Wednesday, November 30, 2005

An ever dimming bulb

Next on the O'Reilly's hit list of those who hate the baby Jeebus...

FOX NEWS!

Look what they are selling over at News Corp:


THE O'REILLY FACTOR HOLIDAY ORNAMENT

Put your holiday tree in "The No Spin Zone" with this silver glass "O'Reilly Factor" ornament. Metal cap and hoop for hanging. Made in the USA.



It is to laugh.

Thanks to Crooks & Liars.

Operation Roy Horn II: This time it's Personal


The training begins at a young age. And this time there's one for Seigfried.

Bush Finally Levels with the American People

In this new strategery book from the Government Printing Office.

I Summon the Jeebus


So I can fool you chumps with the same old speech as ever!

Popcorn Fart

What kind of an "enemies" list is this one from O'Reilly?

A Message from Bill: Media Operations that Traffic in Defamation


The following media operations have regularly helped distribute defamation and false information supplied by far left websites:

- New York Daily News


- The St. Petersburg Times


- MSNBC


These are the worst offenders. In the months to come, we expect to add more names to this list. We recommend that you do not patronize these operations and that advertisers do the same. They are dishonest and not worth your time and money.


Oh good lord. That is the best he could do? And such detailed basis. I've seen a better enemies list from the Dalai Lama.

You'd think he'd a least pull the NY Times or The Nation out of his ass -- maybe they were too jammed up his colon from all the dildos.

MSNBC I can understand, simply because Olbermann so richly, justly, and hilariously punctures O'Reilly regularly.

WWLD?

This is classic; the best they can do is trot out the first mannequin to strike a pleasant pose and hold forth on Iraq.

His wife, Laura, said Wednesday that she "absolutely" would like to see an acceptable resolution there.

"We want our troops to be able to come home as soon as they possibly can," said Mrs. Bush during an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America" to give a Christmas tour of the White House.

"It's really remarkable how far they've come," she said, "but I really feel very, very encouraged that we're going to see a very great ending when we see a really free Iraq right in the heart of the Middle East."


Holy Shit. She "absolutley" would like to see an acceptable resolution there? She thinks "we're going to see a very great ending when we see a really free Iraq right in the heart of the Middle East".

Huh? Lord help us.

Christmas Gifts for the Faux Feminist Feminist

Once again, I blogwhore the other blog. For those who followed the Atrios-Althouse flare up, I think you'll like it.

You can literally see his soul trying to escape...


I know, I'm surprised it is still there too.

(AFP/Mandel Ngan)


Something is missing from that picture.


Ah, that seems better.

Tom Servo: "Oh he thinks he's Patton Now"

Mike: "Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I can't read your book!"

Crow: "Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever pretended to be winning a war by dying for his country. He pretended to be winning it by making some other poor dumb bastard die for his country."

What's this?

A politician actually willing to meet his constituents when they might say something not only slightly, but clearly negative?

Mein Gott, what fresh hell is this? New Orleans dares to talk badly about the government:

"If they can destroy a country and build it up again, why can't they fix this state?" the woman asked...

...A man added, "It's a hard thing to believe that the United States of America is spending nearly one billion [dollars] per week in Iraq, and here, in New Orleans, the United States, we're being neglected."

"Why do we have to beg and plead with our president, our congressmen, our elected leaders to tell them that we need help, when it's on the media every day?"


Would that the Chimperor Disgustus actually deign to answer questions from real citizens that haven't been screened.

Wow, congrats Chimperor Disgustus

You're the worst leader in two millenia.

Anybody that can edge out the Third Republic in France, Nazi Germany, and the Romanovs must be quite the dumbshit.

http://www.forward.com/articles/6936



Found via Rohrschach

I wrote this yesterday but had to run out to an afternoon meeting, meanwhile I see that it has been posted across the blogosphere.

Another Fart in Church

...And this one over a truly serious matter of who and what we are as a country.

From Editor & Publisher:

Most Americans believe that U.S. troops or officials have tortured prisoners in Iraq or other countries, and oppose the practice, even if it helps gain information on possible terrorist attacks, the Gallup Organization announced today in releasing poll results.

The survey found that 74% believe the U.S. has tortured prisoners, with 20% disagreeing--with storng majorities of both Democrats and Republicans holding that view.

Asked if they would be willing to have the U.S. torture suspected terrorists "if they may know details about future terrorist attacks against the U.S.," 56% said no, vs. 38% saying yes. The party gap is bigger here, with only 27% of Democrats signing off on torture in that case, vs. 51% of Republicans.

Gallup pointed out that while President Bush recently said, "We do not torture," most Americans "think otherwise."


There is no logical argument justifying the morality of torture -- especially from an idiot who thinks he is ordained by the "Almighty".

Meanwhile, there is always that paragon of right-wing morality, Newsmax, which has taken the position that since John McCain cracked under torture, it must be alright.
It really is, perhaps, the most loathesome thing I've ever read. So disgusting in fact that no one put their name on it. The fact that McCain's torture caused him to give bullshit responses that were completely worthless or fabricated as a result of torture is completely missed by the author.

No the only point is that torture makes the idiots at NewsMax get a big ol' boner (well, a boner).

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

No Buggering!

It isn't news because we all knew it was coming, but here it is:

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican published its long-awaited document on gays in the clergy Tuesday, saying men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies should not be ordained but those with a "transitory problem" could be if they had overcome them for three years.

***
Some observers also have raised questions about exactly what the document means by a "deep-seated homosexual tendency," since a definition isn't provided.

The head of the education congregation defended the document as a clear reflection of church teaching, saying "in this field, in today's world, there is some confusion."

"Many defend the position according to which the homosexual condition is a normal condition for the human being, as if it were nearly a third gender," Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski told Vatican Radio.

He also made clear the Instruction is intended for candidates for the priesthood and not someone who "discovers his homosexuality after having been ordained."

The cardinal said such a priest "has to try to live in chastity ... maybe he will need more spirtual support than others, but I think he should be a priest in the best way possible."

The document restates church teaching that deep-seated homosexual tendencies are "objectively disordered" but that gays should be treated with respect and shouldn't be discriminated against.

"In light of such teaching ... the church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture,'" it says.

Such men can't be priests because they are in a situation that "gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women," it says.

But it distinguishes such men from others with homosexual tendencies "that were only the expression of a transitory problem — for example, that of an adolescence not yet superseded."


Oh, now I get it, but I do have one question: What if they just like to fuck?

Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeance!

Ah yes the progress, the progress that tells you so clearly that Negroponte was there...
As the American military pushes the largely Shiite Iraqi security services into a larger role in combating the insurgency, evidence has begun to mount suggesting that the Iraqi forces are carrying out executions in predominantly Sunni neighborhoods.

