You know - for the kids...

Monday, April 30, 2007

Satan loves Mexicans?

The immigration debate in this country tends to cut a million different ways depending on ethnicity, political leanings, business interest, geographic location, etc. FWIW, I do not have very strong feelings on this issue as compared to say abortion or equality issues. That said, I generally think it is a good idea to offer productive members of society a place at the table and while I do not agree with a blanket amnesty, we must do something to allow people who pay taxes and are otherwise law-abiding a path out of the shadows. Immigration is one issue where reasonable people can and do disagree.

Others, however, hold some completely insane ideas regarding this topic.

Utah County Republicans ended their convention on Saturday by debating Satan's influence on illegal immigrants.

The group was unable to take official action because not enough members stuck around long enough to vote, despite the pleadings of party officials. The convention was held at Canyon View Junior High School.

Don Larsen, chairman of legislative District 65 for the Utah County Republican Party, had submitted a resolution warning that Satan's minions want to eliminate national borders and do away with sovereignty.

In a speech at the convention, Larsen told those gathered that illegal immigrants "hate American people" and "are determined to destroy this country, and there is nothing they won't do."

Illegal aliens are in control of the media, and working in tandem with Democrats, are trying to "destroy Christian America" and replace it with "a godless new world order -- and that is not extremism, that is fact," Larsen said.

At the end of his speech, Larsen began to cry, saying illegal immigrants were trying to bring about the destruction of the U.S. "by self invasion."

What the fuck is wrong with this raving lunatic? Larsen’s “facts” are some of the craziest bullshit I have come across in ages. I mean really, if illegals control the media, why does Wolf Blitzer still speak English? And the Democrats can hardly work with themselves. How in the world could they conspire with Satan’s Mexican horde? The language barrier alone would be a deal breaker. Perhaps the most shocking thing in all of this that Larsen is chairman for the county Party.

In all seriousness, Mr. Larsen needs to see a mental health professional. I fear that he is a very sick man.

(Hat tip to Crook and Liars)

Joe is stoked

In news I can only categorize as FUCKING AWESOME, Rage Against the Machine has reunited. I love this band, their music, and their politics. IMHO, their self-title debut and The Battle for Los Angeles are two of the very best albums from the 90’s. In that spirit, here is the utterly brilliant Sleep Now in the Fire video, directed by Michael Moore. This song is like a sonic punch to the face.

My inner Anarchist is deeply offended

There is very little if anything to like about the current regime in Iran. Ahmadinejad is a nut as are most the hardline mullahs in the government. That much is obvious. But when an administration bans certain hairstyles and eyebrow plucking of all things, well that is a sure sign that the administration is off its collective rocker. From CNN:

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Iranian police have warned barbers against offering Western-style hair cuts or plucking the eyebrows of their male customers, Iranian media said Sunday.

In the broad spectrum of civil liberty abuse in Iran, this is a minor infraction but one that illuminates the level of control the regime is willing to exercise over its citizenry. Very, very scary. It should go without saying that Governments should never, ever have this kind of power.

Is Bush back on the sauce?

E! (a sterling masthead of journalism, I know) is reporting that the Worst President Ever is off the wagon and Laura, upset by Bush’s new pro-alcohol stance, has moved into the Hay-Adams Hotel. Now take that for as many grains of salt as you wish but First Family marital woes have been rumored for a couple of months now. Also, as Jim Henley pointed out, the possibility that Condi Rice and Bush may be having an affair. This stuff is not new, but it is now officially in print (in something other than a tabloid) and out there for the world to see.

Now, I do not care about the condition of the President’s marriage or if he is banging the SecState. I am terrified, however, of an impetuous drunk occupying the Oval Office. And let’s face it, Bush was not doing a great job sober. I know the booze is not going to help matters.

If this story is true, it is a very big deal.

(Hat tip to Atrios and Unqualified Offerings)

Friday, April 27, 2007

Self-centered robo-bitch

Barbara Bush has a well-deserved reputation for being a spiteful megabitch. From her comments (paraphrasing here) that she doesn’t worry her “beautiful mind” (her words, really) about the Iraq war casualties to the revolting statement that the post-Katrina Astrodome live-in for the New Orleans refugees was “working out for them” because, you know, they were poor, she has set the gold standard of out of touch cruelty. But Laura has learned well from the Queen bee as was evidenced this week when the First Lady made the following statement regard the war on the Today show:

"No one suffers more than their president and I do."

Really Laura? You suffer more than the recently widowed mother of three who lost her husband in Ramadhi? Or the nineteen year old kid that left his legs in some shithole alley in Baghdad? How about parents that will never see their soldier child again? And what of the Iraqs themselves? If so, you sure hide that suffering well. I guess it helps when after your interview; you can head home to the White House and your healthy, intact family.

If you want to watch, HuffPo has the video. I recommend a stiff drink afterward. It will help wash down the outrage.

Now he starts talking

My view of the Administration and its myriad henchmen is pretty clear: these are bad people executing worse policy. The failure of these policies can be expressed in but a few words; Iraq, Katrina, 9/11. At the center of much of this calamity was George Tenet, former Director of the CIA. He ran the Agency when the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked. He helped craft the “intelligence” for Iraq as well as the campaign to sell the war. He stood by the President while Bush deceived this nation over and over again. And now, at long last, he is crying foul and coming clean about his role in all of this mess, years after it would have done any good. What a wanker…

The Post is reporting that Tenet’s new book tells the story of how the Administration intentionally misconstrued his “slam dunk” comment. Tenet claims he meant that selling the case against Saddam would be a “slam dunk”, not that Iraq had WMD.

In the interview, Tenet acknowledged that he used the phrase "slam dunk" during a conversation with Bush and other key advisers in December 2002. But Tenet said the phrase was an offhand remark used to describe the ease with which a public case for war could be made. "We can put a better case together for a public case," Tenet told "60 Minutes." "That's what I meant."

