If you looked up the defnition of "enabling" in the dictionary would there be a picture of Andrew Sullivan there? It seems that between the Pope O'Rome and President Ima Sinner, the Queen of Mass is fast running out of places to find love. The latest word from St. Peters is that Fred Phelps is apparently correct, God Hates Fags. This must be tough for the blog queen to take. I almost feel sorry for him, but let's use two words to describe his internal plight: hoisted and petard.

Reportedly, the word from the Catholic Church is that loving gay relationships are "evil". Wow. That pretty much leaves no room for debate. I wonder if Sully will now think that the Pope is in bed with Howell Raines, he certainly cuts them no slack on the Child Molestation cases. But wait, it gets better, Sully begins begging for judicial remedies already, not remembering that the his hero, Commander Codpiece wants to send Judges to the bench who would just as soon have him shot as hear his case.

One reason minorities have always always needed courts to defend them against overwhelming majorities is that privilege has defenders. Remember the battle over inter-racial marriage? Back then, whites felt that their institution would be destroyed and cheapened by "mongrel" weddings. Much bigger majorities opposed inter-racial marriage in 1967, when it was finally protected, than now oppose same-sex marriage. But then those evil judicial activists imposed equal marriage rights on an unwilling populace.

By the way, you can still get tickets to see Noam and Howard, the reception might be better than you think and no one will tell you you're evil...going forward into your forties anyhow .

Oh and here's a church you might like, they do have robes, funny hats and everything right down to the ermine stoles. I think they might even like you.

Seems a couple of MIT Grad Students have eclipsed the current bunch of 1600 Crew money-spending consultants at the alphabet agencies of DHS and TSA and anywhere else they're spending deficit dollars on security thinking. The grad students have proved that random searches at airports would be more effective at catching bad-guys than the procedures used now.

...two MIT Computer Science graduate students say they have proof that profiling doesn't work. Samidh Chakrabarti, 23, and Aaron Strauss, 22, say that using purely random searches would be more effective at catching terrorists.
...
While the parameters of the system are classified, anyone who is flagged for extra screening knows it as soon as they are pulled aside for special treatment. Chakrabarti and Strauss show, through computer modeling, how the terrorists can easily defeat the system. Put simply, it's all about trial and error. For example, let's say a terrorist cell sends 20 different guys through the airport (with no weapons and no intent to harm), the person who consistently passes through security without extra scrutiny is the best person to send on a destructive mission in the air. The terrorists basically conclude this guy is "profile proof."

On the other hand, according to the MIT grad students, if the airports employed only random searches the terrorists would not be able to practice against the system. The MIT research explains it this way: an average airport has the ability to do extra screening on eight percent of the passengers.
...
That's because with a purely random system, potential terrorists would have no way of knowing ahead of time if they were likely to receive extra screening and they would have no way of practicing against the system.

Doug Laird is a private security consultant and the former Director of Security at Northwest Airlines, who helped craft the CAPPS system. He says that while the paper is compelling, he doesn't want to make the public unnecessarily worried at this point. Laird says Chakrabarti and Strauss make some incorrect assumptions about how the CAPPS system works. He cannot identify which assumptions are incorrect because that information is classified.

Dr. Philip Stark is a Professor of Statistics at UC Berkeley, the top ranked statistics department in the country. Stark reviewed the paper. He had some initial questions about some of the probability equations, but he says even if the equations are slightly off, it would not be by enough to change the conclusions of the paper. He says the model the MIT grad students used is actually very similar to a common aspect of mathematical game theory. The "game" he cites is called "matching pennies."

It works like this: you and I each get a penny and we each decide to put them down as heads or tails. If they match, you keep both, if they don't match, I keep both. Then the question is: what is the best strategy to win the most pennies? All heads? All tails? Two heads then two tails? The problem is that if there is any sort of pattern, your opponent can detect it and counteract it.

Remember President Alzheimer's Interior Secretary, James Watt? The Secretary brought down by an off-color joke, I believe? He had originally proposed this, the selling off of National Park and Forest Lands to the uber-rich individuals and corporate contributors of the President Bonzo. You know, those lands held in trust for the rest of us, by Teddy Roosevelt and many, many others. Well, guess what? The America-hating 1600 Crew want to carve it all up for their special interest buddies.

Two former secretaries of Interior blasted the Bush administration Tuesday for a "radical ideology" that will ultimately privatize public lands and resources by selling them to the highest bidder.

Bruce Babbitt, who served under President Clinton and Stewart Udall, who served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, sounded alarms at the Bush administration's plan to outsource National Park and Forest Service jobs to private for-profit companies during a teleconference with reporters.

"They're going to dismantle the National Park Service as we know it," said Babbitt, who served as the governor of Arizona before his years heading the Interior.

Udall said that for the first time in a century, Washington has an administration that is emphatically "anti-conservation" and has done nothing positive for the environment.
...
Babbitt and Udall praised the men and women of the Park Service, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for their selfless dedication, stewardship and esprit de corps. Both said that under the Bush administration, morale at those agencies "is at an all-time low."

Udall, who said Republican President Theodore Roosevelt was "my hero," said the Bush administration's assault on the professionalism of federal workers was "not just an assault on civil service, but on the stewardship envisioned by Roosevelt" and Gifford Pinchot, the founder of the national forest system.

Babbitt said the drive to outsource federal jobs was part of a radical agenda that ultimately aims to sell public lands and resources "to the highest bidder."

This total privatization of public land is an idea advocated by Terry Anderson, executive director of the Political Economy Research Center in Bozeman, Mont.

Anderson believes in giving each American a deed to a proportionate share of the 600 million acres of land now managed by the federal government over the next 20 to 40 years. Share holders could homestead, sell, trade or donate shares as they see fit, Anderson has said.

Privatization, of public jobs or lands, flies in the face of a long-standing consensus which states that public lands are in the public interest and are best protected by public servants, Babbitt said.

Look for this to go further with some cutesy-republican program name, like the "Citizen's Land Conservation Delivery" program. Kinda like the ever-malignant "Clear Skies" (or whatever) program.

Oooh, even better name: "Your Land is Your Land" program. Advantages: cutesy and it gets to slam Woody Guthrie and they'd probably use the song to promote it. Am I getting too cynical? Nah.

Sing it out! Bye Bye Johnny...formerly convicted felon RADM John "Moonface" Poindexter (ret...yet again) is doing the patented Donnie and the Neocons banana-peel slide out the door of the Pentagram. Seems he had one too many good ideas about trying to work with Snake-Handler Johnny on the curtailment of Civil Liberties, (silly man, didn't he remember it's all about Turf inside the Beltway?).

John M. Poindexter, a retired rear admiral who was President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser, is stepping down "in the next few weeks," the official said, following disclosure of a proposal that outraged lawmakers and embarrassed senior Pentagon officials. The plan was to create in essence an online betting parlor that would have rewarded investors who forecast terrorist attacks, assassinations and coups.

While Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld did not personally dismiss Admiral Poindexter, the defense official said, Mr. Rumsfeld agreed that the admiral's credibility was shot and it was time for him to go.

