Der Duchess has taken to comparing the movie "Jackass" to "Farenheit 9/11", since in his deluded mind they are both documentaries. In one, he delights in the "hot young straight dudes shoving toy cars" up their asses. In the other he's disgusted because Michael Moore shows America getting it up theirs. In one, he delights in the light-hearted comedy of stupidity that grossed $64 million dollars, in the other he solicits his readers to go out and commit a felony

...why doesn't some enterprising blogger take a tape recorder to a screening...

It's Mr. Sherri Annis aka Howard Kurtz and he writes this:

What's most fascinating about the Michael Moore coverage is that while conservatives are shredding his film, even many liberals say that it's a heavy-handed piece of propaganda filled with exaggerations, if not outright falsehoods.

But "Fahrenheit 9/11" has ignited the anti-Bush base in a way not seen since Howard Dean was warming up his vocal cords. Even though many of the scenes in the movie are old news, repackaged in a new way to make the president look like a doofus.

Without going into details, it was the experiences of men like Pete Peterson that fashioned the curriculum for what I learned about POW's while I was in the Navy. I have the utmost respect for him and others who endured what they did at the hands of the Vietnamese while a POW. That he could go back as a diplomat and help to "normalize" relations with the very people who tortured him, mentally and physically speaks volumes. So when he writes of his disgust with the 1600 Crew and their methods, I take it to heart.

Meanwhile, political appointees in the Justice and Defense departments were feverishly working with the White House to build a framework for circumventing legal constraints against prisoner abuse. These high-level advisories were plainly written not to prevent torture, but to authorize it and to help officials accused of torture escape punishment. At the same time, the Pentagon approved interrogation guidelines for Iraq and probably Afghanistan that permitted using dogs on prisoners, binding them in painful "stress positions," and subjecting them to sleep and sensory deprivation - techniques forbidden by the Army's traditional rules.

These decisions, which the administration still defends, undeniably set the stage for the horrible and illegal torture at Abu Ghraib. I am disgusted, angry, outraged and at the same time grossly embarrassed by what my government has sought to justify in the name of freedom! This is not the principle of freedom that I nearly gave my life to defend. Americans not only subjected prisoners to pain, suffering, isolation, hunger and degenerate sexual humiliation; some were apparently theatrically killed.

If you're just some African country with no resources and a bad attitude: a visit from Fat Mikey's daddy, Colin and this frightening action...

The Bush administration has begun circulating the text of a U.N. resolution that would sharply criticize the Sudanese government. Powell met with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan -- who will tour Darfur Thursday -- as his plane refueled for a flight to a regional security conference in Jakarta.

Dick Cheney said 'Fuck'. That's News.

A last step before a draft? All the men and women who are still obligors under the IRR system need to start checking their paperwork and see what their status is. The possible call-up of close to 6,000 Army folks ought to have everyone looking at their 214's and taking that discharge (if you have one) out of it's frame and getting a Notarized copy made and stored in a safe-deposit box.

It's one thing to want to go off to war; and it's another to have served and be called up after you've done your service. I doubt that a call-up of IRR soldiers would stop with those who are still "obligors". After all, the training curve is way more manageable for any prior service personnel; it's just a matter of convincing Congress to make an eeensy little change in the law I would imagine to get even those who have served and owe nothing back, especially if they were deemed "vital".

And hey, I think that if you're a fellow Officer, it's a pretty safe bet that you're a possible player...remember our Geneva Convention Cards (oooops Military ID's) said expiration: Indefinite. Unless you specifically resigned your commission, I think this whole thing could be problemmatic...but that's just my take on it, I'm probably wrong.

In any event, the whole IRR thing is an interesting event. The numbers are not huge yet, but the Preznit can call up something like 30,000 IRR members.

Unlike members of the Selected Reserve, who drill consistently with an organized unit, soldiers in the IRR aren't required to attend training, nor are they attached to a specific unit. In fact, many IRRists aren't even aware that they're in the reserves at all. But whenever the president sees fit, these troops have to answer the bell. Title 10 of the United States Code gives the president the authority to muster 200,000 reservists whenever "it is necessary to augment the active forces." Of that 200,000, who must serve for a period of 270 days, no more than 30,000 can be members of the IRR.

