Rain Storm -- an online journal of opinion and culture

Gone Silent

2008-01-10T06:15:00.000-07:00

Like Billmon. Except I keep the site up as repository for hundreds of links that I found interesting and relevant at the time, and sometimes still do.

Oh, and there's all that stuff I wrote, too.

Like George W. Hayduke, there's always the chance that I may turn up again some day. Until then, Happy Trails.

Don't Get Fooled Again

2007-09-07T11:14:00.000-06:00

Complements of our friends at MoveOn.org:

Mark Morford's Email

2007-09-06T10:18:00.000-06:00

Too good to pass up:

Conservative values and the people who adhere to them are going to crush you liberals. I don't care if you do elect Hillary, which you won't, we will crush you. I despise liberal values, your cowardice and blind stupidity. We will finish you off. You are a danger to the country and with the help of talk radio we will destroy you. You are cockroaches, nothing else. Reading your newspaper is like paying the cops to beat you, then thanking them.

Go read all of them. There is no shortage of work for the mental health industry in the foreseeable future.

Out of the Business

2007-08-27T23:36:00.000-06:00

Since Fredo appears to be out of the family business, at least for the moment, I thought maybe we could listen to The Tubes.

Did I ever mention that I knew Fee Waybill, back in the day?

Bye, Fredo

2007-08-27T09:02:00.000-06:00

I think my favorite quote comes from Josh Marshall.

Resigning to "spend more time with his defense lawyer."

Why does Bush hate children?

2007-08-20T19:48:00.000-06:00

White House Acts to Limit Health Plan for Children.

Yeah, just fuck the little shits. They can't vote, anyway.

Suicide

2007-08-15T18:38:00.000-06:00

AP:

Failed personal relationships, legal and financial problems and the stress of their jobs were factors motivating the soldiers to commit suicide, according to the report.

"In addition, there was a significant relationship between suicide attempts and number of days deployed" in Iraq, Afghanistan or nearby countries where troops are participating in the war effort, it said. The same pattern seemed to hold true for those who not only attempted, but succeeded in killing themselves.

There also "was limited evidence to support the view that multiple ... deployments are a risk factor for suicide behaviors," it said.

Prisonall

2007-08-15T18:27:00.000-06:00

Finally, a product Rain Storm can endorse with our full enthusiasm (Now in Suppository form!)

A Gay Swift Boat for Rudy

2007-08-15T17:27:00.000-06:00

Rather than making a big deal out of that evil Daily Kos, the Republicans should really be worrying about how progressives learned how to fight dirty from Karl Rove.

I'm sure Rudy will be ever so grateful to ~~Turd Blossom~~ the boy genius when this starts running in South Carolina.

h/t to the boys at TPM Election Central

Giuliani wants to be Big Brother

2007-08-11T23:21:00.000-06:00

I get it now.

Slipping into the Big Time

2007-08-11T23:07:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to Man Eegee (though I'm still not sure how to pronounce that) whose Blogging 2.0 got picked up on the Sunday evening Diary Rescue over at Daily Kos.

In these parts, Man Eegee is better known for his blog Latino Politico.

Death Wish

2007-08-11T08:37:00.001-06:00

Sometimes I wonder if I've been a bit shrill in suggesting that most wingers are in serious need of professional mental health services.

But when I see stuff like this, all doubt vanishes in a flash.

It's like saying "If we give up and let the Nazi's take over, it will be good for America because then everybody will realize how important freedom really is." Sorry. I ain't going there.

Duncan has good observations here. Steve Benen chimes in here:

The surprising part of this, however, is that a variety of far-right media outlets seemed to embrace Bykofsky's message. ThinkProgress noted that Drudge seemed to think highly of the piece, conservative radio host Mike Gallagher invited Bykofsky on to his show, and Fox News' John Gibson went so far as to endorse Bykofsky's thesis on the air: "I think it's going to take a lot of dead people to wake America up."

For a column that pines for mass murder, this isn't the reaction I expected.

Acutally, it's getting pretty hard to know what to expect from the lunatic fringe anymore.

The problem with Congress

2007-08-10T15:10:00.000-06:00

The forces of darkness!

Aerial Gunning of Wolves

2007-08-10T14:08:00.000-06:00

must be stopped.

Whether it's an appropriate way to deal with anti-environment politicians, however, might merit serious discussion.

God may destroy America

2007-08-10T07:01:00.000-06:00

What the people who make our laws really think.

No mention of the fact that the on-going, systematic destruction of the Constitution by the Bush/Cheney crime syndicate is what's really destroying America. It's not exactly what the found fathers envision, either.

h/t Josh

Tight Race in Iowa

2007-08-03T09:59:00.000-06:00

Only a point separates Edwards, Obama and Clinton.

There are wider spreads on leadership, experience, and honesty.

Have I mentioned that I love

2007-08-02T10:51:00.000-06:00

The Freeway Blogger

I hope these thugs never pray for my recovery

2007-08-02T09:24:00.000-06:00

Over at liberal hate central:

“It’s time,” Ensign said, stressing emphatically that he and all of his colleagues continue to pray for Johnson’s full recovery. “Obviously, we are all still concerned. But this is a United States Senate seat. He was a top target before his health problems and he’s still a top target.”

Senator Johnson's staff replies:

“We don’t fear John Ensign and the national Republican hit men. It’s clear that this is a classless attack by a desperate chairman,” Johnson spokeswoman Julianne Fisher said. “Tim Johnson has a long record of accomplishments for South Dakota, and those accomplishments will be John Ensign’s worst nightmare.”

Heh. Indeedy.

Brit Hume gives accurate report on bloggers

2007-08-02T09:13:00.000-06:00

Be still me heart. What will Faux News fo next?

h/t the foxy Taylor Marsh

Yearly Kos and the Hateful Falafel Boy

2007-07-31T11:02:00.000-06:00

Al Gore never claimed he invented the Internets. And I didn't invent Yearly Kos.

But way back, a long time ago (June 11, 2004, to be exact), I did suggest the idea of a big lefty blogger convention.

