By the power vested in me

I hereby declare today to be

Happy Birthday to Me Day!

The White House issued a statement, saying that the president "couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of" my birthday.

Meanwhile, back in Frostbite Falls.......

Two car bombs in Baghdad on Wednesday killed 28 people and wounded scores more as over 60 bodies were found. In the day's deadliest attack, 20 people died and 51 others were wounded in a car bomb attack against a police patrol in east Baghdad, interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf told AFP (link).

Freedom's on the march, but it just keeps exploding for some reason.

No truer words...

Jon Stewart played this Monday night (reason enough for Tivo) in his montage of W since 9/11. This one came from that December:

"I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah."

Yeah, there's nothing like the re-dedication of the Temple and eight days of oil after a rebellion against the Seleucids to warm the cockles of a Wahhabist Muslim's heart.

Don't know much about history, redux

I have mentioned my history background many times. Although a history major isn't exactly career-focused for the 21st century, I believe a grounding in history is invaluable. You gain an appreciation for other cultures and societies, you develop a contextual structure to analyze and understand world events and are generally prepared to understand a complex modern world--with some glaring exceptions.



College
Yale University, bachelor's degree, history

My Final 9/11 Thought

And it's not even mine--but it's good.

Bill Maher's good too...

New Rule: Bad presidents happen to good people.

 

(9/8 Episode)

Amid all the 9/11 anniversary talk about what will keep us safe, let me suggest that, in a world turned hostile to America, the smartest message we can send to those beyond our shores is, "We're not with stupid."  

 

Therefore, I maintain that ridiculing this president is now the most patriotic thing you can possibly do.  Wait. Let the word go forth to our allies and our enemies alike. Let them know that there's a whole swath of Americans desperate to distance themselves from George Bush. And that's just Republicans running for re-election.  

 

Now, America is an easily misunderstood country these days. A lot of the time, it's hard to make out what we�re saying over the bombs we're dropping. But the world needs to know that most Americans don't think that putting a boot in your ass is the way to solve problems. Because even allowing that my foot lodged in your ass would feel good, which I don't, what then? Okay, my boot is in your ass, but I can't get it out, so I'm not happy. And it's in you, so you're not happy. There's no exit strategy.  

 

If I could - if I could explain one thing about George Bush to the rest of the world, it's this: we don't know what the fuck he's saying either!  Trust me, there's nothing lost in translation! It's just as incoherent in the original English. George Bush just turned out to be one of those things that's very popular for a few years, and then almost overnight becomes completely embarrassing. Like leg-warmers or white people going, "Oh, no, you di-n't."  Or invading Iraq.

 

Honestly, maybe the reason they haven't attacked us again is they figure we're already suffering enough. No, it pains me to say these things because I know, deep down, George Bush has something extra. A chromosome.  Wait, wait, wait. You see, wait. I did that on purpose. Was it cruel? Maybe. But it saved lives, dammit!

 

Because by doing the "extra chromosome" joke, I sent a message to a young Muslim somewhere in the world who is on a slow-burn about this country, and perhaps got him to think, "Huh, maybe the people of America aren't so bad. Maybe it's just that rodeo clown who leads them."  "Maybe the people get it!" We do, Ahmed, we do!!  

 

So, while honoring the anniversary of September, 2001, we must also never forget January, 2000. That's when then governor George Bush said, "I know how hard it is to put food on your family." The world changed on 9/11. He didn't. That's why we owe it to ourselves and to our children to never stop pointing out that George W. Bush is a gruesome boob.

 

Olbermann just does it better

From Crooks and Liars:

I belabor this to emphasize that, for me… this was, and is, and always shall be, personal.
And anyone who claims that I and others like me are "soft", or have "forgotten" the lessons of what happened here — is at best a grasping, opportunistic, dilettante — and at worst, an idiot — whether he is a commentator, or a Vice President, or a President.
[snip]
Five years later… this is still… just a background for a photo-op.
It is beyond shameful.
—
At the dedication of the Gettysburg Memorial — barely four months after the last soldier staggered from another Pennsylvania field, Mr. Lincoln said "we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."
Lincoln used those words to immortalize their sacrifice.
Today our leaders could use those same words to rationalize their reprehensible inaction. "We can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground." So we won’t.
Instead they bicker and buck-pass. They thwart private efforts, and jostle to claim credit for initiatives that go nowhere. They spend the money on irrelevant wars, and elaborate self-congratulations, and buying off columnists to write how good a job they’re doing — instead of doing any job at all.
Five years later, Mr. Bush… we are still fighting the terrorists on these streets. And look carefully, sir — on these 16 empty acres, the terrorists… are clearly, still winning.
And, in a crime against every victim here and every patriotic sentiment you mouthed but did not enact, you have done nothing about it.
—
And there is something worse still than this vast gaping hole in this city, and in the fabric of our nation.
There is, its symbolism — of the promise unfulfilled, the urgent oath, reduced to lazy execution.
The only positive on 9/11 and the days and weeks that so slowly and painfully followed it… was the unanimous humanity, here, and throughout the country. The government, the President in particular, was given every possible measure of support.
Those who did not belong to his party — tabled that.
Those who doubted the mechanics of his election — ignored that.
Those who wondered of his qualifications — forgot that.
History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government, by its critics.
It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation’s wounds, but to take political advantage.
Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.
The President — and those around him — did that.
They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, "bi-partisanship" meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused; as appeasers; as those who, in the Vice President’s words yesterday, "validate the strategy of the terrorists."
They promised protection, and then showed that to them "protection" meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken… a despot who we now learn from our own Senate Intelligence Committee, hated Al-Qaeda as much as we did.
The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had ’something to do’ with 9/11, is "lying by implication."
The impolite phrase, is "impeachable offense."
Not once in now five years has this President ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space… and to this, the current, curdled, version of our beloved country.
Still, there is a last snapping flame from a final candle of respect and fairness: even his most virulent critics have never suggested he alone bears the full brunt of the blame for 9/11.
Half the time, in fact, this President has been so gently treated, that he has seemed not even to be the man most responsible — for anything — in his own administration.
Yet what is happening this very night?
A mini-series, created, influenced — possibly financed by — the most radical and cold of domestic political Machiavellis, continues to be televised into our homes.
The documented truths of the last fifteen years are replaced by bald-faced lies; the talking points of the current regime parroted; the whole sorry story blurred, by spin, to make the party out of office seem vacillating and impotent, and the party in office, seem like the only option.
How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death… after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections… how dare you or those around you… ever "spin" 9/11.
—
[snip]
And then, in perhaps his finest piece of writing, Rod Serling sums it up with words of remarkable prescience, given where we find ourselves tonight.
"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices - to be found only in the minds of men.
"For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own — for the children, and the children yet unborn."
—
When those who dissent are told time and time again — as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus — that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American…
When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"… look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:
Who has left this hole in the ground?
We have not forgotten, Mr. President.
You have.
May this country forgive you.

In the first sentence

"Bush: Good evening. Five years ago, this date — September the 11th — was seared into America's memory."

From the decider's speech tonight.

'Tis a serious day, but one quick dumbass

From Roger W. Peck of Long Grove, Illinois:

When I read some of the letters to this paper I despair for the future of this country. A recent one indicated that terrorists have the right to confront their accusers, see the evidence against them and the right to a speedy trial all in accordance with the Constitution. What the writer fails to grasp is that those rights are guaranteed to all citizens, not suspected terrorists. So unless, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed sneaks across the Mexican border, claims sanctuary in a Chicago church and that his mother is a U.S. citizen, he is entitled to none of the rights under our Constitution. It's sad when people are more concerned with the rights of terrorists than protecting this country from them.