In addition, in times of grave national emergency, the president can authorize a partial mobilization of the reserves, which would involve up to 1,000,000 troops for a 24-month stretch. A full mobilization, which can occur only if Congress has declared war or during a national emergency, would call up all reserves and military retirees younger than 60 for the duration of the crisis.

This is just another facet of the lies of the 1600 Crew and the Chickenhawk Cabal...more bodies for their politics.

Dave Neiwert has a link to the most definitve post about the service record of Preznit Can't Show Up.

And it's all about the flight physical and desertion and altering records.

So, I wonder how the folks getting extended in Iraq will feel about this?

In keeping with the prevailing pattern of his life, as known to date, Preznit Stick 2 Naught pulled Viceroy Jerry out of Eye-Rack about forty-eight hours early, and has "handed" over the Iraqi government to ... someone. See, now it's not longer his fault if Americans die there, because the Eye-Rack-ees are in charge because there is "Freedom Reigning" or Raining or something. It's Harken Energy all over again, this time though Americans and others are dying and it's just as wrong now as it was then...criminal from start to finish and someone's making money off the deal and he will too, eventually.

President Bush celebrated the transfer of political authority in Iraq on Monday as the fulfillment of his promises to a broken country, but warned that violence and the U.S. military presence in the country are unlikely to end soon.
...
"We pledged to end a dangerous regime, to free the oppressed and to restore sovereignty," he said. "We have kept our word."

...It read: "Mr. President, Iraq is sovereign. Letter was passed from Bremer at 10:26 AM Iraq time -- Condi."

Bush, using one of the thick black pens he uses to sign autographs, scrawled "Let Freedom Reign!" and sent it back to her.
...
In a reflection of the dire conditions in Iraq as the interim government assumes power, Bush and Blair said that they would not be surprised if Allawi imposed martial law, and that they would support him if he did.

First Question on the test, pencils up please: Is Freedom Secure?

I'll be watching as the Huey's, Seaknights, Chinooks and Blackhawks take the last of the folks off the roof of the Embassy...hey, I watched it once, what's a little deja vu among friends?

Sometimes Stupid is as Stupid writes. Or something like that. Here's a description of something, you guess what.

This was tedious propaganda, using the most ancient of devices, and reflective of a pathology that can only be described as unhinged.
...
I'd address the arguments, if there were any. There weren't. There was just a transparently failed attempt to construct conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory on the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence, and when the entire framework was teetering into absurdity, the occasional necessary lie.

Or could it be Sullivan talking about F-911? We report, we deride. What a tool, talk about unhinged.

And has he been taking writing lessons from Michael Ubaldi? I gotta know.

The cases that everyone has been waiting to hear about were announced today by the Supremes. I'm no legal scholar, but from what I have read they handed the 1600 Crew a defeat of sorts for in their quest to start their own personalized 1600 Crew Star Chamber, LLC (which would, of course, be contracted out to CheneyBurton), all remittances sent to Bermuda, please. Interestingly, even Fat Tony was a bit upset, legally speaking, by the usurpation of powers by his 1600 Crew sponsors (maybe because he didn't think of it first)...

"The very core of liberty secured by our Anglo-Saxon system of separated powers has been freedom from indefinite imprisonment at the will of the Executive," Scalia wrote, with Stevens's support.

Only Justice Clarence Thomas embraced the administration's positions without reservation, referring in a dissenting opinion to "the breadth of the President's authority to detain enemy combatants, an authority that includes making virtually conclusive factual findings" that the Supreme Court is powerless to "second-guess."

So I go out of town, catch no fish, have a great meal with a great Blogger and Family and miss the whole F-Bomb flap.

Yeesh, I don't even get to say Dick about it.

Timing is truly everything.

Ever the scholar of Monumental Global Happenings and Water Polo, it seems that our Beloved Leader took a break from penning his latest article for Foreign Affairs to do an interview with Radio and Television Ireland, where he made this amazing pronouncement:

... You've got a democracy in Pakistan. ...