Two years later the first Yearly Kos was launched in Las Vegas. I really wanted to be there, but instead I took my kids on vacation to some other exotic location. A dad's gotta do what a dad's gotta do.

Now Falafel Boy is having a shit-fit because lots of key Democrats are going to be there. O'Reilly is spazzing out of control over the thought that Democratic Presidential candidates will be showing up to meet with hundreds of bloggers -- bloggers who are read by hundreds of thousands of progressive voters, donors, fundraisers, and campaign volunteers.

His 1-mouth mission to marginalize the Daily Kos web site (as a hate site -- that coming from O'Reilly -- go figure) is classic, arch-typical up is down the rabbit hole Orwellian oppo-speak. It's great theater, and hilarious in a cartoonish kind of way.

But it's also a reminder that this is exactly what they do. And they do it even harder when they're on the ropes and running scared. Don't let up. Get them running fast enough and they'll follow one another right over the cliff.

Republican YouTube Debate Questions

2007-07-31T07:51:00.000-06:00

John Cole has a good selection of probable questions from winger bloggers that could end the cowardice of the Republican candidates.

Go read. You'll like them.

Where DID Steve come from?

2007-07-30T20:34:00.000-06:00

Since, if you believe the true believers, God didn't create Steve.

Which brings to mind that classic scene in Inherit the Wind when Brady calls Drummond to the stand as an expert on the Bible, and asks him,

"Then it says here, 'And Cain knew his wife.' Any idea where she came from? Somebody have another creation going on over in the next county?"

Nice to see the Gonzo Impeachment

2007-07-30T20:17:00.000-06:00

is moving right along (for you youngsters, "moving right along" is a quote from the film "Dog Day Afternoon").

RESOLUTION
Directing the Committee on the Judiciary to investigate whether Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, should be impeached for high crimes and
misdemeanors.

1 Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary shall
2 investigate fully whether sufficient grounds exist for the
3 House of Representatives to impeach Alberto R. Gonzales,
4 Attorney General of the United States, for high crimes
5 and misdemeanors.

God knows we need some good theater during these trying times.

Impeaching Gonzo

2007-07-29T15:34:00.000-06:00

It should be a slam dunk. That is, if we had a Congress that gave a rat's ass about the Constitution.

Over at left wing conspiracy world headquarters (wingerspeak for Daily Kos), Ms. Laura and KargoX add significant historical perspective.

Elections are the extent of the people's ability to demand accountability, in George W. Bush's mind. And he wants them to be the extent of accountability in your mind, too.

The failure even to hold Gonzales accountable for his part in this would be a complete abdication of the Congress' responsibility to preserve and exercise an absolutely critical element of the ongoing scheme of accountability designed by the Founders. It was to the Congress that the Founders entrusted the only mechanisms of mid-term accountability that could be brought to bear directly on the president and his administration. Giving that up would be an error of incalculable magnitude.

Pray that God gives Congress a spine.

Atrios looks at East Valley

2007-07-29T12:40:00.000-06:00

Notes the housing bubble bursting big time. Who knew he read azcentral?

Breathless Valentines

2007-07-28T06:19:00.000-06:00

How is it that the party of homophobia is also the "Man Crush" party.

Maybe instead of a big tent, the Repbulicans just have a huge closet.

Was Pat Tillman Fragged?

2007-07-27T07:10:00.000-06:00

Friendly fire isn't.

-- Murphy's Laws of Combat

I'm using the term "fragged" here, not in it's original context, i.e. referring to death by friendly fire through the use of a fragmentary hand grenade. Since the Vietnam War, the term fragged has taken on a broader meaning: death by friendly fire that was intended to cause death by friendly fire.

There's some disturbing news going around the internets today. firedoglake links to an AP story that quotes medical examiners saying the three M-16 rounds that hit Pat Tillman's head and killed him were in too tight a pattern to have been fired from the distance and under the conditions reported in the Army's investigation of the fatal friendly fire incident in Afghanistan.

This comes on the same day of the announcement that the Secretary of the Army will likely recommend demotion for the lieutenant general (3 stars) who commanded the army special operations command at the time of Tillman's death.

Very thorough analysis of the case and the multiple cover-ups at From the Wilderness.

UPDATE -- Friday morning: I've never been much for conspiracy theories. But I've learned that with the Bush administration, things that seem too bizarre to be true probably are anyway.

The quick gist of this one is that Tillman was against what he saw as an illegal war in Iraq, spoke out about this to his fellow special operators (Rangers, SEALs, Special Forces), was planning to return to the Cardinals to resume his football career as soon as his enlistment was up, and might very well have spoken out against the war on every national sports show on TV.

That was something the Bush administration simply could not allow thier War on Terra poster boy to do.

Quote of the Day

2007-07-26T16:30:00.000-06:00

No, it's not about Abu Gonzo.

Atrios linked to a hot rumor that a prominent politician from Ohio's congressional delegation has turned up on the DC Madame's call list.

One anonymous commenter, responding to the suggestion that the unnamed Ohio politician might be Mean Jean Schmidt wrote of the "HOT" rumor:

If you mean "hot" like the vomit that goes up your nose when your puke up a bad burrito, yeah.

Well, I feel much better now.

Why Bush can't fire Fredo

2007-07-25T14:07:00.000-06:00

Josh Marshall knows. It's the Gonzo: Lying Liar edition.

Kirpatrick running for Renzi's seat

2007-07-24T21:29:00.000-06:00

Word on the street is that state representative Ann Kirkpatrick (LD-2) has resigned her seat and will formally announce her candidacy for the Arizona CD-1 seat currently held by Rick Renzi (R-Virginia).

You'll hear more when we do.

The big stories today

2007-07-24T17:28:00.000-06:00

Gonzo commits perjury, might as well throw in a little obstruction of justice, too.

And Bush says al-Qaeda al-Qaeda al-Qaeda, because it's all he's got, and after 6 years he can pronounce it without drooling all over himself.

I wish I had some profound, witty remark, about this being just another day in the Cheney administration, but why bother anymore. Except to give Falafel Bill something to rant about.

