.C.)]

Date on which Arnold Schwarzenegger met with Enron CEO Kenneth Lay to discuss California’s energy policy: 5/17/01 [The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (Santa Monica, Calif.)]

"Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts"
Is this some of the "classified" material the White House is squirming over?

O'Neill said that the very first meeting of the National Security Council involved discussions of a "post-Saddam Iraq," peacekeeping troops, and war-crimes tribunals. O'Neill provided the book's author, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, with 19,000 internal documents — one of which, from March 5, 2001, was entitled "Foreign Suitors for Iraqi Oilfield Contracts" and included a map of Iraqi oil fields listing contractors and countries with interests there. [Harpers, Weekly Review]

More on topic: Via The Nation; Paul Bremer's "shadow ministry", "foreign suitors", and the Iraqi oil "Western Desert" motherlode. See: The Battle for Iraqi Oil, by Aram Roston.

The Western Desert is what one international oil consultant, his voice mockingly falling to a worshipful murmur, called the "Holy Grail" of the oil industry.[The Nation]

+ "The head of the Army Corps of Engineers waived federal contracting requirements for Halliburton's operations in Iraq that would have required the company to submit cost and pricing information on its gasoline imports even though Halliburton was recently accused of overcharging the government $61 million for gasoline." [Harpers]

Referring to their abject recantations and redeclarations of fealty, Josh Marshall asks:

And will O'Neill go the way of John DiIulio and Nick Smith?

Silly Josh:

O'Neill told the "Today" show he was guilty of using some "vivid" language during his hundreds of hours of interviews with Suskind for the book. "If I could take it back, I would take it back," he said of the "blind man" quote.

Asked if he plans to vote for Bush in November's presidential election, O'Neill said he "probably" would. "I don't see anyone who is better prepared or more capable," he told NBC....

On the nationally broadcast interview Tuesday, O'Neill said, "It was not my intention to be personally critical of the president of anybody else," but to cooperate with Suskind "on a chronicle of 23 months" in government.

Elsewhere in the news, I hear "Republic of Fear" is scheduled for a new edition....

Now the Republican thugs in the White House are going after O'Neill just like they went after Wilson and Plame. Disgusting.

The Bush dynasty is just like the Bourbons—"They learn nothing, and they forget nothing.

Via MSNBC, from WaPo

Mutual fund investors might not be surprised to learn that the companies that manage their funds actively lobby Congress and the states regarding regulation of their industry. But they may be startled to learn that these managers have lobbied hard over the past decade for policies that investor and consumer advocates say often run counter to the interests of average mutual fund shareholders.

Part of the Bush tax!

How could this be? Could it be because Bush has been bought and paid for by the financial industry?

A new study released Thursday shows that employees and political action committees of brokerages, banks and credit companies make up 6 of President Bush's top 10 career contributors, a clear indicator of his increasing support from the financial sector.

We're waiting for the gracious retraction, Mr. Limbaugh .... .

Reuters here:

"It's not the time to put up any of this 'love thy neighbor' stuff ... I love my neighbor, but I'll tell you I want THAT neighbor back in Crawford, Texas where he belongs." [Dean said]

... Dean lambasted Bush for trying to cut overtime pay, calling it another reason he had "differed with the gentleman over here so vociferously."

"This is the president of the United States," he said. "I don't think that's being a good neighbor to ordinary working people."

Damn straight.

Anyone who isn't angry isn't paying attention, and doesn't have the temperament to be President.

UPDATE: The Republican with whom Dean differed with so "vociferously"—was it this Dale Ungerer? The creator of:

Pretty cool, actually. Great photo op for Dean.....

Harkin says, "If you want to go backward, put it in R. If you want to go forward, put it in D."

From alert reader The Other Sarah.

Here:

(Englander) "We as physicians are to some extent are trained to be
brusque. We have to be quick, we're making thousands of decisions on a
daily basis. And sometimes we're right, sometimes we're wrong but in
medicine - you know, we see patients on a daily basis and what was the
right decision yesterday, we may decide the next day is the wrong
decision. That's how medicine is, and I think that that would actually
serve him well, rather than sticking to an ideology that doesn't
necessarily serve the nation's interests when all is said and done."


(Dean, 2002) "The purpose of government in this country is to smooth off
the rough edges of capitalism. And so government is essentially a
redistributive body which makes sure that everyone who works hard is
able to at least have some hope of achieving the American dream of
sending their kids to college and so forth."

(Courtney) "He was really very successful and very instrumental in
creating the marriage between conservation and smart growth. He
conserved over half a million acres of wildlands in the state at the
same time he was making visits to Arkansas to talk to the folks at
Wal-Mart about bringing Wal-Mart into the state, but doing it in a
reasonable way: getting small and going downtown."

Interesting stuff. Plenty of fodder for attack ads, but it may be that Dean has already found a way to define himself on the ground, no matter what the air war ends up being. The future lies ahead!

Great post from Flummery::

Howard Dean apparently uttered a string of words that, when put together, can be interpreted by the listener as a phrase expressing a thought or idea. ...

"This is just another stupid, crazy thing Howard Dean has said. Howard Dean is too liberal and too angry to be president. He's unelectable." said Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard. "When I actually hear what he said, it'll definitely confirm my belief that [George W.] Bush is going to easily win re-election" Barnes continued. ...

Here:

And I plan to have several people on the ground providing real-time blogging of the caucuses. Should be really freakin' fun.

This is (potentially) huge.

Up to know, the blogosphere been very "meta"—we've been dependent (some would say parasitic) on the SCLM for stories to which we then react.

But to cut the ground from under the SCLM, and act, instead of react, we have to do our own reporting and generate our own stories; absent funding, of course that's hard, though Kos seems to have found a way to do it.

Tiny, smart, fast-moving mammals against huge, stupid, and slow-moving dinosaurs .... I like our chances.

AP.

Wonder if the same idea would work over here .... Bush creates 1000 jobs in December? Nationwide? Not so good....

From Liberal Coalition member Respectful of Otters

Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight

As avowed liberals, we here at Respectful of Otters live lives of wild and irresponsible hedonism. Tonight being the first Wednesday of the month, we're off to

a revamping of the "political love-in" from the '60s, where pot-smoking hippies would use politics as a guise for picking up dates. Now, Dean -- having "liberated" the gays of the state of Vermont by legislating civil unions, much in the same way he might imagine that Lincoln "liberated" the slaves -- is out to "free" every sex-starved, party-deprived Democrat and give them what they really want: a good time.

Seriously, if you folks have never been to boozy sex parties organized by precinct, you should give the Dean Meetups a try. I know there's nothing like letter-writing and phone banking to put me in the mood.

Hey man, far out, where's my old MC5 records! Where's my Spiro Agnew dartboard. Where's my....uh, what was I looking for? Where's my circa 70's power hitter bong.

Just for the historical record, back before college students had powerful personal computers many had personal power hitter bongs. And bongs were a lot easier to operate. So I'm told. But never mind that, so much bong-water under the bridge as they say, what really needs to be emphasized here is that way back in the 60's and early 70's folks also had other "political love-in" options. Not to mention sex-starved parties. I went, I mean I once spoke with someone, who went to a bunch of those hippie sex-parties myself and lemme tell you, Strom "Spawn" Thurmond wasn't at any one of them. Nope. Theres one thing Strom Thurmond wasn't, and that was a sex-starved hippie loser. Nosiree, that guy would fuck anything attached to a cocktail napkin and a beehive hairdo. Strom was never "starved". If you know what I mean. Where do you think the Eagle Forum came from anyway? Sheesh.

And another thing. Will someone on the Right-wing or the SCLM, or whoever, please make up their mind about what decade they'd like to hallucinate in. You know, if Howard Dean is like George McGovern, well. uh, I got news for you, George McGovern was the Dem candidate in 1972. Not the 60's. That was another guy whose name I forgot. Hubert! Yes, that was it, Humbert Hubert Humbert. No wait, that was a sex-starved guy from the "Pre-Feminst" 50's. Ay yi yi.

Anyway, if you're looking for other 60's-70's style "political love-in" party options I have a suggestion. How about this one:

Yeah baby! That guy sure knew how to party. And of course anyone who didn't go to that guy's party was a "loser", man. Like all those McGovernites. What a bunch of "losers".

Thats right, everyone who voted for Tricky Dick Nixon was a winner! And they voted for that winner in droves. Yup, the whole country was a big fucking winner in 1972 because they voted for a liar and a crook and a national disaster. Kind of like voting for an earthquake or something. Hey, wait a minute, that sounds eerily familiar. But nevermind.


Dick Cheney, who worked for the Nixon White House Cost of Living Council and Office of Economic Opportunity, was also a big winner. And now we're all winners because Dick Cheney is a winner again. Ya just can't keep a good winner down. And what other winner worked for Nixon's OEC? Uh-oh...it was Nixon administration winner Don Rumsfeld. Gee, all those repeat winners in one place, its a wonder anyone can be a loser these days.

Except for all those Howard McGovern hippie type throwbacks from some decade or another. Boy are they losers. I'll bet they'll make the mistake in 2004 of voting for a loser again and the entire nation will once again be a winner when they select a silver spoon fed born winner and liar and crook and national disgrace to four more years. But who cares. That'll just make Dick Cheney a three-time winner and all real-Murican patriotic "pre-feminist" Christian sorts love a winner.

Gives a whole groovy new meaning to the charge of loser, now doesn't it?

...prepare for their 2004 Tour of Gopher Prairie.

Liberal Coalition memeber Collective Sigh weighs in on another semasiology sales pitch production from the George Windrip Bush 2004 GOP marketing collective. Another sing along with the bouncing ball of bullshit PR stunt number called the "ownership society" twist. Which is probably something like Pre-Feminism and especially useful if you work for the National Review and own a hotel anywhere but Gopher Prairie.

More "Ownership Society", Bush Style

"Born on third base and thinks he hit a triple" comes to mind, also. Those who haven't even had a chance to get into the batter's box stand very little chance of socking away the savings, with or without tax credits.

For more on the topic of the "Ownership Society" (whatever that is), see Lambert's post below. Myth of the ownership society

Liberal Coalition member Mustang Bobby at Bark Bark Woof Woof comments on elitist right wing special interest group efforts to bludgeon anyone or anything they don't like into submission by fiat.