[Snip]

In the television interview, Tenet takes special exception with Bush's comments, telling "60 Minutes" that he will "never believe that what happened that day informed the president's view or belief of the legitimacy or the timing of this war. Never!" White House planning for the invasion had been far along by then, Tenet said, with military and logistical plans near completion.
Tenet said that the description offered first to Woodward and then repeated by senior administration officials, including Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was "the most despicable thing that ever happened to me."


"You don't do this," Tenet said. "You don't throw somebody overboard just because it's a deflection. Is that honorable? It's not honorable to me."

Tenet said "the hardest part of all this has been just listening to this for almost three years. You listen to that and they never let it go. I mean, I became campaign talk. I was a talking point." He accused his former colleagues of being disingenuous and called on them to "just get up and tell the truth. Tell the American people what really happened."

OMG – where to start…

First of all, he can spare us the righteous indignation act. If this really bothered him so much, he should have said something when it might have prevented the war. At the very least, Tenet could have refused the Presidential Medal of Freedom in protest. Four years hence, however, his newfound candor is simply Monday morning quarterbacking at its worst.

Moving on, this blather about honor, he should just shut the fuck up on that topic. Please, this clown has publicly denied actually using the “slam dunk” phrase. If honor were water, he, and most of the rest of this appalling Administration, really, could hardly muster a thimbleful. An honorable person (see Powell, Colin) would have resigned on the spot, rather than linger in furious irrelevance for another two years.

Again, these are terrible people doing terrible things. Serenity now…

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Scared of lunch

In the wake of numerous recent food poisonings, Congress held a hearing today on food safety (long overdue IMHO). In said hearing, one Michael Armstrong stated, quite succinctly, why good governance really can be a life and death issue.

WASHINGTON - Families victimized by tainted spinach and peanut butter put a human face Tuesday on a recent string of high-profile outbreaks of foodborne illness, urging lawmakers to strengthen federal oversight of the nation's food supply.

"I can't protect them from spinach — only you guys can. I can't," said Michael Armstrong, as he and wife, Elizabeth, cradled daughters Ashley, 3, and Isabella, 5.

The two girls fell ill — Ashley gravely — in September after eating a salad made with a triple-washed bag of the leafy greens contaminated by E coli.

He is exactly right. Only the government has the power to compel industries to behave correctly without there being dire consequences for consumers. Some free market types will argue that if people get sick from a company’s product, they can sue and/or stop purchasing the product. The problem with this idea is that the corrective forces in the market lag behind the events that spur a change in behavior. In the mean time, people can get ill unnecessarily.

For that reason, we need an agency powerful enough to police the industry effectively. Unfortunately, the FDA was gutted at the behest of the Food Industry. It lacks the inspectors needed to fulfill its mandate and has become a reactive agency, only responding to outbreaks of illness (and doing even that poorly) rather than proactively preventing them. CBS has the goods:

Just compare the FDA to its sister agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The FDA is responsible for 80 percent of the nation's ever-growing food supply; the USDA for the other 20 percent. And yet the USDA has five times the number of inspectors.

"If products are regulated by FDA, like seafood and produce and grains, they might only see an inspector once every five or 10 years," said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

5 to 10 year!?!?!?!?! That is just ridiculous. I wonder how much ConAgra and ADM spent in campaign contributions to buy that kind of weak regulation.

Newsflash

Rush Limbaugh is still a fat, lying asshole. My Lord, I detest that man.

The end of an era

Toyota has finally outstripped GM as the world’s top selling car manufacturer. It is no wonder why. While Detroit spent its time building gas-guzzling monster trucks and unattractive cars of dubious quality, Toyota has been creating top shelf, fuel-efficient models that run forever.

For the life of me, I just do not understand the American auto industry’s resistance to creating fuel-efficient cars. The market is there and has been for at least two decades. That intransigence has cost Detroit billions. It also means that the next car I buy will most likely be a Prius or Camry hybrid because the US does not make anything comparable.

The same goes for both design and quality. Why would one buy an ugly, mediocre Ford 500 when one could get a Honda Accord for the same money? Seriously, the only design shop showing any imagination is Chrysler (the 300 is just plain cool looking). Each of the Big Three has had quality issues, especially when compared to the Japanese.

I hope that this will serve as a wakeup call to Detroit and inspire the Big Three to get their act together.

Bush fatigue

The father understands what the son does not.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former President George Bush told CNN's Larry King Monday that the electorate may be experiencing "Bush fatigue."

And it may be the reason his son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is sitting out the 2008 presidential election, the 41st president said.

"There's something to that -- there might be a little Bush fatigue now," former President Bush told CNN's Larry King...

W's 35% approval rating makes H. W.'s statement somewhat self-evident.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Irrelevant

Am I the only person who doesn’t care that Alec Baldwin yelled at his kid? I am just saying…

69%

Jeez, equal pay for equal work seems like a pretty simple bit of economic justice for a nation to accomplish. Apparently not, as a new study shows that women receive only 69% of the salary given to a comparable male.

NEW YORK - Women make only 80 percent of the salaries their male peers do one year after college; after 10 years in the work force, the gap between their pay widens further, according to a study released Monday.

The study, by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, found that 10 years after college, women earn only 69 percent of what men earn.

Even after controlling for hours, occupation, parenthood, and other factors known to affect earnings, the study found that one-quarter of the pay gap remains unexplained. The group said that portion of the gap is “likely due to sex discrimination.”

We, as a nation, get an F+ for gender equality in the workplace. Not good…

The headline says it all

Punk icon Iggy Pop turns 60, dives off stage.

This is but one more reason why Iggy is cooler than you are.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Gonzales is toast

His testimony yesterday was just awful. He was supposed to clarify his role the US Attorney firings but ended up using the “I don’t recall” escape hatch seventy one times. At one point Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) looked so frustrated with the Attorney General, I thought he might throw his mic at him.