Oh, and Lindsay Lohan is headed back to rehab. I really hope she gets it this time.

Oops! Looks like she was arrested for DUI, then they found a little coke in her pocket. It would be more accurate to say that she plans to enter rehab. Bet she does more time than Scooter did.

You can call me Al

2007-07-24T17:18:00.000-06:00

Even though I don't write for Daily Kos.

But I'd like to go on record as having never made the trains run on time.

I did hop a few frieghts during my recklass youth, but that's a whole other story.

Supporting the Troops

2007-07-24T16:43:00.000-06:00

Bush style.

With President Bush’s popularity scraping bottom in opinion polls, with U.S. casualties rising in Iraq in a force surge that has stretched soldier tours to 15 months, the Bush administration July 10 said it “strongly opposes” key military pay and benefit gains tossed into their fiscal 2008 defense bill.

Initiatives the administration “strongly opposes” include:

-- A military pay raise for next January of 3.5 percent versus 3 percent endorsed by the White House.

-- Lowering the age-60 start of reserve retirement annuities for reserve component members by the length of their future mobilizations.

-- Expanding eligibility for Combat-Related Special Compensation to service members forced by combat disabilities to retire short of 20 years.

-- Directing pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide the Department of Defense with same price discounts for TRICARE retail pharmacy network that are provided already on medicines dispensed from base pharmacies.

The administration also grumbled that the Senate intends to block for another year TRICARE fee increases for under-65 retirees and dependents.

I don't think of myself as a hateful person, but each day I find more reasons for an exception to that policy.

2 More Years in Iraq

2007-07-24T00:03:00.000-06:00

and then . . . we'll find that magic pony, which is a good thing, because all the troops are over there right now, and sooner or later we'll have to start bringing them home, and Iraq will be stabilized, but we'll still have to have some troops there to train the Iraqis and fight the terrorists, and nobody seems to know why this magically happens sometime in 2009, and . . .

Military officials here have been careful not to guarantee success, and recognized they may need to revise the plan if some assumptions were not met.

And then we're back to digging through the shit to find that elusive pony again.

Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

Who ya gonna vote for?

2007-07-23T23:23:00.000-06:00

Here's your chance.

Kos plans violent overthrow of the government

2007-07-23T23:16:00.000-06:00

Or at least that's what Bill O'Reilly says. Fox must be looking for a little ratings bump.

Markos offers a pony to anyone who can find that explosive blog post.

Dept of Injustice

2007-07-23T19:10:00.000-06:00

McClatchy:

Maguire described crimes "far worse" than those of Arthur Andersen, the accounting giant that collapsed in the wake of the Enron scandal. Among those in his sights: executives from a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment empire overseen by billionaire Warren Buffett.

In May 2006, he felt strongly enough about his case that he prepared a draft indictment accusing executives from a Virginia insurer, Reciprocal of America, of concocting a series of secret deals to hide its losses from regulators. Although he didn't name anyone from Berkshire Hathaway's subsidiary, he described the company as a participant in the scheme.

But Maguire never brought those charges.

Months after preparing the draft, he was removed as the lead prosecutor on the case and reassigned.

His replacement, a prosecutor who hadn't been involved in the case until then, soon announced that the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, General Reinsurance, wouldn't be indicted. By April of this year, the entire investigation, which the Justice Department once hailed as one of the largest insurance-fraud cases in the history of Virginia, had fizzled.

Former employees and policyholders of the Richmond-based insurer were astounded. Why had the Justice Department spent upward of $2 million to investigate the case only to decline to prosecute? Maguire and his team of investigators had secured two related guilty pleas, interviewed dozens of witnesses and gathered 7,000 boxes of documents.

Meanwhile, Gonzo assures us that "reinforcing public confidence" is one of his top priorities.

Would someone please let him in on the secret that there has to actually be some "public confidence" before it can be "reinforced."

Censure is a waste of time

2007-07-23T18:48:00.001-06:00

I generally think of Russ Feingold as a pretty good guy.

But his idea that censure is the way to address an administration that has become a criminal syndicate is just dumber than dogshit.

The only way to deal with these corrupt bastards to to bring charges of criminal wrong-doing that lead to impeachment, conviction, and prison.

Anything short of that will have absolutely no effect. They'll just ignore it and continue on their merry way.

What really matters

2007-07-23T18:38:00.000-06:00

The Edwards campaign replies to the haircut commandos.

h/t Josh Marshall.

Bush at 25 percent

2007-07-23T09:40:00.000-06:00

Pony Party time.

Still looking for that elusive bottom, I guess.

Didn't get the memo

2007-07-23T09:27:00.000-06:00

NYT:

In June, Colonel Abraham became the first military insider to criticize publicly the Guantánamo hearings, which determine whether detainees should be held indefinitely as enemy combatants. Just days after detainees’ lawyers submitted an affidavit containing his criticisms, the United States Supreme Court reversed itself and agreed to hear an appeal arguing that the hearings are unjust and that detainees have a right to contest their detentions in federal court.

Some lawyers say Colonel Abraham’s account — of a hearing procedure that he described as deeply flawed and largely a tool for commanders to rubber-stamp decisions they had already made — may have played an important role in the justices’ highly unusual reversal. That decision once again brought the administration face to face with the vexing legal, political and diplomatic questions about the fate of Guantánamo and the roughly 360 men still held there.

“Nobody stood up and said the emperor’s wearing no clothes,” Colonel Abraham said in an interview. “The prevailing attitude was, ‘If they’re in Guantánamo, they’re there for a reason.’ ”

The curtain on the hearings had been pulled back a bit previously, when the Pentagon, under pressure, released some transcripts. But by stepping forward, Colonel Abraham gave the Supreme Court and the public a look from an insider at a process that remains heavily shielded.

[ . . . ]

Pentagon officials say his account indicates that he misunderstood the purpose of the hearings, known as combatant status review tribunals or C.S.R.T.’s, which the officials say “afford greater protections for wartime detainees than any nation has ever provided.”

Not mentioned in the article is the fact that the DOD leadership really hates it when one of their fucking Reservists is smarter than they are.

