No, not Lord of the Rings ... Bolo Boffin a hobbit with big things to say. Interesting reading on religion, politics and recently on how to add up Fearless Leader's National Guard Points. Great stuff...now go! (But please come back ... we'll get lonely without you)

Early fishing yields some interesting results. Had not seen this before. Worth the price of a ticket to Davos. Betting Snake-Handler Johnny is not the next Paul O'neil or John D'Iulio, but this is interesting:

US Attorney General, John Ashcroft, delivered an address to the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland last week that included what was ostensibly a call to arms against international corruption, however the text could have been perceived as a scathing assault on the Bush administration cronies and in particular Dick Cheney’s former employer Halliburton.

Ashcroft warned that “when governments play favorites - when they award contracts and make decisions based on corruption that favors the connected, rather than competition that favors the citizenry - freedom is stymied.

Well, the Snake-Handler has a long way to go to earn my respect and admiration trampler of the Constitution that he is, but it's an interesting note to see one of the 1600 Crew minions actually say what we are thinking.

Where saying one thing and meaning another is just, well, National Policy (in that we have any at all). Seems that India is more than a little upset about pending legislation concerning outsourcing certain types of Federal work there (OK, help me here, what FEDERAL jobs need to be outsourced anywhere outside the government? Tax Return processing, Visa request filing? What? I'm puzzled here.). But that's not the funny part. The humor here (such as it is) is in the reaction of an Indian Minister to the 1600 Crew.

Arun Jaitley, India's minister for trade and commerce, said he would raise the issue with Robert Zoellick, the US trade representative, who had last year assured him he would oppose similar measures that had been tabled in some US state legislatures.
...
India believes that the largely symbolic measure could pave the way for more substantial protectionist moves unless it is vigorously contested. "This measure sends a far from insignificant signal," Mr Jaitley told the Financial Times.

"Here you have a country whose main mantra [at the World Trade Organisation] is 'market access' and whose argument is that opening markets to competition is the solution to poverty in countries like India. And then they enact something like this".

Morford for the weekend. Now this might make you a vegetarian ...

Are the dark ages returning ... magic "8" ball says ... stay tuned. A woman in the Boston Area is on trial for starving her infant son to fulfill a prophecy made by her sister-in-law.

A woman accused of starving her baby to death to fulfill a religious prophecy broke down in tears Friday as she listened to a defense psychologist recount her description of desperately trying to breast feed her son in the final days of his life.
...
Robidoux was a member of a tiny, Attleboro-based religious sect called ''The Body,'' which rejects modern medicine.

Ebert said Robidoux told him she began withholding solid food from her 10-month-old son Samuel after her sister-in-law told her about a message she received from God: Karen was ''too vain'' and God planned to punish her by killing one of the twins she believed she was pregnant with at the time.

Several months later, Robidoux gave birth to a baby boy; she had not been pregnant with twins.
...
But Ebert said because Robidoux was pregnant, she was producing only trace amounts of breast milk. She told him she continued to try to breast feed Samuel every hour, as called for by the prophecy. He said that Robidoux told him that Samuel became gaunt and weak, and was so hungry that he was literally eating flesh from her nipples.

Ebert said Samuel's starvation came after years in which Karen Robidoux was frequently berated by other members of the sect, including her husband, Jacques Robidoux. He said other sect members thought she was too thin and too pretty, and was not raising her children properly.

I'm sort of surprised they did not just cut out the middle-man and build a giant fire-god representation and start feeding it small animals and unruly children.

No we are stupid. It seems that the Completely Stupid Masses in Georgia, or the republican party want the word "evolution" dropped from their curriculum because it's all ... icky and un-biblical and stuff.

Georgia students could graduate from high school without learning much about evolution, and may never even hear the word in class.

New middle and high school science standards proposed by state Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox strike references to "evolution" and replace them with the term "biological changes over time," a revision critics say will further weaken learning in a critical subject.
...
"Just like any major issue people need to deal with, you need to know the facts," said David Bechler, head of the biology department at Valdosta State University. A member of the committee that worked on the biology standards, Bechler said he was stunned to learn that evolution was not in the final proposal.

"Whether you believe in creationism or not, evolution should be known and understood by the public," he argued.
...
"The students from other states always perform better in my classes, and that's a real indictment of the state educational system," the professor said. "North Carolina, another very conservative state, adopted all of the benchmarks. If they can do it in North Carolina, why can't Georgia do it?"

I want to personally thank Ms. Cox for removing Georgia public-school students from the group of people my kids will have to compete with for things like Med School, anything relating to science and most likely anything requiring a college degree. After all, schools like MIT/Stanford/Harvard and Yale won't be having special "remedial biology" classes to help the dumb ass Georgia crackers learn about Darwin. All the kids want to do is get educated (for the most part) all the parents want to do is stay "right with Pat", courtesy of Ralph Reed who now runs the Georgia republican party.

Once again, the republican christo-fascist agenda leads us on the road to being a global laughingstock. Nice work. Next in the redoubtable republican curriculum change: Classical Physics - there are no immoveable masses or frictionless surfaces ... see, because only god can make those.

If you want to log into the article, try gorevidal@gorevidal.com password gorevidal. Thanks to someone for thinking of us.

From the New Yorker:

The truth is that at this point no one can be sure whether the Iraq war, in its over-all effect, will turn out in the end to have helped or hindered the larger campaign against Islamist terrorism. What does seem fairly clear is that Iraq’s biological, chemical, and, especially, nuclear weapons did not exist. Public and congressional support for the war, as well as the scattered international support it enjoyed, was therefore purchased falsely and, to a degree not yet known, dishonestly. There has been a serious breach of trust, which cannot fail to have damaging results. “For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible, and no one can now doubt the word of America,” the President said in his speech, and for a moment one couldn’t be sure one had heard him right. Was he speaking ironically? America’s word—the present Administration’s, anyway—has in fact been cast into the deepest doubt, and that is one of the reasons its diplomacy has not been effective.

How sad to be living in a world where a lying, pin-headed, arrogant turd has ruined the reputation of my country.

If there were ever a "blue ribbon" commission that needed to call Emergency Services, it's those folks being blindsided by the 1600 Crew 24/7. In 1600 Crew speak they're just doing a fine job ... in other words, staying away from the truth; as far away as we can keep them.

Long-simmering tensions with the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks became a more immediate problem for the White House this week as the panel released a series of damaging revelations about missed opportunities to stop the al Qaeda hijackers and opposed the administration by asking for more time to complete its work, according to panel members and political experts.

The developments represent a political problem for the Bush administration, which objects to granting the commission a later deadline and has long sought to play down criticism of the government's performance before the terrorist strikes. The administration has also not agreed to the panel's requests for direct testimony from President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday that "this White House is committed to making sure the commission has all the information that they need to do their job," but that "it's important that they move forward as quickly as they can to complete their work."

If even the most hardened of the Miserable Failure supporters can't see that he's blocking the 9-11 commission from doing it's job, then they need to re-think their blind and undying support for the the Chimp in November. The 9-11 Commission is simply trying to get to the truth and let the chips fall where they may. The 1600 Crew knows that the chips will be falling ... well in places they'd rather not have made public, ever. Lying, double-dealing and decitful. Tune in tomorrow and I'll tell you how I really feel.

Sullivan complains (again) about John Kerry being "all over the map". On everything. Of course this comes from a person who describes himself as "fiscally conservative and socially liberal" and is a gay, republican, catholic. Yeah, I'd say the Duchess owns a single spot on the planet (barely), and is certainly knowledgeable enough to recognize someone who is "all over the map".

Is this the best Stanford can do? Seriously folks, I think she got that job for some other reason, perhaps her corporate connections (well, Chevron was going to name a super-tanker after her) for fund-raising.

If there is tons of intelligence to show that we were justified for invading Iraq, you'd think Condi would be parading around like a $2 crack-whore in Northwest. But I do a disservice to $2 crack-whores here.

President Bush’s national security adviser acknowledged Thursday that some prewar intelligence about Iraq was flawed but brushed aside calls for an independent investigation.

Condoleezza Rice, in a series of television interviews, defended Bush’s decision to go to war and said the United States may never learn the whole truth about Iraq’s weapons capabilities because of looting, which U.S. forces failed to stop immediately after the invasion.
...
Rice said the administration wanted to get all the facts to compare what the White House thought would be found in Iraq and what was actually found.

“Nobody will want to know better and more about what we found when we got to Iraq than this president and the administration,” she said.

Whatever the outcome, Rice said, the administration would not change its position that Saddam had to go.

Fearless Leader decided long ago to topple Saddam, probably when he was sober enough to find Iraq on a map and learned that his daddy's face was on the floor of a big Baghdad hotel. You know, it's that Texas Honor thing ... where you get mad, and someone else has to pay for your rage. In this case it was Preznit Give me Turkee and brave soldiers. Can he please go back to drinking again? Maybe he's less stupid drunk, certainly he has to be less dangerous.

It's not enough that Richard "Swine" Perle runs a counsulting biz to help clients who can pony up the dough, make money off the Mess in Mesopotamia in the long run, after more American Troops have given their lives there. Now he's making money in speaking fees from a group of Saddam-related Irani Terrorists who want "regime change" on their terms in Iran.

Pentagon adviser Richard Perle, a strong advocate of war against Iraq, spoke last weekend at a charity event that U.S. officials say may have had ties to an alleged terrorist group seeking to topple the Iranian government and backed by Saddam Hussein.
...
"All of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross," Perle said. Informed that the Red Cross had announced before the event it would refuse any monies because of the event's "political nature," Perle said: "I was unaware of that." Perle declined to say how much he received.
...
Jacki Flowers, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross, said the relief agency had been contacted by the sponsors about receiving funds raised at the event several weeks before it took place. But the Red Cross decided to reject the proceeds once it became aware that the event was "political in nature," specifically the promotion of regime change. She said accepting the funds would "compromise our fundamental principles of neutrality and impartiality."