THE ongoing tussle in Pakistan, dear readers, is about democracy. The people of Pakistan and the politicians there are, no doubt, hungry for democracy, as they believe they don't have enough of it. And they feel that ever since Field Marshal Ayub Khan seized power in a coup in 1958--marking the end of a briefly lasted parliamentary system - there has been no real democracy there.
...
Since then, the people and politicians of Pakistan have sufficient reasons to believe that there is no democracy in their country in real terms. What is touted as democracy thereafter, they feel, is just drama - only to show to the outside world that there is an elected parliament and democratic system of governance - and that this is far from reality.

Got it. Discovered why the Duchess has made her choice and the choice is not Kerry...and it proves that She is as shallow as a storm drain in Sugarland, TX...

At a deeper level, it seems to me that Kerry is a world-class crashing bore. ...

I have a feeling that since the Dupont Dickhead managed to almost singlehandedly coarsen political debate in this country while at TNR, she is trying once again to influence an outcome by resorting to a gross oversimplification of these competing candidates. All for reasons best known to herself and Beagle; certainly not for any rational reasons...after all, as Sullywatch says, Andrew spends most days doing "he loves me, he loves me not" in front of an 8x10 color glossy photo of Her Hero, with circle and arrow and a paragraph on the back of each one describing Her unrequited love for Him (damn that Pickles!).

So to Review the Princess Political Primer:
Preznit Raper of Republics = Good and Wholesome and Entertaining
John Kerry: Patrician, Overly Intellectual and Boring Boring Boring = BAD. Besides he just looks French.

And oooh, baby, are they happy about that...heading out to the NATO summit, Preznit Going to Turkee is facing a group of our bestest international friends, who, after three years of drooling, idiotic foreign policy he has turned into, well...sorta not-friends of his anyhow.

President Bush's trip to the NATO summit meeting in Turkey comes at a time of diminished diplomatic strength, in which international organizations and individual countries have forced his administration into some strategic compromises, foreign policy specialists and diplomats say.

Bush administration officials deny that their diplomatic strength has been undercut. "Throughout, there has been extended outreach to the international community on a myriad of issues," one foreign policy official said, "and the international community has responded. One has merely to note the number of countries active in the coalition in Iraq."

Countdown to Utter Failure for the Miserable Failure: Seventy Two hours and change?

The differences between John Kerry and Preznit Send-me-a-check in a nutshell:

"These are pretty stark differences," said Robert D. Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute and former head of the Congressional Budget Office. "Kerry is expansive and wants to preserve and strengthen the role government has played in the economic and social life of the republic, and Bush would like to scale back the role of government to the most basic services of protection of life and liberty and a safety net for those who really have no ability to care for themselves."

Of course the republicans will have a field day with this, immediately after banning instruction in higher math (balancing a checkbook) and philosophy (common sense). All references to said subjects will be removed from future massive testing measures and replaced with "why god is good for the economy" and "how jesus made ends meet on a budget".

Off for a couple of daze...out west. Hope to meet up with a couple of fellow bloggers ... you know who you are... and (hopefully) catch some fish. From a small boat. If I don't drown. Hey, If I eat Fish, is it cannibalism?

Anyhow, will blog if able...otherwise, back to more Structured Ranting on Sunday night as I recover from jet-lag.

Have a great week, be kind, be safe and help a neighbor, and visit the folks in the Fish Pond...and someone tell that git I'll be watching...

Before Andrews tantrum about all us horrible leftie-president-haters and our cheap shots at The Hardest Workin' Rexall Wrangler in 'Murika today he had this to say:

... I haven't been able to peruse all the documents but I will wait for other journalists with access to summarize them in time...

How many presidents has Fidel Castro seen buried so far and sitting presidents come and go? Yeah, thought so. Now Bunnypants wants to be "tuff on fidel". Or is it really, play a Rove Strategy game to try and win votes in Florida

Miriam Verdura could hardly wait to visit family in her native Cuba next month, her second trip since immigrating to southern Florida in 1999. But the Bush administration has dashed her plans with restrictions that start next Wednesday.
...
Because she last visited in 2002, Ms. Verdura will be ineligible to return until next year.

"Bush's priority should first of all be to not keep Cuban families apart, because we suffer a lot," she said.
...
"People are crying, saying, 'Please, can't you put me on a plane?' " Tessie Aral, vice president and chief executive of ABC Charters, said. "One said, 'I have to go because my mother is dying.' They can't wait another three years."

