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December 31, 2006
George Ends His Year
U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 3,000
I'm not in the prediction biz but with the expected escalation in the war expect 2007 to be a whole lot worse.
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Year's End
We're awash in year-end lists and I have little interest in them. Still, Dahlia Lithwick does a great job listing the "10 civil liberties nightmares of 2006." Number nine captures BushCo™ perfectly:
Guantanamo Bay: After the Supreme Court struck down the military tribunals planned to try hundreds of detainees on the U.S. base in Cuba, and after President Bush agreed that it may be a good idea to close down the prison, the worst public relations fiasco since the Japanese internment camps lives on. Prisoners once deemed "among the most dangerous, best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the Earth" are either quietly released or still awaiting trial. The lucky 75 to be tried there will be cheered to hear that the Pentagon has just announced plans to build a $125 million legal complex for the hearings. The government has now officially put more thought into the design of Guantanamo's court bathrooms than the charges against its prisoners.
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An Excellent Suggestion
Denote their valueI was intrigued by David M. Shribman's Dec. 24 column "Not All Presidents Deserve a Coin," about American presidents who deserve or don't deserve to have their portraits on our coins.
But separating the deserving from the undeserving might be too harsh a judgment. Instead, the presidents' merits could be represented by the denominations of the coins on which their likenesses appear. We have had dollar-worthy presidents, penny-worthy presidents and many nickel-, dime-, quarter- and half-dollar-worthy presidents in between.
I suggest that when George W. Bush's term is up, his image be engraved on the wooden nickel.
ROBERT L. WOLKE
Mount Washington
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Exactly
John Edwards talking to Chris Matthews:
Matthews: President Bush in his last press conference last week said that his idea was for America to go shopping. He literally said that. What do you make of that? As a way to engage the public in our national cause.Edwards:What planet is he living on? I have absolutely no idea. This is the man who is in charge of this war in Iraq.
(Video at link.)
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December 30, 2006
Saturday Palate Cleanser
Rasputina - "My Orphanage."
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December 29, 2006
The Dark Ages
Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees.
[Via C&L.]
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Slow Week
It's between the holidays.
There's something between Ethiopia and Somalia but I haven't figured out that US proxy war so...
Anyway, go about your business.
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Of Families
zoe kentucky. Read.
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December 28, 2006
Some Drums, Please?
In recent years, the Tito Puente effect has afflicted liberals to a stunning degree. The press corps, the liberal intellectual establishment and the Democratic Party once considered Ronald Reagan a warmongering, senile fascist. Now it's hard to find a self-described liberal to offer anything but praise. Barry Goldwater has also been Tito Puente-ized. His granddaughter's recent HBO documentary depicts him as a cuddly-wuddly live-and-let-live sort of guy. Hillary Clinton, James Carville and Al Franken all pony up testimonials about how swell the 1964 GOP nominee was. Younger readers might need to be reminded that the liberal establishment hated Goldwater with such a blinding passion that reason, decency and truthfulness were deemed luxuries his critics couldn't afford.
Tito Puente?
Tito Puente!
Everybody dance!
Oh, and Jonah is beneath contempt.
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Says Enough...
(David Hume Kennerly / Gerald R. Ford Library)
Rumsfeld, Ford, Cheney.
'nuff said.
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Smack!
Selective disdainSince letter writer David T. Williams ("Look It Up," Dec. 21) was so kind to offer to educate us on the word of God, I decided to look up his referenced biblical verses. However, as I am not a biblical scholar (just a lapsed Catholic), I went further and read the surrounding text as well.
Imagine my surprise when I read in the very same section forbidding homosexuality that God feels the same not only about adultery (Leviticus Chapter 18, Verse 20) but also about having intercourse with a woman while she is menstruating (Verse 19). Wow! I feel pretty secure in saying that a large majority of couples have violated that one.
I went on to look at the penalties for breaking these laws, as Mr. Williams suggested (Chapter 20). The penalties for homosexuality and adultery are the same: death. Luckily, those who break the no-sex-during-menstruation rule just get banished. Whew!