An editorial in the WaPo today makes an interesting point about the growing acceptance of "surveillance" by third parties in our lives.

By reality TV, I don't mean C-SPAN's coverage of Congress. Rather, it's programs such as "Survivor" and "Joe Millionaire" (which scores of Americans watch for dating tips and a soap opera-like fantasy) that soften us up to accept increasing levels of governmental surveillance and that chip away at our belief in the sanctity of privacy. Strange as it sounds, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" may be doing some of John D. Ashcroft's dirty work.

As most of us are well aware by now, surveillance cameras are everywhere. In fact, the American Civil Liberties Union found that as early as 1998, about 2,400 cameras were recording New Yorkers in a multitude of parks, stores and other public places. Recent estimates say the number of cameras has reached 7,200.

All over the place, that's our boy. He's discovered that the his paper of choice the NY Times is hiring a columnist to watch the conservatives ... the real reason he notes this fact is the reference to Judge Reinholt masturbating in the column in the Observer, and reading their column, I'm not sure they ever saw the movie.

Next the princess moves on to the Scandanavian countrires where he finds all the words for "marriage" in all the tongues of those countries. Seems that the degree of how married you are is a different word, if you're living together it's one word ("samboerskap" in Norway, "samboskap" in Sweden, "samboskab" in Denmark) and if you are all formally married it's another ("ekteskap" in Norway, "äktenskap" in Sweden, "ægteskab" in Denmark). I suggest "Sullyslap" for hanging with a bear-loving bar-hopper who can't converse on the radio without pouting. Now who would that be?

Finally in further Andrew Antics we find that the Duchess of DuPont Circle has still not been able to reconcile the fact that Krugman was up front about once consulting for Enron (he's a two-faced liar don't you know?), but that Cheney who ran the company and is still getting paid by them may be truly ethically challenged. He says that the left is "shrill" in it's attacks on Cheney. Hey, Andrew. Pot ...Kettle ... Black. Familiar?

Awwww, say it ain't so. Here all the republican spin has led me to believe only evil Democrats break the law. Seems Herr Gropenfuhrer made a little mis-step while running to be the Governator.

A last-minute, $4.5 million bank loan Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used to finance his own campaign in the days before he was elected was illegal, a Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled Monday.

Judge Loren McMaster's ruling finds that Schwarzenegger violated Proposition 34, which prohibits a candidate from lending more than $100,000 to his or her campaign.

I guess he'll just have to go make another bad flick to pay off the fines. Oh, wait he already has.

The new "CAPPS II" system is supposed to make everyone safer when they fly by screening out certain individuals and keeping potential "threats" off of commercial flights. Unfortunaltely, two MIT students have already proven that the system can be gamed, so what's the point?

The privacy concerns of "CAPPS II" are monumental. Everything any marketer wants to know about you is going to be in there. Everything anyone with a grudge and access to the system is going to be in there; and we all know how user-friendly the TSA and Fatherland Security Office are for appealing wrongheaded nonsense. Additionally, what's to keep some minimum-wage employee of some agency or company with access to this data from selling it off for a nice little chunk of change?

The CAPPS system is slated for an overhaul and this summer a prototype of the new system, CAPPS II, which draws information from various public and private databases to better flag potential threats to airline security, will be tested by the Transportation Security Administration. The system is controversial and has drawn criticism from privacy advocates because of the amount of personal information it uses from private databases to help profile passengers.

Reader Jim Price, another former Naval Aviator has this to say in the comments (scroll to the end) about Fearless Leader:

It seems to me that the point being over looked in the Bush AWOL debate is not whether he was absent for either seven or seveteen months of his obligated service. The fact is he simply didn't do what he took an oath to do and that is serve as an interceptor pilot with the Air National Guard.

So Cheney meets the pope ... Hollywood has a new movie here, "Just a Couple of White Feebs, sittn' around talkin'". No, seriously, VP Angina goes to Aviano Air Base in Italy and tells the troops this:

"The mission going forward is still difficult, still dangerous,” Cheney told soldiers and military family members in a crowded hangar on Aviano Air Base in northeast Italy. “We will remember every life lost with honor.”

Right after the speech, the L'il Dick hurried over to the base credit union and cashed his check from CheneyBurton Int'l so he could buy Lynne more books with Ben Franklin quotes in them when he got safely home.

Either this is the most back-handed of compliments or Porter Goss is on crack. It was my understanding that the CIA estimates and intelligence showed that Bad, Bad Saddam had no WMD's and had had none for a while. So what's this fool talking about?

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Tuesday that resigned U.S. weapons inspector David Kay is doing the nation's intelligence system a favor with his harsh criticism of the CIA's flawed prewar estimates on Iraq's weapons capabilities.

House Intelligence is now and oxymoron too, how sad.

Someone needs to send him home to Missouri with a dollar-a-month pension and a clue. If there were any more divisive and clueless 1600 Crew official, I'm not sure who it would be, other than Preznit Give me Turkee.

“Weapons of mass destruction including evil chemistry and evil biology are all matters of great concern, not only to the United States but also to the world community. They were the subject of U.N. resolutions,” he said.

Ashcroft also called terrorism “the antithesis of freedom” and said it remained a global menace. “We see no nations as immune to the al-Qaida terrorist threat,” he said.

As for terrorism being the "antithesis of freedom", I think that the Patriot Act fits that description quite well, thank you. Why does John Ashcroft hate America?

The Supremes who reviewed the executions of mentally-impaired persons and found it lacking as a constitutionally sanctioned act have decided to take a look at the awarding of the death penalty to kids under the age of 18.

The Supreme Court, which two years ago abolished executions for the mentally retarded, said Monday it will now consider ending the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes.
...
The court agreed to hear the case of a Missouri man who was 17 when he robbed a woman, wrapped her head in duct tape and threw her off a railroad bridge in 1993. The state Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to send people to their deaths for killings committed when they were younger than 18.
...
The court majority said, in effect, that times change and that the constitutionality of such executions changes with them. The 6-3 ruling drew fierce dissents from the court's three most conservative members, who view the Constitution as a more rigid document.
...
Only the United States and a handful of other countries allow execution of juvenile killers, and death penalty opponents argue that such executions violate not only the Constitution but an international treaty signed by the United States.

Our more ethically challenged member of the Supremes, Fat Tony will probably need another hunting trip with VP Angina to know exactly how to he and 10-Watt should vote to keep the 1600 Crew happy.

I never learned this part in civics class ... guess I was a left-behind child, eh?

A Colorado republican county official was having sex with a subordinate, and refuses to step down.

Arapahoe County officials on Friday released 101 e-mails sent between Clerk and Recorder Tracy Baker and his assistant chief deputy, some of which suggest the pair had sexual relations at work, the county said.

One e-mail said, "Had (redacted) not joined us I would have finished teasing you and masturbating for you..." Other e-mails suggested Baker used county equipment, staff and time for his re-election campaign, the county said.
...
County spokeswoman Andrea Rasizer said officials are paying the legal fees for Mary Whitley, Baker's former chief deputy, in hopes of avoiding larger damages later.

Whitley filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2002 alleging she was forced to witness inappropriate sexual behavior by Baker.

Wes Clark tells it like it is, again. Bringing the light of the truth to the stage, Clark has (rightly) pointed out that the whole "missle defense" program is just an attention-distracting sham.

Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark on Sunday said President Bush preoccupation with a missile defense program distracted him from the threat of al-Qaida before the 2001 terrorist attacks.

"One of the reasons we had 9/11 is because this president spent too much time worried about national missile defense and not enough time worried about the greatest threat to this country," Clark told supporters and undecided voters in a crowded living room two days before New Hampshire's primary.

"He was told when he came to office that al-Qaida was the greatest threat and he didn't pay attention," Clark said.

It's a sure bet that their preoccupation with the whole missile defense program is just another way to funnel tax dollars into the pockets of campaign contributors. It's all junk science that's driving the program which for the 1600 Crew is OK, since junk science is their most authoritative source of scientific information. How sad. I wonder which Friday the press release comes out stating that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around the earth. Probably before there's peace in Iraq.

I just had to smile over this one:

"Two years from now, spam will be solved," he told a select group of World Economic Forum participants in Davis, Switzerland. Gates said his company is working on a "magic solution" based on the concept of "proof" - identifying the sender of the e-mail.

I just can't stop laughing.

Colin Powell (R-Formerly respectable guy) has begun to backpedal from the official 1600 Crew line about the WMD in Iraq. Not so fast, Mr. Gen Powell sir. If you have been carrying the water of known liars, cheats and thieves isn't it about time to regain some honor before history relegates you to the list of "mighta-beens"?

The material I will present to you comes from a variety of sources. Some are U.S. sources. And some are those of other countries. Some of the sources are technical, such as intercepted telephone conversations and photos taken by satellites. Other sources are people who have risked their lives to let the world know what Saddam Hussein is really up to.

I cannot tell you everything that we know. But what I can share with you, when combined with what all of us have learned over the years, is deeply troubling. What you will see is an accumulation of facts and disturbing patterns of behavior. The facts on Iraqis' behavior--Iraq's behavior demonstrate that Saddam Hussein and his regime have made no effort--no effort--to disarm as required by the international community. Indeed, the facts and Iraq's behavior show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction.

Secretary of State Colin Powell held out the possibility Saturday that prewar Iraq may not have possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Powell was asked about comments last week by David Kay, the outgoing leader of a U.S. weapons search team in Iraq, that he did not believe Iraq had large quantities of chemical or biological weapons.

Colin Powell, a man who traded an honorable life to become a shit stain. I really thought more of him than that. Too many years inside the Beltway, I guess.