The measures are part of a broader plan that President Bush announced last month to be tougher on President Fidel Castro and speed a transition to democracy in Cuba. Democrats and even some Republicans say the election year crackdown is a nakedly political move to bolster Mr. Bush's support among Cuban-Americans in southern Florida, a crucial segment of his base in this swing state.

Oh, we were doing it and gave up? Wonder why...maybe we just wanted to make Freedom Secure, like Preznit WarOn HardOn is you know, not a wholly owned and operated subsidiary of CheneyBurton, Inc.

And the Iraqis might as well start singing them now. Why? There is none. Otherwise how can the 1600 Crew explain this?

The Bush administration has decided to take the unusual step of bestowing on its own troops and personnel immunity from prosecution by Iraqi courts for killing Iraqis or destroying local property after the occupation ends and political power is transferred to an interim Iraqi government, U.S. officials said.

The administration plans to accomplish that step -- which would bypass the most contentious remaining issue before the transfer of power -- by extending an order that has been in place during the year-long occupation of Iraq. Order 17 gives all foreign personnel in the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority immunity from "local criminal, civil and administrative jurisdiction and from any form of arrest or detention other than by persons acting on behalf of their parent states." (my emphasis)

If this is to "ease the burden", so to speak for armed contractors to carry out their "Missions", and not face prosecution from some future duly-constituted Iraqi government, I think that the 1600 Crew has left yet another open can of rattlesnakes lying around in the desert heat.

The military folks who misbehave will I think be carefully watched after Abu G-Rape for evidence of malfeasance...almost another "zero tolerance" thing, which is a sort of typical military over-reaction to Things That Go Bad Then Go Public (like, ummmm, Tailhook). But who will watch the -ahem- contractors?

No one. So we get Order 17...another Limited Liability Clause from your favorite No Account(ability) republicans.

This is what it looks like. Today. The numbers can't go down any more than the lies can be put back in Preznit Dental Appointment's face.

Of the 842 U.S. service members who have died in Iraq since the invasion 15 months ago, 622 were killed by hostile fire, according to a Pentagon tally. The largest part of that combat death toll, 513, has come since President Bush's declaration on May 1 last year that major combat was over.

I guess that with all the RNC Blastfax facilitation that the Post and other media outlets of the SCLM kind have done since January 2001 it's hard to hold that mirror up to view themselves. I'm guessing about 842 pairs of Lost American eyes stare right back at the SCLM whores everytime they look towards Iraq.

Of course I would not want to make fun of family-values republican candidate Jack Ryan of Illinois, who is unintentionally aiding the destruction of the Illinois Republican party. The republican machine, as factually-challenged as it is, still supports wealthy Jack ...

Publicly, Republicans expressed support for Ryan.

"Our Republican candidate is outstanding," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee. "I have had him in Nashville to meet my supporters. I have campaigned with him in Chicago and will continue to support him.

Jack Ryan? Righteously rich, but I would give his troubles about oh, a 7 of 9.

A judge today is allowing a sexual discrimination suit against Wal-Mart to go forward as a class-action suit. Wow. I know that these women have been fighting for this for a long time, I've read some of the stories that they have told of being passed-over for promotions based on their gender. It seems that Wal-Mart will now have to answer for their policies in court, and prepare to take a beating unless they get an all-white male jury of Wal-Mart gun-buyers, who want their wimmins home barfoot 'n' preg-nint. I can't see any jury not coming to a conclusion of some systemic problems; there was just no way all these women got together and made all this up, then decided to go after the company...although that will probably be part of Wal-Mart's argument.

A statistician hired by the plaintiffs to bolster the case found that on average, it took women 4.38 years from the date of hire to be promoted to assistant manager, while it took men 2.86 years. It took 10.12 years for women to reach store manager, compared with 8.64 years for men.

In his 84-page ruling, the judge noted that Wal-Mart claimed the difference is due to differing job aspirations and interests between men and women that exist in the general labor force and can't be blamed on the company, the nation's largest retailer and largest private employer.

I wonder if the CEO of Wal-Mart will be handing out stickers to the jurors every day as they come to court?

