Enemy Combatant
Saturday, July 31, 2004
Quote Du Jour
It's certainly true that Mr. Kerry said certain things in his war protestor days that can now be used against him with some audiences. But until he was well into middle-age President Bush's most noteworthy public utterances seem to have been limited to various invocations and inflections of 'par-TAY' and reciting the alphabet under legal compulsion.
Josh Marshall, at Talking Points Memo.
Ouch!
Friday, July 30, 2004
Degrade Inflation
This just in, courtesy of Information Clearinghouse: Apparently everybody killed or captured from Al Qaeda turns out to be a "top official."
Too many imams; not enough martyrs. No wonder they haven't attacked us again. (knocking on wood)
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Coultergeist
One of the pleasant surprises to come out of the Democratic Convention so far has been the fact that Ann Coulter -- by the end of the first day! -- got herself shitcanned by yet another media outlet (the first being National Review Online; this one being USA Today), for spewing this particular brain-damaged screed. Coulter, who seems to envision herself as the Hunter S. Thompson of the Right, ignores two main differences between herself and Hunter: (1) you could always dismiss his more hallucinogenic rants as the product of psychoactive substances; and (2) his writing was actually funny, while making a point.
Perhaps Coulter's inflammatory and fact-deprived "journalism" will improve once the gender-reassignment surgery is complete, and the estrogen treatments take hold.
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Other Black Senatorial Candidates To AP: "We're Not Dead Yet -- In Fact, We're Feeling Better!"
OK, this is the kind of careless distortion that drives me nuts -- from an Associated Press article on Barack Obama's speech last night:Obama would become the Senate's only black member, and only the fifth black senator in history, if elected this fall.
Um, no. That's not necessarily true. Look, I understand that with the Ryan implosion and the Barthwell and Ditka demurrers on the GOP side, Obama's practically a shoo-in for the Senate from Illinois. And that these other candidates still have to slog through some formidable primaries in the next few months.
But I believe Mike Miles of Colorado, Denise Majette of Georgia, and Arthur Morrell of Louisiana, might all have a problem with the use of that word, "only."
Wouldn't it be nice to have -- for the first time in history -- MORE THAN ONE African American Senator at a time?
Monday, July 26, 2004
We Can't Afford Four More Years Of "The Pet Goat" Approach To Every Problem
Sit on your ass, stare into space, and wait for Uncle Karl to come rescue you . . .
(graphic courtesy of doug watt)
Sunday, July 25, 2004
It Ain't Over Till The Fat Man Sings
In a change of heart, brought about apparently by a change of ownership, the new management of the Aladdin casino in Vegas has apologized to Linda Ronstadt, invited her back to perform, and even invited Michael Moore to sing with her:
After a day of negotiations, the prospective new owner of the venue, Robert Earl, Chairman and CEO of Planet Hollywood International, Inc., issued the following statement:
"We hope to be approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission to become the new owners of the Aladdin Resort in Las Vegas as early as September 1, 2004. Upon the assumption of ownership, and with a new management team in place, we would like to offer the use of the Theatre of Performing Arts to Linda Ronstadt for a second concert and further to take Michael Moore up on his offer to join her on stage to introduce her and sing a song."
On a related note, a DLC/DINO holdout splinter cell within the Democratic Party seems to have denied Michael Moore credentials to even get in to the Democratic Convention in Boston. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Unfortunately, these Zellouts and their fellow travelers have been watching so much FoxNews, they've developed "Stockholm Syndrome" . . .
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Conventional Dirty Tricks
I always look back at the masterpiece of guerrilla political theater as the moment someone thought to send every pregnant black woman they could employ, to the 1968 Republican convention, to march around with a picket sign saying "Nixon's The One."
But the guerrilla theater I envision for the GOP Convention in New York is this: The convention hall, in the midst of the Bush-Cheney ReCoronation, suddenly filling with cleancut young men (and some young women), who are -- well -- missing legs. And eyes. And hands.
And suddenly it dawns on the assembled: These are the Iraq War wounded.
These young veterans are all wearing identical T-shirts, emblazoned with a copy of the Declaration of Independence, with the following words, set off, in bold: A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.
(Hey, lately they've been "cleansing" every public assembly in the Wrecks-All Wrangler's immediate vicinity of everyone wearing an "anti-Bush" slogan on his T-shirt -- we've got to get patriotically ambiguous and obscure here.)
Then, slowly, they begin to chant -- first softly, then loudly. What they chant is --
"Shame! Shame! SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!"
At least, I'd call that "must-see TV."
More Cat-lick Den Da Pope
So where do American Catholic bishops get off, threatening to deny Kerry communion because he's "pro-abortion" --
-- when the Pope himself gives Italian pro-choice politicians communion in Rome?