In other news, I hear Tennessee is looking for a director for their state lottery. Experience in surveillance not required, but I don't know if you can have a felony conviction, even one that was set-aside, overturned, whatever...

You only need to read Digby's critique of the Presidential Press Conference to see that the Twit-in-Chief has only gotten more clueless as time has passed. But what you really need to read is his scathing assesment of the DLC. Whose time has, I am beginning to believe, passed as well.

The fact is that it does not matter if our candidate actually supported the war in Iraq or not. If John Kerry is the nominee rather than Howard Dean, do they actually believe that the Republicans will not find a way to portray him as soft on national security? Please.

It. Does. Not. Matter. What. We. Actually. Do.

We could sign on to a 0% tax rate for millionaires, repeal of Social Security, prison terms for homosexuality and oil rigs in the middle of San Francisco Bay and they would still say we are liberal, tax and spend, tree hugging, treasonous pacifists because it is in their interest to do so. Until we stop tugging our forelocks and sniveling around like beaten dogs, thereby validating their lies, they will be believed by a fair number of Americans. People who turn the other cheek when they are being unfairly and relentlessly attacked are either saints or pussies ... and the DLC aren’t saints.

The Chimp sez today:

I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman. And I think we ought to codify that one way or the other. And we've got lawyers looking at the best way to do that.

Sully of course is outraged, and clueless at the same time.

I have no idea what he's talking about. We already have a Defense of Marriage Act. "Codifying" marriage as a federal matter? Huh? Is this an endorsement of the Federal Marriage Amendment? Or is it an ingenious way to mollify the far right without the FMA? No clue here.

UggaBugga has another brilliant chart. What Darrell "Pinocchio" Issa says vs. what the record shows. Raise your hands if you think this might be the Pinocchio Factor at work here. You can put your hands down now. Now poor Pinocchio does admit that he only has an IQ of about "100", which is somewhere around low-average, but I could be wrong (psychologists chip in here...) so maybe there's a mental incapacity defense for his actions, bloviations and past misdeeds out there. It doesn't speak well of his district; they sent this reject to DC...but I digress:

[Issa's profile in the San Diego Tribune included an] account of having turned down an Army offer to send him to prep school and the United States Military Academy at West Point.

possible contradiction

Issa's military records do not reflect an offer by the military to send him to prep school and West Point, although the records would not necessarily do so.

Asked Saturday ... Issa responded ..."I was an ROTC-commissioned officer," he said. "That's the end of the story. West Point is an irrelevant part. The prep school at West Point is an irrelevant part."

In the Rose Garden today President Not-a-Fact-Checker said that he carefully, and deliberatively considered the intelligence before committing our nation to a historically significant pre-emptive war against a mythical threat. His words:

"I take personal responsibility for everything I say, of course," Bush said. He then shifted to the broader and more comfortable terrain to which he had confined his answer the previous time he was asked. "I also take responsibility for making decisions on war and peace," he said. "I analyzed a thorough body of intelligence, good, solid, sound intelligence that led me to come to the conclusion that it was necessary to remove Saddam Hussein from power."

During his time in office Bush made numerous statements to this effect, among them "I take every death penalty case seriously and review each case carefully" and "Each case is major, because each case is life or death." In his autobiography he wrote, "I review every death penalty case thoroughly" and added, referring to his legal staff, "For every death penalty case, they brief me thoroughly, review the arguments made by the prosecution and the defense, raise any doubts or problems or questions." Bush always maintained that this review provided what he called a "fail-safe" method for ensuring due process and certainty of guilt.

As with the Texas Death Penalty cases, he analyzed nothing, probably read one 16 word memo and went jogging. The supposed CEO President deferred all this to others, looking only for revenge for the attempted assasination of his daddy (he's real big on that revenge thing); to get contracts for his donors to suck off the gov't tit in perpetuity, and of course to have one successful oil venture before Jenna and Barbie lose their livers to alcohol.

So once again:

Bush Lies, People Die

Still read TNR? Been thinking that cancelling it might bring that whiff of sanity back into your house after an evening of reading the monthly mags that just came, and you can't figure out why, why, why you're feeling creeped out, but it might be TNR? In short, there's no empirical evidence linking feeling creeped out to actually being creeped out? Wrong.

American Prospect roots out a Democratic defector while perusing the Federal Election Commission's database:

"So check out [what] we discovered while trying to see which big-shot New Democrats were supporting which Democratic presidential candidates: According to this list, Michael Steinhardt, former Democratc Leadership Council stalwart and part-owner of The New Republic, gave $2,000 to Bush-Cheney '04 Inc. on June 20, 2003.

Few months ago, the 1600 Crew bitch-slapped the survivors of the Holocaust, in court, taking sides with the Insurance Industry. Well, seems that they might have been looking for protection from some one else, a group they just love to hate. Who?

Veterans. Surprised? Didn't think so. Seems that some of the POW's from Desert Storm wanted compensation for their plight at the hands of the Iraqis, fiiled suit, and won since the Iraqi's defaulted by not showing up. So they got to split a verdict of $653 million dollars, nice money. But wait. The 1600 Crew doesn't want them to get it.

When 21 freed American P.O.W.'s returned home from the Persian Gulf war in March 1991, Dick Cheney, then secretary of defense, welcomed them at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

"Every man and woman who cares for freedom," Mr. Cheney said, "owes you a very special measure of gratitude."

The Bush administration has expressed sympathy for the plaintiffs over what they endured but is fighting them about the money, saying it is urgently needed to rebuild Iraq.
...
The judge is to hear government arguments today asking him to rescind his order setting aside the $653 million and to cancel the award itself. The government cites "foreign policy interests in ensuring a safe and successful transition in Iraq."

Taylor Griffin, a Treasury spokesman, said that in March, President Bush ordered the seizure of about $1.7 billion of Iraqi money, already frozen. Mr. Griffin added that under a provision of a second federal law, the U.S.A. Patriot Act, that money became government property unavailable to the former prisoners. The parties disagree on how the two laws should be interpreted.

One lawyer for the former prisoners, Stephen A. Fennell, said changing conditions in Iraq should be of no consequence. Under the Geneva Convention, he said, "these types of liabilities run with the states, not the governments."

John Choon Yoo, who until recently was a Justice Department lawyer specializing in international issues, said the prisoners' suit was dangerous. "I terrifically sympathize with their personal situation and what they went through," he said, "but the use of the courts and damages remedies interferes with the president's conduct of foreign policy."

One plaintiff, Lt. Col. Richard Dale Storr, now with the Washington Air National Guard, said the administration's position troubled him. Colonel Storr endured beatings in Iraq that broke his nose, dislocated his shoulder and burst his left eardrum.

"It's sending a conflicting message to our troops," he said of the administration's recent court filings. "Congress and the judicial branch say, `Let's protect our guys to the maximum extent possible,' " while the executive branch is "saying the opposite."

"Disappointing," he added, "would be a good way to put it."

Many Vets keep voting republican because? Not a freaking clue.

It looks more and more like whatever-in-the-hell is going on in Iraq, and hell seems to be a pretty fair description, is not getting anyone any closer to dealing with the problems of Al-Qaida and the Taliban. Gee, could that be because we went to the wrong country? NAW. Instead here's some cheerful news out of the scenic Afghan Countryside...