TPMmuckraker has more.

They'll Flee the Country

2007-07-23T08:21:00.000-06:00

if they don't get American visas.

Apparently, all the Iraqis who are working for the Americans in Iraq need American visas, otherwise they will be part of the exodus of Iraqis fleeing the country.

And they need those visas, just in case, you know, they need to flee the country.

It's too early on Monday morning to wrap my brain around this one.

Apparently the Cheney administration promised to process 7,000 of those visas by September, but have only managed to crank out 133 so far. Everything is so efficient with the adults in charge.

You know it's time to impeach the bastards

2007-07-20T23:11:00.000-06:00

when it's the only option left on the table.

The Big al-Qaeda Question

2007-07-17T21:34:00.000-06:00

No, not the question about whether this al-Qaeda is the same as that al-Qaeda.

I've been wonderin': If we're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here, and if they're really coming here to kill us, then why are we still fighting them over there?

Just wonderin'

Losing the NCOs

2007-07-16T09:50:00.000-06:00

A good LA Times piece looks at how the army is losing it's backbone, those experienced sergeants who the army counts on to train the next generation of new recruits.

But the Ashbys are among the midcareer leaders the Army is having the most trouble holding on to — those torn between finishing a fight and raising a family. In this case, the Army lost twice: Bradford Ashby left in October, his wife the year before, because they didn't want to watch the children they plan to have grow up on video.

[ . . . ]

"But these guys had kids being born while they were gone, toddlers growing up. It's hard on the family. You totally understand why they don't stay."

There is another issue the article doesn't address. I wrote about this a few years ago, early in the war. Much of the unit leadership in the National Guard and Army Reserve units is made of troops who have come off active duty. Maybe they got out to go to school, maybe to raise a family. They join a reserve component unit because they liked the military and they can use that extra paycheck.

But now that Guard and Reserve units are as likely to spend multiple tours in Iraq as their active duty counterparts, there really isn't much incentive for those good NCOs and officers to join Guard or Reserve units when they come off active duty.

As long as Bush-Cheney-McCain-Lieberman war continues, the net result will be a broken reserve component. Then the Pentagon is left with the decision of whether to keep the active duty units deployed without ever coming home, or sending reserve units at a readiness level we used to call non-deployable into combat, to be chewed up as IED and car bomb fodder.

The military really should hate this administration with all their hearts and minds.

Best Signage Ever

2007-07-12T16:12:00.000-06:00

I'm with Susie on this. Best Freeway Blogger signs I've ever seen.

Quote of the Day

2007-07-12T15:58:00.000-06:00

Talibangelists

Used by TPM commenter JeffGee in reference to radical Christianists who disrupted the morning invocation at the US Senate because it was being offered by a non-Christian.

Land of the Free, and all that.

More here:

"When you stand up and are arrested, and the Hindu is allowed to go free, this country has gone upside-down," Benham added — though when asked, he later clarified that he does not believe people of other religions should be arrested for their beliefs."

Honey, the loonies are getting restless again. I'm going out to get another couple boxes of ammo.

When Republicans say Congress polls worse than the Preznit,

2007-07-12T15:34:00.000-06:00

it's because the Republicans in Congress are dragging its ratings down.

According to the new Harris Poll, negatives for the Democrats in Congress are 64. For Repubublics in Congress, they're 76 (and that's worse than Dead-Eye Dick Cheney's negatives).

Positive numbers for Cheney remain lower than whale shit.

And perhaps tipping off a national trend, Bush's negative number (73) is now worse than Congress as a whole (72). Talk about that at the water cooler.

Thanks to Atrios for the link.

Hilarious! Dog Days of Summer, I guess.

2007-07-12T11:31:00.000-06:00

New Homeland Security Threat Advisory System. (h/t Ed Partridge)

Warning!!! We may need a Heartburn Advisory System to go along with it.

There's no tellin' where the money went

2007-07-12T10:53:00.001-06:00

Except it likely went to finance one or more of the many groups intent on killing each other in Iraq.

If "fifty thou a year will buy a lot of beer", then I'm guessing $300,000,000 (that's almost a third of a BILLION, for those of you keeping score at home) will buy a shit-load car bombs and IEDs.

Just another deadly serious reason to Bring Them Home Now.

When you lose Merle Haggard,

2007-07-12T09:40:00.000-06:00

[I'm moving this up, just in case you missed it on Sunday. ed.]

You've lost the American people.

Not that the Cheney administration will ever care.

h/t to NewMexiKen via Jess.

There's McCain's "gay" sweater,

2007-07-12T09:11:00.000-06:00

then there's solicitation in a restroom, by the co-chair of his Florida campaign (h/t Josh).

The dumb sweater is the least of his problems.

Irreversible

2007-07-12T08:37:00.000-06:00

SFGate:

Early on the morning of Nov. 13, 2006, members of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group gathered around a dark wooden conference table in the windowless Roosevelt Room of the White House.

For more than an hour, they listened to President Bush give what one panel member called a Churchillian vision of victory in Iraq and defend the country's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. "A constitutional order is emerging," he said.

Two hours later, around the same conference table, CIA Director Michael Hayden painted a starkly different picture for members of the study group. Hayden said "the inability of the government to govern seems irreversible," adding that he could not "point to any milestone or checkpoint where we can turn this thing around," according to written records of his briefing and the recollections of six participants.

Hayden. Raving liberal. Defeatist. Probably wants the terrorists to win.

Impeach Now!

2007-07-11T16:22:00.000-06:00

Josh has found us a felony. The more reasons the merrier.

Now if only we can find people in Congress with some spine. Oh, I am such a dreamer.

Take the Poll

2007-07-11T15:09:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the wingnut Arizona legislature made the sale of a certain anit-war t-shirt illegal in Arizona.

Now the Tucson Citizen wants to know what you think about that. Take the poll. (It's over in the right-hand column.)

Thanks.

Recruiters, Cocaine, and Rigged Test Scores

2007-07-11T11:56:00.000-06:00

Times were hard and recruits were hard to come by, I guess.

