A Spork in the Drawer

Monday Poll

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A Bit Of Robert Heinecken

Textured Torso, 1964

More Heinecken here.

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Economics Panel

Paul Krugman, Atrios, & Echidne of the Snakes



Econ 101



Echidne

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Media Panel

Will Bunch, Eric Boehlert, & Susie Madrak



Athenae



Susie & Athenae

(Note: I'm shooting, editing, and posting these pics in real time so the quality is...)

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Saturday Palate Cleanser

Art appreciation:

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Comedy Panel

watertiger, TRex, The Rude Pundit, Ted Rall, & Thers



Rall and Scalia.



watertiger makes an obvious point.



watertiger, TRex, & The Rude Pundit

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Panel

digby, Jane, NTodd, and Atrios



Jane & NTodd



digby & Jane



Atrios

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Noted In Passing

Off to Philadelphia for a few days so spotty posting although the regular weekend stuff should appear as if by magic.

Phun Philly Phact: It was in Philadelphia that the colonists electrocuted King George III with Dr. Franklin's lightning rod.

It's a Phun Philly Phact!

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Operation Enduring Freedom -- Caribbean and Central America

William Arkin:

My assumption was that "Operation Enduring Freedom -- Caribbean and Central America," a formal military operation I'd never heard of before yesterday, is oriented toward Cuba and Venezuela. But it is not. The U.S. military is indeed engaged in a global war, and the terrorist threat, at least in the eyes of the counter-terror warriors, extends to our backyard.

I don't know whether the actual threat necessitates such an "operation," but its bureaucratic existence says a lot about our overreliance on the military and the belief of many in government that the GWOT is a real war, equivalent to the Cold War, and is one that the United States should and will be fighting for decades.

[...]

Is this for real? Or is this just a bureaucratic invention to extend the GWOT to every nook and cranny of the globe?

There is no easy answer. But at least in terms of the hierarchy of priorities, such a threat seems overhyped. Just after 9/11 there was much talk of al Qaeda activity in the "tri-border" area of South America, but since then there has been very little new information and certainly little to indicate a threat in the region. The danger, of course, is that under the guise of the GWOT, this reserve unit is preparing contingency plans for Venezuela and Cuba, in which case one wonders why the "GWOT" label is being used.

We can't get rid of the maniacs running things soon enough. And if St. John is occupies the White House...

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Feel Safer Now?

Your Transportation Safety Administration at work:

The female TSA agent used a handheld detector that beeped when it passed in front of Hamlin's chest, the Dallas-area resident said.

Hamlin said she told the woman she was wearing nipple piercings. The agent then called over her male colleagues, one of whom said she would have to remove the jewelry, Hamlin said.

Hamlin said she could not remove them and asked whether she could instead display her pierced breasts in private to the female agent. But several other male officers told her she could not board her flight until the jewelry was out, she said.

She was taken behind a curtain and managed to remove one bar-shaped piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring.

"Still crying, she informed the TSA officer that she could not remove it without the help of pliers, and the officer gave a pair to her," said Hamlin's attorney, Gloria Allred, reading from a letter she sent Thursday to the director of the TSA's Office of Civil Rights and Liberties. Allred is a well-known Los Angeles lawyer who often represents high-profile claims.

[...]

She said she heard male TSA agents snickering as she took out the ring. She was scanned again and was allowed to board even though she still was wearing a belly button ring.

We live in a very silly country.

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Is He Having A Laugh? Pt. 2

Fantasy:

President Bush, saying that "normalcy is returning back to Iraq," argued Thursday that last year's U.S. troop "surge" has improved Iraq's security to the point where political and economic progress are blossoming as well.

[...]

"Some ... seem unwilling to acknowledge that progress is taking place," Bush said in a speech at the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. He accused war opponents of constantly shifting their critique, adding: "No matter what shortcomings these critics diagnose, their prescription is always the same — retreat."

Reality:

In Basra, there seemed to be no breakthrough in the fighting by either side. As much as half of the city remained under militia control, hospitals in some parts of the city were reported full, and the violence continued to spread. Clashes were reported all over the city and in locations 12 miles south of Basra.

[...]

As a possible sign of the rising instability in the region, saboteurs blew up one of Iraq’s two main oil export pipelines from Basra, Reuters reported. The oil pipelines were regular targets for insurgents earlier in the Iraqi conflict, but Thursday’s sabotage was the first time in several years that the southern oil supply route had been disrupted, and oil prices rose briefly after the attack.