On July 16, speaking to Electronic Telegraph of the United Kingdom, US troop commander General Frank "Buster" Hagenbeck, based at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, reported increased attacks over recent weeks on US and Afghan forces by the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other anti-US groups that have joined hands. He also revealed some other very interesting information: the Taliban and its allies have regrouped in Pakistan and are recruiting fighters from religious schools in Quetta in a campaign funded by drug trafficking. Hagenbeck also said that these enemies of US and Afghan forces have been joined by Al-Qaeda commanders who are establishing new cells and sponsoring the attempted capture of American troops. One other piece of news of import from Hagenbeck is that the Taliban have seized whole swathes of the country.
...
What is happening? Both Hagenbeck, who boasts to the media about the high quality of his intelligence, and Khalilzad, who is unquestionably in a position to know, have stated that the Taliban and al-Qaeda are being nurtured, not in some inaccessible terrain along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border but in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's Balochistan province where the Pakistan Army and the ISI have a major presence. Yet, President Bush and his neo-conservative henchmen have remained strangely quiet, allowing Pakistan to strengthen the Taliban in Quetta, and, as a consequence, re-energize al-Qaeda - the killers of thousands of Americans in the fall of 2001.

Recall for a moment: Following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, no other terrorist was portrayed by the United States as more dangerous than al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and no other Islamic fundamentalist group was presented to the American people as more despicable than the Taliban. Within a month the United States invaded Afghanistan to "take out" the Taliban, al-Qaeda and bin Laden, while the world lined up behind the new anti-terrorist messiahs from Washington, providing it the necessary moral and vocal support. Why, then, is Washington now weakening President Karzai and allowing the strengthening and re-emergence of the Taliban?
...
Washington came to appreciate the non-sustainability of this arrangement when Musharraf, in a sleight of hand, brought the Muttahida Majlis-e Amal - the MMA, also known as "Musharraf, Mullahs and the Army" - to power in the two provinces bordering Afghanistan. At that point, Karzai's tenure as president of Afghanistan shrank abruptly, and Washington deemed it time to give up the "Marshall Plan for Afghanistan" and settle for next best - Taliban rule in Afghanistan under Pakistani control, once again.

If the Talib and Al-Qaida are being financed with drug money as the article suggests, then we have lost the ability to control anything. Think about it, the War on Drugs is about 40 years older (at least) than the War on Terror, and we have not half a clue about getting that under control. With Al-Qaida involved in the money and ostensibly the protection rackets, there will be even fewer clues out there.

I hope the Rexall Wrangler has a good time ridin' the range, clearing brush and acting all Macho. I have feeling the wake-up call is coming, and it's not going to start in Iraq.

Well after the past few days of casting aspersions on the House of Saud, I might just have to eat a bit of crow...that's ok, I'll have them as Nachos, the Jalpenos hide the flavor. Seems that the Saudi's want the 9-11 report released, which means one of two things, either the report shows some connections to the Neocons newest, bestest buddies the Israeli's, per Tiger Lily's theory, or somewhere in those missing pages is an indictment of the 1600 Crew.

President Bush refused on Tuesday to release a congressional report alleging possible links between Saudi Arabian officials and the Sept. 11 hijackers. The White House sought to question a Saudi citizen who befriended two of the hijackers.

Bush said he could not comply with a request by the Saudi foreign minister for a chance to clear the Arab kingdom's name because publication of the report could hurt U.S. intelligence operations.

The foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, said he was disappointed but understood.

So even our 'friends' can't prevail on the 1600 Crew to get this stuff out there. Whatever is in there must be pretty powerful stuff. I wonder if Richard Shelby is sorry he sold out the party that sent him to the senate...if the Dems had a majority today, I suspect that hearings might be bringing this stuff out, slowly but surely. After all, Jeb Stuart Magruder just admitted Nixon did know about the burglary...who says Presidents don't lie? Like dogs in some cases (apologies to all canines for equating you to President Dog-humper).

Seems that no number of frantic calls to the 1600 Crew are going to get much action out of Chimpy McChickenhawk. Those ships are still out there "boring holes in the ocean" as we used to say. But the situation in Liberia is going from bad to worse...

Charles Taylor's forces battled Tuesday to retake key cities captured by rebels in fighting that had the Liberian warlord-turned-president threatening to hang onto power despite his pledge to resign.

Aid workers tending to emaciated babies in Monrovia said the new combat cut the starving capital's last aid lifeline. Desperate refugees, crossing paths as they fled one embattled Liberian city for another, said there was no place to turn.

"All over, fighting now," said Hadija Kabah, 54, caring for more than a dozen children and grandchildren at a makeshift camp outside Monrovia. "There's no place safe to go in Liberia."

So here's his non-answer:

Jo
I am sorry to say I have not had a chance to read the article, but thats to say I probably don't care what it really says. I had a great weekend spending the time listening to leaders who represent my point of view, not yours. I am sorry you don't feel the same way, maybe the likes of Howard Dean and John "Ketchup" Kerry appeal to you. I hope you find the link to your viewpoint like I found mine.
~Sincerely,
Parker Stephenson, Chairman
Ohio College Republican Federation

Obviously Lurch is correct (see comments in original post). I suspect that Mr. Stephenson will not be joining the Service, but he'll be happy to tell us all how unpatriotic and fucked up we are for being liberal/progressive/whatever ala his main heroine Annthrax Coulter. The chain-smoking blond uber-nazi herself...is the love of Ann in these kids driven by their fascination with Ann as Dominatrix? Not going there...

Bette Davis had it right in that old movie: Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy flight.

John "Ketchup" Kerry? Can someone please explain that to me? Other than being married to a foine republican woife...Teresa Heinz? Or am I missing something.

note: Roger Ailes has a link to pictures of some of the folks mentioned in the Salon article, sadly Mr. Stephenson is not in the pix

note second: sensational readers Thlayli and djhighlights corrected a couple of refs I got wrong, fixed 'em...just wanted to let you know nothing else was altered.

note third: Thanks to Glen from A Brooklyn Bridge, on the Bette Davis quote. Seems I hosed that too. From now on no more movie quotes. Yeesh!
Thanks, y'all!

But don't laugh. Get the daypass at Salon, and read this article. Yes, it has the Tom Delay quote about Ted Kennedy, but that's not why it needs to be read. It's about the whack-jobs who are the College Republicans and how their views are being shaped and manipulated. I have not seen filth-spewing like that since, well I don't know when.

Again and again throughout the weekend convention, speakers emphasized that the eager young people before them were the future of the party of Hoover, Nixon and Reagan.

If that's true, the Republican Party of the future will be one firmly indoctrinated in the belief that the opposition is illegitimate. "As conservatives, we share a zeitgeist that is not shared by liberals," said speaker Paul Erickson, an operative who runs the "Daschle Accountability Project," an effort dedicated to undermining the reputation of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., in the 2004 campaign. Erickson has also worked for John Wayne Bobbitt, he of the severed penis, whom Erickson booked on a "Love Hurts" tour in 1994.