Hundreds of accounts of killings and abductions have emerged in recent weeks, most of them brought forward by Sunni civilians, who claim that their relatives have been taken away by Iraqi men in uniform without warrant or explanation.

Some Sunni men have been found dead in ditches and fields, with bullet holes in their temples, acid burns on their skin, and holes in their bodies apparently made by electric drills. Many have simply vanished.


So what will be the new rallying cry, we have to stay to prevent our blessed Iraqi government from being as bad as Saddam?

Great!

Good plan!

And now a story in pictures

A Metaphor for our times...


The White House noticed its poll ratings were down and all were sad.


Visions of indictments, impeachments, it was all so bad.


When what to their desperate minds would then appear


But visions of invading yet another country, oh dear


Syria, Iran, oh the sound of war drums may never they cease


As then from the tension they could get sweet release!

Bush looks around warily...


Wondering if they are going to haul him away in the Homeland Security Mobile.

I am soooooooooo going to make him hug me again!



(REUTERS/Jim Young)

It's alive

For the purpose behind the title of this post, you'll have to read the rest of this post -- or, I guess skip to the end. But you wouldn't do that, would you?

If there is anything scarier to a guy looking to be reelected than this, I don't know what it would be -- short of Ann Coulter surprising you in your hotel room, naked and waving at you, while her hands behind her back!

(You get that right? You don't want me to draw you a picture do you?)

Anyhoo:

Despite his low standing in the polls, President Bush is working to help Republican House and Senate candidates build their campaign war chests while promoting his own troubled agenda.

The president is expected to assume the campaign role more often in the coming months as the 2006 congressional election year begins.


Will Bush, for the first time in his Presidency actually go out without a hand-picked crowd? Don't count on it. The speeches he will be giving will continue to be pre-screened and pre-picked. The guy makes Nixon look like a "man o' the people". I know a few places Bush won't be coming in 2006, the Northeast; the Midwest; the Northwest; the Pacific Coast; the Rust Belt. So he's hitting them now (hoping that people will forget he was there)

If C Plus Augustus could sit on his ass the next three years at the ChickenRanch in Crawford, he'd be doing that -- and frankly most of us would prefer that.



Oh, and the title...at the end...

"The president looks forward to campaigning on behalf of those who support his agenda to make America stronger and safer," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday.


Is Scotty just putting out 1 page ditto's now?

A worthy question

Like the original crack den, Firedoglake is the place to go for all things Plame, Fitzgerald related (except, of course, for the Patrick Fitzgerald topless justice 2006 Calendar*). I read this so-called "bombshell" in the Washington Post and then thought, wha?, this is a bombshell?

So, being one first-class lazy sumbitch I went on over to Firedoglake and saw what Jane or Reddhedd tell me to think. I know it's unfortunate, and sort of how my parents absorb FoxNews, but I was pressed for time!

Kind of amusing, really. The "sources" lie freely knowing that Fitz is leak-proof, and reporters keep printing the lies only to have their asses handed to them days later when another camp leaks and spins back. The reporters never bust their "sources" in order to preserve the privilege of being lied to. Fitzgerald finds new ammunition with every leak and the reporters just wind up looking like prize chumps.


Hey, that's just what I was thinking. Well, sort of.








*I just may have to photoshop up such a calendar and put it on CafePress

America's Sweetheart...

Who can be surprised that Ann Coulter would go out of her way to slam an emailer while publishing their personal information?

What, no one?



Oh, and there was this particularly catty reply from Coulter about her target, Lydia Cornell:

Well, death is certainly sexier than Lydia Cornell


Gee, let's compare and contrast:



You better be careful Ann, or Jm J. Bullock will cockpunch you!

Monday, November 28, 2005

Larry King: Almost Alive!

Last night on Larry King (yes, I had the stomach to watch): Bob Woodward facing America's toughest questioner about why he failed to disclose his obvious conflict of interest in commenting on the Libby indictment and denying Isikoff's assertion that he, Woodward, had "a bombshell" to appear in the next morning's WaPo.

My imitation of Larry King's typical tough question:

Bob Woodward, you are arguably one of the greatest living journalists in America, what is it like waking up as Bob Woodward!

Attaturk's Kids

Pajamabananarama Media has been having a rough beginning it appears, and with more than three million in bank notes out there, I am quite worried that Roger Simon will have to turn to his natural vocation, drafting porn scripts.

We cannot have that. After all, as misguided and deluded as they are; as vindictive and jejune, we simply cannot allow fellow members of the world snide blogosphere go loudly into that good night.

No, we must find a way for them to succeed.

Why you ask?

Because dammit, daddy needs sources of material!!

How long, I ask you, can I survive on a fifty-percent diet of "gee Kathryn Lopez sure is fat" jokes?

Another five years, tops!

Atta J. Turk is bloggin' for the long haul folks, that $150 a year I make from this here bloggy blog has to be preserved so that I can maintain my jet-set lifestyle.

Therefore, it is time to consider holding a Jerry Lewis-like telethon for these unfortunates. For a brain is not just a terrible thing to waste, it also a tragedy for it not to exists above the centers of aggression. We'll pick an appropriate holiday, like -- the day after Kwanzaa, or perhaps Kwanzaa itself, given the sterling civil rights record of such individuals as Michelle Maglalangalang, that would seem appropriate, no?

Picture the scene:

After being on the air for 20 hours, 54 minutes, and having raised a grand total of $9.23 for Roger Simon, Inc. to buy a clue; Atta J. Turk with slicked down hair, cigarette in hand and an ill-fitting tux, face bloated from prescription steroids, after thanking my co-host Ed McMahon, I mean Ann Althouse, croaks out the following...

Post on,
Post on,
And you'll never blog alone...

You'll never blog alone...


There's only one thing worse that Being Stupid and President

And that's being a stubborn & stupid President.

Welcome to the world of George Walker Bush, Stuffer of flight suits, Faux scourge of terrorists, Commander Coo-Coo Bananas, inerrant by decree of God, the Chimperor Disgustus:

Even as his poll numbers tank, however, Bush is described by aides as still determined to stay the course. He resists advice from Republicans who fear disaster in next year's congressional elections, and rejects criticism from a media establishment he disdains.

"The President has always been willing to make changes," the senior aide said, "but not because someone in this town tells him to - NEVER!"

For the moment, Bush has dismissed discreetly offered advice from friends and loyalists to fire Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and bring back longtime confidant Karen Hughes from the State Department to shore up his personal White House staff.

"He thinks that would be an admission he's screwed up, and he can't bring himself to do that," a former senior staffer lamented.


A continuing theme on this blog, and countless others, is that Bush not only believes that admitting mistakes is bad for politics, but honestly believes he is incapable of making mistakes.

If ever there was a President that believed in the "Devine Right of Kings" it was this spoiled child of privilege.