Coburn and Sessions, two of the most conservative Senators out there, called for his resignation.
"It is generous to say the attorney general's communications about this matter have been inconsistent," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told Gonzales in a packed hearing room Thursday.

"The consequence should be the resignation of the attorney general."

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said in an interview after the hearing, "There are some problems that he just hasn't handled well, and it might just be best if he came to a conclusion that the department is better served if he's not there."

Lindsey Graham pretty much called him a liar.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called most of Gonzales' explanations "a stretch."

"It's clear to me that some of these people just had personality conflicts with people in your office or the White House and (they) just made up reasons to fire them," Graham said. "You have a tremendous credibility problem with the American people and the Congress."

I don’t see how he can carry on much longer. Bush has two reasons to keep him on. First, Alberto is covering for Rove. As long as the heat is on Gonzales, it is not on Rove. Second, I think the Administration does not want to have a confirmation hearing with a Democratic Senate. Given W’s propensity to pick either an incompetent or a lunatic, Mr. 30 Percent Approval Rating would get his ass kicked for weeks.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund














Tech has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to assist victims and their families, fund memorials, etc.

You can donate here.

Thanks for the love














This is the Beta Bridge on Rugby Road in the heart of Charlottesville. A class move by the Wahoos and one this Hokie deeply appreciates. Thanks guys.

(hat tip to Second Hand Conjecture)

Supreme Court upholds partial birth abortion ban

Broadly, yesterday’s 5-4 ruling means that states may ban certain procedures that do not contain provisions for the health of the mother and may do so on moral grounds. This decision has kicked the door open for states to put all manner of restrictions on abortion.

In her dissent, Ruth Bader Ginsburg gets it exactly right (as usual).

In her stinging dissent, Ginsburg said the court's "hostility to the right Roe and Casey secured is not concealed."

She wrote that the answer to Kennedy's concern that women would regret uninformed decisions to undergo the procedure is to require physicians to give them more information.

"Instead, the court deprives women of the right to make an autonomous choice. . . . This way of thinking reflects ancient notions about women's place in the family and under the Constitution -- ideas that have long since been discredited," Ginsburg wrote.

This is a colossal step backwards in the field of reproductive rights and an equally colossal step forward to the wingnut dream of America as Jesusland.

UPDATE: I forgot to add that the ruling also supports the notion that Congress can determine which procedures are "medically necessary". Obviously, that is not something far too important to leave to doctors or otherwise uninformed practitioners of medicine.

American Psycho

Cho Seung-Hui’s manifesto cum suicide note received by NBC News reveals a portrait of a sick, evil, calculating bastard. May he rot in Hell.

What really pisses me of is that this worthless piece of shit is getting what he wanted, his 15 minutes of fame.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Hymietown redux

Jesse Jackson successfully scuttled his 1984 Presidential campaign by referring to New York as “Hymietown”. That remark has followed him ever since. It appears that Tommy Thompson’s comments to a mostly Jewish crowd in Washington on Monday might have a similar effect. Said Thompson,

"I'm in the private sector and for the first time in my life I'm earning money. You know that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition and I do not find anything wrong with that."

WTF? Do I believe that Thompson is an anti-Semite? Not really but I think anyone dumb enough to say something so utterly foolish and stereotypical is not of Presidential timber. What a dunce…

Credit were credit is due

I listened to Bush at the Tech convocation yesterday and I must say he was very good; respectful, humble, and sincere. I don't like the man but he did right by the university.

Keith gets it

Olbermann rightly designated Derbyshire as yesterday’s Worst Person in the World and delivers the verbal ass-whipping so richly deserved. Crooks and Liars has the video.

Hokie Nation


Tuesday, April 17, 2007

No class

No one is allowed to say this nonsense in the week that my school gets torn up. John Derbyshire is huge fucking asshole. I cannot believe the lack of class from this published piece of shit. Follow me into the gutter.

I give you John Derbyshire over at the whore stroll known as The Corner.

Spirit of Self-Defense [John Derbyshire]
As NRO's designated chickenhawk, let me be the one to ask: Where was the spirit of self-defense here? Setting aside the ludicrous campus ban on licensed conceals, why didn't anyone rush the guy? It's not like this was Rambo, hosing the place down with automatic weapons. He had two handguns for goodness' sake—one of them reportedly a .22.

At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands. Better yet, just jump him. Handguns aren't very accurate, even at close range. I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can't hit squat. I doubt this guy was any better than I am. And even if hit, a .22 needs to find something important to do real damage—your chances aren't bad.

Yes, yes, I know it's easy to say these things: but didn't the heroes of Flight 93 teach us anything? As the cliche goes—and like most cliches. It's true—none of us knows what he'd do in a dire situation like that. I hope, however, that if I thought I was going to die anyway, I'd at least take a run at the guy.


Oh really - well paid columnist. You would? Unlike the pussies at Tech?

Fuck you John. If you had looked into the tradition and history of my alma mater, you would know better. Excepting the Naval Academy and West Point, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech share the record for Medal of Honor winners at seven. Questioning the bravery of Tech's students is unbelievably uncouth. That is a trait not lacking at Tech. And I dare you to say that to the Corps.

Additionally, this bullshit comparison to Flight 93 is completely irrelevant – apples and oranges. You are suggesting that we compare a building full of terrified kids to a flight full of terrified adults that, by comparison, had a ton of time to formulate and execute a plan. These were kids watching their profs die in front of their eyes and seconds later, the gun was pointed at them. You expect an organized response? These were scared kids, asshole. When 9/11 happened, most of these students could not drive. If you expect untrained college kids in their teens and twenties to react like a bunch of Navy Seals, no wonder you thought the war was going to be easy… I digress but what the fuck? You are an idiot.