"As conservatives, we don't hate America," Erickson told his young audience. "The life of a liberal is hell. It is not possible to have a debate, a discussion, with someone who at their root, at their core, hates everything this country stands for but doesn't hate it enough to leave."
...
Coulter herself remains wildly popular -- Parker Stephenson, chairman of Ohio College Republicans, calls her "one of my favorite conservative thinkers."

Here it is, let's see if he responds. I'll post it if he does.

Mr. Stephenson,
It was with great interest that I read the article in Salon. I found the answers to many of the things I was wondering about the Republican Party right there. For instance, where has the intolerance, bigotry, racism and lack of critical thinking and civil discourse come from over the past 20 years? Why from you all, it seems.

I have a hard time believing that I served my country for folks like the ones in the article and even you, an admirer of Ann Coulter to have your views. But I did and I begrudge it to no one. It was the best time of my life and I'd do it all over again tomorrow. Without a single day unacounted for, again. If you know what I mean.

The racist attitude expressed by some of your fellow travelers would by the way get them tossed out of the service faster than they could say their own names, is that a shocker to you? Interestingly they are likely big "supporters" of the military, but would be no more likely join than do volunteer work (which I admiringly note you do).

How about you Mr. Stephenson, you seem to love Ann Coulter, which obviously means you love America, are you planning to enlist or join an Officer Training Program in the US Military after graduation or will you be "pursuing alternatives" while others serve this Great Country?

I'd be interested to know, since I believe that another interviewee did seem to speak with the voice of all of you:
"As conservatives, we don't hate America," Erickson told his young audience. "The life of a liberal is hell. It is not possible to have a debate, a discussion, with someone who at their root, at their core, hates everything this country stands for but doesn't hate it enough to leave."
Friend of yours?

Jo Fish
former LCDR USNR/1315 (Naval Aviator)
--fighting the Credit Card Conservatives every day

As previously noted, the sitch in Afgahnistan isn't improving with 1600 Crew wishful thinking. While the Iraqi flailings are far more attractive to the media for what ever reason (correspondants wanting to "earn their bones in combat zones") or whatever, there just isn't a lot coming out of Afghanistan. There should be more. Much more. For instance, Mullah Omar has ordered new attacks, and appointed new commanders in southern Afghan areas, Warlords aren't too keen to see us work up a new constiitution hand-in-hand with our duly appointed pawn, Hamid Karzai.

Warlords are creating "a climate of fear" in Afghanistan that is threatening efforts to draft a new constitution and could derail national elections expected next year, a human rights group said.

In a report released Monday night, Human Rights Watch accused soldiers and police loyal to powerful warlords - many of whom are in the government - of kidnapping, extortion, robbery and the rape of women, girls and boys. The New York-based group also detailed numerous death threats against Afghan journalists and low-level politicians who criticized authorities.
...
"External support for warlords is destabilizing Afghanistan," Adams said. "The United States and the United Kingdom, in particular, need to decide whether they are with President Karzai and other reformers in Kabul or with the warlords. The longer they wait, the more difficult it will be to loosen the warlords' grip on power."

And we still have not got a clue about where either Mullah Omar and of course Osama bin Laden are. Is that due to 'murky intelligence", or the fact that we should have finished one job first?

Tiger Lily over at Brief Intelligence Weblog has some interesting thoughts on an alternative country mentioned in the 9-11 report. Take a look. Very interesting argument for her choice.

Read about this Terrorism Futures Market. Thought it was a bad dream. Real Tin-Foil Hat stuff. If the "house" is losing, just look the other way and allow an eensy little attack...collect a few bucks for the Treasury, get more anti-terrorism funding from the Jackpot Jackasses in congress and move on. No, it's for real, pays your money takes your chances...with our national security.

The Pentagon is setting up a stock-market style system in which investors would bet on terror attacks, assassinations and other events in the Middle East. Defense officials hope to gain intelligence and useful predictions while investors who guessed right would win profits.
...
The market would work this way. Investors would buy and sell futures contracts — essentially a series of predictions about what they believe might happen in the Mideast. Holder of a futures contract that came true would collect the proceeds of investors who put money into the market but predicted wrong.
...
(Sen Byron) Dorgan described it as useless, offensive and "unbelievably stupid."

"Can you imagine if another country set up a betting parlor so that people could go in ... and bet on the assassination of an American political figure, or the overthrow of this institution or that institution?" he said.

I don't think even The Onion could have been this far out there...

One down, 24 to go...well, not really, I doubt Ahmed Chalabi will be walking anytime soon. He's got his dream job...9 to 3, and all he can steal, with the Perlowitz faction smiling like indulgent parents.

It seems that this gent is not really excited, for want of a better word, about the planning (lack of?), that the Neocons arrived with. Also, he seems to feel that the Council, is well, sort of a "rubber stamp" for Bremer and Wolfowitz. I wonder why he thinks that?

Iraq is now in almost total chaos. No one knows what is going on. We're not talking here about trying to achieve an ideal political system. People cannot understand why a superpower that can amass all that military might can't get the electricity back on. Iraqis are now contrasting Saddam's ability to bring back power after the war in 1991 to the apparent inability of the US to do so now. There are all kinds of conspiracy theories.
...
To succeed, they must take a unified position on issues and tell Bremer to go to Washington and say "this is what Iraqis want." Ultimately, the council must be prepared to say: "Give us full authority and we will ask for your advice when we need it."

I am thus far the first and only member of the reconstruction council to resign. There may be others, though many will no doubt stay and hope for the best. For my part, when I think about the Iraqi people - how strong they are, how hard they work - I remain optimistic for my country in the medium term.

There are many signs that Iraqis are working together, without serious tensions between ethnicities. All this is good news for a future Iraq. In the short term, however, I fear there will be more conflicts, run through with Iraqi and American blood.

Can I get some help collecting to buy the Whore of Words, the thing that puts the Dick in Dictionary, a one-way coach ticket to Baghdad, an M-16 and a pup-tent for him and the latest boyfriend? After reading this quote, (emphasis addedd) I have to wonder about him. Better yet, suppose we all just go buy a case of flypaper and everyone send it on to him.

FLYPAPER REVISITED: "I thank Allah that [our son] attained what he sought. For 14 years he sought [martyrdom]. He always pointed to his head and wished that a rifle bullet would split his forehead, and we have been told that that is what happened." - from MEMRI's special report on Jihadi fighters in Iraq. Put it together with this and the flypaper theory seems more credible by the day. Bring 'em on.

Bring 'em on. Obviously he has such an incredible case of wanna-be worship. Do you think he wonders if Chimpy has chickenlegs too? Probably keeps him up at night worrying about how to tell his hero how to get more definition.

It seems that even the Saudis might want the 9-11 report released in full. Gosh, does that mean that they got to see what we got to pay for? How secure are the contents of the report now if the Saudi's have seen it anyhow? Not like they don't have at least one or two "double agents" working there, I'm sure. I would be shocked if all the entire contents were not already being read where ever ObL is now.

Much of the new allegations is the result of brief investigations conducted by the Sept. 11 inquiry staff. House and Senate members of the inquiry have repeatedly said they do not know whether the allegations are true, and have criticized the FBI in particular for not pursuing them more quickly, especially the case of a network of businessmen and religious figures in San Diego who provided some of the hijackers with financial and logistical support.