Seriously though, I think some people are just picking rules out of the Bible at random. If you are so opposed to homosexuality, you should logically be equally as opposed to adultery. Therefore, people who have committed adultery should not be allowed to get married either, right?
But this isn't the way our country works. And clearly we can see that some of these rules have been medically and socially disproved. So why focus on homosexuality? Did Jesus ever say anything about homosexuality? Don't you think if it was that big of a sin (bigger than adultery, as some would have you believe) he might have mentioned it?
JENNIFER ASHBURN
Greensburg
Ah, "Leviticus." The bane of our Bible-thumping friends.
Do they eschew cheeseburgers? Lobster? Polyester-cotton mixes?
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A Universe In My Fingertips [stares]
The Mary Jane? Not so bad:
In the final blow to claims that marijuana must remain illegal to keep us from becoming a nation of hard-drug addicts, the researchers added that any gateway effect that does exist is "more likely to be social than pharmacological," occurring because marijuana "introduces users to a provider (peer or black marketeer) who eventually becomes the source for other illicit drugs." In other words, the gateway isn't marijuana; it's laws that put marijuana into the same criminal underground with speed and heroin.
I say we must do away with the scourge of the "reefer." Only jazz musicians and Mexicans do that sort of thing. No good American would ever smoke a marihuana cigarette. Or so I've been told.
Prohibition: It worked so well the first time!
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Profiles In Dimness
James M. Lyle has been in trouble for identity theft before. He served more than two years in federal prison for it.[...]
But when he stood before Senior U.S. District Judge Alan N. Bloch for his hearing, Mr. Lyle told the judge he had a new job, and even presented a letter from his boss.
It touted Mr. Lyle's abilities, and said that he was in management training, calling him "the right individual for this position."
The judge seemed to believe Mr. Lyle, 22, of the West End, was on the right path, and instead of sending him back to jail, ordered him to home detention until a spot in a halfway house opened up for a six-month stay.
The problem was that Mr. Lyle's supposed boss never wrote the letter -- the defendant's buddy wrote it -- and Mr. Lyle had once again assumed another's identity.
Yesterday, Judge Bloch, who issued a bench warrant for Mr. Lyle last week when he didn't show up for a hearing, was not as sympathetic.
Lyle has been sentenced to two more years in prison.
Just as there will always be an England, we'll always have stupid criminals to brighten our day.
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December 27, 2006
More Class Than George
Saddam Hussein urged Iraqis to embrace "brotherly coexistence" and not to hate U.S.-led foreign troops in a goodbye letter posted on a Web site Wednesday, a day after Iraq's highest court upheld his death sentence and ordered him hanged within 30 days.[...]
"I call on you not to hate because hate does not leave space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking," said the letter, which was written in Arabic and translated by the AP.
"I also call on you not to hate the people of the other countries that attacked us," it added, referring to the invasion that toppled his regime nearly four years ago.
The sight of the gallows may focus the mind but would LameDuck George show as much dignity.
Prophylactic: While opposed to capital punishment I'm not going to shed a tear when Saddam swings. He was a monster - one of the worst - but I have to wonder what it would take for our own president to understand what he has done.
Good riddance to bad trash.
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Mourning For Gerry
Judge Rufus Peckham gives us the schedule.
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When In Doubt...
...use a year-old e-mail chain letter of doubtful provenance to prove things are just peachy in Iraq.
Even Bill Buckley must weep at what has become of his National Review.
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The War Comes Home
An Army Reservist despondent about being sent to Iraq was killed by police during a 14-hour standoff that began Christmas night when family members told authorities he was armed and threatening to kill himself.James Emerick Dean, 28, had barricaded himself inside his father's house with several weapons Monday night, family members told police. He later told officers he would shoot anyone who entered the house. His father was not home at the time.
[...]
Dean had already served 18 months in Afghanistan and was despondent after learning recently that he would be deployed to Iraq, family members told police.
[...]
"His dad told me that he didn't want to go to war," Matthews said. "He had already been out there and didn't want to go again."
Add another body to George's "legacy."
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In The Bunker
GeneralitiesThe front-page lead Associated Press story in the Dec. 20 Trib headlined "Generals question troop surge" did not mention the names of all the "top" generals who were the sources for the article on whether we should send more soldiers to Iraq.