Government by delusion.

ADDED: "Normalcy":

The State Department has instructed all personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad not to leave reinforced structures due to incoming insurgent rocket fire that has killed two American government workers this week.

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The Annals Of Dumb Ideas

Obama/Bloomberg '08

Oy.

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Is He Having A Laugh?

George touts his "rebate checks":

There's a rough patch right now in our economy, but I'm confident in the long term we'll come out stronger than ever before. One of the most decisive actions a government can take is to give people their money back so they can spend it, and that's exactly what we've done. In the second week of May, a lot of folks are going to be getting a sizable check. And I'm looking forward to that day, and I know they are as well.

There's no doubt that George, as he has all his life, will build on his millions thanks to "friends". The rest of us...

[Via Think Progress.]

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It's Quiet

Almost too quiet...

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Ye Olde Mailbag

From Jane and Markos:

Dear michael,

John McCain is breaking the law.

When McCain's presidential campaign was in trouble, he opted-in to public financing through the primary, limiting him to a $54 million spending cap.

But laws aren't for "mavericks"...

McCain's latest spending report, filed by his own campaign, shows he has spent in excess of $58 million so far -- a public admission by his own hand that he has broken the law.

We filed a formal complaint to Federal Election Commission yesterday, and we want you to sign-on for a second delivery of signatures later this week.

Please read and co-sign the letter to the FEC right now.

http://action.firedoglake.com/mccainfec

We've had a number of co-singers to the document already including:

MoveOn.org Political Action
Matt Stoller
John Amato
Robert Greenwald
Jerome Armstrong

All that's missing is your name.

View the signers and add your name to theirs right now.

http://action.firedoglake.com/mccainfec

If you sign right now, your name will be included in our larger delivery later this week.

Sincerely,

Markos and Jane

P.S. We've got video of our first delivery up, and you can expect an update with video of the delivery.

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Extortion

Hillary's big money donors write Nancy Pelosi:

We have been strong supporters of the DCCC. We therefore urge you to clarify your position on super-delegates and reflect in your comments a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the National Convention in August. We appreciate your activities in support of the Democratic Party and your leadership role in the Party and hope you will be responsive to some of your major enthusiastic supporters.

In other words: Nice political party you have here. Be a shame if something happened to it.

Senator Obama responds:

This letter is inappropriate and we hope the Clinton campaign will reject the insinuation contained in it. Regardless of the outcome of the nomination fight, Senator Obama will continue to urge his supporters to assist Speaker Pelosi in her efforts to maintain and build a working majority in the House of Representatives.

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Richard Widmark

1914-2008

You can have your blood and your gore but the most frightening, vicious killer in movie history is Widmark as Tommy Udo in 1947's Kiss of Death:

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Democratic Self-Destruction Watch™

Gallup:

A sizable proportion of Democrats would vote for John McCain next November if he is matched against the candidate they do not support for the Democratic nomination. This is particularly true for Hillary Clinton supporters, more than a quarter of whom currently say they would vote for McCain if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee.

Unsurprisingly, the Clinton's have the lion's share of petulant little egomaniacs.

But no worries, it's only the future of the country at stake.

[Via John Cole.]

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NOOOOOOO!

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel abandons the party for the Libertarians.

The dream is truly over.

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Shelf Life

Swell:

A vast hunk of floating ice has broken away from the Antarctic peninsula, threatening the collapse of a much larger ice shelf behind it, in a development that has shocked climate scientists.

[...]

The collapsing shelf suggests that climate change could be forcing change much more quickly than scientists had predicted.

"The ice shelf is hanging by a thread," said Professor David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). "We'll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be."

[...]

Climate scientists around Antarctica were taken by surprise by the new find. "Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic peninsula yet to be threatened," Vaughan said.

"I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly. We predicted it would happen, but it's happened twice as fast as we predicted."

Ocean-front property in Kentucky, anyone?

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Enough

It's time for Hillary to go. Marc Ambinder:

The Clinton campaign is distributing an article in the American Spectator (!) about Obama foreign policy adviser Merrill McPeak and his penchant for.. well, the article accuses him of being an anti-Semite and a drunk. Principally, the author takes McPeak to task for supporting a Middle East map that would require Israel to withdraw to its pre-1967 border. It also makes the case that McPeak supports the Walt-Mearsheimer view of the influence of the Israeli lobby on foreign policy.