But the report holds out the possibility that the Saudi-related allegations "could reveal legitimate, and innocent, explanations for these associations."

The report makes no accusation that it was ever the policy of the Saudi government to support terrorism. Rather, the questionable activity involved Saudi citizens, some of whom worked for the Saudi government.

Bridge and swamp land for sale. Cheap. The only reason they're coming over here is to turn up the heat on their bought-and-paid for property at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Or maybe I need the double-thickness tin-foil hat. Nope, just checked my mind-ray detector...I'm safe.

We should all be ashamed. The war in Iraq has taken a turn that seems almost indefensible by any standards we as Americans know. We have started taking hostages. Family members of wanted Iraqi former government and military officials are being taken, a note left and we wait. I do not believe that this policy we developed in the field. It was developed in Berlin, most likely at Prinz-Albrecht-Str-8, the headquarters of the Gestapo. NO GODWINS LAW CRAP in the comments please. This is right out of the playbook of the Gestapo, the Kempei-Tai, STASI, and any other secret police organization of modern times.

Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in." Such tactics are justified, he said, because, "It's an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info." They would have been released in due course, he added later.

The tactic worked. On Friday, Hogg said, the lieutenant general appeared at the front gate of the U.S. base and surrendered.
...
Senior U.S. commanders here are so confident about their recent successes that they have begun debating whether victory is in sight. "I think we're at the hump" now, a senior Central Command official said. "I think we could be over the hump fairly quickly" -- possibly within a couple of months, he added.

Hogg, whose troops are still engaged in combat every day, agreed. "I think we're fixing to turn the corner," he said Thursday. "I think the operations over the next couple of weeks will get us there."

If there were ever a reason not trust the 1600 Crew, this is it. We're sowing the wind here...and we all know what the payoff for that is, right?

Just wanted to let you know that I'll take my business somewhere else. The behaviour of your store in Fred-necks-Burg, VA, is a travesty. Consider, all you sell is protected by our Constitution. Without those words about free speech, you would not be in business. I know that irony is dead, but it's kind of ironic, eh? Since you don't like the epithet Chicken + (fill in whatever here) let me supply a couple of more common phrases that I have heard concerning Fearless Leader.

Chicken shit
Chicken lips
Chicken out
and the best last:
Chicken hawk

now you may object to me calling Shrubus Maximus all those things, that is of course your right. I have the right to tell you that I won't be patronizing your stores anymore, ever. So, just wave bye-bye to my business here in Ohio or anywhere else, if theres only a Borders, I'll go without.

I'm just one person, and I'm sure that you don't care, but hey others may feel the same. I hope they do, and they too appreciate the irony of your actions relative to your existence. My fondest wish is that one day when your employees are all selling coffee to each other waiting for a customer to come in, a customer comes in, and asks for directions to a locally owned and operated bookseller.

It would serve you right.

via Blah3

Seems that one of the Army units over in Iraq has a little wife-wanting-to-be-the-Gestapo problem going on. Seems the spouse of soldier attached to the 400th Military Police Battalion heard about a blast near where she thought the unit was. She apparently sent an e-mail asking if anyone had more information. What she got back was a bit of a shocker:

But when she read her e-mail July 15, she was appalled at what she saw. Group leaders were playing what one later called "hardball" with the Columbia mother of two and other 400th family members.

"OK this has gone far enough!" they wrote. The message said that "certain people are getting their soldiers in trouble" and that the unit's e-mail list had been sent to the Pentagon "for possible security violations and will be closely monitored."

But wait, it gets better, here's the 220th Military Police Brigade's "Family Program Coordinator", who is Civlian Volunteer. Not an official Army spokesperson, liason, officer or even Dept of the Army Civilian; a Civiilian Volunteer.

Lisa Torey, the family program coordinator for the 220th Military Police Brigade, which oversees the 400th, said in an interview that there were no injuries in the blast Peacock was asking about. Peacock's e-mail, she said, was distressing to many families who don't watch the news and don't want bits of information dripping in from unofficial sources. They have a right, she said, not to be disturbed with troubling news.

She added that there had been several other "violations" regarding use of the e-mail chain. Torey, a civilian volunteer whose husband is deployed in Iraq, wouldn't specify what those were, but she said she had to put a stop to them.

"We have 150,000 troops over there," she said. "Someone could say something, and that information could get to the wrong person. And then ultimately you could have the worst-case scenario, and we have a dead soldier on our hands."

Women like this are going to help ensure that retention will hit the crapper sooner than later. Troops who hear about women like her will hope their wives are not having to deal with similar mini-minds back in the world. The married guys I remember as having the happiest spouses were the ones whose wives stayed the hell away from the Officers Wives Club when the ship was gone for more than a month. The politics, carping and attitude of some of the women were too similar to Ms. Torey's, give them a little power and they turned the into Banana Republicans...

In a follow-up e-mail to the family members of the 400th on Tuesday, Torey backed off, writing that "no one is in trouble with the Pentagon or Higher Headquarters." She wrote that she "had to play hardball and get you to stop immediately because that fine line regarding breach of security was almost crossed."

For those who want to make legitimate comments, please email them and I will add them, anonymously if you wish. Thanks. I have never had to go to this extreme, but it was getting out of hand.

Here's an interesting job - escorting money. The cash that has been taken from Saddam's palaces and other places in Iraq is being authenticated and put back into circulation in Iraq, and it's up to a bunch of Soldiers from Iowa to move the money

The Army calls it a "finance mission," which sounds pretty dull. Until the MPs with the machine guns tell the Iowa National Guard truck drivers what they'll be hauling.

It's $50 million cash, part of the hundreds of millions of dollars stashed away by Saddam Hussein and located by American troops after the fall of Baghdad.

On this day, Friday of last week, the soldiers of the Guard's 1168th Transportation Company are carrying a pallet-load of Saddam's cash to the airport in Kuwait City an hour away.

To the men and women of the Red Oak-based unit, it's sort of fun, but not really a big deal.

"I know for a fact our unit has transported over $2 billion since we've been here," said 1st Sgt. David Carstens of Panora. The 1168th has carried more than $100 million in a single trip to the airport.
...
Keeping going is a very big part of this operation. The convoy hits the four-lane highway outside the base, and the MPs block every intersection.

Nothing - not red lights, not cross traffic - stops the trucks.

"We're too vulnerable if we stop," Slack said. "This would seem to be a safe mission in what has been a fairly safe area. But you never know, especially when you haul this kind of cargo."

The soldiers hurry past sheep herders and camels roaming around the desert. They pass pickups and small trucks jammed with shaggy, long-eared sheep.

"Must be sale-barn day," said Sgt. James Kastner, 23, a farmer-welder-truck driver from Bagley.

Kastner and his partner, Sgt. Jason Cowell, 25, of Northwood, chat about their time here as they beat the early-morning traffic into Kuwait City. Cowell talks about the poverty they saw in southern Iraq on one of their missions north.