The test monitor was taking bribes, and the recruiters were dealing coke out of the trunks of their cars.

The Tucson FBI office got several tips in 2001 that military test scores were being rigged. When an undercover FBI informant met a National Guard recruiter in a Tucson parking lot to pay for a rigged test, the recruiter opened the trunk of his government vehicle and also tried to sell the informant part of a kilogram of cocaine, the agent testified.

That led to the creation of a fake cocaine ring the FBI used to see how many other military personnel and public officials would be willing to take part in drug running for money.

Dozens did, leading to cocaine-related criminal charges against more than 60 defendants.

Back in basic training we used to sing:

Hi Ho Fiddledy Dee
My Recruiter Lied to Me

Guess that wasn't all they did.

h/t Man Eegee

Objectives must be achievable

2007-07-11T11:06:00.000-06:00

Bill from Portland Maine thinks the Iraqi government needs some revised benchmarks.

I'll bet, with a little coaching, even President Bush can achieve some of these.

God, save us from religous nut jobs

2007-07-11T10:17:00.000-06:00

Some over there. Some over here. Ed covers if pretty well.

It does trouble me that there are so many people who are so insecure about their own faith, that they consider it the only possible way to get where ever the hell it is they think they're going.

I'd offer the analogy about this big mountain outside my window, at that there are lots of ways to get to the top, even though they seem to be coming from opposite sides and traveling in opposite directions. But you either get that already or you probably won't, so I'm not going to bother.

End of sermon. Go in peace.

Ramblin' Man

2007-07-11T07:50:00.000-06:00

Fred Kaplan:

It was, even by his standards, an unusually rambling speech, alternately folksy and haranguing, most of it about the virtues of tax cuts and private health care. A half-hour passed—and the cable news channels cut away to an incident at the Oakland airport a couple of times—before he came to the main point, the reason they were carrying the speech live: to articulate his latest views on Iraq.

And the startling thing about these views is that they haven't changed a bit.

Ah, but still a man of faith.

Unlike earlier talks of this sort, in which Bush's speechwriters at least assembled some stray facts and passed them off as evidence of progress, this speech—which seemed entirely improvised—was founded on nothing but faith.

"We can accomplish and win this fight in Iraq," Bush said at one point in the speech. "I strongly believe we will prevail … that democracy will trump totalitarianism every time," he said later, as if the war in Iraq is somehow about democracy and totalitarianism.

Can't tell the difference between chaos and totalitarianism. Let us pray.

Not Working

2007-07-11T07:41:00.000-06:00

LAT:

But as the experience of the troops in Ubaidi indicates, U.S. forces so far have been unable to establish security, even for themselves. Iraqis continue to flee their homes, leaving mixed areas and seeking safety in religiously segregated neighborhoods. About 32,000 families fled in June alone, according to figures compiled by the United Nations and the Iraqi government that are due to be released next week.

U.S. forces have staged offensives to push insurgents out of some safe havens. But many of the insurgents have escaped to new areas of the country, launching attacks where the U.S. presence is lighter.

And there has been no sign of any of the crucial political progress the administration had hoped to see in Iraq.

But the cry for more Friedmans will continue forever.

They don't call it the fact-free administration for nothing, baby

2007-07-10T20:27:00.000-06:00

NYT:

WASHINGTON, July 10 — Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional committee today that top officials in the Bush administration repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations.

Dr. Carmona, who served as surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, said White House officials would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues because of political concerns. Top administration officials delayed for years and attempted to “water down” a landmark report on secondhand tobacco smoke, he said in sworn testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

But he was told to mention President Bush at least 3 times on every page.

Perjury used to be a crime

2007-07-10T09:56:00.000-06:00

I realize that Dub won't let Gonzo do any time, since, you know, prison is so icky for nice loyal Bushie Republicans. But perjury is an impeachable offense, isn't it?

Benchmarks

2007-07-10T09:45:00.000-06:00

Goose Eggs in Iraq:

A progress report on Iraq will conclude that the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad has not met any of its targets for political, economic and other reform, speeding up the Bush administration's reckoning on what to do next, a U.S. official said Monday.

More likely, it will be a reckoning on how to package "stay the course" so it sounds smarter and can therefore be marketed to gutless congresspersons so they can buy in for a few more Friedmans.

Meanwhile, over here, the Army seems to be a having a little benchmark problem of its own:

The Army missed its recruiting goals in June for the second straight month, as rising casualties in Iraq and a strong economy at home kept the service from enlisting enough new soldiers, Pentagon officials said.

Not sure about that strong economy at home BS. I guess if we keep enough National Guard and Reservists on active duty, it makes the unemployment numbers look real sweet. But, hey, can't really surge without them, now can we?

$12 Billion here, $12 Billion there,

2007-07-09T15:15:00.000-06:00

Pretty soon you're talking about serious debt.

Might as well start writing those apology letters to your grandchildren now.

Oh, and Digby reminded me, we should start apologizing to our veterans, too. Got to cut their health care funding to pay for that big war they just fought.

These bastards really have no conscience at all.

Quote of the Day

2007-07-09T12:14:00.000-06:00

Should have done this one over the weekend, but I was consumed with impeachment fever. From the brilliant and beautiful Digby:

It reminds of an early-ish Bush campaign speech in which he quoted Pericles and I just about fell off my chair laughing. You just knew they'd had to tell him how to pronounce the name...

Yep.

Who is really in charge in the Cheney administration

2007-07-09T11:59:00.000-06:00

McJoan at DKos pulled this jem out of the Isikoff piece in Newsweek on the Libby deal:

"I'm not sure Bush had a choice," says one of the advisers. "If he didn't act, it would have caused a fracture with the vice president."

Yep. Bush sure as heck didn't want to piss off President Cheney. Big Dick might have taken Shrub's scotch away. Or maybe his rubber ducky.

Double Impeachment Entendre

2007-07-09T08:40:00.000-06:00

Cute graphic at Avedon's blog.

I thought it meant "Impeach Bush." I only got part of it right. Maybe I'm horticulturally challenged. See if you can figure it out (without cheating).