I suggest that Roger should take a look at his constitution. The 4th amendment search and seizure provisions apply to "people," not "citizens." The 5th amendment due process/self-incrimination guarantees refer to "persons" as well, again, not "citizens" and the 6th, concerning confronting witnesses and rights to counsel, applies to ALL criminal prosecutions. Similarly, with regard to state action, the 14th also applies to "persons," not "citizens."

Roger, one quick suggestion:

Some ponderances

I wasn't going to write anything about today, but I find that the memories are still too fresh, too vivid, to be put away once they surface. I don't celebrate today, as the President does, and I'm not wearing a black armband or carrying candles. People of all generations have their own cultural watershed events, things which changed the world forever. To me, there are two which stand out above all others, one because of the euphoria and positive future which lay open before us - the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the other is September 11. I was in my dorm Lounge for the fall of the Berlin Wall, sitting on those nasty cubes that stuck together as furniture. I was roughly 1000 miles to the east on 9/11/01. This is not the anniversary of the only tragedy that befalls us, and there are many other horrors worth remembering. On the other hand, I'm not letting Liar McFuckwit and his band of merry murderers take away my memories with their wars and their hate and their lies. I've talked before about that point, so I won't belabor it here.

I was living in Poughkeepsie, NY that year, teaching some very over-pampered brats at Vassar College, and my girlfriend lived in Bloomfield, NJ, while doing an ER residency in Newark. That semester, I didn't have classes on Tuesday, and I had gone out to a movie the night before (The Others) and then crashed at her place, waiting for her to come home from work. The plan was that she would sleep a little while, and then we'd hang out that afternoon. Soon after she got home from work, I went out to the grocery store to get some food for breakfast. I turned on the car radio, which had been on ESPN the night before, and heard Tony Kornheiser talking about the attack on the Pentagon. It was somewhat garbled, and I didn't really get what he was talking about, so I turned on one of the news stations. They were talking about the planes that hit the World Trade Center. The towers had not yet collapsed, and I didn't really understand what was going on - someone was really confused, mixing up the Pentagon and the WTC - after all, both couldn't have been attacked at the same time, so I went into the store and shopped. No one was talking about what I'd heard on the radio, so I figured it must not have been that big of a story. Of course, what it really meant was that the news was too fresh for everyone to have gotten it.

Driving back in the car, I listened to the news some more, and got back in time to turn on the TV and see the first tower fall. I woke my girlfriend up, telling her what had happened. She thought I was kidding, since it was an absurdity, and I was just trying to prevent her from sleeping. Eventually, she came out to the living room and saw the TV, and immediately started getting ready to go back to work. The page to come in came minutes later, since everyone thought there would be lots and lots of injured, and the NYC hospitals would be overwhelmed, sending the overflow to New Jersey. No one knew that there wouldn't be injured. She left for work, and I got in my car to drive home.

I could see the smoke rising from lower Manhattan. The towers stood roughly 10 miles from Bloomfield, which seems far with traffic. It's less with smoke. I drove up to Poughkeepsie, listening to the radio, trying to process what had happened. By now, we knew of the fourth plane, but everything else was chaos. Once I got home, I couldn't stay home alone - this was something I needed to be around others for. Most people weren't in work that day - classes had been cancelled, and many of the people at Vassar had strong New York connections. So I went on the computer, and spent much of the day on a now-long gone message board by the name of Boufdot and on email, talking to everyone I could. The Red Cross started up websites for donations, and a friend of mine figured out how to grab the numbers from Amazon's page and output a graph of the total donations versus time. The generosity of the world was stunning that day, as was the unity that seemed to be everywhere - we had to reach out in all directions, because we all needed help. The next day in class, I was supposed to go over projectile motion, and I was using military examples - hitting targets wth missiles. Somehow that seemed wrong to me. Still does.

The fall of the Berlin Wall meant a major change in the world - for 40+ years, we'd lived under the threat, sometimes more real than at others, that those Russian bastards would nuke us in our beds. My students today know nothing of this, thinking (if at all) of nuclear war as something as ancient as Dr. Strangelove. The attacks on September 11 could have opened the door to a wonderful time, where we came together to attack the ills of society that lead to terrorism, rather than to start a war, where we focused on what connects us instead of what divides us. We have been led astray by fear and hate. By greed and lies. By the willingness to make others suffer so that a few could thrive. We sacrifice what makes us, in principle, a great country.

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

And did they get you trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange
a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?

How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl,
year after year,
Running over the same old ground. What have we found?
The same old fears, wish you were here. - Roger Waters

As Predicted

You know, I just hate to say "I told you so."

But I told you so.

NBC: Eli vs. Peyton: 20.7 million viewers
ABC: Scaife vs. Clinton: 13 million viewers

Source.

Res ipsa loquitur.

One thought about today's date

I am not "commemorating" or observing this anniversary any more than I would note another orbit of the earth passing since any other high-profile crime, such as those perpetrated by the Jeffrey Dahmers and Timothy McVeighs of the world. I also think we are no more at war with "terror' than we are at war with skinhead bombers or drifter-eating psychopaths.

I did see one thing in passing that made my skin crawl, however. Granted, it is a Wiki thing, and as we all know, anyone can post to Wikipedia, but try this one on for size:

Patriot Day

In the United States, Patriot Day occurs on September 11 of each year, designated in memory of those who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks. However, the name does not seem to have yet caught on in the American vernacular; most people still refer to the day as "September 11th", "9/11", or some variation thereof. U.S. House Joint Resolution 71 was approved by a vote of 407-0 on October 25, 2001. It requested that the President designate September 11 of each year as "Patriot Day." President George W. Bush signed the resolution into law on December 18, 2001 (as Public Law 107-89). It is a discretionary day of remembrance.....Some greeting card companies have released Patriot Day cards, causing controversy among some.

Good God. What's next? Carols?

Happy holidays...happy holidays...may the merry bells be bringin' happy holidays to you!

Today's visit from Mr. Dictionary

Today's word---

Plan
–(noun) a scheme or method of acting, doing, proceeding, making, developed in advance: battle plans; a specific project or definite purpose: plans for the future.

--(verb) to arrange a method or scheme beforehand for any work, enterprise, or proceeding; to formulate a scheme or program for the accomplishment, enactment, or attainment of: plan a campaign.

Iraq post-war plan muzzled
Army Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, an early planner of the war, tells about challenges of invasion and rebuilding.

BY STEPHANIE HEINATZ

September 8, 2006 FORT EUSTIS -- Months before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forbade military strategists from developing plans for securing a post-war Iraq, the retiring commander of the Army Transportation Corps said Thursday. In fact, said Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, Rumsfeld said "he would fire the next person" who talked about the need for a post-war plan.......

"The secretary of defense continued to push on us ... that everything we write in our plan has to be the idea that we are going to go in, we're going to take out the regime, and then we're going to leave," Scheid said. "We won't stay."Scheid said the planners continued to try "to write what was called Phase 4," or the piece of the plan that included post-invasion operations like occupation.Even if the troops didn't stay, "at least we have to plan for it," Scheid said."I remember the secretary of defense saying that he would fire the next person that said that," Scheid said. "We would not do planning for Phase 4 operations, which would require all those additional troops that people talk about today."He said we will not do that because the American public will not back us if they think we are going over there for a long war."

Gee, I wonder why?