Making Amends

Matthew Yglesias at Tapped looks at the contortions the right wing is going through to get the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) into the Constitution.

[...]

The word "marriage" is the catch. It's loaded with both religious and secular meaning. Marriage has the same legal impact if it happens in St. Patrick's Cathedral with all the trappings of sacraments and ritual or if the couple goes down to the county clerk's office on their lunch hour and has a judge perform the ceremony with all the formality of a real estate closing. The result is the same - a formal promise and commitment on the part of each person to care for each other. That's it.

+ continue reading: Making Amends

++ For Rich "Dick" Cheney's recent - throw a Religious Right fetch-dog a bone - flip on the matter of same sex unions, and a proposed constitutional amendment to ban such unions, see Lambert's entry below: Cheney to his own daughter: Drop dead!

On Bush's phony education "Miracle", you know, "No Child Left Behind" (out of sight, out of mind), the "Texas Miracle", and all that make-believe,... Molly Ivins summed it up as follows:

As full-time residents of the state that gave you tort reform, H. Ross Perot, and penis-enlargement options on executive health plans, we're obliged to warn you that if Dubya Bush had exported "the Texas Miracle," the country would be in deep shit. In public education there was no Texas miracle. The last Lone Star miracle we know of was the time the face of Jesus appeared on a screen door in Port Neches, and that's been more than thirty years." [from Bushwacked, by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose]

Liberal Coalition members Trish Wilson and Steve Gillard also discuss the so advertised and much media ballyhooed "miracle".

Via Trish Wilson: No Child Left Behind? More Like "No Child's Behind Left"

And from Steve Gilliard

It was called the “Texas Miracle,” and you may remember it because President Bush wanted everyone to know about it during his presidential campaign.

Also from Steve Gillard, who comments on our Homeland National Security State Apparatus efforts to foil the potentially plausible possible dastardly dirty deeds of potentially plausible possible dastardly dirty deedsters.

See: NO INTEL FOR 'DIRTY BOMB' THREAT

Homeland Security officials were terrified of a potential "dirty" bomb attack over the New Year's holiday -- even though they had no intelligence suggesting such an attack.

According to the Washington Post, "the U.S. government last month dispatched scores of casually dressed nuclear scientists with sophisticated radiation detection equipment hidden in briefcases and golf bags to scour five major U.S. cities for radiological, or 'dirty,' bombs."

The attention to a potential dirty bomb, for example, resulted not from specific recent information indicating such an attack but from the belief among officials that al Qaeda is sparing no effort to try to detonate one.

One would hope that they dispatched the golf bags to Orlando and the briefcases to Times Square. But who can say for sure. And unfortunately, no mention of how they casually accessorized for the celebrations in San Francisco.

Liberal Coalition member Echidne Of The Snakes gives us Rara Avis, Part III (Laura Schlessinger) A look at witch-doctor Laura Schlessinger's new so called book about how to operate a home based petting zoo for human beings.

+ also from Echidne... No Doesn't Mean No?, including comment on recent babblings from some jawbone named James Bowman at the National Rearview....I mean Review!, the National Review, sorry.

James Bowman (National Review) pines for the old days when: Pre-feminist common sense suggested that a woman who comes alone to a man's hotel room late at night has already consented to sex with him.

Pre-Feminism? When exactly was the age of "Pre-Feminism" anyway? Was that like before or after the age of farthingales? Before the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848? How 'bout this below? Circa 18th to early 19th century.

Following the English common law, the US legal system long assigned women a special and inferior status. Although the Constitution did not use the words "men" and "women" but always "people," "persons," and "citizens," the courts did not interpret these terms to include women. Rather, they classified women with children and imbeciles as incapable of managing their own affairs. Women were denied educations, barred from certain occupations and professions, and excluded from juries and public offices. Married women were virtually the property of their husbands. They were limited in their ability to own property, sign contracts, obtain credit, go nto business, control their earnings, write wills. The law regarded home and family as the special province of women, and it did all it could to confine them there in the belief that this was in the best interests of women themselves and of the society as a whole. ~ from The New American Desk Encylopedia, encyclopedia entry for, "Women's Movement".

Is that what conservatives mean by "Pre-Feminism"? Or is that just some junk-history type stuff written by elitist Volvo driving latte swilling encyclopedia freakshow editors? Probably Feminists theselves. Or is "Pre-Feminism" that glorious age just prior to the age of Dr Laura Schlessinger's cheesecake nudie photos? Would those early nudie photos therefore make Dr. Laura a Neo-Pre-Feminist! And if so, is any criticism of Neo-Pre-Feminist Dr. Laura Schlessinger, or the Pre-Feminist National Review man's hotel room late night playboy guy James Bowman, simply a coded anti-semitic hate speech attack by, by, by, ah-my-gawd! -- Femi-Nazis!?

Good gawd-a-mighty, huh.

And, from LC member edwardpig I larn'd me this:

Just When You Thought it was Safe to Vote in Florida" Katherine Harris, after a single term in Congress, is considering a run for Bob Graham's open Senate seat.

Would that sort of "run" be considered ladylike? Or Pre-Feminist or Neo-Pre-Feminist? Or perhaps even, Neo-Farthingale? And if Harris trys to grab Graham's seat does that mean he can have his way with her in a hotel room? Gosh, I need a drink.

Yet another Leni Riefenstahl-esque "Triumph of The W"-style photo of Dear Leader, this time, sweet Jeebus, with a halo.

Anyhow, despite my (clearly) non-existent graphics skills, I thought I might as well appropriate the image and bring it a little bit closer to reality with a little gentle parody.



(Original via Reuters.)

MoDo on Clark's sweaters.

Jeebus. What a farce. It's "earth tones" all over again!

I wonder if Clark tortured small animals as a child, like Bush did. Fitting subject for a snippy column, Maureen? You could even phone it in!

Here:

It has long been said that a dog is a man's best friend, but a Dutch dog trainer is taking the relationship one step further -- offering "doggy dancing" lessons to people wanting a canine dancing partner.

Ten owners and their dogs -- including a border collie and a German shepherd -- have signed up to learn to waltz, tango and boogie with Annette Helder at her training school in the northern Netherlands.

"Dogs love when they get attention from their owners...You teach the dog certain basic moves, like weaving between your legs, circling, walking backwards...rolling over," said Helder, who charges 45 euros ($60) for eight lessons.

Frothy mix, anyone?

Here.

The Times Here:

The Bush-Cheney 2004 Web site provides a link for sending the letters by e-mail, including the addresses of regional newspapers, plus writing tips ("Be clear and concise") along with pre-written blocks of Mr. Bush's policy positions ("The president understands the necessity to manage forest and rangelands") that a supporter can simply cut and paste into the Web site's e-mail form. Mr. Mehlman said that 37,000 e-mail messages had been sent to newspaper editors, but that he did not know how many had made their way into print.

Hmmm.... Presumably the fact that the email came right from the Bush-Cheney campaign—that is, was just propaganda instead of a personally composed letter to the editor—would be detectable from the mail header... Unless the Republicans have managed to spoof the mail headers to hide the true origins of the BustroTurf?

In the Times, we read:

[Bush] personally made the decision to hold the Republican National Convention in New York City

Let's hope we're smart enough to make this decision look like a really bad idea—I still think forming a human chain around the WTC site to protect it from Republican political exploitation is the way to go...

Maybe we could fingerprint the Republicans as they cross the border into Manhattan?

Cheny now:

Vice President Dick Cheney, who has said states should handle the issue of gay marriage, now says he would support President Bush if he proposes a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Cheney then:

Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a lesbian daughter, said during a debate with Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut during the 2000 campaign that "people should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want." He added that the issue should be left to states to decide.

For shame!

Gee, it's great to see the SCML all over Cheney for shifting his position in this, obviously to prepare for 2004. Oh, wait....

Never mind that the Republicans conflate civil unions and marriage .....

David Cho of WaPo reports:

New touch-screen voting machines [purchased from Advanced Voting Solutions of Frisco, Tex., for $3.5 million] used in Fairfax County's local elections in November were a "failure," and county electoral officials were unprepared to deal with the equipment's problems, according to a county GOP committee report released yesterday.

In their report, Republican officials urged the county to investigate the "poor performance" of the machines, and they recommended state regulations that would require localities with the new equipment to follow stringent procedures.

"Neither the Fairfax County Electoral Board, nor the new voting machines was ready for Election Day," the report said. "The new touch screen machines were technological and procedural failure."

The Republican report cited dozens of e-mails and letters from precinct workers and voters who described problems such as machines that repeatedly crashed, screens that balked at registering votes and delays in tallying votes.

Why, one wonders, would the national Republicans be willing to spend billions of dollars on this techology?

From the LA Times here:

Friday's Labor Department figures not only surprised experts and disappointed Wall Street but also demonstrated how the political climate can quickly change.

These experts being the MWs of the business press and the stock market "analysts" and the market manipulators and the insiders and the thieves and con artists. Funny how the bad numbers keep "surprising" them, isn't it? I hope all of them, one and all, bet some of their own money on the reports being good, and got stung.

Remember how Bush sunsetted the tax cuts? And everyone said the next move would be to make them permament? Well, now of course he's doing just that. Surprise! Either the man is out of his mind, or the Medicare entitlement, and now the trillion-dollar Moondoggle, are just smoke and mirrors. Anyhow:

The choice is clear. Tax relief has got this economy going again, and tax relief will keep it moving forward

It's really bizarre. I'm no economist, but it seems to me that the tax cut was a Keynes-ian stimulus, not a very efficient one, and that it's crazy to think that we can keep cutting taxes whenever we need a stimulus.

Say, has anyone run the numbers how the tax cuts net out for the average American?

Meanwhile, the sometimes mischievious Matt Drudge kinda, sorta lets the cat out of the bag:

Suskind also writes about a White House meeting in which he says the president seems to be wavering about going forward with his second round of tax cuts. "Haven't we already given money to rich people," Suskind says the president uttered, according to a nearly verbatim transcript of an Economic Team meeting he says he obtained from someone at the meeting, "Shouldn't we be giving money to the middle?"