White House Iraq Dilemna

2007-07-09T07:53:00.000-06:00

It goes kind of like this:

Since more senators seem to be defecting each day, the president is running out of GOP support for the disastrous Bush-Cheney-McCain-Lieberman Iraq war.

But if he signals a willingness to begin withdrawing troops, that will only inspire those mean guys in Congress to press for even more and sooner withdrawal.

But he's got to do something, because the whole country has already decided that they're fucking tired of it. Or, as the New York Times quotes an anonymous White House source:

“Lots of people are concluding that the president has got to get out ahead of this train.”

Well, that certainly conjures up a vision or two.

Atrios manages to keep this current round of intentional leaks and mangled speculation in perspective:

It might have an exciting new name, it might have enough rhetorical flim-flam to let Official Washington provide cover for wavering Republicans, but there's no way Bush is going to even an announce an intention to maybe withdraw some troops, except with the caveat "if a bunch of stuff which isn't going to happen actually happens."

So: "We're looking at the possibility that if we find the pony we can withdraw some troops" might happen.

"We're looking at the possibility that we can withdraw some troops" won't.

Or, as Greg Sargent notes at TPM Election Central:

So the White House is debating whether to announce that it has the "intention" of beginning a "gradual" withdrawal at some point.

This is very nice to hear, but according to The Times, the explicit goal here is merely to prevent GOP defections on actual legislation that would accomplish a pullout. So doesn't it seem likely that such a White House announcement would simply give GOPers the cover they need not to defect and thus not to support any actual withdrawal policies?

Sure, an announcement of this sort would give war opponents some more leverage. But it would also allow Republicans allegedly thinking about defecting to say, you know, "the Commander in Chief has said he intends to begin pulling out, so let's pay him deference and give him the time and flexibility he needs to do this right," yada yada yada.

There it is. Anybody who is holding their breath over this should exhale now.

The Tide turns Anti-War

2007-07-08T11:12:00.000-06:00

Over at Daily Kos, DemFromCT picked up on this editorial in the Tuscaloosa News:

In truth, that time arrived long ago, when it became obvious to most Americans that the government in Iraq has chosen to leave the heavy lifting to our country. Voters expressed their displeasure at the polls last year but Bush’s response was to intensify the war effort through a “troop surge.”

It has failed dismally and there is little surprise that people like Domenici are defecting now. They haven’t given up on Iraq as much as they have given up on Bush.

The changes of heart by the key senators may lead, in time, to a welcome change in direction in Iraq. But it’s unlikely to come in the twilight years of this administration. Yet there is no less violence, no tangible sign of a government willing to shoulder the mantle of Iraq’s future.

To date, there have been almost 3,600 American casualties. Thousands upon thousands of Iraqi civilians have died. It’s a terrible price to pay for a flawed vision, stubbornly held.

In terms of a shift in public opinion, this is huge. Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama, is smack dab in the heart of red state Dixie.

Back in my army days, I would sometimes go there to train elements of the Alabama National Guard's 31st Armor Brigade. The 31st was headquartered just across the Black Warrior River from Tuscaloosa, in the town of Northport.

The 31st Armor was the kind of unit that, if they liked you, they'd present you with a certificate naming you an "Official Colonel" in the Alabama State Militia. I still have mine in a box somewhere.

We'd often go to lunch, in our BDUs, to the Globe restaurant in Northport. There was a waitress there whose brother was a Ranger who was wounded in the Battle of Mogadishu, made famous by the book and film Black Hawk Down.

I mention all this as a frame of reference, I guess. Despite being a university town, Tuscaloosa is not a hotbed of anti-war liberalism. It is far from it. Generally speaking, they care a whole lot more about the Crimson Tide football team than they do about international relations.

So, asking if they're against the war in Tuscaloosa is like asking if it will play in Peoria. This should be viewed as a bell-weather of red state public opinion about the Bush-Cheney-McCain-Lieberman war in Iraq.

When Tuscaloosa turns against the war, there won't be very many pockets of resistance remaining to fall.

Which is why Harry Reid knows that Congress is way behind the American people on the issue of getting the hell out of Iraq.

Why bother involving Shrub?

2007-07-08T10:51:00.000-06:00

U.S. Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs in Pakistan in ’05

Spokesmen for the Pentagon, the C.I.A. and the White House declined to comment. It is unclear whether President Bush was informed about the planned operation.

But you can bet President Cheney was in the loop. Of course, if they destroyed al-Qaeda, they'd have to declare victory, essentially ending the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). And then the Cheney administration wouldn't have all those wartime rationales for the crimes they commit, now would they?

Dickpeachment!

2007-07-08T10:33:00.000-06:00

Send a digital postcard. Time to get this thing moving.

Acknowledgement: The term "Dickpeachment!" comes to us compliments of Eschaton commenter gimmeabreak, who hangs his hat here.

Cheney Fatigue

2007-07-07T16:14:00.000-06:00

Once viewed as a sage and mentor to President Bush, Cheney has approval ratings now that are as low as — or lower — than the president's. Recent national polls have put them both in the high 20s.

[ . . . ]

It seems Cheney fatigue is settling in some Republican circles.

I'm sure you had Cheney fatigue long before the Repubs discovered it. Tell Congress it's time to impeach Cheney.

Unnamed Heroes

2007-07-06T13:13:00.000-06:00

5 injured in Vegas shooting:

A man on a balcony over the New York-New York casino floor opened fire on the gamblers below early Friday, wounding four people before he was tackled by off-duty military reservists, police said.

[ . . . ]

Zegrean emptied a semiautomatic handgun toward the casino floor before he was tackled by a U.S. Army reservist, a Navy reservist and others who held him for police, (Las Vegas police Capt. James) Dillon said. He said he did not know the names of the people who intervened.

Send Postcards Every Day

2007-07-06T12:43:00.000-06:00

I think Avedon's got the right idea. We should be sending postcards to our congresspersons every single day with this simple message:

IMPEACH THEM!

And, just to be on the safe side, I'd add one additional line:

Cheney First

More here.