I never wanted to see.

My thanks to Kevin Hayden.

Wasn't that the theme of the republicans during those eight mizzerable years of [gasp] peace and prosperity of the Clinton Adminstration? Jeebus, as far as they were concerned, if Clinton was breathing he was lying.

Contrast that to Chimpy and Dickless Cheney

“It’s going to take some additional, considerable period of time in order to look in all the cubby holes and the ammo dumps and all the places in Iraq where you might expect to find something like that,” Cheney said in an interview with National Public Radio. “It doesn’t take a large storage space to store deadly toxins, or even just the capacity to produce it.”

President George W. Bush, in his state of the union address on Tuesday, claimed that Mr Kay's cautiously worded interim report last year had "identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction- related programme activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations".

That was followed by vice-president Dick Cheney, who said in an interview with National Public Radio on Thursday: "I believe they had programmes designed to produce weapons of mass destruction. We still don't know the whole extent of what they did have."

Mr Kay, who was appointed in June 2003 to head the search, told Reuters on Friday that he did not think the US would make any significant new discoveries. "In terms of understanding that programme, we're well on our way, almost at the end."

He said that Iraqi stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons were destroyed after the 1991 Gulf war and not rebuilt. Regarding the country's nuclear programme, he said: "There had been some restart of activities, but they were rudimentary."

Meanwhile, five more GI's were killed today in Iraq. Supporting 1600 Crew's search for "Weapons of mass destruction-related program activities."

I'm sure that the families of soldiers in Iraq are much more understanding after the LoTU speech. It just all make sense after about a quart of kool-aid.

I'm blushing.

I mean it. Two of you, BudMan and Cowboy Kahlil, nominated DemVet for Koufax Awards for Most Humorous (huh?) and Best Design. Thanks, guys, I'm honored.

If there was a category for the Hardest Working Blogger on the Left, I'd have to nominate the ol' Cowboy ...he's been responsible for Open Source Politics and The American Street and doing some blogging himself.

And more on the Michael Moore thing from the Princess. Andrew says this about Moore:

Michael Moore: a man who never without an excuse for keeping murdering tyrants in power

While Andrew was a post-pubscent nobody, there was this little event occuring between two unidentified persons of no import. How convenient it is to forget unpleasant things at need. Must be the steroids.

So now the Buzz is back to Preznit Give me Turkee and the whole AWOL/Desertion thing. Seems that Wolfie and other alleged "journalists" are now all over Wes Clark (and John Kerry) for not refuting Michael Moores assertions of Fearless Leader being a deserter while he was in the Texas ANG.

Among the blogs, skippy (who has been all over the aWol thing since I started blogging) points to the Wolfie ignorance of the facts. Dave Niewart at Orcinus has a nice piece on the subject, and one of the smartest guys I have corresponded with Mark Kleiman, has something to say on the subject too...then there are the comments at Atrios (where else?).

The wing-nuts/freepers have their own spin on this too, it never happened. Let's for a minute concede that. A far more serious (for an officer) and more overlooked offense is the failure by 1st Lt Bush to obey a direct order to get a flight physical and which would return him to flying status. As an ex-military pilot (and CO of a reserve unit) I can assure you that the powers-that-be do not take disobedience of direct order with too much good grace, nor are they too happy about "rated aviators" who not only let their flight status lapse, but refuse to obey an order to become current again. Fact. No wiggle room. None. You obey or you don't, if you don't you pay. If one of my enlisted troops had been so flagrant about violating a direct order, I would have at least had him/her at an Article 15 hearing (Captains Mast), if it had been an officer, I would have had their nuts. Period.

Copies of the orders released by the ANG to 1st Lt Bush, telling him to get the physical are pretty strong evidence of "direction" from superior officers. For whatever reason the golden boy ignored them, and that should give everyone pause to consider whether or not he's a man who deserves "blind" obedience and the title of "Commander in Chief", when he could not follow orders himself.

Some of the staunchest defenders of this preznit are folks who have never served, and seem to be more than willing to criticize and belittle those of us on the left (even vets who have a clue) because they believe the Wurlitzer's spin on this issue unconditionally. I guess sitting at a keyboard all day can distort your sense of reality ... it certainly shows, especially when there is a prima facie case for disobeying a direct order in black and white, from the Air National Guard. Hard to refute real evidence, it's too bad the statute of limitations has tolled on that offense.

Janklow of South Dakota. Truly Disgusting. He kills a guy, has multiple speeding offenses and gets this:

Bill Janklow, who dominated South Dakota politics for three decades as governor and then congressman, was sentenced to 100 days in jail Thursday for an auto accident that killed a motorcyclist and ended Janklow’s career in disgrace.

After 30 days behind bars, Janklow will be allowed to leave jail during the day for up to 10 hours to perform community service. After he completes his jail term, he will be on probation for three years, during which he will not be allowed to drive.

Martha was a Democratic donor in New York, Janklow is a "Family Values" Republican Convicted Killer from the "Heartland". I hope that civil litigation brought by the relatives of the victim leave Janklow with a roll of toilet paper and a can of dog food.

As Arlo Guthrie said, "just another case of American Blind Justice".

Every once in a while, after I get done reading all the especially great mail and comments I get I have to share comments that are attached to old posts ... here's a classic from a reader named "cycle john"

5000 years ago Moses said, "pack your camel, pick up your shovel, mount your ass, and I shall lead you to the Promised Land."

5000 years later, Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "lay down your shovel, light up your camel, sit on your ass, this is the Promised Land."

With Bush he will take your camel, sell your shovel, kick you in the ass and tell you there is no Promised Land."

Here's another from Andy Sullivan, an actual reporter, yes a working Journalist as opposed to someone else who only plays one on the internet ...

Hey, can you try to call him ANDREW, rather than ANDY Sullivan? That's my name, dammit. What if my Mom decides to Google me?

I work as a reporter for Reuters and use my Web site to post music: www.andysullivan.com.

Thanks!
Posted by Andy Sullivan at January 22, 2004 11:47 AM

See how much fun blogging can be? And to think my mom said I'd never amount to anything.

Science was the class that President Ground the Hubble skipped between recess and PE?

Saw this story a few days ago. Really did not believe it, but after last nights LoTU address, and President Lucky Sperm's implied FMA support, this just seems so, well, interesting.

Mr. Bush met Mr. Reid earlier this week at the summit in Monterrey, Mexico, just after the President's breakfast with Mr. Martin.
...
The President chuckled. "Well, you got a pretty face," he told the surprised Mr. Reid. He wasn't done. "You got a pretty face," he said again. "You're a good-looking guy. Better looking than my Scott anyway."
...
"But I'll take what I can, I guess," he joked. "When a Texas Republican says you've got a pretty face, then I guess there is just no way around it."

This can't have fit into Unka Karl's Big Book of Political Calculus. The wife of Mitch McConnel (R- Kentucky Horses Ass), Elaine Chao (who said nepotism was passé) has refused to delay the implementation of the changes to the new and improved business-friendly overtime rules.

Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao yesterday denied a public request by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) to delay until September the department's business-backed plan to overhaul overtime rules.
...
...She said employers are spending $2 billion a year on "needless litigation" by workers seeking overtime pay. The lawsuits diverted money from "job creation and better pay and benefits," Chao said.
...
Employer groups applauded Chao's decision to push ahead with the revisions.

"It's a very favorable sign for employers," said employment lawyer Camille A. Olson. "She refused to delay the implementation."
...
The department has emphasized the portions of the regulations that would benefit low-wage workers. The new rules would make anyone earning less than $22,100 automatically eligible for overtime pay, up from $8,060, a figure last revised in 1975. But critics have noted that the rules would also exempt from mandatory overtime pay anyone "in a position of responsibility" or earning more than $65,000 a year.

"Without any hearings, with the stroke of a pen, the secretary of Labor is about to adversely affect the lives of millions of Americans," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the No. 2 Republican, listed mutual funds and a home owned by his wife, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, worth more than his own.

...Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor and wife of Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is the most affluent woman in the cabinet. She reports holdings of $100,000 to $500,000...

Roger Ailes (the good one) caught this:

The Phrase of 2004

"Weapons of mass destruction-related program activities."

I could not watch it, I wanted to toss things at the TV and the family was not happy with that behaviour. So I settled for the transcript. The best synopsis so far has to be SK Bubba's.

Now what's up the Prisoner Release thing ... this from the Executioner of Texas? Has Chuckles Colson gotten deeper into White House Policy than any convicted felon should? And why are we going to spend more time and effort on screwing with the constitution over Gay Marriage than we should? Is Bush like still in the closet or something?

The pitiful insistence on Abstinence Education is another point that's a sop to the christo-fascists. A recent study of them god-fearin' Minnesotans showed that parents wanted Sex Ed and Abstinence education taught, because no one approach is a panacea.

Overall, if this is the creature facing Clark, Dean or Kerry in November, it's gonna be a win. Not a walk, but a win. He's an empty suit folks, just read the transcript.

Motto for 2004: No Republican Left in Office.

Sullivan on freedom for me, and not for thee:

Sullivan: I despair. For me, it revealed that the primary motivation of the far Left is hatred of the United States. And the soft Left is too cowardly in many instances to expose and oppose this.

I hardly think cowardice is the issue here; it's the disgust with extremists of any stripe, which certainly seems to include one Andrew Sullivan.

Now I know why Andy hates America, because when he looks out the window, at the end of the day, he does not see a country filled with right-thinking Andrew Sullivans.

I'm not sure that I can take it tonight. I may have to watch until my eyes bleed. Just because I'm that much of a masochist. However, to make it all a bit more palatable, I direct you to SK Bubba's SoTU drinking game variant, which donates money to a good cause for certain expressions that the Drunken Fratboy Cheerleader is sure to use at some point. SKB is going to donate to Habitat for Humanity instead of doing shots (although I am not sure that doing both might not be appropriate).