Any departure of troops will NOT be George Bush's idea, it will be forced upon his by others -- and if there is any way for him to inflict more death and destruction and be, as he perceives it, God's ordained instrument of smiting he shall most certainly do so. Some troops are coming home because they have to, but as few as George Bush can get away with.

The fact that those we have there now are only capable, by sheer numbers, in imposing their will in limited areas and on a limited basis (i.e. voting days) and fewer will be able to do even less, matters not to Bush. As long as he can kill those he perceives to be Satan's Instruments he'll do so.

And sadly, Bush is surrounded by like "limited" minds:

A card-carrying member of the Washington GOP establishment with close ties to the White House recently encountered several senior presidential aides at a dinner and came away shaking his head at their "no problems here" mentality.

"There is just no introspection there at all," he said in exasperation. "It is everybody else's fault - the press, gutless Republicans on the Hill. They're still in denial."

Not ready to throw in the towel and declare the boss a lame duck, the Bushies are hoping two issues can help firm up their base and perhaps make inroads with centrists who voted for Bush: the anticipated confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, and a plan to reinforce the border with Mexico to help stop illegal immigration.


It's going to be a long three years -- for all of us -- but especially for many Republicans that have enabled this idiot and his crew, they, at least, possess something that Bush and his minions do not, a capacity for shame.

It's "Alice in Wonderland" with big ass bombs.

The Baghdad Squares


"Well Peter, I'll take Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid to Block"


Apparently Waylon Al-Flowers & Burka draped Madam have been excused to use the restroom.

(Ben Curtis/Pool/Reuters)

I must Demonstrate my higher Thetan Level at all times


"By standing on a box, so I am taller than you -- my OT I recepticle, at all times."



(Stringer/Reuters)

That'll leave a mark

Juan Cole sums up George W. Bush & History:

Let me finish with a word to W. As for your legacy two decades from now, George, let me clue you in on something--as a historian. In 20 years no Iraqis will have you on their minds one way or another. Do you think anyone in Egypt or Israel is still grateful to Jimmy Carter for helping bring to an end the cycle of Egyptian-Israeli wars? Jimmy Carter powerfully affected the destinies of all Egyptians and Israelis in that key way. Most people in both countries have probably never heard of him, and certainly no one talks about the first Camp David Accords anymore except as a dry historical subject. The US pro-Israel lobby is so ungrateful that they curse Carter roundly for all the help he gave Israel. Human beings don't have good memories for these things, which is why we have to have professional historians, a handful of people who are obsessed with the subject. And I guarantee you, George, that historians are going to be unkind to you. You went into a major war over a non-existent nuclear weapons program. Presidents' reputations don't survive things like that. Historians are creatures of documents and precision. A wild exaggeration with serious consequences is against everything they stand for as a profession. So forget about history and destiny and the divine will. You are at the helm of the Exxon Valdez and it is headed for the shoals. You can't afford to daydream about future decades.


Touche.

The New Strategery for Disaster

In order to staunch the losses of 2006 (the Congressional ones, God forbid it be to staunch the losses of lives), the Bush Administration is considering a new way of fucking up Iraq -- using the American Air Force to drop bombs.

You know the kind of antiseptic, indiscriminate, video death that your averaged "tired", never serving war-whore like Glenn Reynolds (aka "Ernest T. Bass, ESQ") can get behind.

The Bush administration is considering a plan to put America's awesome airpower at the disposal of Iraqi commanders, as a way of reducing the number of US troops on the ground. The plan is causing consternation among commanders in US air force, who say it could lead to increased civilian casualties and lead to airstrikes being used as means of settling old scores.

According to an article in the New Yorker magazine by Seymour Hersh, the possibility of using airpower as a substitute for American troops on the ground has caused unease in the military, with air force commanders objecting to the possibility that Iraqis will eventually be responsible for target selection.

"Will the Iraqis call in air strikes in order to snuff rivals, or other warlords, or to snuff members of your own sect and blame it on someone else?" a senior military planner told the magazine. "Will some Iraqis be targeting on behalf of al-Qaida, or the insurgency, or the Iranians?"


What a lov-er-ly idea. Given everything that has happend, given the fact that it has become rather apparent that massive human rights abuses have occurred in what is clearly a civil war, the chance to drop a bunch of 500 pounders on some alleged "Shiite Dead-enders" with the nerve to have a funeral for the last batch of bombed Shiites is one that the Bush Administration clearly could not pass up.

Here, after all, is a chance to "blow stuff up real good" without American soldiers being clearly involved ... and therefore without any corporate press folks around to care. Broad based killin' without the grillin' -- what Right-Winger wouldn't masturbate to that?

Time to start ratcheting up the Bigotry

In a desperate effort to win over as many small minds as possible, the Chimperor Disgustus will start beating on Mexicans. Somewhere, Lou Dobbs just got his first chubby since Judith Miller visited the studio.

President Bush today will call for a crackdown on illegal immigration, a move aimed at further rallying conservatives who recently cheered Mr. Bush's tough talk on Iraq and the Supreme Court.


Of course, Bush also last year initiated a campaign destined to achieve exactly the opposite of reform with his amnesty program -- also known as "The Wal-Mart Janitorial Services Initiative/Preservative".

The fact is there is only one way to curb illegal immigration, and it isn't to build a fucking wall, nor is it to attack the ethnicity of a sizeable chunk of American citizens.

It is to actually enforce the goddamn laws already on the book and to more severely punish employers from hiring workers they damn-well know are likely illegals.

Two things the Bush Administration doesn't want to do, as it would hurt their largest contributors.

Funny, I always pictured Dear Leader as classic Pepsi Generation




(AFP/Saeed Khan)

Worse than We Know

I think Atrios's interpretation of this Kurtz article is right, the Washington Post's early obituary for Bob Woodward.

The use of the press by the Bush Administration to punish its detractors has now taken down two of the more famous reporters in America, and (*cough* Andrea Mitchell) we may not be done quite yet.

It would be nice if this were viewed as a warning to the press not to grant anonymity for the mere purpose of spinning talking points or unfairly attacking opponents --

But we all know that won't happen.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

The DeDurkheim Apology

Hello Rising Hegemonians,

I have to apologize for my tardiness and absences lately; especially to Atta J. Turk and Champollion. You see, I, Dirk D. DeDeurkheim have bought a house. Its a good house. It even has an unfinished basement. But it has meant that I have been a way from you, my snarky and opinionated blog-loving friends. Well, I have good news for you: we are now done with buying part and moving on to, um... the moving part. So, I will post much more than I have over the part several weeks. But I will be moving next weekend so if any of you feel any soreness of back or stiff legs, that is just me sending out my personal physical pain along the transom.

Anyway, mea culpa.