"One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror."
The Emperor, clothing optional

Why I Love Neil Young

If you have a few minutes to spare, take a quick trip to this link.

Turns out that Neil Young still has a little zip in his fastball.

This Might Surprise You

Let me offer another viewpoint on the "Path To 9/11" kerfuffle:

It's not a big deal.

Now, I'm not here to defend the veracity or quality of this thing; that's impossible because I haven't seen it. I have only second- and third-hand recaps. That said, all those who are busy debunking it and protesting loudly are people I respect, and they have their hearts in the right place. I'm sure this "movie" would make Goebbels proud. I am willing to stipulate that it is a thuggish right-wing hatchet job, unfair, inaccurate, and, worst of all, disrespectful to the memory of the many who died that day. OK? OK.

But it doesn't really matter. Here's why.

1. Not that many people are going to watch it. Far, far more people are going to watch Eli and Peyton Manning tonight, and even the lame games on ESPN tomorrow night will outrate this thing.
2. Those who will watch it are a lost cause already. This is a classic exercise in preaching to the choir. Some of the 30% hardcore wingnut base will watch it (those who aren't watching football), but they've already anointed Chimpoleon king for life in their hearts, and have been using Clinton bumwipe for 10 years. And I've seen a lot of earnest handwringing about how the stupid/ignorant out there who don't read books or newspapers will watch it, and be swayed to the GOP. Putting the shameful elitism of that sentiment aside for a moment, does anyone really think the dimwit crowd hasn't already been buffaloed by these yahoos? How can this make it worse, in real terms, at the polls?
3. It's bad. According to TV critics nationally, it's an amateurish pile of dung, and anyone who isn't drunk on kool-aid is likely to tune out after 30 minutes and not come back. Look, the presence of a talentless hack like Patricia Heaton is all you need to know. I can smell it from here. Conservatives have never been successful in the arts; try to name two. The most critical quality of an artist is empathy, some kind of understanding of the human condition. It follows trivially that Conservatives lack empathy and therefore cannot create good art. QED.
4. I believe ABC/Disney does have First Amendment protection here. Pete asked who the first wingnut would be to bring this up; I guess I'm a wingnut now. I'm not a constitutional lawyer, but I don't see where the First Amendment means you have to tell the truth. They can do this. Now, we can respond by boycotting Disney and all their properties (I've been looking for a good reason to quit watching "Lost"), and those who have standing can sue for defamation. From what I'm reading, Clinton and Albright might do exactly that. But I don't see where this violates the "shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater" test. Tacky, stupid, evil, bad? Yes. Illegal? Not in my America, thanks. The solution to bad free speech must ALWAYS be more free speech, not less. I'm kind of a hardliner on this one.

Normally, I'd just keep my yapper shut and move on, but I'm worried about all the energy being spent on this when the most important midterm election since the Depression is only 9 weeks away. People are taking their eye off the ball. This is going to be completely forgotten in 5 days.

One last thought on this is that this is nowhere near the worst abuse by a TV network in recent memory. I call to your attention the evening of the 2000 election, when Jack Welch, CEO of GE (the parent of NBC) and an outright bitch of Chimpoleon, called the news desk and demanded that they call Florida for Bush, shifting the momentum to Bush and the burden of proof to Al Gore. How'd that work out for us? Read Henry Waxman's op-ed in the LA Times on the matter.

I humbly submit that that single act was infinitely more damaging to the long term health of our Republic than the airing of a badly made, revisionist made-for-TV movie.

Through the Looking Glass--with Condi

Rice on Face the Nation: "As far as we know," Saddam had no knowledge of or role in the September 11 plot BUT "if you think that 9/11 was just about al-Qaida and the hijackers, then there's no connection to Iraq. But if you believe, as the president does and as I believe, that the problem is this ideology of hatred that has taken root, extremist ideology that has taken root in the Middle East, and that you have to go to the source and do something about the politics of that region."

So if you think that 9/11 was only about what really happened on 9/11, and the source of extremist ideology was a secular nation that saw extremists as a threat to them......

"There was a book lying near Alice on the table, and while she sat watching the White King (for she was still a little anxious about him, and had the ink all ready to throw over :him, in case he fainted again), she turned over the leaves, to find some part that she could read," -- for it's all in some language I don't know, she said to herself--- [insert the above Bush-Speak here instead of Jabberwocky, although I think `'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe' read backwards makes more sense than George and Condi] She puzzled over this for some time, but at last a bright thought struck her. "Why, it's a looking-glass book of course! And if I hold it up to a glass, the words will all go the right way again!"

"Bring out [some of] yer dead!"

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. officials, seeking a way to measure the results of a program aimed at decreasing violence in Baghdad, aren't counting scores of dead killed in car bombings and mortar attacks as victims of the country's sectarian violence.

In a distinction previously undisclosed, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said Friday that the United States is including in its tabulations of sectarian violence only deaths of individuals killed in drive-by shootings or by torture and execution. That has allowed U.S. officials to boast that the number of deaths from sectarian violence in Baghdad declined by more than 52 percent in August over July.

Remarkable. If you don't reality--re-define it.

"Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past."
George Orwell

Chief Illiniwek Quits in Disgust

Embarrassing Loss Prompts Move
Chief: "The hell with this, I'm taking that casino gig!"

(Local Fake Wires) Chief Illiniwek, embattled symbol of the University of Illinois, resigned unexpectedly Saturday afternoon. His departure, while expected at the end of the season due to NCAA pressure, was appararently prompted by the dismal performance of the team in Saturday's 33-0 loss. The chief stated, "you want me to dance in buckskins and bare feet in November when we can't even get the ball over midfield against [expletive deleted] Rutgers? RUTGERS? The hell with this, I'm taking that casino gig!"

Sources close to the chief report that he has agreed to a two-year contract to serve as a greeter at an undisclosed Native American casino in Wisconsin, and will offer a "Chief-ercize" dance class at the casino's hotel spa.

Chief Illiniwek, in Happier Times

Another Victory for Mockudrama

On the cover of the Chicago Tribune's "TV WEEK" is found a free advertisment for the abortion that will be "The Path to 9/11." The cover copy reads:

ABC airs factual mini-series that points fingers and names names.

------------------------------------------------

The accompanying article, written by Zap2it's journalistic heavyweight Jacqueline Cutler, never mentions the controversy surrounding the project, and IMO NOT because of the early deadline necessitated for Sunday inserts (as Internet and print sources have been clamoring about this for weeks - not days). This piece is designed to be read by Idiot America - the sheep who never read the Perspective or Op/Ed pages, who grow weary of "controversy." They need their faux history spoon-fed to them. These are the same lemmings who get their "world travel" fix by visiting paper-mache recreations of Lake Como, Venice, Paris, NY, and Rio...

I had high hopes for a Democratic takeover of the legislative branch of the government, but those hopes are fading fast in the face of the mainstream media's efforts to support the status quo. The nuance of what ACTUALLY happened in the months and years of build-up to 9/11 has no chance when put up against "intrepid FBI agent John O'Neill" (a fictional character played by Harvey Keitel) "who since the first bombing of the Twin Towers was determined to nab Osama bin Laden."

The Press is on

Cheney on MTP

Condi on Face the Nation

Sigh.

Should I have a shot of conspiracy?

I know what I'm doing on Monday--I have a deadline to get the updated edition of one of my page-turning books off (I think I want Brad Pitt to play "Audit Committee"). Even if I wasn't under an editorial deadline, though, I would have no desire to wade through all the crap that day will produce on the glowing box.