If you want to be Rambo, sack up and join up. I have linked the Army Recruiting site. You want to be a tough guy? Get to work.

Extraordinary

The details of yesterday’s orgy of violence are still pretty sketchy. I am sure more information will be forthcoming regarding the extraordinary courage and selflessness of Professor Liviu Librescu. This unbelievably brave man sacrificed himself so that his students could escape.

The e-mails from grateful students arrived soon after Liviu Librescu was shot to death, telling how the Holocaust survivor barricaded the doorway of his Virginia Tech classroom and saved their lives at the cost of his own.

Librescu, an Israeli engineering and math lecturer who survived the Nazi killings and later escaped from Communist Romania, was one of several foreign victims of Monday's shootings, which coincided with Israel's Holocaust Remembrance day.

"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Librescu's son, Joe Librescu, said Tuesday in a telephone interview from his home outside Tel Aviv. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."

My God – what a lion of a man.

Alma Mater

Sara and Starpower, good friends and fellow Hokies, give their take on the Virginia Tech murders.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Hurting

This is going to be hard so if I offend anyone, please understand that I am trying to make sense of my feelings regarding the horrendous events in Blacksburg today. You see, I am a Hokie through and through. Class of ’95, I bleed Chicago Maroon and Burnt Orange. My grandfather, an uncle, an aunt and a cousin went to Tech. I met my wife there as well as most of my friends. I keep my wife by me always. I keep my grandfather’s graduation ring in a box in my armoire so that I can take it out and look at it every once in a while. He died before I could meet him but that is the one link outside of the obvious that we share.

And I know this - we love the school and the town. The wonderful people that I had the opportunity to befriend there will be in my heart always. That place taught me so much that I will forever be in its debt. Tech holds a place in my heart like no other. I will vote Republican, drive a foreign car, anything really, before I will ever, ever lose my love for all things Virginia Tech (Marcus Vick excluded).

Today, I learned that a place for which the worst memory I can conjure was a 2-8-1 football season, has been tainted with the blood of innocents in numbers beyond belief. I keep thinking that this is simply not possible, not in my Blacksburg. But it is no longer my Blacksburg. Some crazy, evil motherfucker has KILLED 30 PLUS PEOPLE IN THE PLACE I LOVE MOST ON THIS EARTH. I fear that this wonderful, utterly bucolic place will be linked forever to this heinous day. So please, anyone wishing to point fingers at the university’s response, the police response, argue gun control laws (for or against), or whatever, SHUT THE FUCK UP. Make your point later. Now is not the time.

The Hokie Nation is hurting tonight. A hurt that is acute to many of us that loved the place so very much. But our hurt is nothing when compared to those that hurt so much more.

All I can say for those who may have lost a loved one today is may they find their peace. I cannot imagine what this must be like. When I thought today of losing my almost two year old son in a similar fashion, I was ashamed that I even allowed my mind to go there. I came home to my boy. So equating what I am feeling to those poor families mourning tonight is so selfish.

My heart goes out to them. Hokie Nation hurts with them.

Tragedy

CNN is reporting at least 20 are dead in the shooting at Va. Tech. I feel sick to my stomach...

UPDATE: CNN confirms 21 dead and another 21 wounded. Words escape me.

UPDATE TWO: The gunman is dead and 28 are reported injured.

UPDATE THREE: AP is calling this horrible incident the deadliest school shooting in US history.

UPDATE FOUR: AP reports that 31 people were killed and says this is the worst mass shooting in US history.

Somewhat obvious

Pew has a new research survey out that found viewers of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report were among the most knowledgeable Americans while Fox News viewers were among the least. I don’t think this is terribly surprising. Fox News is a steady diet of party line bullshit and slanted propaganda. Al Franken coined the term "disinfotainment" to define Rush Limbaugh’s particular brand of editorialism. Fox can were that label proudly.

In contrast, the Daily Show and Colbert Report offer funny commentary on the issues of the day. If one does not know what John Stewart or Stephen Colbert is talking about, the jokes are not funny and one is disinclined to watch (Sidebar – On any given day, Colbert’s Word segment is probably the funniest couple of minutes on TV). I am not saying that only smart people watch those shows but it seems unlikely that a bunch of dunces are going to sit through something they cannot grasp. How many eight year olds do you think watch Masterpiece Theatre?

That’s gotta sting

The CW really lays into Bush, Rove, Giuliani, and Wolfowitz. Wolfowitz takes the worst of it.

World Bank prez gave his girlfriend a huge raise. Same genius he showed as Pentagon architect of Iraq War.

Snap!

Surgetacular

One of the consequences of the surge and the renewed effort to pacify Baghdad is the direct confrontation with Muqtada al-Sadr and his Madhi Army. This confrontation, given the policy, was unavoidable. We cannot arrest or kill the guy because that would probably set off the remaining Shiites who are not already in the fight. Conversely, we cannot let his militia run wild murdering Sunni while trying to convince those same Sunni to lay down arms and participate in government. And here is the rub. Now that we are catching some of Sadr’s top people, he is pissed. He flexed his muscle last week and ordered tens of thousands of people to the streets in protest. Today, Sadr upped the ante.

BAGHDAD - The radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his followers in the Cabinet to abandon their posts on Monday, the head of the cleric's parliamentary bloc said, blaming the Iraqi leadership's refusal to respond to demands for a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal.

The order, while unlikely to topple Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's regime, deals a significant blow to the U.S.-backed leader, who relied on support from the Sadrists to gain office.

This is high stakes chicken. For the surge to work, we must neutralize Sadr and the Mahdi Army. Taking out Sadr is fraught with perils in it own right. Getting him back to the bargaining table seems unlikely. Letting him continue to garner power and prestige is likewise untenable. We are in one helluva box now…

Friday, April 13, 2007

Fighting back against Fox News

E. J. Dionne has a great column on the successful effort by the Left to torpedo Fox News’s efforts to host a Democratic Primary debate. His point is exactly right – why should Democrats appear on a network that, despite the “Fair and Balanced” tagline, functions as the house organ for the Republican Party? The answer, of course, is that they shouldn’t. I hope that more Dems will learn that lesson and shun the network.