Which probably gives Bush far too much credit. But yes, Drudge is mischievous:

O'Neill, who was asked to resign because of his opposition to the tax cut, says he doesn't think his tell-all account in this book will be attacked by his former employers as sour grapes. "I will be really disappointed if [the White House] reacts that way," he tells Stahl. "I can't imagine that I am going to be attacked for telling the truth."

Matt Drudge has a sense of irony. Who knew?

Besides being the kind of stunt Bush likes, and part of the PNAC project to militarize space, the porjecet will help Bush in the battleground state of Florida in 2005. Surprise! William Broad of the Times writes:

When up and running, the spaceport in Florida employs some 14,000 people and each year pumps $1.4 billion into the state's economy.

This is at the end of the article, after all the blather about reaching for the starts, "bold" decisions—whenever you hear the word "bold" you know someone's reading from an RNC fax—and responding to challenges... All from people who would be amply funded if Bush's Moondoggle when through...

Just another funds transfer from the Blue States to the Red States, when the Blue States already send those (anti-big government) Red States $500 per person per year....

From Don Williams in the Knoxville News (Tennessee):

1. Why won't you tell us about those daily briefings you received in the nine months or so leading up to Sept. 11, 2001?


2. Would you please acknowledge that it was mostly elements in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia - not Iraq - who worked with al-Qaida to bring down the World Trade Center?


3. Why is it taking so long to get to the bottom of the Valerie Plame Wilson affair?


4. Does some fundamental religious belief - say, that the end of the world is coming soon - influence your policies on the environment and on nuclear weapons?


5. Does some fundamental religious belief - say, that the end of the world is coming soon - influence your policies on the environment and on nuclear weapons?

Elsewhere in Knoxville on the same day, Bush blew in for NCLB propaganda and collected $1 million from Republican donors. I wonderif any of these questions came up?

Yep, Congress is coming back into session. And who can doubt it will be an exceptionally ugly year?

Jack Newfield in the Nation gives the run-down:

Brett Kavanaugh has no judicial experience [but] is the principal author of Ken Starr's prurient final report to Congress on President Clinton.

As the solicitor for the Interior Department, [William] Myers has participated in a series of decisions favorable to cattle, mining and timber interests, and damaging to public lands and Native American tribes. Even before he was nominated, environmentalists had filed an ethics complaint against him, accusing him of violating his recusal agreement by meeting with his former lobbying and legal clients.

Claude Allen ... has supported antichoice statutes and regulations; urged sexual abstinence as the solution to AIDS and teen pregnancy; and opposed expanded health insurance for poor children. ... Allen, who is African-American, was Jesse Helms's press secretary during Helms's racist campaign for re-election in 1984.

Attention, Beltway Dems—Incoming!

Of course, wingers also want to abolish the filibuster, so the lock-step GOP can do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, however it wants....

Here (thank God for local journalism).

Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, writes:

"The capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer," declared Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, and denunciations have rained down upon him. But Dean obviously was correct: "The capture of Saddam does not end" the coalition's difficulties in Iraq.

Hussein's capture is good news for the Iraqis. But his seizure has not made the world safer.

Pessimists!

What the critics fail to point out is that Bush has created almost twice the number of jobs as troops he has killed in Iraq.

They've just kicked off their campaign and already they're lying. AP here:

The leader of a state group that opposes gay marriage acknowledged it did not release portions of a poll that indicated voters are deeply divided on whether to ban same-sex marriage.

Ron Crews of the Massachusetts Family Institute said he regretted downplaying the omitted survey results as irrelevant.

"I want to apologize," Crews said. "I misspoke. I misspoke primarily out of ignorance, but that does not excuse misspeaking. There were other questions, and we are ... going to release those other questions."

At a rally Wednesday, the group touted Zogby poll results that indicated 69 percent of respondents wanted a chance to vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

The group also highlighted a question that showed 52 percent said that "only marriage between one man and one woman should be legal," with 42 percent disagreeing.

The group didn't release information that poll respondents opposed the constitutional amendment, by a split of 49-48 percent. It also didn't mention that poll respondents, by a margin of 48-46, did not want lawmakers to prevent marriage licenses from being issued to homosexual couples in May, when the Supreme Judicial Court decision legalizing gay marriage takes effect.

Say, isn't lying a sin or something? Not that you'd know it from Bush....

A Tale of Two Countries:
Poor U.S. Jobs Data Send Dollar Sharply Lower

The dollar plunged to new lows Friday, with fragile sentiment toward the beleaguered currency dealt a further blow by a surprisingly weak U.S. employment report.

The dollar began sinking as soon as the data showing only 1,000 jobs were added to nonfarm payrolls last month hit the wires. Economists had expected a rise of 150,000, with most expecting the balance of risks to the upside...

The main drag for the dollar is the impact a weak labor market has on interest rates because expectations of rates staying low mean the dollar will likely remain weak.

"This is unambiguously bad for the dollar, not just because of the number itself, but because of the implications it has for U.S. interest rates," said Rebecca Patterson, senior currency strategist at JP Morgan in New York

Canadian Economy pumps out jobs

The Canadian economy finished 2003 on a strong note, generating new jobs at more than twice the expected pace in December, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The report — described by analysts as unambiguously strong — was also seen as giving the Bank of Canada licence to take a more moderate approach to interest rates when it makes its next decision on whether to cut borrowing costs later this month.

And remember, Canadians had SARS, mad cow, wildfires and power outages. The world's most powerful economy had Bush. Do the math.

Just asking...

Of course aWol's Martian Adventure is a stunt, and of course his motivations are crassly political...

But I wasn't being cynical enough. No matter how hard I try, I can never be cynical enough with Bush

aWol's "Mooning Mars" project is really about laying the groundwork for putting offensive weapons in space— Mars being the God of war, eh?

All we have to do is check out what PNAC says, since that neo-conservative document has served as the blueprint for Bush foreign and military policy. From the PNAC's Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century (PDF):

To ensure America's control of space in the near term, the minimum requirements are to develop a robust capability to transport systems to space, carry on operations once there, and service and recover space systems as needed. As outlined by Space Command, carrying out this program would include a mix of re- useable and expendable launch vehicles and vehicles that can operate within space, including "space tugs to deploy, reconstitute, replenish, refurbish, augment, and sustain" space systems. But, over the longer term, maintaining control of space will inevitably require the application of force both in space and from space, including but not limited to anti- missile defenses and defensive systems capable of protecting U.S. and allied satellites; space control cannot be sustained in any other fashion, with conventional land, sea, or airforce, or by electronic warfare. This eventuality is already recognized by official U.S. national space policy, which states that the "Department of Defense shall maintain a capability to execute the mission areas of space support, force enhancement, space control and force application."

And whaddaya know... Just the other day David "I'm writing as bad as I can" Brooks was calling anyone who wanted to look at the role of the PNAC in American political life a "full mooner [sic!]"... Concidence? You be the judge.

See below for Brook's brilliant disinformational strategy about the PNAC.

Jennifer Mena of the LA Times went out and actually talked to one:

The day after President Bush proposed a new guest-worker program that would include illegal immigrants, Santa Ana street vendor Alberto Garcia was dishing out more than chicharrones and cut fruit.

"The Bush plan is pure politics," said Garcia, who came to the United States four years ago and earns a wage based on the amount of fruit and snacks he sells near downtown Santa Ana, an immigrant enclave where more people speak Spanish than English. "It's an election year, so I don't believe it will get anywhere. They say they'll get us work visas and give us the right to travel outside the United States and return. I don't believe it. They can't even get us a driver's license to get to work."

Construction worker Arturo Espatia, 36, said the plan falls short of a thank-you because it would grant an undocumented worker like himself only two three-year visas. In six years, he said, "I'd be as illegal as I am now."

"If a boss has to sponsor me, I really wonder if he would," Espatia said. "And if he did, wouldn't he use that to make me work harder? It would be like [the boss] owned me."

Right. For the Bush administration, it's a two-fer: (1) the votes of any Latinos gullible enough to fall for it, and (2) virtual slaves for big business of the plan goes through. Yech.

AP via The Times here:

"He's the Harry Truman of our generation," Harkin said in interview with The Associated Press. "Howard Dean is really the kind of plain-spoken Democrat we need."

Harkin's support will give Dean the backing of the state's most durable Democratic politician, and a man whose organization can prove a vital asset on caucus night Jan 19.

Every. Single. One.
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Those tax cuts are sure doing the trick, aren't they? What a miserable failure! (Back for the figures.)

CBS via Reuters via WaPo here:

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill likened President Bush at Cabinet meetings to "a blind man in a room full of deaf people," according to excerpts Friday from a CBS interview.

O'Neill, who was fired by Bush in December 2002, also said the president did not ask him a single question during their first one-on-one meeting, which lasted an hour.

"As I recall it was just a monologue," he told CBS' "60 Minutes," which will broadcast the entire interview Sunday.

In making the blind man analogy, O'Neill told CBS his ex-boss did not encourage a free flow of ideas or open debate.

"There is no discernible connection," CBS quoted O'Neill as saying. The president's lack of engagement left his advisers with "little more than hunches about what the president might think," O'Neil said, according to the program.

Interesting.

So Bush either talks, or doesn't listen. Sound familiar? And what's he doing when he's not listening? Praying? Replaying fond memories of torturing small animals? Truly, truly weird ...

The CBS video is here. Interestingly, several articles in the current Atlantic (on the stands, but not yet online) make the same point about the inner workings of the Bush administration: They don't listen. And Howard Dean points out the same thing:

"This administration is ideologically driven, not fact-driven. As a doctor, I know that if you have a theory and you have a fact, and the fact comes along and disproves the theory, you throw the theory out. The problem is these guys throw the fact out."

Yep. "What difference does it make?" "It" being a fact ...

I always like it when Republican operatives try to take the high road and give Democrats advice on how to win; it's cute, and it doesn't do any harm as long as you don't take it at face value.

But what's with the LA Times? They give one John Ellis space, and in his bio they mention he's a first cousin of Bush (see American Dynasty), but what they don't mention is that he's the first cousin of Bush who prematurely called Florida for Bush as a FUX commentator in 2000. Here's the page for the LA Times' Reader Representative. (Subscription free; despite this lapse, they do OK.)