The AP journalist decided not to give his readers important information to help them determine the credibility of the article.
Could the generals have been named Gen. George McClelland and Gen. Ambrose Burnside and perhaps even Gen. Benedict Arnold?
Ken Ruzich
O'Hara
Reality. Give it a try.
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Oh Fer Cryin' Out Loud
Watching President Bush in recent weeks has become a grim kind of reality TV show. In almost every news conference, speech and photo opportunity, the topic is the same: what to do about the grinding war in Iraq. Bush has let the facade crack open -- admitting that his strategy for victory isn't working -- but then he struggles to rebuild it with new words of confidence.[...]
What makes reality TV gripping is that it's all happening live -- the contestants make their choices under pressure, win or lose. So too with Bush. He is making a vast wager -- of American lives, treasure and the nation's security -- that his judgments about Iraq were right. The Baker-Hamilton report gave him a chance to take some chips off the table, but Bush doesn't seem interested. He is still playing to win. The audience is shouting out advice, but the man under the spotlight knows he will have to make this decision alone.
We're supposed to empathize with LameDuck George? Feel sorry for him? Oh, the burdens of leadership! One man, alone, with the weight of the world on his shoulders!
Give me a break. George, lazy, incurious, and dogmatic, hasn't had a moment of introspection - true introspection - in his life. If he's showing stress now it's because, for the first time, he's in a position where the only way out is to admit that he has been wrong. And he will never do that.
It's a never-ending source of fascination and frustration for me that the Kool Kidz of the Beltway always give George the benefit of the doubt despite all of the evidence. The cocktail weenies served on the Georgetown party circuit must be spiked with some powerful stuff.
To paraphrase Stalin, the burdens of one man are a national tragedy; the deaths of 500,000 are a statistic.
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Keystone Kops
Of course it's a private contractor:
The Department of Homeland Security said yesterday that it is investigating how four handguns recently went missing from its headquarters in Northwest Washington.Jarrod Agen, a department spokesman, said the guns belonged to Paragon Systems of Chantilly, which provides security for the department's facility on Nebraska Avenue NW.
"DHS is investigating the report," Agen said. "Paragon guns do not belong to DHS nor are they under the control of DHS."
No doubt Paragon Systems will continue to receive government contracts. It's the BushCo™ way.
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My Secret Decoder Ring...
...tackles this:
On Tuesday, a Bush spokesman would say only that the president recognized the "oversight role" of Congress."We hope they will use this oversight role in an appropriate fashion," Deputy Press Secretary Scott Stanzel said from Crawford, Texas, where the president is spending the Christmas holiday. "That's what the American people expect — for both sides to work together for the common good."
"Appropriate fashion" = "Do what we say or else."
Only a fool - or Richard Cohen - would believe otherwise.
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RIP
While Ford's (in)famous pardon allowed Tricky Dick a series of pre- and postmortem "comebacks" (it's a good thing periodic releases of the Watergate tapes bring us back to reality) and, supposedly, allowed the nation to "heal," I suspect that history will treat Ford as a non-entity with an asterisk (for the pardon and being the only truly unelected president).
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December 26, 2006
Foreign Mercenaries
Don't know much about history:
The armed forces, already struggling to meet recruiting goals, are considering expanding the number of noncitizens in the ranks -- including disputed proposals to open recruiting stations overseas and putting more immigrants on a faster track to US citizenship if they volunteer -- according to Pentagon officials.Foreign citizens serving in the US military is a highly charged issue, which could expose the Pentagon to criticism that it is essentially using mercenaries to defend the country. Other analysts voice concern that a large contingent of noncitizens under arms could jeopardize national security or reflect badly on Americans' willingness to serve in uniform.
Some time ago, Thomas Jefferson charged another George:
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
And now our king-in-his-own-mind George wants his own Hessians.
It's truly remarkable how fast and how far this nation has fallen.
[Via Steve Benen subbing for Drum.]
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Congratulations, Mr. President!