"Little kids, some of them 2 years old, standing out in this heat - 130 degrees, no shoes - begging for food, rubbing their tummies," he said. "I never imagined poverty like that."

As if to prove that there really is a shallow end to the gene pool, this guy is splashing on down there:

A bank robber made the ultimate bad career move when he wrote a holdup note -- on the back of his resume.

Police used the job-search information to identify the man, who was arrested and charged with robbing a Wells Fargo bank branch on Fort Worth's east side.

The man had tried to hide the personal information by taping black construction paper over it. But then he forgot to retrieve the note and take it with him after giving it to the teller.

Police then just peeled the tape from the note.

A tip led police to a Fort Worth motel, where the man was arrested Saturday. He remained in federal custody on a bank robbery charge in the July 15 holdup.

Republican Senator Richard Lugar has seen presidents come and go...like clockwork. He's still hanging around, sent back by his state, Indiana because he's probably a good senator. He's a hell of a smart guy in the area of Foreign Policy, it must have chapped his ass to sit there on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and listen to Jesse Helms make the US seem like a country of protectionist, bigoted rubes. So, Lugar asked the 1600 Crew a simple question: How much will the Iraqi Adventure cost?

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar of Indiana said on National Public Radio that the White House understands there is a big price tag for rebuilding Iraq. ``But they do not wish to discuss that,'' Lugar said.

Asked by NPR whether rebuilding Iraq will cost tens of billions of dollars, Lugar responded, ``Yes. We are talking about that. And that's what needs to be talked about now as opposed to one surprise after another'' in funding requests to Congress.
...
In the interview, Lugar also said top Bush administration officials were underestimating what is needed to get the security situation under control in Iraq.

Referring to recent statements by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that progress was achieved with the hiring of 30,000 Iraqi policemen, Lugar said, ``Almost all estimates are that 70,000 are required. That's tough to get.''

I have to wonder, and will for a while, is there a parallel to this coming out of Iraq? I mean we've all heard stories about the soldiers riding shotgun for the CheneyBurton/Brown and Root folks. How long untiil this becomes more and more like the East India Company?

The East India Company had the unusual distinction of ruling an entire country. Its origins were much humbler. On 31 December 1600, a group of merchants who had incorporated themselves into the East India Company were given monopoly privileges on all trade with the East Indies.
...
The Company saw the rise of its fortunes, and its transformation from a trading venture to a ruling enterprise, when one of its military officials, Robert Clive, defeated the forces of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-daulah , at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. A few years later the Company acquired the right to collect revenues on behalf of the Mughal Emperor, but the initial years of its administration were calamitous for the people of Bengal. The Company's servants were largely a rapacious and self-aggrandizing lot, and the plunder of Bengal left the formerly rich province in a state of utter destitution.
...
In 1858 the East India Company was dissolved, despite a valiant defense of its purported achievements by John Stuart Mill, and the administration of India became the responsibility of the Crown.

Too bad that President Academically Impaired spent more time in the skull-and-bones house shitfaced than he did reading his clif notes for history classes. He might have known some of this, and several hundred US Soldiers would still be alive as well as thousands of Iraqis.

But as we see, alcohol and drug use trumps responsibility.

Bush Got High, Soldiers Now Die.

What do you suppose that the Iraqi's would say in one of those little touchy-feely televised focus groups that Luntz runs for MSGOP or whoever? Following the deaths of three more soldiers who were providing security for a childrens hospital, I would have to guess there would be quite a contentious split among the members of the group.

The attacks continue to deeply frustrate soldiers. "What a lot of people don't understand is that the war is far from over," said Pfc. Adam Gable, of suburban Washington, D.C., who stood guard outside the hospital tonight. Another private first class, Higinio Nunez, from Fresno, Calif., said, "All we want is for people to see that we are here to protect them." But he said Iraqis "call us Ali Babas," a common reference to thieves.

One patient allowed to leave the hospital this afternoon, who would say only that he was from the town of Khan Bani Saad, said that residents were tiring of the American presence, and that that frustration might have been behind the attack. "People don't like to see Americans here," he said.

But the 32-year-old hospital clerk said she was very distressed that Iraqis would attack Americans guarding the hospital. "The people are here to provide security for us," she said. "They are doing their jobs."

Either the media whores all got together and decided on their own talking/spin points or someone at USA Today really wants to see the 1600 Crew held accountable for the half-assed hiding of the Saudi involvement in 9-11.

The nation's first investigation into the 9/11 attacks had a single goal: to find out how 19 hijackers were able to launch a surprise attack that killed 3,000 people on U.S. soil. On Thursday, a congressional committee conducting the probe released its declassified findings. Instead of a complete account, the public got a report with a glaring hole -- 27 heavily censored pages.
...
Even Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the panel's former vice chairman, says censored parts ''might be embarrassing'' but don't threaten security and should be released.
...
But 9/11 is where President Bush has drawn the line on friends vs. enemies. Countries that condoned or cooperated with terrorists are foes. That line shouldn't be redrawn now to shield a nation that aided terrorists, no matter how strategically vital.

Except all the Saudi and Bush Royal Families, I guess.

Yeah, I have that on my iTunes playlists somewhere too, but that's not what this is about...well, yeah it sort of is...not Mozart, but toonage in general. Isn't it cool to sit and listen to compilitations of music you have put together...here I am listening to Joe Walsh 'Rocky Mountain Way'...which came from Marvin Gaye 'Mercy Mercy Me' from Heart 'Dreamboat Annie' from (trainwreck) Grand Funk Railroad 'Mr Limousine Driver'. Damn, ain't technology great? Now if I could just get a decent rendition of the studio version of 'Paranoid' by GFRR I could die a happy man...

Not a freaking clue. It's the train-wreck syndrome combined with insomnia...I was going to go night flying tonight, since I am not night current anymore. But it was not as nice as recent evenings here in Central Ohio, so I blew it off. Another night perhaps this week.

I did want to comment on one thing, all you fellow Mac Users out there, have you done the music download(s) from Apple? I have done a couple now, the whole new Steely Dan and some Sheryl Crow. After wandering through the local mega-music store, and seeing that they wanted $17.99 "on sale" for the new SD, I decided to try the Apple way...cost me $9.99 for the whole album (ok, I know that's a really old word), and it dumped itself straight onto my iPod. Very cool.

Speaking of cool, I bought a little thing called an iTrip that lets my iPod broadcast onto my car radio...and the quality is damn good. I have an Accord, so the road noise is not too bad, and the iPod/iTrip really does sound good. The iTrip cost me like $30...and it's worth it. I had asked the dealer about gettiing an MP3 player as an option, and they wanted almost a grand. Ummm, no.

Anyhow...cool toys, Windows users, it works for your iPods too, I think. But I don't think you can do downloads yet...

Jesse and Elayne are both still going strong. If there were a way to get coffee delivered to wherever they are, I think I'd get it done. Or perhaps pizzas..

Whatever....they're doing great stuff.

via Roger Ailes

This is positively creepy. I mean if this guy was within miles of my family, I would be buying the best home security on the market and augmenting it with a German Shepard police dog, one of those really well trained ones (wink wink nudge nudge).