Anyhow, here's what operative Ellis has to say:

But the reality is that until the Democrats convince vast swaths of the electorate that they are every bit as serious about fighting terrorism on as many fronts as is required, until they articulate a plan that is every bit as aggressive and ambitious and steadfast as Bush has been, until they make clear to the country that they will not falter or fail in this struggle, they will remain outside the circle of majority consideration.

So, since what Ellis has to say is certainly disinforrmation, Bush must be, in fact, worried about how voters will see the succcesses and failures of his "war on terror." And he has every reason to be. Personally, I think he's vulnerable from the right on this one. Dean/Graham would take care of this, I think. As would Clark/[your favorite here].

Colin, Colin... And we thought you were the one with integrity!

Christopher Marqui of the Times reports:

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell conceded Thursday that despite his assertions to the United Nations last year, he had no "smoking gun" proof of a link between the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and terrorists of Al Qaeda.

Mr. Powell's remarks on Thursday were a stark admission that there is no definitive evidence to back up administration statements and insinuations that Saddam Hussein had ties to Al Qaeda, the acknowledged authors of the Sept. 11 attacks. Although President Bush finally acknowledged in September that there was no known connection between Mr. Hussein and the attacks, the impression of a link in the public mind has become widely accepted — and something administration officials have done little to discourage.

Great use of the passive voice there, Chris—may I call you Chris?—makes it sound like the American people discovered this "impression" under a cabbage leaf... And "little to discourage" is terrific, too. You mean "everything to encourage," don't you, Chris?

Mr. Powell offered a vigorous defense of his Feb. 5 presentation before the Security Council, in which he voiced the administration's most detailed case to date for war with Iraq, [saying] "Iraqi officials deny accusations of ties with Al Qaeda. These denials are simply not credible."

On Thursday, Mr. Powell dismissed second-guessing....

Translation: "What difference does it make?"

In the immortal words of Gregg Allman: "That was then, this is now... Don't ask me to be Mister Clean 'cause babyt I don't know how!"

Leigh Strope of AP writes on the Wecovery:

The nation's unemployment rate dropped to 5.7 percent in December to the lowest level in 14 months, but employers finished the year without many help wanted signs for the holidays, adding just 1,000 new jobs.


0.2 percentage point drop in the jobless rate occurred because fewer people were looking for work, the Labor Department said Friday. More than 300,000 people gave up their search for jobs and dropped out of the pool of available workers.

Amazing way we have of counting unemployment, isn't it? Imagine if we measured how good a party was this way: "Hey, my party's a success since people are leaving!" Sigh....

UPDATE: Via Atrios, an excellent post from MaxSpeak:

[In Novbember 2001] the Establishment Survey showed total employment of 130,900,000 (total non-farm, all employees). At the beginning of 2003, it was 130,356,000. Now here we are wrapping up 2003 – surrounded by Bushist triumphalism – it is 130,124,000. We have fewer jobs now than when the recession ended [in 2001].

Looks like 665,000 lucky duckies. Truly, Bush is a miserable failure on the jobs front. But you feel safer, right?

Just another campaign stunt. How on earth do we pay for it? With what's left over for social security when these guys are done looting it? It's all so transparent: just a build-up to the SOTU.

Then again:

Just to give these guys a chance:

A serious approach to reinvigorating the space program would use robots, which are both cheaper and more effective. Manned space travel is just a form of tourism; great, but let the private sector do that. That would fit into Republican philosophy, wouldn't it?

So now we have a litmus test for whether this proposal is just a stunt, or not. Robots, serious; astronauts, a stunt. And a stunt is just what it looks like it's going to be.

Bush lies kill nine more.

Is nothing sacred?

Of course, when you're married to a man who tortured small animals, I guess you'd be willing to say just about anything....

Look! Up in the sky! It must be the flying fuck that I gave!

Yawn ("Bush to Announce Mission to Mars" Or the moon^[1]..)

Say, why doesn't someone ask Dear Leader if Mars is 6000 years old, too?

UPDATE Now the headline reads "Bush to Announce Bold New Missions to Send Americans to Mars and the Moon/"

Eeew, that "bold" RNC meme is so stale. Can't they come up with something better?

^[1]Moon this Mr. "President"!

WWJD? Civil unions, as Dean (and any real Christian) would understand (below).

John Rice of AP reports:

"The November elections are very close and what we hope is that [Bush's immigration "reform"] doesn't only have the objective of attracting the Hispanic vote, but that it really becomes a firm base to start to discuss important themes," said Roberto Madrazo, head of the Institutional Revolutionary, which controlled the presidency for 71 straight years before losing to Fox in 2000.

Say, is it true that Dean speaks fluent Spanish? I wonder how you say "bait and switch" in Spanish?

I like Walter Shapiro, but c'mon:

If there was an emblematic moment during Tuesday's debate, it came when Dean, the candidate who is supposedly trying to mellow out, defined the political opposition in near-apocalyptic tones. "You cannot accommodate to the right wing led by people like Tom DéLay. Their values are not the values of the American people." Even though DéLay, the House majority leader, is a scorched-earth Republican partisan, there was the sense that Dean tread [sic] on dangerous turf by hinting that DéLay's values were un-American. With the GOP already running TV ads suggesting that the Democrats are soft on terrorism, now might be the time for a moratorium on challenging any political rival's patriotism.

Really.

"Scorched earth Republican" is American, then? Or what, Walt—may I call you Walt?—are you saying? Great to hear you calling for the Republicans to stop questioning Dems' patriotism. Oh, wait....

NOTE: In general, I like USA Today. It's truly amazing and courageous that a paper which any American businessman staying in a half-decent hotel finds outside his door in the morning and reads while brushing his teeth takes the stands that it does. That said, on this one, Mr. Shapiro, you're wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

The Democratic establishment, that is. Check out the Washington Monthly for an insightful article.

The absence of a true Democratic establishment is the central fact not only of the current presidential contest, but also of the last three years of Beltway politics. Washington Democrats are not wholly without political and strategic assets. But when you put it all together, there's not much to look at.

Heck, why are there nine candidates still standing, if there was such a thing as the Democratic establishment? Gutless, feckless Beltway Dems ...

Since last winter, the 2004 primary campaign has been, for all intents and purposes, a referendum on the Washington establishment, held by the party's grassroots. Rank-and-file Democrats love Dean not so much because he's "taken on" a powerful Washington establishment, but because he has tapped voters' fury and dismay that the establishment seems so powerless--even with half the popular vote behind it. It's because the establishment is pathetic, not powerful, that these people support Dean.

Bingo. The only power these guys have is that they've got their preferences listed in the whore books of the SCLM. Time to clean house...

P.S. Read deep into the article for how Whiney Joe fucked up on Enron. Sigh....

Just asking...

Just asking...

Look. Savaging Brooks is good, clean fun (Atrios; Howler; and we've even done it ourselves) but in some ways, it's misplaced energy.

A new winger meme seems to have rolled out of the RNC fax blaster—it's starting to replace "anger" (didn't take), and "irrational hatred" (didn't take).

The meme is: conspiracy theorist. (An excellent example comes from thug meme-meister and convicted felon Ollie "Shred Me" North. What is with the Republicans overthrowing constitutional government, anyhow?)

In the light of winger meme transmission strategy, the most important sentence in Burbling Brooks's screed is the following:

The full-mooners fixated on a think tank called the Project for the New American Century, which has a staff of five and issues memos on foreign policy. To hear these people describe it, PNAC is sort of a Yiddish Trilateral Commission, the nexus of the sprawling neocon tentacles.

The rope-a-dope? Brooks is covering a Big Lie with a Small Lie.

The Small Lie: Brook's shoddy slur that administration critics are anti-semites. We nailed him on this one, but he's gotten us to throw our punches where it doesn't really hurt him.

The Big Lie: That pointing out the role of the neo-conservative PNAC in American political life makes you a "full mooner" ^[1]. In fact, the role of the PNAC has been well known to us in the blogosphere for some time; UggaBugga provides a typically brilliant diagram of their influence ^[2]. However, though the Big Lie is old news to us, it's new to the mainstream. When we focus on the Small Lie, because it's new, instead of the Big Lie, because it's old, we miss a teachable moment. In this way, the Small Lie covers up the Big Lie.

So, Brooks has managed to introduce the role of the PNAC into the mainstream of political discourse in a way that marginalizes it as a "conspiracy theory."

Rope-a-dope!

I join with the rest of our readership—and his happy client(s)— in wishing Mr. Brooks the most lavish of tips for his most excellent service(s).

^[1]Moon this, Dave.
^[2]UggaBugga's work reminds me of the link analysis used in wartime intelligence... I wonder why?

AP reports:

A trucking company accidentally sent a shipment of diluted weapons-grade uranium to a North Carolina nuclear plant instead of its intended destination in Kentucky, but the mix-up posed no risk to anyone, officials said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission believes the mistake posed no risk to anyone, a spokesman said Wednesday.

"It was received at a facility authorized to take it," agency spokesman Roger Hannah said.

Right. Not that anyone would ever want to, well, divert and intercept it along the way.... Like, say winger terrorists? Move along, people, move along. There's no story here!

Tell me again why Bush is supposed to be so good on national security?

Well, not exactly. But Jonathon Cohn does quote The Big Dog thus:

"Nobody did a better job on health care than [Dean] did as governor of Vermont."

I can see why the thugs want to divert attention from universal health care to civil unions, faux scandals, anything but the record ...

A little cultural insight from Norimitsu Onishi, who writes:

TOKYO, Jan. 7 — Anywhere else perhaps, a shiny cellphone fallen on the backseat of a taxi, a nondescript umbrella left leaning against a subway door, a wad of cash dropped on a sidewalk, would be lost forever, the owners resigned to the vicissitudes of big city life.

But here in Tokyo, with 8 million people in the city and 33 million in the metropolitan area, these items and thousands more would probably find their way to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Lost and Found Center. In a four-story warehouse, hundreds of thousands of lost objects are meticulously catalogued according to the date and location of discovery, and the information put in a database.

OK, at least we know the WMDs aren't in Tokyo! That narrows it down! And OBL isn't in Tokyo, either!

"I feel uncomfortable holding another person's money," Mr. Hirahaya said "I think many Japanese people feel the same way and hand over something they find. I think among Japanese there's still a sense of community since ancient times."