I have not yet come to my conspiracy theory conclusion. There are many unanswered questions--why weren't fighters scrambled? (they were when Payne Stewart's plane became the deep freeze?) Why are there no pictures of a plane about to hit THE PENTAGON--one of the most secure buildings on the planet? And, excuse me for asking--where are the planes?

But when I return to rationality, I recall that this is the most incompetent bunch of bungling boobs to ever take up residence on that end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Everything they have touched has turned to crap, disaster after disaster. There is no way these ham-handed buffoons could have pulled this off--right? Right?

Damn tough to argue with that one

From Matt Taibbi over on Alternet. He is pointing out how Democrats feel comfortable attacking Rummy but cannot find their voice on the war in general:

A typical comment will be one like Chuck Schumer's of last week: "There are growing doubts about how competently he's conducted the war." (How do you competently invade the wrong country?)

Good point, Matt.

Don't know much about history

You know how I find humor in the letters to the editor. Today, I was just angered. It is this kind of idiocy and the fact that Retard America reads at a 7th-grade level that has allowed the muck we see around us today to happen. Today's genius, Bill McCabe of Arlington Heights, gives us this gem:

Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman’s recent assertion is that comparisons between Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein are basically foolish. I disagree. There are many parallels between the two.

Rewind to the 1930s. Hitler’s Third Reich was already well positioned for "success." Back here in the States, the position of the U.S. people was exactly the way it was against Hussein three years ago. In a nutshell, we felt, "Yes, he’s a crazy, brutal dictator who brutalizes innocent people, but he’s halfway around the world and he’s not our problem."

Sound familiar? Meanwhile, while going ignored by the superpower U.S. and forging very strong alliances with nations with powerful armies, he slowly but surely started to absorb France, Austria, Poland, etc. By the time the U.S. got involved, we had a real mess on our hands that cost tens of thousands of U.S. lives.

Fast forward to the ’80s and ’90s and we see Hussein attacking countries that border Iraq. No he wasn’t as successful initially as Hitler at growing his empire, but with the war on terror growing, so were his supporters. Even the man in charge of Iraq’s weapons program noted it was only a matter of time before a large arsenal of globally dangerous weapons would have been created. Chapman shouldn’t be so shortsighted as to assume that there aren’t any valid comparisons between Hussein and Hitler. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

Mr. McCabe's ignorance of history is appalling.

There is no comparison between pre-World War II and the runup to this disaster in Iraq.

Germany was an industrial power that was arming at a time when much of the rest of the world was both retreating from militarization after the horrors of World War I and crippled by depression. Iraq had fought Iran with our full encouragement and in response to the Iranian regime's support of Iraqi Shi'a uprisings, and invaded Kuwait again with our misguided blessing. While by no means justified, Iraq's action against Kuwait was understandable--Kuwait was pulling from Iraqi oil fields and was overproducing, driving crude prices down at a time when Iraq needed oil revenues to recover from the costs of the Iran war.

At the end of the 1st gulf war, and then through sanctions, Iraq's military was gutted and its economy in shambles. The U.S. and Britain flew daily missions over much of the country, with extensive satellite surveillance. On the eve of World War II, Germany was a fully industrialized, armed and expansionistic state. Iraq was crippled and ruled by a tinhorn dictator who, no matter how oppressive to his people, posed no threat to the United States.

That was what those of us who opposed war knew then--the fact that he was "halfway around the world" played no part. Mr. McCabe, those who misunderstand history are condemned to screw it up completely.

Apparently, some of the movie is accurate

From the Sun Times' review of "The Path to 9/11" (that notoriously liberal leftist rag):

Key scenes draw flak as false or misleading

More than 25,000 people have written to ABC to complain about "The Path to 9/11," penned by Cyrus Nowrasteh, whom Rush Limbaugh calls a friend. On Thursday, Bill Clinton's office called for ABC to "fully correct all errors or pull the drama entirely."

James Bamford, an author who writes about national security agencies, told MSNBC an FBI agent hired as an adviser on "Path" quit halfway through production "because he thought they were making things up."

ABC's defense: "The movie contains fictionalized scenes, composite and representative characters and dialogue, and time compression. No one has seen the final version of the film because the editing process is not yet complete, so criticisms of film specifics are premature and irresponsible."

Most of the furor concerns a few key scenes.

Scene: The CIA and Northern Alliance come within killing distance of Osama bin Laden, but former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger is portrayed saying they don't have the presidential authority to kill. ABC reportedly has toned down this scene in recent days.

Reaction: None of that happened, according to the film's senior adviser, Thomas Kean, a Republican who chaired the 9/11 Commission. He admits the scene is a "composite," as are some agents in the film.

"It's utterly invented," President Bush's former terrorism czar Richard Clarke said this week.

"No such episode ever occurred -- nor did anything like it," Berger wrote to ABC. "In no instance did President Clinton or I ever fail to support a request from the CIA or U.S. military to authorize an operation against bin Laden or al-Qaida."

...

Scene: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other Bush officials are shown taking no action at pivotal moments when terrorists may have been stopped.

Reaction: Bush officials have not complained to ABC.

Inspired by a comment here

Honest, your honor - I'm not lying. What I said was a just enhanced for dramatic impact. It was a docufact factudrama.

How long will it take?

The blogosphere is rife with rumors that ABC is considering damage control and pulling its mock-umentary. What is the over/under for how long it takes a right-wing radio host/TV newsbot to say "I thought you libs supported free speech?"

Ballotting

I was looking at the Champaign County ballot for the November 7 election (60 days away), and I ran across two referenda that we will be voting on. I don't know if they're statewide, or what meaning they have, but I'll sure as hell support them:

Proposition That The United States Withdraw Military Personnel And Bases From Iraq

In order to halt the continuing loss of human life and resources necessary to meet human needs at home, shall the United States commence a[n] humane, orderly, rapid and comprehensive withdrawal of United States military personnel and bases from Iraq?

Proposition To Request The House Of Representatives To Impeach George W. Bush

Shall our representative to the U.S. House of Representatives be asked to support the impeachment of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney from office for misleading our nation to war with Iraq, for permitting the illegal use of torture, and for conducting domestic spying on U.S. citizens in violation of the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act?

Extra! Extra!

Senate report finds no Hussein, al Qaeda link. Wow, who'd have thought that? And it only took them 3+ years. I hear the intelligence committee has also confirmed that the earth is round and the Pope is Catholic. Those guys are GOOD.

An open letter to Senator Mitchell, Chairman of Disney

Dear Senator Mitchell:

It is highly unlikely that there has been a more poignant event in recent American memory than the events which took place on September 11, 2001. Undoubtedly, it is safe to say that for those who were alive and aware of the events on that day, everyone will be able to remember where they were when it happened and the numbing feeling that surrounded the whole event. The outpouring of emotion and sympathy on the global stage was unprecedented

While things that happen day-to-day may be caught up in winds of partisanship, what must be kept cold and objective is history and the lens through which we view it. To distort history is to do a disservice to those who remember the past and those who teach it in the present. How can we expect to teach future generations about the past if the lessons they are presented are distorted and inaccurate? Worse, after sufficient time passes and such fallacies are propagated, who will remain to refute them? Furthermore, who will even care for their refutation as we move further away?

The Walt Disney Company, through its ABC subsidiary, is scheduled to air the two-part series “The Path to 9/11” this weekend as we approach the fifth anniversary of September 11, 2001. Anniversaries are certainly causes for remembrances, but those of milestone nature (first, and, I would give you, subsequent ones which occur in the future on multiples of the fifth or tenth occasion) have a greater buzz and interest.