Interesting note for future Tom Delay vote-manipulator wannabees; study the methodology of Florida. They are getting the art of result-rigging down to a science and doing it pretty much legally...like this:

Currently, the Census Bureau counts prison inmates as residents of the congressional and state legislative districts in which they are incarcerated. This affects population data and, by extension, legislative redistricting.

Because Florida's prisons are disproportionately located in rural Republican areas, the inmate population increases the voting power of Republicans at the expense of Democrats.

Take, for example, Union County, a very rural county in northern Florida. In 2000, as measured by the Census Bureau, Union had a population of 13,442. Of this number, however, almost 4,000 -- a whopping 30 percent -- were inmates. Next door, Bradford County housed another 3,250 inmates.

Congress needs to make some changes to the way these folks are counted in the census, but don't hold your breath, after all it's only democracy we're talking about here, not anything really important, like our Republic.

Asshats.

Now that he's considering giving up blogging, is the Duchess trotting out Her conservative credentials for the folks at Happy-News Faux? I mean come on, a Clenis sighting and a story about That Horrible Man and His Prison, why it just gives me the Vapors...

I guess that if Saddam did something, and then we have soldiers who do something, it's OK because Saddam did it first. Neener Neener Neener.

An Ivy-league education, is a terrible thing to waste, but your proof of wastage is there. Major-league asshole.

Of course, Le Duchess says about the Clenis:

So he lied under oath. By his own admission. Does he take responsibility? Nah

But this was not a generals exam. It was a political event. the point of press conferences is not to naswer every question in full

"Q: I guess I just wonder if you feel that you have failed in any way?"

It was such a nice weekend here in the Battleground State of oHIo that I could not bring myself to sit at a computer this weekend. I'll be back after a fast road trip today, and then I'm off to San Diego for a little R&R...and maybe some fishing.

Back later tonight, I hope...

Why one will be remembered as a Leader and one will be consigned to the trash heap of history.

BILL Clinton claims that he warned President George Bush before he took office that the biggest threat to national security was Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, in a sensational passage from his memoirs revealed for the first time yesterday.
...
The details - culled from the first leaked copy of his memoirs - reveal that Mr Clinton has pulled no punches in his account of his presidency, even when it is he on the receiving end.

In the passage on his al-Qaeda warning, when Mr Bush was president-elect, Mr Clinton claims Mr Bush said little in response, and then switched subjects.

Mr Clinton looks at his personal failings with surprising candour, saying that his wife looked as if he had punched her in the gut when he finally confessed to his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
...
"I did something for the worst possible reason. Just because I could," he said. "I think that’s just about the most morally indefensible reason anybody could have for doing anything."

In about 100 years, when all our Allies have finally forgiven and but not forgotten the Hubris of the 1600 Crew the history of this presidency will finally be judged as it should be. It won't be pretty.

Clinton will get a far better shake from history, and it's starting already. About two president from now, when they start to unseal the records of the 1600 Crew (what's not shredded before January 20th) it's going to be pretty clear what a miserable job they've done. In all respects, but mostly with respect toward ensuring our "domestic tranquility"... no one expected the 1600 Crew inquisition...right now, I'd settle for the comfy chair. Preznit Whore-for-Votes is already going for the fanatical devotion to the Pope to try and stay in power to try and keep us from learning about the 1600 Crew malfeasance any time sooner than we have to .

The boy just can't hep hisself. Even when he writes trash. Now I'm discovering why he has no "search engine" on his soap-dish...it would be way to easy to "fact-check" him, hoist ... petard, you know. Once again (and it's kind of a TGIF Twofer). Past:

Superb column by Jim Hoagland in the Washington Post today highlighting both Iraq's continued sponsorship of terrorists and the Clinton administration's fecklessness in coming to grips with it in the past. The CIA is directly responsible for much of this, which is why it is still a mystery to me how George Tenet has clung to his post. From Bush's press conference, I gleaned little about the administration's plans for Iraq, except that Bush is keeping his options open and refusing to pick between the factions in his own administration. My hunch is that there will indeed be action against Iraq, but that it will be covert and we may never know about it. That solves Bush's political problem, deploys his favorite method of secrecy, and keeps his commitment to a serious war.
--Andrew Sullivan, Friday, October 13th, 2001

RAINES AWARD NOMINEE: This one, caught by Mickey, is a beaut. It's CBS' John Roberts on the 9/11 Commission:

It is one of President Bush's last surviving justifications for war in Iraq, and today, it took a devastating hit when the 9-11 Commission declared there was no collaborative relationship between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. ... Those repeated associations left the majority of Americans believing Saddam was involved in 9/11, but the commission today put the nail in that connection, or for that matter, any other al-Qaida acts of terror against America, declaring, 'There is no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qaida cooperated on attacks against the United States.' The report is yet another blow to the president's credibility as he struggles to find the exit door in Iraq and opens him up to new criticism on the wisdom of taking on Saddam with al-Qaida's leadership still at large.