There's another lesson for the Republicans here, too, isn't there ....

Dean once again talks sense:

"[I]f God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people."

Though the hypocrites and Pharisees that run the Republican party will have a hard time understanding this, Jesus would have understood it immediately.

And you can make your own prayer request online!

Flood the zone!

UPDATE from Erasmus:

"I pray that George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States, be impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted in the Senate before the 2004 election for lying to the citizens of the United States and the world about weapons of mass destruction during the 2003 State of the Union Address, and that those individuals in the Bush Administration who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame, thereby compromising the identity of an agent on the front line of the war against terrorism and WMD proliferation, be indicted for and and convicted of treason."

Pandagon has an excellent point-by-point refutation of TNR's endorsement of Whiney Joe.

As Atrios has pointed out, the idea that TNR is a Democratic publication is just Republican disinformation anyhow. As The Howler shows, we're seeing more and more of these faux, Trojan horse Democrats these days. Oh well, $100 million buys any number of whores....

The recent RNC-inspired flap about the Bushes and the Nazis is of course meant to discourage any real inquiry into the subject. I guess it must be a sore spot for them, judging by the howls of outrage ....

Fortunately, deviser of the southern strategy and recovering Republican Kevin Phillips does the research in American Dynasty (now finally on the shelves, for those who prefer to walk to their local bookstore). No irrational hater, he! The reviews say the book is rather loosely written, and indeed it bears signs of having been a little rushed into print, but the research looks good, and Kevin Phillips is about as mainstream as writers get.
From the preface:

In the United States, as we will see, the twentieth-century rise of the Bush family was built on the five pillars of American global sway: the international reach of U.S. investment banking, the emerging giantism of the military-industrial complex, the ballooning of the CIA and kindred intelligence operations, the drive for U.S. control of global oil supplies, and a close alliance with Britain and the English-speaking community. This century of upward momentum brought a sequence of controversies, albeit ones that never gained critical mass—such as the exposure in 1942 of Prescott Bush's corporate directorship links to wartime Germany, which harked back to overambitious 1920s investment banking; the Bush family's longtime involvement with global armaments and the military-industrial complex; and a web of close connections to the CIA, which began decades before George Bush's brief CIA directorship in 1976. Threads like these may not weigh heavily on individual presidencies; they are many times more troubling when they run through several generations of a dynasty.

We must be cautious here not to transmute commercial relationships into a latter-day conspiracy theory, a transformation that epitomizes what historian Richard Hofstadter years ago called the "paranoid streak" in American politics. (Try a Google Internet search for "George Bush and Hitler," for example.) On the other hand, worries about conspiracy thinking should not inhibit inquiries in a way that blocks sober examination, which often more properly identifies some kind of elite behavior familiar to sociologists and political scientists alike.

Since these people intend to rule us—that's "rule us," not "govern us"—forever, it makes good sense to do some research on them, ne-c'est pas?

If you can nail slime, that is.

Here.

UPDATE: alert reader pansypoo points out that "to nail slime, you need to chill it." Not quite sure where to go with this...

Fingerprinting our guests.... Tragedy turned to farce awfully fast in the war on terra, didn't it?

Fingerprinting the guests to our country, while cargo planes aren't guarded, container ports aren't guarded, loose nukes are still floating around, OBL is still on the loose...

Christopher Alexander has a great concept called the quality without a name. I think that quality, for our country right now, is that what once would have been a joke, and funny, is now reality, and not funny at all. You see this a lot in Dilbert. That quality—would it be irony? Is irony this bitter and hurtful?—is evident in a wonderful song Randy Newman wrote, a long time ago, called "Political Science." I quote in full:

Political Science-
by Randy Newman
1969

No one likes us - I don't know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around, even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens

We give them money, but are they grateful?
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us, so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them

Asia's crowded, and Europe's too old
Africa is far too hot, and Canada's too cold
And South America stole our name
Let's drop the big one
There'll be no one left to blame us

We'll save Australia, don't wanna hurt no kangaroo
We'll build an All-American amusement park there
They got surfin' too

Boom goes London and boom Paree
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh, how peaceful it will be
We'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono baby
And there'll be Italian shoes for me

They all hate us anyhow
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now

I guess it plays to the Bush base, though....

Douglas Jehl of the New York Times writes:

The Bush administration has quietly withdrawn from Iraq a 400-member military team whose job was to scour the country for military equipment, according to senior government officials.

Yeah, quietly is right.

Good thing the media's all over this one, pointing out the final disintegration of any evidentiary basis for the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war. Oh, wait....

YABL, YABL, YABL.... And "What difference does it make"? Well, Bush lies, soldiers die. In fact, they still are (helicopter); (mortar). We're really winning now!

A good column from the mainstream LA Times. David Ulin writes:

I spent my winter vacation feeling victimized, terrorized. In other words, I traveled by air. As the Homeland Security alert level rose to orange, the fear level went right up with it — ratcheted by the powers that be, fueled by vague public information, hyped by an apocalypse-loving media. What astonished me was the extent to which I bought into the hysteria, the extent to which I betrayed myself.

Of course, terror is the wild card we live with, the new baseline for reality. We must acknowledge it, prepare as best we can, but to suppose that with enough surveillance and checkpoints we might truly secure ourselves is a pernicious fantasy. If you doubt this, consider Israel. The more we queue up — docile, frightened — the more we let the real terrorists win.

This is, in part, a matter of civic identity. I come down on the side of Benjamin Franklin, who once said, "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither." Yet even more, it's an issue of how we live every day, of whether we give in or stand up to hysteria. Terror alerts don't make us much safer, they make us more scared. They make us turn our public spaces into no man's lands, where we are always peering over shoulders, staring at one another with suspicion, searching for the next act of devastation even as it unfolds within our hearts.

Danger, after all, is always with us, just below the surface of the everyday. As individuals we can't keep it from occasionally exploding; we can only keep it from taking over our lives. Fear does not protect us, it only generates more fear.

The coward dies a thousand deaths, the hero dies but once.

So why does Bush want to keep us fearful? Why do we never hear "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"? Because it serves his political interests to do so.

Think! Is our "situation" now worse than Vietnam? Korea? World War II? World War I? The Civil War? The Revolutionary War? Of course not! In each case far more lives were lost, and the country was in far greater danger. So why does Bush want to keep us fearful? Again, because it serves his political interests.

NOTE: In writing the paragraph above, I had to use the word "situation" because our language has grown so Orwellian that there's no alternative to writing the "war on terror," which simply buys into the lying. Can anyone suggest a better alternative?

AP:

New claims for unemployment benefits increased last week following three straight weeks of declines, the Labor Department said Thursday.

It's Okay If You're A Republican! Originated by Atrios, here.

IOKIYAR is what allowed Henry Hyde to classify his affair as a "youthful indiscretion," and Clinton's affair as grounds for impeachment.

I love it that the SCLM is all exercised about a flyer on Clark from the Dean campaign, when Bush has a $99 million war chest...

Thirty-five U.S. soldiers were wounded Wednesday in a mortar attack on a U.S. base west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

David Callahan of the Christian Science Monitor reports:

At the height of the boom, however, the bottom three-quarters of American households owned less than 15 percent of all stock. Barely a third of households hold more than $5,000 in stock. Most Americans have more debt on their credit cards than money in their mutual funds.

Stock-market gains have reflected the top-heavy ownership patterns. Between 1989 and 1997, the most recent year for which there is good data, 86 percent of stock market gains went to just the top 10 percent of households. Yet when the market tanked, it was often ordinary investors who felt the sharpest pain - pain that many will cope with well into retirement. According to a March survey by Greenwich Associates, major retirement pension plans lost $1 trillion from the beginning of 2000 through beginning of 2003.

Sure! Privatizing Social Security! That's the ticket! If you want campaign contributions from the brokers, anyhow.

The Democrat's Iowa causes? Or will Bush wait 'til New Hampshire, or even Super Tuesday?

Since Bush knows what the verdict should be already, things should go pretty fast, right?

WaPo:

The composite image revealed a mysterious substance right at the rover's feet, which scientists described as a "strangely cohesive" clay-like material with alien textures.

Hmmm....

Karl Rove's consience?

W's compassion?

Condi's administrative abilities?

The wonders of science...

First Dean was crazy. Then he was wrong. Now he's just guilty of bad timing. Yawn.

The slightly stale CW of David "Dean" Broder from WaPo:

To argue, as Dean did, on the day after Saddam Hussein's capture by American troops, that jailing the Iraqi dictator left America "no safer" was a classically ill-timed remark. Whatever the ultimate judgment of history, that was a day for celebrating the success of the manhunt for this thoroughly malignant character.

Oh? Says who?

Maybe, Dave—may I call you Dave?— you could explain to us the correct time to reveal that the emperor has no clothes? (back)

Seriously, Bush politicized the war right from the word "go." Why should Dean—or you, Dave?—play along?

ABC News reports:

At a checkpoint on the barren plain east of Baqouba, word of a new U.S. Army plan to pay soldiers up to $10,000 to re-enlist evoked laughter from a few bored-looking troopers.

"Man, they can't pay me enough to stay here," said a 23-year-old specialist from the Army's 4th Infantry Division as he manned the checkpoint with Iraqi police outside this city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Funny. There are things that money can't buy.

Not that we expect Bush to understand this, of course.

That's Atrios, 'owie—you 'ore.

Just asking.

And this is from Gerhart's puff piece bio of Laura Bush! WaPo quotes:

That summer of 2001, Jenna sat in a crowded bar and tried to sweet-talk the bartender into breaking the law and serving her, but he lost his nerve when he saw the guys with the earpieces and asked her to leave. Jenna, according to an account in U.S. News & World Report, was furious. She yelled at her agents, then fled down a back alley. They gave chase, said the magazine, and when they caught up with her, she taunted them: "You know if anything happens to me, my dad would have your ass."

Little Jenna has such a sense of entitlement!

Seriously, it's the same attitude as "What difference does it make" from Bush. Bush feels free to lie, having impunity; Jenna feels free to break the law, having impunity. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree ....

Much of the detail of president's proposal was to be worked out by Congress in future negotiations with the White House.

For instance, Bush wants to increase the nation's yearly allotment of green cards that allow for permanent U.S. residency, but won't say by how much, the officials said. Approximately 140,000 green cards a year are issued now.