Sincerely yours, Dirk D. DeDurkheim

The Top Ten Bush Holiday List

In the spirit of the holidays, we here at the Rising Hegemon have given a great deal of thought to the most important issues for the Bush administration. While we would love to see the imperial, torture loving, warmongering presidency continue to crash and burn, with a few reasonable suggestions that are not biased in any way, Bush could actually do some good -- ok at least do better -- than he is doing now.

10. Get rid of Dick Cheney. Mr. Charisma is bringing your ratings seriously down. If you drop Mr. Big Business and hire a popular celebrity to take his place. How about that Carrie Underwood. Everyone loves American Idol and she will play well to the conservative and country bases (ok, maybe they are the same if we take Steve Earle and the Alt-Country movement out of it).

9. Fire Rove. Fire him in a screaming fit of "shame, shame, shame on you." Then fire him again. Hold a press conference talk about how he stabbed you in the back. It will work. Oh, ps. crosscut shred all the memos, crush all the hard drives, and burn all the notes. Trust us, you WILL thank us later. We got this idea from Ron "I can't recall" Reagan.

8. Bring out Pickles. The public love her. She is far more intelligent, credible, and moderate than you.

7. Get a cat. Bring out the dogs. Americans love leaders who have furry friends. Not to mention, it can't hurt with PETA folks. Oh, yeah... nevermind PETA but do get some animal friends that you can spend time with in front of the cameras. Oh, one word of warning: FUR. Make sure you get some pet fur on your pants. A lack of fur is a dead give away that you really don't spend time with them.

6. Buy some presents for some poor kids. Unlike what Dick and Lynn Cheney or Karl Rove tell you, they did not do anything to end up poor or homeless. You have quite a bit of money and resources, why not give them some clothes, homes, and toys for the holiday. The American public likes to back an administration with heart.

5. Apologize for hiring Brownie. While this will only play well in certain hurricane ravaged part of the country. It can't hurt. Oh and remember, just because some members of the religious right are telling you that God destroyed New Orleans because he was angry at sodomites are some other foolish notion, that no one has a direct line to the almighty, including you.

4. Fire Rumsfeld, Rice, and others who were involved in the ill advised mistaken war in Iraq. Create a special counsel to investigate what these people really wanted to do or enrichen. Talk about "the buck stopping here" and "this administration will countenance no illegality." We love administrations that hold themselves accountable to their ideas, goals, and values.

3. Stop drinking. Americans do not like a drunk president or presidency. Oh and learn how to give a clear and compelling speech. That can't hurt.

2. Please stop using all the bad and incorrect 9-11 references. Just because your ratings are in the toilet does not mean that it is because of 9-11. That whole "buck stops" thing applies here as well. Plus, you squandered that good will on the whole misadventure in Iraq, remember?

1. Bring the soliders home from Iraq. Do it immediately. It's the right thing to do.

While we understand that these recommendations will be a bit difficult to follow, we promise that if you follow our advice the public view of your administration and most importantly, your place in history will change for the better.

Don Dixon

The great southern musician, Don Dixon has made a new track available for free download. Most music fans know Don as a producer for early R.E.M. records. However, Don has been making great music since his days in the band Arrogance.

So, go download the song, scroll down toward the bottom of the page and click on the link that says cleverly -- Click here to download "The Night That Otis Died" (You'll be prompted to enter an e-mail address, but if you're concerned about privacy the page seems to be accepting bogus addresses, so you can always lie. My personal favorite is HisBoySherman@Snoppdog.Rap)

In my humble opinion, this may well be the best song Don has ever written. It's about Otis Redding's death, well sorta... it's about that and more. This song is one of those tracks that just derails you. You will just have listen to it over and over and over.

Grab it now - it's not on his new record (due April 6) thanks to some complicated lawyer issues, and there are no guarantees he'll be able to offer it for download indefinitely.

Guess who's coming back?

Trent Lott is talking about a return to power. I wonder if these conversations are followed by bellowing evil laughter? You know the kind. It's the same laughter that Cheney has every day as he watches his rich big busienss pals make more and more millions.

It has been three years since White House officials and some Senate Republicans orchestrated Mr. Lott's ouster as Senate majority leader amid an uproar over racially insensitive remarks. Now, as he contemplates his future, Mr. Lott is tweaking the Republican elite at every turn and jangling the nerves of official Washington as never before.

As he considers whether to run for re-election next year, Mr. Lott, Republican of Mississippi, is also dropping hints about a possible bid for a return to the Senate leadership. Democrats are enjoying the show. Some Republicans are cringing, but others are eyeing Mr. Lott with some appreciation.

During an appearance last weekend at the University of Mississippi, Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, predicted that Mr. Lott would become Republican leader again, adding, "I will tell anyone that of all the majority leaders we've had in the United States Senate, I believe that Trent Lott was the finest leader we've had."

W!

Let us take this moment to end the Thanksgiving Holiday remembering those that George W. Fucking Bush doesn't give a shit about. From today's Des Moines Register, a reminder that there are millions of people who do not have enough to eat.

I asked my mother what it was like growing up with six brothers and sisters during the Depression. She said home was a truck farm (fruits and vegetables), and as long as the family had food, they were fine.

For low-income Iowans today, growth in the economy has had little impact. Many seniors find themselves living on less. Heating costs, rent and prescription drugs are eating away at whatever retirement income is available.

For families with children, it is not uncommon for a husband and wife to work three minimum-wage jobs to make ends meet. Increased living and child-care costs have made it impossible for a low-wage earner to afford anything beyond basics. A car breaking down, a serious illness, a layoff — anything beyond day-to-day bills can send a family spiraling downward. Studies show that the first thing that is put aside is accessing food.

The consequences can be great.


The Food Research and Action Center provides the following startling statistics from 2004:

38.2 million Americans lived in food-insecure households.

That is a 5.2% increase over 2003,

and a 23.2% increase over 1999.

11.3% of adults lived in food-insecure households.

19% of all children lived in food-insecure households.

Happy Thanksgiving to war President and Commander-in-Chief George W. Fucking Bush.

The War Bush & Cheney wage

Attention Chris Hedges, we've found a War that Gives us NO Meaning.

On a day that must include what seems to be the worst and most off-putting Brooks template special of all time, comes this story that reflects the true depths of depravity of this Administration's war. An Army Colonel, an expert on "ethics" commits suicide in Iraq.

Why he did so, is naturally the question.

From the LA Times:

In e-mails to his family, Westhusing seemed especially upset by one conclusion he had reached: that traditional military values such as duty, honor and country had been replaced by profit motives in Iraq, where the U.S. had come to rely heavily on contractors for jobs once done by the military.

His death stunned all who knew him. Colleagues and commanders wondered whether they had missed signs of depression. He had been losing weight and not sleeping well. But only a day before his death, Westhusing won praise from a senior officer for his progress in training Iraqi police.