Astonishingly biased, even by CBS standards.

I am, as of today, officially over McCain. His considered breaks from the total conservitard ranks have always set him somewhat apart in my mind, plus having met him before he became a politician also did it. But now...

President Bush and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) put aside their animosity Friday and hugged onstage at a rally for 6,000 soldiers, ending any hopes of some Democrats that the maverick Republican would form a cross-party ticket with Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass).
...
Bush has a strict rule that his introductions last only one minute. McCain went on for eight, but no one from the White House was complaining. "The man I introduce to you today understands all this and understands it very, very well," McCain said. "He heard the call to action on that terrible morning in September and summoned the rest of us to this long and difficult task. He has led this country with moral clarity about the stakes involved and with firm resolve to achieve unconditional victory."

Noting "ups and downs, as there are in any war" and never saying Bush's name, McCain called it "a great privilege to introduce to you your commander in chief."

Bush reciprocated, calling it "a privilege to be introduced to our men and women in uniform by a man who brought such credit to the uniform."

I never saw any reason for him to run with Kerry, but he was until today a voice of opposition to the dogmatic and fatally-flawed policies of the 1600 Crew. I wonder what his pay-off will be? SecDef?

The Womb-based refugee from military service is at again, lying and lying some more. A poll on the MSNBC webpage that had this story has the 'voters' split 64-36 on the issue of an Iraq-Al Qaeda tie-in. Even though those polls are as reliable as a Preznit No-Show Oath, it's still interesting that Crashcart is trying to blame someone, anyone for something, anything. In this case, it's:

... "lazy" reporters for blurring the distinction, Vice President Dick Cheney said that while "overwhelming" evidence shows a past relationship between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida, the Bush administration never accused Saddam of helping with the Sept. 11 attacks.

So really Dick what's the deal? No teabagging from Lynne lately? Why else would you go on with this bullshit? And why do you sound like Rummy, or does he really talk like you?

"I don't know what they know," Cheney said of the commission, adding however that he "probably" knows more about Saddam and al-Qaida than the panel.
...
"The press is, with all due respect there are exceptions, often times lazy, often simply reports what someone else in the press says without doing their homework," Cheney said.

Want to feel better? Well if one of the Major Campaign Contributing companies like our friends at oh, say, Lockheed-Martin whose security bidness fails to perform as paid for in the prevention of another Terrorist attack is found to be at fault, well they're not liable.

Four companies that sell security technology have been granted liability protection from lawsuits triggered by an act of terrorism, the Department of Homeland Security plans to announce today.
...
Among those receiving the limited liability protection is Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp.'s risk assessment platform, the computer system at the heart of the aviation screening program called CAPPS II. It is designed to use public records and intelligence to determine whether an individual poses a security threat.

A contractor charged in the death of an Afghan suspected of being involved in rocket attacks. Not the most savory individual perhaps, but in the Preznit No Lie Too Big "freedom is secure" scenario, surely someone who is innocent until proven guilty doesn't get beaten to death after voluntarily surrendering...ha hahahaha. Sorry, that perception is fading with the imprisonment of Jose Padilla...

Anyhow, the CIA has a contractor who was a former rookie police officer in Hartford CT, who was cashiered as a rookie for guess what? Assault. So he goes on to work for the largest employer of Felons outside Florida.. the 1600 Crew. Wow. Jackpot for him, eh?

But hey, the Asscrack Justica Department, ever vigiliant for New Orleans hookers and Big Bamboo Bongs can't charge this guy with murder because, there was no autopsy.