It has been made clear through the media that this project is fraught with historical inaccuracies and appears to have been challenged as such from the start.

• While allegedly having been based on the 9/11 Commission’s report, it appears that the writer, who has a long and distinguished history in conservative circles, manipulated elements to paint the previous administration in a poor and false light and promote a view of the current events in Iraq that is not in step with the truth.
• It has been reported that an FBI consultant quit midway through the filming because of the deviation that the project was taking from the true historical account.
• The project has gone from being a “documentary” to a “docudrama” to one in which ABC management has acknowledged that production liberties were taken.
• The selective releasing of advanced copies for screening and review to only those outlets who eschew a negative view of President Clinton’s administration and, quite frankly, the more liberal elements of the population, have added fuel to the fire.
• Disclaimers aside, it is very difficult to produce a ‘historical account’ when fiction is applied.

Senator Mitchell, mine is likely not the only voice which has been raised in protest. With a little over forty-eight hours until the program is to begin, it is unlikely that the necessary wholesale changes which must be made to this production to bring it in line with the 9/11 Commission’s Report can be made. Yes, it causes a tremendous gap in your programming in two, key primetime slots during day being billed as momentous in its remembrance by anyone with a microphone or camera.

But isn’t insuring that it is done right more important than putting forth something that could damage the reputations of a host of household brands? ABC News lost one the greatest and most respected broadcasters of our time, Peter Jennings, not very long along. Bob Woodruff was critically injured visiting a war in a country that never should have taken place. What kind of news event would it be when someone reported about the deliberate misrepresentation of such a key part of our nation’s history?

Please do the right thing. Please make this go away.

Sincerely,

And for no additional fee, they'll poke a sharp stick in your eye

While everyone's focused on the debacle that is ABC, CNN.com has come up with it's own wonderful way to commemorate 9/11 on Monday. Starting at 7:30 am central time, they're going to stream their coverage from the day of the attacks. Relive every wonderful minute! It'll be just like it was on that happy, glorious day!

Rumors are that they're also starting up services where your former romantic partners will call you and remind you why they dumped you, former employers will show up at your house and fire you again, and funeral directors will disinter the remains of loved ones and plop them on your couch.

An Inconvenient Untruth

I'm sure most of you have heard about ABC's 9/11 "mock-udrama" that paints Bill Clinton as a close seond in villainy to Osama bin Laden in bringing about the attacks. I wrote to the local ABC affiliate, and got this form crap back:

"The Path to 9/11 is a dramatization, not a documentary, drawn from a variety of sources, including the 9/11 commission report, other published materials and from personal interviews. The events that lead to 9/11 originally sparked great debate, so it's not surprising that a movie surrounding those events has revived the debate. The attacks were a pivotal moment in our history that should never be forgotten and it's fitting that the discussion continues."

Bullshit. Dramatization? Fine. Nobody cared if Titanic got the history wrong in its breathless "dramatization" ("Jack..Rose..Jack..Rose...Jack...Rose"). Nobody really cares if you make crap up for the People Magazine crowd (cut to a blushing Lady Diana Spencer, "whatever will the queen think?")

But damn it, we DO care when your "mock-umentary" fictionalizes real, painful and important events in very recent history for partisan advantage, and attempts to fraudulently re-write history. Or at least I care, and I hope you do too. But then again, America will probably watch--and believe (see below)

Birds of a feather....

Pollster Pleads Guilty to Fraud (link)

The owner of DataUSA Inc., a company that conducted political polls for the campaigns of President Bush, Sen. Joe Lieberman and other candidates, pleaded guilty to fraud for making up survey and poll results.

Tracy Costin pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Costin, 46, faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when she is sentenced Nov. 30.

As part of her plea agreement, Costin agreed to repay $82,732 to the unidentified clients for 11 jobs between June 2002 and May 2004. DataUSA is now known as Viewpoint USA.

According to a federal indictment, Costin told employees to alter poll data, and managers at the company told employees to "talk to cats and dogs" when instructing them to fabricate the surveys......

A Tale of Two Georges

Yesterday, a federal judge sentenced former Illinois governor George Ryan to a 6 1/2 year prison term for various aspects of fraud and graft (for reasons unknown to this humble correspondent, federal prison terms are phrased in months--"I was expecting 10 years, but I got off easy, only 120 months!). Also yesterday, President Bush admitted to illegal and morally shocking conduct--torture and secret prisons.

In this morning's Chicago Tribune, the editorial page pilloried Ryan. The editorial called him a "blustery denier" and pointed out that "[b]ad things happened on his watch. The piece asked "without genuine contrition, is compassion what a criminal deserves?"

Yet, in the same section, in a piece labeled as "analysis," the Tribune's Michael Tackett applauds the president's "air of defiance" and says how his justifications "had an air of authority." He concludes that Bush "showed he still has a sense of the bold."

I am not apologizing for George Ryan--he engaged in graft all too typical of Illinois politics, and the conduct of the Secretary of State's office endangered Illinois drivers. The editorial, however, attributes 9 deaths to George Ryan. The other George can claim tens or hundreds of thousands of dead, while promising, or threatening, to "stay the course."

Who really is the "blustery denier?"

It's not all beer and skittles....

No, no, not THOSE skittles--I mean the old phrase deriving from an English bowling game popular in the pubs. It means that life isn't all laughter and good cheer, such as...below (one day's reporting from Reuters):

BAGHDAD - Two people were killed and eight wounded when a bomb exploded near a funeral tent in Amel area in southwestern Baghdad. People had gathered there to mark the death of a supporter of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the Interior Ministry said.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed eight people and wounded 38 in northern Baghdad's Qahira district, police said. An Interior Ministry source who quoted hospital tallies said six people were killed in the bomb blast and 46 wounded.

BAGHDAD - Police found the bodies of 19 people across Baghdad on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry source said. Some of them had been bound and blindfolded.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi police found a further 15 bodies throughout Baghdad on Wednesday, most were bound, blindfold with some showing signs of torture, police said.

SINJAR - A car bomb killed six members of Iraq's border police and wounded six others in the northern town of Sinjar, close to the Syrian border, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed two people from the Yezidi religious minority in the northern city of Mosul, police said. It was not clear whether they were targeted because of their beliefs.

MAHMUDIYA - Mortars killed two people and wounded six when they landed on a main road in the violent town of Mahmudiya, just south of Baghdad, police said.

Woo-hoo!

We handed over control of the Iraqi military to the puppet show Iraqi government! Woo-hoo! We're makin' progress! Hard work, stay the course, makin' progress!

Oh wait--it appears that we can't turn over control of the death squads Iraqi Army quite yet, but never fear! The puppet show Iraqi government is now in complete control of the Iraqi navy:


and the air force:


Progress...hard work...stay the course...

Another one for the woodchipper

I am a creature of habit. Every day I take the same route to work and several times a year I take the family up to northern Michigan, using the same route over and over again. So nearly every day of the year I see the same memorials. Crosses that have been erected, I suppose, to mark the death site. Aside from musing as to why I never see stars of David or crescents at these memorial sites (neither Jews nor Muslims ever die along these routes??) I have wondered at the motivation behind constructing and maintaining these memorials (some have been in place for at least 15 years). Often, there were flowers at these sites, and by and by they died, and I found the image of dead flowers both sad and apropos. One memorial had prayer votives burning for weeks, while another featured a color picture of a young man, posing in his 8th grade graduation gown. But our weather beat it up and someone (or some force) removed it. Now there's just a weatherbeaten cross to mark the spot.