Equal Justice Under the Law

2007-07-05T23:43:00.000-06:00

"I guess I don't know what you mean."

Did all of these guys get gentlemen's Cs at Yale?

Sen. Domenici to change Iraq "position"

2007-07-05T12:18:00.000-06:00

Ah, yes. Elections are coming up for Pete next year. Must be time to get in touch with the people of New Mexico and align himself with the voters.

I think they're all getting tired of an Iraq position which amounts to bending over and and grabbing their ankles.

A mole with sideburns

2007-07-05T11:20:00.000-06:00

This is what Republicans (and confused wankers like Broder) mean when they speak of Congressional bi-partisanship.

Man, Thompson was such a sharp dresser back then, too. No wonder they're still swooning over him.

Guns don't kill people.

2007-07-05T10:06:00.000-06:00

People pissed off about fireworks do.

Where I live it's been so hot, dry, and windy for the last 6 weeks that folks keep the phone number to the police on their speed dial, just in case some fool decides to ignore the ban on fireworks (in town, and in the adjacent national forests).

A self-defense (or maybe public service) plea might actually work under these conditions.

Romney says it was "reasonable"

2007-07-05T09:17:00.000-06:00

He couldn't possibly be more of a hypocrite.

Things being how they are, I guess that makes him eminently qualified to be the Republican nominee for president.

Paris Hilton did more time

2007-07-03T23:45:00.000-06:00

than Scooter Libby. Call it the quote of the day.

All that needs to be said

2007-07-03T21:05:00.000-06:00

Olbermann:

Resign! And resign Mr. Cheney, too . . . Who is the ventriliquist and who is the dummy is no longer relevent.

Go watch. If only those wise men in Washington could express it so clearly.

Quotes of the Day

2007-07-02T12:19:00.000-06:00

Today, our QOTD must follow two different tracks. There's just that much good stuff this morning.

First, former CIA guy Larry Johnson, talking about the incompetent "yuppie bombers" of Glasgow:

Looks like we have yuppie Muslims who, despite a medical education, don't understand fundamentals about how to build and detonate quality improvised explosives. They obviously spent all of their cash on the Mercedes and neglected to sign up for the suicide bomber course. Thank your deity or religious object of affection for their fecklessness. Or, thank your lucky stars.

Then, there's Hudson Institute senior fellow Irwin M. Stelzer, describing Bush's demeaner despite 6 years of continuous disasters of his own making, quoted by Peter Baker in the WaPo:

"You don't get any feeling of somebody crouching down in the bunker," said Irwin M. Stelzer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who was part of one group of scholars who met with Bush. "This is either extraordinary self-confidence or out of touch with reality. I can't tell you which."

Funny, most of us would have no trouble figuring that one out.

Same Old

2007-07-01T12:01:00.000-06:00

One for Ed.

King of the Hill

2007-07-01T11:20:00.000-06:00

McGuinn & Petty.

Roger was Tom's rock & roll model.

More 80s

2007-07-01T11:11:00.000-06:00

Insider.

Was going to post Stop Dragging My Heart Around, but Stevie is a lot easier to watch when she's not twirling around on stage.

Tonight is what it means

2007-07-01T09:57:00.000-06:00

Atrios brought back an 80s classic last night, posting Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart (great song -- pretty weird video).

Made me flash on "Tonight" from the 1984 cult classic Streets of Fire. Diane Lane was reportedly disappointed that they didn't let her do her own singing. That's Holly Sherwood doing the actual vocals. Laurie Sargent does the singing on a couple other of the films songs.

People have wondered if McCoy, played by Amy Madigan, is a lesbian. The role was acutally written as a male character, but Madigan convinced director Walter Hill to let her do it. I think she's the most interesting character in the film.

A Tragic Legacy

2007-07-01T08:40:00.000-06:00

Quote of the Day

2007-07-01T08:32:00.000-06:00

The proud, the few, the 26 percent. Meteor Blades picks up on what they really care about:

Ever since the latest Newsweek poll came out, I've been pondering what it would take to crack the nutty 26% of Americans who still approve of Mister Bush's performance in office, already 1% lower than Tricky Dick Nixon's approval rating the week before the House Judiciary Committee began its nine-month-long impeachment hearings in October 1973.

The 26% didn't flinch about lying the nation into war, authorizing torture, wrecking the environment, wiretapping illegally, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands, handing billions over to war profiteering cronies, dumping the Geneva Conventions, suppressing the vote, tainting good will toward America internationally, turning modest budget surpluses into monstrous deficits, trying to undermine Social Security, rewriting scientific studies and politicizing every single governmental agency.

Probably getting caught sprinkling cocaine on his mom's popcorn during President Putin's visit to Kennebunkport wouldn't get the 26% to give Mister Bush the boot. Nor mistakenly taking off his jacket in public to reveal the ventriloquist's machine first test-driven in the 2004 debate.

But fail to pardon Libby? Harumph. That's just too much for the gentle souls of the 26%, every one of whom, I will wager, approves of Mister Bush's previous record in that arena . . .

Gentle souls. Right.

Cuts Like a Knife

2007-06-30T14:00:00.000-06:00

Defeat of Immigration Bill will cost GOP Latino votes

“There may be some short-term gain from this,” said Linda Chavez, who served in the Reagan administration and is now chairwoman of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative public policy group. “But in the long term, it is disastrous for the Republican Party.”

I love the smell of disaster in the morning.

“I think it’s bloody for the Republicans,” said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the William C. Velasquez Institute, a Latino-oriented research and policy organization with offices in San Antonio and Los Angeles. “The Democrats said pro-immigrant stuff, and even if they didn’t support it, it was because they said it wasn’t good enough. The Republicans said anti-immigrant stuff and so now they are going to get killed with this.”

I certainly hope so. I'm kinda lookin' forward to dancing at the funeral.

UPDATE -- Sunday morning: Josh elaborates:

The real fall-out is that this has dealt a massive and probably enduring blow to Republican efforts to at least compete for, if not win over, the growing hispanic electorate. The model here is then-Gov. Pete Wilson's (R) 1994 reelection campaign in California -- a set of events that played out somewhat more amorphously but to real effect across the country in the mid-1990s.