The U.S. military on Tuesday announced the deaths of six more American soldiers, pushing the U.S. military death toll since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003 to at least 2,978 — five more than the number killed in the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
That's a whole lot of commas.
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Shocking!
Immediately after the beating his party took in November, President Bush indicated that he had received the message that voters wanted change, and that he would serve some up fast. He ousted his defense secretary, announced a full-scale review of his war plan and contritely agreed with critics that progress in Iraq was not happening “well enough, fast enough.”But in the last two weeks, the critics and even some allies say, they have seen a reversal. Mr. Bush has shrugged off suggestions by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group that he enlist the help of Iran and Syria in the effort to stabilize Iraq. Countering suggestions that he begin thinking of bringing troops home, he has engaged in deliberations over whether to send more. And he has adjusted the voters’ message away from Iraq, saying on Wednesday, “I thought the election said they want to see more bipartisan cooperation.”
Only a fool - or David Broder - seriously believed that LameDuck George would change his ways.
Remember: He's really not kidding.
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A Plea
Emily Miller writes of her brother, a National Guardsman:
My brother is betting his life that you are not going to ask this of him. He has placed his trust in the idea that we will not ask him to die for anything less than the necessary defense of our democracy. Reasonable people may at one time have disagreed about the necessity of the Iraq war, but now that it has become abundantly clear from every quarter that we cannot win, will you be responsible for asking my brother to stay?My family begs of you: Do not ask this of him. Do not ask this of us. My brother is doing his constitutional duty. Now it is time for us to do ours.
Would that the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue think about this.
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One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other
In three current high-profile criminal cases, federal prosecutors have asked that the identities of Israeli government witnesses be withheld from defendants and their attorneys — a move some legal scholars see as a highly unusual end run around the 6th Amendment.
From something called the "Constitution":
Amendment VIIn all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
Any questions?
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Happy Boxing Day!
Remember to give gifts to your household servants.
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December 25, 2006
RIP
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December 24, 2006
Noted In Passing
Light posting for the obvious reason.
However briefly, I'll see you tomorrow.
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A Bit Of Fernand Léger
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December 23, 2006
Saturday Palate Cleanser
The Geraldine Fibbers - Dragon Lady.
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Heh
Letter in today's NYT responding to the censored Iran op-ed:
To the Editor:As a black helicopter lands in my backyard, I’m transmitting this letter in response to “What We Wanted to Tell You About Iran.” Please print this redacted version, as allowed by the White House:
xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xxx
xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxx
xxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxx
xxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx xx xxxx xxxxxx xxxxx
Newton E. Finn
Waukegan, Ill., Dec. 22, 2006
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Bullshit
Top U.S. military commanders in Iraq have decided to recommend a "surge" of fresh American combat forces, eliminating one of the last remaining hurdles to proposals being considered by President Bush for a troop increase, a defense official familiar with the plan said Friday.[...]
But the recommendation by commanders in Iraq is significant because Bush has placed prime importance on their advice. The U.S. command in Iraq decided to recommend an increase of troops several days ago, prior to meetings in Baghdad this week with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, the defense official said. [Emphasis added.]
LameDuck George was going to do this regardless of what the Generals said.
That reporters and editors actually publish this crap with straight faces boggles the mind.
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December 22, 2006
This Twit Works For A Congresscritter?
Josh Marshall brings us the story of one Todd Shriber, communications director for Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT).
I won't even attempt to summarize it except to say, pace Steve Benen, this guy is dumber than the average villain in a Carl Hiaasen novel.
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UPDATE: Shriber sacked. That was fast.
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Have A Holly Jolly Death
Children watched in horror as a Santa Claus collapsed and died as he handed out presents at a Christmas party on Sunday.Andrew Robertson was taken ill as the excited youngsters received their gifts. The 82-year-old was taken to a side room and attempts made to revive him, but he was pronounced dead when medics arrived.
Mr Robertson, from Dundee, had played Santa at the city's Broughty Castle bowling club Christmas party, held for the grandchildren of members, for several years.
[...]
"The kids saw him getting taken away," he told the Courier newspaper. "They knew something was wrong with Santa Claus as he went away with the two guys, but they didn't see anything further.