The wife and I have speculated as to the original intent of these memorials, and we have agreed that it was clearly part of a grieving process. We also agree that this original purpose over time has been superseded by the cautionary impact of these memorials. Someone (or in a few cases, two or three people) died here, perhaps because of a drunk driver, perhaps because conditions were bad, perhaps, because of careless or reckless behavior. So, while I doubt I'd ever construct such a memorial myself, I can rationalize a positive effect.

Last week a house fire snuffed out the lives of six children on the far north side of Chicago. Those of us who live here in the area have endured saturation coverage of this horrific event, and as the father of smallish children, I have refocused my attention to details like smoke detector batteries, home escape routes, keeping open flames to a minimum and flammable materials out of their reach. And of course, there is the inevitable memorial at the site of the fire. Tuesday's (9/5) Chicago Tribune featured a large full color photograph (registration required) of the memorial and I was struck immediately by the utter stupidity of at least one human being. There suspended on a wrought iron fence, hovering above the flowers and the potted plants was the single most disgusting and senseless contribution I've seen since Willie "Flukey" Stokes was buried in a Cadillac coffin -- a helium filled Tweety Bird.

Yes, that's right - Tweety Bird.

Now, I've seen teddy bears and other stuffed animals at these sites, and while I find them tacky, I can see them having a future existence in a pediatric hospital unit or perhaps kept by other family members as a reminder of a loved one.

But Tweety Bird?

I showed the photo to the wife and she immediately asked whose birthday was being celebrated. When I showed her the caption, she cringed.

"That's just awful."

We speculated that perhaps it was purchased by a child, and this could be forgiven, as children don't process death as adults do. But then I realized that an adult had to be involved in the process - had to accompany the child to the store to buy Tweety, bring the child to the site, tie Tweety to the fence. It affected me even more viscerally than reading the words of the woman who thought to senselessly rationalize the deaths of a Naperville, IL woman, her two infant sons and her mother because "God had a higher purpose for them in Heaven."

Six young lives lost in an inferno, a family shattered, a mother and father grieving, and the best this supposed adult can do is tie a celebratory cartoon character to wrought iron fence? Please, please, please - whoever you are - go straight to the woodchipper.

Thomas Jefferson, Colonio-fascist

Jefferson: "...for the preservation of our liberties being with one mind we are resolved to die free rather than live slaves."

Osama bin Laden (via Preznit Chimpy) "death is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers among us."


[note to Preznit Chimpy--bin Laden was referring to FOREIGN TROOPS on ISLAMIC lands, not you in Crawford doing...whatever.]

We've finally figured out W's thought process

If we don't let the terrorists win, then the terrorists win.

Keeping an eye on the important things

Hat-tip to the Daily Kos:

The Transportation Security Administration has a webpage where they list what sorts of things you can bring on an airplane, what needs to be checked, what can go in a carry-on, etc.

They have a section for Makeup & Personal Items.

Everything in the list is permissible in checked luggage, but there are distinctions for carry-ons. For example, you cannot put mouthwash, toothpaste, Blistex, Neosporin, shampoo, or bottles of saline solution larger than 4 oz in your carry-on bags. You can bring nail clippers, though, which is a relief. Oh, and one more thing.

Personal lubricants (up to 4 oz) can be put in a carry on bag.

So, remember, if you're flying somewhere for that long-distance booty call, you have to check the toothbrush and Blistex, but the KY Jelly can go right in your pocket for easy access.

I feel safer already.

The great ideological struggle of the 21st century

The epic struggle is a few loose-screw religious leaders playing off disaffected, alienated 20-somethings who would be playing video games--if they had electricity??
I am so tired of this nonsense. It is historically inaccurate, sociologically offensive and it is INSULTING. Yes, it is insulting to suggest that the nation which stared down the Soviet Union should feel a pervasive fear of kids who here would be hanging around the 7-11 parking lot. It is cowardly and despicable.

I don't want to minimize the real threat of acts of terror--crime is everywhere. But as Doc Magoo said below, I'm not afraid. There are many clashes of ideology to come--free versus fair trade, environmentalism and consumerism, wealth and poverty--but some guys in a basement with some wire and cleaning supplies aren't it.

For two excellent pieces, read this one from Joshua Holland and this one from tompaine.com.

How football leads to global warming

Well, not directly. I was reading Tuesday Morning Quarterback on ESPN.com, written by Gregg Easterbrook, and he posted a link to an article he wrote for the Brookings Institution:

"Here's the short version of everything you need to know about global warming. First, the consensus of the scientific community has shifted from skepticism to near-unanimous acceptance of the evidence of an artificial greenhouse effect. Second, while artificial climate change may have some beneficial effects, the odds are we're not going to like it. Third, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases may turn out to be much more practical and affordable than currently assumed.

This brief will address the three points above and, in an appendix, offer non-jargon explanations of the most important recent findings of greenhouse science. But the pressing point of this briefing is not so much scientific as it is practical—that action against artificial global warming may not prove nearly as expensive or daunting as commonly believed. Greenhouse gases are an air pollution problem, and all air pollution problems of the past have cost significantly less to fix than projected, while declining faster than expected. This gives cause to hope that artificial greenhouse gases can be controlled reasonably cheaply and without wrenching sacrifices to the global economy. And if there is a chance of an economical approach to greenhouse-gas reduction, then what are we waiting for? Let's start now."

An Inadvertant Truth

On the transition page from the U.S. House website to the National Archives' record of the Constitution:

"Neither the House office whose site contains the above link, nor the U.S. House of Representatives is responsible for the content of the non-House site you are about to access."

Neoconservatism and Fear

Pete points out in one of his recent posts that Sean Hannity is afraid of what will happen if Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker of the House. Not worried, not concerned, not uneasy, but afraid. When I heard that the other day, it got me thinking about the number of things that neocons are afraid of - Nancy Pelosi, gay marriage, brown people, terrorism, losing, fair elections - and I began feeling sorry for them, that they go through their lives with this much fear. As a liberal, I know that the only thing I have to fear is fear itself, and so while there are legitimate dangers in the world - terrorism, a repeal of the 22nd amendment, global warming - I know that it's better to focus on solutions to these problems than to run around being afraid all the time. How horrible that must be, to be scared of everything, to live in a world where you don't feel protected unless everything that scares you is secreted away, hidden behind a wall, or just put out of existence. Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, and all the rest, bluster because they, for whatever reason, are scared all the time - they can't bear to think about what happens if people with different values are accepted in society. They're too scared about losing their comforts to try to limit the damage that humanity is doing to the planet. They're terrified of everyone else, and the only sure way to be safe is to get rid of everyone else.

Not sharing their fear makes my life better each and every day.

From the "mind" of Sean Hannity

This is the moment to say that there are things in life worth fighting and dying for and one of them is.............. (drum roll)

"MAKING SURE NANCY PELOSI DOESN'T BECOME THE SPEAKER."

The results of the mid-term elections are worth KILLING and DYING for? Nancy Pelosi inspires sufficient fear for Sean to urge taking up arms? (for others, I'm sure, not him)

Wow. Cue "Battle Hym of the Morons."

Alex, may I have "Bad Analogies" for $100?