He also wants the workers' first three-year term in the program to be renewable but won't say for how long; he won't set the amount workers should pay to apply for the program....

All good so far—get the political credit for 2004; punt on the problems 'til 2005. Just like Medicare "reform."

But it gets better:

.... and he won't specify how to enforce the requirement that no American worker wants the job the foreign worker is taking, according to administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

So the whole plan is really about driving down wages for US workers! Shameless. How stupid do they think we are?

Say, why is it that David Brooks cries "anti-semitism" when liberals mention the idea that neo-conservatives might be influencing or even controlling foreign policy (below), but when Grover Norquist compares progressive taxation to the Holocaust, he doesn't say a word?

Just asking ...

It certainly made a difference to the troops that got killed for a lie, and their families. Shithead.

And it makes an even bigger difference that our President can lie us into a way with impunity. Say, impunity... I thought that was something that only dictators and their lackeys had.... Boy, was I wrong. (Same concept of impunity in The Plame Affair, come to think of it.

Oh, the headline that prompted this? Iraq's Arsenal Was Only on Paper .

Fool me once ....

And not only that, they mention the ever excellent and essential Orcinus! Scott Gold of the LA Times reports:

Starting with a single piece of mail, investigators discovered an enormous cache of weapons in Noonday, in East Texas, including the makings of a sophisticated sodium cyanide bomb capable of killing thousands of people.

Three people: William Krar, a small-time arms dealer with connections to white supremacists; Krar's common-law wife, Judith L. Bruey; and Edward S. Feltus, the man who was supposed to have received the forged documents pleaded guilty in the case in November. They are being held in a Tyler, Texas, detention facility and are scheduled to appear before a federal judge for sentencing next month.

Ah! Members of Bush's base!

But what is typically the end of a criminal case may be only the beginning in this one. Some government investigators believe other conspirators may be on the loose. And they readily acknowledge that they have no idea what the stash of weapons was for — though they have tantalizing and alarming clues of a "covert operation or plan," according to an FBI affidavit.

Good, I'm glad we caught these guys. Too bad Bush got us bogged down in Iraq and missed out on OBL, but these guys sound at least as dangerous. Not that we'd expect to hear about that from the malAdminstration.

if the defendants in this case had been people with foreign backgrounds or Muslims, U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft himself would have announced the arrests and the guilty pleas.

No shit, Sherlock!

Instead, details of the case were revealed in a half-page press release sent to local media. Officials say the case was at one point included in President Bush's daily security briefings, but it remains virtually unknown outside East Texas — even though, critics point out, it represents an instance in which federal authorities discovered a weapon of mass destruction.

Much of the criticism has come on Internet Web logs, known as "blogs." People who operate the websites, or "bloggers," have seized on the Krar case and what they perceive as the inattention it received from the Bush administration and major media.

The fault, critics say, lies not with law enforcement officers, whom they believe prevented a deadly plot from developing. Instead, they say, the fault lies with an administration that adheres too closely to a script.

"If anyone wanted evidence that the 'war on terror' is primarily a political marketing campaign” in which war itself is mostly a device for garnering support” they need look no further than the startling non-response to domestic terrorism by the Bush Administration," one blog, called Orcinus, said recently.

Robert Jensen, an associate professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Texas in Austin and director of the College of Communication's honors program, agrees with the criticism. He says that the Bush administration, to promote its efforts overseas, "needs a public that is afraid and sees these wars as justified."

"The primary justification is a fear of people 'out there' who want to come here and get us," he said. "Arrests of foreigners are very effective arrests to publicize. It has a political function. Domestic terrorism may be, in some ways, more of a threat. But there is no reason to publicize it. It doesn't have any political benefit."

Federal officials disagreed ...

"No political benefit" unless you happen to be a liberal, of course. But then Bush isn't really trying to protect all Americans—just his base.

I've always thought that the Republicans left the winger terrorists alone because they figure they might need them as shock troops one day. "Don't worry, we can control them."

Times fluffer Elizabeth Bumiller here:

"I can't do it with Schroeder," Mr. Bush told Ms. Rice, according to a senior administration official who witnessed the exchange. Ms. Rice, who had not directly suggested that Mr. Bush meet with Mr. Schroeder, rushed to reassure. "No, no, no, we won't make you do it with Schroeder," she said.

Do it?!

AP here:

Australia's Qantas Airways said Wednesday that U.S. authorities are now banning passengers from gathering near restrooms

I don't know if Bush has thought through the consequences on this one .... Or maybe he has ....

Out of 660 (unconstitutionally and illegally held) "detainees," reports AP.

Not good odds. Thank God my America is a civilized nation, that doesn't condone torture, extra-judicial killing, lettre de cachet, judicial murdur .... Oh, wait...

After we posted on The Newspaper of Record (not!)'s latest hackjob on Dean, and suggested that newly appointed Times ombudsman Dan Okrent be made to earn his salary by defending it, (back), alert reader Tinfoil Hat Boy did just that, and fired off a letter to the Times ombudsman. Here is Okrent's response:

Dear Mr. [Tinfoil Hat Boy],

You are not alone in your displeasure with The Times's coverage of the Dean campaign.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, as of now I am planning to write about this issue in my next column to be published January 18, 2004.

Thank you for writing.

Sincerely,
Dan Okrent
Public Editor

Save the date: January 18. Countdown to ecstasy! Feel share your own polite, well-reasoned, and above all well-documented views with Dan here: public@nytimes.com in the meantime.

Say, does Jeff Gerth still rakin' in the bucks after he butchered the Whitewater story so badly?

Broder.

Probably means Dean's peaked....

Here.

That's two strikes against the electoral legitimacy of the Bush regime:

1. Gerrymandering of Red states against Blue states


2. Electronic voting machines that cannot be audited, whose providers are deeply committed Republicans

Can anyone provide a third strike?

Oh, I meant to say the electoral legitimacy of the Bush regime in 2004. Just to clarify.

Of course, after iWaq, we know how strong Bush is on planning... Leilie Miller of AP reports:

The Bush administration said Tuesday it has chosen three companies to develop plans for anti-missile systems to defend U.S. commercial planes against shoulder-fired rockets.

Of course, Bush has Air Force One, so he doesn't, personally, need to worry. I'm happy for him.

Now about those totally unprotected cargo plans, and our totally unprotected ports. Any plans for those?

Explain to me how I should feel safer again, with Saddam in custody? And explain to me again why the Wepublicans are any good on national security at all?

Here are some of the words in Karen Tumulty's primal scream in Time:

Dean, who is "quirky," "barks," and "blusters." Paradoxically, he also "whines." ( I haven't heard him do any of those things, and yes, I've seen him speak and spoken to him.) "Like Bush, Dean can no longer make a friend of low expectations." And this is before she gets to "the case against Dean"!

Not that she would have already made up her mind...

Kathy Keliy of USA today reviews the new bio of Laura Bush:

Years before she became the sunny, steadying, widely admired wife who inspired her husband to emerge from his father's shadow and become a successful politician in his own right, Laura Bush, nee Welch, killed a boy. She was 17 when she missed a stop sign outside her hometown of Midland and plowed into a car driven by Michael Douglas, a high school classmate and close friend.

[The author, washington writer Ann] Gerhart, who has been on the beat since Laura Bush assumed her unofficial office in 2001, is an unabashed fan.

Gerhart may be fond of her but is too much of a pro to pull any punches. Among revelations: Gerhart reviewed police files on the fatal accident and came away with pointed questions about how thoroughly the investigation was conducted.

Hillary, of course, never killed anyone... But let's look on the bright side: Laura Bush, unlike her husband, never tortured small animals.

Anyhow, it's interesting that Bush is getting this stuff out now before the campaign begins in earnest. And if Bush runs true to form, the real story is far worse than any of us have imagined, which is why they are doing damage control now. It would be interesting to know, for example, if the young Laura Bush was a serial speeder, like Republican Congressman Janklow ....

Interesting if true.

What facts would raise a serious questions of the appearance of a conflict of interest here? I'd bet that the investigation is focusing on at least one target whom Ashcroft knows more than casually, or works with regularly. After all, Novak did identify his sources as two "senior Administration officials."

What explains the timing of Ashcroft's removal? Recall that the removal occurred as a result of events occurring in the same week the Post reported that the FBI had told potential witnesses they might have to face a grand jury.

Some of those witnesses very probably hired lawyers as soon as they heard the news. Especially likely to hire a lawyer would be a middle-level person with knowledge of a leak by a higher-up. And such a lawyer would likely have gone immediately to the prosecutors to make a deal.

Who might the lawyer be? It's pure speculation, but former D.C. United States Attorney Joe diGenova, or his wife and law partner, Victoria Toensing, are likely candidates. Toensing, as chief counsel of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence worked on one of the laws that may have been violated -- the law protecting the identities of undercover agents. Who better to defend a leaker who might be subject to a law, than the person who drafted the law?

Moreover, Toensing was quoted in a recent Washington Post story explaining that it is possible that any leak "could be embarrassing but not illegal" -- suggesting that a leaker might have a possible defense. (Unfortunately for the leaker, however, as I noted in an earlier column, more than one law may have been broken.)

When the lawyer -- diGenova, Toensing, or someone else -- went to the government seeking immunity for his or her client, Ashcroft would have heard that the middle-level person was offering to finger the high-level leaker. At that point, he would have realized he himself knew the high-level leaker; and decided to recuse himself from the case, and let Fitzgerald take over.

And since this is 2004, I'm optimistic!

Dow Jones Here:

The relentless dollar selling showed no sign of letting up in New York Tuesday, with the dollar sinking to new lows across the board.

In morning trading, the euro was at $1.2794, up from $1.2664 late Monday in New York. The dollar was at 106.17 yen, up a little from 106.07 yen late Monday, only thanks to aggressive dollar bids from Japanese banks on behalf of Japanese monetary authorities, dealers said. Against the Swiss franc, the dollar was at 1.2256, down from 1.2337, while sterling was trading up at $1.8260 from $1.8060.

If anything, the dollar's slide was accelerating along with the increase in trading volume as investors return to the market after the holiday period. With very little to convince them otherwise, certainly not official rhetoric from U.S. or euro-zone policymakers, they're simply putting on fresh short dollar positions, en masse.