The author's sudden conclusion: "Obama has a Jewish problem and McPeak's bigoted views are emblematic of what they are. Obama can issue all the boilerplate statements supporting Israel's right to defend itself he wants. But until he accepts responsibility for allowing people like McPeak so close to his quest for the presidency, Obama's sincerity and judgment will remain open questions."

This would be the same American Spectator that inflicted "Troopergate" and Paula Jones on an unwilling public and, it should be noted, played a large roll in bringing about only the second impeachment of a president in our Republic's history.

That president was Bill Clinton, in case you've forgotten.

And now the Clintons are using that rag for their own sleazy, grasping ends. It's time for both of them to go.

James Fallows:

That the Clinton family would dignify the American Spectator, of all publications, is astonishing to anyone who was alive in the 1990s.

That they would bless this attempt to paint Merrill McPeak as an anti-Semite is grotesque.

[...]

I can easily believe that the Spectator would publish such an article. That the Clinton team would circulate it I'm still trying to deal with.

And to add insult to injury I give you this photograph:



Sidney L. Davis/Tribune-Review

That's Hillary with Pittsburgh Tribune Review owner and publisher Richard Mellon Scaife. For those of you who don't remember Scaife bankrolled the so-called Arkansas Project which sought to destroy utterly a sitting president.

That president was Bill Clinton, in case you've forgotten.

I expressed tepid support for Barack Obama a while back but have tried to stay out of the nasty Democratic civil war which threatens to rip the party apart. I didn't want to contribute to that. But now that the Clintons have turned not only to their worst enemies to save Hillary but have turned to the most extreme, most hateful, most insane elements in our polity I can't stay aloof even if it means turning this blog into a Clinton-bashing site. Them's the breaks.

It's time for Hillary to go.

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Ooopsie!

Oy:

Instead of sending helicopter batteries, the United States shipped four electrical fuses for Minuteman nuclear missile warheads to Taiwan, a mistake that was discovered only last week — a year and a half after the erroneous shipment, Pentagon officials disclosed on Tuesday.

Officials said the nose-cone fuses contained no nuclear material, and were similar in function to the ones used for conventional munitions, although these were designed specifically to send an electrical signal to the trigger of the MK-12 nuclear warhead as it was approaching the ground.

The Pentagon sure seems to have a problem with nuke-related things these days.

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The Wit And Wisdom Of Dick Cheney

After more than five years (and counting) and the deaths of more than 4,000 (and counting) American troops and hundreds of thousands (and counting) Iraqis just who does Dick feel sorry for?

The president carries the biggest burden, obviously[.]

So?

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Conservatives Are Strange And Worrisome

Now that Idaho Sen. Larry "Wide Stance" Craig is officially "retiring" the fine white people of the Spud State will have to choose a new Senator. Could it be this guy?

A Senate candidate has legally changed his name to Pro-Life and will appear on the ballot that way this year, state election officials say.

As Marvin Pro-Life Richardson, the organic strawberry farmer from Letha, 30 miles northwest of Boise, was denied the use of his middle name when he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006 because the state's policy bars the use of slogans on the ballot.

Now, though, officials in the Idaho secretary of state's office say they have no choice because Pro-Life is his full and only name. He says he will run for the highest state office on the ballot every two years for the rest of his life, advocating murder charges for doctors who perform abortions and for women who obtain the procedure.

I await the candidacy of Bob Free Heroin for Schoolchildren Robertson.

[Via C&L.]

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Physics Made Simple

Terror in the skies:

A gun belonging to the pilot of a US Airways plane went off as the aircraft was on approach to land in North Carolina over the weekend, the first time a weapon issued under a federal program to arm pilots was fired, authorities said.

The "accidental discharge" Saturday aboard Flight 1536 from Denver to Charlotte did not endanger the aircraft or the 124 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants aboard, said Greg Alter of the Federal Air Marshal Service on Monday.

"We know that there was never any danger to the aircraft or to the occupants on board," Alter said.

I hate to be the one to inform Mr. Alter of this but a small chunk of metal emerging from a tube at supersonic velocities is, in fact, a "danger to the aircraft or to the occupants on board" in and of itself.

And a note to airline pilots: Nearly all handguns have a little thing called a "safety." It's a little lever-looking thingy on the side. Go ahead, look for it, I'll wait. Okay? Now, can you see a little red dot? Because if you can that means the gun can fire at any time. Just click the little lever thing into a position so that you can no longer see the little red dot. There! Now your gun won't fire unless you really, really want it to.

A further note to the FAA: How 'bout a round of remedial gun safety classes for our civilian pilots? Good idea, yes?