His friends and family struggle with the idea that Westhusing could have killed himself. He was a loving father and husband and a devout Catholic. He was an extraordinary intellect and had mastered ancient Greek and Italian. He had less than a month before his return home. It seemed impossible that anything could crush the spirit of a man with such a powerful sense of right and wrong.

On the Internet and in conversations with one another, Westhusing's family and friends have questioned the military investigation.

A note found in his trailer seemed to offer clues. Written in what the Army determined was his handwriting, the colonel appeared to be struggling with a final question.

How is honor possible in a war like the one in Iraq?


Another reason to hope the Bush & Cheney had a shitty Thanksgiving.

But we all know they have not lost a wink of sleep over any death, nor over any maiming.

We've been pretty luckin in this country to have leaders that met the challenges we faced; Washington, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Truman.

So we are now facing a challenge with a complete incompetent and sociopath in charge. Welcome to the world of a Franklin Pierce or James Buchanan.

James Buchanan Bush.

Rich

It'll cost ya':

What these revelations also tell us is that Mr. Bush was wrong when he said in his Veterans Day speech that more than 100 Congressional Democrats who voted for the Iraqi war resolution ''had access to the same intelligence'' he did. They didn't have access to the President's Daily Brief that Mr. Waas uncovered. They didn't have access to the information that German intelligence officials spoke about to The Los Angeles Times. Nor did they have access to material from a Defense Intelligence Agency report, released by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan this month, which as early as February 2002 demolished the reliability of another major source that the administration had persistently used for its false claims about Iraqi-Al Qaeda collaboration.

The more we learn about the road to Iraq, the more we realize that it's a losing game to ask what lies the White House told along the way. A simpler question might be: What was not a lie? The situation recalls Mary McCarthy's explanation to Dick Cavett about why she thought Lillian Hellman was a dishonest writer: ''Every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the.' ''


Nice decision New York Times (sarcasm).

Thanks to GWPDA.

Abuse "as bad as they were under Saddam"

What will FoxNews Report, this is coming from our first stooge:

Ayad Allawi, the original Jon Gibson hero (try "six to the noggin"), now has something to say about how Iraq compares as we approach three years after the end of the Hussein regime.


Human rights abuses in Iraq are now as bad as they were under Saddam Hussein and are even in danger of eclipsing his record, according to the country's first Prime Minister after the fall of Saddam's regime.
'People are doing the same as [in] Saddam's time and worse,' Ayad Allawi told The Observer. 'It is an appropriate comparison. People are remembering the days of Saddam. These were the precise reasons that we fought Saddam and now we are seeing the same things.'

In a damning and wide-ranging indictment of Iraq's escalating human rights catastrophe, Allawi accused fellow Shias in the government of being responsible for death squads and secret torture centres. The brutality of elements in the new security forces rivals that of Saddam's secret police, he said.

Allawi, who was a strong ally of the US-led coalition forces and was prime minister until this April, made his remarks as further hints emerged yesterday that President George Bush is planning to withdraw up to 40,000 US troops from the country next year, when Iraqi forces will be capable of taking over.


Makin' progress...

It's only going to get better

Now that, based on past experience, we know that the "bomb Al Jazeera" story must be true -- because it was so vehemently denied by Scotty McSpokesman -- the British Press will not let go of it, meaning it will eventually make its way over here.

Though once again, the difference between the relatively unsueable "American" press and the less protected British Press is noticeable. The latter is still far more aggressive in pursuing stories that might be "upsetting" to those in power or the public. The American press is far too much like an uncle that won't tell you all it knows -- or just doesn't want to know, because it won't be profitable.

But, like the Downing Street documents earlier this year, this story will not go away and its very bizarre nature will require that eventually even Matt Drudge will have to inform the media it is a story:

The one indisputable fact, though, is that part of the memo - 10 lines to be precise - concerns a conversation between Bush and Blair regarding Al Jazeera, the Arabic satellite television station that the US accuses of being a mouthpiece for al-Qaeda. According to those familiar with the memo's contents, Bush floated the idea of bombing the Qatar-based station. The Daily Mirror, which ran the story last Tuesday, claimed the Prime Minister talked Bush out of the plan.

As they attempted damage limitation last week, government officials suggested Bush's comments were nothing more than a joke. It was preposterous to suggest Bush would countenance such an idea, the officials said. The White House described the allegations as 'unfathomable' although according to those who have seen the memo 'there is no question Bush was serious.'


...

It was a Friday afternoon in early June last year when a five-page document lying in his pigeon-hole in his constituency office caught the attention of Tony Clarke, the then Labour MP for Northampton South. It was immediately clear to him this was no ordinary party political memo. As he began to read the document, it became apparent it contained extraordinary details of a discussion between the British Prime Minister and the US President during Tony Blair's visit to the White House the previous April.

Written by a Blair aide who accompanied the Prime Minister to Washington it was headed 'top secret'. It is understood that on the five pages there were details of troop deployments and movements. Lurking within the pages were also frank discussions over the US assault on Fallujah. It was clear from the tone of the memo that Blair was far from happy at the tactics used by American forces.

Then, within a few short lines, came the bombshell: documentary evidence the US president had openly talked about bombing Al Jazeera. Clarke, who had voted against military intervention in Iraq believed he had no choice but to call Downing Street and reveal what he had been sent. The next day officers from Special Branch interviewed him at his home.

Clarke's trusted 42-year-old political researcher, Leo O'Connor, was also questioned. Detectives investigating the leak searched Clarke's offices in the House of Commons. It was not long before they had set their sights on the potential leaker as David Keogh, a 49-year old civil servant who had been seconded from the Foreign Office to the Cabinet Office.

Keogh lives alone in Northampton, not far from O'Connor, and was a member of the Labour Party and an occasional member of a dining club that Clarke and other senior members of the local Labour Party attended.


More shitstorm coming.

Quite the Co-ink-oh-dink!

What this?

THE Middle Eastern news network Al-Jazeera was accused by Donald Rumsfeld, the American defence secretary, of broadcasting “vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable” reports about the war in Iraq the day before President George W Bush met Tony Blair at the White House and apparently suggested bombing the station’s headquarters.
Rumsfeld denounced the satellite television station at a Pentagon briefing on April 15, 2004 after Al-Jazeera had reported that America’s assault on the insurgent stronghold of Falluja was terrorising civilians. “They are simply lying,” Rumsfeld said.

It was on April 16 that Bush reportedly said during talks with Blair that he wanted to bomb Al-Jazeera’s offices in Doha, Qatar, although it is not known whether he was joking.



Funny, huh?

Feztip to Firedoglake.

Yapping Poodle, Crouching Chimp

So, when we going to be investigating folks?

This will not be a happy Thanksgiving for President George Bush, but he need just look across the Atlantic to know it could be worse. His only reliable ally, Britain's Tony Blair, now seems to be facing the full-scale parliamentary inquiry into the Iraq war -- its justification, conduct and aftermath -- that Bush has been able to avoid.