Argentina, anyone?

As Paul Krugman pointed out earlier today (below), such a catastrophe is not completely implausible with the Bush gang at the helm. The financial markets have Bush's number, even if the MWs and the Beltway crowd don't.

Bush himself, and his gang, will of course be able to get out in time, and scuttle away with sacks of cash over their shoulders. Leaving the rest of us holding the bag, crying all the way to the bank.... Enron a failure? For these guys, it's a blueprint!

AP:

The Army has allowed Halliburton to increase the supplies of fuel delivered to Iraq without giving the usual data to justify its cost, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Halliburton to taxpayers: We can do it, so we will do it. Fuck you.

David "I'm writing as bad as I can" Brooks seems to think so:

... con is short for "conservative" and neo is short for "Jewish" ...

If "think" is the word that I want....

More on his latest astonishing screed below.

Krugman points out that Robert Rubin has joined the coalition of the shrill:

"Substantial ongoing deficits," [Rubin and his co-authors] warn, "may severely and adversely affect expectations and confidence, which in turn can generate a self-reinforcing negative cycle among the underlying fiscal deficit, financial markets, and the real economy. . . . The potential costs and fallout from such fiscal and financial disarray provide perhaps the strongest motivation for avoiding substantial, ongoing budget deficits." In other words, do cry for us, Argentina: we may be heading down the same road.

Lest readers think that the most celebrated Treasury secretary since Alexander Hamilton has flipped his lid, the paper rather mischievously quotes at length from an earlier paper by Laurence Ball and N. Gregory Mankiw, who make a similar point. Mr. Mankiw is now the chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, a job that requires him to support his boss's policies, and reassure the public that the budget deficit produced by those policies is manageable and not really a problem.

But here's what he wrote back in 1995, at a time when the federal deficit was much smaller than it is today, and headed down, not up: the risk of a crisis of confidence "may be the most important reason for seeking to reduce budget deficits. . . . As countries increase their debt, they wander into unfamiliar territory in which hard landings may lurk. If policymakers are prudent, they will not take the chance of learning what hard landings in [advanced] countries are really like."

The point made by Mr. Rubin now, and by Mr. Mankiw when he was a free agent, is that the traditional immunity of advanced countries like America to third-world-style financial crises isn't a birthright. Financial markets give us the benefit of the doubt only because they believe in our political maturity — in the willingness of our leaders to do what is necessary to rein in deficits, paying a political cost if necessary. And in the past that belief has been justified. Even Ronald Reagan raised taxes when the budget deficit soared.

But do we still have that kind of maturity? Here's the opening sentence of a recent New York Times article on the administration's budget plans: "Facing a record budget deficit, Bush administration officials say they have drafted an election-year budget that will rein in the growth of domestic spending without alienating politically influential constituencies." Needless to say, the proposed spending cuts — focused only on the powerless — are both cruel and trivial.

Naah. It can't happen here... At least when the Brits ran their empire, others were in debt to them. With Bush, it's the other way round....

Yeah, let's fingerprint them.

While leaving the ports unprotected, our cargo planes vulnerable, and making matters worse in Iraq.

Say, maybe we could fingerprint all the Republicans when they cross the border into Manhattan for their convention this September!

You'd think the Times would be wary of trying to do scandal reporting, after they butchered Whitewater so horribly, but I guess they want Dean out of the race so badly that they just can't help themselves. It's sad to see a once-great newspaper sink so low.

Anyhow, the headline of the "story" reads: "Vermont Auditors Faulted Dean Aide on '92 Contract." And then, all the way at the end of the story, we find this:

Under Vermont law, the review should have made public after 30 days. That never happened, said Elizabeth Costle, who was head of the Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration, the agency that was being audited.

"It just fell through the cracks," said Ms. Costle, who has since left Vermont government and moved to Northern Virginia. "They tried to make a big deal out of it, but the truth is that the governor had nothing to do with that. The person who dropped the ball was me."

"To make any argument that he was trying to protect them," Mr. Carson said, "is laughable."

So in the headline, we have the accusation. At the end of the story, we have the evidence against the accusation. Which information do you think will spread faster? Apparently, FUX isn't the only "fair and balanced" "news" organization out there...

Make that new Times ombudsman at public@nytimes.com earn his salary defending this hatchet job ....

UPDATE: See Mark Kleiman for more.

And here I thought David "I'm writing as bad as I can" Brooks was going to be the quiet, calm one, in contrast to the utterly compromised operative Safire. After all, wasn't Brooks the author of the moderate-sounding article in The Atlantic that argued that there weren't any real differences between Red States and Blue States?^[1]

Boy, was I wrong. Get a load of Brooks's latest hissy fit:

Do you ever get the sense the whole world is becoming unhinged from reality? I started feeling that way awhile ago, when I was still working for The Weekly Standard and all these articles began appearing about how Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Doug Feith, Bill Kristol and a bunch of "neoconservatives" at the magazine had taken over U.S. foreign policy. ... Theories about the tightly knit neocon cabal came in waves. ... The full-mooners fixated on a think tank called the Project for the New American Century ...
We'd sit around the magazine guffawing at the ludicrous stories .... In truth, the people labeled neocons (con is short for "conservative" and neo is short for "Jewish") travel in widely different circles and don't actually have much contact with one another. ....

Travel in different circles?! Don't have much contact?!?! Has Brooks never heard of email? Or air travel? Move along people, move along! There's no story here! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! And, Dave? May I call you Dave? Moon this ....

Anyhow, in the extract from Brook's screed above, I left out all the "analytical" material—the veiled accusation that criticism of the neo-cons is based on anti-semitism, the Uriah Heep-like sanctimony that electornic media allow people to live "unburdened by ambiguity" (people like Bush), and so on, and on, and on.

Because the interesting part of the column is that, on internal evidence, it refutes itself. Brooks is concerned to show that control of American foreign policy has not been seized by a winger cabal. It would appear that he is, himself, part of at least one cabal, since he guffaws with like-minded people about it, seems to know who travels with whom, and who has contact with whom. How did he acquire all this detail, anyhow, without being part of the same social network he is at pains to argue doesn't exist?

UPDATE The ever-essential Daily Howler has more. As do Oliver Willis, tbogg, Tom Tomorrow, and Josh Marshall.

UPDATE Brooks is already nominated. Cast your vote here.

NOTE
[1]Of course, the Blue States do send, on average, $500 person to the Blue States, if that makes any difference....

WaPo:

At a news conference in Iowa yesterday, Kerry said Dean had been "duplicitous" on his opposition to the war in Iraq and said the Bush administration will "exploit to a fare-thee-well" Dean's "lack of straight talk" if Dean should win the nomination.

What a falling off is here...

To start, who's the real liar on the war? BUSH, Kerry you moron! [Of course Kerry can't say that, because to say that is to admit that Kerry was decieved by Bush—after Bush stole the election in 2002; not very Presidential....] Anyhow, Kerry would probably pick up a lot more votes in Iowa if he said what is only the truth, and called Bush a liar. (Say, have we found those WMDs yet?)

Meanwhile, USA Today's Walter Shapiro makes the argument that the Dem circular firing squad doesn't really matter. The Bush campaign is going to be so vicious, so dirty, so underhanded, and so ruthless that nothing the Dems could say could make it worse than it's gong to be. I'm inclined to agree with him, counter to CW though it is.

Jim VanDeHei of WaPo writes:

In recent days, he has been dismissive when other Democrats go after him, sending staff members -- or even a nurse from a local hospital -- to rebut the attacks so he can stay away from the bickering. In Sunday's debate, Dean was uncharacteristically calm as he brushed off criticism about his record as governor and his penchant for making controversial or contradictory statements. "As you know, I have a reputation for saying exactly what I think. And while the words may not be precise, the meaning is not hard to figure out," he said.

As usual, the Beltway Press focuses on style: Dean is moderating his tone, etc. Yawn.

The real story is that an "ordinary" citizen (the nurse) was willing to go on record and serve on Dean's behalf, and that the Dean campaign was smart enough—and trusting enough—to allow her to do so. This is a great indicator of what the Dean campaign could be about—"ordinary" citizens doing politics (gasp). Who wants to bet that the nurse joined the Dean campaign through a meetup or a house party?

The nice thing about this model (if it is a model) is that it scales. It leverages the new style of organization that the Dean campaign has created. Wars can still be won by troops on the ground, regardless of the multi-million dollar air war Bush is about to unleash on TV.

News flash!!!!!!!

[T]he sun is around 6 billion years old. (AP)

Not 6,000 years.

6,000,000,000 years.

Just for future reference ...

Leigh Strope of AP reports:

A proposed Labor Department rule suggests ways employers can avoid paying overtime to some of the 1.3 million low-income workers who would become eligible this year.

The department's advice comes even as it touts the $895 million in increased wages that it says those workers would be guaranteed from the reforms.

Among the options for employers: cut workers' hourly wages and add the overtime to equal the original salary, or raise salaries to the new $22,100 annual threshold, making them ineligible.

The department says it is merely listing well-known choices available to employers, even under current law.

"We're not saying anybody should do any of this," said Labor Department spokesman Ed Frank.

Beautiful...

Surprise!

Deb Riechmann of AP reports:

President Bush wants his staff to cooperate with investigators trying to find out whether a Bush administration official leaked a CIA operative's name, but the White House won't say whether he'll ask staffers to release reporters from confidentiality agreements.

Right. Bush wants it, he just doesn't want to do anything to make it happen.

Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die...

James Bovard of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on how authorities cooperate with Bush by setting up "free speech zones" for those visibly opposed to Bush policies, while allowing supporters free access (and, of course, RNC-compliant photo ops). He gives examples from Pittsburgh, St. Petersburgh, St. Louis, Columbia, SC and many cities in the good old US of A.

Here's the Secret Services reasoning:

The feds have offered some bizarre rationales for hog-tying protesters. Secret Service agent Brian Marr explained to National Public Radio, "These individuals may be so involved with trying to shout their support or nonsupport that inadvertently they may walk out into the motorcade route and be injured. And that is really the reason why we set these places up, so we can make sure that they have the right of free speech, but, two, we want to be sure that they are able to go home at the end of the evening and not be injured in any way."