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Monday Poll

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A Bit Of Gustave Courbet

Le Désespéré (Self-portrait), 1843-45.


(Courbet must be watching the Democratic primaries.)

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Wow

Just, wow.

Every once in a while the mask slips from the faces of our friends on the right.

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Irrational Exuberance

As BushCo and Congress prepare to fight over how much regulation the financial markets are subject to it's really going to come down to this:

Wall Street firms have also been major contributors to both political parties, and they are certain to oppose tough new restrictions.

Neither party want to lose those $$$.

Nonetheless, a good start would be to restore the Glass-Steagall Act. The act, properly the Banking Act of 1935, was repealed in 1999.

Thanks, Bill Clinton.

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Democratic Self-Destuction Watch™

I hope everyone will be satisfied with President John McCain:

In a sign of just how divisive and ugly the Democratic fight has gotten, only 53% of Clinton voters say they'll vote for Obama should he become the nominee. Nineteen percent say they'll go for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and 13% say they won't vote.

Sixty percent of Obama voters say they'll go for Clinton should she win the nomination, with 20% opting for McCain, and three percent saying they won't vote.

Good job as usual, Democrats.

[Via Keystone Politics.]

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Suspicions Confirmed?

While not excusing his actions it appears the now-former New York Guv Elliot Spitzer WAS targeted by the Republicans.

Had Spitzer not handed them the gun I'd call this a classic Republican ratfuck.

The irony, of course, is that Roger Stone is behind this.

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Oh, Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh

Nonononono...

Oh, nonononono...

[Via Matt Yglesias.]

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Saturday Palate Cleanser

The two-minute version of "The Big Lebowski":

The Dude abides.

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The Dog Ate The Computer Drives

A likely story:

Older White House computer hard drives have been destroyed, the White House disclosed to a federal court Friday in a controversy over millions of possibly missing e-mails from 2003 to 2005.

[...]

"When workstations are at the end of their lifecycle and retired ... the hard drives are generally sent offsite to another government entity for physical destruction," the White House said in a sworn declaration filed with U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola.

How convenient.

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Those Who Forget History And Whatnot

And so it goes:

Indeed, the past decade has seen a number of investing fiascoes that Wall Street doesn't appear to have learned much from. Krosby noted the go-go Internet days — when untested high-tech companies reaped piles of cash in public offerings. The lesson then was, don't put a lot of money into a venture that isn't on fairly solid ground — but mortgages granted to people with poor credit are quite akin to high-tech firms that had never turned a profit. In both cases, investors gleefully looked past the risk.

Now investors are smarting from what happened to Bear Stearns. And traders are somewhat chastened, for now.

Golly, do ya think Wall Street needs a bit of regulation? Just a little? Hmm?

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Why?

Why?

Two sisters from Virginia sold their Illinois-shaped corn flake on eBay Friday night for $1,350.

Why?

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"I'm Casey Knowles. I approved this message. And not the other one."

It's 3am...

Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark.

[Via Election Central.]

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Chaos At Faux "News"!

First, Chris Wallace spends five minutes with the friendly friends at "Fox and Friends" admonishing them for "two hours of Obama-bashing." Steve Doocy is unamused. Then, if that's not bad enough for the Friends, friendly friend Brian Kilmeade walks off the show for the same reason. Steve Doocy remains unamused.

WWRD?*

(Video at both links.)

*What Would Rupert Do?

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Expelled

PZ goes to the movies.

Too funny.

---

UPDATE: The NYT takes note.

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McCain Makes Three

Hat trick.

Independent investigation, please.

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Hillary's Turn

There's something rotten at the State Department:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Democratic candidate for president, that her passport file was breached in 2007, the senator's office said in a statement on Friday.

I'm sure Condi will launch a full investigation soon.

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Headline Of The Day

Inflation Hits the Poor Hardest

Thanks, Washington Post, for that stunning revelation.

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Gonna Party Like It's 1992

For those who don't remember in 1992 George the Elders State Department was did something illegal:

That is why the late-night pre-election search through Bill Clinton's passport file by State Department employees caused such deep embarrassment at the agency, the White House and the National Archives.

An internal State Department review concluded that the search took place in violation of agency regulations and, "more disturbing," for political purposes.

President Clinton chose not to prosecute anyone for this gross violation of the Privacy Act. Big mistake:

Two State Department employees were fired and a third has been disciplined for improperly accessing Sen. Barack Obama's passport file, the State Department announced last night.