Monday, July 19, 2004
If We Had A Dozen More Helen Thomases
sprinkled among that pampered, overpaid, timid, lazy-assed, incurious bunch of suckups we quaintly persist in calling the Fourth Estate, we'd be impeaching President Hastert by now . . .
Sunday, July 18, 2004
No Doubt About It
The most insightful and incisive political commentary on TV today is to be found in a fake news show.
Next We're Recalling Arnold, To Replace Him With Dana Carvey And Kevin Nealon
Sad to say, our Governator out here on the Left Coast actually complained that the Democrats in the Legislature who wouldn't play ball with him on the budget were "girly men."
So our faux-tough guy/action hero-turned-governor actually parroted a line first used on Saturday Night Live by "Hans and Franz" to parody him.
We'll know his act has "jumped the shark" when he starts repeating lines from Ranier Wolfcastle of The Simpsons . . .
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Silence of the Hams
For the second time in as many months, Sy Hersh has given a speech (this time to the ACLU) describing the further videotaped horrors at Abu Ghraib prison -- boys being raped in front of women prisoners. Seems to me this is the kind of evidence that might destroy whatever pretense of credibility the Wizard of Ozymandias has left, perhaps even bringing calls for his impeachment, and certainly hastening our exit from Iraq.
Of course, for the Mainstream (pronounced "Dean-Scream") Media to reveal this evidence at this point, would bring uncomfortable questions about their own complicity in the conspiracy of silence about this topic until now . . . so I wouldn't hold my breath.
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Power of Attorney
Athenae, guest blogger at Eschaton, takes a second look at our presumed national "lawyer-hatred":
From ArchPundit, looks like that trial lawyer rap isn't quite as bad as the GOP hoped:
"Only 28.4% say being a trial lawyer negatively affects their opinion of Edwards. 54.8% says that background makes them think he fights for the average person."
Fact is, there's a lot of lawyers out there. Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon says that quite a few people are lawyers, are married to lawyers, have lawyer friends, have hired lawyers or are studying to become lawyers, and aren't going to listen to congressmen who used to be lawyers when they try to push this "lawyers are bad" crapola.
Friday, July 09, 2004
My Prediction: Kerry Wins In Dem Landslide!
I know there're a lot of folks worried about November, and the possibility of Bush getting another four years to Cheney things up even worse, but I'm going out on a limb here to say that I'm beginning to feel quite optimistic about our prospects. Why? Stories like this, and this, and this.
Polltakers don't seem to be asking the right question, not "Will you [a self-identified Republican or Independent] vote for Kerry?" but "Will you vote for BUSH?" I envision a lot of disillusioned goopers simply staying home come Election Day.
Another way to look at it is, Gore beat Bush in the popular vote by a margin of over 544,000 (situated in the wrong places in relation to state boundaries, unfortunately). Now, how many people have you run into or read about in the past four years who say, "My gosh! I voted for Gore in 2000, but I won't make THAT mistake again! I'm voting for BUSH this time!" Let's have a show of hands: Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?
Now, how many people have you known or read about who say just the opposite -- that they voted for Bush, but that they "won't get fooled again?" I'd say at least a handful of "converts" emerge every few minutes from every movie theater in this country showing Fahrenheit 9/11, which means several dozen new Democratic voters are created every hour (thank you, Michael Moore!).
Let's put it this way: If we actually have a valid election come November -- one in which Diebold machines and Our Robed Betters aren't allowed to run interference for the GOP -- we're looking at 1932 redux. Happy Days Are Here Again!
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
And The Winner Of The Veepstakes Is:
John Edwards.
Discuss. Tawk amongst yourselves . . .
Monday, July 05, 2004
Loose Lips Sink Chads
The government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again, says the chairman of a new federal voting commission.
Question: Why does the federal voting commission chairman hate America?
Seriously, I know a good number of liberals who are absolutely furious that a government official is even discussing this issue in the media -- even if it were true.
Look, the right always tries to silence the left on its "incendiary" speech -- isn't this at least an equally worthy example of "encouraging our enemies" -- particularly our domestic enemies on the right, who know Bush can't possibly win a fair electoral fight come November?
Sunday, July 04, 2004
Dream Big Dreams
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!
-- from Langston Hughes' "Let America Be America Again"
Happy Fourth.
The Madness of Wing(nut) George
On this, our nation's Independence Day, it's helpful to re-read our founding Declaration, to see what depredations, usurpations and abuses of power by a previous unelected ruler named George led us to deem his government illegitimate, and throw off its yoke . . . and here's a little pop quiz of current events you might also find enlightening.
Fight for your nation's ideals. Oppose the current regime. Work to overthrow it. That is all.
Friday, July 02, 2004
Rule Number One In Handling Wingnuts
NOVAK: I didn't say he was engaging -- and you're lying.
BEGALA: I'll read your words.
NOVAK: And when I said that . . .
They hate to get called on their bullshit!
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Day-um! I Sure Loves Me Some Freewayblogger.com!