Holy crap. No wonder they're running out of Rose Petals and Candy over there, and maybe there's a reason the new Iraqi "government" wants to have some say over the actions of "contractors"... if they wait for Asscrack to make a move, hell will definately be chillin' on down.

Here's the historical look of Cowardly Cheney, the man who hid inside Lynne's Womb to avoid military service when called.

"Pursuant to the president's instructions, I gave authorization for them to be taken out," Cheney told Rumsfeld, who was at the Pentagon. Informing Rumsfeld that the pilots had received orders to fire, Cheney added, "It's my understanding they've already taken a couple of aircraft out."

Bush and Cheney told the commission that they remember the phone call; the president said it reminded him of his time as a fighter pilot.

An interesting story, from a reader who sent me an email...can anyone out there with (or who has) Lexis/Nexis access come up with anything on this:

So, I'm having a small problem. On Monday or early Tuesday I read a news report on some blog LIKE The Agonist, that compiles information from various sources, about an American convoy that was stopped at the Kuwait-Iraq border by Kuwaiti forces because their sensors detected a very radioactive cargo.

Anyone?

Nah.

But the beating he takes in the conservitard press today, specifically over at Satan's Handmaiden, Lucianne's period have gotta make him wince a little bit. Makes me wonder if this is his preemptive way to make good on his threat to get out of blogging..."awww, Mommy I'm tired, bored and hungry and besides they all hate me."

For months he's been talking about his two favorite topix...marriage and the relentless spending of a certain unelected man-child. Wow. Who'd have thought that his virtual accolytes would have gotten so tired of listening to him obsess about the two things closest to his flinty little heart. I guess even some of his shrill republican friends are getting tired of his whining.

It was different when he had Clinton to bash, they loved it and him... now that he's moved on and is questioning party orthodoxy, it looks like he's found an excuse to head off into the P-town sunset; they hate him. The question is, will he? And who can he criticize the way he took after Howell Raines (and still does) if he shuts down his blog? Jonah? Sullywatch? I like having a front seat at the demolition derby...especially since all the players do left turns...

Heh.

Governor Haley Barbour (R-Big Fat Idiot Corporate Whore) has signed another republican-insipired piece-of-crap piece of legislation to protect his corporate Masters. A bill to cap jury awards. I'm not quite sure how these are constitutional, after all, aren't juries supposed to make awards based on facts, not emotion or outside influences? If you're going to cap awards, then why not just mandate a $1 million dollar check and save everyone having to try and lie their way out of Jury Duty (well almost everyone).

Gov. Haley Barbour signed a new law Wednesday that limits large jury awards, touting it as a big step forward in erasing Mississippi's image as a haven for eye-popping verdicts.
...
The law caps pain-and-suffering damage awards at $1 million in most lawsuits. It keeps the $500,000 pain-and-suffering cap adopted in 2002 for medical malpractice cases — but it erases a cost-of-living provision that would have increased the cap over the years.
...
Barbour echoed that sentiment, saying Mississippi will be more business-friendly because the state will be less prone to "outrageous" jury awards.

"Every defendant will know the scales of justice are going to be balanced," he said.

By the way, have the scales of justice been balanced in Philadelphia, Mississippi yet? Oh, thought so.

Der Duchess is genuinely suprised that the Iraqis don't really like us. I guess when you live in denial and play defense, it's hard to see the truth. Last Year:

I biked past a rather pathetic figure in Dupont Circle this afternoon. barely old enough to grow a beard, this poor soul was wearing a large cardboard placard: "Ashamed American." Ashamed. Ashamed of the liberation of a people from an unspeakable tyrant. It's a form of self-hatred and inverse liberalism that truly boggles the mind.
...
Yes, failure and isolation. And it's going to get worse and worse for these deluded apologists for evil.
--Andrew Sullivan, March 21, 2003

The latest poll of Iraqis - skewed because it doesn't include the Kurds - is nonetheless bleak news. Paul Bremer will have spent over a year losing legitimacy completely. The Iraqis still have trust in the Iraqi security forces, while they have little or no trust in the CPA (it has an approval rating of 11 percent).
...
A staggering 92 percent view the Coalition forces as "occupiers" as opposed to 2 percent who consider them "liberators;"
...
It doesn't get more decisive a judgment than that.