I wanna play too, so every time that Chimpy mentions

"gratitude towards our troops" that's worth $10
"rape rooms" that's worth $10
"Syria, Ghaddafi or the Axis of Evil" that's worth $5

to Amnesty Interational.

Oh, and if the Miserable Failure mentions discretionary spending requirements that need to be increased during the LoTU address tonight, I'll donate $50 to Sullywatch! to continue watching that idiot ...

I'm not crying over Kerry getting like 38% of the votes in Iowa tonight. but I'm pretty freaking happy to see Lieberman with a big, fat ZERO. Can I get an "Amen" for that little bit of Iowegian Mischief? I guess that they too were telling him that it's not a republican event.

Thank you Iowa. Go Home Joe.

Did a little blogroll doctoring lately. Added a new category to the Pond: Swimming Belly Up for quiet/hiatal blogs ... with a little TLC maybe they'll be back in the Pond someday, but for now they're getting the best Ichthyo-Vet care they can.

Also, like to welcome fellow Navy Vet, The Chronic Curmudgeon to the Pond. Stop over and pay him a visit.

Back to Iowa. On to New Hampshire!

Our culturally liberal, fiscally conservative pundit (what, is that like Tom Delay dressed up like Candy Crowely?) "opined" that Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean was the kiss of death, jsut 'cause Andy said so.

As I seem to recall, the Princess of P-Town instinctively thought back before 2001 that Chimpy would be the panacea that mended our National Fences after low-lifes like him almost brought down the republic over a blow-job. So, forgive me if I give Sullivan's instincts a pass here. Perhaps when he grows up, we might be able to afford him some air-time.

Culturally Liberal, Fiscally Conservative: what in the hell is that really, a gay catholic republican in search of absolution? Guess so.

As the caucuses run into the night, my favorite part of the whole media circus so far had to be Anderson Cooper on CNN telling Wolfie something like "I don't really understand how it works, but it looks interesting."

Jeebus, no wonder Howard Dean is "angry".

Speaking of angry, it looks like those Club for Growth ads have done their work. Does the GOP/RNC consider it sure-thing smackdown if they have to face Kerry?

The talking-point blast-fax lies have already started about Clark ... Karl Rove's greatest nightmare has to be a Clark - Bush Debate ... that might be reason for the GOP and Tom Delay to try and cancel the election.

For all of those who are my age, which is about at the top of any advertisers "target demographic" you remember the "New Math". I was never quite sure why it was new, but I was pretty sure it was math. Some things never change, unless of course you are a math (or English impaired) republican.

So, as we head into the new millenium, you know the one where "No Child Will be Left Behind" but might be left in Iraq, we find "New English"

At many schools, 6-year-olds don't compare books anymore -- they make "text-to-text connections." Misbehaving students face not detention but the "alternative instruction room," or "reinforcement room," or "reflection room." Children who once read now practice "SSR," or "sustained silent reading."

And in Maryland, high schoolers write "extended constructed responses" -- the essay, in a simpler time.
...
...At school board meetings, stakeholders gather to align curriculum to content standards. Teachers learn to vertically articulate and differentiate instruction and give authentic, outcome-based assessments.
...
...A second-grade teacher announces "modeling efficient subtraction strategies" as the task of the day, while "selected response" has taken the place of "multiple choice."

"These are terms that will drive anyone to complete hysteria," said Robert Hartwell Fiske, publisher of the Vocabulary Review and author of the forthcoming "Dictionary of Disagreeable English.

I'm pretty sure that kids and parents who are not buying into this (eg those in private schools and districts that are beginnig to refuse the NCLB strictures by refusing federal dollars) have a term for those school board and districts opting in to this nonsense: Coitally-challenged mentally-impaired persons or Fucking Idiots.

What a Senator with a brain says

Hussein's brutal regime was not an adequate justification for war, and the administration did not seriously try to make it one until long after the war began and all the false justifications began to fall apart. There was no imminent threat. Hussein had no nuclear weapons, no arsenals of chemical or biological weapons, no connection to Sept. 11 and no plausible link to al Qaeda. We never should have gone to war for ideological reasons driven by politics and based on manipulated intelligence.

Vast resources have been spent on the war that should have been spent on priorities at home. Our forces are stretched thin. Precious lives have been lost. The war has made America more hated in the world and made the war on terrorism harder to win. As Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in announcing the latest higher alert: "Al Qaeda's continued desire to carry out attacks against our homeland is perhaps greater now than at any point since September 11th."

The most fundamental decision a president ever makes is the decision to go to war. President Bush violated the trust that must exist between government and the people. If Congress and the American people had known the truth, America would never have gone to war in Iraq. No president who does that to our country deserves to be reelected.

In their never-ending war on actual science, the 1600 Crew has decreed that Hubble Must Die. It doesn't matter that the Hubble, after getting off to a rocky start with a bad mirror, has been one of the most successful and visible accomplishments, of NASA and our space program, the Hubble is no longer going to be supported.

In a midday meeting at the Goddard Space Flight Center on Friday, two days after President Bush ordered NASA to redirect its resources toward human exploration of the moon and Mars, NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe told the space telescope's managers that there would be no more shuttle visits to maintain it.

Garth Illingworth, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and also a member of the advisory committee, said, "I think this is a mistake," noting that the Hubble is still doing unique work at the forefront of science.

The Hubble's demise will leave astronomers with no foreseeable prospect of a telescope in space operating primarily at visible wavelengths.
...
Floating above the Earth's murky atmosphere, the Hubble, which was launched in 1990, has had the ability to see into the depths of space and time with unprecedented clarity, glimpsing galaxies that were under construction when the universe was half its present age and helping cosmologists chart the way the mysterious "dark energy" has gradually taken over the expansion of the universe.

Oh, and that whole manned space flight thing, the 1600 Crew ought to just write the check to the Aerospace contractors now, and quit acting like they want to accomplish something besides enriching campaign donors. For a billion dollars in that industry you get two computers, a server and a copy of some CAD program with a consultant to run it. A year from now, they fire the consultant, sell the computer equipment, take a tax write off and head to Barbados for the winter to count earnings. Jeebus.

I guess that eventually someone in the press would notice that there has been a gigantic rift between the Democrats and republicans in congress. Remember when among all his othe lies, President C-Student promised to raise the level of discourse in Washington? Well, he surely must have meant "raise the level of money in Washington ... that's flowing in to my pockets via the RNC."

Thirty-seven months ago, President-elect George W. Bush stood in the Texas House chamber and called for the nation's leaders to "put politics behind us and work together" after the bitter Florida recount.

"I am optimistic that we can change the tone in Washington, D.C.," he said after the Supreme Court cemented his victory. "I believe things happen for a reason, and I hope the long wait of the last five weeks will heighten a desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past. Our nation must rise above a house divided."

Early in the term, "I had high hopes for Bush" changing the tone, said Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), a voice of civility in Congress. "We were on the high road then, but now I think we've hit an all-time low."

Just this past week, Bush infuriated Senate Democrats and escalated a long-standing partisan feud by making a recess appointment of Charles W. Pickering Sr., a jurist whose nomination had been blocked by Senate Democrats. Also last week, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who had collaborated with Bush in drafting the education bill, delivered a blistering speech calling the Bush administration "breathtakingly arrogant," dishonest, "vindictive and mean-spirited." House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) fired back that Kennedy's "hateful attack against the commander in chief would be disgusting if it were not so sad."

Amidst all his whining about how shitty 2004 has been (and we're what, 18 days in?), Sullivan again manages to call Wes Clark a phony, because well, he just seems to think he's too Clintonian.

Let's see, that means that Clark, who's "Clintonian" must want a peaceful world, a strong economy and open government. Yeah, I hate it when politicians are like that. War, debt coupled with unemployment and unbridled secrecy is the ticket to a strong, long-lasting democracy.

So with all that in mind, I nominate Andrew Sullivan for the first annual Joseph Goebbels Award. The requirements for nomination are competance at political stenography, blind and obedient regurgitation of all talking points and mindless repetiton of obvious falsehoods daily.

I never wanted to believe that the Washington Post, a paper that has a grand tradition of doing some incredible journalism, which seems now to have culminated with their Watergate reporting 30 or so years ago has finally sunk to the level of Total Media Whoredom. The craven op-ed piece on todays post online, reads as though it was written by former 1600 Crew mouthpiece Ari Fleischer about Paul O'Neill. The 1600 Crew is doing their best to perform damage control on the revelations that O'Neill brought into the sunshine of public scrutiny.

By bashing O'Neill's charges about the OPPLANS that the 1600 Crew had for the invasion of Iraq, even as they were lying through their teeth about "not having made a decision" misses the bigger point. Paul O'Neill has affirmed all of what John D'Iulio said about the Mayberry Machiavelli style of governance. That's the information that they are trying to (successfully to date) distract the public from.

With the confirmation of D'Iulio by O'Neill, the job of Rove and others gets much, much harder because a name has been put to the visceral fears of many "swing" voters. Mayberry, and there are few folks who want Goober in the Courthouse when Andy is away. It's a fact, and the republicans are trying to make it go away by discrediting the messenger with periperhal issues.

Like what they've written in Der Volkischer Beobachter, I mean Washington Post.

Preznit no give me Turkee met with outgoing Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who told him that he was basically regarded by most Europeans as a small-minded, overbearing Putz. Here's Preznit Have-no-brains:

Bush replied, "That's not going to change me or my policy."

Atrios points out that the republicans are flush with cash, and ready to start Kicking Ass to further their agenda. True enough. But I have a question...well a comment really, do we have to keep Terry McAuliffe? Can't he be traded for a decent DNC Chairman and two stand-ins to be named later?