We cannot let our team continue to legitimize the opposition’s propaganda. That is just stupid.

Gotta love the Onion

Majority Of Parents Abuse Children, Children Report.

The poll, whose findings are part of a 700-page report released Tuesday by a coalition of child abuse monitoring and prevention organizations, indicts nearly 95 percent of American parents. It documents abuses ranging from less severe offenses, such as children being denied snacks just before dinner, to more egregious, long-term cases of neglect, such as never ever getting what they want, ever.

Brilliant.

More missing email

When I first heard that the White House had "accidentally" deleted some emails, I put the odds at 50-50 that they were telling the truth. I work in technology and sometimes, things are inadvertently erased. I was wrong (again) to give the Administration the benefit of the doubt. The Post is reporting that at least four years of Karl Rove’s emails are missing. Sorry, but that is too convenient. If it were anyone but Rove, you could maybe, kinda let this go as coincidence. No longer; this is a cover up. No two ways about it.

As Patrick Leahy said yesterday, “It's like the infamous 18-minute gap in the Nixon White House tapes.” Indeed.

You are not special

Now I admit that in the grand scheme of things, getting your girlfriend a promotion is pretty minor league. But if you are Paul Wolfowitz, head of the World Bank and former high ranking US government official, wielding your power to help your honey get ahead is just plain wrong. With all of the time he has spent in government, I am damn sure someone informed him that nepotism/cronyism is a bad thing. Actions of this nature reveal a severe flaw in one’s character, a superiority complex in which one believes he or she is exempt from the rules. Exceptionalism is rarely a quality one finds in a good leader.

It also says competence is less important than who you are and whom you know. Maybe I am overreacting (it happens, really) but remember how well that idea worked out for New Orleans?

My first Blogiversary












For what it is worth, I climbed up on this here soapbox one year ago today.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Comeuppance

CBS just fired Don Imus. It is about time. Bigoted, misogynistic assholes should not have national radio programs. Whether or not they are friendly with Tim Russert is irrelevant.

Leahy unloads

The latest twist in the ongoing US Attorney firing scandal is the revelation that some White House staffers were using email accounts provided by the Republican National Committee. This may not sound like a big deal except that these accounts may have been used to communicate information regarding those firings and the Senate Judiciary Committee wants to see them. When the Committee requested the emails sent from the suspect accounts, the White House claimed that the emails were accidentally deleted. I don’t buy that for a minute, and thankfully, neither does Senator Patrick Leahy. From the AP:

President Bush's aides are lying about White House e-mails sent on a Republican account that might have been lost, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy suggested Thursday, vowing to subpoena those documents if the administration fails to cough them up.

“They say they have not been preserved. I don't believe that!" Leahy shouted from the Senate floor.

"You can't erase e-mails, not today. They've gone through too many servers," said Leahy, D-Vt. "Those e-mails are there, they just don't want to produce them. We'll subpoena them if necessary."

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said there is no effort to keep the e-mails under wraps, and that the counsel's office is doing everything it can to find any that were lost.

"The purpose of our review is to make every reasonable effort to recover potentially lost e-mails, and that is why we've been in contact with forensic experts," he said.

Leahy scoffed.

"I've got a teenage kid in my neighborhood that can go get 'em for them," he told reporters later.

Leahy is pissed. He is a very serious guy and one not to be trifled with when it comes to this sort of business. He also thinks, probably correctly, that the Administration is lying to him. That almost guarantees a full investigation. Remember, the cover up is usually worse than the crime. Think Watergate. This just got interesting...

It is gonna be a rough day

Oy, what a morning. Kurt Vonnegut is dead. The Iraqi Parliament, situated inside the Green Zone, is bombed. Children’s Listerine is contaminated.

I think I am just going to avoid MSNBC for a few days.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

The Bush Method of Leadership

I have spent a lot of time in these pages bashing George Bush. I have been trying to lay off him lately because, frankly, I was getting bored of writing about him. That said, once more into the breach.

The Post has a story up about the trouble W is having finding a “war czar” to run the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems that no one wants the job (BTW, Atrios suggested Joe Lieberman – LMAO). Well I wonder why. How hard can it be to find a captain willing to take command of a sinking ship? Setting aside that point though, this is Bush’s job to begin with. That is why the President also carries the title of Commander in Chief. It is not a position one can or should delegate. Giving that responsibility to someone else, IMHO, is tantamount to dereliction of duty. I mean, what the hell are we paying him for anyway?

What pisses me off most though is Bush has a history of relying on others to bail him out when he gets into trouble. When he was in the oil business, Bush Sr. and his Saudi friends, including the Bin Laden clan (yes, those Bin Ladens), came in to save his skin. Same for his placement in the Texas Guard, Yale, and God knows what else. When the going gets tough, W looks for an assist.

Before this news came out, it was pretty obvious that Bush is in way over his head. This effort to find someone to do his job cements that notion. He has know idea what the fuck he is doing and if you don’t believe me, perhaps you can believe someone whom Bush trusted enough to offer the position:

"The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going," said retired Marine Gen. John J. "Jack" Sheehan, a former top NATO commander who was among those rejecting the job. Sheehan said he believes that Vice President Cheney and his hawkish allies remain more powerful within the administration than pragmatists looking for a way out of Iraq. "So rather than go over there, develop an ulcer and eventually leave, I said, 'No, thanks,' " he said.

In short, Bush fucked up, can’t figure out how to fix it, and is looking to pass the buck. This time, however, suckers are in short supply.

And for the record…

I am not Anna Nicole’s babydaddy.