Now for an interesting tidbit:

Senior department officials said they learned of the incidents only when a reporter made an inquiry yesterday afternoon. They said an initial investigation indicated that the employees -- all of whom worked on contract -- were motivated by "imprudent curiosity."

How did the reporter, Glenn Kessler, learn about this? Who spilled and why? And does anyone believe that State Department higher-ups had no idea until informed by Kessler?

Josh takes note of the dates:

A few more details about the Obama passport breach. According to a new piece out in the Post from Glenn Kessler, the breaches occurred Jan. 9th, Feb. 21st and March 14th.

That would be the day after the New Hampshire primary, the day of the Democratic debate in Texas and the day the Wright story really hit.

emptywheel wonders who benefits:

I'm rather more interested in two of the dates on the Republican side. The day after the New Hampshire primary (when it became clear McCain's campaign was far from dead), and the day of the Texas primary (when McCain sealed the nomination). After all, New Hampshire was a set-back for Obama. Why would a Democrat waste bribes to do oppo research on Obama when it looked, once again, like Hillary would win the primary? But I can understand why McCain would start doing oppo research at a time when his chances started looking up.

Though, I would still have to explain the February 21 date.

Back to the WaPo story:

Kennedy said the contract employees -- who helped process some of the 18 million passport applications the department handles every year -- had access to personal records as part of their jobs in data entry, customer service and other administrative tasks. He said that contract employees undergo "public integrity checks," such as a review of police records, but that the department does not examine political affiliation. "That would be inappropriate," he said.

Noooo, BushCo would never, ever politicize government departments or agencies.

Perhaps a special counsel is warranted, yes?

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Remember Scooter?

Convicted criminal and "Loyal Dicky" Irving Lewis Scooter Libby disbarred.

No doubt a presidential pardon this December will make it all better.

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The Mind Of The American Voter

Welcome to Pennsylvania:

Peter Contacos, 42, the fourth generation of his family to own and operate Coney Island Lunch, a downtown Johnstown business that survived two floods and the loss of thousands of regular customers when Bethlehem Steel eliminated 15,000 jobs in the 1970s and ’80s, will not vote for Senator Barack Obama, “because his name is Barack Hussein Obama — case closed.” Mr. Contacos, an avid hunter who proudly displays pictures of himself with a magnificently maned lion he killed in Botswana, said he considered Mr. Obama “a terrorist.”

I suspect Mr. Contacos voted for George because he's the sort of regular guy you can have a beer with.

We live in a very silly country.

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Rabid Mouse

This vile "news" story from ABC's Brian Ross hits the bottom of the barrel:

Susie Madrak has Ross' contact info. Call his cellphone.

Greenwald:

This is the standard media manipulation tactic when they cover petty, vapid gossip and then want to justify it: they assert that "voters" are interested in it and then self-referentially point to the reporters' own fixation with the gossip as proof that people are interested. See, they had no choice but to point this out -- it's not their fault -- because it's newsworthy, since the "the release of the documents reminds voters anew about Bill Clinton's affair."

Obama supporters - and I am one, however tepidly - should condemn this outright. Not because something similar will be done to him by the "liberal" media - it will - but because this sort of "reporting" shouldn't be countenanced regardless of whom it's aimed at.

And let's remember that ABC is the "family friendly" network that blamed the 9/11 attacks on Bill Clinton.

The corporate media is beyond redemption and should simply be taken out back and shot.

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Philip Jones Griffiths

Vietnam War photographer.

A child on the infamous path in My Lai where 504 people, mainly women, children and
babies, were murdered by American troops in 1968. From Vietnam at Peace.

More at the above link and here.

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True To The End

Arthur C. Clarke:

"Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral," he wrote.

Clarke died early Wednesday at age 90 and was to be buried in a private funeral this weekend in his adopted home of Sri Lanka.

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Oh Snap! Part The Second

The great Gene Kelly's widow slaps MoDo:

Re “Soft Shoe in Hard Times” (column, March 16):

Surely it must have been a slip for Maureen Dowd to align the artistry of my late husband, Gene Kelly, with the president’s clumsy performances. To suggest that “George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly” represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight. If Gene were in a grave, he would have turned over in it.

When Gene was compared to the grace and agility of Jack Dempsey, Wayne Gretzky and Willie Mays, he was delighted. But to be linked with a clunker — particularly one he would consider inept and demoralizing — would have sent him reeling.