I want to contribute to the DNC and the candidate I choose, as well as the eventual nominee whomever that may be. But right now, I look at Terry Mac and his "strategy" as a poor investment in my party and (being selfish here) my long term goals as a progressive Democrat. Is there a wiser person who can show me the error of my ways here? Or at least give me a rationale to toss money at Terry/The DNC? Seriously folks, it's a troubling quandry...and I don't think I am the only one feeling quandri-fied.

Seems the 1600 Crew not having been greeted with the rose petals and sweets that the Neocons promised are looking for a way out of the Mess in Mesopotamia with the 2004 election coming up.

L. Paul Bremer, the civilian administrator of Iraq, is returning to Washington for discussions Friday with President Bush's top foreign policy advisers about a possible United Nations role in Iraq's six-month transition to self-rule, U.S. officials said.

Adnan Pachachi, the current president of the Iraqi Governing Council, who will head the Iraqi delegation to the United Nations, acknowledged today that the council's two-month-old plan to form the new provisional government has faced considerable opposition from Iraqis seeking to hold direct elections to election representatives, rather than the planned regional caucuses.

"I am not denying that there are a few differences in points of view in regards to the selection process of the members of the Transitional National Assembly," Pachachi said at a Baghdad news conference. "The differences are not related to the principles but the details," he added.

Pachachi said, "We all agree that the best way to select the National Assembly is direct general elections," but he questioned whether it was possible to hold elections in time to create the new government by the June 30 deadline set by the council and the occupation authority.

In response to Sistani's concerns, U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad have been exploring possible "refinements" to their plan. But Pachachi insisted any changes to the plan could not delay the June 30 transition "because we believe that any delay to this date of returning authority and sovereignty will result in disappointment and great depression for the Iraqi people, and I do not believe that there is anybody that would like to take responsibility of that."

A man was stopped in London after boarding a flight from Dulles carrying ammunition on the flight with him. I guess the TSA does not really care if explosives go the other way...

A man accused of carrying ammunition on a flight from Washington to London was arrested last night on suspicion of terrorism offences.

The 45-year-old Sudanese-born passenger was taken from Heathrow to a central London police station to be interviewed by anti-terrorist branch officers.

The passenger was initially held for allegedly carrying bullets as he went through a routine security check in transit to boarding a connecting flight to Dubai.

Scotland Yard said he was later arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
...
The man was missed there despite the route between London and Washington having been publicly identified as a potential target for terrorists in recent weeks.
...
"Obviously, there will be a lot of questions asked in America as to how he got on the plane undetected."

Nothing to see here, move along now.

I grew up watching grainy black and white Mercury space shots, I was overwhelmed by Neil Armstrong walking on the moon, the space program was one of the things that inspired me to become a Naval Aviator. But for all that this 1600 Crew nonsense about more manned space exploration and the way they want to do it ON THE CHEAP, is wrong.

In 1989, in a speech honoring the 20th anniversary of the initial lunar landing, the first President Bush proposed that the nation establish a base on the Moon and send an expedition to Mars to begin "the permanent settlement of space." He set the Mars goal for 2019 but the effort soon fizzled when the cost estimates hit $400 billion.

Yesterday, Mr. Bush said his new space mission could succeed with fairly modest increases: $1 billion in new money and $11 billion scavenged from existing NASA programs.

Amazing technology came out of the space program in the 60's. Everything from Microwaves to the Personal Computer can trace some or all of their development to what occurred back then. Why can't we fund basic scientific research here on this planet instead, and continue to send unmanned probes to other worlds. It just seems to be a better investment. But then I guess the President would have to have an MBA to figure that out. Oops, my bad.

So one of the Fastows got some justice today.

Andrew S. Fastow, 42, is the highest-ranking Enron executive to admit wrongdoing and cooperate with prosecutors, who continue to investigate widespread earnings manipulation at the Houston energy company. In a courtroom packed with relatives and former Enron employees, the former chief financial officer admitted to working with unidentified co-conspirators to cook Enron's books and to keeping more than $45 million for himself.

Under the terms of the settlement, he will serve 10 years in prison and three years on probation. Legal experts said the 10-year term was unusually stiff for a white-collar criminal who agreed to help prosecutors. At a Washington news conference, Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey called the sentence "unheard of."

Fastow already has paid taxes on some of his gains and much of the money he collected from Enron has since been used to pay his lawyers, sources said. His public admission of guilt can be used by plaintiff lawyers in shareholder lawsuits to wrest more money from the couple in the coming years, experts said.

Whenever someone uses words like " insouciance", please remember to tread lightly and check your shoes before walking on the carpet. Those brown stains are both smelly and hard to get out. Seems that someone in Provincetown is having to admit that, um, Someone Lied. Without saying it, (well he did use the word insouciance) Andy is calling the 1600 Crew out on the rationale for going to war. Too bad he could not have written this piece like, ummmm, a year ago.

Is this the same guy who said these things less than three months ago in a paen to Dubya:

...Critics of the war in Iraq and a huge change in American foreign policy in the Middle East will no doubt play up the negatives. They will argue that the president is changing the subject from the difficult occuation of Iraq, the threat of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. ...To its historic credit, the Bush administration resisted its own early isolationist impulses and took the high road. ...

The point about Saddam is that he was a sworn enemy of the U.S., had been known to develop an arsenal of WMDs, was in a position to arm terrorists in a devastating way, and any president had to weigh the risk of him staying in power in that new climate. The actual threat hangs over us all the time.

Sullivan:

MOORE ENDORSES CLARK: That's according to Drudge. It's all you need to know really, isn't it?

Fish:

Rabidly homophobic multizillionaire pays for promiscuous gay man to write "news" and opinion.

Sullivan endorses Bush

That's about all I need to know.

My good friend and fellow blogger, Kimberley came through and answered the call for some 2000 election-cycle Commander Codpiece cites where our aWol armchair warrior said he was going to "take out" Hussein (no decision has been made ... we are consulting with our Allies and the UN ....) bullshit.

Agence France Presse
December 2, 1999 03:05 GMT
SECTION: International news
LENGTH: 1652 words
HEADLINE: Top White House hopeful makes big debate debut as dark horse gains ground
BYLINE: Gretchen Cook

Pertinent Excerpt:
The frontrunner in the 2000 US presidential race, George W. Bush, vowed to "take (Saddam Hussein) out" if he caught the Iraqi President building weapons of mass destruction.
"I wouldn't try to negotiate with him (Saddam). I'd make darned sure he lived up to the agreements that he signed," Bush said in his first debate with the five other Republicans aiming to win their party's nomination.
The Republican Texas governor indirectly blasted President Bill Clinton for failing to force Saddam to comply with the UN resolutions following the Gulf War that call for Iraq to dismantle programs to produce such arms.
"I'd give help to the opposition groups and if I found that in any way, shape or form he was developing weapons of mass destruction, I'd take him out," Bush said of the Iraqi leader.
"I'm surprised he's still in and I think a lot of other people are as well," he added.

CNN
SHOW: CNN CROSSFIRE 19:30 pm ET
December 3, 1999; Friday 7:30 pm Eastern Time
Transcript # 99120300V20
SECTION: News; Domestic
LENGTH: 4205 words
HEADLINE: Can GOP Front-Runner Bush Claim Victory in His First Presidential Debate, Or Do Honors Go To McCain?
BYLINE: Bill Press, Mary Matalin

Pertinent Excerpt:
PRESS: Ralph, I want to come back to the issues, and the one area where the most questions I think are asked about Governor Bush's readiness to be president is in the area of foreign policy.
REED: Right.
PRESS: Interesting that you mentioned the Saddam Hussein bite last night. Not surprisingly, I had a different take on it. So -- because most people couldn't see the debate last night. Let's listen to what the governor had to say when asked about what he would do in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I wouldn't ease the sanctions, and I wouldn't try to negotiate with him. I'd make darn sure that he lived up to the agreements that he signed back in the early '90s. I'd be helping the opposition groups. And if I found out in any way, shape or form that he was developing weapons of mass destruction, I'd take him out. I'm am surprised he's still there. I think a lot of other people are as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PRESS: Now, Ralph, not easing the sanctions, not negotiating, helping the opposition groups and bombing Saddam Hussein -- Clinton's done all of those. He bombed Saddam Hussein four times. What's new in that answer? Nothing.
REED: Well, actually, this administration has virtually given up on the inspections regime. And I think what Governor Bush was saying is that he's going to keep the pressure on Saddam Hussein until either he changes his behavior or he's gone.

Hartford Courant (Connecticut)
December 4, 1999 Saturday, STATEWIDE
SECTION: MAIN; Pg. A1
LENGTH: 954 words
HEADLINE: CANDIDATES TRYING TO BUILD FIRE FROM POST-DEBATE SPARK
BYLINE: DAVID LIGHTMAN And DANIELA ALTIMARI; Courant Staff Writer
DATELINE: BEDFORD, N.H. --

Pertinent Excerpt:
[Bush] was asked just what he meant when he said Thursday that if Iraq developed nuclear weapons, he would take them out. "That's for [Iraqi leader] Saddam Hussein to figure out," Bush said.

Oh, and the "law" that the wingnuts and other assorted Fighting Keyboarders keep trying to blame the Clenis™ with is HR4655, the "Iraq Liberation Act of 1998" which became public law 105-338. Section 8 of that act says:

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize or otherwise speak to the use of United States Armed Forces (except as provided in section 4(a)(2)) in carrying out this Act .

(2) MILITARY ASSISTANCE- (A) The President is authorized to direct the drawdown of defense articles from the stocks of the Department of Defense, defense services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training for such organizations.

So there's the overwhelming authority that the Clenis™ had to do anything...basically stick out his tongue and drop leaflets and make broadcasts. No options to invade, no options to deploy carriers to the Gulf for extended periods like we did to Iran in the 80's. Not really much of anything.