This should surprise no one

Snoop was busted on gun and marijuana possession charges. No kidding – dude carries like Don Imus makes racist comments. Which is to say, all of the time…

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

This is a trap

Bush says he wants to meet with Democrats to discuss the stalemate over funding the war but he will not accept any deadlines for withdrawal. As the article notes, Dems think any meetings on the issue are pointless if the President will not bargain in good faith. They are right to do so. The White House admits to it straight up.

On one hand, Bush extended an offer to meet with lawmakers next Tuesday. On the other, the White House bluntly said it would not be a negotiating session [emphasis mine].

The president said if lawmakers don't send him a bill he will sign — one that does not include timetables or money for pet projects in their home districts — it would be Congress, not the White House, that will have to answer to troops.

"The bottom line is this: Congress's failure to fund our troops will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines," Bush said at the American Legion Post 177 where some vets sported black caps trimmed in gold. "Others could see their loved ones headed back to war sooner than anticipated. This is unacceptable."

Bush does not negotiate; he makes demands. When he does not get what he wants, he whines like a petulant child. This proposed chat is trap for the Democratic leadership. The Administration is looking for cover on Iraq. If the President and the D’s hold a meeting and nothing comes of it (and nothing will), Bush will claim he tried to work with Congress but those meanies just would not budge and they don’t support the troops anyway, etc., etc.. Reid and Pelosi should treat this like the rotten tomato it is.

Science is cool

The opening paragraphs say it all.

Astronomers have detected water in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system for the first time.

[Snip]

The discovery, announced today, means one of the most crucial elements for life as we know it can exist around planets orbiting other stars.

Monday, April 09, 2007

North Korea in a nutshell

North Korea is one of the more economically fucked up places on the planet. Kim Jong Il is not only evil and crazy but also pretty stupid. The following tale is a perfect example of why citizens of NK need to eat tree bark from time to time.

A German farmer gave the frequently starving national 12 giant (20-25 lbs.!?!?!?!) breeder bunnies to develop a new potential food source. Weird but true; envision as P J O’Rouke did on “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” this weekend of herds of giant bunnies roaming the plains of North Korea. Anyway, the Koreans abruptly cancelled the German breeder’s trip to provide advice on bunny husbandry. The reason, he suspects, is that government officials ate the animals for Kim Jong Il’s birthday celebration.

Now that, folks, is just wrong on many, many levels. I don’t care how far fetched the giant bunny plan was, if your compatriots are starving, you give it a shot, no? Not doing so is merely mid-grade dictator, “let them eat cake” evil. But Kim had to go that extra mile and eat them for a birthday treat; an act for which the Dear Leader elevated his game to right hand of Satan evil.

What an absolute fucking bastard.

The Giuliani Problem

I look at the current crop of Presidential candidates and I don’t see much to excite me. On the Democratic side, Hillary is probably the leader right now and if you read here often, you know I have no love for her. She is too divisive and after about 3 minutes, her voice starts to grate on me like fingernails on a chalk board. Not what I want in a frontrunner.

Next is Obama, for whom I will withhold judgment until I get a better sense of the man and his politics. I just don’t know enough about him yet. But taking into account the extraordinary numbers he pulled in first quarter fundraising, Barak Obama may be the superstar that everyone talking him up to be – we will see.

Edwards is another tough one. I love his style and his politics. By all appearances, he is a genuinely nice guy. But is he ready to be President? I haven’t figured it out yet but there something about him (shrugs) – I don’t know. Could he be worse than we have now? Not by a long shot but I am not sold on him.

The guy I think may have the best resume is Bill Richardson but his campaign does not seem to be going anywhere. Maybe ha can get some traction but his anemic fundraising does not bode well for the long term. If he has any chance, he needs to make a splash sooner rather than later.

Biden (God no), Kucinich (hhhhhhaaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaa), and the rest aren’t even going to get off the ground. And for the record, I no longer believe that Gore (my preferred choice) is going to run. I would be the first to jump on the bandwagon but whatever. So all in all, the field is not great, not terrible, and it is a helluva lot better than what the Republicans are looking at. Oy.

First off, everyone not named McCain, Romney, or Giuliani has no chance. Newt isn’t officially in it yet and he is kidding himself if he thinks he can win – too many adulterous affairs for someone so self-righteous. Not to mention, he is a hypocritical nut. Those ghetto comments he made are not going to help either.

Fred Thompson is rumored to be thinking of getting in on the fun. If he runs, he would probably make for a good candidate but it may already be too late for him to be effective. Duncan Hunter is a lunatic that no one has heard of; same goes double for Sam Brownback.

Then there is John McCain. What a mess his campaign has become. He looks tired already. His support for the war is hurting him badly and his fundraising is not where it needs to be. The press has been killing him over his contrived visit to Baghdad. I see the wheels coming off the Straight Talk Express.

Mitt Romney is the current money leader. He is also a Mormon from Massachusetts who has earned the nickname Multiple Choice Mitt for his ability to flip-flop on the social issues. A good many of the people that vote in Southern Republican primaries are not going to vote for a Northern Mormon who waffles on gay rights. Sorry folks, not gonna happen. And without the South, he cannot win.

Finally, there is Rudy. One would think that a socially liberal Catholic former Mayor of NYC would not stand a chance. Add to that, Giuliani is on his third marriage, has had some pretty shady dealings with corrupt jerkoff Bernard Kerik, doesn’t hate gays, and once vamped it on camera in drag. On paper, Rudy should be polling somewhere in the negative teens. The fact that he is beating everyone else is simply bizarre. I can’t say exactly why he doing so well but I think his law and order tough guy persona is trumping all of his flaws as a candidate – for now anyway. And that is why his candidacy is a problem. None of those detractors seem to matter when it comes to America’s Mayor. Given his stance on the social issues, a good many Dems might even cross over to vote for him. That makes Giuliani a pretty formidable candidate right now. Hell, if I had to pick a Republican to be the next President, he would be my first choice by a WIDE margin.