Enough with the historical analogies, please. We have fascism and totalitarianism tossed around by people who either don't know or don't care what those terms mean, and now Condi compares leaving Iraq with leaving slavery intact in the South. What's next, is GWB a 21st-century Alexander Nevsky fighting off the Teutonic Knights at the Battle on the Ice to save Novgorod? Maybe somewhere in this mess is an apt reference to the War of Jenkins' Ear, who knows?

Condi said that "I'm sure there are people who thought it was a mistake to fight the Civil War to its end and to insist that the emancipation of slaves would hold." Rice added that "I know there were people who said, 'Why don't we get out of this now, take a peace with the South, but leave the South with slaves?'"

Yes, there were many pacifists who wanted to let the "erring sisters" depart in peace. The vast majority of the inhabitants of the Union states, including one Abraham Lincoln, would have been quite satisfied to " take a peace with the South, but leave the South with slaves" through mid-1862, if that "peace" included restoration of the union. Emancipation was not a war objective at the outset, Lincoln very clearly stated that his only goal was to preserve and maintain the union. Lincoln, who had strong personal feelings on the matter, seized on emancipation as federal policy as a war measure intended to weaken the southern states in a variety of ways.

This experience is hardly comparable to occupying a sovereign country invaded on pretense while propping up a puppet "government" with no claim to legitimacy or sovereignty. But look on the bright side, at least she mentioned "civil war!"

Exactly what is a ...

"Tola-tera-tera-to-totalitarian?"

I don't know either, but the president says they're BAD!

I'm not making the above up, that is from his recent wordsmithing on "turr."

A Visit with Mr. Dictionary Man

Good evening, boys and girls. Here are two new words from the dictionary. The first is:

VICTORY (vic-to-ry)
–noun, plural -ries.

1. a success or triumph over an enemy in battle or war; 2. an engagement ending in such triumph; 3) the ultimate and decisive superiority in any battle or contest:

Isn't that a happy word? Success and triumph, how fun! And it works well in rhymes and cheers! Peppy cheerleaders can yell "V-I-C-T-O-R-Y, that's the [insert anthropomorhic team nickname here] battle cry!"

Our second word for tonight is:

OCCUPATION (oc-cu-pa-tion)
-noun

1) the act of occupying; 2) the state of being occupied; 3) the seizure and control of an area by military forces, esp. foreign territory; 4) the term of control of a territory by foreign military forces; 5) invasion, conquest and control of a nation or territory by foreign armed forces: 6) the military government exercising control over an occupied nation or territory.

Oooh. boys and girls, that is not a nice word. There is no success, no triumph, and you can't use it in a cheer. So from now on, boys and girls, we'll just forget about that nasty old "occupation" and always use our friend "VICTORY!"

That's our lesson for tonight. Mr. Dictionary Man will be back tomorrow and we will learn all about "fascists," "appeasement" and "freedom." Sleep tight!

One talking point to go, please

One thing we've known for a while is that the Republicans are much better at framing the debate than those of us on the left side of the aisle. For example, one thing you hear all the time on right-wing talk is that "Democrats have no ideas." Take a look this morning at a piece by a Tribune reporter (NOT an editorial) where she writes " Democrats have managed to gain on Republicans even without an overarching message." Ideological talking point one day, mainstream news the next--how convenient.

Ahhh, but Zin...

Drug-addled gasbag Rush Limbaugh has gotten to the root of the obesity crisis:

I think you might then say that the obesity crisis could be the fault of government, liberal government. Food stamps, all those -- you know, I'm gonna tell you people a story. I -- just, well, the government, you could say, is killing these people because we know obesity kills, and the government's killing the poor. The Bush administration is killing the poor with too much food.

And so, now, we find out that there is obesity and all this amongst the poor more than amongst those who are not poor. It's sort of a textbook case of what happens when we let liberals have their way. I mean, for decades, all over the world, we've been beat about the head that there are hungry people out there, that they are starving. UNICEF--how many of you trick-or-treated for UNICEF? Did you "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF," We all did--did you? We all trick-or-treated. One of the biggest scams on the face of the earth. It was--the scam was to get everybody loving the United Nations. The scam was to get everybody thinking the United Nations is feeding poor people. Remember all these stories: "A dime a day will feed 20 kids in some outward place around the world"?

This is what happens when you let the left run things. We've been beat about the head. There are hungry people everywhere. UNICEF got it all started. We've seen the babies with the extended tummies, the walking skeletons, told that kids can't learn unless they're fed. We've been guilted into pouring resources on the problem. And now, now, the latest crisis is that there is obesity among those who are impoverished. Because we are sympathetic, we are compassionate people, we have responded by letting our government literally feed these people to the point of obesity. At least here in America, didn't teach them how to fish, we gave them the fish. Didn't teach them how to butcher a -- slaughter a cow to get the butter, we gave them the butter. [editor's note--WHAT????] The real bloat here, as we know, is in--is in government.

Zin--it's your fault we're fat.

Obesity? Heart disease? Pish tosh

While doing my "catch-up" reading (no pun intended), I found an article in Crain's Chicago Business about McDonald's stagnant growth because they apparently haven't developed a new hamburger in five years.

I stopped reading the article when I got to this graf:

Burger King last month introduced BK Stackers, burgers that come with two, three or four hamburger patties and up to eight slices of bacon. Wendy's this fall will introduce Double Melt cheeseburgers with condiments between the two patties. Jack in the Box just introduced a new Outlaw burger with a jumbo beef patty. And Hardee's and Carl's Jr. have been rolling out big burgers consistently for the last two years.

Yep, that sound you hear is of buttons popping and sewing machines in China making even larger pants for even fatter Americans. Stick around, kids, someday zubaz may be back as an element of the everyday wardrobe.

Some sports rants

I'm in a foul sports mood.

I grew up loving the University of Illinois Fighting Illini, and just bought tickets to see their game against Iowa. It's a reasonable day trip from here, I love college football and my dad wants to go--his first Illini game in years and one of his first big outings since my mom passed away.

So my beefs?

The tickets weren't cheap (Iowa fans travel so Illinois made it a "premium" game--$32 to sit in the end zone "horseshoe") but so be it. What angered me were the "service charges." This was not a third-party site, the purchase was from the university, but for 6 tickets, I was charged a "fee" of $28. Three bucks a ticket plus $10 per "order." For what? It costs you less than having an hourly employee at the window, and you have my marketing information for a lifetime. I know no one held a gun to my head, but it just left a sour taste in my mouth.

Next beef--it will be my last time to see Chief Illiniwek.



The chief goes away after 80 years, thanks to the NCAA.

I admit to being emotional and perhaps irrational on this one but:

1) Doesn't the NCAA have more important things to do? From illegal recruiting to gambling to shoe company payola to the joke of "student athletes," should the chief be that high on your list?

2) He is not a sideline mascot. No cheerleading, no ramming Bucky Badger into the goalposts. Halftime, that's it.

3) I was at the game when by Frank Fools Crow of the Oglala Sioux presented the costume (Pitt destroyed the Illini that day, they couldn't stop this Dan Marino kid, don't know if he amounted to much)in a respectful ceremony. This was NOT a caricature like Chief Wahoo or Chief Nok-a-Homa.

OK, no one's buying it, but again--another round of sour taste.

AND THEN THIS. (Call the bullpen and have Dumbass start to get loose)

From the Letters to the Editor of the paper that owns this sorrowful excuse for a baseball team we get this bit of idiocy from one Mark Gaddo in Indianapolis:

I have seen a disturbing trend at Wrigley Field as fans have been booing our players!...I also want the Cubs to enforce a code of behavior on the fans. It saddens me when Jacque Jones was being targeted by catcalls, derisive cheers and use of racial slurs.