The principal's invitation to some of the girls at his school read like this:

TO: THE PARENTS OF THE ROYAL PRINCESSES

FROM: THE KING OF CCS

I humbly request your permission for the princesses listed above to join me in a visit to a land where dreams come true . . .

May I have the honor of your daughter's presence for this princess reunion?

P.S. Glass slippers may be brought but no blue blood snootiness.

Some girls brought luggage to Community Christian School on May 16 for another trip to Disney with "the king" - principal Dick Baker.

But they never went. They talked to police instead.
...
The middle school-age girls told police they had been to Disney with Baker 20 times, 30 or 40 times. One girl said she had been 81 times. Sometimes they shared a room with him, but not a bed. Sometimes Baker, 52, was the only adult on the trip. He slept in Disney pajamas, one girl said.

There was no need to bring a swimsuit - Baker had a bag full of Disney suits that the girls could choose from so everyone would match. Detectives learned that he gave them matching dresses and took pictures of them wearing Tinkerbell and other costumes, complete with wands and crowns.

How much are those dogs?

Seems there are some problems in the PI. According to the latest news, it's a "rebellion", but it sounds more like some pissed-off military guys who want to be heard. President Arroyo, has called them "terrorists" which assures that some alarm bell will go off somewhere in the 1600 Crew headquarters.

Rebellious soldiers stormed a major commercial center in Manila early Sunday, hours after the Philippine government ordered the arrest of officers believed to be plotting a coup. The president warned the mutineers to surrender or face military action.
...
The military responded by sending marines to positions nearby. Television footage later showed them shaking hands with some of the rogue officers, raising questions about what government forces would do if ordered to mount an assault.
...
"There is absolutely no justification for the actions you have taken," Arroyo said. "You have already stained the uniform. Do not drench it with dishonor. Your actions are already hovering at the fringes of outright terrorism."

The rebel soldiers pledged to remain. In an earlier statement, they demanded the government resign and said they were prepared to die to force change.
...
Interior Secretary Jose Lina ordered the arrest of Sen. Gregorio Honasan, citing an intelligence report reportedly linking the former army colonel to the mutiny. Honasan denied he had any "influence or control" over the mall takeover.

Military Chief of Staff Gen. Narciso Abaya said 10 of the wanted officers were from the army and navy — including several captains, the highest rank, mostly from the special operations command.

Eight served in the fight against Muslim separatists in the country's troubled south, and most had been decorated for gallantry under fire.

Arroyo, a 56-year-old economist, has enjoyed generally solid public support and is one of the staunchest U.S. allies in Asia. The United States has been working closely with the 120,000-strong Philippine military, which has been battling Muslim separatists and communist rebels for the last three decades.

As the recall juggernaut rolls forward in California, candidates have started coming out of the woodwork. Literally.

"Could you hold on a minute?" the 18-year-old Pratt asked a reporter as he covered the receiver to shoo away his mother. "Mom, stop waving that mail in my face. I'm trying to do an interview."
...
"There may be a lot of people coming by later," said Wozniak, a retired Oakland police officer who answers his phone with the authoritative, "Campaign headquarters."
...
And while he's got his feelings about the budget and education, and a motto -- "No crybabies" -- like most politicians, Wozniak has an issue that's especially close to his heart: the legalization of the domestic ferret. "I guess you could call that my 'pet issue.' "
...
Among the regular Janes and Joes entering the fray, a media darling has already emerged: Georgy Russell, a 26-year-old high-tech programmer from Mountain View.

Or, as her campaign manager described her in an e-mail: "A cute girl looking to fill the Democratic void in this election." The campaign motto: Beauty, brains, leadership. It's a strategic tack that may explain the Georgy for Governor thong underwear ($14), one of 18 Georgy items for sale on her Web site.
...
"Well, we had to do a little pandering at the start to get some attention, but we're going to be focusing on issues more," said Russell, who punctuated several sentences with a giggle. "I want to get more people involved, to vote, that haven't in the past."

Including Russell, who didn't vote in November's election.

"Oops, I probably shouldn't have told you that," she said.

On the other hand, if she weren't running as a Democrat, perhaps Georgy Russell could show the Virgin Ben a good time...she might get one vote and it would be the ultimate pander for Ben. Nah, if he took one look at her, his head would explode. She is cute...

The Japanese are coming! A new addition to the coaltion of the shilling willing, the Japanese are sending a force of about 1,000 troops to Iraq. This marks the first time since WWII that Japanese troops are actually going to be in a "combat zone" which is still considered to be 'hot'.

The deployment would be the first for Japanese troops in a combat zone since World War II. In the past decade, Japan has sent small forces to peacekeeping operations in Cambodia and East Timor. After the attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, Japan sent warships to patrol the Indian Ocean.

Today's vote, 136 to 102, was a major victory for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who defeated opposition tactics, a no-confidence vote and an 11th-hour filibuster by the bill's opponents to ram the measure through.
...
Japanese troops have not taken part in combat operations since the end of World War II, and under the law passed today, the troops would be limited to noncombat areas where they could help resettle refugees, rebuild schools or factories and provide fresh water and supplies.

But opponents of the measure say there are no noncombat areas in Iraq, given the guerrilla attacks throughout many parts of the country. These opponents assert that the law violates Japan's post-World War II Constitution, which bans the use of force to settle international disputes.

Pentagon spokespersons just shook their heads and passed out resumes.

Before leaving to take his weekend break from nothing, the Queen of Mass left us with this interesting note:

DARK DAY FOR KRUGMAN: His hopes for recession seem to be receding.

Once again, Her Royal Highness in a rush to the beaches, forgets that there is at least one more "W" in journalism...remember, who, what, when, where, why, and how? Add this one Yer Majesty: Work.

Blogged the story about the 1600 Crew trying to get James Baker to go to Iraq to Garner Bremer (hey...that's like getting Borked, kind of!!!) anyhow, the story was out of the Washington Post on-line edition...seems that the original story, was taken down and a milder one was put up in its stead...now that's what I call revisionist.

Quiddity has all the details, including side-by-sides of both stories. Amazing.

Is the Post afraid they are going to get cut off or something? Did they get a midnight call from Dan Bartlett's office, telling them to play ball and do a rewrite?

Do they still have any tinfoil left at the store?

There's a blog-a-thon goin' on! If you have not been over to Pandagon, you're missing out. Jesse has already trashed Peggy Noonan, and I understand he's also got a few other things to say about some of our other favs...like Sully. Also, send Jesse any job leads you have...this guy is smart, funny and well...go read the 100 things about Jesse.

Elayne Riggs at Pen-Elayne, also from my blogroll, is participating...check her out too! BTW- she's eating day-old sushi, I hope she makes it through 24 hours!

From Kos:

From the US Code, Title 4, Chapter 1, Sec. 8 (g):

The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.
The title of that portion of the US Code? "Respect for flag".