No doubt Bill O'Reilly will be editorializing against the Grim Reaper.
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Crazy Pills
That's what newspaper editors must be swallowing these days (see Krauthammer, below). How else can we account for this op-ed published today by the Daily Scaife:
Throughout, the Republican President Bush oddly failed to hold Congress accountable -- especially the Senate.[...]
For good or ill, Democrats hail from the party of government. They are far better at getting their political way than Republicans are -- and far better at running government to their desired ends. [...]
For all their mouthings to the contrary, Democrats are less bipartisan than Republicans and more effective at imposing party discipline. As the past Congress has demonstrated, Republicans play better with Democrats, fight snippily among themselves -- and get little done.
[...] [Reublicans] cleave to Democrats, too often prefer Democrat positions -- and advance the game to the Democrats' ends.
Uh-huh. The GOP had a comfortable majority in both houses of Congress (and excluded Dems from decision making as a matter of policy), had the most unrestrained president in this nation's history, a compliant Supreme Court, and a brain-dead "news" media. Yet the Democrats are so powerful and evil that it all came to naught.
And the author of this brilliant exercise in delusion? Ross Mackenzie is the editorial page editor at the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch.
Yes, newspaper editors are swallowing crazy pills like M&M's.
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Political Censorship
The New York Times today publishes an op-ed by Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann concerning Iran. Here's the catch: The op-ed has been censored by the Administration even though the redacted parts are are already in the public domain.
Leverett and Mann:
Indeed, the deleted portions of the original draft reveal no classified material. These passages go into aspects of American-Iranian relations during the Bush administration’s first term that have been publicly discussed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage; a former State Department policy planning director, Richard Haass; and a former special envoy to Afghanistan, James Dobbins.These aspects have been extensively reported in the news media, and one of us, Mr. Leverett, has written about them in The Times and other publications with the explicit permission of the review board. We provided the following citations to the board to demonstrate that all of the material the White House objected to is already in the public domain. Unfortunately, to make sense of much of our Op-Ed article, readers will have to read the citations for themselves. (See links at left.)
Leverett and Mann are too restrained to state the obvious: The Administration doesn't want people to remember that we had cooperative relationship with Iran after 11 September because they now want to bomb that nation back to the stone age. Those relations ended with the now-infamous "Axis of Evil" speech, a speech that set the US on the road to not only the occupation of Iraq but to national and international decline.
Here is Leverett and Mann's full explanation, with links to the redacted information and here is the op-ed in all its blacked-out glory.
The true face of the Bush Administration can be seen quite clearly.
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Ooookay
Well, now. Chuckles "Squeaky Wheels" Krauthammer today brings us...I'm not sure what. It would appear that Chuckles' little choo-choo has really jumped the tracks this time. Somehow he goes from medical residents fantasizing about killing a colleague to Valentine's Day to Olympic women's ice hockey to the loss of empires to the Ryder Cup.
Poppies and Warren Buffet also make appearances.
Some editor at the WaPo should have quietly "lost" this column and then given Chuckles a long vacation.
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December 21, 2006
Sad In A Way
Two conservatives, Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle, discussing yesterday's presser:
SCARBOROUGH: Mike Barnicle, do you take any comfort from the president finally admitting we‘re not winning in Iraq, or are you disturbed that it took him so long?BARNICLE: Joe, I don‘t think he knows what he‘s saying. I don‘t think he comprehends what he‘s saying. I don‘t think…
SCARBOROUGH: You really think he is delusional?
BARNICLE: I do. I don‘t think he could explain to us tonight what he meant by what he said today. At one point, he said we‘re not winning, but at another point, he said, you know, we‘re going to win a victory there. He can‘t define victory.
I've said it before: It's only a matter of time before we hear stories of a drunken Dubya wandering the halls of the White House late at night talking to the portraits on the walls and maybe, just maybe, the ghost of Richard Milhouse Nixon.
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WTF?
O'REILLY: Sixty-two percent of Americans will have a Christmas tree, but most of the trees will be artificial.E.D. HILL (co-host): That surprises me. Only 62 percent have Christmas --
O'REILLY: Yeah. And here -- and here's a very -- here's something that Rasmussen didn't poll but I know, that most women who like artificial trees --
HILL: Yeah?