Like everything else, time will tell if Rudy can maintain his momentum but today, IMHO, he is the Republican with the best shot of winning the General election.

How safe can this be?

Pres. Bush almost blew himself up in a hydrogen car demonstration, which leads me to believe these things are not safe enough to be on the street.

Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation.

Mulally told journalists at the New York auto show that he intervened to prevent President Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of Ford's hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid at the White House last week. Ford wanted to give the Commander-in-Chief an actual demonstration of the innovative vehicle, so the automaker arranged for an electrical outlet to be installed on the South Lawn and ran a charging cord to the hybrid. However, as Mulally followed Bush out to the car, he noticed someone had left the cord lying at the rear of the vehicle, near the fuel tank.

"I just thought, 'Oh my goodness!' So, I started walking faster, and the President walked faster and he got to the cord before I did. I violated all the protocols. I touched the President. I grabbed his arm and I moved him up to the front," Mulally said. "I wanted the president to make sure he plugged into the electricity, not into the hydrogen This is all off the record, right?"

Yeah, not so much. And seriously, if an honest mistake like plugging in the wrong place can be that dangerous, is there not some more design work that needs to be finished?

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Q1 fundraising numbers are out

Senator Obama is the big winner, hauling in a shocking $25 million, slightly behind Senator Clinton at $26 million. Everyone knew Clinton would rake in some serious cash but for Obama to get that close is simply stunning. Even more impressive was his 100,000 donors, doubling up Hillary’s donor base of 50,000. Additionally, his strategy has focused on cultivating an organization of small dollar contributors that he can tap again, if they have not maxed out their giving. Given Obama’s current average donation of $250 and a limit of $2300, there is a lot of room to grow.

Edwards received just over $14 million which is enough to keep him going for a while longer but not enough to get him to tier 1 status.

Obama is for real. Right now, this is a two-person race.

There are some surprises on the Republican side as well. Guiliani reported $15 million; pretty respectable if a bit low for the leading GOP candidate. McCain, second in the polls, came in at a disappointing $12 million. If this is a sign of things to come for Team McCain, they are in some very serious trouble. While McCain’s total is startling, Mitt Romney’s is flat out amazing. How the guy could pull in $23 million and poll consistently in the single digits is a mystery to me…

OMG

This is just appalling. Fifth graders have sex in front of the rest of the class? I know this sounds old crankish but I cannot imagine this happening 20 years ago (when I was in fifth grade). What the hell is wrong with kids today?

Cognitive Dissonance – take two

The Decider threw a hissy fit yesterday over the deadlines for withdrawal contained in the Iraq funding legislation currently working its way through Congress. In this fit of pique, Bush really embraced his inner four year old and adopted the “gimme what I want, you meanies” line.

Speaking a day before he heads out of town for six days for events in the West and an Easter break at his ranch, the president said Democrats are failing their responsibility to the troops and the nation's security by leaving for their own recess after passing bills to fund the war that contain timelines for American withdrawal.

Given his promised veto of anything containing a deadline — and the likelihood that his veto would be sustained on Capitol Hill — Bush said Democrats are merely engaging in games that "undercut the troops."

"Democrat leaders in Congress seem more interested in fighting political battles in Washington than in providing our troops what they need to fight the battles in Iraq," Bush said. "In a time of war, it's irresponsible for the Democrat leadership — Democratic leadership in Congress to delay for months on end while our troops in combat are waiting for the funds."

Excuse me for a moment while I climb up on my soapbox…

OK, first off, he is back on the Democrat thing. Did he have to be an asshole and try to needle the folks with whom he should be negotiating? Apparently, yes but that is what children do when they frustrated and are not getting their way. They lash out, call people names, or otherwise huff and whine. The bummer is that this man-child is leader of the free world (Sidebar - it really hurt to write that). I find it quite disturbing that his first response is always to piss and moan rather than swallow his fucking pride and deal with the problem – arrogant prick. If you can’t admit that you are wrong, you miss many of life’s most instructive moments. Wise people learn from mistakes. This is not a wise man-child.

Moving on, what is this business of the democrats being the “irresponsible” party in this debate? Riddle me this fellow citizens:
Who sent our soldiers into Iraq without a plan for the peace?
Who did so with inadequate armor for those soldiers and their vehicles?
Who chose to secure the Oil Ministry whilst ignoring the Iraqi National Museum, leading inevitably to the ransacking of the museum and our credibilty?
Finally, who insists on funding this quagmire/monstrosity/clusterfuck through emergency legislation rather than including these costs in the regular budget so that the Administration could maintain ridiculous claims to half the deficit?

Those actions, ladies and gentlemen, were “irresponsible”. Those actions led us to this regrettable point in time. I know where culpability lays for Iraq and so does the other 60% plus of this nation that disapproves of the job Bush is doing. So fuck your “irresponsible”.

Putting on my amateur psychologist hat here (and I could be totally off base) but I think this is about his legacy. If Congress cuts off funding, the war ends on Bush’s watch. History will not be kind to the man-child. Iraq is one the great blunders in American history and he will own it lock, stock, and barrel. He knows that as things stand today, Iraq lands him somewhere in Nixon territory. If he can fund this mess beyond his term, he can kick the historical can, a little at least, to the next President. Spread the blame and pray for a good outcome later, or something. At its core though, he is sacrificing blood and treasure in service of his own ego. That is a horrible thing to say about a person and I don’t feel good about saying it. I just cannot figure out what other motivation there could be to continue a war which we have obviously, and quite painfully, lost.

Keith Richards – crazy motherfucker

I have made my share of bad choices but I would never even consider snorting the ashes of a dead relative. Keith Richards has no such compunction.

Rolling Stones wildman Keith Richards claims he snorted his own father's ashes during a drugs binge.