From the same story (scroll down)...forgot to add it. This has to be making Donnie stand in line for sloppy seconds at the statue.

In other business related to the prisoner controversy, the Senate, by a 54-43 vote, defeated legislation that would have forced the Defense Department to cut back on its use of civilian contractors, who are accused along with military troops of having mistreated Iraqis at a prison outside of Baghdad.

Well it's a sort of a body-blow to the mid-section of the 1600 Crew. Figuratively speaking...

Confronting new doubts raised by government memos, the Senate voted Wednesday to make clear that the United States will not use torture against detainees.
...
The measure says the United States "shall not engage in torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment ... a standard that is embodied in the U.S. Constitution and in numerous international agreements which the United States has ratified."
...
Memos from Justice Department and White House lawyers have argued that a president can order torture or any other interrogation methods as part of his powers as commander in chief of the military. One, an August 2002 memo from then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, says torture "may be justified" in some interrogations of terrorist suspects.

In other news, after the Senate vote, Snake-Handler Johnny was seen dry-humping the infamous draped statue out of frustration claiming "something has to get screwed around here besides me and my good intentions".

Yet another Neocon Myth exploded again today.

Insurgents struck at the heart of Iraq's economic livelihood Wednesday, blasting a major pipeline to halt vital oil exports and killing the top security chief for the northern oilfields.

A rocket slammed into a U.S. logistics base near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, killing three U.S. soldiers and wounding 25 other people, including two civilian workers, the military said.
...
"What you are seeing here is effectively a terrorist war against Iraq's critical infrastructure, including the oil infrastructure,'' coalition spokesman Dan Senor told CNN. ''It is an effort to basically, economically, impoverish the Iraqi people.''

Also Wednesday, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq war, began talks with the interim Iraqi leadership. Coalition officials say about 60 percent of the Iraqi government already has been transferred to Iraqi control, including 15 of the 26 ministries.

Okay, troll prophylactic: Saddam was an evil kinda guy.

Seems that the 1600 Crew really wants to control the care and feeding of the blackhearted villian, the Iraqi Snidely Whiplash, for a bit longer yet...now for the funny part...I think they may be on to something since the president of the "tribunal" that's going to "try" Saddam (like, what, the outcome is a big secret?) is Salem Chalabi ... guess whos Nephew.

The president of the tribunal, Salem Chalabi, has said that prosecutors will seek to charge Hussein and his lieutenants with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in connection with his government's repression of ethnic Kurds and Shiite Muslims.

So when do those high-minded moralists of the 1600 Crew go after these guys? When they forget to pay their bills, or when the Neocons get around to them?

Apologize for the Bloggus Interruptus, Mr. Migraine came and visited me last night for several hours. Sleep and meds made him go away. It was a better living through non-narcotic chemistry night ... back to bidness later today.

Happy Hump Day!!!

Oops, that would be the other MPAA ... are they afraid of something or is it just perhaps...

The Truth.

Seems that they want to give Farenheit 9/11 an "R" rating for it's "graphic violence" or some such.

The MPAA, which represents major studios and administers its classification system, gave the film an R rating due to "violent and disturbing images and for language," a spokesman for the Washington-based organization said on Monday.

After all, what's the big secret? That war is just peachy keen? Or that the MPAA is in the 1600 Crew's hip pocket ... hey, if Disney couldn't suppress it, maybe someone else can.

Next up: Old enough to die, but not old enough to drink. Heard that one before?

Preznit Fuzzy Math went to the Show-me State on a campaign trip...but was it? Here's the lede for the story:

June 14 - President Bush traveled to the swing state of Missouri on Monday for a rare campaign skirmish over Medicare, an issue that Republicans once had high hopes of turning to their advantage this year. (my emphasis)

Mr. Bush's quick trip here, deemed official business and therefore paid for by taxpayers, marked his return to campaigning after two weeks in which he was traveling in Europe, at a summit meeting and participating in the ceremonies for former President Ronald Reagan. (my emphasis again)

Lawyers, Guns and Money? Nope, just Liars, Thieves and Criminals...

These guys ran a commercial on a local station tonight. Here's a collection of the stuff that is apparently running in markets around the US. The one that was aired here was "No Bid Contracts".

Really good stuff. Takes it to the 1600 Crew big time.