O'REILLY: -- have artificial breasts.
HILL: What?
O'REILLY: Did you know that? Yeah. There's a correlation. Yeah, there was a study done --
HILL: You know --
O'REILLY: It was. It was done at UCLA in L.A. All right --
HILL: I don't believe you --
O'REILLY: -- we gotta take a break -- we gotta take a break, and we'll be back with Reverend Barry Lynn to talk about why there's so much angst about Christmas in a moment.
That's the Christmas spirit!
Really, watching Billo is like watching monkeys at a zoo. Only the monkeys have more dignity.
(As a side note: E.D. Hill's previous name was Edie Tarbox. I never get tired of pointing that out.)
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St. John McCain
The "maverick" Senator from Arizona hires a known liar and sockpuppet to be his communications director.
Now that's what I call straight talk!
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Fundamentally Unserious
"A recent report on retail sales shows a strong beginning to the holiday shopping season across the country," he told the reporters, "and I encourage you all to go shopping more."
Add to that the big "news" stories of the week - Miss USA's Excellent Adventures and Rosie vs. The Donald - and one can only conclude that we live in a fundamentally unserious time.
Remember how "9/11 Changed Everything"? How "Irony is Dead"? Since then we've been saturated with Killer Sharks, Missing White Women, Runaway Brides and whatever else.
Bread and circuses. Bread and circuses.
The Dadaists would be having a field day.
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Atrios!
Temporary new home: http://eschaton08.blogspot.com/
Thanks to "Fair and Balanced" Dave in comments for the tip.
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UPDATE: It's finally safe to go back to the old place.
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He's Baaa-ack
Last week I expressed my surprise at being informed that my heavy consumption of soy has turned me gay.
Well, the whackjob behind this idea is so pleased with the response to his column he's going to turn it into a multi-part series and prove beyond all doubt that eating soy turns you queer.
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Take A Moment...
...to grieve for all of the terrific bloggers who have been disappeared by Google's latest "upgrade" of Blogger.
I need my Atrios fix!
And a bit of advice: Go anywhere else but GET OFF OF BLOGGER! It's been obvious for a long time that Google doesn't give a damn.
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Sociopath
What would happen if terrorists destroyed Washington? I imagine there are plenty of us who figure it might be the best thing that could happen to America.PHILLIP W. HOFFMAN
Pace, Fla.
Har har har. Since Mr. Hoffman thinks it would be swell if terrorists murdered millions of his fellow citizens and destroyed the Government of the United States doesn't that, y'know, make him a traitor or something?
And yet it's us lefties who supposedly hate America.
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Oink
The last gasp of the GOP Congress:
Christmas arrived Wednesday for the kidney dialysis industry.That's when President Bush signed into law the last major piece of legislation approved by the outgoing Congress. It was a lavish hodgepodge that included a $100 million-a-year boost in the Medicare reimbursement rates for dialysis providers who proved to be generous contributors to important legislators, notably House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas of Bakersfield.
[...]
One example: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Thomas got $84,250 in donations during the last campaign cycle from DaVita Inc., a leading dialysis company. Thomas was among the negotiators at the late-night meeting who agreed on the dialysis earmark.
Thomas' former chief of staff, Cathy Abernathy, lobbies on DaVita's behalf.
Funny how that happens.
Thomas' staff and DaVita officials said the campaign contributions and the congressman's ties to Abernathy played no role in his championing of the dialysis cause.
Yeah. Sure.
And if the Dems adopt this level of corruption then they should be chucked out as well. Caesar's wife must be above suspicion and all that.
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Don't Be Fooled
Why does he even bother anymore?
The president said he would work with Republicans and Democrats "and listen to ideas from every quarter" to redraw his approach. But Bush also said he would not change his objective. "Our goal remains a free and democratic Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself, and is an ally in this war on terror," he said.
That LameDuck George is going to "listen to ideas from every quarter" is betrayed by his statement that he won't change his objective. There are only two ways this is going to end: Withdrawal or utter defeat.
And always remember who is responsible for this.