Bush Lies, Everyone Dies.

I expect to see the cars with "Rush is Right" bumper stickers driving into walls in the coming days as the Dittoheads begin to suffer from Synaptic Shock Syndome. Rush is beneficiary of an ACLU friend of the court brief in his "privacy" battle with the Florida prosecutors who want to see his medical records.

Of Limbaugh’s many targets, it is hard to pick a favorite. But if you enter “Rush Limbaugh” and “American Civil Liberties Union” or ACLU into an Internet search engine, you’ll get 8600 results.

Sample items taken from Mr. Limbaugh’s own website:

September 12th, 2003:
“If this guy had burned that flag,” Limbaugh said, “the ACLU and countless other groups would be down there supporting this guy’s right to desecrate old glory. But because he’s flying the American flag respectfully, none of the so-called civil libertarians makes a peep.”

September 23rd, 2003:
“The ACLU has decided they’re not going to appeal the Ninth Circuit’s decision to reinstate the California re-call election... They must not really care all that much about you stupid minorities and poor people.”

December 23rd, 2003:
“Where have all these so-called civil libertarians gone, the ACLU and the rest of them, claiming our government is overreaching?”

mmmm, I get high with a little help from my friends...

Thanks to the military defense counsels assigned to the GITMO detainees, there is at least reason to hope that not everyone involved with the "judicial" process is a brain-dead dittomonkey (which is what the 1600 Crew was shooting for).

Five military lawyers assigned to defend detainees at Guantanamo Bay are planning to tell the U.S. Supreme Court that some of the rules drawn up for special military trials are unconstitutional.

In a friend-of-the-court brief to be filed this week, the military defense lawyers will assert that prisoners convicted in such military tribunals should have the right to appeal to civilian courts, not just the military appeals panels envisioned by President Bush.

"The Constitution cannot countenance an open-ended presidential power, with no civilian review whatsoever, to try anyone the president deems subject to a military tribunal, whose rules and judges have been selected by the prosecuting authority itself," according to the legal brief, which the lawyers said will be filed with the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
...
This is the first time active duty members of the U.S. military have publicly embraced a criticism of the military tribunal process espoused by Washington's critics around the world. It is unusual but not unprecedented for military lawyers to mount such pointed challenges of U.S. government policy, legal experts said. In the past, military lawyers have filed legal challenges to other Pentagon policies, such as those allowing random urinalysis tests of troops and the "don't ask, don't tell" rules on gays in uniform.
...
"I bear responsibilities to protect my client's rights, and as a naval officer to support and defend the U.S. Constitution," (LCDR Charles) Swift said in an interview yesterday. "I think I do both here."

Unlimited Power is what the 1600 Crew is all about, when men like the Commander speak up, it lets us all know that even in that bastion of conservatism, the military, there are still men and women who believe the oath they took is not to a man, but an ideal, a principle that has been the bedrock of this country: The Constitution.

If there's someone out there with access to Lexis/Nexis, can you do a search for articles that quote Dubya in South Carolina during the 2000 election cycle? There's a quote from an interview where he laid out his ambitions to kick Saddam Husseins ass if elected, just because he could. Now that the 1600 Crew trolls are starting to try and spin O'Neill's words, it might be useful to have some evidence that the petty little thug had every intent of salvaging the family honor no matter what the cost if the election went his way.

Thanks.

In a move that has to have the Founding Fathers spinning in their graves, our friendly neighborhood Fascist Wann-bees at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue are making up for the lost time since the defeat of Goebbels and Himmler and bringing some of their best propaganda and "state security" measures to bear on the most unimportant people in this democracy; it's citizenry.

Despite stiff resistance from airlines and privacy advocates, the U.S. government plans to push ahead this year with a vast computerized system to probe the backgrounds of all passengers boarding flights in the United States.

he government will compel airlines and airline reservations companies to hand over all passenger records for scrutiny by U.S. officials, after failing to win cooperation in the program's testing phase. The order could be issued as soon as next month. Under the system, all travelers passing through a U.S. airport are to be scored with a number and a color that ranks their perceived threat to the aircraft.

Another program that is to be introduced this year that seeks to speed frequent fliers through security lines in exchange for volunteering personal information to the government.

The two new initiatives will augment a system introduced last week to fingerprint and photograph millions of foreign visitors on arrival in the United States.
...
The TSA said the new computerized system is to provide a more thorough approach to screening passengers. It will collect travelers' full name, home address and telephone number, date of birth and travel itinerary. The information will be fed into large databases, such as Lexis-Nexis and Acxiom, that tap public records and commercial computer banks, such as shopping mailing lists, to verify that passengers are who they say they are. Once a passenger is identified, the CAPPS 2 system will compare that traveler against wanted criminals and suspected terrorists contained in other databases.

The two-step process will result in a numerical and color score for each passenger. A "red" rating means a passenger will be prohibited from boarding. "Yellow" indicates that a passenger will receive additional scrutiny at the checkpoint and a "green" rating paves the way for a standard trip through security. Also factored into one's score will be intelligence about certain routes and airports where there might be higher-rated risks to security.

Hey, look, over there, it's Britney Spears and Michael Jackson! Clark is wearing a bad turtleneck and it's all the fault of the Clenis™ anyway!

Sullivan seems to think that the Democrats are going to spend the rest of 2004 kissing Al Sharpton's ass to get African-American voters in the 2004 election. Andy of course misses the point that most African-Americans would be voting against their own self-interest, as middle-class Americans to be voting anywhere near the republican name on any ballot, unless the republican is a RINO, and there are not too many of those. The same African-American for whom Andy has all of a sudden developed such intense sympathy for, are like many Americans not predisposed to seeing the country dragged into the dirt, now starting to view their votes as weapons to change the future for the better, not as instruments to open old wounds, no matter how certain candidates want that to be their criteria for casting a ballot.

Once again, as his republican masters have taught him so well, Andy seeks for the baser side of humanity, and strikes out yet again. One has to wonder, when will the arguments and over-analysis cease and the actual thinking begin? Oh, it's Sullivan, guess never. Silly me (again).

Seems that the Top Corporate Executives who Hire Top Corporate Mouthpieces are opting for jury trials instead of plea-bargins, preferring to take their chance with a jury of their "peers" who they might convince to feel sorry for them since they only looted the corporate treasury or whatever for 10 mill instead of 20.

Why are some of the nation's most powerful corporate leaders choosing to roll the dice on the justice system when the vast majority of criminal cases end in plea bargains?

New guidelines that demand prison time even for cooperating offenders have stiffened the spines of executives facing charges for the excesses of the 1990s. And many corporate titans about to go on trial think they have done nothing wrong.

On Friday attempts to settle two Enron Corp. cases broke down, potentially setting the stage for those trials to go forward in Houston. Negotiations collapsed when Lea W. Fastow, former assistant treasurer and the wife of ex-finance chief Andrew S. Fastow, couldn't be assured that her sentence would be no longer than five months. Even if the couple had agreed to settle, Andrew Fastow would have faced 10 years in prison for admitting a role in the events that led to the demise of the energy company.

Nedra Pickler, who somehow got a job writing for the Post, writes an unbelievable little piece of whore mongering today about Howard Dean, The National Embarrassment and Science. While it's too much to hope that Chimpy knows the difference between a biological cell and a Jail Cell (where he belongs), you have to love it when a media whore uses a quote like this in a story:

"I also believe human life is a sacred gift from our creator," Bush said in a national address. "I worry about a culture that devalues life, and believe as your president I have an important obligation to foster and encourage respect for life in America and throughout the world."

Of course, respect for life "throughout the world" does not include having children shot in Iraq, Americans locked up and deprived of their constitutional rights or making wars :just because". Nope ...

When Sullivan quotes Kaus, you know that Dean has arrived. It's no secret that HRH thinks that Dean is "shrill". Now he's either agreeing with the Mickster that Dean is Mickey's One-Trick Pony or he's saying that Mickey agrees with him. But he's involved, since it is all about Andy and his infinite wit and wisdom. I guess that really makes it One-Trick Sullivan. If there were ever a sadder, and more matched set of pundits it would have to be Mickey and Andy, sort of the Dumb and Dumberer of Jern-a-lizm.

Why do I think that Roger Ailes (the good one) will have a field day with this? Not to mention, Sullywatch too.

Jay Nordlinger at NRO is trying to make hay from Clark comments, and is really stretching to perform the republican manufactured outrage act. Here's a quote he uses and then says:

I give you some more Clark, from just the other day, with Chris Matthews: "Ultimately, all of this was passed through a political filter. Karl Rove — he passed judgment on it. He even sent out, apparently, a memo back in early 2002, saying 'George W. Bush is going to run on his war record.'" Asked whether the president was spilling American blood for electoral advantage, Clark answered, "I can't say that. I can't prove it."

"I can't prove it"? Whatever kind of campaign Clark is running, it is not honorable, in my view.

I'd act surprised and all y'know, but it is NRO.

From an article in the on-line Post about the 1600 Crew going to Iowa and New Hampshire to "deprogram" the Democrats (whatever that means).

Andrew Sullivan, a New Republic senior editor, writes on his Web site that Dean is "an unpleasant person -- prickly, angry, self-important, know-it-all" and continues: "So why do I find myself rooting for Dean to win the nomination? . . . I think his hatred of Bush will shine through and give a voice to millions of people who feel the same way."

Staff writers Mike Allen and Howard Kurtz contributed to this report

Well, the Great Troop Rotation is about to start. The Pentagram has finally figured out a way to get some of the soldiers in Iraq home as part of a "scheduled" rotation. Good for that, that anyone has to go, well, that sucks.

The Pentagon has begun a shift of troops into and out of Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan that promises to be the most challenging movement of U.S. forces in more than half a century, military officials announced yesterday.