Richards made the extraordinary admission in an interview with NME magazine.

"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," he said.

"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared, he didn't give a s***.

"It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

Wow.

UPDATE: Richards is now claiming that he was joking in the interview and he did not in fact take a toot of his father's cremated remains. Comforting, no?

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Cognitive dissonance

So the White House decides to bag on Pelosi for going to Syria. Spokessuit Dana Perino (hat tip to ThinkProgress):

I do think that, as a general rule — and this would go for Speaker of the House Pelosi and this apparent trip that she is going to be taking — that we don’t think it’s a good idea. …

I’m not sure what the hopes are to — what she’s hoping to accomplish there. I know that Assad probably really wants people to come and have a photo opportunity and have tea with him, and have discussions about where they’re coming from, but we do think that’s a really bad idea.

A total partisan hit job but that is just politics. This is a contact sport and Pelosi is a big girl. This line of attack is completely ridiculous, however, because a whole delegation of both Democrats and Republicans are currently in Syria. You know, in spite of the fact that that Administration has sucked at governing, they have been incredibly effective at the political side of the equation. That is until now. They cannot even get their act together while taking a cheap shot and the Speaker. So very, very lame.

Moreover, the White House is now in a position where it will have to take one of three options.
1. Defend the Pelosi remarks and look like a bunch of buffoonish partisan hacks.
2. Retract the statement and look like a bunch of clueless partisan hacks.
3. Throw the Republican contingent of the delegation under the bus and say it was a “really bad idea” for them to go to Syria as well. I am sure that would be a popular decision on the Hill.

I believe this is the textbook definition of shooting oneself in the foot.

It is all about the good news

Much has been made of John McCain’s shopping excursion to a Baghdad market as a public demonstration of the “progress” being made in Iraq. The outcome of this war and McCain’s Presidential ambitions are intertwined; more so than any other tier one Republican candidate. He needs Iraq to be perceived as, if not in fact, improving. If the other candidates force him to defend his support for a failed Iraq policy, his campaign is doomed and he knows it. So he and a few other Republican lawmakers staged a Potemkin Village photo-op and press conference, aided by no fewer that 100 soldiers complete with snipers and helicopter air cover. McCain could thus “prove” that US policy is working and the problem is not the chaos and sectarian violence but rather the press not covering the good news in Iraq.

"You read every day about suicide bombings, kidnappings, rocket attacks and other terrible acts. What we don't read about and what is new is a lot of the good news -- the drop in the murders in Baghdad, the establishment of security outposts throughout the city ... the deployment of additional Iraqi brigades to Baghdad," McCain said.

"These and other indicators are reasons for very cautious optimism about the effects of the new strategy," said the 70- year-old senator from Arizona, who has been a vocal critic in the past of the Bush administration's handling of the war.

"Just as we read about all the negative events in Iraq the American people must be aware of the positive developments under this new plan, and the media has a responsibility to report all aspects of what is taking place."

Take that media! Americans are against the war because you are not reporting enough propaganda good stories. All of which is complete bullshit and everyone knows it.

BAGHDAD - Iraqis in the capital said Tuesday that Sen. John McCain's account of a heavily guarded visit to a central market did not represent the current reality in Baghdad, with one calling it "propaganda."

[Snip]

Jaafar Moussa Thamir, a 42-year-old who sells electrical appliances at the Shorja market that the Republican congressmen visited on Sunday, said the delegation greeted some fellow vendors with Arabic phrases but he was not impressed.

"They were just making fun of us and paid this visit just for their own interests," he said. "Do they think that when they come and speak few Arabic words in a very bad manner it will make us love them? This country and its society have been destroyed because of them and I hope that they realized that during this visit."

[Snip]

Karim Abdullah, a 37-year-old textile merchant, said the congressmen were kept under tight security and accompanied by dozens of U.S. troops.

"They were laughing and talking to people as if there was nothing going on in this country or at least they were pretending that they were tourists and were visiting the city's old market and buying souvenirs," he said. "To achieve this, they sealed off the area, put themselves in flak jackets and walked in the middle of tens of armed American soldiers."

Like I said, they aren’t fooling anyone. This is what Iraq is like when you do not have the US Army at your disposal.

BAGHDAD, April 2 -- A suicide truck bomber rammed into a police station compound near an elementary school in the northern city of Kirkuk on Monday, killing 15 people, including schoolgirls, and wounding scores of others, witnesses and police reported.

At the main hospital in the city, the courtyard was filled with injured children in bloodstained blue uniforms, a Washington Post special correspondent reported from the scene. Many had their heads and arms wrapped in bandages. Some clutched bloodstained books. A baby girl lay dead in the emergency room from shrapnel that had torn through her body. Doctors and nurses broke into tears because they couldn't save her.

Yeah, progress…

Monday, April 02, 2007

Blech!

I will try almost anything once but kangaroo - no way.

A win for the environment

The Supreme Court has ruled that the EPA can regulate tailpipe emissions as part of the Clean Air Act. The 5-4 decision sets the stage for states to regulate emissions beyond the federal standard and appears to force the EPA to tie regulation of greenhouse gases to the Clean Air Act.

Opening Day and why the WaPo makes me mad

Kos reminds everyone that today is Opening Day for the baseball season (Go Cubbies!). Today is notable for another reason. El Presidente has decided not the throw out the first pitch as is the tradition. Kos speculates that our courageous leader fears being bombarded with boos and catcalls. With Bush’s approval ratings hovering in the low 30’s, his fears are well founded. Remember the reception Dick Cheney got last year? The Post story mentions that he received “some boos” but I recall that it was more of a cacophony. As usual, the Post screws up the story. Listen to this (especially about 1:20 into the clip). That is the sound of 50,000 people giving the VP the what for.

I know this is a minor point but seriously, was it that hard to get that right?