OK, racial slurs--we can all agree, out. But--booing? "Derisive cheers?" Mark, did you watch Jacque Jones the first half of the season? For how much money?

Mark--

The Madness of King George

"Those who cannot remember the past will really **** things up."
Peter

The Simian Boy King tells us that:

If America were to pull out before Iraq can defend itself, the consequences would be absolutely predictable--and absolutely disastrous. We would be handing Iraq over to our worst enemies--Saddam's former henchmen, armed groups with ties to Iran, and al Qaeda terrorists from all over the world who would suddenly have a base of operations far more valuable than Afghanistan under the Taliban.

The reality check imust be lost in the mail. Does George know that the first two are fighting each other and the third is just sitting back and absolutely enjoying the show? Does he understand that another name for one of the "armed groups with ties to Iran" is the IRAQI GOVERNMENT?

Don't know much about history.....

Logical fallacies

"The logical fallacy of false choice is a correlative-based fallacy in which options are presented as being exclusive when they may not be. It is often used to obscure the likelihood of one option or to reframe an argument on the user's terms."  Wikipedia

For example, take Darth Cheney's most recent bit of jingoistic saber-rattling:

"We have only two options in Iraq--victory or defeat."

Gosh we must avoid..defeat! That would be horrible! How could we live with..defeat? Our ONLY option is VICTORY!

Ladies and gentlemen, the false choice. 

Great Presidential Quotes

"The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

Abraham Lincoln

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."

Thomas Jefferson

"We face an enemy that has an ideology. They believe things. The best way to describe their ideology is to relate to you the fact that they think the opposite of the way we think."

America's National Disgrace

Do you have a Preferred Jihadist card?

From moonbat Pennsylvania congressman Curt Weldon:

"We have to fight this battle. We either fight it over there or we're going to fight it in the supermarkets and the streets of America."

Riiiiight, I see. I can hear it now:

"Attention, all stockers to the front, and we need a jihad cleanup in frozen please."

And remember,

VOTE REPUBLICAN OR DIE!

Great Headlines to be Tooken Out of Context

Thanks, CNN:

Pumping neck gave polygamist away

Ummm...based on the number of wives that he had, I'm guessing his neck wasn't the only thing on him pumping.

Freudian slip???

Odd, huh? I agree with Cheney and Rumsfeld in the same day!

Dick talked about people who "pervert a religious faith to serve a dark political objective -- to establish, by violence and intimidation, a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom." He claimed that these insidious people "seek to impose a dictatorship of fear, under which every man, woman, and child lives in total obedience to a narrow and hateful ideology. This ideology rejects tolerance, denies freedom of conscience, and demands that women be pushed to the margins of our society."

Our society, Dick? Don't you mean "their" society?? Oh wait, never mind.

Gee willikers, I agree with Rummy!

Yesterday, Rummy told us that "some seem not to have learned history's lessons." Gosh, Don, when did that light bulb go on? Lessons? History? Viet Nam? Napoleon and Russia? Pyrrhus?

He added that "any kind of moral or intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong can weaken the ability of free societies to persevere." Thank you, Captain Obvious. Lying us into an unprovoked war was certainly "wrong" and weakened the ability of this society to persevere."

Good night, Don.

Bet this will be a fun Thanksgiving..

ANYTHING is better than listening to the Idiot-in-Chief speak, but this was rich. Right-wing CNN newsbot Kyra Phillips

left her microphone on over the human dial tone:

“I’m very lucky at the network [not audible], he is genuinely a loving, no-ego [not audible] just a really passionate, compassionate, great, great human being. And they exist, they do exist. They’re hard to find, yep, but they are out there.....”

and then she turns ugly, slamming her sister-in-law:

“Mom’s got a good vibe. Brothers have to be, you know, protective. Except for mine, I’ve got to be protective of him. Ah yeah, I have to be protective of him. He’s married, three kids, but his wife is just a control freak.”

Happy Holidays...Happy Holidays...

I'm tired of bad news--I need a dumbass break

From the online Letters to the Editor in the Chicago Tribune, some buffoon named Barry, in discussing judicial activism, judge-made law and the common-law tradition, gave us this gem:

Judge made law went out with the ratification of the Constitution in 1787. Reviewing law for constitutionality first appeared in 1803. Now we have judge made law again in violation of the Constitution,but nobody seems to care about the judicial branch's usurping legislative function; only perceived violation by the executive branch is spotlighted.

There is only ONE thing to say:

Disaster

On the Bob Edwards show this morning on XMPR, he interviewed Christopher Cooper and Robert Block, authors of the new book Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security. It was a fascinating interview.

In the book, Cooper and Block detailed the myriad failures, myths, and outright incompetence of the federal government's management of the preparation for and response to Katrina. The Department of Homeland Security takes the brunt of the blow, with Michael Chertoff getting eviscerated for his complete inability to understand what was going on or manage the disaster. The myth that the Bush Administration has tried to perpetrate that somehow this was a failure of local government is completely debunked - in fact, New Orleans managed a larger evacuation than any ever. Not only did more people get out, but a higher percentage were evacuated before Katrina hit than was expected. When Ernesto hits the Keys this week, they said, roughly 40% of people will evacuate. Over 80% of NO residents left before the hurricane hit.

In the months before Katrina, the people involved ran a simulation involving "Hurricane Pam", which was supposed to flood New Orleans. During that simulation, the local and state governments described what they could do, and the federal government essentially said that they could take care of everything else. When Katrina actually hit, the state and local governments did what they had planned on, for the most part. It was the federal government that failed.

Why did it fail? In short, because when DHS was established, the goal was not to deal with the recovery from a disaster, presumably from a terrorist attack, but to prevent or disrupt the attack. The assumption was made that natural disasters were something we knew how to handle, so there was no reason to worry about them. FEMA was demoted, and Michael Brown, while not an Emergency Management specialist, was thoroughly marginalized, so that when he did ask for things, he was told that unless Chertoff backed him up, nothing would happen.

What was Chertoff doing? He was assuming that it was a local problem. They had set up an internal condition that DHS wouldn't need to step in until the levees breached, so when the reports started coming in that the city was flooding, they asked "Did the levees breach?" When the responses came in that they thought so, but there was confusion, it didn't trigger a response from the feds. They got caught up in terminology - if a report came in that a levee had breached, and there really was a floodwall in that location, it was ignored. They had a definition that if a levee fell over, but half of it still stood, it wasn't breached. Chertoff was also treating the situation like an intelligence-gathering mission during a war - unless he could get multiple, independent confirmations of something, it didn't happen. As the reporters said "In a military situation, that makes sense - people could die if you make the wrong decisions. No one will die if too many supply helicopters bring water to New Orleans."

President Bush, at least in this book, got a bit of a break. He was letting his people handle it, letting them feed him information, and unless he heard something from Chertoff, there wasn't a need to do anything. Of course, that is one of his failings - he doesn't get involved, he waits for information instead of seeking it out, and he's overly loyal to incompetent cronies who know not too feed him any information that he doesn't want.

Bob Edwards asked the question that many of us asked during those horrific days - "Couldn't they just turn on the TV and see what was going on?" Apparently, no. When news coverage started coming in that there was a disaster starting to happen in the Convention Center, one of Chertoff's assistants is described (in his own words) as spending the evening making fun of the reporters for not knowing that the Convention Center was really the Superdome, and it wasn't until much, much later that he realized that the two were actually different places.

This was an abject failure of leadership. Never forget.