In the past week, ships loaded with equipment from the 1st Cavalry Division in Texas and the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii have departed for the Persian Gulf. The first 200 members of the 101st Airborne Division returned from Iraq earlier this week to their home base at Fort Campbell, Ky. And Wednesday saw the departure from Fort Bragg, N.C., of paratroopers of the 504th Parachute Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division.
...
Plans call for ferrying many troops into and out of Iraq by plane to lessen the possibility of enemy assaults on long ground convoys. But the reported attack yesterday on a U.S. Air Force C-5 cargo jet, suspected of being hit by ground fire as it took off from Baghdad International Airport, underscored the danger of relying on air transport.
...
The operation also includes a division of Marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif. The Marines are slated to take over from the 82nd Airborne Division and the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and to move into an area west of Baghdad that includes Ramadi, Fallujah and other centers of insurgent activity.
...
Originally, U.S. officials had hoped some of the military burden in this area would be assumed by another division of non-U.S. foreign troops -- in addition to the two already operating south of Baghdad. But when the foreign division failed to materialize, the 25th Infantry's brigade, due to go to Afghanistan, was redirected to Iraq.

TNR if you have not heard has come out and endorsed Lieberman. Wow, I'm glad I cancelled before any of my money made it into the Committee to ReElect the President...ooops, wrong adminstration or is it?

Avoid the rush, cancel that TNR subscription now that they are endoring Holy Joe the republican lite alternative to ... an actual life-like human. Lieberman actually looks like a zombie extra from Night of the Living Dead in the TNR photo on the website.

I liked that magazine once, but it was also long before they hired Sullivan.

Two words...well really a name. Brett Bursey. Remember that name when you go to the polling booth next November. Mr. Bursey gets to pay $500 to the federales and was told "F*** You". Really? Yup. You may recall that Mr. Bursey was the protestor in South Carolina who dared to show his sign (or tried to) outside the designated "First Amendment Zone" during a Preznit Give Me Turkee visit to South Carolina. He was arrested and subsequently released by a local court, who rightly saw that a prosecution would in fact violate Mr. Bursey's first amendment rights. Then Lube-Job Johnny stepped in, and ordered that Sperm Spermonds demon spawn, Sperm Spermond Jr, retry Mr. Bursey federally. So they did. Since it was a misdemeanor (I guess) his case went to a federal magistrate, who as chance would have it was a former Spermond Sr. aide-de-camp. And Mr. Bursey was found to be guilty of free speech and peaceable assembly.

A judge fined longtime Columbia political dissenter Brett Bursey $500 Tuesday, ruling that Bursey broke a federal law designed to shield the president from harm.

Bursey, 55, said he would appeal and called on President Bush’s opponents to continue criticizing his policies.

U.S. Magistrate Bristow Marchant acknowledged Bursey was not a threat to Bush during the president’s Oct. 24, 2002, visit to Columbia. But the judge dismissed Bursey’s free speech defense and ruled the protester had no right to be as close to Bush as Bursey wanted in his efforts to show that some South Carolinians opposed his plan to attack Iraq.

"The defendant effectively sealed his own fate when he chose to make his principled stand in a location manifestly reasonable for the Secret Service to make secure," Marchant wrote in a 13-page ruling. Federal prosecutor John Barton said Bursey failed to prove his First Amendment rights were violated.

Well, if you can't nail Osama bin Forgotten in the Hindu Kush, persecute a few protestors in Amerika...it's the Amerikan way!

Well, to just about everything except Hairy Bears and Barebacking. As Andrew so eloquently says in his run-down on Democratic candidates:

Dean:

On the issues - going soft on terror, raising taxes, neo-protectionism, paleo-liberalism on race - I have a hard time even considering Howard Dean as a potential president. On character, I think it's pretty clear he's an unpleasant person - prickly, angry, self-important, know-it-all.

Clark:

I have a visceral aversion to his megalomania and to the cynicism with which the Clintonites have rallied around him. A campaign based entirely on regaining power, by using a candidate as a cipher, is a dangerous thing. Besides, I think Clark is a crackpot.

Talk about being out there ... I guess this is your Sullivan, and this is your Sullivan on Drugs. Still.

Nick Kristof takes on the hypocrisy of religion in modern politics, and does a pretty good job of it.

After talking to Mr. Bush's longtime acquaintances, I'm convinced that his religious convictions are deeply felt and fairly typical in the U.S. Mr. Bush says the jury is still out on evolution, but he has also said that he doesn't take every word in the Bible as literally true. To me, nonetheless, it seems hypocritical of Mr. Bush to claim (as he did in the last campaign) that Jesus is his favorite philosopher and then to finance tax breaks for the rich by cutting services for the poor. If Dr. Dean should read up on Job, Mr. Bush should take a look at the Sermon on the Mount.

A little religion can be a wonderful thing I guess, but it has no place in politics ... just look how well pre-9/11 Afghanistan was doing, and there is not a scarcity of historical examples of how the "Gott mit Uns" philosophy has destroyed more governments than it has saved in the long term.

When there are articles in the Moonie Times about ordinary folk who want that abomination the so-called Patriot Act repealed, you have to wonder how long it will survive any adminstration but the current ones tender mercys.

"Cities and towns need a partnership with the federal government on homeland security issues that makes sure we have the resources we need to get the job done but also preserves the liberties that Americans hold dear," Charlie Lyons, NLC president and Arlington, Mass., selectman, said in a written statement.

•The secretary of state is given broad powers to designate domestic groups as "terrorist organizations" and the attorney general has power to subject immigrants to indefinite detention or deportation even if they have committed no crime.
•Public universities are required to collect information on students who may be of interest to the attorney general.
•Law enforcement officials are given broad access to sensitive mental health, library, business, educational and financial records.

Well, all good fascists need something to start with to make their efforts seem "legal". Germany had the Nuremberg Laws, we get the "Patriot" Act. Now Act happy... unt be a gut little Adolf... (apologies to Billy Wilder/Stalag 17)

Well it looks like the Killer D's in Tex - Ass should have stayed in New Mexico, or Oklahoma or wherever. A federal court ruled today that the Governor Goodhair Gerrymander will be allowed to stand.

A federal court in Texas unanimously approved today a redistricting plan that could put Republicans in a strong position to dominate the Lone Star State's Congressional delegation for years to come.

The special three-judge panel in Austin upheld the political map that Republican leaders pushed through the State Legislature in October after more than five months of bitter fighting with Democrats that reflected the high political stakes. Passions ran so high that a number of Democratic lawmakers left the state on two occasions to deny the Republicans a quorum for a vote on the plan and to elude law enforcement agents who might fetch them to the Statehouse to create a quorum.
...
Representative Martin Frost, a Democrat whose district will be drastically changed under the new map, told The Associated Press that the ruling "turns back the clock on nearly 40 years of progress for minority Americans."

But the Texas State Republican chairwoman, Tina Benkiser, offered a contrasting view, telling The A.P. that the judges had "reaffirmed the will of the Texas Legislature."

I think I'll buy that Clean & Potable Water Distributorship now, looks like the time is right to get some kinda rich from the misfortunes of others ... it's so very republican, isn't it?

Dropped by Nitpicker today...found an interesting story. Talk about sanctimonious bureaucrats. The TSA, while having a job to do, needs to get off their high-horses and realize (as the rest of us do), that they are employed as long as they are relevant. Fearless Leader made absolutely sure of that when he forced them to be exempt from unionization/job protection of any kind. Stories like this make them seem less and less relevant every day.

I wasn't prepared, however, for the TSA to stop me right at the entrance, proclaiming that no small pets, including fish, were permitted through security. I had, however, just received the blessing of the ticket agents at US Airways and pre-assured MJ's travels with Pittsburgh International Airport security weeks before our travel date. I tried to explain this to the screener who stood between me and the gates, but she would have none of it.

I was led back to the US Airways ticket counter, stocking-footed and alone, where the agents reasserted that they did not see a problem for me to have a fish on board, properly packaged in plastic fish bag and secured with a rubber band as MJ was. But the TSA supervisor was called over, and he berated me profusely. He exclaimed that in no way, under no circumstances, was a small fish allowed to pass through security, regardless of what the ticket agents said.

Mr. Supervisor was causing a grand scene, marshaling the full authority of the TSA to refuse me. Now, I know my fish is a terrorist (Osama Fin Laden we used to call him back at school), but doesn't it strike you as funny that, with all the commotion my little security threat was causing, by now engaging the full attention of the TSA at LaGuardia, that someone who posed a real threat to passenger safety might be conveniently slipping by?

Almost two years after the TSA was created, they still have not figured out their standards of behaviour, how to treat taxpaying passengers or act in a civilized manner when they are obviously wrong. Perhaps some day they will, or perhaps they'll all be unemployed when they become as useful as tits on a bull (no you can't take one of those on the plane either).

Will the 2004 election be a War of Ideas, or Ideas of War?

Mark Kleiman has some thoughts on Clarks ideas.

Well, I guess a full week of watching VH-1 "List" shows is just the thing for a person who has the attention span of an anchovy.

Yup, Andy's back and re-bitching about those dreadful conservatives and their desire to muddle with the Constitution to make him, and boyfriend more marginal (the beagle has the ASPCA to look out for it). The amusing counterpoint to this (and we all knew it was coming), is his utter consternation over Britney and her childhood buddy-cum-groom. Andy, of course, wants to reframe the world to his viewpoint ... where no one is allowed to marry because he can't. After all, it's all about Andy, right? He seems to view the ease with which Britney can marry and divorce/annul/whatever as just scandalous in light of the couples he knows and (loves?) in his hermetically-sealed world who have been together for years.

Unfortunately, the same people to whom he so professes his political allegiance cringe at the word hermetically, and all its condomly implications...much as they cringe at the thought of the likes of Sullivan consumating any marriage.