And look what he's doing

It's a conundrum isn't it? Iraq and Liberia. One country we have invaded with a "clear and compelling" mission, that we are finding out now may not have been either so clear or compelling. The reasons that the 1600 Crew put out there were not, let's be charitable for a minute, straightforward. In the eyes of the world we are now the only superpower. We're also the biggest bully in the yard, and the world seems to believe that we don't want to play well with others. We are losing soldiers in Iraq, and I have this feeling, that no matter what happens their losses will not be mourned outside our country. Because of our attitude, because of the falsehoods of our leadership in getting into Iraq, and because of the general perception that we are all about a Twenty-first Century Neo-colonialism that's not sitting well with both our allies and our stateless enemies.

Liberia offers us a chance to overcome some of that perception. Both sides of that long-running bloody civil war seem to want outside intervention. They are asking us to take a leadership role in the stabilization of their country. What does this entail? I can't tell you, but I know that if we can stop the killing, then we can perhaps begin a process that might lead to peace, self-reliance and ultimately self-government for a country whom we have more in common with than many third world countries we have poured resources into in years past.

Doing the "right thing" in Liberia will not be unilateral either, some of our European allies are willing to work with us there, even when they are less than willing to do that in Iraq. We should take them up on that, it may be a first step to building coalitions of peacekeepers where everyone wins. If we do the "right thing" in Liberia with the expectation of no "quid pro quo", we are serving our long-term national interests as surely as if we could destroy 51% of Al-Qaida tomorrow. And we'll be the better for it.

Howie "the Whore" Kurtz has a preview of (I guess a taped) Russert for this Sunday, featuring that irrelevant moralist slag, Blackjack Bill saying this:

"I'm not a hypocrite. I never got on the soapbox about gambling. I never said, you know, gambling is a terrible thing, people should stop gambling. . . . Did I fall short of my standards by doing too much, by engaging in this at an excessive level? Yes, but that doesn't make my arguments any less good or not. . . .

"I way overdid it. I gambled too much, and I think I gambled too much given who I am and what I do. So I think it was just best to call it quits on that. Somebody who does what I do shouldn't be gambling at that kind of level. I was, it was, it was at a high level. . . . My gambling days are over."

You are such a Putz.

When you are used to having all your successes handed to you, and your daddy's friends bail you out...maybe it's just too hard to see the "easy" wins in real life, much less do the right thing, for the right reason.

It almost seems that the news out of Liberia might indicate that sending in troops might be the biggest 'gimme' for the 1600 Crew since execution of Timothy McVeigh. I mean, President McInjection got to look all somber, McVeigh wanted to die, and Ashcroft probably had the first annual White House Onanism and Snake-Handling Orgy ever. When it was all done, they all probably had a smoke, rolled over and fell asleep. It was an event on auto-pilot. But they all came out looking like frickin' heros in their own minds...

The bloodiest barrage in days sent shells crashing into the U.S. Embassy grounds and a school packed with refugees in the rebel-besieged capital Friday -- leaving people wondering why a long-awaited U.S. peace deployment was coming only after so high a toll.
...
Rebel leaders welcomed word of the American deployment, ordering their forces to cooperate with any Americans and to cease-fire. The rebels have repeatedly broken promises for a cease-fire, as have government forces.

"I think that's what all Liberians want to hear. We applaud that," rebel official Charles Benney said of the announced American deployment.
...
"I want to tell George Bush to do something hurriedly, very fast and quickly," Emmanuel Sieh, 28, cried earlier Friday, as crowds spilled out into the streets following a fierce 20-missile barrage in 10 minutes.

Here's the lead (lede?) to an on-line story on the Washington Post site:

Details Murky in 9/11 Report
Analysis: Keeping parts classified obscures what Bush knew before attacks as well as the Saudis' role

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer refused to discuss specifics of the president's daily intelligence briefings, but said there was back in the summer of 2001 "a general awareness" that bin Laden's terrorist network was considering attacks "around the world, including the United States."

There had been among U.S. intelligence officials "longstanding speculation" about the possibility of a hijacking "but not suicide bombers, not using planes as missiles," Fleischer said

Now the 1600 Crew want to bring in the "big gunz" to help in that pesky Iraqi Occupation. You know, the one of flower-petals and love. The one that required no planning, needed no foresight. The walk-through PTII. That one. Not the one of no electricity, stifling heat, US soldiers dyng at a pretty striking rate (more than one a day now). This one.

So what "big gun" are they bringing in? Why the master of governmental theft himself, James Baker...you know, ol' Jim the other two-faced Lying W apologist, for the generations of Bush.

The White House hopes to persuade former secretary of state James A. Baker III to take charge of the physical and economic reconstruction of Iraq as part of a broad restructuring of post-war efforts, administration sources said today.

Under the plan, L. Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. administrator in Iraq, would focus on rebuilding the country's political system. The new structure is still in the discussion stages, and a source close to Baker said he has not accepted the job.
...
The sources said one hurdle is determining whether Baker or Bremer would have the final word, and they said that question is unresolved.

The negotiations reflect a growing realization within the administration that the post-war plan was inadequate and that simple patience, the White House's initial prescription, will not do.

Administration officials said he would add stability to a process that has been much more chaotic than the administration had hoped, with U.S. troops continuing to suffer casualties from guerrilla attacks. Baker's stature with foreign governments also could help the administration enlist more help in paying for the reconstruction.

In another augmentation of the post-war structure, the administration plans to name Reuben Jeffrey III as Washington-based coordinator for the Iraq reconstruction effort.

Well, I guess that as with any program involving alcoholics, the first step is to admit you have a problem. Now, if we only knew if President Southern Comfort has actually given up the bottle or not. We know he never learned about the twelve steps...and he's certainly not a Friend of any Bill.

Surprisingly, politics does sometimes make really strange bedfellows. When Dana Rohrbacher of California gets onboard any legislation with a Democrat that is not likely to be a winner, there must be (gasp) principles involved. It seems that there are actually some republicans out there who believe all their party's 'states rights' dogma, even when it's not election season. A recent vote on allowing Medical Marijuana was voted down, but lost by a slightly smaller margin than the last time it came up in the House.

A surprisingly strong bid to shield medicinal pot smokers in California and nine other states from federal prosecution was defeated in the House on Wednesday after a spirited debate that centered on states' rights and even reached back to the pre-Civil War "nullification" debate.
...
"It is a travesty for the federal government to send agents into my state and throw people in a cage for doing something that people in my state say is legal," Rohrabacher, a self-described libertarian Republican, told the House as it debated the measure late Tuesday night.

He choked up as he told colleagues that he wished legal pot had been available when his mother was dying from cancer.
...
California voters easily passed Proposition 215 in 1996 by 56 percent to 44 percent to allow patients to get marijuana with a doctor's recommendation to treat the pain of such ailments as cancer, AIDS or glaucoma.

But Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., has a different view. "This is a cultural issue, " he said. "It's about taking the culture in the wrong direction. Medical marijuana laws send the wrong message to our youth."

From a story about the story today (no, it's not the pig-latin twins or that basketball player whatzizname). Let's play name that country, ok? No looking ahead to the answers at the end, ok?

Quick...Question #1: which country in the middle east is a huuuuge source of goodwill and dollars for the 1600 Crew and their families interests? Final answer?

Let's look at the board:

The key clues focused on two young Saudi hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, who perished as they helped crash an airliner into the Pentagon
..
Considerable information in the report about whether officials helped the hijacker