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December 20, 2006
Only In America!
I happened to glance out of my window a little awhile ago and noticed the neighbors across the street had their living room shades wide open. Clearly visible was a big ol' Christmas tree festooned with lights, a star on top, the whole nine yards. And in the window? A menorah!
Shhhh...don't tell Bill O'Reilly!
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ADDED: Speaking of Billo...
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Double Standards
And yet, Bush’s buddies not only label left-leaning voices “traitors,” he wants to see them in “detention camps.”As regular readers know, this isn’t an isolated phenomenon.
When radicals like Jerry Falwell and Ann Coulter get together for a right-wing event in Washington, Republican presidential aspirants and White House officials think nothing of standing by them, side by side. John McCain cozies up to Falwell, even after Falwell said Americans “deserved” 9/11, and fears no negative consequences.
A fringe theocratic group recently held an event at which the event’s sponsor unveiled his new book, “Liberalism Kills Kids.” Clearly, the Republican establishment would want to keep their distance from such radical activists, right? Wrong. The GOP sent three leading House Republicans (Tom DeLay, Todd Akin, and Louis Gohmert) and two leading Senate Republicans (John Cornyn and Sam Brownback).
There are two sets of rules. If Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) benefits from an email solicitation sent by MoveOn.org, the right goes berserk. If Sen.-elect Jim Webb (D-Va.) takes out an ad on Daily Kos, the Republican machine is all over it. And yet, no one is too extreme on the right for GOP leaders, and no rhetoric is too overheated.
Like Steve, I don't know what to do about this sort of thing. My feeling is that it starts with the "news" media but as for solutions, so far I have none.
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The Dixie Chicks, George W. Bush, And God: A Rebuttal
A couple of weeks ago I highlighted a letter published in the Post-Gazette concerning the new Dixie Chicks documentary, Shut Up and Sing. Here's the original letter:
Continue reading "The Dixie Chicks, George W. Bush, And God: A Rebuttal" »
Another Family Values Republican
On Rudy Giuliani's new exploratory committee website you can find a bio of the former Mayor and current frontrunner for the GOP Presidential nomination. The bio describes his current marriage as follows: "In May of 2003, Rudy married Judith S. Nathan. Mrs. Giuliani is a registered nurse with an extensive medical and scientific background." Yet intriguingly, Rudy's bio makes no mention of the two children he had from his second marriage to Donna Hanover, who similarly goes unmentioned.
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Welcome To Iraq, Mr. Secretary!
Greeted with flowers and sweets:
At least 23 Iraqis have been killed across the country, including 11 who died when a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives near Baghdad University.The carnage formed a grim backdrop Wednesday to the first visit to Iraq by the new US defence secretary, Robert Gates.
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No...
...this isn't a recognition of reality:
As he searches for a new strategy for Iraq, Bush has now adopted the formula advanced by his top military adviser to describe the situation. "We're not winning, we're not losing," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. The assessment was a striking reversal for a president who, days before the November elections, declared, "Absolutely, we're winning."
Karl looked at the poll numbers and figured out that more happy talk would simply make the Administratin look even stupider. Nothing - nothing - is done by this bunch but for political considerations.
Meanwhile, LameDuck George will smirk his way through a press conference this morning. How exciting.
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Noted Without Comment
Maybe she should have used a one quart plastic bag:
A woman going through security at Los Angeles International Airport put her month-old grandson into a plastic bin intended for carry-on items and slid it into an X-ray machine.The early Saturday accident — bizarre but not unprecedented — caught airport workers by surprise, even though the security line was not busy at the time, officials said.
A screener watching the machine's monitor immediately noticed the outline of a baby and pulled the bin backward on the conveyor belt.
The infant was taken to Centinela Hospital, where doctors determined that he had not received a dangerous dose of radiation.
Officials, who declined to release the 56-year-old woman's name, said she spoke Spanish and apparently did not understand English.
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December 18, 2006
Noted In Passing
Light to no blogging through tomorrow. Much to do.
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December 17, 2006
A Bit Of Caravaggio
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December 16, 2006
Saturday Palate Cleanser
Ed Sullivan.
Also, some band.
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