Briefly, Wilson successfully rode the anti-immigration issue to victory, in particular through his embrace of Prop. 187 -- a successful ballot initiative to deny social services to illegal immigrants and get local cops into the business of policing people's immigration status. It helped Wilson get reelected. But it also basically destroyed the California Republican party. Destroyed may be too strong a word. But it put the state's rapidly growing hispanic population firmly into the Democratic camp and played a big part in making California into the solidly Democratic state it is today. (People forget, it didn't used to be that way.)

[. . .]

This whole episode has branded the Republicans as the anti-immigrant party. And that's not good for a party that wants to compete for the votes of America's largest bloc of new immigrant voters.

Yep. And it's about time those chickens came home to roost.

When the Repubs start to copy us,

2007-06-29T23:38:00.000-06:00

you know we're finally getting something right. That's the upside.

On the other upside, they remain terribly confused about why it works.

You are the reason

2007-06-29T23:29:00.000-06:00

Many thanks to the lovely and thoughtful Avedon Carol, who posted this link to an outstanding Blind Faith video that includes both the accoustic and electric version of Can't Find My Way Home. They sounded great even on my laptop's funky speakers. Go listen now.

If you're sitting at home on Friday night, might as well have yourself a little fun.

Cryin' Shame

2007-06-29T13:16:00.000-06:00

House rejects proposal to defund Cheney.

Vice president won’t lose his expense accounts.

It's Friday Afternoon,

2007-06-29T12:10:00.001-06:00

which means there's bound to be somebody new resigning from the Cheney administration today.

Guess there are still a few hours until closing time in DC.

UPDATE -- Later Friday afternoon: And here it is!

Justice Department official resigns

I'm so surprised.

One of the scarier scenarios

2007-06-29T10:09:00.000-06:00

I've seen lately. From commenter Hank Gillette at TPMmuckraker:

January 18, 2009: Bush pardons everyone in his administration for any and all criminal acts that they may have committed.

January 19, 2009: Bush resigns.

January 20, 2009: In his last and only act as president, Dick Cheney pardons George W. Bush.

You know they would.

Buy the T-Shirt

2007-06-29T08:09:00.000-06:00

Support Freedom of Speech.

Sale of these T-Shirts, which memorialize U.S. troops who have died in the Bush-Cheney-Lieberman-McCain war in Iraq, is now illegal in 4 states (including Arizona, home of the wing-nuts-R-us state legislature). In defiance of the new state law, Dan Frazier continues to sell them.

Flagstaff police have advised Mr. Frazier that they are preparing to report his activities to the Flagstaff City Attorney for the filing of a criminal complaint.

The ACLU is prepared to defend Mr. Frazier, as this prosecution would be a clear violation of free speech.

Show your support. Get the T-Shirt. You'll probably see a few other items you'd like to display, as well.

By the way:

One dollar from the sale of each shirt is being donated to charitable organizations that assist families of fallen U.S. troops. As of early June 2007, we had donated $2,120 to such charities.

High Crimes and Misdemeanors

2007-06-28T22:17:00.000-06:00

Think Progress notes law professors who point out that, if a crime is being investigated (as opposed to the usual congressional information gathering process), then courts are likely to uphold the subpoenas.

Putting the thoughts of several commenters together, there is a fairly reasonable logic that gets us directly to impeachment. It goes like this:

Warrantless wiretapping was a crime.
The President ordered a crime be committed.
By ordering the crime, the President himself is guilty of the crime.
Forget the subpoenas, move straight to impeachment.

It's time to name a special prosecutor.

UPDATE -- Friday morning. This piece at DKos expands on the subject a bit, and lays out the steps and the players. Go read.

They write letters

2007-06-28T11:28:00.000-06:00

And remain chronically clueless.

Thank you for contacting PBS. We greatly appreciate your interest in
our programming. Like you, PBS recognizes the importance of an informed
and engaged citizenry.

The "All-American Presidential Forums," which are moderated by Tavis
Smiley, is an historic broadcast marking the first time that a panel
exclusively comprised of journalists of color will be represented in
primetime.

Mr. Smiley, along with journalists Michel Martin of National Public
Radio, nationally syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr. and USA Today
and Gannett News Service columnist DeWayne Wickham, will question
candidates on issues ranging from healthcare and housing to Katrina relief,
the economy and the environment, among others.

PBS is proud to offer a live broadcast of this event, which is the
first major opportunity for the candidates to present a detailed discourse
and dialogue on their social agendas.

Regarding your concerns about Dr. Luntz, I would like to clarify that
he is not participating in the forum itself or in the live broadcast of
the event. Rather, Dr. Luntz was selected by Mr. Smiley to obtain
on-the-spot feedback from a group of everyday citizens who will be watching
the forum live at Howard University.

Dr. Luntz will appear as a guest on Mr. Smiley's regularly scheduled
program on Friday evening, accompanied by the 30 people who participated
in the Instant Response focus group to discuss the results of the
study. We have full confidence in Mr. Smiley's abilities to produce an
intelligent, thought-provoking program and in his skills as an interviewer.

I hope you will watch the "All-American Forum" this evening and tune
into the second forum for Republican candidates, which is scheduled to
air in September.

Sincerely,

PBS Viewer Services

And these folks are the subject of endless chain emails sent around by liberals in order to keep PBS in business.

Sometimes, ya gotta wonder . . .

No Clothes

2007-06-28T10:01:00.000-06:00

High-risk emperors.

h/t to Man Eegee for getting it.

Racism

2007-06-28T09:49:00.000-06:00

We still got it. Which I'm sure is no big surprise to those of you who experience it on a regular basis (around here we call it DWB -- Driving While Black).

Ed thinks there's still a case to be made for some occasional gene pool maintenance.

Impeach Now!

2007-06-28T09:24:00.000-06:00

These things take time. Might as well get started. Details here.

Then follow up with the war crimes trials. Maybe we can find an appropriate use for Gitmo after all.