Leading opposition figures from the Conservative, Liberal-Democratic, Scottish National and Plaid Cymru (Welsh) parties have banded together to back the cross-party motion titled "Conduct of Government policy in relation to the war against Iraq" to demand that the case for an inquiry be debated in the House of Commons. They seem assured of the 200 signatures required to get such a debate -- and then the loyalty of Blair's dismayed and disillusioned Labor members of Parliament will be sorely tested.

"This apparently modest motion may be the iceberg toward which Blair's Titanic is sailing," said Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond.


I'm betting Tony doesn't last until the probe is finished.

Of course, any investigation of Blair will naturally also be an investigation of the Chimperor Disgustus.

In other words the British are going to do the work that Pat Roberts and crew refuse to do.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Declaring Victory and Pretending to Get Out

The LA Times reports the Bush Administration's new pretend to be cutting without running policy.

Even as debate over the Iraq war continues to rage, signs are emerging of a convergence of opinion on how the Bush administration might begin to exit the conflict.

In a departure from previous statements, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this week that the training of Iraqi soldiers had advanced so far that the current number of U.S. troops in the country probably would not be needed much longer.


This, of course, is the type of complete bullshit we have been getting from the Bush Administration for three years on this mess. In September the Pentagon brass said just 700 soldiers were ready. Now the White House denies that number as being too "reality-based" I guess.

This is going to be the kabuki dance of 2006, the Bush Administration's preparation of declaring victory and going home, without ever actually going home.

The situation in Iraq is worse than ever, we haven't fixed it; we can't fix it. But to admit that, C Plus Augustus would have to admit reality sucks, and he's a failure. So, naturally, more people must die.

Friday, November 25, 2005

It's time for her to go away

It is time for Ann Coulter to lose her column, it is time for the syndicate that carries her to feel the pressure of her blighted hate-filled mind.

It is simply a fact that Democrats like Murtha are encouraging the Iraqi insurgents when they say the war is going badly and it’s time to bring the troops home…[T]hey long to see U.S. troops shot, humiliated, and driven from the field of battle. They fill the airwaves with treason…These people are not only traitors, they are gutless traitors.


Write her syndicator and give them a piece of your mind.

Be more polite than I was at Rising-Hegemon After Dark, from whom I am simply going to go non-PC and lash out.



I apologize to men, women, and hemophrodites everywhere.

But not to Coulter. Fuck you, you hateful ass.

PR Coup

I just love the line that Hugo Chavez must be "paranoid" and "evil". The guy has overwhelming support, was democratically elected, and both managed to foil a U.S. supported attempted coup in favor of a military junta in 2002.

And then they bitch and moan over this:



Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, has pulled off his greatest public relations coup yet in his campaign to irritate the Bush Administration with a deal to supply cheap fuel to thousands of poor residents of Boston and New York.

To the anger of many in Washington, Citgo Petroleum Corporation, a company controlled by the Venezuelan Government, will supply more than 45 million litres of oil at 40 per cent below market prices.

The deal is one of the most spectacular moves yet in Mr Chavez's attempt to market his "21st-century socialism" using his country's oil wealth.

While it will not change many minds in Washington about his populist and autocratic regime, Caracas hopes it will bolster Mr Chavez's claim as the coming leader of an anti-capitalist Latin America. Mr Chavez, who once dubbed President George Bush a "genocidal madman" and led a huge anti-US protest earlier this month, first proposed his fuel offer in August when oil prices were at a record high after Hurricane Katrina.


I'll take more Hugo Chavez's over more Conrad Blacks and Rupert Murdochs anyday.

Push for A Million Visits by December 1

Update.

Actually going rather shitty.

Forgot there was a holiday, plus I'm sort of unable to really post a lot from my current, undisclosed, location (I'm hiding from Dick Cheney and his heated tongs).

So, it doesn't look like we'll hit it by December 1.

Try not to let it ruin your lives...I'm more snarky when I'm bitter anyway.

Hey Jon Gibson, 5 Happy Holidays to the Noggin'

A special wish to all my fundamentalist friends and Jon Gibson...

Happy X-Box

Merry Kwanzaa

Happy Hannukkah

Seasons Greetings

Hail Satan

Buddah Rules

Don ye now your Gay apparrel

Up with Jeebus

The Invisible War

Go read it:

While Vietnam is remembered as the television war, Iraq has been the television-crawl war: a scrolling feed of bad-news bits, pushed to the margins by Brad and Jen, Robert Blake, Jacko and two and a half years of other anesthetizing fare. Americans could go days on end without engaging with the war, on TV or in print.

“There’s a dearth of seriousness in the coverage of news,” said veteran war correspondent Christiane Amanpour, “at a time when, in my view, it couldn’t be more serious.”

• Dead troops are invisible. The Bush administration’s ban on capturing flag-draped coffins is echoed in the press’ overall treatment of American war dead. A May 2005 survey by the Los Angeles Times found that over a six-month span, a set of leading United States newspapers and magazines ran “almost no pictures” of Americans killed in action, and they ran only 44 photos of wounded Westerners.

• Average monthly war coverage on the ABC, NBC and CBS evening newscasts, combined, has been cut in half—from 388 minutes in 2003, to 274 in 2004, to 166 in 2005.

From one who should know

Terry Waite:

I was detained by a group of hostage takers in Beirut because they suspected me of engaging in dubious political activity. They blindfolded me and kept me in poor conditions without any contact with the outside world. They subjected me to physical and mental abuse during a lengthy period of interrogation. Had I not been able to convince them of my innocence I would not be walking free today. What is the essential difference between the methods deployed by my captors, who were labelled terrorists, and those of the authorities that detain suspects in Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere? They have been detained on suspicion and treated in a way that no civilised nation ought to condone.


Amen.

Let's see the Memo

Because there really is one. George Bush DID tell Tony Blair he wanted to bomb Al-Jazeera in Qatar.

A civil servant has been charged under Britain’s Official Secrets Act for allegedly leaking a government memo that a newspaper said Tuesday suggested that Prime Minister Tony Blair persuaded President Bush not to bomb the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera.

The Daily Mirror reported that Bush spoke of targeting Al-Jazeera’s headquarters in Doha, Qatar, when he met Blair at the White House on April 16, 2004. The Bush administration has regularly accused Al-Jazeera of being nothing more than a mouthpiece for anti-American sentiments.

The Daily Mirror attributed its information to unidentified sources. One source, said to be in the government, was quoted as saying that the alleged threat was “humorous, not serious,” but the newspaper quoted another source as saying that “Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair.”

Thursday, November 24, 2005

What I'm not thankful for

That we have a moron in the White House...and looking at Congress and realizing, he's not near the worst of the bunch.

The toll in Iraq was at 2,097 when I headed out on my trip and 2,104 when I arrived.