Graduated with a degree in economics from Pitt, Gene was not only a gifted dancer, director and choreographer, he was also a most civilized man. He spoke multiple languages; wrote poetry; studied history; understood the projections of Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. He did the Sunday Times crossword in ink. Exceedingly articulate, Gene often conveyed more through movement than others manage with words.

Sadly, President Bush fails to communicate meaningfully with either. For George Bush to become Gene Kelly would require impossible leaps in creativity, erudition and humility.

Patricia Ward Kelly
Los Angeles, March 16, 2008

For the hell of it here's Kelly with the leg-alicious Cyd Charisse in "Singin' in the Rain":

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Oh Snap!

NYT:

Mr. Obama had to address race and religion, the two most toxic subjects in politics. He was as powerful and frank as Mitt Romney was weak and calculating earlier this year in his attempt to persuade the religious right that his Mormonism is Christian enough for them.

Mittens!

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There He Goes Again

Vice-President Fourth Branch:

CHENEY: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.

RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.

CHENEY: So?

RADDATZ So? You don’t care what the American people think?

CHENEY: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

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Five Years

Vietnam War--August, 1964 to January, 1973 = 101 months*

American Revolution--April, 1775 to September, 1783 = 100 months

Afghanistan-- October, 2001 to Present (as of March, 2008) = 77 months

Iraq War--March, 2003 to Present (as of March, 2008) = 60 months

U.S. Civil War--April, 1861 to April, 1865 = 48 months

World War II--December, 1941 to September, 1945 = 45 months

World War I--April, 1917 to November, 1918 = 19 months

Korean War-- June, 1950 to July, 1953 = 37 months

War of 1812--June, 1812 to February, 1815 = 32 months

U.S.-Mexican War-- May, 1846 to February, 1848 = 21 months

Spanish-American War--April, 1898 to August, 1898 = 5 months

Gulf War--January, 1991 to March, 1991 = 3 months

*Us involvement began in the late 1950's and lasted until 1975. I'm measuring from the introduction of ground troops to their withdrawal.

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Full Of Sound And Fury, Signifying Nothing

An awful lot of Democrats are going to be red-faced when President McCain is sworn in next January.

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Boo Hoo

EJ Dionne:

Never do I want to hear again from my conservative friends about how brilliant capitalists are, how much they deserve their seven-figure salaries and how government should keep its hands off the private economy.

The Wall Street titans have turned into a bunch of welfare clients. They are desperate to be bailed out by government from their own incompetence, and from the deregulatory regime for which they lobbied so hard. They have lost "confidence" in each other, you see, because none of these oh-so-wise captains of the universe have any idea what kinds of devalued securities sit in one another's portfolios.

[...]

Enter the federal government, the institution to which the wealthy are not supposed to pay capital gains or inheritance taxes. Good God, you don't expect these people to trade in their BMWs for Saturns, do you?

Truly.

I don't necessarily object to government bailouts of large financial institutions. What I DO object to is that these bailouts come with no strings attached. No regulations, no commitments to good corporate governance, nothing.

And yet giving money to the "undeserving" poor is a handout that only encourages bad behavior.

Privatizing the profits and socializing the losses, indeed.

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Fine

Dick:

The United States intends to complete its mission in Iraq and will not allow the country to become a staging ground for terrorist attacks on Americans, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said on Tuesday.

Now tell me what the "mission" is.

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The Mid-Atlantic States: America's Den Of Iniquity

New York:

New York Gov. David Paterson, who took over the state's top job Monday after Eliot Spitzer resigned amid a prostitution scandal, has admitted he and his wife Michelle had affairs during a rough patch in their marriage several years ago, a newspaper reported.

New Jersey:

Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey says he and his wife Dina Matos McGreevey used to engage in three-way sex with his ex-aide and driver.

Not to be left out, Pennsylvania:

Host Peter Sagal glossed an earlier Rendell comment on Spitzer’s fall from grace as, “Out of the 50 governors [likely to be caught frequenting prostitutes], he’d be fiftieth” — referring to Spitzer’s well-known penchant for sanctimony. Rendell noted that there are actually 10 women governors, so Spitzer would actually have to be fortieth. Sagal then asked Rendell, “Where would you put yourself on the list?”

“In terms of the style of the person, I’d put myself in the middle of the pack,” the Pennsylvania governor responded. Good to know.

At least in Delaware the only things doing the screwing are insurance companies.

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Monday Poll

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A Bit Of Nancy Rexroth

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In Advance Of St. Paddy's Day

The Republican National Committee sends holiday greetings:

Apparently the name "Drunky McIrish" was