So I'm guessing that he can continue to complain all he wants about the right-wing and its desire to mess with the Constitution, at the end of the day all his bitching won't have mattered a whit to them ... it will be the natural reluctance of most Americans to make drastic changes to the document that has guided the country through over two centuries of workable democracy, not the desires (or whining) of imported idiots like Sullivan whose volume increases only when convenient for his pet cause(s).

Welcome back yer Highness, glad to see that you are still taking donations to fund your further adventures in right-wing tomfoolery...tell me, do you get Spring Break too?

I keep hearing the strains of that Who classic, "Won't Get Fooled Again" in my head as I read and re-read this story. Seems that the 1600 Crew want to set up an Iraqi-run version of the CIA, set up by (naturally) the CIA. When was the last time this worked in the Middle East?

Nine months after the demise of Saddam Hussein's regime and his feared mukhabarat (intelligence) operatives, Iraq is to get a secret police force again - courtesy of Washington.

The Bush administration is to fund the new agency in the latest initiative to root out Ba'athist regime loyalists behind the continuing insurgency in parts of Iraq.
...
Former CIA officials compare the operation to the Phoenix programme in Vietnam, which was launched in 1967. That programme sought to destroy the civilian infrastructure supporting the Vietcong through assassinations and abductions secretly authorised by Washington.

Vincent Cannistraro, a former chief of CIA counter-terrorism, said: "They're clearly cooking up joint teams to do Phoenix-like things, like they did in Vietnam." He said that small units of US special forces would work with their Iraqi counterparts, including former senior Iraqi intelligence agents, on covert operations.
...
The scheme is believed to have been heavily backed by Vice-President Dick Cheney, a key advocate of the war to oust Saddam. After deciding in November to accelerate the handover of political power to a sovereign Iraqi authority, Mr Cheney and other senior Bush administration officials are anxious that Iraq should not fall under radical Islamist control or degenerate into civil war.

And advocated by Chickenhawk Dick to boot, well I'm just shocked; how about when they are all tossed out of office we let them go pull a few weeks or months of sentry duty in Iraq, so they can enjoy the fruits of their labors?

Pakistan. Terrorism. Nukes. Gee, any connections there? Could it be ... Pakistan? Aw, now. It doesn't matter that they've been lying for decades about their programs, selling Nuclear materials world-wide (they even have a Sales Brochure) and should qualify for a key spot in the "Axis of Eviil" for their early and vocal support of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Nope. Let's listen to the National Embarrassment:

President Bush, who regularly talks about nuclear dangers, has never mentioned Pakistan's laboratories or their proliferation in public — probably out of concern of destabilizing President Pervez Musharraf, who has survived two assassination attempts in December.

"He's been a stand-up guy when it comes to dealing with the terrorists," Mr. Bush said of General Musharraf on Thursday. "We are making progress against Al Qaeda because of his cooperation." He dismissed a question about the vulnerability of Pakistan's own nuclear weapons, saying, "Yes, they are secure," then changed the subject.

If Musharraf gets whacked, then Pakistan will probably deteriorate into some kind of weird Islamic chaos. Ultimately their military will come out on top, they have both the resources and manpower to control the outcome, but it will not be pretty. Once again, we have the fruits of American foreign policy at work. Instead of spending years and dollars working with the world's largest democracy India, as a regional stabilizer, we chose the dance partner who seemed "anti-communist". Now we are paying for it, and will be for a long time to come.

Paying for it. That's the name of the game; and if you are not in one of the " politically influential constituencies" you are going to be paying, and paying and paying for a long, long time.

Facing a record budget deficit, Bush administration officials say they have drafted an election-year budget that will rein in the growth of domestic spending without alienating politically influential constituencies.

They said the president's proposed budget for the 2005 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, would control the rising cost of housing vouchers for the poor, require some veterans to pay more for health care, slow the growth in spending on biomedical research and merge or eliminate some job training and employment programs. The moves are intended to trim the programs without damaging any essential services, the administration said.

I guess that the only way to make those targeted for cuts in the upcoming election influential is to get them to the polls with metro buses, light rail or limos. Whatever it takes. They just need to believe their votes count and then cast them.

VP Pacemaker and the Miserable Failure were so fond of repeating that line, about help being on the way to the men and women of the military, about how they would be sure and respect the service provided by veterans, and how they would be sure an re-build a military which was broken only for the purposes of electoral propaganda. How could a "broken" force have reacted to 9-11 with such alacrity?

The lack of respect has been fomented over and over by the 1600 Crew chickenhawks. Now they want to raise fees and break promises to military retirees.

The Bush administration is considering dramatic increases in the fees military retirees pay for prescription drugs, a step that would roll back a benefit extended 33 months ago and risk alienating an important Republican constituency at the dawn of the 2004 campaign season.

Pentagon budget documents indicate that retirees may be asked to pay $10 -- up from $3 -- for each 90-day generic prescription filled by mail through Tricare, the military's health insurance program. Tricare's current $9 co-pay for a three-month supply of each brand-name drug would jump to $20.
...
"Somebody just isn't paying attention," the Military Officers Association of America said in "special alert" sent to its 390,000 members. "The war on terrorism is reminding the nation of servicemembers' sacrifices every night on the evening news ... and yet the administration seems to continue going out of its way to penalize the military community."

The officers association alert and an Internet site run by the sergeants association recall attempts by the administration to impose a $1,200 deductible for care provided to most military retirees at Veterans Affairs hospitals and the Pentagon's long-running opposition to bills providing for "concurrent receipt" of military pension and VA disability payments.

If you are a retiree, and support the 1600 Crew think about this in this light: it's your contribution to the tax-cuts for the top 1%. How do you like them apples? Yeah, Baby.

Seems that the government of Iran, which has always been pretty piss-poor at picking its fights has decided that they just don't need any help from the Great Satan after all. This kids is what a nation run by religious zealots looks a lot like. Not to mention that how stupid do you have to be to send a delegation led by a woman to make the first high-level contact in over 20 years to a country led by zealot radical Islamists. Sheesh.

Iran has rebuffed an offer from the United States to send a delegation led by Senator Elizabeth Dole to assist in the distribution of relief supplies to earthquake victims in Bam, the Bush administration said Friday.

The offer had been seen by the administration as a gesture of American concern for Iran at a time when the United States has declared that some — but not all — of Iran's recent actions have been positive and could lead to a resumption of dialogue to improve relations.

that this is really not just democracy in action, it's six Democrats letting Karl Rove sleep well at night.

With Howard Dean rolling into the new year with a commanding edge in money and momentum, his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination are adopting different -- and risky -- strategies to trip up the front-runner and emerge as the leading anti-Dean candidate by early next month.

Buh-Bye.

A recently declassified British document shows that the Nixon adminstration was making plans to go to war for Oil in 1973. Gee, and so many of the current 1600 Crew are alumni, where do you suppose that such ideas come from.

The United States government seriously contemplated using military force to seize oil fields in the Middle East during the Arab oil embargo 30 years ago, according to a declassified British government document made public on Thursday.

The top-secret document says that President Richard M. Nixon was prepared to act more aggressively than previously thought to secure America's oil supply if the embargo, imposed by Arab nations in retaliation for America's support for Israel in the 1973 Middle East war, did not end. In fact, the embargo was lifted in March 1974.
...
Mr. Heath went so far as to suggest that Mr. Nixon issued the alert in an attempt to deflect attention away from Watergate, which was in full swing in the fall of 1973.

"An American President in the Watergate position apparently prepared to go to such lengths at a moment's notice without consultation with his allies," Mr. Heath wrote in the second document, adding that there was no "military justification" for putting American forces on a nuclear alert at the time.

The 1600 Crew is doing what appears to be a "good deed", and any time they do that you have to start wondering what the quid is in the pro quo, n'cest pas?

The United States has approached Iran about dispatching a high-level humanitarian mission to Tehran, headed by Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) and including a member of the Bush family, U.S. and Iranian officials said yesterday.
...
...The only diplomacy since then was during the arms-for-hostages swap in the mid-1980s, when President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser, Robert C. McFarlane, and Lt. Col. Oliver L. North of the National Security Council staff secretly visited Tehran.

Which family member will it be? Neil is my bet, since that'll give him more opportunities to begin the "pay me to be a consultant, since I am a you-know-what" routine. And, it is much harder to find hookers in Iran than Thailand. Jenna or Barb would be good choices too, but it's like sooo dusty over there and there's like sick and poor people y'know, it's just like sooo groty. And they are like so uptight about drinking and don't even get us started on the whole fashion thing with those like, black bags they wear; eeeew! So, guess they're out too.

Over at the Daily Dump, our heroine is still out getting her Frappucinos and Bikini Wax (thanks for that image TBogg) and his stand-in Daniel Drezner whose blog I occaisionally read is standing in as Andy baby is out blowing his other pledge week donations on ... I'm not saying it again.

The problem with Drezener blogging at Sullivan's is that he's starting to sound very much like Instahack ... in fact, I was wondering if Glenn was writing it with Drezeners by-line. I guess that Dan was probably hoping the folks would read "Daniel Drezner" and think "Glenn Reynolds" while assuming Andy Sullivan. Now theres a scary line-up for the next Right Blogistan softball team.

Oh, and Dan, I agree with something one of your commenters made over on your blog ...

Blogs are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.

Peace,
Joe
Posted by Joseph Musco at December 29, 2003 11:13 PM

1. Go see a Hobbit today!
   
2. Ass-Croft with a white hat?
   
3. Welcome to the Chimp Century
   
4. The Chicken Dance
   
5. ...and here's the result of even more religious stupidity
   
6. Are we not men?
   
7. Great words
   
8. The 9-11 Commission needs to call 911
   
9. Think of me, Andrew Sullivan, as a Tree
   
10. Condi-Liar