Seven more dead, who knows how many Iraqis. Seven families getting a visit from Uncle Sam to say that their husband or wife, son or daughter is no more.

Would that George W. Bush experience a few moments of the pain that those families will feel -- that from now on each and every Thanksgiving will be remembered by the knock on the door from Uncle Sam.

The Murican Dream

I have a lot to be thankful for, too much in fact to put into words here. Besides, that isn't any fun to read about anyway, so how about just a little cynicism?

Trolling around the world of internet news I checked into one of my hometown newspapers, the one I grew up reading every day--the Los Angeles Times. Digging deeper into the site I went to the editorial page where I found Jonah Goldberg. Which got me to thinking about success and how it is achieved.

If you aspire to be President you don't have to be smart. You don't even have to work hard to achieve anything in life. Doesn't even matter if you are a colossal horse's ass and under-achiever. As long as you hire people that will do any manner of dirty work and you can socio-pathologically lie, you can be the leader of the free world. And it helps to have really wealthy parents.

And all you gotta do to get a column in a major newspaper is identify yourself as a Republican and write nonsense in a convincing way, have not much of a conscience, and good family connections, maybe a little money.

Oh alright. A short list of things I am thankful for:

Healthy kids, parents, siblings. My friends (the ones that read this know who you are). Hypocrites that remind me who my real friends are (because if you don't know who they are by the time you hit 40 it is abolut time to do so). I am thankful for any active political opposition in this country and people that stand-up to power. I am thankful for every person that gives us this platform and joins the fray. It makes what little time I am able to spend here so worthwhile.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The Progressive Blog for those who will need to purge

Hey, every blog needs a slogan.

After you have your dinner, and you feel you've eaten far too much, just remember you can always come back to this blog for the sweet relief of virtual Syrup of Ipecac.

For the image below is a real consumer item.

The Holiday Season Begins

I'd become more religious, but the very fact that various awful Adam Sandler songs (in his ridiculous baby voice) are going to be drilled into me for more than 30 days is proof there is/are no God(s).

I hate to be too much of a cultural critic (and your mileage may vary)...but...HE SUCKS!

Why in my day, we only had to put up with Bob & Doug McKenzie getting touques.

And we liked it!

In summary:


Enjoyable.


SUCKS!!

What's old is new again

I haven't heard of a Godwin's Law equivalent to making Vietnam=Iraq analogies, so I'll go on using them to make a point.


Daniels Ellsberg (yes, THAT Daniel Ellsberg) is arrested outside Camp Coo-Coo Bananas.

In response, Bush has told Tony Blair he wants to bomb Ellsberg's Psychiatrist Office.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Gropinator & his Cosmetic Surgeon


Have some of my excess skin.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Just Relax

When will we get Zarqawi?

BAGHDAD –– US forces are closing in on top Al-Qaeda in Iraq insurgent Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and expects to capture or kill him "in the not too distant future", a US general said Wednesday.


This, of course, was reknowned American General, Clayton Forrester.

In the not too distant future?



Next Sunday A.D. perhaps?

Compare & Contrast

Turkey versue Turkee

Turkey:


Turkee:

Such Pain

The Deep Thoughts of Tom DeLay...

"Must...hold...smile...look sincere..."


"Muscles...so...tight...so...unnatural"


"Must...look...like...nice guy."

And now the thoughts of his wife...

"He's touching me! Dear God he is touching me! I can still smell Abramoff's English Leather. Must keep lunch down! Bargain broken."

Liars

To follow up from the post below, the PDB reported on by the National Journal discussed immediately below is important because it shows INTENTIONAL manipulation of evidence by Bush, Cheney and higher up officials just prior to the Senate vote authorizing the use of force.

Examples from the article:

But a comparison of public statements by the president, the vice president, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld show that in the days just before a congressional vote authorizing war, they professed to have been given information from U.S. intelligence assessments showing evidence of an Iraq-Al Qaeda link.

"You can't distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror," President Bush said on September 25, 2002.

The next day, Rumsfeld said, "We have what we consider to be credible evidence that Al Qaeda leaders have sought contacts with Iraq who could help them acquire … weapons-of-mass-destruction capabilities."

The most explosive of allegations came from Cheney, who said that September 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta, the pilot of the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center, had met in Prague, in the Czech Republic, with a senior Iraqi intelligence agent, Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, five months before the attacks. On December 9, 2001, Cheney said on NBC's Meet the Press: "[I]t's pretty well confirmed that [Atta] did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in [the Czech Republic] last April, several months before the attack."

Cheney continued to make the charge, even after he was briefed, according to government records and officials, that both the CIA and the FBI discounted the possibility of such a meeting.

Credit card and phone records appear to demonstrate that Atta was in Virginia Beach, Va., at the time of the alleged meeting, according to law enforcement and intelligence officials. Al-Ani, the Iraqi intelligence official with whom Atta was said to have met in Prague, was later taken into custody by U.S. authorities. He not only denied the report of the meeting with Atta, but said that he was not in Prague at the time of the supposed meeting, according to published reports.


They had been informed repeatedly and consistently that there was no link between Al Qaeda and Saddam's regime.

Yet there they are, just before the vote proclaiming NEW evidence (evidence for which the existence of is...we lack evidence) of a connection between Iraq and the now ever present "boogeyman" Al Qaeda. This evidence, like the September 21, 2001 PDB has not been provided, even in redacted form to the Senate.

Funny how we find out of this as Darth Cheney is heading out to AEI to lie in front of a Kool-Aid consuming audience.

Karma hates you Dick.

Americans: BushCo is lying about being liars

From the Wall Street Journal, that fine publication ruined by an insane editorial page:

A majority of U.S. adults believe the Bush administration generally misleads the public on current issues, while fewer than a third of Americans believe the information provided by the administration is generally accurate, the latest Harris Interactive poll finds.

While the telephone survey of 1,011 U.S. adults indicates about 64% of Americans believe the Bush administration "generally misleads the American public on current issues to achieve its own ends," opinion on the topic is clearly divided along party lines. A large majority (68% to 28%) of Republicans say the Bush administration generally provides accurate information. However, even larger majorities of Democrats (91% to 7%) and Independents (73% to 25%) think the information is generally misleading.


The poll was taken between November 8 to 13 so about the time the White House hysterical pushback started. I'm guessing that probably didn't help their numbers. If nearly two-thirds of the country thinks you are a liar, they are not going to be persuaded by you wheeling out Crashcart to glare and sneer at people. Not to mention if you think someone is a liar, you tend to think they are the type to point fingers.

And, of course, it helps if they are actually liars.

From the National Journal:

Ten days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush was told in a highly classified briefing that the U.S. intelligence community had no evidence linking the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein to the attacks and that there was scant credible evidence that Iraq had any significant collaborative ties with Al Qaeda, according to government records and current and former officials with firsthand knowledge of the matter...