Isn't that precious? And really stupid, too.

The Secret Service is duty-bound to protect the president. But it is ludicrous to presume that would-be terrorists are lunkheaded enough to carry anti-Bush signs when carrying pro-Bush signs would give them much closer access. And even a policy of removing all people carrying signs -- as has happened in some demonstrations -- is pointless because potential attackers would simply avoid carrying signs.

Secret service to terrorists: Be sure to wear a suit! And carry a Bible! [FBI chimes in: But not an almanac!]

Every day, a new depth of stupid.

Missed this one in the run-up to New Year's (i.e., moving) Day. From The Nation:

The work of the National Security Archive, a dogged organization fighting for government transparency, has cast light on the trove of documents that depict in damning detail how the United States, working with US corporations including Bechtel, cynically and secretly allied itself with Hussein's dictatorship. ...

The documents make it clear that were the trial of Hussein to be held by an impartial world court, it would prove an embarrassing two-edged sword for the White House... If there were a complete investigation into those who aided and abetted Hussein's crimes against humanity, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former Secretary of State George Shultz would probably end up as material witnesses.

It was Rumsfeld and Shultz who told Hussein and his emissaries that US statements generally condemning the use of chemical weapons would not interfere with relations between secular Iraq and the Reagan Administration, which took Iraq off the terrorist-nations list and embraced Hussein as a bulwark against fundamentalist Iran. Ironically, the United States supported Iraq when it possessed and used weapons of mass destruction and invaded it when it didn't.

Two words: Jack Ruby. No doubt we are nurturing an outraged Iraqi vigilante right now...

The documents referred to are in the National Security Archive here.

Rachel Marsden, via Atrios.

Just asking.

Here's a story that takes a little [reading between the lines]. From AP here:

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- A 7-year-old boy [Bush] had to be rescued with the help of a locksmith Saturday after crawling into a supermarket's stuffed animal game machine [the war in Iraq] while his father [Bush pere? Cheney?] talked on the telephone.

[Shift Commander Mark Zittel of the Sheboygan Fire Department] said that the boy, whose name was not released because he is a minor [yep, it's George], crawled through about an 8-inch-by-10-inch opening to get into the glass enclosure via a chute where the toys come out, but when he tried to get back out his way was blocked [poor planning!].

The stuffed animals are prizes [oil] that can be hooked by players with a crane-like device [the military].

"His dad was three feet away at a pay [Yep, Cheney. Calling Hallliburton.] phone," Zittel said. "He was talking on the phone and he said the next thing he turned around and the kid was in the thing."

He said the boy stayed calm and didn't panic [Really? See below] as firefighters responded to the Piggly Wiggly store and then moved the game machine to the back of the store and got a locksmith to open the main loading door. The process took about an hour."

The boy was not injured or traumatized but desperately had to go to the bathroom, he said.

George Bush omorashi!

But who will be shift commander Mark Zittel? And who will be the locksmith? Who will rescue George from his embarassing predicament?

NOTE: See Darwin Awards here.

UPDATE: Alert reader Pete reminds us that The Darwin Awards honor those who improve our gene pool... by removing themselves from it. Of necessity, this honor is bestowed posthumously" (from the cite). But I think the really, really stupid are deserving of this honor as well. After all, they Truly Dense also have, or will have, a hard time passing on their genes, through inability to figure out what to do, who to do it with, when and where to do it, etc.

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

Kern County sheriff's deputies said they've never seen a less cagey suspect.

James Paul Egan allegedly robbed a 7-Eleven at gunpoint, taking care to conceal his identity by covering his face with a blue bandanna, and wearing a knit hat and gloves.

Then he ran into the backyard of a nearby house, and threw out all the allegedly incriminating articles: the bandanna, the gloves, the hat, a .357-caliber Magnum handgun, and the jacket he'd been wearing - with his county jail property identification card in the pocket.

The card had his photograph, date of birth and jail booking number.

Of course, if the criminal had left his ID with Bob Novak, he'd be on the loose today!

Say, isn't it great that Ashcroft recused himself from The Plame Affair—after giving the White House a 24 hour heads-up so they could shred the evidence, after Bush said (i.e., dictated) that the criminal would never be caught, and after the investigators started at the top, presumably to get their marching orders... Rule of law, my Aunt Fanny.

Does anyone think that if Bush really had any control over AQ and company that we'd be hearing about elevated threat levels, F16s accompanying civil aircraft, and all the rest of it? It's all so transparent... First Bush targets Air France, since it's always good to blame the French, but the French aren't having any of it, so suddenly he targets the far more compliant British Air...

Meanwhile, cargo is entirely unprotected, as are the ports. But heck, the ports are all Blue! Fuck 'em. But keep shopping, folks!

Here's the conclusion of the Hans Christian Anderson story, The Emperor's New Clothes:

So now the Emperor walked under his high canopy in the midst of the procession, through the streets of his capital; and all the people standing by, and those at the windows, cried out, "Oh! How beautiful are our Emperor's new clothes! What a magnificent train there is to the mantle; and how gracefully the scarf hangs!" in short, no one would allow that he could not see these much-admired clothes; because, in doing so, he would have declared himself either a simpleton or unfit for his office. Certainly, none of the Emperor's various suits, had ever made so great an impression, as these invisible ones.

"But the Emperor has nothing at all on!" said a little child.

"Listen to the voice of innocence!" exclaimed his father; and what the child had said was whispered from one to another.

"But he has nothing at all on!" at last cried out all the people. The Emperor was vexed, for he knew that the people were right; but he thought the procession must go on now! And the lords of the bedchamber took greater pains than ever, to appear holding up a train, although, in reality, there was no train to hold.

Gosh.

What does this remind you of? Hmm....

Packing the boxes for my move over the holidays, I tuned into the NPR and caught the last throes of one of those balanced discussions, where one end of the spectrum was represented by EJ Dionne and the other by David "I'm writing as bad as I can" Brooks, whose capsule of Howard Dean went this way:

A former governor of a small New England state whose greatest accomplishment was gay marriage.

The sneer really came through in Brook's voice, too. Make no mistake, they hate Dean already. As the mighty winger meme factory starts to infect the mainstream ...

Of course, Dean's major accomplishment was universal health care for Vermonters—and as just and righteous an accomplishment as civil unions was, the appeal of universal health care is, well, universal...

So it's obvious why Brooks would distort Dean's record in this way; what isn't so obvious is how Dean can introduce himself to the voters without this distortion. Maybe he should just go on the radio and take call-ins....

My mom saw Dean in the debates last night (transcript, and she thought he looked good on TV. Maybe he's been practicing.

Anyhow, get a load of the wet-noodle-strength attacks of the Beltway Dems on Dean:

First, Kerry regurgitates the CW on Saddam:

When you were asked by The Concord Monitor about Osama bin Laden, you said you couldn't prejudge his guilt for September 11th," Mr. Kerry said, scrunching up his face and turning incredulously to Dr. Dean. "What in the world were you thinking?"

And Dean hits it out of the park:

"As an American, I want to see Osama bin Laden get what he deserves, which is the death penalty," Dr. Dean responded. "But I was asked that question as a candidate for president of the United States. And a candidate for president of the United States is obligated to stand for the rule of law."

Unlike, needless to say, Bush, who already trashed the Iraqi court that will try Saddam while "standing up to international scrutiny," by trying to dictate the verdict he wanted.

Then Whiney Joe shoots himself in the foot:

Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut criticized Dean for saying that the capture of Saddam Hussein had not made America safer. He made his remarks shortly afterM Dean noted that U.S. troops have been killed since Saddam's capture last month, and "for the first time, American fighter jets (are) escorting commercial airlines" out of security concerns.

First, Dean gives the evidence that America is not more safe with Saddam captured. Then, Lieberman attacks him for saying so. Hey, I thought shooting the messenger was a Republican tactic. Well, it is Lieberman ....

My Great White Powder Adventure!, by Barney

A true life canine adventure story, including "Barney" and "Mr Shiny-Head", "Uncle Tom" and "Uncle John"; and how "Uncle Karl" saves the day! See for yourself.

Also. Only hours ago I was handed what I was led to understand was leaked confidential photographic documentation of Mr. Shiny-Head's wild undisclosed New Years eve location. Here ya go:



The identity of the two woman in the photograph (assuming they are actually women), remains undisclosed. However, I have reason to suspect that the woman on the right side of the photograph may be Susan Weddington, Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. Of course I can't be sure of that. Thats purely speculation on my part. Afterall, it could be Republican Barbie. Or they could be some friends of Neil Bush's from a Chinese semiconductor firm. Or maybe even some friends of Uncle Shiny-Heads daughter. In any case, it looks like it was a fun night.

Happy New Year. Now, all of you, get back to work.

Josh Marshall gives a well-deserved smack to Mike Allen at the Post for blurring Victoria Toening's role as GOP operative in a WaPo article about the "idiot defense" trial balloon being floated in the Plame case. But get a load of this premise:

"The fact that she was undercover is a classified fact, so it would not be unusual for people to know that she was agency but not know she was undercover," Toensing said.

Help me out here. I have lately begun to distrust my own memory on many things, but wasn't it barely 3 months ago that we all learned a new acronym, "NOC," which was what Plame was? Wasn't the whole point of being a NOC, which is completely different from being "undercover," that no one was supposed to know you even worked for the CIA? So assuming the idiot defense actually applied here, how is it that her afilliation was so casually maintained that White House staffer Joe Blow-Her-Cover could even be in a position to unintentionally reveal it?

As Marshall commonsensically observes, this whole trial balloon is beside the point, since everything points to the perp or perps being "guilty as sin." But there are bigger issues than frogmarching someone out of the White House, and one is disabusing the public's mind of the idea that national security is in the hands of competents, from whom it would be dangerous to remove the reins of power this November. Nothing short of a sustained, public investigation of these people is likely to accomplish that. So if push came to shove, I'd trade a criminal prosecution for a public hearing, where incompetent liars like Rice, Feith, Rove, and the rest were deposed under oath. And since that's unlikely to happen with the current regime controlling all branches of government and most of the media, with the rest apparently suffering from amnesia, it's going to be up to the Democrats to force the issue on their own.

Once they find time to take out from sniping at Dean for stating truisms about Saddam's capture, of course.