...One of the more intriguing things that Bush was told during the briefing was that the few credible reports of contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda involved attempts by Saddam Hussein to monitor the terrorist group. Saddam viewed Al Qaeda as well as other theocratic radical Islamist organizations as a potential threat to his secular regime. At one point, analysts believed, Saddam considered infiltrating the ranks of Al Qaeda with Iraqi nationals or even Iraqi intelligence operatives to learn more about its inner workings, according to records and sources.


So:

1. Richard Clarke and Paul O'Neil were right when they said that Bush wanted to take out Saddam early and often and 9/11 provided a search for an excuse to go after Iraq.

2. Bush, Cheney and the rest were informed that there were NO connection between Iraq & Al Qaeda.

...except to the extent that Saddam hated them and feared them as a potential threat to him...not as allies in the war.

3. Laurie Myolrie is nuts. But so is every other PNAC tool that actually got a job in the Bush Administration.


To build up support for their glorious little war, the Bush regime constantly buttressed their now discredited "WMD" claims with peripheral evidence of an Iraq-Al Qaeda connection.

This is the thing that has gotten Stephen Hayes, who left his prior profession of septic tank cleaner to push these unsupported half-assed ideas, on all these talk shows the last several years.

The highly classified CIA assessment was distributed to President Bush, Vice President Cheney, the president's national security adviser and deputy national security adviser, the secretaries and undersecretaries of State and Defense, and various other senior Bush administration policy makers, according to government records.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has asked the White House for the CIA assessment, the PDB of September 21, 2001, and dozens of other PDBs as part of the committee's ongoing investigation into whether the Bush administration misrepresented intelligence information in the run-up to war with Iraq. The Bush administration has refused to turn over these documents.

Indeed, the existence of the September 21 PDB was not disclosed to the Intelligence Committee until the summer of 2004, according to congressional sources. Both Republicans and Democrats requested then that it be turned over. The administration has refused to provide it, even on a classified basis, and won't say anything more about it other than to acknowledge that it exists...

..."What the President was told on September 21," said one former high-level official, "was consistent with everything he has been told since-that the evidence was just not there."

In arguing their case for war with Iraq, the president and vice president said after the September 11 attacks that Al Qaeda and Iraq had significant ties, and they cited the possibility that Iraq might share chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons with Al Qaeda for a terrorist attack against the United States.


Douchebags one and all.

So when does Bush plan on bombing the National Journal?

Just you and me and the two nuts between us


Ol' pal.


Bush flees to the ChickenRanch for Thanksgiving.


(AFP/Mandel Ngan)

A picture that Summarizes all of the Artistry of Mariah Carey in one picture

I predict 27 Hehs and 23 Indeeds

OSM Peemypajamaramas or whatever the hell it is called had this "teaser" up today:

A CARNIVAL OF PRE-WAR INTELLIGENCE: WHAT WE KNEW, WHEN WE KNEW IT, AND WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN GOING INTO THE IRAQ WAR. On Friday, OSM extended an open-invitation to bloggers everywhere, requesting posts on the topic of pre-war intelligence. Over fifty bloggers weighed in over the weekend, and Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, edited the results. Read on to find out where the bodies (or WMDs) are buried.


Oh, what could be a more dubious honor than being "edited" by Ernest T. Bass, Professor of Blogging?

This isn't good

As we approach, if we already haven't the 2,100st death of an American soldier, Iraq continues to show signs of unending madness.

Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms broke into the home of a senior Sunni leader on Wednesday and killed him, his three sons and his son-in-law on the outskirts of Baghdad, his brother and an interior ministry official said...

...The slaying follows a big push by U.S. officials to encourage Sunni Muslim participation in the upcoming election, which will install the first non-transitional government in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. Some Sunni-led insurgent groups have declared a boycott of the election and have threatened politicians who choose to participate in it.


Good job C plus Augustus.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Memories

I thought now would be a good time to resurrect this beauty from what now seems ages ago. It is a good reminder of the lengths this administration will go to perpetuate the cult of the personality in Dear Leader.

It has been a tough year for me but I'll count my blessings. I didn't lose a home in a hurricane. I didn't send a loved one off to a foreign land where every day brings new danger and death. I have enough food. My children are clothed and seem well adjusted. But there is still so much suffering right here close to home, so much to do, so many people to help.



What shall we do? Cut taxes for the rich, of course. And use our soldiers as props in a real-life tragedy where even the Thanksgiving turkey isn't real.

War Criminal

You know I'm guessing we'd have caught Osama by now but for a few things, but a couple prominent ones come to mind:

1. Bush and his major appointees are gross incompetents, who'd manage to blow a Girl Scout Cookie Sale let alone manage a military action.

I'm serious, you know that Bush & Rummy would only order "the shortbreads" thinking nobody would ever want to buy the Thin Mints or Caramel Delights.


2. Bush himself is a virtual war criminal, with virtually no higher brain function whatsoever. Here's more evidence and if this is serious, I want the impeachment proceedings to be wrapped up by next week:

PRESIDENT Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a "Top Secret" No 10 memo reveals.

But he was talked out of it at a White House summit by Tony Blair, who said it would provoke a worldwide backlash.

A source said: "There's no doubt what Bush wanted, and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it." Al-Jazeera is accused by the US of fuelling the Iraqi insurgency.

The attack would have led to a massacre of innocents on the territory of a key ally, enraged the Middle East and almost certainly have sparked bloody retaliation.

A source said last night: "The memo is explosive and hugely damaging to Bush.

"He made clear he wanted to bomb al-Jazeera in Qatar and elsewhere. Blair replied that would cause a big problem.

"There's no doubt what Bush wanted to do - and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it."

A Government official suggested that the Bush threat had been "humorous, not serious".

But another source declared: "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men."



Jesus Mohammmed Christ!

Lying, war mongering, torturing, and now wanting to bomb the press (and let's not forget known Al Jazeera facilities actually were bombed by U.S. forces in Iraq)

Uncle Cheney

Well, like the buzzards returning to Hinckley, the Bush Confligracy returns Dick Cheney to friendly audience after friendly audience to audaciously lie about being lied about. It happened again yesterday.

And so...as always the lovely pictures flowed from another public Cheneying.

(To "Fiddle About" from the Who's Tommy)


I'm your wicked Uncle Cheney
I'm glad the public can't get near me

As I fiddle about
Fiddle about
Fiddle about !


Your Preznit left me here to mind you

Now I'm invadin' what I want to
Fiddling about
Fiddling about

Fiddle about!


Down with Geneva

Up with the ball bat!

Fiddle about

Fiddle about
Fiddle about !


You won't shout as I beat and flout
Fiddle about

Fiddle about

Fiddle about !
Fiddle, fiddle, fiddle.


(pics from AP, AFP & Reuters)